ugnet_: MAKES YOU WONDER
"Attending a wedding for the first time, a little girl whispered to her mother, "Why is the bride dressed in white?" "Because white is the colour of happiness, and today is the happiest day of her life." The child thought about this for a moment, then said, "So why is the groom wearing black?" " The Mulindwas Communication Group"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
ugnet_: A BRAZIL COURT AGAIN ON GM FOODS
Brazil Court Overturns GM Soy Ruling9-12-3 A Brazilian court has reversed a ruling that had lifted a ban on the planting and sale of Monsanto's genetically modified soybeans. In August, one of the federal tribunal's judges had lifted the injunction that prevents Monsanto from selling its GM Roundup Ready soybeans in Brazil. However, following an appeal by Greenpeace and other anti-GM campaigners, the federal tribunal suspended the previous ruling, thereby re-imposing the ban on Monsantoís GM soybeans. The Brazilian government is attempting to sort out its regulatory laws on GM crops before the start of the next planting season in October. A final decision on the legality of GM crops has yet to be made, but one of the judges said he would try to speed up the ruling, reported Reuters. http://www.just-food.com/news_detail.asp?art=55309 The Mulindwas Communication Group"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
ugnet_: MPs to Talk to Sudan Over Fresh Kony Rebel Support Allegations
MPs to Talk to Sudan Over Fresh Kony Rebel Support Allegations New Vision (Kampala) September 12, 2003 Posted to the web September 12, 2003 Cyprian Musoke Kampala THE Presidential and Foreign affairs committee of Parliament is in top preparations to hold talks with their counterparts in Khartoum, over renewed accusations of LRA support from Sudan. They are also to meet Sudanese diplomats in the country, security organs ISO and ESO, Foreign Affairs and regional co-operation officials to verify and deal with 'the Sudan factor' in the LRA insurgency. Drawing up the programme at Parliament yesterday, members of the committee said that the two heads of state have been involved in a lot of 'sabre-rattling' and Parliament had not yet had an in-put. The committee was chaired by Bugabula South MP Salaamu Musumba (left), and was attended by former state for security minister Muruuli Mukasa (Nakasongola), Louis Opange (Pallisa), Elijah Okupa (Kasilo), and Kennedy Ssebalu (Busiro). Other were Margaret Zziwa (Kampala), and Beatrice Magoola (Iganga).
ugnet_: DEL PONTE OPPOSED PRESIDENT KAGAME
I was sacked as Rwanda genocide prosecutor for challenging president, says Del Ponte John Hooper in RomeSaturday September 13, 2003Carla del Ponte, who was removed last month from her post as prosecutor for the Rwanda genocide court, yesterday blamed her dismissal on the country's president, Paul Kagame. She also revealed that - in a last-ditch effort to remain in the job - she had offered to step down from the trial of the former Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic. In an interview with the Italian newspaper, La Repubblica, Ms Del Ponte also criticised Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, describing his position on the matter as "inflexible". She was quoted as saying that she had fallen foul of President Kagame because she insisted on tackling not only the 1994 genocide but also the alleged war crimes of his followers in the former rebel army that put an end to the killings. In her first detailed account of events leading up to her dismissal, Ms Del Ponte described a showdown last year in which, she said, Mr Kagame screamed at her "as if he was giving me an order", telling her that it was up to the government to investigate the military and up to her to investigate the genocide. "This work of yours is creating political problems for me," she quoted him as saying. "You are going to destabilise the country this way." Ms Del Ponte, speaking in Kigali, said: "Probably, if I had given in - if I had accepted his orders - I would still be here." The UN security council voted unanimously last month to relieve the Swiss-born lawyer of her duties in Africa while giving her a second four-year term as chief prosecutor at the Hague-based tribunal investigating war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. The decision was taken despite a personal appeal by Ms Del Ponte at the end of July. She told La Repubblica she had set off to New York "furious" over leaks that had begun to undermine her authority. "I had grasped what the Rwandans were up to, but I wanted to explain to the secretary general that it was not the right moment to split the two tribunals. I had no doubt that Kofi Annan would back me as he had done on other occasions - spurring me ahead. Instead, everything had already been decided." She said the head of the secretary general's legal office told her a majority of security council members wanted to divide the two posts. "Annan dug in behind that attitude and I realised that there was no room for negotiation," said Ms Del Ponte. She asked him if she could choose between the Hague and Kigali. "The secretary general was inflexible. [He said:] 'No. The trial against Milosevic is too important to be left in the hands of someone else'." · Mr Kagame was sworn in as Rwanda's president for a seven-year term yesterday after his landslide victory last month in his country's first multi-party presidential poll since the 1994 genocide. Mr Kagame, of the Tutsi minority and leader of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front, has been in charge of Rwandan politics since leading the rebel army that ended the slaughter by militant Hutus. He became president in 2000. Supporters say he has made Rwanda more secure, the economy is growing, education is on the rise and poverty is falling. Critics say his internal politics are too repressive and many people are too scared to voice support for anyone else. The Mulindwas Communication Group"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
ugnet_: PRESIDENT MUGABE'S ADRESS TO THE UN MILLENIUM SUMMIT
ADDRESS DELIVERED BY HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT R.G. MUGABE AT THE UNITED NATIONS MILLENNIUM SUMMIT, NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 8, 2000 Co-chairpersons of the Millennium summit, Distinguished delegates, We are gathered here to observe the New Millennium whose arrival we have been privileged to witness. I want to begin by asking whether this passage of time is a marker of qualitative change in the human condition and contact or whether it is human change in qualitative terms. Has the passage of time transported us all into a new commonwealth of diverse yet truly united peoples of the world living in one village? Are all the peoples of the world truly in the 21st Century by the way they live? Sadly, most of us in Africa and the developing world are stuck in problems dating back to the days of slavery and colonialism. We remain burdened with the unfinished business of the 20th century, including even the problem the "colourline". In Zimbabwe, and only because of the colourline arising from British colonialism, 70 percent of the best arable land is owned by less than one percent of the population who happen to be white, while the black majority are congested on barren land. We have sought to redress this inequity through a land reform and resettlement programme that will effect economic and social justice and this in terms of our constitution and laws. But what has been the response from former imperialist quarters? Their response has been staggering beyond description. My country, my Government, my Party and my own person have been labelled "land grabbers", demonised, reviled and threatened with sanctions in the face of accusations of reverse-racism. W.B. Du Bois must be turning in his grave for having thought the problem of the "colourline" would disappear with the 20th century. But our conscience of course remains clear. We will not go back. We shall continue to effect economic and social justice for all our people without fear or favour. Mr President, our world has shrunk into a global village, and time, place and distance continue to shrink inexorably by the day. The biggest challenge for us still relates not only to cyberspace, nor to the great super highway responsible for shrinking our world, but demands of us an answer to the age-old question, "who is my neighbour?" Whichever part of the globe we find ourselves in, the question should be asked whether the man, the woman, the country, the region and the continent on my doorstep is neighbourly and whether the culture or civilisation of my neighbour truly coincides and blends with mine to enable us to have peaceful and friendly co-existence. The question my compatriots and I face in Zimbabwe, as put to us by our peasants, is whether a globalised environment will enable them to have a patch of land to till and whether the ugly anomaly which history gave them in respect of land ownership shall be resolved in order to enlarge their own freedom so they can begin to be like the rest of mankind. They ask why a predatory political economy that the United Nations rejected and helped fight in the 1960s, throughout the 70s and in the 80s now has once again found so many globalised protectors. They want to understand why a system which is at the centre of poverty; at the centre of race relations; at the centre of denying developing countries their sense of sovereignty and democracy, is made to appear so right, so just, and fair. We are either makers of a new world based on new democratic principles of economic and social justice, or we remain in the old world with some conquering nations still set on old agendas of shrinking the rights of smaller nations as they enlarge their own conquests, sanctifying this under the cover of good governance, transparency, anti-corruption, democracy, human rights and digital technology. We anticipate the risk of importing the spirit and contradictions of the Victorian era of slavery and colonialism into the new millennium and the New World Order. We also risk accepting the hypocrisy hidden in the demand for the democratic reform of national governments and institutions in developing countries while doing nothing to reform the undemocratic structures and practices of international bodies such as the Bretton Woods institutions and indeed the United Nations itself. Co-Chairpersons, if the new millennium, like the last, remains an age of hegemonic empires and conquerors doing the same old things in new technological ways; remains the age of the master race; of the master economy and master state, then I am afraid we in developing countries will have to stand up as a matter of principle and say, "no, not again!" The time has come for the practise of political and economic dominance of poor nations by the rich to give way to the birth of a new inter-dependent world that recognises and respects the diversity and dignity of all cultures and civilisations. In this connection, I am
ugnet_: The Tragedy of Africa
The Tragedy of Africa Paul Ssemogerere13 December 1997 Mr. Paul SsemogererePresident of the Democratic Party of UgandaSpeech delivered to the Schiller Institute conferenceDecember 13, 1997Bad Schwalbach, Germany Madame chairperson, distinguished participants, I have reformulated my thoughts as I listened this morning to the wonderful exposition by Madame Helga LaRouche. I am one of the best beneficiaries of this seminar, because I think now we have some explanation to the African tragedy. I have called these remarks, African Tragedy, for two reasons. First, our own presence here as Africans in this seminar and second, the theme that we have received to explain what is going on in Africa as a tragedy. Begin with my former President of Uganda, Godfrey Binaisa, and going round the room, you have amongst you very capable, well-gifted, well-intentioned Africans who would rather be at home in their own countries helping their countries to develop. As circumstances prevail in Africa, it is well for them not to be there, but to be outside Africa, in exile. You don't need them here; they may be engineers, lawyers, academics, medical doctors; you have enough of your own. But they are here under circumstances prevailing in their own countries. And we are happy that they are here, because then we see them alive. They are alive politically; they are alive economically, outside their own countries. That is a tragedy. The Cold War ended and many of the refugees you had from Eastern Europe have since been repatriated. But the Africans are increasing their numbers and your governments are forced to adopt stringent immigration laws to keep the African out of Europe. This is something you don't like to do, but you have to do it. And I think the explanation is in this seminar. We have to find the solution. And I am happy to find that there are some people--that there is the Schiller Institute--which is concerned about the matter, and which has the courage to arouse international consciousness regarding this crisis. There is a crisis in Africa; there is a crisis in politics; there is a crisis in the economy. And I suppose I have been asked to make some remarks here, because I come from Uganda, and I shall go back to Uganda, because Uganda is singled out as a "model success story" regarding Structural Adjustment Programs. It has excellent indicators of GNP growth rate of 5-6%; it has controlled its economy; and all the indicators the IMF and the World Bank called for, are positive in the case of Uganda, and therefore the economy is sound. Well, I am here to say, let those indicators be as good as they are given out, but the economy regarding the majority of the people of Uganda is not sound. When life expectancy of people in Uganda is about the lowest in the world, you can't say the economy is sound. When we are among the poorest of the poorest countries among the LDCs, we can't be in a sound economy. And when the resources that are there in the soil there, the ground, the minerals are being looted everyday, are being stolen, we can't say the economy is sound. And when about one-third of the country is under insurgency, and therefore farmlands are now wastelands, a war zone, you can't say the economy is sound. And when we have an international debt of something like $4 billion--from $1.1 billion in 1986 piled up for 24 years--we got our independence in 1962. For 24 years after, there was an outstanding international debt of $1.1 billion, but between 1986 and now, barely 11 years, with much debt cancellation having been given, we are in the region of $4 billion, we can't say the economy is sound. And this money--we cannot pay it. We have met on many occasions, in different fora, at the United Nations, the OAU, the Non-Aligned Movement, bilaterally, the Commonwealth, as foreign ministers, as presidents and so on, we have always been pleading for debt cancellation. All the African countries. Each one of the African countries cannot pay its international debt. The answer always comes out as "No." And when debt relief is granted, there are conditionalities which are given, which make even more indebted the international community. So we cannot say the economy is sound. This seminar does explain that even where we think the economy is good, it is also not good. As we have been told, and I think we now have enough understanding that the theoretical foundations of the Bretton Woods agreeement have to be questioned. We now know that we are dealing with bankers, with businessmen, and they want profit, they want their interests. But when you are in Africa, you are given to understand that you are going to be assisted, you are getting your loan to be assisted. Now we know it is not so. Hence, the validity of this exercise, of this kind of forum. Madame chairperson, the African tragedy can be looked at from the point of view of legitimacy in Africa, legitimacy of leadership. When Africa was colonized, as Godfrey Binaisa said
ugnet_: THE SOULS OF THE DEAD ARE HUNTING IN UGANDA
Suicide At Kazini Home TRAGEDY befell former Army Commander, Major General James Kazinis home, when his 16-year-old nephew shattered his head with an AK 47 assault rifle at his uncles tightly guarded home at Ggaba, a city suburb. A Sunday Vision team investigating the early Saturday morning death was chased away by irate AK-47-wielding soldiers shouting, If you dont leave this place, we shall shoot you stupid fools. Published on: Saturday, 13th September, 2003 The Mulindwas Communication Group"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
ugnet_: Gun Suicide in Maj. Gen. Kazini's Home-Monitor
Gun suicide in Kazini's home By Henry Bongyereirwe Alex B. Atuhaire September 14, 2003-Monitor MUNYONYO - Maj. Gen. James Kazini's family woke up in shock on Saturday morning as a relative committed suicide at their home in Munyonyo.A 17-year-old nephew to the former army commander shot himself dead with an AK-47 rifle. Mrs Phoebe Kazini, whose husband is away in Nigeria, said that it was a "total mess" for the family. The DPC at Katwe Police Station, Mr Basil Mugisha, has confirmed the suicide of Kigo Kikuli, who has been a senior one student at Ntare School in Mbarara. Kazini had adopted Kigo, who is a son of his brother - the retired intelligence operative, Sgt. Singa a.k.a. Edward Muhwezi - who left for the United States last month. The dead boy left a suicide note written in English, saying that he had taken his life because of this "crazy world". He said that those who think that this world is not crazy are free to stay and "enjoy it". Police on Saturday morning took Kigo's body to Mulago Hospital for a postmortem examination. Kazini himself left the country on September 5 for a one-year advanced military course at a war college in Nigeria. His wife, Phoebe, told Sunday Monitor that Kikuli was a very quiet boy, who rarely spoke. He said that the boy, whose mother died years ago, seemed to have been traumatised in his childhood. "I think he did not even get to know who his mother was. Sometimes it would not be easy to know that he was sick. He would just keep quiet and we had to ask to find out whether he was unwell and then take him to hospital," Phoebe said on phone Saturday morning. A resident in Kazini's Munyonyo neighbourhood said: " I heard a gun shot early in the morning, but there was no alarm or chaos". Suicide note Police at Katwe said that the boy had told a cousin on Friday that "he had only two days to live". The note also said that his previous attempts at suicide had been thwarted but he had finally got his chance. According to the police the final lines on the suicide note read: "I am going ... I am going, I am going, I'm gone. Wow!" Kikuli had reportedly tried to jump to death from a rooftop earlier in the week but came down when the maid spotted him. How he got the gun Another relative said that the boy got the AK-47 from Kazini's gun store at the gate. "He stole the key to the store from where it was being kept in a kitchen drawer, which was near his bedroom," Phoebe said. The gun belonged to one of Kazini's bodyguards, who were ordered back to the barracks when Kazini left for Nigeria. Kazini had before departure ordered all but two of his guards to return to Bombo army headquarters. The general reportedly instructed his driver, one Bukenya, to transport all the relieved guards and their weapons back to the barracks. Apparently Bukenya delayed and the guards left by public means, leaving their guns locked up in the store by the gate. It was one of those guns that Kikuli used to kill himself - because the only other gun in the home is securely kept in Kazini's bedroom. Phoebe said that it was a very sad day and a tragedy for the family. "Afande [Kazini] had adopted him, and everyone in the family was always so nice to him. Maybe that is why he only killed himself and not anyone else in the family," she said. Said Phoebe: "The family is grieving and we are in a total mess. But God is our witness because no one did anything at all to hurt this boy. But it seems he was so traumatised in his childhood." © 2003 The Monitor Publications Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
ugnet_: MPs reject mining project
Saturday, September 13, 2003 MPs reject mining project By ONESMUS KILONZO and PATRICK MAYOYO Coast MPs yesterday opposed the titanium mining project in Kwale District during a meeting with President Mwai Kibaki. In a memorandum presented at State House, Mombasa, the legislators accused Canadian company, Tiomin Resources, of failing to involve local leaders and the people in its mining plans. The group was led by the chairman of the Coast Parliamentary Group, Likoni MP Suleiman Shakombo. On constitutional review, the MPs told the President that the outocme of the Bomas talks should only be implemented after the life of the current Parliament. Briefing journalists later, the CPG Secretary, Mr Lucas Maitha (Malindi), said the MPs told the President they wanted the titanium mining deal suspended and renegotiated afresh. We told the President that we are not happy with the deal that has been negotiated between the Canadian firm and our farmers and the sidelining of MPs in these negotiations, said Mr Maitha. Currently, a stalemate persists concerning the Sh80,000 being offered by the firm for every acre of land being taken for mining. Residents say the amount is too little. We want the affected farmers to be partners in the project either directly as individuals, or indirectly through their local authority, added the Malindi MP. He said they were against the processing of titanium in Canada as that would not only deny the government a lot of revenue, but would also deny Coast people jobs and other accruing benefits. The MPs favour an arrangement where Tiomin establishes a processing plant in the country to add value to titanium mining and create more employment opportunities, he said. A source at the meeting said President Kibaki promised that the Cabinet would look at all the outstanding issues on the project. He told Environment and Natural Resources minister Newton Kulundu to take charge and ensure that the issues were resolved amicably. Other issues discussed were the constitutional review process, the proposed Coast university and the revival of collapsed projects, including the Kwale Cashewnut factory, Mariakani Milk Processing Plant, Ramisi Sugar Factory, Kenya Meat Commission (Kibarani) as well as irrigation schmes on the Tana River. The MPs also requested that the recommendations made by the Land Commission of Inquiry chaired by former Attorney-General Charles Njonjo be adopted and implemented to resolve land problems at the Coast. The meeting started at 8am and ended at noon. Nearly all MPs form different parties were present. Those who did not attend, but sent apologies, were Mr Marsden Madoka (Mwatate, Kanu), Mr Mwandawiro Mghanga (Wundanyi, Ford-P), Mr Boniface Mganga (Voi, Kanu) and Mr Fahim Twaha (Lamu East, Kanu). Comments\Views about this article Mitayo Potosi _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail This service is hosted on the Infocom network http://www.infocom.co.ug
ugnet_: Chinua Achebe's book sparks Kenyan row-BBC
'Pornographic' book sparks Kenyan row -BBC Chinua Achebe denies his book 'A man of the People' is pornographicA book by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe has caused outrage in Kenya, where a parents' group has described it as pornographic. A Roman Catholic group, the Kenya Parents Caucus, has demanded that Mr Achebe's book, A Man of the People, and two other texts in Kiswahili be removed from the school syllabus. The group particularly objects to two sections of the book - including one in which a wealthy man boasts about his sexual prowess and displays a condom after taking a young girl to bed. The Kenya Parents Caucus is urging the ministry of education to remove the texts from its syllabus. Mr Achebe has rejected the accusation of pornography and said the Catholic Church had previously awarded him a medal for his writing. Eyes wide shut? Mr Achebe has drawn support from the publishers and academics, who say the sex scenes are central to the book and argue the purpose of literature is to mirror life rather than set moral codes. "Should we close our eyes and pretend that these things do not happen?" asks the Managing Director of East African Publishers, Barrack Muluka. "The book warns the children that this is likely to happen to happen to them we are blowing the whistle in broad daylight," he says. University lecturer Barnabas Githiora describes the Church's stance as hypocritical, saying children were more corrupted by the free flow of information from the Internet. An influential Kenyan newspaper columnist says that the call to ban the book could be linked to a new wave of political influence that the Catholic Church seems to be enjoying. Writing in the Sunday Nation, Gitau Warigi notes that President Kibaki is a member... so too is Education Minister George Saitoti and a powerful coterie of cabinet ministers. He says it is absurd for anybody to imagine Chinua Achebe being a writer with a dirty mind, adding that the Church's moral police could utilise their energies better crusading against the lewd publications that litter the newsstands and which any teenager with a few pennies to spare can snap up. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
ugnet_: Don#8217;t census Hon. Min. Kiwanuka Ssemakula- kindly
JUSTICE PARTY www.idr.co.ug/dfwa-u/Nymapp/justice. - Some times, Ugandans in general must always be very observant and focus their attention on communication medium vis á vis political action in particular instances of time and space. - Now, suppose (a fact) that all of the sudden, Professor Kiwanuka Ssemakula trespasses into someones property the constituency, then send a woman to beat up another man (slapping him so hard), a full MP, and all MPs get very angry, collect signatures to punish the culprit. think about it! - In anxiety the entire uneasy country holds its breath - hopeless and catastrophic. - The Ateso in the meantime are encamped under the watchful eyes of none other than full ministers, RDCs now turned militia, at the same time as the Langi also prepare for a show down with Kony. - now a full peoples army has emerged INSTANTLY and with a PURPOSE. - Ministers in full military gear and pistols WHAT ABOUT THE FIRE ARMS LAW! Or we ask who give the fire arms to who?!! Fellow citizens- - DRAMA and THEATRE serve their own purposes and objectives BUT also determine the mind and thought structure (cultural arrays) behind the actors actions. - For forty years the Buganda political elite as of the above have been the central actors as the directors are on the sides watching joyful, their play executed to the letter. They like it dont they? - The audience after a grateful ecstatic laugh and enjoyment leave the theatre as they came with some perverted belief- SOME TALKING HEADS. - EVER ASKED WHAT THE government strategy IN playing the game is? - Uganda problems originate namely from; pervasion of the law and state corruption. - But what about those who write about such things what do they think? - The function of societies (military, primitive, peasantry, agrarian, modern, rebels) depends upon the presence of patterns and return for reciprocal behaviour between persons or groups of persons or institutions. - Now ask who set the behaviours and who are those who reciprocate to set behaviours and for what purpose or goal? Any important question - From such society configurations, persons and societies derive their status and roles. Think of becoming a pope, pop star for the church or music industry. - To MANUFACTURE ROLES and status is not a stochastic event- lest the roles malfunction. - But roles must also be ritualised as a form of initiation. - For Buganda in a greater need for eminence and elevation irrespective of the realities on ground- will certainly love to be captured as actors whether the play is comedy or ends up in a tragedy. - Networks, those with a STRATEGY, WORK INSIDE and COMPETE OUTSIDE on an inverse but competitive tactic of co-operation. Board based and democracy. - So here we find the roles and status important- instead of elimination or annihilation absorption for role and status competition, become a prime strategy. - Its where Ugandans type of corruption has its roots and Bugandas self-deception originates. - My investigation shows the directors and actor might not be aware of this but have an objective that sets on the systematic course. - Year 1999 to date explains this type of Uganda governments thought process and line of actions; - and thus defines the specific types of relationships, that linked the defined objective, persons in our society and what the media or even politicians took to be mere events. - For reflection: look at judiciary changes, ministerial reshuffle, army position distribution, political events, and city crime waves vis á vis media reaction. To me it is disturbing and problematic. Bwanika. __ bwanika url: www.idr.co.ug Logon & Join in ug-academicsdb discussion list http://www.coollist.com/subcribe.html List ID: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your Email address: ~~ ~~ url: http://uhpl.uganda.co.ug http://pub59.ezboard.com/fugandamanufacturersassociationfrm1
ugnet_: Why Don't We Have Answers to These 9/11 Questions?
Why Don't We Have Answers to These 9/11 Questions? By William Bunch The Philadelphia Daily News Thursday 11 September 2003 No event in recent history has been written about, talked about, or watched and rewatched as much as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - two years ago today. Not only was it the deadliest terrorist strike inside America, but the hijackings and attacks on New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington were also a seminal event for an information-soaked media age of Internet access and 24- hour news. So, why after 730 days do we know so little about what really happened that day? No one knows where the alleged mastermind of the attack is, and none of his accomplices has been convicted of any crime. We're not even sure if the 19 people identified by the U.S. government as the suicide hijackers are really the right guys. Who put deadly anthrax in the mail? Where were the jet fighters that were supposed to protect America's skies that morning? And what was the role of our supposed allies Saudi Arabia and Pakistan? There are dozens of unanswered questions about the 2001 attacks, but we've narrowed them down to 20 - or 9 plus 11. 1. What did National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice tell President Bush about al Qaeda threats against the United States in a still-secret briefing on Aug. 6, 2001? Rice has suggested in vague terms that the president's brief - prepared daily by the CIA - included information that morning about Osama bin Laden's methods of operation - including hijacking. But when the congressional committee probing Sept. 11 asked to see the report, Bush claimed executive privilege and refused to release it. 2. Why did Attorney General John Ashcroft and some Pentagon officials cancel commercial-airline trips before Sept. 11? On July 26, 2001 - 47 days before the Sept. 11 attacks - CBS News reported that Ashcroft was flying expensive charters rather than commercial flights because of a threat assessment by the FBI. CBS said, Ashcroft has been advised to travel only by private jet for the remainder of his term. Newsweek later reported that on Sept. 10, 2001, a group of top Pentagon officials suddenly canceled travel plans for the next morning, apparently because of security concerns. Did either Ashcroft or the Pentagon have advance information about a 9/11-style attack and, if so, why wasn't this shared with the American public? 3. Who made a small fortune shorting airline and insurance stocks before Sept. 11? On Sept. 10, 2001, the trading ratio on United Airlines was 25 times greater than normal at the Pacific Exchange, where traders could buy puts, high-risk bets that the price of a company's stock will fall sharply. The next day, two hijacked United jetliners crashed, causing the company's shares to plummet and ultimately leading the airline into bankruptcy. CBS News later reported that at intelligence agencies, alarm bells were sounding over unusual trading in the U.S. stock options market on the day before the attacks. The unusual stock trading suggests that someone with a sophisticated knowledge of finance also had advance information about the impending attack. But two years later, no one has been charged in this matter, and officials have not indicated even if the probe is still open. 4. Are all 19 people identified by the government as participants in the Sept. 11 attacks really the hijackers? Probably not. Just 10 days after the attacks, a report by the British Broadcasting Corp. said that some of the supposed hijackers identified by the FBI appeared to be alive and well. The BBC story said Abdelaziz al-Omari, named as the pilot who crashed the jet into the World Trade Center's North Tower, was reported by Saudi authorities to be working as an electrical engineer. He reported his passport had been stolen in Denver in 1995. Saudi officials said it was possible that another three people whose names appear on the FBI list also are alive. The article, which can be read at Unanswered Questions, makes a persuasive case that another man was posing as Ziad Jarrah, the alleged pilot of hijacked Flight 93, which crashed in Shanksville, Pa. So why did this story line vanish into thin air? 5. Did any of the hijackers smuggle guns on board as reported in calls from both Flight 11 and Flight 93? Quite possibly. An internal Federal Aviation Administration memo written at 5:30 p.m. on the day of the attacks said that a passenger aboard American Airlines Flight 11 - Israeli-American Daniel Lewin - had been shot to death by a single bullet before the jet slammed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The FAA insists the memo was a mistaken first draft, even though the alleged shooting is described in great detail. Aboard Flight 93, passenger Thomas Burnett told his wife, Deena, in a 9:27 a.m. cell-phone call: The hijackers have already knifed a guy, one
ugnet_: WOUNDED SOLDIER BILLED FOR HOSPIITAL FOOD
Wounded billed for hospital food By BILL ADAIR, Times Staff Writer St. Petersburg Timespublished September 11, 2003 WASHINGTON - After a grenade exploded inside his Humvee in Iraq, Marine Staff Sgt. Bill Murwin was treated at a military hospital in Germany and spent four weeks at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. Part of his left foot was amputated. His medical care was free, but the government billed him $243 for the food. Then, just three days after he received his first bill for the hospital food in Germany, he got a stern letter saying the bill was overdue. It warned that his account would be referred to a collection agency. Murwin, like thousands of other military personnel hospitalized every year, is expected to reimburse the government $8.10 per day for food. That's standard procedure because of a law Congress passed in 1981. But it has angered many military families over the years. When Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Largo, and his wife, Beverly, heard about the problem, they personally paid Murwin's tab. Then the congressman introduced a bill to change the rules. Rep. Young said Wednesday that the soldiers "were sent to war by their country. Many of them will be handicapped for the rest of their lives - and we're asking them to pay $8.10 a day for their food! There's something really wrong with that." The practice is especially egregious, Young said, because "the food probably isn't that good." The rule was established because most military personnel receive $8.10 a day as a "basic allowance for subsistence" for food. But when they are hospitalized, the government tries to recoup the money on the theory that they are eating hospital food and therefore are double-dipping. Military officials have long disliked the rule but felt they had to enforce it because of the 1981 law. "If I could be king for a day, I'd stop it in a minute," said Maj. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who commands the Army hospitals in the eastern United States. The government already bends the rules for soldiers in combat. They are allowed keep the $8.10 even though they are also getting free food, according to Young's office. Murwin, 31, a sheriff's deputy in Nevada with 10 years of active duty in the Marines and three years in the Reserves, says he was flabbergasted the government would bill him. "Holy smokes," he said. "I'm in the hospital - and they're going to charge me for my food?" He says he was willing to pay but thinks it's unfair that young soldiers get billed. "What made me so hot is that (it applies to) privates and lance corporals - guys who barely make enough money to pay for their own food, let alone take care of this," Murwin said. Kiley, the Army medical commander, said the costs can add up. "If you're here for a couple of months, you could rack up a thousand dollars," he said. Young, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said he was unaware of the law until his wife heard about it from Murwin's father-in-law. He has quickly lined up support for his bill, which would reverse the rule so military personnel do not have to pay. His staff hasn't had time to estimate the cost of the bill, Young said, but the government has an obligation to pay for the food of injured soldiers. The bill has 96 co-sponsors and has been endorsed by associations that represent enlisted personnel. Because of the strong support, the bill is likely to sail through Congress in the next few weeks. Kiley said that he is glad to see the bill and that it has wide support in the military. But he disagrees with Young's unfavorable assessment of the hospital cuisine. "It really is pretty good food," Kiley said. "It's not the same as a four-star restaurant. But we work pretty hard at it." Murwin concurred, but said his taste buds had been dulled by weeks of eating field chow - called MREs (for Meal, Ready to Eat) - in Iraq. "I was expecting the worst" from the hospital food, he said. "I was pleasantly surprised. I actually got a steak dinner one night." - Bill Adair can be reached at 202 463-0575 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Mulindwas Communication Group"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
ugnet_: Wounded in Iraq, Deserted at Home
Wounded in Iraq, Deserted at Home By Bill Berkowitz, WorkingForChange.com September 12, 2003 More than thirty satellite trucks and nearly a hundred reporters hunkered down outside the Eagle County (Colorado) courthouse on Wednesday Aug. 6th waiting to get a glimpse of Los Angeles Laker basketball star Kobe Bryant entering the courtroom for a scheduled ten-minute appearance. Most of the major television networks and cable news and sports networks had reporters and camera crews at the scene. Across the country, where plane loads of wounded soldiers are airlifted back to the states, unloaded at Andrews Air Force Base, and sent off to area hospitals, there are no hordes of television cameras recording these tragic trips off the tarmac. In a summer marked by the media's focus on the Bryant sex case, the entrance of Conan (Arnold Schwarzenegger) into California's recall election, the killing of Saddam Hussein's sons and the hunt for their father, little attention has been paid to U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq and stuffed into wards at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the nation's biggest military hospital, and other facilities. There are no pictures of wounded soldiers undergoing painful and protracted physical rehabilitation. There are no visuals of worried families waiting for news of their sons or daughters. What is it about the wounded that makes us uncomfortable? Why have they been left out of the coverage of the war by the broadcast media? There have been no feature news stories on television focusing on the wounded, Liz Swasey, director of communications at the Media Research Center (MRC), a conservative media watchdog group, told me in a telephone interview. While there have been numerous reports of soldiers getting wounded, there have been no interviews from hospital bed sides, she pointed out. The Alexandria, Va.-based MRC, founded in 1987 by L. Brent Bezel III, monitors all major nationally televised and print news broadcasts and maintains the nation's largest video news archive, Swasey said. The war was televised and sold as a sanitized war with minimal US casualties, said John Stauber, co-author of the recently released book, The Weapons of Mass Deception, in an email exchange. Showing wounded soldiers and interviewing their families could be disastrous PR for Bush's war. I suspect the administration is doing all it can to prevent such stories unless they are stage-managed feel-good events like Saving Private [Jessica] Lynch. The glow from the jubilant celebrations over the speedy march to Baghdad has morphed into months of guerilla resistance. In the three months since President Bush declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, U.S. casualties continue to mount: Since May 1, sixty-nine U.S. soldiers have been killed in combat, and deaths from other causes are more than double that figure. As of Sept. 4, Casualties in Iraq: The Human Cost of Occupation a website affiliated with Antiwar.com listed the number of US combat deaths since the beginning of the U.S. invasion at 284, 184 of which are considered combat deaths. In addition to those killed in combat, dozens of other soldiers have died in accidents; a few have committed suicide; two are dead from a still-to-be-explained cluster of pneumonia cases; and several have died mysteriously in their sleep. Another website, CNN.com's Forces: U.S. Coalition/Casualties, provides the names of coalition casualties whose families have been notified and includes pictures of the victims (when available), the soldier's ages, units, hometowns and an explanation of how each was killed. While the dead are honored, the men and women injured in Iraq and/or Afghanistan have become the new disappeared. Once they've been swept off the battlefield and returned home, the broadcast media has essentially paid no attention to them. Wounded troops are kept out of the media picture because they are perceived as a downer, said Norman Solomon, media critic, columnist and co-author of Target Iraq: What the News Media Didn't Tell You. Dead people don't linger like wounded people do. Dead people's names can be posted on a television honor role, but the networks and cable news channels won't clog up their air time with the names and pictures of hundreds and hundreds of wounded soldiers. The wounded are much too real; telling their stories would be too much of a bummer for television's news programmers, Solomon added. It is important, however, to ask about the wounded. If they exist then we will want to hear from them, even if the networks do not really want to hear what they've got to say. The numbers of wounded in action are hard to come by: Since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom, according to the Guardian's Julian Borger, the Pentagon has put the number of wounded at 827 but he writes, unofficial figures are in the thousands. Central Command in Qatar talked of 926 wounded, but that
ugnet_: Friendly dictators part three
GENERAL HUMBERTO BRANCO President of Brazil In 1961, Brazilian President Jaao Goulart sought to trade with communist nations, supported the labor movement, and had limited the profits multi-nationals could take out of the country. These policies were clearly unacceptable to the American business interests. In 1964, the US took part in the overthrow of Goulart by General Humberto de Alencar Castello Branco, although US government officials have denied involvement. As an example of US support for Branco, just prior to the coup, US officials cabled Washington a request for oil for Branco's soldiers in case Goulart's troops blew up the refineries. Brancos regime was short but brutal. Labor unions were banned, criticism of the President became unlawful, and thousands of suspected communists (including children) were arrested and tortured. As in Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia, land was stolen from native Indians and their culture was destroyed. Drug dealers, many of them government officials, were given protection because they maintained national security interests. Brazil formed ties with the World Anti-communist League and assisted General Videla in his takeover of Argentina. When Branco stepped down in 1967, he left behind a constitution with greatly increased military and executive powers, crippling Brazil's efforts to restore democracy. RAOUL CEDRAS General of Haiti General Cedras seized power in Haiti in 1991 after the election of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He ruled with the rod of iron associated with Haiti's infamous former dictators, the Duvaliers -- there were at least 4.000 political assassinations and more than 40,000 fled the country in boats for the US. He fled into exile in September 1994 when the US sent an invasion force under the banner of the UN. Cedras is now in Panama, the only rival to France as the favorite haven for former dictators -- Juan Domingo Peron of Argentina and the Shah of Iran once took refuge there, and Guatemala's Jorge Serrano is a great success as a racehorse owner. Cedras has a penthouse suite in Panama City's wealthy Punta Paitilla area. He is not short of cash -- the US State Department alone pays him $5,000 a month in rent for his properties in Haiti. Panama University Professor Miguel Antonio Bernal complains: 'Our country is being used as a wastebasket for the political toxic waste of the world.' VINICIO CEREZO President of Guatemala According to Amnesty International, arbitrary arrest, torture, disappearance, and political killings were everyday realities for Guatemalans during decades of US financed military dictatorship. In January 1986, Christian Democrat leader Vinicio Cerezo was elected President and said he had "the political will to respect the rights of man", but it didn't take long to find out that his political will was irrelevant in the face of Guatemala's well-oiled military machine. Hopes for change were dashed when Cerezo announced that Guatemala would continue to provide amnesty for all past military offenses committed from General Elrain Rios Montt's coup in 1982 through the 1986 elections. Although Ronald Reagan's State Department asserted "there has not been a single clear-cut case of political killing, within months of Cerezo's inauguration, opposition leaders attributed 56 murders to security forces and death squads, while Americas Watch claimed that "throughout 1986, violent killings were reported in the Guatemalan press at the rate of 100 per month". Altogether, Americas Watch says, tens-of-thousands were killed and 400 rural villages were destroyed by government death squads during Reagan's term in office. Colonel D'Jalma Dominguez, former army spokesman, explains "For convenience sake a civilian government is preferable, such as the one we have now. If anything goes wrong, only the Christian Democrats will get the blame. It's better to remain outside. The real power will not be lost." Today, the real power still resides with the military. CHIANG KAI-SHEK President of Taiwan The Chinese civil war pitted Mao Tse-Tung's Communists against Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalists. The US-backed Chiang, but when he couldn't do the job they also supported Japanese troops fighting the Communists, even before WWll had ended. Hated for his wanton cruelty, corruption, and decadence, Chiang did not enjoy the support of the Chinese people; entire divisions of the Nationalist army defected and fled to the island of Formosa (Taiwan). A presidential commission appointed by Harry Truman reported after Chiang's arrival there that his forces "ruthlessly, corruptly, and avariciously imposed their regime on the population. Under Nationalist rule, 85% of the population was disenfranchised, but the onset of the Korean War and the anti-communist hysteria of the McCarthy era led the US to declare that the tiny island represented the real government of China. The US was crucial in keeping mainland China out of the UN until 1971. Chiang gave the World
ugnet_: Friendly Dictators
Friendly Dictators Written in 1995 U.S. State Department Policy Planning Study #23, 1948: Our real task... is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity [U.S. military- economic supremacy]... To do so, we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming... We should cease to talk about vague and...unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standards, and democratization... we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better. George Kennan, Director of Policy Planning. U.S. State Department. 1948 Many of the world's most repressive dictators have been friends of America. Tyrants, torturers, killers, and sundry dictators and corrupt puppet-presidents have been aided, supported, and rewarded handsomely for their loyalty to US interests. Traditional dictators seize control through force, while constitutional dictators hold office through voting fraud or severely restricted elections, and are frequently puppets and apologists for the military juntas which control the ballot boxes. In any case, none have been democratically elected by the majority of their people in fair and open elections. They are democratic America's undemocratic allies. They may rise to power through bloody ClA-backed coups and rule by terror and torture. Their troops may receive training or advice from the CIA and other US agencies. US military aid and weapons sales often strengthen their armies and guarantee their hold on power. Unwavering "anti-communism" and a willingness to provide unhampered access for American business interests to exploit their countries' natural resources and cheap labor are the excuses for their repression, and the primary reason the US government supports them. They may be linked internationalIy to extreme right-wing groups such as the World Anti-Communist League, and some have had strong Nazi affiliations and have offered sanctuary to WWll Nazi war criminals. They usually grow rich, while their countries' economies deteriorate and the majority of their people live in poverty. US tax dollars and US-backed loans have made billionaires of some, while others are international drug dealers who also collect CIA paychecks. Rarely are they called to account for their crimes. And rarely still, is the US government held responsible for supporting and protecting some of the worst human rights violators in the world. Friendly dictators Abacha, General Sani Nigeria Amin, Idi --Uganda Banzer, Colonel Hugo ---Bolivia Batista, Fulgencio Cuba Bolkiah, Sir Hassanal Brunei Botha, P.W. ---South Africa Branco, General Humberto -Brazil Cedras, Raoul -Haiti Cerezo, Vinicio ---Guatemala Chiang Kai-Shek -Taiwan Cordova, Roberto Suazo Honduras Christiani, Alfredo ---El Salvador Diem, Ngo Dihn -Vietnam Doe, General Samuel Liberia Duvalier, Francois Haiti Duvalier, Jean Claude-Haiti Fahd bin'Abdul-'Aziz, King -Saudi Arabia Franco, General Francisco ---Spain Hitler, Adolf ---Germany Hassan II---Morocco Marcos, Ferdinand ---Philippines Martinez, General Maximiliano Hernandez ---El Salvador Mobutu Sese Seko ---Zaire Noriega, General Manuel Panama Ozal, Turgut --Turkey Pahlevi, Shah Mohammed Reza ---Iran Papadopoulos, George --Greece Park Chung Hee -South Korea Pinochet, General Augusto -Chile Pol Pot-Cambodia Rabuka, General Sitiveni Fiji Montt, General Efrain Rios -Guatemala Salassie, Halie Ethiopia Salazar, Antonio de Oliveira Portugal Somoza, Anastasio Jr. --Nicaragua Somoza, Anastasio, Sr. -Nicaragua Smith, Ian Rhodesia Stroessner, Alfredo -Paraguay Suharto, General -Indonesia Trujillo, Rafael Leonidas ---Dominican Republic Videla, General Jorge Rafael --Argentina Zia Ul-Haq, Mohammed --Pakistan
ugnet_: Friendly dictators part two
GENERAL SANI ABACHA President of Nigeria General Sani Abacha is a corrupt and repressive dictator in the oil-rich country of Nigeria. Supported by oil wealth, Abacha has tried to cover his repression under a mantle of democracy by allowing fraudulent elections which only serve to guarantee his continued control. During elections in 1994, Chief Moshood Abiola, considered to be the likely winner, was arrested and placed in prison before the rigged results were announced; Abacha retained control. More than 100 government executions occurred in 1994, and numerous pro-democracy demonstrators were killed by police. Shell Oil provides most of the country's wealth by extracting oil from the Ogoniland region, while in the process causing severe environmental destruction and devastating the local economy. More than 700 Ogoni environmentalists protesting the destruction of their way of life, were executed in recent years. The greatest travesty occurred in November 1995, when environmental leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 associates, were hanged despite an international outcry. Shell supported Abacha's policies by its silence. Despite an outcry that Nigerian oil be boycotted, the US government refused to do so. IDI AMIN General of Uganda Amin was one of the most notorious of Africa's post-independence dictators. A former heavyweight boxing champion in Uganda and a non-commissioned officer in the British Army there, Amin caught the attention of his superiors because of his efficient management of concentration camps in Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s, where he earned the title of "The Strangler". Because of his loyalty to Britain and his strongly anti-communist stance, Amin was picked by the British to replace the elected Ugandan government in a 1971 coup. While in power, he earned a reputation as a "clown" in some circles in the West, but he was no joke at home. Amin brutalized his people with British and US military aid and with Israeli and CIA training of his troops. The body count of his friends, the clergy, soldiers, and ordinary Ugandans rose daily, but the West ignored his cruelty. As he continued to demand more aid and sophisticated weapons, he finally lost support. In 1979, his quest for more power lead him to invade Tanzania. In retaliation, he was overthrown by an invading Tanzanian / Ugandan army. Amin fled to Saudi Arabia, where he now lives a quiet life in a modest villa outside Jeddah, looking after his goats and chickens and cultivating his vegetable garden. Traditional Arab garb has replaced the bemedalled Field Marshal's uniform of his heyday. COLONEL HUGO BANZER President of Bolivia In 1970, in Bolivia, when then-President Juan Jose Torres nationalized Gulf Oil properties and tin mines owned by US interests, and tried to establish friendly relations with Cuba and the Soviet Union, he was playing with fire. The coup to overthrow Torres, led by US-trained officer and Gulf Oil beneficiary Hugo Banzer, had direct support from Washington. When Banzer's forces had a breakdown in radio communications, US Air Force radio was placed at their disposal. Once in power, Banzer began a reign of terror. Schools were shut down as hotbeds of political subversive activity. Within two years, 2,000 people were arrested and tortured without trial. As in Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, the native Indians were ordered off their land and deprived of tribal identity. Tens-of-thousands of white South Africans were enticed to immigrate with promises of the land stolen from the Indians, with a goal of creating a white Bolivia. When Catholic clergy tried to aid the Indians, the regime, with CIA help, launched terrorist attacks against them, and this "Banzer Plan" became a model for similar anti-Catholic actions throughout Latin America. FULGENCIO BATISTA President of Cuba Cuban Army Sergeant Fulgencio Batista first seized power in a 1932 coup. He was President Roosevelt's handpicked dictator to counteract leftists who had overthrown strongman Cerardo Machado. Batista ruled or several years, then left for Miami, returning in 1952 just in time for another coup, against elected president Carlos Prio Socorras. His new regime was quickly recognized by President Eisenhower. Under Batista, U.S. interests flourished and little was said about democracy. With the loyal support of Batista, Mafioso boss Meyer Lansky developed Havana into an international drug port. Cabinet offices were bought and sold and military officials made huge sums on smuggling and vice rackets. Havana became a fashionable hot spot where America's rich and famous drank and gambled with mobsters. As the gap between the rich and poor grew wider, the poor grew impatient. In 1953, Fidel Castro led an armed group of rebels in a failed uprising on the Moncada army barracks. Castro temporarily fled the country and Batista struck back with a vengeance. Freedom of speech was curtailed and subversive teachers, lawyers and public officials were fired
ugnet_: friendly dictators part four
FRANCOIS JEAN CLAUDE DUVALIER Presidents of Haiti In 1957 Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier became Haiti's President-For-Life, establishing a strategic relationship with the US that lasted until 1971, when he was succeeded by his son Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. During the 30 years that they ruled with an iron hand, 60,000 Haitians were killed and countless more were tortured by the Duvaliers' Tonton Macoutes death squads. While Haiti became the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, the Duvaliers enriched themselves by stealing foreign aid money. In 1980, for instance, the International Monetary Fund granted Haiti a $22 million budget supplement. Within weeks, $16 million was "unaccounted for". Baby Doc made Haiti into a trans-shipment point for Colombian cocaine. Nevertheless, as long as Papa and Baby Doc were anti-communists, they could do no wrong in the US government's eyes. Their regime finally ended in 1986, when Baby Doc fled angry mobs of Haitians for asylum in France, with a fortune estimated at $400 million. It has been estimated that under Baby Doc's rule 40,000 Haitians were murdered. KING FAHD BIN 'ABDUL - 'AZIZ King of Saudi Arabia King Fahd bin 'Abdul -'Aziz is the absolute monarch of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Fahd and 2000 related royals rule with an iron grip of medieval feudalism. Control over the lives of their citizens is total and arbitrary. Torture is common, and amputation is frequently ordered by the courts. Women have few rights, and adultery by women is punished by death by stoning. Executions by hanging are public -- there were at least 60 such executions in 1994. The main opposition is from Sunni Islamists, and hundreds are in prison. Saudi Arabia is supported by the United States and other western democracies because of the enormous oil wealth that lies below the country's desert sands, its pro-West stance, and the royal family's staunch anti-fundamentalist position. The irony of American policy in Saudi Arabia is that the US, the world's most vocal advocate for democracy, supports one of the most undemocratic regimes in the world. GENERAL FRANCISCO FRANCO President of Spain General Francisco Bahamonde Franco was not the most popular leader in Spain during the early 1930s. A man of humble origins, he had worked his way up the military ladder fighting colonial wars in Africa. Franco, a staunch conservative, was infuriated when a Republican alliance of socialists, Marxists, and liberals won Spain's first free elections in 1936. So the General decided to restore order by force. Franco's Nationalists were losing the civil war, but military support from Hitler, Mussolini, and the US corporations that backed Hitler, turned the tide in his favor. Italy and Germany sent 6,060 trucks to Franco's fascists, but 12,000 were supplied by Ford, General Motors and Studebaker. The US claimed neutrality but didn't stop these companies from aiding Franco. The failure of the US and other democratic nations to assist Spain's democratic government was ultimately responsible for Franco's victory in 1939, and sadly, American volunteers who fought for the Republic were relentlessly persecuted during the US anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s. Under Franco, all political parties and labor unions were banned, books were burned, and dissenters were tortured and executed. Spain was ostracized by the international community, but the US considered Franco a Cold War ally and sank millions into the country. After Franco's death in 1975, Spain became a democratic republic once again. (Note: Spain is a parliamentary monarchy, with a Constitution since 1978 and democratic representative elections. Franco was not a President of Spain, but a "Generalísimo" supreme military commander). ADOLF HITLER Chancellor of Germany As German bombs fell on London and Nazi tanks rolled over US troops, Sosthenes Behn president and founder of the US based ITT corporation, met with his German representative to discuss improving German communication systems. ITT was designing and building Nazi phone and radio systems as well as supplying crucial parts for German bombs. Our government knew all about this, for under a presidential order, US companies were licensed to trade with the Nazis. The choice of who would be licensed was odd, though. While the Secretary of State gave the Ford Motor Company permission to make Nazi tanks, he simultaneously blocked aid to German-Jewish refugees because the US wasn't supposed to be trading with the enemy. Other US companies trading with the Third Reich were General Motors, DuPont, Standard Oil of New Jersey, Davis Oil Co., and the Chase National Bank. President Roosevelt did not stop them, fearing a scandal might lead to another stock market crash or lower US moral. Besides, the same companies that traded with Hitler were supplying the US with its armaments, and some corporate leaders threatened to withdraw their support if Roosevelt exposed them. Henry Ford was a good friend
ugnet_: How 6 million People Were killed in CIA secret wars against third world countrie
In case you missed it: Americas Third World War: >From The Archives: How 6 million People Were killed in CIA secret wars against third world countries. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4068.htm === check out this site! Matek
ugnet_: U.S. support of terrorist regimes and the brutality of Americas foreign policy.
In case you missed it: The Secret Government: From The Archives: Bill Moyers, documents U.S. support of terrorist regimes and the brutality of Americas foreign policy. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3281.htm another site. please check it out MK
ugnet_: A QUOTE FROM THE MISGUIDED
"I am not a traitor." [General Musharraf of Pakistan, in an interview with the BBC, quoted in Nawa-e-Waqt, September 12.] The General was unable to explain what he meant. He added that he was doing his best helping America fight the war on terrorism. He warned Pakistanis that "All the generals are with me. Make no mistake." [80% of Pakistanis are opposed to America's war on Terrorism.] The Mulindwas Communication Group"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
