Web / Press / Offsite Media Updates: May 16th - May 23rd

by iosaf Sun May 23, 2004 23:19

has won the Palm D'or award in France for his latest work "fahrenheit 911", which deals with the link between the Saudi royal family and their extended clansmen the Bin Ladens and the Bush dynasty. This work focuses on allegations Moore made in his well known book "Stupid White Men".
The links between the Bush dynasty and the Saudi are well documented, but not often brought to public view.
Mr Moore at present has no publisher in the USA where his work awaits a distributor.
His is the first documentary to win the French equivalent of the Oscars since Jacques-Yves
Cousteau and Louis Malle, won it for "Le Monde du silence" in 1956.
It marks a continued French establishment support for anti-Bushism, it must be remembered that France saw the only analysis of the Terrorist event of 911 published which alledged the whole thing was a fake.
Mr Moore's current work doesn't support this viewpoint, but rather focuses on Oil.
No mention is made either of the Bush and Rumsfeld engagement in pharmoceutical research.
Mr Moore has now grown very rich as the most prominent critic of the current administration, though amongst documentary makers in exile in Europe, he has been subject to criticism that he has consistently chosen "soft issues" over digging real dirt, and in doing so, diverted investigative attention from the real wrongdoings of the cartel of interests that has controlled the USA for over a decade.
He is also accused of engaging in acts of protest, seemingly only to promote his own work. The latest example of which was his presence at a workers strike in Cannes, to explain his problems with Disney.

Fahrenheit 911 will (censor allowing) screen in Ireland this summer from whence it is expected copies will be boot-legged to the US homeland.

Mr Moore is contactable through his british publishers, and is a resident of Michigan USA.

by Joe Sun May 23, 2004 20:50

The Israeli government has reacted with outrage to statements made by the Irish presidency of the European Union in recent weeks. They see this as part of Ireland's campaign to de-legitimise the Jewish state and promote their dislike of Israel within the EU.

by redjade Sun May 23, 2004 20:09

By Michael Isikoff for Newsweek.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4863599/site/newsweek/

In a crucial memo written four months after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, Justice Department lawyers advised that President George W. Bush and the U.S. military did not have to comply with any international laws in the handling of detainees in the war on terrorism. It was that conclusion, say some critics, that laid the groundwork for aggressive interrogation techniques that led to the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

The draft memo, which drew sharp protest from the State Department, argued that the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war did not apply to any Taliban or Al Qaeda fighters being flown to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, because Afghanistan was a “failed state” whose militia did not have any status under international treaties.

But the Jan. 9, 2002 memo, written by Justice lawyers John Yoo and Robert J. Delahunty, went far beyond that conclusion, explicitly arguing that no international laws—including the normally observed laws of war—applied to the United States at all because they did not have any status under federal law.

more at
http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/002141.php#002141

download a 37meg video of Bill Moyers discussing this memo on American TV....
http://video.lisarein.com/billmoyers/may2004/05-21-04-moyers-iraq-all.mov

by redjade Sun May 23, 2004 19:33

http://www.boingboing.net/2004/05/21/ipodtorture_mashups_.html

source:
http://www.gizmodo.com/archives/strip-pix-burn-iraq-009574.php

by redjade Sun May 23, 2004 19:30

WASHINGTON—The Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded that a U.S.-funded arm of Ahmed Chalabi’s Iraqi National Congress has been used for years by Iranian intelligence to pass disinformation to the United States and to collect highly sensitive American secrets, according to intelligence sources.

“Iranian intelligence has been manipulating the United States through Chalabi by furnishing through his Information Collection Program information to provoke the United States into getting rid of Saddam Hussein,” said an intelligence source Friday who was briefed on the Defense Intelligence Agency’s conclusions, which were based on a review of thousands of internal documents.

The Information Collection Program also “kept the Iranians informed about what we were doing” by passing classified U.S. documents and other sensitive information, he said. The program has received millions of dollars from the U.S. government over several years.

An administration official confirmed that “highly classified information had been provided [to the Iranians] through that channel.”

The Defense Department this week halted payment of $340,000 a month to Chalabi’s program. Chalabi had long been the favorite of the Pentagon’s civilian leadership. Intelligence sources say Chalabi himself has passed on sensitive U.S. intelligence to the Iranians.

Patrick Lang, former director of the intelligence agency’s Middle East branch, said he had been told by colleagues in the intelligence community that Chalabi’s U.S.-funded program to provide information about weapons of mass destruction and insurgents was effectively an Iranian intelligence operation. “They [the Iranians] knew exactly what we were up to,” he said.

by redjade Sun May 23, 2004 18:57

I keep thinking about how the ISM are perceived in Israel and try to imagine how hard it must be to make a stand in favour of the Palestinians, or against the occupation, if you live in Israel. It's easier, I think, to enagage yourself in someone else's problem, it takes courage to face up to unpleasantness in your own back yard. If I think back to the 1980's period of the English occupation in Northern Ireland, a subject I am still largely ignorant about thanks to the way our media presented the conflict, I can just imagine the reaction of our press and our establishment if groups from Israel and elsewhere in the world had started turning up and interjected themselves between British soldiers and the Catholics. They would have been vilified and pilloried in much the same way as ISM has been. Imagine also then if English peace activists had travelled to the occupied areas and joined with Internationals to protest the occupation what abject scorn and hostility they would have been subject to.

If you asked a middle Englander circa 1980 what he felt about the occuaption he would likely have said: "I have nothing against the Northern Irish but our army is in there to protect the English who live there and its part of our country (UK) and anyway we need protecting from all the terrorists who want to come to London and bomb us. If we withdrew then they would just attack all the English and we couldn't control the terrorists and they would just blow us all up. If the IRA would just stop the terrorist attacks against us then maybe we could end the occupation." The IRA targeted both soldiers and civilians with their campaigns and their political party, Sinn Fein, was not considered a 'partner for peace' as it gave tacit support to the IRA. Now I did say my knowledge was weak on the subject but the more I do start to read about it the more parrallels I see. It also gives me an insight into the perception of the conflict from the Israeli side, or at least I think it does, because their army and their media are doing just as splendid job of hoodwinking their public as ours did back then.

--

add your comments at....

by redjade Sun May 23, 2004 14:24

British and American troops are to be granted immunity from prosecution in Iraq after the crucial 30 June handover, undermining claims that the new Iraqi government will have 'full sovereignty' over the state.

Despite widespread ill-feeling about the abuse of prisoners by American forces and allegations of mistreatment by British troops, coalition forces will be protected from any legal action.

They will only be subject to the domestic law of their home countries. Military sources have told The Observer that the question of immunity was central to obtaining military agreement on a new United Nations resolution on Iraq to be published by the middle of next month.

by redjade Sat May 22, 2004 17:09

FORT STEWART, Ga. -- A military jury convicted a U.S. soldier Friday of desertion for leaving his combat unit in Iraq in protest of an ''oil-driven'' war.

Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia of the Florida National Guard was found guilty by a jury of four officers and four enlisted soldiers. Jurors deliberated almost two hours.

He faces up to a year in jail and a bad conduct discharge and was to be sentenced Friday afternoon.

Mejia, 28, failed to return after a two-week furlough in October and was missing from the Army for five months before turning himself in in March.

Mejia, who has called the conflict an ''oil-driven war,'' testified Thursday that he disobeyed orders to return to his unit because he planned to seek status as a conscientious objector.

Mejia said he became upset after seeing civilians hit by gunfire and watching an Iraqi boy die after confusion over which military doctor should treat him.

US Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia

by redjade Sat May 22, 2004 12:51

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1220935,00.html

by Pip Wilson - Wilson's Almanac Sat May 22, 2004 08:06

Bush, Jesus Christ, Abu Ghraib parody photo from Wilson's Almanac; No copyright
http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images/bush_christ.jpg

by Ray McInerney Fri May 21, 2004 23:32

Jack Holland, who for a quarter of a century plumbed the depths of the Northern Ireland conundrum on behalf of the readers of the Irish Echo, was widely praised this week as a journalist who devoted his life to the search for truth, and for his fearless defense of fairness in its reporting.

by Anthony - Indymedia Ireland Editorial Group Fri May 21, 2004 23:22

It's not to be used as a vehicle for debate between Indymedia users. I've hidden a number of posts from both protagonists. If either Ray wants to write a newswire article on the issue, they are welcome to do so. As Ray correctly pointed out, the comments facility can be used to clarify or present an alternative viewpoint to that article. If further clarification is required on the editorial guidelines, the contact form can be used to get in touch with the editorial collective.

by Seymour M. Hersh Fri May 21, 2004 18:10

excellent analysis of the whole shebang by a journalist that has been breaking lots of vital stories

by depp Fri May 21, 2004 17:41

Military Coup in U.S.?
Retired U.S. Colonel says Military Coup will happen in U.S.!

A retired US colonel, with alleged close links to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says 70% of top army officials are in favour of a military coup against the civilian government in Washington.

This might go some way towards explaining why so many photographs of American torture and abuse are being published - (the mass media are undermining this war which they suported all along) – the publication is part of a softening up of the public in preparation for the overthrow.


Read the link

http://www.prisonplanet.com/022904degrand.html

by redjade Fri May 21, 2004 16:33

Many journalists now spend much of their time inside the capital's "green zone," which is protected by the U.S. military.

"We've been largely confined to Baghdad," says Bill Spindle, the Wall Street Journal's Middle East editor, who recently returned from Iraq. "With the checkpoints and the kidnappings and the shootings that seem deliberately aimed at people working for Western organizations, moving around has been a dicey proposition."

Fox News Senior Vice President John Moody agrees. "Some days our guys just don't get out of the building where we're located," he says. "Travel across the country is almost impossible now because the roads are too dangerous. It's constricted our ability to report stuff going on that's not just a comment from the CPA," the Coalition Provisional Authority.

Few dared venture into Fallujah when U.S. soldiers were battling Iraqi insurgents there. In a rare move, the five major networks formed a pool to cover the fighting and took their reports from CNN correspondent Karl Penhaul. "The fewer people we have in these crazy places, the better," says Marci McGinnis, vice president for news at CBS, which contributed a camera crew.


More journalists have resumed traveling with military units through the Pentagon's embedding program, which proved so popular during war against Saddam Hussein. The number of embeds jumped from 26 in February to 71 last month during the fighting in Fallujah and Najaf, and is now back to 26, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says.

by redjade Fri May 21, 2004 15:36

In the wake of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal, Reuters revealed on Tuesday that three Iraqis working for the company, and another Iraqi journalist working for NBC News, were seized for no reason in early January by the U.S. military and taken to a prison near Fallujah where they were subjected to physical and sexual abuse, among other forms of mistreatment. The U.S. military has denied the accusations.

Bureau Chief Andrew Marshall observed in his report, "It should be noted that the bulk of their mistreatment -- including their humiliating interrogations and the mental and physical torment of the first night which all agreed was the worst part of their ordeal -- occurred several hours AFTER I had informed the 82nd Airborne Division that they were Reuters staff. I have e-mail proof of this."

by redjade Fri May 21, 2004 15:33

A military intelligence analyst who recently completed duty at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq (news - web sites) said Wednesday that the 16-year-old son of a detainee there was abused by U.S. soldiers to break his father's resistance to interrogators.

The analyst said the teenager was stripped naked, thrown in the back of an open truck, driven around in the cold night air, splattered with mud and then presented to his father at Abu Ghraib, the prison at the center of the scandal over abuse of Iraqi detainees.

Upon seeing his frail and frightened son, the prisoner broke down and cried and told interrogators he would tell them whatever they wanted, the analyst said.

by redjade Fri May 21, 2004 15:25

Brutal interrogation techniques by U.S. military personnel are being investigated in connection with the deaths of at least five Iraqi prisoners in war-zone detention camps, Pentagon documents obtained by The Denver Post show.

The deaths include the killing in November of a high-level Iraqi general who was shoved into a sleeping bag and suffocated, according to the Pentagon report. The documents contradict an earlier Defense Department statement that said the general died "of natural causes" during an interrogation. Pentagon officials declined to comment on the new disclosure.

Another Iraqi military officer, records show, was asphyxiated after being gagged, his hands tied to the top of his cell door. Another detainee died "while undergoing stress technique interrogation," involving smothering and "chest compressions," according to the documents.

Details of the death investigations, involving at least four different detention facilities including the Abu Ghraib prison, provide the clearest view yet into war-zone interrogation rooms, where intelligence soldiers and other personnel have sometimes used lethal tactics to try to coax secrets from prisoners, including choking off detainees' airways. Other abusive strategies involve sitting on prisoners or bending them into uncomfortable positions, records show.

"Torture is the only thing you can call this," said a Pentagon source with knowledge of internal investigations into prisoner abuses. "There is a lot about our country's interrogation techniques that is very troubling. These are violations of military law."

by redjade Fri May 21, 2004 15:22

A Corrupted Culture
Thursday, May 20, 2004; Page A28

SENIOR U.S. COMMANDERS in Iraq insist that they never approved harsh interrogation techniques for Iraqi prisoners. Yet those same commanders now acknowledge that abusive practices were employed against detainees all over Iraq -- not just at Abu Ghraib prison -- and in Afghanistan. The International Red Cross has reported scores of incidents, and Gen. John P. Abizaid, the head of U.S. Central Command, said in a Senate hearing yesterday that 75 abuse cases have been investigated, as well as a number of deaths. Some of the methods that the commanders say were never sanctioned in Iraq -- and that, most experts believe, violate the Geneva Conventions -- were nevertheless listed on a sign posted at Abu Ghraib under the heading "Interrogation Rules of Engagement."

by redjade Fri May 21, 2004 15:19

The detainees said they were savagely beaten and repeatedly humiliated sexually by American soldiers working on the night shift at Tier 1A in Abu Ghraib during the holy month of Ramadan, according to copies of the statements obtained by The Washington Post.

The statements provide the most detailed picture yet of what took place on the cellblock. Some of the detainees described being abused as punishment or discipline after they were caught fighting or with a prohibited item. Some said they were pressed to denounce Islam or were force-fed pork and liquor. Many provided graphic details of how they were sexually humiliated and assaulted, threatened with rape, and forced to masturbate in front of female soldiers.

[....]

Hilas also said he witnessed an Army translator having sex with a boy at the prison. He said the boy was between 15 and 18 years old. Someone hung sheets to block the view, but Hilas said he heard the boy's screams and climbed a door to get a better look. Hilas said he watched the assault and told investigators that it was documented by a female soldier taking pictures.

by WSM Fri May 21, 2004 14:51

Irish anarchist paper online
Issue 81 of the Irish anarchist paper Workers Solidarity is now online.

You can read the articles online at http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/index.html

Or download, print out and even distribute the PDF version from http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/pdf/ws/81.html
A listing of the articles follows

Democracy Where Are You?
When the EU circus leaves, we start concentrating on the visit of the world's no. 1 terrorist, George W. Bush. Let's all make sure he knows how we feel about him when the leader of the 'free' world lands.
http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/81/democracy.html

Vote NO to Racist Referendum
The government is trying to create a smokescreen to cover up their own failures by rushing through a referendum to attack Irish children's rights.
http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/81/voteno.html

That's capitalism
The hundred richest Irish people to deporting McDowell
http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/81/capital.html

Haiti and US Terrorism
Haiti has long suffered from Uncle Sam's interventions. Born through slaves' revolts against their French masters, Haiti was the first black republic in the world -1804 - and for that has paid a high price.
http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/81/haiti.html

Ireland's 'Traditional' Racism Remains
An interview with Mrs Ellen Mongan, a Traveller with seven children. It's 2004 and close to 1,000 Traveller famlies are still living on the roadside without access to basic facilities-water, sanitation or electricity
http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/81/traveller.html

Review: We Are Everywhere
We Are Everywhere is a collection of articles, photos and interviews about the past decade of global anti-capitalist resistance. What marks this book out is that all the contributors are activists
http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/81/everywhere.html

We Don't Want Your Vote
Most, if not all, of the left wing political parties in Ireland are standing candidates in the up-coming local elections. Members of the Workers Solidarity Movement will not be joining them
http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/81/vote.html

Building the Anti-War Movement from Below
The question now is what sort of broad anti-war movement can be built that is genuinely inclusive and democratic?
http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/81/antiwar.html

State Terrorism
If we examine history and look at current events in the world we are confronted by a multitude of examples of state terrorism.
http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/81/terror.html

The Pay-Rise is in the Post
Dishonest newsroom bosses told us about the "strike" in An Post. There was no strike by workers, but there were hundreds of workers suspended in what was effectively a lock-out by management.
http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/81/lockout.html

Abortion Rights Still Denied
In 1861, abortion was made a criminal offence in Ireland. One hundred and forty three years later the Irish government continues to deny women their right to choice.
http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/81/abortion.html

You can read the articles online at http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/ws/2004/index.html

Or download, print out and even distribute the PDF version from http://www.struggle.ws/wsm/pdf/ws/81.html

by Ray McInerney Fri May 21, 2004 14:50

Scientists have always dismissed astrology as a load of old bunk. Now, a British astronomer has said that there might be something in it after all. Could the planets really control our fates? Ian Sample investigates.

There can be few scientists brave enough to stick their heads above the academic parapet and claim to have found proof that, contrary to hundreds of years of scientific inquiry, the movement of heavenly bodies does, after all, affect how we behave.

But few scientists are Percy Seymour. In his latest book, The Scientific Proof of Astrology, the former Plymouth University, England, astronomy lecturer, and member of the Royal Astronomical Society, argues that, while he does not believe in horoscopes, the movement of the sun, moon and various planets undoubtedly hold an influence over us. Could it be that countless devotees, ranging from Charles de Gaulle to Ronald Reagan, had it right when they kept one eye on the stars?

by :-) Fri May 21, 2004 00:00

evidently the number thing is getting worked out somewhere.
very complicated this whole new 450,000,000 people thing.
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3214,36-365631,0.html
d'ya reckon bertie will get his rent & bills paid if he speeds up the publication of the
€uro~Constitution?

by Ray McInerney Thu May 20, 2004 18:35

CALCUTTA - On a recent Friday morning, Buddhadev Bhattacharjee, chief minister of West Bengal State and a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), met with an executive from an icon of American capitalism, the I.B.M. Corporation.

"Outsourcing is a must in this era of globalization, and we want to take advantage of this opportunity," Mr. Bhattacharjee told the corporate executive. "We want you to help us."

by winston smith - (nice to see a historic & convenient psy-op has been removed from the other media updates) Thu May 20, 2004 18:32

You might think Bertie has an easy time of it, but hell no, he's trying to break the voting figure thresholds for the EU constitution.
In french it's almost indecipherable in english it hurts the head, but as far I can make out the Double Majority thing he's tinkering with might actually be seen as one of Bertie the Good's achievements.
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/dh/0,14-0@14-0@2-3208,39-22953384,0.html
Yesterday, something really dodgy happened in London, it's not relevant. No-one noticed.
it included purple stain and condoms and testing security during Q&A.

Today Bertie got told
no more blood for oil.
in the Dail.
Means nothing, 100,000 people told him
No More Blood for Oil
on the street.

by magpie - magpies Thu May 20, 2004 15:17

we let these scum into our country
i just thought this link deserved a post of its own
http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=2444

by irish independent. Wed May 19, 2004 17:22

Pope doesn't only wear white.
Pope probably got cake for his birthday.
http://unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=27&si=1183844&issue_id=10883

by redjade Wed May 19, 2004 12:43

It is easy to see how terrorism can lead to torture. Last summer I took an informal poll at a meeting of eminent Wall Street investors to find out whether they would condone the use of torture to prevent a terrorist attack. The consensus was that they hoped somebody would do it without their knowing about it.

It is not a popular thing to say, but the fact is that we are victims who have turned into perpetrators. The terrorist attacks on September 11 claimed nearly 3,000 innocent lives and the whole world felt sympathy for us as the victims of an atrocity. Then the President declared war on terrorism, and pursued it first in Afghanistan and then in Iraq. Since then the war on terror has claimed more innocent victims than the terrorist attacks on September 11. This fact is not recognized at home because the victims of the war on terror are not Americans. But the rest of the world does not draw the same distinction and world opinion has turned against us. So a tremendous gap in perceptions has opened up between us and the rest of the world. The majority of the American public does not realize that we have turned from victims into perpetrators. That is why those gruesome pictures were so shocking. Even today most people don't recognize their full import.

by redjade Wed May 19, 2004 12:01

Vietnam all over again
By Eric Margolis

- People will accept misrule, robbery, abuse and torture by their fellow citizens -- but not by foreigners.

- The occupying power will always find locals ready to co-operate and join the colonial police and army for money. Ten percent will serve loyally; 50% will do nothing. The rest will covertly fight the occupiers, provide the resistance with intelligence or quietly sabotage the occupation.

- Most of those who co-operate with the occupation will maintain secret links with the resistance. Massive defections will occur the minute the occupiers show the first signs of thinking about withdrawal.

- Tribal, clan, ethnic and religious loyalties will also prove stronger than political ones imposed by the occupier. You cannot buy loyalty; you can only rent it.

- An inevitable byproduct of colonial adventures is an unwanted, usually massive influx of people from the conquered country.

- Colonial occupations almost always cost far more than planned and produce negative earnings for the invader. Occupying Iraq and Afghanistan now costs at least $6 billion US monthly. The costs of garrisoning and running colonies usually exceeds what can be looted from them.

by redjade Wed May 19, 2004 11:15

Should cowboy Bush ride into the sunset?

As a former combat infantryman in World War II, I've always believed we must fully support our troops. Reluctantly, I now believe the best way to support troops in Iraq is to bring them home, starting with the "hand-over" on June 30.

Only a carefully planned withdrawal can clean up the biggest military mess miscreated in the Oval Office and miscarried by the Pentagon in my 80-year lifetime.

[....]

Maybe Bush should take a cue from a fellow Texan, former president Lyndon Baines Johnson, who also had some cowboy characteristics.

LBJ, after mismanaging the Vietnam War that so bitterly divided the nation and the world, decided he owed it to his political party and to his country not to run for re-election. So, he turned tail and rode off into the sunset of his Texas ranch.

How do you say déjà vu in Cowboyese?

by redjade Wed May 19, 2004 11:05

Q: You spent 12 years in the Marines. When were you sent to Iraq?

A: I went to Kuwait around Jan. 17. I was in Iraq from the get-go. And I was involved in the initial invasion.

Q: What does the public need to know about your experiences as a Marine?

A: The cause of the Iraqi revolt against the American occupation. What they need to know is we killed a lot of innocent people. I think at first the Iraqis had the understanding that casualties are a part of war. But over the course of time, the occupation hurt the Iraqis. And I didn't see any humanitarian support.

Q: What experiences turned you against the war and made you leave the Marines?

A: I was in charge of a platoon that consists of machine gunners and missile men. Our job was to go into certain areas of the towns and secure the roadways. There was this one particular incident - and there's many more - the one that really pushed me over the edge. It involved a car with Iraqi civilians. From all the intelligence reports we were getting, the cars were loaded down with suicide bombs or material. That's the rhetoric we received from intelligence. They came upon our checkpoint. We fired some warning shots. They didn't slow down. So we lit them up.

Q: Lit up? You mean you fired machine guns?

A: Right. Every car that we lit up we were expecting ammunition to go off. But we never heard any. Well, this particular vehicle we didn't destroy completely, and one gentleman looked up at me and said: "Why did you kill my brother? We didn't do anything wrong." That hit me like a ton of bricks.

by redjade Wed May 19, 2004 11:04

It was an e-mail we weren't meant to see. Not for our eyes were the notes that showed White House staffers taking two-hour meetings with Christian fundamentalists, .....

"Everything that you're discussing is information you're not supposed to have," barked Pentecostal minister Robert G. Upton when asked about the off-the-record briefing his delegation received on March 25. Details of that meeting appear in a confidential memo signed by Upton and obtained by the Voice.

The e-mailed meeting summary reveals NSC Near East and North African Affairs director Elliott Abrams sitting down with the Apostolic Congress and massaging their theological concerns. Claiming to be "the Christian Voice in the Nation's Capital," the members vociferously oppose the idea of a Palestinian state. They fear an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza might enable just that, and they object on the grounds that all of Old Testament Israel belongs to the Jews. Until Israel is intact and David's temple rebuilt, they believe, Christ won't come back to earth.

Abrams attempted to assuage their concerns by stating that "the Gaza Strip had no significant Biblical influence such as Joseph's tomb or Rachel's tomb and therefore is a piece of land that can be sacrificed for the cause of peace."

Three weeks after the confab, President George W. Bush reversed long-standing U.S. policy, endorsing Israeli sovereignty over parts of the West Bank in exchange for Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

by redjade Wed May 19, 2004 10:51

"There's definitely a cover-up," the witness, Sgt. Samuel Provance, said. "People are either telling themselves or being told to be quiet."

Provance, 30, was part of the 302nd Military Intelligence Battalion stationed at Abu Ghraib last September. He spoke to ABCNEWS despite orders from his commanders not to.

[....]

Top military officials have claimed the abuse seen in the photos at Abu Ghraib was limited to a few MPs, but Provance says the sexual humiliation of prisoners began as a technique ordered by the interrogators from military intelligence.

"One interrogator told me about how commonly the detainees were stripped naked, and in some occasions, wearing women's underwear," Provance said. "If it's your job to strip people naked, yell at them, scream at them, humiliate them, it's not going to be too hard to move from that to another level."

According to Provance, some of the physical abuse that took place at Abu Ghraib included U.S. soldiers "striking [prisoners] on the neck area somewhere and the person being knocked out. Then [the soldier] would go to the next detainee, who would be very fearful and voicing their fear, and the MP would calm him down and say, 'We're not going to do that. It's OK. Everything's fine,' and then do the exact same thing to him."

Provance also described an incident when two drunken interrogators took a female Iraqi prisoner from her cell in the middle of the night and stripped her naked to the waist. The men were later restrained by another MP.

[....]

Provance said Fay threatened to take action against him for failing to report what he saw sooner, and the sergeant fears he will be ostracized for speaking out.

"I feel like I'm being punished for being honest," Provance told ABCNEWS. "You know, it was almost as if I actually felt if all my statements were shredded and I said, like most everybody else, 'I didn't hear anything, I didn't see anything. I don't know what you're talking about,' then my life would be just fine right now."

by redjade Wed May 19, 2004 10:48

Don't jump to any conclusions just yet. That warning comes from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, after the U-S military in Iraq announced that a roadside bomb containing sarin nerve gas had exploded near a U-S military convoy.

Rumsfeld told a Washington, D-C audience that the "field test" showing the presence of sarin may not be accurate. He says more analysis needs to be done -- and that it may take some time to find out just what the chemical was.

by redjade Wed May 19, 2004 10:46

A U.S. soldier who left his unit in Iraq rather than fight for what he called an "oil-driven war" faces a court-martial Wednesday on a desertion charge.

Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia, 28, of Miami Beach, Fla., could go to prison for a year and receive a bad conduct discharge if convicted by a military jury at Fort Stewart.

The Florida National Guardsman left his unit in Iraq in October on a two-week furlough to the United States. He was gone for five months before turning himself in to the Army in March.

by Napster Tandy Tue May 18, 2004 19:12

Brazil's left-wing President begins to show his true colours
Brazil's justice ministry announced the expulsion of New York Times correspondent Larry Rohter two days after the newspaper published a story about President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's drinking

by redjade Mon May 17, 2004 18:21

Fighters loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr drove Italian forces from a base in the southern city of Nasiriyah on Sunday and attacked coalition headquarters there with grenade and mortar fire as tensions in the Shiite region escalated. Two U.S. soldiers died elsewhere.

[....]

The Italian troops evacuated as their base came under repeated attack. Portuguese police were called out to support the Italians, seeing action for the first time since the force of 128 deployed to Nasiriyah in November, a Portuguese duty officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

by redjade Mon May 17, 2004 18:18

With a potential bloodbath looming, Marine leaders adopted a mantra: "We don't want to turn Fallouja into Dresden," referring to the Allied firebombing of the German city in World War II that killed tens of thousands of civilians.

Three days after that April 26 firefight, the remarkable deal was cut: The Marine leadership made a pact with the ex-generals. The Marines pulled out, violence ceased, further carnage was averted, and both sides declared victory.

Top officials at the Pentagon and in Baghdad were stunned. Most appeared caught off-guard by the deal, and were denying any withdrawal was taking place even as Marines were moving out and dismantling roadblocks and checkpoints.

Today, Fallouja is for all intents and purposes a rebel town, complete with banners proclaiming a great victory and insurgents integrated into the new Fallouja Brigade — the protective force set up with U.S. assistance to keep the peace.

by redjade Mon May 17, 2004 18:14

I sometimes get emails asking me to propose solutions or make suggestions. Fine. Today's lesson: don't rape, don't torture, don't kill and get out while you can- while it still looks like you have a choice... Chaos? Civil war? Bloodshed? We’ll take our chances- just take your Puppets, your tanks, your smart weapons, your dumb politicians, your lies, your empty promises, your rapists, your sadistic torturers and go.

by redjade Mon May 17, 2004 18:05

US failure in Iraq would be a disaster for Ireland
16/05/04 00:00
By David McWilliams

It goes without saying that $1.5 billion is a lot of money.This is how much Americans borrow per day from the rest of the world to pay for their McDonald's, SUVs and cheap holidays in Acapulco.

This type of economic delinquency is not sustainable - neither for them nor for us.

America's financial incontinence is getting worse as it grows older.Very soon its free-spending babyboomers will reach retirement age without the capacity to pay for themselves.What will happen then is anyone's guess but two things are certain: the dollar will be weaker and interest rates higher.

Images of abused Iraqis, a beheaded American and unctuous, squirming politicians dominated the news this week and so the deteriorating economic situation was understandably overlooked. But bad politics begets bad economics.The mirror image of the shambolic, irresponsible and utterly shortsighted US foreign policy has been a similarly disastrous, lopsided and inexplicable economic policy.This gives substance to those critics of the US administration who argue that the people on the top in Washington are not only foolhardy, but actually quite stupid.

by Ali la Pointe Mon May 17, 2004 17:35

Significant subsection on Ireland & arms software.
Available at:

www.statewatch.org

Also, the Derry Journal online is having a poll asking whether you think Raytheon should be forced to declare if it is making defence related software in Derry; Please Vote!

http://www.derryjournal.com/index.php
.

by stern Hon. Dr. O' as if. - we've had enough of all the pussyfooting round. Mon May 17, 2004 17:19

Ali Khaled Al-Joubouri and Mohammad Hassan Al-Samarraï have been named in an internet statement this last hour, as the two suicide bombers who smithereen'd Dr Saleem in Iraq this morning.

The statement made through recognised channels attributes planning and so to a previously unheard of group "al Rachid".

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/dh/0,14-0@14-0@2-3208,39-22924793,0.html

So we now have :-
The USA, the CIA, the FBI, the Brittish Hun,
The Kurds, Al Q, Zuarqwark and "Al R".
Thank you Mr Bush, fuck off now.
tired of saying please.

by iosaf - "nyc is ours" Mon May 17, 2004 16:47

to an article by Seymour Hersh, the man who broke the story of Vietnam's My Lai massacre (to the same type of readership) has written on Rumsfeld's orders _now uncovered_ which sanctioned the use of torture in Iraq particularly in Abu Ghraib.

The man is guilty as charged.
Lindie Engurland ought enjoy the rest of her pregnancy without hassle, for she was only "acting on orders".

http://newyorker.com/fact/content/?040524fa_fact

The New Yorker, is a magazine which caters for the thinking & chattering types who focus on Manhatten for their social, cultural and gastronomic life. It's not national geographic and it's not Time, but it's generally in the Columbine spirit (unlike Time) and indeed I wrote a setting of Lear's nonsense poetry to madrigal voices for it's 94 xmas party. Seems like another century now. I was once exceedingly normal you know, just like any other lad of my age, writing madrigals, penning the odd sonnet, annoying wenches and dropping pills. But that was then.
I've changed a lot since.

This story has since it's online publication Saturday night, now entered the €uropress, and is piling on the "pressure" on Bush.

It's a long day today.

The assasination of key members of the Iraqi intermim council of this morning, has shocked lots of people in Washington, London, Baghdad, and Scotland.

Your newspapers tomorrow will have to decide which is more important :-

Rumsfeld the Living viagra man.
or Saleem the smithereen'd pacifist.

Meanwhile, the so called "Baath flag" of Iraq is still the legal one. I don't want Rumsfeld's head, I want the Bush heads, all of them, on the platter, or no more dancing, no more madrigals and no more sonnets. I and my kind are doing our level best to make it clear, you want Democracy you return it, or else you're going to be ruled by the illuminati, and we're a tad crueller.
like i said -
you goto b stern, or else people take the piss.

oh and they needless to say are blaming Zarqwuarky or Ossama and no mention of tippy toppy clockwork drones @ all @ all @all.

no gold was offered for Saleem.
no gold was offered for Berg.
no gold was offered for England.

Now "our dates" just like "our days of the week" ought 2b taken more seriously.
thank you for your co-operation.

Scottish lessons cont' :-
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,9061,1218435,00.html
Mr Blair is at present in Turkey.
I'll have more news by 20h00.

and 2mrw Mr Mccavity will be less mysterious won't it?

here's a tabloid link to round off this comment which began with talk of New Yorkers and so, to the Daily Mirror, which is now enjoys today it's first edition under a new editor. Oh the gossip of the highlands is everywhere, wonder is it in Turkey too?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/

by redjade Mon May 17, 2004 14:22

'At Five in the Afternoon'

Knowing that nobody would notice a 14 year old girl with a handheld camera, Hana Makhmalbaf followed her film-maker sister Samira across Afghanistan, scouting for actors to appear in her feature film, 'At Five in the Afternoon'. The result is a candid look at a country still haunted by the menacing ghost of the Taliban. Hana comes from a family of avid film-makers, her father is Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf

http://www.dochouse.org/screen.htm

- - - - -

An Interview with Samira Makhmalbaf for the movie "5 in the afternoon" in the Cannes film festival 2003

Q: After making Blackboard in Kurdistan what drew you to Afghanistan for doing 5 in the Afternoon?

Samira Makhmalbaf: Living in today’s world if a building collapses on the American continent, in less than two years two countries in Asia collapse for the same reason. I ask myself that if everything is so interrelated, how can the subjects of my films only relate to the place in which I was only born? Today, one’s homeland is the place for which one’s heart beats. In the past two years all of the planet earth’s mass media have talked about my country’s neighbors. So as an Iranian situated between the two tragedies of Afghanistan and Iraq, how could I have remained only a listener and an observer?

http://www.makhmalbaf.com/articles.asp?a=a165

by redjade Mon May 17, 2004 13:07

White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales wrote to the president in January 2002, saying the following: "As you have said, the war against terrorism is a new kind of war. The nature of the new war places a high premium on other factors, such as the ability to quickly obtain information from captured terrorists and their sponsors in order to avoid further atrocities against American civilians ... In my judgment, this new paradigm renders obsolete Geneva's strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners and renders quaint some of its provisions."

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4989436/

quote found at
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_05_16.php#002958

by Paddy Shamrock - none Sun May 16, 2004 20:22 cutcrime at yahoo dot com Kildare n/a

Irish Culture going down the toilet
Because of our government's failure to deal with the rising crime rate, I have found it necessary to build a website to highlight this issue and to get people to see that, if nothing is done, things will only get much worse.