DISPATCH FROM DOWN UNDER
U.S. Patriot Act can eye Canucks
VICTORIA (CP) - The United States is willing to review a British Columbia report that concludes the U.S. Patriot Act has the power to eyeball private information about Canadians, Paul Cellucci, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, said Friday.
The U.S., like Canada, is concerned about protecting the privacy rights of its citizens, but when it comes to fighting terrorists law enforcers need tools to get the job done, he said.
Cellucci made the comments following Friday's release of a report by B.C. privacy commissioner David Loukidelis who concluded private information about Canadians could be viewed by U.S. authorities despite Canadian attempts to thwart the probes.
"We live in an age of terror," said Cellucci in a telephone interview from Vancouver.
"We have to make sure law enforcement can protect us while at the same time protect privacy rights," he said.
Loukidelis said the long arm of the Patriot Act allows U.S. authorities to access the personal information of Canadians if it ends up in the United States or if it is held by U.S. companies in Canada.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/10/29/692305-cp.html#up
None of us are safe ever again from you Patriot Act
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Iraq suicide bombings
BAGHDAD (AP) - A series of explosions ripped through Baghdad and a nearby city Friday, killing at least 35 people and injuring dozens on the eve of Shiite Islam's most important holiday, officials said. It was the deadliest day since Iraq's landmark elections last month.
Suicide bombers attacked two Shiite mosques in Baghdad as Friday prayers were ending; another explosion occurred near a Shiite religious procession, and a third suicide bomber blew himself up at an Iraqi police and National Guard checkpoint in a Sunni neighbourhood.
On Friday evening, a car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque in Iskandariyah, 48 kilometres south of the capital, killing seven people and wounding 10, doctors said.
The attacks recalled bombings on the Ashoura holiday a year ago that killed at least 181 during the religious festival.
Two Americans were killed Friday in separate attacks, bringing to five the number of U.S. soldiers slain since Wednesday, the military said.
The bloodshed began when a bomber entered the vestibule of al-Khadimain mosque in the Iraqi capital's Doura neighbourhood and detonated his explosives as worshippers prayed, witness Hussein Rahim Qassim said.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/16/932454-ap.html
I thought we went to liberate
We sure bought them plenty of death
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Indonesian journalists missing in Iraq
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Two Indonesian journalists are missing in Iraq and a witness reported seeing them stopped by armed men, Indonesia's foreign ministry said Friday, but declined to say if the men were abducted.
The reporters were working for Indonesia's Metro TV, a 24-hour cable network, and went missing Tuesday. A witness said he saw their car stopped near the Iraqi town of Ramadi by armed men in Iraqi military uniforms, ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said. The government is sending a team to Iraq to seek additional information, he said.
Ramadi, about 110 kilometres west of Baghdad, has been a centre of insurgent activity in Iraq and the scene of frequent clashes between U.S. forces, their Iraqi allies and militants.
The car, driver and the two journalists have been taken to an unknown location. However, I will not use the word abduction yet," he told reporters.
"We are trying to ascertain the whereabouts of these two reporters and establish contact with them," he said. "It was reported that the people who stopped them were wearing Iraqi military uniforms."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/18/934950-ap.html
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Iraqi died in CIA interrogation
SAN DIEGO (AP) - An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while suspended by his wrists, which had been handcuffed behind his back, according to investigative reports reviewed by The Associated Press.
The death of the prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, became known last year when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke. The U.S. military said back then that it had been ruled a homicide. But the exact circumstances of the death were not disclosed at the time.
The prisoner died in a position known as "Palestinian hanging," the documents reviewed by The AP show. It was unclear whether that position - allegedly used by Israel against Palestinian prisoners and which human rights groups condemn as torture - was approved by the Bush administration for use in CIA interrogations.
The spy agency, which faces congressional scrutiny over its detention and interrogation of suspects at the Baghdad prison and elsewhere, declined to comment for this story, as did the U.S. Justice Department.
Al-Jamadi was one of the CIA's so-called ghost detainees at Abu Ghraib - prisoners being held secretly by the agency.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/17/934133-ap.html
I wont say it I will just keep it to myself:
I wonder how many of these terrorists have been eventually convicted by the courts
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Charges reduced against Lynndie England in Iraq prisoner abuse case
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - U.S. military prosecutors have filed a new and reduced set of charges against army Pte. 1st Class Lynndie England in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, cutting by more than one-half the sentence she could face if convicted.
The 22-year-old reservist who was photographed grinning in pictures of Iraqis in sexually humiliating positions was initially charged with 19 counts of abuse and indecent acts. Those charges could have put her behind bars for 38 years
But prosecutors at Fort Hood, Texas, where England's case has been sent for trial, submitted nine counts to the military court last week that together carry up to 16 1/2 years in prison, her legal team said Friday.
Prosecutors would not explain why so many counts were dropped.
"The best we can figure out, it looks like the new prosecutors in the case decided that these charges more accurately reflected her participation," said Richard Hernandez, her civilian defence lawyer.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/02/18/935441-ap.html
Wonder what she is keeping to herself
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Explosion outside mosque in southern Baghdad kills 30 and injures dozens
BAGHDAD (AP) - An explosion during Friday prayers outside a Shiite mosque in southern Baghdad has killed about 30 and injured dozens, a National Guard officer said.
There were unconfirmed reports of a second blast in the same area. The blast occurred in Baghdad's Dora neighbourhood near the al-Khadimain mosque, 1st Lt. Ahmad Ali said. Shiites are celebrating the Islamic holy month of Muharram and Saturday is Ashoura, the 10th day of Muharram and the holiest day of the year for them. The day marks the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad, in a 7th century battle for leadership of the Islamic world.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/02/18/934957-ap.html
Sorry You did not deserve to die this way
These people were not liberated
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Accidental U.S. military deaths in Iraq have jumped during big troop rotation
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. troops in Iraq have suffered a rash of fatal vehicle accidents and other non-combat deaths in recent weeks, even as the number killed in insurgent attacks has declined.
Although details of recent accidents have not been made public, some officials believe the jump in their number can be explained in part by turbulence from the troop rotation that is now approaching its peak, with tens of thousands of troops arriving and like numbers going home.
"The sheer volume of soldiers on the ground and high volume of vehicular traffic may reflect a higher rate of individual accidents or non-battle injuries," said Maj. Richard Goldenberg, spokesman for the 42nd Infantry Division of the New York Army National Guard, which is commanding a mixed Guard/regular Army task force responsible for an area of north-central Iraq.
There currently are about 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the U.S. military command in Baghdad. That is the highest number of the entire war, including the initial invasion.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/02/18/934952-ap.html
More sons and daughters, but not of the administrations
They died away from their families for what
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Ex-journalism adviser in Iraq says U.S. officials put coverage on themselves
WASHINGTON (AP) - A journalist who helped Iraq form a new broadcast network in 2003 testified Monday that U.S. occupation officials were more interested in airing their own activities than stories essential to Iraqis.
Don North, who served as a U.S. government adviser to the Iraqi Media Network, said the network became an irrelevant mouthpiece for the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority.
The network was given "a laundry list of CPA activities" to cover instead of stories on security, the lack of electricity and jobs, said North, an independent journalist who has reported for National Public Radio and NBC.
North testified at a hearing of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, a party organization. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, head of the panel, said Democrats had asked Republican-led Senate committees to conduct hearings on U.S. waste and missteps in Iraq but the Republican chairmen refused.
In addition to North, another former U.S. adviser in Iraq - Frank Willis - testified he thought he was in the Wild West in 2003 as he watched colleagues pull $2 million in fresh bills from a vault and stuff them in a contractor's gunnysack.
North told the hearing he wanted the Media network to be like the Public Broadcasting System in the United States. Instead, he said, U.S. authorities told him "we were running a public diplomacy operation" for the occupation government.
Willis testified that cash payments that weren't stuffed in sacks were made from a pickup truck that bore the name of Iraq's grounded airline. American authorities thought the vehicle would "meld into the environment," Willis, said.
Much of the money was Iraqi funds, Willis said.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/02/14/930893-ap.html
When dont they cover there tails
Or have someone else take the fall
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Turkish businessman taken hostage in Iraq two months ago released
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Kidnappers have released a wealthy Turkish businessman after holding him hostage in Iraq for two months, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
Kahraman Sadikoglu, president of the Istanbul-based Tuzla Shipyard, was released late Monday, and flown to Baghdad after spending the evening at a British base in southern Iraq, a Foreign Ministry official said. He was scheduled to return to Turkey later Tuesday through Jordan.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/02/15/931339-ap.html
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Alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent Charkaoui leaves Montreal detention centre
By PETER RAKOBOWCHUK
MONTREAL (CP) - A suspected terrorist jailed on allegations that he is a sleeper agent for al-Qaida was released Friday on $50,000 bail after 21 months in detention.
Adil Charkaoui, 31, was driven out of the Riviere-des-Prairies detention centre by his lawyer. His family then drove up in a van and, in an emotional reunion, got out to kiss and hug him in the street. His young daughter carried a bouquet of flowers.
"I want to say thank you to all the people who helped me to have my freedom," Charkaoui told reporters. "People from coast to coast, from British Columbia, from Ontario and especially from Quebec . . . .
"I thank all the people that trusted me."
But Charkaoui won't enjoy total freedom. He'll have to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and there will be limits on who he can contact.
The bracelet was not available at the time of his release and will be installed in coming days.
"We don't know exactly what the reason was," his lawyer Dominique Larochelle said. "I think they weren't exactly prepared, but they decided not to penalize Mr. Charkaoui."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/01/10/890075-cp.html
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Top U.S. military and intelligence officials warn of future terrorist acts
By KATHERINE SHRADER
WASHINGTON (AP) - Speaking with one voice, President George W. Bush's top intelligence and military officials said Wednesday that terrorists are regrouping for possible new strikes against the United States.
They said the best defence was for Congress to approve the president's military and anti-terror budget. But some in Congress, including prominent Republicans, were questioning some of that spending. Offering few specifics on terror threats, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a House hearing that the government could reasonably predict attacks would come from terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and other means
Meanwhile, new CIA Director Porter Goss told the Senate Intelligence Committee the Iraq war was giving terrorists experience and contacts for future attacks, and FBI Director Robert Mueller expressed worry that a sleeper operative in the United States may have been in place for years, awaiting orders for an attack.
"I remain very concerned about what we are not seeing," Mueller said in remarks he submitted to the senators.
Rumsfeld told the House Armed Services Committee that the proposed $419 billion defence US package for 2006 would set an ambitious course to "continue prosecuting the war and to attack its ideological underpinnings."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2004/11/04/700773-ap.html
Again this is really becoming a broken record
What bad news is to come out, I wonder
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Judge upholds designation of Missouri charity as terrorist backer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge on Friday upheld the government's designation of a Missouri charity as part of an international front group for al-Qaida.
The Islamic American Relief Association-USA had sued to challenge the October decision freezing its assets, saying it was an independent group unconnected with terrorism
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ruled the government had enough evidence to support its ruling that IARA-USA was part of an international charity linked to terrorism called the Islamic African Relief Agency.
Walton ruled in part based on his review of about two dozen pages of classified evidence that the government kept from lawyers for IARA-USA for national security reasons.
Federal authorities say the Islamic African Relief Agency and its affiliates gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to al-Qaida and helped with a $5-million fundraising campaign for another group founded by Osama bin Laden. A former IARA-USA regional director bought the satellite telephone and airtime used by bin Laden to plan the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/18/935398-ap.html
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Algerian man charged with lying about al-Qaida bomb plot to avoid deportation
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Federal prosecutors have charged an Algerian man with making up an al-Qaida bomb plot in an effort to avoid being deported.
Ahmed Allali, who was charged Wednesday, falsely claimed he knew members of the terrorist group and that he knew of a cell planning to detonate bombs in five major U.S. cities in early 2005, said Susan W. Brooks, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.
Allali, who was ordered deported after entering the United States with a fraudulent passport in 1998, made up the story after his November arrest in Indianapolis on a deportation warrant, according to a probable cause affidavit. Late last year, Allali acknowledged he knew no one associated with a terrorist network, the affidavit said.
Brooks said the investigation of Allali's claims tied up hundreds of agents nationwide, diverting resources from other terrorist leads.
"A lot of taxpayer dollars devoted to a lie," she said.
Allali, 36, was charged with three counts of making false statements to federal investigators, a news release said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon M. Jackson said he faces possible prison time and a fine.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/18/934397-ap.html
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37 prisoners have died from torture at U.S. prison camps: human rights group
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A U.S. human rights group accused the United States on Thursday of torturing terror suspects at U.S. prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, alleging at least 37 detainees have died during interrogations.
The World Organization for Human Rights USA said an upcoming report by the U.S. government to the United Nations Committee Against Torture on its compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture is likely to sidestep torture committed during its war on terror, blaming the abuses on a few "aberrant individuals."
Morton Sklar, the organization's executive director, said there were legal memoranda issued at the highest level in the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Defence "justifying and encouraging the use of torture as a military necessity in time of war."
Brian Whitman, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defence, strongly disagreed with the allegations made by the Washington-based group
.http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/10/927407-ap.html
The word is Liberation, well these 37 are certainly liberated
To Bad they will never experience the feeling
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Museum sees irony in U.S. government seizure of part of exhibit on state power
CINCINNATI (AP) - Fake passports created as part of an Austrian artist's exhibit have been confiscated by U.S. government authorities, Ohio museum officials said Tuesday.
Officials at the Contemporary Arts Center opened the display, portraying an imaginary country called State of Sabotage, as scheduled last weekend. They said they regard the seized items as works of art and are trying to persuade the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to return them to the artists.
The confiscation is ironic, considering the exhibit's focus on government powers including authority to issue documents to citizens, said museum director Linda Shearer.
"I think it says a lot about the condition of our world today, that everyone is understandably on the alert," Shearer said, adding the museum understands government officials were doing their jobs.
Museum officials said the art group's leader, Robert Jelinek of Vienna, didn't realize the items had been confiscated until he inspected his luggage last Thursday and found a Department of Homeland Security receipt for confiscated items.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/15/932012-ap.html
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Militants blow themselves up after gunbattle with police in Pakistan
By NASEER KAKAR
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) - Two suspected Islamic militants blew themselves up with powerful bombs after an intense gunbattle with police in this southwestern Pakistani city, a senior police official said Friday. The two suspects were killed, but nobody else was hurt in the blasts.
The incident occurred before dawn Friday when dozens of policemen raided a house in Quetta after receiving a tip that "suspects were hiding there," police official Mohammed Shahban said.
The shootout occurred near the planned route for a procession Sunday of minority Shiite Muslims for the mourning period of Ashura, which is especially important for Shiites.
The identity of the slain pair was not immediately known, but Shahban said they suspect they had links with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni militant group which has been accused by authorities of killing thousands of rival Shiite Muslim in recent years.
"We think these two men were from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and they were planning attacks against Shiites," he said, but gave no other details.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/18/934383-ap.html
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CIA contractor accused of abusing Afghan says he was following Bush orders
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A CIA contractor charged with beating an Afghan prisoner who later died was protecting the United States against terrorists and should not be prosecuted because he was following directives from President George W. Bush and his administration, his lawyers argued in filings released this week.
Lawyers for David Passaro, a former U.S. army Special Forces soldier from North Carolina who was hired as CIA contractor, also contend the alleged beating of Abdul Wali occurred outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.
Passaro's lawyer, public defender Thomas McNamara, filed his motion to dismiss the charges in December but the document was only made publicly available this week.
In it, McNamara points out Bush said Sept. 12, 2001, a day after terrorist attacks in the United States that resulted in the deaths of 3,000 people, the country "will use all our resources to conquer this enemy."
He also cites remarks by U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and White House officials that he argues immunize Passaro from prosecution.
McNamara wrote the laws under which Passaro was charged were "not designed for application to the front lines of battle."
Passaro was charged in June with four counts of assault, accused of beating Wali with his hands, feet and a flashlight as he tried to extract information about rocket attacks on U.S. forces.
Prosecutors said Wali died June 21, 2003, after two days of interrogations and beatings by Passaro. Three paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division will testify they witnessed the beating, prosecutors said. Passaro is not charged in Wali's death.
If convicted, Passaro could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison.
A response filed by U.S. prosecutors remained under seal Friday. Assistant U.S. attorney James Candelmo has asked that a defence motion that argues U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over the case be rejected. Both he and McNamara have declined comment on the case.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/11/928426-ap.html
NooooooooooNever I dont believe it
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Blast suspect appears in British court, alleges torture in Pakistani custody
LONDON (CP) - A British man appeared in court Monday charged with conspiring to cause an explosion with six other men, who were arrested last year in an anti-terror sweep that uncovered more than half a tonne of potentially explosive fertilizer.
Salahuddin Amin, 29, was arrested last Tuesday as he arrived at Heathrow airport on a flight from Pakistan. He claims he was detained without charge for 10 months in Pakistan and tortured while in custody there.
Amin appeared at Bow Street Magistrates' Court for a brief hearing Monday and was charged under Section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883, which is part of ordinary criminal law.
He was jointly charged with Omar Khyam, Anthony Garcia, Nabeel Hussein, Jawad Akbar, Waheed Mahmoud and a youth who wasn't identified. The charge said they "unlawfully and maliciously conspired together and with Mohammad Momin Khawaja and with others unknown to cause by explosive substances an explosion of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the United Kingdom."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/14/930819-cp.html
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Chalabi poised to become leader
by Stephen Farrell
February 19, 2005
IN Iraq they say "Lil quta sabat arwaah" - the cat with seven lives. No matter how many times Ahmad Chalabi is knocked down, his enemies just cannot kill him off.Exiled, disgraced, convicted of fraud, branded a collaborator, overlooked in Iyad Allawi's interim Government, then rubbished and dropped by his Washington paymasters, the former exile remains widely disliked by many ordinary Iraqis.
Yet Mr Chalabi is poised to gain a top job in the new Shia-led government, and conceivably the prime ministership.
The victorious coalition was deadlocked yesterday over its choice of prime minister, with its 140 newly elected parliamentarians split between the favourite - Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the leader of the Islamic Dawa Party - and Mr Chalabi, who is the leader of the smaller Iraqi National Congress.
A vote is expected within two or three days. Even if Mr Chalabi fails to win the top job, he is likely to secure a cabinet post.
That would represent a remarkable comeback. The former Pentagon favourite supplied much of the faulty intelligence about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, upon which the White House based its case for war.
Nine months ago, Mr Chalabi's disgrace seemed complete. His Baghdad home was raided by Iraqi and US forces amid charges that he had passed US intelligence secrets to Iran.
Even detractors concede he is a brilliant political operator. "He's highly intelligent and works hard, restless and consumed by ambition," said Adnan Pachachi, a former colleague on Iraq's now defunct governing council.
Mr Chalabi is a secular Shia, and official results from Iraq's election released yesterday confirmed Shia and Kurdish domination of the 275-seat National Assembly.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12297303-38201,00.html
HAVE A BALL WITH THIS ONE CHRISTY: IS IT FOR REAL
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Suspects flew to Australia
LEBANON is hunting six people who flew from Beirut for Australia, leaving traces of explosives on aircraft seats, hours after a powerful bomb killed former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
"Six people left for Australia from Beirut airport a few hours after the attack and traces of TNT powder were recovered from the seats used by some of them," Justice Minister Adnan Addum said.
"These people have links with fundamentalist circles. I can't say more because of the demands of the investigation," he added.
One hitherto unknown Islamist group claimed it carried out Monday's bombing, saying it was in revenge for Mr Hariri's links with Saudi Arabia where security forces have killed members of extremist groups. It gave no proof of its involvement.
Lebanese officials have said the attack was probably carried out by a suicide bomber but some have speculated that, given the widespread damage and force of the blast, the explosives could have been planted under the road before Hariri's convoy passed.
Lebanon has called in Swiss experts and DNA experts to help with the inquiry.
Meanwhile in Beirut, banks and shops reopened for business after a three-day mourning period for Mr Hariri, whose murder in a massive bomb blast in Beirut on Monday sent shockwaves through the country and added to tensions with its political masters in Syria.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12297570-38201,00.html
Whoops OMG there here Mr Howard!!!!!
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Bush warns of Islamic alliance
by Roy EcclestonFebruary 19, 200
GEORGE W. Bush is calling on Europe to join the US in increasing pressure on Syria and Iran to reform, as the two Middle Eastern nations tout a new strategic Islamic alliance against US and Israeli "plots".With Tehran's alleged nuclear ambitions the new flashpoint in the volatile region, Mr Bush also warned that the US would support Israel in any military action against Iran.
At a press conference ahead of his visit to Europe next week, the US President promised to work with European leaders to produce a strategy to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear bomb.
But he gave no sign that the US would join Britain, France and Germany in its carrot-and-stick approach to Iran. US officials said the next move was up to Iran, to show it would permanently cease its uranium-enrichment program.
And in a development sure to be raised at Mr Bush's meeting with Vladimir Putin next week, Russia announced it would supply fuel to Iran for its Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant, despite Washington's fear it could be used for a nuclear weapon. Iranian state television announced yesterday a 10-year deal would be signed next week and the first shipment of fuel would be delivered three months later.
All spent fuel is to be returned to Russia, but critics fear it could be reprocessed into bomb material.
Asked if he was worried about the prospect of an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran to prevent it acquiring a nuclear weapon, Mr Bush avoided the question but expressed sympathy and support for Israel's concerns.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12296058-38198,00.html
I think I have heard this record before
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Thousands flee as plague spreads
By Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva
AN outbreak of plague at a diamond mine in Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 61 miners and infected hundreds, sparking a panicked exodus of thousands of people.The World Health Organisation (WHO) today said it was dispatching a team of health experts this weekend to try to contain the highly contagious disease, which can kill its victims within 48 hours.
Many of the 7000 miners working in Zobia 300km north of Kisangani, Congo's third-biggest city, had fled since the outbreak began two months ago and could have spread the disease, the UN agency said.
"The epidemiological data is still incomplete, but we are sure there are at least 61 deaths. The main problem is that due to panic, maybe two-thirds of the population ran away from the mine," said Eric Bertherat, head of the WHO team.
There is a risk that some patients in incubation run away and maybe arrive in Kisangani. So it is very important to inform health care workers to alert them of the risk of admission of highly contagious patients."
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12300708-23109,00.html
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New U.S. files detail detainee abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan
Photographs of uniformed U.S. forces in Afghanistan posing with hooded and bound prisoners during mock executions were damaged to avoid a repetition of the Abu Gharib scandal in Iraq, according to new Army papers released Friday by the American Civil Liberties Union.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said that "It's increasingly clear that members of the military were aware of the allegations of torture and that efforts were taken to erase evidence, to shut down investigations and to humiliate the detainees in an effort to silence them,"
Also ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer said that "These documents provide more evidence that abuse was not localized or aberrational, but was widespread and systemic. They also provide further evidence that at least in some cases the government is not aggressively investigating credible allegations of abuse,"
The findings of military investigations into the abuse photographs were among hundred of recently released documents after the ACLU gained a federal court order through the Freedom of Information Act which allowed it to see the reports of the U.S. treatment of prisoners around the world.
Army spokesman Col. Joe Curtin said; "Simply put, we are accountable. We will take action and investigate when it (abuse) is reported. We take it seriously. And we'll bring those soldiers to justice who may have committed an offense,"
The investigation of the photographs in Afghanistan started after a CD was discovered in July during office cleanup. The pictures showed uniformed soldiers pointing guns at bound and hooded prisoners in the Fire Base Tycze in southern Afghanistan.
Other Army papers released Friday mentioned the case of an Iraqi prisoner, arrested in Tikrit in September 2003, who stated that U.S. forces in civilian clothes beat him in the stomach, broke his nose, hit his leg with a basketball bat, dislocated his arms and fired an unloaded pistol into his mouth.
The prisoner stated that a U.S. interrogator demanded him to confess to crimes and told him; "Today will be the last day in your life." He also said that the soldiers forced him to denounce his abuse claim to win his freedom.
The Army papers also show
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=7128
Must have missed it on cable
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BREAKING NEWS: Gannon reportedly knew about Iraq attack four hours before it happened
A news producer for a major network's local affiliate just told me that Gannon told the producer the US was going to attack Iraq four hours before President Bush announced it to the nation.According to the producer, Gannon specifically told them that in four hours the president was going to be making a speech to the nation announcing that the US was bombing Iraq. The producer told me they were surprised that Gannon, working with such a small news outfit, could have access to such information, but "what did you know, he was right," the producer said today. The producer went on to say that Gannon often had correct scoops on major stories, including information about Mary Mapes and the Dan Rather BUSH/AWOL scandal that this news outlet got from Gannon before any had the information publicly.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/02/breaking-news-gannon-reportedly-knew.html
Wonder where he got his news
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Treasury's Role in Illicit Iraq Oil Sales Cited Colum Lynch The Washington Post
Senator releases e-mail from parties involved in shipments banned by U.N.
United Nations - The Treasury Department provided assurances that the United States would not obstruct two companies' plans to import millions of barrels of oil from Iraq in March 2003 in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to an e-mail from one of the companies.
Diplomats and oil brokers have recently said that the United States had long turned a blind eye to illicit shipments of Iraqi oil by its allies Jordan and Turkey. The United States acknowledged this week that it had acquiesced in the trade to ensure that crucial allies would not suffer economic hardships.
But the e-mail, along with others released this week by Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Governmental Affairs panel's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, provides evidence that the Bush administration directly abetted Jordan's efforts to build up its strategic reserves with smuggled Iraqi oil in the weeks before the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021805F.shtml
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Veteran of Dirty Wars Wins Lead U.S. Spy Role By Duncan Campbell
The Guardian U.K
Written off by many after his role in Central America, John Negroponte's revived career hits a new high.
John Negroponte's nomination by President Bush yesterday to be his chief of intelligence represents the pinnacle of rehabilitation for a man who, for many people, will always be associated with US involvement in the "dirty wars" in Central America in the 1980s.
While Mr. Bush has restored to office other figures from that period of American history, none has been promoted to the same extent as the former ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the UN and Iraq.
Mr. Negroponte, 65, was born in London, the son of a Greek shipping magnate who emigrated to New York during the second world war.
After Harvard law school, he began a diplomatic career that has spanned more than four decades and taken in some of the most challenging posts on three continents.
He has described his time as a political officer in Vietnam during the war in the 60s as a "career-defining experience". He only left the diplomatic service for a three-year stint with the New York publishers McGraw Hill, a "sabbatical" which ended when he became the US ambassador to the UN in 2001.
To his admirers, he is a powerful, experienced, charismatic figure of patrician bearing who has earned the trust of successive American administrations, whether they were led by Presidents Reagan, Bush senior or Clinton. He is often described as "the diplomats' diplomat" and credited with a steely determination in negotiations in eight foreign postings. With his wife, Diana, he adopted five children in Honduras.
To his detractors, he is tainted by his time between 1981 and 1985 in Honduras, a country that was being used as a launchpad for the illegal US-backed war waged by the contras against the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The Honduran military was accused of taking part in torture and extra-judicial killings.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021805C.shtml
What's new with this Administration
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Behind the Walls of Ward 54 By Mark Benjamin Salon.com
They're overmedicated, forced to talk about their mothers instead of Iraq, and have to fight for disability pay. Traumatized combat vets say the Army is failing them, and after a year following more than a dozen soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital, I believe them.
Washington - Before he hanged himself with his bathrobe sash in the psychiatric ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Spc. Alexis Soto-Ramirez complained to friends about his medical treatment. Soto-Ramirez, 43, had been flown out of Iraq five months before then because of chronic back pain that became excruciating during the war. But doctors were really worried about his mind. They thought he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving with the 544th Military Police Company, a unit of the Puerto Rico National Guard, the kind of unit that saw dirty, face-to-face combat in Iraq.
A copy of Soto-Ramirez's medical records, reviewed by Salon, show that a octor who treated him in Puerto Rico upon his return from Iraq believed his mental problems were probably caused by the war and that his future was in the Army's hands. "Clearly, the psychiatric symptoms are combat related," a clinical psychologist at Roosevelt Roads Naval Hospital wrote on Nov. 24, 2003. The entry says, "Outcome will depend on adequacy and appropriateness of treatment." Doctors in Puerto Rico sent Soto-Ramirez to Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., to get the best care the Army had to offer. There, he was put in Ward 54, Walter Reed's "lockdown," or inpatient psychiatric ward, where the most troubled patients are supposed to have constant supervision.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021805D.shtml
You can bet he is not one of the Bush Administrations Sons
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Our Friends, the Torturers By Bob Herbert The New York Times
The United States has long purported to be outraged over Syria's bad behavior, the latest flash point being the possible Syrian involvement in the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
From the U.S. perspective, Syria is led by a gangster regime that has, among other things, sponsored terrorism, aided the insurgency in Iraq and engaged in torture. So here's the question. If Syria is such a bad actor - and it is - why would the Bush administration seize a Canadian citizen at Kennedy Airport in New York, put him on an executive jet, fly him in shackles to the Middle East and then hand him over to the Syrians, who promptly tortured him?
The administration is trying to have it both ways in its so-called war on terror. It claims to be fighting for freedom, democracy and the rule of law, and it condemns barbaric behavior whenever it is committed by someone else. At the same time, it is engaged in its own barbaric behavior, while going out of its way to keep that behavior concealed from the American public and the world at large.
The man grabbed at Kennedy Airport and thrown by American officials into a Syrian nightmare was Maher Arar, a 34-year-old native of Syria who emigrated to Canada as a teenager. No one, not even the Syrians who tortured him, have been able to present any evidence linking him to terrorism.
He was taken into custody on the afternoon of Sept. 26, 2002, and was not released until Oct. 5, 2003. He was never charged, and when he wasn't being brutalized, he spent much of his time in an unlit, rat-infested cell that reminded him of a grave.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021805J.shtml
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'US not planning Iran attack'by Terence Hunt in Washington19feb05
THE US does not intend to attack Iran to crush its suspected nuclear weapons project, President George W Bush said today.He added, however, that "you never want a president to say never".
Mr Bush expressed hope that a European diplomatic initiative would persuade Tehran to abandon any such program.
In interviews with European journalists at the White House, Mr Bush was asked about an opinion poll showing that 70 per cent of Germans believe the US is planning military action against Iran.
"I hear all these rumours about military attacks, and it's just not the truth," Mr Bush, about to visit Europe to mend fences with allies, said.
http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12303381%255E1702,00.html
Well Ill be a monkey uncle
Yeah Mr Bush I believe you
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Allies move in on top terrorist
Bigley's executioner 'holed up in Kirkuk' as death toll in Iraq resumes pre-election levels
The claim comes barely days after the Iraq's interim government said that it was close to catching the jihadist, whose group has been behind the beheadings of foreign hostages, including Briton Kenneth Bigley, and suicide bombings.
'He came to Kirkuk from Mosul,' a source in the Kirkuk police department told Reuters yesterday, speaking anonymously. 'There's a possibility that he might be captured at any moment.'
The claim follows the disclosure by Iraq's interior minister this month that Iraqi security forces were tracking Zarqawi and had recently come close to capturing him. 'We are following him,' said Falah al-Naqib. 'I think we missed him two or three times, but hopefully next time we will be able to capture him.'
The claims came as British officials poured cold water on hopes of substantial early withdrawal from Iraq, and suggested that Britain could be involved in Iraq for decades. It also followed an increasingly inevitable day of further violence across the country.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411802,00.html
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U.S. forces killed in Iraq
1,470 Americans confirmed dead, 1,119 troops; Five more killed today.
http://www.rawstory.com/ Christy go into this link: names and confirmations
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Bush's Iraq Coalition Shrinking
WASHINGTON - Sometimes it's hard to know who your friends are — even if they're helping you fight a war. President Bush (news - web sites), who hopes to coax more Iraq (news - web sites) support from European allies next week, used to boast that some 50 nations had joined the United States in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Today, a public listing is nowhere to be found.
One thing, though, is clear: The coalition is shrinking. "I expect to see the coalition countries begin paring down their forces as they complete their contributions," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the House Armed Services Committee this week.
While a current list of coalition countries — those helping out in Iraq with troops, equipment, monetary or political support — is not easy to come by, there is a public listing of the countries that have actual troops in Iraq. These 20-plus countries, which have combat and support forces in Iraq under the command of Gen. George Casey Jr., make up the multinational force.
Daniel Goure, a Defense Department official in the first Bush administration, said current Bush officials apparently decided to start talking about a "multinational force" instead of a "coalition" to avoid questions about which countries were in or out.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&u=/ap/20050218/ap_on_go_pr_wh/shrinking_coalition&printer=1
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US soldiers to receive ecstasy to fight combat trauma
US soldiers traumatized by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares.
The US food and drug administration has given the go-ahead for the soldiers to be included in an experiment to see if MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Scientists behind the trial in South Carolina think the feelings of emotional closeness reported by those taking the drug could help the soldiers talk about their experiences to therapists.
Several victims of rape and sexual abuse with post-traumatic stress disorder, for whom existing treatments are ineffective, have been given MDMA since the research began last year.
Michael Mithoefer, the psychiatrist leading the trial, said: "It's looking very promising. It's too early to draw any conclusions but in these treatment-resistant people so far the results are encouraging."
"People are able to connect more deeply on an emotional level with the fact they are safe now."
He is about to advertise for war veterans who fought in the last five years to join the study.
According to the US national center for post-traumatic stress disorder, up to 30 percent of combat veterans suffer from the condition at some point in their lives.
Known as shell shock during the first world war and combat fatigue in the second, the condition is characterized by intrusive memories, panic attacks and the avoidance of situations which might force sufferers to relive their wartime experiences.
Mithoefer said the MDMA helped people discuss traumatic situations without triggering anxiety.
"It appears to act as a catalyst to help people move through whatever's been blocking their success in therapy."
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/02/18/2003223545
This really had to mentioned a 2nd and 3rd and 4th time
VICTORIA (CP) - The United States is willing to review a British Columbia report that concludes the U.S. Patriot Act has the power to eyeball private information about Canadians, Paul Cellucci, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, said Friday.
The U.S., like Canada, is concerned about protecting the privacy rights of its citizens, but when it comes to fighting terrorists law enforcers need tools to get the job done, he said.
Cellucci made the comments following Friday's release of a report by B.C. privacy commissioner David Loukidelis who concluded private information about Canadians could be viewed by U.S. authorities despite Canadian attempts to thwart the probes.
"We live in an age of terror," said Cellucci in a telephone interview from Vancouver.
"We have to make sure law enforcement can protect us while at the same time protect privacy rights," he said.
Loukidelis said the long arm of the Patriot Act allows U.S. authorities to access the personal information of Canadians if it ends up in the United States or if it is held by U.S. companies in Canada.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2004/10/29/692305-cp.html#up
None of us are safe ever again from you Patriot Act
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Iraq suicide bombings
BAGHDAD (AP) - A series of explosions ripped through Baghdad and a nearby city Friday, killing at least 35 people and injuring dozens on the eve of Shiite Islam's most important holiday, officials said. It was the deadliest day since Iraq's landmark elections last month.
Suicide bombers attacked two Shiite mosques in Baghdad as Friday prayers were ending; another explosion occurred near a Shiite religious procession, and a third suicide bomber blew himself up at an Iraqi police and National Guard checkpoint in a Sunni neighbourhood.
On Friday evening, a car bomb exploded outside a Shiite mosque in Iskandariyah, 48 kilometres south of the capital, killing seven people and wounding 10, doctors said.
The attacks recalled bombings on the Ashoura holiday a year ago that killed at least 181 during the religious festival.
Two Americans were killed Friday in separate attacks, bringing to five the number of U.S. soldiers slain since Wednesday, the military said.
The bloodshed began when a bomber entered the vestibule of al-Khadimain mosque in the Iraqi capital's Doura neighbourhood and detonated his explosives as worshippers prayed, witness Hussein Rahim Qassim said.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/16/932454-ap.html
I thought we went to liberate
We sure bought them plenty of death
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Indonesian journalists missing in Iraq
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Two Indonesian journalists are missing in Iraq and a witness reported seeing them stopped by armed men, Indonesia's foreign ministry said Friday, but declined to say if the men were abducted.
The reporters were working for Indonesia's Metro TV, a 24-hour cable network, and went missing Tuesday. A witness said he saw their car stopped near the Iraqi town of Ramadi by armed men in Iraqi military uniforms, ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said. The government is sending a team to Iraq to seek additional information, he said.
Ramadi, about 110 kilometres west of Baghdad, has been a centre of insurgent activity in Iraq and the scene of frequent clashes between U.S. forces, their Iraqi allies and militants.
The car, driver and the two journalists have been taken to an unknown location. However, I will not use the word abduction yet," he told reporters.
"We are trying to ascertain the whereabouts of these two reporters and establish contact with them," he said. "It was reported that the people who stopped them were wearing Iraqi military uniforms."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/18/934950-ap.html
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Iraqi died in CIA interrogation
SAN DIEGO (AP) - An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while suspended by his wrists, which had been handcuffed behind his back, according to investigative reports reviewed by The Associated Press.
The death of the prisoner, Manadel al-Jamadi, became known last year when the Abu Ghraib scandal broke. The U.S. military said back then that it had been ruled a homicide. But the exact circumstances of the death were not disclosed at the time.
The prisoner died in a position known as "Palestinian hanging," the documents reviewed by The AP show. It was unclear whether that position - allegedly used by Israel against Palestinian prisoners and which human rights groups condemn as torture - was approved by the Bush administration for use in CIA interrogations.
The spy agency, which faces congressional scrutiny over its detention and interrogation of suspects at the Baghdad prison and elsewhere, declined to comment for this story, as did the U.S. Justice Department.
Al-Jamadi was one of the CIA's so-called ghost detainees at Abu Ghraib - prisoners being held secretly by the agency.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/17/934133-ap.html
I wont say it I will just keep it to myself:
I wonder how many of these terrorists have been eventually convicted by the courts
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Charges reduced against Lynndie England in Iraq prisoner abuse case
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - U.S. military prosecutors have filed a new and reduced set of charges against army Pte. 1st Class Lynndie England in the Iraqi prisoner abuse scandal, cutting by more than one-half the sentence she could face if convicted.
The 22-year-old reservist who was photographed grinning in pictures of Iraqis in sexually humiliating positions was initially charged with 19 counts of abuse and indecent acts. Those charges could have put her behind bars for 38 years
But prosecutors at Fort Hood, Texas, where England's case has been sent for trial, submitted nine counts to the military court last week that together carry up to 16 1/2 years in prison, her legal team said Friday.
Prosecutors would not explain why so many counts were dropped.
"The best we can figure out, it looks like the new prosecutors in the case decided that these charges more accurately reflected her participation," said Richard Hernandez, her civilian defence lawyer.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/02/18/935441-ap.html
Wonder what she is keeping to herself
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Explosion outside mosque in southern Baghdad kills 30 and injures dozens
BAGHDAD (AP) - An explosion during Friday prayers outside a Shiite mosque in southern Baghdad has killed about 30 and injured dozens, a National Guard officer said.
There were unconfirmed reports of a second blast in the same area. The blast occurred in Baghdad's Dora neighbourhood near the al-Khadimain mosque, 1st Lt. Ahmad Ali said. Shiites are celebrating the Islamic holy month of Muharram and Saturday is Ashoura, the 10th day of Muharram and the holiest day of the year for them. The day marks the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Muhammad, in a 7th century battle for leadership of the Islamic world.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/02/18/934957-ap.html
Sorry You did not deserve to die this way
These people were not liberated
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Accidental U.S. military deaths in Iraq have jumped during big troop rotation
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. troops in Iraq have suffered a rash of fatal vehicle accidents and other non-combat deaths in recent weeks, even as the number killed in insurgent attacks has declined.
Although details of recent accidents have not been made public, some officials believe the jump in their number can be explained in part by turbulence from the troop rotation that is now approaching its peak, with tens of thousands of troops arriving and like numbers going home.
"The sheer volume of soldiers on the ground and high volume of vehicular traffic may reflect a higher rate of individual accidents or non-battle injuries," said Maj. Richard Goldenberg, spokesman for the 42nd Infantry Division of the New York Army National Guard, which is commanding a mixed Guard/regular Army task force responsible for an area of north-central Iraq.
There currently are about 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, according to the U.S. military command in Baghdad. That is the highest number of the entire war, including the initial invasion.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/02/18/934952-ap.html
More sons and daughters, but not of the administrations
They died away from their families for what
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Ex-journalism adviser in Iraq says U.S. officials put coverage on themselves
WASHINGTON (AP) - A journalist who helped Iraq form a new broadcast network in 2003 testified Monday that U.S. occupation officials were more interested in airing their own activities than stories essential to Iraqis.
Don North, who served as a U.S. government adviser to the Iraqi Media Network, said the network became an irrelevant mouthpiece for the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority.
The network was given "a laundry list of CPA activities" to cover instead of stories on security, the lack of electricity and jobs, said North, an independent journalist who has reported for National Public Radio and NBC.
North testified at a hearing of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, a party organization. Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, head of the panel, said Democrats had asked Republican-led Senate committees to conduct hearings on U.S. waste and missteps in Iraq but the Republican chairmen refused.
In addition to North, another former U.S. adviser in Iraq - Frank Willis - testified he thought he was in the Wild West in 2003 as he watched colleagues pull $2 million in fresh bills from a vault and stuff them in a contractor's gunnysack.
North told the hearing he wanted the Media network to be like the Public Broadcasting System in the United States. Instead, he said, U.S. authorities told him "we were running a public diplomacy operation" for the occupation government.
Willis testified that cash payments that weren't stuffed in sacks were made from a pickup truck that bore the name of Iraq's grounded airline. American authorities thought the vehicle would "meld into the environment," Willis, said.
Much of the money was Iraqi funds, Willis said.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/02/14/930893-ap.html
When dont they cover there tails
Or have someone else take the fall
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Turkish businessman taken hostage in Iraq two months ago released
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Kidnappers have released a wealthy Turkish businessman after holding him hostage in Iraq for two months, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
Kahraman Sadikoglu, president of the Istanbul-based Tuzla Shipyard, was released late Monday, and flown to Baghdad after spending the evening at a British base in southern Iraq, a Foreign Ministry official said. He was scheduled to return to Turkey later Tuesday through Jordan.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2005/02/15/931339-ap.html
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Alleged al-Qaida sleeper agent Charkaoui leaves Montreal detention centre
By PETER RAKOBOWCHUK
MONTREAL (CP) - A suspected terrorist jailed on allegations that he is a sleeper agent for al-Qaida was released Friday on $50,000 bail after 21 months in detention.
Adil Charkaoui, 31, was driven out of the Riviere-des-Prairies detention centre by his lawyer. His family then drove up in a van and, in an emotional reunion, got out to kiss and hug him in the street. His young daughter carried a bouquet of flowers.
"I want to say thank you to all the people who helped me to have my freedom," Charkaoui told reporters. "People from coast to coast, from British Columbia, from Ontario and especially from Quebec . . . .
"I thank all the people that trusted me."
But Charkaoui won't enjoy total freedom. He'll have to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and there will be limits on who he can contact.
The bracelet was not available at the time of his release and will be installed in coming days.
"We don't know exactly what the reason was," his lawyer Dominique Larochelle said. "I think they weren't exactly prepared, but they decided not to penalize Mr. Charkaoui."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/01/10/890075-cp.html
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Top U.S. military and intelligence officials warn of future terrorist acts
By KATHERINE SHRADER
WASHINGTON (AP) - Speaking with one voice, President George W. Bush's top intelligence and military officials said Wednesday that terrorists are regrouping for possible new strikes against the United States.
They said the best defence was for Congress to approve the president's military and anti-terror budget. But some in Congress, including prominent Republicans, were questioning some of that spending. Offering few specifics on terror threats, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a House hearing that the government could reasonably predict attacks would come from terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and other means
Meanwhile, new CIA Director Porter Goss told the Senate Intelligence Committee the Iraq war was giving terrorists experience and contacts for future attacks, and FBI Director Robert Mueller expressed worry that a sleeper operative in the United States may have been in place for years, awaiting orders for an attack.
"I remain very concerned about what we are not seeing," Mueller said in remarks he submitted to the senators.
Rumsfeld told the House Armed Services Committee that the proposed $419 billion defence US package for 2006 would set an ambitious course to "continue prosecuting the war and to attack its ideological underpinnings."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2004/11/04/700773-ap.html
Again this is really becoming a broken record
What bad news is to come out, I wonder
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Judge upholds designation of Missouri charity as terrorist backer
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge on Friday upheld the government's designation of a Missouri charity as part of an international front group for al-Qaida.
The Islamic American Relief Association-USA had sued to challenge the October decision freezing its assets, saying it was an independent group unconnected with terrorism
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ruled the government had enough evidence to support its ruling that IARA-USA was part of an international charity linked to terrorism called the Islamic African Relief Agency.
Walton ruled in part based on his review of about two dozen pages of classified evidence that the government kept from lawyers for IARA-USA for national security reasons.
Federal authorities say the Islamic African Relief Agency and its affiliates gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to al-Qaida and helped with a $5-million fundraising campaign for another group founded by Osama bin Laden. A former IARA-USA regional director bought the satellite telephone and airtime used by bin Laden to plan the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/18/935398-ap.html
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Algerian man charged with lying about al-Qaida bomb plot to avoid deportation
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Federal prosecutors have charged an Algerian man with making up an al-Qaida bomb plot in an effort to avoid being deported.
Ahmed Allali, who was charged Wednesday, falsely claimed he knew members of the terrorist group and that he knew of a cell planning to detonate bombs in five major U.S. cities in early 2005, said Susan W. Brooks, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana.
Allali, who was ordered deported after entering the United States with a fraudulent passport in 1998, made up the story after his November arrest in Indianapolis on a deportation warrant, according to a probable cause affidavit. Late last year, Allali acknowledged he knew no one associated with a terrorist network, the affidavit said.
Brooks said the investigation of Allali's claims tied up hundreds of agents nationwide, diverting resources from other terrorist leads.
"A lot of taxpayer dollars devoted to a lie," she said.
Allali, 36, was charged with three counts of making false statements to federal investigators, a news release said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon M. Jackson said he faces possible prison time and a fine.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/18/934397-ap.html
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37 prisoners have died from torture at U.S. prison camps: human rights group
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A U.S. human rights group accused the United States on Thursday of torturing terror suspects at U.S. prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, alleging at least 37 detainees have died during interrogations.
The World Organization for Human Rights USA said an upcoming report by the U.S. government to the United Nations Committee Against Torture on its compliance with the UN Convention Against Torture is likely to sidestep torture committed during its war on terror, blaming the abuses on a few "aberrant individuals."
Morton Sklar, the organization's executive director, said there were legal memoranda issued at the highest level in the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Defence "justifying and encouraging the use of torture as a military necessity in time of war."
Brian Whitman, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Defence, strongly disagreed with the allegations made by the Washington-based group
.http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/10/927407-ap.html
The word is Liberation, well these 37 are certainly liberated
To Bad they will never experience the feeling
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Museum sees irony in U.S. government seizure of part of exhibit on state power
CINCINNATI (AP) - Fake passports created as part of an Austrian artist's exhibit have been confiscated by U.S. government authorities, Ohio museum officials said Tuesday.
Officials at the Contemporary Arts Center opened the display, portraying an imaginary country called State of Sabotage, as scheduled last weekend. They said they regard the seized items as works of art and are trying to persuade the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to return them to the artists.
The confiscation is ironic, considering the exhibit's focus on government powers including authority to issue documents to citizens, said museum director Linda Shearer.
"I think it says a lot about the condition of our world today, that everyone is understandably on the alert," Shearer said, adding the museum understands government officials were doing their jobs.
Museum officials said the art group's leader, Robert Jelinek of Vienna, didn't realize the items had been confiscated until he inspected his luggage last Thursday and found a Department of Homeland Security receipt for confiscated items.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/15/932012-ap.html
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Militants blow themselves up after gunbattle with police in Pakistan
By NASEER KAKAR
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) - Two suspected Islamic militants blew themselves up with powerful bombs after an intense gunbattle with police in this southwestern Pakistani city, a senior police official said Friday. The two suspects were killed, but nobody else was hurt in the blasts.
The incident occurred before dawn Friday when dozens of policemen raided a house in Quetta after receiving a tip that "suspects were hiding there," police official Mohammed Shahban said.
The shootout occurred near the planned route for a procession Sunday of minority Shiite Muslims for the mourning period of Ashura, which is especially important for Shiites.
The identity of the slain pair was not immediately known, but Shahban said they suspect they had links with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni militant group which has been accused by authorities of killing thousands of rival Shiite Muslim in recent years.
"We think these two men were from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and they were planning attacks against Shiites," he said, but gave no other details.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/18/934383-ap.html
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CIA contractor accused of abusing Afghan says he was following Bush orders
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A CIA contractor charged with beating an Afghan prisoner who later died was protecting the United States against terrorists and should not be prosecuted because he was following directives from President George W. Bush and his administration, his lawyers argued in filings released this week.
Lawyers for David Passaro, a former U.S. army Special Forces soldier from North Carolina who was hired as CIA contractor, also contend the alleged beating of Abdul Wali occurred outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.
Passaro's lawyer, public defender Thomas McNamara, filed his motion to dismiss the charges in December but the document was only made publicly available this week.
In it, McNamara points out Bush said Sept. 12, 2001, a day after terrorist attacks in the United States that resulted in the deaths of 3,000 people, the country "will use all our resources to conquer this enemy."
He also cites remarks by U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and White House officials that he argues immunize Passaro from prosecution.
McNamara wrote the laws under which Passaro was charged were "not designed for application to the front lines of battle."
Passaro was charged in June with four counts of assault, accused of beating Wali with his hands, feet and a flashlight as he tried to extract information about rocket attacks on U.S. forces.
Prosecutors said Wali died June 21, 2003, after two days of interrogations and beatings by Passaro. Three paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division will testify they witnessed the beating, prosecutors said. Passaro is not charged in Wali's death.
If convicted, Passaro could be sentenced to up to 40 years in prison.
A response filed by U.S. prosecutors remained under seal Friday. Assistant U.S. attorney James Candelmo has asked that a defence motion that argues U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over the case be rejected. Both he and McNamara have declined comment on the case.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/11/928426-ap.html
NooooooooooNever I dont believe it
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Blast suspect appears in British court, alleges torture in Pakistani custody
LONDON (CP) - A British man appeared in court Monday charged with conspiring to cause an explosion with six other men, who were arrested last year in an anti-terror sweep that uncovered more than half a tonne of potentially explosive fertilizer.
Salahuddin Amin, 29, was arrested last Tuesday as he arrived at Heathrow airport on a flight from Pakistan. He claims he was detained without charge for 10 months in Pakistan and tortured while in custody there.
Amin appeared at Bow Street Magistrates' Court for a brief hearing Monday and was charged under Section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act 1883, which is part of ordinary criminal law.
He was jointly charged with Omar Khyam, Anthony Garcia, Nabeel Hussein, Jawad Akbar, Waheed Mahmoud and a youth who wasn't identified. The charge said they "unlawfully and maliciously conspired together and with Mohammad Momin Khawaja and with others unknown to cause by explosive substances an explosion of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in the United Kingdom."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/02/14/930819-cp.html
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Chalabi poised to become leader
by Stephen Farrell
February 19, 2005
IN Iraq they say "Lil quta sabat arwaah" - the cat with seven lives. No matter how many times Ahmad Chalabi is knocked down, his enemies just cannot kill him off.Exiled, disgraced, convicted of fraud, branded a collaborator, overlooked in Iyad Allawi's interim Government, then rubbished and dropped by his Washington paymasters, the former exile remains widely disliked by many ordinary Iraqis.
Yet Mr Chalabi is poised to gain a top job in the new Shia-led government, and conceivably the prime ministership.
The victorious coalition was deadlocked yesterday over its choice of prime minister, with its 140 newly elected parliamentarians split between the favourite - Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the leader of the Islamic Dawa Party - and Mr Chalabi, who is the leader of the smaller Iraqi National Congress.
A vote is expected within two or three days. Even if Mr Chalabi fails to win the top job, he is likely to secure a cabinet post.
That would represent a remarkable comeback. The former Pentagon favourite supplied much of the faulty intelligence about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, upon which the White House based its case for war.
Nine months ago, Mr Chalabi's disgrace seemed complete. His Baghdad home was raided by Iraqi and US forces amid charges that he had passed US intelligence secrets to Iran.
Even detractors concede he is a brilliant political operator. "He's highly intelligent and works hard, restless and consumed by ambition," said Adnan Pachachi, a former colleague on Iraq's now defunct governing council.
Mr Chalabi is a secular Shia, and official results from Iraq's election released yesterday confirmed Shia and Kurdish domination of the 275-seat National Assembly.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12297303-38201,00.html
HAVE A BALL WITH THIS ONE CHRISTY: IS IT FOR REAL
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Suspects flew to Australia
LEBANON is hunting six people who flew from Beirut for Australia, leaving traces of explosives on aircraft seats, hours after a powerful bomb killed former prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
"Six people left for Australia from Beirut airport a few hours after the attack and traces of TNT powder were recovered from the seats used by some of them," Justice Minister Adnan Addum said.
"These people have links with fundamentalist circles. I can't say more because of the demands of the investigation," he added.
One hitherto unknown Islamist group claimed it carried out Monday's bombing, saying it was in revenge for Mr Hariri's links with Saudi Arabia where security forces have killed members of extremist groups. It gave no proof of its involvement.
Lebanese officials have said the attack was probably carried out by a suicide bomber but some have speculated that, given the widespread damage and force of the blast, the explosives could have been planted under the road before Hariri's convoy passed.
Lebanon has called in Swiss experts and DNA experts to help with the inquiry.
Meanwhile in Beirut, banks and shops reopened for business after a three-day mourning period for Mr Hariri, whose murder in a massive bomb blast in Beirut on Monday sent shockwaves through the country and added to tensions with its political masters in Syria.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12297570-38201,00.html
Whoops OMG there here Mr Howard!!!!!
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Bush warns of Islamic alliance
by Roy EcclestonFebruary 19, 200
GEORGE W. Bush is calling on Europe to join the US in increasing pressure on Syria and Iran to reform, as the two Middle Eastern nations tout a new strategic Islamic alliance against US and Israeli "plots".With Tehran's alleged nuclear ambitions the new flashpoint in the volatile region, Mr Bush also warned that the US would support Israel in any military action against Iran.
At a press conference ahead of his visit to Europe next week, the US President promised to work with European leaders to produce a strategy to prevent Tehran developing a nuclear bomb.
But he gave no sign that the US would join Britain, France and Germany in its carrot-and-stick approach to Iran. US officials said the next move was up to Iran, to show it would permanently cease its uranium-enrichment program.
And in a development sure to be raised at Mr Bush's meeting with Vladimir Putin next week, Russia announced it would supply fuel to Iran for its Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant, despite Washington's fear it could be used for a nuclear weapon. Iranian state television announced yesterday a 10-year deal would be signed next week and the first shipment of fuel would be delivered three months later.
All spent fuel is to be returned to Russia, but critics fear it could be reprocessed into bomb material.
Asked if he was worried about the prospect of an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran to prevent it acquiring a nuclear weapon, Mr Bush avoided the question but expressed sympathy and support for Israel's concerns.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12296058-38198,00.html
I think I have heard this record before
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Thousands flee as plague spreads
By Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva
AN outbreak of plague at a diamond mine in Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 61 miners and infected hundreds, sparking a panicked exodus of thousands of people.The World Health Organisation (WHO) today said it was dispatching a team of health experts this weekend to try to contain the highly contagious disease, which can kill its victims within 48 hours.
Many of the 7000 miners working in Zobia 300km north of Kisangani, Congo's third-biggest city, had fled since the outbreak began two months ago and could have spread the disease, the UN agency said.
"The epidemiological data is still incomplete, but we are sure there are at least 61 deaths. The main problem is that due to panic, maybe two-thirds of the population ran away from the mine," said Eric Bertherat, head of the WHO team.
There is a risk that some patients in incubation run away and maybe arrive in Kisangani. So it is very important to inform health care workers to alert them of the risk of admission of highly contagious patients."
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12300708-23109,00.html
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New U.S. files detail detainee abuse in Iraq, Afghanistan
Photographs of uniformed U.S. forces in Afghanistan posing with hooded and bound prisoners during mock executions were damaged to avoid a repetition of the Abu Gharib scandal in Iraq, according to new Army papers released Friday by the American Civil Liberties Union.
ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said that "It's increasingly clear that members of the military were aware of the allegations of torture and that efforts were taken to erase evidence, to shut down investigations and to humiliate the detainees in an effort to silence them,"
Also ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer said that "These documents provide more evidence that abuse was not localized or aberrational, but was widespread and systemic. They also provide further evidence that at least in some cases the government is not aggressively investigating credible allegations of abuse,"
The findings of military investigations into the abuse photographs were among hundred of recently released documents after the ACLU gained a federal court order through the Freedom of Information Act which allowed it to see the reports of the U.S. treatment of prisoners around the world.
Army spokesman Col. Joe Curtin said; "Simply put, we are accountable. We will take action and investigate when it (abuse) is reported. We take it seriously. And we'll bring those soldiers to justice who may have committed an offense,"
The investigation of the photographs in Afghanistan started after a CD was discovered in July during office cleanup. The pictures showed uniformed soldiers pointing guns at bound and hooded prisoners in the Fire Base Tycze in southern Afghanistan.
Other Army papers released Friday mentioned the case of an Iraqi prisoner, arrested in Tikrit in September 2003, who stated that U.S. forces in civilian clothes beat him in the stomach, broke his nose, hit his leg with a basketball bat, dislocated his arms and fired an unloaded pistol into his mouth.
The prisoner stated that a U.S. interrogator demanded him to confess to crimes and told him; "Today will be the last day in your life." He also said that the soldiers forced him to denounce his abuse claim to win his freedom.
The Army papers also show
http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=7128
Must have missed it on cable
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BREAKING NEWS: Gannon reportedly knew about Iraq attack four hours before it happened
A news producer for a major network's local affiliate just told me that Gannon told the producer the US was going to attack Iraq four hours before President Bush announced it to the nation.According to the producer, Gannon specifically told them that in four hours the president was going to be making a speech to the nation announcing that the US was bombing Iraq. The producer told me they were surprised that Gannon, working with such a small news outfit, could have access to such information, but "what did you know, he was right," the producer said today. The producer went on to say that Gannon often had correct scoops on major stories, including information about Mary Mapes and the Dan Rather BUSH/AWOL scandal that this news outlet got from Gannon before any had the information publicly.
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/02/breaking-news-gannon-reportedly-knew.html
Wonder where he got his news
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Treasury's Role in Illicit Iraq Oil Sales Cited Colum Lynch The Washington Post
Senator releases e-mail from parties involved in shipments banned by U.N.
United Nations - The Treasury Department provided assurances that the United States would not obstruct two companies' plans to import millions of barrels of oil from Iraq in March 2003 in violation of U.N. sanctions, according to an e-mail from one of the companies.
Diplomats and oil brokers have recently said that the United States had long turned a blind eye to illicit shipments of Iraqi oil by its allies Jordan and Turkey. The United States acknowledged this week that it had acquiesced in the trade to ensure that crucial allies would not suffer economic hardships.
But the e-mail, along with others released this week by Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Governmental Affairs panel's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, provides evidence that the Bush administration directly abetted Jordan's efforts to build up its strategic reserves with smuggled Iraqi oil in the weeks before the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021805F.shtml
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Veteran of Dirty Wars Wins Lead U.S. Spy Role By Duncan Campbell
The Guardian U.K
Written off by many after his role in Central America, John Negroponte's revived career hits a new high.
John Negroponte's nomination by President Bush yesterday to be his chief of intelligence represents the pinnacle of rehabilitation for a man who, for many people, will always be associated with US involvement in the "dirty wars" in Central America in the 1980s.
While Mr. Bush has restored to office other figures from that period of American history, none has been promoted to the same extent as the former ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the UN and Iraq.
Mr. Negroponte, 65, was born in London, the son of a Greek shipping magnate who emigrated to New York during the second world war.
After Harvard law school, he began a diplomatic career that has spanned more than four decades and taken in some of the most challenging posts on three continents.
He has described his time as a political officer in Vietnam during the war in the 60s as a "career-defining experience". He only left the diplomatic service for a three-year stint with the New York publishers McGraw Hill, a "sabbatical" which ended when he became the US ambassador to the UN in 2001.
To his admirers, he is a powerful, experienced, charismatic figure of patrician bearing who has earned the trust of successive American administrations, whether they were led by Presidents Reagan, Bush senior or Clinton. He is often described as "the diplomats' diplomat" and credited with a steely determination in negotiations in eight foreign postings. With his wife, Diana, he adopted five children in Honduras.
To his detractors, he is tainted by his time between 1981 and 1985 in Honduras, a country that was being used as a launchpad for the illegal US-backed war waged by the contras against the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The Honduran military was accused of taking part in torture and extra-judicial killings.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021805C.shtml
What's new with this Administration
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Behind the Walls of Ward 54 By Mark Benjamin Salon.com
They're overmedicated, forced to talk about their mothers instead of Iraq, and have to fight for disability pay. Traumatized combat vets say the Army is failing them, and after a year following more than a dozen soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital, I believe them.
Washington - Before he hanged himself with his bathrobe sash in the psychiatric ward at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Spc. Alexis Soto-Ramirez complained to friends about his medical treatment. Soto-Ramirez, 43, had been flown out of Iraq five months before then because of chronic back pain that became excruciating during the war. But doctors were really worried about his mind. They thought he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving with the 544th Military Police Company, a unit of the Puerto Rico National Guard, the kind of unit that saw dirty, face-to-face combat in Iraq.
A copy of Soto-Ramirez's medical records, reviewed by Salon, show that a octor who treated him in Puerto Rico upon his return from Iraq believed his mental problems were probably caused by the war and that his future was in the Army's hands. "Clearly, the psychiatric symptoms are combat related," a clinical psychologist at Roosevelt Roads Naval Hospital wrote on Nov. 24, 2003. The entry says, "Outcome will depend on adequacy and appropriateness of treatment." Doctors in Puerto Rico sent Soto-Ramirez to Walter Reed in Washington, D.C., to get the best care the Army had to offer. There, he was put in Ward 54, Walter Reed's "lockdown," or inpatient psychiatric ward, where the most troubled patients are supposed to have constant supervision.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021805D.shtml
You can bet he is not one of the Bush Administrations Sons
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Our Friends, the Torturers By Bob Herbert The New York Times
The United States has long purported to be outraged over Syria's bad behavior, the latest flash point being the possible Syrian involvement in the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri.
From the U.S. perspective, Syria is led by a gangster regime that has, among other things, sponsored terrorism, aided the insurgency in Iraq and engaged in torture. So here's the question. If Syria is such a bad actor - and it is - why would the Bush administration seize a Canadian citizen at Kennedy Airport in New York, put him on an executive jet, fly him in shackles to the Middle East and then hand him over to the Syrians, who promptly tortured him?
The administration is trying to have it both ways in its so-called war on terror. It claims to be fighting for freedom, democracy and the rule of law, and it condemns barbaric behavior whenever it is committed by someone else. At the same time, it is engaged in its own barbaric behavior, while going out of its way to keep that behavior concealed from the American public and the world at large.
The man grabbed at Kennedy Airport and thrown by American officials into a Syrian nightmare was Maher Arar, a 34-year-old native of Syria who emigrated to Canada as a teenager. No one, not even the Syrians who tortured him, have been able to present any evidence linking him to terrorism.
He was taken into custody on the afternoon of Sept. 26, 2002, and was not released until Oct. 5, 2003. He was never charged, and when he wasn't being brutalized, he spent much of his time in an unlit, rat-infested cell that reminded him of a grave.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021805J.shtml
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'US not planning Iran attack'by Terence Hunt in Washington19feb05
THE US does not intend to attack Iran to crush its suspected nuclear weapons project, President George W Bush said today.He added, however, that "you never want a president to say never".
Mr Bush expressed hope that a European diplomatic initiative would persuade Tehran to abandon any such program.
In interviews with European journalists at the White House, Mr Bush was asked about an opinion poll showing that 70 per cent of Germans believe the US is planning military action against Iran.
"I hear all these rumours about military attacks, and it's just not the truth," Mr Bush, about to visit Europe to mend fences with allies, said.
http://www.couriermail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12303381%255E1702,00.html
Well Ill be a monkey uncle
Yeah Mr Bush I believe you
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Allies move in on top terrorist
Bigley's executioner 'holed up in Kirkuk' as death toll in Iraq resumes pre-election levels
The claim comes barely days after the Iraq's interim government said that it was close to catching the jihadist, whose group has been behind the beheadings of foreign hostages, including Briton Kenneth Bigley, and suicide bombings.
'He came to Kirkuk from Mosul,' a source in the Kirkuk police department told Reuters yesterday, speaking anonymously. 'There's a possibility that he might be captured at any moment.'
The claim follows the disclosure by Iraq's interior minister this month that Iraqi security forces were tracking Zarqawi and had recently come close to capturing him. 'We are following him,' said Falah al-Naqib. 'I think we missed him two or three times, but hopefully next time we will be able to capture him.'
The claims came as British officials poured cold water on hopes of substantial early withdrawal from Iraq, and suggested that Britain could be involved in Iraq for decades. It also followed an increasingly inevitable day of further violence across the country.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1411802,00.html
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U.S. forces killed in Iraq
1,470 Americans confirmed dead, 1,119 troops; Five more killed today.
http://www.rawstory.com/ Christy go into this link: names and confirmations
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Bush's Iraq Coalition Shrinking
WASHINGTON - Sometimes it's hard to know who your friends are — even if they're helping you fight a war. President Bush (news - web sites), who hopes to coax more Iraq (news - web sites) support from European allies next week, used to boast that some 50 nations had joined the United States in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Today, a public listing is nowhere to be found.
One thing, though, is clear: The coalition is shrinking. "I expect to see the coalition countries begin paring down their forces as they complete their contributions," Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld told the House Armed Services Committee this week.
While a current list of coalition countries — those helping out in Iraq with troops, equipment, monetary or political support — is not easy to come by, there is a public listing of the countries that have actual troops in Iraq. These 20-plus countries, which have combat and support forces in Iraq under the command of Gen. George Casey Jr., make up the multinational force.
Daniel Goure, a Defense Department official in the first Bush administration, said current Bush officials apparently decided to start talking about a "multinational force" instead of a "coalition" to avoid questions about which countries were in or out.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&u=/ap/20050218/ap_on_go_pr_wh/shrinking_coalition&printer=1
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US soldiers to receive ecstasy to fight combat trauma
US soldiers traumatized by fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are to be offered the drug ecstasy to help free them of flashbacks and recurring nightmares.
The US food and drug administration has given the go-ahead for the soldiers to be included in an experiment to see if MDMA, the active ingredient in ecstasy, can treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
Scientists behind the trial in South Carolina think the feelings of emotional closeness reported by those taking the drug could help the soldiers talk about their experiences to therapists.
Several victims of rape and sexual abuse with post-traumatic stress disorder, for whom existing treatments are ineffective, have been given MDMA since the research began last year.
Michael Mithoefer, the psychiatrist leading the trial, said: "It's looking very promising. It's too early to draw any conclusions but in these treatment-resistant people so far the results are encouraging."
"People are able to connect more deeply on an emotional level with the fact they are safe now."
He is about to advertise for war veterans who fought in the last five years to join the study.
According to the US national center for post-traumatic stress disorder, up to 30 percent of combat veterans suffer from the condition at some point in their lives.
Known as shell shock during the first world war and combat fatigue in the second, the condition is characterized by intrusive memories, panic attacks and the avoidance of situations which might force sufferers to relive their wartime experiences.
Mithoefer said the MDMA helped people discuss traumatic situations without triggering anxiety.
"It appears to act as a catalyst to help people move through whatever's been blocking their success in therapy."
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/02/18/2003223545
This really had to mentioned a 2nd and 3rd and 4th time
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 2:04 AM
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