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The Big Bush Social Security Lie

Strike Against Bush! October 31, 2003 Posted by: Daniel_Randall A Texan ape, strategically shaven and placed in a suit is coming to Britain to celebrate his war in Iraq in partnership with his best chum, Tony ‘smash the unions’ Blair. Bush has started a war for the US oil industry (well represented in his government) in Iraq, but in the US itself he has handed out billions in tax cuts to the super-rich while cutting welfare spending for the poor. Tens of millions in the US - the richest place on the planet -have no health insurance. Two million people are in jail, over three thousand on death row. The US continues to be a paradise for the rich and a place of misery for the urban poor – so it’s quite similar to Bush’s vision of a post-war Iraq in that respect. workersliberty.org

Billions are wondering why October 31, 2003 by John Kaminski Several billion people in the world — including myself — are wondering why: • America is hell-bent on destroying its own Constitution. The first Patriot Act torpedoed most of it, but now the new Patriot Act II — currently under wraps and about to be deployed secretly for a rigged vote in Congress — actually contains a provision to revoke the citizenship of American citizens if they are deemed to be connected with a terrorist organization. This decision would require no proof, only an assertion by the government. It means that people who attend peace protests are now eligible for indefinite detention without access to lawyers or phone calls to family. To be clear, it means quite literally that America is no longer a free country, and that its citizens are no longer Constitutionally protected from arbitrary punishment by its war-mad government. Several billion people don't understand why all Americans aren't out screaming in the streets that their freedom has been taken away by rich fascists who don't tell the truth about anything. mediamonitors.net

Big Call-Up Of Washington Troops October 31, 2003 In the largest call-up since World War II, thousands of Western Washington National Guard troops received orders Thursday to head to Iraq. Meanwhile, soldiers from the Stryker Brigade got a formal send-off at Fort Lewis. kirotv.com

U.S. Deaths in Iraq Not Fully Reported October 31, 2003 By Seth Porges USA Today's report is typical: "the 115 American troops killed in combat in Iraq since May 1 -- the day Bush declared major combat operations over -- exceeds the 114 killed by hostile fire during the war itself." But these reports continue to ignore the total death count. In fact, 218 troops have been killed since May 1 from all causes (nearly doubling the combat-only count), and a total of 139 before May 1. This includes suicides, drownings, and the many military vehicle accidents. In addition, the toll of injured U.S. soldiers has now reached 2,084, including well over 1,000 since May 1. mediainfo.com
 
US soldier charged with cowardice October 31, 2003 AN Army Special Forces interrogator has been charged with cowardice for allegedly refusing to do his work in Iraq following what he described as a "panic attack". Staff Sergeant Georg-Andreas Pogany, 32, is charged with showing "cowardly conduct as a result of fear, in that he refused to perform his duties", according to his October 14 charge sheet. If convicted at a court-martial, the soldier with the 10th Special Forces Group could face prison time and a dishonourable discharge. His first court appearance is November 7 at Fort Carson, where he is based. Pogany said he was wrongly charged. He said he experienced a "panic attack" after seeing the mangled body of an Iraqi man and told his superior he was heading for a "nervous breakdown". theaustralian.news.com.au

Bush Alone is Insisting “Nothing Wrong with Iraq War” October 31, 2003 by Rae-Jeong Park “The world is more peaceful and freer under my leadership.” U.S. President George W. Bush made this remark to reporters at the White House on October 29, while stating “my re-election campaign has not yet begun.” This news conference was prepared with the intention of putting a halt to the rapidly growing criticism for the policy on Iraq due to the synchronized suicide bombings in Iraq. “I will defend my record (regarding Iraq) at the appropriate time, and look forward to it," Bush said, adding, "I`ll say (during my campaign) that the world is more peaceful and freer under my leadership, and America is more secured." english.donga.com

U.S. Overpaying Halliburton for Gas October 31, 2003 By Susan Cornwell (Reuters) - The U.S. government is paying Vice President Dick Cheney former firm Halliburton "enormous sums" -- $2.65 a gallon -- for gasoline imported into Iraq from Kuwait, two lawmakers charged on Wednesday. Democrats Rep. Henry Waxman of California and Rep. John Dingell of Michigan said this gross overpayment was made worse by the fact that the U.S. government was turning around and reselling the gasoline in Iraq for 4 to 15 cents a gallon. news.yahoo.com

Study links US reconstruction deals in Iraq, Afghanistan to Bush backers October 31, 2003 WASHINGTON (AFP) — Firms doing US government-funded business in Iraq and Afghanistan donated more to President George W. Bush's 2000 election campaign than they gave any other poltician in the past 12 years, said a new study released Thursday. Researchers at Washington-based watchdog group the Centre for Public Integrity said US contractors with multibillion dollar contracts to rebuild the war-torn countries also enjoyed influential military and political connections. jordantimes.com

Children's Defense Fund Urges Congress to Extend Child Tax Credit Before Passing More Corporate Tax Breaks October 31, 2003 WASHINGTON/U.S. Newswire/ -- Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman today called on the House of Representatives to extend the child tax credit to 12 million children in working poor families left behind by the Bush Administration's $350 billion tax cut before pushing for more corporate tax breaks. releases.usnewswire.com

Giant Russian Water Air Tanker Still Ignored By US October 31, 2003 Forest Service Ignores Offers Of Russian Help With Fires By Sarah Foster 11,000-gallon tanker plane pours 'too much water,' officials say Since 1996, Robinson has been waging a campaign to build public support for the deployment in this country of a Russian-made air tanker, the Ilyushin-76TD v nicknamed the "Waterbomber" v a rugged, airborne behemoth that can haul 11,000 gallons of liquid to a fire, nearly four times the carrying capacity of the C-130 Hercules, the largest tanker used by the Forest Service. rense.com

Senate Votes for a Measure to Thin Trees October 31, 2003 By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG Prodded by the wildfires raging across California, the Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday in favor of President Bush's plan to allow the thinning of trees on as much as 20 million acres of federal land. http://www.nytimes.com

US Senate Turns Down Legislation Targeting Greenhouse Gases October 31, 2003 Deborah Tate In a victory for the Bush administration, the U.S. Senate has rejected legislation aimed at reducing greenhouse gases that many scientists believe cause global warming. The legislation would have imposed mandatory caps on emissions of heat-trapping gases by power plants, automobiles and factories. It called for limiting such emissions at 2000 levels by the year 2010. voanews.com

Arctic Warming Is Accelerating - NASA October 31, 2003 By Dennis Bueckert OTTAWA (CP) -- A NASA study warns that the rate of warming in the Arctic is speeding up and may be a harbinger of climate changes that will affect the entire globe. The rate of warming in the Arctic over the last 20 years is eight times greater than the rate over the entire last 100 years, says the study, to be published in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. rense.com

Yes, It Is True; Another X-11 Class Flare Has Fired Away October 31, 2003 by Mitch Battros And there will be several more to come. Gee, and I have to fly in this stuff. Sunspot region 486 has unleashed another "large" X-Class flare. It has been rated as X-11. Expect auroras to continue in mid to lower latitudes. Probably not as far down as Texas this time, but could be down to Utah. I have been told, Europe is having quite the show. Much more colorful and full body than we have received on this side of the pond. But don't let the pretty colors fool you, these flares can throw quite a punch. There is a good chance we will experience satellite interference. In fact, Japan has reported two of their satellites have been shut down. earthchangestv.com

Holocaust is `no excuse,' Mahathir says October 31, 2003 By Reuters KUALA LUMPUR  Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, speaking on the eve of his retirement, said yesterday that the Jewish people's past sufferings in Europe were no excuse for taking Arab land and persecuting Muslims. The 78-year-old Muslim leader, who steps down today after 22 years in power, said the Jews were now guilty of persecuting Muslims in the same way that Europeans had persecuted Jews down the ages. haaretz.com Israel destroys shipment of vitamins for disabled Palestinian children October 31, 2003 Zionist regime authorities have destroyed a shipment of medicine, vitamins and other food supplements to disabled Palestinian children in the refugee camps in the Gaza Strip,  some of whom suffer from down syndrome and malnutrition. According to officials of al-Awda hospital in Gaza, the shipment is worth tens of thousands of dollar. “The shipment was held at the airport in Tel Aviv and we were told that certain documents were needed. However when the documents were provided and every time we submitted a document, another was demanded,” said Dr. M. al Farra of the Awda hospital. “Eventually, the Israeli government destroyed the shipment of the vitamins without any explanation.” iap.org

12,000 need permits to live in their own homes: Israel serves notice to Palestinians October 31, 2003 By Chris McGreal AL QUDS: The Israeli military has ordered thousands of Palestinians living near the steel and concrete "security fence" throughout the West Bank to obtain special permits to live in their own homes. khilafah.com

Israel to Raze With Robot Bulldozers October 31, 2003 By GAVIN RABINOWITZ JERUSALEM - The giant Caterpillar bulldozer, used by the Israeli military to destroy Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, now comes with a controversial new feature: remote control. yahoo.com

Council calls for Bush’s ouster October 31, 2003 By DAN WHITE SANTA CRUZ — Undeterred by letters urging Santa Cruz to secede from the union, transplant itself to Cuba or just fall into the ocean, the City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday to ask the House Judiciary Committee to consider impeachment proceedings against President Bush. santacruzsentinel.com

Tony Blair's new friend October 30, 2003 By George Monbiot Britain and the US claim a moral mandate - and back a dictator who boils victims to death. There are over 6,000 political and religious prisoners in Uzbekistan. Every year, some of them are tortured to death. Sometimes the policemen or intelligence agents simply break their fingers, their ribs and then their skulls with hammers, or stab them with screwdrivers, or rip off bits of skin and flesh with pliers, or drive needles under their fingernails, or leave them standing for a fortnight, up to their knees in freezing water. Sometimes they are a little more inventive. The body of one prisoner was delivered to his relatives last year, with a curious red tidemark around the middle of his torso. He had been boiled to death. His crime, like that of many of the country's prisoners, was practising his religion, Islam. Karimov makes no distinction between peaceful Muslims and terrorists: anyone who worships privately, who does not praise the president during his prayers or who joins an organization which has not been approved by the state can be imprisoned. Political dissidents, human rights activists and homosexuals receive the same treatment. guardian.co.uk

Three U.S. Soldiers, Baghdad's Deputy Mayor Killed October 30, 2003 By Subhy BAGHDAD While five U.S. soldiers were killed and three others injured overnight and Wednesday morning, October 29, in fresh Iraqi resistance attacks, Baghdad's assistant mayor was assassinated outside his house in the Iraqi capital. islam-online.net

233 Attacks on US in Last Week Alone October 30, 2003 Naseer Al-Nahr, Asharq Al-Awsat BAGHDAD In a dramatic upsurge in attacks, resistance fighters destroyed an American tank north of Baghdad and wounded seven Ukrainians in the first ambush of multinational troops stationed south of the capital, US and coalition officials said yesterday. arabnews.com

GOP unity is strained by attacks October 30, 2003 By Geoff Earle Trent Lott suggested; “Honestly, it’s a little tougher than I thought it was going to be,” Lott said. In a sign of frustration, he offered an unorthodox military solution: “If we have to, we just mow the whole place down, see what happens." informationclearinghouse.info

Turkey gives up on Iraq deployment October 30, 2003 Turkey's President  Ahmad Necdet Sezer considers the controversial issue of deploying Turkish troops in neighbouring Iraq as "closed." aljazeera.net

Bush press conference: the bigger the crisis, the bigger the lies October 30, 2003 By David Walsh and Barry Grey The contrast between rhetoric and reality reached new heights at the press conference held by President Bush October 28. It was Bush’s first news conference since July 30 and only the second since early March, several weeks prior to the invasion of Iraq. The conditions under which the event was held were indicative of the crisis atmosphere surrounding the White House. According to the New York Times, Bush decided to hold the press conference Tuesday morning, and it was announced publicly only 90 minutes before it was scheduled to begin. wsws.org

Sick soldiers wait for treatment October 30, 2003 By Mark Benjamin FORT KNOX More than 400 sick and injured soldiers, including some who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, are stuck at Fort Knox, waiting weeks and sometimes months for medical treatment, a score of soldiers said in interviews. upi.com

Angry, disillusioned and frustrated, families of some GIs seethe, doubt Bush October 30, 2003 By Judith Graham This war is not going the way they hoped it would. They are wives and husbands of the 129th Army Reserves Combat Transportation Company, stationed in Kansas, and they are terrified for spouses who are conducting missions in Iraq. A month ago, these family members launched a "bring our soldiers home" petition drive when the 129th Company's tour of duty was extended with no advance notice. smirkingchimp.com

Cheney's hawks 'hijacking policy' October 30, 2003 By Ritt Goldstein A former Pentagon officer turned whistleblower says a group of hawks in the Bush Administration, including the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, is running a shadow foreign policy, contravening Washington's official line. "What these people are doing now makes Iran-Contra [a Reagan administration national security scandal] look like amateur hour. . . it's worse than Iran-Contra, worse than what happened in Vietnam," said Karen Kwiatkowski, a former air force lieutenant-colonel. "[President] George Bush isn't in control . . . the country's been hijacked," she said, describing how "key [governmental] areas of neoconservative concern were politically staffed". smh.com.au

Ninth Circuit Rejects Constitutional Challenge to Touchscreen Voting October 30, 2003 By KENNETH OFGANG The use of touchscreen voting systems that lack a paper trial for audit purposes does not violate the due process or equal protection rights of individual voters, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday. metnews.com

U.S. Dissident Says Bush Needs Fear for Reelection October 30, 2003 By Anthony Boadle HAVANA (Reuters) - U.S. linguist and political dissident Noam Chomsky said on Wednesday that President Bush will have to "manufacture" another threat to American security to win reelection in 2004 after U.S failure in occupying Iraq. Chomsky, attending a Latin American social sciences conference in Cuba, said that since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the Bush administration had redefined U.S. national security policy to include the use of force abroad, with or without U.N. approval. reuters.com

‘Something’ felled an M1A1 Abrams tank in Iraq – but what? October 30, 2003 By John Roos Mystery behind Aug. 28 incident puzzles Army officials Shortly before dawn on Aug. 28, an M1A1 Abrams tank on routine patrol in Baghdad “was hit by something” that crippled the 69-ton behemoth. Army officials still are puzzling over what that “something” was. According to an unclassified Army report, the mystery projectile punched through the vehicle’s skirt and drilled a pencil-sized hole through the hull. The hole was so small that “my little finger will not go into it,” the report’s author noted. The “something” continued into the crew compartment, where it passed through the gunner’s seatback, grazed the kidney area of the gunner’s flak jacket and finally came to rest after boring a hole 1½ to 2 inches deep in the hull on the far side of the tank. As it passed through the interior, it hit enough critical components to knock the tank out of action. That made the tank one of only two Abrams disabled by enemy fire during the Iraq war and one of only a handful of “mobility kills” since they first rumbled onto the scene 20 years ago. The other Abrams knocked out this year in Iraq was hit by an RPG-7, a rocket-propelled grenade. Experts believe whatever it is that knocked out the tank in August was not an RPG-7 but most likely something new — and that worries tank drivers. armytimes.com

US develops lethal new viruses October 30, 2003 A scientist funded by the US government has deliberately created an extremely deadly form of mousepox, a relative of the smallpox virus, through genetic engineering. The new virus kills all mice even if they have been given antiviral drugs as well as a vaccine that would normally protect them. The work has not stopped there. The cowpox virus, which infects a range of animals including humans, has been genetically altered in a similar way. The new virus, which is about to be tested on animals, should be lethal only to mice, Mark Buller of the University of St Louis told New Scientist. He says his work is necessary to explore what bioterrorists might do. newscientist.com

Israel to erect separation wall along main road connecting Jerusalem with Ramallah October 30, 2003 By MIFTAH Building on occupied land is a grave violation of the Forth Geneva Convention which clearly states that an occupier should not make any changes to the land they occupy whether through building a wall or settlements. miftah.org

Bush vs. Facts, from the Institute for Public Accuracy October 30, 2003 Analysts are available to scrutinize some of President Bush's claims, including those from Tuesday's news conference, focusing on Iraq and the recent attacks there: BUSH: "I would assume that they're [the suicide bombers] either, or, and probably both Ba'athists and foreign terrorists." FACT: "There are a growing number of interviews with Iraqi resistance fighters that establish that many, perhaps most, of them are not Ba'athists and not foreigners. One interviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle said that he took up arms after the Fallujah massacre, in which U.S. troops fired into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators, killing 15," said Rahul Mahajan, author of the book "Full Spectrum Dominance: U.S. Power in Iraq and Beyond." unobserver.com

U.S. Congress rejects loans for Iraq October 30, 2003 By Vicki Allen U.S. congressional negotiators have rejected a plan to require repayment by Iraq of half of its U.S. aid package, backing President George W. Bush as they prepare a final $87 billion (51.2 billion pound) bill for Iraq and Afghanistan. The White House had threatened to veto the entire bill if Congress did not agree to give Iraq the nearly $20 billion devoted to reconstruction, rather than go along with a Senate-passed plan that would have turned half of that amount into loans to Iraq. Republicans from the Senate Appropriations Committee, including two who had supported loans in the full Senate, voted against including them in the final bill as House of Representatives and Senate conferees met to resolve differences in their versions of the bill. home.eircom.net

The Lincoln call October 30, 2003 We cannot honor the words of Lincoln – “government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth” – while our political system segregates us into those who can buy access and those who cannot. pcactionfund.org

Hunger deepens in the Northwest US October 29, 2003 By Hector Cordon The Northwest corner of the United States—the states of Washington and Oregon—has the highest percentage of hunger and unemployment in the nation. Recent data shows this situation worsening. Figures from the Oregon Food Bank’s latest report on hunger show that demand on its services has risen 10 percent in the last year and 82 percent since 1996. Growing by almost 75,000 in the last year, the number of children, elderly, unemployed or working poor forced to rely on emergency food boxes now stands at 780,000. Children account for 40 percent of those needing emergency food. wsws.org

Sun Hurls Huge Magnetic Cloud Toward Earth October 29, 2003 By Deborah Zabarenko The Sun hurled a huge cloud of charged particles at Earth on Tuesday, with an intensity that could affect satellites, power grids and pipelines when it reaches our planet, possibly as soon as Wednesday. The cloud, known to astronomers as a coronal mass ejection, is the strongest ever detected. The monstrous solar flare erupted from a big sunspot at about 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT) on Tuesday, sending the coronal mass ejection directly toward Earth at about 1,300 miles per second, about five times as fast as most coronal mass ejections, Brekke said. When that cloud of particles gets here -- perhaps by midday Wednesday but the exact arrival time is unclear -- it could have severe effects, Brekke said. reuters.co.uk

Even biggest firms now cut health insurance October 29, 2003 By Alexandra Marks  Some 32 percent of employees without health benefits work for large companies, up from 25 percent in 1987. The foundations of America's private health-insurance market appear to be slowly crumbling - not just for the poor, but also for working Americans accustomed to middle-class lifestyles. Large employers, which since World War II have provided comprehensive health insurance to most American workers, are scaling back coverage. In a few cases, they're doing away with it altogether. That's sparking labor unrest and swelling the ranks of the uninsured. In the 1960s, more than 80 percent of US workers had health insurance through their employers. Today, in the face of skyrocketing premiums, that's down to 62 percent. csmonitor.com

Up to 15,000 people killed in invasion, claims thinktank October 29, 2003 Suzanne Goldenberg As many as 15,000 Iraqis were killed in the first days of America's invasion and occupation of Iraq, a study produced by an independent US thinktank said yesterday. Up to 4,300 of the dead were civilian noncombatants. The report, by Project on Defence Alternatives, a research institute from Cambridge, Massachussets, offers the most comprehensive account so far of how many Iraqis died. guardian.co.uk

Saudi fighters ' join resistance' in Iraq October 29, 2003 By Shaista Aziz A leading Saudi dissident says thousands of fighters from the kingdom are embroiled in attacks against American occupation soldiers in Iraq. Dr Muhammad al-Massari, a political activist living in exile in London has told Aljazeera.net that resistance attacks in Iraq will continue to escalate in Baghdad. ''There are around 5000 mujahidin fighters from Saudi Arabia in Baghdad, and many others joining them from all over the Muslim and Arab world. informationclearinghouse.info

Ambushes in Iraq Wound Four U.S. Soldiers October 29, 2003 By SLOBODAN LEKIC Four American soldiers were wounded near the northern city of Mosul, the military said Tuesday, as U.S. officials urged aid groups to keep working in Iraq after suicide bombers struck the Red Cross headquarters and three police stations in Baghdad. guardian.co.uk

Diebold Warns on Electronic Voting Papers October 29, 2003 By RACHEL KONRAD Despite lawsuit threats from one of the nation's largest electronic voting machine suppliers, some activists are refusing to remove from Web sites internal company documents that they claim raise serious security questions. news.yahoo.com

European say U.S. should pay to rebuild Iraq October 29, 2003 Reuters Two-thirds of European Union citizens think the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was unjustified and the United States should pay to rebuild the country, an opinion poll taken for the European Commission shows. The survey, taken in all 15 EU member states in the run-up to last week's Iraq donors' conference in Madrid, found that most Europeans want the United Nations and Iraq's provisional government to manage the reconstruction effort, not Washington. reuters.co.uk

Swiss Backing of Peace Plan Irks Israel October 28, 2003 By JOSEF FEDERMAN The Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned a senior Swiss diplomat to protest Switzerland's backing for an informal Mideast peace plan reached by former Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, an official said Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Palestinian prime minister said efforts are underway to reach a cease-fire involving militant groups and Israel. Israel dismissed the truce talks. guardian.co.uk

Guerrillas of the Week October 29, 2003 The war against Diebold, the embattled electronic voting machine company, is heating up. Last week a group of Swarthmore College students launched a bold "electronic civil disobedience" campaign against the company. The students are risking retribution from the company and their college administrators by posting a now imfamous series of internal Diebold memos on school servers. guerrillanews.com

Not all of us Americans are evil October 29, 2003 Eric Schlosser I've spent time in Great Britain, on and off, for almost 30 years. These days the compliments are in short supply. I can't remember another time when having an American accent provoked as much immediate hostility from Brits of every race, creed, class, and sexual orientation. If you're an American, overseas, in the fall of 2003, you've got a lot to answer for. guardian.co.uk

Democrats debate in Detroit: No alternative to Bush’s program of war and reaction October 29, 2003 By Patrick Martin The latest debate among nine candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, held October 26 in Detroit, provided another demonstration that the Democratic Party is incapable of waging a serious struggle against the ultra-right policies of the Bush administration. wsws.org

Four Witnesses To Lynch 'Rescue' Killed Under Strange Circumstances It's Just A Coincidence... October 29, 2003 Picasso Dreams Petty Officer First Class David M. Tapper died of wounds received in Afghanistan. He took part in the rescue. Lance Cpl. Sok Khak Ung was killed in a drive-by shooting. He was also part of the rescue team. Spc Josh Daniel Speer died when his car went over an embankment for no apparent reason. He was part of the rescue team. Kyle Edward Williams, who worked in the same company as Lynch, died of "suicide". rense.com

The severed foot October 29, 2003 By Jen Banbury Yesterday's bombings left Iraqis scared, pissed off and just plain freaked out. They also left a grisly souvenir, which some giggling kids showed me in the tall grass. I had been at the site of yesterday's Red Cross bombing for about an hour when a boy tugged at my sleeve and asked, in Arabic, whether I wanted to see a foot. salon.com

Russia Ready to Vaporize the Jewish State And then kick America out of the Eastern Hemisphere’s oilfields October 29, 2003 By Joe Vialls “When the end finally comes for Israel, it will all be over in microseconds. Flying faster than rifle bullets, the Sunburns will approach Tel Aviv and Haifa at twice the speed of sound, detonating in blinding white 200 Kiloton flashes designed to instantly transform animal vegetable and mineral into heat and light.” joevialls.co.uk

Prominent Republican Challenges President Bush's Vow to "Uncover Every Detail" of September 11th Attacks October 28, 2003 Frustrated by Bush officials withholding key documents requested by the bipartisan Commission investigating the September 11th attack, 9-11 Commission chairman Thomas Kean, the former Republican Governor of New Jersey, is challenging President Bush's vow to "uncover every detail and learn every lesson of September 11th." Kean said yesterday, "Any document that has to do with this investigation cannot be beyond our reach." When he signed the legislation establishing the commission, Bush said, "[the] investigation should carefully examine all the evidence and follow all the facts, wherever they lead."³ But several members of the 9-11 Commission, both Democrats and Republicans, have expressed concern over the level of cooperation they are receiving from several executive branch agencies. misleader.org

Edwards warns of new Bush tax cut effort October 28, 2003 North Carolina Sen. John Edwards says that President Bush is planning a new round of tax cuts for the richest Americans, what amounts to a "war on work." Edwards said that the tax cuts, reportedly tripling the amount of money that could be saved tax-free, would further balloon already record budget deficits and exacerbate the gap between rich and poor. journalnow.com

Rocket strike shows new bravado October 28, 2003 TIM RIPLEY YESTERDAY’S brazen rocket attack on the Al Rashid hotel in Baghdad showed that the Iraqi resistance to the US-led occupation has dramatically increased the sophistication of its arsenal and has the confidence to use it in the very centre of the Iraqi capital. Initial reports suggest that a trailer-mounted battery of GRAD rockets, similar to those used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, were used in the attack that almost killed the US assistant secretary of defence, Paul Wolfowitz. The attackers set the rockets on a timer and then made their escape, in a form of hit-and-run strike the US army has not encountered in Iraq before. news.scotsman.com

An Empire of Widows and Orphans George Bush, the Anti-Family President October 28, 2003 By BILL KAUFFMAN Behold the perverse and heart-wrenchingly anti-family policies of Bush, Rumsfeld, and Cheney: Women reservists, young mothers of infants and small children, leave their families to go halfway 'round the world to act as cogs, expendable parts, in the machinery of the deeply anti-American Empire. And hearken to the silence of the courtiers and grant-grubbers of Establishment Conservatism, whose mingled nescience and cowardice testify to the gutlessness and wicked stupidity of what passes for the Right. counterpunch.org

Call Me a Bush-Hater October 28, 2003 Molly Ivins I not only remember eight years of relentless attacks from Clinton-haters, I also notice they haven't let up yet. Clinton-haters accused the man of murder, rape, drug-running, sexual harassment, financial chicanery, and official misconduct. And they accuse his wife of even worse. For eight long years, this country was a zoo of Clinton-haters. Any idiot with a big mouth and a conspiracy theory could get a hearing on radio talk shows and "Christian" broadcasts and nutty Internet sites. People with transparent motives, people paid by tabloid magazines, people with known mental problems, ancient Clinton enemies with notoriously racist pasts--all were given hearings, credence, and air time. Sliming Clinton was a sure road to fame and fortune on the right. progressive.org

Free Speech Kept Off US Streets October 28, 2003 by David Lindorff  When retired Pittsburgh steelworker Bill Neel learned that President George W. Bush was coming to town last year, he decided he would be on hand to protest the president's economic policies. Neel and his sister made a hand-lettered sign — The Bush family must surely love the poor! They have made so many of us! — and headed for a road where the motorcade would pass. But he never got to display his sign for Bush to see. As he stood among milling groups of Bush supporters, he was approached by a local police detective and told that he and his sister had to move to a "free-speech area" for protesters, on orders of the U.S. Secret Service.  "He pointed out a relatively remote baseball diamond that was enclosed in a chain-link fence," Neel recalls. "I could see these people behind the fence, with their faces up against it, and their hands on the wire. "It looked more like a concentration camp than a free-speech area to me, so I said, `I'm not going in there. I thought the whole country was a free-speech area.'" After refusing several times to go to the area, he was handcuffed and arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct. informationclearinghouse.info

Can you trust a liar? October 28, 2003 Curtis Doebbler Iran agrees to US demands over nuclear inspections, but this leap of faith may fall on stony ground in Washington. The world owes a debt of appreciation to the Iranian government for showing itself to be more respectful of international law than the United States government has been in recent memory. Iran has earned this appreciation by its sacrificial decision to allow inspections of its nuclear facilities and by agreeing to cease enriching uranium. Iran's action is an example to the world, but will it end up being the wrong example for countries trying to survive in a world ruled by American hegemony? ahram.org

Israel violating law says Annan October 28, 2003 UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last night accused Israel of violating international law in destroying three Gaza apartment towers and urged it to end actions making a Middle East peace deal harder to reach. Annan's condemnation came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sparked more Palestinian fury by granting "permanent settlement" status to several illegal outposts in the West Bank. gulf-daily-news.com

Looters in the White House October 28, 2003 by Liberez L'Ours Is it a rat I smell? No. Worse ... It is the aroma of the Bush Regime preparing to loot the USA as never before ... as never before even imagined! Here's the deal: "Fannie Mae" (FNM, Federal National Mortgage Association) and "Freddie Mac" (FRE, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) are pseudo-government agencies that fund mortgages in a big way. They are actually private companies but have the implicit backing of the US government and have parlayed that implicit backing into outstanding debts of $1.5 trillion dollars. unknownnews.net

There's a Catch: Jobs October 28, 2003 By BOB HERBERT The president tells us the economy is accelerating, and the statistics seem to bear him out. But don't hold your breath waiting for your standard of living to improve. Bush country is not a good environment for working families. In the real world, which is the world of families trying to pay their mortgages and get their children off to college, the economy remains troubled. While the analysts and commentators of the comfortable class are assuring us that the president's tax cuts and the billions being spent on Iraq have been good for the gross domestic product, the workaday folks are locked in a less sanguine reality. nytimes.com

Israel steps up its war against the Palestinians October 28, 2003 By Jean Shaoul The Sharon regime in Israel—secure in the knowledge that it has Washington’s unconditional support—has stepped up its military attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, occupied illegally since 1967. In the process, it has signalled its contempt for international conventions on human rights, the United Nations General Assembly, and indeed the formal strictures of the US-brokered “Road Map” for peace in the Middle East. wsws.org

Death of a town October 28, 2003 With ruthless efficiency, the Israeli army has been crushing and rocketing the Palestinian refugee town of Rafah in a manner which rivals the destruction of Jenin last year. But it is all in the name of stopping terrorism so the international community has remained silent. Chris McGreal reports guardian.co.uk

Israeli army destroys 3 multi-story apartment buildings in Gaza; 2,000 homeless October 28, 2003 The Israeli occupation army at around 2:30 am dynamited three multi-story apartment buildings in the central Gaza Strip, leaving more than 2,000 people homeless. The wanton destruction of the 13-story buildings was carried out as Gazans were celebrating the advent of the holy month of Ramadan. arabmediawatch.com

Looting Iraq by Executive Order October 28, 2003 by Stephen Kerr George W. Bush is a thief. On May 22, 2003 President Bush issued Executive Order 13303, “Protecting the Development Fund for Iraq.” This order invoked the “National Emergency Act” to effectively seize Iraqi oil and oil revenues, ostensibly to ensure they are spent on “Iraqi reconstruction.” But that’s not the way this Order has been used, or the funds spent. zmag.org

Ex-POWs fight for right to torture payments October 28, 2003 By Miles Benson The Bush administration is quietly piling up victories in a legal battle to block payments to 17 U.S. combat veterans who were captured and tortured in the first Persian Gulf War and won a lawsuit against Iraq for nearly a billion dollars. The former POWs — whipped, beaten, burned, electrically shocked and starved by their Iraqi captors in 1991 — say they are baffled by the administration's refusal to let them collect any of the Iraqi assets now under U.S. control, and by the Justice Department's efforts to overturn a federal-court decision upholding their claims to compensation. informationclearinghouse.info

US outrage over Wolfowitz jibe October 28, 2003 Beirut AN influential Lebanese politician and leader of its Druze community triggered US outrage today when he expressed regret US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was unhurt in a Baghdad rocket attack. "We hope the firing will be more precise and efficient (next time), so we get rid of this microbe and people like him in Washington who are spreading disorder in Arab lands, Iraq and Palestine," Walid Jumblatt said in a statement. news.com.au

Al-Qaeda, Taliban now better organised in Afghanistan: Report October 28, 2003 India Americans and their Afghan allies are coming under increasing attacks from Taliban and Al-Qaeda, who are now better organised and well armed, a media report said on Monday. Despite the presence of 8,500 American troops in the country, the influence of Al-Qaeda and Taliban is spreading, Time magazine reports in its latest issue. hindustantimes.com

Want to Be Interviewed on the Radio? Well, Just Pay Up October 28, 2003 by Jacques Steinberg The caller to Joanne Doroshow's office last month described himself as working for Sky Radio Network, a company that produces programming for Forbes Radio, one of the audio channels available to passengers on American Airlines. As the executive director of the Center for Justice and Democracy, a nonprofit organization that casts itself as a champion of consumer rights, Ms. Doroshow was asked if she would be interviewed for a talk show examining the issue of tort reform. When Ms. Doroshow agreed, she said, the caller informed her that it would cost her organization $5,900 to have its point of view heard. When Ms. Doroshow balked, she said, the caller offered to see if it could be reduced to $3,500. "I was furious,'' Ms. Doroshow said. "I thought this was another way corporations are dominating what people hear, and are getting only their side presented because they're willing to pay for it.'' commondreams.org

Monsters In Our Midst - The US, Britain, & Israel October 28, 2003 By John Kaminski Sometimes, after a long storm, the wind eventually blows the clouds away, and the sunlight shines through, revealing a familiar landscape that has never looked so different to us, which comes as a tragic and emotional shock when we realize the time we've squandered refusing to see the beauty right in front of us and the lives we've wasted believing things that in this new light of day we now know for certain were not true. As I have said many times before in an inarticulate and unformed way, the great tragedy of the 9/11/2001 debacle - in which thousands of Americans lost their lives in a cynical stratagem designed to increase the bloody profits of the weapons makers - was a failure to see how this evil pattern of treason from within was actually the design template of American political behavior throughout the 20th century. rense.com

Pentagon repositioning for decades-long war on terror October 27, 2003 MATT KELLEY Given the chance to talk to the defense secretary, one solider from the 101st Airborne Division asked what was on the minds of many: When will the worldwide fight against terrorism be over? "I mean, should I get my 3-year-old ready for air assault school?" the soldier asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld during an Iraq tour last month. "I wish I could give you a date, but I can't," Rumsfeld said. Privately, administration officials have said for months that they see the anti-terrorism fight as a decades-long struggle similar to the Cold War that dominated the second half of the 20th century. sfgate.com

'A second Bush term? Simply unfathomable' October 27, 2003 By D.G. Bowman How could such a thing happen? How could this incurious fraud get another four years (unless it's behind bars)? It defies the norms of civility and reasonableness. It beggars the imagination. Yet the possibility hovers above us, terrifyingly so. Does the deadly (not to mention immoral and illegal) occupation of Iraq mean nothing? Does the looting of the Treasury send no signal? Does the breathtaking assault on our air and water and natural spaces fail to resonate? There's plenty to be alarmed about, and there's plenty of ammunition, but not enough bells are jangling. SmirkingChimp.com

Tens of thousands in Washington demand end to US occupation of Iraq October 27, 2003 By Bill Vann Tens of thousands of people from throughout the East Coast and as far away as Wisconsin, Maine and Florida demonstrated in Washington, D.C., October 25 to demand an end to the US occupation of Iraq. Students, workers and a sizable contingent of family members of soldiers (See: Families of soldiers condemn Bush's war) deployed in the Iraqi occupation participated in a rally in the shadow of the Washington Monument and a march that wound its way around the White House. wsws.org

Attack drives U.S. forces from Baghdad HQ Oct. 27, 2003 By Charles J. Hanley | BAGHDAD The U.S. occupation authority retreated from its headquarters after Iraqi insurgents attacked the heavily guarded hotel with a missile barrage that killed an American colonel, wounded 18 people and sent the visiting U.S. deputy defense secretary scurrying for safety. The bold blow at the heart of the U.S. presence here clearly rattled U.S. confidence that it is defeating Iraq's shadowy insurgents. Paul Wolfowitz, the shaken-looking but unhurt Pentagon deputy, said the strike Sunday against the Al Rasheed Hotel, from nearly point-blank range, "will not deter us from completing our mission" in Iraq. salon.com

White House accused of stalling 9-11 probe October 27, 2003 Members of both parties are accusing the White House of stonewalling the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by blocking its demands for documents despite threats of a subpoena. "I call on the White House to turn over the documents they are withholding from the independent commission - and do it now," Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., co-author of the legislation that created the independent commission, said Sunday. seattlepi.nwsource.com

Factory job losses: trouble for Bush? October 27, 2003 Schuldt, owner of Butler Wire & Metal Products, Inc., in this Milwaukee suburb, had to lay off 19 of her plant's 49 employees after her customers began buying welded-wire baskets from Chinese suppliers who could deliver finished products for less than she was paying for raw materials. She had plenty of company among fellow factory owners and workers: The exodus from America's factories is responsible for 2.6 million U.S. jobs lost since President Bush took office. And that could have political ramifications as people such as Schuldt share their pain in the voting booth. chinapost.com

Israel a Danger October 27, 2003 By Charley Reese What country in the Middle East occupies the lands of other people? What country in the Middle East is in violation of more than 60 United Nations resolutions? What country in the Middle East openly practices a policy of assassinating its political opponents? What country in the Middle East routinely violates international law? What country in the Middle East possesses nuclear weapons, refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and refuses to allow international inspection of its nuclear facilities? The answer to all of the above is Israel. thetruthseeker.co.uk

Life Under A Censored Mass Media October 27, 2003 By Jim Marrs It was surprising and sometimes consternating to find that notwithstanding the opportunities I had to learn the facts and despite one's inherent distrust of what one learned from [government] sources, a steady diet over the years of falsifications and distortions made a certain impression on one's mind and often mislead it. No one who has not lived for years in a totalitarian land can possibly conceive how difficult it is to escape the dread consequences of a regime's calculated and incessant propaganda. rense.com

Pentagon Wants 'Mini-Nukes' To Fight Terrorists October 27, 2003 By Julian Coman Influential advisers at the Pentagon are backing the development of a new generation of low-yield nuclear weapons - so-called mini-nukes - in a controversial report to be published this autumn. The document, entitled Future Strategic Strike Force, has been produced by the Defence Science Board, which has a Pentagon brief to "transform the nation's armed forces to meet the demands placed on them by a changing world order". rense.com

Cutting Greenhouse Gases, or Not October 27, 2003 By ANDREW C. REVKIN In the international debate over how to deal with global warming, the United States and China occupy center stage. The United States has long been the dominant producer of carbon dioxide emissions and the other heat-trapping greenhouse gases associated with rising temperatures. China still lags far behind in total emissions, but its vast population and rapid rate of economic growth put it high on experts' lists of future sources of the warming gases. India is not too far behind. China is rapidly increasing its consumption of coal and oil to fuel an ever more electrified and mobile society. India is experiencing a similar energy surge for similar reasons, and like China, it hopes rapid growth will help to reduce widespread poverty. nytimes.com

Republicans - Please Take Back Your Party October 26, 2003 by Thom Hartmann Today's so-called Republicans have established a mind-numbing record at polluting the environment; bloating government; appointing crony partisans; pushing the nation into debt to fund tax cuts for the rich; legislatively catering to the world's largest corporations; opposing women's rights; kneecapping states, local communities, and schools; eviscerating constitutional protections of liberty at home; and devastating our nation's reputation abroad. thepeoplesvoice.org

US support for Bush drops: poll October 26, 2003 A Newsweek poll carried out this week shows support in the United States for President George W Bush is waning. The weekly magazine reports that 58 per cent of Americans think the United States is spending too much on the reconstruction of Iraq. The poll also shows that voters were almost equally divided over Mr Bush personally, with 46 per cent in favour of his re-election and 47 against. The poll's editor, Kel Dougherty, says the number of Americans wanting the troops home is steadily climbing. abc.net

9/11 panel threatens to subpoena White House October 26, 2003 BY PHILIP SHENON October 26, 2003 The chairman of the federal commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks said the White House was continuing to withhold several highly classified intelligence documents from the panel and that he was prepared to subpoena the documents if they were not turned over within weeks. twincities.com

Thieves Like Us October 26, 2003 By Chris Floyd For although the cadres -- and the media commentariat -- have thrown up a dust storm of grandiose moral, strategic and ideological "reasons" for the war, each passing week brings new proof that the whole murderous farrago boils down to one thing: loot. "Follow the money" -- Deep Throat's abiding Suttonian wisdom -- is definitely the key to penetrating the grubby mysteries of the Bushist cargo cult. Let's begin by following the money from the mounting pile of dead bodies in Iraq to the silk lining of Dick Cheney's trouser pockets. informationclearinghouse.info

Venezuela: The Great Oil Grab: October 26, 2003 By Daurius Figueira arget Hugo Chavez In November 2001 President Hugo Chavez-Frias of Venezuela passed fifty laws, one of which was the Hydro Carbon Law. These fifty laws were the catalyst for the launch of the covert/ overt strategy to remove President Higo Chavez-Frias from state power by any means necessary. informationclearinghouse.info

Bush's rebuke for comment about Jews is "biggest lie of all" October 26, 2003 Malaysia, KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has repeated his claim that Jews rule the world, and accused U.S. President George W. Bush of lying if he said he rebuked Mahathir for the comment. Mahathir and Bush met briefly last week on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim leaders' summit, a few days after the Malaysian leader caused a furor by saying in a speech that "Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them." Speaking to reporters later, Bush said he told Mahathir the remarks were "divisive and unnecessary" and made clear that he found them "reprehensible." Mahathir denies Bush reprimanded him. "I'm now told that Bush said he rebuked me," Mahathir was quoted as saying in the New Sunday Times newspaper. "That is the biggest lie of all." highmarkfunds.stockpoint.com

Congress, Rumsfeld at odds on Army October 26, 2003 By Jonathan S. Landay Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and the Republican-led Congress are locking horns over how to relieve the stresses on the U.S. Army caused by the occupation of Iraq, the war on terrorism, and many smaller operations that are stretching the all-volunteer force to the limit. philly.com

'Military: Iraqi Detainee Was Strangled October 25, 2003 By MICHELLE MORGANTE A Baath Party official who died in a detention camp in southern Iraq suffocated after a U.S. Marine reservist grabbed him by the neck and snapped a bone in his throat, according to a military investigation. An autopsy found that Nagem Sadoon Hatab's death on June 6 was caused by "strangulation/asphyxiation," Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Dan Rawson said Wednesday. Hatab suffered a broken hyoid bone, a U-shaped bone that supports the tongue. customwire.ap

Fox Attacks CBS, Tries to Persuade Viewers to Stop Watching October 25, 2003 by Rob Kall The "Fair and Balanced" Fox network has blasted CBS for it's portrayal of Ronald Reagan in a Docudrama. Fox uses talking heads to slam CBS, clearly suggesting to the Fox viewers that the solution to the "problem" of an other than mindlessly worshipful portrayal of a conservative president is to boycott the network. They say that CBS will be hurt by the 30% of conservatives who will respond to this horrific affront to conservatives by no longer watching the network. Of course this makes me want to watch the CBS special. It makes me want to let other kindred spirits on the left know about this vicious, aggressive attempt by Fox to damage the viewership of CBS. opednews.com

Bush Drops Opposition To Building Of Barrier Fence Gains Nod As Road Map Dies October 25, 2003 By ORI NIR The Bush administration has abandoned its opposition to Israel's construction of a security fence in the West Bank, easing a major point of tension between Washington and Jerusalem in recent months, according to pro-Israel activists in Washington, Palestinian diplomats and sources close to the Bush administration. forward.com

CHENEY CAUGHT IN YET ANOTHER LIE October 25, 2003 18 to 87 million invested in the Vanguard Group One of the 10 largest Shareholders in Halliburton - holdings worth 176 million dollars Last week Bushist minions called on critics to issue a formal apology to the poor maligned unelected multimillionaire war profiteer (and former business partner of Saddam Hussein). It is ludicrous to assume the fact that Cheney's insured deferred earnings and any profits from 400,000 stock options going to charity clears the Veep from profiting on Halliburton's success. He still will own the stock options at the end of his term and any increase in their value accrues directly to him. But the sad incontrovertible fact is that Halliburton is using a back door to fill its former chief's coffers with millions in blood money pumped directly from the corpses of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. rushlimbaughtomy

Targeting Diebold with Electronic Civil Disobedience October 25, 2003 by Why War? How to get the files: Note that the location of the documents may change, but this page will always have the current links — if nothing else, you can read some excerpts. Browse the documents: http://why-war.com/readmemos Search the documents: http://why-war.com/searchmemos Archived file (tarred and gzipped): here, here BitTorrent: here EDonkey/Overnet: here EDU Hosts for Archive: USC, MIT, Purdue, University of Texas‒Pan American Please e-mail info@why-war.com if you are willing to publicly mirror the files (either the archive or the full text); contact web@why-war.com to report broken links. We are especially interested in hearing from individuals at other educational institutions. Please note that due to overwhelming volume, we will attempt to keep the links up to date but may not respond to specific e-mails of this type. http://why-war.com/features/2003/10/diebold.html

Bush campaign sends letter unlawfully seeking contribution October 25, 2003 BY TODD J. GILLMAN As head of a $7 billion corporation, it's not surprising that Kathy Frost would get a fund-raising letter from the Bush presidential campaign. But the corporation is the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, she's an Army general, the letter went to her military office in Dallas - and she's married to a Democratic congressman. "It's against the law for President Bush to solicit contributions from an active duty Army general at her office," said Tom Eisenhauer, spokesman for the general's husband, Rep. Martin Frost of Arlington, Texas. bradenton.com

Unprecedented security cocoon for Bush’s Australian visit October 25, 2003 By Terry Cook and Mike Head United States President George W Bush’s fleeting visit to Australia this week took place behind unprecedented levels of security. Thousands of armed police, soldiers and US security personnel practically “locked down” the capital city to ensure that ordinary people would not get near enough to Bush to voice any opposition to his administration’s criminal war on Iraq. wsws.org

Major media spread coverage of Bush-Nazi nexus' October 24, 2003 By Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis US Senator Robert Byrd, on the floor of Congress, on October 17, has explicitly compared the Bush media operation to that run by Herman Goering, mastermind of the Nazi putsch against the German people. On the same day, the Associated Press ran a national story linking Prescott Bush to Adolf Hitler. The lead read: "President Bush's grandfather was a director of a bank seized by the federal government because of its ties to a German industrialist who helped bankroll Adolf Hitler's rise to power, government documents show." That night, CNN ran a "streamer" on the bottom of its all-news programming confirming that "declassified documents show Prescott Bush connections to Nazi finance." smirkingchimp.com

$82 BILLION STOLEN FROM SOCIAL SECURITY October 24, 2003 By: Ed Henry In fiscal 2003 that just ended, Social Security produced an $81.8 billion surplus. This was an overcharge paid by American workers in payroll taxes, extra money that the Social Security Administration did not need in order to meet all of its obligations to the currently retired and disabled. It is profit that could have been either refunded or invested properly so that it might have the chance to grow and provide better benefits for future retirees. But that's not what happened. Congress and the Bush administration stole this $82 billion. You might prefer to call it something more polite, like embezzlement, but it was outright theft. etherzone.com

Pentagon set to deploy 30,000 GIs Reservists October 24, 2003 would join Guard brigades replacing troops currently in Iraq. After failing to attract large numbers of foreign peacekeepers to Iraq, the Pentagon is drawing up plans to rotate in as many as 30,000 more reservists early next year, despite growing worries in Congress about strains on the force, defense officials said Tuesday. sfgate.com

'The Bush Manufacturing Crisis' October 24, 2003 The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) today released a new report examining what is becoming a key critical issue for the 2004 elections -- the sudden and dramatic decline of manufacturing jobs in the United States. In The Bush Manufacturing Crisis, PPI Vice President Dr. Robert D. Atkinson assesses the loss of so many manufacturing jobs, evaluates President Bush's ineffectual and often detrimental actions, ndol.org

Iraq: the missing billions October 24, 2003 Report Christian Aid A staggering US$4 billion in oil revenues and other Iraqi funds earmarked for the reconstruction of the country has disappeared into opaque bank accounts administered by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), the US-controlled body that rules Iraq. By the end of the year, if nothing changes in the way this cash is accounted for, that figure will double. electroniciraq.net

GOP to put challengers in black voting precincts October 24, 2003 By SHELDON S. SHAFER Critics call strategy intimidation  Jefferson County Republicans intend to place Election Day challengers at 59 voting precincts in predominantly black neighborhoods, a move that NAACP leaders yesterday called blatant intimidation. The GOP election workers, most of whom live outside the targeted precincts in western and central Louisville, Portland and Newburg, will be on hand to challenge voters who they suspect aren't eligible. courier-journal.com

Lawmakers Say Chavez Tape Proves CIA Plot October 24, 2003 By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Lawmakers allied with President Hugo Chavez showed a videotape Wednesday which they claim was evidence the CIA was working with Venezuelan dissidents to overthrow the government. guardian.co.uk

Road to ruin October 24, 2003 America produces a quarter of the world's carbon dioxide emissions, the population has risen by 100 million since 1970 and when an area three times the size of Britain was recently opened up for mining, drilling, logging and road building, no one took much notice. What does the Bush administration do? It ignores all attempts to curb environmental damage. In a major investigation that took him from the Salton Sea in California to Crooked Creek in Florida, Matthew Engel reports on how America is ravaging the planet. guardian.co.uk

Scientists find major mercury emissions in Yellowstone October 24, 2003 By MIKE STARK The hissing and huffing hillsides of Roaring Mountain in Yellowstone National Park are doing more than just blowing off a little steam. Scientists measuring mercury levels in the park last month were stunned by what they found near the base of the mountain: probably the highest levels of mercury at an undisturbed natural area that has ever been recorded scientifically. “I looked at it and did a double take,” Mike Abbott, a scientist with Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, said Tuesday. “I thought my instrument was busted.” montanaforum.com

Bolivia's Protests of Hope October 24, 2003 by Jimmy Langman  Gringo dictador, andate a Washington," was the chant in the streets of tens of thousands of Bolivians. It was directed at their now ex-president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, who resigned last week under immense pressure from the protesters. Translation: Foreign dictator, go back to Washington. thenation.com

Students Fight E-Vote Firm October 24, 2003 By Kim Zetter A group of students at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania has launched an "electronic civil disobedience" campaign against voting machine maker Diebold Election Systems. The students are protesting efforts by Diebold to prevent them and other website owners from linking to some 15,000 internal company memos that reveal the company was aware of security flaws in its e-voting software for years but sold the faulty systems to states anyway. The memos were leaked to voting activists and journalists by a hacker who broke into an insecure Diebold FTP server in March. wired.com

Merck posts flat earnings, to cut 4,400 jobs October 24, 2003 By Jed Seltzer NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Drugmaker Merck & Co. Inc. on Wednesday posted roughly flat third-quarter earnings, falling short of expectations, and said it would cut 4,400 jobs to reduce costs. forbes.com

Fed official: Jobs permanently gone October 24, 2003 Richmond Federal Reserve President Alfred Broaddus said Monday many of the U.S. jobs cut in recent years are gone permanently because of economic changes. msnbc.com

US Senate Votes Itself Another Pay Raise October 24, 2003 The US Senate has voted to give itself a pay raise for the fifth straight year. The roughly $3,400 increase will boost the annual salary for lawmakers to about $158,000 at the start of next year. The Senate voted 60-34 against an effort to block the increase. As in prior years, Wisconsin senator Russ Feingold opposed the raise. He says that with the economy still struggling and many Americans facing financial woes, it's the "wrong time" for Congress to give itself a pay hike. kyw1060.com

You May Justifiably Want to Take Friday Off October 24, 2003 by Mark Engler On Friday, a small but growing number of Americans will celebrate "Take Back Your Time Day," calling out of work to honor the vacation they don't have. This peculiar holiday was organized by a committee of economists and nonprofit advocates in response to the fact that, as a society, we are working more than ever before. Come Friday, if our country's work load were on a par with the rest of the industrialized world, you would have the rest of 2003 off. When compared with workers in Western Europe, the average American will work 350 hours more per year, the equivalent of nine extra weeks. Furthermore, a study by the International Labor Organization reports that in 2000, the average U.S. worker put in 199 more hours than in 1973. commondreams.org

Don't Let the Port of Miami Keep Greenpeace Out October 24, 2003 Greenpeace wants to bring our ship, the Esperanza, to the Port of Miami for supplies and to bring people from the Miami area on board to discuss our efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest. But the Port of Miami is refusing us entry because John Ashcroft's Justice Department is prosecuting Greenpeace for a protest action last year. The New York Times has reported that this prosecution is "unusual and questionable." We intend to be exonerated. Don't let the Port of Miami keep Greenpeace out and silence our voices. Contact the authorities in Miami and tell them that they should allow the Esperanza to dock in Miami! greenpeaceusa.org

White House bans news coverage of coffins returning from Iraq October 23, 2003 By Bill Vann The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Bush administration has ordered the Pentagon to prevent any news coverage of the bodies of US troops being sent home from Iraq. The blackout on casualties is part of the attempt by the White House to recast the nightmare in Iraq as a “good news” story. wsws.org

FOR PAST MONTH US HAS LOCKED UP ALL MEN IN IRAQ VILLAGE IN CONCENTRATION CAMP October 23, 2003 HAMZA HENDAWI Antichrist stormtroopers in helicopters swooped down on this remote sheepherding village in the desert and secretly imprisoned nearly all the men in a concentration camp (one as old as 81, one as young as 13) and THEN robbed every house of its cash and gold jewelry. A month after the attack, only two of the 79 captives have been freed. No word yet on whether the men's gold fillings have also been removed. indymedia.org / guardian.co.uk

US Commander in Iraq Says Attacks on US Troops Increasing October 23, 2003 The commander of U.S. ground forces in Iraq is reporting an increase in attacks on American troops. General Sanchez told reporters in Baghdad Wednesday that U.S. troops have come under attack as many as 35 times a day in the past three weeks, with an average of 20 to 25 attacks each day. He also said he expects the strikes to become more aggressive, radical and organized as U.S.-led coalition forces continue to search for deposed leader Saddam Hussein and his loyalists. At least five U.S. soldiers were wounded Wednesday in attacks on military convoys in Baghdad and towns west of the capital. voanews.com

Support Our Troops? Bullshit! October 23, 2003 by Patricia Ernest Remember back before the war, when all those in the cheering squad were yelling, "Let's go to war.  Let's take over a country so we'll feel macho.  Let's send our troops overseas and get bunches of them killed.  Let's be damned good patriots." Let's make the American flag stand for war and not peace." and all that other bull they thought sounded soooooo American?  Remember how that same group looked at the "no war" folks and  yelled, "You guys are traitors and you aren't Americans and you don't support our troops? opednews.com

AMERICA'S JOBLESS ECONOMIC "RECOVERY" October 23, 2003 by Tom Flocco Quietly and under the radar screen, U.S. Senators and Congressmen--supposedly elected to look out for the job interests of their American constituent families--are acting more like the representatives of foreign countries and U.S. corporations. This, while top executives reap outrageous personal compensation, benefits and stock options--the new-found money emanating from exportation of American jobs to cheap-labor countries, or suspect importation of foreign workers to lay-off even more Americans. tomflocco.com

Anti-war senators heckle Bush October 23, 2003 Two senators opposed to the US-led war in Iraq have heckled the American president as he spoke to Australia's Parliament. Green Party members, Senator Bob Brown and Senator Kerry Nettle, were ordered out of the chamber, but refused to leave. The son of a terror suspect being held by US authorities at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba was removed from the public gallery. Brown was the first to interrupt Bush. When Bush paid tribute to Australia for promoting peace in Southeast Asia, Brown shouted: "But we are not a sheriff." It was a reference to Bush's recent comment that Australia was a "lawman in the war on terror." ananova.com

Cover-Up Alleged in Probe of USS Liberty October 23, 2003 By JENNIFER C. KERR A former Navy attorney who helped lead the military investigation of the 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty that killed 34 American servicemen says former President Lyndon Johnson and his defense secretary, Robert McNamara, ordered that the inquiry conclude the incident was an accident. news.yahoo.com

Jewish Groups Want Stronger Reaction to Malaysian PM's Comments October 23, 2003 Julie Stahl Jewish groups, outraged at comments made by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, want to see the international community take a stronger stand against the blatant anti-Semitism. Speaking in Malaysia last week, Mahathir told a gathering of Muslim leaders that Jews "rule this world by proxy" and that Muslims should be able to "stop to think, to assess our weaknesses and our strength, to plan, to strategize and then to counter-attack" in order to defeat the Jews. crosswalk.com

Israeli jets roar over Lebanon despite UN warning October 23, 2003 BEIRUT Israeli warplanes roared across Lebanon on Wednesday breaking the sound barrier over the northern city of Tripoli, witnesses said, despite a United Nations call to Israel last week to stop overflights. http://famulus.msnbc.com

What's Really Going On In Iraq October 23, 2003 By Bernice Powell Jackson If what I am reading is really true, then what is going on in Iraq should be of great concern to the U.S. Congress and to each and every American, whether you supported the war in Iraq or not. If what I am reading is really true, then some folks need to be doing some prison time, because it's a crime. informationclearinghouse.info

Keep God out of White House October 22, 2003 Ryan Sabalow The most dangerous force our country faces right now doesn't come from the threat of international terrorism. It comes from evangelical Christian fanatics connected to the White House, like Army Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin. orion-online.net

Israel ignores UN condemnation of 'security fence' October 23, 2003 By Justin Huggler in Jerusalem The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly yesterday to condemn the "separation fence" Israel is building in the West Bank, and to demand that the project be brought to a halt. independent.co.uk

Indymedia fights Diebold's legal attempt to silence discussions about e-voting October 23, 2003 Documents are publicly available that detail vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines manufactured by the Diebold Corporation. Diebold has been sending cease and desist letters to internet service providers (ISPs) that host the documents or links to them. Numerous Indymedia servers have been targeted by Diebold in its campaign to suppress this critical information. Indymedia will defend its right to post internal memos and documents detailing vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines manufactured by the Diebold Corporation. The documents were made publicly available, and subsequently reported by writer Bev Harris on her websites blackboxvoting.com and blackboxvoting.org. http://indymedia.org/

Woman Sentenced for Giving Girls for Sex October 23, 2003 By MATT APUZZO The prostitute who provided her pre-teen daughter and niece to former Waterbury Republican Mayor Phil Giordano for sex was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal prison. newsday.com

Federal surplus $7 billion last year October 23, 2003 OTTAWA The federal government's coffers brimmed with a surplus of $7 billion for the last fiscal year, Finance Minister John Manley reported Wednesday. The entire surplus will go to pay down the national debt. cbc.ca

Hagel Says Bush Has Too Much Leeway October 23, 2003 Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) is strongly criticizing Congress, saying it gave President Bush too much latitude in conducting foreign policy after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."When the security of this nation is threatened, Congress and the American people give the president great latitude," he said. "We probably have given this president more flexibility, more latitude, more range, unquestioned, than any president since Franklin Roosevelt -- probably too much. The Congress, in my opinion, really abrogated much of its responsibility." washingtonpost.com

Protesters to Bush: How Dare You? October 23, 2003 by Claire O'Rourke Senator Bob Brown of the Greens was greeted with wild cheers and applause before he called on Mr Bush to release two Australians held in the US military jail in Cuba. "How dare you lock up Australian citizens in Guantanamo Bay?" Senator Brown said. commondreams.org

Vacation Starvation October 23, 2003 Joe Robinson "How do Americans do it?" asked the stunned Australian. He had zinc oxide and a twisted-up look of absolute bafflement on his face, as we spoke on a remote Fijian shore. I'd seen that expression before, on German, Swiss and British travelers. It was the kind of amazement that might greet someone who had survived six months at sea in a rowboat. The feat he was referring to is how Americans manage to live with the stingiest vacations in the industrialized world - 8.1 days after a year on the job, 10.2 days after three years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Aussie, who took every minute of his five weeks off each year - four of them guaranteed by law - just couldn't fathom a ration of only one or two weeks of freedom a year. "I'd have to check myself into the loony bin," he declared. arena.org

Grenada detainees still in jail, 20 years on October 23, 2003 Julian Borger As Washington prepares special commissions to judge inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, 17 prisoners sentenced in controversial circumstances by a similar US-financed tribunal in nearby Grenada are marking two decades in jail. guardian.co.uk

Twilight's Last Gleaming October 23, 2003 By Dom Stasi "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, it expects what never was and never will be..." But not even Jefferson's fecund imagination could have dreamed that, in the end, the high office his genius helped create would degenerate into the instrument of exploitation and peril against which he had warned over two centuries ago. Never would Jefferson's worst nightmares have foretold that his republic of the people, by the people and for the people would meet what might well be its end at the hands of a simple-minded, impossibly inadequate, arrogantly corrupt successor to the very office his own tenure so brilliantly served: that of the President of the United States. informationclearinghouse.info

Sharon's main plan is to capture more land October 22, 2003 Patrick Seale Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his friends in Washington are in a hurry. They are racing to achieve their objectives before anyone stops them. And when they are in a hurry, they are particularly dangerous. Syria and Iran are in their sights, with further down the road Saudi Arabia, and even Egypt. Political and economic pressure, financial penalties, sanctions, intervention, regime change by military force, these are their chosen instruments for bending the Arabs to the will of Israel and its United States patron. thetruthseeker.co.uk

U.S. involved in Bolivian government's response to protests October 22, 2003 by Frances Robles At least 80 protesters were shot dead by military LA PAZ, Bolivia — The American Embassy did not direct the Bolivian military on how to respond to violent protests last week but did allow the air force to use U.S.-funded anti-narcotics planes during the crisis, the ambassador said Monday. The embassy has come under fire for unsubstantiated reports in the alternative press that accuse U.S. military officials of calling the shots last week when the Bolivian military and police repressed civil disturbances, killing dozens of people. unknownnews.net

Human Rights Watch Documents 20 Civilian Deaths in Postwar Baghdad; Dozens More Reported October 22, 2003 by Karen Matthews A human rights organization says it has confirmed 20 civilian deaths under questionable circumstances in Baghdad since May 1, when President Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, and has received credible reports of dozens more. In a report released late Monday, Human Rights Watch also accused the U.S. military of failing to conduct proper investigations into excessive or indiscriminate use of force in the Iraqi capital. commondreams.org

SENATORS CASTIGATE ASHCROFT FOR FAILURE TO APPEAR October 22, 2003 At a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, Sen. Ted Kennedy and others blasted Attorney General John Ashcroft for not appearing to be questioned about the Patriot Act. Kennedy said that the Justice Department officials who were appearing at the hearing, just "like the Attorney General," insist on defending "extreme measures, which may well threaten basic freedoms more than they prevent acts of terrorism." rumormillnews.com

Veterins Letter To President Bush October 22, 2003 Stephen Coder I have watched the direction that you and your Administration are taking this nation and I have been recoiling in horror. You and your Attorney General are one by one eroding the freedoms that so many of us have fought and died for. You have turned most of the Free World against us and destroyed the respect most of the people on this planet held for this country. You claim to be a Christian and a man of honor, if that were so then the only honorable thing that you could do is order the resignation of nearly all of your appointees and decline to run again for any public office. But we both know you are not a man of honor, and we both know that you are not a Christian either. Christ must retch every time he hears you refer to your self as one. vaiw.org

GW Bush And The Veterans October 22, 2003 By Sam Hamod It is interesting that President GW Bush fled and went AWOL when called upon to serve his country in the military. But this has not stopped him from dozens of photo ops with military jackets and paraphernalia on-as if he is a true warrior. This all pales when we hear of the appalling conditions of military men and their families at Camp Pendleton in California, now this latest scandal of sick, wounded U.S. troops being held in squalor in Ft. Stewart, Georgia while GW Bush runs around the world bragging about his military and how they are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq-yet it's Bush who has cut the funding and wants to cut more funding to military hospitals. rense.com

Curtains Ordered for Media Coverage of Returning Coffins October 22, 2003 By Dana Milbank Since the end of the Vietnam War, presidents have worried that their military actions would lose support once the public glimpsed the remains of U.S. soldiers arriving at air bases in flag-draped caskets. To this problem, the Bush administration has found a simple solution: It has ended the public dissemination of such images by banning news coverage and photography of dead soldiers' homecomings on all military bases. washingtonpost.com

The Fabulous War On Terror Flim Flam October 22, 2003 David Martin All good magicians know the secret of a successful trick is misdirection. Get the audience to focus on your right hand while the left palms the coin to be pulled out of a dazzled on-looker's ear. This is the principle behind George Bush's callously cynical misadventure in Iraq. It's a war based on misdirection and deception, and we are the rubes in the audience who are being duped by the charlatan's smoke and mirrors. informationclearinghouse.info

The betrayal of the whistle-blowers October 22, 2003 By Eric Boehlert Thanks to a glaring legal loophole and a hostile Justice Department, a federal employee who revealed that U.S. nuclear facilities were unsafe found his career and life ruined. And many other whistle-blowers share his fate. salon.com

Study Shows College Costs Up Over 40 Pct October 22, 2003 New Report Says Tuition, Fees at Four-Year Colleges Up More Than 40 Percent From a Decade Ago. Steady increases in the cost of going to college have worsened in recent years as cash-strapped states have cut back on education funding, according to a new report that says tuition and fees at the nation's four-year colleges are up more than 40 percent from a decade ago. abcnews.go.com

U.S. May Expand Access To Endangered Species October 22, 2003 By Shankar Vedantam The Bush administration is proposing far-reaching changes to conservation policies that would allow hunters, circuses and the pet industry to kill, capture and import animals on the brink of extinction in other countries. washingtonpost.com

US Republican right defends religious zealot general October 22, 2003 By Bill Vann Leading members of the Republican majority in Congress have sprung to the defense of Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, the deputy undersecretary of defense for intelligence, urging Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld not to subject him to disciplinary action. The three-star general has come under fire following media exposure of his bigoted anti-Islamic remarks and statements revealing contempt for the separation of church and state laid down in the US Constitution. In perhaps his most chilling remark, he attributed the installation of George W. Bush as president to divine intervention. “Why is this man in the White House? The majority of Americans did not vote for him. He’s in the White House because God put him there for a time such as this.” wsws.org

Statistics October 22, 2003 Americans have an enormous, often little known, connection to the ongoing and dangerous tragedy that is Israel and Palestine. As lives of the young and old are increasingly lost and devastated, due in part to short-sighted US policies, it is inevitable that these policies will endanger American lives as well. American citizens have the power to end this carnage. We must be informed. ifamericansknew.org

SADDAM: WANTED DEAD NOT ALIVE October 21, 2003 by Dan Dvorak If you are waiting for us to catch Saddam Hussein alive, you are in for a long wait. It was no accident that the kids were slaughtered instead of captured. What tales would the father and sons have to tell at a public trial? And make no mistake, the world would insist on a public trial. What tales would they have concerning Bush the elder’s complicity in the poisoning and gassing of so many people? Would Saddam expose the Bush guarantee that he would not intervene in a dispute over Kuwait ? What would he tell about weapons and biological agents supplied by the U.S. ? Backroom deals? thepeoplesvoice.org

George W. Bush is bad news for America. If we can get the media to report the truth—he’s a goner October 21, 2003 By Mick Youther Good news! The economy is going down the drain. Iraq is a quagmire. People are losing their jobs. Budget deficits are projected for years to come. Scandals are brewing. Investigations are starting. People are realizing President Bush is a serial liar and our government is a government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich. How much better can it get? interventionmag.com

Abandoning Human Rights Principles October 21, 2003 by James O. Goldsborough Charges against the Bush administration for human rights violations keep rolling in. Last week the International Red Cross - which rarely comments - added its voice to the list. It is a new role for America, accustomed to the moral high ground from which it launches arrows at nations such as China, Russia, Cuba, South Africa, Iraq, Iran, Burma for denial of civil and human rights. As if to signal that even civil disobedience is no longer tolerated, last week Attorney General John Ashcroft indicted the environmental group Greenpeace for a harmless act of civil protest already punished 18 months ago. Prosecutors conceded the indictment could have "a chilling effect on First Amendment rights." informationclearinghouse.info

Federal Deficit Rises to Record $374.2 Billion October 21, 2003 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The federal budget deficit hit a record $374.2 billion in 2003, the administration reported Monday, as the costs of the war in Iraq, a new round of tax cuts and economic weakness pushed the government's red ink to the highest level in history. Providing a final accounting of the budget year that ended Sept. 30, the administration said that the 2003 deficit was more than double last year's imbalance of $157.8 billion. nytimes.com

The United States apparently has fitted out the Harpoon missiles it previously supplied Israel to accommodate nuclear warheads October 21, 2003 By John Chuckman  These missiles are carried on three German-built submarines, making a reality of Israel's grandiose plan for a nuclear-triad force, a miniature replica of America's land-air-sea nuclear force in a country with a total population smaller than greater Chicago. Perhaps more pertinent, the missiles' nuclear capability extends a threat towards Iran, bringing home to its leaders the possible consequences of "going nuclear." A step like this, taken by either side during the Cold War, would have been regarded as a serious escalation in arms, but now it causes barely a ripple in the United States. There are, of course, signed obligations that American-supplied weapons are to be used only for Israel's defense, yet these have been violated many times, most notoriously during the invasion of Lebanon -- a bloody, aggressive war led by the very man who now leads Israel. yellowtimes.org

Knesset member urges death for Israeli authors of "Geneva" peace plan October 21, 2003 (AFP) JERUSALEM A right-wing Knesset member Tuesday accused high-profile Israeli leftists who drafted an unofficial peace plan with the Palestinians of "treason" and demanded they be sentenced to death or life imprisonment. newsvantage.com

Death Threats in Berkeley "Close Your Organization or Die" October 21, 2003 By ALISON WEIR Left on our office voicemail at 2 a.m. on Oct. 3, 2003: "Hi. I heard your speech today in UC Berkeley; the debate. I'm telling you this right now. On Monday, at 2 PM, you better not be in your office. Because me and my buddies, who were trained in the Israeli Army, will come and kill every single one of you son-of -a-bitches for what you are doing to destroy Israel. So watch out. This is not a joke. On Monday you better watch out. Don't come to work. And close your organization or you're going to die." counterpunch.org

Cheney Behind New Mideast War Drive: Return of `Clean Break' October 21, 2003 by Jeffrey Steinberg With very little fanfare, in September David Wurmser moved over from the State Department office of arms control chief and leading war-party agitator John Bolton, to the Old Executive Office Building, working directly under Vice President Dick Cheney and his chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Wurmser's move was highly significant, given that the former American Enterprise Institute and Washington Institute for Near East Policy neo-conservatives was one of the primary authors of the now-infamous 1996 "A Clean Break" document, which spelled out the current joint Mideast war strategy of the Ariel Sharon government in Israel and the Cheney cabal inside the Bush Administration in the United States. larouchepub.com

Stop America's war on Bolivian farmers October 21, 2003 Leonida ZuritaVargas NYT Coca culture COCHABAMBA, Bolivia There has been rioting in Bolivia for nearly four weeks now. News reports say that the riots have been over the construction of a pipeline to ship natural gas to the United States. That's true, but there's a deeper anger at work: anger toward the United States and its war against a traditional Bolivian crop, coca. You see, because of the American drug problem, we can no longer grow coca, which was part of our life and our culture long before the United States was a country. This is why many of the people protesting in La Paz and other cities are peasants whose families have cultivated coca for generations. iht.com

China and Japan reject Bush's currency pleas October 21, 2003 By Peronet Despeignes BANGKOK — President Bush failed in weekend jawboning sessions to persuade either China or Japan to quickly allow the value of their currencies to rise against the dollar, which would give U.S. manufacturers a boost as they try to sell their goods into Asian markets. Leaders of both countries responded to the president's entreaties with a polite, implicit "no," usatoday.com

When Thieves Fall Out October 21, 2003
*Ted Kennedy: "Bush's War Mindless, Needless, Senseless, and Reckless"
*Madeleine Albright: Bush's Foreign Policy "Not Good For the World"
*Henry Waxman: Iraq Policy "Grounded in Secrecy, Deceit, and Politics"
*Senator Robert Byrd: "The Emperor has no clothes"
*Lack of Pentagon Support Threatens Bush's Iraq Plans
*State Dept Study Foresaw Trouble Now Plaguing Iraq
Who would have credited such headlines even a couple of months ago? On the surface it would appear that there’s been a ‘sea change’ in US politics, but do the headlines really tell us the truth about what's happening within the US power elite? williambowles.info

For Lack Of A "Beautiful Mind" October 21, 2003 by Joyce Marcel For lack of a beautiful mind, I can not be like Barbara Bush, the queen mother, our lady of the white hair and pearls, who believes that her son the president was called upon by God to lead this nation. For lack of a beautiful mind, I care about Bubbling Bob. "Dozens of corpses lay rotting by roadsides or in cars blown up by U.S. forces as they captured Baghdad," reported David Fox of Reuters. "Nearby, the corpse of an airport worker rolled around in the current of a pool... 'That's 'bubbling Bob,'' said one soldier. 'Been there a while. I ain't gonna fish him out. Let the Iraqis do it. monitor.net