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BAUAW NEWSLETTER Subscribe/Unsubscribe
Saturday, December 18, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-SATURDAY, DEC. 18, 2004
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STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH, 5:00 P.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F. ************BREAKING NEWS************** According to the A.N.S.W.E.R. Washington, DC news conference covered live on CSPAN on Friday, Dec. 17, (the news conference will be re-broadcast-see item following this) the U.S. government is not allowing antiwar/anti-Bush protestors onto Pennsylvania Ave. along the inauguration route. A.N.S.W.E.R. reported, there are three types of tickets available for the inauguration, Group A, is for personally invited guests; Group B, is for contributors to the Bush campaign (for both of these groups a list is carefully checked before tickets are sold;) tickets for Group C, for the general public, are not available. None. They are simply not sold. The Government, in a stalling move, has not denied permits to ANSWER for space for counter demonstrators, rather they are delaying as long as possible with the knowledge that the longer the permits are denied, the harder it will be for people to make arrangements to come to DC to protest. If and when permits are officially denied, A.N.S.W.E.R. declared they would challenge the government legally as they did in the last presidential inauguration "celebration." We have a constitutional right to protest the inauguration. BAUAW encourages all to show up in DC and come to Pennsylvania Avenue with your signs and banners and express your opposition to Bush and to the War. We demand, along with A.N.S.W.E.R., equal access along the rout for all. We have a right to protest our government or any of its official representatives. Nothing gives the government the right to disallow legal and peaceful protest. We say all out to Washington, DC if you can make it. If you can't go to DC, come out Jan. 20, 5pm, Civic Center, SF. in solidarity with all protestors in Washington and everywhere who oppose this war. We are encouraging everyone to participate somehow by wearing buttons and signs at work, at school and on the bus; hold banners at freeway entrances, and crowded shopping areas etc. on Jan. 20. Students should hold rallies and march to the Civic Center. Come to our next meeting and pick a place to flyer or table for Jan. 20 or hold a sign during the day, on Jan. 20 if you can. NEXT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR MEETING: SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 11AM CENTRO DEL PUEBLO 474 VALENCIA STREET (NEAR 16TH STREET IN SAN FRANCISCO) ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* A.N.S.W.E.R. January 20 Press Conference to be rebroadcast on C-Span Friday, December 17 8:13 pm ET on C-Span 1 11:45 pm ET on C-Span 1 Saturday, December 18 5:15 am ET on C-Span 1 Check the C-Span schedule for additional times and changes. Leaders from the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition and others involved in the January 20 Counter-Inaugural Protest in Washington DC held a press conference today (December 17). The press conference was broadcast live on C-Span 1 at 1 pm ET. At this time, the press conference is scheduled to be rebroadcast on C-Span 1 at 8:13 pm ET and 11:45 pm ET on Friday, December 17, and at 5:15 am ET on Saturday, December 18. Additional broadcast times are likely and can be found on the C-Span website schedule. Please note that all times are subject to change - so please check the schedule regularly. The program is called "Inaugural Parade Protests - Act Now to Stop War & End Racism (A.N.S.W.E.R.)". Programs can also be viewed on the C-Span website and heard on the radio. Show your support for this free speech fight and to help build the January 20 CounterInaugural demonstration along Pennsylvania Avenue. We cannot carry out this huge effort without the generous donations from those in the United States who believe in justice. You can make an urgently needed contribution for the January 20 mobilization through a secure server by clicking here, where you can also find information on how to contribute by check. Pledge now to support the January 20 demonstration. To endorse, click here. The A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition will send out an email update in the next few days regarding logistics, bus drop off and other transportation information. If you are organizing transportation from your city, fill out the Transportation Form to list your information on the A.N.S.W.E.R. website and help spread the word. For downloadable flyers, click here. 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. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* Hello All, Lynne Stewart will be on Court TV tonight (a segment filmed earlier this month). The show begins at 5 pm goes until 6 pm. Interviewed by Joe Hamill we expect her segment to be in the latter part of the show. And another reminder - we have a wonderful Holiday Party planned for Saturday, Dec. 18th. Please be there!!!! From: "Larry Felson" Subject: Lynne Stewart case Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2004 07:56:15 +0000 [From Pat in New York] The trial portion of the case has concluded. We now face summations and charge. Govt. summations begin on December 29th and may go into December 30th. There will be a 4 day break for New Years until Monday, January 3rd. The Order of Summations : Summation in Chief by Mr. Dember, AUSA for the Government; followed by David Stern, Esq. for Mr. Yousry, and either Barry Fallick, Esq. or Kenneth Paul, Esq. for Ahmed Sattar; followed by Michael Tigar for Lynne Stewart. Then the Government will have rebuttal summation by Robin Baker, AUSA. Followed by Judge Koeltl's charge to the jury. To hear Michael Tigar it is probably best to be in court on January 3rd and 4th. Check the website for further updates and don't forget to come to The People's Holiday Party on Saturday, December 18th. COME TO THE PEOPLE'S HOLIDAY PARTY!!! JOIN US TO BENEFIT THE LYNNE STEWART DEFENSE COMMITTEE (LYNNE STEWART, ATTORNEY NOW ON TRIAL IN FEDERAL COURT NEW YORK) THE BRECHT FORUM (WORKING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE & RAISING MONEY FOR MOVING EXPENSES) SATURDAY, DECEMBER 18TH - 7:30 P.M. TIL FEATURING: MICHAEL SMITH - MASTER OF CEREMONIES LYNNE STEWART VINIE BURROWS - ACTRESS CULTURAL WORKER SPARLHA SWA - SINGER RANDY CREDICO - COMEDIAN AND ACTIVIST KHALIL JOHNSON - POET NORMAN MARSHALL - PORTRAYER OF JOHN BROWN LORCAN OTWAY OF SORCHA DORCHA, WITH DICK CHENEY AND THE QUAKERS DJ GRINGO LOCO - DANCING AN EVENING OF SOLIDARITY, FUN, MUSIC, DRINKS AND FOOD - SPEECHES AND SCHMOOZING SLIDING SCALE $10 - $20 & up appreciated PLACE: THE BRECHT FORUM 122 W27TH. ST.,10TH FLOOR, NEW YORK CITY (Between 6TH & 7TH Aves.) STOP BY ON YOUR WAY TO AND FROM OTHER EVENTS OR FOR THE WHOLE EVENING - SEE YOU THERE 212-625-9696 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 1) Art & Resistance in Occupied Palestine Recent murals and Palestinian & Israeli Civil Disobedience 2) Nearly Half in U.S. Say Restrict Muslims By WILLIAM KATES ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) Associated Press Writer Dec 18, 9:43 AM EST http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MUSLIMS_CIVIL_LIBERTIES?SITE=NYSTA&SE CTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT 3) Bush looking at freezing domestic spending WASHINGTON (AP) http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/17/bush.spending.ap/index.html 4) U.S. Presses Co-Defendant Near Close of Terror Trial By JULIA PRESTON December 17, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/nyregion/17stewart.html 5) Arab media reports on US plan to attack Iran AzerNews (Azerbaijan) December 17, 2004 http://www.azernews.net/view.php?d=5536 6) Pentagon Seeks to Expand Role in Intelligence By DOUGLAS JEHL and ERIC SCHMITT WASHINGTON December 19, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/politics/19military.html?hp&ex=1103432400& en=0623190e8121e407&ei=5094&partner=homepage 7) In Congo War, Even Peacekeepers Add to Horror By MARC LACEY December 18, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/18/international/africa/18congo.html?hp&ex=11 03432400&en=962ad452438e18ef&ei=5094&partner=homepage 8) AARP Poll Shows Most Support Legalizing Medicinal Marijuana By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS December 19, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/national/19marijuana.html 9) PICTURES OF WAR Here are two sets of pictures. First set--- PLEASE ACCESS: http://dahrjamailiraq.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album28&page= 1 Second Set-- PLEASE ACCESS: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coalitionforfreethoughtinmedia/message/26138 ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 1) Art & Resistance in Occupied Palestine Recent murals and Palestinian & Israeli Civil Disobedience Susan Greene, Eric Drooker, Dalit Baum, members of Jews for a Free Palestine recently returned from the West Bank, Monadel Herzallah and Special Guests A slide and video lecture, art auction, food, and raffle fundraiser Saturday, December 18th 7:00 New College of California, 777 Valencia Street $10-$100 no one turned away for lack of funds Proceeds go to medical aid for Gaza, victims of home demolition and Break the Silence Mural Project Sponsored by Break the Silence Mural Project and Jews for a Free Palestine, Middle East ChildrenÂs Alliance, Justice in Palestine Coalition, Anarchists Against the Wall The Slide and Video Lecture: In 2004 Break the Silence SF muralist and psychologist Susan Greene and renowned illustrator Eric Drooker traveled to the West Bank and Gaza to paint community murals with Palestinians. Dalit Baum is a member of Anarchists Against the Wall and Black Laundry, and will show video documentation of Israeli and Palestinian joint actions and civil disobedience protesting the Wall. The following murals were completed: 1) Hani Amer Family Mural: on the Israeli built wall that encircles the Hani Amer home in the West Bank that has been the site of many protests and Palestinian and Israeli peace camps. This mural was painted with the children and extended family and represented an act of creative control over their environment. 2) Memorial mural in Qadura refugee camp in Ramallah that honors an Italian journalist killed by the Israeli military and eleven young people who were killed during the first and second uprising or Intifada, 3) In the town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza strip, several hundred thousand citrus trees were destroyed leaving the town unemployed and devasted. On a cultural center for youth Greene, Drooker and the center's staff painted a three story orange tree. The Center's director wanted the children to remember what the orange trees looked like. The Art Auction: A silent auction for works by some of the Bay Area's finest artists. Cheap Arts and Crafts: By some of the Bay Area's most crafty Raffle: For a wide range of exciting offerings Refreshments and delectable foods. Brief History of Break the Silence Starting in 1989 when a group of Jewish Women Artists travelled to Palestine to paint community murals in solidarity with Palestinian refugees, Break the Silence has worked to use art to raise awareness about what life is like for Palestinians in Israel. Our ultimate goal is to contribute to the struggle to end the occupation of Palestine. BTS has painted murals in refugee camps and cultural centers in the West Bank and Gaza, and to reach our aim has painted murals in San Francisco about Palestine, published articles, created videos and presented scores of slide shows across the country. Bay_Area_Activist list info: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bay_area_activist Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bay_area_activist/messages Calendar: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bay_area_activist/calendar List-Unsubscribe: <mailto:bay_area_activist-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com> List-Subscribe: List subscription is by invitation only - Send an email to: <mailto:bay_area_activist-owner@yahoogroups.com> to request an invitation. WHEN SPIDERS UNITE, THEY CAN TIE DOWN A LION -- Ethiopian Proverb ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 2) Nearly Half in U.S. Say Restrict Muslims By WILLIAM KATES ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) Associated Press Writer Dec 18, 9:43 AM EST http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MUSLIMS_CIVIL_LIBERTIES?SITE=NYSTA&SE CTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) -- Nearly half of all Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans, according to a nationwide poll. The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less religious. Researchers also found that respondents who paid more attention to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and support limiting the rights of Muslim Americans. "It's sad news. It's disturbing news. But it's not unpredictable," said Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society. "The nation is at war, even if it's not a traditional war. We just have to remain vigilant and continue to interface." The survey found 44 percent favored at least some restrictions on the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. Forty-eight percent said liberties should not be restricted in any way. The survey showed that 27 percent of respondents supported requiring all Muslim Americans to register where they lived with the federal government. Twenty-two percent favored racial profiling to identify potential terrorist threats. And 29 percent thought undercover agents should infiltrate Muslim civic and volunteer organizations to keep tabs on their activities and fund-raising. Cornell student researchers questioned 715 people in the nationwide telephone poll conducted this fall. The margin of error was 3.6 percentage points. James Shanahan, an associate professor of communications who helped organize the survey, said the results indicate "the need for continued dialogue about issues of civil liberties" in a time of war. While researchers said they were not surprised by the overall level of support for curtailing civil liberties, they were startled by the correlation with religion and exposure to television news. "We need to explore why these two very important channels of discourse may nurture fear rather than understanding," Shanahan said. According to the survey, 37 percent believe a terrorist attack in the United States is still likely within the next 12 months. In a similar poll conducted by Cornell in November 2002, that number stood at 90 percent. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 3) Bush looking at freezing domestic spending WASHINGTON (AP) http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/12/17/bush.spending.ap/index.html WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House is telling federal agencies to expect lean budgets next year, with congressional aides and lobbyists saying President Bush appears ready to propose freezing or even slightly cutting overall domestic spending. Targeted would be all annually approved programs except for defense and domestic security. Excluding those two would leave a part of the budget the administration estimates will total $388 billion for the fiscal year that began October 1. Also excluded are automatically made payments like Social Security and interest on the federal debt. Bush's stringent approach comes as record federal deficits that hit $413 billion last year hinder his ability to pay for overhauling Social Security and extending his tax cuts. He also has tied the budget shortfalls to the weakening dollar, and pledged to reduce red ink to help prop up the currency. At his White House economic conference on Thursday, Bush said he made "good progress" in holding the growth of non- defense, non-homeland-security programs this year to about 1 percent. "What I'm saying is we're going to submit a tough budget," he said. "And I look forward to working with Congress on the tough budget." The president is still making final decisions about the $2.5 trillion budget for 2006 he will propose in February. But House and Senate aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said cuts appeared destined for such programs as housing, grants for community development, purchases of new equipment for the Federal Aviation Administration, and Army Corps of Engineers water projects. Even the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, an administration favorite, was facing an increase of just 1 percent, pending appeals to the White House by outgoing NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, a lobbyist said. The zero-sum game that is federal budgeting means that if spending for next year is held flat, for every dollar increase that administration favorites like education or veterans receive, another dollar must be cut elsewhere. Even a program receiving the same as this year would lose purchasing power due to inflation, now running about 3 percent annually. Bush's spending blueprint would be among the toughest for domestic programs since President Reagan's budgets of the 1980s. Overall domestic spending has grown every year but three since 1987 -- in 1995 and 1996, when Republicans first recaptured Congress, and in 2000, immediately after a one- time influx of U.S. aid to help poor and debtor countries. Even as domestic spending growth has slowed, overall expenditures including defense and domestic security continue to climb, largely due to the costs of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Congress approved $87.5 billion for those wars in fall 2003 and $25 billion more last spring, and Bush is expected to request another $75 billion to $100 billion early in 2005. As word of Bush's still-evolving plans for domestic spending has seeped out, it has cheered conservative Republicans. They spent much of Bush's first term criticizing him for letting spending grow too rapidly and pressuring congressional leaders to try clamping down on spending. Excluding homeland security and emergencies like hurricanes, domestic spending has grown by 27 percent since Bush took office in 2001. "I really do believe that this White House gets it," said Rep. Mike Pence, R-Indiana, a leading House conservative. Last February, Bush proposed a 0.5 percent increase for domestic programs, which Congress eventually doubled. Advocates of cutting spending are hoping for better results next year, since November's elections will bring more conservatives to the House and Senate for the new Congress. "They've run out of excuses," said Stephen Slivinski, budget director of the conservative-leaning Cato Institute. "They can't blame anyone else." Still, Democrats and many moderate Republicans are certain to fight for their priorities when Congress begins translating Bush' budget proposal to actual spending legislation next year. "This tells you the administration's priority is tax cuts over fiscal responsibility and providing central services to the American people," said Thomas Kahn, Democratic staff director of the House Budget Committee. Last May, the White House budget office distributed a memo to federal agencies warning them to anticipate an overall domestic spending cut of about 0.7 percent next year. At the time, White House officials called the document an early step in the budget process. "The budget process is still under way," White House budget office spokesman Chad Kolton said Thursday. He said the administration still intends to cut the deficit in half in five years, and the next budget "will reflect our commitment to stay on that path." Copyright 2004 The Associated Press ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 4) U.S. Presses Co-Defendant Near Close of Terror Trial By JULIA PRESTON December 17, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/nyregion/17stewart.html A federal prosecutor in the terror trial of Lynne F. Stewart, a New York defense lawyer, battered one of her co-defendants yesterday with fierce questions, and then concluded a cross- examination with an outburst of indignation about the crimes alleged in the case. The rush of emotion came on the final day of testimony in the trial, which has lasted nearly six months. The prosecutor, Christopher Morvillo, bore down on the co-defendant, Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a postal worker from Staten Island who has worked as a paralegal with Ms. Stewart. Suddenly accelerating the pace of the testimony, Mr. Morvillo drew together many strands of evidence that the government has been weaving week after week in Federal District Court in Manhattan. He grilled Mr. Sattar about his state of mind in October 2000, when he helped write and release an Islamic edict "to mandate the killing of Jews wherever they are found." Mr. Sattar has testified that he wrote the edict, or fatwa, with Rifai Taha, a fugitive Egyptian militant who was then hiding in Afghanistan, probably in Al Qaeda training camps, and who had been named by the United States as one of the world's most dangerous terrorists. "It is a fact, is it not, Mr. Sattar, that you drafted this statement with the leader of a terrorist network?" Mr. Morvillo asked. "Yes, it is a fact," Mr. Sattar replied. "A person you knew was in Afghanistan with Osama bin Laden?" Mr. Morvillo fired back. "Yes." "A person that you knew was considered by the United States to be a threat to national security?" "Yes." "And a person who you knew had signed Osama bin Laden's fatwa calling for the murder of Americans, right?" "Yes." Mr. Morvillo was referring to a separate edict issued by Mr. bin Laden in February 1998, in which he called for the killing and kidnapping of Americans. Mr. Taha was one signer of Mr. bin Laden's fatwa. Mr. Sattar released the edict he had written Mr. Taha under the name of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a fundamentalist Islamic cleric. The sheik, a client of Ms. Stewart's, is serving a life sentence in federal prison for conspiring in a failed 1993 plot to bomb tunnels and landmark buildings in New York. But the sheik, who was in solitary confinement at the time, did not find out about the fatwa until some time later, evidence in the trial has shown. Mr. Sattar is charged with soliciting violence and conspiracy to kidnap and kill in a foreign country. Ms. Stewart is accused of participating in a terrorist conspiracy by violating prison restrictions imposed on Mr. Abdel Rahman in order to pass him letters from Mr. Sattar, which contained messages discussing violence from the sheik's militant followers in Egypt. Visibly shaken by Mr. Morvillo's questions, Mr. Sattar sought to distance himself from his own words, saying they were "ugly and hateful." He said again that he was "outraged" by the violence in Israel after a September 2000 visit by Ariel Sharon to the site of Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. He was especially troubled, he said, by the shooting of a Palestinian boy by Israeli troops, which had been shown repeatedly on the news. He said he had only wanted to gain publicity for the sheik, and added, pounding his fist on the stand: "I did not mean to kill anybody. I was crying out loud, Mr. Morvillo." Mr. Morvillo concluded his cross-examination of Mr. Sattar by inquiring about phrases that the defendant edited out of the fatwa calling explicitly for attacks on Americans in the United States. "Mr. Sattar, is that what you were referring to last week when you told us that you defend the Constitution of the United States?" the prosecutor asked. "Yes," answered Mr. Sattar, who was born in Egypt but became a naturalized American citizen in 1989. "You are quite a patriot," Mr. Morvillo retorted. Judge John G. Koeltl struck the comment from the record and ordered the jury to disregard it. But Ms. Stewart's chief lawyer, Michael E. Tigar, denounced it as improper and asked the judge to declare a mistrial. The judge denied that motion but, in an unusual step, criticized Mr. Morvillo's remark to the jurors. The jury is to return on Dec. 29 for closing arguments and for instructions from the judge. Copyright 2004 The New York Times ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 5) Arab media reports on US plan to attack Iran AzerNews (Azerbaijan) December 17, 2004 http://www.azernews.net/view.php?d=5536 US forces will infiltrate Iran's territory through Azerbaijan, Iraq, and Georgia. The US ground troops plan to complete the invasion in two weeks, the London-based ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported. The publication said that the US National Security Council is currently developing the plan for the occupation of Iran. The White House plans to overthrow the Islamic regime in this country and destroy its nuclear resources. A Central Intelligence Agency employee David Cay, who headed the commission engaged in searching for nuclear weapons in Iraq, has been instructed to develop the plan for the operation. The occupation of Iran will be carried out in three stages. The first envisions destroying Iranian armed forces through an air attack. Afterwards, the country's military units producing nuclear weapons will be attacked. The number of such facilities is 125. After the nuclear facilities are destroyed, the ground operation will Be launched. The US plans to send a part of its contingent to Iran through Azerbaijan. According to the Pentagon, US troops will not attack Iran's capital, Tehran, but surround it. US military experts say that several commando Detachments will suffice to subdue the Iranian authorities. Arab media have Reported that such forces are training in Florida, USA. The ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper issued a similar report 18 months Before the US attack on Iraq. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 6) Pentagon Seeks to Expand Role in Intelligence By DOUGLAS JEHL and ERIC SCHMITT WASHINGTON December 19, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/politics/19military.html?hp&ex=1103432400& en=0623190e8121e407&ei=5094&partner=homepage WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 - The Pentagon is drawing up a plan that would give the military a more prominent role in intelligence- collection operations that have traditionally been the province of the Central Intelligence Agency, including missions aimed at terrorist groups and those involved in weapons proliferation, Defense Department officials say. The proposal is being described by some intelligence officials as an effort by the Pentagon to expand its role in intelligence gathering at a time when legislation signed by President Bush on Friday sets in motion sweeping changes in the intelligence community, including the creation of a national intelligence director. The main purpose of that overhaul is to improve coordination among the country's 15 intelligence agencies, including those controlled by the Pentagon. The details of the plan remain secret and are evolving, but indications of its scope and significance have begun to emerge in recent weeks. One part of the overall proposal is being drafted by a team led by Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, a deputy under secretary of defense. Among the ideas cited by Defense Department officials is the idea of "fighting for intelligence," or commencing combat operations chiefly to obtain intelligence. The proposal also calls for a major expansion of human- intelligence collection efforts under the Pentagon's auspices, both within the military services and the Defense Intelligence Agency, including more aggressive, offensive missions aimed at acquiring specific intelligence sought by policy makers. (The term human intelligence refers to information gathered directly by spies rather than by technological means.) The proposal marks the latest chapter in the fierce and long- running rivalry between the Pentagon and the C.I.A. for dominance over intelligence collection. White House officials are monitoring the Pentagon's planning, as is the C.I.A. The proposal has not yet won White House approval, according to administration officials. It is unclear to what extent American military forces have already been given additional authority to carry out intelligence-gathering missions. Until now, intelligence operations run by the Pentagon have focused primarily on gathering information about enemy forces, the main preoccupation of military commanders. But the overarching proposal being drafted in the Pentagon, which encompasses General Boykin's efforts, would focus military intelligence operations increasingly on counterterrorism and counterproliferation, areas in which the C.I.A.'s directorate of operations has always played the leading role. "Right now, we're looking at providing Special Operations forces some of the flexibility the C.I.A. has had for years," said a Defense Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been approved. "It would be used judiciously, and with all appropriate oversight controls." General Boykin's proposal would revamp military commands to ensure that senior officers planning and fighting wars work more closely with the intelligence analysts tracking threats like terrorists and insurgency cells. Another part of the Pentagon's plan was articulated in a recent directive by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that instructed regional commanders to expand the military's role in intelligence gathering, particularly in tracking terrorist and insurgent leaders. "What we're talking about with the combatant commanders is using their military forces in the field in a more thoughtful way, and having a level of awareness to gather information that's important," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. In public allusions to the plan, both General Boykin and Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, have stuck to generalities that have left unclear exactly what is being proposed. But some intelligence officials say they believe those remarks open the way to more clandestine military operations intended to gather intelligence on terrorists and weapons proliferators. One former intelligence official questioned the utility of the military's putting more resources into intelligence collection at a time when it is already stretched thin in dealing with the counterinsurgency in Iraq and addressing threats elsewhere. "If you're a shooter, go do that job," said the former intelligence official, who has opposed efforts by the Pentagon to expand its intelligence gathering role. "But don't put the shooter in a pinstripe suit and send him to Beirut to chase bad guys." He said he regarded the military's initiative as an attempt to make inroads into turf controlled by intelligence agencies. A current intelligence official who works outside the Pentagon described the relationship between the Pentagon and the C.I.A. as "closer than ever," but he added that "cooperation is strongest in the places where it counts most, like Iraq and Afghanistan." The official said, "There's a real sense that there's plenty of work for everyone, and the key for both agencies is close coordination and insisting that all of us apply the best possible tradecraft in human intelligence operations." General Boykin was traveling abroad and not available for comment this week. Over the last two weeks, he and his top aides have declined repeated interview requests on this subject. The general provided an overview of the plan in an address in October to the Association of the United States Army, a nonprofit educational organization, and copies of his briefing slides are posted on the group's Web site. A brief synopsis of General Boykin's plan was provided by Defense Department officials, as were remarks prepared for delivery in a Nov. 15 address by Admiral Jacoby. "Our present intelligence collection architecture - optimized to identify and track large conventional forces - is inadequate to warn against these new challenges for terrorists, provide sufficient information on insurgent groups, determine the status of discrete W.M.D. production capabilities, learn the intentions of leaderships from rogue states, or determine friend from foe when intermingled in a foreign country," Admiral Jacoby said in that speech. The admiral said intelligence agencies needed to put a new premium on acquiring "persistent surveillance" through " close-in and continuous collection against broader problem sets." General Boykin, who attracted controversy last year for saying in remarks to Christian groups that Muslims worship "an idol" and describing the battle against Muslim radicals as a fight against Satan, has been the prime architect of the proposal, which has been under review at the Pentagon since January 2004. The general reports to Stephen A. Cambone, who since 2003 has used his newly created post as under secretary of intelligence to assert a role in which he has competed with George J. Tenet, the former director of central intelligence, and his successors for dominance over American intelligence agencies. Among the proposals described by Defense Department officials is a plan to create a Joint Intelligence Operational Command within the Pentagon, which would elevate intelligence to much more power and prominence. The command being proposed could replace the Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Department officials say. If approved, General Boykin's proposal would allow the Pentagon to be less reliant on other intelligence agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, for its operations, senior defense officials said. "It will give more options to the military for how they gather the intelligence, instead of having to depend on other agencies," said one senior military officer who has received a preliminary briefing on the proposal and spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been approved. Maj. Gen. Charles W. Thomas, a retired senior Army intelligence officer who has worked as a consultant for General Boykin on his project, said he broadly supported the general's goals. But General Thomas warned that one possible danger in bringing battle commanders and intelligence officials so close together to fight a common enemy was the risk that the intelligence could be skewed to fit the commander's war plan and not the reality on the ground. A spokesman for the Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., Col. Samuel Taylor, said on Friday that the command had been briefed on an early draft of General Boykin's remodeling initiative, but that staff officers and senior commanders had not yet reviewed it in depth. President Bush last month ordered the C.I.A. and the Defense Department to review a plan that could expand the Pentagon's role in covert operations, perhaps replacing the C.I.A. in providing paramilitary forces for such missions. Mr. Bush's directive set a 90-day deadline for the review. The idea of transferring paramilitary authority from the intelligence agency to the military's Special Operations Forces was among several prominent recommendations made by the Sept. 11 commission. The proposal remains under review. But in public testimony in August, Mr. Rumsfeld and John E. McLaughlin, who was then the acting intelligence chief, expressed reservations about the idea, and it was not included in the measure Mr. Bush approved on Friday. Copyright 2004 The New York Times ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 7) In Congo War, Even Peacekeepers Add to Horror By MARC LACEY December 18, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/18/international/africa/18congo.html?hp&ex=11 03432400&en=962ad452438e18ef&ei=5094&partner=homepage BUNIA, Congo, Dec. 16 - In the corner of the tent where she says a soldier forced himself on her, Helen, a frail fifth grader with big eyes and skinny legs, remembers seeing a blue helmet. The United Nations peacekeeper who tore off her clothes had used a cup of milk to lure her close, she said in her high-pitched voice, fidgeting as she spoke. It was her favorite drink, she said, but one her family could rarely afford. "I was so happy," she said. After she gulped it down, the foreign soldier pulled Helen, a 12-year-old, into bed, she said. About an hour later, he gave her a dollar, put a finger to his lips and pushed her out of his tent, she said. In this same eastern outpost, another United Nations peacekeeper, unable to communicate with a 13-year-old Swahili-speaking girl who walked past him, held up a cookie and gestured for her to draw near. As the girl, Solange, who recounted the incident with tears in her eyes the other day, reached for the cookie, the soldier reached for her. She, too, said she was raped. The United Nations said recently that it had uncovered 150 allegations of sexual abuse committed by United Nations peacekeepers stationed in Congo, many of them here in Bunia where the population has already suffered horrendous atrocities committed by local fighters. The raping of women and girls is an all-too-common tactic in the war raging in Congo's eastern jungles involving numerous militia groups. In Bunia, a program run by Unicef has treated 2,000 victims of sexual violence in recent months. But it is not just the militia members who have been preying on the women. So, too, local women say, have some of the soldiers brought in to keep the peace. The United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, said recently that there was "clear evidence that acts of gross misconduct have taken place" in the United Nations mission in Congo, which began in early 2000 and is known by its French acronym, Monuc. Mr. Annan added, "This is a shameful thing for the United Nations to have to say, and I am absolutely outraged by it." The number of cases may be impossible for United Nations investigators to determine precisely. Helen and Solange said in recent interviews that they had not told their stories even to their parents, never mind to United Nations officials. Rape carries a heavy stigma here, both girls made clear. They told their stories when approached by a reporter. "I didn't tell my mother because she would beat me," said a grim-faced Solange, starring at the ground. Solange, a sixth- grade dropout, said she had no interest in visiting a health clinic or seeing one of the psychologists that Unicef has paid for to counsel the many rape victims in and around Bunia. If she seeks help, the girl said, her mother might find out. Helen's mother is dead, and Helen did not dare tell her father for fear of a beating. She said she knew he would blame her for going near the soldiers in the first place and might even throw her out of the house. Helen did go on her own to a health clinic soon after the assault because she said she hurt between her legs. The health worker gave her something to drink, which she paid for with the same dollar that the soldier had given her, she said. "I was so afraid when he took my clothes off," Helen said, fidgeting with her dirty T-shirt. "I was quiet. I didn't say anything." The allegations leveled against United Nations personnel in Congo include sex with underage partners, sex with prostitutes and rape, an internal United Nations investigation has found. Investigators said they found evidence that United Nations peacekeepers and civilian workers paid $1 to $3 for sex or bartered sexual relations for food or promises of employment. A confidential report prepared by Prince Zeid Raad al-Hussein, Jordan's ambassador to the United Nations, and dated Nov. 8, says the exploitation "appears to be significant, widespread and ongoing." Violators described in the investigation, which continues, appear to come from around the globe. Fifty countries are represented among the 1,000 civilian employees and 10,800 soldiers who make up the United Nations mission in Congo. Already, a French civilian has been accused of having sex with a girl, though it is unclear where that case stands, and two Tunisian peacekeepers have been sent home, where the local authorities will decide whether to punish them. The United Nations report details allegations of sexual misconduct by peacekeepers from Nepal, Pakistan, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa and Uruguay, and lists incidents in which some soldiers tried to obstruct investigators. When they arrive for duty, peacekeepers are presented with the United Nations code of conduct, which forbids "any exchange of money, employment, goods or services for sex." The home countries are responsible for punishing any of their military personnel who violate the code while taking part in a United Nations peacekeeping mission. The United Nations, which has had previous scandals in missions in Cambodia and Bosnia, also warns the soldiers against sexual contact with girls under 18, even though the law in Congo permits sex with girls as young as 14. The United Nations policy says that mistakenly believing someone is older "cannot be considered a defense." The youth of Helen and Solange cannot be mistaken. They said they were abused while selling bananas and avocados to soldiers. Each girl said she was among the girls and women who have flocked to the camps that peacekeepers have set up around Bunia. These two girls walked from tent to tent with fruit balanced on their heads, using gestures to make deals. Helen would sell her fruit for 10 francs apiece, or a few cents, and would earn about $1 a day. She would give the money to her older sister. Solange would trade her fruit for the small containers of milk issued to soldiers. She would then sell the milk in town, making about $1.50 a day. She used the money to help her family buy food. Some of the girls and women who have entered the peacekeepers' camps concede that they had less-than- innocent intentions. Judith and Saidati, both 15 and sexually experienced with Congolese boys, acknowledged that they were looking for foreign boyfriends as they sold their fruit. The girls, who have the same father, said in a recent interview that they both found French boyfriends first, when the French Army controlled Bunia last year. Then they each found soldiers from Nepal, one of the countries supplying peacekeepers to the United Nations mission. After that, the girls spent time with soldiers from Morocco, who make up the bulk of the force now patrolling Bunia. The girls said they each stuck to one soldier apiece and switched to new ones only when their boyfriends were transferred out. Each time they had sex, the soldiers gave them $5, they said. Sometimes, they got other gifts, too, they said. One day, however, after their latest boyfriends had gone, a social worker visited them and told them of the dangers of having sex with soldiers. The woman sat them down and told them about AIDS and the other sexually transmitted diseases they might get. "She told us not to go anywhere near the soldiers," said Judith, who like the other girls agreed to be identified only by her first name. "She said we're still young and they might make our lives short." The two half sisters said the social worker's words frightened them, and they said they had not had any boyfriends for the last few months. But they also acknowledged that fewer Moroccan soldiers were propositioning them, reducing their temptation. The soldiers' new commander is keeping a closer eye on them, the girls said. "They want to come to us but their chief is watching them," Judith said. Judith and Saidati said they wanted the soldiers to remain in Bunia for many years. The girls said the United Nations troops had succeeded in stabilizing the town, which was a war zone just over a year ago. The foreigners also have much more money to spend than local boys, the girls said. "I like them," said Judith, smiling coyly. "They treat us so nice," added Saidati, who was beaming. But the two younger girls, Helen and Solange, were far more sober when they spoke of the foreign troops. They said they stopped selling fruit at the military camp immediately after they were attacked and had never been back. They said they had trouble sleeping at night and could not forget what the soldiers did to them. "Whenever I see one of them, I remember what happened," said Helen, who lives near a military checkpoint operated by soldiers wearing blue helmets just like the one she remembers seeing in the tent. "I'm afraid of them." Copyright 2004 The New York Times ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 8) AARP Poll Shows Most Support Legalizing Medicinal Marijuana By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS December 19, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/national/19marijuana.html WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (AP) - Nearly three-fourths of Americans middle age and older support legalizing marijuana for medical use, according to a poll taken for AARP. More than half of those questioned said they believed marijuana has medical benefits, while a larger majority agreed the drug is addictive. AARP, whose 35 million members are all at least 50 years old, says it has no political position on medical marijuana and that its local branches have not chosen sides in the scores of state ballot initiatives on the issue in recent elections. But with medical marijuana at the center of a Supreme Court case to be decided next year, and nearly a dozen states with medical marijuana laws on their books, AARP said, it decided to study the issue. "The use of medical marijuana applies to many older Americans who may benefit from cannabis," said Ed Dwyer, an editor at AARP The Magazine, which will report on the issue in its March-April issue, scheduled to appear in late January. Among the 1,706 adults age 45 and older who were polled in November, opinions varied along regional and generational lines and among the 30 percent of respondents who said they had smoked marijuana. AARP members represented 37 percent of the respondents. Over all, 72 percent of respondents agreed "adults should be allowed to legally use marijuana for medical purposes if a physician recommends it." Those in the Northeast (79 percent) and West (82 percent) were more receptive to the idea than in the Midwest (67 percent) and Southwest (65 percent). In Southern states, 70 percent agreed with the statement. Seventy-four percent of all those surveyed thought marijuana is addictive. Copyright 2004 The New York Times ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 9) PICTURES OF WAR Here are two sets of pictures. First set--- PLEASE ACCESS: http://dahrjamailiraq.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=album28&page= 1 Second Set-- PLEASE ACCESS: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coalitionforfreethoughtinmedia/message/26138 Now this is what I want you to do: First, sit down and make sure there is nothing near you that can be thrown at anyone, hurled at anything, smashed into pieces. I would assume that by now these have all been used up heaving them at the TV screen, but ya never know. Then, turn off everything, and make the room silent. Look at both sets. All of it. Very slowly. As slowly as it takes to bleed to death. As painfully as it takes to breath with a hole ripped in your lungs. With all the focused minute concentration of a USMC sniper narrowing a famished 12 year old in his sights. As the tears burn ineradicable traces down your face, and grief and rage shred your insides, and as you turn your face to the sky in voiceless open mouthed horror and shame, consumed by the truth of our complicity and cowardliness- I want you to sit there in it. Sit in it and donÂt move. Try to keep breathing. Now, we can decide What Is To Be Done. 1. STOP THE PARADE We must STOP the forward motion of what is going on. Not complain, not protest, no investigations, hearings, lawsuits, demonstrations, marches with signs. We must make this murderous machine STOP DEAD. We must make it all come to a complete and utter HALT. If even for an hour, a day. It is not enough to march, or to make some symbolic gesture, or to carry a placard with a pithy message, or to chant, or goddnoes change the Democratic Party Leadership. It is not enough to be Right. This is all very nice IÂm sure. None of this has done a goddam thing, and you know it. Nothing. On January 20, 2005, every blood-sucking bastard in the US Government will be in one place-- in Washington DC. Every no soldierÂs father, lobbyistÂs best boy, AIPAC Hooker. Every Connected Pseudo-Christian Crusading Son of Jesus, pension-robbing CEO, NRA sucking, air fouling, grandchild sodomizing profit monger maniac MF still breathing will be there. And all of the worldÂs so-called press, just flown in business class from Kiev and hunkered down in their 500 a night hotels will be there, with their million dollar cameras, and 100 dollar haircuts, and thousand dollar botox jobs, and their big salaries and big expense accounts, and even bigger egos- all slobbering over the Status Quo- they will be there and the World will be Watching. And we better be there too. And we better put a STOP to the Parade. Right there, for everyone to see. This is our Tiananmen Square  This is our Tiananmen Square Pennsylvania Avenue is our Tiananmen Square. One man standing in front of a tank, unafraid to die-can stop the Parade in its tracks. Bring the Government to its knees, with the world in witness. We have to show up. Show up at the route down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House to the Capitol, and STOP the goddam Parade. With our bodies. We must lie down in the road, and not move. Tens and hundreds and thousands and tens of thousands of us. BEFORE the parade can get to The Capitol. We have this one chance to stop the goddam Parade, and we better take it. Peacefully. Non-violently. Passively. Assertively. This is our Tiananmen Square. 2. Walk OUT We have GOT to try to get to DC somehow. But if we cannot- Tiananmen Square can be wherever you are. We have to STOP everything everywhere at noon on January 20, 2005. The Parade must come to a complete and utter halt, wherever it is, wherever we are, whatever weÂre doing. We must walk off the job, walk out of school, stop our cars, our busses, our cabs, our bicycyles. Put down that sandwich, log off the chat room. Noon on Jan 20. Lie down in the street. And not get up. The Parade has to stop. We must say- NO. You go no further. This time there is only ONE Evil. And it has to be stopped. For an hour or a day, for ten minutes -- with the World watching. In a way that is undeniable- That the press cannot stash somewhere behind the potted plant of some celebrity catastrophe or bogus epidemic. In broad daylight, in every village and town. Walk OUT. Lie down. Do not get up. Look, we walked into the voting booths with full knowledge that we had no real choice, our humanity and citizenship made brutally vestigial waaaay before any votes were counted, our rights stolen before our votes were. We walked into the booths like Jews walking into the ovens. Because it was easier to believe that something acceptable was inside than to face the utter horror of the truth. We KNEW  and now weÂre whining. TimeÂs up. There has been a Radical Regime Change in the WORLD- and you cannot ever say you didnÂt know. If thatÂs OK with you, then do nothing. If not- January 20,2005. See you in Tiananmen Square. CALL TO ACTION: ONE-DAY PROTEST STRIKE AND DEMONSTRATIONS ON INAUGURATION DAY, JANUARY 20 inaugural.org counter-inauguration planning. We call for a one-day protest strike and demonstrations across the United States and for marches on US embassies in as many other countries as possible. We know that for most people January 20 is a workday, and that work conditions can vary drastically. We suggest people reach out to others in their workplaces, campuses and neighborhoods and either call in sick or walk out at noon on January 20. College and university students can easily take a day off from classes. Whether you then choose to join an organized protest action or form a local affinity group of friends to organize an action of your own, join us and others in the streets to reclaim our power. We donÂt consent, and we wonÂt obey! In the streets for real democracy! Act together for real alternatives! A Call for decentralized, local actions around the world on J20 DC Anti-War Network Working Group, Counter-Inauguration actions http://www.dawndc.net/events/j20_05 ) The Call http://www.dawndc.net ?.htm> "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 ?.htm> DAWN also calls for organizations, affinity groups, and individuals to partner with us in organizing these two actions. If you or your group or organization wants to endorse DAWN's call to action, please send an e-mail to info@dawndc.net. Write also if you wish to collaborate in the planning or offer financial donations or other material support. http://www.j20walkout.tsx.org Organizing is underway in several cities and in numerous schools for a massive walkut on January 20th against the Inauguration. Please visit the website and spread the word to students and youth (and everyone else!). Post updates or announcements of your walkouts and events in the forum and read up on others! Build, Organize, Walkout! -J20 Walkout! group What Will J20 Look Like? We call on the people of the empire to use their privilege of living within the empire to stop it from functioning on January 20th, 2005, the day that George W. Bush is to be inaugurated the next president of the U.S. Together, we can stop the gears of global capitalism from turning. We call for actions across the U.S. and around the world which are focused on stopping the machinery of war and global capitalism. These actions include both mass mobilizations, street parties, Civil Disobedience and Direct Action as well as Assembleas Populares, Encuentros and other forms of real, direct democracy. Alongside the bodies in the streets, we also call for networks of electronic civil disobedience, hacktivism, and tactical media to join in the struggle. Against the bio-electronic forms of empire dominating the conduits of capital, media, and everyday life, we make this call in the spirit of the Critical Art Ensemble, Conglomco, RTMArk, and all the radio pirates and Indymedia centers worldwide. The ORGANIC collective Opposing Repression Globally and Nurturing Independent Communities http://ORGANICcollective.org dc justice and solidarity legal collective: info@justiceandsolidarity.org: http://www.justiceandsolidarity.org working with lawyer's guild on legal support of the week jan. 20 legal office, street teams, training for affinity groups to do own legal support, what do to if you get arrested . Disgusted by Bush's election? Get active! * Visit http://www.unitedforpeace.org ?.htm> for links to events and groups * New "Bring the Troops Home Now" car magnets at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/merchandise ?.htm> * Donate at http://www.unitedforpeace.org/donate ?.htm> to enable us to keep fighting back ACTION ALERT * UNITED FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE http://www.unitedforpeace.org ?.htm> | 212-868-5545 To subscribe, visit http://www.unitedforpeace.org/email ?.htm> 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 ?.htm> A Text Mob Group for the Counter-Inauguration: https://www.txtmob.com/group_info.php?listID=940 Subscribe to --- DRANT http://drrant.blogspot.com Francisco · CA · 94141 1197 Thanks. David Rubinson Back in The USA ! POB 411197 SF CA 94141-1197 LINKS AND INFORMATION RE: COUNTER INAUGURATION ACTIONS JANUARY 20, 2005: http://www.counter-inaugural.org for up-to-date counter-inauguration planning. http://www.dawndc.net ?.htm> DC actions http://www.dawndc.net/events/j20_05 Die In http://www.j20walkout.tsx.org actions http://www.inaugural05.com/ http://www.turnyourbackonbush.org www.newyork.notinourname.net http://www.unitedforpeace.org ?.htm> http://www.unitedforpeace.org/events ?.htm> http://mywebpages.comcast.net/pythian/billionaires/ http://www.afic.army.mil/events.htm http://www.velocitynyc.com/inaugural-balls.shtml http://www.scinauguralball.com/ http://www.enaugural.com/ http://sandiego.indymedia.org www.counter-inaugural2005.org http://groups.yahoo.com/group/counterinaugural_tc/ info@justiceandsolidarity.org http://www.justiceandsolidarity.org eve.lyman@bostonmobilization.org http://ORGANICcollective.org www.notinournmame-seattle.net https://www.txtmob.com/group_info.php?listID=940& http://www.contro-inaugurazione.it QUOTE OF THE DAY: Find out just what the people will submit to and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue until they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress: Frederick Douglass
Friday, December 17, 2004
BAUAW NEWSLETTER-THURSDAY-FRIDAY, DEC. 16-17, 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW! ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH, 5:00 P.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F. ************BREAKING NEWS************** According to the A.N.S.W.E.R. Washington, DC news conference covered live on CSPAN this morning, the U.S. government is not allowing antiwar/anti-Bush protestors onto Pennsylvania Ave. along the inauguration route. A.N.S.W.E.R. reported, there are three types of tickets available for the inauguration, Group A, is for personally invited guests; Group B, is for contributors to the Bush campaign (for both of these groups a list is carefully checked before tickets are sold;) tickets for Group C, for the general public, are not available. None. They are simply not sold. The Government, in a stalling move, has not denied permits to ANSWER for space for counter demonstrators, rather they are delaying as long as possible with the knowledge that the longer the permits are denied, the harder it will be for people to make arrangements to come to DC to protest. If and when permits are officially denied, A.N.S.W.E.R. declared they would challenge the government legally as they did in the last presidential inauguration "celebration." We have a constitutional right to protest the inauguration. BAUAW encourages all to show up in DC and come to Pennsylvania Avenue with your signs and banners and express your opposition to Bush and to the War. We demand, along with A.N.S.W.E.R., equal access along the rout for all. We have a right to protest our government or any of its official representatives. Nothing gives the government the right to disallow legal and peaceful protest. We say all out to Washington, DC if you can make it. If you can't go to DC, come out Jan. 20, 5pm, Civic Center, SF. in solidarity with all protestors in Washington and everywhere who oppose this war. We are encouraging everyone to participate somehow by wearing buttons and signs at work, at school and on the bus; hold banners at freeway entrances, and crowded shopping areas etc. on Jan. 20. Students should hold rallies and march to the Civic Center. Come to our next meeting and pick a place to flyer or table for Jan. 20 or hold a sign during the day, on Jan. 20 if you can. NEXT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR MEETING: SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 11AM CENTRO DEL PUEBLO 474 VALENCIA STREET (NEAR 16TH STREET IN SAN FRANCISCO) ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* The only moral virtue of war is that it compels the capitalist system to look itself in the face and admit it is a fraud. HELEN KELLER, "The Menace of Militarism." ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* Where you can still see the "must-see" film, WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception. This film is being downplayed by the mass media. It must have something to do with the searing criticism of that very media that is the content of the film. Go and see it. WMD will play in the following theatres in the Bay Area on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2004: San Francisco, CA Landmark Opera Plaza Cinema 601 Van Ness Avenue San Francisco, CA 94102 (415) 267-4893 Berkeley, CA (currently playing) The Oaks Theater 1875 Solano Ave. Berkeley, CA 94707 (510) 526-1836 Orinda, CA Orinda Theater 2 Orinda Theater Square Orinda, CA 94563 (925) 254-906 Richard Castro Outreach & Special Distribution Cinema Libre Studio 818.349.8822 Ph. 818.349.9922 Fax www.cinemalibrestudio.com ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* Hey Peace Activists... Sorry for the massive crossposting, but I had to share this with you. In case anyone needed a reminder as to why we are doing this, please take a moment to watch Ian Rhett'"(Didn't know I was) UnAmerican" http://unamerican.haightfreetv.com/unamerican.56m041011.swf It's wonderful. Charles Shaw Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Newtopia Magazine www.newtopiamagazine.net --------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 1) Holiday Benefit Sale at the Middle East Children's Alliance Saturday, December 18th, 10 AM to 6 PM at 901 Parker Street, Berkeley (corner of 7th and Parker) 2) HUMOR: Iraqi leader to be announced at Jan. 16 Golden Globe Awards 3) Cuba, Venezuela Defy U.S. and Announce Their Own Plan To Create A FairTrade Alternative to FTAA! ----- Original Message ----- From: < nytr@olm.blythe-systems.com > " Castro, Chavez Defy US Trade Pact " 4) New Gallup Poll Raises Questions About Media Focus on 'Values' By E&P Staff NEW YORK Published: December 14, 2004 10:00 AM ET http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content _id=1000736658 5) War Funding Request May Hit $100 Billion By Bryan Bender WASHINGTON Published on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 by the Boston Globe http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1215-03.htm 6) Details of Marines Mistreating Prisoners in Iraq Are Revealed By Richard A. Serrano WASHINGTON Published on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 by the Los Angeles Times http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1215-01.htm 7) Eskimos Seek to Recast Global Warming as a Rights Issue By ANDREW C. REVKIN December 15, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/15/international/americas/15climate.html?oref =login&oref=login 8) The Thought Police - Cops Investigate Anti-American Statements of 11-Year-Old The Washington Post reports two police officers recently visited the home of an 11-year-old and questioned his parents for three hours about anti-American comments their son made in school The student had refused to participate in a Veterans Day exercise and criticized the Marines. The school claimed he had said, "I wish all Americans were dead and that American soldiers should die." The Police questioned his parents about their views on Sept. 11, the military and if they knew any foreigners who criticized US policy. They also inquired whether the parents might be teaching "anti-American values" at home. The mother, Pamela Allbaugh, told the Washington Post "It was intimidating. I told them it's like a George Orwell novel, that it felt like they were the thought police." She went on to say "If someone would have asked me five years ago if this was something my government would do, I would have said never." http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/16/1444215 9) World War 3 Report, issue 93, December 2003 http://www.ww3report.com/93.html#palestine6 Remote-control Machine Guns to Be Mounted on the Wall 10) Mark your calendar: Saturday, December 18, 6:00-8:00 (18th & CASTRO) 11) Chuck D keynotes "State of the Black Youth" convention By Diane Bukowski DETROIT The Michigan Citizen http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=73&twindow=Defaul t&mad=No&sdetail=1308&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restat us=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname= 12) Israeli Army Raid Into Gaza Kills 5 Palestinians By Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA (Reuters) Fri Dec 17, 2004 08:29 AM ET http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7125113&src=eD ialog/GetContent§ion=news 13) Hungry and homeless ranks swell in US cities By Rick Kelly World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org 17 December 2004 http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/dec2004/hung-d17.shtml 14) Joma Sison issued this statement in the wake of the deaths of over 1000 people due to typhoon-related mudslides and the government's request for 600 U.S. Marines to engage in "relief operations" near areas controlled by the NPA and National Democratic Front of the Philippines. --dp PS. CARHRIHL is an important human rights declaration signed by the Philippine government and the NDFP. Press Statement 16 December 2004 CARHRIHL DOES NOT ALLOW US COMBAT TROOPS TO INTRUDE INTO PHILIPPINE--GRP OR NDFP--TERRITORY UNDER PRETEXT OF RELIEF OPERATIONS By Prof. Jose Maria Sison Chief Political Consultant National Democratic Front of the Philippines 15) On Sunday December, 12, 2004, an Israeli sniper in Khan Younis refugee camp killed Rana Syiam, 7 years old, while she was sitting at home, eating supper with her family. The Israeli army gave no explanation for the attack. 16) COMMUNITY SPEAK OUT FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS Sat, Dec. 18th, 1:00 pm 24th & Mission St. (24th St. BART), San Francisco Call to Action for Immigrant Rights: 17) NEWS & COMMENTARY: Soldier has himself shot to avoid returning to Iraq 18) Days of Protest Jan. 20 Inauguration Day and Jan.22, 32nd Anniversary of Roe vs. Wade: 19) Guard Reports Serious Drop in Enlistment By ERIC SCHMITT WASHINGTON December 17, 2004 http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/politics/17reserves.html?oref=login --------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 1) Holiday Benefit Sale at the Middle East Children's Alliance Saturday, December 18th, 10 AM to 6 PM at 901 Parker Street, Berkeley (corner of 7th and Parker) The subject of this email is Project Censored's #1 story for 2005 http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1118425,00.html In reality, every very "tax reform" since President Kennedy, federal, state, and local governments have been transfering taxes from the rich and to the poor, the working class, and small businesses. This process has been bipartisan and even occurred during the last Presidential Election. The overwhelming majority of us are being robbed by the government and deprived of essential services at the same time. FYI: The following is from the "PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION" to the Media Monopoly: With a New Preface on the Internet and Telecommunications Cartels, by Ben H. Bagdikian. (2000) Beacon Press, 25 Beacon St., Boston Mass 02108-2892: "AS THE UNITED STATES ENTERS the twenty-first century, power over the American mass media is flowing to the top with such devouring speed that it exceeds even the accelerated consolidations of the last twenty years. For the first time in U.S. history, the country's most widespread news, commentary, and daily entertainment are controlled by six firms that are among the world's largest corporations, two of them foreign. "Even with the dramatic entry of the Internet and the cyber world with their uncounted hundreds of new firms, the controlling handful of American and foreign corporations now exceed in their size and communications power anything the world has seen before. Their intricate global interlocks create the force of an international cartel. "There are pernicious consequences. While excessive bigness itself is cause for economic anxieties, the worst problems are political and social. The country's largest media giants have achieved alarming success in writing the media laws and regulations in favor of their own corporations and against the interests of the general public. Their concentrated power permits them to become a larger factor than ever before in socializing each generation with entertainment models of behavior and personal values. "The impact on the national political agenda has been devastating, For years, the mainstream news has over dramatized its reporting of congressional and White House debate on the national debt and deficit beyond their intrinsic importance. Politicians raised the issue, but it was seized upon and overblown by the major media-- media that politicians use as a bellwether on what issues will get them the most public attention and partisan advantage. During these crucial years, the American economy was undergoing an astonishing phenomenon that the mainstream news left largely unreported or actually glamorized in its infrequent references: the largest transfer of the national wealth in American history from a majority of the population to a small percentage of the country's wealthiest families." http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/1.html Wealth Inequality in 21st Century Threatens Economy and Democracy MULTINATIONAL MONITOR, May 2003, Vol. 24, No. 5 Title: "The Wealth Divide" (An interview with Edward Wolff) Author: Robert Weissman BUZZFLASH, March 26 and 29, 2004 Title: "A Buzzflash Interview, Parts I & II" (with David Cay Johnston) Author: Buzzflash Staff http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2005/1.html LONDON GUARDIAN, October 4, 2003 Title: "Every third person will be a slum dweller within 30 years, UN agency warns" Author: John Vidal MULTINATIONAL MONITOR, July/August, 2003 Title: "Grotesque Inequality" Author: Robert Weissman Faculty Evaluators: Greg Storino, Phil Beard Ph.D. Student Researchers: Caitlyn Pardue, David Sonnenberg, Sita Khalsa THE DOMESTIC TREND In the late 1700s, issues of fairness and equality were topics of great debate- equality under the law, equality of opportunity, etc. Considered by the framers of the Constitution to be one of the most important aspects of a democratic system, the word "equality" is featured prominently throughout the document. In the 200+ years since, most industrialized nations have succeeded in decreasing the gap between rich and poor. However, since the late 1970s wealth inequality, while stabilizing or increasing slightly in other industrialized nations, has increased sharply and dramatically in the United States. While it is no secret that such a trend is taking place, it is rare to see a TV news program announce that the top 1% of the U.S. population now owns about a third of the wealth in the country. Discussion of this trend takes place, for the most part, behind closed doors. During the short boom of the late 1990s, conservative analysts asserted that, yes, the gap between rich and poor was growing, but that incomes for the poor were still increasing over previous levels. Today most economists, regardless of their political persuasion, agree that the data over the last 25 to 30 years is unequivocal. The top 5% is capturing an increasingly greater portion of the pie while the bottom 95% is clearly losing ground, and the highly touted American middle class is fast disappearing. According to economic journalist, David Cay Johnston, author of "Perfectly Legal," this trend is not the result of some naturally occurring, social Darwinist "survival of the fittest." It is the product of legislative policies carefully crafted and lobbied for by corporations and the super-rich over the past 25 years. New tax shelters in the 1980s shifted the tax burden off capital and onto labor. As tax shelters rose, the amount of federal revenue coming from corporations fell (from 35% during the Eisenhower years to 10% in 2002). During the deregulation wave of the '80s and the '90s, members of Congress passed legislation (often without reading it) that deregulated much of the financial industry. These laws took away, for example, the powerful incentives for accountants to behave with integrity or for companies to put away a reasonable amount in pension plans for their employees-resulting in the well -publicized (too late) scandals involving Enron, Global Crossing, and others. THE GLOBAL IMPACT As always, America's economic trends have a global footprint-and this time, it is a crater. Today the top 400 income earners in the U.S. make as much in a year as the entire population of the 20 poorest countries in Africa (over 300 million people). But in America, national leaders and mainstream media tell us that the only way out of our own economic hole is through increasing and endless growth-fueled by the resources of other countries. A series of reports released in 2003 by the UN and other global economy analysis groups warn that further increases in the imbalance in wealth throughout the world will have catastrophic effects if left unchecked. UN-habitat reports that unless governments work to control the current unprecedented spread in urban growth, a third of the world's population will be slum dwellers within 30 years. Currently, almost one-sixth of the world's population lives in slum-like conditions. The UN warns that unplanned, unsanitary settlements threaten both political and fiscal stability within third world countries, where urban slums are growing faster than expected. The balance of poverty is shifting quickly from rural to urban areas as the world's population moves from the countryside to the city. As rich countries, strip poorer countries of their natural resources in an attempt to re- stabilize their own, the people of poor countries become increasingly desperate. This deteriorating situation, besides pressuring rich countries to allow increased immigration, further exacerbates already stretched political tensions and threatens global political and economic security. UN economists blame "free-trade" practices and the neo-liberal policies of international lending institutions like the IMF and WTO, and the industrialized countries that lead them, for much of the damage caused to Third World countries over the past 20 years. Many of these policies are now being implemented in the U.S., allowing for an acceleration of wealth consolidation. And even the IMF has issued a report warning the U.S. about the consequences for its appetite for excess and overspending. In developing countries, the concentration of key industries profitable to foreign investors requires that people move to cities while forced privatization of public services strip them of the ability to become stable or move up financially once they arrive. Meanwhile, the strict repayment schedules mandated by the global institutions make it virtually impossible for poor countries to move out from under their burden of debt. "In a form of colonialisation that is probably more stringent than the original, many developing countries have become suppliers of raw commodities to the world, and fall further and further behind," says one UN analyst. World economists conclude that if enough of the world's nations reach a point of economic failure, such a situation could collapse the entire global economy. For further information on this story, please check out the following excellent websites: www.inequality.org http://www.dollarsandsense.org/ http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/income.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1118425,00.html David Cay Johnston interview also found on Democracy Now!, May 18, 2004. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 2) HUMOR: Iraqi leader to be announced at Jan. 16 Golden Globe Awards [The Borowitz Report scooped other media sources Wednesday with its announcement that the new president of Iraq will be chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and announced Jan. 16 at the 62nd annual awards ceremony. -- Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld said he foresaw criticism, but commented: "You choose a new Iraqi president with the awards ceremony you have, not the awards ceremony you might want." -- Thanks to Karen Havnaer for sending this piece. --Mark] http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/1913/ The Borowitz Report HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION TO CHOOSE NEW IRAQI PRESIDENT ** Awards Ceremony to Replace January Elections ** Borowitz Report December 15, 2004 http://www.borowitzreport.com/default.asp With prospects for IraqÂs January 30 elections appearing increasingly dim, the White House announced today that the new president of Iraq would be chosen by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, best known for organizing the star-studded Golden Globe Awards. Under an unorthodox arrangement, the new Iraqi leader will be announced two weeks earlier than scheduled, on January 16, at the 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards in Hollywood. ÂBy allowing the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to choose IraqÂs new leader, we will accomplish the most important thing: sticking to our arbitrary January deadline, said Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. Mr. Rumsfeld added that handing over authority to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was the most practical way to choose a new Iraqi president in a timely fashion, since the security situation in Hollywood is Âconsiderably better than that in Iraq. And while the credibility of the Golden Globes has come into question in recent years, Mr. Rumsfeld argued,  You choose a new Iraqi president with the awards ceremony you have, not the awards ceremony you might want. The Golden Globes decision could spell trouble for interim Iraqi president Ghazi al-Yawar, who now faces a crowded field of Hollywood favorites including Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. Buddy Schlantz, a veteran Hollywood talent agent, said that Mr. al-Yawar must begin aggressively courting the members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association if he expects to prevail:  If I were al-Yawar, IÂd start ordering the fruit baskets now. Elsewhere, Bernard KerikÂs nanny resigned today, saying that she wanted to spend less time with his family. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 3) Cuba, Venezuela Defy U.S. and Announce Their Own Plan To Create A FairTrade Alternative to FTAA! ----- Original Message ----- From: < nytr@olm.blythe-systems.com > " Castro, Chavez Defy US Trade Pact " Agencia Cubana de Noticias (AIN) http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu Cuba and Venezuela will Support Alternative Initiative to the FTAA Havana, Dec 14 (AIN) Presidents Fidel Castro Ruz, of Cuba, and Hugo Chavez FrÃas, of Venezuela, signed a joint declaration and an accord on Tuesday in Havana to implement the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas. The joint declaration strongly rejects the content and intentions of the Free Trade Zone of the Americas (FTAA), considered the clearest _expression of the imperialist desires to dominate the Latin American region. With the recent accord both governments expand and modify their Comprehensive Bilateral Cooperation Agreement, signed on October 30, 2000. They also take concrete steps towards integration of the Bolivarian Initiative for The Americas, known as ALBA by its Spanish acronyms and which is an alternative project to the FTAA. The document stipulates that both nations will draw up a strategic plan that guarantees the most beneficial productive complementation on the basis of rationality, the optimum use of advantages existing in both countries, the saving of resources, and others. Both nations will also exchange locally-developed integral technology packages for mutual benefit. Presidents Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez also agreed to subscribing a Reciprocal Credit Accord, the development of a two-way balanced trade and joint cultural initiatives. According to the document, Venezuela and Cuba are committed to undertake a series of actions including the immediate lifting of any kind of non-tariff barrier on all imports in both ways. In the context of Tuesday's agreement, Havana offers 2,000 scholarships annually to Venezuelan youths to take higher education courses in the fields of interest of Caracas, which will transfer technology in the energy sector. AFP via al Jazeera - Dec 15, 2004 http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/70FAE354-7832-4AC8-A714-604F65F6C78E. htm Castro, Chavez Defy US Trade Pact Cuban President Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have announced an alternative trade bloc to the one proposed by the US for a free-trade area of the Americas. The alternative was conceived as "a battle fought with the same rules and regulations as those imposed by the [US] empire to divide the people," Castro said on Tuesday. Naming the new pact the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), the presidents said it would eliminate trade barriers and tax obstacles, provide incentives for investment, increase banking relations and tourism cooperation. Venezuela promised financing for Cuban industrial and infrastructure projects, while Cuba agreed to pay a minimum price of $27 per barrel of Venezuelan oil, as part of the accord "to apply the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas". FTAA dead Before the signing of the agreement, Castro and Chavez addressed a rally in Havana where both presidents declared the US-proposed Latin American Free Trade Zone dead. "It is an alternative to the perverse FTAA, which they have been trying to impose on us for years," Chavez said. "FTAA is dead." Chavez also accused Washington of pursuing imperialist intentions in free trade talks with Andean countries. Venezuela is one of the biggest suppliers of crude oil to the US, but their relations have been strained by disputes between Chavez and the White House. Washington has expressed concern over Chavez's close ties to Castro since Chavez won the presidency in 1998. And US President George Bush says the FTAA is the solution to the region's deepening poverty. Chavez visit Chavez is on a two-day visit to commemorate his first encounter in Havana with Castro 10 years ago when he was an army officer recently released from prison for leading a failed coup. At the time, Castro proclaimed him Venezuela's future leader. Venezuela currently provides Cuba with 53,000 barrels of oil a day at preferential prices, while Cuba has 13,000 doctors in Venezuela, is helping the country stamp out illiteracy and has treated thousands of Venezuelans in its hospitals. -AFP Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org Carlos Rovira - "Carlito" ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 4) New Gallup Poll Raises Questions About Media Focus on 'Values' By E&P Staff NEW YORK Published: December 14, 2004 10:00 AM ET http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content _id=1000736658 NEW YORK In the aftermath of the Nov. 2 election, the press and various political partisans jumped on exit polls that seemed to suggest "moral values" was the top issue in voters' minds as they re-elected President George W. Bush. Some analysts have questioned that notion, but a new nationwide Gallup Poll, released Tuesday morning, could deal a death blow to the whole idea. Asked what they consider "the most important problem facing this country today" the issue of values was tied for fourth place with unemployment/jobs, with only one in ten of the Gallup sample choosing it. Far ahead, with 23%, was the war in Iraq, followed by terrorism and the economy in general, both at 12%, only then followed by unemployment and values. The modest vote for values is all the more surprising because it was broadly define to include a wide range of concerns including "ethics," "moral," "religious/family decline," "dishonesty," and "lack of integrity." This 10% total could also be compared to the 29% who named some aspect of the economy as the top issue, along with the 35% who mentioned Iraq or terrorism. ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 5) War Funding Request May Hit $100 Billion By Bryan Bender WASHINGTON Published on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 by the Boston Globe http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1215-03.htm WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration plans to ask for between $80 billion and $100 billion to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan next year, rather than the $70 billion to $75 billion the White House privately told members of Congress before the election, according to Pentagon and White House officials. Administration officials said yesterday they have not concluded how much money they will request in a "supplemental" spending package that is scheduled to go to Congress in January. "There's work going on inside the department to understand what's needed, and there's work going on with the Office of Management and Budget," the Defense Department's chief spokesman, Lawrence Di Rita, told reporters yesterday. But some analysts and government officials said the request is expected to run as high as $100 billion, bringing the total cost of operations in Iraq alone to well over $200 billion since the March 2003 invasion. Earlier this fall, members of Congress said the Defense Department told them in private briefings the supplemental package would be between $70 billion and $75 billion. The budget request will be higher, sources said, because of the greater number of soldiers -- temporarily boosted to 150,000 -- needed to provide security around the time of the Jan. 30 Iraqi elections, and the loss of equipment due to the vigorous insurgency there. In June, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the 2005 supplemental to be submitted this January for Iraq and Afghanistan would be between $55 billion and $60 billion. The January supplemental will be the third special budget request to cover the military costs of Iraq. The administration asked for $55.8 billion in April 2003 and $71.8 billion in November 2003. In May of this year, Congress added $25 billion in war costs to the fiscal 2005 defense budget. In total, $152.6 billion in military funding for Iraq has been provided through the end of this year. Those statistics do not include emergency money to support the 20,000 US troops in Afghanistan, which brings the total bill to $162.3 billion. In addition, the military has been spending more than was approved for 2004, in anticipation of a fresh infusion of funds in early 2005. "They ran out of the 2004 budget a month early [and] had to borrow [from] 2005," said John Pike, a defense specialist at the military think tank GlobalSecurity.org, a military think tank in Alexandria, Va. "They're already starting to suggest that the 2005 budget is going to be $100 billion for one year alone." The Iraq operation, he said, has "been running over a billion a week thus far. I think we're probably getting up to $2 billion a week fairly soon." Few analysts expect the Iraq mission to be wrapped up in a year, and many question why the Bush administration is continuing to budget its war costs through supplementals -- usually reserved for one-time, emergency expenses -- rather than include them in the annual budget request that is sent to Capitol Hill every February. Democrats and some fiscally conservative Republicans believe the administration is trying to hide the effects of rising war costs on the federal deficit, thereby justifying President Bush's calls for making some tax cuts permanent and spending more on education and other domestic priorities. Although war costs ultimately get added to the deficit, keeping them off the annual budget creates a false picture of the government's commitments at a time when Congress is making funding decisions, critics said. Brian Reidl, an economist with the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation, said the Iraq funding should be put in the defense budget, because the Pentagon knows it will need money to pay for the operation. Leaving it out masks the true size of the deficit, he said. "There's an argument to be made that [early in the year] you don't know what you'll need" for Iraq funding, Reidl said. But "there's no reason why you can't put in a place-holder to at least estimate the cost." The administration separates the Iraq funding because "it's easier to sell the budget resolution with a smaller deficit and a smaller spending total because Iraq is excluded," Reidl said. Steve Kosiak, a defense budget specialist at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, added that "the idea is [supplementals] are supposed to be used when there is a surprise. This is no longer a surprise that we are in Iraq." The actual cost of the military operations in Iraq is higher than any of the supplementals suggest, analysts said, because the wartime wear and tear on people and equipment will require expenditures long after the war ends. A soon-to-be-completed classified study by the Government Accountability Office requested by Democrats on the Senate Budget Committee concludes that the cost of "resetting" the worn-out armed forces for peacetime will require billions more than the money needed simply to maintain combat operations, according to congressional officials. "They will need new training and the sense is that the longer this thing goes on the deeper the problems get," said a congressional staff member who has been briefed on the GAO study. Meanwhile, the Pentagon yesterday alerted more units to be ready for duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tens of thousands of Army soldiers from Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, New York, and Texas -- including a brigade of the Army's 10th Mountain Division based at Fort Drum in New York -- will prepare to deploy overseas by the middle of 2005. The planned rotations, and others to be announced in the coming weeks, would maintain a force of 138,000 US troops in Iraq well into 2006. However, Di Rita called the notifications "prudent planning" and cautioned that it does not necessarily mean the United States will need all those forces. "It would be wrong to say that, as far as the eye can see, this is the number," Di Rita said. "It may very well be less than this. It may be the same amount. It may be more." Copyright (c) 2004 the Boston Globe ---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------* 6) Details of Marines Mistreating Prisoners in Iraq Are Revealed By Richard A. Serrano WASHINGTON Published on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 by the Los Angeles Times http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1215-01.htm WASHINGTON - Marines in Iraq conducted mock executions of juvenile prisoners last year, burned and tortured other detainees with electrical shocks, and warned a Navy corpsman they would kill him if he treated any injured Iraqis, according to military documents made public Tuesday. The latest revelations of prisoner abuse cases, obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union in a lawsuit against the government, involved previously unknown incidents in which 11 Marines were punished for abusing detainees. Military officials indicated that they had investigated 13 other cases, but deemed them unsubstantiated. Four investigations are pending. Military superiors handed down sentences of up to a year in confinement after finding Marines guilty of offenses ranging from assault to "cruelty and mistreatment," the documents show. The new documents are the latest in a series of reports, e-mails and other records that the ACLU has obtained to bolster its contention that the abuse of prisoners goes far beyond the handful of soldiers charged with abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. The photographs of naked Iraqi prisoners being tortured by American troops at the prison shocked the world in April. The scandal involved abuse by reservists and members of the Army and National Guard; the latest cases elaborated for the first time on numerous allegations of abuse by Marines. The mistreatment occurred as early as May 2003, months before the first allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib were recorded. And the most recent case involving prisoner abuse by the Marines occurred in June, two months after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke. Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU in New York, placed responsibility for the abuse on the Pentagon. "This kind of widespread abuse could not have taken place without a leadership failure of the highest order," he said. Lawrence Di Rita, the chief Pentagon spokesman, said he could not comment on the latest cases because he was unfamiliar with them. The documents described Navy criminal investigators scrambling to keep pace in June with an "exploding" number of abuse cases. "Heads up," an assistant special agent in charge of the Navy's investigative field office in the Middle East wrote to his superiors in a 6 a.m. e-mail June 14, pleading for more investigators. "Case load is exploding, high visibility cases are on the rise," he warned. "We have scrubbed all of our personnel and have no other trained personnel available to deploy." Cases involving prisoner abuse continue to tarnish the U.S. military's involvement in Iraq. Since the Abu Ghraib scandal, revelations have surfaced of other detainee abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan and at the prison for terrorism suspects at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Authorities have charged eight prison guards for beating and sexually humiliating prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad last fall. At least two prisoners at Abu Ghraib died in custody. In all, about three dozen prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan are believed to have died in U.S. custody. The cases are in various stages of investigation or prosecution. The Pentagon confirmed this week that four soldiers were accused of killing a prisoner in Afghanistan in 2002, but charges against three of them were dropped. In the case that drew the stiffest punishment, a one-year prison sentence for the Marine, a detainee at Mahmoudiya was shocked with an electric transformer. Wires were held against his shoulders, and "the detainee danced as he was shocked," the documents state. The new records - which blacked out the names of soldiers - also show that a Marine was convicted of ordering four juvenile Iraqi looters to kneel down beside two shallow holes in Diwaniya. Then, "a pistol was discharged to conduct a mock execution." The Marine was sentenced to 30 days imprisonment with hard labor. Other Marines were punished for physically abusing prisoners. In Karbala, a Marine held a 9-millimeter pistol to the back of a detainee's head while another Marine snapped a picture. A glass of water then was poured on the prisoner's head, and he was photographed with an American flag draped over his body. Navy investigators found other allegations unsubstantiated, including sexual abuse cases alleging that a detainee's testicles had been squeezed and another prisoner had been sodomized with a rifle muzzle. Navy investigators also interviewed a group of corpsmen from Washington state who were dispatched to Iraq last year. Two of them spoke about being intimidated by Marines there. One corpsman said he was cautioned not to talk to others about prisoner abuse. "There was a lot of peer pressure to keep one's mouth shut," he said. Another corpsman said, "We were told not to exhaust our resources on the Iraqis. Several Marines told me that if I provided medical services to any Iraqi military or civilian personnel, that they [the Marines] would kill me." However, the corpsman later said that "there was a wounded Iraqi POW who needed his dressings changed" and that some Marines "actually called my attention to him to make sure he received treatment." He also recalled seeing Marines force detainees' heads into the dirt, "which was a cultural insult to them," and said that he saw a Marine striking a prisoner with an empty, 5-gallon plastic water jug. The records discuss the deaths of several detainees, but they do not identify them or say how the cases were resolved. One prisoner, who had attempted 20 escapes, reportedly died after breaking free of his restraints and jumping from a window, "landing on his head," the documents state. The examining Marine officer "surmised that the detainee died from internal cranial bleeding from the fall that was slow to kill him." Another prisoner was "ziplocked" - a military term for being handcuffed - and then died in custody. "Preliminary information is that the detainee died from an apparent heart attack," the reports state. In other cases, there was spirited debate, in reports and e-mails, about the corpses of prisoners. One dead Iraqi could not be found, and an e-mail ordered, "Try to find that body; we'll exhume if possible." In another e-mail exchange, military officials discussed whether autopsies should be conducted in Iraq, at military bases in Germany or in the United States. "Personally," responded on | |