Sunday 6/27/04

Cynthia McKinney Wins Support of Congresswomen  6/27/04 Cynthia For Congress

New Iraqi police fight US troops who trained them  6/27/04 Telegraph: "First Lt Omar is sworn to uphold the law and fight the insurgency that threatens Iraq's evolution into a free and democratic state. Instead, he is exploiting his knowledge of US tactics to help the rebel cause in Fallujah. "Resistance is stronger when you are working with the occupation forces," he points out. "That way you can learn their weaknesses and attack at that point.""

Afro-Venezuelans celebrate San Juan drum festivities with international flavor  6/27/04 Vheadline: "The Venezuelan Culture Ministry has organized a drum culture event in Caracas called "All the Drums of the World," inviting drummers from 13 countries, including Venezuela, to play to the public during the festivities of black Venezuelan patron saint, St. John The Baptist (San Juan)."

Saturday 6/26/04

PASC:Info evening on the Colombia Solidarity & Accompaniment Project 6/26/04 CMAQ: "The Colombia Solidarity & Accompaniment Project (PASC, for its French acronym) is an independent organization based out of Montreal, Quebec which is working to create a network of direct solidarity with rural communities in civil resistance. As well as diffusing and sharing information about the human rights situation and social movements of the civilian population in Colombia, the PASC is putting the idea of direct solidarity into action by preparing and sending International Accompaniers to a group of villages directly affected by paramilitary repression. The physical presence of international accompaniers represents an important support for communities struggling for their rights as civilians living amidst an armed conflict… We will then focus on the Choco department and Afro-Colombian communities struggling against multinationals, paramilitaries and the State."

Friday 6/25/04

'The liberation of Baghdad is not far away'  6/25/04 Asia Times

Why Iraq Will End as Vietnam Did  6/25/04 Defense and the National Interest: by Martin van Creveld, who lives and teaches in Jerusalem. He has written several books that have influenced modern military theory, including Fighting Power, Command in War, and most significantly, The Transformation of War. - "In other words, he who fights against the weak—and the rag-tag Iraqi militias are very weak by indeed—and loses, loses. He who fights against the weak and wins also loses. To kill an opponent who is much weaker than yourself is unnecessary and therefore cruel; to let that opponent kill you is unnecessary and therefore foolish. As Vietnam and countless other cases prove, no armed force however rich, however powerful, however, advanced, and however well motivated is immune to this dilemma. The end result is always disintegration and defeat; if U.S troops in Iraq have not yet started fragging their officers, the suicide rate among them is already exceptionally high. That is why the present adventure will almost certainly end as the previous one did. Namely, with the last US troops fleeing the country while hanging on to their helicopters’ skids."

Bin Laden Aimed To Link Plot to Israel  6/25/04 Forward: "In an interim staff report released last week, the presidential commission investigating the September 11, 2001, attacks shed new light on the role of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Al Qaeda's worldview. The disclosures seem to weaken Israeli claims that the issue was only a secondary priority for Osama bin Laden, and they could rekindle the debate about whether U.S. support for Israel is hindering national security."

U.S. lawmakers: Use Israeli bullets for training only  6/25/04 Haaretz, Israel: this can be seen in the context of reports of ammo shortages in Iraq.

Thursday 6/24/04

Baqouba Sealed Off as U.S. Forces Lose Control of City 6/24/04 New Standard: "But at 12:15 p.m., two US Apache Helicopters were clearly visible, engaged in strafing runs that swept over parts of the embattled city. Seemingly no one was off limits for US soldiers. American troops in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle fired at our car on the outskirts of the city. Inside the city, several large bomb blasts were heard around 1 p.m., while the streets remained mostly empty and all of the shops closed for fear of continued fighting. However, no US military units were visible anywhere inside the city itself. Unpiloted surveillance drones buzzed ominously overhead, their constant hum one of the only active signs of a US presence in all of Baqouba. Many people here blame the occupation forces for instigating the resistance by conducting periodic home raids and continuing patrols inside the city."

100 Iraqis Killed in Wave of Attacks - Insurgents Target Government Sites; 3 U.S. Soldiers Dead 6/24/04 Washington Post: "Insurgents launched a coordinated offensive against police and U.S. occupation forces in six Iraqi cities and towns Thursday, exploding car bombs and assaulting police strongholds in a string of attacks that killed scores of Iraqi police officers and civilians, as well as three American soldiers."

Wednesday 6/23/04

Jesus “Chucho” Garcia  6/23/04 Global Exchange

Venezuelans in the hurricane’s eye  6/23/04 Minnesota Spokesman Recorder: "Last week, Afro-Venezuelan activist Jesus “Chucho” Garcia spoke at two private meetings held in Minneapolis, in an attempt to raise awareness about the increasingly tense political atmosphere in his country. “In international politics, we are the only country that has recreated self-determination and sovereignty,” Garcia said. “This is what is at play — participatory democracy and sovereignty,” and “for these reasons we always say we are in the eye of the hurricane,” he added. Before his arrival in Minneapolis, Garcia had been invited by the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) to talk about the issues facing Venezuela. “They [CBC] had doubts because of the mass campaign against our government,” Garcia said. “But I said to the Black caucus, if the signatures are there, we will go to referendum, because this is a proposal from the people of Venezuela.” "

US citizen Cassey Auguste, 22, murdered in Haiti  6/23/04 SF Bay View

Tuesday 6/22/04

Plan puts Colombia on offensive  6/22/04 CSM: "Though the Colombian government is quiet on the plan's details and cost, US assistance comes from the same resources used for the $3.2 billion antidrug effort called Plan Colombia, which began in 2000. With this new initiative, US officials are pushing for an increase in the four-year-old cap on troops and contractors that currently limits to 400 each the number of military and civilian personnel permitted in Colombia at any one time. The Bush administration wants to double the troop cap to 800 and raise the ceiling on civilian contractors to 600. In Congressional testimony last Thursday, Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega called the existing caps "too restrictive" and said they were damaging the implementation of new and existing US-funded programs. The House Armed Services committee has raised the troop cap to 500, but that number could change when a vote goes before the full Congress."

PLAN B  6/22/04 New Yorker: by Seymour Hersh - "A former Administration official who had supported the war completed a discouraging tour of Iraq late last fall. He visited Tel Aviv afterward and found that the Israelis he met with were equally discouraged. As they saw it, their warnings and advice had been ignored, and the American war against the insurgency was continuing to founder. “I spent hours talking to the senior members of the Israeli political and intelligence community,” the former official recalled. “Their concern was ‘You’re not going to get it right in Iraq, and shouldn’t we be planning for the worst-case scenario and how to deal with it?’” Ehud Barak, the former Israeli Prime Minister, who supported the Bush Administration’s invasion of Iraq, took it upon himself at this point to privately warn Vice-President Dick Cheney that America had lost in Iraq; according to an American close to Barak, he said that Israel “had learned that there’s no way to win an occupation.” The only issue, Barak told Cheney, “was choosing the size of your humiliation.” Cheney did not respond to Barak’s assessment."

Venezuela: A Supreme Effort To Stop a Recall  6/22/04 Washington Post: "What received less attention was the law he signed a week earlier that could give him a decisive advantage when it comes time to tally the votes. The new law expands the number of Supreme Court justices from 20 to 32. It allows Chavez's governing coalition to use its slim majority in the legislature to obtain an overwhelming majority of seats on the Supreme Court. The law also allows his coalition to nullify the appointments of sitting justices. In short, Chavez's supporters can now both pack and purge the country's highest court." Just like the Republicans?

Monday 6/21/04

Shooting death angers Iraqi family 6/21/04 Boston Globe: "The events described by family members are chilling: They say Bawi was killed in his mother's bedroom during an interrogation, while soldiers banged on metal doors to dull the sound of the shots. The soldiers then pretended they were detaining Bawi, according to several members of the family who were present, parading another man in a dishdasha, or robe, through the darkened house to trick the family into thinking that the head of the household was still alive."

"There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to Democracies as against despots: suspicion." -- Demosthenes

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