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World News
6/16/03 - 6/22/03
Sunday 6/22/03
U.S. may consider force against Syria 6/22/03 Haaretz,
Israel
Now Bush blames failure to find WMD on looters 6/22/03 Independent,
UK
A Fate Sealed Under Secrecy 6/22/03 Newsday: "On
March 1, give or take a day, in Columbus, Ohio, the FBI arrested an American
citizen they say is Iyman Faris. There wasn't a word uttered. He vanished. No
lawyer was notified. He made no phone calls and wrote no postcards or letters.
He was a United States citizen who disappeared without a trace into a secret
metal world."
US general condemns Iraq failures 6/22/03 Observer,
UK: "Republican control of both chambers means Mr Bush's party has the
majority on the committees gearing up to investigate. In any public hearings,
for which Democrats are pressing, key administration witnesses may avoid
questioning by citing national security concerns. The Democrats themselves are
also divided. The former House minority leader Richard Gephardt and Senator Joe
Lieberman, Al Gore's running mate in 2000, remain among the strongest supporters
of the war. All these factors explain why Mr Bush has enjoyed what an envious Mr
Blair must consider a free ride so far. That state of affairs is only likely to
change if the security situation inside Iraq deteriorates to a level where
resistance can no longer be attributed to "dangerous pockets of the old
regime" and their "terrorist allies". At that point public
opinion will start to ask in earnest why the war was launched in the first
place."
Unknown group vows to kill US soldiers 6/22/03 The
Age, Australia: "The man denied the group had "any contact, link
or relationship with the former regime" in Iraq. In a message to US
President George W. Bush and his "criminal henchmen", he said,
"If they want their soldiers to be safe, they must leave our pure
land." "
Saturday 6/21/03
 'I just pulled the trigger' 6/21/03 London
Evening Standard: "But a closer look at these American GIs, sweltering
in the heat of an unwelcoming Iraq, reveals the glazed eyes and limp expressions
of those who have witnessed a war they do not understand and have begun to
resent. By their own admission these American soldiers have killed civilians
without hesitation, shot wounded fighters and left others to die in agony. What
they told me, in a series of extraordinary interviews, will make uncomfortable
reading for US and British politicians and senior military staff desperate to
prevent the liberation of Iraq turning into a quagmire of Vietnam proportions,
where the behaviour of troops feeds the hatred of an occupied people."
Wagner Plays U.S. Troops Into Iraq Crackdown 6/21/03 Reuters: "As
helicopters clattered overhead, they began their hunt with their ears still
ringing from a blast of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries played at their base
nearby in a bizarre musical association with the Vietnam war movie
"Apocalypse Now." "
Friday 6/20/03
Victory in Tulia, But Not in Drug War 6/20/03 Altnet: "Texas
authorities claimed that the release of the 12 blacks jailed on trumped up drug
charges was proof that justice can and will prevail even in the most blatant
racial-tinged drug cases. But don't uncork the champagne yet. The Tulia case was
unique in two appalling ways. With one exception, all those swept up in the drug
busts were black. They were arrested solely on the dubious, and unsupported word
of a tainted white undercover cop. Authorities cavalierly ignored testimony and
evidence that could have proved the innocence of many of the black defendants.
Even though the case drew national attention and outrage, it still took nearly
four years before a retired Texas judge recommended that their convictions be
tossed out and that the 12 be released."
Spate of Anti-US Attacks in Iraq 6/20/03 Arab
News: "As neighbors saw the coffin arriving at his house from the
morgue, they fired their weapons into the air for more than 15 minutes at a time
in a deafening, frenzied display of defiance. US troops have prohibited people
from shooting their weapons in the streets." - this story does not even
mention the US pretense that Iraq attacks are by Saddam remnants.
Bush to NGOs: Watch Your Mouths 6/20/03 Common
Dreams: "On May 21 in Washington, Andrew Natsios, the head of USAID,
gave a speech blasting U.S. NGOs for failing to play a role many of them didn't
realize they had been assigned: doing public relations for the U.S. government.
According to InterAction, the network of 160 relief and development NGOs that
hosted the conference, Mr. Natsios was "irritated" that starving and
sick Iraqi and Afghan children didn't realize that their food and vaccines were
coming to them courtesy of George W. Bush. From now on, NGOs had to do a better
job of linking their humanitarian assistance to U.S. foreign policy and making
it clear that they are "an arm of the U.S. government." If they
didn't, InterAction reported, "Natsios threatened to personally tear up
their contracts and find new partners." "
Carpe Diem 6/20/03 Democratic
Underground: "In the last weeks we Democrats were treated to two
appalling examples of why we lost the 2002 elections and are likely to lose in
2004 if we do not begin to assert core Democratic values and wrest control of
the party's agenda from its current weak-kneed legislative spokespersons. I
refer in particular to Tom Daschle's apologetic questioning of the failure to
discover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and his rather pathetic and craven
retraction of those assertions in the face of the usual fury of the Republican
attack machine. And to Joe Biden's equally spineless response to the noises
being made about maybe attacking Iran sometime soon, where Mr. Biden opined that
he really did not have any quarrel with the administration's aims in Iran, only
their timing."
Fury as MPs compare Palestinians' treatment to Nazi ghettos 6/20/03 Independent,
UK: "Two MPS caused outrage yesterday by comparing the treatment of
Palestinians in Gaza to the Nazi segregation of Jews in the Warsaw ghetto. Oona
King, Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, and Jenny Tonge, Liberal Democrat MP
for Richmond Park, who visited Gaza last week with the charity Christian Aid,
said the situation was getting worse as the area in which the Palestinians live
gets smaller. Ms King, whose mother is Jewish, said: "No government should
be behaving like that - least of all a Jewish government. It's the same in
nature but not extent. Palestinians are not being rounded up and put in gas
chambers. "What makes it similar is what happened to the Jewish people in
that time, which was the seizing of land, being forced from property, torture
and bureaucracy - control used in a demeaning way over the smallest task. On top
of that, building a wall around them, and that is precisely what the Israeli
government is doing." "
Rumsfeld seeks to punish France for its stance 6/20/03 Knight
Ridder: "In the latest in a series of Pentagon blasts at France,
Rumsfeld has prevailed on U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John C. Jumper not
to invite his French counterpart, Gen. Richard Wolsztynski, to a prestigious
September conference of air force commanders from around the world."
Paris Raid Reveals Washington's Fractured Iran Policy 6/20/03 Pacific
News Service
Bolton: Military Action on Iran an Option 6/20/03 Reuters
Belgium goes ahead with war crimes lawsuits 6/20/03 The
Mercury, SA: "War crimes lawsuits had been filed in Belgium against
eight top officials including United States President George Bush and British
Prime Minister Tony Blair, said the Belgian authorities. But the Belgian
government had refused to handle the cases arising from the conflict in Iraq,
referring them on to the US and British governments, said the justice ministry.
Nevertheless the lawsuits, brought under Belgium's "universal competence
law", are likely to deepen tensions between Washington and Brussels, which
firmly opposed the war in Iraq… Last week US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld
- who is one of the eight high-ranking officials named in the lawsuits - said
Belgium would face consequences unless it revised the "absurd" law. He
warned that US officials would shun the country, and announced that US funding
for a new Nato headquarters in Brussels, which is also home to the European
Union, would be suspended in the meantime."
Thursday 6/19/03
Let the People Speak Early 6/19/03 Alternet: "MoveOn.org
PAC, the progressive online political organization, has turned the political
system on its head by rapidly launching an online grassroots political primary
long before the political establishment has weighed in on the 2004 Democratic
presidential nomination. When MoveOn surveyed its members, 96.3 percent of the
186,000 respondents said they were eager to jump into the process early. The 1.4
million MoveOn members and new joiners are eligible to vote for one candidate
from the field of nine in the primary scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday.
MoveOn announced that the top tier of contenders, according to a straw poll of
its members, are Dennis Kucinich, Howard Dean and John Kerry. In response to
members' interest in the three, MoveOn is giving them an assist with a special
focus email."
Washington moves to checkmate Pyongyang 6/19/03 Asia
Times: "Powell said at a security forum in Phnom Penh that Madrid had
"aligned the international community in a way that makes it clear to North
Korea that they will not have any support or friends helping them". What he
didn't say was that most of these friends are states such as China, Russia and
Pakistan that help Pyongyang market its military hardware and provide a
diplomatic buffer on the nuclear issue. Beijing and Moscow have already made it
known that they will not support an economic embargo, and - surprisingly - so
has South Korea, the country with most to gain from the collapse of its
belligerent neighbor."
Bush & the End of Reason 6/19/03 Consortium
News
Neocon Convergences 6/19/03 In
These Times: "A funny thing happened while following the money trail
of the neoconservatives who have hijacked U.S. foreign policy. The path led to a
network of financial and intellectual resources that also is dedicated to
neoracism."
Wednesday 6/18/03
The Screwing of Cynthia McKinney 6/18/03 Alternet: "The
New York Times’ Lynette Clemetson revealed her comments went even further over
the edge: “Ms. McKinney suggest[ed] that President Bush might have known about
the September 11 attacks but did nothing so his supporters could make money in a
war.” That’s loony, all right. As an editor of the highly respected Atlanta
Journal Constitution told NPR, McKinney’s “practically accused the President
of murder!” Problem is, McKinney never said it. That’s right. The “quote”
from McKinney is a complete fabrication. A whopper, a fabulous fib, a fake, a
flim-flam. Just freakin’ made up.'
Colombia: Army increasing cooperation with paramilitary death squads 6/18/03 ANNCOL
Kerry says Bush misled Americans on war 6/18/03 AP
Ignoring the World's Bloodiest War - What's Behind the Killing in Central Africa? 6/18/03 Counterpunch: "When
the mainstream press pays any attention to the Congo--or African wars in
general--they invariably characterize the conflicts as "ethnic" or
"tribal" wars, rooted in age-old hatreds. This explanation is not only
false, but racist. It provides cover for the argument that
"we"--invariably some mix of Western nations, perhaps with UN
cover--must intervene to stop this irrational ethnic murder. This argument is a
repackaged version of the same racist excuses given for European powers'
conquest and colonization of Africa in the late 19th century--that is, to
"civilize" the continent. Any prospect of resolving the Congo war
requires a much different framework--one that doesn't look to the architects of
the crisis to solve it."
Abizaid Nominated to Take Over Central Command 6/18/03 Fox
News: "An Arabic-speaking Army general of Lebanese descent has been
nominated to replace Gen. Tommy Franks as head of U.S. Central Command, the
Pentagon announced Wednesday."
IRAQ: British company sold `bio-lab' trailers 6/18/03 Green
Left Weekly
US troops 'used excessive force' at Fallujah protest 6/18/03 Independent: "The
United States should hold a "full, independent and impartial" inquiry
into the "apparent use of excessive force" by American troops who
allegedly opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators in the Iraqi town of Fallujah,
according to a report issued yesterday by Human Rights Watch."
CIA deliberately misled UN arms inspectors, says senator 6/18/03 Independent,
UK
150 in Iranian opposition group arrested in Paris 6/18/03 NYT: "French
authorities arrested on Tuesday more than 150 members of a long- established
armed Iranian opposition group, accused them of organizing terrorist acts, and
seized $1.3 million in $100 bills. The move against the Mujahedeen Khalq, or
People's Mujahedeen, as the group is known, effectively shut its operations in
France, while the timing of the action sent conciliatory signals to Iran. Senior
French officials insisted that the crackdown was not linked to events inside
Iran. But it coincides with demands by the U.N. chief nuclear weapons inspector,
the European Union, the United States and Russia that Iran allow international
weapons inspectors to conduct more intrusive examinations of its nuclear
sites."
Hispanics Outpace Blacks as Largest Minority Group 6/18/03 Reuters: "When
the Census bureau released estimates in January for 2001, Hispanics only
outnumbered black Americans when the Hispanic total included people who
considered themselves both black and Hispanic. But according to estimates from
July 2002, non-black Hispanics numbered around 37 million while the black
non-Hispanic population was about 36.6 million. Another 1.7 million people were
estimated to be both black and Hispanic, which brings the overall Hispanic
number to 38.7 million."
Iraqis Say U.S. Fired Indiscriminately 6/18/03 Sydney
Morning Herald: "But the bus driver, Abdul Rahman Mohammed Ali, 25,
told The Associated Press on Tuesday he was passing a convoy of six or seven
vehicles when he heard an explosion and the Americans fired wildly on the bus
and on the roadside. Witnesses agreed with his account. Seven people on the bus
were wounded, at least one of them by U.S. gunfire, in addition to a bystander
on the roadside, said the witnesses and the driver."
US troops scour Baghdad after sniper kills soldier 6/18/03 Sydney
Morning Herald
Caving In - Guess who's appeasing the Taliban now? 6/18/03 The
American Prospect: "Last week a Pakistani jihadi leader told the Asia
Times that he had set up a meeting between U.S. and Pakistani intelligence
officials and Taliban leaders to discuss the seriously deteriorating situation
in Afghanistan. At the meeting, held at a Pakistani air-force base, FBI
officials floated the possibility that the Taliban might have a role in the
future Afghan government on four conditions: that Mullah Omar be removed as
leader, that foreign combatants engaged in fighting against U.S. and allied
troops be deported, that any captive allied soldiers be released and that
Afghans currently living abroad be brought into the government."
Will We See Gore TV? 6/18/03 Time
Patriot Act II, and Means to Weigh It, Emerge in Bits - Devil in the Details 6/18/03 Village
Voice
Tuesday 6/17/03
Washington plays into Iranian clerics' hands 6/17/03 Asia
Times: "As a logical component of the seemingly irrational American
government's design on Iran, its counterproductive policy towards the ongoing
Iranian student pro-democracy movement, which is striving for democracy as
envisaged by the Iranians, will only help Iran's ruling elite to suppress that
indigenous movement as a Washington-inspired riot."
French raid Iran group, 150 held 6/17/03 CNN
Special forces 'prepare for Iran attack' 6/17/03 London
Evening Standard: "British and American intelligence and special
forces have been put on alert for a conflict with Iran within the next 12
months, as fears grow that Tehran is building a nuclear weapons programme… A
British intelligence official said that any campaign against Iran would not be a
ground war like the one in Iraq. The Americans will use different tactics, said
the intelligence officer. "It is getting quite scary." "
US prepares to move troops to Azerbaijan 6/17/03 RBC: "The
United States will ensure political stability and continuity of power in
Azerbaijan. Azeris base this conclusion on reports in the Western and Turkish
media that the US is going to move about 15,000 of its troops from Germany to
Azerbaijan, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta reports."
U.S. Soldier Killed by Iraqi Sniper Fire 6/17/03 Washington
Post: "A U.S. soldier on patrol in northern Baghdad was killed by a
single shot from a sniper, the military said Tuesday. The gunman escaped from
the area as the soldier collapsed on the ground. He was evacuated to a first aid
station but died shortly afterward, said Maj. Sean Gibson, a U.S. military
spokesman… Gibson said the soldier was shot in the chest, even though he was
protected by body armor."
The War Continues 6/17/03 Zmag: "The
circus lions of the U.S. media faithfully refrained from reporting on the June
9th launch of the largest U.S. military offensive in Iraq since the fall of
Baghdad, leaving Americans blissfully unaware that George W. Bush lied about
more than the existence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction."
Monday 6/16/03
Texas Drug Defendants Anticipate Release 6/16/03 ABC: "No
drugs were ever found during a total of 46 arrests and little or no
corroborating evidence was introduced at trial. Some suggested discrimination
was behind the arrests. Coleman is white; of the 46 people arrested, 39 are
black. A total of 38 of the group arrested were convicted or accepted plea
agreements out of fear of lengthy prison terms. Of the 38, 14 defendants remain
in jail. Last month, Chapman recommended throwing out the convictions. Coleman
was indicted in April on three counts of aggravated perjury for allegedly lying
during evidentiary hearings involving the case; he has maintained his
innocence."
Massive US operation to uproot Iraqi resistance yields nearly nil results 6/16/03 Al
Bawaba: "Meanwhile, a U.S. Central Command spokesman denied reports
that U.S. troops were wounded in an ambush on a military vehicle near the town
of Balad north of Baghdad. Lt. Ryan Fitzgerald said initial accounts indicated a
vehicle caught fire due to "mechanical failure." However, a U.S.
military spokesman said Monday ambushers fired rocket-propelled grenades at two
U.S. military convoys Sunday, in separate attacks that wounded at least four
Americans, two of them seriously."
Rumsfeld v. Belgium - "Leave Us Alone or We'll Move NATO" 6/16/03 Counterpunch
Grenades hit convoy in Iraq 6/16/03 IHT: "2
Americans are seriously wounded in 2d day of operation"
"We Don't Negotiate with Terrorists?" United States Officials Had Brunch with the Colombian Paramilitaries Last Month 6/16/03 NarcoNews
U.S. Dilemma in Iraq -- Bombs and Bullets Hit Hearts and Minds, Too 6/16/03 Pacific
News: by Peter Dale Scott
U.S. Dilemma in Iraq -- Bombs and Bullets Hit Hearts and Minds, Too 6/16/03 Pacific
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
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