Link -"It Has Happened Already Before" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. A "Must See"! PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! NO TO BUSH!! NO TO A U.S WAR ON IRAQ!! === From: "Irina Malenko" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: It has happened already before... Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 19:27:52 - http://www.thankyou.by.ru/Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
Toronto - Peace Camp Set Up At City Hall! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Kim Rygiel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 10:33 AM Subject: FW: TODAY! Peace Camp to be set up PLEASE FORWARD FAR AND WIDE! Today and ongoing... If you can't make it today, drop by the newly-established peace camp at City Hall any time. We'll be here all night.MAXFrom Tooker Gomberg:Toronto, City of Peace*Hi Folks:I spent a few hours on College St. talking with people about the impending attack on Iraq. Torontonians are massively against Bush's war.A group of us will establish an ongoing Peace Camp near the front doors of Toronto City Hall by the Peace Garden.News ConferenceLaunch of Toronto, City of PeaceTues. Mar. 18, 2003.4 p.mToronto City Hall, by the Peace Garden near the front doors Speakers, poetry, music and agitation.Spread the word.The idea is to establish an ongoing gathering place for people concerned about the impending attack on Iraq. We will come together and figure out what we can do together -- * pick up leaflets, buttons and bumper stickers,* sing and shout* meditate for peace* play and eat togetherHope you can join us for the launch, or afterwards, day or night.[EMAIL PROTECTED]416-558-2453Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
UN nuclear inspectors angry at Bush/Powell lies, manipulation [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG
From: "Jim Yarker" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: UN nuclear inspectors angry at Bush/Powell lies, manipulation Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 20:40:46 -0500 http://www.bayarea.com San Jose Mercury Tue, Mar. 18, 2003 Nuclear inspectors reportedly angry CHECKING FALSE U.S. LEADS WASTED TIME, SOURCE SAYS By Dan Stober Mercury News As United Nations nuclear inspectors flee Iraq, some of them are angry at the Bush administration for cutting short their work, bad-mouthing their efforts and making false claims about evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Some inspectors are ``scandalized'' at the way President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, among others, have ``politicized'' the inspection process, said a source close to the inspectors. None of the nuclear-related intelligence trumpeted by the administration has held up to scrutiny, inspectors say. From suspect aluminum tubes to aerial photographs to documents -- revealed to be forgeries -- that claimed to link Iraq to uranium from Niger, inspectors say they chased U.S. leads that went nowhere and wasted valuable time in their efforts to determine the extent of Saddam Hussein's arsenal of weapons banned after the 1991 Persian Gulf War. The administration said the Iraqi aluminum tubes were uniquely suited for centrifuges to make bomb-grade uranium. But U.N. officials argue that the Iraqi explanation -- that the tubes were destined to become artillery rockets -- was more plausible. Moreover, the source close to inspectors said, the U.S. military uses similar tubes for a rocket known as the Hydra 70. In October the White House released aerial photos of activity at former Iraqi nuclear facilities. The inspectors, however, found no sign of weapons activity and suggested that Saddam was not likely to reuse known nuclear sites. In February the administration said trucks were spotted at facilities shortly before the arrival of inspectors, apparently to haul away and hide banned equipment. But in one case, according to a U.N. official, the trucks were fire engines standing by the building for safety reasons. In the case of the Niger documents, they appeared genuine at first glance -- accurate nomenclature, proper stamps -- but further study turned up crude errors, such as words misspelled in French and dates that did not match the day of the week. Who created the counterfeit documents remains a mystery. Recent inspection teams have included a new batch of U.S. nuclear scientists from Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos national laboratories. The U.N. official described these inspectors as arriving as hawks and leaving as doves, after finding Iraq ``a ruined country, not a threat to anyone.'' It is a view radically different than the administration's. The nuclear inspectors trudged through the Iraqi countryside for months. They found the Iraqi weapons infrastructure, built at great expense in the 1980s, to be in a state of decay. They sought out out-of-the-way machine shops or companies where Iraqi scientists might be congregated. But they found no sign of an organized nuclear weapons program. At the most, the U.N. official said, there may be ``a few guys with paper and pencil and some computer in a back room.'' Responding to the U.S. emphasis on underground facilities, the inspectors slugged through the mud beneath a petroleum plant and paid a visit to an irrigation reservoir carved into the inside of a mountain. Neither contained anything suspicious. The nuclear inspectors -- the International Atomic Energy Agency's Iraq Action Team -- are lead by a Frenchman, Jacques Baute. Under his direction the team has focused on unraveling the clandestine Iraqi procurement networks that imported nuclear weapons technology in the 1980s and the aluminum tubing more recently. During unannounced visits to trading companies, the inspectors used special equipment to copy the hard drives of computers. Among the thousands of files they found some leads, as well as pornography. Traders in the procurement networks, the inspectors discovered, have been using their positions to steal oil-for-food money and shift the stolen profits out of the country. For example, a $100,000 purchase of humanitarian goods from Jordan might be inflated to $200,000, with the extra money split between the Iraqi buyer and the Jordanian seller. Some of the inspectors leave with a deep suspicion of U.S. motives. Some believe, for example, that recent flights of U.S. U-2 spy planes were intended to help the military draw up target lists, not to aid the inspectors in their search for weapons of mass destruction. - Contact Dan Stober at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or (650) 688-7536Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
ACT NOW! "CUT AND PASTE" FOR PEACE! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! == From: Darrell Rankin Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2003 2:49 PM Subject: CANESI: Fwd: URGENT ACTION: UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY MUST ACT Dear peace-supporting groups and people across Canada,Dear Friends of peace in other countries Among the many initiatives and calls for action to prevent a war with Iraq (so many that need support!), I think this one can deal a powerful blow against U.S. lawlessness/ imperialism. A growing number of groups and individuals are supporting this appeal, including Robert Fisk who had to cancel his speaking engagement in Winnipeg last week. Simply copy the list of emails below and paste them in your "to", "cc" and "bcc" message boxes, sign your name to the letter, delete my and Karen's letters at the beginning and the extra text below your letter, and Send - it is that easy. Fax numbers are also listed below. Regards, Darrell Rankin PS if you would like Karen's letter in a Text file for better forwarding to your own email contacts, please let me know and I will send it to you. * * * * * From: ICPJ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: URGENT ACTION:UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY MUST ACT Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 This is a follow-up to the email ICPJ sent last week concerning the right of the UN General Assembly to act to prevent war. Karen Talbot International Council for Peace and Justice http://icpj.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] - URGENT!! PLEASE TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTION NOW to encourage the UN member nations to act to stop the war through a special session of the General Assembly!!! Bush will speak tonight and announce going ahead with the war against Iraq probably in 24 hours. The U.S. and UK have withdrawn their resolution before the Security Council because it is clear that France will veto it. They intend to go ahead with their massive shock and awe attack on Iraq. Below is a suggested letter to send to UN member states TODAY!! It is self explanatory. You can edit this letter in any way you wish (or just copy) and then cut and paste into a message. Then you can cut and paste the email addresses into the To, CC, and Bcc. The BCC might have to broken up into 2 or 3 emails because it is so big. Also below there are fax numbers if you choose to go that route. But time is of the essence. Please send the emails NOW because it is literally the last minute. Dear U.N. Ambassador, Please consider invoking UN Res. 377 Uniting For Peace to stop this unnecessary, unjust disastrous war that Bush is trying to foist upon innocent Iraqis and the world. The war will cause hundreds of thousands of deaths of innocents, trillions better spent on current human needs, instability, increased terrorism, and possibly the seeds of WWIII. And it is totally unnecessary because Saddam is contained, has no proven connection to al-Queda, and is in the process of disarming. President Bush appears determined to wage war on Iraq despite the worlds opposition, despite the progress of UN weapons inspectors, despite the likelihood that an unprovoked war will foment, rather than eliminate, terrorism. The Bush Administration has threatened to attack Iraq even without the authority of the UN Security Council. This constitutes both a threat to world peace and to the very integrity of the UN as an institution dedicated to the maintenance of international peace and security. Time is running short. This disastrous war must be prevented. Therefore, I urge you to band together with other nations in support of a Uniting for Peace resolution against an unprovoked invasion of Iraq. As you know, Resolution 377, adopted by the UN in 1950, was made for situations precisely like this one. Uniting for Peace provides that if, because of the lack of unanimity of the permanent members of the Security Council (France, China, Russia, Britain, United States), the Council cannot maintain international peace where there is a threat to the peace, breach of the peace or act of aggression, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately.. The General Assembly can meet within 24 hours to consider such a matter, and can recommend collective measures to U.N. members including the use of armed forces to maintain or restore international peace and security. Such a Uniting for Peace resolution could require that no military action be taken against Iraq without the explicit authority of the Security Council. It could mandate that the inspectors be permitted to complete their task. It seems unlikely that the United States and Britain would ignore such a measure. A vote by the majority of countries in the world, particularly if it were almost unanimous, would make the unilateral rush to war more difficult. Uniting for Peace can be invoked either by seven members of the Security Council or by a majority of the members of the General Assembly. Clearly, it our la
(McWorkers Resistance ) UK "Mc Workers" Against The War! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: McWorkers Resistance To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2003 1:13 PM Subject: McWorkers Against War http://mwr.org.uk [EMAIL PROTECTED] In line with calls from the anti-war movement, many of us involved with McDonalds Workers Resistance will be avoiding work on the day the bombing starts, through phoning in sick or walking out for the whole day or for a few minutes. We strongly encourage other workers to do the same and to this effect release the following statement: "McDonalds Workers Resistance wish to make public our absolute and unfaltering opposition to the military adventures of the US and UK governments and to make known that we recognise the strategic and economic reasons for the impending bombardment. We unreservedly oppose the Iraqi regime but given the motivations of the US and British governments, and given their respective histories of supporting and arming violent tyrants (including Hussein), we reject their legitimacy and do not look to them to solve the problems faced by the working class in Iraq or anywhere else. In contrast, we look to collective action and international solidarity amongst ordinary people to deliver regime change in the US, Europe and Iraq. With this in mind, and to demonstrate our continued opposition to the massive sufferings heaped upon the Iraqi people by the rulers of the world, we will be avoiding work on the day war officially begins and we encourage all McDonalds Workers to do the same. Our thoughts and hopes are with the Iraqi people, our solidarity with all the workers of the world who are trying to obstruct the war effort- with the Communication Workers Union and the Fire-fighters in the UK, with the dock workers and train drivers in Italy, with the Longshoremen in the US, and many others. MWR has opposed economic and military imperialism consistently; this linked statement was written two days after the terrorist attacks in New York: http://mwr.org.uk/terrorism.htm " http://www.geocities.com/mwrposse/mocknews.html NOT IN OUR NAME! === ""Why of course the people don't want war ... But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship ... All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." Hermann Goering, Nazi leader, at the Nuremberg Trials after World War II Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
"Showdown In Texas" May 3-5. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 23:11:03 -0500 From: "Dawn" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Fwd: Showdown In Texas] Dear Friends, We are writing to ask you to mark your calendars now for the: Showdown in Texas, Saturday, May 3-5, 2003 Take a Stand Against the Bush Agenda Demand TRUE Human Security March with thousand of people from across the nation and around the world to say No to War and Yes...Another World is Possible! The Showdown rally is a national, multi-issue response to war and militarism straight from George W. Bushs old stomping grounds in Austin, Texas. This rally is a demand for human security, not homeland security: funding for healthcare, housing, education and jobs; environmental sustainability; protection of civil liberties for citizens, immigrants and indigenous peoples, a moratorium on the death penalty, and an end to US military interventions at home and abroad. The SHOWDOWN Rally is part of the MADE IN TEXAS Campaign, a project of the American Friends Service Committee which was launched to bring attention to the militarization of our world and a system that prioritizes corporate profits and war. We seek to transform that system into a culture that celebrates life and community by building a powerful coalition of organizations and independent businesses that will unite in opposition to the Bush agenda of war and militarism. Why We Want and Need You to Come to Texas? It is no surprise that the corporate structure that supports and benefits from militarization and war is based in Texas Lockheed Martin of Fort Worth, Enron in Houston, and in Austin the Computer Sciences Corporation just bought Dyncorp making it one of the largest corporate military contractors in the country. Texas was the recipient of the largest military contract in history, making war its biggest export. George W. Bushs home state provides weapons, troops and fuel for the military. Corporate military contractors, weapons manufacturers, the countries largest military base and a network of oil refineries all flourish in this state known internationally for its poor record on human rights, workers rights, social justice and the environment. For more information email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or www.madeintexas.us The Showdown Coalition is planning a nonviolent direct action at a military contractors on Monday, May 5. A youth encampment is being organized and nonviolence direct action prep and spokes council meeting are scheduled for Sunday, May 4. Also in support of the Showdown in Texas is the: 2nd Annual Women and War Conference, Voices Rising in Resistance will be held May 1-4 at Stonehaven Ranch just outside of Austin. The conference is an experiment in creating alternative community where women can talk and live their politics. The purpose is to promote dialogue among truly diverse women regarding warfare, nationalism, territorialism, and ways it impacts our communities. Sponsored by the Womens Nations Collective, a project of the American Friends Service Committee. Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] or http://geocities.com/womensnation Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
New York City - Cuba Solidarity Contingent at March 22 Anti-War Demonstration [W
From: "Cuba Solidarity New York" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 13:39:37 - Subject: [CubaSolidarityNY] Join The Cuba Solidarity Contingent March 22 - NYC CUBA SOLIDARITY NEW YORK http://www.cubasolidarityny.org Join The Cuba Solidarity Contingent at March 22 Anti-War Demonstration Dear Members and Supporters of Cuba Solidarity New York (CSNY), CSNY and the Venceremos Brigade will be organizing a Cuba Solidarity contingent at the March 22 anti-war demonstration in New York City. The contingent will meet at 36th St. and Broadway at 11:00pm The rally is scheduled to start at 12 noon and march to Washington Square Park (the city authorities were forced to grant a march permit under pressure after the fiasco following their reactionary refusal to do so on Feb. 15). It is likely that Washington's brutal war of aggression will be underway by March 22 and that the cruise missiles, B-52s, and F-16s will be reigning mass terror on the neighborhoods and remaining infrastructure of Baghdad and other cities, as U.S. and British troops launch a massive invasion. Obviously, this makes a massive protest very important, not only to register our opposition to the U.S. war on Iraq, but to maintain our political space and right to protest in the face of the government and media-generated attempts to whip up a patriotic, militaristic hysteria and intimidate the anti-war, anti-imperialist opposition. The arrogance of the U.S. government as it goes to war to establish a U.S. protectorate in Iraq as a step toward control and domination of the Middle East and its resources is registered in the official name of the coming vicious assault: "Operation Shock and Awe." That message is addressed not only to Iraq and the oppressed and exploited peoples of the Middle East and Third World. On March 22 and beyond we must answer that we are not awed, but disgusted and determined to resist the imperialist war drive. We can be sure that Cuba will continue to be a leading anti-war and anti-imperialist voice which places this war in the larger context of the mounting global capitalist crisis. CSNY will continue to defend and present that voice--which will grow in attraction to a new generation of anti-war and anti-imperialist fighters. Events like the upcoming national meeting of the National Network on Cuba (NNOC) that will be held in New York City on May 16-18, which CSNY is co-hosting with 1199/SEIU, and the Venceremos Brigade as wells as plans for a major event in New York to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of July 26th can be a rallying point for political activists in the new . We can also expect that the pressure on Cuba will continue to increase with this war. Cuba remains on the U.S. State Department's list of countries "sponsoring terrorism." The recent throwing of the Cuban 5 into solitary confinement along with the blatant, stepped-up anti-Cuba activities of U.S. Interests Section Chief James Cason in Havana are conscious provocations. CSNY has prepared for mass distribution at the March 22 action an attractive leaflet which includes Fidel Castro's excellent speech at the recent meeting of the non-aligned movement in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia which address the war in the larger world context. The Venceremos Brigade and IFCO/Pastors for Peace will be publicizing their challenge to the Travel Ban. Representative of the U.S./Cuba Youth exchange will have materials on their July 24-31 trip to Cuba. We also want to distribute lots of material on the case of the Cuban 5. So we need lots of help and volunteers to cover what we hope will be massive crowd. See you at 36th and Broadway! In solidarity and struggle, Ike Nahem for CSNYDo you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
On Robin Cook [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Subject: Re: [Stalinist] Cook Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 10:40:42 -0500 (EST) From: "Wolfgang Mueller" [EMAIL PROTECTED] The same Mr.Cook was one of the loudest mouthpieces of imperialist NATO-aggressors when they lauchned the 78 days and nights brutal bombing campaign against Yugoslavian people nearly 4 years ago, from March 24, 1999. The same Mr. Cook who was Foreign Minister of the UK in those days, when NATO-Agressors bombed Yugoslav People, whithout any UN-Mandate, fully illegaly, satanised Serbian People and their President Slobodan Milosevic repeatedly, to put the NATO-Terror in the light of Humanity, Justice and Freedom. The same Mr. Cook who had no sleepless nights by sawing hatred against Serbs and their political leaders and killing thousands of them, gives himself an attitude of morality that does not belong to him. In real this Mr. Cook playing a dirty game with emotions of people for achiving imperialist goals of Briton and EU-Imperialists. there is no progressive aim in his step to resign from his post in opposing the policy of Tony Blair. It is cool calculated power-policy. Don't spread any illusions in imperialists and their rotten personal, like Schroeder, Fisher, Chirac, de Villepin, Cook or Blair, Bush, Rumsfeld and so on. In this cause, Wolfgang M. Comment HK: Of course Cook is a social-reformist of the worst order. Of course Cook is a charlatan. Of course Cook was the Foreign Minster who sold fighter jets to Indonesia. But no doubt his action in resigning form the UK cabinet was a move that progressives applauded. What next will come for Cook? Is this the start of a new social-reformist formation in the UK? HK ___ Why I had to leave the cabinet 'This will be a war without support at home or agreement abroad Robin Cook Tuesday March 18, 2003 The Guardian I have resigned from the cabinet because I believe that a fundamental principle of Labour's foreign policy has been violated. If we believe in an international community based on binding rules and institutions, we cannot simply set them aside when they produce results that are inconvenient to us. I cannot defend a war with neither international agreement nor domestic support. I applaud the determined efforts of the prime minister and foreign secretary to secure a second resolution. Now that those attempts have ended in failure, we cannot pretend that getting a second resolution was of no importance. In recent days France has been at the receiving end of the most vitriolic criticism. However, it is not France alone that wants more time for inspections. Germany is opposed to us. Russia is opposed to us. Indeed at no time have we signed up even the minimum majority to carry a second resolution. We delude ourselves about the degree of international hostility to military action if we imagine that it is all the fault of President Chirac. The harsh reality is that Britain is being asked to embark on a war without agreement in any of the international bodies of which we are a leading member. Not Nato. Not the EU. And now not the security council. To end up in such diplomatic isolation is a serious reverse. Only a year ago we and the US were part of a coalition against terrorism which was wider and more diverse than I would previously have thought possible. History will be astonished at the diplomatic miscalculations that led so quickly to the disintegration of that powerful coalition. Britain is not a superpower. Our interests are best protected, not by unilateral action, but by multilateral agreement and a world order governed by rules. Yet tonight the international partnerships most important to us are weakened. The European Union is divided. The security council is in stalemate. Those are heavy casualties of war without a single shot yet being fired. The threshold for war should always be high. None of us can predict the death toll of civilians in the forthcoming bombardment of Iraq. But the US warning of a bombing campaign that will "shock and awe" makes it likely that casualties will be numbered at the very least in the thousands. Iraq's military strength is now less than half its size at the time of the last Gulf war. Ironically, it is only because Iraq's military forces are so weak that we can even contemplate invasion. And some claim his forces are so weak, so demoralised and so badly equipped that the war will be over in days. We cannot base our military strategy on the basis that Saddam is weak and at the same time justify pre-emptive action on the claim that he is a serious threat. Iraq probably has no weapons of mass destruction in the commonly understood sense of that term - namely, a credible device capable of being delivered against strategic city targets. It probably does still have biological toxins and battlefield chemical munitions. But it has had them since the 1980s when the US sold Saddam the anthrax agents and the then British government built
Toronto Canada - Upcoming Events - CIA & US Foreign Policy, Iraq, Bill C-36, se
Forward from mart. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE. From: "Science for Peace" [EMAIL PROTECTED]Subject: Upcoming Events - CIA & US Foreign Policy, Iraq, Bill C-36, secret trials... Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 15:50:50 -0500 From Science for Peace http://scienceforpeace.sa.utoronto.ca 416-535-6605 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] UPCOMING Science for Peace EVENTS: 1. March 20, 6:30 pm: Video seized at border by Canada Customs to be shown March 20 on large screen. University of Toronto. 2. March 28: Free Public Forum about Secret Trials in Canada: How Democracy is Being Undermined in the Name of "Security" - Friday, March 28, 7:30 pm 3. March 27, 6:30 pm: Large screen video showing of Iraq: Then and Now and the Hidden Wars of Desert Storm at University of Toronto (details below) next Thursday, March 20, 2003 6-30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Room 179, University College, 15 King's College Circle, University of Toronto Free, large-screen 2-hour video (8th time!) The video held at the border by Canada Customs is to be shown. Come and see what all the fuss is about! "WHAT I'VE LEARNED ABOUT U. S. FOREIGN POLICY: CIA COVERT OPERATIONS AND PENTAGON INTERVENTIONS SINCE WORLD WAR II" Free admission, donations appreciated A compliation of excerpts from 10 different professional US documentaries, edited together by Frank Dorrel. 1. Public speeches of Martin Luther King Jr. (3 min) for civil rights and against the US war in Vietnam. 2. Interview with John Stockwell (6 min), former CIA Station Chief, who gives a short history of CIA covert operations and estimates that over 6 million people have died in CIA covert actions. 3. "The Secret Government" (22 min) by Bill Moyers (aired on PBS in 1987). Moyers interviews many different people involved with the CIA and other government agencies providing an overview of the CIA history. 4. "Coverup: Behind the Iran-Contra Affair" (23 min) by Barbara Trent (Pentagon, arms sale, drugs trafficking). 5. "School of Assassins" (13 min) narrated by Susan Sarandon and features Father Roy Bourgeois, talking about School of America (Fort Benning, Georgia, USA) and its graduates. 6. "Genocide by Sanctions" (13 min) produced by Gloria La Riva, features former Attorney General of the United States, Ramsey Clark, as he goes to Iraq. 7. "Genocides in Indonesia and East Timor" (4 min) by Amy Goodman, journalist and host of "Democracy Now" on Pacifica¹s WBAI FM Radio in New York. She is talking about two genocides Indonesia has committed. First against it¹s own people in 1965, then against the people of East Timor in 1975. Both of these mass slaughters were sanctioned by the United States government and aided by the CIA. 8. "The Panama Deception" (20 min) directed by Barbara Trent. How the US attacked Panama and killed 3 or 4 thousand people in an invasion that the rest of the world was against. 9. Public speech of Ramsey Clark (7 min) 1998, Los Angeles, evening "Save the Iraqi Children". Former Attorney General of the United States tells the sorry truth about US foreign policy. 10. "The healing of Brian Wilson" (10 min), the Vietnam veteran, who Wages Peace against US foreign policies. Presented by Science for Peace http://scienceforpeace.sa.utoronto.ca 416-535-6605 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copies of videos will be available for sale at the showing or can be ordered on line at www.globaloutlook.ca or by calling Global Outlook at 1-888-713-8500. next Friday, March 28, 7:30 pm Friends Meeting House, 60 Lowther Ave, Toronto (two blocks north of Bedford and Bloor, near St. George subway) Stop Secret Trials in Canada: How Democracy is Being Undermined in the Name of "Security" Moderator: Chandler Davis of Science for Peace Speakers: - Sophie Lamarche Harkat Sophie is working to free her husband, Mohamed Harkat, who has been held in solitary confinement in an Ottawa prison, without charge or bail, since his arrest on International Human Rights Day, December 10, 2002. The arrest of Mr. Harkat, a refugee from Algeria who worked on average 20 hours a day pumping gas and delivering pizzas - seems staged to show the U.S. that Canada is "serious" about security, Neither Harkat nor his attorney is allowed to see or challenge the "evidence" against him--in other words, a secret trial. - Amina Sherazee Amina Sherazee is an attorney, activist, and one of Canada's leading voices against repressive federal legislation (such as the notorious C-36) - Rocco Galati Rocco Galati is one of a handful of Canadian attorneys who has handled CSIS "security certificate cases," and the only person ever to win one against the government. - Matthew Behrens A member of Homes not Bombs, which is coordinating a campaign of support for families of Canada's disappeared. This event is part of a tour of southern Ontario which also features vents in Peterborough (Thursday,
FWD: (Michael Moore) - An Interesting letter from a guy named Michael [WWW.STOP
Forward from mart. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! ** = Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 21:01:10 -0500 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fwd: An Interesting letter from a guy named Michael www.michaelmoore.com Monday, March 17th, 2003 George W. Bush 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC Dear Governor Bush: So today is what you call "the moment of truth," the day that "France and the rest of world have to show their cards on the table." I'm glad to hear that this day has finally arrived. Because, I gotta tell ya, having survived 440 days of your lying and conniving, I wasn't sure if I could take much more. So I'm glad to hear that today is Truth Day, 'cause I got a few truths I would like to share with you: 1. There is virtually NO ONE in America (talk radio nutters and Fox News aside) who is gung-ho to go to war. Trust me on this one. Walk out of the White House and on to any street in America and try to find five people who are PASSIONATE about wanting to kill Iraqis. YOU WON'T FIND THEM! Why? 'Cause NO Iraqis have ever come here and killed any of us! No Iraqi has even threatened to do that. You see, this is how we average Americans think: If a certain so-and-so is not perceived as a threat to our lives, then, believe it or not, we don't want to kill him! Funny how that works! 2. The majority of Americans -- the ones who never elected you -- are not fooled by your weapons of mass distraction. We know what the real issues are that affect our daily lives -- and none of them begin with I or end in Q. Here's what threatens us: two and a half million jobs lost since you took office, the stock market having become a cruel joke, no one knowing if their retirement funds are going to be there, gas now costs two dollars a gallon -- the list goes on and on. Bombing Iraq will not make any of this go away. Only you need to go away for things to improve. 3. As Bill Maher said last week, how bad do you have to suck to lose a popularity contest with Saddam Hussein? The whole world is against you, Mr. Bush. Count your fellow Americans among them. 4. The Pope has said this war is wrong, that it is a SIN. The Pope! But even worse, the Dixie Chicks have now come out against you! How bad does it have to get before you realize that you are an army of one on this war? Of course, this is a war you personally won't have to fight. Just like when you went AWOL while the poor were shipped to Vietnam in your place. 5. Of the 535 members of Congress, only ONE (Sen. Johnson of South Dakota) has an enlisted son or daughter in the armed forces! If you really want to stand up for America, please send your twin daughters over to Kuwait right now and let them don their chemical warfare suits. And let's see every member of Congress with a child of military age also sacrifice their kids for this war effort. What's that you say? You don't THINK so? Well, hey, guess what -- we don't think so either! 6. Finally, we love France. Yes, they have pulled some royal screw-ups. Yes, some of them can be pretty damn annoying. But have you forgotten we wouldn't even have this country known as America if it weren't for the French? That it was their help in the Revolutionary War that won it for us? That it was France who gave us our Statue of Liberty, a Frenchman who built the Chevrolet, and a pair of French brothers who invented the movies? And now they are doing what only a good friend can do -- tell you the truth about yourself, straight, no b.s. Quit pissing on the French and thank them for getting it right for once. You know, you really should have traveled more (like once)before you took over. Your ignorance of the world has not only made you look stupid, it has painted you into a corner you can't get out of. Well, cheer up -- there IS good news. If you do go through with this war, more than likely it will be over soon because I'm guessing there aren't a lot of Iraqis willing to lay down their lives to protect Saddam Hussein. After you "win" the war, you will enjoy a huge bump in the popularity polls as everyone loves a winner -- and who doesn't like to see a good ass-whoopin' every now and then (especially when it 's some third world ass!). And just like with Afghanistan, we'll forget about what happens to a country after we bomb it 'cause that is just too complex! So try your best to ride this victory all the way to next year's election. Of course, that's still a long ways away, so we'll all get to have a good hardy-har-har while we watch the economy sink even further down the toilet! But, hey, who knows -- maybe you'll find Osama a few days before the election! See, start thinking like THAT! Keep hope alive! Kill Iraqis --they got our oil!! Yours, Michael Moore www.michaelmoore.com Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
(FCW.COM) Army Web server hacked [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
http://www.fcw.com/fcw/articles/2003/0317/web-hack-03-18-03.asp Army Web server hacked BY Dan Caterinicchia March 18, 2003 . A hacker last week exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2000 operating system to gain control of an Army Web server, and the extent of the damage done is still unknown. Russ Cooper, surgeon general at TruSecure Corp. a provider of managed security services -- said the hacker used an attack code to operate the Army system as if he or she had the highest security clearance and therefore was able to gain complete control of the system. The hacker, whose identity also is still unknown, could "get to any data on that system, or execute any program," Cooper said, adding that the attack occurred March 10. He said that he was notified unofficially a day later by an Army source and then he contacted Microsoft for verification that the company had been notified. The Army identified the problem after performing a network scan and finding data output from a port on one of its internal servers to an "unspecified region," he said. Both Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University's CERT Coordination Center issued security warnings about the "buffer overflow" vulnerability and Microsoft has developed a patch to fix it. The patch is available for free on Microsoft's Web site. The vulnerability affects systems running Microsoft Windows 2000 with Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0 enabled. IIS 5.0 runs by default on Microsoft Windows 2000 server products and includes support for the World Wide Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) protocol, which allows users to upload and download files stored on a Web server. According to TruSecure, the code exploits an unchecked buffer in the WebDAV protocol. "By sending a specially crafted request to an IIS 5.0 server, an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code in the local system security context, essentially giving the attacker compete control of the system," according to the CERT bulletin. "Note that this may be significantly more serious than a simple 'Web defacement.'" Exactly which Army computer was attacked, the sensitivity of the data contained on the system, and the attacker's intentions are still unknown. But Cooper said he doubts it was a critical site because the Army did not have a standard operating procedure in place to execute after they found the flaw. Also, sources at the Pentagon told Cooper that they knew nothing of the attack. "The Army did all the wrong things first," Cooper said. The service first took down the affected machine and rebuilt it, which not only could have lost valuable forensic evidence, but also left the rebuilt computer vulnerable to another attack. Then, the Army reported the bug to a general Microsoft Web site, where it languished for a few hours before the company responded, Cooper said. The Army also blocked the outbound port in an effort to keep the attacker from exporting data, but the hacker could have simply changed the port he or she was using or used multiple ports simultaneously, he said. Responding to requests for comment, Patrick Swan, a spokesman for the Army's chief information officer's office, said, "We are aware of the vulnerability in the IIS 5.0 server software and we have taken measures to push the appropriate patch down to all Army networks." Microsoft's director of security assurance, Steve Lipner, told MSNBC that several customers were hit with the attack last week, but refused to identify them. He added that about 100 employees worked "around the clock" last week, and through the weekend, to develop the emergency fix. Compounding the surprising nature of an attack on a Defense Department system is the fact that this was a previously unknown vulnerability, or "zero-day exploit," which are extremely rare in the computer security arena. Vendors often issue patches before hackers have infiltrated a system. The hacker also left behind a file with the phrase, "Welcome to the Unicorn beachhead," Cooper said. He said TruSecure tracks more than 8,000 hackers worldwide and none use the name Unicorn, although Microsoft has a database access product that was code-named Unicorn. Cooper said he thinks the message was a reference to that product and the company. TruSecure offered assistance to Microsoft and the Army, but was denied and not granted access to the attack code or output, he said.Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
Embassy of the Republic of Cuba, Ottawa, Canada - Urgent Message About The Cuba
From: "Cuba Solidarity New York" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 13:33:18 - Subject: [CubaSolidarityNY] Urgent Message About The Cuba Five Cuba Solidarity New York http://www.cubasolidarity.org FREE THE FIVE CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONERS! ===SERIOUS VIOLATIONS AGAINST GERARDO HERNÁNDEZ After frequent requests were made to Assistant United States Attorney Caroline Heck Miller in Florida, on March 16th US attorney Leonard Weinglass was able to gain permission to visit Gerardo Hernández - a visit that already had been planned back in February before all of the Cuban Five were placed in solitary confinement. According to Weinglass, Gerardo is undergoing the most severe punishment in his prison in Lompoc, California, where he is confined to what is known as "the Box" within the Special Housing Unit -a hole within the "Hole". He has been under this regimen since February 28th when he was transferred to solitary without any reason given. He is confined to a very small cell in which one can walk only three steps, with no windows and only a slot in the metal door through which food is passed. The bars in front are covered with a metal mesh screen through which it is almost impossible to see anything and remain close 24 hours a day. There is a toilet and a concrete bed with a thin pad in the cell. His clothes were taken from him and he wears just underpants and a T-shirt. No shoes. He cannot tell when it is day or night. The lights in his cell are the only ones that remain switched on 24 hours a day and the constant cries of other prisoners, many of whom suffer mental health problems, prevent him from sleeping. No reading material or printed material is allowed. Signs are posted in front of his cell, which states that no one is to have contact with him. He is the only inmate in this segregation regime who is not allowed to use the telephone. Gerardo has unsuccessfully attempted to register a complaint under the prison's established procedures but has been told that there are no complaint forms available. On March 2nd he filed an informal complaint, as the correct form had not been supplied to him. He hasn't received a response. On March 11th the prison authorities brought him a letter from Joaquín Méndez, one of the defense attorneys, but they took it away before he could read it. On March 14th he was told that he would be given his legal mail. However, to date he has received nothing - not even correspondence from his attorneys. The treatment that is currently being given to Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio, Fernando and René is completely illegal and severely obstructs their defense rights when they and their attorneys need to prepare the appeal that is to be presented before April 7th. This cruel, unusual, discriminatory and completely unjustifiable treatment constitutes a flagrant case of torture that has to be strongly and urgently denounced. Vladimir Mirabal Third Secretary Embassy of the Republic of Cuba Ottawa, Canada Tel. (613) 563 0141 ext.243 Fax (613) 563 0068 For more information on Cuba, please visit our web site http://www.embacuba.ca Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
Link- "Distortions about Yugoslavia's Disintegration" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Gregory Elich" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Distortions about Yugoslavia's Disintegration Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 20:49:18 -0500 Distortions about Yugoslavia's Disintegration by Konstantin Kilibarda Konstantin Kilibarda presents his analysis of the Yugoslav tragedy as well as the role, actions and intentions of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Milosevic, the Diaspora, et al. during that fateful period -- an analysis that widely and correctly debunks the "official" history. article at: http://www.swans.com/library/art9/kkilib02.html Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
Link- "US Script For Yugoslavia's Privatization" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Gregory Elich" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: US Script for Yugoslavia's Privatization Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 20:49:56 -0500 US Script For Yugoslavia's Privatization by Konstantin Kilibarda With Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic's untimely demise, Yugoslavia was back in the news for a day or two. The shameful anniversary of the Kosovo war, on March 24, is a sad occasion to provide important clarifications and explanations that debunk "official" history, a useful exercise thanks to Konstantin Kilibarda. article at: http://www.swans.com/library/art9/kkilib01.html Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
Link- "Imperial Enterprise: War Mongers Run Amuck" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Gregory Elich" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Imperial Enterprise: War Mongers Run Amuck Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 20:50:29 -0500 Imperial Enterprise: War Mongers Run Amuck by Gregory Elich Time and again since the Second World War the United States has resorted to warfare. When viewed from that aspect, the looming attack against Iraq is not a unique endeavor for US policy-makers, as many nations targeted in the past could attest. Yet, something has altered. article at: http://www.swans.com/library/art9/elich009.html Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
Fw: "Statistics " [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Vicki Andrada" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fw: statistics Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 19:10:03 -0500 Number of precision-guided missiles and bombs that the United States plans to launch per hour at Baghdad during the war's first 48 hours: 63 Number of days it is expected to take for Baghdad residents to become "physically, emotionally, and psychologically exhausted": 2 to 5 Percentage of U.S. bombs and missiles dropped during the first Gulf War that were precision-guided: 9 Percentage of U.S. bombs and missiles ready to be dropped during the coming war that are precision-guided: 75 Number of U.S. satellite-guided bombs stockpiled in the Gulf region: 6700 Number of U.S. laser-guided bombs stockpiled in the Gulf region: 3000 Number of Americans killed during the first Gulf War: 148 Proportion of Americans killed by "friendly fire" during the first Gulf War: 1 in 3 Number of Iraqis killed during the first Gulf War: 100,000 Number of American soldiers poised for attack at the borders of Iraq: 250,000 Numbers of Iraqis and Americans who, doctors say, might die in the next war: 48,000 to 300,000 Number of additional deaths expected from the civil war within Iraq following an invasion: 120,000 Number of additional deaths expected from "post-war adverse health effects": 200,000 Ranking of Iraq among countries with proven reserves of oil: 2 Number of barrels of oil in Iraq's proven reserves: 112,000,000,000 Year that U.S. oil companies were prohibited from investing in, or buying Iraqi oil: 1991 Year that Dick Cheney, as head of oil field equipment manufacturer Halliburton, called for the end to sanctions against Iraq: 2000 U.S. military spending, in billions of dollars per day: 1.08 Ratio of U.S. military spending to the combined military budgets of Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, and Syria: 26 to 1 Number of Iraqi children who have died as a direct result of sanctions, according to UNICEF: 500,000 Sources: Harper's, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Agence France Presse, Parameters, Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You, Policy Analysis, Denver Post, Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, Sierra Club, The Village Voice. == To subscribe, send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
(Globe and Mail - Toronto) International law is 'whatever the U.S. says it is'
Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 20:41:15 -0500 From: "Bob Olsen" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: International law is whatever the U.S. says it is "International law is whatever the U.S. says it is. International law is whatever the U.S. says it is. International law is whatever the U.S. says it is. 'Globe and Mail Saturday, Mar. 15, 2003 Are Blair and Bush above laws? By JOHN IBBITSON Members of Tony Blair's own Labour Party have declared that he should be charged with war crimes if he commits British forces to Iraq without an explicit mandate from the United Nations Security Council. And a group of antiwar lawyers has threatened to take the British Prime Minister to the new International Criminal Court, charging him with illegal use of force. Which raises several important legal questions: What international law will govern the legality of the coalition's invasion of Iraq, if it comes without a second UN resolution being approved? Could Mr. Blair and U.S. President George W. Bush be charged with war crimes? How would they be judged? Canada's Foreign Minister, Bill Graham, believes these are questions that international lawyers (he is one himself) could debate interminably. But as he also knows, these questions do, in fact, have concrete answers. First, neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Blair can be charged with war crimes for going to war against Iraq. War crimes are, by definition, illegal acts that take place while a war is under way. The mere act of going to war is not itself a crime. However, there is both written and unwritten (customary) law concerning the illegal use of force. The written law is embedded in the United Nations Charter. The customary law accepts that the crime of waging aggressive war, which was invented for the purposes of the Nuremberg Trials, is still in force. However, it is not possible that either Mr. Bush or Mr. Blair could ever be taken to court for improperly waging war. First, while there might be a prima facie case that Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair, by invading Iraq, will have violated the Charter prohibition on the illegal use of force, only the Security Council has the legal authority to declare or to empower a court to declare that the Charter has been violated. Since the United States and Great Britain both hold a veto on the Security Council, the likelihood of such an outcome is, to put it charitably, remote. The Nuremberg precedent is more complicated (as if the preceding wasn't complicated enough). Customary law, using Nuremberg as its precedent, says waging aggressive war is an illegal use of force by a state. The Americans and the British themselves drafted the Nuremberg statute. Are they about to violate it? Potentially, yes. But only the International Court of Justice or the new International Criminal Court could hear such a charge. The former court only arbitrates disputes brought by consenting parties. Neither Great Britain nor the United States is likely to consent (unless some future president or prime minister seeks exquisite political revenge). As for the new International Criminal Court, its mandate is to judge allegations of genocide, mass murder, or war crimes (and maybe, one day, aggression). Checks have been put in place specifically to ensure that frivolous charges cannot be brought before it. Either the court would refuse to hear a charge brought against the U.S. President and British Prime Minister, or in agreeing to hear it, the court's credibility would be instantly rendered worthless and Great Britain would join the United States in withdrawing from its jurisdiction. Many legal experts would contend that Great Britain and the United States would still be violating international law by invading Iraq, since the absence of a verdict does not negate the crime. Others would argue that without a verdict, there can be no proof of guilt. Still others would insist that the whole concept of the international rule of law is invalid. A state, they would argue, is able to sustain the rule of law within its own borders solely because its government has a monopoly on the legal use of force. Under that criterion, either there is no international rule of law, because there is no international ability to enforce it, or since the United States has a virtual monopoly on the use of force, international law is whatever the U.S. says it is. To which others would reply that custom, as well as the threat of force, sustains the rule of law. Canada is a party to 3,700 international treaties. We abide by them because we believe we should, not because we fear invasion if we don't. Even the United States never explicitly flouts international law. It did not violate, for example, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. It legally terminated it. So, Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush might, theoretically, be about to violate international law by thir illegal use of force. But that allegation can never be proven, because no forum exists that could conceivably judge them. Neither has to worry about sharing a cell wit
FBI fleet of aircraft spy on Americans (AP) [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Eleanor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fw: CANESI: FBI has fleet of aircraft helping spy on Americans (AP) Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 22:17:01 -0500 - Original Message - From: "Montreal Muslim News" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, March 15, 2003 9:11 AM Subject: CANESI: FBI has fleet of aircraft helping spy on Americans (AP) FBI has fleet of aircraft helping to track suspects in war on terror By Curt Anderson ASSOCIATED PRESS 3:59 p.m., March 14, 2003 http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/terror/20030314-1559-fbi-spyplanes.html WASHINGTON The FBI has a fleet of aircraft, some equipped with night surveillance and eavesdropping equipment, flying America's skies to track and collect intelligence on suspected terrorists and other criminals. The FBI will not provide exact figures on the planes and helicopters, but more than 80 are in the skies. There are several planes, known as "Nightstalkers," equipped with infrared devices that allow agents to track people and vehicles in the dark. Other aircraft are outfitted with electronic surveillance equipment so agents can pursue listening devices placed in cars, in buildings and even along streets, or listen to cell phone calls. Still others fly photography missions, although officials would not describe precise capabilities. The FBI, which has made counterterror its top priority since Sept. 11, 2001, has sharply increased its use of aircraft. "You want to watch activity, and you want to do it discreetly. You don't want to be sitting around in cars," said Weldon Kennedy, a former FBI deputy director who retired in 1997 after 33 years with the bureau. "Aviation is one way to do that. You don't need to get close to that person at all." Some critics say the surveillance technology further blurs the boundaries on domestic spying. They point to a 2001 case in which the Supreme Court found police had engaged in an unreasonable search by using thermal imaging equipment to detect heat lamps used to grow marijuana plants indoors. "The cop on the beat now has Superman's X-ray eyes," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the American Civil Liberties Union. "We need to fundamentally rethink what is a reasonable expectation of privacy." All 56 FBI field offices have access to aircraft, piloted by FBI agents who have other investigative duties as well. Most aircraft are propeller-driven civilian models, favored for their relatively slow speed and unobtrusive appearance. Legally, no warrants are necessary for the FBI to track cars or people from the air. Law enforcement officials need warrants to search homes or to plant listening devices or monitor cell phone calls and that includes when the listener is flying in an airplane. A senior FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the FBI does not do flyovers to listen to telephone calls and gather electronic data from random citizens in hopes the data will provide leads. Rather, the planes are used to follow specific individuals, some of whom may already have been bugged or for whom the FBI has a warrant to listen to cell phone calls. Still, the idea of an FBI air force gives at least some people pause. The FBI will not disclose where the planes are being used. This month, however, in the college town of Bloomington, Ind., residents spotted a Cessna aircraft flying overhead at roughly the same times every day for more than a week. After first issuing denials, local FBI agents admitted it was their plane, involved in a terrorism investigation. FBI officials also were quick to say it was not doing electronic eavesdropping. "There should be no concern that the aircraft is doing anything other than assisting with physical surveillance," said FBI agent James Davis. The FBI has been using airplanes since 1938, when an agent in a Stinson monoplane helped stop an extortion attempt that involved a payoff package thrown from a moving passenger train. The first major deployment happened in 1975 during the investigation of the killings of two FBI agents at the sprawling Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The program has been particularly useful in investigations of organized crime and drug trafficking. Mobsters who suspected their homes and telephones were bugged frequently held meetings in moving cars, not realizing that bugs also were placed there and were being monitored from the air. Aircraft are now seen as ideal in the FBI's domestic war on terror. FBI Director Robert Mueller said last year there was a 60 percent increase in field office requests for airplanes in the year after the Sept. 11 attacks, with almost 90 percent of air missions now dedicated to surveillance. "You don't have a criminal case. You don't necessarily have a terrorism case. You want to know what they are doing, who their associates are, who they are meeting with," retired agent Kennedy said. "Surveillance is going to have a pretty big role in that." Congress approved this year a $20 million inc
!. Fwd: The death of Rachel Corrie. 2. Link- Photo story: Israeli bulldozer driv
Forward from mart. IMPORTANT! PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY!!! == From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2003 22:19:03 EST Subject: the death of Rachel Corrie Contact Congressman Brian Baird regarding the death of Rachael Corrie in Palestine. U.S. House of Representatives 1421 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-3536 Fax: (202) 225-3478 GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (March 16) - An American woman in Gaza to protest Israeli operations was killed Sunday when she was run over by an Israeli bulldozer, witnesses and hospital officials said. Rachel Corrie, 23, a college student from Olympia, Wash., had been trying to stop the bulldozer from tearing down a building in the Rafah refugee camp, witnesses said. She was taken to Najar hospital in Rafah, where she died, said Dr. Ali Moussa, a hospital administrator. Greg Schnabel, 28, of Chicago, said the protesters were in the house of Dr. Samir Masri. Israeli almost daily has been tearing down houses of Palestinians it suspects in connection with Islamic militant groups, saying such operations deter attacks on Israel such as suicide bombings. ``Rachel was alone in front of the house as we were trying to get them to stop,'' Schnabel said. ``She waved for the bulldozer to stop and waved. She fell down and the bulldozer kept going. We yelled, 'Stop, stop,' and the bulldozer didn't stop at all. It had completely run over her and then it reversed and ran back over her.'' Witnesses said Corrie was wearing a brightly colored jacket when the bulldozer hit her. She had been a student at The Evergreen State College in Olympia and would have graduated this year, Schnabel said. Israeli military spokesman Capt. Jacob Dallal said her death was an accident. The U.S. State Department had no immediate comment. ** "The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." ~ George Orwell Subject: Photo story: Israeli bulldozer driver murders American peace activist Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 09:11:44 -0500 (EST) From: "Wolfgang Mueller" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Photo story: Israeli bulldozer driver murders American peace activist Photo story: Israeli bulldozer driver murders American peace activist By Nigel Parry and Arjan El Fassed, The Electronic Intifada, 16 March 2003 Click here for full story and photoshttp://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1248.shtml Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
[Fwd: "On Zoran Djindjic " [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 09:06:16 -0800 From: "sekula kasic" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Fwd: On Zoran Djindjic - From A. Reader (Belgrade)] From: CDSM Date: March 17, 2003 12:47:54 AM Subject: On Zoran Djindjic - From A. Reader (Belgrade) On Zoran Djindjic From A. Reader (Belgrade) 15.03.2003. Today a State funeral was held for Zoran Djindjic, the Serbian Prime Minister, who was assassinated on 12th March 2003. Questions are, ofcourse, being asked about the perpetrators, and only time will resolve this question. However, the facts for the last few days are as follows. The assassination was instigated on Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of the Serbian Government Building, which chairs the Serbian Cabinet. The perpetrators were obviously highly skilled professionals, firing a number of shots from neighboring buildings. The success of their deed is proof that they were exceptionally well informed about Djindjic's movements. So far, none of the assassins has been caught, and it is interesting to see how the Government will handle this matter. However, the first signs are not encouraging. Barely was Djindjic's death announced, then the DOS controlled media began pointing fingers at one of the Belgrade criminal gangs, whose members were arrested the next day (why this and other gangs were permitted to operate by the DOS controlled Government is one of the questions which needs to be answered).Their arrest was followed by the arrest of Jovica Stanisic, the brilliantly successful security chief of President Milosevic. By these symbolic gestures, the present Government is directing attention to home grounds, especially towards supporters of the Socialist party and President Milosevic, which is in line with statements made by a number of foreign representatives. The aim, obviously, is to direct attention from any possible foreign involvement. How did the people react to the assassination ? Even though a state of emergency was proclaimed, and even though the Prime Minister was assassinated, you would have had difficulty in guessing that anything of the sort was either happening or had happened. People went about their usual business as if everything was perfectly normal. At the entrance to the Government building there were never more than 90 people at any one time lighting candles or laying flowers, nor were there more than 350 people at any one time standing in line to sign the condolence book. The DOS controlled media, ofcourse, presented this in a different light. The "crowd" at the Government building was filmed from a balcony, the camera facing vertically into the "crowd", or else this same "crowd" was filmed directly from behind, so that their meagre numbers could not be seen. However, such video tricks could not be used on this Saturday, the day of the State funeral. The DOS Political Alliance obviously made extensive arrangements in these last few days, bringing in their supporters from all parts of the country (an old trick, used extensively on the Serbian political scene). The aim was to have a massive public attendance, which partially succeeded. Since Saturday was not a working day, there were plenty of onlookers, as State funerals are not an everyday occurance. The combined funeral procession and onlooker attendance provided a crowd of some 150,000 - 250,000 people, which in the narrow streets made a formidable impression. However, for those not familiar with Belgrade, the city has a population of some 2,000,000 people. Even if 250,000 people did attend, this represented only 12,5% of the entire city population. Since people were brought into the capital for the occassion, this would mean that less than 10% of the city bothered to attend. We have to return to the question of the perpetrators of the assassination. Who did it ? When analysing this question, it is well worth remembering Djindjic's student days, the truth of which is well known in Belgrade's "corridors of power" and "high society". Namely, Djindjic graduated in Belgrade, while he obtained his PHD in Germany. Why Germany, of all places ? Many people are unaware that Djindjic's father was an Army officer, apparently of good character and reputation. It was this reputation that was to have catastrophic consequences on the Serbian political scene. When Djindjic graduated in Belgrade, the Army Intelligence Service, the KOS, stepped in, and in one of its biggest blunders, offered to finance Djindjic's postgraduate studies in Germany. The aim, ofcourse, was to have Djindjic recruit promising German postgraduate students for the KOS. In effect, a miserable little mouse was given the task of a "James Bond". Barely had he arrived in Germany, then the German BND, Intelligence Service, became curious about this son of an Army officer; who was financing him, and for what purpose ? Well, the mouse admitted everything, and overnight became a double agent, with certain "James Bond" appetites, money and German girls in particular. It can only be spe
Pentagon threatens to kill journalists in Iraq [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [IMPACT] Pentagon threatens to kill journalists in Iraq Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 10:02:36 -0800 (PST) http://www.GuluFuture.com/news/kate_adie030310.htm PENTAGON THREATENS TO KILL INDEPENDENT REPORTERS IN IRAQ 10th March, 2003 by Fintan Dunne, Editor http://www.GuluFuture.com The Pentagon has threatened to fire on the satellite uplink positions of independent journalists in Iraq, according to veteran BBC war correspondent, Kate Adie. In an interview with Irish radio, Ms. Adie said that questioned about the consequences of such potentially fatal actions, a senior Pentagon officer had said: "Who caresThey've been warned." According to Ms. Adie, who twelve years ago covered the last Gulf War, the Pentagon attitude is: "entirely hostile to the the free spread of information." "I am enormously pessimistic of the chance of decent on-the-spot reporting, as the war occurs," she told Irish national broadcaster, Tom McGurk on the RTE1 Radio "Sunday Show." Ms. Adie made the startling revelations during a discussion of media freedom issues in the likely upcoming war in Iraq. She also warned that the Pentagon is vetting journalists according to their stance on the war, and intends to take control of US journalists' satellite equipment --in order to control access to the airwaves. Another guest on the show, war author Phillip Knightley, reported that the Pentagon has also threatened they: "may find it necessary to bomb areas in which war correspondents are attempting to report from the Iraqi side." Transcript follows below. Audio of this very frank discussion of the problems facing reporters in Iraq. Guests: Kate Adie, BBC; Phillip Knightley, author of The First Casualty, a history of war correspondents and propaganda; Chris Hedges, award winning human rights journalist, and former Irish Times Editor Connor Brady on the Sunday Show, RTE Radio1 9th March, 2003. Listen K. Adie -Realplayer 3 mins Listen full Gulf media freedom segment Audio 26 minutes[ Realplayer] Links valid until 16 March DOWNLOAD ENTIRE SHOW HERE http://www.GuluFuture.com/news/kate_adie030310.htm Tom McGurk: " Now, Kate Adie, you join us from the BBC in London. Thank you very much for going to all this trouble on a Sunday morning to come and join us. I suppose you are watching with a mixture of emotions this war beginning to happen, because you are not going to be covering it." Kate Adie: " Oh I will be. And what actually appalls me is the difference between twelve years ago and now. I've seen a complete erosion of any kind of acknowledgment that reporters should be able to report as they witness." " The Americans... and I've been talking to the Pentagon ...take the attitude which is entirely hostile to the free spread of information." " I was told by a senior officer in the Pentagon, that if uplinks --that is the television signals out of... Bhagdad, for example--were detected by any planes ...electronic media... mediums, of the military above Bhagdad... they'd be fired down on. Even if they were journalists ..' Who cares! 'said.. [inaudible] .." Tom McGurk: "...Kate ...sorry Kate ..just to underline that. Sorry to interrupt you. Just to explain for our listeners. Uplinks is where you have your own satellite telephone method of distributing information." Kate Adie: " The telephones and the television signals." Tom McGurk: " And they would be fired on? " Kate Adie: " Yes. They would be 'targeted down,' said the officer." Tom McGurk: " Extraordinary ! " Kate Adie: " Shameless! " " He said.. ' Well... they know this ... they've been warned.' " " This is threatening freedom of information, before you even get to a war." "The second thing is there was a massive news blackout imposed." "In the last Gulf war, where I was one of the pool correspondents with the British Army. We effectively had very, very light touch when it came to any kind of censorship." " We were told that anything which was going to endanger troops lives which we understood we shouldn't broadcast. But other than that, we were relatively free." " Unlike our American colleagues, who immediately left their pool, after about 48 hours, having just had enough of it." " And this time the Americans are: a) Asking journalists who go with them, whether they are... have feelings against the war. And therefore if you have views that are skeptical, then you are not to be acceptable." " Secondly, they are intending to take control of the Americans technical equipment ...those uplinks and satellite phones I was talking about. And control access to the airwaves." " And then on top of everything else, there is now a blackout (which was imposed, during the last war, at the beginning of the war), ...ordered by one Mr. Dick Cheney, who is in charge of this." " I am enormously pessimistic of the chance of decent on-the-spot reporting, as the war occurs. You will get it later." ___ IMPACT mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://pirg.
-La Habra California - Flag Waving Bigots Attack Mexican-American Woman For Opp
From: "La Voz de Aztlan" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 3:40 PM Subject: U.S. Flag Waving Bigots Attack Mexican-American Female in La Habra, California La Voz de Aztlan http://www.aztlan.net/quintana.htm U.S. Flag Waving Bigots Attack Mexican-American Female in La Habra, California There is fear that the Bush threat to retaliate against U.S. Mexicans may be underway by Ernesto Cienfuegos La Voz de Aztlan Los Angeles, Alta California - March 14, 2003 - (ACN) As the USA gears up to attack Iraq, things here in Southern California are getting very scary for Mexican-Americans and other ethnic minorities who oppose the war. President Bush recently made a statement that there may be retaliation against Mexican-Americans if Mexico does not vote in favor of the U.S. in the U.N. Security Council. Also, an unnamed U.S. diplomat stated that Mexican-Americans may face internment as the Japanese-Americans during World War II. This threat became a reality last Tuesday when a Mexican-American student from Fullerton College was confronted by about 30 racist Americans at a makeshift 911/War memorial placed on a chain linked fence at Whittier Boulevard and Macy Street in La Habra, California. The makeshift memorial that consists primarily of numerous U.S. flags and pro-war signage was started by Whittier resident Tracey Chandler about 18 months ago with the cooperation of Jeff Collison who is the owner of the chain link fence surrounding his vacant lot he uses illegally to store junk trailer homes. There had been no incidents until someone attempted to place an anti-war sign on the chain link fence last Saturday. Tracey Chandler and other "super white bigots" removed the anti-war signs and this angered whoever placed them there because they came back during the night and than removed the pro-war signage and flags. These two incidents have started a series of retaliatory actions and there is now a potentially explosive and dangerous situation in predominantly Mexican-American La Habra. On Tuesday, our publisher Hector Carreon, stopped by the makeshift memorial in the morning to take a news report. He had to leave because of the belligerence exhibited by the people who are now hanging out at the corner day and night. In the late afternoon of the same day there was a troublesome incident involving 19 year old Fullerton College student Jennifer Quintana. She apparently angered the mob who gather there with her anti-war position because they physically "jumped her" and held her there. The mob said they conducted a "citizen's arrest". They later called La Habra Police Department and accused her of "assaulting" the bigot Tracey Chandler. The police arrested Jennifer Quintana Tuesday evening and did not release her until the morning of Wednesday. She now faces assault charges at the North Orange County Court in Fullerton. La Habra Police has refused to release Jennifer Quintana's contact information because they say they fear further retaliations against her. The real reason may be that they do not want Jennifer Quintana to speak to independent news services such as La Voz de Aztlan. Most disturbing of all have been the numerous newspaper reports about the incident. The Whittier Daily News, the Orange County Register, the Los Angeles Times and the AP Wire all published bias reports siding with the bigoted, racist and pro-war Americans who are now mobbing the corner of Whittier Boulevard and Macy Street in La Habra. These bigots have informed the local media that U.S. war veterans are now guarding the makeshift memorial day and night. These newspapers did not report on Jennifer Quintana's side of the story. The Mexican-American community in La Habra is of course very concerned about the incident in their City of La Habra. Many have contacted Mexican-American Mayor Juan Garcia. Today, city authorities have informed Jeff Collison, the owner of the vacant dirt property, that he is in violation of a series of city ordinances and that he will be prosecuted. La Voz de Aztlan would now like to see Tracy Chandler and her racist cohorts prosecuted for the false "citizen's arrest" of teenager Jennifer Quintana. Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online
(FAIR) ACTION ALERT: Do Media Know That War Kills? [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. IMPORTANT! PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! = From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 06:52:21 EST Subject: [VSCampaign] Do Media Know That War Kills? http://www.fair.org FAIR-L Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting Media analysis, critiques and activism ACTION ALERT: Do Media Know That War Kills? March 14, 2003 Despite daily reports about the "showdown" with Iraq, Americans hear very little from mainstream media about the most basic fact of war: People will be killed and civilian infrastructure will be destroyed, with devastating consequences for public health long after the fighting stops. Since the beginning of the year, according to a search of the Nexis database (1/1/03-3/12/03), none of the three major television networks' nightly national newscasts-- ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News or NBC Nightly News-- have examined in detail what long-term impact war will have on humanitarian conditions in Iraq. They've also downplayed the immediate civilian deaths that will be caused by a U.S. attack. The closest thing to a report on the likely humanitarian impact to appear this year on the nightly newscasts was a January 23 CBS Evening News story about the mood in Iraq. Noting that "many [Iraqis] are genuinely scared" of war, the report stated that "almost half" of the country "would starve without government food handouts." But CBS's report shifted responsibility for any humanitarian disaster away from the U.S., suggesting that what Iraqis fear "perhaps even more than an American military attack" is that domestic "hatred and revenge could tear [Iraq] apart" in the aftermath. The networks' failure to integrate humanitarian concerns into their war coverage is especially striking in light the numerous humanitarian and relief agencies that have issued urgent warnings about the impending crisis. Human Rights Watch, for instance, issued a 25-page briefing paper (2/13/03) warning of a "humanitarian disaster" impacting hundreds of thousands of people if the U.S. attacks Iraq. ABC, CBS and NBC did not cover HRW's findings. Nor did they cover the announcement made (also 2/13/03) by the United Nations' undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Kenzo Oshima, that as many as 10 million people might need food assistance during and after an Iraq war, 50 percent of Iraq's population might be without potable water, and that between 600,000 and 1.45 million people might become refugees and asylum seekers. Also unreported on ABC, CBS and NBC were the internal U.N. estimates revealed in leaked documents publicized by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq and the Center for Economic and Social Rights. The U.N. predicted that 30 percent of Iraq's children under five "would be at risk of death from malnutrition" in the event of war (CASI press release, 2/17/03), and that 500,000 people could "require medical treatment… as a result of direct or indirect injuries," with potentially 100,000 Iraqi civilians wounded "and another 400,000 hit by disease after the bombing of water and sewage facilities and the disruption of food supplies" (London Guardian, 1/29/03). It's worth noting that the silence on ABC was not total; it did address some humanitarian issues on Nightline (2/24/03). In a segment about the "aftermath" of war, Nightline reported that "millions of Iraqis will need food, fresh water and medical care" and that "tens of thousands" of refugees may be created. But the central question posed was: "Who will take care of them? The American military or private humanitarian groups?" Seen through Nightline's lens, the main humanitarian problem would be the quandary confronting the U.S. as it both attacks Iraq and attempts to relieve the devastation it wreaks there; as correspondent Chris Bury put it in his introduction, "how exactly does an invading force juggle its military and humanitarian hats?" Reporter John Donovan presented valuable information about the potentially "catastrophic" impact of war, but bracketed this with a tortured attempt to suggest that the U.S. would not be the real cause of civilian suffering: "And even if Saddam is the source of so many of the Iraqi people's problems, very likely it's the U.S. the world would choose to blame." Therefore, said Donovan, the U.S. was developing a relief plan, because "it is in American interests" and because "it's the right thing to do." What could charitably be called Nightline's credulity was topped off by Donovan's closer. Humanitarian assistance is necessary to ensure that the war will have a "positive impact," he said, because "it is assumed that some Iraqi civilians, perhaps many, will be killed. Not deliberately, but as a result of what is called collateral damage." Unfortunately, Nightline is not alone among major media outlets in asserting that civilian deaths can be considered accidental even if the Pentagon predicts them ahead of time and factors them into its battle plans; it's a conceit that's widespread
(WW) Outrage in Philippines over Pentagon plan [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [WW] Outrage in Philippines over Pentagon plan Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 22:20:20 -0500 - Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the March 13, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper - OUTRAGE IN PHILIPPINES OVER PENTAGON PLAN By G. Dunkel It is a violation of the Philippine Constitution for foreign troops to fight on its country's soil. However, the U.S. government announced in February that it was sending 3,000 troops there. Their ostensible purpose is to fight against Abu Sayyaf, a small group that has been characterized as bandits by the progressive movement. Last year the Pentagon sent troops as "advisors" to the Philippine army in another campaign against Abu Sayyaf. The Pentagon's plan involved stationing 750 Special Forces troops on Jolo Island, backed up by 1,750 Marines with heavy helicopters on support ships offshore. Apparently, Washington had made a backroom deal with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is retiring soon. The deal quickly came under fire. In the Philippines, popular opposition to the Pentagon is overwhelming. This was reflected in the political reaction to Washington's announcement. Sen. Aquilino Pimentel accused Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes of "treason in its basest form." Others talked about the thousands of armed people in the southern island of Jolo who might oppose U.S. intervention. On Feb. 28, an estimated 50,000 people marched in Manila in a massive show of opposition to the U.S.-led war in Iraq and Mindanao. According to Xinhua, demonstrators represented religious groups, both Catholic and Muslim, labor unions and colleges. They marched to the Quirino grandstand in downtown Manila. They carried placards and banners reading "Oppose U.S. terrorism" and "Reject GMA' s [President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] support for war." Smaller coordinated demonstrations were held throughout the Philippines. Philippine Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes flew to Washington on Feb. 23 to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, reportedly to modify the agreement. Many in the progressive movement believe the real Pentagon target is the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a much larger group that has been resisting the Philippine government for decades. There is also a strong left movement in the Philippines that the United States may label "terrorist." The United States originally sent military forces to the southern Philippines in the early 1900s, after seizing the islands from Spain. They killed hundreds of thousands of Filipinos in the attempt to keep a colony there. The Philippines did not get formal independence until 1946. A year later, the United States imposed an agreement that let it keep major facilities at Clark Air Base and Subic Bay naval base for more than four decades. The constitutional prohibition against foreign combat forces grew out of the 40-plus years of people's resistance to the U.S. neocolonial presence. While the U.S. imperialists want to control the world, they need allies who can directly confront the people's wrath. And they're getting harder and harder to find. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online
(VILLAGE VOICE) Monsters Of The Moment - From Saddam to Osama, America Creates I
From: "John Roberts" [EMAIL PROTECTED]Subject: (The Village Voice) Monsters Of The Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 23:25:10 -0500 http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0311/schanberg.php Monsters Of The Moment From Saddam to Osama, America Creates Its Own Nightmares by Sydney Schanberg March 12 - 18, 2003 n the 1980s, Saddam Hussein was a U.S. ally, largely because he was at war with Iran, a U.S. enemy. Washington chose to see Hussein then as a potential force for good in the Middle East. Ronald Reagan thus took Iraq off the terrorism list. That made it possible for Reagan and his successor, George H.W. Bush, to authorize American corporations to sell Hussein materials for his early chemical and biological weapons, such as the anthrax virus. Bush's son, George W. Bush, now says these weapons are among the prime reasons our armed forces must besiege and occupy Iraq. Is it any wonder that so many Americans are confused about the second President Bush's call to war? Confusion, in fact, has become the dominant subtext of the campaign to convince Americans and the world of the war's necessity. Clarity and truth have been kept out of sight. It's a murky world, they whisper in the corridors of power, and sometimes we have to do business with dictators and madmen. But it wouldn't be wise to tell the people about it; that would only spread insomnia. Well, you didn't tell them and yet their anxiety is palpable. Let them eat duct tape, one patriot remarked. We know that this man Hussein is an international outlaw, a certified bad guy, but wasn't he a bad guy back in the '80s, when President Reagan sent Donald Rumsfeld to Baghdad as special Middle East envoy to tell Hussein we would do our darnedest to make sure that his country did not fall to Iran? And that's the way it stood until Hussein overran Kuwait in late 1990 and the first President Bush went to war to drive him out of that autocratic oil kingdom, purportedly to preserve its so-called democracy. Next came Osama bin Laden and his followers, who have sworn themselves to lay waste to the United States of America and other "infidel" societies in the name of an Islam that many Muslims find unrecognizable and abhorrent. For a while, America thought that bin Laden, with his global terrorist network, was the primary enemy. Washington retaliated appropriately for the terrorists' murder of 3000 souls on 9-11 by attacking bin Laden's Al Qaeda training camps and hideouts in Afghanistan and sweeping aside the fundamentalist Taliban government that had given bin Laden sanctuary. The American assault sent these legions into the country's mountainous regionsand also across the border into remote areas of Pakistan, a longtime backer of the Taliban with its own large and powerful bloc of Islamic extremists. In Afghanistan, too, there is troubling history for those trying to understand Bush's call to war against Iraq. Back in the 1980s, the Russian army had invaded Afghanistan, and a guerrilla army, with mujahideen recruits from all corners of the globe, was fighting the occupation. The United States took the side of the Islamic guerrilla army, with the CIA supplying money and weapons. In the end, the bloodied Russians pulled out, and the Taliban emerged from the resistance as a new forceas did bin Laden and his Al Qaeda movement. Washington, still frozen in its Cold War mind-fix and willing to help almost anyone who opposed the Russians, wasn't paying attention to the long-term aims of these nascent groups. Maybe all this is just the ebb and flow of historyor maybe, instead, it has something to do with partnering up with nations and groups we have nothing fundamental in common with. First we get behind somebody because they're hostile to somebody we're also at odds with, eventually lifting our "brave new allies" into power. Later, when it all turns sour, we pretend the marriage never happened and brand them as hoodlums. The real hobgoblin of our fears and conflicted thoughts these days is the awareness that too many of our monsters of the moment were created in our own laboratories. Meanwhile, bin Laden and his top lieutenants managed to escape the U.S. bombing and ground assaults. That was a huge disappointment in Washington because Bush and his people had made such a big thing about their determination to capture or kill him. In Bush's religious-sounding pantheon of "evildoers," bin Laden was Evildoer Number One. But with this Attila-Stalin-Hitler figure having slipped away, the White House needed a more at-hand enemy to bring to account. And behold, there was Saddam Hussein, still standing despite his defeat in the 1991 Kuwait adventure and the subsequent economic embargoes and resolutions calling for elimination of all his WMDweapons of mass destruction. Thus did Saddam replace Osama as the first-in-line evildoer. Even here, there was another dose of contradictory "facts." The president said there was nothing inconsistent about focusing on Saddam Hussein. He insisted that all
Czech Trade Unions Set To Strike Friday To Protest War On Iraq [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 06:51:11 +0300 Subject: FW: Czech Trade Unions Strike Friday! From: Darius Nosreti [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 11 Mar 03 18:08:41 +0100 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Czech Trade Unions Strike Friday! Czech Trade Unions Strike Friday! The Czech-Moravian confederation of trade unions announced today that they are calling on all of their members and other workers to stop work on Friday, March 14 at noon in solidarity with initiatives throughout Europe which oppose war as a solution to the Iraq crisis. Èeskomoravská konfederace odborových svazù vyzývá k protestùm proti válce v Iráku Èeskomoravská konfederace odborových svazù pøijala dnes na zasedání Rady ÈMKOS stanovisko, ve kterém se pøipojuje k výzvì Evropské odborové konfederace (EOK), aby v poledne 14. bøezna 2003 odbory v celé Evropì vyjádøily odpor proti pøípravám irácké války a pøeru¹ily práci nebo jinou vhodnou formou vyjádøily nesouhlas. ÈMKOS proto vyzývá odborové svazy, základní organizace, odboráøe a zamìstnance, aby v pátek 14. bøezna podpoøili mírové øe¹ení irácké krize pøeru¹ením práce nebo jinými protestními formami podle podmínek pracovi¹». Jednou z mo¾ností mù¾e být i písemné vyjádøení zaslané odborovým svazùm, pøípadnì ÈMKOS. ÈMKOS spolu s ostatními èlenskými organizacemi EOK, ale i americkými odbory vyjadøuje pøesvìdèení, ¾e této válce lze stále zabránit. Vyslovuje se za mírové odzbrojení Iráku a odmítá jednostranné ultimativní vojenské øe¹ení tohoto konfliktu mimo rámec OSN. Zároveò upozoròuje, ¾e pou¾ití síly bez souhlasu Rady bezpeènosti OSN by mohlo být stále èastìji zneu¾íváno k nahrazení mírových øe¹ení. 10. bøezna 2003 Jana Ka¹parová tisk. mluvèí ÈMKOS 728354665Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online
Press Release - Urgent Statement by the Cuban Parliament On The "Cuban Five" [WW
Forward from mart. IMPORTANT! PLEASE DISTRIBUTE FAR AND WIDE!! FREE THE FIVE!! NOW!!! *** == From: "Carlos Rovira, Jr." [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 00:15:01 - Subject: [VSCampaign] Urgent Statement by the Cuban Parliament PRESS RELEASE:Urgent Statement by the Cuban Parliament As of February 28th, Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González have once more been placed in solitary confinement, locked up all day and denied contact with other prisoners and the outside world. They have been forbidden to receive any visits - including those of their attorneys and Cuban consular officials - and their telephone privileges withdrawn, completely depriving them of communication with not only their attorneys but their families as well. By blocking access between the Five and their defense attorneys, the Government of the United States is violating the basic principles and norms of law. The authorities knew that the attorneys made consultations with their clients and had made the necessary arrangements to meet with them in the coming week to review the documents for their defense to be presented before the Eleventh Circuit Court in Atlanta no later than April 7th. This action was adopted by Washington with the deliberate intention of impeding a fair appeals process. In this crucial stage when the attorneys need to focus their attention on the appeal briefs, not only are they seriously obstructed from doing so, but they are obliged to waste time in unsuccessful attempts to communicate with their clients. We condemn this new development and demand that our five Cuban compatriots are granted access to their attorneys and given the right to meet with them once again. The Cuban National Assembly. Havana, March 9th, 2003.Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online
(CP of Brazil.) "Gestures of Dignity Against The American War". [WWW.STOPNATO.OR
Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 06:58:02 +0200 Subject: CP of Brazil. Gestures of Dignity Against The American War. http://www.solidnet.org Gestures of Dignity Against The American War Communist Party of Brazil, Fri, 7 Mar 2003 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.pcdob.org.br === PCdoB - Secretaria de Relações Internacionais Dear Comrades, Please, receive attached the article "Gestures of dignity against the American war" written by Jose Reinaldo Carvalho, vice-president of Communist Party of Brazil -PCdoB, responsible for International Relations. This article was published on Diario Vermelho (Red Daily) (www.vermelho.org.br) in March 6th, 2003 Fraternal greetings. Maria Helena D Eugenio PCdoB CC RI Gestures of dignity against the American war By José Reinaldo Carvalho Journalist, Vice-president of the Communist Party of Brazil, responsible for international relations Turkey has been one of the world's main crossroads for centuries. A cradle of civilizations, a bridge linking Europe and Asia, the country plays an important strategic role due to its geographic position. Sharing borders with Iraq, Turkey is indispensable to the Pentagon's war plans that include military operations against the Arab country originating from the Turkish territory. During last week, Turkey - a member of NATO and an unconditional ally of the United States - was responsible for an episode of greatest importance in the current stage of the unrestrained preparation of the American war. By means of the sovereign voice of the Great National Assembly of Turkey, the country's parliament denied to authorize the arrival of 62 thousand soldiers, 255 airplanes and 65 helicopters from the United States, despite foreign pressures and the government's position. It was a disputed issue - 264 ayes, 250 nays and 19 abstentions - in a sequence of parliamentary sessions on which those for the war almost perpetrated a regimental coup that would favor ceding the country's territory due to Washington's war plans. The Turkish parliament's decision expresses important political contradictions resulting from a game of pressures and counterpressures that involved threats and economic blackmail. The United States even stipulated the price to be paid for the territorial cession and the Turkish government could not help bargaining and demanded a few more nickels. Europe's stance was important in the parliamentary decision to which the votes of representatives connected to the government's party have contributed, since dominant sectors of Turkey prefer to link their destiny to the continent. Since the end of World War II, Turkey is extremely dependent to the United States and vulnerable to its pressures. Its territory grants shelter to US military bases. Although, on the one hand, sectors of the dominant classes eel «protected», on the other hand, the country's position under the US occupation, working as a bridge to facilitate aggressions to neighbor countries, is also distressing. The result of the Turkish parliament's vote was also an achievement of the popular movement for peace. More than 100 thousand demonstrators went to the streets of the country's capital Ankara to protest against the war and demand dignity. That was what prevailed in the end. The dignity of not allowing the use of the national territory in order to annihilate neighbors, of not accepting submission to the United States, of not agreeing with the intensification of the tricky route of foreign dependence. It is an important indication that the movement of the masses on the streets is the means by which the peoples can accumulate power with a view to resist the US imperialism's war policy. It is one more sign, after the historical demonstrations on February 15, that a front of the peoples against the US imperialist war is being formed. The United States will approach Turkey again and try to revert the decision of the Great National Assembly renewing the political and financial pressures, blackmailing and taking advantage of the fragile economic situation of the country, which is highly indebted and immersed into a deep crisis. Grave and severe restrictions may be imposed on the country. An articulation involving the government's submissive sectors, the Armed Forces and the Parliament is intended to present a new memorandum with the same content as the one that was rejected last week. Turkey's democratic sectors repudiate the maneuver, considered to be an anti-constitutional and anti-regimental coup. At the same time, those progressist forces take the struggle for impeding the war to a higher level demanding the closure of the US bases in the country. Another fact draw the attention of the public opinion last week: a US base in Italy had its access blocked. There were brawls involving pacifists and the police serving the war mongers. There are US bases in more than 70 countries. Those are territorial enclaves and military camps where thousands of tr
(New York Times) "Forsaken at Guantánamo" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Carlos Rovira, Jr." [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 06:06:57 -0800 (PST) Subject: [VSCampaign] Forsaken At Guantánamo http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/12/opinion/12WED1.html?ex=1048477600&ei=1&en=2c8909b2bd2b1f08 NEW YORK TIMES Forsaken at Guantánamo March 12, 2003 It has been 14 months since the first prisoners from the Afghanistan war were taken to a naval base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. The Bush administration says it can hold the detainees indefinitely, without allowing them access to family or legal counsel. Yesterday, a federal Court of Appeals threw out a challenge by some of those detainees to their confinement. The administration and the court are wrong. The detainees may not have the same rights as American citizens, but they are entitled to more due process than they are being given. The United States military is holding hundreds of prisoners accused of Taliban or Al Qaeda ties at Guantánamo. Many were seized in the heat of battle, but others were turned over in exchange for rewards or bounties. Advocates for the prisoners maintain that one-third or more are being held on the basis of bad intelligence, or simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Guantánamo detainees are in legal limbo. The Bush administration refuses to designate them prisoners of war, a label that would entitle them to immunity from prosecution for acts committed during a lawful war, among other things. Nor is the administration treating them as ordinary criminal defendants, entitled to know the charges against them and allowed to contest their confinement in court. The government's position is that the detainees are "unlawful combatants" who can be held incommunicado indefinitely. Whatever their legal status, the Guantánamo detainees must be given a chance to contest their confinement. Those who were wrongly caught up in the military's net must have an opportunity to make their case. As noncitizens captured in wartime, they may not have the right to have their claims heard in United States courts. But they must be given some forum, like a military tribunal, in which to contest their continued imprisonment. The rules of evidence, and the standard of proof for holding them, may be different from those in ordinary criminal trials. But there must be rules, and at least some individualized proof, for the detentions to be proper. The ruling, from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a suit filed by Kuwaiti, British and Australian detainees, said that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear claims by the Guantánamo prisoners who contend that they are being wrongfully held. It is a disturbing decision that gives the administration essentially unchecked power to imprison foreigners. The court abdicated its role by not exercising any oversight in this important matter. In refusing to let the Guantánamo detainees challenge their confinement, the administration is trampling on their rights. It is also damaging America's reputation for fairness. The administration should rethink its policies, and the Supreme Court should reverse yesterday's unfortunate decision.Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online
Finally, some justice in Serbia!! Djindjic Assassinated! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
The slimy, treasonous bastard deserves nothing less than a a full state funeral.but held in Brussels, and with a NATO flag draped over his coffin! DEATH TO QUISLINGS! mart Subject: Serbian premier assassinated Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 11:40:01 -0500 (EST) From: "Wolfgang Mueller" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Death to all traitors and lackeys of imperialism!!! Long live Yugoslavia!!! Long live Serbia!!! Long live Slobodan Milosevic, the Hero of the Balkans!!! Free all Political Prisoners in the hands of imperialist court in The Haag!!! W.M. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2843433.stm Serbian premier assassinated The Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, has been assassinated in the capital, Belgrade. The pro-reform, pro-Western leader was shot in the stomach and in the back outside government offices at around 1300 (1200 gmt), and died of his wounds in hospital. Unconfirmed Serbian media reports say that two people were arrested at the scene of the shooting. The Serbian cabinet, which observed a minute's silence when it met for crisis talks after the attack, has declared three days' mourning and asked Serbian President Natasa Micic to impose a state of emergency. Immediately after the shooting, police in flak jackets and carrying machine-guns sealed off the city-centre location on in Nemanjina Street and halted traffic, searching cars and checking passengers. Serbian TV said that police were searching, in particular, for a man with a beard. All bus, rail and plane traffic in and out of Belgrade was also halted in the search for suspects. 'Bad day for the Balkans' Vojislav Kostunica, former Yugoslav president and long a rival of Mr Djindjic, said he was appalled by the attack. "The fact that political violence is happening... is a terrible warning about how little headway we have made on the path of real democratisation of our society," he said just before Mr Djindjic's death was confirmed. Europe has lost a friend... who fought hard for democracy European Union The European Union expressed shock and dismay at the assassination, with Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, whose country holds the EU presidency, sending condolences to Mr Djindjic's family "and to entire Serb people". "Europe has lost a friend... who fought hard for democracy," an EU statement said. A former adviser to EU High Representative to Bosnia Carl Bildt, Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, paid tribute to Mr Djindjic: "This is a really bad day for the Balkans, and it's a really bad day for Serbia. "Here was a man who more than any other single figure stood for the reform process, and... it now throws all the cards in the air." The prime minister's wife Ruzica seen in tears at the city's Military Medical Academy where her husband died. Enemies On 21 February Mr Djindjic survived what he said was an assassination bid when a lorry swung into the path of his motorcade as he was travelling to Belgrade airport. He later dismissed the incident as a "futile effort" which could not stop democratic reforms. Correspondents say that Mr Djindjic, 50, made many enemies over his career as a pro-democracy campaigner and then as Serbia's prime minister. He was pivotal in arresting and handing Mr Milosevic over to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague in June 2001. The move opened the way to international aid to the then Yugoslavia. Committed campaigner Zoran Djindjic was born in Bosanski Samac, Bosnia, the son of a Yugoslav People's Army officer. CATALOGUE OF VIOLENCE March 2003: Serbian premier Zoran Djindjic shot dead Feb 2003: Djindjic says attempt made on his life June 2000: Serb opposition leader Vuk Draskovic survives shooting May 2000: Goran Zugic, national security adviser to pro-West Montenegrin president, shot dead October 1999: Draskovic survives road accident "assassination attempt" He graduated from Belgrade University's philosophy faculty, but was jailed by Yugoslavia's Communist leader Josip Broz Tito in 1974 for trying to organise an independent students' group. After his release, he went to West Germany and earned a PhD in philosophy. Spurning the Communists, he returned to Belgrade in 1989 and co-founded the Democratic Party, joining other reformists to campaign against the authoritarian rule of Slobodan Milosevic. After fleeing to Serbia's sister republic Montenegro during the Nato air strikes on Yugoslavia in 1999, Mr Djindjic returned to Belgrade to form the DOS movement with 17 other parties. Their new street crusade for democracy culminated in the overthrow of Mr Milosevic after he refused to accept election defeat. Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/2843433.stm Published: 2003/03/12 15:43:13 © BBC MMIIIDo you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online
101 Ways to Stop the War on Iraq - PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.U
PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 09:09:52 -0800 Subject: 101 Ways to Stop the War on Iraq From: "sharon cotrell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] Lots of ideas. The stakes are so high for our world that we must keep trying to stop this insanity. Sharon ==101 Ways to Stop the War on IraqCompiled and written by Guy Dauncey, Victoria, BC, Canadawww.earthfuture.com http://www.earthfuture.com WE ARE MILLIONS!For an incredible collage of the Feb 15 peace marches in cities all around the world, see http://www.lmno4p.org> and www.peacepix.org For a moving rendition of the Feb 15th gathering, see http://www.usgreens.org We may only have days to make a difference.So please, do everything you can!Ten Ways to Stop the War with Your Email http://www.earthfuture.com/stopthewar/email.aspTen Ways to Stop the War with Your Penhttp://www.earthfuture.com/stopthewar/pen.aspTen Ways to Stop the War with Your Signshttp://www.earthfuture.com/stopthewar/signs.aspTen Ways to Stop the War with Your Bodyhttp://www.earthfuture.com/stopthewar/body.aspFor the rest of the story:http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=030310~for.asp http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=030310%7Efor.aspDo you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online
Satire - Saddam To join U.S "Coalition of the willing" (to be bought)!!! [WWW.ST
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2003 1:58 AM Subject: "Coalition of the Willing to be Bought" http://www.borowitzreport.com http://www.borowitzreport.com/archive_rpt.asp?rec=529 SADDAM: "FOR $30 BILLION, I WILL ATTACK MYSELF" Bush Calls Upon 'Coalition of the Willing to be Bought' In a stunning development, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein today offered to attack himself in exchange for $30 billion from the U.S. government. The surprising offer came in a day when President George W. Bush exhorted America's allies to join what he called "a coalition of the willing to be bought." Speaking to a group called the Veterans of Foreign Investments, the President said, "It is time for each of our allies to look deep within and ask this question: Who wants to be a billionaire?" The President reminded the allies that since the Turkish legislature had turned down the U.S.'s request to base troops there for an Iraq attack, "Turkey's $30 billion in prize money remains unclaimed." Moments after the President's speech, French President Jacques Chirac made a surprise announcement of his own, saying that France would be willing to attack Turkey for $30 billion. "France has no argument with the people of Turkey," Mr. Chirac said. "But $30 billion is a lot of cake." But Mr. Chirac was soon upstaged by Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein, appearing on Iraqi national television to say, "For $30 billion, I will attack myself, and I will prevail." While some in NATO expressed optimism that Saddam's proposal could avert a war with Iraq, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer was openly dismissive of Saddam's offer to attack himself, calling it "a charade." "He's telling the world that he'll attack himself and he'll prevail, but once he gets our money, he'll attack himself and lose," Mr. Fleischer said. "It's just more of his double-talk." =U.S. WOULD ACCEPT EXILE FOR HANS BLIX Military Action to Remove Blix 'Last Resort,' White House Hints http://www.borowitzreport.com/archive_rpt.asp?rec=488 == BLIX: SADDAM RESPONDED TO INTERNET OFFER TO MAKE MISSILE BIGGER Inspectors Uncover Hidden Cache of Miracle Herb http://www.borowitzreport.com/archive_rpt.asp?rec=520 Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
The Columbia 3 - Bring Them Home! - Protest 15th March 2003 [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.U
From: "John Roberts" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fw: pfc/Bring Them Home Protest 15th March 2003 at 2.30p.m. Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 13:13:04 -0500 - Original Message - From: Pat Finucane Centre To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 11:24 AM Subject: pfc/Bring Them Home Protest 15th March 2003 at 2.30p.m. Bring Them Home - Foreign Affairs Protest The Bring Them Home Campaign is organising a protest outside the Department of Foreign Affairs, 80 St Stephen's Green on 15th March 2003 at 2.30p.m. The Campaign is calling on Minister for Foreign Affairs Brian Cowen T.D. to protect the rights of Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley who have been held for 18 months in La Modelo prison, Bogota, Colombia while a farcical legal process is being held. "We know from our visits that their lives are in constant danger and that their human and legal rights have been ignored continuously. Their Colombian lawyers have said that they can not obtain a fair trial in that country due to the political interference in the case of the Colombian authorities. The men have been moved over a dozen times to seven different locations for their own safety. We have watched while the Colombian State has fabricated a case against these three Irishmen. The Irish Government has a right and an obligation to intervene to protect these Irish citizens. The trial has been contaminated by the public interventions of senior government officials in Colombia, the men's lives are in constant danger and their right of access to their legal team has been consistently violated" according to campaign spokesperson Caitriona Ruane. Please Join Our Call on the Irish Government to stand up for the rights of Irish citizens in Colombia. Dept' Foreign Affairs, 80 St Stephens Green at 2.30 Sat 15th MarchDo you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
URGENT! - Fwd: [VSCampaign] The 5 Cuban Political Prisoners In Solitary! [WWW.ST
From: "Carlos Rovira, Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 13:49:04 -0800 (PST) Subject: [VSCampaign] The 5 Cuban Political Prisoners In Solitary March 7th, 2003 URGENT ALERT: The Cuban 5 have been placed in solitary confinement and they need your help! The five Cuban political prisoners in the U.S. were suddenly and without justification thrown into solitary confinement on March 3, 2003 in their separate prisons. It is not clear how long the punishment will last. Prison authorities have not given the official reason for their illegal confinement in "the hole", but apparently it is a decision from the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, and has the markings of directed political repression against the Five. As Leonard Weinglass, appeals attorney for Antonio Guerrero, one of the Cuban Five in Florence Colorado prison, said, "None of them belongs in solitary confinement. It is completely unjustified and unnecessary as all of them are model prisoners." Weinglass has urged supporters of the Cuban Five to write immediately to the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington. We ask that you do not write to the individual prisons, as they are not responsible for the confinement order. The address of the Federal Bureau of Prisons is: 320 First St. N.W. Washington DC 20534. The telephone number is 202-307-3198. Hours are Monday- Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. Weinglass noted in an interview with Radio Havana Cuba yesterday that the Black Panther prisoners in the U.S. were similarly rounded up into solitary right after 9/11. (Read the complete interview with Weinglass after this notice.) There is speculation that they are being confined just as the U.S. government is preparing for a massive war against Iraq. It is no coincidence that the Justice Department's repression of Arab, Muslim and immigrant communities is also being aimed against the Cuban Five, whose only "crime" was fighting U.S.-sponsored terrorism against Cuba. Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, René González, and Fernando González have been imprisoned since September 1998 when they were arrested by the FBI on trumped-up charges of espionage on the United States. In reality they were prosecuted by the U.S. for defending their country of Cuba from U.S.- sponsored and supported terrorism that emanates from Miami. The Five lived in Miami since the early 1990s where they were on a vital mission of monitoring anti-Cuba terrorist groups there to prevent violence against their country of Cuba. More than 3,400 Cubans have been killed by the anti-Cuba violence. At two of the prisons on Friday, Cuba 5 supporters were ready to visit the compañeros when they were turned away. Reverend Geoff Bottoms flew in from Blackpool, England to see Ramón Labañino in Beaumont federal prison in Texas. He was told without explanation that Ramón was not permitted visitors. Alicia Jrapko and Tanya Cole were at Lompoc prison to visit Gerardo Hernández. Jrapko was told, "It is possible they will not get any more visitors other than their family in the future." We ask all supporters to write to the Bureau of Prisons, expressing your concern for their safety, and that you protest the unjust and unnecessary solitary confinement. Their exemplary behavior does not warrant this kind of treatment. There is reason to believe they are singled out because they are political prisoners. It is also essential that their attorneys have full and unrestricted access to their clients, especially at this critical time while they're preparing for the April 7th appeals court date in Atlanta. Weinglass was unable to speak with Antonio for two days although he had authorized collect calls from him. It is undoubtedly very stressful for their family members. They had only just returned to Cuba, after coming to the U.S. to visit their loved ones. The families had been delayed their entry visas by the U.S. government for more than six months. Two of the wives, Olga Salanueva and Adriana Perez are still prohibited from entering the U.S. 2) Radio Havana Cuba Interview with Leonard Weinglass Commenting on the Change in Status of the Five Cuban Political Prisoners in the US. 7th March 2003 Bernie Dwyer: Good evening, Mr. Weinglass. The president of the Cuban Parliament, Ricardo Alarcón announced during the first sitting of the new Cuban National Assembly, Thursday March 6 that the five Cuban political prisoners in the United States have been returned to isolation status in their various penitential centers. Can you comment on that? Leonard Weinglass: "Yes, I've been informed of this and I've been in contact with the prison authorities for Antonio Guerrero out in Colorado and they haven't been cooperating at all. I'm still trying to reach Antonio to talk to him directly. Moving the five into isolation at this time is an utterly unnecessary and irrational act, which can only be motivated by a desire to increase their punishment and have them held under even more harsh conditions than they have be
Surprise! Surprise! U.S backed Terrorist State Albania Will Join U.S. War on Ira
From: "Jim Yarker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: ALBANIA: Troops Will Join War on Iraq Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2003 12:18:47 -0500 -Original Message- From: Roland Marounek [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, March 10, 2003 12:01 PM Subject: [romain] Autre candidat fiable à l'OTAN : des troupes albanaises se joindront à l'agression contre l'Irak http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=38227&LangID=1 Seeurope.net March 10, 2003 ALBANIA: Troops Will Join War on Iraq Albania said on Sunday it would send troops to join any U.S.-led attack on Iraq, a largely symbolic gesture that underlines Tirana's gratitude to Washington for intervening in the 1999 Kosovo crisis. Prime Minister Fatos Nano said the cabinet decided at an emergency session to contribute commandos and allow Albanian territory and airspace to be used for a war on Iraq that analysts say could start before the end of March. Both Albanian officials and the U.S. embassy in Tirana declined comment on whether the government was responding to a request from the United States, which says it will attack Iraq with or without United Nations approval, reported NTV. L'Albanie a déclaré ce dimanche qu'elle enverrait des troupes pour rejoindre toute attaque de l'Irak menée par les USA, un geste largement symbolique qui souligne la gratitude de Tirana envers Washington pour l'intervention au Kosovo de 1999 Le premier ministre Fatos Nano a déclaré que le cabinet a décidé, dans une session d'urgence, d'apporter la contribution de commandos, et de permettre que le territoire albanais et son espace aérien soient utilisés pour une guerre contre l'Irak, dont les analystes disent qu'elle pourrait commencer avant la fin mars. A la fois les responsables albanais et l'ambassade US à Tirana ont refusé de commenter le point de savoir si le gouvernement répondait à une demande des États-Unis, qui déclarent qu'ils attaqueront l'Irak avec ou sans l'approbation des Nations-Unies Si vous désirez déposer des photos, utiliser le calendrier ou organiser un vote, visitez http://smartgroups.wanadoo.fr/groups/romain Pour ne plus faire partie du groupe, envoyez un message à l'adresse suivante : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
ACTIVISTS PLAN PROTESTS IF (WHEN) WAR STARTS [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2003 17:02:50 EST Subject: [VSCampaign] ACTIVISTS PLAN PROTESTS IF WAR STARTS ACTIVISTS PLAN PROTESTS IF WAR STARTS BY JEFF DONN, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS BOSTON (March 8) - They have marched and chanted, hoping to use persuasion to prevent war. If that fails, though, activists are readying a more aggressive strategy of sit-ins and social disruptions, meant to restore peace in Iraq. Protest sit-ins, especially at federal buildings, defense recruiting offices and military bases, have been mapped out for dozens of cities in the first day or two of any war, anti-war organizers say. Some also foresee widespread walkouts at schools and workplaces. A smaller number talk of blocking roads and bridges. ``Once war happens, there will be civil disobedience. It's bringing to a higher level what people have been doing,'' said coordinator Bal Pinguel at the American Friends Service Committee, an arm of the pacifist Quaker church. The peace movement that has taken shape in the United States and around the world uses organizing technology - including the Internet and e-mail - that was not available the last time such large-scale domestic anti-war activism took place, in the Vietnam War era. Once spearheaded largely by leftist students, hippies and draft-card burners, the peace movement is now taking on more support from the mainstream: labor unions, war veterans, middle-aged professionals, and teenagers born years after the last draft. Almost 100,000 backers have donated to Peace Action, one of the biggest anti-war groups, over the past six months, coordinators say. Still, despite its broader reach, it is unclear if the highly decentralized peace movement can marshal protests that can disrupt the war effort or win public sympathy. Some peace activists themselves harbor doubts that they can prevent a war against Iraq. ``There's a good chance we won't be able to stop it,'' said Kate Pearson, a Chicago organizer at Not in Our Name. In a counter effort, rallies to support President Bush and U.S. troops in a possible war also are being held across the country, and anger at the anti-war movement sometimes is apparent. Echoing a slogan from the 1960s, one placard at an Orlando, Fla., rally read: ``America - Love It or Leave It.'' Peace activists have mounted mass rallies in major cities reminiscent of the Vietnam era, but they have also held smaller community vigils and discussion groups, and traditional contact-your-congressmen drives. In January and again in February, peace groups coordinated demonstrations in cities around the world. Hundreds of thousands of protesters unfurled signs and rallied in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, London, Berlin, Rome, Tokyo, Cairo and other cities. On Wednesday, thousands of students around the United States walked out of classes. In a foretaste of civil disobedience, about a dozen students from suburban Boston high schools marched arm-in-arm Wednesday evening through downtown streets. They chanted peace slogans, pounded on plastic pails, and slowed traffic. When they stopped at the State House, three of them clambered over a closed wrought-iron fence and taped a protest poster on the front doors. However, at least one protester was resigned to the outbreak of war. ``I don't think we're going to stop it. I honestly think we have delayed it,'' said Dan Hurowitz, 15, from Arlington High School. Some Americans have taken quiet, personal actions too. Anti-war members of the clergy have slipped into Iraq - without U.S. government permission mandated by American sanctions law - or visited European countries to lobby and pray with the local religious communities. Anti-war American doctors have gone to Iraq to evaluate the dangers that war poses for civilians there. Picking up on domestic anxieties, some anti-war activists have argued that conflict might foster more terrorism that endangers American civilians on their own turf. ``It's almost certainly going to guarantee not only more violence in the Middle East, but will almost guarantee another calamitous attack on U.S. soil,'' said Scott Lynch, a spokesman for Peace Action. The White House has argued that disarming Iraq is part of its war on terrorism and will disrupt that government's links with terrorist groups. The peace movement has also embraced a particularly influential contingent of supporters: veterans of the war with Iraq 12 years ago. ``Sept. 11 was nothing compared to the destruction that we visited on Iraq 12 years ago and even more so for what will probably happen this time,'' said Charles Sheehan-Miles, a decorated tank crewman in the 1991 Persian Gulf War who now wants peace. Some ex-soldiers in today's anti-war movement suffer from a variety of maladies that some blame on the Gulf War, though experts haven't agreed on the cause. ``We're putting thousands of Americans in harm's way, and we don't even know what happened to the last batch,'' said Dr. Charlie Clements, a public health sp
Time 'Man of the Year' Aweard: 1938 Adolf Hitler - Is history repeating itself??
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2003 22:10:44 -0500 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: 1938 Man of the Year: Adolf Hitler http://www.time.com/time/special/moy/1938.html Is history repeating itself or what? In reading this I some how seem as though I am living these days over again today, so much of our news today reads and sounds as if I was living the year 1938, instead of 2003, and that three ring circus tonight, that was called a white house press conference with Daffy W. Duck as ring master, was a total disgrace, the Fuhrer could not even follow the script, and read from it line by line. This was an insult on the intelligence of the American people. Not! one question was really answered, during the whole act, nothing but a babbling repeat of the same old dog and pony show from two years ago. Compare today in America and Germany 1938, and tell me where the difference is. TH = January 2, 1939 Adolf Hitler Greatest single news event of 1938 took place on September 29, when four statesmen met at the Fuhrerhaus, in Munich, to redraw the map of Europe. The three visiting statesmen at that historic conference were Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Great Britain, Premier Edouard Daladier of France, and Dictator Benito Mussolini of Italy. But by all odds the dominating figure at Munich was the German host, Adolf Hitler. Fuhrer of the German people, Commander-in-Chief of the German Army, Navy & Air Force, Chancellor of the Third Reich, Herr Hitler reaped on that day at Munich the harvest of an audacious, defiant, ruthless foreign policy he had pursued for five and a half years. He had torn the Treaty of Versailles to shreds. He had rearmed Germany to the teeth--or as close to the tooth as he was able. He had stolen Austria before the eyes of a horrified and apparently impotent world. All these events were shocking to nations which had defeated Germany on the battlefield only 20 years before, but nothing so terrified the world as the ruthless, methodical, Nazi-directed events which during late summer and early autumn threatened a world war over Czechoslovakia. When without loss of blood he reduced Czechoslovakia to a German puppet state, forced a drastic revision of Europe's defensive alliances, and won a free hand for himself in Eastern Europe by getting a "hands-off" promise from powerful Britain (and later France), Adolf Hitler without doubt became 1938's Man of the Year. Most other world figures of 1938 faded in importance as the year drew to a close. Prime Minister Chamberlain's "peace with honor" seemed more than ever to have achieved neither. An increasing number of Britons ridiculed his appease-the-dictators policy, believed that nothing save abject surrender could satisfy the dictators' ambitions. Among many Frenchmen there rose a feeling that Premier Daladier, by a few strokes of the pen at Munich, had turned France into a second-rate power. Aping Mussolini in his gestures and copying triumphant Hitler's shouting complex, the once liberal Daladier at year's end was reduced to using parliamentary tricks to keep his job. During 1938 Dictator Mussolini was only a decidedly junior partner in the firm of Hitler & Mussolini, Inc. His noisy agitation to get Corsica and Tunis from France was rated as a weak bluff whose immediate objectives were no more than cheaper tolls for Italian ships in the Suez Canal and control of the Djibouti-Addis Ababa railroad. Gone from the international scene was Eduard Benes, for 20 years Europe's "Smartest Little Statesman." Last President of free Czechoslovakia, he was now a sick exile from the country he helped found. Pious Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Man of 1937, was forced to retreat to a "New" West China, where he faced the possibility of becoming only a respectable figurehead in an enveloping Communist movement. If Francisco Franco had won the Spanish Civil War after his great spring drive, he might well have been Man-of-the-Year timber. But victory still eluded the Generalissimo and war weariness and disaffection on the Rightist side made his future precarious. On the American scene, 1938 was no one man's year. Certainly it was not Franklin Roosevelt's; his Purge was beaten and his party lost much of its bulge in the Congress. Secretary Hull will remember Good Neighborly 1938 as the year he crowned his trade treaty efforts with the British agreement, but history will not specially identify Mr. Hull with 1938. At year's end in Lima, his plan of Continental Solidarity for the two Americas had a few of its teeth pulled. But the figure of Adolf Hitler strode over a cringing Europe with all the swagger of a conqueror. Not the mere fact that the Fuhrer brought 10,500,000 more people (7,000,000 Austrians, 3,500,000 Sudetens) under his absolute rule made him the Man of 1938. Japan during the same time added tens of millions of Chinese to her empire. More significant was the fact Hitler became in 1938 the greatest threatening force th
Text Of U.S. Diplomat John Brady Kiesling's Letter Of Resignation To Colin Powel
Forward from mart. A "must read"! "PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY!** --- From: "Margarita Lacabe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 6:16 PM Subject: [open-forum] Letter of Resignation from US diplomat - - - - - - - - - - - - Feb. 28, 2003 | U.S. Diplomat John Brady Kiesling Letter of Resignation, to: Secretary of State Colin L. Powell ATHENS | Thursday 27 February 2003 Dear Mr. Secretary: I am writing you to submit my resignation from the Foreign Service of the United States and from my position as Political Counselor in U.S. Embassy Athens, effective March 7. I do so with a heavy heart. The baggage of my upbringing included a felt obligation to give something back to my country. Service as a U.S. diplomat was a dream job. I was paid to understand foreign languages and cultures, to seek out diplomats, politicians, scholars and journalists, and to persuade them that U.S. interests and theirs fundamentally coincided. My faith in my country and its values was the most powerful weapon in my diplomatic arsenal. It is inevitable that during twenty years with the State Department I would > become more sophisticated and cynical about the narrow and selfish bureaucratic motives that sometimes shaped our policies. Human nature is what it is, and I was rewarded and promoted for understanding human nature. But until this Administration it had been possible to believe that by upholding the policies of my president I was also upholding the interests of the American people and the world. I believe it no longer. The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatible not only with American values but also with American interests. Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America's most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson. We have begun to dismantle the largest and most effective web of international relationships the world has ever known. Our current course will bring instability and danger, not security. The sacrifice of global interests to domestic politics and to bureaucratic self-interest is nothing new, and it is certainly not a uniquely American problem. Still, we have not seen such systematic distortion of intelligence, such systematic manipulation of American opinion, since the war in Vietnam. The September 11 tragedy left us stronger than before, rallying around us a vast international coalition to cooperate for the first time in a systematic way against the threat of terrorism. But rather than take credit for those successes and build on them, this Administration has chosen to make terrorism a domestic political tool, enlisting a scattered and largely defeated Al Qaeda as its bureaucratic ally. We spread disproportionate terror and confusion in the public mind, arbitrarily linking the unrelated problems of terrorism and Iraq. The result, and perhaps the motive, is to justify a vast misallocation of shrinking public wealth to the military and to weaken the safeguards that protect American citizens from the heavy hand of government. September 11 did not do as much damage to the fabric of American society as we seem determined to do to ourselves. Is the Russia of the late Romanovs really our model, a selfish, superstitious empire thrashing toward self-destruction in the name of a doomed status quo? We should ask ourselves why we have failed to persuade more of the world that a war with Iraq is necessary. We have over the past two years done too much to assert to our world partners that narrow and mercenary U.S. interests override the cherished values of our partners. Even where our aims were not in question, our consistency is at issue. The model of Afghanistan is little comfort to allies wondering on what basis we plan to rebuild the Middle East, and in whose image and interests. Have we indeed become blind, as Russia is blind in Chechnya, as Israel is blind in the Occupied Territories, to our own advice, that overwhelming military power is not the answer to terrorism? After the shambles of post-war Iraq joins the shambles in Grozny and Ramallah, it will be a brave foreigner who forms ranks with Micronesia to follow where we lead. We have a coalition still, a good one. The loyalty of many of our friends is impressive, a tribute to American moral capital built up over a century. But our closest allies are persuaded less that war is justified than that it would be perilous to allow the U.S. to drift into complete solipsism. Loyalty should be reciprocal. Why does our President condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our friends and allies this Administration is fostering, including among its most senior officials. Has "oderint dum metuant" really become our motto? I urge you to listen to America's friends around the world. Even here in Greece, purported hotbed of European anti-America
$$$ Surprise! Surprise $$$ - Halliburton Wins Contract For Iraq Oil Firefightin
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2003 21:09:35 EST Subject: [VSCampaign] Halliburton Wins Contract For Iraq Oil Firefighting 3-7-3 Halliburton Wins Contract For Iraq Oil Firefighting 3-7-3 HOUSTON (Reuters) -- A Halliburton Co. HAL.N subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) has won the contract to oversee any firefighting operations at Iraqi oilfields after any U.S.-led invasion, a Defense Department source said on Thursday. KBR was widely viewed by many in the oilfield services industry as the likely candidate to oversee firefighting in Iraq's oilfields. Halliburton does extensive logistic support work for the U.S. military. Vice President Dick Cheney served as Halliburton's chief executive officer from 1995 to 2000, A possible beneficiary of Thursday's deal is oilwell firefighting company Boots & Coots International Well Control Inc., with which Halliburton has had an alliance since 1995. A Halliburton spokeswoman declined comment and referred all questions to the Defense Department. - To subscribe to this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
FWD: "British soldiers begging for food in Kuwait " [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "La Voz de Aztlan" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, March 07, 2003 3:00 PM Subject: British soldiers begging for food in Kuwait LA VOZ DE AZTLAN NEWS BULLETIN Los Angeles, Alta California March 7, 2003 British soldiers begging for food in Kuwait A BBC report today said that British soldiers as well as their families have complained to the Blair government that there is not enough food and other essential supplies in Kuwait as preparations to attack Iraq are being made. British soldiers are having to "borrow" essential necessities from US soldiers. A Royal Marine commando sent an email to his family saying that food supplies were desperately short and that weapons and other key equipment are lacking. The Royal Marine wrote in his e-mail, "We are scrounging everything from the Americans. As it stands, people here will die." Other British soldiers in Kuwait said that they have had to buy their own boots. The Blair government has denied the soldiers allegations but the BBC said it had received more than 50 examples from families, only minutes after broadcasting an item on the subject. One soldier's family said. "The American troops refer to our troops as the Flintstones - how shameful is that, Mr Blair?" Another family said: "My daughter tells me she has rice three times a day. The Americans call them "The Borrowers". She says they (the Americans) have burger bars, Pizza Huts and shops. We have nothing." * * * * * * * * * * La Voz de Aztlan http://www.aztlan.netDo you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
US admits torturing, killing, Taliban 'suspects' [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Carlos Rovira, Jr." [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2003 07:31:54 -0800 (PST) Subject: [VSCampaign] U.S. Admits Torturing Taliban Prisoners From: "RAWNEWS" [EMAIL PROTECTED] US admits torturing Taliban suspects US officials have admitted that Afghans have died under torture by the US military (details below, from The Independent, London). Now that all "everything has changed" because of 9-11, the old rules don't apply, the gloves are off, etc., why not torture? The doctrine of "preventive war" leads ineluctably to the logic of torture, to the necessity of any means to "prevent" an attack. But this is not new. Only the euphemisms have changed: "Hard" methods, "intensive" methods, "severe" techniques of interrogation -- none of which ever went way -- are back with a vengeance. What went on behind closed doors in police stations illegally has now been "legalized" by presidential fiat with no judicial review. And now, suspects are dying at the hands of their interrogators. The United States officially has sunk -- or returned, after a brief moment of enlightenment -- to the barbarism of the Gestapo, of the British occupation of India, to our own sordid history of slavery and genocide. This is what war does to the winners, who destroy their own humanity as they deny the humanity of the losers. Is their any practice better designed to elicit false confessions, false accusations, and self-serving lies? Is there any method more likely to guarantee an ever more ruthless enemy? Is there any technique more suited to generating an inhuman terroristic response than to commit such terror in the name of humanity against terror? To preserve what's left of our own claim to humanity we must denounce this horrible crime. March 15 is an International Day fo Protest against police brutality and torture. Make your voice heard -- or be complicit in silence. Douglas L. Vaughan, Jr. Investigations for Print, Film & Electronic Media 3140 W. 32nd Ave. Denver CO 80211 303-455-9429 --- America admits suspects died in interrogations The Independent - Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles - 07 March 2003 American military officials acknowledged yesterday that two prisoners captured in Afghanistan in December had been killed while under interrogation at Bagram air base north of Kabul – reviving concerns that the US is resorting to torture in its treatment of Taliban fighters and suspected al-Qa'ida operatives. A spokesman for the air base confirmed that the official cause of death of the two men was "homicide", contradicting earlier accounts that one had died of a heart attack and the other from a pulmonary embolism. The men's death certificates, made public earlier this week, showed that one captive, known only as Dilawar, 22, from the Khost region, died from "blunt force injuries to lower extremities complicating coronary artery disease" while another captive, Mullah Habibullah, 30, suffered from blood clot in the lung that was exacerbated by a "blunt force injury". US officials previously admitted using "stress and duress" on prisoners including sleep deprivation, denial of medication for battle injuries, forcing them to stand or kneel for hours on end with hoods on, subjecting them to loud noises and sudden flashes of light and engaging in culturally humiliating practices such as having them kicked by female officers. While the US claims this still constitutes "humane" treatment, human rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have denounced it as torture as defined by international treaty. The US has also come under heavy criticism for its reported policy of handing suspects over to countries such as Jordan, Egypt or Morocco, where torture techniques are an established part of the security apparatus. Legally, Human Rights Watch says, there is no distinction between using torture directly and subcontracting it out. Some American politicians have argued that torture could be justified in this case if it helped prevent terror attacks on US citizens. Jonathan Turley, a prominent law professor at George Washington University, countered that embracing torture would be "suicide for a nation once viewed as the very embodiment of human rights". Torture is part of a long list of concerns about the Bush administration's respect for international law, after the extrajudicial killing of al-Qa'ida suspects by an unmanned drone in Yemen and the the indefinite detention of "enemy combatants" at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a number of whom have committed or attempted to commit suicide. President Bush appeared to encourage extra-judicial solutions in his State of the Union address in January when he talked of al-Qa'ida members being arrested or meeting "a different fate". "Let's put it this way," he said in a tone that appalled many, "they are no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies." Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
Time is Short: Surround White House March 15! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. IMPORTANT! PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! *** = From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 00:05:54 -0500 Subject: [WW] Time is Short: Surround White House March 15 - Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the March 13, 2003 issue of Workers World newspaper - TIME IS SHORT: SURROUND THE WHITE HOUSE ANTI-WAR COALITION CALLS MARCH 15 EMERGENCY MASS ACTION By Monica Moorehead As the Bush administration and the Pentagon move ever closer to a war against Iraq, the International ANSWER coalition is mobilizing for a March 15 emergency convergence on the White House. There are now 300,000 U.S. troops massed around the Persian Gulf area. An unimaginable Pentagon arsenal of weapons of mass destruction is aimed at a largely defenseless country. Anti-war forces are presented with their greatest challenge since the war crisis developed last fall. More than 100 cities in 35 states are organizing buses and other modes of transportation to go to Washington, D.C., on March 15 to send a resounding message to the warmongers that the vast majority of people do not want to see one drop of blood--be it from an Iraqi or a U.S. soldier--spilled for oil profits or empire building. Simultaneous protests are set for San Francisco and Los Angeles. Many other countries, including Greece, Japan and Portugal, are holding their own protests on March 15. Anti-war forces in the U.S. and worldwide are also organizing other mass protests, work stoppages, direct action, civil disobedience and many more actions to stop the criminal U.S. war on Iraq before it starts. Student walkouts are taking place at hundreds of colleges and high schools all over the U.S. as part of a national March 5 moratorium against the war. The National Youth and Students Peace Coalition has called the walkout actions "Books, Not Bombs," to show how the billions of tax dollars being diverted to war are directly linked to devastating cutbacks in education. Both President George W. Bush and Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair had hoped to begin a war with Iraq in January. They had to postpone it to February. But their diabolical war plans were temporarily dashed again when an unprecedented massive outpouring of humanity occurred worldwide on the weekend of Feb. 15 and 16--more than 10 million people took to the streets in 600 cities around the world to demand "No war on Iraq." Both Bush and Blair are now attempting to push through another pro-war resolution in the United Nations Security Council in defiance of world public opinion. The U.S. and Britain are finding it more difficult to depend on their long-time allies for military support for this war. All their attempts at bribery and arm-twisting to impose their imperialist will on the oppressed, underdeveloped countries have not produced the kinds of results they anticipated. Most notably, the Turkish parliament voted against the use of its bases for U.S. troops to launch an attack on Iraq, despite U.S. efforts to bribe Turkey's beholden, reactionary regime with billions of dollars in aid and loans. On the same day as the vote, tens of thousands of people in Ankara, Turkey, marched to parliament to demand no war. In Cairo, where many protests are repressed by law, 100,000 people jammed a stadium and hundreds of thousands more rallied outside in support of Iraq and Palestine on Feb. 27. Bush has become so defensive and isolated in the world about this war that he has admitted publicly what so many already knew--that its real aim is to overthrow the Iraqi government and put Iraq under the jurisdiction of the U.S. military. The bottom line is that the real aims of a war against Iraq have nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction and everything to do with "regime change" in the interests of conquest. RESPONSE TO MARCH 15 CALL Sarah Friedman, a national outreach coordinator of ANSWER in Washington, told Workers World, "A movement has to have the ability to switch gears in terms of mobilizing efforts, especially when the stakes are so extremely high, like doing everything possible to stop a racist war on Iraq. We are getting great responses from all over the country--150 cities are organizing to get to March 15 protests on both coasts, including Minnesota, Florida and the Midwest." At a jam-packed meeting at Community Church in New York City on March 4, speakers including former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, ANSWER spokesperson Larry Holmes and others spoke about how critical the March 15 mobilization is. And they stressed that the people of the world understand the need for a strong anti-war movement inside the U.S. People in the audience took stacks of March 15 leaflets and bought many bus tickets. Mass leafleting for March 15 is planned for every International Women's Day protest from New York to Baltimore, Washington to Los Angeles. ANSWER organ
Canada Customs seizes Anti-War tapes 'critical of U.S. Foreign Policy' [WWW.STO
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/print.cgi?/2003/03/05/seizedtape030305 C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y : -- Customs accused of seizing tapes critical of U.S. Last Updated Thu Mar 6 07:36:53 2003 OTTAWA-- A U.S. peace activist says Canada Customs has seized copies of a video that criticizes American foreign policy. About 30 copies of the video What I've Learned About U.S. Foreign Policy were on their way to an Ontario-based magazine. The two-hour video is a compilation of documentaries by journalists such as Bill Moyers and speeches by peace activists including Martin Luther King, Jr. Canada Customs won't confirm that it has seized the tapes but says it is looking for material that promotes hatred, including hatred based on nationality. "All I can confirm is that our customs officers will do all they have to do to enforce the laws of Canada and that includes hatred laws," said Sam Papadopoulos of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. Global Outlook, the magazine that tried to import the tapes, says it has ordered them in the past without any problem. The video was produced by California-based activist Frank Dorrel. He said he shipped 1,500 copies to Canada without incident and he calls the seizure suspicious. "I don't know why they're doing it now except that maybe now they're feeling the heat from it," he said. "People are watching it and waking up." If customs officials determine that the tapes do contain hatred towards Americans, criminal charges could follow. Written by CBC News Online staff Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
(Toronto Star) "Castro believes war `will happen' " [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
http://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1035778639059&call_pageid=968332188774 The Toronto Star www.thestar.ca Mar. 5, 2003. 01:00 AM Castro believes war `will happen' Cuban leader makes brief stop in B.C. Says chance of peace in Iraq `remote' GREG JOYCE CANADIAN PRESS RICHMOND, B.C.There's only a remote chance of avoiding a U.S.-led war in Iraq, despite that country's effort to destroy its illegal missiles, Cuban President Fidel Castro said yesterday . "Ninety-nine people out of 100, when you ask them, believe that this will happen," Castro said during a refuelling stopover, en route to Cuba from Japan after an 11-day Asian tour. "However, nothing is impossible and perhaps there is still the remotest possibility that it would not happen." Castro, 76, wearing a long, black winter overcoat and scarf, spoke to a throng of reporters for about 10 minutes in the lobby of a hotel near the Vancouver-area airport before returning to his plane. Iraq's recent decision to destroy its al Samoud 2 missiles, deemed to contravene U.N. disarmament rules, "is a step in the right direction," he said, speaking through an interpreter. Castro also expressed misgivings about the so-called Canadian compromise. The proposal suggests Iraq be given until the end of March to complete a list of key remaining disarmament tasks identified by U.N. weapons inspectors. The U.N. Security Council would then be asked to vote on whether Iraq was complying with its obligations. "I would not be able to give you a definitive answer about that ... some people don't agree with that formula because some people tend to believe that such a formula brings closer the dangers of a war." Castro said he was returning home after a conference with important world leaders and nobody wants the war. "I believe that it would even be convenient for the United States to avoid such a war, in such a way that is acceptable to all the parties involved." During his Asian tour, Castro delivered a speech in Malaysia, criticizing the U.S. for trying to coerce the world into backing an "unnecessary" attack on Iraq. Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
(Toronto Star) RAMSEY CLARK -"Why does Bush push to silence free speech?" [WWW.S
From: "Jim Yarker" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: President's obsession threatens stability around the world Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 11:10:43 -0500 www.thestar.ca The Toronto Star Mar. 1, 2003. 01:00 AM Why does Bush push to silence free speech? President's obsession threatens stability around the world By RAMSEY CLARK SPECIAL TO THE STAR Former U.S. attorney-general Ramsey Clark met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein last Sunday. He wrote this commentary exclusively for the Toronto Star. Should a free person be afraid to meet with a demonized "brutal dictator"? If not, how do we hope to learn, understand, act to avoid violence and war? If our (U.S.) government says, "You will only be deceived and used, a dupe, if you meet," doesn't this reveal an intention to exercise arbitrary control over information on which public opinion is formed that might affect government plans? Why did the White House object to the interview with President Saddam Hussein by Dan Rather, seek to interject rebuttal and rebuke at different points in the interview, and then complain that a person who lies should not be allowed to speak in the media? Because I believe in individual freedom and that the truth can set us free, I will never accept the command "thou shalt not" reason together. At this moment, U.S. anger over meetings with Saddam Hussein reflects Bush administration fears that opposition voices might begin to ask, "Who are the real aggressors, the greater threats to peace, the most dangerous terrorists?" Once a person is able to hear all sides and is informed, the answers cannot be controlled by government propaganda. During the barely two years of his presidency, George W. Bush has revealed an unprecedented, uncompromising obsession for war that threatens peace and economic stability around the world. He is the head of government of the sole superpower on earth. Its military is capable of destroying any nation without ever setting foot on it and, incredibly, President Bush has threatened to use nuclear weapons. The U.S. has less than six per cent of the world's population, with vast wealth concentrated in corporate control and personal fortunes that have created the greatest and growing gap between rich and poor, and economic policies that contribute to the same growing gap worldwide. Bush proclaimed the right and initiated a war of aggression against Afghanistan, causing thousands of deaths, many civilian, and installing a government of his choice in Kabul. He has authorized daily military flights over Iraq which have resulted in frequent, and in the last few months, daily aerial assaults that have killed hundreds of people in Iraq without a single U.S. plane being hit or seriously at risk. He has proclaimed his intention of "regime change" by military force in Iraq with an unavoidable consequence of thousands of civilian deaths. U.S. regime changes in the past brought to power the Shah of Iran, Mobutu in the Congo, Pinochet in Chile and dozens of other repressive governments subservient to U.S. interests and power. Reverberations from President Bush's bellicosity threatening war, even nuclear assaults, have been heard from India, Pakistan, North Korea ... Colombia, the Philippines and occupied Palestine. If Bush's promise to make Iraq a paradise of democracy, "liberty plus groceries." as the Depression-era Texan congressman Maury Maverick defined it, ask how the people of North Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Haiti, Somalia, Sudan and Afghanistan fared after direct U.S. interventions in the last half-century. President Bush has authorized and approved assassinations, summary executions and murders and boasted of them, in his State of the Union message in January. "All told, more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries, and many others have met a different fate ... let's put it this way, they are no longer a problem for the United States and our friends and allies." He has authorized and condoned bribery, coercion and retaliation to obtain his war ends. Fundamental human rights and civil liberties protected by international law and the U.S. Constitution have been violated within the United States against both citizens and aliens and abroad by illegal arrests, secret detentions, false criminal charges, and interference with rights to assemble, protest and speak. He has drastically undermined U.N. authority, threatening it with irrelevancy, coercing it to follow his command and acting independently and in defiance of the U.N. Charter. For Iraq, Bush has authorized a plan of attack called "Shock and Awe," a massive aerial and missile assault in the first hours and days against a defenceless people. Any one of the 300 to 400 cruise missiles, which will strike Iraq the first day, is far deadlier than all the alleged excessive-range missiles (with ranges) less than 200 kilometres that Saddam has been ordered to destroy. The world has been told "There will not be a safe place in Baghdad ...
(Al-Ahram Weekly ) "Confronting the empire " [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Jim Yarker" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Confronting the empire Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 17:04:49 -0500 Al-Ahram Weekly (Cairo), 27 Feb. - 5 March 2003 Issue No. 627 http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/627/sc12.htm Confronting the empire The present crisis has demonstrated the ambitions of the United States -- nothing short of bringing the entire planet under its military control, writes Samir Amin From the 1980s on, and with the collapse of the Soviet system, the ruling class in the United States, whether Democrat or Republican, began drawing up a hegemonic programme. Carried away by its military power, and without any competitor able to temper its fantasies, the US chose to reinforce its domination by deploying a military strategy aiming at "planetary control". An early series of interventions -- in the Gulf, Yugoslavia, Central Asia, Palestine and Iraq -- began this plan for endless wars that would be "made in the USA" and that would be planned and decided unilaterally by Washington. The political strategy that accompanied this programme set up the pretexts for it, whether these had to do with terrorism, with the fight against drug trafficking, or with accusations of producing weapons of mass destruction. These are obvious pretexts when one recalls the CIA's invention of convenient terrorist adversaries, whether the Taliban or Bin Laden. Accusations of producing dangerous weapons, made today against Iraq and North Korea, but tomorrow against any convenient state, pale besides the actual use of these weapons by the United States. The US used nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki and chemical weapons in Vietnam, and it is threatening the further use of nuclear weapons in future conflicts. Such pretexts are only propaganda tools, in the sense that Goebbels gave that term: they are useful perhaps to convince slow-witted US opinion but less and less credible elsewhere. The idea of "preventive war", now claimed as a "right" by Washington, does away with any notion of international law. The United Nations Charter forbids the recourse to war except in cases of legitimate self-defence, and it allows military intervention only under strict conditions, any response having to be measured and provisional. All specialists in international law know that the wars undertaken since 1990 have been completely illegitimate, and therefore those who bear the responsibility for them are also war criminals. Indeed, the United States, with the cooperation of other countries, is already treating the United Nations as the fascist states treated the League of Nations. The abolition of the common rights of all peoples, already underway, has substituted the distinction between a "Master Race" (Herrenvolk) -- the people of the United States, and, behind them, those of Israel -- and other peoples for the previous principle of the equality of peoples. The existence of those peoples that do not belong to the US Master Race can only be tolerated if they do not constitute a "threat" to the ambitions of those calling themselves the "masters of the planet". This Master Race reserves the right to conquer whatever "living space" it judges necessary for itself and for those peoples it supports. What are the "national interests" that the US ruling class considers as giving it this right? This is a class that recognises only one objective -- that of making money. The North American state is openly at the service of satisfying the demands of the dominant segment of capital made up of US multinationals. We, therefore, have all become "Red Skins", the contemptuous name reserved for the Native Americans, in the eyes of the Washington establishment -- that is to say, peoples who have the right to exist only in so far as they do not frustrate the expansion of US-based multinational capital. We have been promised that resistance to the US will be crushed using any and every means, even extermination if necessary. If it is a question of making an additional 15 million dollars in profit for the American multinationals at the expense of 300 million victims, then there will be no hesitation. The "rogue state" par excellence, to borrow the language used by Presidents Bush Senior and Junior, as well as by Clinton, is none other than the United States itself. The US programme is certainly imperialist in the most brutal sense of that word, but it is not "imperial" in the sense that Antonio Negri has given the term, since it does not aim to manage the societies of the planet in order better to integrate them into a coherent capitalist system. Instead, it aims only at looting their resources. All this is part and parcel of the reduction of social thought to the mantras of vulgar economics, the unilateral attention paid to maximising the financial profitability of dominant capital in the short term, supported by putting military means at the disposition of this capital, and the delinking of this capital from a
Serbia - Quislings in charge, looting proceeding smoothly. [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: Gregory Elich [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 11:36 PM Subject: Privatization: Serbia for Sale Tanjug (Belgrade) February 18, 2003 SERBIAN ECONOMY MINISTER SAYS PRIVATIZATION PROCEEDING ACCORDING TO PLAN Belgrade, Feb 18 (Tanjug) -- Serbian Minister of Economy and Privatization Aleksandar Vlahovic has said auction sales of small and medium-sized socially-owned companies in Serbia will be completed by the year 2005, as well as 50 tender sales of larger companies, so that the Ministry can wholly devote itself to the restructuring of the remaining large public systems in the economy. Speaking in a broadcast on Serbian Radio Television RTS late Monday, Vlahovic said a large number of successful big companies had been privatized already according to the 1997 law on property transformation, so that about 100 other large companies would be sold through tenders. In the coming period, once strong institutions are set up for realizing ownership transformation -- a privatization agency and a share fund -- this process will be stepped up, so that 60 percent of the economy is expected to be privately owned already by October of this year, Vlahovic said. = Tanjug (Belgrade) February 20, 2003 SERBIA ACCEPTS OFFERS FOR ZASTAVA CAR PLANT Belgrade, Feb 20 (Tanjug) -- The Serbian Ministry for Economy and Privatization on Thursday invited all interested parties, including the YUCAN Corporation of Canada, to participate in the privatization of the Zastava Auto Works of Kragujevac, pointing out that it was in the interest of all citizens that the factory secure the best conditions from a strategic partnership. The Ministry commented on media reports that YUCAN wants to buy Zastava and its subcontractors, in spite of a Letter of Intent Zastava earlier signed with Nucarco of the United States. The precontract with Nucarco does not prevent the Privatization Agency from negotiating with all parties interested in Zastava's privatization, the Ministry said. The essential thing is to select the best offer which will enable Zastava and the entire economy of Kragujevac a speedy and successful recovery, the Ministry said. Zastava sent the Ministry and the Privatization Agency copies of a letter it received from YUCAN, signed by its director, ethnic Serb Stevan Pokrajac, offering to purchase the Kragujevac factory and its subcontractors for the sum of no less than 150 million dollars. YUCAN pledged to top the offer of Nucarco, which offered 150 million dollars and signed a percontract with Zastava in October 2002 on setting up a mixed company which would be called Zastava Motor Works. YUCAN's Pokrajac said the company would settle all Zastava's debts to the state, its workers and Italy's Fiat -- an estimated total of at least 80 million dollars. [Privatization Effort Yields Results:] Tanjug (Belgrade) February 26, 2003 SERBIA'S INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION DROPS 21 PERCENT IN ONE MONTH Belgrade, Feb 26 (Tanjug) -- The industrial production in Serbia dropped by 21 percent in January 2003 in comparison with December 2002 and by 6.2 percent in comparison with January 2002, head of the Serbian Development Institute Edvard Jakopin said on Wednesday. Speaking at the presentation of the Serbian Economic Diagram, Jakopin said that the industrial production in central Serbia had dropped by 3.7 and in Vojvodina by 11.2 percent in January 2003 in comparison with January 2002. Speaking about the privatisation results, Jakopin said that 72 enterprises had been privatised since the beginning of this year and that the realised income amounted to 29.9 million euros, and added that the real increase of payments from the investors' accounts amounted to 75 percent in 2002 in comparison with 2001. He said that the January salaries dropped because of high payments in December, so that the average net salary was by 18.4 percent lower in comparison with December, amounting to 9,468 dinars. Retail prices in January grew by 0.8 percent in comparison with December 2002, while the costs of living rose by 0.4 percent in the same period. Jakopin said that in December the Serbian government had adopted a strategy of development of small and medium sized enterprises and entrepreneurship, with the main goal of increasing the number of small and medium enterprises and private entrepreneurs from 270,000 to 400,000and opening more than one million of jobs in this sector. Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
AP: Ex-Agents: FBI Enlists Violent Informants [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 21:32:49 EST Subject: [VSCampaign] Fwd: AP: Ex-Agents: FBI Enlists Violent Informants To subscribe to this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-dangerous-informants0302mar02,0,5881212.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dpolitics%2Dheadlines Ex-Agents: FBI Enlists Violent Informants By JEFF DONN Associated Press Writer March 2, 2003, 8:54 AM EST For decades, in cities from coast to coast, FBI agents recruited killers and crime bosses as informants and then looked the other way as they continued to commit violent crimes. When the practice first came to light in Boston -- unleashing an ongoing investigation that has already sent one agent to prison for obstruction of justice -- FBI officials in Washington portrayed it as an aberration. But Associated Press interviews with nine former FBI agents -- men with a combined 190 years of experience in more than 25 bureau offices from Texas to Chicago and from Los Angeles to Washington -- indicate the practice was widespread during their years of service between the late 1950s and the 1990s. The former agents, and two federal law enforcement officials who have worked closely with the bureau, said the practice sometimes emboldened informants, leading them to believe they could get away with almost anything. The degree to which the practice continues today is unclear; current FBI agents and administrators are secretive about the bureau's work with informants. However, a senior FBI official indicated that bureau rules designed to prevent serious crimes by informants may not always be followed by agents in the field. The nine former FBI agents spoke -- on the record -- not to criticize the practice of overlooking violent crimes by informants, but rather to defend it as a necessary evil of criminal investigation. "The bureau has to encourage these guys to be themselves and do what they do," said Joseph O'Brien, a former FBI informant coordinator in New York City who retired in 1991. "If they stop just because they are working with the FBI, somebody's going to question them. If anything, I'd want them to become more active." Gary Penrith, who retired in 1992 after a career that included serving as the bureau's deputy assistant director of intelligence, added: "Every one of the good ones are outlaws." The former agents said it makes sense to overlook an informant's involvement in robberies or beatings if the information he is providing helps solve or prevent worse crimes. But sometimes, they added, even murders were ignored. Several said they would never protect known killers, but others said it was defensible in some circumstances. "You have to weigh the odds of whether killing one or two people is better than killing a whole planeload," said Wesley Swearingen, whose service as an agent from 1959 to 1977 included tours in Los Angeles and Chicago. For example, he said, agents ignored the murder of a small-time mobster by an FBI informant in Chicago in the 1960s because "the information that the FBI was getting was more important. Somebody in the mob is going to kill that person anyway." William G. Hundley, a longtime U.S. Justice Department lawyer who retired as head of its organized crime section in 1968, said such understandings have sometimes allowed informants "to get away with murder, so to speak." The bureau, concerned that the release of any information about the informant program could put informants in danger, keeps even the number of informants secret. Former agents say there are thousands. The former agents interviewed were generally more forthcoming about their FBI experiences than the bureau might like. Four have written books that sometimes diverge from the official line, and O'Brien resigned from the agency in a dispute over his book's contents. However, the former agents remained faithful to the bureau's policy of protecting informant identities, declining to name even those who had committed murder. An AP review of court cases and published accounts identified 11 criminalsn who are known to have killed while working with the agency or to have been shielded by their bureau handlers from prosecution for murders committed before they were recruited. Those 11, including three mobsters involved in the Boston scandal, are believed to have killed at least 52 people between the 1960s and the mid-'90s. Previously, these cases had been reported as isolated incidents, but in the light of the interviews with former agents, they appear to be a part of a wider pattern. Clifford Zimmerman, a Northwestern University law professor who studies informant practices, says it is immoral, and perhaps illegal, for agents to shrug off violent crimes. "They're doing their own little cost-benefit analysis and really not taking into account, in my opinion, the damage to society that these people are causing," he said. "Is a federal official enti
(Toronto Star) "`Bullying' Bush hard to stomach for some" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
http://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1035778582144&call_pageid=968332188854 www.thestar.caThe Toronto Star Mar 4 2003 01:00 AM `Bullying' Bush hard to stomach for some Friends, enemies alike see Bush as arrogant. Even allies telling president to tone down the rhetoric By LINDA DIEBEL WASHINGTONWhy can't President George W. Bush seem to win friends and influence people these days? Is he a bully at the head of an imperial presidency? Or a no-holds-barred, straight-shootin' Texan whose friends including Canada's Jean Chrétien and Mexico's Vicente Fox just don't like how he's talking about Iraq? A debate over the president's style, long simmering in anti-war capitals, finally has erupted in Washington. Friends, enemies and pundits alike are weighing in, as Bush seems to plow headlong to war, with fewer allies and greater setbacks. What really appears to irritate is that he does it so grandly, without apology. It's one thing for leading anti-war advocate Nelson Mandela to call Bush "arrogant," as the former South African president did so recently in Johannesburg. Now it's coming from senior Republicans on Capitol Hill. "The responsibility of leadership is to persuade, not to impugn the motives of those who disagree with you," senior Republican Senator Charles Hagel of Nebraska told congressional hearings last week. "(The administration) is seen as bullying people. You can't do that to democracies. You can't do that to partners and allies. It isn't going to work." The Bush administration is smarting from Turkey's refusal to allow U.S. troops to invade Iraq from its soil. And, at the U.N., key Security Council members remain opposed to the U.S. arm-twisting push for a clear declaration of war against Iraq's Saddam Hussein. Even Bush's "coalition of the willing" is frayed. Last week, Spain's Jose Maria Aznar, who is a staunch ally of Bush, was practically on his knees begging Bush to tone down the war rhetoric in Europe. At heart, though, is a simple question. What does style matter? If Bush walked more softly, would he have more countries onside for war? No, says Allan Lichtman, professor emeritus of history at American University in Washington. "With Bush, what you see is what you get," he told the Star. "But even a more toned-down style would not change recalcitrant nations because there is a fundamental difference of substance and culture." Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think-tank, agrees. "These are serious representatives of their countries. It's not some private club. They have likes and dislikes, of course, but it doesn't affect the bottom line," he said last night. Political analyst Lewis Wolfson thinks Bush's "Texas style is one Americans are not used to in the presidency. "But I think that anyone in politics has to sort of tone things down at certain moments. I don't think that's out of the question," he added. It's not as if Bush has made a secret of his beliefs. "You've probably learned by now I don't believe there are many shades of gray in this war," he said last year. "You're either with us or against us. "You're either evil, or you're good." Still, Bush's friends are symbolically tearing their hair out. Chrétien is trying to broker a U.N. compromise that would give Iraq more time to disarm. In Mexico City Saturday, he appeared impatient with the latest White House insistence that there must be "regime change" as well as disarmament in Iraq. Former Chrétien press secretary Peter Donolo said the Turkish vote shows the limitations of "megaphone diplomacy." "But I can see Bush's frustration," he added. "He's getting tired of (Saddam's) excuses. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes right now. The trend lines seem to be moving away from him, and I'm sure he's exasperated." Maybe so. But tone it down, Aznar told Bush last week. "I did tell the president that we need a lot of Powell and not much of Rumsfeld," said Aznar, referring to Secretary of State Colin Powell and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld has Europeans especially Security Council opponents France and Germany fuming over his remarks that characterized France and Germany as part of an "old Europe" out of sync with the rest of the European Union and NATO. "The more Powell speaks and the less Rumsfeld speaks, that wouldn't be a bad thing altogether," said Aznar. And, in the coup de grâce of public criticism, even George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, last week gave his son's foreign policy a subtle kick. In a speech at Tufts University, the senior Bush talked about the "unprecedented international coalition" he built before attacking Iraq in the 1991 Persian Gulf war. That coalition does not exist today. But, according to the New York Times, the elder Bush said it was "totally false" to accuse his son of wanting to "go it alone, rush to war" with Iraq. It was easier to build a coalition back then
(CBC TELEVISION) "Apologies to Our American Friends" :) [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: John Roberts To: Johnny Roberts Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2003 6:18 PM Subject: 22 Minutes Courtesy of CBC Television "This Hour Has 22 Minutes": On behalf of Canadians everywhere I'd like to offer an apology to the United States of America. We haven't been getting along very well recently and for that, I am truly sorry. I'm sorry we called George Bush a moron. He is a moron but, it wasn't nice of us to point it out. If it's any consolation, the fact that he's a moron shouldn't reflect poorly on the people of America. After all it's not like you actually elected him. I'm sorry about our softwood lumber. Just because we have more trees than you doesn't give us the right to sell you lumber that's cheaper and better than your own. I'm sorry we beat you in Olympic hockey. In our defence I guess our excuse would be that our team was much, much, much, much better than yours. I'm sorry we burnt down your white house during the war of 1812. I notice you've rebuilt it! It's Very Nice. I'm sorry about your beer. I know we had nothing to do with your beer but, we Feel your Pain. I'm sorry about our waffling on Iraq. I mean, when you're going up against a crazed dictator, you wanna have your friends by your side. I realize it took more than two years before you guys pitched in against Hitler, but that was different. Everyone knew he had weapons. And finally on behalf of all Canadians, I'm sorry that we're constantly apologizing for things in a passive-aggressive way which is really a thinly veiled criticism. I sincerely hope that you're not upset over this. We've seen what you do to countries you get upset with. Thank you.Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
Albany New York - Man Arrested After Refusing to Remove Anti-War Shirt in Mall
Date: Wed, 05 Mar 2003 06:53:51 -0500 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Man Arrested After Refusing to Remove Anti-War Shirt in Mall BOYCOTT! Crossgates Mall in ALbany NY. ... DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! Man Arrested After Refusing to Remove Anti-War Shirt in Mall Wednesday, March 05, 2003 ALBANY, N.Y. A man was charged with trespassing in a mall after he refused to take off a T-shirt that said "Peace on Earth" and "Give peace a chance." Mall security approached Stephen Downs, 61, and his 31-year-old son, Roger, on Monday night after they were spotted wearing the T-shirts at Crossgates Mall in a suburb of Albany, the men said. The two said they were asked to remove the shirts made at a store there, or leave the mall. They refused. The guards returned with a police officer who repeated the ultimatum. The son took his T-shirt off, but the father refused. "'I said, `All right then, arrest me if you have to,"' Downs said. "So that's what they did. They put the handcuffs on and took me away." Downs pleaded innocent to the charges Monday night. The New York Civil Liberties Union said it would help with his case if asked. Police Chief James Murley said his officers were just responding to a complaint by mall security. "We don't care what they have on their shirts, but they were asked to leave the property, and it's private property," Murley said. A mall spokeswoman did not return calls Tuesday seeking comment. Monday's arrest came less than three months after about 20 peace activists wearing similar T-shirts were told to leave by mall security and police. There were no arrests. This so-called "patriot" CRAP! is being taken too far! This is still America, isn't it? The last time I looked we still lived by the constitution of this country, or has Bush canned it? Crossgates Mall in suburban Albany, needs to be turned into a ghost town, no oneshould go near the place, spend your money any place but there, sofar, we still have a few freedoms left, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and most important, the freedom to VOTE! To VOTE IDIOTS! out of office. What is it going to take to wake up sleeping America? We still have a government, of the people, for the people and by the people. TH. DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
WAR ALERT! U.S May pull Resolution To Avoid Defeat At U.N. [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. IMPORTANT! PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! It appears that the U.S. facing overwhelming worldwide opposition in it's war for empire and world dominatation may now be be preparing to pull it's resolution from the U.N , rather than risk defeat. By not going for aecond resolution, the U.S will now revert to it's origanal "plan A" and once again again try to claim that it doesn't need a second resolution to launch a now unilateral and of course, totaly illegal war on Iraq.! Cynical, murderous bastards! mart NO TO BUSH! NO WAR ON IRAQ! NO WAR FOR EMPIRE! **== http://truthout.org/docs_03/030603A.shtml TruthOut.org Editor's Note: There is a significant difference of opinion encapsulated in the two articles below, but both speak of an administration that is rapidly running out of diplomatic room to maneuver. The first article describes a number of administration advisees, including Secretary of State Colin Powell, informing Bush that he and the push for war on Iraq are set to take an embarrassing diplomatic pounding at the United Nations. These men are advising Bush to withdraw, seek political cover in the arrest of alleged 9/11 mastermind , rather than suffer a defeat before the Security Council. The second article reports that the administration is mulling over a plan to avoid a vote in the UN, but leaves a unilateral invasion very much on the table. "The president has made clear," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer is quoted as saying, "that whether the United Nations votes or does not vote, that we will disarm Saddam Hussein with a coalition of the willing," It has been clear in recent weeks that the hawks have come to rule the roost in Washington. It appears that, perhaps for the last time, there is again a struggle in the White House between those who want war now and those who have been advocating for a more diplomatic solution. - wrp = http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_1870.shtml Advisors Warn Bush He Faces "Humiliating" Defeat on UN Resolution Capitol Hill Blue Tuesday 4 March 2003 Senior aides to President George W. Bush say he faces a humiliating defeat before the United Nations Security Council next week. And signs emerged today that the U.S. may withdraw the resolution from security council consideration. Secretary of State Colin Powell, fresh from his latest round of meetings with representatives of countries on the Security Council, delivered the bad news to Bush on Monday. "You will lose, Mr. President," Powell told Bush. "You will lose badly and the United States will be humiliated on the world stage." Powell told Bush he has only four of the nine votes needed for approval of a second resolution. As a result, some White House advisors are now urging the President to back off his tough stance on war with Iraq and give UN weapons inspectors more time. "We have no other choice," admits one Bush advisor. "We don't have the votes. We don't have the support." Presidential spokesman Ari Fleisher, in today's press briefing, appeared to signal a U.S. retreat from demanding a vote next week, saying "the president has said he believes that a vote is desirable. It is not mandatory." John Negroponte, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that while it is too early for the United States to withdraw the resolution, "we haven't crossed that bridge," Negroponte said. Powell told Bush on Monday that Turkey's refusal to allow U.S. troops to stage at the country's border with Iraq doomed any chance of consensus at the UN. "Many were watching Turkey," Powell told Bush. "Had they agreed, it might have helped us sway critical votes." Powell met privately today with Mexico Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez to try and "parse" new language for the second resolution to satisfy a Mexican request to modify the text and extend the deadline for weapons inspections. "It (the meeting) did not produce results," a Powell spokesman said afterwards. Publicly, Powell is leaving the door open for the U.S. to withdraw the resolutions saying, telling a German television interviewer: "At the start of next week we'll decide when, depending on what we have heard, we will vote on a resolution. It will be a difficult vote for the U.N. Security Council." Some Bush aides now admit privately that the President, for all his tough talk, may have to back down and postpone his plans to invade Iraq in the near future, delaying any invasion until April or May at the earliest. "The vote in Turkey fucked things up big time," grumbles one White House aide. "It pushes our timetable back. On the other hand, it might give us a chance to save face." "Saving face" could mean backing away from a showdown with the UN Security Council next week and agreeing to le
(FCDSM/CFDSM ) "SUPPORT TO DR SESELJ AND PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC! " [WWW.STOPNATO.OR
From: "Comité_International_pour_la_Défense_de_Slobodan_Milosevic" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: SUPPORT TO DR SESELJ AND PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC ! Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 18:36:02 +0100 Statement from FCDSM/CFDSM (Frenchspeaking Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic) http://www.liberez-milosevic.fr.st February 26, 2003 SUPPORT TO DR SESELJ AND PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC ! THE INIQUITOUS JUDGES OF THE ICTY ARE THE WHORES OF AMERICA AND NATO IS THEIR PANDER ! Dr Seselj has been jailed this day in the gaols of the so-called ICTY. After the kidnapping of President Milosevic and the jailing of numerous Serbian patriots, this new prosecution show again that the ICTY is not a normal court, but a political machine in service of Washington and NATO. Dr Seselj is, in fact, indicted in 2003 for so-called war crimes perpetrate in 1991-1993, so Ten years after. This indiction arrive in reality a few weeks after the shinning success of Dr Seselj, candidate of the United Patriotic Opposition (SPS, JUL, SRS), with the support of Slobodan Milosevic, at the Serbian presidential election. The ICTY, under command of NATO, demonstrate here that its only goal is to impeach the Serbian Patriotic Opposition to restablish Socialism and to overthrow the Western muppets who are in power in Beograd after the ramping coup of October 2000, in depriving it of its charismatic leaders Milosevic and Seselj. The iniquitous Judges of the ICTY are the whores of America and NATO is their pander. FCDSM proclaim again its active support to Dr Seselj and President Milosevic. In order to answer to the persecution of the ICTY, FCDSM decide also to make its action wider and to give its help not only to President Milosevic, the fist Resistant to NATO and New World Order, but also to Dr Seselj and to all the Serbian Patriots jailed in Den Hague by NATO. The FCDSM has decided in order that to participate in the activities of the International Committee to Defend the Serbian Political Prisonners (ICDSPP / CIDPPS), launched this February 24 in Brussels. In this way of united struggle, the Internet site of the FCDSM (http://www.liberez-milosevic.fr.st/) become from this day common to the two committees and the Newspaper SOLIDARITY MILOSEVIC will be published by the two committees. FREE SLOBO AND SESELJ ! FCDSM/CFDSM [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.liberez-milosevic.fr.st Brussels Tel. 02/218.73.09 (Internat. + 32 2 218 73 09) Fax 02/218.73.59 (Internat. + 32 2 218 73 59) Paris Tél/Fax 01.43.83.75.32 (Internat. + 33.1.43.83.75.32) Communiqué de presse du FCDSM/CFDSM (Comité Francophone pour la Défense de Slobodan Milosevic) http://www.liberez-milosevic.fr.st/ 26 février 2003 SOUTIEN AU DR SESELJ ET AU PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC ! LES « JUGES » INIQUES DU TPIY SONT LES PUTAINS DE LAMERIQUE ET LOTAN EST LEUR MAQUEREAU ! Le Dr Seselj vient dêtre emprisonné ce jour dans les geôles du soi-disant « TPIY ». Après le kidnapping du Président Milosevic et lemprisonnement de dizaines de patriotes serbes, cette nouvelle procédure révèle à nouveau que le TPIY nest pas un tribunal mais une machinerie politique au service de Washington et de lOTAN. Le Dr Seselj est, en effet, inculpé en 2003, pour des « crimes de guerre » soi-disant commis en 1991-93, soit dix ans après les faits. Cette inculpation intervient en fait quelques semaines après la brillante percée du Dr Seselj, candidat de lopposition patriotique unie (SPS, JUL, SRS), soutenu par Slobodan Milosevic, à lélection présidentielle serbe. Le TPIY, aux ordres de lOTAN, démontre ainsi que son seul but est dempêcher lopposition patriotique serbe de rétablir le Socialisme et de renverser les marionnettes pro-occidentales au pouvoir à Belgrade depuis le coup détat rampant doctobre 2000, en la privant de ses leaders charismatiques, Milosevic et Seselj. Les « juges » iniques du TPIY sont les putains de lAmérique et lOTAN est leur maquereau ! Le CFDSM réaffirme son soutien actif au Dr Seselj et au Président Milosevic. Afin de répondre aux agissements du TPIY, le CFDSM décide également délargir son champ daction et dapporter son soutien non seulement au Président Milosevic, le premier des résistants à lOTAN et au « Nouvel Ordre Mondial », mais aussi au Dr Seselj et à tous les patriotes serbes détenus dans les geôles de La Haye. Le CFDSM a donc décidé en conséquence de participer étroitement aux activités de l « International Committee to Defend the Serbian Political Prisonners / Comité International pour la Défense des Prisonniers Politiques Serbes » (ICDSPP / CIDPPS), créé ce 24 février à Bruxelles. Dans cette optique unitaire, le site internet du CFDSM (http://www.liberez-milosevic.fr.st/) devient dès ce jour commun aux deux Comités et le bulletin « SOLIDARITE MILOSEVIC » sera publié par les deux comités. FREE SLOBO AND SESELJ ! FCDSM/CFDSM [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.liberez-milosevic.fr.st/ Bruxelles Tel. 02/218.73.09 (Internat. + 32 2 218 73 09) Fax 02/218.73.59 (Internat. + 32 2 218 73 59) Paris Tél/Fax
The Observer (Britain) - "U.S. Spying On U.N. Diplomats " [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Carlos Rovira, Jr." [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 19:55:36 -0800 (PST) Subject: [VSCampaign] U.S. Spying On U.N. Diplomats U.S. Spying On U.N. Diplomats Martin Bright, Ed Vulliamy in New York and Peter Beaumont Sunday March 2, 2003 The Observer (Britain) The United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favour of war against Iraq. Details of the aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York, are revealed in a document leaked to The Observer. The disclosures were made in a memorandum written by a top official at the National Security Agency - the US body which intercepts communications around the world - and circulated to both senior agents in his organisation and to a friendly foreign intelligence agency asking for its input. The memo describes orders to staff at the agency, whose work is clouded in secrecy, to step up its surveillance operations 'particularly directed at... UN Security Council Members (minus US and GBR, of course)' to provide up-to-the-minute intelligence for Bush officials on the voting intentions of UN members regarding the issue of Iraq. The leaked memorandum makes clear that the target of the heightened surveillance efforts are the delegations from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan at the UN headquarters in New York - the so-called 'Middle Six' elegations whose votes are being fought over by the pro-war party, led by the US and Britain, and the party arguing for more time for UN inspections, led by France, China and Russia. The memo is directed at senior NSA officials and advises them that the agency is 'mounting a surge' aimed at gleaning information not only on how delegations on the Security Council will vote on any second resolution on Iraq, but also 'policies', 'negotiating positions', 'alliances' and 'dependencies' - the 'whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results favourable to US goals or to head off surprises'. Dated 31 January 2003, the memo was circulated four days after the UN's chief weapons inspector Hans Blix produced his interim report on Iraqi compliance with UN resolution 1441. It was sent by Frank Koza, chief of staff in the 'Regional Targets'section of the NSA, which spies on countries that are viewed as strategically important for United States interests. Koza specifies that the information will be used for the US's 'QRC' - Quick Response Capability - 'against' the key delegations. Suggesting the levels of surveillance of both the office and home phones of UN delegation members, Koza also asks regional managers to make sure that their staff also 'pay attention to existing non-UN Security Council Member UN-related and domestic comms [office and home telephones] for anything useful related to Security Council deliberations'. Koza also addresses himself to the foreign agency, saying: 'We'd appreciate your support in getting the word to your analysts who might have similar more indirect access to valuable information from accesses in your product lines [ie, intelligence sources].' Koza makes clear it is an informal request at this juncture, but adds: 'I suspect that you'll be hearing more along these lines in formal channels.' Disclosure of the US operation comes in the week that Blix will make what many expect to be his final report to the Security Council. It also comes amid increasingly threatening noises from the US towards undecided countries on the Security Council who have been warned of the unpleasant economic consequences of standing up to the US. Sources in Washington familiar with the operation said last week that there had been a division among Bush administration officials over whether to pursue such a high-intensity surveillance campaign with some warning of the serious consequences of discovery. The existence of the surveillance operation, understood to have been requested by President Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, is deeply embarrassing to the Americans in the middle of their efforts to win over the undecided delegations. The language and content of the memo were judged to be authentic by three former intelligence operatives shown it by The Observer. We were also able to establish that Frank Koza does work for the NSA and could confirm his senior post in the Regional Targets section of the organisation. The NSA main switchboard put The Observer through to extension 6727 at the agency which was answered by an assistant, who confirmed it was Koza's office. However, when The Observer asked to talk to Koza about the surveillance of diplomatic missions at the United Nations, it was then told 'You have reached the wrong number'. On protesting that the assistant had just said this was Koza's extension, the assistant repeated that it was an erroneous extension, an
(Toronto Star) Afghanistan documentary exposes Bush's promises [WWW.STOPNATO.OR
www.thestar.cahttp://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1035778495100&call_pageid=968332188492 The Toronto Star Mar. 2, 2003. 01:00 AM Afghanistan documentary exposes Bush's promises By MICHELE LANDSBERG Remember Afghanistan? U.S. President George Bush was going to go in there, bomb the Taliban out of existence, catch Osama bin Laden, install a brand-new democracy and make sure that "all the boys and girls could go to school." Not only that: By routing the Taliban, Bush could enjoy the rare pleasure of draping himself in the silken mantle of a fighter for women's rights. During his post-war January, 2002 state of the union speech, he introduced leading Afghan feminist and cabinet minister Dr. Sima Samar ("Today, women are free," he said) and basked in the applause of Congress. If you'd like to check up on the progress of those grand promises, you can do so tonight when The Passionate Eye (CBC Newsworld at 10 p.m.) shows The Daughters of Afghanistan, a new documentary featuring journalist and activist Sally Armstrong, who has visited that country dozens of times since she began crusading for Afghan women's rights in 1996. The state of Afghanistan is especially relevant right now though little-reported because the chaos and misery there give us a glimpse of just how difficult it is to reform a country by means of aerial bombardment. Armstrong says that only about 30 per cent of Afghan girls attend school today, due to lack of resources and a Taliban-like fundamentalist grip on the country outside the capital. The warlords are still running the country, and their rule is cruel, violent and deeply misogynist. Outside of Kabul, girls and women are still jailed for trying to escape forced marriages. They are forced to wear the burqa, attacked by fanatic vice squads, and even seized and subjected to demeaning gynecological "chastity" exams if caught anywhere near a man. Schools are firebombed; warlords' troops rape with impunity. Dr. Samar, so admired by President Bush, was forced out of government by a vicious hoked-up fundamentalist plot a mere six months after becoming deputy prime minister. Reduced to a human rights commissioner, she is left without protection or funds by the indifferent U.S. In Armstrong's documentary, the camera follows five women over the course of a year. Among the most heartbreaking: Kamala, reluctantly pregnant with her ninth child, who shrugs that she has no right to refuse sex with her husband. "He hits, so what can I do?" she says. The husband grins and boasts that Islam gives him the "status" of having so many children. Even more wrenching is the plight of Lima, a shy 13-year-old, orphaned by a Taliban attack, who spends her days cooking and cleaning for five younger siblings. Her only breaks are lonely visits to the cemetery where she watches over her mother's grave. The United States has utterly failed to keep its promises to Afghanistan, and especially its promises to reinstate democracy (as though democracy could ever be imposed by outsiders, from above ...as it were). It's worth watching this compelling documentary just to taste the courage and resilience of the women, and the depth of their betrayal by American power. The Washington Post says that American hamburger joints are springing up everywhere in Kabul. There might be post-war hamburgers in Baghdad, too, but there will be no fast-food version of democracy. Speaking of Afghanistan, I was vastly amused recently to receive an e-mailed copy of a National Post editorial from Feb. 21. The editorial scolded me and other "hard-left conspiracy theorists" for predicting that Unocal, an American energy company, would be in Afghanistan "two seconds after the end of bombing in Afghanistan." (Yes, I did write that.) The Post was furious with me and hoped, it said, to make left-wing theories "look silly" for ascribing oily motivations to American wars in Central Asia and the Middle East. It wants to show how wrong we "hard lefties" were about Afghanistan in order to prove that we are equally mistaken about American designs on Iraqi oil. The Post did admit that, back in the mid-'90s, Unocal had entertained Taliban leaders in Texas, hoping to build a natural gas pipeline across Afghanistan to carry Turkmenistan's huge gas reserves to the west. But "Unocal turned its back on Central Asia a long time ago," claimed the Post. True: in 1998, a fierce public relations campaign led by Mavis Leno (wife of Jay Leno) and The Feminist Majority organization made Unocal back off dealings with the fundamentalist fanatics. Unocal explained on its Web site that it respected women's rights too much to do business with the Taliban. Strangely, however, things are not quite so cut and dried as the Post imagines The U.S. energy companies are not yet swarming over ruined Afghanistan because the country is still in a shambles, with no infrastructure, no peace and no safety. The instability a
Link - "Caught on Film - The Bush Credibility Gap" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY == From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 22:40:59 EST Subject: [VSCampaign] Check out Caught on Film Click here: "Caught on Film - The Bush Credibility Gap" http://www.house.gov/appropriations_democrats/caughtonfilm.htm Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
US plans to use toxic gas in Iraq [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Eleanor" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: US plans to use toxic gas in Iraq Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 17:40:36 -0500 The US is preparing to use the toxic riot-control agents CS gas and pepper spray in Iraq in contravention of the Chemical Weapons Convention, provoking the first split in the Anglo-US alliance. Mr Rumsfeld became the first senior figure on either side of the impending conflict to announce his wish to use chemical agents in a little-noticed comment to the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on 5 February. He specified that they could be used "where there are enemy troops in a cave [and] you know there are women and children in there with them". General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke of using them against human shields. The revelations leave the Bush administration open to charges of double standards Leading experts and Whitehall officials fear that using even pepper spray and CS gas would destroy the credibility of the Chemical Weapons Convention, provoke Iraqi chemical retaliation and set a disastrous legal precedent. -- Independent UK , March 2, 2003 Forwarded from MAI-NOT listserv: Date sent: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 09:19:13 -0800 (PST) From:MichaelP <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [MAI-NOT] US PREPARES TO USE TOXIC GASES IN IRAQ "Calmative gases" -- narcotic materials meant to incapacitate rather than kill - "Oh dear, I only intended to calm you down to get you do do what I want - killing you was not even at the back of my mind." MichaelP Remember, the Sunshine Project has shown that the pentagon is also developing chemical agents for domestic use that would be illegal under international treaties for use in warfare. In fact, the group has posted a contract on their site that shows the Office of Naval Research agreed to pay Penn State $88,750 to study the "utility of delivering nonlethal effects against personnel." According to Edward Hammond of the project, "The pentagon is actively assessing different types of calmative compounds, "or narcotic materials meant to incapacitate rather than kill. Science magazine, in August of 2002, reported that the National Institute of Justice, the research division of the Department of Justice, had funded experiments at Pennsylvania State University to determine the effects of inhaling calmative gases and pepper spray as a crowd control device. The resulting papers stated that the research could lead to "weaponized" Valium and other chemical agents for use in crowd control. There is no doubt that, although these chemical agents are initially meant to be used against any group who protests against the many illegal and inhumane activities of this regime, these same compounds will eventually find their onto the battlefield in direct opposition to the Chemical Weapons Convention and dozens of other international treaties. http://www.anotherperspective.org/advoc561.htm l http://www.sunshine-project.org/incapacitants == http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=383006 US plans to use toxic gas in Iraq INDEPENDENT (London) 02 March 2003 By Geoffrey Lean and Severin Carrell The US is preparing to use the toxic riot-control agents CS gas and pepper spray in Iraq in contravention of the Chemical Weapons Convention, provoking the first split in the Anglo-US alliance. "Calmative" gases, similar to the one that killed 120 hostages in the Moscow theatre siege last year, could also be employed. The convention bans the use of these toxic agents in battle, not least because they risk causing an escalation to full chemical warfare. This applies even though they can be used in civil disturbances at home: both CS gas and pepper spray are available for use by UK police forces. The US Marine Corps confirmed last week that both had already been shipped to the Gulf. It is British policy not to allow troops to take part in operations where riot control agents are employed. But the US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has asked President Bush to authorise their use. Mr Bush, who has often spoken of "smoking out" the enemy, is understood to have agreed. Internal Pentagon documents also show that the US is developing a range of calmative gases, also banned for battlefield use. Senior US defence sources predict these could be used in Iraq by elite special forces units to take out command and control bunkers deep underground. Rear Admiral Stephen Baker, a Navy commander in the last Gulf War who is now senior adviser to the Centre for Defence Information in Washington, told The Independent on Sunday that US special forces had knock-out gases that can "neutralise" people. He added: "I would think that if they get a chance to use them, they will." The Pentagon said last week that the decision to use riot control agents "is made by the commander in
AFL-CIO Opposes War With Iraq [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Eleanor" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: AFL-CIO Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 17:42:16 -0500 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12397-2003Feb27.html AFL-CIO Opposes War With Iraq By LEIGH STROPE The Associated Press Thursday, February 27, 2003; 4:43 PM The nation's largest labor federation declared its opposition Thursday to war against Iraq at this time, saying President Bush has not made a case for an attack without broad support from U.S. allies. The executive council of the AFL-CIO, made up of 65 unions, ended its four-day meeting by unanimously passing the carefully worded resolution, which also says Saddam Hussein must be disarmed - with "multilateral resolve, not unilateral action." Organized labor had tough words for President Bush, without naming him directly, saying the United States has squandered the goodwill it enjoyed after the terrorist attacks and insulted the nation's allies. "The president has not fulfilled his responsibility to make a compelling and coherent explanation to the American people and the world," the resolution said. Organized labor has typically backed military action in the past, including strong support for the Vietnam War. "By historical standards, this is unusual and this is significant," Robert Bruno, labor professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said of Thursday's resolution. Morton Bahr, president of the Communications Workers of America, said the resolution was the result of a number of briefings on Iraq with officials who worked in the Clinton administration, including former national security adviser Sandy Berger and former chief of staff John Podesta. "We had real broad input from these guys who had been living with this for a long time," Bahr said, adding that organized labor has historically taken positions on wars that involve American workers and their families. The resolution urges the Bush administration to pursue broad, global consensus to put pressure on Iraq, "ensuring that war, if it comes, will truly be a last resort." Labor officials ended the meeting with a sense of unity in a time of uncertainty, with mounting job losses, a poor economy and a presidential administration that is hostile to their cause, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. Perhaps the defining moment was Wednesday's address by Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, which shocked and enraged labor leaders, Sweeney said. They were particularly angry about her response to a question about the department's proposed new financial reporting requirements. She read from a paper a list of criminal charges involving one union. Teamsters Union President James P. Hoffa, a White House ally whom officials said was growing frustrated with Bush for his administration's anti-union tactics and policies, was particularly enraged over Chao's remarks. He told colleagues in the closed meeting that unions should support a presidential candidate friendly to working Americans. Teamsters spokesman Bret Caldwell said Thursday that the union received calls from White House political director Ken Mehlman and Labor Department lawyer Andrew Siff. Substantive conversations have not yet occurred, Caldwell said, "but the White House certainly is concerned about our dissatisfaction with their approach to labor at this point." An insider trading scandal at a union-owned life insurance company had been expected to dominate the meetings this week. But the executive council took no action or stance regarding Ullico Inc., choosing to wait until a special committee completes its review and issues recommendations regarding the special stock sale that some union leaders took advantage of, netting millions of dollars. The Labor and Justice departments also are investigating, as is a grand jury. -- On the Net: AFL-CIO: http://www.afl-cio.orgDo you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
INTERNATIONAL ACTION ALERT! - Gangster attack on Russian Trade Union Leader [WWW
Forward from mart. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY ===From: "KIM" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Gangster attack on the working leader Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 21:25:05 +0300 Gangster attack on Russian Trade Union LeaderOn February 22 President of the Trade-union Committee of Zashita (Defence) of the Open Actions Society Mine Vargashorskaya Konstantin Pimenov was beaten beastly. It has been about 2100, when Konstantin Pimenov had gone home from his job. Bandits have used steel pipes. At now our comrades life is not in danger but, however, he has to recover his health after wounds that he has received a long time. Apparently this beastly action has been by case that Konstantin is taking participating as a candidate to deputy at election to the State Council of the Komy Republic. The authorities and bosses have decided take away the candidate who isnt please for them but has all chances that he will be a deputy from workers. The Executive Committee of the Association of the Workers Trade-unions (AWT) Defence of Labour asks all comrades send their telegrams and faxes to the Persecutor Office of the Komy Republic with demands to make out this crime and draw in by responsibility who are guilty. The address of the Prosecutor Office of the Komy Republic: 167010, Russia, Syktyvkar, Pushkina street, dom 23. Phone-fax: (8212) 24-44-26. Its possible send copies of your telegrams and faxes on the address of AWT Defence of Labour, phone-fax (095) 292-89-06; e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] and [EMAIL PROTECTED] Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
Columbia- 23 soldiers killed as rebels down (yet another) U.S suplied Blackhawk
From: "ANNCOL" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 5:10 PM Subject: 23 soldiers killed as suspected rebels down helicopter. http://www.anncol.com http://www.anncol.org/eng 23 soldiers killed as suspected rebels down helicopter By Maria Engqvist, ANNCOL Stockholm The Colombian Army looses yet another US donated Black Hawk helicopter during clashes with guerrillas. Several serious reverses for the government forces in the last few weeks. A US donated Black Hawk assault helicopter is thought to have been shot down last Wednesday by leftist rebels, killing all 23 soldiers onboard. The Colombian Army high command initially reported that the helicopter crashed because of bad weather while on a counterinsurgency mission in the mountains of northern Colombia. But local campesino Daniel Linares told daily El Tiempo that the chopper crashed after being shot at, presumably by leftist guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) or the National Liberation Army (ELN). Both rebel armies, who are fighting for socialist reforms, have a strong presence in the area. In recent years Washington has donated 63 assault helicopters to assist the Bogota government in the civil war. Many of them are Black Hawks who have an almost mythical status to Colombia's military top commanders, who see them as just the right weapon to tackle the guerrillas. It is however not the first time that rebels shoot down US donated Black Hawks. During the battle of Dabeiba in the Antioquia department in October 2000, FARC guerrillas shot down one Black Hawk and damaged two others, leaving a total of 56 government troops dead, before retreating. More recently, the Colombian Army has suffered heavy losses at the hands of FARC rebels in the southern department of Putumayo and in the oil-rich eastern departments of Arauca and Casanare. A few weeks ago, 43 paramilitary fighters attached to the Colombian Army's 18th Brigade were killed in a series of clashes in Arauca and Casanare. Only days before, 46 pro-government paramilitary fighters were reported killed by the FARC during a surprise assault in Putumayo where also 5 FARC guerrillas died. The heaviest recent blow to the security forces is however the February 13th shootdown of a US spy plane near the southern town of Florencia. FARC guerrillas are still holding 3 CIA agents from the plane captured and have offered to include them in a prisoner swap for jailed guerrilla fighters. Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
Long Beach California: TELL L.B.CITY COUNCIL "NO WAR ON IRAQ!" [WWW.STOPNATO.OR
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 09:23:05 -0800 Subject: TELL L.B.CITY COUNCIL "NO WAR ON IRAQ!" From: "sharon cotrell" [EMAIL PROTECTED] PLEASE DISTRIBUTE IMMEDIATELY AND WIDELY!February 27, 2003Dear Peace Advocate,Time is running out! Help persuade the Long Beach City Council to pass our "No War On Iraq" Resolution. They will consider the issue next Tuesday, March 4.WHAT YOU CAN DO!CALL, E-MAIL & FAX OUR DEMAND TO THE COUNCIL!(Start now; see contact info below)ATTEND THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING!(Rally at 4:15 PM; enter Council Chambers 5 PMCONTINUE TO GET SIGNATURES ON OUR RESOLUTION/PETITION!(downloadable at www.lbapn.net or call us)City councils of over 121 cities, counties and state legislative bodies across the country have already adopted similar resolutions aimed at preventing war against Iraq and reclaiming US democracy.Information on this national campaign, "Cities for Peace" is available at www.citiesforpeace.org., including "talking points." If you have other questions, call us at the numbers listed below.SUGGESTIONS FOR CALLING:When calling, if the Councilperson is not available, ask to speak their Chief of Staff. Briefly explain why you are against this war. Emphasize that you support a Resolution Against War on Iraq. Please mention also that you think this issue of war and peace is a local issue. Some claim it is a national issue and not one our City Council should consider.Call every Councilperson and the Mayor. After you have called them then send an email or fax as well. Messages can be left anytime by voice mail.It is very important that you do this by noon, Tuesday, March 4. Please share with us any responses you get. =TUESDAY, MARCH 4, RALLY AT LONG BEACH CITY HALL 4:15 PMWe will rally outside City Hall rain or shine. Join us! However, if you can't arrive by 4:15, do come to the Council Meeting as soon as you can. It begins at 5 PM, but our issue will not come up until later. if you have to come late, do so, but please come.Wear peace buttons and peace T-shirts if you have them. We may have small placards to identify us as peace advocates.We anticipate good press coverage for this important event.Over 1600 of us marched in Long Beach on Feb. 15. Let'smake our numbers felt again.For info call Sharon at (562)433-7025; Kathy (562)498-3512 or Gene at (562)438-6505 CITY HALL CONTACT INFORMATIONMayor - Beverly O'NeillCall: (562) 570-6801 Fax: (562) 570-6538[EMAIL PROTECTED]-District 1 - Bonnie LowenthalCall:(562) 570-6919 Fax: (562) 570-6590[EMAIL PROTECTED]--District 2 - Dan BakerCall:(562) 570-6684 Fax:(562) 570-6882[EMAIL PROTECTED]--District 3Frank Colonna (Vice Mayor)Call: (562) 570-6310 Fax:(562) 570-6186[EMAIL PROTECTED]--District 4 - Dennis CarrollCall: (562) 570-6918 Fax: (562) 570-5235[EMAIL PROTECTED]District 5 - Jackie KellCall: (562) 570-6932 Fax: (562) 570-6857[EMAIL PROTECTED]-District 6 - Laura RichardsonCall: (562) 570-6816 Fax: (562) 570-7135[EMAIL PROTECTED]District 7 - Tonia Reyes UrangaCall: (562) 570-6139 Fax : (562) 570-6954[EMAIL PROTECTED]District 8 - Robb WebbCall: (562) 570-6685 Fax: (562) 570-5982[EMAIL PROTECTED]District 9 - Val LerchCall: (562) 570-6137 Fax: (562) 570-6659[EMAIL PROTECTED]Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
NATO Official Arrested For 200 Million Euro Drug Money Laundering Scheme [WWW.S
From: "Mrs. Jela Jovanovic" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: NATO Official Arrested For 200 Million Euro Drug Money Laundering Scheme Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 18:40:06 +0100 http://www.expatica.com/index.asp?pad=2,18,&item_id=29226 Expatica (Netherlands) February 27, 2003 NATO Official Arrested For Fraud -"Nato sources told ANP that the Dutch suspect worked as an assistant to an official who acted as Nato chief Lord Robertson's advisor on central and eastern European affairs." AMSTERDAM - A Dutch official working for Nato in Brussels has been arrested in connection with an alleged plot to launder EUR 200 million in drugs money. The FIOD financial investigation unit confirmed to news agency ANP on Thursday that the man was immediately extradited to the Netherlands following his arrest on 3 February 2003. He faces charges of money laundering and falsifying documents. FIOD would not comment on the details of the allegations the man faced or on the identity of three other people arrested. Nato sources told ANP that the Dutch suspect worked as an assistant to an official who acted as Nato chief Lord Robertson's advisor on central and eastern European affairs. The Dutch suspect organised seminars and group visits for Nato. He did not have diplomatic immunity, but the Dutch Justice ministry sought Lord Robertson's permission to investigate the case. Belgian news wire RVI reported that Brussels police had searched offices at the Nato headquarters in the city in connection with the arrest of the Dutch man. RVI reported that the man was suspected of laundering drug money and that the prosecution service said this brought in profits of more than EUR 200 million. The search of the Nato office follows a search of the suspect's house. Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
Yet Another Whitehouse / Newsmedia Cover Up! - Fwd: (FAIR): Star Witness on Iraq
From: "Daniel Haran" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 3:12 PM Subject: CANESI: FAIR: Star Witness on Iraq Said Weapons Were Destroyed Here's another crucial alert by FAIR. Please call your local media and ask them to report on this story. peace- Daniel. PS: You can subscribe to fair's email list from the front page of their website. Announcements are sent about every two weeks. - Forwarded message from FAIR <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> - Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 11:37:41 -0800 From: FAIR [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Star Witness on Iraq Said Weapons Were Destroyed To: FAIR-L <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> FAIR-L Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting Media analysis, critiques and activism MEDIA ADVISORY: Star Witness on Iraq Said Weapons Were Destroyed: Bombshell revelation from a defector cited by White House and press February 27, 2003 On February 24, Newsweek broke what may be the biggest story of the Iraq crisis. In a revelation that "raises questions about whether the WMD [weapons of mass destruction] stockpiles attributed to Iraq still exist," the magazine's issue dated March 3 reported that the Iraqi weapons chief who defected from the regime in 1995 told U.N. inspectors that Iraq had destroyed its entire stockpile of chemical and biological weapons and banned missiles, as Iraq claims. Until now, Gen. Hussein Kamel, who was killed shortly after returning to Iraq in 1996, was best known for his role in exposing Iraq's deceptions about how far its pre-Gulf War biological weapons programs had advanced. But Newsweek's John Barry-- who has covered Iraqi weapons inspections for more than a decade-- obtained the transcript of Kamel's 1995 debriefing by officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the U.N. inspections team known as UNSCOM. Inspectors were told "that after the Gulf War, Iraq destroyed all its chemical and biological weapons stocks and the missiles to deliver them," Barry wrote. All that remained were "hidden blueprints, computer disks, microfiches" and production molds. The weapons were destroyed secretly, in order to hide their existence from inspectors, in the hopes of someday resuming production after inspections had finished. The CIA and MI6 were told the same story, Barry reported, and "a military aide who defected with Kamel... backed Kamel's assertions about the destruction of WMD stocks." But these statements were "hushed up by the U.N. inspectors" in order to "bluff Saddam into disclosing still more." CIA spokesman Bill Harlow angrily denied the Newsweek report. "It is incorrect, bogus, wrong, untrue," Harlow told Reuters the day the report appeared (2/24/03). But on Wednesday (2/26/03), a complete copy of the Kamel transcript-- an internal UNSCOM/IAEA document stamped "sensitive"-- was obtained by Glen Rangwala, the Cambridge University analyst who in early February revealed that Tony Blair's "intelligence dossier" was plagiarized from a student thesis. Rangwala has posted the Kamel transcript on the Web: http://casi.org.uk/info/unscom950822.pdf. In the transcript (p. 13), Kamel says bluntly: "All weapons - biological, chemical, missile, nuclear, were destroyed." Who is Hussein Kamel? Kamel is no obscure defector. A son-in-law of Saddam Hussein, his departure from Iraq carrying crates of secret documents on Iraq's past weapons programs was a major turning point in the inspections saga. In 1999, in a letter to the U.N. Security Council (1/25/99), UNSCOM reported that its entire eight years of disarmament work "must be divided into two parts, separated by the events following the departure from Iraq, in August 1995, of Lt. General Hussein Kamel." Kamel's defection has been cited repeatedly by George W. Bush and leading administration officials as evidence that 1) Iraq has not disarmed; 2)inspections cannot disarm it; and 3) defectors such as Kamel are the most reliable source of information on Iraq's weapons. * Bush declared in an October 7, 2002 speech: "In 1995, after several years of deceit by the Iraqi regime, the head of Iraq's military industries defected. It was then that the regime was forced to admit that it had produced more than 30,000 liters of anthrax and other deadly biological agents. The inspectors, however, concluded that Iraq had likely produced two to four times that amount. This is a massive stockpile of biological weapons that has never been accounted for, and capable of killing millions." * Secretary of State Colin Powell's February 5 presentation to the U.N. Security Council claimed: "It took years for Iraq to finally admit that it had produced four tons of the deadly nerve agent, VX. A single drop of VX on the skin will kill in minutes. Four tons. The admission only came out after inspectors collected documentation as a result of the defection of Hussein Kamel, Saddam Hussein's late son-in-law." * In a speech last August (8/27/02), Vice President Dick Cheney said Kamel's story "should serve
New York City - March 13 - REPORTS FROM THE "SECOND FRONT"- U.S. War Moves in K
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "us_navy_out_2003 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2003 18:00:54 - Subject: [VSCampaign] NYC 3/13 - U.S. War Moves in Korea & the Philippines Vieques Support Campaign http://www.viequessupport.org E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - PLEASE FORWARD - STOP RACISM & IMPERIALIST WAR! U.S. NAVY OUT OF VIEQUES & ALL OF PUERTO RICO! U.S. MILITARY OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES! U.S. HANDS OFF THE PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF KOREA! SELF-DETERMINATION FOR ALL ASIAN PEOPLES! The Vieques Support Campaign urges everyone to support the event advertised on this e-mail message shown below. The more than a century of the Puerto Rican experience under U.S. control, which began with military invasion, verifies what are the motives of U.S. rulers who are now sounding the call for all out war: outright colonial domination. The war on Iraq is but a stepping stone for U.S. war ambitions throughout the world. From Iraq to the Philippines & Korea - From Puerto Rico to the poor and oppressed communities of the U.S. - the people united can never be defeated! - REPORTS FROM THE "SECOND FRONT": U.S. War Moves in Korea & the Philippines A multimedia presentation, cultural performances, & interactive discussion. - SAVE THE DATE - Thursday, March 13, 2003 6:30 PM Korean American Association office 149 West 24th Street, 6th floor Manhattan, New York City While U.S./British armed forces are assembling a massive force to invade and "liberate" Iraq, the Pentagon is quietly opening a "second front" in the Pacific. This community forum will discuss the U.S.'s recent war moves in East Asia: At the same time as 3,000 heavily armed Special Forces and Marines are landing in the southern Philippines for counter-insurgency operations, a large force of U.S. warships, planes and weapons of mass destruction are massing to threaten the People's Democratic Republic of Korea (north Korea). This forum will explore American claims that it is exporting "democracy" abroad, and contrast these claims to the lived reality of decades of U.S. military occupation and domination. The vibrant resistance struggles waged by the Korean and Filipino peoples - past and present day - will be highlighted. We hope that participants will emerge from this forum with a greater understanding of these popular struggles in Korea and the Philippines, and how they are connected to other liberation struggles around the world. In addition, we will discuss ways that people in NYC can get more involved in people-to-people solidarity work. Presenters will include past participants of Korea Exposure and Education Program (KEEP), sponsored by Nodutdol (NYC) and Mindullae (L.A.). Members of NISPOP's Reality Tour and the International Solidarity Mission to the Southern Philippines (ISM) in the summer of 2002 will also present at this forum. Performances will be in English, Korean, and Tagalog. There will be a question & answer session afterwards. This event is free to the public. Donations welcomed. Light Korean and Filipino refreshments will be served afterwards. This event is part of 1953-2003 Armistice to Peace Treaty in Korea campaign and the Justice not War in the Philippines campaign. It is a joint production of the Network in Solidarity with the People of the Philippines (www.nispop.org) and Nodutdol for Korean Community Development (www.nodutdol.com). This event is free to the public. Donations welcome. Light Korean and Filipino refreshments will be served afterwards. We invite all groups and organizations to endorse this event. For more info, please contact Sukjong Hong at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
(CP of Greece) - US DIPLOMAT SERVING IN ATHENS RESIGNS IN PROTEST AGAINST THE WA
From: SolidNet To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, February 28, 2003 7:23 AM Subject: (CP of Greece) US DIPLOMAT SERVING IN ATHENS RESIGNS IN PROTEST AGAINST THE WARhttp://www.solidnet.org News, documents and calls for action from communist and workers parties. The items are the responsibility of the authors. Join the mailing list: info/subscribe/unsubscribe mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] . == US DIPLOMAT SERVING IN ATHENS RESIGNS protesting against the war From: Communist Party of Greece, Fri, 28 Feb 2003 http://www.kke.gr , mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] = We forward you the following info that has attracted the interest of all mainstream media in our country. B. Kiesling, political counsellor at the US Embassy in Athens and head of its political department resigned yesterday in protest against the US policy on Iraq. Also today, tens of students' unions and the campaign "Action-Thessaloniki 2003" organize a demonstration to the ministry of education, protesting against the educational policy of the EU and the EU meeting of the ministers of education in Athens. Tomorrow, March 1, students' unions, trade unions, the campaign "Action-Thessaloniki 2003", the Balkan Anti NATO Center, call for a big demonstration to the US embassy demanding peace and education The International Section of CPG .. Macedonian Press Agency US DIPLOMAT SERVING IN ATHENS RESIGNS Thessaloniki, 27 February 2003 (21:42 UTC+2) A veteran US diplomat, who was serving in the US Embassy in Athens, resigned in protest over the policy followed by his country on the issue of Iraq. According to the Greek state-run television, the US diplomat states in the resignation letter addressed to US Secretary of State Colin Powell that the policy followed by the US government on the issue of Iraq hurts the greatest weapon the US has since the time of Woodrow Wilson namely, international legality. Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
DEMOCRACY SHOCKER!! BUSH SAYS DEMOCRACY WILL COME TO IRAQ AND MAY EVENTUALLY REA
From: "Vicki Andrada" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fw: [blind-side] DEMOCRACY SHOCKER!! BUSH SAYS DEMOCRACY WILL COME TO IRAQ AND MAY EVENTUALLY REACH U.S. !!! Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 01:39:10 -0500 www.Borowitzreport.com Waste Someone's Time: Forward to a Friend. BUSH: DEMOCRACY WILL COME TO IRAQ AND MAY EVENTUALLY REACH U.S.!President Offers Rosiest Postwar Scenario to Date In a speech tonight before the American Enterprise Institute in Chicago, President George W. Bush predicted that democracy would come to postwar Iraq and might eventually reach the U.S. as well. "A new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom to other nations of the region," Mr. Bush said. "And who knows? If democracy works in Iraq, we might give it a try, too." The President, under criticism for not laying out his vision for a postwar Iraq, told his audience, "In a democratic Iraq, a President would be legitimately elected by a majority of the popular vote, not by mysterious electors or politically appointed robed justices." Such an Iraqi President, Mr. Bush said, "would listen to all of the voices in his country, and not merely pander to extremists or corrupt moneyed interests." In addition, the President said, "In a democratic Iraq, those who choose to voice their dissent by protesting will be recognized and listened to, not derided and ignored." While President Bush stopped short of saying that an Iraqi-style democracy could take root in the U.S. in the near future, he added hopefully, "You never know - it could happen." Immediately following his speech, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer tempered Mr. Bush's remarks somewhat, saying that the President "was speaking metaphorically" about the prospects for democracy in the United States. "The President does in fact believe that democracy will come to the United States after the war is over," Mr. Fleischer said, "but not a moment sooner." = BOROWITZ ON CNN FRIDAY MORNING Andy Borowitz wraps up the week's biggest stories this Friday morning on CNN's "American Morning" with Paula Zahn. Check local listings. BOROWITZ ON NPR SUNDAY Andy Borowitz challenges Saddam Hussein to a debate this Sunday on National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition Sunday." Check local listings.Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, and more
(Robert Fisk) "How the news will be censored in this war " PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WID
Forward from mart. IMPORTANT! A "MUST READ"! PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! * Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 19:56:46 -0600 Subject: ROBERT FISK: How the news will be censored in this war From: "Alejandro Molina" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "Whole Wide World" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Robert Fisk: How the news will be censored in this war A new CNN system of 'script approval' suggests the Pentagon will have nothing to worry about 25 February 2003 Already, the American press is expressing its approval of the coverage of American forces which the US military intends to allow its reporters in the next Gulf war. The boys from CNN, CBS, ABC and The New York Times will be "embedded" among the US marines and infantry. The degree of censorship hasn't quite been worked out. But it doesn't matter how much the Pentagon cuts from the reporters' dispatches. A new CNN system of "script approval" the iniquitous instruction to reporters that they have to send all their copy to anonymous officials in Atlanta to ensure it is suitably sanitised suggests that the Pentagon and the Department of State have nothing to worry about. Nor do the Israelis. Indeed, reading a new CNN document, "Reminder of Script Approval Policy", fairly takes the breath away. "All reporters preparing package scripts must submit the scripts for approval," it says. "Packages may not be edited until the scripts are approved... All packages originating outside Washington, LA (Los Angeles) or NY (New York), including all international bureaus, must come to the ROW in Atlanta for approval." The date of this extraordinary message is 27 January. The "ROW" is the row of script editors in Atlanta who can insist on changes or "balances" in the reporter's dispatch. "A script is not approved for air unless it is properly marked approved by an authorised manager and duped (duplicated) to burcopy (bureau copy)... When a script is updated it must be re-approved, preferably by the originating approving authority." Note the key words here: "approved" and "authorised". CNN's man or woman in Kuwait or Baghdad or Jerusalem or Ramallah may know the background to his or her story; indeed, they will know far more about it than the "authorities" in Atlanta. But CNN's chiefs will decide the spin of the story. CNN, of course, is not alone in this paranoid form of reporting. Other US networks operate equally anti-journalistic systems. And it's not the fault of the reporters. CNN's teams may use clichés and don military costumes you will see them do this in the next war but they try to get something of the truth out. Next time, though, they're going to have even less chance. Just where this awful system leads is evident from an intriguing exchange last year between CNN's reporter in the occupied West Bank town of Ramallah, and Eason Jordan, one of CNN's top honchos in Atlanta. The journalist's first complaint was about a story by the reporter Michael Holmes on the Red Crescent ambulance drivers who are repeatedly shot at by Israeli troops. "We risked our lives and went out with ambulance drivers... for a whole day. We have also witnessed ambulances from our window being shot at by Israeli soldiers... The story received approval from Mike Shoulder. The story ran twice and then Rick Davis (a CNN executive) killed it. The reason was we did not have an Israeli army response, even though we stated in our story that Israel believes that Palestinians are smuggling weapons and wanted people in the ambulances." The Israelis refused to give CNN an interview, only a written statement. This statement was then written into the CNN script. But again it was rejected by Davis in Atlanta. Only when, after three days, the Israeli army gave CNN an interview did Holmes's story run but then with the dishonest inclusion of a line that said the ambulances were shot in "crossfire" (ie that Palestinians also shot at their own ambulances). The reporter's complaint was all too obvious. "Since when do we hold a story hostage to the whims of governments and armies?We were told by Rick that if we do not get an Israeli on-camera we would not air the package. This means that governments and armies are indirectly censoring us and we are playing directly into their own hands." The relevance of this is all too obvious in the next Gulf War. We are going to have to see a US army officer denying everything the Iraqis say if any report from Iraq is to get on air. Take another of the Ramallah correspondent's complaints last year. In a package on the damage to Ramallah after Israel's massive incursion last April, "we had already mentioned right at the top of our piece that Israel says it is doing all these incursions because it wants to crack down on the infrastructure of terror. However, obviously that was not enough. We were made by the ROW (in Atlanta) to repeat this same idea three times in one piece, just to make sure that we keep just
Canadians spied for U.S. in Cuba [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "David" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed Sep 25, 2002 11:44 pmSubject: Canadians spied for U.S. in Cuba The Ottawa Citizen Wednesday, September 20, 2002 Canadians spied for U.S. in Cuba Research paper says request followed Castro's rise to power. By Jim Bronskill The Ottawa Citizen Canada spied on Cuba for the United States in the early 1960s, supplying the CIA with information on political and military developments in the Cold War hotspot, a new research paper reveals. Canadian diplomats began providing intelligence about the government of Fidel Castro at the direct request of Washington after the U.S. pulled out of Cuba and broke off diplomatic relations, says the paper by Don Munton, a professor in the international studies program at the University of Northern British Columbia. In Our Men in Havana: Washington and Canadian Intelligence on Castro's Cuba, 1959-1963, Mr. Munton says Canada came under particular pressure to fulfil U.S. demands during the tense 1962 missile crisis. "This espionage was carried out not by intelligence agents, but by diplomats working out of the Canadian Embassy in Havana," Mr. Munton writes. A draft of the paper, to be presented this week during the Canadian Association for Security and Intelligence Studies conference in Ottawa, was made available to The Citizen. Mr. Munton based his findings on interviews with some of the individuals and declassified documents from Canadian, U.S. and British archives. Following Mr. Castro's rise to power in 1959, Cuban-American relations deteriorated amid a tide of anti-U.S. rhetoric and the nationalization of U.S. companies. The U.S. closed its Havana embassy in January 1961, and a CIA-backed plan to invade Cuba -- the Bay of Pigs operation -- failed miserably. Mr. Castro looked to the Soviet Union for help and Moscow began planning the secret installment of ballistic missiles on the island. Canada balked at removing Mr. Castro by force even though it opposed a strong Soviet presence in Cuba. Canada also maintained diplomatic and trade relationswith Cuba. In early 1961, the U.S. asked Canada and Britain to provide information about Cuba, and External Affairs, as Foreign Affairs was then known, worked out arrangements by spring. Intelligence that began to flow to Ottawa and Washington came not only from sources in Havana and careful observation, but also from Cubans, including senior government officials, members of anti-Castro forces in Cuba, a released prisoner and a civilian pilot. On occasion, information from Canadians living in Cuba was also reported, particularly observations of Catholic priests and nuns. Other intelligence came from Canadians who had travelled to Cuba, including the editor of the UnitedChurch Observer. In May 1963, prime minister Lester Pearson agreed to a request from U.S. president John F. Kennedy to intensify the intelligence efforts. "As a result of this secret agreement, Canadian diplomats were within months being trained by the CIA to perform covert intelligence work, much of it to be of a tasked, military nature," the paper says. "By mid-1963 they were in place in Havana." While Canada's operations in Cuba may seem at odds with its "boy scout" international image, Mr. Munton argues Canada has long exchanged intelligencewith key allies. He believes the Canadian government likely agreed to the role as a means of fulfilling obligations to the U.S. and other countries that had channelled valuable information to Canada from around the globe. Mr. Munton also muses as to whether the Canadian intelligence efforts continue in Castro's Cuba, noting Canada's embassy in Havana is still open, but the U.S.embassy remains closed. . © Copyright 2002 The Ottawa Citizen Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos, & more faith.yahoo.com
FWD: Gov. Bush Reveals [Bacardi] Lobby Effort [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY. NO TO BUSH! NO TO THE BLOCKADE! BOYCOTT BACARDI! DRINK GENUINE 'HAVANA CLUB' FROM CUBA! *** == From: "Walter Lippmann" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Fri Oct 18, 2002 8:10 pm Subject: Gov. Bush Reveals [Bacardi] Lobby Effort Gov. Bush Reveals Lobby Effort Documents Show Intervention in Trademark Case of GOP Donor By Thomas B. Edsall Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, October 18, 2002; Page A12 Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has released documents outlining a sustained lobbying campaign by his office on behalf of a major Republican donor, which included efforts to get political appointees of President Bush to overrule career employees at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO). The disclosures, prompted by a Freedom of Information request from the Florida Democratic Party, add new details about the time and effort the governor and several top aides devoted to the matter, which centers on a trademark battle between Bacardi Rum and a foreign rival. The inch-high pile of documents indicate that the process began early this year and gained momentum with an April 18 e-mail to Gov. Bush from Jorge Rodriguez-Marquez, Bacardi's vice president for corporate communications. With a subject line reading "BACARDI NEEDS YOUR HELP. Importance: High," Rodriguez-Marquez complained about "U.S. government bureaucrats.'' He added, "Someone needs to tell PTO to stop interfering.'' Four hours later, Bush forwarded a copy to his chief of staff, Kathleen Shanahan, with the comment, "this is ridiculous. let us discuss. Jeb Bush." His e-mail set in motion a process that involved Shanahan; Nino Oviedo, who runs Florida's Washington office; Melissa Freedman, who works in the D.C. office; James E. Rogan, a former California congressman named by President Bush to head the U.S. patent office; Rogan's deputy, Jon W. Dudas, a political appointee; and such career PTO lawyers and staffers as Eleanor Meltzer and Lynne Beresford, according to the documents. A March 18 e-mail from Freedman to Oviedo describes Dudas making sure that Bush and Bacardi were content with the process. "Jon Dudas, from PTO, called . . . to make sure the meeting we had with Eleanor Meltzer and himself has been helpful," it said. For months, Rodriguez-Marquez pressed for action. On May 10, for example, he e-mailed Oviedo and Freedman: "If someone could have the determination and power to stop legal career bureaucrats from abricating delays, this adverse and unfortunate government intervention . . . would end." On May 13, he e-mailed Freedman: "Now it is time for those career bureaucrats at PTO who are not happy that Bacardi is right to move out of the way and let justice be finally delivered." The lobbying by Rodriguez-Marquez and Gov. Bush's office, according to two sources close to the case, succeeded in winning the removal of a PTO lawyer who had been temporarily assigned to handle procedural questions and who had issued one ruling against Bacardi's interests. A PTO spokeswoman denied that political pressure was involved in the transfer of David M. Mermelstein. She said he was taken off the case because his assignment was temporary. Mermelstein declined to comment. The new details prompted an angry response from lawyers representing Bacardi's adversary in the trademark dispute, Havana Club Holdings S.A., a joint venture between the Cuban enterprise Havana Club Holdings and Pernod Ricard, a French firm. They are fighting for control of the brand name "Havana Rum." Charles Sims, Havana Club Holdings's lawyer, said, "Bacardi's attempt to bring political influence to bear on a matter that is supposed to be decided by administrative law judges on rules of law is grossly improper. The law bars ex-parte communications," he said, referring to communications involving only one party to a dispute. On June 13, two weeks after Bacardi gave the Florida GOP $50,000, Jeb Bush wrote to Rogan on behalf of Bacardi. He asked Rogan to "take quick, decisive action" to resolve the trademark dispute in Bacardi's favor. Rodriguez-Marquez said in a statement that the company's requests for help from the governor "have nothing to do with political contributions. . . . Florida businesses and citizens expect they may turn to the Governor's office when their legitimate and legally resolved issues are in jeopardy." Elizabeth Hirst, spokeswoman for Jeb Bush, said campaign contributions played no role in the governor's actions. "When Governor Bush makes a decision,'' she said, "he is working of behalf of all the people of this state." © 2002 The Washington Post Company Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos, & more faith.yahoo.com
Fwd: Michael Parenti On KPFA - "Iraq and The Terrorism Trap" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.U
From: "Jim Yarker" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: KPFA interview: Michael Parenti on Iraq and The Terrorism Trap Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 21:33:44 -0400 Dennis Bernstein interviews Dr. Parenti on Flashpoints, KPFA-Berkeley, 10/15/02 Click here:http://www.flashpoints.net/cgi-bin/ra.pl?date=20021015&start=05:00 05:02 Dennis: war on Iraq seems like a foregone conclusion.. oil companies salivating.. why Iraq, why now?.. now w Michael Parenti, author of To Kill A Nation and The Terrorism Trap.. (order from Cody's Online).. Michael: originally Saddam was one of our boys.. put in place by the CIA to destroy democracy in Iraq and attack Iran.. he was our boy.. then he raised prices.. the US oil boys don't have a drop of Iraq's oil.. if the US goes in, it will be one of the biggest oil grab in history.. second reason: US to be the only superpower, and no country goes it's own way.. before 1991, Iraq had the highest standard of living in the Middle East.. had both oil and water.. Iraq could have emerged as regional power.. not to be permitted by US.. like Yugoslavia.. everything privatized, everybody poor.. turning these countries into little impoverished third world.. third reason: ^.. about depleted uranium and high cancer rates.. another war on Iraq, who's going to be killed?.. women, children, old men, grandmas, young women.. and there have been bombings practically every week.. Bush has closer relations with the bin Laden family than Saddam does.. the reasons that Bush is laying out are not true.. another fact dropped down the memory hole: US gave biological and chemical weaponry to Iraq.. US taxpayers paid for Saddam's buildup.. about the totally fabricated story of 500 babies ripped off incubators during the Iraq assault on Kuwait.. war is good for the economy.. auto accidents are good for the economy, too, but.. there is no *rogue* state that has the aggressive history of the US.. Dennis: US has even used nuclear weapons against their own species.. Michael: Connie Chung asked a California congressman, you mean you don't believe the president?.. like religious faith.. we're supposed to put our faith in GW Bush?.. swallowing propaganda like children.. the media is terrible on this issue.. they haven't reported on the massive demonstrations in Europe.. or reported on protests here.. and they haven't reported the facts we're talking about here.Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos, & more faith.yahoo.com
(Counterpunch) "THE ROMA AND "HUMANITARIAN" ETHNIC CLEANSING IN KOSOVO" [WWW.STO
From: Gregory Elich [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]Sent: Thursday, October 17, 2002 7:44 AMSubject: The Roma and "Humanitarian" Ethnic Cleansing in KosovoCounterPunchOctober 15, 2002THE ROMA AND "HUMANITARIAN" ETHNIC CLEANSING IN KOSOVOBy Sani RifatiI am a Rom (more commonly known as "Gypsy") who was born in Kosovo,Yugoslavia, and lived in Pristina (the capital of the Kosovo region) for 27 years. In the summer of 2000, ten years later, I was only 30 miles away in Macedonia but I could not visit the town where I lived most of my life. This was more than three years after the "humanitarian bombing" by U.S.-NATO forces andescalation of ethnic conflict began in Kosovo on March 24th, 1999. But it was still too dangerous for me, as a dark-skinned "Madjupi" (Albanian term connoting"lower than garbage"), to set foot inside of Kosovo.Finally, the day arrived (May 2nd, 2002) when I could visit my place ofbirth, the place of so many memories from my youth. But that place--where I grew up with my four brothers and one sister, cousins, relatives, neighbors,friends-- no longer existed. Everything had been wiped away. The new and renovated houses, villas, gas stations, motels, all built in the past three years by the triumphant ethnic Albanians, made Kosovo look like a foreign country to me. I didn't know what to feel in that moment of returning. Fear, happiness,anger, sadness? The paradox that crossed my mind was that all this rebuilding is beingsponsored by international relief agencies and financed by development and investment companies with such well-known heads as Dick Cheney and George Soros. Meanwhile the Roma, Serbs, Gorani, Bosnians, Turks and otherminorities in Kosovo are starving! While most of these international institutions were bragging about "free and democratic Kosovo," these peoples were forced to abandon their homes, suffering a "humanitarian" supported ethnic cleansing that has been virtually invisible to the rest of the world. The ironicconsequence of NATO/US rescue of oppressed Albanians is that they then became oppressors themselves.This May, as President of Voice of Roma (VOR), I led a trip to Kosovo with delegates representing human rights, refugee assistance, and peace groups from the U.S., Germany, Italy, and Holland. Most people working in suchorganizations think that Kosovo is free now, and that its people are living in harmony and peace. They are surprised when I inform them that the ethnic minorities in Kosovo are still fleeing. I wanted them to witness with their own eyes what is going on there.The delegates were housed in the Romani communities, south of Pristina. Each family hosted two or more delegates. The delegates spent time with and got to know people who had been caught in heavy crossfire between Serbs andAlbanians, suffered from the heavy bombing by NATO's forces, and experienced discrimination by K-FOR forces, the U.N. Police, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and Western European foreign policies. The delegates were appalled by the stories they heard and shocked at the conditions under which the Kosovo Roma were living.Since NATO's "peace-keepers" arrived in Kosovo, more than 300,000 ethnic minorities have been "cleansed" from the region by extremist Albanians. It has been more than a year since the U.N. Interim Administration in Kosovo(UNMIK) or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) released any statements about human rights abuses of minorities in Kosovo. Surprisingly, such NGOs as Doctors Without Borders (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize), the International Red Cross, Oxfam, and many more have failed the ethnicminorities in Kosovo by not addressing their problems. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are alone in reporting on minority human rights abuses inKosovo.My question is: If NATO's so-called humanitarian bombing was to stop "ethnic cleansing," why are the same Western powers now so unwilling to intervene on behalf of the actual ethnic cleansing of Romani people and other minorities in Kosovo?The ethnic cleansing of the Roma since U.N. peace-keepers arrived in June 12th of 1999 has resulted in more than 75% of this population (over 100,000Romani people) fleeing Kosovo. Still the media and the international "humanitarian" community are silent. U.S. and Western media did not catch any of these events on their radar screens, or rather willingly ignored these horrors. (See our report The Current Plight of the Roma in Kosovo, available from Voice of Roma, P.O. Box 514, Sebastopol, CA 95473.)The majority of the Roma who are left in Kosovo (25,000 out of a prewarpopulation of 150,000) are internal refugees, but they do not have the official status of refugees. Instead these Roma are labeled "internally-displaced persons" (IDPs), with fewer recognized rights than refugees, and are restricted to camps with very poor facilities. Some Roma do live in Serbian controlled enclaves. No other ethnic group is in the IDP camps, only R
Victory for students in computer battle [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. Please Distribute Widely. - Original Message - From: ANNCOL [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, October 14, 2002 5:46 PM Subject: Victory for students in computer battle Victory for students in computer battle By Maria Engqvist, ANNCOL Stockholm The University of California has abandoned plans to punish a student collective for linking to the website of the Colombian guerrilla organisation FARC-EP. Californian students have won the first round in a battle against new US terror legislation. Last month the Director for Judicial Affairs at the University of California, Nicholas S Aguilar, ordered the student group Che Cafe Collective to remove a link to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) from their website. The University Director claimed that the link to the left wing Colombian rebel army constituted a breach of the new USA Patriot Act , since the FARC has been labeled a "terrorist group" by the US government. The student group Che Cafe Collective however refused to change the content of their website and was supported by a number of university organisations throughout the country. Last week, the American Association of University Professors and nine other groups wrote a letter asking the University to abandon its threats of disciplinary action against the Che Cafe Collective. The FARC link is part of a collection of primary media sources known as the BURN-project. The editors of the project posted the following statementat the website as a response to the University Director's threats: "The extent of our "support" for the FARC is a hyperlink. Nowhere does itsay that we like or dislike the FARC. We simply provide a link to their page so that people can make up their own minds about them. -In a world where this is a crime, we all have responsability to be criminals." According to the online journal news.com the University of California hasnow changed it's stand on the issue after receiving many calls supporting the students' right to freedom of expression. [Read more at http://www.anncol.com] Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos, & more faith.yahoo.com
FWD: (Voice 4 Change) "Congress Wraps in Flag, Turns Back on Country" [WWW.STOPN
Congress Wraps in Flag, Turns Back on Country Sheryl McCarthy October 10, 2002 In the summer of 1950, Charles Rangel's Army unit, the Second Infantry Division, left Fort Lewis, Wash., for South Korea to fight the North Koreans and the Chinese. Fifty-two years later, that same division is still mired in Korea, guarding the South against the North, says Rangel, who was wounded there. So it's with no little knowledge of war that he believes that for the United States to make war on Iraq would be a terrible mistake. If some enemy were planning to attack the United States, and we had the evidence, "I'd have no problem with a pre-emptive strike and taking them out," Congressman Rangel, who has represented Harlem for 32 years, told me the other day. But going to war against Iraq at this time would be wrong, he said. http://www.voice4change.org/redir.asp?url=http://www.newsday.com/news/ opinion/columnists/ny-vpmcc102959808oct10,0,663503.column For the rest of the story: http://www.voice4change.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- It's Now Congress's war Too! We did what we could. We called, e-mailed, sent letters and petitions to our representatives, marched, and held vigils. The Government did not listen. The time has come to escalate; Mass Action is now the necessary. Civil Disobedience must now be a tactic that we use. Below you will find out who voted for and against war. In addition, a very good press conference led by members of the House that voted No. We must thank them and the 23 Senators who also said no to war. Additionally we must not forget those who voted yes on Election Day. To view the rest of the story: http://www.voice4change.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Support for War Based on Bush Lies While President Bush marshals congressional and international support for invading Iraq, a growing number of military officers, intelligence professionals and diplomats in his own government privately have deep misgivings about the administration's double-time march toward war. These officials charge that administration hawks have exaggerated evidence of the threat that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein poses -- including distorting his links to the al-Qaida terrorist network -- have overstated the amount of international support for attacking Iraq and have downplayed the potential repercussions of a new war in the Middle East. They charge that the administration squelches dissenting views and that intelligence analys ts are under intense pressure to produce reports supporting the White House's argument that Saddam poses such an immediate threat to the United States that pre-emptive military action is necessary. "Analysts at the working level in the intelligence community are feeling very strong pressure from the Pentagon to cook the intelligence books," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity. A dozen other officials echoed his views in interviews. To view the rest of the story: http://www.voice4change.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Excerpt From Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence (full text at: http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html ) By Rev. Martin Luther King 4 April 1967 Speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967, at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. To view the rest of the story: http://www.voice4change.org = Moving from a Culture of War to a Culture of Peace by David Adams On that dark day, September 11, the violence of the culture of war in the hands of men trained by the CIA in the far reaches of Central Asia converged on New York City, home of Wall Street, and Washington, home of the Pentagon.. "Blowback," they called it. Not that such violence is new in the world, but this time it struck at the center of empire, with main-line television on hand to broadcast. And since that day, the forces of the culture of war, on all sides, calling for vengeance, have moved toward a reign of terror and repression throughout the world. Martin Luther King wrote in Strength to Love: "Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction The chain reaction of evilhate begetting hate, wars producing more warsmust be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation." To view the rest of the story: http://www.voice4change.org -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
FWD: - "10 things to do in less than one hour to stop Bush's war on Iraq!" [WWW
From main line News ( [EMAIL PROTECTED]) Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2002 12:47:14 -0400 From: Natalie Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Subject: 10 things to do in less than one hour to stop Bush's war on Iraq!10 things to do in less than one hour to stop Bush's war on Iraq!If you have just one hour to spare you can help build theOCT 26 NATIONAL MARCH TO STOP BUSH'S WAR AGAINST IRAQ BEFORE IT STARTS!Here are some of the things that you can do in a short amount of time:1. Make 10 phone calls. We will send you 10 names and phone numbers ofpeople to call about the protest along with a suggested script.2. Put up 10 posters at message boards at your school, work place, localgrocery store, library, cafe, or union.3. Take 10 flyers (we have special flyers for students, trade unionists,community at large, BGE/Utility prices for Oct 26). Please let us knowwhich flyer is most helpful or if you want copies of each. Flyers can beposted on boards, given to firends, or MAIL 10 friends or family memberswith this message.4. Send out an email message about the demonstration to everyone in youraddress book.OR DO ALL FOUR THINGS!Just email us back with your name, address, zip and phone number so we canmail you flyer or posters.And don't forget to get your tickets for the buses. Buses will be leavingfrom the All Peoples Congress Hall, 426 E. 31st St. (near 31st & GreenmountAve.) at 9 A.M. and returning by 6 P.M. Let us know if you would like aticket. Tickets are $10 round trip and we will mail it to you. Thank you.-Be part of the solution! Work for a better world at The Armchair Activist & Armchair-Activism GLBThttp://www.armchair-activist.org Peace - Social, Legal, & Economic Justice - Environment - Anti-BushIt's an activist's job to be informed: All Facts & Opinions - http://gratefuldread.net/fandoDo you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos, & more faith.yahoo.com
Fwd: (Stop IMF List) - Re: "IMF defends actions in Russia!" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
Original Message From: Robert Weissman [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [stop-imf] IMF defends actions in Russia! To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> This is an absolutely stunning piece from the IMF, where it manages todefend its "reform" program for Russia. It fails to acknowledge thatmost of Russia's meager economic accomplishments in recent years tookplace by virtue of its refusal to follow IMF direction -- eg., bydefaulting in 1998 -- and astonishingly belittles the utter failure,corruption and looting of the country's privatization process. (Sure,there were problems with Russia's "dirty privatization," but now itappears it is "starting to confer some broad-based benefits.") For an empirical discussion of the utter theft of the state carried outin the name of the IMF-supported privatization, see an interview we didin Multinational Monitor with Forbes reporter Paul Klebnikov, "Theft ofthe Century: Privatization and the Looting of Russia" athttp://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2002/02jan-feb/jan-feb02interviewklebniko.html --Robert Weissman http://www.imf.org/external/np/vc/2002/082602.htm Has Russia Been on the Right Path?A CommentaryBy Kenneth RogoffEconomic Counsellor and Director,Research Department, IMFVedomosti August 26, 2002 In June, the designation of Russia as a "market economy" by the U. S.Department of Commerceand the announcement by the European Commissionthat it would follow suitwas hailed by President Putin as a recognitionof how far Russia has come ten years after the dissolution of the SovietUnion. This designation comes at a time when crises in some LatinAmerican countries and U.S. corporate scandals have provokedsoul-searching in many quarters about pro-market or "neoliberal"policies. So it is natural to ask: Has Russia been on the right path? And where isit headed? To some Western observers, the answer to the first question is anobvious "No." For instance, according to the distinguished economictheorist Joseph Stiglitz, Russia should have learned from the "enormoussuccess of China, which created its own path of transition, rather thanjust using a blueprint or recipe from Western advisors." China pursued atwo-track approach, pursuing faster market reforms along its coastalregions than in the hinterland. But it is unlikely that China's successful strategy could have beenpursued in Russia. China started its reforms with "the advantage ofbackwardness": it was one of the poorest countries in the world in 1978.Today, after 20 years of growth, the average person in China earns about800 dollars annually, half the income of the average Russian. Of course,China's strategy has created its own challenges; for example, the IMF's2002 World Economic Outlook discusses how Chinese banks are dealing withchallenges resulting from the slow restructuring of state enterprises. Another key difference is that in the former Soviet Union, over 85percent of the workforce was in non-agricultural state enterprisescompared to under 20 percent of the workforce in China. This allowedChina to reform the state sector slowly while it grew by transferringsurplus agricultural labor to township and village enterprises. ButRussia needed to end the subsidization of the state sector to freeresources for the new non-state sectors of the economy. The best evidence that the two-track approach would not have worked inthe transition economies is that such an approach was in fact tried insome countries, and abandoned. In the mid-1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev inthe Soviet Union, Janos Kadar in Hungary, and Wojciech Jaruzelski inPoland did try a Chinese-style approach of limited reform. However, thepower of the center had been significantly eroded so that it was simplynot possible to implement effectively such reforms, even ignoring thefar greater complexity of privatizing industry rather than agriculture.It was the failure of these attempts that led to more aggressive effortstoward a market economy. But even if a two-track approach couldn't be followed, shouldn't thetransition have proceeded more gradually along its single track?Shouldn't the legal and institutional reforms needed to support a marketeconomy have been carried out first? This view is also held by many"gradualists", including not only Professor Stiglitz but also the notedHarvard University Sovietologist Marshall Goldman. They argue thatexisting institutions should have been abandoned only when the newinstitutions, e.g. for financial market oversight and taxation, werefunctional. The gradualist view seems to be that if only Russian leaders could havekept communism going for 20 more years while they sent bank regulatorsand tax inspectors for Western training, everything would have beenbetter. This is improbable for at least a couple of reasons. First, it isunlikely that market institutions could have been developed in alaboratory setting and without actually starting the messy transition tothe market. Institutions take a long time to nurture and thein
FWD: Re: "A generation lost to the market economy in Bulgaria" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG
From: "Irina Malenko" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "mart-remote" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fw: Fw: A generation lost to the market economy in Bulgaria Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 07:49:06 +0100 - Original Message - From: blagovesta doncheva Sent: 11 October 2002 06:12 Subject: Re: Fw: A generation lost to the market economy in Bulgaria Dear All, That article is DISGUSTINGLY MANIPULATIVE - as most of the figures quoted! - and full of DAMNED LIES! What makes me especially mad is that repeated assertion that there is consensus re market economy and - N-A-T-O! If the majority of people are asked about market economy, they will not know what you are talking about. "Market economy" is an abstract term that speaks nothing to them. But if you ask if they like their present life better that the life before 1989, it is quite another thing: they will answer without any hesitation NO! The PAID author has pointed "more than 60 %" are nostalgic for the communist era. What does more than 60% mean? - 70? 80? NOTE THE CONTRADICTION between the assertion for consensus re the market economy and the nostalgia for the past figure of more than 60 %!!! THERE IS NO CONSENSUS RE NATO! There is such consensus ONLY among the so-called political parties! But how much percent of the PEOPLE are the DAMNED political parties? 80 % of the people are AGAINST NATO! They want referendum but it is not allowed because, as one of the DAMNED politicians put it, the result will be a BIG GREAT "NO"!!! All the so-called Agencies for sociological public opinion researches are PAID to publish MANIPULATIVE data and blatantly to manipulate people here and abroad! That article is SHAMELESSLY manipulative - besides some figures that seem acceptable the HIGHLY PAID author distributes a DAMNED heap of lies! Look at the consensus thing! Look at that excerpt: "Among the changes the transition has brought, freedom to travel is most appreciated, with 70 percent pleased with the change, the poll said. It is followed by the end of food shortages (65 percent), the right to do business freely (66 percent), free elections (58 percent) and the restitution of farmlands (14 percent)." Note the CONTRADICTION with the figures quoted above it!!! But let's look more closely at it. freedom to travel I didnt know whether to laugh or to cry! Freedom of travel BIG SHAKES! Who travels? Could the hungry travel? Could the unemployed travel? Could the ill travel? Could the beggars travel? Who travels? Only the government and party people - with the taxpayers money our tortured money! Only the economical MAFIA people with the sweat money squeezed out of the slaves working for them for next to nothing - and with the money stolen from all of us through the neoliberal so-called privatization. Look at the figure and compare it with the other figures quoted in the article doesnt the comparison results strike you as, mildly said, funny? Read again the sentence We can manage to feed ourselves, but we no longer have enough money to go on holiday. That poor woman means going to holiday in the boundaries of BULGARIA! Her family and she are bound to the town they live that town has turned into a concentration camp for them: THEY CANNOT LEAVE IT because they are POOR and ! ALL their money are spend on FOOD, electricity, water, and central heating bills! end of food shortages - Besides the years after the WWII at the end of the forties there was ONLY ONE YEAR OF FOOD SHORTAGES, and it was 1991! Why? Because the future businessmen from the Bulgarian Communist Party nomenclature - who SOLD Bulgaria to the US in 1989 and 1990! - hid the food in anticipation of the coming "price liberation". They bought huge quantities of food products at the low prices of the "totalitarian regime" - and then sold them at the New High "Liberated" prices! In this way they turned into very rich people overnight, one can say! (I personally know of a man who bought tons of sugar directly from the Sugar factory in the town of Gorna Orjahoviza, kept them in warehouses, and afterwards sold that quantity at a great profit for himself!) the right to do business freely Which is the date of that "research"? Because it might have been so in the first 4-5 years of the Great Neoliberal Liberation - it means till about 1995. Now it is impossible to get such figures. The people in their majority have already understood that the "free business" is ONLY one more of THEIR MANTRAS! "Free" successful business can do only the politicians and those near and close to them - THE POLITICAL-ECONOMICAL MAFIA OF US SERVANTS THAT IS KILLING BULGARIA FOR YEARS ON A RUN TOGETHER WITH THEIR US MASTERS!! A great majority of ORDINARY people who tried to do some "free business" has lost everything and lives the despicable life of the other Bulgarians outside THE MA
FWD (CounterPunch ) CAROL WOLMAN, M.D. -" Is the President Nuts?" [WWW.STOPNATO
Forward from mart. via Main Line News ([EMAIL PROTECTED] ) PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! WATERFRONT UNITY! SOLIDARITY WIRTH OUR ILWU BROTHERS AND SISTERS! NO TO SCABS! NO TO TAFT-HARTLEY AND NO TO BUSH!! TRUCKERS UNITE! UNION NOW!! ** = Message: 25 Date: Tue, 8 Oct 2002 06:03:08 -0700 (PDT) From: eco man Subject: CAROL WOLMAN, M.D. Is the President Nuts? CounterPunch article. CounterPunch article begins CounterPunch October 2, 2002 Is the President Nuts? Diagnosing Dubya by CAROL WOLMAN, M.D. Many people, inside and especially outside this country, believe that the American president is nuts, and is taking the world on a suicidal path. As a board-certified psychiatrist, I feel it's my duty to share my understanding of his psychopathology. He's a complicated man, under tremendous pressure from both his family/junta, and from the world at large. So the following is offered with humility and questioning, in the form of a differential diagnosis. From the Freudian point of view: Dubya may be acting out a classical Oedipal drama--overcome Daddy to get Mommy. By deposing Saddam, when his father did not, he may want to prove himself more worthy of his mother's love. His rationale that he is avenging the assassination attempt on George, Sr., may be a reaction formation- his way of hiding the true motive from himself. From the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Fourth Edition: Antisocial Personality Disorder--301.7 There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others since age 15 years as indicated by at least three of the following: 1) failure to conform to social norms with respect to lawful behaviors as indicated by repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest; 2) deceitfulness, as indicated by repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure; 5) reckless disregard for safety of self or others; 7) lack of remorse by being indifferent to or rationalizing having hurt, mistreated or stolen from others. Another possibility from DSM IV: Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder)300.14 A) The presence of two or more distinct identities, each with its ownenduring pattern of perceiving, relating to and thinking about theenvironment and self. B) At least two of these identities or personality states recurrently take control of the person's behavior. This disorder is typical of people raised by satanic cults, and mightexplain how Dubya can think of himself as a born-again Christian and yetworship money, oil and profit, and sanction killing thousands of innocent Iraqi and Afghani children. Another possibility: Narcissistic personality disorder 301.81 1) has a grandiose sense of self-importance- exaggerates achievements andtalents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements; 2) in preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty or ideal love; 3) believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people; 4) requires excessive admiration; 5) has a sense of entitlement- unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations; 6) is interpersonally exploitative; 7) lacks empathy, is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others; 9) shows arrogant, haughty behavior or attitudes. This set of characteristics may describe Rumsfeld and Cheney better than Dubya. Or, for those who feel that he's just a puppet for others: Dependent Personality Disorder 301.6 1) has difficulty making everyday decisions without an excessive amount of advice and reassurance from others; 2) needs others to assume responsibility for most major areas of his life; 3) has difficulty expressing disagreement with others because of fear of loss of support or approval; 4) has difficulty initiating projects or doing things on his own because of a lack of self-confidence in judgment or abilities. 5. goes to excessive lengths to obtain nurturance and support from others, to the point of doing things that are unpleasant. From a Jungian point of view: Dubya may be identifying with an archetype (as Hitler did with the ubermensch)--something out of evelations, perhaps, whereby he sees himself as an instrument of God's will to bring about Armageddon. Dr. Carol Wolman is a board certified psychiatrist, in practice for 30 years. She can be reached at: [EMAIL PROTECTED] end of CounterPunch articleDo you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos, & more faith.yahoo.com
Fwd STOP THE ATTACK ON THE LIFE OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. IMPORTANT! PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY! === Subject: ATTACK ON LIFE OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC From: "Wolfgang Mueller" [EMAIL PROTECTED]Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2002 10:59:25 -0400 (EDT) SAVE HIS LIFE! WHOLE-DAY-LONG 'COURT' PROCEEDINGS HAVE STARTED AGAIN! IT IS AN INTENTIONAL ATTACK ON LIFE OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC BY NATOTRIBUNAL! RESPONSIBLE SHOULD BE PROSECUTED! After more than three months the "trial" of President Milosevic was going on only in morning sessions, last Thursday the "trial chamber" returned to earlier practice of whole-day-long hearings. This was after the same "trial chamber" weeks ago publicly admitted existence of serious health and life risks for President Milosevic and declared that tempo of the "trial" will be slowed down and President Milosevic will have more days for rest. President Milosevic, with malignant hypertension and heart damages,still has no specialists' medical care. Death of six prisoners (all of them were Serbs) was caused by the "tribunal" - in three cases it was due to lack of medical assistance or due to improper medical care. We call all supporters of freedom and all National Committees to mobilize medical doctors and lawyers to react to this criminal practice at The Hague. UN is still giving auspices to the criminal NATO martial court. Address your government, which is UN member! Address UN Security Council and Secretary General! They are being involved in a crime! Save the life of President Milosevic! Send copies of your letters of protest and demands to protect humanity to the "tribunal" as well. Here is their address: ICTY Churchillplein 1, 2517 JW The Hague P.O. Box 13888 EW The Hague The Netherlands Fax No. +31 70 512 8637 People of Serbia and Yugoslavia require your urgent reaction! SLOBODA/FREEDOM Association Why they are threatening the life of President Milosevic? Because they can not defeat TRUTH he is expressing! And the truth is powerful. Because of that truth people of Serbia support President Milosevic! Everything started exactly two years ago. In the US/NATO sponsored coup on October 5, 2000, the Government of People's Unity of President Milosevic was overthrown. Nation went into DARKNESS! Let us recall the warning to the nation by President Milosevic: The URL for this article is http://emperors-clothes.com/news/milosevi2.html www.tenc.net [Emperor's Clothes] Miloshevich's Speech to the Nation Delivered Monday, October 2, 2000 Translated by Emperor's Clothes "Honored citizens, In the expectation of a second round of election, I'd like to take the opportunity to explain my views on the political situation in our country, especially in Serbia. As you know, efforts have been underway for a whole decade to put the whole Balkan Peninsula under the control of certain Western powers. A big part of that job was accomplished by establishing puppet governments in some countries, by transforming them into countries with limited sovereignty or no sovereignty at all. Because we resisted, we have been subjected to all the pressures that can be applied to people in today's world. The number and intensity of these pressures multiplied as time went by. All the experience that the big powers gained in the second half of the 20th century in overthrowing governments, causing unrest, instigating civil wars, disparaging or liquidating national freedom fighters, bringing states and nations to the brink of poverty - all this was applied to our country and our people. The events unfolding around our elections are part of the organized persecution of our country and our people because we constitute a barrier to the full domination of the Balkan Peninsula. For a long time there has been a grouping among us which, under the guise of being pro-democratic, have in fact represented the interests of the governments attacking Yugoslavia, especially Serbia. During the elections that group called itself the 'Democratic' Opposition of Serbia. Its boss is not its presidential candidate. Its boss is the president of the Democratic Party. For years he has collaborated with the military alliance that attacked our country. He could not even hide his collaboration. In fact, our entire public knows that he appealed to NATO to bomb Serbia for as many weeks as necessary to break its resistance. So the 'democratic' grouping organized for these elections represents the armies and governments which recently waged war against Yugoslavia. At the behest of these foreign powers our 'democrats' told the people that they would make Yugoslavia be free of war and violence, that Yugoslavia would prosper, the living standard would improve visibly and fast, that Yugoslavia would rejoin international institutions, and on and on. Honored citizens, It is my duty to warn you publicly, while there is time, that these promises are false. The situation is quite different. It is precisely our policy which allows peace and theirs which guarantees lasting conflict and viole
Fwd: Hse Comm vote 31-11 CALL! LET'S GO FOR IT - VOTE AGAINST IRAQ SEIZURE -PRES
Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2002 22:37:37 -0700 Subject: Hse Comm vote 31-11 CALL! LET'S GO FOR IT - VOTE AGAINST IRAQ SEIZURE -PRESS YOUR REP. From: "sharon cotrell" sharoncotrell@charter. Let's make more calls. Sharon - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2002 22:43:45 -0400 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: LET'S GO FOR IT - VOTE AGAINST IRAQ SEIZURE -PRESS YOUR REP. Okay. Just now the House Committee on International Relations voted 31 to 11 in favor of the war against Iraq resolution. The vote now moves to the full House of Representatives. THIS IS THE TIME TO FLOOD THE PHONE LOGS OF THE ONES who voted for the resolution and TELL THEM TO CHANGE THEIR VOTE WHEN IT COMES BEFORE THE FULL HOUSE (next week sometime). E-mails are not as reliably effective as some office assistants just delete them. Capitol Switchboard: (202)224-3121. You know you won't be alone (although no one could tell that by the mainstream press or tv coverage). A Pacific program (Democracy Now) producer interviewed various Congress Representatives' staffers. Some told her that they were receiving calls against the war in ratios varying between 100 to one; some said 500 to one; some said 1,000 to one. Committee Members from California who voted FOR the Iraq War Resolution: Capitol Switchboard: (202)224-3121 OR Direct: Howard Berman (818) 891-0543 Mision Hills; (202) 225-4695 Brad Sherman (818) 501-9200 Sherman Oaks; (202) 225-5911 Darrell Issa (949) 496-2343 San Clemente; (202) 225-3906 Tom Lantos (415) 566-5257 San Francisco; (202) 225-3531 Dana Rohrabacher (714) 960-6483 Huntington Beach; (202) 225-2415 Edward Royce (562) 220-2411 Fullerton; (202)225-4111 Adam Schiff (626) 304-2727 Pasadena; (202) 225-4176 Committee Members from California voting AGAINST the Iraq War Resolution: Capitol Switchboard: (202)224-3121 OR Direct: Thank You Grace Napolitano (562) 801-2134; (202) 225-5256 Not Present Capitol Switchboard: (202)224-3121 OR Direct: Barbara Lee (510) 763-0370 Oakland; (202) 225-2661 Diane Watson _ Los Angeles; (202)225-7084 I Don't Know How This One Voted Capitol Switchboard: (202)224-3121 OR Direct: Elton Gallegly ___ Simi Valley; (202) 225-5811 Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
URGENT - calls needed to Senator Byrd's office to stop the war [WWW.STOPNATO.OR
Forward from mart. Important! Please distribute far and wide and particulaly to all friends and activists in the U.S! Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2002 21:20:36 -0700 Subject: URGENT - calls needed to Senator Byrd's office to stop the war From: "sharon cotrell" [EMAIL PROTECTED]-- From: "Voice4Change" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, 03 Oct 2002 12:12:23 -0400 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Today's Voice: URGENT - calls needed to Senator Byrd's office to stop the war Voice4Change Changing Hearts and Minds http://www.voice4change.org October 03, 2002 URGENT - calls needed to Senator Byrd's office to stop the war It is urgent to call Sen. Robert Byrd's office (202-224-3954) and ask the Senator to filibuster against the war resolution of the Administration (and Dem leadership). His office is taking a poll on whether he should do this. We need to swamp the offices to urge him on. (He has been one of the few courageous voices on this.) His filibuster may be the only impediment to the war plans and it may spark demonstrations of support in DC and around the country. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Over 1300! of you have sent an e-mail to the Democratic Party Leaders in Congress who have Presidential aspirations. Lets continue to put the pressure on! Please Forward the following link as widely as possible. http://www.voice4change.org/stories/mailcongress.asp Note: It is clear there was a problem with the Daschle and Edwards E-mail addresses. The solution I propose is that everone call Senator Daschle and Senator Edwards and tell them you will not forget this vote, at the end of the call ask them for an e-mail address that you can forward your bounced message too. This solution puts more pressure on with the phone call. Icould call and try to get another e-mail address, but 1300 calls would be better! Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- URGENT: CALL CONGRESS EVERY DAY! NO AUTHORIZATION FOR WAR ON IRAQ! 202-224-3121 ! WAR RESOLUTION TEXT IS SET;VOTE IS IMMINENT! THE MORE CONGRESSIONAL VOTES BUSH GETS IN FAVOR OF THIS RESOLUTION, THE MORE HE IS EMPOWERED TO FORCE THIS WAR ON THE WORLD--- EITHER TO GO TO WAR UNILATERALLY, OR PUT MORE PRESSURE ON THE UN TO APPROVE THE WAR. EITHER WAY, MILLIONS OF LIVES ARE IN THE BALANCE! This is the action alert with lots of precise info from Southern California Americans for Democratic Action For the rest of the story: http://www.voice4change.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Democracy Now! Online Democracy Now! October 2, 2002 -- Bushs single-bullet theory assassinate Saddam Hussein: International human rights attorneys Michael Ratner and Reed Brody respond to Bushs press secretary Ari Fleischers call to kill. -- Police spying: New York police seeks court approval to monitor political activists; Denver opens hundreds of spy files collected from illegal monitoring of citizens. -- Police crack down on activists across the country from Maine to California to Washington To view the rest of the story: http://www.voice4change.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Blah3 Does it Again! Question Mark #21: 'Threat? WHAT threat?' Posted Wednesday, October 2, 2002 If Iraq is so weak, how can they be a threat to the US? Musical Guest: Buffalo Springfield To view the rest of the story: http://www.voice4change.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- EVENTS CALENDAR and PROTESTS For Peace! Courtesy of Voter March Summary: 10/3 - Ed Asner in Cooper Union, NYC; 10/4 - Ralph Nader at Wall St. protest, NYC; 10/6 -7 National Days of Resistance to War and Repression - NYC, CA ( LA, SF), CT, GA, IL, NC, NM, OH, OR, RI, SC, WA. WI; 10/ 26 - NATIONAL MARCH on WASHINGTON DC with a joint action in San Francisco to STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ. To view the rest of the story: http://www.voice4change.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= TAKE ACTION NOW! Support Striking Janitors in Boston! Tell Your Senators to Extend Unemployment Benefits Now! Tell ABC to Air Strong Roots, Fragile Farms! Mark Your Calendar for the Wal-Mart Day of Action November 21! JwJ Supports the ILWU Coast to Coast! To view the rest of the story: http://www.voice4change.org =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= On-going Campaigns Get Involved!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Take The Pledge to Oppose War with Iraq "A time has come when silence is betrayal. That time is now." Martin Luther King Jr. To take the pledge: http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=020624~for.asp Note to Southern California Residents: The coalition For World Peace will be demonstrating every Friday from 5pm to 7pm at the Westwood Federal Building. For more information call 323-852-9808 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- IMMEDIATE ACTION ALERT ON IRAQ from Progressive Portal and
STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ! UPDATE: Sunday Oct 6 protest in L.A. [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2002 19:52:10 -0700 To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [imc-la]UPDATE: Sunday Oct 6 protest in L.A. UPDATE: Sunday Oct 6 protest in L.A. Not In Our Name www.notinourname.net Nationwide protests. Twenty two cities so far. Among the other big cities are San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, and, of course, New York City. For the L.A. protest, we have an amazing lineup of 30+ speakers, musicians, spoken word, and more - in addition to the march itself. Hip hop, folk, Sonali Kolhatkar from KFPK and the Afghanistan Women's Mission, Tibetan gongs, Blase Bonpane from the Office of the Americas, DJ's, ministers, and lots more. L.A. demonstration Sunday Oct 6, 1-6 PM Federal Building in Westwood. 11000 Wilshire. 1 block east of the 405 fwy, between Sepulveda and Veteran 1 PM: Rally - speakers, spoken word, music 2 PM: March to U.S. Army Reserve/California National Guard (Wilshire and Federal) 3 PM: Return to Federal Bldg. More music, poetry, speakers. Direction/parking: Exit the San Diego (405) on Wilshire East. If Wilshire off ramps are closed by police, get off at the next exit, follow Sepulveda to Wilshire. Parking could be problematic. Arrive early! Pay parking available in Westwood. There is also some street parking. Parking not allowed in Federal Building lots. A quick explanation http://www.polizeros.com/2002/09/26.html#a393 ___ imc-la mailing list - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://regenerationtv.net/mailman/listinfo/imc-la To Unsubscribe: 1. go to regenerationtv.com/mailman/listinfo/imc-la 2. at the bottom of the page, enter your email address 3. on your options page, you can unsubscribe here. 4. if you have forgotten your password, enter your email address and you will be mailed a copy of your password. Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
Yugoslav Committee for the defense of Slobodan Milosevic FREEDON APPEAL [WWW.ST
From: "Vladimir Krsljanin" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu Oct 3, 2002 3:43 amSubject: APPEAL: Donate and help the voice of freedom! SLOBODA FREEDOM Association(Yugoslav Committee for thedefense of Slobodan Milosevic)ICDSM International Committeeto Defend Slobodan MilosevicA P P E A LProtect the life of Slobodan Milosevic!Donate and help the voice of freedom to be heard!Do you know that:· Yesterday afternoon President Milosevic was forced to wait one and a half hour to be transported from the "tribunal" to his prison cell. It was the afternoon between the examination of Stipe Mesic, President of Croatia, by the"prosecution" and the cross examination of the same "witness" by President Milosevic.· A day before that, Richard May, the "judge" announced that the "trial chamber" can return on Thursday to earlier practice of whole day long hearings. This was after the same "trial chamber" weeks ago publicly admitted existence of serious health and life risks for President Milosevic and declared that tempo of the "trial" will be slowed down and President Milosevic will have more days for rest.· At the same day, Geoffrey Nice, the "prosecutor" in charge, tried to explain the problems "prosecution" has in bringing appropriate "witnesses" to the "court", which caused lack of the schedule of "witnesses" to come. In hisexplanation, he complained because the "reserved itnesses" (who could 'fill the gaps' without previous announcement) were not allowed.· Today, the "judge" Richard May served as a counsel to Stipe Mesic, in Tito's time imprisoned for Ustashi propaganda, the guy who triumphantly shouted in Croatian Parliament: "I fulfilled my mission - there is no moreYugoslavia!". By all means (cutting and "translating" President Milosevic, shortening the time for cross examination, allowing Mesic cynical and unlimitedcomments) May tried (without success) to save his "client" from total disaster.· President Milosevic, with malignant hypertension and heart damages, still has no specialists' medical care.· Death of six prisoners (all of them were Serbs) was caused by the "tribunal" - in three cases it was due to lack of medical assistance or due to improper medical care.· With more than 100.000 pages of materials concerning Croatia and Bosnia submitted to him by the "court" and more than seven months of every day "trial" behind him and more than year and a half ahead, President Milosevic still hasno conditions to prepare his defense, in cynical violation of the 'equality of arms' principle.· Assistance in preparing facts and proofs for President Milosevic to confront tons of materials prepared by thousand of employees of the "tribunal" and by Western secret services is done by group of volunteers in Freedom Association in Belgrade and in ICDSM. Our funds and pockets are empty. After eight months since the Hague process begun, there is almost no possibilities to collect money from patriots in the impoverished country and with governmentwhich produces only obstacles for our work.But you certainly know that:· President Slobodan Milosevic, undisputable leader of the unconquered nation and the NATO war prisoner, is in unique and extremely important position for all fighters for freedom and peace in the World, to confront the Empire andits war machinery - NATO, with truth and strong arguments.· Only a part of the citizens of Yugoslavia are able to follow every day TV transmissions from The Hague. As a result, unification of the patriotic opposition is becoming a key factor on Serbian political scene, despite thehard repression and all kinds of manipulations by the current colonial regime in Belgrade.Therefore, we dramatically appeal:· Use all means to protest the killing conditions at the NATO-Nazidungeon in Scheweningen and in NATO martial court at The Hague. Life of President Milosevic has to be saved! The only proper way to avoid the threat is his release!· Donate for our common struggle! Form your own foundations in your countries, organize fund-raising campaigns! Keep part of collected money to broaden actions and campaigns. Now President Milosevic has only one assistantat The Hague. Without your help he can stay even without that!Here's how you can help...* You can contribute by credit card. Soon we will have an ICDSM secure server so you can contribute directly on the Internet. For now, you can contribute by credit card in two ways: * You can Contribute by Credit Card over the Telephone by calling: ICDSM office, USA: +1 617 916-1705 SLOBODA (Freedom) Association office, Belgrade: +381 63 8 591 569You can Contribute using PayPal at:https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=icdsm%40aol.comPayPal accepts VISA and MasterCardYou can Contribute by mail to: ICDSM831 Beacon St., #295 Newton Centre, MA 02459 (USA) - OR -You can Contribute by wire transfer to Sloboda AssociationIntermediary: UBS AGZurich, SwitzerlandSwift Code: UBSWCHZHAccount with: / 756 - CHF/ 840 - USD/ 978 - EURKomercijalna Banka ADS
OCT. ONLINE EDITION OF "POSTMARK PRAGUE" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Jim Yarker" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: October e-edition of Postmark Prague Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2002 01:09:59 -0400 Via RedNet News - "News and Views from the Communist Press" Fw: October e-mail edition of POSTMARK PRAGUE From Ken Biggs, 1/10/02 23:16:14 --- Articles from this e-mail edition of Postmark Prague can be reproduced in the English original or translated for publication in other papers provided that the source is acknowledged and a copy of the article used is sent to us. NEWS OF THE LEFT IN THE CZECHO-SLOVAK REPUBLICS Founded in Prague, Czechoslovakia, June 1991 POSTMARK PRAGUE No. 372 (Vol.12, No.10) * E-MAIL EDITION No.2 * OCT.2002 SLOVAK COMMUNISTS IN PARLIAMENT FOR THE FIRST TIME by Zdenek Horení The Slovak parliamentary elections on September 20/21brought several surprises notably the fact that 182,000 (6.3%) of the 4.1 million electors voted for the Communist Party of Slovakia (CPS), giving them 11 seats in the new parliament. This is the first time since the party was refounded in the 1990s that its won seats in parliament. * Back from square one Without any doubt it is a historic success for this party of the Left. If it had been up to the renegades, the CPS would have been liquidated as a force in Slovak politics and history. Its onetime chairman Peter Weiss erased the word communist from the partys name and Marxism from its programme. Later, he changed its name to the Democratic Left Party and affiliated it to the Socialist International. It was then that a number of communists decided to refound the party under its original name and with its original programme literally starting from scratch in terms of finance and full-time party workers; they lacked even a typewriter or a telephone. The partys members made extraordinary sacrifices and in a few years they had re-established the CPSs organisational structure in every one of Slovakias regions. The partys paper Úsvit (Dawn), based in Humenné in the east of the country, played a major role in this: it became a symbol of the real dawning of the reborn Marxist party. * They dont want to be EU flunkeys The CPS campaigned strongly against high unemployment (20%) and for a free health service and education and the return of strategic industry to the state. It opposed NATO membership on principle. As for the EU, the Slovak Communists will accept it only if it reforms itself and the Slovaks will not be flunkeys in their own house. According to CPS chairman Jozef vec, the reason for the partys success in the elections is that the people are no longer afraid to speak their minds about the countrys future. Another reason, he says, is the disappointment of many voters with the policies of the CPSs predecessors, notably the Democratic Left Party. The CPS intends to be a constructive opposition in parliament and play its part in drafting laws which will benefit working people. * Meciar won, but The favourite, the centrist Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (19.5%), may have won the Slovak election, but its chairman and former long-time premier Vladimír Meciar did not win enough support to form a majority coalition government. Another favourite for the post of premier Robert Fico, leader of the new left-wing party Smer (13.5%) has rejected an alliance with Meciar, just as the right has rejected an alliance with him. So Mikulá Dzurinda, chairman of the outgoing ruling right-wing Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (15%), the most successful of the parliamentary parties, could become premier again. The SDCU and three other right-wing parties will have 78 deputies in the 150-member parliament. Overall then the Slovak elections were a victory for the right and a foreign policy focused on NATO and the EU. The Democratic Left Party, part of the outgoing ruling coalition, won about 2% of the vote and will have no deputies in the new parliament. The fall in its once 20% support is without any doubt attributable to the renegade activities of Peter Weiss and his supporters. Czech news At the end of August Czech registered unemployment rose to almost 490,000 9.4% of the workforce, a post-1989 record. * Average monthly gross pay at the end of this years 1st quarter (Q1) was 14,204 crowns (about $440). This helps to explain why foreign companies invested $4.9 billion in the Czech Republic last year, making it the 13th most popular country in the world for FDI and the second most popular in central and eastern Europe (after Poland). The biggest investor so far this year is the German company Siemens, with $120 million. * If stocks and valuables worth 11.9 billion crowns are disregarded, Czech GDP in Q2 this year rose by at most zero compared with official claims of 2.5% , wrote Václav Vertelár in Haló Noviny. * Q2 also saw the Czech states internal and external debt rise to 390.8 billion crowns (about $13 billion), compared with 287.6 billion crowns in Q2 last year. The
FW: rift at the NATION - Hitchens walks, citing "irreconcilable differences" [W
From: "Jim Yarker" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: FW: rift at the NATION - Hitchens walks, citing "irreconcilable differences" Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2002 09:18:00 -0400 -Original Message- From: Ken Freeland [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2002 12:43 AM To: National Network; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: rift at the NATION The following Open Letter to Congress, published by the Nation magazine, led to the overdue departure of Christopher Hitchens from its editorial staff. Hitchens, you may recall, also supported the war against Yugoslavia. He is now asserting "irreconcilable differences" with the Nation. Peace, Ken editorial | Posted September 25, 2002 An Open Letter to the Members of Congress Soon, you will be asked to vote on a resolution authorizing the United States to overthrow the government of Iraq by military force. Its passage, we read on all sides, is a foregone conclusion, as if what the country now faces is not a decision but the disclosure of a fate. The nation marches as if in a trance to war. In the House, twenty of your number, led by Dennis Kucinich, have announced their opposition to the war. In the Senate, Robert Byrd has mounted a campaign against the version of the resolution already proposed by the Bush Administration. He has said that the resolution's unconstitutionality will prevent him from voting for it. "But I am finding," he adds, "that the Constitution is irrelevant to people of this Administration." The Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to the Washington Post, oppose the war. Telephone calls and the mail to your offices run strongly against it. Polls and news stories reveal a divided and uncertain public. Yet debate in your chambers is restricted to peripheral questions, such as the timing of the vote, or the resolution's precise scope. You are a deliberative body, but you do not deliberate. You are representatives, but you do not represent. The silence of those of you in the Democratic Party is especially troubling. You are the opposition party, but you do not oppose. Raising the subject of the war, your political advisers tell you, will distract from the domestic issues that favor the party's chances in the forthcoming Congressional election. In the face of the Administration's pre-emptive war, your leaders have resorted to pre-emptive surrender. For the sake of staying in power, you are told, you must not exercise the power you have in the matter of the war. What, then, is the purpose of your re-election? If you succeed, you will already have thrown away the power you supposedly have won. You will be members of Congress, but Congress will not be Congress. Even the fortunes of the domestic causes you favor will depend far more on the decision on the war than on the outcome of the election. On April 4, 1967, as the war in Vietnam was reaching its full fury, Martin Luther King Jr. said, "A time comes when silence is betrayal." And he said, "Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak." Now the time to speak has come again. We urge you to speak--and, when the time comes, to vote--against the war on Iraq. The case against the war is simple, clear and strong. The Administration calls it a chapter in the war on terror, but Iraq has no demonstrated ties either to the September 11 attack on the United States or to the Al Qaeda network that launched it. The aim of the war is to deprive President Saddam Hussein of weapons of mass destruction, but the extent of his program for building these weapons, if it still exists, is murky. Still less clear is any intention on his part to use such weapons. To do so would be suicide, as he well knows. Democratic Representative Anna Eshoo of California has reported that in closed session Administration officials have been asked several times whether they have evidence of an imminent threat from Saddam against the United States and have answered no. She elaborated, "Not 'no, but' or 'maybe,' but 'no.'" On the other hand, if he does have them, and faces his overthrow and possible death at the hands of US forces, he might well use them--or, more likely, give them to terrorist groups to use after his fall. He may be doing so even now. Some observers have likened the resolution under discussion to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution of 1964 authorizing President Johnson to use force in Vietnam. But that was passed only after a report was received of two attacks on US naval forces. (We now know that the first attack was provoked by a prior secret American attack and the second was nonexistent.) The new resolution, which alleges no attack, not even a fictional one, goes a step further. It is a Tonkin Gulf resolution without a Tonkin Gulf incident. Even if Saddam possesses weapons of mass destruction and wishes to use them, a policy of deter
(People's Weekly World) Cuba rejects Iraq war [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE. = http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/2049/ Cuba rejects Iraq war Author: World Combined Sources People's Weekly World Newspaper, Sep 28, 2002 The following are excerpts from the statement delivered by Felipe Perez Roque, Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs, to the UN General Assembly on Sept. 14. A year ago, the holding of this General Assembly had to be postponed on account of the ruthless crime committed on Sept. 11. There was then a worldwide wave of solidarity towards the American people and, particularly, towards the families of the almost 3,000 innocent victims of that unjustifiable terrorist attack.The stage was thus set for the creation of a genuine international alliance under the auspices and leadership of the United Nations Organization, with absolute respect for the purposes and principles enshrined in its Charter. Nearly all countries, beyond ideological, political, cultural and religious differences, expressed their willingness to cooperate actively with this endeavor of unmistakable common interest.However, another vision prevailed. In an unprecedented fashion, it was stated that whoever did not support the war decided upon by a single country would then be on the side of terrorism. It was even announced to the Security Council that such country reserved the right to launch future attacks on its own against other nations.A unilateral war was then unleashed, whose death toll is still unbeknownst to us and whose most tangible consequence is probably the striking blow rendered to the credibility of the United Nations Organization and to multilateralism as a means to cope with the complex challenges currently ahead of us.What is the outcome today? There are greater feelings of hatred, vengeance and insecurity, not helpful in the fight against terrorism. Dangerous xenophobic and discriminatory tendencies threaten the existence of a plural and democratic world. There has been a step backward in the field of public freedoms and civil rights.In the meantime, there is a lack of political will by certain powers to rigorously apply, without selectivity and without double standards, the 12 existing international legal instruments on terrorism. In addition, no advances have been made in the definition, so indispensable today, of State terrorism.Cuba, on its part, a victim of terrorist acts for over four decades that stated its opinions in this Assembly with poise and firmness and that unwaveringly condemned the crime of Sept. 11 and terrorism as such, but that also opposed the war out of ethical considerations and the respect for International Law signed and ratified the twelve international conventions to combat terrorism, adopted a national law to fight this scourge, has cooperated fully with the work of the committee set up for such purposes by the Security Council and, at the bilateral level, proposed to the U.S. administration the implementation of a program to combat terrorism, which was inconceivably rejected by such government.* * *A new war against Iraq seems already inevitable; an aggravation of the situation of constant aggression that such people has lived over the last 10 years. The buzzword now is pre-emptive war in open violation of the spirit and the letter of the United Nations Charter.Cuba defends principles and not vested interests; therefore, although its supporters may feel upset, it emphatically opposes this war. Cuba is not driven by an anti-American spirit, even when its government maintains and strengthens a 40-year-old blockade against our people.But refraining from telling the truth out of cowardice or political calculation is not characteristic of Cuban revolutionaries. Therefore, Cuba hereby states that it opposes a new military action against Iraq. It does so while recalling that at one point in time it supported the Security Council resolution asking the Iraqi Government to end the occupation of Kuwait.We believe that the development of weapons of mass destruction today would be insane, because the only possible way that we envision for world peace is through general and complete disarmament, including nuclear disarmament, and the rechanneling of the money currently spent on weapons to address the dire socio-economic problems of humankind.The Arab countries have been emphatic in their rejection of this war; most European countries do not approve of it; the international community is increasingly concerned about the announcement of a new war on the basis of unconfirmed allegations and even disregarding the obvious reality that Iraq cannot pose a danger to the United States.If the U.S. government unleashes a new war against Iraq, either by imposing it on the Security Council or deciding upon it unilaterally in opposition to the international public opinion, we will bear witness to the emergence of the century of unilateralism and the forced retirement of the United
PATRIOTISM - "A Quote Worth Remembering for all Americans" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY== Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2002 12:34:24 -0700 Subject: Patriotism - A Quote Worth Remembering for all Americans From: "sharon cotrell" [EMAIL PROTECTED] [Worth considering in these times.] Sharon ==PATRIOTISM "Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war to whip the citizenry into a political fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double edged sword. It emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar." Julius Caesar (101-44 BC) Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
"Labour Against War Counter -Dossier" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --- Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 16:06:52 -0700 (PDT) From: "Michael laird" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]: counter dossier on Iraq To: "mart-remote" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> this is long, but very informative. and, as youll see, it fits in with what scott ritter has been saying. take a look: This addendum is published at http://middleeast.reference.users.btopenworld.com/iraqncbfurther.html and at the Traprock Peace Center website at http://traprockpeace.org September 29, 2002 ? Dr. Glen Rangwala, Lecturer in politics at Cambridge University, has written an Addendum to the "Counter-Dossier." The Counter-Dossier, released by Labour Against War on September 17 in the UK and published by Traprock Peace Center in the US on September 18, anticipated the release by Prime Minister Blairs dossier. Blair released his dossier on September 24, a few hours before debate started in the Commons that morning on war with Iraq. Following is the text of the Addendum: On 17 September, a week in advance of the release of Prime Minister Tony Blairs "dossier" on Iraqs non-conventional weapons, a pamphlet (a "counter-dossier") that I co-authored with Alan Simpson (MP for Nottingham South) was released. The intention of this pamphlet was to pre-empt some of the claims in the Prime Ministers dossier, and to raise the issues that the dossier would need to address in detail for it to be credible. An official version of the counter-dossier is at: http://www.labouragainstthewar.org.uk/link5.html What follows are some further remarks on the themes of counter-dossier. These are in part a response to points in the Prime Ministers dossier. They may also serve as reference notes, to be used in order to examine from a critical perspective subsequent claims that are made about Iraqs non-conventional weapons. I should flag up that I am not a biochemist, a pharmacologist or a nuclear physicist. None of the claims below about Iraqs nuclear, chemical or biological facilities are made as a result of my own scientific investigations. Instead, they are collected from two sources. Firstly, the majority of points below are taken from published accounts of reputable institutions, governmental bodies and international organisations who have access to expertise that I do not have. Secondly, a smaller number of claims are taken from my own consultation with independent experts in the fields of relevance. Unlike the UK Governments own dossier on Iraqs non-conventional weapons, these notes indicate the sources for all the claims that it makes. If any of the technical claims made below are incorrect or incomplete, such mistakes have not been made in a deliberate attempt to mislead the reader: corrections and clarifications would be greatly appreciated. These comments are divided on issues of the threat of Iraqs weapons and those on the possibility of a viable inspections regime. 1. The threat of Iraqs weapons. I. Stockpile This Prime Ministers dossier claims that information already in the public domain "points clearly to Iraqs continued possession, after 1991, of chemical and biological agents and weapons produced before the Gulf War." (Executive Summary, para.2). There are also references to surviving stocks of weapons in Chapter 2, para.13 and Chapter 3, paras.3 and 5-7 of the dossier. If Iraq had a stockpile of chemical and biological weapons in 1998, it must consist of items produced prior to 1991. Not even the British government claims that Iraq was engaged in the active production of chemical or biological weapons in the period of weapons inspections (1991 to 1998); the ongoing monitoring and verification undertaken by UNSCOM would have detected any such attempts. The Iraqi government never provided UNSCOM with information assessed to be sufficiently complete to verify that Iraq had destroyed all the chemical and biological agents it had produced prior to 1991. These are items that are considered as "unaccounted for". It may also be the case that Iraq had in fact produced more of these agents than they had declared to UNSCOM or that UNSCOM itself had uncovered. Whilst it would undoubtedly be useful to have a clear understanding of what happened to all of Iraqs chemical and biological weapons material that it had produced, a more pressing question here is whether any chemical or biological agents produced by Iraq prior to 1991 would have remained useable after at least 11 years. As the analysis below attempts to demonstrate, the overwhelming majority of the chemical and biological warfare agents produced by Iraq prior to 1991 would be expected to have deteriorated to the point where they are no longer lethal. If the Prime Ministers past allegations that Iraq possessed a stockpile of illicit weapons were to be true, then the dossier would need to present credible evidence that Iraq had m
More Than 350,000 Attend Historic Anti-War March in London [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "V S C" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Historic Anti-War March in London Date: Sat, 28 Sept. 2002 12:30:34 -0400 Vieques Support Campaign www.viequessupport.org E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] __ NO TO RACISM & IMPERIALIST WAR! U.S. NAVY OUT OF VIEQUES & ALL OF PUERTO RICO! __ Historic Anti-War March in London On-the-spot report by Bob Wing *Bob Wing is the editor of War Times. He is currently in London in transit to Palestine. London, Sept. 28 Tony Blair may be President Bush's only European ally in his drive for war on Iraq. But the people of the UK today forcibly demonstrated their opposition to forcible regime change. This afternoon, at least 350,000 people from all over the United Kingdom descended upon the corridors of power for a massive and peaceful "Don't Attack Iraq/Freedom for Palestine" march and rally. As I file this report at 4 p.m., less than half the march, which commenced at 12:30 p.m., has arrived at the Hyde Park Rally. The action was the largest of its kind in the UK in 30 years. It was dramatic, and so large that it was truly impossible to guage its size. Certainly it numbered in the hundreds of thousands of people of every ethnicity, age and class. Recent polls show that 70 percent opposed Britain joining a U.S.-led military action. "There is not just opposition to the prospect of war--there is boiling anger," asserts Andrew Murray, chair of the Stop the War Coalition. The turnout was a shot across the bow of Prime Minister Tony Blair and a preview of next weeks Labor Party Conference. The demonstration was jointly sponsored by the Stop the War Coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain. It was endorsed by 12 national trade unions, numerous Muslim and anti-racist organizations, Members of Parliament and the Mayor of London. Organizers have called for another massive "Don't Attack Iraq Day" for Oct. 31. "Opposition to this war in this country is the most incredible coalition I have ever seen," says Jeremy Corbyn, a Labor MP. "Since Sept. 11, Islamophobia has spread across the UK and activated the Muslim and South Asian populations," said Asad Rehman, national organizer for the Stop the War Coalition and chairman of the Newham Monitoring Project. South Asians are the largest group of color in the UK, numbering about 15 percent in London alone. "I didn't go on earlier demonstrations but I am now because the countdown to war has started and I find it terrifying," explained march Jemma Redgrave. Robert "3-D" Del Naja of the pop group Massive Attack says "I am marching because I feel very disheartened about our government and the way it reacts to America and American foreign policy." Meanwhile, in Parliament, Labor Party members are staging a revolt against Blair's Iraq policy. They warn that the 56-strong rebellion of this week is just a warm up. Blair also faces powerful opposition at next week's national Labor Party conference. Charles Kennedy, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, the third largest in the UK, declared his opposition to what he called the U.S.'s "imperialist" policy. ___ All Out to the Vieques Walkathon in New York City, October 26 VIEQUES WILL NOT BE USED FOR WAR ON IRAQ! ___Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
Fwd: "Nine solid questions to ask about a war with Iraq" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. [While I sympathize with the anti-war sentiments of author of these "9 Solid Questions on Iraq", I question some of his statements that he makes and the way that he makes his argument. First he applauds the "success" of the U.S and Britain's unilaterally and illegally imposed so called "no fly zone" over Iraq and claims that that has stopped Iraq's "adventurism"! He makes no mention that this unilaterally imposed military action is completely in violation of all international law and in fact the U.N. charter itself! Further, it supports Bush's claim of Iraqi "adventurism" in the region, while completely ignoring the "adventurism" pf of the U.S in both that region and in fact the rest of the world! No mention that it was cheifly the U.S who put Saddam in power in the first place, armed him to the teeth, while he was fighting a proxy war for the U.S. with Iran! No mention either, of the longstanding legitimate border dispute Iraq had with Kuwait or that the U.S., through it's ambassador to Iraq at the time, Avril Harriman, gave him the go ahead to invade Kuwait! Secondly he makes the pont that if there is a U.S. invasion that Sad dam Hussein *may* resort to the use of chemical and biological weapons. This line of reasoning, and as in the one one above, applauding the "success" of the no fly zones actually feed into and strengthen the Bush regime's propaganda line that the U.S has the unilateral right to impose it's will on any country it so chooses, regardless of international law and the U.N. This argument supposes and legitimizes Bush's claim (despite all evidence to the contrary) that Iraq possess these chemical and biological weapons! The way to stop a war is to call a spade a spade and to tell the real facts and to condemn the lies and illegal actions of the aggressor - not to feed into and legitimize the propaganda! Such is the bankruptcy of nice, respectable pseudo-left, bourgieos liberalism in the face of outright capitalist and imperialist agressiion!] mart == Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 08:46:10 -0700 Subject: 9 questions to ask about War on Iraq From: "sharon cotrell" [EMAIL PROTECTED]The sender is Chuck Anderson of OC who has held a peace vigil every Friday night at South Coast PLAZA in Long Beach California, Since the Gulf War. He now is Chair of the Orange County (California) Peace and Freedom Party. He came to Long Beach December 22 and supported the first anti war rally in LB which was called by Lupe, 16 year old high school student from Wilmington. I echo the last sentence: "If you worry about the future of America, clip or copy these nine questions and include them in letters to your senatorsand representative." Pose them also to all you know and meet. Sharon -- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 19:54:58 EDT Subj: Iraq Date: 09/23/2002 2:05:03 PM Pacific Daylight Time From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Jim Gibson) Nine solid questions to ask about a war with Iraq. 1. Why engage in a risky and potentially calamitous invasion of Iraq when the existing strategy of "containment"--entailing no-fly zones, sanctions, technology restraints and the deployment of US forces in surrounding areas--not only has clearly succeeded in deterring Iraqi adventurism for the past ten years but also in weakening Iraq's military capabilities? 2. Why has the Administration found so little international support for itsproposed policy, even among our closest friends and allies (with the possible exception of Britain's Tony Blair), and what would be the consequences if Washington tried to act without their support and without any international legal authority? Isn't it dangerous and unwise for the United States tengage in an essentially unilateral attack on Iraq? 3. Is the United States prepared to accept significant losses of American lives--a strong possibility in the projected intense ground fighting around Baghdad and other urban areas? 4. Is the United States prepared to inflict heavy losses on Iraq's civilian population if, as expected, Sad dam concentrates his military assets in urban areas? Would this not make the United States a moral pariah in the eyes of much of the world? 5. Wouldn't an invasion of Iraq aimed at the removal of Sad dam Hussein remove any inhibitions he might have regarding the use of chemical and biological (and possibly nuclear) weapons, making their use more rather than less likely? 6. Are we prepared to cope with the outbreaks of anti-American protest and violence that, in the event of a US attack on Iraq, are sure to erupt throughout the Muslim world, jeopardizing the survival of pro-US governments in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and further inflaming the Israeli-Palestinian crisis? 7. Can the fragile American economy withstand a sharp rise in oil prices, another decline in air travel, a bulging federal deficit, a drop in consumer confidence and other negative economic effects that can be expected from a majo
New Vieques Site Address - www.viequessupport.org [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "V S C" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: New V.S.C. Web Site! Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 18:14:27 -0400 Vieques Support Campaign Web Site www.viequessupport.org E-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] NO TO RACISM & IMPERIALIST WAR! U.S. NAVY OUT OF VIEQUES & ALL OF PUERTO RICO! __ WE HAVE A NEW WEB SITE! The Vieques Support Campaign now has a new Web Site on its own domain. We are no longer at http://palfrente.tripod.com. Visit us now on the Internet at www.viequessupport.org. For continual information on how to get involved in the struggle to get the U.S. Navy out of Vieques, against colonialism in Puerto Rico, racism in the U.S. and the fight for liberation everywhere, visit the Vieques Support Campaign on the Internet. Help build this vital source of information. Contribute articles, pictures, your technical skills, etc. This is a Web Site for all of us to utilize in our quest for freedom. Visit us now at www.viequessupport.org Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
SLOVAK ELECTION RESULTS - COMMUNISTS WIN 11 SEATS IN SLOVAK ELECTION [WWW.STOPN
From: "Jim Yarker" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Postmark Prague: Slovak Election Results Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 10:54:31 -0400 RedNet News News and Views from the Communist Press Fw: SLOVAK ELECTION RESULTS (POSTMARK PRAGUE NEWS RELEASE) From Ken Biggs, 23/09/02 23:24:13 --- POSTMARK PRAGUE No.372 Sunday 22 September 2002 COMMUNISTS WIN 11 SEATS IN SLOVAK ELECTION For the first time since 1989 the Slovak parliament will include Communist MPs. The Communist Party of Slovakia (KSS) won 11seats at this weekend's elections to the 150-member National Council. It more than doubled its support at the last election in 1998, polling 6.2% of the vote. Saturday's election also saw the pro-NATO, pro-EU Democratic Left Party (SDL) lose all of its 23 seats. Its 1998 vote of 14.7% slumped to less than 3%. Its membership of the outgoing "right-left" coalition government of premier Mikulas Dzurinda cost it dear and led to many of its MPs deserting the party well before the election to form new parties. These fared very little better. Former SDL leader Peter Weiss's Social Democratic Alternative polled less than 2%, while ex-SDL MP Robert Fico's new party Smer (13.5%) finished third behind Vladimir Meciar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (19.5%) and Dzurinda's Slovak Democratic and Christian Union (15.09%). The vote of Meciar's party was well-down (from 27% in 1998) following a split in its ranks and US, NATO and EU threats to slam the door in Slovakia's face if Meciar won the election, even though the party upports Slovak membership of both NATO and the EU. The next Slovak coalition government will probably be made up of four right-wing parties -- apart from Dzurinda's party, the Christian Democratic Movement (8.25%), a new party formed by Berlusconi-like media magnate Pavol Rusko, the New Citizen Alliance (8%) -- and the Hungarian Coalition Party (11.6%). Together they scraped together 78 of the 150 seats contested at the weekend. This compares with the previous "right-left" coalition's 93 seats. Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo!
(NNEWAI) Campaign To End The War Against Iraq [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: Mike Zmolek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 23 Sep 2002 04:58:57 -0400 Subject: [antiwarconference] CALL CONGRESS ON SEPT 24th! NNEWAI Weekly Action Alert #4 ---Please circulate widely--- Congressional Campaign Advocacy Alert #4 from the National Network to End the War Against Iraq (NNEWAI) "Sisters and brothers, I implore you to act according to your conscience and recognize that we are facing a national emergency: an impending war vote in Congress. If you oppose a U.S. 'pre-emptive' war in Iraq, then you must prepare to act this week. Otherwise, acting on your behalf, your elected representatives in Washington will consent to an atrocity that will do irreparable harm to the people of Iraq, international security, and to us as a nation. There comes a time when events overtake us, events of colossal importance. Now is the time to act. Not when it is too late." --Anonymous Gulf War Veteran, 9/22/2002 Join thousands of others on Tuesday, September 24th and call Your Senators and Congressional Representative. You can call Congress at the Capital Switchboard toll free at 1-800-839-5276 and ask to be connected to your member of Congress. Also, call Senator Majority leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) at: (202) 224-2321, & House Minority leader Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-MO) at: (202) 225-2671. If your member of Congress refuses to vote for peace, organize and paricipate in non-violent demonstrations and sit-ins at their local offices, forums, and town meetings. TELL THEM: DON'T GIVE PRESIDENT BUSH A BLANK CHECK! VOTE "NO" ON THE WAR RESOLUTION! JOIN THE ANTI-WAR COALITION SIGN ON TO THE ANTI-WAR RESOLUTION HCR 473 TAKE A STAND FOR PEACE: OPPOSE THE ADMINISTRATION'S EFFORTS TO UNDERMINE UN INSPECTIONS. TALKING POINTS: Despite the constant repetition of unsubstantiated allegations as truths by high level cabinet members, the Bush Adminstration has presented still failed to present any evidence linking Iraq to Al-Qaida, or any tangible evidence that Iraq is reconstituting its weapons of mass destruction programs, or that Iraq poses an "immanent threat" to the United States. Iraq's recent decision to accept weapons inspectors without conditions is still on the table. Iraqi Foreign Minister Sabri has said that Iraq has nothing to hide. The United States should pursue peace and allow the UN weapons inspections to confirm that the minister is telling the truth. Iraq's rejection of new and tougher UN Security Council Resolutions must be dealt with by negotiations, not war. Our government must honor previous UN agreements that recognize the sovereignty of Iraq. Secretary of State Rumsfeld has already rejected the Iraqi statements; see; http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/21/iraq.un/indes.html For additional Talking Points see: "Why the US Should Not Invade Iraq": http://www.endthewar.org/frontps/whynotinvade.htm BACKGROUND AND FURTHER STEPS: 1. NO BLANK CHECK FOR BUSH: September 19, 2002, "Further Resolution on Iraq", submitted to Congress by President George Bush, United States Congress At the House International Relations Hearings on Thursday, September 19, Committee members revealed that the Administration had begun circulating a joint resolution entitled the "Further Resolution on Iraq". Section 2 of the Resolved paragraphs asks for "AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES", The full resolved paragraph is as follows: The President is authorized to use all means that he determines to be appropriate, including force, in order to enforce the United Nations Security Council Resolutions referenced above, defend the national security interests of the United States against the threat posed by Iraq, and restore international peace and security in the region. NNEWAI Response: Critique of the Resolution: This resolution states that the President is to be given the power necessary to enforce existing UN Security Council resolutions. There are two issues here. First, President Bush is at the same time applying pressure to the UN Security Council to pass newer and tougher language. If he succeeds, this congressional resolution could be voided. But more importantly, the resolution purports to give President Bush the authority to enforce UN Security Council resolutions. The resolution thus stands in violation of Articles 39-42 of the UN Charter, which make it absolutely clear that only the UN Security Council has the authority to determine if there is a threat to the peace and to decide which measures are necessary to enforce its resolutions and restore international peace. The WHEREAS clauses of the resolution are full of distortions, outright falsehoods, and speculation. The administration alleges that Iraq would transfer weapons of mass destruction to terrorist organizations (there is no evidence to support this allegation, it is pure speculation), accuses the Iraqi regime of continuing hostility toward the United States by firing on the US airplanes that enforce the no-fly zones (US planes that illegally violate Iraqi
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's, speech "Goodbye to all that" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG
Original Message Subject: Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's, speech "Goodbye to all that" Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 00:10:25 -0700 From: sharon cotrell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: LBAPN 1 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Hi All,Thanks much to Ken for sending this summing up and farewell speech of US House of Representative who just lost her seat. I have included his forward to the essay. I echo his hope that it will inform and inspire us to "act resolutely from this point on in opposition to the crazies running our government today."A firestorm of criticism, even hate, resulted when McKinney courageously asked, the "simple question": "What did the Bush Administration know and when did it know it." Below she details what is now known.I have excerpted her last sentence. Instantly I thought of the young anarchists at the Infoshop. Then I thought of the 35-45 of us on 2nd St. in Belmont Shores last night saying "Stop the War Before It Starts! Stay out of Iraq. " I thought of the many, many who were so glad we were there. Some said, "I was beginning to think I was the only one opposed." The butttons, bumper stickers went fast. And we may find, that we learn most of all from those political and social dissenters whose differences with us are most grave:for among the young, as among adults, the sharpest criticism often goes hand in hand with the deepest idealism and love of country." What a shame to loose this woman who took the unpopular stance. This kind of real leadership is so rare and so needed. Do yourself a favor and read this and pass it on. See you at the next peace vigil Friday--7 p.m. in front of Washington Mutual on 2nd St in Belmont Shares--.a couple blocks east of the Post Office. Sharon Cotrell 562-433-7025.From: "Kenneth Reiner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 10:13:56 -0700So much is coming out these days about our country and it's suppression of facts and people. This statement of Cynthia McKinney, who I've adnmired for quite a while now, is so revealing it makes one want to cry, to scream and hopefully act resolutely from this point on in opposition to the crazies running our government today along those same lines, only more so. September 18, 2002Goodbye to All Thatby Rep. Cynthia McKinney [This is a transcript of Rep. McKinney's remarks on September 14 at the reception for the Congressional Black Caucus.]This is an important week for all of us, although it isa particularly important week for me. This week we had three very successful Braintrusts: Afro-Latinos and their rising tide of political empowerment all over Latin America; Hip Hop Power and the importance of Hip Hop as a communications medium in the absence of a real communications industry other than Radio One now, inside our community, owned by our community spreading the good news about our community; And finally, COINTELPRO II: The Murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. where we learned that there really are linkages between the murders of JFK, MLK, and RFK. And that the COINTELPRO process was "to neutralize" the black leader--in the words of the CIA--assassinate, and then replace that leader with someone whose skin color was black, but whose loyalty was to their plan and not us. Yesterday, Judge Joe Brown told us unequivocally that the so-called murder rifle was NOT the weapon that killed Dr. King. So, I think we did some very important work in these three braintrusts, connecting, communicating, and educating. And at least for the next two years, I will not be at the CBC Weekend as a Member of the House of Representatives. As everybody probably knows by now, I didn't cross the finish line first this time. Despite the fact that I easily won the Democratic vote, 40,000 Republicans maliciously crossed over and overtook the Democratic Primary. And because AIPAC had telegraphed in newspaper articles that they were going to target both Earl Hilliard and me, the Democratic Party was paralyzed. Therefore, if Alabama represents the heart of the civil rights movement and Georgia represents its brain, the black body politic has sustained a mortal blow. What does this portend for the future of independent black leadership in this country, particularly given what we learned really happened during the COINTELPRO period, and what will happen soon now that the USA Patriot Act, Homeland Security, and the Funding for the War on Terrorism Act have significantly changed the legal landscape. The Operation TIPS program of John Ashcroft, by the way, is nothing new in the annals of the FBI, but executive authority always seemed to be there to override such ambitions. That's not the case now. And so, I'm proud of the votes I cast against those bills and I'm proud of the legislation I've authored that really does seek to move our country forward. For instance, the legislation to override the President's executive Order denying our troops their rightfully earned o
(Mother Jones) - "Bush Family Value$" [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart: "Know thy enemy" From: John Roberts Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2002 4:03 PM Subject: Bush Family Value$ http://www.motherjones.com/news_wire/bushboys.html Bush Family Value$ The Bush clan's family business by Stephen Pizzo September/October 1992 In 1991, President Bush bristled at a flurry of news accounts that questioned the business ethics of three of his sons. "The media ought to be ashamed of itself for what they're doing," Bush complained. "They [the boys] have a right to make a living, and their relationships are appropriate," added a White House spokeswoman in June 1992. Since George Bush has raised "family values" as a campaign issue repeatedly, though, it seems only fair to take a look at his own family. A computer search showed that over the past five years stories have periodically surfaced chronicling the individual business antics of the president's sons -- each riding comfortably through life in the slipstream of his father's growing power and influence. Although a handful of good reporters for the New York Times, LA Times, Village Voice, and Wall Street Journal have diligently been digging through business records for months, something has been missing: an overview that "connects the dots" in the myriad deals that have been examined, making it clear that cashing in on influence has become a pattern of behavior extending through the first family. Instead of criticizing reporters, the president might more wisely begin listening to those in government who have watched his sons with mounting worry. A year ago, I sat across a desk from a Secret Service agent who had been assigned to Bush-family security. I rattled off the names of a half-dozen questionable characters who had found their way into business deals with the Bush boys. How had these characters been allowed to get even close to the president's sons? The agent slumped back in his chair and sighed. "We warn them," he said in a whisper. "But that's all we can do. We can't stop these kids from associating with someone they want to be with. All we can do after warning them is to sweep these guys with metal detectors when they come around." What follows is a sourcebook of concerns about the president's three sons. George W. Bush, Jr. None of George Bush's offspring is more his father's son than George W. Bush. George Jr., or "Shrub" as Molly Ivins refers to him, began his own Texas oil career in the mid-1970s when he formed Bush Exploration. Like the business dealings of his brothers, George's company was not a success, and it was rescued in 1983 by another oil company, Spectrum 7, run by several staunch and well-heeled Reagan-Bush supporters. But by mid-1986, a soft oil market found Spectrum also near bankruptcy. Many oil companies went belly-up during that time. But Spectrum had one asset the others lacked -- the son of the vice-president. Rescue came in 1986 in the form of Harken Energy, just in the nick of time. Harken absorbed Spectrum, and, in the process, Junior got $600,000 worth of Harken stock in return for his Spectrum shares. He also won a lucrative consulting contract and stock options. In all, the deal would put well over $1 million in his pocket over the next few years -- even though Harken itself lost millions. Harken Energy was formed in l973 by two oilmen who would benefit from a successful covert effort to destabilize Australia's Labor Party government (which had attempted to shut out foreign oil exploration). A decade later, Harken was sold to a new investment group headed by New York attorney Alan G. Quasha, a partner in the firm of Quasha, Wessely & Schneider. Quasha's father, a powerful attorney in the Philippines, had been a staunch supporter of then-president Ferdinand Marcos. William Quasha had also given legal advice to two top officials of the notorious Nugan Hand Bank in Australia, a CIA operation. After the sale of Harken Energy in 1983, Alan Quasha became a director and chairman of the board. Under Quasha, Harken suddenly absorbed Junior's struggling Spectrum 7 in 1986. The merger immediately opened a financial horn of plenty and reversed Junior's fortunes. But like his brother Jeb, Junior seemed unconcerned about the characters who were becoming his benefactors. Harken's $25 million stock offering in 1987, for example, was underwritten by a Little Rock, Arkansas, brokerage house, Stephens, Inc., which placed the Harken stock offering with the London subsidiary of Union Bank -- a bank that had surfaced in the scandal that resulted in the downfall of the Australian Labor government in 1976 and, later, in the Nugan Hand Bank scandal. (It was also Union Bank, according to congressional hearings on international money laundering, that helped the now-notorious Bank of Credit and Commerce International skirt Panamanian money-laundering laws by flying cash out of t
(Michel Colon) "Will it be the war of the thieves? " [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: Michel COLLON [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 12:22 AM Subject: [anti-imperialist] F3 War: in fact against OPEC, Europe, Russia, China... Will it be the war of the thieves? Today, El Pais (Spain) explains this very cynically : "EE.UU. will share Iraqi oil with the countries who will participate in the war". If Paris and Moscow take part in the agression, they will receive a (small) part of the cake, i.e. a few contracts with the new regime, "made in Washington". If not, they will be excluded. So everybody admits it is a colonial war, to plunder the raw materials. It is also a war against "friends-rivals" : France and Europe, Russia...Because of the economic crisis, the rivalry will become deeper and deeper. Bush is openly blackmailing about the E.U. access to oil. But the danger goes further. Actually, Washington fears to lose the control of Saudi Arabia (N° 1 oil reserves in the world). Anxious because of the growing dissatisfaction of the Arab world, Washington wants therefore to take complete control of the N° 2 in oil reserves. This would allow the US multinationals to make the prices lower and declare economic war to OPEC (OPEP), i.e. a lot of "too independent" countries : Iran, Venezuela... If these countries lose their revenues, Washington hopes to bring them on their knees and impose its globalization. War is also against the Palestinians. Because Iraq already proposed to boycott oil exports as a pressure against Sharon's policy. Venezuela and others are ready to accept. But Rambush's war has another dimension: China also signed contracts with Baghdad. CIA asserts that China with its fantastic growth might reach the same economic level as the USA around 2015 or 2020. Blocking its access to the oil of Middle East, and also to the gas of Central Asia (war against Afghanistan), installing military bases everywhere is the preparation of economic, political and military blockade against China. What a wonderful world, Mr Bush! Blackmailing so openly and cynically is not a sign of force but a sign of moral isolation and weakness. So everybody in Europe may now ask to his government: are you really going to march in this war of the thieves ? --Michel Collon [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Please FORWARD this mail to as many people as possible. TRANSLATE it if you can. DISCUSS it around you. DON'HATE the media, be the media! STOP the war, as the Vietnam war was stopped. END OF MAIL** Liste de diffusion d'informations anti-imperialistes et anti-OTAN du domaine chiffonrouge.org. langues: anglais, francais, espagnol. --- http://chiffonrouge.org http://lesdamnesdukosovo.chiffonrouge.org, le site de Présentation du Film de Michel Collon et Vanessa Stojilkovic "Les Damnés du Kosovo" http://spip.chiffonrouge.org, les news et articles de fond anti-impérialistes et de gauche, en français, anglais et espagnol- inscrivez-vous comme éditeur(trice) ! http://luxfiat.chiffonrouge.org http://otan99.chiffonrouge.org http://w3.chiffonrouge.org http://poltext.chiffonrouge.org ---Desinscription: envoyez un message a: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Pour obtenir de l'aide, ecrivez a: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ¥¥¥ Vous pouvez soutenir CHIFFONROUGE.ORG en versant, en tout anonymat, une somme forfaitaire de 16 euros qui correspond aux frais mensuels de présence de notre site chez altern.org. De cette somme, pas un cent n'est reversé aux administrateurs de chiffonrouge.org, qui travaillent pour ce site bénévolement. La totalité couvre l'hébergement chez notre fournisseur d'espace web pour 1 mois. Ce soutien nous permettra de consacrer nos efforts à la mise en place de nouveaux documents, fonctionnalités et options multimédia sur chiffonrouge.org. Soutenez notre action ! Préparez votre carte bancaire internationale et rendez vous sur: http://w3.chiffonrouge.org/soutien.html et cliquez sur le bouton. Envoyez-nous un mail à [EMAIL PROTECTED], seulement si vous souhaitez nous informer d'un versement (SVP-n'indiquer dans ce mail AUCUNE information confidentielle portant sur votre carte bancaire). Merci de votre soutien. + Notre site et nos listes sont protégés par les antivirus de dernière génération. Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! News - Today's headlines
Fwd: "Now They Check the Books You Read " [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
Forward from mart. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE. == Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 08:17:30 -0400 From: "Griann Ní Ghúilín" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Now They Check the Books You Read 16 September 2002 Now They Check the Books You Read by Joan E. Bertin, Newsday In the post 9/11 world, there is undoubtedly a government official whose job is to invent innocuous-sounding, if not reassuring, acronyms for government initiatives against terrorism. Operation TIPS is a case in point. The Terrorism Information and Prevention System will recruit millions of utility, transportation and other workers to report on "potentially unusual or suspicious activity in public places." In other words, Operations TIPS is using private citizens to spy on each other. The Bush administration's reliance on acronyms with public-relations punch was apparent as early as last October when, still reeling from the events of Sept. 11, it proposed and Congress swiftly passed the USA Patriot Act ("The Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" Act of 2001). Like Operation TIPS, the label doesn't tell the whole story. Among the less well-known aspects of the Patriot Act are provisions permitting the Justice Department to obtain information secretly from booksellers and librarians about customers' and patrons' reading, Internet and book-buying habits, merely by alleging that the records are relevant to an anti-terrorism investigation. The act prohibits librarians and booksellers from disclosing these subpoenas, so the objects of investigation don't know and therefore cannot defend themselves and their privacy, or contest the government's actions in court. In a sample of 1,000 libraries responding to a survey last February, 85 reported receiving requests to turn over information about patrons to police or FBI agents. We have no way to know how many other libraries, and how many booksellers, received similar requests. We don't know how many requests were made under the Patriot Act, because of its secrecy provisions. What we do know is that the Patriot Act authorizes the government to obtain information secretly from librarians and booksellers about customers' and patrons' interests and activities, and that law enforcement officials are seeking such information. The Justice Department has refused to provide any data about these investigations, even to Congress. Librarians and booksellers have voiced their dismay at being conscripted, under court order and threat of prosecution, to report covertly on their patrons and customers. Secretly obtaining information about what people read, to try to figure out what they think, undermines more than privacy; it threatens core First Amendment principles, as many librarians and booksellers understand. The Constitution clearly protects the right to read a book, embrace an idea or express a thought even an unpopular or "unpatriotic" book, idea or thought. The freedom of thought and _expression is so fundamental to our democracy that, as the Supreme Court recently noted, the "government may not prohibit speech because it increases the chance an unlawful act will be committed 'at some indefinite future time.'" In so holding, the court relied on the "vital distinction between words and deed, between ideas and conduct." In other words, the government is free to prohibit and punish illegal conduct, but may not criminalize ideas or punish people for their thoughts. Perversely, under the Patriot Act, reading certain books or researching certain topics both constitutionally protected activities now apparently provide grounds for criminal investigation. The Justice Department's recent decision to repeal the domestic terrorism surveillance guidelines unmistakably sends this signal. The guidelines were adopted in 1976 in response to revelations that, under the infamous COINTELPRO ("counterintelligence") program, civil rights and anti-war activists who were neither accused nor suspected of crimes became targets of government investigation because of their outspoken criticism of government policies. To prevent such abuses, the 1976 guidelines authorized surveillance of political, religious and other groups only if there was actual evidence of criminal activity. Without this restriction, covert surveillance of political dissidents with no known connection to criminal activity is bound to resume. According to a brief recently filed by the Justice Department in defense of secret immigration hearings, the "First Amendment creates no general right of access to government information or operations." The gag order imposed on librarians and booksellers goes even further in withholding information from the object of an investigation. As a result, proceedings under the act will be shrouded in secrecy, not only making it impossible for targeted individuals to counter the government's allegations, but also preventing the public at large from making an informe
David Rockefeller Speaks - SATIRE By Victor Thorn [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Mrs. Jela Jovanovic" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: David Rockefeller Speaks - SATIRE By Victor Thorn Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 19:08:27 +0200 -Caveat Lector- http://www.bankindex.com/read.asp?ID=1222 David Rockefeller Speaks satire by Victor Thorn Breaking News: Late last night, President George Bush admitted to The Economist magazine that not only did he and other members of his Cabinet know about the 9-11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, but that they also allowed them to happen so that American oil companies could further maximize their profits in the Middle East and Caspian Region of Turkmenistan. Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense, confirmed this startling revelation to the Washington Post by saying that the airplanes in question were never actually hijacked, but were flown via remote-control into the each skyscraper and the Pentagon while military jets were ordered to stand-down until this atrocity took place. In another part of the world, Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, held a press conference in Harare, Zimbabwe where he confessed that the AIDS virus did not happen accidentally, but was rather created by the World Health Organization in unison with rogue elements of the United States military in order to deliberately kill tens of millions of innocent people (or useless eaters as they are called behind closed-doors). Annan further elaborated by saying that this genocidal program will continue indefinitely until enough of the herd has been thinned. While this startling news unfolded, CBS Evening News Anchor Dan Rather broke into regularly scheduled prime-time programming to announce that the very foundation of American society our right to a democratic vote has been declared null-and-void, and that the American people have been bamboozled for the past twenty years via Votescam. In other words, Rather said matter-of-factly, every President in recent memory has been selected beforehand by a group of hidden Controllers, while the process of voting at the ballot boxes has been nothing but a ruse. While all of these events took place, Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, sat before Congress under the glare of television cameras and laid it all on the line. He said in no uncertain terms that the Federal Reserve is a privately-owned, for-profit corporation, and that his international banker bosses laugh until their stomachs hurt every day over the tax system theyve created to pad their already overflowing pockets. Greenspan even went so far as to quote a Rothschild family member as saying, The people of America, and indeed the world, are dumkopfs (idiots). They slave away at OUR companies and make US rich; then before we throw them a few scraps via their paychecks, we take our money first. Hell, we dont even take it we STEAL it anywhere from ¼ to 1/3 right off the bat. They dont even see it. And every year we raise their taxes and take even more! And what do they do about it? Nothing. They dont even fight back. All of the congressmen laughed uproariously as they left this session and hopped into their limousines, which took them to fancy steak and lobster houses. George Tenet, CIA Director, got into the act by telling syndicated radio talk-show host Mike Gallagher his agency will increase its black-budget drug-trafficking practices while the FBI at the same time bolsters it War on Drugs. In other words, he said that while the CIA keeps bringing drugs into the country, the Justice Department will keep throwing the users into jail. He even said that President Bush might bring back Nancy Reagans Just Say No program for good measure. As this news flashed across computer screens the world over, David Rockefeller sat in a plush European boardroom with members of the Rothschild, Morgan, Warburg, and Bronfman families. And even though the above-mentioned revelations were highly damaging to the ruse they had perpetuated for decades, none seemed worried. Mr. Rockefeller began with an air of superiority. Why should we be concerned? Do you know what everyone on the Internet is going to do? What? one of his shadowy cohorts replied. Theyre going to tap out a message on their keyboards, then rifle it off into cyberspace. Then someone else will read it, post it on a message board; and continue tapping away. Hell, we rammed two jets into the World Trade Center, and now they know the truth about what weve done! THEY KNOW THE TRUTH! Its the same as when we blew-up the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and made Timothy McVeigh our fall-guy. But what are they going to do? Send more messages on their silly computers! Its a riot. Plus, weve also admitted that we actually STEAL their money via taxation, that we CREATED the AIDS virus to kill them off, that their votes DONT matter, and that were going to start shipping their sons and daughters off to another Vietnam War in Iraq to DIE so that WE can make more
Video of Bush at Booker Proves 9-11 Attack Was No Surprise [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
From: "John Roberts" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Fw: Video of Bush at Booker Proves 9-11 Attack Was No Surprise Date: Mon, 16 Sep 2002 22:25:12 -0400 - Original Message - From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 8:36 PM Subject: Video of Bush at Booker Proves 9-11 Attack Was No Surprise * Emperor's Clothes Email List * URL for this article is http://emperors-clothes.com/indict/vid.htm Join our email list at http://emperors-clothes.com/f.htm Receive articles from Emperor's Clothes Website === Video of Bush at Booker Proves 9-11 Attack Was No Surprise by Jared Israel [Posted 16 September 2002] === A video was shot of President Bush's visit to the Booker School on 9-11. The Booker School put a link to that video up on their Website for a while, then took it down. Copies of the video are available and you can view it. For instructions on viewing full video, go to http://emperors-clothes.com/indict/bvl.htm A short excerpt can be seen at http://emperor.vwh.net/bushvideo/bushshort.ram The best way to access this is right click on the link above and save the file to your hard drive ("save target as"). It's about 7 Megs. Then click on the icon and play it. You'll need RealPlayer, which you can download for free at http://www.real.com/products/player ** This Short Clip Is a Smoking Gun ** In the short clip Bush is seen sitting in a classroom observing a reading esson. Immediately Andrew Card, his Chief of Staff, hurries over and whispers something in his ear. Bush makes no reply. Andrew Card rushes off. What it is wrong with this picture? According to the official account, Andrew Card whispered that a second plane had hit the World Trade Center and there was a national emergency. Here's how Bush described that moment at a California Town Hall meeting January 5th: "Andy Card came and said, 'America is under attack.'" (1) If his Chief of Staff tells the President the country is under attack, the President would discuss it. He would ask questions. Demand more information. Leave the room. Meet with advisers. Do *something*. But Bush just sat there. The Chief of Staff is the President's *employee*. If he tells the President, "America is under attack" the President would *give him orders.* But Bush said nothing - not one word. And Andy Card didn't wait for instructions; he rushed away. What does this mean? It means Andy Card did not expect a response. It means he cannot have been informing Bush that an *unexpected* national attack was underway. It means he was giving Bush an update on the progress of a plan of which Bush was already aware, and he had to get back to work. And as for Bush, later in the short clip he is seen smiling and giving a pep talk to the children. In the full version, available at http://emperors clothes.com/indict/bvl.htm, you can see him cheering the students and then giving them a longer pep talk when the lesson is over. This is not the picture President stunned by a horrific event and confronted with an unexpected national emergency. This is the picture of treason. -- Jared Israel === Further Reading === (1) CNN LIVE EVENT/SPECIAL 12:59 January 5, 2002 Saturday "Bush Speaks at Town Hall Meeting" By Jonathan Karl (2) 'Articles on 9-11' has a broad range of articles from Emperor's Clothes on what happened on 9-11 and why. Can be read at http://emperors-clothes.com/indict/911page.htm To subscribe to the Emperor's Clothes email list go to http://www.emperors-clothes.com/f.htm You will receive texts posted at Emperor's Clothes Send a link to this article to a friend! If you receive this article by email, copy and paste the following URL into your browser: mailto:ENTER FRIEND'S EMAIL ADDRESS HERE?subject=Here's a great article from emperors-clothes.com!&body=I just read the following article which I thought you would find most interesting. Here's the address: http://emperors-clothes.com/indict/vid.htm === EMPEROR'S CLOTHES NEEDS YOUR HELP! === In order for Emperor's Clothes to continue publishing we urgently need your help. We rely entirely on contributions. We are behind on routine expenses such as rent, paying our computer guru and phone bills. If you would like Emperor's Clothes to continue exposing lies and providing facts and analysis beholden only to the truth, please send a contribution of whatever you can afford. When you contribute your hard-earned money to Emperor's Clothes you are taking a stand against the brutal forces wrecking havoc on our world. Here's how you can help: You can make a credit card donation by going to our secure server at http://emperors-clothes.com/howyour.html#donate You can make a donation using PayPal at https:[EMAIL PROTECTED]&no_shipping=1 Or Mail a check to Emperor's Clothes, P.O. Box 610-321, Newton, MA 02461-0321. (USA) Or make a donation by phone 1 617 916-1705. Note: If you
Palestinian Women Political Prisoners [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "Vicki Andrada" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Undisclosed-Recipient@, Subject: Fw: Palestinian Women Political Prisoners Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 12:40:36 -0400 - Original Message - From: VoicesOfPalestine.org (Alert) To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 4:08 AM Subject: Palestinian Women Political Prisoners Palestinian Women Political Prisoners As 9f June 2003, there were 28 Palestinian women political detainees held in Ramle Prison. They are being held in the same section as Isreal criminal prisoners and live under very difficult conditions. These conditions have worsoned dramatically since the beginning of the Intifada and prison guards have repeatedly raided their cells, beating and attacking the female detainees. Th prison administration pressures the women detainees through the following means: Raiding the cells and beating the prisoners Reducing the recess time from four hours to two hours. Inspections and confiscation of their belongings. Depriving them from sending letters or seeing their families. Preventing them from using the telephone. Deprived from receiving items allowed by the prison administration. Testimony recorded in writing under oath about torture Muna Husni Qa'dan Dar Hussein from Araba- Jenin "I was arrested on 15 February 1999 at a military checkpoint between Araba and Jenin while I was on my way to work; I am a director of a kindergarten called "Baraim Ilnur". The taxi, which I was in with other passengers, was stopped and I was asked to show my identity card, then I was told that I was under arrest. I was taken to Dutan where I was held in custody for five hours, then I was taken to Al Jalami prison; the interrogation center. There my hands and feet were tied and a sack was place over my head. This went on for five continuous hours every day, except for a period when this went on from Sunday to Thursday. My legs and hands were tied to a chair and a sack was placed over my head and a pair of glasses was placed on my eyes all the time. Loud music was playing in the background in the interrogation center, which I can't describe because a sack was covering my head. The interrogation was carried out at night until the morning, which prevented me from sleeping, sometimes I fell asleep during interrogation (on Saturdays and Sundays I slept in the cell). During the interrogation there was a male interrogator accompanied by a female soldier, every time a different male interrogator. The main interrogator's name was 'Abu Munir' and the other interrogators whom I can remember their names were named 'Sinuy', 'Peres' and 'Segal'. They cursed me using abusive words and against my religious belief and me. They hit me once when they brought my phone book from my handbag and the interrogator Abu Munir asked me to read it. I read it many times but when he kept bothering me by asking me to read it over and over again I tore it up and threw it in the garbage. Abu Munir hit me on my hands and I hit him back on his face and tore his shirt. The interrogator always threatened me with administrative detention. In one interrogation session Abu Munir came to interrogate me on Friday and Saturday nights. He told me that they arrested people who confessed about me so I told him I have nothing to confess. Then he told me that I was given an administrative detention sentence for six months and that I will be taken to Al Jalami prison on Sunday. He threatened me to extend my administrative detention for many times. On the fourteenth day of interrogation they brought my brother Muawia (held at Megiddo prison). I was brought to him in the interrogation room and we were left alone for two hours. They told him to pressurize me so that I confess or eat (I went on a hunger strike since the first day of my arrest). They tempted me by bringing another woman on the second day of interrogation. She claimed that she was from Nazareth and was named Abeer Abed. She asked me about the reason why I was held in custody but I told her that I had nothing to say. She said that she was arrested because she was in the "Islamic Jihad". She spent two nights with me in the cell. Then she was taken somewhere and returned ten days later. When I asked where she had been she said that she was sick and was taken to Al Ramli for treatment, I realized that she was a collaborator. On Wednesday, 10 March 1999 my friend Asma'a was arrested and put in a cell next to my cell. I knew that it was she because a police officer asked about my name then asked her about her name so I realized that she was there. I was not allowed to wash or change my clothes all the time. I pushed them to let me bathe because I needed it so they let me bathe once without soap, only with water. After the attorney Sahar's visit to me on 7 March 1999 when I was on a hunger strike, she told me that I could ask for milk. After asking for milk several times, I was given a glass o
Fwd: Well Done! [WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK]
From: "I. Gleanngheimhridh" [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2002 11:59:59 +0100 Subject: well done! South Korean businessman killed in Kyrgyz capital An armed attack on the Bishkek office of the South Korean company Paniel killed five of its employees and seriously wounded two, the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry reported on Thursday. According to law enforcers, the attack was staged on Wednesday.Two young men disguised as women walked into the company's office in the center of the Kyrgyz capital and opened fire at its employees. According to preliminary information, the South Korean company selected young girls and sent them abroad as "dancers". That was why no one thought of stopping two girls dressed in summer frocks when they walked into the office. The owner of the company, 50-year-old Yi Chong-kun, his wife and two Kyrgyz employees died on the spot. Another woman died en route to hospital. Law enforcers have set up an investigating team consisting of the best specialists from the Bishkek Interior Department and the Kyrgyz interior ministry. Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better
