10/31/02
12:45:05 PM
SciTech Daily Review
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/021104/health/4sinus.htm
As researchers struggle to understand chronic sinusitis, a painful, debilitating and elusive infection that is quickly rising in incidence, whole new theories are emerging about how our bodies interact with the world
http://www.nature.com/nsu/021021/021021-6.html
Lines like 'spicy, buttery and hints of coriander' may be a pile of plonk. The man on the street is just as good at naming a smell as a wine expert, say New Zealand researchers
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/technology/28PATE.html
Designing a bra can pose engineering challenges as formidable as those encountered in building a bridge or a skyscraper. So what's the latest in bra technology? (registration required)
http://www.gristmagazine.com/books/books102102.asp
Environmentalists must resist writing-off agricultural regions, argue Dana and Laura Jackson in The Farm as Natural Habitat. Instead, they must build ties with farmers to create an ecologically sustainable food-supply system
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/10/29/microsoft_media_one/
Microsoft's media monopoly: Bill Gates wants to control the delivery of digital entertainment into your home. And according to a lawsuit brought by a pioneering software company, he's prepared to crush anything that gets in his way
http://www.space.com/news/ufo_poll_021025.html
Call it a conspiracy (or savvy marketing), but a new poll released this week says a majority of Americans think the truth about unidentified flying objects is out there, yet the government is concealing it from them
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1029/p03s01-usgn.html
Thirteen years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, the ecological damage is far from healed
10/31/02
12:27:34 PM
Russia To Monitor American Elections
by Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian, October 31, 2002
Amid the worldwide outbreak of Schadenfreude that accompanied America's chaotic presidential showdown in 2000, senior members of the Russian Communist party sarcastically offered to send election monitors to Palm Beach to help the nascent democracy find its feet. Albanian politicians echoed the joke, as did President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
But the line between jokes and reality in Florida has always been a blurred one: now, America has accepted the offer.
Yesterday, the first international delegation of poll monitors assigned to observe an American election arrived in the US, operating under the aegis of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. And representatives from Russia and Albania were among them.
The monitors are charged with assessing whether next Tuesday's mid-term elections in Florida meet international standards of democracy "with a focus on evaluation of the actions the authorities have undertaken to remedy the problems that were observed during the 2000 elections", OSCE spokesman Jens-Hagen Eschenbacher said in an interview with Radio Free Europe.
Two years ago voting machines malfunctioned and ballot papers left thousands of voters complaining that they had voted against their true intentions.
There were also reports of problems with the Democratic primary election for the governorship of Florida which was held last September.
"It is not the first time that a western democracy has been monitored," Mr Eschenbacher said. "We also assessed the ... presidential elections in France, and we are about to send an assessment team to Turkey as well."
But it is a first for the US, and an event likely to be received with some glee in countries lectured by Washington on their electoral processes.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,823026,00.html
10/30/02
9:47:08 PM
Dear world citizen,
Practically everything you buy in your local Supermarket has genetically engineered ingredients in it. Terrorism is no threat compared with what we are allowing 'them' to do our food source. This effects all of us - and every living thing on earth. And when the U.S. can't get rid of their genetically engineered food locally, they're trying to dump it on third world countries - but even African leaders with starving people are refusing to accept it, for more details surf
http://ngin.tripod.com/forcefeed.htm
Please read the following and take action now! Copy and paste this into 'new mail' and circulate it, AND write to your local supermarkets and the press... don't drop the ball on this one. In Europe, this kind of consumer action forced nearly the entire food industry away from GE food. Together, we can do the same here.
To join the free True Food Network go to http://www.truefoodnow.org, or call Greenpeace at 1-800-326-0959
With best wishes; Concerned fellow world citizen
10/30/02
9:45:13 PM
Greenpeace USA October 2002 Newsletter
What's New and Noteworthy at Greenpeaceusa.org
--Don't Buy ExxonMobil: Group of 600 International Protestors Shuts Down Every ExxonMobil Station in Luxembourg
--Lust For "Green Gold" Drives Amazon Destruction
--Labeling Foods with GE Ingredients in Oregon
--Bhopal Activists Confront Dow Chemical CEO Michael Parker
~~ Global Group of 600 Protestors Shut Down Every ExxonMobil Gas Station in Luxembourg
More than 600 activists from around the world shut down oil company ExxonMobil in the European country of Luxembourg in a Greenpeace protest against ExxonMobil's sabotage of international efforts to protect the climate. Seven Americans are involved in the protests. Activists from 31 countries were at every one of ExxonMobil's 28 gas stations in Luxembourg - including the biggest ExxonMobil station in the world on the Luxembourg/German border.
The Luxembourg protest took place as 178 countries meet in India for the next round of talks on the Kyoto Protocol - the only international agreement on protecting the climate. The U.S. is responsible for 25 percent of global warming pollution but, thanks to ExxonMobil and President Bush, will not be participating in the Kyoto talks.
Read More:
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/exxonmobil/
Take Action!
Don't Buy ExxonMobil: Tell ExxonMobil to stop sabotaging efforts to halt global warming
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bin/actionframe.pl?action_id=130
Get Local! Download flyers and find ExxonMobil stations near you with our station locator:
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/exxonmobil/stationlocator.htm
~~ Lust For "Green Gold" Drives Amazon Destruction International Mahogany Trade Reeks of Power, Corruption and Blood
The wood oozes glamour and prestige in the gleaming showrooms of the north. But its plunder drives the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, corruption and even murder.
The wood is mahogany, but it's also known as "green gold". For good reason. One log earns an astonishing $130,000 by the time companies like Stickley furniture transform it into the solid mahogany dining tables for sale in such places as family destination Colonial Williamsburg.
Read More:
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/features/greengold.htm
Take Action!
Urge Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, The White House Council on Environmental Quality, and the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs to support the addition of mahogany to CITES appendix II. http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bin/actionframe.pl?action_id=151
Take Action!
Tell Ethan Allen to stop buying timber that is illegally logged, stop buying timber from endangered forests, and commit to selling timber that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/bin/actionframe.pl?action_id=117
~~ Oregon's Labeling Initiative: Measure 27 Will Oregon consumers be left in the dark?
More than 100,000 Oregonians signed petitions this year to get Measure 27 onto the ballot. The measure calls for the labeling of any product that contains genetically altered material consisting of more than one-tenth of 1 percent of its weight.
But will Oregon consumers be left in dark? Missouri-based biotech giant Monsanto Company and its coalition associates reportedly are planning to spend a record $6 million to try to defeat Measure 27. Monsanto licenses 90 percent of the foods that would be covered by the measure.
Read More:
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/oregon/
~~ Bhopal Activists Confront Dow Chemical CEO Michael Parker
Activists interrupted a planned speech by Dow Chemical CEO Michael Parker, presenting him with authentic Indian brooms and a request that he take the symbolic gifts to show that he will responsibly clean up his company's liabilities in Bhopal, India.
Mr. Parker, a guest speaker at the Tenth Annual Houston Conservation Leadership Awards luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Hotel downtown, appeared shocked when approached by Bhopal activist, Houston resident and India native G Krishnaveni, who appeared at the luncheon in traditional Indian dress to offer Mr. Parker the brooms. Mr. Parker did not take the brooms and attempted to repeatedly interrupt Ms. Krishnaveni, while other activists passed out literature and held signs and banners inside the hotel.
Read More:
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/media/press_releases/2002/10232002.htm
Help Greenpeace spread the word. Forward this e-mail on to other caring individuals.
Want to do more? Become a Greenpeace member today! To give online, go to:
https://www.greenpeaceusa.org/join2/list.htm
10/30/02
9:33:42 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
Hungry Zambia rejects GM food aid, decision final - ZAMBIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18394/story.htm
Gas, oil estimates in US West too high-green group - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18382/story.htm
US government-SUV with best gasoline mileage is Toyota - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18389/story.htm
British patients in CJD hospital scare - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18386/story.htm
INTERVIEW - New RSPCA chief puts WTO in her sights - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18391/story.htm
FEATURE - Africa's ivory war to dominate CITES meeting - SOUTH AFRICA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18387/story.htm
FEATURE - Kenya battles to keep ivory ban and save elephants - KENYA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18381/story.htm
New quakes, Mt Etna eruption rattle Sicily - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18388/story.htm
India rejects pressure to cut greenhouse gases - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18392/story.htm
INTERVIEW - EU's Prodi says he's banking on a hydrogen future - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18383/story.htm
Ontario introduces bill to ensure safe water - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18384/story.htm
TransAlta buys Vision Quest to add wind power - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18385/story.htm
Canadian PM wants to ratify Kyoto by end - December - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18393/story.htm
Weak lead prices hurting re-cyclers - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18390/story.htm
ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS PICTURES:
INDIA: A Greenpeace Activist Unfurls a Banner in New Delhi http://www.planetark.org/envpicstory.cfm/newsid/18400
PHILIPPINES: Filipino Protesters Show Genetically Modified Crops During a Rally in Manila http://www.planetark.org/envpicstory.cfm/newsid/18395
JAPAN:Honda Unveils Prototype Fcx Fuel Cell Vehicle at Tokyo Motor Show in Makuhari, Japan http://www.planetark.org/envpicstory.cfm/newsid/18396
ITALY: Mount Etna Spews Streams of Ash into the Sky Above Linguaglossa http://www.planetark.org/envpicstory.cfm/newsid/18397
INDIA: Elephants Graze at Sunset Kaziranga National Park http://www.planetark.org/envpicstory.cfm/newsid/18399
10/30/02
9:31:52 PM
''The History Of Hizbullah''
by Marc Sirois, YellowTimes.org Columnist (Lebanon), October 24, 2002
(YellowTimes.org) – The war between Israel and Hizbullah was not simply born. It was conceived in a seething cauldron of all the things that make the Middle East a snake pit of unending bloodshed, unrivaled bitterness, and unfathomable duplicity.
To understand how this violent relationship might evolve in the future, and how the international community can most effectively seek to keep it under control, it is best to start at the beginning - the real one, rather than the red herrings bred by a mainstream media that is alternately guilty of gross ignorance and shameless fabrication.
The beginning was not in 1985, when Israel declared a memorably ill-named "security belt" in southern Lebanon. It was not in 1982, either, when the Jewish state's then-defense minister, Ariel Sharon, sent his forces crashing all the way to Beirut in a bid to eliminate the Palestine Liberation Organization.
No, to truly understand why the water still running under this particular bridge is so heavy with blood and hatred, one has to go back to 1978. That was when Israel first occupied a strip of southern Lebanon in response to cross-border raids by Palestinian guerrillas fighting to regain lands lost during conventional wars in 1948 and 1967.
By 1978, Lebanon was three years into a civil war that would last until 1990 and kill approximately 250,000 people (something like 15 percent of the population). The war had many causes, but one of the main ones was the growing power and influence of Palestinian militant groups operating on Lebanese soil and drawing Israeli retaliation.
The PLO and other organizations came to Lebanon as a last resort. Egypt and Syria had long since prevented them from using their respective borders with Israel as staging grounds for attacks, and in 1970, Jordan had ruthlessly put down a Palestinian rebellion that resulted when it sought to ban operations from its territory as well.
The Palestinians were left with tiny Lebanon as a base, a situation that represented a double-edged sword of conspicuous lethality. On the one hand, Lebanon's government and military were too weak to keep the Palestinian movement from displacing their authority in selected areas, especially near the border. On the other, the very paucity of power that made possible such freedom of action also translated into extreme vulnerability to outside action: Israel might hesitate to invade Egypt to go after Palestinian militants operating from there, but there was nothing to stop it from running roughshod over Lebanon.
Lebanon was left with the Palestinians, too. Its own internal divisions made it impossible to put up a united front in the face of what amounted to the creation of a state within a state. For all the might amassed by PLO's armed wings, however, they were certainly incapable of repelling an Israeli onslaught if and when it came. To make matters worse, until the full-scale invasion did come, Lebanon and the Lebanese -especially those in the South - would be subjected periodically to punishment by the Jewish state's vastly superior military.
In effect, the Arab world's major players had abandoned two of its weakest links to one another. All that remained was for the Israelis to appreciate the gulf that had been opened up and dive in.
Before doing so, however, they wanted to test the waters, and so the border strip was occupied in 1978. Even this relatively small step radically altered the equation in the South: It meant that even more of the fighting between Israeli and Palestinian forces would take place on Lebanese soil rather than inside the Jewish state. This caused no small amount of resentment among the local population, exacerbating some differences between sects but causing others to become blurred.
There was, after all, a civil war going on that in broad strokes pitted Christians against Muslims. Certain camps in the former community saw the Israelis as potential allies against the latter. Little did they know how quickly the Israelis would discard them once their "usefulness" had expired, but that is another story.
On the Muslim side, a new split was shaping up. By 1978, Lebanon's Shiites, a badly neglected under-class, were probably the largest religious group in the country if not yet an outright majority. Heavily represented in the South, their towns and villages bore the brunt of Israeli reprisals for Palestinian attacks. In addition, once the border strip was taken over, the proximity of Israeli combat forces put the Palestinians under greater strain than ever. They reacted by implementing tougher security measures, eventually imposing a de facto government on what had become known as "Fatahland" after the PLO's dominant faction, Yasser Arafat's Fatah.
All through the Palestinian build-up in the South during the 1970s, entire families felt compelled to leave, many of them Shiite. The conjoined pressures applied by Palestinian militant groups and Israeli air and artillery strikes were too much to bear. Many of those who could afford to do so fled the country entirely, but the great majority of displaced Shiites ended up as illegal squatters in Beirut's southern suburbs, an overcrowded and squalid area known as Al-Dahhiyeh. Both those who left the South and those who tried to stay behind harbored tremendous resentment against the Palestinians, to whose presence they (often rightly) attributed, directly or indirectly, their misfortune.
The Christians had expected to be pushed around by the Palestinians, whose goals were different and whose forces they had been fighting in the civil war, but the Shiites felt betrayed. The last thing they expected was to be oppressed by another "have-not" group. The seeds of Shiite bitterness against the Palestinians had been planted.
Then came the infamous summer of 1982.
On June 3 of that year, militants working for the radical Palestinian group Abu Nidal gunned down the Israeli ambassador in London, Shlomo Argov. Despite the fact that Abu Nidal was a blood enemy of the mainstream Palestinian resistance movement and had assassinated several of its key leaders, Israel targeted its "retaliation" for the London hit by launching air strikes at PLO ammunition dumps and offices in Lebanon, including Beirut. An undeclared truce had reigned along the border for several months, and the PLO was not about to take the escalation lying down. Instead, it pounded northern Israel with artillery.
Then all Hell broke loose. On June 6, the Israeli Defense Forces rolled out of the area they already occupied and, despite a promise to the United States that they would advance no more than 40 kilometers, headed for Beirut. Given the rapidity with which a full-scale invasion was launched, the IDF had obviously been preparing for quite some time, and the shelling of Galilee offered the perfect pretext.
For the most part, the only resistance they met came from Palestinian fighters, who acquitted themselves far better than had been expected, and the Syrian military, whose performance was more of a mixed bag. The Lebanese Army was too much in disarray to contribute anything of value. Two of the militias nominally allied with the Palestinians stayed out of the fight. Both the Druze grouping (then led by Walid Jumblatt, who would later serve as a Cabinet minister) and the AMAL force (a Shiite group led by future parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri) stood aside as Israeli troops and tanks slashed their way toward the capital. AMAL's formation and activities are a key part of Hizbullah's later emergence, but more on that later.
Given the firepower at the Israelis' disposal, it is not surprising that these militias elected to stay out of the way. What amazed Israeli soldiers and their officers was the way they were greeted by the Shiite population in the South. In village after village, the interlopers were welcomed as liberators and showered with flowers and rice. Some Palestinian groups had so badly mistreated their natural allies that people threw their arms open to invading troops.
It did not take long, though, for the Israelis to wear out their welcome. In short order, the Jewish state dispatched "experts" on civil administration in occupied areas who promptly replaced traditional village elders and other leadership figures with more "reliable" elements from among the local population. The result was anger at the Israelis and total distrust of the administrators they had installed.
Over the succeeding months, Israeli occupation forces steadily eroded whatever remained of the locals' respect for them via such tactics as draconian restrictions on movement that kept farmers from tending their fields and collective punishment that penalized hundreds of people for the actions of a single individual.
Just over six months after the Israelis arrived in the South, the kettle of rage among a community that had once invited them into their homes finally boiled over. On Nov. 11, a suicide bomber destroyed an eight-story building housing the IDF's headquarters in the occupied city of Tyre. At least 75 Israeli troops and members of its proxy militia, the South Lebanon Army, were killed.
Hizbullah did not yet exist as we know it today but the ingredients for a Shiite "awakening" were all on hand, and the catalyst of Israeli occupation was drawing them to the same place.
Like their co-religionists everywhere else in the Islamic world, their Sunni counterparts had long treated Lebanon's Shiites as second-class citizens. By the mid-1970s, despite being the country's most populous sect, they were tired of a political system that froze them out of key leadership positions. The set-up, based on the colonial model imposed by the French, guaranteed half of the country's parliamentary seats and Cabinet positions including key portfolios like the defense and interior ministries to Christians. The Presidency was reserved specifically for a Maronite Christian.
Shiites were denied even a proper share of the remainder, with Sunni representation among the ruling elite remaining unduly heavy and even the tiny Druze sect holding more than its share of influence. Those Shiites who were politically active were fragmented, operating under the banner of secular groupings like the Baathists, the Communists, and the Nasserites.
One man tried mightily to change all that. Musa Sadr, an Iranian cleric whose family is said to have originally come from Lebanon, was invited to lead the Lebanese Shiite community in 1959. Tall and exceedingly charismatic, he captured the imagination of his followers and eventually inspired them to demand their rights.
In 1974, Sadr founded the Harakat al-Mahroumeen (Movement of the Dispossessed), which, as the civil war approached, spawned a militia called the Afwaj al-Moqawama al-Lubnanieh (Lebanese Resistance Detachments), popularly known by the acronym AMAL, which means "hope."
Sadr established a political forum designed to communicate the Shiite community's concerns to the state. Chief among their demands were better infrastructure, increased representation in politics, more access to government employment, and steps to either end the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians or help keep Shiites from getting caught in the crossfire.
Once the war broke out, AMAL fought on the side of the Palestinians, the Lebanese Sunni and the Druze militias against the Christians. But eventually, Sadr concluded that the conflict was pointless and opted to back a Syrian-sponsored peace initiative. Shortly thereafter, he disappeared during a visit to Libya. He was last seen leaving a hotel in Tripoli for a meeting with Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
AMAL then fell under the sway of Nabih Berri, a secular lawyer-cum-warlord. Over the years, his uninspiring leadership, reputation for unabashed corruption, and tendency to shift loyalties at Syria's behest alienated many of the movement's cadres. When AMAL failed to help the Palestinians resist the Israeli offensive, many fighters quit in disgust. More left in 1985 after AMAL launched its bloody "War of the Camps" against Palestinian refugee communities.
Over the next few years, these militiamen and a group of Shiite clerics formed the core around which a new group congealed. Eventually it became Hizbullah, but along the way some of its members used other names such as Islamic AMAL, Islamic Jihad, etc. There were no less than 55 private "armies" operating in Lebanon at the time. It is, therefore, impossible to say with certainty which early actions taken against the Israelis and Western interests in Lebanon were the work of Hizbullah itself, which were committed by freelancers using the name, and which were carried out by actual members acting without authorization.
What is undeniable is that the Israelis had acquired a deadly new enemy, one whose adherents were neither afraid to die nor willing any longer to sit quietly while the international community let a foreign occupier dominate their homeland. It took until late 1983, however, for the Israelis and just about everyone else to realize that the rules of the game had changed forever.
On Oct. 16, 1983, the southern Lebanese town of Nabatieh was bustling with celebrations of Ashura, the Shiite holiday marking the assassination of Hussein at Karbala 13 centuries ago. Despite the Jewish state's subsequent claims that its units had orders not to interfere with the goings-on, an Israeli convoy proceeded to interrupt the procession so that its vehicles could pass through.
When the crowd of 50,000 worshippers became restless, then hostile, some of the Israelis opened fire. Two people were killed and about a dozen wounded. It was not the casualty toll that caused the ensuing explosions of vengeance, though: It was the timing of yet another humiliation on the very day when Shiites bemoan the original persecution of their faith.
One week later, a suicide bomber driving a truck packed with explosives destroyed the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. The blast killed 241 American troops serving with the Multi-National Force, ostensibly on a peacekeeping mission. Almost simultaneously, a building housing the French MNF contingent was also brought down, killing 59 paratroopers. Ten days after that, the Israeli military intelligence headquarters in Tyre was demolished by yet another bomb, killing about 30 Israeli troops and a similar number of Palestinians and Lebanese prisoners.
Over the next few years, Lebanon became an exceedingly dangerous place for foreigners. Several Westerners were kidnapped and murdered, and despite what certain self-styled "experts" continually claim but fail to back up with evidence, the situation was too chaotic to identify those responsible for the vast majority of what qualified as terrorist attacks. Some were likely the work of Hizbullah in some shape or form, but others, for example, were "honor crimes" against Westerners who had abused positions of authority to seduce young women. In any event, before one deems that sufficient to condemn the group forever, one should understand the context of Lebanese hostility to the West.
For starters, the MNF's activities were simply not consistent with those of a peacekeeping force. This was especially true of the Americans, who took sides almost from the instant they came ashore and occupied an exposed position next to a Christian militia.
In August 1982, the MNF's job had been to supervise the evacuation by sea of PLO militants from West Beirut. The Israelis had laid siege to this mostly Muslim section of the city, cutting off food and water to combatants and civilians alike. Under an agreement brokered by the United States, the PLO agreed to have its fighters leave by boat. The Israelis agreed not to enter either the capital or camps in the area that were home to tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and displaced Lebanese. The U.S. undertaking was to guarantee the security of Palestinian civilians left behind.
In mid-September, a powerful bomb ripped through a building in East Beirut, killing President-elect Bashir Gemayel, the man Israel had been counting on to serve as its viceroy in a new puppet state. Gemayel's Christian Phalangist supporters responded by entering the now-unprotected Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila and engaging in an orgy of violence. Estimates of the death toll vary from 800 men women and children to 3,000.
Whatever the precise figure, the Israeli military was responsible under international law for the security of noncombatants on territory it controlled. As for the United States, it had broken a solemn vow to ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians.
In addition, the Marines' proximity to Christian forces made it inevitable that when the latter exchanged shellfire with Muslim gunners, the former would be hit by errant rounds. Instead of telling the Christians to stop firing or move away, the Americans responded by using naval gunfire against Muslim positions.
Thus, the October 1983 bombings did not come out of the blue. Like the destruction of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut a few months earlier, their background lay in a deep-rooted sense that the United States was anything but a neutral party -either between Israel (whose invasion had killed as many as 20,000 civilians) and the Palestinians or among various Lebanese factions.
While these attacks were impossible to pin on any single group, from 1985 on, however, there was no mistaking the source of armed resistance to the Israeli occupation in the South. Armed, financed, and initially trained by Iran, Hizbullah began to come into its own. Coupled with logistical backing from Syria, the party eventually grew into a highly professional guerrilla army that by 2000 had fought the IDF and its South Lebanon Army allies to a standstill.
Along the way, there were actually precious few terrorist incidents in which Hizbullah was even a suspect, let alone a proven perpetrator. Among them were the bombings of the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish community center in Argentina in the 1990s - which together claimed more than 100 lives - but despite tireless propaganda to the contrary, no firm link has ever been established.
Instead, what Hizbullah did - day after day, year after year -in the South was to engage the IDF on the battlefield. It was not foolish enough to confront the U.S.-armed juggernaut in set-piece battles, but its guerrilla tactics grew increasingly bold and its preferred targets were always legitimate military ones.
When Hizbullah's operations did stray from IDF soldiers and facilities, it was in retaliation for Israeli and/or SLA attacks on Lebanese civilians. These were frequently preceded by several days of verbal warnings that the targeting of noncombatants on this side of the border had to stop or draw a response in kind. Typically, the warnings were ignored.
Hizbullah's usual "punishment" for Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians was to lob antiquated Katyusha rockets across the border. Seeing as how these weapons have little range and poor accuracy, they are deemed to be of little military value. This has caused Israel to claim that the rocket salvoes were evil acts of terror, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, given that ample warning generally preceded them, most of the inhabitants of the areas they hit were in bomb shelters when the projectiles landed. That was the goal: to inconvenience and/or intimidate Israeli civilians into demanding that their government at least stop killing Lebanese civilians and at most withdraw altogether.
So there you have it. Hizbullah was not hatched as an evil plot to destroy Israel but rather as an almost begrudging attempt to defend a community whose patience for oppression -be it foreign or domestic- had finally run out. That Israel happened to be the primary target of this organization was due to the fact that its forces were on someone else's land and that the international community - led by the United States - did nothing to make Israel withdraw its forces under U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Thus it was that a combination of lopsided military power, undeserved diplomatic privilege, wholesale disregard for civilian casualties, and unbridled arrogance made the Jewish state suffer as badly as it did in Lebanon. Israel has every right to fear its long-time tormentors, but none to call them terrorists.
[Marc Sirois is a Canadian journalist who lives in Beirut, Lebanon, where he serves as managing editor of The Daily Star. The proud and fanatically protective father of three beautiful princesses, his opinionated writing style owes to the fact that he is never wrong along with his holding monopolies on wisdom, logic, morality, and justice. He is also exceedingly modest.]
Marc Sirois encourages your comments: mailto:msirois@YellowTimes.org
Source: http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=804
10/30/02
9:11:50 PM
Predators, Snipers And The Posse Comitatus Act
by Kurt Nimmo, CounterPunch.org, October 17, 2002
If you live in Falls Church, Virginia, and you see a funny looking aircraft circling over your neighborhood don't be alarmed. It's just the Pentagon looking for the sniper. CNN says Rummy wants to help out, so he has approved "military reconnaissance" of undetermined origin to snoop around the Washington area. CNN says the Pentagon has not disclosed what kind of equipment will be used. Yet earlier in the day I saw a report indicating the military will use General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Predator UAV drones. They even showed video footage of the damn things.
Rummy just shot another big hole in the Posse Comitatus Act. It's looked like Swiss cheese for years, ever since the military was "enlisted" to combat evil drug dealers. You know, drug dealers who sell CIA certified heroin and cocaine on the streets of American cities. According to CNN, the Pentagon is not really trashing the Posse Comitatus Act because there is no "direct involvement" between the cops and the military.
Maybe the copywriters over at CNN need to read up on the Posse Comitatus Act. "Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both." Of course, Rummy does not need Congress to tell him what to do. His "guidelines," recently published in the New York Times, demonstrate what he thinks about Congress and the American people.
Predator drones are "part of the Army or the Air Force," even if guys in cammies and helmets toting M16s are not accompanying the cops as they look for the sniper. Well, a lot of cops are wearing cammies and helmets and toting M16s these days, so maybe the point is moot. I'm sure David Koresh didn't see a lot of difference between ATF agents and Nazi storm troopers. Or did the father of Elian Gonzalez. Or do a lot of dark skinned people in America's inner cities. But never mind. I'm digressing.
It's October. That means the Pentagon may have to fly its drones in bad weather -- and the Predator does not do well in rain, wind, snow, or cold temperatures. Predators crash, too, although the Pentagon does not release such embarrassing statistics. A French journalist reported a while back that a UAV drone was inadvertently thrown off course over Kosovo. It seems a French officer used the same radio frequency on which the UAV was operating. He interrupted the connection between the aircraft and its ground control station. The drone ended up in the hands of the Serbs, who were likely ecstatic. In 1998, the Pakistanis were thankful as well when two of Clinton's cruise missiles went off target and landed in their front yard unscathed. It was a benefit bestowed to Pakistan's missile program which, at the time, was under US embargo.
Think of all the air traffic over Washington. Think about all the telephone wires, high power lines, microwave towers and cell phone repeaters. Rummy's idea of catching the sniper with the help of a drone is an accident waiting to happen. Maybe Rummy didn't think this one through. Then again, maybe he did. Maybe this is yet another hole shot through the Swiss cheese that is the Posse Comitatus Act. Maybe if Dubya and Rummy keep blurring the lines a lot of us will no longer be able to tell the difference between cops and soldiers. Maybe we will finally believe this is what needs to be done to protect us from vicious terrorists. Maybe we will give up the fourth, fifth, and sixth amendments to the Constitution in order to fight terrorism. Maybe we will give up the third amendment for good measure--you know, the one prohibiting "peacetime quartering of troops in private dwellings without owners' consent" (well, the Pentagon will have to base those UAV stations somewhere). Then again, if Dubya has his way, peace will soon become a curious anachronism.
The absurdity of the whole sniper affair is stunning. For instance, last week Ari Fleischer remarked to reporters in the White House briefing room that "the cost of one bullet" was much preferable to war against Iraq. He was talking about taking out Saddam by way of assassination, something the CIA and military intel have done for decades -- from Pegasus to Phoenix and beyond. In 1997, responding to Freedom of Information Act requests, the CIA released its notorious "Operation PBSUCCESS" assassination manual, used in the 1954 coup to oust -- and kill -- the elected president of Guatemala. So-called conservatives have talked about assassination and mass murder for years -- killing people they disagree with by single bullet or multiple bunker-buster munitions. They now say the CIA must be allowed to get back into the murder and torture business. Some of us think they never got out of the business.
Dubya and clan have created a moral climate where murder is simply a political option -- and, lately, the preferred political option. Instead of negotiation and containment, they insist on "pre-emption," which is simply another word for killing the other guy before he even thinks about killing you -- or maybe before he can extend the dreaded olive branch. Perhaps most insane and irresponsible, Team Dubya has managed to demolish the taboo surrounding the unthinkable use of nuclear weapons in the name of geopolitical expediency. It seems Dubya and Crew want the entire world to believe America is a nation filled with Washington Beltway snipers. America has a rep known around the world - everywhere, that is, except in America. Corporate media generated distraction and deception is an artform in the good old U.S. of A. History, as Henry Ford opined, is bunk.
Fact is, US politicians like mass murderers. In the recent past, the US befriended and supported -- both overtly and covertly -- sundry murderers and demented thugs. Here's the short list -- Mohamed Suharto (2 million killed in Indonesia, 250,000 in East Timor), Ferdinand Marcos (not only killed thousands in the Philippines, but also looted more than $35 billion), Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (had the democratically elected president of Chile murdered; thousands of political opponents killed and disappeared; 250,000 people gaoled, tortured, or exiled), Anastasio Somoza Debayle (50,000 killed in Nicaragua; 120,000 exiled and 600,000 made homeless), and Pol Pot (3 million killed, or between a quarter and a third of Cambodia's population). Oh, and let's not forget Saddam Hussein, acquaintance and yes-man of various US presidents until 1990 when he misunderstood his marching orders. He has gassed and killed his own people with US assistance.
The Washington sniper is small potatoes. More people are killed each week from unsafe working conditions, uninspected food, medical malpractice, and entirely legal (and profitable) drugs such as tobacco and alcohol. But then, of course, those are mundane and wholly non-sensational crimes when compared to a sniper who it now appears received his training -- or, at least, his inspiration -- from the US military. All told, the Washington sniper may turn out to be yet another unexpected instance of blowback, if not politically at least culturally.
But never mind. I think I hear a Predator buzzing outside my window.
Kurt Nimmo is a photographer and multimedia developer in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He can be reached at: nimmo@zianet.com
Source: http://www.counterpunch.org/nimmo1017.html
10/30/02
9:09:28 PM
''A Recipe For Disaster''
by Doreen Miller, YellowTimes.org Columnist (United States), October 18, 2002
(YellowTimes.org) – 1. Take a bunch of self-righteous, egomaniacal, power-hungry individuals wrapped in a layer of morally bankrupt religious fanaticism.
2. Add the world's most extensive arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.
3. Toss in absolute, unchecked control over the deadliest of military forces.
4. Pour in some half-baked ideas about dominating and ruling the world.
5. Stir vigorously until thoroughly mixed up.
6. Keep the mixture at a steady boiling point over a constant, pseudo-patriotic flame of fear-mongering, and what have you cooked up?
Bush's latest recipe for disaster, otherwise known as "The National Security Strategy of the United States."
If you've ever wondered why the United States is a country that other countries just love to hate, this document lays the reasons out in full splendor for all to see.
This 30-plus page creation appears to have emanated from deep within the bowels of the PR spin machines of the White House. In keeping with the strategies of hard-core propaganda and public relations gimmicks, it is chock full of all the wonderful, democratic ideals and feel-good concepts that the United States, in its unquestionable goodness, so honorably champions as the world's one and only true savior. Who could possibly disagree with such nebulous and diversely interpreted concepts as "freedom," "liberty," "peace," "making the world safe," "justice," "human dignity," "international cooperation," "prosperity," or "cultural advancement"? Unfortunately, these noble words are being used to cloak the unacceptable, underlying aspirations of the current leaders of the United States.
Bush's National Security Strategy espouses a Pax Americana against which President Kennedy raised dire warnings back in the sixties. "The U.S. national security strategy will be based on a distinctly American internationalism that reflects … our national interest."
This document arrogantly outlines the goal of U.S. imperialism and supremacy, and the use of unsurpassed U.S. military power to protect U.S. interests throughout the world, extending even into the region of outer space. "Our forces will be strong enough to dissuade potential adversaries from pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or equaling, the power of the United States." Reminiscent of the classic high school winning team chant, "We're number one," these words reflect a sophomoric attitude the United States is not about to relinquish. Quite clearly, the United States intends to maintain its position of absolute power over the rest of the world.
In a move that signifies a shift away from democracy and toward military dictatorship, the doctrine further asserts, "…the goal must be to provide the President with a wider range of military options to discourage aggression or any form of coercion against the United States…" The purpose of this vague terminology, which suspiciously echoes the wording and intent within the USA PATRIOT Act, is ultimately to promote and justify the use of the military against any and all individuals, groups, protesters, organizations, etc. who the President determines are acting against established U.S. interests and policies.
In fact, across this nation from Seattle, Washington to Portland, Maine to Washington, D.C., the level of both police brutality and unwarranted, unconstitutional arrests of peacefully assembled, non-violent protesters exercising their first amendment rights seems to be on a precipitous incline.
The Bush manifesto envisions a world dominated by U.S. interests where all nations are governed by "a single sustainable model for national success: freedom, democracy, and free enterprise." While Bush obviously believes the United States to be the perfect model thereof, nothing could be further from the truth.
While it may be true that U.S. Americans have more freedoms than much of the world, many of those precious civil rights and freedoms have, in essence, been made moot by the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act last year. Moreover, how free is someone who, from birth, is given a social identifying number and is forced to pay income taxes under the pains and penalties of having one's assets confiscated and/or of being sent to prison? Are U.S. citizens not, in a sense, nothing but indentured servants to their government system?
As for a democratic government "of, by, and for the people," a close look at how the U.S. government is presently run reveals a veritable plutocracy (or government ruled by the wealthy) in which faceless corporations enjoy the same rights as citizens. Only, the former has much greater buying power and, thus, undue influence on government policies and decision-making.
How democratic is a government where third party candidates, who have jumped all the hurdles, collected all the necessary signatures and legitimately made it onto election ballots, are time and again summarily excluded from televised election debates? It seems those in positions of power in the United States give mere lip service to the idea of democracy while quietly advocating a more "selective" version thereof where only the views and opinions of corporate-sponsored wealthy Democrats and wealthier Republicans are valid.
The third principle of "free enterprise," which Bush even goes so far as to equate with "a moral principle," is based upon nothing but purely mythological economic theory. The "free trade" and open borders that Bush and his CEO associates are pushing globally do not even exist in the United States. We boast some of the most highly subsidized businesses in the world. The amount of tax dollars that is doled out in corporate welfare (through subsidies, research grants, protective tariffs, tax breaks, etc.) to U.S. corporations is staggering.
In contrast, the version of "free trade" being forced on Third World countries by the IMF and World Bank prohibits all forms of protective tariffs, government subsidies and the like, along with demanding mandatory privatization of any and all government services and industries, even profitable ones. The consequences have been devastating in places like Jamaica, Haiti, Argentina, Bolivia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Brazil, Colombia, and countless other nations around the globe.
Free and equal trade among countries with vastly unequal economies is impossible. Weaker economies are inevitably swallowed up by stronger ones, and the workers of these poor nations turned into slaves to the benefit of richer nations who do not play by the same rules. Bush promises to enforce the laws of free trade "in all regions of the world" to "ensure that the benefits of free trade do not come at the expense of American workers." Bingo. May the rest of the world take heed: the ultimate purpose of "free trade" is to benefit Americans.
Take NAFTA, which gives unprecedented power to corporations to successfully sue and overturn laws created by democratically elected governments if these laws interfere with a company's inalienable right to make a profit. Such unfettered corporate power over governments can only lead to one logical conclusion: free trade and democracy are diametrically opposed and cannot co-exist.
In a display of classic doublespeak, the Bush platform defines "a program to establish, finance and monitor a truly independent judiciary" in a future, reformed Palestinian government. Pray tell, how can a judiciary be "truly independent" if it is (1) beholden to the interests of outsiders who foot the bill and (2) being monitored?
A shining example full of contradictory statements, Bush's strategy, on the one hand, applauds the idea of building international cooperation, partnerships, coalitions, and alliances. "Coordination with European allies and international institutions is essential for constructive conflict mediation and successful peace operations. … We will respect the values, judgment, and interests of our friends and partners."
On the other hand, the United States reserves the right to pre-emptive, anticipatory strikes if it feels its interests are threatened, and it "will not hesitate to act alone. … We will take the actions necessary to ensure … Americans are not impaired by the potential for investigations, inquiry, or prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose jurisdiction does not extend to Americans and which we do not accept."
There you have it - a prime example of speaking out of both sides of one's mouth. The United States exalts the idea of international cooperation and respect, yet vows to act unilaterally and simultaneously deems itself irreproachable, above and beyond the ICC and judgment of its international partners.
Then there is the idea of the U.S. establishing "new partnerships with former adversaries." This reflects one very troubling, flawed, schizoid foreign policy where we suddenly make allies of former enemies and mortal enemies of former allies. Both Saddam and Osama were once our trusted and supported friends, as long as they were serving U.S. interests, that is. Killing and murder are good only when they benefit the designs of the United States.
Interestingly enough, in this document, rogue states are defined as "[sharing] a number of attributes," namely, they "squander their national resources for the personal gain of the rulers; display no regard for international law, threaten their neighbors, and callously violate international treaties to which they are party; are determined to acquire weapons of mass destruction, along with other advanced military technology, to be used as threats or offensively to achieve the aggressive designs of these regimes; sponsor terrorism around the globe; reject basic human values..." Given the blood-soaked history of the United States, which includes the equally brutal, covert operations undertaken by the CIA, this definition could very easily apply to the U.S., making it the largest rogue nation in the world.
There are enough absurdities, double-standards, deceitful half-truths and outright lies contained in this National Security Strategy to fill a book. I invite you to read it and judge for yourself at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.html
See if you don't agree with Senator Kennedy's evaluation thereof, "It is impossible to justify any such double standard under international law. Might does not make right. America cannot write its own rules for the modern world. To attempt to do so would be unilateralism run amok. … The Administration's doctrine is a call for 21st century American imperialism that no other nation can or should accept."
[Doreen Miller lived, studied, worked and traveled abroad for several years, and is currently a Senior Lecturer and educator of international students. She dedicates part of her time to serving the elderly and Alzheimer patients. Mother, musician and poet, she pursues an avid interest in Buddhist and Eastern philosophy. She advocates human rights, social justice, fair trade, and environmental protection. Doreen lives in the United States.]
Doreen Miller encourages your comments: mailto:dmiller@YellowTimes.org
Source: http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=788
10/30/02
9:02:31 PM
''Pink Delusions''
by Gabriel Ash, YellowTimes.org Columnist (United States), October 16, 2002
(YellowTimes.org) – I'll merely state the obvious: The White House wants war badly, and none of the excuses it came up with makes much sense.
Saddam Hussein is the kind of ruler that comes straight from fairy tales: power crazed, narcissistic, ruthless, and viciously mean. His people live in fear. But Hussein is hardly alone in terrorizing his people. The new American lackeys, Karimov in Uzbekistan and Nazarbayev in Kazakhstan, come to mind. Hussein would love to have nuclear weapons. But fundamentalist nutcakes are much more likely to acquire nuclear weapons from Pakistan, which already has them. Hussein attacked his neighbors and ignored many Security Council resolutions. So did Israel, many times over.
The reasons for the war fever in Washington lie elsewhere, in a complex combination of factors.
Geopolitical strategies play an important role: Control of Iraqi oil is an obvious goal, and so is the consolidation of military access to the Caspian sea. Also crucial is the wish to restore U.S. "credibility" (as a ruthless bully) in the Middle East in response to September 11.
Electoral considerations are maybe even more important. First, there is the short term need to deflect attention from the worsening economy and the corporate scandals, including the shady corporate past of Bush, Cheney, White, and others in top positions. Second, there is the long term shadow cast by the bankruptcy of the Republican Party's domestic platform.
No doubt, an important contributing factor is the extreme right wing Zionist persuasion of a number of key Pentagon officers and advisors, including Wolfowitz and Perle. They want to destabilize the Middle East in order to undermine any potential pressure on Israel to withdraw from the Occupied Territories.
Add to these factors the legitimate welfare needs of U.S. defense contractors, along with the problem of providing some fast Keynesian anti-recession deficit spending, and you get a fair picture of the level of war desperation in the White House.
However, a number of liberal commentators have sought, and found, a silver lining in the war to remove Hussein from office, a war the U.S. has continued since 1991 with Iraqi civilians the almost exclusive victims so far. These arguments deserve close look.
But first, it is worth pointing out that one doesn't need to be against war to oppose the imperial manners with which war is approached by this White House. Before we export democracy to Iraq, shouldn't we keep enough of it here for local consumption? Wouldn't it be appropriate for the White House to show respect for the public by providing some best-case and worst-case scenarios of the war, including projected costs and casualties? After all, it's not that Hussein's storm troopers have already beached in Long Island. We still have some time for discussion!
One part of me finds it disturbing that none of the chicken-hawks came out against the undemocratic marketing campaign intended to discourage intelligent deliberations about such a crucial public issue as going to war. The other part of me chuckles, "what did you expect; didn't you know that love of war is almost always wedded to contempt for democracy?"
The last point illuminates the self-deception of those who hope for the spread of democracy on the wings of war. But some are more modest. Their argument is simple: Saddam Hussein is evil. The U.S. may have ulterior motives in deposing him, but who cares? Assuming it can be done with a limited cost in human life (a big assumption already), the net result will be positive: any regime will be less brutal than what Iraqis endure today. And there is even a possibility of real democracy taking root.
Sometimes, this argument degenerates into accusing anti-war voices of "realpolitk," namely, of favoring the stability of tyrannical regimes over the human rights of their victims.
I state for the record that I would love to see the tyrants of Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan fall together with Saddam Hussein. It is quite possible that a U.S. attack will set in motion processes of democratization in the Arab world that could be described as positive in the long run, after tens, maybe hundreds of thousand are buried. That is most likely to happen in a scenario in which the U.S. is kicked out of the Middle East by popular opposition a few years after having defeated Hussein, the way it was kicked out of Vietnam.
Such a scenario, not totally implausible, could justify supporting Bush's war only under Lenin's revolutionary maxim of "the worse, the better."
I assume that the liberal proponents of "regime change" have something else in mind. They hope that a U.S. attack will bring democracy to Iraqis through a successful "regime change." This hope is based on two interconnected conceptual mistakes: first, seeing Middle Eastern tyranny as an historical misfortune, as if Saddam Hussein was a terrible thing that magically "happened" to Iraqis. Second, trying to measure the outcome of an American intervention with a one-off utilitarian calculus of costs and benefits.
A U.S. intervention in Iraq will not be a one-off affair. It will be one moment in a continuous history with a past and a future. It is impossible to guess the future shape of this intervention without examining its history.
This history reveals U.S. complicity in creating and strengthening tyrannical regimes in the region. The U.S. helped the Iraqi Baat party coup in 1963 - the reason: the current Qasim regime threatened to nationalize the Iraqi oil industry and even dared to favor land reform, the ultimate sin.
But no sooner the Baat party took power, it too turned against U.S. oil interests. Saddam Hussein enraged Washington by nationalizing the Iraqi oil industry in 1972. He was able to get away with it because of the rise of OPEC and the resulting oil crisis. But it certainly helped smooth the relations that Hussein used Iraq's new wealth to buy a huge quantity of arms from the U.S. military industry. Later on, Hussein received U.S. military support, including biological war agents, to counteract the Iranian revolution, which toppled another U.S. tyrannical regime in 1979. That other tyrant, the Shah of Iran, was that country's punishment for toying with the same sacrilegious idea of owning its own natural resources.
Examining this history of U.S. interventions reveals a strong bias in favor of undemocratic regimes and a longstanding effort to undermine movements favoring national independence. The reason is simple. Only tyrants can be counted upon to allow the natural wealth of their country, primarily oil, to be siphoned off to the U.S. Democratic, or even merely popular, governments have proven far too sensitive to the interests of their citizens and therefore less subservient to U.S. corporate interests.
That was then, when Iraqis did not understand America very well. What about now? Now, the whole Middle East considers the U.S. its public enemy number one. Iraqis share that outlook, having been on the receiving end of ten years of callous and lethal "sanctions" (better called "siege warfare").
Every single regime that came to power in Iraq as a result of Western meddling since the First World War was either overturned or became progressively anti-Western. Iraq has been the historical center of Arab anti-Imperialism long before Saddam Hussein came to power. What is therefore the likelihood that a new U.S. puppet regime less brutal than Hussein's will toe Washington's line for long?
Nil. Iraq's subservience to U.S. corporate interests would continue to depend on repression. The fall of Saddam might give Iraqis a short breathing break. But sooner or later - and given the current level of rage against American foreign policy, sooner - any pro U.S. government in Iraq will have to choose between becoming more repressive and becoming hostile.
Hence, the current war to depose Hussein will not lay the ground for democracy. It will lay the ground for the next war.
The idea of forcing democracy on Iraq finds support in the "Clash of Civilization" thesis. The argument goes something like: American imperialism is bad. The rise of Islamic fundamentalism is the product of misguided U.S. policies. But all that doesn't matter now because Islamic fundamentalism is a severe danger to the world. We ought therefore to close ranks and defend the values of the West, if necessary, imposing them on the Middle East by force. U.S. occupied Iraq, as Thomas Friedman suggests, could serve the whole Middle East as a badly needed example of a working Arab democracy.
The defeat of fundamentalism is indeed essential, but everything else in this argument is wrong.
First, Iraq is one of the most secular societies in the Middle East and the most hostile to fundamentalists. Second, as argued above, a Western occupation is simply unlikely to foster democracy in Iraq.
More importantly, the lack of democracy is not the result of a distinct Arab-Muslim "civilization." This claim is a new form of racism. It is the latest incarnation of the "white man's burden" - bringing democracy and Western "values" to the natives as an excuse for their enslavement and exploitation.
The Arab-Muslim world indeed failed to import Western ideas, in particular the ideas of national self-determination, socialist universalism, and citizenship. But it wasn't for lack of trying. On the contrary, it tried hard and often. While there were many local roots that contributed to that failure, it is obvious that the most important obstacle to the importation of Western ideas to the Middle East was the West itself.
Western governments have fought hard to defeat and undermine attempts to establish independent Middle Eastern regimes based on Western ideologies. Qasim in Iraq, Nasser in Egypt and Mossadeq in Iran are the most visible examples in a century of constant behind the scenes meddling: first by the British Empire, and, after 1945, increasingly by the American one.
Islamic fundamentalism has grown out of the failure of the West to wean itself of colonial exploitation. To say that the remedy is a new large-scale colonial conquest of the Middle East makes as much sense as curing alcoholism with a bottle of gin.
Islamic fundamentalism is not due to the absence of Western values. On the contrary, it is the result of the triumph of Western values. In particular, it is the result of the triumph of the Western value of putting profits above people. The popularity of fundamentalism is a response to the deep humiliation of the Islamic world and the failure of all other strategies to escape the iron fist of Western exploitation.
Instead of faulting Arabs for not getting rid of their dictators, Westerners should start "regime change" at home. As long as Western governments, and especially the U.S. government, are ruled by institutionalized greed and the rapaciousness of military-industrial complexes, the world will have no peace.
[Gabriel Ash was born in Romania and grew up in Israel. He is an unabashed "opssimist." He writes his columns because the pen is sometimes mightier than the sword - and sometimes not. Gabriel is the Middle East Editor of YellowTimes.org's News From the Front, located at the following URL: http://www.YellowTimes.org/nftf.html. He lives in the United States.]
Gabriel Ash encourages your comments: gash@YellowTimes.org
Source: http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=783
10/30/02
9:00:20 PM
"Shallow Throat" Savages Dem Leaders And Reveals Bush Strategy
by Bernard Weiner, t r u t h o u t | Opinion/Satire, 16 October, 2002
So many of us were devastated after Congress rolled over and gave Bush his war on Iraq. We needed help in figuring it all out. So I set up the coded signal to "Shallow Throat," the high-ranking GOP mole in the White House who had been so helpful in pointing us in the right direction several times previously.*
We met in a nondescript bar in a suburb of Washington, D.C., Shallow Throat wearing a different wig and glasses than last time.
I didn't even get a chance to ask a question before Shallow Throat sneered at me with disgust and began raging. "You liberals are so clueless, no wonder you got reamed on the Iraq vote. You wanted to look reasonable to the American public, and not run the risk of looking 'unpatriotic' for the November election. But what you wound up doing was giving Bush cover. You got all the words into the war-resolution that Americans wanted to hear -- 'last resort,' United Nations, diplomacy, inspectors and so on -- but you, and Bush&Co., know that the attack juggernaut is rolling and Bush isn't going to pay the least attention, other than lip-service, to any of it. The war is on, and your lot were cowards, enablers with blood on their hands."
"That's not fair," I said, even though I was so angry at the Democrat leadership myself. "They probably figured that unless the Democrats win the election next month, any chance of stopping Bush on his march toward total control disappears."
"Yes, I'm aware that your Democratic friends didn't want to risk anything when they believed they might be able to take the House back and even pick up a seat or two in the Senate. I grant you it's a reasonable strategy to stick to the bread-and-butter issues the public cares most about -- the sinking economy, fear of losing jobs, prescription drug-coverage for the elderly, the need for educational reform, etc. -- but it misses the forest for the trees."
"I'm listening."
"Your Democratic friends are laughed at inside the White House. The Dems in Congress still want to play by the traditional rules -- give a little here, get a little there, compromise and scratch each others' backs, and so on -- but even after watching for nearly two years how Bush&Co. operate, playing real hardball, your friends still don't get it. Bush&Co. want it ALL, they want EVERYTHING, and they'll do whatever it takes to get it. You can't play nicey-nice with these guys. They'll lie, cheat, steal, promise one thing and do another once they've rolled you."
"Is that why you're revealing their secrets, even though you're a GOP stalwart?"
"I know now how Jim Jeffords felt before he resigned from the Republican Party and gave the Senate to the Democrats: I'm forced every day to play ball with sleaze and power-hunger and hypocrisy and uncompromising zealotry. I choose to stay on the inside, for whatever good I can do there and so that I can let you and your Democrat friends know what's really going on." There was a pause. "But it's getting worse and worse. It's like working in a charnel house, and the stench associated with rapacious greed and the lust for power and total control and running roughshod over the Constitution is getting to me. I don't know how long I can stick around. I take five showers a day just for the illusion that I'm clean."
I looked into Shallow Throat's eyes. "I haven't seen you like this before," I said. "You look totally disheartened. It's really that bad, huh?"
"You remember the flap when the German justice minister compared Bush's tactics with those of Hitler -- of mesmerizing the population with war-talk while the real issues are swept under the rug? The Bushies got enraged because she hit too close to the mark. The administration's propaganda policy is, who said it?, a weapon of mass distraction -- and it's working. Look at how the Congress caved, look at the absence of major coverage on the shaky economy and the various Bush&Co. scandals."
"You're not really comparing Bush to Hitler?"
"Of course not. But the Bush people learned a lot from The Third Reich, and other authoritarian regimes, in terms of how to organize and propagandize and frighten and slowly slice away at the veneer of democracy and rule of law. They also learned the value and techniques of bullying, especially with regard to foreign conquest and scaring their critics domestically. And this 'permanent-war' rationale isn't new either. In fact, there's a lot of recycling of nasty ideas and tactics these days."
"You're joking, right? You're just exaggerating because you're so frustrated working inside the belly of the beast."
"Think again, my friend. The hardright cabal at the heart of Bush&Co. for at least the past decade, ever since the collapse of communism (and even before that), have been thinking about and planning for, and writing about, what they would do if they ever got into power.** Your namby-pamby friends in the Democrat opposition chose to ignore those guys, thinking them far-right kooks, with all their talk about acting aggressively as a superpower, first-strike "pre-emptive" attacks, "benevolent hegemony," control of oil&gas reserves, making sure no other country ever could emerge to challenge the U.S., mangling the Constitution to get what they want, and so on. Now do you understand why the HardRight -- the politicians, the justices, the columnists, et al. -- have fought with so much venom and meanness to get into power? This is their time, as they see it, when they can Take It All -- around the globe, in this country -- and they will crush anyone in their way who tries to stop them. Iraq is just the tip of the iceberg."
"It can't all be that dark," I said, my skin beginning to crawl. "The fact that the American people, in poll after poll, for example, were way ahead of their elected representatives in Congress -- wanting U.N. inspectors in Iraq, not going in there without our allies and U.N. approval, and so on -- must count for something."
"Sure, thanks to the efforts of liberals and moderates, you've slowed them down a bit, forced them to alter their rhetoric -- once they said there was no need to go to Congress and the United Nations for authorization, but they were forced to bend in those directions. So, big deal. Let's be clear: If they don't get what they want by going the civilized way, they will take what they want anyway. Don't you understand? THESE...ARE...NOT...NICE...PEOPLE. They are playing for keeps. You're talking shadow forces unleashed, my friend."
"Isn't there anything that can be done to stop them?"
"Short of voting them out of power in 2004 -- or ruining them through investigations and impeachment before then as a result of all their scandals -- all you can hope for right now is to slow them down. If the Democrats take the House and hang on to the Senate, you'll be able to stick some good wood into their spokes -- maybe even get some tough investigations going; you'll force Bush&Co. to figure another way around.
But if the GOP loses in November, and the Democrats continue to behave like Bush lap-dogs, the game is over. The Democrats have to become a true opposition party and take it to Bush&Co. straight up. Power is the only thing these Bush guys understand. The Dems have to feel it and be willing to FIGHT, big time, for those things they believe in. I'm not sure your current Dem leaders understand that or have the courage to even try. The young people demonstrating in the streets, and the online political sites have that knowledge, but aren't strong enough yet to be taken seriously. As for the rest of the citizenry, thanks to September 11th and now the renewed terrorist attacks, they're too frightened to want anything but security and seem willing to go along with whatever the Bushies say is necessary."
"Up to a point," I interjected. "If Iraq turns out to be a disaster, and more terrorist attacks occur as a result of Bush&Co. policies, and more and more allies get turned off by U.S. arrogance and bullyboy behavior, and the economy continues to tank, and Americans' civil liberties continue to shrink, I think you'll see Americans getting really angry."
"Dream on," Shallow Throat said with a sad grin. "These guys are experts at ratcheting up the fear factor and keeping their permanent war going -- plus, don't forget there actually are genuine bad-guy terrorists out there."
"I refuse to believe that you can fool all of the people all of the time. The truth will out. And once the American people get angry at their leaders, watch out."
"Well," said Shallow Throat, "I'm glad that you and your Democrat friends still have that idealism, because that belief, and the willingness to do something to activate it, is the only thing right now that offers any hope. From inside the White House, it all looks too scary and awful to even want to think about...And speaking of that place, I've been away too long and someone might begin to wonder where I am. Don't forget: What happens now will determine America's, and the world's, future for a long time. Develop some backbone...quick."
And with that, Shallow Throat exited the bar. It took me a half-hour before my legs stopped trembling and I could get up to leave.
-------
* Also see "The 'Shallow Throat' Documents: A Pre-9/11 Bush&Co. Scenario," "'Shallow Throat' Reveals Bush&Co. Weak Spots," and "Advance Draft of Bush's Astounding 9/11-Anniversary Speech."
** A few days after our meeting, in a package sent by regular mail, I received the following books and articles from Shallow Throat, which chillingly laid it all out: "From Containment to Global Leadership? America & the World After the Cold War," by Zalmay M. Khalilzad (currently the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan; published by Rand Corporation, 1995); Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan's "Towards a Neo-Reaganite Foreign Policy (Foreign Affairs, July-August 1996); Nicholas Lemann's "The Next World Order" (New Yorker, April 1, 2002); Jay Bookman's "The President's Real Goals in Iraq" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 29, 2002) and "An Empire by Any Other Name" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 10, 2002); "The National Security Strategy," issued by The White House ( www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nssall.html).
Bernard Weiner, a poet and playwright, was the San Francisco Chronicle's theater critic for nearly 20 years. A Ph.D. in government & international relations, he has taught at various universities and published in The Nation, Village Voice, The Progressive, and widely on the internet.
Source: http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.17C.bw.ST4.htm
10/30/02
8:57:43 PM
''Screw, Inc.''
by Paul Harris, YellowTimes.org Columnist (Canada), October 15, 2002
(YellowTimes.org) – Much of the world is rapidly deteriorating into the dark side of the 19th century. At a time in mankind's journey to, well, wherever it is that we're all going to end up, an age when we have the resources, skills, and abilities to eliminate most of the world's ills, we choose to revert to a happier and gentler time when the barons of finance ruled everything and the rest of us be damned.
We cheerfully elect government after government all around the world of people who wouldn't know their brass from their oboe but who surely know how to be the lickspittles of corporations. We have allowed ourselves to be conned into believing that what is good for business is good for society rather than the other way round; our governments have sold us down the proverbial river and have raped the resources that properly belong to the people; we have accepted the rule of merchants whose only goal is to make sure they get our money.
Globalization, in its modern incarnation, has been coming at us now for close to thirty years because it's about that long ago that it first grabbed hold of a national government. Turns out it was the Chilean government, but it has proved to be a rapidly spreading virus. It has all but supplanted democracy.
Democracy is not about abstract ideas and idealism; it is an extremely complex and concrete reality. It is about constantly seeking, selecting, refining, and developing practical options for achieving the common good. The modern world has developed what we call democracy today in less than 300 years and we developed it within the concept of the nation state. While nation states may not have been the best thing since the Garden of Eden, the positive thing we were developing was the idea of the citizen. With the advent of globalized economies and globalized rule, the power of citizens has been taken away.
On a superficial level, we can all agree there is more democracy now than there ever has been. There have never been so many countries that describe themselves as democratic but the reality is we have seen a steady depletion and weakening of the democratic dream. But consider this: The most powerful force possessed by an individual citizen is his own government. There are no other institutions or mechanisms that the individual can lay claim to as being his. In a democracy, the individual is the government; we are never General Motors or IBM or Krupp Steel. Yet, we are willingly giving away the only real power we have without getting anything in return.
One of the most insidious postures of those who favor globalization begins with the broad statement that government is too big, that government shouldn't be involved in things such as water and energy production because those can be managed better by private enterprises. So we buy into this argument and begin the process of surrendering our power to manage society.
We turn ourselves over to corporations who don't care a fiddler's fig about whether we get the best society we can have; these corporations care only about generating an extra few pennies for their shareholders. The amazing thing is that we do this willingly. We cheerfully choose to have artificial limits put on the only real power we have to order our lives. It seems that we do this because we have been convinced that government is the enemy of the people, despite our constant crowing that our governments are of, by, and for the people.
Over those 300 or so years that we developed our modern democracies, we have made many advances for the common good. It has taken us only a few years to begin seriously dismantling it. Democracies are led by people, not corporations, and the idea that any democratic society could be led by economics or by self interest demotes the citizenry to little more than a decoration. We have engaged in a form of unconscious suicide by allowing these enormously important powers to escape from our hands into the international arena where it is beyond our reach.
Another part of the disease that seems to have afflicted us is the rush to deregulate everything. As a citizen of Canada, I am personally regulated up the yingyang, along with many of the local businesses around me. But the international players which operate in Canada do so without even a hint that they should be controlled or constrained. In that regard, Canada is no different than any of the Western democracies because we have also bought into those international trade agreements whose sole purpose was to make our governments irrelevant.
Part of the deregulation movement has been to satisfy the worldwide taste for free trade. Western civilizations have known for 3,000 years that in order to have prosperity, you have to have extremely strict, but straightforward, regulations that will bring the kind of stability and long-term competition that can generate that prosperity. We know very well that without those regulations, we get horrible boom and bust cycles that end up in terrible depressions.
From searching the online databases of Forbes Magazine, the Globe & Mail Report on Business, and the Wall Street Journal, I have learned the following: five firms control 50 percent of the global markets in aerospace, electronic components, automobiles, airlines, and steel; five firms control about 70 percent of consumer durables; five control about 40 percent of oil, personal computers and media.
There are 200 companies representing about 28 percent of the world's GDP and less than 1 percent of the world's workforce. Even conservative capitalists should be horrified to realize that so much production is in the hands of people who provide so few jobs because it's that production which should provide the wages that people can use to consume those products. You don't have to be a leftist to see how dangerous this is.
And the scariest statistic: 51 percent of the largest economies in the world are companies, not countries.
Now isn't all of this a good thing? Isn't it true that countries who trade together don't go to war with each other? The answers are 'no' and 'no.' Most of the wars throughout history have been the result of trade disputes. I'm not going to iterate them all here; if you didn't pay attention in history class, you should have. What we are leading to now is war over the inability to control trade. When my country and your country are being savaged by some corporation that is in a third country over which neither of us has any control, how are we going to solve the problem? War. It's the easiest answer to the frustration of being irrelevant. You can't go to war against some corporation.
Societies have shapes. Ideally, diamond-shaped is what most democracies would hope to be: a little bit of rich at the top, a little bit of poor-that-you're-always-trying-to-deal-with at the bottom, and most everyone else in the middle. The pure capitalist model of the 19th century was a pyramid with a concentration of enormous wealth at the top rapidly dropping off to huge poverty at the bottom. By allowing business to take on the leadership role in our countries, we are moving away from the diamond and headed straight for the pyramid. We are moving away from the social victory that democracy brought us and heading straight back toward disaster.
Proponents of globalization and free trade accept the premise that markets are self-regulating. They are not, they never have been, and they never will be. We have thousands of years of history to prove that to us. Advanced societies understand that they prosper and progress by engaging in trade and by doing so in as diversified a way as possible. But in order to do that effectively, they need to have some kind of industrial development policy. For 3,000 years, societies have had industrial policies, trade policies, and regulations. No sophisticated society in the history of the world has existed without an industrial policy.
But we have moved rapidly to dismantle the policies, the agreements between nations, and give them over to the corporations who will be the only beneficiaries. We have moved to make governments irrelevant without having any sense that we are also making ourselves irrelevant. In other words, we have achieved, or are close to, a point where democracy no longer matters. Government can and should equal the practical expression of the common good. Without reversal of this mindless worship at the tomb of the unknown shareholder, we might as well surrender right now.
Democracy was built on the nation state and every power that is removed from the nation state without the granting of some compensating international power for the citizenry is anti-democratic. As a minimum, we need to work out an international control to force taxation on corporations. Fifty or so years ago, corporations in most developed nations paid somewhere in the vicinity of 40-50 percent of a nations total tax grab. Today, they pay about 6-7 percent. That's why we can't afford education, health care, and assistance for the disadvantaged that all our governments are taking away from us. This is not a left-wing argument: every decent conservative economist of the past 150 years believed that you had to tax the real sources of wealth in order to fund the real necessities of the democratic state.
Democracy requires putting economics and self-interest into a subsidiary position. That is the best recipe for stable prosperity. It is the best recipe for restoring democracy.
[Paul Harris is self-employed as a consultant providing Canadian businesses with the tools and expertise to successfully reintegrate their sick or injured employees into the workplace. He has traveled extensively in what we arrogant North Americans refer to as "the Third World," and he believes that life is very much like a sewer: what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. Paul lives in Canada.]
Paul Harris encourages your comments: mailto:pharris@YellowTimes.org
Source: http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=775
10/30/02
8:34:11 PM
The Only Way To Stop Terrorism
by John McConnell, founder of Earth Day
"The Problem is Not the Evil People who do Evil, but the Good People who do Nothing."
CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE WAR ON TERRORISM
What is wrong with the "War On Terrorism"?
It is a total contradiction of the moral values claimed by President Bush and the world leaders who have been deceived by him.
The greatest irony is his claim to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus said we should love our enemies. Love will seek a common cause and cooperation where you agree -- leaving room for differences. This has repeatedly brought peaceful progress in relationships.
In this day and age we should think globally. We have an amazing wonderful planet. Its time to wake up and for individuals and institutions to reject shortsighted greed that ignores right actions for the benefit of all.
Bin Laden saw America's awful exploitation of his country. He took action --the wrong action -- and Bush responded with WRONG ACTION!
In this age of global communications and easy access to diabolical weapons, you don't stop killing by killing.
There must be an all-out campaign to expose the hypocrisy and futility of the war on Terrorism. The only way to prevent repetition of terrorism is to eliminate its cause. The only way to do this is to accent the positive and apply the "faith that works by love."
This Campaign Against the War On Terrorism can tap the best in your religious faith and result in actions that will heal, build and unite the whole world in the ways of peace. Talk, write, think and act as a Trustee of Earth and you will help bring the global miracle of a peaceful, prosperous future.
John McConnell - The man who started Earth Day and its Earth Trustee way to a better future.
Source: http://www.EarthSite.org
10/30/02
8:29:49 PM
America's For-Profit Secret Army
by Leslie Wayne, October 13, 2002
With the war on terror already a year old and the possibility of war against Iraq growing by the day, a modern version of an ancient practice - one as old as warfare itself - is reasserting itself at the Pentagon. Mercenaries, as they were once known, are thriving - only this time they are called private military contractors, and some are even subsidiaries of Fortune 500 companies.
The Pentagon cannot go to war without them.
Often run by retired military officers, including three- and four-star generals, private military contractors are the new business face of war. Blurring the line between military and civilian, they provide stand-ins for active soldiers in everything from logistical support to battlefield training and military advice at home and abroad.
Some are helping to conduct training exercises using live ammunition for American troops in Kuwait, under the code name Desert Spring. One has just been hired to guard President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, the target of a recent assassination attempt. Another is helping to write the book on airport security. Others have employees who don their old uniforms to work under contract as military recruiters and instructors in R.O.T.C. classes, selecting and training the next generation of soldiers.
In the darker recesses of the world, private contractors go where the Pentagon would prefer not to be seen, carrying out military exercises for the American government, far from Washington's view. In the last few years, they have sent their employees to Bosnia, Nigeria, Macedonia, Colombia and other global hot spots.
Motivated as much by profits as politics, these companies - about 35 all told in the United States - need the government's permission to be in business. A few are somewhat familiar names, like Kellogg Brown & Root, a subsidiary of the Halliburton Company that operates for the government in Cuba and Central Asia. Others have more cryptic names, like DynCorp; Vinnell, a subsidiary of TRW; SAIC; ICI of Oregon; and Logicon, a unit of Northrop Grumman. One of the best known, MPRI, boasts of having "more generals per square foot than in the Pentagon."
During the Persian Gulf war in 1991, one of every 50 people on the battlefield was an American civilian under contract; by the time of the peacekeeping effort in Bosnia in 1996, the figure was one in 10. No one knows for sure how big this secretive industry is, but some military experts estimate the global market at $100 billion. As for the public companies that own private military contractors, they say little if anything about them to shareholders.
"Contractors are indispensible," said John J. Hamre, deputy secretary of defense in the Clinton administration. "Will there be more in the future? Yes, and they are not just running the soup kitchens."
That means even more business, and profits, for contractors who perform tasks as mundane as maintaining barracks for overseas troops, as sophisticated as operating weapon systems or as secretive as intelligence-gathering in Africa. Many function near, or even at, the front lines, causing concern among military strategists about their safety and commitment if bullets start to fly.
The use of military contractors raises other troubling questions as well. In peace, they can act as a secret army outside of public view. In war, while providing functions crucial to the combat effort, they are not soldiers. Private contractors are not obligated to take orders or to follow military codes of conduct. Their legal obligation is solely to an employment contract, not to their country.
Private military contractors are flushing out drug traffickers in Colombia and turning the rag-tag militias of African nations into fighting machines. When a United Nations arms embargo restricted the American military in the Balkans, private military contractors were sent instead to train the local forces.
At times, the results have been disastrous.
In Bosnia, employees of DynCorp were found to be operating a sex-slave ring of young women who were held for prostitution after their passports were confiscated. In Croatia, local forces, trained by MPRI, used what they learned to conduct one of the worst episodes of "ethnic cleansing," an event that left more than 100,000 homeless and hundreds dead and resulted in war-crimes indictments. No employee of either firm has ever been charged in these incidents.
In Peru last year, a plane carrying an American missionary and her infant was accidentally shot down when a private military contractor misidentified it as on a drug smuggling flight.
MPRI, formerly known as Military Professionals Resources Inc., may provide the best example of how skilled retired soldiers cash in on their military training. Its roster includes Gen. Carl E. Vuono, the former Army chief of staff who led the gulf war and the Panama invasion; Gen. Crosbie E. Saint, the former commander of the United States Army in Europe; and Gen. Ron Griffith, the former Army vice chief of staff. There are also dozens of retired top-ranked generals, an admiral and more than 10,000 former military personnel, including elite special forces, on call and ready for assignment.
"We can have 20 qualified people on the Serbian border within 24 hours," said Lt. Gen. Harry E. Soyster, the company's spokesman and a former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. "The Army can't do that. But contractors can."
For that, MPRI is paid well. Its revenue exceeds $100 million a year, mainly from Pentagon and State Department contracts. Retired military personnel working for MPRI receive two to three times their Pentagon salaries, in addition to their retirement benefits and corporate benefits like stock options and 401(k) plans. MPRI's founders became millionaires in July 2000, when they and about 35 equity holders sold the company for $40 million in cash to L-3 Communications, a military contractor traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Within the military, the use of contractors is Defense Department policy for filling the gaps as the number of troops falls. At the time of the gulf war, there were 780,000 Army troops; today there are 480,000. Over the same period, overall military forces have fallen by 500,000.
Pentagon officials did not respond to many telephone calls and e-mail messages requesting interviews, but they have maintained that contractors are a cost-effective way of extending the military's reach when Congress and the American public are reluctant to pay for more soldiers.
"The main reason for using a contractor is that it saves you from having to use troops, so troops can focus on war fighting," said Col. Thomas W. Sweeney, a professor of strategic logistics at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa. "It's cheaper because you only pay for contractors when you use them."
But one person's cost-saving device can be another's "guns for hire," as David Hackworth, a former Army colonel and frequent critic of the military, called them.
"These new mercenaries work for the Defense and State Department and Congress looks the other way," Colonel Hackworth, a highly decorated Vietnam veteran, said. "It's a very dangerous situation. It allows us to get into fights where we would be reluctant to send the Defense Department or the C.I.A. The American taxpayer is paying for our own mercenary army, which violates what our founding fathers said."
They are not mercenaries in the classic sense. Most, but not all, private military contractors are unarmed, even when they oversee others with guns. They have even formed a trade group, the International Peace Operations Association, to promote industry standards.
"We don't want to risk getting contracts by being called mercenaries," said Doug Brooks, president of the association. "But we can do things on short notice and keep our mouths shut."
That, some critics say, is part of the problem. By using for-profit soldiers, the government, especially the executive branch, can evade Congressional limits on troop strength. For instance, in Bosnia, where a cap of 20,000 troops was imposed by Congress, the addition of 2,000 contractors helped skirt that restriction.
Contractors also allow the administration to carry out foreign policy goals in low-level skirmishes around the globe - often fueled by ethnic hatreds and a surplus of cold war weapons - without having to fear the media attention that comes if American soldiers are sent home in body bags.
At least five DynCorp employees have been killed in Latin America, with no public outcry. Denial is easier for the government when those working overseas do not wear uniforms - they often wear fatigues or military-looking clothes but not official uniforms.
"If you sent in troops, someone will know; if contractors, they may not," said Deborah Avant, an associate professor of political science at George Washington University and author of many studies on the subject.
Only a few members of Congress have expressed concern about the phenomenon.
"There are inherent difficulties with the increasing use of contactors to carry out U.S. foreign policy," said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and the chairman of the foreign operations subcommittee. "This is especially true when it involves `private' soldiers who are not as accountable as U.S. military personnel. Accountability is a serious issue when it comes to carrying guns or flying helicopters in pursuit of U.S. foreign policy goals."
In the House, Representative Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat, led the battle against a Bush administration effort to remove the cap that limits the number of American troops in Colombia to 500 and private contractors to 300.
"American taxpayers already pay $300 billion a year to fund the world's most powerful military," Ms. Schakowsky said. "Why should they have to pay a second time in order to privatize our operations? Are we outsourcing in order to avoid public scrutiny, controversy or embarrassment? Is it to hide body bags from the media and thus shield them from public opinion?"
SUCH concerns are hardly slowing the pace across the Potomac, at MPRI in Alexandria, Va. The company may look like hundreds of other white-collar concerns that fill small office buildings in northern Virginia, but there are telltale signs to the contrary: the sword that serves as the corporate logo and conference rooms named the Infantry Room, the Cavalry Room and the Artillery Room. Its art consists of paintings of celebrated battles, largely from the Civil War.
It's hard to tell where the United States military ends and MPRI begins. For the last four years, MPRI has run R.O.T.C. training programs at more than 200 universities, under a contract that has allowed retired military to put their uniforms back on. It recently lost the contract to a lower bidder, but MPRI offset the loss with one to provide former soldiers to run recruitment offices.
The company, which has 900 full-time employees, helps run the United States Army Force Management School at Fort Belvoir. It also provides instructors for advanced training classes at Fort Leavenworth, teaches the Civil Air Patrol and designs courses at Fort Sill, Fort Knox, Fort Lee and other military centers.
The Pentagon has even hired MPRI to help it write military doctrine -including the field manual called "Contractors Support on the Battlefield" that sets rules for how the Army should interact with private contractors, like itself.
Overseas, MPRI is, if anything, more active. Under a program it calls "democracy transition," the company has offered countries like Nigeria, Bosnia, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Ukraine, Croatia and Macedonia training in American-style warfare, including war games, military instruction and weapons training.
In Croatia, MPRI was brought in to provide border monitors in the early 1990's. Then, in 1994, as the United States grew concerned about the poor quality of the Croatian forces and their ability to maintain regional stability, it turned to MPRI. A United Nations arms embargo in 1991, approve d by the United States, prohibited the sale of weapons or the providing of training to any warring party in the Balkans. But the Pentagon referred MPRI to Croatia's defense minister, who hired the company to train its forces.
In 1995, MPRI started doing so, teaching the fledgling army military tactics that MPRI executives had developed while on active duty commanding the gulf war invasion. Several months later, armed with this new training, the Croatian army began Operation Storm, one of the bloodiest episodes of "ethnic cleansing" in the Balkans, an event that also reshaped the military balance in the region.
The operation drove more than 100,000 Serbs from their homes in a four-day assault. Investigators for the international war crimes tribunal in the Hague found that the Croatian army carried out summary executions and indiscriminately shelled civilians. "In a widespread and systematic matter, Croatian troops committed murder and other inhumane acts," investigators said in their report. Several Croatian generals in charge of the operation have been indicted for war crimes and are being sought for trial.
"No MPRI employee played a role in planning, monitoring or assisting in Operation Storm," said Lieutenant General Soyster, the MPRI spokesman. He did say that a few Croatian graduates of MPRI's training course participated in the operation.
Yet what happened in Croatia gave MPRI international brand recognition and more business in that region. When Bosnian Muslims balked in 1995 at signing the Dayton peace accords out of fear that their army was ill-equipped to provide sufficient protection, MPRI was called in.
"The Bosnians said they would not sign unless they had help building their army," said Peter Singer, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution who is writing a book on contractors. "And they said they wanted the same guys who helped the Croatians."
That is who they got. Under a plan worked out by American negotiators, the Bosnian Muslims hired MPRI using money that was provided by a group of Islamic nations, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia. These nations deposited money in the United States Treasury, which MPRI drew against.
"It was a brilliant move in that the U.S. government got someone else to pay for what we wanted from a policy standpoint," Mr. Singer said.
At the moment, MPRI is advertising for special forces for antiterrorist operations, is bulking up to train American forces in Kuwait and is looking for people with special skills like basic-training instruction and counterintelligence. Recently, however, it lost a $4.3 million contract to provide training to the army in Colombia when officials there complained about what they called the poor quality of MPRI's services.
In Africa, MPRI has conducted training programs on security issues for about 120 African leaders and more than 5,500 African troops. Most recently, it went toe to toe with the State Department, and won, gaining permission to do business in Equatorial Guinea, a country with a deplorable human rights record where the United States does not have an embassy.
After two years of lobbying at the State Department, and after being turned down twice on human rights grounds, MPRI was finally given approval last year to work with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, whom the State Department describes as holding power through torture, fraud and a 98 percent election mandate. MPRI advised President Obiang on building a coast guard to protect the oil-rich waters being explored by Exxon Mobil off the coast.
More recently, when MPRI and President Obiang proposed that MPRI also help the country build its police and military forces, the State Department objected and the project is now dormant.
"We thought helping the coast guard would be pretty innocuous in terms of human rights," Lieutenant General Soyster of MPRI said. But Ms. Avant of George Washington University disagreed, saying any alliance with United States military contractors would strengthen President Obiang's power.
MPRI is not the only company to have run into problems overseas. DynCorp, a privately held company in Reston, Va., with nearly $2 billion in annual sales, has been tapped to provide protection for Mr. Karzai in Afghanistan. DynCorp also provides worldwide protective services for State Department employees.
In late September, DynCorp settled charges - for an undisclosed sum -brought by a whistle-blower the company had fired after he complained of a sex ring run by DynCorp employees in Bosnia. In August, a British court, meanwhile, ruled in favor of another former DynCorp employee in a separate whistle-blower case. DynCorp is appealing.
The two employees made similar accusations: that while working in Bosnia, where DynCorp was providing military equipment maintenance services, DynCorp employees kept underaged women as sex slaves, even videotaping a rape. Among the charges was that while the DynCorp employees trafficked in women -including buying one for $1,000 - the company turned a blind eye. Since the DynCorp employees involved were not soldiers, their actions were not subject to military discipline. Nor did they face local justice; they were simply fired and sent home.
In both cases, after complaining, the two employees who blew the whistle were fired. Ben Johnston, one of them, said last April in Congressional testimony: "DynCorp employees were living off post and owning these children and these women and girls as slaves. Well, that makes all Americans look bad. I believe DynCorp is the worst diplomat our country could ever want overseas."
A DynCorp spokesman, Chuck Taylor, said the company "felt horrible" and held its own internal investigation before firing the employees who operated the ring.
DynCorp also handles aerial anti-narcotics efforts for the United States government in the skies over Colombia and nearby countries - where several employees have been killed. Because of Congressional caps on the use of private military contractors, DynCorp has hired local citizens; two were recently killed.
Still, in its recruiting material, the company plays up the excitement of this type of work: "Being the best is never easy and when your office is the cockpit of a twin-engine plane swooping low over the Colombian jungle, the challenges can often be enormous."
Incidents like these - sex rings, deals with dictators, misused military training and tragic accidents - raise questions about the use of contractors. To whom are they accountable: the United States government or their contract? When such incidents occur, who bears the responsibility?
Moreover, while the general mantra about military privatization is that it saves money, there are few studies to prove the case - and in fact, reports exist to the contrary.
For instance, Kellogg Brown & Root, which was paid $2.2 billion to provide logistics support to American troops in the Balkans, was the subject of a General Accounting Office report entitled, "Army Should Do More to Control Contract Costs in the Balkans." The office found that the Army was not exercising enough oversight on Kellogg Brown & Root as contract costs rose, to the benefit of the company. Still, the company continues to pick up new business.
Questions about security and control are even more basic. In the battlefield, a commander cannot give orders to a contractor as he can a soldier. Contractors are not compelled by an oath of office, as soldiers are, but instead by an employment contract that provides little flexibility. Nor are contractors subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
Contractors cannot arm themselves - they risk losing their status as noncombatants if they do and, in the extreme, could be declared mercenaries and subject to execution if captured. Yet in the gulf war, contractors were in the thick of battle, providing maintenance to tanks and biological and chemical vehicles as well as flying air support.
Should there be a war in Iraq, the line could be even blurrier.
"There are no rear areas anymore," Colonel Sweeney of the Army War College said. With chemical and biological weapons, "no place is safe," he said.
"You can't draw a map and say `no contractors forward of this line,' " he added. "The American concept of combat is to take the battle to the rear areas and be as disruptive as possible. The other guy is thinking the same thing."
One tenet of warfare is that soldiers handling support functions can grab a gun and hit the front lines if needed. While this is often dismissed as a quaint World War II concept, it happened in Somalia in 1993 when Army rangers were in trouble and military supply clerks came to their rescue. When the support staff is filled with contractors, would they do the same? Or would commanders in the field become responsible for the safety of the growing number of contractor employees at the expense of advancing the battle?
The issue is just beginning to generate some attention in military circles.
"We sort of blur the lines," Col. Steven J. Zamparelli of the Air Force said in an interview. In an article in 1999 for the Air Force Journal of Logistics, Colonel Zamaparelli said: "The Department of Defense is gambling future military victory on contractors' performing operational functions in the battlefield."
Others in the military are more blunt about the effect on soldiers. "Are we ultimately trading their blood to save a relatively insignificant amount in the national budget?" said Lt. Col. Lourdes A. Castillo of the Air Force, a logistics expert, in a 2000 article in Aerospace Power Journal. "If this grand experiment undertaken by our national leadership fails during wartime, the results will be unthinkable."
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/13/business/yourmoney/13MILI.html
10/30/02
8:25:53 PM
FAIR
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and activism
ACTIVISM UPDATE: Times, NPR Change Their Take on DC Protests
October 30, 2002
Three days after its first report on the D.C. antiwar protests, readers of the New York Times were treated to a much different account of the same event. On October 30, the Times reported that the October 26 protests "drew 100,000 by police estimates and 200,000 by organizers', forming a two-mile wall of marchers around the White House. The turnout startled even organizers, who had taken out permits for 20,000 marchers."
This directly contradicted the Times' October 27 report, which noted that the "thousands" of demonstrators were "fewer people... than organizers had said they hoped for." The October 30 Times report also included much more information about similar protests around the country, and featured quotes from various antiwar activists.
The second Times story may have been a reaction to the overwhelming response to FAIR's October 28 Action Alert critical of the paper's downplaying of the protest. FAIR has received more than 1,100 copies of individual letters sent to the Times or to NPR, whose coverage was also cited in the action alert-- one of the largest volumes of mail ever generated by a FAIR action alert. The newspaper trade magazine Editor and Publisher (10/30/02) suggested that the October 30 piece was a "make-up article" that may have been written "in response to many organized protest letters sent to the Times since the paper's weak, and inaccurate, initial article about the march on Sunday."
The paper has not yet issued an editor's note or correction explaining the different reports, though senior editor Bill Borders sent an apologetic message to many of the people who wrote to the paper.
"I am sorry we disappointed you," he said. "Accurately measuring the size of a crowd of demonstrators is nearly impossible and often, as in this case, there are no reliable objective estimates." Borders defended the Times' overall coverage of the Iraq debate, and thanked activists for contacting the paper: "We appreciate your writing us and welcome your careful scrutiny. It helps us to do a better job."
National Public Radio, another target of FAIR's action alert, has also offered a correction of its misleading coverage of the D.C. protest. The following message is now posted on NPR's website:
---On Saturday, October 26, in a story on the protest in Washington, D.C. against a U.S. war with Iraq, we erroneously reported on All Things Considered that the size of the crowd was "fewer than 10,000." While Park Service employees gave no official estimate, it is clear that the crowd was substantially larger than that. On Sunday, October 27, we reported on Weekend Edition that the crowd estimated by protest organizers was 100,000. We apologize for the error. ---
FAIR thanks all of the activists who wrote to the New York Times and NPR about their coverage of the D.C. protests. Those who did write or call might consider sending a follow-up note to the outlets to encourage serious, ongoing coverage of the growing antiwar movement.
To read the New York Times' new report on the protests, go to:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/30/national/30PROT.html
To read the initial NPR story with the correction, go to:
http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/transcripts/2002/oct/021026.brand.html
To read FAIR's October 28 action alert on protest coverage, go to:
http://www.fair.org/activism/npr-nyt-protests.html
10/30/02
8:23:24 PM
NEW "War is Not the Answer" buttons, sticker, and magnets!
Wear your heart on your sleeve and a button on your collar! Take this message to the streets, to the office, and to the dinner table. Help spread the word - order buttons, stickers, and magnets for your friends, family, and coworkers.
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1 "Take Action" summary sheet
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Order now and receive a FREE Sojourners poster (while supplies last). Order additional quantities and receive a bulk discount!
For more information, go to http://www.sojo.net/resources
or call (800) 714-7474.
10/30/02
8:21:53 PM
War Won't End Terrorism
by Tamin Ansary
Directly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the war talk began, as if war were the obvious remedy for terrorism. The president vowed to "destroy the infrastructure of terrorism" and defeat "states that sponsor terrorism." By January, our quarrel was shifting from Osama bin Laden to what President Bush labeled an "axis of evil," compromising Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Now, apparently, the first of these states is in the crosshairs. But every time I hear about "destroying the infrastructure of terrorism" - the supposed justification for this war - I am troubled by the fact that terrorism doesn't need an infrastructure to succeed. Indeed, lack of infrastructure is the hallmark of terrorism and its key advantage. Historically, it is groups without state power who have resorted to terrorism, groups without trains and factories and government buildings, and without the capacity to field armies.
In this respect, terrorism is like crime, a parallel that ought to give us pause. Our military might, money, and technology can certainly defeat Iraq, but it couldn't stop one man from killing 168 men, women, and children with a fertilizer bomb in Oklahoma City; or a sniper from shooting dead [11] people just outside the nation's capital; or two high-school students from slaughtering 13 of their classmates at Columbine High School in a Colorado suburb. None of these criminals who terrorized and slaughtered others needed their own infrastructure. They used the infrastructure of the society they were attacking. So did the men who destroyed the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. They didn't have their own airplanes. They used ours. They didn't even make box-cutters. They bought the ones we made. If we had obliterated Iraq before 9/11, would we have weakened their ability to carry out their terrorist project? Of course not.
To read the entire essay, go to:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/10/19/MN78451.DTL
10/30/02
8:17:15 PM
PURCHASE PEACE FOR CHRISTMAS
Christmas ornaments are available NOW from Sarajevo Phoenix. Your purchase of these beautiful hand-sewn ornaments supports Christian and Muslim women who are working together to rebuild their lives in Sarajevo. Bulk orders for churches are available. Contact Hands Raised Together/the Sarajevo Phoenix Project at:
10/30/02
8:15:10 PM
Micah And Paul
by Jim Wallis
The biblical prophet Micah famously said: "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; but they shall all sit under their own vines and fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid."
Several millennia later, Pope Paul VI paraphrased Micah when he said, "If you want peace, work for justice." The insight that the possibilities for peace, for avoiding war, depend upon everyone having enough - having a little vine and fig tree - is both prophetic and practical. If all of us had just a piece of the global economy, if the tremendous imbalances of this planet could be leveled out - just a little - nobody would have to be afraid. Micah knew it was the great imbalances and fears that lead to war.
We lost a Micah this week, and this one was a United States senator - Paul Wellstone. "Paul," as he wanted everybody to call him, always reminded me of an Old Testament prophet. I remember the night in Los Angeles that we spoke together at the "Shadow Convention," an alternative assembly to the Democratic National Convention in 2000. I was preaching the politics of overcoming poverty to a large crowd of mostly young people, and then introduced the speaker who would follow - Paul Wellstone. I recall saying something like, "The next speaker is a U.S. senator, but he sounds more like a Hebrew prophet. Come preach to us, brother Paul." And he did. Chopping the air with his right hand, as he always did, Wellstone lifted up the forgotten ones in American politics - the poor, the homeless, low-income families not making enough to get by, family farmers losing their way of life, workers left behind by the global economy, women and children abused by domestic violence, and people marginalized by various forms of discrimination. Then he called us to peace in all the conflicted places of the world. Most recently, Wellstone was the only U.S. senator in a close political race to vote against the authorization of force against Iraq. Paul understood Micah.
For days now, his fellow senators across the political spectrum, who agreed and disagreed with his political positions, have spoken of how widely Paul Wellstone was respected and, yes, loved. Elevator operators and Capitol police officers called him by his first name, and reported being taken home for dinner by "Paul." In an emotional tribute to his friend at Paul Wellstone's memorial service, Senator Tom Harkin said, "nobody ever wore the title of senator better, or used it less." Harkin also called Paul Wellstone "the soul of the Senate."
Paul Wellstone was a progressive populist in the U.S. Senate - a rare phenomenon these days. But he also was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather who exemplified the kind of deep family values that motivate many conservatives. A former college professor and community organizer, Paul Wellstone and his wife Sheila (who died with him and their daughter in the tragic plane crash) were the ultimate "volunteers" for public service. And the number of volunteers, especially young people, who were inspired by Paul Wellstone is beyond counting. For a new generation of young activists, Wellstone was a hero and role model, much like Robert Kennedy was for people of my generation. When I saw Paul Wellstone retrace the tours of American poverty that Bobby Kennedy took four decades ago, I knew this senator from Minnesota was something special.
Paul Wellstone understood the crucial connections between faith, spirituality, and social justice, and was always warmly supportive of magazines like Tikkun and Sojourners. It was fitting that a large delegation of clergy from many faith traditions began the memorial service last night in Minnesota. Paul was, indeed, a contemporary Micah, a true political leader who united an infectious love for people with an overflowing passion for social justice. We will miss his easy smile, his boisterous laugh, and, most of all, his prophetic voice. But as thousands pledged at his memorial service, the legacy of Paul Wellstone will live on in the countless numbers that he touched. Micah will find new voices now.
Source: http://www.SoJo.net
10/30/02
8:14:44 PM
Review of "Bowling for Columbine"
by Michelle Chihara, Alternet.org
Moore's [film] is not a treatise, it's not a presentation, it's not even really a single, coherent argument. Instead, Moore provokes, he searches, he even pokes fun. Regardless of what you think of the film, it seems almost impossible to leave the theater without turning to whoever is next to you and talking about it.
With war looming in Iraq...the film could not be more timely. Moore recognizes those events, but he's looking beyond any one news hook. "Forty people a day are shot and killed in this country," he said at a screening in San Francisco last Friday. The big question, for him, goes beyond the "geographically contained" bloodshed caused by one sniper. Why, he wants to know, is America so violent? Why do Americans shoot each other so much more than people do in other developed countries?
To read the entire review of "Bowling for Columbine," go to:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14296
10/30/02
8:09:02 PM
DAILY GRIST
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
SOLAR VILLAGE PEOPLE
Earlier this month, 14 architecture teams from universities nationwide participated in the Solar Decathlon, a U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored competition to build the ultimate solar home of the future -- one that produces enough juice to power a modern, energy-intensive lifestyle. The spirit of revolution was in the air on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where a temporary solar village sprung up beneath the Capitol's giant dome. It was not just a gimmicky competition, but a harbinger of a growing trend in sustainable architecture, an indication that architecture and the environment are becoming inextricably linked. Amanda Griscom introduces you to the new generation of alt-architects in this month's Powers That Be, the alternative energy column, only on the Grist Magazine website.
only in Grist: This solar house -- students compete to build the house of the future -- in our Powers That Be section <http://www.gristmagazine.com/powers/powers103002.asp?source=daily>
DEHLI PICKLE
India, the nation that is hosting the eighth in a series of U.N. meetings on climate change, is using the occasion to chastise industrialized nations for pressuring poor countries to cut greenhouse emissions. Speaking at the meeting in Delhi, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee argued that emissions-reduction programs would undermine efforts by India and other developing nations to strengthen their economies and lift their populations out of poverty. "Climate change mitigation will bring additional strain to the already fragile economies of the developing countries," he said, adding that India's per capita greenhouse gas emissions are a sliver of the world average. A sign held by a protestor at the event noted: "1996 emissions of one U.S. citizen equal 19 Indians, 49 Sri Lankans, 107 Bangladeshis, 134 Bhutanese, 269 Nepalese." In the Delhi Declaration, which will summarize the 10-day meeting, the Indian government wants to stress that developing countries will be hit hardest by drought, flooding, and other consequences of climate change.
straight to the source: BBC News, 30 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=632>
do good: Take action to tell Bush to tackle global warming <http://www.gristmagazine.com/dogood/climate.asp?source=daily#kyoto>
NOT WITH A BANG BUT A WHIMPER
The Bush administration's plan to open federal lands in the western U.S. to oil and gas drilling would produce a measly amount of energy and a massive amount of environmental destruction, according to a Wilderness Society report released yesterday. The proposed drilling areas, which are scattered throughout millions of acres in six Rocky Mountain states and include some currently protected lands, would produce enough natural gas to meet the total U.S. demand for about 11 weeks and enough oil for about three weeks, according to the 31-page report. The report says the feds have not accurately assessed whether it would be cost-effective for energy companies to develop the areas. The report was released in advance of a federal study, due out next month, that many fear will promote the Bush administration's fast-track development of energy resources.
straight to the source: Rocky Mountain News, Deborah Frazier, 30 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=630>
straight to the source: Reuters, Christopher Doering, 29 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=631>
do good: Take action to halt coal bed methane development in the Rockies <http://www.gristmagazine.com/dogood/forests.asp?source=daily#rockies>
HALF-BAKED ALASKA
Anti-environmentalism in Alaska is at a fever pitch, and it's affecting the shape of nearly every political campaign in the final weeks before voters go to the polls. Incumbent state Rep. Harry Crawford (D), for example, has gone out of his way to try to convince his constituency that he's pro-development, not eco-friendly. "I believe I've had to explain it 100 times at the door," said the first-term Democrat, who insists that he's pushed hard to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil development. Crawford is one of many Alaskan Dems -- gubernatorial candidate Fran Ulmer among them -- who have been slammed for having environmentalists' support. Tom Atkinson, executive director of Alaska Conservation Voters, says he has never seen so much anti-green election talk in his 31 years in Alaska. Much of the talk stems from concerns about the state's gloomy economic future, which is largely influenced by federal spending and oil activity. "People of course say they love the environment," said Stephen Haycox, a professor of history at the University of Alaska Anchorage. "But very few people come here for the environment. They come here for a job."
straight to the source: Anchorage Daily News, Associated Press, Sean Cockerham, 28 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=633>
TAPS
Contaminants found in the tap water in California's largest cities could pose risks to children, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems, according to a new study from the Natural Resources Defense Council. The findings in the report, "What's on Tap," were the result of a review of tap-water data from 19 cities in the U.S., but so far only the California results have been released; Los Angeles and San Francisco were among the municipalities whose water supplies were found to be tainted by deteriorating pipes and pollution from farm and industrial sources. The study also noted the presence of arsenic and the chemical perchlorate in the drinking water of Los Angeles and San Diego, respectively, although both levels were within federal limits. Fresno's water gave even more cause for concern, with traces of nitrates, pesticides, and industrial chemicals. The release of the report coincides with an upcoming California ballot measure that would authorize water-treatment funds.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Miguel Bustillo, 30 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=634>
10/30/02
8:07:16 PM
EMS Update - Oct. 30, 2002
California Officials to Ban Dry Cleaning Chemical
Southern California officials may vote as early as November 1 on a proposal to phase out a widely used but controversial dry cleaning solvent known as perc, or perchloroethylene. The proposed rules would make the Los Angeles area the first in the country to begin phasing out the chemical used by 80 percent of America's dry cleaners.
Perc, the No. 1 groundwater contaminant in California, has drawn the attention of regulators because of its cancer-causing properties and because it contributes to air pollution. Industry groups nationwide are paying close attention to the Southern California policy, since it could serve as a model for other parts of the country.
To read more about the proposed rules and to get health facts and consumer tips about dry cleaning, go to http://www.ems.org
Labor Unions Take Up Fight Against Sprawl
Greg LeRoy, who writes about work and labor, has penned a new article about labor unions joining the national movement to curb sprawl. Labor's non-partisan ratings of elected officials, Mr. LeRoy reports, show that politicians from sprawling areas seldom vote with unions on a range of issues from "fast track" trade agreements and workplace safety to collective bargaining rights and pay equity for women. As Don Turner of the Chicago Federation of Labor puts it, "After a day of looking at all this, some of us began to think that sprawl is one giant anti-union conspiracy."
Find out more: http://mlui.org/growthmanagement/fullarticle.asp?fileid=16361
EPA Failing to Fund Cleanups at 32 Toxic Waste Sites
Government investigators this week found that the EPA failed to provide any funding for toxic waste cleanups at 32 Superfund sites, including ones where toxic waste is polluting water and risking families' health, according to a Sierra Club press release. The discovery came in an EPA Inspector General's report documenting that the EPA's effort to clean up toxic waste sites is slowing dramatically under the Bush administration. The Sierra Club said the best solution is to restore the "polluter pays" principle to give the government enough money to fund cleanups. By contrast, the Bush administration has proposed shifting the cost of cleanups to taxpayers.
Sierra Club press release:
http://lists.sierraclub.org/SCRIPTS/WA.EXE?A1=ind0210&L=ce-scnews-releases
EPA office of the Inspector General report, in PDF format:
http://www.epa.gov/oigearth/ereading_room/boxer.pdf
10/30/02
8:06:04 PM
Oral Argument in Kucinich v. Bush on Plaintiffs' Motion
The following came through the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space list serve, from John Burroughs, who is the executive director of Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy about the Oral Arguments planned for October 31st regarding the ABM withdrawal law suit. If you are in D.C., please go... and send news about it to flyby.
The following is from John Burroughs, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy, which came to Flyby via the Global Network's list serve:
The oral argument in Kucinich v. Bush on plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment and defendants motion to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment will take place on Thursday, October 31, beginning at 1000 am, in Courtroom 21, U.S. Courthouse, 3rd and Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC, before federal district judge John Bates, U.S. district court for the District of Columbia. This is not the ceremonial courtroom. It is next door to it. The public can observe the proceedings (space allowing, about 120 spectators).
There is no time limit set for conclusion of the argument. If the judge grants plaintiffs' motion or defendants' motion, that will decide the case at this level. It may be some time before the judge issues his decision.
The case was brought by Congressman Dennis Kucinich and 31 other members of the House of Representatives to challenge President Bush's withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty without congressional approval. The main papers filed in the case are available in pdf at
http://www.lcnp.org/disarmament/ABMlawsuit/indexoflinks.htm
10/30/02
8:03:56 PM
Subj: [infowarsnews]
PRESS RELEASE -- OPERATION EXPOSE THE GOVERNMENT SNIPER
For Immediate Release: October 23, 2002
US GOVERNMENT PLANNED SNIPER ATTACKS
PENTAGON PLANNED TO CARRY OUT SNIPER ATTACKS IN DC AND MIAMI
On April 24, 2001 the Baltimore Sun and ABC News reported on a shocking, declassified Pentagon document, titled Operation Northwoods. In Operation Northwoods the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called for hijacking jet airliners, attacking US military bases, blowing up US ships and wounding civilians in Miami, Florida and Washington, DC using paramilitary sniper teams. Page eight of the formerly Top Secret Pentagon plan stated that “casualty lists in US Newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation.” The opening paragraph in the Baltimore Sun read “US leaders proposed in ’62 a secret plan to commit terrorist acts against Americans and blame Cuba to create a pretext for invasion.”
Forty years after the Northwoods plan was rejected by John F. Kennedy, we see striking similarities between the sniper attacks and the terrorist activities called for in the Northwoods plan. Whereas the Northwoods document planned to create a pretext for war with Cuba, the sniper attacks are being used as a pretext to put military on the streets of America and to push for gun control. Now, White House officials are saying that there’s a good chance that al-Qaeda or Iraq are behind the sniper attacks and are warning the American people to look for similar attacks in other cities, thus creating a timely pretext justifying military action to capture Middle Eastern and Central Asian oil supplies in a war with Iraq.
On his Nationally Syndicated Radio Show, Documentary Filmmaker Alex Jones has consulted with many law enforcement and military experts, including Colonel Craig Roberts (formerly of US Army Intelligence, a former Marine Corps Sniper and the Best-selling Author of One Shot One Kill) who stated on-air that this operation could only be State-sponsored and was clearly the work of a rogue element from the top levels of global intelligence agencies. On The Alex Jones Show, Roberts said that the MO of the sniper attacks are indicative of a 2-3 man team trained in the Special Forces ambush tactics of reconnaissance, insertion, concealment and successful evasion. According to Jones’ research, the sniper team’s attack profile is consistent with US Special Forces ambush assassination tactics.
Best-selling Doubleday Author James Bamford, who broke the Northwoods Story in His Book, Body of Secrets reported on page 82 that, "the plan, which had been written with the approval of the Chairman and every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff called for innocent people to be shot on American Streets."
Says Jones, “In Operation Northwoods, we have a declassified US Government document, approved right up to the President, that advocates carrying out terrorism against the American people to terrify them into accepting tyranny. It is now public knowledge that Roosevelt allowed the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor as a pretext for war and that the Gulf of Tonkin attack that launched the Vietnam War was staged by LBJ. This is all now admitted historical fact, and there is no way to ignore the US government terror plan contained in the Northwoods document. The plan even lists the cities to be targeted, and one of them is DC.”
The national media from day one told us that the sniper was a lone gunman. Now politicians are telling us that we must give up our liberties for security, Senator Charles Schumer wants to ban so-called assault rifles and to institute ballistic fingerprinting on all guns as well as on ammunition, the new North American Military Command (NORTHCOM) that was activated October 1, 2002 has been provided with a mission on the ground and in the air over America just weeks after the White House told us that we needed to get rid of Posse Comitatus (Federal law prohibiting US military forces in search in seizure operations of US soil) for our “safety.” Now the Washington Post is reporting that the CIA will be directing local FBI field offices in 56 US cities. Vice President Cheney has publicly threatened Congress not to investigate the 911-Government prior knowledge story. He cryptically made the statement on Meet the Press that Congressional investigations would only cause a larger terrorist attack.
“There’s no doubt about it,” says Jones “the US Government is the number one suspect in the sniper attacks.”
It is absolutely vital that outlets reading this press release take some time out and go to Alex Jones’ website, www.infowars.com. Jones has an extensive archive containing mainstream media reports proving the claims of this release. The Northwoods Document can be found on infowars.com’s main page, its government prior knowledge page
http://www.infowars.com/resources.html
10/30/02
7:56:48 PM
Business as Usual
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/22/opinion/22KRUG.html
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.24D.krug.usual.htm
The mood among business lobbyists, according to a jubilant official at the Heritage Foundation, is one of "optimism, bordering on giddiness." They expect the elections on Nov. 5 to put Republicans in control of all three branches of government, and have their wish lists ready. "It's the domestic equivalent of planning for postwar Iraq," says the official. The White House also apparently expects Christmas in November. In fact, it is so confident that it has already given business lobbyists the gift they want most: an end to all this nonsense about corporate reform. (...) The bottom line is that you shouldn't worry about those TV images of men in suits doing the perp walk. That was for public consumption; now that the public is focused on other things, it's back to business -- insider business -- as usual.
SOME REALLY GOOD NEWS
Lula Elected in Landslide, Workers Party Candidate Will Lead Brazil
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.29C.lula.elected.htm
Over 200,000 People March in The United States!
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2002/10/27/MN28617.DTL
Huge Rally Joins Protests Across Globe to Decry U.S.' Iraq Policy. More on this at
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=021022~nlg.asp
Huge Rally Joins Protests Across Globe to Decry U.S.' Iraq Policy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.29D.sf.rally.htm
Antiwar Protest Largest Since '60s (October 27)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25886-2002Oct27.html
Organizers Say 100,000 Turned Out
US Peace Marches Draw Large Crowds
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.28D.peace.marches.htm
Calendar of Demonstrations for Peace in the U.S.
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=021022~wrl.asp
Four incredibly tight, battleground races in the U.S. elections - these four may go to Democrat candidates!
http://www.moveonpac.org/moveonpac/viewcandidates.phtml
Fax THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL to resist the Bush Administration's rush to war
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=021018~gx.asp
Take The Pledge to Oppose War with Iraq To take the pledge:
http://www.voice4change.org/stories/showstory.asp?file=020624~for.asp
AND IN THE NOT-SO-FUNNY CATEGORY
Wheels Come Off U.S. War Plans for Iraq
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/102802_wheels.html
Sierra Club Deeply Mourns Death of Senator Paul Wellstone
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.28F.sierra.wellstone.htm
Foul play suspected in Wellstone death
http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=36234&group=webcast
Was Wellstone's plane tampered with?
http://www.americaheldhostile.com/ed102502.shtml
Paul Wellstone | The Right Thing to Do
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.27A.Wellstone.intv.htm
Mysterious group spends $1 million on anti-Wellstone campaign
http://startribune.com/stories/587/3382739.html
Bush Fears Tenacious, Popular Wellstone
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0424-07.htm
CBS | Wellstones To Cheney: Stay Home
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.30A.wellstones.htm
Bush to Force Vote on Iraq Resolution
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.30C.bush.force.vote.htm
No One Elected Bush to Attack Iraq
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.30F.bush.mandate.htm
Russian Special Forces Killed Most Hostages With Gas
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/10.29F.ru.115.gas.htm
Chechnya: "Human rights take a backseat in the 'war on terrorism'" (Oct 27)
http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=812
AND A FRANKLY BIZARRE ONE
Surgeons Deliver 46-Year-Old Fetus (Oct 24)
RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccan surgeons have relieved a 75-year-old woman of what she thought was a long-standing tumor but turned out to be the remains of a 46-year-old fetus, Moroccan newspapers said Thursday.
This is a link to create fireworks. Everything feels so heavy right now, it may bring a smile.
http://doody36.home.attbi.com/liberty.htm
Recommended by "Karen Revell" <karenr@oz.net>
10/30/02
7:52:48 PM
TomPaine.com
See our OP AD on the op-ed page of the New York Times, or read it on line: http://www.tompaine.com/op_ads/opad.cfm/ID/6645
THE CHOICE WE FACE
"The people of this country, not special interest big money, should be the source of all political power. Government must remain the domain of the general citizenry, not a narrow elite." - Senator Paul Wellstone
http://www.tompaine.com/op_ads/opad.cfm/ID/6645
Also Fresh at TomPaine.com...
Poem:
VOTING WITH MY MOTHER
by Jan Frel
"We agreed to vote together after work, And I was looking forward to it."
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6609
THE BIGGEST LITTLE PROTEST OF THE WAR
Oct. 26 Iraq Protests Receive Scarce Media Attention, Inaccurate Turnout Counts
by David Helvarg
"I stood on a wall for an hour watching a boulevard wide procession of citizens passing by with music banners, placards expressing anger, fear and hope.... The D.C. police chief called this the largest anti-war march since Vietnam."
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6643
SURE AS SHOOTIN', IRONY NEVER DIED
The NRA Objects To "Gun DNA" For Conflicting Reasons
by M. W. Guzy
The NRA is alarmed by the progress of science and claims that any registry that results would infringe on the rights of legitimate gun owners -- presumably the right to shoot people with anonymity.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6636
PUBLIC OPINION WATCH:
October 21 - October 25
A Weekly Compendium And Commentary On Recent Polling by Ruy Teixeira
Did the GOP Peak Too Soon? ... Youth and Politics
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6646
AND DON'T FORGET OUR CONTINUALLY UPDATED CLICKABLE COMPENDIUM...
REASONS WHY WE SHOULDN'T
Right, Left and Center
by TomPaine.com Staff
Ivan Eland of the Cato Institute offers 10 compelling reasons why we should not attack Iraq... Salman Rushdie points out the irony of a U.S.-inspired jihad... Tom Tomorrow's cartoon commentary... and much more.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6420
And our recent, and still popular, OP AD:
Uncle oSAMa Says --
I WANT YOU TO INVADE IRAQ
"Go ahead. Send me a new generation of recruits. Make my day."
http://www.tompaine.com/op_ads/opad.cfm/ID/6438
10/30/02
7:48:14 PM
SciTech Daily Review
Cores extracted from the ice fields of Africa's Mount Kilimanjaro are yielding clues about past climate in the region and, together with recent data, helping to forecast a grim future for the mountain's glaciers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2367681.stm
The dog Laika, the first living creature to orbit Earth on a one-way trip onboard Sputnik 2 in November 1957, did not live nearly as long as Soviet officials led the world to believe
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2002/24oct_sunrings.htm
Whenever both sun and clouds are in the sky, be sure to look up -- you may behold rings, arcs, and other marvels!
http://www.nature.com/nsu/021021/021021-7.html
Art in the Making, a new exhibition at the UK's National Gallery in London, goes behind the scenes of great Renaissance paintings to reveal unseen masterpieces by Raphael, Bruegel, Crivelli and Cranach
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1029/p03s01-usgn.html
Thirteen years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska, the ecological damage is far from healed
http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-021022ink,0,7821544.story?coll=chi%2Dtechnology%2Dhed
Is there really a cartridge conspiracy? Printer manufacturers are using technology that forces computer users to buy certain types of ink and makes it impossible to refill or recycle the cartridges (registration required)
10/30/02
7:46:45 PM
THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, October 30, 2002
sponsored by PR WATCH http://www.prwatch.org
The Weekly Spin features selected news summaries with links to further information about current public relations campaigns. It is emailed free each Wednesday to subscribers.
Branding New and Improved Wars
Tobacco at the Movies
California Wineries Go Green
The Business of War
Wolves In Sheep's Clothing
Corporate-Friendly Researchers Fabricated Data
The Death of the Internet
Saudi Arabia's PR Challenge
The Sniper's Puny Little Gun
I Ain't Afraid of No Twisted Little Prion
Label Debate Pits Big Name Vs. Big Bucks
New York City Doesn't Like Microsoft's Decals
Hill and Knowlton Can't Escape Its Big Lie
No Community Voices Wanted
What Aren't We Being Told?
For Bush, Facts Are Malleable
BRANDING NEW AND IMPROVED WARS
http://www.fair.org/media-beat/021029.html
"Marketing a war is serious business. And no product requires better brand names than one that squanders vast quantities of resources while intentionally killing large numbers of people," Media Beat columnist Norman Solomon writes. From 1989's Operation Just Cause to 1991's Operation Desert Storm to today's Enduring Freedom, Solomon suggests that naming military operations is nothing more than a form of "media cross-promotion" meant to sanitize war. "Looking ahead, the media spinners at the White House are undoubtedly devoting considerable energy to sifting through options for how to brand the expected U.S. assault on Iraq. Long before the war is over, we'll all know its reassuring code name. But we won't know the names of the Iraqi people who have been killed in our names," Solomon writes.
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035933371
TOBACCO AT THE MOVIES
http://www.pirg.org/alerts/route.asp?id2=8330%20
Despite a 1998 multi-state tobacco settlement banning tobacco companies from marketing directed toward children and banning payments to place tobacco products in films, tobacco use in the most popular youth-oriented movies has increased by 50 percent, according to a new report. "Tobacco at the Movies" highlights the health risks to children, who are susceptible to the subtle message sent by famous actors and actresses using tobacco on the big screen.
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035909436
CALIFORNIA WINERIES GO GREEN
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18340/story.htm
Under fire from environmentalists, California's wine industry plans to announce a code of "sustainable" environmental practices. Critics charge the industry with contributing to soil erosion, watershed loss and pollution and say its proposed "voluntary code" is an attempt to head off binding state regulation.
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035838743
THE BUSINESS OF WAR
http://www.public-i.org/dtaweb/report.asp?ReportID=469&L1=10&L2=10&L3=0&L4=0&L5=0
A nearly two-year investigation by the Center for Public Integrity's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has identified at least 90 private military companies worldwide that intervene on behalf of governments in military conflicts. The ICIJ investigation shows how profits from war commerce have gone to a small group of individuals and companies with connections to governments, multinational corporations and, sometimes, criminal syndicates in the United States, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Their report, an 11-part series that begins today, will include a story on Wednesday that shows how mercenaries, with the aid of public relations professionals, rebranded themselves as private military companies.
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035817980
WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/connelly/93104_joel28.shtml
"Some of the United States' best-heeled corporations and capitalists, seeking to elect a Republican Congress in November, have turned to a gambit pioneered nearly 70 years ago by rulers of the Soviet Union," Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist Joel Connelly writes. "The underlying reason: Sheep's clothing is often needed for wolves to stalk their prey." With elections drawing near, industry-sponsored front groups are flooding the air waves with their anonymous messages. The drug company sponsored United Seniors Association spent more than $1 million to boost embattled Rep. George Gekas (R-Penn.) in his re-election race. "Before his death Friday in a plane crash, Democratic Sen. Paul Wellstone was targeted with a $1 million hostile TV media buy for the last two weeks of Minnesota's Senate campaign," Connelly writes. "The ad time was bought by a group called Americans for Job Security. It also has bought up to $1 million worth of late-campaign media in New Hampshire, $480,000 in Missouri, and $625,000 in Colorado." Americans for Job Security does not give out its contributor list, but Connelly reports that it was founded in 1997 with $1 million in seed money from the American Insurance Association and $1 million from the American Forest and Paper Association.
SOURCE: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 28, 2002
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035781202
CORPORATE-FRIENDLY RESEARCHERS FABRICATED DATA
http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/1151/1/154/
A series of influential studies purporting to show that federal regulation is broadly irrational are based on data that is highly misleading and frequently manufactured to fit a preconceived point of view, according to an investigation by Richard Parker, a law professor at the University of Connecticut. Parker looked at studies by Robert Hahn, John Graham and John Morrall.
SOURCE: OMB Watcher, October 28, 2002
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2002.html#1035781201
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035781201
THE DEATH OF THE INTERNET
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6600/view/print
"The Internet's promise as a new medium -- where text, audio, video and data can be freely exchanged -- is under attack by the corporations that control the public's access to the 'Net, as they see opportunities to monitor and charge for the content people seek and send," writes Jeff Chester of the Center for Digital Democracy. "The industry's vision is the online equivalent of seizing the taxpayer-owned airways, as radio and television conglomerates did over the course of the 20th century. To achieve this, the cable industry, which sells Internet access to most Americans, is pursuing multiple strategies to closely monitor and tightly control subscribers and their use of the net."
SOURCE: TomPaine.com, October 28, 2002
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035781200
SAUDI ARABIA'S PR CHALLENGE
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=19693
For insight into ways to promote better US-Arab relations, the Saudi Arabia-based Arab News interviewed Jim Cox of the Hill & Knowlton PR firm (which worked a decade ago to promote war in the Persian Gulf). "Saudi Arabia has a cadre of friends," says Cox, "who know, respect and value it in terms of business relationships and the culture of the Kingdom. The trouble is that cadre is very small. It's a real industry-based group, limited to those who have had business contacts with the Kingdom." Arab News peppers its analysis with references to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's love of "privacy" (a euphemism for government censorship and repression). "Outside the concerns of commerce, the public image of the Kingdom as perceived by the rest of the world was not a high priority," the article states. "The question of the difference between privacy and isolation never arose. All that changed in a couple of fireballs in September last year. With the revelation that the majority of the hijackers involved in those catastrophic moments were Saudi, the carefully preserved cloak of privacy became a wall of isolation, supported by fear." As a result, Cox says, "you start with this huge hurdle of disbelief to overcome," said Cox. But who's to blame? "It's not the Saudis, it's not the government and it's not anybody else in particular. It's simply the world we live in."
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2002.html#1035658198
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035658198
THE SNIPER'S PUNY LITTLE GUN
http://www.sierratimes.com/02/10/18/brown.htm
The National Rifle Association and its supporters are struggling to cope with the bad publicity generated by America's latest gun-toting mass murderer. In an essay that has circulated widely on right-wing and pro-gun web sites, Michael S. Brown complains that the DC-area sniper "gave the battered antigun lobby what it desperately needed, a high-profile mass murderer who used a firearm," adding that the sniper gives gun control advocates the biggest boost "since their last big public relations victory at Columbine." Brown adds a couple of digs at the news media: "In their rush to instill fear in the audience, they implied that the rifle was some kind of super weapon, when in reality it is much less powerful than most common hunting rifles. Close ups and graphics invariably left viewers with the impression that the .223 cartridges are much larger than they actually are. A real sniper would not be interested in such an anemic cartridge." (So if these killings weren't the work of a "real" sniper, does this mean that anyone with a "common hunting rifle" could pull off a similar murder spree?) Weapons of frightening power continue to be readily available to people like John Allen Muhammad, yet NRA propagandists continue to lobby against gun registration or ballistic fingerprinting, which would help police identify the owners of guns that have been used in shootings.
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2002.html#1035565176
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035565176
I AIN'T AFRAID OF NO TWISTED LITTLE PRION
http://www.madison.com/wisconsinstatejournal/local/34875.php
"The Wisconsin Medical Society on Thursday warned hunters that no test can tell them whether the venison from their deer is safe to eat," reports Ron Seely. Nevertheless, state officials are urging hunters to go all-out in harvesting (and consuming) deer in the hope that a special hunt will kill enough to halt the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD). Like mad cow disease, CWD disease is a fatal brain illness caused by an infectious, malformed protein called a prion. To egg on hunters, the state Department of Natural Resouces is paying for an advertisement on area radio stations that features a jingle with lyrics including "Bagem tagem dragem, freezem testem fryem. I ain't afraid of no twisted little prion." SOURCE: Wisconsin State Journal, October 25, 2002
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2002.html#1035518402
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035518402
LABEL DEBATE PITS BIG NAME VS. BIG BUCKS
http://www.portlandtribune.com/viewcurr.cgi?id=14607
"Supporters of a ballot measure requiring food companies to label genetically engineered foods have about $195,000 in campaign contributions and former Beatle Paul McCartney on their side," the Portland Tribune reports. "On the other hand, while the measure's opponents may lack star power, they have a whopping $5 million in hand, contributed primarily by international food and biotechnology companies intending to snuff out the movement before other states get similar ideas." McCartney taped a 30-second, pro-labeling radio spot. But that doesn't faze the anti-labeling PR coordinator Pat McCormick of Conkling, Fiskum & McCormick Inc. The Tribune reports that a new poll shows the anti-labeling campaign leading 65 percent to 27 percent, with 8 percent of those surveyed undecided. "The results were the reverse of a poll taken a month ago, just before opponents began running TV and radio ads and started a direct-mail campaign," the Tribune writes.
SOURCE: Portland Tribune, October 25, 2002
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035518401
NEW YORK CITY DOESN'T LIKE MICROSOFT'S DECALS
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/aptech_story.asp?category=1700&slug=Microsoft%20Decals
Microsoft is the latest company to upset city officials by using sidewalks and other public property for a "guerilla" marketing campaign. According to the Associated Press, "In New York, municipal workers removed hundreds of Microsoft decals on Thursday and planned to remove hundreds more on Friday. ... 'We intend to hold your firm directly responsible for this illegal, irresponsible and dangerous defacing of public property,' Cesar Fernandez, the department's assistant counsel, said in a letter to Microsoft. Fernandez said Microsoft could be sued if it sticks more ads on city property." Chicago and San Francisco have also dealt with similar illegal ad campaigns by IBM, Snapple and Nike. "In April, IBM paid San Francisco $120,000 in fines and cleanup costs for an ad campaign in which sidewalks were spray-painted with ads. Chicago also fined the computer maker for similar corporate graffiti," AP reports.
SOURCE: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 25, 2002
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035518400
HILL AND KNOWLTON CAN'T ESCAPE ITS BIG LIE
http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/views/story/0,2276,61356,00.html
The Hill & Knowlton PR firm is still spreading lies about its deceptive PR campaign to promote war with Iraq in 1990. H&K vice president Vivian Lines has written a letter to the Singapore Business Times, protesting its report on how the PR firm helped concoct a false story about Iraqi troops throwing babies out of incubators. Business Times columnist John Gee stands by his story, as does every independent observer who has looked into the matter.
SOURCE: Business Times (Singapore), October 23, 2002
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2002.html#1035345600
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035345600
NO COMMUNITY VOICES WANTED
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14357
"The campaign for the 'professionalization' of radio is surreptitiously removing community voices from the dial," reports Tracy Jake Siska. "National Public Radio affiliates nationwide have been devouring locally produced community and university stations as educational institutions seek to end financial support for their stations." As examples, she points to the abolition of locally-produced jazz and ethnic programming at stations WYMS in Milwaukee and WLUW in Chicago, which previously offered broadcasts serving Bulgarian, German, Guatemalan, Haitian, Irish, Italian, Jewish, Latino, Native American, Polish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese audiences.
SOURCE: AlterNet, October 22, 2002
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035259200
WHAT AREN'T WE BEING TOLD?
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/21/ftn/main526319.shtml
As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Bob Graham (D-FL) sees classified government information that isn't released to the public. Based on what he's seen, he told CBS News, the Bush Administration appears to be selectively disclosing classified information based on politics rather than the requirements of national security. "There's been a pattern in which information is provided on a classified basis, and then what is declassified are those sections of the report that are most advantageous to the administration," Graham said. "And, frankly," he added cryptically, "there is a piece of information which is still classified which I consider to be the most important information that's come to the attention of the joint committee. We hope that it will be declassified. I think it is an important part of our judgments as to where our greatest threats are and what steps we need to do to protect the American people here at home."
SOURCE: CBS News, October 21, 2002
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035172805
FOR BUSH, FACTS ARE MALLEABLE
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61903-2002Oct21.html
"As Bush leads the nation toward a confrontation with Iraq and his party into battle in midterm elections, his rhetoric has taken some flights of fancy in recent weeks," Washington Post staff writer Dana Milbank wrote. "Statements on subjects ranging from the economy to Iraq suggest that a president who won election underscoring Al Gore's knack for distortions and exaggerations has been guilty of a few himself." Milbank quotes Brookings Institution scholar Stephen Hess suggesting that some of Bush's "overstatements" may be intentional. "What worries me about some of these is they appear to be with foresight. This is about public policy in its grandest sense, about potential wars and who is our enemy, and a president has a special obligation to getting it right," Hess said.
SOURCE: Washington Post, October 21, 2002
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1035172804
10/30/02
7:31:02 PM
Planet Ark Environment News
Fairfax County, Va. approves Metro rail alternative - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18368/story.htm
Upgrading dams could light 30 million US homes - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18369/story.htm
FACTBOX - US govt ranks most fuel-efficient 2003 vehicles - USA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18380/story.htm
Activists criticise BP-led Baku-Ceyhan pipeline - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18370/story.htm
UK metals recycling group head to stand down - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18377/story.htm
Japan carmakers off hook in landmark pollution suit - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18375/story.htm
Japan makers tout 'green' trucks - shake-out looms - JAPAN http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18376/story.htm
FEATURE - Gene-altered cotton brings hope to Indian farmers - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18366/story.htm
INTERVIEW - Chechens could strike nuclear plant next - DENMARK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18372/story.htm
Provinces grumble as Canada pitches Kyoto treaty - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18367/story.htm
Pacific Hydro says Q1 ahead of budget - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18371/story.htm
Drought further cuts Australia crop f'csts - ABARE - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18373/story.htm
Drought forces water curbs on millions of Australians - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18374/story.htm
ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS PICTURES:
USA: Snow Monkey Gets Early Halloween Treat in New York http://www.planetark.org/envpicstory.cfm/newsid/18379
ITALY: Tongues of Magma Pour out From the Mount Etna in Linguaglossa http://www.planetark.org/envpicstory.cfm/newsid/18378
10/30/02
7:28:12 PM
DAILY GRIST
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
DON'T DIG A HOLE, TOO, CHINA
In yet another blow to the environment, the Chinese government is launching a massive expansion of its road network to accommodate its fast-emerging car culture. By 2010, the country says major roads will span a total of 22,000 miles in and between major cities, including Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shanghai; by 2020, it hopes to have doubled the expansion to 44,000 miles. The only areas with no projected new motorways are Tibet and its north-west neighbor Qinghai Province. Last week, when addressing a forum on road development, Hu Xijie, China's vice minister of communications, promised to "basically eliminate the traffic jam" by the year 2010. Shanghai's new road plan will dramatically limit bicycles in the inner city and allow for a one-third growth in motor-vehicle traffic.
straight to the source: London Guardian, John Gittings, 29 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=628>
ARKANSAS OF THE COVENANT
Arkansas is poised to consider an innovative plan to create an "alternative fuels" tax on electricity and gas users in the state. Under the plan, which state Rep. Herschel Cleveland (D) said yesterday that he would introduce to the state assembly early next year, residents would be charged a 25-cent tax on each of their monthly electric and gas bills, while commercial and industrial users would be charged 25 cents for every $1,000 of electric or natural gas use per month. The tax would raise an estimated $2 million annually and would be used to create an alternative-fuels fund. Chris Benson, director of the Arkansas Energy Office, said nearly 80 percent of the state's $4.2 billion energy diet now comes from fuel sources outside Arkansas. The renewable energy options financed by the fund could range from such standards as wind and solar power to fuels produced by recycling Arkansas's untapped biomass resources, including chicken litter, soybean oil, sawdust, and rice hulls.
straight to the source: Arkansas News Bureau, Wesley Brown, 29 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=627>
do good: Take action to get cleaner energy <http://www.gristmagazine.com/dogood/climate.asp?source=daily#powerscorecard>
WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK
In a new twist to the Klamath River controversy, Michael Kelly, a biologist with the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service, is blowing the whistle on the Bush administration for drafting and approving a water plan that he says provides inadequate protections for endangered salmon. The accusations come after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation rejected water-flow recommendations by Kelly and his team and instead proposed cutting the river's flow by 43 percent. According to Kelly, that plan won't provide sufficient protection for the salmon "until the ninth year of the 10-year plan," which, he says, is a violation of the Endangered Species Act. To add insult to injury, NMFS signed off on the BuRec demands; Kelly believes both agencies acted under unlawful pressure from above. Kate Vandemoer, executive director of WaterWatch in Portland, Ore., and a former hydrologist with the fisheries service, isn't surprised by the allegations: "If you are a federal employee for a long time, you get used to this bastardization of science. For the other folks who manage to retain some degree of principle, it's pretty depressing." Kelly's supervisor, however, says the final water management plan is scientifically sound.
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Steve Hymon, 29 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=624>
straight to the source: MSNBC.com, Associated Press, 28 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=625>
do good: Take action to stand up for endangered species protections <http://www.gristmagazine.com/dogood/species.asp?source=daily#esa>
YUKON TAKE YOUR SUV AND SHOVE IT
Despite increasing awareness of alternative-fuel technologies and growing concern over U.S. dependence on foreign oil, the fuel economy of American cars is only getting worse. Statistics released today by the U.S. EPA show that the average fuel economy of the new fleet of cars for 2003 is 6 percent lower than it was 15 years ago. In 1987 and 1988, back before the SUV craze set in, new cars averaged 22.1 miles per gallon, compared to 20.8 for the 2003 model cars. Only 4 percent of the new crop of cars get more than 30 miles per gallon, compared with 6 percent in the 2002 model year. Among the 934 models being introduced, the mileage ranges from the gas-electric hybrid Honda Insight (64 mpg) to the General Motors Yukon (12 mpg) and the luxury sport import Lamborghini L-147 Murcielago (10 mpg). During the past year, Congress rejected any significant increase in Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency standards.
straight to the source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Associated Press, John Heilprin, 29 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=626>
do good: Take action to save a barrel, save the nation <http://www.gristmagazine.com/dogood/climate.asp?source=daily#patriot>
TRICK OR TREATY
Ten years after the North American Free Trade Agreement was enacted, controversy continues over the environmental consequences of increased trade between the U.S. and Mexico. Some experts who bitterly opposed NAFTA at the start now feel that the treaty has led to some improvements in quality of life in U.S. border areas -- but they say that environmental gains in Mexico have been lagging, due in part to population growth and lax pollution controls. Several border cities have added new waste- and water-treatment plants, yet the capacity of many of the facilities remains inadequate. Environmentalists also worry about unregulated Mexican smelters, solvent plants, and power generators that release contaminants, and point to unremitting air pollution, sewage leaks, and hazardous waste in border towns. Says Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen Global Trade Watch in Washington, D.C., "All the bad things that were predicted to happen did happen, but the things that were predicted to fix it didn't."
straight to the source: Houston Chronicle, John Gonzalez, 28 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=629>
10/30/02
7:25:34 PM
Organic Foods Pose Challenge To Consumers - USDA Aide
October 28, 2002, REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
DES MOINES, Iowa -- The head of food security of the U. S. Department of Agriculture last week said consumers should be wary of organically grown foods.
"We must remember that bacteria and parasites are also all-natural," Elsa Murano, under secretary for food safety, said at the World Food Prize symposium that draws hundreds of researchers and government officials from around the globe.
"Foods that have fewer or no preservatives can pose a challenge to consumers if they don't know what all-natural implies and how these foods should be handled and prepared."
Her remarks come on the heels of the introduction of new organic food labels regulated by the USDA telling consumers which products are free of pesticides and transgenic crops.
The USDA said the labels were a marketing tool and not a statement about food safety, nutrition or quality.
Before the labels debuted on Monday, the term organic was defined under a hodgepodge of state, regional and private certifier standards, creating confusion about its meaning.
"As a microbiologist, I know that preservatives are used in foods for a reason ... to preserve food against the growth of microorganisms," Murano said during a question-answer session.
"Perhaps there's not the evidence to show that one (method of growing food) is safer than the other .... When you don't have those preservatives, you have to be aware of the fact that that's going to cost you something," she added.
"That's what I think is the challenge for the food industry, especially those folks who produce organic foods and all-natural foods and so forth, to make sure they produce them and process them in such a way that it will not reduce the safety of those products," she said.
The organic industry is the fastest growing U.S. agricultural sector, expanding by 20 percent annually.
Sales of organic foods are expected to reach $11 billion in 2003, more than double the amount 5 years ago, according to the Organic Trade Organization.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18336/story.htm
10/30/02
7:23:49 PM
Greenpeace's Positive Energy
October 19-25, 2002
As long as the sun keeps shining the "Positive Energy" keeps flowing. Time for Greenpeace's Clean Energy Now! campaign's weekly update.
Inside This Edition:
- San Diego Takes Solar Seriously
- Down with PG&E! Support Public Power in SF!
- Governor Supports Solar for K-12, Will he Support a Solar UC?
San Diego Takes Solar Seriously
The Greenpeace Clean Energy Now! campaign has spurred the San Diego City Council to add language in the City 5-year Action Plan to determine the feasibility of bonds to finance the installation of more renewable energy. Additions to the 5-year plan that were approved by the City Council this past Tuesday include calling for more energy efficiency and conservation programs to reduce demand and reliance on non-renewable energy sources! Your letters and phone calls to the City Council made this victory possible. We are now closer to our goal of making San Diego a national solar energy leader with at least 11 MW of new solar generation!
Learn more about the campaign at:
http://www.cleanenergynow.org/california/sdsolaryes.html
Down with PG&E! Support Public Power in SF!
On November 5, 2002, please vote YES for Proposition D. The passage of Prop D will enable San Francisco to begin to shut down and replace filthy, polluting power plants and with cleaner, more efficient facilities. So far, PG&E has spent $1 million in trying to defeat this measure.
Want to help? This weekend the campaign needs lots of folks to leaflet and make phone calls. To find out how you can help, call 415-820-1418 or check out:
http://www.powertothepeople.org.
Governor Supports Solar for K-12, Will he Support a Solar UC?
This past week, California Governor Gray Davis announced a new state program to put solar on roofs of Kindergarten through Grade 12 buildings. According to the Governor, "Using solar energy allows school districts to spend more of their funds on education, not energy." Greenpeace could not have said it better! The new program will pay up to 90% of the installation costs of PV and 50% of the cost of the systems. The next step for the Governor to become a full solar champion is to support the University of California to adopt a Green Building and Clean Energy Standard for all new buildings.
To read more about the Governor's solar schools announcement go to:
http://www.solaraccess.com/news/story?storyid=2948
The "Positive Energy" newsletter and our web site, http://www.cleanenergynow.org, will give you good news about ways to achieve clean air, climate justice, and renewable energy solutions to our ongoing energy crisis.
Help Greenpeace spread the word. Forward this e-mail on to other caring individuals.
Want to do more? Become a Greenpeace member today! To give online, go to:
https://www.greenpeaceusa.org/join2/cen.htm
10/30/02
7:22:18 PM
Activists force media to include Jill Stein in debates
http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20021024052313248.html
NPR, NY Times count out anti-war activists
http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20021029102849188.html
White House Surrounded, Bush Refuses to Surrender
http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20021028094156424.html
Aronowitz: Stop Drugging Our Children!
http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20021025052042323.html
Howard Zinn endorses Aronowitz
http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20021025051649520.html
Former UN inspector speaks out against Iraq War
http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20021024050710965.html
Protests at UN and Pentagon Ahead Of National Day Of Action
http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20021023060536924.html
Greens Included in Debates, Winning Support
http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/2002102305585389.html
Rochester activists denounce pro-war Hillary Clinton
http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/20021022064837302.html
Chloroplast modification is not "environmentally friendly"
http://www.tcgreens.org/gl/articles/2002102206414940.html
10/30/02
7:17:42 PM
In the biggest anti-war demonstrations since the Vietnam War, hundreds of thousands of people on October 26th took to the streets across the country announcing with a massive visible and vocal presence the creation of a new anti-war movement to stop George W. Bush's plans to wage war against Iraq. The demonstrators included a vast number of people compelled to action because they were frustrated and angered when the Congress failed to listen to the people's opposition to a war on Iraq.
More than 200,000 people marched in the streets of Washington, D.C. and over 100,000 in San Francisco in addition to tens of thousands in other cities around the country. In Washington, D.C., the march was so vast that as the front of the march completed encircling the White House it met the last quarter of the march that had not even begun moving up towards the White House, and was forced to stop for a half an hour to allow the last portion of the march to proceed before the front could continue along the route back towards the rally site. People filled Washington's wide boulevards and sidewalks shoulder to shoulder for 25 city blocks, over two miles.
The October 26 demonstrations launched another major step in mass action against the war -- the grassroots People's Anti-War Referendum and a mass national 2-day mobilization on the weekend of January 18-19 in Washington, DC, timed to coincide with the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the 12th anniversary of the start of the 1991 Gulf War. To VOTE NO TO WAR, go to:
http://www.votenowar.org/referendum.html
10/30/02
7:16:15 PM
SciTech Daily Review
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?fe20021017rh.htm
People who have a natural immunity to AIDS may hold the key to finding an HIV vaccine -- and even a cure
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/Central/10/02/candidate.blue.skin.ap/
US political candidate Stan Jones is used to being asked if he's dead: his skin has turned blue from drinking colloidal silver, which he believed would protect him from disease
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20021014/cheese.html
A piece of charred cheese from ancient Pompeii could be the final evidence that this food was a continuous source of infectious disease in the ancient Roman world
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/27/books/review/27ANGIERT.html
In Dominion, Matthew Scully, a former speechwriter for George W Bush, has written a horrible, wonderful and important book arguing for decency toward animals (registration required)
http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2002/oct/cohen_p20_021028.html
But what about the others? The limitations of Nobel Prizes leave many deserving scientists out of the laureate loop (registration required)
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/10/1025_021025_Elephants.html
While elephants are often one of a zoo's top attractions, a new report charges that their level of care often falls short of star treatment, leaving the animals unhealthy, stressed, and short-lived
10/30/02
7:14:58 PM
Planet Ark World Environment News
China bile farms threatening bear survival - charity - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18353/story.htm
Five killed as storms lash Britain - UK http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18356/story.htm
FEATURE - Mexican squatters lose out in new environment - MEXICO http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18352/story.htm
Earthquakes in Sicily jolt Mount Etna into life - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18355/story.htm
Italy scrambles water-planes to stem Etna flows - ITALY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18364/story.htm
UN climate meet in India divided over Kyoto pact - INDIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18361/story.htm
Europe counts cost as storms leave 33 dead - GERMANY http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18363/story.htm
FEATURE - Car of the future or a lot of hot air? - FRANCE http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18354/story.htm
EU takes Austria to court over wild bird hunting - EU http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18362/story.htm
Ottawa, provinces set for showdown over Kyoto pact - CANADA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18357/story.htm
EU rules out cod fishing ban, eyes strict curbs - BELGIUM http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18360/story.htm
Australia cattle sent to graze under Malaysia palms - AUSTRALIA http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/18365/story.htm
ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS PICTURES:
UK: Porsche Boxster is Crushed Beneath Large Tree in Central London http://www.planetark.org/envpicstory.cfm/newsid/18359
ITALY: Lava Spews out of Mount Etna in Sicily http://www.planetark.org/envpicstory.cfm/newsid/18358
10/30/02
7:14:19 PM
FAIR
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and activism
ACTION ALERT: NPR, New York Times Count Out Anti-War Activists
October 28, 2002
National Public Radio and the New York Times arrived at the same conclusion about the anti-war rally in Washington, DC this weekend: The turnout was disappointing. But neither report matched reality.
The Times account on October 27 was vague, reporting that "thousands of protesters marched through Washington's streets," adding that "fewer people attended than organizers had said they hoped for." The report, which was under 500 words, appeared on page 8 of the paper.
On the October 26 broadcast of Weekend Edition, NPR's Nancy Marshall went even further to disparage the turnout by offering an estimate on the crowd's size: "It was not as large as the organizers of the protest had predicted. They had said there would be 100,000 people here. I'd say there are fewer than 10,000."
While a turnout of less than 10,000 might have been a disappointment, NPR's estimate is greatly at odds with those of other observers. The Los Angeles Times (10/27/02) reported that over 100,000 participated in the march, while the Washington Post's page A1 story (10/27/02) was headlined "100,000 Rally, March Against War in Iraq." The Post added that Saturday's march was "an antiwar demonstration that organizers and police suggested was likely Washington's largest since the Vietnam era." While both the Times and NPR reported the apparent disappointment of the organizers, none were named or quoted directly. Those who spoke to other news outlets expressed just the opposite; organizer Mara Verheyden-Hilliard told the Washington Post the march was "just extremely, extremely successful."
Perhaps someone at NPR noticed: The next day Weekend Edition anchor Liane Hansen introduced a report about anti-war demonstrations by saying that "organizers say 100,000 protesters were gathered." The New York Times did not run any follow-up article updating its estimate of the crowd size.
ACTION: Contact NPR and the New York Times and ask them why they did not provide more substantive reports about the anti-war demonstrations in Washington, DC on October 26.
CONTACT: National Public Radio Ombudsman Jeffrey A. Dvorkin mailto:ombudsman@npr.org
New York Times mailto:nytnews@nytimes.com Toll free comment line: 1-888-NYT-NEWS
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously if you maintain a polite tone.
Please cc mailto:fair@fair.org with your correspondence.
Source: http://www.FAIR.org
10/30/02
7:12:28 PM
DAILY GRIST
<http://www.gristmagazine.com>
THIS WETLAND IS MY WETLAND
California is on the verge of unveiling two of the biggest wetland-rehabilitation projects in the history of the Western United States. By the end of the year, officials in Northern California will sign a $135 million agreement to buy and begin restoring salt ponds along the South San Francisco Bay from Cargill, Inc., whose salt-production practices have led to severe environmental degradation in the area. Meanwhile, in Southern California's Bolsa Chica wetlands, environmentalists are nearing a $100 million agreement with an oil company to return an oil field to its natural state. Hundreds of similar efforts are underway throughout the state, which is said to have lost over 85 percent of its wetlands --the largest percentage loss of any state in the nation. The passage of the federal Clean Water Act and the California Coastal Act in the 1970s curbed wetlands destruction -- but not before nearly all coastal marshes had been drained or junked by developers. "We're at one of those historic moments when people's thinking has evolved to the point that ... if you can really restore functioning wetlands, you can achieve a whole range of different ... goals," said Mary Nichols, resources secretary to Gov. Gray Davis (D).
straight to the source: Los Angeles Times, Seema Mehta, 28 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=620>
ON A ROLL BACK
Turning up the heat on Republicans in the final weeks before the U.S. elections, Democrats and environmentalists are requesting documents from the U.S. EPA detailing the Bush administration's effort to roll back clean-air regulations on older coal-fired power plants and refineries. But EPA officials have refused to pony up the evidence, and Sen. James Jeffords (I-Vt.), chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, has threatened to subpoena the agency if it doesn't comply with the request -- his third such threat this year. Says the senator, "This action is another example in an unprecedented and disturbing pattern of keeping information from Congress and the public. The administration has misled this committee and the Congress." The EPA contends that it needs more time before it can release the information, in order to craft confidentiality guidelines for the documents in light of pending clean-air enforcement cases.
straight to the source: Washington Post, Eric Pianin, 27 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=619>
do good: Take action to preserve the Clean Air Act <http://www.gristmagazine.com/dogood/air.asp?source=daily#grandfather>
GUTTER POLITICS
At the same time that is it seeking to rollback the Clean Water Act and other historic environmental legislation, the Bush administration is cracking down on sewage spills in Portland, Ore., and other major cities. Municipal leaders in Portland accuse the administration of selectively punishing areas that are traditional Democratic strongholds, but the U.S. EPA says it's just following rules drafted during the Clinton administration. "I don't know how a spokesman for the administration could rationalize going after Portland and not against mining, to pick one obvious example," said Rep. Earl Blumenauer, (D-Ore.), a former Portland City Council member. Portland is the latest target, but the EPA has also been hawkish about sewer systems in Atlanta, Cleveland, Boston, New Orleans, and other cities where aging sewers spill their contents into nearby rivers and streams after rainstorms. Experts say the cost of fixing the nation's leaky, spill-prone sewers could total nearly $1 trillion, and many older cities say they can't afford the repair costs.
straight to the source: Portland Oregonian, Jim Barnett, 28 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=622>
TRIPPING OUT
A government-supported pilot project in Alberta, Canada, is offering companies greenhouse-gas credits for every employee who works from home, in order to reduce emissions associated with commuting. The plan is the first step in an effort to produce a Canadian carbon-credits market, whereby firms that cut greenhouse-gas emissions will be able to sell credits to others that are unable to meet reductions targets. The project is being organized by Teletrips, a firm that has already launched similar pilot projects in five U.S. cities. Teletrips has developed software that tracks the number of trips employees save by working at home and calculates their carbon savings based on detailed information about their vehicles. The provincial government, which has been an outspoken opponent of Canadian participation in the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, hopes telecommuting -- even if just for one or two days a week -- could be both an environmental and economic boon.
straight to the source: National Post, Charlie Gillis, 28 Oct 2002 <http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=621>
only in Grist: The secret life of a telecommuter -- a cartoon by Suzy Becker <http://www.gristmagazine.com/ha/ha021102.asp?source=daily>
do good: Take action to pledge to reduce your CO2 emissions <http://www.gristmagazine.com/dogood/climate.asp?source=daily#sweet>
SCHOOLHOUSE ROCKED
Graduate students holding teaching and research positions at Cornell University announced late last week that they would not join the United Auto Workers, bucking a growing trend toward grad student unionization. According to Allen MacKenzie, co-founder of At What Cost?, a student group opposed to unionizing, many students disliked the UAW's political views, especially regarding the environment. The union strongly opposes stricter fuel-economy standards for cars and trucks. The UAW began courting graduate students as potential union members after the National Labor Relations Board granted grad students at private schools the right to unionize, in 2000. If students at Cornell had approved unionization, the school would have become the second in the U.S., after New York University, to have a graduate-student union affiliated with the UAW.
straight to the source: New York Times, Steven Greenhouse, 26 Oct 2002 http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=623
10/30/02
7:02:25 PM
Hope Wins Over Fear In Brazil
by Judy Rebick
Lula said it best: "Hope won over fear." In a decisive victory with a record 83 million votes cast, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Workers' Party (PT) - known everywhere as Lula - became the President-elect of Brazil last night with 61 per cent of the total.
In what could be an excellent omen, October 27 is also Lula's 57th birthday.
Brazilians poured into the streets to party even before Lula's opponent, José Serra, ceded defeat. In Rio de Janeiro, thousands began a march from the top of the famed Corcovado mountain and snaked down through favelas and neighbourhoods to the centre of town, where the partying went on long into the night.
"Lula said he was being elected president of the republic in the name of our generation, everyone who fought for democracy in Brazil and dreamed about this moment," said Workers' Party President José Dirceu.
Rici Lake, a rabble.ca citizen journalist posting from Brazil says: "It was a great party. Marco Zero -- the plaza at the centre of Recife --was absolutely packed. The estimate is that there were 200,000 people there, which certainly seems plausible. The elections office had set up a giant screen showing the results as they came in."
In San Paulo, Brazil's largest city, people were literally dancing in the streets all night.
The election of a democratic socialist as president of Brazil, the world's fifth largest democracy, will also have tremendous repercussions across Latin America and around the world. Lula strongly opposes the Free Trade of the Americas (FTAA). The PT, along with organized social movements, held a people's plebiscite last month where 10 million people voted 85 per cent against the FTAA. There is no question that Brazil will not only oppose but organize opposition to a free trade deal in the Americas.
President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela spoke of Lula joining him in a Latin American "axis of good," reported the New York Times.
The Workers' Party has pioneered a new form of people's democracy that provides a model for the left around the world. When he was speaking in Toronto a few years ago, Lula asked, "Did we win democracy, only to have the right to cry out our hunger?"
"I want my victory to symbolize that nobody is inferior to anybody else," Lula said in a speech on Wednesday. "A lathe operator can be more competent in doing politics than many political scientists."
The World Social Forum organized in PT-led Porto Allegre has already provided a centre for social justice movements around the world. Lula's victory will be a huge injection of energy in building a global movement for social justice.
Perhaps as important is the symbolism of Lula's victory. As the first working class president, Lula's election gives tremendous power to the poor, landless and marginalized people of Brazil. The PT has close links to massive social movements who have promised to mobilize to ensure that this electoral victory is just the beginning of a broad transformation towards social justice.
Dealing with the massive economic inequalities in Brazil will be an enormous challenge for Lula. Neo-liberalism has hit Brazil's economy hard. The gap between rich and poor is one of the biggest in the world. Unemployment is at its highest levels since early 2000, and there is a $260-billion debt. There is also the difficulty of transforming an economy under the triple threat of investment flight, International Monetary Fund (IMF) sanctions and possible U.S. intervention.
Moreover, Lula's Workers' Party is far from controlling Congress. Brazil's system is modeled on the American system so the President's power can be limited by Congress. In state elections, the PT did not do as well, winning governor in only three states out of 27, two of these in the first round.
Rici Lake reports, "Although it was certainly a night to celebrate, it was also a victory for Lula more than for the PT, which had disappointing if not heart-breaking results in second-round state governorships'"
There were several very close races. "In Rio Grande do Sul, the traditional home of the PT, PT candidate Tarso Genro was beaten by the PMDB candidate by 52.7% to 47.3%. Genro had been trailing throughout the polls, and the result was better than had been predicted by pollsters. However, it is obviously still a disappointment."
The U.S. government and the markets seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach. U.S. President Bush made a pro forma statement congratulating Lula on his victory through a spokesperson yesterday. Brazilian currency, under attack by international markets since Lula's first round victory October 6, made a slight rally in the last few days.
In his first formal address on television last night, Lula said he would "do everything within my reach to bring peace to our continent" and "build a country that has more justice, brotherhood and solidarity." Viva o Presidente Lula!
Judy Rebick is publisher of http://www.rabble.ca, where this article originally appeared. She is also the author of Imagine Democracy (Stoddart), which was in part inspired by the experiences of the PT in Brazil.
Source: http://www.zmag.org
10/30/02
6:59:01 PM
TomPaine.com
Independent, Commercial-Free Public Affairs Reporting and Commentary
SENATOR PAUL WELLSTONE: AN APPRECIATION
Proud To Be Liberal; Determined To Make A Difference
by Elizabeth Sherman
"We mourn not just the man, but what he represented -- unapologetic advocacy for democratic principle and genuine compassion -- in a political world all too tainted by cynicism and self-interest."
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6625
EMPTY THE CELLS! FOX NEWS IS ON THE PHONE
by Michael Ryan
"The more repugnant your crime, the more likely you are to be called upon for expert advice... But the notion of touting an exclusive with a mass murderer to boost ratings is simply obscene."
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6637
THE DEATH OF THE INTERNET
How Industry Intends To Kill The 'Net As We Know It
by Jeff Chester
The big telecom companies have finally found a way to make money online. But they first have to destroy the Internet as it's currently used.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6600
A HOT TIP FOR WALLSTREET
The U.N. Tells CEOs Don't Ignore Global Warming
by Ann Hancock
A U.N. climate change report turns President Bush's reason for rejecting The Kyoto Treaty upside-down: Inaction will cost more than action. http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6602
The Loyal Opposition
A MEANINGLESS ELECTION?
That's What Some People Think
by David Corn
If you're just tuning in, welcome to the abbreviated and uninspiring campaign of 2002. No big story. Not much meaning. Not much attention. Yet plenty of consequences.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6618
BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING
2002: The Most Important Political Year Of The Woman
by Elizabeth Sherman
This November, if women turn out to vote for women gubernatorial candidates in record numbers, as some experts predict, we're likely to see a profound change in the face of political leadership in states across the country.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6608
Book Excerpt
HELL'S VICTORIES
An Excerpt From The Terrorist Next Door
by Daniel Levitas
From "Reverend" William Gale's original ideas and comparatively narrow base of tax protesters and Identity believers, the message of the Posse Comitatus has spread across America, spawning crime and violence and pushing seemingly marginal ideas into the mainstream.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6624
HEAVILY THICKENING TO EMPIRE
Why I Marched On October 26
by Steve Cobble
Poet Robinson Jeffers wrote of an America "heavily thickening to empire" in which protest, "only a bubble in the molten mass, pops and sighs out, and the mass hardens..." He might be right. I think he was wrong.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6616
Economics Reporting Review:
OCTOBER 19 - 25
A Weekly Compendium and Commentary
by Dean Baker
Drugs and Philosophy ... The Dollar and the Trade Deficit ... Climate Change ... Health Care in Oregon ... Telephone Prices ... and more.
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/6630
10/30/02
6:57:57 PM
The Nation
Hundreds of thousands of people marched for peace yesterday in the largest day of antiwar protests in the US since the Vietnam War era. Approximately 100,000 turned out in Washington, DC, 75,000 in San Francisco, 12,000 in St. Paul, Minnesota, 5,000 in Seattle, 2,000 in Augusta, Maine, 1,000 in both Madison, WI, and Albany, NY, and 2,500 in a march in Taos, NM that ended up at the doorsteps of Donald Rumsfeld's summer house.
Many of the protesters paid homage to the late Senator Paul Wellstone, the only member of the Senate to vote against the Bush Administration's recent war resolution.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson began his speech in Washington yesterday by remembering Wellstone, his wife Sheila and daughter Marcia, all of whom perished, along with three campaign aides and two pilots, in a plane crash two days ago near Everleth, Minnesota.
Jackson's remarks are available at The Nation's site along with two articles that Senator Wellstone wrote for The Nation:
Division, Danger and Diversion by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. Antiwar war rally, October 26, 2002, Washington, DC,
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021111&s=jackson200210
Winning Politics by Paul Wellstone, February 19, 2001 issue of The Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20010219&s=wellstone
If Poverty is the Question by Paul Wellstone, April 4, 1997 issue of The Nation.
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=19970414&s=wellstone
We've also published appreciations of both Paul and Sheila Wellstone:
Paul Wellstone, 1944-2002: An Appreciation by John Nichols
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021111&s=nichols3
Paul Wellstone: In His Own Voice by David Corn
http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=129
Sheila Wellstone's Senate Career by John Nichols
http://www.thenation.com/thebeat/index.mhtml?bid=1&pid=130
You can also hear Senator Wellstone in a Nation public event titled What's Missing, What Matters that took place in Los Angeles on August 13, 2000 on the eve of the Democratic National Convention and was later rebroadcast as a special episode of RadioNation which is currently available:
http://www.webactive.com/radionation/rn20000816.html
10/30/02
6:56:45 PM
Thousands March In Washington Against Going To War in Iraq
by Lynette Clemetson
WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 — Thousands of protesters marched through Washington's streets, chanting and waving banners against possible military action against Iraq. The rally was one of several held in American and foreign cities today.
Fewer people attended than organizers had said they hoped for, even though after days of cold, wet weather, the sun came out this morning. Participants said the shootings in and around the city in the last three weeks had kept people from planning to visit Washington.
Others, though, continued to organize delegations over the last few weeks.
Among them was Liz Mason-Deese, a freshman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who has sold $20 bus tickets in front of the student union and handed out antiwar flyers at college football games to get more students to pay attention to the issue. She said eight busloads of supporters had made the trip.
She rescheduled two midterm exams to make the trip possible. "Most of my professors are against the war," she said. "So when I told them what I was doing, they just said: `Hey, that's cool. Good luck.' "
The latest Gallup poll, taken Oct. 14-17, showed that 56 percent of Americans favored sending ground troops into Iraq to remove Saddam Hussein from power. But other polls detect a wish to wait for allied support and for United Nations inspectors to act in Iraq.
Some of the protesters said the polls reflected confusion among Americans on the war question. Nancy Kanwisher, a professor of cognitive neuroscience at M.I.T., said she saw a growing reluctance to edge toward war. "The people here are not automatic antiwar," she said. "Many of the experts in the field, many of whom are notorious hawks, are opposing this war. This is not just radicals."
Ms. Kanwisher, 44, said she had not taken part in a political protest in years, but had helped organize an open letter from academics opposing a war. More than 27,000 scholars, from more than 7,000 colleges and universities, signed the petition, which was circulated on the Internet.
MoveOn.org, another of the many groups taking part in the protests, also conducted an Internet-based organizing campaign, in response to the Congressional resolution on Iraq. The group said it raised $1.8 million in 11 days in an online campaign for the members of the House and Senate who voted against the resolution and for challengers in the election next month who have taken a stance against a pre-emptive strike.
Eli Pariser, 21, who directed international campaigns for MoveOn.org, said the Internet expanded the scope of organizing to people and places that marches can never reach. "It's a safe and instant way of getting involved," he said.
Still, Mr. Pariser said hundreds who supported his group's fund-raising drive had made the trip to Washington to take part in the march.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/
10/30/02
6:53:31 PM
Gore Vidal Claims 'Bush Junta' Complicit In 9/11
America's most controversial novelist calls for an investigation into whether the Bush administration deliberately allowed the terrorist attacks to happen
by Sunder Katwala, October 27, 2002
America's most controversial writer Gore Vidal has launched the most scathing attack to date on George W Bush's Presidency, calling for an investigation into the events of 9/11 to discover whether the Bush administration deliberately chose not to act on warnings of Al-Qaeda's plans.
Vidal's highly controversial 7000 word polemic titled 'The Enemy Within' - published in the print edition of The Observer today -argues that what he calls a 'Bush junta' used the terrorist attacks as a pretext to enact a pre-existing agenda to invade Afghanistan and crack down on civil liberties at home.
Vidal writes: 'We still don't know by whom we were struck that infamous Tuesday, or for what true purpose. But it is fairly plain to many civil libertarians that 9/11 put paid not only to much of our fragile Bill of Rights but also to our once-envied system of government which had taken a mortal blow the previous year when the Supreme Court did a little dance in 5/4 time and replaced a popularly elected President with the oil and gas Bush-Cheney junta.'
Vidal argues that the real motive for the Afghanistan war was to control the gateway to Eurasia and Central Asia's energy riches. He quotes extensively from a 1997 analysis of the region by Zgibniew Brzezinski, formerly national security adviser to President Carter, in support of this theory. But, Vidal argues, US administrations, both Democrat and Republican, were aware that the American public would resist any war in Afghanistan without a truly massive and widely perceived external threat.
'Osama was chosen on aesthetic grounds to be the frightening logo for our long-contemplated invasion and conquest of Afghanistan ... [because] the administration is convinced that Americans are so simple-minded that they can deal with no scenario more complex than the venerable, lone, crazed killer (this time with zombie helpers) who does evil just for the fun of it 'cause he hates us because we're rich 'n free 'n he's not.' Vidal also attacks the American media's failure to discuss 11 September and its consequences: 'Apparently, "conspiracy stuff" is now shorthand for unspeakable truth.'
'It is an article of faith that there are no conspiracies in American life. Yet, a year or so ago, who would have thought that most of corporate America had been conspiring with accountants to cook their books since - well, at least the bright dawn of the era of Reagan and deregulation.'
At the heart of the essay are questions about the events of 9/11 itself and the two hours after the planes were hijacked. Vidal writes that 'astonished military experts cannot fathom why the government's "automatic standard order of procedure in the event of a hijacking" was not followed'.
These procedures, says Vidal, determine that fighter planes should automatically be sent aloft as soon as a plane has deviated from its flight plan. Presidential authority is not required until a plane is to be shot down. But, on 11 September, no decision to start launching planes was taken until 9.40am, eighty minutes after air controllers first knew that Flight 11 had been hijacked and fifty minutes after the first plane had struck the North Tower.
'By law, the fighters should have been up at around 8.15. If they had, all the hijacked planes might have been diverted and shot down.'
Vidal asks why Bush, as Commander-in-Chief, stayed in a Florida classroom as news of the attacks broke: 'The behaviour of President Bush on 11 September certainly gives rise to not unnatural suspicions.' He also attacks the 'nonchalance' of General Richard B Myers, acting Joint Chief of Staff, in failing to respond until the planes had crashed into the twin towers.
Asking whether these failures to act expeditiously were down to conspiracy, coincidence or error, Vidal notes that incompetence would usually lead to reprimands for those responsible, writing that 'It is interesting how often in our history, when disaster strikes, incompetence is considered a better alibi than .... Well, yes, there are worse things.'
Vidal draws comparisons with another 'day of infamy' in American history, writing that 'The truth about Pearl Harbour is obscured to this day. But it has been much studied. 11 September, it is plain, is never going to be investigated if Bush has anything to say about it.' He quotes CNN reports that Bush personally asked Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle to limit Congressional investigation of the day itself, ostensibly on grounds of not diverting resources from the anti-terror campaign.
Vidal calls bin Laden an 'Islamic zealot' and 'evil doer' but argues that 'war' cannot be waged on the abstraction of 'terrorism'. He says that 'Every nation knows how - if it has the means and will - to protect itself from thugs of the sort that brought us 9/11 ... You put a price on their heads and hunt them down. In recent years, Italy has been doing that with the Sicilian Mafia; and no-one has suggested bombing Palermo.'
Vidal also highlights the role of American and Pakistani intelligence in creating the fundamentalist terrorist threat: 'Apparently, Pakistan did do it - or some of it' but with American support. "From 1979, the largest covert operation in the history of the CIA was launched in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ... the CIA covertly trained and sponsored these warriors.'
Vidal also quotes the highly respected defence journal Jane's Defence Weekly on how this support for Islamic fundamentalism continued after the emergence of bin Laden: 'In 1988, with US knowledge, bin Laden created Al-Qaeda (The Base); a conglomerate of quasi-independent Islamic terrorist cells spread across 26 or so countries. Washington turned a blind eye to Al-Qaeda.'
Vidal, 77, and internationally renowned for his award-winning novels and plays, has long been a ferocious, and often isolated, critic of the Bush administration at home and abroad. He now lives in Italy. In Vidal's most recent book, The Last Empire, he argued that 'Americans have no idea of the extent of their government's mischief ... the number of military strikes we have made unprovoked, against other countries, since 1947 is more than 250.'
Source: http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,819951,00.html
10/30/02
6:44:56 PM
Tens of Thousands Rally Around World Against Iraq War
by Mark Wilkinson, October 26, 2002
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of anti-war protesters marched peacefully on the White House on Saturday to express opposition to a possible U.S. attack on Iraq, some chanting slogans accusing President Bush of planning genocide.
Thousands more people took part in anti-war demonstrations in San Francisco, Berlin, Amsterdam and other cities.
"This is going to be an ugly, unnecessary fight. Most of the world is saying 'no' to it," civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson told the crowd at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. "Pre-emptive, one-bullet diplomacy, we cannot resort to that."
In Washington, actress Susan Sarandon, who supports numerous liberal causes, accused Bush of having "hijacked our losses and our fears." Sarandon said terrorism could not be fought with violence and that most Americans did not want a conflict.
"Let us resist this war," Sarandon told the cheering crowd. "Let us hate war in all its forms, whether the weapon used is a missile or an airplane."
Demonstrators of all ages, many religions and many nationalities gathered at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial before marching behind Jackson to the White House. Bush, however, was in Mexico for a summit of Pacific Rim leaders.
The protesters brandished signs reading: "No Proof, No War," "Bush Sucks" and "Pre-emptive Impeachment." Some protesters carried Iraqi flags. "No war, no way," shouted a protester wearing a mask of Bush with horns and a pitchfork.
"George Bush, you can't hide. We charge you with genocide!" chanted the demonstrators, who were escorted by mounted U.S. Park Police and watched by 600 police officers along the route in the heart of the nation's capital.
Bush has made "regime change" in Iraq -- ousting President Saddam Hussein -- a policy of his administration. Bush has said that if the United Nations fails to compel Iraq to give up any weapons of mass destruction -- chemical, biological or nuclear arms -- it possesses, the United States would do so by force if necessary. Congress has given Bush the authorization he sought to carry out a possible attack.
Police did not give an official estimate of the size of the crowd in Washington, which numbered in the tens of thousands.
42,000 PROTEST IN SAN FRANCISCO
In San Francisco, known for its liberal politics and history of activism, a crowd that police estimated at about 42,000 marched near the city's historic Ferry Building to its Civic Center.
A group of about 20 children led the parade as protesters carried signs bearing pictures of Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld beneath the words "weapons of mass destruction." Other signs read: "No blood for oil" and "Regime change begins at home. Vote on Nov. 5," referring to the U.S. congressional elections.
In Germany, demonstrations were staged in about 70 towns and cities. The largest was in Berlin, where almost 10,000 people marched. In Amsterdam, some 4,000 people rallied in heavy rain to protest against U.S. policy.
In Washington, protesters called on Bush to spend the tens of billions of dollars that a war against Iraq could cost on social programs in the United States. They also argued that sanctions imposed on Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the 1991 Gulf War should be lifted, blaming them for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians.
Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation said the situation in Iraq "is the result of inhumane and incompetent policies implemented by people with the desire to rule with an iron fist, by people who don't know what it means to live in constant fear and hunger and cold."
"This is a silent weapon of mass destruction," Bray added.
About 500 Iraqi exiles came to Washington to show support for efforts to remove Saddam from power.
Tamir Musa, an Iraqi who has lived in Michigan for 10 years, said, "The war is good if it goes to kill Saddam Hussein. He has a lot of bombs. He's terrorist number one."
"If violence fixed the problem, then Israel should be at peace," countered Rick Blumhorst of Kansas, a U.S. Gulf War veteran wearing his Army dress uniform. "Acting unilaterally, we're going to inflame the Muslim community."
http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20021026/i/1035667636.2617704563.jpg
Source: http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=politicsnews&StoryID=1637906
10/30/02
6:39:48 PM
100,000 Rally, March Against War In Iraq
by Monte Reel and Manny Fernandez, October 27, 2002; Page A01
Tens of thousands of people marched in peaceful protest of any military strike against Iraq yesterday afternoon, in an antiwar demonstration that organizers and police suggested was likely Washington's largest since the Vietnam era.
Organizers with International ANSWER, a coalition of antiwar groups that coordinated the demonstration, had hoped for a turnout rivaling that of its pro-Palestine rally in April that officials estimated at about 75,000. Organizers said they easily eclipsed that figure yesterday, assessing attendance at well more than 100,000. D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey also said he figured yesterday's rally turnout exceeded that in April, but he didn't provide a specific number.
"We think this was just extremely, extremely successful," said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a D.C. organizer with International ANSWER, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism. "It absolutely shows that when George Bush says America speaks with one voice, and it's his voice, he's wrong."
After a rally that lasted more than three hours at Constitution Gardens, near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the march began at 21st Street and Constitution Avenue. Using 17th, H, 15th and E streets NW, they circled the White House and returned to their starting point. Shoulder-to-shoulder crowds filled the streets for several blocks. When marchers at the front of the procession returned to Constitution Avenue on their way back, they had to wait to allow demonstrators at the tail of the march to pass.
Other demonstrations in cities including Rome, Berlin, Copenhagen, Denmark, Tokyo and Mexico City were held to coincide with the Washington march, and in San Francisco at a sister march, thousands marched through downtown.
Protesters arrived by the busload, by car and by Metro early yesterday morning, some carrying signs and later joining in chants that echoed a common theme: A war against Iraq would be unjustified, they said, and there is no consensus for it.
"Nebraskans for Peace" and "Hoosiers for Non-Violence" chanted alongside silver-coiffed retirees from Chicago and a Muslim student association from Michigan. Parents could be seen enjoying a sunny, picnic-perfect afternoon by pushing a stroller with one hand and carrying a "No War for Oil" sign with the other, and police on horseback monitored nearby.
The tone of the rally was far different from D.C.'s last major protest -- the September demonstrations against the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. During those events, anti-globalization protesters had intended to paralyze the city with disruptive throngs, but their numbers were much smaller than expected, and they were dominated by a massive police presence. More than 600 people were arrested during the IMF and World Bank protests; yesterday, police reported three arrests.
Several groups, including the Anti-Capitalist Convergence that organized one of September's protests, mounted an independent march that fed into yesterday's rally and said everyone had agreed upon a non-confrontational goal from the outset.
"I don't think police want problems, and I don't think we want problems either," said Pat Elder, 47, a Bethesda antiwar activist who participated in the unpermitted feeder march.
The morning began under hazy skies on the wet grass at Constitution Gardens, as thick mud sucked at the heels of the arriving demonstrators and the nearby Washington Monument appeared truncated by fog. But by noon the skies cleared and most of the lawn was shoulder-to-shoulder with people listening to Jesse Jackson, actress Susan Sarandon, singer Patti Smith and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, among other speakers.
Several speakers referred to Vietnam era protests, and organizers were eager to compare the current movement with the one that peaked with a rally of between 250,000 and 500,000 people in Washington in 1969. The last large-scale peace protest in Washington was in 1991, when about 75,000 demonstrated during the height of the Persian Gulf War.
Unlike those protests, yesterday's rally was different in that it preceded war, and many interpreted that as an indication of a potentially powerful movement.
"During the Vietnam War, no demonstration of comparable size took place until 1967, three years after the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution [that gave President Lyndon B. Johnson congressional authority to expand the war in Vietnam]," said Brian Becker, co-director of the International Action Center, one of the groups that make up International ANSWER.
But if the passions of the Vietnam era led to protests that often trembled on the edge between control and chaos, yesterday's event suggested that this movement is burning at a lower flame.
"Here I'm not being spit on, people aren't throwing tomatoes at me and Joan Baez isn't singing," said protest veteran Dot Magargal, 77, from Media, Pa. "People just want to come out and say that not everyone wants to go to war. This is a lot of people, a lot of voters, and it has to count for something."
For those looking for symbols often associated with left-wing demonstrations -- Grateful Dead T-shirts, dreadlocks, anti-corporate slogans, Socialist newsletters -- plenty could be found. But it wasn't necessary to comb through the fringe to find people who didn't fit the mold. Many said they were first-time protesters who had never attended a rally. Some said they were against all war, no matter the circumstances, and others said they were simply against the possibility of an Iraq invasion.
"I've never in my life done anything like this before," said Marie Johnson, 31, of Columbia. "What I wanted to do was say that even though Bush puts forth that everyone supports going to war against Iraq, some of us don't. I just thought it was important for me to do something to show how I felt."
Peggy McGrath, 59, said she hoped that Bush would look out of the windows of the White House to see that thousands disagreed with him. She said she remained optimistic that he might change his mind, especially if enough people voiced opposition.
"I think there's actually been a shift already in Bush's rhetoric in the last two weeks," said McGrath, who was on one in a caravan of eight buses from Chicago. "The hope is that maybe he'll see this, and maybe it can be stopped before it's started."
Bush, however, wasn't at the White House. He and first lady Laura Bush flew yesterday from their Texas ranch to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where the president was attending the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Among other things, Bush was seeking to rally fellow leaders behind his Iraq stance.
The president had some support at the rally from a group of about 100 counter-protesters who gathered at 17th Street and Constitution Avenue. Along with activists from the national group Free Republic, a group of Iraqi exiles chanted slogans against Saddam Hussein. In one of the few points of tension during the day, police stepped into a scuffle between peace activists and counterprotesters and led away two of the former.
One who joined the counter-protesters, Imam Husham Al-Husainy, explained that he came to Washington from the Detroit area with about 40 Iraqis to present the view of people who had suffered under Hussein.
"Most of these people across the street, they don't know the reality in Iraq," Al-Husainy said.
Although the main protest message was focused on opposing war in Iraq, a few other causes slipped into the mix. Many of the same people who marched for Palestinian rights in April joined yesterday's march, waving Palestinian flags. But like others who had become activists for other causes, they said opposing the war was what brought them out yesterday.
"I don't come here to carry signs for fun," said Ribhi Ramadan, 36, who brought his family of seven from Paterson, N.J., to the protest. "I support not just Palestine, but everywhere that's threatened by war."
Luigi Procopio, 45, a social worker from the district, wore a pink triangle with "$ FOR AIDS NOT WAR" written on it. He said even though he normally focuses his activism on issues in the gay community, he and at least a dozen friends came to protest the war in Iraq.
"It's time, man. . . .it feels imminent," he said. "Congress has just rolled over."
Some protesters said they had been worried about attendance before they arrived at the rally. Larina Brown, 22, a student from the University of Minnesota-Morris, said she had feared that she and the 30 friends she traveled with would be greeted by scant crowds.
"It's a relief, really," Brown said. "I really wanted this to be a big statement, to show it's not just radical, anti-American people who go to these things."
Most of those who arrived in the morning on buses climbed back aboard shortly after the rally ended. By 5:45 p.m., the streets were almost deserted, and protesters had put downtheir signs and were sitting on park benches snacking.
Mark Zheng, 33, of Amherst, Mass., stopped to take a photo of two friends in front of a fountain in Lafayette Square. Zheng, from China, had been at the Tiananmen Square protests. He said he was impressed by the orderliness of the march.
"I think maybe people have different thoughts on things, but one thing is clear," he said. "Peace."
Staff writers David A. Fahrenthold, Ylan Q. Mui and Mary Beth Sheridan and special correspondent Liz Garone in San Francisco and wire services contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24432-2002Oct26.html
10/30/02
6:38:36 PM
Senator Paul Wellstone 1944 to 2002 http://www.Paul-Wellstone.com
Was Paul Wellstone Murdered? http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=14399 and http://santafenewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2144&dept_id=500277&newsid=5866615&PAG=461&rfi=9
Wellstone Plane Crash A Mystery http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2002/10/29/build/world/n-crashwellstone.inc
Plane Crash Probe Finding Cause May Take Months http://www.virginiamn.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=1&story_id=123704&refer_url=
Crash Investigators Reconstruct Flight Of Wellstone’s Plane http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/28/politics/28CRAS.html?ex=1036558800&en=a8b5a09e4554acdd&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
Paul Wellstone, Fighter http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020527&s=nichols
Wellstone’s Work Did Progressives Proud http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2002/October/29/local/stories/12local.htm
Saying Goodbye To Paul Wellstone http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/4376178.htm
Paul Wellstone 1944 - 2002 http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/3397419.html
Remembering Paul Wellstone http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/10/29/wellstone/?x
Green Party gubernatorial candidate Ken Pentel on the death of Paul Wellstone http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/3392568.html
Antiwar Rally In St. Paul Draws Thousands http://www.startribune.com/stories/1752/3391436.html
Relatives Visit Wellstone Plane Crash Site http://news.mpr.org/features/200210/27_julinc_crashsite/
At Request Of Wellstones, Cheney Will Not Attend Memorial http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/politics/29CND-WELL.html?ex=1036558800&en=ecac9ee2d5bf6323&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE
Cheney will not attend Wellstone memorial, White House says http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/10/29/national1106EST0556.DTL
Wellstone Memorial Draws Throng http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38052-2002Oct29.html
Mourners Honor Late Minnesota Senator http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=6CABB333-EF73-4192-90A239CBB8F1F716
Making A Push For Mondale -- Wellstone's son wants former VP to run http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/ny-usminn282981574oct28,0,6708965.story?coll=ny-lipolitics-print
Democrats Hope For A 'Wellstone Factor' http://www.startribune.com/stories/587/3397842.html
10/30/02
6:00:10 PM
Was Paul Wellstone Murdered?
by Michael I. Niman, AlterNet.org, October 28, 2002
Paul Wellstone was the only progressive in the U.S. Senate. Mother Jones magazine once described him as, "The first 1960s radical elected to the U.S. senate." He was also the last. Since defeating incumbent Republican Rudy Boschowitz 12 years ago in a grassroots upset, Wellstone emerged as the strongest, most persistent, most articulate and most vocal Senate opponent of the Bush administration.
In a senate that is one heartbeat away from Republican control, Wellstone was more than just another Democrat. He was often the lone voice standing firm against the status-quo policies of both the Democrats and the Republicans. As such, he earned the special ire of the Bush administration and the Republican Party, who made Wellstone's defeat that party's number one priority this year.
Various White House figures made numerous recent campaign stops in Minnesota to stump for the ailing campaign of Wellstone's Republican opponent, Norm Coleman. Despite being outspent and outgunned, however, polls show that Wellstone's popularity surged after he voted to oppose the Senate resolution authorizing George Bush to wage war in Iraq. He was pulling ahead of Coleman and moving toward a victory that would both be an embarrassment to the Bush administration and to Democratic Quislings such as Hillary Clinton who voted to support "the president."
Then he died.
Wellstone now joins the ranks of other American politicians who died in small plane crashes. Another recent victim was Missouri's former Democratic governor, Mel Carnahan, who lost his life in 2000, three weeks before Election Day, during his Senatorial race against John Ashcroft. Carnahan went on to become the first dead man to win a Senatorial race, humiliating and defeating the unpopular Ashcroft posthumously. Ashcroft, despite his unpopularity, went on to be appointed Attorney General by George W. Bush. Investigators determined that Carnahan's plane went down due to "poor visibility."
Carnahan was the second Missouri politician to die in a small plane crash. The first was Democratic Representative Jerry Litton, whose plane crashed the night he won the Democratic nomination for senate in 1976. His Republican opponent ultimately captured the seat from his successor in November.
While an article in the New York Times on Saturday pointed out the danger politicians face due to their heavy air travel schedules, the death of a senator or member of Congress is still relatively rare, with only one other sitting U.S. Senator, liberal Republican John Heinz, dying in a plane crash since World War II. Heinz, who entered office as an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, later emerged as a strong proponent of health care, social services, public transportation and the environment. He also urged reconciliation with Cuba. He died when the landing gear on his small plane failed to function, and a helicopter dispatched to survey the problem crashed into his plane.
One former senator, John Tower, also died in a small plane crash. Tower was best known as the chair of the Tower Commission, which investigated the Reagan/Bush era Iran/Contra scandal.
Another member of a prominent government commission who died in a small plane crash was former Democratic representative and House Majority Leader Hale Boggs. Boggs was best known as one of the seven members of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The commission found that Lee Harvey Oswald was acting alone when he killed the president. Boggs, it turns out, had "strong doubts" that Oswald acted alone, but went along with the commission findings. Later, in 1971 and 1972, he went public with his doubts. He was presumed dead after the small plane carrying him and Democratic Representative Nicholas Begich disappeared in 1972.
Texas Democratic Representative Mickey Leland also died in a plane crash. In his case, the six-term member of Congress and outspoken advocate of sanctions against the apartheid government of South Africa, died while traveling in Ethiopia. Another American politician to die overseas in a plane crash was the Clinton administration's Commerce Secretary, Ronald Brown, whose plane went down in the Balkans.
Anyone familiar with my work knows that I'm certainly not a conspiracy theorist. But to be honest, I know I wasn't alone in my initial reaction at this week's horrible and tragic news: that being my surprise that Wellstone had lived this long. Perhaps it's just my anger and frustration at losing one of the few reputable politicians in Washington, but I also felt shame. Shame for not writing in my column, months ago, that I felt that Paul Wellstone's life, more so than any other politician in Washington, was in danger. I felt that such speculation was unprofessional and would ultimately undermine my credibility. In the end, my own self-interest triumphed, and I never put my concerns into print. Neither did any other mainstream journalist, though I know of many who shared my concern.
When I heard Wellstone's plane went down, I immediately thought of Panamanian General Omar Torrijos, who in 1981 thumbed his nose at the Reagan/Bush administration and threatened to destroy the Panama Canal in the event of a U.S. invasion. Torrijos died shortly thereafter when the instruments in his plane failed to function upon takeoff. Panamanians speculated that the U.S. was involved in the death of the popular dictator, who was replaced by a U.S. intelligence operative, Manuel Noreiga, who previously worked with George Bush Senior.
There is no indication today that Wellstone's death was the result of foul play. What we do know, however, is that Wellstone emerged as the most visible obstacle standing in the way of a draconian political agenda by an unelected government. And now he is conveniently gone. For our government to maintain its credibility at this time, we need an open and accountable independent investigation involving international participation into the death of Paul Wellstone. Hopefully we will find out, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that this was indeed an untimely accident. For the sake of our country, we need to know this.
Dr. Michael I. Niman teaches journalism and media studies at Buffalo State College.