CIA and Pentagon split over uranium intrigue

Senior Federal Prosecutors and F.B.I. Officials
Fault Ashcroft Over Leak Inquiry

Mr. Ashcroft and Alberto R. Gonzales, the White House counsel, have also been under fire for their initial handling of the case. The Justice Department allowed the White House to wait overnight on Sept. 28 before sending an electronic message ordering White House employees not to destroy records related to the leak.

Ashley Snee, a spokesman for Mr. Gonzales, said he believed the delay was acceptable because no one in the White House had any idea there was an investigation. But The New York Times and The Washington Post had reported the day before that the C.I.A. had forwarded the matter to the Justice Department for possible investigation.

US weighs arrest of militant cleric

U.S. loses interest in the road map

Iraq War Swells Al Qaeda's Ranks, Report Says

A Toothless Resolution

Even if the Security Council approves the U.S. proposal, it won't change a thing in Iraq.

US House Approves Bill on Sanctions for Syria

Bush's War Plan Is Scarier Than He's Saying

If some wishful Americans are still hoping President Bush will acknowledge that his imperial foreign policy has stumbled in Iraq and needs fixing or reining in, they should put aside those reveries. He's going all the way—and taking us with him.

Six in Ten Iraqis Unemployed, but U. S. Subcontractors
Hire Cheap Migrant Laborers

Top terrorist hunter’s divisive views

Neoconservatism Made Kristol Clear
Don't you wish old fashion conservatism was still around?

Finally, in case any doubt remains as to whether the Bush administration qualifies as neoconservative—and there are still some out there who believe it remains fully within the American conservative tradition—Kristol puts all doubt to rest. Bush and his administration, he says, “turn out to be quite at home in this new political environment, although it is clear they did not anticipate this role any more than their party as a whole did.” Face it, says Kristol: We’ve won, and you traditional conservatives in the Republican Party never saw it coming and still don’t know what hit you. Unfortunately, he’s right.

$87B Iraq bill questioned in rock-solid Bush country

Israeli PM sneers at watershed peace bid with Palestinians

Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has dismissed a draft peace agreement drawn up by leftwing Israeli politicians and Palestinian leaders as the "greatest historic mistake" since the Oslo peace accords a decade ago. But supporters of the new "Geneva accords", while acknowledging that the agreement is unlikely to persuade Mr Sharon to abandon his militarist approach to the conflict, say that the deal is a breakthrough because it nails the government's lie that there is no one to negotiate with.

Pentagon official: US may take action against Syria

Soldiers’s Glowing Accounts of Success in Iraq Success Were Written by Commander

Primate Expert Jane Goodall
Calls Bush's Environmental Record "Terrifying"

Another Century of War?

All the President's votes?

Don't Look Down
Paul Krugman

But at a certain point we'll have a Wile E. Coyote moment. For those not familiar with the Road Runner cartoons, Mr. Coyote had a habit of running off cliffs and taking several steps on thin air before noticing that there was nothing underneath his feet. Only then would he plunge.

 

Colombia at Cancun - How the Trojan Horse Failed

When, one after another, the delegates of the WTO ministerial in Cancun were confessing that the meeting had failed and that there was no agreement, they were also confessing the failure of Colombia's Minister of External Commerce, Jorge Humberto Botero. He had failed in his mission to divide the countries of the periphery and prepare the ground for an agreement in tune with the proposals and interests of the transnationals of the US, the EU, and Japan.

In Drive to Aid Israel, Lobby May Be Shifting Out of Neutral

Jeremy Rabinovitz, chief of staff to Rep. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) and an AIPAC research analyst in the mid-1980s. "For years, AIPAC has distinguished itself as a strictly bipartisan advocate for strong U.S.-Israel relations," he said on Friday. "It's disheartening to see the organization become an increasingly partisan voice for the Republican agenda, and this approach will not help the pro-Israel cause in Washington."

Navy to Limit Deployment of Low Frequency Sonar
One small step for the Navy, one great step for Whalekind!

But the groups may not be celebrating for long because military leaders are pushing for legislative changes that would modify the environmental laws that stopped the deployment. Navy spokesman Lt. Commander Cappy Surette said today that the Navy does not see the agreement as a positive development and that "it will limit the readiness of our sailors and marines to meet the submarine threats of the new century."The Navy has been a vocal advocate for legislation that would modify the Marine Mammal Protection Act and other environmental laws that military leaders say stand in their way of properly ensuring national defense. The bill with the Pentagon's changes, called the Range and Readiness Preservation Initiative, passed both the House and Senate this year as an amendment to the Defense Department appropriations bill. But it is still being debated in a conference committee because the House and Senate versions had significant differences.

Celebrity status gave Schwarzenegger options

Arnold Schwarzenegger's dramatic announcement on "The Tonight Show" Aug. 6 that he was running for governor of California was, to all appearances, a bolt out of the blue. Jay Leno gasped and the Tonight Show audience erupted in applause. Schwarzenegger's advisers insisted he had made the decision at the last minute.

But, campaign officials now concede, preparations for his candidacy and especially for the remarkably successful strategy he would follow -- avoiding the traditional press and going straight to the entertainment media with vague messages and movie-style sound bites -- were laid as early as June, when they conducted a series of highly revealing focus groups.

"We ran away from the established media," said Sean Walsh, co-director of communications for the campaign. "We went to the real mass media. We make no apologies for doing lots of radio or TV. It gave us 5, 7, 8 minutes of unfiltered opportunities to get out our message every day. "We did it," he added, "because we could."

Beilin-Abed Rabbo accord infuriates Israeli right:
Also known as the Geneva Accord,
an alternative Middle East peace agreement

Yesterday's ceremony in Jordan to mark completion of the document was attended on the Israeli side by former minister Yossi Beilin, who headed the Israeli negotiating team; MKs Haim Oron (Meretz), Amram Mitzna (Labor) and Avraham Burg (Labor); former MK Nehama Ronen; Brigadier General (reserve) Giora Inbar and author Amos Oz. Other Israelis party to the initiative include former chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, MK Yuli Tamir (Labor) and several Meretz MKs. The Palestinian representatives at the ceremony, who also led the talks for their side, were former ministers Yasser Abed Rabbo, Nabil Kassis and Hisham Abdel Razeq and two leaders of the Fatah-affiliated Tanzim organization, Kadoura Fares and Mohammed Khourani. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who first began attacking the Beilin-Abed Rabbo initiative last week, said yesterday that it has foiled any chance of advancing serious negotiations on a peace agreement.

White House Touts Iraq Success

President Bush complained this week that it is hard to tell progress is being made in Iraq "when you listen to the filter" of the news media. Bush's aides hope to elude that filter through a series of presidential interviews with local and regional news organizations, trips by Cabinet members to Iraq and hard-hitting speeches by Bush, Vice President Cheney and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. Each of Bush's weekly radio addresses in October will be devoted to the subject, aides said. "This will be a sustained effort to talk to the nation about the progress we are making and what we're achieving," a senior administration official said. "We are making significant progress on many fronts, and it's not easy to put it into a sound bite."

Something Fishy about 'No-Bid' Contracts for Iraq Reconstruction?

U.S. Muslims Warn of New Government Crackdown

Kurdish Guerrillas Dealt Another Blow

Japan - The rapid run on dollar assets

But a rapidly falling dollar means foreign buyers are more likely to bail out on US paper, putting the US in an economic trap. It will have to raise interest rates to entice foreign and domestic investors, which in turn would drive a stake through the nascent recovery from the three-year-old economic slowdown.

Many soldiers, same letter
Newspapers around U.S. get identical missives from Iraq

WASHINGTON -- Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country as U.S. public opinion on the mission sours. And all the letters are the same. A Gannett News Service search found identical letters from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, also known as "The Rock," in 11 newspapers, including Snohomish, Wash.

Giving millions to back a winner: Candidate who denied needing money got lots.

Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger has pledged to shed the "pay-to-play" atmosphere that Gov. Gray Davis was accused of creating in Sacramento and has asserted that his personal wealth shields him from being beholden to special interests. But in a span of 62 days, the Republican raised questions as he collected millions of dollars in two campaign accounts from a variety of business interests that stand to gain from a Republican administration promising to improve California's corporate climate.

Sharon Acts Tough, Sensing U.S. Assent

Report: Israeli Defence Force
planning to attack nuclear sites in Iran

National Endowment for Democracy:
Paying to Make Enemies of America
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

More recently, IRI president George A. Folsom last year praised a coup against Venezuela's democratically-elected president, saying, "Last night, led by every sector of civil society, the Venezuelan people rose up to defend democracy in their country." It was later revealed that the National Endowment for Democracy provided funds to those organizations that initiated the violent revolt in the streets against Venezuela's legal leaders. More than a dozen civilians were killed and hundreds were injured in this attempted coup. Is this promoting democracy?

Nat Hentoff: Bush's Vanished Prisoner

  As attorney Jonathan Freiman's brief to the Second Circuit--for a coalition of prominent civil liberties organizations--says in Padilla v. Rumsfeld, Bush's commander-in-chief argument "would give every President the unchecked power to detain, without charge and forever, all citizens it chooses to label as 'enemy combatants.' "

TIME: Leaking With a Vengeance

The effort to reverse the FCC is dead in the water

US soldiers bulldoze farmers' crops
The acts reported in this article against Iraqi citizens constitutes prohibited war crimes under the Geneva Convention to which the USA is a signatory. The military claims it abides by the letter of the law of the Geneva Convention. The military is learning its new techniques from the Israeli Defence Force. Protest.

Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention

"No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she
has not personally committed.Collective penalties and likewise
all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited."

President-select Bush calls for the
immediate embargo of China
Smiling Seriously, Elfie

"Viewing the Cuba-China issue objectively, I must admit that the goal of pressuring Cuba is to lock in the right wing Cuban-American vote for Republicans in Florida, so that we won't need to push American blacks off the voter rolls to carry that state in 2004."

Rumsfeld's $9 Billion Slush Fund

Secrets of the Scandal

We in journalism are also wrong, I think, to extend professional courtesy to Robert Novak, by looking beyond him to the leaker. True, he says he didn't think anyone would be endangered. Working abroad in ugly corners of the world, American journalists often learn the identities of American C.I.A. officers, but we never publish their names. I find Mr. Novak's decision to do so just as inexcusable as the decision of administration officials to leak it.

Occupation as Rape-Marriage

"Don't you love me now?"
----Boxer Mike Tyson, after raping Desiree Washington, July 19, 1991.

Meanwhile some even closer to the rapist, who once counseled against the crime, and are so damned proud that they once said, "Best not to do that," or "I don't agree with that," now endorse the rape-marriage of prolonged occupation. In doing so, they endorse the violation in its aftermath---as something, after all, not really all that shameful---and take the rapist's side as he seeks to buy legitimacy. Shame on them. (Not us, who don't believe in rape as a matter of principle, and want nothing to do with it. But shame on them.)

GAO grim on deficit outlook

"It's true that deficits are understandable and sometimes necessary in times of recession and/or war," Walker said. "However, while it may not seem like it to those who are out of work or underemployed, we have not been in a recession for almost two years." Moreover, projected deficits "far exceed the costs associated with Iraq, the global war against terrorism and any incremental homeland security costs," Walker said. "It is time to admit we are in a fiscal hole and to stop digging."

The Fall And Rise Of Liberal England

The truth of this is currency now, thanks to the millions who have broken an established silence, with thousands of them going into the streets for the first time and filling the letters pages and shaming the majority of Labour MPs, who chose Bush and Blair over their constituents. They are the best of this society. They are rescuing noble concepts, such as democracy and freedom, from Blairite windbags who emptied them of their true meaning while claiming to be left of centre. Theirs is an "insurrection of subjugated knowledge", as Vandana Shiva has written.

It's Even Worse Than You Think

What's missing from the $400 billion figure is an accurate recognition of the mounting obligations of the Social Security system. Under current practices, Social Security reports its financial performance on a cash-flow basis: it compares annual revenues to annual costs and reports a surplus or a deficit. Last year, Social Security enjoyed a surplus of roughly $160 billion. The government used this money to mask what would otherwise have been a $560 billion federal deficit. What's more, the magnitude of the Social Security shortfall grew immensely last year. At the beginning of 2002, the trust fund's deficit was $10.1 trillion. Under a system of accrual accounting, Social Security would have had to report a loss of approximately $370 billion. If this figure — and not the trust fund's annual cash-flow surplus — were added to other federal accounts, the federal government would have reported a $930 billion deficit last week. Add in similar adjustments for Medicare and other retiree benefits, and the flow of red ink last year surges even higher.

9/11 and the LA 8

Iraq, six months on

From triumph has sprung murderous fiasco.
Ignoring Iraqis comes with a terrible price

House unit votes for sanctions on Syria

. . . And the Infighting

Is the United States of America plotting to murder
Venezuela’s President

US officials, meanwhile, have issued repeated statements denouncing Chavez. “I think that some of the things that he has done at home politically and his policies on the economic side have ruined what is a relatively wealthy country,” Roger Noriega, the State Department’s top official on Latin America, declared recently. Noriega made no mention of the oil strike, which enjoyed Washington’s tacit support, or of Washington’s decision in July to cut off all credit to Venezuela from the US Export-Import Bank.

No money, no play - US on the brink in Iraq

Neo-con fingerprints on Syria raid

Within this context, Sharon's decision to attack Syria appears designed to shine the spotlight once again on Syria as a key target in the "war on terrorism". Coming at a time when the neo-cons in Washington are on the defensive over their pre-war claims about the dangers posed by Saddam in Iraq and the welcome which US troops were supposed to have been accorded by the Iraqi population, the renewed focus on Syria conveniently changes the subject.

Navy Sonar May Give Whales the 'Bends'

FBI Put Bug in Philadelphia Mayor's Office

When Prudery Kills

"It's utterly inexcusable," Mr. Sachs added, "that 7.5 million people in Africa have died on their watch, and they've not yet reached even 500 Africans on treatment in U.S.A.I.D.-supported programs. They've talked and procrastinated and dissembled while millions of impoverished people have died. Ultimately, history will judge them very severely." The administration is also fumbling the AIDS initiative by requiring that one-third of AIDS prevention funds do nothing but encourage sexual abstinence until marriage. This is the kind of stipulation set by people who sit in Washington and have never actually set foot in an African village.

'Frontline' Explores U.S. Winning War, Losing Peace

Bush said this week that the United States is succeeding in Iraq, but it's hard to tell that "when you listen to the filter" of the news media. His aides are being dispatched to talk up the progress. No doubt the administration would see this documentary as more media filtering to accentuate the negative. But the facts on the ground, as reported by Smith and his crew, are stubborn indeed.

An abiding faith in force

Patriot Act Opponents Say Law Endangers Rights

Update Voting Rules

Safeguarding the Vote

Sharon: Left wing is collaborating with the Palestinians

Terror suspect tortured

Rift grows between Iraq's interim council and US led coalition

Experts See Delay Tactic in CIA Leak Case

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the counsel's office on Wednesday was continuing to screen the documents to make sure that what is sent to FBI headquarters is ``responsive'' and ``relevant'' to the Justice Department's request.

Spending On Iraq Sets Off Gold Rush

How Blair Lost by Winning 

Although no cleverer or nicer than the Americans, the British are perhaps more literal-minded, with an innate distaste for being misled. More and more they sense that they were taken into war on false pretenses. And, no, they do not think that this was such a beautiful thing.

   The New Inquisition
    By Walter Cronkite
    The Denver Post

President Bush's televised answer to the growing concerns of many - including some Republicans - about the powers granted to him in the USA Patriot Act was to ask for even stronger measures, particularly the expanded use of "nonjudicial subpoenas." That means a federal agency such as the FBI can write its own subpoenas to conduct a search - no judges needed.

Liberty Island
Libertarians are increasingly isolated in the GOP.
Will they bolt in 2004?

White House stops blocking Syria bill

Tuesday, President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon again shared a view that Syria is a threat to Israeli security. For the second time in as many days, Bush said Israel was justified in bombing deep into Syria on Sunday, the first such attack since the 1973 Middle East war. The Israeli airstrikes followed a suicide bombing in the seaside city of Haifa that killed 19 Israelis.

Revelation casts doubt on Iraq find

Israel Is Losing

Inside the Boeing deal scandal

Boeing had more than my column to worry about. A Feb. 10 report by the Pentagon's Program Analysis and Evaluation concluded that ''leasing will cost more than purchasing (several billion dollars more).'' After the Pentagon quietly approved the lease in May, PA&E director Ken Krieg on June 20 issued a report that leasing ''is more expensive in the long run'' than direct purchases.

No al-Qaeda link found to Iraq's WMD program: Kay

Congress hits warpath on Iraq funding issues

Geothermal power firm attracting heat

U.S. Approves Power Plant in Area Indians Hold Sacred

Government gives OK for 50-megawatt power plant

Iraqi Business Ties Raise Questions

Don't be fooled. The Iraqi maelstrom won't save Iran

In the case of Iraq, the Clinton administration and Britain made a serious mistake in 1998 by making clear sanctions would not be lifted in return for Saddam Hussein's compliance with inspections. Now the mistake is being repeated with Iran, giving it no clear incentive to cooperate, and making people in Tehran ask what the next demand will be.

Prising open the Syrian file

"Israel has successfully put Syria on the agenda of the neo-conservatives in Washington and wants to keep it there. Vice-President [Dick] Cheney and Defence Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld are gunning for Syria. It is a huge move in this conflict," Hania Farhan, Middle East director of the Economist Intelligence Unit in London, told BBC News Online.

Bombarded with advertisements
ZNet Commentary

Israeli 'human shields' arrive in Ramallah to guard Arafat

US concedes, shuts prison in Iraq

  Outing a CIA Operative? Rules Call for Special Counsel

Regulators seize equipment from Venezuela TV station

Venezuela: CONATEL seizes illegal transmission equipment

Venezuela: Suppress news of CONATEL terror bombing

The amazing situation is further worsened by the fact that the US Embassy in Caracas has jumped on the opposition bandwagon to deplore a regulatory agency action against illegal transmission equipment at Globovision in a situation where if it had happened Stateside, there would be no discussion whatsoever about the regulatory agency's right and duty to deal with illegalities to the full extent of the law.

Arnold Calls His Acts of Sexual Harassment a Joke

But when asked if he denied all the stories about grabbing, he said, "No, not all. But I'm just saying this is not me. (What's he got multiple personality syndrome?) What I am is someone that sometimes makes outrageous jokes, someone that is out and says sometimes crazy things that may be offensive because there is a certain atmosphere."

ARNIE'S WIFE HITS ROOF OVER GRAB-HAPPY HUBBY
Guess when it was published: December 26, 2000

Israel's attack is a lethal step towards war in Middle East

But no. Yesterday, we took another little lethal step along the road to Middle East war, establishing facts on the ground, proving that it's permissible to bomb the territory of Syria in the "war against terror", which President Bush has himself declared now includes Gaza. Robert Fisk in Beirut

U.S. Response To Attack by Israel Is Muted

'Road Map' Setbacks Highlight U.S. Pattern

Administration officials say they will not press Israel to make important gestures when it is faced with suicide bombings. But even during the cease-fire, Palestinians and many neutral analysts say, the Israeli efforts to bolster Abbas's status -- such as removing roadblocks, dismantling settlement outposts and releasing prisoners -- were often too limited to have much effect, and likely backfired. The number of settlement outposts actually increased, as new ones were erected as others were destroyed for the benefit of television cameras.

Briton held as terror suspect says CIA threatened torture

Washington's Sour Sales Pitch

Jimmy Carter: The Choice For Israelis

Thomas L. Friedman: One wall, one vote

Iraqis' patience wears thin as America delays handover

Republicans unsure of Bush's chances for 2004 election

Un-American Activities

Leak of Agent's Name Causes Exposure of CIA Front Firm

No uranium, no munitions, no missiles, no programmes

WMD: You have got to be kidding

Bush men scramble to contain spy leak scandal

The accusations that White House officials tried to use the leak to discredit Mr Wilson could implicate a larger group than those responsible for the initial leak, and expose the White House staff as being involved in the kind of underhanded partisan politics that President Bush frequently denounces.

Justice Department granted White House delay on order to preserve records in CIA exposure scandal

It is revealing in the extreme that NPR would censor post facto the paragraph about the delay on the order to preserve records, which raises suspicion that the request was so they could purge incriminating evidence.

The American Saddam

Bechtel program directors say the company has hired 69 Iraqi subcontractors and employs more than 27,000 people. But subcontracts to Iraqi firms were only worth $47 million by late September - out of a total of more than $1 billion. US companies divide practically the whole cake. Creative Associates International will revitalize Iraqi primary and secondary schools. The Research Triangle Institute will be in charge of local governance development (Wasfi had no idea about it). The public health system will be restored by Abt Associates. Airport administration in Baghdad, Mosul and Basra will go to Skylink Air and Logistics Support.
The fatal, irredeemable mistake of proconsul L Paul Bremer and his CPA was to fire hundreds of thousands of possibly innocent public employees. What these residents of Baghdad are saying is that there is simply no Iraqi face to hold and secure the country. It's impossible to rehabilitate Iraq's institutions and restore basic services for the population without the managers and employees of Iraq's public sector. So no wonder the talk in the streets of Baghdad is, "We had an Arabic Saddam. Now we have an American Saddam."

Just War -- Or A Just War, By Jimmy Carter

Poll Shows Drop in Confidence
on Bush Skill in Handling Crises

Reliant to Pay Up to $50 Million
Republican dominated FERC lets them off the hook with pennies for dollars of profit, so what would the Terminator do?

US and Turkey to hit PKK

Turkey and the US have agreed on an action-plan to eradicate the Kurdish paramilitary group, the PKK. (Let's see does that mean another major campaign in Northern Iraq, where will the troops come from?)

Rush Limbaugh in pill probe for using "hillbilly heroin"
Thanks to the National Enquirer!

The moralizing motormouth was turned in by his former housekeeper - who says she was Limbaugh's pill supplier for four years. Wilma Cline, 42, says Limbaugh was hooked on the potent prescription drugs OxyContin, Lorcet and hydrocodone - and went through detox twice.It started after her husband, David, hurt himself in a fall, and Limbaugh asked how he was. "He asked me casually, 'Is he getting any pain medication?' I said, 'Yes - he's had surgery, and the doctor gave him hydro-codone 750,'" Cline said. "To my astonishment, he said, 'Can you spare a couple of them?' "Cline said she gave Limbaugh 10 pills the next day and agreed to give him 30 of her husband's pills each month. When the doctor stopped renewing the prescription in early 1999, Limbaugh allegedly went ballistic. "His tone was nasty and bullying. He said, 'I don't care how or what you do, but you'd better - better! - get me some more,'" Cline said.The housekeeper said she found a new supplier and arranged to hide Limbaugh's stashes under his mattress so his wife, Marta, wouldn't find them.

New Bridge Strategies

New Bridge Strategies, LLC is a unique company that was created specifically with the aim of assisting clients to evaluate and take advantage of business opportunities in the Middle East following the conclusion of the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Its activities will seek to expedite the creation of free and fair markets and new economic growth in Iraq, consistent with the policies of the Bush Administration. The opportunities evolving in Iraq today are of such an unprecedented nature and scope that no other existing firm has the necessary skills and experience to be effective both in the United States and on the ground in Iraq.
Joe M. Allbaugh, Chairman and Director
Joe M. Allbaugh is the CEO of The Allbaugh Company, LLC, a Washington, D.C.-based corporate strategy and counsel firm. A native of Oklahoma, Joe served as the Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under President George Bush until March 2003. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., he was Chief of Staff to then-Governor Bush of Texas and was the National Campaign Manager for the Bush-Cheney 2000 presidential campaign.

Massive military contractor's SAIC media mess 

Another prominent SAIC executive and former vice president also has a long-standing connection with Iraq: David Kay, the former UN weapons inspector who was hired by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in June to head the effort to track down Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

The Iraqi (sometimes referred to as "Indigenous") Media Network (IMN) project, valued initially at a minimum of US$25 million, was formally launched in mid-April as a successor to a psychological warfare program that beamed radio broadcasts before and during the war into Iraq from a C130 cargo plane called "Commando Solo". But the IMN was considerably more ambitious in scope, since its aim, as an outgrowth of the IRDC operation, was to put together a new information ministry, complete with television, radio and a newspaper, and the content that would make all three attractive to average Iraqis. To oversee the job, SAIC hired away the director of Voice of America (VOA), Robert Reilly, an outspoken right-wing ideologue who began his public career in the 1980s as a propagandist in the White House for the Nicaraguan contras.

Welcome to Vietnam, Mr. President.
    Sorry you didn't go when you had the chance.
    By Max Cleland

The marvels of de-Ba'athification

Should the U.S. Military in Iraq Adopt Israeli Methods

Schwarzenegger Says He's 'Behaved Badly' to Women

From this point on, Schwarzenegger said, he would prove he is a ``champion for the women.'' Schwarzenegger also dismissed the Times story as ``trash politics'' and said much of it was not true. (How about ``trash politician?'')
(Will Californians truly disgrace themselves?)

Women Say Schwarzenegger Groped, Humiliated Them

Govenor Gang Bang gropes for votes?

The Spy Who Loved Him

Coalition losing war for Iraqi arms

Saddam's Niger Point-man Speaks

A Porker of an Energy Plan

The legislation — filled with pork despite the nation's spiraling deficit — continues old, failed energy policies by promising subsidies to the coal, natural gas, oil and nuclear industries. The bill makes a token bow to developing renewable energy sources and arrogantly ignores conservation and environmental concerns.

360 Snipers Shot at Students in '68, Mexican Inquiry Finds

But she said it found documents showing that snipers who fired into the plaza from surrounding residential towers passed through the apartment of Rebeca Zuno de Lima, a sister-in-law of then-Interior Minister Luis Echeverria. Reports on the shooting from military officers stationed in the apartment were found in Interior Ministry archives, Magdaleno said. Echeverria, who went on to serve as president from 1970 to 1976, has denied over the years that he played a role in the shootings. Summoned last year by special prosecutor Ignacio Carrillo Prieto, he cited his constitutional right to remain silent. But according to newly released U.S. State Department and CIA documents, Echeverria created and led a working group of Mexican officials to deal with the student protests, which had begun in July 1968, and predicted days before the massacre that "the situation would be under control very shortly."

The Tiger of Baghdad

Never turn a tiger into a bloody man-eater And here is the ultimate tragedy of the US invasion of Iraq. That it will create many more tragedies in its wake. Maybe an endless series of tragedies. The brutality of the entire enterprise will give birth to more and more of the very same ‘terrorists’ that the invasion claims to be against. It will turn many of those majestic tigers into man-eaters, who once having tasted blood will not know when or where to stop. What we hear from Iraq is not just the firepower of the United States but also the desperate rattling of the cages by a trapped people. Listen to them, liberate them, let them go before it is too late.

End the Occupation of Iraq, Now!

Leak risks US security, says ex-CIA official

Afgan Massacre: Convoy of Death
Why have US television stations refused to broadcast this documentary? Click here to see it on Democracy Now.

Oil, War And A Growing Sense Of Panic In The US

Anarchy is now so widespread in post-war Iraq that it is almost impossible for international investors to work there. There is no insurance for them - which is why Mr Bremer's occupation administrators have secretly decided that well over half the $20bn (£12bn) earmarked for Iraq will go towards security for its production infrastructure.

But the real irony lies in the nature of America's new power in Iraq. US oil deposits are increasingly depleted and by 2025, its oil imports will account for perhaps 70 per cent of total domestic demand. It needs to control the world's reserves - and don't tell me the US would have invaded Iraq if its chief export was beetroot - and it now has control of perhaps 25 per cent of world reserves.

But it can't make the oil flow. The cost of making it flow could produce an economic crisis in the US. And it is this - rather than the daily killing of young American soldiers - that lies behind the Bush administration's growing panic. Washington has got its hands on the biggest treasure chest in the world - but it can't open the lid. No wonder they are cooking the books in Baghdad.

Arabs Say World Ignores Israel's Nuclear Program

Settlers 'threaten Israel as a Jewish state'

Who's Sordid Now?

Awkward questions over civilian deaths

Sour mood descends on Wall Street

Bush's New Federal Math Leaves Kids Far Behind

"No Child Left Behind." It's a terrific sentiment—a noble end that has now been turned into a banality. He said it was his brightest accomplishment as governor of Texas. He said the Houston schools were the model. Over the past year or so, getting headlines in Texas but only modest coverage elsewhere, the "Texas Miracle" has been disrobed. It was a scam, a hoax. The governor had put the fear of Bush into the school bureaucracy. Suddenly, as if in the Land of Oz, kids in low-income districts who had been dropping out of high school at rates of 30 and 40 percent and higher were apparently born again, burying their faces in their books into the wee hours. And then the truth came out. They were still dropping out at the same old percentages; they just weren't being counted as dropouts. They weren't even being listed as "whereabouts unknown"—as if they might have moved to another district and forgotten to leave a forwarding address. They had simply disappeared Sharpstown High School: "[This] poor, mostly minority high school of 1,650 students had a freshman class of 1,000 that dwindled to fewer than 300 students by senior year. And yet—and this is the miracle—not one dropout to report.

Russia Opens Kyoto Doors While U.S. Slams Them Shut

Hearing on The Case for Climate Change Action
Full Committee Hearing
Wednesday, October 1 2003 - 9:30 AM - SR- 253
Webcast: Click here to view a live webcast of this hearing.

Global Warming is Now a Weapon of Mass Destruction

The Presidential Bubble

Full Metal Jacket

Recall polls are differing widely

The Magnificent 27

The most senior officer among the signatories is Major General Yiftah Spector, who is also a living legend. He is the son of one of the "23 men in the boat", a group that was sent in World War II to demolish oil installations in Lebanon (at the time under Nazi-puppet Vichy French control) and never heard of again. Yiftah Spector was the instructor of many of the present commanders of the Air Force. Altogether, the statement was signed by one general, 2 colonels, 9 lieutenant colonels, 8 majors and 7 captains.

Security Aide Prods Airlines to Yield Data on Travelers

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 ­ (New York Times) Needing information on airline passengers for a test of the government's new computerized screening system, the Transportation Security Administration, rebuffed by JetBlue Airways, is looking for a substitute that can provide it, the agency's administrator said today.

But the official, Adm. James M. Loy, said that because no one airline wanted to single itself out as the provider, he hoped to get the data from the industry as a whole. And if he cannot get the airlines' cooperation, he said, he will simply order them to turn over the information.

No apology

With Clark on Fire, Calls of Liar, Liar

Largest Arctic Ice Shelf Breaks Up, Draining Freshwater Lake

Military stashes covert millions

Schwartzenegger Recall

US kills three more in Sunni triangle

Even traditional conservatives outraged
by radicalism of the right

UK troops in Iraq warned of 'inevitable' terror attack

Paul Krugman: 'I Do Get Rattled'

"Those who take the hard-line rightists now in power at their word are usually accused of being 'shrill', of going over the top," Krugman writes, and he has become well used to such accusations.    Which is how, as Krugman sees it, the Bush administration managed to sell tax cuts as a benefit to the poor when the result will really be to benefit the rich, and why they managed to rally support for war in Iraq with arguments for which they didn't have the evidence. Journalists "find it very hard to deal with blatantly false arguments," he argues. "By inclination and training, they always try to see two sides to an issue, and find it hard even to conceive that a major political figure is simply lying."

It¹s the Corporations, Stupid!

And that is why it is good that the so-called trade talks in Cancún collapsed. The WTO is not just creating trade rules. It is expanding into areas such as water, healthcare, electricity, education, and is steadily creating a global constitution that will subordinate local and national democracy to the profit needs of transnational capital. The WTO seeks to subordinate life (human rights and the environment) to commerce.

Israelis, Palestinians, Americans mark 1948 attack on Arabs

In the struggle for Middle East peace, "it's very disturbing when one side's history is systematically ignored," said Daniel McGowan, who launched Deir Yassin Remembered in 1994. "It would be like nobody wanting to talk about the Holocaust when you talked about Jews."

Air Force Analysts Feel Vindicated on Iraqi Drones

Bush's Unofficial Official Secrets Act

If Attorney General John Ashcroft has his way, we will see many more prosecutions of this ilk. Ashcroft has told Congress he wants a "comprehensive, coordinated, Government-wide, aggressive, properly resourced, and sustained effort" to deal with "the problem of unauthorized disclosures."

It's important to watch Ashcroft's lips here: He said "unauthorized" disclosure - not, say, disclosures of classified information relating to national security, which would be a very different matter. Plainly, he is targeting anyone who leaks information the Bush Administration would rather not have made public - even when security is in no way at risk.

Powell asking Europeans to shun Arafat
as a failed Palestinian leader

U.S. Uses Terror Law to Pursue Crimes
From Drugs to Swindling

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, "Once the American public understands that many of the powers granted to the federal government apply to much more than just terrorism, I think the opposition will gain momentum."

No Peace, Now No Peacekeepers

Patriots and invaders

Poverty Up Second Year on Bush's Watch

The Census Bureau's annual report showed the number of people living below the poverty line rose to 34.6 million last year, from 32.9 million in 2001, when the national economy first went into recession.

Fallujah-A multilayered picture emerges

Convincing tools for the young and the restless are multiple: defense of tribal values, defense of the motherland, and most of all defense against the "bad behavior" of the Americans. The mujahideen can count on total popular complicity. When al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya - the nemesis of the Governing Council - show images of American casualties, not only in Fallujah but also in Baghdad, people stop talking and their faces lighten up. The running commentary is inevitable: "We thanked them for our freedom, but they should have left long ago." At least in Fallujah, as far as the American occupation is concerned, the battle for hearts and minds is irretrievably lost.

In GOP, Concern Over Iraq Price Tag

Orientalism 25 Years Later

Three of a kind - India, China and Russia

Is US policy toward Venezuela counter-productive?

Iraqi council backs off foreign ownership measure

Liberty in the balance: Citizens across the U.S. speak out

Indonesia's President Megawati hits out
at US war on terrorism

A Nightmare in Iraq

Harried U.S. troops cling grimly to 'dignity and respect' in Iraq

'Logic' of occupation points to more trouble

"The Iraqi people understand the logic of liberation and they reject the logic of occupation," said Chalabi, who has joined other council members in opposing Washington's solicitation of foreign troops to participate in the occupation. The administration is pressing Turkey, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and South Korea to contribute a total of some 40,000 troops to lighten the US load.

Might Bush's Blank Check for War
Bounce If He Deceived Congress

Report Raises Electronic Vote Security Issues

Iraq Plan Calls for Museum, ZIP Codes

Let the neo-cons bellow, just bring the troops home
George, here's what to do in Iraq:
Declare victory and bring the troops home.

Annan Trounces Bush at UN

Bush's speech barely acknowledged the fact that the vast majority of UN members disagreed with the invasion being conducted in their name. Being the president of the United States means never having to say you're sorry. But even so, an occasional hands-on contact with reality would be useful. While Bush admitted last week that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and the Sept. 11 attacks, he declared once again today, "The regime of Saddam Hussein cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction." The phrase "ties to terror" is seemingly the ambiguous phrase of choice, carefully crafted to reinforce the mistaken beliefs of the 70 percent of Americans are convinced that Saddam Hussein was behind 9/11 without having to actually say so.

Clark's Changing Tune on Iraq
by Sydney H. Schanberg

In April, when the Baghdad regime succumbed quickly to the American-British invasion force, Clark exuberantly compared it to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Writing in the London Times, he said: "President Bush and Tony Blair should be proud of their resolve in the face of so much doubt." By August, though, he was telling CNN's Aaron Brown: "The simple truth is that we went into Iraq on the basis of some intuition, some fear, and some exaggerated rhetoric and some very, very scanty evidence . . . that's a classic presidential-level misjudgment. And I think the voters have to be aware of that."

Antiterrorism creed

U.S. Urged To Modify Approach to Postwar Iraq

"Proceeding on the current path will mean throwing good money after bad," testified J. Brian Atwood, head of the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Clinton administration. "We already have wasted precious moments. The only way to overcome the very poor beginning we have made in Iraq is to fundamentally change our approach." Atwood favors giving the United Nations responsibility for key civilian operations and transferring control over reconstruction from the Pentagon to the State Department and USAID. Reconstruction and political and economic development, he said, "are not part of the Pentagon's playbook."

U.N. Official Plans to Urge U.S. to Reconsider Its Food Policies

But he also wants to make a separate, difficult point: that the United States' generosity with food aid sometimes undermines countries' abilities to feed themselves. The United States provides 41 percent of the food aid distributed by the United Nations. But in an interview at his agency's Washington offices, Mr. Diouf said hunger could be better fought if money were spent to help poor farmers dig wells and canals for irrigation and lay better roads to bring crops to market. "Giving money to farmers before a crisis is better than giving food after the crisis hits," he said.

Clark's Balancing Act

Bush Speaks Soft, Gives Nothing New

States build anti-terror database
Project resembles federal database thwarted by privacy fears

“It’s federally funded, it’s guarded by state police, but it’s on private property? That’s very interesting,” said Christopher Slobogin, a University of Florida law professor and expert in privacy issues. “If it’s federally funded, the federal government obviously has a huge interest in it.”

Three Days in NYC Jails

U.S. bosses, West Bank fictions, EU mediators

On the one hand, it's not all that bad if the American voting public gets the impression that President George W. Bush is able to move a fence or two in the Middle East. He certainly has no interest in his political rivals and opponents in the press adding the road map to his list of failures. On the other hand, the president's political advisors are afraid that if their boss doesn't find a way to remain on the fence, and tries to twist Sharon's arm, the prime minister won't hesitate to show the American voter who's the real boss in Washington.

Bush Accused by Lords of the Bar

    "This case involves an unprecedented detention by the United States of an American citizen, seized on American soil, and held incommunicado for more than a year without any charge being filed against him, without any access to counsel, and without any right to challenge the basis of his detention before a United States judge or magistrate . .     "[We] believe the Executive's position in this case threatens the basic 'rule of law' on which our country is founded, the role of the federal judiciary and the separations in our national government, and fundamental individual liberties enshrined in our Constitution."

Starved for Power in Baghdad

Who’ll Flinch First: Iran … or the world?

Open Investment Policy Looks Like
'World Occupation' to Iraq Merchants

Guantanamo Airman Accused of Espionage

Iraq Council Bans Two Arab News Stations

U.S. Fighter Jets Bomb House in Falluja, Family Says

For Bush's Iraq Request, Tough Comparisons Loom
Spend 87 billion in Iraq to fight terrorism?
Put him in an asylum.

"Creating a sovereign, democratic, constitutional and prosperous Iraq deals a blow to terrorists," he said. "It gives the lie to those who describe us as the enemies of Islam, enemies of the Arabs or enemies of the poor. That is why the president's $87 billion request has to be seen as an important element in the global war on terrorism."

The Secret of Al Kut
by Karen Kwiatkowski

I love this woman's moxy, she says bring the troops home now, don't spend 87 billion dollars on imposing ourselves on Iraq! Just Brilliant!

Yegor Gaidar brings his heavy bag of instruments to Iraq
Here is the neo-colonial kernel, take over the economy.

Early last week it was announced that the U.S., in the person of L. Paul Bremer III, had invited one Yegor Gaidar to Baghdad to assist in the development of Iraq’s postwar, "transition" economy. There is not enough space here to detail the many obscene nuances of the privatization effort, but roughly speaking it came down to one thing: The crown jewels of the Russian economy were handed over to a small group of thugs and gangsters at fractions of their actual cost. In some cases the Chubais/Gaidar clan actually lent state money to friends to help them buy properties.

Iraq to Open Most of Economy to Investors

The wide-ranging reforms, undoing years of rigid control of the economy imposed by Saddam's one-party rule, will permit the sell-off of Iraq's numerous state-owned companies to foreigners and introduce new taxes.

America puts Iraq up for sale

Iraq was in effect put up for sale yesterday when the American-appointed administration announced it was opening up all sectors of the economy to foreign investors in a desperate attempt to deliver much-needed reconstruction against a daily backdrop of kidnappings, looting and violent death. In an unexpected move unveiled at the meeting in Dubai of the Group of Seven rich nations, the Iraqi Governing Council announced sweeping reforms to allow total foreign ownership without the need for prior approval.

Coalition Of Joint Venture Looters

This crazy tragic-comedy has now taken this turn: the Bushies are proposing to potential troop or money contributors that while they would not be permitted to share in the control of Iraq, if they came in early they would be on the ground floor to reap benefits along with the Godfather himself! "We’re not telling them that this is not just about writing checks or sending troops, but about having a stake in Iraq so their government agencies and humanitarian groups are involved in a sector when a new sovereign [sic] government is in power in Iraq. It’s a way to get in on the ground floor. That’s the selling point," according to a "well-placed U.S. official" (Robin Wright, "U.S. Dangles A Carrot: Opportunities in Iraq," Los Angeles Times, Sept. 10, 2003).

Environmentally Challenged

Bush calls Kennedy's Iraq criticism `uncivil'

World Order & Mr. Bush

Ashcroft Reducing Plea Bargain Discretion

A Disaster Foretold
This is a must read article, bone chilling, things can get worse.

So when will the planned assassination be carried out? When some big suicide attack will take place in Israel, one so big that an extreme reaction will be understood by the Americans, too. Or when something happens somewhere to divert world attention from our country. Or when some dramatic event, something comparable to the destruction of the Twin Towers, makes Bush furious. What will happen afterwards? Arab leaders say that there will be "incalculable results". But, in truth, the results can be calculated fairly well in advance.

Donor delay spells doom for Afghanistan

The mean streets of Baghdad

Zero Reassurance
The crucial snooping powers
that have never been used and why

Americans in Denial About Iraq

    The problem is not really that the public was misinformed by the press before the war, or somehow denied the truth afterward. The problem is that Americans just can’t believe their eyes. They cannot fathom the combination of cynicism, naiveté, arrogance and ignorance that dragged us into this quagmire, and they’re in a deep state of denial about it.

Dying to Kill Us

A Scourge Rooted in Subsidies

In Mexico, the North American Free Trade Agreement has brought farmers into direct competition with counterparts in Iowa and Nebraska. The result has been traumatic for Mexico's small farmers, who make up nearly a quarter of the country's work force. Once upon a time, Mexican farmers enjoyed significant subsidies and protections from their government. The elimination of those preferences, as stipulated in NAFTA, found them unable to compete, mainly because their farms typically are smaller and less technologically advanced than those of their U.S. and Canadian counterparts. Since NAFTA became law in 1994, Mexican farmers have been overwhelmed by a flood of U.S. imports.

Libraries were focus of dubious Cold War probe

As long as people have sought information at libraries and bookstores, the government has sought information about what they're reading. History is filled with instances in which politicians and law enforcement officials have monitored the public's reading habits, often in secret. Perhaps the most well-known example, the Library Awareness Program, debuted 30 years ago and lasted well into the 1980s. Beginning in 1973, FBI agents visited libraries to track the reading habits of people from communist countries, people with foreign-sounding names and people with foreign accents.

 

Army Cleric Who Worked With Detainees Is Arrested

A second law enforcement official said that the military had opened its investigation of Captain Yee before he left Guantánamo and that when he was searched upon arriving at the naval air station in Jacksonville, Fla., investigators found what appeared to be sketches or diagrams of the prisoner facilities at Guantánamo. Investigators are looking into the possibility that he was sympathetic to prisoners there and was preparing to aid them in some undetermined way.

No Illusion Left Behind

The main thrust of the bill is that it requires all schoolchildren to be "proficient" in reading, math and science by the year 2014. Hard to argue with that, until you learn that proficiency has been arbitrarily defined as the current 40th percentile of the nation. In other words, in 2014 every child will score better than 40 percent of the nation today, or roughly 19 million children. We will be essentially trying to get every child in the nation to be "above average," and should probably change our name to something like the United States of Lake Wobegon.

Clark's Fast Start

For the first time in a year, Bush's approval for his handling of the situation in Iraq has dropped below 50 percent to 46 percent, a 5-point drop from last week. Fifty-six percent of Americans say they think the amount of money being spent in Iraq is too high. And 57 percent of Americans now disapprove of how Bush is handling the economy, an increase of 6 points from only one week ago.

Listening to the Wrong Iraqi

Multilateralism or not, Iraq is a mess

ZNet Commentary
Globalization From the Top Down
That's what we went there to do!

According to a memo from Bremer to the Council, the Times reports, Iraq "must create an open economy in a region long protective of its domestic markets" and dominated by "socialist economic dogma." The nation's "future prosperity" depends on "how successfully it [can] attract foreign investment." By overcoming its "socialist" and "protectionist" legacies, Bremer feels, Iraqis will "open a new lifeline for an economy starved of capital during Saddam Hussein's regime" and "democratize" their economy. Bremer's proposal, the Times notes, will "permit foreign investors to take their profits out of the country, with no requirement of reinvesting their money there." (Richard A. Oppel, Jr., "U.S. Seeking Foreign Investment for Iraq," New York Times, August 26, 2003. A10). Bremer's "proposal" will be supported in its essentials by the former international banker and Washington DC lobbyist, Ahmed Chalabi, an American-educated (University of Chicago) neoliberal Bush favorite who chairs a Governing Council committee that is "studying" the memo. But the Iraqi people are well advised to take Bremer's advice with more than a grain of salt.

The war game

Bush covers up climate research

When the report was finally published, however, the EPA had removed the entire global warming section to avoid including information that was not scientifically credible.

$3 trillion deeper in debt, three million fewer jobs

"In particular, the worsening of the longer-term fiscal position, including as a result of the recent tax cuts, will make it even more difficult to cope with the aging of the baby-boom generation, and will eventually crowd out investment and erode US productivity growth."

Drunk US soldier shot dead
a rare Bengal tiger at Baghdad zoo

Polls show latest talk hurt Bush

Muslim Army Chaplain Is Held in Investigation

Election Season Brings New Questions for Bush on Iraq

White House is ambushed by criticism
from America's military community

Another Day, Another Death-Trap For The US

What "good friends" left behind

Of all the great humanitarian crises of recent years, no country has been helped less than Afghanistan. Bosnia, with a quarter of the population, received $356 per person; Afghanistan gets $42 per person. Only 3% of all international aid spent in Afghanistan has been for reconstruction; the US-led military "coalition" accounts for 84%, the rest is emergency aid. Last March, Karzai flew to Washington to beg for more money. He was promised extra money from private US investors. Of this, $35m will finance a proposed five-star hotel. As Bush said, "The Afghan people will know the generosity of America and its allies."

The Terrorism Link That Wasn't

Environmental onslaught
Dirty Secrets

No president has gone after the nation's environmental laws with the same fury as George W. Bush -- and none has been so adept at staying under the radar.

John Ashcroft's Patriot Act Summer Tour - Mark Fiore

Wesley Clark for President?
Another Con Job from the Neo-Cons

Bush wants more anti-terror laws

End of the Road Map
The Impending Struggle for a Single State

Despite repeated warnings from intellectuals in the critical peace camp, it allowed successive governments, Labor as well as Likud, to lock it into such a distressing situation. The "two-state" solution envisioned by all Israeli governments since 1967 a cantonized Palestinian mini-state affiliated or not with Jordan is simply unacceptable, not only to Palestinians but also to the international community.

IMF warns trade gap could bring down dollar

Three European Leaders Will Meet
to Discuss Postwar Strategy

Can You Hear Me Now, Mr. Bremer?
The Pentagon breaks up communications in Iraq

Iraqis are extremely grateful, civilian head says

U.S. team finds no smallpox in Iraq

Fears that smallpox could be used as a weapon led the Bush administration to launch a vaccination campaign for some 500,000 U.S. military personnel after the Sept. 11 attacks, and to order enough vaccine to inoculate the entire U.S. population if necessary. President Bush also was vaccinated against the disease, which kills about a third of its victims.

Why the (un)PATRIOT Act?

Iraqis' Bitterness Is Called Bigger Threat Than Terror

Eighth Pillar of Wisdom? Iraq Is a Deep Morass

Ashcroft Mocks Librarians and Others
Who Oppose Parts of Counterterrorism Law

The association, which has argued for months that the government's new antiterrorism powers risk encroaching on the privacy of library users, took some satisfaction from the broadside. "If he's coming after us so specifically, we must be having an impact," said Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the library association's Washington office.

In a Reversal, Ashcroft Lifts Secrecy of Data

Memo shows US has not used Patriot Act to seek library data

(Just) alive and kicking in Baghdad

Al-Sharif Ali, leader of the Constitutional Monarchy Movement, has stressed in a conference attended by no fewer than 80 political parties, 43 religious leaders, 43 military commanders, 33 ministers and diplomats and 109 tribal sheikhs that the Iraqi population simply does not trust the Governing Council. The conference decided that restoration of national sovereignty and independence must be the common objective for all. In other words, real democracy. This is not exactly what the CPA has in mind. Whatever the spin during Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to Baghdad, the CPA - the Iraqi arm of the Washington neo-cons - wants in fact what neo-con Daniel Pipes described as "a democratically minded strongman who has real authority", who would be "politically moderate" but "operationally tough". In plain English: another Saddam, but pliable to US interests.

The Occupation Runs Out of Gas
It Was the Oil and It Is Like Vietnam

Perhaps we need to revisit some good advice from Vietnam. When asked how we could get out of Vietnam, one simple answer was tragically ignnored: With ships and airplanes. The Iraqis--a talented people with 5,000 years of experience in civilization--are more qualified to determine their own future, however painful that process may be, than Bush's cabinet, or the UN for that matter. End the occupation. Bring the troops home now.

Judith Miller takes a leak

Miller's description of her leakers, combined with her selective portrayal of serial exaggerator Bolton and her undoubting write-up of his testimony, leads me to speculate that this leak was authorized on some official level. If calculated to drum up interest in Bolton's views on the day of his congressional performance, the leak succeeded marvelously. What would have been just a one-day story in the newspapers ("Bolton Warns of Syrian Peril") will become a two-day affair in which a preview and a review of his testimony receive wide exposure.

Russia's Chechen Plan: Pick a Leader and Leave
The Russians can stomach more slaughter than we can.

Mr. Putin launched Chechnya's second war in a decade in 1999 as part of his presidential campaign when he was prime minister under former President Boris N. Yeltsin. His toughness and aggressiveness in the face of a wave of terrorism helped win him the presidency. Since then, more than 6,000 Russian soldiers have died, according to estimates by nongovernmental groups. Terrorism and suicide bombings have surged here and in Moscow. The country is fed up with Chechnya and Mr. Putin urgently needs to be rid of it.

Paths of Glory Lead to a Soldier's Doubt

For the last six months I have participated in what I believe to be the great modern lie: Operation Iraqi Freedom. My time is almost done, as well as that of many others with whom I serve. We have all faced death in Iraq without reason or justification. How many more must die? How many more tears must be shed before Americans awake and demand the return of the men and women whose job it is to protect them rather than their leader's interest?

Our role in the terror

Had its intelligence taken the trouble to learn more about the dynamics of Shiism, the US could have avoided bad mistakes in Iran. We can no longer dismiss religious movements with secularist disdain, but must study them as seriously as other ideologies. In particular, we must educate ourselves to see the distress, helplessness, fear and, latterly, rage that underly the various fundamentalisms, if only because these groups now have powers of destruction that were formerly only the prerogative of nation states. Karen Armstrong is the author of The Battle for God: a History of Fundamentalism

Saudis consider nuclear bomb
"It's a fine mess you've gotten us into Ollie"

"There has always been worries that the Saudis would go down this path if provoked," said Mr Albright. "There is growing US hostility which could lead to the removal of the US umbrella and will the Saudis be intimidated by Iran? They've got to be nervous."

Cheney's misspeaking streak

The string of claims has finally reached the point where the media are challenging dear old granddad. On Sunday's "Meet the Press," NBC's Tim Russert replayed the quote about Saddam currently having reconstituted nuclear weapons. Russert said to Cheney, "You misspoke."

Poll: Bush Iraq Rating At New Low

In this poll, President Bush receives his lowest rating on his handling of the situation in Iraq since CBS News began asking the question in February. American opinion is now evenly divided on this measure, with 46% approving and 47% disapproving. Bush's approval rating on Iraq has dropped 11 points since last month and 33 points since April, when he received his highest rating on this question.

Bush: No Iraqi link to Sept. 11

"We never made that connection," White House spokesman Scott McClellan responded repeatedly to a barrage of questions from reporters Wednesday about Cheney's comments and whether the White House thought Bush benefited from the public misperception of Iraq's involvement.

Not just warmer: it's the hottest for 2,000 years

Warming warning for Antarctica

A chilling message to Muslims

Wesley Clark: The New Anti-War Candidate?
Record Shows Clark Cheered Iraq War as "Right Call"

While political reporters might welcome Clark's entry into the campaign, to label a candidate with such views "anti-war" is to render the term meaningless.

Bush's Worst Nightmare

White House Unveils Terror Database

30 Years Of U.S. UN Vetoes

U.S. Vetoes U.N. Arafat Resolution

War and Red Ink

A bitter aftertaste

Coffee that is processed, roasted and freeze dried is more valuable than green coffee. Yet it is uneconomic for poor countries to process it because tariffs in Europe and America make it impossible for those like Nissai to process the beans she collects. Impassioned attempts will resume today to unravel what many analysts agree is a shameless attempt to rig global markets in favour of the rich.

Iraq's Epic Suffering Is Made Invisible

Jo has described to me, in detail, attacks on civilian targets that were - she is in no doubt - deliberate. In any case, the sheer ferocity of the assault on elusive Iraqi defenders could not fail to kill and injure large numbers of civilians. According to a recent study, up to 10,000 civilians were killed."One of the stunning things about the quick coalition victory," John Bolton, George Bush's under-secretary of state for international security, told me in Washington recently, "was how little damage was done to Iraqi infrastructure, and how low Iraqi casualties were." I said, "Well, it's high if it's 10,000 civilians." He replied, "Well, I think it's quite low if you look at the size of the military operation." Quite low at 10,000. And multiply that many times when the figure includes the killing of mostly teenage conscripts who, as a Marine colonel said, "sure as hell didn't know what hit them". Keep multiplying when the wounded are added: such as 1,000 children maimed, according to Unicef, by the delayed blast of cluster bomblets.

Betrayal of Trust

US Intervention Backfires – Everywhere

Bush Seeks to Expand Access to Private Data

A bankrupt Israeli policy

It is exactly now, at such a difficult time, when everything seems on the brink of destruction, that a leader needs to come forward and say to the Israelis: We did everything we could. We liquidated, we destroyed, we besieged and we arrested - but none of it worked, and therefore, we will try another road.

Our War's Mistaken Premise

Terrorists are, in the president's words, "enemies of the civilized world." But what makes the world civilized is its adherence to the rule of law, its insistence that it will not attack adversaries, however evil, unless first attacked by them, its reliance on multilateral cooperation and international courts rather than unilateral military force and the right of the strongest.

Mexican standoff: the west is rumbled

In Cancun, it has been clear that developing countries have seen through this as well. They have rumbled that, as far as the west is concerned, the third-way approach to trade liberalisation talks means wrapping up a whole heap of nothing in pretty rhetoric and calling it a development round.

America set to torpedo trade talks

The hawks fall out

"It's clear now that Rumsfeld is not interested in 'remaking Iraq'," said Charles Kupchan, a foreign-policy analyst at the Washington, DC, office of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations. "He wants to get the hell out of there."

Iraqi Council Leaders Pressing For Power

Although most Iraqis appear to support the concept of an accelerated handover of sovereignty, there are deep divisions among them about the continued presence of U.S. forces. Many have urged a full withdrawal, while others, including Chalabi and his fellow former opposition leaders, want American troops and civil reconstruction specialists to stay, but to serve in a more behind-the-scenes role.

Bomb Kills U.S. Soldier in Restive Iraqi Town

A Post-9-11 Reality Check

New York, You’ve Been Used

Little chance that President Hugo Chavez Frias
of Venezuela will be removed by electoral means

WTO talks collapse, developing countries won

CANCUN, Mexico (AP) - Talks designed to change the face of trade around the world collapsed Sunday amid differences between rich and poor nations, the second failure for the World Trade Organization in four years. Delegates from many poor countries celebrated what they called a victory against the West, and an increasingly powerful alliance of poor but populous farming nations said they had found a new voice to rival the developed world.

WTO trade talks collapse

More than 50 advocacy groups issued a joint statement Sunday attacking the WTO for making its decisions in private and saying it was failing to listen to poor member states. "Developing countries have put forward many constructive proposals," the statement read."That these have been almost completely ignored shows the WTO continues to operate in business-as-usual mode, with the EU and the United States calling the shots."

World Trade Talks End in Failure, Delegates Say

In a shift of strategy, Kerry takes on Dean

Paying the Price

Mr. Bush told the country the other night that winning the war on terror "will require sacrifice." The only people Mr. Bush is asking sacrifice of now are the troops overseas, their anxious and grieving families back home -- and the future generations who will ultimately have to pay the price for his fiscal irresponsibility

Washington Post-ABC News Poll: Bush and Iraq

U.S., California Clash Over Environment

California's environmental protection laws, among the toughest in the nation, are being challenged frequently as the Bush administration acts to blunt regulations viewed as inconsistent with national policy. The administration has weighed in on matters ranging from offshore oil drilling to air pollution to toxic waste cleanups, outraging state officials and environmentalists, who warn that the actions threaten to undermine the role California has played as a laboratory for innovative environmental solutions intended to improve the quality of people's lives.

Justice Pushes for Looser Subpoena Rules

"It's just a grab for more and more power," said Gerald Lefcourt, a New York attorney and past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. "They want to do things that they know a judge won't approve of."