House Endorses Drilling in Alaska Wildlife Refuge, Rejects Fuel Economy Measure April 11, 2003 H. JOSEF HEBERT The House on Thursday night endorsed oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge, setting up a likely confrontation with the Senate as Congress struggles to produce a comprehensive energy policy. An attempt to strip a House energy bill of a provision that would allow development of the refuge's oil was turned back by a 228-197 vote. Drilling opponents argued more oil could be saved with higher auto fuel economy requirements than the refuge could produce. Earlier, the House rejected a proposal to require a 5 percent reduction in fuel used by motor vehicles, including SUVs and pickup trucks, within seven years. Opponents to the measure said it would force automakers to make small cars. lubbockonline.com 

Russia's largest rally against Iraq war brings out tens of thousands April 11, 2003 JIM HEINTZ MOSCOW Tens of thousands of people carried anti-war signs and chanted outside the U.S. Embassy on Wednesday in the largest Russian protest so far against the war in Iraq. A few demonstrators stomped on an American flag, and police detained several protesters who threw plastic objects at the embassy, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. But passions were mostly calm and the crowd, estimated between 30,000 and 50,000 sfgate.com

'Hitler' Exec Producer Fired Over Remarks April 11, 2003 By Zap2it.com LOS ANGELES The executive producer of a CBS miniseries about Adolf Hitler's rise to power has been fired after giving an interview in which he compared the current mood of Americans to that of the Germans who helped Hitler rise to power. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gernon was fired Sunday (April 6) from Alliance Atlantis, the production company making "Hitler: The Rise of Evil" for CBS. He had worked there 11 years and was head of the firm's long-form programming division. Neither Gernon nor Alliance Atlantis is commenting on the matter. "Hitler" has caused controversy ever since CBS announced its intentions last summer. In an interview with TV Guide about the four-hour film, scheduled for May, Gernon compares many Americans' acceptance of a war in Iraq to the fearful climate in post-World War I Germany, of which Hitler took advantage to become its ruler. "It basically boils down to an entire nation gripped by fear, who ultimately chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the whole nation into war," Gernon said in the interview. "I can't think of a better time to examine this history than now." zap2it.com  

Her Hero

Let's Hear It For The Heroes April 10, 2003 by Keetjie Ramo The sun hadn't set on 9-11 before the hapless workers who died at the World Trade Center-as well as their would-be rescuers-were being hailed as heroes. The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune both published photos and mini-profiles of these "heroes" every day for months until each hero had been honored in print with the loving recollections of friends and family members. Now, in the third week of the War Against Iraq, I have yet to see a tribute to the Iraqi "heroes" of this war in the mainstream press. By heroes, I mean the ordinary people of Iraq whose lives have been decimated by war.  As I write this on the first few days of coalition troops' entry into Baghdad, credible tallies of civilian casualties estimate the numbers of dead at over 1050. Hospitals cannot accommodate the scores of wounded and dismembered. But this isn't likely to be front page news in most of our hometown newspapers. thepeoplesvoice.org

'A picture of killing inflicted on a sprawling city - and it grew more unbearable by the minute' April 10, 2003 Suzanne Goldenberg in Baghdad Death's embrace gave the bodies intimacies they never knew in life. Strangers, bloodied and blackened, wrapped their arms around others, hugging them close. A man's hand rose disembodied from the bottom of the heap of corpses to rest on the belly of a man near the top. A blue stone in his ring glinted as an Iraqi orderly opened the door of the morgue, admitting daylight and the sound of a man's sobs to the cold silence within. Here were just some of the results of America's progress through Saddam Hussein's dominions yesterday, an advance that obliterated the symbols of his regime at the same time as it claimed to be liberating its people. These were mere fragments in a larger picture of killing, flight, and destruction inflicted on a sprawling city of 5 million. And it grew more unbearable by the minute. guardian.co.uk

Amid Allied jubilation, a child lies in agony, clothes soaked in blood April 10, 2003 They lay in lines, the car salesman who'd just lost his eye but whose feet were still dribbling blood, the motorcyclist who was shot by American troops near the Rashid Hotel, the 50-year-old female civil servant, her long dark hair spread over the towel she was lying on, her face, breasts, thighs, arms and feet pock-marked with shrapnel from an American cluster bomb. For the civilians of Baghdad, this is the real, immoral face of war, the direct result of America's clever little "probing missions" into Baghdad. It looks very neat on television, the American marines on the banks of the Tigris, the oh-so-funny visit to the presidential palace, the videotape of Saddam Hussein's golden loo. But the innocent are bleeding and screaming with pain to bring us our exciting television pictures and to provide Messrs Bush and Blair with their boastful talk of victory. I watched two-and-a-half-year-old Ali Najour lying in agony on the bed, his clothes soaked with blood, a tube through his nose, until a relative walked up to me. "I want to talk to you," he shouted, his voice rising in fury. "Why do you British want to kill this little boy? Why do you even want to look at him? You did this – you did it!" iraqwar.ru

US Hawks Set Sights on Iran, Syria as Baghdad Falls April 10, 2003 By Arshad Mohammed WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Emboldened by the U.S. military's apparent quick rout of Iraqi forces, conservative hawks in America are setting their sights on regime change in Iran and Syria. "It's time to bring down the other terror masters," Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute wrote on Monday -- two days before U.S. troops swept into the heart of Baghdad -- in a piece entitled "Syria and Iran Must Get Their Turn." reuters.com

U.S. Tells Iran, Syria, N.Korea: Learn from Iraq April 10, 2003 By Philip Pullella ROME (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday warned countries it has accused of pursuing weapons of mass destruction, including Iran, Syria and North Korea, to "draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq." reuters.com

Republicans Want Terror Law Made Permanent April 10, 2003 By ERIC LICHTBLAU WASHINGTON, Working with the Bush administration, Congressional Republicans are maneuvering to make permanent the sweeping antiterrorism powers granted to federal law enforcement agents after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials said today. The move is likely to touch off strong objections from many Democrats and even some Republicans in Congress who believe that the Patriot Act, as the legislation that grew out of the attacks is known, has already given the government too much power to spy on Americans. nytimes.com

War Against Iraq is Illegal April 10, 2003 Those who wage this war will be taken before the International Criminal Court at The Hague to be tried for war crimes if there are civilian casualties and possibly, crimes against humanity, if the conditions are met. The author of this article will be the proud author of the indictment. More than this, it is hereby proved that the nation in breach of Resolution 1441 is the United States of America, not Iraq. A war against the sovereign state of Iraq without the express authorization of the UNO is illegal under international law, running against the UN Charter and against the Resolution 1441. Under international law, Article 2, Paragraph 4 of the UN Charter is clear: “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations”. lawyersagainstthewar.org

Family members demand answers from 9/11 commission April 10, 2003 By Jeremy Johnson Survivors of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and family members of some of those who were killed testified last week at public hearings held in New York City by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks on the United States. These were the first public hearings conducted by the commission. While the Bush administration is using September 11 as a pretext for its war in Iraq as well as its crackdown on civil liberties at home, the questions put to the panel underscored the fact that 19 months after the attacks on New York and Washington, the most basic facts about the worst acts of mass murder in US history have yet to be disclosed. wsws.org

Welcome, Mom, to the Neo-Fascist, Imperialist, Police State April 10, 2003 by Karen De Coster I talked at length with my mother the other night, and in an unusual turn of conversation, we ended up chatting for nearly two hours about politics, the world, the war, the economy, and life for our loved ones long after we’re gone. Mom mused over world events and the possible outcomes of the war on Iraq. She hinted that she felt like she was living under some sort of Communist regime, where the State was all-powerful and its subjects were at the whim and decrees of their appointed masters. She worried that her grandson could grow up in an environment where his every movement and action is monitored under an Orwellian state of affairs. lewrockwell.com

Al Jazeera: Saddam Hussein Seeking Asylum in Russia  April 10, 2003 by: Wire Services Al Jazeera, the Qatar based news agency, is reporting that Saddam Hussein may be attempting to negotiate an last minute agreement that would give him safe transport out of Baghdad. And there were unconfirmed reports that Hussein has taken refuge in the Russian embassy in the Iraqi capital. republicons.org

Were these deaths mishap, or murder? Attacks don't reflect well on the U.S. April 10, 2003 ROBERT FISK: Baghdad—First the Americans killed the correspondent for Al-Jazeera yesterday and wounded his cameraman. Then, within four hours, they attacked the Reuters Television bureau in Baghdad and killed one of its cameramen, father of an 8-year old son, and wounded three other staff members. Also fatally wounded was a cameraman for the Spanish television network Telecinco. Was it possible to believe this was an accident? Or was it possible that the right word for these killings — the first with a jet aircraft, the second with an Abrams tank — was murder? informationclearinghouse.info

Iraqis have paid the blood price for a fraudulent war April 10, 2003 Seumas Milne The crudely colonial nature of this enterprise can no longer be disguised. On the streets of Baghdad yesterday, it was Kabul, November 2001, all over again. Then, enthusiasts for the war on terror were in triumphalist mood, as the Taliban regime was overthrown. The critics had been confounded, they insisted, kites were flying, music was playing again and women were throwing off their burkas. In parliament, Jack Straw mocked Labour MPs who predicted US and British forces would still be fighting in the country in six months' time. Seventeen months later, such confidence looks grimly ironic. For most Afghans, "liberation" has meant the return of rival warlords, harsh repression, rampant lawlessness, widespread torture and Taliban-style policing of women. Meanwhile, guerrilla attacks are mounting on US troops - special forces soldiers have been killed in recent weeks, while 11 civilians died yesterday in an American air raid - and the likelihood of credible elections next year appears to be close to zero. guardian.co.uk

Michael Savage Threatens Critics in Radio Diatribes April 10, 2003 Michael Savage Threatens Critics in Radio Diatribes On his Feb. 27, 2003 radio program, talk-show host Michael Savage threatened to shut down GLAAD and other organizations who are asking MSNBC to reconsider its decision to give him a television show beginning next month. In his comments, Savage noted that in today's political climate, he would invoke the power of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Justice Department to shut down groups that took issue with his homophobic, racist and sexist attacks. Savage also claimed that in order to get the votes of his audience in the next election, President George W. Bush would need to do him a "favor" and order an investigation of his critics by the federal government. glaad.org

Frist do us no Harm: April 10, 2003 Angry Parents of Vaccine-Injured, Mercury-Poisoned Children Jam Fax Machines Before Frist's Legislation Goes Back to Markup This Wednesday. Once Again, Frist Tries to Move Under the Veil of War as Americans and Journalists are Distracted by Events in Iraq Legislation May Leave Thousands of Families With Nothing -- Parents and Advocacy Groups Vow to Continue Grass Roots Campaign Until Family-Friendly Amendments are in Place It's being called the never-ending Frist legislation. Last year, Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) introduced a bill to protect drug companies like Eli Lilly from litigation pertaining to Thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative found in childhood vaccines that has been linked to neurodevelopmental disorders. After Frist's bill fell short in the senate, the pro-Lilly legislation surprisingly showed up in the Homeland Security Bill where it was passed and later repealed. Last month, it reappeared as a provision in the BioShield Bill and has since been removed when Frist came under heavy attack yet again from parents groups, this time backed by a well-funded advertising campaign in D.C. media. But Frist hasn't given up. He's back again. yahoo.com

Liberation by murder: Baghdad falls to American invasion April 10, 2003 By James Conachy After three weeks of death and destruction, the US media on Wednesday finally captured on film the scene it had been waiting for: the city of Baghdad falling to American tanks and troops. Some Iraqis in this traumatized city stood by and cheered. The American and British media, in their stupid, cynical and inhumane manner, chose to portray this spectacle of humiliation and demoralization as genuine exhilaration and joy. What the media has chosen not to focus its lenses on are those, the vast majority, who are not cheering or applauding—the countless thousands who cannot cheer because they are either gravely wounded or dead, and the tens of thousands who have lost loved ones and are benumbed with grief. wsws.org

Secret Bechtel Documents Reveal: Yes, It Is About Oil April 10, 2003 By DAVID LINDORFF Is the war against Iraq all about oil? Not to hear Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tell it. Back on Nov. 15, he called the notion that oil was the real reason behind the Bush administration's drive against Saddam Hussein "nonsense," saying, "It has nothing to do with oil, literally nothing to do with oil." But a new study released by the Institute for Policy Studies, based upon secret diplomatic cables just declassified by the National Archives, and internal communications of the Bechtel Corporation, suggests just the opposite?that oil is the underlying cause of this war. counterpunch.org

Wooden bullets

New Level of Repression April 9, 2003 The US antiwar movement launched a nationwide direct action initiative on Monday. In efforts to repress the movement, police in Oakland used concussion grenades and wooden bullets to disperse a peaceful demonstration while police in New York City arrested nearly 100 people who were engaged in a legal protest. These tactics represent a significant escalation in the police response to the nonviolent antiwar movement. indymedia.org

Death, fear, grief at Baghdad bomb site but no sign of Iraqi leader April 9, 2003 By Hamza Hendawi BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) A young woman's severed head and torso and a small boy's body were pulled Tuesday from a smoking crater carved into the earth by four U.S. bombs, so powerful they yanked orange trees from their roots. But there was no sign of the man those bombs were aimed at: Saddam Hussein. For the second time in the war, coalition forces were wondering whether they'd gotten their man. One thing was all too clear, though: Once again, civilians had suffered. When the broken body of the 20-year-old woman was brought out torso first, then the head her mother started crying uncontrollably, then collapsed. She was helped into a car by two male relatives. boston.com

Anti-US sentiment in Arab world soars to new heights April 9, 2003 United States President George W. Bush feels that a successful US-led invasion of Iraq will reduce terrorism, help promote regional democracy, bolster regional peace, and contribute to the ultimate settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute. Residents of five key Arab states vigorously disagree. In a wide-ranging opinion survey of Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia conducted by a prestigious American polling firm, respondents rejected every premise the US President has laid out as justification for war. They feel that a US invasion will bring more terrorism, less democracy, less regional peace, and dimmed prospects for settlement of the Palestine crisis. english.aljazeera.net

Doctors slam US over humanitarian aid for Iraq April 9, 2003 Public health experts criticise US for spending little on relief aid in Iraq compared to money spent on military campaign. PARIS - Public health experts have fiercely attacked the United States over the Gulf war, saying its relief aid was miserly compared to Iraq's needs and the massive expenditures of the US military. Charities and UN agencies "are crying out for more funds to cope with what will potentially be the largest humanitarian operation in history," they said in an editorial in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, published on Monday by the British Medical Association (BMA). "The US administration is spending to date 206 million dollars on humanitarian relief and 300 million dollars on food supplies to Iraq. "This figure is dwarfed by the 62.6 billion dollars being spent by the US on its military campaign." middle-east-online.com

Journalists’ organizations demand inquiry US bombs Al-Jazeera center in Baghdad 9 April 2003 By Henry Michaels Journalists’ organizations have demanded investigations into two incidents in which US military forces killed three journalists in Baghdad on April 8, including Al-Jazeera correspondent Tariq Ayoub, and seriously wounded several others. The attacks came amid broadcasts showing some of the mounting slaughter being conducted by US troops throughout the Iraqi capital. Ayoub, a 34-year-old Palestinian Jordanian, was killed in a direct missile strike on Al-Jazeera’s Baghdad offices. Surviving Al-Jazeera staff sought shelter in the nearby offices of rival satellite station Abu Dhabi TV, which then also came under US attack. At one point, Abu Dhabi TV correspondent Shaker Hamed issued an emergency on-air call for help, saying “Twenty-five journalists and technicians belonging to Abu Dhabi television and Qatari satellite television channel Al-Jazeera are surrounded in the offices of Abu Dhabi TV in Baghdad.” Hamed called on the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Organization of Journalists, Reporters Sans Frontieres and the Arab Journalists Union “to intervene quickly to pull us out of this zone where missiles and shells are striking in an unbelievable way.” Shortly after the Al-Jazeera strike, two cameramen died when a US tank fired on Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel, which houses more than 200 international correspondents—nearly all of the “non-embedded” journalists left in the besieged city. The victims were Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, 35, a Ukrainian national, and Jose Couso, 37, who worked for the private Spanish television station Telecinco. Another three members of the media were injured. The strike on Al-Jazeera’s broadcasting facilities was undoubtedly deliberate. Al-Jazeera had written to US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on February 23 giving the precise location of its office so as to avoid being targeted. wsws.org

PA Accuses US of Targeting Palestinian Embassy In Baghdad April 9, 2003 By Julie Stahl Jerusalem The Palestinian Authority accuses the U.S. of deliberately targeting its embassy in Baghdad. The building was apparently hit by a missile during a U.S. assault late Monday afternoon and badly damaged. It's not clear if the building was a target in the air strike."The U.S. aggression on the embassy was premeditated and singled out, direct[ly]targeting the Palestinian embassy, which is located in the diplomatic neighborhood in the Iraqi capital," a Palestinian National Authority spokesman said in a statement published on the Palestine Media Center website on Tuesday. cnsnews.com

New Iraq Report: Yes, Tony, There is a Conspiracy April 9, 2003 Here's the prewar zeitgeist in a nutshell: In a widely reported January 16 speech, Tony Blair proclaimed that the impending invasion of Iraq "has nothing to do with oil, or any of the other conspiracy theories put forward." One week later, Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, quietly passed word to Russia and France that their countries will be frozen out of staggeringly lucrative postwar oil contracts unless they roll over and endorse the US attack. Yes, Tony, there is a conspiracy, in the dictionary sense of the term: an agreement among people to perform a criminal or wrongful act. It consists, not of a tiny cabal, but of the whole of the American power elite, from politicians to business executives to journalists. It has everything to do with oil. But it is not secret. iraqwar.ru

Ah, But Can God Now Save America? April 9, 2003 “We’re taking extreme care to keep civilian casualties to a minimum.”*The Rumsfeld-mandated and rigorously focus-group-tested statement to be used at the start of every embedded journalist’s report or immediately following the equally-compulsory singing of “God Bless America” at all military press briefings."In the real world, the trouble with blatant lying is sooner or later you’ll be caught-out. But, hey, who cares any more about that? The quick sound-byte answer? Frankly, no-one. We left the real world ages ago—on January 20, 2001 to be exact—when the almost-legally elected George W. Bush was inaugurated. And the White House overnight became “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” As a ragtag bunch of history’s most unscrupulous crooks, thugs and nut cases were handed sole responsibility for the day-to-day running of the last remaining superpower. asticles.com

Ad urging Bush impeachment angers April 9, 2003 SAN FRANCISCO A full-page advertisement in the San Francisco Chronicle calling for the impeachment of US President George W. Bush has provoked dozens of angry responses from readers, the paper reports. The paper said today the ad was the brainchild of former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, long a figure on the American left who is opposed to US intervention in the Gulf, and his group, VoteToImpeach.org. The ad, which cost about $US45,000, appeared on Monday in the Chronicle, the city's leading newspaper. A similar one appeared last month in the New York Times. "The US Constitution provides the means for preventing George W. Bush from engaging in a war of aggression against Iraq, and from advancing a first strike potentially nuclear preemptive war," VoteToImpeach says on its Web site. "It's called impeachment." The Chronicle reported the ad prompted dozens of angry responses in a city that has seen the most vocal anti-war movement nationwide. stuff.co.nz

The flowering of fascism Silencing dissent is extremist and un-American April 9, 2003 By John Sugg Derek Alphran is a regular guy. He's a law professor at a local college. Note I didn't say which college. There's a reason. This column is about that most thuggish and un-American of traditions, intimidating people to give up their constitutional rights. Alphran doesn't want his face shown, or his law school named, or his exact address in Inman Park given. The night riders have been to his house, brandishing fire and terror. "It's chilling," he says, "and, yes, I'm chilled a little." A specialist in civil liberties and a former ACLU lawyer, Alphran not only believes abstractly in "rights," he exercises his freedoms—which is exactly what real patriots from Tom Jefferson and Tom Paine to MLK and Paul Wellstone intended. "I put some 'War Is NOT the Answer' signs in my yard," he says. "I went to a few demonstrations. This war is a burning issue, and I wanted to make a statement as a patriotic American." On March 21, the terrorists came, torching the signs. I've received a half-dozen calls about what appears to be a fairly organized group that is, in all respects other than they neglect to wear sheets, a reincarnation of the Klan. The Kluxers used violence to keep blacks from voting and exercising their rights; the latter-day goons are targeting citizens who practice what the Founding Fathers preached. "What do the sign burners think our country stands for if not freedom of speech?" Alphran says. "I just do not understand the virulent reaction to people who speak out. Now is the one time when free speech is most important." onlinejournal.com

The truth behind the American invasion of Iraq: April 9, 2003 By Bob Zimmerman The Bush administration's evolving global nightmare. Former CIA Director James Woolsey and presidential advisor David Gergen have confirmed Bush administration preliminary plans to move well beyond the invasion of Iraq, possibly targeting much if not all of the Middle East. Under the guise of fighting terrorism, in America the Bush plutocrats are busy dismantling our already fragile democracy, while in Iraq they claim to be delivering not death by bombing, but freedom and democracy. Does anybody anywhere believe that Bush Republicans care one whit about installing democracy in Iraq or the needs of the Iraqi people? When did "democracy" become an American export; a commodity installed wherever we see fit by means of overwhelming force? onlinejournal.com

A POPULAR WAR April 9, 2003 By R. B. Ham With mounting dismay I witness the oncoming chaos that will soon reign in the middle east after this current one sided war in Iraq is over. Once again I remain amazed at how the neo-conservative brain trust running the show behind the scenes at the White House have so brazenly and successfully used the spectre of the never to be completely investigated events of 9-11 to further their aims of global domination and the imposition of a kinder, gentler domestic police state. members.shaw.ca

UA student arrested during anti-war demonstration April 9, 2003 BY WIL SHANE Northwest Arkansas A Fayetteville man was arrested for criminal trespass Saturday at the Northwest Arkansas Mall when he and other members of a University of Arkansas student group attempted to enter the facility wearing T-shirts emblazoned with antiwar slogans. Daniel Vaught, 22, a member of the university’s Progressive Student Association, said he tried to enter the mall’s north entrance after he and his fellow PSA members had been demonstrating around Fayetteville. "Some of us had been demonstrating down on College and Dickson," Vaught said. "We just went to the mall for some lunch, but security wouldn’t let us in." nwarktimes.com

An Oakland Police officer fires a shotgun towards a group of anti-war protesters near the Port of Oakland, April 7, 2003. Oakland police fired rubber bullets and wooden pellets on Monday to disperse hundreds of anti-war protesters in what was believed to be the first such use against U.S. protesters since the American-led war on Iraq began.

Forty injured as police fire rubber bullets at peace protesters April 8, 2003 Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Police opened fire with rubber bullets yesterday on anti-war demonstrators in Oakland, California, in what was the first such action during the current round of anti-war protests. Organisers said that around 40 protesters were injured, one seriously. More than 700 protesters had gathered yesterday morning to picket the local shipping company, APL, which transports munitions and ammunition worldwide. Organisers said police opened fire after ordering them to disperse. "It was a peaceful, legal picket, not a blockade," said David Solnit, of Direct Action to Stop the War, a network of direct action groups. "We have a tradition of pickets here. We did it with apartheid ships. The police gave an order to disperse, which is unusual, and then they didn't give people enough time to disperse. They fired rubber bullets, wooden bullets and beanbags right into the crowd." One man lifted up his shirt to show a welt about the size of a baseball, and several were hit as they were moving from the scene, as evidenced by large bruises on their backs. "I have been to many protests over the years, and I have never seen police resort to shooting people because they didn't like where they were standing," said Scott Fleming, 29, a lawyer hit several times in the back. "They had loaded guns and started charging." Mr Solnit said that one demonstrator was in hospital, three had been hit in the face and between 30 and 40 injured. "It was a cross-section of the local community here - my friend's grandpa, a lot of school folks and trade unionists," he added. "We have never had this level of violent response. The central issue we were out for was to stop this war." guardian.co.uk

ALI Ismaeel Abbas 12 asks, "Our house was just a poor shack, why did they want to bomb us?"

BOY BOMB VICTIM STRUGGLES AGAINST DESPAIR Apr 8, 2003 By Samia Nakhoul ALI Ismaeel Abbas, 12, was fast asleep when war shattered his life. A missile obliterated his home and most of his family, leaving him orphaned, badly burned - and blowing off both his arms. With tears running down his face he asked: "Can you help get my arms back? Do you think the doctors can get me another pair of hands? If I don't get a pair of hands I will commit suicide. "I wanted to be an army officer when I grow up but not any more. Now I want to be a doctor - but how can I? I don't have hands." Lying in a Baghdad hospital, an improvised metal cage over his chest to stop his burned flesh touching the bedclothes, he said: "It was midnight when the missile fell on us. My father, my mother and my brother died. My mother was five months pregnant. "Our neighbours pulled me out and brought me here unconscious. "Our house was just a poor shack. Why did they want to bomb us?" mirror.co.uk

How smart was this bomb? April 8, 2003 Matt Wells Did the US mean to hit the Kabul offices of Al-Jazeera TV? Some journalists are convinced it was targeted for being on the 'wrong side'. When World Service correspondent William Reeve dived under his desk in Kabul to avoid shrapnel from the US missile that had landed next door, some think it marked a turning point in war reporting. The US had scored a direct hit on the offices of the Qatar-based TV station Al-Jazeera, leading to speculation that the channel had been targeted deliberately because of its contacts with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. If true, it opens up a worrying development for news organisations covering wars and conflicts: now they could be targeted simply for reporting a side of the story that one party wants suppressed. guardian.co.uk

Hotel hit 'deliberate' April 8, 2003 French TV FOOTAGE filmed by France 3 television of a strike on a hotel which killed two journalists in Baghdad today shows a US tank targeting the journalists' hotel and waiting at least two minutes before firing. The journalist and film editor who filmed the attack, Herve de Ploeg, who filmed the attack, said: "I did not hear any shots in the direction of the tank, which was stationed at the west entrance of the Al-Jumhuriya (Republic) bridge, 600 metres north-west of the hotel. The tank's turret is seen moving toward the Palestine Hotel, where foreign reporters have set up shop, and the gun carriage lifting and waiting at least two minutes before opening up. dailytelegraph.news.com

Iraq not your 'treasure chest', UN warns coalition April 8, 2003 United Nations chiefs warned America and Britain today that Iraq is not a "treasure chest to be divvied up" after the war. UN under-secretary general Shashi Tharoor said the coalition allies had no rights under international law to engage in any kind of reconstruction or creation of government without the express consent of the Security Council. Secretary General Kofi Annan is expected to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other European leaders this week to hear what they will agree to on post-conflict Iraq. smh.com.au

Here's the war according to CNN April 8, 2003 By VINAY MENON The images were stark. A convoy carrying Kurdish soldiers and coalition special forces had come under attack from two U.S. fighter jets early yesterday morning. Several vehicles were strewn along the scorched dirt road, pulverized beyond recognition. Others, still smouldering, were reduced to heaps of tangled steel and charred debris. The road was stained with blood. BBC World was broadcasting this footage yesterday morning. It also reported at least 18 people were killed and another 45 injured by the so-called "friendly fire" attack. "I actually saw the bomb dropping from the aircraft, and then I saw it, as it came down beside me," said John Simpson, BBC's world affairs editor. Simpson rushed to help his translator. The man, not identified, suffered horrific injuries when shrapnel sliced off his legs. He died a few minutes later. And so, on Day 18, more mindless carnage and devastation. But had you been watching CNN in the morning, you wouldn't have heard much about this deadly "mistake" in Northern Iraq. Even by 4:17 p.m., when CNN aired its daily "War Recap," details of the incident were curiously sketchy. The graphic read: "6:33 a.m. — Friendly fire incident reported." This means the network had about 10 hours to investigate. But all anchor Leon Harris could offer viewers was a pre-programmed, "No word yet on U.S. casualties." It's near impossible to watch CNN war coverage and not: 1. Shake your head; 2. Roll your eyes; 3. Laugh out loud. thestar.com

Corporate Media The blood is on your hands! April 8, 2003 by tvnewslies.org 1/2 the story = 1 complete lie. How the media has helped the Bush Administration lie about every issue from 9/11 to Iraq to Aids funding. NEW CAMPAIGN TO TAKE ACTION!!! CLICK HERE NOW! In this site you will find the following: A simple explanation as to how the American Television “News” media has collapsed and transformed into the Professional Wrestling of the Journalism World. / http://www.tvnewslies.org/

CIA death squads operating in Iraq 8 April 2003 By Henry Michaels The longer the Iraq war continues, the more Orwellian the language and the more sinister the methods adopted by the Bush administration and its allies. While President Bush and his officials depict Iraqis resisting the US-led invasion as “terrorists” and “death squads,” CIA and Special Forces assassination squads are at work in Iraq, seeking to eliminate Iraqi leaders and other opponents of the US occupation of the country. In the language of the White House and Pentagon, the thousands of Iraqi citizens in plainclothes—whether ordinary people, militia members or soldiers—who are resisting the invading forces in any way they can, are “war criminals.” But the undercover US hit squads and other military-intelligence operatives roaming throughout Iraq in civilian clothes, terrorizing the population, are “heroes” in the cause of democracy and liberation. wsws.org

US Troops Shot at Our Car Near Baghdad: April 8, 2003 Agencies The Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera charged yesterday that US forces fired on one of its vehicles near Baghdad. The Qatar-based station, whose coverage of the war has been criticized by both Washington and Iraq, said the car was bearing the Al-Jazeera insignia when it “came under fire on a highway outside Baghdad”. The driver reported the firing came from US forces, the channel said in a statement. “Al-Jazeera deplores this incident and reaffirms its commitment to carry out its media activities with its usual professionalism. It asks all sides to treat journalists in line with international laws and conventions.” The statement did not specify when the incident occurred. Separately, Al-Jazeera said, without elaborating, its correspondent in northern Iraq, Waddah Khanfar, was detained and then released, and that its office in the southern city of Basra “was the direct target of shelling” on April 2. arabnews.com

" the stark differences..."

CLINTON: WE CAN’T KILL EVERY POTENTIAL ADVERSARY April 7, 2003 by Dan Dvorak Last night, ( April 3, 2003 ) my family and I had the ultimate experience when former President William Jefferson Clinton came to our small college town, Gainesville Florida and packed the O’Connell Center on the University of Florida Campus. Hundreds were turned away at the doors as the Center filled to capacity. My family made it in okay, I was the last person admitted and consider myself fortunate. No one could have predicted the response to his arrival and there has been much criticism of the venue and time selection. What was to be a College campus speech put on by UF turned into a magnet that brought people from South Florida and Georgia . What happened was that many of the College kids were locked out. The crowd was a good mix of people. Some old timers I recognized from Vietnam protests, but thousands of young people most born after Vietnam came to see and hear arguably the greatest president who ever lived. And none were disappointed. He spoke for an hour avoiding direct reference to Bush and his policies saying “There will be ample time to debate how we got there and what we should do when its over.” But between the lines the stark differences between his successful administration and that of the destructive, immoral and illegal current appointed administration were obvious. thepeoplesvoice.org

Dismembered bodies of women and children

BUSH REGIME MASS MURDERS CONTINUE: RED CROSS HORRIFIED April 7, 2003 Canadian Press OTTAWA Red Cross Horrified by Number of Dead Civilians Red Cross doctors who visited southern Iraq this week saw "incredible" levels of civilian casualties including a truckload of dismembered women and children, a spokesman said Thursday from Baghdad. Roland Huguenin, one of six International Red Cross workers in the Iraqi capital, said doctors were horrified by the casualties they found in the hospital in Hilla, about 160 kilometres south of Baghdad. "There has been an incredible number of casualties with very, very serious wounds in the region of Hilla," Huguenin said in a interview by satellite telephone. "We saw that a truck was delivering dozens of totally dismembered dead bodies of women and children. It was an awful sight. It was really very difficult to believe this was happening." rumormillnews.com

'Scene from hell' as US bombs own troops April 7, 2003 A US warplane bombed a convoy carrying US Special Forces and Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq today, killing several men, according to a BBC reporter with the troops. Correspondent John Simpson said he counted at least 10 bodies amid the burning vehicles. smh.com.au

What Americans should think about…April 7, 2003 There are times when I wonder how far some Americans can be misled and brainwashed by their government and media. Is it too much patriotism that makes them think this way? I’m puzzled why some Americans tend to ignore opinions of others, and believe that they are right regardless of everything. For example, even though some try to present a strong statement in decent language, I feel sympathy towards Americans who send me hate mail. Some call for things like ‘destroying all those who constitute a threat to the USA’, and others name anti-war protestors as ‘pro-Saddam Hussein who are defending this dictator to slaughter more of his people’. I am truly amazed that some Americans never think that they may be wrong! They find it hard to believe that their government is not ‘an angel’ and that it could indeed do things that violate international rules of peace and justice. yementimes.com

GOP considers raiding trust funds April 7, 2003 By Marc Caputo and S.V. Having slashed $1.7 billion in taxes over the past four years, Republican lawmakers are now scrambling to make ends meet by smashing open long-protected piggy banks dedicated to the environment, the poor and the victimized. If the budget writers have their way, a part of every fishing permit, every insurance agent's license fee and every gallon of gas bought at the pump would be diverted to help pay for schools, health care and other day-to-day operations of state government starting July 1. These once-sacrosanct pots of money, known as trust funds, have accrued over the years as lawmakers carved out new programs and policies -- typically with specific fees dedicated to a specific purpose. They now make up about 60 percent of the state's $52 billion budget. Not for long. palmbeachpost.com