ugnet_: THE TERRIBLE AND STRANGE DEATH OF NICK BERG
The Terrible and Strange Death of Nick Berg By James Conachy The terrible death of Nick Berg in Iraq beheaded in front of a video camera has taken place in such strange and suspicious circumstances that it raises deeply troubling questions. Among them is whether American agencies had a direct or indirect hand in the young mans murder. Questions immediately arise from the timing and political consequences of his killing. At the height of a massive scandal engulfing the Bush administration, Bergs death has been exploited by the American government and the US media to launch a counter-offensive against the revelations of systematic US torture in Abu Ghraib and other Iraqi prisons. A wholesale attempt is being made to shift American and international public opinion away from the outrage over the criminal character of the US occupation of Iraq and behind the self-serving argument that American forces are needed in Iraq to prevent the country descending into barbarism and chaos. Were Bergs murderers being directly paid by the American government, they could not have performed a more timely service for the Bush White House. Bergs killing was carried out in the name of al-Qaeda-aligned Jordanian terrorist Abu Musaab al-Zarqawi. Whoever is operating in the name of Zarqawi, they have a proven record of provocative actions that have only helped to prop up the American occupation of Iraq. On February 9, amid signs that the majority Iraqi Shiite population was on the verge of joining the armed resistance being fought mainly in Sunni Muslim areas, a letter was made public, allegedly authored by Zarqawi, calling for Sunnis to provoke a civil war with the Shiites. American officials used the letter to argue that their occupation was the only thing holding Iraqs religious groups apart. Several weeks later, on March 2, suicide bombings at Shiite mosques in Karbala and Baghdad were blamed on what the US now calls the Zarqawi network. Contrary to the schema outlined by US officials and in Zarqawis letter, the bulk of the Iraqi masses spurned sectarianism. The growing unity has been on display in mass demonstrations and joint struggle since the eruption of a Shiite uprising in early April. Even before the torture revelations, the US occupation of Iraq had crumbled into a morass of bloody reprisals against the Iraqi people and growing American casualties. Opposition has been steadily growing in the US and internationally. The group who carried out the beheading of Berg and then ensured it was broadcast around the globe must have known that it would horrify American and world public opinion and assist the efforts at damage control in Washington. Further questions are raised by the attempts of the US government to conceal or distort what it knew about Berg himself and the events leading up to his disappearance in Baghdad on April 10. Berg vanished in Iraq just 72 hours after being released from 13 days in US military custody and questioning by the FBI. Berg has been described by his family and friends as adventurous. He had a limited knowledge of Arabic and an interest in obtaining reconstruction contracts in Iraq for the family telecommunications company, Prometheus Methods Tower Service. In December 2003 he travelled to Iraq and went home on February 1. Among the places the young man inquired for contract work was the Abu Ghraib prisonwhich he referred to as a notorious prison for army and political prisoners. He returned to Iraq in mid-March. CBS News revealed yesterday that the young man had been on the FBIs books for at least two years. In 2002, he was interviewed as part of the investigations in the September 11 terror attacks, over the fact his computer password had been used by alleged al-Qaeda terrorist Zaccarias Moussaoui. According to Bergs family, the FBI was reportedly satisfied the password was obtained during a brief encounter on a bus, when Nick Berg had allowed an acquaintance of Moussaoui to use his computer. On March 7, the pro-Bush website FreeRepublic.com published a list of enemies who were opposing the US occupation of Iraq. Among the names, taken from a public list of people who had endorsed a planned March 20 antiwar demonstration on the website of the group ANSWER, was Michael BergNicks fatherand the name of the Berg family company. Such information would be entered into the databases of US intelligence agencies as well. Berg was seized on March 24, within one week of returning to Iraq, and held incommunicado without charges in a Mosul prison for unspecified suspicious activities. His parents in Philadelphia were visited by the FBI on March 31 and asked why their son was in Iraq. Berg reported being interviewed at least three times during his detention by FBI agents and asked whether he had constructed pipe bombs or had visited Iran. He was released on April 6 only after his family filed a federal court case
ugnet_: Burundi.
The wise on,Yoweri Museveni apparently pomised to deployee UPDF troops in Burundi to help fight Burundi Rebels..Wrong move! Matek BURUNDI 14/5/2004 15:59 BUJUMBURA RURAL: CLASHES BETWEEN ARMY AND REBELS, RECIPROCAL ACCUSATIONS General, Brief The army allegedly killed nine rebels of FNL (National Liberation Forces) - the last armed group active in Burundi ?yesterday afternoon a dozen kilometres southeast of the capital Bujumbura, military sources said today. Government forces reportedly found the bodies of the combatants near Kabumba in the province of Bujumbura Rural this morning. However, FNL denies having taken casualties, accusing the army of killing civilians with bombs dropped from military aircraft. Military sources report that the clashes began last Tuesday after the rebels ambushed a government patrol near Burima, roughly 30 kilometres southeast of the capital, allegedly injuring four people. These recent episodes aside, the most violent clashes between FNL and the army date back to last month; dozens of civilians, rebels and soldiers were killed in the violence, while over 30,000 people were forced to abandon their homes. FNL is the only armed movement that has not reached an agreement with the government to end the conflict in which over 300,000 people ?mostly civilians - have died, according to the United Nations.[LC]
RE: ugnet_: Acholi clergy defends fr. Rodriguez
Mr. Lupa-Lasaga, your so called humanist ideology is to say the list outrageous. How can you equate negligence, corruption and/or incompetence in the execution of a war to genocide. You should be the only person in the whole wide world who holds such a deameaning outlook on the term genocide. So to your reasoning America and Britain are commiting genocide in Iraq, because they are also finding it difficult puting down a rag-tag band of insurgents, as a result, thousands of Iraqi civilians are loosing there lives. Again according to your reasoning Britain was guilty of genocide in northern Island, because again the almighty royal British army could not defeat a rag-tag band of IRA insurgents and as a result thousands of innocent people died. Of course to you Isreal is guilty of genocide as wellSpain is guilty of genocide because they haven't been able to silence the Basque seperates as a result of that conflict, thousands have died in that region...Russia in Chechniya etc. Vukoni, it seems your self-styled, watered down descritption of genocide has been carefully crafted to fit the the Ugandan situation. ...about Father Rodriguez, i am challenging you since you say you are a humanist to go to Iraq and once you are there secretly (without the knowledge) of the occupying powers establish contact with the insurgents (including those who did the beheading), in the name of peace, now if you are caught in the process, by the occupying powers see whether you won't be arrested and/or kicked out of the country. I don't give a damn who the Father is or what goodwill he has, the fact of the matter is that he has no power to carry out any activities with the LRA terrorists without the knowledge of the government of Uganda. You even contradict yourself when you say on one hand that the government of Uganda is responsible for the security of it's citizens (which no one disagrees with) and then you on the other hand support someone (a foreigner for that matter) going behind the government of Uganda and establishing contacts with a terrorist group. Now any government which allows foreigners (whoever they maybe) to go around making contacts with known terrorist without the government knowing about it, should obviously be guilty of dereliction of it's duty of protecting it's citizens. Besides are you saying that ARPI cannot negotiate peace without Father Rodriguez?so once the bazungu fathers live the ranks of the ARPI, peaceful resolutions are impossible.only bazungu fathers have so much love for the people of Acholi to the point of matyrdomgive me a break. Where were all the bazungu fathers when tutsis were being massacred in Rwanda?, that was a great chance opportunity for genuine matyrdom.maybe they are now suffering from guilty conscincethey are now seeking redemption...that is there own bussiness, we Ugandans should learn to solve our own problems. People like father Rodriguez only complicate matters..how can you attempt to force peace...that's nonsense. Mr. Lupa-Lasaga you need to appreciate that there are two sides to a negotiation. You surely don't expect the government to negotiate with itselfwhat do you expect government to do in the interim?...fold her arms and watch the killers kill in the name of government being peaceful?. Obviously government needs to do more to protect her citizens in the trouble areas, but let's be sincere, no amount of protection will be perfect unless the LRA is completely stopped either through force, sincerely peaceful negotiations or combination or both. It doesn't help when the rebels are sent conflicting messages from the other sidelike some on this forum openly acting as cheer leaders for the terrorists, justifying there murderous activities, urging them on and then turning around advocating peace talks. The best remedy for stoping this conflict is for all stakeholders in the Ugandan body politic coming out with one voice of condemnation of the terrorists and then putting politics aside and working with government to stop the terrorists. NO SOLUTION WILL WORK WITHOUT THE GOVERNMENT BEING A PART OF IT. It doesn't matter what option is taken as long as it is unanimously accepted by all. The problem in Uganda (and indeed in Africa) is the notion that once you are in opposition you should COMPLETELY have nothing to do with the government of the day...you should NEVER EVER EVER agree or work with them...that perception is wrong. There are times when politics needs to be put aside for the sake of the nation or national interest and i think the northern tragedy is one of those times. Finally you characterize my immediate former posting as verbiage but you will accept that it is factual verbiage. Cheers. From: Vukoni Lupa-Lasaga [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: ugnet_: Acholi clergy defends fr. Rodriguez Date: Sat, 15 May 2004 19:08:53 -0500
ugnet_: Pentagon's Online Voting Program Deemed Too Risky
Pentagon's Online Voting Program Deemed Too Risky by Dan Keating Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, January 22, 2004; Page A01 A Pentagon program for Internet voting in this year's presidential election is so insecure that it could undercut the integrity of American democracy and should be stopped immediately, according to computer-security specialists who were asked to review the $22 million pilot plan intended for about 100,000 overseas voters. The critical report released yesterday is intended to halt the momentum building for national Internet voting as the least expensive and most convenient way to upgrade election technology that was exposed as unreliable in 2000. It's not possible to create a secure voting system with off-the-shelf PCs using Microsoft Windows and the current Internet, said Avi Rubin, an associate professor of computer science and the technical director of the Information Security Institute at Johns Hopkins University. He and Barbara Simons, a retired researcher from International Business Machines Corp., said their biggest fear is that this year's experiment would be a hit, leading to widespread Internet voting for the 2008 presidential election. That is when the kind of Internet attack they envision could emerge, possibly from foreign subversives. History has shown that when people have the opportunity to tamper with an election they do, said Rubin, noting that the Internet is rife with viruses and worms even when there is no incentive for an attack. The threat to the current election is great enough that the program should be shut down immediately, said Rubin, Simons and the other two other scientists who released a report yesterday -- David Wagner, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of California at Berkeley, and David Jefferson of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The Pentagon's Federal Voting Assistance Program was created in 1986 to help military personnel stationed overseas vote. It also serves civilian Americans living abroad. Yesterday, a Pentagon spokesman defended the pilot program. The concern for security is a good thing, and we respect what they've done, Glenn Flood said. But we think the thing will be secure, and security will continue to be enhanced. We're not going to stop it. Supporters say the pilot for military, government and private citizens abroad is important to learn the right way to gather electronic votes and to help overseas voters who often have trouble casting ballots. The chance of a security threat has to be weighed against the knowledge gained and the improved voting access for those people, said R. Michael Alvarez, co-director of the CalTech-MIT Voting Technology Project and co-author of Point, Click and Vote, a recent book about online voting. There's a widespread perception that Internet voting is going to happen at some time, he said. As scientists, we'd like to lay out some kind of rational path that leads from punch cards and lever machines to that logical future. Britain and Switzerland are experimenting with Internet voting, and the Michigan Democratic Party cited the Pentagon effort as a reason for running its own online voting program in this year's caucuses, which are Feb. 7. The authors of the report, which did not review Michigan's system, said any Internet voting would be open to fraud. Alvarez got a $1.8 million Pentagon grant to study the Internet voting experiment. He invited critics such as Rubin -- who had already published a paper critical of Internet voting -- to participate in the review. It's a democracy. Debate is critical. We brought in these people now because we want that feedback, Alvarez said. The four authors of yesterday's criticism were among 10 researchers involved in the review. Alvarez said he plans a report from the entire group after the election, when the system's performance can be gauged. The Pentagon pilot includes 50 counties in seven states that volunteered: Arkansas, Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah and Washington. South Carolina's Feb. 3 primary will make it the first state to try the system. Hawaii's chief elections officer, Dwayne Yoshina, said he has read the report and intends to stick with the program for a September primary and the November election. The system is expected to be used for requesting absentee ballots and casting them in presidential primaries and the fall election, said Meg McLaughlin, president of Accenture eDemocracy Services, the contractor building the system. There's nothing in the report that is new to us, she said. There's nothing that we didn't address. McLaughlin said she was surprised that the critics would not want the experiment to run through the election to learn from it. But Simons said that calling the program an experiment ignores the fact that voters will be casting votes that will count. If there is a question about the legitimacy of
ugnet_: Cold Turkey
Cold Turkey By Kurt Vonnegut In These Times Monday 10 May 2004 Many years ago, I was so innocent I still considered it possible that we could become the humane and reasonable America so many members of my generation used to dream of. We dreamed of such an America during the Great Depression, when there were no jobs. And then we fought and often died for that dream during the Second World War, when there was no peace. But I know now that there is not a chance in hell of America's becoming humane and reasonable. Because power corrupts us, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas. When you get to my age, if you get to my age, which is 81, and if you have reproduced, you will find yourself asking your own children, who are themselves middle-aged, what life is all about. I have seven kids, four of them adopted. Many of you reading this are probably the same age as my grandchildren. They, like you, are being royally shafted and lied to by our Baby Boomer corporations and government. I put my big question about life to my biological son Mark. Mark is a pediatrician, and author of a memoir, The Eden Express. It is about his crackup, straightjacket and padded cell stuff, from which he recovered sufficiently to graduate from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Vonnegut said this to his doddering old dad: Father, we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is. So I pass that on to you. Write it down, and put it in your computer, so you can forget it. I have to say that's a pretty good sound bite, almost as good as, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. A lot of people think Jesus said that, because it is so much the sort of thing Jesus liked to say. But it was actually said by Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, 500 years before there was that greatest and most humane of human beings, named Jesus Christ. The Chinese also gave us, via Marco Polo, pasta and the formula for gunpowder. The Chinese were so dumb they only used gunpowder for fireworks. And everybody was so dumb back then that nobody in either hemisphere even knew that there was another one. But back to people, like Confucius and Jesus and my son the doctor, Mark, who've said how we could behave more humanely, and maybe make the world a less painful place. One of my favorites is Eugene Debs, from Terre Haute in my native state of Indiana. Get a load of this: Eugene Debs, who died back in 1926, when I was only 4, ran 5 times as the Socialist Party candidate for president, winning 900,000 votes, 6 percent of the popular vote, in 1912, if you can imagine such a ballot. He had this to say while campaigning: As long as there is a lower class, I am in it. As long as there is a criminal element, I'm of it. As long as there is a soul in prison, I am not free. Doesn't anything socialistic make you want to throw up? Like great public schools or health insurance for all? How about Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes? Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. ... And so on. Not exactly planks in a Republican platform. Not exactly Donald Rumsfeld or Dick Cheney stuff. For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. Blessed are the merciful in a courtroom? Blessed are the peacemakers in the Pentagon? Give me a break! There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don't know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president. But, when you stop to think about it, only a nut case would want to be a human being, if he or she had a choice. Such treacherous, untrustworthy, lying and greedy animals we are! I was born a human being in 1922 A.D. What does A.D. signify? That commemorates an inmate of this lunatic asylum we call Earth who was nailed to a wooden cross by a bunch of other inmates. With him still conscious, they hammered spikes through his wrists and insteps, and into the wood. Then they set the cross upright, so he dangled up there where even the shortest person in the crowd could see him writhing this way and that. Can you imagine people doing such a thing to a person? No problem. That's
ugnet_: Amin stole his hotel, Museveni refused to pay for the food
Amin stole his hotel, Museveni refused to pay for the food By Richard M. Kavuma May 16 - 22, 2004 One mans tale of a restaurant, humiliation, patriotism and disappointment MUKONO In his words, he once owned one of the best restaurants in Kampala: in his present condition, you wouldnt believe him. But a nose-piercing aroma still welcomes you to Christopher Ssembajjwes Bugerere Highway Restaurant in Mukono. Mr Christopher Ssembajjwe in his restaurant in Mukono (Photo by Willy Tamale). I am here reading your Monitor. It has impoverished me, Ssembajjwe says as he turns his eyes away from a copy of the paper spread out on the white plastic table. I just find myself buying it each day. He has seen better times. For him, being here in this decaying building is like a business collapse. Sitting on an army-green plastic chair, he repeatedly stares at the leakage-stained plywood ceiling, occasionally resting his greying head against the unpainted, scratched wall. Its nearing midday. There are not many customers. When a young man walks in for something to eat, Ssembajjwe chats him up, totally ignoring our interview. Even as I grumble, I know he values his customer more. He is 54. But it is mostly the last 30 years that have made him the tired man he is. Brush with Idi Amin Wimpy was the best hotel in Kampala may be apart from Sheraton, says Ssembajjwe, suddenly frowning as if mourning the good old days. According to him, he was arrested and locked up at Naguru in 1974 on the orders of former governor of the Central Province Col. Abdallah Nasur. Nasur accused Ssembajjwe of overcharging a woman for a cup of tea.He cant remember how much he sold the cup of tea for. A man called Kassim ordered that I get 50 strokes of the cane, he recalls, making a fist with his heat-scarred fingers. That meant 100 strokes, he says. The whip swung left, and back to the right and counted for one stroke. I collapsed after only ten. Among the detainees who helped Ssembajjwe regain consciousness was former Kampala mayor Nasser Sebaggala. Nasur later gave Wimpy (Franchise Ltd) Restaurant then located at Plot 51 Kampala Road to a man who had been the District Commissioner in Mbale. Ssembajjwe then fled to Kenya. A Ugandan good Samaritan, Muhamood Saad gave him Kshs 50,000, which he used to buy a failing restaurant on Dubois Road in Nairobi. Colouring the locality with manila paper adverts, he reopened it as Bugerere Restaurant with a two-week promotion of free tea. Curious customers came for the free tea but they ended up buying many of the snacks which we made, Ssembajjwe recalls, smiling apparently at his cleverness then. We served tea until 9.00 pm. At the end of the first day we had 10 percent profit. Introducing matooke later, he promoted free food but the diners had to buy the sauce. There was no turning back. Bugerere became particularly popular with Ugandans in Nairobi. Ssembajjwe later took over Kibichiku Restaurant on River Road, and another down market restaurant in Ishiri, a Nairobi suburb. Helping the NRM struggle As more and more Ugandans met more often at Kibichiku, Ssembajjwe came to identify members of the National Resistance Movement External Committee. Already he was known to committee secretary Sam Njuba. He went on to meet people like Mathew Rukikaire, Amama Mbabazi, Ruhakana Rugunda, Dr Kanyerezi and former vice president Samson Kisekka (RIP). They often came to get fresh news from Kampala. At one time (he is not sure which year), a group of NRA recruits were taken to Nairobi on their way to Libya for military training.For nearly a month, Ssembajjwe says he put them up and fed them as their documents were being processed. When the trained warriors returned, again he played the host. Haa, I dont know where they are now. Bakulu Mpagi died, recalls Ssembajjwe reflectively. There was one called Muhaire; I heard he is in America. Asked why he helped the cause although as he claims he wasnt paid, Ssembajjwe says it was for the hope of a better Uganda. He thought that one day he like many other exiles would be free to return home and carry on with their lives. He has in his possession a couple of letters of recommendation written by Rukikaire and Njuba acknowledging his contribution. Working without pay All went according to plan. The NRM captured power. Ssembajjwe returned poor. His old NRM contacts helped. He recalls that Dr Rugunda, then Transport Minister, recommended him to Uganda Transport Company. He recommended me because of my contribution in Nairobi and I got a tender to prepare lunch for 320 UTC staff. But as UTC went into receivership in 1995 Ssembajjwe says he was owed nearly Shs 16 million. For a year, Ssembajjwe made numerous journeys to the Coopers Lybrand (the UTC liquidators) but was not paid. At one point he was told the only invoices Cooper and Lybrand could trace were worth 6.3
ugnet_: DEATH IN THE COMUNITY
Netters With deep and great sorrow I inform the passing away of my great friend and brother, Charles Kiyemba. Charles Kiyemba passed away in Toronto last night. We will give you more info as it becomes available. Our condolences to Annette Kiyemba and to the entire family. May God give all of you the guidance and comfort you so need. On behalf of the entire communication group, our prayers are with you at this time. May Charles rest is peace. Edward Mulindwa Toronto The Mulindwas Communication Group"With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie"
