Saturday, March 02, 2002

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Dissatisfaction with Sharon growing in Israel, poll finds



JERUSALEM - For the first time since Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's election 13 months ago, a majority of Israelis are dissatisfied with his performance, a poll released yesterday found.
In the poll, published by the newspaper Maariv, a majority of the Israelis surveyed said Sharon did not have a plan for ending the 17-month Palestinian uprising. Fifty-three percent of those polled said they were dissatisfied with Sharon. Forty-two percent expressed satisfaction, a drop of 11 points in two weeks in the proportion saying they were satisfied.

North Korean enemy should be made friend



CHICAGO -- President Bush said it again.

During his recent visit to South Korea, he peered at North Korea as he stood in the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two nations, pondered an ax murder of American soldiers in that zone and mused, "No wonder I think it's evil."
He called North Korea a despotic regime that starves its citizens and feeds its military. He implied that while he was willing to talk, North Korea was unresponsive.
And once again I thought of the North Koreans I have come to know. Refugees from the famine that has afflicted that nation since 1994, they crossed the Tumen River into China in desperation. Farmers, intellectuals, Communist Party cadres, factory workers, artists and musicians, they left the certainty of starvation for the uncertain life of an illegal migrant.
They form a wave of refugees from North Korea the like of which hasn't been seen since the 1950-1953 Korean War. Out of a population of about 21 million, nearly a million or more have fled in the past six years. Some find their way to South Korea, but most are in China, where their presence is illegal.
You might expect them to agree with Mr. Bush. Yet most do not. The refugees I spoke with were nearly unanimous in their belief that North Korea is ready to open up. They are baffled that America views North Korea -- a starving, impoverished nation -- as a threat.

Rights groups: 70,000 Palestinians cannot get to doctors and schools


Some 70,000 Palestinians in 27 villages west of Ramallah have not been able to access health services for more than a week after the Israel Defense Forces cut off the main road that links them to Ramallah, as well as the secondary roads that connect the villages.
At least 12 clinics serving the area are closed because medical personnel are unable to reach them, says Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, head of the Medical Relief Committees, an independent chain of Palestinian clinics and medical services.
People who have tried reaching Ramallah for medical treatment - a trip of 10-20 minutes by car - are blocked by checkpoints that prevent passage on foot as well as by car.

Israeli army 'faces defeat' in war against Palestinians



ISRAEL'S leading military historian has a bleak message for the country's generals: the army is winning the battle against Palestinian armed groups, but the final result can only be defeat - and perhaps civil war at home.
Martin van Creveld, professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, believes that the might of the Israeli army is proving to be "99 per cent irrelevant" in the battle now in its 17th month.
More important, he believes, will be the morale of the Israeli army, which is showing signs of strain at the burden of keeping millions of Palestinians under control to prevent terrorists entering Israel.
Already 280 Israeli reserve officers and NCOs have signed a petition refusing to serve in the occupied territories on grounds of conscience, and the first two "refuseniks" were jailed for 28 days on Monday. They are sergeants in the paratroops and the armoured corps.

The free flow of misinformation


The Office of Strategic Influence went from obscurity to infamy to oblivion during a spin cycle that lasted just seven days. Coming to terms with a week of negative coverage after news broke that the Pentagon office might purposely deceive foreign media, a somber defense secretary announced: "It is being closed down." But for Donald Rumsfeld and his colleagues along the Potomac, the inky cloud of bad publicity has a big silver lining.
Orders to shut the controversial office came a day after President Bush proclaimed zero tolerance for lies from U.S. officials. "We'll tell the American people the truth," he vowed.
Would the Defense Department try to deceive journalists? The question in the air was distasteful, and the answer from Rumsfeld could only offer comfort: "This is something the Pentagon has not done, is not doing and would not condone."

Ashcroft thinks himself a philosopher king


As more than a casual observer of Attorney General John Ashcroft since he took office a year ago, I believe the man fancies himself the embodiment of Plato's Philosopher King. Ashcroft sees himself as blessed with the insight to know better than anyone what is best for society and therefore believes it appropriate to bestow upon himself absolute power.
Especially since Sept. 11, Ashcroft's unilateralist fingerprints can be found all over national policy. From his insistence that the Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners at Guantanamo not be subject to international law to his suggestion before Congress that anyone who questions his amassing of unchecked investigative authority is assisting terrorists, Ashcroft has used this national emergency to consolidate power in the executive branch and his office in particular.

Republicans hit out at Nato expansion



Senior Republican senators on Thursday challenged the planned expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to include several former Soviet bloc countries, suggesting that Nato enlargement would leave the transatlantic alliance over-stretched and under-funded.
Republican opposition to Nato expansion represents a stark contrast to the Bush administration's strong support for enlargement to include potential new members such as the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
President George W. Bush is determined to extend Nato membership to "all of Europe's new democracies," declaring last year that the US would press ahead with Nato expansion at the Prague summit in November.
However, Republican senators suggested on Thursday that Nato enlargement would make the alliance cumbersome and would extend US military commitments to countries which had little support in Washington.

Bush's War in Afghanistan: A Case of Big Mission Creep?



Did the United States recently engage in an illegal act of war?

On February 19, "The New York Times" placed on its front page a story headlined, "In a Shift, U.S. Uses Airstrikes To Help Kabul." As reporter John Burns wrote, "American forces appear to have opened a new phase in the war in Afghanistan with two bombing raids over the weekend that Afghan commanders in the area said were aimed at clashing militia forces rather than the Taliban or Al Qaeda." The article noted that the U.S. Central Command had issued a statement declaring that U.S. aircraft had dropped precision-guided bombs when "enemy troops" struck forces loyal to the government of Hamid Karzai near Khost. The Pentagon said the pro-government forces had requested the U.S. airstrikes after being attacked by rival troops. Local Afghan commanders reported that the clash involved two tribal militias--but details were murky. Burns noted, "the bombing raids seemed to have placed the United States for the first time in a position of using American air power in defense of the [Karzai] government."

Drug Trade Flourishes in the New Afghanistan


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The opium trade is flourishing in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban and the U.S. government said on Friday it is unclear whether the new government can persuade local leaders to stop it.
In its annual report on the international drug trade, the State Department said the Taliban, driven out of power by the U.S. military last year, virtually eliminated opium poppy cultivation in the regions under their control.
Overall opium production fell dramatically, to about 74 tons in 2001 from about 3,656 tons in 2000 and almost all the production was in parts of Afghanistan held by the Northern Alliance, Washington's ally in the war against the Taliban.
Afghanistan has traditionally been one of the world's major producers of opiates, along with Myanmar, which regained its place as top producer last year because of the Taliban ban.
Opium is the raw material for the opiates heroin and morphine, and Afghanistan has been the major supplier of those drugs to the region and to Western Europe.
The U.S. report, released on Friday, said widespread cultivation of poppies resumed in Afghanistan after the collapse of the Taliban and drug traffickers remained active in Afghanistan and the region.

Detainees' Protest Wins U.S. Reversal



A hunger strike yesterday by almost two-thirds of the 300 al Qaeda and Taliban detainees at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba, called to protest two guards' removal of a makeshift turban from a captive's head, prompted a rapid about-face by U.S. military officials, who told the inmates they could indeed wear such a headdress.
The refusal to eat, along with a 45-minute demonstration in which 150 captives at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base tossed personal items out of their pens and chanted "God is great" in unison, were the first organized acts of defiance by the detainees.
Marine Gen. Michael Lehnert, who heads the Camp X-Ray prison, told the detainees over loudspeakers late yesterday that he was reversing policy and allowing them to wrap bedsheets around their heads as turbans. Such headgear is commonly used in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The costs of tangling with Iraq


The United States may decide that attacking Iraq is in its best interests from a geopolitical standpoint, but the economy in America and in other countries where oil is important stands to suffer, at least in the short run.
"I think the greatest sort of unrecognized risk to markets and to economies right now is the likelihood of an upward spike" in oil prices in the event of a U.S. attack against Iraq, said Marvin Zonis, a business professor at the University of Chicago and head of Marvin Zonis Associates Inc., a political risk consultancy.
As if to illustrate his point, oil prices in New York shot up 4 percent Tuesday after rumors, quickly denied by the Pentagon, that small numbers of U.S. forces were active in Iraq.
That America is considering military action to dislodge Saddam Hussein, whom it accuses of supporting terrorism, is not exactly a surprise. Over the weekend, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld indicated that to avoid an attack, Iraq would have to accept extensive weapons inspections, a concept that has been troublesome for Saddam in the past.

World media reviews Bush record


International media assessments of George W Bush's first 100 days in office have focused on his pragmatism, conservatism and stance on the environment.
Many commentators note his popularity at home but warn that beyond US borders he has sown "dismay and discord".
One of the most damning critiques came from North Korea.
He handles international affairs in an intransigent, conceited and obstinate manner
Zhongguo Qingnian Bao
"Since the day he took office he has betrayed his true colours as a fanatic advocate of the policy of strength as he has been keen on aggression and war, harassment of peace and world domination," the party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said.
"It is due to the US, indeed, that the world has hardly seen even a single tranquil and peaceful day over the last 100 days."

The Great Deception: Elusive Enemy, Endless War
Howard Zinn, TomPaine.com



It is becoming clearer every day that the nation has been seriously, tragically deceived by the Bush administration, with the collaboration of a timorous Democratic Party.
The clue to this was in Bush's State of the Union Address. He began by saying we are "winning the war on terror." A few paragraphs later he said "tens of thousands of terrorists are still at large," and, "Terror training camps still exist in at least a dozen countries." If so, how can we be "winning" the war on terrorism?
And if it is clear that we are not, why have we bombed Afghanistan, an already bombed and starving country, for four months? Why have we killed a thousand or two thousand or four thousand (no one knows the exact number) innocent men, women, and children?
Was not the bombing intended to destroy the Al Qaeda network? The Boston Globe reported on February 21st: "Four months into the campaign in Afghanistan, U.S. officials acknowledged that American forces have killed or captured only one senior Al Qaeda figure and seven far less prominent leaders."

US companies skirt ban on trade with Iran



US security products are openly on display at a trade fair in Iran, despite sanctions banning virtually all trade and transfer of technology to the Islamic republic.
Iran's first International Police and Security Equipment Exhibition, which opened in Tehran this week, has revealed that the imposition of US sanctions in 1995 is failing to prevent US companies profiting from sales to Iran conducted through foreign subsidiaries or middle-men.
President George W. Bush has branded Iran, Iraq and North Korea an "axis of evil" intent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
Among the US products on display on Wednesday were closed-circuit televisions produced by Pelco, face-recognition systems by Visionics, access control by Apollo Security, satellite pictures by Space Imaging, printers by Hewlett-Packard and communications equipment by Motorola.
None of the US companies was available for comment in Iran. Stalls selling the equipment were staffed by Iranians who described themselves as private business people, acting as "representatives" of the US companies.

Congress Not Advised Of Shadow Government



Key congressional leaders said yesterday the White House did not tell them that President Bush has moved a cadre of senior civilian managers to secret underground sites outside Washington to ensure that the federal government could survive a devastating terrorist attack on the nation's capital.
Senate Majority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) said he had not been informed about the role, location or even the existence of the shadow government that the administration began to deploy the morning of the Sept. 11 hijackings. An aide to House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) said he similarly was unaware of the administration's move.
Among Congress's GOP leadership, aides to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (Ill.), second in line to succeed the president if he became incapacitated, and to Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (Miss.) said they were not sure whether they knew.

Daschle stands by war comments


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle on Friday stood by comments questioning the direction of the war on terrorism, saying Congress has the constitutional duty to raise such questions.
A day earlier, while speaking with reporters, the South Dakota Democrat issued one of the most critical assessments to date of the U.S. war effort from any senior Democratic official.
Daschle told reporters Thursday he believed the war has been successful to date, but he also said the war effort has been expanding "without clear direction." He added that, though he would not "second-guess what has been done to date ... the jury is still out on future success."

Friday, March 01, 2002

On Tom Daschle's Fight with the right on our justification for letting loose the dogs of war:

Looking at the sales numbers for Michael Moore's new book "Stupid White Men" makes me think that Tom Daschle is on *exactly* the right track when he questions this so-called 'President's' actions across the world. Universally in nations free and prosperous or poor and disenfranchised this current government has been condemned like no other in world history. Even Nazi Germany did not recieve as much condemnation as this nation has in this day and age. Yet television media continues to convey a message of 'business as usual' while the world's and the U.S.'s economy suffers and this country and the world's peoples are fleeced blind by what many feel is an illegitimate and illegal administration. I feel that as a citizen in the most powerful country on this planet that we have a real obligation as citizens to make sure that our military might is used in as responsible a manner as possible, and to make doubly sure that the american public is included in the debate on how that military power is used in defeating so-called 'evil' nations. I see nothing in this administration at all that indicates that they have any interest whatsoever on including the rank-and-file american citizen in the debate on how this country proceeds in spreading worldwide peace. Instead they spread worldwide war with little or no justification at all and claim to speak for rank and file America when in fact they clearly do not. I say, as I know a true majority of americans feel, if we are to be at a perpetual state of war, prove to us the reason for this in no uncertain terms *why* we should be at this state. Give us the reasons. No Corpus Delectum, no war. No suspension of personal liberties, no shenanigans that have existed since this administration has been in power. In light of the way this administration plays it's cards so close to it's chest, I say enough and make them legitimize every nut, bolt and screw they feel they need to use, whatever the reason. If this is truly a democracy and not a plutocracy, which it seems to inarguably be more and more each day, let them bow to the will of the people of this country and include them in the debate by not hiding behind legal double-talk and manufactured mumbo-jumbo. If they are truly Americans, and not corporate lapdogs out for a quick buck, they owe us this much. Americans and citizens of the world both. Are you listening George, Dick and Ari? You do not speak for us and never have. Let the will of the people of this country be heard, and heard loudly the world over. Justify this war or cease to prosecute it.

-- Michael H; American Patriot and proud of it.

Nuke Test Fallout Caused 15,000 U.S. Deaths


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At least 15,000 cancer deaths in the United States were probably caused by radioactive fallout from Cold War nuclear weapons tests worldwide, according to portions of a government study made public on Thursday by USA Today.
The Health and Human Services Department study, which has not been published yet, also suggested 20,000 nonfatal cancers among U.S. residents born after 1951 could be linked to fallout from aboveground weapons tests, the paper said.
USA Today said the study showed far more fallout than previously known reached the United States from nuclear tests done in the former Soviet Union and on several Pacific Islands by the United States and Britain.
Fallout from U.S. tests in Nevada also spread substantial amounts of radioactivity across a broad band of the country, the paper said.
When fallout from all domestic and foreign tests was combined, no U.S. resident born after 1951 escaped exposure, according to the study.

IRS steps up number of audits


WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service (news - web sites) put more low- and middle-income workers under the microscope last year. But wealthier taxpayers continued to face fewer audits.
The IRS reversed a long, sharp slide in the number of taxpayers facing audits, the agency reported. It audited 1 in every 172 individual tax returns in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2001. That was more than the year before, when 1 in 204 returns was audited.
But the number of audits was still down from recent years. In 1996, 1 in 60 returns was audited.
More than 640,000 poor and middle-income workers were audited last year, up from 518,000 the year before. If one's income was less than $100,000, the chance of an audit rose 22%. More than half of audited returns involved people who claimed the earned income tax credit, generally those earning less than $32,000 a year.
If a taxpayer's total income was above $100,000, the chance of being audited fell last year. About 1 in 126 returns with that much adjusted gross income was audited, an all-time low. That was down from 1 in 100 the prior year.

Bush Pushes Social Security Stock Investment Plan


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush argued on Thursday for letting Americans invest some of their Social Security taxes in the stock market to increase their retirement savings, an issue Democrats hope to use against Republicans in November elections.
``The generation of wealth should not be limited to a few in our society. It ought to be an opportunity for everybody,'' Bush said at an annual Labor Department national summit on retirement savings.
Democrats see Bush's plan for a partial privatization of Social Security as a disaster and have vowed to stop it, citing the collapse of energy giant Enron Corp. and the stock market drop over the last two years as examples. Thousands of company workers lost their retirement savings as a result of Enron's bankruptcy.
``Social Security is going to face financial challenges as the baby boom generation retires,'' said Rep. Robert Matsui, a California Democrat. ``Republicans are pushing for privatization, which would take money out of the program and make the financial problems worse. Privatization would also lead to massive benefit cuts, and rely on nonexistent general revenues to finance private accounts.''

$1 million bomb detectors were foiled; agent says airport security 'frightening'


WASHINGTON — The $1 million machines the government plans to deploy by the hundreds to scan airline baggage for bombs have been foiled repeatedly by undercover teams simulating terrorists, a veteran federal agent charged yesterday.
"We were extraordinarily successful in mock-destroying aircraft and killing large numbers of innocent people in ... simulated attacks," said Bogdan Dzakovic, supervisor of a special Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) team that tested airport security. "This occurred with such regularity and ease as to present a frightening picture of the sorry state of aviation security on a worldwide basis. This was all before 9-11."

These and other public allegations by Dzakovic, a former air marshal and 14-year FAA security veteran who now works for the newly created Transportation Security Administration (TSA), raise questions about the government's effort to ensure by the end of the year that all checked bags are screened effectively for hidden bombs. The charges also provide a glimpse of the highly secretive manner in which plainclothes agents test the nation's aviation-security system.

'War crimes' protest as Kissinger visits Cork



Former US Secretary of State Dr Henry Kissinger denied he was a war criminal yesterday, saying it was an insult to human intelligence for protesters in Cork to compare him to Slobodan Milosevic.
Protesters at University College Cork chanted and waved banners bearing the words "The Milosevic of Manhattan" prior to the arrival of the 56th US Secretary of State, who was in office during the controversial Nixon administration.
Dr Kissinger said he was pleased to discover that even in Ireland people were not indifferent to him. However, he said he was incensed at comparisons made between him and known war criminals.

Nearly 300 killed in Hindu-Muslim violence in India



AHMADABAD, India (March 1, 1:52 p.m. EST) - Armed Hindus swept into a village Friday, forced Muslims into their homes and then set fire to the houses, killing at least 30 people. Three days of Hindu-Muslim violence have left nearly 300 people dead.


Cheney's daughter offered State Dept. job


WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (UPI) -- As Vice President Dick Cheney prepares for his tour of the Arab world next month, the State Department's Near East Affairs Bureau is wooing his daughter for a high-level post, United Press International has learned.
Earlier this month, the State Department officially offered Elizabeth Cheney-Perry a job as the deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs for regional economic issues, according to State Department and administration officials.
These officials -- who spoke on condition of anonymity -- tell UPI the new post was created specifically for the vice president's daughter, adding that she will work primarily on economic development in the Middle East.
"We are delighted to have her join our team," a State Department official told UPI on Thursday. "She brings a strong legal and economic background to the job." Another State Department official said Cheney-Perry was expected to start work in April, though other sources at the department say she has yet to formally accept the offer.


Politics: Senator calls for investigation of funeral industry
A.P.
WASHINGTON (February 26, 2002 9:26 p.m. EST) - A Connecticut senator wants congressional investigators to look into the nation's funeral industry following the arrest of the operator of a crematory where hundreds of corpses have been discovered.

"I strongly believe that we have an obligation to ensure that no widow or widower, family or community is taken advantage of during times of sorrow and stress," Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., said Tuesday.

He asked the General Accounting Office, Congress's investigative arm, to look at funeral homes, mortuaries and crematories to determine whether the bereaved are being victimized by price gouging, abusive or deceptive trade practices or health violations.

So far, 339 corpses have been found on the crematory grounds at Tri-State Crematory in northwest Georgia. All but 70 of the bodies remain unidentified.

Officials believe the cost of the cleanup will surpass $10 million.
Israeli Troops Assault Refugee Camps


NABLUS, West Bank (AP) - Backed by tanks and helicopter gunships, Israeli troops launched a major assault on two West Bank refugee camps Thursday, a first in 17 months of fighting. Nine Palestinians and an Israeli soldier were killed in heavy gun battles, and more than 90 Palestinians were wounded, doctors said.
The military said the Balata and Jenin camps were strongholds of Palestinian militants, and that Thursday's operation was intended to show that "there is no refuge for terror." A militia leader said his men would die rather than surrender.
The fighting came just hours after Saudi Arabia presented its new peace initiative in a world forum for the first time. Under the proposal, the Arab world would make peace with Israel in exchange for an Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied in the 1967 Mideast war.
Also late Wednesday, a Palestinian woman with an explosives belt blew herself up near an Israeli checkpoint. Dareen Abu Aisheh, a 21-year-old English literature student at An Najah University in the West Bank town of Nablus, was the second woman to do that since the fighting began in September 2000. Three Israeli policemen as well as two Palestinians who were in a car with Abu Aisheh were hurt in the incident.

Haywire power contracts


Man, I hate to say I told you so.
Just over a year ago, I wrote the following about the long-term power contracts Gov. Gray Davis was negotiating with energy companies:
"The catch is that as more power plants are constructed, the wholesale price of electricity will come down from current sky-high levels. This could leave California . . . paying above-market rates for years to come."
At the time, the governor described the nearly $45 billion being spent on electricity contracts as "the bedrock of a long-term energy solution."
"With these deals in place," he said last March, "California's energy future is looking a whole lot brighter."
A little salt with your crow, sir?
At Davis' urging, California's Electricity Oversight Board and Public Utilities Commission appealed Monday for federal regulators to look into whether the state paid about $20 billion too much for juice.

Top G.O.P. Donors in Energy Industry Met Cheney Panel


ASHINGTON, Feb. 28 — Eighteen of the energy industry's top 25 financial contributors to the Republican Party advised Vice President Dick Cheney's national energy task force last year, according to interviews and election records.
Critics of the Bush administration's energy policy have long suspected that many of the corporations that were invited to advise the White House were large energy concerns that had contributed heavily to President Bush's campaign and the Republican Party in 2000. The White House has refused to release the names of the companies and individuals consulted during the formulation of the administration's energy policy last spring. It has been sued for the information.
But interviews and task force correspondence demonstrate an apparent correlation between large campaign contributions and access to Mr. Cheney's task force. Of the top 25 energy industry donors to the Republican Party before the November 2000 election, 18 corporations sent executives or representatives to meet with Mr. Cheney, the task force chairman, or members of the task force and its staff. The companies include the Enron Corporation (news/quote), the Southern Company, the Exelon Corporation (news/quote), BP, the TXU Corporation (news/quote), FirstEnergy (news/quote) and Anadarko Petroleum (news/quote).

Archived Info re Who Was Really Responsible For Derailing Mideast Peace Process
Anger at peace talks 'meddling' /July 13, 2000


The Middle East peace talks at Camp David became the subject of a political scandal in the US last night when reports emerged that one of George W Bush's foreign policy advisers had warned the Israeli delegation to be prepared to walk out of negotiations.
Richard Perle, a veteran cold war warrior and former assistant secretary of state, urged the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, not to agree to any settlement which left the future status of Jerusalem unresolved, according to the New York Post website.
The website quoted a message received by Mr Barak yesterday from two of his emissaries, Yoram Ben-Ze'ev and Yossi Alpher. The two men said Mr Perle "asked us to send a clear message" to Mr Barak that it would be a "catastrophe" if the Jerusalem question was not dealt with, and urged him "to walk away" from the Camp David negotiations if faced with that outcome.

EPA official quits, rips White House


IN HIS RESIGNATION letter, Eric Schaeffer complained specifically about what he saw as attempts to weaken Clean Air Act regulations on coal-fired power plants.
“It is hard to know which is worse,” he wrote of a review of a key Clean Air Act provision, “the endless delay or the repeated leaks by energy industry lobbyists of draft rule changes that would undermine lawsuits already filed” against power plants.
Those lawsuits were filed during the Clinton administration, but a review ordered at the start of the Bush administration has left the status of such actions unclear.
“At their heart, these proposals would turn narrow exemptions into larger loopholes that would allow old ‘grandfathered’ plants to be continually rebuilt (and emissions to increase) without modern pollution controls,” Schaeffer said.

EPA regulator’s resignation letter


Dear Ms. Whitman:

I resign today from the Environmental Protection Agency after twelve years of service, the last five as Director of the Office of Regulatory Enforcement. I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given, and leave with a deep admiration for the men and women of EPA who dedicate their lives to protecting the environment and the public health. Their faith in the Agency’s mission is an inspiring example to those who still believe that government should stand for the public interest.

Mike's Book Tour Diary


I wake up to good news. My book, after less than one week in release, has gone to its 9th printing! I can't believe it. It looks as if I have, in one week, sold more of Stupid White Men than I did for the whole year of Downsize This (and that one was a bestseller too). This is blowing my mind.
Then I get word that it is #4 on the Barnes and Noble list in their stores, so they are knocking the price down to 30%, which is good news for people who can't afford these expensive price tags publishers hang on books these days. Barnes and Noble have ordered a lot of books, and they did so long before they knew how well it was going to do.

White House Regrets Blaming Clinton on Mideast


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on Thursday he regretted suggesting that former U.S. President Bill Clinton's push for a Middle East peace deal was to blame for the last 17 months of violence in the region.
Earlier on Thursday, Fleischer suggested that Clinton's ''shoot the moon'' effort to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal before leaving office was responsible for the strife in which nearly 1,200 people have died since September 2000.
While he did not cite Clinton by name, Fleischer alluded to the former president's July 2000 drive at Camp David to broker a deal between Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
``I mistakenly suggested that increasing violence in the Middle East was attributable to the peace efforts that were under way in 2000,'' Fleischer said in a rare written statement that expressed regret for his earlier remarks.

US companies skirt ban on trade with Iran



US security products are openly on display at a trade fair in Iran, despite sanctions banning virtually all trade and transfer of technology to the Islamic republic.
Iran's first International Police and Security Equipment Exhibition, which opened in Tehran this week, has revealed that the imposition of US sanctions in 1995 is failing to prevent US companies profiting from sales to Iran conducted through foreign subsidiaries or middle-men.
President George W. Bush has branded Iran, Iraq and North Korea an "axis of evil" intent on acquiring weapons of mass destruction.

Tapes: Nixon Wanted to Use Nuke Bomb


COLLEGE PARK, Md. –– Thinking big, President Nixon raised the idea of using a nuclear bomb against North Vietnam in 1972, but Henry Kissinger quickly dismissed the notion.
"I'd rather use the nuclear bomb," Nixon told Kissinger, his national security adviser, a few weeks before he ordered a major escalation of the Vietnam War.
"That, I think, would just be too much," Kissinger replied softly in his baritone voice, in a conversation uncovered among 500 hours of Nixon tapes released Thursday.

Protesting Black Hawk Down


It's one thing to have Somali groups protesting Black Hawk Down for what they say is an inaccurate and racist portrayal of Somalis. It's quite another to have one of the actors in the Oscar-nominated movie, an account of the 1993 US military intervention in Somalia that left eighteen American soldiers dead, openly denounce the movie for the same reason.
But that's exactly what Brendan Sexton III did in front of a group of nearly 200 students at Columbia University on February 11. Sexton, who has appeared in such movies as Boys Don't Cry and Welcome to the Dollhouse, said the film oversimplifies and inaccurately portrays Somalis as "savages without any reason to oppose the US military presence in Somalia." He said he originally agreed to take the part because in the script his character openly denounces the military action. But, he said, "After September 11, they edited out the speech my character, Alphabet, made."

Rebels surround southern Colombia city


FLORENCIA: While leftist rebels have surrounded this southern departmental capital, leaving the city without power or phone lines, police in the northeastern city of Medellin killed five suspected FARC rebels when searching homes for weapons.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia suspects were gunned down when elite police units searched homes believed to belong to rebel supporters, police in Colombia's second-largest city announced. In the search, police found firearms, ammunition, and home-made explosives.
They arrested 30 suspects, all believed to be planning attacks or linked to attacks around the region, a Medellin police spokesman told AFP. The FARC is believed to have some 17,000 fighters spread out around the country, and a further 10,000 supporters in large cities, some involved in intelligence gathering.

Daschle Says U.S. War Effort Lacks 'Clear Direction'


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, in remarks immediately assailed by Republicans, said on Thursday there seems to be "expansion without at least a clear direction" in the administration's war on terrorism.
"Before we make commitments in resources I think we need to have a clear understanding of what the direction would be," the South Dakota Democrat told reporters, reflecting a growing Democratic concern.




Powell tells PM to show 'restraint' in raids on Balata, Jenin


United States Secretary of State Colin Powell called Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Thursday evening and asked that he "show restraint" in the IDF operation in the West Bank refugee camps of Balata and Jenin, which began in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The operation marks the first time that IDF troops have penetrated the heart of Palestinian refugee camps since the Intifada erupted in September 2000.
One IDF soldier and 14 Palestinians were killed in the heavy gun battles that ensued Thursday in the two refugee camps. Dozens of Palestinians were wounded during the raid, which was carried out with the backing of tanks and helicopter gunships. Two soldiers were also injured in the operation

U.S. reliance on Iraqi oil grows despite "evil" tag


NEW YORK, Feb 27 (Reuters) - As U.S. President George W. Bush singles out Iraq as the keystone of a global ``axis of evil,'' the U.S. oil industry last year deepened its dependence on Baghdad's supplies, U.S. Energy Department figures show.
Despite Washington's hard line towards Iraq, the United States is comfortably the world's largest consumer of Iraqi crude oil and depends on Baghdad for some 9 percent of its oil imports.
Valero Energy Corp. (NYSE:VLO - news) and ChevronTexaco Corp. (NYSE:CVX - news) are the biggest U.S. buyers of Baghdad's oil and would be most in need of alternative supplies if, as some fear, military confrontation with the United States disrupts Iraqi oil flows in coming months.
U.S. firms gobbled up some 790,000 barrels per day of Iraqi crude oil in 2001 -- nearly half of Iraq's crude sales under the U.N.-supervised oil-for-food program (see table below).

Iraq Says Three Wounded in No-Fly Zone Air Strike


BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said three civilians were wounded on Thursday when Western warplanes struck targets inside the country's northern no-fly zone.
The U.S. military said its aircraft attacked Iraqi air defense sites in the zone after radar and anti-aircraft guns targeted patrolling Western planes. "At 12:00 a.m. (4 a.m. EST) today U.S. and British warplanes carried 13 sorties coming from Turkey...and flew over Zakho, Dibis, Amadiya, Aqrah, Duhouk and Ain Zala," an Iraqi military spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency INA.
"The enemy attacked civilian and service installations... wounding three civilians," the spokesman said.

US Troops Fulfil Georgian Leader's Long Plans


TBILISI, Georgia (Reuters) - Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said Thursday his former Soviet state's decision to accept U.S. military training and hardware was part of a longstanding plan to strengthen its independence.
The comments were his first since Washington promised elite troops to train and equip Georgia's army. Russia has denounced the U.S. move as liable to aggravate an already volatile situation in the sensitive Transcaucasus region, which straddles export routes for oil from big new fields in the Caspian Sea.
The plan amounts to a diplomatic coup for Shevardnadze, who was Soviet foreign minister under Mikhail Gorbachev in the 1980s and has tried in the post-communist period to orient his country toward the West despite civil wars and ethnic conflict.

Shadow Government Is at Work in Secret:After Attacks, Bush Ordered 100 Officials to Bunkers Away From Capital to Ensure Federal Survival


President Bush has dispatched a shadow government of about 100 senior civilian managers to live and work secretly outside Washington, activating for the first time long-standing plans to ensure survival of federal rule after catastrophic attack on the nation's capital.
Execution of the classified "Continuity of Operations Plan" resulted not from the Cold War threat of intercontinental missiles, the scenario rehearsed for decades, but from heightened fears that the al Qaeda terrorist network might somehow obtain a portable nuclear weapon, according to three officials with firsthand knowledge. U.S. intelligence has no specific knowledge of such a weapon, they said, but the risk is thought great enough to justify the shadow government's disruption and expense.




Despite clamor, fallout study still unreleased


WASHINGTON — A government study estimating that about 15,000 Americans died from cancer as a result of Cold War nuclear fallout has been withheld from the public for nearly a year. The $1.85 million study, which occupied several top-notch scientists for two years, has been sitting in administrative limbo since early last summer while a host of local health officials, citizens groups and researchers have been clamoring to see it. "The process seems aimed at slowing down information release and minimizing the consequences," says Bob Schaeffer of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability, a coalition of local and national citizens groups.


Thursday, February 28, 2002

U.S. corporate parasites flee offshore


Profits trump patriotism. That is how Kate Barton, a tax partner at Ernst & Young, explains the stampede of U.S. companies rushing to incorporate in Bermuda while retaining all the benefits of their U.S. locations and evading millions in corporate tax payments to the U.S. Treasury.
Thanks to David Cay Johnston of The New York Times, we learn that for a few thousand dollars in a paper transaction, a U.S. drilling company like Cooper Industries of Houston (which bills itself as "a responsible corporate citizen," because, "we believe giving back is good business") will reduce its tax bill by 40 percent or $54 million. Kate Barton told The Times that companies conclude that increased profits are "powerful enough that maybe the patriotism issue has to take a back seat to that."
Let us be clear: These fictitious Bermuda companies continue to enjoy all the benefits of U.S. citizenship. They and their property are protected by the American legal system. Their contracts are enforced by American courts. Because of the U.S. government they have chosen to stiff, they breathe clean air and drink clean water, drive on safe highways and they and their families are kept safe by the world's best military.

Critics Say New Rule Limits Access to Records


WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 — Scholars and researchers say people will have a harder time getting information from the government because of a new Bush administration guideline on releasing federal records.
The guideline, issued in October by Attorney General John Ashcroft, describes how the administration intends to carry out the Freedom of Information Act, which says federal agencies must make their records available to the public. Since President Gerald R. Ford, it has been customary for new administrations to outline their interpretation of the act soon after taking office.
Mr. Ashcroft said the Bush administration's standard would be to support withholding documents as long as there was a "sound legal basis" for doing so. The previous standard, issued in 1993 by Janet Reno, the attorney general under President Bill Clinton, was to support withholding documents only if "disclosure would be harmful."
The change in wording is a significant blow to government openness, some researchers say.

Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative


Alexandria, Va.: I'm a big believer that the "vast right wing conspiracy" is a lame defense used by Hillary Clinton and her left wing, liberal friends to excuse the deplorable behavior of her husband. Do you have any "inside" info on this supposed "conspiracy?"

David Brock: Hillary Clinton was right that there was well-organized, heavily financed right-wing conspiracy that was determined to drive Clinton from office. In the book, I write quite a bit about how the conspiracy worked from the inside, because I was recruited into it by a financier of Newt Gingrich's GOPAC during the 1992 presidential campaign. The conspiracy came to center on the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit; her key legal adviser admitted to me in a private conversation that he did not believe Jones but wanted to use her allegations as a way of setting a perjury trap for Clinton. I think if you read the book you'll see that the right-wing conspiracy is laid out in such detail that it is hard to deny.


Creditors try to cut off use of funds


The creditors committee in Enron's bankruptcy case filed an objection Tuesday to company executives' efforts to access $30 million in liability insurance to pay mounting legal bills.
Company lawyers, acting on behalf of former Chairman Ken Lay, former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling, former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and others, will ask U.S. bankruptcy judge Arthur Gonzalez today for permission to tap a $445 million pool of insurance funds.
The creditors joined the long list of those objecting because they want that money to pay their claims.


The Costs of Consolidation


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Rules limiting media ownership are rapidly disappearing. If they are allowed to vanish, the nation's news landscape will change dramatically — and not for the better.
Last week's appeals court decision relaxing the limits on television and cable-system ownership is only the first step. This could well be the beginning of a trend in which local newspapers and radio stations are merged with local television stations, consolidating the gathering and distribution of news in most American cities.
The ruling ordered the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its limits on the number of TV stations any one network can own, and it struck down the F.C.C.'s rule prohibiting cable companies from owning TV stations in markets where they operate. Given the terse language of the opinion, and a 1996 law that requires the F.C.C. to review its rules every two years and "repeal or modify any regulation it deems not to be in the public interest," it's likely there will be further reductions, or even the elimination, of limits on ownership. In 1999 the F.C.C. gave networks permission to own two stations in the same city, and not surprisingly the result has been a wave of acquisitions.


Debate rages in state Senate over patriotism bill


Saturday, February 09, 2002 - Denver- Democrats accused Republicans of campaign shenanigans Friday after GOP Sen. John Andrews tried and failed to force a floor vote on a bill that would require public schools to teach patriotism.
The Senate Education Committee took testimony Thursday on Andrews' Senate Bill 136, then postponed a vote until next week after raising questions about how patriotism would be graded and whether teaching patriotism would even be proper.
On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee killed another bill by Andrews that would have required students to recite the pledge of allegiance in public schools, after he tried and failed in a procedural move to force a floor vote on that issue.


Superfund’s kryptonite: lobbyists: When big business screws up, you pay the tab


AUSTIN, Texas -- "Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today."
-- Theodore Roosevelt.
It's hard to think how this could be any clearer: The headlines are "Bush Proposing Policy Changes on Toxic Sites: Taxpayers Would Bear Most Cleanup Costs." "Bush to Shift Toxic Cleanups to Taxpayers."
Katherine Seelye of The New York Times reports the Superfund was founded in 1980 under the slogan, "The polluter pays." Industry was to clean up its own messes, and special corporate taxes were used to fund clean-ups at "orphan sites, where the responsible party could not be identified or could not pay. The taxes were reauthorized under President Ronald Reagan and again under Mr. Bush's father. They expired in 1995, and while President Bill Clinton sought to have them reinstated, the House of Representatives, by then under Republican control, refused."


If Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft "continue to be recalcitrant, I hope everyone on this committee will support me in getting the House to move this forward," Burton said.


White Must Go


Thomas White, the former Enron vice chairman appointed by George W. Bush to be Secretary of the Army, should resign immediately. The case against White is self-evident. Touted as "one of the most outstanding managers in corporate America" by Enron's favorite senator, Phil Gramm, he was named Army Secretary, promising to bring "sound business practices" to the Pentagon. But White's entire business experience was at Enron, where he participated directly in the lies and mismanagement that resulted in its bankruptcy and the betrayal of investors and employees. Enron's business practices generally, and White's in particular, are the last thing that should be inflicted upon the Department of the Army.
Before being named Army Secretary, White was vice chairman of a venture called Enron Energy Services from 1998 through May 2001. He was paid $5.5 million in salary and bonuses in his last year alone and walked off with stock and options valued at about $50 million and homes in Naples, Florida, and Aspen, Colorado, worth more than $5 million apiece.


Mistakes Were Made


PRESIDENT BUSH and Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld have been indignantly protesting in recent days that the administration would never deliberately distort the truth in reporting to the public, as a new Pentagon propaganda office was proposing to do. Yet the explanations Mr. Rumsfeld and his senior commanders have been offering about the deaths of innocent people during American raids in Afghanistan have been riddled with misstatements, contradictions and denials of the obvious. They seem, if not deliberately false, then driven by an arrogant refusal to own up to truth when it happens to be embarrassing.













Creditors try to cut off use of funds


The creditors committee in Enron's bankruptcy case filed an objection Tuesday to company executives' efforts to access $30 million in liability insurance to pay mounting legal bills.
Company lawyers, acting on behalf of former Chairman Ken Lay, former Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling, former Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and others, will ask U.S. bankruptcy judge Arthur Gonzalez today for permission to tap a $445 million pool of insurance funds.
The creditors joined the long list of those objecting because they want that money to pay their claims.


The Costs of Consolidation


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Rules limiting media ownership are rapidly disappearing. If they are allowed to vanish, the nation's news landscape will change dramatically — and not for the better.
Last week's appeals court decision relaxing the limits on television and cable-system ownership is only the first step. This could well be the beginning of a trend in which local newspapers and radio stations are merged with local television stations, consolidating the gathering and distribution of news in most American cities.
The ruling ordered the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its limits on the number of TV stations any one network can own, and it struck down the F.C.C.'s rule prohibiting cable companies from owning TV stations in markets where they operate. Given the terse language of the opinion, and a 1996 law that requires the F.C.C. to review its rules every two years and "repeal or modify any regulation it deems not to be in the public interest," it's likely there will be further reductions, or even the elimination, of limits on ownership. In 1999 the F.C.C. gave networks permission to own two stations in the same city, and not surprisingly the result has been a wave of acquisitions.


Debate rages in state Senate over patriotism bill


Saturday, February 09, 2002 - Denver- Democrats accused Republicans of campaign shenanigans Friday after GOP Sen. John Andrews tried and failed to force a floor vote on a bill that would require public schools to teach patriotism.
The Senate Education Committee took testimony Thursday on Andrews' Senate Bill 136, then postponed a vote until next week after raising questions about how patriotism would be graded and whether teaching patriotism would even be proper.
On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee killed another bill by Andrews that would have required students to recite the pledge of allegiance in public schools, after he tried and failed in a procedural move to force a floor vote on that issue.


Superfund’s kryptonite: lobbyists: When big business screws up, you pay the tab


AUSTIN, Texas -- "Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of today."
-- Theodore Roosevelt.
It's hard to think how this could be any clearer: The headlines are "Bush Proposing Policy Changes on Toxic Sites: Taxpayers Would Bear Most Cleanup Costs." "Bush to Shift Toxic Cleanups to Taxpayers."
Katherine Seelye of The New York Times reports the Superfund was founded in 1980 under the slogan, "The polluter pays." Industry was to clean up its own messes, and special corporate taxes were used to fund clean-ups at "orphan sites, where the responsible party could not be identified or could not pay. The taxes were reauthorized under President Ronald Reagan and again under Mr. Bush's father. They expired in 1995, and while President Bill Clinton sought to have them reinstated, the House of Representatives, by then under Republican control, refused."


If Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft "continue to be recalcitrant, I hope everyone on this committee will support me in getting the House to move this forward," Burton said.


White Must Go


Thomas White, the former Enron vice chairman appointed by George W. Bush to be Secretary of the Army, should resign immediately. The case against White is self-evident. Touted as "one of the most outstanding managers in corporate America" by Enron's favorite senator, Phil Gramm, he was named Army Secretary, promising to bring "sound business practices" to the Pentagon. But White's entire business experience was at Enron, where he participated directly in the lies and mismanagement that resulted in its bankruptcy and the betrayal of investors and employees. Enron's business practices generally, and White's in particular, are the last thing that should be inflicted upon the Department of the Army.
Before being named Army Secretary, White was vice chairman of a venture called Enron Energy Services from 1998 through May 2001. He was paid $5.5 million in salary and bonuses in his last year alone and walked off with stock and options valued at about $50 million and homes in Naples, Florida, and Aspen, Colorado, worth more than $5 million apiece.


Mistakes Were Made


PRESIDENT BUSH and Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld have been indignantly protesting in recent days that the administration would never deliberately distort the truth in reporting to the public, as a new Pentagon propaganda office was proposing to do. Yet the explanations Mr. Rumsfeld and his senior commanders have been offering about the deaths of innocent people during American raids in Afghanistan have been riddled with misstatements, contradictions and denials of the obvious. They seem, if not deliberately false, then driven by an arrogant refusal to own up to truth when it happens to be embarrassing.













In Israel, a new-old voice of conscientious objection reawakens


Alongside the recent military escalations in the Occupied Territories, a new voice of conscience is rising loud and clear inside Israel. Previously marginal, this voice now offers the country hope of breaking out of the past 17 months of crisis. The new voice permeates reports from the Occupied Territories and it has begun to mobilize Israelis on a scale inconceivable since the Palestinian uprising began in September 2000. Two consecutive rallies on Feb. 9 and 16 drew crowds of thousands. But the salient expression of the new voice is the public declaration of young Israeli Army reservists on Jan. 25 that they will not serve in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The intensity of the reactions ­ both negative and positive ­ to these new “refuseniks” reflects the depth of the political challenge posed by the soldiers’ conscientious objection.


When Things Turn Weird, The Weird Turn Pro: Propaganda, The Pentagon And The Rendon Group


A few years ago, Washington media consultant John Rendon was regaling an audience of cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy with one of his favorite war stories.
When victorious U.S. troops rolled into Kuwait City, he noted, they were greeted by hundreds of Kuwaitis waving American flags. The scene, flashed around the world again and again on CNN, left little doubt that the U.S. Marines were welcome in Kuwait.
"Did you ever stop to wonder," he asked, "how the people of Kuwait City, after being held hostage for seven long and painful months, were able to get hand-held American, and for that matter, the flags of other coalition countries?"
A ripple of knowing chuckles passed across Rendon’s military audience.
"Well you now know the answer," he said, "That was one of my jobs then."


Nuclear Terrorism and US Nuclear Policy



As bad as September 11th may have been, it could have been far worse. Had terrorists attacked with nuclear weapons, the death toll could have risen into the millions. It is likely that even one crude nuclear weapon would have left Manhattan utterly destroyed, and with it the financial and communications center of the country. Were terrorists to obtain one or more nuclear weapons and use them on New York, Washington or other cities, the United States could cease to exist as a functioning country. The stakes are very high, and yet the US is creating new nuclear policies that increase the likelihood that terrorists will ultimately obtain nuclear weapons.


Why Can't the Democrats Get Tough?



On Nov. 22, 2000, it looked as if the presidency of the United States was about to be decided in Miami, Fla. That morning, a three-judge canvassing board in Miami-Dade County resolved to recount 10,750 "undervotes"---ballots which machines had read as showing no vote for president, but which, examined by hand, might reveal such evidence of voter intent as the now-famous "dangling chads." Outraged operatives for George W. Bush, fearing that Al Gore might pick up enough votes to win, labored to convince the judges to stop the recount. When their legal arguments failed, they turned to a different form of persuasion.


"The Media's Right-Wing Bias


The media's right-wing bias is showing again. I refer to an axis of overexuberant conservatism spanning the outrageous Drudge Report, the famously Republican Chicago Tribune, the ever-eager commentator Fred Barnes, the loony Washington Times and, finally, our own little me-too chorus at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Determined to cushion George W. Bush from vulnerability for his bosom-buddiness with Enron, these right-wing conspirators, diligent if not vast, have endeavored to tie Kenneth Lay around Bill Clinton's tired and burdened neck.
With the right wing, the formula is always simple: When in trouble, slap Clinton.


Russia tells the US to keep out of its back yard


MOSCOW yesterday told the United States to stay out of its "back yard", after news that US troops and helicopters may be heading to Georgia, on Russia’s southern border, as part of the war on terrorism.

But Bush defended the plan, aimed at Chechen fighters who are said to have links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network. "So long as there’s al-Qaeda anywhere, we will help the host countries root them out and bring them to justice," he said.

Washington says up to 200 troops may go to Georgia to train local special forces for an attack on Chechen units, suspected of harbouring al-Qaeda fighters, in the Pankisi Gorge.


Democrats Criticize Pentagon Budget, Anti-Terror War



Leading congressional Democrats took aim yesterday at the Pentagon's $379 billion budget request and its open-ended war on terrorism, voicing their strongest criticism of military operations and a proposed $48 billion increase in defense spending since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Appropriations Committee, grilled top defense officials at a budget hearing about the lack of an "exit strategy" in Afghanistan, their failure to capture al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and a widening global campaign against terrorists that seems to have "no end in sight."
Such sharp criticism, voiced in both the Senate and in the House during a hearing on missile defense, showed Democrats probing for ways to question the war and defense buildup without seeming unpatriotic in an election year.


Ridge Holds Stock in 19 Companies


Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge owns stock in several companies lobbying the Bush administration for defense contracts. His holdings also include a modest stake in now-bankrupt Global Crossing.
Ridge's portfolio, worth $61,019 to $392,000, includes stock in at least 19 companies, his federal financial disclosure statement shows.
Those include several corporations registered to lobby for federal defense-related contracts, including Avaya, EMC Corp., General Electric, Merck & Co., Unisys and Oracle.


Atrocity of 9/11 to save tech sector - Cheney


According to a report by Reuters, the Veep reckons that a shift in emphasis from useless consumer gadgets to weapons and surveillance gear will help bring back the roaring '90s, when the phrase 'technology firm' was one of the most powerful incantations of the marketplace.


Thaksin warns US not to overstep line



BANGKOK: Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Wednesday warned the United States not to "step over the line" after it criticised his government's order expelling two foreign journalists who wrote a critical article.
Thaksin also urged the two journalists to admit their mistake and apologise. "Then everything will be fine, everything is over," he told reporters.
The US State Department expressed concern after Thailand revoked the visas of US citizen Shawn Crispin and Rodney Tasker, a Briton, two Bangkok-based journalists of the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine. It urged Thailand to uphold its reputation as a strong supporter of freedom of the press.









Wednesday, February 27, 2002

Judge Orders Cheney Records Release


WASHINGTON –– A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Energy Department to release thousands of records on Vice President Dick Cheney's energy task force, criticizing the government for moving at "a glacial pace."
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler could undermine the Bush administration's effort to keep secret the names of industry executives and lobbyists who met with the White House as it formulated its energy plan last spring.
The General Accounting Office and a conservative group, Judicial Watch, have filed separate lawsuits trying to force the White House to turn over the material.
Starting March 25, the Energy Department must turn over its documents to the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. It must complete the task by April 10.




Sharon must go: Israel's leader is now an obstacle to peace


One important element was missing from Ariel Sharon's speech to the Israeli nation this week: an offer to resign. Like his old enemy, Yasser Arafat, the Likud prime minister is now overwhelmingly part of the problem, not part of the solution.
His year in office has brought a steady deterioration in Israel's security situation, the very opposite of what he promised voters. Improved security was his key pledge: indeed, it was perhaps the only persuasive argument for supporting him and, in doing so, many Israelis seem to have closed their eyes, crossed their fingers and hoped for the best. Their collective gamble has not paid off. Mr Sharon has not delivered. For this reason alone, he should go.
Mr Sharon's unimaginative, heavy-handed tactics in the occupied territories have brought a rising toll of Israeli army and Jewish settlement casualties, while the civilian population of Israel itself has become increasingly vulnerable to suicidal attacks. One result has been a groundswell of vocal opposition among army reservists and middle-ranking officers to the mindless immorality of what they are being asked to do in the West Bank and Gaza.


Patriotic Dissent


It just got a little harder to ignore the dissenters in America's War on Terrorism.
Family members of victims, about seventeen so far, have joined under the banner "Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows" to encourage discussion of alternatives to war and to bring aid to families affected by the US bombing campaign in Afghanistan.
A smooth Valentine's Day press conference in New York announcing the organization's formation illustrated the group's strengths and the challenges ahead. The packed room, at the Church Center for the United Nations, across from the UN, included several reporters. The event saw no ink in the next day's papers--except in El Diario, a Spanish-language daily--but this group should have an edge over other antiwar activists in getting mainstream media attention. After all, they speak the same simple language of grief as the thousands of others who have lost loved ones in the attacks, and who have garnered ample coverage in both print and electronic media.


A checkpoint turns on its creators


The boundaries of the concept of terror have been stretched even further in recent days. An attack on armed soldiers at a checkpoint that for over a year has robbed area residents of their freedom of movement, and at which Palestinians have been killed, was defined as a terror operation (Ma'ariv called it a "massacre"), while the bombing of Palestinian cities, the killing of dozens of civilians (including a mother and her daughter), the blowing up of broadcasting stations that was captured by the camera of the army magazine Bamahane and the revenge assassinations of Palestinian police officers at checkpoints - were defined as legitimate security operations.

These word games we play with ourselves, however, cannot change the fact that the Israeli occupation has over the past several days begun to turn on its creators. First it was the tragic death of Duvdevan commander Lieutenant Colonel Eyal Weiss when an army bulldozer pushed a wall onto him during the demolition of a Palestinian house. Next came the fatal assaults on soldiers at checkpoints , bringing the news that the occupation, in the words of the current slogan, is killing us all.


An explosive account


A History of Bombing is an anti-war book to beat all anti-war books. And although it was written before events in Afghanistan, reading it now gives on an overriding sense of deja-vu.

Last week, for instance, I was sent a fax by the Peacetime Foundation of Taiwan asking me to join a protest against the current use by the US of cluster bombs. These, known in Chinese as "mother-and-son bombs," also appear in Sven Lindqvist's history. Aiming to spread death and injury to as many living targets as possible rather than damage a specific installation, they consist of a canister that opens in the air and disperses smaller bombs over a wide area. These then explode throwing some 200,000 projectiles in every direction.

In Vietnam B-52s often dropped explosives on military structures, napalm to scorch out their contents, then cluster bombs to kill people trying to help their burning comrades. Sometimes time-release cluster bombs were dropped to kill people who emerged when they thought the danger was past. Small wonder some people are protesting, even in pro-American Taiwan.





New Colombia offensive looms as presidential candidate remains hostage


Colombia's military prepared for a major offensive, including more aerial bombardments, days after the collapse of peace talks with leftist guerrillas and following the abduction of presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.
Late Monday an army general announced that his forces had located the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas that are holding Betancourt.
However the rescue operation was suspended at the request of Betancourt's family, "who asked that her life not be endangered," said General Roberto Pizarro, the military commander of the southern Colombian region.
FARC rebels kidnapped Betancourt, 40, along with her campaign manager when she tried to drive into the nearby former rebel stronghold of San Vicente del Caguan on Saturday.
Betancourt, a candidate for the small Green Oxygen party in the May 26 election, comes from a distinguished family of politicians and is widely respected for her time as an outspoken senator. However she has only two percent of likely voter support, according to polls.
Meanwhile Colombian warplanes prepared to launch another wave of aerial bombardments "at any moment" in the vast southern Switzerland-sized formerly controlled by the FARC, a military source told AFP.

End the corporate shakedown of America


February 25, 2002—While the government has been distracting the masses with frenzied flag-waving and cries of "praise the lord!" the shafting of America has been continuing apace.

The NY Times, still in the process of rediscovering itself and finding that it's not supposed to act as a cheerleader for the administration, ran an article last Monday (2/18/02) that related that the latest hot "megatrend" among the big corporations is to file papers of incorporation in Bermuda and other overseas havens, and save a fortune in taxes. Among other examples cited in the piece (written by David Cay Johnson) are the following:

Stanley Works saves $30 million a year in taxes; Ingersoll-Rand saves $40 million a year in taxes (estimated);

Tyco saves $400 million a year in taxes

Evil + docility = the cure for hope


February 25, 2002—Above the entrance to my alma mater's library was inscribed, as I recall, "Who knows only his own generation remains forever a child." Given the times, the inscription seems to have legs. Still, it may be too gracious to characterize the American masses as children. Children are curious, often rebellious, and seldom content with one answer.

I am also reminded of Jack Webb playing a frustrated drill instructor in the 50s film, The D.I. Addressing his inept recruits, he lamented, "You men are so dumb, you're not even a mob. A mob has a leader; you're a herd!" Bovine docility might be closer to the mark. Ruminating cattle don't appear to worry—until it's too late. A flash of lightning, a sudden predator, or a staged terror event will get the herd moving. They don't care where.
Then, there's always Socrates' "The unexamined life is not worth living." He was never more prescient than now. Unfortunately, given the leverage of technology combined with rampant ignorance and corruption, Socrates' words may be taken quite literally. The fingers on the buttons and the supportive braying in the background do not bode well for life. The suspect doctrine of Manifest Destiny, with its underlying belief in religious supremacy, is now a manifesto for mass destruction. The potential has always been there, of course, but now we have the means and a power vacuum on the planet enabling a rogue nation to gorge on criminal behavior while invoking God in the name of freedom.

Terror prisoners escape military tribunals



AMERICA has failed to compile evidence identifying any of the 500 prisoners it is holding from the Afghanistan war as suitable candidates for a military tribunal, the Pentagon conceded yesterday.
The admission is a major setback for the United States, which claimed that it had detained senior members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network and the Taleban regime.
Despite holding the prisoners for weeks, and in some cases months, interrogators lack enough details to build a case against them that could be put before a specially-convened hearing, the officials said.


US Congress questions efficiency of Colombian anti-drug program


The investigative arm of the US Congress has called for a halt in US funding for Colombian coca and poppy eradication programs, unless "measurable progress" is achieved in reducing drug-generating crops.
The General Accounting Office said in a report issued Monday, the US government "faces serious obstacles to achieving progress in Colombia, and the experiences in Bolivia and Peru strongly suggest that alternative development in Colombia will not succeed unless the obstacles are overcome."
The program is being implemented under Colombian President Andres Pastrana's 7.5-billion-dollar Plan Colombia that aims to curb drug trafficking and boost the economy of the war-ravaged South American nation.


U.S. may send troops to Georgia

The United States is “very close” to deciding to send several hundred special operations troops to Georgia to train and possibly advise local troops to hunt suspected al-Qaida terrorists, U. S. military officials told NBC News. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the Pentagon has already begun providing combat helicopters to the former Soviet republic.

Bush backs Saudi plan for peace in the Middle East

A Middle East peace proposal floated by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah gathered momentum yesterday as the White House signalled approval. In a telephone call to the de facto Saudi ruler, President George Bush said the plan, under which Arab states would open full relations with Israel if it withdraws completely from the occupied Palestinian territories, was "helpful".



Stocks Plummet on Rumor; Pentagon Says No U.S. Ground Troops Are in Iraq



WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon denied Tuesday that any U.S. ground troops are inside Iraq, after a rumor of military action helped send stocks down in early trading.
Marine Lt. Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said the mistaken report that caused the stir originated with Fox News, which later told him it had mistakenly rerun a report from last week that was subsequently denied by the Pentagon.
Fox did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
The Dow Jones industrial average, which opened higher to start the session, fell by about 140 points to 10,033. Analysts also attributed the decline to a report showing slipping consumer confidence. The Dow later regained some of the lost ground.



US threat to peace, says vicar


The vicar’s complaints against the US involved its response to September 11. He criticised conditions in which Taleban prisoners were kept in Guantanamo Bay, capitalism generally, and Christian fundamentalism in the US. He wrote of Americans: “They have not been fighting for civilisation but for empire, power and the American way of life: luxury in a world of poverty.”


Cleaning Up in Bush's Wake


TOKYO, Feb. 26 – Japan and South Korea are trying to calm the waters after President Bush's continued harsh rhetoric toward North Korea on his trip to Asia last week.
Analysts here say Bush's comments, in which he castigated the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il and repeated his judgment that the regime is "evil," have further distanced prospects of renewed cooperation by Pyongyang.
North Korea has reacted angrily to Bush's statements, calling the U.S. president the "kingpin of terrorism" and deeming his trip a "war junket."


US Certifies Theft Of Russian Nuclear Material Has Occurred



An undetermined amount of weapons-grade nuclear material has been stolen in post-Communist Russia, heightening concerns that some of it could have ended up in the wrong hands, the US intelligence community has concluded.
The announcement comes amid warnings by top US officials that Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda terrorist network have been making a concerted effort to obtain the know-how and materials to manufacture a crude nuclear or radiological device.









Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Frum no longer one of president's men : Canadian speechwriter coined now-famous `axis of evil' phrase


WASHINGTON — The Canadian who coined U.S. President George W. Bush's notorious phrase "axis of evil" won't be writing speeches for the president any more.
Yesterday was the last day on the job for David Frum, a noted right-wing author from Canada. He had been a White House speechwriter since just after Bush was sworn in as president in January, 2001.
White House insiders were busily planting the word to high-powered Washington journalists yesterday that Frum was being ousted over his wife Danielle Crittenden's e-mail to friends and family, in which she credited her husband with writing the now-famous phrase.
But Frum, a former National Post columnist, told The Star last night he always intended to leave the White House and in fact submitted his resignation in writing on Jan. 24, five days before Bush delivered the State of the Union.

The Disappeared: Since 11 September last year, up to 2,000 people in the United States have been detained without trial, or charge, or even legal rights. The fate of most is unknown. Andrew Gumbel investigates a scandal that shames the land of the free


They came for Rabih Haddad in the afternoon, as his family was getting ready to celebrate the end of Ramadan. Three men from the Immigration and Naturalization Service took him away from the apartment in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that he shared with his wife and four children. His wife frantically shoved a few dates into his pockets so that he would have something to break his fast as he headed off to jail.

That was 14 December, more than two months ago. Since that time, Haddad, a widely respected religious leader and founding member of one of the United States' largest Muslim charities, the Global Relief Foundation, has been held in solitary confinement, first in Ann Arbor and then at a federal facility in Chicago. He is in his cell, alone, for 23 hours a day. Every time he leaves, either to exercise in a special high-security cage or to take one of his thrice-weekly showers, he is handcuffed.

At first he was allowed to see his family for four hours a week; now that has been reduced to just four hours a month, and on one recent occasion his wife and children were turned away without explanation. Personal phone calls are restricted to 15 minutes per month.

And yet Haddad, a Lebanese citizen who was educated in the United States, has been charged with no crime. According to the Treasury Department – the only branch of government to give any explanation whatsoever – he and his charity are suspected of links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida organisation. But no evidence has been publicly forthcoming to substantiate the claim and no formal accusation has been made against him.


Big Brother revisited :Signs of Orwellian fears in 21st-century Washington


WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 — Wasn’t this “Ministry of Truth” and “War is Peace” stuff supposed to have arrived 20 years ago? George Orwell predicted a government stamping lies as truth and fighting a war so endless as to assume the monotony of peace. Writing against the early Cold War backdrop, he predicted this grim world to arrive in 1984. Well, worse late than never. The Orwellian fears of post-World War II are taking form in early 21st-century Washington.

Monday, February 25, 2002

Morales challenges rival's loyalties/Candidate says Sanchez aided GOP in battle


AUSTIN -- Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Morales on Saturday said rival Tony Sanchez is not a good party loyalist, claiming that Sanchez's bank gave $100,000 to fund the 2000 Republican presidential recount battle in Florida.
"You know what they did with that money," Morales said at a meeting of the Texas Democratic Women. "They hired Republican lawyers to fight our efforts to make sure every vote counted, the vote of every senior citizen, the vote of every minority in Florida."
Sanchez's campaign denied Morales' accusation, saying the money was donated to the Republican National Committee several days before the 2000 election.




Rumsfeld attacked over Cuba prisoners


Lawyers acting for British detainees at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba yesterday stepped up pressure for their release and attacked Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, for saying that they could be repatriated only on condition that they were prosecuted here.
Gareth Peirce, who is acting for the families of Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, both from Tipton in the West Midlands, accused Mr Rumsfeld of "horsetrading with human beings".


HUFFINGTON: The Bush Oil-igarchy's Old Friend Oxy


With the stench of Enron growing more acrid each day, you'd think the last thing President Bush would want is to be seen toadying to another deep-pocketed energy giant.
Well, you'd be wrong.
In a shameless handout to a poor-little-me corporate mendicant, the president wants to spend close to $100 million to help Occidental Petroleum protect an oil pipeline unwisely built in war-torn Colombia




Warring corporate giants put the yuck in Yucca


Sunday, February 17, 2002 - The scientific debate over Yucca Mountain may be devilishly complicated, but the politics are simple: Nevadans - a whopping 83 percent of them asked in one recent poll - don't want the radioactive waste from the nation's 103 nuclear power plants shipped to their state for storage. The electric utility industry insists on it.

Elsewhere, the average person doesn't give a hoot, but the average member of Congress does, especially those from the 35 states where the spent fuel sits in pools near the power plants.

The nuclear energy industry has argued, reasonably, that most locals would rather get the gunk gone. It has also made campaign contributions. So most politicians are inclined to go along with the industry, especially since the opposition has not agreed on an alternative solution.