[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8572-2003Jan31.html N. Korea's Nuclear Plans Were No Secret By Walter Pincus In November 2001, when the Bush administration was absorbed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, intelligence analysts at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory completed a highly classified report and sent it to Washington. The report concluded that North Korea had begun construction of a plant to enrich uranium that could be used in nuclear weapons, according to administration and congressional sources. The findings meant that North Korea was secretly circumventing a 1994 agreement with the United States in which it promised to freeze a nuclear weapons program. Under that deal, the North stopped producing plutonium. Now, however, there was evidence that the North was embarking on a hidden quest for nuclear weapons down another path, using enriched uranium. Although the report was hand-delivered to senior Bush administration officials, "no one focused on it because of 9/11," according to an official at Livermore, one of the nation's two nuclear weapons laboratories. An informed member of Congress offered the same conclusion. The findings of the Livermore report were confirmed in a June 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a major assessment by the CIA and all other intelligence agencies. These reports are part of a complex and hidden trail of intelligence about the North Korean effort that has raised questions about why the Bush administration waited until early October 2002 to confront officials in the capital, Pyongyang, with the intelligence -- and to go public several weeks later -- when details had been accumulating for more than two years. The North Korean drive to enrich uranium came as the Bush administration was trying to build support for military action against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on grounds he was hiding a program of weapons of mass destruction and would be more dangerous if he obtained nuclear weapons. Some critics say the Bush administration kept secret the most worrisome intelligence about a North Korean nuclear plant out of concern that public disclosure would undermine the campaign against Iraq, or interfere with the pursuit of Osama bin Laden and his network. Top administration officials have repeatedly denied that they suppressed the intelligence for political reasons. Today, the administration faces new challenges as satellite data reportedly show North Korea moving fuel rods from a reactor site that was mothballed under the 1994 agreement. The site contains 8,000 such rods which, if reprocessed, could yield enough plutonium for about five bombs in approximately one month, according to Daniel A. Pinkston, senior research associate and Korea specialist at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Moving the rods away from the storage site could make it much harder for outsiders to monitor whether North Korea was using them to build a bomb. Since 1994, the rods had been in storage under international monitoring, but recently the inspectors from the U.N.-chartered International Atomic Energy Agency were expelled from the country. CIA analysts said they now believe North Korea is moving full speed toward building a weapon with plutonium. U.S. intelligence has never included firm evidence that North Korea actually possesses a bomb, although there has been speculation that it had one or more weapons. North Korea also has missiles that could be used to deliver a weapon, including between 500 and 600 missiles modified from the Soviet-built Scud, with relatively short ranges of 150 to 300 miles. Also, in 1993 North Korea tested a missile with an 800-mile range, which could reach Japan, and in 1998 launched a three-stage missile over Japan. One stage flew an estimated 3,450 miles before breaking up in the Pacific Ocean. The following year, North Korea announced a moratorium on missile tests, but recently threatened to resume them. Pakistan Gave Plans The history of the intelligence about North Korea's drive to enrich uranium underscores how the effort to stop weapons proliferation is made more complex by other foreign policy goals. For example, the Livermore report included the disclosure that Pakistani scientists were the source of the plans showing the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, how uranium is enriched, the sources said. Just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, joined the United States in the fight against bin Laden and the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. The United States, in return, dropped sanctions imposed on Pakistan for pursuing a nuclear program. According to one senior administration official, it was at this point that
[CTRL] Advertisers rushing away from Limbaugh show?
-Caveat Lector- This story was sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] with these comments: Note: stock information in parentheses are hot linques at the site.From CBS.MarketWatch.com, online at: CBS.MarketWatch.com Quotes & News symbol/fund/keyword Find Symbol Advertisers rushing away from Limbaugh show? By William Spain, CBS.MarketWatch.comLast Update: 12:04 AM ET Jan 30, 2003 CHICAGO (CBS.MW) - A Rush to the exits?Though still in its infancy, a letter-writing campaign aimed at advertisers on "The Rush Limbaugh Show," has already claimed a few choice scalps -- and hopes to soon have other marketers saying "ditto."Kicked off last week on the website of a group called Take Back The Media, the effort is generating a growing buzz among online progressives (or, if you prefer, "liberals") -- along with hundreds of angry e-mails to companies that sponsor what it calls Limbaugh's "hateful chortling and guffawing." Micheal Stinson, a Vietnam-era veteran, is co-founder of Take Back The Media. Obviously never a Rush fan, Stinson and his cohorts were content to largely ignore the king of reactionary talk radio -- until he weighed in on the recent anti-war protests, calling participants "anti-American," "anti-capitalist" and "communists," among other terms."He just went too far," said Stinson. "Don't call me anti-American. I served this country."When he decided to go after Limbaugh, Stinson said "we were told we would have to nip at his heels, to start by contacting local advertisers." He ignored that advice, however, and posted a list, complete with contact information, of top sponsors."Within 18 hours, RadioShack (RSH) had folded. Within 36 hours, Amtrak was gone and Bose told us they were no longer advertising on the show," Stinson said.Oddly, Stinson's group is not only telling the rest of the world which companies advertise on Limbaugh's show but, apparently, even the companies themselves.In RadioShack's case, the company maintains that it does not buy ads on Limbaugh's show and any that did air were the result of an "error made by the radio network or local affiliate."RadioShack, the company continued, "strictly adheres to a policy of not intentionally buying advertising space on programs that might be political or socially controversial or that promote any one individual's agenda or point of view."Amtrak says the ads aired as part of a complicated barter deal involving, strange but true, the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau. It does not sponsor political shows and "'in the future...will communicate [that] practice to" other partners.Although Stinson said he has reports of its ads appearing during the show, a spokeswoman for Bose told CBS.MarketWatch that its does not advertise on the program, "and has no intentions of doing so."Other advertisers targeted by Take Back the Media include Darden Restaurants (DRI) Red Lobster chain, Pfizer (PFE) AutoZone (AZO) and online retailer Overstock.com (OSTK) -- none of which would comment.Limbaugh is syndicated by Premiere Radio Networks, a subsidiary of radio behemoth Clear Channel Communications (CCU) . While not addressing whether the show had lost any advertisers as a result of the boycott, Premiere issued the following written statement: "There have been many times in the 15 year history of 'The Rush Limbaugh Program' when national and world events have generated increased listening as well as increased communication with individuals who have opposing points of view," said company president Kraig Kitchin. "The kind of compelling radio that generates opposition also causes Rush Limbaugh's weekly 20 million listeners to tune in that much more and listen longer."That audience number is likely exaggerated (other estimates put it closer to 15 million) but there is no question that Limbaugh is big, big, big and one of medium's biggest single stars. So, can a few scrappy liberals really hurt him?Depends. A lot of radio time is bought pretty much on a commodity basis, with advertisers looking for dayparts and regions rather than specific programming. Many may not even know where their ads appeared until after the fact. And, unless they have given their buyers up-front marching orders to avoid him (already not uncommon), Limbaugh's powerful ratings guarantee a piece of that action. Of course, there are plenty of other options that can deliver similar numbers. Whether or not the boycott works to any meaningful degree is going to depend on how many more advertisers decide it is easier to switch than fight. According to radio buyers, some companies cave almost instantly in the face of even a little negative feedback while others need to experience a truly sustained and widespread level of complaints before they listen.Still, they don't have to get them all to make a difference: If enough advertisers put out the word that the show is a forbidden zone -- and they are not rapidly replaced -- the pro
[CTRL] I thought you would be interested to read this article from The Times
-Caveat Lector- http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-559990,00.html Eight leaders rally 'new' Europe to America's side The leaders of Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Poland, Denmark and the Czech Republic have combined to make an unprecedented plea in The Times for unity and cohesion www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Shock
-Caveat Lector- This story has been forwarded to you from http://www.alternet.org by [EMAIL PROTECTED] - "Shock and Awe": Guernica Revisited http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15027 If George W. Bush gets the war he wants, Baghdad could become the 21st century's Guernica. - http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32281-2003Jan23.html U.S. Increasingly Isolated Over Iraq The Bush administration faced new problems today in its confrontation with Iraq as China and Russia joined U.S. allies France and Germany in rejecting early military action. The nations neighboring Iraq also convened a key meeting today in Turkey aimed at finding ways of averting a war. The stand taken by Paris, Beijing and Moscow means a majority of the five veto-wielding permanent members on the U.N. Security Council are against rushing into war. The other two members are the United States and Britain, who continued their military buildup in the Gulf region today. The Bush administration has indicated it could launch military action without Security Council backing. In Berlin today, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder vowed he and French President Jacques Chirac will do all they can to avert war. "War may never be considered unavoidable," he said. In Athens today, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said there were no grounds to use force at the moment. "There is still political and diplomatic leeway to resolve the Iraq issue," he said. Ivanov agreed with France and Germany that U.N. inspectors in Iraq should be allowed to press on with their job of looking for evidence of weapons of mass destruction. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Beijing's position was "extremely close to that of France." The Bush administration accuses Iraq of hiding nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and has threatened to attack if Baghdad does not disarm in line with a U.N. resolution passed in November. Iraq denies possessing any banned weapons. The U.N. inspectors, who are due to present a key report Monday to the United Nations, have said they need several more months to complete their work. However, President Bush has warned that time is running out for Iraq. The United States is massing 150,000 troops in the region and has said it is ready to use them with or without a Security Council resolution if it considers Iraq has not disarmed. In Istanbul today, foreign ministers and diplomats from Iraq's neighbors Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria are meeting along with regional heavyweight Egypt, to discuss a way out of the crisis. "The countries ... (at) the Istanbul meeting all have friendly relations with the United States," Iraqi Ambassador Talip Abid Salih El Duleymi said. "We want them to use those relations to dissuade the United States from its intention to attack." Iraq urged Turkey to reject U.S. requests for military support in any attack on Baghdad. The United States is looking to Turkey for use of its air bases and frontiers in the event of military action. Ankara opposes war but may be hard pressed to deny help to its closest NATO ally. The United States has asked NATO to consider several measures to provide indirect military assistance in case of an invasion. NATO Secretary-General George Robertson today denied reports of a "bust-up" Wednesday over providing support. Diplomats said France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg had blocked a decision in NATO on whether to prepare supporting measures, notably defending Turkey's southern flank. But Robertson said the only disagreement was over timing, not substance. In Iraq today, U.N. experts continued their hunt for banned weapons as a local newspaper warned that U.S. troops faced a fate worse than the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks if there is a war. "The events of September 11 will be a picnic compared with what would happen to America if it commits aggression against Iraq," the Babel paper of President Saddam Hussein's son Uday said today. In Iraq today, the U.N. inspectors visited at least five sites, including food stores, a fiberglass production plant, a missile complex and a university. http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archi
[CTRL] A friend recommends a page from The Onion
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian at [EMAIL PROTECTED] recommends a page from The Onion. The recommended page is:The Onion | Kim Jong Il Unfolds Into Giant Robothttp://www.theonion.com/onion3902/kim_jong_ii.html You are receiving this email because your friend Euphorian at [EMAIL PROTECTED] sent it to you. If you do not wish to receive emails like this, please contact your friend. www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] NYTimes.com Article: Mexico's Corrupt Oil Lifeline
-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mexico's Corrupt Oil Lifeline January 21, 2003 By TIM WEINER CADEREYTA, Mexico - Tony Cantu grew up with the giant oil refinery that Pemex, Mexico's state-owned oil company, runs here in his hometown. He helped build it and operate it, rising from construction worker to computer programmer to chemical engineer. Mr. Cantu gave Pemex a decade of his working life. But he will never work there again. He can explain why in one word. "Corruption," he said, gazing at the refinery, 20 miles outside Monterrey in northern Mexico. "People being stepped on, forced to be corrupt - I hated that. There were a lot of things you had to shut up about. The bosses would kill to protect themselves. People were subjugated by fear." For more than 60 years, Pemex, the world's fifth-largest oil company, has been Mexico's economic lifeblood. A $50 billion-a-year enterprise, it controls every gas pump in Mexico, and it sells nearly as much oil to the United States as Saudi Arabia does. Today, with some oil producers like Iraq and Venezuela facing nation-shaking crises, Mexico looks like a sure and steady source of oil. The United States may be tempted to rely on it even more. But Pemex is in danger of breaking down. "Financially, we are falling," its director, Raúl Muñoz Leos, said in an interview. Nearly every peso of Pemex's profits goes to run the government of Mexico. The company, after paying taxes and royalties, actually lost $3.5 billion in in 2001. Without major restructuring or tens of billions of dollars in foreign investment, Mr. Muñoz Leos warned recently, "We would face, in the short term, a collapse." One reason is a rottenness at Pemex's core. The company loses at least $1 billion a year to corruption, its executives say, in a continuous corrosion of the machine that keeps Mexico solvent. Fixing Pemex is as crucial to Mexico's future as it is to American oil supplies. When Vicente Fox became president two years ago after defeating the political machine that ran Mexico for 71 years - the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI - he vowed to make his country more open and democratic and to make Pemex run like a 21st-century corporation. To change Mexico, Mr. Fox must first change Pemex. It has been a cash machine for the government, a slush fund for politicians and a patronage mill for party loyalists since the party created Petróleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, in 1938. After nationalizing American and British oil interests, the party promptly changed the Constitution to bar foreign investment in underground oil and gas. It was a declaration of independence: "Expropriation Day" is still celebrated each year. Even today, the PRI, which still holds a plurality in Congress, is fighting changes to the Constitution and at the oil giant it created, in part on grounds of patriotism. President Fox's attempts at reform have been hamstrung by PRI resistance - and Pemex's history of corruption. Pemex's last director, Rogelio Montemayor, a former PRI governor, and its union boss, Carlos Romero Deschamps, a PRI senator, each stand accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars from Pemex for the PRI's 2000 presidential campaign against Mr. Fox. Both men deny the charges. Mr. Romero Deschamps is battling an attempt in Congress to strip him of the legal immunity he enjoys as a sitting senator. Mr. Montemayor fled Mexico last year and is fighting extradition from Houston. The PRI, struggling to defend them - and itself, is also resisting every effort to transform Pemex. "The political will needed to reform Pemex has just not coalesced," said Eduardo Cepeda, the head of J. P. Morgan Chase's Mexico office. Edward L. Morse, executive adviser at Hess Energy Trading Co. and former publisher of Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, said by telephone from New York that "the effort to reform the beast" had failed. President Fox, he said, does not "understand how thoroughly ingrained in the national political culture the monopoly of Pemex is." Pemex remains one of the world's few national oil companies with no competition from within or without. Its resulting inefficiencies are stark. Othón Canales Treviño is Pemex's director for competitiveness and innovation - the man in charge of creating the "new" Pemex. He once ran a company that supplied Pemex with chemicals, and he was often solicited for bribes, he said. Today he sits on a commission on corruption at Pemex, composed of 14 directors. "There is corruption," he said. "But I think the inefficiency is worse. There is brutal inefficiency." For example, Mr. Canales said, he recently asked how much Pemex paid each year for goods and services - everything for ice packs to helicopters rented to fly engineers to offshore rigs. No one knew. It took four months to come up with the answer - $7 billion. "We want to act like a company," he said. "Pemex isn't a company. It isn't Pemex Inc. We're
[CTRL] NYTimes.com Article: Slain Jewish Settler Is Finally Buried After Riot, Car Race and a Rabbinical Ruling
-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] Slain Jewish Settler Is Finally Buried After Riot, Car Race and a Rabbinical Ruling January 21, 2003 By JOHN KIFNER JERUSALEM, Jan. 20 - Nathaniel Ozeri, a Jewish settler slain by Palestinian gunmen on Friday night, was finally buried early this morning, 15 hours after his followers on the far edge of the religious right turned his funeral into a riot that stunned even this normally contentious country. There were a series of struggles over where the body would be buried - including an aborted race with the body in a car toward Jerusalem. His wife and supporters hoped to display the body in front of the prime minister's office there as a protest over the killing of settlers by Palestinians. Mr. Ozeri was finally laid to rest in darkness about 3 a.m. today in Hebron's old city cemetery alongside victims of a 1929 massacre of Jews in that city. The funeral, at noon on Sunday, was preceded by attacks on Palestinian homes by settlers. The attackers broke windows with iron bars, and at one point a young mother with a baby strapped to her chest pounded a Palestinian house with a big rock. There were wild scuffles as the army and the police tried to intervene, and the crowd taunted the police, shouting insults. The eulogies at the funeral were bitter, condemning Yitzhak Rabin, the prime minister who was slain in 1995 by a religious extremist who was opposed to his efforts to make peace with Palestinians. Mr. Ozeri's father-in-law, Shaul Nir, demanded revenge and called the police "scum." He is a former member of the Jewish underground who was sentenced to life in prison in 1985 for killing Palestinians in Hebron. He was later pardoned along with other members of the group by President Chaim Herzog. Then Mr. Ozeri's elderly father took the microphone and asked that his son be buried in Jerusalem so his mother could easily visit the grave. Wrangling ensued. A rabbi, Dov Lior, was brought in to mediate and ruled that the burial should be in Hebron. But then, urged on by Mr. Ozeri's widow, Livnat, young settlers snatched the body from the bed of a pickup truck intending to take it to the hilltop grave they had secretly dug. Some family members were knocked over in the struggle, and the rabbi was carried to safety on the back of a bodyguard. Soldiers finally managed to block the group, and for a moment it appeared that an agreement had been reached to bury Mr. Ozeri in Hebron. But the car carrying the body suddenly veered off, speeding away. When Israeli soldiers and the police tried to restore order, the settlers left behind continued to battle them and to attack Palestinian homes and set cars on fire. After they snatched his body, Mr. Ozeri's followers raced over hills, fences and vineyards trying to bury it on the isolated hilltop where he had been killed. They struck out for Jerusalem after they were turned away from the site by soldiers. Mrs. Ozeri said later that she had wanted to put the body on display "so the whole country can see the results of the terror and what happened when the Jews gave rifles to the terrorists." As Mr. Ozeri's followers in Hebron hoisted his body, on a stretcher wrapped in a blue and white prayer shawl, they pulled back the covering so his face was visible, in the style of Palestinian funerals for what they call their martyrs. It was a clear violation of Jewish religious law and tradition, and the spectacle drew criticism today from leading rabbis. "A disgrace," said the chief Ashkenazi rabbi, Yisrael Meir Law, "another bitter cup of sorrow." The chief Sephardic rabbi, Eliyahu Bakshi-Doran, called the supporters' action "very serious," adding, "If we leave the most extreme person to decide what is a good deed, what is religious law, all sorts of injustices will be done in God's name." Hebron, home to a group of militant settlers who believe that they have a mandate from God to reclaim the land they call Judea and Samaria, is always a volatile place. In the old city, an enclave of 450 religious Jews is guarded by soldiers and surrounded by 150,000 Palestinians, confined to their homes much of the time by army curfews. Nearby, 7,000 more Jewish settlers live in the sprawling settlement of Qiryat Arba. Tensions were running high even before Mr. Ozeri was killed by two Palestinian gunmen on Friday night, after he answered the door during his family's Sabbath dinner. There have been four Palestinian attacks in Hebron and nearby areas in the last two months in which 22 Israelis have been killed. On Friday, the two attackers, armed with an M-16 rifle, a revolver, grenades, a knife and an ax, were also killed. Mr. Ozeri was a well-known figure on the far right, a leader of the "hilltop youth," who have been trying to expand the settlers' presence by building outposts on isolated hills. His family of seven was the only one living on the illegal settlement known as Lot 26. He had r
[CTRL] NYTimes.com Article: Schools Resegregate, Study Finds
-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] Schools Resegregate, Study Finds January 21, 2003 By GREG WINTER CHARLOTTE, N.C., Jan. 20 - Sanetra Jant still wonders where all the white kids went. Only last spring, they made up a quarter of her class, not to mention her friends. And then, poof, they were gone. "I don't know why they left," said Sanetra, a fourth grader at Reid Park Elementary School. Last year, before a federal appeals court ended three decades of judicial-supervised desegregation by the district, Sanetra's school was 68 percent black. Now it is almost entirely black, and the many white pupils who once rode in on yellow buses number one in a hundred. "Maybe they didn't like it here," Sanetra said, knitting her brow in thought. If there is any one place to witness the changing racial composition of the nation's public schools, perhaps it is here, in the city for which the Supreme Court first endorsed the use of busing to desegregate. Dozens of Charlotte schools have basically changed color in the months since the appeals court lifted the desegregation order, and though few other places have seen swings so rapid, the city offers a time-lapse view of the steady transformation of the nation's schools. According to a new study by the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University, black and Latino students are now more isolated from their white counterparts than they were three decades ago, before many of the overhauls from the civil rights movement had even begun to take hold. Nationally, the shift is a result of several factors: big increases in enrollment by black, Latino and Asian students; continuing white flight from the nation's urban centers; and the persistence of housing patterns that isolate racial and ethnic groups. But another big factor, the Harvard study found, has been the termination of dozens of court-ordered desegregation plans. Spurred by Supreme Court decisions at the start of the 1990's, lower courts have lifted desegregation orders in at least three dozen school districts in the last 10 years. Little Rock, San Diego, Denver and Miami have all come out from under court supervision, and next month a federal judge will reconsider the integration plan in Chicago, the nation's third-largest school district. A chief principle in the voiding of these orders is one established by the Supreme Court a decade ago: that school districts can be considered successfully desegregated even if student racial imbalances due entirely to demographic factors, like where children live, continue to exist. Largely as a result, black students now typically go to schools where fewer than 31 percent of their classmates are white, the new Harvard study found. That is less contact than in 1970, a year before the Supreme Court authorized the busing that became a primary way of integrating schools. Latino students, who have rarely been a focus of desegregation efforts, now attend schools where whites account for only 29 percent of all students, compared with 45 percent three decades ago, according to the study, which draws on Education Department data through the 2000-1 school year. And while white children increasingly come into contact with minority students, mainly because of the tremendous population growth among races that had only marginal representation decades ago, they are still America's most segregated group, the study found. On average, white students, who make up about 61 percent of the nation's public-school population, go to schools where 80 percent of their classmates are white. The consequence is a nation in which every racial group that is big enough to be described as segregated generally is: Blacks, though only 17 percent of public-school children, typically attend schools where they are in a majority. The same is true of Latinos, who are about 16 percent of the student population. Even American Indians, a mere 1 percent of public-school children, go to schools where nearly a third of all students are Native American. Asians, the study says, are the most integrated group, attending schools where the races are somewhat more commensurate with their national representation. But they, too, are disproportionately grouped together, for though they are only about 4 percent of public-school children, they typically go to schools that are 22 percent Asian. "We call our schools racially isolated, but it's really just a euphemism for being segregated," said Mary Frances Berry, chairwoman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. "It has to be regarded as unhealthy. At a time when the society is becoming increasingly diverse, it bodes ill to have increasingly segregated schools." Many researchers cite sweeping demographic changes, not public policy, as the leading force behind racial separation in the schools. The percentage of students who are members of minority groups has almost doubled in the last 30 years, and, whether a
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk Spies hide as Bank faces BCCI charges Victims of the biggest banking fraud ever are putting UK regulators in the dock - and demanding security service documents. Conal Walsh reports Conal Walsh Saturday January 18 2003 The Guardian A mega-scandal much older than Enron or WorldCom is about to shake the British financial establishment. More than a decade after the spectacular collapse of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, its creditors are finally to put the Bank of England in the dock. The stakes could not be higher for the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street. It was the financial regulator in 1991 when the BCCI crashed with £7 billion of undeclared debts, and has long been accused of turning a blind eye to fraud at the Middle Eastern bank. Now it faces a giant lawsuit brought in London by BCCI's victims, who claim it is guilty of negligence amounting to 'misfeasance', or wilful misconduct. The Bank has fiercely denied the charge, and made every effort to get the legal action thrown out. And no wonder. BCCI's creditors are claiming up to £1bn in damages. They are also breaking new ground by challenging the Bank's statutory immunity against being sued. The Government's worries do not stop there. It will have to answer potentially embarrassing questions over what Ministers, civil servants and the regulator knew about BCCI before it crashed. The Bank's most senior officials, past and present, are expected to go into the witness box, and the High Court will also consider evidence from John Major, the former Prime Minister, as well as former Chancellors Norman Lamont, Nigel Lawson and Denis Healey. Then there is the small matter of the role played by Britain's intelligence services, whose relationship with BCCI has long been questioned. Did MI6 use accounts at the secretive bank to pay sources and operatives around the world? Did BCCI channel Western funds to Mujahideen fighters in the Eighties - or even, as some conspiracy theorists have surmised, to Osama bin Laden? All this may - or may not - come out when the trial begins in October. For now, though, both sides are engaged in pre-trial legal tussles over secret service documents. The creditors are led by accountant Deloitte & Touche, BCCI's liquidator. They range from East End market traders to local councils to the state of Abu Dhabi, which had become BCCI's principal shareholder by 1991, and is thought to have lost £2bn. BCCI remains the world's biggest-ever banking fraud, and the colour and complexity of the scam is awesome. Press attention at the time tended to focus on such unsavoury customers as Panama's military leader Manuel Noriega, as well as the gilt-edged lifestyles of the bank's executives, many of whom remain fugitives from justice today. BCCI laundered drugs money, bribes and dictators' loot. But this reflected only part of an endemic culture of fraud, which would consume more than 90 per cent of the bank's assets. BCCI was founded in 1972 by Agha Hasan Abedi, a charismatic banker and mystic from Pakistan. It grew rapidly, and would eventually boast offices in 70 countries and 14,000 employees. But from the start, it had a taste for opaque finances. It was incorporated in two tax havens, Luxembourg and Grand Cayman, and used two sets of auditors, allowing it to avoid publishing meaningful consolidated accounts. Abedi's bank was beloved of Asian and Middle Eastern expatriates, and he cherished a vision of the BCCI as a force for unity in the developing world. But by the late Seventies, its biggest borrower, the Gulf shipping group owned by Abbas Gokal, was heading for bankruptcy. Concerned that regulators would shut down BCCI if its exposures were revealed, Abedi and other executives falsified the books. BCCI secretly poured money into Gulf, just to make it look like a going concern capable of servicing its debts. This deception lasted for 15 years, involved 750 false accounts and an estimated total turnover of $15bn. BCCI also created fictitious transactions to mask other non-performing loans, as well as hundreds of millions of pounds' worth of losses at its London-based treasury department. Reckless expansion into the United States and Europe dented profitability further. By the time it went down, BCCI was routinely plundering customer deposits to maintain an appearance of solvency. It had been granted a licence to trade in the UK by the Bank of England in 1980, and opened dozens of outlets here, its largest branch network in any single country. BCCI's collapse provoked fury in the UK, as tens of thousands of depositors were left out of pocket. Several protagonists, including Gulf's Gokal, were put behind bars by the Serious Fraud Office, and the
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com A little "blowback" for entering into "entangling alliances" ... you don't always get the upper hand ... To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19221-2003Jan20.html France Vows to Block Iraq War Resolution By Glenn Kessler and Colum Lynch UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 -- France suggested today it would wage a major diplomatic fight, including possible use of its veto power, to prevent the U.N. Security Council from passing a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq. France's opposition to a war, emphatically delivered here by Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, is a major blow for the Bush administration, which has begun pouring tens of thousands of troops into the Persian Gulf in preparation for a military conflict this spring. The administration had hoped to mark the final phase in its confrontation with Iraq when U.N. weapons inspectors deliver a progress report Monday. But in a diplomatic version of ambush, France and other countries used a high-level Security Council meeting on terrorism to lay down their markers for the debate that will commence next week on the inspectors' report. Russia and China, which have veto power, and Germany, which will chair the Security Council in February, also signaled today they were willing to let the inspections continue for months. Only Britain appeared to openly support the U.S. position that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has thwarted effective inspections. "If war is the only way to resolve this problem, we are going down a dead end," de Villepin told reporters. "Already we know for a fact that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs are being largely blocked, even frozen. We must do everything possible to strengthen this process." The United Nations, he said, should stay "on the path of cooperation. The other choice is to move forward out of impatience over a situation in Iraq to move towards military intervention. We believe that today nothing justifies envisaging military action." Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in the face of such comments, departed from his prepared text on terrorism and implored his colleagues to remember that the Security Council resolution passed unanimously Nov. 8 gave Iraq "a last chance" to meet its obligations. "We must not shrink from our duties and our responsibilities when the material comes before us next week," Powell said. He used a variation of the phrase "must not shrink" three more times as he addressed the council. During the weeks of debate on the Iraq resolution, French officials had indicated they were open to some sort of military intervention if Iraq did not comply. But now the French appear to have set much higher hurdles for support. Rising opposition to war, particularly in France, appears to have played a role in the hardening positions on the Security Council. Foreign officials are also aware of polls in the United States suggesting that support for a war drops dramatically if the Bush administration does not have U.N. approval. While the United Nations was debating today, U.S. military officials announced that the Army is sending a force of about 37,000 soldiers, spearheaded by the Texas-based 4th Infantry Division, to the Persian Gulf region. It is the largest ground force identified among an estimated 125,000 U.S. troops ordered to deploy since Christmas Eve, the Associated Press reported. At the United Nations, several foreign ministers said a war in Iraq would spawn more terrorist acts around the globe and, in the words of Germany's Joschka Fischer, have "disastrous consequences for long-term regional stability." "Terrorism is far from being crushed," said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. "We must be careful not to take unilateral steps that might threaten the unity of the entire [anti-]terrorism coalition. In this context we are strictly in favor of a political settlement of the situation revolving around Iraq." Powell replied: "We cannot fail to take the action that may be necessary because we are afraid of what others might do. We cannot be shocked into impotence because we are afraid of the difficult choices that are ahead of us." But when the foreign ministers emerged from the council debate and addressed reporters, it appeared that Powell's pleas had made little impact. Although President Bush said last week he was "sick and tired of games and deception," Fischer said the inspections were a success. "Iraq has complied fully with all relevant resolutions and cooperated very closely with the U.N. team on the ground," Fischer said. "We think things are moving in the right direction, based on the efforts of the inspection team, and [they] should have all the time which is needed." Chinese Foreign Minister Tan
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19221-2003Jan20.html France Vows to Block Iraq War Resolution By Glenn Kessler and Colum Lynch UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 20 -- France suggested today it would wage a major diplomatic fight, including possible use of its veto power, to prevent the U.N. Security Council from passing a resolution authorizing military action against Iraq. France's opposition to a war, emphatically delivered here by Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, is a major blow for the Bush administration, which has begun pouring tens of thousands of troops into the Persian Gulf in preparation for a military conflict this spring. The administration had hoped to mark the final phase in its confrontation with Iraq when U.N. weapons inspectors deliver a progress report Monday. But in a diplomatic version of ambush, France and other countries used a high-level Security Council meeting on terrorism to lay down their markers for the debate that will commence next week on the inspectors' report. Russia and China, which have veto power, and Germany, which will chair the Security Council in February, also signaled today they were willing to let the inspections continue for months. Only Britain appeared to openly support the U.S. position that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has thwarted effective inspections. "If war is the only way to resolve this problem, we are going down a dead end," de Villepin told reporters. "Already we know for a fact that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs are being largely blocked, even frozen. We must do everything possible to strengthen this process." The United Nations, he said, should stay "on the path of cooperation. The other choice is to move forward out of impatience over a situation in Iraq to move towards military intervention. We believe that today nothing justifies envisaging military action." Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, in the face of such comments, departed from his prepared text on terrorism and implored his colleagues to remember that the Security Council resolution passed unanimously Nov. 8 gave Iraq "a last chance" to meet its obligations. "We must not shrink from our duties and our responsibilities when the material comes before us next week," Powell said. He used a variation of the phrase "must not shrink" three more times as he addressed the council. During the weeks of debate on the Iraq resolution, French officials had indicated they were open to some sort of military intervention if Iraq did not comply. But now the French appear to have set much higher hurdles for support. Rising opposition to war, particularly in France, appears to have played a role in the hardening positions on the Security Council. Foreign officials are also aware of polls in the United States suggesting that support for a war drops dramatically if the Bush administration does not have U.N. approval. While the United Nations was debating today, U.S. military officials announced that the Army is sending a force of about 37,000 soldiers, spearheaded by the Texas-based 4th Infantry Division, to the Persian Gulf region. It is the largest ground force identified among an estimated 125,000 U.S. troops ordered to deploy since Christmas Eve, the Associated Press reported. At the United Nations, several foreign ministers said a war in Iraq would spawn more terrorist acts around the globe and, in the words of Germany's Joschka Fischer, have "disastrous consequences for long-term regional stability." "Terrorism is far from being crushed," said Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. "We must be careful not to take unilateral steps that might threaten the unity of the entire [anti-]terrorism coalition. In this context we are strictly in favor of a political settlement of the situation revolving around Iraq." Powell replied: "We cannot fail to take the action that may be necessary because we are afraid of what others might do. We cannot be shocked into impotence because we are afraid of the difficult choices that are ahead of us." But when the foreign ministers emerged from the council debate and addressed reporters, it appeared that Powell's pleas had made little impact. Although President Bush said last week he was "sick and tired of games and deception," Fischer said the inspections were a success. "Iraq has complied fully with all relevant resolutions and cooperated very closely with the U.N. team on the ground," Fischer said. "We think things are moving in the right direction, based on the efforts of the inspection team, and [they] should have all the time which is needed." Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said Monday's report should be regarded as a "new beginning" rather than an end to inspections.
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Murdoch TV channel hires Hewitt as war reporter Matt Wells, media correspondent Tuesday January 14 2003 The Guardian James Hewitt, whose failed attempts to sell his love letters from Princess Diana earned him the "love rat" soubriquet, has been renamed the "desert rat" after being hired as a war correspondent. Fox News Channel, the US network that has drawn criticism for its style of journalism, has signed up the former Life Guards officer to report on the conflict with Iraq. Hewitt has no reporting experience, but his lawyer said he would be flying out to the Middle East in the next few weeks. Hewitt has become notorious for his attempts to sell the correspondence between him and Princess Diana, and is held in contempt by the tabloid press. But he would be attractive to Fox, which has become known for its personality-led style of reporting pioneered by the correspondent Geraldo Rivera, who carried a gun when reporting from Afghanistan. While the Murdoch-owned network has been criticised by liberal commentators, it has overtaken CNN in the US as the most popular news channel. There were reports yesterday that the Hewitt deal was worth £100,000, but his lawyer Michael Coleman said: "I'm not in a position to disclose the terms of his contract or the details of the negotiations." A spokeswoman for Fox declined to confirm or deny the story. Hewitt was criticised last week for confirming he was prepared to sell his love letters from Diana. The former officer said he has already been of fered £4m for 10 of the 64 handwritten letters composed during their five-year affair. Hewitt, a veteran of the 1991 Gulf war, said last week he was still a reservist and could be ordered to serve with British forces in any new conflict. Mr Coleman said this was "theoretically possible but practically unlikely". He also said he completed talks with Fox in Los Angeles last week while Hewitt took part in a series of interviews. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Drugs and forgery 'sustain North Korean economy' Matthew Engel in Washington Sunday January 19 2003 The Observer The threat from North Korea may be more insidious than the mere possibility of a nuclear attack, it was claimed yesterday. The regime is shoring up what remains of its economy by racketeering, according to US officials quoted in the magazine US News and World Report. They believe North Korea is producing 40 tonnes of opium a year, huge quantities of high-quality amphetamines and millions of dollars worth of "supernotes" - beautifully made counterfeit $100 bills. The magazine says the US has seen videotape of Kim Jong-nam, the son of the dictator Kim Jong-il, using the fake notes at a casino in Macao. The officials say these may be worth almost as much as the legitimate North Korean trade: about $500m a year compared with $650m in official exports. Some say the corruption is leading to a culture of bribery and a loosening of the regime's hold. "The key here is lack of government control," one told the magazine. "Criminal activity may bring about the disintegration of this regime." The report coincides with another round of intense diplomacy. Although a Russian envoy was still in Pyongyang and a special UN envoy had just left, the official news agency was putting out apparently unyielding statements, including a rare comment from Kim Jong-il himself. "No force on earth can break the inexhaustible strength and indomitable will of this great army and people," he was quoted as saying. More specifically, his first vice foreign minister, Kang Sok-ju, called for face-to-face talks with the US: an approach Washington rejects. "The internationalisation of this issue would make the prospect of its settlement more complicated and gloomy," he said. But at a diplomatic reception he welcomed the Russian envoy, Alexander Losyukov, and praised the Russians' good will. Mr Losyukov described their talks so far as "useful". In an interview with South Korean TV the American ambassador to Seoul, Glenn Hubbard, gave a further hint that the US may offer the North a deal. "If they satisfy our concerns about the nuclear programmes, we are prepared to consider a broad approach," he said. "That would entail, in the final analysis, some economic cooperation, perhaps in the power field." Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk US offers immunity to Saddam Rumsfeld and Powell back exile plan Richard Norton-Taylor and Helena Smith in Larnaca Sunday January 19 2003 The Observer The United States last night offered Saddam Hussein immunity from prosecution if his departure from Baghdad would avert war. With only seven days to go before weapons inspectors deliver their crucial report to the UN security council, Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary and one of the Bush administration's leading hawks, dangled the prospect of a peaceful way out, despite the massive military build-up. "If to avoid a war," Mr Rumsfeld said in a TV interview, "I would ... recommend that some provision be made so that the senior leadership in that country [Iraq] and their families could be provided haven in some other country." Hours later, in what appeared to be a series of choreographed interviews, his more doveish rival in the US administration, Colin Powell, backed his remarks. Asked about a reported Saudi initiative to grant amnesty to senior Iraqi leaders, he said: "I would encourage Saddam Hussein, if he is getting any messages of this kind, to listen." The hints from Washington added weight to an Arab initiative, backed by Saudi Arabia and others, that would urge the Iraqi leader to go into exile. Even if the US granted President Saddam immunity from prosecution, the viability of the Arab plan would depend on his willingness to give up power, something many believe he would never contemplate. Allowing the Iraqi leader to avoid a trial for alleged war crimes might also prove controversial. In London, the Foreign Office maintained its view that the main issue was disarming Iraq rather than removing President Saddam. "The key issue is for Iraq to comply with its international obligations whatever group of people forms its leadership," a spokeswoman said. Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, last night began high-level meetings in Baghdad, saying: "We do not think that war is inevitable. We think that the inspection process that we are conducting is the peaceful alternative." Mr Rumsfeld piled the pressure on the Iraqi regime by saying that Washington would know "in a matter of weeks, not in months or years" whether Iraq was "cooperating fully with the inspectors". His comment contrasted with remarks by Mohammed El Baradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Authority, who told the Guardian that UN monitors needed "a few more months". Mr El Baradei and Mr Blix have to report back to the UN by January 27, a deadline imposed by a security council resolution but whose significance is disputed by its five permanent members. Last night they had talks with President Saddam's scientific adviser, Amir al-Saadi, and General Hussam Mohammad Amin, head of Iraq's national monitoring directorate. "We are having good, constructive meetings," Mr El Baradei told reporters. "I think [the Iraqis] have said that there are still certain areas where they are ready to provide more information," he added. "I think that in other areas they said they are ready to reconsider their position." However, faced with mounting pressure from the US and Britain to come up with hard evidence to prove President Saddam has been lying about nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, Mr Blix insisted: "It requires comprehensive inspections and it requires a very active Iraqi cooperation." He earlier accused the Iraqi authorities of playing "a cheap game of chess". He was speaking after being forced to cancel inspections in northern Iraq's "no-fly" zone. The Iraqis insisted that UN helicopters had to be escorted by Iraqi ones. Mr Blix played down the significance of the discovery of 3,000 documents in the home of an Iraqi physicist, Faleh Hassan, last week. The papers, found after a tip-off by western intelligence, were "not evidence of a weapon of mass destruction and are all pre-1990", Mr Blix said. "We know very well they have dealt [in the past] with laser enrichment." Gary Samore, a former proliferation expert at the US national security council, said that using laser technology to separate isotopes to enrich uranium was "very very demanding" and no country had produced it in that way. Mr Blix said he had no doubt Tony Blair would like to have a peaceful solution through inspections, adding that the prime minister had refused to "commit himself" during talks on Friday to a timetable regarding the monitoring. · A statement purportedly written by Osama bin Laden urging Muslims to unite against the "crusader coalition" was published yesterday by the London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. It said the statement was mailed to the paper from an Islamic source in London with close links to a Pakistan-based Is
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Car wars The US economy needs oil like a junkie needs heroin - and Iraq will supply its next fix Ian Roberts Friday January 17 2003 The Guardian War in Iraq is inevitable. That there would be war was decided by North American planners in the mid-1920s. That it would be in Iraq was decided much more recently. The architects of this war were not military planners but town planners. War is inevitable not because of weapons of mass destruction, as claimed by the political right, nor because of western imperialism, as claimed by the left. The cause of this war, and probably the one that will follow, is car dependence. The US has paved itself into a corner. Its physical and economic infrastructure is so highly car dependent that the US is pathologically addicted to oil. Without billions of barrels of precious black sludge being pumped into the veins of its economy every year, the nation would experience painful and damaging withdrawal. The first Model T Ford rolled off the assembly line in 1908 and was a miracle of mass production. In the first decade of that century, car registrations in the US increased from 8,000 to almost 500,000. Within the cities, buses replaced trams, and then cars replaced buses. In 1932, General Motors bought up America's tramways and then closed them down. But it was the urban planners who really got America hooked. Car ownership offered the possibility of escape from dirty, crowded cities to leafy garden suburbs and the urban planners provided the escape routes. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, America "road built" itself into a nation of home-owning suburbanites. In the words of Joni Mitchell: "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot." Cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas and Phoenix were moulded by the private passenger car into vast urban sprawls which are so widely spread that it is now almost impossible to service them economically with public transport. As the cities sprawled, the motor manufacturing industry consolidated. Car-making is now the main industrial employer in the world, dominated by five major groups of which General Motors is the largest. The livelihood and landscape of North Americans were forged by car-makers. Motor vehicles are responsible for about one-third of global oil use, but for nearly two-thirds of US oil use. In the rest of the world, heating and power generation account for most oil use. The increase in oil prices during the 1973 Arab oil embargo encouraged the substitution of other fuels in heating and power generation, but in the transport sector there is little scope for oil substitution in the short term. Due to artificially low oil and gasoline prices that did not reflect the true social costs of production and use, there was little incentive to seek alternative energy sources. The Arab oil embargo temporarily stimulated greater fuel efficiency with the introduction of gasoline consumption standards, but the increasing popularity of gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles over the past decade has substantially reduced the average fuel efficiency of the US car fleet. The US transportation sector is almost totally dependent on oil, and supplies are running out. It is estimated that the total amount of oil that can be pumped out of the earth is about 2,000 billion barrels and that world oil production will peak in the next 10 to 15 years. Since even modest reductions in oil production can result in major hikes in the cost of gasoline, the US administration is well aware of the importance of ensuring oil supplies. Every major oil price shock of the past 30 years was followed by a US recession and every major recession was preceded by an oil price shock. In 1997, the Carnegie commission on preventing deadly conflict identified factors that put states at risk. They include rapid population changes that outstrip the capacity of the state to provide essential services, and the control of valuable natural resources by a single group. Both factors are key motivators in the war with Iraq. Sprawling suburban America needs oil and Saddam Hussein is sitting on it. The US economy needs oil like a junkie needs heroin and Iraq has 112 billion barrels, the largest supply in the world outside Saudi Arabia. Even before the first shot has been fired, there have been discussions about how Iraq's oil reserves will be carved up. All five permanent members of the UN security council have international oil companies that have an interest in "regime change" in Baghdad. Car dependence is a global public health issue of which gasoline wars are only one facet. Every day about 3,000 people die and 30,000 people are seriously injured on the world's roads in traffic crashes. More than 85% of the deaths are in low and
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. --- Note from Euphorian: Bloomberg's deficit was inherited ... so much for "leadership" ... AER --- To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk King of New York loses his lustre The Big Apple is suffering from a $6bn debt and so is Mayor Bloomberg, whose popularity is plummeting Oliver Burkeman in New York Friday January 17 2003 The Guardian Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, is rarely the bearer of good news these days. So on Tuesday he jumped at the opportunity to drop in at Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx, to welcome the baseball team's latest international star, Hideki Matsui - a towering 28-year-old Japanese player nicknamed Godzilla, who will earn $21m over three years. Even then the beleaguered Mr Bloomberg was unable to avoid mentioning the subject that has come to define his mayoralty: New York's biggest financial crisis for more than 30 years. Welcoming Mr Matsui, he delivered only one rather plaintive piece of advice. "Spend a lot of money," he said. But even Godzilla can only do so much. Facing a potential budget shortfall of$6bn, the mayor awoke to more bad news yesterday: a New York Times poll showed his popularity plummeting in recent months, 53% of New Yorkers disapproving of his handling of the job. The media billionaire, elected by the numbed city in December 2001 as a safe pair of non-ideological hands and a man whose estimated $3bn fortune meant he would be beholden to no one, has failed to convince on the personal level, too. About 30% of those questioned reported a "generally unfavourable impression" - a rise from 13% in the middle of last year. The fiscal meltdown, attributable in large part to the September 11 terrorist attacks and their aftermath, has forced Mr Bloomberg, 60, to introduce a harsh austerity plan. He has ordering 25-30% cuts in expenditure by all city agencies, closing daycare centres for the elderly, threatening a rise in subway fares, increasing property taxes by 25%, and raising the price of cigarettes to more than $7 (about £4.50). This has proved particularly unpopular in one of America's last nicotine-addicted big cities. Most politically dangerous of all, Mr Bloomberg has not spared firefighters and police officers from the axe, introducing recruitment freezes on the emergency services. Making things worse is the sense of aloofness conveyed by the man who is probably New York's least self-publicising mayor in living memory - in contrast to Rudolph Giuliani, or Ed Koch, who as mayor in the 1980s was fond of yelling "How'm I doing?" at almost any New Yorker he passed. Mr Bloomberg, by contrast, prefers to fly state politicians by private jet to his Bermuda holiday home for negotiations. He has been excoriated in the city's press for vanishing abroad at weekends, taking time off from a job traditionally done seven days a week. "He keeps his decision-making really close to his vest," said Bonnie Brower, executive director of City Project, a New York budgetary pressure group. "He relies on a very small circle of advisers, and he regards public participation as very messy and unnecessary. Bloomberg Corporation [the mayor's business media firm] wasn't a public company beholden to shareholders - it was Mike and his friends. I think that's the way he would like to rule. "For example, he said he didn't see any opposition to his budget proposals. Well, all he had to do was peek out the window of City Hall, because every day there were one or more protest rallies." The decline in the mayor's fortunes follows a honeymoon period in the first half of last year when it seemed that Mr Bloomberg, though nominally a Republican, might have truly brought non-ideological government to New York. After September 11 Mr Giuliani's act was so obviously impossible to follow that nobody expected anyone to do so. Mr Bloomberg set about running the city like a forward-thinking corporation. His office adopted a far less controlling approach to reporters than Mr Giuliani. He cut the mayor's salary to $1. Respect mingled with amusement greeted his decision to turn City Hall into a vast open-plan office. He avoided wrangles over tax and sponsorship by funding cultural institutions from his own pocket, giving out $10m in December 2001. But, said Steven Malanga of the right-leaning Manhattan Institute thinktank, "it was very naive of him to say he was going to govern without an ideological bias". "One of his favourite expressions is that there's no Democratic or Republican way to pick up the garbage. But the truth of the matter is that sanitation costs differ from city to city, and some are making savings with privatisation." Curiously, news of Mr Bloomberg's dwindling popularity comes at a time when two of the old sores of New York life - crime and police
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. --- Note from Euphorian: Or, "Why they live over there and we live over here." --- To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Parole denied to farmer jailed for killing burglar Steven Morris Thursday January 16 2003 The Guardian Tony Martin, the farmer jailed for shooting dead a teenage burglar, last night learned he will not be freed early because he still refuses to concede what he did was wrong. The parole board is believed to have taken into account probation reports suggesting he might again attack a burglar if his home was broken into, and also that he was living in the past. Martin, who is serving five years for the manslaughter of 16-year-old Fred Barras, will not be released until the end of July, to the fury of supporters and some politicians. Businessman Malcolm Starr, who has led the campaign for the Norfolk farmer's release, said: "This decision is completely wrong. The parole board is completely out of touch with public opinion." He added: "Mr Martin regrets the fact that a 16-year-old lost his life but he feels he has done nothing wrong and will not lie to obtain his early release. A lot of prisoners lie and say they are sorry about something when they are not. He is not prepared to lie." Tory MP Henry Bellingham, whose North West Norfolk constituency includes Martin's farm, Bleak House, in the remote Fenland hamlet of Emneth Hungate, said he would raise the matter with the home secretary, David Blunkett. He said: "It's a disgrace. Mr Martin has been a model prisoner and there's no reason to detain him a moment longer." After opening fire on Barras and his accomplice, Brendon Fearon, in August 1999, Martin was lionised by some sections of the media as a victim who was persecuted because he dared to fight back. The incident sparked a national debate about crime, rural policing and the rights of householders to defend their property. However, a jury at Norwich crown court dismissed Martin's claim that he was acting in self-defence. He was convicted of murder and jailed for life in April 2000. The conviction was reduced to manslaughter on appeal in 2001 when three judges accepted Martin had been suffering from a paranoid personality disorder, but said the jury was "surely right" to decide he had not acted reasonably by opening fire with an illegally held pump action shotgun. The parole board wrote to Roger Haley, the governor of Highpoint prison in Suffolk, last night to explain why it refused to grant Martin's release. A close friend of Martin's, Richard Portham, said: "He told me he had seen one of the reports from a probation officer who said he shouldn't get released because he was a danger to burglars. "I suppose the attitude came across in his report that he would do it again. I am sure Tony would have given the impression that if people were threatening him he would have no choice but to defend himself." He added: "One of the probation officers criticised him for not living in the 21st century because he keeps saying things were better 40 years ago. Mr Martin's response is that things were better. There was not this problem with law and order." Martin's solicitor, James Saunders, said he did not believe the farmer could be regarded as a danger to society. He said: "I think it [the decision] will confirm his view that it's an upside down world. He was saddened that a young man died but the position has been that he didn't have any alternative but to defend himself." Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk The zero tolerance Giuliani roadshow arrives in Mexico Protected by 10 cars and 12 motorcycles, New York's former mayor says he can sell his crime strategy in Latin America's biggest city Jo Tuckman in Mexico City Wednesday January 15 2003 The Guardian Mexico City, the biggest metropolis in Latin America, plagued by years of rampant crime, has welcomed its latest weapon against murder and corruption: Rudolph Giuliani. The former mayor of New York has arrived in the capital for the first instalment of a crime-busting contract which will earn his consultancy company a $4.3m (£2.7m) fee. During a frenetic two-day visit, he told residents he believed he could do for them what he achieved for the people of New York with a "zero tolerance" policy. "Our purpose is to evaluate the situation, and then make recommendations using the experience and knowledge we have that has worked elsewhere," said Mr Giuliani, who is credited with bringing down crime in his own city by 60% overall, and murders by 70%. Mr Giuliani said he would be revealing his crime-busting recommendations in May. It will be the first time that the former mayor has tried to adapt the "zero tolerance" philosophy to a foreign city. Mexico City is not an easy place to start, even for the man who emerged a popular hero from September 11 and has become the personification of leadership for many people. The crime problem in Mexico City is not only tough, but also culturally specific. The crisis began in the mid-1990s, prompted by economic turmoil, and soon became firmly entrenched. Currently, about 500 crimes are reported daily, although criminologists say that this represents only about 10% of the total, and that only about 10% of crimes reported lead to convictions. The "zero tolerance" idea is rooted in the theory that combating major crimes is best done by tackling an underlying "culture of crime" - which means cracking down on even minor misdemeanors. This is something which could prove particularly difficult in Mexico City. Kidnappings, assaults and bank robberies catch the headlines, but rule-breaking runs particularly deep in a place where policemen called to investigate a burglary may walk off with an extra something for themselves; where bribing cops is accepted practice; where many ignore even the concept of taxes; and where only a tiny minority respect traffic regulations. While in Mexico, Mr Giuliani acknowledged there were difficulties in imposing the New York model wholesale, and promised cultural sensitivity. "Some things are transferable and some are not," he said. "But whatever the differences in culture, background and laws, the objective for all decent societies is absolutely the same, and that is protection and safety: the single most important human right." Although unwilling to give much away about his recommendations, he did mention the importance of fighting corruption in the police force. One policeman, Marcelino Flores, said: "The first thing Giuliani needs to do is to raise salaries. The next is training. Salaries here are way too low if they want a clean police force." Part of the strategy seems to be just that, with an increase in salaries from the current average of about £4,300 a year. Although this was Mr Giuliani's first visit, his advisers have been in and out of Mexico since the contract was announced in October. A visit planned for November was cancelled at the last minute amid rumours of a kidnapping threat, and his arrival this week was a surprise to most. >From the moment Mr Giuliani touched down at 3.30am on Tuesday, he moved around the >city cocooned in ostentatious security and shadowed by a cloud of journalists. He >took a ride through the "Barrio Bravo" of Tepito, where even army operations against >drugs and arms trafficking are repelled by criminals defending their territory. Not that the former mayor could have seen much at such an early hour from inside a van surrounded by 10 other cars and a dozen motorcycles. There were also endless meetings with officials and the business leaders who are footing the bill, and who appear to view Mr Giuliani as a kind of saviour. Others are not convinced. The deal upsets nationalist sensitivities and seems at odds with the ethos of the leftwing mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had previously criticized "zero tolerance" for promoting police abuse. A taxi driver, Alejandro Lagran, said: "You can't compare New York to Mexico City. People there are richer and there is more control." Mr Giuliani brushed aside such doubts during a press conference on Tuesday. "Back in 1990, New York City was known as The Rotten Apple, and now it is one of the safest cities in America, if not the safest," he said. But he
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk US oil stocks evaporate to 27-year low Heather Stewart Wednesday January 15 2003 The Guardian Crude oil stocks in America have run dangerously low, raising fears that the government will be forced to tap its strategic reserves even before any full-blown conflict with Iraq. Inventories are down to their second-lowest level since records began in 1976 as the oil workers' strike in Venezuela holds back supply, the US department of energy revealed yesterday. Official estimates put the minimum stocks needed to run US refineries at 270m barrels a day but the DoE said there were only 272.3m barrels left in the system, down 6.4m barrels from a week earlier. The shortfall helped send oil prices soaring again yesterday, with Brent crude for February delivery up 64 cents a barrel to $31.25 by the afternoon. Paul Horsnell, oil analyst at JP Morgan, said that with US refineries guzzling 15m barrels of crude every day there was just four hours worth of slack in the system. "Things are getting a bit tight if it gets below 300m barrels," Mr Horsnell said. "Once you start running below that level, prices become more and more sensitive even to minor changes in supply." With the build-up to a conflict in Iraq accelerating, Mr Horsnell said, there was considerable potential for interruptions in supply in coming months. "What's alarming about this is that it's got nothing to do with Iraq - it's got nothing to do with the Middle East," he said. The US government holds a massive strategic petrol reserve in salt caverns below Texas and Louisiana. Despite the spike in the oil price, industry spokesmen insisted yesterday that it was not yet time to turn on the taps. "I don't see a reason, really, to release the SPR," said John Felmy, chief economist for trade body the American Petroleum Institute, arguing that there was not yet a crisis. "We can't declare an emergency at this point." Mr Horsnell said that, although the oil price would be high enough normally to justify dipping into the SPR, the White House might be hoping to keep back supplies until the outbreak of a war with Iraq, when prices might rise further. There is little sign of an early resumption of normal oil supplies from Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest exporter, where striking workers are trying to force president Hugo Chavez to call early elections by starving the oil-dependent economy of cash. Cumulative loss of production is approaching 100m barrels. The oil markets were temporarily calmed last week by the prospect of a compensatory increase in supplies from Opec, the oil producers' cartel. But yesterday's jump in prices suggested traders are losing faith in Opec's ability to help. Oil ministers from the Opec countries agreed to raise production by 1.5m barrels a day at a meeting in Vienna last weekend. Lawrence Eagles, at commodity analyst GNI, said the 270m-barrel floor was probably an overestimate of the minimum amount needed to keep refineries running, and just-in-time production methods meant a smaller margin for error was sufficient. "Regardless of whether that particular cut-off point is right, though, we have clearly gone down to very low stocks," he added. Mr Eagles calculates that reserves, plus the SPR and stocks of finished oil products, could keep the US economy going for 77 days. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- [EMAIL PROTECTED] spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Dazzled by the science Biologists who dress up hi-tech eugenics as a new art form are dangerously deluded Jeremy Rifkin Monday January 13 2003 The Guardian Recently, J Craig Venter, the gene scientist whose company, Celera Genomics, led the race to map the human genome, announced a plan to create the first artificial life form in a laboratory dish. Venter, who has teamed up with the Nobel laureate biologist Hamilton Smith, says he hopes to use a $3m US government grant to create partially man-made organisms that could produce hydrogen for fuel or break down carbon dioxide from power plant emissions. Other scientists worry that Venter's creation could wreak havoc on natural ecosystems or be used to create new kinds of biological weapons. Venter is among a new genre of biologists who see themselves less as engineers and more as creative artists - designers and architects of what they envision as a "second genesis" - this one inspired not by divine guidance or by the forces of evolution, but by the human imagination. Ironically, this subtle shift in the focus of the biological sciences from "engineering" to "art" is being mirrored in the art community, raising the question of whether a new social gestalt is being readied to make acceptable this radical new manipulation of nature. All of a sudden, artists around the world have discovered DNA and are feverishly at play in their studios using the cutting-edge tools of biotechnology. An American artist, Eduardo Kac, commissioned a team of geneticists in France to create a transgenic rabbit named Alba with a fluorescent gene from a jellyfish in its biological code. The rabbit, which glows, is considered a living piece of genetic artistry. Currently, an exhibit entitled Genesis is touring the US with much fanfare. Like Kac's illuminated rabbit, many of the works on display use the tools of genetic science to create living representations just as their predecessors used paintbrushes to create their representations. A group calling itself the Critical Art Ensemble engages in a performance piece called GenTerra, in which it releases transgenic bacteria into the audience. Christine Paul, the curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art says: "We are witnessing the emergence of a new type of artist, the artist/scientist/researcher." The new biotech artists say that such exhibits will help the public wrestle with the scientific, ethical and legal issues surrounding the new genomic science. Many of the artists hope that their work, which includes digitally produced portrait photographs of hybrid cat people and tubes of real DNA suspended from the ceiling, will provoke an emotional response from the audience and force people to think about the many implications of the new science. Maybe. But it's far more likely that the real consequence of such art exhibits will be to legitimise the idea of a new "artful" eugenics movement. The melding together of genetic science and artistic expression could help ease the way to a popular acceptance of Venter's new microbe, as well as cloned, transgenic and chimeric animals and designer babies. More than 30 years ago, Nobel laureate Joshua Lederberg wrote expectantly of the possibility of designing "a useful protein from first premises, replacing evolution by art". Recombinant DNA techniques are increasingly being viewed as the "artist's" tools of the postmodern era. With the new technologies, human beings assume the role of creative artists, continually transforming evolution into works of art. Already in laboratories around the world researchers are creating new hybrid creatures that have never before existed. Scientists have fused together the embryos of a sheep and goat, two totally unrelated species, and given birth to a new creature called a Geep, a chimeric animal with the head of a sheep and the body of a goat. The anti-freeze gene in a flounder fish has been inserted into the genetic code of a tomato plant, to make it resistant to freezes. Human growth hormone genes, the human immune system and even human brain tissue have been inserted into the genetic blueprint of mice embryos. The mature mice express these human genes in their bodies. The mice with the human growth hormone genes grew twice as big as ordinary mice. Scientists have even grown human skin, pancreases and breasts in laboratory jars. Other scientists have inserted the nucleus of a human cell into a cow egg whose own nucleus was removed in a partially successful effort to create a quasi-human embryo. Spider genes have been inserted into goat embryos and the mature goats produce spider silk in their milk. And Japanese scientists have just announced that they are planning to use tissue from th
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- [EMAIL PROTECTED] spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Sharon draws slim hope from polls as revelations continue Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Monday January 13 2003 The Guardian Ariel Sharon drew slight comfort from a new round of opinion polls yesterday that showed his dramatically curtailed television broadcast last week had stemmed the flow of votes from his party ahead of this month's general election. But the polls revealed that most of the Israeli public did not believe his denials over illegal campaign contributions and other financial shenanigans. In addition, Binyamin Netanyahu, the foreign minister, would be a more popular choice as the ruling Likud party's candidate for prime minister in the 28 January ballot. To add to Mr Sharon's woes, the dribble of revelations over his financial relationship with an old war comrade who now lives in South Africa continued yesterday, with claims that the prime minister lied when he said Cyril Kern had no business dealings in Israel. The newspaper Ma'ariv alleged that not only did Mr Kern try to sell diamonds and a gold refinery to Israeli businessmen, but the name of Mr Sharon's son, Gilad, occurs in the correspondence involved. Yesterday, in response to an earlier request from Israel's attorney general, South Africa said it would investigate Mr Kern's $1.5m (£930,000) loan to Mr Sharon. Two polls in the Israeli press show the Likud-led rightwing and religious bloc in the 120- seat knesset hanging on to its majority by five or six seats. Before Mr Sharon went on television to deny that the loan was an illegal campaign contribution, and to deny that he had lied to police over its source, the polls had shown the Likud-led bloc close to losing control of the government, with a majority of just three. But by itself, Mr Sharon's party is still down by about 10 seats on polls a month ago, and his personal standing has taken a battering. Before his television broadcast, Mr Sharon promised to "disprove with documents and facts" the "despicable lies" being told. But he did neither, and so may have squandered his single greatest asset - trust. Some 65% of Israelis who saw last Wednesday's broadcast - before it was halted by a judge for breaching election laws - were not convinced by Mr Sharon's statement that he was telling the truth. However, the opposition Labour party again failed to capitalise on events and fell in the polls by a couple of seats. Perhaps most worrying for Mr Sharon is that another poll in the Ma'ariv newspaper showed that if Mr Netanyahu were Likud's leader, he would boost the party's vote by 10%. An analysis in Ma'ariv said some voters had given the benefit of the doubt to Mr Sharon, being "more furious with the 'hostile' media and the 'harassing' judicial system than they were shocked by the accusations". But the paper says Likud could see the slide resume if there were more revelations. And there are. In his broadcast, Mr Sharon said that Mr Kern "never asked me for anything and never received anything. He does not have business here." Ma'ariv reported yesterday that Mr Kern was regularly in contact with Israeli businessmen, and tried to sell Sierra Leonean diamonds and three gold refineries in South Africa. The correspondence involved is copied to Gilad Sharon. It also noted that Mr Kern had met businessmen in Tel Aviv hotels during visits to Israel at which Gilad Sharon was present. More at guardian.co.uk/israel Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- [EMAIL PROTECTED] spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Secret gun finds raise gang fears Sharp rise in smuggling fuels drug wars Paul Lashmar and James Oliver Monday January 13 2003 The Guardian Growing arsenals of hand grenades, machine guns and Semtex explosives have been seized at ports by customs and excise in a wave of smuggling that is arming criminal gangs, the Guardian can disclose. One of the most disturbing aspects of the arms finds, in a climate of growing public anxiety about gun crime, is that customs, which is under the control of the government, has kept quiet about the most recent discoveries. The dramatic rise in gun crime has profoundly embarrassed the government in the wake of the fatal shooting of two teenage girls at a new year's party in Birmingham. Customs did not publicly disclose their most recent finds in June and November and have given few details of an earlier seizure in April. They cite ongoing investigations as the reason. The most significant seizure took place in early November at a south coast port, according to investigators, when customs discovered in a lorry load of frozen pizza about 30 Uzi machine pistols, magazines, silencers and ammunition believed to come from Croatia and heading for London. In another seizure in June at Dover, in a lorry purportedly carrying aircraft spares, customs found two mini submachine guns. In addition, four magazines, two silencers, a Magnum .44 handgun and ammunition were discovered. Last April customs intercepted a vehicle at Felixstowe docks. Seventeen hand grenades were hidden on board along with detonators, two packs of explosive, 10 handguns, three machine pistols and ammunition. Sources say that some of the weapons were destined for drug gangs, including the Turkish heroin gangs in north London and a south London crime family. Arms shipments, many from eastern Europe, are believed to have been destined for organised criminals. Police sources believe the surge in arms smuggling is motivated by drug gangs urgently increasing their firepower to cope with a growing spate of turf wars. According to sources in police intelligence: "These seizures may well indicate the emergence of a new source of weapons for some organised crime groups. The problem is, we don't know what's got through." In 2001-2002 only a few handguns were found by customs. The seizures in the last nine months suggest a surge in arms smuggling. Customs usually estimate that they seize a small percentage of any regular contraband traffic. Some hand grenades are believed to be in criminal hands in Britain already. After the shooting of the two teenage girls in a drug gang shootout, the attacked gang has threatened to use hand grenades in retribution. Police are hunting the killers of Charlene Ellis, 18, and her cousin Letisha Shakespeare, 17. A customs press spokeswomen confirmed that there had been seizures. "We have had some seizures of guns over the last eight months that naturally concern us. It is far too early to say any new trend was emerging with only handful of significant seizures over the last eight months and not much more than this over the past year." However, a customs source said: "Within customs this is believed to show a new trend in smuggling in such serious weapons." Police sources say they are concerned that the number of dedicated customs firearms and explosive officers based at ports had declined over the last two years. Last month the head of intelligence at Scotland Yard warned that gun battles could break out in London between rival gangs fighting over the trade in crack cocaine and heroin. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Mike Fuller said the capital was "on the cusp" of turf wars between Albanians, Turks, Chinese triads and Jamaicans. He said the gangs were involved in drug dealing, human trafficking and kidnapping. Police are particularly worried because the foreign-based gangs have already shown they have access to firearms and are prepared to kill. There have been 18 murders this year involving "black on black" killings by British crack dealers and Jamaican Yardie gangsters. At the beginning of December Alisan Dogan, 43, a cleaner, was caught in the crossfire and shot dead when dozens of criminals staged a running battle in a busy shopping area of Green Lanes, in Haringey, north London. The incident that left four men with gunshot wounds is thought to be connected to Turkish organised crime linked to the heroin trade. Cutting off new sources of guns for criminals has so far been hampered by the lack of comprehensive and centralised intelligence of police and customs seizures. But April will see the launch of the forensic science service's firearms database that will provide centralised information on all firearms submit
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Who's Bush going to war with? The poor Charlotte Denny Sunday January 12 2003 The Observer We are the masters now, is the message coming loud and clear from the Republicans - not just in foreign policy but also when it comes to domestic politics. On the campaign trail two years ago, George Bush promised a new world of compassionate conservatism. But, judging by last week's much-hyped tax cut plan, it is the rich Mr Bush feels compassion towards. According to independent analysis, the top 1% of taxpayers will be $89,000 a year better off as a result, while the average middle class American will see just $265 cut off his/her tax bill. President Bush brands critics of his tax cut plan as exponents of class warfare. Class warfare it certainly is - conducted by the White House on behalf of the richest group of Americans. The Republicans argue that the centrepiece of the plan - the abolition of taxes on dividends - will help the whole economy by reviving the battered stock prices and providing money for firms to invest. In the United States the shares market plays the same role as the housing market does in Britain in supporting consumer spending. But most of the benefits of the president's package will go to the tiny group of rich citizens who hold shares directly. As in Britain, most American households own shares through pension funds, which are already exempt from tax. The independent Tax Policy Centre estimates that 40% of the $360bn cost to the American treasury over the next 10 years will be captured by the wealthiest 1% of taxpayers. Because most institutions buying and selling shares will not benefit from the plan, the boost to prices will be less than the administration hoped for. That could be a blessing in disguise - the economy is still working through the consequences of the last share market bubble and the enormous overhang of investment capital it created. The last thing Wall Street needs now is a White House-sponsored bubble to follow the dotcom boom. As Stephen Lewis of Monument Securities has pointed out, investment spending is depressed because companies are still trying to deal with the hangover from the last party. Encouraging a further bout of overinvestment is not likely to make capital spending profitable again. The market appears to have already worked this out. Share prices soared ahead of the president's heavily trailed plan, but by the time Mr Bush began speaking the euphoria had already worn off. Over the week the widest index of American share prices, the S&P 500, rose a measly 2.5% - well below the 10% increase the administration had hoped for. If share prices are unlikely to provide the panacea for faltering confidence the administration is looking for, their other justification for the plan - that it will provide a direct fiscal boost - also seems flawed. Standard Keynesian economics recommends letting borrowing rise when the economy is weak. The US economy needs help now, but most of the benefits of this package will start to take effect in a few years' time and will simply add to the already ballooning deficit.In addition, most of the money is being handed back to the rich who are much more likely to sit on the extra dosh than they are to spend it. Karl Rove, Mr Bush's political mastermind, apparently persuaded him at the last minute that, rather than going for a refund on half of the dividend tax, he should go for the whole hog, doubling the cost of the package at a stroke. The reasoning appears to have been nakedly political: it puts Democrats in Congress in a difficult position by forcing them to vote against the package and thereby gain a reputation for being against giving people's money back to them. This is still a country which - even after the September 11 attacks - still distrusts what it calls "big" government. This is a return to the Reaganite sup ply-side theories which the current president's father once derided as "voodoo economics". The fundamentalist core of the Republican party has never stopped believing that cutting taxes is the route to growth, never mind if the budget deficit balloons as a result. The consequences are more likely to be negative for growth - a larger structural deficit that will crowd out private investment and push up long-term interest rates. Mr Rove may have misjudged the appetite of Americans for this brand of happy-clappy economics. Even some rightwing Republicans in Congress are worried that the plan will cause long-term deterioration in the budget position, while moderate Republicans are alarmed by its egregious redistribution to the rich. Moreover, it is a risky political and economic move at a time when Mr Bush is considering a war in the Middle East which could
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Supermarket giants to target Safeway with rival £3bn bids Neil Hume Sunday January 12 2003 The Observer A fierce battle for control of Safeway will spill out into the open this week with J Sainsbury and Wal-Mart, the US owner of Asda, both expected to bid over £3bn to acquire Britain's fourth-largest supermarket chain. Safeway was effectively put up for sale by its management last week when it agreed to be taken over by Wm Morrison, the Yorkshire-based grocery chain run by Sir Ken Morrison, in a deal worth £2.65bn. However, Morrison's share price dropped sharply after the deal was announced, leaving it vulnerable to a counter bid from rivals who cannot afford to see the two chains combine. Sainsbury fears that it will be left as the weakest of the four players in the cut-throat UK food retailing market if the deal goes ahead, while Wal-Mart will never achieve its ambition to become the No1 in Britain if it lets Safeway fall through its grip again - the two were just hours from agreeing a deal four years ago. Sainsbury's directors held day-long discussions yesterday with the chief executive, Sir Peter Davis, seeking support for a cash and share offer of more than 300p for each Safeway share. At the end of Friday's trading, Safeway shares closed at 279.75p, while the value of Morrison's offer stood at 251p. An offer from Sainsbury could come as early as today, alongside the company's third-quarter results, which will the give the City the first indication of how Sainsbury traded over Christmas. Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer, is expected to wait until Sainsbury has shown its hands before announcing its move. Given its size the Arkansas-based company will easily be able to outbid Sainsbury and is likely to offer cash. City analysts believe it could afford to pay up to 400p. The bids from Sainsbury and Wal-Mart will be conditional on regulatory approval. This is because their announcement will trigger an assessment by the office of fair trading and probably a referral to the competition commission, which will then launch an inquiry into whether either company should be able to buy Safeway. This process could take up to six months and its findings can, in theory, be overruled by the trade and industry secretary, Patricia Hewitt. A combination of Sainsbury and Safeway would create a food retailing giant in the UK with a market share of 27%, while a merged Asda and Safeway would control 26%. Either deal would reinforce the dominance of the big three - the Tesco, the market leader, Asda and Sainsbury. Critics claim this would stifle competition. To overcome such objections both Sainsbury and Wal-Mart are prepared to sell up to one-third of Safeway's 479 stores. Ironically, the two companies held talks about a carve up of the Safeway store portfolio late last year, but the discussions broke down last month after Wal-Mart objected to the terms of the deal. Sainsbury is now talking to the US private equity group Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the Royal Bank of Scotland. However, there were indications from Whitehall yesterday that the government would block the Sainsbury and Wal-Mart bids even if both companies promised to sell large of numbers of stores. This would play into the hands of Morrison, which claims that its deal will create a fourth power in the UK food retailing market. The company will make its submission to the OFT this week and is confident it will not be referred to the competition commission. Morrison needs to buy Safeway so that it can expand out of its northern heartland. At the moment only eight of its 191 stores are south of Northampton. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy The
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk Sangatte refugees freeze on Paris streets Humanitarian 'crisis' fears as capital is swamped by asylum-seekers Paul Webster in Paris Saturday January 11 2003 The Guardian Hundreds of asylum-seekers, including families with small children, are now sleeping rough under the elegant bridges and in the doorways of Paris as the worst winter spell for years threatens to create a humanitarian 'crisis'. The sudden appearance of the refugees and illegal immigrants in the capital follows the joint British-French decision to freeze out the continuing flow of Iraqi and Afghan refugees and to close the Sangatte refugee centre, near Calais, last month. An estimated 300 illegal immigrants, many of them teenagers, are now wandering the streets of the Channel port while seeking ways to avoid strict French and British immigration controls on ferries and trains. Many others have drifted to Paris. In the city, where four homeless people died of cold last week, Iraqi Kurds and Afghans have swollen the queues seeking emergency shelter. Humanitarian organisations warned this weekend of an impending catastrophe because no provision had been made for groups of up to 50 or more pouring into France in the hope of rejoining families in Britain, which has now tightened post-Sangatte immigration. The growing numbers of the rootless - about 50,000 people from different countries have sought asylum in France in the past 12 months - has shocked aid workers in the Channel port and the capital. Paris's overnight refuges, with space for nearly 4,000 people, have been unable to cope with the demand, despite the fact that scores prefer to sleep rough and avoid the attention of any authority for fear of deportation. At the Pain de Mie reception centre in the 13th arrondissement, which has 500 places, a quarter of those seeking overnight beds were young Afghans and Kurds on their way to Calais who had temporarily abandoned hopes of reaching Kent after sleeping in the open since the demolition of Sangatte. 'The rise in demand has been spectacular since the Red Cross centre was closed,' aid worker Emmanuel Courvier said. 'About 150 Kurds and Afghans have been checking in each night and others have had to be turned away after a meal. We have no idea where they end up.' Asylum-seekers, conspicuous among the ageing down-and-outs seeking respite from the cold, said they had arrived after Sangatte's closure with hopes of entering Britain to join their families. Some were surviving on dwindling amounts of money sent from relations in Britain. Others had travelled with friends who preferred to sleep under bridges or in shop doorways, rather than risk registering in hostels and attracting attention. None of those who spoke to The Observer were among the 1,000 former Sangatte refugees who have been transferred to other centres far from the Channel ports, after the agreement with Britain that saw a limited number of the Sangatte residents being given refuge in the UK. Khaled, 25, whose parents still live in Baghdad, said he had been forced to leave Iraq a month ago after some of his family were arrested by Saddam Hussein's police. Speaking good English, he said he could not stay in France because he knew nobody. 'I may be forced to seek asylum here just to survive, even though I don't speak the language. I have an engineering degree and would be more use in Britain. Everyone I met has only one destination in mind - Britain - and they are ready to undergo any hardship to get there. If there is a war, there will be a rush of more candidates.' Other men in the queue said they believed the French, who have a harder line on refugees than the British, had no intention of giving residence permits and were determined to make life as uncomfortable as possible to discourage newcomers. They pointed out that more than 50 Kurds who had applied for temporary visas were on hunger strike in Bordeaux because their asylum applications had been rejected. The plight of the post-Sangatte generation in Paris has been overshadowed by a rush for shelter from local homeless - known as SDF (sans domicile fixe) - after the deaths of four rough sleepers. But it is causing public concern in Calais, where men, and sometimes families, sleep in public parks or makeshift shelters. Although the temperature dropped to minus 7C last week, the Communist mayor, Jackie Hénin, said he would oppose the opening of temporary refuges in case this encouraged the arrival of more asylum-seekers. Buses are sent every night to collect refugees and take them to towns far from the port. Only a score of the men who stay in the city are sure of an overnight refuge and many are sleeping in Second World War blockhouses. Chari
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28625-2003Jan8.html The View From Symantec's Security Central By Leslie Walker An ordinary office building on Route 1 in Alexandria offers a rare window into the Internet hacker wars and a few clues to why Uncle Sam wants more monitoring capabilities in cyberspace. Inside a cavernous room on the first floor there, security analysts for Symantec sit in long, curved rows 24 hours a day, working on computers and facing a wall of theater-size screens. Information displayed on the screens helps them keep tabs on whether any attacks are underway at any of the company's more than 600 corporate clients. Every five minutes or so, a giant, illuminated globe appears on the central screen and starts to rotate, displaying the locations worldwide where hackers are launching the most attacks. Symantec uses special technology to monitor a huge chunk of the public Internet along with the internal nooks and crannies of its clients' private networks, looking for telltale signs of computer break-ins. Its software constantly compares current hacker activity with a database of prior attacks, then displays in red the names of countries where an unusual amount of malicious Internet activity is originating that day. The rotating globe also displays the number of attempted break-ins against Symantec clients over the past 24 hours in the 10 most active countries. On a recent Friday, the globe showed more than 16,000 attempted break-ins originating from the United States, which often ranks as the world's top launching pad for computer hackers. Brazil ranked No. 4 with 722 attacks. South Korea, Japan, Germany and Taiwan also frequently appear on Symantec's top 10 list for malicious computer activity. Big numbers are par for the course at the Alexandria center, where analysts detect more than 15,000 discrete "security events" against Symantec's clients every day. About 4,000 are deemed real hacker attacks after further analysis, company officials said. "You can tell from these statistics that it's the Wild West out there on the Internet," said Grant Geyer, who supervises the 12,000-square-foot facility. "Companies need to do whatever they can to protect themselves." The four-year-old operation, which includes special monitoring and "data mining" technology, was created by a local start-up called Riptech. Last year, California-based Symantec paid about $350 million to buy Riptech and three other electronic-security firms (Recourse Technologies, SecurityFocus and Mountain Wave) that had developed proprietary anti-hacker technology. Symantec merged Riptech's operations with its own and now has four similar centers -- in Britain, Japan, Germany and San Antonio. Symantec is known as the maker of the Norton anti-virus software that runs on many home computers. But like competitor Network Associates, it has been diversifying its security arsenal in an attempt to be at the forefront of an emerging industry -- managing cybersecurity on behalf of companies and governments. Mid-size companies typically pay Symantec $1,000 to $2,000 a month to monitor their networks. The firm has big clients, too -- including 55 of the Fortune 500 companies -- and does work for several federal agencies. The managed-security industry is complex and growing fast, especially as companies awake to the difficulties of interpreting the deluge of data on their computer networks. Not only is it hard to make sense of who's doing what on a firm's network, Web sites and wireless devices, but almost no company can see what is happening on other computer networks. One advantage managed-security firms have is a global view that lets them detect patterns. The Alexandria facility is a private, miniature version of the kind of public Internet-monitoring capability the Bush administration wants the federal government to develop to protect the nation's electronic infrastructure. The administration is readying for release in a few weeks a final draft of its national strategy for bolstering cybersecurity. Hacking -- unauthorized break-ins on private computers and networks -- is increasing dramatically as more computers connect to the Internet. So, too, is the distribution of computer "viruses" and "worms" that travel the globe via images, documents and plain-text e-mail messages. Riptech, one of the few companies that monitored global hacking, detected a rise in malicious computer traffic during the first half of last year amounting to an annual rate of 65 percent. One reason for the jump was the explosive growth in the distribution of point-and-click hacking tools online. At the same time, more critical commercial and government operations are moving online, presenting
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Terrorism suspect 'framed by in-laws' France releases baggage handler arrested at airport Jon Henley in Paris Friday January 10 2003 The Guardian The Algerian-born baggage handler arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport near the end of last month with guns and explosives in his car was framed by his in-laws in a family row, the Paris public prosecutor said yesterday. The retired soldier who told the police he had seen Abderazak Besseghir handling a gun in one of the airport's car parks admitted in custody having taken part in a plot with Mr Besseghir's in-laws to set him up, Yves Bot said. Mr Besseghir was released yesterday afternoon. The prosecutor's office sent an assistant public prosecutor to the prison where he was being held to explain the situation to him. Mr Besseghir, 27, was arrested on December 28 after the police found an automatic pistol, a machine gun, five cakes of plastic explosive, two detonators and a slow-burning fuse hidden in the spare wheel in the boot of his car. But he puzzled the investigators from the start. He had no police record and no known links to radical Islamists. He said that he had never seen the weapons before and that he was being framed by the family of his late wife, who died in a fire at their home in Bondy, outside Paris, last summer. After her death Mr Besseghir was questioned by the police about the blaze, but was released without charge. His wife's family subsequently claimed that just before her death she had threatened to leave him because he had become an Muslim fundamentalist. The airport and anti-terrorist police spent two weeks trying to unravel a non-existent terrorist plot at the airport, which is one of Europe's busiest, handling 1,200 flights and 130,000 passengers a day. In 2001 it was the point of departure for the shoe-bomber Richard Reid, who tried to blow up a Paris to Miami flight in mid-air using explosives concealed in his trainers. Mr Besseghir was placed under formal investigation - one step short of being charged - for "criminal association in relations with a terrorist enterprise" and "multiple violation of legislation on firearms, munitions and explosives". But the police soon admitted their doubts about the case against him, saying that neither he nor any of his family fitted the profile of an Islamist extremist. Nor did the fingerprints found on the weapons match his. Sources close to the inquiry said yesterday that after being questioned for a second time, Marcel Le Hir, the ex-legionnaire whose tip-off originally led to Mr Besseghir's arrest, admitted placing the weapons in his car with an associate who is also in custody. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] ABCNEWS.com: US Faces Worst 2-Week Cold Snap in 7 Years-Forecast
-Caveat Lector- You have received this ABCNEWS.com mail from: Euphorian [EMAIL PROTECTED] I thought you might find this story interesting. US Faces Worst 2-Week Cold Snap in 7 Years-Forecast http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20030110_568.html http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Anti-war train drivers refuse to move arms freight Kevin Maguire Wednesday January 08 2003 The Guardian Train drivers yesterday refused to move a freight train carrying ammunition believed to be destined for British forces being deployed in the Gulf. Railway managers cancelled the Ministry of Defence service after the crewmen, described as "conscientious objectors" by a supporter, said they opposed Tony Blair's threat to attack Iraq. The anti-war revolt is the first such industrial action by workers for decades. The two Motherwell-based drivers declined to operate the train between the Glasgow area and the Glen Douglas base on Scotland's west coast, Europe's largest Nato weapons store. English Welsh and Scottish Railway (EWS), which transports munitions for the MoD as well as commercial goods, yesterday attempted to persuade the drivers to move the disputed load by tomorrow. Leaders of the Aslef rail union were pressed at a meeting with EWS executives to ask the drivers to relent. But the officials of a union opposed to any attack on Iraq are unlikely to comply. The two drivers are understood to be the only pair at the Motherwell freight depot trained on the route of the West Highland Line. An EWS spokesman declined to confirm the train had been halted, although he insisted no drivers had refused to take out the trains. "We don't discuss commercial issues," he said. "The point about the two drivers is untrue and we don't discuss issues about meetings we have." Yet his claim was flatly contradicted by a well-placed rail industry source who supplied the Guardian with the train's reference number. The MoD later said it had been informed by EWS that mechanical problems, caused by the cold winter weather, had resulted in the train's cancellation. One solution under discussion yesterday between the MoD and EWS was to transport the shipment by road to avoid what rail managers hoped would be an isolated confrontation. Dockers went on strike rather than load British-made arms on to ships destined for Chile after the assassination of leftwing leader Salvador Allende in 1973. In 1920 stevedores on London's East India Docks refused to move guns on to the Jolly George, a ship chartered to take weapons to anti-Bolsheviks after the Russian revolution. Trade unions supporting workers who refuse to handle weapons could risk legal action and possible fines for contempt of court. Lindsey German, convener of the Stop the War Coalition, said: "We fully support the action that has been taken to impede an unjust and aggressive war. We hope that other people around the country will be able to do likewise." The anti-war group is organising a second national demonstration in central London on Saturday February 15. Organisers claimed more than 400,000 people attended a protest in September. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. --- Note from Euphorian: "I s noththinngg!" --- To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk TV humiliation as Sharon fails to stem voter exodus Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Thursday January 09 2003 The Guardian An Israeli judge pulled the plug on his prime minister Ariel Sharon mid-way through an angry and rambling television address last night which was meant to deny corruption allegations and win back voters who are fleeing his party in droves. With opinion polls showing a rapid collapse in public trust and his rightwing bloc perilously close to losing its majority in this month's general election, Mr Sharon was forced to make a public statement about $1.5m given to his family last year by a British businessman. Before the address, commentators agreed that Mr Sharon is "no longer the Teflon prime minister" and that he needed a masterful performance to regain public trust. But after about 20 minutes of avoiding specifics in favour of vitriolic denunciations of his opponents whom he accused of "despicable slander... with one purpose, to bring down the government of Israel", he was abruptly taken off the air for violating another law. Israel's election commission obtained a court order because Mr Sharon's speech amounted to "electioneering" which is illegal on television. Mr Sharon failed to explain convincingly the circumstances of the $1.5m (£934,000) loan. The broadcast may even have fuelled the decline of Likud which has lost about one-third of its backing over the past month, according to the latest polls. In addition, 31% of voters said they no longer believe Mr Sharon is fit to be prime minister. Supporters of the prime minister's arch-rival for the Likud leadership, the foreign minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, are already beginning to agitate for his resignation. The fraud squad is investigating whether the loan to one of Mr Sharon's sons from Cyril Kern, a wealthy former textile manufacturer in Cape Town, was indirectly used to repay illegal campaign funds. If so, Mr Sharon could face charges of deception, fraud and lying to the police over the source of the funds. There is no suggestion that Mr Kern did anything illegal. Last night the prime minister told the Israeli public he had been "horrified" to learn of the original illegal campaign funds even though the front company used to launder the funds was set up by his then lawyer, Dov Weisglass, who now heads the prime minister's office. He said he did not know where the money came from to repay the campaign funds after the state comptroller concluded they were illegal. The fraud squad alleges that the prime minister told the police and state comptroller that the money came from a mortgage on his ranch. But his bank had turned down the mortgage because Mr Sharon does not own the ranch. To win back the voters, they will have to believe that Mr Sharon knew nothing of the loan to his son. Last night, the prime minister tried to say that recent revelations of vote buying and organised crime infiltration of his Likud party were groundless and the work of his Labour opponent, Amram Mitzna, who was in London to meet Tony Blair. But that is unlikely to satisfy sceptical voters given that the police have already made several arrests and Mr Sharon was forced to fire one of his deputy ministers implicated in the scandal. The prime minister's friend and special envoy to the White House, Aryeh Ganger, refused to answer questions from fraud squad detectives last week about his role in funnelling illegal funds to Mr Sharon's 1999 campaign. To add to the prime minister's woes, the supreme court yesterday overturned a ban on two leading Arab-Israeli politicians from seeking re-election to the knesset. Likud is haemorrhaging support not only to its allies on the right but, crucially, to a centrist party, Shinui, that looks likely to triple its seats and emerge as the third largest party in the knesset. Shinui is led by a populist rabble rouser, Yosef Lapid, who has won support by virulently opposing religious parties and demanding a secular state. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. --- Note from Euphorian: Britland to ban knives next? Is a return to them olden dayze of ripping flesh off of bones in the offing? AER --- To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Rising gun use masks overall fall in offences Risk of being victim is the same as in 1981 Alan Travis, home affairs editor Thursday January 09 2003 The Guardian The shocking 35% increase in gun offences masks a more optimistic picture for England with the overall crime rate levelling off in the last 12 months after five years of continuous falls, according to both sets of official data published yesterday. Gun crime at 9,900 offences forms less than 0.3% of the overall crime rate. The police figures published yesterday show that total recorded crime rose to 5.7 million offences, a headline increase of 9%. But Home Office statisticians said yesterday most of this was accounted for by changes in police recording practices and it should be seen as a small annual rise of 2%. The second set of figures, however - the more authoritative British Crime Survey which measures people's experience of crime - shows a 7% drop in all crime to the year ending September 2002. "This leads us to conclude that after falls in overall crime in recent years, crime is now relatively stable," said Professor Paul Wiles, Home Office statistics director. This is supported by the evi dence that the risk of becoming a victim of crime in England and Wales remains at the historically low level of 26% or about one in four, and around the same as it was in 1981. The figures show a conflicting picture on burglary with the police figures showing a 5% rise and the BCS data showing a 7% drop. The Home Office said the recent increases in recorded burglary appeared to be levelling off between July and September last year. But the police figures do show an alarming 15% rise in drug offences from 115,000 in 2000/2001 to 130,000 in 2001/02. This is particularly curious over a period during which the government announced its intention to relax the cannabis laws. The overall murder rate for 2001/02 stood at 858 deaths in England and Wales. This is the highest level for 50 years but was only a slight increase on the previous year's 849 deaths. Nearly all the increase in the last decade has been in murders of men, which have risen by 73% since 1991, while the number of women murdered has remained relatively stable at 250 deaths a year. The most common murder weapon re mains a sharp instrument although there was a 32% rise in deaths from shootings last year from 73 gun deaths to 97. Although gun crime has soared, the estimated underlying trend for all violent crime is only slightly upward - no more than 2%. Almost all of a headline increase of 23% in violent crime on the police figures is discounted by changes in recording practices. The government's street crime ini tiative appears to have turned a 13% increase in street robberies for the 12 months to September 2002 into a 10% drop between July and September. The figures published yesterday also indicate continuing falls in car crime and thefts from vehicles. Further optimism is provided in the British Crime Survey, which shows that for each of the main types of crime - burglary, car crime and violent crime - there were significant falls in the amount of public anxiety. This survey's detailed findings on the rise in gun crime shows that firearm offences are concentrated in the main inner urban areas of London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds. The police recorded crime figures show that gun crime has risen every year for the past four years and is now higher than the previous peak at 9,974 offences for the 12 months to September 2002. There has been a particularly large increase (46%) in the use of handguns but evidence published yesterday from the British Crime Survey shows that in most cases (84%) the gun was used as a threat and not fired, or used as a blunt instrument. There was also a sharp rise (21%) in the use of air weapons in crime to 12,000 offences but most involved criminal damage to property rather than attacks on people. As well as the 97 fatalities, 558 people were seriously injured in gun crimes. Changes in police body armour and other protective gear meant that only 10 police officers were slightly injured in gun crimes last year. No officer has been shot dead since 1995. The rise in gun crime came mainly as a result of 34% increase in armed robberies with most committed on shops and by attacks on security vans "on the public highway" and street robberies. The days of the sawn-off shotgun are nearly over. They were used in only 6% of robberies compared with handguns, which were used in 70% of cases. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.c
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Buffalo Grill sellers cause stampede Jon Henley in Paris Wednesday January 08 2003 The Guardian An avalanche of sell orders cost shares in the scandal-hit French steakhouse chain Buffalo Grill more than half their value yesterday as the stock resumed trading for the first time since December 18. Trading in Buffalo Grill had to be delayed at the start of the session because there were "way too many sell orders", one trader said, and by lunchtime the share was changing hands at 5.50 euros, little more than 40% of its pre-opening value. Four top managers of the company and its purchasing subsidiary, Districoupe, are under formal investigation, one step short of being charged, in an investigation by judge Marie-Odile Bertella-Geffroy into a number of deaths in France from the human form of mad cow disease. At least two of the victims were alleged to be frequent customers at Buffalo Grill, which has 150 restaurants in France and 50 in the rest of Europe. The chain is said to have imported British beef between 1996 and 2000, when the meat was banned in France because of fears it could be tainted with the brain-wasting disease. In an exceptional step yesterday, Ms Bertella-Geffroy wrote to the Paris public prosecutor to ask for the inquiry's initial evidence against Buffalo Grill to be made public in an attempt to prove the continuing necessity of her investigation and halt media speculation. The company's founder and supervisory board chairman, Christian Picard, made the same request - for the opposite reasons - last week, asking the French prime minister and justice minister to order the release of all relevant documents to show that the case against the chain was "inconsistent, dishonest, and completely empty of any telling or serious element". Mr Picard's lawyer, Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi, said the public prosecutor's assertion that the documents were covered by French judicial secrecy laws was becoming "more and more untenable". A growing number of "well-directed and carefully organised leaks" to the press made publication of the entire dossier essential, he said. Emeric Ernoult, another Buffalo Grill lawyer, said one such leak - to Le Canard Enchainé - was "just a lot of fuss about nothing". The satirical magazine printed an apparently incriminating email from a quality control manager referring to meat "from the mad cow disease period" which "must be got rid of". Mr Ernoult said the mail referred to stocks of Argentinian and Brazilian beef built up in 2001, when a number of new cases of mad cow disease were coming to light in France. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Gun crimes soar by 35% Staff and agencies Thursday January 09 2003 The Guardian Gun crime in England and Wales increase by 35% last year and criminals used handguns in nearly 50% more offences, Home Office figures revealed today. Firearms were used in 9,974 recorded crimes in the 12 months to last April, up from 7,362. The figures also show the number of crimes involving handguns has more than doubled since the ban on the weapons imposed after the Dunblane massacre from 2,636 in 1997-1998 to 5,871 in the 12 months to April last year. The number of homicide victims killed by firearms increased 32%, or 23 cases, in the year to April 2002. Overall there was a 1% rise in the number of homicides to 858 in England and Wales. In all, handgun crime rose 46% year-on-year. Unadjusted figures show overall recorded crime in the 12 months to last September rose 9.3% but the Home Office stressed that new procedures had skewed the figures. With new recording procedures taken into account the actual overall rise was just 2%, the Home Office said. Robbery was up 14.5% (up 13% adjusted) but from July to September, when the government's street crime initiative was in full swing, it actually fell by 10% in adjusted figures. Domestic burglary figures increased 7.9% (or increased 5% when adjusted), figures which are likely to embarrass ministers in the wake of the lord chief justice and lord chancellor's comments on jailing burglars. Violence against individuals was up 28% in the three months to September last year, which the Home Office adjusted to a 4% rise. Over the same period sex offences were up 25.6%, but ministers said this figure was likely to be inflated by the new statistical changes. Drug offences also rose 12.3% but no adjusted figures were available for this category. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Bush's multibillion-dollar tax cut for the rich Deal is unfair to poor, say Democrats Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington Monday January 06 2003 The Guardian President George Bush will be forced today to defend a massive regeneration package designed to kick-start the US economy which has come under withering attack as a sop to the rich. The centrepiece of the White House proposals to spur on the anaemic economy, which President Bush will unveil in a speech in Chicago, is the abolition of tax on shareholder dividends. The elimination of the tax has helped to double the expected cost of Mr Bush's economic package to around $600bn (£373bn) over the next decade. It has also exposed the White House to charges from Democrats and moderate Republicans that the Bush administration is seeking to take advantage of the economic recession to reward wealthy Americans and Republican party supporters at the expense of the poor and the middle classes. The wealthiest stratum of Americans - an estimated 200,000 people earning more than $1m a year - accounts for barely 1% of US taxpayers, according to figures from the internal revenue service. However, together they earned about $25.4bn in dividends last year, or about a quarter of the overall total of dividends for US taxpayers. Yesterday, Democrats and moderate Republicans lined up against the economic package, singling out the dividend tax as unfair and a blow to the poor. Economists, meanwhile, said it offered precious little to stimulate economic growth or create jobs. The furore over the tax cut was fuelled by reports yesterday that the Bush administration intended to freeze all spending on domestic programmes aside from homeland security. Officials argue that the spending cap on welfare, the environment, job creation and other government programmes is needed to put the budget on a war footing. However, poverty action groups say the freeze will take away $3bn from programmes that directly benefit lower-income groups at a time of recession. They singled out a $300m cut to a programme to help poor families with heating fuel costs. "At a time when some people badly could use help, Mr Bush's tax cut mostly will help those who need it least," a leader comment in the Washington Post said yesterday. President Bush and the Republican party leadership have fought back by accusing their critics of indulging in "class warfare". The emerging row over the president's economic package now threatens to overshadow the first week of the new Congress when the Bush administration had hoped to capitalise on Republican control of both chambers to further its conservative agenda. Instead, the handful of newly declared contenders for the Democratic party nomination for the 2004 presidential elections seized on the elimi nation of the dividend tax to kick-start their campaigns. The Democrats were to release their own, more modest, version of an economic stimulus package last night. The measures, expected to cost the US treasury $130bn over the next decade, were thought to include individual tax rebates of $300 a worker, as well as business tax incentives. President Bush's plan is also expected to include an extension of unemployment benefits and an acceleration of the tax cuts schedule approved two years ago, as well as tax incentives on equipment purchases for businesses. Although a reduction in dividend tax had been widely anticipated, it did not become clear until yesterday that President Bush intended to eliminate the tax entirely. However, administration officials claimed yesterday that shareholders suffered a double burden by being taxed on dividend earnings. "Very often, critics of tax relief described everybody as rich in an effort to stop tax relief," the White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, said yesterday. "I think that's been an old tactic by people who wanted to raise taxes on the American people in the first place." Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archive
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Britain and Israel in furious row as Blair peace talks are scuppered Ewen MacAskill and Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Monday January 06 2003 The Guardian The British and Israeli governments were engaged in a full-scale row yesterday after Ariel Sharon banned Palestinians from attending a peace conference in London next week. The conference, a pet project of Tony Blair, is now almost certain to be postponed. Mr Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, who controls the movement of all Palestinians in and out of the West Bank and Gaza, imposed the travel ban as part of punishment measures after suicide bombings killed 22 in Tel Aviv on Sunday. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, had fiery exchanges with his Israeli counterpart, Binyamin Netanyahu, yesterday morning. Mr Netanyahu further inflamed the situation by publishing extracts of the private conversation between the two men, an unusual breach of diplomatic etiquette. The row marks a distinct cooling in British-Israeli relations. Until now, Israel has viewed Mr Blair as being one of their few dependable supporters in Europe. A delegation of six Palestinians was invited to the Foreign Office residence at Carlton Gardens for a two-day conference next Monday and Tuesday to discuss reform of the Palestinian authority, including how to clamp down on militant groups. Also invited were representatives from the US, the UN, the EU, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan. Mr Straw, angry that Israel had not informed him of the decision, which he had only heard about on the radio news, called Mr Netanyahu to express his regret at the ban. He asked Mr Netanyahu to reconsider but there is little expectation that Israel will back down. Mr Netanyahu, according to the Israeli transcript, told Mr Straw that the bombings ruled out "business as usual" and he urged Britain to adopt the position of the US president, George Bush, "that leaders compromised by terror cannot be partners for peace". He added: "You in Britain are doing the exact opposite." Mr Straw countered, according to the transcript: "No, it is Israel that is doing the opposite. Instead of concentrating on dealing with terrorism, it is striking at [Palestinian] delegates." The Foreign Office took the line that it was a private conversation and it would not be commenting on the details of what took place. Mr Straw, in a speech later, said the conference was in the interests of Israelis as well as Palestinians because security was on the agenda. He phoned the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, to inform him of the ban but Washington is unlikely to intervene to put pressure on Israel because it had little interest in the conference in the first place. Mr Netanyahu, elaborating on the ban at a press conference, said: "Legitimising the sham reform efforts of Arafat's regime will, in effect, legitimise a Palestinian leadership compromised by terror. Not only has the Palestinian Authority failed to fight terrorism, Arafat's own Fatah and Tanzim forces proudly took credit for yesterday's savage attack, and for many other atrocities over the last two years." Jonathon Peled, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said: "Tony Blair's initiative is something we accepted half-heartedly. We were not invited to it and we had our reservations." The idea of a Palestinian conference emerged from a promise by Mr Blair in the autumn to try to help find a settlement to the conflict. Mr Blair has a genuine interest in trying to end the confrontation but the conference is also intended to temper criticism in the Arab world and within his own Labour party that it is wrong to concentrate on Iraq while ignoring Israel-Palestine. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl ==
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk MI5 link to royal plotter Tania Branigan Thursday January 02 2003 The Guardian A man who tried to shoot Edward VIII was in contact with MI5 and might have been the stooge of Austrian communists posing as Nazis. The dramatic assassination attempt was foiled by a bystander and police officers, who knocked the gun from George McMahon's hand as he levelled it at the King during a procession in London on July 16 1936. Ironically - in light of Edward VIII's contacts with the Third Reich - McMahon claimed to have been set up by Nazi agents who offered him £150 to assassinate the King. The Irish journalist said that he had been approached by agents who had discussed the injustices in Ireland and suggested he could help. He also claimed that he had never intended to fire the pistol, and had informed MI5 of the plot. Despite testimony that he had fascist sympathies, officials concluded that he was a liar who had invented the plot to gain attention. However, newly released documents show that McMahon's solicitor established that he had indeed been in touch with an MI5 agent. The police also overlooked his friendship with an Austrian emigre, whose close friends included a communist party member who was later investigated by MI5 following espionage activities at a London arsenal. It raises the possibility that communists could have posed as Nazis to win over McMahon for their own ends. He was sentenced to 12 months hard labour for "wilfully producing a revolver near to the person of the King with intent to alarm His Majesty", after the judge said that he had not intended to kill the King. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- [EMAIL PROTECTED] spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk If only he would listen, this could be Blair's finest hour Britain's envoys want the PM to stall Bush's plans for war Richard Norton-Taylor Sunday January 05 2003 The Observer Telegrams from British embassies and missions around the world are urging Tony Blair to step up pressure on President Bush to pull back from a war against Iraq. In what amounts to a collective cri de coeur, our envoys - congregating in Whitehall today for an unprecedented Foreign Office brainstorming session - are warning of the potentially devastating consequences of such an adventure, including its impact on a greater threat than Saddam Hussein: al-Qaida-inspired terrorism. The warnings are not just coming from our envoys and defence attaches in Arab capitals. They are also, I am told, coming from Washington. This, our diplomats suggest, could be one of Blair's - and Britain's - finest hours, a unique opportunity to make a constructive contribution to world affairs. They also know, not least from American opinion polls, that the Bush administration needs Britain onside. Our contribution would be a token one in military terms, but significant politically. That gives Britain leverage. It is hard to find anyone in Whitehall who supports a war against Iraq and who is not deeply concerned about the influence of the hawks around Bush. They cannot say so in public, of course. Whitehall gives Blair the credit for helping to persuade Bush to go down the UN route - a prime example of what Whitehall describes as Britain "punching above its weight". But this should be put into perspective. Richard Falk, Princeton's emeritus professor of international law, notes in the latest issue of Le Monde Diplomatique: "This belated recourse to the UN does not fool many people outside the US, and is not very persuasive to Americans themselves. It is obvious that Bush is no friend of the UN, and only sought UN approval for US policy to defuse domestic opposition to blatant unilateralism." Falk addresses a key issue: "For the US to insist in voting for resolution 1441 on 8 November, that the UN act as an enforcement agency by reviving weapons inspection, and in so onerous a form that it almost ensures a breakdown, is to enlist the UN in the dirty work of war-making." It is a key issue because UN security council backing for military action will be seized on by ministers to convince those, including Labour MPs and bishops, who have grave doubts about a war against Iraq. The fact is that the security council has always considered itself above any tenet of international law. In his biography, The Politics of Diplomacy, former US secretary of state James Baker shamelessly admits how, before the 1991 Gulf war, he met his security council counterparts "in an intricate process of cajoling, extracting, threatening, and occasionally buying votes". America's relative power, and its willingness to use it, has increased over the past 12 years. James Paul, head of Global Policy Forum, a non-governmental body that monitors the UN, says: "The capacity of the US to bring to heel virtually any country in the world is unbelievable." The US is corrupting the security council by bribing its permanent members - Russia with dollars, China with trade concessions, France and Britain (if it needs any carrots) with the prospect of oil concessions. And Turkey will be amply rewarded if it allows the US to use its bases for an assault on Iraq. Is this how international relations are going to be conducted among the world's most powerful countries in future? Is it that difficult for Blair to go down in history as the leader who prevented a potentially disastrous war fought, as one Whitehall official puts it, simply to prevent Bush from having egg over his face? What kind of country meekly succumbs to demands for war dictated by domestic party politics, even those of its closest ally? Where is the evidence that Iraq is lying about its weapons of mass destruction? Worried Whitehall officials ask: even if evidence is found, and Saddam Hussein is discovered to have lied, is it not better to keep the UN inspectors - the best deterrence against the use or development of such weapons - on the ground? One lie ministers could nail is that put about by elements in Washington and Israel - that there are links between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida. British and American intelligence insist there is no evidence of such a link, yet ministers are frightened to say so for fear of upsetting Washington. Though there is no love lost between the Iraqi regime and Islamist fundamentalists, an Anglo-American attack on Iraq is likely to attract more recruits to al-Qaida, thereby increasing the risk of terrorist strikes against British and
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61009-2002Dec31.html Firms Accused of Giving Space Technology to China By John Mintz The State Department has charged that two of the country's largest aerospace companies, Hughes Electronics Corp. and Boeing Satellite Systems Inc., illegally transferred sensitive U.S. space technology to China in the 1990s that could have helped Beijing's military develop intercontinental missiles. If a federal administrative judge and, later, a top State Department official agree with the allegations in a 32-page State Department "charging letter" filed without public notice last Thursday, the companies could be fined as much as $60 million and barred for three years from selling controlled technologies overseas, a penalty that could particularly hurt Boeing. The companies have strenuously denied wrongdoing in the case, which began with a series of failed space launches in China starting in 1995. Hughes officials are alleged to have given Chinese experts detailed information about rocketry to help China's space program figure out why its rockets were failing soon after launch. The Hughes Electronics space launch division, which committed the supposed improprieties, was purchased by Boeing in 2000 for $3.7 billion. The two corporate bodies charged by the State Department last week are the Hughes parent company and the division of Boeing that gobbled up the former Hughes space launch unit. This type of administrative charge is extraordinarily rare, U.S. officials said. The filing reflects officials' anger that the two firms have aggressively battled the charges and resisted admitting what they did in China was wrong, they added. "We don't believe we've done anything wrong," said Hughes Electronics spokesman Robert Marsocci. "We're in negotiations with the State Department, and we'll be reviewing our options." A Boeing spokesman, Dan Beck, said the company would not comment. The Justice Department spent years on a criminal investigation of those companies and a third, Loral Space & Communications Ltd., involved in similar activity in China. But several months ago, federal prosecutors informed the firms that they would not file criminal charges. Last January, Loral agreed to pay a $14 million fine and to spend $6 million on internal reforms to stop overseas technology transfers. The government did not file the kind of administrative charges against Loral that it filed last week against Hughes and Boeing. The charging document, signed by William J. Lowell, director of the State Department's office of defense trade controls, said Hughes and Boeing committed 123 violations of the Arms Export Control Act and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. Government officials praised Loral for facing up to its past improprieties and imposing corporate guidelines to prevent a recurrence. Officials offered no such praise for Boeing and Hughes. "The department has had several rounds of discussion with Hughes and Boeing to explore a resolution similar to the one with Loral," said State Department spokesman Jay Greer. "We can note that unlike Loral, Hughes and Boeing have both failed to recognize the seriousness of the violations and have been unprepared to take steps to resolve the matter, or to ensure no recurrence of violations in the future." Hughes and Boeing for years have insisted the State Department is wrong to declare it improper for them to have had discussions with Chinese officials about the space launch failures. The firms point out that during the mid-1990s, their operations in China were covered by Commerce Department regulations that were more lax and, the companies say, allowed for some give and take with Beijing officials. The State Department says that the more stringent export control laws still were in force, and that the companies broke them. After the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, President Ronald Reagan decided in 1988 that U.S. space companies should be allowed to launch their satellites aboard China's Long March rockets to accommodate the fast-growing American telecommunications industry. But the U.S. firms were barred from giving the Chinese any help on their launches without U.S. licenses and supervision by Pentagon inspectors. The U.S. government's fear was that the Chinese could use American know-how on the Long March commercial rocket launches to help the performance of Beijing's nuclear-tipped missiles. The problem was that China's space officials were extremely aggressive in demanding that the U.S. companies provide "technology transfer" as a condition for entry into the desirable Chinese market. The issue came to a head each time a Long March rocket crashed or failed, beca
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Pentagon build-up reaches unstoppable momentum Julian Borger Monday December 30 2002 The Guardian The Pentagon's order to deploy large numbers of combat troops, warplanes and a hospital ship in the Gulf have created a near unstoppable momentum towards war with Iraq, US military analysts said yesterday. Over the year, the US military has conducted low-profile preparations for a conflict, moving headquarters and equipment into the region. But the new deployment orders reported over the weekend represent a serious commitment of manpower and resources from which it will be hard to climb down without ousting Saddam or at least forcing his disarmament. "There is a bit of 1914 in this in that once mobilisation begins, it's hard to turn it off. There are financial costs and practical costs," Ralph Peters, a former army intelligence specialist on the Middle East said. "You've already decided to take the political costs mobilising reserves, and the world is psychologically prepared for it. It would take an act of great fortitude to stop the train now." The White House wanted to hold back the deployment orders until after the new year, but the Pentagon (which would have preferred the large-scale troop build-up to begin in early December) insisted it begin earlier if an invasion was to take place before March. The Iraqi spring heat begins to make desert warfare much more difficult. After the defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, signed the deployment order, the army's 3rd Infantry Division based in Georgia was put on alert. The 101st Airborne Division and the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which have both been intensively rehearsing urban warfare techniques, are also preparing to leave for the Gulf. About 25,000 troops are expected to fly to the region in the next few months to join 60,000 already there, with many more on 96-hour notice to leave. Up to 80,000 soldiers are expected to spearhead an assault along with marines and airborne troops. The air force's Air Combat Command sent out deployment orders to F-16 and F-15 fighter units in Virginia and North Carolina and B-1 bombers based in North Carolina. The navy put the 10,000 sailors on board the George Washington aircraft carrier and its battle group of warships and submarines on 96-hour alert, despite the fact that they had just returned from a six-month tour of duty. And in a move that some military experts had earlier predicted would be a signal that the administration was serious about going to war early in 2003, a hospital ship, the USS Comfort was ordered to prepare a 1,000-bed trauma centre and make preparations to leave for Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The Bush administration insists that no decision has yet been taken on whether to go to war, while it waits for results of UN weapons inspections under way in Iraq. But most observers believe that only a radical move by Baghdad - such as a confession to stockpiling weapons of mass destruction - or a dramatic worsening of the North Korean crisis can stop an invasion. "Nothing is inevitable, but the logic of the situation points towards a war sometime in February," said Gary Schmitt, the head of Project for a New American Century, a conservative thinktank with close links to the administration. "It's very hard for a country to mobilise for war, and not to go for war without a very serious reason. If you signal to the world that you're serious, and you don't do anything, then you're saying you're not a serious country." Mr Peters said that the international community now believed that a conflict was inevitable and that regional allies like Saudi Arabia were prepared to offer limited assistance, after much cajoling by US officials. Stephen Baker, a retired US Navy rear-admiral now at the Centre for Defence Information, said that the troops on standby would be able to fly in to the Gulf and pick up their pre-positioned equipment in a few days. However, he said the deployments were not a "point of no return". Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ===
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Gas masks in the classroom Chris McGreal, Jerusalem Tuesday December 31 2002 The Guardian The lesson is new to the children of Herzog school in Holon. First, breathe deeply and relax. Second, get to know your gas mask. Then listen carefully to the soldier from home front command as he or she explains what your mask will and will not save you from. Nerve gases are to be feared most. Each day growing numbers of kindergarten, primary and secondary school pupils across Israel are introduced to the looming threat of chemical and biological warfare. And they are full of questions. "I live on the seventh floor. Can the gas reach me?" asked one. "Can the chemicals penetrate inside the mask?" asks another. "What about the pets?" asks a third child. Finally, after wending their way through the family emergency plan, how to behave in a bomb shelter and memorising the code words for war - Mr Leon, Iron Wall and Suddenly, Suddenly - the pupils go home with a computer game called Emergency Defence Games in the hope that they will educate their parents. That is, if you are an Israeli child. Pupils in Palestinian schools get no such protection. But then the gas mask training is imbued with a strange air of optimism about the coming conflict which few Palestinians share. To the Israeli leadership, an American war on Iraq this year holds out the promise of reshaping the Middle East. Ariel Sharon's generals talk of 2003 as potentially one of the most important years in Israel's history. "A US-led war against Iraq, if it actually occurs, will create dramatic changes throughout the region because Saddam is a major symbol for tyrants like Arafat and others," said Major General Amos Gilad, commander of Israeli forces in the occupied territories. "If Saddam collapses, this would create a positive 'earthquake' in the Middle East that could lead to an unparalleled opportunity to change things in the region. If his regime collapses, this could lead to new initiatives to change the entire situation in the region." The Palestinians do not disagree that the shock waves of war will reverberate throughout the region, or that the Israelis have reason to feel optimistic. The Palestinians believe that besides the Iraqi leader, they will be the ones who pay the price. War, they fear, will distract the world from their plight and provide Mr Sharon with the cover and justification for yet more killings and destruction. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] NYTimes.com Article: Tyco Finds $300 Million in Accounting Errors
-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tyco Finds $300 Million in Accounting Errors December 30, 2002 By REUTERS Filed at 9:13 p.m. ET BOSTON (Reuters) - Tyco International Ltd., battered this year by scandal and accounting worries, on Monday said an internal investigation found no fraud, but uncovered $382 million in accounting errors. While Tyco (TYC.N) said the errors did not represent significant or systemic fraud, the Bermuda-based conglomerate admitted previous management used aggressive bookkeeping to boost results. The results also confirmed some of the suspicions that have been dogging Tyco since 1999. Tyco's stock is down about 74 percent this year. Tyco said the company kept shoddy records and had inadequate corporate governance policies during the reign of indicted former chairman Dennis Kozlowski. In fact, Kozlowski's personal assistant authorized restricted stock awards and investigators found internal memos using terms such as ``financial engineering'' in discussions on how to meet profit goals. To correct the accounting errors, Tyco said it would take pretax charges totaling $382 million in the 2002 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Of that amount, more than half stemmed from Tyco's ADT burglar alarm business, which recognized income too soon from fees it charged a network of independent dealers who sell and install security systems. Tyco CEO Edward Breen, chief financial officer David FitzPatrick and outside auditor PriceWaterhouseCoopers signed off on the company's fiscal 2002 financial statements, according to the annual report. Shares of Tyco rose to $15.95 in Instinet trade on Monday from a closing price of $15.35. AGGRESSIVE ACCOUNTING Aggressive accounting is not necessarily improper. But the Tyco investigation concluded former management was not neutral in its treatment of accounting policies. It sought out techniques that would boost profits while shying away from those that would reduce them, the report said. Specifically, the report said prior management manipulated its accounting for acquisitions to boost its financial results. This long-running criticism of the conglomerate was central to an earlier probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission which ended in July 2000 with the body taking no action. The SEC began another investigation into Tyco's accounting earlier this year. No results have been reported. As part of Tyco's internal accounting investigation, Tyco reviewed 15 acquisitions that were valued at about $30 billion at the suggestion of the SEC. Tyco said it completed more than 700 acquisitions between 1999 and 2001. The report questioned accounting surrounding the acquisitions of electronics companies AMP and Raychem and health care company U.S. Surgical. Tyco boosted earnings in the companies it was acquiring by artificially reducing revenue or increasing expenses in the quarter immediately before the deal closed. The effect was that earnings were enhanced after the acquisition. One example showed that Tyco understated by $235 million the value of equity and employee stock options it issued to acquire medical product maker Mallinckrodt Inc. in 2000. This meant a $5.6 million overstatement in fiscal 2001 earnings because of the related goodwill. ``There were also instances where senior management exerted pressure and provided incentives which had the purpose and effect of encouraging unit and segment officers to achieve higher earnings, including in some cases by their choice of accounting treatments,'' the Tyco report stated. Tyco said $185.9 million of the $382.2 million in errors for fiscal 2002 were a result of miscalculation of reimbursements to dealers of its ADT burglar alarms. Earlier this year, Tyco hired lawyer David Boies, who prosecuted the Justice Department's antitrust case against Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) during the Clinton administration, to conduct an internal investigation. Boies and an army of forensic accountants stepped in as New York City prosecutors investigated Tyco's former chairman, Kozlowski, and his top lieutenant, ex-finance chief Mark Swartz. The men are accused of orchestrating a corruption scheme that netted them more than $600 million through unauthorized compensation and fraudulent stock transactions. Both men have pleaded innocent to the charges. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-manufacturing-tyco-investigation.html?ex=1042370728&ei=1&en=942834ab3af89300 HOW TO ADVERTISE - For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discu
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Our quality of life peaked in 1974. It's all downhill now We will pay the price for believing the world has infinite resources George Monbiot Monday December 30 2002 The Guardian With the turning of every year, we expect our lives to improve. As long as the economy continues to grow, we imagine, the world will become a more congenial place in which to live. There is no basis for this belief. If we take into account such factors as pollution and the depletion of natural capital, we see that the quality of life peaked in the UK in 1974 and in the US in 1968, and has been falling ever since. We are going backwards. The reason should not be hard to grasp. Our economic system depends upon never-ending growth, yet we live in a world with finite resources. Our expectation of progress is, as a result, a delusion. This is the great heresy of our times, the fundamental truth which cannot be spoken. It is dismissed as furiously by those who possess power today - governments, business, the media - as the discovery that the earth orbits the sun was denounced by the late medieval church. Speak this truth in public and you are dismissed as a crank, a prig, a lunatic. Capitalism is a millenarian cult, raised to the status of a world religion. Like communism, it is built upon the myth of endless exploitation. Just as Christians imagine that their God will deliver them from death, capitalists believe that theirs will deliver them from finity. The world's resources, they assert, have been granted eternal life. The briefest reflection will show that this cannot be true. The laws of thermodynamics impose inherent limits upon biological production. Even the repayment of debt, the pre-requisite of capitalism, is mathematically possible only in the short-term. As Heinrich Haussmann has shown, a single pfennig invested at 5% compounded interest in the year AD 0 would, by 1990, have reaped a volume of gold 134bn times the weight of the planet. Capitalism seeks a value of production commensurate with the repayment of debt. Now, despite the endless denials, it is clear that the wall towards which we are accelerating is not very far away. Within five or 10 years, the global consumption of oil is likely to outstrip supply. Every year, up to 75bn tonnes of topsoil are washed into the sea as a result of unsustainable farming, which equates to the loss of around 9m hectares of productive land. As a result, we can maintain current levels of food production only with the application of phosphate, but phosphate reserves are likely to be exhausted within 80 years. Forty per cent of the world's food is produced with the help of irrigation; some of the key aquifers are already running dry as a result of overuse. One reason why we fail to understand a concept as simple as finity is that our religion was founded upon the use of other people's resources: the gold, rubber and timber of Latin America; the spices, cotton and dyes of the East Indies; the labour and land of Africa. The frontier of exploitation seemed, to the early colonists, infinitely expandable. Now that geographical expansion has reached its limits, capitalism has moved its frontier from space to time: seizing resources from an infinite future. An entire industry has been built upon the denial of ecological constraints. Every national newspaper in Britain lamented the "disappointing" volume of sales before Christmas. Sky News devoted much of its Christmas Eve coverage to live reports from Brent Cross, relaying the terrifying intelligence that we were facing "the worst Christmas for shopping since 2000". The survival of humanity has been displaced in the newspapers by the quarterly results of companies selling tableware and knickers. Partly because they have been brainwashed by the corporate media, partly because of the scale of the moral challenge with which finity confronts them, many people respond to the heresy with unmediated savagery. Last week this column discussed the competition for global grain supplies between humans and livestock. One correspondent, a man named David Roucek, wrote to inform me that the problem is the result of people "breeding indiscriminately ... When a woman has displayed evidence that she totally disregards the welfare of her offspring by continuing to breed children she cannot support, she has committed a crime and must be punished. The punishment? She must be sterilised to prevent her from perpetrating her crimes upon more innocent children." There is no doubt that a rising population is one of the factors which threatens the world's capacity to support its people, but human population growth is being massively outstripped by the growth in the number of farm animals. While the rich w
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46120-2002Dec27.html Bush's Moonshine Policy By Mary McGrory George W. Bush ends the year with a genuine nuclear crisis on his hands. He has been assiduously trying to foment one with Iraq, dropping bombs on the country and expletives on its leader. But North Korea, which is not just suspected of working on the bomb but of having at least two, has muscled Saddam Hussein off the front pages and made our crusade against Baghdad seem crass: We're starting a war not just for oil or for Ariel Sharon but because we can win it. North Korea is a different story. It has a million men under arms. It has a built-in hostage situation at hand in the presence of 37,000 U.S. soldiers who guard South Korea. Kim Jong Il, the Communist leader of North Korea, almost makes Saddam Hussein look like Rotarian of the Year. While Hussein is welcoming U.N. arms inspectors, Kim is throwing them out. He has dismantled the international surveillance equipment installed by a treaty in 1994; he has announced he is going to make all the weapons-grade plutonium he wants. He is, in short, behaving like the radioactive lunatic he is. And what is George W. Bush, defender of the free world, scourge of terrorists, doing about all this? As of this moment, nothing. As far as we can see, he seems to feel that not speaking to the North Koreans is the solution. "Isolation" and "marginalization" will bring these rogues to heel? A leader who will starve his own people to feed his military machine, whose father invaded his neighbor, who shows no acquaintance with reality, will be cowed by a snub from Washington? The president has asked North Korea's neighbors to warn Kim Jong Il of the consequences of his horrendous behavior. Up to now, the Japanese have reported themselves as scared to death. Russia and China seem to have a million other things to do. The incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), says we should "talk and talk and talk" to the outlaws. His is a lone voice. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld exhibited a reflex swagger response. The North Koreans better watch out. They mustn't think for a minute we couldn't wage war against them. Just in time for Christmas, he brought our war list up to three -- the one against al Qaeda, which we seem to have forgotten, the one brewing in Iraq -- and now Pyongyang? We should perhaps remember that President Bush has never liked talking to Koreans. His first overseas visitor was the estimable Kim Dae Jung, whom Bush snubbed. Bush, as he was eager to demonstrate, was not a fan. Kim's sin? He was instituting a sunshine policy with the North, ending a half-century of estrangement. Bush, who looked upon North Korea as the most potent argument for his obsession to build a national missile defense, saw Kim, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, as nothing but trouble. He sent him home humiliated and empty-handed. Kim's successor, Roh Moo Hyun, may be even worse. He is a passionate advocate of the sunshine policy, and he seeks "a more mature relationship" with the United States -- bad news for Bush. This ugly international set-to occurs just when the president has scored his most dazzling domestic political triumph. The hullabaloo over Trent Lott, the prospective leader of the Senate, was caused by Lott's letting the cat out of the bag on the subject of the Republicans' covert Southern strategy. Lott told a birthday party for Strom Thurmond what everyone has always known: The strategy was based on race. Republicans were mortified. Then Bush apprentice Karl Rove stepped in and saved the day. Bush and Rove engineered Lott's resignation and the substitution of glamorous Bill Frist of Tennessee, literally a medicine man, who spends his off-time flying his own plane to Africa to minister to AIDS patients. Bush issued a sharp criticism of Lott's remarks and nourished the Frist boomlet into a surge, all the while insisting through his spokesman that he did not think Lott should resign. Republicans are delighted. In an assembly largely given over to small minds and big egos, Frist's aura as a healer and his proclivity for rendering first aid on Capitol Hill make him a romantic figure. It's like getting Lord Byron on your condo board. The finesse of the operation was universally applauded. The qualities displayed -- the regard for the other guy's sensibilities, the willingness to forgo credit, are ones that can be successful in foreign policy negotiations. Bush could never send Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton to represent him in the deadly and proliferating tension in North Korea -- he blames them for coddling Pyongyang. But he might send Karl Rove. He knows how the game is playe
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Sharon takes on rabbis over Jewish identity Religious and secular clash over right to settle in Israel Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Monday December 30 2002 The Guardian Ariel Sharon has called on religious leaders to make it easier to become a Jew to revive the immigration that provides a buffer to the burgeoning Arab population. The prime minister's remarks follow a call by one of his own cabinet for a ban on immigration by secular Jews, exposing a deep divide in the government between those who say an influx from the former Soviet Union threatens Israel's religious identity and those who increasingly fear the high Arab birthrate. The ultra-orthodox health minister, Nissim Dahan, revived debate on the issue by declaring that secular Jews and those who do not qualify as Jewish under religious law, which is more stringent in its definition than government legislation, should not be allowed to settle in Israel. "We prefer a Jew overseas to a gentile in Israel," he said. But Mr Dahan was quickly shot down by the prime minister, who said: "It should be possible for anyone who wants to become a Jew to do so." Israel's establishment is split on the issue. At the heart of the disagreement is the decade-long wave of immigration in which about 1 million Russians and citizens of the former Soviet republics have come to Israel under the "grandfather clause" of the Law of Return, which permits anyone with a Jewish grandparent to obtain Israeli citizenship. The clause was introduced in 1970 as a response to the Nazi definition of a Jew as anyone with a Jewish grandparent. Orthodox rabbis say that up to 70% of the arrivals in recent years do not qualify as Jewish under religious law, which requires an individual's mother to have been Jewish. The government estimates that 25% of all Russian immigrants are not Jewish according to religious law and need to convert. Most do not, partly because the process is laborious and partly because the Russian community tends to be secular. The interior minister and leader of the Shas party, Eli Yishai, says such figures threaten the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. "By the end of the year 2010 the state of Israel will lose its Jewish identity," he said. "A secular state will bring ... hundreds of thousands of goyim [gentiles] who will build hundreds of churches and will open more stores that sell pork. In every city we will see Christmas trees." The leftwing Meretz party reinforced the point by bringing a Christmas tree to the launch of its election campaign among Russian voters yesterday because it is part of the immigrants' "tradition". Mr Yishai and Israel's chief rabbis, Yisrael Meir Lau and Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, want the grandfather clause repealed and the right of return limited to those who are Jews as defined by religious law. But Mr Sharon sees a more important demographic process at work. The higher Arab birthrate means that Jews will be outnumbered in Israel and the areas it now governs within decades. Arabs already account for 20% of Israeli citizens. Immigration has fallen to its lowest level since the end of the cold war and Mr Sharon is keen to revive it, even if that opens the gates to people of questionable Jewish ancestry. The government's view is that while the first generation of each wave of immigration may have difficulty embracing Israel and Jewishness, their sons and daughters frequently become enthusiastic Zionists. In the present climate, they are also often very rightwing. For political and security reasons, Mr Sharon is not about to alienate Russian immigrants by questioning their right to be in Israel. For a start the Russians, as all immigrants from the former Soviet Union are known in Israel, have the voting power to decide who governs. The latest opinion polls show that almost all Russian voters have swung behind Mr Sharon because of his hard line in dealing with the Palestinians. But while the Russians are rightwing on security and economic issues, they view religious conservatives with suspicion and complain of maltreatment at the hands of the orthodox. Many are unable to marry because only religious weddings are permitted under Israeli law and the chief rabbis refuse to recognise them as Jewish. The defence ministry calls up young Russian immigrants to serve in the army while the interior ministry denies them rights because they are not deemed Jewish. Some, suspected of lying about being Jewish have been subjected to humiliating DNA tests. The Russian community was particularly outraged when, after a suicide bombing at a Tel Aviv disco last year killed 20 young people, rabbis objected to the burial of three Russian-born teenagers in Jewish cemeteries because their mothers were n
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Rumsfeld 'offered help to Saddam' Declassified papers leave the White House hawk exposed over his role during the Iran-Iraq war Julian Borger in Washington Monday December 30 2002 The Guardian The Reagan administration and its special Middle East envoy, Donald Rumsfeld, did little to stop Iraq developing weapons of mass destruction in the 1980s, even though they knew Saddam Hussein was using chemical weapons "almost daily" against Iran, it was reported yesterday. US support for Baghdad during the Iran-Iraq war as a bulwark against Shi'ite militancy has been well known for some time, but using declassified government documents, the Washington Post provided new details yesterday about Mr Rumsfeld's role, and about the extent of the Reagan administration's knowledge of the use of chemical weapons. The details will embarrass Mr Rumsfeld, who as defence secretary in the Bush administration is one of the leading hawks on Iraq, frequently denouncing it for its past use of such weapons. The US provided less conventional military equipment than British or German companies but it did allow the export of biological agents, including anthrax; vital ingredients for chemical weapons; and cluster bombs sold by a CIA front organisation in Chile, the report says. Intelligence on Iranian troop movements was provided, despite detailed knowledge of Iraq's use of nerve gas. Rick Francona, an ex-army intelligence lieutenant-colonel who served in the US embassy in Baghdad in 1987 and 1988, told the Guardian: "We believed the Iraqis were using mustard gas all through the war, but that was not as sinister as nerve gas. "They started using tabun [a nerve gas] as early as '83 or '84, but in a very limited way. They were probably figuring out how to use it. And in '88, they developed sarin." On November 1 1983, the secretary of state, George Shultz, was passed intelligence reports of "almost daily use of CW [chemical weapons]" by Iraq. However, 25 days later, Ronald Reagan signed a secret order instructing the administration to do "whatever was necessary and legal" to prevent Iraq losing the war. In December Mr Rumsfeld, hired by President Reagan to serve as a Middle East troubleshooter, met Saddam Hussein in Baghdad and passed on the US willingness to help his regime and restore full diplomatic relations. Mr Rumsfeld has said that he "cautioned" the Iraqi leader against using banned weapons. But there was no mention of such a warning in state department notes of the meeting. Howard Teicher, an Iraq specialist in the Reagan White House, testified in a 1995 affidavit that the then CIA director, William Casey, used a Chilean firm, Cardoen, to send cluster bombs to use against Iran's "human wave" attacks. A 1994 congressional inquiry also found that dozens of biological agents, including various strains of anthrax, had been shipped to Iraq by US companies, under licence from the commerce department. Furthermore, in 1988, the Dow Chemical company sold $1.5m-worth (£930,000) of pesticides to Iraq despite suspicions they would be used for chemical warfare. The only occasion that Iraq's use of banned weapons seems to have worried the Reagan administration came in 1988, after Lt Col Francona toured the battlefield on the al-Faw peninsula in southern Iraq and reported signs of sarin gas. "When I was walking around I saw atropine injectors lying around. We saw decontamination fluid on vehicles, there were no insects," said Mr Francona, who has written a book on shifting US policy to Iraq titled Ally to Adversary. "There was a very quick response from Washington saying, 'Let's stop our cooperation' but it didn't last long - just weeks." Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl ===
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. --- Note from Euphorian: Democracy in action ... --- To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Knesset moves to bar Arab members Israel's impending general election is colouring committee hearings on the expulsion and barring of three 'hostile' parliamentarians Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Sunday December 29 2002 The Observer The knesset has begun proceedings to bar three Arab members and their parties from next month's general election because of their support for the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation. The hearings by a knesset committee are expected to result in the expulsion of Israel's leading Arab politician, Azmi Bishara, and two colleagues. Their parties are likely to be banned, stripping Israel's one million Arabs of their principal voices in parliament. Mr Bishara has already been stripped of his parliamentary immunity and put on trial for alleged crimes against the state. If he is now banned from the knesset, he and his colleagues will be the first Arab members to be expelled. The knesset has previously banned extreme rightwing Jewish parties and politicians. The Labour opposition says that expulsion could create "turmoil" and an "uprising" by Israeli Arabs who believe they are being denied democratic rights. The ostensible reason for barring Mr Bishara and his National Democratic Assembly is his attendance at the funeral of President Hafez Assad of Syria in June 2000, when he made a speech in which he implicitly endorsed the Hizbullah military campaign that drove Israel out of southern Lebanon two years ago. He also accused the Israeli government of resorting to war against Palestinians, and said they were left with little choice but to escalate the struggle against occupation. He called on Arab countries to unite behind the resistance. "There is no possibility of continuing with the... way of resistance other than by means of the renewed expansion of this sphere, so that people will be able to struggle and carry out resistance," he said. The Israeli attorney general, Elyakim Rubenstein, told the knesset that Mr Bishara's support for "resistance" endorsed suicide bombings, and his call for Arab backing was an invitation to destroy the state. Mr Bishara says resistance to occupation is a recognised right under international law and that it can take many forms. "I never called for armed struggle. I have always opposed the suicide bombs in writing and in speaking, and the targeting of civilians in general," he said. "What I did do is show understanding of the option of resistance to occupation, which referred to strikes, demonstrations, mass rallies, even studies. "And I said that a united Arab stand and international activity will prevent war and prevent a political dictate." But the real issue is wider than his comments at the funeral. The knesset hearings are being held in the politically charged atmosphere of a general election and after two years of intifada which has created new depths of distrust of Israeli Arabs. Some rightwing politicians portray them as a fifth column. That suspicion has been reinforced by Mr Bishara's questioning of whether Israel can be both a Jewish and a democratic state, and his demands for better treatment of the one in five of its citizens who suffer discrimination because they are Arabs. He also believes that an independent Palestinian state should be established alongside Israel. Under a new law introduced in May, the knesset can disqualify a candidate or party for denying Israel's existence as a Jewish or democratic state or for support of armed struggle, terrorism or an enemy of Israel. Mr Rubenstein has chosen to interpret Mr Bishara's desire for an overhaul of Israeli democracy as a threat to the existence of the state and therefore in breach of the law. In these circumstances, Mr Bishara is not hopeful of a fair hearing before the knesset committee. "In the atmosphere of the elections in Israel, and the chauvinist atmosphere, people are competing to be anti-Arab and I think it's going to be very very hard to get a rational decision," he said. That view is confirmed by a far-right politician, Michael Kleiner, who is among those pressing for Mr Bishara's expulsion. "In any normal country, they would put him before a firing squad," he said. "It's inconceivable that an Israeli knesset member would encourage Arab states to launch a full-scale war against Israel." Mr Bishara is already being prosecuted under the anti-terrorism laws and for illegally arranging visits to reunite elderly Palestinians with their refugee relatives in Syria. But the trial has stalled and so the attorney general is looking to the knesset to act. · The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has ordered an increase in "targeted assassinations
[CTRL] Thames' Terror
-Caveat Lector- Alertnet Date: 29 Dec 2002 Headline: UK may cordon off cities after terror attacks LONDON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Britain may impose emergency cordons around London and other major cities to stop people fleeing after a biological terror attack, The Sunday Times reported. The cordons would be enforced by the military and police to prevent people spreading infection to other parts of the country. "Existing legislation is not flexible enough to deal with the threats we are facing," a government spokeswoman told Reuters on Sunday. "On the setting up of health cordons, the law may need to be tightened in this area," she said. A new civil contingencies bill would allow police and military to quarantine or evacuate people by force, The Sunday Times said. Professor Michael Langman, of the joint vaccinations and immunisation committee which advises on how to deal with biological warfare threats, said there was concern that people in cities would try to leave after an anthrax or smallpox attack, potentially spreading infection. "There will certainly be some panic with people jumping into their cars with their families to try to flee the city and avoid contamination, but they would be stopped," he told The Sunday Times. - - - - - - - -(c) 1998-2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. - - - - - - - - http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52241-2002Dec29.html U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup By Michael Dobbs High on the Bush administration's list of justifications for war against Iraq are President Saddam Hussein's use of chemical weapons, nuclear and biological programs, and his contacts with international terrorists. What U.S. officials rarely acknowledge is that these offenses date back to a period when Hussein was seen in Washington as a valued ally. Among the people instrumental in tilting U.S. policy toward Baghdad during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war was Donald H. Rumsfeld, now defense secretary, whose December 1983 meeting with Hussein as a special presidential envoy paved the way for normalization of U.S.-Iraqi relations. Declassified documents show that Rumsfeld traveled to Baghdad at a time when Iraq was using chemical weapons on an "almost daily" basis in defiance of international conventions. The story of America's involvement with Saddam Hussein in the years before his 1990 attack on Kuwait -- which included large-scale intelligence sharing, supply of cluster bombs through a Chilean front company, and facilitating Iraq's acquisition of chemical and biological precursors -- is a topical example of the underside of U.S. foreign policy. It is a world in which deals can be struck with dictators, human rights violations sometimes overlooked, and accommodations made with arms proliferators, all on the principle that the "enemy of my enemy is my friend." Throughout the 1980s, Hussein's Iraq was the sworn enemy of Iran, then still in the throes of an Islamic revolution. U.S. officials saw Baghdad as a bulwark against militant Shiite extremism and the fall of pro-American states such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and even Jordan -- a Middle East version of the Communist "domino theory." That was enough to turn Hussein into a strategic partner and for U.S. diplomats in Baghdad to routinely refer to Iraqi forces as "the good guys," in contrast to the Iranians, who were depicted as "the bad guys." A review of thousands of declassified government documents and interviews with former policymakers shows that U.S. intelligence and logistical support played a crucial role in shoring up Iraqi defenses against the "human wave" attacks by suicidal Iranian troops. The administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items that had both military and civilian applications, including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague. Opinions differ among Middle East experts and former government officials about the pre-Iraqi tilt, and whether Washington could have done more to stop the flow to Baghdad of technology for building weapons of mass destruction. "It was a horrible mistake then, but we have got it right now," says Kenneth M. Pollack, a former CIA military analyst and author of "The Threatening Storm," which makes the case for war with Iraq. "My fellow [CIA] analysts and I were warning at the time that Hussein was a very nasty character. We were constantly fighting the State Department." "Fundamentally, the policy was justified," argues David Newton, a former U.S. ambassador to Baghdad, who runs an anti-Hussein radio station in Prague. "We were concerned that Iraq should not lose the war with Iran, because that would have threatened Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Our long-term hope was that Hussein's government would become less repressive and more responsible." What makes present-day Hussein different from the Hussein of the 1980s, say Middle East experts, is the mellowing of the Iranian revolution and the August 1990 invasion of Kuwait that transformed the Iraqi dictator, almost overnight, from awkward ally into mortal enemy. In addition, the United States itself has changed. As a result of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, U.S. policymakers take a much more alarmist view of the threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. U.S. Shifts in Iran-Iraq War When the Iran-Iraq war began in September 1980, with an Iraqi attack across the Shatt al Arab waterway that leads to the Persian Gulf, the United States was a bystander. The United States did not have diplomatic relations with either Baghdad or Tehran. U.S. officials had almost as little sympathy for Hussein's dictatorial brand of Arab nationalism as for the Islamic fundamentalism espoused by Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. As long as the two countries fought their way to a stalemate, nobody in Washington was disposed to intervene. By the summer of 1982, however, the strategic picture had changed dramatically. After its initial gains, Iraq was on the defensive, a
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk 'Human shields' head for Iraq Paul Harris Saturday December 28 2002 The Guardian A convoy of anti-war activists, likely to include dozens of British volunteers, will leave London next month to act as human shields protecting strategic sites in Iraq. The convoy to Baghdad is being organised by former US marine Kenneth Nichols, who served in the first Gulf war and won a combat medal but has now become a vociferous opponent of another Gulf conflict. British protesters are also heading for the country in advance of any Anglo-American bombing. Nichols, 33, aims to gather scores of volunteers together in London and lead the convoy on 10 January. It will drive across Europe, holding rallies in various capital cities and collecting other human-shield demonstrators along the way. It plans to travel via Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Zurich, Milan, Sarajevo, Istanbul and Syria to Baghdad. He is hoping that the convoy will arrive in the Iraqi capital around 24 January, three days before President George W Bush is to make his decision on whether Iraq has complied with the UN weapons inspections, potentially triggering a US-led invasion. Nichols is willing to put his own life on the line to stop a war. 'In going to Iraq I understand that I will likely not survive a US invasion,' he said. Once in Iraq, members of the convoy will identify infrastructure targets for bombing, such as power stations, key bridges and roads, and deploy themselves as human shields in the glare of the international media. 'I don't think anyone will be happy about bombing somewhere they see being protected by North Americans or Europeans,' he said. In the 1991 conflict, Nichols was serving in the 2nd Battalion of the Marine Corps. He was an infantryman on the road to Basra, where heavy Allied bombing killed hundreds of retreating Iraqi soldiers. He left the Marine Corps a year later. His experience of war left him disillusioned with American foreign policy, and he is now a vociferous opponent of US foreign interventions. 'Part of the reason I want to go back is to apologise to the Iraqi people for what I was doing there the first time I was in their country,' he said. Part-time law student Jo Wilding, 28, is one Briton who is heading for the region. She expects to fly to Baghdad on 10 January and then go to the southern city of Basra. 'There is something I can do there just by being a foreigner,' she said. 'If something does start when we are there, we will be able to document it.' Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41796-2002Dec26.html Area Housing Boom Drives Out Mobile Homes By Mary Otto The white gate at Holiday Mobile Estates in Jessup reads "Maryland's Finest Mobile Home Community." The place is surrounded by trees, seemingly deep in the forest. Joe Parinchak parked his 1965 mobile home here when it was new, and he has stayed. Inside, his wood-paneled home is like a snug old Chris-Craft that boasts a place for everything and everything in its place. Bedroom cubbyholes for shoes, a neat cabinet over the kitchen window for cans of stew. "I've enjoyed it," said Parinchak, 80, a retired Army man from Fort Meade. His little home is paid for, and the $445 he pays each month covers his rent of the lot and utilities. The place feels like his safe berth in a world that has changed a lot since he arrived. Since the end of World War II, mobile homes have served as low-cost housing for retirees, young families and working people. And in the Washington area, where the shortage of affordable housing has become a crisis, this private-sector solution has been perfect for a small segment of the population. But Washington's pricey market and expensive development are pressing in on Parinchak's oasis of affordable housing. He can still hear hoot owls at night, but the sprawling Arundel Mills mall that lies beyond the trees epitomizes the powerful economic forces bearing down on area mobile home parks. In some parts of the nation, by comparison, mobile homes have been booming. Their numbers nationally have almost doubled since 1980 and grew by nearly 20 percent in the '90s. In the Washington area, however, the number of mobile homes has been falling, after some growth in the '80s. And the decline came even as the population grew rapidly. In the 1990s, the region added 293,000 housing units, but few of them were targeted to low-income families. And lost in all that development was the future of mobile homes. As the Washington suburbs continue to sprawl, once-outlying mobile home parks have been engulfed. "Displacement is the word," said Bruce Savage, a spokesman for the Arlington-based Manufactured Housing Institute, a trade association. "The owners can't rationalize keeping these little communities running when they can take the money and run." St. Mary's County lost more than 1,000 manufactured homes in the 1990s, according to the 2000 Census. A number of parks there were overtaken by commercial and suburban growth. "One turned into our local Wal-Mart," said Dave Chapman of the county Department of Planning and Zoning. In Fairfax County, another Wal-Mart rose at the site of the former Oak Grove Trailer Park on Route 1. Calvert and Charles counties each lost more than 100 manufactured homes in the past decade, according to the 2000 Census. And on an island between the northbound and southbound lanes of Route 1 in North Laurel, a "for sale" sign is planted on land that in 2000 was host to three mobile home parks. Across the county line in Anne Arundel, zoning laws and competition for land have placed a ceiling on the growth of the parks, people in the business said. "The builders have bought up all the lots if they are buildable," said Rollan Grice, a salesman at Chesapeake Mobile-Modular Homes in Millersville. The lack of space for new mobile homes "has sure stifled off affordable housing," he said, taking away "an easy way of solving a housing issue for that guy who makes $20,000 to $50,000." As the Washington area has become more affluent -- median household income is $64,000 -- lower-income families have been forced to move farther into the outer suburbs, double up with friends and relatives and search for months to find something they can afford. And as property values rise and developers lean toward high-end homes, mobile home parks are less and less welcome, said Keith Martin, whose family has run Holiday Mobile Estates for four decades. "A mobile home park might as well be a leper colony," Martin said. The park has grown to its limits and includes more than 400 spaces, from Parinchak's vintage model in space A-1 to deluxe double-wide "manufactured homes," like those occupied by Audrey Palmer in the park's "new section." Palmer's home has a pitched roof and high ceilings, an eat-in kitchen, three bedrooms and two baths, including one with a king-size tub. Palmer and her family bought the home for $59,000. And even the fancier models, at $70,000 and higher, sell for roughly half Anne Arundel County's median house price. But the pressure to put this land to other uses is real. "You could put 500 townhouses here," Martin said. His father, Hershel Martin, 73, said he has turned down millions for his s
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk France to toughen laws on cannabis Paul Webster in Paris Thursday December 26 2002 The Guardian France is planning to tighten restrictions on the smoking of cannabis in an attempt to curb its steadily rising popularity. Campaigners claim that millions of people are regularly defying existing laws as more plantations of cannabis are discovered, particularly in the south of the country. At normal levels of consumption, up to three million French people will have smoked the drug on Christmas day. France's hardline interior minister, Nicholas Sarkozy, has been consulting cabinet members and government officials on raising the maximum penalties for cannabis use, from the present level of a year in prison or a £5,000 fine. This month the government made it an offence to drive under the drug's influence after a series of fatal road accidents. The interior ministry's anti-drugs chief, Michel Bouchet, has also been asked to investigate the cultivation of cannabis after police reported that more than 40,000 plants were pulled out in raids last year, compared to 1,500 10 years ago. But the pro-cannabis Collectif d'information et de recherche cannibiques, Circ, claimed that there was not a village south of the Loire valley without a plantation. In addition, hundreds of thousands of plants were grown indoors. The fashion for home-grown cannabis was linked to two DIY books, Fumée clandestine (secret smoke) and Culture en placard (cupboard growing) which have sold 100,000 copies between them. Drugs squad detectives admit to being overwhelmed, during this month's Hemp Salon in central Paris. The event was backed by Circ's founder, Jean-Pierre Galland, who campaigns through the Green party for the legalisation of the drug. He has had to pay about £30,000 in fines for his lobbying activities in its favour. Police visited the salon but there were no arrests despite the sale of gadgets such as the Pollinator which can be used to make hashish. Visitors were given catalogues by Sensi Seedbank, Holland's main producer, but many amateur growers depend on cannabis seeds sold to feed racing pigeons, which, according to one advertisement, "was like putting a turbo-engine into a sparrow". Other catalogues offered bat manure, considered as the best fertiliser for growing the seven-leaved plant. "The great problem is not police raids but theft," a grower from the Var said. "You'll find small fields hidden in pine forests. Once they have been located, they have to be guarded night and day. A good crop earns enough to keep you all year round, even though it is sold only to friends." So far, no action has been taken against shops selling specialised equipment, of which there are about 50 in France. But a decision will have to be taken soon on whether to stop the annual summer festival at Montjean-sur-Loire where cannabis, described as "the symbol of the Loire valley", is easily available. "It's only a matter of time before pot overtakes tobacco," a festival organiser said. "There are already nearly half as many pot smokers as tobacco smokers. Some of our visitors say that cannabis saved their life." Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31358-2002Dec23.html Smallpox Plan May Force Other Health Cuts By Ceci Connolly The Bush administration's plan to vaccinate as many as 10.5 million medical personnel and emergency responders against smallpox will cost between $600 million and $1 billion and is likely to siphon money from other bioterrorism and public health efforts, local and state officials warn. With most of the 50 states already buckling under budget deficits, the widespread immunization campaign due to begin in late January amounts to "the ultimate unfunded federal mandate," said George Hardy, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. "We can't afford to do this at the expense of all other preparedness." For months, city and state leaders have been preparing to inoculate about 450,000 medical professionals who would serve on smallpox response teams in the event of an outbreak. But few expected President Bush to adopt a much broader proposal, known as Phase 2, to encourage every remaining health care worker, police officer, firefighter and emergency medical technician to be immunized. "States and localities already are diverting significant resources to smallpox vaccination and there is no end in sight," said Patrick Libbey, executive director of the National Association of County and City Health Officials. "We urge that the program be kept at minimal levels and grow only as rapidly as threat assessments demand, so as not to disrupt other basic community health protections or cause unnecessary harm." The decision to revive a vaccine known for its dangerous side effects is a reflection of the changing times, Bush said in announcing the plan. In anticipation of a likely war with Iraq, he ordered mandatory inoculation for 500,000 members of the armed forces and is recruiting volunteers among medical workers and emergency responders to serve as a sort of domestic front line against biological attack. Other Americans will be able to receive the vaccine, even though it has not yet gone through the Food and Drug Administration's licensing and approval process, but the government is recommending against universal vaccination for the general public. The cost of biodefense is rising steadily. Already, the federal government has spent more than $862 million to buy the smallpox vaccine. Last spring, the Bush administration distributed $918 million to state health departments for homeland security, money it says could defray smallpox vaccination costs. "We're absolutely committed to working with the states to make this work efficiently and safely, said Tom Skinner, spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "There are a lot of dollar figures out there, some of which I believe do not take into account the infrastructure that's been put in place." But that infusion of cash came with extensive demands, said Michael Richardson, acting health director for the District of Columbia. To qualify for the money, states and large cities such as the District submitted detailed plans for improving computer systems, training medical workers and adding emergency hospital beds. "The word smallpox wasn't even mentioned," he said. The $10 million given to the city was spent stockpiling medications, hiring epidemiologists and other bioterrorism experts and upgrading the public health laboratory. Richardson said he does not know where the District will find the $3.6 million needed to inoculate 10,000 to 20,000 emergency personnel over and above the first group of 3,000 health care workers. Bill Pierce, spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services, said he expects Congress to approve an additional $940 million for states "to conduct disease surveillance, upgrade labs and improve public health infrastructure." The impact of leaping from 450,000 to as many as 10 million inoculations next spring is far greater than the numbers suggest, state officials said. Mounting a smallpox vaccination program 30 years after routine immunizations were stopped in the United States will require extensive education and training, careful medical screening for people at risk of complications, near-daily checking of inoculation sites and vast data collection, health officials say. Because Phase 1 focuses on medical workers, states plan to rely heavily on hospitals to administer the vaccine and monitor employees for side effects. But hospitals cannot be expected to oversee the second phase, which will entail not only logistical challenges, but also many more medical complications. Historical data suggest that for every 1 million immunized, about one-third will miss at least a day of work because of advers
[CTRL] NYTimes.com Article: Iraq Courts Its Kurds With an Anti-U.S. Islamic Edict
-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] Same old story: families will fight until someone steps in; then they'll fight off the "do-gooder' then go back to fighting amongst themselves. Kinda like the Dems and Reps around the time they voted in the PATRIOT Act. A<:>E<:>R [EMAIL PROTECTED] Iraq Courts Its Kurds With an Anti-U.S. Islamic Edict December 24, 2002 By NEIL MacFARQUHAR KIRKUK, Iraq, Dec. 23 - The Iraqi government unleashed a salvo in the struggle for the hearts and minds of its Kurdish citizens today, gathering hundreds of Muslim clerics in this northern provincial capital to issue a religious fiat saying it was time to fight the Americans even as they prepare for war. The assembly in this somewhat drab city, known more for its vast oil reserves than for any Islamic bent, was a kind of pep rally for prayer leaders, seminary students and other devotees. Each speaker brought much the same message, exhorting the Kurdish clerics to spread the word that anyone who cooperated with the Americans and their designs on Iraq would be considered an apostate. Coming after recent reports that American intelligence officials have been recruiting for a possible invasion force in the autonomous Kurdish region, about 90 miles northeast of here, Iraq is apparently accenting the bond of religion to try to sway its often estranged Kurdish minority toward Baghdad. Organizers said that about 530 of the 600 clerics who showed up were from within the northern area, which Iraq has not controlled since the aftermath of the 1991 Persian Gulf war. "The Americans have prepared everything to occupy the land of Islam, to occupy Iraq in order to loot its wealth and to license all that God has forbidden," read the fiat, or fatwa. "Fighting them has already become an obligation. We should not stand still and wait and not fight them, as we know very well what they have already done and what they are doing to Muslims in Palestine and Afghanistan and elsewhere." >From a vantage point inside Iraq, it was difficult to evaluate what impact the fatwa might have. Given that it reflects official policy, no one was likely to stand up and condemn it. Indeed, each spontaneous outburst from the floor was more volcanic than the next in denouncing the American administration and Israel. One speaker suggested that the clerics deploy their minarets - a reference to the loudspeakers used to broadcast sermons - to "light a fire that will burn the face of the enemy." Furthermore, although fatwas are in theory binding on all Muslims, the force of any individual edict largely boils down to the degree of esteem in which the faithful hold the scholar who issues it. Organizers from the Baghdad-based Popular Islamic Conference Organization said this one was issued by Abdel Karim al-Mudarris, a venerable Sunni cleric of Kurdish origin, said to be 110 years old, whose frail health confines him to Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. The most noted clerics in Iraq, both Shiite and Sunni, issued similar rulings three months ago, saying it was a religious duty to fight American invaders. Apart from its target audience of Kurds, the fatwa issued today was much the same, giving anyone who opposes the presence of American troops or advisers in northern Iraq religious license to attack them. At least one participant said he left convinced that the fatwa was just and that it would put a religious spin on any future conflict. "This is the real thing, but it will not be applied unless they attack us," said Ali Ahmed Khuduk, a 23-year-old cleric from Sulaimaniya in the autonomous zone. "It will possibly be a religious war." Tariq Aziz, the deputy prime minister, said in a speech in Baghdad today that the American military buildup was aimed at the whole Arab world. "It is a strategic buildup for a war at the level of a world war, which is at this stage targeting the entire Arab nation," he said. Iraq for some time has been seeking to put an Islamic tint on its differences with Washington, so as to rally Muslim support to its side. Religion is a strictly state-controlled affair here, with Saddam Hussein's government denying any links to terrorist figures like Osama bin Laden, despite attempts by Washington to make the connection. At the conference, though, clerics unleashed the kind of vitriolic oratory against the United States and its Israeli allies that has become increasingly common. "Damn the Americans and the Zionists," said Sheik Omar Hussein al-Sangawi, the head of the organization's Kirkuk office, in his sermon. "They want to destroy us, to destroy our people, with their missiles and dangerous weapons, and to impose on us their evil decisions." The cleric said he had gone onto the Internet and discovered to his horror a speech attributed to President Bush in which he boasted of shaving the beards of the faithful in Afghanistan and tearing the burkas off the women, while introducing every manner o
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31589-2002Dec23.html In U.S., Terrorism's Peril Undiminished By Barton Gellman Late last year, in secret, the Bush administration erected a provisional defense against nuclear terrorism in the nation's capital. It was called "Ring Around Washington," and it aimed to detect a nuclear or radiological bomb before the weapon could be used. Still under development, according to three knowledgeable sources, the system was pressed into service in a large-scale operational trial. Scientists placed a grid of radiation sensors in the District and at major points of approach by river and road. Vehicles patrolled with mobile sensors. And an elite combat unit from the Joint Special Operations Command, already trained to render harmless a nuclear weapon or its components, moved to heightened alert at a staging area near the capital. Ring Around Washington has since been shut down, the sources said. Under some conditions, which The Washington Post will not describe, the neutron and gamma ray detectors failed to identify dangerous radiation signatures. In other conditions they raised false alarms over low-grade medical waste and the ordinary background emissions of stone monuments. The Energy Department's national laboratories "learned a lot about how to operate" a distributed network of sensors, one official said, but not enough to keep it in place. U.S. exposure to ruinous attack, more than 15 months into the war with al Qaeda, remains unbounded. The global campaign launched by President Bush has destroyed Osama bin Laden's Afghan sanctuary, drained his financial resources, scattered his foot soldiers and killed or captured some of his most dangerous lieutenants. But there is nothing in al Qaeda's former arsenal -- nothing it was capable of doing on Sept. 11, 2001 -- that the president's advisers are prepared to say is now beyond the enemy's reach. The threat of bin Laden's network -- which the White House considers to number perhaps three dozen men at its vital core -- continues in important ways to outpace the national response. Working-level and senior participants in the conflict, many of them interviewed at length, displayed a striking fatalism even when describing their common belief that the United States will eventually prevail. Nearly all of them, when pressed, said they would measure their success by the frequency, not the absence, of mass-casualty attacks against the American homeland. "They're not 10 feet tall, they're not supermen, and in a lot of cases they're very primitive," said retired Army Gen. Wayne A. Downing, who was President Bush's deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism until July 8, referring to al Qaeda. "But they are probably more capable than before." One Bush appointee, working full-time in counterterrorism, pointed to Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet's testimony as recently as two months ago that "we were vulnerable to suicidal terrorist attacks and we remain vulnerable to them today." The official said: "With untold billions spent -- money, personnel and blood -- how can we claim any kind of success if we're just as vulnerable as before? It just doesn't balance. It can't balance." The elements of the U.S. "security deficit," as another current official termed it recently, are varied. In their own fields of responsibility, across a wide range of government functions, nearly all of those interviewed acknowledged laboring under threats for which they have no present answer. In some cases they described the challenge as unavoidable. In others they said they had lost opportunities to respond. In still others, implicitly and explicitly, the officials raised questions about the president's choices in the war on terrorism. Thirteen of 20 men that The Post could identify on the government's classified roster of "high value targets" remain unaccounted for. Bush's overriding objective, a high-ranking official at the heart of the effort said Friday, is to capture or kill the small cadre of leaders he sees as uniquely responsible for al Qaeda's potent threat. "We want to get that inner core more than anything," the official said, describing their number as roughly 30. The Post identified the 20 (see box) from interviews and a set of notes made by a participant in the hunt. Called "HVTs" in the argot of government, the 13 men believed at large include four of the five in the uppermost tier. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, in a brief interview for this report, said "we are hunting down systematically members of terrorist networks, but that said, this is not just a numbers game." Some of those involved in the hunt said the government lost many and perhaps most
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com Nothing like a little speculation to foster a self-fulfilling prophecy ... A<:>E<:>R To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34403-2002Dec24.html Sharon Says Iraq May Be Hiding Weapons in Syria JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Tuesday that Israel suspected that Iraq has been transferring chemical and biological weapons to Israel's arch-foe Syria to hide them from U.N. inspectors. Sharon, in an interview with Israel's Channel Two television, said his comments were based on unconfirmed information and he gave no evidence to support the allegation. "What we believe, and I say that we have not yet confirmed it conclusively, is that weapons he wants to hide -- chemical and biological weapons -- have indeed been sent to Syria," Sharon said. He said Israel was trying to verify the information. U.N. weapons inspectors returned to Iraq last month after a four-year hiatus to resume a hunt for alleged weapons of mass destruction, amid threats by the United States to disarm Iraq by force if it does not obey U.N. resolutions. Iraq says its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs have already been destroyed. Israel has stepped up preparations for possible Iraqi missile attacks should the United States go to war against Iraq. Baghdad fired 39 Scud missiles at Israel in the 1991 Gulf War, causing one death and extensive damage in residential areas. Israel and Syria have been in an official state of war for decades. Syria, which took part in the 1991 Gulf War that drove Iraq from Kuwait, has since rebuilt ties with Baghdad after decades of rivalry. Nonetheless, to some surprise, Damascus cast its U.N. Security Council vote last month in favor of resolution 1441, which demands that Iraq disarm or face a possible war. http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Look what I just found on iWon.com!
Title: Email this Page -Caveat Lector- This page was forwarded to you from the iWon Web site (http://www.iwon.com) From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] URL: http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20021223/D7O3MML00.html Message:The bishop said so: You're on your own. A<:>E<:>R iWon.com - We give you news, weather, games, searches... and we give away $10,000 each Weekday, $5,000 each Weekend & up to $25 million on Tax Day! Copyright 2002 iWon.com. All Rights Reserved. Any republication or redistribution of the content or the Web page is expressly prohibited. www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Email Chris MacGreal @ Bethlehem Monday December 23 2002 The Guardian Once again, there is no room at the Bethlehem Inn. Two thousand years on, the hotel has been commandeered by Israeli soldiers, and just about every other lodging in Christ's hometown will be closed on his birthday for lack of business. For the first time in living memory there is no Christmas tree on Manger Square. Even the priests at the Church of the Nativity - the 4th-century basilica said to be built around the cave where Jesus was born - are down on the festivities at the end of a year that has seen Israeli tanks roll into the town five times and a 39-day army siege of the church itself. Now the ancient town is enduring a month-long curfew with no certainty the Israeli military will lift it for midnight mass on Christmas eve. Yet the services will go on, in no small part because of the politics of religion. The Greek Orthodox, the Armenians and the Franciscans all command control of a share of the Church of the Nativity under a rights-of-possession agreement drawn up by the Turks in 1757, when Bethlehem fell in the orbit of the Ottoman empire. It is known as the "status quo". Each church is allocated parts of the building, and specified time for services. None dares alter the schedule for fear of undermining the agreement and feeding the intense rivalries that have reduced priests to fisticuffs over territorial infringements during the annual cleaning. But this year there will be no parade of boy scouts, choirs in the square or the sometimes raucous party ahead of the service. There will be no Yasser Arafat either, or his Christian wife to light the Christmas tree. The Israelis have banned the Palestinian leader from attending midnight mass for the second year running. The Franciscan parish priest, Amjad Sabbara, will stick to the annual theme of children as he leads prayers during the first hours of Christmas day. But rather than celebrating birth, he plans to reflect on death - particularly the sickening reality that, just as in Jesus's time, children are being killed by forces indifferent to their age or innocence. The latest victim is an 11-year-old girl leaning out of a window to watch the funeral procession of another child. Father Sabbara was among the hundreds of people trapped in the Church of the Nativity during the Israeli siege in April and May. That was the busiest the church has been in a couple of years, with Palestinian men sheltering in the grotto built around the cave of Christ's birth. The Franciscan priest predicts a smaller turnout than that for Christmas. Just 400 of the 2,000 once-prized tickets for seats at midnight mass have been taken. So most of Bethlehem's hotels have closed and those few that have stayed open say they have no bookings. Over the past month of perpetual curfew, lifted for just a few hours each week, Bethlehem has endured the punishment favoured by the Israelis against the people they rule. The army is largely of the view that Palestinians are either terrorists or terrorist sympathisers, so there's no reason why they shouldn't all suffer for the actions of a few. But there is a deeper and longer crisis. When Bethlehem's mayor, Hanna Nasser, can find a tourist, he offers chapter and verse on what the past two years of intifada and periodic occupation have done to the town's economy. Bethlehem is dying, he says. For years, it has relied on tourism to survive. Now not a single one of the hundreds of gift shops is open to offer their bizarre mix of nativity scenes alongside T-shirts sporting the Israeli army logo. Seven out of 10 residents are unemployed. Average income, at about £1 a day, is just a quarter of what it was three years ago. The capital of Christmas, as the mayor puts it, is in no mood to celebrate. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PR
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Banned Farrakhan reaches UK audience via satellite Vikram Dodd Sunday December 22 2002 The Observer The controversial American black leader Louis Farrakhan yesterday tried to undermine the government's ban on him entering Britain by speaking live by satellite to a 1,700-strong audience in London. Mr Farrakhan, banned for 17 years by successive home secretaries, used his first live address to Britain to lambast his exclusion. The Nation of Islam leader said Britain's colonial history was satanic, and that the government had banned him because it feared his presence would set black people free from white oppression. The audience, overwhelmingly black and young, watched the transmission beamed from a mosque in Phoenix, Arizona, on a giant screen at the Apollo Theatre in Hammersmith. Unfortunately for Mr Farrakhan, who forbids his followers from drinking, the theatre is sponsored by the Carling lager. As he appeared on the screen the audience gave him a standing ovation. Mr Farrakhan, at times quoting from the Koran and Bible, compared himself to a messenger carrying particular truths, feared by Britain, "that will free the black man and free white people from the sick mentality of white supremacy". As a leading colonial power and slave trader, Britain had had a pervasive influence on black society as lingering as the smell of a skunk: "They are here in the way we think, they are here in the way we act, so we need a complete washing. You have to wash from having an intercourse with Satan." Mr Farrakhan is accused of being anti-semitic and is banned from Britain because ministers fear his presence would lead to disorder. In May the court of appeal reinstated the ban on Mr Farrakhan entering the UK which a lower court had overturned. Yesterday he countered that the Nation of Islam, which has several thousand UK followers, was peaceful. "You can't show one person that those who follow me have harmed," he said. "We have not plucked a nail or one strand of hair from one white person, a Jewish person, or from our own brothers." Mr Farrakhan, 69, said yesterday's live transmission gave Britons the chance to make up their own minds. Some of those in his audience yesterday, who paid up to £25 for the privilege, said they wanted to hear the man alleged by some to be a preacher of hate for themselves. Christine Muhammad, 32, a bank cashier from London said: "It was inspiring to hear him live, and enlightening." Chris Obi, 34, an actor from London, said: "The idea that he is banned in an age of free expression and free speech is wrong. There's a white fear of black empowerment." Mr Farrakhan said there were strong similarities between the American and British black experience: "The British system, like the American system, is designed to create in us a subject mentality." Supporters of Mr Farrakhan said they hoped yesterday's event would show that his message preached black empowerment, not hate, and that its effect on supporters was to inspire them to help themselves, not provoke disorder. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Iraq hits back with CIA offer US agents invited to search for weapons Ewen MacAskill, Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington and Richard Norton-Taylor Sunday December 22 2002 The Observer Baghdad fought back in the highly charged propaganda battle with the US and Britain yesterday by inviting its arch-enemy, the CIA, to enter Iraq and track down the country's elusive weapons of mass destruction. The Iraqi offer of unhindered access to US intelligence agents came after intensive pressure from Washington that made war early in the new year appear almost inevitable. After four days of diplomatic pounding, Iraq hit back yesterday, accusing the Bush administration of rehashing old lies. "We have told the world we are not producing these kind of weapons, but it seems that the world is drugged, absent or in a weak position," President Saddam Hussein said. At a press conference in Baghdad yesterday, General Amir al-Sadi, scientific adviser to the president, issued a challenge to the US and British intelligence to offer up hard evidence that Iraq has any biological, chemical or nuclear weapons. "We do not even have any objections if the CIA sent somebody with the inspectors to show them the suspected sites," Gen Sadi said. This marks a major turnaround. Until yesterday, Iraq had objected to the possibility of US or other Western spies infiltrating the UN weapons teams. Baghdad said, rightly, that the inspections team that left Iraq in 1998 had been infiltrated by intelligence agents and, in the intervening four years, repeatedly cited this as a reason why it objected to the return of the UN inspectors. A CIA spokesman said yesterday that he did not want to comment on Baghdad's offer. Both the US and Britain claim, against Iraqi denials, that they have evidence that Iraq has continued to develop weapons of mass destruction. The UN chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, said at the end of last week that if the US and Britain had such evidence, they should hand it over. US officials said at the weekend that they have been handing over intelligence and will provide more specific information to the inspectors over the next fortnight. The Foreign Office made a similar promise yesterday: "The weapons inspectors will get all the help they need to carry out their job in Iraq." But it emerged that British intelligence is reluctant to hand over everything it claims to have, insisting there is a danger that sources could be compromised. British government officials have already privately admitted that they do not have any "killer evidence" about weapons of mass destruction. If they had, they would have already passed it to the inspectors. Babil, the Iraqi government newspaper run by president Saddam's son, Uday, said in a front-page editorial yesterday: "Everybody knows that if they had concrete information, they would have put it on television all around the world before giving it to the inspection teams." Gen Sadi accused the US and Britain of rushing to judge Iraq's weapons programmes. He claimed that objections raised by the US secretary of state, Colin Powell, and the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, to Iraq's declaration on weapons of mass destruction, were a rehash of old information that had already been dealt with. But US officials said yesterday the accusation made by Washington last week that Iraq was in material breach of a UN resolution on disarmament had come from specific information it has obtained and not from the declaration. This new information, they said, was based on satellite pictures that showed construction at sites that had previously been bombed by US-led forces. They also claimed to have fresh information based on records of suspicious dual-use material - that which has both a civilian and military function - procured by Iraq as part of a UN deal to relieve the suffering of Iraqis from sanctions. British military chiefs are drawing up detailed plans in which thousands of Royal Marines would take part in a huge amphibious assault to seize the Iraqi port of Basra to control key strategic areas in south of the country. The Ministry of Defence confirmed yesterday that HMS Ocean, Britain's biggest helicopter and marine commando carrier, will be available to join a flotilla heading towards the Gulf next month after a major refit. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk More balls than a Christmas tree In an Observer world exclusive, the Prime Minister candidly confesses that his government's difficulties are all not his fault Andrew Rawnsley Saturday December 21 2002 The Guardian In an unprecedented appearance at the Christmas party of the National Association of Lifestyle Gurus, Holistic Psychics and Fresh Cut Papaya Marmalade Rubdown Therapists, Tony Blair came close to tears as he delivered an astonishingly candid speech about his recent personal difficulties. Here, for the first time, The Observer publishes the full text of the Prime Minister's searing and heartfelt account of the scandals which have touched Number 10. In view of the controversy around me at the moment, I hope you don't mind me using this event to say a few words. You can't have failed to notice that there have been a lot of allegations about me and I haven't said anything. Well, OK, I vaguely remember saying something about the Mittal Affair. I described it as 'garbagegate' - or was that the Richard Desmond donation? You know how it is: I issue the first denial that comes into Alastair's head. When I got back to Downing Street today and discovered that some of the press are effectively suggesting that I am responsible for all of the failures of the Government, I knew the time had come for me to say something in my own words. It is not fair to Gordon, Jack, David, Clare, Robin, Derry and all the other members of the Cabinet whose names temporarily elude me that the entire focus of political debate at the moment is about me. It is particularly not fair to Gordon that he should escape all the blame for our collective difficulty in keeping our promises. I know I am in a very special position. I am the Prime Minister. I have an interesting job, a wonderful family, a couple of nice houses, a transatlantic hotline, a nuclear deterrent, a fast plane whenever I need it and a swanky limo with motorcycle outriders. But I also know I am not superman. To be frank, I really can't do anything much at all without Gordon's say-so. I realise now that I should not have allowed a situation to develop over the past five years where Number 10 spokesmen suggested that I was superman. I take full responsibility for that on their behalf. The reality of my daily life is that I am juggling a lot of balls in the air. Trying to be a good husband and father. Trying to be the Prime Minister at home and abroad, being a barrister, an aid worker, a party fundraiser, a chairman of Cabinet, a leading partner in Europe, a philosopher-king of the Third Way, an international statesman, a global peace-maker, a global warmaker, a world-class actor. So many balls! There are days when all I can see are spherical objects, especially when I am in the company of Jacques Chirac. And, sometimes, some of the balls get dropped. Stephen Byers got dropped. Estelle Morris got dropped. Even Cherie very nearly got dropped. There just aren't enough hours in the day, days in the week, years in the decade, seconds in the minute, talents on the backbenches. I choose my friends carelessly and Gordon Brown has been a mistrusted friend and support to me as I have tried to adapt to the pressures of my public role and to do Alastair and the country proud. When I was just a barrister, I didn't spend much time worrying about how I looked, what I believed or what I said. But I found out quickly when I became leader of the Labour Party that I had to get my act together and Gordon has been a great help in that. When he told me that he had a new friend called deficit, it really didn't cross my mind that he was going to land me in the mess I am now in and, anyway, I don't think it's my business to choose my friend's friends. The same is true of John Prescott. What I was told was that he had been trouble in the past, but he was now a reformed character. I had no idea that he had been in Jags in more than one country, including this country, while Britain's rail network fell apart. His role in the notorious Earth Summit scam came as a complete shock when it was finally revealed to me. Maybe I should have asked more questions about the handling of the firefighters' strike, but I didn't. Even when I learned his name, I had no idea who John Prescott was and I didn't know the full story until a couple of weeks ago when the police alerted me that a newspaper was trying to set me up in a meeting with him. Even now, I have only met him once, for less than five minutes. I have also been faced with allegations that I or people in Downing Street on my behalf telephoned the Home Office urging them to kick asylum-seekers out of the country. It is true that when I first decided to launch another c
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com http://www.fao.com/images/products/20200415c.jpg >>>The legacy of JonBenet? People as "living dolls"? A<>E<>R<<< To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20520-2002Dec21.html Way Too Much Fantasy With That Dream House By Deborah Roffman Still seeking that perfect gift for a special young girl in your life? Well, look no further than page 50 of the FAO Schwarz 2002 holiday catalogue. For a mere $45, you can surprise and delight her with a Lingerie Barbie. And what a Barbie Babe she is, decked out in her sexy black (or, if you prefer, pink) garters, stockings and obligatory stiletto heels. Even her PR is PG, giving the phrase "sex toy" a whole new level of meaning: "Barbie exudes a flirtatious attitude in her heavenly merry widow bustier ensemble accented with intricate lace and matching peekaboo peignoir." Oh darn, reading this too late for holiday gift giving? Not to worry. Mattel plans a February launch for its sixth "limited edition" Lingerie Barbie, promising she'll be "simply sassy in a short pearl-grey satin slip trimmed in black lace" and "thigh-high stockings" that "add a hint of flair." A middle school principal in New Hampshire first alerted me to Bimbo, uh, Lingerie Barbie (nickname courtesy of a seventh-grade boy who wanted to know, "What's next? 'Playboy Barbie'?"). I've been actively assessing the Lingerie Barbie gasp factor for several weeks now. It's huge. Teachers and parents (even among Barbie fans) can't believe their ears when they hear about this one: Disgusting! How dare they! Don't they have little girls of their own? Where will it all end? Enough!! Many teens I know, and even younger children, have been equally outraged. High school students at one all-girls school in Tennessee where I recently spoke were moved to start a national letter-writing campaign to chastise Mattel for this brazen sexualization of children. And girls I know are neither the slightest bit reassured nor deterred by the company's "for age 14 and up" disclaimer. "Get real," said one. "No 14-year-old girl would be caught dead playing with a Barbie Doll, 'lingerie' or otherwise. Who do they think they're kidding?" Said another: "Yeah, right. Maybe they mean 14-year-old boys." As for Mattel, it seems to be playing peekaboo with its own LB marketing strategy. Says company spokeswoman Ria Freydl, "We're not marketing it to kids," and true enough, the "Barbie Fashion Model Collection" can be found in the more adult-oriented collectible section on Mattel's Web site. And yet, consider this tag line on LB #5's blurb: "Golden hoop earrings and high heels complete this simple but elegant ensemble, perfect for dress-and-play fun!" "Dress-and-play fun" for adult collectors? I don't think so. At least, I hope not. And though $45 is more than twice what a parent forks out for the average Barbie, it's still far more affordable (and more child friendly) than most of the other Barbie collectibles found in the Schwarz catalogue and those of other mainstream retailers. One 10-year-old in my class wasn't buying any of it. He told me last week he'd actually been given one of the dolls by a 5-year-old cousin who had tired of it. "She gives me lots of toys she doesn't want," he said. "Most of them I give to charity. But not this one, no way. I threw it in the river. No child should play with something like that. They'll get all the wrong ideas." Out of the mouth of babes -- real honest-to-goodness babes, not Barbie Babes. If 10-year-olds are "getting it," maybe, just maybe, the adults out there will begin to see it more clearly, too. I had begun to wonder what it would take. During the past decade, there have been an unprecedented number of assaults on the whole concept of sexual boundaries (with Lingerie Barbie only of the more egregious examples), typically without so much as a peep from the adult world. Maybe we've just been too busy or too overwhelmed to notice, or perhaps we've become so adjusted to the ever-quickening pace of cultural change that the change itself is simply harder and harder to perceive. How else to explain the gradual appearance of "soft porn" in perfume and clothing advertisements? How and when did that become "okay"? And when exactly did "fashion" stop being about getting dressed, and start being about getting -- or increasing the chance that you'll soon be getting -- undressed? About the same time, I guess, that Victoria's Secret decided that lingerie (previously thought of as underwear or private wear) was "fashion," too. Wasn't it only a matter of time before we were treated to a prime-time Victoria's Secret lingerie "fashion show"? And, excuse me, but who was paying attention when the junior streetwalker/sex slave look became the predominant mode
[CTRL] NYTimes.com Article: The Politics of Selling Tax Breaks for the Wealthiest
-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Politics of Selling Tax Breaks for the Wealthiest December 22, 2002 By DAVID E. ROSENBAUM WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is torn between what some officials believe is good tax policy and others fear is bad politics. At issue are tax cuts for the rich. Many conservatives have long despised the progressive income tax, which taxes the wealthy at a higher rate, holding that it is unfair, unnecessarily complicated and economically inefficient. They argue that the tax burden falls so heavily on so few people that it is difficult to mobilize political support for overhauling the tax system. "It not only makes it more difficult to get people to want to abolish the income tax, it also makes it more difficult to give tax relief to anyone," said former Representative Bill Archer, a Texas Republican who was chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee until he retired from Congress last year. In the next few weeks, President Bush will propose a package of tax cuts, convinced that lowering taxes is the right tonic for whatever ails the economy. No one in the know will say exactly what the president plans. But the best guess is that he would eliminate or sharply reduce the income taxes individuals pay on stock dividends, move to 2003 the upper-bracket rate reductions scheduled for 2004 and give companies more generous breaks for investments in equipment. Mr. Bush is also expected to propose making permanent the tax cuts enacted last year. These cuts, including abolition of the estate tax, are scheduled to expire in 2011. Democrats are looking for every opportunity to portray the president as the patron of fat cats. And they pounced on a passage in a speech this month by R. Glenn Hubbard, the chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers, maintaining that "the increasing reliance on taxing higher-income households and targeted social preferences at lower incomes stands in the way of moving to a simpler, flatter system." The administration's strategy, declared Democratic Representatives Charles B. Rangel of New York and Robert T. Matsui of California in a letter to colleagues, is "to raise taxes on lower- and middle-class families in order to finance deeper tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans." Mr. Hubbard declined last week to respond to repeated inquiries about whether he in fact supported increasing taxes on low- and moderate-income families. But Claire Buchan, a White House spokeswoman, dismissed the notion that this was the president's position. A more senior White House official said, "It is preposterous to think that the president would stand up and say, `I want to put more people on the tax rolls.' " Yet, as soon as the president's plan is unveiled, Washington will be deluged with statistical tables, showing that the big winners would be the richest people in the country. Using data compiled by the Congressional tax staff and the Internal Revenue Service, Citizens for Tax Justice, a liberal research institute, found that the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers - those with annual incomes over $356,000 - would receive about half the revenue the government would lose next year if dividends went untaxed and 45 percent of all the money from accelerating the rate cuts. The 80 percent of households with incomes below $73,000 a year would get less than 10 percent of the new tax breaks. These findings are not surprising. After all, the richest 1 percent has 18 percent of all the pretax income and pays 36 percent of all personal income taxes. But studies like this reinforce the public perception that the Bush administration favors the rich. A New York Times/CBS News Poll in October showed that 55 percent of those surveyed held this view, while only 25 percent thought the administration treated everyone equally. It was one of few instances where the national poll found that Mr. Bush was seen in a negative light. To make his tax-cut proposals more politically palatable, people who follow administration policy closely say the president will probably offer additional tax cuts that would make his proposal look less lopsided in the statistical analyses. One possibility is another rebate like the one taxpayers received last year, but limited to lower-income families. Another is a temporary suspension of the Social Security payroll tax for workers. A third is an additional tax break for retirement savings by people with modest incomes. Robert M. Teeter, a Republican pollster, said politicians in his party tended to be overly anxious about how their tax cuts benefited the wealthy. Surveys show, Mr. Teeter said, that ordinary people are not so much jealous of the rich as they are hopeful of reaching the point where they, too, can get tax relief. But officials who have worked on tax matters inside previous Republican administrations said enormous attention was paid to the political effect of the st
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site and thought you should see it. --- Note from Euphorian: A taste of the "Romantic" "Commando" --- To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk War is the only option A former winner of the Nobel peace prize says we must stop Saddam's killing machine Observer special: Iraq Elie Wiesel Saturday December 21 2002 The Guardian Since the unanimous resolution of the UN Security Council, the world has lived in anguish, anticipating an event that would profoundly affect the course of affairs in the Middle East. Will a war on Iraq, which Washington and London have advocated from the beginning, finally take place? And if it does, will it be justified? If UN arms inspectors come home with nothing to report, can we trust that Saddam Hussein has truly granted them the freedom to do their jobs? Or is Saddam a liar, concealing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons capable of devastating entire regions? These are crucial questions, as troubling as they are complex. Impossible to resolve, but also impossible to circumvent. Saddam almost certainly harbours deadly arsenals. Ideally, the international inspectors would uncover and then destroy the weapons that are putting many other countries in danger, not only Israel. But what if Iraqi hiding places turn out to be too deep, too well concealed? The weapons may be buried in hospital basements and cemeteries, and plants may be operating in presidential palaces. Do the inspectors have adequate tools to discover them? Few intelligence specialists doubt that Saddam would be ready to use weapons of mass destruction. His mentality, his temperament and his past are well known: Killing a great number of human beings would not concern him. He proved that at the end of the 1980s, when he ordered the slaughter by gas of thousands of his own citizens. In truth, that was the time for the leaders of civilised nations to raise their voices and condemn Saddam in the name of the world's conscience, plainly and clearly, for crimes against humanity. But for purely political reasons, they did not: At the time, Saddam was the enemy of Iran, which was the enemy of the United States and its allies. So he was handled carefully - while his regime grew ever stronger. Will Saddam hesitate before using the same murderous tactics he has already proved himself capable of? Will he fear international reaction? It is possible. But it is also possible that he will be shrewd enough to exploit the stand-off between the US and the UN. Then time will be on his side. And when all is said and done, he will be the one to decide when, against whom and where to launch his missiles bearing poison and death. This is the worst scenario of all. Because numerous lives are at stake. The lives of Israelis, Americans and, of course, Iraqis. Tens of thousands. Therefore one thing is obvious: we must do everything possible to prevent Saddam from using his weapons. Does this mean war? Not necessarily. Since our intelligence services, which seem to be well informed, know where the plants in question are located (at least, I hope so), I am naïve enough to believe that a kind of James Bond operation would be best. I imagine American, British and Israeli commandos, the best trained in the world, would one night parachute into Iraq. They would destroy all the missile bases and centres for weapons production and set out again at dawn, if possible, without killing a single Iraqi. Am I too romantic? Why wouldn't I be? After all, I am also a novelist. Only I must admit that the military professionals to whom I proposed my plan did not find it very realistic. And the fact that I know nothing about war strategies did not strengthen my position. So where are we going? If all the roads to peaceful resolution are closed and therefore any attempts at negotiation are doomed to failure, and if Saddam sends the inspectors back empty-handed, vanquished and ridiculed, will only war bring the desired solution? I find war repugnant. All wars. I know war's monstrous aspects: blood and corpses everywhere, hungry refugees, devastated cities, orphans in tears and houses in ruins. I find no beauty in it. But it is with a heavy heart I ask this: what is to be done? Do we have the right not to intervene, when we know what passivity and appeasement will make possible? Is President Bush's policy of intervention the best response to an imperative need? Yes, it is said, and I am reluctant to say anything else. Bush's goal is to prevent the deadliest biological or nuclear conflict in modern history. If the US, supported by the UN Security Council, is forced to intervene, it will save victims who are already targeted, already menaced. And it will win. The US owes it to us, and owes it to future generations. As the great French writer And
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk Britain has 'no first-class university left now' Kamal Ahmed, political editor Saturday December 21 2002 The Guardian The academic standards of Britain's leading universities were facing fresh scrutiny last night after Shirley Williams, the former Education Secretary, said there were no 'internationally first-rate universities' left in the country. Baroness Williams, who leads the Liberal Democratic Party in the House of Lords, said that gross under-funding had seriously affected the quality of research and teaching in the UK. 'At the bottom end there is a tail of colleges and universities that are not even second-rate,' she said in an interview with Prospect magazine. 'And at the top end I doubt whether there are any internationally first-rate universities left in Britain.' Her comments brought condemnation from universities. Cambridge said that Williams's claims were 'ridiculous', while the head of Universities UK, which represents all universities across the country, described them as 'disappointing'. The row will rekindle the debate on the rapid expansion of university education, which critics say has left too many students attempting second-rate courses that don't suit them academically. Charles Clarke, the current Education Secretary, has suggested that the target to get 50 per cent of all children into higher education is no longer a leading priority. Williams, who was Education Secretary in the Seventies, said students would have to pay more towards their university education if the present funding crisis was to be solved. Some form of graduate tax, where students paid back their tuition fees once they had graduated, was the best way forward. 'How do we deal with the under-funding problem?' she said. 'We have to face the fact that the flow of payments from graduates will take 15 years or so to grow into a significant income stream. To cover that gap you need government funding.' Williams said that upfront tuition fees were divisive and would deter students from poorer backgrounds. Next month the Government will publish its long-awaited plans for funding higher education. Early indications that Downing Street favoured top-up fees, where students pay for courses before they start them, were quashed after a threatened revolt by Labour MPs. The Government is now moving towards a form of deferred payment which would come into effect once students were earning over a certain sum. 'Obviously there is a very, very serious funding problem for universities in this country,' said Dr David Secher, Director of Research Services at the University of Cambridge. 'But to suggest that there are no internationally first-rate universities left in Britain is frankly ridiculous.' Diana Warwick, chief executive of Universities UK, said: 'Though correctly identifying the enormous funding challenge universities are facing, it is disappointing that Baroness Williams sells them short.' Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited Observer site, go to http://www.observer.co.uk Blair fury over terror warnings to the public Security breach hits Foreign Office Kamal Ahmed, Antony Barnett and Martin Bright Saturday December 21 2002 The Guardian Tony Blair has intervened to prevent the Government's war on terror policy descending into chaos after senior officials admitted that the public was being unnecessarily scared about the level of threat to Britain. He made his move as fresh evidence revealed that Foreign Office computer systems used to disseminate intelligence material, have suffered a series of security breaches. Officials had to suspend the system for three days late last year because they were so concerned that it was leaking information. As Ministers warned Downing Street and Cabinet Office officials that they were in danger of 'scaring the public witless' with a string of terror alerts, The Observer can reveal that Alastair Campbell, the Prime Minister's Director of Communications, gave civil servants a dressing down over security briefings that were not cleared with Number 10. The briefings led to a series of headlines suggesting that Britain was on the brink of a terrorist attack. Officials also said that 'sooner or later' a terrorist would get through and that it was time to build up a system of 'national resilience', where people learned to live with the terrorist threat. One Cabinet Minister said there was a degree of 'macho posturing' over the threat of the terrorist attacks. 'The problem is that a lot of this is leaving the public concerned about what actually is going on,' the Minister said. 'If you don't have something concrete to say, then don't say anything.' Blair was left 'angry and irritated', according to one source, after he felt he was answering questions during Prime Minister's Questions last week without a full knowledge of two briefings given by the Cabinet Office, in charge of British security issues, and the Foreign Office, on Iraq, an hour before he arrived at the House of Commons. At the following morning meeting of Government staff, Campbell said that there 'was no point in having a strategy' for telling the public the latest details of the terrorist threat if departments started operating unilaterally. Last night the Foreign Office said that it was investigating new evidence obtained by The Observer that highly sophisticated computer systems used to convey sensitive intelligence material did not work properly. A spokesman insisted: 'Our systems for handling classified information are among the most secure of any used by diplomatic services worldwide. We take any breach of security very seriously.' A whistleblower contacted The Observer with the evidence a few weeks after confidential Foreign Office documents appeared on a website which showed that a year before 11 September the sys tems were experiencing serious problems. The whistleblowersaid he had decided to speak out because he was worried about the possibility of a threat to national security. Last month the Foreign Office was criticised for failing to warn tourists about the danger of travelling to Indonesia in the run-up to the Bali bomb atrocity. Almost 200 people, including 26 Britons, died in the massacre on the holiday island in October. Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, has studied the concerns raised by the whistleblower. He is writing to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, demanding to know whether these computer problems were responsible for the lack of clear travel advice in relation to both the bombings in Bali and in Mombasa, Kenya. The Whitehall source claims that at the end of last year the system was shut down for three days after a blunder allowed hundreds of pieces of top secret material to go astray. Some documents included highly clas sified information on codewords used by MI6. The source claims there is such a lack of trust in the system, called Aramis, that intelligence officers downgrade the security status of classified documents so they can read them on their PCs. This means that top secret material is being used on systems that are easy prey for hackers. The source said: 'When MI6 wants to pass on grade A intelligence material it can do so quickly and efficiently. Once that information has arrived at the Foreign Office, however, it is anyone's guess where it goes from there.' Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Bank 'fixed gold price for years' JP Morgan accused of manipulation David Teather, New York Thursday December 19 2002 The Guardian JP Morgan Chase has been named in a $2bn (£1.3bn) lawsuit alleging that the Wall Street bank conspired to manipulate the price of gold. The action against JP Morgan and Canadian mining group Barrick Gold has been filed by Blanchard and Co, the biggest retailer of the precious metal in the US. It alleges they dumped gold on to the market for years in order to suppress the price and allow them to reap billions in short-selling profits. New Orleans-based Blanchard is seeking restitution of the money for clients who buy its bullion and gold coins. It also alleges that, by keeping the price of gold low, Barrick, the second largest gold producer in the world, could buy other mining companies. The gold price, $350 an ounce, is at its highest for six years as nervousness about stock markets has sent investors looking for a safe harbour. But Blanchard chief executive Donald Doyle claims it would be higher without the alleged manipulation. "Since the end of 1987, when the collaboration between Barrick and JP Morgan began, the growth of global income and wealth would have lifted the gold price to approximately $740 if it had been able to respond to the normal laws of supply and demand." The lawsuit alleges that in the past five years JP Morgan and Barrick injected millions of additional ounces of gold into the market, several times more than the annual production of every goldmine in South Africa, the world's largest producer. The suit also claims that, by using privately negotiated derivative contracts and concealing additional billions of dollars worth of physical gold with off balance sheet accounting, Barrick made it almost impossible to determine the size and impact of its trading position. Barrick dismissed the claims as "ludicrous and totally without merit". It said the suit "contains numerous factual inaccuracies and defamatory statements", adding that it would vigorously defend itself. The company is heavily involved in hedging its gold production - often selling a substantial portion before it is mined in a series of forward contracts to ensure it gets a certain price. It has also borrowed gold from bullion banks, including JP Morgan, to sell into the spot market and drive the price down. But it claims to have done so to prevent dramatic price swings. Other producers, such as Vancouver's Placer Dome and Newmont Mining, undertake similar hedging but critics have long cast a cynical eye over the activity. JP Morgan declined to comment. Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers yesterday both posted higher fourth-quarter earnings, after higher revenues from bond trading and tighter cost controls. But Morgan Stanley reported a 16% fall in profits as trading revenues dropped. All three investment banks have cut jobs and slashed bonuses as they wrestle with the downturn. Goldman reported fourth quarter profits of $505m, up 1.6% as cost cutting offset a 16% decline in revenues. Lehman's earnings, at $243m, up from $130m a year earlier, were the first improvement since the second quarter of 2001. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk French court convicts Soros of insider trading Staff and agencies Friday December 20 2002 The Guardian A French court today convicted US billionaire investor George Soros of insider trading and fined him 2.2m euros. The fine by the court is the same amount the Hungarian-born magnate was accused of having made from buying stocks at French bank Société Générale with insider knowledge 14 years ago. The fine was in line with the request by prosecutors. Mr Soros, 72, the president of Soros Fund Management, denies having privileged information. He was not in court today. In court testimony in November, Mr Soros said: "I have been in business all my life, and I think I know what is insider trading and what isn't." Société Générale was privatised in 1987. A year later, its stock price went up during an unsuccessful takeover bid. Mr Soros was accused of having obtained insider information before the abortive corporate raid pushed up the stock price. Mr Soros went on trial with two other men, Jean-Charles Naouri, a former top aide to France's then-finance minister Pierre Beregovoy, and Lebanese businessman Samir Traboulsi. The court cleared both men of any wrongdoing. Prosecutors had sought fines of 290,000 euros for Mr Naouri and 1.98m euros for Mr Traboulsi. Mr Soros has said he was interested in Société Générale based on information he claims was widely known: France's leftist government of the time favoured takeovers to change the leadership at recently privatised companies. Mr Soros said he was buying stock in many companies and had no reason not to include Société Générale. Afterward, he sold the stock, saying he felt the takeover attempt was politically motivated and was not going to benefit the company. Mr Soros was reportedly the first American to earn a billion dollars in a single year. Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1930, he emigrated to the United States in 1956 and became a citizen five years later. He made his fortune managing investment funds. Forbes magazine ranked him this year as the 37th richest person in the world, with an estimated $6.9bn fortune. Prosecutors said the case dragged on because Swiss authorities took years to respond to requests for information. Defence lawyers argued unsuccessfully that the case should be thrown out because it took so long to bring to court. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9342-2002Dec18.html U.S. Social Security May Reach To Mexico By Jonathan Weisman Pushed by the Mexican government, the Bush administration is working on a Social Security accord that would put tens of thousands of Mexicans onto the Social Security roster and send hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits south of the border. White House and Mexican government officials say discussions on an agreement to align the Social Security systems of the two countries are informal and preliminary. But excerpts from an internal Social Security Administration memo obtained this month say the agreement "is expected to move forward at an accelerated pace," with the support of both governments, and could be in force by next October. The pact would be the latest, but by far the largest, of a series of treaties designed to ensure that people from one country working in another aren't taxed by both nations' social security systems. In its first year, the agreement is projected to trigger 37,000 new claims from Mexicans who worked in the United States legally and paid Social Security taxes but have been unable to claim their checks, according to a memo prepared by Ted Girdner, the Social Security Administration's assistant associate commissioner for international operations. Extrapolating from U.S. and Mexican government statistics, the accord could cost $720 million a year within five years of implementation. One independent estimate put the total at $1 billion a year -- a large sum, but a trifle compared with the $372 billion in Social Security benefits currently being paid to 46.4 million recipients. Mexican President Vicente Fox has been pushing President Bush to sign a Social Security agreement with Mexico as something of a consolation prize to make up for Bush's failure to pursue promised immigration reforms, according to Latino lobbyists close to the Fox administration. Mexican officials began pressing the White House hard at meetings that preceded the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Los Cabos, Mexico, in October. "When the legalization talks began going nowhere, the Mexicans began focusing on this," said Maria Blanco, national senior counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "They really bore in at Los Cabos." Arturo Sarukhan, a top official in Mexico's foreign ministry, said that after Mexico's failure to win a comprehensive package of immigration reforms from Bush, it is lobbying in Washington for important incremental steps. "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time," he said. The Social Security agreement, he said, is one of those less-sexy things that Mexico has been pushing to deepen its relationship with the United States and improve the day-to-day lives of Mexicans. Just yesterday, Fox underscored the political pressure he is under domestically to secure concessions from the United States when he journeyed to the border city of Nuevo Laredo to call for an "urgent" immigration accord to end discrimination against Mexican workers north of the border. Concern is rising on Capitol Hill -- and even among some White House economic aides -- that any agreement on Social Security could add a new burden to the benefits system, just as the baby-boom generation is preparing to retire. House Ways and Means Committee staff members are meeting today with Social Security officials to hash out projected costs for such an agreement. "We are concerned about the sheer magnitude of the agreement," said a House Republican aide who is an expert on Social Security. About 94,000 beneficiaries living abroad have been brought into the system by the 20 existing international agreements. A Mexican agreement alone could bring in 162,000 in the first five years. White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the issue is being explored only at a "technical level" at this point, and the administration has not yet decided to move forward with formal negotiations. "A totalization agreement with Mexico would have significant implications," she said. Miguel Monterrubio, a spokesman for the Mexican Embassy, said several meetings have taken place between the Social Security Administration and its Mexican counterpart since November 2001, but he, too, called them informal. The Social Security memo indicates that work may be further along than both governments are saying. According to the memo, "the application workloads generated by an agreement with Mexico will be much larger than those resulting from any of the 20 existing agreements" with other countries. In addition to the flurry of new claims, an additional 13,000 Mexicans entitled to benefits but cut off by provisions in recent immigration laws coul
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Failure of the 82nd airborne As the US prepares for war on Iraq, its troops in Afghanistan are coming under increasing attack from the forces they were sent to dig out Dan Plesch Wednesday December 18 2002 The Guardian American forces in Afghanistan have suffered a series of setbacks during 2002, and a year after the fall of the Taliban the US army is under almost daily attack in its bases in eastern Afghanistan. In the latest incident, in Kabul yesterday, two American soldiers were seriously injured in a grenade attack. The main US force in the country is the 82nd airborne division, which is based at Bagram near Kabul. There are secondary bases at and around Khost in eastern Afghanistan, some 20 miles from the Pakistan border. Since mid-September US forces based in this area have been increased to more than 2,000, from just a few hundred earlier in the year, with a full battalion of parachute infantry at the new base of Camp Salerno outside Khost. Several US-led attacks, using hundreds and even thousands of troops, have been ineffective, suffered outright defeat, or resulted in disaster. These failures have led the US to keep its forces mostly inside their bases: at Khost and Kandahar they are under attack almost daily from missiles and machine guns. When it was launched in March, the US gave Operation Anaconda maximum publicity. It was supposed to crush remaining al-Qaida forces. Locally recruited Afghans were trained to act as "beaters", driving al-Qaida from its high mountain caves on to the guns of US soldiers lying in ambush. The reality was that it was the US army that was ambushed. According to the Washington Post and other US reports, the plan was betrayed to the enemy through the Afghan militias. At a dozen mountain passes, al-Qaida attacked US and allied forces as they jumped from their helicopters to take up what they thought would be their own ambush positions. So intense was the enemy fire that for two days the US could not fly in helicopters to support its own troops, who remained pinned down in vicious fighting. The US had eight men killed and 100 wounded before al-Qaida pulled back. After proclaiming the operation a complete success, the US announced that no more operations of this kind would be undertaken. During the summer, the units involved - the 101st air assault and 10th mountain - were replaced by the 82nd airborne. This is the most highly trained infantry unit in the US army, and one Pentagon planners would prefer to have available for Iraq. It began operations intended to dig out enemy forces from the villages of eastern Afghanistan. Newsweek described as "a disaster" its first high-profile mission, quoting other US troops and civilian witnesses. They said that 600 soldiers had gone on the rampage in Operation Mountain Sweep, undoing in minutes six months of community building. They went through villages "as if Bin Laden was in every house", said one of the US army's own special forces soldiers. So serious were the complaints from other units about the conduct of the 82nd airborne that the army took sworn statements from all the officers and senior NCOs involved. The civilian casualties have not been accounted for. The 82nd is continuing to conduct cordon and search operations and has reduced media access. One senior US editor told me he had been prevented by his own organisation from filing reports on the futility and brutality of US operations. He said the only comparison in US military history was with a punitive expedition into Mexico conducted by General Pershing in 1915. This produced virtually no results after months searching the desolate Mexican countryside in search of Pancho Villa, chasing up false leads provided by the local population. Former British officers well informed on the Afghan operations are concerned at the US approach. British troops are trained to operate according to rules of engagement governing when it is considered acceptable to shoot to kill. This approach is designed to ensure that force is used to help achieve wider political goals. In the US army this kind of fine-tuning is not regarded as relevant. Despite its power, the US has not been able to prevent its bases in Afghanistan from coming under frequent attack. Mostly, these achieve little more than keeping the troops in their dugouts. From time to time, as yesterday, a few soldiers are wounded and trucks blown up. Containing the violence at this relatively low level could be considered a victory in itself but it will be hard to keep the lid on indefinitely. At the same time, the vaunted claim not to have once more left Afghanistan in the lurch is looking increasingly hollow. Some aid has been delivered, but its impact has been n
[CTRL] Euphorian wants you to check out this Phoenix Article
-Caveat Lector- Dear , Euphorian wanted us to send you this article. Here's what Euphorian had to say: Britlandic subject to effect recolonisation The Phoenix article, TALKING POLITICS, can be found by clicking on the link below. http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/02598244.htm http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk The name of the game is assassination The Pentagon has learned from Israel's policy of 'targeted killings' Tony Geraghty and David Leigh Wednesday December 18 2002 The Guardian Israeli hardliners had the pleasure this week of seeing their controversial tactic of "targeted killing" of their enemies vindicated by being imitated. For it has emerged that their close allies in the US administration have now drawn up a target list for a systematic policy of assassination against those they call terrorists. Considering the closeness of the Israeli right and the hawks at the Pentagon, this development should come as no surprise. The US has borrowed not just their policy, but their techniques too. It was Israel that pioneered the use of the Hellfire missile for summary executions such as the US carried out last month in Yemen. Developed as a tankbuster during the cold war, Hellfire hits its target at 950mph. On November 3, a Landcruiser with an alleged al-Qaida leader and five other men was stalked from the air by a pilotless Predator controlled by a US team in Djibouti, 150 miles away. The Hellfire it carried enabled them to kill their prey from the comfort of an office chair. A decade earlier, another terrorist, Sheik Abbas Moussawi, leader of Lebanon's fundamentalist Hizbollah group, was stalked from the air in this way. On February 16 1992, he was vaporised by an Israeli helicopter armed with Hellfire. In biblical times, David made do with just one missile to cut down Goliath. But since Moussawi's Mercedes was in a guarded convoy, he got five. His wife Siham and their son Hussein, aged five, were killed with him. Israel's defence minister, Moshe Arens, rejoiced over "a message to all terrorist organisations... whoever opens an account with us, we will close the account with them". Three years later, Israel assassinated another Hizbollah leader, Rida Yassin, in a similar way as he drove along a road east of Tyre. Two Cobra helicopter gunships fired the radar-guided missiles, again believed to be Hellfires. One reportedly exploded inside the vehicle, burning Yassin and an aide alive. The other set fire to trees and bushes, hindering rescue workers. The US's recent technical contribution has been to marry Israel's novel use of Hellfire with unmanned drones. The Predator was conceived in 1994 as a spy plane, operated from a safe position by a member of the "joystick generation" - and three others managing cameras and communications. Airforce chiefs then transformed it into a tankbuster. The first successful test was in Nevada on February 21 2001. Air combat command moved on to try satellite links against the harder challenge of a moving target. Al-Qaida's attack on the twin towers soon afterwards dramatically changed it targets - to "take out" not tanks, but individuals. In this, it seems clear the Pentagon drank at the well of Israel's experience as a "laboratory for fighting terror". This May, Douglas Feith, the Pentagon's hawkish undersecretary for policy, went to Tel Aviv to talk to Ariel Sharon and his defence minister, Binyamin Ben Eliezer. The Israeli paper Ha'aretz said they discussed "war games, intelligence sharing and other cooperation". Feith is such an enthusiast for the Israeli right that the reactionary Zionist Organisation of America describes him approvingly as "the noted pro-Israel activist". Four weeks later, Israel's top two security chiefs went to Washington to propose a new US-Israeli office specifically to combat terrorism. Brigadier General David Tzur and Uzi Landau, minister of interior security, met Feith on June 27. The joint office, to be based in Washington, would involve a communications link between the proposed US department of homeland defence and the Israeli government, it was explained. Visa policies, terrorist profiles and other internal security data - except classified intelligence - would be swapped by computer, fax and telephone. The topic of the US-Israeli meeting was confirmed as "homeland security". Mr Landau said: "Israel is a laboratory for fighting terror." It was only a matter of days after those talks that defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld drafted a secret directive. It is reported he ordered Air force General Charles Holland on July 22 "to develop a plan to find and deal with members of terrorist organisations". "The objective is to capture terrorists for interrogation or if necessary to kill them, not simply to arrest them in a law-enforcement exercise," he wrote. Following the Yemen attack - what the Pentagon apparently hopes was the first of many successful operations - the third of the Pentagon's trio of hawks, deputy secretary Paul Wolfowitz, told CNN the killing was regarded as "a very success
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6347-2002Dec18.html List of the 12 Largest U.S. Bankruptcies The top 12 U.S. bankruptcies, ranked by assets:– WorldCom Inc., July 21, 2002; $103.9 billion– Enron Corp., Dec. 2, 2001; $63.4 billion– Conseco Inc., Dec. 18, 2002; $52 billion– Texaco Inc., April 12, 1987; $35.9 billion– Financial Corp. of America, Sept. 9, 1988; $33.9 billion– Global Crossing Ltd., Jan. 28, 2002; $25.5 billion– UAL Corp., Dec. 9, 2002; $25.2 billion– Adelphia, June 25, 2002; $24.4 billion– Pacific Gas and Electric Co., April 6, 2001; $21.5 billion– MCorp., March 31, 1989; $20.2 billion– Kmart Corp. Jan. 22, 2002, $17.0 billion– NTL Inc., May 8, 2002, 16.8 billion–––Source: Bankruptcy Data.com, Securities and Exchange Commision filings http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4767-2002Dec18.html Conseco Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy INDIANAPOLIS Insurance and finance company Conseco Inc., facing $6.5 billion in debt and a federal investigation of its accounting practices, filed for Chapter 11 protection in the third-largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Terms were negotiated before Tuesday night's filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, said Conseco spokesman Mark Lubbers. Conseco, the nation's seventh-largest insurance provider, has an agreement in principle with several of the company's stakeholders. Details of the tentative agreement reached with two of three investor groups must still be resolved and approved by group members before a reorganization plan can be submitted for the court's approval, Lubbers said. A filing outlining specifics of the plan could be submitted within four to six weeks. Banks and bondholders who took part in the talks reached terms with Conseco, but holders of preferred securities did not, Lubbers said. Talks will continue with those investors, Lubbers said. The agreement with two creditor groups "is critical to moving forward with the restructuring," Lubbers said. Sales of some Conseco assets are part of the tentative agreement, he said. Bondholders, who submitted a proposal in the talks to take full equity ownership of Conseco, are owed $2.5 billion in public debt. Banks are due $1.5 billion, with more than $2 billion owed to holders of preferred stock. Although the bankruptcy filing was not surprising given Conseco's recent woes, it marked a dramatic downfall for a company whose stock was once a Wall Street darling. From 1988 to 1998, the company's stock averaged a total return of 47 percent per year and Conseco shares traded as high as $58. Today, the stock trades at less than a nickel per share. Under the most commonly used measure to rank bankruptcies, Conseco's ranks third in the United States based on the $52.3 billion in assets the company and its subsidiaries reported as of Sept. 30. WorldCom's total assets at its July filing were $104 billion, followed by Enron's $64 billion. Before Conseco's filing, the third-largest bankruptcy was the 1987 filing by Texaco, which had nearly $36 billion in assets at the time. Adjusted for inflation, that amount would be more than $56 billion today, according to the research Web site BankruptcyData.com. Conseco maintains the use of assets to measure bankruptcies is inappropriate in its case because its insurance operations are not included in the bankruptcy filing. Also, Conseco says its debt entering bankruptcy is much smaller than several other companies' debts at the time they filed. The filing follows a yearslong tailspin after the conglomerate's aggressive acquisition strategy in the 1990s backfired. Company founder Stephen Hilbert was ousted in April 2000 after piling up $8.2 billion in debt. Federal regulators are investigating the company's accounting around the time of Hilbert's resignation and his replacement by Gary Wendt. The decline in Conseco's financial condition accelerated in recent months, leading to Wendt's Oct. 3 resignation. He had received a $45 million signing bonus when he was hired. Wendt, who remained board chairman, said as recently as May 1 that Conseco's short-term debt problems were behind it, and that he was confident about next year's prospects. Those statements and other reassurances from Conseco executives led to the filing of a string of recent shareholder lawsuits. Conseco has also suffered a series of downgrades by Wall Street credit rating agencies. Those downgrades, combined with bankruptcy fears, have hurt the ability of Conseco's insurance and finance subsidiaries to keep existing customers and attract new ones. Company officials have said Conseco's insurance subsidiaries have remained fundamentally sound despite the parent company's debt problems. However, the finance division, Conseco Finance, is insolvent after failing to make a $4.7 million payment due Dec. 4. The filing covers Conseco Inc., the parent company, as well as St. Paul, Minn.-based Conseco Finance Corp. and its consumer finance subsidiaries. Conseco's insurance operations are not included in the filing, Lubbers said. Conseco is based in the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel. http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throu
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com And of course, it goes without saying that Wolfie and Newt are gonna be on the ground in the first wave. And, they're gonna be there when the three faction (Shi'a, Sunni, & Kurd) guerrilla warfare starts up. If you like(d) Kosovaria, you'll love Iraq! A<>E<>R To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4096-2002Dec17.html Projection on Fall Of Hussein Disputed By Thomas E. Ricks With war possible soon in Iraq, the chiefs of the two U.S. ground forces are challenging the belief of some senior Pentagon civilians that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein will fall almost immediately upon being attacked and are calling for more attention to planning for worst-case scenarios, Defense Department officials said. The U.S. war plan for a possible attack on Iraq, which has been almost a year in the making, calls for a fast-moving ground attack without an overwhelming number of reinforcements on hand. Instead, some follow-on troops would be flown into Iraq from outside the region. Among other things, this "rolling start" would seek to achieve tactical surprise by launching an attack before the U.S. military appears ready to do so. In addition, the plan calls for some armored units, instead of traveling a predetermined distance and pausing to allow slow-moving supply trucks to catch up, to charge across Iraq until they run into armed opposition and then engage in combat, officials said. Those aspects of the plan, which appear riskier than usual U.S. military practice, worry the chief of the Army, Gen. Eric Shinseki, and the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. James L. Jones, defense officials said. Shinseki and Jones, who as service chiefs are members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have questioned the contention of Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz and other top officials that Hussein's government is likely to collapse almost as soon as a U.S. attack is launched, the officials said. The two generals are concerned that the Wolfowitz school may underestimate the risks involved, the officials said. They have argued that planning should prepare thoroughly for worst-case scenarios, most notably one that planners have labeled "Fortress Baghdad," in which Hussein withdraws his most loyal forces into the Iraqi capital and challenges the United States to enter into protracted street fighting, perhaps involving chemical or biological weapons. In an interview last night, Wolfowitz rejected the view that he has been overoptimistic in his views. He said he also believes that, "You've got to be prepared for the worst case." He added: "It would be a terrible mistake for anyone to think they can predict with confidence what the course of a war is going to be." In discussions of the war plan, he said, he has repeatedly emphasized the risk of Hussein "using his most terrible weapons." The dispute, which is taking place mainly in secret reviews of the war plan, promises to be the last major issue in the Pentagon's consideration of that plan, as more signs point toward forces being ready to launch a wide-ranging, highly synchronized ground and air attack in six to eight weeks. Psychological operations, such as leafleting and broadcasting into Iraq, have been stepped up lately, and there is talk at the Pentagon of large-scale troop movements or mobilizations being announced soon after the holidays. The debate became more open last week when Jones alluded to it in comments made at a dinner held in his honor by former defense secretary William S. Cohen. Jones is scheduled next month to leave the Marine post to become the commander of U.S. military forces in Europe. At that dinner, Jones indicated that he and other senior officers did not share the "optimism" of others about the ease of fighting in Iraq. In an interview, Jones said that he did not name who he thought was being overly optimistic. "I did not say, 'folks at the Pentagon,' " he said. "I said I didn't align myself with folks around town who seem to think that this is preordained to be a very easy military operation." If a victory were swiftly won, he continued: "It is to be celebrated. But military planners should always plan for the worst case." He insisted that in his remarks he had not expressed a conclusion about how quickly Hussein might fall. He said he believed that he and Shinseki, the Army chief, "are of the same view on this." If anything, the Army's leadership is even more worried than Jones, said a senior officer who sides with the Wolfowitz view. "The Army really is conservative on this," he said dismissively. The Army also has qualms about the likely burden of postwar peacekeeping in Iraq -- a mission that is likely to be executed mainly by the Army. "They're concerned they're going to be lef
[CTRL] canada.com Story
-Caveat Lector- Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], Your friend [EMAIL PROTECTED] thought you might be interested in this canada.com story: "Poll suggests Americans don't buy Bush administration war case" http://www.canada.com/news/story.asp?id=189B7EE3-C859-423C-9FBD-99257A9C79A6 ___ This is a free service courtesy of canada.com (http://www.canada.com) http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk The mystery assassin The shooting of three anti-Chavez demonstrators has unleased a wealth of conspiracy theories, says Duncan Campbell Duncan Campbell Tuesday December 17 2002 The Guardian One of the mysterious aspects of the current crisis in Venezuela is who was behind the fatal shootings of three demonstrators taking part in a rally against the president, Hugo Chavez, earlier this month. Both sides are blaming the other for organising the attack and competing conspiracy theories have turned it into a Venezuelan equivalent of the Kennedy assassination. A Portuguese-born taxi-driver, Joao De Gouveia, has already confessed to all three killings. On December 6, De Gouveia opened fire in Plaza Francia in Altamira, a centre for opposition protests. Josefina de Inciarte, 76, Keyla Guerra, a 17-year-old student and Professor Jaime Giraud, 53, were killed and are now seen as martyrs of the movement to remove Chavez. Thousands took part in marches in their memory last week. De Gouveia was grabbed by demonstrators at the square after his gun appeared to jam and only rescued from a lynching by the police who took him into custody. Owain Johnson, a Welsh freelance journalist based in Caracas, who was in the square at the time, told me: "I thought he was going to be lynched on the spot. One big guy said 'we can't put up with this any more, we've got to stand up for ourselves'." The face of the gunman, bloodied in the attack, has appeared daily in the press and on television since then, often with the question attached: "Who is Joao De Gouveia?" De Gouveia was born in Madeira 39 years ago this week and moved to Venezuela in 1980 where he found work as a taxi driver. According to the daily El Nacional, he lived a solitary life and had told neighbours recently that he was planning to go to the US. Just before the shooting the black haired De Gouveia had his hair dyed red. Initially, it was suggested that De Gouveia had mental problems and had been so angered by the anti-government coverage on private television stations that he decided to attack a television crew working for Globovision, the most anti-Chavez of the stations. The opposition suggest that De Gouveia was probably hired by the government or its supporters to intimidate the opposition. A tape has been shown repeatedly on the anti-government stations which purports to show De Gouveia the day before the killings at a pro-Chavez rally that was also attended by Freddy Bernal, a pro-Chavez mayor. The government, on the other hand, suggest that the opposition hired the gunman as an agent provocateur to create the climate for a military takeover. In April, a military coup took place after a similar attack with the military using the violence as a justification for the coup. Mr Bernal, mayor of the Libertador municipality in the centre of Caracas, denies any knowledge of the gunman. He said that he believed that De Gouveia suffered from "shizophrenia and paranoia" and had been used by the opposition. "It was a trick to create a provocation," said Mr Bernal who was previously a special forces police officer before entering politics. He suggested that the tape showing De Gouveia at the rally had been tampered with. One senior government official has even claimed that De Gouveia has already confessed to receiving money from a dissident member of the armed forces and admitted to working for the CIA. The official said that he recognised that the allegation was like "Mission Impossible". He said that De Gouveia confessed after being told that there had been a plan to kill him after the shootings, in the same way that Lee Harvey Oswald was killed after the assassination of President Kennedy. All of this is dismissed by the opposition as a typical fabrication of the government. Whether the full story will ever emerge seems, at present, unlikely. Journalists based in Caracas say the record for such investigations is not hopeful and the secretary general of the Organisation of American States, Cesar Gaviria, has criticised what he sees as a "culture of impunity" in the country. Venezuela remains in limbo as negotiations between the two sides, overseen by the OAS, continue. At the weekend, Mr Chavez rejected a call from White House to defuse the situation by having early elections, arguing that he is only half way through the six year term for which he was elected. His opponents, who claim that he has seriously damaged the economy and behaved autocratically, say that he must go now for the good of the country. Both sides say they fear another shooting similar to that carried out by the mysterious De Gouveia. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER =
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. --- Note from Euphorian: Considering that this is a "pre-mature birth" of something that will be delivered dead, doesn't that amount to "abortion"? If so, is this Shrub's signal that he favours spending unlimited amounts of taxpayer money on such things? AER --- To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk America announces premature birth of Son of Star Wars Rumsfeld says defences will be put in place before they work but will deter attacks Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington and Richard Norton Taylor Tuesday December 17 2002 The Guardian Washington formally inaugurated the "Son of Star Wars" anti-missile shield yesterday, inviting Britain and other allies to subscribe to the controversial new vision of strategic defence. It is expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the coming decades, but it appeared yesterday that the US hopes to defray part of the cost by enlisting its allies in the project. The White House expects to spend $7.4bn on the researching and developing the system in each of the next two years. Critics say the money should be spent on the war on terror. The announcement was seen as further evidence of Washington's focus on the threat posed by ballistic missile proliferation, specifically in North Korea. The project will be in the project stage for at least two years. President George Bush said it was intended to "protect our citizens against what is perhaps the greatest danger of all - catastrophic harm that may result from hostile states or terrorist groups armed with weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them". A former assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation, Robert Einhorn, said: "The belief of this administration is that missile proliferation is occuring faster than it was thought and that new and additional countries are acquiring these missiles some of which are not as easy to deter as the Soviet Union was, and so to be prudent we need a defensive capability. "Whether the threat materialises as quickly as they expect is an issue. They are predicting a rather rapid advance of this problem of ballistic missile proliferation ... "One has to look at it in terms of tradeoffs, how effective is it, and how serious is the threat." In London the defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, told MPs that the US had requested the use of the Fylingdales early warning radar on the North York Moors. He said in a written statement that while there was no immediate significant threat to Britain from ballistic missiles, "intentions can change quickly and the proliferation and development of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles is continuing". The government had not decided how to respond and was keen that a decision would be "informed by public and parliamentary discussion". But he made it clear that the government would respond positively after a Commons debate in the new year. He said: "An upgraded Fylingdales radar would be a key building block in the extension of missile defence to Europe, should we and other European allies so desire." The US said it would be prepared to "extend missile defence coverage and make missile defence capabilities available to the UK ... subject to agreement on appropriate political and financial arrangements". Mr Hoon said the project offered opportunities for British hi-tech companies. Opponents of the project, including many senior Whitehall officials, believe it is unnecessary - even dangerous in that it could fuel an arms race - expensive - it is estimated to cost Britain up to £10bn - and technologically unproved. Malcolm Savidge, a Labour backbencher whose motion expressing concern at the project attracted the support of nearly 300 MPs, said yesterday that it undermined prospects for progressive disarmament. "It makes one wonder whether a PR exercise has been choreographed jointly by Washington and Whitehall, rather than having a democratic debate.". Last week the former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle said he feared the government was "acting as a satellite to the US in this instance rather than an ally without any reference to anybody". The US has made a similar request to the Danish government to upgrade the early warning radar at Thule in Greenland. The initial stages of the plan are modest - far less ambitious in their scope than the 1983 variant of Star Wars pursued by Ronald Reagan. But it remains a considerable expansion of the ground-based programme pursued by President Bill Clinton by ordering research and testing of sea-based and space-based systems. The plan involves an initial 10 land-based interceptor missiles at Fort Greely, Alaska, by 2004, essentially as a test facility, and an additional 10 land-based interceptors by 2005, Pentagon officials said. Eventually it is expec
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk The scourge of Wall Street on the cusp of a historic victory Eliot Spitzer, New York attorney-general and champion of the small investor, scents blood David Teather in New York Monday December 16 2002 The Guardian Few people in the US had heard of Eliot Spitzer 12 months ago. In Britain, virtually no one had. The New York State attorney-general says that he still cannot quite understand why anyone outside his home state, let alone anyone overseas, should be interested. But it is a feint. He clearly knows why. In the past year, Mr Spitzer has become the scourge of Wall Street. While the securities and exchange commission, the chief US financial regulator, foundered, it was Mr Spitzer who emerged as the champion of the small investor. He pointed out the corruption bred during the stock market boom and he did something about it. On his own website, he describes himself as "the people's lawyer" - a figure of retribution. Now he is on the cusp of a historic victory, a sweeping reform of the largest and most powerful investment banks on Wall Street, while extracting fines likely to top $1bn. The scandals of the past year have attracted a welter of investigations from Congress, the SEC, other securities regulators and the US justice department, many still running in parallel. But it is the inquiry into conflicts of interest inside investment banks led by Mr Spitzer which has been the swiftest and most successful. After three days of talks last week, a resolution is expected within weeks. "We are approaching a point now where I think it's fair to say there will either be a resolution of some sort in the reasonably near term or the efforts to reach that resolution will fall apart," he said. "I'm hoping for the former and not the latter." Mr Spitzer, lantern-jawed, with receding dark hair and piercing blue eyes is dressed in a dark pinstripe suit with a bright red tie - the uniform of the City, albeit with an American flag on his lapel. But while his clothes fit in with the financial world, his behaviour does not. He was after all invited to an awards dinner for institutional investors last month only to stun his hosts with an excoriating critique of analysts' conflicts of interest and the basis of the awards. "I sort of gave a hard time to some of those who had won awards," he admitted. "But with equity ownership comes responsibility and the notion of passive institutional investors is a notion that we have to get over. You have to get involved because if you don't you are abdicating and our notion of what equity ownership means is dissipated." Mr Spitzer has stinging criticisms for each participant in the scandals that have arisen over the past year in corporate America. He describes a quagmire of self-interest that has robbed small investors of billions of dollars. "I use a simple ratio," he said of accountants. "If you look at accounting statements and look at the ratio of text to footnotes, the more that ratio is weighted in footnotes the greater the problem. Lawyers put things they don't want you to read in footnotes and accountants do the same. Increasingly over the past couple of years, accounting statements had lengthy footnotes." He rebukes the chief executives who became "excessively empowered", directors who felt they just needed to show up to meetings and lawyers who did nothing more than paperwork. But it is the investment banks where he has turned the screw tightest. Mr Spitzer has already wrung a $100m settlement from Merrill Lynch over allegations that research analysts at the bank were issuing supposedly impartial advice to investors that was overly rosy to please clients and win further investment banking business. To put pressure on the bank he used shock tactics, releasing a now infamous series of damning internal emails, describing shares in one case as "a piece of shit" while recommending them to the public as a "buy". Mr Spitzer insisted the emails, many by former star internet analyst Henry Blodget, were released to ensure "systemic reform". The practice was widely known within the industry and the ferocity of Mr Spitzer's attack astonished the banks. He has put similar pressure on Citigroup with a lawsuit aimed at five chief executives of clients who took shares in hot flotations during the boom years. The allegation is that they were payments in return for pushing business the bank's way and he wants the five to hand back $28m in easy profits made from selling the shares. The writ again included internal emails embarrassing the bank and leading to the resignation of Jack Grubman, probably the highest paid analyst on Wall Street. The scrutiny has also put chief executive Sanford Weill under severe pressure and already prec
[CTRL] NYTimes.com Article: Limits Sought on Wireless Internet Access
-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] Limits Sought on Wireless Internet Access December 17, 2002 By JOHN MARKOFF SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 16 - The Defense Department, arguing that an increasingly popular form of wireless Internet access could interfere with military radar, is seeking new limits on the technology, which is seen as a rare bright spot for the communications industry. Industry executives, including representatives from Microsoft and Intel, met last week with Defense Department officials to try to stave off that effort, which includes a government proposal now before the global overseer of radio frequencies. The military officials say the technical restrictions they are seeking are necessary for national security. Industry executives, however, say they would threaten expansion of technology like the so-called WiFi systems being used for wireless Internet in American airports, coffee shops, homes and offices. WiFi use is increasingly heavy in major American metropolitan areas, and similar systems are becoming popular in Europe and Asia. As the technology is installed in millions of portable computers and in antennas in many areas, industry executives acknowledge that high-speed wireless Internet access will soon crowd the radio frequencies used by the military. But industry executives say new types of frequency spectrum sharing techniques could keep civilian users from interfering with radar systems. The debate, which involves low-power radio emissions that the Defense Department says may jam as many as 10 types of radar systems in use by United States military forces, presents a thorny policy issue for the Bush administration. Even as the armed forces monitor United States air space for signs of military or terrorist attacks and gear up for a possible war with Iraq, the nation's technology companies hope that the popularity of wireless Internet access will help pull their industry out of its two-year slump. New limits on that technology could help undermine the economic recovery on which the administration is also pinning its hopes. "Nobody, including the Pentagon, doubts that this is important for consumers and industry," said Steven Price, deputy assistant secretary of defense for radio spectrum matters. "The problem comes when it degrades our military capabilities." So far, though, there have been no reports of civilian wireless Internet use interfering with military radar, Edmond Thomas, chief of the office of engineering and technology for the Federal Communications Commission, said. Industry executives say that military uses can coexist with the millions of smart wireless Internet devices that can sense the nearby use of military radar and automatically yield the right of way. These devices are in use in Europe and will soon be used in the United States. But Pentagon officials say that the new digital technologies are unproven and could interfere with various types of military radar systems, whether ones used for tracking storms, monitoring aircraft or guiding missiles and other weapons. The Pentagon wants regulators to delay consideration of opening an additional swath of radio frequencies in the 5-gigahertz band that is eagerly sought by American technology companies and is already in civilian use internationally. In this country, industry executives and some members of Congress see new spectrum-sharing technologies as a way to jump-start innovation and commerce. Last month, for example, Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California, and her Republican colleague Senator George Allen of Virginia, said that they would introduce a bill in the next session of Congress to expand the radio spectrum available for wireless Internet use. The military-industry debate also involves the merits of a technical standard known as dynamic frequency selection, which is being used by advanced wireless Internet radios overseas to avoid interference. Military officials are asking the American industry, and companies in other countries, to create and install even more sensitive versions of dynamic frequency selection - something that the companies say may cause the technology to operate incorrectly. American executives say that the military's demands may also curtail the capacity of wireless Internet services and could even force a complicated redesign of millions of computer communications systems already in place or nearly ready for shipment. An estimated 16 million WiFi-enabled computers and other devices are already in use in this country and overseas. And in the coming year, Intel plans to put currently designed WiFi technology on all of the microprocessor chips it ships for tens of millions of desktop, laptop and hand-held computing devices. "This is a hugely important issue to Intel," said Peter Pitsch, Intel's communications policy director in Washington. "I'm hopeful at the end of the day, the U. S. government will accept
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk British envoy questions Israel on terrorism Chris McGreal in Jerusalem Monday December 16 2002 The Guardian Britain's ambassador in Tel Aviv has described terrorism as justified, if defined in certain ways, drawing parallels between the Jewish fight for a state of Israel and the present day Palestinian struggle. Sherard Cowper-Coles said that the killing of non-combatants, particularly children, could never be defended. "Terrorism defined as attacks against innocent civilians is always and absolutely wrong," he told a conference in Berlin on European-Israeli relations. However, he went on to say: "If terrorism is defined more widely as attacks on formal military units, we can all think of times in history when it was not always wrong." Mr Cowper-Coles pointed to Israel's own struggle for independence and the activities of the Stern Gang, labelled as terrorist by the British authorities in Palestine for bombing Jerusalem's King David hotel and for killing British soldiers but seen as national heroes by many Israelis. Ariel Sharon's government prefers to describe the killing of all Israelis, in whatever circumstances, as terrorist. The Palestinian leadership argues that soldiers in the occupied territories and, sometimes, Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza are legitimate. In carefully worded remarks, the ambassador suggested that the failure to pursue political options fuels terrorism. Regarding the founding of the Jewish state, he laid the blame at the feet of Field Marshal Montgomery, who in 1946, he said, refused to negotiate with moderate Jewish insurgents in order to separate them from those the high commissioner viewed as extremists, such as the Stern Gang. "Montgomery insisted on a military solution. We put 100,000 troops into Palestine and 20,000 paramilitary police with catastrophic results." He likened terrorism to a cancer. "You need to ask yourself what the carcinogens are and you need to use a range of therapies" Britain has learned from bitter experience, he said, that terrorism must be tackled by tough security combined with "political, economic and social measures to separate terrorists from the sea of popular support in which they swim". Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Anti-US feeling spurs new wave of patriotism in Seoul Washington relations at risk as poll looms Jonathan Watts in Seoul Sunday December 15 2002 The Observer The vast square outside Seoul's city hall is becoming the rallying point for a new, middle-class brand of Korean nationalism. At last summer's football world cup finals, the square was alive with hundreds of thousands of fans cheering on their team. At the weekend, the traffic was again stopped and huge-screens re-erected for a very different outpouring of pan-Korean emotion: one of the biggest protests against the US military for 50 years. Some 50,000 rallied in protest against the deaths of two schoolgirls in a road accident involving a US tank. Although political protests are two-a-penny in South Korea, this one is attracting concern for its scale and the likely impact on Thursday's presidential election and an alliance facing a fresh nuclear threat from North Korea. Past anti-US protests were organised by student radicals and communist unions, but last week thousands of middle-class salarymen, mothers and children gathered each night at the US embassy to vent their anger, which was further fuelled by a US military tribunal's acquittal of the two soldiers of negligent homicide. President Kim Dae-jung himself asked why no one had been held responsible. Protesters have called for an apology from President Bush, a retrial and changes to the rules under which the 37,000 US troops in South Korea operate. For many of the mostly young demonstrators, it is nationalism not pacifism that drives them. Brought up in a period of relative peace with the North, they feel less reason to be grateful to the US for security and economic growth than their parents who lived through the 1950-53 Korean war. They are also a more confident generation, which has seen its country bounce back from the Asian financial crisis of 1997 to become one of the strongest economies in the region. After a period of detente, they have warmed towards the North and world cup success has left many basking in national pride. "South Korea has grown up and we should have a more balanced relationship with America," said Kim Sun-hee, who plans to take her two toddlers to today's rally. The issue has played a key role in a presidential race in which the main candidates have taken strikingly different positions on how to deal with the North and Washington. The frontrunner, Roh Moo-hyun of the Millennium Democratic party, is a 56-year-old former human rights lawyer who pledges engagement with the North. Although he has distanced himself from the latest protests, his anti-American credentials have won over many young voters. His rival, Lee Hoi-chang, is a former supreme court judge standing for the presidency for the second time with the Grand National party. The 67-year-old is close to Washington and favours cutting aid to the North unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction. Although polls show Mr Roh between 3% and 9% ahead, rising security fears over North Korea could cut the gap. Whatever the outcome, analysts warn that the rising tide of frustration towards the US is pushing ties towards their worst crisis for half a century. "This is the most critical moment the alliance has faced," said Kim Sung-han, a professor at the institute of foreign affairs and national security. "We must put all our problems on the table and start again." With the North threatening to go nuclear, foreign observers view this election as pivotal. "The next five years will be crucial," said a western diplomat. "Korea faces huge challenges from the North Korean and the Chinese economy. These candidates are two very different people who are likely to handle things in very different ways." Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED
[CTRL] canada.com Story
-Caveat Lector- Dear [EMAIL PROTECTED], Your friend [EMAIL PROTECTED] thought you might be interested in this canada.com story: "Leaders distance FSIN from anti-Semitic rant: Group's ex-chief praises Holocaust" http://www.canada.com/regina/story.asp?id=9B486E8C-19A2-4A26-B9E0-974DDEAC0C0C ___ This is a free service courtesy of canada.com (http://www.canada.com) http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] NYTimes.com Article: A First Step to Cutting Reliance on Oil
-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] A First Step to Cutting Reliance on Oil December 15, 2002 By TOM REDBURN WHICH events of recent days are likely to have the most significant long-term impact on American business and the economy? To my mind, it was not the Bush administration's new team of economic policy makers, who dominated the headlines last week. Nor the efforts to clean up Wall Street. And not the buildup of troops to fight a war in Iraq, either. No, my money is on the barely noticed introduction by Honda and Toyota of a handful of experimental fuel cell vehicles to be tested by the State of California. The possibility of running cars on fuel cells has been heavily promoted in business circles in recent years, and for good reason. Imagine a global economy no longer dependent on oil and the internal combustion engine. Fuel cells, because they produce energy from pure hydrogen rather than from petroleum, emit only water and heat as waste, potentially generating power without burning fossil fuels. By making it possible to shift from petroleum to other primary energy sources, fuel cells could ease the threat of global warming without taking away the freedom and mobility that Americans and Europeans take for granted - and the rest of the world is determined to get for itself. China and India, with more than one-third of the world's population, could sustain rapid growth for decades without choking the sky with pollutants and climate-damaging carbon dioxide. But this vision of a truly sustainable economic future is far from inevitable. The technological challenges to building a commercially successful fuel cell vehicle are overwhelming. And who would supply them? Recasting the entire petroleum-based infrastructure to produce and deliver hydrogen safely to hundreds of millions of such vehicles presents a classic chicken-and-egg problem of immense proportions. Every major automaker and oil company has a hydrogen or fuel cell research effort under way; supporters say they recognize that fossil fuels can't last forever. Environmentalists carp that industry is simply trying to preserve the status quo and avoid more immediate steps to improve the fuel efficiency of conventional automobiles. In a generally positive article on the efforts of General Motors to reinvent the automobile, Wired magazine noted that Rick Wagoner, G.M.'s chief executive, likes to call the fuel cell car "the holy grail," but that the description "may be a truer assessment than he intends." After all, as David Redstone, editor of Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Investor, a newsletter, told the magazine: "The holy grail is something you spend your entire life looking for. The whole point is that you never find it." No one knows for sure whether a hydrogen economy is a possible dream. "The oil companies and automakers are not doing this because they want to kill it," said Steven Taub, an expert on alternative fuels at Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Cambridge, Mass. "But they are not doing this because they know it's the future, either. They're doing it because they don't know whether or not it's the future." It's worth the risk to find out. Bolstered by modest support from the government and a new commitment from the Bush administration, American automakers and other companies are already investing in fuel cell research. But an effort to put tens, if not hundreds of thousands, of vehicles on the road within a decade, which many analysts regard as feasible, would require a substantial commitment from Washington to help jump-start the market and support the investment in a supply infrastructure. THIS shouldn't mean giving up on less ambitious efforts, as both the White House and the auto industry have done in abandoning the research program to build a very fuel-efficient car using existing technology. If nothing else, as an insurance policy to avoid being usurped again by Japanese automakers, Detroit should also be investing more in fuel-efficient hybrid electric-gasoline vehicles like the Toyota Prius. True, big federal programs like the Interstate System of highways, the development of the Internet and the creation of the semiconductor chip (which grew out of the space program) have gone out of fashion. But even in an era in which markets have rightly assumed a much greater role in allocating resources, government commitment is needed to set ambitious goals in crucial areas. And when the nation is preparing to spend at least $100 billion to liberate Iraq from Saddam Hussein and much more to maintain stability in the Persian Gulf, nothing is more crucial than investing a fraction of that sum to help liberate the world economy from its addiction to Middle East oil. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/15/business/yourmoney/15VIEW.html?ex=1040943532&ei=1&en=a2e9f7e17f2a8156 HOW TO ADVERTISE - For information on advertising in e-mail newsl
[CTRL] Meteors from the Twilight Zone
-Caveat Lector- Hi! I thought you'd be interested in this story from Science@NASA: The Geminid meteor shower, which peaks this year on Saturday morning, Dec. 14th, has begun. Unlike the recent Leonids, which were nearly overwhelmed in some places by moonlight, the Geminids of 2002 will not be dimmed by a glaring moon. These meteors come from a curious object--a "Twilight Zone" cross between a comet and an asteroid--called 3220 Phaethon. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/09dec_geminids.htm?friend http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Credit card swindler jailed for five years Friday December 13 2002 The Guardian A member of one of Israel's most distinguished families was jailed for five years yesterday for planning and executing an international fraud. Dan Mazar, 33, whose uncle, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, was Israel's second president, used 300 credit cards in an array of bogus identities to pay for holidays, hotel rooms and shopping sprees. Martin Hicks, prosecuting, told Southwark crown court, in south London: "He was involved both as prime mover and principal beneficiary. It was a meticulously planned, carefully executed conspiracy to defraud credit card companies on an unprecedented scale." Mazar, of Hendon, north London, admitted one count of conspiracy to defraud, reflecting £286,903, the UK element of the scam. His two-year 10-month crime spree - interrupted by a seven-month prison sentence for the Israeli end of the scam - ended when his "luck ran out" in a central London branch of Superdrug in April. As a taxi paid for with one of the many credit cards waited outside, Mazar tried to embark on yet another shopping expedition. But staff became suspicious and called the police, who arrested him as he tried to escape in the cab. Police found 15 credit cards in different names, and an extensive "aide memoir" with identification details. Mr Hicks said Mazar, the only one to be arrested in connection with the scam in this country, used cards obtained from various American issuers, including American Express, either based on a variation of his own name or using other people's identities. He had a string of credit card telephone numbers to check that the cards issued in the names of others had not been cancelled, and to make sure he did not exceed credit limits. Judge Stephen Robbins said: "This type of offending is rife in this country and it causes massive losses. The annual loss to the banks in Britain is said to be £700m each year." As well as ordering him to pay £40,000 of prosecution costs, the judge made a £286,902 confiscation order. Jonathan Goldberg QC, defending, said Mazar was driven to crime after getting into debt with a loan shark. Press Association Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] Source: U.S. Firms on List Aided Iraq Arms Development
-Caveat Lector- From: Euphorian Source: U.S. Firms on List Aided Iraq Arms Development By Mohamad Bazzi United Nations Correspondent December 13, 2002 United Nations -- Iraq's 12,000-page declaration of its weapons programs lists American companies that provided materials used by Baghdad to develop chemical and biological weapons in the 1980s, according to a senior Iraqi official. The public release of such a list could prove embarrassing for the United States and highlight the extent to which the Reagan and first Bush administrations supported Iraq in its eight-year war with neighboring Iran in the 1980s. U.S. military and financial assistance to Iraq continued until Iraqi President Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August 1990. The Iraqi official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, would not name the companies or discuss how much detail the Iraqi declaration gives about them. The official said the American firms are named along with other foreign companies that provided arms and ingredients for making chemical and biological weapons to Iraq. The declaration, which was submitted to UN weapons inspectors Saturday, was mandated under a new Security Council resolution that requires Iraq to declare and destroy all of its nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Iraqi leaders insist they no longer have any such weapons, but the United States and Britain accuse Hussein of continuing with a secret program to develop banned weapons - and have threatened to go to war to disarm Iraq. Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, said Tuesday that he does not intend to release the names of foreign companies that provided material to Iraq. He said such firms could be valuable to UN inspectors as sources of information about Iraq's weapons program. If the inspectors "were to give the names publicly, then they would never get another foreign supplier to give them any information," Blix said. A Bush administration official declined to comment on U.S. companies' presence in the declaration, or the potential embarrassment if the list were made public. "The issue is not so much who the suppliers are. The issue is really Iraq's program and making sure that Iraq declares what it has," said the official, who asked not to be named. "We want companies to be able to provide information to the weapons inspectors. It's important to find out what the Iraqis may have received." Other officials in Washington declined to comment. But U.S. officials have long acknowledged close military collaboration with Iraq while it was at war with Iran, which Washington viewed as a greater threat. A 1994 report by the Senate Banking Committee concluded that "the United States provided the government of Iraq with 'dual-use' licensed materials which assisted in the development of Iraqi chemical, biological and missile-system programs." This assistance, according to the report, included "chemical warfare-agent precursors; chemical warfare-agent production facility plans and technical drawings; chemical warfare filling equipment; biological warfare-related materials; missile fabrication equipment and missile system guidance equipment." There is dissension within the council over the handling of Iraq's declaration. Under a deal quietly worked out over the weekend, the United States received the sole copy of the dossier and supporting material that was intended for the council. Washington then made duplicates for the four other permanent council members: Britain, France, Russia and China. Blix said the other 10 rotating council members will get edited copies of the dossier by Monday, with any information that could help countries develop weapons of mass destruction excised by UN inspectors. Arms experts say it is likely that companies from all five permanent council members sold materials to Iraq that were used to develop its weapons. "All the permanent five members are probably on the Iraqi supplier list. They all have advanced chemical and biological industries," said Susan Wright, a research scientist at the University of Michigan and co-author of the book "Biological Warfare and Disarmament." Wright said the release of a supplier list containing American companies would embarrass the United States. "It would bring people's attention to something that the Bush administration would rather forget about: that the United States was a supplier state to Saddam Hussein, even after it became clear that he was producing and using chemical weapons," she said. At the heart of U.S. and other foreign trade with Iraq in the 1980s were so-called "dual-use" materials, which have both civilian and military applications. Under the new Security Council resolution, Iraq had to account for all its dual-use programs and materials. The 1994 Senate report found that the United States had licensed dozens of companies to export various materials that helped Iraq make mu
[CTRL] NYTimes.com Article: General Sees Scant Evidence of Threat Near in U.S.
-Caveat Lector- This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by [EMAIL PROTECTED] The FBI gets some credible leadership ... at last! A<>E<>R [EMAIL PROTECTED] General Sees Scant Evidence of Threat Near in U.S. December 13, 2002 By ERIC SCHMITT and PHILIP SHENON WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - The nation's top general for domestic security says he has seen little evidence to suggest an imminent terrorism threat inside the United States by members of Al Qaeda's network, and warns against using "McCarthyism" in combating terror. "I am not aware of a significant threat to this nation" from so-called sleeper cells, said the officer, Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart. General Eberhart, who as head of the military's newly created Northern Command oversees the Pentagon's contribution to domestic counterterrorism efforts, expressed concern that undetected terrorist cells could be operating in the United States and plotting new attacks. "To say that we're not aware of it," he said, "is not the same to say that it doesn't exist." But he said there was scant intelligence to suggest an immediate domestic threat from Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups, and voiced growing optimism about the government's ability to prevent and respond to terrorist strikes. The comments by the general, a four-star Air Force officer who has access to much of the same intelligence that President Bush receives, may be reassuring to a public made jittery by repeated terrorism alerts from Washington. But they appeared to contradict pronouncements from senior law enforcement officials, including Attorney General John Ashcroft, of an impending threat of domestic terrorist attacks. In a wide-ranging 45-minute conversation at his headquarters in Colorado Springs this week, General Eberhart said his command had established a strong working relationship with law enforcement agencies, noting that the F.B.I. had a permanent representative on his staff. And aides to the general said later that his comments, in his first major interview since the Northern Command was established on Oct. 1, were simply a candid airing of his views, not a purposeful departure from Mr. Ashcroft's outlook or Bush administration policy. In Congressional testimony last summer, Mr. Ashcroft said that Al Qaeda maintained an "active presence in the United States, waiting to strike again," and that the United States was "at war with a terrorism network operating within our borders." He said that "there remain sleeper terrorists and their supporters in the United States." In June, the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III, said a "substantial" number of people suspected of ties to Al Qaeda and other terror groups were under constant surveillance in the United States. Since late summer, the bureau has rounded up more than a dozen people in upstate New York, Detroit and elsewhere who have been accused of involvement in sleeper cells. General Eberhart said he was increasingly confident that if terrorist cells were in the United States, law enforcement would ferret them out before they struck. But he said there was a natural tension between a need for aggressive pursuit of terrorists on one hand and, on the other, a need for caution that there be no abridgements of civil liberties - "some of the things we did in the 50's with McCarthyism, which I think was a very sad chapter in our history." "We just have to be very, very careful that we don't misread some things we see, that we don't jump to conclusions," he said. "Our basic freedoms must be protected," he said, though he acknowledged that "those who attack us usually leverage those freedoms to do things that they couldn't do in other countries." A White House spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said he could not comment on the general's remarks without studying the full context in which they were made. But Mr. Johndroe, who works for Tom Ridge, the president's domestic security adviser, said the White House supported the Justice Department in its concern "about the possibility that there may be Al Qaeda members or sympathizers here in the United States." In his recent public statements on domestic terrorism threats, Mr. Ridge, like General Eberhart, has sounded a reassuring tone. In television interviews last month, he said the government was "in a much better position" to respond to threats of terrorism on American soil than before the Sept. 11 attacks. Spokesmen for the Justice Department and the F.B.I. had no formal response to General Eberhart's remarks. But senior officials at both the department and the bureau, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the arrests since late summer, in Lackawanna, N.Y., Detroit and elsewhere, showed that the domestic terrorism threat was real. The Northern Command is responsible for coordinating the Pentagon's response to terrorism on American soil and to other domestic threats, including natural disasters like floods and forest fires. Fourteen military, law enforcement, intelligence and
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk British academic boycott of Israel gathers pace Andy Beckett and Ewen MacAskill Wednesday December 11 2002 The Guardian Evidence is growing that a British boycott of Israeli academics is gathering pace. British academics have delivered a series of snubs to their Israeli counterparts since the idea of a boycott first gained ground in the spring. In interviews with the Guardian, British and Israeli academics listed various incidents in which visits, research projects and publication of articles have been blocked. Colin Blakemore, an Oxford University professor of physiology, who supports a boycott, said: "I do not know of any British academic who has been to a conference in Israel in the last six months." Dr Oren Yiftachel, a left-wing Israeli academic at Ben Gurion University, complained that an article he had co-authored with a Palestinian was initially rejected by the respected British journal Political Geography. He said it was returned to him unopened with a note stating that Political Geography could not accept a submission from Israel. Mr Yiftachel said that, after months of negotiation, the article is to be published but only after he agreed to make substantial revisions, including making a comparison between his homeland and apartheid South Africa. The issue of a boycott was highlighted in the spring when two British academics, Steven and Hilary Rose, had a letter published in the Guardian supporting the idea. It was signed by 123 other academics. Professor Paul Zinger, outgoing head of the Israeli Science Foundation, said: "Every year we send most of our research papers abroad for reference. We send out about 7,000 papers a year. This year, for the first time, we had people writing back, about 25 of them, saying 'We refuse to look at these'." Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com Here's the old "father - daughter" thing again. Shrub and his coupla six packers; John Ellis and his renegade; now, one of the white male Supremes. "Ain't no behaviour low enough ..." A<>E<>R To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42681-2002Dec11.html GAO Widens Inquiry of Rehnquist By Edward Walsh The General Accounting Office has expanded its investigation of Health and Human Services Inspector General Janet Rehnquist, the daughter of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, beyond its initial focus on widespread personnel changes in her office. According to congressional investigators, the GAO is now also looking into allegations involving the delay in an audit of a Florida pension fund that could have benefited Gov. Jeb Bush (R), the unauthorized possession of a gun by Rehnquist and the shredding of documents after the GAO inquiry had begun. Ben St. John, a spokesman for Rehnquist, confirmed that these additional elements have become part of the GAO inquiry, which he said HHS officials do not consider an investigation but a "management review." The GAO is the investigative arm of Congress. Rehnquist, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Alexandria who worked in the White House under then-President George H.W. Bush, supervises a staff of about 1,600, the largest Office of Inspector General (OIG) at any federal agency. One of the office's main tasks is to investigate allegations of fraud and waste in the huge Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs that are administered by HHS. The GAO first began looking at the operations of Rehnquist's office in October in response to a request from Sens. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and John Breaux (D-La.). In a letter to top GAO officials, the three senators said they were concerned "about the impact of the loss or reassignment of several senior managers on OIG operations." In a separate statement, Grassley said that, since Rehnquist was confirmed in August 2001, there had been 19 senior staff changes in the office, including the retirement, resignation or reassignment of six deputy inspectors general, most of whom had at least 30 years experience at the agency. "I want the GAO to determine whether the loss or transfer of these key people will erode this office's performance," Grassley said at the time. Since that initial request, the GAO inquiry has branched out into other areas, including an almost six-month delay earlier this year in beginning an audit of a Florida state government pension fund at a time that Gov. Bush, President Bush's brother, was facing a tough reelection battle. The audit, scheduled to begin in April, did not start until September, ensuring that any potentially embarrassing results would not be known until well after the Nov. 5 election in which Bush eventually won a second term. St. John said the audit was delayed at least three times at the request of Florida officials. He said that at least the first request, seeking a delay because the pension fund was about to get a new director, came from Gov . Bush's office and was referred to Rehnquist. But St. John said that the delays were not linked to Florida politics, and that the outcome of the audit would not have been known until after the election even if the audit had started in April. A congressional investigator disputed that assertion, saying that interviews with people in Florida indicated that the audit would have been done before Nov. 5. June Gibbs Brown, Rehnquist's predecessor at HHS who served as IG at four federal agencies, said in an interview that requests to delay an audit are unusual and rarely reach the head of the IG office. Late yesterday, Rehnquist released internal documents on the audit decision and a letter to Grassley in which she said "my decision to delay the audit was based on the merits and not motivated by political reasons." According to an internal e-mail message that Rehnquist released, before the audit was delayed, OIG officials expected a draft report on the audit by Sept. 30, more than a month before the election. Rehnquist confirmed yesterday that the delay request came from Kathleen Shanahan, Jeb Bush's chief of staff. Rehnquist said her staff advised her that it was a "reasonable request." Congressional investigators said they have also determined that Rehnquist, who apparently has become a shooting enthusiast but is not licensed to own a gun, had an unloaded handgun in her office for a short time. St. John said he knew nothing about a handgun, but confirmed that Rehnquist at one point had a laser gun in her office that she used to practice aiming at a poster of a human figure. A laser gun does not shoot bullets, but aims a beam of light. Another source said
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com A question arises as to when nations exceed their legal authority and become pirates. To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40649-2002Dec11.html U.S. Releases Missile Shipment to Yemen By Ahmed Al-HajSAN'A, Yemen –– The U.S. Navy released the shipment of North Korean-made Scud missiles it seized, sending the vessel and its cargo on their way Wednesday to the original destination of Yemen.White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the United States had authority to stop and search the vessel, but not to seize it."There is no clear authority to seize the shipment," Fleischer told a news conference in Washington. "The merchant vessel is being released."Yemeni Foreign Ministry officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the decision followed high-level contact between Yemen and the United States.The official Saba news agency said the United States had assured Yemen that the shipment would be released as long as the Yemen-North Korea deal was concluded on legal basis.Vice President Dick Cheney told Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh that President Bush ordered the shipment to be returned, Saba reported. Fleischer said Cheney and Secretary of State Colin Powell had talked with Yemeni authorities.The Spanish navy had stopped the ship Monday off the Arabian peninsula, and U.S. authorities boarded it on Tuesday. The action came after intelligence officials watched the ship for weeks as part of an interdiction operation in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo said Wednesday the unflagged vessel was carrying 15 Scud missiles hidden in a cargo of cement."We became aware of the departure of the ship from North Korea that was carrying what we believe to be weapons of concern," Fleischer said. "This was a non-flagged vessel, which gave us further concern. And the vessel was destined for Yemen."We had a concern about what was on it. We had a concern before ascertaining, indeed, that it was going to Yemen, that it may have been heading for a nation that is a potential terrorist nation."As a result, the action that was taken, where the ship was stopped and boarded," Fleischer continued. "We have looked at this rnational law prohibiting Yemen from accepting delivery of missiles from North Korea."The Bush administration in August imposed sanctions on the North Korean company Changgwang Sinyong Corp. for selling Scud missile parts to Yemen. At that time, U.S. authorities asked Yemen why it bought the parts; San'a apologized and promised not to do so again, two defense officials said Wednesday in Washington.Under the U.S. sanctions, Changgwang Sinyong Corp. will be barred for two years from obtaining new individual export licenses through the Commerce or State departments for any controlled items. The sanctions have little practical effect, one official said, because there is so little commerce between the United States and North Korea.Before the ship was freed, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Kerbi summoned U.S. Ambassador Edmund J. Hull to tell him the arms shipment was a "property of the Yemeni government and its armed forces and demanded that the United States should hand the shipment over to Yemen," Saba reported."The weapons contained in the shipment were to be used for defensive purposes as Yemen has no aggressive intentions toward any country, and owning such weapons would not harm the international peace and security," Saba quoted the official protest handed to Hull.Yemeni officials had refused further details about the deal, including from what threat the Scud missiles were designed as a defense.The Saba agency said the memo given to Hull claimed the shipment was part of a long-standing deal with North Korea. A senior Yemeni official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Americans knew of the deal.Trillo, Spain's Defense Minister, said the U.S. Navy had been planning to take the ship to Diego Garcia island, a British island leased to the United States as a military base.Spain's role in the shipment's seizure earned the country a Yemeni protest memorandum as well in which San'a said the Spanish navy "didn't serve (to improve) relations betw was silent Wednesday about the interception of the ship, but said it had the right to develop weapons to defend itself."It is necessary to heighten vigilance against the U.S. strategy for world supremacy and 'anti-terrorism war,'" the North's official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said in an editorial."All the countries are called upon to build self-reliant military power by their own efforts," the newspaper said. It was unclear whether the editorial was a response to the interception, as North Korea usually takes several days or
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Supreme court to decide on Klan's burning cross Is it freedom of speech or incitement to violence? Julian Borger in Washington Tuesday December 10 2002 The Guardian The US supreme court will today hear arguments about whether the public burning of wooden crosses by the Ku Klux Klan is an incitement to racial violence or constitutionally-protected free expression. The sight of burning crosses near black homes was once a menacing icon of the South. According to Klan lore, the practice originated as a means of gathering ancient Scottish clans, but in the South they were used to scare blacks into fleeing from white neighbourhoods. Two recent cases have reopened the racially charged debate that pits freedom of speech against freedom from intimidation. In one, three white teenagers in Virginia put together an improvised cross and tried to set it alight outside the home of a black neighbour four years ago. In the other, also from Virginia in 1998, a white supremacist, Elton Black, was charged with cross-burning at a Klan rally on private land with the owners' consent, but in a spot where it could be seen from a public road a mile away, drawing complaints from neighbours. In Virginia, as in some other states, the public burning of crosses is banned, but in other states it is legal. The discrepancy arises from different interpretations of the US constitution's first amendment, which forbids laws "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press". The Supreme Court last addressed the issue ten years ago, when it overturned a cross-burning ban in Minnesota arguing that the ban was a form of discrimination. Virginia, Florida, California and Washington, have pointed to another Supreme Court ruling, that "hate speech" in the course of a crime could be considered an aggravating factor in sentencing. They argue that the 1992 decision does not protect people who burn crosses as a deliberate threat. "A burning cross - standing alone and without explanation - is understood in our society as a message of intimidation," Virginia's attorney general, Jerry Kilgore, argued in court documents. In both the current cases, the federal government favours state prosecutors arguing that intimidation was "not protected speech". Lawyers for the defendants say that the case against their clients is discriminatory, pointing out that the law in Virginia does not ban the burning of circles or squares. According to the defence case submitted to the Supreme Court: "It is but a short step from the banning of offending symbols such as burning crosses or burning flags to the banning of offending words." Mr Kilgore argues that the significance of the burning cross sets it apart. He said that even a white man would feel threatened if he woke up and found a burning cross in his garden. Jonathan Turley, a law professor, said the supreme court has a record of being extremely protective of the right to free speech, but said it might choose to distinguish between the Black case, where the cross was used in the course of a meeting, and the other case - in which it was targeted against an individual. "The cases offer the court a great amount of flexibility if it wants to develop a new rule," Prof Turley said. Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk How Diamond Joe's libel case could change the future of the internet Australian court gives millionaire go-ahead to sue US website David Fickling in Sydney and Stuart Millar Tuesday December 10 2002 The Guardian Once it was heralded as the last bastion of freedom of speech, a realm which transcended national law and the whims of the courts. But last night the internet was facing up to a harsh new reality after Australia's supreme court ruled that a local businessman could sue a website for libel in Melbourne even though it was based in the United States. In a case which opens up a legal minefield for web publishers across the English-speaking world, the high court judges decided that an internet article is published wherever it is read, rather than where the publisher is based. The landmark ruling is the first instance in the developed world of a libel trial being admitted in a foreign jurisdiction purely because of the possibility of an article being downloaded from the internet. Media companies and internet campaigners immediately denounced the decision amid fears that it would open the floodgates for a wave of libel actions from around the world. They said the "chilling" ruling would seriously undermine the internet's much-cherished reputation for freedom of speech and raised the threat of "forum-shopping" by wealthy litigants looking for the easiest jurisdiction to ensure their victory in libel proceedings. The case centres on a two-year-old article about Melbourne gold mining magnate Joe Gutnick, published in the American business magazine Barron's. The article, entitled Unholy Gains, alleged that Mr Gutnick - a multimillionaire rabbi nicknamed Diamond Joe who became a local hero in Melbourne after he saved the local Australian Rules football club with a A$3m (£1.1m) cash injection - was involved in tax evasion and money laundering. Most significantly, it claimed that he was the biggest customer of Nachum Goldberg, a Melbourne money launderer jailed in 2000 for washing A$42m (£15.5m) in used notes through a bogus Israeli charity. Mr Gutnick is suing the American business information company Dow Jones, which owns Barron's as well as the Wall St Journal. He has brought the case in Victoria, where libel laws give him a better chance of winning than in the US, where 98% of Barron's' readers live. The magazine has 14 subscribers in Australia, of which five are in Victoria. But 1,700 of its internet subscribers had paid their bills using Australian credit cards, and the court ruled yesterday that this was enough to admit the case in Victoria. "Publishers are not obliged to publish on the internet," the ruling stated. "If the potential reach is uncontrollable then the greater the need to exercise care in publication." Barron's offices are in New York, and Dow Jones had argued that the place of internet publication was New Jersey, where the magazine's web servers are based. The company's defence even at one point floated the suggestion of declaring the internet a libel-free zone, based on a 1928 legal decision about the meaning of "publication". In a clear indication of how serious the implications of the ruling may be, 18 of the world's biggest media organisations - including AOL Time Warner, Amazon and Yahoo! - made submissions to the court urging the judges to dimiss Mr Gutnick's action. Mr Gutnick said after yesterday's verdict that the case had been a David and Goliath battle against "all the strongest media in the world". "You have to be careful what you write, and if you offend somebody or write malicious statements about people, like what was done in my case, you can be subject to being prosecuted," he told the Nine Network. Dow Jones issued a statement expressing "disappointment" at the verdict. "The result means that Dow Jones will defend those proceedings in a juris diction which is far removed from the country in which the article was prepared and where the vast bulk of Barron's readership resides." The court made it clear that they were not ruling whether Mr Gutnick had been libelled, merely that the case could now go ahead. Crucially, however, the court made clear that a claim could only be brought in Australia if the person claiming libel had a reputation there that could be defamed. This will make it difficult for many foreign nationals to use the Australian courts to pursue internet libel actions. But the ruling has thrown internet publishers into disarray and left them facing a choice between two equally costly and undesirable options: restricting access to their websites to prevent people in potentially difficult legal jurisdictions reading them; or employing international legal teams to vet all content to ensure that it
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Top 10 rules for survival Cherie Blair might have avoided the pain of last night's public statement if she had learned from past scandals Jonathan Freedland Tuesday December 10 2002 The Guardian We don't yet know if Cherie Blair's bravura performance last night has saved her future seat on the high court, but her entry into another kind of elite pantheon is already guaranteed. The last 10 days have earned the PM's wife a place in the ever-fattening textbook of political scandal. She is destined to join Peter Mandelson, Norman Lamont, Richard Nixon and, of course, Hillary Clinton in the bumper volume that records the disgrace, deserved and undeserved, that fate routinely heaps on public figures - and which is bursting with advice for future victims yet unknown. It's a rich text, though a painfully repetitious one: the characters and storylines may change, but the same themes come through again and again. The only pity is that Mrs Blair didn't read the book before now. If she had, it might have spared her some agony. Here's a distilled version of its 10 key lessons. 1. It's never the crime, it's always the cover-up. This is the oldest lesson in the book, yet the world's prominent people never seem to learn it. Richard Nixon gave the masterclass 30 years ago: Watergate might have remained a "third-rate burglary," had the Nixon White House admitted it from the start. Instead the subsequent lies, deceptions and obstructions of justice produced the biggest scandal in US history. Bill Clinton made the same error when he lied (under oath) about Monica: if he had 'fessed up, it would have been embarrassing, but it would never have ended in impeachment. Likewise if Cherie had said 10 days ago, as soon as the Mail on Sunday got wind of Peter Foster and those Bristol flats, what she said last night, this story would have been dead on arrival: I'm not superwoman, I needed help, Carole Caplin came to the rescue and, yes, I made a mistake in believing her boyfriend was a reformed character. Fleet Street would have reached for the collective sick bag, but Cherie would have won. 2. Get all the facts out in one go. If Mrs Blair had disclosed everything in one shot, her pursuers would have had nowhere to go. Without a hunt for new, undisclosed facts a story soon dies. The folly of the alternative approach has been on display for 10 straight days. In the absence of full disclosure, Cherie was submitted to the drip-drip-drip of daily revelation. All that does is prolong the agony. What's worse, the scandalee looks like he or she has something to hide, only admitting the truth when it's dragged out. Witness Cherie's admission yesterday that she looked up the name of Foster's trial judge: would she have said that if the Daily Mail were not about to publish it? By telling all, early on, the scandal victim keeps the initiative. The instructive parallel here is the Whitewater affair which dogged the Clintons' first term. It could all have been prevented if the relevant papers had been released in a bloc, right at the start: Bill wanted to do that, Hillary said no. Cherie had the same instinct. 3. Context and timing is all. Scandals only blossom if the political climate is right. Judged on substance alone, the most serious scandal of the Blair period remains the Formula One affair, in which Labour took Bernie Eccelstone's cash and did a screaming u-turn to exempt the sport from the ban on tobacco advertising. Yet no heads rolled over that episode. That's because it broke in the autumn of 1997, when New Labour was still basking in a honeymoon glow. Voters had a positive view of Tony Blair which served as a protective shield: the revelations barely left a dent. Now it's different. There is a mood of rising disaffection, unfocused perhaps, with this government which makes people willing to hear such negative talk. Impatience at public service reform, worry about a war on Iraq and anger over university top-up fees and firefighters' pay are all swirling around - making Labour vulnerable, particularly with its own supporters. This episode channels at least two elements of that fury. First, the Blairs are exposed as people with enough cash to buy two classy student flats, even as they consider charging parents big money to give their kids a university education. Second they have £500k to spend, even as they refuse the firefighters £30k a year. Labour defenders insist Cheriegate is a media invention, but the evidence, whether from public meetings or phone-in shows, suggests the episode has stirred some genuine anger. That may dissipate now that Cherie has appealed above the heads of the Daily Mail, directly to working mothers like her. 4. Hypocrisy is always a killer.
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com I was assigned to Keesler AFB, MS, for a short time in the late 1980ies. What was interesting to see ... in full view of those who were bound to support and efend the Constitution ... was the degree to which Biloxi and other cities on the Gulf were non-integrated. They had those of non-Eueopean descent but they were bussing tables and washing dishes. Ain't none dem suprises heah-abouts! To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34186-2002Dec10.html Why So Late on Lott? By Howard Kurtz Trent Lott must go! That, at least, is the consensus of online pundits. What, you weren't aware that the Senate majority leader was in hot water for appearing to embrace the segregationist cause? Perhaps that's because, until this morning, most major newspapers hadn't done squat on the story. Which is hard to understand for this reason: There were cameras rolling. It's on tape. It was on C-SPAN, for crying out loud. If a Democrat had made this kind of inflammatory comment, it would be the buzz of talk radio and the Wall Street Journal editorial page would be calling for tarring and feathering. But Lott seems to be getting something of a pass. When Lott finally apologized yesterday, the big papers jumped on the story. But why did they wait so long? The setting, for those of you who missed The Washington Post report last Saturday, was a 100th birthday celebration for Strom Thurmond. Everyone was saying nice things about ol' Strom. The Mississippi senator offered this praise: "I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either." Whoa! For those who are unfamiliar with the 1948 election, Thurmond, as governor of South Carolina, ran for the White House in what was dubbed the Dixiecrat Party, which stood for segregation of the races. "All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches," Thurmond said during his campaign against Harry Truman and Thomas Dewey in which he won four states. So "all these problems" wouldn't have occurred if Strom and his segregationist pals had won? That is a breath-taking statement. Now maybe Lott got carried away during a light moment. Maybe he simply misspoke. But he was mighty slow to apologize for his comments. Few in the mainstream media seem to care. The incident did come up on "Meet the Press," where Robert Novak said: "I think it was a mistake. I don't think he was at all serious, and I don't even think we should dwell on it." To which Time's Joe Klein responded: "If a Democrat had made an analogous statement, like if Henry Wallace had been elected in 1948, we would have had a much easier road with the Soviet Union because we would have just given them everything and there wouldn't have been a Cold War. You would have been jumping up and down. And I think that this kind of statement in this country at this time is outrageous, and it should be called that." Novak wouldn't budge: "I mean, this is the kind of thing that makes people infuriated with the media, is they pick up something that's said at a birthday party and turn it into a case of whether he should be impeached." On CNN, ex-Clintonite James Carville said: "To his credit, Strom Thurmond grew in wisdom and changed his views. It sounds like the same can't be said for other folks, Trent Lott, who has ties to a segregation-based organization." But if the establishment press is largely yawning, the situation is very different online. Andrew Sullivan pulls no punches: "After his disgusting remarks at Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday party, it seems to me that the Republican Party has a simple choice. Either they get rid of Lott as majority leader; or they should come out formally as a party that regrets desegregation and civil rights for African-Americans. Why are the Republican commentators so silent about this? And the liberals? "And where's the New York Times? Howell Raines is so intent on finding Bull Connor in a tony golf club that when Bull Connor emerges as the soul of the Republican Senate Majority Leader, he doesn't notice it. And where's the president? It seems to me an explicit repudiation of Lott's bigotry is a no-brainer for a 'compassionate conservative.' Or simply a decent person, for that matter. This isn't the first piece of evidence that Lott is an unreconstructed racist. He has spoken before gussied-up white supremacist groups before. So here's a simple test for Republicans and conservative pundits. Will they call Lott on this excrescence? Or are they exactly what some on the Lef
[CTRL] A washingtonpost.com article from: alamaine@uffdaonline.net
-Caveat Lector- You have been sent this message from [EMAIL PROTECTED] as a courtesy of the Washington Post - http://www.washingtonpost.com To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32361-2002Dec9.html Dorgan Urges Gore to Give Up on Presidency By Dan Balz As Al Gore contemplates another run for president, Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) has some crisp advice: Don't do it again. "Al Gore is a fine person, and I like him," Dorgan said in an interview. "My feeling is that our party must turn the page." Dorgan, burned by the way Gore and the national Democratic Party ran the 2000 presidential campaign, sent the former vice president a three-page letter in April outlining his complaints. He blamed Gore for issuing an "I give up" message in North Dakota and many other states long before the campaign was over. "It's one thing to try and fail," Dorgan said in the letter. "But I think it is unforgivable to fail to try. . . . I want a presidential candidate who will give us a fighting chance in the heartland states." Dorgan said over the weekend that his views haven't changed. "Vice President Gore is pretty much a known commodity," he said. "My own view is that, at this point, I hope he will make a decision not to seek the presidency." Dorgan's letter carries an inherent warning to other Democrats thinking of running in 2004. Democratic candidates in Republican-leaning states need financial and rhetorical support from the party's presidential nominee and national organization to avoid what happened in North Dakota in 2000, which was a Republican sweep. Dorgan isn't the only Democratic elected official sounding off about Gore lately. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said last week he thinks Gore should not run. "Gore would lose," Frank told the Boston Herald, adding that the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, had made Bush much more popular. "Al's been wounded," Frank said. "It's not his fault and it's unfair, but it's reality." Gore has said he will announce a decision shortly after the holidays. Senate Democrats Prime for '04 Senate Democrats yesterday tapped Sens. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan -- whose contacts stretch from Wall Street to auto unions -- to lead the party's effort take back control of the Senate in 2004. Corzine, a former chairman of the Goldman Sachs investment firm who made history by spending $60 million to win his seat two years ago, will be in charge of candidate recruitment and fundraising as chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Fellow first-termer Stabenow, who was regarded as a skillful dollar-stretcher in a campaign boosted by strong union support, will be vice chairman. Although Democrats lost their Senate majority in last month's elections, Sen. Mary Landrieu's reelection in Saturday's hotly contested runoff in Louisiana has lifted their spirits. "We have bounce in our step this morning," said Senate Democratic leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in announcing the appointments. "We will do well because we have the right issues," said Corzine, stressing the need for firm support for homeland security and a forceful assertion of economic priorities. An aide to Corzine said he will try to broaden the base of campaign fundraising in response to restrictions on large contributions in the new campaign finance law. Barbour Readies for Race It's all but official, it seems. Former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour has filed paperwork needed to begin raising money for his planned 2003 campaign for Mississippi governor. Barbour hasn't formally announced his candidacy, but he has been traveling the state and criticizing Gov. Ronnie Musgrove (D), who hopes for a second term. Barbour was the state's 1982 GOP nominee for the Senate. He lost that race but went on to serve in the Reagan White House, head the RNC and found a Washington lobbying firm. Staff writer Helen Dewar and researcher Brian Faler contributed to this report. http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited Politics site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited Politics site, go to http://politics.guardian.co.uk No 10 attacks media over Cheriegate Danny Penman and agencies Tuesday December 10 2002 The Guardian Downing Street has launched a withering assault on the media after nearly two weeks of embarrassing revelations about Cherie Blair's dealings with convicted conman Peter Foster. Tony Blair's official spokesman told the media to gain a "sense of perspective" over the issue. He said: "The central fact in all of this is quite simply nothing improper or illegal has been done or has been shown to be done." "At the end of it, what is the worst that Mrs Blair can be accused of? That she believed the best of someone? That she helped a pregnant friend understand the legal process? That she bought a flat for her son at university? "Are we saying that we have reached the point that the prime minister's wife is entitled to no privacy at all? That she and other ministers' wives have to keep a log of everything they do in case accusations are made? Accusations that turn out to be false?" There is a growing sense of anger in government circles about the way the media has treated Cherie Blair. Last night the international development secretary, Clare Short, waded into the debate by stating on Sky News that Cherie Blair was entirely innocent of any wrongdoing. Ms Short said: "If she's got any lack of judgement it's being kind and caring. "If she did anything that was foolish she helped out this friend who was pregnant and who was worried about whether the guy's case was being properly handled." The latest revelations came to light last night when it emerged that the prime minister's wife had telephoned Mr Foster's solicitors to reassure them that deportation proceedings against him would be handled in the normal way. Mr Foster was refused entry to Britain on August 31 because of his criminal past. He successfully appealed and is currently awaiting a final decision. Cherie Blair denies any attempt to influence proceedings. The prime minister's spokesman said: "She didn't involve herself in an immigration case, she did not contact the Home Office, she did not contact the immigration service. She helped her friend understand the process Peter Foster's solicitors were carrying out. That's not involving yourself in an immigration case. "Neither ministers, private staff nor officials from the immigration and nationality service have been contacted by Downing Street at any time on the matter of Mr Foster." Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. --- Note from Euphorian: "Cherie Blair has one of the sharpest legal brains in the country." --- To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk The court of Cherie Long before the row over her links with a conman, Cherie Blair's eccentric pals were a source of concern in Downing Street. So why did she refuse to drop them? Libby Brooks reports Libby Brooks Thursday December 05 2002 The Guardian Soon after Labour's triumphant 1997 election, Alastair Campbell was greeted on arrival at Downing Street by a vision which promptly shattered his morning good cheer. Tripping down the stairs from the prime minister's private apartments was "lifestyle therapist" Carole Caplin, already recognised as one of Cherie Blair's most intimate advisers, and this week described variously as a former soft-porn model, an ex-member of the discredited 80s cult Exegesis and, of course, as the daughter of Sylvia, who has reputedly assisted Blair in her communications with the spirit world. Campbell wasted no time in making his concerns apparent. "What's that woman doing in here?" he barked, within Caplin's earshot. He was astounded that, following her elevation to the role of first lady, Blair had not conducted a serious re-evaluation of those she kept close to her. The friction between the more colourful elements of Cherie Blair's entourage, and the more sober demands of her position, neither began nor ended with that morning encounter. But the unravelling allegations of this past week, which resulted in Blair's extraordinary statement yesterday - in which she admitted that Caplin's convicted fraudster partner, Peter Foster, had indeed helped broker the purchase of two flats in Bristol, despite previous denials - only hint at the significance of this key relationship. "Cherie is completely emotionally dependent on Caplin," says a source (no one in the Blair's inner circle will go on the record on the subject of Cherie). "[Caplin] is the person who helps her in the one area of her life where she feels genuinely insecure - her appearance. In her relationship with Blair, she was always used to being the less attractive partner - she was the brains and he was the brawn. Suddenly she found herself being judged on completely different terms." Carole Caplin's role in managing this vulnerability has brought her into direct conflict with both Campbell and his partner, Fiona Millar, Blair's unofficial minder, who have regarded her as a political liability for many years. But Blair is a supremely loyal person and, even as the Mail on Sunday story was breaking last weekend, she was reportedly hosting Caplin at Chequers. Cherie and Caplin first met when Caplin was running an exercise class at the Albany fitness centre in Regent's Park, London, long before her husband became prime minister. After Blair's election to leader, the pair became much closer, and Caplin has since been employed to advise on many aspects of dress, health and fitness, and is credited with introducing Blair to a number of alternative therapists. She has chosen clothes for Blair from the likes of Ronit Zilkha and Paddy Campbell, and over the years she has negotiated deals with a number of designers. It is important to distinguish between Caplin, and her mother and boyfriend, but long before this current round of guilt-by-association began, Caplin was attracting potentially compromising press. In 1994, the Express, for example, alleged that she used to run a company "giving women advice on how to spice up their sex lives". Campbell has never been comfortable with Caplin's proximity. "If you're the prime minister's press secretary and you see this happening, what do you do?" says one Downing Street insider. "You're into damage avoidance. But is it reasonable that someone should be banished to the wastes of Siberia just because the yellow press will have a pop at her every two years or so? No." Blair has remained loyal to her friend, and continued to be introduced to people by her. Granted, many highly pressured women - and men - enjoy the benefits of a personal trainer and the occasional holistic massage or session of acupuncture. But even by the eccentric standards of the alternative therapy community, Blair's choice of practitioners has been pilloried for being at the kooky end of the spectrum. While all who have dealt with Blair observe a strict code of silence, one can readily gain a sense of their chosen parish. Eighty-five-year-old Jack Temple, for example, runs the Temple Healing Centre in West Byfleet in Surrey. Although he refuses to discuss individual patients, Blair was reportedly introduced to him by Caplin six years ago. Temple says that he is able to reverse the ageing process by dowsing, and that he is able to undertake "absent healing
[CTRL] For your attention
-Caveat Lector- Euphorian spotted this on the Guardian Unlimited site and thought you should see it. To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk US and UK admit lack of 'killer' proof Whitehall puts onus on Saddam to show banned arms have gone Julian Borger in Washington, Nick Paton-Walsh in Moscow, Ewen MacAskill and Richard Norton-Taylor Monday December 09 2002 The Guardian The US and Britain lack "killer" intelligence that will prove conclusively that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, according to sources in London and New York. "If we had intelligence that there is a piece of weaponry at this map reference, we would tell the inspectors and they would be there like a shot," a source said. After handing over 12,000 pages of documentation to UN weapons inspectors, Iraq challenged the US and Britain to produce evidence that it still has weapons of mass destruction. The US and Britain will insist the onus is on Iraq to prove that it has no weapons of mass destruction, as it claims, rather than for them to prove that it does. Whitehall sources yesterday stood by their claims that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and that this was "based not on what we say but on what we know". But they said that passing the intelligence to the UN chief weapons inspector, Hans Blix, would alert the Iraqis to the activities of US intelligence and might jeopardise its secret sources. UN weapons inspectors in New York and Vienna began studying the Iraqi paperwork yesterday. The five permanent members of the UN security council, the US, Britain, France, China and Russia, also received copies of the documents. In Vienna, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that much of the 2,400-page nuclear annexe appeared to be a copy of a declaration Iraq had made four years ago, repeating its account of how the country's nuclear weapons had been dismantled after the 1991 Gulf war. An additional Arabic language section, 300 pages long, gave details of more recent activity, according to an IAEA spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming. The Arabic text was titled, Activities that could be interpreted as nuclear-related 1991-2002, suggesting that it dealt with "dual-use" items, such as radioactive material used in hospital scanners. Ms Fleming said the IAEA's three Arabic-speaking experts had begun analysing the document on Sunday night as soon as it arrived in Vienna, but added that it would take several days to finish the work. Meanwhile, another group of IAEA specialists is working on the other 2,100 pages in English. Ms Fleming said the IAEA would not give a full assessment of the document until its head, Mohammed el-Baradei, addressed the UN security council on December 19. She said the nuclear agency was hoping to cross-check the document against information supplied by the world's intelligence agencies, as envisaged in last month's security council resolution on disarmament. "We've been told the intelligence would be forthcoming after the declaration has been delivered," Ms Fleming said. US officials said that the CIA and national laboratories specialising in chemical, biological and nuclear warfare had begun an analysis of the entire Iraqi declaration, and had been told to focus on a handful of Iraqi claims that could be proved false with available intelligence. They also said that American analysts would look for Iraqi explanations of what had happened to thousands of tonnes of chemical and biological agents, and equipment used in the construction of nuclear weapons that were not accounted for in Iraq's 1998 declaration. Russia indicated yesterday that it was ready to support military action against Baghdad if Iraq breaks any UN resolution, while the Kremlin's foreign ministry welcomed the Iraqi declaration as a "basis for [settling] the problem within political and diplomatic channels". Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl ==
[CTRL] Woman's journey leads to film alleging Oklahoma City conspiracy
-Caveat Lector- This Story has been sent to you by : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Woman's journey leads to film alleging Oklahoma City conspiracy A woman's seven-year search for what was behind the Oklahoma City bombing that killed her two grandchildren and 166 other persons has culminated in a 90-minute documentary that suggests a radical right conspiracy in the crime. The full article will be available on the Web for a limited time: http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/news/nation/4689894.htm (c) 2001 miami and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER == CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substancenot soap-boxingplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED] http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ctrl To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om