World News
6/11/02 - 6/16/02

Sunday 6/16/02

Peace activists say support for cause growing after Sept. 11  6/16/02 AP: "I was talking with a colleague in Vermont a few weeks ago," Lynch said. "She said there were 12 new peace groups in her area that had just popped up out of nowhere that didn't exist six months ago. These were just people who got together and felt like they needed to do something."

Saudis appear in Morocco court  6/16/02 Arab News: "According to press reports on Friday, the United States had asked for the three Saudis to be transferred to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to join prisoners from the US-led war in Afghanistan. But Morocco rejected the request, saying Moroccan judicial authorities “had taken the matter into their hands,” according to the Maroc-Hebdo newspaper. Maroc-Hebdo also reported Friday that the Pentagon had despatched a group of officers to question the three suspected Al-Qaeda members, but Washington has not confirmed the report."

Florida Town Hall Meeting Stresses Strategy for Black Voters: “Organize, Organize, Organize”  6/16/02 Black Press USA: en el corazon del monstro - "“We must mobilize, know your rights, stay mad, and keep that fire. If you know a brother that’s not registered, call him out. Organize and organize and organize,” says Andrew Gillum, a coordinator of the “Arrive With Five” campaign that turned out record voter participation in the 2000 election. “We won’t be tricked again.” The comments were made at a packed town hall meeting in Duval County, where an estimated 26,000 votes – largely cast by Black people - were discarded because of antiquated voting machines in the 2000 presidential race between George Bush and Al Gore."

Hispanic Or African-American Jihad?  6/16/02 Black World Today: "Still, with the arrest of Muhajir, many African-American Muslims are frankly worried that this could cast greater suspicion on them, or worse yet ignite a disastrous witchunt against Muslims, and that includes African-American and Hispanic Muslims. Let's remember, that a major aim of the terrorists is to sow rancor, discord and suspicion among Americans; in short turn Americans against each other."

Sunny days for Dubai's beach hotel market  6/16/02 Gulf News: "Just focusing on the UK and German markets, the beach hotels are running at close to 90 per cent occupancy all year round. Imagine what could happen if we introduced the French, Spanish and Italian markets ... there is a huge amount of potential for growth."

Tunisia wants to bring in more Arab tourists  6/16/02 Gulf News: "Tunisia is embarking on a major drive to lure Arab tourists who form only a tiny one per cent of the total number of tourists visiting the north African country, the head of a visiting delegation said yesterday. Of the nearly 500 million plus tourists visiting Tunisia annually, Arabs comprise only 40,000 with the majority being European."

Twilight Zone / The death of Husni Amer  6/16/02 Haaretz, Israel: "An IDF soldier repeatedly beat a handcuffed Husni Amer with the handle of a hoe, says Amer's brother. He died in detention a few hours later. The IDF Spokesman says the circumstances of his death have `yet to be clarified' "

A dirty bomb from Pakistan? Or a dirty trick from Washington?  6/16/02 Independent, UK: "And why, if it was as important as Mr Ashcroft claimed, was his arrest kept secret for five weeks – only for the attorney general to reveal it while in Moscow of all places? Some might claim the venue was oddly apt, though. With his fierce prosecutorial zeal and taste for scary hyperbole, Mr Ashcroft calls to mind Andrei Vyshinsky, the infamous prosecutor at Stalin's show trials, whose prime contribution to 20th-century legal doctrine was the "presumption of guilt" against those unfortunate enough to be in his sights." Amen.

"My Friend, Langley" in Brazil, Perú and Colombia Changes Unnoticed in the United States  6/16/02 NarcoNews: On recently elected Colombian president Uribe - "Uribe, says Langley, was being told in clear terms that while the US would see that he was elected, he is expected not to simply go along with the US agenda in Colombia, but with the US agenda everywhere. For the duration of his term, says Langley, Uribe will mouth agreement with every major political decision the US makes everywhere in South America." One the assassination of Archbishop Duarte in Colombia, perhaps by the Church - "When Duarte's response was to order a boycott of Colombia's March 10 Congressional elections, he sealed his fate. "Political opinion flows from Rome in the Catholic church, not to Rome," explained Langley. "And this was a clear message to all Catholic hierarchy that that remains as true today as it was five hundred years ago." On Israeli arms merchants' sale of 3,000 AK-47 to the paramilitaries in Colombia - "What is almost an afterthought in the story is that the US State Department, through Wes Carrington, spokesman for the Department's Western Hemisphere section, admitted that it knew of the shipment but hilariously claims it thought the weapons were collectors' items intended for the US collectibles' market. No one needed Langley to explain this one, but he did nonetheless. The arms were always intended for the AUC, he said, to insure continued mayhem in Colombia during the period when the election was heating up and Horatio Serpa, the candiate calling for continued peace talks with the FARC, was in the lead. Continued mayhem, much of it caused by the AUC but blamed on the FARC, was what eventually cost Serpa the lead and subsequently, the election." More interesting items on Peru, Brazil.

War on terror: FBI ‘guilty of cover-up’ over anthrax suspect  6/16/02 Scotsman, UK: "Most crucially, she believes the suspect has in the past actually conducted experiments for the government to test the response of the police and civil agencies to a bioterror attack. "It has been part of the suspect’s job to devise bioterror scenarios," Rosenberg said. "Some of these are on record. He is known to have acted out at least one of them, in hoax form, perhaps as part of an assignment to test responses. Some hoax events that have never been solved, including several hoax-anthrax events, also correspond to his scenarios and are consistent with his whereabouts."

There's a push for monolithism toward Israel among American Jews  6/16/02 St Petersburg Times, Florida: "It is inconceivable that a Jewish leader in America 20 or 30 years ago would be silent if a political party in the Israeli government called for the transfer of Palestinians -- in other words, ethnic cleansing. Today, there are at least three such parties, but there has not been a word of criticism from American Jewish organizations."

Arrests Reveal Al Qaeda Plans  6/16/02 Washington Post: "They were ordered to flee Afghanistan to whatever areas of the world they had previously operated from, including Asia, the Persian Gulf, Africa, Turkey and Europe. Bin Laden's decree directed them to launch terrorist attacks once they had become established in familiar areas."

''The USS Liberty: still covered up after 35 years''  6/16/02 Yellow Times: "Another intelligence analyst told us that, a few days after the attack, a "consensus report" concluding the attack was deliberate was briefly circulated throughout the intelligence community. The report was then cancelled and all copies were ordered collected and destroyed."

Saturday 6/15/02

Car bomb kills 11 outside US Consulate in Karachi  6/15/02 Arab News

Dissidents in Venezuela's military say another coup is likely  6/15/02 Chritian Science Monitor

Venezuela fears coup as loyalists stand firm  6/15/02 Independent, UK: The Company hard at work - "The Defence Minister, General Lucas Rincon, called for calm, describing the forecasts of an imminent coup as "a series of lies, trying to create anxiety and fear". He announced an inquiry into the source of the rumours. Fears are widespread that Venezuela, the biggest oil producer outside the Middle East, is on the verge of civil war."

About 100 Reported Killed in Congo Fighting  6/15/02 Reuters

Soviet 1971 Smallpox Outbreak Worries Experts  6/15/02 Reuters: "Experts said on Saturday they were worried by a leaked report that describes an outbreak of smallpox in the Soviet Union more than 30 years ago -- one they say may point to the testing of a smallpox biological weapon."

Rumsfeld in U-turn to calm anger in Pakistan  6/15/02 Telegraph, UK: Rummy in full retreat!

ECUADORIAN INDIANS TO SUE DYNCORP CORPORATION IN US COURT OVER RECKLESS SPRAYING OF TOXIC CHEMICALS NEAR THE COLOMBIAN BORDER  6/15/02 US Fumigation: and the US prattles on about biological warfare.

Israel Has Sub-Based Atomic Arms Capability  6/15/02 Washington Post: "One former senior American official said U.S. analysts have studied the nuclear capability of the cruise missile. But, according to a former Pentagon official, "It is above top secret knowing whether the sub-launched cruise missiles are nuclear-armed." Another former official added, "We often don't ask." Getting a formal reply would by law trigger the end of US aid to Israel.

Friday 6/14/02

Bring the Paedophiles to Justice!  6/14/02 Addis Tribune, Ethiopia: "What makes this new child abuse report unique is that it was allegedly committed by those who have come here to “teach the Bible”. In the first place, Ethiopia is a Christian land since long ago, and maybe long before the countries of those alleged to have committed the abuse knew the Bible. They should go somewhere, to some kind of pagan community in some corner of the world, if at all there is any, and “teach the Bible” there. But before they are allowed to go, they should clear the allegations leveled against them. When we hear the reports of sexual scandal in Boston, miner adults and children abused by some catholic priests, that shook the foundation of the Vatican, we thought that that was far away from us. Now we have learnt that it was just around the corner."

Americans on the path to Holy War  6/14/02 AFP: "According to US News and World Report, the recruitment drive has been going on for 20 years, well before Padilla, or the arrests in Afghanistan of so-called American Taliban John Walker Lindh, 21, and US-born Yasser Esam Hamdi, 22. "There is also an American road to jihad," the magazine said, revealing that in the 1990s between 1,000 and 2,000 US citizens left the country to join up to jihad. Since 1989, some 400 recruits have left the United States and Canada to be trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan alone. This "road to jihad" was partly opened, according to Ross, by Louis Farrakhan, the 'Nation of Islam' leader whose movement he says was particularly active in the conversion of prison inmates. Ross said that other more extreme organizations followed suit."

Bush urges 'culture of service' to graduates at Ohio State commencement  6/14/02 AP: "Bush was invited to speak at the Ohio State commencement by representatives of the graduating class. But immediately before class members filed into the giant football stadium, an announcer instructed the crowd that all the university's speakers deserve to be treated with respect and that anyone demonstrating or heckling would be subject to expulsion and arrest. The announcer urged that Bush be greeted with a "thunderous" ovation."

Americans tortured by Israel  6/14/02 Arab News, Saudi Arabia: "The Foreign Service Journal’s June issue is publishing an article that condemns Israel’s use of torture against American citizens of Palestinian descent and criticizes the State Department’s 30-year “special relationship” with Israel."

Los colores del Chocó  6/14/02 El Colombia: "El reportero gráfico Donaldo Zuluaga captó con su lente los colores del Chocó, aquellos que van más allá del negro."

US artists damn 'war without limit'  6/14/02 Guardian: "Clark Kissinger, another of the organisers, said they had been heartened by the number of people wanting to sign. Mr Kissinger, one of the organisers of the first anti-Vietnam war marches on Washington in 1965, said he was receiving about 60 emails a day from people who wanted to add their name to the list."

'In time of war, the laws are silent' - Rehnquist offers historical perspective  6/14/02 Houston Chronicle: from a 'former' anti-black activist, now Chief Justice - ""These cases suggest that while the laws are surely not silent in time of war, courts may interpret them differently then than in time of peace," Rehnquist said. He emphasized he was offering "only a historical perspective," not a prediction on how the Supreme Court would handle civil liberties complaints that arise from the Bush administration's war on terrorism. Nonetheless, the chief justice has made clear he believes it is unrealistic to expect judges will boldly challenge the government's action at a time when a threat to the nation's security is involved."

To Protect and to Spin - The ex–LAPD cop who became a 9/11 conspiracy king  6/14/02 LA Weekly: the author does not seem to want to address the things he cannot debunk.

Colombia: Mystery deepens over diverted AK-47s  6/14/02 Miami Herald: "Officials still do not know who diverted the weapons to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as the AUC, an 11,000-member paramilitary force on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist groups. The guns significantly boosted the AUC's ability to wage war against Colombia's leftist guerrillas and protect the cocaine and heroin industries at a time when the Bush administration is trying to increase and broaden military assistance to Bogotá… In exchange for the old weapons, ammunition and bayonets, GIRSA would deliver to the Nicaraguan police 100 Mini-Uzi submachine guns and 467 Jerico pistols, all made in Israel."

Venezuelan American Chamber advises: Prepare for violence  6/14/02 Petroleum World: "Observers say the military is deeply divided as Chavez continues to replace commanding officers with those loyal to him. Many generals have been replaced by lower ranking personnel including colonels."

Venezuela's CTV preparing For nationwide strike  6/14/02 Petroleum World: "DJ-Within Venezuela's largest public sector union there's growing consensus that a nationwide general strike is needed to protest the overall economic and social policy of the government, a union leader told a news conference late Thursday." The boys are following the textbook.

Las FARC desmienten la autoría del atentado contra el acueducto de Chingaza  6/14/02 Rebelion: "En febrero de 2002, la práctica totalidad de los medios de comunicación colombianos (Tiempo, El Espectador) y muchos internacionales (Reuters, Terra) publicaban que las FARC habían atentado contra el acueducto de Chingaza, principal vía de suministro de agua potable de Bogotá. El carácter de este atentado fue uno de los argumentos esgrimidos por el entonces Andrés Pastrana para calificar a las FARC de terroristas y suspender los diálogos. Sin embargo las FARC nunca anunciaron su autoría. Es más, en una transmisión de la emisora colombiana RadioNet, el comandante guerrillero de las FARC, Alfonso Cano, conocido como responsable político del Secretariado de la organización insurgente, rechaza la acusación oficial de que la guerrilla tuviera algo que ver con el atentado dinamitero del acueducto de Chingaza, que suministra el agua potable para la capital colombiana."

With their backs to the wall, African Colombians are fighting back and need our help  6/14/02 SF Bay View: "African Colombians note that in 1997 the paramilitaries auspiciously arrived in Medio Atrato, a zone in the municipality of Bojaya, with Alvaro Uribe Velez, then the governor of Antioquia, a neighboring municipality. Antioquia neighbors Choco, the ancestral home of African Colombians, which has become virtually uninhabitable. “Twenty-five days after the May 2 church massacre, the Colombian National Army and paramilitaries are in the urban wastelands of Vigia del Fuerte and Bellavista, where there isn’t a soul remaining,” the correspondent writes. Antioquia, a predominantly white municipality, has been an area of great violence since the beginning of hostilities in the mid 1940s. “They are killing us for no reason,” the writer from Bojaya says. “They kill us while we seek protection in the church. They kill us because we don’t agree with all the things the government, the paramilitaries and the guerrillas are doing. For me,” he continues in an e-mail dated May 27, “it is better to die standing than to live on my knees. There’s no way out of the crisis. I have decided to die speaking out, not as my countrymen died on May 2 and as thousands of African Colombians have died during the last 10 years.” The massacre and displacement of African Colombians by an indifferent Colombian government and a national military of 60,000 aligned with a paramilitary force of 10,000 fighters involves us, the people of the United States, as citizens, voters and tax payers. Our Congress approved in 2000 a $1.1 billion mostly military aid package called Plan Colombia and is debating a $35 million supplementary emergency fund to help Colombia fight terrorism, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Bush wants $494 million more in military and police aid plus $164 million in economic aid. He has also proposed spending $98 million next year to protect the Colombian oil export pipeline operated by Occidental of Los Angeles. Congress has also approved $363 million in economic and social programs since 2000. The U.S. is now involved in a counterinsurgency operation, not an anti-narcotics program in Colombia. The U.S. government, the Colombian government and the Colombian paramilitary forces are now pitted against the 22,000 member leftist rebel groups. The African Colombians want ownership of their ancestral lands. They want economic assistance to create jobs, education and health programs and fund business development."

Colombia: More Cooperation Between Rebel Groups Possible  6/14/02 Stratfor: "Despite their historic differences, the collapse of peace talks in Colombia last month could lead the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation Army to join together for future attacks. Such cooperation would be a troubling development for Colombia's army and paramilitary forces." Poor paramilitaries.

Dirty bomb alert was over the top, White House admits  6/14/02 Sydney Morning Herald: "Mr Ashcroft also appeared to overstate the likely impact of such a bomb, saying it could cause "mass death and injury". Experts assured jittery Americans that the number of deaths would probably be small, and that the greatest impact would be panic."

Thursday 6/13/02

El fracaso de la campana de Pax Christi en Europa  6/13/02 ANNCOL: "La campana ha sido un estruendoso fracaso. En varios de los actos de presentación ha sido cuestionada, porque en lugar de ofrecer espacios de solución de este drama humanitario, uno de los tantos del conflicto, se presta para atizar la confrontación y estimula la ofensiva ultraderechista."

Harboring Terrorists: Our Own List Is Long  6/13/02 Black World Today

Now showing on satellite TV: secret American spy photos  6/13/02 Guardian

FBI investigating whether anthrax was grown secretly in Army lab  6/13/02 Hartford Courant: "A former government microbiologist, who was interviewed in recent days by the FBI, said agents focused on the logistics of how someone with access to the U.S. Army's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., might carry out the scheme. The microbiologist, who once worked at Fort Detrick, said the agents did not indicate whether they had evidence that such an incident had occurred."

Chavez facing a storm of coup threats  6/13/02 Miami Herald: the Company is working overtime.

Alleged 'Dirty Bomber' and I Would Have Been Prison Buddies  6/13/02 Pacific News: "Latino Muslims were common in prison. My friend "Panama" was one of them. He spoke in broken English, wore a traditional Muslim cap and prayed five times a day.. U.S. law enforcement is partially to blame for the phenomenon of the street gang member dreaming of becoming such a warrior. Law enforcement has employed the metaphors and language of warfare to fight drug addicts and petty thieves. It was only a matter of time before simple thugs like me and Qeto began to see ourselves at war with the U.S. government."

Palestinian child shot dead on way to buy sweets  6/13/02 Reuters

Bush 'bomber' disarray  6/13/02 Scotsman, UK: "THE White House has slapped down the US justice chief in a gathering row over the suspect in the "dirty bomb" case. Two days after the sensational exposure of a plot to unleash a radiation bomb on a US city, questions about the case threatened a backlash against Washington’s "war on terror." White House officials have objected bitterly to ominous warnings from John Ashcroft, the attorney general, that suspect Jose Padilla was poised to inflict "mass death and injury", it was reported yesterday."

US climbdown over 'dirty bomb' claim  6/13/02 Telegraph, UK: "The White House has reprimanded John Ashcroft, the US attorney general, for exaggerating the extent of an alleged "dirty bomb" plot and acknowledged that the threat was minimal."

Pakistani arrests tied to 'dirty bomb' plot  6/13/02 Times: "Padilla was arrested last month at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport after a tip-off from Pakistani intelligence. “We let him go, but arrested three of his colleagues who were trying to travel on fake papers,” the official said. Their nationalities have not been disclosed. Padilla and his associates were reportedly in contact with Pakistani extremist groups, who were said to have made travel arrangements to the United States."

Dirty bomber poses awkward questions for US  6/13/02 Times, UK: And this from a Murdoch paper: "THERE are at least three troubling points about the sudden appearance of the “dirty bomber”, the latest “villain” on a stage rather short of prime suspects. Yes, most obviously, the timing is politically inspired, beyond dispute."

Pentagon denies Afghan torture claims  6/13/02 Washington Times: "The claims come in an explosive documentary by award-winning British filmmaker Jamie Doran -- screened Wednesday for members of the European Parliament at their headquarters in Strasbourg, France. The film documents events following the Nov. 21 fall of Konduz, the Taliban's last stronghold in northern Afghanistan… In the film a witness charged that American interrogators tortured suspected al Qaida members there. The witness tells the interviewer: "I was a witness when an American soldier broke one prisoner's neck and poured acid on others."

Wednesday 6/12/02

Judi Bari Vindicated in Historic Ruling  6/12/02 Alternet: "The late redwood forest activist Judi Bari and activist Darryl Cherney always maintained their innocence, and on Monday a jury agreed. Cherney and Bari's estate were awarded $4.4 million in their federal civil rights lawsuit against four FBI agents and three Oakland Police officers."

Terrorism Is Not Inevitable  6/12/02 Alternet: "Statements that future terrorist attacks are "not a matter of if, but when" represent an admission that White House's current strategy is doomed to failure. The Bush Administration does not believe we can win this conflict -- but that is because they are fighting the wrong war. The warnings from Washington reveal an important truth: there is no way to defeat terrorism with warfare alone. As long as our counter-terrorism strategy relies on force, terror attacks will remain a threat. Yes, it's true -- sending US troops to the Philippine jungles, Georgia, or the troubled lands of Central Asia won't make us safe. But that does not mean that terrorism is inevitable. A strategy that focuses on addressing the sources of resentment and uprooting the causes of terrorism in cooperation with other nations offers a way to ensure American security."

French Nab More Shoe Bomb Suspects  6/12/02 AP

The Congressional Black Caucus Weighs In On The Plight Of Afro-Colombians  6/12/02 Black Electorate: "It is always illuminating and at times disappointing when we encounter instances where Black people in the United States of America express ignorance of the fact that people who look just like them are the majority or are significant members of the populations of nations in the Western Hemisphere like Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, Panama etc...Unfortunately, the physical appearance of the most prominent leaders in these nations and others, particularly in the lower half of The Americas, only supports ignorant attachments to racial stereotypes, as the lack of Black-skinned individuals in leading government positions is obvious to just about anyone."

U.S. prisons a breeding ground for terrorist groups  6/12/02 CNN: "This was actually at a jail up in Boston, and the sheriff told me there was one housing unit, where when the news was broadcast, yes, there was applause. And it's an upsetting thing to hear when you are an American. And I don't think it's typical. There were -- I have only heard a couple of things like that, but it does point to a deep-seated sense of grievance among many inmates of American prisons."

Dirty Bombs, Blowback, and Imperial Projections  6/12/02 Common Dreams: "To better locate the actual deployment of such dirty radiological weapons, one should go back to the first Bush Administration (the elected one). During the Gulf War, the Pentagon unleashed massive amounts of depleted uranium (DU). According to Professor Doug Rokke, ex-director of the Pentagon’s Depleted-Uranium Project, “numerous US Department of Defense reports have stated that the consequences of DU were unknown. That is a lie. They were told. They were warned.” Furthermore, Rokke’s assessment of the consequences of DU, consequences that are part of the astronomical increase in varieties of cancers among Iraqi children, provides chilling evidence of the lethal impact of depleted uranium: “DU is the stuff of nightmares. It is toxic, radioactive and pollutes for 4500 million years. It causes lymphoma, neuro-psychotic disorders and short-term memory damage. In semen, it causes birth defects and trashes the immune system.”

Dirty Bombs, Blowback and Imperial Projections  6/12/02 Counterpunch: "To better locate the actual deployment of such dirty radiological weapons, one should go back to the first Bush Administration (the elected one). During the Gulf War, the Pentagon unleashed massive amounts of depleted uranium (DU). According to Professor Doug Rokke, ex-director of the Pentagon's Depleted-Uranium Project, "numerous US Department of Defense reports have stated that the consequences of DU were unknown. That is a lie. They were told. They were warned." Furthermore, Rokke's assessment of the consequences of DU, consequences that are part of the astronomical increase in varieties of cancers among Iraqi children, provides chilling evidence of the lethal impact of depleted uranium: "DU is the stuff of nightmares. It is toxic, radioactive and pollutes for 4500 million years. It causes lymphoma, neuro-psychotic disorders and short-term memory damage. In semen, it causes birth defects and trashes the immune system." Now, against this dire diagnosis of the effects of real radiological weapons used time and again by the Pentagon, we have the fantasies of a possible plot of maybe one "dirty bomb" in one US city. If this fantastic and paranoid projection of an al-Qaeda bomb plot doesn't sound like John Ashcroft's attempt to capitalize on the cinematic success of another paranoid projection - "The Sum of All Fears" - then we're not paying attention to how life imitates art. Or, in this case, how imperial policies produce imperial projections and paranoia."

Jails Ripe to Create Jihad Yank  6/12/02 Daily News, UK

Top officers investigated over missing U.S. funds  6/12/02 Dallas Fort Worth Star Telegram: "Sixty police officers, including top commanders of anti-narcotics police, are being investigated in the disappearance of more than $2 million in U.S. funds, Colombian authorities announced Tuesday."

Kicking the KKK Out of Katuah  6/12/02 Earth Journal

Kissinger may face extradition to Chile  6/12/02 Guardian: "Henry Kissinger may face extradition proceedings in connection with the role of the United States in the 1973 military coup in Chile. The former US secretary of state is wanted for questioning as a witness in the investigation into the events surrounding the overthrow of the socialist president, Salvador Allende, by General Augusto Pinochet." Venezuela coup plotters too?

Crack the CIA  6/12/02 Guerrilla News: "Tracking the covert history of CIA drug smuggling from Nicaragua to Arkansas and South Central Los Angeles, GNN sheds light on the darkest secret of the Agency's operational directorate. Cut to the ambient Hip Hop loops of DJ Trek-e, Crack The CIA features explosive footage of Mike Ruppert's historical televised confrontation with CIA Director John Deutch."

Israel had Padilla file before Sept. 11  6/12/02 Haaretz: "The warnings indicated the organic patience of Islamic terror, which can invest years in a single large attack, and does not feel pressured to prove its existence with frequent attacks that could expose it to danger. And P. warned about the increasing use of people with identification papers and physical attributes not necessarily recognizable as Arab or Muslim."

British security sources raise doubts over US claims about 'dirty bomber'  6/12/02 Independent: "British and European security officials are highly sceptical of American claims that the alleged "dirty bomb" plotter, Abdullah al-Muhajir, was preparing to unleash a radioactive attack. British sources point out that despite extensive inquiries, no evidence has been produced to show that he had access to the radioactive material needed to build the bomb, or indeed that he had even worked out a time or place to launch the attack."

Mr Bush's titanic war on terror will eventually sink beneath the waves  6/12/02 Independent: ". But not a single citizen from Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan has been accused of plotting the atrocities of 11 September. The suicide-hijackers came principally from Saudi Arabia, with one from Egypt and another from Lebanon. The men whom the Moroccans have arrested – all supposedly linked to al-Qa'ida – are all Saudis. Yet Saudis – who comprised the vast majority of the September killers – are going to have no problems entering the US under the new security rules."

How to fight the terror networks  6/12/02 Le Monde Diplomatic (English Edition): "That prompts the question of whether the US won the wrong war in Afghanistan, crushing the Taliban nation state, but allowing the al-Qaida network to slip through its grasp. It would be all the more serious for Washington if it turned out that by destroying one of al-Qaida's main sanctuaries, it had in fact created more problems for itself. "When I think of an all-channel network operating in a sanctuary I want to leave it right there," says Arquilla. "If I take the sanctuary, then it is going to hide in places I may never find. Simply, we must be looking around the world." Some members of al-Qaida may have taken refuge, for example, in west Africa (Guinea, Mali, Senegal) where no-one seems to be looking for them."

Venezuela: The perfect crime  6/12/02 Le Monde Diplomatic (English Edition): "The first astonishment is the near absence of international concern about this crime against a government that has been conducting, with great respect for civil liberties, a moderate programme of social transformation — it represents the only experience of democratic socialism in Latin America. This makes it all the worse that Europe's social democratic parties, including the French Socialist party, were silent during the brief crushing of civil liberties in Venezuela. And also that some of their longstanding leaders, like Felipe Gonzalez, have even justified the putsch (2) and had no qualms about joining in the euphoria shared by the International Monetary Fund, the president of the United States and José Maria Aznar, the prime minister of Spain, who is currently holder of the presidency of the European Union."

WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS OBSTRUCT PEACE  6/12/02 Le Monde Diplomatic (English Edition): "Why is it so hard to make peace in the Middle East? The greatest barrier is the Israeli settlements - these are both the motivation and engine of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. Three decades of objections from the United States and Europe have achieved nothing. The rapid expansion of Israeli settlements - all illegal - has undermined Palestinian attempts at nation building. If they continue to spread, they will end the Israel that its founders envisioned… The number of settlers in the occupied territories outside East Jerusalem has increased from 7,000 in 1977 to over 200,000 in 2002 - plus 200,000 others in East Jerusalem. Their 200 settlements take up 1.7% of the West Bank, but they control 41.9% of it."

FEDS FOCUS ON  6/12/02 NY Post: "Federal investigators believe dirty-bomb suspect José Padilla was turned into an Islamic holy warrior by a sophisticated recruitment operation run by Osama bin Laden's Florida network, The Post has learned."

EE.UU: Secretos del poder  6/12/02 Rebelion: "Ahora que la cantidad de civiles inocentes muertos en Afganistán debido a los bombardeos de EEUU ha sobrepasado la cantidad de víctimas del ataque a las Torres Gemelas y el Pentágono. Ahora que Israel ha violado todas las normas de convivencia humana con sus agresiones contra el indefenso pueblo palestino y las víctimas se cuentan por millares. Ahora que se mantiene en vilo a la humanidad por la probabilidad de una guerra atómica entre India y Pakistán. Ahora que Estados Unidos amenaza con atacar unilateralmente a varios países por considerarlos fuentes de terrorismo. Ahora que se organiza un Plan Colombia que podría degenerar en un conflicto regional suramericano. Ahora que el presidente W. Bush anuncia la creación de un megaministerio antiterrorista con plenos poderes para actuar. Ahora que todo eso ocurre tenemos que volver a preguntarnos si los dueños del mundo no habrán tenido anticipadamente la información sobre los ataques del 11 de septiembre de 2001 y consideraron que era mejor para sus intereses que esos ataques les dieran la excusa para desatar el demonio de la guerra por todo el planeta? "

Moroccan secret agent 'predicted New York attack'  6/12/02 Times, UK: yet another clear warning: "Secret service chiefs are said to have taken seriously the tip from one of its veteran informants and immediately passed on the details to Washington."

Timing of plot news fit Bush's agenda  6/12/02 USA Today: "It came four days after Bush proposed a homeland security department in his Cabinet and 10 days after he began describing a doctrine of pre-emptive military strikes against countries that threaten the United States."

60% poll say President Hugo Chavez Frias is responsible for the events of April 11  6/12/02 Vheadlines: "In the survey taken from 500 telephone interviews, Comar Pollsters says 12% believe that the opposition was responsible and 21% say they are undecided. The El Universal-commissioned survey shows that 49% think the truth will never be known, 30% says Venezuelans only know part of the truth and 7% that the truth will eventually come out. The survey was undertaken in the Metropolitan District and indicates that the lower one goes in the social scale there is less belief that the government caused the killings, while among ABC sectors 69% hold the belief that it was the government’s intention to spill blood on April 11."

Fighting broke out in downtown Valencia between peacefully demonstrating MVR sympathizers and Carabobo State police  6/12/02 Vheadlines: anti-Chavez state governor causes trouble - "VHeadline.com News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue reports that government sympathizers from South Valencia barrios are accusing Carabobo State Governor Henrique Salas Feo of breaking up a pacific march to protest against the Governor’s handling of crime and other problems. Protester Marta Amelia Leon says the march was blocked and police started firing tear gas and setting police dogs on the demonstrators. Salas Feo counters that the marchers were "armed to the teeth" and "looking for problems." Police say a Guacara municipality councilor was arrested for carrying a gun."

Democrats suspicious of arrest announcement  6/12/02 Washington Times: "The information was available earlier — why was it not announced?" asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, adding that he wants to know why Attorney General John Ashcroft disclosed the May 8 arrest while in Russia on Monday. "There may have been a rush to bring it before the news media" in the wake of last week's criticism of U.S. intelligence agencies, Mr. Daschle said."

Tuesday 6/11/02

Sept. 11 suspect held in 'cage' - lawyer  6/11/02 : "Zacarias Moussaoui, the French national on trial in the United States for allegedly being linked to the September 11 terror attacks, is being held in "unacceptable" conditions, which is why he decided to dismiss his US lawyers, a French attorney said on Tuesday. "For the last seven months Zacarias Moussaoui has been held in what is in effect a cage," said lawyer Francois Roux, who is now representing Moussaoui."

TEXAS CONGRESSMAN SPEAKS OUT AGAINST WAR  6/11/02 ANNCOL: "Ron Paul, a Republican member of Congress representing Texas, has spoken out against US involvement in Colombia and says that the real objective behind the Pentagon's plans are related to oil."

Ethnic massacre claim in DR Congo  6/11/02 BBC

Rally Opposes War, Defends Civil Liberties  6/11/02 Black World Today: "Originally planned for across the street in Washington Square Park, the rain led rally-goers to a standing-room-only crowd inside. The rally was part of a nationwide kickoff, organized by the Not In Our Name Project, of activists taking a "pledge of resistance" against war and the erosion of civil liberties." See Not in our name.

Cops say Padilla was just a small-time thug  6/11/02 Chicago Tribune: ""I could show you a thousand people like this," said a Chicago Police Department gang expert. "If you were to show me this record, I would say he's gangbanger. These are gangbanging arrests. There's nothing to tell me he's a terrorist."

Lawyer: Dirty bomb suspect's rights violated  6/11/02 CNN: Rummy pronounces a life sentence: "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said earlier Tuesday that Padilla -- who also goes by the name of Abdullah Al Muhajir -- may never face trial. "Our interest is not in trying him and punishing him," Rumsfeld said. "Our interest is in finding out what he knows."

Murder, Incorporated  6/11/02 Counterpunch: "We were told there were no friendly forces," Guckenheimer said. "If there was anybody there, they were the enemy. We were told specifically that if there were women and children to kill them."

My interview with Assata Shakur  6/11/02 Final Call: "I am moved by her commitment as expressed in a poem she wrote: "It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains."

Authorities try to imagine 'dirty bomb' in Washington  6/11/02 IHT: "A week later, thousands of people are still refusing to work in the District of Columbia. Tourism comes to a standstill. Parents refuse to send their children to school. . Buildings in a several-block area require decontamination; debris require safe disposal. The cleanup costs are enormous. . Wastewater risks contaminating the Potomac watershed. The impact on the insurance industry, and on local business and real estate values, is severe. . "The device itself would kill people - but it's isolated," said Phil Anderson, who helped run the workshop. "The real impact is the psychological impact, on the entire nation."

Germans doubt Sept. 11 'mastermind' ever lived in Hamburg  6/11/02 IHT: "The officials said that they had first heard about a possible visit by Mohammed to Hamburg in 1999 from the American press, not from American officials, and their own inquiries for information from Washington have not yet been answered." The US won't cooperate with France, nor apparently with Germany, issues pronouncements about a "dirty bomb" plot, then backpedals, issues numerous bogus warnings - this is the picture not of incomptence but of a government run amock.

Dirty bomb: Brooklyn-born suspect turned to Islam while serving 12-month jail sentence  6/11/02 Independent, UK

Saudis accused of plot to attack warships  6/11/02 Independent, UK: "The Foreign Office last night welcomed the arrest in Morocco of three terrorist suspects said to be planning suicide attacks on British and US warships. Moroccan police said they had broken up a terrorist cell with links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network with the detention of three Saudi Arabian nationals."

The Colombian Contras  6/11/02 Khilafah: "Otto Reich, assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, wasted little time before traveling to Bogotá to congratulate president-elect Alvaro Uribe. Reich followed the example set by the U.S. ambassador to Colombia, Anne Patterson, who violated protocol by visiting Uribe's campaign headquarters on election night to congratulate him on his triumph before he had even been officially declared the winner."

SOA Grad Arrested for Murder of Colombian Archbishop  6/11/02 SOA Watch: "Police arrested the presumed murderer of Archbishop Isaías Duarte. John Fredy Jiménez, a graduate of the School of the Americas (SOA), was arrested on Saturday in Cali, Colombia. Jiménez graduated from the SOA in 1992, having completed a cadet combat course. Archbishop Isaías Duarte was shot and killed on March 17. Colombia has sent over 10,000 soldiers to the SOA, more than any other country. Colombia has the worst human rights record to date in the Western Hemisphere."

When buzzwords go bad  6/11/02 Spinsanity: "Stung by Demo attacks, Republicans suddenly deny they want to "privatize" Social Security. Ah, what a difference a few thousand points on the NASDAQ makes!"

US backs Israel as tanks again ring Arafat  6/11/02 Times, UK: tending the flammes of eternal war.

Israeli forces counting cost of West Bank occupation  6/11/02 Ummah News: "In the past two weeks alone, Palestinian guerrillas killed 15 Israeli soldiers, and as many as six settlers, in addition to more than 20 paramilitary settlers who sustained serious wounds."

Pakistan: More Americans arrested  6/11/02 UPI: "As many as a half-dozen men "of U.S. origin" have been captured in the tribal areas of Pakistan near Afghanistan and handed over to U.S. authorities in an ongoing operation to root out al Qaida terrorists and Taliban extremists, Pakistani sources told United Press International Tuesday."

Berber region on brink of isolation  6/11/02 Washington Times: "According to Al Watan, another Algiers daily, "the tortured region is destined to be absent from the National Assembly, its deputies elected under a cloud, or rather not elected, representing only themselves and their party." North African analysts say the recent government decision authorizing the Berber Tamazight dialect as one of Algeria's official languages fell dramatically short of Berber demands for autonomy and economic concessions. The Kabylia area of breathtaking mountains and red-roofed villages is inexorably heading toward isolation damaging to its inhabitants and to the very concept of Algerian unity, these experts claim."

Libyan treated unfairly, Mandela says  6/11/02 Washington Times: "Former South African President Nelson Mandela said yesterday that the Libyan man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 was being subjected to "psychological persecution." After visiting Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi for more than an hour at Barlinnie Prison, Mr. Mandela said authorities should consider letting him serve his sentence in a Muslim country such as Morocco, Tunisia or Egypt. "Megrahi is all alone," Mr. Mandela said at a news conference later in the prison's visitors room. "He has nobody he can talk to. It is a psychological persecution that a man must stay for the length of his long sentence all alone." And Mandela knows a thing or two about this condition.

Monday 6/10/02

US INDICTS COLOMBIAN GUERRILLA LEADERS  6/10/02 ANNCOL

Jewish group to start armed patrols in parts of New York City, rabbi says  6/10/02 AP

George Bush went on Anti-anthrax "Cipro" on 9-11  6/10/02 Aztlan

What Was Terror Suspect Up To?  6/10/02 CBS: guilty of thought crime - "U.S. officials are backing away from assertions that a man arrested last month in Chicago was plotting a 'dirty' bomb attack on the United States, CBS Correspondent Jim Stewart reports."

US invasion proposal shocks MPs  6/10/02 Expatica: "The Dutch parliament was shocked by a US legislative proposal giving an official green light to a US invasion of the Netherlands should it be deemed necessary to free US citizens from the International Criminal Court in The Hague."

Media revel in abuse scandal, says cardinal  6/10/02 Guardian: indeed.

Security Council chief warns of dwindling Jewish majority  6/10/02 Haaretz: "Jews will be a minority in the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea by 2020, the chairman of the National Security Council, Major General Uzi Dayan told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday. Dayan said that if current demographic trends did not change, this area, in 2020, would have 15 million inhabitants, out of which Jews would constitute 45 percent and Arabs 55 percent. Currently, the ratio is reversed: There are some 5 million Jews and 4 million Arabs in the region." One solution offered in Israel: start the artillery and clear the Palestinians out in 8 days to create some "living room." Another is to have the US do it for them: "For Israel, it was crucial to prevent enemy countries from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said. To this end, he continued, Israel must try to persuade the West to continue the global war on terror, as many of the potential targets in this war were the states most dangerous to Israel."

La Casa Blanca dirigió el golpe  6/10/02 Rebelion: "Refiriéndose a la matanza de Estados Unidos en Afganistán, Chávez dijo que no es posible combatir el terror con el terror, lo cual era una referencia directa a la guerra de Bush. Estados Unidos retiró de inmediato su embajador, es decir, lo repatrió con la excusa habitual, las denominadas consultas. Envió luego una delegación de alto rango a Venezuela para que se encontrara con Chávez y le advirtiera que el precio de su oposición sería tan elevado que lo pagarían incluso las futuras generaciones de venezolanos. Esto me lo contó uno de los consejeros principales de Chávez, que asistió a la reunión."

Ex-UC chief calls FBI actions despicable Clark Kerr reacts to Chronicle report on bureau misdeeds  6/10/02 San Francisco Chronicle: "Kerr, 91, a renowned educator who led UC to academic excellence, also said that the FBI harmed the integrity of the university by intruding into campus affairs and exacerbating internal disputes. "What bothers me is that the FBI would want to go so far outside its proper jurisdiction and get involved in the internal affairs of the university," Kerr said."

US quits base after chemicals leak  6/10/02 Telegraph, UK: "Chemical weapons apparently left over from the Soviet past have forced the partial evacuation of US forces from an air base in Central Asia. Personnel at Karshi Khanabad in Uzbekistan were relocated to uncontaminated areas of the base after traces of nerve agents and mustard gas were detected at three locations."

400 civilians killed in eastern Congo: rebels  6/10/02 The News, Pakistan: "Rwandan-backed rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have accused a rival group allied to the Kinshasa regime of massacring nearly 400 civilians this week in the northeastern Ituri region."

Chavez Frias prepares action against terrorists  6/10/02 Trinicenter: "Taking a leaf out of US President George W. Bush’s book, Venezuela's Chavez Frias prepares action against terrorists and conspirators who are determined to end democracy in Venezuela. Whether Chavez Frias will follow through his threat is another matter since failure to enforce the law was the prelude to the April 11 conspiracy."

World News

"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

Qawafil-ush-Shuhadaa http://www.shuhadaa.com [ARABIC]

Islam Question & Answer - Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid

Islaam Homepage

Islamic Assembly of North America [IANA on LINE]

Jam'iat Ihyaa' Minhaaj al-Sunnah Homepage

Nida'ul Islam/ The Call of Islam Magazine Online

Words Written in Blood. Arabic book collection of Shaheed Sheikh

Abdullah Azzam [ARABIC]

Maps & Weather

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/

A number of maps here
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/afghanistan.html

http://www.weatherhub.com/

Estimates of the total number of Muslims range from 0.7 to 1.2 billion worldwide and 3 to 6 million in the U.S. About 20% of all people on earth follow Islam. The religion is in a period of rapid growth.

Christianity is currently the largest religion in the world. It is followed by about 33% of all people -- a percentage that has remaind stable for decades. It is expected that, if current trends continue, Islam will become the most popular religion sometime in the mid-21^st century.

-- http://www.religioustolerance.org/islam.htm

Death from America

Iraq news: Soaring death rates among Iraqi children, 1999 BBC, UNICEF 500,000 child deaths

Ramsey Clark: Report to UN Security Council re: Iraq, 1/26/2000
1.5 million deaths

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