World News
8/5/02 - 8/11/02

Sunday 8/11/02

Iraq attack could crash US economy  8/11/02 The Post, Ireland: "Analysts fear that oil prices would rise substantially, as they did following the two Opec price shocks in the middle and late 1970s and following the Gulf War. Iraq alone produces two million barrels of oil a day. Other Arab states might also cut production if they were dragged into a conflict -- or to take advantage of higher prices. A New York Times columnist recently wrote: "We're talking about a war in the world's main gas station."

Saturday 8/10/02

Congresswoman McKinney under attack: please help  8/10/02 AfroCubaWeb: "Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, a Georgia African American Democrat, has been the most outspoken person in Congress against the war on terrorism, attacks on our civil rights, the corporate robbery of the government and the plight of the Palestinians."

U.S. Investigators Missed Russian Mob in N.Y. Bank Scandal  8/10/02 Pacific News: "An aggressive European investigation of international crime has revealed alleged Russian mafia leaders operating in the United States. The U.S. Justice Department, write PNS contributors Lucy Komisar and Ivan Feranec, dropped the ball three years ago during the Bank of New York scandal, which now threatens to explode."

Anthrax scientists under microscope  8/10/02 Syndey Monring Herald: "The bureau's interest in Dr Hatfill was prompted early in the case, by his interesting resume, which shows he was born in St Louis but that he got his medical degree at a university in Zimbabwe, then called Rhodesia, in the 1970s. Dr Hatfill claims to have fought black rebels during the civil war there. (Curiously, the world's largest outbreak of human anthrax occurred from 1978 to 1980 in rural Southern Rhodesia, where 10,738 cases were recorded and 182 people died. There is evidence that this outbreak was the result of covert action by Rhodesian security forces.)"

US courts Uzbekistan despite rights abuse  8/10/02 Time, UK

Friday 8/9/02

GOING AFTER THE SAUDIS Big Oil joins up with the neocons – and a LaRouche 'defector'  8/9/02 Antiwar: "The fate of $25 billion in foreign investment into the Saudi gas sector depends on Riyadh increasing the production potential of the gas fields on offer to the eight companies vying to take part in the landmark deal."

Colombia's Uribe sends in the spies  8/9/02 BBC: operation TIPS in Colombia.

Violencia en Caracas  8/9/02 BBC Mundo: "Por lo menos siete personas resultaron heridas en Caracas durante los disturbios que se desataron tras el rechazo de la Tribunal Supremo de Justicia de Venezuela a la propuesta de procesar a cuatro altos mandos involucrados en la crisis institucional de abril pasado. Los seguidores del presidente Hugo Chávez quieren ver a los militares castigados por lo que califican como traición."

Southern Flank - U.S. Latin Interests In Jeopardy While Bush Looks Elsewhere  8/9/02 Black Wworld Today

Military looks to drugs for battle readiness  8/9/02 Christian Science Monitor: "The capability to resist the mental and physiological effects of sleep deprivation will fundamentally change current military concepts of 'operational tempo' and contemporary orders of battle for the military services," states a document from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). "In short, the capability to operate effectively, without sleep, is no less than a 21st Century revolution in military affairs that results in operational dominance across the whole range of potential U.S. military employments."

Protocol of Agreement Between the representatives of political entities in the Democratic Republic of Congo recording the formation of a new political alliance  8/9/02 Cryptome

Saudis in secret moves for new king  8/9/02 Guardian, UK: "Members of the inner circle of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia have held a series of secret meetings in Geneva to discuss the succession amid fears that the ailing king's health is fast deteriorating, it was reported yesterday."

The New Face of Bolivia Appears  8/9/02 NarcoNews: "Felipe Quispe, before beginning his speech, made a gift of coca leaves to the leaders of the Senate and House "so that you can begin the job with best wishes." It was a good idea, because chewing coca leaf helps one not to fall asleep. At three a.m. the president of the Senate, Mirtha Quevedo of the MNR, and the Speaker of the House, Guido Añez of MIR, reached for the coca and started chewing just like any other peasant farmer. But that was not all that El Mallku did: He also told them that he and his five compañeros of the MIP party were here representing the Aymara people and that they were going to fight to defend their interests: "And if you don't pay attention to us here, I will take a stone out from below my poncho and leave fight alongside my people in the streets."

Claim of FARC-Al Qaida link rescinded  8/9/02 UPI: narcowars forever: "A top State Department official has rescinded a statement made under oath before a federal court that claimed Colombian rebels and narco-traffickers had trained at al Qaida camps in Afghanistan, after top intelligence and law enforcement officials disputed the claim. Assistant Secretary of State R. Rand Beers -- who heads the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement -- signed a declaration last November that said members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were thought to have received training at Al Qaida camps located in Afghanistan… The two declarations were filed in support of a motion to dismiss a civil suit against DynCorp, the largest State Department contractor, which performs a host of military, interdiction and support functions for the U.S. and Colombia governments in the fight against Colombia's drug cartels and insurgents." Dyncorp has interesting involvments around the world.

Christian Coalition latches onto Israel  8/9/02 Working for Change: "Nearly left for dead by a string of controversies and mishaps over the past few years, the Christian Coalition may yet rise again. In its recent history, the organization has experienced a sharp decline in membership, gone through a series of unexplained personnel changes, and had to deal with the resignation of its founder, Pat Robertson. Now it's pinning its comeback hopes on Israel and Ariel Sharon. According to executive director Roberta Combs, the Christian Coalition is planning a massive pro-Israel rally in Washington on the afternoon of October 11 to "press for increased support for Israel's fight against terror and oppose the Bush administration's call for the establishment of a Palestinian state," reports the Jerusalem Post. The rally, titled "Israel, You Are Not Alone," will be held on the Ellipse near the White House, and organizers told the Washington Post that they hope to bring out "a minimum of 100,000 supporters."

Thursday 8/8/02

STATE DEPARTMENT MERCENARIES KILLED IN COLOMBIA  8/8/02 ANNCOL: "Six occupants of the Huey helicopter where killed in the incident on August 1st including the El Salvadorian pilot Eduardo Gil who was working on contract for the US State Department. Specifically Gil was employed by DynCorp, a Virginia-based mercenary company run by ex-US military and intelligence personnel who supply manpower for US semi-covert operations. DynCorp employs numerous foreigners for their missions in Colombia in an effort to circumvent Congressional restrictions on the numbers of US citizens allowed to directly participate in the Colombian civil war." Numerous Dyncorp employees have been implicated in child sex rings in the Balkans.

Man in Anthrax Probe Bragged of Ties  8/8/02 AP: contrast this effort to portray Hatfill as a boastful liar, minimizing his real ties to Rhodesia and Apartheid, with other articles in the Zimbabwe and South African press.

Security clearance with faulty resume  8/8/02 Baltimore Sun: "Contrary to claims he made on his resume, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, now under scrutiny in the FBI's anthrax investigation, did not earn a doctoral degree and never served in the U.S. Army Special Forces, according to academic and military officials and records. But the apparent fabrications did not prevent him from getting hired in 1995 by the National Institutes of Health and in 1997 by the Army's biological defense research center at Fort Detrick."

Saudis lash US 'Christian extremists'  8/8/02 BBC: "One newspaper, al-Watan, said Christian fundamentalism was no less dangerous to international peace and security than other forms of religious extremism." Well, yes!

U.S. Customs’ Native American Trackers Take Their Skills to Europe  8/8/02 Cryptome: "Several Shadow Wolves have traveled to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to train customs officials, border guards, and national police how to detect and follow the tracks of people who may be transporting WMD components across their borders. And three Shadow Wolves are spending the first three weeks of August in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia; they are teaching skills that they learned over many years, often as children on the reservations searching for game or tracking their grandparents’ free-roaming cattle and horses."

Dyncorp home page  8/8/02 Dyncorp: Dyncorp employees do counterinsurgency for the US around the world and have been implicated in child prostitution rings in the Balkans.

Counting the dead  8/8/02 Guardian: "For political reasons, it has been necessary to hide the human carnage on Afghan soil as much as possible from the western public. Given that many of the bombing attacks - such as those on civilian infrastructure (cars, clinics, radio stations, bridges) and those during November and December on anything rolling on the roads of southern Afghanistan - violated the rules of war, there are war crimes that need to be investigated. An inadequate count will make it impossible for the families of those wrongfully killed to get the compensation to which they are entitled. It will also impede international justice."

Fierce firefight erupts near Kabul  8/8/02 MSNBC: "Unidentified attackers struck an Afghan army base south of Kabul early Wednesday, and an ensuing firefight killed 16 people, local officials said. The hour-long clash was the most serious battle near the Afghan capital in months. In separate developments, a U.S. spokesman said American soldiers patrolling in eastern Afghanistan killed four men who opened fire on them in the second attack in the region in two days, and a U.S. soldier was shot and wounded in the chest by a sniper in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, U.S. military officials said."

Iraq Is Defiant as G.O.P. Leader Opposes Attack  8/8/02 NYT: "The House majority leader, Representative Dick Armey, warned today that an unprovoked attack against Iraq would violate international law and undermine world support for President Bush's goal of ousting Saddam Hussein. The remarks by Mr. Armey, a Texas Republican who is retiring this year, are the most prominent sign of Congressional unease that the administration is moving rapidly toward a war against Iraq and were especially striking coming from a leading conservative and a staunch Bush ally."

Bomb kills 13 as right-wing president sworn in  8/8/02 Sydney Morning Herald

Cannon Fodder  8/8/02 The Committee to Protect Journalists: "Over coffee one morning in May at a café not far from Plaza Bolívar in downtown Caracas, a journalist from one of Venezuela's private leading daily newspapers is describing the events surrounding the April coup and the disastrous implications they have for the nation's media. She doesn't mince her words. "The president is on one side and the media owners are on the other," she says. "We journalists are in the middle, completely defenseless, exposed to attacks from both sides."

Daily Casualty Count of Afghan Civilians Killed in U.S - Bombing and Special Forces Attacks, October 7 until present day  8/8/02 University of New Hampshire: from 3,111 to 3,582 dead since 9-11, more than perished on 9-11 and counting. This is an xcel spreadsheet, you may need the plug in, though IE should be OK.

Wednesday 8/7/02

McKinney Battles For Her Political Life  8/7/02 Black World Today

The fancy financial footwork of George W. Bush  8/7/02 IHT: "It's not something George W. Bush talks about much - indeed, it has been virtually purged from his official biography - but for four years in the early 1990s, Bush was a director of a company that ultimately collapsed under the weight of its junk-bond financing and management mistakes. The privately held company, called Caterair International, was created in 1989 when Marriott Corp. spun off its airline catering business to investors organized by a Washington investment bank, the Carlyle Group."

Sharon, Bush to share stage  8/7/02 Miami Herald: "Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is planning to headline a rally in Miami next month to boost U.S. public support for his embattled country. But, with his visit coming just two months before Election Day in Florida and possibly within a day of the Democratic primary for governor, Sharon is also stepping into the middle of one of the United States' most important political campaigns."

Taking Saudi Out of Arabia  8/7/02 MSN: former LaRouche researcher and now RAND analyst Laurent Murawiec's infamous slide show.

The PowerPoint That Rocked the Pentagon - The LaRouchie defector who's advising the defense establishment on Saudi Arabia.  8/7/02 MSN: "His only other Nexis-able byline is a dusty one from the Jan. 23, 1985, edition of the Financial Times, which describes Murawiec as "the European Economics Editor of the New York-based Executive Intelligence Review weekly magazine." Executive Intelligence Review, as scholars of parapolitics know, is a publication of the political fantasist, convicted felon, and perpetual presidential candidate Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr…. Now that Murawiec has assumed such a vocal place in the policy debate, the man who gave him the lectern owes us the complete back-story. Over to you, Richard Perle." Perle is a leader of the anti-Iraq hawks.

US rates 'could hit 1930s levels'  8/7/02 Telegraph, UK: "Lehman Brothers said yesterday it had seen "enough economic and financial pain" and was changing its forecast. "The precise dimensions of such a move are hard to pinpoint, but our main scenario is a quarter point cut at the September, November and December meetings, pushing the funds rate down to 1pc," said Lehman. That would leave US rates at their lowest since the Depression era of the 1930s. Goldman Sachs also believes US rates could be cut next Tuesday, when the US Federal Reserve's open market committee meets."

US revises plans as kingdom courts Iraq  8/7/02 Times, UK: "SAUDI ARABIA is in the process of concluding a special trade deal with Baghdad and is likely to deny the United States access to its military bases for any attack on Iraq, according to diplomatic sources."

Woman sacked for revealing UN links with sex trade  8/7/02 Times, UK: "A DAMNING dossier sent by Kathryn Bolkovac to her employers, detailing UN workers’ involvement in the sex trade in Bosnia, cost the American her job with the international police force. She was sacked after disclosing that UN peacekeepers went to nightclubs where girls as young as 15 were forced to dance naked and have sex with customers, and that UN personnel and international aid workers were linked to prostitution rings in the Balkans. After a two-year battle, an employment tribunal ruled yesterday that Ms Bolkovac was unfairly dismissed by DynCorp, an American company whose branch in Salisbury, Wiltshire, dealt with the contracts of the American officers working for the international police force in Bosnia. There will be a further hearing at Southampton to decide the amount of compensation DynCorp must pay Ms Bolkovac." Dyncorp employees have had an extensive sex trade track record.

Tuesday 8/6/02

COLOMBIAN ARMY ACCUSED OF BLOODBATH IN ARAUCA  8/6/02 ANNCOL: "“They are killing the best people in Arauca with the full knowledge of the state and its military forces,” says the Arauca Campesino Association in a recently released statement. According to this campesino organisation the Colombian Army’s 18th Brigade is responsibly for hundreds of killings in the oil-rich eastern Colombian department of Arauca."

Colombia hit by wave of violence  8/6/02 BBC

When Neighbors Attack!  8/6/02 Dave Lindorff: "Volunteers for Operation TIPS, John Ashcroft's citizen spy army, are being steered to the Fox crime show "America's Most Wanted." Is the merger of tabloid TV with the federal snooping operation funny or scary or both?"

Werther Report: Is Preemption a Nuclear Schlieffen Plan?  8/6/02 Defense and the National Interest: from inside the US defense establishment, concern over the effects of US arrogance - "Moreover, the more powerful a country, the harder it becomes to harmonize policies in terms of these five criteria. Overwhelming power creates hubris and arrogance, which, in turn, carry a temptation to use that power coercively, excessively, and unilaterally. But lording over or dictating one's will to others creates resentment. Thus, possession of overwhelming power increases the risk of going astray grand strategically."

German leader says no to Iraq war  8/6/02 Guardian, UK: "German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and his Social Democratic party yesterday broke ranks with America's other European allies by declaring at the start of their election campaign that Germany would refuse to provide troops or money for an invasion of Iraq. The SPD's top official indicated that Germany under a centre-left administration was ready to stay out, even if the UN gave its blessing to a war."

The return to Afghanistan: Collateral damage  8/6/02 Independent, UK: "The first anniversary is approaching of the attacks of 11 September and the subsequent 'war on terror'. To mark the date, The Independent today launches a major new series of special reports by our Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk. In his first dispatch from Afghanistan, he relates the untold story of Hajibirgit, a tiny village in the south-west of the country, where a raid by US Special Forces left a tribal elder and a three-year-old girl dead . . ."

U.S. Seeking Pacts in a Bid to Shield Its Peacekeepers  8/6/02 NYT

Recession fear over oil price  8/6/02 Telegraph, UK: "Washington's call yesterday for other nations to follow suit in stockpiling oil will fuel fears that supplies could be severely disrupted in the event of war in Iraq. A sustained surge in oil prices could tip the already fragile US economy - and with it the rest of the world - into recession. The White House will be acutely aware of how President George W Bush's father won the Gulf war in 1991 - only to lose the next election because of economic woes. During that conflict, crude prices hit about $35 a barrel. The shock contributed to the subsequent US recession. Some analysts said a second round of fighting could send the current price - about $25 a barrel - soaring to more than $50. Analysts said markets had already added a premium of at least $2 per barrel on the price because of fears about Middle East instability. The US build-up of reserves has also helped to drive up the price."

The Coming Saudi Showdown  8/6/02 The Washington Institute for Near East Policy: the neocons persue their strategy of putting Saudi Arabia in the Axis of Evil.

Briefing Depicted Saudis as Enemies  8/6/02 Washington Post: "A briefing given last month to a top Pentagon advisory board described Saudi Arabia as an enemy of the United States, and recommended that U.S. officials give it an ultimatum to stop backing terrorism or face seizure of its oil fields and its financial assets invested in the United States. "The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader," stated the explosive briefing. It was presented on July 10 to the Defense Policy Board, a group of prominent intellectuals and former senior officials that advises the Pentagon on defense policy. "Saudi Arabia supports our enemies and attacks our allies," said the briefing prepared by Laurent Murawiec, a Rand Corp. analyst. A talking point attached to the last of 24 briefing slides went even further, describing Saudi Arabia as "the kernel of evil, the prime mover, the most dangerous opponent" in the Middle East. The briefing did not represent the views of the board or official government policy, and in fact runs counter to the present stance of the U.S. government that Saudi Arabia is a major ally in the region. Yet it also represents a point of view that has growing currency within the Bush administration -- especially on the staff of Vice President Cheney and in the Pentagon's civilian leadership -- and among neoconservative writers and thinkers closely allied with administration policymakers."

Monday 8/5/02

Help from the Hill?  8/5/02 Alternet: "As a rule, both the joint Chiefs of Staff and the Central Intelligence Agency's leadership prefer that Congress stay out of their affairs. Indeed, an ideal Congress for many denizens of this realm would be one that simply holds open the cash spigots while Langley and the Pentagon set their own agendas. That makes it particularly alarming to see that as the Bush administration lays its plans for Iraq, career military and intelligence officers are increasingly -- and desperately -- looking to Congress to help stave off what they fear will be a disaster."

Venezuela: surge grupo armado  8/5/02 BBC Mundo: "Sin embargo, el presidente Chávez y otros funcionarios sugirieron que es toda una fabricación de los opositores."

US tries to halt rights suit against Exxon  8/5/02 Financial Times, UK: "The US is trying to quash a human rights lawsuit launched by Indonesian villagers against Exxon Mobil, claiming it could undermine the war on terrorism. The State Department warned that the action alleging complicity in human rights abuses by the oil group could have a "potentially serious adverse impact" on US interests and the struggle against terrorism."

First Critique By The Conservative Movement of the War on Terrorism  8/5/02 Free Congress: "If the ultimate goal of the strategy is to prevent or at least minimize attacks such as those of September 11th on America and Americans, going to war with virtually all non-state military entities in the world is the worst imaginable way to go about it," writes Lind.

FBI returns to search Ocala storage shed  8/5/02 Naples Daily News: "FBI agents searched a storage facility here for the second time in five weeks as part of the investigation into last year's deadly anthrax attacks. The search Thursday centered on property used by Dr. Steven Hatfill, who once worked in the virology division of the U.S. Army Medical Institute of Infectious Disease at Fort Detrick, Md., and most recently for a defense contractor."

Directing the drug war  8/5/02 Washington Times: "The congressmen were concerned, Mr. Novak wrote, that Mr. Uribe would "appoint to high office Pedro Juan Moreno, a shadowy figure who had run-ins with U.S. and Colombian authorities over importing precursor chemicals of a kind that produce illegal narcotics."

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 8/5/02 - 8/11/02

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World News
8/5/02 - 8/11/02