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FEBRUARY
26-20, 03
Archives |
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Canadian
in passport fiasco - Humiliated
by immigration staff February
26, 2003 JIM RANKIN
She was denied consular assistance and threatened her with jail. But wait
there's more! She was photographed, fingerprinted, barred from
re-entering the U.S. for five years and immediately "deported." Not
to Toronto, but to India. A
Toronto woman coming home from India says she was pulled aside at Chicago's
O'Hare Airport, accused of using a fake Canadian passport, denied consular
assistance and threatened with jail. In
tears and desperate, Berna Cruz says she told U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Services (INS) officers she didn't want to go to jail. She told
them she had to get home to her two children and was expected to be at work the
next day at a branch of a major Toronto bank where she works as a loan officer. Instead of
jailing her on Jan. 27, an INS officer cut the front page of Cruz's passport and
filled each page with "expedited removal" stamps, rendering it
useless. She
was photographed, fingerprinted, barred from re-entering the U.S. for five years
and immediately "removed." Not
to Toronto, but to India, where she had just spent several weeks visiting her
parents. It
took four days, and help from Canadian officials in Dubai and a Kuwaiti Airlines
pilot, to get her back home. "It
was a total abuse," Cruz said in an interview with the Star. "I want
to see them punished for this and bring some justice." This
week, Cruz sent a letter, along with a sworn affidavit, and the INS removal
documents to Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and Foreign Affairs Minister Bill
Graham. The
letter arrived at the Prime Minister's office yesterday, and staff had not had a
chance to look into the story. But Foreign Affairs spokesperson Reynald Doiron
confirmed yesterday that staff in Dubai issued Cruz an emergency passport and
assisted in getting her home, via London. "We're
going to bring her case to the attention of the State Department in Washington,
request an explanation on the INS refusal to grant at least one phone call to Ms
Cruz, and we'll see what the American response is going to be," Doiron said
last night. informationclearinghouse.info
Coalition of the willing? Make that war criminals February 26 2003
A pre-emptive strike on Iraq would constitute a crime against humanity,
write 43 experts on international law and human rights. The initiation
of a war against Iraq by the self-styled "coalition of the willing"
would be a fundamental violation of international law. International law
recognises two bases for the use of force. The first, enshrined in Article 51 of
the United Nations Charter, allows force to be used in self-defence. The attack
must be actual or imminent. The second basis is when the UN Security Council
authorises the use of force as a collective response to the use or threat of
force. However, the Security Council is bound by the terms of the UN Charter and
can authorise the use of force only if there is evidence that there is an actual
threat to the peace (in this case, by Iraq) and that this threat cannot be
averted by any means short of force (such as negotiation and further weapons
inspections). smh.com.au
Bush pushing world into
danger, says Castro February
26, 2003 KUALA LUMPUR: Cuban President
Fidel Castro on Tuesday attacked US President George W Bush's foreign policy and
warned that the world was at risk of extinction due to the "insane"
behaviour of rich nations. Speaking at the
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit here, Castro criticised Bush's doctrine of
preemptive strikes and plans for an "almost certain and unnecessary"
military action against Iraq. He noted that the US possessed thousands of
nuclear weapons "enough to obliterate the world population several times
over." "These are hard times we
are living in. In recent months, we have more than once heard scary words and
statements," he said. "For the first time, the human species is
running a real risk of extinction due to the insane behaviour... Only we can
save humanity ourselves with the support of millions of manual and intellectual
workers from the developed nations who are conscious of the catastrophes
befalling their peoples." The Cuban
leader said developing nations were told a "huge lie" when they were
promised a world of peace, financial assistance and a reduction of the wealth
gap after the World War II. "The world
is being driven to a dead road and within hardly 150 years, the oil and gas it
took the planet 300 million years to accumulate will have been depleted,"
he said. As the world population ballooned
to more than six billion, poverty expanded and diseases threatened whole nations
with annihilation, he said. Authority was "snatched" from the United
Nations and development assistance reduced. "There
are continous demands from the Third World countries to pay a 2.5 trillion
dollars debt that cannot be paid under the present circumstances while one
trillion dollars are spent in ever more sophisticated and deadly weapons. Why is
that? What is that for?" jang.com
In Bush we trust not
February 26 2003 By PAUL KRUGMAN
SO
IT seems that Turkey wasn't really haggling about the price, it just wouldn't
accept payment by cheque or credit card. In return for support of an Iraq
invasion, it wanted - and got - immediate aid, cash on the barrelhead, rather
than mere assurances about future help. You'd almost think President George W.
Bush had a credibility problem. And he does.
The funny thing is that this administration sets great
store on credibility. As the justifications for invading Iraq come and go -
President Saddam Hussein is developing nuclear weapons; no, but he's in league
with Osama bin Laden; no, but he's really evil - the case for war has come
increasingly to rest on credibility. You see, say
the hawks, we've already put our soldiers in position, so we must attack or the
world won't take us seriously. But credibility
isn't just about punishing people who cross you. It's also about honouring
promises, and telling the truth. And those are areas where the Bush
administration has problems. straitstimes.asia1.com
US fines veteran cyclist
£5,000 for taking holiday in Cuba February 26, 2003
Duncan Campbell
Joan Slote, who went on a cycling holiday to Cuba, was fined nearly $8,000 (£5,000)
for breaking the US embargo of the island. Her case is one of a growing number
in which the US treasury department is actively pursuing Americans who have
visited the island or who are suspected of encouraging others to do so. The
numbers of American visitors sought for breaking the embargo has quadrupled
since the Bush administration took office. The treasury department now warns
that those who visit without permission may face fines of up to $55,000. guardian.co.uk
George Bush, you've got mail. February
26, 2003 Thousands of anti-war demonstrators are expected to launch a virtual march on
Washington today, leaving their picket signs at home and flooding White House
and Senate offices with a slew of e-mails, faxes and phone calls protesting war
against Iraq. pressdemocrat.com
/ president@whitehouse.gov
It's under Bush's
bed! February
26, 2003 Paulo
Coelho Bearing in mind that the president of the most powerful nation in the
world is responsible for his actions and knows what he is talking about, I - a
Brazilian writer, with no access to the secret services, the UN inspection
procedure or confidential files, but able to read newspapers with a degree of
intelligence - have come up with the definitive answer on how to locate the
weapons of mass destruction being hidden by Iraq. I will require payment for
this information, by the way. This
is how to locate the weapons, step-by-step: 1. guardian.co.uk
How the Mass Slaughter of a Group of Iraqis Went Unreported
February
26 2003 By Patrick J Sloyan On February 25 1991 the war correspondent Leon
Daniel arrived at a battlefield at the tip of the neutral zone between Iraq and
Saudi Arabia. Daniel was one of a pool of journalists who had been held back
from witnessing action the previous day, when Desert Storm's ground war had been
launched. There, right where he was standing, 8,400 soldiers of the US First
Infantry Division - known as the Big Red One - had attacked an estimated 8,000
Iraqis with 3,000 Abrams main battle tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, Humvees
and armoured personnel carriers. Daniel had seen the
aftermath of modest firefights in Vietnam. "The bodies would be stacked up
like cordwood," he recalled. Yet this ferocious attack had not produced a
single visible body. It was a battlefield without the stench of urine, faeces,
blood and bits of flesh. Daniel wondered what happened to the estimated 6,000
Iraqi defenders who had vanished. "Where are the bodies?" he finally
asked the First Division's public affairs officer, an army major. "What
bodies?" the major replied. truthout.org
Bush hands UN an ultimatum on Iraq war
26 February 2003 By Patrick Martin The resolution presented to the United Nations Security Council Tuesday by
Britain, Spain and the United States is an unprecedented ultimatum, not to Iraq,
but to the entire world. The Bush administration is demanding unconditional
support for the war of aggression it has decided to wage against an impoverished
country that poses no threat to the American people. US officials have begun campaigning for passage of the resolution, which
authorizes military action against Iraq without saying so explicitly. American
diplomacy on the question is a combination of threats and bribery. wsws.org
Mass layoff statistics restored by Congress February
26, 2003 Mike Meyers
Weeks after the Bush administration quietly ended collection of layoff
statistics, Congress last week restored the $6.6 million required to keep track
of companies that pare payrolls en masse. "It's good news for us and it's probably good news for the state because
we'll be able to continue to report about layoffs," said Oriane Casale,
manager of workforce analysis at the Minnesota Department of Economic Security. startribune.com
EPA Criticized on Mercury Standards
February 26, 2003 By Edward Walsh A day
after the Environmental Protection Agency expressed "growing concern"
over the number of women of child-bearing age who have dangerous levels of
mercury in their blood, environmental groups accused the Bush administration
yesterday of undercutting steps to reduce exposure to the toxic substance. Carol
M. Browner, who was head of the EPA throughout the Clinton administration, said
standards she developed under the Clean Air Act -- if allowed to take effect --
would go much further in reducing mercury emissions than would a "Clear
Skies Initiative" President Bush has proposed. At a conference here, she
suggested the administration's proposed policy was designed to protect the
interests of major utilities and their coal-burning power plants, the nation's
single largest source of man-made mercury emissions. washingtonpost.com
British pensioner hits out at
FBI February 26, 2003 Staff
and agencies British pensioner Derek Bond, who was today
released from a 21-day spell in custody in South Africa, has hit out
at the American authorities who held him. Mr Bond was detained after
the FBI mistook him for a dangerous fugitive. The 72-year-old, from
Bristol, broke down in tears as he spoke of his ordeal. He said his
constant protestations of innocence had "made little
impact" on the FBI, which ordered his arrest. His voice shook
with emotion as he told a news conference: "I was getting quite
despondent." He revealed how he had to sleep on a concrete
floor, and had only a newspaper crossword for company. "Since
they [the US] consider themselves the leading country in the world,
I thought that they would take a more human approach," Mr Bond
said. "I did not eat for three days. guardian.co.uk
West: Bush's war plan 'Absolute
Disaster' February
25, 2003 By Dan Hoover Former ambassador to Saudi Arabia John
West said this weekend that the Bush administration's plans for a
pre-emptive strike against Iraq are "an absolute disaster." West
said the administration risks inflaming the Islamic world and would further
destabilize the volatile region with its go-it-alone policy without
affecting the root problem there. Military analysts said Friday that the
opening attacks by U.S. and British forces could begin in mid- March.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said there are now enough troops and
equipment in place to launch an invasion. "The evidence does not
persuade me" that Iraq and its dictator, Saddam Hussein, are a clear
and present danger to the United States," West told The Greenville
News. Instead, he would pursue a policy of containment, as is being utilized
with another prospective nuclear club member, North Korea. greenvilleonline.com
'Horrendous':
Nobel economist George Akerlof criticizes Bush administration's economic
stimulus package February
25, 2003 By Bonnie Azab Powell BERKELEY
- "Ten Nobel Laureates Say the Bush Tax Cuts are the Wrong
Approach" proclaimed a full-page advertisement in the Tuesday, February
11, edition of the New York Times. Paid for by the Economic Policy
Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank, the ad went on to say that
"there is wide agreement that [the Bush plan's] purpose is a permanent
change in the tax structure and not the creation of jobs and growth in the
near-term…Passing these tax cuts will worsen the long-term budget outlook,
adding to the nation's projected chronic deficits." (Download
the ad as a PDF.) berkeley.edu
Bush's image
in Europe takes a negative turn
February 25, 2003 By
FAWN VRAZO and DANIEL RUBIN LONDON
Even before he took office, Europeans regarded President Bush as a
cowboy, a mental lightweight with an itchy trigger finger and a me-first
view of the world. Now, with war looming,
Bush's image overseas is taking an even more negative shift - so negative,
in fact, that recent polls say Bush is as big a threat as Saddam Hussein. Smirks at the president's down-home style and
supposed lack of intelligence have largely died down, to be replaced by
fears that his push for war could hurt Europeans where they live - either
because war will widen into world conflict or because it will provoke more
terrorist attacks at home. As Chris
Martin, singer for the pop band Coldplay declared at the Brit music awards -
the British Grammys_ last week: "We are all going to die when George
Bush has his way." miami.com
Bush
perceived as greater threat than Saddam:
February 25, 2003 WASHINGTON: US
President George W Bush is viewed by many around the world as a greater
threat to peace than Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, the Washington Post
reported on Monday, citing field reports from US embassies. The article referred to classified cables from
embassies to the State Department that have "for weeks" been
describing a shift in public opinion about Bush -- sentiments generously on
display during recent anti-war rallies. "It
is rather astonishing," a senior US official was quoted as saying,
speaking on condition of anonymity. "There is an absence of any
recognition that Hussein is the problem." An ambassador who represents
the United States in an allied nation said in that country, which was not
named, Bush has become the enemy. jang.com.pk
Perpetual Death
From America February
25, 2003 By Mohammed Daud Miraki "If they had killed us
once, it would not be so bad. But what the Americans have brought upon us is
not only depriving us but our future generations of our basic god given
human right, the right to live. They will be killing us for generations to
come" (An Afghan Victim of US-UK bombing) In
Afghanistan, elders used to cite an ancient saying "we are made for
death and death is made for us" to point to the inescapable reality of
facing death sooner or later. However, when this natural phenomenon changes
form from its natural course to one tailored by humans, it becomes a tool of
life deprivation. This tailored and forced deprivation of life on millions
of people took a form of its own when used for cleansing generations of
people of their basic human right, their right to live. Specifically, for
millions in Afghanistan, their natural course of life and death took a sharp
turn when US-UK military used uranium based weapons. This violation of
immense proportion transformed the natural process of birth, growth and
death into the inescapable horrors of perpetual death. rense.com
Over 1
Million Iraqi Children Might Die in War
- Secret UN Document February 25,
2003 A newly-obtained confidential UN document predicts that 30
percent of children under 5 in Iraq, or 1.26 million, "would be at risk
of death from malnutrition" in the event of a war. The draft document,
"Integrated Humanitarian Contingency Plan for Iraq and Neighbouring
Countries", was produced by the UN's Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on 7 January 2003. Its release comes as aid
agencies and government representatives meet urgently in Geneva to discuss
humanitarian operations in the event of war." The document, available
at www.casi.org.uk/info/undocs/internal.html,
contains the following key assessments:
Losing battle to prepare the babies for
war February 25 2003 By Paul
McGeough Baghdad
, United Nations agencies in Iraq have embarked on a desperate drive to
"beef up" hundreds of thousands of malnourished toddlers, hoping
to enable them to survive a war. An aid official yesterday said: "The
worst-case scenario is that we have only 10 days to finish what is an
enormous task." The mercy dash, before what many UN staff believe will
be their imminent evacuation from the country, follows the leaking of UN
assessments that warn of a "humanitarian emergency of exceptional scale
and magnitude". smh.com.au
Among
Giants: Forest Defense Actions Continue February
25, 2003 A war is being waged against the earth by corporations such
as Maxxam/Pacific Lumber which is currently engaged in a protracted fight
against communities in Northern California which see the corporation raiding
natural resources, destroying
mountains, watersheds and forests in the quest for profit before nature. The
communities are resisting through forest
defense actions from interfering with logging, blockading of logging
roads and tree sits in planned timber harvests. Pacific Lumber also claims
to have come
under attack recently from what they describe as eco-terrorists and
others call liberators.
An independent
call for mass tree sits has been put forward for Earth Day. SF
Bay IMC Forest Defense Coverage | Tree-sit.org
Bush Magic Turns Medicines
Into Munitions February
25, 2003 by CHRIS FLOYD Six million marched for peace last
week, but the Bush Regime and the Blair Regency were unmoved by this
outburst from the ignorant rabble. Instead, the righteous leaders of the
"Coalition of the Willing" (or COW) declared that no power on
earth will halt their holy quest to rid the world of Saddam Hussein and his
chemical weapons. Strange, then, to see one of COW's biggest
bovines--Pentagon warlord Donald "Squinty" Rumsfeld--informing the
dazed and docile rubberstamps of Congress of his intention to assault Iraq
with, er, chemical weapons. counterpunch.org
The new American
gulag: Hastert & Delay tighten control of the House February
25, 2003 By DOUG THOMPSON House Speaker
Dennis J. Hastert & Majority Leader Tom DeLay, saying they are
fed up with independent thinking from members of their party, have turned
the Republican side of the chamber into what some colleagues call "the
new American gulag." "The speaker and his majority leader are
making it clear: It’s their way or the highway," says on GOP
House staff member. "You either join in lockstep with the leadership or
you’re out of it. capitolhillblue.com
Americans
were duped before; it could be happening again February
25, 2003 By DON WILLIAMS Are
you being duped? Ask yourself that question before condemning those who
oppose bombing, invading and occupying Iraq. It wouldn't be the first time
your own government, including your president, has lied to justify war. It
happens in every other generation. This
nation fought a war against Spain over a century ago because many in the
media parroted the government line that Spaniards blew up the Battleship
Maine in Cuba. Turns out that most likely was a mistake at best, a big fat
lie at worst. During World War I, Germans
were depicted as brutal barbarians who reveled in nailing babies to fences
and gouging out their eyes, and World War I was billed as the war to end all
wars. Instead, it led directly to World War II, the rise of communism and
the Cold War in the bloodiest century the world has ever known.
knoxnews.com
A
RESPECTED GREEK PROFESSOR IS DETAINED, SHACKLED AND ASKED IF HE IS
ANTI-AMERICAN: A DEMOCRACY NOW! EXCLUSIVE
February
25, 2003 Eugene
Angelopoulos is a Professor at the National Technical University of Athens.
New York University invited him to speak at a conference on Philosophy and
Politics last week. But
when Professor Angelopoulos arrived at John F. Kennedy airport, he was
detained, shackled, and asked if he is anti-American and whether he opposes
the war against Iraq. This
is the first time his story is being told. I spoke with him late last week.
Tape:
stream.realimpact.net
/ webactive.com
Rumsfeld
pushes big lie on "human shields” in Iraq
24 February 2003 By Henry Michaels Faced by protests against their
war plans involving millions of people worldwide, the Bush administration
and the US media are increasingly employing one of the “big lie”
techniques notoriously employed by the likes of Hitler and Stalin: accusing
their enemy of the crimes they are about to commit. International
humanitarian agencies are warning that the coming US assault on Iraq could
cause half a million civilian casualties and create two million refugees.
But the White House and Pentagon, joined by a complicit media, are seeking
to shift the blame for the impending slaughter to the Iraqi government.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ramped up the propaganda effort at a
February 19 Pentagon press briefing where, without offering the slightest
evidence, he accused Saddam Hussein of preparing to use civilians as
“human shields” against US attacks. wsws.org
THE
END OF TELLING-IT-LIKE-IT-IS TALK RADIO IS NEAR
February 24, 2003 By Servando González Painter Pablo Picasso once
said that in art, as in the dictionary, against comes before for. The
current dismal state of conservative talk radio indicates that Picasso's
words can be applied to politics as well. It is useful to remember that the
enormous growth of audience experienced by conservative talk radio occurred
during the Clinton era. At the time, it was very easy to handle a
conservative talk radio program: the only thing you needed to do was to
criticize Clinton and his administration for the wrong decisions,
corruption, scandals and foreign policy disasters. But now there is a
Republican administration in charge and, as Mary Starrett observed in her
recent article, "Going...Going...Gone",
the Limbaughs, Savages, Hannitys and O'reillys aren't speaking our language
anymore, if they ever were. During the initial months after W. Bush received
the presidency, all criticism was directed at mistakes inherited from the
Clinton administration. As the months passed by, and that argument ran out
of steam, the main scapegoat was Clinton appointees still working for the
Bush administration -- no explanation was ever given as to why the new
president did not fire them. But lately, faced with the fact that only the
most gullible are buying such arguments, our conservative talk radio hosts
seem to be totally lost. newswithviews.com
Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz lobbied Clinton in '98 to start Iraq war and topple
Saddam February 24, 2003 By Jason
Leopold Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfield and Deputy Secretary Paul
Wolfowitz undertook a full-fledged lobbying campaign in 1998 to
get former President Bill Clinton to start a war with Iraq and topple Saddam
Hussein's regime, claiming that the country posed a threat to the United
States, according to documents obtained from a former Clinton aide. This new
information begs the question: what is really driving the Bush
administration's desire to start a war with Iraq if two of Bush's
future top defense officials were already planting the seeds for an attack
five years ago? onlinejournal.com
DUBYA'S ENEMIES LIST - Nixonian
Attack On Dean Of White House Press Corps February
24, 2003 Organized Official Republican Party Smear Campaign Against Helen
Thomas Bush Assault To Intimidate Media White House Correspondents'
Association Silent Not since Richard M. Nixon made a little list -- an
enemies list -- of those in the press and in politics who disagreed with his
policies has a U.S. President launched a public personal attack on a
specific American journalist. Now, the ever-reliable Hotline reports, George
W. Bush has mobilized the Republican National Committee to beat up the
outspoken truth-teller, venerated senior White House correspondent, and
"First Lady of the press," Helen Thomas, because she has DARED to
criticize his public policies. Helen Thomas has had the courage to say what
many are thinking, that Bush is "the worst president in all of American
history." For exercising her First Amendment freedom, the entire
Republican Party smear machine has now been deployed against the brave and
distinguished journalist. mediawhoresonline.com
Editor: Bush Cited
Report That Doesn't Exist February
24, 2003 By James Toedtman CHIEF
ECONOMIC CORRESPONDENT Washington - There was only one problem with
President George W. Bush's claim Thursday that the nation's top economists
forecast substantial economic growth if Congress passed the president's tax
cut: The forecast with that conclusion doesn't exist. Bush and White House
Press Secretary Ari Fleischer went out of their way Thursday to cite a new
survey by "Blue-Chip economists" that the economy would grow 3.3
percent this year if the president's tax cut proposal becomes law. That was
news to the editor who assembles the economic forecast. "I don't know
what he was citing," said Randell E. Moore, editor of the monthly Blue
Chip Economic Forecast, a newsletter that surveys 53 of the nation's top
economists each month. "I was a little upset," said Moore, who
said he complained to the White House. "It sounded like the Blue Chip
Economic Forecast had endorsed the president's plan. That's simply not the
case." newsday.com
Bush Smallpox Inoculation Plan Near
Standstill
February 24, 2003 By Ceci Connolly
Medical Professionals Cite Possible Side Effects, Uncertainty of Threat.
When President Bush issued the call for 500,000 volunteer health care
workers to be immunized against smallpox, Health and Human Services
Secretary Tommy G. Thompson promised to get the job done in 30 days. At
today's one-month mark, however, the total number of people inoculated
nationwide is just 4,200 -- less than 1 percent of the administration's
target for the first phase of bioterrorism preparations. "It is as
close to stalled as you can get," said William Bicknell, former
Massachusetts health commissioner and a professor at the Boston University
School of Public Health. "There has not been a sufficient push from
senior administration officials." washingtonpost.com
Bush lacks manhood says Iraqi leader
BAGHDAD: February 24, 2003 Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein said yesterday US President George W Bush had
behaved without manhood and chivalry toward Baghdad, and that Washington
would fail to humiliate Iraq. "The Iraqi (citizen) is not easy when he
is angry. Iraqis are angered by the behaviour of their enemy that has not
kept within the minimum of manhood and chivalry," Saddam told a
Lebanese delegation. "Tell your brothers that the Americans can damage
and destroy buildings and facilities, but they will fail to humiliate
Iraq," Saddam said in comments carried by the Iraqi News Agency (INA). gulf-daily-news.com
Rupert Murdoch strikes out
Feb. 24, 2003 By Keith Olbermann With the Sandy Koufax gay rumor, the
News Corp. synergy sewer finally overflows. Most of us have learned to
simply accept the fact that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. exists in the world,
just as we've come to accept that there are terrorists among us, as well as
people who scam grandmothers out of their savings. And then every once in a
while the News Corp. will do something so rapacious, so pathetic, that one
has to stand up and say no more, to call for legal and moral measures to
stop it, even if all gestures prove futile. salon.com
Bush administration preparing new
police state measures February 23,
2003 By John Andrews For months the Bush Administration has been secretly
preparing a new bill to add or change dozens of federal laws and thereby
dramatically increase the executive branch’s power to spy on people in the US,
hold them secretly, and even strip them of their US citizenship. Entitled “The
Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003,” the bill has been dubbed
“Patriot Act II,” after the omnibus surveillance, immigration and crime bill
rammed through Congress in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
This secret plan to institute new police state measures only came to light
because it was leaked to the Center for Public Integrity, which, on February 7,
posted it on www.publicintegrity.org, along with a confidential Justice
Department memorandum discussing each of its provisions. The Justice Department
memorandum is dated January 7 and marked “Confidential—Not for
Distribution” on each page. It methodically describes a blood-chilling plan to
give Attorney General John Ashcroft and the federal police he leads
unprecedented powers to spy, to conceal their activities, to arrest in secret
and hold people indefinitely, and to expel people from the country. wsws.org
N.M.
May Go On Record Opposing U.S.A Patriot Act February 23, 2003 KRQE Santa Fe, N.M. News Proposed
memorials in the state Senate and House would put the New Mexico
Legislature on record as opposing the U.S.A. Patriot Act. The
legislation would urge state police not to conduct surveillance of
people or groups for activities protected by the First Amendment.
Democratic Representative Max Coll of Santa Fe is sponsoring the
House memorial. He says the Patriot Act got a little too close for
comfort on some things that are guaranteed by the First Amendment. The Patriot Act gives the federal government
broad powers to use wiretaps, eavesdropping, searching and a wide
range of other information-gathering techniques in the fight against
terrorism. krqe.com
Saddam's
shields
Feb. 23, 2003 By Michelle Goldberg Peace activists are
flocking to Iraq to put their bodies in the way of American bombs,
with no training for what they'll face in a war zone. Are they
heroes or dupes? On Sunday, Feb. 16, two red double-decker buses
full of self-described human shields rolled into Iraq after a
cross-continent journey that began in London, disgorging 75
Westerners who have sworn to put their bodies between American bombs
and Iraqi civilians. As the Europeans, Australians, Canadians and
Americans stepped off the bus, they were greeted by an adoring Iraqi
throng chanting the praises of Saddam Hussein. An Iraqi group called
the Friendship, Peace and Solidarity Organization helped the
volunteers find accommodation and offered tours of potential bombing
sites where the shields might station themselves. salon.com
Is There A Way To Rein In The American
Government? February 22, 2003 By: Steve
Turner A friend just pointed out that there might not be. Even for
American's. Whoever started to protest, question, or make noise on a large scale
would probably just dissapear, effectively silenced by the CIA, FBI, NSA or the
new Homeland Security bunch. Sounds like a nightmare not a democracy doesn't it?
It is. Sounds kinda like Nazi Germany or Stalin's Russia, but the reality is
we're getting real close. Think about it folks. We've got a president who
effectively installed himself instead of being duly elected. It's kinda scary.
Elections stolen, President's out of control, is our government out of control?
And if it is, how in the hell can we ever gain enough control back to fix it?
Millions of people protesting worldwide, major nations governments objecting
daily and the Bush government still insists we must attack Iraq. President Bush
seems to care about as much about human rights as he does about Social Security.
These issues don't, and probably never have or will, affect him or his family.
Think about it. maconareaonline.com
US government mounts conspiracy frame-up
of Palestinian activists February 22,
2003 By the Editorial Board The indictment and arrest February 20 of
University of South Florida (USF) Professor Sami Amin Al-Arian and three other
men on terrorist conspiracy charges is an outrageous attempt to railroad
individuals to prison because of their political opposition to the murderous
policies of the Israeli government and Washington’s complicity in the
repression of the Palestinian people. In addition to the four men arrested in
Florida and Chicago, four others living in the Middle East were indicted. Among
those charged is Abd All Aziz Awda, a resident of Gaza and a founder of Islamic
Jihad. Abd All Aziz Awda is a member of the Palestine National Council. In the
guise of the so-called “war on terrorism,” the Bush administration is
employing state repression to intimidate and silence political speech and
expression that is expressly protected under the US Constitution’s Bill of
Rights. It is seeking to criminalize political opposition to the policies of the
US government and its ally, Israel. In so doing, it is utilizing sweeping and
unconstitutional powers of police surveillance sanctioned by the USA Patriot
Act, which was passed in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001. wsws.org
Bush Expansion of Global Gag Rule
Expensive, Unwelcome and Immoral, Says Population Action International
February 22, 2003 WASHINGTON, U.S. Newswire The Bush Administration's
plans to attach more expensive red tape and needless restrictions to
international HIV/AIDS assistance and other international reproductive health
programs have been strongly condemned by Population Action International (PAI).
"The bottom line is: Does this policy help to save more lives? Clearly the
answer here is 'no'. It erects walls between vital services, when it should be
tearing them down," says Amy Coen, president of Population Action
International. usnewswire.com
Feds Seeks to Dismiss Anti-War Lawsuit February
22, 2003 BOSTON (AP) The federal government Thursday asked a judge to
dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to bar the president from launching a war against
Iraq without an explicit declaration of war from Congress. The federal court
should not get involved in this ``delicate international political scenario,''
the government's attorneys argued in court papers. ``Such an intrusion could
embolden Iraq and thus reduce the chances of a peaceful resolution.'' A group of
U.S. servicemen, their parents and six congressmen filed the lawsuit last week,
arguing the resolution Congress approved in October supporting military action
against Iraq did not specifically declare war and unlawfully ceded the decision
to President Bush. guardian.co.uk
CBS executives warn against ‘anti-war’
February
22, 2003
By:
Agencies Top CBS executives are deeply concerned that Sunday
night’s Grammy Awards may turn from a celebration of music — into a giant
anti-war political rally. The Grammy broadcast, which is set to air live from
New York City, will feature performances by Eminem, Sheryl Crow, Springsteen,
Coldplay, James Taylor and others. Word has reached network suites how one star
is allegedly planning a dramatic anti-war gesture. “I hope artists will
remember they are on stage because of their music,” a top CBS source told
Drudge Report yesterday. During this week’s Brits award show, Coldplay’s
Chris Martin yelled out to the audience: “We are all going to die when George
Bush has his way. But at least we are going to go out with a bang.” web.mid-day.com
What Do The Imperial Mafia Really Want? February
22, 2003 By William Blum Which is the more remarkable; that the
United States can openly announce to the world its determination to invade a
sovereign nation and overthrow its government in the absence of any attack or
threat of attack from the intended target? Or that for an entire year the world
has been striving to figure out what the superpower's real intentions are? There
are of course those who accept at face value Washington's stated motivations of
"liberating" the people of Iraq from a dictatorship and bestowing upon
them a full measure of democracy, freedom and other eternal joys fit for
American schoolbooks. In light of a century of well-documented US foreign policy
which reveals a virtually complete absence of such motivations, along with
repeated opposite consequences, we can dispense with this attempt by Washington
to win hearts and mindless. athena.tbwt.com
Murdoch’s Sun dismisses million-strong
London march as “nothing” February 22, 2003
By Chris Marsden The Sun is the flagship publication of Rupert
Murdoch’s News Corporation in Britain. It specialises in sleaze, bare breasts,
celebrity scandals, attacks on welfare recipients, asylum-seekers and
encouraging every possible variety of jingoism. Its Monday, February 17 edition
gave its views on the previous weekend’s antiwar demonstrations in London and
internationally. The demonstration was barely reported on the front page, which
led on an inconsequential incident between the England football team captain
David Beckham and his manager at Manchester United, Alex Ferguson. Where the Sun
came into its own was the vitriol and contempt heaped on the demonstrations in
an equally brief editorial, “March ado about nothing”. “A million Britons
had a jolly day out on the anti-war march,” it began. “But let’s not get
carried away. Fifty-eight million other Brits DIDN’T march on London. They
weren’t suckered by has-beens like [Labour MP] Tony Benn or never-will-be
[Liberal Democrat party leader] Charles Kennedy. The reality is, the big march
changes nothing” (emphasis added). wsws.org
GULF WAR VET ADMITS SETTING OIL WELL FIRES UNDER UN COMMAND!
February 22, 2003 During the past six years, the American Gulf War Veterans
Association has received numerous reports from veterans stating that US forces
were responsible for the setting of the oil well fires at the end of the Gulf
War. One veteran has now stepped forward and given a detailed account of how he
and others in special teams, moved forward of the front, behind enemy lines
ahead of US forces, set explosive and incendiary charges on the well heads, and
remained hidden until after the charges were remotely detonated and US forces
advanced beyond their position. thepowerhour.com
/ Transcript
of Gulf War veteran who set oil well fires in Kuwait in 1991 war.
The
“Transfer” of Palestinians From Their Land is a Step Towards Genocide February 22, 2003
by Robert Jensen O ne
way to cover up a crime is to find a benign term that hides the violence and
cruelty of the act. Such is the case with "transfer," an idea
increasingly being put forward in Israel as a solution to conflict with the
Palestinians. Transfer conjures up images of a worker reassigned to a new
office, or a slip allowing a rider to change buses for free. But transfer of the
Palestinians would be nothing less than ethnic cleansing. dissidentvoice.org
US hawks hope to find - or
fabricate - cause for war February
21, 2003 Patrick Seale Determined to smash Iraq, US
hawks are feverishly hunting for a casus belli a pretext for war.
With strong support from their Israeli allies, they hope to find or
fabricate one in the next two or three weeks, in time to justify a
massive blitz in early March when the full moon will facilitate
night bombing of Iraqi targets. This is the message conveyed by
sources in America and Israel, who report the huge anger and
frustration of the hawks at the obstruction to their war plans from
the UN weapons inspectors and the Security Council, but especially
from President Jacques Chirac of France, now seen by the hawks as
the principal villain. dailystar.com
US media move away from Bush February
21, 2003 Patrick Barrett The US media has begun to turn
against President George Bush's hard line on military action against
Iraq.
A majority of the country's
top newspapers now oppose any attack on Iraq by US and British
forces without the full support if the international community.
Influenced by the massive anti-war demonstrations staged around the
world last weekend and the growing rift between the US and the less
hawkish countries led by France and Germany, American press coverage
has seen a substantial shift away from backing an immediate war
regardless of international opinion.
A survey of 37 leading US papers publishing editorials between
February 15 and 19 found that almost two thirds now called for a
"world coalition" to be formed before any military action
in the Middle East.
According to the research, the call for UN backing has now become an
established theme in most major newspapers, in marked contrast to
right leaning TV networks and papers such as Fox news and the New
York Post, both owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. "If
war becomes necessary, it will be better waged by the world than by
even a broad 'coalition of the willing. The world remains safer if
the peace-seeking United Nations remains intact," thundered the
Detroit Free Press.
Despite
growing calls for international unity, "French bashing"
amongst the US press has become a popular theme. Top of the
Francophobes were the New York Daily News, and Murdoch owned New
York Post. media.guardian
Panic Is Near if 'The Gold Is Gone' February
21, 2003 By Kelly Patricia O Meara Gold. It's been called a
barbarous relic, and those who focus on its historic role as a standard of
value frequently are labeled "lunatic fringe." Given the recent
highs in the gold market, it looks like the crazies have been having a hell
of a year. With the stock market taking its third yearly loss, gold returned
nearly 30 percent to investors, moving from $255 an ounce to six-year highs
of $380. Just about every analyst and "expert" on Wall Street
willing to mention any of this has been quick to explain that the increase
in the price of gold is due to impending war with Iraq. But hard-money
analysts are arguing that should the United States go to war it will be of
very little consequence to the price of gold -- a momentary blip -- because
gold is a commodity and its price a matter of supply and demand. The
"lunatic fringe" long has argued that the price of gold was being
manipulated by a "gold cartel" involving J.P. Morgan Chase,
Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, the Bank for International
Settlements (BIS), the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve, but that the
manipulation had been sufficiently exposed to require that it be abandoned,
producing the steady upward increase in the price of the shiny, yellow
metal. In fact the "gold bugs," as they're known, are so sure of
their research that not only do they believe the price of gold will continue
to climb, but many are expecting to see prices of $800 to $1,000 an ounce.
Until recently, most in the gold and financial worlds scoffed at such a
prediction, but last month the Bank of Portugal made an announcement that
shocked those who credit official gold-reserve data and added fuel to the
contention of the gold bugs that the "gold-cartel" manipulation is
in meltdown. insightmag.com
Bush's strong dollar produces record
deficit February 21, 2003 Heather
Stewart The United States last year ran up its largest trade deficit to
date as exports to European economies plunged to their lowest level since
1997, according to official figures published yesterday. America's
insatiable consumers continued to suck in cheap imports during 2002 as
President Bush maintained the "strong dollar" policy of his
predecessors. But foreign demand for American products was depressed by the
global economic downturn. The department of commerce said the trade deficit
hit $44.2bn in December - a monthly record - bringing the total shortfall
for the year to $435.2bn, also a record, and more than 20% larger than that
recorded in 2001. guardian.co.uk
F15:
The World Said No February
21, 2003 Reports continue to come in of demonstrations on every
continent, in every corner of the world. The editors of this section of
Indymedia, like all participants in this past weekend's events, are still
working to understand the breadth of the protest and its meaning. View
reports organized by region, from Oceania,
Eastern
Europe, Western Europe [ 1
| 2
| 3
], North
America, South
America, and the
Middle East. http://indymedia.org/
An event of world historical
significance February 21, 2003 World
Socialist Web Site Editorial Board The mass demonstrations that unfolded
simultaneously across the globe on the weekend of February 15-16, 2003 will
live in history. What occurred on these days was an unprecedented
manifestation of international human solidarity against war. In the face of
the militaristic frenzy of the most ruthless imperialist regime in the
world, more than 10,000,000 people have spoken out against the plans for an
invasion of Iraq. These demonstrations represent a turning point in world
politics. From North and South America, through Europe and Asia to Australia
and Africa, the mass and largely spontaneous popular mobilizations of
February 15-16 have exposed the deep and unbridgeable political, social and
moral chasm that separates the ruling elites and their media propagandists
from the people. In the aftermath of these powerful demonstrations, all
pretence of democratic political legitimacy for the war policies of the Bush
administration in the United States and the Blair regime in Britain has been
irrevocably shattered. The demonstration of more than one million people in
London and Glasgow was a stunning repudiation of Blair’s attempt to
revive, through an alliance with Washington, the colonialist aspirations of
British imperialism. wsws.org
Muslims Question Timing, Intent
Behind Arrest of Muslim Professor February
21, 2003 U.S. Newswire In a statement released today, the
Muslim American Society (MAS) said that this morning's arrest of a Florida
Muslim professor spoke more to the government's targeting of Muslim leaders
and civil liberties than the fight against terrorism. The professor, Dr.
Sami Al-Arian of Tampa, Fla., a prominent community leader and outspoken
defender of civil liberties, has long been a target of pro-Israel advocates
because of his views in support of Palestinian rights. As a founding member
of the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition to Protect Political
Freedom, Dr. Al-Arian campaigned against the use of "secret
evidence," the government practice of keeping evidence secret from the
accused and their attorneys. The MAS statement read: "The arrest of
Prof. Sami Al-Arian today conforms to a pattern of political intimidation by
an Attorney General who seems to be targeting the American Muslim
community's leaders and institutions in a drive to erode Americans' civil
liberties. "The Department of Justice has the discretion of whom it
prosecutes and when. After ten years of investigating Dr. Al-Arian because
of his political views and failing to come up with any evidence of a crime,
we must ask why the department chose today to accuse him of wrongdoing.
"Both the timing of the arrest and government officials' statements at
today's press conference seem to indicate that today's action was based not
on legitimate law enforcement considerations, but was rather an attempt to
stimulate public fear of 'terrorists among us' and support for the Justice
Department's ominous proposed Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003. usnewswire.com
Bush
Departs Amid War Protesters
February 21, 2003 KENNESAW,
Ga. (AP) Dozens of protesters shouted anti-war chants Thursday outside
the high school where President Bush was promoting his plans for the economy
and a possible war in Iraq. The protesters waved signs and shouted "No
blood for oil" as the presidential motorcade left Harrison High School,
which is northwest of Atlanta in Cobb County. "The war is only going to
create more terrorism," said Ron Cagle, a protester from Marietta.
"Bush is a buffoon, and he has no idea what a world community should
look like." Mojo Po, of Chamblee, who was carrying an American flag
with a peace symbol where the stars normally are, said, "We have better
ways of dealing with our difference. Human life is sacred." 11alive.com
President
Bush's Ratings Fall Sharply
February 20, 2003 ROCHESTER, NY - President's
ratings now 52% positive, 46% negative Colin Powell now the only Cabinet
Member or political leader with very high ratings. The last two months have taken a heavy toll on the president's
popularity, but a modest 52% to 46% majority still gives him positive
ratings. Two months ago, almost two-thirds of all adults (64%) gave the
president positive ratings and only just over a third (35%) gave him
negative ratings. Other members of President Bush's cabinet, as well as the
parties in Congress and Congressional leaders, with one exception, have all
seen a huge decline in their popularity since the very high numbers we
recorded soon after September 11, 2001. The one exception is Secretary of
State Colin Powell. He still enjoys an extraordinarily high degree of
popularity, with 76% giving him positive ratings and only 21% giving him
negative ratings. These numbers are fractionally better than they were in
December 2002, perhaps because of his powerful recent testimony to the
United Nations Security Council. While none of the other leaders has seen as
big declines since last December as President Bush, their numbers,
nonetheless, are all down very substantially since their peak soon after
September 11. commondreams.org
Remember the constant bombardment by
polls that told us Al Gore's ratings were 35% and bush's were 60% during the
election, when it was Gore who received the majority of votes. Personally, I
can't find two people in a room full of people who will admit they voted for
bush or who want his war, so basically this corporate poll data is
bullshit.- Editor.
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