DISPATCH FROM DOWN UNDER
Survivors, Family Mark Nightclub Fire Anniversary
100 Died In Station Nightclub Blaze
POSTED: 6:47 am EST February 21, 2005
UPDATED: 9:44 am EST February 21, 2005
BOSTON -- Monday marks the second anniversary of the Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, R.I.
The fire broke out shortly after 11 p.m. after the band Great White took the stage.
A memorial service was held Sunday to remember the 100 people who died in the blaze.
"We try to keep him alive the best that we can. He is not gone, he is still spiritually with us," said Judy O'Brien, the mother of a victim.
"Every day it is going to be in our minds. It is not some far away place we never heard of -- it is right here," said Richard Taylor.
The club's owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian released a statement that said they pray for those affected by the fire.
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/4215828/detail.html?subid=22100410&qs=1;bp=t
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Breaking news:
Australia sending more Iraq troops
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Australia will send 450 more troops to southern Iraq to help protect Japanese engineers and help bolster the country's fledgling democracy, Prime Minister John Howard announced Tuesday.
The new detachment will include a cavalry squadron, infantry company and a team to train local forces, Howard told a news conference in Canberra.
Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, sent 2,000 troops to take part in the invasion of Iraq and still has nearly 900 troops in and around the country. Howard said it would take about 10 weeks for the new troops to prepare for their trip to Iraq and that they would likely stay there for a year.
"This has not been, is not and will not be an easy decision for the government; I know it will be unpopular with many," Howard said. The Australian troops will replace Dutch soldiers who had been serving in the al-Muthana province of southern Iraq but are scheduled to pull out by mid-March.
"I believe this is the right decision," Howard added. "It will make a significant contribution to the coalition effort; it will make a significant contribution to the rebuilding of Iraq."http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/02/21/iraq.australia.ap/index.html
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U.N. investigator convicted of molesting teen
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) -- An Australian investigator for a U.N.-backed war-crimes tribunal was convicted Monday of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl who sought a job as a nanny in his household.
Australian police officer Peter Halloran, 56, was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison.
"This is a very serious offense, taking advantage of a schoolgirl searching for a job," Judge Samuel Ademosu said in passing sentence, telling jailers: "Take him down."
Halloran arrived in Sierra Leone in 2004 as an investigator for the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal, which is trying rebels and government-allied fighters for abuses committed during the West African nation's 1991-2002 civil war.
The war-crimes court suspended Halloran after the sexual abuse allegations emerged in August. That court carried out its own investigation, but found insufficient evidence to support a case.
The 13-year-old said she met Halloran when she applied for a job as a baby sitter for the child of his girlfriend.
She told police that she slept in Halloran's bed for two nights, during which he molested her but stopped short of sexual intercourse.
Halloran, who said the girl told him she was 16, denied the charges.
Defense attorney Nicholas Browne-Marke said he would appeal and seek Halloran's freedom on bond.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/02/21/un.investigator.ap/index.html
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Iraqi Shiites to hold secret ballot
By MAGGIE MICHAEL
BAGHDAD (AP) - Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shiite once known for his ties to Washington, and Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the conservative interim vice-president, will face off in a secret ballot Tuesday to determine who will be the Shiite majority's choice for Iraqi prime minister, officials said.
The decision to hold a secret ballot came after the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance, which has most of the seats in the 275-member National Assembly, was unable to decide on a nominee - despite days of negotiations.
Chalabi spokesman Haidar al-Moussawi said the most powerful man in predominantly Shiite Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, met interim Finance Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi in the southern city of Najaf and gave his backing for whatever decision the alliance makes.
"Al-Sistani assured that whoever the alliance will choose, he will agree on him," al-Moussawi said.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/16/932454-ap.html
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Bush: Chirac a 'good cowboy'
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Only months after he criticized countries “like France,” President Bush was lavish in his praise of French President Jacques Chirac, one of the sharpest critics of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
“I’m looking for a good cowboy,” Bush said on Monday when a French reporter asked him whether relations had improved to the point where the U.S. president would be inviting Chirac to the U.S. president’s ranch in Texas.
Chirac had equally kind words to say about Bush, saying he and the American president “always had very warm relations.”
Iraq? Merely a blip in ties between the two countries that have been “excellent for over 200 years now,” Chirac said
Arn't they a beautiful pair of COWBOY liars
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/21/938003.html
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Iran to investigate media coverage
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran said Monday it will investigate Media coverage of a construction explosion near a southern nuclear site to learn why it was initially reported as a missile attack.
Wednesday's explosion near the Gulf port city of Deylam, close to the Bushehr nuclear facility, was initially reported by state-run television as a possible missile attack or anti-aircraft fire, sparking fears of a foreign military attack in the Persian state. The government later said it was caused by construction work on a dam.
"Broadcasting false news is subject to prosecution," said Abdullah Ramazanzadeh, a government spokesman. "It should be clarified who spread the news and how."
U.S. and Israeli officials denied any involvement in the explosion, which spiked oil prices and showed unease about the international confrontation over Iran's nuclear program.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/21/938070-ap.html
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Iraqi Shiites holding secret ballot to choose between Chalabi and al-Jaafari
By MAGGIE MICHAEL
BAGHDAD (AP) - Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shiite once known for his ties to Washington, and Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the conservative interim vice-president, will face off in a secret ballot Tuesday to determine who will be the Shiite majority's choice for Iraqi prime minister, officials said.
The decision to hold a secret ballot came after the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance, which has most of the seats in the 275-member National Assembly, was unable to decide on a nominee - despite days of negotiations.
Chalabi spokesman Haidar al-Moussawi said the most powerful man in predominantly Shiite Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, met interim Finance Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi in the southern city of Najaf and gave his backing for whatever decision the alliance makes.
"Al-Sistani assured that whoever the alliance will choose, he will agree on him," al-Moussawi said.
Although Chalabi and his supporters claim he had the support needed for the nomination, the vote between the two 58-year-old men was anything but a sure thing.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2004/11/29/740395-ap.html
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CSIS agent testifies at Charkaoui hearing about threats to Canada
MONTREAL (CP) - A suspected terrorist who was released on bail after 21 months' detention said Monday he welcomes the chance to attack the controversial security certificate that ordered him jailed.
Adil Charkaoui, who was freed on $50,000 bail last week, was back in Federal Court for a review of the security certificate issued against him.
"We have the chance to show this certificate is unreasonable," he said outside the court after proceedings wrapped for the day.
The certificate, a provision of the Immigration Act, means most of the evidence against him is known only by the government and the judge.
Charkaoui, who is accused of having links to the al-Qaida terrorist organization, said it is "absurd" to detain someone based on evidence that is kept secret and ends up with the detainee's name being dragged through the media.
"I'm free, I'm happy," he said. "There are four other people in Ontario who are suffering, their families are suffering enormously. It's been four years since they were incarcerated without charge.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/01/10/890075-cp.html
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Iraqi women 'no better off
'
NEARLY two years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, women there were no better off than under the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, the human rights group Amnesty International said today.In a report entitled Iraq - Decades of Suffering, it said that while the systematic repression under Saddam had ended, it had been replaced by increased murders, and sexual abuse - including by US forces.
Washington promised that the overthrow of Saddam would free the Iraqi people from years of oppression and set them on the road to democracy. But Amnesty said post-war insecurity had left women at risk of violence and curtailed their freedoms.
"The lawlessness and increased killings, abductions and rapes that followed the overthrow of the government of Saddam Hussein have restricted women's freedom of movement and their ability to go to school or to work," Amnesty said.
"Women have been subjected to sexual threats by members of the US-led forces and some women detained by US forces have been sexually abused, possibly raped."
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12334428%255E1702,00.html
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Army Having Difficulty Meeting Goals In Recruiting
The active-duty Army is in danger of failing to meet its recruiting goals, and is beginning to suffer from manpower strains like those that have dropped the National Guard and Reserves below full strength, according to Army figures and interviews with senior officers .
For the first time since 2001, the Army began the fiscal year in October with only 18.4 percent of the year's target of 80,000 active-duty recruits already in the pipeline. That amounts to less than half of last year's figure and falls well below the Army's goal of 25 percent.
Meanwhile, the Army is rushing incoming recruits into training as quickly as it can. Compared with last year, it has cut by 50 percent the average number of days between the time a recruit signs up and enters boot camp. It is adding more than 800 active-duty recruiters to the 5,201 who were on the job last year, as attracting each enlistee requires more effort and monetary incentives.
Driving the manpower crunch is the Army's goal of boosting the number of combat brigades needed to rotate into Iraq (news - web sites) and handle other global contingencies. Yet Army officials see worrisome signs that young American men and women -- and their parents -- are growing wary of military service, largely because of the Iraq conflict.
"Very frankly, in a couple of places our recruiting pool is getting soft," said Lt. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, the Army's personnel chief. "We're hearing things like, 'Well, let's wait and see how this thing settles out in Iraq,' " he said in an interview. "For the active duty for '05 it's going to be tough to meet our goal, but I think we can. I think the telling year for us is going to be '06."
Other senior military officers have voiced similar concerns in recent days. "I anticipate that fiscal year '05 will be very challenging for both active and reserve component recruiting," Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a House Appropriations subcommittee Feb. 17. The Marine Corps fell short of its monthly recruiting quota in January for the first time in nearly a decade
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&u=/washpost/20050221/ts_washpost/a40469_2005feb20&printer=1
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A New Target for Advisers to Swift Vets
Washington - Taking its cues from the success of last year's Swift boat veterans' campaign in the presidential race, a conservative lobbying organization has hired some of the same consultants to orchestrate attacks on one of President Bush's toughest opponents in the battle to overhaul Social Security.
The lobbying group, USA Next, which has poured millions of dollars into Republican policy battles, now says it plans to spend as much as $10 million on commercials and other tactics assailing AARP, the powerhouse lobby opposing the private investment accounts at the center of Mr. Bush's plan.
"They are the boulder in the middle of the highway to personal savings accounts," said Charlie Jarvis, president of USA Next and former deputy under secretary of the interior in the Reagan and first Bush administrations. "We will be the dynamite that removes them."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/022105G.shtml
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U.N.: Afghanistan Could Become Terror Haven
Kabul, Afghanistan - Three years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan remains the world's sixth-least developed country, the United Nations said Monday, warning that a nation that became a haven for international terrorists could fail again unless more is done to improve the lives of its long-suffering citizens.
In a wide-ranging report that measures Afghans' personal security, welfare and ability to control their own lives, the world body ranked the country 173rd out of 178 assessed in 2004. The five states that fared worse are in sub-Saharan Africa.
While landmark October elections showed Afghanistan's political progress, the report urged President Hamid Karzai and his international backers to redouble their efforts to tackle miserable health and education standards, as well as growing inequality which could fuel fresh conflict.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/022105M.shtml
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MOTHER JONES.com
From Bagram to Abu Ghraib
For nearly three years, U.S. military authorities have been investigating evidence of torture at American prisons in Afghanistan. But instead of disciplining those involved, the Pentagon sent them to Iraq.
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HUSSAIN YOUSSOUF MUSTAFA stepped off the bus outside a law office on a busy street in Amman, Jordan, on a bright day in November. The 51-year-old wore a white kaffiyeh and a white robe with square-rimmed glasses and a salt-and-pepper beard. Inside, he sat down at a table that faced a map of the Middle East, and over eight hours and two days answered questions about his two years in American captivity.
Mustafa, who is Palestinian, said he earned a master’s degree in Islamic law in Saudi Arabia, but as a young teacher he had trouble making a living in the West Bank. In 1985, he heard that Pakistan was setting up schools for Afghans who were fleeing the Soviet occupation. Mustafa and his wife moved to Peshawar, a city of 1 million near the Pakistani-Afghan border, and for 17 years they lived there and raised eight children, with Mustafa teaching Arabic and the tenets of Islam at a government-run school.
After the American invasion of Afghanistan in the winter of 2001, Mustafa said, Peshawar became tense, with periodic police roundups of suspected militants, although he had no run-ins with the authorities and felt no threat from them. Then, on May 25, 2002, at about 8 p.m., their doorbell rang. Mustafa asked Ibrahim, his youngest son, to answer the door. The boy yelled, “Police!” and ran back into the house, several Pakistani police officers behind him with guns drawn. They took Mustafa in for questioning along with two of his sons, 18-year-old Mohammed and 23-year-old Abdullah. The young men were released later that night. But their father was blindfolded, tightly shackled, and flown to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/03/03_2005_Bazelon.html
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US air traffic authority had multiple Bin Laden hijack warnings before 9/11
The Federal Aviation Administration had dozens of intelligence reports warning of possible airline hijackings and suicide operations by Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden during the months leading up to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, according to a report from the 9/11 commission that the Bush administration has sought to keep secret.
The New York Times published the first report of the 9/11 commission document yesterday, noting that the commission had approved the finding last summer, before it disbanded in August. The Bush administration blocked release of the document, citing national security concerns, for more than five months. This served the political purposes of the Bush reelection campaign, ensuring that the document demonstrating the administration’s gross negligence—or worse—would not be released before the 2004 presidential vote.
According to former officials of the 9/11 commission who spoke with the Times, the Bush administration finally approved both the classified report on the FAA’s performance before September 11 and a declassified 120-page version two weeks ago, delivering them to the National Archives. The declassified version is heavily “redacted,” with significant passages entirely deleted. Nonetheless, the Times reported, “the declassified version provides the firmest evidence to date about the warnings that aviation officials received concerning the threat of an attack on airliners and the failure to take steps to deter it.”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/feb2005/faa-f11_prn.shtml
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Energy secretary pushes to ramp up U.S. ability to test nuke bomb
WASHINGTON - Although scientists continue work on simulating nuclear bomb tests by computer, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday that the Nevada Test Site's ability to resume actual underground warhead detonations must be enhanced. The Bush administration's commitment to step up preparations for a potential resumption of nuclear bomb testing in southern Nevada comes less than a week after the Utah Senate unanimously approved a House-passed resolution that urged the federal government not to "return to the mistakes and miscalculations of the past which have marred many Utahns" and that would create "a new generation of downwinders." Thousands of Utah residents downwind of the Nevada proving ground blame atomic-bomb testing - which began in the 1950s and ended with a 1992 moratorium - for an airborne scourge of disease and death due to radioactive fallout. Appearing before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Bodman said the administration wants $2 billion in the next fiscal year for the nuclear weapon stockpile stewardship program, which verifies that America's aging atomic arsenal remains operational. Last year, a bipartisan congressional effort killed increased funding requests to allow an underground nuclear test to be carried out within 18 months if needed, rather than the current estimated preparation time of 24 to 36 months. Although no such tests are planned, Bodman said the administration remains convinced the "readiness posture" of the nuclear proving ground must be enhanced. "We will continue our efforts to maintain the ability to conduct underground nuclear testing and complete the transition to the 18-month test readiness posture that is mandated by Congress," he told the panel.
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2569845
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Ex-POWs Fight Iraq and U.S. for Compensation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of U.S. pilots tortured in the first Gulf War by Iraqis has hit an unexpected obstacle in its legal fight for compensation: Bush administration lawyers argue Iraq is no longer a pariah and should not be forced to pay.
The 17 pilots, some of whom are serving in Iraq, have asked the Supreme Court to take their case in the hope it will reinstate a 2003 ruling in their favor, which was overturned by an appeals court after the Justice Department intervened.
In a bitter twist, some of the ex-prisoners of war were tortured at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad -- the same facility where U.S. soldiers abused Iraqi prisoners after President Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003.
Retired Air Force Col. David Eberly, one of the plaintiffs, said on Tuesday it was a "mystery" why the Justice Department was fighting their case and pointed to the irony that the United States might end up compensating Iraqi prisoners abused at Abu Ghraib but not its own who suffered under Saddam.
"Our case is not based on getting U.S. funds but Iraqi funds. We feel the case that was made and the judgment awarded was based clearly on U.S. law and should not have been appealed," said Eberly.
The U.S. District Court in Washington ruled in the pilots' favor on July 7, 2003, and awarded $653 million in compensatory damages and $306 million in punitive damages for the abuse, which included mock executions, floggings, starvation and denial of medical treatment.
Congress passed a law in 1996 which allowed lawsuits such as Eberly's to be filed against foreign governments placed on the State Department's list of nations supporting terrorist activities.
POLICY CHANGE
But Justice Department lawyers argued this ruling should be set aside following the invasion of Iraq and emergency legislation that authorized the president to suspend sanctions against Iraq and get the State Department to remove it from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
"After the United States removed the Hussein regime from power in Iraq, our foreign policy toward that nation changed fundamentally," said the Justice Department in its argument to the appeals court.
"This dramatic change in foreign policy is at the heart of this appeal," it added. Continued ... http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=7639282
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80 dead, 300 hurt in Iranian quake
(CNN) -- Eighty people have died and 300 were injured when a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near Zarand in central Iran, Iranian state-run television reported.
The temblor, which struck about 5:55 a.m. local time (9:25 p.m. Monday ET), sent panicked residents pouring into the streets on Tuesday, where they remained, clogging avenues used to transport the injured to hospitals and forcing residents to use motorcycles.
In Zarand, a city of about 135,000 people in Kerman province, 20 people died and 280 were taken to hospitals, officials said. Rescue crews were en route.
Six of Zarand's outlying villages received damages ranging from 30 to 70 percent, authorities told state-run television. Impassable roads hindered efforts to contact other villages.
Helicopters were sent to help in transporting the injured, along with identifying the easiest ways into the inaccessible areas.
Initial reports indicate the epicenter of the temblor was located near the villages of Khanouk, Islamabad and Mottaharabad, state television said.
. http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/02/21/iran.quake/index.html
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Propaganda of US Military through our Schools
Introduction
The US Military has turned itself into the greatest tool of the US Weapons Industry, the largest and most lucrative business enterprise in the world. For this deadly business to remain successful, there must be struggles and wars continuously waged for the rest of this century. Its hand-picked politicians in the US government, while they speak of peace they promote war, while they speak of love and respect they promote hatred and disrespect, and while they advocate family unity and stress the sanctity of marriage, they do anything to disintegrate this unity and tarnish this sanctity of marriage both in this nation and overseas through threats, deliberate inflicted pain and death.
Saying One thing and Doing Another
Moreover, these political tools of the US Weapons Industry, while they speak of the sanctity of life before birth, they literally reveal no respect for life at all after birth, while they speak of the rights Americans have for a good health care system and good education for all Americans, they take money away from these two vital elements to pass them to the manufacture and sales of more and more weapons, while they profess faith in the God of love and mercy that Jesus preahced in the New Testament, they follow the inspiration of the God of hatred and revenge -- the eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth -- that Jesus condemned in the Old Testament.
In addition, our US political key figures, while they speak of the importance of democracy, they promote dictatorship within their own territory, while they speak of being open with the American people, they implement their destructive war agenda in a secretive way, while they speak of the importance for all nations to be free they restrict the freedom of Americans to move around freely through numerous prohibitions including traveling into a number of ocuntries that includes Cuba, while they pride themselves into having a voluntary military, which is good, they seem now to be contemplating to institute the draft so that they could further the cause of more struggles and wars, while they present the United States as an agent of democracy, freedom, love and concern, they are making this American nation to look more as an agent of tightened control by the few over the many that is characterized by servitude, hatred and disregard.
http://207.44.245.159/article8125.htm
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The Justice of Roosting Chickens: Ward Churchill SpeaksProfessor Churchill, do you think that the World Trade Center was an acceptable target on September 11? Do you think it was a legitimate target?Video - Audio - TranscriptWhat you have to understand, and what the listeners have to understand, is that under U.S. rules, it was an acceptable target. http://207.44.245.159/article8124.htm
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: Governor Owens made the same call on the O'Reilly Factor.
BILL O’REILLY: This is such an embarrassment for your state, which is a changing state, but it's a traditional state, and this guy's embarrassed Colorado from Trinidad up to Greeley.
GOVERNOR BILL OWENS: Absolutely.
BILL O’REILLY: And over to, you know, Steamboat Springs. Everybody is --
GOVERNOR BILL OWENS: You have been here.
BILL O’REILLY: Yeah. They're like appalled.
YOU WANT DEMOCRACY YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS
TAKE THE TIME THS IS WORTH IT
THE REPUG ARMY ARE OUT TO CRUCIFY THIS MAN
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Israel must be prepared for an air strike on Iran
:
Israel Air Force Commander-in-Chief Major General Eliezer Shakedi said Monday that Israel must be prepared for an air strike on Iran in light of its nuclear activity.http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=543087&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Yhttp://snipurl.com/cy1h
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Israel pushes U.S. on Iran nuke solution:
Israel has been privately pressing Washington to solve the Iran nuclear problem in a hint that Tel Aviv may be left with no choice but to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, defense officials say.http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050221-123842-3048r.htm
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Nine killed, more disappear, in Iraq violence
:
"Insurgents" kidnap journalist working for government-funded TV and her son, three men working for US military.http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=12762===
Three US soldiers killed, eight wounded in Iraq:
A bomb explosion killed three US soldiers and wounded eight others in Addorah area south of here, a statement released by the multi national forces in Iraq said Monday.http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=707017http://snipurl.com/cy1m
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US soldier killed in Mosul:
A US marine soldier was killed on Saturday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a Multi-National Force statement said on Monday.http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=706944http://snipurl.com/cy1o
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Violence Trumps Rebuilding in Iraq :
U.S. officials say soaring security costs have consumed $1 billion earmarked for badly needed water, power and sanitation projectshttp://ktla.trb.com/news/nationworld/world/ktla-fg-cuts21feb21-lat,0,5116764.story?coll=ktla-news-1http://snipurl.com/cy1s
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Syria says it will withdraw troops from the Lebanon:
Amr Mussa, the head of the Arab League, said that Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President, had assured him this morning that Syria was prepared to fulfil its obligations in the Taef accords that ended Lebanon's civil war in 1995.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1493978,00.html
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Thousands take part in Beirut rally:
Tens of thousands of Lebanese massed on Beirut seafront as pressure mounted on the government to step down and end Syrian influence.http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EA2180C4-F1A2-436D-BD93-14C2D3E87D79.htmhttp://snipurl.com/cy1w
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Was Syria really to blame?:
The 300-kilo car bomb that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut last week is being widely blamed on Syria. The Bush administration in the U.S., cheered on by Israel, accused Syria of "terrorism," withdrew its ambassador and all but threatened Damascus with war.http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2005/02/20/pf-936484.htmlhttp://snipurl.com/cy1x
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Assassinating Al-Hariri Fits Washington's Plan:
To understand who assassinated Rafik al-Hariri we don't need to look any further than the $1.5 billion US Embassy currently under construction in Baghdad. The new embassy, the largest of its kind in the world, will facilitate 1,800 employees and serve as the regional nerve center for American political and economic activity. What does this have to do with al Hariri?http://207.44.245.159/article8127.htm
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Shooting the Messenger:
"The trouble is that a lot of the military--particularly the American...military--do not want us there. And they make it very uncomfortable for us to work. And I think that this...is leading to security forces in some instances feeling it is legitimate to target us with deadly force and with impunity.
"http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050307&s=scahill
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'Brooklyn's Abu Ghraib' :
Defense attorneys call it Brooklyn's Abu Ghraib. On the ninth floor of the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, terrorism suspects swept off the streets after the Sept. 11 attacks were repeatedly stripped naked and frequently were physically abused, the Justice Department's inspector general has found. http://nydailynews.com/front/story/282716p-242172c.html
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Army knew of Abu Ghraib months before Blair was told:
A senior British officer knew about serious abuse allegations at Abu Ghraib prison five months before ministers learnt about the scandal, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=612890http://snipurl.com/cy21
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A UK diplomat says Britain is part of a worldwide torture plot.
Is he telling the truth?:
Our former ambassador to Uzbekistan refuses to go quietly. The Government should come clean about interrogation methods, he tells Raymond Whitakerhttp://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=612865http://snipurl.com/cy23
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Putin To Visit Iran:
"The Russian Federation and Iran have several joint projects, in particular, the purchase of passenger liners from Moscow, the construction of the second unit of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, the issue of ships on the Caspian Sea and others,"http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5430525&startrow=1&date=2005-02-19&do_alert=0http://snipurl.com/cy24
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Al-Qaeda number two warns West it faces thousands of dead, economic collapse:
Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri warned the West it faced defeat in what he termed its "new crusade" against the Islamic world, as well as thousands of dead and economic collapse, in a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera television.http://207.44.245.159/article8135.htm
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Paul Craig Roberts: Bush Outfoxed By Bin Laden:
Any day now the neocons may orchestrate a scenario that will suck the US into a wider war that America has no possibility of winning. If the American people had the slightest sense of their danger, they would demand immediate US withdrawal from Iraq and accountability for the liars who orchestrated the ill-fated US invasion.http://207.44.245.159/article8133.htm===
Uri Avnery : Beware of the Dog! :
It is not very flattering to be paraded like a Rottweiler on a leash, whose master threatens to let him loose on his enemies. But this is Israels situation now.http://207.44.245.159/article8128.htm
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New Zealand rejects Israeli apology on alleged Mossad agents :
Wellington has rejected an official Israeli apology on the matter of two alleged Mossad agents who were apprehended and jailed after they tried to fraudulently obtain a New Zealand passport
.http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/542991.html
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Claims Israel uses Australia as spy base:
Israel uses Australia as a base to monitor the activities of potential enemies in the region, according to an American security expert.http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/smh51.html
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Accomplices in War Crimes
: Despite the horrific crimes and wanton destruction caused by an illegal act of aggression and Occupation, mainstream media continues to promote the Occupation of Iraq as a "humanitarian" act.http://207.44.245.159/article8132.htm
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Childhood under threat:
Despite the near universal embrace of standards for protecting childhood, a new UNICEF report shows that more than half the world's children are suffering extreme deprivations from poverty, war and HIV/AIDS, conditions which effectively deny children a childhood and hold back the development of nations.http://www.simedia.org/new/soc-econ-pol/child-threat05.html
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Why isn't Bob Novak going to jail?
Will someone please explain in simple, easy-to-understand language, why we never see right-wing pundit Bob Novak's name mentioned in the same breath as reporters facing jail time for contempt in the Valerie Plame affair?
Earlier this week, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington upheld an earlier court ruling that New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper should be jailed for contempt for failing to disclose the source of a story neither had any intention of publishing in the first place.
Meanwhile, Bob Novak, the only columnist in the country who actually published Plame's identity in violation of federal law, sits comfortably ensconced on CNN's "The Capital Gang" bloviating as usual.
Miller and Cooper will probably go to jail for "witnessing" a federal crime and refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA agent's identity. So why is it that only two of the three reporters who allegedly "witnessed" the crime are being threatened?
Novak not only knows the identity of the "senior White House official" who leaked the information to Miller and Cooper, he willingly became a conduit for that information.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05049/459428.stm
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party public information project from TheocracyWatch.org
http://theocracywatch.org/
I MYSELF HAVE NOT OR WILL NOT READ
BUT A MUST READ TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
PUKE TIME
100 Died In Station Nightclub Blaze
POSTED: 6:47 am EST February 21, 2005
UPDATED: 9:44 am EST February 21, 2005
BOSTON -- Monday marks the second anniversary of the Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, R.I.
The fire broke out shortly after 11 p.m. after the band Great White took the stage.
A memorial service was held Sunday to remember the 100 people who died in the blaze.
"We try to keep him alive the best that we can. He is not gone, he is still spiritually with us," said Judy O'Brien, the mother of a victim.
"Every day it is going to be in our minds. It is not some far away place we never heard of -- it is right here," said Richard Taylor.
The club's owners Jeffrey and Michael Derderian released a statement that said they pray for those affected by the fire.
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/4215828/detail.html?subid=22100410&qs=1;bp=t
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Breaking news:
Australia sending more Iraq troops
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) -- Australia will send 450 more troops to southern Iraq to help protect Japanese engineers and help bolster the country's fledgling democracy, Prime Minister John Howard announced Tuesday.
The new detachment will include a cavalry squadron, infantry company and a team to train local forces, Howard told a news conference in Canberra.
Australia, a staunch U.S. ally, sent 2,000 troops to take part in the invasion of Iraq and still has nearly 900 troops in and around the country. Howard said it would take about 10 weeks for the new troops to prepare for their trip to Iraq and that they would likely stay there for a year.
"This has not been, is not and will not be an easy decision for the government; I know it will be unpopular with many," Howard said. The Australian troops will replace Dutch soldiers who had been serving in the al-Muthana province of southern Iraq but are scheduled to pull out by mid-March.
"I believe this is the right decision," Howard added. "It will make a significant contribution to the coalition effort; it will make a significant contribution to the rebuilding of Iraq."http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/02/21/iraq.australia.ap/index.html
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U.N. investigator convicted of molesting teen
FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) -- An Australian investigator for a U.N.-backed war-crimes tribunal was convicted Monday of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl who sought a job as a nanny in his household.
Australian police officer Peter Halloran, 56, was sentenced to 1 1/2 years in prison.
"This is a very serious offense, taking advantage of a schoolgirl searching for a job," Judge Samuel Ademosu said in passing sentence, telling jailers: "Take him down."
Halloran arrived in Sierra Leone in 2004 as an investigator for the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal, which is trying rebels and government-allied fighters for abuses committed during the West African nation's 1991-2002 civil war.
The war-crimes court suspended Halloran after the sexual abuse allegations emerged in August. That court carried out its own investigation, but found insufficient evidence to support a case.
The 13-year-old said she met Halloran when she applied for a job as a baby sitter for the child of his girlfriend.
She told police that she slept in Halloran's bed for two nights, during which he molested her but stopped short of sexual intercourse.
Halloran, who said the girl told him she was 16, denied the charges.
Defense attorney Nicholas Browne-Marke said he would appeal and seek Halloran's freedom on bond.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/02/21/un.investigator.ap/index.html
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Iraqi Shiites to hold secret ballot
By MAGGIE MICHAEL
BAGHDAD (AP) - Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shiite once known for his ties to Washington, and Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the conservative interim vice-president, will face off in a secret ballot Tuesday to determine who will be the Shiite majority's choice for Iraqi prime minister, officials said.
The decision to hold a secret ballot came after the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance, which has most of the seats in the 275-member National Assembly, was unable to decide on a nominee - despite days of negotiations.
Chalabi spokesman Haidar al-Moussawi said the most powerful man in predominantly Shiite Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, met interim Finance Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi in the southern city of Najaf and gave his backing for whatever decision the alliance makes.
"Al-Sistani assured that whoever the alliance will choose, he will agree on him," al-Moussawi said.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/16/932454-ap.html
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Bush: Chirac a 'good cowboy'
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Only months after he criticized countries “like France,” President Bush was lavish in his praise of French President Jacques Chirac, one of the sharpest critics of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
“I’m looking for a good cowboy,” Bush said on Monday when a French reporter asked him whether relations had improved to the point where the U.S. president would be inviting Chirac to the U.S. president’s ranch in Texas.
Chirac had equally kind words to say about Bush, saying he and the American president “always had very warm relations.”
Iraq? Merely a blip in ties between the two countries that have been “excellent for over 200 years now,” Chirac said
Arn't they a beautiful pair of COWBOY liars
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/21/938003.html
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Iran to investigate media coverage
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran said Monday it will investigate Media coverage of a construction explosion near a southern nuclear site to learn why it was initially reported as a missile attack.
Wednesday's explosion near the Gulf port city of Deylam, close to the Bushehr nuclear facility, was initially reported by state-run television as a possible missile attack or anti-aircraft fire, sparking fears of a foreign military attack in the Persian state. The government later said it was caused by construction work on a dam.
"Broadcasting false news is subject to prosecution," said Abdullah Ramazanzadeh, a government spokesman. "It should be clarified who spread the news and how."
U.S. and Israeli officials denied any involvement in the explosion, which spiked oil prices and showed unease about the international confrontation over Iran's nuclear program.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2005/02/21/938070-ap.html
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Iraqi Shiites holding secret ballot to choose between Chalabi and al-Jaafari
By MAGGIE MICHAEL
BAGHDAD (AP) - Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shiite once known for his ties to Washington, and Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the conservative interim vice-president, will face off in a secret ballot Tuesday to determine who will be the Shiite majority's choice for Iraqi prime minister, officials said.
The decision to hold a secret ballot came after the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance, which has most of the seats in the 275-member National Assembly, was unable to decide on a nominee - despite days of negotiations.
Chalabi spokesman Haidar al-Moussawi said the most powerful man in predominantly Shiite Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, met interim Finance Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi in the southern city of Najaf and gave his backing for whatever decision the alliance makes.
"Al-Sistani assured that whoever the alliance will choose, he will agree on him," al-Moussawi said.
Although Chalabi and his supporters claim he had the support needed for the nomination, the vote between the two 58-year-old men was anything but a sure thing.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/Iraq/2004/11/29/740395-ap.html
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CSIS agent testifies at Charkaoui hearing about threats to Canada
MONTREAL (CP) - A suspected terrorist who was released on bail after 21 months' detention said Monday he welcomes the chance to attack the controversial security certificate that ordered him jailed.
Adil Charkaoui, who was freed on $50,000 bail last week, was back in Federal Court for a review of the security certificate issued against him.
"We have the chance to show this certificate is unreasonable," he said outside the court after proceedings wrapped for the day.
The certificate, a provision of the Immigration Act, means most of the evidence against him is known only by the government and the judge.
Charkaoui, who is accused of having links to the al-Qaida terrorist organization, said it is "absurd" to detain someone based on evidence that is kept secret and ends up with the detainee's name being dragged through the media.
"I'm free, I'm happy," he said. "There are four other people in Ontario who are suffering, their families are suffering enormously. It's been four years since they were incarcerated without charge.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/WarOnTerrorism/2005/01/10/890075-cp.html
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Iraqi women 'no better off
'
NEARLY two years after the US-led invasion of Iraq, women there were no better off than under the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, the human rights group Amnesty International said today.In a report entitled Iraq - Decades of Suffering, it said that while the systematic repression under Saddam had ended, it had been replaced by increased murders, and sexual abuse - including by US forces.
Washington promised that the overthrow of Saddam would free the Iraqi people from years of oppression and set them on the road to democracy. But Amnesty said post-war insecurity had left women at risk of violence and curtailed their freedoms.
"The lawlessness and increased killings, abductions and rapes that followed the overthrow of the government of Saddam Hussein have restricted women's freedom of movement and their ability to go to school or to work," Amnesty said.
"Women have been subjected to sexual threats by members of the US-led forces and some women detained by US forces have been sexually abused, possibly raped."
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,12334428%255E1702,00.html
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Army Having Difficulty Meeting Goals In Recruiting
The active-duty Army is in danger of failing to meet its recruiting goals, and is beginning to suffer from manpower strains like those that have dropped the National Guard and Reserves below full strength, according to Army figures and interviews with senior officers .
For the first time since 2001, the Army began the fiscal year in October with only 18.4 percent of the year's target of 80,000 active-duty recruits already in the pipeline. That amounts to less than half of last year's figure and falls well below the Army's goal of 25 percent.
Meanwhile, the Army is rushing incoming recruits into training as quickly as it can. Compared with last year, it has cut by 50 percent the average number of days between the time a recruit signs up and enters boot camp. It is adding more than 800 active-duty recruiters to the 5,201 who were on the job last year, as attracting each enlistee requires more effort and monetary incentives.
Driving the manpower crunch is the Army's goal of boosting the number of combat brigades needed to rotate into Iraq (news - web sites) and handle other global contingencies. Yet Army officials see worrisome signs that young American men and women -- and their parents -- are growing wary of military service, largely because of the Iraq conflict.
"Very frankly, in a couple of places our recruiting pool is getting soft," said Lt. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, the Army's personnel chief. "We're hearing things like, 'Well, let's wait and see how this thing settles out in Iraq,' " he said in an interview. "For the active duty for '05 it's going to be tough to meet our goal, but I think we can. I think the telling year for us is going to be '06."
Other senior military officers have voiced similar concerns in recent days. "I anticipate that fiscal year '05 will be very challenging for both active and reserve component recruiting," Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a House Appropriations subcommittee Feb. 17. The Marine Corps fell short of its monthly recruiting quota in January for the first time in nearly a decade
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&u=/washpost/20050221/ts_washpost/a40469_2005feb20&printer=1
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A New Target for Advisers to Swift Vets
Washington - Taking its cues from the success of last year's Swift boat veterans' campaign in the presidential race, a conservative lobbying organization has hired some of the same consultants to orchestrate attacks on one of President Bush's toughest opponents in the battle to overhaul Social Security.
The lobbying group, USA Next, which has poured millions of dollars into Republican policy battles, now says it plans to spend as much as $10 million on commercials and other tactics assailing AARP, the powerhouse lobby opposing the private investment accounts at the center of Mr. Bush's plan.
"They are the boulder in the middle of the highway to personal savings accounts," said Charlie Jarvis, president of USA Next and former deputy under secretary of the interior in the Reagan and first Bush administrations. "We will be the dynamite that removes them."
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/022105G.shtml
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U.N.: Afghanistan Could Become Terror Haven
Kabul, Afghanistan - Three years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan remains the world's sixth-least developed country, the United Nations said Monday, warning that a nation that became a haven for international terrorists could fail again unless more is done to improve the lives of its long-suffering citizens.
In a wide-ranging report that measures Afghans' personal security, welfare and ability to control their own lives, the world body ranked the country 173rd out of 178 assessed in 2004. The five states that fared worse are in sub-Saharan Africa.
While landmark October elections showed Afghanistan's political progress, the report urged President Hamid Karzai and his international backers to redouble their efforts to tackle miserable health and education standards, as well as growing inequality which could fuel fresh conflict.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/022105M.shtml
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MOTHER JONES.com
From Bagram to Abu Ghraib
For nearly three years, U.S. military authorities have been investigating evidence of torture at American prisons in Afghanistan. But instead of disciplining those involved, the Pentagon sent them to Iraq.
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HUSSAIN YOUSSOUF MUSTAFA stepped off the bus outside a law office on a busy street in Amman, Jordan, on a bright day in November. The 51-year-old wore a white kaffiyeh and a white robe with square-rimmed glasses and a salt-and-pepper beard. Inside, he sat down at a table that faced a map of the Middle East, and over eight hours and two days answered questions about his two years in American captivity.
Mustafa, who is Palestinian, said he earned a master’s degree in Islamic law in Saudi Arabia, but as a young teacher he had trouble making a living in the West Bank. In 1985, he heard that Pakistan was setting up schools for Afghans who were fleeing the Soviet occupation. Mustafa and his wife moved to Peshawar, a city of 1 million near the Pakistani-Afghan border, and for 17 years they lived there and raised eight children, with Mustafa teaching Arabic and the tenets of Islam at a government-run school.
After the American invasion of Afghanistan in the winter of 2001, Mustafa said, Peshawar became tense, with periodic police roundups of suspected militants, although he had no run-ins with the authorities and felt no threat from them. Then, on May 25, 2002, at about 8 p.m., their doorbell rang. Mustafa asked Ibrahim, his youngest son, to answer the door. The boy yelled, “Police!” and ran back into the house, several Pakistani police officers behind him with guns drawn. They took Mustafa in for questioning along with two of his sons, 18-year-old Mohammed and 23-year-old Abdullah. The young men were released later that night. But their father was blindfolded, tightly shackled, and flown to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2005/03/03_2005_Bazelon.html
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US air traffic authority had multiple Bin Laden hijack warnings before 9/11
The Federal Aviation Administration had dozens of intelligence reports warning of possible airline hijackings and suicide operations by Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden during the months leading up to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, according to a report from the 9/11 commission that the Bush administration has sought to keep secret.
The New York Times published the first report of the 9/11 commission document yesterday, noting that the commission had approved the finding last summer, before it disbanded in August. The Bush administration blocked release of the document, citing national security concerns, for more than five months. This served the political purposes of the Bush reelection campaign, ensuring that the document demonstrating the administration’s gross negligence—or worse—would not be released before the 2004 presidential vote.
According to former officials of the 9/11 commission who spoke with the Times, the Bush administration finally approved both the classified report on the FAA’s performance before September 11 and a declassified 120-page version two weeks ago, delivering them to the National Archives. The declassified version is heavily “redacted,” with significant passages entirely deleted. Nonetheless, the Times reported, “the declassified version provides the firmest evidence to date about the warnings that aviation officials received concerning the threat of an attack on airliners and the failure to take steps to deter it.”
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/feb2005/faa-f11_prn.shtml
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Energy secretary pushes to ramp up U.S. ability to test nuke bomb
WASHINGTON - Although scientists continue work on simulating nuclear bomb tests by computer, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday that the Nevada Test Site's ability to resume actual underground warhead detonations must be enhanced. The Bush administration's commitment to step up preparations for a potential resumption of nuclear bomb testing in southern Nevada comes less than a week after the Utah Senate unanimously approved a House-passed resolution that urged the federal government not to "return to the mistakes and miscalculations of the past which have marred many Utahns" and that would create "a new generation of downwinders." Thousands of Utah residents downwind of the Nevada proving ground blame atomic-bomb testing - which began in the 1950s and ended with a 1992 moratorium - for an airborne scourge of disease and death due to radioactive fallout. Appearing before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Bodman said the administration wants $2 billion in the next fiscal year for the nuclear weapon stockpile stewardship program, which verifies that America's aging atomic arsenal remains operational. Last year, a bipartisan congressional effort killed increased funding requests to allow an underground nuclear test to be carried out within 18 months if needed, rather than the current estimated preparation time of 24 to 36 months. Although no such tests are planned, Bodman said the administration remains convinced the "readiness posture" of the nuclear proving ground must be enhanced. "We will continue our efforts to maintain the ability to conduct underground nuclear testing and complete the transition to the 18-month test readiness posture that is mandated by Congress," he told the panel.
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2569845
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Ex-POWs Fight Iraq and U.S. for Compensation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of U.S. pilots tortured in the first Gulf War by Iraqis has hit an unexpected obstacle in its legal fight for compensation: Bush administration lawyers argue Iraq is no longer a pariah and should not be forced to pay.
The 17 pilots, some of whom are serving in Iraq, have asked the Supreme Court to take their case in the hope it will reinstate a 2003 ruling in their favor, which was overturned by an appeals court after the Justice Department intervened.
In a bitter twist, some of the ex-prisoners of war were tortured at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad -- the same facility where U.S. soldiers abused Iraqi prisoners after President Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003.
Retired Air Force Col. David Eberly, one of the plaintiffs, said on Tuesday it was a "mystery" why the Justice Department was fighting their case and pointed to the irony that the United States might end up compensating Iraqi prisoners abused at Abu Ghraib but not its own who suffered under Saddam.
"Our case is not based on getting U.S. funds but Iraqi funds. We feel the case that was made and the judgment awarded was based clearly on U.S. law and should not have been appealed," said Eberly.
The U.S. District Court in Washington ruled in the pilots' favor on July 7, 2003, and awarded $653 million in compensatory damages and $306 million in punitive damages for the abuse, which included mock executions, floggings, starvation and denial of medical treatment.
Congress passed a law in 1996 which allowed lawsuits such as Eberly's to be filed against foreign governments placed on the State Department's list of nations supporting terrorist activities.
POLICY CHANGE
But Justice Department lawyers argued this ruling should be set aside following the invasion of Iraq and emergency legislation that authorized the president to suspend sanctions against Iraq and get the State Department to remove it from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
"After the United States removed the Hussein regime from power in Iraq, our foreign policy toward that nation changed fundamentally," said the Justice Department in its argument to the appeals court.
"This dramatic change in foreign policy is at the heart of this appeal," it added. Continued ... http://olympics.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=7639282
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80 dead, 300 hurt in Iranian quake
(CNN) -- Eighty people have died and 300 were injured when a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near Zarand in central Iran, Iranian state-run television reported.
The temblor, which struck about 5:55 a.m. local time (9:25 p.m. Monday ET), sent panicked residents pouring into the streets on Tuesday, where they remained, clogging avenues used to transport the injured to hospitals and forcing residents to use motorcycles.
In Zarand, a city of about 135,000 people in Kerman province, 20 people died and 280 were taken to hospitals, officials said. Rescue crews were en route.
Six of Zarand's outlying villages received damages ranging from 30 to 70 percent, authorities told state-run television. Impassable roads hindered efforts to contact other villages.
Helicopters were sent to help in transporting the injured, along with identifying the easiest ways into the inaccessible areas.
Initial reports indicate the epicenter of the temblor was located near the villages of Khanouk, Islamabad and Mottaharabad, state television said.
. http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/02/21/iran.quake/index.html
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Propaganda of US Military through our Schools
Introduction
The US Military has turned itself into the greatest tool of the US Weapons Industry, the largest and most lucrative business enterprise in the world. For this deadly business to remain successful, there must be struggles and wars continuously waged for the rest of this century. Its hand-picked politicians in the US government, while they speak of peace they promote war, while they speak of love and respect they promote hatred and disrespect, and while they advocate family unity and stress the sanctity of marriage, they do anything to disintegrate this unity and tarnish this sanctity of marriage both in this nation and overseas through threats, deliberate inflicted pain and death.
Saying One thing and Doing Another
Moreover, these political tools of the US Weapons Industry, while they speak of the sanctity of life before birth, they literally reveal no respect for life at all after birth, while they speak of the rights Americans have for a good health care system and good education for all Americans, they take money away from these two vital elements to pass them to the manufacture and sales of more and more weapons, while they profess faith in the God of love and mercy that Jesus preahced in the New Testament, they follow the inspiration of the God of hatred and revenge -- the eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth -- that Jesus condemned in the Old Testament.
In addition, our US political key figures, while they speak of the importance of democracy, they promote dictatorship within their own territory, while they speak of being open with the American people, they implement their destructive war agenda in a secretive way, while they speak of the importance for all nations to be free they restrict the freedom of Americans to move around freely through numerous prohibitions including traveling into a number of ocuntries that includes Cuba, while they pride themselves into having a voluntary military, which is good, they seem now to be contemplating to institute the draft so that they could further the cause of more struggles and wars, while they present the United States as an agent of democracy, freedom, love and concern, they are making this American nation to look more as an agent of tightened control by the few over the many that is characterized by servitude, hatred and disregard.
http://207.44.245.159/article8125.htm
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The Justice of Roosting Chickens: Ward Churchill SpeaksProfessor Churchill, do you think that the World Trade Center was an acceptable target on September 11? Do you think it was a legitimate target?Video - Audio - TranscriptWhat you have to understand, and what the listeners have to understand, is that under U.S. rules, it was an acceptable target. http://207.44.245.159/article8124.htm
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
AMY GOODMAN: Governor Owens made the same call on the O'Reilly Factor.
BILL O’REILLY: This is such an embarrassment for your state, which is a changing state, but it's a traditional state, and this guy's embarrassed Colorado from Trinidad up to Greeley.
GOVERNOR BILL OWENS: Absolutely.
BILL O’REILLY: And over to, you know, Steamboat Springs. Everybody is --
GOVERNOR BILL OWENS: You have been here.
BILL O’REILLY: Yeah. They're like appalled.
YOU WANT DEMOCRACY YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS
TAKE THE TIME THS IS WORTH IT
THE REPUG ARMY ARE OUT TO CRUCIFY THIS MAN
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Israel must be prepared for an air strike on Iran
:
Israel Air Force Commander-in-Chief Major General Eliezer Shakedi said Monday that Israel must be prepared for an air strike on Iran in light of its nuclear activity.http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=543087&contrassID=1&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Yhttp://snipurl.com/cy1h
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Israel pushes U.S. on Iran nuke solution:
Israel has been privately pressing Washington to solve the Iran nuclear problem in a hint that Tel Aviv may be left with no choice but to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities, defense officials say.http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050221-123842-3048r.htm
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Nine killed, more disappear, in Iraq violence
:
"Insurgents" kidnap journalist working for government-funded TV and her son, three men working for US military.http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=12762===
Three US soldiers killed, eight wounded in Iraq:
A bomb explosion killed three US soldiers and wounded eight others in Addorah area south of here, a statement released by the multi national forces in Iraq said Monday.http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=707017http://snipurl.com/cy1m
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US soldier killed in Mosul:
A US marine soldier was killed on Saturday in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a Multi-National Force statement said on Monday.http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=706944http://snipurl.com/cy1o
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Violence Trumps Rebuilding in Iraq :
U.S. officials say soaring security costs have consumed $1 billion earmarked for badly needed water, power and sanitation projectshttp://ktla.trb.com/news/nationworld/world/ktla-fg-cuts21feb21-lat,0,5116764.story?coll=ktla-news-1http://snipurl.com/cy1s
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Syria says it will withdraw troops from the Lebanon:
Amr Mussa, the head of the Arab League, said that Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian President, had assured him this morning that Syria was prepared to fulfil its obligations in the Taef accords that ended Lebanon's civil war in 1995.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1493978,00.html
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Thousands take part in Beirut rally:
Tens of thousands of Lebanese massed on Beirut seafront as pressure mounted on the government to step down and end Syrian influence.http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EA2180C4-F1A2-436D-BD93-14C2D3E87D79.htmhttp://snipurl.com/cy1w
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Was Syria really to blame?:
The 300-kilo car bomb that killed former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut last week is being widely blamed on Syria. The Bush administration in the U.S., cheered on by Israel, accused Syria of "terrorism," withdrew its ambassador and all but threatened Damascus with war.http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2005/02/20/pf-936484.htmlhttp://snipurl.com/cy1x
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Assassinating Al-Hariri Fits Washington's Plan:
To understand who assassinated Rafik al-Hariri we don't need to look any further than the $1.5 billion US Embassy currently under construction in Baghdad. The new embassy, the largest of its kind in the world, will facilitate 1,800 employees and serve as the regional nerve center for American political and economic activity. What does this have to do with al Hariri?http://207.44.245.159/article8127.htm
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Shooting the Messenger:
"The trouble is that a lot of the military--particularly the American...military--do not want us there. And they make it very uncomfortable for us to work. And I think that this...is leading to security forces in some instances feeling it is legitimate to target us with deadly force and with impunity.
"http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20050307&s=scahill
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'Brooklyn's Abu Ghraib' :
Defense attorneys call it Brooklyn's Abu Ghraib. On the ninth floor of the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, terrorism suspects swept off the streets after the Sept. 11 attacks were repeatedly stripped naked and frequently were physically abused, the Justice Department's inspector general has found. http://nydailynews.com/front/story/282716p-242172c.html
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Army knew of Abu Ghraib months before Blair was told:
A senior British officer knew about serious abuse allegations at Abu Ghraib prison five months before ministers learnt about the scandal, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=612890http://snipurl.com/cy21
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A UK diplomat says Britain is part of a worldwide torture plot.
Is he telling the truth?:
Our former ambassador to Uzbekistan refuses to go quietly. The Government should come clean about interrogation methods, he tells Raymond Whitakerhttp://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=612865http://snipurl.com/cy23
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Putin To Visit Iran:
"The Russian Federation and Iran have several joint projects, in particular, the purchase of passenger liners from Moscow, the construction of the second unit of the nuclear power plant in Bushehr, the issue of ships on the Caspian Sea and others,"http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5430525&startrow=1&date=2005-02-19&do_alert=0http://snipurl.com/cy24
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Al-Qaeda number two warns West it faces thousands of dead, economic collapse:
Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri warned the West it faced defeat in what he termed its "new crusade" against the Islamic world, as well as thousands of dead and economic collapse, in a videotape aired by Al-Jazeera television.http://207.44.245.159/article8135.htm
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Paul Craig Roberts: Bush Outfoxed By Bin Laden:
Any day now the neocons may orchestrate a scenario that will suck the US into a wider war that America has no possibility of winning. If the American people had the slightest sense of their danger, they would demand immediate US withdrawal from Iraq and accountability for the liars who orchestrated the ill-fated US invasion.http://207.44.245.159/article8133.htm===
Uri Avnery : Beware of the Dog! :
It is not very flattering to be paraded like a Rottweiler on a leash, whose master threatens to let him loose on his enemies. But this is Israels situation now.http://207.44.245.159/article8128.htm
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New Zealand rejects Israeli apology on alleged Mossad agents :
Wellington has rejected an official Israeli apology on the matter of two alleged Mossad agents who were apprehended and jailed after they tried to fraudulently obtain a New Zealand passport
.http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/542991.html
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Claims Israel uses Australia as spy base:
Israel uses Australia as a base to monitor the activities of potential enemies in the region, according to an American security expert.http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news2/smh51.html
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Accomplices in War Crimes
: Despite the horrific crimes and wanton destruction caused by an illegal act of aggression and Occupation, mainstream media continues to promote the Occupation of Iraq as a "humanitarian" act.http://207.44.245.159/article8132.htm
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Childhood under threat:
Despite the near universal embrace of standards for protecting childhood, a new UNICEF report shows that more than half the world's children are suffering extreme deprivations from poverty, war and HIV/AIDS, conditions which effectively deny children a childhood and hold back the development of nations.http://www.simedia.org/new/soc-econ-pol/child-threat05.html
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Why isn't Bob Novak going to jail?
Will someone please explain in simple, easy-to-understand language, why we never see right-wing pundit Bob Novak's name mentioned in the same breath as reporters facing jail time for contempt in the Valerie Plame affair?
Earlier this week, a three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in Washington upheld an earlier court ruling that New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper should be jailed for contempt for failing to disclose the source of a story neither had any intention of publishing in the first place.
Meanwhile, Bob Novak, the only columnist in the country who actually published Plame's identity in violation of federal law, sits comfortably ensconced on CNN's "The Capital Gang" bloviating as usual.
Miller and Cooper will probably go to jail for "witnessing" a federal crime and refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigating the leak of a CIA agent's identity. So why is it that only two of the three reporters who allegedly "witnessed" the crime are being threatened?
Novak not only knows the identity of the "senior White House official" who leaked the information to Miller and Cooper, he willingly became a conduit for that information.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05049/459428.stm
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party public information project from TheocracyWatch.org
http://theocracywatch.org/
I MYSELF HAVE NOT OR WILL NOT READ
BUT A MUST READ TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION
PUKE TIME
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 3:19 AM
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