|
Local Actions and Campaigns: Good Anti-War Calendars: Next BAUAW Meeting: |
Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Saturday, November 27, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-SATURDAY, NOV.27, 2004
Bay Area United Against War Presents a film screening of:
"WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception
Meet film director Danny Schechter "The News Dissector."
Danny will be available for a question and answer period
right after the movie.
Saturday, Dec. 11th, 2004
(Showtime to be announced)
Embarcadero Center Cinema
One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 267-4893
" 'WMD' paints a meticulous and damning portrait of the media's coverage of
the Iraq war. In sobering detail, Danny Schechter shows us how the TV
networks now prefer the role of cheerleader, to that of objective
journalist," says Mike Nisholson of austinnforkerry.org.
"Schechter tackles his subject like a cross between Errol Morris and a
Dashiell Hammet detective, following close on the tail of big media
reporters as they in turn track the march toward war, embed themselves in
the military industrial complex and then get out when the fighting gets
tough and leave the cleanup work to stringers, " writes Shandon Fowler of
film's Hamptons International Film Festival appearance, Oct. 20-24.
To learn more about the film visit:
www.wmdthefilm.com
www.bauaw.org
(Distributed by Cinema Libre Studio, www.cinemalibrestudio.com)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Saving the Iraqi Children
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
OP-ED COLUMNIST
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/opinion/27kristof.html?oref=login&hp
[Note: This Op-Ed piece is an example of the bankruptcy of the
arguments in favor of the continued American occupation of Iraq.
After claiming, ³Among Iraqis, the risk of death by violence was
58 times greater after the war than before, and infant mortality
nearly doubled.² the author argues, ³If U.S. troops leave Iraq too
soon, the country will simply fall apart.²
But while the article accurately exposes the depth of the mayhem
this war has brought to the people of Iraq, especially its children,
the authors convoluted reasoning leads to more occupation, more
bombing, more troops, more of the same.
Kristof goes on to conclude his argument against the withdrawal
of U.S. troops by claiming, ³The best answer to that question, I think,
is that our mistaken invasion has left millions of Iraqis desperately
vulnerable, and it would be inhumane to abandon them now. If we
stay in Iraq, there is still some hope that Iraqis will come to enjoy
security and better lives, but if we pull out we will be condemning
Iraqis to anarchy, terrorism and starvation, costing the lives of
hundreds of thousands of children over the next decadeÂThose
hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children, whose lives we placed
at risk by invading their country, are the reasons we should remain
in Iraq, until we can hand over security to a local force. Saving
hundreds of thousands of lives is a worthy cause to risk American
lives for, even to die for.²
The antiwar movement must counter this sinister argument by
demanding that all the troops be withdrawn from Iraq and
Afghanistan immediately. Our movement must demand that
the entire U.S. military budget be wrested from the hands of
the warlords. We must insist that these billions of dollars be
used, instead, for massive humanitarian aid to the people of
Iraq and Afghanistan--with no American strings attached;
as well as for healthcare, education, jobs, affordable housing
and social services here at home. There is enough money to pay
for all of this if we do away with this filthy, illegal, immoral war
and the giant U.S. corporate war machine that controls and
profits from it.
As musical artist Michael Franti says, ³You can bomb the world
to pieces but you can¹t bomb it into peace.²
The world is at a great turning point that will determine the fate
of all life on Earth. The time for the worldwide antiwar movement
to stand united is now. If we wish to prevent genocide against
the entire planet by the greedy few who seek to own the wealth
of the world through force of violence we must stand united
against them.
The extent of the cynicism expressed by Kristof in this apology
for the continued bombing and killing of Iraqi children is astounding.
Killing children in order to ³save them² goes beyond even George
Orwell. More importantly, this argument can be applied wherever
resistance to U.S. domination arises. No one is safe from their
plundering rampages for oil, wealth and power.
This article stands as a clear mandate to all of us who are horrified
by this reasoning to gather all of our forces together to bring this
war to an end NOW!
ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH Â BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War]
2) Sentencing-Guideline Study Finds Continuing Disparities
WASHINGTON
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/national/27sentencing.html
3) Foreign Interest Appears to Flag as Dollar Falls
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/business/27dollar.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Saving the Iraqi Children
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
OP-ED COLUMNIST
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/opinion/27kristof.html?oref=login&hp
Iraqis are paying a horrendous price for the good intentions of well-meaning
conservatives who wanted to liberate them. And now some well-meaning
American liberals are seeking a troop withdrawal that would make matters
even worse.
Heaven protect Iraq from well-meaning Americans.
Lately, I've been quiet about the war because it's easy to rail about the
administration's foolishness last year but a lot harder to offer
constructive suggestions for what we should do now. President Bush's policy
on Iraq has migrated from delusional - we would be welcomed with flowers, we
should disband the Iraqi army, security is fine, the big problem is
exaggerations by nervous Nellie correspondents - to reasonable today. These
days, the biggest risk may come from the small but growing contingent on the
left that wants to bring our troops home now.
Consider two recent reports.
First, The Lancet, the London-based medical journal, published a study
suggesting that at least 100,000 Iraqis, and perhaps many more, had died as
a result of the invasion of Iraq. Among Iraqis, the risk of death by
violence was 58 times greater after the war than before, and infant
mortality also nearly doubled.
That's apparently because of insecurity. A doctor in Basra told me last year
how physicians and patients alike had had to run for cover when bandits
attacked the infectious diseases unit, firing machine guns and throwing hand
grenades, so they could steal the air-conditioners. Given those conditions,
women are now more likely to give birth at home, so babies and mothers are
both more likely to die of "natural" causes.
The second troubling report, in The Washington Post, recounted that acute
malnutrition among children under 5 soared to 7.7 percent this year from 4
percent before the war. Those are preliminary figures, but they suggest that
400,000 Iraqi children are badly malnourished, and suffering in some cases
from irreversible physical and mental stunting.
Those glimpses at the public health situation in Iraq are a reminder not
only of the disastrous impact of our invasion, but also of the humanitarian
impact if we pull out our troops prematurely.
If U.S. troops leave Iraq too soon, the country will simply fall apart. The
Kurdish areas in the north may muddle along, unless Turkey intervenes to
protect the Turkman minority or to block the emergence of a Kurdish state.
The Shiite areas in the south might establish an Iranian-backed theocratic
statelet that would establish order. But the middle of the country would
erupt in bloody civil war and turn into something like Somalia.
What would that mean? If Iraq were to sink to Somalia-level child mortality
rates, one result by my calculation would be 203,000 children dying each
year. If Iraq were to have maternal mortality rates as bad as Somalia's,
that would be 9,900 Iraqi women dying each year in childbirth.
Granted, my argument for staying the course is a difficult one to make to
American parents whose immediate concerns are the lives of their own
children. There is no getting around the fact that if we stay, more
Americans will die, and this burden will fall inequitably on working-class
families and members of minority groups.
I also have to concede that those calling for withdrawal may in the end be
proven right: perhaps we'll stick it out in Iraq and still be forced to
retreat even after squandering the lives of 1,000 more Americans. Those of
us who believe in remaining in Iraq must answer the question that John Kerry
asked about Vietnam: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a
mistake?"
The best answer to that question, I think, is that our mistaken invasion has
left millions of Iraqis desperately vulnerable, and it would be inhumane to
abandon them now. If we stay in Iraq, there is still some hope that Iraqis
will come to enjoy security and better lives, but if we pull out we will be
condemning Iraqis to anarchy, terrorism and starvation, costing the lives of
hundreds of thousands of children over the next decade.
Those hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children, whose lives we placed at risk
by invading their country, are the reasons we should remain in Iraq, until
we can hand over security to a local force. Saving hundreds of thousands of
lives is a worthy cause to risk American lives for, even to die for.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Sentencing-Guideline Study Finds Continuing Disparities
WASHINGTON
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/national/27sentencing.html
WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 (AP) - The number of minority inmates in federal
penitentiaries, as a percentage of all federal prisoners, has increased
sharply since sentencing guidelines took effect in 1987 and now accounts for
a majority of the prison population, a study reviewing 15 years of data has
concluded.
The study was conducted by the United States Sentencing Commission, which
sets the guidelines for federal judges. The panel examined how well the
guidelines had brought uniformity to punishments, and found that while
sentencing had become "more certain and predictable," disparities still
existed among races and regions of the country, with blacks generally
receiving harsher punishment than whites.
The findings come as the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of
the guidelines, which advocates say are crucial to achieving fairness in
punishment. The justices could decide as early as next week whether to throw
out the system because it allows judges, rather than juries, to consider
factors that can add years to sentences.
Yet before the guidelines were created in 1987, judges had wide discretion
in issuing sentences. The guidelines, in contrast, give them a range of
possible punishments for a given crime and make it difficult for them to go
outside those boundaries.
The study found that the average prison sentence today is about 50 months,
twice what it was in 1984, when lawmakers began calling for a uniform
sentencing system. The difference, the study determined, is due mostly to
the guidelines' elimination of parole for offenses like drug trafficking.
"The big unanswered question is, Do we need to have sentences growing this
way?" said one sentencing expert, Douglas A. Berman, a law professor at Ohio
State University. "Nobody wants to go back to the bad old days of complete
unguided judicial discretion."
Whites made up 35 percent of the prison population in 2002, a sharp decline
from nearly 60 percent in 1984, according to the report. It attributed the
decrease to a striking growth in Hispanics imprisoned on immigration charges
- to 40 percent of federal prisoners, from about 15 percent.
In addition, the gap in punishment between blacks and whites widened. While
blacks and whites received an average sentence of slightly more than two
years in 1984, blacks now stay in prison for about six years, compared with
about four years for whites. The report attributed this disparity in part to
harsher mandatory minimum sentences that Congress imposed for drug-related
crimes like cocaine possession. In 2002, 81 percent of offenders in such
cases were black.
The study found harsher punishments generally in the South than in the
Northeast and the West, though it concluded that legal differences in
individual cases "explain the vast majority of variation among judges and
regions."
A bigger problem causing sentencing disparities, it said, is plea
bargaining. The study said that as an incentive for getting guilty pleas,
prosecutors offered more lenient punishments than those mandated in the
guidelines in as many as one-third of cases.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Foreign Interest Appears to Flag as Dollar Falls
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/business/27dollar.html
WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 - Investors and market analysts are increasingly worried
that the last big source of support for the American dollar - heavy buying
by foreign central banks - is fading.
The anxiety was on full display Friday, when the dollar abruptly slid to a
record low against the euro after a report suggesting that the Chinese
central bank might start to reduce its holdings in the American currency.
Though Chinese officials later denied the report, and the dollar recovered,
analysts say the broader trend is that foreign governments are becoming less
willing to finance the growing debt of the United States government.
On Tuesday, a top official with the Russian central bank said his government
had become worried about the sinking value of the dollar and might switch
some foreign reserves to euros.
A day later, India's central bank hinted that it was worried about the same
issue and might shift some reserves into other currencies.
Japan and China, which together have amassed nearly $900 billion in United
States Treasury securities, have both slowed their buying sharply from the
frenetic pace in February and March.
"There is an emerging consensus that banks around the world are moving to
expand their reserves of euros at the expense of dollars," said Laidi
Ashraf, chief currency analyst at MG Financial Group in New York.
The Bush administration has essentially condoned the dollar's decline. At
meetings with foreign ministers last week, the Treasury secretary, John W.
Snow, repeated the American mantra of support for a "strong dollar" but also
for letting "market forces" determine exchange rates.
A continued decline of the dollar would be good for American manufacturers,
because it would make exports cheaper in foreign markets and push up the
cost of imports.
But a diminished foreign appetite for dollars could push up interest rates.
The Federal Reserve has already raised short-term rates four times this
year, but the shift in the sentiment of foreign investors may soon
seriously affect long-term rates that influence the cost of home mortgages.
"Sell U.S., buy Europe," summed up Richard Berner, chief United States
economist at Morgan Stanley , in a report last week. Mr. Berner noted that
investors have begun demanding higher yields for 10-year Treasury securities
than for comparable European bonds, and he predicted that the spread would
widen.
Recent data from the Treasury Department indicated that foreign governments
had sharply slowed their purchases of Treasury securities. The question is
whether those purchases will continue to slow or start to increase again as
countries try to shore up the American currency to help maintain their own
industries' competitiveness.
Japanese purchases of Treasury securities, which ballooned by about $100
billion from October 2003 to March of this year, have slowed sharply and
actually declined slightly in September.
Largely as a result, the dollar has sunk to its lowest level against the
Japanese yen, about 102.5 yen to the dollar on Friday, in four and a half
years.
Chinese purchases of Treasury securities slowed to a crawl, increasing just
$2 billion in September, to $174 billion.
On Friday, a top Chinese central bank official denied reports in a Chinese
newspaper that the government planned to reduce its holdings of Treasury
bonds.
But Chinese officials, under prodding from the Bush administration, have
repeatedly said they want to gradually relax their 10-year-old policy of
locking its currency, the yuan, at a fixed exchange rate to the dollar. Any
move to a more flexible exchange rate for China would probably cause the
dollar to drop in value and allow the Chinese central bank to stop buying
United States debt securities.
America's current account deficit, the broadest measure of its indebtedness
to other countries, is on track to exceed $600 billion next year, about 6
percent of its gross domestic product. The United States needs to attract
about $2 billion a day to keep its spending at current levels.
The nation attracted enormous sums of foreign money in the late 1990's as
well, but the character of that money has changed. Back then, a big part of
the inflow was through foreign direct investment and purchases of American
stocks.
This year, by contrast, foreigners have been net sellers of stocks. The big
growth has been in foreign purchases of Treasury securities, and the big
buyers have been foreign central banks that wanted to prevent their own
currencies from rising too much against the dollar.
Tony Norfield, currency strategist for ABN Amro in London, said he was
convinced that central banks were trying to scale back their purchase of
dollar assets, a move that could push the euro, already up about 30 percent
in the last years, even higher.
"You do not need the central banks to sell Treasuries for the dollar to go
down," Mr. Norfield said. "All they have to do is buy less and the dollar
is going to be in trouble."
The euro hit a new high of $1.3329 on Friday in light trading, before
settling back about a half-penny.
European leaders are alarmed about the potential damage of a sinking dollar
to their exports.
"Recent moves on exchange markets of the dollar versus the euro are
unwelcome," said Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central
Bank, at a banking seminar on Friday in Rio de Janeiro.
"I want to underline the importance of recent statements by the Treasury
secretary of the United States on his determination to pursue a strong
dollar policy," Mr. Trichet added.
But Mr. Snow and Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve,
offered no hint that they would intervene in currency markets to prop up the
dollar.
"The market for U.S. Treasury securities is deep and liquid and continues to
be attractive to a broad and diverse pool of investors," a spokesman for
Mr. Snow, Robert Nichols, said.
That remains to be seen. According to the most recent Treasury data, the
biggest source of growth in securities came not from China, Japan or Europe
but from Caribbean banking centers.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
"WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception
Meet film director Danny Schechter "The News Dissector."
Danny will be available for a question and answer period
right after the movie.
Saturday, Dec. 11th, 2004
(Showtime to be announced)
Embarcadero Center Cinema
One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 267-4893
" 'WMD' paints a meticulous and damning portrait of the media's coverage of
the Iraq war. In sobering detail, Danny Schechter shows us how the TV
networks now prefer the role of cheerleader, to that of objective
journalist," says Mike Nisholson of austinnforkerry.org.
"Schechter tackles his subject like a cross between Errol Morris and a
Dashiell Hammet detective, following close on the tail of big media
reporters as they in turn track the march toward war, embed themselves in
the military industrial complex and then get out when the fighting gets
tough and leave the cleanup work to stringers, " writes Shandon Fowler of
film's Hamptons International Film Festival appearance, Oct. 20-24.
To learn more about the film visit:
www.wmdthefilm.com
www.bauaw.org
(Distributed by Cinema Libre Studio, www.cinemalibrestudio.com)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Saving the Iraqi Children
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
OP-ED COLUMNIST
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/opinion/27kristof.html?oref=login&hp
[Note: This Op-Ed piece is an example of the bankruptcy of the
arguments in favor of the continued American occupation of Iraq.
After claiming, ³Among Iraqis, the risk of death by violence was
58 times greater after the war than before, and infant mortality
nearly doubled.² the author argues, ³If U.S. troops leave Iraq too
soon, the country will simply fall apart.²
But while the article accurately exposes the depth of the mayhem
this war has brought to the people of Iraq, especially its children,
the authors convoluted reasoning leads to more occupation, more
bombing, more troops, more of the same.
Kristof goes on to conclude his argument against the withdrawal
of U.S. troops by claiming, ³The best answer to that question, I think,
is that our mistaken invasion has left millions of Iraqis desperately
vulnerable, and it would be inhumane to abandon them now. If we
stay in Iraq, there is still some hope that Iraqis will come to enjoy
security and better lives, but if we pull out we will be condemning
Iraqis to anarchy, terrorism and starvation, costing the lives of
hundreds of thousands of children over the next decadeÂThose
hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children, whose lives we placed
at risk by invading their country, are the reasons we should remain
in Iraq, until we can hand over security to a local force. Saving
hundreds of thousands of lives is a worthy cause to risk American
lives for, even to die for.²
The antiwar movement must counter this sinister argument by
demanding that all the troops be withdrawn from Iraq and
Afghanistan immediately. Our movement must demand that
the entire U.S. military budget be wrested from the hands of
the warlords. We must insist that these billions of dollars be
used, instead, for massive humanitarian aid to the people of
Iraq and Afghanistan--with no American strings attached;
as well as for healthcare, education, jobs, affordable housing
and social services here at home. There is enough money to pay
for all of this if we do away with this filthy, illegal, immoral war
and the giant U.S. corporate war machine that controls and
profits from it.
As musical artist Michael Franti says, ³You can bomb the world
to pieces but you can¹t bomb it into peace.²
The world is at a great turning point that will determine the fate
of all life on Earth. The time for the worldwide antiwar movement
to stand united is now. If we wish to prevent genocide against
the entire planet by the greedy few who seek to own the wealth
of the world through force of violence we must stand united
against them.
The extent of the cynicism expressed by Kristof in this apology
for the continued bombing and killing of Iraqi children is astounding.
Killing children in order to ³save them² goes beyond even George
Orwell. More importantly, this argument can be applied wherever
resistance to U.S. domination arises. No one is safe from their
plundering rampages for oil, wealth and power.
This article stands as a clear mandate to all of us who are horrified
by this reasoning to gather all of our forces together to bring this
war to an end NOW!
ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH Â BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War]
2) Sentencing-Guideline Study Finds Continuing Disparities
WASHINGTON
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/national/27sentencing.html
3) Foreign Interest Appears to Flag as Dollar Falls
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/business/27dollar.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Saving the Iraqi Children
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
OP-ED COLUMNIST
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/opinion/27kristof.html?oref=login&hp
Iraqis are paying a horrendous price for the good intentions of well-meaning
conservatives who wanted to liberate them. And now some well-meaning
American liberals are seeking a troop withdrawal that would make matters
even worse.
Heaven protect Iraq from well-meaning Americans.
Lately, I've been quiet about the war because it's easy to rail about the
administration's foolishness last year but a lot harder to offer
constructive suggestions for what we should do now. President Bush's policy
on Iraq has migrated from delusional - we would be welcomed with flowers, we
should disband the Iraqi army, security is fine, the big problem is
exaggerations by nervous Nellie correspondents - to reasonable today. These
days, the biggest risk may come from the small but growing contingent on the
left that wants to bring our troops home now.
Consider two recent reports.
First, The Lancet, the London-based medical journal, published a study
suggesting that at least 100,000 Iraqis, and perhaps many more, had died as
a result of the invasion of Iraq. Among Iraqis, the risk of death by
violence was 58 times greater after the war than before, and infant
mortality also nearly doubled.
That's apparently because of insecurity. A doctor in Basra told me last year
how physicians and patients alike had had to run for cover when bandits
attacked the infectious diseases unit, firing machine guns and throwing hand
grenades, so they could steal the air-conditioners. Given those conditions,
women are now more likely to give birth at home, so babies and mothers are
both more likely to die of "natural" causes.
The second troubling report, in The Washington Post, recounted that acute
malnutrition among children under 5 soared to 7.7 percent this year from 4
percent before the war. Those are preliminary figures, but they suggest that
400,000 Iraqi children are badly malnourished, and suffering in some cases
from irreversible physical and mental stunting.
Those glimpses at the public health situation in Iraq are a reminder not
only of the disastrous impact of our invasion, but also of the humanitarian
impact if we pull out our troops prematurely.
If U.S. troops leave Iraq too soon, the country will simply fall apart. The
Kurdish areas in the north may muddle along, unless Turkey intervenes to
protect the Turkman minority or to block the emergence of a Kurdish state.
The Shiite areas in the south might establish an Iranian-backed theocratic
statelet that would establish order. But the middle of the country would
erupt in bloody civil war and turn into something like Somalia.
What would that mean? If Iraq were to sink to Somalia-level child mortality
rates, one result by my calculation would be 203,000 children dying each
year. If Iraq were to have maternal mortality rates as bad as Somalia's,
that would be 9,900 Iraqi women dying each year in childbirth.
Granted, my argument for staying the course is a difficult one to make to
American parents whose immediate concerns are the lives of their own
children. There is no getting around the fact that if we stay, more
Americans will die, and this burden will fall inequitably on working-class
families and members of minority groups.
I also have to concede that those calling for withdrawal may in the end be
proven right: perhaps we'll stick it out in Iraq and still be forced to
retreat even after squandering the lives of 1,000 more Americans. Those of
us who believe in remaining in Iraq must answer the question that John Kerry
asked about Vietnam: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a
mistake?"
The best answer to that question, I think, is that our mistaken invasion has
left millions of Iraqis desperately vulnerable, and it would be inhumane to
abandon them now. If we stay in Iraq, there is still some hope that Iraqis
will come to enjoy security and better lives, but if we pull out we will be
condemning Iraqis to anarchy, terrorism and starvation, costing the lives of
hundreds of thousands of children over the next decade.
Those hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children, whose lives we placed at risk
by invading their country, are the reasons we should remain in Iraq, until
we can hand over security to a local force. Saving hundreds of thousands of
lives is a worthy cause to risk American lives for, even to die for.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Sentencing-Guideline Study Finds Continuing Disparities
WASHINGTON
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/national/27sentencing.html
WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 (AP) - The number of minority inmates in federal
penitentiaries, as a percentage of all federal prisoners, has increased
sharply since sentencing guidelines took effect in 1987 and now accounts for
a majority of the prison population, a study reviewing 15 years of data has
concluded.
The study was conducted by the United States Sentencing Commission, which
sets the guidelines for federal judges. The panel examined how well the
guidelines had brought uniformity to punishments, and found that while
sentencing had become "more certain and predictable," disparities still
existed among races and regions of the country, with blacks generally
receiving harsher punishment than whites.
The findings come as the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of
the guidelines, which advocates say are crucial to achieving fairness in
punishment. The justices could decide as early as next week whether to throw
out the system because it allows judges, rather than juries, to consider
factors that can add years to sentences.
Yet before the guidelines were created in 1987, judges had wide discretion
in issuing sentences. The guidelines, in contrast, give them a range of
possible punishments for a given crime and make it difficult for them to go
outside those boundaries.
The study found that the average prison sentence today is about 50 months,
twice what it was in 1984, when lawmakers began calling for a uniform
sentencing system. The difference, the study determined, is due mostly to
the guidelines' elimination of parole for offenses like drug trafficking.
"The big unanswered question is, Do we need to have sentences growing this
way?" said one sentencing expert, Douglas A. Berman, a law professor at Ohio
State University. "Nobody wants to go back to the bad old days of complete
unguided judicial discretion."
Whites made up 35 percent of the prison population in 2002, a sharp decline
from nearly 60 percent in 1984, according to the report. It attributed the
decrease to a striking growth in Hispanics imprisoned on immigration charges
- to 40 percent of federal prisoners, from about 15 percent.
In addition, the gap in punishment between blacks and whites widened. While
blacks and whites received an average sentence of slightly more than two
years in 1984, blacks now stay in prison for about six years, compared with
about four years for whites. The report attributed this disparity in part to
harsher mandatory minimum sentences that Congress imposed for drug-related
crimes like cocaine possession. In 2002, 81 percent of offenders in such
cases were black.
The study found harsher punishments generally in the South than in the
Northeast and the West, though it concluded that legal differences in
individual cases "explain the vast majority of variation among judges and
regions."
A bigger problem causing sentencing disparities, it said, is plea
bargaining. The study said that as an incentive for getting guilty pleas,
prosecutors offered more lenient punishments than those mandated in the
guidelines in as many as one-third of cases.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Foreign Interest Appears to Flag as Dollar Falls
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON
November 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/27/business/27dollar.html
WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 - Investors and market analysts are increasingly worried
that the last big source of support for the American dollar - heavy buying
by foreign central banks - is fading.
The anxiety was on full display Friday, when the dollar abruptly slid to a
record low against the euro after a report suggesting that the Chinese
central bank might start to reduce its holdings in the American currency.
Though Chinese officials later denied the report, and the dollar recovered,
analysts say the broader trend is that foreign governments are becoming less
willing to finance the growing debt of the United States government.
On Tuesday, a top official with the Russian central bank said his government
had become worried about the sinking value of the dollar and might switch
some foreign reserves to euros.
A day later, India's central bank hinted that it was worried about the same
issue and might shift some reserves into other currencies.
Japan and China, which together have amassed nearly $900 billion in United
States Treasury securities, have both slowed their buying sharply from the
frenetic pace in February and March.
"There is an emerging consensus that banks around the world are moving to
expand their reserves of euros at the expense of dollars," said Laidi
Ashraf, chief currency analyst at MG Financial Group in New York.
The Bush administration has essentially condoned the dollar's decline. At
meetings with foreign ministers last week, the Treasury secretary, John W.
Snow, repeated the American mantra of support for a "strong dollar" but also
for letting "market forces" determine exchange rates.
A continued decline of the dollar would be good for American manufacturers,
because it would make exports cheaper in foreign markets and push up the
cost of imports.
But a diminished foreign appetite for dollars could push up interest rates.
The Federal Reserve has already raised short-term rates four times this
year, but the shift in the sentiment of foreign investors may soon
seriously affect long-term rates that influence the cost of home mortgages.
"Sell U.S., buy Europe," summed up Richard Berner, chief United States
economist at Morgan Stanley , in a report last week. Mr. Berner noted that
investors have begun demanding higher yields for 10-year Treasury securities
than for comparable European bonds, and he predicted that the spread would
widen.
Recent data from the Treasury Department indicated that foreign governments
had sharply slowed their purchases of Treasury securities. The question is
whether those purchases will continue to slow or start to increase again as
countries try to shore up the American currency to help maintain their own
industries' competitiveness.
Japanese purchases of Treasury securities, which ballooned by about $100
billion from October 2003 to March of this year, have slowed sharply and
actually declined slightly in September.
Largely as a result, the dollar has sunk to its lowest level against the
Japanese yen, about 102.5 yen to the dollar on Friday, in four and a half
years.
Chinese purchases of Treasury securities slowed to a crawl, increasing just
$2 billion in September, to $174 billion.
On Friday, a top Chinese central bank official denied reports in a Chinese
newspaper that the government planned to reduce its holdings of Treasury
bonds.
But Chinese officials, under prodding from the Bush administration, have
repeatedly said they want to gradually relax their 10-year-old policy of
locking its currency, the yuan, at a fixed exchange rate to the dollar. Any
move to a more flexible exchange rate for China would probably cause the
dollar to drop in value and allow the Chinese central bank to stop buying
United States debt securities.
America's current account deficit, the broadest measure of its indebtedness
to other countries, is on track to exceed $600 billion next year, about 6
percent of its gross domestic product. The United States needs to attract
about $2 billion a day to keep its spending at current levels.
The nation attracted enormous sums of foreign money in the late 1990's as
well, but the character of that money has changed. Back then, a big part of
the inflow was through foreign direct investment and purchases of American
stocks.
This year, by contrast, foreigners have been net sellers of stocks. The big
growth has been in foreign purchases of Treasury securities, and the big
buyers have been foreign central banks that wanted to prevent their own
currencies from rising too much against the dollar.
Tony Norfield, currency strategist for ABN Amro in London, said he was
convinced that central banks were trying to scale back their purchase of
dollar assets, a move that could push the euro, already up about 30 percent
in the last years, even higher.
"You do not need the central banks to sell Treasuries for the dollar to go
down," Mr. Norfield said. "All they have to do is buy less and the dollar
is going to be in trouble."
The euro hit a new high of $1.3329 on Friday in light trading, before
settling back about a half-penny.
European leaders are alarmed about the potential damage of a sinking dollar
to their exports.
"Recent moves on exchange markets of the dollar versus the euro are
unwelcome," said Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central
Bank, at a banking seminar on Friday in Rio de Janeiro.
"I want to underline the importance of recent statements by the Treasury
secretary of the United States on his determination to pursue a strong
dollar policy," Mr. Trichet added.
But Mr. Snow and Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve,
offered no hint that they would intervene in currency markets to prop up the
dollar.
"The market for U.S. Treasury securities is deep and liquid and continues to
be attractive to a broad and diverse pool of investors," a spokesman for
Mr. Snow, Robert Nichols, said.
That remains to be seen. According to the most recent Treasury data, the
biggest source of growth in securities came not from China, Japan or Europe
but from Caribbean banking centers.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
Friday, November 26, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-FRIDAY, NOV.26, 2004
Bay Area United Against War Presents
a film screening of:
"WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception"
Meet film director Danny Schechter "The News Dissector."
Danny will be available for a question and answer period
right after the movie.
Saturday, Dec. 11th, 2004
(Showtime to be announced)
Embarcadero Center Cinema
One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 267-4893
" 'WMD' paints a meticulous and damning portrait of the media's
coverage of the Iraq war. In sobering detail, Danny Schechter
shows us how the TV networks now prefer the role of cheerleader,
to that of objective journalist," says Mike Nisholson of
austinnforkerry.org.
"Schechter tackles his subject like a cross between Errol Morris
and a Dashiell Hammet detective, following close on the tail of
big media reporters as they in turn track the march toward war,
embed themselves in the military industrial complex and then
get out when the fighting gets tough and leave the cleanup work
to stringers, " writes Shandon Fowler of film's Hamptons
International Film Festival appearance, Oct. 20-24.
To learn more about the film visit:
www.wmdthefilm.org
www.bauaw.org
(Distributed by Cinema Libre Studio, www.cinemalibrestudio.com)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) 'Unusual Weapons' Used in Fallujah
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
November 26, 2004
2) U.S. Still Has Half of Falluja to Clear of Weapons
By Michael Georgy
NEAR FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters)
Fri Nov 26, 2004 04:03 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6926834&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
3) TRANSLATION: EU creating 13 rapid intervention 'tactical groups'
4) Of Mice, Men and In-Between
Scientists Debate Blending Of Human, Animal Forms
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 20, 2004; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A63731-2004Nov19
5) A Moment of Silence, Before I Start this Poem
by Emmanuel Ortiz
9.11.02
6) Where's Picasso?
Falluja: The 21 st Century Guernica
By Saul Landau
http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Landau&otherweek=110136240
7) Radio exchange contradicts army version of Gaza killing
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Wednesday November 24, 2004
The Guardian
An Israeli army officer who repeatedly shot a 13-year-old
Palestinian girl in Gaza dismissed a warning from another
soldier that she was a child by saying he would have killed
her even if she was three years old.
8) January 20 Call to Action: RISE Against
Bush/SHINE For A Peaceful
(Can't we all just unite together on Jan. 20 and
March 20, 2005? ...as I said, people the world over will
be demonstrating on January 20, 2005 against the death and
devastation the U.S.Government has brought upon Iraq-based
all on lies.)
9) Vietnam Vet, 53, Called for Duty in Iraq-Report
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters)
10) Still Worlds Apart on Iraq
EDITORIAL
November 26, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/26/opinion/26fri1.html?oref=login&hp
11) Leading Iraqi Parties Call for Election Delay
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)
Filed at 12:33 p.m. ET
November 26, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Elections.html?hp&ex=1
101531600&en=ab08003b4e7ba050&ei=5094&partner=homepage
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) 'Unusual Weapons' Used in Fallujah
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
November 26, 2004
Dahr Jamail
BAGHDAD, Nov 26 (IPS) - The U.S. military has used poison gas and other
non-conventional weapons against civilians in Fallujah, eyewitnesses report.
"Poisonous gases have been used in Fallujah," 35-year-old trader from
Fallujah Abu Hammad told IPS. "They used everything -- tanks, artillery,
infantry, poison gas. Fallujah has been bombed to the ground."
Hammad is from the Julan district of Fallujah where some of the heaviest
fighting occurred. Other residents of that area report the use of
illegal weapons.
"They used these weird bombs that put up smoke like a mushroom cloud,"
Abu Sabah, another Fallujah refugee from the Julan area told IPS. "Then
small pieces fall from the air with long tails of smoke behind them."
He said pieces of these bombs exploded into large fires that burnt the
skin even when water was thrown on the burns. Phosphorous weapons as
well as napalm are known to cause such effects. "People suffered so much
from these," he said.
Macabre accounts of killing of civilians are emerging through the cordon
U.S. forces are still maintaining around Fallujah.
"Doctors in Fallujah are reporting to me that there are patients in the
hospital there who were forced out by the Americans," said Mehdi
Abdulla, a 33-year-old ambulance driver at a hospital in Baghdad. "Some
doctors there told me they had a major operation going, but the soldiers
took the doctors away and left the patient to die."
Kassem Mohammed Ahmed who escaped from Fallujah a little over
a week ago told IPS he witnessed many atrocities committed by U.S.
soldiers in the city.
"I watched them roll over wounded people in the street with tanks," he
said. "This happened so many times."
Abdul Razaq Ismail who escaped from Fallujah two weeks back said
soldiers had used tanks to pull bodies to the soccer stadium to be
buried. "I saw dead bodies on the ground and nobody could bury them
because of the American snipers," he said. "The Americans were dropping
some of the bodies into the Euphrates near Fallujah."
Abu Hammad said he saw people attempt to swim across the Euphrates to
escape the siege. "The Americans shot them with rifles from the shore,"
he said. "Even if some of them were holding a white flag or white
clothes over their heads to show they are not fighters, they were all
shot.."
Hammad said he had seen elderly women carrying white flags shot by U.S.
soldiers. "Even the wounded people were killed. The Americans made
announcements for people to come to one mosque if they wanted to leave
Fallujah, and even the people who went there carrying white flags were
killed."
Another Fallujah resident Khalil (40) told IPS he saw civilians shot as
they held up makeshift white flags. "They shot women and old men in the
streets," he said. "Then they shot anyone who tried to get their
bodies...Fallujah is suffering too much, it is almost gone now."
Refugees had moved to another kind of misery now, he said. "It's a
disaster living here at this camp," Khalil said. "We are living like
dogs and the kids do not have enough clothes."
Spokesman for the Iraqi Red Crescent in Baghdad Abdel Hamid Salim told
IPS that none of their relief teams had been allowed into Fallujah, and
that the military had said it would be at least two more weeks before
any refugees would be allowed back into the city.
"There is still heavy fighting in Fallujah," said Salim. "And the
Americans won't let us in so we can help people."
In many camps around Fallujah and throughout Baghdad, refugees are
living without enough food, clothing and shelter. Relief groups estimate
there are at least 15,000 refugee families in temporary shelters outside
Fallujah.
More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com
You are subscribed to the Dahr Jamail's email Iraq Dispatches
because you requested a subscription at some point.
You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/ to subscribe
or unsubscribe to the email list.
Or, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to
iraq_dispatches-request@dahrjamailiraq.com and write unsubscribe in the
subject
or the body of the email.
Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) U.S. Still Has Half of Falluja to Clear of Weapons
By Michael Georgy
NEAR FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters)
Fri Nov 26, 2004 04:03 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6926834&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
NEAR FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines have cleared
over 50 percent of Falluja's houses of weapons caches after
mounting an offensive that crushed the Iraqi city's rebels,
their top commander said Friday.
Lieutenant General John Sattler told reporters Marines
would search every house in Falluja to pave the way for
rebuilding and stabilizing the city ahead of elections
scheduled for January.
He spoke after the visiting secretary of the U.S. Navy told
Marines at a Purple Heart medal award ceremony that the Falluja
offensive "broke the back" of the insurgency in Iraq.
U.S. air strikes, artillery barrages and infantry
operations wrested control of Falluja this month, and the
military said they killed over 1,000 foreign Muslim militant
fighters and insurgents loyal to toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
But Marines still face resistance in Falluja, where many
buildings were reduced to piles of rubble.
Sattler said insurgents threw grenades at Marines as they
entered a house Thursday, killing two. Three insurgents were
killed in return fire, he said.
"We will keep searching for weapons until we put a green X
on the last house in Falluja," he said.
Marine officers have said they would inspect an estimated
50,000 houses in the city west of Baghdad, a tedious task that
involves searching everything from ventilation systems to
couches as guerrilla snipers await opportunities to fire.
The United States hopes the searches will deprive Iraq's
guerrillas of their main base and weapons point, putting a lid
on insurgent suicide bombings, shootings and kidnappings.
Asked if he thought the offensive will seriously damage the
insurgency across Iraq, U.S. Navy Secretary Gordon England
said: "It will at least in Falluja. This was their
stranglehold. It will hurt them."
The Purple Heart award was a reminder that the U.S.
military remains vulnerable in Iraq. More than 50 U.S. troops
were killed in the Falluja offensive and hundreds were wounded.
In all, more than 1,200 have been killed since the invasion.
Lance Corporal Joseph Judans, 26, of Jacksonville, Florida,
received the medal for sustaining a shrapnel wound to the
forehead on Nov. 4 when a roadside bomb exploded near his
convoy on the outskirts of Falluja.
He is a combat engineer who regularly defuses those types
of bombs, which U.S. military officials say are behind about 30
percent of the deaths of soldiers killed in action.
Sattler was optimistic despite remaining risks in Iraq.
"Our goal is to get every single person in Falluja to vote
in the elections," he said.
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) TRANSLATION: EU creating 13 rapid intervention 'tactical groups'
[On Friday, *L'Humanité* (Paris) reported on the decision of the defense
ministers of the European Union to create 13 tactical combat groups able,
within a matter of days, to intevene militarily anywhere in the world. --
Since the operational capability of these groups will continue to depend on
NATO's logistical transport capability, which is controlled by the U.S.,
Okba
Lamrani believes they are likely to end up functioning as support troops for
U.S. military missions. --Mark]
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/1818/
[Translated from *L'Humanité* (Paris)]
Europe
EUROPEAN SUPPORT TROOPS FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE UNITED STATES
By Okba Lamrani
** Creation beginning in 2005 of 13 "tactical groups," able to intervene
anywhere in the world, complements combat forces of NATO, an organization
dependent on Americans **
L'Humanité (Paris)
November 26, 2004
Page 13
The ministers of defense of the
Twenty-Five [member states of the European
Union (EU)] have decided to put in
place a new rapid intervention structure.
This is not to be confused with the
so-called "global" objective defined at
Helsinki foreseeing the creation of
a force that could reach 65,000 men and be
deployed in 60 days. According to
the very pro-NATO Henk Kamp, Dutch minister
of defense and president of the council
of defense ministers, the Union is
planning to dispose of 13 "tactical"
groups "able to be deployed independently
in a matter of days anywhere in the
world in case of an emergency."
The objective (defined at last week's
meeting between Tony Blair and Jacques
Chirac) is to put at the disposition of
the Union beginning in 2005 one
tactical group permanently on stand-
by, and two in 2006. All the groups are
supposed to be operational in 2007.
The goal is one or several groups
composed of 1,500 men, their weapons, and
means of transport, permanently
available for deployment on more than one
front. For example, in Africa and
in the Balkans. This process would be
placed under the European political
authority symbolized by Javier Solana,
whose functions, so far, no one is
able to define clearly in the dense
institutional tangle of Europe.
Four of these groups would be
organized around one of the leader countries
(United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain),
and the others being multinational and
able to join the four leader countries in
the event of a large-scale
intervention.
The operational model was Operation
Artemis, sent to Ituri in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, which was made up
in large part of French soldiers; it also
included Belgian and British soldiers.
According to London and Paris, "these
tactical groups will be particularly
useful in the support that we are able
to bring to the United Nations in
Africa, in Europe, or in other crisis
areas." From the point of view of the
British minister, COPS (meaning
'policemen' in English, or, more prosaically,
Comité politique et de sécurité
['Political and Security Committee']), and in
every case from the point of view
of the Dutch minister and that of new NATO
members, the United States remains
at the heart of decision-making [sic -- the
sentence is also incoherent in the original --MKJ].
All the more easily, in
that only the United States
disposes of the logistical means needed to
transport "Defense Europe" units
to the operational theaters they are designed
for. Given these conditions, it looks
as if European COPS are likely to serve
as support troops for the United States,
as they are doing in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
The temptation for a military confrontation
with the Americans is illusory and
dangerous. Europe has another card to
play. Namely, that of defusing far in
advance developing crises. But this
implies not only conferences, but also
concrete economic, social, and political
operations. Otherwise, the United
States risks turning European capabilities
into instruments of its own
policies, with the tacit accord of the EU to boot.
--
Translated by Mark K. Jensen
Associate Professor of French
Department of Languages and Literatures
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, Washington 98447-0003
Phone: 253-535-7219
Web page: http://www.plu.edu/~jensenmk/
E-mail: jensenmk@plu.edu
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Of Mice, Men and In-Between
Scientists Debate Blending Of Human, Animal Forms
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 20, 2004; Page A01
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A63731-2004Nov19
In Minnesota, pigs are being born with human blood in their
veins.
In Nevada, there are sheep whose livers and hearts are largely
human.
In California, mice peer from their cages with human brain cells
firing inside their skulls.
These are not outcasts from "The Island of Dr. Moreau," the 1896
novel by H.G. Wells in which a rogue doctor develops creatures
that are part animal and part human. They are real creations of
real scientists, stretching the boundaries of stem cell research.
Biologists call these hybrid animals chimeras, after the mythical
Greek creature with a lion's head, a goat's body and a serpent's
tail. They are the products of experiments in which human stem
cells were added to developing animal fetuses.
Chimeras are allowing scientists to watch, for the first time, how
nascent human cells and organs mature and interact -- not in the
cold isolation of laboratory dishes but inside the bodies of living
creatures. Some are already revealing deep secrets of human
biology and pointing the way toward new medical treatments.
But with no federal guidelines in place, an awkward question
hovers above the work: How human must a chimera be before
more stringent research rules should kick in?
The National Academy of Sciences, which advises the federal
government, has been studying the issue and hopes to make
recommendations by February. Yet the range of opinions
it has received so far suggests that reaching consensus may
be difficult.
During one recent meeting, scientists disagreed on such
basic issues as whether it would be unethical for a human
embryo to begin its development in an animal's womb, and
whether a mouse would be better or worse off with a brain
made of human neurons.
"This is an area where we really need to come to a reasonable
consensus," said James Battey, chairman of the National
Institutes of Health's Stem Cell Task Force. "We need to
establish some kind of guidelines as to what the scientific
community ought to do and ought not to do."
Beyond Twins and Moms
Chimeras (ki-MER-ahs) -- meaning mixtures of two or more
individuals in a single body -- are not inherently unnatural.
Most twins carry at least a few cells from the sibling with whom
they shared a womb, and most mothers carry in their blood
at least a few cells from each child they have born.
Recipients of organ transplants are also chimeras, as
are the many people whose defective heart valves have
been replaced with those from pigs or cows. And
scientists for years have added human genes to
bacteria and even to farm animals -- feats of
genetic engineering that allow those critters to
make human proteins such as insulin for use as
medicines.
"Chimeras are not as strange and alien as at first
blush they seem," said Henry Greely, a law
professor and ethicist at Stanford University who
has reviewed proposals to create human-mouse
chimeras there.
But chimerism becomes a more sensitive topic
when it involves growing entire human organs
inside animals. And it becomes especially
sensitive when it deals in brain cells, the building
blocks of the organ credited with making humans human.
In experiments like those, Greely told the academy last
month, "there is a nontrivial risk of conferring some
significant aspects of humanity" on the animal.
Greely and his colleagues did not conclude that such
experiments should never be done. Indeed, he and many
other philosophers have been wrestling with the question
of why so many people believe it is wrong to breach the species
barrier.
Does the repugnance reflect an understanding of an important
natural law? Or is it just another cultural bias, like the once
widespread rejection of interracial marriage?
Many turn to the Bible's repeated invocation that animals should
multiply "after their kind" as evidence that such experiments
are wrong. Others, however, have concluded that the core
problem is not necessarily the creation of chimeras but rather
the way they are likely to be treated.
Imagine, said Robert Streiffer, a professor of philosophy and
bioethics at the University of Wisconsin, a human-chimpanzee
chimera endowed with speech and an enhanced potential to learn
-- what some have called a "humanzee."
"There's a knee-jerk reaction that enhancing the moral status
of an animal is bad," Streiffer said. "But if you did it, and you
gave it the protections it deserves, how could the animal complain?"
Unfortunately, said Harvard political philosopher Michael J. Sandel,
speaking last fall at a meeting of the President's Council on
Bioethics, such protections are unlikely.
"Chances are we would make them perform menial jobs or
dangerous jobs," Sandel said. "That would be an objection."
A Research Breakthrough
The potential power of chimeras as research tools became clear
about a decade ago in a series of dramatic experiments by Evan
Balaban, now at McGill University in Montreal. Balaban took small
sections of brain from developing quails and transplanted them
into the developing brains of chickens.
The resulting chickens exhibited vocal trills and head bobs
unique to quails, proving that the transplanted parts of the brain
contained the neural circuitry for quail calls. It also offered
astonishing proof that complex behaviors could be transferred
across species.
No one has proposed similar experiments between, say, humans
and apes. But the discovery of human embryonic stem cells in
1998 allowed researchers to envision related experiments that
might reveal a lot about how embryos grow.
The cells, found in 5-day-old human embryos, multiply
prolifically and -- unlike adult cells -- have the potential to
turn into any of the body's 200 or so cell types.
Scientists hope to cultivate them in laboratory dishes and grow
replacement tissues for patients. But with those applications
years away, the cells are gaining in popularity for basic research.
The most radical experiment, still not conducted, would be to
inject human stem cells into an animal embryo and then transfer
that chimeric embryo into an animal's womb. Scientists suspect
the proliferating human cells would spread throughout the
animal embryo as it matured into a fetus and integrate
themselves into every organ.
Such "humanized" animals could have countless uses. They
would almost certainly provide better ways to test a new
drug's efficacy and toxicity, for example, than the ordinary
mice typically used today.
But few scientists are eager to do that experiment. The risk,
they say, is that some human cells will find their way to the
developing testes or ovaries, where they might grow into
human sperm and eggs. If two such chimeras -- say, mice --
were to mate, a human embryo might form, trapped in a mouse.
Not everyone agrees that this would be a terrible result.
"What would be so dreadful?" asked Ann McLaren, a renowned
developmental biologist at the University of Cambridge in England.
After all, she said, no human embryo could develop successfully
in a mouse womb. It would simply die, she told the academy.
No harm done.
But others disagree -- if only out of fear of a public backlash.
"Certainly you'd get a negative response from people to
have a human embryo trying to grow in the wrong place,"
said Cynthia B. Cohen, a senior research fellow at Georgetown
University's Kennedy Institute of Ethics and a member of
Canada's Stem Cell Oversight Committee, which supported
a ban on such experiments there.
How Human?
But what about experiments in which scientists add
human stem cells not to an animal embryo but to an animal
fetus, which has already made its eggs and sperm? Then the
only question is how human a creature one dares to make.
In one ongoing set of experiments, Jeffrey L. Platt at the Mayo
Clinic in Rochester, Minn., has created human-pig chimeras by
adding human-blood-forming stem cells to pig fetuses. The
resulting pigs have both pig and human blood in their vessels. And
it's not just pig blood cells being swept along with human blood
cells; some of the cells themselves have merged, creating hybrids.
It is important to have learned that human and pig cells can fuse,
Platt said, because he and others have been considering
transplanting modified pig organs into people and have been
wondering if that might pose a risk of pig viruses getting into
patient's cells. Now scientists know the risk is real, he said,
because the viruses may gain access when the two cells fuse.
In other experiments led by Esmail Zanjani, chairman of animal
biotechnology at the University of Nevada at Reno, scientists have
been adding human stem cells to sheep fetuses. The team now has
sheep whose livers are up to 80 percent human -- and make all the
compounds human livers make.
Zanjani's goal is to make the humanized livers available to people
who need transplants. The sheep portions will be rejected by the
immune system, he predicted, while the human part will take root.
"I don't see why anyone would raise objections to our work,"
Zanjani said in an interview.
Immunity Advantages
Perhaps the most ambitious efforts to make use of chimeras come
from Irving Weissman, director of Stanford University's Institute of
Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine. Weissman helped make the
first mouse with a nearly complete human immune system -- an
animal that has proved invaluable for tests of new drugs against
the AIDS virus, which does not infect conventional mice.
More recently his team injected human neural stem cells into mouse
fetuses, creating mice whose brains are about 1 percent human.
By dissecting the mice at various stages, the researchers were able
to see how the added brain cells moved about as they multiplied
and made connections with mouse cells.
Already, he said, they have learned things they "never would have
learned had there been a bioethical ban."
Now he wants to add human brain stem cells that have the defects
that cause Parkinson's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease and other
brain ailments -- and study how those cells make connections.
Scientists suspect that these diseases, though they manifest
themselves in adulthood, begin when something goes wrong
early in development. If those errors can be found, researchers
would have a much better chance of designing useful drugs,
Weissman said. And those drugs could be tested in the chimeras
in ways not possible in patients.
Now Weissman says he is thinking about making chimeric mice
whose brains are 100 percent human. He proposes keeping tabs
on the mice as they develop. If the brains look as if they are taking
on a distinctly human architecture -- a development that could hint
at a glimmer of humanness -- they could be killed, he said. If they
look as if they are organizing themselves in a mouse brain
architecture, they could be used for research.
So far this is just a "thought experiment," Weissman said, but
he asked the university's ethics group for an opinion anyway.
"Everyone said the mice would be useful," he said. "But no one
was sure if it should be done."
(c) 2004 The Washington Post Company
washingtonpost.com
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) A Moment of Silence, Before I Start this Poem
by Emmanuel Ortiz
9.11.02
Before I start this poem, I'd like to ask you to join me in a moment
of silence in honor of those who died in the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon last September 11th.
I would also like to ask you to offer up a moment of silence for all of
those who have been harassed, imprisoned, disappeared, tortured,
raped, or killed in retaliation for those strikes, for the victims in both
Afghanistan and the U.S.
And if I could just add one more thing...
A full day of silence for the tens of thousands of Palestinians who
have died at the hands of U.S.-backed Israeli forces over decades
of occupation. Six months of silence for the million and-a-half
Iraqi people, mostly children, who have died of mall-nourishment
or starvation as a result of an 11-year U.S. embargo against the
country.
Before I begin this poem: two months of silence for the Blacks
under Apartheid in South Africa, where homeland security made
them aliens in their own country Nine months of silence for the
dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where death rained down and
peeled back every layer of concrete, steel, earth and skin and the
survivors went on as if alive. A year of silence for the millions of
dead in Viet Nam - a people, not a war - for those who know a
thing or two about the scent of burning fuel, their relatives' bones
buried in it, their babies born of it. A year of silence for the dead
in Cambodia and Laos, victims of a secret war ... ssssshhhhh ....
Say nothing ... we don't want them to learn that they are dead.
Two months of silence for the decades of dead in Colombia,
whose names, like the corpses they once represented, have
piled up and slipped off our tongues.
Before I begin this poem,
An hour of silence for El Salvador ... An afternoon of silence for
Nicaragua ... Two days of silence for the Guetmaltecos ... None
of whom ever knew a moment of peace in their living years. 45
seconds of silence for the 45 dead at Acteal, Chiapas 25 years of
silence for the hundred million Africans who found their graves far
deeper in the ocean than any building could poke into the sky.
There will be no DNA testing or dental records to identify their
remains. And for those who were strung and swung from the
heights of sycamore trees in the south, the north, the east,
and the west... 100 years of silence...
For the hundreds of millions of indigenous peoples from this
half of right here, Whose land and lives were stolen,
In postcard-perfect plots like Pine Ridge, Wounded Knee,
Sand Creek, Fallen Timbers, or the Trail of Tears. Names
now reduced to innocuous magnetic poetry on the refrigerator
of our consciousness ...
So you want a moment of silence?
And we are all left speechless
Our tongues snatched from our mouths
Our eyes stapled shut
A moment of silence
And the poets have all been laid to rest
The drums disintegrating into dust
Before I begin this poem,
You want a moment of silence
You mourn now as if the world will never be the same
And the rest of us hope to hell it won't be.
Not like it always has been
Because this is not a 9-1-1 poem
This is a 9/10 poem,
It is a 9/9 poem,
A 9/8 poem,
A 9/7 poem
This is a 1492 poem.
This is a poem about what causes poems like this to be
written And if this is a 9/11 poem, then
This is a September 11th poem for Chile, 1971
This is a September 12th poem for Steven Biko in
South Africa, 1977
This is a September 13th poem for the brothers at
Attica Prison, New York, 1971.
This is a September 14th poem for Somalia, 1992.
This is a poem for every date that falls to the
ground in ashes
This is a poem for the 110 stories that were never told
The 110 stories that history chose not to write in textbooks
The 110 stories that CNN, BBC, The New York Times,
and Newsweek ignored
This is a poem for interrupting this program.
And still you want a moment of silence for your dead?
We could give you lifetimes of empty:
The unmarked graves
The lost languages
The uprooted trees and histories
The dead stares on the faces of nameless children
Before I start this poem
We could be silent forever
Or just long enough to hunger,
For the dust to bury us
And you would still ask us
For more of our silence.
If you want a moment of silence
Then stop the oil pumps
Turn off the engines and the televisions
Sink the cruise ships
Crash the stock markets
Unplug the marquee lights,
Delete the instant messages,
Derail the trains, the light rail transit
If you want a moment of silence, put a brick
through the window ofTaco Bell,
And pay the workers for wages lost
Tear down the liquor stores,
The townhouses, the White Houses, the jailhouses,
the Penthouses and the Playboys.
If you want a moment of silence,
Then take it
On Super Bowl Sunday,
The Fourth of July
During Dayton's 13 hour sale
Or the next time your white guilt
fills the room where my beautiful
people have gathered
You want a moment of silence
Then take it
Now,
Before this poem begins.
Here, in the echo of my voice,
In the pause between goosesteps of the second hand
In the space
between bodies in embrace,
Here is your silence.
Take it.
But take it all
Don't cut in line.
Let your silence begin at the beginning of crime.
But we,
Tonight we will keep right on singing
For our dead.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Where's Picasso?
Falluja: The 21 st Century Guernica
By Saul Landau
http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Landau&otherweek=110136240
On November 12, as U.S. jets bombed Falluja for the ninth straight
day, a Redwood City California jury found Scott Peterson guilty of
murdering his wife and unborn child. That macabre theme captured
the headlines and dominated conversation throughout workplaces
and homes.
Indeed, Peterson "news" all but drowned out the U.S. military's claim
that successful bombing and shelling of a city of 300,000 residents
had struck only sites where "insurgents" had holed up. On
November 15, the BBC embedded newsman with a marine detachment
claimed that the unofficial death toll estimate had risen to well over
2,000, many of them civilians.
As Iraqi eyewitnesses told BBC reporters he had seen bombs hitting
residential targets, Americans exchanged viewpoints and kinky
jokes about Peterson. One photographer captured a Falluja man
holding his dead son, one of two kids he lost to U.S. bombers.
He could not get medical help to stop the bleeding.
A November 14 Reuters reporter wrote that residents told him
that "U.S. bombardments hit a clinic inside the Sunni Muslim city,
killing doctors, nurses and patients." The U.S. military denied the
reports. Such stories did not make headlines. Civilian casualties
in aggressive U.S. wars don't sell media space.
But editors love shots of anguished GI Joes. The November
12 Los Angeles Times ran a front page shot of a soldier with
mud smeared face and cigarette dangling from his lips. This
image captured the "suffering" of Falluja. The GI complained
he was out of "smokes."
The young man doing his "duty to free Falluja," stands in stark
contrast to the nightmare of Falluja. "Smoke is everywhere," an
Iraqi told the BBC (Nov 11). "The house some doors from mine
was hit during the bombardment on Wednesday night. A 13-
year-old boy was killed. His name was Ghazi. A row of palm
trees used to run along the street outside my house - now only
the trunks are left... There are more and more dead bodies on
the streets and the stench is unbearable."
Another eyewitness told Reuters (November 12) that "a 9-year-
old boy was hit in the stomach by a piece of shrapnel. His parents
said they couldn't get him to hospital because of the fighting,
so they wrapped sheets around his stomach to try to stem the
bleeding. He died hours later of blood loss and was buried in
the garden."
U.S. media's embedded reporters - presstitutes? - accepted
uncritically the Pentagon's spin that many thousands of Iraqi
"insurgents," including the demonized outsiders led by Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi ,who had joined the anti-U.S. jihad, had
dug in to defend their vital base. After the armored and air
assault began and the ground troops advanced, reports filtered
out that the marines and the new Iraqi army that trailed behind
them had faced only light resistance. Uprisings broke out in
Mosul and other cities. For the combatants, however, Falluja
was Hell.
Hell for what? Retired Marine Corps general Bernard Trainor
declared that: militarily "Falluja is not going to be much of
a plus at all." He admitted that "we've knocked the hell out
of this city, and the only insurgents we really got were the
nut-cases and zealots, the smart ones left behind_ the guys
who really want to die for Allah." While Pentagon spin doctors
boasted of a U.S. "victory, Trainor pointed out that the
"terrorists remain at large."
The media accepts axiomatically that U.S. troops wear the
"white hats" in this conflict. They do not address the obvious:
Washington illegally invaded and occupied Iraq and
"re-conquered" Falluja - for no serious military purpose.
Logically, the media should call Iraqi "militants" patriots
who resisted illegal occupation.
Instead, the press implied that the "insurgents" even fought
dirty, using improvised explosive devices and booby traps to
kill our innocent soldiers, who use clean weapons like F16s,
helicopter gun ships, tanks and artillery.
Why, Washington even promised to rebuild the city that its
military just destroyed. Bush committed the taxpayers to debts
worth hundreds of millions of dollars, which Bechtel, Halliburton
and the other corporate beneficiaries of war will use
for "rebuilding."
Banality and corruption arise from the epic evil of this war,
one that has involved massive civilian death and the
destruction of ancient cities.
In 1935, Nazi General Erich Luderndorff argued in his "The
Total War" that modern war encompasses all of society; thus,
the military should spare no one. The Fascist Italian General
Giulio Douhet echoed this theme. By targeting civilians, he
said, an army could advance more rapidly. "Air-delivered terror"
effectively removes civilian obstacles.
That doctrine became practice in late April 1937. Nazi pilots
dropped their deadly bombs on Guernica, the ancient Basque
capital - like what U.S. pilots recently did to Falluja. A year
earlier, in 1936, the Spanish Civil War erupted. General
Francisco Franco, supported by fascist governments in Italy
and Germany, led an armed uprising against the Republic.
The residents of Guernica resisted. Franco asked his Nazi
partners to punish these stubborn people who had withstood
his army's assault.
The people of Guernica had no anti-aircraft guns, much less
fighter planes to defend their city. The Nazi pilots knew that
at 4:30 in the afternoon of market day, the city's center would
be jammed with shoppers from all around the areas.
Before flying on their "heroic mission," the German pilots
had drunk a toast with their Spanish counterparts in a language
that both could understand: "Viva la muerte," they shouted as
their raised their copas de vino . The bombing of Guernica
introduced a concept in which the military would make no
distinction between civilians and combatants. Death to all!
Almost 1,700 people died that day and some 900 lay wounded.
Franco denied that the raid ever took place and blamed the
destruction of Guernica on those who defended it, much as
the U.S. military intimates that the "insurgents" forced the
savage attack by daring to defend their city and then hide inside
their mosques. Did the public in 1937 face the equivalent of
the Peterson case that commanded their attention?
Where is the new Picasso who will offer a dramatic painting to
help the 21 st Century public understand that what the U.S.
Air Force just did to the people of Falluja resembles what the
Nazis did to Guernica?
In Germany and Italy in 1937, the media focused on the
vicissitudes suffered by those pilots who were sacrificing for
the ideals of their country by combating a "threat." The U.S.
media prattles about the difficulties encountered by the marines.
It never calls them bullies who occupy another people's country,
subduing patriots with superior technology to kill civilians and
destroy their homes and mosques.
On November 15, an embedded NBC cameraman filmed a U.S.
soldier murdering a wounded Iraqi prisoner in cold blood. As
CNN showed the tape, its reporter offered "extenuating
circumstances" for the assassination we had witnessed.
The wounded man might have booby-trapped himself as other
"insurgents" had done. After all, these marines had gone through
hell in the last week.
The reporting smacks of older imperial wars, Andrew Greely
reminded us in the November 12, Chicago Sun Times. "The
United States has fought unjust wars before - Mexican American,
the Indian Wars, Spanish American, the Filipino Insurrection,
Vietnam. Our hands are not clean. They are covered with blood,
and there'll be more blood this time."
Falluja should serve as the symbol of this war of atrocity against
the Iraqi people, our Guernica. But, as comedian Chris Rock
insightfully points out, George W. Bush has distracted us. That's
why he killed Laci Peterson, why he snuck that young boy into
Michael Jackson's bedroom and the young woman into Kobe
Bryant's hotel room. He wants us not to think of the war in Iraq.
We need a new Picasso mural, "Falluja," to help citizens focus
on the themes of our time, not the travails of the Peterson case.
The Bush Administration sensed the danger of such a painting.
Shortly before Colin Powell's February 5, 2003, UN Security
Council fraudulent, power point presentation, where he made
the case for invading Iraq, UN officials, at U.S. request, placed
a curtain over a tapestry of Picasso's Guernica, located at the
entrance to the Security Council chambers. As a TV backdrop,
the anti-war mural would contradict the Secretary of State's
case for war in Iraq. Did the dead painter somehow know that
his mural would foreshadow another Guernica, called Falluja?
Landau directs digital media at Cal Poly Pomona University's
College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. He is also a fellow
of the Institute for Policy Studies. His latest book is THE BUSINESS
OF AMERICA: HOW CONSUMERS HAVE RPELACED CITIZENS AND
HOW WE CAN REVERSE THE TREND.
Copyright 2004(c) Progreso Weekly, Inc.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Radio exchange contradicts army version of Gaza killing
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Wednesday November 24, 2004
The Guardian
An Israeli army officer who repeatedly shot a 13-year-old
Palestinian girl in Gaza dismissed a warning from another
soldier that she was a child by saying he would have killed
her even if she was three years old.
The officer, identified by the army only
as Captain R, was charged this week
with illegal use of his weapon, conduct
unbecoming an officer and other
relatively minor infractions after emptying
all 10 bullets from his gun's magazine
into Iman al-Hams when she walked into
a "security area" on the edge of Rafah
refugee camp last month.
A tape recording of radio exchanges
between soldiers involved in the
incident, played on Israeli television,
contradicts the army's account of the events
and appears to show that the captain
shot the girl in cold blood.
The official account claimed that Iman
was shot as she walked towards an army
post with her schoolbag because soldiers
feared she was carrying a bomb.
But the tape recording of the radio
conversation between soldiers at the
scene reveals that, from the beginning,
she was identified as a child and at no
point was a bomb spoken about nor was
she described as a threat. Iman was also
at least 100 yards from any soldier.
Instead, the tape shows that the soldiers
swiftly identified her as a "girl
of about 10" who was "scared to death".
The tape also reveals that the soldiers
said Iman was headed eastwards, away
from the army post and back into the
refugee camp, when she was shot.
At that point, Captain R took the unusual
decision to leave the post in
pursuit of the girl. He shot her dead and
then "confirmed the kill" by emptying his
magazine into her body.
The tape recording is of a three-way
conversation between the army
watchtower, the army post's operations
room and the captain, who was a company
commander.
The soldier in the watchtower radioed
his colleagues after he saw Iman: "It's
a little girl. She's running defensively eastward."
Operations room: "Are we talking
about a girl under the age of 10?"
Watchtower: "A girl of about 10, she's
behind the embankment, scared to
death."
A few minutes later, Iman is shot in the
leg from one of the army posts.
The watchtower: "I think that one of
the positions took her out."
The company commander then moves
in as Iman lies wounded and helpless.
Captain R: "I and another soldier ... are
going in a little nearer, forward,
to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation
report. We fired and killed her
... I also confirmed the kill. Over."
Witnesses described how the captain shot
Iman twice in the head, walked away,
turned back and fired a stream of bullets
into her body. Doctors at Rafah's
hospital said she had been shot at least 17 times.
On the tape, the company commander then
"clarifies" why he killed Iman: "This
is commander. Anything that's mobile, that
moves in the zone, even if it's a
three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over."
The army's original account of the killing s
aid that the soldiers only
identified Iman as a child after she was
first shot. But the tape shows that they
were aware just how young the small,
slight girl was before any shots were
fired.
The case came to light after soldiers under
the command of Captain R went to
an Israeli newspaper to accuse the army
of covering up the circumstances of
the killing.
A subsequent investigation by the officer
responsible for the Gaza strip,
Major General Dan Harel, concluded that
the captain had "not acted unethically".
However, the military police launched
an investigation, which resulted in
charges against the unit commander.
Iman's parents have accused the army
of whitewashing the affair by filing
minor charges against Captain R. They
want him prosecuted for murder.
Record of a shooting
Watchtower
'It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward'
Operations room
'Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?'
Watchtower
'A girl of about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death'
Captain R (after killing the girl)
'Anything moving in the zone, even a three-year-old, needs to be killed'
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) January 20 Call to Action: RISE Against
Bush/SHINE For A Peaceful
(Can't we all just unite together on Jan. 20 and
March 20, 2005? ...as I said, people the world over will
be demonstrating on January 20, 2005 against the death and
devastation the U.S.Government has brought upon Iraq-based
all on lies.)
Can't we all just unite together on Jan. 20 and March 20, 2005? ...bw)
January 20 Call to Action: RISE Against
Bush/SHINE For A Peaceful
------- Forwarded message -------
From: jsmacdonald@riseup.net
To: counter-inauguration@lists.riseup.net,
stop-the-inauguration@lists.riseup.net
Subject: [stop-the-inauguration] January 20 Call to Action: RISE Against
Bush/SHINE For A Peaceful Tomorrow
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2004 14:03:13 -0800 (PST)
RISE Against Bush
SHINE For A Peaceful Tomorrow
A Call for Anti-War Actions in Washington, DC, January 20, 2005
Every morning, the sun rises up, penetrating and overcoming the darkness
of night. What once was dark becomes bright, changed by the force of the
sun's rays.
Our world is in darkness tonight, plagued with war, poverty, environmental
destruction, and attacks on many of the liberties that so many of us hold
dear. The darkness over our world has grown yet darker with the election
of George W. Bush to another 4 years in office.
In the dark of the night, we need only wait for the sun. However, in the
dark of our world, we cannot wait. If we are to see a new dawn, we must
take action now. The DC Anti-War Network (DAWN) calls on the people of
the world to RISE Against Bush and SHINE For A Peaceful Tomorrow.
We RISE
· Against the needless slaughter in and occupation of Iraq;
· Against the assault on civil liberties, as represented by such acts as
the Patriot Act and the immoral detaining of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay;
· Against U.S. support of Israel's apartheid against the Palestinian
people;
· Against U.S. overthrow of Aristide in Haiti;
· Against U.S. attempts to overthrow any other democratically elected
leader, including Hugo Chavez in Venezuela;
· Against any U.S. military action in Iran.
We SHINE
· For a world that embraces peaceful dialogue instead of war;
· For a world where we respect the liberty of all beings;
· For a world that looks out for all those who are now oppressed,
including the poor, women, racial minorities, workers, the disabled,
homosexuals, transgendered, as well as the earth and its creatures;
· For a world that embraces social justice;
· For democracy and the autonomy of all people to have a full say in how
they are governed;
· For each other.
The Call
DAWN calls for people all over the nation and world to converge on
Washington, DC, on the day of George W. Bush's Inauguration, January 20,
2005, for peaceful anti-war actions.
While DAWN is coordinating with many groups for a day of actions, DAWN
calls additionally for these specific actions:
1. A permitted nonviolent anti-war rally followed by a march to Bush's
inaugural parade route
2. A nonviolent civil disobedience die-in, following the rally, in
memorial to the dead at the hands of Bush and his Administration
DAWN also calls for organizations, affinity groups, and individuals to
partner with us in organizing these two actions.
Next Steps
If you or your group or organization wants to endorse DAWN's call to
action, please send an e-mail to info@dawndc.net. Write also if you wish
to collaborate in the planning or offer financial donations or other
material support.
Find out more information about DAWN's and other groups' actions at
http://www.counter-inaugural.org, by participating in the DC Cluster
Spokescouncil meetings (refer to website), or by participating in DAWN's
weekly meetings. Check our website, http://www.dawndc.net for more
details. Housing boards, events boards, working group information, and
(soon) ride boards can be found at http://www.counter-inaugural.org. We
will post updates of our actions, as they become available, to that
website.
The new dawn begins with our rising up. It will take a lot of light to
break through such darkness, but we can do it. We have no other choice.
Join us on J20!
***please forward widely***
--
Coalition for Peace and Justice
UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr Ave, Linwood
NJ 08221; 609-601-8583; cell 609-742-0982
ncohen12@comcast.net; www.unplugsalem.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Vietnam Vet, 53, Called for Duty in Iraq-Report
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters)
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - A 53-year-old Vietnam veteran from western
Pennsylvania has been called up for active service with the U.S. military
in the Iraq (news - web sites) war, The Tribune Review of Greensburg,
Pennsylvania reported on Wednesday.
Paul Dunlap, a sergeant in the Army National Guard, will join an armored
division next month as a telecommunications specialist in Kuwait, and
expects to be there for at least a year, the newspaper reported.
Dunlap, who has not been in combat since serving as a 19-year-
old Marine in Vietnam, could not be reached for comment. He will
leave behind his wife Mary, four children and three grandchildren.
"I don't think any of them want me to go," Dunlap told the paper.
"I'm thinking it's a long time since I've been in war."
Dunlap, from the town of Pleasant Unity, near Greensburg,
Pennsylvania, said he received a call from his sergeant major
and was told to report for a soldier readiness program, the
newspaper said.
Dunlap's wife was quoted as saying the entire family "prayed
that he wouldn't pass his physical."
"It's very, very scary," she said. "He's been a soldier since I met
him, but there's a part of me that wonders at 53: Is he going
to be up to doing what he needs to do over there?"
Critics of the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq have argued that the
current level of U.S. troops there is too low to control an
insurgency that has destabilized the country since the ouster
of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).
The dependence of full-time troops on national guard members
such as Dunlap shows the military is stretched too thin in Iraq
and elsewhere, critics say.
Change Links Progressive Newspaper.
Act. Act in Love and Spirit.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Still Worlds Apart on Iraq
EDITORIAL
November 26, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/26/opinion/26fri1.html?oref=login&hp
Foreign ministers from all the right countries were present. The
timing - two months before the scheduled date of Iraq's all-important
elections - was promising. The Mideast location was symbolically apt.
Too bad, then, that this week's big international conference on Iraq in
the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm el Sheik, bringing together all of
Baghdad's neighbors and every permanent member of the United
Nations Security Council, did so little to change the dismal overall
equation.
The ministers came, they dined and they endorsed the familiar
uncontroversial list of desirable goals. They encouraged free
elections. They condemned terrorism. They endorsed Iraq's
territorial integrity. They reiterated the importance of humanitarian
assistance. Then, still fundamentally disagreeing about how to
achieve these goals, they flew off again, without committing
themselves to anything likely to make any real difference.
International conferences like these can be quite useful when
the participants start out with some basic agreement about the
nature of the problem and the outlines of some possible solutions.
On Iraq, there is still no such agreement. More than 20 months
after the United States unilaterally assumed responsibility for
Iraq's future by invading without the support of the Security
Council or most neighboring countries, it still finds itself largely
on its own, with much of the rest of the world watching skeptically
from the sidelines.
This is not a healthy situation - for Iraq, for the United States,
for the Middle East or for the international community. How
things go in Iraq over the next few months will probably have
widespread and lasting consequences for all. And they are
unlikely to go very well unless all, or at least most, of the
governments represented at Sharm el Sheik begin actively
working together.
But don't expect that to happen any time soon. The newly
re-elected Bush administration seems more determined than
ever to rely on military force to crush the Sunni insurgency,
even if that means going ahead with elections next January that
are not broadly inclusive. Most of the rest of the world, doubting
that this strategy can bring security, legitimacy or real sovereignty,
seems equally determined to remain largely aloof.
The preferred strategy seems to be to hope for the best and
offer such low-risk gestures as forgiving bad Iraqi debt that
would surely never be repaid anyway. But even debt relief, which
Western and Japanese government creditors agreed to last weekend,
is further than Iraq's major Arab creditors, like Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait, are now prepared to go. That makes it far more difficult
for the new Iraqi government to obtain the credit it will need to
revive and rebuild a devastated country. And so far only Romania
and tiny Fiji have offered soldiers for the protective force needed
to send more election workers to Iraq.
That leaves America still going it almost alone. Apart from the
British, most remaining multinational troops are more symbolic
than militarily significant. Washington's other main partner is
Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, who has not done
enough to reach out to the estranged Sunni minority and now
may be in danger of losing Shiite support to the new anti-American
alliance of the former rebel leader Moktada al-Sadr and the former
Pentagon favorite, Ahmad Chalabi.
The newly trained Iraqi security forces the administration likes
to talk about still do not exist in large enough numbers to
safeguard polling places in January, nor has their reliability under
fire yet been convincingly demonstrated. The more than 135,000
United States troops now on long-term occupation duty cannot
remain there indefinitely without seriously eroding America's
worldwide readiness and credibility.
To begin changing this bleak picture, the Bush administration
will have to work much harder at international bridge building
than it did in its first term. Simply soliciting support for current
American policies will not be enough. Washington must also be
willing to consider changing some of those policies as part of
a renewed process of international consultation. That might
lead to more productive international conferences in the future.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) Leading Iraqi Parties Call for Election Delay
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)
Filed at 12:33 p.m. ET
November 26, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq-Elections.html?hp&ex=1
101531600&en=ab08003b4e7ba050&ei=5094&partner=homepage
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Seventeen political parties on Friday demanded
postponement of the Jan. 30 elections for at least six months until the
government is capable of securing polling places.
The parties, mostly Sunni Arab, Kurdish and secular groups, made the
call in a manifesto signed at the home of Sunni elder statesman Adnan
Pachachi, who said he believed the government was waiting for such
a request before seriously addressing the question of whether an
election could be held by the end of January.
Parties of the majority Shiite community strongly support holding
the elections on time but there is widespread doubt within the
minority Sunni community because of insurgent unrest in Sunni
regions of central and northern Iraq.
Sunni clerics from the Association of Muslim Scholars have called
on Sunnis to boycott the election to protest this month's U.S.-led
assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
A widespread boycott by the Sunni community could deny the
elected parliament and government the legitimacy that U.S. and
Iraqi authorities believe is necessary to help bring stability to
Iraq and curb the insurgency.
Mohsen Abdul Hamid, leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party, said that
delaying the election was necessary because of ``threats facing
national unity, and fears of inciting sectarian tensions if a certain
sect was excluded from the elections,'' referring to the Sunnis.
Other politicians said that the government was incapable of
protecting voters from terror attacks if they tried to cast ballots.
Mohel Hardan al-Duleimi of the Arab Socialist Movement said
most people were afraid to vote and that the government's election
commission had failed to educate the public about the election.
``There is strong political polarization with sectarian roots,''
al-Duleimi said.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-TUES.-THURS. NOV. 23-25, 2004
Bay Area United Against War Presents
a film screening of:
"WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception"
Meet film director Danny Schechter "The News Dissector." He will be
available for a question and answer period right after the movie.
Saturday, Dec. 11th, 2004
(Showtime to be announced)
Embarcadero Center Cinema
One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 267-4893
" 'WMD' paints a meticulous and damning portrait of the media's coverage of
the Iraq war. In sobering detail, Danny Schechter shows us how the TV
networks now prefer the role of cheerleader, to that of objective
journalist," says Mike Nisholson of austinnforkerry.org.
"Schechter tackles his subject like a cross between Errol Morris and a
Dashiell Hammet detective, following close on the tail of big media
reporters as they in turn track the march toward war, embed themselves in
the military industrial complex and then get out when the fighting gets
tough and leave the cleanup work to stringers, " writes Shandon Fowler of
film's Hamptons International Film Festival appearance, Oct. 20-24.
To learn more about the film visit:
www.wmdthefilm.org
www.bauaw.org
(Distributed by Cinema Libre Studio, www.cinemalibrestudio.com)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Fallujah Refugees
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
November 23, 2004
(See below...bw)
2) Occupier of a Prime Minister's Chair
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches *
November 23, 2004
(See below...bw)
3) U.S. Starts New Offensive South of Baghdad
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)
Filed at 12:13 p.m. ET
November 23, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iraq.html?hp&ex=1101272400&
en=049a4b3f977459eb&ei=5094&partner=homepage
(link only...bw)
4) U.S. Death Toll in Iraq for Nov. Tops 100
By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer
WASHINGTON (AP)
Nov 23, 8:01 AM EST
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/I/IRAQ_MARINE_DEATHS?SITE=NYSTA&SECTION
=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
(Link only...bw)
5) Iraq: the unthinkable becomes normal
John Pilger
Green Left Weekly, issue #607, November 24, 2004
Mainstream media speak as if Fallujah were populated only by foreign
"insurgents". In fact, women and children are being slaughtered in our name.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/607/607p15.htm
(Link only...bw)
6) Convention Protesters File Lawsuit Over Detentions
By JULIA PRESTON
November 23, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/nyregion/23protest.html?oref=login
(Link only...bw)
7) Confusion Reigns as U.S. Raid Misses Target in Iraq
By Luke Baker
MOSUL, Iraq
Published on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 by Reuters
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1123-09.htm
(Link only...bw)
8) The Netherlands tobogganing from crisis to crisis
The end of the "polder" model
By Erik Demeester
(See below...bw)
9) In a Land Torn by Violence, Too Many Troubling Deaths
CASES WITHOUT BORDERS
By JUAN FORERO
RIOSUCIO, Colombia
November 23, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/health/psychology/23trib.html
(Link only...bw)
10) Alert! Fed Massive Raid and Arrest Chinese Restaurant
Workers Across U.S.!
National Immigrant Solidarity Network Urgent Updates
November 23, 2004
URL: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org
(See below...bw)
11) MILLION CON MARCH!
(See below...bw)
12) Rights Group Calls on Caterpillar to Halt Bulldozer Sales to Israel
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON
Published on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 by OneWorld.net
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1123-02.htm
(Link only...bw)
13) A Mother Deported, and a Child Left Behind
By NINA BERNSTEIN
November 24, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/24/nyregion/24deport.html?oref=login
(Link only...bw)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Fallujah Refugees
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com **
November 23, 2004
"Doctors in Fallujah are reporting there are patients in the hospital
there who were forced out by the Americans," said Mehdi Abdulla, a 33
year-old ambulance driver at a hospital in Baghdad, "Some doctors there
told me they had a major operation going, but the soldiers took the
doctors away and left the patient to die." He looks at the ground, then
away to the distance.
Honking cars fill the chaotic street outside the hospital where they'd
just received brand new desks. The empty boxes are strewn about outside.
Um Mohammed, a doctor at the hospital sat behind her old, wooden desk.
"How can I take a new desk when there are patients dying because we
don't have medicine for them," she asked while holding her hands in the
air, "They should build a lift so patients who can't walk can be taken
to surgery, and instead we have these new desks!" Her eyes were piercing
with fire, while yet another layer of frustration is folded into her work.
"And there are still a few Iraqis who think the Americans came to
liberate them," she added while looking out the broken window. The glass
lay about outside-shattered from a car bomb that had detonated in front
of the hospital. "These people will change their minds about the
liberators when they, too, have had a family member killed by them."
Mehdi then takes us to a refugee camp of Fallujans over on the campus of
the University of Baghdad. Tents
surround an old mosque. Kids run about
several of them kicking around a half-inflated soccer ball. Some women
are using two water taps to clean pots and wash clothing. Many people
stand around, walking aimlessly, waiting.
We contact a sheikh for permission to talk to some of the families. He
greets us then says, "You can see how much we have suffered. We have 97
families here now, with 50 more coming tomorrow. People are kidnapping
refugee children and selling them."
A 35 year-old merchant from Fallujah, Abu Hammad, starts telling us what
he experienced, and barely breathes while doing so because he is so enraged.
"The American warplanes came continuously through the night and bombed
everywhere in Fallujah! It did not stop even for a moment! If the
American forces did not find a target to bomb, they used sound bombs
just to terrorize the people and children. The city stayed in fear; I
cannot give a picture of how panicked everyone was."
He is shaking with grief and anger. "In the mornings I found Fallujah
empty, as if nobody lives in it. Even poisonous gases have been used in
Fallujah-they used everything-tanks, artillery, infantry, poison gas.
Fallujah has been bombed to the ground. Nothing is left."
Several men standing with us, other refugees, nod in agreement while
looking at the setting sun, the direction of Fallujah.
Abu Hammad continues, "Most of the innocent people there stayed in
mosques to be closer to God for safety. Even the wounded people were
killed. Old ladies with white flags were killed by the Americans! The
Americans announced for people to come to a certain mosque if they
wanted to leave Fallujah, and even the people who went there carrying
white flags were killed!"
One of the men standing with us, a large man named Mohammad Ali is
crying; his large body shuddering with each bit of new information
revealed by Abu Hammad.
"There was no food, no electricity, no water," continues Abu Hammad, "We
couldn't even light a candle because the Americans would see it and kill
us."
He pauses, then asks, "This suffering of the people, I would like to ask
everyone in the world if they have seen suffering like this. The people
in Fallujah are only Fallujans. Ayad Allawi was a liar when he said
there are foreign fighters there."
He continues on, "There are bodies the Americans threw in the river. I
saw them do this! And anyone who stayed thought they would be killed by
the Americans, so they tried to swim across the river. Even then the
Americans shot them with rifles from the shore! Even if some of them
were holding a white flag or white clothes over their heads to show they
are not fighters, they were all shot! Even people who couldn't swim
tried to cross the river! They drowned rather than staying to be killed
by the Americans."
Mohammad cuts in and begins his plea. He is from the Julan district of
Fallujah, where much of the heaviest fighting occurred, and continues to
occur. "They call us terrorists when we live in the city. We own the
city. We didn't go to fight the Americans-they came to our city to fight
us. Fallujans are defending our city, our houses, our mosques, our
honor. Ayad Allawi says we are his family-can you attack your family
Allawi? Do you attack your own family Allawi?"
He now raises his hands to the sky
and asks loudly, "We are asking Islam, all the Islamic countries to have
a clear conscience to look at what is happening to Fallujah. We were the
most secured city with the police and ING (Iraqi National Guard) without
the presence of the Americans. But now when we come to Baghdad we are
afraid because our cars and belongings will be looted."
His large body continues to shudder as he talks on, "We did not feel
that there is Eid after Ramadan this year because of our situation being
so bad. All we have is more fasting. They said they are going to
reconstruct Fallujah-but I would like to ask when and how, and what did
they do to Sadr City when they stopped fighting there? They did nothing."
I notice a man with one leg sitting near the mosque
nodding while he smokes his cigarette while Mohammad continues, "I would
like to ask the whole world-why is this? I tell the presidents of the
Arab and Muslim countries to wake up! Wake up please! We are being
killed, we are refugees from our houses, our children have nothing-not
even shoes to wear! Wake up! Wake up! Stop being traitors! Be human
beings and not the dummies of the Americans!"
He is weeping even more when he adds, "I left Fallujah yesterday and I
am handicapped. I asked God to save us but our house was bombed and I
lost everything."
As Mohammad no longer speaks, a 40 year-old refugee, Khalil, speaks up.
"When the Americans come to our city we refuse to accept any foreigner
coming to invade us. We accept the ING's but not the Americans. Nobody
has seen any Zarqawi. If the Americans don't come in our city, who do
Fallujans attack? Fallujans don't attack other Iraqis. Fallujans only
attack the American troops when they come inside or near our city."
Rather than weeping like so many others I interviewed, Khalil is raging.
His sadness is being covered with anger. "If we have a government-the
government should solve the suffering of the people. Our government does
not do this-instead they are always attacking us, our government is a
dummy government. They are not here to help us. The Minister of Defense
and Interior are speaking that we are their family-so why do they
collapse our houses on our heads? Why do they kill all of us?"
But then tears find his eyes, and while pointing to several small
children nearby he says, "Eid is over. Ramadan is over-and the kids
are remaining without even a smile. They have nothing and nowhere to go.
We used to take them to parks to amuse them, but now we don't even have
a house for them."
He continues pointing at the children, along with some women nearby,
"What about the children? What did they do? What about the women? I
can't describe the situation in Fallujah and the condition of the
people-Fallujah is suffering too much, it is almost gone now."
He then explains, "We got some supplies from the good people of Baghdad,
and some volunteer doctors came on their own with some medicines, but
they ran out daily because conditions are so bad. We saw nothing from
the Ministry of Health-no medicines or doctors or anything."
He said those who left Fallujah did not think they would be gone so
long, so they brought only their summer clothes. Now it is quite cold at
night, down to 10 degrees C at night and windy much of the time. Khalil
adds, "We need more clothes. It's a disaster we are living in here at
this camp. We are living like dogs and the kids do not have enough
clothes."
As of today, a spokesman for the Iraqi Red Crescent told me none of
their relief teams had been allowed into Fallujah, and the military said
it would be at least two more weeks before any refugees would be allowed
into their city.
More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com
You are subscribed to the Dahr Jamail's email Iraq Dispatches because you
requested a subscription at some point.
You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/ to subscribe or
unsubscribe to the email list.
Or, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to
iraq_dispatches-request@dahrjamailiraq.com and write unsubscribe in the
subject or the body of the email.
Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Occupier of a Prime Minister's Chair
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches *
November 23, 2004
Dahr Jamail
BAGHDAD, Nov 23 (IPS) - The prime minister is following in the footsteps
of the last president. The rule of Ayad Allawi, the U.S. appointed
interim prime minister of Iraq, is now more in the style of the
dictatorship of Saddam Hussein than a leader of a supposedly democratic
state.
Most Iraqis had celebrated the overthrow of the regime of Saddam
Hussein. But under what has developed into a brutal and bloody
occupation people are turning against the interim prime minister as they
turned against Saddam.
One of Allawi's earliest moves after his appointment was to form a new
version of the feared secret police in Iraq. The Economist reported that
Allawi's rivals accused him of "recruiting former torturers to man a new
apparatus of oppression."
In July Paul McGeogh of the Sydney Morning Herald reported that two
eyewitnesses saw Allawi execute six people at the security centre in the
al-Amadiyah district of Baghdad. The men had been detained for allegedly
attacking U.S. forces two weeks before the handover of power.
The appointed interim prime minister has instituted martial law,
threatened to detain journalists, and banned the Arab channel al-Jazeera
from reporting within Iraq. Allawi's minister of justice has brought
back the death penalty and spoken of chopping off the hands and heads of
those described as insurgents.
Now comes the siege of Fallujah. At a refugee camp in Baghdad filled
with families from the besieged city, anger erupts at the mention of
Allawi's name.
"Ayad Allawi says we are his family," said Mohammad Ali, a 53-year-old
refugee wounded by U.S. bombs in his home in Fallujah. "Can you attack
your family, Allawi? Do you attack your own family, Allawi?"
Allawi is a traitor to the people of Iraq, said Dr. Um Mohammed who
works at a hospital in Baghdad. "He is an American puppet who enjoys the
killing of Iraqis." A trader in central Baghdad Abdel Hakim Abdulla said
Allawi has "never made a decision that benefits Iraqis."
Anger is building up against Allawi also over the role he played before
he was appointed interim prime minister. He is the man many hold
responsible for providing fraudulent intelligence that Saddam Hussein
posed a threat to the United States.
His now discredited statements to U.S. intelligence that Saddam Hussein
had links to the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11 were used to justify the
invasion of Iraq. This had shaken his credibility amongst Iraqis from
the beginning.
The right-wing Daily Telegraph of London published a "newly discovered"
document from Allawi Dec. 14 last year. Allawi, who was then a member of
the Iraqi Governing Council stated that the mastermind of the Sep. 11
terrorist attacks Mohammad Atta had been trained in Iraq with support
from Saddam Hussein.
This fraudulent information was cited by U.S. intelligence as compelling
evidence that Saddam Hussein had contacts with al-Qaeda. It was cited as
justification for the failing occupation of Iraq.
A second part of the memo also believed to have been provided by Allawi
alleged shipment of uranium from Niger to Iraq. This is another claim
that has been proved false.
Allawi was reported by the International Herald Tribune to have said
that Saddam Hussein had stashed billions of dollars in banks around the
world. No evidence of these billions has emerged.
Allawi again was said again to have provided the 'intelligence' in a
British government dossier that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction
which could be made operational in 45 minutes, according to a report in
the New York Times May 29 this year. This 'intelligence' has been
acknowledged to be false.
Allawi, a Shia Muslim, was "unanimously nominated" to the post of
interim prime minister May 28 by the U.S.-appointed former Iraqi
Governing Council.
Adam Daifallah wrote in the New York Sun that Allawi heads a group
comprising primarily former Baathist associates of deposed dictator
Saddam Hussein and "has received funding from the CIA (Central
Intelligence Agency of the United States) and has unsuccessfully worked
with American intelligence for years to oust Saddam through coup attempts."
Born in Baghdad in 1946 into a well-known business family, Allawi became
a member of the Baath party after it rose to power. He left Iraq in 1971
to go to university in London, and did not return to his home country
until just after the U.S.-led invasion last year.
You are subscribed to the Dahr Jamail's email Iraq Dispatches because you
requested a subscription at some point.
You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/ to subscribe or
unsubscribe to the email list.
Or, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to
iraq_dispatches-request@dahrjamailiraq.com and write unsubscribe in the
subject or the body of the email.
Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
Iraq_Dispatches@dahrjamailiraq.com
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) The Netherlands tobogganing from crisis to crisis
The end of the "polder" model
By Erik Demeester
Rarely have we seen a country being catapulted from being one of the most
stable and apparently harmonious parts of the world into a profound abyss of
instability and uncertainty. This is the story of the Netherlands over the
last two and a half years.
It all started with the economy. After a period of rapid economic growth in
the 1990's, well above the average of the other European countries, the GDP
of the Netherlands has since moved at a snail's pace. From a peak of more
than 7 percent in 2000 the economic growth fell to a mere 2 percent in 2003.
Over the last five years the economy has gone through a severe boom-and-bust
cycle. This is because of the high dependence on world trade, which has made
the country very sensitive to changes on the world market. The "polder"
model, which consists in the agreement that all big social and economical
changes are to be negotiated between the government, the unions and the
bosses, was clearly going to be seriously tested by this new situation.
Through the polder model - a policy of intense class collaboration - the
idea was cultivated of finding solutions to problems thanks to compromise
and consensus. Dutch people, and also the workers, had even come to believe
that consummate pragmatism and the tendency of avoiding conflict had become
part of their national character.
A model under attack
The raw economic growth figures of the 1990's did not say everything about
was happening in Dutch society. They hid the real social situation. The
price for the economic progress was paid with wage restraint, the
multiplication of short-term contracts, increased flexibility and
generalised social insecurity inside and outside the workplace. Yes, the
unemployment figures were lower than in neighbouring countries. But the
number of people living off disability allowances was higher than the number
of jobless workers. Many older, worn out and sick workers who couldn't stand
the strain and stress anymore were channelled into those schemes. These are
the same schemes that are now cynically being attacked by the right-wing
government of Balkenende.
All this took place with the support and active collaboration of the leaders
of the trade unions and the social democratic party, the PVDA. Those were
the years of coalition governments of the PVDA with the liberal VVD and
"social-liberal" D66, known as the "Purple Coalition". The social peace
imposed by this alliance of forces against the working class started to
break down. Protests against mismanagement, for instance in the national
railways (NS), were only possible thanks to the launching of "workers'
collectives", built outside the unions and dubbed as anarchist by the media.
At that time this seemed to be the only way of breaking the stranglehold of
the union bureaucracy. Further to this, "senseless violence" and cases of
extreme anti-social behaviour increased the feelings of alienation and
malaise within Dutch society.
There was an all-pervading hermetic "political correctness" which refused to
even recognise the existence of these problems in a country like the
Netherlands. "Problems in the world?" Not here in the Netherlands, where all
causes of tension are eradicated before they can emerge, was the prevailing
idea. There are few countries where the tensions between the considerable
material and technological possibilities on the one hand and the lack of
harmony in society on the other hand are so vivid as in the Netherlands.
Slowly but surely the feeling that "Holland is full" was penetrating into
the minds of a section of the Dutch people. As in other European countries,
this was a contradictory phenomenon. On the one hand it had a reactionary
side to it ("we are full of immigrants") and on the other hand it had a more
progressive content (the feeling that the country was full of stress and
frustration).
Due to the lack of a left alternative this tension would sooner or later be
channelled in an extreme rightward direction. In this the Netherlands was no
different from any other country. The only difference was that it tried to
take the form of something a little more subtle than the not so subtle
demagogy of the Flemish Vlaams Blok that had penetrated Flemish minds as
early as the early '90s. This is shown by the fact that the crypto-fascists
of Janmaat and his gang, failed to get any significant support for their
reactionary ideas among the Dutch population. Given the previous long
history of so-called social peace and tolerance, the right-wing
reactionaries could not present themselves for what they really are. They
had to disguise somewhat their real nature. Thus, in order to sell to the
Dutch people an extreme right-wing stock of ideas, one had to offer a bit
more than mere racist mudslinging.
The rise and fall of Pim Fortuyn
"Something is going wrong" was a feeling shared by more and more people. For
Pim Fortuyn, a well-spoken maverick professor, this was fertile terrain for
his anti-establishment diatribes and racist demagogy. This man, who had
written plenty of books on the lost soul of Europe, spoilt people, etc., was
the accidental figure who was fill in the vacuum in Dutch politics, breaking
down the dominant politics of consensus. His speeches struck a chord amongst
broad layers of society, of course with the help of the media and his
reactionary friends.
Pim Fortuyn, racist
demagogue
Very soon he began to rise like a rocket in the opinion polls. His quickly
assembled political formation "Lijst Pim Fortuyn" (LPF) rapidly became an
electoral success. The LPF was never a fascist threat to the country and
could not even be compared to the classic extreme right-wing parties such as
the Front National in France or the Vlaams Blok in Belgium, which he even
openly denounced. Pim Fortuyn was a reactionary upstart that seemed to come
from nowhere, but he fed on the accumulated frustrations coming from the
depths of society. He was a medieval witch doctor, a charlatan who after a
bleeding... prescribes another bleeding - but he was at least able to put
across what seemed a convincing case to wide layers of the electorate.
However, he was a superficial and temporary phenomenon. But the social and
political frustrations that he vented in a distorted way will prove not to
be superficial at all.
Then something happened which stupefied the country. Pim Fortuyn was
assassinated a few days before the national elections by a Green activist.
The commotion provoked by this killing is difficult to describe. People did
not believe that a politically motivated assassination could take place in
the Netherlands. In Haiti yes, in the United States also, but in the
Netherlands? No, this was unthinkable. But many unthinkable and "un-Dutch"
things were to surprise the Netherlands in the period that followed.
A feeling of defiance toward the political elite started to spread rapidly.
Thousands of people gathered spontaneously in the streets not only to mourn
their hero, but also to protest against the "Purple" government. People went
so far as to accuse government ministers of being responsible for the murder
of Pim Fortuyn. It was clear something had profoundly changed in Dutch
society.
Storms ahead
The 2002 elections had the effect of temporarily defusing the anger as many
people found an outlet in the ballot box. The posthumous election success of
the Pim Fortuyn List in reality proved to be the undoing of the Purple
coalition of the PVDA, D66 and VVD. It also prepared the ground for a
homogenous right-wing government consisting of the Christian Democratic CDA
and the LPF. In those elections the PVDA lost a lot of its support and the
Left Socialist party picked up some of the pieces.
The LPF, without Pim Fortuyn, rapidly disintegrated amongst a lot of
infighting. The first right-wing government was crisis ridden and gave way
to new elections were the PVDA regained some lost ground but not enough to
be able to impose a new "Purple" scenario.
Even before the killing of Pim Fortuyn we had announced that a heavy storm
was gathering over the Netherlands. We wrote in Vonk , the paper of the
Belgian Marxists in April 2002: "In the next period the unions will be in
the frontline of the fight against social and political breakdown. Social
peace will de facto come to an end. If the union leadership does not do it
the government will."
Prime Minister Balkenende knows his friends
The second option was the more realistic one. The new right-wing government,
Balkenende II, this time also joined by the "social-liberal" D66, decided to
go for a unilateral break with the polder model of consensus politics. The
capitalists were demanding a rapid movement towards a programme of counter
reforms, attacks against the welfare state and a worsening of wages and
labour conditions. This was in order to be more competitive in the harsh
conditions of the world market. Negotiations with the unions, the middle of
the road policy of giving and taking, were seen as obstacles to a swift
demolition operation. The liberal leader Bolkestein illustrated this idea by
saying, "consensus is a good thing but a good policy is even better".
The bosses and the right-wing government calculated that they would not
encounter much resistance from the unions even if they were to push then to
one side. At first the union leadership tried to cling desperately to their
role of obedient middlemen between the workers and the bosses. They accepted
a new period of wage restraint. This was grudgingly accepted by a majority
of members in a ballot. More and more self-confident as a result of those
clear signs of weakness on the part of the union leadership, the government
and the bosses increased the intensity of their attacks against the welfare
state. Their targets were the early retirement schemes (VUT, pre-pension),
the age of retirement, unemployment benefits and the disability allowances
(WAO). This led to a breakdown in negotiations in the middle of May of this
year. The union leaders of the main federations FNV, CNV and MHP faced a
fait accompli, which stunned them. They were left like fish out of water.
The leader of the 1,2 million-member FNV union, Lodewijk de Waal, confessed
after having left the negotiation table: "Now we are stuck".
Workers arise
The pressure was also increasing in the workplaces. When faced with the
question in a new ballot if the union leaders were correct to oppose the
plans of the government, 97 percent of the members voted yes. Significantly,
the participation of the members in this later ballot doubled in comparison
with the earlier one. This was a symptom of a growing awakening of important
layers of the working class.
During the summer the government continued to plan and carry out all kinds
of measures of counter-reform in other fields as well. The front against the
Balkenende government was growing. A coalition of more than 500
organisations was formed under the banner of "Turn the Tide". This was
another symptom of growing defiance. Things could not go on like they had
done before. Reluctantly the union leaders were forced to issue a plan of
action and mobilise their members. The reaction from below was overwhelming.
Working class is not
a dirty word anymore
On the September 20th the main centres of activity were paralysed in
Rotterdam as a result of a 24-hour strike. The Rotterdam docks, the biggest
port in the world, were closed. The unions had been expecting 10,000
demonstrators to turn up that day. Six times that figure turned up: 60,000
workers marched over the main bridges of the city into the centre. The town
hall was briefly occupied by firefighters. Left-wing trade unionists
organised in a committee named "Enough is enough" played an important role
in this amazing turnout. A daily paper carried the significant title "The
hammer and sickle is flying again in Rotterdam". Rotterdam used to be a
bulwark of the Communists in the past. The fighting traditions of the Dutch
workers are coming back. The left-wing FNV trade union leader, Niek Stam, of
the dockworkers answered the question why they were selling T-shirts with
the English words "working class" to support their struggle in this way:
"The term 'working class' is becoming popular. Especially when we say it in
English our young people like it". (see: www.maatisvol.nl )
An old bastion of the working class takes the lead
The right wing pretended that nothing had happened. But Rotterdam was
clearly a turning point and the less arrogant and obtuse ministers and
bosses started to see this. The union leaders could not believe their eyes
either. After Rotterdam other sections of the working class wanted to come
out in protest, including the police! What would the next national demo on
October 2nd bring? This was a demo on a Saturday and without a strike. The
result was even more impressive: more than a quarter of a million
demonstrated in Amsterdam (see Netherlands: Reawakening of the Dutch working
class). The character of the demo was not purely trade union but it brought
out a broader and larger layer of the working class and youth.
Pressed by the media to comment on this turnout the Minister of Finances
Zalm just said, "I wave to them". More and more workers and activists were
demanding a national 24-hour general strike as the next step. Union
membership was also undergoing important growth. The service union ABVAKABO,
for instance, has reported that the rate of growth of its membership in
September and October was ten times higher than in the same period in
previous years.
Sjaak van der Velden, a specialist in the history of strike movements in the
Netherlands puts the strikes of the autumn in perspective thus:
"Thirty years of cuts, in particular in the public services, have created a
lot of anger. The only thing was the absence of a reaction against this.
Maybe we can understand the rise of Fortuyn also in this context. In fact,
changes were already visible during the demonstrations against the invasion
of Iraq in February 2002. I also think it has something to do with the
movement after the WTO summit in Seattle in 1999 and all the other
international summits. You notice now that discontent has found a channel.
The funny thing about this is that if we believe the dominant ideology since
the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 these things should not have happened.
This makes the demonstration of October 2 more special."
The gigantic demonstration of October 2nd was followed by a plan of what was
described as "relay" strikes involving all sections of industry in stoppages
at different days over a period of a month and a half. It was not intended
to culminate in an all-industry general strike, although some unions were
pressing for such a strike on November 9th.
Crescendo of strikes
The trade union leadership also toyed with the idea of demanding a
referendum as a way of protesting against the government policy. We think
that would have been a wrong tactic, and it was clearly a way of avoiding
showing the real power of the working class in the struggle against the
government. A referendum would involve layers of society not affected by the
government measures, such as the bourgeois themselves and the middle
classes. The questions posed in such a referendum would also be limited to a
few measures on pensions and not the whole package, thus replacing the need
for a more consistent effort through strikes, demonstrations, etc. A
referendum would also not be legally binding on the government. It would not
be bound by the verdict. It would only have been consultative.
At the end the dynamic of demonstrations and strikes got the upper hand. The
first to go on strike after October 2nd were the transport workers (public
and private) on October 14th. This was also a big success. It was the
biggest turnout in this sector for fifteen years. Interestingly, activists
commented that this time in the railway stations commuters were not hostile
towards the strike. This was not the case in the past.
The readiness to mobilise has increased with every step of the movement. Two
weeks after the "mega-demo" of October 2nd a RTL4 poll on the same day of
the transport stoppage showed that 51 percent supported the public transport
strike. And seventy-one percent of the respondents were in favour of even
harder actions against the government.
Two weeks later the engineering workers downed tools. Two hundred factories
closed involving 22,000 workers. Here again it was the biggest strike in
this industry for 15 years.
There was a clear crescendo in the level of participation, the willingness
to struggle and the spread of the protest movement throughout the country.
Nevertheless, the tactic of "relay" strikes also had a dangerous side to it.
The danger was that without a clear goal of a national 24-hour general
strike involving all sectors (a demanded that was being posed by a layer of
the rank and file) this tactic would have the effect of dissipating the
energy of the workers involved.
Cracks and fissures
The biggest danger, however, was to be found in the official programme of
demands of the trade union leaders and their clear desire to use these
mobilisations in order to win back their seats at the negotiation tables of
the institutions of social partnership. Here we see how the union tops
derive their position of privileged buffer between the workers and capital.
The demands of the leaders of the union can be summarised as demanding a
"softening" of the attacks. They themselves had in fact already agreed to
the ending of the age of retirement at 60 and to other counter-reforms in
social security. What they wanted was to be able to "correct" them socially
- whatever that means - and to be able to implement them jointly with the
government and the bosses. The demands of the workers were clear: "No
dismantling of the welfare state! No to wage restraint and to the increase
in the cost of living." Workers demanded no changes to their rights to
disability allowances and early retirement, and they also demanded good
pensions and not the poverty levels the bosses are proposing.
The façade of unanimity of the government started to fissure. The CDA
especially, which has some links with the CNV union, began to grow nervous.
Forty-five CDA members of parliament demanded a more equitable social policy
on the part of the government. The liberal VVD and D'66 parties held another
opinion and continued to provoke the workers.
Splits also appeared in the ranks of the bosses. The organisation of small
and medium sized companies appealed for an agreement with the unions. The
organisation of bosses of the building industry, Cobouw, publicly criticised
the government and the bigger companies who didn't want an agreement with
the unions. A very interesting editorial ("Monomania of the government will
cost the Netherlands a lot of money") on the website of Cobouw states: "It
looks as if the VNO-NCW (general bosses' organisation) and the government
have an agenda to curtail the power of the unions. This is said to be
necessary to reduce the costs of production and to increase competitiveness.
[But] the social resistance against this cabinet is such that actions and
strikes are becoming the rule and not the exception. And this is going to
cost money." (Cobouw, October 9, 2004)
The bosses' division, although significant, does not mean that they do not
share the same interests and objectives. They would like to see the increase
of the competitiveness of Dutch industry on the back of the workers.
However, they do not agree on the method to achieve it. Some would want to
get the union leadership to be involved as a way of containing mass protests
and the cost of these. Another layer is ready to sit out the ride of the
tug-of-war with the workers and has also the necessary reserves for it which
is not the case with the smaller and medium sized companies.
Strong working class and weak leadership
The bosses and the right-wing parties had clearly underestimated the
capacity of the working class to react. They tend to gauge the mood of the
working class by the cowardice and weakness of the trade union leaders. This
vision was undoubtedly also shared by the leaders of the left parties PVDA
and SP and also by the trade union leaders, who believe that their own
conservative outlook reflects that of their members. The trade union leaders
were forced against their will to open the door slightly to mobilisation and
discontent, at the same time opening a Pandora's box of anger and protest.
The cabinet could even have been overthrown in these conditions. Sources in
government circles indicated growing fears of a cabinet crisis. "The leader
of the Christian Democratic faction in the senate, Jos Werner, predicts that
if nothing is done the cabinet will fall within three weeks." ( Trouw,
November 11, 2004)
Polls also show that the right-wing cabinet has lost popular support and
that the left PVDA, SP and Groen Links (the Greens) would have a majority if
new elections were to be called. As soon as they realised this, the bosses
and the right wing tried to open secret negotiations with the union
leaders... in the kitchen of one of the ministers! After a few weeks a deal
was struck, which made the leaders of the union very euphoric.
The deal is a bad deal: the concessions made by the government do not alter
the fundamental questions. The objectives of social counter-reforms have not
been stopped. The only real difference is that now these will be implemented
with the help of the trade union leaders. The question of wage moderation is
typical of this approach. The government, which had proposed a law in
parliament introducing a zero level for wage increases, has withdrawn it as
a result of the deal. In exchange for this "concession" the unions committed
themselves to serious efforts of self-restraint in wage demands! In other
words, the union leaders will act as the economic policeman of the bosses on
the shop floor.
It might not be as easy as they imagine. Many workers hope to "correct" the
effects of national measures by better deals at local levels. The deal is
being presented for approval at a ballot of the members in the next few
weeks. The result will be known at the beginning of December. Union leaders
have also declared that even if the members reject the proposals they would
be very hesitant to call for new strikes.
The left union activists of the 'Maat is Vol' (Enough is enough) committee
oppose the deal and are calling on the workers to participate in the union
meetings and to vote No in the ballot. They are also calling for left trade
unionists to come together and to strengthen the organised left in the
union.
The Socialist Party (SP), a left social democratic party (formerly Maoist),
accepted the deal but warned against the continuation of the "neo-liberal
agenda" of the cabinet. The social accord "is a victory on a few fronts. But
the cabinet is still there. Its agenda has not changed and has not been
blocked. The unions have won much but they lost the first prize, and that is
the fall of the cabinet. This means that it can continue with its
anti-social agenda." (November 6, 2004). Some of its leading members who are
also active in the unions have declared they will vote against the deal. The
party as such does not reject the deal and does not call upon the union
members to oppose it during the ballot.
The PVDA "is delighted about the fact that the cabinet and the social
partners have reached a social agreement. It seems now that there will be an
end to a period of great actions, strikes and protest. The PVDA has always
called on all the parties to rapidly come to an accord in the interest of
the country and we are happy that this has happened" (from a press release
on www.pvda.nl ).
The chairman of the second biggest Christian trade union CNV, Doekle
Terpstra, who adamantly defends the deal, admitted that the members were
very critical of the agreement. He declared in the union media that "those
who think that the membership meetings are an easy ride are mistaken. The
members are very critical. The leaders of the union movement may have signed
a peace deal but the struggle over the policies of the government continues"
(November 16, 2004 on www.cnv.nl ). He adds that the members do not trust
the cabinet and are afraid of the consequences of this agreement. However,
they tend to trust the union.
The genie is out of the bottle
Whatever the result of the ballot, the genie is out of the bottle. Workers
who have been described as conservative, egocentric, as well as incapable of
solidarity and strike action have been forced out of their lethargy and have
had a taste of their own strength. This will have consequences for the
future, especially in the branch and factory negotiations in the coming
months. The weak deal, which has been presented by the trade union
leadership as the best available, will be understood not as the result of
low mobilisations or lack of solidarity but as a result of a weak
leadership.
The union leaders probably think that they are back in the cosy world of the
polder model. They are wrong. Yes, they will be able to sit and wine and
dine with the ministers and the bosses again. They will not even have to pay
the bill for the restaurant! But another bill will be presented to them:
they will be asked to "convince" their members of new cuts etc., in the name
of the economy's and the country's interest. It is not guaranteed at all
that the workers will swallow this as they have done in the past. This means
that a period of questioning has opened up among the workers on what sort of
union they want and what kind of society they need in order to live better.
Reformism, which has dominated the unions and the left parties, will enter
into crisis. Reformism in the period of capitalist crisis means the opposite
of what the term pretends to be: it opens a period of counter-reforms and
not new social reforms! As there is no solution for the workers under
capitalism the best intentions turn into their opposite.
Then came another earthquake
On the last night of the secret negotiations between the unions and the
government, a new political assassination was carried out. The filmmaker
Theo van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death by a young Dutch man of Moroccan
origin. A paper reports the reaction of the negotiators in the kitchen of
Minister Zalm: "Everybody stared at each other and realised that social
turmoil in the country must rapidly be brought to an end." ( Trouw ,
November 11, 2004).
It was worse than a political murder, it was a terrorist attack perpetrated
by a network of reactionary Muslims based in the Netherlands. The young
terrorist left a letter held to the back of Theo van Gogh with a knife,
claming his murder in the name of Allah and announcing that other public
figures would also be killed. The commotion was at its high point. Many
people said they no longer recognise their country, that it was not like it
used to be "before". There have been many "befores" and "afters" in the last
two years. "The Netherlands are not the Netherlands anymore," a banner
claimed. It goes without saying that we condemn this cowardly murder.
Furthermore, it is pointless and can actually be used in a reactionary
manner against all "immigrants".
But who was Theo van Gogh and why was he a target for reactionary Muslims?
Van Gogh was an eccentric and controversial filmmaker. He made a corrosive
short film - together with the Liberal MP Ayaan Hirsi Ali who fled Kenya to
escape a forced wedding - titled Submission , which dealt with domestic
violence against women in Muslim families. Van Gogh was not the type of
person the media have presented him as. He was not a "soldier of free
speech". As a fan of Pim Fortuyn, he was known for his brutal intolerance
when faced with criticism and did not hesitate to resort to vulgar insults
against Muslims as well as Jews. He wrote such disgusting comments as: "I
can smell caramel; today they must be burning Jews with diabetes." He
despised Muslims whom he did not hesitate to describe as "the fifth column
of goatfuckers". And the lazy "intellectual elite" adored his attacks
against minorities. The fact that these so-called intellecetuals have fallen
to these levels is a symptom of decadence at the top of society.
Religious and racial tensions
The struggle against the influence of reactionary religious prejudices among
some layers of the Arab immigrants, such as the oppression of women cannot
be combated in this way. Above all it certainly cannot be left to people
like Van Gogh or to the government. It can only be done by a joint struggle
of male and female workers as part of the struggle for social emancipation,
that is a struggle for socialism. The method of Van Gogh is that of opposing
one "civilisation" against the other, completely in Samuel Huttington's
style. In doing this he and his apologists conveniently forget that in
"Western Christian civilisation" the most dangerous place for women (apart
from the workplace) is the family , where more women are raped, injured,
terrorised and murdered than in the street!
We condemn this murder, of course. Like all acts of individual terrorism it
plays into the hands of reaction. In this case it has provoked a racist
backlash and it has given the state the necessary consent from the
population to strengthen repressive laws, social control and its attacks
against democratic rights. In a tit-for-tat reaction, more than twenty
mosques, churches and religious schools have been attacked and some of them
have beeb destroyed in fires. This is the work of a very small minority of
young people, often from extreme right-wing groups. In different cities
Christian and Muslim workers have formed all-night vigils to protect the
mosques from being attacked, as was the case in Lelystad. Young immigrants
have been attacked on the streets and the whole of the Muslim community has
been stigmatised as harbouring potential Osama bin Ladens.
Some ministers of the government have even shouted about a "war situation"
in the Netherlands. A climate of anti-Muslim hysteria is being cultivated.
It is clear that the right wing wants the memory of the joint struggle of
Dutch and immigrant workers and families against them to be erased. This
experience is the only real antidote against racism and religious tension in
the country, not the moralistic appeals "against all extremes" or "for
tolerance".
Mass psychology in times of crisis
The reaction of the population in the Netherlands to this murder also
teaches us something about the psyche of the masses. In the last two and
half years we have witnessed wild shifts in moods. This has been expressed
at the polls, in strikes, and on demonstrations, etc. There have been shifts
from the left to the right and then back again. Left wing and right wing
ideas coexist in the same heads at the same moment. During a referendum in
2002 in Rotterdam on the privatisation of public transport the strongest
'No' vote came from areas where Pim Fortuyn received a lot of support.
Accidental figures like Pim Fortuyn can indeed function as catalysts. Two
political assassinations in two years indicate that this society has entered
a new period of storm and stress as never before.
Confusion, anger, stupefaction and doubts are very common feelings today. We
need a dialectical and a materialist approach to these changes in
consciousness. Some left-wing people are seduced into believing that all
these swings in moods show how irrationally people think. However, that
would be showing a complete ignorance of how consciousness changes. Events
are what determine the thoughts of people. The wild mood swings demonstrate
that even the "peaceful Netherlands" have entered one of the most convulsive
periods in history.
The mass of the population have been tormented as never before during the
last period, with fear of Islamic terrorism, the war in Afghanistan and
Iraq. Added to this is the more imminent fear of social insecurity, job
losses, disappearing incomes, etc. Old certainties are crumbling; points of
reference that seemed solid are becoming more fluid; people feel lost. This
makes people vulnerable to rapid shifts in mood. The dominant ideology in
the Netherlands, the ideology of compromise and having a sense of
proportion, is breaking down. This will be an important factor in the
political devlopments of the years to come. People, not only workers, but
young people and also the middle classes, are realising that things are much
tougher here in the Netherlands than what they thought.
Class society rears its ugly head again in the Netherlands
A similar dynamic affects Muslim youth to one degree or another. Immigrant
workers are still the most oppressed layer of society. They face racism,
joblessness, victimisation, etc. Add to this a profound feeling of
humiliation as a result of developments in the Middle East and one can begin
to understand the alienation and radicalisation of some layers of immigrant
youth.
It is only a very small layer among them that is willing to accept
fundamentalist rhetoric and an even smaller layer that is ready to engage in
terrorist attacks. The racist backlash is strengthening this layer.
United struggle is the only way forward
This new situation has temporarily and partially cut across the class
struggle, but only for a while. The Dutch workers have great traditions of
militant struggle and of internationalist actions, such as the struggle
against the imperialist domination of Indonesia. The bourgeois also have
some traditions and stubborn habits which most of the Dutch people have
forgotten about. But now they will start to remember. They have already
realized that the Dutch bosses are the same as in any other country.
When Pim Fortuyn was killed, the serving Prime Minister Kok commented that
in the Netherlands "we have a tradition of sorting out our differences with
words and not with bullets". Ask the peasants of Bali, Aceh, Java and the
Molucca what they think about the "traditions" of the Dutch bourgeois. You
just need to (re)read Max Havelaar to know what the colonial masses went
through under Dutch domination.
Those methods of repression and brutal social relations were also practised
against native Dutch workers. Remember that in the 1980s the struggle for
decent housing was repressed by the police. The forces of law and order
intervened during the dockers' strike in the 1970s and even in more recent
struggles.
Dutch workers and young people, immigrant or native, are realising that the
"humane and tolerant Netherlands" they imagined is not so humane anymore. It
is ridden with all kinds of tensions and divisions, exploited by a rapacious
bourgeois class, justified by a decadent intellectual elite, and without an
alternative coming from the left parties like the PVDA and the SP. Genuinely
"humane" solutions can only come from the working class in the struggle for
socialism. In fact, the program of socialism is the only realistic solution.
What is utopian is not the idea that the struggle for socialism is possible
in the Netherlands. What is utopian is the idea that we can return to the
old polder model. That is dead and buried. Instead of looking backwards, we
must look forward.
Over the last ten years many left leaders have abandoned the ideas of
socialism, they have thrown away their copies of Marx and embraced
capitalism as the only "realistic" system. This was compunded by many years
of so-called social peace. The chain of events of the last two and a half
years demonstrate how fragile that social peace was. The real situation has
now become apparent and this will undoubtedly help young people, students
and workers to seek an alternative to this rotten system. In doing this they
will rediscover the beauty and humanity of genuine socialist ideas.
November 23, 2004
See also:
The Netherlands: Reawakening of the Dutch working class by Erik Demeester.
(October 4, 2004)
The Netherlands: Set on a stormy course by Erik Demeester (May 22, 2002)
After the French and Dutch Elections - Is there a threat of Fascism in
Europe? by Alan Woods. (May 20, 2002)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Alert! Fed Massive Raid and Arrest Chinese Restaurant
Workers Across U.S.!
National Immigrant Solidarity Network Urgent Updates
November 23, 2004
URL: http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org
Last week on Texas and New York state, Federal agency raided several Chinese
restaurants, detained and arrested over 100 restaurant workers and owners,
charging them "conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens," "illegally employing
unauthorized aliens," and "conspiracy to commit money laundering." U.S.
Attorney said they will deport the undocumented workers back to China along
with the restaurant owners for hiring them.
It created a huge community outrage across the Chinese American community,
and the Chinese consulate in Texas had voiced protests about Fed's roundup
of restaurant workers. Almost on the same time, in the separate case, a
Chinese restaurant owner in North Dakota had sentenced for trafficking and
hiring undocumented workers and will go to four months prison and will face
deportation.
As Yang Chenqi, an attorney with the Chinese consulate in Houston, said
"Immigration officials said they were victims of slave labor," Yang said,
"but from the interviews (with restaurant workers) they are victims of the
U.S. government." Because I never saw any white European sweatshop owners
(Like: Wal-Mart) had been arrested & jailed for hiring undocumented
immigrants, and faced deported .
This not a justice but a racism! The story had absolutely missing from the
major corporate media, sadly it was not event covered on left progressive
media--where's the American labor, student, human rights activists?
Lee Siu Hin
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
**Complete News Coverage**
Chinese consulate protests roundup of restaurant workers
By CHRIS ROBERTS - Associated Press
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0110
EL PASO, Texas - A Chinese consulate official said Tuesday that the office
is looking into the treatment of about 50 Chinese nationals who were
questioned by immigration officials last week in what appears to be a human
trafficking case.
Grand Forks restaurant owner sentenced for trafficking
By Stephen J. Lee - Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, N.D.)
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0109
FARGO - A Grand Forks restaurant owner was sentenced Friday in federal court
here to four months in prison on charges of human trafficking, according to
assistant U.S. Attorney Nick Chase.
Feds raid Chinese eateries
By Robert Cristo - Tory Record (Troy, N.Y.)
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0108
Federal authorities swooped in on a popular Colonie Chinese restaurant/motel
and other local eateries and apartments in Albany and Rensselaer counties
Monday and apprehended dozens of suspects on various immigration, money
laundering and conspiracy charges.
9 charged in restaurant raids
By BRUCE A. SCRUTON - Times Union (Albany, N.Y.)
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0107
ALBANY -- Five people were charged Thursday with using illegal immigrants in
their chain of upstate Chinese buffet restaurants and putting nearly $2
million in a variety of bank accounts trying to hide the profits. Four
others were charged with driving the workers to and from the restaurants.
Local Chinese buffet under federal investigation
By Jonathan Ment - Daily Freeman (Kingston, N.Y.)
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0106
TOWN OF ULSTER - A local Chinese restaurant, Dragon Cheng Buffet,
also-known-as Dragon Buffet, is under investigation by federal authorities,
along with several other upstate Chinese buffet restaurants.
Five restaurant owners charged in immigration sting
By The Associated Press
http://www.immigrantsolidarity.org/cgi-bin/datacgi/database.cgi?file=Issues&
report=SingleArticle&ArticleID=0105
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Five owners of Chinese buffet restaurants in upstate New
York were charged Thursday with hiring illegal aliens from China and Mexico
and with setting up fake bank accounts to launder the business' illegal
proceeds, police said.
For the complete immigrant news updates, please visit:
http://immigrantsolidarity.org/news.shtml
National Immigrant Solidarity Network
No Immigrant Bashing! Support Immigrant Rights!
webpage: http://www.ImmigrantSolidarity.org
New York: (212)330-8172
Los Angeles: (213)403-0131
Please consider making a donation to the important work of National
Immigrant Solidarity Network
Send check pay to:
ActionLA/SEE
1013 Mission St. #6
South Pasadena CA 91030
(All donations are tax deductible)
*to join the immigrant Solidarity Network daily news litserv, send e-mail
to: isn-subscribe@lists.riseup.net
*a monthly ISN monthly Action Alert! listserv, go to webpage
http://www.actionla.org/cgi-bin/mojo/mojo.cgi?f=list&l=isn
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) MILLION CON MARCH!
This is a great idea and I hope it's one whose time and come. Every one of
the demands are supportable and show serious thought about the conditions of
defendants ("guilty" or "innocent"), prisoners, and "ex-felons." And this is
one Million ----- March where a turnout of five or ten thousand would be a
clear cut and big victory and mark an unmistakable advance for the working
class in the US and worldwide! On to the Million -- or whatever -- Con
March! Fred Feldman
Million Con March
Michael D. Harris, #172430, president of Local Chapter 1020 of the National
Lifers of America in the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer, has a
specific program of demands to address the U.S. prison crisis, an element
missing from the Nov. 16 conference on prisons at the Detroit Opera House.
He is calling for a "Million Con March" to be held in Washington, D.C. June
25, 2005 to support these demands:
- Pardons for falsely-convicted persons in every state.
- Pardons and sentence commutations for non-parolable lifers who have
rehabilitated themselves, after serving a maximum of 25 years.
- Paroles for parolable lifers who have rehabilitated themselves after 15
years.
- Pardons and commutations for battered women serving time for killing their
abusers.
- Medical commutations and paroles for chronically and terminally ill
prisoners.
- Legislation permitting persons over 60 who have served one-third of their
sentence to apply for early release.
- Exempt juveniles from life sentencing.
- Federal criminal sanctions against law enforcement officials who use false
evidence, police perjury and corruption to obtain convictions.
- Federal public hearings on falsification of forensic reports and lab
evidence.
- Reinstatement of funding for Corrections Ombudsmen in every state.
- State reductions in spending for any county failing to racially diversify
their jury polls to reflect the population and the defendant's ethnicity.
- End to mandatory minimum sentencing.
- End to "three strikes" laws.
- End to the Patriot Act.
- Voting Rights for all ex-felons across the country.
- Educational and vocational trade programs for current prisoners.
He is asking those who would like to help organize such a march to contact:
Juanita Dixon 101 Mitchell St. Jackson, MI 48203 Phone 517-787-5197
Betty Harris,c/o Doris Gates 2221 Baker St. Muskegon, Mi.
Deshon Harris, 3501 E. 42nd Ave. #307, Anchorage, Alaska
Kevin Carey, c/o 313-831-0750
http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&ma
d=&s
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Monday, November 22, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-MONDAY, NOV.22, 2004
Bay Area United Against War Presents:
"WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception"
A film by Danny Schechter
"The News Dissector"
Saturday, Dec. 11th, 2004
(Showtime to be announced)
Embarcadero Center Cinema
One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 267-4893
" 'WMD' paints a meticulous and damning portrait of the media's
coverage of the Iraq war. In sobering detail, Danny Schechter
shows us how the TV networks now prefer the role of cheerleader,
to that of objective journalist," says Mike Nisholson of
austinnforkerry.org.
"Schechter tackles his subject like a cross between Errol Morris
and a Dashiell Hammet detective, following close on the tail of big
media reporters as they in turn track the march toward war, embed
themselves in the military industrial complex and then get out
when the fighting gets tough and leave the cleanup work to
stringers, " writes Shandon Fowler of film's Hamptons
International Film Festival appearance, Oct. 20-24.
To learn more about the film visit:
www.wmdthefilm.org
www.bauaw.org
There will be a showing of "WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception"
sponsored by Media Alliance on Friday, Dec. 10th at the
same location.
(Distributed by Cinema Libre Studio, www.cinemalibrestudio.com)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Benefit Concert for Chiapas
December 8 - 7:30PM
La Pena Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley
2) Destroying Iraq to Save It
Michael Kinsley
November 21, 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kinsley21nov21,0,779452
9.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
3) Alert! Falluja women, children in mass grave
Sunday 21 November 2004
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/24EBE5BB-CA3F-462B-8279-546BC1D9B7E6.
htm
4) Tues. Nov. 23, 7pm
ANSWER Educational Forum
"After the Election: What's Next for the Movement Against
War & Racism?"
SF WomenÂs Building,
3543 18th St. btwn Valencia & Guerrero
5) Marines Hampered by Security Fears in Falluja
By Michael Georgy
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters)
Mon Nov 22, 2004 08:23 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6884991&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
6) Jackson fears Army will remain in Iraq for years
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
22 November 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=585402
7) It Doesn't End With Fallouja
EDITORIAL
November 22, 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-iraq22nov22,0,5866020.story
8) STRIKERS MASSACRED IN THE PHILIPPINES: BMP
(initials for Solidarity of Filipino Workers, in
Tagalog, one of the labor federations in the
Philippines-KM) SOLIDARITY APPEAL
9) Oil and gas update from the northeast
-----Original Message-----
From: G. Leona Green [mailto:glgreen@neonet.bc.ca]
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 7:13 PM
To: landwatch@onenw.org
Subject: Fw: [BCEN LW:] Oil and gas update from
the northeast
November 19. The friend mentioned at the end of this
posting, passed away this morning. Leona
10) Lynne Stewart on trial in New York: civil liberties
vs. the new McCarthyism
By Monica Hill
Freedom Socialist  Vol. 25, No. 4  October-November
11) Enforcement of Civil Rights Law Declined
Since '99, Study Finds
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON
November 22, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/22/national/22civil.html?oref=login
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Benefit Concert for Chiapas
December 8 - 7:30PM
La Pena Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley
Son de La Tierra performs traditional son jarocho music
from the state of Varacruz in Mexico
You do not want to miss this group! Plus:
"Messages from Chiapas" - a report from our November
Encuentro in Chiapas. Also: New artesania from the women's
cooperative in Polho, Chiapas - Great Christmas presents
(gifts of conscience).
See you all soon!
Chiapas Support Committee
www.chiapas-support.org
P.O. Box 3421
Oakland, CA 94609
Tel: (510) 654-9587
email: cezmat@igc.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) Destroying Iraq to Save It
Michael Kinsley
November 21, 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-kinsley21nov21,0,779452
9.column?coll=la-news-comment-opinions
Has there ever before been a war that so many people disapproved
of but so few wanted to stop? Have the reasons for starting a war
ever been so thoroughly discredited without turning into reasons
for ending it?
The Vietnam-era antiwar movement had an agenda: Bring the troops
home. Or, in two words - suitable for a picket sign or a T-shirt -
"Out now."
What seems to be today's antiwar position - it was a terrible mistake
and it's a terrible mess, but we can't just walk away from it - was
actually the pro-war position during Vietnam. In fact, it was close
to official government policy for more than half the length of that war.
Today's antiwar cause doesn't even have a movement, to speak of,
let alone an agenda. It consists of perhaps 47% of the citizenry - the
ones who voted for John Kerry - who are in some kind of existential
opposition to the war but don't know what they want to do about it.
Meanwhile, U.S. soldiers die by the hundreds and Iraqis - military
and civilian - by the thousands in a cause these people (and I'm one
of them) believe to be a horrible mistake.
Kerry spent months untangling the knots of his Iraq position while
tangling new ones even faster. He pounded George W. Bush over
the phantom weapons of mass destruction, and he mocked Bush's
confusion of Osama bin Laden with Saddam Hussein. Kerry said,
famously, that Bush's invasion of Iraq was "the wrong war in the
wrong place at the wrong time." So was he in favor of ending it? No,
his position was that he would try, but not promise, to bring the
troops home in four years. Four years! U.S. involvement in World
War II lasted 3 1/2.
Bush had a good point when he wondered how, as commander in
chief, Kerry could ask American soldiers to die for the wrong war
in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, that problem
does not vindicate Bush's belief that Iraq is the right war in the
right etc. etc. etc.
But Bush's apparently sincere belief does relieve him from
needing to explain why he doesn't want the war to end now.
Kerry's studiously confused position was not, or not just, a political
stratagem. It was an accurate reflection of the views of his
constituency. Most of them deplore the war, but only a tiny
fraction favor an immediate pull-out. Anyone who opposes the
war but isn't ready to demand peace needs an answer to the
question, "Why on Earth not?"
There are answers, possibly even adequate answers. But none of
them shine with the kind of obvious truth that makes the question
unnecessary, let alone uninteresting, which is how it is being treated.
The answers fall in two categories, each associated with a secretary
of State.
The Henry Kissinger answer is, in a word, credibility. A superpower
that announces a goal and gives up without achieving it will not be
super for long. In the end, President Nixon and Kissinger added five
years to the length of the Vietnam War, and we lost it anyway. Did that
add to our superpower credibility? Well, maybe. In the Kissingerian world
of High Strategy, a reputation for pigheaded stupidity can be almost as
valuable as a reputation for wise persistence. What could be more
credible than a reputation for staying the course no matter how
disastrous it turns out to be?
The Colin Powell answer goes by the nickname "Pottery Barn," referring
to the alleged policy of that purveyor of yuppieware that "if you break
it, you own it." In fact, Pottery Barn's breakage policy is much kinder and
gentler than that. But it's certainly true that a well-brought-up foreign
policy doesn't occupy a country, wreck it and move on like a rock band
checking out of a hotel room. The question is whether at this point
we're actually helping to tidy up, or only making a bigger mess.
The lead Page 1 headline in Monday's Los Angeles Times was, "Iraqi
City Lies in Ruins." That would be Fallouja, a city of 300,000 (metro
area) that Americans had never heard of until we felt impelled to
destroy it. And our reasons were neither trivial nor contemptible.
They followed with confident logic from the premise that Hussein
was an intolerable danger to the United States. If so, he had to be
taken down. And if that destabilized the country, we had to occupy
it for a while and calm it down. And you can't run a national occupation
with rebels occupying a major city, so you have to besiege the city
and kill a lot of people and leave the place "in ruins."
An American general in Vietnam famously said, "We had to destroy
the village to save it." This has become the definitive expression of
the macabre futility of war. Last week, we destroyed an entire city in
order to save it (progress!), but our capacity to find that sort of thing
ironic seems to have become shriveled and harmless.
Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Alert! Falluja women, children in mass grave
Sunday 21 November 2004
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/24EBE5BB-CA3F-462B-8279-546BC1D9B7E6.
htm
Residents of a village neighbouring Falluja have told Aljazeera that they
helped bury the bodies of 73 women and children who were burnt to
death by a US bombing attack.
"We buried them here, but we could not identify them because they
were charred by the use of napalm bombs used by the Americans,"
said one resident of Saqlawiya in footage aired on Aljazeera on Sunday.
There have been no reports of the US military using napalm in Falluja
and no independent verification of the claims.
The resident told Aljazeera all the bodies were buried in a single grave.
Late last week, US troops in Falluja called on some residents who had
fled the fighting to return and help bury the dead.
However, according to other residents who managed to flee the
fighting after US forces entered the city, hundreds more bodies
still lay in the streets and were being fed on by packs of wild dogs.
Danger zone
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said
Falluja remained too dangerous to secure proper retrieval and burial
of corpses.
"We could not enter Falluja city so far due to the security measures
and the continuing battles," Muain Qasis, ICRC spokesman in Jordan,
told Aljazeera.
When asked about the security measures, Qasis said: "In order to
carry out an independent and acceptable humanitarian action, we
must have guarantees ensuring the safety of the humanitarian staff.
"The humanitarian situation in Falluja city is very difficult.
"The city is still suffering shortage of public services. There is no
water or electricity. There is no way to offer medical treatment for
the injured families still surrounded inside the city," he added.
Detained civilians released
In related news, the US military in Falluja announced that it had
released 400 of the 1450 men it had detained in the war-ravaged
city.
"More than 400 detainees have since been released after being
deemed non-combatants," the military said, adding that 100 more
were due to be released on Sunday.
Aljazeera + Agencies
URL: http://www.PeaceNoWar.net
July 2003, Peace No War Visit and Video Interview in Fallujah
http://www.actionla.org/Iraq/IraqReport/video.html#fallujah
Los Angeles Times has a complete biographical Information on
U.S. Soldiers Killed:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/external/fmmac2.mm.ap.org/war2/adv_search.php?S
ITE=CALOS&SECTION=MIDEAST
For more photos and Videos from Iraq, visit:
"Report from Baghdad" July, 2003
http://www.actionla.org/Iraq/IraqReport/intro.html
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) Tues. Nov. 23, 7pm
ANSWER Educational Forum
"After the Election: What's Next for the Movement Against
War & Racism?"
SF WomenÂs Building,
3543 18th St. btwn Valencia & Guerrero
Discussion and presentations by Bay Area activists about the ongoing
occupation and resistance in Iraq and the role of the anti-war, anti-
racist movement in the post-election period. Who is the Iraqi
resistance and how is the international peopleÂs movement
confronting imperialism?
$3-10 donation. Refreshments provided, wheelchair accessible.
Call 415-821-6545 to reserve free childcare.
----------
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
To remove your address from the list, just send a message to
the address in the ``List-Unsubscribe'' header of any list
message. If you haven't changed addresses since subscribing,
you can also send a message to:
For addition or removal of addresses, We'll send a confirmation
message to that address. When you receive it, simply reply to it
to complete the transaction.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Marines Hampered by Security Fears in Falluja
By Michael Georgy
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters)
Mon Nov 22, 2004 08:23 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6884991&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
FALLUJA, Iraq (Reuters) - U.S. Marines were conducting painstaking
weapons searches in the Iraqi city of Falluja on Monday when they
spotted a man with an AK-47 rifle on a nearby rooftop.
Armed only with a light weapon, he could never stand up to what they
were about to unleash. But he was enough to distract Marines from a
task that is key to stabilizing Falluja after a U.S.-led offensive crushed
rebels controlling the Sunni Muslim city.
The angle of the rooftop could not quite accommodate the trajectory
of a shoulder-launched Javelin missile so Marines fired the more direct,
wire-guided TOW missile after a debate.
Then they fired hefty .50 caliber machinegun rounds at the rooftop,
blew up a door and stormed a living room. It was an impressive display
of firepower but they raided the wrong house.
When they finally made it to the pulverized rooftop with smoke still
rising from the machinegun bullet holes, the man with one rifle they
were seeking had escaped.
"One of the main challenges we are facing in conducting weapons
searches is these lone snipers who randomly appear and delay our
operations," said 1st Lieutenant Christopher Wilkins, 24, as he led
a weapons hunt in central Falluja.
At that point, his platoon had only found a few sacks with AK-47s,
some hand grenades, an artillery shell and, most notably, a pick-up
truck mounted with surface-to-air missiles.
After pounding Falluja with air strikes, artillery fire and tank shells,
Marines are now scrambling to find caches so that some 300,000
residents who fled before the assault can return.
They have been astounded by the quantity and variety of weapons,
from Egyptian submachineguns to Russian and German models and
flame-throwing rifles.
Hundreds of mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, rocket launchers
and bomb-making equipment have been uncovered inside couches,
behind hidden walls and even on top of the city water tower, Marine
officers said.
Marine officers say they know tracking down all insurgents is
impossible but they hope the weapons searches will lead them
to houses that guerrillas could use in future.
Some insurgents are still keen to fight.
A few were caught swimming across the Euphrates river to get
back into Falluja at a spot near the hospital, holding up their
AK-47s above the water and floating on beach balls, Marine
officers said.
"This could take weeks and even months to make Falluja safe
for its people to return," said Lieutenant Colonel Larry Kling.
Marines, who expect to stay in Falluja until Iraqi forces
can take over security, can't afford to push too hard or fast
in the house to house searches because they are trying to gain
the trust of residents.
Falluja's people might already have reason for anger. The
offensive has reduced many parts of the city to rubble.
But Marines searched aggressively in a middle class
neighborhood; behind paintings, in couches and even toy boxes.
"I tell my men not to be too aggressive so that people will
not have more hatred when they come home," said Wilkins. "But
the problem is these weapons are hidden in incredible places."
Marines search between 20 and 50 houses a day and 80
percent of them have weapons hidden inside. Some had time to
joke despite the risky and sensitive challenge ahead.
Standing over a crater six meters (20 ft) across and six
meters deep in a street created by what he said was a 2,000-
pound bomb during the offensive, Staff Sargeant Jonathan
Knarth, 29, of Florida, looked at down the deep water at the
bottom.
"Hey look all you have to do is extend a slide from that
rooftop to the water and you have an amusement park right here
courtesy of the United States Air Force."
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Jackson fears Army will remain in Iraq for years
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
22 November 2004
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=585402
British troops will be sent to help the US in conflict zones anywhere
inside Iraq, prompting fears that soldiers could be stuck in the most
dangerous parts of the country fighting insurgents for years to come.
General Sir Mike Jackson, the officer commanding the Army, said in
an interview with The Independent yesterday that troops could again
be dispatched outside the Basra area to help the US and Iraqi forces if
the insurgent threat escalates. The deployment could also go on beyond
the end of 2005 when the US mandate for the coalition to stay in the
country expires. "It is event-driven," he said.
Sir Mike's remarks will raise fears among critics of the war that Britain
is being sucked deeper into the mire in Iraq by extending its mission.
Four British soldiers have died in suicide attacks and bombings since
the Black Watch was sent north to support the US-led onslaught on
Fallujah three weeks ago. It was the first time UK troops have left the
British-controlled area of Basra.
Aware of the unpopularity of the deployment, the Government has
been at pains to say that the Black Watch troops will be back home
by Christmas. And Tony Blair said last month that he "did not believe
that there will be a further requirement for other troops" to be
deployed away from Basra.
"Yes, we have said that the Black Watch will come back by
Christmas," the Prime Minister said. "As to what then happens,
we cannot be sure. We do not believe that there will be a further
requirement for other troops, but I cannot guarantee that, because,
obviously, I do not know the situation that may arise."
Meanwhile, Iraqi authorities announced yesterday that national
elections would be held on 30 January despite escalating violence.
The elections will clash with the annual haj, when millions of pilgrims
travel overland through Iraq. They will come from Iran, Afghanistan
and Pakistan, making it impossible to seal Iraq's borders.
In Ramadi, 35 miles west of Fallujah, gunmen attacked a group of
Iraqi National Guard troops yesterday, killing nine and wounding 17
after hijacking a convoy and lining the men up for execution. Earlier
in the day, several Iraqi civilians were killed when US Marines fired
on a bus that drove through a checkpoint.
Near Latifiyah, south of Baghdad, a Reuters reporter watched
gunmen kill two off-duty National Guards troops and a policeman
at a roadblock.
In Mosul, Iraq's third city, the bodies of three men killed by insurgents
were left lying on a street a day after US troops discovered the bodies
of nine Iraqi soldiers. All 12 men had been shot in the back of the head.
Four headless corpses were also discovered in the city last week.
A group led by the al-Qa'ida ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has claimed
responsibility for the killings. In Baghdad, four large explosions
shook the area near the US-guarded Green Zone after sunset but
no casualties were reported.
Sir Mike said that all the British operations had been in the Basra
area "until this one-off deployment of the Black Watch. That is
not to say, in the future, there may not be a military requirement
of the coalition as a whole for a British unit or units to be elsewhere".
The Black Watch would be pulled back within a few weeks and
would not be replaced at Camp Dogwood, he said.
Sir Mike rejected claims by the Liberal Democrat leader, Charles
Kennedy, that the Black Watch deployment was a sign of "mission
creep''. "The mission is to provide Iraq with its political and
economic future," he said. "That's the mission."
Sir Mike also appeared to suggest that the British deployment
could go on beyond December 2005, when the mandate for the
coalition in Iraq officially ends. "How long we stay there is going
to be event-driven," he said.
Iraq was now more "challenging", he said, adding: "It's clear a minority
- and I believe a pretty small minority - of Iraqis with some outside
assistance cannot face the idea of progress in Iraq and are prepared
to do some pretty revolting things to prevent it. And they cannot be
allowed to succeed."
(c) 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) It Doesn't End With Fallouja
EDITORIAL
November 22, 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-iraq22nov22,0,5866020.story
A Marine general commented last week after his men ousted nearly
all Iraqi guerrillas from Fallouja that the two weeks of fighting had
"broken the back of the insurgency." If only it were that simple.
Marines did a good job of purging enemies from the city, but as the
general spoke, flames and smoke rose in other Sunni Triangle cities
in the north and west; foreigners and Iraqis were beheaded, shot or
killed by suicide bombers; and political parties vowed to boycott
national elections that the Bush administration has put forth as
a harbinger of democracy in a nation where the concept is a stranger.
More than 50 U.S. soldiers were killed in the Fallouja fight, which
began Nov. 8 in one of the cities where Sunni Muslims are the majority,
and the U.S. death toll in Iraq has now passed 1,200. An estimated
1,200 insurgents were killed in Fallouja as well.
The difficulties of pacifying Iraq were obvious last week. Insurgents
showed the depths to which they're capable of sinking when evidence
surfaced that Margaret Hassan, the kidnapped director of CARE
International in Iraq, had been shot to death. And even as Marines
tried to kill the last remnants of resistance in Fallouja, guerrillas
stormed police stations in the northern city of Mosul, where more
than 80% of police responded by abandoning their posts.
The U.S. goal is to get an Iraqi army and police force trained to
provide the nation's security and let American troops come home;
that objective remains elusive. Iraqi soldiers following Marines
into battle in Fallouja did well, but their numbers are few.
Fallouja was thought to be the headquarters of militant leader
Abu Musab Zarqawi; if so, he left before the Marines arrived.
Zarqawi's followers continue to try to terrorize Iraqis into
opposing the U.S. occupation by beheading natives and foreigners
alike. Zarqawi was born in Jordan, but Marines said most of the
fighters in Fallouja appeared to be Iraqi. That could be a hopeful
sign that although the Iraq misadventure has inflamed Islamic
opinion against Washington, few foreign fighters have wanted or
been able to enter the country. But it also may mean Iraqis are
sufficiently angered by the invasion to be willing to fight and
die in large numbers without outside help.
The brutality of battle was brought home in television footage
of a Marine fatally shooting an Iraqi insurgent in a mosque. An
inspection after the shooting indicated the insurgent was wounded
and unarmed, and U.S. officials said they would investigate the
incident. Soldiers faced with the possibility of booby-trapped
corpses and suicide bombers trying to kill them are understandably
on edge, but even if the shooting is found to be accidental, it will
be used as anti-American propaganda, stacked next to the
photographs from Abu Ghraib prison.
As the killing has spread, the political battle has suffered setbacks.
Dozens of political groups, many with mostly Sunni members,
announced plans to boycott January's elections, in part because
of anger over Fallouja. A boycott would undercut the legitimacy
of balloting; the interim Iraqi government should try to bring
all politicians into the process. If that proves impossible, those
elected will have to try to govern in a manner that makes all
Iraqis feel they have a stake in the nation, regardless of
religious beliefs.
Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) STRIKERS MASSACRED IN THE PHILIPPINES: BMP
(initials for Solidarity of Filipino Workers, in
Tagalog, one of the labor federations in the
Philippines-KM) SOLIDARITY APPEAL
STRIKERS MASSACRED IN THE PHILIPPINES
Three days ago, on 16 November, fourteen people were killed by
army and police in the Philippines. They were strikers at the
Hacienda Luisita, in Tarlac.
The strike is in defence of 327 workers fired by management in
a clear-cut case of union busting. The union was defending the
right of workers to collectively bargain for wage increases.
The strike busting was carried out by the Department of Labor
and Employment Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas, who through the
strike breaking mechanism -- "assumption of jurisdiction" of the
strike -- issued a "return to work order" thus setting the scene
for the police and army to move in.
Two of those killed were children, aged two and five, who died
from suffocation as a result of the tear gas used. Some 35 people
suffered gunshot wounds, 133 were arrested, hundreds more
were wounded.
Hacienda Luisita is owned by the family of former president
Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino, who replaced the dictator Marcos
during the 1986 Edsa uprising.
The trade union movement in the Philippines has called for
massive protests condemning the murders, demanding a full
investigation of what happened. They are demanding justice for
the workers, that hundreds of workers illegally dismissed be
rehired, and that criminal charges against the strikers be dropped.
They are also demanding the repeal of the 'assumption of
jurisdiction' authority of the labor department, and resignation
of the Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas.
The protest actions have begun and will continue next week,
with coordinated nation-wide actions, culminating in a major
mobilisation on November 30.
Please send your messages of solidarity to be read out at the
protests and to be sent on to the Department of Labor and
Employment.
BMP International Desk
bmp_philippines@yahoo.com mailto:bmp_philippines@yahoo.com
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Oil and gas update from the northeast
-----Original Message-----
From: G. Leona Green [mailto:glgreen@neonet.bc.ca]
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 7:13 PM
To: landwatch@onenw.org
Subject: Fw: [BCEN LW:] Oil and gas update from
the northeast
November 19. The friend mentioned at the end of this
posting, passed away this morning. Leona
----- Original Message -----
From: G. Leona Green
To: landwatch@onenw.org
Sent: Monday, November 15, 2004 9:13 PM
Subject: [BCEN LW:] Oil and gas update from the northeast
Hello all,
Tomorrow is the big day, the drilling company will frac the gas well to
the southwest. I am told this is all very safe and the chemical cloud
which is very small (so they say) will dissipate in no time! Why do I
not believe any of this?
To update you on the pleasure of living in the "patch". In Dawson Creek
and area, the drug trade is estimated to be a one hundred and thirty-two
million dollar per month trade. Break and enters are average of two each
day of the month. The feed store where I deal has been broken into twice
in the last ten days. What they expect to get there is beyond me. They
now have steel reinforcements on the doors. My youngest son is in the
security systems business, he cannot keep up with the demand for
security systems.
My second youngest son lives in Dawson Creek in one of the "better"
neighborhoods. His doors are locked at all times and I have to ring the
doorbell to let him know I am there if I go to see him. For reasons
unknown, he has been vandalized.
Prostitution, drugs, B&E, muggings, purse snatching, vehicle thefts,
vagrants sleeping in ally ways. You name it, we got it.
Ft.St.John is worse. My eldest son and his family live there. They have
been broken into so many times that they now have a security system as
well as bars on the windows and doors as well as two dogs. And they live
in one of the "classier" sections of the city in a lovely home with a
chain link fence around it. Had a visit from a man from the fair city of
FT.St.John the other day, he has a twelve year old daughter. Said
daughter goes only to school and other than that she refuses to go
anywhere as it is not safe. I, myself have been nowhere in the evening
for the last several months. Not even out to dinner or a concert. The
city is not safe to be out in.
I live on what used to be a quiet country road and usually knew every
vehicle that drove by, what few there were. Now, day and night, the roar
of the traffic is deafening and the speed with which they travel on
these back roads is unreal. What I have described here is only a "drop
in the bucket" so to speak. I have lived in the Dawson Creek area for
many years, back when it was a "raw frontier" town. In those days one
was perfectly safe on the streets day or night. How times have changed!
We have a lovely park over in the Tumbler Ridge area. Won't be lovely
for long. They are logging off forty acres next to the park to build one
of the biggest gas plants ever built.
I had started out to just tell you how "lovely' living in the "patch" is
but I have just received word that a friend and neighbor who is only in
her late forties is in Edmonton in a coma. She is a victim, we believe,
of the gassing that we received from the sour gas well in 1998. She has
suffered the exact same fate as all of my animals that died from the
blood filled tumors. If she should recover enough to come out of the
coma, she will be a "vegetable". She is still bleeding into the brain
and that causes the brain to die. Why do they not just come and shoot us
and our animals, it would be more humane!
May God help us ....... no one else can. If I could ever hope to sell
what has come to be known as death valley, I would leave. But I am stuck
here come what may.
Leona
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Lynne Stewart on trial in New York: civil liberties
vs. the new McCarthyism
By Monica Hill
Freedom Socialist  Vol. 25, No. 4  October-November
For years, the government has been spying on New York attorney
Lynne Stewart  to such an extent that civil liberties defenders say
the Department of Justice ought to be arrested and tried for its
actions. Instead, it is Lynne Stewart who is on trial, in a courtroom
battle that pits the political Left against the far Right, the Constitution
against the Attorney General, and the liberty-loving U.S. public against
an empire determined to repress its critics and dump due process.
It all adds up to a crucial fight against the neo-McCarthyism that has
been ignited by the "war on terrorism."
Inventing the crime to fit the punishment. Stewart's saga began
in 1995, when the FBI charged Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman and nine
others with conspiring to bomb several New York landmarks.
Abdel-Rahman, an Islamic fundamentalist leader known as the
"blind cleric," was connected to a group in Egypt that was on the
Secretary of State's list of terrorist organizations. A judge appointed
Lynne Stewart to be the indigent sheik's attorney. Her legal team
included translator Mohammed Yousry and paralegal Ahmed Sattar,
who are both now codefendants in the Stewart case.
Sheik Abdel-Rahman was eventually convicted of conspiring to
blow up the UN, kill Egypt's president and bomb highway tunnels
in New York. Historically, the government resorts to charges of
conspiracy (contemplation of illegal acts) when it cannot prove
illegal activity. The two key witnesses in the trial were informants.
One was a former Egyptian army officer who made a million dollars
spying for the FBI. The other was one of the alleged conspirators
who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government.
After the conviction, Stewart continued to act as the sheik's legal
representative. Abdel-Rahman, a major political and religious
figure in the Middle East, was anxious not to disappear into the
black hole of U.S. prisons. Stewart insists she was doing her job
when, in April 2000, she released the cleric's press statement
to Reuters for the Egyptian media.
That's when the government began heavy-duty spying on Stewart,
culminating in her arrest two years later. Attorney General Ashcroft
jailed Stewart and her legal team for "aiding and abetting a terrorist
organization." The highly publicized crackdown was calculated to
silence dissidents and scare lawyers from defending them.
Stewart's attorney Michael Tigar defines the case as "an attack
on the First Amendment right of free speech, free press and
petition" and on "the right to effective assistance of counsel."
"The 'evidence' in this case," he says, "was gathered by wholesale
invasion of private conversations, private attorney-client meetings
and private faxes, letters and e-mails. I have never seen such an
abusive use of governmental power."
The people's heroine. Instead of being intimidated, Stewart took
the principled and courageous road of bringing her case to the
court of public opinion. A defense committee sprang up. Lawyers
and civil liberties experts across the country denounced the arrests.
Law students at City University New York (CUNY) gave her their
annual award for public interest lawyer of the year. Stewart is
invited to speak all over the country and a steady stream of
supporters troop into the courtroom.
In the post-9/11 chill characterized by brazen government
detentions of people from the Middle East, Stewart is the first
attorney targeted by the Justice Department. She attributes this
to the fact that she is a radical and a woman.
Long before she met Sheik Abdel-Rahman, Lynne Stewart's life
and politics were decidedly leftist. She has marched and demonstrated,
spoken up for and represented countless protesters. Her clients have
included Black Panthers, the Weather Underground, the Ohio Seven,
the Black Liberation Army and busloads of less visible cases. "My
whole entire career," she says, "has been about the government
expanding its powers to make more and more criminal what could
be considered political."
The rightwing Front Page Magazine sees Stewart as evil incarnate:
"the most notorious terrorist advocate ... a self proclaimed champion
of terrorism and an avowed Communist..." With enemies like these,
Stewart must be doing something right!
Inside the courtroom. The best way to get a picture of the trial is to
read Stewart's fascinating blog (web journal) at www.lynnestewart.org.
The government has been presenting its case for nearly two months
and, as Stewart puts it, it's sheer "Snoozeville." Witnesses play
damaged surveillance tapes and grainy videos. They read endless,
poorly translated speeches by the sheik that are intended to show
he's a terrorist and hence, by association, so must be Stewart and
her codefendants. Innuendo and smears are the government's
favored tactics. For example, shortly before the third anniversary
of September 11, the prosecution showed the jury a four-year-old
video of Osama bin Laden calling on Muslims to fight for Sheik
Abdel-Rahman's freedom.
The bright side of the trial is the show of public support for
Stewart, Yousry and Sattar. Courtroom visitors have included Sharon
Salaam, mother of one of the wrongly convicted youths in the Central
Park jogger case; Kathleen Cleaver, former Black Panther leader;
Rafael Anglada, an attorney who has defended Puerto Rican
independistas and is on the defense team for the Miami Five;
and one of Stewart's clients, Nasser Ahmen, who was held three
years in solitary confinement on the basis of fraudulent secret
evidence. "This is the face of my America," Stewart writes.
Sometime in October, the defense will finally get to tell its story.
It will resonate with the half-million people who marched against
the Republican National Convention in New York City in August and
with the millions across the country who are not fooled by the
government's criminal "war on terror."
Warns Stewart, "We are in our time the Communists of the Fifties,
the Scottsboro Boys [of the 1930s], the Anarchists [in the late
1800s]. And now the Terrorists  whatever Imperial America can
frighten the people with. Judges included."
Help keep Stewart and her codefendants out of prison by publicizing
this fight and, if possible, attending the trial. Send donations to the
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee, 350 Broadway, Ste. 700, New
York, NY 10013. For more info, call 212-625-9696 or e-mail info @
lynnestewart.org. Strike back for civil liberties!
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) Enforcement of Civil Rights Law Declined
Since '99, Study Finds
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON
November 22, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/22/national/22civil.html?oref=login
WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (AP) - Federal enforcement of civil rights laws
has dropped sharply since 1999, as the level of complaints received
by the Justice Department has remained relatively constant, according
a study released Sunday.
Criminal charges of civil rights violations were brought against 84
defendants last year, down from 159 in 1999, according to Justice
Department data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access
Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.
The study also found that the number of times the Federal Bureau
of Investigation or another federal investigative agency recommended
prosecution in civil rights cases fell by more than one-third, from
more than 3,000 in 1999 to just over 1,900 last year. Federal court
data also show that the government has sought fewer civil sanctions
against civil rights violators.
One of the study's authors, David Burnham, said the results showed
that civil rights enforcement dropped across the board in President
Bush's first term in office. "Collectively, some violators of the civil
rights laws are not being dealt with by the government," Professor
Burnham said. "This trend, we think, is significant."
It is unlikely the decline has occurred because of fewer civil rights
violations occurring, the study suggests. The number of complaints
about possible violations received by the Justice Department has
remained at about 12,000 annually for each of the past five years.
The Justice Department had no comment about the study.
When he announced his resignation on Nov. 9, Attorney General
John Ashcroft listed as one of the department's accomplishments
a statistic that showed the number of civil rights prosecutions was
slightly higher over the past three years than the previous three-
year period. Mr. Ashcroft also said the department had tripled the
number of defendants charged in human trafficking cases
compared with the previous three years.
The Syracuse report gives no conclusive reasons for the reduction
over five years in civil rights enforcement but speculates that it
could have resulted from federal prosecutors and investigators
having spent far more time than in previous years on terrorism
cases after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Civil rights cases made up a tiny fraction of the Justice Department's
total of 99,341 criminal prosecutions in 2003. The study found,
however, that only civil rights and environmental prosecutions were
down from 1999 to 2003 as the total caseload rose by about
10 percent.
By far the biggest criminal prosecution category is illegal drugs,
at about 33,100 cases last year, followed by immigration, weapons
violations, white-collar crime and others. The study was based on
data collected from the Justice Department, federal courts and
Congressional budget documents.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
Sunday, November 21, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-SUNDAY, NOV. 21, 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) More Blood, More Chaos
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
November 21, 2004
2) In Defense of Unity: The following letter is in response
to a number of serious redbaiting attacks on ANSWER and
other Socialists involved in the antiwar movement from some
people on the UFPJ discussion list. One from
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, printed below, started the debate.
It couldn't have come at a worse time. A time when
overwhelming unity against this war is demanded of all of us.
Also printed below are the wise comments of Carlos Rovira that
I was inspired by.
Bonnie Weinstein, BAUAW
3) The Crushing of Fallujah
By JAMES PETRAS (from Counterpunch)
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/11/303902.shtml
4) In Falluja, Young Marines Saw the Savagery of an Urban War
By DEXTER FILKINS
FALLUJA, Iraq
November 21, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/international/middleeast/21battle.html?hp&
ex=1101099600&en=bc339766506f30ca&ei=5094&partner=homepage
5) Iraq Schedules National Elections for Jan. 30
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 21
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/international/middleeast/21cnd-iraq.html?h
p&ex=1101099600&en=a67b1fd95bdf31f7&ei=5094&partner=homepage
e>
6) Booming prison numbers prompt reexamination of harsh sentencing
MARK SCOLFORO
HARRISBURG, Pa.
Associated Press
Posted on Sat, Nov. 20, 2004
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/politics/10233361.htm
7) Soaring Interest Compounds Credit Card Pain for Millions
THE PLASTIC TRAP
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
This article was reported by Patrick McGeehan, Lowell Bergman,
Robin Stein and Marlena Telvick and written by Mr. McGeehan.
November 21, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/business/21cards-web.html?hp&ex=1101099600
&en=70effacd11d42b21&ei=5094&partner=homepage
8) MSNBC 'Imus' Segment Refers to 'Raghead Cadaver'
Muslims urged to renew demand for apology, reprimand
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/19/04)
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=203&page=AA
9) Holiday in Falluja
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 2:03 PM
hEkLe Falluja, Iraq www.ftssoldier.blogspot.com
10) Fate of Lawyer in Terror Case Hinges on Sheik's Words
By JULIA PRESTON
November 14, 2004
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/1706139.php
11) Government Looking at Military Draft Lists
By ALMA WALZER
The Monitor
McALLEN, November 15, 2004
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=62232_0_10_0_C
12) 47 Parties Boycott Elections in Iraq
Xinhua News Agency (China)
November 17, 2004
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-11/17/content_2230350.htm
13) Greenspan Sees No Rise Soon for the Dollar
By MARK LANDLER
FRANKFURT
November 20, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/20/business/20greenspan.html
14) US soldiers in Iraq suffer horrific brain and mental injuries
By Rick Kelly
20 November 2004
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/sold-n20.shtml
15) Troops Round Up Corpses, Weapons in Fallouja
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Their operation in the city has shifted to cleanup and
rebuilding, amid sporadic fighting.
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Times Staff Writer
November 19, 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-fallouja19nov19,1,370254
6.story
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) More Blood, More Chaos
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
November 21, 2004
In Ramadi today 6 civilians were killed in clashes between the
resistance and military.
The military sealed the city, closing all the roads while announcing
over loudspeakers for residents in the city to hand over "terrorists."
A man, woman and child died when the public bus they were riding in
approached a US checkpoint there when they were riddled with bullets
from anxious soldiers. A military spokesman said the bus was shot
because it didn't stop when they asked it to.
The city remains sealed by US forces as fierce clashes sporadically
erupt across the area while the military decides how to handle yet
another resistance controlled.
As the mass graves in Fallujah continue to be filled with countless
corpses, sporadic fighting flashes throughout areas of the destroyed
battleground.
"The Americans want every city in Iraq to be like Fallujah," said
Abdulla Rahnan, a 40 year-old man on the street where I was taking tea
not far from my hotel, "They want to kill us all-they are freeing us of
our lives!"
His friend, remaining nameless, added, "Everyone here hates them because
they are making mass graves faster than even Saddam!"
I never tell people I interview I am from America. I tell them I am
Canadian of Lebanese descent-which is close enough since I am from
Alaska. With this information, I am always greeted warmly, invited to
meals and to spend the night wherever I go. Arab culture continues to
impress me as the most beautiful, warm, civilized culture of any I've
experienced in all of my travels.
But as Abu Talat told me the other day when I asked him what he though
about going to Ramadi or Fallujah, "Sure Dahr, we can go-but not until
you get a steel neck!"
He laughs his deep laugh, and I fake a laugh with him while peering out
my car window.
After conducting other interviews during the day, Salam and I are in my
room working on a radio dispatch. As we begin recording, his cell phone
and my room phone ring simultaneously.
He gets news of another friend who has been shot by soldiers, while I am
told by Abu Talat that al-Adhamiya is under a 6pm curfew as the military
begins house to house searches. His frustrated voice tells me his wife
and boys are afraid as he speaks above helicopters thumping the air over
his home.
Over in Sadr City, the military are now sealing off neighborhoods doing
home searches as well-this after having agreed to a deal with Sadr's
Mehdi Army the fighters turned in many of their weapons and agreed to a
truce. Last night a small boy was shot there because he was out after
curfew.
Lieutenant-General Lance Smith, deputy US commander of the region of the
Middle East that includes Iraq, announced that his command might be
asking for 3-5,000 more troops for Iraq.
This goal will most likely be attained by delaying the already scheduled
departure of soldiers already here, and was announced at about the same
time that the commander for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in
Fallujah, Lieutenant-General John Sattler said that he believed the
assault on Fallujah had "broken the back of the insurgency."
Refugees from Fallujah have yet to be allowed to return to their city.
One of my friends here works on the election commission for Iraq-he
stopped by tonight laughing at the new date which has been set for the
election of January 30th. "They have this new date for their rigged
elections," he rolls his eyes, "And nobody in Iraq believes their
propaganda. Elections? Here? I don't know anyone who will vote. Perhaps
the entire country can vote absentee for reason of car bomb!"
He and I were interviewed on a radio program this evening-while I was
listening to commercials waiting to come back on, I laugh to myself as
one of the advertisements is for folks to trade in their old Hummer for
a new one with low financing!
This against the backdrop of the show, where my friend and I had shared
stories with the host and callers of death in the streets, Iraqi outrage
over the failed occupation and other love stories from Iraq.
Meanwhile, more oil facilities are sabotaged in the north, the "Green
Zone" takes more mortars, and the usual gunfire is audible over the
generators running out my window.
You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/ to subscribe or
unsubscribe to the email list.
Or, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to
iraq_dispatches-request@dahrjamailiraq.com and write unsubscribe in the
subject or the body of the email.
Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
Iraq_Dispatches@dahrjamailiraq.com
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) In Defense of Unity: The following letter is in response
to a number of serious redbaiting attacks on ANSWER and
other Socialists involved in the antiwar movement from some
people on the UFPJ discussion list. One from
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, printed below, started the debate.
It couldn't have come at a worse time. A time when
overwhelming unity against this war is demanded of all of us.
Also printed below are the wise comments of Carlos Rovira that
I was inspired by.
Bonnie Weinstein, BAUAW
Dear fellow antiwar activists,
What takes precedence over all right now is the bloody devastation
this government is bringing to the people of Iraq. What is first and
foremost for the American antiwar movement is the obligation we have
to make our movement huge--to bring together all those who oppose this
war inside the belly of this most ferocious beast.
Opposition to this war is the common thread we all agree upon. History
demands that we, who are already organized into this movement, come
together and act in unison and LEAD A CALL FOR UNITY. The future of
the planet demands this of us.
There is no room for red-baiting or any propaganda that will divide
instead of unite. That is the ongoing job of the warmongers--to
divide and conquer. Now is the time to put aside our differences.
The world will want to protest the inauguration of this warmonger
and the "2nd anniversary" of the declaration of war against Iraq.
We have had a series of National demonstrations--the Democratic
National Convention, the Republican convention, the Million Worker
March. What we don't have is a united grassroots movement based in
cities and towns across the country--even though there is obviously
tremendous sentiment against this war festering and waiting to be
unleashed.
There are antiwar groups all over. But each of us is "doing our
own thing." There is nothing wrong with "doing your own thing"
routinely. What is criminal is if we refuse to act in unison when
it is necessary. Now is the time!
How much more bloodshed will it take to convince folks that this
is necessary.
Every petty delay in the call for nationally unified actions gives
this bi-partisan government the mandate to continue to escalate their
terror on the world.
Every delay in unity by the current leaders of the movement gives
this bi-partisan government the impression that they can carry their
war over to Iran, Korea, Cuba, Venezuela--to escalate this war and
take it to wherever opposition to the U.S. oil-grab is growing.
The entire world is waiting and watching for what the American people
are going to do about their government. The world is demanding that
we act.
On inauguration day all the cities and towns across this country
will see thousands of angry protesters in the streets in massive
opposition to this war no matter who calls the demonstration.
Coordinated, unified, national demonstrations throughout the country
could give the antiwar movement the chance to reach out to all those
opposed to the war and bring them into grassroots working groups
with ties to a unified, national movement to bring the troops home
now--no matter which group they belong to. This is the idea behind
a United Front. This is the power of a United Front.
In San Francisco, we proved that the majority of the people want
to bring the troops home now. Our referendum won with 63.9% percent
of the vote--a wide margin.
The antiwar movement in our city, for sure, has a mandate to
organize and act in unity.
Suggestions such as Arthur Wascow's (see his email reprinted below)
to demonstrate the day before inauguration day in order not to
demonstrate with ANSWER is, in my opinion, profoundly shamefulÂ
criminal, in fact, since it's redbaiting--something that should
have ended with McCarthy. All such divisive speech should be viewed
as actions benefiting the warmongers and should be reviled by the
movement.
The truth is self-evident. Tens of thousands have demonstrated in
this country and throughout the world in demonstrations called by
ANSWER, UFPJ, Not In Our Name and by many other small groups and
large groups. In other words, demonstrators have been acting in
unity in spite of the differences and fights for hegemony within
the leadership of the movement.
The people who are opposed to this war throughout the world have
voted with their feet for unity many times over.
When will the "leadership" catch up to the people of the world who
say, "BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW! U.S. OUT OF IRAQ!"?
Yours for peace and solidarity,
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
......................................
On 11/21/04 6:13 AM, "Carlos Rovira"
Dear Hany and everyone
The issue here IS NOT ANSWER or the
ANSWER demonstration condemning the Bush
inauguration. Entities like UFPJ have
a right to decide with whom they unite
or not unite at given times. ANSWER,
like UFPJ, has its problems, but ANSWER is
not the enemy, unless that is what is
being said here (?).
My question is - what do you all propose
instead? Enough with the anti-ANSWER
language because it is redolent of
anti-communism, a pillar of the Bush
doctrine, which I will most definitely
NOT remain quiet about.
Respectfully,
Carlos Rovira - "Carlito"
........................................
From Rabbi Arthur Waskow:
Present counter-inaugural plans for Washington on Jan. 20
are liable to turn into a zoo that hurts, rather than
strengthens, the anti-war movement, particularly if they
are (as now seems likely) dominated by ANSWER and if they
bring down extreme security controls.
What about combining a mass march in Washington the day before
Jan 19 -- on the model of the mass march in NYC the day
before the Republican Natl Convention that does not have
an endless boring rally (at the time because we could not
get a rally permit; in retrospect, I think, a blessing) --
FOLLOWED BY doing a REAL "counter-inaugural" on January 20
that is, an Inauguration of a continuing Opposition movement
--a riff on the "Social Forum" form as was created during the
National Conventions four years ago, an eclectic mix of progressive
intellectual & political & cultural leaders in and out of the
Democratic Party with a major gathering of people OUTSIDE WASHINGTON Â
maybe in the Maryland suburbs? or Baltimore?
Could such a People's Inaugural bring together a People's Cabinet
with people like Ariana Huffington, Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich,
Jesse Jackson Sr & Jr., Ralph Nader, Maxine Waters, Howard Zinn,
Julian Bond plus ideally some of the music stars that campaigned
against Bush? Could it include interactive Internet and
alternative-radio/ TV coverage around the country so people
off the East Coast could take part?
The Jan 19 event could create media buzz as the pre-convention
march in NYC did, without trapping us in ANSWER-like politics
and in street vandal acting-out (both likely on Jan 20), and
then a much richer political/intellectual/cultural event on
Jan 20 could actually advance our political vision and cohesion.
Shalom, Arthur
Rabbi Arthur Waskow directs The Shalom Center, a prophetic voice I
n Jewish, multireligious, and American life. To subscribe to The
Shalom Report (weekly on-line newsletter) and for a wealth of
information on social action and its spiritual roots, click to --
http://www.shalomctr.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) The Crushing of Fallujah
By JAMES PETRAS (from Counterpunch)
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/11/303902.shtml
I am reading William Shirer's Berlin Diary, a journalist's account
of Nazi political propaganda during the 1930's, as I watch the US
'news' reports of the violent assault on Fallujah. The US mass
media 'reports', the style, content and especially the language
echo their Nazi predecessor of 70 years ago to an uncanny degree.
Coincidence? Of course! In both instances we have imperialist
armies conquering countries, leveling cities and slaughtering
civilians--and the mass media, private in form, state appendages
in practice, disseminate the most outrageous lies, in defense and
praise of the conquering 'storm troopers'--call them SS or Marines.
Both in Nazi Germany and contemporary US, we are told by the mass
media that the invading armies are "freeing the country" of "foreign
fighters", "armed terrorists", who are preventing "the people" from
going about their everyday lives. Yet we know that of the 1,000
prisoners there are only 4 foreigners (3 Iranians and 1 Arab);
Iraqi hospitals report less than 10% of foreign fighters. In other
words over 90% of the fighters are Iraqis--most of who were born,
educated, and raised families in the cities in which they are
fighting.
Like the Nazi media, the major US radio and TV networks only report
what they call "military casualties"--failing to report the civilians
killed since the war started and the thousands of women and children
killed and wounded since the assault of Fallujah began. Like in Nazi
Germany, the US mass media feature unconfirmed reports by the US
military of the bloody murders, beheadings and kidnapping "by the
foreign terrorists". The unconditional support of Nazi/US mass
media of the killing fields is best captured in their reports of
the massive bombing of densely populated city districts. For the
US network NBC, the dropping of 500-pound bombs in the city of
Fallujah is described as targeting an "insurgent tunnel network
in the city". And the houses, markets, stores--the mothers and
children above those tunnels--vaporized into "pink mist". Their
existence never acknowledged by the leading reporters and
broadcasters.
Almost the entire population of non-Kurdish Iraq is opposed to the
US military and its puppet regime--yet the media refer to the
patriots defending their country from the imperial invaders asÂ
'insurgents' minimizing the significance of a nation-wide
patriotic liberation movement. One of the most surreal euphemisms
is the constant reference to the 'coalition forces'--meaning the
US colonial conquerors and the mercenaries and satraps that they
direct and control.
The terror bombing of homes, hospitals and religious buildings by
hundreds of airplanes and helicopter gunships are described by
the media as 'securing the city for free elections'.
'Freeing the city of insurgents' includes the systematic murder
of friends, neighbors and relatives of every Iraqi living in the
city of Fallujah.
'Surrounding the insurgents' means cutting off water, electricity,
medical aid for 200,000 civilians in the city and putting tens of
thousands who fled under threat of a typhoid epidemic. 'Pacifying
the city' involves turning it to absolute desolate poisoned rubble.
Why do Washington and the mass media resort to gross, systematic
lying and euphemisms? Basically to reinforce mass support at home
for mass murder in Iraq. The mass media fabricates a web of lies
to secure a gloss of legitimacy for totalitarian methods in order
that the US armed forces continue to destroy cities with impunity.
The technique perfected by Goebbels in Germany and practiced in the
US is to repeat lies and euphemism until they become accepted
'truths', and embedded in everyday language. The mass media by
effectively routinizing a common language implicates the listeners.
The tactical concerns of the Generals, the commanders directing the
slaughter (pacification), and the soldiers murdering civilians are
explained (and consumed by the millions listening and watching) by
the unchallenged authorities to the compliant journalists and famous
news anchors. The unity of purpose between the agents of mass murder
and everyday US public is established via 'news reports': The
soldiers 'paint the names' of their wives and sweethearts on the
tanks and armored vehicles which destroy Iraqi families and turn
Fallujah into ruins. Returning soldiers from Iraq are 'interviewed'
who want to return to 'be with their platoon' and 'wipe out the
terrorists'. Not all of US combat forces experienced the joys of
shooting civilians. Medical studies report that one out of five
returning soldiers are suffering from severe psychological trauma,
no doubt from witnessing or participation in the mass killing of
civilians. The family of one returned soldier, who recently
committed suicide, reported that he constantly referred to his
killing an unarmed child in the streets of Iraq--calling himself
a 'murderer'. Aside from these notable exceptions, the mass
propaganda media practice several techniques, which assuage
the 'conscience' of US soldiers and civilians. One technique
is 'role reversal' to attribute the crimes of the invading
force to the victims: It is not the soldiers who cause destruction
of cities and murder, but the Iraqi families who 'protect the
terrorists' and "bring upon themselves the savage bombardment".
The second technique is to only report US casualties from
'terrorist bombs'--to omit any mention of thousands of Iraqi
civilian killed by US bombs and artillery. Both Nazi and US
propaganda glorify the 'heroism', 'success' of their elite forces
(the SS and the Marines)--in killing 'terrorists' or 'insurgents'
--every dead civilian is counted as a 'suspected terrorist
sympathizer'.
The US and German military have declared every civilian building
a 'storehouse' or 'hiding place' for 'terrorists'--hence the
absolutely total disregard of all the Geneva laws of warfare.
The US and Nazi practice of 'total war' in which whole communities,
neighborhoods and entire cities are collectively guilty of shielding
'wanted terrorists'--is of course the standard operating military
procedure of the Israeli government.
The US publicizes the cruel and unusual punishment of Iraqi 'suspects'
(any male between 14-60 years) taken prisoner: photos appear in Time
and Newsweek of barefoot, blindfolded and bound young men led from
their homes and pushed into trucks to be taken to 'exploitation
centers' for interrogation. For many in the US public these pictures
are part of the success story--they are told these are the 'terrorists'
who would blow up American homes. For the majority who voted for Bush,
the mass propaganda media has taught them to believe that the
extermination of scores of thousands of Iraqi citizens is in their
best interests: they can sleep sound, as long as 'our boys' kill
them 'over there'.
Above all the mass propaganda media has done everything possible
to deny Iraqi national consciousness. Everyday in every way the
reference is to religious loyalties, ethnic identities, past
political labels, 'tribal' and family clans. The purpose is to
divide and conquer, and to present the world with a 'chaotic'
Iraq in which the only coherent, stable force is the US colonial
regime. The purpose of the savage colonial assaults and the
political labeling is to destroy the idea of the Iraqi nation--and
in its place to substitute a series of mini-entities run by
imperial satraps obedient to Washington.
Sunday morning: November 14 .Today Fallujah is being raped and razed,
captured wounded prisoners are shot in the mosques .In New York the mega
malls are crowded with shoppers .
Sunday afternoon: the Marines have blocked food ,water,and medicine
from entering Fallujah..Throughout the US millions of men sit in
front of the television watching football.
Shirer reported that while the Nazis invaded and ravaged Belgium
and bombed Rotterdam.,in Berlin the cafes were full,the symphony
played and people walked their dogs in the park on sunny Sunday
afternoons
Sunday night November 14, 2004, I turn on the television to 60 Minutes
and watch a replay of Mike Wallace's 'interviews' with Yasser Arafat.
Like all US mass media 'stars', he ignores the Israeli invasion of
Lebanon and Sharon's murder of thousands of Palestinians, the
military occupation of Palestine and the wanton destruction of Jenin
and Gaza City. Wallace accuses Arafat of being a liar, a terrorist,
of being corrupt and devious. Thirty million US households watch this
ugly spectacle of a self-righteous Zionist apologist flaunting the
'Western ideals', which are so useful in razing cities, bombing
hospitals and exterminating a nation.
Yes, there are differences between Shirer's account of Nazi propaganda
in defense of the conquest of Europe and the US media's apology for
the invasion of Iraq and Israel's slaughter of the Palestinians: One
is committed in the name of the Fuehrer and the Fatherland, the other
in the name of God and Democracy. Go tell that to the bloated corpses
gnawed by dogs in the ruins of Fallujah.
---------
James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University,
New York, owns a 50 year membership in the class struggle, is an adviser
to the landless and jobless in brazil and argentina and is co-author of
Globalization Unmasked (Zed). He can be reached at:
jpetras@binghamton.edu
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) In Falluja, Young Marines Saw the Savagery of an Urban War
By DEXTER FILKINS
FALLUJA, Iraq
November 21, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/international/middleeast/21battle.html?hp&
ex=1101099600&en=bc339766506f30ca&ei=5094&partner=homepage
FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 18 - Eight days after the Americans entered the
city on foot, a pair of marines wound their way up the darkened
innards of a minaret, shot through with holes by an American tank.
As the marines inched upward, a burst of gunfire rang down, fired
by an insurgent hiding in the top of the tower. The bullets hit the
first marine in the face, his blood spattering the marine behind him.
The marine in the rear tumbled backward down the stairwell, while
Lance Cpl. William Miller, age 22, lay in silence halfway up,
mortally wounded.
"Miller!" the marines called from below. "Miller!"
With that, the marines' near mystical commandment against leaving
a comrade behind seized the group. One after another, the young marines
dashed into the minaret, into darkness and into gunfire, and wound
their way up the stairs.
After four attempts, Corporal Miller's lifeless body emerged from the
tower, his comrades choking and covered with dust. With more insurgents
closing in, the marines ran through volleys of machine-gun fire back
to their base.
"I was trying to be careful, but I was trying to get him out, you know
what I'm saying?" Lance Cpl. Michael Gogin, 19, said afterward.
So went eight days of combat for this Iraqi city, the most sustained
period of street-to-street fighting that Americans have encountered
since the Vietnam War. The proximity gave the fighting a hellish
intensity, with soldiers often close enough to look their enemies
in the eyes.
For a correspondent who has covered a half dozen armed conflicts,
including the war in Iraq since its start in March 2003, the fighting
seen while traveling with a frontline unit in Falluja was a qualitatively
different experience, a leap into a different kind of battle.
From the first rockets vaulting out of the city as the marines moved
in, the noise and feel of the battle seemed altogether extraordinary;
at other times, hardly real at all. The intimacy of combat, this
plunge into urban warfare, was new to this generation of American
soldiers, but it is a kind of fighting they will probably see again:
a grinding struggle to root out guerrillas entrenched in a city, on
streets marked in a language few American soldiers could comprehend.
The price for the Americans so far: 51 dead and 425 wounded, a number
that may yet increase but that already exceeds the toll from any battle
in the Iraq war.
Marines in Harm's Way
The 150 marines with whom I traveled, Bravo Company of the First
Battalion, Eighth Marines, had it as tough as any unit in the fight.
They moved through the city almost entirely on foot, into the heart
of the resistance, rarely protected by tanks or troop carriers,
working their way through Falluja's narrow streets with 75-pound
packs on their backs.
In eight days of fighting, Bravo Company took 36 casualties, including
6 dead, meaning that the unit's men had about a one-in-four chance of
being wounded or killed in little more than a week.
The sounds, sights and feel of the battle were as old as war itself,
and as new as the Pentagon's latest weapons systems. The eerie pop
from the cannon of the AC-130 gunship, prowling above the city at
night, firing at guerrillas who were often only steps away from
Americans on the ground. The weird buzz of the Dragon Eye pilotless
airplane, hovering over the battlefield as its video cameras beamed r
eal-time images back to the base.
The glow of the insurgents' flares, throwing daylight over a
landscape to help them spot their targets: us.
The nervous shove of a marine scrambling for space along a brick
wall as tracer rounds ricocheted above.
The silence between the ping of the shell leaving its mortar tube
and the explosion when it strikes.
The screams of the marines when one of their comrades, Cpl. Jake
Knospler, lost part of his jaw to a hand grenade.
"No, no, no!" the marines shouted as they dragged Corporal Knospler
from the darkened house where the bomb went off. It was 2 a.m., the
sky dark without a moon. "No, no, no!"
Nothing in the combat I saw even remotely resembled the scenes
regularly flashed across movie screens; even so, they often
seemed no more real.
Mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades began raining down on Bravo
Company the moment its men began piling out of their troop
carriers just outside Falluja. The shells looked like Fourth of
July bottle rockets, sailing over the ridge ahead as if fired by
children, exploding in a whoosh of sparks.
Whole buildings, minarets and human beings were vaporized in barrages
of exploding shells. A man dressed in a white dishdasha crawled across
a desolate field, reaching behind a gnarled plant to hide, when he
collapsed before a burst of fire from an American tank.
Sometimes the casualties came in volleys, like bursts of machine-gun
fire. On the first morning of battle, during a ferocious struggle
for the Muhammadia Mosque, about 45 marines with Bravo Company's
Third Platoon dashed across 40th Street, right into interlocking
streams of fire. By the time the platoon made it to the other side,
five men lay bleeding in the street.
The marines rushed out to get them, as they would days later in the
minaret, but it was too late for Sgt. Lonny Wells, who bled to death
on the side of the road. One of the men who braved gunfire to pull
in Sergeant Wells was Cpl. Nathan Anderson, who died three days
later in an ambush.
Sergeant Wells's death dealt the Third Platoon a heavy blow; as
a leader of one of its squads, he had written letters to the parents
of its younger members, assuring them he would look over them during
the tour in Iraq.
"He loved playing cards," Cpl. Gentian Marku recalled. "He knew all the
probabilities."
More than once, death crept up and snatched a member of Bravo Company
and quietly slipped away. Cpl. Nick Ziolkowski, nicknamed Ski, was a
Bravo Company sniper. For hours at a stretch, Corporal Ziolkowski would
sit on a rooftop, looking through the scope on his bolt-action M-40
rifle, waiting for guerrillas to step into his sights. The scope was
big and wide, and Corporal Ziolkowski often took off his helmet to
get a better look.
Tall, good-looking and gregarious, Corporal Ziolkowski was one of
Bravo Company's most popular soldiers. Unlike most snipers, who
learned to shoot growing up in the countryside, Corporal Ziolkowski
grew up near Baltimore, unfamiliar with guns. Though Baltimore boasts
no beach front, Corporal Ziolkowski's passion was surfing; at Camp
Lejeune, N.C., Bravo Company's base, he would often organize his
entire day around the tides.
"All I need now is a beach with some waves," Corporal Ziolkowski
said, during a break from his sniper duties at Falluja's Grand Mosque,
where he killed three men in a single day.
During that same break, Corporal Ziolkowski foretold his own death.
The snipers, he said, were now among the most hunted of American
soldiers.
In the first battle for Falluja, in April, American snipers had been
especially lethal, Corporal Ziolkowski said, and intelligence
officers had warned him that this time, the snipers would be targets.
"They are trying to take us out," Corporal Ziolkowski said.
The bullet knocked Corporal Ziolkowski backward and onto the roof.
He had been sitting there on the outskirts of the Shuhada neighborhood,
an area controlled by insurgents, peering through his wide scope.
He had taken his helmet off to get a better view. The bullet hit
him in the head.
Young Men, Heavy Burdens
For all the death about the place, one inescapable impression left
by the marines was their youth. Everyone knows that soldiers are
young; it is another thing to see men barely out of adolescence,
many of whom were still in high school when this war began, shoot
people dead.
The marines of Bravo Company often fought over the packets of M&M's
that came with their rations. Sitting in their barracks, they sang
along with the Garth Brooks paean to chewing tobacco, "Copenhagen,"
named for the brand they bought almost to a man:
Copenhagen, what a wad of flavor
Copenhagen, you can see it in my smile
Copenhagen, hey do yourself a favor, dip
Copenhagen, it drives the cowgirls wild
One of Bravo Company's more youthful members was Cpl. Romulo
Jimenez II, age 21 from Bellington, W.Va.. Cpl. Jimenez spent
much of his time showing off his tattoos - he had flames climbing
up one of his arms - and talking about his 1992 Ford Mustang. He
was a popular member of Bravo Company's Second Platoon, not least
because he introduced his sister to a fellow marine, Lance Cpl.
Sean Evans, and the couple married.
In the days before the battle started, Corporal Jimenez called his
sister, Katherine, to ask that she fix up the interior of his
Mustang before he got home.
"Make it look real nice," he told her.
On Wednesday, Nov. 10, around 2 p.m., Corporal Jimenez was shot
in the neck by a sniper as he advanced with his platoon through
the northern end of Falluja, just near the green-domed Muhammadia
Mosque. He died instantly.
Despite their youth, the marines seemed to tower over their peers
outside the military in maturity and guts. Many of Bravo Company's
best marines, its most proficient killers, were 19 and 20 years old;
some directed their comrades in maneuvers and assaults. Bravo
Company's three lieutenants, each responsible for the lives of
about 50 men, were 23 and 24 years old.
They are a strangely anonymous bunch. The men who fight America's
wars seem invariably to come from little towns and medium-size
cities far away from the nation's arteries along the coast. Line
up a group of marines and ask them where they are from, and they
will give you a list of places like Pearland, Tex.; Lodi, Ohio;
Osawatomie, Kan.
Typical of the marines who fought in Falluja was Chad Ritchie,
a 22-year-old corporal from Keezletown, Va. Corporal Ritchie, a
soft-spoken, bespectacled intelligence officer, said he was happy
to be out of the tiny place where he grew up, though he admitted
that he sometimes missed the good times on Friday nights in the
fields.
"We'd have a bonfire, and back the trucks up on it, and open up
the backs, and someone would always have some speakers," Corporal
Ritchie said. "We'd drink beer, tell stories."
Like many of the young men in Bravo Company, Corporal Ritchie
said he had joined the Marines because he yearned for an
adventure greater than his small town could offer.
"The guys who stayed, they're all living with their parents,
making $7 an hour," Corporal Ritchie said. "I'm not going to be
one of those people who gets old and says, 'I wish I had done
this. I wish I had done that.' Every once in a while, you've got
to do something hard, do something you're not comfortable with.
A person needs a gut check."
Holding Up Under Fire
Marines like Corporal Ritchie proved themselves time and again in
Falluja, but they were not without fear. While camped out one
night in the Iraqi National Guard building in the middle of city,
Bravo Company came under mortar fire that grew closer with each
shot. The insurgents were "bracketing" the building, firing shots
to the left and right of the target and adjusting their fire each
time.
In the hallways, where the men had camped for the night, the
murmured sounds of prayers rose between the explosions. After
20 tries, the shelling inexplicably stopped.
On one particularly grim night, a group of marines from Bravo
Company's First Platoon turned a corner in the darkness and headed
up an alley. As they did so, they came across men dressed in
uniforms worn by the Iraqi National Guard. The uniforms were so
perfect that they even carried pieces of red tape and white, the
signal agreed upon to assure American soldiers that any Iraqis
dressed that way would be friendly; the others could be killed.
The marines, spotting the red and white tape, waved, and the men
in Iraqi uniforms opened fire. One American, Corporal Anderson,
died instantly. One of the wounded men, Pfc. Andrew Russell, lay
in the road, screaming from a nearly severed leg.
A group of marines ran forward into the gunfire to pull their
comrades out. But the ambush, and the enemy flares and gunfire
that followed, rattled the men of Bravo Company more than any
event. In the darkness, the men began to argue. Others stood
around in the road. As the platoon's leader, Lt. Andy Eckert,
struggled to take charge, the Third Platoon seemed on the brink
of panic.
"Everybody was scared," Lieutenant Eckert said afterward. "If
the leader can't hold, then the unit can't hold together."
The unit did hold, but only after the intervention of Bravo
Company's commanding officer, Capt. Read Omohundro.
Time and again through the week, Captain Omohundro kept his
men from folding, if not by his resolute manner then by his
calmness under fire. In the first 16 hours of battle, when the
combat was continuous and the threat of death ever present,
Captain Omohundro never flinched, moving his men through the
warrens and back alleys of Falluja with an uncanny sense of
space and time, sensing the enemy, sensing the location of his
men, even in the darkness, entirely self-possessed.
"Damn it, get moving," Captain Omohundro said, and his men,
looking relieved that they had been given direction amid the
anarchy, were only too happy to oblige.
A little later, Captain Omohundro, a 34-year-old Texan, allowed
that the strain of the battle had weighed on him, but he said
that he had long ago trained himself to keep any self-doubt
hidden from view.
"It's not like I don't feel it," Captain Omohundro said. "But
if I were to show it, the whole thing would come apart."
When the heavy fighting was finally over, a dog began to follow
Bravo Company through Falluja's broken streets. First it lay
down in the road outside one of the buildings the company had
occupied, between troop carriers. Then, as the troops moved on,
the mangy dog slinked behind them, first on a series of house
searches, then on a foot patrol, always keeping its distance,
but never letting the marines out of its sight.
Bravo Company, looking a bit ragged itself as it moved up
through Falluja, momentarily fell out of its single-file line.
"Keep a sharp eye," Captain Omohundro told his men. "We ain't
done with this war yet."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Iraq Schedules National Elections for Jan. 30
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 21
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/international/middleeast/21cnd-iraq.html?h
p&ex=1101099600&en=a67b1fd95bdf31f7&ei=5094&partner=homepage
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 21 - The Electoral Commission of Iraq said
today it has set Jan. 30 for the national elections, according
to news agency reports.
The announcement was made after violence surged through central
and northern Iraq on Saturday as a tenacious insurgency led by Sunni
Arabs kept up relentless assaults in several major cities, including
Baghdad, Ramadi and Falluja, which the Americans devastated during
an intense weeklong offensive aimed at routing the insurgency.
But areas still beset by violence, including Falluja and Mosul, will
participate in the elections, according to a spokesman for the electoral
commission, Farid Ayar, who was quoted in a report by The Associated Press.
"No Iraqi province will be excluded because the law considers Iraq as
one constituency, and therefore it is not legal to exclude any province,"
he said.
Elsewhere, the United States military said today that Iraqi and American
forces detained more than 1,450 people in connection with the Falluja
offensive, but more than 400 detainees were later released after being
deemed to be non-combatants.
In the capital on Saturday, insurgents armed with Kalashnikov rifles
and rocket-propelled grenades tried storming a police station at dawn
in the northwestern neighborhood of Amariya, where American and Iraqi
soldiers had engaged in a mosque shootout on Friday. The attack on the
police station left three Iraqi police officers dead and two others
wounded, said Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman, a spokesman for the Interior
Ministry.
Hours later, a car bomb exploded in downtown Baghdad, at the eastern
end of the bridge over the Tigris River leading to the Green Zone,
the fortified compound housing the American Embassy and the headquarters
of the interim Iraqi government. The bomb was aimed at a convoy of
vehicles from a Western security contractor. At least one Iraqi was
killed and another wounded, witnesses said.
Four employees of the Public Works Ministry were gunned down from
a passing car, and three Iraqi national guardsmen died in explosions
in western Baghdad during gun battles with insurgents, Iraqi
officials said.
An ambush on an American military convoy in central Baghdad ended
with the death of one soldier, the military said. Nine others were
wounded in what appeared to be a highly coordinated attack, with
insurgents using explosives, automatic rifles and rocket-propelled
grenades. Fighting raged in the rubble of Falluja. Two marines were
killed and four wounded in an ambush on Friday in which an insurgent
deceived the Americans by waving a white flag, military officials
said Saturday.
The weeklong offensive, which began Nov. 8, smashed a haven for the
insurgents, but guerrillas still roam the devastated streets,
sniping at American troops and deterring military engineers brought
in to try to rebuild the city.
American commanders in Falluja say they are seeing an increasing
number of guerrillas using white flags to pose as unarmed civilians.
In a bit of positive news, a Polish woman abducted in October by
insurgents announced her release to reporters in Warsaw in a brief
news conference on Saturday with the Polish prime minister, Marek
Belka, broadcast by the BBC and CNN.
The woman, Teresa Borcz-Kalifa, 54, said her captors had treated her
well. She is married to an Iraqi and had lived in Iraq for 30 years.
Her captors made at least two videos that were shown on Al Jazeera,
the Arab satellite television network, demanding the withdrawal of
Polish troops.
And today, news agency reports said that the Iraqi prime minister's
75-year-old cousin, Ghazi Majeed Allawi, had been freed by captors
who had detained him and two other family members on Nov. 9. A group
called Ansar al Jihad had posted an Internet message saying the three
would be beheaded unless Dr. Allawi called off the siege of Falluja
and released all prisoners in Iraq.
Two of the relatives, both women, were released last week. And today,
Al-Arabiya news channel, quoted by Reuters, reported that Ghazi Allawi
had been freed.
The unrelenting wave of assaults in the Sunni-dominated parts of the
country indicate that the attack on Falluja could have inflamed Sunni
resentment against the American presence.
American and Iraqi officials have found it impossible in the 19 months
since the invasion to persuade hostile Sunni Arabs to lay down their
arms and engage in the emerging political system.
The Sunni Arabs, who make up a fifth of the population here, ruled
the region known as modern Iraq for centuries, until the American
invasion toppled Saddam Hussein.
Mr. Hussein, himself a Sunni, heightened ethnic and religious
differences by installing Sunnis in the most senior positions and
persecuting Shiite Arabs and Kurds. Now, with a power and security
vacuum throughout Iraq, those tensions are reviving and threatening
to unravel the very social fabric of the country.
Sunni-dominated cities exploded during and immediately after the
Falluja offensive. In April, when the Marines tried to take control
of Falluja, thousands of unruly Shiites rose up also, led by the
firebrand cleric Moktada al-Sadr.
During the more recent invasion, Mr. Sadr condemned the Americans'
use of force but did not call on his militia to fight. These days,
even radical Shiites appear ready to use legitimate politics to
ensure that Shiites seize majority rule of the country. The most
restive areas in Iraq are in Anbar Province, including Ramadi and
Falluja, and, in the north, Nineveh Province, whose capital is Mosul,
a city of two million that has become a second front of the insurgency.
On Saturday, marines set up roadblocks around Ramadi, the capital of
Anbar, and broadcast messages calling on residents to turn over
"terrorists," Reuters reported. The marines are engaged in a holding
action there. They have a presence at the government center and
several outposts downtown, but they do not have real control of
the city. Insurgents operate freely and regularly murder residents
they say are collaborating with the Americans or the interim Iraqi
government.
Senior American commanders believe that many guerrillas fled Falluja
before the offensive and sought a haven in Ramadi, just 30 miles
west, causing a spike in violence there.
In Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, 225 miles north of Baghdad,
nine bodies of Iraqi Army soldiers with bullet wounds to the head
were discovered Saturday, said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, an Army
spokesman. Seven of those were also decapitated. On Thursday, he
said, four headless bodies were found in eastern Mosul.
The group of the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi posted an
Internet message dated Thursday that said it had decapitated two
Iraqi soldiers in public. At least one witness said that he saw
the killings and that the bodies had been left in the street for
hours because people had been afraid to collect them.
American and Iraqi forces are trying to root out resilient insurgent
bands in Mosul that pushed the city to the brink of chaos last week.
On Nov. 11, groups of guerrillas stormed a half-dozen police stations
and made off with weapons and uniforms after setting fire to the
buildings and squad cars. Only 800 of the city's 4,000 police
officers stayed on the job.
The Army of Ansar al-Sunna, one of the country's most militant
groups, posted a message on the Internet on Saturday saying it
had shot and killed two members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
A video showed two gagged and blindfolded men being shot in the
back of their heads, Reuters reported.
The car bombing in Baghdad took place at around 12:30 p.m., as a
convoy of sport utility vehicles carrying Western security contractors
drove near the Jumhuriya bridge. A suicide car bomber tried ramming
into the convoy. The security contractors escaped, but an Iraqi man
in a pickup truck behind the bomber was incinerated.
Robert F. Worth contributed reporting from Falluja for this article,
Richard A. Oppel Jr. from Mosul, Khalid al-Ansary from Baghdad and
Christine Hauser from New York.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Booming prison numbers prompt reexamination of harsh sentencing
MARK SCOLFORO
HARRISBURG, Pa.
Associated Press
Posted on Sat, Nov. 20, 2004
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/politics/10233361.htm
HARRISBURG, Pa. -The state prison population grew by 44 percent over
the past decade as Pennsylvania embraced mandatory sentencing and
dramatically increased the number of violent criminals forced to
serve their maximum sentence.
But the lock-'em-up approach to corrections - part of a national
trend - has been accompanied by an ever-more-costly price tag and
growing doubts about its effectiveness.
Last month, Pennsylvania quietly joined a growing number of states
taking a step back from the stiffer sentencing policies of the 1990s.
The Republican-controlled Legislature approved a bill that would get
nonviolent drug and alcohol offenders out of prison more quickly and
into treatment programs, and on Friday, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell
signed it.
The policy change is expected to save the state more than $20 million
a year and reduce pressure on a prison system now housing nearly 41,000
convicts, up from 28,302 in 1994. Corrections officials say treatment
has also been shown to reduce the chance the inmates will end up back
in prison.
The typical inmate now spends about four years behind bars before being
released. By one study, Pennsylvania keeps its inmates the longest of
any state, more than twice the national average.
The costs have been staggering. The Department of Corrections has
proposed a $1.34 billion budget for next year, an increase of 295
percent since fiscal year 1992-93, when the budget was just $453
million. It currently employs more than 15,000 people.
Nationally, more than half the states have loosened sentencing
policies in the past three years, said Daniel F. Wilhelm, director
of the State Sentencing and Corrections Project at the Vera Institute
of Justice in New York.
Driving those changes are budget pressures, concerns about the
fairness of sentencing, and falling public concern about crime as
the crime rate has dropped, he said. The nation currently spends
an estimated $40 billion annually on corrections.
Michigan abolished its mandatory sentencing scheme in December 2002.
Kansas passed the nation's most comprehensive mandatory drug-treatment
diversion act last year. Texas put more money into drug treatment.
Other reforms were considered or passed in Washington, Hawaii and
North Carolina.
"What's interesting to note is in a lot of these states, it's not
the liberal Democrats who are championing reforms. It's Republicans
who are at the forefront," Wilhelm said.
In Pennsylvania, prison spending has grown faster than any other part
of the budget, said Montgomery County Sen. Stewart J. Greenleaf,
Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, "so I think
we have to be smart in regard to how we incarcerate people."
Despite the changes in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, much of the
harshest anti-crime legislation from the past decade remains on
the books, and earlier this month California voters narrowly rejected
a referendum to weaken its three-strikes law.
Pennsylvania's decision to pursue more treatment for inmates comes
nearly a decade after tough anti-crime policies were pushed through
a receptive Legislature by then-Gov. Tom Ridge, helped along by two
highly publicized murder cases.
Ridge's 1995 campaign was in its final weeks when pardoned inmate
Reginald McFadden killed two people; Ridge's Democratic opponent had
voted to pardon him. And during the Republican governor's first year
in office, a New Jersey police officer was murdered by parolee Robert
"Mudman" Simon.
Almost immediately, inmates found it much harder to make parole and
parole violators were increasingly sent back to complete their
sentences.
Those changes were widely supported, and many experts believe tough
sentencing laws help reduce crime by keeping habitual criminals off
the streets.
But in Pennsylvania, new mandatory sentencing laws also fed an
astronomical growth in the number of inmates convicted of drug
offenses and other comparatively less serious crimes, so-called
"Part 2" offenders. Their numbers are up 80 percent in the past
seven years.
"I think that there are people that we're confining that we either
don't need to confine for as long a period of time or we don't need
to confine at all," said Corrections Secretary Jeffrey A. Beard.
"There are Part 2 offenders we have in our system that don't need
to stay as long as they're staying."
William DiMascio, executive director of the Pennsylvania Prison
Society, recalled the case of a young grandmother from Berks County
with no prior record who was arrested for distributing a small
amount of marijuana within a block or two of a school.
"So all of a sudden she had this horrendous mandatory imprisonment
(the judge) had to give her," he said. "It happens almost every day.
We have these ridiculous situations that serve no one's best interests."
Longer sentences don't necessarily lower the crime rate and can
create problems of their own, said Ryan S. King, a research associate
with the Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C., reform advocacy
organization.
"You've got people that are being removed from families, social
networks being disrupted, people losing connections to jobs, education.
In essence - particularly when it's concentrated in communities of
color - you have an overall impact that basically disrupts the
community," King said.
The reforms that became law Friday will divert inmates with nonviolent
convictions involving drugs or alcohol - even a theft conviction to
support a drug habit would qualify - into an "intermediate punishment"
program.
Inmates will first do at least seven months in prison, although Beard
said 12 months will probably be more typical. After that, they will
spend at least two months at a community-based therapeutic facility
and the rest of the minimum 24-month sentence at a halfway house or
group home while receiving addiction treatment.
The savings will come because they will spend less overall time in
the system, and considerably less time in state correctional
institutions, where it currently costs $28,000 annually per inmate.
Beard said he is hopeful there will be additional long-term savings
as a result of an expected drop in recidivism and through an
expansion of the program to other classes of inmates.
He said intensive drug or alcohol treatment, combined with aftercare,
could cut in half recidivism rates from their current range of 50
percent to 60 percent. Through shorter sentences, less costly forms
of incarceration and lower numbers of probation violators coming back
in, the state expects to eventually save more than $20 million annually.
"They're still going to do hard time in prison, but we're going to
give them a program that meets their needs, so that when they go out,
they're going to be less likely to prey on society," Beard said.
"I see it as a public safety issue."
Supporters who see the new law as a relatively modest change of
direction hope it is a harbinger of even broader reforms.
"It's not the most creative thing in the world, but insofar as
it's the world we're operating in, it's a good step in the right
direction," DiMascio said.
(c) 2004 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.centredaily.com
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Soaring Interest Compounds Credit Card Pain for Millions
THE PLASTIC TRAP
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
This article was reported by Patrick McGeehan, Lowell Bergman,
Robin Stein and Marlena Telvick and written by Mr. McGeehan.
November 21, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/business/21cards-web.html?hp&ex=1101099600
&en=70effacd11d42b21&ei=5094&partner=homepage
When Ed Schwebel was whittling down his mound of credit card debt
at an interest rate of 9.2 percent, the MBNA Corporation had a happy
and profitable customer. But this summer, when MBNA suddenly doubled
the rate on his account, Mr. Schwebel joined the growing ranks of irate
cardholders stunned by lenders' harsh tactics.
Mr. Schwebel, 58, a semiretired software engineer in Gilbert, Ariz.,
was not pleased that his minimum monthly payment jumped from $502 in
June to $895 in July. But what really made him angry, he said, was the
sense that he was being punished despite having held up his end of
the bargain with MBNA.
"I paid the bills the minute the envelope hit the desk," said Mr.
Schwebel, who had accumulated $69,000 in debt over five years before
the rate increase. "All of a sudden in July, they swapped it to 18
percent. No warning. No reason. It was like I was blindsided."
Mr. Schwebel had stumbled into the new era of consumer credit, in
which thousands of Americans are paying millions of dollars each
month in fees that they did not expect and that strike them as
unreasonable. Invoking clauses tucked into the fine print of their
contract agreements, lenders are doubling or tripling interest rates
with little warning or explanation.
This year, credit card companies are changing the terms of their
accounts at a historically high rate, said Michael Heller, an
industry consultant.
As those practices spread, they are creating a rift between the
lenders and some of their more lucrative customers, according to
cardholders, current and former bank consultants and regulators
who were interviewed for a joint report by The New York Times and
"Frontline," the PBS documentary program.
People like Mr. Schwebel, who carry balances from month to month
and pay finance charges regularly, feel they should be the favored
customers of the credit card business, which is now the most
lucrative segment of banking. They make up the profitable majority
of the 144 million Americans who have general-purpose credit cards.
To a degree, they subsidize the 40 percent of credit card customers
who pay in full each month without incurring any fees or charges.
But increasingly, they say, what should be a warm embrace has
turned into a painful squeeze as lenders employ new tactics to
extract more and bigger penalties for even the slightest financial
transgressions. In the last few years, lenders have more frequently
raised customers' rates because of slip-ups elsewhere, like late
payment of a phone or utility bill, or simply because they felt
a customer had taken on too much debt.
The practice, called universal default, started after a rash of
bankruptcy filings in the mid-to-late 1990's and has increasingly
become standard in the industry. While MBNA declined to comment on
any specific customer's account, its general counsel, Louis J. Freeh,
the former F.B.I. director, said in a statement that it was being
prudent by raising rates when it had reason to think the risk of
not being repaid had increased.
Edward L. Yingling, executive vice president of the American Bankers
Association, said bankers must have the flexibility to change terms
on short notice. The bankruptcy filings of the 90's - many by customers
who had been paying their bills on time - caught banks off-guard,
he said.
Lenders decided they needed to watch for signs of trouble elsewhere,
like missed car payments, he said. In those cases, he added, there are
only two logical responses: "We're not going to let you have this credit
card loan anymore and we're going to say, 'Pay it off,' or we can say,
'You're now more risky; we're going to raise your rate.' "
Still, some critics say the severity of the punishment does not match
the risk of default. The suddenness and perceived unfairness of the
penalties have left many consumers feeling burned by lenders who
relentlessly courted them with promises of low rates.
To some cardholders and consumer advocates, credit card companies
are acting like modern-day loan sharks, strong-arming their customers
to pay more - with no legal limit on how much they can charge.
In eight years, the major card companies have increased the fee
charged to cardholders for being even an hour late with a payment
to $39, from $10 or less.
Unleashing an Industry
Duncan MacDonald, who, as a lawyer for Citibank was involved in its
successful case for deregulation of fees before the United States
Supreme Court in 1996, now says he fears that he helped to unleash
a monster.
Until that ruling, most banks still charged an annual fee of about
$25 for the use of a card and a single fixed rate to all borrowers,
usually around 18 percent. Applicants either qualified for the
privilege of carrying a card or they did not.
"I certainly didn't imagine that someday we might've ended up
creating a Frankenstein," said Mr. MacDonald, who predicted that
the penalty fees could rise to $50 in another year. "I look at that
and I say to myself, 'Is $50 a fair fee, plus a 25 percent interest
rate and all these other fees that are thrown on, for folks who are
probably not that risky? Is that fair?' "
Mr. MacDonald said federal bank regulators should investigate the
fairness of universal default and some of the banks' harsh penalties.
But regulators and lawmakers have been reluctant to crack down on
a popular consumer product that fuels America's economic engine.
Consumer spending pulled the country through the last economic
downturn, powered largely by purchases financed with debt, to
the tune of $2 trillion.
Few consumer products today are as cherished or reviled as credit
cards. The typical household has eight cards with $7,500 on them.
People like Mr. Schwebel are known as "revolvers" in the industry
because they roll balances over from month to month, never paying
in full.
Without the 85 million Americans who revolve, card issuers would be
struggling to please their investors. But with them and the hefty
finance charges they accrue from the moment cashiers swipe their
cards, the industry is reaping record gains. Last year, card issuers
made $2.5 billion a month in profit before taxes.
"I think it is generally understood that those that use the revolving
part of the credit card are kind of the sweet spot," said Mr. Yingling
of the bankers' association, who spoke on behalf of several of the
biggest issuers, including Citigroup ,J. P. Morgan Chase and MBNA,
all of which declined to make executives available for interviews.
But the lenders' aggressive tactics have prompted a surge in
complaints and lawsuits and even a warning from the primary regulator
of national banks in September. In an advisory letter, the Office of
the Comptroller of the Currency said banks should not raise card rates
without having fully and prominently disclosed the circumstances that
might cause an increase.
Changing the Terms
The case that opened up the industry came in 1978 when the Supreme
Court decided that a bank could charge its cardholders any rate allowed
in the bank's home state. Major banks swiftly moved their credit card
operations to places like South Dakota and Delaware that had removed
caps on interest rates. There is no federal limit on consumer credit
rates.
After that ruling on interest rates, credit cards, which until then
had generally been an uncertain business, started to look potentially
lucrative. Banks began to innovate and compete. They cut the required
minimum monthly payment to 2 percent of the balance, from 5 percent,
to encourage customers to borrow more and stretch out the repayment.
They dropped annual fees and dangled offers of low interest, or none
at all, to lure new customers.
At the same time, legal teams crafted contracts of 12 or more single-
spaced pages that gave the banks the leeway to change their terms
whenever they wanted. A typical term sheet for a Visa card issued by
Bank One , which was acquired this year by J. P. Morgan Chase, includes:
"We reserve the right to change the terms at any time for any reason."
John Gould has worked in and around the credit card business for 25
years, but he said he was shocked when his wife tried to make a last-
minute payment over the phone and was charged an extra $15.
"What a rip," he said. "That does get me mad."
Fees like that are accounting for a greater share of the revenue that
card companies garner from their customers. Last year, they collected
$11.7 billion in penalty fees, more than half of the total $21.5 billion
in fees they collected from cardholders, according to CardWeb, a research
firm.
Mr. Gould, a former executive of MasterCard International who conducts
research for TowerGroup, a company owned by MasterCard, said he did not
think that card companies were trying to trap people into financial
distress. But he said it was "absurd" that 44 percent of them tell their
customers that they might be penalized for one or two late payments with
maximum rates that now exceed 28 percent.
This practice has gone on while the short-term interest rates set by the
Federal Reserve Board have been unusually low, now at 2 percent, he noted,
but the rates have been rising in recent months.
"What are they going to do if we have a spike in interest rates?" Mr.
Gould said. "What are they going to start charging people, 35 percent,
38 percent? If it comes to that, you might as well go to the loan sharks."
But Andrew Kahr, a financial services consultant who devised some widely
used consumer-lending strategies, including the zero-percent teaser
rates, said consumers should be able to recognize that the business
is a "game of chance." Interest rates shooting past 25 percent may
seem scandalous to some, Mr. Kahr said, but they are "no less
realistic" than the low introductory rates many cardholders receive.
The lenders offer tantalizingly low initial rates because that is
what it takes to lure customers from competitors, said Mr. Kahr,
who was a founder and chief executive, until 1986, of the San
Francisco lending company now known as Providian. After he left,
Providian ran afoul of state and federal regulators for some of
its credit card practices, and agreed to a $300 million settlement.
But, he said that banks cannot earn an adequate return by lending
for less than it costs them to borrow, so they look for ways to
recoup losses on the low-rate chasers.
"They do better when they apply these price increases selectively
to customers who statistically have become more risky, or to those
who have violated the rules of the account," Mr. Kahr said.
Still, some cardholders complain that they did not know the rules
until after they were punished for breaking them. Linda Sherry,
editorial director for Consumer Action, an advocacy group, said
"the consumer really has no rights to find out anything, to demand,
'Why is this being done to me?' "
Last month, a consumer advocacy group in San Diego, the Utility
Consumers' Action Network, filed suit against Discover Financial
Services, the issuer of the Discover card, asserting that it had
changed the rules late in the game. The group contends that a
recent rewording of Discover's universal-default policy is unfair
to consumers, especially those in difficult financial situations.
The change, disclosed to cardholders in April, allowed Discover
to raise the interest rate to 19.99 percent, from as low as zero,
for a single late payment. But the infraction did not have to
follow the revision, because Discover reserved the right to look
back 11 months for a late payment that could justify the increase.
"It has gotten to the point where the fine print is becoming
almost outright abusive of their customers," said Michael Shames,
executive director for the consumer group. "The customers who are
affected most by this practice are those who, for one reason or
another, are having trouble making payments and have a large balance."
Jennifer Kang, a spokeswoman for Discover Financial, said she could
not comment because of the pending litigation. Discover executives
declined repeated requests for an interview.
Mr. Heller of Argus Information & Advisory Services in White Plains,
the industry analyst who has studied the rate of change in credit
card terms, said that his research showed that in the first half of
this year, MBNA - the card issuer that doubled the interest rate for
Mr. Schwebel, the Arizona engineer - repriced a smaller share of its
card accounts than the industry average.
But MBNA, in the statement from Mr. Freeh, said: "If we see indications
that a customer is taking on too much debt, has missed or is late on
payments to other creditors, or is otherwise mishandling their personal
finances, it is not unreasonable to determine that this behavior is
an increased risk. In the interest of all of our customers, we must
protect the portfolio by adjusting a customer's rate to compensate
for that increased risk."
The Credit Score
The interest rate on a credit card is theoretically correlated to
the likelihood that a borrower will make good on his debts. Lenders
typically measure those odds by a three-digit number known as a
FICO score.
Calculated by and short for the Fair Isaac Corporation, a company
in Minneapolis, that score has become the most vital of statistics
to many Americans.
Credit scores are used to determine everything from how much a
person can borrow to how much he or she pays for life insurance to
whether he or she can rent a home. A utility company in Texas even
experimented last summer with using credit scores to set prices
for electricity.
The number crunchers at Fair Isaac do not make lending decisions.
They simply take information collected by the three largest credit-
reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and apply
mathematical formulas to boil it down to a single number on a
scale that runs to 850.
"Lenders use that score, almost like a thermometer, to determine
if they're going to grant credit or not," said Tom Quinn, a
spokesman for Fair Isaac. He estimated that his company had
calculated a credit score for about 75 percent of American adults.
The average FICO score is 720, he said. A score below 620 lands a
consumer in the riskiest category, known as subprime, and virtually
ensures the highest borrowing rates, if the consumer can obtain any
credit at all. Credit reports generally note only those payments made
at least 30 days late.
Consumers with better-than-average scores are usually, but not always,
eligible for the lowest rates. As Steve Strachan, a flower importer
in York, Pa., learned, a relatively high credit score does not
guarantee favorable terms.
A thick credit report on Mr. Strachan from January showed a FICO
score above 730, but by then he had already been through a battle
with the issuer of a card that had once been his favorite method
of payment.
In the 1990's, Mr. Strachan traveled frequently from his home on
the West Coast to Amsterdam and other foreign cities to meet with
suppliers of tulips and exotic flower varieties that he distributed
to domestic florists and wholesalers. He obtained a WorldPerks Visa
card that rewarded him with seat upgrades through Northwest Airline's
frequent-flier program.
"I used that card whenever I possibly could because of the travel
benefits," he recalled, sitting in his living room before stacks
of credit card bills, change-of-terms notices and other correspondence
between him and several lenders. "Never paid a penny of interest."
He was such a valued customer then, he said, that US Bank, which
issued the card, had extended him a high credit limit of $54,000 even
though the card rate was just one percentage point above the prime rate.
When the economy wilted after the collapse of the stock market in early
2000, so did Mr. Strachan's business. He began using his credit lines
on that Visa card and a few others to stay afloat, paying smaller
portions of his growing balances.
Then, in May of last year, US Bank sent Mr. Strachan a letter telling
him that it planned to raise the card's rate to 20.21 percent, nearly
quadrupling the existing rate of 5.25 percent.
"I wasn't late, and I didn't go over the credit limit, and I didn't
write bad checks," Mr. Strachan said. A representative of US Bank told
him he was using too much of his available credit, he said.
A US Bank spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Strachan's account.
The monthly interest charge on his $50,000 balance jumped from $209
in June to $756 in July and $808 in August. He eventually persuaded
the bank to restore the original rate, but the bank closed the account,
shutting off a key source of credit.
By then, Bank One, another creditor, had compounded Mr. Strachan's
woes. He was carrying a balance of about $70,000 on one account when
the bank started raising his rates, first to 19.99 percent in April
2003, then to 22.99 percent the next month, then to 24.99 percent in
June. By October of last year, he was incurring a monthly finance
charge of about $1,500 on a $77,000 balance.
"It was like they almost all had a little meeting in the back room
and said, 'Let's get Strachan,' " he said of his creditors. "How does
it serve them to treat people like that? Are they trying to force
them into bankruptcy?"
Lawyers he consulted advised Mr. Strachan to take the easy - and
increasingly popular - way out by filing for bankruptcy protection,
but he refused. He is struggling to make good on his debts "because
I have principles and ethics."
But the battle to dig out of a deepening hole has taken a toll. Mr.
Strachan said he had lost 30 pounds and described himself as a
"broken man."
Lately, he said, Bank One has periodically reduced his credit limit
to a level just above his remaining balance, leaving him little
margin for error. Some months, he said, if he were to pay only the
minimum due, the ensuing finance charge would put his balance over
the limit, triggering a penalty fee.
By doing that, he said, "They create their own little monster."
The Regulators
Consumer complaints prompted the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency, which oversees the nationally chartered banks that
constitute most of the major card issuers, to warn banks about
giving fair notice of term changes and about sending out tempting
offers to people who are unlikely to qualify for them.
Julie Williams, the acting comptroller, said in an interview that
as long as the lenders were not intentionally deceiving their
customers, they were free to set whatever rates and fees their home
states allow. If customers do not want to pay a particular rate,
"they have choice," she said. "They can find another card."
But consumers clearly are unhappy with the choices they have. About
80,000 people lodged complaints with the comptroller's office last
year. Ms. Williams said the largest single source of their ire was
credit cards. Those complaints are routed to examiners who monitor
the banks, she said, but the examiners' foremost concern is to make
sure the banks are financially sound.
Ms. Williams described her agency as a "tough regulator," but critics
contend that the comptroller's office has taken strong action against
only one major issuer of credit cards in the last five years. In
2000, the O.C.C. joined in an investigation into Providian that
had been started by the San Francisco district attorney's office.
Providian customers complained that they had been hit with late fees
for payments that had been sent in on time but not credited to their
accounts for days or weeks. Some said the resultant penalties pushed
them over their credit limits, leading to additional fees.
Later, Ms. Williams said, the two agencies joined forces to extract
$300 million in a settlement with Providian.
The comptroller's office has since angered state attorneys general
by trying to limit their ability to regulate how national banks
behave in their states.
Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general of New York, said his office gets
"thousands of complaints every year about credit card issues relating
to the major banks, the major card issuers." But more often, he said,
the banks' response has been that " 'we don't need to deal with you
because the O.C.C. has told us - indeed, directed us - not to deal
with state enforcement entities.' "
Elizabeth Warren, a professor at Harvard Law School who has been a
vocal critic of consumer lenders, said the comptroller's office should
do more than express discomfort with the practices of credit card
companies, as it did in September.
The regulators did not say that "those are unfair practices, they are
unsafe and unsound and don't do them," Ms. Warren said. "Instead, they
said it's a problem. Look, if they think it's a problem, then tell the
credit card companies to stop doing it."
"Secret History of the Credit Card,"produced in conjunction with this
article, will be shown Tuesday on "Frontline" (PBS, 9 p.m. in most
cities).
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) MSNBC 'Imus' Segment Refers to 'Raghead Cadaver'
Muslims urged to renew demand for apology, reprimand
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/19/04)
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=203&page=AA
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/19/04) - CAIR is once again calling on people of
conscience to demand an apology from the MSNBC cable television network for
anti-Arab/anti-Muslim remarks made on its "Imus in the Morning" program.
In a segment today commenting on the apparent execution of a wounded Iraqi
in Fallujah by a U.S. Marine, a fictitious "Senior Military Affairs
Advisor" to the program justified the killing by referring to a
"booby-trapped raghead cadaver." The fictitious advisor also said the
killing provided an "Al-Jazeera moment" causing the "Muslim masses to
respond with their routine pack of rabid sheep mentality."
Yesterday, CAIR issued a similar call for an apology for a November 12th
"Imus" program that referred to Palestinians as "stinking animals" and
suggested that they all be killed.
SEE: Palestinians Called 'Stinking Animals' on MSNBC's 'Imus'
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=201&page=AA
"We thank all those who already contacted the network to express their
concerns about the racist remarks and ask that they keep up the pressure
until those concerns are properly addressed," said CAIR Executive Director
Nihad Awad.
Don Imus, the program's host, has a long history of controversy over
anti-Arab and Islamophobic remarks. As early as 1985, he was forced to
apologize for referring to Arabs as "goat-humping weasels." (Sunday Mail,
4/21/85) He has also been criticized for using the derogatory term
"raghead." (Accuracy in Media) In a reference to the crash of an Iranian
airliner earlier this year that killed 43 passengers, Imus said, "When I
hear stories like that, I think who cares." He then stated: "Too bad it
wasn't full of Saudi Arabians." (National Iranian American Council)
Earlier this year, CAIR announced a "Hate Hurts America" campaign designed
to counter hate speech on talk radio.
SEE: http://www.cair-net.org/hatehurtsamerica/
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE and RESPECTFUL.)
Contact NBC and MSNBC to renew your demand for an apology and a reprimand
for all those involved in both programs. (Send a demand for an apology even
if you sent one based on the earlier alert.)
CONTACT:
Mr. Rick Kaplan
President
MSNBC
1 MSNBC Plaza
Secaucus, NJ 07094-2419
TEL: 201-583-5050
FAX: 201-583-5179
Mr. Neal Shapiro
President
NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112-0002
E-MAIL: rick.kaplan@msnbc.com, neal.shapiro@nbc.com
COPY TO: imus@msnbc.com, alana.russo@msnbc.com, leslie.schwartz@msnbc.com,
fccinfo@fcc.gov, cair@cair-net.org
- PLEASE ANNOUNCE, POST AND DISTRIBUTE -
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Holiday in Falluja
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 2:03 PM
hEkLe Falluja, Iraq www.ftssoldier.blogspot.com
These are ugly times for the US military in Iraq. It seems everywhere
you turn, more and more troops are being killed and maimed in vicious
encounters with determined rebel fighters. The insurgency is mounting
incredibly in such places as Baghdad, Mosul, and Baquba; using more
advanced techniques and weaponry associated with a well-organized
guerilla campaign. Even in the massively destroyed city of Falluja rebel
forces are starting to reappear with a callous determination to win or
die trying. Many critics and political pundits are starting to realize
that this war is, in many aspects, un-winnable.
And why should anyone think that a complete victory is possible?
Conventionally, our US forces win territory here or there, killing a
plethora of civilians as well as insurgents with each new boundary
conquered.
However, such as the recent case in Falluja, the rebel fighters have
returned like a swarm of angry hornets attacking with a vicious frenzy.
I was in Falluja during the last two days of the final assault. My
mission was much different from that of the brave and weary infantry and
marines involved in the major fighting. I was on an escort mission,
accompanied by a squad who's task it was to protect a high brass figure
in the combat zone. This particularly arrogant officer went to the last
battle in the same spirits of an impartial spectator checking out the
fourth quarter of a high school football game.
Once we got to the marine occupied Camp Falluja and saw artillery being
fired into town, the man suddenly became desperate to play an active
role in the battle that would render Falluja to ashes. It was already
rumored that all he really wanted was his trigger time, perhaps to prove
that he is the toughest cowboy west of the Euphrates.
Guys like him are a dime a dozen in the army: a career soldier who spent
the first twenty years of his service patrolling the Berlin Wall or
guarding the DMZ between North and South Korea. This sort of brass may
have been lucky to serve in the first Gulf War, but in all actuality
spent very little time shooting rag heads. For these trigger-happy
tough guys, the last two decades of cold war hostilities built into a
war frenzy of stark emptiness, fizzling out almost completely with the
Clinton administration. But this is the New War, a never ending, action
packed "Red Scare" in which the communist threat of yesteryear was
simply replaced with the white knuckled tension of today's "War on
Terrorism".
The younger soldiers who grew up in relatively peaceful times interpret
the mentality of the careerists as one of making up for lost
opportunities. To the elder generation of trigger pullers, this is the
real deal; the chance to use all the cool toys and high speed training
that has been stored away since the '70s for something tangibly
useful.and its about goddamn time.
However, upon reaching the front lines, a safety standard was in effect
stating that the urban combat was extremely intense. The lightest
armored vehicles allowed in sector were Bradley tanks. Taking a glance
at our armored humvees, this commander insisted that our section would
be fine. Even though the armored humvees are very stout and nearly
impenetrable against small arm fire, they usually don't hold up well
against rocket attacks and roadside bombs like a heavily armored tank
will.
The reports from within the war zone indicated heavy rocket attacks,
with an armed insurgent waiting on every corner for a soft target such
as trucks. In the end, the overzealous officer was urged not to
infiltrate into sector with only three trucks, for it would be a death
wish during those dangerous twilight hours. It was suggested that in
the morning, after the air strikes were complete, he could move in and
"inspect the damage".
Even as the sun was setting over the hazy orange horizon, artillery was
pounding away at the remaining twelve percent of the already devastated
Falluja. Many units were pulled out for the evening in preparation of a
full-scale air strike that was scheduled to last for up to twelve hours.
Our squad was sitting on top of our parked humvees, manning the crew
served machine guns and scanning the urban landscape for enemy activity.
This was supposed to be a secured forward operating area, right on the
edge of the combat zone. However, with no barbed wire perimeter set up
and only a few scattered tanks serving as protection, one was under the
assumption that if someone missed a minor detail while on guard, some
serious shit could go down.
One soldier informed me that only two nights prior an insurgent was
caught sneaking around the bullet-ridden houses to our immediate west.
He was armed with a rocket-propelled grenade, and was laying low on his
advance towards the perimeter. One of the tanks spotted him through its
night vision and hastily shot him into three pieces. Indeed, though it
was safe enough to smoke a cigarette and relax, one had to remain
diligently aware of his surroundings if he planned on making it through
the night.
As the evening wore on and the artillery continued, a new gruesome roar
filled the sky. The fighter jets were right on time and made their
grand appearance with a series of massive air strikes. Between the
pernicious bombs and fierce artillery, the sky seemed as though it were
on fire for several minutes at a time. First you would see a blaze of
light in the horizon, like lightning hitting a dynamite warehouse, and
then hear the massive explosion that would turn your stomach, rattle
your eyeballs, and compress itself deep within your lungs. Although
these massive bombs were being dropped no further than five kilometers
away, it felt like it was happening right in front of your face. At
first, it was impossible not to flinch with each unexpected boom, but
after scores of intense explosions, your senses became aware and
complacent towards them.
At times the jets would scream menacingly low over the city and open
fire with smaller missiles meant for extreme accuracy. This is what Top
Gun, in all its glory and silver screen acclaim, seemed to be lacking in
the movie's high budget sound effects. These air-deployed missiles make
a banshee-like squeal, sort of like a bottle rocket fueled with
plutonium, and then suddenly would become inaudible. Seconds later, the
colossal explosion would rip the sky open and hammer devastatingly into
the ground, sending flames and debris pummeling into the air. And as
always, the artillery-some rounds were high explosive, some were
illumination rounds, some were reported as being white phosphorus (the
modern day napalm).
Occasionally, on the outskirts of the isolated impact area, you could
hear tanks firing machine guns and blazing their cannons. It was
amazing that anything could survive this deadly onslaught. Suddenly a
transmition came over the radio approving the request for
"bunker-busters". Apparently, there were a handful of insurgent
compounds that were impenetrable by artillery. At the time, I was
unaware when these bunker-busters were deployed, but I was told later
that the incredibly massive explosions were a direct result of these
"final solution" type missiles.
I continued to watch the final assault on Falluja throughout the night
from atop my humvee. It was interesting to scan the vast skies above
with night vision goggles. Circling continuously overhead throughout
the battle was an array of attack helicopters.
The most devastating were the Cobras and Apaches with their chain gun
missile launchers. Through the night vision I could see them hovering
around the carnage, scanning the ground with an infrared spotlight that
seemed to reach for miles. Once a target was identified, a rapid series
of hollow blasts would echo through the skies, and from the ground came
a "rat-a-tatting" of explosions, like a daisy chain of supercharged
black cats during a Fourth of July barbeque. More artillery, more
tanks, more machine gun fire, ominous death-dealing fighter planes
terminating whole city blocks at a time.this wasn't a war, it was a
massacre!
As I look back on the air strikes that lasted well into the next
morning, I cannot help but to be both amazed by our modern technology
and disgusted by its means. It occurred to me many times during the
siege that while the Falluja resistance was boldly fighting us with
archaic weapons from the Cold War, we were soaring far above their heads
dropping Thor's fury with a destructive power and precision that may as
well been nuclear. It was like the Iraqis were bringing a knife to a
tank fight.
And yet, the resistance toiled on, many fighting until their deaths.
What determination! Some soldiers call them stupid for even thinking
they have a chance in hell to defeat the strongest military in the
world, but I call them brave. It's not about fighting to win an
immediate victory. And what is a conventional victory in a
non-conventional war? It seems overwhelmingly obvious that this is no
longer within the United States hands.
We reduced Falluja to rubble. We claimed victory and told the world we
held Falluja under total and complete control. Our military claimed
very little civilian casualties and listed thousands of insurgents dead.
CNN and Fox News harped and cheered on the television that the Battle of
Falluja would go down in history as a complete success, and a testament
to the United States' supremacy on the modern battlefield.
However, after the dust settled and generals sat in cozy offices smoking
their victory cigars, the front lines in Falluja exploded again with
indomitable mortar, rocket, and small arm attacks on US and coalition
forces.
Recent reports indicate that many insurgents have resurfaced in the
devastated city of Falluja. We had already claimed the situation under
control, and were starting to turn our attention to the other problem
city of Mosul. Suddenly we were backtracking our attention to Falluja.
Did the Department of Defense and the national press lie to the public
and claim another preemptive victory? Not necessarily so.
Conventionally we won the battle, how could anyone argue that? We
destroyed an entire city and killed thousands of its occupants. But the
main issue that both the military and public forget to analyze is that
this war, beyond any shadow of a doubt, is completely guerrilla.
Sometimes I wonder if the West Point graduated officers have ever
studied the intricate simplicity and effectiveness of guerrilla warfare.
During the course of this war, I have occasionally asked a random
lieutenant or a captain if he at any time has even browsed through Che
Guevara's Guerrilla Warfare. Almost half of them admit that they have
not. This I find to be amazing! Here we have many years of guerrilla
warfare ahead of us and our military's leadership seems dangerously
unaware of what it all means!
Anyone can tell you that a guerrilla fighter is one who uses hit and run
techniques to attempt a breakdown of a stronger conventional force.
However, what is more important to a guerrilla campaign are the
political forces that drive it. Throughout history, many guerrilla
armies have been successful; our own country and its fight for
independence cannot be excluded.
We should have learned a lesson in guerrilla fighting with the Vietnam
War only thirty years ago, but history has a funny way of repeating
itself. The Vietnam War was a perfect example of how quick, deadly
assaults on conventional troops over a long period of time can lead to
an unpopular public view of the war, thus ending it.
Che Guevara stressed in his book Guerrilla Warfare that the most
important factor in a guerrilla campaign is popular support. With that,
victory is almost completely assured. The Iraqis already have many of
the main ingredients of a successful insurrection. Not only do they have
a seemingly endless supply of munitions and weapons, they have the
advantage to blend into their environment, whether that environment is a
crowded market place or a thickly vegetated palm grove. The Iraqi
insurgent has utilized these advantages to the fullest, but his most
important and relevant advantage is the popular support from his own
countrymen.
What our military and government needs to realize is that every mistake
we make is an advantage to the Iraqi insurrection. Every time an
innocent man, woman or child is murdered in a military act, deliberate
or not, the insurgent grows stronger. Even if an innocent civilian is
slain at the hands of his/her own freedom fighter, that fighter is still
viewed as a warrior of the people, while the occupying force will
ultimately be blamed as the responsible perpetrator.
Everything about this war is political.every ambush, every bombing,
every death. When a coalition worker or soldier is abducted and
executed, this only adds encouragement and justice to the dissident
fervor of the Iraq public, while angering and demoralizing the occupier.
Our own media will prove to be our downfall as well. Every time an
atrocity is revealed through our news outlets, our grasp on this once
secular nation slips away. As America grows increasingly disturbed by
the images of carnage and violent death of her own sons in arms, its
government loses the justification to continue the bloody debacle. Since
all these traits are the conventional power's unavoidable mistakes, the
guerrilla campaign will surely succeed. In Iraq's case, complete
destruction of the United States military is impossible, but through
perseverance the insurgency will drive us out. This will prove to be
the inevitable outcome of the war.
We lost many soldiers in the final battle for Falluja, and many more
were seriously wounded. It seems unfair that even after the devastation
we wreaked on this city just to contain it, many more troops will die in
vain to keep it that way. I saw the look in the eyes of a
reconnaissance scout while I talked to him after the battle.
His stories of gore and violent death were unnerving. The sacrifices
that he and his whole platoon had made were infinite. They fought
everyday with little or no sleep, very few breaks, and no hot meals.
For obvious reasons, they never could manage to find time to email their
mothers to let them know that everything turned out ok. Some of the
members of his platoon will never get the chance to reassure their
mothers, because now those soldiers are dead. The look in his eyes as he
told some of the stories were deep and weary, even perturbed.
He described in accurate detail how some enemy combatants were blown to
pieces by army issued bazookas, some had their heads shot off by a 50
caliber bullet, others were run over by tanks as they stood defiantly in
the narrow streets firing an AK-47. The soldier told me how one of his
favorite sergeants died right in front of him. He was taking cover
behind an alley wall and as he emerged to fire his M4 rifle, he was shot
through the abdomen with a rocket-propelled grenade. The grenade itself
exploded and sent shrapnel into the narrator's leg. He showed me where
a chunk of burned flesh was torn from his left thigh.
He ended his conversation saying that he was just a dumb kid from
California who never thought joining the army would send him straight to
hell. He told me he was tired as fuck and wanted a shower. Then he
slowly walked away, cradling a rifle under his arm.
--
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Fate of Lawyer in Terror Case Hinges on Sheik's Words
By JULIA PRESTON
November 14, 2004
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/1706139.php
Midway through the third day of a grueling cross-examination by a
prosecutor in her terror trial, Lynne F. Stewart used an offhand
phrase to summarize a telephone conversation she had with a news
reporter in June 2000 that is a central point of contention in the
case.
"I'm just giving you the words of the sheik," Ms. Stewart said that
she told the reporter, a Reuters correspondent in Cairo, as she
read for him a statement from an imprisoned client, Sheik Omar
Abdel Rahman. Ms. Stewart, a veteran defense lawyer, is accused
of aiding terrorism by breaking strict gag rules imposed on the
sheik by the federal government and relaying a warmongering message
from him to his Islamic followers. The State Department has designated
the sheik's organization in Egypt, the Islamic Group, a terrorist
organization.
From the evidence presented by prosecutors during the trial, which
began in late June in Federal District Court in Manhattan, it is
clear they agree with Ms. Stewart's summation of the crucial phone
call. The prosecutors finished presenting their case last month and
Ms. Stewart's lawyer, Michael E. Tigar, rested his defense this week.
So far there has been little dispute about the key facts involving
Ms. Stewart and two co-defendants, Mohamed Yousry, an Arabic translator,
and Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a United States postal worker on Staten Island
and a paralegal for the sheik.
The trial is continuing as Mr. Yousry and then Mr. Sattar present their
defense cases. The issue the jury will decide is whether Ms. Stewart,
by disseminating Mr. Abdel Rahman's words beyond his jail cell, was
participating in terrorism, as the government says, or legitimately
defending a client shunned by the public, as Ms. Stewart contends.
Ms. Stewart's fate hinges on the weight and meaning the jury will
give to the words of the sheik, a blind fundamentalist Muslim cleric
serving a life sentence in federal prison for inspiring a thwarted
bombing conspiracy in New York City.
The prosecutors have produced no evidence of any terrorist action
that resulted from Ms. Stewart's conduct. In the statement that she
provided the reporter on June 14, 2000 after a prison meeting a month
earlier with the sheik, Mr. Abdel Rahman withdrew his support for a
cease-fire the Islamic Group was observing in Egypt. But he only
called for a debate among his followers. Indeed, the statement was
a mild one for a man who, the prosecutors' evidence has shown, had
in the past issued explicit calls for Muslims to murder Americans by
any possible means.
The trial has focused on events in Egypt and the prosecutors have
not suggested any direct threat to the United States.
Nor have they shown that Ms. Stewart had any detailed knowledge of
hundreds of telephone calls that Mr. Sattar, the paralegal, made from
his home to Egyptian militants across the globe, including one man,
Rifai Taha, who was working with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
Transcripts of the calls, which were secretly recorded by the F.B.I,
make up most of the prosecutors' evidence.
Instead, the prosecutors' case against Ms. Stewart on terrorism
charges is based on showing what she knew of the sheik's past calls
for bloodshed in the name of jihad, or religious struggle, and of
his influence over his followers in the Islamic Group who had claimed
responsibility for several attacks before the cease-fire. This is
why the prosecutors spent several weeks early in the trial reading
aloud virulent sermons by Mr. Abdel Rahman that had already been
part of the evidence in his 1995 terror trial, in which Ms. Stewart
was his lead defense lawyer.
That is also why one prosecutor, Andrew Dember, unleashed a withering
sequence of questions to show that Ms. Stewart knew the sheik's
name had been associated, whether fairly or not, with gruesome
attacks against tourists in Egypt and with Al Qaeda's attack in
Yemen on the U.S.S. Cole in October 2000.
Mr. Dember also spent several hours of his cross-examination pressing
Ms. Stewart about her own avowedly radical views. He sought to show
that she was inclined to be an active supporter of the sheik's holy war.
"I think that to rid ourselves of the entrenched voracious type of
capitalism that is in this country that perpetuates sexism and racism,
I don't think that can come nonviolently," Ms. Stewart told the court.
"I'm talking about a revolution of the people that overthrows
institutions."
But Ms. Stewart, who remained generally calm and articulate under
Mr. Dember's interrogation, said she was surprised by his questions
about her personal opinions.
"I have done a lot of cases that involved a certain level of violence
and my personal views were never at issue," she said. "Because I'm the
lawyer, it's not about my personal views. It is about what happened,
what could be the motive that led to violence, perhaps."
Behind these arguments are diverging assessments of Mr. Abdel Rahman
held by Ms. Stewart and her longtime legal adversaries, the prosecutors
in the Southern District of New York. One of them, Patrick J. Fitzgerald,
was one of the prosecutors in the 1995 trial that sent the sheik to
prison for life. He investigated and prosecuted several other Al Qaeda
cases and traveled to the Middle East to probe the Cole bombing.
Mr. Fitzgerald was familiar with several calls Mr. Bin Laden had
issued after 1995 to free the sheik from jail, and the trail of Al
Qaeda violence that had followed those calls. He wrote special prison
rules in 1997 that barred the sheik from communicating with anyone but
his lawyers and his wife, citing a high risk of bombings whenever Mr.
Abdel Rahman spoke.
To Ms. Stewart, however, Mr. Abdel Rahman was an ailing and weakened
client, an Islamic scholar unfairly muzzled from expressing his
theological views. Some of the more emotional parts of her testimony
involved her descriptions of him after years of solitary confinement.
He could not even read Braille, she said, because diabetes had dulled
the sensation in his fingertips.
"He could not hear birds, he could not hear anything," she said. "He
was alone."
The sheik "commanded a certain respect with the public in Egypt," she
said. He had "a sense of righteousness," she said.
Apart from the terror charges against Ms. Stewart is a much more
concrete case in which she is accused of intentionally violating the
prison rules. By adding two counts of providing material aid to
terrorism, prosecutors have escalated what might be seen as procedural
transgressions by Ms. Stewart into accusations that could bring her
a jail sentence of at least 35 years, if she is convicted on all counts.
Mr. Dember succeeded in making Ms. Stewart appear somewhat oblivious,
in the global environment after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, to
the threats that her client's extremist anti-American views could pose.
But the jury will determine whether the prosecutors reached too far in
trying to construe her dissonant views and provocative legal practice
as acts of terror.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) Government Looking at Military Draft Lists
By ALMA WALZER
The Monitor
McALLEN, November 15, 2004
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=62232_0_10_0_C
McALLEN, November 15, 2004 - It's taken one year, seven months
and 19 days of combat in Iraq for the Lone Star State to lose
100 of its own.
Texas is the second state, after California, to lose 100 service
members, according to The Associated Press.
With continuing war in Iraq and U.S. armed forces dispersed to so
many other locations around the globe, Americans may be wondering
if compulsory military service could begin again for the first time
since the Vietnam War era.
The Selective Service System (SSS) and the U.S. Department of
Education now are gearing up to compare their computer records, to
make sure all men between the ages of 18 and 25 who are required to
register for a military draft have done so.
The SSS and the education department will begin comparing their
lists on Jan. 1, 2005, according to a memo authored by Jack Martin,
acting Selective Service director.
While similar record checks have been done periodically for the past
10 years, Martin's memo is dated Oct. 28, just a few days before the
Nov. 2 presidential election, a hard-fought campaign in which the
question of whether the nation might need to reinstate a military
draft was raised in debates and on the stump.
It took several more days, until Nov. 4, for the document to reach
the Federal Register, the official daily publication for rules and
notices of federal agencies and organizations.
The memo was also produced after the U.S. House voted 402-2 on Oct.
5, against House Resolution 163, a bill that would have required
all young people, including women, to serve two years of military
service.
Under federal law, a military draft cannot be started without
congressional support.
About 94 percent of all men are properly registered for a draft,
according to Richard Flahavan, associate director of the office of
public and intergovernmental affairs for SSS.
Martin's memo is just a routine thing, Flahavan said.
"Back in 1982 a federal law was passed that basically linked
federal grants, student loans and federal assistance to students
with Selective Service," Flahavan said. "You had to register with
Selective Service with a Social Security number (in order to receive
federal assistance), and as a consequence of the law the Department
of Education came up with an agreement on how to exchange and compare
data to comply with the law.
"It just so happens that the current agreement in effect expires next
month," Flahavan said. "All we did is update the agreement slightly,
but it has no substantive changes. There is nothing new or shocking
to link this to some type of draft right around the corner because
its all been in place for almost 18 years."
Flahavan said the written agreements between SSS and the Department
of Education normally run for about four or five years and suggested
that a reporter search the 1999 or 2000 records of the Federal
Register for the most agreement.
A search of the Federal Register by The Monitor found four such
agreements between the two agencies, with effective dates as
follows: Jan. 1, 1995; July 1, 1997; Jan. 1, 2000; and July 1, 2002.
All four agreements lasted for 18 months, during which time the
SSS and the Department of Education could complete their comparisons.
The most recent agreement, which began July 1, 2002, actually expired
Jan. 1, 2004, according to federal records located by The Monitor.
"This has nothing to with current events," Flahavan said. "This is just
the periodic renewal of previous agreements - this one is 18 months but
normally it runs four years and that's why we're doing it now. I'm not
quite sure why it's 18 months versus the normal number of years."
Flahavan said the agency was required to place the agreement in the
Federal Register.
"That's fine and we did," Flahavan said. "We believe the public wouldn't
stand for a draft that isn't fair and equitable.
"And the only way to be fair and equitable is if everyone who should
register is registered, because that's the pool from which the people
who would be drafted would be selected from. So you want everyone who
should be in the pot in the pot," Flahavan said.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who officially begins representing
western Hidalgo County residents in January, said Congress has voted
on record against a draft.
"It was a near unanimous vote in the House," Doggett said. "When things
are filed in the Federal Register, there will be standards, and they are
a reminder that if we cannot get more international participation that
the risk of a draft remains out there.
"And I think we do need people to remain watchful of this possibility."
Doggett said one type of "draft" was already being used by the military.
"I'm concerned that a very real form of the draft is there now for those
already in the service," Doggett said. "People are being forced to stay
in beyond their commitment, and that's an indication of being overextended.
"I want us to pursue policies that don't overextend us and involve more
international participation, so that Americans don't have to do all the
dying and endure all the pain for these international activities,"
Doggett said.
Flahavan said the computer records check would help Selective Service
with its compliance rates.
"From 1999 to 2000, it was dropping about a percent a year," Flahavan
said. "It's now inching back up about a percent a year. Last year it
was 93 percent.
"At the end of 2004 we anticipate about a 94 percent compliance rate,"
Flahavan said. "We're pleased we've got it back on the rise and that's
where we want to keep it - that's our goal."
Draft Gear Up?
Who Has To Register?
All male U.S. citizens and
male aliens living in the U.S. between the
ages of 18 and 25
Dual nationals of the U.S.
and another country, regardless of
where they live
Young men who are in prison
or mental institutions do not
have to regsiter while they are
committed, but must do so if they
are released and not reached age 26
Disabled men who live at home and
can move about indiependently.
Myths
Contrary to popular belief, only
sons and the last son to carry a
family name must register and they can be drafted.
What Happens In A Draft
Congress would likely approve a
military draft in a time of crisis,
in which the mission requires more
troops than are in the volunteer military.
Selective Service procedures would
treat married men or those with
children the same as single men.
The first men to be called up will
be those whose 20th birthday falls
during that year, followed by those
age 21, 22, 23,24 and 25.
The last men to be called are 18
and 19 years of age.
Historical Facts
The last man to be drafted was in June 1973.
Number of Drafted for WWI : 2.8 million
Number of Drafted for WWII: 10 million
Number of Drafted for the Korean War: 1.5 million
Number of Drafted for the Vietnam War: 1.8 million
Source: Selective Service System
Posted by: Gilbert Zarate on Nov 15, 04 | 12:04 am | Profile
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) 47 Parties Boycott Elections in Iraq
Xinhua News Agency (China)
November 17, 2004
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-11/17/content_2230350.htm
Baghdad - Forty-seven Iraqi political and religious
parties have decided to boycott the general elections
due in January in protest against the extended use of
force throughout the country, a joint statement said
on Wednesday.
The reason for the move was "the (US-Iraqi) assaults
in cities like Najaf, Karbala, Samarra, Sadr City,
Adhmiya, and especially the genocidal crimes in
Fallujah," said the statement obtained by Xinhua.
"These crimes prevent us from taking part in the
political process going on under the control of
occupation forces," added the statement, signed by the
parties and groups, mainly Sunni factions led by the
Muslim Clerics Association.
At least eight Shiite groups and one Christian party
were also among them.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) Greenspan Sees No Rise Soon for the Dollar
By MARK LANDLER
FRANKFURT
November 20, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/20/business/20greenspan.html
FRANKFURT, Nov. 19 - Alan Greenspan came to the home of the euro
on Friday and suggested that the relentless decline of the dollar
might well continue, offering little relief to those here who worry
that the United States is seeking to gain a competitive advantage
for its industries from a weaker currency.
In a speech to a banking congress here, Mr. Greenspan, the chairman
of the Federal Reserve, said that ballooning foreign borrowing on
the part of the United States poses a future risk to the dollar's
value.
He said that foreign investors, who help finance the large American
trade and budget deficits by buying Treasury securities and other
dollar-denominated assets, would eventually resist lending more money
to the United States, causing the dollar to fall further.
Mr. Greenspan's comments came two days after the Treasury secretary,
John W. Snow, appeared to rule out intervening in currency markets to
help Europe and Japan - both heavily dependent on exports to sustain
economic growth - stem the decline of the dollar. Mr. Snow, speaking
in London, prodded European leaders to tackle their home-grown economic
problems.
Taken together, the two speeches appear to be sending an unmistakable
message that Washington, on the heels of President Bush's election to
a second term, is prepared to tolerate a weaker dollar for the
foreseeable future.
A falling dollar makes it more expensive for Americans to travel abroad
and risks reviving inflation and sending interest rates higher in the
United States. But for American manufacturers, who have been shedding
jobs for years, it provides a powerful shot of adrenaline by making
their exports cost less abroad and adding to pressure on foreign
industries to raise the price of imported goods in the United States.
Given the uncertainties surrounding the global economy, Mr.
Greenspan likened predicting the dollar's path to "forecasting
the outcome of a coin toss."
While Mr. Greenspan, as he often does, relied on carefully chosen
phrases open to various interpretations, the message seemed clear
here to European bankers, who laughed nervously at the metaphor:
The dollar, which has fallen to record lows against the euro this
week - giving fits to European politicians and business executives
- is likely to fall even further.
To analysts, the speech had a laissez-faire tone, leaving events in
the hands of the market and giving speculators free rein to bet
against the American currency without worrying that officials would
get together to slap them down.
On Friday, in New York, the stock market reacted by falling sharply.
At the close of trading, the Dow industrial average was down more
than 115 points, to 10,456,91, a decline of more than 1 percent.
Currency traders drove the dollar to its lowest level in four and
a half years against the Japanese yen, and near its record low against
the euro. Treasury notes fell the most in two weeks.
The hints from Washington policy makers that they have no intention
of supporting the dollar could add to the strains between the United
States and Europe, which is increasingly worried that the rise of the
euro is choking off its tenuous recovery. In France and Germany,
growth in the third quarter dropped to 0.1 percent, as exports dried up.
European leaders are already raising distress flags. Germany's
minister for economics, Wolfgang Clement, urged Asia, Europe and
the United States to take coordinated action to stop the slide. The
president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet - who is Mr.
Greenspan's counterpart here - has called the shifts in exchange
rates "brutal."
Mr. Trichet, who traveled a few blocks from the headquarters of the
European Central Bank to appear on the same panel as Mr. Greenspan,
pointedly declined to repeat that characterization.
Both central bankers later flew to Berlin for a meeting of the G-20,
which includes the Group of 8 industrialized countries, as well as
emerging economies. The downward path of the dollar is likely to be
high on the agenda, but there is little hope for a concerted response.
Analysts said Mr. Greenspan's speech made it clear that the Federal
Reserve would make no effort to influence the process of narrowing
the United States' current account deficit, either through interest
rate increases aimed at deliberately supporting the dollar or by
intervening in the market.
The current account deficit, which encompasses annual trade as well
as the balance of financial flows, has gone from zero in 1990 to
nearly $600 billion this year. The nation's accumulated debt to
foreign investors is $2.6 trillion, equivalent to 23 percent of
the annual output of the economy.
"It was an either-or message," said Thomas Mayer, the chief European
economist at Deutsche Bank . "Either the current account deficit
comes down. Or the market will do it, but at a cost to the dollar.
Will the Fed play a role in this? Probably not. It will stick to
its mandate."
Speaking on a panel that included the deputy governor of the Bank
of Japan, Kazumasa Iwata, Mr. Greenspan devoted most of his remarks
to the effect that American fiscal policy has on global markets.
"Current account imbalances, per se, need not be a problem," he
said in a characteristically technical speech, "but cumulative
deficits, which result in a marked decline of a country's net
international position - as is occurring in the United States -
raise more complicated issues."
Mr. Greenspan said foreign investors, in part because they fear
having too much money at risk in the United States, would
eventually become reluctant to take on more such assets.
"It seems persuasive that given the size of the U.S. current
account deficit, a diminished appetite for adding to dollar
balances must occur at some point," Mr. Greenspan said. "But
when, through what channels, and from what level of the dollar?
Regrettably, no answer to those questions is convincing."
This is not the first time Mr. Greenspan has warned about the
risks of a rapidly widening current-account deficit. In testimony
before Congress last February, he said "foreign investors, both
private and official, may become less willing to absorb ever
growing claims on U.S. residents."
As he did last winter, Mr. Greenspan said on Friday that his
preferred remedy would be for the Bush administration to bring
down the current account deficit by taking steps to shrink the
federal budget deficit. That would make more domestic savings
available in the United States, reducing the dependence on
foreign borrowing.
But analysts did not interpret Mr. Greenspan's remarks as a
rebuke of the White House - which has indicated that it will
seek to make the deep tax cuts of its first term permanent -
but rather an effort to let the markets find their course.
That will be cold comfort to many Europeans, who say that
their currency is absorbing the bulk of the pressure from the
declining dollar, since Japan and other Asian countries have
intervened aggressively in the market to prevent their currencies
from rising significantly against the dollar.
Mr. Greenspan took issue with that suggestion, saying that based
on his review of recent statistics, Asia's "very large" central
bank interventions had had only a "moderate" effect on exchange
rates.
For his part, Mr. Trichet seemed determined not to breathe another
word about the dangers of a rising euro. Describing his previous
comments on the subject as "poetry," he turned aside questions
about the exchange rate.
Mr. Mayer of Deutsche Bank said Mr. Trichet's silence suggested
that his earlier efforts to talk down the currency had fallen short.
"They are basically seeing that there is very little they can
do about it," Mr. Mayer he said. "They are not in a position to
change interest rate policy to address it."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
14) US soldiers in Iraq suffer horrific brain and mental injuries
By Rick Kelly
20 November 2004
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/sold-n20.shtml
According to official figures, the Iraq war has so far seen 9,000 US
soldiers wounded in action, in addition to the more than 1,200 troops
killed. These wounded, whose numbers may well be underestimated,
include those with gunshot and shrapnel wounds, lost limbs and other
injuries caused by landmines and bombs. Less well known, however, is
the terrible toll enacted through brain and psychological injuries,
which frequently have devastating and permanent effects.
The war has seen unusually high rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
This head injury causes life-long damage in many cases. Symptoms
include memory loss, difficulty with attention and reasoning, headaches,
confusion, anxiety, irritability and depression.
TBI rates in previous wars have been estimated at about 20 percent.
In July, a San Francisco Chronicle survey of troops being processed
through Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington DC indicated
that as many as two-thirds of all soldiers wounded in Iraq suffer from
the condition.
The increase in brain injury cases is largely due to the advanced body
armor and helmets now used by US forces. As the death rate of wounded
troops has declined compared to previous conflicts, the rate of TBI has
shot up. The nature of the Iraq war has also increased the number of brain
injuries. Rocket propelled grenades, mortars, and other explosive devices
cause concussive shock blasts damaging to the brain.
Traumatic brain injury often goes undetected until the affected soldier
returns home and his or her family notices that something is wrong. The
San Francisco Chronicle reported on the case of Sgt. 1st Class Alec Giess,
of the Oregon National Guard, whose truck rolled over him as it crashed
while avoiding a suspected land mine:
"Geiss' wife, Shana, noticed after his return that the easygoing,
relaxed dad who went to Iraq had become a quick-tempered man who
couldn't remember the family's daily schedule, jumped up screaming
when the family cat landed on his bed and couldn't tolerate crowds.
The world inside his head, Giess said, was even stranger: he felt
bewildered, with no sense of time other than 'daytime' and 'nighttime.'
He also felt cut off from his emotions. 'When my kids come and hug me,
I don't feel a thing,' he said."
Many other incidents of TBI are even more severe. ABC News reported last
month on the situation in one Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto,
California. "The majority of [TBI patients], they're incontinent, both
bowel and bladder, so we have to retrain them when to use the toilet,
how to use the toilet," nurse manager Stephanie Alvarez said.
Each patient at the facility is given a "memory book," which describes
that day's schedule, and other important information. For many wounded
soldiers this includes a reminder of why they are in hospital. "I had
a head injury from an explosion in Iraq on June 14, 2004," one
soldier's book read.
Post-traumatic stress disorder
The US military is also experiencing a very high rate of post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) among troops. Many of the symptoms are similar
to traumatic brain injury. Post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers can
experience feelings of detachment and isolation, poor concentration and
memory, depression, insomnia, flashbacks, as well as headaches,
gastrointestinal complaints, and immune system problems. Like TBI,
soldiers suffering from psychological disorders have high rates of
alcohol and drug abuse, and suicide.
A study published by the New England Journal of Medicine in July
found that up to 17 percent of the surveyed Iraq veterans suffered
from PTSD, generalized anxiety, or major depression. This probably
underestimated the true scale of the problem, since the soldiers in
the study served in the early phase of the war, before the Iraqi
resistance really intensified.
"The bad news is that the study underestimated the prevalence of what
we are going to see down the road," Dr. Matthew J. Friedman, executive
director of the Veterans Affairs (VA) national center for post-traumatic
stress disorder, told the Los Angeles Times last Sunday. "The
complexion of the war has changed into a grueling counterinsurgency.
And that may be very important in terms of the potential toxicity of
this combat experience."
"This is urban warfare," declared Dr. Alfonso Bates, the VA's national
director for readjustment counseling. "There's no place to hide in Iraq.
Whether you're driving a truck or you're a cook, everyone is exposed to
extreme stress on a daily basis."
There have been at least 30 reported suicides among soldiers in Iraq-a
rate nearly one-third higher than the Army's historical average. Many
more suicides occur in the US by those who have finished their tour
of duty, but since the Pentagon does not track these incidents the
number is not known.
Associated Press, however, reported on October 18 that at least 12
Marines had killed themselves after returning from Iraq or Afghanistan.
"Military people are heavily vetted for any psychological problems
before they enter the service," noted Steve Robinson, executive
director of the National Gulf War Resource Center. "They're screened
very well when they come in, and they're supposed to be screened
very well when they leave. So when a Marine takes the ultimate step
of checking out by taking his own life, it should make the hair on
the back of your neck stand up. These are the guys who aren't
supposed to do that."
There is mounting evidence that the rate of suicide and psychological
disorders is at least partially due to the brutality of the US-led
occupation. Most of those serving in the military were drawn from
working class and impoverished rural regions, and enlisted either
to get a job or to advance their education.
These young people have been dispatched to a war that was based on
a series of flagrant lies, and that violated numerous precepts of
international law. They are now being ordered to intimidate and
terrorize the Iraqi people, and to crush any resistance to the
occupation and Iyad Allawi's stooge interim government. The
killing and brutalization of the Iraqi people has triggered
guilt, shame and serious psychological problems for many soldiers.
Last month Associated Press reported the case of Jeffrey Lucey,
a 23-year-old Marine who suffered from serious depression and
became dependent on alcohol after returning from Iraq in July 2003.
On Christmas Eve he told his sister how he had been ordered to shoot
two unarmed Iraqi soldiers. "He took off two dog tags around his
neck, then threw them at me and said, 'Don't you understand? Your
brother is a murderer,'" she recalled. Lucey killed himself
in June.
Former Army sergeant, Matt La Branche, told the Los Angeles
Times that the memories of his nine-month stint as a machine-
gunner in Iraq left him "feeling dead inside." He constantly
struggles with the image of the Iraqi woman who died in his arms
after he had shot her. The woman's children were also wounded in
the incident. "I'm taking enough drugs to sedate an elephant, and
I still wake up dreaming about it," he said.
Affected soldiers receive grossly inadequate treatment from the
military establishment. Brain trauma and psychological injuries
often require months of expensive and intensive rehabilitation,
long-term drug therapy and psychological counseling. Facilities
that were already underfunded and overstretched are now at
breaking point.
Receiving treatment is especially difficult for sufferers of PTSD.
Army psychologists are pressured to get their patients back out in
the field as soon as possible, while the macho culture cultivated
within the ranks leads many soldiers to deny that they have a
problem. The New England Journal of Medicine study found that less
than half of all soldiers affected by PTSD sought treatment, fearing
stigmatization or damage to their careers.
Officials also leave many families of PTSD sufferers completely
unprepared for the shock of having to deal with the condition. One
woman told the New Yorker how she had been advised prior to the
return of her husband from Iraq: "When he was coming home, the Army
gave us little cards that said things like 'Watch for psychotic
episodes' and 'Is he drinking too much?' A lot of wives said it was
a joke. They had a lady come from the psych ward, who said-and
I'm serious-'Don't call us unless your husband is waking you up
in the middle of the night with a knife at your throat.' Or,
'Don't call us unless he actually chokes you, unless you pass
out. He'll have flashbacks. It's normal.'"
Such treatment is indicative of the way in which tens of thousands
of young people are being used as cannon fodder in Iraq.
Responsibility for their suffering rests with the criminals
in the White House who launched the war of aggression, and more
broadly, the entire US political establishment which is united
on maintaining the indefinite occupation of Iraq.
Copyright 1998-2004
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
15) Troops Round Up Corpses, Weapons in Fallouja
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Their operation in the city has shifted to cleanup and
rebuilding, amid sporadic fighting.
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Times Staff Writer
November 19, 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-fallouja19nov19,1,370254
6.story
FALLOUJA, Iraq - The Marines used a grappling hook with a long line
to shift the battered body, so they would be protected by distance if
the corpse were booby-trapped.
"It's tough work," said Pfc. Keel Jesse, wearing surgical gloves and
a mask, like the other U.S. troops collecting dead insurgents. "But
someone has to do it."
Down the road, in the city's gritty, industrial southeast, Army Capt.
Douglas Walters was getting ready to blow up a car bomb factory, where
an already-rigged Chevrolet Suburban was parked with a current Texas
registration sticker in the windshield.
"They had everything they needed here," Walters said, surveying what
might look like an auto body shop but for the boxes of mortar rounds
and other explosives.
The battle for this former rebel stronghold has shifted to cleanup and
reconstruction, even though pockets of resistance remain. Fighters
occasionally emerge from homes or bunkers to fire at U.S.-led forces,
but the troops are going house to house to wipe them out.
A trip with Marine officers on Thursday offered a glimpse of what passes
for life in this devastated, still largely deserted city, which became
a worldwide symbol of resistance to U.S. power last spring. Amid the
sporadic fighting, some troops have turned to such tasks as clearing
out arms caches and organizing humanitarian aid.
"This is not a linear battle, where one part ends and you move on to
the next thing," said Marine Col. Craig Tucker, who heads one of the
two regimental combat teams that swept down from the north early last
week. "We have a lot of things going on at once right now."
On Thursday, most of the explosions appeared to be the result of
troops blowing up some of the trove of captured munitions. U.S.
airstrikes, artillery blasts and mortar fire have diminished
substantially.
More civilians are emerging now, often carrying white flags, but they
are still a rare sight in this beaten city. Some have gathered at
places like Al Hadra al Muhammadiya mosque, once a hotbed of rebel
activity but now a clinic and help center staffed by U.S.-allied
Iraqi troops.
"What about my father and my uncles?" Yhedder Ahmed, 14, asked as
Tucker stopped by the mosque. On a previous visit, the commander
had promised to find out the status of the men, who were arrested
as insurgents.
"Tell him that his father and uncles are doing well, but they were
found with weapons and will remain in custody," Tucker told the boy
through an interpreter. "No harm will come to them."
The Iraqi commander, Col. Saad Ali, was worried about what would
happen as refugees begin returning to a city that lacked a
functioning infrastructure or economy.
"The men must have jobs," said Ali, who hails from the southern
city of Basra.
Earlier in the week, an Iraqi who was waiting in line at the center
was shot dead. In Fallouja, even seeking medical aid at a clinic
sponsored by U.S. forces might be considered collaboration by some.
Across the street to the north, Marines used wheelchairs to lug ammo
boxes and weapons next to a building bearing the inscription, Islamic
Benevolent Committee of Fallouja. The two-story facility had
apparently been a combination clinic and guerrilla command center.
The compound, U.S. commanders said, had been overrun while it
was occupied by followers of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian-
born militant said to have been based in Fallouja.
Inside, Marines found literature and banners of Zarqawi's group,
Jamaat al Tawhid wal Jihad, which has renamed itself the Qaeda
Organization for Jihad in Iraq. A computer and files also were
seized.
Outside, troops discovered two weapons caches in white metal
containers, including antiaircraft missiles, land mines, mortar
shells and AK-47 rifles. Lacking wheelbarrows, Marines used
wheelchairs from the clinic to take the materiel to a vacant lot,
where it was to be blown up.
Deep in the southeastern sector, a dense, mazelike neighborhood of
junkyards and anonymous automotive service outlets, soldiers had
cordoned off several blocks. This industrial zone had long been
known as a redoubt of insurgents; it had been pummeled by airstrikes
for weeks before the invasion.
Inside the cordoned zone, amid the dozens of seemingly identical
storefront workshops, troops found a car bomb factory and, two
doors down, a site where roadside bombs were manufactured.
At the car bomb site, parts of vehicle doors were hung on the
walls. They were often removed to pack explosives, then reattached
to the vehicles. A welding machine stood in the main work area
alongside boxes of ammunition, blasting caps, timers and various
explosive materials. Inside an office were dozens of license
plates, presumably from the stolen vehicles used in attacks.
"This one was ready to go," Walters said, pointing to the green
Suburban with tinted windows. No one could explain how the vehicle
got a 2004 Texas inspection sticker.
The vehicle, along with everything else in the shop and the bomb
factory, was later destroyed in a booming explosion that shook
the city.
In northeastern Fallouja, where some of the most intense fighting
has been concentrated in recent days, Capt. Lee Johnson tracked
insurgents.
Intelligence data led him to almost a dozen homes where suspected
rebels were holed up, had stayed or had stored weapons. He found
some of them sitting in a house, their athletic shoes off and
their weapons nowhere to be seen.
"They all took their sneakers off and pretended to be civilians,"
Johnson said.
As he spoke, he stood alongside a 6-foot bunker dug by insurgents.
A metal slab placed atop the ditch was meant to provide cover. On
the streets behind him, his troops - backed by two tanks - were
going through houses, a hazardous process.
The streets were littered with spent ammunition from battles that
occurred early in the invasion. Commanders suspected that guerrillas
reoccupied some of the houses as troops pushed south.
U.S. forces estimate that as many as 1,600 guerrillas have been
killed. Family members and Iraqi volunteers have removed some
bodies, but the threat of booby-trapped corpses has prompted
Iraqis to shy away from the grisly task.
On Thursday, U.S. teams began removing corpses to avert a health
crisis. Members of one crew threw a grappling hook attached to a
long line, then turned over the remains while taking cover. Other
Marines kept their weapons trained on nearby vehicles, alert for
attacks. After it was deemed safe, the bodies were quickly zipped
into black vinyl bags and hoisted onto a 7-ton truck.
They were taken to a makeshift morgue with refrigeration units on
the grounds of a former potato farm, Tucker said. There, he added,
the people of Fallouja could claim the remains of their husbands,
sons and fathers.
Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times
1) More Blood, More Chaos
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
November 21, 2004
2) In Defense of Unity: The following letter is in response
to a number of serious redbaiting attacks on ANSWER and
other Socialists involved in the antiwar movement from some
people on the UFPJ discussion list. One from
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, printed below, started the debate.
It couldn't have come at a worse time. A time when
overwhelming unity against this war is demanded of all of us.
Also printed below are the wise comments of Carlos Rovira that
I was inspired by.
Bonnie Weinstein, BAUAW
3) The Crushing of Fallujah
By JAMES PETRAS (from Counterpunch)
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/11/303902.shtml
4) In Falluja, Young Marines Saw the Savagery of an Urban War
By DEXTER FILKINS
FALLUJA, Iraq
November 21, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/international/middleeast/21battle.html?hp&
ex=1101099600&en=bc339766506f30ca&ei=5094&partner=homepage
5) Iraq Schedules National Elections for Jan. 30
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 21
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/international/middleeast/21cnd-iraq.html?h
p&ex=1101099600&en=a67b1fd95bdf31f7&ei=5094&partner=homepage
e>
6) Booming prison numbers prompt reexamination of harsh sentencing
MARK SCOLFORO
HARRISBURG, Pa.
Associated Press
Posted on Sat, Nov. 20, 2004
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/politics/10233361.htm
7) Soaring Interest Compounds Credit Card Pain for Millions
THE PLASTIC TRAP
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
This article was reported by Patrick McGeehan, Lowell Bergman,
Robin Stein and Marlena Telvick and written by Mr. McGeehan.
November 21, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/business/21cards-web.html?hp&ex=1101099600
&en=70effacd11d42b21&ei=5094&partner=homepage
8) MSNBC 'Imus' Segment Refers to 'Raghead Cadaver'
Muslims urged to renew demand for apology, reprimand
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/19/04)
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=203&page=AA
9) Holiday in Falluja
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 2:03 PM
hEkLe Falluja, Iraq www.ftssoldier.blogspot.com
10) Fate of Lawyer in Terror Case Hinges on Sheik's Words
By JULIA PRESTON
November 14, 2004
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/1706139.php
11) Government Looking at Military Draft Lists
By ALMA WALZER
The Monitor
McALLEN, November 15, 2004
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=62232_0_10_0_C
12) 47 Parties Boycott Elections in Iraq
Xinhua News Agency (China)
November 17, 2004
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-11/17/content_2230350.htm
13) Greenspan Sees No Rise Soon for the Dollar
By MARK LANDLER
FRANKFURT
November 20, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/20/business/20greenspan.html
14) US soldiers in Iraq suffer horrific brain and mental injuries
By Rick Kelly
20 November 2004
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/sold-n20.shtml
15) Troops Round Up Corpses, Weapons in Fallouja
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Their operation in the city has shifted to cleanup and
rebuilding, amid sporadic fighting.
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Times Staff Writer
November 19, 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-fallouja19nov19,1,370254
6.story
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) More Blood, More Chaos
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
November 21, 2004
In Ramadi today 6 civilians were killed in clashes between the
resistance and military.
The military sealed the city, closing all the roads while announcing
over loudspeakers for residents in the city to hand over "terrorists."
A man, woman and child died when the public bus they were riding in
approached a US checkpoint there when they were riddled with bullets
from anxious soldiers. A military spokesman said the bus was shot
because it didn't stop when they asked it to.
The city remains sealed by US forces as fierce clashes sporadically
erupt across the area while the military decides how to handle yet
another resistance controlled.
As the mass graves in Fallujah continue to be filled with countless
corpses, sporadic fighting flashes throughout areas of the destroyed
battleground.
"The Americans want every city in Iraq to be like Fallujah," said
Abdulla Rahnan, a 40 year-old man on the street where I was taking tea
not far from my hotel, "They want to kill us all-they are freeing us of
our lives!"
His friend, remaining nameless, added, "Everyone here hates them because
they are making mass graves faster than even Saddam!"
I never tell people I interview I am from America. I tell them I am
Canadian of Lebanese descent-which is close enough since I am from
Alaska. With this information, I am always greeted warmly, invited to
meals and to spend the night wherever I go. Arab culture continues to
impress me as the most beautiful, warm, civilized culture of any I've
experienced in all of my travels.
But as Abu Talat told me the other day when I asked him what he though
about going to Ramadi or Fallujah, "Sure Dahr, we can go-but not until
you get a steel neck!"
He laughs his deep laugh, and I fake a laugh with him while peering out
my car window.
After conducting other interviews during the day, Salam and I are in my
room working on a radio dispatch. As we begin recording, his cell phone
and my room phone ring simultaneously.
He gets news of another friend who has been shot by soldiers, while I am
told by Abu Talat that al-Adhamiya is under a 6pm curfew as the military
begins house to house searches. His frustrated voice tells me his wife
and boys are afraid as he speaks above helicopters thumping the air over
his home.
Over in Sadr City, the military are now sealing off neighborhoods doing
home searches as well-this after having agreed to a deal with Sadr's
Mehdi Army the fighters turned in many of their weapons and agreed to a
truce. Last night a small boy was shot there because he was out after
curfew.
Lieutenant-General Lance Smith, deputy US commander of the region of the
Middle East that includes Iraq, announced that his command might be
asking for 3-5,000 more troops for Iraq.
This goal will most likely be attained by delaying the already scheduled
departure of soldiers already here, and was announced at about the same
time that the commander for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in
Fallujah, Lieutenant-General John Sattler said that he believed the
assault on Fallujah had "broken the back of the insurgency."
Refugees from Fallujah have yet to be allowed to return to their city.
One of my friends here works on the election commission for Iraq-he
stopped by tonight laughing at the new date which has been set for the
election of January 30th. "They have this new date for their rigged
elections," he rolls his eyes, "And nobody in Iraq believes their
propaganda. Elections? Here? I don't know anyone who will vote. Perhaps
the entire country can vote absentee for reason of car bomb!"
He and I were interviewed on a radio program this evening-while I was
listening to commercials waiting to come back on, I laugh to myself as
one of the advertisements is for folks to trade in their old Hummer for
a new one with low financing!
This against the backdrop of the show, where my friend and I had shared
stories with the host and callers of death in the streets, Iraqi outrage
over the failed occupation and other love stories from Iraq.
Meanwhile, more oil facilities are sabotaged in the north, the "Green
Zone" takes more mortars, and the usual gunfire is audible over the
generators running out my window.
You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/ to subscribe or
unsubscribe to the email list.
Or, you can unsubscribe by sending an email to
iraq_dispatches-request@dahrjamailiraq.com and write unsubscribe in the
subject or the body of the email.
Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
Iraq_Dispatches@dahrjamailiraq.com
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) In Defense of Unity: The following letter is in response
to a number of serious redbaiting attacks on ANSWER and
other Socialists involved in the antiwar movement from some
people on the UFPJ discussion list. One from
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, printed below, started the debate.
It couldn't have come at a worse time. A time when
overwhelming unity against this war is demanded of all of us.
Also printed below are the wise comments of Carlos Rovira that
I was inspired by.
Bonnie Weinstein, BAUAW
Dear fellow antiwar activists,
What takes precedence over all right now is the bloody devastation
this government is bringing to the people of Iraq. What is first and
foremost for the American antiwar movement is the obligation we have
to make our movement huge--to bring together all those who oppose this
war inside the belly of this most ferocious beast.
Opposition to this war is the common thread we all agree upon. History
demands that we, who are already organized into this movement, come
together and act in unison and LEAD A CALL FOR UNITY. The future of
the planet demands this of us.
There is no room for red-baiting or any propaganda that will divide
instead of unite. That is the ongoing job of the warmongers--to
divide and conquer. Now is the time to put aside our differences.
The world will want to protest the inauguration of this warmonger
and the "2nd anniversary" of the declaration of war against Iraq.
We have had a series of National demonstrations--the Democratic
National Convention, the Republican convention, the Million Worker
March. What we don't have is a united grassroots movement based in
cities and towns across the country--even though there is obviously
tremendous sentiment against this war festering and waiting to be
unleashed.
There are antiwar groups all over. But each of us is "doing our
own thing." There is nothing wrong with "doing your own thing"
routinely. What is criminal is if we refuse to act in unison when
it is necessary. Now is the time!
How much more bloodshed will it take to convince folks that this
is necessary.
Every petty delay in the call for nationally unified actions gives
this bi-partisan government the mandate to continue to escalate their
terror on the world.
Every delay in unity by the current leaders of the movement gives
this bi-partisan government the impression that they can carry their
war over to Iran, Korea, Cuba, Venezuela--to escalate this war and
take it to wherever opposition to the U.S. oil-grab is growing.
The entire world is waiting and watching for what the American people
are going to do about their government. The world is demanding that
we act.
On inauguration day all the cities and towns across this country
will see thousands of angry protesters in the streets in massive
opposition to this war no matter who calls the demonstration.
Coordinated, unified, national demonstrations throughout the country
could give the antiwar movement the chance to reach out to all those
opposed to the war and bring them into grassroots working groups
with ties to a unified, national movement to bring the troops home
now--no matter which group they belong to. This is the idea behind
a United Front. This is the power of a United Front.
In San Francisco, we proved that the majority of the people want
to bring the troops home now. Our referendum won with 63.9% percent
of the vote--a wide margin.
The antiwar movement in our city, for sure, has a mandate to
organize and act in unity.
Suggestions such as Arthur Wascow's (see his email reprinted below)
to demonstrate the day before inauguration day in order not to
demonstrate with ANSWER is, in my opinion, profoundly shamefulÂ
criminal, in fact, since it's redbaiting--something that should
have ended with McCarthy. All such divisive speech should be viewed
as actions benefiting the warmongers and should be reviled by the
movement.
The truth is self-evident. Tens of thousands have demonstrated in
this country and throughout the world in demonstrations called by
ANSWER, UFPJ, Not In Our Name and by many other small groups and
large groups. In other words, demonstrators have been acting in
unity in spite of the differences and fights for hegemony within
the leadership of the movement.
The people who are opposed to this war throughout the world have
voted with their feet for unity many times over.
When will the "leadership" catch up to the people of the world who
say, "BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW! U.S. OUT OF IRAQ!"?
Yours for peace and solidarity,
Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
......................................
On 11/21/04 6:13 AM, "Carlos Rovira"
Dear Hany and everyone
The issue here IS NOT ANSWER or the
ANSWER demonstration condemning the Bush
inauguration. Entities like UFPJ have
a right to decide with whom they unite
or not unite at given times. ANSWER,
like UFPJ, has its problems, but ANSWER is
not the enemy, unless that is what is
being said here (?).
My question is - what do you all propose
instead? Enough with the anti-ANSWER
language because it is redolent of
anti-communism, a pillar of the Bush
doctrine, which I will most definitely
NOT remain quiet about.
Respectfully,
Carlos Rovira - "Carlito"
........................................
From Rabbi Arthur Waskow:
Present counter-inaugural plans for Washington on Jan. 20
are liable to turn into a zoo that hurts, rather than
strengthens, the anti-war movement, particularly if they
are (as now seems likely) dominated by ANSWER and if they
bring down extreme security controls.
What about combining a mass march in Washington the day before
Jan 19 -- on the model of the mass march in NYC the day
before the Republican Natl Convention that does not have
an endless boring rally (at the time because we could not
get a rally permit; in retrospect, I think, a blessing) --
FOLLOWED BY doing a REAL "counter-inaugural" on January 20
that is, an Inauguration of a continuing Opposition movement
--a riff on the "Social Forum" form as was created during the
National Conventions four years ago, an eclectic mix of progressive
intellectual & political & cultural leaders in and out of the
Democratic Party with a major gathering of people OUTSIDE WASHINGTON Â
maybe in the Maryland suburbs? or Baltimore?
Could such a People's Inaugural bring together a People's Cabinet
with people like Ariana Huffington, Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich,
Jesse Jackson Sr & Jr., Ralph Nader, Maxine Waters, Howard Zinn,
Julian Bond plus ideally some of the music stars that campaigned
against Bush? Could it include interactive Internet and
alternative-radio/ TV coverage around the country so people
off the East Coast could take part?
The Jan 19 event could create media buzz as the pre-convention
march in NYC did, without trapping us in ANSWER-like politics
and in street vandal acting-out (both likely on Jan 20), and
then a much richer political/intellectual/cultural event on
Jan 20 could actually advance our political vision and cohesion.
Shalom, Arthur
Rabbi Arthur Waskow directs The Shalom Center, a prophetic voice I
n Jewish, multireligious, and American life. To subscribe to The
Shalom Report (weekly on-line newsletter) and for a wealth of
information on social action and its spiritual roots, click to --
http://www.shalomctr.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) The Crushing of Fallujah
By JAMES PETRAS (from Counterpunch)
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/11/303902.shtml
I am reading William Shirer's Berlin Diary, a journalist's account
of Nazi political propaganda during the 1930's, as I watch the US
'news' reports of the violent assault on Fallujah. The US mass
media 'reports', the style, content and especially the language
echo their Nazi predecessor of 70 years ago to an uncanny degree.
Coincidence? Of course! In both instances we have imperialist
armies conquering countries, leveling cities and slaughtering
civilians--and the mass media, private in form, state appendages
in practice, disseminate the most outrageous lies, in defense and
praise of the conquering 'storm troopers'--call them SS or Marines.
Both in Nazi Germany and contemporary US, we are told by the mass
media that the invading armies are "freeing the country" of "foreign
fighters", "armed terrorists", who are preventing "the people" from
going about their everyday lives. Yet we know that of the 1,000
prisoners there are only 4 foreigners (3 Iranians and 1 Arab);
Iraqi hospitals report less than 10% of foreign fighters. In other
words over 90% of the fighters are Iraqis--most of who were born,
educated, and raised families in the cities in which they are
fighting.
Like the Nazi media, the major US radio and TV networks only report
what they call "military casualties"--failing to report the civilians
killed since the war started and the thousands of women and children
killed and wounded since the assault of Fallujah began. Like in Nazi
Germany, the US mass media feature unconfirmed reports by the US
military of the bloody murders, beheadings and kidnapping "by the
foreign terrorists". The unconditional support of Nazi/US mass
media of the killing fields is best captured in their reports of
the massive bombing of densely populated city districts. For the
US network NBC, the dropping of 500-pound bombs in the city of
Fallujah is described as targeting an "insurgent tunnel network
in the city". And the houses, markets, stores--the mothers and
children above those tunnels--vaporized into "pink mist". Their
existence never acknowledged by the leading reporters and
broadcasters.
Almost the entire population of non-Kurdish Iraq is opposed to the
US military and its puppet regime--yet the media refer to the
patriots defending their country from the imperial invaders asÂ
'insurgents' minimizing the significance of a nation-wide
patriotic liberation movement. One of the most surreal euphemisms
is the constant reference to the 'coalition forces'--meaning the
US colonial conquerors and the mercenaries and satraps that they
direct and control.
The terror bombing of homes, hospitals and religious buildings by
hundreds of airplanes and helicopter gunships are described by
the media as 'securing the city for free elections'.
'Freeing the city of insurgents' includes the systematic murder
of friends, neighbors and relatives of every Iraqi living in the
city of Fallujah.
'Surrounding the insurgents' means cutting off water, electricity,
medical aid for 200,000 civilians in the city and putting tens of
thousands who fled under threat of a typhoid epidemic. 'Pacifying
the city' involves turning it to absolute desolate poisoned rubble.
Why do Washington and the mass media resort to gross, systematic
lying and euphemisms? Basically to reinforce mass support at home
for mass murder in Iraq. The mass media fabricates a web of lies
to secure a gloss of legitimacy for totalitarian methods in order
that the US armed forces continue to destroy cities with impunity.
The technique perfected by Goebbels in Germany and practiced in the
US is to repeat lies and euphemism until they become accepted
'truths', and embedded in everyday language. The mass media by
effectively routinizing a common language implicates the listeners.
The tactical concerns of the Generals, the commanders directing the
slaughter (pacification), and the soldiers murdering civilians are
explained (and consumed by the millions listening and watching) by
the unchallenged authorities to the compliant journalists and famous
news anchors. The unity of purpose between the agents of mass murder
and everyday US public is established via 'news reports': The
soldiers 'paint the names' of their wives and sweethearts on the
tanks and armored vehicles which destroy Iraqi families and turn
Fallujah into ruins. Returning soldiers from Iraq are 'interviewed'
who want to return to 'be with their platoon' and 'wipe out the
terrorists'. Not all of US combat forces experienced the joys of
shooting civilians. Medical studies report that one out of five
returning soldiers are suffering from severe psychological trauma,
no doubt from witnessing or participation in the mass killing of
civilians. The family of one returned soldier, who recently
committed suicide, reported that he constantly referred to his
killing an unarmed child in the streets of Iraq--calling himself
a 'murderer'. Aside from these notable exceptions, the mass
propaganda media practice several techniques, which assuage
the 'conscience' of US soldiers and civilians. One technique
is 'role reversal' to attribute the crimes of the invading
force to the victims: It is not the soldiers who cause destruction
of cities and murder, but the Iraqi families who 'protect the
terrorists' and "bring upon themselves the savage bombardment".
The second technique is to only report US casualties from
'terrorist bombs'--to omit any mention of thousands of Iraqi
civilian killed by US bombs and artillery. Both Nazi and US
propaganda glorify the 'heroism', 'success' of their elite forces
(the SS and the Marines)--in killing 'terrorists' or 'insurgents'
--every dead civilian is counted as a 'suspected terrorist
sympathizer'.
The US and German military have declared every civilian building
a 'storehouse' or 'hiding place' for 'terrorists'--hence the
absolutely total disregard of all the Geneva laws of warfare.
The US and Nazi practice of 'total war' in which whole communities,
neighborhoods and entire cities are collectively guilty of shielding
'wanted terrorists'--is of course the standard operating military
procedure of the Israeli government.
The US publicizes the cruel and unusual punishment of Iraqi 'suspects'
(any male between 14-60 years) taken prisoner: photos appear in Time
and Newsweek of barefoot, blindfolded and bound young men led from
their homes and pushed into trucks to be taken to 'exploitation
centers' for interrogation. For many in the US public these pictures
are part of the success story--they are told these are the 'terrorists'
who would blow up American homes. For the majority who voted for Bush,
the mass propaganda media has taught them to believe that the
extermination of scores of thousands of Iraqi citizens is in their
best interests: they can sleep sound, as long as 'our boys' kill
them 'over there'.
Above all the mass propaganda media has done everything possible
to deny Iraqi national consciousness. Everyday in every way the
reference is to religious loyalties, ethnic identities, past
political labels, 'tribal' and family clans. The purpose is to
divide and conquer, and to present the world with a 'chaotic'
Iraq in which the only coherent, stable force is the US colonial
regime. The purpose of the savage colonial assaults and the
political labeling is to destroy the idea of the Iraqi nation--and
in its place to substitute a series of mini-entities run by
imperial satraps obedient to Washington.
Sunday morning: November 14 .Today Fallujah is being raped and razed,
captured wounded prisoners are shot in the mosques .In New York the mega
malls are crowded with shoppers .
Sunday afternoon: the Marines have blocked food ,water,and medicine
from entering Fallujah..Throughout the US millions of men sit in
front of the television watching football.
Shirer reported that while the Nazis invaded and ravaged Belgium
and bombed Rotterdam.,in Berlin the cafes were full,the symphony
played and people walked their dogs in the park on sunny Sunday
afternoons
Sunday night November 14, 2004, I turn on the television to 60 Minutes
and watch a replay of Mike Wallace's 'interviews' with Yasser Arafat.
Like all US mass media 'stars', he ignores the Israeli invasion of
Lebanon and Sharon's murder of thousands of Palestinians, the
military occupation of Palestine and the wanton destruction of Jenin
and Gaza City. Wallace accuses Arafat of being a liar, a terrorist,
of being corrupt and devious. Thirty million US households watch this
ugly spectacle of a self-righteous Zionist apologist flaunting the
'Western ideals', which are so useful in razing cities, bombing
hospitals and exterminating a nation.
Yes, there are differences between Shirer's account of Nazi propaganda
in defense of the conquest of Europe and the US media's apology for
the invasion of Iraq and Israel's slaughter of the Palestinians: One
is committed in the name of the Fuehrer and the Fatherland, the other
in the name of God and Democracy. Go tell that to the bloated corpses
gnawed by dogs in the ruins of Fallujah.
---------
James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University,
New York, owns a 50 year membership in the class struggle, is an adviser
to the landless and jobless in brazil and argentina and is co-author of
Globalization Unmasked (Zed). He can be reached at:
jpetras@binghamton.edu
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) In Falluja, Young Marines Saw the Savagery of an Urban War
By DEXTER FILKINS
FALLUJA, Iraq
November 21, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/international/middleeast/21battle.html?hp&
ex=1101099600&en=bc339766506f30ca&ei=5094&partner=homepage
FALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 18 - Eight days after the Americans entered the
city on foot, a pair of marines wound their way up the darkened
innards of a minaret, shot through with holes by an American tank.
As the marines inched upward, a burst of gunfire rang down, fired
by an insurgent hiding in the top of the tower. The bullets hit the
first marine in the face, his blood spattering the marine behind him.
The marine in the rear tumbled backward down the stairwell, while
Lance Cpl. William Miller, age 22, lay in silence halfway up,
mortally wounded.
"Miller!" the marines called from below. "Miller!"
With that, the marines' near mystical commandment against leaving
a comrade behind seized the group. One after another, the young marines
dashed into the minaret, into darkness and into gunfire, and wound
their way up the stairs.
After four attempts, Corporal Miller's lifeless body emerged from the
tower, his comrades choking and covered with dust. With more insurgents
closing in, the marines ran through volleys of machine-gun fire back
to their base.
"I was trying to be careful, but I was trying to get him out, you know
what I'm saying?" Lance Cpl. Michael Gogin, 19, said afterward.
So went eight days of combat for this Iraqi city, the most sustained
period of street-to-street fighting that Americans have encountered
since the Vietnam War. The proximity gave the fighting a hellish
intensity, with soldiers often close enough to look their enemies
in the eyes.
For a correspondent who has covered a half dozen armed conflicts,
including the war in Iraq since its start in March 2003, the fighting
seen while traveling with a frontline unit in Falluja was a qualitatively
different experience, a leap into a different kind of battle.
From the first rockets vaulting out of the city as the marines moved
in, the noise and feel of the battle seemed altogether extraordinary;
at other times, hardly real at all. The intimacy of combat, this
plunge into urban warfare, was new to this generation of American
soldiers, but it is a kind of fighting they will probably see again:
a grinding struggle to root out guerrillas entrenched in a city, on
streets marked in a language few American soldiers could comprehend.
The price for the Americans so far: 51 dead and 425 wounded, a number
that may yet increase but that already exceeds the toll from any battle
in the Iraq war.
Marines in Harm's Way
The 150 marines with whom I traveled, Bravo Company of the First
Battalion, Eighth Marines, had it as tough as any unit in the fight.
They moved through the city almost entirely on foot, into the heart
of the resistance, rarely protected by tanks or troop carriers,
working their way through Falluja's narrow streets with 75-pound
packs on their backs.
In eight days of fighting, Bravo Company took 36 casualties, including
6 dead, meaning that the unit's men had about a one-in-four chance of
being wounded or killed in little more than a week.
The sounds, sights and feel of the battle were as old as war itself,
and as new as the Pentagon's latest weapons systems. The eerie pop
from the cannon of the AC-130 gunship, prowling above the city at
night, firing at guerrillas who were often only steps away from
Americans on the ground. The weird buzz of the Dragon Eye pilotless
airplane, hovering over the battlefield as its video cameras beamed r
eal-time images back to the base.
The glow of the insurgents' flares, throwing daylight over a
landscape to help them spot their targets: us.
The nervous shove of a marine scrambling for space along a brick
wall as tracer rounds ricocheted above.
The silence between the ping of the shell leaving its mortar tube
and the explosion when it strikes.
The screams of the marines when one of their comrades, Cpl. Jake
Knospler, lost part of his jaw to a hand grenade.
"No, no, no!" the marines shouted as they dragged Corporal Knospler
from the darkened house where the bomb went off. It was 2 a.m., the
sky dark without a moon. "No, no, no!"
Nothing in the combat I saw even remotely resembled the scenes
regularly flashed across movie screens; even so, they often
seemed no more real.
Mortar shells and rocket-propelled grenades began raining down on Bravo
Company the moment its men began piling out of their troop
carriers just outside Falluja. The shells looked like Fourth of
July bottle rockets, sailing over the ridge ahead as if fired by
children, exploding in a whoosh of sparks.
Whole buildings, minarets and human beings were vaporized in barrages
of exploding shells. A man dressed in a white dishdasha crawled across
a desolate field, reaching behind a gnarled plant to hide, when he
collapsed before a burst of fire from an American tank.
Sometimes the casualties came in volleys, like bursts of machine-gun
fire. On the first morning of battle, during a ferocious struggle
for the Muhammadia Mosque, about 45 marines with Bravo Company's
Third Platoon dashed across 40th Street, right into interlocking
streams of fire. By the time the platoon made it to the other side,
five men lay bleeding in the street.
The marines rushed out to get them, as they would days later in the
minaret, but it was too late for Sgt. Lonny Wells, who bled to death
on the side of the road. One of the men who braved gunfire to pull
in Sergeant Wells was Cpl. Nathan Anderson, who died three days
later in an ambush.
Sergeant Wells's death dealt the Third Platoon a heavy blow; as
a leader of one of its squads, he had written letters to the parents
of its younger members, assuring them he would look over them during
the tour in Iraq.
"He loved playing cards," Cpl. Gentian Marku recalled. "He knew all the
probabilities."
More than once, death crept up and snatched a member of Bravo Company
and quietly slipped away. Cpl. Nick Ziolkowski, nicknamed Ski, was a
Bravo Company sniper. For hours at a stretch, Corporal Ziolkowski would
sit on a rooftop, looking through the scope on his bolt-action M-40
rifle, waiting for guerrillas to step into his sights. The scope was
big and wide, and Corporal Ziolkowski often took off his helmet to
get a better look.
Tall, good-looking and gregarious, Corporal Ziolkowski was one of
Bravo Company's most popular soldiers. Unlike most snipers, who
learned to shoot growing up in the countryside, Corporal Ziolkowski
grew up near Baltimore, unfamiliar with guns. Though Baltimore boasts
no beach front, Corporal Ziolkowski's passion was surfing; at Camp
Lejeune, N.C., Bravo Company's base, he would often organize his
entire day around the tides.
"All I need now is a beach with some waves," Corporal Ziolkowski
said, during a break from his sniper duties at Falluja's Grand Mosque,
where he killed three men in a single day.
During that same break, Corporal Ziolkowski foretold his own death.
The snipers, he said, were now among the most hunted of American
soldiers.
In the first battle for Falluja, in April, American snipers had been
especially lethal, Corporal Ziolkowski said, and intelligence
officers had warned him that this time, the snipers would be targets.
"They are trying to take us out," Corporal Ziolkowski said.
The bullet knocked Corporal Ziolkowski backward and onto the roof.
He had been sitting there on the outskirts of the Shuhada neighborhood,
an area controlled by insurgents, peering through his wide scope.
He had taken his helmet off to get a better view. The bullet hit
him in the head.
Young Men, Heavy Burdens
For all the death about the place, one inescapable impression left
by the marines was their youth. Everyone knows that soldiers are
young; it is another thing to see men barely out of adolescence,
many of whom were still in high school when this war began, shoot
people dead.
The marines of Bravo Company often fought over the packets of M&M's
that came with their rations. Sitting in their barracks, they sang
along with the Garth Brooks paean to chewing tobacco, "Copenhagen,"
named for the brand they bought almost to a man:
Copenhagen, what a wad of flavor
Copenhagen, you can see it in my smile
Copenhagen, hey do yourself a favor, dip
Copenhagen, it drives the cowgirls wild
One of Bravo Company's more youthful members was Cpl. Romulo
Jimenez II, age 21 from Bellington, W.Va.. Cpl. Jimenez spent
much of his time showing off his tattoos - he had flames climbing
up one of his arms - and talking about his 1992 Ford Mustang. He
was a popular member of Bravo Company's Second Platoon, not least
because he introduced his sister to a fellow marine, Lance Cpl.
Sean Evans, and the couple married.
In the days before the battle started, Corporal Jimenez called his
sister, Katherine, to ask that she fix up the interior of his
Mustang before he got home.
"Make it look real nice," he told her.
On Wednesday, Nov. 10, around 2 p.m., Corporal Jimenez was shot
in the neck by a sniper as he advanced with his platoon through
the northern end of Falluja, just near the green-domed Muhammadia
Mosque. He died instantly.
Despite their youth, the marines seemed to tower over their peers
outside the military in maturity and guts. Many of Bravo Company's
best marines, its most proficient killers, were 19 and 20 years old;
some directed their comrades in maneuvers and assaults. Bravo
Company's three lieutenants, each responsible for the lives of
about 50 men, were 23 and 24 years old.
They are a strangely anonymous bunch. The men who fight America's
wars seem invariably to come from little towns and medium-size
cities far away from the nation's arteries along the coast. Line
up a group of marines and ask them where they are from, and they
will give you a list of places like Pearland, Tex.; Lodi, Ohio;
Osawatomie, Kan.
Typical of the marines who fought in Falluja was Chad Ritchie,
a 22-year-old corporal from Keezletown, Va. Corporal Ritchie, a
soft-spoken, bespectacled intelligence officer, said he was happy
to be out of the tiny place where he grew up, though he admitted
that he sometimes missed the good times on Friday nights in the
fields.
"We'd have a bonfire, and back the trucks up on it, and open up
the backs, and someone would always have some speakers," Corporal
Ritchie said. "We'd drink beer, tell stories."
Like many of the young men in Bravo Company, Corporal Ritchie
said he had joined the Marines because he yearned for an
adventure greater than his small town could offer.
"The guys who stayed, they're all living with their parents,
making $7 an hour," Corporal Ritchie said. "I'm not going to be
one of those people who gets old and says, 'I wish I had done
this. I wish I had done that.' Every once in a while, you've got
to do something hard, do something you're not comfortable with.
A person needs a gut check."
Holding Up Under Fire
Marines like Corporal Ritchie proved themselves time and again in
Falluja, but they were not without fear. While camped out one
night in the Iraqi National Guard building in the middle of city,
Bravo Company came under mortar fire that grew closer with each
shot. The insurgents were "bracketing" the building, firing shots
to the left and right of the target and adjusting their fire each
time.
In the hallways, where the men had camped for the night, the
murmured sounds of prayers rose between the explosions. After
20 tries, the shelling inexplicably stopped.
On one particularly grim night, a group of marines from Bravo
Company's First Platoon turned a corner in the darkness and headed
up an alley. As they did so, they came across men dressed in
uniforms worn by the Iraqi National Guard. The uniforms were so
perfect that they even carried pieces of red tape and white, the
signal agreed upon to assure American soldiers that any Iraqis
dressed that way would be friendly; the others could be killed.
The marines, spotting the red and white tape, waved, and the men
in Iraqi uniforms opened fire. One American, Corporal Anderson,
died instantly. One of the wounded men, Pfc. Andrew Russell, lay
in the road, screaming from a nearly severed leg.
A group of marines ran forward into the gunfire to pull their
comrades out. But the ambush, and the enemy flares and gunfire
that followed, rattled the men of Bravo Company more than any
event. In the darkness, the men began to argue. Others stood
around in the road. As the platoon's leader, Lt. Andy Eckert,
struggled to take charge, the Third Platoon seemed on the brink
of panic.
"Everybody was scared," Lieutenant Eckert said afterward. "If
the leader can't hold, then the unit can't hold together."
The unit did hold, but only after the intervention of Bravo
Company's commanding officer, Capt. Read Omohundro.
Time and again through the week, Captain Omohundro kept his
men from folding, if not by his resolute manner then by his
calmness under fire. In the first 16 hours of battle, when the
combat was continuous and the threat of death ever present,
Captain Omohundro never flinched, moving his men through the
warrens and back alleys of Falluja with an uncanny sense of
space and time, sensing the enemy, sensing the location of his
men, even in the darkness, entirely self-possessed.
"Damn it, get moving," Captain Omohundro said, and his men,
looking relieved that they had been given direction amid the
anarchy, were only too happy to oblige.
A little later, Captain Omohundro, a 34-year-old Texan, allowed
that the strain of the battle had weighed on him, but he said
that he had long ago trained himself to keep any self-doubt
hidden from view.
"It's not like I don't feel it," Captain Omohundro said. "But
if I were to show it, the whole thing would come apart."
When the heavy fighting was finally over, a dog began to follow
Bravo Company through Falluja's broken streets. First it lay
down in the road outside one of the buildings the company had
occupied, between troop carriers. Then, as the troops moved on,
the mangy dog slinked behind them, first on a series of house
searches, then on a foot patrol, always keeping its distance,
but never letting the marines out of its sight.
Bravo Company, looking a bit ragged itself as it moved up
through Falluja, momentarily fell out of its single-file line.
"Keep a sharp eye," Captain Omohundro told his men. "We ain't
done with this war yet."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Iraq Schedules National Elections for Jan. 30
By EDWARD WONG
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 21
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/international/middleeast/21cnd-iraq.html?h
p&ex=1101099600&en=a67b1fd95bdf31f7&ei=5094&partner=homepage
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov. 21 - The Electoral Commission of Iraq said
today it has set Jan. 30 for the national elections, according
to news agency reports.
The announcement was made after violence surged through central
and northern Iraq on Saturday as a tenacious insurgency led by Sunni
Arabs kept up relentless assaults in several major cities, including
Baghdad, Ramadi and Falluja, which the Americans devastated during
an intense weeklong offensive aimed at routing the insurgency.
But areas still beset by violence, including Falluja and Mosul, will
participate in the elections, according to a spokesman for the electoral
commission, Farid Ayar, who was quoted in a report by The Associated Press.
"No Iraqi province will be excluded because the law considers Iraq as
one constituency, and therefore it is not legal to exclude any province,"
he said.
Elsewhere, the United States military said today that Iraqi and American
forces detained more than 1,450 people in connection with the Falluja
offensive, but more than 400 detainees were later released after being
deemed to be non-combatants.
In the capital on Saturday, insurgents armed with Kalashnikov rifles
and rocket-propelled grenades tried storming a police station at dawn
in the northwestern neighborhood of Amariya, where American and Iraqi
soldiers had engaged in a mosque shootout on Friday. The attack on the
police station left three Iraqi police officers dead and two others
wounded, said Col. Adnan Abdul-Rahman, a spokesman for the Interior
Ministry.
Hours later, a car bomb exploded in downtown Baghdad, at the eastern
end of the bridge over the Tigris River leading to the Green Zone,
the fortified compound housing the American Embassy and the headquarters
of the interim Iraqi government. The bomb was aimed at a convoy of
vehicles from a Western security contractor. At least one Iraqi was
killed and another wounded, witnesses said.
Four employees of the Public Works Ministry were gunned down from
a passing car, and three Iraqi national guardsmen died in explosions
in western Baghdad during gun battles with insurgents, Iraqi
officials said.
An ambush on an American military convoy in central Baghdad ended
with the death of one soldier, the military said. Nine others were
wounded in what appeared to be a highly coordinated attack, with
insurgents using explosives, automatic rifles and rocket-propelled
grenades. Fighting raged in the rubble of Falluja. Two marines were
killed and four wounded in an ambush on Friday in which an insurgent
deceived the Americans by waving a white flag, military officials
said Saturday.
The weeklong offensive, which began Nov. 8, smashed a haven for the
insurgents, but guerrillas still roam the devastated streets,
sniping at American troops and deterring military engineers brought
in to try to rebuild the city.
American commanders in Falluja say they are seeing an increasing
number of guerrillas using white flags to pose as unarmed civilians.
In a bit of positive news, a Polish woman abducted in October by
insurgents announced her release to reporters in Warsaw in a brief
news conference on Saturday with the Polish prime minister, Marek
Belka, broadcast by the BBC and CNN.
The woman, Teresa Borcz-Kalifa, 54, said her captors had treated her
well. She is married to an Iraqi and had lived in Iraq for 30 years.
Her captors made at least two videos that were shown on Al Jazeera,
the Arab satellite television network, demanding the withdrawal of
Polish troops.
And today, news agency reports said that the Iraqi prime minister's
75-year-old cousin, Ghazi Majeed Allawi, had been freed by captors
who had detained him and two other family members on Nov. 9. A group
called Ansar al Jihad had posted an Internet message saying the three
would be beheaded unless Dr. Allawi called off the siege of Falluja
and released all prisoners in Iraq.
Two of the relatives, both women, were released last week. And today,
Al-Arabiya news channel, quoted by Reuters, reported that Ghazi Allawi
had been freed.
The unrelenting wave of assaults in the Sunni-dominated parts of the
country indicate that the attack on Falluja could have inflamed Sunni
resentment against the American presence.
American and Iraqi officials have found it impossible in the 19 months
since the invasion to persuade hostile Sunni Arabs to lay down their
arms and engage in the emerging political system.
The Sunni Arabs, who make up a fifth of the population here, ruled
the region known as modern Iraq for centuries, until the American
invasion toppled Saddam Hussein.
Mr. Hussein, himself a Sunni, heightened ethnic and religious
differences by installing Sunnis in the most senior positions and
persecuting Shiite Arabs and Kurds. Now, with a power and security
vacuum throughout Iraq, those tensions are reviving and threatening
to unravel the very social fabric of the country.
Sunni-dominated cities exploded during and immediately after the
Falluja offensive. In April, when the Marines tried to take control
of Falluja, thousands of unruly Shiites rose up also, led by the
firebrand cleric Moktada al-Sadr.
During the more recent invasion, Mr. Sadr condemned the Americans'
use of force but did not call on his militia to fight. These days,
even radical Shiites appear ready to use legitimate politics to
ensure that Shiites seize majority rule of the country. The most
restive areas in Iraq are in Anbar Province, including Ramadi and
Falluja, and, in the north, Nineveh Province, whose capital is Mosul,
a city of two million that has become a second front of the insurgency.
On Saturday, marines set up roadblocks around Ramadi, the capital of
Anbar, and broadcast messages calling on residents to turn over
"terrorists," Reuters reported. The marines are engaged in a holding
action there. They have a presence at the government center and
several outposts downtown, but they do not have real control of
the city. Insurgents operate freely and regularly murder residents
they say are collaborating with the Americans or the interim Iraqi
government.
Senior American commanders believe that many guerrillas fled Falluja
before the offensive and sought a haven in Ramadi, just 30 miles
west, causing a spike in violence there.
In Mosul, Iraq's third largest city, 225 miles north of Baghdad,
nine bodies of Iraqi Army soldiers with bullet wounds to the head
were discovered Saturday, said Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, an Army
spokesman. Seven of those were also decapitated. On Thursday, he
said, four headless bodies were found in eastern Mosul.
The group of the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi posted an
Internet message dated Thursday that said it had decapitated two
Iraqi soldiers in public. At least one witness said that he saw
the killings and that the bodies had been left in the street for
hours because people had been afraid to collect them.
American and Iraqi forces are trying to root out resilient insurgent
bands in Mosul that pushed the city to the brink of chaos last week.
On Nov. 11, groups of guerrillas stormed a half-dozen police stations
and made off with weapons and uniforms after setting fire to the
buildings and squad cars. Only 800 of the city's 4,000 police
officers stayed on the job.
The Army of Ansar al-Sunna, one of the country's most militant
groups, posted a message on the Internet on Saturday saying it
had shot and killed two members of the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
A video showed two gagged and blindfolded men being shot in the
back of their heads, Reuters reported.
The car bombing in Baghdad took place at around 12:30 p.m., as a
convoy of sport utility vehicles carrying Western security contractors
drove near the Jumhuriya bridge. A suicide car bomber tried ramming
into the convoy. The security contractors escaped, but an Iraqi man
in a pickup truck behind the bomber was incinerated.
Robert F. Worth contributed reporting from Falluja for this article,
Richard A. Oppel Jr. from Mosul, Khalid al-Ansary from Baghdad and
Christine Hauser from New York.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) Booming prison numbers prompt reexamination of harsh sentencing
MARK SCOLFORO
HARRISBURG, Pa.
Associated Press
Posted on Sat, Nov. 20, 2004
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/politics/10233361.htm
HARRISBURG, Pa. -The state prison population grew by 44 percent over
the past decade as Pennsylvania embraced mandatory sentencing and
dramatically increased the number of violent criminals forced to
serve their maximum sentence.
But the lock-'em-up approach to corrections - part of a national
trend - has been accompanied by an ever-more-costly price tag and
growing doubts about its effectiveness.
Last month, Pennsylvania quietly joined a growing number of states
taking a step back from the stiffer sentencing policies of the 1990s.
The Republican-controlled Legislature approved a bill that would get
nonviolent drug and alcohol offenders out of prison more quickly and
into treatment programs, and on Friday, Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell
signed it.
The policy change is expected to save the state more than $20 million
a year and reduce pressure on a prison system now housing nearly 41,000
convicts, up from 28,302 in 1994. Corrections officials say treatment
has also been shown to reduce the chance the inmates will end up back
in prison.
The typical inmate now spends about four years behind bars before being
released. By one study, Pennsylvania keeps its inmates the longest of
any state, more than twice the national average.
The costs have been staggering. The Department of Corrections has
proposed a $1.34 billion budget for next year, an increase of 295
percent since fiscal year 1992-93, when the budget was just $453
million. It currently employs more than 15,000 people.
Nationally, more than half the states have loosened sentencing
policies in the past three years, said Daniel F. Wilhelm, director
of the State Sentencing and Corrections Project at the Vera Institute
of Justice in New York.
Driving those changes are budget pressures, concerns about the
fairness of sentencing, and falling public concern about crime as
the crime rate has dropped, he said. The nation currently spends
an estimated $40 billion annually on corrections.
Michigan abolished its mandatory sentencing scheme in December 2002.
Kansas passed the nation's most comprehensive mandatory drug-treatment
diversion act last year. Texas put more money into drug treatment.
Other reforms were considered or passed in Washington, Hawaii and
North Carolina.
"What's interesting to note is in a lot of these states, it's not
the liberal Democrats who are championing reforms. It's Republicans
who are at the forefront," Wilhelm said.
In Pennsylvania, prison spending has grown faster than any other part
of the budget, said Montgomery County Sen. Stewart J. Greenleaf,
Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, "so I think
we have to be smart in regard to how we incarcerate people."
Despite the changes in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, much of the
harshest anti-crime legislation from the past decade remains on
the books, and earlier this month California voters narrowly rejected
a referendum to weaken its three-strikes law.
Pennsylvania's decision to pursue more treatment for inmates comes
nearly a decade after tough anti-crime policies were pushed through
a receptive Legislature by then-Gov. Tom Ridge, helped along by two
highly publicized murder cases.
Ridge's 1995 campaign was in its final weeks when pardoned inmate
Reginald McFadden killed two people; Ridge's Democratic opponent had
voted to pardon him. And during the Republican governor's first year
in office, a New Jersey police officer was murdered by parolee Robert
"Mudman" Simon.
Almost immediately, inmates found it much harder to make parole and
parole violators were increasingly sent back to complete their
sentences.
Those changes were widely supported, and many experts believe tough
sentencing laws help reduce crime by keeping habitual criminals off
the streets.
But in Pennsylvania, new mandatory sentencing laws also fed an
astronomical growth in the number of inmates convicted of drug
offenses and other comparatively less serious crimes, so-called
"Part 2" offenders. Their numbers are up 80 percent in the past
seven years.
"I think that there are people that we're confining that we either
don't need to confine for as long a period of time or we don't need
to confine at all," said Corrections Secretary Jeffrey A. Beard.
"There are Part 2 offenders we have in our system that don't need
to stay as long as they're staying."
William DiMascio, executive director of the Pennsylvania Prison
Society, recalled the case of a young grandmother from Berks County
with no prior record who was arrested for distributing a small
amount of marijuana within a block or two of a school.
"So all of a sudden she had this horrendous mandatory imprisonment
(the judge) had to give her," he said. "It happens almost every day.
We have these ridiculous situations that serve no one's best interests."
Longer sentences don't necessarily lower the crime rate and can
create problems of their own, said Ryan S. King, a research associate
with the Sentencing Project, a Washington, D.C., reform advocacy
organization.
"You've got people that are being removed from families, social
networks being disrupted, people losing connections to jobs, education.
In essence - particularly when it's concentrated in communities of
color - you have an overall impact that basically disrupts the
community," King said.
The reforms that became law Friday will divert inmates with nonviolent
convictions involving drugs or alcohol - even a theft conviction to
support a drug habit would qualify - into an "intermediate punishment"
program.
Inmates will first do at least seven months in prison, although Beard
said 12 months will probably be more typical. After that, they will
spend at least two months at a community-based therapeutic facility
and the rest of the minimum 24-month sentence at a halfway house or
group home while receiving addiction treatment.
The savings will come because they will spend less overall time in
the system, and considerably less time in state correctional
institutions, where it currently costs $28,000 annually per inmate.
Beard said he is hopeful there will be additional long-term savings
as a result of an expected drop in recidivism and through an
expansion of the program to other classes of inmates.
He said intensive drug or alcohol treatment, combined with aftercare,
could cut in half recidivism rates from their current range of 50
percent to 60 percent. Through shorter sentences, less costly forms
of incarceration and lower numbers of probation violators coming back
in, the state expects to eventually save more than $20 million annually.
"They're still going to do hard time in prison, but we're going to
give them a program that meets their needs, so that when they go out,
they're going to be less likely to prey on society," Beard said.
"I see it as a public safety issue."
Supporters who see the new law as a relatively modest change of
direction hope it is a harbinger of even broader reforms.
"It's not the most creative thing in the world, but insofar as
it's the world we're operating in, it's a good step in the right
direction," DiMascio said.
(c) 2004 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.centredaily.com
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Soaring Interest Compounds Credit Card Pain for Millions
THE PLASTIC TRAP
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
This article was reported by Patrick McGeehan, Lowell Bergman,
Robin Stein and Marlena Telvick and written by Mr. McGeehan.
November 21, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/21/business/21cards-web.html?hp&ex=1101099600
&en=70effacd11d42b21&ei=5094&partner=homepage
When Ed Schwebel was whittling down his mound of credit card debt
at an interest rate of 9.2 percent, the MBNA Corporation had a happy
and profitable customer. But this summer, when MBNA suddenly doubled
the rate on his account, Mr. Schwebel joined the growing ranks of irate
cardholders stunned by lenders' harsh tactics.
Mr. Schwebel, 58, a semiretired software engineer in Gilbert, Ariz.,
was not pleased that his minimum monthly payment jumped from $502 in
June to $895 in July. But what really made him angry, he said, was the
sense that he was being punished despite having held up his end of
the bargain with MBNA.
"I paid the bills the minute the envelope hit the desk," said Mr.
Schwebel, who had accumulated $69,000 in debt over five years before
the rate increase. "All of a sudden in July, they swapped it to 18
percent. No warning. No reason. It was like I was blindsided."
Mr. Schwebel had stumbled into the new era of consumer credit, in
which thousands of Americans are paying millions of dollars each
month in fees that they did not expect and that strike them as
unreasonable. Invoking clauses tucked into the fine print of their
contract agreements, lenders are doubling or tripling interest rates
with little warning or explanation.
This year, credit card companies are changing the terms of their
accounts at a historically high rate, said Michael Heller, an
industry consultant.
As those practices spread, they are creating a rift between the
lenders and some of their more lucrative customers, according to
cardholders, current and former bank consultants and regulators
who were interviewed for a joint report by The New York Times and
"Frontline," the PBS documentary program.
People like Mr. Schwebel, who carry balances from month to month
and pay finance charges regularly, feel they should be the favored
customers of the credit card business, which is now the most
lucrative segment of banking. They make up the profitable majority
of the 144 million Americans who have general-purpose credit cards.
To a degree, they subsidize the 40 percent of credit card customers
who pay in full each month without incurring any fees or charges.
But increasingly, they say, what should be a warm embrace has
turned into a painful squeeze as lenders employ new tactics to
extract more and bigger penalties for even the slightest financial
transgressions. In the last few years, lenders have more frequently
raised customers' rates because of slip-ups elsewhere, like late
payment of a phone or utility bill, or simply because they felt
a customer had taken on too much debt.
The practice, called universal default, started after a rash of
bankruptcy filings in the mid-to-late 1990's and has increasingly
become standard in the industry. While MBNA declined to comment on
any specific customer's account, its general counsel, Louis J. Freeh,
the former F.B.I. director, said in a statement that it was being
prudent by raising rates when it had reason to think the risk of
not being repaid had increased.
Edward L. Yingling, executive vice president of the American Bankers
Association, said bankers must have the flexibility to change terms
on short notice. The bankruptcy filings of the 90's - many by customers
who had been paying their bills on time - caught banks off-guard,
he said.
Lenders decided they needed to watch for signs of trouble elsewhere,
like missed car payments, he said. In those cases, he added, there are
only two logical responses: "We're not going to let you have this credit
card loan anymore and we're going to say, 'Pay it off,' or we can say,
'You're now more risky; we're going to raise your rate.' "
Still, some critics say the severity of the punishment does not match
the risk of default. The suddenness and perceived unfairness of the
penalties have left many consumers feeling burned by lenders who
relentlessly courted them with promises of low rates.
To some cardholders and consumer advocates, credit card companies
are acting like modern-day loan sharks, strong-arming their customers
to pay more - with no legal limit on how much they can charge.
In eight years, the major card companies have increased the fee
charged to cardholders for being even an hour late with a payment
to $39, from $10 or less.
Unleashing an Industry
Duncan MacDonald, who, as a lawyer for Citibank was involved in its
successful case for deregulation of fees before the United States
Supreme Court in 1996, now says he fears that he helped to unleash
a monster.
Until that ruling, most banks still charged an annual fee of about
$25 for the use of a card and a single fixed rate to all borrowers,
usually around 18 percent. Applicants either qualified for the
privilege of carrying a card or they did not.
"I certainly didn't imagine that someday we might've ended up
creating a Frankenstein," said Mr. MacDonald, who predicted that
the penalty fees could rise to $50 in another year. "I look at that
and I say to myself, 'Is $50 a fair fee, plus a 25 percent interest
rate and all these other fees that are thrown on, for folks who are
probably not that risky? Is that fair?' "
Mr. MacDonald said federal bank regulators should investigate the
fairness of universal default and some of the banks' harsh penalties.
But regulators and lawmakers have been reluctant to crack down on
a popular consumer product that fuels America's economic engine.
Consumer spending pulled the country through the last economic
downturn, powered largely by purchases financed with debt, to
the tune of $2 trillion.
Few consumer products today are as cherished or reviled as credit
cards. The typical household has eight cards with $7,500 on them.
People like Mr. Schwebel are known as "revolvers" in the industry
because they roll balances over from month to month, never paying
in full.
Without the 85 million Americans who revolve, card issuers would be
struggling to please their investors. But with them and the hefty
finance charges they accrue from the moment cashiers swipe their
cards, the industry is reaping record gains. Last year, card issuers
made $2.5 billion a month in profit before taxes.
"I think it is generally understood that those that use the revolving
part of the credit card are kind of the sweet spot," said Mr. Yingling
of the bankers' association, who spoke on behalf of several of the
biggest issuers, including Citigroup ,J. P. Morgan Chase and MBNA,
all of which declined to make executives available for interviews.
But the lenders' aggressive tactics have prompted a surge in
complaints and lawsuits and even a warning from the primary regulator
of national banks in September. In an advisory letter, the Office of
the Comptroller of the Currency said banks should not raise card rates
without having fully and prominently disclosed the circumstances that
might cause an increase.
Changing the Terms
The case that opened up the industry came in 1978 when the Supreme
Court decided that a bank could charge its cardholders any rate allowed
in the bank's home state. Major banks swiftly moved their credit card
operations to places like South Dakota and Delaware that had removed
caps on interest rates. There is no federal limit on consumer credit
rates.
After that ruling on interest rates, credit cards, which until then
had generally been an uncertain business, started to look potentially
lucrative. Banks began to innovate and compete. They cut the required
minimum monthly payment to 2 percent of the balance, from 5 percent,
to encourage customers to borrow more and stretch out the repayment.
They dropped annual fees and dangled offers of low interest, or none
at all, to lure new customers.
At the same time, legal teams crafted contracts of 12 or more single-
spaced pages that gave the banks the leeway to change their terms
whenever they wanted. A typical term sheet for a Visa card issued by
Bank One , which was acquired this year by J. P. Morgan Chase, includes:
"We reserve the right to change the terms at any time for any reason."
John Gould has worked in and around the credit card business for 25
years, but he said he was shocked when his wife tried to make a last-
minute payment over the phone and was charged an extra $15.
"What a rip," he said. "That does get me mad."
Fees like that are accounting for a greater share of the revenue that
card companies garner from their customers. Last year, they collected
$11.7 billion in penalty fees, more than half of the total $21.5 billion
in fees they collected from cardholders, according to CardWeb, a research
firm.
Mr. Gould, a former executive of MasterCard International who conducts
research for TowerGroup, a company owned by MasterCard, said he did not
think that card companies were trying to trap people into financial
distress. But he said it was "absurd" that 44 percent of them tell their
customers that they might be penalized for one or two late payments with
maximum rates that now exceed 28 percent.
This practice has gone on while the short-term interest rates set by the
Federal Reserve Board have been unusually low, now at 2 percent, he noted,
but the rates have been rising in recent months.
"What are they going to do if we have a spike in interest rates?" Mr.
Gould said. "What are they going to start charging people, 35 percent,
38 percent? If it comes to that, you might as well go to the loan sharks."
But Andrew Kahr, a financial services consultant who devised some widely
used consumer-lending strategies, including the zero-percent teaser
rates, said consumers should be able to recognize that the business
is a "game of chance." Interest rates shooting past 25 percent may
seem scandalous to some, Mr. Kahr said, but they are "no less
realistic" than the low introductory rates many cardholders receive.
The lenders offer tantalizingly low initial rates because that is
what it takes to lure customers from competitors, said Mr. Kahr,
who was a founder and chief executive, until 1986, of the San
Francisco lending company now known as Providian. After he left,
Providian ran afoul of state and federal regulators for some of
its credit card practices, and agreed to a $300 million settlement.
But, he said that banks cannot earn an adequate return by lending
for less than it costs them to borrow, so they look for ways to
recoup losses on the low-rate chasers.
"They do better when they apply these price increases selectively
to customers who statistically have become more risky, or to those
who have violated the rules of the account," Mr. Kahr said.
Still, some cardholders complain that they did not know the rules
until after they were punished for breaking them. Linda Sherry,
editorial director for Consumer Action, an advocacy group, said
"the consumer really has no rights to find out anything, to demand,
'Why is this being done to me?' "
Last month, a consumer advocacy group in San Diego, the Utility
Consumers' Action Network, filed suit against Discover Financial
Services, the issuer of the Discover card, asserting that it had
changed the rules late in the game. The group contends that a
recent rewording of Discover's universal-default policy is unfair
to consumers, especially those in difficult financial situations.
The change, disclosed to cardholders in April, allowed Discover
to raise the interest rate to 19.99 percent, from as low as zero,
for a single late payment. But the infraction did not have to
follow the revision, because Discover reserved the right to look
back 11 months for a late payment that could justify the increase.
"It has gotten to the point where the fine print is becoming
almost outright abusive of their customers," said Michael Shames,
executive director for the consumer group. "The customers who are
affected most by this practice are those who, for one reason or
another, are having trouble making payments and have a large balance."
Jennifer Kang, a spokeswoman for Discover Financial, said she could
not comment because of the pending litigation. Discover executives
declined repeated requests for an interview.
Mr. Heller of Argus Information & Advisory Services in White Plains,
the industry analyst who has studied the rate of change in credit
card terms, said that his research showed that in the first half of
this year, MBNA - the card issuer that doubled the interest rate for
Mr. Schwebel, the Arizona engineer - repriced a smaller share of its
card accounts than the industry average.
But MBNA, in the statement from Mr. Freeh, said: "If we see indications
that a customer is taking on too much debt, has missed or is late on
payments to other creditors, or is otherwise mishandling their personal
finances, it is not unreasonable to determine that this behavior is
an increased risk. In the interest of all of our customers, we must
protect the portfolio by adjusting a customer's rate to compensate
for that increased risk."
The Credit Score
The interest rate on a credit card is theoretically correlated to
the likelihood that a borrower will make good on his debts. Lenders
typically measure those odds by a three-digit number known as a
FICO score.
Calculated by and short for the Fair Isaac Corporation, a company
in Minneapolis, that score has become the most vital of statistics
to many Americans.
Credit scores are used to determine everything from how much a
person can borrow to how much he or she pays for life insurance to
whether he or she can rent a home. A utility company in Texas even
experimented last summer with using credit scores to set prices
for electricity.
The number crunchers at Fair Isaac do not make lending decisions.
They simply take information collected by the three largest credit-
reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, and apply
mathematical formulas to boil it down to a single number on a
scale that runs to 850.
"Lenders use that score, almost like a thermometer, to determine
if they're going to grant credit or not," said Tom Quinn, a
spokesman for Fair Isaac. He estimated that his company had
calculated a credit score for about 75 percent of American adults.
The average FICO score is 720, he said. A score below 620 lands a
consumer in the riskiest category, known as subprime, and virtually
ensures the highest borrowing rates, if the consumer can obtain any
credit at all. Credit reports generally note only those payments made
at least 30 days late.
Consumers with better-than-average scores are usually, but not always,
eligible for the lowest rates. As Steve Strachan, a flower importer
in York, Pa., learned, a relatively high credit score does not
guarantee favorable terms.
A thick credit report on Mr. Strachan from January showed a FICO
score above 730, but by then he had already been through a battle
with the issuer of a card that had once been his favorite method
of payment.
In the 1990's, Mr. Strachan traveled frequently from his home on
the West Coast to Amsterdam and other foreign cities to meet with
suppliers of tulips and exotic flower varieties that he distributed
to domestic florists and wholesalers. He obtained a WorldPerks Visa
card that rewarded him with seat upgrades through Northwest Airline's
frequent-flier program.
"I used that card whenever I possibly could because of the travel
benefits," he recalled, sitting in his living room before stacks
of credit card bills, change-of-terms notices and other correspondence
between him and several lenders. "Never paid a penny of interest."
He was such a valued customer then, he said, that US Bank, which
issued the card, had extended him a high credit limit of $54,000 even
though the card rate was just one percentage point above the prime rate.
When the economy wilted after the collapse of the stock market in early
2000, so did Mr. Strachan's business. He began using his credit lines
on that Visa card and a few others to stay afloat, paying smaller
portions of his growing balances.
Then, in May of last year, US Bank sent Mr. Strachan a letter telling
him that it planned to raise the card's rate to 20.21 percent, nearly
quadrupling the existing rate of 5.25 percent.
"I wasn't late, and I didn't go over the credit limit, and I didn't
write bad checks," Mr. Strachan said. A representative of US Bank told
him he was using too much of his available credit, he said.
A US Bank spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Strachan's account.
The monthly interest charge on his $50,000 balance jumped from $209
in June to $756 in July and $808 in August. He eventually persuaded
the bank to restore the original rate, but the bank closed the account,
shutting off a key source of credit.
By then, Bank One, another creditor, had compounded Mr. Strachan's
woes. He was carrying a balance of about $70,000 on one account when
the bank started raising his rates, first to 19.99 percent in April
2003, then to 22.99 percent the next month, then to 24.99 percent in
June. By October of last year, he was incurring a monthly finance
charge of about $1,500 on a $77,000 balance.
"It was like they almost all had a little meeting in the back room
and said, 'Let's get Strachan,' " he said of his creditors. "How does
it serve them to treat people like that? Are they trying to force
them into bankruptcy?"
Lawyers he consulted advised Mr. Strachan to take the easy - and
increasingly popular - way out by filing for bankruptcy protection,
but he refused. He is struggling to make good on his debts "because
I have principles and ethics."
But the battle to dig out of a deepening hole has taken a toll. Mr.
Strachan said he had lost 30 pounds and described himself as a
"broken man."
Lately, he said, Bank One has periodically reduced his credit limit
to a level just above his remaining balance, leaving him little
margin for error. Some months, he said, if he were to pay only the
minimum due, the ensuing finance charge would put his balance over
the limit, triggering a penalty fee.
By doing that, he said, "They create their own little monster."
The Regulators
Consumer complaints prompted the Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency, which oversees the nationally chartered banks that
constitute most of the major card issuers, to warn banks about
giving fair notice of term changes and about sending out tempting
offers to people who are unlikely to qualify for them.
Julie Williams, the acting comptroller, said in an interview that
as long as the lenders were not intentionally deceiving their
customers, they were free to set whatever rates and fees their home
states allow. If customers do not want to pay a particular rate,
"they have choice," she said. "They can find another card."
But consumers clearly are unhappy with the choices they have. About
80,000 people lodged complaints with the comptroller's office last
year. Ms. Williams said the largest single source of their ire was
credit cards. Those complaints are routed to examiners who monitor
the banks, she said, but the examiners' foremost concern is to make
sure the banks are financially sound.
Ms. Williams described her agency as a "tough regulator," but critics
contend that the comptroller's office has taken strong action against
only one major issuer of credit cards in the last five years. In
2000, the O.C.C. joined in an investigation into Providian that
had been started by the San Francisco district attorney's office.
Providian customers complained that they had been hit with late fees
for payments that had been sent in on time but not credited to their
accounts for days or weeks. Some said the resultant penalties pushed
them over their credit limits, leading to additional fees.
Later, Ms. Williams said, the two agencies joined forces to extract
$300 million in a settlement with Providian.
The comptroller's office has since angered state attorneys general
by trying to limit their ability to regulate how national banks
behave in their states.
Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general of New York, said his office gets
"thousands of complaints every year about credit card issues relating
to the major banks, the major card issuers." But more often, he said,
the banks' response has been that " 'we don't need to deal with you
because the O.C.C. has told us - indeed, directed us - not to deal
with state enforcement entities.' "
Elizabeth Warren, a professor at Harvard Law School who has been a
vocal critic of consumer lenders, said the comptroller's office should
do more than express discomfort with the practices of credit card
companies, as it did in September.
The regulators did not say that "those are unfair practices, they are
unsafe and unsound and don't do them," Ms. Warren said. "Instead, they
said it's a problem. Look, if they think it's a problem, then tell the
credit card companies to stop doing it."
"Secret History of the Credit Card,"produced in conjunction with this
article, will be shown Tuesday on "Frontline" (PBS, 9 p.m. in most
cities).
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) MSNBC 'Imus' Segment Refers to 'Raghead Cadaver'
Muslims urged to renew demand for apology, reprimand
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/19/04)
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=203&page=AA
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 11/19/04) - CAIR is once again calling on people of
conscience to demand an apology from the MSNBC cable television network for
anti-Arab/anti-Muslim remarks made on its "Imus in the Morning" program.
In a segment today commenting on the apparent execution of a wounded Iraqi
in Fallujah by a U.S. Marine, a fictitious "Senior Military Affairs
Advisor" to the program justified the killing by referring to a
"booby-trapped raghead cadaver." The fictitious advisor also said the
killing provided an "Al-Jazeera moment" causing the "Muslim masses to
respond with their routine pack of rabid sheep mentality."
Yesterday, CAIR issued a similar call for an apology for a November 12th
"Imus" program that referred to Palestinians as "stinking animals" and
suggested that they all be killed.
SEE: Palestinians Called 'Stinking Animals' on MSNBC's 'Imus'
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?id=201&page=AA
"We thank all those who already contacted the network to express their
concerns about the racist remarks and ask that they keep up the pressure
until those concerns are properly addressed," said CAIR Executive Director
Nihad Awad.
Don Imus, the program's host, has a long history of controversy over
anti-Arab and Islamophobic remarks. As early as 1985, he was forced to
apologize for referring to Arabs as "goat-humping weasels." (Sunday Mail,
4/21/85) He has also been criticized for using the derogatory term
"raghead." (Accuracy in Media) In a reference to the crash of an Iranian
airliner earlier this year that killed 43 passengers, Imus said, "When I
hear stories like that, I think who cares." He then stated: "Too bad it
wasn't full of Saudi Arabians." (National Iranian American Council)
Earlier this year, CAIR announced a "Hate Hurts America" campaign designed
to counter hate speech on talk radio.
SEE: http://www.cair-net.org/hatehurtsamerica/
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE and RESPECTFUL.)
Contact NBC and MSNBC to renew your demand for an apology and a reprimand
for all those involved in both programs. (Send a demand for an apology even
if you sent one based on the earlier alert.)
CONTACT:
Mr. Rick Kaplan
President
MSNBC
1 MSNBC Plaza
Secaucus, NJ 07094-2419
TEL: 201-583-5050
FAX: 201-583-5179
Mr. Neal Shapiro
President
NBC News
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112-0002
E-MAIL: rick.kaplan@msnbc.com, neal.shapiro@nbc.com
COPY TO: imus@msnbc.com, alana.russo@msnbc.com, leslie.schwartz@msnbc.com,
fccinfo@fcc.gov, cair@cair-net.org
- PLEASE ANNOUNCE, POST AND DISTRIBUTE -
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) Holiday in Falluja
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 2:03 PM
hEkLe Falluja, Iraq www.ftssoldier.blogspot.com
These are ugly times for the US military in Iraq. It seems everywhere
you turn, more and more troops are being killed and maimed in vicious
encounters with determined rebel fighters. The insurgency is mounting
incredibly in such places as Baghdad, Mosul, and Baquba; using more
advanced techniques and weaponry associated with a well-organized
guerilla campaign. Even in the massively destroyed city of Falluja rebel
forces are starting to reappear with a callous determination to win or
die trying. Many critics and political pundits are starting to realize
that this war is, in many aspects, un-winnable.
And why should anyone think that a complete victory is possible?
Conventionally, our US forces win territory here or there, killing a
plethora of civilians as well as insurgents with each new boundary
conquered.
However, such as the recent case in Falluja, the rebel fighters have
returned like a swarm of angry hornets attacking with a vicious frenzy.
I was in Falluja during the last two days of the final assault. My
mission was much different from that of the brave and weary infantry and
marines involved in the major fighting. I was on an escort mission,
accompanied by a squad who's task it was to protect a high brass figure
in the combat zone. This particularly arrogant officer went to the last
battle in the same spirits of an impartial spectator checking out the
fourth quarter of a high school football game.
Once we got to the marine occupied Camp Falluja and saw artillery being
fired into town, the man suddenly became desperate to play an active
role in the battle that would render Falluja to ashes. It was already
rumored that all he really wanted was his trigger time, perhaps to prove
that he is the toughest cowboy west of the Euphrates.
Guys like him are a dime a dozen in the army: a career soldier who spent
the first twenty years of his service patrolling the Berlin Wall or
guarding the DMZ between North and South Korea. This sort of brass may
have been lucky to serve in the first Gulf War, but in all actuality
spent very little time shooting rag heads. For these trigger-happy
tough guys, the last two decades of cold war hostilities built into a
war frenzy of stark emptiness, fizzling out almost completely with the
Clinton administration. But this is the New War, a never ending, action
packed "Red Scare" in which the communist threat of yesteryear was
simply replaced with the white knuckled tension of today's "War on
Terrorism".
The younger soldiers who grew up in relatively peaceful times interpret
the mentality of the careerists as one of making up for lost
opportunities. To the elder generation of trigger pullers, this is the
real deal; the chance to use all the cool toys and high speed training
that has been stored away since the '70s for something tangibly
useful.and its about goddamn time.
However, upon reaching the front lines, a safety standard was in effect
stating that the urban combat was extremely intense. The lightest
armored vehicles allowed in sector were Bradley tanks. Taking a glance
at our armored humvees, this commander insisted that our section would
be fine. Even though the armored humvees are very stout and nearly
impenetrable against small arm fire, they usually don't hold up well
against rocket attacks and roadside bombs like a heavily armored tank
will.
The reports from within the war zone indicated heavy rocket attacks,
with an armed insurgent waiting on every corner for a soft target such
as trucks. In the end, the overzealous officer was urged not to
infiltrate into sector with only three trucks, for it would be a death
wish during those dangerous twilight hours. It was suggested that in
the morning, after the air strikes were complete, he could move in and
"inspect the damage".
Even as the sun was setting over the hazy orange horizon, artillery was
pounding away at the remaining twelve percent of the already devastated
Falluja. Many units were pulled out for the evening in preparation of a
full-scale air strike that was scheduled to last for up to twelve hours.
Our squad was sitting on top of our parked humvees, manning the crew
served machine guns and scanning the urban landscape for enemy activity.
This was supposed to be a secured forward operating area, right on the
edge of the combat zone. However, with no barbed wire perimeter set up
and only a few scattered tanks serving as protection, one was under the
assumption that if someone missed a minor detail while on guard, some
serious shit could go down.
One soldier informed me that only two nights prior an insurgent was
caught sneaking around the bullet-ridden houses to our immediate west.
He was armed with a rocket-propelled grenade, and was laying low on his
advance towards the perimeter. One of the tanks spotted him through its
night vision and hastily shot him into three pieces. Indeed, though it
was safe enough to smoke a cigarette and relax, one had to remain
diligently aware of his surroundings if he planned on making it through
the night.
As the evening wore on and the artillery continued, a new gruesome roar
filled the sky. The fighter jets were right on time and made their
grand appearance with a series of massive air strikes. Between the
pernicious bombs and fierce artillery, the sky seemed as though it were
on fire for several minutes at a time. First you would see a blaze of
light in the horizon, like lightning hitting a dynamite warehouse, and
then hear the massive explosion that would turn your stomach, rattle
your eyeballs, and compress itself deep within your lungs. Although
these massive bombs were being dropped no further than five kilometers
away, it felt like it was happening right in front of your face. At
first, it was impossible not to flinch with each unexpected boom, but
after scores of intense explosions, your senses became aware and
complacent towards them.
At times the jets would scream menacingly low over the city and open
fire with smaller missiles meant for extreme accuracy. This is what Top
Gun, in all its glory and silver screen acclaim, seemed to be lacking in
the movie's high budget sound effects. These air-deployed missiles make
a banshee-like squeal, sort of like a bottle rocket fueled with
plutonium, and then suddenly would become inaudible. Seconds later, the
colossal explosion would rip the sky open and hammer devastatingly into
the ground, sending flames and debris pummeling into the air. And as
always, the artillery-some rounds were high explosive, some were
illumination rounds, some were reported as being white phosphorus (the
modern day napalm).
Occasionally, on the outskirts of the isolated impact area, you could
hear tanks firing machine guns and blazing their cannons. It was
amazing that anything could survive this deadly onslaught. Suddenly a
transmition came over the radio approving the request for
"bunker-busters". Apparently, there were a handful of insurgent
compounds that were impenetrable by artillery. At the time, I was
unaware when these bunker-busters were deployed, but I was told later
that the incredibly massive explosions were a direct result of these
"final solution" type missiles.
I continued to watch the final assault on Falluja throughout the night
from atop my humvee. It was interesting to scan the vast skies above
with night vision goggles. Circling continuously overhead throughout
the battle was an array of attack helicopters.
The most devastating were the Cobras and Apaches with their chain gun
missile launchers. Through the night vision I could see them hovering
around the carnage, scanning the ground with an infrared spotlight that
seemed to reach for miles. Once a target was identified, a rapid series
of hollow blasts would echo through the skies, and from the ground came
a "rat-a-tatting" of explosions, like a daisy chain of supercharged
black cats during a Fourth of July barbeque. More artillery, more
tanks, more machine gun fire, ominous death-dealing fighter planes
terminating whole city blocks at a time.this wasn't a war, it was a
massacre!
As I look back on the air strikes that lasted well into the next
morning, I cannot help but to be both amazed by our modern technology
and disgusted by its means. It occurred to me many times during the
siege that while the Falluja resistance was boldly fighting us with
archaic weapons from the Cold War, we were soaring far above their heads
dropping Thor's fury with a destructive power and precision that may as
well been nuclear. It was like the Iraqis were bringing a knife to a
tank fight.
And yet, the resistance toiled on, many fighting until their deaths.
What determination! Some soldiers call them stupid for even thinking
they have a chance in hell to defeat the strongest military in the
world, but I call them brave. It's not about fighting to win an
immediate victory. And what is a conventional victory in a
non-conventional war? It seems overwhelmingly obvious that this is no
longer within the United States hands.
We reduced Falluja to rubble. We claimed victory and told the world we
held Falluja under total and complete control. Our military claimed
very little civilian casualties and listed thousands of insurgents dead.
CNN and Fox News harped and cheered on the television that the Battle of
Falluja would go down in history as a complete success, and a testament
to the United States' supremacy on the modern battlefield.
However, after the dust settled and generals sat in cozy offices smoking
their victory cigars, the front lines in Falluja exploded again with
indomitable mortar, rocket, and small arm attacks on US and coalition
forces.
Recent reports indicate that many insurgents have resurfaced in the
devastated city of Falluja. We had already claimed the situation under
control, and were starting to turn our attention to the other problem
city of Mosul. Suddenly we were backtracking our attention to Falluja.
Did the Department of Defense and the national press lie to the public
and claim another preemptive victory? Not necessarily so.
Conventionally we won the battle, how could anyone argue that? We
destroyed an entire city and killed thousands of its occupants. But the
main issue that both the military and public forget to analyze is that
this war, beyond any shadow of a doubt, is completely guerrilla.
Sometimes I wonder if the West Point graduated officers have ever
studied the intricate simplicity and effectiveness of guerrilla warfare.
During the course of this war, I have occasionally asked a random
lieutenant or a captain if he at any time has even browsed through Che
Guevara's Guerrilla Warfare. Almost half of them admit that they have
not. This I find to be amazing! Here we have many years of guerrilla
warfare ahead of us and our military's leadership seems dangerously
unaware of what it all means!
Anyone can tell you that a guerrilla fighter is one who uses hit and run
techniques to attempt a breakdown of a stronger conventional force.
However, what is more important to a guerrilla campaign are the
political forces that drive it. Throughout history, many guerrilla
armies have been successful; our own country and its fight for
independence cannot be excluded.
We should have learned a lesson in guerrilla fighting with the Vietnam
War only thirty years ago, but history has a funny way of repeating
itself. The Vietnam War was a perfect example of how quick, deadly
assaults on conventional troops over a long period of time can lead to
an unpopular public view of the war, thus ending it.
Che Guevara stressed in his book Guerrilla Warfare that the most
important factor in a guerrilla campaign is popular support. With that,
victory is almost completely assured. The Iraqis already have many of
the main ingredients of a successful insurrection. Not only do they have
a seemingly endless supply of munitions and weapons, they have the
advantage to blend into their environment, whether that environment is a
crowded market place or a thickly vegetated palm grove. The Iraqi
insurgent has utilized these advantages to the fullest, but his most
important and relevant advantage is the popular support from his own
countrymen.
What our military and government needs to realize is that every mistake
we make is an advantage to the Iraqi insurrection. Every time an
innocent man, woman or child is murdered in a military act, deliberate
or not, the insurgent grows stronger. Even if an innocent civilian is
slain at the hands of his/her own freedom fighter, that fighter is still
viewed as a warrior of the people, while the occupying force will
ultimately be blamed as the responsible perpetrator.
Everything about this war is political.every ambush, every bombing,
every death. When a coalition worker or soldier is abducted and
executed, this only adds encouragement and justice to the dissident
fervor of the Iraq public, while angering and demoralizing the occupier.
Our own media will prove to be our downfall as well. Every time an
atrocity is revealed through our news outlets, our grasp on this once
secular nation slips away. As America grows increasingly disturbed by
the images of carnage and violent death of her own sons in arms, its
government loses the justification to continue the bloody debacle. Since
all these traits are the conventional power's unavoidable mistakes, the
guerrilla campaign will surely succeed. In Iraq's case, complete
destruction of the United States military is impossible, but through
perseverance the insurgency will drive us out. This will prove to be
the inevitable outcome of the war.
We lost many soldiers in the final battle for Falluja, and many more
were seriously wounded. It seems unfair that even after the devastation
we wreaked on this city just to contain it, many more troops will die in
vain to keep it that way. I saw the look in the eyes of a
reconnaissance scout while I talked to him after the battle.
His stories of gore and violent death were unnerving. The sacrifices
that he and his whole platoon had made were infinite. They fought
everyday with little or no sleep, very few breaks, and no hot meals.
For obvious reasons, they never could manage to find time to email their
mothers to let them know that everything turned out ok. Some of the
members of his platoon will never get the chance to reassure their
mothers, because now those soldiers are dead. The look in his eyes as he
told some of the stories were deep and weary, even perturbed.
He described in accurate detail how some enemy combatants were blown to
pieces by army issued bazookas, some had their heads shot off by a 50
caliber bullet, others were run over by tanks as they stood defiantly in
the narrow streets firing an AK-47. The soldier told me how one of his
favorite sergeants died right in front of him. He was taking cover
behind an alley wall and as he emerged to fire his M4 rifle, he was shot
through the abdomen with a rocket-propelled grenade. The grenade itself
exploded and sent shrapnel into the narrator's leg. He showed me where
a chunk of burned flesh was torn from his left thigh.
He ended his conversation saying that he was just a dumb kid from
California who never thought joining the army would send him straight to
hell. He told me he was tired as fuck and wanted a shower. Then he
slowly walked away, cradling a rifle under his arm.
--
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Fate of Lawyer in Terror Case Hinges on Sheik's Words
By JULIA PRESTON
November 14, 2004
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2004/11/1706139.php
Midway through the third day of a grueling cross-examination by a
prosecutor in her terror trial, Lynne F. Stewart used an offhand
phrase to summarize a telephone conversation she had with a news
reporter in June 2000 that is a central point of contention in the
case.
"I'm just giving you the words of the sheik," Ms. Stewart said that
she told the reporter, a Reuters correspondent in Cairo, as she
read for him a statement from an imprisoned client, Sheik Omar
Abdel Rahman. Ms. Stewart, a veteran defense lawyer, is accused
of aiding terrorism by breaking strict gag rules imposed on the
sheik by the federal government and relaying a warmongering message
from him to his Islamic followers. The State Department has designated
the sheik's organization in Egypt, the Islamic Group, a terrorist
organization.
From the evidence presented by prosecutors during the trial, which
began in late June in Federal District Court in Manhattan, it is
clear they agree with Ms. Stewart's summation of the crucial phone
call. The prosecutors finished presenting their case last month and
Ms. Stewart's lawyer, Michael E. Tigar, rested his defense this week.
So far there has been little dispute about the key facts involving
Ms. Stewart and two co-defendants, Mohamed Yousry, an Arabic translator,
and Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a United States postal worker on Staten Island
and a paralegal for the sheik.
The trial is continuing as Mr. Yousry and then Mr. Sattar present their
defense cases. The issue the jury will decide is whether Ms. Stewart,
by disseminating Mr. Abdel Rahman's words beyond his jail cell, was
participating in terrorism, as the government says, or legitimately
defending a client shunned by the public, as Ms. Stewart contends.
Ms. Stewart's fate hinges on the weight and meaning the jury will
give to the words of the sheik, a blind fundamentalist Muslim cleric
serving a life sentence in federal prison for inspiring a thwarted
bombing conspiracy in New York City.
The prosecutors have produced no evidence of any terrorist action
that resulted from Ms. Stewart's conduct. In the statement that she
provided the reporter on June 14, 2000 after a prison meeting a month
earlier with the sheik, Mr. Abdel Rahman withdrew his support for a
cease-fire the Islamic Group was observing in Egypt. But he only
called for a debate among his followers. Indeed, the statement was
a mild one for a man who, the prosecutors' evidence has shown, had
in the past issued explicit calls for Muslims to murder Americans by
any possible means.
The trial has focused on events in Egypt and the prosecutors have
not suggested any direct threat to the United States.
Nor have they shown that Ms. Stewart had any detailed knowledge of
hundreds of telephone calls that Mr. Sattar, the paralegal, made from
his home to Egyptian militants across the globe, including one man,
Rifai Taha, who was working with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.
Transcripts of the calls, which were secretly recorded by the F.B.I,
make up most of the prosecutors' evidence.
Instead, the prosecutors' case against Ms. Stewart on terrorism
charges is based on showing what she knew of the sheik's past calls
for bloodshed in the name of jihad, or religious struggle, and of
his influence over his followers in the Islamic Group who had claimed
responsibility for several attacks before the cease-fire. This is
why the prosecutors spent several weeks early in the trial reading
aloud virulent sermons by Mr. Abdel Rahman that had already been
part of the evidence in his 1995 terror trial, in which Ms. Stewart
was his lead defense lawyer.
That is also why one prosecutor, Andrew Dember, unleashed a withering
sequence of questions to show that Ms. Stewart knew the sheik's
name had been associated, whether fairly or not, with gruesome
attacks against tourists in Egypt and with Al Qaeda's attack in
Yemen on the U.S.S. Cole in October 2000.
Mr. Dember also spent several hours of his cross-examination pressing
Ms. Stewart about her own avowedly radical views. He sought to show
that she was inclined to be an active supporter of the sheik's holy war.
"I think that to rid ourselves of the entrenched voracious type of
capitalism that is in this country that perpetuates sexism and racism,
I don't think that can come nonviolently," Ms. Stewart told the court.
"I'm talking about a revolution of the people that overthrows
institutions."
But Ms. Stewart, who remained generally calm and articulate under
Mr. Dember's interrogation, said she was surprised by his questions
about her personal opinions.
"I have done a lot of cases that involved a certain level of violence
and my personal views were never at issue," she said. "Because I'm the
lawyer, it's not about my personal views. It is about what happened,
what could be the motive that led to violence, perhaps."
Behind these arguments are diverging assessments of Mr. Abdel Rahman
held by Ms. Stewart and her longtime legal adversaries, the prosecutors
in the Southern District of New York. One of them, Patrick J. Fitzgerald,
was one of the prosecutors in the 1995 trial that sent the sheik to
prison for life. He investigated and prosecuted several other Al Qaeda
cases and traveled to the Middle East to probe the Cole bombing.
Mr. Fitzgerald was familiar with several calls Mr. Bin Laden had
issued after 1995 to free the sheik from jail, and the trail of Al
Qaeda violence that had followed those calls. He wrote special prison
rules in 1997 that barred the sheik from communicating with anyone but
his lawyers and his wife, citing a high risk of bombings whenever Mr.
Abdel Rahman spoke.
To Ms. Stewart, however, Mr. Abdel Rahman was an ailing and weakened
client, an Islamic scholar unfairly muzzled from expressing his
theological views. Some of the more emotional parts of her testimony
involved her descriptions of him after years of solitary confinement.
He could not even read Braille, she said, because diabetes had dulled
the sensation in his fingertips.
"He could not hear birds, he could not hear anything," she said. "He
was alone."
The sheik "commanded a certain respect with the public in Egypt," she
said. He had "a sense of righteousness," she said.
Apart from the terror charges against Ms. Stewart is a much more
concrete case in which she is accused of intentionally violating the
prison rules. By adding two counts of providing material aid to
terrorism, prosecutors have escalated what might be seen as procedural
transgressions by Ms. Stewart into accusations that could bring her
a jail sentence of at least 35 years, if she is convicted on all counts.
Mr. Dember succeeded in making Ms. Stewart appear somewhat oblivious,
in the global environment after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, to
the threats that her client's extremist anti-American views could pose.
But the jury will determine whether the prosecutors reached too far in
trying to construe her dissonant views and provocative legal practice
as acts of terror.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) Government Looking at Military Draft Lists
By ALMA WALZER
The Monitor
McALLEN, November 15, 2004
http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_more.php?id=62232_0_10_0_C
McALLEN, November 15, 2004 - It's taken one year, seven months
and 19 days of combat in Iraq for the Lone Star State to lose
100 of its own.
Texas is the second state, after California, to lose 100 service
members, according to The Associated Press.
With continuing war in Iraq and U.S. armed forces dispersed to so
many other locations around the globe, Americans may be wondering
if compulsory military service could begin again for the first time
since the Vietnam War era.
The Selective Service System (SSS) and the U.S. Department of
Education now are gearing up to compare their computer records, to
make sure all men between the ages of 18 and 25 who are required to
register for a military draft have done so.
The SSS and the education department will begin comparing their
lists on Jan. 1, 2005, according to a memo authored by Jack Martin,
acting Selective Service director.
While similar record checks have been done periodically for the past
10 years, Martin's memo is dated Oct. 28, just a few days before the
Nov. 2 presidential election, a hard-fought campaign in which the
question of whether the nation might need to reinstate a military
draft was raised in debates and on the stump.
It took several more days, until Nov. 4, for the document to reach
the Federal Register, the official daily publication for rules and
notices of federal agencies and organizations.
The memo was also produced after the U.S. House voted 402-2 on Oct.
5, against House Resolution 163, a bill that would have required
all young people, including women, to serve two years of military
service.
Under federal law, a military draft cannot be started without
congressional support.
About 94 percent of all men are properly registered for a draft,
according to Richard Flahavan, associate director of the office of
public and intergovernmental affairs for SSS.
Martin's memo is just a routine thing, Flahavan said.
"Back in 1982 a federal law was passed that basically linked
federal grants, student loans and federal assistance to students
with Selective Service," Flahavan said. "You had to register with
Selective Service with a Social Security number (in order to receive
federal assistance), and as a consequence of the law the Department
of Education came up with an agreement on how to exchange and compare
data to comply with the law.
"It just so happens that the current agreement in effect expires next
month," Flahavan said. "All we did is update the agreement slightly,
but it has no substantive changes. There is nothing new or shocking
to link this to some type of draft right around the corner because
its all been in place for almost 18 years."
Flahavan said the written agreements between SSS and the Department
of Education normally run for about four or five years and suggested
that a reporter search the 1999 or 2000 records of the Federal
Register for the most agreement.
A search of the Federal Register by The Monitor found four such
agreements between the two agencies, with effective dates as
follows: Jan. 1, 1995; July 1, 1997; Jan. 1, 2000; and July 1, 2002.
All four agreements lasted for 18 months, during which time the
SSS and the Department of Education could complete their comparisons.
The most recent agreement, which began July 1, 2002, actually expired
Jan. 1, 2004, according to federal records located by The Monitor.
"This has nothing to with current events," Flahavan said. "This is just
the periodic renewal of previous agreements - this one is 18 months but
normally it runs four years and that's why we're doing it now. I'm not
quite sure why it's 18 months versus the normal number of years."
Flahavan said the agency was required to place the agreement in the
Federal Register.
"That's fine and we did," Flahavan said. "We believe the public wouldn't
stand for a draft that isn't fair and equitable.
"And the only way to be fair and equitable is if everyone who should
register is registered, because that's the pool from which the people
who would be drafted would be selected from. So you want everyone who
should be in the pot in the pot," Flahavan said.
U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, who officially begins representing
western Hidalgo County residents in January, said Congress has voted
on record against a draft.
"It was a near unanimous vote in the House," Doggett said. "When things
are filed in the Federal Register, there will be standards, and they are
a reminder that if we cannot get more international participation that
the risk of a draft remains out there.
"And I think we do need people to remain watchful of this possibility."
Doggett said one type of "draft" was already being used by the military.
"I'm concerned that a very real form of the draft is there now for those
already in the service," Doggett said. "People are being forced to stay
in beyond their commitment, and that's an indication of being overextended.
"I want us to pursue policies that don't overextend us and involve more
international participation, so that Americans don't have to do all the
dying and endure all the pain for these international activities,"
Doggett said.
Flahavan said the computer records check would help Selective Service
with its compliance rates.
"From 1999 to 2000, it was dropping about a percent a year," Flahavan
said. "It's now inching back up about a percent a year. Last year it
was 93 percent.
"At the end of 2004 we anticipate about a 94 percent compliance rate,"
Flahavan said. "We're pleased we've got it back on the rise and that's
where we want to keep it - that's our goal."
Draft Gear Up?
Who Has To Register?
All male U.S. citizens and
male aliens living in the U.S. between the
ages of 18 and 25
Dual nationals of the U.S.
and another country, regardless of
where they live
Young men who are in prison
or mental institutions do not
have to regsiter while they are
committed, but must do so if they
are released and not reached age 26
Disabled men who live at home and
can move about indiependently.
Myths
Contrary to popular belief, only
sons and the last son to carry a
family name must register and they can be drafted.
What Happens In A Draft
Congress would likely approve a
military draft in a time of crisis,
in which the mission requires more
troops than are in the volunteer military.
Selective Service procedures would
treat married men or those with
children the same as single men.
The first men to be called up will
be those whose 20th birthday falls
during that year, followed by those
age 21, 22, 23,24 and 25.
The last men to be called are 18
and 19 years of age.
Historical Facts
The last man to be drafted was in June 1973.
Number of Drafted for WWI : 2.8 million
Number of Drafted for WWII: 10 million
Number of Drafted for the Korean War: 1.5 million
Number of Drafted for the Vietnam War: 1.8 million
Source: Selective Service System
Posted by: Gilbert Zarate on Nov 15, 04 | 12:04 am | Profile
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) 47 Parties Boycott Elections in Iraq
Xinhua News Agency (China)
November 17, 2004
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-11/17/content_2230350.htm
Baghdad - Forty-seven Iraqi political and religious
parties have decided to boycott the general elections
due in January in protest against the extended use of
force throughout the country, a joint statement said
on Wednesday.
The reason for the move was "the (US-Iraqi) assaults
in cities like Najaf, Karbala, Samarra, Sadr City,
Adhmiya, and especially the genocidal crimes in
Fallujah," said the statement obtained by Xinhua.
"These crimes prevent us from taking part in the
political process going on under the control of
occupation forces," added the statement, signed by the
parties and groups, mainly Sunni factions led by the
Muslim Clerics Association.
At least eight Shiite groups and one Christian party
were also among them.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
13) Greenspan Sees No Rise Soon for the Dollar
By MARK LANDLER
FRANKFURT
November 20, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/20/business/20greenspan.html
FRANKFURT, Nov. 19 - Alan Greenspan came to the home of the euro
on Friday and suggested that the relentless decline of the dollar
might well continue, offering little relief to those here who worry
that the United States is seeking to gain a competitive advantage
for its industries from a weaker currency.
In a speech to a banking congress here, Mr. Greenspan, the chairman
of the Federal Reserve, said that ballooning foreign borrowing on
the part of the United States poses a future risk to the dollar's
value.
He said that foreign investors, who help finance the large American
trade and budget deficits by buying Treasury securities and other
dollar-denominated assets, would eventually resist lending more money
to the United States, causing the dollar to fall further.
Mr. Greenspan's comments came two days after the Treasury secretary,
John W. Snow, appeared to rule out intervening in currency markets to
help Europe and Japan - both heavily dependent on exports to sustain
economic growth - stem the decline of the dollar. Mr. Snow, speaking
in London, prodded European leaders to tackle their home-grown economic
problems.
Taken together, the two speeches appear to be sending an unmistakable
message that Washington, on the heels of President Bush's election to
a second term, is prepared to tolerate a weaker dollar for the
foreseeable future.
A falling dollar makes it more expensive for Americans to travel abroad
and risks reviving inflation and sending interest rates higher in the
United States. But for American manufacturers, who have been shedding
jobs for years, it provides a powerful shot of adrenaline by making
their exports cost less abroad and adding to pressure on foreign
industries to raise the price of imported goods in the United States.
Given the uncertainties surrounding the global economy, Mr.
Greenspan likened predicting the dollar's path to "forecasting
the outcome of a coin toss."
While Mr. Greenspan, as he often does, relied on carefully chosen
phrases open to various interpretations, the message seemed clear
here to European bankers, who laughed nervously at the metaphor:
The dollar, which has fallen to record lows against the euro this
week - giving fits to European politicians and business executives
- is likely to fall even further.
To analysts, the speech had a laissez-faire tone, leaving events in
the hands of the market and giving speculators free rein to bet
against the American currency without worrying that officials would
get together to slap them down.
On Friday, in New York, the stock market reacted by falling sharply.
At the close of trading, the Dow industrial average was down more
than 115 points, to 10,456,91, a decline of more than 1 percent.
Currency traders drove the dollar to its lowest level in four and
a half years against the Japanese yen, and near its record low against
the euro. Treasury notes fell the most in two weeks.
The hints from Washington policy makers that they have no intention
of supporting the dollar could add to the strains between the United
States and Europe, which is increasingly worried that the rise of the
euro is choking off its tenuous recovery. In France and Germany,
growth in the third quarter dropped to 0.1 percent, as exports dried up.
European leaders are already raising distress flags. Germany's
minister for economics, Wolfgang Clement, urged Asia, Europe and
the United States to take coordinated action to stop the slide. The
president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet - who is Mr.
Greenspan's counterpart here - has called the shifts in exchange
rates "brutal."
Mr. Trichet, who traveled a few blocks from the headquarters of the
European Central Bank to appear on the same panel as Mr. Greenspan,
pointedly declined to repeat that characterization.
Both central bankers later flew to Berlin for a meeting of the G-20,
which includes the Group of 8 industrialized countries, as well as
emerging economies. The downward path of the dollar is likely to be
high on the agenda, but there is little hope for a concerted response.
Analysts said Mr. Greenspan's speech made it clear that the Federal
Reserve would make no effort to influence the process of narrowing
the United States' current account deficit, either through interest
rate increases aimed at deliberately supporting the dollar or by
intervening in the market.
The current account deficit, which encompasses annual trade as well
as the balance of financial flows, has gone from zero in 1990 to
nearly $600 billion this year. The nation's accumulated debt to
foreign investors is $2.6 trillion, equivalent to 23 percent of
the annual output of the economy.
"It was an either-or message," said Thomas Mayer, the chief European
economist at Deutsche Bank . "Either the current account deficit
comes down. Or the market will do it, but at a cost to the dollar.
Will the Fed play a role in this? Probably not. It will stick to
its mandate."
Speaking on a panel that included the deputy governor of the Bank
of Japan, Kazumasa Iwata, Mr. Greenspan devoted most of his remarks
to the effect that American fiscal policy has on global markets.
"Current account imbalances, per se, need not be a problem," he
said in a characteristically technical speech, "but cumulative
deficits, which result in a marked decline of a country's net
international position - as is occurring in the United States -
raise more complicated issues."
Mr. Greenspan said foreign investors, in part because they fear
having too much money at risk in the United States, would
eventually become reluctant to take on more such assets.
"It seems persuasive that given the size of the U.S. current
account deficit, a diminished appetite for adding to dollar
balances must occur at some point," Mr. Greenspan said. "But
when, through what channels, and from what level of the dollar?
Regrettably, no answer to those questions is convincing."
This is not the first time Mr. Greenspan has warned about the
risks of a rapidly widening current-account deficit. In testimony
before Congress last February, he said "foreign investors, both
private and official, may become less willing to absorb ever
growing claims on U.S. residents."
As he did last winter, Mr. Greenspan said on Friday that his
preferred remedy would be for the Bush administration to bring
down the current account deficit by taking steps to shrink the
federal budget deficit. That would make more domestic savings
available in the United States, reducing the dependence on
foreign borrowing.
But analysts did not interpret Mr. Greenspan's remarks as a
rebuke of the White House - which has indicated that it will
seek to make the deep tax cuts of its first term permanent -
but rather an effort to let the markets find their course.
That will be cold comfort to many Europeans, who say that
their currency is absorbing the bulk of the pressure from the
declining dollar, since Japan and other Asian countries have
intervened aggressively in the market to prevent their currencies
from rising significantly against the dollar.
Mr. Greenspan took issue with that suggestion, saying that based
on his review of recent statistics, Asia's "very large" central
bank interventions had had only a "moderate" effect on exchange
rates.
For his part, Mr. Trichet seemed determined not to breathe another
word about the dangers of a rising euro. Describing his previous
comments on the subject as "poetry," he turned aside questions
about the exchange rate.
Mr. Mayer of Deutsche Bank said Mr. Trichet's silence suggested
that his earlier efforts to talk down the currency had fallen short.
"They are basically seeing that there is very little they can
do about it," Mr. Mayer he said. "They are not in a position to
change interest rate policy to address it."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
14) US soldiers in Iraq suffer horrific brain and mental injuries
By Rick Kelly
20 November 2004
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/nov2004/sold-n20.shtml
According to official figures, the Iraq war has so far seen 9,000 US
soldiers wounded in action, in addition to the more than 1,200 troops
killed. These wounded, whose numbers may well be underestimated,
include those with gunshot and shrapnel wounds, lost limbs and other
injuries caused by landmines and bombs. Less well known, however, is
the terrible toll enacted through brain and psychological injuries,
which frequently have devastating and permanent effects.
The war has seen unusually high rates of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
This head injury causes life-long damage in many cases. Symptoms
include memory loss, difficulty with attention and reasoning, headaches,
confusion, anxiety, irritability and depression.
TBI rates in previous wars have been estimated at about 20 percent.
In July, a San Francisco Chronicle survey of troops being processed
through Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital in Washington DC indicated
that as many as two-thirds of all soldiers wounded in Iraq suffer from
the condition.
The increase in brain injury cases is largely due to the advanced body
armor and helmets now used by US forces. As the death rate of wounded
troops has declined compared to previous conflicts, the rate of TBI has
shot up. The nature of the Iraq war has also increased the number of brain
injuries. Rocket propelled grenades, mortars, and other explosive devices
cause concussive shock blasts damaging to the brain.
Traumatic brain injury often goes undetected until the affected soldier
returns home and his or her family notices that something is wrong. The
San Francisco Chronicle reported on the case of Sgt. 1st Class Alec Giess,
of the Oregon National Guard, whose truck rolled over him as it crashed
while avoiding a suspected land mine:
"Geiss' wife, Shana, noticed after his return that the easygoing,
relaxed dad who went to Iraq had become a quick-tempered man who
couldn't remember the family's daily schedule, jumped up screaming
when the family cat landed on his bed and couldn't tolerate crowds.
The world inside his head, Giess said, was even stranger: he felt
bewildered, with no sense of time other than 'daytime' and 'nighttime.'
He also felt cut off from his emotions. 'When my kids come and hug me,
I don't feel a thing,' he said."
Many other incidents of TBI are even more severe. ABC News reported last
month on the situation in one Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto,
California. "The majority of [TBI patients], they're incontinent, both
bowel and bladder, so we have to retrain them when to use the toilet,
how to use the toilet," nurse manager Stephanie Alvarez said.
Each patient at the facility is given a "memory book," which describes
that day's schedule, and other important information. For many wounded
soldiers this includes a reminder of why they are in hospital. "I had
a head injury from an explosion in Iraq on June 14, 2004," one
soldier's book read.
Post-traumatic stress disorder
The US military is also experiencing a very high rate of post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) among troops. Many of the symptoms are similar
to traumatic brain injury. Post-traumatic stress disorder sufferers can
experience feelings of detachment and isolation, poor concentration and
memory, depression, insomnia, flashbacks, as well as headaches,
gastrointestinal complaints, and immune system problems. Like TBI,
soldiers suffering from psychological disorders have high rates of
alcohol and drug abuse, and suicide.
A study published by the New England Journal of Medicine in July
found that up to 17 percent of the surveyed Iraq veterans suffered
from PTSD, generalized anxiety, or major depression. This probably
underestimated the true scale of the problem, since the soldiers in
the study served in the early phase of the war, before the Iraqi
resistance really intensified.
"The bad news is that the study underestimated the prevalence of what
we are going to see down the road," Dr. Matthew J. Friedman, executive
director of the Veterans Affairs (VA) national center for post-traumatic
stress disorder, told the Los Angeles Times last Sunday. "The
complexion of the war has changed into a grueling counterinsurgency.
And that may be very important in terms of the potential toxicity of
this combat experience."
"This is urban warfare," declared Dr. Alfonso Bates, the VA's national
director for readjustment counseling. "There's no place to hide in Iraq.
Whether you're driving a truck or you're a cook, everyone is exposed to
extreme stress on a daily basis."
There have been at least 30 reported suicides among soldiers in Iraq-a
rate nearly one-third higher than the Army's historical average. Many
more suicides occur in the US by those who have finished their tour
of duty, but since the Pentagon does not track these incidents the
number is not known.
Associated Press, however, reported on October 18 that at least 12
Marines had killed themselves after returning from Iraq or Afghanistan.
"Military people are heavily vetted for any psychological problems
before they enter the service," noted Steve Robinson, executive
director of the National Gulf War Resource Center. "They're screened
very well when they come in, and they're supposed to be screened
very well when they leave. So when a Marine takes the ultimate step
of checking out by taking his own life, it should make the hair on
the back of your neck stand up. These are the guys who aren't
supposed to do that."
There is mounting evidence that the rate of suicide and psychological
disorders is at least partially due to the brutality of the US-led
occupation. Most of those serving in the military were drawn from
working class and impoverished rural regions, and enlisted either
to get a job or to advance their education.
These young people have been dispatched to a war that was based on
a series of flagrant lies, and that violated numerous precepts of
international law. They are now being ordered to intimidate and
terrorize the Iraqi people, and to crush any resistance to the
occupation and Iyad Allawi's stooge interim government. The
killing and brutalization of the Iraqi people has triggered
guilt, shame and serious psychological problems for many soldiers.
Last month Associated Press reported the case of Jeffrey Lucey,
a 23-year-old Marine who suffered from serious depression and
became dependent on alcohol after returning from Iraq in July 2003.
On Christmas Eve he told his sister how he had been ordered to shoot
two unarmed Iraqi soldiers. "He took off two dog tags around his
neck, then threw them at me and said, 'Don't you understand? Your
brother is a murderer,'" she recalled. Lucey killed himself
in June.
Former Army sergeant, Matt La Branche, told the Los Angeles
Times that the memories of his nine-month stint as a machine-
gunner in Iraq left him "feeling dead inside." He constantly
struggles with the image of the Iraqi woman who died in his arms
after he had shot her. The woman's children were also wounded in
the incident. "I'm taking enough drugs to sedate an elephant, and
I still wake up dreaming about it," he said.
Affected soldiers receive grossly inadequate treatment from the
military establishment. Brain trauma and psychological injuries
often require months of expensive and intensive rehabilitation,
long-term drug therapy and psychological counseling. Facilities
that were already underfunded and overstretched are now at
breaking point.
Receiving treatment is especially difficult for sufferers of PTSD.
Army psychologists are pressured to get their patients back out in
the field as soon as possible, while the macho culture cultivated
within the ranks leads many soldiers to deny that they have a
problem. The New England Journal of Medicine study found that less
than half of all soldiers affected by PTSD sought treatment, fearing
stigmatization or damage to their careers.
Officials also leave many families of PTSD sufferers completely
unprepared for the shock of having to deal with the condition. One
woman told the New Yorker how she had been advised prior to the
return of her husband from Iraq: "When he was coming home, the Army
gave us little cards that said things like 'Watch for psychotic
episodes' and 'Is he drinking too much?' A lot of wives said it was
a joke. They had a lady come from the psych ward, who said-and
I'm serious-'Don't call us unless your husband is waking you up
in the middle of the night with a knife at your throat.' Or,
'Don't call us unless he actually chokes you, unless you pass
out. He'll have flashbacks. It's normal.'"
Such treatment is indicative of the way in which tens of thousands
of young people are being used as cannon fodder in Iraq.
Responsibility for their suffering rests with the criminals
in the White House who launched the war of aggression, and more
broadly, the entire US political establishment which is united
on maintaining the indefinite occupation of Iraq.
Copyright 1998-2004
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
15) Troops Round Up Corpses, Weapons in Fallouja
THE CONFLICT IN IRAQ
Their operation in the city has shifted to cleanup and
rebuilding, amid sporadic fighting.
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Times Staff Writer
November 19, 2004
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-fallouja19nov19,1,370254
6.story
FALLOUJA, Iraq - The Marines used a grappling hook with a long line
to shift the battered body, so they would be protected by distance if
the corpse were booby-trapped.
"It's tough work," said Pfc. Keel Jesse, wearing surgical gloves and
a mask, like the other U.S. troops collecting dead insurgents. "But
someone has to do it."
Down the road, in the city's gritty, industrial southeast, Army Capt.
Douglas Walters was getting ready to blow up a car bomb factory, where
an already-rigged Chevrolet Suburban was parked with a current Texas
registration sticker in the windshield.
"They had everything they needed here," Walters said, surveying what
might look like an auto body shop but for the boxes of mortar rounds
and other explosives.
The battle for this former rebel stronghold has shifted to cleanup and
reconstruction, even though pockets of resistance remain. Fighters
occasionally emerge from homes or bunkers to fire at U.S.-led forces,
but the troops are going house to house to wipe them out.
A trip with Marine officers on Thursday offered a glimpse of what passes
for life in this devastated, still largely deserted city, which became
a worldwide symbol of resistance to U.S. power last spring. Amid the
sporadic fighting, some troops have turned to such tasks as clearing
out arms caches and organizing humanitarian aid.
"This is not a linear battle, where one part ends and you move on to
the next thing," said Marine Col. Craig Tucker, who heads one of the
two regimental combat teams that swept down from the north early last
week. "We have a lot of things going on at once right now."
On Thursday, most of the explosions appeared to be the result of
troops blowing up some of the trove of captured munitions. U.S.
airstrikes, artillery blasts and mortar fire have diminished
substantially.
More civilians are emerging now, often carrying white flags, but they
are still a rare sight in this beaten city. Some have gathered at
places like Al Hadra al Muhammadiya mosque, once a hotbed of rebel
activity but now a clinic and help center staffed by U.S.-allied
Iraqi troops.
"What about my father and my uncles?" Yhedder Ahmed, 14, asked as
Tucker stopped by the mosque. On a previous visit, the commander
had promised to find out the status of the men, who were arrested
as insurgents.
"Tell him that his father and uncles are doing well, but they were
found with weapons and will remain in custody," Tucker told the boy
through an interpreter. "No harm will come to them."
The Iraqi commander, Col. Saad Ali, was worried about what would
happen as refugees begin returning to a city that lacked a
functioning infrastructure or economy.
"The men must have jobs," said Ali, who hails from the southern
city of Basra.
Earlier in the week, an Iraqi who was waiting in line at the center
was shot dead. In Fallouja, even seeking medical aid at a clinic
sponsored by U.S. forces might be considered collaboration by some.
Across the street to the north, Marines used wheelchairs to lug ammo
boxes and weapons next to a building bearing the inscription, Islamic
Benevolent Committee of Fallouja. The two-story facility had
apparently been a combination clinic and guerrilla command center.
The compound, U.S. commanders said, had been overrun while it
was occupied by followers of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the Jordanian-
born militant said to have been based in Fallouja.
Inside, Marines found literature and banners of Zarqawi's group,
Jamaat al Tawhid wal Jihad, which has renamed itself the Qaeda
Organization for Jihad in Iraq. A computer and files also were
seized.
Outside, troops discovered two weapons caches in white metal
containers, including antiaircraft missiles, land mines, mortar
shells and AK-47 rifles. Lacking wheelbarrows, Marines used
wheelchairs from the clinic to take the materiel to a vacant lot,
where it was to be blown up.
Deep in the southeastern sector, a dense, mazelike neighborhood of
junkyards and anonymous automotive service outlets, soldiers had
cordoned off several blocks. This industrial zone had long been
known as a redoubt of insurgents; it had been pummeled by airstrikes
for weeks before the invasion.
Inside the cordoned zone, amid the dozens of seemingly identical
storefront workshops, troops found a car bomb factory and, two
doors down, a site where roadside bombs were manufactured.
At the car bomb site, parts of vehicle doors were hung on the
walls. They were often removed to pack explosives, then reattached
to the vehicles. A welding machine stood in the main work area
alongside boxes of ammunition, blasting caps, timers and various
explosive materials. Inside an office were dozens of license
plates, presumably from the stolen vehicles used in attacks.
"This one was ready to go," Walters said, pointing to the green
Suburban with tinted windows. No one could explain how the vehicle
got a 2004 Texas inspection sticker.
The vehicle, along with everything else in the shop and the bomb
factory, was later destroyed in a booming explosion that shook
the city.
In northeastern Fallouja, where some of the most intense fighting
has been concentrated in recent days, Capt. Lee Johnson tracked
insurgents.
Intelligence data led him to almost a dozen homes where suspected
rebels were holed up, had stayed or had stored weapons. He found
some of them sitting in a house, their athletic shoes off and
their weapons nowhere to be seen.
"They all took their sneakers off and pretended to be civilians,"
Johnson said.
As he spoke, he stood alongside a 6-foot bunker dug by insurgents.
A metal slab placed atop the ditch was meant to provide cover. On
the streets behind him, his troops - backed by two tanks - were
going through houses, a hazardous process.
The streets were littered with spent ammunition from battles that
occurred early in the invasion. Commanders suspected that guerrillas
reoccupied some of the houses as troops pushed south.
U.S. forces estimate that as many as 1,600 guerrillas have been
killed. Family members and Iraqi volunteers have removed some
bodies, but the threat of booby-trapped corpses has prompted
Iraqis to shy away from the grisly task.
On Thursday, U.S. teams began removing corpses to avert a health
crisis. Members of one crew threw a grappling hook attached to a
long line, then turned over the remains while taking cover. Other
Marines kept their weapons trained on nearby vehicles, alert for
attacks. After it was deemed safe, the bodies were quickly zipped
into black vinyl bags and hoisted onto a 7-ton truck.
They were taken to a makeshift morgue with refrigeration units on
the grounds of a former potato farm, Tucker said. There, he added,
the people of Fallouja could claim the remains of their husbands,
sons and fathers.
Copyright 2004 Los Angeles Times
