World News
7/29/02 - 8/4/02

Sunday 8/4/02

Forty Years After The Death Of Lumumba  8/4/02 Black World Today: "It is finally being revealed. More than 40 years after the murder of the first prime minister of the independent and democratic Congo—Patrice Lumumba—the official media is beginning to acknowledge the complicity of the United States. After years of denials, half-truths and twisting of facts, the files are being opened and the role of the US is far from clean."

Bolivian Congress' vote ends presidential tie  8/4/02 USA Today\: the fix was in - "Bolivia's Congress ended a presidential tie on Sunday, picking U.S.-educated millionaire Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada to lead the South American nation as it confronts economic malaise and growing social unrest. Sanchez de Lozada, a centrist mining executive who was president from 1993 to 1997, won a congressional vote by a 84-43 margin over Evo Morales, a radical Indian leader of Bolivia's coca growers."

Still No Arrests in Anthrax Probe, but 'Progress' Is Noted  8/4/02 Washington Post: "One knowledgeable researcher said the next step in the genetic analysis is to "go to the labs" known to have obtained Ames samples from Fort Detrick and compare the genomes of their samples to those of the attack spores. One law enforcement official confirmed that tests are still underway on the spores recovered from a letter to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.). "There is still optimism that the science will narrow this thing down further," he said. But he acknowledged that "the science is only going to take us so far." The problem for analysts is that while they can compare genetic material from different samples, or "isolates," of the Ames strain, they do not yet know how to interpret the mutations that can occur across generations of a bacterium, or even among different bacteria from the same lab and strain. Still, further analysis can benefit the investigation by ruling out various laboratories as the source of the anthrax spores. "Most science is not about proving something," said a scientist familiar with the research. "It's about disproving something." In this context, the DNA evidence becomes "one piece of a larger picture," the scientist said. "The FBI can say that a suspect has been in a particular lab, and we can say that the analysis does not rule out this lab."

Saturday 8/3/02

McKinney behind in poll despite Arab-American, Muslim support  8/3/02 Arab News: "A newly released poll has revealed that US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney is behind her challenger, Denise Majette, 39 percent to 41 percent, in their nationally followed race for Congress. Less than three weeks remain until the Aug. 20 primary election… Former State Judge Denise Majette, McKinney’s rival, is partially being financed by Jewish leaders critical of McKinney’s stand on Israel. Majette has announced she plans to spend $500,000 in contributions she has received in the next three weeks. Members of the Muslim American community, meanwhile, have rallied to support McKinney. At least three-quarters of the $234,299 that McKinney has raised from individuals this year is from donors with Muslim or Arab-American surnames, many who live outside her district."

Some McKinney donors probed for terror ties  8/3/02 Atlanta Journal Constitution: "McKinney campaign coordinator Wendell Muhamad downplayed the FBI investigations of the donors, saying the agency historically has hounded minorities and is now targeting Muslims and people with Arab names. "They're doing stuff like they did in the '60s to Dr. [Martin Luther] King," said Muhamad. "These are American citizens learning to use their money like the very small population which sways a lot of opinion with their money -- the Jewish community. That's the American way." Banks said the campaign accepted contributors' money believing "in good faith that they are law-abiding citizens. If you did an investigation of everyone who gave money, people would stop giving."

Globalizing labor against Coca-Cola  8/3/02 People's Weekly: "In response to the union lawsuit, Coca-Cola (under the Panamco Colombia name) filed slander charges against Correa and other union leaders. This explains why Coca-Cola’s representative wrote in his letter to me, “The company believes that the unfounded allegations are an insult.” This gives them an excuse to sue for slander. With the slander allegation, Coca-Cola is using the courts and the financial power of its worldwide empire to harass in yet another way the already stressed and depleted union."

Tonkin incident might not have occurred  8/3/02 San Antonio Express News: "Thirty-eight years ago Sunday, network television was interrupted at 11:36 p.m. EDT so President Lyndon B. Johnson could tell the nation that U.S. warships in a place called the Gulf of Tonkin had been attacked by North Vietnamese PT boats. In response to what he described as "open aggression on the open seas," Johnson ordered U.S. airstrikes on North Vietnam. The airstrikes opened the door to a war that would kill 1 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans and divide the nation along class and generational lines. Over the years, debate has swirled around whether U.S. ships actually were attacked that night, or whether, as some skeptics suggest, the Johnson administration staged or provoked an event to get congressional authority to act against North Vietnam. Recently released tapes of White House phone conversations indicate the attack probably never happened. The tapes, released by the LBJ Library at the University of Texas at Austin, include 51 phone conversations from Aug. 4 and 5, 1964, when the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred."

UN report on event at Jenin flawed: Human Rights Watch  8/3/02 The News, Pakistan\: "While stating that "no massacre of the scale alleged by the Palestinians took place" at the camp, Bouckhaert nonetheless added that "very serious abuses were committed." He said the UN's failure to address the "real abuses which did occur" -- such as the "deliberate and unlawful killing of civilians, the use of civilians as human shields and the very widespread destruction in the camp" -- made the report "fundamentally flawed."

Scientist's abode searched 3rd time in anthrax probe  8/3/02 Washington Times

Friday 8/2/02

Afghan protestors make new demands  8/2/02 BBC: "Hundreds of protestors have staged a fourth day of demonstrations in one of the most restive regions of Afghanistan - the Khost area of neighbouring Paktia and Nangarhar provinces near the border with Pakistan."

Expertos: lo novedoso es que emergió a la luz pública - Corrupción, norma en empresas de EU  8/2/02 La Jornada, Mexico: "Castro señala que el sociólogo criminalista Edwin Sutherland, considerado el más reconocido de su especialidad, realizó una investigación de 20 años de las 70 empresas más grandes de Estados Unidos y encontró que 90 por ciento violaba la ley de forma habitual. De hecho, descubrió 980 violaciones, con promedio de 14 por empresa, y por eso sostuvo que el crimen empresarial era más la regla que la excepción."

Another FBI Agent Blows the Whistle - New evidence that the Bureau quashed another terror probe before 9/11  8/2/02 LA Weekly

Thursday 8/1/02

Another Search - FBI Examines Home of Scientist for Second Time in Anthrax Probe  8/1/02 ABC News: "Law enforcement officials told ABCNEWS that today's search followed newly uncovered information. Five law enforcement vehicles were seen leaving the residence this afternoon. FBI agents also searched a rental storage shed in Ocala, Fla., that had been rented by Hatfill, as well as at least one other location. The shed had also been previously searched by officials investigating the anthrax attacks. The researcher has been considered to be "a person of interest" in the investigation, sources told ABCNEWS." Hatfill is a personal friend of imprisoned South African nazi leader Terre'Blanche and served in Rhodesia with SAS troups at a time when there was an extensive anthrax epidemic among the Shonas and others who fought the white settlers.

Colombia rebels clear out town  8/1/02 BBC

Daschle's Deal Dooms the Sacred Land of the Sioux  8/1/02 Counterpunch: "The Sioux certainly have no love for Daschle. Daschle is a close friend and political ally of South Dakota governor William Janklow, known for his rabidly anti-Indian views. How anti-Indian is Janklow? In 1974 he told reporters: "The only way to deal with the Indian problem in America, is to put a gun to the AIM [American Indian Movement] leaders' heads and pull the trigger." In 1983, Janklow sued writer Peter Matthiessen for $23 million in an attempt to stop publication of In the Spirit of Crazy Horse--Matthiessen's great book on the FBI's assault on the Pine Ridge reservation and the trial of Leonard Peltier. Janklow's suit was eventually thrown out of court. Daschle also helped to organize the Open Hills Association, a group of ranchers, mining companies and timber groups that came together to oppose the return of the Black Hills to the Sioux. A recent Sioux newsletter described the Open Hills Association as espousing "overtly racist views."

Saddam 'won't arm terrorists'  8/1/02 Mercury, Australia: "IRAQI President Saddam Hussein is unlikely to share any arms of mass destruction with terror groups like al-Qaeda, the former chief UN weapons inspector in Iraq, Richard Butler, has argued."

ISRAELI ORTHODOX MISSIONAIRES RECRUIT IN PERU  8/1/02 Radio Progresso: "Nonetheless the chief orthodox rabbi of Israel has sent missionaries to, of all places, Peru to find converts. But only those who agree to settle inside the Occupied Territories shall be eligible for conversion."

Ex-Rhodesian under probe for US anthrax attacks  8/1/02 Sunday Mirror, Zimbabwe: from 7/9/02; Symington helped bioterror suspect Hatfill get into Rhodesia's medical school - "Symington is strongly believed to have worked with the Ian Smith-led white supremacist regime on its biological warfare project, which resulted in the world’s worst recorded outbreak of anthrax in the latter phase of Zimbabwe’s liberation war, between 1978 and 1980. Over 10 738 human cases of anthrax were reported, while over 180 people died. At that time, only about 7 000 cases were recorded world wide annually. The worst affected areas were the southern parts of the country, and these are still prone to anthrax to this day. The Zimbabwe authorities have since established that Ian Smith’s security forces, particularly the much feared Selous Scouts, stealthily distributed the deadly anthrax spore among the hungry cattle of the Rhodesian Tribal Trust Lands, where most Africans lived, and seeded cholera into the rivers. Thirteen years after Zimbabwe’s independence, a former senior white member of the Rhodesian Security forces admitted the use of anthrax in the war by the military. “It is true that anthrax was used in an experimental role and the idea came from the Army Psychological Operations,” he said. The strategy was to blame the guerillas for cattle deaths and win a psychological victory, while also depriving them of food. The spreading of cholera epidemics among the villages was also meant to destabilise the guerillas and their infrastructure."

39 Russian soldiers killed in Chechnya clashes  8/1/02 The News, Pakistan: "Chechen rebels claimed Wednesday to have killed 39 Russian soldiers in the last few days in intensive clashes in the south of the breakaway republic, the Echo of Moscow radio station reported, quoting a Chechen separatist web site. However, the Russian military only acknowledged the deaths of seven Russian border guards. Chechen rebels also said they had wounded more than 50 Russian servicemen, Echo of Moscow added."

PDVSA privatization priority for coup conspirators  8/1/02 Trinicenter, Trinidad: "The privatization of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) was a top priority for April 11 coup d'etat conspirators. According to some analysts, the Bush II Clan and Spain’s Repsol oil co would have been the main beneficiaries and PDVSA’s US subsidiary Citgo would have gone to media mogul Gustavo Cisneros and US partners."

Wednesday 7/31/02

Patriotism vs. protest  7/31/02 Christian Science Monitor: "I'm just an American boy raised on MTV/ and I've seen all those kids in the soda pop ads/ but none of 'em looked like me," and ends: "Now they're dragging me back/ with my head in a sack/ to the land of infidel."

Military imposes limits on wireless devices - Fear of hackers or spies prompts latest security move  7/31/02 CNN: "The Defense Department, concerned that hackers or spies might eavesdrop on classified meetings or secretly track the locations of top United States officials, is imposing new limits on its' workers use of the latest generation of wireless devices inside military buildings. The new rules will outline new restrictions on civilian and military employees carrying cellular telephones, pagers and handheld computers while working, even devices that employees bought themselves and carry for their personal convenience at work, said John P. Stenbit, the assistant defense secretary for command, control, communications and intelligence."

America forced me out, says Robinson  7/31/02 Guardian: "The UN's outgoing human rights commissioner, Mary Robinson, says she was prevented from continuing in the job because of pressure from the US, which she has accused of neglecting human rights during the war against terrorism. "I am not somebody just to walk away," Ms Robinson said. "If I had been hard-pressed, I would have stayed, [but] there seems to have been strong resistance from just one country." Her remarks came a week after the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, announced her replacement, a veteran Brazilian diplomat described yesterday as "somebody who doesn't run afoul of the big powers". Ms Robinson, 57, a former Irish president and only the second person to hold the post of high commissioner for human rights, has been a vocal critic of the US since September 11 - not least over Washington's decision against granting prisoner of war status to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba."

Experts Warn of High Risk for American Invasion of Iraq  7/31/02 NYT: "Morton H. Halperin, a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, echoed concerns in Europe and the Middle East that the United States should use its influence to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict before attacking Iraq. "Especially if there is no progress on the Palestinian issue, it is likely that an American military conquest of Iraq will lead many more people in the Arab and Muslim world to choose the path of terror," he said."

Taking the Side of The Coca Farmer  7/31/02 Time Magazine: "To understand why Evo Morales has come within a llama's hair of being President of Bolivia — and why his formidable political power is giving U.S. officials fits — pay attention when he and his top advisers open their mouths. That is, see what they're chewing: coca leaves, treasured by Andean Indians like Morales as a sacred tonic and as their most lucrative cash crop but better known to Americans as the raw material of cocaine."

Tuesday 7/30/02

IS COLOMBIA THE NEXT VIETNAM?  7/30/02 ANNCOL: "Our treasury also supported drug traffickers. The Central Intelligence Agency trained, equipped and financed the opium empires of the Golden Triangle, the narcotics-financed Chinese Nationalists, the Corsican Mafia, the Sicilian Mafia, the U.S. Mafia, Afghani-Pakistani heroin traders, the drug kings of the bloodthirsty Guatemalan G-2, key members of Mexico's Guadalajara Cartel, the cocaine-financed Contras of Nicaragua, drug traffickers with the Peruvian National Intelligence Service (SIN), the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army--a Balkan criminal network responsible for over 20 percent of Europe's heroin imports--and the Cali drug cartel in Colombia."

U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE IN COLOMBIA  7/30/02 ANNCOL: "As they did in Vietnam 40 years ago the United States is subtly increasing its military intervention in Colombia. Here Alfredo Castro looks at what is known about current US military presence in the Latin American nation."

Like Hugh Rodham, the Bush Bros. Have Capitalized on Family Ties O, Brother! Where Art Thou?  7/30/02 Austin Chronicle: from 3/16/01 - "Unless you've been reading the Houston Chronicle society page, it's unlikely you've seen any current news about Neil Bush. The third Bush sibling has been almost as invisible as his apolitical brother Marvin, a venture capitalist living in northern Virginia, and his sister Dorothy "Doro" Koch, the youngest of the five Bush siblings, who quietly raises funds for charities in a Maryland suburb near Washington. While Jeb was governor of Florida and George W. was twice elected governor of Texas, Neil was either part of the late Maxine Mesinger's "crème de la crème crowd" at a Houston social event, or a stale S&L footnote: "the director of Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan when it crashed in 1988 at a cost of $1 billion to taxpayers." In 1990, Bush paid a $50,000 fine and was banned from banking activities for his role in taking down Silverado, which actually cost taxpayers $1.3 billion. A Resolution Trust Corporation Suit against Bush and other officers of Silverado was settled in 1991 for $26.5 million. And the fine wasn't exactly paid by Neil Bush. A Republican fundraiser set up a fund to help defer costs Neil incurred in his S&L dealings. Friends and relatives contributed -- but not then-President and Barbara Bush, which would have been unseemly. Since then, the Bush political combine has done such a remarkable job keeping Neil in the background that what seemed like a 10-year news blackout didn't end until mid-February, when the Austin Business Journal reported that Bush "quietly is heading a local start-up that's raising at least $10 million in second-round funding." According to the business newsweekly, Bush has already raised $7.1 million from 53 investors underwriting Ignite! Inc., an educational software company. After being banned from banking and all but airbrushed out of the family portrait -- or at least the family news profile -- Neil Bush is back."

FLORIDA DEMOCRATS TO JEB BUSH: IF YOU HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE, PROVE IT; RELEASE ALL RECORDS ON THE NIGERIAN WATER PUMP DEAL  7/30/02 Florida Democratic Party: "When it comes to the deal, Jeb Bush can’t get his story straight. Jeb Bush has said he wasn’t involved in the deal but, he traveled to Nigeria, attended a 1,300 horse parade thrown in his honor and met with the president where the water pump company was the chief topic of discussion," Poe said. "It’s time for Jeb Bush to end the doublespeak. If Jeb Bush has nothing to hide, then he should prove it by releasing all his records and answering all the questions surrounding his role with Bush-El and the Nigerian water pump deal."

Jeb Bush followed the family game plan: Earn your fortune, then run for public office. A vast network of deals made it possible.  7/30/02 St Petersbrg Times: first published 9/20/98 - "The 45-year-old Republican nominee for governor has hawked luxury condos in South Florida, sold industrial sites for IBM, made bank loans in Venezuela and marketed giant water pumps in Nigeria. He has even tried to sell imported shoes to Wal-Mart."

Some say probe tests ties to GOP backer  7/30/02 St Petersburg Times: "But now politicians might find friendships with Eller a tad awkward. The family-owned pump business that Eller turned into a multimillion-dollar, international company, MWI Corp., is under investigation by the FBI because of taxpayer-backed water pump deals in Nigeria. Suddenly, a controversial business venture that Jeb Bush appeared to have put behind him in the 1998 governor's race is back in the news. Just as the FBI investigation came to light late last month, presidential candidate George W. Bush and his brother Jeb were mixing and raising money with prominent Republicans throughout South Florida. Eller, a former Republican state committeeman and longtime friend of the Bush family, was not included among the listed hosts for the $1,000-a-plate Bush fundraiser in Fort Lauderdale, though Eller's 27-year-old son was."

US wins licence to open second front in terror war  7/30/02 Times, UK: "Regional officials have agreed a landmark declaration of co-operation with the US that will give the Americans, which has 100,000 troops in the region, far greater latitude to operate against terrorists in their countries. It will be signed by Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, who meets Foreign Ministers from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) in Brunei tomorrow. Washington has become increasingly concerned about the terrorist agenda of groups based in South-East Asia and radical Islamists operating in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore have been identified as al-Qaeda allies." Global war, forever.

Monday 7/29/02

The Florida pipeline: Bush brothers using pork to plunder votes 7/29/02 Daytona Beach News Journal: "The pipeline is finally getting the kind of attention it deserves. In the current issue of The New Republic, Ryan Lizza, the magazine's White House correspondent, documents the sloshing in detail ("He Ain't Heavy," available online at www.tnr.com). He concludes, on one hand, that "no federal grant, no business loan, no tinkering with federal policy that might give Jeb a political leg up is too small to merit White House attention." And on the other, that W.'s cabinet might as well have a branch office in the Sunshine State, considering the frequency of its members' visits here 37 so far usually to be at Jeb's side for one triumphal announcement or another. The president has been here 10 times, visiting only one other state Pennsylvania, also a swing state more often. Where cabinet secretaries go, money and favors follow. Jeb has been able to claim a huge NASA maintenance program for the shuttle (taken away from California, a state in disfavor with W. for being stubbornly Democratic), a federal literacy grant worth $45.6 million to pay for "Just Read, Florida!" (the grant's generosity discourages reading between the lines), more Small Business Administration loans tied to the federal government's Sept. 11 recovery money than California, Texas and New York combined (Lower Manhattan had a separate SBA pot), and more than a fifth of the Transportation Department's port-security money, even though, as Lizza notes, "not one of the nation's 15 busiest ports is in Florida."

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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World News 7/29/02 - 8/4/02

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World News
7/29/02 - 8/4/02