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World News
9/23/02 - 9/29/02
Sunday 9/29/02
Pro - Israel Web Site Causes Furor 9/29/02 AP: "A pro-Israel organization has set up a Web site to monitor professors and universities for pro-Arab, anti-Israel bias -- a move some academics are decrying as campus McCarthyism and attempted intimidation.
The Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum said it organized the Campus Watch site to counter pervasive bias in universities' Middle Eastern studies."
Thousands march on Cheney's house to protest a war with Iraq 9/29/02 AP
Gun battle outside British embassy 9/29/02 BBC
Turkish uranium suspects released 9/29/02 CNN: "Turkish authorities Sunday released two men accused of attempting to smuggle a quantity of uranium, saying the amount in their possession was only a fraction of what officials originally estimated."
Pak nukes in US custody? 9/29/02 Hindustan Times: "A Harvard University paper has put forth the engaging hypothesis that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is under the "custodial control" of the US."
'This war is wrong and we won't stand for it' 9/29/02 Independent, UK: "Eye witness: Up to 350,000 people marched in London yesterday against military action in Iraq. And they were not the 'usual suspects'"
US draws up plans for Saddam's exile 9/29/02 Independent, UK: "The United States and a number of Arab countries have drawn up plans for the exile of Saddam Hussein to a neutral country to avoid an invasion that could lead to massive number of civilian deaths.
Planners in the Near East division of the US State Department have looked at various scenarios under which the Iraqi president would cede power to a democratic government and then leave the country. President Saddam has angrily dismissed such suggestions – made to him by third parties."
Wake Up And Smell The Occupation 9/29/02 Media Monitors: "Only last week the price of flour in Israel rose 6 percent and gas 14 percent. Flagship Israeli companies are reporting cuts in their workforce by the thousands. One high-tech firm just cut twenty-five percent of its workforce in one day. Rochard Fox, senior director of sovereign ratings, from the international ratings agency, Fitch, told Reuters this week, "There's a greater than 50% chance the [Israel’s] rating will go down based on current trends." Israel’s other credit rating has taken a pounding lately as the Israeli currency, the New Israeli Shekel (NIS), declined against the US dollar after Standard and Poor’s lowered its rating for two of Israel’s top banks to BBB+ from their previous A- rating.
Additionally, this week the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that Israel faces negative growth and rising unemployment, which the IMF said would hit 10.7 percent this year and 10.9 percent next year. The IMF report predicted that Israel's gross domestic product would contract by 1.5 percent this year. The IMF also forecasts for Israel an inflation rate of 6.2 percent this year and 3.0 percent in 2003. Combined with the bleak global economic scene and the growing strains of continuing its three-decade old occupation, these numbers should be ringing many bells within Israel."
A Case Not Closed 9/29/02 New Yorker: "The confrontation between the United States and Iraq has revived interest in a decade-old charge—that Saddam Hussein ordered the assassination of President George H. W. Bush. This alleged plot has been cited in recent days by the current President Bush as one of the U.S.'s grievances against Hussein. In this article, from 1993, Seymour M. Hersh investigates the assassination story."
Blood bank accused of fraud 9/29/02 Palm Beach Post: more news from the Banana Republic of Florida - "Two former employees have sued South Florida Blood Banks Inc., alleging it discriminates against black donors and employees and that its highly publicized "Children's World Blood Bank," launched at a swanky Palm Beach fund-raiser in March, is a fraud.
The Children's World Blood Bank, promoted as a way of saving the lives of more than 10,000 children a year in poor countries, is merely a ploy -- a "little Johnny" -- to lure donors and big-money contributors, according to the suits filed Thursday in Miami-Dade County Circuit Court.
David Louis, a Haitian-American, and Duncan Anches, an African-American, former SFBB area managers for blood collection in Miami-Dade County, also have filed complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Florida Human Rights Commission."
Bomb uranium is seized near to Iraq border 9/29/02 Scotsman: "TURKISH police have seized more than 30lbs of suspected weapons-grade uranium - enough for two Hiroshima-sized bombs - just 150 miles from the border with Iraq.
An investigation has been launched to discover whether the uranium was destined for Saddam Hussein’s regime and his weapons of mass destruction programme."
Oil firms wait as Iraq crisis unfolds 9/29/02 SF Chronicle: "While debate intensifies about the Bush administration's policy, oil analysts and Iraqi exile leaders believe a new, pro-Western government -- assuming it were to replace Saddam Hussein's regime -- would prompt U.S. and multinational petroleum giants to rush into Iraq, dramatically increasing the output of a nation whose oil reserves are second only to that of Saudi Arabia.
"There already is a stampede, with the Russians, French and Italians already lined up," said Lawrence Goldstein, president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation, a New York think tank funded by large oil companies."
Moscow unconvinced on US Iraq stance as anti-war protests span the globe 9/29/02 Yahoo
Saturday 9/28/02
 Doubts set in on Afghan mission 9/28/02 BBC: "In the months since I'd first been there, stories had begun circulating that the US operation in Afghanistan was descending into farce.
They had come to hunt down Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda gang. But months of combing the mountains had turned up little.
Mistakes had begun to be made - some of them bad ones."
U.S. Dominators Must Be Stopped 9/28/02 Black World Today: by Carl Dix - "Sisters and brothers, the U.S. government is feeding us a pack of lies about what it's doing to the people of the world. We're told these people are our enemies and we should fear them. We're told that we should back any moves the U.S. makes to gun them down and seize their countries. As a Black GI, I heard the same lies during the Vietnam War. I refused to murder Vietnamese for them, and they sent me to Leavenworth military prison for 2 years. We can't be intimidated or pressured to line up behind their war moves and wave their flag. It's time to say "hell no, we won't support your war without end!"
Democrats Take the Lead in Midterms 9/28/02 Newsweek: "IF THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS for U.S. Congress were held today, more registered voters say they would vote for the Democratic candidate (47 percent) than the Republican candidate (40 percent) in their district. Thirteen percent say the would vote for another party’s candidate or are undecided. That’s a turnabout from the NEWSWEEK poll taken just after President George W. Bush’s Sept. 12 speech on Iraq to the United Nations, when 43 percent said they would vote for the GOP candidate, vs. 41 percent fot he Democrat."
Bear Market Longest in 60 Years 9/28/02 Reuters: "It's not fundamentals causing this, but an overdose of uncertainty with" the Iraq situation, said Anthony Chan, chief economist at Banc One Advisors which oversees $150 billion in assets.
With the Bush White House reviewing military options against Iraq, investors are on tenterhooks as to the timing of any action against the regime of Saddam Hussein. Any war could be costly and derail the U.S. economic recovery as oil prices rise and resources are diverted toward defeating Iraq."
Professors want own names put on Mideast blacklist
They hope to make it powerless 9/28/02 San Francisco Chronicle: "In an effort to counter what they label as a McCarthyesque hunt by a pro-Israel think tank, about 100 professors from across the country have asked to be added to a "Campus Watch" Web site that singled out eight professors because of their views on Palestine and Islam."
Friday 9/27/02
Afghan opium production soaring again 9/27/02 AFP: "DrugScope says poppy cultivation, banned by the ousted government, has leapt from about 185 tonnes a year to up to 2,700 tonnes, and is approaching pre-Taleban levels of over 4,000 tonnes." Now we know why the US got rid of the Taliban!
KEY HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST MURDERED IN COLOMBIA 9/27/02 ANNCOL: "In a clandestine military operation Colombian soldiers have assassinated the main human rights defender in the Alto Ariari region. The killing means that crucial information on army death squad operations in the area will become extremely difficult to document and publicise… According to a local human rights investigation all four killers came from the 7th Brigade of the Colombian army and the motive for the assassination was his work documenting the abuses perpetrated by troops attached to that unit. Indeed, since the start of this year, Oswal had dug up more and more evidence that soldiers of the 21st ‘Vargas’ Battalion of the 7th Brigade were behind the continuing violations of human rights in El Castillo municipality."
Poll: Support for Iraq Action Drops 9/27/02 AP: "Would you favor or oppose taking military action in Iraq to end Saddam Hussein's rule?
Overall — 64 percent favor, but that drops to 33 percent if the United States must act without allies."
New Role for U.S. in Colombia: Protecting a Vital Oil Pipeline 9/27/02 NYT: "The 500-mile pipeline, which snakes through eastern Colombia, transporting 100,000 barrels of oil a day for Occidental Petroleum of Los Angeles, is emerging as a new front in the terror war. One of Colombia's most valuable assets, the pipeline has long been vulnerable to bombings by Colombia's guerrilla groups, which along with the country's paramilitary outfits are included on the Bush administration's list of terrorist organizations."
Ten die as helicopter shot down near Chechnya 9/27/02 Sydney Morning Herald: "A Russian military helicopter was shot down yesterday in the Russian republic of Ingushetia bordering Chechnya during a fierce firefight with rebels.
The two airmen were killed and 10 servicemen died and 15 were wounded in the battle in the region of Galashki over the past 24 hours, the Russian military said." - As in Aghanistan.
US to have military superiority because it is 'very special' 9/27/02 The News, Pakistan: Declaration of Empire from Condi - "The United States is a very special country in that when we maintain this position of military strength that we have now, we do it in support of a balance of power that favors freedom," said national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, appearing on PBS's "The HewsHour with Jim Lehrer" program.
She made the comment as she defended a new United States national security strategy that was unveiled last Friday and that lays the foundation for preemptive military strikes. The strategy also declares that Washington will not allow any other country to attain military superiority or even parity with the United States."
The peace movement lives 9/27/02 Working for Change: "The only reason -- the only reason -- that Congressional Democrats this week started speaking out, in more than their previously token numbers, against an invasion is because they have been deluged with phone calls, faxes, and e-mails expressing the public's opposition. Polls show widespread doubt; Congressional office intake valves, a measure of the people passionate enough to contact their public officials, has been running more than 90% against invasion. And volume has been high."
Thursday 9/26/02
COMBAT AND ASSASSINATIONS IN MEDELLIN 9/26/02 ANNCOL: "Fighting is continuing in the Colombian city of Medellin between government forces and urban militias of the FARC and ELN guerrilla groups. In the conflict-ridden Comuna 13 neighbourhood paramilitary gunmen have assassinated a religious leader whilst rebel fighters have killed two soldiers and two paramilitaries."
Massive post-war rise in production of Afghan opium 9/26/02 Independent, UK: "Britain is expected to be hit by a flood of heroin after a gigantic increase in the production of opium in Afghanistan, the United Nations will warn today. A UN survey estimates the farmers will grow 2,700 tons of opium this year compared with 185 tons in 2001, a 1,400 per cent jump."
Water war looms as Israel tells Lebanon to halt river works 9/26/02 Independent, UK: by Robert Fisk
'Suitcase Nukes' Pack Little Risk 9/26/02 LA Times: "In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, another look at the threat posed by suitcase nukes is particularly urgent.
The Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies undertook such a study. It used its database (available to the public through the Nuclear Threat Initiative at www.nti.org), carried out additional information searches and conducted interviews. The results represent perhaps the first encouraging news in this area in the last year."
We're Number One! 9/26/02 Miami New Times: the largest city of the Banana Republic of Florida is the poorest city in the USA.
AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY OPPOSING A U.S. INVASION OF IRAQ 9/26/02 NoIraqAttack.org
Wednesday 9/25/02
Donations To Israeli Military Are Tax-Deductible! 9/25/02 AntiWar.com: "In many cases, Americans can be prosecuted for giving money to foreign armies. As we have been told in the case of John Walker Lindh, Americans can give up their citizenship rights by joining a foreign army.
But as with many things, there is an exception: Israel.
Not only is it allowed to give money to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), it is actually a tax-deductible contribution under US tax laws." That they may better take us to Armageddon?
US 'evidence' of Iraq's link with al-Qaeda 9/25/02 Financial Times, UK: "Nato diplomats said support came from among others, Britain, Spain, Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic during a dinner on Tuesday evening devoted to Iraq.
Federico Trillo, Spain's defence minister, said the evidence "was impressive and interesting". Madrid was willing to stand behind the Bush administration.
Jerzy Szmajdzinski, Poland's defence minister, also gave political and military support to any US-led attack on Iraq. But Peter Struck, Germany's defence minister, said there was nothing new in the CIA report, adding he had no information of links between al-Qaeda and Iraq. Michele Alliot-Marie, French defence minister, warned the US that striking Iraq could spark a war between the west and the Arab world."
Al Qaeda Suspects Freed on Bail in Spain 9/25/02 Fox News: "Two Al Qaeda suspects who allegedly shot video of U.S. landmarks and passed the tapes along to leaders preparing for the Sept. 11 attacks have been freed on bail, officials said Wednesday… El Mundo newspaper reported that the investigative judge set bail because he had been unable to prove the videos or copies had been seen by Al Qaeda's leaders."
Ramallah Diary / Defying the curfew to demonstrate over the attack on Muqata 9/25/02 Haaretz: "Suddenly, at about 11 P.M. on Saturday night, people started calling one another to ask with disbelief if it was true there was demonstrating in the streets. "Is it true what Al Jazeera is reporting - that dozens of young people are demonstrating in support of the besieged Yasser Arafat? Could the tear gas suddenly filling the room and burning the eyes with suffocating tears, and the gunshots drawing closer, all be aimed at dispersing such demonstrations?"
Sharon's real purpose is to create foreigners 9/25/02 IHT: "In fact, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has resorted to measures that undercut Palestinians who seek to abandon violence and resume a political dialogue. Not so long ago, Sharon demanded seven days of quiet before returning to a political process. Six weeks of Palestinian quiet - a period also marked by an unprecedented Palestinian debate about the immorality and political bankruptcy of Palestinian terrorism - elicited not a single Israeli move away from its reliance on overwhelming military suppression.
.
The brutal curfews and closings remained unchanged. Indeed, during this period the Isreali Defense Forces killed 75 Palestinians, most of them civilians, including children. Even more tellingly, Sharon chose this particular moment to announce his designation of Effie Eitam, the most outspoken advocate of the expulsion of Palestinians from the West Bank, to take charge of Israel's settlements program."
African Venezuelans fear new U.S. coup against President Chavez 9/25/02 SF Bay View: "Another topic on their minds and hearts is the fate of President Hugo Chavez. He is Venezuela’s first multiracial president and is called “Negro” (nigger) by his detractors because of his African-Indigenous features. Behind the enemies of Venezuela and Hugo Chavez are very large sums of money being spent to destroy the dreams of the people who historically have been discriminated against because of race, economic ideas, etc."
Yamani: oil may hit $100 a barrel 9/25/02 Telegraph, UK: "Sheikh Yamani, the former head of Opec who terrorised the West with threats over oil supplies in the 1970s, returned to the fray yesterday when he warned that the price of crude could triple to $100 a barrel if there is a war against Iraq.
His comments contributed to another torrid day on financial markets, where shares tumbled. The FTSE 100 index closed down 68.3 at 3,671.1, a level unseen since December 1995."
My Not-So-Secret Life as an FBI Informant - I Spy 9/25/02 Village Voice: "He also was adamant that the information he had shared with me on that July morning [about the impending 9-11 strike] was simply common knowledge in the Arab world—and no one in the U.S. government has disproved that."
Tuesday 9/24/02
U.S. Soldier Wounded in Afghan Blast 9/24/02 ABC News: "A U.S. soldier received shrapnel wounds in what appeared to be an accidental bomb blast near an American base in eastern Afghanistan today, a military spokesman said." It's always accidental…
America's Saddam? 9/24/02 Counterpunch: "Congressman Bob Barr, R-Ga., has a coroner's photograph taken of one of the Davidian victims entitled "Doe #57." It is of a little girl around 5 or 6 years old, her charred body burned beyond recognition and twisted in the ghastly rictus contortion typical of subjection to hydrogen cyanide.
There are few more monstrous crimes against humanity than torturing children to death in screaming pain, poison-gassing them to death on purpose. That the perpetrator of this crime wasn't tried and executed for mass homicide, but was instead lionized by the media, served out her term of office, and came close to being elected as the Democrat nominee for the governor of Florida says something very dark about human nature."
Will Germany shift Iraq stance? 9/24/02 CS Monitor: "Mr. Voigt says the Americans are not really interested in having German troops fight in Iraq – and that the role of German troops in Iraq was largely a German election debate.
"What they are interested in is that we step up our involvement in Afghanistan, that we are more committed in Bosnia, where the Americans cannot be as involved," says Voigt."
Spying in Iraq: From Fact to Allegation 9/24/02 FAIR: "By the spring of 1999, the UNSCOM spying reported by the papers was accepted as fact by other outlets, and even defended; "Experts say it is naive to believe that the United States and other governments would not have used the opportunity presented by the U.N. commission to spy on a country that provoked the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and that has continued to tangle with U.S. and British forces," USA Today reported (3/3/99).
But now that the Bush administration has placed the inspectors at the center of its rationale for going to war, these same papers have become noticeably queasy about recalling UNSCOM's past spying." The US press once again gives the impression of being the product of some totalitarian regime.
Rumsfeld asks Nato to develop 'rogue state' strike force 9/24/02 Independent, UK: "The United States will outline plans today to transform Nato from a defensive military pact into an alliance with a 20,000-strong rapid reaction force able to tackle rogue states and terrorist threats.
The proposal, to be unveiled at a meeting in Warsaw, could be the last chance for the 19-nation alliance to rescue itself from irrelevance in the aftermath of 11 September."
US plans smallpox jab for all civilians 9/24/02 Independent, UK: "The US government has drawn up plans to vaccinate almost the entire population against smallpox if the country is attacked with a rogue laboratory sample of the virus.
As part of a flurry of contingency plans in the event of chemical or biological attack, the Department of Health and Human Services yesterday sent out a 100-page manual explaining how states and local health authorities should set about inoculating 280 million Americans within a week of a smallpox outbreak." And good luck to you!
According To Plan -- But Whose Plan ? 9/24/02 Intervention Magazine: by Stephen Morgan, author of The Mind of a Terrorist Fundamentalist, is a former executive member of the British Labour Party National Executive Committee and today is a political and management consultant based in Brussels, Belgium. - "In other words, events today are going roughly as al Qaeda and the Taliban planned. They decided to accept and incur inevitable and calculated "battle losses" and retreat in order to protect their international terrorist structure and operative capacity rather than lose cadres to bombing and worthless combat. Al Qaeda and the Taliban are experts of guerrilla and terrorist activities, they will not waste their efforts on engaging forces in conventional warfare. Bin Laden was smart enough to know that his camps and base in Afghanistan could never be a permanent stronghold. The camps were there purely to serve the purpose of creating and training an international terror network and nothing else. Sooner or later, he knew that once he put his plans into action, U.S. retaliation would be devastating."
Don't Attack Iraq - Massive Anti-War protest in London on 9/28 9/24/02 Stop the War
Doubts About Buffalo 9/24/02 Time: "But there are questions about the strength of the government's case. When the six suspects were hauled into federal court last week, the prosecution's request that bail be denied was met with considerable skepticism. "I haven't heard of any act of violence or propensity of violence in the history of these individuals," said U.S. Magistrate H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. In fact, the 1996 antiterrorism statute being used to prosecute the suspects can be an unwieldy sword. The law, enacted in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing, prohibits providing "material support" to terrorist groups. But some acts, such as providing "safe houses," are expressly forbidden, while giving "medicine" is specifically allowed. Is visiting a training camp illegal in itself? What's more, defense lawyers said a rifle cited as evidence was owned by a suspect's father, and an audiocassette tape extolling jihad was about the Afghan mujahedin's fight against the Soviets. Like much of the legal chapter in the war on terrorism, this case will not be easy." OK.
Bush opted for UN speech after exercises showed U.S. not ready 9/24/02 World Tribune
Monday 9/23/02
Hip Hoppers and Black Panthers in the Holy Land 9/23/02 Africana.com
Rumsfeld says German elections had effect of `poisoning' relations with Washington 9/23/02 AP: "Rumsfeld apparently was referring to comments published Saturday in The Financial Times newspaper by Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser. She was quoted as saying that the alleged comment by Germany's minister of justice comparing Bush to Adolf Hitler had created a ''poisoned'' atmosphere."
Caribbean: Talk Radio Accused Of Reinforcing Racial Divide 9/23/02 Black World Today: "The situation has become a greater concern now that Trinidad and Tobago is into a campaign for a third general election in as many years.
The 1.3 million inhabitants of this oil rich Caribbean country are almost equally divided between two major races, which is reflected in the leading political parties.
The ruling Peoples National Movement (PNM) draws its support mainly from the Afro-Trinidadian communities while the main opposition United National Congress (UNC) is rooted within the Indo-Trinidadian community."
Goodbye To All That 9/23/02 Black World Today: By Rep. Cynthia McKinney
Power Struggle Behind Cote D'Ivoire's Army Mutiny 9/23/02 Black World Today
The Vanishing Congressional Black Caucus 9/23/02 Black World Today: "The Caucus's public vanishing act began in 1994 when the Republicans assumed near total domination of the House. They slashed congressional funds for Caucus functions, abolished the Post Office and Civil Service, and the District of Columbia Committees, which had sizable number of black members, reduced the size of all standing committees.
This cost blacks seats on several important policy making committees, and eliminated committee staff jobs, many of which were held by blacks. Since then, the Caucus has been totally ineffectual in stopping Congress from lopping off billions in funds for social programs."
Another Oil War 9/23/02 Counterpunch: by Rep. Cynthia McKinney
The Murder of Arafat 9/23/02 Counterpunch: "The murder of Arafat is the murder of all chances for peace.
That is a crime against the Israeli people. It will condemn us to making war for decades, perhaps for generations to come, perhaps forever. The moral, social and economic decline that we are experiencing now everywhere in Israel will drag Israel down to new depths and to the emigration of many."
The Vigilante Thought Police 9/23/02 Counterpunch: "A Philadelphia-based pro-Israeli organization with the seemingly innocuous name, the Middle East Forum, began a website to monitor US college campuses for academic pro-Palestinian bias and happenings. Campus-Watch (http://www.campus-watch.org) publishes dossiers on professors, as well as some examples of their writings."
Web Warfare Comes to America 9/23/02 Counterpunch: "A new front in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been opened in the United States. This has not been done by Islamic fundamentalists, or radical Palestinians. It has been done by American and Israeli computer hackers. Action on this new front has taken the form of identity theft, harassment, incitement to harassment, defamation of character, and malicious misrepresentation through the misuse and misappropriation of computer e-mail facilities and lists."
Web surfers can follow U.S. buildup 9/23/02 IHT: "With all the speculation about American intentions for Iraq, there has been one place where, to the chagrin of the administration, people can find a few hard facts. Since August, any Web surfer has been able to view detailed satellite photographs of construction at an American air base in the Gulf state of Qatar.
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Published by Globalsecurity.org, a military watchdog group, and taken over the last six months, the photographs show that the base, Al Udeid, has new aircraft shelters, storage tanks and parking ramps. The close-ups have clearly irked the Pentagon."
The word from the CIA: it's the oil, stupid 9/23/02 The Age: "Who should be more worried, asks Kenneth Davidson, Saddam; or the French and Russian oil companies presently in Iraq?"
World
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"There is one safeguard known generally to
the wise, which is an advantage and security to all, but especially to
Democracies as against despots: suspicion." -- Demosthenes
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