STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH, 5:00 P.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F.

NEXT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR MEETING:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 7:00 p.m.
1380 Valencia Street
(Between 24th & 25th Streets, S.F.)


Help build Jan. 20th and March 19/20 Global Days of Action

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

San Francisco's Prop N calling on the US Gov to
Bring Our Troops Home from Iraq won by over 63%.
To find out how you can pass a similar proposition in
your town go to:

www.bringourtroopshomenow.org

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

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
(Check the newspaper for showtime and ticket price.)
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) Trophy Hunting?
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
December 04, 2004
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **

2) Jan. Elections Remain Misunderstood in U.S., Tenuous in Iraq
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com -
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **
December 04, 2004
The NewStandard
By Lisa Ashkenaz Croke, The NewStandard
Dahr Jamail in Baghdad contributed to this piece.
*With politicians and the media distorting news of the
upcoming Iraqi elections, most Americans have no idea how
the process will work. Meanwhile, informed skeptics look at
recent history and wonder if it will work at all.*
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1267

3) **Army Gears Up to Punish Soldiers Who Refused Mission
** Please forward far and wide **
From: "Justice Freedom"
Fri, 3 Dec 2004 22:46:10 -0800
[Original Message]
From: Robert D. Hammie < sidis@math.berkeley.edu
**Defend the 343rd! Sign the petition in support of
the 343rd Quartermaster soldiers who refused to follow
dangerous orders at:
www.campusantiwar.net

4) Building Unity in the Global Antiwar Movement
Become an endorser and supporter for March 19/20
Update: January 20 Counter-Inaugural Protest

5) FORGING THE FIGHTBACK:
THE MILLION WORKER MARCH MOVEMENT CALLS FOR RANK AND FILE
UNITY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS AND AN END TO THE
WAR IN IRAQ
A Community Labor News E-Zine
From: Douglas MacDonald
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 18:00:25 -0800 (PST)
Subject: From the Million Worker March: Forging the Fightback

6) Lessons Of The November 2004 Elections
& Perpectives For The Future
Sunday December 12, 2004 7:00 PM
522 Valencia St./16th St. San Francisco
Donation Requested $3.00

7) In this message:
· Weekly ANSWER Activist Meeting
· Shutdown the PG Hunters Point Power Plant
· ANSWER Film Series: “North Korea: Beyond the DMZ”
For more information on the following events, call 415-821-6545.

8) Smoking While Iraq Burns
Comment
Its idolisation of 'the face of Falluja' shows how numb the
US is to everyone's pain but its own
Naomi Klein
The Guardian
Friday November 26, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1360284,00.html

9) Ugly the War: Iraq Watch Specials
From Peace No War Network
December 3, 2004
URL: http://www.PeaceNoWar.net
Navy probes new Iraq prisoner photos: AP
China Daily (China)
Updated: 2004-12-04 09:16
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/04/content_397299.htm

10) Suicide Bomber Kills 8 Iraqi Police Officers
By ROBERT F. WORTH
BAGHDAD, Iraq
December 5, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/international/middleeast/05iraq.html?hp&ex
=1102222800&en=381244440e68093c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

11) Introducing a new Policy Report from Foreign Policy In Focus
The Landmine Web
By Colonel Daniel Smith, USA (Ret.)
Peace and Justice News from FPIF
http://www.fpif.org/

December 3, 2004

12) Experts Fear Medicare Won't Work for Nursing Home Patients
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON
December 5, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/health/05nursing.html?hp&ex=1102222800&en=
1db401a693f76ceb&ei=5094&partner=homepage

13) Rulings in Texas Capital Cases Try Supreme Court's Patience
By ADAM LIPTAK and RALPH BLUMENTHAL
December 5, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/national/05texas.html?hp&ex=1102222800&en=
fee7d63623c38e86&ei=5094&partner=homepage

14) Don't Let Banks Turn Their Backs on the Poor
By ROBERT E. RUBIN and MICHAEL RUBINGER
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
December 4, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/04/opinion/04rubin.html

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

1) Trophy Hunting?
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
December 04, 2004
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **

Yesterday, before the usual morning gunfire in the streets which has
become my morning alarm clock, Abu Talat phones me. There is very heavy
fighting over in al-Adhamiya. Two giant explosions occurred around
6:15am, followed by mortar blasts, then constant, heavy gun battles that
went on into late morning.

The Hamid al-Alwan mosque, a small Shia mosque in the predominantly
Sunni area of Adhamiya had been hit with a car bomb.

Witnesses reported that the car had been left there at 6am, and
detonated remotely.

After the first blast, people in nearby homes, hearing the screaming of
the wounded, ran outside to help. As a group formed around the wreckage,
a secondary, much larger explosion went off. In the end, 14 were killed,
19 wounded.

Smoldering vehicles, including a destroyed minibus
ICT0015>,
lay about the street in front of the damaged mosque
ICT0004_001>.
Pools of blood
ICT0009>
and body parts lay strewn about the scene. Nearby homes were damaged
ICT0003>
from the blast as well.

Residents
ICT0005>
took it upon themselves to evacuate most of the bodies and wounded to
nearby al-Numan hospital, because ambulances failed to arrive until 45
minutes after the blast.

The interesting detail is that while US military are usually some of the
first to arrive on the scene at bombings, they never showed up for this
one. The Iraqi National Guard, who have a base in the ex-presidential
palace less than one kilometer from the bombing, never showed up either.

The Iraqi Police, however, did show up at the scene. Most of them
wearing facemasks to protect their identity (this is Adhamiya)...but one
man, a muscular, arrogant, loudspoken policeman, unmasked, was yelling,
"Of course this happened because this is a Shia mosque! The Sunni hate
the Shia!"

Members of the crowd perceived his actions as deliberately provocative
and inflammatory.

Aisha Dulaimy, a resident of al-Adhamiya said, "The reason for this car
bomb is the Americans want to cause a split between the Shia and Sunni.
But there has never been fighting between the Shia and Sunni in the
history of Iraq. They want to make a struggle between us, but it will
never work. They tried this before and people responded by making
demonstrations together against the occupiers. So they will never make
it. We are living as brothers-Shia and Sunni. There is no difference
because we all live in the same home, which is Iraq."

She references an attack last winter in the large Shia mosque across the
river in the Khadamiya district, which was followed nearly immediately
by an attack on a Sunni mosque in Adhamiya. The attacks were perceived
by both residents and religious leaders as attempts to divide the
religious sects, so they held mass demonstrations together, Shia and
Sunni, in a show of solidarity. They also prayed in one another's mosques.

The nearly immediate reaction from the bombing yesterday was an intense
mortar barrage on the nearby US military base followed by fierce clashes
in Adhamiya.

Military helicopters and fighter jets roared overhead, scaring many
people who feared they would be bombed.

A 16 year-old resident of al-Adhamiya, Ahmed al-Dulaimey, said, "The US
jets are so loud, only flying 50 meters above our homes. They dropped
three groups of many flares. When I saw them I ran to my house because I
was afraid they would bomb us."

In other news, Thursday the director of Fallujah General Hospital was
shot and wounded by soldiers while he and two other doctors attempted to
enter Fallujah in an ambulance in order to provide aid to families
trapped there. They had gone into the city after having been granted
permission by the military and Ministry of Health.

A friend of mine here who is a doctor told me that recently the Ministry
of Health issued a directive instructing doctors not to talk to any
media, particularly about patients who are wounded by the military.

Salam stayed the night last night since we worked late...hence we slept
late today. Until 9:30 anyhow, when a huge blast nearby shook the hotel
and rattled windows. I sat up quickly in bed, looked at him over on the
couch and he said, "Good morning Dahr."

I said, "Morning man, who needs coffee," as I dressed and grabbed my
camera and ran to the roof of a nearby hotel to locate the blast. A
building blocked the exact locale, but the plume of black smoke
moke>
rose above it-just over near the "green zone." Interesting to have the
photo then 10 minutes later in my hotel see it replicated on the TV
v>.

It was a police station which was bombed. 6 Police dead, at least 60
cops and civilians wounded.

Photos dated from May, 2003 have been shown all over Jazeera
today-showing Navy Seals torturing Iraqis. Up close shots of men with
bloodied mouths with guns held to their heads, etc. You know the drill
by now.

They were put on the net by the wife of a soldier who'd returned from Iraq.

John Hutson, a retired rear admiral who served as the Navy's Judge
Advocate General from 1997 to 2000, said the photos suggested possible
Geneva Convention violations, as international law prohibits souvenir
photos of prisoners of war.

Hutson said, "It's pretty obvious that these pictures were taken largely
as war trophies."

Not too surprising, however, because there are also eyewitness reports
now from refugees that some soldiers in Fallujah were tying the dead
bodies of resistance fighters to tanks and driving around with their
"trophies."

More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com

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.

(c)2004 Dahr Jamail.
All images and text are protected by United States and international
copyright law. If you would like to reprint Dahr's Dispatches on the
web, you need to include this copyright notice and a prominent link
to the DahrJamailIraq.com website. Any other use of images and text
including, but not limited to, reproduction, use on another website,
copying and printing requires the permission of Dahr Jamail.
Of course, feel free to forward Dahr's dispatches via email.

Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches

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

2) Jan. Elections Remain Misunderstood in U.S., Tenuous in Iraq
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com -
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **
December 04, 2004
The NewStandard
By Lisa Ashkenaz Croke, The NewStandard
Dahr Jamail in Baghdad contributed to this piece.
*With politicians and the media distorting news of the
upcoming Iraqi elections, most Americans have no idea how
the process will work. Meanwhile, informed skeptics look at
recent history and wonder if it will work at all.*
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/1267

December 3 - Asked last week if Sunni participation was needed to make
Iraq's national elections "free and fair," President Bush told reporters
that he was "confident [that] when people realize that there's a chance
to vote on a President, they will participate."

Continue reading "Jan. Elections Remain Misunderstood in U.S., Tenuous
in Iraq"



* I would like to take a moment to bring your attention to an important
news website.

The NewStandard, which I have worked for as a correspondent and continue
to write for today, is a progressive news organization that has the aim
of reaching into the mainstream. This goal, which we all know is
imperative in order to get the truth about Iraq out to a wider audience,
is one that is attainable by a news source like The Newstandard. They
consistently produce the highest quality news stories, and you can help
them in their cause of pushing them onto a broadening stage by
supporting them at this time.

Already their work has appeared on thousands of websites and has been
cited as reliable reporting by numerous mainstream outlets, including
the NY Times, Wall Street Journal and others. Also, their reporting has
been cited in civil rights-related motions in court cases, including
those of torture victims of Abu Ghraib.

With their devoted and tireless work they supported me magnificently as
their correspondent during my last trip in Iraq. This support continues
today, even while I am no longer their correspondent. They adhere to
their policy of putting the journalist first so that she/he can be
supported fully in their work, in order to produce the most accurate,
fact-checked stories possible.

Supporting The NewStandard means supporting independent reporters like
me. So few outlets are willing to pay journalists for telling the truth
these days, it is vital that we support the few that strive to do just
that.

You can visit their site now by following this link:

http://newstandardnews.net/?refid=u-00000074

To learn more, go to:

http://newstandardnews.net/promo2/?action=show_tns-faq&refid=u-00000074

They have made it really simple and secure to support them.

Sign-up Page:

https://secure.peoplesnetworks.net/members/?action=show_member_registration&
refid=u-00000074

More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com

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.

(c)2004 Dahr Jamail.
All images and text are protected by United States and international
copyright law. If you would like to reprint Dahr's Dispatches on the
web, you need to include this copyright notice and a prominent
link to the DahrJamailIraq.com website. Any other use of images
and text including, but not limited to, reproduction, use on
another website, copying and printing requires the permission
of Dahr Jamail. Of course, feel free to forward Dahr's dispatches
via email.

Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches

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

3) **Army Gears Up to Punish Soldiers Who Refused Mission
** Please forward far and wide **
From: "Justice Freedom"
Fri, 3 Dec 2004 22:46:10 -0800
[Original Message]
From: Robert D. Hammie < sidis@math.berkeley.edu
**Defend the 343rd! Sign the petition in support of
the 343rd Quartermaster soldiers who refused to follow
dangerous orders at:
www.campusantiwar.net


Statement in Support of the 343rd Soldiers Who Refused
Iraq Mission

Issued by the Campus Antiwar Network Coordinating
Committee - 21 November 2004

"The Army doesn't want the information to get out."
-Beverly Dobbs, mother of Spec. Joseph Dobbs

Well, we want the information to get out. We want
everyone to know what the military is trying to do to
these soldiers who stood up against unsafe orders.
They were right to refuse, and no charges should be
brought against them.

The Army has recommended punishment for 24 members of
the South Carolina-based 343rd quartermaster company
who refused orders to drive a fuel convoy on a route
hundreds of miles long without armor, air or ground
support, and carrying helicopter fuel they believed to
be contaminated, and therefore dangerous to other
soldiers.

The military is trying to keep the situation as quiet
as possible. Without the soldier's families bravely
speaking out on the situation, much less would be
known about their fight.

Families say the punishment being considered ranges
from a letter of reprimand, fines, reduction in rank
and pay, to possible court marshal and prison time.

The military has tried to portray this as an isolated
incident, and not part of a larger breakdown in
discipline or a symptom of a widespread shortage of
proper equipment for troops.

They obviously fear the soldiers' refusal will find
popular support among civilians, and more importantly,
those in the military who can sympathize with the
343rd's plight--and who might consider following their

example.

The widespread discontent in the military can be seen
in the numbers of reservists who are fighting calls to
return to active duty.

Over the last few months, the Army has called 4,000
former soldiers to report for active duty, and 1,800
have requested exemptions or delays. Of the 2,500 that
were supposed to report for duty by Nov. 7, 733
haven't shown up. Some soldiers have sued the military
and won their cases.

In Vietnam, widespread combat refusal paralyzed the
military and was crucial to ending the war. That's why
the military is trying hard to keep people from seeing
the actions of the 343rd as a symbol of resistance.

"I'll say it over and over, I do not understand why
they're having to go through this", said Beverly
Dobbs. "They joined because that was a dream for all
of them. It can be ruined because they're not willing
to listen to what they're trying to say. To my mind
they saved lives by not going out."

The military disillusioned many soldiers in Vietnam,
and is doing the same today. We will see more
incidents like the 343rd's. In fact, another, largely
unreported, protest occurred when three National Guard
members at Camp Shelby, refused to conduct training
exercises after their anger at poor pay and conditions
at the base spilled over.

When these soldiers stand up and resist, we have to be
ready to do the same.

In solidarity,
The Campus Antiwar Network
www.campusantiwar.net

For background visit:

Platoon Refuses Orders in Iraq
http://www.heraldonline.com/local/story/4187300p-3972909c.html
Mississippi Guards Rebel, Refuse to Conduct Training
http://www.militaryproject.org/article.asp?id=391
Soldiers Flee Training Camp
http://www.militaryproject.org/article.asp?id=410
Strains Felt By Guard Unit on Eve Of War Duty,
Entire National Guard Batallion Put on Lockdown
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31689-2004Sep18.html
Army encounters resistance from 2,000 former soldiers
ordered back to military work
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041116/ZNYT02/41116040
"Fight to Survive," Antiwar Soldiers' Web Blog
http://www.ftssoldier.blogspot.com/
Visit us on the web at
http://www.berkeleystopthewar.org Yahoo! Groups Links

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

4) Building Unity in the Global Antiwar Movement
Become an endorser and supporter for March 19/20
Update: January 20 Counter-Inaugural Protest

The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition in the United States issued a call in
early October to mobilize for the March 19/20 Global Day of mass
action. This is the second anniversary of Bush's criminal aggression
against the people of Iraq. More than 100,000 Iraqis have died and
yet the resistance to occupation by the Iraqi people has not been stifled
through the resort to high tech massacres. U.S. soldiers are being killed
and maimed in a war for conquest. In these ways Iraq parallels the U.S.
war against Vietnam. At the same time the U.S. government is spending
billions to kill in Iraq, Palestine and Haiti, it is destroying social
programs and working peoples' security in the U.S.

Antiwar actions in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles and in
other cities around the country and around the world will take place
on March 19/20.

On the first anniversary of the "Shock and Awe" invasion, March 20,
2004, the A.N.S.W.E.R. coalition and others in a larger March 20 National
Coalition promoted the building of a united front under the slogan:
Bring the Troops Home Now, End Occupation from Iraq to Palestine
to Haiti and Everywhere. The demonstration also highlighted the call
for Money for Jobs, Education and Healthcare, Not for War and in
defense of civil rights and civil liberties. More than 100,000 marched
in New York City refuting the notion that the antiwar movement must
turn its back on the just struggle of the Palestinian people in order to
build so-called broad support. In fact, the large turnout on March 20
of the Arab-American, Muslim, Haitian and other targeted communities
helped the demonstration reflect the broad multi-national and multi-
ethnic reality of the global people's movement for justice. This true
united front organizing was a major step forward for the antiwar
movement in the United States.

Rather than excluding the Arab-American and Muslim community,
it is imperative that the antiwar movement deepen its solidarity.
Struggling against all vestiges of national chauvinism and racism is
essential if the new global movement is to realize its full potential.
Bush and the ultra-right are using divide and conquer tactics as they
target everyone's rights. The antiwar movement can defeat the tactics
of Bush and the right-wing by demonstrating in practice that the
people can build unity and solidarity among all peoples and all
communities.

The demonstration comes at a particularly crucial time. The crimes
against humanity inflicted on the people of Fallujah have become
a metaphor for the entire criminal enterprise. Destroying a city and
its people in the name of "democracy" barely masks Bush and Wall
Street's real agenda.

As the Bush administration attempts to redraw the geo-political
map of the Middle East, a corresponding parallel policy targeting
the Arab-American and Muslim communities is being rapidly imposed
in the United States. The ramification of this policy is in fact alarming.
For example, Palestinian professors from Columbia to UC Berkeley,
student groups from San Francisco State to Duke University,
humanitarian and community organizations from New York to
California and from Illinois to Texas, are being systematically targeted
in the most vicious manner in an avalanching variety of methods.

Clearly, the Bush administration, aided by its allies and ideological
neo-conservative underpinning, is attempting to silence dissent
using the likes of the Patriot Act, criminalize criticism of Israeli
policies (as in the case of House Resolution 3077), and fully
marginalize Arab-Americans and Muslims.

Hate speech has been so normalized that hate mongers from Daniel
Pipes to Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh are filling all sorts of
media outlets with outright racism and bigotry with impunity. In
the face of this multi-faceted assault, the clear linkages made thus
far within the antiwar movement between the defense of civil liberties
at home and the opposition to colonial occupations and conquest,
from Palestine, Haiti, to Iraq and beyond, should be not only dearly
protected but also expanded and strengthened.

We urge all antiwar and people's rights organizations to join together
in this important day of action and global solidarity.

To become an endorser of the March 19/20 Global Day of Mass
Action click here.

Update: January 20 Counter-Inaugural Protest

More than 6,000 people have now endorsed the January 20
Counter-Inaugural demonstration which will line the Bush parade
route in Washington DC. This is a permitted demonstration.
As Bush travels by limousine up Pennsylvania Avenue he will
be greeted by thousands demanding an immediate end to the
criminal war in Iraq. The country and the world must see that
the people of the United States are in the streets from the very
first day of Bush's second term.

Pledge now to support the January 20 demonstration against
the war. Click here to endorse and say Bring the Troops Home Now!

If you are planning to organize buses, vans or car caravans to
be in Washington DC, San Francisco or Los Angeles on January 20,
fill out the Transportation Form to help spread the word.

Help spread the word about January 20. Click here for new,
updated downloadable flyers.

We hope you will join us in Washington DC on January 20 or if
you can't come help us cover the many expenses for this huge
undertaking including transportation to bring people to DC. Funds
are urgently needed for this effort. You can make an urgently needed
contribution for the January 20 mobilization through a secure server
by clicking here. Credit card donations made online are not tax
deductible. To make a tax deductible credit card donation, call
202-544-3389. You can also make a tax deductible donation by
writing a check to A.N.S.W.E.R./AGJ and sending it to A.N.S.W.E.R.,
1247 E St. SE, Washington DC 20003.

Update: Cuba/U.S./Mexico/Canada/Venezuela Labor Conference

A very important conference - an encounter among Cuban, U.S.,
Mexican, Canadian, Venezuelan and other trade unionists - will
take place in Tijuana, Mexico, the 10th, 11th, and 12th of
December, 2004. In response to the repeated denial of entry visas
to the U.S., on the part of the U.S. government, to five Cuban trade
union leaders, it has been necessary to hold the conference in Tijuana.

A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
Act Now to Stop War & End Racism
http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-533-0417
Los Angeles: 323-464-1636
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
For media inquiries, call 202-544-3389.

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

5) FORGING THE FIGHTBACK:
THE MILLION WORKER MARCH MOVEMENT CALLS FOR RANK AND FILE
UNITY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS AND AN END TO THE
WAR IN IRAQ
A Community Labor News E-Zine
From: Douglas MacDonald
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2004 18:00:25 -0800 (PST)
Subject: From the Million Worker March: Forging the Fightback


FORGING THE FIGHTBACK:

THE MILLION WORKER MARCH MOVEMENT CALLS FOR RANK AND FILE
UNITY IN THE STRUGGLE FOR WORKERS' RIGHTS AND AN END TO THE
WAR IN IRAQ

December 2, 2004 (SF, CA) - The Million Worker March
Movement emerged from a historic summons to working people
by ILWU Local 10, calling upon the rank and file of the
labor movement, organized and unorganized, to mobilize in
our own name and to challenge the passivity of the AFL-CIO
leadership in the face of unrestrained class warfare waged
by the captains of capital against the mass of our people.

Working people need to have a political expression of our
own which is an alternative to the U.S. corporate sector
that both the Democrats and the Republicans represent. The
timing of the March on Washington was to prepare the
beginning of a fight-back precisely because the two
political parties, acting as one, were confining political
discourse to the corporate agenda of permanent war,
destruction of all social services, and a relentless assault
upon the union movement itself.

It was clear to us that the crisis in a labor movement whose
numbers had dwindled to under 12% of the work force in
America, was linked directly to the business unionism that
has done everything possible to stifle rank and file
leadership. It is reflected in the wholesale concessionary
bargaining that has produced setback after setback and led
to the dismantling of the trade union movement. Pension
funds go belly-up, workers' rights are eroded and, while all
this unfolds, dependence upon the Democratic Party deepens
- -- a Party whose funding, personnel, track record and
program are at the very center of the assault upon our
class.

Behind a façade of two parties, the captains of industry
call the political shots while labor has been put in the
position of providing cover for undisguised attacks upon
working people.

Here is a political party and a candidate who supported the
war in Iraq and attacked the Republican administration from
the right for "hesitating" to carry out a Guernica-like
genocide in Fallujah. Here was a party whose leadership
called for increasing the military budget by nearly $800
billion, adding 40,000 troops in Iraq, attacking Iran
preemptively, cutting social services and reducing the
federal deficit by slashing two million public sector jobs.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, John Kerry stated that
his administration would not only protect business but
contain any challenge to its rule. He stated that the
election was about "a change in CEO," adding: "election day
will be a national shareholders' meeting."

John Kerry and the Democratic Party were unabashed in
parading Kerry's key policy- makers before Wall Street and
the financial media. His economic policy maker was Warren
Buffett, the right-wing Republican billionaire who performed
the same function for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. His
economic team included Lee Iacocca of Chrysler bail-out
fame, David Bonderman of the Texas Pacific Group, who
bankrupted Continental and American West airlines,
destroying union jobs, while profiteering; Bank of America
chairman, Charles Gifford, August A. Busch IV, President of
Anheuser-Busch, and Peter Chernin, administrative director
of the far-right Rupert Murdoch News, Corporation -- all
registered Republicans and key financiers of the 2000
Presidential campaign of George W. Bush.

John Kerry's key foreign policy-makers featured Rand Beers,
who took over FEMA from Oliver North under Ronald Reagan and
served on the National Security Council for George H. W.
Bush and George W. Bush and William Perry of the Carlyle
Group -- the 14 billion dollar arms conglomerate run by a
"Who's Who" of the Republican Party.

In handing over union funds of well over $100 million to the
Democratic Party, labor was put in the position of funding a
political campaign waged on behalf of corporate capital,

Who was to speak for working people? The Million Worker
March undertook to place front and forward the crisis facing
working people and the failure of the political parties to
address it. We spelled out a working peoples' agenda and
looked to the rank and file to mobilize in their own name.

The timeliness of the March was related to the absence of
choice at a time of election. We said that the real election
was the decision of union locals across the country to
advance our needs and to call for action concerning
universal health care, affordable housing, an end to
profiteering and the hegemony of the merchants of death with
their program of perpetual war.

John Sweeney and the AFL-CIO leadership sought to discourage
union endorsements of the March. They called upon unions and
labor council to cut off funds. They asserted that the
defeat of George Bush took precedence over a national worker
mobilization that would address the crisis facing labor.

As endorsements by major trade unions grew and the Million
Worker March built regional committees across the country,
the AFL-CIO leadership issued statements in which they
professed to support the aims of the March while objecting
to its timing.

Unfortunately, these public statements were accompanied by
stepped up efforts behind the scenes to prevent locals from
organizing buses and sending supporters of the March to
other locations.

We asked then as we assert now: Who spoke for the needs of
working Americans at a time of this election -- the
Democratic Party with its corporate agenda or the Million
Worker March movement with our demands for universal health
care, slashing the military budget, affordable housing for
all, a crash program to save our public schools, the
reconstruction of our decaying cities and a halt to the mad
race to the sweat-shop bottom that pit workers against each
other across the world?

The Million Worker Movement understood the pressures upon
people in the movement for social justice to "dump Bush" and
we reached out to all, regardless of their expectations from
the elections, to stand up for our needs, to voice our
demands and to prepare the terrain within rank and file
labor and the community for an ongoing movement for
fundamental change in America.

We know that many in USLAW supported the March and we were
gratified that Gene Bruskin spoke at the Lincoln Memorial,
even though a formal endorsement by USLAW, despite support
for it, did not occur. We regretted this at the time, but,
today,, as Fallujah is devastated and a relentless war of
subjugation is unleashed in Iraq, the applause of the
leadership of the Democratic Party and deafening silence of
the leadership of the AFL-CIO speak to us with no less
compelling urgency.

A hallmark of the Million Worker Movement has been the clear
emergence of Black working class leadership -- through ILWU
Local 10, The teamsters National Black Caucus, District
Council 1707 of AFSCME, the Transport Workers Union in New
York -- in conjunction with union activists in every sector
of the labor movement, the immigrant rights movement and
broad sectors of the anti-war movement, notably in the
International Action Center and ANSWER.

Even as the Million Worker March on October 17 was a
reflection of the real composition of rank and file working
people in America -- both in terms of rank and file activism
and the involvement of the most exploited sectors of the
work force -- the March was called to provide a vehicle for
real change and to end our political dependence upon our
exploiters.

Today, working people face even greater assaults. Every
indicator of the U.S. economy reveals the crisis in which
the system of private ownership of the means of production
now finds itself. The deficit financing required to sustain
imperial reach is matched by the instability of the dollar
as corporate and banking capital siphon off trillions of
dollars in profit.

The international nature of corporate rule and the
exploitation it imposes upon working people is manifested
most clearly by the outsourcing of jobs to the sweatshops of
the world. To pit workers against each other in this way
requires breaking the will of working people in every
country and, above all, to prevent a unified workers'
fight-back across national frontiers.

That is the significance of the presence at the Lincoln
Memorial of representatives and messages of support from
international trade union federations representing 47.7
million organized workers.

The Million Worker March movement is not centered in the
United States alone. It can be found in the Railway Workers
of Japan who battle privatization. It is present in the
Korean Confederation of Trade Unions as it prepares a
General Strike against the corporate attempt to end
full-time employment. It is manifested in the support from
the trade union federations of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
Venezuela, Brazil, Philippines and Spain .

When Dora Chiba, the Japanese Railway Workers Union,
organized demonstrations against privatization and union-
busting in Tokyo, the Million Worker March was there. We
joined a delegation to the Tokyo offices of the company that
owned the hotels locking out hotel workers in the U.S..

The Million Worker March followed up in San Francisco.
Together with the San Francisco Labor Council and Hotel
Workers Local 2, we co-sponsored a unity rally on November
20 and led rank and file members of unions across the Bay
Area to join the picket lines at five major hotels.

The lock-out was ended that day -- a strong indication that
a unified struggle of working people -- nationally and
internationally -- is the way to win strikes, beat back
scabs and regain the offensive for working people.

The international fightback initiated by the Million Worker
March Movement takes note of the weakness of the U.S..
dollar that occurs at a moment when the U.S. Government
Accountability Office has calculated a "fiscal gap" -- the
amount necessary to pay off U.S. indebtedness -- at $72
trillion. Much of the debt paper is held by overseas
investors whose incentive to remain in dollar holdings
diminishes daily.

The one percent of the population that now owns more than
the combined wealth of 95% of the population is compelled to
intensify drastically the exploitation of our labor in order
to sustain what is increasingly shown to be precarious rule.

Andrew Stern and the leadership of SEIU have called for
organizational changes within the structure of the AFL-CIO
to address the malaise afflicting the labor movement in
America. Clearly, labor is in urgent need of a new strategy
and a vision that can galvanize working people.

The Million Worker March movement poses the necessity for
labor to answer the crisis facing working people in America
through a declaration of political independence. If working
people are to confront and to redress a system in terminal
decay, we shall need to build a political vehicle and party
that fights for our program and is answerable at every level
to the rank and file, whose expression it must be.

Never has there been a more opportune moment for rank and
file working people to forge a mass movement for fundamental
change. Rarely has the importance of unity in struggle been
more compelling along an axis of class independence.

We need unity in action based upon the mobilization of the
rank and file. We have the opportunity to wage this struggle
not only in the United States but in conjunction with the
ongoing fight-back of labor in many countries.

Now is the time for the Million Worker Movement, U.S. Labor
Against the War, the Labor Party, and organizations
committed to a rank and file fightback to act in unison.

We call for organized discussion to prepare joint action
against the war in Iraq and the policies of permanent war.

We urge the opening of discussions with ANSWER, the
International Action Center, Veterans for Peace, Iraqi
Veterans Against the War, and Gulf War Veterans for common
action on March 19 in New York around a unified call for an
immediate end to the war in Iraq and withdrawal of all
occupation forces.

We call upon U.S. Labor Against the War, the Labor Party,
Black Workers For Justice to join the Million Worker March
Movement in reclaiming May Day as the day of the
international workers' movement and to call an international
action around the list of demands set forth by the Million
Worker March.

In forging a unified rank and file movement to resist the
wars of subjugation of U.S. rulers we defend the working
class at home and abroad. In acting together for independent
political action, we can emancipate working people from the
deadly embrace of a leadership that has abandoned the
struggle and forge a political expression of our own.

In identifying the class nature of the oppression afflicting
us, we can prepare the way for a workers' agenda for the
transformation of our society and for the democratic control
by the working class of the levers of governance in every
society.

- ----- End forwarded message -----

FULL-SPECTRUM FIGHTBACK! NO PASARAN!
Vote to Impeach George Bush
http://www.votetoimpeach.org/
Know Your Rights
http://prisonradio.org/pdf/KYR_English_2002.pdf
Readers may email your article submissions
or your comments to ListAdmin@CLNews.org

You may Subscribe or Un-Subscribe through a
Confirmed Opt-In or Opt-out Automatic Process at
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"Freedom is always and exclusively
freedom for the one who thinks differently"
--Rosa Luxemburg

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

6) Lessons Of The November 2004 Elections
& Perpectives For The Future
Sunday December 12, 2004 7:00 PM
522 Valencia St./16th St. San Francisco
Donation Requested $3.00

What are the lessons of the election
and how do we go forward today. These
are the issues that will be addressed
at this discussion. The trade unions
which spent hundreds of millions
of dollars to support Kerry are now left
with nothing to show for it and Bush
is intent on pushing privatizaton,
more repression and expanding
the wars in the Middle East.
What should working people do
to challenge these policies and how can the
Million Worker March movement
be used as a vehicle to build an independent
working class movement.
Join us in this important debate.

Sponsored by
Peace And Freedom Labor Committee
Steve Zeltzer For Supervisor Campaign Committee

Speakers:
Steve Zeltzer, Candidate For SF Board Of Supervisors District 9
Tom Lacey, North State Chair Peace & Freedom
Party Central Committee

For further information contact
stevefor9@pacbell.net (415)695-1369
tlacey@uesf.org (415)647-3868

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

7) In this message:
· Weekly ANSWER Activist Meeting
· Shutdown the PG Hunters Point Power Plant
· ANSWER Film Series: “North Korea: Beyond the DMZ”
For more information on the following events, call 415-821-6545.

----------
Tues. Dec. 7, 7pm
ANSWER ACTIVIST MEETING
2489 Mission St. Room 30
San Francisco

Join us for a political update and a reportback from a recent Zapatista
support delegation to Chiapas. Also, Maurice Campbell from the
Community First Coalition will give an update on the struggle to
close the PG plants that are polluting the Bayview-Hunters Point
and Potrero communities and plans for an action to shutdown the
HP plant. Get involved in mobilizing for the January 20 Counter-
Inaugural Demonstration.
----------

Wed. Dec. 8, 12noon
EMERGENCY ACTION: CLOSE THE PG HUNTERS POINT PLANT NOW!
Gather at the front gate, Evans and Middlepoint Rd., Bayview
Hunters Point, SF

Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Sophie Maxwell announced on Nov. 8
that a deal had been made to close the PG Hunters Point Potrero
plants. In fact, there is no deal, and there is no set date for the plant
closures. Fight the ongoing environmental racism that has created
some of the highest asthma rates in the country.

Join residents and community groups in their demand for the
immediate closure of this polluting and unnecessary fossil
fuel power plant.

Sponsored by Green Action for Health and Environmental
Justice, Huntersview Tenants Association, All Hollows
Garden Residents Association, and the Community First Coalition.
------------

Thurs. Dec. 9, 7:30pm
ANSWER FILM SERIES: “NORTH KOREA: BEYOND THE DMZ”
ATA 992 Valencia St. at 21st, San Francisco
$5 donation

With a report and discussion of the Bush administration’s
threats against North Korea.

“Axis of evil?" While this tiny state on the divided Korean peninsula
is continually demonized in America, few have any first hand
knowledge of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. What
is it like on the other side of the 38th parallel? How do Koreans
in the north view this past decade – the fall of Soviet communism,
natural disasters that brought famine and power shortages, and
a continued, dangerously hostile relationship with the U.S.? What
are the concerns of the Korean American community – many of
whom have family in the north? This new documentary follows
a young Korean American woman to see her relatives, and through
unique footage of life in the D.P.R.K. and interviews with ordinary
people and scholars, opens a window into this nation and its
people. 2003, 56min.
----------

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8) Smoking While Iraq Burns
Comment
Its idolisation of 'the face of Falluja' shows how numb the
US is to everyone's pain but its own
Naomi Klein
The Guardian
Friday November 26, 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,5673,1360284,00.html

Iconic images inspire love and hate, and so it is with the photograph
of James Blake Miller, the 20-year-old marine from Appalachia, who
has been christened "the face of Falluja" by pro-war pundits, and the
"the Marlboro man" by pretty much everyone else. Reprinted in more
than a hundred newspapers, the Los Angeles Times photograph
shows Miller "after more than 12 hours of nearly non-stop, deadly
combat" in Falluja, his face coated in war paint, a bloody scratch
on his nose, and a freshly lit cigarette hanging from his lips.

Gazing lovingly at Miller, the CBS News anchor Dan Rather informed
his viewers: "For me, this one's personal. This is a warrior with his
eyes on the far horizon, scanning for danger. See it. Study it. Absorb
it. Think about it. Then take a deep breath of pride. And if your eyes
don't dampen, you're a better man or woman than I."

A few days later, the LA Times declared that its photo had "moved
into the realm of the iconic". In truth, the image just feels iconic
because it is so laughably derivative: it's a straight-up rip-off of the
most powerful icon in American advertising (the Marlboro man),
which in turn imitated the brightest star ever created by Hollywood
- John Wayne - who was himself channelling America's most powerful
founding myth, the cowboy on the rugged frontier. It's like a song
you feel you've heard a thousand times before - because you have.

But never mind that. For a country that just elected a wannabe
Marlboro man as its president, Miller is an icon and, as if to prove
it, he has ignited his very own controversy. "Lots of children,
particularly boys, play army, and like to imitate this young man.
The clear message of the photo is that the way to relax after
a battle is with a cigarette," wrote Daniel Maloney in a scolding
letter to the Houston Chronicle. Linda Ortman made the same
point to the editors of the Dallas Morning News: "Are there no
photos of non-smoking soldiers?" A reader of the New York Post
helpfully suggested more politically correct propaganda imagery:
"Maybe showing a marine in a tank, helping another GI or drinking
water would have a more positive impact on your readers."

Yes, that's right: letter writers from across the nation are united
in their outrage - not that the steely-eyed, smoking soldier makes
mass killing look cool, but that the laudable act of mass killing
makes the grave crime of smoking look cool. Better to protect
impressionable youngsters by showing soldiers taking a break
from deadly combat by drinking water or, perhaps, since there
is a severe potable water shortage in Iraq, Coke. (It reminds me
of the joke about the Hassidic rabbi who says all sexual positions
are acceptable except for one: standing up "because that could
lead to dancing".)

On second thoughts, perhaps Miller does deserve to be elevated
to the status of icon - not of the war in Iraq, but of the new era of
supercharged American impunity. Because outside US borders, it is,
of course, a different marine who has been awarded the prize as
"the face of Falluja": the soldier captured on tape executing
a wounded, unarmed prisoner in a mosque. Runners-up are
a photograph of a two-year-old Fallujan in a hospital bed with
one of his tiny legs blown off; a dead child lying in the street,
clutching the headless body of an adult; and an emergency
health clinic blasted to rubble.

Inside the US, these snapshots of a lawless occupation appeared
only briefly, if they appeared at all. Yet Miller's icon status has
endured, kept alive with human interest stories about fans
sending cartons of Marlboros to Falluja, interviews with the
marine's proud mother, and earnest discussions about whether
smoking might reduce Miller's effectiveness as a fighting machine.

Impunity - the perception of being outside the law - has long
been the hallmark of the Bush regime. What is alarming is that
it appears to have deepened since the election, ushering in what
can only be described as an orgy of impunity. In Iraq, US forces
and their Iraqi surrogates are no longer bothering to conceal
attacks on civilian targets and are openly eliminating anyone -
doctors, clerics, journalists - who dares to count the bodies.
At home, impunity has been made official policy with Bush's
appointment of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general, the
man who personally advised the president in his infamous
"torture memo" that the Geneva conventions are "obsolete".

This kind of defiance cannot simply be explained by Bush's
win. There has to be something in how he won, in how the
election was fought, that gave this administration the distinct
impression that it had been handed a get-out-of-the-Geneva-
conventions free card. That's because the administration was
handed precisely such a gift - by John Kerry.

In the name of electability, the Kerry team gave Bush five
months on the campaign trail without ever facing serious
questions about violations of international law. Fearing that
he would be seen as soft on terror and disloyal to US troops,
Kerry stayed scandalously silent about Abu Ghraib and
Guantánamo Bay. When it became painfully clear that fury
would rain down on Falluja as soon as the polls closed, Kerry
never spoke out against the plan, or against the other illegal
bombings of civilian areas that took place throughout the
campaign. When the Lancet published its landmark study
estimating that 100,000 Iraqis had died as result of the invasion
and occupation, Kerry just repeated his outrageous (and frankly
racist) claim that Americans "are 90% of the casualties in Iraq".

There was a message sent by all of this silence, and the message
was that these deaths don't count. By buying the highly
questionable logic that Americans are incapable of caring
about anyone's lives but their own, the Kerry campaign and
its supporters became complicit in the dehumanisation of Iraqis,
reinforcing the idea that some lives are expendable, insufficiently
important to risk losing votes over. And it is this morally bankrupt
logic, more than the election of any single candidate, that allows
these crimes to continue unchecked.

The real-world result of all the "strategic" thinking is the worst of
both worlds: it didn't get Kerry elected and it sent a clear message
to the people who were elected that they will pay no political price
for committing war crimes. And this is Kerry's true gift to Bush: not
just the presidency, but impunity. You can see it perhaps best of all
in the Marlboro man in Falluja, and the surreal debates that swirl
around him. Genuine impunity breeds a kind of delusional decadence,
and this is its face: a nation bickering about smoking while Iraq burns.

·A version of this column was first published in The Nation

thenation.com
Guardian Unlimited (c) Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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

9) Ugly the War: Iraq Watch Specials
From Peace No War Network
December 3, 2004
URL: http://www.PeaceNoWar.net
Navy probes new Iraq prisoner photos: AP
China Daily (China)
Updated: 2004-12-04 09:16
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-12/04/content_397299.htm

The US military has launched a criminal investigation into photographs
that appear to show Navy SEALs in Iraq sitting on hooded and
handcuffed detainees, and photos of what appear to be bloodied
prisoners, one with a gun to his head.

A photo found posted on a commercial photo-sharing Web site
operated by a woman who said her husband brought the photos
from Iraq after his tour of duty appears to show prisoners in the
back of a truck with a foot atop one of the detainees. The Navy
SEALs have launched a criminal investigation into photographs
that appear to show commandos in Iraq sitting on hooded and
handcuffed detainees, and photos of what appear to be bloodied
prisoners, one with a gun to his head. [AP]

Some of the photos have date stamps suggesting they were taken
in May 2003, which could make them the earliest evidence of
possible abuse of prisoners in Iraq. The far more brutal practices
photographed in Abu Ghraib prison occurred months later.

An Associated Press reporter found more than 40 of the pictures
among hundreds in an album posted on a commercial photo-
sharing Web site by a woman who said her husband brought
them from Iraq after his tour of duty. It is unclear who took the
pictures, which the Navy said it was investigating after the AP
furnished copies to get comment for this story.

Photos that appear to show commandos in Iraq sitting on hooded
and handcuffed detainees are seen on a commercial photo-sharing
Web site operated by a woman who said her husband brought the
photos from Iraq after his tour of duty. The Navy SEALs have
launched a criminal investigation into the photographs. Date stamps
on some photos suggest they were made in May 2003, which could
make them the earliest evidence of possible abuse of prisoners
in Iraq. [AP]

These and other photos found by the AP appear to show the immediate
aftermath of raids on civilian homes. One man is lying on his back
with a boot on his chest. A mug shot shows a man with an automatic
weapon pointed at his head and a gloved thumb jabbed into his
throat. In many photos, faces have been blacked out. What appears
to be blood drips from the heads of some. A family huddles in
a room in one photo and others show debris and upturned furniture.

"These photographs raise a number of important questions
regarding the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs) and detainees,"
Navy Cmdr. Jeff Bender, a spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare
Command in Coronado, said in a written response to questions.
"I can assure you that the matter will be thoroughly investigated."

The photos were turned over to the Naval Criminal Investigative
Service, which instructed the SEAL command to determine whether
they show any serious crimes, Bender said Friday. That investigation
will determine the identities of the troops and what they were doing
in the photos.

Some of the photos recall aspects of the images from Abu Ghraib,
which led to charges against seven soldiers accused of humiliating
and assaulting prisoners. In several of the photos obtained by the
AP, grinning men wearing U.S. flags on their uniforms, and one
with a tattoo of a SEAL trident, take turns sitting or lying atop
what appear to be three hooded and handcuffed men in the
bed of a pickup truck.

A reporter found the photos, which since have since been removed
from public view, while researching the prosecution of a group
of SEALs who allegedly beat prisoners and photographed one of
them in degrading positions. Those photos, taken with a SEAL's
personal camera, haven't been publicly released.

Though they have alarmed SEAL commanders, the photographs
found by the AP do not necessarily show anything illegal, according
to experts in the laws of war who reviewed photos at AP's request.

Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who
teaches at the United States Military Academy, said the images
showed "stupid" and "juvenile" behavior - but not necessarily
a crime.

John Hutson, a retired rear admiral who served as the Navy's Judge
Advocate General from 1997 to 2000, said they suggested possible
Geneva Convention violations. Those international laws prohibit
souvenir photos of prisoners of war.

"It's pretty obvious that these pictures were taken largely as war
trophies," Hutson said. "Once you start allowing that kind of behavior,
the next step is to start posing the POWs in order to get even better
pictures."

At a minimum, the pictures violate Navy regulations that prohibit
photographing prisoners other than for intelligence or administrative
purposes, according to Bender, the SEALs spokesman.

All Naval Special Warfare personnel were told that prior to
deployment, he said, but "it is obvious from some of the photographs
that this policy was not adhered to."

The images were posted to the Internet site Smugmug.com. The
woman who posted them told the AP they were on the camera her
husband brought back from Iraq. She said her husband has returned
to Iraq. He does not appear in photos with prisoners.

The Navy goes to great lengths to protect the identities and
whereabouts of its 2,400 SEALs - which stands for Navy Sea, Air,
Land - many of whom have classified counterterrorist missions
around the globe.

"Some of these photos clearly depict faces and names of Naval
Special Warfare personnel, which could put them or their families
at risk," Bender said.

Out of safety concerns, the AP is not identifying the woman who
posted the photos.

The wife said she was upset that a reporter was able to view the
album, which includes family snapshots. Hundreds of other photos
depict everyday military life in Iraq, some showing commandos
standing around piles of weapons and waving wads of cash.

The images were found through the online search engine Google.
The same search today leads to the Smugmug.com Web page, which
now prompts the user for a password. Nine scenes from the SEAL
camp remain in Google's archived version of the page.

"I think it's fair to assume that it would be very hard for most
consumers to know all the ways the search engines can discover
Web pages," said Smugmug spokesman Chris MacAskill.

Before the site was password protected, the AP purchased reprints
for 29 cents each.

Some men in the photos wear patches that identify them as members
of Seal Team Five, based in Coronado, and the unit's V-shaped insignia
decorates a July Fourth celebration cake.

The photos surfaced amid a case of prisoner abuse involving
members of another SEAL team also stationed at Coronado,
a city near San Diego.

Navy prosecutors have charged several members of SEAL Team
Seven with abusing a suspect in the bombing a Red Cross facility.
According to charge sheets and testimony during a military hearing
last month, SEALs posed in the back of a Humvee for photos that
allegedly humiliated Manadel al-Jamadi, who died hours later
at Abu Ghraib.

Testimony from that case suggest personal cameras became
increasingly common on some SEAL missions last year.

Photos of U.S. Military Torture in Abu Ghraib Prison
http://www.peacenowar.net/Iraq/News/April%2004-Photos/Abu%20Ghraib.htm


For more photos and Videos from Iraq, visit:
"Report from Baghdad" July, 2003
http://www.actionla.org/Iraq/IraqReport/intro.html

Peace, No War
War is not the answer, for only love can conquer hate
Not in our Name! And another world is possible!
Information for antiwar movements, news across the World, please visit:
http://www.PeaceNoWar.net
Please Join PeaceNoWar Listserv, send e-mail to:
peacenowar-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

Please Donate to Peace No War Network!
Send check pay to:
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(All donations are tax deductible)
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
*To Translate this page to Arabic, please visit ajeeb.com:
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*To Translate this page to French, Spanish, German, Italian or
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**"Report From Baghdad" CD-ROM**
Pacifica Radio KPFK Los Angeles Reporter Lee Siu Hin's July
003 trip to U.S. occupied Iraq. An interactive CD-ROM with
articles, photos, audio and video interviews includes: people
of Iraq, U.S. military, human rights workers, religious leaders
and more!

Please Visit the Website:
http://www.actionla.org/Iraq/IraqReport/intro.html
Each CD costs: $15.00 plus $3.50 S/H (work both PC and Mac)
The CD sells will be benefit the Baghdad Independent
Media Center, ActionLA, and PeaceNoWar.net
*Additional donations are welcome, and it will be tax deductible.
For more information, tel: (213)403-0131 e-mail:
info@ActionLA.org
URL: www.ActionLA.org
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10) Suicide Bomber Kills 8 Iraqi Police Officers
By ROBERT F. WORTH
BAGHDAD, Iraq
December 5, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/international/middleeast/05iraq.html?hp&ex
=1102222800&en=381244440e68093c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 4 - A suicide bomber rammed a minibus packed
with explosives into a police station near Baghdad's protected Green
Zone on Saturday morning, killing 8 officers and wounding 38 in the
second major assault on Iraq's beleaguered security forces in two days.

The attack came as insurgents in Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad,
the capital, attacked a police station with machine guns, wounding two
officers before American soldiers arrived to help fight them off, military
officials said.

The assaults, one day after at least 27 Iraqis and 22 insurgents were
killed in attacks in Baghdad and Mosul, demonstrated the insurgents'
renewed focus on crippling and intimidating the Iraqi security forces,
who are set to inherit responsibility for the country's security as the
January elections approach.

Violence continued elsewhere. Near Baquba, a roadside bomb
exploded Saturday morning as an American patrol passed, killing
one soldier, wounding another and badly damaging their vehicle,
military officials said.

In western Iraq along the Jordanian border, a suicide car bomb rammed
an American military base on Friday afternoon, killing two coalition
soldiers and wounding five, military officials in Baghdad said Saturday.
The officials did not provide the nationality of the dead and wounded
or any other details about the incident.

In Mosul, American troops engaged insurgents who were armed with
AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades Saturday morning, and
a car full of insurgents threw grenades at the main American military
base before speeding away.

No one was hurt in that attack on the base, but military officials said
an Iraqi driver was killed in an accident with the insurgents' car as
they drove away.

On the west side of the Mosul, where military officials say close to
100 insurgents staged coordinated grenade, mortar and bomb
attacks against American patrols on Friday, there was sporadic
violence, with some patrols taking sniper fire from insurgents.

In Baghdad, the suicide bomb exploded at 9:30 a.m., with a blast
so powerful it sheared the facade off the Salhiya police station and
caused the roof to collapse. Thick black smoke poured up from the
station, just north of the main entrance to the Green Zone, the
heavily protected compound that houses foreign embassies and
Iraq's interim government. Other government buildings, including
the Foreign Ministry and the Housing Ministry, are just steps from
the police station.

The blast struck as about 30 officers were gathering near the
front gate for roll call, officers said.

Husam Nagim, an officer who was standing nearby at the time,
said the bomber, a young man, drove a Kia minivan up to the
gate and accelerated through the protective wires before anyone
could stop him.

The bomber was smiling as he drove through the wires, Mr. Nagim
said, as he lay covered by a bloody blanket on a cot at Yarmouk
Hospital two hours later, an IV in his right arm and his mother
and brother standing next to him.

"We shouted to our colleagues but he was faster," Mr. Nagim said,
his voice choked with sobs.

Afterward, mangled and charred bodies lay scattered on the
ground, Mr. Nagim recalled. American and Iraqi troops quickly
cordoned off the area around the station, which was choked
with traffic.

On Friday, just after dawn, militants had struck another police
station in Baghdad, firing mortars, machine guns and rocket-
propelled grenades. After the officers inside ran out of ammunition,
the attackers stormed the police compound, freeing 50 prisoners
and following six fleeing officers to the roof, where they shot and
killed them all.

The attacks in Baghdad, Mosul and Samarra were the latest in
a growing wave of violence aimed at the country's police officers,
soldiers and national guardsmen. Last week, 12 officers were
killed in western Iraq when a suicide bomber struck a police
station there.

In Mosul, at least 90 bodies have been found over the past two
weeks, many of them Iraqi police officers and national guardsmen
murdered and mutilated by insurgents. Most of that city's 5,000-
member police force and large parts of several national guard
battalions deserted their posts during insurgent attacks last month.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks
on Saturday. But the network of the Jordanian militant Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi claimed credit for the attack on the Baghdad police
station on Friday, as well as for other attacks in Mosul last week
that left 17 Iraqi national guardsmen and an American soldier dead.

Such claims are impossible to verify. But the continued vigor of
the resistance has made it clear that the American-led offensive
in Falluja last month, for all its success in killing militants there,
has not crippled the rebels' ability to mount coordinated and deadly
strikes throughout the country.

A number of prominent Sunni Arab politicians have cited the attacks
as a reason to delay the national and provincial elections scheduled
for Jan. 30, the first scheduled since the fall of Saddam Hussein. But
leaders of Iraq's majority Shiites insist that the elections take place
as scheduled, and on Thursday, President Bush firmly reiterated the
American position that the elections should not be postponed.

On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that it would increase
troop strength by 12,000 in Iraq by next month, to a total of
about 150,000, mainly to improve security before the elections.
Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., a Delaware Democrat who visited here
with other senators over the past week and met with senior
American commanders, said his visit had confirmed his belief
that the increase was long overdue.

Richard A. Oppel Jr. contributed reporting from Mosul for this
article, and Khalid al-Ansary from Baghdad.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

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

11) Introducing a new Policy Report from Foreign Policy In Focus
The Landmine Web
By Colonel Daniel Smith, USA (Ret.)
Peace and Justice News from FPIF
http://www.fpif.org/

December 3, 2004

With the double whammy of the four-day Thanksgiving weekend and
the start of the Christmas shopping crush, little wonder that most
people missed another very important November date: the five-year
review conference on the treaty banning anti-personnel landmines
(also known as the Ottawa Convention) that opened November 28
in Nairobi, Kenya.

As of the conference’s opening, 144 countries had ratified the treaty
(Ethiopia being the latest), eight more had signed but not ratified,
and 42 had refused to sign. The latter two groups present interesting
country “clusters” that revolve around three major powers: China,
Russia, and the United States. And while these three are either at war
or in strained relationships, the other 47 non-ratifiers are not all
similarly encumbered. Yes, a few could be categorized as international
pariahs,
but many of the Pacific Island nations among these 47 are more in
danger from rising ocean levels than from the threat of invasion that
might tempt them to employ landmines.

It may seem a function of size and geography that most of those that
have not signed border on and thereby fall within the sphere of
influence of China and Russia. But in the broader view recent history,
there looms the unmistakable presence of an eminence grise - like
the unseen quasar in a dual star system - that exerts great power:
the United States.

Dan Smith dan@fcnl.org is a military affairs analyst for Foreign Policy
n Focus (online at http://www.fpif.org), a retired U.S. army colonel
and a senior fellow on Military Affairs at the Friends Committee on
National Legislation.

See new FPIF Policy Report online at:
http://www.presentdanger.org/papers/0412landmine.html


With printer friendly PDF version at:
http://www.presentdanger.org/pdf/reports/PR0412landmine.pdf


For related analysis from Foreign Policy In Focus:
Iraq and the U.S. Legacy
By Colonel Daniel Smith, USA (Ret.) (November 26, 2004)
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2004/0411competent.html


Intelligent Intelligence Reform
By Colonel Daniel Smith, USA (Ret.) (November 26, 2004 )
http://www.fpif.org/commentary/2004/0411intel.html


Being “Over There:” Location, Location, Location
By Colonel Daniel Smith, USA (Ret.) (November 11, 2004)
http://www.fpif.org/papers/0411location.html



Produced and distributed by FPIF:“A Think Tank Without Walls,” a
joint program of Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC) and Institute
for Policy Studies (IPS).

For more information, visit http://www.fpif.org .
If you would like to add a name to the “What’s New At FPIF” specific
region or topic list, please email: communications@irc-online.org with
“subscribe” and giving your area of interest.

To add your name to this list, send a blank email to:
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peaceandjustice-unsubscribe@lists.riseup.net.

Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC)
http://www.irc-online.org/
Siri D. Khalsa
Outreach Coordinator
Email: communications@irc-online.org

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

12) Experts Fear Medicare Won't Work for Nursing Home Patients
By ROBERT PEAR
WASHINGTON
December 5, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/health/05nursing.html?hp&ex=1102222800&en=
1db401a693f76ceb&ei=5094&partner=homepage

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 - A wide range of experts on long-term care
express serious concern that the new Medicare law will be
unworkable for most of the 1.5 million Americans who live
in nursing homes.

Nursing home residents take large numbers of prescription drugs,
an average of eight a day. But many have physical disabilities and
brain disorders that impair their memory and judgment. So they
cannot easily shop around for insurance plans to find the best
bargains on their drugs, as other Medicare beneficiaries are
supposed to do.

Federal and state officials, pharmacists and nursing home directors
said they had no idea how these patients would obtain their medicines
under the new program, which begins in January 2006.

"Nobody knows where they're going to get their drugs from," said
Stanton G. Ades, senior vice president of NeighborCare, a company
in Baltimore that supplies drugs to more than 1,500 nursing homes
and assisted living centers in 32 states. The role of such long-term
care pharmacies under the new law is unclear.

One of the homes served by NeighborCare is at Asbury Methodist
Village in Gaithersburg, Md. NeighborCare delivers drugs to the
home two to five times a day. The drugs for 20 patients are kept
in a medication cart with six drawers.

A month's supply of each drug prescribed for each patient is kept
in a separate little box labeled with the patient's name. The cart
has 165 boxes, indicating an average of about eight prescriptions
for each resident. Since each prescription may call for 2 or 3 pills
a day, a patient may be taking 20 to 30 pills a day.

The nurses keep detailed logs that show every pill given to every
patient. NeighborCare, which supplies drugs for all 250 patients
in the home, continually reviews those records to ensure that
patients are taking the right drugs in the proper doses.

By contrast, the new law relies on private health plans to provide
drug benefits to the elderly. Each Medicare beneficiary will have
a choice of two or more government-subsidized plans. Each plan
can establish its own list of approved drugs, known as a formulary,
and its own network of retail pharmacies.

Premiums, generally expected to average $35 a month, can vary
from plan to plan. The premise of the law is that Medicare
beneficiaries will carefully compare these plans and enroll
in the ones that best meet their needs.

Aetna, for example, might offer a Medicare drug plan, dispensing
medications at discounted prices through retail pharmacies
around the country. But the network would not necessarily
include NeighborCare, the supplier at Asbury Village.

Bush administration officials said they were seeking ways to meet
the special needs of nursing home residents and recognized the
value of long-term care pharmacies. Dr. Mark B. McClellan,
administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,
said the administration would insure that beneficiaries had access
to "all medically necessary drugs." Moreover, he said drug plans
cannot "discriminate against any particular type of beneficiaries."
In a preamble to the proposed Medicare rules, the government
said access to such pharmacies "should be preserved," but did
not say how.

Experts on long-term care foresee a number of problems.

"The way it's supposed to work under the new law is totally
confusing," said Joan E. DaVanzo, vice president of the Lewin
Group, which recently received a federal contract to study
pharmacy services in nursing homes. "The mandates of the
law run contrary to the practice of the industry. The law presumes
that Medicare beneficiaries are sophisticated elderly people living
en the community and using retail drugstores."

In fact, more than one-third of nursing home residents have
Alzheimer's disease or another form of dementia, so they cannot
easily compare the costs and benefits of different plans. At least
one-fifth of nursing home patients have difficulty swallowing.
Many receive medications and nutrition through feeding tubes,
so they require drugs in a liquid or crushable form.

Nursing homes can offer information about the new benefit. But
Ann R. Schiff, administrator of the home at Asbury Village, said
they would not counsel patients or recommend specific prescription
drug plans, in part because nursing home employees themselves
might not fully understand the intricacies of the new benefit.

Barbara B. Manard, vice president of the American Association of
Homes and Services for the Aging, which represents 4,000
nonprofit nursing homes, said: "We can hand out brochures.
We can invite speakers to come in. But we don't have the
competence to advise people on choosing an insurance plan.
That's not really our role."

About 1.5 million people live in nursing homes at any given time,
and 3.5 million spend some time in a home in the course of a year.

"We don't have a clue how the system is supposed to work under
the new law," said Laurence F. Lane, vice president of Genesis
HealthCare, which operates 192 nursing homes in 12 states.
"We don't know what will happen on Jan. 1, 2006."

The new Medicare benefit, as envisioned by Congress, will be
delivered by insurance companies and pharmacy benefit managers
like Medco Health Solutions and Express Scripts, through drug stores
like Walgreens and CVS. But the typical retail drugstore or pharmacy
benefit manager has little experience with nursing home residents.

Medco manages drug benefits for 60 million people of all ages. In
an interview, its president, David B. Snow Jr., said none of them were
in nursing homes.

Walgreens operates 4,623 drugstores in 44 states, but a spokesman,
Michael Polzin, said it had no program to supply drugs to nursing homes.

Pharmacists express dismay at the prospect that nursing home
patients will be in different drug plans covering different medicines.

"If nursing homes have to deal with multiple formularies from
multiple prescription drug plans, that will result in chaos and an
increased potential for medication errors," said Thomas R. Clark,
policy director for the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists,
whose 7,000 members specialize in drug care for the elderly.

Two-thirds of nursing residents are on Medicaid, the federal-state
health insurance program for low-income people. Under the new law,
Medicaid coverage of prescription drugs ends on Jan. 1, 2006, when
Medicare drug benefits become available.

Mr. Clark and other experts said the range of drugs covered by
Medicare drug plans would, in most cases, be more limited than
what is available under Medicaid in most states. In any event, the
drugs will be different from those now covered.

Thus, the experts said, doctors will need to write new prescriptions
for hundreds of thousands of nursing home residents, switching
them from the drugs they now take to those approved by Medicare.

Dr. Richard G. Stefanacci, executive director of the Health Policy
Institute at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, said, "If
nursing home residents are faced with restrictive formularies, the
outcomes could be devastating for their health."

Dr. Lynn V. Mitchell, the Oklahoma Medicaid director, said:
"Prescription drug plans will contract with retail pharmacies
to ensure convenient access for Medicare beneficiaries. But
we don't know whether long-term care pharmacies will be
part of those networks."

Claudia Schlosberg, a health care lawyer who used to work at
the Department of Health and Human Services, said: "An entire
industry has developed expertise to meet the pharmaceutical
needs of nursing home residents. We have to find some way to
ensure that it has a role in the new program."

Under the law, Medicare patients may have to pay more when
they use a pharmacy outside the networks of their plans.
"The vast majority of nursing home residents," Ms. Schlosberg
said, "do not have the resources to pay this extra amount."

Long-term-care pharmacies often charge more than community
drugstores because they provide additional services. For example,
they are on call 24 hours a day to make unscheduled deliveries of
urgently needed medications. Without such specialized services,
nursing home executives say, they could not meet stringent
federal health and safety standards, and more patients would have
to be transferred to hospitals for treatment.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

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

13) Rulings in Texas Capital Cases Try Supreme Court's Patience
By ADAM LIPTAK and RALPH BLUMENTHAL
December 5, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/05/national/05texas.html?hp&ex=1102222800&en=
fee7d63623c38e86&ei=5094&partner=homepage

In the past year, the Supreme Court has heard three appeals from
inmates on death row in Texas, and in each case the prosecutors
and the lower courts suffered stinging reversals.

In a case to be argued on Monday, the court appears poised to
deliver another rebuke.

Lawyers for a Texas death row inmate, Thomas Miller-El, will appear
before the justices for the second time in two years. To legal experts,
the Supreme Court's decision to hear his case yet again is a sign of
its growing impatience with two of the courts that handle death
penalty cases from Texas: its highest criminal court, the Court of
Criminal Appeals, and the United States Court of Appeals for the
Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans.

Perhaps as telling is the exasperated language in decisions this
year from a Supreme Court that includes no categorical opponent
of the death penalty. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote in June
that the Fifth Circuit was "paying lip service to principles" of
appellate law in issuing death penalty rulings with "no foundation
in the decisions of this court."

In an unsigned decision in another case last month, the Supreme
Court said the Court of Criminal Appeals "relied on a test we never
countenanced and now have unequivocally rejected." The decision
was made without hearing argument, a move that ordinarily signals
that the error in the decision under review was glaring.

The actions of the two appeals courts that hear capital cases from
Texas help explain why the state leads the nation in executions,
with 336 since 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated, more
than the next five states combined.

In the Miller-El case, appellate lawyers and legal scholars are buzzing
over what they say is the insolence of the Fifth Circuit.

In an 8-to-1 decision last year, the Supreme Court instructed the
appeals court to rethink its "dismissive and strained interpretation"
of the proof in the case, and to consider more seriously the
substantial evidence suggesting that prosecutors had systematically
excluded blacks from Mr. Miller-El's jury. Prosecutors used
peremptory strikes to eliminate 10 out of 11 eligible black jurors,
and they twice used a local procedure called a jury shuffle to move
blacks lower on the list of potential jurors, the decision said.
The jury ultimately selected, which had one black member,
convicted Mr. Miller-El, a black man who is now 53, of killing
a clerk at a Holiday Inn in Dallas in 1985.

Instead of considering much of the evidence recited by the
Supreme Court majority, the appeals court engaged in something
akin to plagiarism. In February, it again rejected Mr. Miller-El's
claims, in a decision that reproduced, virtually verbatim and
without attribution, several paragraphs from the sole dissenting
opinion in last year's Supreme Court decision, written by Justice
Clarence Thomas.

"The Fifth Circuit just went out of its way to defy the Supreme
Court on this," said John J. Gibbons, a former chief judge of the
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, in Philadelphia,
who joined a brief supporting Mr. Miller-El. "The idea that the
system can tolerate open defiance by an inferior court just
cannot stand."

The Supreme Court agrees to hear only about 80 cases each year.
It seldom accepts cases to correct errors in the lower courts and
concentrates instead on resolving conflicts among appeals courts
and announcing broad legal principles. But in recent years the court
has often found itself fixing problems in specific Texas death penalty
cases. Over the last decade, it has ruled against prosecutors in all
six appeals brought by inmates on death row in Texas.

The cases all involved challenges to the fairness of the procedures
used to convict and sentence the defendants rather than arguments
about their innocence.

The two appeals courts handle an enormous number of capital cases
and grant relief in very few. Between 1995 and 2000, the Court of
Criminal Appeals heard direct appeals in 270 death sentences and
reversed eight times, according to a report by the Texas Defender
Service, a nonprofit law firm that represents death row inmates. The
reversal rate - 3 percent - is the lowest of any state. California, which
has a much larger death row, at 635, has executed only 10 people
since 1976, to Texas's 336.

By contrast, a comprehensive study of almost 6,000 death
sentences across the nation over the 20 years ended in 1995
found a 68 percent chance they would be overturned by a state
or federal court.

The Fifth Circuit also reviews Texas death sentences when inmates
file writs of habeas corpus - challenges to unlawful detentions.
The court has 50 or 60 capital cases pending at any given time,
a spokesman said. But in recent years it has very seldom ruled in
favor of prisoners on death row.

The two courts have been resistant to claims involving withheld
evidence, lies told by prosecutors and problems in jury selection,
as in the Miller-El case. But legal scholars say the most intractable
issue involves unusual instructions that were given to Texas juries
from 1989 to 1991.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that those instructions were
unconstitutional. Yet the two appeals courts continued to uphold
the death sentences that resulted from the instructions. Since 1991,
more than 40 of the people in those cases have been executed,
according to Jordan Steiker, a law professor at the University of Texas.

The state appeals court, which considers only criminal cases, is
made up of elected judges, mostly former prosecutors.

The judges on the federal appeals court come from more varied
professional backgrounds and have life tenure. But legal scholars
say that court, once famous for defending civil rights, is now quite
conservative, is burdened with one of the heaviest federal appellate
dockets in the country and shows mounting hostility to death row
inmates and their lawyers.

David R. Dow, a law professor at the University of Houston who
represents death row inmates, said the federal appeals court had
lost its way in capital cases.

"The Fifth Circuit does not understand that it is an inferior tribunal
to the United States Supreme Court, and it acts lawlessly," said
Professor Dow, who was a law clerk to Judge Carolyn Dineen
King of the Fifth Circuit in 1985 and 1986. Referring to the
court's critical role in several historic civil rights cases, he added,
"If it acted this lawlessly in the 1960's, black people and white
people would still be eating at separate lunch counters."

Judge King, who is now the court's chief judge and is widely
considered a political and legal moderate, said Professor Dow's
critique does not apply to all of her court's decisions.

"The only response I would make," she said in an e-mail message,
"is that a broad generalization about the Fifth Circuit's death
penalty decisions indicates to me that the speaker may not have
read all of them. One cannot fairly generalize about those decisions."

Judge Lawrence E. Meyers, a Republican first elected to the Texas
Court of Criminal Appeals in 1992 and its longest-serving member,
said, "From my standpoint being on the court, I've seen it go up
and down, from way too liberal to way too far to the right." Now,
he said, "I feel like we've evened it out."

Although he has dissented in some major cases, including
Monday's 5-to-4 vote to deny a stay of execution to a Texas
woman later given a limited reprieve by the governor, Judge
Meyers said there was no intent to defy the Supreme Court.

"We feel the Supreme Court is changing the rules on us in
midstream," he said. "If they feel we're not getting it, it's
because they're not being clear, but that's just a personal view."

Presiding Judge Sharon Keller, a member since 1995 and
a former assistant district attorney in Dallas, did not respond
to several telephone messages.

A Court of Prosecutors

"The Worst Court in Texas" was the ignominious verdict on the
cover of the November issue of Texas Monthly, the state's
glossy bible of style and politics. The target: the Texas Court
of Criminal Appeals.

Texas is an anomaly - the only state with two separate and
completely equal high courts. One, the Texas Supreme Court,
handles only civil cases. The other, the Court of Criminal Appeals,
hears only criminal cases. Each has nine judges who run for
staggered six-year-terms. Only Oklahoma has a similar
bifurcated appeals court system, but its Supreme Court holds
overall administrative responsibility.

The consequence, some experts say, is a Texas criminal appeals
court largely unleavened by general practitioners and the kind of
top legal talent that fills corporate boardrooms. Indeed, seven of
its nine members are former prosecutors who tend to run on
tough-on-crime-platforms and, critics say, embody the court's
anti-defense bent.

"No one runs for the Court of Criminal Appeals on a platform of
vindicating constitutional rights," said Professor Steiker, the
University of Texas law professor.

But Judge Meyers said there was a benefit to specializing. "It
gives us a chance to be more attuned to criminal matters and
the latest rulings," he said.

The system has allowed unprepared candidates to serve on the
court. In 1994 a tax lawyer, Stephen W. Mansfield, won election
despite admitting during the campaign that he had lied about his
legal experience and biography. While a judge, he was arrested
for scalping complimentary college football tickets (he pleaded
no contest to trespassing) and was accused of animal abuse for
locking his dogs in his car while he sat on the bench. He did not
seek re-election in 2000 but ran again in 2002 and lost.

Embarrassed by that debacle, the state now requires candidates
for the court to gather at least 50 signatures from all 14 appellate
districts.

In another episode widely perceived as an embarrassment, Roy
Criner, a prison inmate serving 99 years for the rape and murder
of a 16-year-old girl that he insisted he had never committed,
successfully petitioned for a DNA test not available during his
trial. The test determined that the semen in the victim was
not his. A second test produced the same result.

The trial court asked the criminal appeals court to order a new trial,
but with Judge Keller prominently in the majority, it voted 6-3
to let the conviction stand. Gov. George W. Bush, then running
for the White House, granted Mr. Criner clemency. "It's pretty bad
when you have to go to Governor Bush for relief," said James
Marcus, executive director of the Texas Defender Service.

Maintaining that the court was not responding to such bad
publicity, another member of the court, Judge Barbara Hervey,
a former San Antonio prosecutor elected in 2000, has been
instrumental in using a $20 million legislative appropriation,
and seeking additional money, to foster a network of "innocence
clinics" at law schools around the state to investigate credible
claims of wrongful conviction. Though the article in Texas
Monthly stung, she said, "We are in the game of justice."

Robert Dawson, a University of Texas law professor working
with Judge Hervey on the innocence project, said he saw the
court "beginning to float back" to more moderate rulings.
Deducing too much from the recent Supreme Court critiques
would be a mistake, he said. "It's like driving down a road and
seeing two cars a mile apart with flats and concluding that the
tire manufacturing industry is in the toilet."

Capital Cases in Volume

A state court largely made up of former prosecutors might
be expected to be skeptical of the claims of death row inmates.
Why federal judges on the Fifth Circuit might share that attitude
is a bit of a mystery, legal scholars said, noting that the judges
are appointed for life, and are generally distinguished and
independent-minded intellectuals.

One explanation is political. Of the court's 16 judges, only
4 were appointed by Democratic presidents.

"The Fifth Circuit has been anything but a liberal court," said
Arthur D. Hellman, a law professor at the University of Pittsburgh
and an expert on the federal courts. "It's probably second only
to the Fourth Circuit," in Richmond, Va., "as a conservative circuit."

"The Fifth Circuit," he added, "seems to be in tune with the
Supreme Court in the broad run of cases."

But not in all cases.

"The one exception," said Eric M. Freedman, a law professor
at Hofstra University, "is in the area of habeas corpus, especially
in death penalty cases. In that area it has been consistently over
the top in inventing rationalizations by which to defend the
indefensible."

"A circuit that 40 years ago was justly famous for implementing
the mandates of the Bill of Rights and the Supreme Court respecting
racial fairness," he said, "is now justly notorious for its outright
refusal to apply fundamental principles of due process to the
criminal justice system."

The court, which hears appeals from Texas, Mississippi and
Louisiana, is by some measures the busiest federal appeals court.
Its judges decided an average of 862 cases each in 2003 - more
than three each business day - compared with a national average
of 459.

In a 1992 speech, Judge King, who had not yet become the court's
chief judge, said the "sheer volume" of cases in the Fifth Circuit "has
had an adverse impact on the number of decisions that we can fairly
claim have been fully considered and understood."

"We cannot devote to more than a few cases a year," she continued,
"the time required for a careful review of a record of any length, for
in-depth research and even for prolonged, thoughtful consideration."

In an e-mail message, Judge King said, "The situation has eased
somewhat since 1992 because the volume of complicated civil
appeals is declining." On the other hand, the judges on the court
in 1992 decided 640 cases each year, or some 200 fewer than they
do today, according to the administrative office of the federal courts.

Other courts make essentially all their death penalty decisions
available for formal publication; in recent years, the Fifth Circuit
has published only 18 percent of such decisions. And its decisions
were on average half the length of capital decisions from other
federal appeals courts.

Appellate lawyers who follow the court's death penalty jurisprudence
say the court is overwhelmed by the number of capital cases, which
may cause it to be hostile to the claims of death row inmates. "You
can't do death in volume," said George H. Kendall, a lawyer with
Holland & Knight in New York who represents Delma Banks Jr.,
a Texas death row inmate.

At times the federal appeals court has been unfathomable to its
critics. Last December, for instance, it considered the last-minute
appeal of Billy Frank Vickers, scheduled to die for the killing of
a grocer in 1993. With the inmate already given his last meal, the
judges deliberated until 9 p.m. and announced they were leaving,
with no decision. Bewildered state prison officials allowed the
death warrant to expire, granting Mr. Vickers a delay. He was
executed six weeks later.

In October, a Houston federal judge granted a last-minute stay
to Dominique Green, but the state appealed. The Fifth Circuit
then gave defense lawyers less than half an hour to file their
response, Professor Dow said. A rushed brief was e-mailed to
the court and turned down. The Supreme Court also rejected
a stay, and Mr. Green was executed that night.

Instructing Jurors to Lie

Much of the tension between the Supreme Court and the two
lower courts is rooted in the instructions given to juries in
Texas from 1989 to 1991.

Three Texas death penalty cases heard by the Supreme Court
in the last four years have concerned those instructions.

From 1976, when the death penalty was reinstated, until 1989,
Texas juries were generally asked only two questions at the
sentencing phase of a capital trial: Was the killing deliberate?
Does the defendant pose a danger to others? If the jurors
unanimously answered yes to both, the judge was required
to impose a death sentence.

In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that the Texas procedure
was flawed because it did not allow the jury to consider
mitigating evidence that might cause it to spare the defendant's
life. But the Texas Legislature did not revise the procedure
until 1991.

In the meantime, Texas judges adopted ad hoc instructions that
retained the two questions but also told jurors that they could
falsely answer "no" to one or both questions if they thought the
mitigating evidence was strong enough.

In 2001, the Supreme Court held that instructing a juror to lie was
unconstitutional. "It would have been both logically and ethically
impossible for a juror to follow both sets of instructions," Justice
O'Connor wrote.

But the Fifth Circuit and the Court of Criminal Appeals continued
to uphold death sentences imposed under the unconstitutional
procedure, saying that some juries considering some mitigating
evidence actually could have followed the seemingly inconsistent
instructions.

Indeed, in 2003 the entire Fifth Circuit reaffirmed that approach
in a case against Mark Robertson, convicted in 1991 of murdering
a store clerk, a friend and the friend's grandmother. He was
sentenced to death for the last killing. Judge Edith H. Jones,
writing for the majority, said the Supreme Court's 2001 decision
was meant to apply only to some cases in which the instructions
had been used.

Two dissenting judges said the court was simply refusing to
follow the instructions of the Supreme Court. "I am amazed,"
wrote one, Judge Harold R. DeMoss Jr., that the majority "would
have the audacity to turn around and reach the same result the
Supreme Court just vacated."

The Supreme Court declined without comment to hear the case
again. The Court of Criminal Appeals then stayed Mr. Robertson's
execution and has not yet ruled on his case.

In June, though, the Supreme Court returned to the subject, in
even more explicit language in the case of Robert Tennard, convicted
of killing a neighbor in Houston in 1985. The Fifth Circuit's approach,
Justice O'Connor wrote in the decision for the 6-to-3 majority, "has
no foundation in the decisions of this court."

Still, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals appeared not to have
heard the message, and the Supreme Court addressed the topic
in another case in November. The criminal appeals court relied on
"precisely the same 'screening test' we held constitutionally
inadequate" in the June decision, the decision said.

In the Miller-El case, too, which will be argued for a second time
on Monday, there is reason to expect a firm response from the court.

Mr. Miller-El, who has been on death row since 1986, contends
that prosecutors violated his constitutional rights by excluding
blacks from his jury.

Writing for the majority in the Supreme Court's 8-to-1 decision
last year, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy discussed evidence that
prosecutors had acted improperly. Among other things, he noted,
prosecutors questioned black potential jurors more aggressively
about their views on the death penalty than they did white jurors.

Only Justice Thomas dissented from the decision, saying that none
of the factors cited by Justice Kennedy "presented anything remotely
resembling clear and convincing evidence of purposeful discrimination."

Mr. Miller-El, Justice Thomas wrote, "ignores the fact that of the
10 whites who expressed opposition to the death penalty, eight
were struck for cause or removed by agreement, meaning no
'manipulative' script was necessary to get them removed."

The Fifth Circuit's decision in February, which ruled against
Mr. Miller-El, echoed that and many other statements in Justice
Thomas's dissent. "Of the 10 non-black" potential jurors "who
expressed opposition to the death penalty," the decision said,
"eight were struck for cause or by agreement, meaning no
'manipulative' script was necessary to get them removed."

Judge DeMoss, the author of the Fifth Circuit decision, declined
to discuss it.

Professor Dow said he was still skeptical that the two appeals
courts would follow the directions of the Supreme Court. "We're
coming up on 25 executions this year," he said. "They get away
with it most of this time. They appear not to be chastened when
they do not get away with it."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

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

14) Don't Let Banks Turn Their Backs on the Poor
By ROBERT E. RUBIN and MICHAEL RUBINGER
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
December 4, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/04/opinion/04rubin.html

FOR more than 25 years, a little known federal law has helped low-income
communities get the bank loans and services they need to rebuild their
neighborhoods. But that law, the Community Reinvestment Act, is
being threatened by proposals from two federal bank regulators.

Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act in 1977 as a
response to the practice of redlining - the refusal by banks to
extend loans or banking services in poor, and predominantly
minority, urban areas. Today, the law is equally important to
distressed rural communities. In low-income areas throughout
the United States, this law - which encourages banks to serve
low-income communities in their markets - has increased
homeownership and small-business growth, enabling the
revitalization of entire communities. Under the act, regulators
consider reinvestment performance when a bank seeks permission
to expand or merge. Since its inception, the law has prompted
banks to channel more than $1 trillion into reinvestment projects
- without requiring a single dollar of Congressional spending.

Now, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, one of four
agencies responsible for enforcing the act, is proposing to
relax enforcement of the law at almost 1,000 banks. The Federal
Office of Thrift Supervision, another overseer of the law, has
already finalized a similar proposal for savings and loans institutions.
These new rules may be the first step in an effort - long pursued
by some in Congress - to dismantle the act, piece by piece.

Under the law now, banks with assets of more than $250 million
undergo full periodic reviews of their lending, services and
investments in low-income communities. At smaller banks,
examiners limit their review to lending practices only.

The F.D.I.C. proposal would raise the asset level for this limited
scrutiny to $1 billion, making many fewer banks fully accountable.
The F.D.I.C. claims that the new rule is aimed at reducing the
regulatory burden on banks. The Federal Reserve Board and the
Comptroller of the Currency, the law's other two enforcers,
have not proposed new rules.

But there is a real question as to whether changing the rule
would result in any meaningful savings for banks. And communities
will suffer if enforcement is curtailed, because the act has been
working. A Treasury report presented in 2000 to the Congress
concludes that mortgage lending to low- and moderate-income
borrowers and areas rose substantially in the 1990's.

The capital made available under the act has helped to rebuild
entire communities - in rural Maine as well as in the South Bronx.
At the same time, banks have learned that lending, investing and
providing basic services in low-income communities can be good
business. A 2002 Harvard University study found that the law
significantly changed the way banks do business in and relate to
the communities they serve. As a result, the report stated, "The
lower-income mortgage market has become demonstrably
mainstream and more competitive over the last decade." The
Federal Reserve Board, too, has deemed this lending to be safe
and profitable.

Low-income families can be part of the mainstream economy only
if they can buy homes, start businesses and live in stable, vibrant
communities. If the United States is to compete globally, we need
everyone to contribute. In these uncertain economic times, keeping
the Community Reinvestment Act strong is in the interest of all
Americans.

Robert E. Rubin,a director of Citigroup who was Treasury secretary
from 1995 to 1999, is the chairman and Michael Rubinger is the
president of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a community
development support group.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

posted 1:19 PM  0 comments

STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH, 5:00 P.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F.

NEXT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR MEETING:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 7:00 p.m.
1380 Valencia Street
(Between 24th & 25th Streets, S.F.)

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

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
(Check the newspaper for showtime and ticket price.)
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)

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

San Francisco's Prop N calling on the US Gov to
Bring Our Troops Home from Iraq won by over 63%.
To find out how you can pass a similar proposition in
your town go to:

www.bringourtroopshomenow.org

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


1) Fallujah Refugees Tell of Life and Death in the Kill Zone
The NewStandard
December 03, 2004
by Dahr Jamail
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com -
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **

2) Violence in Baghdad Kills at Least 25 Iraqis
By Mussab al-Khairalla
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Fri Dec 3, 2004 08:42 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6989407&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

3) Job Growth Is Well Below Wall Street Forecasts
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/03/business/03cnd-jobs.html?hp&ex=1102136400&
en=f64e15ce0acaa303&ei=5094&partner=homepage

4) NEWS: Evidence gained by torture can justify holding
Guantanamo prisoners
forever, Justice Dept. official says
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=321015

5) America's super-rich look forward to a merry Christmas
By Rick Kelly
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS :News & Analysis :North America
3 December 2004
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/rich-d03_prn.shtml

6) The Number Wall St. Crunches the Most [executive bonuses]
By JENNY ANDERSON
and LANDON THOMAS Jr.
November 29, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/29/business/29wall.html?oref=login

7) Sometimes justice prevails!
An enemy of the state
George Galloway
The Guardian
Friday December 3, 2004
gallowayg@parliament.uk

8) URGENT: Send Humanitarian Aid to Iraq

9) Subject: Take Action to Terminate Plutonium Activities at
Livermore nuclear weapons lab
-----Original Message-----
From: Tara Dorabji [mailto:tara@trivalleycares.org]
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 5:00 PM

10) Protest the Inauguration of George W. Bush
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
January 20, 2005: Our Resistance Continues!

11) TAKE ACTION AGAINST CBS AND NBC FOR REFUSING TO AIR
GAY-INCLUSIVE ADS
From: Advocacy [mailto:advocacy@familypride.org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 5:27 PM
Important News from the Family Pride Coalition
GREETINGS FROM THE FAMILY PRIDE COALITION!

12) Freedom Suppressed on Chicago Subways
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
South End Press
Press Release.....
Cambridge, MA Dec 02, 2004

13) How the Workers are Robbed
Who produces the wealth and who gains most from its
production? In a pamphlet written 97 years ago, John Wheatley
described an imaginary court case, with a coalmaster,
a landowner and several others being charged with "having
conspired together and robbed an old miner, Dick McGonnagle."


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

1) Fallujah Refugees Tell of Life and Death in the Kill Zone
The NewStandard
December 03, 2004
by Dahr Jamail
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com -
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **

*Journalists and residents who have fled Fallujah share accounts of US
troops killing unarmed and wounded people; Dahr Jamail continues
interviewing survivors as images of a city under US assault further emerge.*

Baghdad , Dec 3 - Men now seeking refuge in the Baghdad area are telling
horrific stories of indiscriminate killings by US forces during the peak
of fighting last month in the largely annihilated city of Fallujah.

In an interview with The NewStandard, Burhan Fasa'a, an Iraqi journalist
who works for the popular Lebanese satellite TV station, LBC, said he
witnessed US crimes up close. Burhan Fasa'a, who was in Fallujah for
nine days during the most intense combat, said Americans grew easily
frustrated with Iraqis who could not speak English.

"Americans did not have interpreters with them," Fasa'a said, "so they
entered houses and killed people because they didn't speak English. They
entered the house where I was with 26 people, and [they] shot people
because [the people] didn't obey [the soldiers'] orders, even just
because the people couldn't understand a word of English."

A man named Khalil, who asked The NewStandard not to use his last name
for fear of reprisals, said he had witnessed the shooting of civilians
who were waving white flags while they tried to escape the city.
Fasa'a further speculated, "Soldiers thought the people were rejecting
their orders, so they shot them. But the people just couldn't understand
them."

Fasa'a says American troops detained him. They interrogated him
specifically about working for the Arab media, he said, and held him for
three days. Fasa'a and other prisoners slept on the ground with no
blankets. He said prisoners were made to go to the bathroom in
handcuffs, using one toilet in the middle of the camp.

"During the nine days I was in Fallujah, all of the wounded women, kids
and old people, none of them were evacuated," Fasa'a said. "They either
suffered to death, or somehow survived."

Many refugees tell stories of having witnessed US troops killing already
injured people, including former fighters and noncombatants alike.

"I watched them roll over wounded people in the street with tanks," said
Kassem Mohammed Ahmed, a resident of Fallujah. "This happened so many
times."

Other refugees recount similar stories. "I saw so many civilians killed
there, and I

saw several tanks roll over the wounded in the streets," said Aziz
Abdulla, 27 years old, who fled the fighting last month. Another
resident, Abu Aziz, said he also witnessed American armored vehicles
crushing people he believes were alive.

Abdul Razaq Ismail, another resident who fled Fallujah, said: "I saw
dead bodies on the ground and nobody could bury them because of the
American snipers. The Americans were dropping some of the bodies into
the Euphrates near Fallujah."

A man called Abu Hammad said he witnessed US troops throwing Iraqi
bodies into the Euphrates River. Others nodded in agreement. Abu Hammed
and others also said they saw Americans shooting unarmed Iraqis who
waved white flags.

Believing that American and Iraqi forces were bent on killing anyone who
stayed in Fallujah, Hammad said he watched people attempt to swim across
the Euphrates to escape the siege. "Even then 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."

Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein reported witnessing similar
events. After running out of basic necessities and deciding to flee the
city at the height of the US-led assault, Hussein ran to the Euphrates.

"I decided to swim," Hussein told colleagues at the AP, who wrote up the
photographer's harrowing story, "but I changed my mind after seeing US
helicopters firing on and killing people who tried to cross the river."


Hussein said he saw soldiers kill a family of five as they tried to
traverse the Euphrates, before he buried a man by the riverbank with his
bare hands.


"I kept walking along the river for two hours and I could still see some
US snipers ready to shoot anyone who might swim," Hussein recounted. "I
quit the idea of crossing the river and walked for about five hours
through orchards."

A man named Khalil, who asked The NewStandard not to use his last name
for fear of reprisals, said he had witnessed the shooting of civilians
who were waving white flags while they tried to escape the city. "They
shot women and old men in the streets," he said. "Then they shot anyone
who tried to get their bodies."

"There are bodies the Americans threw in the river," Khalil continued,
noting that he personally witnessed US troops using the Euphrates to
dispose of Iraqi dead. "And anyone who stayed thought they would be
killed by the Americans, so they tried to swim across the river. Even
people who couldn't swim tried to cross the river. They drowned rather
than staying to be killed by the Americans," said Khalil.

US military commanders reported at least two incidents during which they
say Iraqi resistance fighters used white flags to lure Marines into
dangerous situations, including a well-orchestrated ambush.

Proponents of relaxed rules of engagement for US troops engaged in
"counter-insurgency" warfare have cited such incidents from last month's
experience in Fallujah as arguments for more permissive combat
regulations. Some have said US forces should establish what used to be
called "free-fire zones," wherein any human being encountered is assumed
to be hostile, and thus a legitimate target, relieving American
infantrymen of their obligation to distinguish and protect civilians.
But if the stories Fallujan witnesses have shared with TNS are accurate,
it appears the policy might have preceded the argument in this case.

US and Iraqi officials have called the "pacification" of Fallujah a
success and said that the action was necessary to stabilize Iraq in
preparation for the country's planned "transition to democracy." The
military continues to deny US-led forces killed significant numbers of
civilians during November's nearly constant fighting and bombardment.

(c) 2004 The NewStandard. See our reprint policy.
www.newstandardnews.net

More writing, photos and commentary at http://dahrjamailiraq.com

You can visit http://dahrjamailiraq.com/email_list/
to subscribe or unsubscribe to the email list.

(c)2004 Dahr Jamail.
All images and text are protected by United States and international
copyright law. If you would like to reprint Dahr's Dispatches on the
web, you need to include this copyright notice and a prominent link
to the DahrJamailIraq.com website. Any other use of images and text
including, but not limited to, reproduction, use on another website,
copying and printing requires the permission of Dahr Jamail. Of course,
feel free to forward Dahr's dispatches via email.

Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches

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

2) Violence in Baghdad Kills at Least 25 Iraqis
By Mussab al-Khairalla
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
Fri Dec 3, 2004 08:42 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6989407&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide car bomber plowed into a
Shi'ite mosque in Baghdad after dawn prayers on Friday, killing
14 people and stoking fears that sectarian divisions over when
to hold elections could unleash further bloodshed.

In a second dawn attack in the capital, guerrillas fired
mortars at a police station near the notorious airport road in
the southwest of Baghdad and then stormed the building, hunting
down and shooting the occupants. At least eleven policemen were
killed and six wounded, survivors of the attack said.

Witnesses to the mosque attack, in the staunchly Sunni
northern neighborhood of Aadhamiya, said the car bomb followed
an initial blast believed to have been caused by a mortar.

"The first blast happened just as worshippers were leaving
the mosque after dawn prayers. Everyone in the area rushed to
help them," said a local sweeping up broken glass in his
garden. "Then a few minutes later, a car blew up the whole
crowd."

The twisted wreckage of destroyed cars littered the street
and locals tried to mop up pools of blood with pieces of cloth.

During the assault on the police station, the attackers set
free around 50 prisoners and set two police pickup trucks
ablaze. Clouds of thick, dark smoke poured into the air.

In an Internet statement, the guerrilla group led by
Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claimed
responsibility for the attack.

"The lions of al Qaeda in Iraq attacked the headquarters of
the apostates who sold their religion, honor and land ... and
attacked the Seydiya police station, killing everyone inside
except for two who fled," the statement said.

A U.S. soldier was also killed by a roadside bomb near the
northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Friday, the American military
said. At least 990 U.S. military and Pentagon personnel have
been killed in action since the start of the war in Iraq.

ELECTIONS UNDER THREAT

Guerrillas trying to drive out U.S.-led troops and
overthrow the American-backed government of Prime Minister Iyad
Allawi have mounted repeated attacks on Iraqi security forces,
targeting police stations and checkpoints with suicide bombs
and kidnapping and killing scores of police and National Guard.

In Mosul last month, insurgents stormed several police
stations, looting them of weapons and equipment. Most police in
the city deserted their posts and fled. More than 60 bodies
have also been found dumped in Mosul, believed to be Iraqi
soldiers and National Guardsmen abducted and killed by gunmen.

The violence threatens to derail Iraq's first democratic
elections in decades, scheduled for Jan. 30. The U.S. military
has acknowledged that insurgent violence will intensify as the
poll approaches and has announced it will increase its troop
strength in Iraq to 150,000 -- the highest ever figure.

Many among Iraq's 20 percent Sunni Arab minority -- from
which the insurgency draws the core of its support -- have
called for a delay in the elections, saying that violence in
Sunni areas will prevent the polls being free and fair.

Sunni Arabs, who dominated Iraq during the rule of Saddam,
fear they will be marginalised in the new Iraq, as the 60
percent Shi'ite majority exercises its newfound political clout.

Shi'ites, however, insist the elections should go ahead on
time, arguing that any delay would be a surrender to terrorism.
Iraq's Kurds in the north say they are ready for elections, but
would accept a delay if others wanted it.

COALITION FRAYS

Several Sunni Arab parties say they will boycott the
elections if they go ahead on time.

In contrast, Shi'ites and Kurds are already planning how
they can maximize their gains from the elections. Most Shi'ite
parties plan an alliance to contest the election on a single
slate, so that the Shi'ite vote is not split. The main Kurdish
parties have already made a similar agreement.

Shi'ite and Kurdish politicians have been urging voters to
register and prepare for the polls. But in several Sunni areas,
voter registration has not even got under way. Guerrillas have
intimidated election officials and told merchants they will be
killed if they distribute voter registration forms.

Some Sunni politicians warn that if the elections go ahead
but with many Sunnis unable or unwilling to participate, the
insurgency in Iraq will only worsen.

In Germany, where Allawi is visiting for talks with
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, police arrested three Iraqis in
anti-terror raids across several cities. A police spokesman
said the raids were linked to Allawi's visit but it was too
early to say whether they had been planning an attack.

In another blow to U.S. efforts to keep other nations
involved in policing Iraq, Ukraine's parliament asked outgoing
President Leonid Kuchma to withdraw Ukraine's contingent of
about 1,600 soldiers from Iraq.

The move follows Hungary's decision last month to pull out
its troops and complicates Poland's plans to substantially
reduce its presence after Iraq holds parliamentary elections
early in 2005. Poland leads a multinational division in central
Iraq that includes Ukrainian and Hungarian troops.

The Polish-led division also included Spanish troops before
Madrid's anti-war Socialist government took power last May and
ordered the withdrawal of their troops. Thai and Filipino troops
who were part of the division have also returned home.
(Additional reporting by Ghaida Ghantous in Dubai and Mark
Trevelyan in Berlin)

(c) Reuters 2004

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

3) Job Growth Is Well Below Wall Street Forecasts
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/03/business/03cnd-jobs.html?hp&ex=1102136400&
en=f64e15ce0acaa303&ei=5094&partner=homepage

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 - The economy added 112,000 payroll jobs
in November, the Labor Department reported today, far fewer than
the month before and not enough to keep up with growth in the adult
population.

The gain was well below Wall Street forecasts for an increase of about
200,000 jobs, and employment in manufacturing remained stagnant
for the third month in a row.

The overall unemployment rate slipped to 5.4 percent last month
from 5.5 percent in October, the Labor Department said. The
jobless rate has essentially been flat since July.

Bond investors immediately reacted to the disappointing report
by pushing up prices of Treasury securities, on the expectation
that economic growth will be more moderate and that interest rates
will be under less pressure to climb. As a result, the dollar fell sharply
against other currencies and hit another record low against the euro.

"The economy is adding jobs, but not at a feverish pace," said
Richard Yamarone, chief economist at Argus Research, an economic
research firm in New York. "Economic growth is not expanding at
a pace that can engender stellar job growth, and I think you have
to get used to these kinds of numbers."

But analysts said the broader picture suggests that the economy
is still poised for moderate growth and modest gains in employment
over the next year.

So far this year, the economy has added more than 1.5 million jobs,
at an average pace of about 178,000 jobs a month since September.

Economists estimate that the nation needs to generate about 150,000
jobs a month to keep up with growth in the nation's population.

Though employment has climbed at nearly that pace over the past
year, job creation remains far slower since the last recession ended
three years ago than it has after any other economic recovery since
World War II.

Month-to-month changes in payroll employment are notoriously
volatile and defy the consensus forecasts on Wall Street more
often than not.

Analysts were stunned last month when the Labor Department
reported that payroll employment surged by 337,000 jobs in
October and that job gains in August and September were higher
than previously thought.

Today, the Labor Department revised down its October estimate
to 303,000 jobs. But analysts said even that number was exaggerated
by special events and statistical issues.

"October now clearly stands as an outlier, partly thanks to the
hurricane effect and partly, we think, to plain old sampling error,"
wrote Ian Shepherdson, chief United States economist at High
Frequency Economics in Valhalla, N.Y.

The department also reduced September's estimate to 119,000
jobs from 139,000.

On Wall Street this afternoon, the benchmark 10-year Treasury
note was up more than a point in price, while its yield dropped to
4.27 percent, from 4.41 percent late Thursday. With the dollar
weakened by the decline in interest rates, the euro surged to
a record $1.3461, from $1.3270 late Thursday.

Stocks, meanwhile, showed little change by mid-afternoon.

Despite today's bond market rally, the new jobs data is unlikely
to deter the Federal Reserve from raising its short-term benchmark
interest rate another quarter-point, to 2.25 percent, at its next
policy meeting on Dec. 14. The Fed has been raising rates since
June at what the central bank calls a "measured pace," and officials
have given no hint that they are ready to pause in that process.
Indeed, economic growth is likely to exceed 4 percent in 2004,
well above the long-term growth rate, and the "real" interest rates
are below zero after subtracting the effects of inflation.

Most economists have pared back their forecasts for 2005, with
many predicting that growth will slow to a little more than 3 percent.
High energy prices are expected to be part of the reason, along with
rising interest rates and a long-expected moderation in consumer
spending. But the United States also faces inflationary pressures
from the continued availability of cheap money, high energy prices
and the dropping value of the dollar.

Fed officials appear divided between those worried about
inflationary pressures and those who see weakness in the
economy. But even those worried about sluggish growth seem
prepared to go along with additional rate hikes for the moment.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

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

4) NEWS: Evidence gained by torture can justify holding
Guantanamo prisoners
forever, Justice Dept. official says
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=321015



[Soon the Department of Justice will
have to be renamed -- or perhaps folded
into the Department of Homeland Security.
-- In another shocking indication
of what notion of law and due process
now prevails there, U.S. District Court
Judge Richard J. Leon heard Principal
Deputy Associate Attorney General Brian
Boyle argue that Guantánamo prisoners
can be kept in prison for life based
solely on evidence obtained by torture.
-- Such a position reverses existing
U.S. law and is an outrage to the
fundamental values of the United States. --
Or, given the revelation that the Red
Cross has discovered the U.S. has
devised new and sophisticated methods
of torture that leave no marks on the
human body, perhaps we should begin
speaking of the former
fundamental values of the United States.
-- Thanks to Tim Smith for
sending this. --Mark]

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/1841/

U.S. MILITARY SAYS EVIDENCE GAINED BY TORTURE IS ACCEPTABLE
By Michael J. Sniffen

Associated Press
December 3, 2004

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=321015

WASHINGTON -- Evidence gained by
torture can be used by the U.S. military in
deciding whether to imprison a foreigner
indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba,
as an enemy combatant, the government concedes.

Statements produced under torture
have been inadmissible in U.S. courts for
about 70 years. But the U.S. military
panels reviewing the detention of 550
foreigners as enemy combatants at the
U.S. naval base in Cuba are allowed to
use such evidence, Principal Deputy
Associate Attorney General Brian Boyle
acknowledged at a U.S. District Court hearing Thursday.

Some of the prisoners have filed lawsuits
challenging their detention without
charges for up to three years so far.
At the hearing, Boyle urged District
Judge Richard J. Leon to throw their cases out.

Attorneys for the prisoners argued
that some were held solely on evidence
gained by torture, which they said
violated fundamental fairness and U.S. due
process standards. But Boyle argued
in a similar hearing Wednesday that the
detainees "have no constitutional rights enforceable in this court."

Leon asked whether a detention
based solely on evidence gathered by torture
would be illegal, because "torture is illegal.
We all know that."

Boyle replied that if the military's
combatant status review tribunals
"determine that evidence of questionable
provenance were reliable, nothing in
the due process clause (of the Constitution)
prohibits them from relying on
it."

Leon asked whether there were any
restrictions on using torture- induced
evidence.

Boyle replied that the United States
never would adopt a policy that would
have barred it from acting on evidence
that could have prevented the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks even if the data
came from questionable practices like
torture by a foreign power.

Several arguments underlie the U.S.
court ban on products of torture.

"About 70 years ago, the Supreme
Court stopped the use of evidence produced by
third-degree tactics largely on the
theory that it was totally unreliable,"
Harvard Law Professor Philip B. Heymann,
a former deputy U.S. attorney
general, said in an interview.
Subsequent high court rulings were based on
revulsion at "the unfairness and brutality
of it and later on the idea that
confessions ought to be free and uncompelled."

Leon asked whether U.S. courts could
review detentions based on evidence from
torture conducted by U.S. personnel.

Boyle said torture was against U.S.
policy and any allegations of it would be
"forwarded through command channels
for military discipline." He added, "I
don't think anything remotely like
torture has occurred at Guantanamo" but
noted that some U.S. soldiers there had
been disciplined for misconduct,
including a female interrogator who
removed her blouse during questioning.

The International Committee of the Red
Cross said Tuesday it has given the
Bush administration a confidential report
critical of U.S. treatment of
Guantanamo detainees. The *New York
Times* reported the Red Cross described
the psychological and physical coercion
used at Guantanamo as "tantamount to
torture."

The combatant status review tribunals
comprise three colonels and lieutenant
colonels. They were set up after the
Supreme Court ruled in June that the
detainees could ask U.S. courts to see
to it they had a proceeding in which to
challenge their detention. The panels
have reviewed 440 of the prisoners so
far but have released only one.

The military also set up an annual
administrative review which considers
whether the detainee still presents
a danger to the United States but doesn't
review enemy combatant status.
Administrative reviews have been completed for
161.

Boyle argued these procedures are
sufficient to satisfy the high court.

Noting that detainees cannot have
lawyers at the combatant status review
proceedings and cannot see any secret
evidence against them, detainee attorney
Wes Powell argued "there is no meaningful
opportunity in the (proceedings) to
rebut the government's claims."

Leon suggested that if federal judges
start reviewing the military's evidence
for holding foreign detainees there
could be "practical and collateral
consequences . . . at a time of war."

And he suggested an earlier Supreme
Court ruling might limit judges to
checking only on whether detention
orders were lawfully issued and review
panels were legally established.

Leon and Judge Joyce Hens Green, who
held a similar hearing Wednesday, said
they would try to rule soon on whether
the 59 detainees may proceed with their
lawsuits.

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

5) America's super-rich look forward to a merry Christmas
By Rick Kelly
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS :News & Analysis :North America
3 December 2004
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/rich-d03_prn.shtml

America's corporate elite is preparing to reward itself with another
round of massive end-of-year bonuses. For the ultra-wealthy, these
multimillion-dollar payouts are considered an appropriate and well
deserved reward for another profitable year of operations.

A report in the New York Times on Monday noted that the Christmas
bonuses for Wall Street's executives, bankers and traders are expected
to be 10 to 15 percent higher than those of last year. These bonuses
now typically constitute the bulk of a Wall Street professional's earnings.

"In 2003, Lloyd S. Blankfein, the president and chief operating officer
of Goldman Sachs made $20.1 million; only $600,000 of that was
salary," the Times explained. "Similarly, E. Stanley O'Neal, the chief
executive of Merrill Lynch, made $500,000 in salary, but received
a bonus of $13.5 million and restricted stock worth $11.2 million
more."

So-called "superstar" traders and investment bankers are also in
line for lucrative bonuses. These are individuals who have generated
revenue for their firms of more than $25 million this year, through
the trading of stocks, commodities and bonds. Wall Street's
"superstars" can expect to receive bonuses of $5-15 million.

These payments underscore the extent to which the fortunes of
the upper echelon of the corporate world have become divorced
from the trajectory of the real economy. The process of determining
bonuses, the Times noted, is "harrowingly subjective" and "highly
political." "It's campaign season on Wall Street," an unnamed top
executive told the newspaper.

Bankers and traders are now engaged in furtive efforts to secure
the largest possible bonuses. They tell their employers that other
companies have been offering them huge salaries if they switch
sides, and offer exaggerated accounts of the lucrative deals and
trades they have cut for their companies over the past 12 months.
("When you add everyone's numbers, you have more revenues
than the entire investment bank," a global head of trading at
a major Wall Street firm declared.)

One cannot help but be disgusted by this squalid spectacle.
For these individuals, already multimillionaires, the scramble
to maximize their payout is largely driven by the concern for
status and prestige within a milieu that exalts wealth and
excess above all else.

Meanwhile, millions of ordinary American families will
struggle to even afford a decent Christmas dinner. Hundreds
of thousands of people have lost their jobs this year, and millions
more live under the threat of unemployment. Even for those with
jobs, rising fuel and food prices have made it increasingly difficult
to get by.

An examination of executive bonuses highlights the inefficiency
and irrationality of contemporary corporate America. Not only
are hundreds of millions of dollars skimmed off companies'
revenues to further enrich a tiny elite, but countless hours are
also spent calculating exactly how this misdirection of assets
should be carried out. The Times noted that it is not unusual for
a chief executive officer to devote six hours a day to compensation
and bonus issues.

Merck executives rewarded for gross incompetence

The incredible waste created through the anarchy of the profit
system was also demonstrated this week in the case of the crisis
-ridden pharmaceutical company, Merck. In an extraordinary
decision, the company's board decided that its top 230 executives
and managers will be entitled to huge payouts if another
corporation takes over Merck, or even buys 20 percent of
its shares.

Any manager who is retrenched or resigns within two years
of a takeover or a 20 percent buyout will receive a payment
equivalent to three years of salary and bonuses. Executives
will also be able to immediately exercise their stock options
and restricted stock grants.

Raymond V. Gilmartin, Merck's chairman, president and chief
executive officer, received almost $20 million in compensation
in 2003. He also has unexercised stock options from previous
years valued at more than $47 million.

Merck has been in crisis ever since the withdrawal of its arthritis
treatment, Vioxx, from the market on September 30. The recall
was instigated after conclusive evidence emerged that the drug
greatly increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The
withdrawal began only after some 80 million prescriptions were
filled around the world.

Shareholders have seen the value of their stock fall by 40
percent since the withdrawal of Vioxx. The latest crisis has only
compounded the company's longstanding problems, which have
resulted in its share price declining by a total of 70 percent over
the past four years.

The company also faces the threat of federal investigation and
thousands of potentially crippling civil suits. There is significant
evidence suggesting that Merck knew about the dangers of Vioxx
years before its withdrawal from the market. Dr. David Graham,
associate director for science and medicine with the Food and
Drug Administration, recently told the Senate that the drug has
probably caused between 88,000 and 139,000 heart attacks,
of which up to 40 percent were fatal.

The weakened state of the company has left it vulnerable to
takeover. The falling value of the US dollar relative to the euro
has further increased the likelihood of a bid from a European
drug company, such as GlaxoSmithKline or Novartis.

None of Merck's executives have been or will be held responsible
for their disastrous tenure. Faced with the threat of being retrenched
in the event of a takeover, they have simply changed the rules to
ensure that any corporate buyout will actually work in their favor.
Ordinary workers at Merck, who earn a tiny fraction of what the
company's senior executives earn, will receive no benefits should
they lose their jobs.

The Merck case demonstrates that the corporate world has
largely abandoned any conception that the remuneration of
senior executives should be tied to the performance of their
companies. The Enron and WorldCom scandals were less
aberrations than they were case studies in how America's
largest companies are increasingly used as little more than
slush funds by the corporate elite.

A tiny layer has amassed wealth at a rate unprecedented in
modern American history, and as a result, the level of social
inequality has developed to a critical and unsustainable level.
The gulf that now separates the mass of working people from
the ruling elite is the objective basis upon which standard
democratic norms are rapidly breaking down.

Copyright 1998-2004
World Socialist Web Site
All rights reserved

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

6) The Number Wall St. Crunches the Most [executive bonuses]
By JENNY ANDERSON
and LANDON THOMAS Jr.
November 29, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/29/business/29wall.html?oref=login

The holiday season has arrived and with it the ultimate in year-end
giving, bonus season on Wall Street.

Top executives of the leading financial firms are now spending
hours each day huddled in boardrooms or trapped on endless
conference calls, sparring among themselves to determine how
big the bonus pool will be, how it will be divided among the
divisions and, then, what each employee will receive.

The executives complain privately about the time that must be
spent on compensating their highly paid professionals at the
expense of calling on clients, recruiting talent or talking to
shareholders.

"It is brain damage any way you cut it," said the chief executive
of one firm, who spoke on the condition he not be identified
because compensation is such a sensitive topic on Wall Street.

Nonetheless, the year-end bonus is an unquestioned tradition
on Wall Street. Bonuses typically make up the majority of
compensation for professional employees. In 2003, Lloyd S.
Blankfein, the president and chief operating officer of Goldman
Sachs made $20.1 million; only $600,000 of that was salary.
Similarly, E. Stanley O'Neal, the chief executive of Merrill Lynch ,
made $500,000 in salary, but received a bonus of $13.5 million
and restricted stock worth $11.2 million more.

An investment banking analyst right out of college, would have
made a $65,000 salary and a $35,000 bonus. An associate just
out of business school, might have made $85,000 in salary and
a $115,000 bonus.

This year, bonuses for investment bankers are expected to rise
10 percent to 15 percent from last year, Wall Street executives
and compensation experts say. While that is a fairly sharp rise,
it comes off a lower base. Fixed-income traders, who have done
better in recent years, are expected to see smaller rises in their
bonuses. But a successful fixed-income trader is now making
over all more than $1.5 million - what a top investment banker
would have reaped in 2000 - while his or her banker counterpart
is probably taking home something closer to $900,000. Bonuses
for equity traders are likely to be either flat or down from last year.

"Remember the Masters of the Universe?" said Alan Johnson,
managing director of Johnson Associates, the compensation
consulting firm. "They are no longer the masters. The bankers
are still making less than they did in 2000, while fixed-income
is making a lot more money."

The process of awarding bonuses is harrowingly subjective, based
on some formula of an individual's performance, the division's
performance and the bank's overall results. It is also highly political.
Employees harangue employers, suggesting that headhunters have
been calling and competitors are planning to pay big numbers.

"It's campaign season on Wall Street," one top executive said.

All the campaigning in the world will probably not change the
results. After a strong first quarter for most Wall Street firms,
executives had predicted a rise of 20 percent to 25 percent in
year-end bonuses. But those expectations have since been
scaled back by two consecutive quarters of slower growth.

"There was a precipitous drop-off in the third quarter, and the
bonus pools are reflective of that," said Michael Franzino,
senior managing partner and chief of global financial services
at the employment search firm Heidrick & Struggles. "Banks
will be somewhat conservative given the current economic
climate."

Bonuses this year are also expected to show that the gap
between the haves and the have-nots - between those who
produce the most revenue and everyone else - is wider than ever.

Since the boom of the late 1990's, the major Wall Street banks
have become more and more dependent on a shrinking breed
of superstar traders and investment bankers, whose wizardly
ways have subsidized a greater number of less profitable peers
and divisions.

"The top-tier producers could well get 40 to 50 percent more
than they did last year," said Stephen Spagnuolo, a headhunter
at Sheffield Haworth who works with Wall Street executives.
"And the strong areas will be fixed income, proprietary and
commodities trading."

Many of these bankers are largely unknown outside their small
financial circles. But to their bosses and rival banks looking to
build banking teams, their names loom large.

Whether they trade commodities at Goldman Sachs or mortgage
-backed bonds at Bear Stearns, these people have produced
anywhere from $25 million to $100 million in revenue for their
firms, banking executives say. These stars will be in a position
to command bonuses of $5 million to $15 million a year. And
if they do not get what they want, they could certainly make
more by moving to a commercial bank eager to offer multiyear
guarantees.

Indeed, even though business is sluggish, there is a hiring
frenzy now for those senior producers who can bring in more
than $25 million in revenue.

The compensation process starts soon after Labor Day and
intensifies through the end of the year. The process is
important for the simple reason that employees are the assets
of a securities firm. And while the prospect of a chief executive
spending as much as six hours a day on compensation issues
may seem unusual, it is all part of the way Wall Street does business.

"A significant amount of time is spent around budget and
bonus," Mr. Franzino of Heidrick & Struggles said. "You don't
want to overpay, but you can't afford to underpay because
of the recruiting environment."

Total compensation is the single largest expense item for
securities firms, according to the Securities Industry Association.

This bonus season, traders will again take home a bigger
share of the total bonus pie because trading - both for clients
as well as for a firm's own account, called proprietary trading -
has replaced investment banking as the main revenue engine
of securities firms.

Investment banking revenues at five major firms - Goldman
Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers ,Morgan Stanley and
Bear Stearns - dropped 42 percent from 2000 to 2003, while
net trading revenues, including principal transactions and net
interest, rose 0.4 percent, according to Guy Moszkowski,
a securities industry analyst with Merrill Lynch. He expects
lower revenue from both new trading and investment banking
for 2004 from the year before. His forecast for this year does
not include his own firm, Merrill Lynch.

To be sure, the amount of the bonus is highly variable. It depends
on an employee's performance, his or her relationships with clients
and managers as well as various external factors.

And some firms will do better than others. Morgan Stanley's fixed-
income group may pay the price for a rocky third quarter: its
principal transactions dropped 62 percent in the third quarter
over the same period a year earlier, a performance management
attributed to an incorrect bet on interest rates. Mr. Moszkowski
estimates Lehman Brothers investment banking revenue will rise
28 percent in 2004 over 2003, suggesting strong gains.

"This is a year of unusual differences among firms," said
Mr. Johnson, the compensation expert.

And, of course, no number is taken at face value: negotiations
will ensue. Top Wall Street executives say it is exhausting listening
to all the accounts of the contributions the employee made to
winning a big merger deal or landing a significant block trade.

"When you add everyone's numbers, you have more revenues
than the entire investment bank," said one global head of trading
at a major Wall Street firm.

Copyright 2004 The New York

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

7) Sometimes justice prevails!
An enemy of the state
George Galloway
The Guardian
Friday December 3, 2004
gallowayg@parliament.uk

When the 17th-century republican Algernon Sidney spoke on
Tower Hill before his beheading on false charges almost exactly
321 years ago, he observed that "the whole matter is reduced to
the papers said to have been found in my closet by the King's
officers". In the days after Baghdad fell to US forces last April, all
manner of closets spilled forth papers - remarkably often to the
Telegraph group of newspapers. In quick succession, their reporters
claimed to have found, in a series of burning buildings, documents
linking Saddam Hussein with Osama bin Laden, tales of French and
Russian perfidy, and the papers they used to smear me as being in
the pay of the Iraqi regime.

Like the paperwork on which the case for the war itself was built,
these all turned out to be bunkum, bogus or doctored. A Daily
Telegraph reporter, Philip Smucker, came up with his own documents
for the US Christian Science Monitor, making similar claims. The
Mail on Sunday purchased still more documentation, putting my
supposed "earnings" from Saddam and his family into a £20m-
plus stratosphere. Both were shown to be forgeries. One by one
these assaults by the pro-war media foundered on a large and
immovable rock - none of them was true.

Eighteen months and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilian deaths
further on, the Daily Telegraph has been given a judicial thrashing
at the high court, which will have stung more powerfully than any
its public schoolboy editors endured in their younger days. Well
over seven figures of damages and costs, combined with Mr Justice
Eady's damning judgment, must have made the paper's new owners
smart at the damage done to the Telegraph's reputation by the
old regime of Lord Conrad Black, Barbara Amiel and fox-hunter
Charles Moore.

Over several days and dozens of articles, the Telegraph tried
comprehensively to discredit me and the wider anti-war movement.
As Neil Darbyshire, the paper's executive editor, said to explain
why the paper rushed into print: "The Iraq war was at a volatile
stage and Mr Galloway was unceasing in his opposition". And when
they couldn't stand their story up they sought refuge in the
coward's defence that they had never suggested the lurid claims
they published had been true - but merely "neutral reportage"
in the public interest. Even a blind man in a hurry could see that,
in the words of Mr Justice Eady, "the nature, content and tone of
their coverage cannot be so described".

But as most British people now believe, the entire case for the
war was based on falsehoods and lies. From the forged papers
showing Iraq buying nuclear materials from Niger to the pulp
fiction of the Campbell-Scarlett dossiers, one of the grossest
deceptions in modern history has been practised upon us.

There is a long tradition in Britain of attempts by governments
and media to use false allegations about foreign cash to discredit
those who refuse to bend to the powers-that-be, from the Zinoviev
letters to the Scargill affair. The Telegraph, a chief cheerleader for
the Iraq war, together with the media empire of another foreign
press baron, Rupert Murdoch, tried to paint me as a treasonous
"enemy of the state", and the anti-war movement as the "enemy
within". But the real enemies of the state are the political leaders,
pre-eminently the prime minister, who deceived the country into
a disastrous military adventure which has devastated a foreign
land and disfigured the face of international affairs. And the real
enemies within are the pusillanimous poodles in parliament and
press who allowed, and are still allowing them, to get away with it.

The Telegraph did me and the anti-war movement an injustice
and the judge held it to account. But the Blair government -
which used the Telegraph's assault to force me out of a Labour
party I'd served for 36 years - has committed an incomparably
greater injustice. Iraq was invaded on trumped-up charges. As
a result, an estimated 100,000 Iraqis have died; the lives of
millions more have been wrecked. This week we learned the
conditions of child health in a land occupied are now even worse
than during the killing years of sanctions. Yet not a single
government minister has fallen. No official has been sacked.
Alastair Campbell has become a highly paid raconteur and talk
show host. John Scarlett, unblushing, has been promoted to
head the Secret Intelligence Service. The guilty men in Whitehall
and Westminster remain unpunished.

Now the stain on my name has been removed, I intend to step
up my efforts, with others both inside and outside parliament,
to harry and hold to account those responsible for the crimes
of the Iraq war.

· George Galloway is Respect MP for Glasgow Kelvin and a
columnist for the Scottish Mail on Sunday

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

8) URGENT: Send Humanitarian Aid to Iraq

Hi all,

CODEPINK, Global Exchange, and Physicians for Social Responsibility
are sponsoring a humanitarian aid delegation to Jordan and Iraq at
the end of this year. The delegates will be military family members
who have lost loves ones in the Iraq war, Sept. 11 family members,
and physicians. They will be bringing humanitarian aid for the people
of Falluja. So far, CODEPINK has raised $50,000 for humanitarian relief.
We are trying to raise $100,000 and are asking other groups, like
UFPJ, if you would send out an alert asking people to support this
effort. I think that for many of us who felt powerless to stop the
attack on Falluja, it's the least we can do to support the Falluja.
This could be modified for UFPJ. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Andrea

URGENT: Send Humanitarian Aid to Iraq

DONATE NOW
When the US bombed a hospital in Falluja and seized another,
leveled virtually the entire city, killed hundreds of desperate
civilians, refused to let humanitarian aid workers into the city,
and left an estimated 50,000 civilians without water, electricity
and food, we here at Global Exchange knew we had to do
something-FAST-because Falluja is just one terrifying example
of the escalating devastation in Iraq.

So we have put together a delegation of parents who lost loved
ones in Iraq and on 9/11, as well as health care workers, to take
a shipment of humanitarian aid to the people of Iraq. This
delegation will take desperately needed medical supplies to
the Iraqi/Jordanian border, where we will meet with Iraqi
humanitarian aid organizations that will take the supplies
to Falluja and to those in the most need.

These supplies will only get to those in need if each of us
does our part. We need you to DONATE NOW

As Global Exchange was busily preparing for the year-end
humanitarian mission to the Jordanian/Iraqi border, we
received an urgent message. It was from our dear friend
Dahr Jamail, an amazing American independent journalist
who has been risking his life to get the true story of Fallujah
to the American public:

I have just come from a refugee camp in Baghdad with families
from Fallujah. The suffering is beyond description. It's worse
than anything you've read or anything I've written so far.

This is a humanitarian crisis. They need medicines for their
camp and the other camps immediately. We have an organization
set up of doctors who can distribute the medicines and supplies.
BUT WE NEED THEM NOW! THIS CANNOT WAIT!

While George Bush was on the campaign trail talking about
moral values, his administration was busy preparing the assault
on Fallujah that was launched immediately after the election.
We MUST show the Iraqis and the world community that there
are indeed kind, compassionate Americans who are appalled
by the immoral behavior of our government and want to help-
not kill-the Iraqi people.

PLEASE HELP US GET MEDICAL AID TO THE PEOPLE OF
FALLUJAH. Your donation will directly support the purchase
and distribution of vital medicines as well as educate the U.S.
public about the the human toll of the war in Iraq.

DONATE NOW securely online and challenge your friends,
family and co-workers to MEET or BEAT your donation.

Or send checks made out to "Help Iraqis/Global Exchange"
to: 2017 Mission St. #303 San Francisco, CA 94110.

KEEP INFORMED and ACTIVE. Here are three links to update
you on the current crisis:

Dahr Jamail reports on the assault on Fallujah and mounting
casualties.

Children Pay Cost of Iraq's Chaos : Malnutrition Nearly
Double What It Was Before Invasion.

Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq

Photographs of Fallujah under siege (Warning: Graphic)

Thank you for helping the people of Iraq.

In peace and solidarity,

Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange and CODEPINK

Amalia Avila, mother of Lance Cpl. Victor Gonzalez, died in
Iraq on October 13, 2004

Nadia McCaffrey, mother of Army Spc. Patrick McCaffrey,
died in Iraq on June 22, 2004

Fernando and Rosa Suarez del Solar, parents of Lance Cpl.
Jesus Suarez del Solar, died in Iraq on March 27, 2003

Adele Welty, mother of New York City firefighter Tim Welty,
died in The World Trade Center, September 11, 2001

Jeffrey Ritterman, M.D., Physicians for Social Responsibility

PS: Remember, your donation is tax-deductible. It is one
way to transfer money from war to money for health, peace
and justice.

Sponsored by: Global Exchange, CODEPINK, Global Village
Foundation and Physicians for Social Responsibility.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ufpj-iraq/

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

9) Subject: Take Action to Terminate Plutonium Activities at
Livermore nuclear weapons lab
-----Original Message-----
From: Tara Dorabji [mailto:tara@trivalleycares.org]
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 5:00 PM


Dear Friends:

We need your help to stop the expansion of plutonium activities at the
Livermore nuclear weapons lab. As you are reading this, the Dept. of
Energy is considering major expansions of nuclear weapons programs and
materials in Livermore. Among other dangerous plans, the Department of
Energy has proposed to *more than double* the plutonium limit at
Livermore Lab to 3,300 pounds. This is enough plutonium to make more
than 300 nuclear bombs. Having this large of an amount of plutonium in
Livermore presents unstudied risks such as making the lab a terrorist
target, leaving the San Francisco Bay area vulnerable to environmental
releases from accidents or routine operations, and provoking other
countries to follow suit and increase their stockpiles of nuclear
materials.

*We need you to take action today to stop the Dept. of Energy from
expanding plutonium activities at Livermore Lab.*

*TAKE ACTION*:
http://capwiz.com/wagingpeace/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6718276
Click on the link above to send a letter to the Dept. of Energy and
Congress.

Thank you,
Tara Dorabji

--
Tara Dorabji
Outreach Director
Tri-Valley CAREs
www.trivalleycares.org
tara@trivalleycares.org
ph: (925) 443-7148
fax: (925) 443-0177

Before the word, was the silence. In this silence existed neither
thought nor judgment. First came laughter,then the tears, and the sound
was born. With the sound, the world flooded with memories.

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

10) Protest the Inauguration of George W. Bush
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
January 20, 2005: Our Resistance Continues!

On Thursday, January 20, 2005, George W. Bush will be inaugurated as
president of the United States. For the millions of us who stand for the
values of peace and justice, it is a moment to renew our commitment
to resist the Bush Administration and its deadly policies of war and
greed – and to show Bush, and the world, that our movement is
energized, mobilized, and determined to keep fighting back.

United for Peace and Justice urges everyone who can to converge
in Washington, DC on January 20. We encourage you to participate
in the creative, powerful protest activities being organized by two
groups: the DC Anti-War Network (DAWN - http://www.dawndc.net)
and Turn Your Back on Bush (http://www.turnyourbackonbush.org).
See below for more information.

We also urge groups around the country to organize local protest
and/or educational events on January 20, to provide opportunities
for all those who can’t make it to Washington to take a public and
visible stand for peace and justice and to invigorate our movement
of resistance in every corner of the United States. Be sure to list your
activities on the UFPJ website calendar at
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/events

UFPJ also encourages everyone to wear a white ribbon on January 20,
no matter where you are or what you are doing. In many cultures,
white is the traditional color of mourning. We will wear white to
honor the tens of thousands of civilians and more than 1200 U.S.
servicepeople who have died in Iraq. We also honor all of the people
in our own communities and around the world who have died as a
result of the Bush administration's policies.

In their own words, here is what the organizers of the counter-
inaugural activities supported by UFPJ have to say:

From DC Anti-War Network:

“RISE Against Bush, SHINE For A Peaceful Tomorrow: 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.

“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.”

For more information, visit http://www.dawndc.net


From Turn Your Back on Bush:

"Turn Your Back on Bush is a new kind of event in an old tradition:
direct nonviolent action. In the past four years, Bush has made it
clear that dissent is unwelcome in his America, and his policies
have created an atmosphere where demonstrators are corralled
and their messages marginalized. Polls show that the majority
of Americans disagree with Bush on numerous issues, but by
refusing to talk to anyone but the most subservient press outlets
and appearing only in highly staged events, he has cut himself
off from all but his most ardent supporters. We want our audience
with our President.

”On inauguration day, we will gather as citizens for the public
events of the day and join the rest of the crowd. At a given signal,
we will turn our backs. Until the moment we turn around, there
will be nothing to distinguish us from the rest of the crowd. By
leaving our signs and buttons at home, we will avoid all of the
obstacles that Bush and his supporters have used to keep anyone
who disagrees with him out of sight. For this one moment we will
speak as one and show Bush that winning an election does not
mean he has the support of all Americans."

For more information, visit http://www.turnyourbackonbush.org

DON'T MOURN, ORGANIZE
Disgusted by Bush's election? Get active!
* Visit http://www.unitedforpeace.org for links to events and groups
* New "Bring the Troops Home Now" car magnets at
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/merchandise
* Donate at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/donate to enable
us to keep fighting back
ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
http://www.unitedforpeace.org | 212-868-5545
To subscribe, visit http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email

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

11) TAKE ACTION AGAINST CBS AND NBC FOR REFUSING TO AIR
GAY-INCLUSIVE ADS
From: Advocacy [mailto:advocacy@familypride.org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 5:27 PM
Important News from the Family Pride Coalition
GREETINGS FROM THE FAMILY PRIDE COALITION!



CBS and NBC have refused to air
a United Church of Christ ad that emphasizes
the church's welcoming of a diverse
membership, including same-sex couples.
According to a United Church of
Christ statement, the ad says that the church
seeks to welcome all people, regardless
of ability, age, race, economic
circumstance or sexual orientation.

“Because this commercial touches on
the exclusion of gay couples ... and the
fact that the executive branch has
recently proposed a Constitutional amendment
to define marriage as a union between
a man and a woman, this spot is
unacceptable for broadcast," the church
quoted CBS as saying.

You can view the ad on the UCC website
at www.stillspeaking.com/default.htm

The ad has been accepted and will air on
other networks, including ABC Family,
AMC, BET, Discovery, Fox, Hallmark,
History, Nick@Nite, TBS, TNT, Travel and TV
Land.

Call CBS and NBC and tell them they are
wrong for not airing a pro-tolerance,
pro-inclusive ad by the United Church
of Christ, and that you want them to air
the ad. Perhaps explaining to them how
interesting, to say the least, that they
gladly air programs with pundits that
spew anti-gay and anti-marriage/family
messages.

To contact CBS, call: (212) 975-4321
To contact NBC, call: (212) 664-4444

Please forward this message to fair-minded
friends and family members and
encourage them to call as well.

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

12) Freedom Suppressed on Chicago Subways
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
South End Press
Press Release.....
Cambridge, MA Dec 02, 2004

Cambridge, MA Dec 02, 2004 South End Press, a 27-year-old
independent book publisher, has learned that any advertisements
promoting Mumia Abu-Jamal have been banned on Chicago's
public transit system. This action was discovered when the
Press investigated a report that a Chicago police officer had
torn down a paid advertisement on Chicago's Red Line for the
award-winning journalist's new book WE WANT FREEDOM:
A LIFE IN THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY.

When asked for comment, Viacom Outdoor Marketing--a
subsidiary of Viacom, Inc. that manages the advertisements
on the Chicago transit system--informed South End Press
"the CTA [Chicago Transit Authority] can no longer accept any
more advertisements on this author [Mumia Abu-Jamal]." This
is not the first time Viacom has acted to prevent even the mention
of Mumia Abu-Jamal. In 2002 Viacom-owned MTV censored a
video by Public Enemy because the song included the line "Free
Mumia." In addition to barring ads including Mumia Abu-Jamal,
all South End Press advertising will be subject to approval
before posting.

The caller who brought this issue to South End's attention
stated that while riding the Chicago subway, he witnessed
a police officer removing a We Want Freedom poster from
the train's interior. When he asked the officer why, he was
threatened with a citation. And this is not the first time police
have acted to suppress information on the Black Panthers.
WE WANT FREEDOM vividly recounts two occasions when the
police limited the First Amendment rights of Black Panthers.
In one instance, Mumia tells the story of when he was selling
papers in downtown Oakland and crossed the street in the
middle of the block. Before he knew it, two police officers
pulled up and arrested him for jaywalking. "If we were not
selling copies of The Black Panther," asks Abu-Jamal, "would
this have happened?" His conclusion is grim: "I don't think so.
They were beating us softly."

Further investigations into the ban on Mumia Abu-Jamal are
underway. Anyone who witnessed the removal of posters for
WE WANT FREEDOM, which South End Press contracted with
Viacom Outdoor Marketing to run on the Red and Blue lines
from mid-September to mid-October, is encouraged to
contact the Press.

South End Press
Alexander Dwinell
Editor/Publisher
email: southend@southendpress.org
phone: 617.547.4002

www.southendpress.org
southend@southendpress.org

South End Press | 7 Brookline Street | Cambridge | MA | 02139

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

13) How the Workers are Robbed
Who produces the wealth and who gains most from its
production? In a pamphlet written 97 years ago, John Wheatley
described an imaginary court case, with a coalmaster,
a landowner and several others being charged with "having
conspired together and robbed an old miner, Dick McGonnagle."

The pamphlet, How the Miners Are Robbed , had considerable impact
before the First World War. Its basic class analysis remains valid for
workers today as they are still being robbed. In the following extracts
from the pamphlet, the magistrate interrogates the witnesses. The
first person to enter the witness box is the Coalmaster.
[Magistrate = M, Prisoner = P]

The Coalmaster

M: What is your name?

P: Frederick Michael Thomas Andrew Sucker, sir.

M: You have a great many names.

P: I protest, sir.

M: I did not ask your occupation. I desire to know how you
came to be possessed of so many names?

P: I can't answer your question, sir.

M: Ah! That sounds suspicious. Now will you kindly tell us
how much wealth you possess?

P (Proudly): One million pounds, sir.

M: You must be an extremely able man.
How did you come to have a million pounds?

P: I made it, sir.

M: Ah! do you plead guilty to manufacturing coin?

P (indignantly): No, sir.

M: Than will you please tell us what you mean
by saying you made it?

P: I earned it in business, sir.

M: How long have you been in business?

P: Twenty years, sir.

M: You must be a very capable worker to have
earned such a huge sum in such a short time?

P (indignantly): I don't work, sir.

M: Ah! this is very interesting. You don't work
and yet you have told us that in twenty years
you have earned one million pounds?

P: I own a colliery, sir.

M: What is a colliery?

P: A shaft sunk perhaps a hundred fathoms
in the earth; also various buildings and
machinery for the production of coal.

M: Did you sink the shaft?

P: No, sir. I got men to do it.

M: Did you manufacture the machinery
and erect the buildings?

P: No, sir. I am not a workman. I got others to work.

M: This is an extraordinary case. You say other men
erected the buildings, and manufactured the machinery,
and sunk the shaft and yet you own the colliery? Have
the workmen no share in it?

P: No, sir. I am the sole owner.

M: I confess I can't understand. Do you mean to tell me
that those men put a colliery in full working order, and
then handed it over to you without retaining even a share
of it for themselves?

P: Certainly, sir.

M: They must have been very rich and generous,
or very foolish! Were they rich men?

P: Oh no, sir.

M: Had they many collieries?

P: Oh, none at all, sir. They were merely workmen.

M: What you mean by merely workmen?

P: Merely people who work for others.

M: Surely they must be generous people.
Don't they require collieries themselves?

P: They do, sir.

M: And they own no collieries?

P: No, sir; but I allow them to work in mine.

M: That is very kind of you, but of course not
nearly so kind as their act in giving the colliery
to you. Do you find you don't require the whole
colliery yourself, that you can allow others also
to use it?

P: Oh, you don't understand sir. I don't work
in my colliery. I allow the workmen to do so.

M: Oh, I see. After those men handed over the
colliery to you, you found you had no use for it,
and so returned it to them to save them erecting
another?

P: Oh no, no, sir. The colliery is still mine,
but they work in it.

M: Really, this is very confusing. You own a pit
which you did not sink, and plant which you did
not manufacture nor erect. You do not work in this
colliery because you do not want to work. Those
who do not want to work own no colliery, and yet
they gave one to you. Did you beg of them to come
and work in your colliery, as you had no use for it?

P: Oh, not at all, sir. They begged me to allow
them to work.

M: But why beg leave to use your colliery? Why not
make one for themselves, as they had done for you?
But perhaps you make them some allowance for
working in your colliery and keeping it in order?

P: Oh yes, sir. I pay them according to the amount of
coal they produce.

M: Well, that seems fair. Then I suppose those men
will soon become very rich? They will have the value
of the coal they produce, and the allowance you make
to them for keeping your colliery in order?

P: Oh no, sir. The coal they produce is mine.

M: What! They turn over the product of their labour
to you? Don't they require the value of this coal
themselves?

P: Oh yes, sir. But it is my coal, having been
produced in my colliery.

M: My dear sir, you amuse me. Those men sank
he pit, put the colliery in working order, and dug
the coal. Where is your claim?

P: I gave them permission to do these things, sir.

M: You permitted them to sink the pit, and then
you took the pit; you permitted them to erect the
plant, and then you took the plant; you permitted
them to dig the coal, and then you took the coal.
Is that it?

P: Yes, sir; but I paid them for doing these things.

M: How did you get money to pay them seeing you
do no work?

P: I inherited ten thousand pounds from my father,
and I used some of this until the men produced the coal.

M: How did your father earn that money?

P: In the same way, sir, as I have converted that
ten thousand pounds into a million.

M: How have you done that?

P: By selling the coal.

M: Did the men employ you to sell the coal?

P: Oh no, sir; the coal was mine.

M: Really, your claim seemed so impertinent that
I had not taken it seriously. Did you pay over to the
miners the amount you received for the coal, less
your salary?

P: No, sir. I merely paid them the least amount
I could get men to work for.

M: I must say this is puzzling. Why do these men
require to work for you?

P: Because, sir, they can't work without machinery
which costs money. We rich men having the money,
and therefore the machinery, and those men requiring
to work or starve, they must accept our terms.

M: Surely the State could provide all the capital
required in opening up mines; why should the
people require to make terms with you?

P: Oh, quite easily sir, but the State is ruled by
Parliament, which is composed of men like me.
They are not such fools as to injure themselves.

M: I did not think there were such stupid people
in the world as you describe those working men
to be. How much coal does a miner produce in a day?

P: About three tons, sir.

M: At what price do you sell this coal?

P: At ten shillings per ton, sir.

M: Now, if you will kindly tell us how much per
day the miner gets for the three tons of coal
which you sell at thirty shillings, we shall be
able to judge how you treat him.

P: He receives about five shillings, sir.

M: Are you serious?

P: Oh yes, sir.

M: What becomes of the remainder?

P: A small portion goes to maintaining
[the cost of men] and covering depreciation
of machinery. The Duke gets a good slice as
rents and royalties. The remainder is my profit.

M: What are rents and royalties?

P: A sum charged by the Duke for allowing
people to use the land.

M: What! But never mind, I will examine him
presently. Is this how you have come to possess
a million pounds and this old man is in poverty?
You have been selling his coal and holding on to
most of his money.

Your father robbed his father in like manner. With the
proceeds of that robbery, and the fact that it left him
penniless, you have been enabled to rob this man. Were
it allowed to continue, your son would be richer than you
were, and his son would be as poor as he was.

Therefore the power of your family to make slaves of his
family would increase with each generation. Fortunately,
this case may end your outrageous scheme.

Stand down until I have examined the others.



When prisoner Sucker had again taken his place between
the two constables in the dock, a middle-aged man of stout
build and a ruddy, well-fed, well-watered appearance,
entered the witness box to be examined. In answer to the
Magistrate's first question, he said his name was:

The Duke of Hamilton

M: Come, come, I asked your name, not your occupation!

P: That is my title, sir.

M: Your title may be a number when this case is finished.
I must warn you not to trifle with this Court.
What is your name?

P: I don't use any name, your honour.

M: Do you work?

P: Oh no, sir.

M: What! Are you too a loafer?

P: No, sir. I don't require to work.

M: No successful robber does.
Why don't you require to work?

P: I'm a wealthy man, sir.

M: How did you come to be wealthy seeing you
don't work, and that wealth is the product of labour?

P: I inherited my wealth, sir.

M: Did your father work for it?

P: No, sir; he too was a wealthy man.

M: Did your grandfather, or your great-grandfather,
or any of the family ever do any work?

P: No, sir.

M: How did they get wealth?

P: Oh, just as I get mine, sir.

M: How is that?

P: By allowing people to use my land.

M: How did you get land? Did you create it?

P: Oh no, sir. I believe God created it.

M: Did he create it for your ancestors?

P: I can't say, sir.

M: Surely you must know if He created it specially
for your ancestors, or whether the land was here
before your ancestors got possession of it?

P: It was always there, sir. My family got possession
of it only at the time of Robert the Bruce.

M: What right had they to take possession of the land?

P: It was given to them by Robert the Bruce.

M: But Bruce did not create the land, nor was it his
to give away. He had no right to do so, and you have
no moral or legal claim to it. Don't you work on this land?

P: Oh no, sir. I've already explained I don't require to
work. I allow thousands of others to do so.

M: Why don't they work on their own land?

P: They have none, sir.

M: What! Do you claim all the land in the district?

P: Yes, sir.

M: And must those men use your land or starve?

P: Certainly, sir.

M: I hope you don't act as the other prisoner does
with his machinery. Is your permission granted on
condition that they hand over to you a share of
what they produce?

P: Oh yes, sir.

M: Do they do so?

P: Certainly, sir. They must do so or starve.

M (soliloquising): I now see the need for an
Eternal Hell. What share of miner's coal do you claim?

P: I usually obtain in Royalty on each man's
work a sum equal to half what he gets for working.

M: That means when a miner produces three
tons of coal he gives you one?

P: Yes, sir.

M: If there be twenty thousand miners working on
your land, each man must give you every third hutch he fills?

P: Yes, sir.

M: So that again assuming you have twenty thousand miners
working on your land, it takes ten thousand of them to earn
as much as you draw?

P: Yes, sir.

M: And these ten thousand men must risk their lives in the
bowels of the earth while you may be enjoying yourself anywhere?

P: Yes, sir.

M: What sort of men are they?

P: Hard-headed, intelligent men, sir. (Loud laughter in Court,
which was instantly suppressed.)

M: Why don't they take over the land themselves-nationalise it?
Then you could no longer rob them of one third of what they
produced?

P: Oh, that would never do, sir. That would be Socialism. They
prefer to continue paying royalty to me.

M: But even to take advantage of their simplicity is a terrible
crime. Are you not ashamed to do so?

P: Certainly not, sir. It is within the law.

M: Who made the laws?

P: The class to which I belong, and they made no mistakes, sir.

M: If they have not, you make one if you think that this Court
will judge your class by the laws they made. Why a community
should permit itself to be infested by characters like you passes
my comprehension. Please take your place in the dock until
I have heard the evidence against you.

The first witness called was the complainer, Dick McGonnagle.

Old Dick's Evidence

M: What age are you, Dick?

D: Fifty-two, your honour.

M: Dear me! you look eighty at least!

D: I've had to work very hard, your honour.

M: How long have you worked in the mines?

D: 40 years, your honour.

M: Have you worked regularly?

D: On an average five days a week, your honour.

M: How much coal do you produce each day?

D: About three tons, your honour.

M: Dear me! You should be a very wealthy man. In 40 years
you must have produced something like 30,000 tons?

D: I am not good at figures, your honour.

M: I am told that this coal is sold at ten shillings per ton?

D: I don't know, your honour.

(Council explained that it would be proved the prisoners
divided it amongst them, and even robbed the old man
afterwards, of that part of the small share he had received.)

M: Then I suppose you are not aware that the market
price of the coal you have produced would be £15,000?

D: I was not aware of that, your honour.

M: What wages have you received?

D: On an average, 25 shillings a week.

M: Great heavens! That means you have been swindled
out of nearly £12,500!

What became of that £12,500 of which you have been robbed?

D: I don't know, your honour.

(Counsel explained that it would be proved the prisoners
divided it amongst them, and even robbed the old man
afterwards of part of the small share he had received.)

M: Are you still employed in the mines?

D: Yes, your honour.

M: Don't you find it difficult even to walk to the pit?

D: Yes, your honour. I must now leave half an hour
earlier than formerly, as I have to rest for breath at
every 100 yards.

M: How do you get to the coalface after descending the pit?

D: A young man wheels me in a hutch, your honour.

M: And dumps you down there to dig your coal?

D: Yes, your honour.

M: And when you have dug it these men steal it from you?

D: Yes, your honour.

M: Have your fellow-workmen ever stolen from you?

D: Only once, your honour. A man 'pinned' a hutch of
mine, and he was hunted from the pit. This man called
the Duke has 'pinched' every third hutch I have filled for
40 years, and I think he should be hunted.

(After hearing evidence from a 'Socialist' against the
prisoners and from a Clergyman in their defence the
Magistrate rose to deliver judgement.)

He said he had no difficulty in finding the prisoners guilty.
They had admitted their guilt. He felt, however, that no
punishment which that Court could condemn them to
would be sufficient for such terrible crimes.

He would, therefore, send them to the Lowest Court for
punishment, and ordered that they be taken there at once.

Court Officer: Where is the Lowest Court, your honour?

Magistrate: I forget exactly. Ask the clergyman.

---

This is factory life as portrayed by George Cruickshank in
1832, in the equivalent of today's tabloid journalism. Child
workers were often shown in etchings - not photographs -
clearing out waste cotton while the Spinning Mule was in
operation.

However, it's a 'myth', says Josselin Hill, curatorial director
of Quarry Bank Mill near Wilmslow, that many children were
seriously injured. Children may have been employed for their
nimbleness and their tiny fingers, but in fact, the Mule was
stopped for the children to clean it. Admittedly, the mule
spinner was paid by the number of 'draws', and didn't want
to wait too long. They would shout 'Get out!', and the child
would have to scramble.

In 1865 13-year-old John Foden died at Quarry Bank when his
head was caught between the roller beam and the carriage.

STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH, 5:00 P.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F.

NEXT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR MEETING:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 7:00 p.m.
1380 Valencia Street
(Between 24th & 25th Streets, S.F.)

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

San Francisco's Prop N calling on the US Gov to
Bring Our Troops Home from Iraq won by over 63%.
To find out how you can pass a similar proposition in
your town go to:

www.bringourtroopshomenow.org

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

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
(Check the newspaper for showtime and ticket price.)
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) JUSTICE FOR CAMERIN BOYD
SPEAK OUT AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY
5:30pm, Wednesday, December 1, 2004
San Francisco City Hall, Room 400,
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
Police Commission Meeting
** Please forward **

2) Reflect, Recharge, and Renew: A Planning Retreat for
United for Peace and Justice-Bay Area 12/11/04

3) Letter from Iraqi Patriotic
Alliance addressed to our brothers all around the world

4) The Quiet of Destruction and Death
December 02, 2004
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com -
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **

5) ACLU Seeking FBI Files on Activist Probes
By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
Thu Dec 2,12:49 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041202/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/fbi_a
clu_1

6) Peru Says Court Upholds Berenson Sentence
LIMA, Peru (Reuters)
Thu Dec 2, 2004 09:03 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6978477&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

7) U.S. Troop Numbers in Iraq to Hit Record 150,000
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Thu Dec 2, 2004 12:16 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6973206&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

8) UN Reform Confronts 'Irrelevancy'
By Michael J. Jordan,
Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
NEW YORK
December 02, 2004 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1202/p07s01-wogi.html

9) Special screening of the hip-hop documentary film
'Straight Outta Hunters Point'
CNET's Digital Dispatch Daily Newsletter

10) Sheriff Keylor Arrests 10 Armed Strikers in Hannibal, Ohio
Steelworkers try to stop scabs
From: Howard Keylor
howardkeylor@comcast.net

11) It's an Ill Wind
The dust clouds drifting from Africa to the Caribbean have
a dangerous secret - bacteria and microbes that leave
a trail of disease in their wake. Ian Sample reports
Thursday, December 2, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1363670,00.html

12) Dear supporters of Justice for New Americans:
We are forwarding you an Urgent BORDC
(www.bordc.org ) Action Alert -
Congress is working on passing some anti-immigrant provisions
pushed by Representative Sensenbrenner in the intelligence
reform bill. They are voting this bill on Friday Dec 6th.
So pick up the phone and made a few phone calls before Friday.

13) Here is your war
From: "Justice Freedom"

Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 19:08:26 -0800
[from Len Carrier via Dusty Schoch]
Here is your war. -- L.C.
http://fallujapictures.blogspot.com

14) Hamash Family Fund
From Barbara Lubin

15) Protest at AIPAC dinner
Monday, December 13th at 6:00 p.m. at Oakland Marriot
From: "Justice Freedom"

16) Bush Says U.S. Is Committed to Jan. 30 Elections in Iraq
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
December 2, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/02/international/middleeast/02cnd-iraq.html?h
p&ex=1102050000&en=ca82faef20165f0c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

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

1) JUSTICE FOR CAMERIN BOYD
SPEAK OUT AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY
5:30pm, Wednesday, December 1, 2004
San Francisco City Hall, Room 400,
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
Police Commission Meeting
** Please forward **


It's been over six months since Cammerin was killed by SFPD.
Cammerin is among 26 uresolved cases of officer involved
shootings in San Francisco. The SF Police Commission will
be discussing the open cases Wednesday. Come join the
Boyd Family and the Justice for Cammerin Boyd campaign
to demand answers and action. Enough is enough!

This action alert was brought to you by the Justice for
Cammerin Boyd campaign.
For more information and ways to get involved, e-mail
justiceforcammerinboyd@yahoo.com

or call 415 724-2704.


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

2) Reflect, Recharge, and Renew: A Planning Retreat for
United for Peace and Justice-Bay Area 12/11/04

We invite you and your organization to join in setting the strategic
direction for United for Peace and Justice-Bay Area (UPJ-BA). For an
antidote to activism fatigue come spend a day, and, if you wish,
a night in a beautiful setting while energizing yourself and the
peace and justice movement.

Who We Are: United for Peace and Justice (UPJ) began in the Bay Area,
as a response to the 9-11 backlash. With the support of Global Exchange,
a national coalition was created. Currently comprised of over 800
organizations, National UPJ was most recently in the news as the
organizer of the huge Republican National Convention demonstration
in New York. The Bay Area, always in the progressive vanguard, has
maintained a special role even as the national organization was
focused in New York. UPJ-BA has organized, or helped organize,
many of the local anti-war events. UPJ-BA includes both organizations
and unaffiliated individuals. We have enclosed a draft brochure
describing ourselves further.. You can also visit
www.unitedforpeace.org to learn more about the national
organization.


Purpose of the Retreat: The retreat will develop a strategic plan for
UPJ-BA. Many peace and justice organizations in the Bay Area are
already part of UPJ nationally. With better coordination of our local
activities and resources we can translate the broad popular support
for peace and justice in the Bay Area into a more effective movement.
A strategic plan will enable us to cooperate more effectively on mass
demonstrations and to coordinate other actions as well. With neither
major Presidential advocating for peace, regardless of who wins or
steals the election in November, we will have plenty of work to do.
Developing a strategic plan for UPJ-BA will enable us to use all of
our activist resources most effectively.


We are fortunate that Hilary McQuie has agreed to facilitate the
retreat. An experienced facilitator, Hilary has over 20 years
experience in non-violent direct action organizing. She facilitates
trainings to prepare activists for non-violent direct action, non-
hierarchical organizing strategies, and consensus decision-making.


Practical Details: We will be holding this event at 10:00 on Saturday
December 11, at the beautiful Montara Youth Hostel
http://www.norcalhostels.org/montara/index.html , only 30 minutes
from SF. We can help arrange transportation. In the evening we will
have a communal dinner and a party -a chance to make friends and
renew acquaintances. Significant others and children are welcome.
Those who wish to can spend the night at the hostel and enjoy the
hot tub and beautiful surroundings. The cost of the event-including
a working lunch and dinner-will be $30 (no one turned away for lack
of funds). There is an additional cost of $20 per person for those who
want to spend the night in this beautiful spot (there is even a hot tub!).


To join the retreat, or to find our more, please contact Marvin
Feldman at 415 282-5330 <:tikkun@resourcedecisions.net>
or Eve Lindi at 510-339-1716. Please reply by November 10th.


In struggle for a better world,


/s/

For United for Peace and Justice-Bay Area

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

3) Letter from Iraqi Patriotic
Alliance addressed to our brothers all around the world

Dear brothers

Hereby an open letter from the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance addressed to
everyone. In this letter we try to explain the character of the Iraqi
Resistance and its strategy.

In solidarity,
Long lives the Iraqi resistance
Nada Al-Rubaiee


Letter from Iraqi Patriotic Alliance addressed to our brothers all
around the world

The Iraqi resistance is confronting the illegitimate and brutal Zionist
Imperialist occupation of Iraq. Our resistance is legitimate according
to international law and the UN Charter, including the right to resort
to armed means. We are claiming our right to national self-
determination and a real sovereignty.


The different resisting groups in Iraq have developed a network
between each other in order to achieve their ultimate goal.

This goal was clearly addressed in their political program released
after the liberation of Fallujah in April this year (2004).

The program of the Iraqi resistance is as follows:

1. End the occupation and liberate the country

2. Transition period of 2 years

3. Iraqi united- National government for all

4. Iraqi constitution written by Iraqis themselves

5. Democratic rules

6. Free election and full participation of the different
political parties


To implement the strategy of liberation, the Iraqi resistance is
attacking occupying forces and their institutions and those who
serve them with food, oil and other supplies. On the other hand,
the Iraqi resistance is preventing the occupiers from using Oil
as a political means.


Schools, churches, mosques and other civilian places have never
been the target of the Iraqi resistance. Besides, we have to be very
critical and careful about any kidnapping or killing process of
a foreigner-worker in Iraq. The resistance has no benefit in
attacking people like Margaret Hassan, two Simona's or others.
These actions are meant to discredit the legal resistance of
our people


Here, we would like to share with you some of the heroic
achievements of the Iraqi resistance:

€ The Iraqi resistance was able to cause a high number of
casualties in material and soldiers among the occupying forces.

€ The resistance fighters were able to liberate 30 cities:
creating a suitable environment for the resistant fighters by
forming a death-zone for the occupying forces and their agents.

€ The Iraqi resistance has defeated Spanish imperialism and
has forced 9 out of the occupying/ allying countries to leave Iraq.
The Netherlands, Hungary and Poland are leaving Iraq next year.

€ The Iraqi resistance was able to pull plunder companies out
of Iraq; the so-called contractors "rebuilding companies."

€ The Iraqi resistance has renewed the spirit of resistance in
the whole world by defeating the US imperialism in Fallujah,
Al-Samawa, Najaf and other Iraqi cities.

€ The heroic resistance in Iraq has isolated UK and US in
Iraq, preventing temporarily the go-on of the "war on terror"
against: Syria, Cuba and North Korea.


The resistance in Iraq is the resistance of the Iraqi people and
it is mainly represented by the major political groups; the
Patriotic, Islamic and the Pan- Arab groups.


By this, we want to emphasis on the fact that our resistance
has an anti-imperialistic profile with Islamic and patriotic
elements. Adding on that, the effective participation of
members of the dismantled Iraqi army and the Ba'ath party.


We could expect some objections about the participation of
the Ba'ath party in the resistance. There are more than three
million active Ba'ath party members in Iraq. So, when we
mention members of this party we do not mean -only- those
who were in the former Iraqi government. But those who
believe in the Ba'ath ideology expressed in their slogan:
Unity, Liberty and socialism.


The fear of the Islamic character of the Iraqi resistance could
be answered by the fact that after the liberation of Iraq, the
Iraqi resistance will then be the only legitimized representative
of the Iraqi people. A transition period will then give the Iraqi
people the chance to choose their representatives to form
a united national government with full participation of all
parties including the Islamic forces. We have then to accept
the choice of the Iraqi people.


As to the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance, we are proud to inform you
that our secretary general in Iraq Mr. Abduljabbar al-Kubaysi
was arrested on 3rd of September in Baghdad. The house he
had temporarily stayed in was surrounded and stormed by
about 50 US occupation soldiers employing helicopters and
tanks. Mr. Al-Kubaysi was leading the IPA since the 90's against
the economic sanctions and the Zionist and imperialist plans
of the US in Iraq.

During his latest activities building a united political front of
the resistance against the occupation, he was arrested without
any charges. At this moment we know nothing about his situation.
Even his family is unable to contact hem. We hold the occupying
forces responsible for the health and life of Mr. Al-Kubaysi and
all other prisoners in Iraq.


We hope for further coordination between you and us in our
shared struggle against occupation and imperialism.

Long lives the Iraqi Resistance

In Solidarity,

Nada Al-Rubaiee [on behalf of the Iraqi Patriotic Alliance (IPA)]

Tel: 0031- (0)-645542498

patrioticalliance@zonnet.nl

Iraqi_women@hotmail.com

http://home.zonnet.nl/patrioticalliance/

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

4) The Quiet of Destruction and Death
December 02, 2004
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com -
link of the week at MichaelMoore.com **

It's a late morning start today...as I'm waiting for Abu Talat, who calls
to tell me he is snarled in traffic and will be late once again, huge
explosions shake my hotel. Shortly thereafter mortars are exploding in
the "green zone" as the loud warning sirens there begin to blare across
Baghdad.

Automatic weapon fire cracks down the street.

The good news is that interim prime minister Ayad Allawi has announced a
shortening of the curfew that most of Iraq is under. So now rather than
having to be off the streets by 10:30pm, we can stay out until 11pm
before we are shot on sight.

This past Sunday a small Iraqi Red Crescent aid convoy was allowed into
Fallujah at 4:30pm. I interviewed a member of the convoy today. Speaking
on condition of anonymity, (so I'll call her Suthir), the first thing
she said to me was, "I need another heart and eyes to bear it because my
own are not enough to bear what I saw. Nothing justifies what was done
to this city. I didn't see a house or mosque that wasn't destroyed."

Suthir paused often to collect herself, but then as usual with those of
us who have witnessed atrocities first hand, when she started to talk,
she barely stopped to breath.

"There were families with nothing. I met a family with three daughters
and two sons. One of their sons, Mustafa who was 16 years old, was
killed by American snipers. Then their house was burned. They had
nothing to eat. Just rice and cold water-dirty water...they put the rice
in the dirty water, let it sit for one or two hours, then they ate the
rice. Fatma, the 17 year-old daughter, said she was praying for God to
take her soul because she couldn't bear the horrors anymore."

The families' 12 year old boy told Suthir he used to want to be a doctor
or a journalist. She paused then added, "He said that now he has no more
dreams. He could no longer even sleep."

"I'm sure the Americans committed bad things there, but who can discover
and say this," she said, "They didn't allow us to go to the Julan area
or any of the others where there was heavy fighting, and I'm sure that
is where the horrible things took place."

She told me the military took civilian cars and used them, parked in
groups, to block the streets.

Suthir described a scene of complete destruction. She said not one
mosque, house or school was undamaged, and said the situation was so
desperate for the few families left in the city that people were
literally starving to death, surviving as the aforementioned family was.

Rather than burying full bodies, residents of Fallujah are burying legs
and arms, and sometimes just skeletons as dogs had eaten the rest of the
body.

She said that even the schools in Fallujah had been bombed. Suthir also
reported that the oldest teacher in Fallujah, a 90 year-old man, while
praying in a mosque was shot in the head by a US sniper.

The US military has not given a date when the hundreds of thousands of
refugees from Fallujah would be allowed to return to their city, but
estimated it would be 2 months.

The Minister of Education announced today that schools will reopen in
Fallujah next week.

"There was no reconstruction there," Suthir added, "I just saw more
bombs falling and black smoke. There is not a house or school undamaged
there. I went to a part of the city that someone said was not bombed,
but it was completely destroyed."

"The Americans didn't let us in the places where everyone said there was
napalm used," she said, "Julan and those places where the heaviest
fighting was, nobody is allowed to go there."

She said that there were many military checkpoints, but most of the
soldiers she saw were not doing much.

"It was quiet, but this wasn't the quiet of peace," she told me, "It was
the quiet of destruction and death."

As helicopters rumble overhead, she added with frustration and anger,
"The military is doing nothing to help people. Only the Iraqi Red
Crescent is trying to help-but nobody can help the traumatized people,
even the IRC."

Later this afternoon, back in my room one of my Iraqi friends stops by.
We talk work until the sun sets, so she stands to prepare to leave as
she doesn't like to be out after dark.

Pulling her jacket on she tells me, "You know, it is only getting worse
here. Everyday is worse than the last day. Today will be better than
tomorrow. Right now is better than the next hour. This is our life in
Iraq now."

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.

(c)2004 Dahr Jamail.
All images and text are protected by United States and international
copyright law. If you would like to reprint Dahr's Dispatches on the
web, you need to include this copyright notice and a prominent link
to the DahrJamailIraq.com website. Any other use of images and text
including, but not limited to, reproduction, use on another website,
copying and printing requires the permission of Dahr Jamail.
Of course, feel free to forward Dahr's dispatches via email.

Iraq_Dispatches mailing list
http://lists.dahrjamailiraq.com/mailman/listinfo/iraq_dispatches

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

5) ACLU Seeking FBI Files on Activist Probes
By CURT ANDERSON, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
Thu Dec 2,12:49 AM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041202/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/fbi_a
clu_1

WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union ( news -web
sites ) is seeking information from the FBI ( news -web sites ) on
why bureau task forces set up to combat terrorism also looked into
anti-war, animal rights and environmental groups.

Dozens of organizations have been subjected to scrutiny, according
to the ACLU, which was filing Freedom of Information Act requests
with the FBI on Thursday to try to find out why.

"We think it's clear that the public is interested in the possible return
of FBI spying on political and religious groups," said Ann Beeson, the
ACLU's associate legal counsel.

The FBI denies singling out individuals or groups for surveillance
or investigation based solely on activities protected by the
Constitution's guarantees of free speech.

Officials say agents adhere strictly to Justice Department
( news -web sites ) guidelines requiring evidence of criminal
activity or indications that a person may know something
about a crime.

"Any investigation conducted by the FBI is done under the
attorney general's guidelines and in full compliance with the
guidelines," FBI spokesman Bill Carter said.

There are terrorism task forces in 100 cities and with more
than 3,700 members, including at least 2,000 FBI agents, state
and local police, and other federal law enforcement officials.
More than half of the task forces were formed after the terror
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The ACLU was seeking FBI files on a broad range of individuals
and groups that have been interviewed, investigated or subjected
to searches by the task forces. The requests also seek information
on how the task forces are funded, to determine if they are
rewarded with government money by labeling high numbers of
cases as related to terrorism, Beeson said.

"What we're afraid is happening is that these cities and towns
can get federal anti-terrorism money by identifying local groups
as threats in their areas," Beeson said.

The ACLU provided a list of examples, including the Quaker-
affiliated American Friends Service Committee that had been
monitored by Denver police and was listed as an "active case"
by a local terrorism task force.

Others who contend they were improperly monitored or investigated
include Rocky Mountain Animal Defense, the Washington-based
Campaign for Labor Rights and a number of peace and
environmental activists.

The information requests were being filed with FBI headquarters
in Washington as well as field offices in Colorado, Iowa, Illinois,
Michigan, Oregon, New York, Virginia and Massachusetts, Beeson
said. ACLU affiliates in California and New Jersey have previously
filed lawsuits seeking similar information.

If the FBI declines to turn over the information, the ACLU can sue
in federal court.

On the Net:

American Civil Liberties Union: http://www.aclu.org

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov

Copyright (c) 2004 The Associated Press.

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

6) Peru Says Court Upholds Berenson Sentence
LIMA, Peru (Reuters)
Thu Dec 2, 2004 09:03 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6978477&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news


LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - The top human rights court in Latin
America has upheld a 20-year sentence for Lori Berenson, an
American imprisoned in Peru on terrorism charges, President
Alejandro Toledo said on Thursday.

The Costa Rica-based Inter-American Court of Human Rights
ruled a 2001 conviction that rights groups argued was flawed
was still valid, Toledo told RPP radio.

"Fortunately, the intelligence, balance and experience of
the court judges has ratified the sentence," Toledo said.

The 35-year-old New Yorker has already had two trials. A
hooded military judge convicted her of treason as a leader of
the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, or MRTA, in 1996,
and jailed her for life. That conviction was overthrown in 2000.

She was then convicted of the lesser charge of terrorist
collaboration at a civilian retrial in 2001 and sentenced to 20
years. She says she is innocent of all charges.

(c) Reuters 2004

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

7) U.S. Troop Numbers in Iraq to Hit Record 150,000
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Thu Dec 2, 2004 12:16 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6973206&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military will boost its
troops in Iraq to 150,000 this month, the highest level since
the war began in March 2003, in order to improve security for
scheduled Jan 30. elections, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The increased total from 138,000 now in Iraq will continue
until March and extend the promised year-long Iraq tours of
8,100 Army soldiers to 14 months and the seven-month tours of
2,300 Marines to nine months.

In addition to the battle-hardened troops whose tours are
being extended to face a growing insurgency, 1,500 members of
the elite 82nd Airborne Division based in Fort Bragg, North
Carolina, will be sent to Iraq within days and remain for about
three months to help bolster security.

Previously, the largest number of U.S. troops on the ground
in Iraq during the 20-month war was 148,000 in May 2003,
defense officials said

"At this point in time, it's going to be (a new total of)
150,000," Army Brig. Gen. David Rodriguez told a Pentagon news
conference.

"The purpose is mainly to provide security for the
elections. But it's also to keep up the pressure on the
insurgency after the Falluja operation," he added.

The extended troops will remain in Iraq for two extra
months even after their normal rotation replacements have
arrived in the coming weeks, Rodriguez said.

Current plans are to reduce the 150,000 troops, requested
by U.S. Central Command chief Gen. John Abizaid, back to
current levels of less than 140,000 by mid-March.

Army troops whose tours will be extended include 4,400
soldiers from the 2nd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division
based in Hawaii, 3,500 from the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Cavalry
Division based at Fort Hood, Texas, and a small truck
transportation unit of about 160 troops based in Kleber
Klasern, Germany.

MARINES ALSO EXTENDED

About 2,300 Marine troops from the 31st Marine
Expeditionary Unit based in Okinawa will also be extended to
about nine months until March, Rodriguez said.

The U.S. military previously sent 1,100 82nd Airborne
soldiers to Afghanistan in September to boost security for the
presidential election there. Polling took place in Afghanistan
on Oct. 9 with little violence.

The Pentagon said that the airborne troops being sent to
Iraq in the coming days would not be the same personnel who
were sent to Afghanistan.

The Pentagon also temporarily raised the U.S. military
presence in Iraq by about 20,000 troops last spring to provide
security for the handover of sovereignty to Iraq. It then
delayed the scheduled departure of some troops by three months
and hastening the arrival of others.

Abizaid had said more troops would be needed to safeguard
the election but that would be achieved primarily through more
U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces. The Pentagon, however, has
acknowledged previous broad problems in training and equipping
Iraqi security forces.

Rodriguez said on Wednesday that even if the Iraq election
were postponed, the troops who are currently being extended
would be coming back to the United States in March.

"The plan is flexible," he said. "They will not be extended
any further than this."

Wednesday's announcement brought quick reaction from the
U.S. Congress with one senator charging that there were not
enough American troops in Iraq to respond to insurgent attacks
throughout that country.

"The Pentagon's announcement today is no surprise," said
Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island,

"While our forces in Iraq have been very effective in
defeating the insurgents in Falluja, there are not enough
troops to respond to terrorist attacks in all areas of the
country - and there are certainly not enough U.S. or Iraqi
trained forces to provide adequate security for the elections
in January," he added.
(Additional reporting by Will Dunham and Vicki Allen)

(c) Reuters 2004

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

8) UN Reform Confronts 'Irrelevancy'
By Michael J. Jordan,
Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
NEW YORK
December 02, 2004 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1202/p07s01-wogi.html

NEW YORK - Fending off critics who claim it has grown "irrelevant,"
the United Nations this week released "the most comprehensive
blueprint for change" in its six decades.

The report outlines expansion of UN Security Council membership from
15 to 24, and suggests that the "nightmare scenarios" that mix
terrorists with weapons of mass destruction may justify preventive
action "before a latent threat becomes imminent."

In a world body badly bruised by failure to fully enforce 12 years of
resolutions against Saddam Hussein and the US decision to invade Iraq
without Council approval, this will spur needed debate, analysts say.

"There's recognition the world security situation has changed," says
Terence Taylor, director of the US office of the London-based
International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Yet the obstacle to real reform remains unchanged, say Taylor and
others: the decisive veto that the five permanent Council members -
the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, and China - will
neither relinquish nor share.

"You're not going to have a major power acting in contravention of
its national interest," says Mr. Taylor.

That self-interest, embodied by the veto, will determine if the
Security Council acts or doesn't act when the next crisis emerges.

Nevertheless, the recommendations produced by a blue-ribbon panel of
former diplomats and world leaders may represent a stride forward.

The report endorses Council proactivity in the face of global
terrorism, genocide and ethnic cleansing, and "soft threats" like
poverty, HIV/AIDS and environmental degradation. It seeks to define
"terrorism," a traditional source of UN disharmony. And from
Washington's perspective, the reference to "latent" threats comes
close to the "grave and gathering threat" the Bush administration
applied to Iraq.

The UN Charter has always allowed for self-defense against "imminent"
attack, but not against a suspected "threat." This report lays out
five "criteria of legitimacy" for using force: seriousness of the
threat, proper purpose, last resort, proportional means, and balance
of consequences. But it reaffirms the need for Council authorization,
which carries the weight of international law.

Some critics are already pouring cold water on the report.

For example, they say, all five criteria are open to partisan
interpretation. Consider the statement: "Force, if it needs to be
used, should be deployed as a last resort." Who determines whether
all means have been exhausted? Any of five veto-wielding nations may
decide otherwise.

"The devil is always in the details," says Brett Schaefer, a fellow
at the conservative Heritage Foundation. "If I were the US, I
certainly wouldn't support these ambiguous actions, because it's
actually a recipe for preventing Security Council action."

On this point, ideological foes find some common ground. "One
fundamental problem of the Council is that its inner club doesn't
want any rules to govern their action," says James Paul, of the
left-leaning Global Policy Forum, which advocates UN reform. "They
want 'ad hoc-ism' - to do whatever, whenever."

To be adopted, the report will require two-thirds support of the 191
member-states when the UN General Assembly convenes for its annual
session next fall.

Annan is particularly embattled today:

• The Iraqi oil-for-food scandal has embroiled his son, Kojo, for pay
he received from a company involved.

• His point man in the Palestinian territories, Peter Hansen, was
recently quoted suggesting Hamas members may be "on the UN payroll."

• And UN staff unions are in open revolt against some of Annan's
lieutenants for charges ranging from sexual harassment to favoritism.

Some US conservatives are clamoring for his resignation. "Of course
he'd like to see reforms, but he needs a diversionary tactic and this
is a wonderful way to do it," says a UN insider.

The panel proposes an expansion that includes either six new
permanent members - with no veto - or new regionally distributed
seats renewable every four years. That would boost membership from
Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Muslim world.

But critics say adding more voices at the table means more debates,
more lobbying, more gamesmanship - and less action.

"Yes, it will make it slower, but ... it will be more representative,
will boost the ego of the other continents, and make them happier by
opting them in," says Yusuf Juwayeyi, the former UN ambassador for
Malawi.

While the veto of the "Permanent Five" will continue to dictate how
and when the Council responds to crises, two other factors also look
unlikely to change: the widespread lack of political will among UN
member-states to act against friends and neighbors - regardless of
the transgression - and the vital role the US plays in UN success.

But the US is not expected to embrace any UN reforms that would
dilute its influence there or constrain its ability to act
unilaterally.

"The United States should exercise its moral authority to work
through the UN and really find a way to forge these solutions to
common problems," says Suzanne DiMaggio, of the UN advocacy group
United Nations Association of the USA. "It's not that I'm not holding
France, China, and Russia to the same standard, but the US is a
special case, as the world's only superpower. It's beholden upon us
to be a leader."

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

9) Special screening of the hip-hop documentary film
'Straight Outta Hunters Point'
CNET's Digital Dispatch Daily Newsletter

Special screening of the hip-hop documentary film
'Straight Outta Hunters Point'

Plus update on the fight against
Environmental Racism in Bayview Hunters Point

Thursday, December 2nd at 7 PM
New College Theater
777 Valencia Street, S.F.

Speakers:

Tessie Esther, Community Activist, Hunters View
Tenants Association

Marie Harrison, Greenaction, Community Organizer
for Bayview Hunters Point

$5 - $20 sliding scale (no one turned away for lack of $)
A benefit to shut down the PG & E Hunters Point Power Plant

For more information: 415-248-5010

Greenaction for Health and Environmental Justice
www.greenaction.org / 415-248-5010


Co-sponsored by
New College Center for Education and Social Action

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

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

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10) Sheriff Keylor Arrests 10 Armed Strikers in Hannibal, Ohio
Steelworkers try to stop scabs
From: Howard Keylor
howardkeylor@comcast.net

[ This story is of interest for two reasons. First - These "hillbilly"
Steelworkers are obviously violating a Taft-Hartley Court injunction
with knives, baseball bats, an ax, and wooden clubs in defense of
their jobs. They have the right idea! They don't appear to have
faith in "informational picket lines". Second - The Monroe County
Sheriff, Manifred Keylor, is a relative of mine. Monroe County -
Ohio, where my father was born, has the largest number of people
with the family name Keylor in the United States. Actually, only
about 300 people in the entire country carry my family name.
I grew up in the hills of Washington County Ohio, just south of
Monroe County. During the Vietnam war a U.S. Navy sailor
named Keylor (another relative no doubt) was court martialed
for sabotaging the engines of the aircraft carrier in which he was
serving of the coast of Vietnam. - Howard ]
=================
Ohio Police: Ten Armed Picketers Arrested

Sat Nov 27, 8:16 PM ET Business - AP

HANNIBAL, Ohio - Ten striking factory workers armed with knives,
bats and clubs were arrested after attempting to block vans
entering an Ormet Corp. aluminum plant, police said.

The picketers were charged Friday with violating a court order
requiring them to stay at least 2,000 feet away from the plant's
entrance, Monroe County Sheriff Manifred Keylor said in
a statement.

Additional charges of resisting arrest and assaulting law
enforcement officers were pending, the statement said.

Police said they seized various weapons from the picketers,
including a sledgehammer, an ax, knives, baseball bats and
wooden clubs.

Danny Longwell, a local steelworkers union representative,
said picketers blocked the vans because they believed they
were carrying replacement workers into the plant on Friday.
A call to the union seeking additional comment Saturday was
not immediately returned.

But Ormet chief executive Mike Williams said Saturday the
vans were carrying food, additional security personnel and
one salaried worker, not replacement workers.

About 1,300 workers at two plants in Hannibal went on strike
Monday against Ormet, which has sought U.S. Bankruptcy Court
approval to void its labor agreements and impose new ones.
The company is trying to cut $23 million in costs by freezing
pension benefits, raising worker health plan contributions and
changing work rules.

Union officials want the court to rule on its motion to have the
company consider bids to buy the plants, which are located
about 115 miles southeast of Columbus.

The situation outside the plants has been tense since the
strike began. A truck was turned away Monday morning by
crowds of picketers at the company gates and the driver of
another truck was arrested after hitting a striker several
hours later. The striker was treated at a hospital and released.

Wheeling, W.Va.-based Ormet has about 2,000 employees
and plants in Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana and Louisiana.
Workers are striking only at the two Hannibal plants.

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

11) It's an Ill Wind
The dust clouds drifting from Africa to the Caribbean have
a dangerous secret - bacteria and microbes that leave
a trail of disease in their wake. Ian Sample reports
Thursday December 2, 2004
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1363670,00.html

"The dust falls in such quantities as to dirty everything on board, and
to hurt people's eyes; vessels even have run on shore owing to the
obscurity of the atmosphere. It has often fallen on ships when several
hundred miles from the coast of Africa, and at points 1,600 miles
distant in a north and south direction."

Charles Darwin's note from 1832 suggests the dust clouds that
engulfed HMS Beagle as it anchored in St Jago in the Cape de Verd
Islands off the African coast were dramatic, if unsettling. But they
were by no means freak events. Such clouds - which can be as large
as the Spanish mainland - form all year round, as dust is whipped
up from the continent's arid savannahs and carried across the north
Atlantic to the Caribbean and beyond.

The dust blowing off Africa contributes most of some 2bn tonnes'
worth shunted around the atmosphere each year (the rest originating
in Asia, South America, the US and Australia). But while those
immediately downwind of the clouds know well the mayhem they
can cause, new research is revealing a hitherto unforeseen danger
the dust clouds may pose.

Suspicions were raised back in the 1990s when Eugene Shinn,
a scientist with the US Geological Survey in St Petersburg, Florida,
was reviewing a series of environmental knocks that had hit the
Caribbean in previous years. First, the coral reefs had gone into
serious decline, then the sea urchins dwindled. Finally, a smattering
of disease outbreaks struck the region's marine life. Many scientists
believed that for each event, a change in the local environment was
to blame. But Shinn thought otherwise. What if there was one cause
behind them all?

It was not until later, while looking at some satellite images that
Shinn formalised his hypothesis. The images - snapshots of the
atmosphere over the Atlantic - showed enormous clouds of dust
climbing up to heights of 10km and stretching across the ocean
from the Sahara and arid Sahel region in northern Sudan. Shinn
suspected something in the dust - bacteria, viruses, fungi or
chemicals - was adding a deadly edge to the clouds.

When Shinn publicised his thoughts on a link between African
dust and the demise of Caribbean corals, he divided the scientific
community. "He got a lot of resistance," says survey colleague and
microbiologist Chris Kellogg. "People said the microbes would never
make it so far, that they would be destroyed by the ultra-violet (UV)
in sunlight on the way."

But Shinn was on to something. In 1996, Garriet Smith, a biologist
at the University of South Carolina, was investigating the rapid deaths
of Caribbean sea fans. The creatures had died of a disease called
aspergillosis, but Smith was stumped because the fungus responsible
for the disease, though common in African soils, couldn't thrive in
seawater. It wasn't long before an explanation was found. Tests on
airborne dust samples collected in the Caribbean were found to
contain infectious spores of the fungus. Scientists suspect the spores
had been carried on the wind from Africa, before landing on the
ocean surface, sinking and infecting the sea fans. Enough had built
up on the ocean floor for the disease to spread.

Since then, several outbreaks have been linked to dust clouds. Last
year, Kim Ritchie at the Mote marine laboratory in Sarasota, Florida,
showed that bacteria in diseased sea urchins matched those carried
by African dust clouds and settling in sea water. Earlier this year,
scientists blamed a case of septicaemia in a loggerhead turtle found
off the Canary islands on Staphylococcus xylosus, a bacterium found
in dust samples from Mali. And recently, Michelle Monteil, a doctor
in St Augustine, Trinidad, discovered that more children were
admitted to hospital with asthma immediately after a dust cloud
had passed. Perhaps, she says, infectious agents in the dust irritate
the lungs of those susceptible to asthma. It could help to explain
why the Caribbean has some of the highest rates of asthma in the
world.

With so much evidence implicating dust clouds as a health threat,
Kellogg and her colleagues decided to carry out an audit on dust,
initially that coming out of Africa. Since a single gram of soil can
contain upwards of 10,000 bacteria, it was no simple task. "What

we really need to get a grip on is what's there, how much is there
and how often does it arrive," says Kellogg. "Once we have a sense
of that, we can start thinking about what advice should be given."

From air monitoring stations set up in the Virgin Islands, and from
samples taken in Africa, Kellogg found that not only were microbes
able to travel the thousands of miles from Africa, but that nearly
a third of those that survived were known pathogens. In the right
circumstances, they could cause disease in plants, livestock or
humans, although only humans with a poorly developed or
suppressed immune systems were likely to contract infections.

Kellogg says many microbes survive such lengthy trips because
they are shaded from the sun's baking UV rays by dust particles
above them. "Those at the top of the cloud will fry, but the ones
beneath can, and do, survive," she says. Of the microbes Kellogg's
team managed to grow from dust samples, many were heavily
pigmented, making them bright pink, orange or yellow. "We think
the pigments might act as some kind of sunscreen," she says.
Because microbes, at around a micron long, are usually much
smaller than dust particles, they can also hunker down for the
ride. "From a microbe's eye view, there are lots of nooks and
crannies you can tuck yourself into."

Kellogg has so far identified at least 170 different bacteria and
76 types of fungus in airborne dust collected on the Virgin Islands.
Among them are Cladosporium and Aureobasidium fungi, which
can cause skin and respiratory infections, and several bacillus
species that can cause gastrointestinal illnesses and septicaemia.

That dust clouds don't leave obvious trails of disease in their
wake suggests that the infectious bacteria or other microbes
are usually too few to cause significant problems when they
settle. But as Kellogg points out, the recent spate of outbreaks
linked to dust clouds may indicate that the clouds are becoming
larger, or are carrying more microbes than they used to. She
may well be right. Since the 1970s, a weather system called the
North Atlantic Oscillation has imposed a high pressure over
Africa, exacerbating drought conditions and increasing the
amount of dust in the deserts. The weather system also boosts
the trade winds, so more dust is whipped up than before. Couple
these with the fact that more animals and humans in Africa mean
more soil microbes - sewage water often ends up drying out on
flood plains - and you have a recipe for more dangerous dust
clouds. "That nothing big has happened yet may be just lucky,"
says Kellogg.


The team's next move is to set up air monitoring stations in
other parts of the world, to get an idea of the variety of microbes
being carried in dust clouds from Asia and elsewhere. One day,
Kellogg hopes scientists will be able to monitor dust clouds as
they travel and predict their impact. "If we know a certain type
of bacteria is going to arrive, we can think about warning farmers
or the health services," she says. "We've yet to find anything to
alarm healthy people, but that's always a chance."

·What did you think of this article? Mail your responses to
life@guardian.co.uk and include your name and address.

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12) Dear supporters of Justice for New Americans:
We are forwarding you an Urgent BORDC
(www.bordc.org ) Action Alert -
Congress is working on passing some anti-immigrant provisions
pushed by Representative Sensenbrenner in the intelligence
reform bill. They are voting this bill on Friday Dec 6th.
So pick up the phone and made a few phone calls before Friday.

This is all you have to say

"I want you to keep the anti-immigrant provisions pushed by
Rep. Sensenbrenner out of the intelligence reform bill."

Whom to call:

White House at (202) 456-1111

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) at (202) 225-2976

Rep. Sensenbrenner (202)225-5101

Rep. Harman (D-CA) at (202) 225-8220

Your own senators and representative:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/

The above information was provided by BORDC Action alert

Cecilia L. Chang

Justice for New Americans

www.j4na.org

510 537-2929

(for more information read below)

BORDC Action Alert Continued
9/11 Intelligence Reform: Stop Anti-Immigrant/
Refugee Provisions from Becoming Law
Please take 30 seconds to send an automated email
or fax message: Visit the Human Rights First link below
and send an automated message urging the White House
and key Congressional leaders to keep provisions that
would hurt immigrants and refugees out of the 9/11
legislation:
http://action.humanrightsfirst.org/campaign/refugees_911bill_whitehouse. You
may also let the
conferees know that you favor the strong civil liberties
board called for in the Senate bill, to ensure government
accountability. Feel free to forward the link to friends and
colleagues. (Go online for more information on the Status
of 9/11 Intelligence Reform
.)

Or, if you prefer to call, feel free to use these suggested
talking points from the Rights Working Group
, the National
Immigration Forum ,
and BORDC :

The Senate-led compromise already contains border security
measures; the additional provisions pushed by Rep. Sensenbrenner
are extreme and were not part of the 9/11 Commission's
recommendations. I want you to enact the real recommendations
of the 9/11 Commission, not the agenda of House immigration
restrictionists. We need comprehensive immigration reform-not
non-solutions that will only drive people further underground
and cause panic in immigrant communities.

J4na mailing list
J4na@justicefornewamericans.org
http://justicefornewamericans.org/mailman/listinfo/j4na

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

13) Here is your war
From: "Justice Freedom"

Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 19:08:26 -0800
[from Len Carrier via Dusty Schoch]
Here is your war. -- L.C.
http://fallujapictures.blogspot.com

- The Palestinian intifada is a war of national liberation. We Israelis
enthusiastically chose to become a colonialist society, ignoring
international treaties, expropriating lands, transferring settlers
from Israel to the occupied territories, engaging in theft and
finding justification for all these activities ... we established an
apartheid regime.

- Michael Ben-Yair, Israeli attorney general in the1990s, quoted
in The Guardian (U.K.), April 11, 2002

- I became convinced that non-cooperation with evil is as much
a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.

- Martin Luther King, Jr, Autobiography, Chapter 2

- The "Middle East Conflict" is not rooted in the Middle East,
but in the United States.

- Look, our strategy is to create chaos, to create a vacuum . . .
We will export death and violence to the four corners of the earth
in defense of our great nation.

- gw bush to his staff in 2002, after the Afghan war had started

- The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can
shield the people from the political, economic and/or military
consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for
the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth
is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth
becomes the greatest enemy of the State.
- Josef M. Goebbels

Daniel Stone
justice_freedom@earthlink.net

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

14) Hamash Family Fund
From Barbara Lubin

Dear Friends,
Earlier today I sent you an email about the destruction of the
Hamash family home in Dheisheh refugee camp. This large
extended family has lost nearly all their belongings and is
now living with other families in the camp. I have known the
Hamash family for many years and I told them that I would
ask MECA friends to help in this very difficult time.

Please join MECA in the community effort to rebuild the
Hamash home by donating online or sending a check to the
address below.

Thank you for your compassion and support,

Barbara Lubin

Please earmark checks for "Hamash Family Fund" and send
to Middle East Children's Alliance, 901 Parker Street,
Berkeley, CA 94710

To donate online to the Hamash Family Fund click on the link
below. Please make sure to fill in the "donate on behalf of"
box with the words "Hamash Family Fund."
https:// secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=1171

email: meca@mecaforpeace.org
phone: 510-548-0542
web: http://www.mecaforpeace.org

Middle East Children's Alliance | 901 Parker Street | Berkeley | CA | 94710

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15) Protest at AIPAC dinner
Monday, December 13th at 6:00 p.m. at Oakland Marriot
From: "Justice Freedom"

Friends,

Stopping the occupation of Palestine, and making peace, starts
right here.

AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, will be holding
its annual membership dinner in Oakland on Monday, Dec.13th at
6 pm ( we meet at 5:30 p.m. and go to 7:30 p.m.) at the Oakland
Marriot Hotel at 1001 Broadway at 10th Street, at the end of
Broadway. The 12th Street BART station is at 12th Street and
Broadway, so walk 2 blocks south on Broadway to the Marriott
Hotel.

AIPAC, as most folks know, is an important lobby that makes sure
that Israel is the recipient of over $5,000,000,000 of U.S. taxpayer
money year after year. This enables Israel to equip an army that
commits atrocity after atrocity, day in and day out. This is madness.
It must stop, and it will only stop with citizen pressure.

Last year at the AIPAC dinner, we had over 100 people from a wide
range of groups, including members of Tikkun, Jewish Voice for
Peace, International Solidarity Movement, and others, stand outside
and protest this celebration of fleecing of U.S. taxpayers money
for war and occupation. This year we hope to have more people,
and a stronger message. We expect groups like Middle East
Children's Alliance, Students for Justice in Palestine, labor people,
and others to join us.

We also would like to convince local politicians who attend this
dinner that they are sending the wrong message, and will
consequently pay a political price. AIPAC promotes unconditional
aid to all of Sharon's military adventures, something our local
politicians would not grant President Bush (for good reason).
Why unconditional aid to Sharon and his madness?

I hope that many people on this list and their comrades will join
us, and that we think of creative ways to protest this spectacle.
Please, if there are any questions, feel free to contact me.
mailto:jim@tomjoad

Also, please check http://tomjoad.org/Act.htm
for updates on organizing (see below)
Jim Harris
Volunteer, ISM

from: http://tomjoad.org/Act.htm

Monday, December 13th, 5:30pm - 7:30pm ****Protest of
AIPAC Dinner**** Oakland Marriot City Center (Tenth & Broadway)

While schools, health clinics, jobs programs are being closed
in the U.S. due to lack of funding, AIPAC (American Israel Public
Affairs Committee) works to make sure Congress fully funds
the brutal military occupation in Palestine. This must stop!
See the supporters of militarism website here.

As AIPAC celebrates its raid on U.S. taxpayer's pockets, we will
be outside protesting. Organizers needed!! Please contact Tom
& Check back here for updated info as it becomes available.
(Leaflet here in PDF format!)

Speak up to local leaders who attended last years AIPAC dinner
and advise them not to cross our picket line this year.

Assemblyperson Loni Hancock (510) 559-1406 [Loni is planning
to attend, according to her office]

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates (510) 981-7100 (out of town till the
week of December 6th, but we need to let his office know that
attending this banquet is unacceptable behavior, and that it is
unwise of him to go this year) . Bates has repeatedly said that
"Berkeley should not take sides" but is often taking the side of
support for funding of the occupation.

State Senator Don Perata , who is not yet under indictment,
attended in 2003. Contact his office at 510-286-1333

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16) Bush Says U.S. Is Committed to Jan. 30 Elections in Iraq
By CHRISTINE HAUSER
December 2, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/02/international/middleeast/02cnd-iraq.html?h
p&ex=1102050000&en=ca82faef20165f0c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

President Bush said today that the United States was committed to
having elections take place as planned late next month in Iraq,
despite reports that Iraqi security forces are not adequately trained
to control the violence that threatens to hamper voting.

"It's time for the Iraqi citizens to go to the polls," Mr. Bush told
reporters at a White House. "And that's why we are very firm on
the Jan. 30 date."

The president was responding to a question whether it would not
be "so bad" if the elections for an Iraqi national assembly were
postponed because local forces appeared unprepared to maintain
security and because of the risk the voting might be seen as
illegitimate.

The continuing violence in Iraq has raised questions about the
viability of the national and provincial elections scheduled for
Jan. 30.

Today, mortar barrages slammed into the heavily fortified Green
Zone and elsewhere in central Baghdad, killing two Iraqis and
wounding 14. The attacks underscored the vulnerability of even
Iraq's best-protected areas ahead of the elections.

Last week, a number of prominent Sunni Arab and Kurdish political
leaders, citing the violence, urged that the elections be delayed for
six months. But leaders of the country's majority Shiite community
have insisted that the vote take place as scheduled, and the interim
government here has said it has no plans to defer them.

The Pentagon announced on Wednesday that the American military
presence in Iraq would grow by nearly 12,000 troops by January,
to 150,000, the highest level since the invasion last year, to provide
security for the elections in January and to quell insurgent attacks
around the country.

Mr. Bush said today he was honoring the requests of American
commanders to delay the departure of troops from Iraq and expedite
the deployment of reinforcements. That, coupled with the American
training of Iraqi forces, would help the elections go forward, he said.

"And the idea, of course, and strategy, of course, is have the Iraqis
defend their own freedom," Mr. Bush said. "And we want to help them
have their presidential elections."

In Baghdad, Senator Joseph Biden, one of four senators visiting Iraq,
told reporters at a news conference inside the Green Zone that the
increased American troop strength was welcome but long overdue,
and that the Bush administration's handling of the issue had angered
him.

"I think it's necessary, and I wish we had taken some of this action
earlier," said Mr. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware, who had spent
the morning meeting with military commanders near Falluja alongside
his three colleagues.On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi of Iraq
met with Iraqi exiles and tribal and religious leaders in Amman, Jordan,
as part of a campaign to coax reluctant Sunni Arabs into taking part
in the coming elections.

Robert F. Worth contributed reporting from Baghdad for this article.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

posted 1:02 PM  0 comments

STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH, 5:00 P.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F.

NEXT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR MEETING:

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 7:00 p.m.
1380 Valencia Street
(Between 24th & 25th Streets, S.F.)

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

San Francisco's Prop N calling on the US Gov to
Bring Our Troops Home from Iraq won by over 63%.
To find out how you can pass a similar proposition in
your town go to:

www.bringourtroopshomenow.org

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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
(Check the newspaper for showtime and ticket price.)
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)

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1) U.S. Loses Ruling over College Bans on Military Recruiters
By Michael Dobbs
The Washington Post
Tuesday 30 November 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20657-2004Nov29.html

2) PHILADELPHIA HOMELESS FAMILIES OCCUPY ARMY RECRUITMENT
CENTER, DEMAND MONEY FOR HOUSING NOT FOR WAR!
URGENT ALERT: TUESDAY NOVEMBER 30TH, 2:00 PM

3) Report: Pentagon wants 10,000 more troops in Iraq
World >Terrorism & Security
Abizaid says forces OK, but US Army planners worry about replacements.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
posted November 29, 2004, updated 10:30 a.m.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1130/dailyUpdate.html

4) NEWS: CCR joins German war crime and torture lawsuit
against Donald Rumsfeld et al.

5) U.S., British Troops Raid Old Baathist Retreat
By Alastair Macdonald
NEAR ISKANDARIYA, Iraq (Reuters)
Wed Dec 1, 2004 07:20 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6965108&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

6) NEW WORKING-CLASS STUDIES:
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
The 10th Aniversary Conference
of the Center for Working-Class Studies
at Youngstown State University
Co-sponsored by Ford Foundation
May 18-21, 2005, Youngstown, Ohio
A Community Labor News E-Zine
CALL FOR PAPERS

7) Hamash Family Home and Ibdaa Kindergarten Demolished
From: "Barbara Lubin"
Wed, 1 Dec 2004 14:56:52 -0500 (EST)

8) Pentagon to Extend Tours for Some G.I.'s in Iraq for Vote
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP)
Filed at 1:19 PM ET
December 1, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Iraq-US-Military.html?hp&ex=1101
963600&en=30f3b647dac5173d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

9) IRAQ: Covering up US war crimes
By James Petras
From Green Left Weekly, December 1, 2004.
I am reading William Shirer's Berlin Diary , a journalist's
account of Nazi political propaganda during the 1930s, as
I watch the US "news" reports of the violent assault on
Fallujah.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/608/608p28.htm

10) Imprisoned Palestinian Enters Race for Presidency
By GREG MYRE
JERUSALEM, Dec. 1
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/01/international/middleeast/01cnd-mide.html?o
ref=login&hp

11) Navy Kills Pregnant Right Whale in Mid-Atlantic;
Second Pregnant Female Victim of Ship Strike This Year
WASHINGTON -- November 30
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1130-19.htm

12) Ready to Rumble
Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
December 01, 2004
From: "HSI - Jenny Thompson"
Date: Wed Dec 1, 2004, 8:59:49 AM America/New_York

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

1) U.S. Loses Ruling over College Bans on Military Recruiters
By Michael Dobbs
The Washington Post
Tuesday 30 November 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20657-2004Nov29.html

A federal appeals court yesterday prohibited the government from
withholding funds from colleges and universities that refuse to
cooperate with military recruiters because of the Pentagon's
discrimination against gays in the armed forces.

In a 2 to 1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit
in Philadelphia blocked the government from enforcing a law known
as the Solomon Amendment, which punishes universities that refuse
to allow military recruiters on campus. The law was originally passed
by Congress in 1996 but was not actively enforced before the
beginning of President Bush's administration.

"This is a landmark decision," said Joshua Rosenkranz, lead counsel
for a network of 25 law schools and 900 law professors who
complained that the Solomon Amendment violated their First
Amendment rights. "The court understood that, in a free society,
the government cannot co-opt private institutions as government
mouthpieces."

The court ruled that the Solomon Amendment violated the free-
speech rights of schools that restricted on-campus recruiting in
response to the military's ban on gays. By threatening to withdraw
federal funds from schools that refused to cooperate with military
recruiters, the court wrote, the government was compelling them
"to express a message that is incompatible with their educational
objectives."

Pentagon and Justice Department officials did not immediately
return calls seeking reaction to the court ruling. The government
can appeal the decision to either the Supreme Court or the full 3rd
Circuit, but neither body is obligated to accept the appeal.

While the Solomon Amendment applies to all types of universities,
law schools were most vociferous in objecting to what they viewed
as the military's discriminatory policies against gay men and lesbians.
Some law schools banned military recruiters from holding job fairs on
campus, while others refused to cooperate in more minor ways. Similar
lawsuits have been filed around the country.

The Pentagon sent letters in late 2001 to more than 20 law schools
threatening to cut off federal funds to them and their parent universities
unless they reversed their policies. Faced with this threat, the law
schools begin cooperating with the Pentagon but filed complaints
in federal court seeking to overturn the law.

"This is a big vindication of our efforts," said Kent Greenfield,
a law professor at Boston College and founder of the Forum for
Academic and Institutional Rights, one of the main plaintiffs in the
case. "This ruling allows schools and universities around the country
to refuse to be agents of military discrimination against some of
their students."

Yesterday's ruling in a case originally brought by New Jersey
law schools overturned a decision by a lower court judge and
marked the first time an appeals court had blocked the government
from enforcing the law. The Solomon Amendment, named after
a Republican congressman from Upstate New York, in effect required
law schools to choose between getting federal funds and following
their own policies, which barred discrimination against students on
the basis of sexual orientation.

(c) Copyright 2004 by TruthOut.org

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

2) PHILADELPHIA HOMELESS FAMILIES OCCUPY ARMY RECRUITMENT
CENTER, DEMAND MONEY FOR HOUSING NOT FOR WAR!
URGENT ALERT: TUESDAY NOVEMBER 30TH, 2:00 PM

Today, as part of their "Homes For The Holidays: Operation Bring the
Money Home" Campaign, dozens of homeless families belonging to the
Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) have moved their Bushville
Tent City to sit in at the main Army Recruiting Office in
Philadelphia. As police and Civil Affairs officers attempted to lock
the families out of the office, the families quickly placed signs
saying "Billions for the War, Still Nothing for the Poor" and
photographs of homeless children with the words, "Bring the Money
Home" on every available space in the office.

See http://www.kwru.org for photographs and updates.

Background:

November 30, 2004: Early this afternoon, members of the Kensington
Welfare Rights Union - homeless families currently living at the
KWRU's BUSHVILLE in North Philadelphia - attempted to meet with the
Office of Housing and Urban Developement (HUD) in Philadelphia. Soon
after the families entered the building the elevators were turned off
and we were denied our right to speak with government officials.

The growing protest then moved to the Army Recruiting Office at Broad
and Arch where the families then took over the Army Recruiting
Office. Others have set up to spend the night outside. No family
should ever go homeless one night in Philadelphia. Your support is
needed.

The Kensington Welfare Rights Union is insisting that Alphonso
Jackson, the current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, fly
to Philadelphia to witness firsthand the impact the recent budget
cuts made by the Bush Administration have had on the families in this
city.

"The Bush administration continues to put billions of dollars towards
a needless, brutal war while families across America suffer without
the basic necessities of life. This is not a fight for a bed in a
homeless shelter; it is a fight for decent, affordable housing for
everyone is this wealthy nation."

- Cheri Honkala, Kensington Welfare Rights Union/ Poor People's
Economic Human Rights Campaign

Kensington Welfare Rights Union NUHHCE, ASFCME, AFL-CIO PO Box 50678
Philadelphia, PA 19132-9720 Phone: 215/203-1945 Fax: 215/203-1950
email: kwru@kwru.org web: http://www.kwru.org

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3) Report: Pentagon wants 10,000 more troops in Iraq
World >Terrorism & Security
Abizaid says forces OK, but US Army planners worry about replacements.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
posted November 29, 2004, updated 10:30 a.m.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1130/dailyUpdate.html


Faced with the problem of protecting upcoming elections and securing
former insurgent stronghold, the US military tells NBC it will need
between 10,000 and 11,000 more troops in Iraq .NBC-TV reported
Monday night that this will "temporarily" bring the total number of US
forces in Iraq to 150,000. As a result many soldiers and marines who
were scheduled to leave Iraq this month will have to stay longer, while
other troops will be sent to Iraq earlier than scheduled.

NBC-TV also reports on the difficulties these 10,000 new troops would
have in order to protect all 9000 polling places in Iraq.

In an interview with USA Today on Monday, Army Gen. John Abizaid,
head of US Central Command and the top solider in Iraq and Afghanistan,
said that US forces are not stretched too thin around the world, and
warned countries like Iran and North Korea not to think they could take
advantage of the situation. But in an opinion piece for Knight Ridder ,
senior military correspondent Joseph Galloway says Army planners tell
him that, "Army and Marine commanders already have used up most of
their bag of tricks to find troops for the usual rotations to Iraq."
The Baltimore Sun reports that the Army is hard pressed to find
enough officers for staff jobs in Iraq and Afghanistan and will double
the length of their tours in those countries from 179 days at present
to a full 12 months. Other extraordinary steps ordered or under
consideration include pulling officers out of military schools or delaying
entry into such programs. They could also curtail family oriented
programs such as the one that allows soldiers to extend their tours
at a stateside base so their children can finish their senior year in
high school. The Army is struggling to fill hundreds of staff jobs
for majors and lieutenant colonels in war zone headquarters and
in the past month began stripping majors and lieutenant colonels
from their Pentagon billets and ordering them to Iraq and
Afghanistan.

The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday on the new kind of
training that those enlisted in the Army receive, including those
who are in non-combat jobs. Basically, the Times reports, the
idea of a non-combat job is not longer relevant in the kind of
wars being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For the recruits, it wasn't exactly what they expected when a bus
deposited them at the gate nine weeks ago. The plan for many
had been to learn an Army trade, to make an important contribution
and still keep a safe distance from enemy lines. Instead, before
they knew it, they were learning to avoid landmines, survive an
ambush and spot roadside bombs disguised as cans of Coke.
'They go from being a high school kid to a soldier on the ground
in Iraq, and if they get ambushed, they have to know hand-to-
hand combat,' said retired Army Gen. Randall L. Rigby, a former
deputy commandant in charge of training. 'The old chestnut that
only the infantry takes the blows is gone.'

One of the biggest problems the military faces, Mr. Galloway
reported in his piece above, is how to keep enough soldiers in
places like Fallujah in order to prevent insurgents from coming
back, while still pressuring them in other places in Iraq. There is
also some confusion over the number of daily attacks since US
troops entered Fallujah, with interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi
saying the attacks have dropped to about 50 a day , with other
sources, like Galloway, saying they have doubled to more than
100 a day.

Regardless of the number of daily attacks, the number of US
troops killed in Iraq in a single month is approaching the highest
total since March 2003. The death of three more US soldiers who
died in attacks Monday, the total for November stood at 134. The
highest previous total, 135, came last April, when fighting flared
in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Fallujah.

Although fighting there is less intense than earlier this month ,
firefights still continue in the city. An Associated Press reported
Monday quoted International Red Cross officials as saying that the
Iraqi Red Crescent has established a relief center in Fallujah, but "
continued fighting between US-led forces and insurgents makes
it impossible for doctors and nurses to move around and treat
the wounded ..."

Meanwhile Mideast Online reported Monday on the difficult job
the US military is having convincing Iraqi contractors to come
and take part in rebuilding the almost completely destroyed
Fallujah. Most contractors say they will not return until the
security situation in the city improves.

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

4) NEWS: CCR joins German war crime and torture lawsuit
against Donald Rumsfeld et al.

[Five Iraqi citizens have been joined by Berlin's Republican Lawyers'
Association and the New-York-based Center for Constitutional Rights in a
lawsuit against Donald Rumsfeld and other high U.S. officials, in an effort
to
take advantage of Germany's Code of Crimes Against International Law, passed
in 2002. -- Noting that "there is simply no other place to go" because the
U.S. Congress has failed seriously to investigate the abuses in Abu Ghraib,
CCR vice president Peter Weiss said in a statement yesterday: "It is clear
that the U.S. government is not willing to open an investigation into these
allegations against these officials." -- UFPPC called for investigations
back in May into Abu Ghraib and the larger pattern of illegal conduct of
which
it is a part, and delegations from UFPPC have had two personal meetings with
Pierce County Congressman Adam Smith to urge the need for them. --
Unfortunately, Congressman Smith said on both occasions that the partisan
obstacles to such investigations seem to be, at present, insuperable. --
Thanks to Carl Anderson for sending this. --Mark]

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/1832/

RUMSFELD SUED FOR ALLEGED WAR CRIMES

Deutsche Welle
November 30, 2004

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1413907,00.html

Alleging responsibility for war crimes and torture at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib
prison, a human rights group has filed a criminal complaint in Germany
against
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top U.S. officials.

The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Berlin's
Republican Lawyers' Association said they and five Iraqi citizens mistreated
by U.S. soldiers were seeking a probe by German federal prosecutors of
leading
U.S. policymakers.

They said they had chosen Germany because of its Code of Crimes Against
International Law, introduced in 2002, which grants German courts universal
jurisdiction in cases involving war crimes or crimes against humanity.

It also makes military or civilian commanders who fail to prevent their
subordinates from committing such acts liable.

"NO OTHER PLACE TO GO"

"We filed these cases here because there is simply no other place to go,"
CCR
vice president Peter Weiss said in a statement, adding that the U.S.
Congress
had "failed" to seriously investigate the abuses. "It is clear that the
U.S.
government is not willing to open an investigation into these allegations
against these officials."

The CCR said that the five Iraqis it was representing had been victims of
mistreatment including electric shock, severe beatings, sleep and food
deprivation and sexual abuse.

It noted that Sanchez and other officers involved in the case were based in
Germany. Germany's federal prosecutor now has to decide whether the case
warrants further investigation


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

5) U.S., British Troops Raid Old Baathist Retreat
By Alastair Macdonald
NEAR ISKANDARIYA, Iraq (Reuters)
Wed Dec 1, 2004 07:20 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6965108&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

NEAR ISKANDARIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Hundreds of U.S. and
British troops raided homes of insurgent suspects at first
light on Wednesday in an area that was once a favored country
retreat of Saddam Hussein's Baath party elite.

Scottish soldiers from the Black Watch regiment and a force
from the U.S. 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) cordoned off
several km (miles) of the west bank of the Euphrates river,
some 30 miles south of Baghdad, and were scouring villas and
farms for Sunni Muslim militants and hidden stocks of weapons.

This reporter with the U.S. Marines saw them position tanks
across a main intersection to form one end of the cordon. The
British troops, who included marine commandos, were using
Warrior armored vehicles to seal their area of search.

American high-speed riverboats went into action when a
group of men tried to escape the area by water, U.S. officers
said.

U.S. and Iraqi troops rounded up 15 suspected militants
during the operation, the military said in a statement, raising
to 210 the number detained in the past eight days of raids.

Hours later troops were still scouring date palm groves and
farmland for signs of buried weapons.

It was the latest in a series of aggressive raids across
the region since the launch a week ago of what American
commanders have called Operation Plymouth Rock.

Separately, an insurgent attempting to plant a roadside
bomb along a highway through the area was killed when one of
the two mortar rounds he was using exploded prematurely, the
army said.

A suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle in the same
area, killing himself and wounding seven civilians, officials
said.

NATIONAL ELECTION

Following on from their assault last month on Sunni rebels
in the city of Falluja, some 40 miles upstream, the latest
operations are part of an effort to stifle the insurgency
before an national election planned for the end of next month.

British and American helicopters and U.S. jets were in the
air in support, responding to occasional mortar rounds fired in
the U.S. sector. About 50 Iraqi police commandos searched homes
in the small nearby town of Jurf as-Sakher.

In all, more than 400 men took part on the ground.

"West of the river is a stronghold of the old regime, the
summer homes of senior officials," said Lieutenant Colonel Bob
Durkin of the Marines, who commands a base close to the nearby
town of Iskandariya, on the east bank of the river.

U.S. commanders in the north of Babil province, which some
have dubbed the "triangle of death" for its frequent attacks on
U.S. and Iraqi forces, believe wealthy former officials have
helped plan and fund bomb and mortar attacks.

Two Marines were killed by a roadside bomb near Iskandariya
two nights ago and comrades involved in the raids said they
were keen for revenge but frustrated by the difficulties of
tracking down the culprits.

Durkin said some more religiously inspired fighters, who
look to the likes of Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, had come into the area since the offensive in
Falluja.

Some in the Sunni Arab minority, which dominated Iraq under
Saddam, fear elections will marginalise them to the benefit of
the long-oppressed 60-percent Shi'ite majority.

(c) Copyright Reuters 2004

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

6) NEW WORKING-CLASS STUDIES:
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
The 10th Aniversary Conference
of the Center for Working-Class Studies
at Youngstown State University
Co-sponsored by Ford Foundation
May 18-21, 2005, Youngstown, Ohio
A Community Labor News E-Zine
CALL FOR PAPERS

In 2005, the Center for Working-Class Studies will celebrate the
10th anniversary of its founding. In honor of that occasion, we
are planning a conference that will reflect the diversity, creativity,
and energy of New Working-Class Studies. The conference will
feature plenary sessions reflecting on the development of the
field, taking stock of where we stand today, and looking ahead
to new possibilities and challenges. Our conferences always
include arts exhibits, film screenings, poetry readings, and
other events. The 2005 conference will also include a business
meeting of the Working-Class Studies Association.

We invite proposals from students, workers, faculty members,
organizers, artists, and activists in all fields, from literature to
geography, history to filmmaking, union organizing to neighborhood
activism. Along with papers, we invite performances, film showings,
roundtables, and presentations of all kinds. In addition, we invite
proposals for three-hour interactive workshops and field trips,
which will be scheduled for Saturday morning. We encourage
proposals that explore literature by and about the working class;
working-class and labor history; material and popular culture;
current workplace issues; geography and landscape; journalism
and media; sociology; economics; union organizing and practice;
museum studies; the arts; multiculturalism; ethnography,
biography, autobiography; pedagogy; and personal narratives
of work.

Presenters should describe the presentation they would like
to give, including the suggested presentation format (panel,
roundtable, reading, workshop, etc.) and length. Proposals
should be no longer than one page and must be received by
January 3, 2005. Address written correspondence to John
Russo, Biennial Conference, Center for Working-Class Studies,
Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio 44555.
Fax or e-mail inquiries should be sent to Patty LaPresta,
(330) 941-4622 and pmlapresta@ysu.edu.

The Center for Working-Class Studies’s website is located at
http:/www.as.ysu.edu/-cwcs/ and its discussion group at
CWCS-L@lists.ysu.edu.

Readers may email your article submissions
or your comments to ListAdmin@CLNews.org

You may Subscribe or Un-Subscribe through a
Confirmed Opt-In or Opt-out Automatic Process at
http://www.clnews.org/MailList/subscribtion.htm
"Freedom is always and exclusively
freedom for the one who thinks differently"
--Rosa Luxemburg

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

7) Hamash Family Home and Ibdaa Kindergarten Demolished
From: "Barbara Lubin"
Wed, 1 Dec 2004 14:56:52 -0500 (EST)

Dear Friends,
Last night I received the terrible news that the Israeli Army
entered Dheisheh refugee camp and demolished a building
that was home to the Hamash family and Ibdaa Cultural
Center's kindergarten.

Zaid Hamash was one of the Ibdaa youth dancers that
performed in United States in tours that MECA sponsored in
1999 and 2003. Zaid is now studying at Bard College in New
York. Both his family and his uncle's family lost their homes
last night.

As you know, MECA has worked closely with Ibdaa Cultural
Center for many years. We have developed close bonds with
the young people of Ibdaa, their families, and the
community. We have supported the women's embroidery
cooperative, the sports teams, and the health committee.

At this point it is not clear where the kindergarten will be
housed, but we will keep you informed. Below is an account
of the incident by Ziad Abbas, co-director of Ibdaa.

Barbara Lubin

Bombs at Dawn
by Ziad Abbas

At quarter to four this morning the Hamash family building
was bombed by the Israeli Army. At least 12 Israeli army
jeeps invaded Dheisheh refugee camp and surrounded the
families' homes, as well as Ibdaa Cultural Center's
kindergarten which shares the same building. The Army
ordered Musa Hamash, Aziz Hamash, and Ahmed Hamash
and their families outside into the damp and chilly morning
air.

They were given 30 minutes to remove as many of their
belongings as possible before the bombing. Not only was this
not enough time, but the presence of Army jeeps blocking
each of the nearby narrow streets made it even more difficult
for them to save some family memories and some meager
possessions.

The soldiers told them they were there only to bomb the 2
flats of Ahmed and Musa. Musa?fs son, Mahmud, was
recently sentenced to 50 months in jail and his other son,
Mahammad, is currently awaiting trial. Mahmud was arrested
over 2 years ago and Mahammad over 1 year ago. They both
left behind young children and babies who until this morning
lived in these flats.

The Army ordered the families to leave and began setting
explosives throughout the homes. When bombed, the two
flats were destroyed and the entire building was significantly
affected, including Ibdaa's kindergarten. Structurally the
building is not safe.

The sight of children's books and paintings were mixed with
the rubble in the streets and the Hamash families became
refugees once again. They are without homes and are
distributed around the camp, seeking shelter from neighbors.

Their building contained a total of eight flats, 3 belonging to
Musa and 5 to Aziz, who rented the first 2 floors to Ibdaa
Cultural Center for its kindergarten. One hundred and twenty
children, aged 3-6 years old, have learned, played, danced,
sung and been safe within those walls for the past 4 years.

Today these children of Dheisheh will not go to kindergarten
for lessons. In just a few hours they will learn a new lesson
instead: The Hamash homes were bombed and with it their
haven. Even the UN schools will not teach lessons as great as
the one the Army gave all of the children today when the
massive explosion rocked the entire camp.

No, today there will be no music, mathematics, science or
history lessons. Teachers will not teach lessons to any of us.
Today, the Israeli Army is educating us about how to destroy
homes.

For more information please visit www.dheisheh-ibdaa.net or
email ibdaa94@yahoo.com

email: meca@mecaforpeace.org
phone: 510-548-0542
web: http://www.mecaforpeace.org

If you'd like to make a donation to help support MECA's
projects for children in Palestine, click here:
https:// secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=1171

Middle East Children's Alliance | 901 Parker Street | Berkeley | CA | 94710

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

8) Pentagon to Extend Tours for Some G.I.'s in Iraq for Vote
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP)
Filed at 1:19 PM ET
December 1, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Iraq-US-Military.html?hp&ex=1101
963600&en=30f3b647dac5173d&ei=5094&partner=homepage

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon has decided to bolster U.S.
forces in Iraq in advance of elections scheduled for late January by
sending elements of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg,
N.C., and extending the tours of duty for other units already in
Iraq, officials said Wednesday.

At least two Army brigades now operating in northern Iraq will
have their tours extended by about two months, until after the
election, an Army official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Also, a unit of about 2,000 Marines will stay longer than planned,
though won't exceed the seven-month limit that the Marine Corps
places on Iraq deployments, another official said. The Army
generally sends its troops to Iraq for 12 months.

The decisions were to be announced later Wednesday. Members
of two battalions of the 82nd Airborne, and their families, were
notified of the decision Tuesday, the official said. The battalions
were given what the Army calls a warning order, alerting them
that they will be going.

A battalion generally numbers about 500 to 600 troops.

The 82nd Airborne is generally relied upon by the Army
to keep one of its three brigades on short-notice alert year-
round to deploy abroad in the event of a crisis. Shortly before
the October elections in Afghanistan, elements of the 82nd
Airborne were sent there to beef up security.

Military officials have said repeatedly in recent weeks that
they were considering whether more American troops would
be required to provide sufficient security in advance of the
Jan. 30 election.

In late October the Pentagon announced a decision to keep
about 6,500 soldiers in Iraq longer than scheduled, until after
the elections. They are members of the 2nd "Black Jack"
Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division and soldiers of the 1st
Infantry Division headquarters.

Since then officials have suggested the likelihood that some
other units would be extended.

As recently as Tuesday, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, said commanders in Iraq were still studying
troop requirements ahead of the election. He was quoted by the
Pentagon's internal news service as saying in Indianapolis that
the number of troops needed was "to be determined."

The moves to be announced Wednesday are in line with
expectations -- a combination of holding some troops in
Iraq longer than scheduled and sending some fresh forces
from the United States.

The United States now has about 138,000 troops in Iraq. It
is in the midst of swapping out units that have been there for
a full year with fresh forces, including the 3rd Infantry Division,
which helped spearhead the original invasion and toppling
of Baghdad in the spring of 2003.

Officials have said they were considering sending some
elements of the 3rd Infantry to Iraq earlier than scheduled,
as part of a force-bolstering plan. It was not clear Wednesday
whether that decision had been made, but some officials
suggested it was unlikely.

Security problems are most severe in the so-called Sunni
Triangle area north and west of Baghdad, as well as in the
capital itself. Voter registration has not yet begun in the more
unstable cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

Recently there also has been trouble in the northern city of
Mosul. On Wednesday, U.S. soldiers traveling through Mosul
on a mission to discuss the January election with Iraqis came
under fire at a gasoline station, witnesses said. One U.S.
soldier was wounded in the ensuing gunbattle.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press

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

9) IRAQ: Covering up US war crimes
By James Petras
From Green Left Weekly, December 1, 2004.
I am reading William Shirer's Berlin Diary , a journalist's
account of Nazi political propaganda during the 1930s, as
I watch the US "news" reports of the violent assault on
Fallujah.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/608/608p28.htm

The US mass media "reports", the style, content and especially the
language, echo their Nazi predecessors of 70 years ago to an
uncanny degree. Coincidence? Of course! In both instances we
have imperialist armies conquering countries, levelling 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" and "armed terrorists", who are preventing
"the people" from going about their everyday lives. Yet we know
that of the 1000 prisoners there are only four foreigners (three
Iranians and one Arab); Iraqi hospitals report less than 10% of
casualties are foreign fighters. In other words, over 90% of the
fighters are Iraqis - most of whom 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 on
Fallujah began.

Like in Nazi Germany, the US mass media feature unconfirmed
reports by the US military of the bloody murders, beheadings
and kidnappings "by the foreign terrorists". The unconditional
support of Nazi/US mass media for 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 - vaporised 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 as "insurgents", minimising the significance of
a nationwide 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
is described by the media as "securing the city for free elections".

"Freeing the city of insurgents" includes the systematic
murder of friends, neighbours and relatives of every Iraqi
living in the city of Fallujah. "Surrounding the insurgents"
means cutting off water, electricity and 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 can
continue to destroy cities with impunity.

The technique perfected by Goebbels in Germany and
practiced in the US is to repeat lies and euphemisms until
they become accepted "truths", and embedded in everyday
language. The mass media by effectively routinising 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
armoured vehicles that 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 participating in the mass killing of civilians. The
family of one returned soldier, who recently committed suicide,
reported that he constantly referred to his killing of an unarmed
child in the streets of Iraq - calling himself a "murderer".

Aside from these notable exceptions, the mass propaganda media
practise 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 civilians 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 sympathiser".

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, neighbourhoods
and entire cities are collectively guilty of shielding 'wanted terrorists'
-is of course the standard operating military procedure of the Israeli
government.

The US publicises the cruel and unusual punishment of Iraqi "suspects"
(any male between 14 and 60 years old) 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 centres" 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 US homes.

For the majority who voted for US President George 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. Every day 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 labelling 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.

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 .
He can be reached at: .]

From Green Left Weekly, December 1, 2004.

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

10) Imprisoned Palestinian Enters Race for Presidency
By GREG MYRE
JERUSALEM, Dec. 1
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/01/international/middleeast/01cnd-mide.html?o
ref=login&hp

JERUSALEM, Dec. 1 - Marwan Barghouti, the fiery Palestinian leader
imprisoned in Israel, reversed his earlier decision and entered the
race for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority tonight. The move
could make the Jan. 9 vote both competitive and divisive for Palestinians.

Mahmoud Abbas, 69, is the official candidate of the dominant Fatah
movement and it looked as if he would not be facing any serious
challengers. But Mr. Barghouti, 45, conferred with his wife and two
Palestinian officials today at his prison in the southern Israeli town
of Beersheva, and told them he wanted to run.

Mr. Barghouti had to register his candidacy before midnight. With
dozens of Mr. Barghouti's supporters cheering, Mr. Barghouti's wife,
Fadwa, arrived about 8:30 p.m. at the Central Elections Commission
in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and told reporters that her
husband would be running.

Israel has made it clear it has no intention of releasing Mr. Barghouti,
who is serving five life sentences after being convicted in May of
involvement in the killings of five Israelis.

Since Yasir Arafat's death on Nov. 11, Mr. Abbas and other Palestinian
officials have stressed the need for Palestinian unity. Palestinian
areas have been relatively calm, with no serious Palestinian
infighting and only sporadic clashes between Palestinian militants
and the Israeli security forces.

But an election race between Mr. Abbas and Mr. Barghouti could
bring to the surface the generational fault lines within Fatah and
Palestinian society at large.

Mr. Abbas, a soft-spoken pragmatist and a longtime associate of
Mr. Arafat, is a reluctant public speaker and does not connect with
young Palestinians.

Mr. Barghouti made his reputation with impassioned speeches to
young Palestinians involved in street clashes with the Israeli security
forces in the current uprising, which began in September 2000.

He is the leading representative of a younger generation of Fatah
members who feel they should be playing a larger role in Palestinian
decision-making.

But he will have to run as an independent because Mr. Abbas is
already the official Fatah candidate.

Meanwhile, Hamas, the Islamic movement responsible for many of
the attacks against Israel, urged its supporters not to take part in
the presidential election.

"We in the Islamic resistance announce our boycott and our
nonparticipation in the presidential elections," Ismail Haniya,
a senior Hamas leader, said in Gaza City.

Hamas had announced previously that it would not be fielding
a candidate, and today's announcement was not unexpected.
Hamas said its boycott call was directed only at its supporters,
not all Palestinian voters.

Hamas is officially committed to the destruction of Israel and has
always refused to be part of the Palestinian Authority, which was
created under a 1993 interim agreement between the Israelis
and Palestinians.

Mr. Barghouti had been sending mixed signals about his intentions
for the past few weeks. But the question appeared to be settled
last Friday when Mr. Barghouti issued a statement saying he would
not be running, citing the need for unity.

"Members and supporters of Fatah support the movement's
candidate, the combatant brother Mahmoud Abbas," Mr. Barghouti
said in a statement read by an ally, Qadoura Fares. Mr. Fares was
among those who visited Mr. Barghouti in prison today.

Recent polls have indicated that Mr. Abbas is favored in a race
with an imprisoned Mr. Barghouti, though many voters still
appeared undecided.

A poll taken Nov. 19 and 20 by An-Najar University in the West
Bank city of Nablus found that with Mr. Barghouti in prison, Mr. Abbas
was supported by more than 24 percent of Palestinians, while
Mr. Barghouti had the backing of just under 10 percent. But 48
percent of Palestinians said they were undecided. A total of 1,360
Palestinians took part in the survey, which had a margin of error of
3 percentage points.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times

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

11) Navy Kills Pregnant Right Whale in Mid-Atlantic;
Second Pregnant Female Victim of Ship Strike This Year
WASHINGTON -- November 30
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1130-19.htm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 30, 2004
3:16 PM
CONTACT: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Chas Offutt, 202- 265-7337

WASHINGTON -- November 30 -- A U.S. Navy ship struck an
endangered Atlantic right whale in mid-November and the carcass
of a pregnant female has been found on the North Carolina coast,
according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
(PEER). This is the second pregnant right whale to be killed by
ships in this immediate vicinity this year.

On November 17th, a Navy Amphibious Assault Ship reported
a whale strike about 10 miles outside the entrance to Chesapeake
Bay. The whale appeared to have a fresh wound to the fluke with
a large portion missing and was seen moving slowly in a southeasterly
direction. On November 24th, a 35-foot right whale came ashore
along the Northern Outer Banks in Ocean Sands,
North Carolina. The whale was a pregnant female with part of its
fluke missing.

While the Navy admits that its ship hit a whale it has not publicly
admitted it was the same female right whale found at Ocean Sands.
The Navy did not report the strike to National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) Fisheries until the 22nd, five days
after it occurred.

"This accident is a direct outgrowth of the Navy's official indifference,"
stated New England PEER Director Kyla Bennett, a former federal
biologist, noting that the Navy refuses to even consult with NOAA
on the impact of naval operations on right whale recovery.

"The loss of a pregnant female is devastating to a population teetering
on the brink of extinction." There are only 300 North Atlantic right
whales left in existence. Ship strikes are the largest known cause of
death for this highly endangered creature. Calves, who have undeveloped
diving capability, are particularly vulnerable. By far, the single biggest
known source of whale strikes is the U.S. Navy. Navy vessel traffic
dwarfs commercial ship traffic in right whale habitat and naval vessels
tend to travel at higher speeds - a factor exacerbating both the
likelihood of a strike and the physical harm done to the whale.

This spring, NOAA announced it would consider adopting ship speed
limits, rerouting and channel restrictions to avoid or minimize ship
traffic in sensitive calving, mating and migratory areas. But last
month, in its published "Draft Revised Recovery Plan for the North
Atlantic Right Whale," NOAA proposed unenforceable measures to
reduce collisions with shipping and entanglement in fishing gear.

"Both NOAA and the Navy seem content to fiddle while Rome burns,"
added Bennett. "The U.S. Senate should pin the next Secretary of
Commerce down as to whether he plans to preside over the
extinction of the North Atlantic right whale."

In 2002, PEER revealed the Navy was conducting aerial bombing
exercises off the coast of Maine directly in the migratory path of
right whales. Shortly thereafter, the decapitated carcass of a calf
was found but was too decomposed to establish cause. As with
this latest incident, the Navy refused to admit fault.

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

12) Ready to Rumble
Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
December 01, 2004
From: "HSI - Jenny Thompson"
Date: Wed Dec 1, 2004 8:59:49 AM America/New_York

Ready to Rumble
Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
December 01, 2004

Dear Reader,

In the days and weeks before a major earthquake, seismologists
often record tremors -subterranean rumbles, signaling that
something destructive is on the way.

Consider today's e-Alert a tremor.

Something very destructive is headed our way, and it will have a
deeply negative impact on your right to make your own healthcare
decisions.

------------------------------------------------------------
Dreaming up dangers
------------------------------------------------------------

In the e-Alert I sent you on Friday, 11/19/04, I shared this
comment from an HSI member who goes by the initials PKL: "My
friend, an ND, said 2 years ago that as the date for the USA to
comply with codex alimentarius rules approached (Aug.2005) we
would see scare stories coming out in the media about the
'dangers' of common vitamins and supplements."

PKL's friend felt the tremors coming. And his prediction was right
on the money. In recent e-Alerts I told you about two flawed
studies that produced over-the-top scare headlines regarding the
supposed risks of taking vitamins C and E in large doses. But these
studies are not isolated cases.

For instance, a recent "long-term study" found that glucosamine
was less effective than a placebo in relieving arthritis pain. But a
closer look at the published research reveals that the actual study
period was only six months long, and all of the subjects had
previously found glucosamine to be effective over a two-year
period. (The researchers were counting those two years as part of
the "long-term".) Nevertheless, this research was reported as a
failure for glucosamine.

Is the timing of these and other deliberately negative studies a
coincidence? Or is it part of a concerted effort to plant the seeds of
doubt in the mind of the public?

------------------------------------------------------------
Harsh harmony
------------------------------------------------------------

As PKL pointed out, the whole point of planting those seeds is to
prepare for the approaching Codex deadline.

The U.S. is one of the 165 member countries of the Codex
Alimentarius Commission - an international food standards
program created by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
and the World Health Organization (WHO). One of the purposes
of the Codex Commission is to "harmonize" international food
trade. And here are a few key elements of that harmonizing:

* WHO classifies all dietary supplements as drugs
* The Codex Commission intends to limit over-the-counter sales of
dietary supplements while reclassifying others as
pharmaceuticals, available only through a pharmacist
* Under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, Codex guidelines
override the regulations of individual countries
* Member countries (including the U.S.) that refuse to accept and
enforce the WTO directives are subject to severe trade sanctions

A strong tremor was felt just last month when the Codex
Commission approved draft guidelines that will begin restricting
the sale of dietary supplements as early as next summer. So in spite
of our current laws that make a wide range of vitamins, minerals
and herbal formulations readily available, the U.S. is poised to
simply put those laws aside to conform to the unacceptably
restrictive Codex guidelines.

------------------------------------------------------------
Whose country is it anyway?
------------------------------------------------------------

Incredible, isn't it? Our freedom to make our own healthcare
choices may simply be taken away by an international commission.
But at this point, the imposition of the Codex guidelines isn't
necessarily a done deal. And although the situation is not
promising, it's still not too late to help prevent it from happening.

I strongly urge you to join me in taking a moment to send a brief
letter or e-mail to your Senators and Representatives. (You can
easily find Congressional street addresses and e-mail addresses at
congress.org just by entering your zip code. We've heard that snail
mail gets more attention from our public servants than e-mail.)

Tell them that you strongly oppose the international
"harmonization" of dietary supplement laws, drafted in another
country, and designed to "protect" you from the choices you make
about your personal healthcare.

Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., has written a sobering description of
what life would be like under the Codex regulations. You can find
Dr. Wright's editorial on the web site for his Nutrition & Healing
newsletter: wrightnewsletter.com. Look for the heading titled
"Featured Article." Dr. Wright offers links to other resources with
detailed information about Codex and he also suggests further
actions we all can take.

Finally, tell your friends and let them know what's going on. We
obviously can't depend on the mainstream media to adequately
report this one, so it's time to get the message out by word of
mouth.

If we don't act now, these rumbling tremors may develop into
something far worse.

To Your Good Health,

Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute

Sources:
"Draft Report of the 26th Session of the Codex Committee on
Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses" Codex Alimentarius
Commission, Bonn, Germany, November 1-5, 2004,
ahha.org/codexguidelines

posted 4:53 PM  0 comments

STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH, 5:00 P.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F.

On Inauguration Day, our voice must be louder than the governmental
pomp and circumstance that will welcome Bush to four more years
of murder and mayhem. The voice of all those opposed to the war
must drown out the lies force fed to us by the corporate-controlled
media.

The people of San Francisco voted to Bring the Troops Home Now.
We demand that the military cease and desist its recruitment at high
schools, college campuses and in our poor neighborhoods. Our children
need a good education, jobs, housing and healthcare not war.

Parents are encouraged to sign the "Right to Nondisclosure of
Student Directory Information Form" (See a sample--item 1A below)
available at their child's high school. This allows parents to prohibit
the military from contacting their child and allows the school to hold
back all contact information they have for your child from the military.

All school administrators should send these forms out to all families
of children in the San Francisco Unified School District.

We demand all military recruitment offices in San Francisco be closed
immediately.

We encourage others across the State of California and the country
to sponsor similar antiwar initiatives in their own towns and cities.

For more information about how to put an antiwar initiative on the ballot
go to: www.bringourtroopshomenow.org

The American people will fill the streets again, and again, until all
our troops are brought home!

The bigger the turn out the louder our voice will be!

SAY NO TO FOUR MORE YEARS OF WAR!

MAKE YOUR PROTEST VISIBLE! BRING SIGNS AND NOISE MAKERS.
PUT SIGNS IN YOUR WINDOWS AND ON YOUR CARS!
SPREAD THE WORD!

ALL OUT JAN. 20TH! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
CIVIC CENTER, 5:00 P.M., SAN FRANCISCO

BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR

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

San Francisco's Prop N calling on the US Gov to
Bring Our Troops Home from Iraq won by over 63%.
To find out how you can pass a similar proposition in
your town go to:

www.bringourtroopshomenow.org

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

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
(Check the newspaper for showtime and ticket price.)
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) U.S. Court Tosses Campus Recruiting Rule
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 30 (UPI)
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041130-090609-3619r.htm

2) Red Cross: Guantanamo Tactics 'Tantamount to Torture'
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Tue Nov 30, 2004 06:49 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6952289&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

3) Tuesday, Nov. 30, 7pm
Weekly ANSWER Activist Meeting
2489 Mission St. Room 28 at 21st St., San Francisco

4) What Next for the Bay Area Labor Antiwar Movement?
From: Labor Committee for Peace & Justice
[mailto:labor-for-peace-and-justice@igc.org]

5) Car Bomb Kills Seven, Wounds 20 in Iraq
By Sabah al-Bazee
BAIJI, Iraq (Reuters)
Tue Nov 30, 2004 08:27 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6953531&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

6) Low Crime Rate in Fallujah
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com - link of the week at
MichaelMoore.com **
November 30, 2004

7) Dark Clouds Ahead for World Economy - but Happy
Christmas Everyone!
By Michael Roberts
http://www.marxist.com/Economy/happy_christmas.htm

8) Taking Aim Bulletin - Tuesday, November 30, 2004
"Taking Aim"

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

1) U.S. Court Tosses Campus Recruiting Rule
PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 30 (UPI)
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041130-090609-3619r.htm

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A federal appeals panel in
Philadelphia has overturned a law requiring universities to
give access to military recruiters or lose federal funds.

The case, which had been described as pitting academic
freedom against the power of federal purse strings, let a divided
federal appeals panel rule in favor of invalidating the 10-year-
old law forcing U.S. colleges and universities to give campus
access to military recruiters or forfeit federal funding.

The Philadelphia Inquirer said Tuesday the 2-1 decision by
a panel of the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals comes in
a suit by New Jersey law professors and students and was
the first to hold that the law violated universities' free-speech
rights under the First Amendment.

Since 2003, when Congress began toughening the rule --
called the Solomon Amendment after its chief sponsor,
former N.Y. GOP Rep. Gerald Solomon -- by expanding
the types of federal funding at stake, four federal suits
have challenged its constitutionality.

U.S. Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said lawyers
were reviewing the opinion but had not decided whether to
appeal. Many legal experts, however, say they believe an
appeal is certain.

Copyright (c) 2001-2004 United Press International

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

2) Red Cross: Guantanamo Tactics 'Tantamount to Torture'
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Tue Nov 30, 2004 06:49 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6952289&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) has accused the U.S. military of using tactics
"tantamount to torture" on prisoners at the U.S. Navy base in
Guantanamo Bay, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

An ICRC inspection team that spent most of June at
Guantanamo Bay reported the use of psychological and sometimes
physical coercion on the prisoners, the newspaper said.

It said it had recently obtained a memorandum that quoted
the report in detail and listed its major findings.

In Geneva, the ICRC said it would neither confirm nor deny
the New York Times report -- in which allegations of treatment
tantamount to torture go further than what the neutral
intermediary has publicly stated before about inmates held at
Guantanamo.

But, in a statement, the Geneva-based ICRC said it remained
concerned that "significant problems regarding conditions and
treatment at Guantanamo Bay have not yet been adequately
addressed," and it was pursuing talks with U.S. authorities.

More than 500 people are being held at the U.S. base in
Cuba, detained during the 2001 U.S. war to oust al Qaeda and
the ruling Taliban from Afghanistan and in other operations in
the U.S. war against terror. The ICRC began visits in early
2002.

The Times said the U.S. government and military officials
received the ICRC report in July and rejected its findings.

Asked by the Times about the report, a Pentagon spokesman
said in a statement: "The United States operates a safe, humane
and professional detention operation at Guantanamo that is
providing valuable information in the war on terrorism."

The Times said the Red Cross investigators had found a
system devised to break the will of prisoners through
"humiliating acts, solitary confinement, temperature extremes,
use of forced positions."

"The construction of such a system, whose stated purpose is
the production of intelligence, cannot be considered other than
an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment
and a form of torture," the Times quoted the report as saying.

Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, the committee's delegate-general
for Europe and the Americas, told the newspaper the ICRC could
not comment on the report submitted to the U.S. government.

The ICRC has agreed to keep its findings confidential.

Human rights groups and lawyers have criticized the United
States for holding prisoners at the base indefinitely and most
without charges or legal representation.

The U.S. government has taken the position that the
detainees are "enemy combatants" and not entitled to the
protections normally given to prisoners of war.

It has begun a process of holding individual trials, called
tribunals, for each prisoner to determine their status.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva)

(c) Copyright Reuters 2004

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

3) Tuesday, Nov. 30, 7pm
Weekly ANSWER Activist Meeting
2489 Mission St. Room 28 at 21st St., San Francisco

Join us for a political update and analysis of the crisis in the
Ukraine, a reportback from ANSWER organizers’ speaking tour
in Argentina, and an update on the Local 2 Hotel Workers
Lockout. Also, a report on the National ANSWER Action Plan.
Get involved! Help mobilize for the January 20 Counter-
Inaugural Demostration in San Francisco.

Call 415-821-6545 for more information.

To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
activist-subscribe@actionsf.org

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

4) What Next for the Bay Area Labor Antiwar Movement?
From: Labor Committee for Peace & Justice
[mailto:labor-for-peace-and-justice@igc.org]

-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 7:30 PM
To: Labor4Justice@topica.com
Subject: What Next for the Bay Area Labor Antiwar Movement?
Importance: High

Please distribute to coworkers, fellow union members and
other labor antiwar activists.

Download a flyer at
http://uslaboragainstwar.org/downloads/What%20Next.AssemblyReportback.121504
.pdf

4.pdf>

What Next for Labor's Antiwar Movement?

You are invited and encouraged to attend a special forum on
the future of the labor antiwar movement in the Bay Area and U.S.

Delegates to the US Labor Against War National Leadership
Assembly in Chicago, December 4-5 will report on the
deliberations and decisions of that Assembly. Their
reports will be followed by discussion.
JOIN US!
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 15TH
7:00-9:00 p.m.
at SEIU Local 250
560 Thomas L Berkley Way (20th St.), Oakland
Betw. Telegraph & San Pablo
19th Street BART Stop

A $5.00 donation is requested but no one will be turned away.
Please encourage officers, members and staff of your
union to attend.

This event is cosponsored by
the Bay Area Labor Committee for Peace & Justice
U.S. Labor Against the War and
the Alameda, Contra Costa and San Francisco Labor Councils


Labor Committee for Peace & Justice
P.O. Box 14156, Berkeley CA 94702-5156
labor-for-peace-and-justice@igc.org



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

5) Car Bomb Kills Seven, Wounds 20 in Iraq
By Sabah al-Bazee
BAIJI, Iraq (Reuters)
Tue Nov 30, 2004 08:27 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6953531&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news

BAIJI, Iraq (Reuters) - A car bomb in a crowded market
north of Baghdad killed at least seven civilians and wounded 18
Tuesday as a U.S. military patrol passed by.

As well as daily attacks on Iraqi security forces and civilians,
November has been one of the deadliest months for U.S.
troops, with 134 killed. The U.S. military expects
violence to escalate before elections scheduled for Jan. 30.

The bomb went off in a busy staging area in the
oil-refining town of Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of
Baghdad, as a U.S. military patrol was passing. The blast
destroyed market stalls and caused panic among scores of
shoppers, witnesses said.

A doctor at Baiji hospital, Samir Mehdi, said he had
received seven dead civilians from the blast and
18 wounded. A U.S. military spokesman said two U.S.
soldiers were wounded.

In a separate attack in the town, an insurgent fired a
rocket-propelled grenade at a U.S. tank, wounding a U.S.
soldier and damaging the tank, the U.S. spokesman said.
And in Baghdad, a car bomb exploded near a U.S. convoy
on the road to the airport, destroying a vehicle, the
military said.

Baiji, site of a major oil refinery, has seen a surge in
violence over the past three weeks, since U.S. forces launched
their offensive on the rebel town of Falluja.

That assault sparked guerrilla attacks across a swathe of
Sunni Muslim regions of the country including towns such as
Samarra, Tikrit, Baquba and Mosul, as well as Baiji.

The U.S. military says it expects more attacks in the build
up to elections due on Jan. 30 and has said it will do all it
can before then to quell the insurgency and put Iraqi forces in
charge of security.

Leading Sunni Arab political parties want the elections
postponed by up to six months, saying their supporters will not
be able to vote freely due to the violence in Sunni areas.

ELECTION DELAY?

Sunni Arabs make up only around 20 percent of Iraq's
population but dominated the ruling elite during the rule of
Saddam Hussein. Several Sunni parties say they will boycott the
elections unless the government agrees to postpone them.

But parties representing Iraq's 60-percent Shi'ite Muslim
majority, oppressed under Saddam, are demanding polls go ahead
on time to cement their political dominance in the new Iraq.

Backed by Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most revered
religious leader, Shi'ite parties have refused to accept any
delay, saying that would mean giving in to guerrilla violence.

Iraq's two main Kurdish political parties initially signed
a petition calling for a delay in the vote, but have since said
they would be happy for the election to go ahead as scheduled.

As part of efforts to generate enthusiasm for the
elections, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Tuesday he would
travel to Jordan this week for talks with Iraqi exiles. The
government dismissed reports that exiles with links to the
insurgency would be present at the talks.

STEPPED UP ATTACKS

Insurgents determined to disrupt the elections, drive out
U.S.-led soldiers and topple the American-backed government
have repeatedly attacked U.S. forces, Iraqi police and soldiers.

Monday, a suicide car bomber plowed into policemen waiting
to collect their salaries at a police station west of Ramadi,
killing 12 people and wounding at least 10. North of Baghdad, a
U.S. soldier was killed in a roadside bomb blast.

At least 981 U.S. soldiers have been killed in action in
Iraq since last year's invasion. More than 9,000 have been
wounded, 5,000 of them seriously, according to Pentagon data.

The U.S. military has said it will move into rebel-held
areas by the end of the year to pacify them before elections.
Earlier this month, they crushed insurgent forces in Falluja
and may have to do the same in other rebel towns such as
Ramadi.

U.S. Marines, British troops and Iraqi forces have also
launched an operation to hunt down insurgents and criminals in
a cluster of lawless towns on the Euphrates just south of
Baghdad.

Insurgents have been largely driven out of Falluja but they
have regrouped elsewhere, particularly in Iraq's third largest
city, Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

The U.S. military says Jordanian guerrilla leader and al
Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, its top foe in Iraq, may have
moved to Mosul ahead of the Falluja offensive.

More than 50 bodies have been found there since Nov. 15,
and Zarqawi's Al Qaeda Organization of Holy War in Iraq has
claimed responsibility for killing dozens of soldiers and
policemen.

In northern Iraq near the border with Turkey, up to 40
people drowned when an overcrowded barge capsized on a swollen
river, families of the victims said. The flat barge boat was
overturned by a surge of water on the Tigris tributary.

(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.

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

6) Low Crime Rate in Fallujah
** Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches **
** http://dahrjamailiraq.com - link of the week at
MichaelMoore.com **
November 30, 2004

Abut Talat and I, snarled in the horrendous daily traffic of Baghdad,
decide to laugh about it. "Maybe we should consider a camel," he
ponders, "That way we don't have to feed it benzene!" We both start
laughing while our car hasn't moved for several minutes.

An Iraqi Police truck races by on the wrong side of the road, sirens
blaring...to do what?

"Plus, a camel is better than a horse because it has 6 stomachs," he
adds, starting to sound serious about this, "That way it can go for even
longer!" I have tears now from laughing so hard, while Abu Talat holds
his hands up, signaling for me to wait, "Or even better, each car should
have two donkeys to tow it, so we never need benzene again!"

We both lurch forward in our seats with laughter as I bang my hands on
the dash board. It's either laugh or cry in Iraq. Without our joking, we
would have lost it a long time ago.

While the humanitarian crisis facing families who remain trapped inside
Fallujah grinds on, US-backed interim prime minister Ayad Allawi
announced yesterday that the crime rate in Fallujah was down after the
US siege of the city. Remember that not long ago, Allawi also announced
that every person killed in Fallujah was a fighter, ie-not one civilian
was killed.

As heavy traffic of Apache helicopters roars incessantly over Baghdad,
fierce clashes continue against the occupation forces while the interim
prime minister is in Jordan, attempting to persuade Iraqis living there
to participate in the upcoming elections.

With at least 134 US soldiers killed in Iraq this month so far, yet
another huge car bomb detonated into a military convoy on the dreaded
airport road. While witnesses reported seeing several bodies lying on
the ground at the scene, the military has yet to announce any casualty
counts. Another car bomb in Beji detonated near a US patrol, killing 4
Iraqis and wounding at least 19, including 2 US soldiers.

Allawi continues to insist that violence in Iraq is decreasing since the
siege of Fallujah.

After picking up some friends, we are snarled in more horrendous traffic
near the airport road on our way to another refugee camp. Razor wire
stretches across the road as helicopters and military hardware are
clustered just up the road. While the military cut most of the trees
irrd2>
along the road to prevent attacks, car bombs are something they can't stop.

Meanwhile, the military refused to allow yet another aid convoy into
Fallujah. They were turned back because the military personnel told them
the Ministry of Health would be allowed to send a relief convoy in "8 or
9 days."

There are at least 150 families trapped within the city, and the
military refuses to let any of them out. While a few ambulances were
allowed into one section of the city a few days ago, there are at least
three main neighborhoods that the military is keeping a tight lid on.
Refugees continue to report the use of napalm and phosphorous weapons-of
seeing dead bodies with no bullet holes in them, just scorched patches
of skin.

More refugees at the Amiryah bomb shelter camp in Baghdad are telling
the same horror stories. A man who fled the city says, "Fallujah is in a
disaster!" He holds his hands out and pleads, "We call on all NGO's and
aid organizations to help Fallujans! We just want to return to our land;
we know our homes are destroyed, but we'd rather sleep in tents in our
own city."

The scene at the nearby Melouki Mosque is chaos. Crowds of men stand
outside gates holding their food ration papers in the air to prove they
are from Fallujah in order to receive small heaters, stoves, foodstuffs
and blankets. Thankfully, an international NGO managed to donate funds
to purchase much of these desperately needed supplies for refugees.

Medicines
ed3>
have also been purchased with the donations for Iraqi doctors to
dispense to the refugees.

Sheikh Hussein who is in charge of the relief effort at the mosque is
struggling to cope with the crisis.

We stand in a small courtyard behind the mosque away from the crowds
talking. I notice a white military surveillance balloon nearby, as
helicopters rumble overhead.

"Some people not even from Fallujah are so desperate they are coming
here to get supplies and pretending to be refugees," he tells us.

Women and children are crying outside the gates as men grapple for the
small heaters and stoves.

I am reminded of what occurred in Lidice, Czechoslovakia during World
War II. Similar to what the US military has done to Fallujah, the German
Nazis leveled Lidice as payback collective punishment for the death of a
high ranking member of the German security administration, Reinhard
Heydrich, who was killed by Czech patriots in 1942.

Last March, four mercenaries were brutally killed in Fallujah, which led
to the first US siege of the city in April as collective payback for the
attack. Mostly for political reasons that siege was ceased, which set
the stage for the recent attack on the city.

Similarly, Heydrich was assassinated by Czech patriots who were accused
of being aided by the village of Lidice. Thus, Hitler ordered the
village to be erased, and all men in the city over the age of 16 were
killed.

Musar, a woman at the mosque standing nearby is weeping. "My 5 cousins
and uncle are trapped there," she cries, "They are not fighters but the
Americans won't let them out. And now the soldiers are coming to our
refugee camp and detaining people!"

Musar begins to plead with us, "They took all the doctors out of the
hospitals. My brother is a doctor there and they made him leave his
work." She stops because she is sobbing, then continues, "We have
nothing! You must help us. I need my cousins and my uncle! Where are
they? I just want to see them. None of them are fighters."

(c)2004 Dahr Jamail.
All images and text are protected by United States and international
copyright law. If you would like to reprint Dahr's Dispatches on the
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---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*

7) Dark Clouds Ahead for World Economy - but Happy
Christmas Everyone!
By Michael Roberts
http://www.marxist.com/Economy/happy_christmas.htm

As we approach Christmas yet again, the decorations, jingles,
lights and bunting appear ever earlier on the streets of America,
Europe and much of Asia. The retailers tell the media that it is
going to be a bumper season for sales and optimism always reigns
in the financial world, particularly the stock market.

Indeed, since the lows of the summer, the world's stock markets
have entered yet another rally in prices. They remain well below
the peaks reached at the end of the great dot-com bubble. Then
the Dow, the price index of the top 30 companies in the US, reached
11,500. In the subsequent slump through to mid-2002, the index
fell back to 7,500. A series of rallies and slips (snakes and ladders-
style) since then have taken the index back to 10,500. That's
a sizeable gain for those speculators who bought at the bottom
in 2002. But, just as in the casino or the lottery, very few did. Most
punters, and that includes the pension and retirement accounts of
the millions of workers in the US and the UK, are still nursing losses
and can expect a meagre return on their hard-earned money.

But now all is sunshine. President Bush has been re-elected with
the promise to maintain the tax cuts for the rich and for the big
corporations. He is even hinting at extending those cuts and
introducing legislation to hand over the social security budget
to private companies to run. That would be a bonanza for the
financial sector (and of course disaster for the recipients of
pensions and benefits in the future).

The US economy seems to have recovered from its 'soft patch'
when it slowed down in the summer. Economic growth is
tripping along at 3-4% a year. Jobs are coming back.
Households seem to be spending still and house prices
are holding up - at least so far.

But here is the rub. The whole boom seen since the very
mild recession of 2001 has been based on cheap money
pumped in by the Federal Reserve Bank and for that matter
the Bank of England and the European Central Bank. Households
in America and the UK have borrowed that money, spent some
of it and speculated the rest on buying homes. The property
market dominates the discussion of the middle classes at their
dinner tables and even concerns the many layers of the working
class as they see house prices rocket beyond their means.

As a result household debt has reached astronomical proportions,
well over 100% of annual household income after tax in the US,
the UK and many other countries. So far, the cost of financing this
debt has been manageable for most. With interest rates very low,
mortgage payments have been no higher than 20-25% of most
people's available income. But now interest rates are on the rise.
The Bank of England drove up interest rates sharply during 2004
and now the Federal Reserve has started to hike rates from all-
time low levels.

And these are just some signs that the great housing boom of
the 1990s and early 2000s is coming to an end - perhaps with
a bang rather than a whimper. All the talk is of a fall in house
prices in most of Britain in the last few months. In Australia,
there has already been a 15% fall. The US is still reasonably
buoyant but in the hot spots of California, Las Vegas and
Florida, prices are cooling off. Significantly, mortgage
borrowing has fallen away.

And that is the first danger for the growth of the US
economy. Americans have spent heavily in the shops by
borrowing. For most Americans take-home pay has not
expanded in the last few years and for many it has fallen.
The main reason is the huge rise in benefit contributions
to pay for medical care, education and transport costs.

If house prices now start to fall, then expect Americans,
Brits and even Europeans to cut back on their spending in
a big way. That spells slowdown and even recession. Already,
there are muted mumblings that Christmas is going to be
tough for the retailers in the high streets and malls.

There is nothing coming from the big corporations that will
keep the US economy rolling. The big companies in Europe,
Japan and the US have dramatically improved their profit
levels since they bottomed back in 2001. In the US, profit
margins are nearly back to the levels of the height of hi-tech
boom in 1997. But they have done this not by investment in
new technology or through innovative marketing etc. It is
almost all the result of huge job cuts. President Bush is the
first US president since Herbert Hoover in the 1930s to serve
a term of office where there were less people working at the
end of his four years than there were when it began. American
workers have paid for the boom in profits by lower benefits,
wage cuts and job losses.

Despite huge tax incentives, job cuts and easy credit, US
corporations have not used their massive profits to invest
productively. Most of the profit has gone to extravagant
salary packages for the top bosses, rising dividend payments
to the shareholders and even buy backs of shares in the market.
Net investment after money spent on replacing old plants and
equipment is at an all-time low! Only investment in arms,
missiles and 'security' is rising.

The great productivity boom of the 1990s in the US was the
result of huge investment in new technology. Indeed, there
was massive over-investment, a chronic fault in a capitalist
system where there is no planning, that finally led to the bust
in 2000. After that productivity growth was sustained only by
cutting the jobs of the workforce. But now productivity growth
is slowing fast. Whereas last year, productivity per worker per
hour was rising at over 5%, now it is creeping along at under
2% and will slow even further.

That suggests the US cannot maintain its 3-4% growth rate
much longer. And there is another dark cloud ahead - the
dollar. US prosperity has been based on borrowing: borrowing
to buy houses and also borrowing from abroad to pay for
cheap imports from China and Asia. Most of the consumer
gadgets, clothes and appliances bought this Christmas and
most of the cars sold on the extremely easy credit terms are
imported from overseas. America increasingly makes less,
borrows more and buys from abroad. The US has been able
to get away with this because the dollar has been supreme,
the currency for world trade and savings. Asian exporters
have recycled their dollars back into investments in US stocks
and shares or bonds or even to buy US companies.

That process has been going on for over a decade. Now the
US owes over 25% of annual income in debt abroad. But the
inevitable demise is fast approaching. The dollar has started
to slide. The slide began back in 2002 and then things seemed
to stabilise this year. But now the run on the dollar has resumed.
Foreign investors are asking themselves why they should buy all
these US shares and bonds if their value is going to slip because
the value of the dollar does. It is self-enforcing. Once confidence
in the dollar goes, all will fall down.

If the US slows, there will be little help from Europe or Japan to
take up the slack. Germany is hardly growing at all. The economy
is still shedding jobs, shop sales are terrible and there is growing
gloom at the failure of the government to turn the economy around.
And now the euro currency is strengthening so much that it threatens
to hit severely the export sales of European companies. Japan appeared
to have been making an economic recovery in the last year. But since
its great financial and housing bubble burst back in 1989, there have
been several false dawns for the economy. It stayed stagnant
throughout the 1990s and the current recovery is now showing
signs of exhaustion. Industrial production is down, prices in the
shops are still falling and house prices remain dormant. Exports
to China are booming, as the only saving grace.

And here is the next danger for the world economy. Outside of
the US, China has been the main support for world growth and
demand for commodities and equipment in this decade. The
economy has been racing along at over 10% a year. With a no-
holds-barred-approach by the bureaucracy, capitalist businesses
have been allowed to expand, without environmental control,
paying very low wages and providing terrible working conditions -
just as in the days of the industrial revolution of the early 19th
century Britain.

This capitalist expansion within the confines of an authoritarian
Stalinist regime and under-invested ageing state sector has created
huge distortions in the economy. Manufacturing trade booms and
China sells huge amounts abroad. Corruption, inequality and, above
all, unplanned over-investment have rocketed to new heights.

Now the great boom seems to be heading for a bust. Take car sales
for example. Last year car sales were rising 100%. Now they are
falling by 3%. There are now 600,000 unsold cars and manufacturers
with new plants and workers are getting worried. The same thing is
happening in the new gadget industries. There are 315 million mobile
phone users in China! That provides sales of about 90 million units
year, up 50% from 2003. This is already reaching the point of
saturation. Unsold mobile phones have already reached 60 million,
or nearly two thirds of yearly sales. Then there is housing. Property
speculation has been unprecedented. Property investment is now
50% of annual output!

This great investment boom is heading for a classic capitalist
bust. Sure, because China still has 60% of its investment in
state hands, the impact can still be controlled. But it will still
mean a sizeable slowdown in the economy in 2005.

And China is no longer unimportant in the world economy. If
you exclude the effect of currency exchange, then China's
economy is now 60% of the size of the US, or the second largest
in the world. Between 1990 and now, it contributed 28% of world
growth compared to just 19% from the US! And that figure was
probably closer to 50% since 2000.

To sum up, the US is probably heading for a slowdown. The UK
will follow the US, as always. Europe is already expanding weakly.
Japan's recovery could stall again, particularly if China slows. And
that great manufacturing powerhouse of the globe could well be
heading for a capitalist bust.

All this suggests that global capitalist slump is not far away.
And with productivity growth slowing and oil prices still high,
inflation may return at the same time to deliver the worst of all
possible capitalist worlds - stagflation (stagnation and inflation).
Happy Christmas!

November 29, 2004

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

8) Taking Aim Bulletin - Tuesday, November 30, 2004
"Taking Aim"

Tune in for this special program today, November 30, on Taking
Aim, WBAI-NY 99.5 fm (5:00 p.m. EST) or tomorrow, December 1,
on Guns and Butter, KPFA 94.1 fm (2:00 p.m. PST):

OPERATION MASCARADE: Part 1: The Bombings in Madrid and
Part 2: It's All One War Now

These programs were broadcast originally March 16 and 23, 2004.

Do you want to learn more?

Check out: "The Pattern of State Terror: from 9/11 to Madrid."
This 2-CD set is available from the Center for Independent
Communication (donation-$35)

Are you interested in a special gift that will make a difference -
expandyour friend or family member's horizons? These 2-CD sets
also are available for your donation $35/each (larger donations
appreciated, too).

"Who Killed Kennedy and Why?"
"The Hidden History of Zionism and the Roadmap as a Dead
End for the Palestinian People"
"Testing the Waters: Military Rule in America"

--
Center for Independent Communication
Taking Aim with Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone -
www.takingaim.info
Guns and Butter - www.gunsandbutter.net

Contributions to the Center for Independent Communication,
a California non-profit corporation, are tax-deductible and will
enable us to continue our radio broadcasts, expand our Internet
sites, produce workbooks, pamphlets and books and organize
events and conferences.

Make your checks payable to: Center for Independent
Communication
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