DISPATCH FROM DOWN UNDER

Competing Visions For Social Security

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 24, 2005; Page A01

President Bush's push to restructure Social Security has thrust private investment accounts to the front of the political debate, but dozens of alternative approaches to Social Security's problems have been proposed -- and many of them are receiving a second look as Congress grapples with the issue.

At its heart, Social Security's future financial shortfall is a basic math problem: The benefits owed over the next 75 years are $3.7 trillion greater than what it will have collected to make those payments. But how economists propose to solve that problem has had more to do with their vision of the nation's largest social insurance system than mathematics.

A straightforward solution could be to raise the current payroll tax by less than 2 percentage points or cut benefits by 13 percent. Either would solve the problem through 2080. Similarly, if the limit on wages taxed for Social Security, currently $90,000, were lifted altogether, the system would be kept fully solvent until 2077, according to the Social Security Administration's chief actuary.

But out of political pragmatism, those who hope to preserve a basic structure established by Franklin D. Roosevelt -- mainly Democrats -- have obscured both tax increases and benefit cuts, using a variety of mechanisms that make the proposals remarkably complex. Even with such tactics, the Democratic proposals have yet to catch fire among politicians, who fear that the most head-on approach would be the most politically treacherous.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48438-2005Feb23.html?referrer=email

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Alternative Plans for Social Security:
How They Stack Up

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/daily/graphics/alternatives_022405.html?referrer=em

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U.S.-Russia Pact Aimed at Nuclear Terrorism

Bush, Putin to Announce Plan to Counter Threat

By Peter Baker and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 24, 2005; Page A01


President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to announce a package of measures today to counter the threat of nuclear terrorism, a threat highlighted in a recent U.S. intelligence report warning that Russian nuclear material could still fall into terrorist hands, according to U.S. officials familiar with the accord.

Under the planned agreement, U.S. and Russian officials would accelerate long-delayed security upgrades at Russia's many poorly protected nuclear facilities, jointly develop emergency responses to a nuclear or radiological terrorist attack, and establish a program to replace highly enriched uranium in research reactors around the world to prevent it from being used for weapons, the U.S. officials said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48465-2005Feb23.html?referrer=email

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Analysis
An 'A La Carte' Coalition Between U.S. and Europe

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 24, 2005; Page A17


Two years ago, as the United States prepared to invade Iraq, much of the opposition in Europe focused on the need to restrain the American "hyperpower" from running roughshod over international norms.

But as President Bush nears the end of his goodwill tour of Europe this week, it is increasingly clear the attitude has shifted. With the United States pinned down in Iraq, where the continued deployment of nearly 150,000 troops has severely strained the U.S. military, European leaders no longer expect further military expeditions in Bush's second term. And so they have been gracious -- but assertive, thus reflecting how far the United States has fallen from "hyperpower" status -- a term coined about America by French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine.

Indeed, analysts said, European leaders are increasingly united against U.S. positions and feel emboldened to go their own way on such issues as Iran and China.

Francois Heisbourg, director of the International Foundation for Strategic Studies in Paris, said there is no longer an Atlantic partnership so much as what he called an "a la carte partnership" between Europe and the United States. On some issues, the two sides agree and try to work together, and on others there is disagreement and discord. There are also issues on which they disagree but are willing to find common ground, he said.

"This is the new world," Heisbourg said. "The mission determines the coalition," he added, deliberately echoing an assertion made by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48365-2005Feb23.html?referrer=email

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The Senator's Humble Beginning

Rising Star Barack Obama Is Resolutely Down to Earth

By Mark Leibovich
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 24, 2005; Page C01


There's nothing exotic or complicated about how phenoms are made in Washington, and, more to the point, how they are broken.

"Andy Warhol said we all get our 15 minutes of fame," says Barack Obama. "I've already had an hour and a half. I mean, I'm so overexposed, I'm making Paris Hilton look like a recluse."

The new senator from Illinois is dazzling another venue, in this case the Gridiron Club. It is early December and Obama won't start his new job for a few weeks. But he comes well steeped in the basic physics of hype.

"I figure there's nowhere to go from here but down," Obama says. "So tonight, I announce my retirement from the United States Senate."

People laugh, swarm for pictures afterward. It is, in other words, the same-old Obama fuss -- a "same-old" for Obama that began for him well before he was elected.

One of the keys to being well liked in Washington is to appear humble, which is why Washington is so full of people who are so unhumble when it comes to touting how humble they are. All of this comes naturally to Obama.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48523-2005Feb23.html?referrer=email

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February 23, 2005

Where Have All the Southern White Moderates Gone?

In 1996, Clinton split the southern vote, 46-46, with Bob Dole. One of the keys to his strong performance was this: he actually carried southern white moderates by 46-44.

In 2004, however, Kerry got beaten by 15 points in the south (57-42). So where have all the southern white moderates gone?

In a sense, nowhere. The ideological profile of the southern electorate has barely changed since 1996: it was 17 percent liberal/44 percent moderate/39 conserative then; it is 17 percent liberal/43 percent moderate/40 percent conservative now. And among whites, the ideological profile was 15 percent liberal/43 percent moderate/43 percent conservative in 1996; it is 14 percent liberal/41 percent moderate/45 percent conservative now.

Not much change. But what has changed is a big swing from Clinton's 46-44 support among southern white moderates in '96 to Kerry's 58-41 deficit among the same voting group, whose size and electoral weight remains as potent as ever, in 2004.

There's your target. Move southern white moderates back toward parity and the Democrats are back in the (southern) ballgame.

http://www.emergingdemocraticmajorityweblog.com/donkeyrising/archives/001074.php

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StopSinclair is now StarChange.

We are changing our name.

A new entity, StartChange, is being created to house our efforts. StartChange is a non-profit 501c(4) that will be used exclusively to coordinate online and offline rapid response efforts to make sure that companies play it fair, our press is truly free, and our politicians work genuinely in the public interest.

We want to let you know that you can choose to unsubscribe from StartChange now, or at any time in the future. If you wish to unsubscribe, please click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.

At StartChange, we expect to launch our first campaign in a few weeks. We'll tell you about it when we do.

In the mean time there are a few things you can do to help get us started.

Arkadi, Marc, and Tim, and the rest of the StartChange team.
www.StartChange.org

1) Check out our website: Visit StartChange.org

2) If you have any ideas for us, we'd love to hear them. You can help choose our first campaign and give us comments and ideas by clicking this link: StartChange.org/Get_Involved

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Net closes around Ukraine leader's poisoners

By Aleksandar Vasovic in Kiev
February 25, 2005
Prosecutors are following a new lead that might shed more light on last year's dioxin poisoning of the Ukrainian President, Viktor Yushchenko.

The Prosecutor-General, Svyatoslav Piskun, has acquired audiotapes of what appeared to be a conversation between Russian secret service officials discussing the alleged role of a Moscow political analyst in Mr Yushchenko's poisoning, said Vyacheslav Astapov, Mr Piskun's spokesman.

"The prosecutor said he knows whose voice is on the tapes," Mr Astapov said.

The tapes were first aired last year on Kiev's pro-Yushchenko TV5, but were widely dismissed as a hoax.

On Tuesday, the man at the centre of the allegation - Gleb Pavlovsky, the head of a pro-Kremlin Moscow think tank - denied the suggestion he had the idea of giving Mr Yushchenko the "mark of the beast".

In the recordings, people described as Russian agents appeared to be discussing Mr Pavlovsky's role in a plot aimed at damaging Mr Yushchenko's ratings by ruining his good looks with toxic chemicals.

Yushchenko fell ill in September after dining with the former head of the Ukrainian Security Service, Ihor Smeshko, and his deputy, Volodymyr Satsyuk. He later went to an Austrian hospital for treatment.

The illness took him off the campaign trail for weeks and left his face badly disfigured.

Subsequent tests confirmed that Mr Yushchenko, who has called it an assassination attempt, was poisoned with a huge dose of dioxin. Both top security officials have denied any involvement in the poisoning.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/02/24/1109180047408.html

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Churches attack Iraq troop plan

A Christian alliance has savaged the Government's decision to send more troops to Iraq as "scandalous", saying the Prime Minister had broken trust with the Australian people.

The National Council of Churches in Australia's strongly worded statement expresses "dismay" on behalf of Christians and regrets that John Howard had not apologised for his stance.

The council said its thoughts and prayers would be with military personnel. But the 450-troop deployment to protect Japanese Self-Defence Forces undertaking humanitarian projects was a "backward step".

"This enhanced risk of lives and huge expense of millions of dollars in military action is but the latest example of the scandalous waste of money and human beings in the pursuit of a misconceived strategy," its statement said.

"We further deplore that this decision has been taken so soon in the life of the re-elected Howard Government, when the Australian people gave no mandate for an escalation of such dangerous military adventurism.

We deeply regret that the Prime Minister again offers no apology for the misleading path on which he has led the nation over Iraq and we call for a statement from him regretting past mistakes."

The council - a long-term critic of the war - wants a planned withdrawal of Australian troops and self-determination for Iraq. The intervention by the body that represents all the major churches - and in particular, the attack on Mr Howard - could raise the political stakes for the Government

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/02/24/1109180043284.html

BIT TO LATE TO BE BITCHING NOW, THE TIME WAS BEFORE WE INVADED AN UNARMED COUNTRY AND LEFT SO MUCH DEVASTATION

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Syria trained us, executioners say

Captured Iraqi insurgents who claim they have beheaded dozens of hostages say they practised on chickens and sheep before moving on to people.

State-run Al-Iraqiya television has aired lengthy interviews with at least six men who said they were involved in gangs that kidnapped and killed dozens of people in the northern city of Mosul.

Speaking with little sign of remorse, the men said that they were told they would be made princes after 10 beheadings.

The broadcasts, which began this week, seemed to be a government-backed initiative to cast the insurgents in the worst possible light and to accuse Syria, which the men said had trained and paid them, of masterminding the atrocities.

There was no way to verify the confessions or the identities of the men, who were described as captured insurgents, in which case they are probably being held by the Interior Ministry.

An 80-minute program aired on Wednesday was punctuated by images of Ken Bigley, the British hostage murdered in October. But the interviewees did not mention him and said their victims were Iraqis deemed to have collaborated with the occupation.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/02/24/1109180047390.html

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Allawi lines up secular coalition in effort to retain power

Iraq's interim Prime Minister, Iyad Allawi, has stepped up his effort to remain in office by announcing the formation of a secular coalition that he and his supporters say will outmanoeuvre Shiite religious parties as a new transitional government is formed.

The move on Wednesday came a day after the Shiite alliance that won a bare majority in last month's elections named one of its leaders, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, as its candidate for prime minister.

Dr Jaafari heads the Dawa party, whose official policies call for the Islamisation of Iraqi society, but he has insisted that any government he heads will reach across ethnic and religious lines and take a moderate position on the role of Islam and other divisive issues.

By establishing the secular coalition, which he called a "national democratic coalition which believes in Iraq and its principles", Dr Allawi signalled he was ready to fight for power.

He hinted that he would try to lure defectors among secularists from the Shiite alliance's list, stripping it of the two-seat majority it won when it took 140 of the 275 seats in the new assembly.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/02/24/1109180047387.html

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Canada rejects defence shield
From correspondents in Montreal
February 25, 2005

CANADA said overnight it would not take part in the United States' plans to deploy a missile defence shield covering North America.

The announcement by the Canadian Government could cool relations between Ottawa and Washington, a relationship which had appeared to warm of late after faltering with the US-led invasion of Iraq in early 2003, which Canada also declined to support.
Political analysts were expecting the decision. Ottawa had been mulling its stand on the US missile defence program for more than a year.

Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin leads a minority government and his party's politicians had lobbied him not to take part in the program, which is highly unpopular in Canada, particularly in Quebec

Let me be clear: we respect the right of the United States to defend itself and its people. Indeed, we will continue to work in partnership with our southern neighbours on the common defence of North America and on continental security," Mr Martin said.

"However, ballistic missile defence is not where we will concentrate our efforts. Instead we will act both alone and with our neighbours on defence priorities such as those outlined in yesterday's Budget.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12366189-23109,00.html

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Zarqawi lieutenant arrested
From correspondents in Baghdad
February 25, 2005

A TOP aide to al-Qaeda's frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has been arrested, the Iraqi government said today.

"The terrorist Mohammed Najm Ibrahim, alias Mohammed Najm, who with one of his brothers runs a Zarqawi cell, is responsible for the beheading of several citizens and for attacks against Iraqi security forces," it said in a statement.
Ibrahim was arrested in the town of Baquba, north of Baghdad, it added, without giving the date of his arrest.

On February 21 police in Baquba announced the arrest of another member of the Zarqawi group.

Iraq's most wanted man, Zarqawi is a Jordanian-born fugitive with a $US25 million ($31.83 million) US bounty on his head.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12366176-23109,00.html

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Suicide blast kills 10 police
By Charles Onians in Baghdad
February 25, 2005

A SUICIDE bomber disguised as a policeman killed at least 10 people when he blew his car up at an Iraqi police headquarters today, as Ukraine said it would pull its 1650 troops in the war-torn country.

Violence around the country killed at least 23 people, including two US soldiers, but the deadliest attack occurred when the bomber managed to drive his explosives-rigged car into the main police compound in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit as police gathered for their morning parade.
The director of Tikrit hospital, Emad Juburi, said they had received 10 dead and 35 wounded, all policemen.

The suicide bomber managed to get into the headquarters' courtyard because he was wearing a police lieutenant's uniform. He detonated his vehicle in the middle of police who had gathered for the morning parade," Mr Juburi said, citing the accounts of survivors.

In a potential blow to the US-led coalition in Iraq, the sixth-largest foreign military contingent in the country, Ukraine, said it would pull all of its 1650 troops out of the country by the end of the year.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12366175-23109,00.html

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Squad slays bike thief's family
From correspondents in Rio de Janeiro
February 25, 2005

A STOLEN bicycle worth less than $US100 ($127) led a Brazilian death squad to slaughter the presumed thief's mother, sister and five brothers, police said today.

Police arrested three suspects yesterday.
At least one confessed to murdering the seven people, one aged only 14, said a police investigator in Nova Iguacu, a town next to Rio de Janeiro.

"The stolen bicycle triggered the slaughter. Death squads have to maintain control over the area to be able to charge protection money from businesses, and some of the family members had already been known to be involved in petty theft and small-time drug trade," he said.

Four hooded gunmen stormed into the family's house in the early hours of Tuesday, shot the 48-year-old mother dead and took her five sons, aged 14 to 23, and daughter, 21, away in a van.

Earlier, they had seized the brother who had apparently stolen the bicycle.

The alleged bicycle thief, 20, was still missing, but police believe he had been executed. Police found the bodies in four different locations.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12366164-23109,00.html

We live in a world gone mad I sometimes think

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US stocks open down
From correspondents in New York
February 25, 2005

WALL Street opened lower today as separate government reports showed jobless lines lengthened last week while orders for durable goods dropped in January, both reports were worse than expected.

Rising oil prices, which approached $US52 dollars a barrel in New York on freezing temperatures and snow across the northern hemisphere, also took the wind out of stocks at the open, traders said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 2.81 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 10,670.98 while the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite was down 2.56 points, or 0.13 per cent, to 2028.69 just after the opening bell.

The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index was lower 0.30 points, or 0.03 per cent, at 1190.50.

US jobless lines lengthened by more than expected last week, as the number of unemployed people filing jobless claims rose by 9000 to 312,000, according to the Labor Department.

The rise in new jobless claims was significantly higher than Wall Street had expected, as analysts had called for claims to rise to just 306,000.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12366046-31037,00.html

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Syrian announces troop redeployment
From correspondents in Damascus
February 24, 2005

SYRIA is redeploying some of the 14,000 troops it has stationed in neighbouring Lebanon, the foreign ministry announced today.

Damascus has been under pressure from the UN Security Council for the whole force to be withdrawn in the wake of the bomb blast that killed former Lebanese prime minster Rafiq Haririr last week

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12363034-23109,00.html

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Bomb blasts kill two soldiers
From correspondents in Baghdad
February 24, 2005

TWO US soldiers have been killed in separate bomb blasts north of Baghdad, the US military said today..

"A Task Force Liberty soldier was killed by an improvised explosive device about 7.30 am (1530 AEDT)," a statement said.
The blast occurred near Qaryat in Diyala province north-east of the capital.

Another soldier was killed and two were wounded in a bomb attack near Samarra, 120km north of Baghdad, at about 9.00 am (1700 AEDT), another statement said without providing further details

The deaths bring the number of US military personnel killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion of March 2003 to 1476, according to a Pentagon tally.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12362049-23109,00.html

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Army gives ASLAV assurance
by Max Blenkin
February 24, 2005

THE army has rejected claims that armoured vehicles heading for Iraq will be sent without vital protective equipment.

The defence department's annual report last year warned the army's Darwin-based 1st Brigade, from which the new 450-strong Iraq taskforce will be drawn, had not met key readiness requirements.
Media reports have also suggested the army will be hard-pressed to fit out 40 Australian light armoured vehicles (ASLAVs) with the latest protective equipment.

But army chief Lieutenant General Peter Leahy said the ASLAVs bound for Iraq would be the latest models.

Yes, they are all the latest variants and will include spall liners and curtains," he said through a defence spokesman.

The spall liners, fitted inside the vehicles to minimise harm to personnel from attack from bombs and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), have already proved their worth in Iraq.

Two ASLAVs used by the Australian army security detachment in Baghdad have both survived car bomb attacks with only one soldier seriously hurt.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12360942-29277,00.html

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Two dead in assassination attempt
From correspondents in Kirkuk
February 24, 2005

A POLICE chief in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk has escaped an assassination attempt, but two other policemen were killed.

"A bomb exploded as my convoy drove past, killing two of my guards and wounding two others," Colonel Khattab Omar Aref, the target of the attack, said.
"Two vehicles in my escort were destroyed."

Col. Aref said the bomb exploded about 100m from his house, which he had just left.

A doctor at Kirkuk hospital said he had received two dead and four seriously wounded police from the attack

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12358608-23109,00.html

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U.S. Marine who killed unarmed Iraqi won’t be charged

The U.S. military decided not to charge a Marine who was captured on a video killing an unarmed wounded Iraqi inside a Fallujah mosque during November’s deadly offensive, claiming that there was no sufficient evidence.

The shooting occurred on November 13, and was aired by several TV stations

CBS News broadcast a still photo from the footage showing the marine standing above the wounded helpless man, and pointing his rifle at the man's body, then a rifle shot could be heard.

The video showed the bullet hitting the already wounded man in the head. Blood splatters were seen covering the wall behind him and his body goes limp.

The incident sparked worldwide outrage and was described by the International Committee of the Red Cross as an "utter contempt for humanity."

http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=7301

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By welcoming Bush, Europe silently condoned torture

George Bush's finely orchestrated series of matches with European leaders is meant to show a united front following the very public display of 'disagreement' between the two sides in the past.

And though Bush continues on his journey of 'promoting democracy' to the world, no one has yet mentioned the word which ridicules this charade: torture.

It is without question that Bush's administration, from the highest echelons of the government, is responsible for the torture that has been routine from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamo and Bagram.

But the torture of prisoners under U.S. and British control has also been extended to prisons in Egypt, Jordan and Syria and probably other locations which may

http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/review/article_full_story.asp?service_ID=7284

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Iran jails blogger for 14 years

An Iranian weblogger has been jailed for 14 years on charges of spying and aiding foreign counter-revolutionaries.

Arash Sigarchi was arrested last month after using his blog to criticise the arrest of other online journalists.

Mr Sigarchi, who also edits a newspaper in northern Iran, was sentenced by a revolutionary court in the Gilan area.

His sentence, criticised by human rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders, comes a day after an online "day of action" to secure his release.

Iranian authorities have recently clamped down on the growing popularity of weblogs, restricting access to major blogging sites from within Iran.

A second Iranian blogger, Motjaba Saminejad, who also used his website to report on bloggers' arrests, is still being held.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4292399.stm
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Iraqis march against Saturday

Hundreds of Iraqis have marched against plans to make Saturday a day of rest, calling the proposals a "Zionist plot".

Students in Baquba opposed the scheme, backed by outgoing Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, because they identify Saturday with the Jewish Sabbath.

Much of the world, including several Arab nations, observes a secular day of rest on Saturday.

Iraqis rest only on Friday, a Muslim holy day. Protesters said the weekend should be extended to include Thursday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4291997.stm

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Danny Schechter,

"Weapons of Mass Deception" Filmmaker,

Declares War on the War Propaganda Machine

Media is the front line of the corporate system. And media transmits the values, sells the products. All of this is about selling, not telling. The tradition of journalism is being eroded. And in its place we have impressions, images, archetypes, icons, celebrities and the like. This is how public opinion is now being massaged and manipulated. The war was a testing ground, not only for new weapons systems and techniques, but also for new communications strategies.

...our media became a weapons systems targeted at us. Usually in war propaganda you try and confuse the enemy. In our case, this propaganda infiltrated very skillfully back into American and global public opinion, and it was done with the help of Hollywood producers, and corporate PR people brought in to help out at the Pentagon.

The only thing more compelling than interviewing Danny Schechter is watching his powerful new documentary film, "Weapons of Mass Deception," available exclusively from BuzzFlash.com through March 8. Schechter’s tour de force film puts the media in the cross hairs for their distortion of the threat of Iraq, their failure to challenge the administration’s claims over WMDs, and the media’s war mongering in the buildup to the preemptive invasion. As we wrote in our recommendation for the film, if BuzzFlash were handing out our own Oscars, Danny Schechter's "Weapons of Mass Deception" would win for best film exposé of the media.

http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/05/02/int05010.html

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Article published Feb 20, 2005
Pentagon is lying its way out of an unwinnable war - again

Col. David Hackworth

As with Vietnam, the Iraqi tar pit was oh-so-easy to sink into, but appears to be just as tough to exit.

This should be no big surprise! Most slugfests - from bar brawls to military misadventures like Vietnam and Iraq - take some clever moves to step away from once the swinging starts.

This is why most combat vets pick their fights carefully. They look at their scars, remember the madness and are always mindful of the fallout.

That’s not the case in Washington, where the White House and the Pentagon are run by civilians who have never sweated it out on a battlefield. Never before in our country’s history has an administration charged with defending our nation been so lacking in hands-on combat experience and therefore so ignorant about the art and science of war.

Now the increasingly flummoxed Bush team is stealing the page on Vietnamization from Nixon’s Exit Primer, coupled with the same deceitful tactics he used to get us out of the almost decade-long Vietnam quagmire: telling lies.

The Nixon gang kicked off its con in 1969 via a killer of a PR snow job to pacify an American public whose support for the war was exhausted. The guts of this spin show were: We have clobbered the enemy; the South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) is main-event material and ready to take over the fighting; and we can bring our troops home. This propaganda was supported by ARVN combat-readiness reports systematically doctored by our brass to show that the units we were advising were good-to-go.

I was on the ground as an adviser to ARVN when the campaign launched, and I was completely floored. Even the elite outfits - Rangers, Special Forces, paratroopers - were not fully capable of defending their country when put to the test. And these gung-ho troops were ARVN’s finest. Average ARVN grunts down in the ordinary infantry divisions were so ineffective that they couldn’t have fought their way out of a day-care center without massive U.S. air support.

http://nsnlb.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20050220&Category=OPINION04&ArtNo=102200015&SectionCat=opinion&Template=printart

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Limbaugh brought his Democrat-bashing to U.S. troops in Afghanistan

While in Afghanistan to highlight America's ongoing relief efforts in that country, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh delivered a partisan attack against a "political party," an apparent reference to Democrats, in a discussion with American troops. Recounting his remarks during a phone interview with guest host Roger Hedgecock on the February 22 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh noted that he told the troops he wouldn't "go politically correct on them" by hiding liberals' "opposition" to the troops and their mission:

LIMBAUGH: And, by the way, folks, if you're wondering, I didn't go politically correct on them. I told them exactly who's saying what about them in an opposition fashion. I told them what I think is the sort of phony-baloney, plastic-banana, good-time rock 'n' roller of some members of the American left saying they support the troops but they don't support their mission --

And I haven't run into anybody who has snickered. They're eager for the truth here.

Later in the program, Limbaugh explained that when a soldier asked him whether the U.S. should permit Afghanistan to adopt its own system of government, Limbaugh replied to a group of troops:

LIMBAUGH: And I said, "There are a lot of people in America who don't trust free people to do the right thing. I won't mention a political party -- you all know it -- and I won't mention the ideology -- you all know it.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200502230009

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BUSH IN GERMANY

With a Hush and a Whisper, Bush Drops Town Hall Meeting with Germans

During his trip to Germany on Wednesday, the main highlight of George W. Bush's trip was meant to be a "town hall"-style meeting with average Germans. But with the German government unwilling to permit a scripted event with questions approved in advance, the White House has quietly put the event on ice. Was Bush afraid the event might focus on prickly questions about Iraq and Iran rather than the rosy future he's been touting in Europe this week?

The much-touted American-style "town hall" meeting the White House has been planning with "normal Germans" of everyday walks of life will be missing during his visit to the Rhine River hamlet of Mainz this afternoon. A few weeks ago, the Bush administration had declared that the chat -- which could have brought together tradesmen, butchers, bank employees, students and all other types to discuss trans-Atlantic relations -- would be the cornerstone of President George W. Bush's brief trip to Germany.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,343281,00.html

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Iraq to be a Vietnam: retired general

AUSTRALIA'S involvement in Iraq would end in disaster just like Vietnam, a retired general said today.

Major General Alan Stretton said the Government would eventually bow to public pressure and withdraw the troops, leaving behind a bloody mess.

Prime Minister John Howard has rejected comparisons with Vietnam, saying such analogies are misplaced.

Maj Gen Stretton, who served as chief of staff of the Australian force in Vietnam from 1969-70 but is best remembered for his role heading relief operations in Darwin following Cyclone Tracy in 1974, said there could never be democracy in Iraq.

He said the Government was being irresponsible in sending even more troops.

"I really believe it will go the same way as Vietnam," he told the John Laws radio program on 2UE.

"It will get no better – (only) worse – and eventually public opinion in both the US and Australia and elsewhere will demand our troops come back and when they do they will be pretending that the locals can handle it all themselves, and we will just leave a bloody mess."

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12356131-29277,00.html

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Martha set to reclaim her crown?

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Martha Stewart's attorneys may be able to negotiate a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that would permit Stewart to return to the helm of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia at some point, according to a person familiar with the situation.

"If she's living straight and narrow, will the public be at risk if she became CEO again?" this person said.

The SEC has filed an insider trading case against Martha Stewart, in which it is seeking to bar her from acting "as a director of, and limiting her activities as an officer of, any public company."

That case is separate from the federal obstruction of justice charges for which Stewart is serving a five-month prison sentence. She is due to be released next week.

Federal prosecutors did not bring insider trading charges against her in their case.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/BUSINESS/02/24/martha.stewart/index.html

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Simon Tisdall
Friday February 25, 2005
The Guardian

One woman dies from pregnancy-related causes approximately every 30 minutes. One in five children dies before the age of five from diseases that are 80% preventable.

An estimated one-third of the population suffers from anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress. Annual per capita income is $190 (£100). Average life expectancy is 44.5 years. Its education system is now "the worst in the world".

These are just a few of the findings contained in a United Nations Development Programme report on Afghanistan published this week.

More than three years after the US and Britain declared victory in Kabul and promised to rebuild the country, it paints a disturbing portrait of "a fragile nation still at odds if no longer at war with itself that could easily slip back into chaos and abject poverty".

Not all is gloom. The report says Afghanistan's economy has expanded significantly since 2001. Nearly 55% of primary-age children are now in school.

About 2.4 million refugees have returned from Pakistan and Iran. The new constitution guarantees equal rights for women. And a democratically elected president holds office, although "factional elements" with their own militias still control much of the country.

Afghanistan's woes long predate the US war against the Taliban, stretching back to the 1979 Soviet invasion. But this present-day audit dramatically demonstrates the daunting scale of the reconstruction effort to which the west has pledged itself.

In one respect, Afghanistan is fortunate. Despite problems over merging US and Nato forces, the deployment of "provincial reconstruction teams", squandered aid and a booming heroin trade, a reasonably coherent and agreed long-term international strategy for Afghanistan does actually exist.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1424800,00.html

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Lost in Europe

President Bush has reached a dead end in his foreign policy, but he has failed to recognise his quandary

Sidney Blumenthal
Friday February 25, 2005
The Guardian

President Bush has reached a dead end in his foreign policy, but he has failed to recognise his quandary. His belief that the polite reception he received in Europe is a vindication of his previous adventures is a vestige of fantasy.
As the strains of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, the Pastoral, filled the Concert Noble in Brussels, Bush behaved as though the mood music itself was a dramatic new phase in the transatlantic relationship. He gives no indication that he grasps the exhaustion of his policy. His reductio ad absurdum was reached with his statement on Iran: "This notion that the US is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table." Including, presumably, the "simply ridiculous".

Bush is scrambling to cobble together policies across the board. At the last minute he rescued his summit with Vladimir Putin, who refuses to soften his authoritarian measures, with a step toward safeguarding Russian plutonium that could be used for nuclear weapons production. This programme was negotiated by Bill Clinton and neglected by Bush until two weeks ago.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1425020,00.html

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Russia ordered to pay for Chechen deaths

Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow
Friday February 25, 2005
The Guardian

Russia faced fines and sharp censure over its Chechen conflict yesterday as the European court of human rights found Moscow guilty of killing civilians and bluntly ordered it to pay compensation of more than €135,000 (£93,000).

The landmark judgments, which require damages to be paid to the families of 11 civilians killed by federal troops five years ago, will pave the way for dozens of similar lawsuits from aggrieved Chechens.

Russia declined to comment on the verdicts or say whether or not it would honour or appeal against the decision.

The Strasbourg court ruled that Moscow, a signatory to the European convention on human rights, is liable for the deaths of some civilians during the "anti-terrorism" operation launched to restore Russian control over the republic in 1999.

The three judgments come after a five-year legal challenge. The complaints were first lodged in Strasbourg in April 2000 and accepted as admissible in December 2002. The verdicts set a number of legal precedents that, when coupled with the awarding of damages and legal costs, could spark a slew of further complaints. About 150 are already registered with the court.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1424760,00.html

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Ukraine 'to withdraw Iraq troops'
From correspondents in Kiev
25feb05

UKRAINE plans to pull out its 1650 troops currently serving in Iraq, the sixth-largest contingent in the US-led coalition forces, by the end of this year, the country's new defence minister said today.

"I believe that our troops will be withdrawn this year," the Interfax news agency quoted Defence Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko as saying.

The defence minister, who took up his post earlier this month, said that no concrete timetable would be announced before a meeting scheduled next week of the national security and defence council.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard this week announced Australia would send a further 450 troops to Iraq.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12365856%255E401,00.html

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This story is from our news.com.au network

Australian man's freedom denied
By Trudy Harris
25feb05

AN Australian held without charge in Iraq will remain behind bars after the US military reversed earlier advice that it was planning to release him.

Ahmed Aziz Rafiq, from Adelaide, has been held for more than a year in Iraqi prisons, including the notorious Abu Ghraib, after his arrest in a security swoop in the country's north.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade informed Mr Rafiq's Adelaide family this month that he was expected to be released within days following advice from its US counterparts.

But a DFAT spokesman said yesterday the US military had since advised Australia that it required more information about Mr Rafiq.

The spokesman said Australian consular officials in Washington and Baghdad were now "seeking clarification of this request".

The spokesman said officials had also emphasised to the US that if they did not intend charging Mr Rafiq, he should be released without delay.

Mr Rafiq, a casual worker in supermarkets, left Adelaide in September 2003, telling his family he intended to find a wife in Iraq and return with her. He was married 20 days before his arrest in February last year in Erbil by Kurdish authorities.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12364898%255E401,00.html

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US military gay policy costly
25 February 2005

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon spent more than $US200 million and lost valuable personnel over the last decade from its "Don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexual conduct, according to a congressional report.



Of the 9488 service members discharged under the policy since 1994, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said 322 had some proficiency in strategically important languages such as Farsi and Arabic, skills the Pentagon said are in short supply.

The report about personnel losses comes as the Pentagon struggles to meet recruitment goals and keep sufficient forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The GAO said 757 of the discharged personnel were in critical occupations such as interpreters and intelligence analysts, jobs the Pentagon deemed worthy of selective re-enlistment bonuses.

The GAO report said full costs of the policy cannot be estimated because the Pentagon does not collect data on investigations, counselling, discharge reviews and other costs.

But it said it cost about $190 million to recruit and train the personnel. These costs exclude the Marine Corps, which was unable to estimate occupation-related training costs.

Critics said the report showed the military's policy against homosexuals was forcing out people with essential skills to combat terrorism, as well as draining funds.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3199691a12,00.html

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Enron trials set for January 2006
25 February 2005

HOUSTON: Former Enron bosses Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling will go on trial in January 2006 for their part in the huge financial scandal that brought the energy trading giant to its knees, a federal judge has said.

US District Judge Sim Lake set January 17, 2006, as the start date, which will be more than four years after Enron collapsed into bankruptcy on December 2, 2001.

The trial could last several weeks as prosecutors try to prove the two men and co-defendant Richard Causey, former chief accounting officer, played key roles in the financial chicanery that hid billions of dollars in debt and inflated profits at the Houston company.

Skilling, formerly chief executive officer, and Causey each face dozens of counts of insider trading, fraud and lying on Enron financial statements.

Lay, formerly Enron chairman and friend to President George W. Bush, is charged only with a handful of fraud counts relating to the company's final months, when he stepped back into the CEO spot after Skilling's sudden resignation.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3199688a12,00.html

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US limits detainee interrogation methods
25 February 2005

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is implementing new restrictions on detainee interrogations, tying them more closely to the Geneva Conventions and has ordered limits on body cavity searches of prisoners, officials say.

Major General Donald Ryder, Army law enforcement policy chief, also told a briefing the Army has conducted more than 300 criminal investigations into allegations of detainee abuse by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thomas Gandy, a senior Army intelligence official, said the Defence Department is creating new "boundaries of behaviours" for interrogation techniques in policy changes following the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal.

"We'll leave far less up to the interrogator to decide what they can and cannot do," Gandy said yesterday, acknowledging that previous Army doctrine on interrogation methods had not been specific enough.

For example, Gandy said military dogs will never be used in interrogations. Some of the photos from Abu Ghraib showed US personnel menacing detainees with snarling dogs.

Ryder said Army regulations clearly state dogs can be used in detention facilities, but only for external security.

In a January 12 memo to US military commanders worldwide, Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz wrote that the military should not perform "routine detainee body cavity exams or searches" because this invasive procedure "may conflict with the customs of some detainees."

Body cavity searches are to be conducted only when there is a reasonable belief that the detainee is concealing an item that presents a security risk," Wolfowitz wrote. The searches "will be conducted in a manner that respects the person" and should be conducted by someone of the same sex, he said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3198617a12,00.html

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Bush's uncle reaps stock options for Iraq work
24 February 2005

WASHINGTON: President George W Bush's uncle, who serves on the board of a US defence contractor with over $US100 million in business in Iraq, recently cashed in on some of that lucrative work, a government filing showed today.

William HT "Bucky" Bush exercised options on 8438 shares worth about $US450,000 from St Louis-based defence contractor Engineered Support Systems Inc (ESSI), according to a Jan 18 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Since 2000, the president's uncle has been on the board of ESSI, whose work for the US military in Iraq ranges from providing special armour for vehicles to providing telecommunications satellite equipment.

There is nothing illegal about exercising stock options, but Bush's interest in a company with so much Iraq business is sure to evoke criticism from Democrats.

Members of the opposition party have long accused the Bush administration of handing out Iraq-related work to companies with close ties to the White House, such as Halliburton, the Texas company run by vice-president Dick Cheney from 1995-2000.

Dan Kreher, vice-president of investor relations for ESSI, denied having a member of the Bush family on the board had helped his company get Iraq-related business.

"Mr Bush has been on our board for the past five years and he has absolutely nothing to do with any of our contracts with the US government or anyone else," said Kreher.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3198424a12,00.html

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Palestinian PM wins deal for new cabinet
24 February 2005

RAMALLAH: Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie won the agreement of lawmakers for a new cabinet on Wednesday after a third successive day in a crisis over demands for more reformers and fewer Yasser Arafat loyalists.

In a meeting with members of the dominant Fatah faction, Qurie overcame obstacles that had threatened to force him to resign and complicate efforts to overhaul the corruption-plagued Palestinian Authority as he pursues peace efforts with Israel.

After a four-hour meeting with Qurie and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday (local time) legislators said he had agreed to demands to name more technocrats and that more than half the cabinet would be comprised of newcomers.

"We have reached an agreement with brother Abu Ala," lawmaker Salah Tamari said, using a common nickname for Qurie. "The majority of Fatah lawmakers will vote in favour of his cabinet."

Several lawmakers said that if no new obstacles arose, the Palestinian legislature would convene on Thursday to ratify the new 24-member cabinet.

Parliamentary speaker Rahwi Fattouh had said before the groundbreaking meeting that a vote on the cabinet would be postponed until Thursday (local time) or Saturday – the third delay this week – after Qurie had been unable to muster a majority.

A new government is key to Abbas' bid to clean up the Palestinian Authority and merge a dozen often competing security services to deal more effectively with anti-Israel militants – steps demanded by the United States and other big donors.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3198496a12,00.html

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Reactor shut down after leak
From correspondents in Tokyo
February 25, 2005

A NUCLEAR reactor in northern Japan was shut down today after a higher-than-normal nitrogen leak.

No radioactivity was monitored and no health risk was reported.

Onagawa Number One Nuclear Plant, 300km north of Tokyo, was manually shut down only a week after resuming operations following a routine five-month check up, Tohoku Electric Power company spokesman Satoshi Arakawa said.

"There has been no leakage of radioactivity," he said.

Nitrogen is routinely added to fill the reactor as a small amount continually escapes. But an above-normal leak of nitrogen was discovered on February 18.

The company had on February 15 finished inspections which began on September 8 of the 524,000kW boiling water reactor.

The 825,000kW Number Two Plant at Onagawa has also been shut down since January 22 for a four-month routine inspection, leaving only the 825,000kW Number Three Plant in operation.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12367477%255E1702,00.html

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Call for Gannon inquiry to be delivered to Bush Friday
Biden won't sign call for investigation; Kerry, Kennedy join

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=123

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Another Talon News ‘reporter’
found plagiarizing mainstream press

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=125

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U.S. Says 'Thousands' of Missiles Missing
By ROBERT BURNS,
AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - It has been known for years that thousands of light and lethal shoulder-fired missiles are in black-market circulation. What is not known is exactly who has them and whether many have fallen into the hands of terrorists or criminals.

A worrisome puzzle, it explains why the United States and Russia signed an agreement Thursday to cooperate in destroying surplus Soviet-era SA-7s and other portable anti-aircraft missiles. The smallest of these are durable, relatively cheap and easy to smuggle.


The United States also has understandings with several other countries, including Nicaragua, Bosnia, Cambodia and Liberia (news - web sites), for Washington to provide technical assistance or money to destroy anti-aircraft missiles.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&u=/ap/20050224/ap_on_re_us/missile_threat&printer=1

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Army awards Halliburton bonus


Firm that overbilled for gasoline, food, gets hefty bonus from the Army.

http://www.rawstory.com/

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Lawmakers: Writer May Have CIA Leak Info

WASHINGTON — Two lawmakers have sent a letter to the U.S. attorney saying a White House reporter who recently resigned following questions about his identity and background may have information vital to the investigation into who leaked a CIA operative's name to the press.

Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and John Conyers, D-Mich., the ranking Democrats on the House Rules Committee and House Judiciary Committee, respectively, wrote a letter to Patrick Fitzgerald (search), the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, saying the Chicago attorney's office may need to subpoena the journal of reporter James Guckert (search ).

The journal recounts Guckert's days covering the White House. According to Conyers and Slaughter's letter, Guckert had access to a memo revealing the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame (search).

In addition, Editor and Publisher has confirmed an online report that Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., is circulating a letter among his colleagues that asks President Bush to launch an investigation into how Guckert gained access to White House press briefings over two years despite having no journalism background and using a false name.

Both letters are just the latest in a string of inquiries by congressional leaders, including a request by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., for documents related to Guckert's continued White House access.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,148604,00.html

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Sen. Lieberman’s office responds to cries he’s ditching Dems on Social Security

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=124

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Suicide bomber kills police as more troops to pull out

A suicide bomber disguised as a policeman killed at least 10 people when he blew his car up at an Iraqi police headquarters today, as Ukraine said it would pull its 1,650 troops in the war-torn country.

Violence around the country killed at least 23 people, including two US soldiers, but the deadliest attack occurred when the bomber managed to drive his explosives-rigged car into the main police compound in Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit as police gathered for their morning parade.

The director of Tikrit hospital, Emad Juburi, said they had received 10 dead and 35 wounded, all policemen.

"The suicide bomber managed to get into the headquarters' courtyard because he was wearing a police lieutenant's uniform. He detonated his vehicle in the middle of police who had gathered for the morning parade," Juburi said, citing the accounts of survivors.

In a potential blow to the US-led coalition in Iraq, the sixth-largest foreign military contingent in the country, Ukraine, said it would pull all of its 1,650 troops out of the country by the end of the year.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/02/25/1109180068045.html

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IRAQ: Ramadi residents flee city after latest US-led attacks
24 Feb 2005 14:41:07 GMT

Source: IRIN

RAMADI, 24 February (IRIN) - Residents of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province some 100 km east of Baghdad, have started to flee the city following the latest offensive launched by US Marines and the Iraqi army.

The military have carried out raids in the province over the past few days in an attempt to crack down on insurgents, with the main focus of operations eing Ramadi, a rebel stronghold.

Worried that the offensive could proceed as it did in nearby Fallujah, where he majority of the city's population was forced to flee during a near hree-month long campaign, many Ramadi families are taking personal effects and food supplies and heading to relatives' houses in the capital, or to the same camps where residents from Fallujah fled.

A number of checkpoints have been set up around the city of 400,000 and a curfew has been established. It runs from 2000 to 0600. Vehicles are being inspecting carefully and any suspect is being taken for further interrogation, Marines' spokesman Lt-Col Paul Brathen told IRIN.


"Many insurgents have escaped Fallujah to this area but they won't have time to take the city and our early operation will prevent that. People have started to flee the city but it's too early for that," Brathen added.


But citizens, exhausted by ongoing violence, are afraid and are choosing to leave before the situation worsens. "They want to destroy the whole area and build a New York City there, and for that they are tearing down everything. We want to live in peace. We are tired of fighting and bombs. God, please protect us," Muhammad Farhan, a father of five, who was fleeing the city with his family, told IRIN.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/f088ccb9258d6720ea36591a9abb5b37.htm

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Unarmed And Wounded POW Shot In The Head By U.S. Marine

- WARNING -

This video contains course language,
disturbing images of dead bodies in the aftermath of combat and graphic images of
a man being shot dead

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7296.htm

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18 more troops face trial for Iraqi abuse

EIGHTEEN more British troops are facing court martials for abusing Iraqi prisoners, it was reported today.
Charges are set to be made against 11 more soldiers, as well as seven from the Parachute Regiment who have been accused of killing an 18-year-old Iraqi.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed a total of nine cases involving a number of soldiers were at the stage of being considered by Army prosecutors, three of which were allegations of abuse.
One of three involves the alleged beating to death of hotel worker Baha Mousa, 26, in 2003.

The news came as two British soldiers awaited sentence after being convicted for their roles in a prisoner abuse scandal.
Stirling-born Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, and Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, 25, will be sentenced tomorrow after being found guilty of taking part in the mistreatment of captured looters at an aid camp in Basra in May 2003.
A panel of seven senior officers delivered the verdict, following eight hours of deliberations at a court martial in Osnabruck, Germany.
The pair, who served in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers,

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5035964.html

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Court: Closure of soldier hearing illegal

JON SARCHE

Associated Press


DENVER - An Army officer illegally closed a December hearing on the alleged suffocation death of an Iraqi general and must keep open as much of the rest of the hearing as possible, a military appeals court ruled Wednesday.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals in Arlington, Va., said Capt. Robert Ayers made an "ill-considered, overbroad and clearly erroneous" decision to close the hearing at Fort Carson to avoid releasing classified information.

The judges ordered him to release an edited version of the 285-page transcript to The Denver Post, which appealed the closure.

The panel, which ordered a halt to the hearing Dec. 3, the day after it began, said the hearing could resume, but ordered Ayers to close remaining portions of the hearing only if he determines expected testimony would reveal classified information.

Testimony from two witnesses did not involve classified information, and one witness testified over a nonsecure telephone line and therefore would have been prohibited from discussing classified material, the ruling said.

Some testimony might have been so intertwined with classified matters as to justify closure. "But that should have been the exception, not the rule," the ruling said.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/10974862.htm?1c

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Kurds name their price for putting Shia party in power
By Patrick Cockburn and David Enders in Baghdad
24 February 2005


The Kurds are to stick to their demand for the oil city of Kirkuk and a degree of autonomy which is close to independence as negotiations begin to form the next Iraqi government. The coalition of Shia parties, the United Iraqi Alliance, has 140 seats in the 275-member National Assembly but despite its electoral triumph other parties are waiting to see if it will hold together. The coalition was cobbled together out of disparate groups under the influence of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

"The coalition is not as strong as we thought - with all of the weight of Sistani, it didn't get an absolute majority," said a Kurdish politician who asked not to be named. Nevertheless Iraqi Shias, 60 per cent of the population but never previously in power, feel that their moment has come.

The Kurds are in a strong position to press their demands because they have 75 seats. In the past they were always the core of the opposition to Saddam Hussein and their leaders have far more political and administrative experience than returning Shia exiles. The Kurds are the only people to support the US occupation.

Kurdish leaders say they will refuse to compromise over Kirkuk or the autonomy of the three northern Kurdish provinces from which Saddam Hussein retreated in 1991. They will also reject applying Islamic law in Kurdish regions.

The newly elected assembly is expected to meet in the next two weeks. It will first elect a president and two vice presidents by a two thirds majority and they in turn will chose a prime minister. He will then put together a government which must be supported by a simple majority in the assembly.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=614128

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Guard facing troop shortage for Iraq in 2006
February 24, 2005
By Richard Whittle Dallas Morning News

WASHINGTON — The Army National Guard will run short of troops for Iraq in 2006 unless the situation there improves or the 24-month limit on callups is changed, its top general said Wednesday.

Lt. Gen. Roger Schultz said in an interview that planners are assuming in 2006 the Army will need fewer than the 52,000 Army Guard members in Iraq now — roughly a third of the 155,000 U.S. troops battling insurgents.

But if the demand remains the same, the Army Guard would be unable to meet it "without recalling previously mobilized soldiers" covered by the 24-month callup cap, Schultz said.

Other Army leaders have suggested relaxing the callup cap, too. But Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said earlier this month there were "no plans" to take that politically touchy step.

Schultz's remarks are the latest from top military officials concerned over the strains of overseas missions on the Army. In December, the chief of the Army Reserve, Lt. Gen. James R. "Ron" Helmly, warned that Army Reserve recruiting is in a "precipitous decline."

The Army National Guard is adding 1,400 recruiters to try to overcome the growing shortage of new enlistees Schultz said, adding that he and other Guard leaders remained "cautiously optimistic" that they will meet their recruiting goal of 69,400 new members by Sept. 30.

The Army Guard's mandated "end-strength" is 350,000. As of Wednesday, however, there were only 333,632 enrolled.

Schultz said some shortfall during the year is normal. The Guard builds its strength toward the end of the fiscal year to meet its legally required size, he explained.



http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050224/NEWS/502240347/1002

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Pentagon seeks new anti-terror operation
U.S. FORCES COULD ACT WITHOUT EMBASSY OK

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is promoting a global counterterrorism plan that would allow Special Operations forces to enter a foreign country to conduct military operations without explicit concurrence from the U.S. ambassador there, administration officials familiar with the plan said.

The plan would weaken the long-standing "chief of mission" authority under which the U.S. ambassador, as the president's top representative in a foreign country, decides whether to grant entry to U.S. government personnel based on political and diplomatic considerations.

The Special Operations missions envisioned in the plan would largely be secret, known to only a handful of officials from the foreign country, if any.

The change is included in a highly classified "execute order," part of a broad strategy developed since Sept. 11, 2001, to give the U.S. Special Operations Command new flexibility to track down and destroy terrorist networks worldwide, the officials said.

"This is a military order on a global scale, something that-hasn't existed since World War II," said a counterterrorism official with lengthy experience in special operations. He and other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proposal is classified.

The Pentagon sees the greater leeway as vital to enabling commando forces to launch operations quickly and stealthily against terrorist groups without often time-consuming interagency debate, said administration officials familiar with the plan.

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/nation/10977106.htm

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German Protesters Call Bush 'No. 1 Terrorist'

By Alexandra Hudson

MAINZ, Germany (Reuters) - About 12,000 protesters, many carrying banners reading "Bush go home," "No. 1 Terrorist" and "Warmonger," marched through the German city of Mainz on Wednesday, but were mostly kept away from the visiting U.S. president.

The official rally, which was twice as big as expected, never got within earshot of President Bush, but a small group of protestors rushed toward his car as he left to visit a U.S. base in nearby Wiesbaden. Police wrestled several demonstrators to the ground and led them away in handcuffs, a Reuters witness said.

Bush was visiting Germany for the first time since the 2003 Iraq war, which Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and most Germans opposed.

"I'm disgusted by the war in Iraq Bush started that has cost thousands of civilian lives," said Thomas Odenweller, 49, a computer technician. "Now he's trying to normalize relations with Europe. It must be stopped."

Ignoring snow and freezing temperatures, the demonstrators held banners chastising Bush in English with slogans such as: "You can bomb the world to pieces but not into peace." Many had pre-printed posters reading: "Bush, No. 1 Terrorist."

Before the march, which Mainz police said was one of the largest ever in the city of about 300,000, one speaker told the crowd: "Mr. Bush, please leave our country. You started an illegal war against Iraq."

German police confiscated one poster that read: "We had our Hitler, now you have yours."

Some protesters praised Schroeder for his anti-war stance.

"Schroeder's opposition to the Iraq war made me so proud to be German," said Helmut Bach, 50, a pilot who marched with his 20-year-old daughter. "That's why I voted for him."

Several protesters wearing fake U.S. army uniforms pulled a trailer with dummies of blood-covered Iraq prisoners impaled on iron bars under a banner: "We don't want your type of freedom."

A force of 10,000 police officers staged one of the biggest postwar security operations. Frogmen searched the Rhine for explosives, 1,300 manhole covers were welded shut and thousands of residents were displaced. Continued ...

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-02-23T175428Z_01_L2347198_RTRIDST_0_INTERNATIONAL-BUSH-GERMANY-PROTEST-DC.XML

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