World News
6/17/02 - 6/23/02

Sunday 6/23/02

Israeli soldiers raped 86 women in Nablus, UK MP told  6/23/02 Arab News: "The testimony was sent by Anthony Razook by e-mail from Bethlehem after witnessing three Israeli soldiers taking turns to violate his four-months pregnant sister and shooting her husband three times in the back of the neck. "In Nablus, there were calls made from cell phones that tell us over 86 women were raped and beaten and there is many of the men, their husbands that have been killed when they were trying to stop these soldiers," he said. His e-mail, which is posted on the MP's website, appealed for help, saying "your country doesn't allow you to know the news of what is really happening." Jones said that although the report, which is dated April 8, had not been authenticated, she had written to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to ask them to investigate."

The long-delayed story of USS Liberty  6/23/02 Arab News: "The third film, “Dead in the Water” has just been released by the BBC in London. There again, blatant attempts of intimidation were resorted to. Finally the BBC said bluntly that it would not be blackmailed, regardless of threats of lawsuits or other forms pressure. Although the film has not yet been shown in the United States, presumably it will be available shortly. “Dead in the Water” is a one-hour-long offering. It goes into some detail and presents both sides of the story. The Israeli sources only underline the fact that, when both sides are presented, the result is only more damning. The BBC film is more detailed, with more information that has not been revealed before about a high-level cover up starting at the top, with President Lyndon B. Johnson."

Moroccan paper casts doubts on legitimacy of Saudis’ arrests  6/23/02 Arab News, Saudi Arabia: "The attorney general violated penal procedures in divulging the details of the preliminary enquiry,” fellow defense attorney Abdallah Al-Amri told the newspaper Asabah. “This is the first time there has been such a violation of confidentiality in a preliminary enquiry in Morocco,” he added. Benhamou cited other alleged irregularities, together with “insults and humiliations,” of the detained persons. He said each was being kept in a solitary cell without visitation rights. The lawyer also claimed police had forced them to sign a written report on interrogations whose contents they did not know. The three Saudis were charged in Casablanca on Tuesday with preparing to attack buses around Morocco and a square in Marrakesh."

Colombian mayors resign en masse  6/23/02 BBC: "Scores of mayors and other local officials have resigned en masse across Colombia after rebels said they would kill them if they stayed in office. State control in several provinces has been thrown into disarray after the threats to officials by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to quit or be designated "military targets".

Lawyer says Morocco tortured Qaeda suspects  6/23/02 MSNBC: sowing the seeds of future hatred - ''All of them were subjected to various forms of physical torture, verbal abuse, including cursing and the removal of women's veils, and extortion to force them to confess,'' the daily quoted Msaef as saying. ''What astonished the police is that the persons in custody had no information or terrorist targets and that no physical evidence against the detainees had been found despite repeated searches carried out by police of the homes of the Saudis,'' he added."

Israel sends home Gaza’s doctor of mercy  6/23/02 Scotsman: piece by piece, Israel puts together its program of genocide for Palestine - "ISRAEL has deported the head of a charitable fund that organised heart surgery and other operations for Palestinian children by Israeli doctors. Jonathan Miles, a US citizen, who founded the Israeli non-profit organisation Light to the Nations, was told he was no longer welcome in the country. The move has disturbed Christian groups, as well as Israelis and Palestinians, who had praised Miles for his humanitarian efforts in the midst of a deep conflict. He had been working with Save a Child’s Heart, the largest programme in the world providing free, urgent heart surgery for children in poor and developing nations."

Israel hints at long-term West Bank re-occupation  6/23/02 The News, Pakistan: "After Friday's security cabinet meeting, an Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity said: "I think that within a few days we will control all the West Bank and that we will stay there for a long time." And the suicide bombers will grow to numbers never seen before.

The Bible and the Apocalypse  6/23/02 Time: the end times go maintream.

Anti-U.S. militants showing up all over  6/23/02 Toronto Sun: coherent analysis of the failures in the US War on Terrorism.

President Hugo Chavez Frias says he has received intelligence reports that "an audacious attack on Miraflores Palace" is being prepared  6/23/02 Vheadlines: "another State Political & Security (DISIP) police report had advised the President to cut down on his public appearances, especially at mass rallies, to cancel a June 24 military parade at the scene of the historic Battle of Carabobo and to transmit his Sunday radio talk shows from secure sites as well as to implement increased security for members of his own family against serious threats."

Weekly news magazine Quinto Dia claims that Venezuela's political opposition has leaked details in a secret report  6/23/02 Vheadlines: "indicating that the State Political & Security (DISIP) Police has been training subversives to “take out” or "liquidate" former Army C-i-C, General Efrain Vasquez Velazco and rebel April 11 coup leaders, Generals Nestor Gonzalez Gonzalez and Enrique Medina Gomez, if any further coup attempt is made to topple the government. Civilian targets, including Venezuelan Episcopal Conference (CEV) president Monsignor Baltazar Porras, are also on the alleged shoot-to-kill "hit list."

Saturday 6/22/02

Israeli troops kill 10 Palestinians  6/22/02 Arab News: "In 72 hours, three Palestinian attacks — two suicide bombings and a raid Thursday on a Jewish settlement in the West Bank — have cost 31 Israeli lives, as well as two soldiers killed in fighting in the West Bank. On the Palestinian side, the death toll rose to 17 since Tuesday."

Anthrax in Mail Was Newly Made, Investigators Say  6/22/02 NYT: "Scientists have determined that the anthrax powder sent through the mail last fall was fresh, made no more than two years before it was sent, senior government officials said. The new finding has concerned investigators, who say it indicates that whoever sent the anthrax could make more and strike again."

Confirmada detención en Canadá de argelino sospechoso de terrorismo  6/22/02 Prensa Latina: "De acuerdo con el oficial, la policía ha dado crédito a rumores sobre presuntas conexiones entre el argelino y militantes de la organización al-Quaeda."

Israeli minister says army fuels `terror to come'  6/22/02 Sydney Morning Herald: "Unfortunately, while the [Israeli Defence Force] is carrying out these necessary actions, the operations themselves become a hothouse that produces more and more suicide bombers," he said. "The military actions kindle the frustration, hatred and despair and are the incubator for terror to come." His remarks came as the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, distanced himself from the suicide bombings, saying they were encouraged what he described as "foreign" forces who were exploiting young, hopeless Palestinians, encouraging them to commit attacks in exchange for money. Mr Arafat said he knew of at least two families in Jenin who had received $US30,000 ($52,000) each from foreigners after their sons took part in suicide bombings."

Video to show bin Laden still alive and dangerous  6/22/02 Times: Emmanuel Goldstein lives! - "OSAMA BIN LADEN will soon make a televised address to the Muslim world, a prominent Arabic language website has reported, reinforcing American intelligence information that he is still alive. US intelligence believes that he is surrounded by al-Qaeda’s high command either in Afghanistan or just over the border in Pakistan."

Head of Sept. 11 Probe Allegedly Obstructed Danforth's Waco Inquiry  6/22/02 Washington Post: and all the Wakos to come - "According to a December 2000 internal FBI memo, Kelley "continued to thwart and obstruct" the Waco investigation to the point that Danforth was forced to send a team to search FBI headquarters for documents Kelley refused to turn over. "This non-cooperative spirit was at the specific direction of [deputy general counsel] Kelley," the memo states. The memo, written by an agent in the bureau's Office of Professional Responsibility, is cited in a letter sent to the intelligence committee leadership by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). The letter was obtained yesterday by The Washington Post."

Chavez, opponents brace for 2nd coup  6/22/02 Washington Times: from the Rev Moon's paper, quoting an impeccable source - ""Let him go away, however it happens, just as long as nobody dies," said Caracas bartender Luis Aguilar."

Friday 6/21/02

The White Van - Were Israelis Detained on Sept. 11 Spies?  6/21/02 ABC News: "The men were taking video or photos of themselves with the World Trade Center burning in the background, she said. What struck Maria were the expressions on the men's faces. "They were like happy, you know … They didn't look shocked to me. I thought it was very strange," she said. She found the behavior so suspicious that she wrote down the license plate number of the van and called the police. Before long, the FBI was also on the scene, and a statewide bulletin was issued on the van."

Colombia: FORMER PEACE BROKER CRITICIZES EU  6/21/02 ANNCOL

TREASON IS THE REASON - Mystery spies outed by FBI whistleblower  6/21/02 Antiwar.com: Israeli penetration of the FBI

Victims Of Apartheid To Sue U.S. Swiss Banks  6/21/02 Black World Today: "Lawyers planning to sue Swiss and U.S. banks for breaking international financial sanctions against apartheid South Africa are recruiting victims of racial oppression, at the time, for their class action suit."

Colombia: Miles de pobres en el sur de Bogota se rebelan contra política neoliberal y el hambre.  6/21/02 Rebelion

Air Force officer disciplined for saying Bush allowed September 11 attacks  6/21/02 Rumor Mill: "Universally ignored by the press, however, was that the officer was not merely expressing a personal opinion. He was in a position to have direct knowledge of contacts between the US military and some of the hijackers in the period before the terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon. Lieutenant Colonel Butler, who wrote in a letter to the editor of the Monterey County Herald charging that “Bush knew about the impending attacks,” was vice chancellor for student affairs at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California—a US military facility that one or more of the hijackers reportedly attended during the 1990s."

Israeli troops and settlers engage in bloody killing spree  6/21/02 Ummah News

The Sons and Daughters of Liberty  6/21/02 Village Voice: "In the spirit of the Sons of Liberty, on February 4 of this year, some 300 citizens of Northampton, Massachusetts, held a town meeting to organize ways to—as they put it—protect the residents of the town from the Bush-Ashcroft USA Patriot Act. On that night, the Northampton Bill of Rights Defense Committee began a new American Revolution. Similar committees are organizing around the country."

Why is the US media blacking out documentary on war crimes in Afghanistan?  6/21/02 World Socialist: "This major story, however, has received virtually no coverage in US newspapers or on network or cable television. Aside from stories on some alternative Internet publications, and a June 16 article on Salon.com, the story has been essentially blacked out in the US. A search for news about the documentary in the major dailies—including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Boston Globe and the Miami Herald —turned up empty. Web sites for ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News and CNN have likewise carried nothing on the film… The media’s silence makes it complicit in what are horrific war crimes. It also provides an even more sinister service to the Bush administration. Filmmaker Jamie Doran decided to release a rough cut of his documentary before final editing because he feared Afghan forces were preparing to destroy evidence of the mass killings, scattering the remains of the victims. Self-censorship by the US media only facilitates such a grisly cover-up."

Thursday 6/20/02

Writing on the wall - Gamal Nkrumah  6/20/02 Al Ahram, Egypt: "The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is stirring much controversy in Africa. While officials from most African governments have hailed it as a panacea for the continent's ills, the vast majority of African academics, development workers and non-governmental organisations view NEPAD as the same old wolf of structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) disguised in sheep's clothing. The now universally discredited SAPs, imposed upon Africa by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, are generally regarded as the main cause for the economic malaise and socio-political upheaval that plague Africa today."

Name recognition, getting black vote big challenges for Majette in her bit to unseat McKinney  6/20/02 Atlanta Journal Constitution

The South at War - A Tour Through the Heart of the US Military-Industrial Complex  6/20/02 Counterpunch

Turner faces media storm over comments on Israel  6/20/02 Hollywood Reporter: "Rabbi Marvin Hier, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles said, "When he speaks, he's introduced as the founder of CNN and vice chairman of AOL Time Warner. He makes it sound like he's mouthing the views of the board of directors. AOL Time Warner would be a lot better off without him. They should ask him to resign."

D.C. Press Conference Punches Big Holes in 9-11 Official Line  6/20/02 In the Wilderness

Art and the CIA  6/20/02 Lew Rockwell

‘Combatants’ lack rights, U.S. argues  6/20/02 MSNBC: US under martial law - "The strongly worded brief signed by Deputy Solicitor General Paul D. Clement also argues that the civilian courts have no standing to intervene."

LIVE FROM CARACAS  6/20/02 Narco News: "After a very brief flurry of post-coup corrections and meas culpas, the simulators of the mass media (from the Four Horsemen of Simulation - AP, Reuters, New York Times and CNN - on down to yesterday's Christian Science Monitor) have reverted to their same unsubstantiated rumor-mongering fictional coverage of the immediate history underway in Venezuela. What is, in fact, ocurring in Venezuela these days is far more interesting than any of them want to inform you, because it involves the development of popular methods to weaken the illusory power of them, the caste members of the mass media, too."

The New Suicide Bombers: Larger and More Varied Pool  6/20/02 NYT: One of the principal effects of the terroristic way Israel and the US fight their War on Terror is to act as recruitment drive for the "terrorists."

Syrians reveal secret help in al-Qa'eda hunt  6/20/02 Telegraph, UK: "[Assad] threatened to disclose details of that co-operation if Syria is not given more credit by US officials and said a Syrian tip-off three months ago had thwarted an al-Qa'eda attack that would have killed "many American soldiers"… Alastair Hodgett, a spokesman for Amnesty International in Washington, said: "Whereas in the past the United States has often endeavoured to ensure people do not end up in the hands of torturers, we've seen a new willingness to transfer people to countries where torture is known to take place."

Colombian guerrilla leader sent to U.S. to face charges  6/20/02 Washington Times

Wednesday 6/19/02

Israel to Seize Palestinian Lands  6/19/02 AP: "The statement, announced after late-night consultations between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his top Cabinet ministers, said Israel will capture Palestinian Authority territory. "These areas will be held by Israel as long as terror continues. ...Additional acts of terror will lead to taking of additional areas."

Farrakhan To Promote Peace During Middle East Trip  6/19/02 Black World Today

FBI: Terrorists may try to arrive by sea  6/19/02 CNN

Fuerza Armada venezolana monitoreará acciones de Policía Metropolitana  6/19/02 Granma, Cuba: "La Fuerza Armada Nacional (FAN) venezolana monitoreará, en el futuro, los movimientos y actividades de la cuestionada Policía Metropolitana (PM) de Caracas en situaciones de orden público, reportó Prensa Latina. La información fue confirmada hoy por el comisario Emigdio González, jefe de operaciones de la PM, al hablar sobre los acuerdos logrados durante una reunión de los cuerpos policíacos y de seguridad del país."

Rescue workers at bomb site actively aided PR effort  6/19/02 Haaretz, Israel: "Security and rescue personnel participated in workshops and it was agreed that, following a terrorist attack, they would coordinate their actions, quickly bringing correspondents to the very center of the horror. After the Tuesday attack, as in the bombing in Jerusalem's Mahaneh Yehuda marketplace two months ago, ZAKA personnel placed the body bags of the victims alongside the scorched bus, giving journalists sufficient time to document the disaster. The security forces provided photographers with convenient shooting angles that would not disrupt the evacuation of dead and wounded from the site. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon also took advantage of the media interest, appearing, for the first time since taking office, at the site of a terrorist attack."

U.S. Afghan role not nearly over  6/19/02 IHT: there is light at the end of the tunnel - "The situation is quite like Vietnam," said Andrew Krepinevich, executive director of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a military research group in Washington. "As long as the regime in Kabul is perceived as weak, the Taliban and other groups aligned with radical Islam will see the war as winnable, and will continue to soldier on."

Saudis arrest al-Qa'ida suspects 'planning attacks'  6/19/02 Independent, UK

2 Americans Detained in Pakistan Had No Ties to Terror, U.S. Says  6/19/02 NYT

FAREWELL TO A HOPE - An interview with Comandante Ramiro Vargas and the opinions of leaders of Colombia's Army of National Liberation  6/19/02 Radio Progresso, Miami

THE ANTHRAX CASE: WHAT THE FBI KNOWS  6/19/02 Red Flags Weekly: "On February 5 I raised the question "Is the FBI Dragging Its Feet?" Nearly four months later, the question is more urgent than ever. In the interim I have largely avoided commenting on the situation, not wishing to interfere with investigation of promising leads the FBI had received. Now, however, nearly everyone who has followed the situation closely-knowledgeable biodefense insiders, investigative reporters (who have turned up a great many pertinent facts that have not yet been reported), and interested outsiders like myself--knows who a likely perpetrator is. The FBI continues to claim that it has no suspects and few clues, but it continues to focus on biodefense scientists with anthrax experience."

Oliver Stone to Israel -- leave the West Bank  6/19/02 Reuters: "Among his many interviews, he said, were those with suicide bombers, and he told me he "understands why they feel the way they do." But he also reminded, "I'm against violence in these matters. I'm against suicide bombers -- they kill innocent people." He quickly added, "The (Jewish) settlements (on the West Bank) -- they are something else. The Israelis have no business in the West Bank. The settlements have to be gotten out of the West Bank."

Congressional Black Caucus challenges Colombian armed forces on Black massacre in Chocó  6/19/02 SF Bay View: "Many Blacks in the U.S. are unaware that people who look just like them are the majority or a significant portion of the populations of such Latin American nations as Cuba, Brazil, Mexico, Panama, and Colombia. That racial discrimination and worse exists in Central and South America is also little known in North America. Nowhere in the Western Hemisphere do Black-skinned people predominate in conspicuous high-level government positions."

Find out who’s behind Black ‘leaders’  6/19/02 SF Bay View: “We’ve had a lot of people around in the last decade who speak for Black people who happen to represent the wrath of Whites – who happen to have been given enormous megaphones in terms of television time and newsprint time and all sorts of time - and behind them are the kinds of people who want to do us wrong,” Walters told members of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, which includes publishers of more than 200 Black-owned newspapers.

Israeli policy dominates Black Southern contests  6/19/02 SF Bay View

Afghanistan: Plot to destroy US airbase fails  6/19/02 Ummah News: there is light at the end of the tunnel.

A Small Cartel of Conservative Lawyers Rewrites the American Rule Court Jousters  6/19/02 Village Voice: the Vietnamization of America - "Viet Dinh, an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy, is without question the leading figure in laying the legal fretwork for the war. Dinh graduated from Harvard Law, clerked for U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge Laurence H. Silberman and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, and now teaches at Georgetown University. He was associate special counsel to the U.S. Senate Whitewater Committee, which fought unsuccessfully to bring down the Clintons. Born in Vietnam in 1968, Dinh was soon separated from his father, who was sent to a post-war retraining camp."

2 FBI Whistle-Blowers Allege Lax Security, Possible Espionage  6/19/02 Washington Post: FBI penetrated - "In an interview, she said she became particularly alarmed when she discovered that a recently hired FBI translator was saying that she belonged to the Middle Eastern organization whose taped conversations she had been translating for FBI counterintelligence agents. Officials asked that the name of the target group not be revealed for national security reasons." The only "Middle Eastern" group the US would so protect is Israeli. See Mystery spies outed by FBI whistleblower.

U.S. agencies doubt terrorist Atta's meeting in Prague  6/19/02 Washington Times: "U.S. intelligence officials say they have not seen evidence from the Czech government to confirm reports accepted by the State Department that a key al Qaeda terrorist met with an Iraqi agent in Prague five months before September 11."

Ethnic Cleansing And The Establishment Of Israel  6/19/02 Z Mag: "In May 1948, more than 200 Palestinians were killed by the advancing Jewish militia in the coastal village of Tantura, south of Haifa. According to the recorded testimony of 40 witnesses, both Arab and Jewish, half the civilians were shot in a "rampage". The rest were marched to the beach, where the men were separated from the women and children. They were taken to a wall near the mosque where they were shot in the back of the head. The "cleansing" of Tantura (a term used at the time) was a well-kept secret. When they were interviewed four years ago, several Palestinian witnesses said they feared for their lives if they spoke out. One survivor, who as a child witnessed the murder of his entire family in Tantura, said to the interviewer: "But believe me, one should not mention these things. I do not want them to take revenge against us. You are going to cause us trouble . . ."

Tuesday 6/18/02

A Georgian Gaffe and the War on Terror  6/18/02 Antiwar.com: Georgia's Defense Minister denies Rummy's intervention pretext in his - "TEVZADZE: You know, actually, for me personally, it is very difficult to believe in that, because to come from Afghanistan to that part of Georgia, they need to [cross] at least six or seven countries, including [the] Caspian Sea. But better information, perhaps, have the agencies – we are working slightly in different.."

Saudi Arabia: Sniper in camouflage fires on Australian at BAE compound  6/18/02 Arab News

Jamaica: Rapper Gores Politicians, Voters  6/18/02 Black World Today

Juneteenth – (June 19th) General Order Number 3  6/18/02 Black World Today

US extremists conflicted over war on terror  6/18/02 Christian Science Monitor: ""The homeland security proposals have already been seen by a number of right-wing extremists as proof of their conspiracy beliefs," says Mark Pitcavage, a historian of extremist movements and advisor to law-enforcement agencies. "Many antigovernment extremists have come to believe that 9/11 was a conspiracy by the government in order for it to get dictatorial powers, or that 9/11 really was a terrorist event, but the government is nevertheless using it as a pretext to get more and more power," says Dr. Pitcavage, who also works for the Anti-Defamation League."

Stowaway Terrorists Steal into America by Sea Container  6/18/02 Debka: from the Israeli psyops site - "Between 75 and 125 operatives of the fundamentalist terror network, al Qaeda, are known to have illegally penetrated the United States in the last two months, mostly through American ports as stowaways in commercial sea containers. Many more are estimated to have slipped through unbeknownst to US authorities… US port authority sources believe penetrations occurred at New York, New Jersey, Long Beach, Miami and Savannah, Georgia, as well as Port Everglades, Florida. Container, oil and bulk ports are especially vulnerable. Some of the stowaways arrive complete with arms or explosives, the nature of which - conventional, radioactive, chemical or biological - the US authorities are at great pains to keep dark. However, shipping sources told us witnesses had seen suspect containers appearing to be quarantined after their al Qaeda infiltrators were killed, suggesting the suspected presence of toxic substances… In some of the stowaway containers, US counter-terror authorities were dismayed to find uniforms of American dockworkers and even US Coast Guards, along with the appropriate tags and ID for free access to port facilities, including off-limits sections. Groups of 5 to 7 of these men dressed as port workers have been sighted hurrying over to waiting vans and driving off at speed. US Coast Guard, Special Forces and CIA and FBI counter-terror units routinely conduct massive manhunts to fend off the multi-tentacled al Qaeda invasion. Some sources report firefights between hunters and terrorists trapped in sea containers, in which between 15 and 25 terrorists may have died. In Miami and Savanna, containers with secret human burdens were unloaded from incoming vessels. Anti-terror squads shifted the boxes to a quiet corner of the harbor, drilled holes in their sides and filled them with gas and smoke bombs. The stowaways suffocated to death… Investigators have concluded that al Qaeda owes much of its success in planting its operatives in ship’s containers to its links with criminal elements to be found in most of the world’s big container ports."

With pro-Israeli funding, candidates put reps. Hilliard, McKinney in run-offs  6/18/02 Final Call

Regresa el macarthysmo  6/18/02 Granma: "La escritora estadounidense Toni Morrison, Premio Nobel en 1993, afirmó que en su país el clima social y político es parecido al del "macarthysmo" de los años 50, caracterizado por la sospecha, la desconfianza y la "caza de brujas" contra los que pensaban de manera más liberal."

CNN chief accuses Israel of terror  6/18/02 Guardian: "Ted Turner, the billionaire founder of CNN, accuses Israel today of engaging in "terrorism" against the Palestinians, in comments that threaten to lead to a further decline in the news network's already poor relations with the Jewish state. "Aren't the Israelis and the Palestinians both terrorising each other?" says Turner, who is vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner, which owns CNN, in an exclusive interview with the Guardian."

Israel army demolishes Gaza industrial complex  6/18/02 Jordan Times: "Also destroyed was the Gaza Strip's sole factory for producing bottled oxygen, according to the Palestinian health ministry."

Two key al-Qaida suspects in custody  6/18/02 MSNBC: "ONE OF THE men, Mohammed Haydar Zammar, 41, who has German-Syrian citizenship and is believed to have recruited at least one of the Sept. 11 hijackers, is being held in Syria, where Moroccan authorities sent him without informing Germany, the officials said. The other man, Abu Zubair al-Haili, a 300-pound Saudi nicknamed “the Bear,” is on the U.S. list of top terrorist suspects. He was arrested in Casablanca and is being held at an undisclosed location. Al-Haili is believed to have run some of Saudi fugitive Osama bin Laden's training camps in Afghanistan before the United States began bombing them after the Sept. 11 attacks. A senior U.S. official characterized al-Haili as “one notch below” Abu Zubaydah, a senior lieutenant to bin Laden whom U.S. authorities captured in Pakistan in March."

French companies to back Venezuela industry in Venezuela Delta Gas Deal  6/18/02 Petroleum World: "Jean Michel Gires, President of Venezuela's TotalFinaElf said on Monday that Total FinaElf and French companies are ready to back technically, Venezuela's industry in the development of five blocks of Venezuela's Delta Platform natural gas project that will be awarded in the next few months, said Jean Michel Gires, President of Venezuela's TotalFinaElf."

Grand jury to decide FBI agent indictment  6/18/02 The Capital, Annapolis: Beyond the reach of the law - "Agent Braga, however, is not expected to testify. He declined to talk to county detectives who investigated the shooting."

Cherie's suicide bombing gaffe  6/18/02 This is London: "The Prime Minister's wife sparked fury among several parties earlier today after speaking to reporters at the launch of a £500,000 charity appeal for Medical Aid for Palestinians with Queen Rania of Jordan. She told them: "As long as young people feel they have got no hope but to blow themselves up you are never going to make progress."

Australians say Afghan attack was botched  6/18/02 Times, UK: "Speaking after returning to their headquarters in Perth, Western Australia, two officers whose names cannot be revealed, claimed that the masterminds of the military offensive had failed to learn the lessons of the Russian experience in Afghanistan." Indeed.

It's Patriotic to Ask Why: 9/11 Unanswered Questions  6/18/02 UQ

Monday 6/17/02

The Mossad and 9/11  6/17/02 Antiwar: "Both the FBI and CIA regard Mossad as a clear and present danger to U.S. national security. It places the Israeli spy agency just below the espionage totem pole that has China's Secret Intelligence Service at its top. A full ten months before Mossad started to sound its own warnings against bin-Laden, senior officials in both the FBI and CIA saw them as "blowing smoke" to divert attention from Mossad's own activities in the United States."

History Draws Hispanics to Islam  6/17/02 AP: "Ibrahim Gonzalez, raised as a Catholic, says he didn't convert to Islam -- rather, he says, he reverted. Like a small but growing number of Hispanics, the New York-born Puerto Rican has found a spiritual home in a faith with a long history in Spain, stretching to the rule of Muslim Moors from the 700s to the 1400s."

Graduates from Ft. Benning partook in Latin America's most corrupt regimes, yet Congress still funds the school  6/17/02 Counterpunch: "Since the tragedy of 9/11, we have learned some of the ways Osama bin Laden has schooled his al-Qaida organization into a formidable terrorist organization. No major media organization I know of, however, dares today to discuss how for more than five decades - the last two decades on our own soil - our own government systematically has been operating a more substantial terrorist school."

Activists plan to monitor voting at polls  6/17/02 Miami Herald

Isn't Democracy Worth It?  6/17/02 New York Times: "Ben Franklin said in 1755, "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Looming 'Lula' - Brazilian Leftist Roils Presidential Elections  6/17/02 Pacific News: another Company target - "His opposition to U.S. free-trade plans and his independence from Washington may worry the Bush administration, but more and more Brazilians are warming up to "Lula," left-leaning presidential candidate Luis Ignacio da Silva. PNS contributor Roger Burbach writes that Lula's focus on domestic production for Brazil's huge internal market may be just what the country needs."

Peace through jobs the new cry in Israel  6/17/02 Sydney Morning Herald

India assisting Israeli Navy  6/17/02 Times of India

Documentary of US war crimes in Afghanistan shocks German parliament  6/17/02 Ummah News: "American soldiers have been involved in the torture and murder of captured Taliban prisoners, and may have aided in the "disappearance" of up to 3,000 men in the region of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to Jamie Doran, an Irish documentary film-maker. Doran's latest film, Massacre At Mazar, was shown last week in the Reichstag, the German parliament building in Berlin, and there were immediate calls for an international commission to be set up to investigate charges made in the documentary."

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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Death from America

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