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World News
11/25/02 - 12/1/02
Saturday 11/30/02
Attacks against US-led coalition forces intensify in Afghanistan 11/30/02 AFP: "Saturday's attack brings the number of missiles targeting coalition bases in November to 57, markedly higher than previous months. Few missiles have hit their target.
A US military spokesman offered no explanation for the increase in attacks blamed on al-Qaeda and Taliban forces, possibly allied to former Afghan prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who are believed to be operating in the border region." This follows the pattern of the previous Afghan - Soviet conflict, where it took the Afghans a year to get into the full swing of a guerrilla war.
Venezuelan dissident generals sacked 11/30/02 BBC: "Fifteen senior military officers have been discharged after calling for civic disobedience against Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez.
The seven generals and eight colonels have been demanding the president resign and want general elections to be held to find a replacement.
The officers are part of a group of more than 100 dissidents who have been occupying a square in the capital, Caracas, for more than a month." One of their members recently revealed they had been storing arms there.
PM rejects Jordan's request to rule out `transfer' in Iraq war 11/30/02 Haaretz: "Recently, Jordanian officials have displayed concern about the possibility that Israel might exploit an American attack on Iraq by expelling masses of Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan. Senior Jordanian officials have raised this concern in talks with Israeli and American counterparts. The Jordanians asked for assurances that Israel will refrain from implementing transfer policies."
Row flares between Israel and U.N. 11/30/02 Reuters: "U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan wrote to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon over the killing, saying he "expected Israel to
carry out a rigorous investigation of the incident, share its results with the United Nations and hold accountable those responsible",
a U.N. spokesman said on Friday."
Sharon's warning: all out vengeance 11/30/02 The News, Australia: "ISRAEL signalled last night its most concerted campaign against overseas terrorism since the 1972 Black September massacre, as the death toll from the Kenyan suicide bombing rose to 16 and it emerged that the bombers may have been travelling on US passports.
The bombing has dragged Israel into the heart of the war on terror and complicates George W. Bush's plans for a war against Iraq, as the US President needs at least the quiescence of the Arab world, something Israeli aggression overseas would shatter."
Conservatives Dispute Bush Portrayal of Islam as Peaceful 11/30/02 Washington Post: "But a large number of foreign policy hawks -- some of them with advisory roles in the Bush administration -- have joined religious conservatives in taking issue with Bush's characterizations. While most of them understand the political rationale for Bush's statements -- there's no benefit in antagonizing Muslim allies such as Pakistan and Indonesia -- they say the claim is dishonest and destined to fail.
For Bush and for the country, the outcome of the argument is crucial. The administration, and moderate governments in Arab and Muslim nations, are struggling to prevent the war on terrorism from becoming what Osama bin Laden wants: a war of civilization between the Judeo-Christian West and a resentful and impoverished Muslim world.
Calling Islam a peaceful religion "is an increasingly hard argument to make," said Kenneth Adelman, a former Reagan official who serves on the Bush Pentagon's Defense Policy Board. "The more you examine the religion, the more militaristic it seems. After all, its founder, Mohammed, was a warrior, not a peace advocate like Jesus." - and the Christians never, ever engaged in war...
War-Wary Saudis Move to Increase Oil Market Clout 11/30/02 Washington Post: "Saudi Arabia has reclaimed its position as the number one foreign supplier of crude oil to the United States in recent months and offered to further increase sales in December, the Energy Department reported. To keep competitors from taking away customers, the Saudis have boosted production by an estimated 1 million barrels a day above the quota set by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, according to a New York industry analyst.
At the same time, the Saudi government has amassed a foreign exchange war chest in the range of $90 billion to $100 billion, enabling its economy to weather a prolonged period of low oil prices if Iraq's production surges should Iraqi President Saddam Hussein be ousted in a U.S.-led military campaign."
Thursday 11/28/02
 Germany Gives U.S. Overflight Rights 11/28/02 AP: "Germany will grant U.S. military forces unrestricted overflights and use of their bases in Germany in case of a war against Iraq, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder announced Wednesday, part of his efforts to patch up a bitter split with President Bush."
An Atomic Explosion Coming Soon
to your City 11/28/02 Aztlan: "Al-Usuquf says that al-Qaeda could do the same by "provoking a deficit of $50 to 70 trillion, the equivalent to five to seven years of the GNP of the US". How? By "destroying America's seven largest cities and some other measures". The means? "Atomic bombs." Al-Usuquf's most startling revelation is that the bombs "won't be launched, they are already there". "Seven nuclear heads have already been positioned on American soil, before September 11, and they are ready to be detonated. Before September 11, American security was a fiasco, and even later, if we needed, we could position the bombs there. They arrived through seaports, as normal cargo. A nuclear head is not bigger than a fridge, so it can easily be camouflaged as one. Thousands of containers arrive at a seaport every day, and even with very efficient security, it's impossible to check and examine each one of them."
Gunmen strike during Likud polls 11/28/02 BBC: "At least six people are reported to have been killed in a running gun battle in the northern Israeli town of Beit Shean… At least 20 people were wounded in the fighting in Beit Shean which is close to the West Bank towns of Jenin and Nablus and one gunman is believed to be surrounded in a building at the scene."
11 killed, scores injured in Mombasa suicide bomb attack 11/28/02 East African Standard: "Three suicide bombers this morning drove an explosives-laden Pajero into a Mombasa hotel, killing 11 people and injuring at least 50 others. The trio drove into the lobby of the Israeli-owned Mombasa Paradise Hotel in Kikambala at 8.00 o'clock or shortly thereafter. The terrorists struck at the hotel minutes after three missiles were fired at a plane carrying 261 Israel-bound tourists as it took off from Mombasa's Moi International Airport. The missiles however missed the target, an Israeli Arkia airliner… The hotel caught fire and was burnt to the ground. Ten people had by the time of going to press been confirmed dead. They included seven Africans and one white."
Saudis react with fury to American accusations of funding al-Qaida 11/28/02 Guardian: "Who does it [Washington] think it is to administer such a slap in the face or make such imperious demands?" the paper asked. "Are we Iraq? Are we the Afghanistan of the Taliban? We are a close ally of the US."
Other Saudi papers joined the fray. In language that could not have been used without official blessing, al-Watan accused the US of trying to blackmail the kingdom.
A report in the Washington Post on Tuesday, citing an unnamed American official, said the US would ask the Saudis to act on intelligence about terrorist financing - with the threat of an ultimatum if they failed to do so.
"We tell them the problem and leave it to them to solve, presuming they will act in good faith. But if they do not act in 90 days, we assume solving the problem is beyond their ken and the United States will solve it," the official was quoted as saying.
Secretary of state Colin Powell said later there was no substance in reports of an ultimatum. But the US does have a list of wealthy individuals - mostly Saudis - who it believes are financing al-Qaida and it is seeking to freeze their assets."
US, Jews under threat from Islam: Pat Robertson 11/28/02 Sydney Morning Herald: The United States needs to wake up to the threat of Islam, US televangelist Pat Robertson has reiterated, warning that jihad, or holy war, lies at the heart of the Muslim faith.
"I just think that America had better wake up, especially the Jews," the founder of the Christian Coalition and one-time candidate for the Republican presidential nomination told CNN yesterday, pointing back to his earlier controversial warning made two weeks ago.
"Of course, there are millions of peace-loving Muslims, but at the core of this religion taught by Mohammed is jihad, and it is to subject non-believers either to forced conversion, or death," Robertson said." Hey, Pat, take a look at Mathew 7:4 - "Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote
out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?"
Afghanistan: Rocket attack destroys US armoured vehicle 11/28/02 Ummah News: "In the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, anti-US mujahideen have knocked out an American armoured vehicle on patrol in the area.
The attack was launched from a nearby farm by remote control. It is believed that there were six Americans in the vehicle that was completely destroyed in the attack.
The attackers managed to flee the area."
Zionists kill Palestinian Ramadan drummer 11/28/02 Ummah News: "Jihad Anatur, 24, died when Israeli soldiers opened fire at him in the Askar refugee camp. Anatur, the youngest of five brothers and one sister, was hit by several bullets as, following tradition, he went from door to door waking up fellow-Muslims for the Ramadan pre-dawn meal.
He was accompanied by a colleague, Raed Motab, 28, who said that Anatur kept bleeding and asking for help, but Israeli soldiers didn’t allow anyone to administer first aid."
Wednesday 11/27/02
Consequences of War - Arabs' Anti-American Sentiment Rising as U.S.-Iraq War Looms 11/27/02 ABC News: "Anti-American sentiment has been on the rise within the Arab world in recent months. The tough rhetoric of the Bush administration, combined with the threat of an invasion of Iraq, and the ongoing violence between the Israelis and Palestinians is turning public opinion in the Arab world even farther against the United States.
Sporadic acts of violence in recent weeks against Americans in the region have raised the level of concern for the United States. In the past month alone, there have been several attacks on American soldiers in Kuwait, the murder of an American diplomat in Jordan, and just last week, the killing of an American missionary in Lebanon.
A primary concern to the powers of the Western world is the reaction of the "Arab Street." Most Arab regimes have solid relations with the United States. Though not completely pro-American, these governments realize the benefit of good standing with the world's only superpower."
Five facts about the paramilitaries 11/27/02 ANNCOL: "Fact 5: The US government is not addressing the paramilitary problem and while insisting that the Colombian government should be given a freer hand to use US military aid against the rebels they do not propose any plans to ensure that the US assistance will not further paramilitary violence. By continuing to deliver massive military aid packages without any human rights progress the US has sent the message to the Colombian military that breaking ties with paramilitary groups is not necessary."
U.N. Experts Say First Iraq Inspections 'Good Sign' 11/27/02 Reuters: U.N. arms inspectors said on Wednesday that cooperation provided by Iraqi authorities on the first day of resumed inspections for weapons of mass destruction was a "good sign."
"As far as we are concerned, we were able to carry out the activities that we had planned to carry out," Dimitri Perricos, leader of the UNMOVIC U.N. monitoring team told reporters. "You witnessed the immediateness of the access and that's a good sign and consistent with the commitment we heard earlier."
Black Panther political prisoner refused medical care 11/27/02 SF Bay View: "They insist upon the incarceration of my father, Political Prisoner and ex-Black Panther Robert Seth Hayes, yet they refuse to provide him with even minimal medical care even as hepatitis C and diabetes try to claim his life. On Oct. 3, my father was removed from the hospital ward where he had received daily treatments for those dread diseases.
This is nothing less than terrorism when a prison administration willfully ignores the life and death medical needs of their inmates. My father was moved to the hospital in the first place because of the seriousness of his illnesses, and even in the hospital under medical supervision he complained of dizziness, weakness, headaches behind his eyes, numbness in his limbs and lethargy. His symptoms make clear that his health is precarious and deserves serious consideration, not release from the hospital into general population where he is forced to watch his health deteriorate."
A Triumphant Call To Arms - The Apocalyptic Agenda Of The Neo-Conservatives 11/27/02 Tom Paine: "In the call for wider U.S. military intervention in the Middle East, the ideologues recognize that such action will likely provoke terrorist attacks on Americans, both at home and abroad. But, in their view, the terrorists will unwittingly provide the pretext for even stronger U.S. military intervention. Neo-cons believe the United States will emerge triumphant in the end, provided it shows the will to fight the war against militant Islam to a successful conclusion, and, as Podhoretz says, "the stomach to impose a new political culture on the defeated parties." The stomach to swallow nuclear and biological attacks?
Iraq wants press at inspections — UN doesn't 11/27/02 Toronto Star: "The UN team is clearly reluctant to have journalists reporting what the inspectors have or have not found, especially since those findings may not be clear to the professionals themselves without lengthy analysis of data.
Blix told the UN Security Council on Monday that he had advised the Iraqis that inspections were "serious business" and "could not be allowed to turn into some circus."
Belgium: Moroccan killed in suspected Islamophobic attack 11/27/02 Ummah News: "Riots have left a trail of destruction in the Belgian city of Antwerp after the fatal shooting of a Moroccan man late Tuesday afternoon.
Hundreds of angry youths confronted police and smashed cars and shop windows after the shooting of the 27 year-old man by a neighbour in the Borgerhout area of the city."
Atomic Lab Cops Do Job, Get Fired 11/27/02 Wired: "Over the past several months, Walp and Doran had led a series of high-profile investigations that generated a tide of bad publicity for the birthplace of the atom bomb.
The latest wave struck last week, when Walp's March 26 memo describing lost and stolen lab computers was leaked to the media. Between 1999 and 2001, nearly $3 million worth of property vanished, according to internal documents. Los Alamos spokesman Jim Danneskiold insisted that the pair "were not terminated in retaliation" for those probes." You bet.
Tuesday 11/26/02
Colombia Naval Admiral Resigns 11/26/02 AP: "Rear Adm. Rodrigo Quinones, Colombia's military attache to Israel, resigned Tuesday after U.S. officials accused him of drug trafficking, the defense minister said.
Quinones is the highest-ranking military official in recent memory to be implicated in drug trafficking in Colombia, which produces most of the world's cocaine and most of the heroin used in the United States. Quinones has also been accused of failing to protect villagers who were massacred in northern Colombia last year by right-wing paramilitary gunmen, when Quinones was stationed in the region."
'Moron Bush' aide resigns 11/26/02 BBC: "A top aide to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien resigned on Tuesday after nearly a week of political tension over a remark she reportedly made about the president of the United States being a "moron".
Francoise Ducros tendered her resignation in a letter to the prime minister saying her position had become untenable."
Another Century of War? by GABRIEL KOLKO 11/26/02 Counterpunch: "The U.S. has more determined and probably more numerous enemies today than ever, and many of those who hate it are ready and able to inflict death and destruction on its shores. Its interventions often triumphed in the purely military sense, which is all the Pentagon worries about, but they have been political failures in all too many cases and led to yet more interventions. Its virtually instinctive activist mentality has led it to leap into situations where it often had no interests, much less durable solutions, and where it has repeatedly created disasters and enduring enmities. America has power without wisdom, and cannot recognize the limits of arms despite its repeated experiences. The result has been folly, and hatred, which is a recipe for disasters. September 11 confirmed that. The war has come home."
Rockets, Napalm, Torpedoes & Lies
Israel's Attack on the Liberty, Revisited 11/26/02 Counterpunch: "A few years after Attack on the Liberty was originally published, Ennes got a call from Evan Toni, an Israeli pilot. Toni told Ennes that he had just read his book and wanted to tell him his story. Toni said that he was the pilot in the first Israeli Mirage fighter to reach the Liberty. He immediately recognized the ship to be a US Navy vessel. He radioed Israeli air command with this information and asked for instructions. Toni said he was ordered to "attack." He refused and flew back to the air base at Ashdod. When he arrived he was summarily arrested for disobeying orders."
U.S. expected to approve $14 billion aid request 11/26/02 Haaretz: an investment in the decline of the US as a world power.
Ex-FBI agent found guilty on lesser counts 11/26/02 Miami Herald: "Jurors cleared ex-FBI agent David Farrall on Monday of causing a notorious wrong-way crash that killed two young brothers, saying they had no choice after state troopers botched the investigation." It was well botched to protect yet another Miami agent from the consequences of the law. See the AfroCubaWeb files on the Miami FBI Office.
SEPTEMBER 11 FAMILIES SPEND THANKSGIVING
AT WHITE HOUSE; DEMAND END TO WAR 11/26/02 Peaceful Tomorrows: "Family members of September 11 victims from the Pentagon, World Trade Center and Flight 93 will spend their Thanksgiving holiday in front of the White House, demanding an end to war as a response to their personal and national tragedies. They will also recognize the continuing crisis facing Afghan families affected by the U.S.-led bombing campaign, as well as the countless Iraqi civilians who will die from the proposed military strikes against their country."
Two US bases in Afghanistan hit by rockets 11/26/02 Sydney Morning Herald: "Unknown gunmen fired nearly a dozen rockets at two US military bases in central and eastern Afghanistan, damaging two trucks but causing no casualties, the US military said today.
Assailants fired nine white phosphorus rockets at a base near Lwara, 178 km southwest of Kabul, at about 10:30 pm on Saturday night, said Colonel Roger King, a spokesman at the US military headquarters at Bagram Air Base.
The rockets - which, instead of exploding, spread an intense, burning chemical heat - sparked several fires in the Lwara base, which King said were extinguished within minutes… US bases in Afghanistan are attacked several times a week, usually with crude rockets set off by remote control or timers. They rarely hit their targets and damage is minimal because the rockets are hard to aim."
War on terrorism challenges the right to remain silent 11/26/02 Sydney Morning Herald: Miranda may be overthrown - "But police in Oxnard, near Los Angeles, assert the Miranda ruling does not include a "constitutional right to be free of coercive interrogation" but only a right not to have forced confessions used at trial."
Robertson pleads for scrutiny of Koran 11/26/02 Washington Times: Yes, the US's very own mullah, a man who has invested heavily in Sierra Leone diamonds, pleads to attack Islam.
Saudi clerics told to stop anti-U.S. sermons 11/26/02 World Tribune: "Saudi officials said the clerics have been warned not to use their posts to engage in politics. This includes railing against the United States or Riyad's Western allies. Those clerics who violate the ban could face dismissal, officials said. More than 50,000 clerics are responsible for mosques round the kingdom. Saudi Islamic Affairs Minister Saleh Al Sheik has relayed a message to clerics that also bans sermons by unauthorized people in mosques. Al Sheik said such speakers could exploit the opportunity to incitement Muslims. Mosques are meant only for prayers, guidance and other pious activities," the message to the clerics read. "They should not be misused as a political platform."
Officials said the government has received reports of unauthorized Saudis giving sermons against the United States in several mosques in the kingdom. The reports included calls for the expulsion of U.S. military and other Western personnel from Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom has arrested scores of people connected to the Al Qaida movement. At the same time, attacks against Westerners have been reported during the fast month of Ramadan."
Monday 11/25/02
Questioning Saudi Arabia 11/25/02 ABC News: "Amid new allegations that about a dozen prominent Saudi businessmen are financing al Qaeda through international accounts, U.S. lawmakers are calling for the Bush administration to investigate whether Saudi money made it into the hands of two of the Sept. 11 hijackers… ABCNEWS has learned that at least 12 Saudi businessmen were financing al Qaeda through accounts in Cyprus, Switzerland and Malaysia, among other countries. U.S. officials told ABCNEWS that a full investigation into the allegations was under way and that there may be criminal charges filed before the end of the year." Thereby furthering Al Qaeda's agenda. The US can overthrow the Saudi regime several times over and still people there will celebrate each Al Qaeda hit, as the 50,000 who gathered in Riyadh thanks to text messaging did on 9-11. "They hate us because we are free" To be imbeciles?
Colombia's largest oil pipeline dynamited 11/25/02 AP: "Attackers dynamited Colombia's largest oil pipeline, causing a spill and forcing the brief evacuation of 280 people, officials said Monday.
The Central Colombian Pipeline, known by its Spanish acronym Ocensa, had to be shut down after the attack Sunday near the town of Aguazul, 100 miles northeast of Bogota, the company said. It was still closed early Monday."
Kingdom orders probe into 9/11 money link 11/25/02 Arab News, Saudi Arabia: "Al-Jubeir said an investigation by Princess Haifa’s office had shown that the money appeared to have reached the students via another person, a woman who was on a list of recipients of charitable and other donations regularly made by the princess. He said it was not clear who the woman was or how her name had come to be on the list of recipients. Investigations were continuing, he said.
“Princess Haifa is a very generous woman ... she donates large amounts of money to charities,” Al-Jubeir said."
OPTIONS ARE LIMITED 11/25/02 Islah: "As long as you remain convinced of the superiority of your values and Muslims maintain their immovable belief in what they have is divine, you have no alternative but to admit that you and Muslims are on a collision course. No one who aims at turning this confrontation into a peaceful dialogue shall succeed… Your response now is merely a magnification of the previous one. Therefore, commonsense tells that the coming strike against you will be of bigger magnitude proportionately just as the September strike was a multiple of the Kenya and Tanzania bombings. In short, you don’t seem to realise that this war is unique in the sense that the more you intensify the level of confrontation, the weaker and more exposed you render yourselves to be and the more daring and devastating your enemy becomes. We do not exaggerate if we assume that by this you will destroy yourselves eventually."
The Saudi American Relations In Context 11/25/02 Islah: This article, up to the usual high standards of the Arabian dissendent site, Islah, is well worth reading in the context of current US-Saudi relations - "There is a principle adopted by the American government and explained in an article written by a prominent American political scientist after the bombing in Al-Khobar in 1996. In it he reveals the principle of adopting secrecy in dealing with Saudi Arabia as the only method of shielding the US, a self-proclaimed promoter of democracy, liberty and transparency, from the embarrassment of dealing favourably with a corrupt dictatorship which tramples on all basic human rights and civil liberties.
The first casualty in the impending legal action will be that shroud of secrecy - that cosy mantle which enveloped the American-Saudi relationship for decades. Yet the strain in relationship between the two is not a product of these developments. The strain was brought about by a plethora of factors which rendered the doctrine of secrecy unworkable. The strain is a product and a repercussion of the September events. The cord between the two governments was fatigued by the sheer pressure of Bin Laden and the magnitude of the jihadi current from the Saudi end and the pressure of public opinion and vociferous lobbies on the American side… The complications in the American-Saudi relationship should be carefully untangled in order to understand what has occurred and where this relationship is heading."
PROTESTING WAR WITH IRAQ 11/25/02 PBS: "While the rally behind me in Chicago is the most visible sign of the new anti-war movement, there's also a lot going on in smaller venues: Teach-ins at universities and high schools, strategy sessions, and educational meetings in churches, community centers, and homes across the country."
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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