A truly global economy is probably impossible to achieve. In 
fact, as the Princeton political economist Robert Gilpin has 
said, "what today we call international economic interdependence 
runs so counter to the great bulk of human experience that only 
extraordinary changes and novel circumstances could have led to 
its innovation and triumph over other means of economic 
exchange." Historically, to secure international capitalism a 
dominant power must guarantee the security of other states, so 
that they need not pursue autarkic policies or form trading 
blocs to improve their relative positions. This suspension of 
international politics through hegemony has been the fundamental 
aim of US foreign policy since the 1940s. The real story of that 
policy is not the thwarting of and triumph over the Soviet 
threat but the effort to impose an ambitious economic vision on 
a recalcitrant world.

Nurturing - and Constraining - the Fragile Blossom

The overriding objective of US post-war policy toward East Asia 
was restoring Japanese economic power. To be sure, this would 
help to immunise the region against Communist expansion; but 
Acheson and the other creators of the American Century thought 
the goal itself vital, regardless of the Soviet threat. As the 
historians William Borden, Bruce Cumings, Ronald McGlothlen, and 
Michael Schaller have argued, in attempting to create a global 
economic system Washington pursued a course designed in essence 
to restore the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere - 
imperial Japan's regional economy, which the United States had 
just destroyed in the Second World War. If Japan was to help 
fuel the world economy, it would have to be, in Acheson's 
words, "the workshop of Asia." American post-war planners viewed 
the political economy that had developed in Northeast Asia from 
about 1900 to 1945 as the region's natural economy - a 
tripartite system in which Japan, given access to continental 
markets and raw materials, formed the industrial core and its 
neighbours formed the economic semi-periphery and periphery. As 
Japan advanced in the product cycle, climbing up the 
technological ladder, it spun off its low-technology and low-
wage industries to its neighbours.

In the late 1940s and 1950s the United States essentially 
restored this system; but the machine could not run by itself. 
Washington had to ensure that Japan's neighbours would feel 
secure politically in the regional hierarchy atop which Japan 
stood. Washington also had to ensure that the hierarchy did not 
develop - as it had in the past - into a Japanese-led closed 
economic bloc, which would threaten the world economy. NSC 48, 
the National Security Council's 1949 blueprint for America's 
Cold War Strategy in East Asia, summed up the chief difficulty 
facing Washington's economic goals in the region - and around 
the globe. Starting with the premise that "the economic life of 
the modern world is geared to expansion," requiring "the 
establishment of conditions favourable to the export of 
technology and capital and to a liberal trade policy throughout 
the world," NSC 48's authors went on to warn that "the 
complexity of international trade makes it well to bear in mind 
that such ephemeral matters as national pride and ambition can 
inhibit or prevent the necessary degree of international co-
operation, or the development of a favourable atmosphere and 
conditions to promote economic expansion."

The distinguished historian and diplomat George Kennan, then the 
head of the State Department's policy-planning staff, saw only 
one solution to what he described as the "terrible dilemma" 
confronting US ambitions in East Asia. Forty-seven years later 
Washington continues to pursue that course.

By providing for Japan's security and by enmeshing its foreign 
and military policies in a US-controlled alliance, Americans 
have contained their erstwhile enemy, preventing their "partner" 
from embarking on independent - and, so the thinking goes, 
dangerous - political and military policies. By restraining its 
powerful ally, Washington has, to use a euphemism favoured in 
policy-making circles, "reassured" Japan's neighbours and 
stabilised relations among the states of East Asia. The United 
States played the decisive role in promoting Tokyo's integration 
with its former colonies in Japan-centred regional trade 
networks that have been the foundation of East Asia's 
economic "miracle". South Korea and Taiwan, for example, 
overcame their fear and resentment of Japan and opened their 
doors to Japanese investment and trade.

In a series of revealing interviews published in 1970 the former 
under-secretary of state Eugene Rostoe was pressed to explain 
the motivations underlying US foreign policy generally and US 
policy toward Vietnam specifically. In doing so he betrayed the 
lingering and profound distrust that US policy makers feel 
toward any powerful state that could play a role in world 
politics more independent than the one the United States has 
assigned to it. At a time when America was involved in Southeast 
Asia ostensibly to draw a line against international communism, 
Rostow admitted, "I think the major concern - at least my major 
concern - in this miserable affair is the long-range impact a 
[US] withdrawal would have on Japanese policy." He 
explained, "After the Japanese lost the war they reached certain 
conclusions, the principal one being that it was infinitely 
better to co-operate with the United States than to follow a 
hostile, militaristic line. Now, it's greatly to our interest to 
have that judgement proved correct. If the United States 
abruptly pulled out of Vietnam, Rostow went on, "I think the 
Japanese will draw certain conclusions. And I think their policy 
will take on a much more nationalistic cast... I think the first 
thing that would happen would be that they wouldn't ratify the 
nuclear non-proliferation treaty. They would feel compelled to 
become a nuclear power." This would endanger the imperative that 
America preserve "a world of wide horizons in which we can move 
around and trade and travel on a large scale."

America as "Adult Supervisor"

America's Cold War policy is best understood not by its 
communism-containing words but by its ally-containing deeds. 
Washington committed itself to building and maintaining an 
international economic and political order based on what 
officials at the time termed a US "preponderance of power". By 
banishing power politics and nationalist rivalries, America's 
Cold War alliances in East Asia and Europe in effect protected 
the states of those regions from themselves.

The United States has not subjugated colonies but, like Great 
Britain in the nineteenth century, has built and benefited 
economically from a stable international political order. In 
this way Lenin was right: imperialism is, or allows for, "the 
highest stage of capitalism" - an open economy among the 
industrialised nations.

In explaining its global strategy in 1993, in its "post-Cold 
War" defence strategy, the Pentagon defined the creation of "a 
prosperous, largely democratic, market-oriented zone of peace 
and prosperity that encompasses more than two-thirds of the 
world's economy" as "perhaps our nation's most significant 
achievement since the Second World War" - not the victory over 
Moscow. And it declared that this global capitalist order 
required the "stability" that only American "leadership" could 
provide. Ultimately, of course, US policy makers and Lenin 
diverge. America's foreign-policy strategists have hoped to keep 
the reality of international politics permanently at bay.

Although the Cold War has ended, what National Security Advisor 
Anthony Lake calls the "imperative of continued US world 
leadership" - as exercised, for instance, in America's dominance 
of its alliances in East Asia and of NATO - remains necessary to 
maintain a global economy. The now-infamous draft of the 
Pentagon's defence plan, or the Defence Planning Guidance, which 
was leaked to The New York Times in 1992, gave the public an 
unprecedented glimpse of the thinking that informs Washington's 
security strategy, merely stating in somewhat undiplomatic 
language the logic behind America's Cold War strategy. The 
United States, it argued, must continue to dominate the 
international system and thus "discourage" the "advanced 
industrial nations from challenging our leadership or... even 
aspiring to a larger regional or global role." To accomplish 
this, America must do nothing less than "retain the pre-eminent 
responsibility for addressing... those wrongs which threaten not 
only our interests, but those of our allies or friends, or which 
could seriously unsettle international relations."

The United States, in other words, must provide what one of the 
Planning Guidance's authors termed "adult supervision". It must 
not only dominate regions composed of wealthy and 
technologically sophisticated states but also take care of such 
nuisances such as Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, and North 
Korea's dictator Kim Jong Il, to protect the interests of 
virtually all potential great powers so that they need not 
acquire the capability to protect themselves - that is, so that 
those great powers need not act like great powers. Thus, for 
instance, Washington must protect Germany's and Japan's access 
to Persian Gulf oil, because if these countries were to protect 
their own interests in the Gulf, they would develop military 
forces capable of global "power projection". No wonder the 
United States must spend more on its "national security" than 
the rest of the world's countries combined. This post-Cold War 
strategy reflects what the historian Melvyn Leffler defined as 
an imperative of America's Cold War national-security policy: 
that "neither an integrated Europe nor a united Germany nor an 
independent Japan must be permitted to emerge as a third force."

Only in this context can Washington's concerns regarding current 
developments in East Asia be properly understood. For instance, 
in 1993 Alberto Coll, then a deputy assistant secretary of 
defence, clarified US aims in East Asia. "In the future," Coll 
declared in the Washington Quarterly,

the stability of the Pacific Basin and a strong US-Japanese 
relationship will be more important to the United States than 
ever before. The US economy needs the vast markets of the 
Pacific Rim, and it benefits enormously from Japanese investment 
capital and technology and the impetus toward greater 
productivity provided by the Japanese competition.

All these benefits would be lost, according to Coll, if 
the "traditional rivalries among Asian powers... unravel into 
unrestrained military competition, conflict and aggression." In 
the same vein the author of the Clinton Administration's 
security strategy for East Asia, Joseph Nye, then the assistant 
secretary of defence, asserted last year that the US military 
protectorate is "the basis for stability and prosperity in the 
region"; if the United States were to forsake its "leadership 
role" in East Asia, "the stable expectations of entrepreneurs 
and investors [would] be subverted." Although the United States 
committed forces to Japan ostensibly to protect it from the 
Soviets, and to South Korea to protect it from the North, in 
1993 the deputy defence secretary, William Perry, declared that 
America would continue to reassure and stabilise East Asia by 
maintaining troops "permanently" in Japan and even in a future 
unified Korea.

The Domino Theory Revisited

To Washington, East Asia is still composed of dominoes ready to 
fall. "Renationalisation", a term used by the cognoscenti to 
mean the resumption of international politics, could start 
virtually anywhere and spread rapidly. In one of Aaron 
Friedberg's many nightmare scenarios one can almost hear the 
click of fallen dominoes:

The nuclearisation of Korea (North, South, or whether through 
reunification or competitive arms programs both together) could 
lead to a similar development in Japan, which might cause China 
to accelerate and expand its nuclear programs, which could then 
have an impact on the defence policies of Taiwan, India (and 
through it, Pakistan) and Russia (which would also be affected 
by events in Japan and Korea)... similar shock waves could also 
travel through the system in different directions (for example, 
from India to China to Japan to Korea).

Friedberg and other national-security analysts paint a similarly 
gloomy picture in Southeast Asia if, for example, Japan should 
undertake a military build-up in response to Korean 
reunification. Japan's reaction would alarm China - the emerging 
colossus, which US defence planners now regard as the most 
serious potential long-term threat to America's global position. 
China would speed up the development of its "power projection" 
forces. This would alarm Korea, Taiwan, and Japan - and also 
Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. Their defensive 
response would further alarm China.

Such developments, from Washington's perspective, would have one 
of two results, either of which would shatter the global 
economy: international anarchy, or regional dominance by China 
or Japan, which policy makers believe would lead inevitably to a 
regional trading bloc. Arguing in 1992 for the maintenance of 
America's leadership of its Cold War alliances, a high-ranking 
Pentagon official asked, "If we pull out, who knows what 
nervousness will result?" The problem, of course, is that 
America can never know. According to this logic, it must always 
stay.

To the United States, the best change in East Asia is no change 
at all, because any alteration in the status quo could start the 
dominoes falling. And if there is to be change, Washington - not 
Tokyo or Beijing - must manage it. To permit otherwise would 
send a dangerous signal about America's diminishing ability to 
regulate, calibrate, and manipulate international politics in 
East Asia. Of course, Washington appreciates that change is 
inevitable, and its frustration comes from being unable to 
square the circle - to manage an increasingly unmanageable world.

Although the United States remains committed to preserving the 
Pax Americana in East Asia, the states in the region see US 
influence inexorably declining, and they are planning 
accordingly. South Korea, for example, is reorienting its 
military away from an emphasis on the threat from the North and 
toward projecting power against a future threat from Japan by 
means of naval and air forces, submarines, spy planes, and 
satellites. The problem is that in prudently preparing for 
similar eventualities the East Asian states may indeed, as 
Washington fears, precipitate renationalisation.

At a loss for what to do, US policy makers propose two 
contradictory solutions. On the assumption that democracies are 
inherently peaceful toward one another, one solution goes, the 
United States should tranquillise East Asia by democratising it. 
At the same time, the second solution has it, because only 
American dominance can ensure stability in the region (as in 
Europe), the United States should maintain its hegemony 
indefinitely. Leaving aside the question of whether either goal 
can be achieved, it should be clear that proposing these 
solutions is as inconsistent as simultaneously asserting, as do 
most in the US national-security community, that although 
democracies pose no danger to other democracies, America must 
continue to contain Germany and Japan.

The hope and fear with which policy makers view economic change 
in East Asia illustrates the contradictory convictions that 
animate US policy. Washington both heralds the economic dynamism 
of the Pacific Rim, hoping it will bring democracy and peace and 
worldwide economic growth, and dreads the Asian miracle. It 
knows that just as economic change endangers a shift in 
political and military power, so a particular economic order is 
jeopardised as the foundation upon which it rests - US hegemony -
 weakens. In the oxymoronic vocabulary of US diplomacy, 
strong "partners" are economically welcome and indeed necessary, 
but US "leadership" is indispensable. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who 
developed the idea of a trilateral division of responsibility 
among the United States, Japan and Europe, calls for Washington 
to develop "a more co-operative partnership" with Tokyo even as 
he asserts that America must continue to control Japan 
militarily.

Losing Ground

There is something at once poignant and obtuse in James Baker's 
comment that because President Clinton's foreign policy lacks 
consistency and firmness, "for the first time since the Second 
World War, Japan is not delivering an automatic vote for the US 
position." Sticking his head in the sand, the former Secretary 
of State claimed that such problems could be obviated "as long 
as America leads... We have to lead." Japan's actions are 
certainly related to a decline in US leadership, but that 
decline is not the fault of what Baker would characterise as 
Clinton's weak foreign policy. No matter who is in charge of US 
foreign policy, America is less and less able to lead. Baker 
seems to have forgotten that America's leadership in the Gulf 
War was possible only because its allies agreed to pick up the 
tab. Given such leadership, it is no surprise that once-
subservient "partners" are increasingly going their own way. 
Preponderance cannot simply be asserted; it must reflect a 
position based on power. When that position shifts enough, 
preponderance - "leadership" - is lost.

Lenin argued seventy-eight years ago that international 
capitalism would be economically successful but, by growing in a 
world of competitive states, would plant the seeds of its own 
destruction. Ironically, the worldwide economic system that the 
United States has fostered has itself largely determined 
America's relative decline even as it has contributed to the 
country's economic growth. Through trade, foreign investment, 
and the spread of technology and managerial expertise, economic 
power has diffused from the United States to new centres of 
growth, thus undermining American hegemony and ultimately 
jeopardising the world economy.

Nearly everyone applauds today's complex web of global trade, 
production, and finance as the highest stage of capitalism. But 
international capitalism may be approaching a crisis just as it 
is reaching its fullest flower. A genuinely interdependent world 
market is extraordinarily fragile. The emergent high-technology 
industries, for instance, are the most powerful engines of 
economic world growth, but they require a level of 
specialisation and a breadth of markets that are possible only 
in an integrated global economy. As US hegemony continues to 
weaken, renationalised foreign and economic policies among the 
industrialised powers could fragment that economy.

The future of a foreign policy designed to strengthen what the 
United States must contain and, at the same time, to maintain an 
economic order that weakens the very foundation of that order 
seems evident: it will collapse under the weight of its own 
contradictions. The United States remains caught in the dilemma 
Kennan discerned more than forty years ago: "To what 
end 'security'? For the continuation of our economic expansion? 
But our economic expansion... cannot proceed much further 
without... creating new problems of national security much more 
rapidly than we can ever hope to solve them." To escape this 
dilemma, Americans will have to understand the foreign policy 
that is conducted in their name and re-examine the requirements 
for their own security and prosperity.

WHY AMERICA THINKS IT HAS TO RUN THE WORLD
Benjamin Schwarz

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/96jun/schwarz.htm

Though the Cold War is over, and America is staggering under a 
colossal debt and an accumulation of frightening social 
problems, it continues to spend billions to protect Germany and 
Japan - two rich nations whose freedom is in no apparent danger. 
Why? Here is the answer that the foreign-policy elite would give 
if it dared to speak frankly about the delicate matter of 
American efforts to assert international economic and political 
control.

Three years ago, in light of the end of the Cold War, the 
Clinton Administration undertook a "fundamental reassessment" of 
America's national-security requirements. But after six months 
of analysis Administration officials concluded that the defence 
of US global interests still demanded military spending of more 
than $1.3 trillion over the following five years and the 
permanent commitment of more than 200,000 US soldiers in East 
Asia and Europe - in other words, a strategy remarkably similar 
to that which America pursued during the Cold War. Moreover, 
rather than relinquish America's costly and risky 
responsibilities by dissolving Cold War alliances, defence 
strategists now plan to expand NATO's responsibilities eastward. 
Those who call for a more modest plan argue that US strategy 
seems to be extravagance born of paranoia, or of the defence 
establishment's anxiety to protect its budget. In fact, given 
the way the makers of US foreign policy have defined American 
interests since the late 1940s, these plans are quite prudent. 
And that is the problem.

If many Americans had been asked ten years ago why US troops 
were deployed in East Asia and Europe, they would have answered: 
To keep the Soviets out. They may have wondered, however, why 
the United States persisted in its strategy long after Japan, 
South Korea, and Western Europe had become capable of defending 
themselves. Now that the USSR itself has disappeared, why does 
Washington continue to insist that US "leadership" in East Asia 
and Europe is still indispensable?

Ask National Security Council staff members, think-tank 
analysts, or State Department policy planners about America's 
globe-girdling security commitments and they will deliver very 
different answers - ones that have not changed in forty-five 
years. They will justify the Pax Americana by invoking "the 
imperative of continued US world leadership," the need to "shape 
a favourable international environment," "reassurance of 
allies," and the ongoing need for "stability" and "continuing 
engagement". Even during the Cold War the "Soviet threat" might 
not have been mentioned.

The question that all this justification ignores is: What, 
exactly, is "leadership", and why has it been the mantra of 
foreign-policy cognoscenti for nearly fifty years? What have we 
been doing around the globe, and why?

Most Americans misunderstand their country's foreign policy. It 
seems to operate only when "danger" looms - when Iraq invades 
Kuwait, when Russian "imperialism" threatens to resurface, when 
China rattles its sabres at Taiwan. Even people who religiously 
read the newspapers fail to grasp that US foreign policy is far 
more than simply a series of responses to crises.

For instance, media coverage of recurring tensions on the Korean 
Peninsula has focused on speculation about North Korea's nuclear 
program and the prospect of a new Korean war. But when foreign-
policy officials and experts discuss the Korean crisis among 
themselves, they rapidly leave the Koreas behind to focus on the 
real players in the region: China and Japan. As far as national-
security experts are concerned, almost any immediate crisis is 
subsumed by a larger threat - in this case no less than East 
Asia's role in the potential collapse of the international 
economy that US power has sustained since the late 1940s.

It's now an axiom of the US foreign-policy establishment that 
economic, technological, and demographic changes are making East 
Asia the world's most dynamic arena, a driving force - 
increasingly the dominant force - in the international economy. 
The Pacific Century, we are told ad nauseam, has dawned. This 
transformation also means a shift in the international 
distribution of political and military power. In a typical 
evaluation of East Asia's strategic future the foreign-policy 
expert Aaron Friedberg states darkly in the journal 
International Security:

In the long run, it is Asia [rather than Europe] that seems far 
more likely to be the cockpit of great power conflict. The half 
millennium during which Europe was the world's primary generator 
of war (as well as of wealth and knowledge) is coming to a 
close. But, for better and for worse, Europe's past could be 
Asia's future.

Friedberg's assertion nicely illustrates the ambivalence with 
which the US national-security community views East Asia's 
future. He both prophesies an exhilarating Pacific Century and 
warns the West that the East may once again be up to no good.

East Asia has never been a terribly successful field for 
American diplomacy. There are undoubtedly many reasons for this, 
and surely that shortcoming for which the United States is 
continually indicted - cultural and historical myopia - has 
contributed enormously to its failures in the region. Americans 
have always seen East Asia not for what it is but for what it 
can do to them or for them: the region is either danger or 
opportunity - either a new "ground war in Asia" or a new China 
market. American understanding of Japan, for instance, is, in 
the words of the historian Bruce Cumings, caught within the 
conflicting views of Japan as "miracle and menace, docile and 
aggressive, fragile blossom and Tokyo Rose". As Friedberg's 
analysis attests, the US foreign-policy community worries that 
the fragile blossom may again bloom into a Tokyo Rose.

Pacific Century rhetoric usually describes the new era in 
a "post-Cold War" context. This is misleading, because it starts 
at the wrong place. First, the shift of economic activity has 
not been sudden. Even if East Asia rose in the American 
consciousness just as the Soviet Union receded, to define the 
economic and geopolitical transformation of East Asia as a post-
Cold War phenomenon Americanises and trivialises a development 
in international (not American) politics of far greater impact 
then the Cold War itself. Although Vietnam, China and North 
Korea were for forty years able to contain America's Cold War 
ambition to "roll back" communism, they are proving utterly 
unable to contain the juggernaut of East Asia's capitalist 
political economy. Most important, to imply that the end of the 
Cold War is of primary significance to US policy in East Asia is 
to wrench that policy out of its most important context and to 
distort its underlying aims and challenges.

What we think of as the Cold War was merely instrumental in 
America's larger "Cold War" strategy. In "scaring hell out of 
the American people," as Senator Arthur Vandenberg said in 1947, 
the US-Soviet rivalry helped to secure domestic support for 
Washington's ambition to create a US-dominated world order. That 
same year one of Vandenberg's colleagues, the fervently anti-
Communist Senator Robert Taft, expressed a strong suspicion that 
the supposed dangers to the nation from the USSR failed to 
explain America's new foreign policy. He complained that he 
was "more than a bit tired of having the Russian menace invoked 
as a reason for doing any - and every - thing that might or 
might not be desirable or necessary on its own merits". The 
former Secretary of State Dean Acheson put things in proper 
perspective: describing how Washington overcame domestic 
opposition to its internationalist policies in 1950, he recalled 
in 1954 that at that critical moment the crisis in Korea "came 
along and saved us".

Making the World Safe for Capitalism

A fundamental aim of America's Cold War strategy was to create 
and maintain what the former Secretary of State James Baker has 
called "a global liberal economic regime" - a capitalist world 
order. After the Second World War, American statesmen believed 
that the United States, standing alone and strong in a world of 
weary nations, had a remarkable opportunity, as Acheson said, 
to "grab hold of history and make it conform." American 
statesmen seized that opportunity by creating a complex strategy 
to reify Adam Smith's dream. Washington envisioned a world 
economy in which trade and capital would flow across national 
boundaries in response to the laws of comparative advantage and 
supply and demand - an economy in which production and finance 
would be integrated on a global scale. The constricted national 
markets that were emerging in the immediate aftermath of the 
Second World War in Europe and East Asia would be combined, 
eliminating the inefficiencies of statism and self-sufficiency. 
Large-scale regional economies would in turn be integrated into 
an interdependent world economy. US policy makers knew that 
building this multinational capitalist community required the 
United States to provide Western Europe and Japan with enormous 
amounts of economic aid (through such schemes as the Marshall 
Plan, for Europe, and the Dodge Plan, its equivalent for Japan), 
so that those areas would not retreat into closed economies. 
They also knew that an open world economy demanded an even more 
ambitious American project: transforming international relations.

The greatest danger to US democracy and prosperity came, they 
believed, not from the Soviet Union but from Germany and Japan, 
whose potential strength amounted to a sort of Catch-22. Without 
a flourishing international economy, Under-Secretary of State 
Will Clayton warned in 1947, "our democratic free enterprise 
system" could not function. As late as 1960 exports accounted 
for only 3.8 percent and imports for 4.8 percent of GDP. The 
health of the international economy, in this disputable view, 
depended on Germany's and Japan's economic revitalisation. 
Germany, if its economy was resurrected, would once again be 
Europe's most efficient producer and its most avid consumer. Its 
very economic potential, however, made Germany a threat to the 
other Western European states, which, as the future Secretary of 
State John Foster Dulles explained to a closed Senate panel in 
1949, were "afraid to bring that strong, powerful, highly 
concentrated group of people into unity with them". Similarly, 
as Dulles, Acheson and other policy makers understood, a strong 
Japan was both necessary for a prosperous international order 
and intolerable to its neighbours. The problem lay in the 
inherent contradiction between capitalism and international 
politics.

Capitalist economies prosper most when labour, technology, and 
capital are fluid, so that they are driven toward international 
integration and interdependence. But whereas all states benefit 
absolutely in an open international economy, some states benefit 
more than others. In the normal course of world politics, in 
which states are driven to compete for their security, the 
relative distribution of power is a country's principal concern, 
discouraging economic interdependence. Thus 250 years ago the 
philosopher David Hume bemoaned the lack of economic co-
operation among countries, blaming the "narrow malignity and 
envy of nations, which can never bear to see their neighbours 
thriving, but continually repine at any new efforts towards 
industry made by any other nation". In its efforts to ensure the 
distribution of power in its favour and at the expense of actual 
or potential rivals, a state will "nationalise" - that is, 
pursue autarkic policies, practising capitalism only within its 
borders or among countries in a trading bloc. This circumscribes 
both production factors and markets, and thereby fragments an 
international economy.

US applying Geneva 'exceptions' in Iraq
The Bush administration has concluded for the first time that 
some non-Iraqi prisoners captured by American forces in Iraq are 
not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Convention, the 
New York Times has reported.
http://www.antiamerica.com
According to unnamed administration officials who spoke with the 
newspaper, the opinion reached in recent months holds that there 
are exceptions to prior assertions that the Geneva Convention 
applies to all prisoners taken in the Iraq war. 

The report follows another story in Sunday's Washington Post, 
which said US intelligence officials were transferring detainees 
out of Iraq for interrogation. 

In those cases, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) invoked a 
confidential Justice Department memo to justify its actions, the 
Post said. 

The report in NYT said that the legal opinion would allow the 
military and the CIA to treat at least a small number of non-
Iraqi prisoners captured in Iraq in the same way as members of 
Al Qaeda and the Taliban captured in Afghanistan, Pakistan or 
elsewhere. 

In such cases, the United States has said, the Geneva Convention 
does not apply. 

According to the NYT, the new opinion represented a consensus 
reached by lawyers from the Departments of State and Justice, as 
well as other agencies such as the Pentagon and the National 
Security Council. 

A Government official told the newspaper that the opinion had 
been sought by the CIA to establish the legality of its secret 
transfers of non-Iraqi prisoners, beginning in April 2003, for 
interrogation outside Iraq. 

Government officials told the NYT that the new ruling could open 
the way for additional transfers on a broader scale, because the 
status of prisoners being held in Iraq is reviewed on a case-by-
case basis. 

The administration takes the view that exceptions from the 
Geneva Convention would include suspected Al Qaeda members and 
other terror suspects, as well as foreigners who travelled to 
Iraq to join the insurgency or engage in acts of terrorism, the 
paper said. 

--Reuters
http://www.antiamerica.com
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American Exceptionalism 
October 26, 2004
Ivan Eland


Many Americans, like the citizens of dominant nations of the 
past, believe that their way of life is superior and should be 
shared with other peoples often at gunpoint. Lately, this 
American exceptionalism has assumed even more pernicious forms.

Whether called the Bush I administration s  New World Order  
or the Clinton administration s  Engagement and Enlargement  
or the Bush II administration s effort to  liberate  
Afghanistan, Iraq, and perhaps the entire Middle East, using 
military force to bring democracy and market economies to errant 
peoples has been a staple of both Democratic and Republican 
administrations since World War II. Similarly, the Roman, 
British, Spanish and other empires believed they were civilizing 
conquered lands with their ways of doing things.

And like the empires of old, soaring U.S. rhetoric often hides 
ulterior pursuits. For example, the United States is often the 
rhetorical champion of human rights but, during war, sometimes 
flouts them. Recently, the United States violated the Geneva 
Conventions on the treatment of prisoners by capturing prisoners 
outside the Iraqi zone of conflict, and hiding the fact from the 
International Red Cross. This behavior should not come as a 
surprise, given the Bush II administration s flagrant attempt 
to argue that the conventions did not apply to enemy fighters in 
Afghanistan. The fighters were labeled  enemy combatants  so 
that they would not get the conventions  protections for 
prisoners of war. The Afghan prisoners are to be tried in 
kangaroo military courts that fail to meet both international 
and U.S. standards of fair judicial process. 

Also, the Bush II administration s flouting of the conventions 
sent a message to some U.S. military personnel at various 
prisons, including Abu Ghraib, that abusing detainees was 
acceptable behavior. 

U.S. pretensions of moral superiority overseas are also belied 
in other ways. How does invading a sovereign Iraq and deposing 
its government differ from Saddam Hussein s invasion of a 
sovereign Kuwait in 1990? Even in the very worst case Iraqi 
possession weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear 
weapons wouldn t Saddam Hussein have had a right to defend his 
country with such armaments? Other despotic nations have been 
allowed by the United States to develop nuclear weapons the 
Soviet Union, radical Maoist China, and, most recently, 
Pakistan. 

Besides, the United States possesses the most capable nuclear 
arsenal on the planet, has threatened to attack with nuclear 
weapons on more than one occasion, and is the only nation to 
have ever used them. This double standard shows that the United 
States often runs a simplistic and hypocritical Tarzan-style 
foreign policy:  We good, you bad.  People around the world 
readily identify U.S. hypocrisy, but many Americans can t see 
that their government sometimes behaves like the empires of old.

For example, Americans would shudder at any comparison between 
U.S. behavior and that of Imperial Japan during the 1930s. Yet 
top U.S. decision-makers have alluded several times to one of 
the major goals of the militarized U.S. foreign policy in the 
Middle East access to supplies of oil. Similarly, Imperial 
Japan romped all over East Asia to gain access to raw materials, 
including oil, for its industrial economy. In both cases, many 
economists would say that simply paying the going price will 
ensure access to oil and other raw materials much more cheaply 
than paying for the military power needed to maintain the flow 
of such resources. 

Criticizing the U.S. government s militaristic actions overseas 
is not the same as denigrating America. America is exceptional. 
As conservative George Will has said, America is the only nation 
founded on an ideal. That ideal is liberty for the individual, 
both politically and economically. The people of the United 
States have enjoyed freedoms unparalleled in human history. When 
the United States crusades overseas and attempts to use force to 
bring such liberties to people who have never before experienced 
them, it rarely succeeds and even undermines those values at 
home. Conquered peoples, and the rest of the undemocratic world, 
merely associate  democracy and free markets  with foreign 
invasion, thus undermining the spread of individual political 
and economic freedoms. Meanwhile, every overseas war in which 
the United States has been embroiled has undermined individual 
liberties at home. For example, the Bush administration s war 
on terrorism has given us the draconian PATRIOT Act, which 
allows more U.S. government snooping into the lives of its 
citizens. 

Instead of conducting unnecessary, deceptive, hypocritical and 
counterproductive foreign military adventures, the United States 
should lead by example. The United States should be a beacon of 
liberty for other nations to emulate. When the Soviet bloc 
crumbled, Eastern Europe used American ideals to throw off the 
shackles of oppression. Thus, the U.S. government should be less 
insecure about a failure to spread American ideals in the 
absence of military coercion.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------
Ivan Eland is Senior Fellow and Director of the Center on Peace 
& Liberty at The Independent Institute in Oakland, California, 
and author of the books The Empire Has No Clothes, and Putting 
 Defense  Back into U.S. Defense Policy. 

THE EMPIRE HAS NO CLOTHES
U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed 
By Ivan Eland
Most Americans don  t think of their government as an empire, 
but in fact the United States has been steadily expanding its 
control of overseas territories since the turn of the twentieth 
century. Now, through political intimidation and over 700 
military bases worldwide, the U.S. holds sway over an area that 
dwarfs the great empires of world history.

In The Empire Has No Clothes, Ivan Eland, a leading expert on 
U.S. defense policy and national security, examines American 
military interventions around the world from the Spanish-
American War to the invasion of Iraq. 

Eland shows that the concept of empire is wholly contrary to the 
principles of both liberals and conservatives and that it makes 
a mockery of the Founding Fathers   vision for a free republic. 
Eland also warns that in recent years,   blowback   and the 
enormous expansion of domestic federal power resulting from this 
overextended empire have begun to threaten the American homeland 
itself and curtail the very liberties these interventions were 
supposed to protect.

Public debate of the United States   role in the world has 
finally begun in earnest, and Ivan Eland delivers a penetrating 
argument in this landmark book, exposing the imperial motives 
behind interventionist U.S. policy, questioning the historical 
assumptions on which it is based and advocating a return to the 
Founding Fathers   vision of military restraint overseas.

Detailed Summary 
 
 

http://www.independent.org/store/book_detail.asp?bookID=54

I'm going to help reelect George W. Bush just to piss you off 
even further.     :)                  

A US Embassy spokesman said a diplomatic security officer was 
killed by a mortar attack on Camp Victory, a sprawling US 
military headquarters near Baghdad s international airport. 

  I mourn the loss of one of our own today in Baghdad. Assistant 
Regional Security Officer Ed Seitz was a brave American, 
dedicated to his country,   US Secretary of State Colin Powell 
said in a statement. Seitz was the first American diplomat known 
to have been killed in Iraq since last year s US-led invasion. 

A Bulgarian soldier serving with US-led multinational forces was 
killed and three others were wounded when a car bomb exploded 
near their military convoy in the southern city of Karbala, 
government and military officials said. 

Gunmen shot dead a Turkish truck driver in northern Iraq, police 
said, a day after two other truckers from Turkey were killed 
near the city of Mosul. 

US warplanes pounded targets in rebel-held Falluja, the toughest 
guerrilla stronghold, on Sunday, killing five people, witnesses 
said. Hospital officials said the dead were civilians. 
49 Iraqi troops executed, US diplomat killed 
 
 
 
FARIS AL-MAHDAWI          
 
 
Posted online: Monday, October 25, 2004 at 0050 hours IST

 
 
BAQUBA, IRAQ, OCTOBER 24: Guerrillas killed 49 unarmed Iraqi 
Army recruits in one of the bloodiest attacks on Iraq s 
fledgling security forces, while in other attacks on Sunday, a 
US diplomat and a Bulgarian soldier also died. 

Police said guerrillas disguised as police had set up a 
checkpoint on a road northeast of Baghdad and stopped three 
minibuses carrying the recruits, forcing them to leave the 
vehicles and lie face-down on the tarmac before shooting them. 

 
 
A dozen recruits tried to flee but were also shot. 

The bodies, in torn and bloodstained civilian clothes, were 
taken in the back of trucks to a National Guard base in the town 
of Mandali, near the Iranian border, where they were laid out in 
rows. Some bystanders wept. The attack was another blow to the 
US-backed interim government s efforts to build up Iraqi 
security forces to tackle a raging insurgency along with US-led 
forces. 

  They were all executed, we found them executed,   said 
Interior Ministry spokesman Adnan Abdul-Rahman. The recruits, 
based at Kirkush, some 90 km northeast of Baghdad, had been 
heading for home leave when they were ambushed late on Saturday.
 

The US military, which blames guerrilla attacks on Saddam 
Hussein supporters and foreign Islamic militants, said it had 
destroyed a known enemy command and control post in northern 
Falluja, some 50 km West of Baghdad. 

A powerful group of Sunni clerics threatened to call a boycott 
of Iraq s planned elections in January if US forces launch a 
widely expected full-scale assault on Falluja.  Reuters

US diplomat killed in Iraq attack
A US diplomat was killed in a mortar attack today at Camp 
Victory near Baghdad airport in Iraq, the State Department said. 

Ed Seitz, the assistant regional security officer at the US 
embassy in Baghdad, is believed to be the first American 
diplomat killed during the current Iraq conflict, a department 
official said. 

Secretary of State Colin Powell, in Beijing on the second leg of 
a three-nation Asian tour, called Seitz a "brave American, 
dedicated to his country and to a brighter future for the people 
of Iraq. 

"We honour Ed's devotion to country and freedom," Mr Powell said 
in a statement. 

"The enemies of peace shall not shake our will. America and a 
free Iraq will prevail. 

"This is what Ed gave his life for and this is what we will 
accomplish." 

Details of the attack on Camp Victory at about 5:00am local time 
were not immediately available. 

But a State Department official said at least one other 
American, a soldier, had been wounded. 

The mortar also caused some damage to trailers in the area. 

It was unclear what Mr Seitz was doing at Camp Victory at the 
time. 

"As far as we know this is the first State Department employee 
killed in Iraq," the department official said. 

--AFP

Oh that's right, Noam. If you can't tell the truth, try to 
distort reality with false perceptions. Good luck with your 
America envy.    

<a href=http://www.thecun.com/animeerotism/up3.html>free galleries</a>

<a href=http://www.totalsexmovies.com/cutegirl/friend01nzo.html>galleries free</a>

Bin Laden and Zarqawi's October Surprise 
    By Steve Weissman 
    t r u t h o u t | Perspective 

    Thursday 21 October 2004 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
    Osama bin Laden finally voted for president. So did Abu 
Musab al Zarqawi, the Jordanian leader of "Monotheism and Holy 
War," alleged beheader of Western hostages in Iraq, and the 
U.S. target of choice in and around embattled Fallujah. Just 
this week, the two terrorist rivals reportedly put aside their 
differences and united their groups in a marriage of 
convenience, which leading Muslims observers and U.S. 
Intelligence take as genuine. 

    Strange as it seem, no one really knows if the two leading 
figures are still alive, or where they are, or even if the 
elusive Zarqawi, who supposedly received medical treatment in 
Baghdad, has one leg or two. From the various photos of him in 
the world's press, he looks like several different people. 

    But, whether bin Laden and Zarqawi are living fugitives 
with $25 million rewards on their heads or dead martyrs now 
manipulated by others, their forces have apparently joined 
together in their name. How will American voters respond to the 
news? 

    Will Zarqawi's freshly proclaimed allegiance of "to the 
chief of all fighters, Osama bin Laden" boost Mr. Bush's 
election chances, giving the president what he could never 
before find - a pack of genuine, if newly rebranded, al Qaida 
terrorists to kill or capture in Iraq? 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
    Or, will the news highlight all the cock-and-bull that 
Bush, Cheney, and Powell previously told us about Zarqawi, 
showing voters yet again how the war in Iraq only makes the 
terrorists stronger and more united? 

    Initially announced on a radical Islamic website, Zarqawi's 
enlistment in al-Qaida marked the start of the Islamic holy 
month of Ramadan, a time - said the statement - when "Muslims 
need more than ever to stick together in the face of the 
religion's enemies." 

    The formerly independent Zarqawi proclaimed bin Laden "the 
best leader for Islam's armies against all infidels and 
apostates." He also endorsed bin Laden's effort to "expel the 
infidels from the Arabian peninsula," removing Western 
influence from Saudi Arabia and its surrounding states. 

    So far, Team Bush has responded with caution, as if unsure 
whether an in-depth look at Zarqawi will help or hurt in the 
election campaign. White House spokesman Trent Duffy simply 
repeated the old refrain: "We always said there were ties 
between Zarqawi and al-Qaida, which underscores once again why 
Iraq is the central front in the war on terror." 

    To some, Zarqawi's present merger might suggest the 
opposite - that he was not working for al Qaida before, just as 
he was not working for Saddam when he hid out with Ansar al-
Islam in remote Kurdish areas in northern Iraq, where 
Washington had greater control than did Baghdad. As an old 
speechwriter once said, never let facts stand in the way of a 
good story. 

    To be fair to the White House spokesman, the truth offers 
far less appeal. Mr. Bush's war of choice has now forged two 
new enemy alliances. He has united the followers of bin Laden 
and Zarqawi. And, he has pushed them together with Saddam's 
former supporters in the Sunni triangle. 

    Far from bringing democracy to Iraq, our fundamentalist 
preacher president has become the prophet of radical Islamic 
unity. If he continues his ill-fated war, he will soon drive 
Iraq's Shiite majority, who formerly hated Zarqawi and the pro-
Saddam Sunnis, to join them in a common front against the 
American occupation and its handpicked Iraqi collaborators. 

    Who said Mr. Bush doesn't know how to build alliances? 

    Whether he sees any of this, maybe his handlers know. It 
might even fulfill one of his religious fantasies, creating a 
clash between Christianity and Islam that so many of his 
supporters seem to crave. Between denying reality and never 
admitting mistakes, Mr. Bush has led us into the realm of self-
fulfilling prophecy. 

    How then does the Bush campaign sell such a suicidal 
mission? 

    With fear and a mistakenly military view of how to fight 
the growth of radical Islamic terror. As spokesman Duffy added, 
bin Laden and Zarqawi's October surprise offered "proof 
positive of why the president's firm resolve to fight 
terrorists overseas so we don't face them in America's 
neighborhoods is the only clear way to prevail." 

    Vote for us ... or die! Kill them there before they kill us 
here. 

    Think about it. If Bin Laden and Zarqawi had only a finite 
number of terrorists - even in the tens of thousands, which so 
far they do not - the idea of luring them all into an Iraqi 
killing ground might have a macabre fascination. But while we 
fight a military war, bin Laden, Zarqawi, and other radical 
Islamists are waging a worldwide political struggle, using our 
killing ground in Iraq to win the support of several hundred 
million Muslims, who will provide a hundred years' supply of 
would-be martyrs. The longer we stay in Iraq, the harder we 
fight, the more we kill, the more of the world's Muslims we 
drive into the radical camp. 

    It's as if bin Laden had written the script, and poor Mr. 
Bush is playing it out to perfection. Will American voters 
catch on to where he and his simple-minded resolve are leading 
us? Or will they close their eyes and let him make it even 
worse? 



----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------
    A veteran of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement and the New 
Left monthly Ramparts, Steve Weissman lived for many years in 
London, working as a magazine writer and television producer. 
He now lives and works in France, where he writes for t r u t h 
o u t. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.comhttp://www.humiliateamerica.comht
tp://www.humiliateamerica.comhttp://www.humiliateamerica.com

Oil pipelines attacked
Saturday 23 October 2004, 16:08 Makka Time, 13:08 GMT  
Saboteurs have bombed two oil pipelines transporting crude from 
north and eastern Iraq to Baghdad's Dura refinery.

http://www.antiamerica.com
Major Ali Mahmud said National Guard forces were trying to 
extinguish a fire which damaged 150 metres of the Khana 
pipeline, northeast of Baghdad. 
http://www.antiamerica.com
He said another bomb was found on Saturday along the same line, 
and was safely defused. 

An oil official said saboteurs on Friday blew up a section of 
another oil pipeline in Mashada area, about 50km north of 
Baghdad. The pipeline feeds the same refinery which processes 
110,000 barrels per day (bpd). 

Attacks by armed fighters on Iraq's oil pipelines have 
disrupted refinery operations, and cost the US-backed interim 
government billions of dollars, including lost oil export 
proceeds and nearly $200 million a month worth of refined 
product imports. 

Saboteurs also hit a section of the northern oil export network 
on Thursday. Oil officials said crude kept flowing normally 
through alternative pipelines to Turkey's Ceyhan port at 
300,000 bpd. 
http://www.antiamerica.com
Iraq exports another 1.6 million bpd through two southern 
offshore terminals in the Gulf, and the flows there have been 
normal for about two months, the officials said. 

http://www.antiamerica.com

More than 800 former US soldiers have failed to comply with 
orders to get back in uniform and report for duty in Iraq or 
Afghanistan, according to the US army.



That is more than one-third of the total who were told to 
report to a mobilisation station by 17 October. 

Three weeks ago, the number stood at 622 amid talk that any who 
refused to report for duty could be declared absent without 
leave. Refusing to report for duty normally would lead to AWOL 
charges, but the US army is going out of its way to resolve 
these cases as quietly as possible.

In all, 4166 members of the Individual Ready Reserve have 
received mobilisation orders since 6 July, of which 2288 were 
to have reported by 17 October. The others are to report in 
coming weeks and months.

No-show rate

Of those due to have reported by now, 1445 have done so, but 
843 have neither reported nor asked for a delay or exemption. 
That no-show rate of 37% is roughly in line with the one-third 
rate the US army had forecast when it began the mobilisation to 
fill positions in regular and reserve units. 

Members of the Individual Ready Reserve, or IRR, are rarely 
called to active duty. The last time was 1990, when nearly 
20,000 were mobilised.

 
The first IIR Marine death in Iraq
was reported earlier this week
 

IRR members are people who were honourably discharged after 
finishing their active-duty tours, usually four to six years, 
but remained in the IRR for the rest of the eight-year 
commitment they made when they joined the army.

The Marine Corps, meanwhile, said Friday that a marine killed 
in western Iraq earlier this week, Sergeant Douglas E. Bascom, 
25, was a member of the Individual Ready Reserve.

He was the first IRR Marine to die in Iraq, according to 
Gunnery Sergeant Kristine Scharber, a spokeswoman at Marine 
Corps headquarters in the Pentagon.

Under pressure

There are about 400 IRR Marines deployed in Iraq and 
Afghanistan, according to Shane Darbonne, a spokesman for the 
Marine Corps Mobilisation Command.

Army officials said they were uncertain whether any of their 
Individual Ready Reserve members have been killed in Iraq.

That the US army has had to reach so deeply into its store of 
reserve soldiers is a measure of the strain the Iraq and 
Afghanistan campaigns have put on the active-duty US army.

When the American invading force toppled Baghdad in April 2003, 
the US army thought it would be sending most of its soldiers 
home within months. Instead, it has kept 100,000 or more there 
ever since.

Gunmen kill two Turkish truck drivers in Iraq - 
MISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSION 
ACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCOMPLISHED!!!! ha ha;) 
(http://www.thenausea.comhttp://www.thenausea.comhttp://www.then
ausea.comhttp://www.thenausea.comhttp://www.thenausea.comhttp://
) 
Gunmen kill two Turkish truck drivers in Iraq
Two Turkish truck drivers were killed and two wounded near the 
northern Iraqi city of Mosul on today, police and hospital 
officials said. 

One of the wounded drivers told Reuters they came under fire 
from gunmen while they were transporting canned juice to the US 
military in Mosul. 

Many Turkish truck drivers have been attacked or kidnapped 
along the highway from Turkey to Iraq. 

--Reuters
http://www.thenausea.com 
 

Iraqi militants behead collaborator: website
An Iraqi militant group said it beheaded an Iraqi man it 
accused of collaborating with US forces and posted pictures on 
Saturday of the killing on the Internet. 

The Army of Ansar al-Sunna said in a statement posted on its 
website that it had captured the man in the northern Iraqi city 
of Mosul where he was working at a US base. 

It showed a photograph of the man with his throat slit. 

--Reuters

Suicide bombers kill 20 Iraqi security officers
Suicide bombers killed 20 members of Iraq's fledgling security 
forces near a US marine base west of Baghdad and at a 
checkpoint north of the capital on Saturday in a spate of 
guerrilla attacks across the country. 

The surge in violence underlined the scale of the task facing 
the US military and Iraq's interim government, which have sworn 
to crush the guerrillas before elections in January. 

Hospital officials said 16 Iraqi police were killed and up to 
40 people were wounded when a suicide bomber struck an Iraqi 
police post near the marine base.

Another suicide bomber blew up his vehicle near a checkpoint 
manned by Iraqi National Guards in the village of Ishaqi, close 
to the town of Samarra, north of Baghdad, killing four guards. 

A policeman was killed by a roadside bomb in Samarra. 

Elsewhere across the Sunni Arab heartland of central Iraq, 
there was no let up in violence that the interim Government and 
Washington blame on Saddam Hussein supporters and foreign 
Islamic militants. 

Guerrillas killed two Turkish truckers and wounded two in an 
attack on a convoy near the northern city of Mosul, police 
said. 

Baghdad attacks

In central Baghdad guerrillas fired two mortar rounds, killing 
two civilians and wounding one, witnesses said. 

Six US soldiers were wounded when their armoured vehicle was 
hit by a bomb on a highway leading to Baghdad airport. 

Saboteurs bombed two oil pipelines transporting crude from 
northern and eastern Iraq to Baghdad's Dora refinery. Neither 
pipeline carries oil for export. 

The US military said it had captured a lieutenant of its top 
foe in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and five other suspects in 
an overnight raid on what it said was a hideout of the 
Jordanian militant's network in the south of Fallujah. 

US forces also launched a new air strike on the rebel-held 
militant stronghold city, about 50 kilometres west of Baghdad, 
killing two people and wounding three. 

US military did not name the man or give his nationality, but 
said he had once been viewed as a minor member of Zarqawi's 
militant Tawhid wal Jihad (One God and Holy war) group. 

"However, due to a surge in the number of Zarqawi associates 
who have been captured or killed by (US) strikes and other 
operations, the member had moved up to take a critical position 
as a Zarqawi senior leader," the military said in a statement. 

Fallujah assault 

It said Fallujah was a shrinking haven for Zarqawi's group, 
widely blamed for some of Iraq's bloodiest violence. 

"Zarqawi followers are starting to move to outlying areas of 
Fallujah in a continuing attempt to hide amidst the civilian 
population of Fallujah due to precision strikes against Zarqawi 
hideouts and fighting positions," the military said. 

Residents of Fallujah deny knowledge of Zarqawi's militants and 
say frequent US air strikes inflict a heavy civilian toll. 

Tawhid wal Jihad has declared loyalty to Osama bin Laden's Al 
Qaeda and has claimed responsibility for beheading several 
foreign hostages. 

It has not said it is holding Margaret Hassan, who was abducted 
on Tuesday on her way to work at the aid agency Care 
International, whose operations she headed in Baghdad. 

Ms Hassan, who holds Iraqi, British and Irish citizenship, made 
a tearful plea for her life in a video broadcast on Friday. 

Hassan's husband, Tahsin Hassan, and Care International made 
separate appeals for her release. 

"It is painful to see my wife cry. That image saddened and 
worried her friends and loved ones," Mr Hassan said on Al 
Arabiya television. 

"I ask you in the name of Islam and Arabism, and during the 
holiest Muslim month for my wife to return to me," he said. 

"Margaret is an Iraqi citizen and has lived here for over 30 
years. She considers Iraq her home and loves it and that is why 
she dedicated her life to helping her people in Iraq." 

Groups working with Care, from hospitals to water projects, 
plan a protest in Baghdad on Monday demanding Ms Hassan's 
release. 

The Army of Ansar al-Sunna militant group said it had beheaded 
an Iraqi man it accused of collaborating with US forces and 
posted pictures of the killing on the Internet. 

In the video, Ms Hassan urged Britons to press their government 
to withdraw British troops and not move them to Baghdad. 

The video surfaced a day after Britain said it would move 850 
troops from southern Iraq to an area near Baghdad, to cover for 
US forces likely to be sent to attack rebels in Fallujah. 

The US military is widely believed to be preparing for an 
assault on Fallujah, in line with a pledge by the US-backed 
interim Government to retake all rebel-held cities to enable 
all Iraqis to vote in nationwide elections scheduled for 
January. 

The interim Government said it had resumed talks with Fallujah 
leaders designed to find a peaceful solution. 

--Reuters

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Bizarro Bush 
He's the exact opposite of what a president should be  
by Justin Raimondo 
The somewhat fanciful theory that 9/11 blasted a hole in the 
space-time continuum and propelled us all into an inverted 
alternate universe   Bizarro World   where up is down, right is 
left, and the President of the United States is the most 
uninformed person on earth, was only supposed to be a joke on my 
part, a literary device designed to make the point that American 
society, or most of it, has been thrown off kilter. But I fear 
that it has become quite literally true, and the evidence, I 
submit, is Pat Robertson's recent statement to CNN's Paula Zahn:

"I met with [George W. Bush] down in Nashville before the Gulf 
war started. And he was the most self-assured man I ever met in 
my life . He was just sitting there, like, I'm on top of the 
world, and I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings 
about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, 'Mr. 
President, you better prepare the American people for 
casualties.'

"'Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties,' Robertson 
quoted Bush as saying. 'Well,' I said, 'it's the way it's going 
to be. . . . The Lord told me it was going to be, A, a disaster 
and, B, messy.'"

Compared to Bush, Robertson is a member of the "reality-based 
community" so disdained by this White House. But since both 
Robertson and the president claim to have a direct line to the 
Almighty, perhaps one of them has gotten his wires crossed. In 
any case, it isn't readily apparent whether the fundamentalist 
preacher   who also claims some degree of control over the 
weather and recently threatened to start a third party if Bush 
messes with his plans for the Holy Land   is all that credible. 
Except that Robertson's claim not only fits in perfectly with 
what we already know about George W. Bush   his incoherence, his 
invincible ignorance, the cocoon-like environment in which he 
operates   it also seems to confirm my Bizarro World thesis.

In Bizarro World, water flows up, bad news is celebrated, clocks 
tick backwards   and the least qualified person in the nation is 
routinely picked to be its chief executive. 

In the real world   home base for those of us still stuck in 
the "reality-based community"   the most qualified people to 
advise the president and make policy are centered in and around 
the White House: the president has all the best, most updated 
information because he is surrounded by the Best and the 
Brightest.

But that was then, this is now. We are living in the Bizarro 
Era, a time when only obscure bloggers and other lone voices in 
the wilderness can predict the disastrous consequences of 
throwing a lighted match into the volatile Middle Eastern oil 
patch. The president, and his advisors, knew better.

Casualties? What casualties?

After all, the neocons had been whispering in the presidential 
ear that it was going to be a "cakewalk." The Iraqi people would 
pour into the streets of Baghdad and hail us as 
their "liberators," just as the French had lined the boulevards 
of Paris when the Allies took the city. In very short order we 
would find Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction," uncover 
Iraq's links to al-Qaeda, and obtain irrefutable evidence that 
the administration was right all along. The only American 
casualties of this war would be the dire predictions of the 
antiwar movement and its few supporters in the "mainstream" 
media, who would be shamed into silence in the victorious 
aftermath.

Except it didn't turn out that way.

The theory that 9/11 ripped a hole in the space-time continuum, 
and that this tear is expanding, and coming to envelop much of 
the United States and other parts of the world, may need to be 
amended. When even a wingding like Robertson begins to notice 
that there's something screwy going on in the Bush White House, 
it is time to question the basic premises of the ever-expanding 
Bizarro universe. The shock of 9/11 was very great, but perhaps 
not so traumatic as to permanently impair our ability to 
perceive reality. Or it could be that the Bizarro Effect has 
impacted different people in diverse ways, or that, in most 
cases, the effects were only temporary. Now that the initial 
shock is beginning to wear off, and people are coming back to 
their senses, many are beginning to raise the question of 
whether the president is all there.

Quite aside from partisan attacks coming from the Kerry camp, 
the most biting critique has come from Brent Scowcroft, who 
mused to Britain's Financial Times the other day that while the 
transatlantic relationship is "in general bad," George W. Bush's 
attention is elsewhere: 

"[Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon just has him wrapped 
around his little finger. I think the president is mesmerized. 
When there is a suicide attack [followed by a reprisal] Sharon 
calls the president and says, 'I'm on the front line of 
terrorism', and the president says, 'Yes, you are. . . ' He [Mr. 
Sharon] has been nothing but trouble."

The colorful history of mesmerism and the recent evolution of 
U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East do exhibit certain 
similarities. While Dr. Franz Anton Mesmer went around 
eighteenth century Paris bilking society matrons out of their 
money and the credulous out of their reason, convincing his 
patients to engage in all sorts of unlikely acts and attributing 
his quack "cures" to a superior knowledge, so our modern 
mesmerists   otherwise known as neocons   bilked the Bushies and 
a thoroughly propagandized American public, convincing the 
nation   including the Democratic nominee for president   that 
the decision to go to war was the right one. 

That, at least, is what several conservative Republicans, and 
not only Scowcroft, have been telling us: Robert Novak and Pat 
Buchanan would have us believe that the high tide of empire has 
been reached, and the troops will start coming home after Iraq's 
January elections. "This is a man who's really driven to seek re-
election and done a lot of things with that in mind," says 
Scowcroft, but "I have something of a hunch that the second 
administration will be quite different from the first." Simon 
Jenkins, writing in the London Times, agrees.

"Even the most severe critic of the occupation must accept the 
need for an exit plan. This involves half-decent elections in 
January, a declared 'victory for democracy' and withdrawal, with 
the winner left to cut his own deals with the local militias. 
For this to be plausible, the holding of some sort of election 
in Sunni territory is vital. Fallujah was turned anti-American 
by Paul Bremer's mass public sector dismissals and by the 82nd 
Airborne's brutal patrolling. Ninety per cent of the population 
has apparently fled the nightly bombardment. If the Americans 
can now take and hold Fallujah for just a few weeks, a swift 
post-election exit is at least possible."

So that explains why they're blasting Fallujah to smithereens: 
they're in a hurry to get out. I tend toward an alternate 
explanation: that Fallujah is a symbol of Arab defiance that 
must not be allowed to stand, and that the same hard-liners in 
the Pentagon who brought us Abu Ghraib   and lied us into this 
mess to begin with   are firmly in control. Jenkins, however, is 
more optimistic:

"No sensible person on either side of the Atlantic wants this 
occupation to continue much longer. The only debate concerns the 
degree of indignity attaching to departure. Iraq is not 'getting 
better' under Western occupation. Wherever politics matters, 
Iraq south of Kurdistan is getting worse: worse for women, worse 
for the middle classes, worse for slum-dwellers, worse for local 
minorities, worse for Christians, worse for aid agencies and 
worse for their beneficiaries. Only a fool could see Iraq as 
being on its way to the tolerant, pro-Israeli, secular democracy 
of neoconservative fantasy. There are no fools left within a 
thousand miles of Baghdad."

I am not quite sure of the distance between Washington and 
Baghdad, but it's surely more than a mere thousand miles. The 
point is that the Bizarro Effect seems to have had a much less 
severe impact across the Atlantic: the shockwaves did not 
totally deprive the Brits of their reason. Although they allowed 
themselves to be bullied by the more neocon-ized New Labourites 
into the role of fleas on Bush's poodle, the British people are 
beginning to wonder why their own troops must be used as 
mercenaries in America's political wars. 

As the Bizarro Effect begins to fade, Americans are starting to 
wake up to the reality that their own troops were rushed into 
war to shore up the political fortunes of Israel's Likud party. 
The Sharon government could not have long survived without the 
political support of George W. Bush, and the systematic 
reduction and elimination of Israel's regional enemies: 
including not only the invasion of Iraq but U.S. sanctions 
imposed on Syria, U.S. approval of the "security wall," and a 
looming confrontation with Iran. Israeli extremists, along with 
the Iranian mullahs and Osama bin Laden, have been empowered as 
never before. Prime Minister Sharon, seen abroad as an 
uncompromising hardliner, is denounced by members of his own 
party as a "traitor" for abandoning Gaza, which is, according to 
radical Zionist dogma, part of "Greater Israel" by rights. The 
result is that Sharon's life is in danger. 

Some pretty weird stuff is going on in Israel, which has been 
suffering from the Bizarro Effect practically since the day of 
its birth. The country we are supposed to believe is a citadel 
of democracy holding out against a wave of medieval darkness 
regularly engages in a campaign of lies and disinformation that 
would do justice to any totalitarian state. The latest example: 
a video shot by an Israeli spy drone, unveiled with great 
fanfare by the Israeli government, which purportedly showed a 
terrorist stocking up a UN ambulance with homemade missiles. In 
New York, Israel's ambassador to the UN demanded the resignation 
of the head of the UN relief agency, and this grainy black-and-
white footage was added to the litany of proof that global anti-
Semitism is on the rise. 

The whole story began to unravel when a closer look revealed 
that the object depicted in the video was too thin and too light 
to be a missile. The next day, the UN agency produced the driver 
of the ambulance, who turned out to be no suicide bomber and 
explained that the object was a rolled up stretcher: the crew 
had just returned from a false alarm. The IDF and Israeli 
foreign ministry websites quickly deleted the video "evidence" 
of UN-Palestinian perfidy, and, as the Sydney Morning Herald 
reports:

"The Israeli security establishment was in disarray, with some 
anonymous 'senior officials' briefing journalists that the UN's 
version was probably correct. Officially, a defense forces 
spokesman would yesterday only say that 'we are reviewing the 
analysis because of the questions asked.' He insisted that even 
if the defense forces has been wrong this time, it knew for a 
fact that the UN often helped terrorists in smuggling weapons 
and carrying out their missions."

Facts don't matter. Objective reality doesn't exist. Governments 
create reality, and the purpose of intelligence-gathering is to 
confirm what we already know. This is how we were bamboozled 
into war in Iraq, and it is how the Israeli people are being 
lied to by their own government in order to perpetuate the 
Israeli Right's politics of hate. 

I have warned, in the past, about the rising danger of ultra-
Zionist right-wing extremism in Israel, and, in view of 
incidents like this one, it seems somehow ironic that all too 
many American Christians of Pat Robertson's ilk are encouraging 
the growth of this dangerous phenomenon.

Of course, Robertson "knew" that our intervention in Iraq would 
be a "disaster," as he puts it, since his theology holds that 
the "end times" will be prefigured by Israel's war against a 
Satanic Middle Eastern power, the whole thing will end 
catastrophically   and that's when Jesus comes back to save the 
world. 

So, you see, a war Robertson describes as a "disaster" in his 
theology is really a good thing. Disaster brings us closer to 
the "end times," the Iraq war is hastening Armageddon, and 
that's a good thing, too, according to the Bizarro theology of 
Robertson and his mesmerized flock.

Get ready for the Rapture, my friends, and make sure you pull 
that lever and vote Republican   because if you don't, then 
we'll be spared the fulfillment of all those dire Biblical 
prophecies, and the Second Coming will be delayed. Yes, the 
Rapturists are crazed enough to believe that human intervention 
can have an effect on the timing. 

It's like a Bizarro World remake of that infamous television ad 
attacking Barry Goldwater, the one with the little girl pulling 
petals off a daisy as the countdown sounded, ending in a nuclear 
explosion. Originally meant to underscore a dire threat to the 
peace, in the Bizarro world of Robertson and his followers it 
amounts to an endorsement   because we just know that little 
girl is going to Heaven. 

I keep hearing that things can only get better. Bruce Bartlett 
assures us "If Bush wins, there will be a civil war in the 
Republican Party starting on Nov. 3." Ron Suskind's much talked 
about piece in last Sunday's New York Times Magazine opens with 
the complaints of "libertarian Republican" Bartlett, 

"Just in the past few months, I think a light has gone off for 
people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct 
he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea 
of what he thinks God has told him to do.

''This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about al-Qaeda and 
the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill 
them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, 
driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just 
like them. . . . 

'''This is why he dispenses with people who confront him with 
inconvenient facts' Bartlett went on to say. 'He truly believes 
he's on a mission from God. Absolute faith like that overwhelms 
a need for analysis. The whole thing about faith is to believe 
things for which there is no empirical evidence.' Bartlett 
paused, then said, 'But you can't run the world on faith.'"

Buchanan and Novak are pushing this same meme, and I even wrote 
a piece speculating on the possibility that it just might be 
true: the president will pull a U-turn in Iraq if he's 
reelected, and more interventions are off the table. On second 
thought, however, this scenario seems oddly counterintuitive. If 
Bush wins, the Republican party and the "mainstream" 
conservative movement are going to be confirmed in their 
interventionism. The neocons will hail his reelection as a 
mandate for war, and a fresh wave of triumphalism will sweep 
through the GOP and embolden the War Party. The Republican civil 
war Bartlett predicts is not likely to break out until and 
unless Bush is defeated. 

In which case, it won't be confined to the GOP. If Kerry wins, 
the peaceniks who stopped demonstrating against the war to 
devote all their energies to getting him elected are going to 
demand he start delivering. That's when a civil war is going to 
break out in the Democratic party that will make Bartlett and 
his fellow libertarian Republicans green with envy   or am I 
giving antiwar Democrats too much credit? 

Will an immoral war that was started and continues to be fought 
on Israel's behalf   one that has turned into our very own West 
Bank   become Kerry's war, and therefore a holy crusade for the 
American liberal-left, just as the war to destroy Yugoslavia was 
a Clintonian jihad? It's not too hard to imagine.

Bizarro Kerry will assure his "antiwar" followers that we have 
to "win" before we withdraw, and that a war we should never have 
started must be fought to the bloody finish. Will they swallow 
it?

They'll do it because they have faith in their leader, their 
party, and their emotional attachments that transcend human 
reason. Absolute faith overwhelms the need for analysis, and 
dispenses with empirical facts   like that Israeli spokesman who 
insisted that even if the evidence wasn't what it was purported 
to be, still it illustrated an intrinsic truth. It's all 
perfectly logical   in Bizarro World.

  Justin Raimondo
 

Three US soldiers and their interpreter have been seriously 
injured following a roadside bomb explosion in southern 
Afghanistan. - "seriously injured" - This Is Serious Mum!!! (A 
US Chinook clears up the remains of a previous attack - 
http://www.jesusisacunt.com-------------yes he 
is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) 
Three US soldiers and their interpreter have been seriously 
injured following a roadside bomb explosion in southern 
Afghanistan.

http://www.jesusisacunt.com
The US military confirmed on Thursday that the blast also 
destroyed two Humvees in which the four were travelling.
http://www.jesusisacunt.com
The attack occured in the Neka district of Paktika province on 
Afghanistan's southeastern border with Pakistan. 
http://www.jesusisacunt.com
One of the soldiers was in critical condition, according to a US 
spokesman in Kabul.
http://www.jesusisacunt.com
The wounded have been evacuated to Salerno Fire Base in the 
neighbouring Khost province. The third soldier and the 
interpreter were both reported to be stable. 
http://www.jesusisacunt.com
There has been no claim of responsibility, but Taliban and other 
groups opposed to the US military presence are active in 
Afghanistan's southern provinces.
http://www.jesusisacunt.com
Rocket attacks and improvised explosive devices are their most 
common forms of attack.
A US Chinook clears up the remains of a previous attack 
 

Stocks Tumble As Oil Tops $55 Per Barrel - 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~$55!!!! (again)! (hahahha CUNTS) 
Stocks Tumble As Oil Tops $55 Per Barrel
Oct 22, 5:44 PM (ET)

By MICHAEL J. MARTINEZ
NEW YORK (AP) - Worried investors sent stocks tumbling Friday as 
crude oil futures topped $55 per barrel and tepid earnings from 
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and the Coca-Cola Co. offset Google Inc. 
(GOOG)'s strong third-quarter report. The Dow Jones industrials 
fell nearly 108 points, while the Nasdaq composite index dropped 
2 percent. The major indexes finished the week mixed.
http://www.boycottusa.org
Oil prices again pressured the market, casting doubt not only on 
fourth-quarter earnings, but also on the health of the economy 
as a whole. A barrel of light crude was quoted at $55.17, up 70 
cents, on the New York Mercantile 
Exchange.http://www.boycottusa.org

"These oil prices are really going to bite the consumer at some 
point. Heating oil is up, it's supposed to be a very cold winter 
in the Northeast, and lower and middle income people are going 
to pay," said Russ Koesterich, U.S. equity strategist at State 
Street Corp. (STT) "Combine that with a total lack of 
fundamentals in the big name stocks, and there are very few 
places left to hide for investors."
http://www.boycottusa.org
Shares of Google surged in early trading as the online search 
giant doubled both revenues and profits from a year ago. Like 
its initial public offering two months ago, Google was one of 
the few bright spots in an otherwise depressed market.

http://www.boycottusa.org


The Dow Jones industrial average fell 107.95, or 1.1 percent, to 
9,757.81, setting a new low for the year to date and posting its 
lowest reading since Nov. 24.

Broader stock indicators also were substantially lower. The 
Nasdaq composite index lost 38.48, or 2 percent, to 1,915.14, 
its biggest one-day drop since Aug. 6. The Standard & Poor's 500 
index was down 10.75, or 1 percent, at 1,095.74, its lowest 
close since Aug. 23.

The Dow and S&P 500 lost ground for the third straight week, as 
the continued rise in oil prices and middling earnings reports 
again sapped confidence from investors. A wait-and-see attitude 
also pervaded the market, with major economic reports, including 
the first reading of the third quarter's gross domestic product, 
and the presidential election looming.

However, the Nasdaq managed a slim gain as technology earnings 
outpaced those of other sectors.

For the week, the Dow lost 1.77 percent, and the S&P dropped 
1.12 percent, while the Nasdaq gained 0.19 percent.

http://www.boycottusa.org

Google's earnings impressed analysts, with Prudential raising 
the company's target stock price to $200 early Friday. Google 
skyrocketed $23.05, or 15.4 percent to $172.43, but other major 
technology stocks stole any momentum Google might have 
generated. 
 
You've got one darling here surrounded by a bunch of less-than-
hopefuls, and that's not going to boost anything other than the 
darling," said Bryan Piskorowski, market analyst at Wachovia 
Securities. "With oil up and nobody really stepping out with 
earnings other than Google, we're sliding here."

Dow component Microsoft slipped 82 cents to $27.74 after beating 
Wall Street estimates by 2 cents per share before one-time 
charges. Analysts were concerned about a dropoff in long-term 
contract revenues, a possible sign that demand for the company's 
software was waning as companies waited for a long-delayed 
update of the Windows operating system.

Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) missed its third-quarter 
earnings forecasts by a penny per share, even as the company saw 
its profits triple from a year ago. A disappointing 2005 sales 
outlook further disappointed investors. Amazon.com tumbled 
$4.87, or 12.3 percent, to $34.60.

Coca-Cola, also a Dow component, slid 58 cents to $38.90 after 
posting a 24 percent drop in quarterly profits on flat revenues. 
However, the soft-drink giant managed to beat reduced Wall 
Street estimates by 3 cents per share.
http://www.boycottusa.com
Fast-food operator Wendy's International Inc. (WEN) posted a 4 
percent rise in its third-quarter profits, but issued a lower 
outlook for its full 2004 results. Wendy's was up 93 cents at 
$32.73.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by about 9 to 5 on the 
New York Stock Exchange, where preliminary consolidated volume 
came to 1.84 billion shares, compared with 2.06 billion on 
Thursday.
http://www.boycottusa.com
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was down 8.89, or 
1.5 percent, at 567.77.

Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.63 percent. In 
afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 closed down 0.04 percent, 
France's CAC-40 lost 0.01 percent for the session, and Germany's 
DAX index gained 0.03 percent.

---http://www.boycottusa.com

The Dow Jones industrials ended the week down 175.57, or 1.77 
percent, finishing at 9,757.81. The S&P 500 index fell 12.46, or 
1.12 percent, to close at 1,095.74.
http://www.boycottusa.com
The Nasdaq gained 3.64, or 0.19 percent, during the week, 
closing Friday at 1,915.14.

The Russell 2000 index, which tracks smaller company stocks, 
closed the week 1.64, or 0.29 percent, lower at 567.78.
http://www.boycottusa.com
The Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 Composite Index - an index that 
measures 5,000 U.S. based companies- ended the week at 
10,748.04, off 90.63 points from last week. A year ago, the 
index was 9,983.50.

---

On the Net:

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.boycottusa.org

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.boycottusa.com

Parents: Teacher Made Kids Smell Urine

The Associated Press
October 22, 2004


Email this story. 

A group of parents has accused a teacher at Fairdale Elementary 
School of forcing their sons to go into the classroom bathroom 
and take deep breaths because there was urine on and around the 
toilet. "She wanted them to see how bad it smelled," said parent 
Shelley Howerton.

Howerton and other parents claim the unidentified teacher 
violated the boys' rights. Ten parents and three children, 
including Howerton and her son Atrayo, protested outside the 
school on Thursday.

"This made me sick," said parent Jamie Harvey.

Atrayo said he was embarrassed by the alleged incident.

School officials said the parents' allegation is being 
investigated.

"We're going to do what's best for these young children," said 
Miller Hall, Raleigh County director of pupil services. "This is 
an issue we are going to investigate, but right now it's all 
hearsay."

"Some kids have said it didn't happen. ... We have to get 
evidence, talk to witnesses and follow due process. Then we have 
to look at the policy, and if there was any wrongdoing, we will 
deal with it accordingly. ... But (the teacher is) innocent 
until proven guilty."

---

Information from: The Register-Herald,

Hey you sick fuck,

I LOVE Israel, so fuck off and die.       

"Sharon just has him wrapped around his little finger," 
Scowcroft told London's Financial Times. "I think the president 
is mesmerized." - Ex-Security Adviser Rips Bush Diplomacy - And 
blackmailed. Don't forget the blackmail. 
(http://www.truthout.orghttp://www.truthout.orghttp://www.truthou
t.orghttp://www.truthout.orghttp://www.truthout.orghttp://www.t) 
Ex-Security Adviser Rips Bush Diplomacy 

Sun Oct 17, 6:53 AM ET 

http://www.truthout.org
WASHINGTON - The national security adviser under the first 
President Bush (news - web sites) says the current president 
acted contemptuously toward NATO (news - web sites) and Europe 
after Sept. 11 and is trying to cooperate now out of desperation 
to "rescue a failing venture" in Iraq (news - web sites) and 
Afghanistan (news - web sites). 
http://www.truthout.org


Brent Scowcroft, a mentor to the current national security 
adviser, Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), also said in an 
interview published in England that Bush is inordinately 
influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (news - web 
sites). 

http://www.truthout.org
"Sharon just has him wrapped around his little finger," 
Scowcroft told London's Financial Times. "I think the president 
is mesmerized." http://www.truthout.org


Scowcroft said the Bush administration's "unilateralist" 
position was partly responsible for the post-Sept. 11, 2001, 
decline of the trans-Atlantic relationship. 
http://www.truthout.org


"It's in general bad," he said. "It's not really hostile, but 
there's an edge to it." 

http://www.truthout.orghttp://www.truthout.org
Early on, he said, "We had gotten contemptuous of Europeans and 
their weaknesses. We had really turned unilateral." 


Although slightly diminished since then, the unilateralist 
policies remain fundamentally little changed, Scowcroft said. 
Recent overtures to cooperate in Afghanistan and Iraq with the 
United Nations (news - web sites) and NATO were "as much an act 
of desperation as anything else ... to rescue a failing 
venture." 


On Israel and Sharon, the former security adviser said Sharon 
calls Bush after strongly retaliating for a Palestinian suicide 
attack and says: "`I'm on the front line of terrorism,' and the 
president says, `Yes, you are.'" 


Scowcroft said Sharon "has been nothing but trouble."
 
 

CUNT OFF!

So you think that "oil for food" has made the world any better 
off?                     

Annan: World not safer after Iraq war

http://www.boycottusa.org
Monday 18 October 2004, 2:28 Makka Time, 23:28 GMT
The US-led war in Iraq has not made the world any safer, UN 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan says.
http://www.boycottusa.org


"I cannot say the world is safer when you consider the violence 
around us, when you look around you and see the terrorist 
attacks around the world and you see what is going on in Iraq," 
Annan told the British ITV network on Sunday.

"We have a lot of work to do as an international community to 
try and make the world safer," he said.

Annan has previously described the US-led war that toppled 
Saddam Hussein as "illegal".

He told ITV that Iraq was on track to hold elections at the end 
of January and said he would speak out if he was not satisfied 
with the way they were conducted.

"If that sort of judgment or any decision which is made which we 
think detracts from the credibility and viability of the 
elections, we will be duty bound to say so," he said.

Nations not bought
http://www.boycottusa.com
Annan also dismissed any suggestion that France, Russia and 
China had been prepared to ease sanctions on Iraq in return for 
oil contracts. 
http://www.boycottusa.org
"I cannot say the world is safer when you consider the violence 
around us, when you look around you and see the terrorist 
attacks around the world and you see what is going on in Iraq" 

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan
 

The US-led Iraq Survey Group said earlier this month that Iraq 
tried to manipulate foreign governments by awarding contracts - 
and bribes - to foreign companies and political figures in 
countries that showed support for ending sanctions, in 
particular Russia, France and China.

But Annan said it was "inconceivable" Saddam's activities could 
have influenced policy in the countries concerned.

"I don't think the Russian or the French or the Chinese 
governments would allow itself to be bought," the UN chief said.
http://www.boycottusa.org
"I think it's inconceivable. These are very serious and 
important governments. You are not dealing with banana 
republics."
http://www.boycottusa.org

CONTROVERSY ERUPTS AS VOTING BEGINS IN FLORIDA: DNC/KERRY BALLOT 
COLLECTION CALLED 'UNLAWFUL'

**Exclusive**

As early voting begins Monday in the sunburn state of Florida 
controversy has already developed around a Democratic National 
Committee/Kerry-Edwards election manual. 

The election manual titled -- "FLORIDA VICTORY 2004" -obtained 
by the DRUDGE REPORT, advocates an apparent unlawful "BALLOT 
PICKUP" drive by campaign volunteers.

The DNC Kerry/Edwards manual states: 

"In Florida, it is legal to handle ballots. This means it is 
possible for the campaign to canvass base neighborhoods, pick up 
completed ballots and deliver them to Early Vote locations. We 
will incorporate these deliveries into our Early Vote canvassing 
program."

But Florida State election law - as detailed at: 
http://election.dos.state.fl.us/absenteevoting.shtml - is in 
sharp contrast and conflicts with the Dem plan. 

"A designee may pick up an absentee ballot for a voter on 
election day or 4 days before election day. A designee may only 
pick up two absentee ballots per election, other than his or her 
own ballot or ballots for members of his or her immediate 
family. Designees must have written authorization from the 
voter, present a picture I.D. and sign an affidavit. Candidates 
may pick up absentee ballots only for members of their immediate 
family."

It is not clear as this transmits, if any Dem operatives have 
yet collected ballots. A legal challenge will be filed to stop 
any action, top Republican sources tell DRUDGE.

Dem officials point to difference between blank and completed 
ballots. 

The exhaustive how-to FLORIDA VICTORY 2004 manual runs 26 pages 
with an 18 page appendix. It is signed by the DNC, Kerry 
Edwards, Florida Democrat Party, Kerry Edwards Campaign Chair, 
Florida Victory 2004, Florida AFL-CIO, Florida Education 
Association, Academy of Florida Trial Lawyers, and Florida SEIU.
http://www.robert-fisk.com

General Reported Shortages In Iraq
Situation Is Improved, Top Army Officials Say

By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 18, 2004; Page A01 

The top U.S. commander in Iraq complained to the Pentagon last 
winter that his supply situation was so poor that it threatened 
Army troops' ability to fight, according to an official document 
that has surfaced only now. 

The lack of key spare parts for gear vital to combat operations, 
such as tanks and helicopters, was causing problems so severe, 
Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez wrote in a letter to top Army 
officials, that "I cannot continue to support sustained combat 
operations with rates this low." 
Senior Army officials said that most of Sanchez's concerns have 
been addressed in recent months but that they continue to keep a 
close eye on the problems he identified. The situation 
is "substantially better" now, said Gary Motsek, deputy director 
of operations for the Army Materiel Command. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
Sanchez, who was the senior commander on the ground in Iraq from 
the summer of 2003 until the summer of 2004, said in his letter 
that Army units in Iraq were "struggling just to maintain . . . 
relatively low readiness rates" on key combat systems, such as M-
1 Abrams tanks, Bradley Fighting Vehicles, anti-mortar radars 
and Black Hawk helicopters. 

He also said units were waiting an average of 40 days for 
critical spare parts, which he noted was almost three times the 
Army's average. In some Army supply depots in Iraq, 40 percent 
of critical parts were at "zero balance," meaning they were 
absent from depot shelves, he said. 

He also protested in his letter, sent Dec. 4 to the number two 
officer in the Army, with copies to other senior officials, that 
his soldiers still needed protective inserts to upgrade 36,000 
sets of body armor but that their delivery had been postponed 
twice in the month before he was writing. There were 131,000 
U.S. troops in Iraq at the time. 

In what appears to be a plea to top officials to spur the 
bureaucracy to respond more quickly, Sanchez concluded, "I 
cannot sustain readiness without Army-level intervention." 

Sanchez, who since has moved back to his permanent base in 
Germany, did not respond to telephone and e-mail messages 
seeking comment. 

His letter of concern has surfaced after repeated statements by 
President Bush that he is determined to ensure that U.S. troops 
fighting in Iraq have all that they need to execute their 
missions. "I have pledged, as has the secretary of defense, to 
give our troops everything that is necessary to complete their 
mission with the utmost safety," he said in May. Earlier this 
month in Manchester, N.H., he said, "When America puts our 
troops in combat, I believe they deserve the best training, the 
best equipment, the full support of our government." 
Christianson said Sanchez sent only one such statement of 
concern from Iraq. "It's the only one we received from Rick that 
had anything to do with readiness," he said. He said he had not 
been shocked by the letter because Army logisticians were aware 
of the problems, agreed with Sanchez's assessment of them and 
already were taking steps to remedy them. 
http://www.antiamerica.com
Motsek said the readiness of ground combat systems such as tanks 
and Bradley Fighting Vehicles remains a concern but no longer 
must be handled on an "emergency" basis, with tracks and other 
heavy parts being shipped by air. "We are now at the point where 
we can routinely ship tracks" by sea, which is far less 
expensive, he said. That is mainly because the manufacturing 
capacity to produce tracks has expanded to meet the unexpected 
surge in demand caused by fighting in Iraq, he said. 
A copy of Sanchez's letter was given to The Washington Post by a 
person familiar with the situation who was dismayed that front-
line troops had not been adequately supplied. That person also 
disagrees with the Bush administration's handling of Iraq, but 
said that was not part of the motivation in providing the 
document. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
The disclosure of Sanchez's concerns also follows recent 
comments by former ambassador L. Paul Bremer, Sanchez's civilian 
counterpart in running the U.S. occupation of Iraq, that he 
believed more troops were needed in Iraq and had asked the Bush 
administration to send them. 

Lt. Gen. Claude V. Christianson, the senior logistics officer on 
the Army staff at the Pentagon, said the readiness problems in 
Iraq peaked last fall but largely have been addressed. He said 
they were caused by a combination of problems in the supply 
pipeline and an unexpectedly high pace of combat operations as 
the Iraqi insurgency flared last year. 

"All of a sudden, at the end of July [2003], the insurgency 
started to do that IED business all over Iraq," he noted, using 
the acronym for "improvised explosive device," the military's 
term for roadside bombs. In response, the pace, or "operating 
tempo," for U.S. troops jumped, causing them to use their tanks 
and other armored vehicles at much higher rates than had been 
expected. 

"The tanks are operating at 3,000 to 4,000 miles a year," 
Christianson said, which he noted is about five times the rate 
they are driven while being used for training at their home 
bases. The readiness rate for M-1 Abrams tanks fell to 78 
percent last October, he said, compared with an Army standard of 
90 percent. Because of the intensity of recent operations, said 
Motsek of the Army Materiel Command, the readiness rate for the 
tanks recently dropped from 95 percent to 83 percent. 

Readiness rates also generally dipped last spring when 
insurgents destroyed seven bridges along the main supply route 
from Kuwait to Baghdad, Christianson said. In some cases, he 
said, supplies were cut off for "several days." 

But he said the supply situation has improved since then, even 
as the pace of U.S. combat operations has remained intense. The 
waiting period for critical spare parts in Iraq is now about 24 
days, about half of what it was when Sanchez wrote his letter, 
Christianson said. 

The body armor problem -- which had become a hot-button issue 
with Congress after some families bought protective armor 
privately and shipped it to their relatives in the Army in Iraq -
- was solved sooner, Christianson noted, with all troops in Iraq 
equipped with updated gear by the end of January, about seven 
weeks after Sanchez wrote his letter. 

Sanchez's letter was sent after the most intense insurgent 
offensive the U.S.-led occupation force had seen up to that 
point. In a series of attacks that coincided with the start of 
the Muslim holy month of Ramadan near the end of October last 
year, 87 U.S. service members were killed. Under Islam's lunar 
calendar, Ramadan this year began a few days ago. 
http://www.antiamerica.com
Staff writer Mike Allen contributed to this report. 

Crude Oil Price Surges Past $55
 http://www.robert-fisk.com

Oct 18, 12:46 AM (ET)

By YEOH EN-LAI
 http://www.robert-fisk.com
 
 
http://www.robert-fisk.com
 
http://www.robert-fisk.com

SINGAPORE (AP) - Crude oil prices surged past an unprecedented 
$55 per barrel Monday as uncertainty swirls over production, 
high demand and tight global supplies.
http://www.robert-fisk.com
Crude for November delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange 
hit $55.33 per barrel around noon in Asia, up 40 cents from its 
Friday settlement price.

The prices are the highest in a generation and while oil is more 
than 70 percent higher than a year ago, they are still around 
$25 below the peak inflation-adjusted price reached in 1981.

Crude prices have skyrocketed more than $10 in the past month, 
primarily over production delays in the Gulf of Mexico, where 
Hurricane Ivan hit mid-September.

 
(AP) April Boomhower stretches to watch the cost of filling her 
vehicle pass the $40.00 mark Tuesday...
Full Image 
 
 
Now that the $55 barrier has been surpassed, analysts are 
looking toward $60 a barrel, with some saying it may reach that 
mark by the end of the year - smack in the middle of the 
northern hemisphere winter.

"We hit the new milestone and we're looking at $60," said Victor 
Shum, oil analyst at Texas-headquartered energy consultants 
Purvin & Gertz. "$60 is certainly feasible."

Declines in U.S. distillate stocks just before the Northern 
Hemisphere winter are the latest in a line of supply factors to 
rattle the market.

The U.S. Energy Department said in its weekly petroleum supply 
report last week that commercially available supplies of heating 
oil declined by 1.2 million barrels for the week ending Oct. 8, 
falling to 50.0 million barrels, or 10 percent below year-ago 
levels.

Diesel and kerosene are used for heating oil. Demand for jet 
fuel - kerosene with additives - also rises in the winter as 
flights increase during the Christmas season.

 
(AP) A Petro-Canada employee enters the oil producer's Oakville 
Refinery on Tuesday, September 28, 2004....
Full Image 
 
 
In the Gulf of Mexico, over 20 million barrels of crude remain 
shut in as recovery efforts continue to get production levels 
back to normal, the U.S. federal Minerals Management Service 
said on its Web site.

But with the amount of excess capacity - immediate surplus 
supply - at about 1 percent of daily demand, now estimated to be 
above 82 million barrels, any supply outage is expected to 
factor into prices.

Market players have been fixated on potential disruptions in 
production, such as the just-concluded oil workers' strike and 
threats of rebel attacks in Nigeria, Africa's largest producer, 
and sporadic attacks by militants on Iraqi pipelines.

Unrest in the world's largest producer, Saudi Arabia; the tax 
battle between the Russian government and oil giant Yukos; and 
political tensions in key producer Venezuela have also weighed 
in recently.

In other developments, Chicago Board of Trade Chief Executive 
Bernard Dan told Australia's Nine Network that the U.S. economy 
would be hurt by the spike - but not significantly. He said the 
economy could even withstand prices of $75 per barrel.

"I think basically most users and most traders have priced in 
that sort of range ($60 to $75)," said Dan. "While it might do 
some damage in terms of the economy and might be reflected in 
our equity market, I don't think it is going to be at a level 
where it is catastrophic in any sense."
http://www.robert-fisk.com
His comments came after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan 
Greenspan said Friday rising oil prices would have far less 
impact than the oil shocks of the 1970s. 
http://www.robert-fisk.com

i apologise for my previous unmedicated oubursts and i love the 
way the superior american firepower is stacking up dead ragheads 
like cordwood in falluja. rock on!

And I will piss on your grave.         

Six killed in Afghan violence
 
   www.antiamerica.com

At least four people including a policeman were killed by a 
roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan late on Friday, according 
to reports. 
The blast occurred near a truck with US military supplies which 
had been set on fire by suspected Taleban rebels. 
 www.antiamerica.com

The US military also reported that two soldiers were killed and 
three injured when their vehicle was blown up by a land mine on 
Thursday. 

The attacks happened as counting of votes began in the 
presidential polls. 

The Taleban had threatened to disrupt last Saturday's election, 
but it went ahead peacefully. 

However, experts warned of an upsurge in violence once the 
tight security accompanying the vote had been relaxed. 

'Crowd gathered' 

Friday's explosion took place on a main road in the Dap area of 
Kunar province's Asmar district, around 125km (80 m) east of 
the capital Kabul. 
 www.antiamerica.com


Provincial governor Saeed Fazel Akbar Agha told the AFP news 
agency the district police chief had been injured in the blast. 
 www.antiamerica.com

He had gone to investigate an arson attack on a truck carrying 
food to US bases, and a crowd of local people had also gathered 
at the scene, the governor said. 
 www.antiamerica.com



 www.antiamerica.com

Now all you CUNTS there's one thing you can't deny, that's all 
the BUllSHit!!:
The buSSh administration from its Brain-Dead President down to 
the lowest level State Department clerk insisted that they had 
the goods on Iraq, had intelligence which more than 170 (170!! 
and you cunts DIDN'T listen!)other countries disputed, knew 
where the WMD were, and would unearth them once they went into 
Iraq, knew of Iraqi ties to Al-Qaida, and knew Saddam was 
preparing an attack on the United States. 
None of these bogus assertions has been proven true. NONE! In 
fact, committee after committee has unearthed proof that these 
assertions were false. Or falsified. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq was not behind the 9-11 attacks. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq was not linked to Al-Qaida, which was 
behind 
the 9-11 attacks. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no stockpiles of WMD. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no nuclear weapons. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no chemical weapons. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no biological weapons. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no mobile labs. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no anthrax. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq was not even in the process of developing 
such weapons. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq could not produce mushroom clouds in 
Cincinnati, St. Louis, or Austin. Maybe pungent mushrooms, but 
no clouds. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq was not a safe haven for terrorists. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq was not a gathering threat, but rather a 
diminishing one, according to Charles Duelfer, Chief US Weapons 
Inspector in Iraq. 
http://www.robert-fisk.com
Assertions, accusations, and fabricated evidence that turned 
out 
to be utter BULLSHIT. 
SO what will happen next time you make allegations against a 
sovereign country??? Your credibility is shot to tatters!~

http://www.robert-fisk.com

Two dead yanks after helicopters crash in Iraq - ha 
ha...fucking suffer you CUNTS!!! yee haaa MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! 
(http://www.boycottusa.org) 
Two dead after helicopters crash in Iraq
Two US military transport helicopters have crashed near 
Baghdad, killing two US soldiers and wounding two others.

"The incident occurred at around 8:25pm (local time) in south-
western Baghdad," US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Will 
Hutton said.

"The incident is under investigation."

He did not say what type of helicopter was involved.

US helicopters regularly come under attack from insurgents 
firing rifles and other weapons in and around Baghdad.

It was not immediately clear if Saturday's incident was an 
accident or the result of an attack.
http://www.boycottusa.org
It has been several months since a US helicopter was shot down 
in Iraq.

http://www.boycottusa.org--Reuters

Print Email 
http://www.boycottusa.org 
 

17 US soldiers held in Iraq after disobeying orders 

RHIANNON EDWARD 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com

A PLATOON of United States soldiers were under arrest in Iraq 
last night after refusing to carry out a dangerous mission for 
which they say they were inadequately equipped. 

In the extraordinary incident, which suggests the morale of US 
forces might be much lower than previously thought, 17 soldiers 
from the US army reserve disobeyed the order to deliver fuel to 
Taji, north of Baghdad, on the grounds that their vehicles were 
considered "deadlined" or extremely unsafe, and unable to 
travel at above 40mph on the Iraqi roads. 

The unit was also not offered the usual convoy escort of armed 
Humvees and attack helicopters, it was reported. 

The event is a gift to US president George Bush  s opponent 
John Kerry, who has consistently criticised the handling of the 
war. 

It also increases the concerns for British troops in Iraq after 
reports that the Black Watch regiment could be put under US 
command and sent into hotspots like Baghdad or Najaf. 

A statement from the US army  s press centre in Baghdad 
yesterday confirmed the soldiers   rebellion: "The Commander 
General of the 13 Corps Support Group has appointed a deputy 
commander to lead an investigation into allegations that 
members of the 343 Quartermaster Company refused to participate 
in their assigned convoy mission on 13 October." 

Relatives have defended the soldiers   decision. 

Patricia McCook said her husband, a staff sergeant, understood 
what it meant to disobey orders. But he did not feel 
comfortable taking his soldiers on another trip. 

"He told me that three of the vehicles they were to use were 
deadlined ... not safe to go in a hotbed like that," Mrs McCook 
told the Clarion-Ledger newspaper of Mississippi. 

The refusal to carry out orders will fuel persistent claims 
that the US military in Iraq is inadequately equipped and 
undermanned. 

The US army has already announced it will prevent soldiers in 
units set for deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan from leaving 
the service at the end of their terms, in a move that critics 
have described as a return of the draft. 

The announcement, an expansion of an army programme 
called "stop-loss", means that thousands of soldiers who had 
expected to retire or otherwise leave the military must now 
stay on for the duration of their deployment to those combat 
zones. 

The US army is also struggling to find fresh units to continue 
the US-led campaign in Iraq. 

Mr Kerry said the Bush administration was essentially 
maintaining troop numbers "on the backs of the men and women 
who  ve already fulfilled their obligation to the armed forces 
and to our country". 

"It runs counter to the traditions of an all-volunteer 
military," said Mr Kerry, a veteran of the Vietnam war. 

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence yesterday denied a report 
that the Black Watch will be sent from British-controlled Basra 
to Fallujah to aid a major US offensive there but refused to 
rule out deployments in Iraq  s volatile central region. 

A spokesman said: "The situation is constantly under review and 
we are in discussion with our international partners." 

The Conservatives and the Scottish National Party both demanded 
an urgent parliamentary statement to clear up the uncertainty. 

Speaking outside the Black Watch  s regimental museum in Perth, 
Michael Howard, the Tory leader, said: "If it is true, and I do 
not know whether it is true, that the Black Watch is to be 
deployed out of area, then very important questions need to be 
answered. Where are they to be deployed? Their task? How long 
are they going to stay? What is the chain of command?" 

He added: "The government should come to parliament at the 
earliest opportunity to make the position clear." 

What was clear last night is that the Scottish troops have been 
told that they will not be returning home over the next six 
weeks as anticipated, but will be staying on in Iraq until at 
least the end of the year. It is their second tour of duty in 
Iraq. 

Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins, who formerly led the 1st 
Battalion of the Royal Irish in Iraq, said British soldiers 
would have to continue to operate under their own hearts and 
minds policy if they were moved to areas of Iraq that were 
currently being patrolled by US soldiers. 

He said: "The risk is of taking over policing the region in a 
different way than was done before. 

"The UK must adhere to its own roles of engagement, the troops 
must respect and require the respect of the full chain of 
command. 

"British soldiers will get on with whatever they are told to do 
and do it the best they can. They will be steeling themselves 
for the unexpected."  
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
Delivery formats for "Scotsman.com News"
[more info] 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.comhttp://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.comhttp://www.bushandcheneysuck.com

What's a wanker?                   

What's a tape?

Now all you CUNTS there's one thing you can't deny, that's all 
the BUllSHit!!:
The buSSh administration from its Brain-Dead President down to 
the lowest level State Department clerk insisted that they had 
the goods on Iraq, had intelligence which more than 170 (170!! 
and you cunts DIDN'T listen!)other countries disputed, knew 
where the WMD were, and would unearth them once they went into 
Iraq, knew of Iraqi ties to Al-Qaida, and knew Saddam was 
preparing an attack on the United States. 

None of these bogus assertions has been proven true. NONE! In 
fact, committee after committee has unearthed proof that these 
assertions were false. Or falsified. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq was not behind the 9-11 attacks. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq was not linked to Al-Qaida, which was behind 
the 9-11 attacks. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no stockpiles of WMD. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no nuclear weapons. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no chemical weapons. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no biological weapons. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no mobile labs. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq had no anthrax. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq was not even in the process of developing 
such weapons. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq could not produce mushroom clouds in 
Cincinnati, St. Louis, or Austin. Maybe pungent mushrooms, but 
no clouds. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq was not a safe haven for terrorists. 

No, ameriKKKa, Iraq was not a  gathering threat,  but rather a 
diminishing one, according to Charles Duelfer, Chief US Weapons 
Inspector in Iraq. 
http://www.robert-fisk.com
Assertions, accusations, and fabricated evidence that turned out 
to be utter BULLSHIT. 
SO what will happen next time you make allegations against a 
sovereign country??? Your credibility is shot to tatters!~

http://www.robert-fisk.com

I TOLD you Noam is long-winded. Not parsimonious. Not terrible 
insightful. Just wordy. Likes to hear himself talk. Probably 
stays home on Saturday nights and listens to his Vanilla Ice 
cassette tapes, turns down the lights, and pretends he has a 
date.         

THE OFFICIAL GOD FAQ

Question:  Is there a God? 

Answer:  No. 


----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------

In the quite unlikely event that you were to discover any 
omissions or inaccuracies on this page, they may be reported to 
the international headquarters of The Official God FAQ, at 
aod@400monkeys.com, where they will be thoroughly investigated, 
submitted to rigorous scientific testing and, if substantiated, 
included in a subsequent update. Thank you.

Go here to see:http://www.ogrish.com/index/Beheading-Video-Of-
British-Hostage-Kenneth-Bigley-Released-By-Tawhid-and-Jihad-
Group/ 

Nuclear equipment missing from Iraq says UN
Equipment and materials that could be used to make nuclear 
weapons are disappearing from Iraq but neither Baghdad nor 
Washington appear to have noticed, the UN nuclear watchdog 
agency reported yesterday. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
Satellite imagery shows that entire buildings in Iraq have been 
dismantled. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
They once housed high-precision equipment that could help a 
government or terror group make nuclear bombs, the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report to 
the UN Security Council. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
Equipment and materials helpful in making bombs also have been 
removed from open storage areas in Iraq and disappeared without 
a trace, according to the satellite pictures, IAEA director-
general Mohamed El Baradei said. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
While some military goods that disappeared from Iraq after the 
March 2003 US-led invasion, including missile engines, later 
turned up in scrap yards in the Middle East and Europe, none of 
the equipment or material known to the IAEA as potentially 
useful in making nuclear bombs has turned up yet, El Baradei 
said. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
The United States barred the return of UN weapons investigators 
after launching war on Iraq in March 2003, preventing the IAEA 
from keeping tabs on high-tech equipment and materials up to 
the present day. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
Under anti-proliferation agreements, the US occupation 
authorities who administered Iraq until June, and then the 
Iraqi interim Government that took power at the end of June, 
would have to inform the IAEA if they moved or exported any of 
that material or equipment. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
But no such reports have been received since the invasion, 
officials of the watchdog agency said. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
The United States also has not publicly commented on earlier UN 
inspectors' reports disclosing the dismantling of a range of 
key weapons-making sites, raising the question of whether it 
was unable to monitor the sites. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
'We simply don't know'
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
In the absence of any US or Iraqi accounting, council diplomats 
said the satellite images could mean the gear had been moved to 
new sites inside Iraq or stolen. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
If stolen, it could end up in the hands of a government or 
terrorist group seeking nuclear weapons. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
"We simply don't know, although we are trying to get the 
information," said one council diplomat, speaking on condition 
of anonymity. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
US officials had no immediate comment on the report. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
President George W Bush, locked in a tough re-election battle 
with Senator John Kerry, justified the war, in part, by saying 
that then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was on the brink of 
developing a nuclear bomb that he might use against the United 
States or give to terrorists. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
Both men agreed during a September 30 debate that nuclear 
proliferation is the most serious threat facing the United 
States. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
A new CIA report last week by chief US weapons investigator 
Charles Duelfer made clear, however, that Saddam had all but 
given up on his nuclear program after the first Gulf War in 
1991. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
Mr El Baradei, whose agency dismantled Iraq's nuclear arms 
program over a decade ago, drew similar conclusions to the 
Duelfer report well before the March 2003 invasion. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
In his latest report, Mr El Baradei said the IAEA 
remained "concerned about the widespread and apparently 
systematic dismantlement" of former nuclear sites it used to 
monitor. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
"As the disappearance of such equipment and materials may be of 
proliferation significance, any state that has information 
about the location of such items should provide IAEA with that 
information," his report said. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.comhttp://www.humiliateamerica.comht
tp://www.humiliateamerica.com
-- Reuters

A lot of energy and effort was put into your propaganda. And of 
COURSE like anyone else who hates America you will screech and 
bitch at anyone who DARES to disagree with your bullshit. And 
judging from your verbosity, you clearly are a person driven by 
his or her narcissism. Maybe you should save your breath for 
your inflatable date.     

Oil Prices Close Above $53 a Barrel Again 
Oil Prices Close Above $53 a Barrel Again 

Mon Oct 11, 4:42 PM ET http://www.costofwar.com

By BRAD FOSS, AP Business Writer 
http://www.costofwar.com
Oil futures prices advanced to a new high Monday as a strike 
began in Africa's largest exporter of crude, exacerbating 
global supply concerns at a time of strong demand and reduced 
output in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf of Mexico. 
http://www.costofwar.com
Worries about Russian oil supplies also persist as oil giant 
Yukos, already struggling to repay a multibillion-dollar back-
tax bill, got hit Monday with $1.34 billion in fines. 


Crude for November delivery rose 33 cents to $53.64, surpassing 
Friday's record settlement price of $53.31 on the New York 
Mercantile Exchange. 


On London's International Petroleum Exchange, Brent crude 
futures for November delivery rose 95 cents to close at $50.66 
per barrel. 


While oil prices are about 80 percent higher than a year ago, 
they are more than $26 below the peak inflation-adjusted price 
reached in 1981. 


Underlying market jitters is the fact that excess available 
output is scant, with global production capacity only about 1 
percent above the daily supply of 82 million barrels. Demand 
rose faster than expected this year, particularly in China and 
India, catching many in the industry off guard. 


In Nigeria, a nationwide strike to protest higher fuel prices 
began Monday, shutting down most of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial 
capital. Militants smashed car windows to keep people home and 
streets nearly void of traffic except soldiers and anti-riot 
police in armored vehicles. 


A spokesman for London-based Royal Dutch/Shell Group, which 
produces nearly 1 million barrels per day in Nigeria, said the 
strike has not affected output. The strike is only supposed to 
last four days. 


"It may wind up being something bigger, we just don't know 
yet," said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at 
Energy Merchant Corp. in New York. 


The strike takes place amid threats by a popular rebel leader's 
pledge to take back the rich Niger Delta oil fields if peace 
talks with the government fail. Nigeria pumps about 2.5 million 
barrels per day and is the fifth-largest source of U.S. 
imports. 


The market is also closely monitoring the slow recovery of 
production in the Gulf of Mexico, where 17 million barrels of 
oil production have been lost since Hurricane Ivan whipped 
through the region, according to the federal Minerals 
Management Service. About 475,000 barrels a day, or 28 percent 
of regional output, remains frozen because of damage. 


Natural gas production in the region is 1.8 billion cubic feet 
a day, or 14 percent, below pre-hurricane levels, and a total 
of 74 billion cubic feet of output have been lost. 


"It's been a very, very slow process of getting back up to 
speed," said Agbeli Ameko, managing partner at the Denver-based 
energy research firm Enercast.com. 


A major problem is that 10 large pipelines in the region that 
transport oil and natural gas remain shut down, according to 
the MMS. Six production platforms awaiting repairs remain shut 
down, the agency said. 


"This is valuable production to the United States and it just 
couldn't have come at a worse time," said John Kilduff, senior 
analyst at Fimat USA in New York. 


In Russia on Monday, a court ruled that Yukos must pay $1.34 
billion in fines and penalties as part of a $4.1 billion back-
tax claim for 2001, raising the company's total liabilities to 
about $7.5 billion. The company has warned repeatedly that its 
production could suffer as a result of the government's 
aggressive pursuit of the back taxes. 


On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow said he had 
received assurances from Arab oil-producing nations that they 
would attempt to lower crude prices by increasing supply as the 
Northern Hemisphere winter approaches. 


The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which 
includes the world's largest producer Saudi Arabia and other 
key Middle East exporters, has already raised its daily 
production quotas by 2.5 million barrels a day this year to 
just under 30 million barrels. 

But traders remain wary, because previous OPEC (news - web 
sites) efforts to boost output have involved crude with a high-
sulfur content, which is less desirable for refiners. Because 
Nigeria produces low-sulfur crude, analysts said the prospect 
of losing output there is particularly worrisome. 

In other Nymex trading, heating oil for November delivery rose 
by 1.67 cent to $1.4707 per gallon, while November gasoline 
futures declined by 0.7 cent to $1.4050 per gallon 

November natural gas futures slid by 17 cents to $6.993 per 
1,000 cubic feet. 

http://www.costofwar.com

US invasion of Iraq plagued by tech glitches
Front-line US troops often lacked access to surveillance and 
intelligence data during the invasion of Iraq because of 
computer glitches, Technology Review magazine has reported, 
citing a classified report by Rand Corp. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com

One battalion commander told the magazine he had almost no 
information on the strength and position of Iraqi forces after 
his division took control of a key bridge south of Baghdad on 
April 2, 2003. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
Lt Col Ernest Marcone said he was told to expect one Iraqi 
brigade advancing south from the Baghdad airport, but instead 
was forced to battle three separate Iraqi brigades advancing 
from three directions, the magazine reported. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
What ensued was the largest counterattack of the Iraq war. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
US troops won because of their superior weapons, greater 
firepower and air support, but not because they had any real 
insight into enemy positions through new technology, the 
magazine said. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
"Next to the fall of Baghdad, that bridge was the most 
important piece of terrain in the theatre, and no one can tell 
me what's defending it," Lt Col Marcone told the magazine. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
"Not how many troops, what units, what tanks, anything. There's 
zero information getting to me." 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
Lt Col Marcone's experience was typical, according to a largely 
classified report being prepared for the Pentagon by the Rand 
Corp, which concludes that front-line commanders often did not 
benefit from cutting-edge technologies. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
These were aimed at moving toward a smaller, smarter fighting 
force connected by advanced communications systems. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
Walter Perry, a senior Rand researcher, told the magazine the 
report uncovered a "digital divide" that allowed division 
commanders to get a good view of the battlefield, but left 
front-line commanders basically in the dark. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
The problems preventing effective relaying of crucial data 
included lengthy download times, software failures and lack of 
access to high-bandwidth communications. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
Pentagon officials highlighted the success of networked forces 
during the Iraq war, including the case of a US radar plane 
detecting Iraqi troops during a blinding sandstorm and ordering 
in bombers using satellite-guided bombs. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
The report found that ground forces had serious problems 
getting access to vital intelligence and surveillance data. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
In three cases, US vehicles were attacked when they stopped to 
receive data on enemy positions, it said. 

--Reutershttp://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com

US accused of breaching international law
The United States is violating international law by holding 
prisoners in its war on terror incommunicado and in secret 
hiding places, Human Rights Watch said in a report to be 
published on Tuesday calling for an end to such practices. 
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com

The New York-based rights organisation profiles 11 Al Qaeda 
suspects being detained without concern for their rights under 
international law in a 46-page report. 
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com

They include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected architect of 
the September 11 attacks; Abu Zubaydah, reputedly a close aide 
of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden; Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, who 
might have been a September 11 hijacker if he had not failed to 
get a US visa, and Hambali, an alleged Al Qaeda ally in South 
East Asia. 

"Those guilty of serious crimes must be brought to justice 
before fair trials," Reed Brody, special counsel with Human 
Rights Watch, said in a statement.

It added that if the United States ignores international 
law, "it abandons its ideals and international obligations and 
becomes a lesser nation".

The rights group said international treaties ratified by the 
United States prohibit holding prisoners incommunicado and in 
secret locations. 

The Geneva Conventions require that the International Committee 
of the Red Cross have access to all detainees and that 
information on them be provided to their relatives. 

Under international human rights law, detainees must be held in 
recognised places of detention and be able to communicate with 
lawyers and family members, it said. 

US officials say the detentions are essential to confronting 
terrorism and that many of those held have provided valuable 
intelligence that has foiled planned attacks. 

Human Rights Watch called on the United States to grant 
unrestricted access to the International Committee of the Red 
Cross to all detainees held in anti-terrorist operations.

-- Reuters
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com

Yo man! YOu're cool!

Go here to see:
http://www.ogrish.com/index/Beheading-Video-Of-British-Hostage-
Kenneth-Bigley-Released-By-Tawhid-and-Jihad-Group/ 

Video shows Bigley's last appeal - Wahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!:'( I 
like my head pleaaaasse don't shop it off! 
(http://www.whatreallyhappened.comhttp://www.whatreallyhappened.
comhttp://www.whatreallyhappened.comhttp://www.whatreallyhappene
) 
Video shows Bigley's last appeal
A video tape posted on the Internet shows British hostage 
Kenneth Bigley making a final appeal to the British Government 
to meet his captors' demands before he was beheaded by a 
militant group in Iraq.

"Here I am again Mr (Tony) Blair and your Government, very, 
very close to the end of my life," the tape showed the 62-year-
old engineer saying before masked men severed his head with a 
knife.

"I'm not a difficult person. I am a simple man who just wants 
to live a simple life with his family. 

"These people, their patience is wearing very, very thin and 
they are very serious people. 

"Please, please give them what they require, the freedom of the 
women in Abu Ghraib prison. 

"If you do this the problem is solved," said Mr Bigley, who was 
sitting on the floor with militants standing behind him. 

Insurgent sources in Iraq had said the Briton escaped briefly 
from his captors shortly before they killed him in a town south-
west of Baghdad. 

He was kidnapped on September 16, along with two Americans who 
were beheaded soon after by the Tawhid and Jihad group led by 
Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which demanded the release 
of women prisoners from United States jails in Iraq. 

"To the British people, more than ever I need your help, more 
than ever I need your voices, to go out into the streets and 
demand a better life for the females and women who are in 
prison in Abu Ghraib," said Mr Bigley, who was wearing an 
orange jump suit like those worn by detainees in US prisons. 
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
The four-minute tape, posted on Web sites often used by 
Islamists, showed militants holding up the Briton's severed 
head and then placing it on top of the corpse.

-- Reuters
Go here to see:
http://www.ogrish.com/index/Beheading-Video-Of-British-Hostage-
Kenneth-Bigley-Released-By-Tawhid-and-Jihad-Group/ 
 

TvNewsLIES.org Editor s Offer to George Bush & PNAC:
I ll Pay for Your Vacation in Iraq or Afghanistan!

Mr. Bush,http://tvnewslies.org/

I have heard you, your administration, members of Congress and 
your PR firm known as the American news media, repeat over and 
over how much better off the world is with Saddam Hussein 
deposed. I have however, yet to hear any detailed explanation 
or see any evidence that validates this claim.

Prior to your decision to obliterate a sovereign nation and 
deliver the equivalent of 10 September 11th events to the 
people of Iraq, the people if Iraq were not afraid to walk the 
streets, go to work or send their children to school. Your 
actions, which have resulted in the murder of thousands more 
civilians than all the terrorists in history combined have been 
capable, has made life in Iraq a living hell.

Peace workers, international aid organizations, visiting 
relatives and the typical Iraqi school child were relatively 
safe to live their lives. As a result of your invasion they are 
not. Iraq was not a free society by any means, and there were 
many atrocities committed by Saddam, but let s not forget that 
we did not invade Iraq to free anyone, we invaded Iraq 
to  protect our freedom!   (Perhaps the funniest claim of the 
decade!)

As a citizen, I am fed up with you and your cabal making claims 
that you do not back up. I am offering you a chance to back up 
your own words. Here is my offer:

Out of my personal funds, I will pay for a vacation trip to 
Iraq or to Afghanistan, for any one of the people listed below. 
I have been out of work for 2 years, thanks to the wonderful 
Bush economy that sent my job overseas, but I will scrounge and 
borrow if I have to, in order to carry through on this offer. I 
am sure my readers will help finance this effort as well.

Stipulations:

The person(s) taking the tip must travel there by making 
arrangements through a domestic, non military or government, 
travel industry agent.
The person(s) will not be permitted to carry any weapons or 
anything that can be used as a weapon. Body armor will not be 
permitted on persons or vehicles used to travel
The person(s) making the trip will be subject to any and all 
domestic travel security procedures including strip searches if 
necessary.
There can be no escort or any type of security provided, 
government or private, American or other.
A standard hotel room will be provided, outside any secure 
location, among the general population. There will be no 
security at this hotel other than the standard security, as 
provided during normal hotel operation.
No special services will be provided. If there are outages in 
electricity or water, you will have to make due.
You will receive water & meals that are similar in quantity, 
taste, quality and sanitary value as those provided to our 
active military in the region.
No special treatment or privileges will be granted.
If the person(s) traveling are mistakenly picked up in security 
sweeps and taken to a holding facility, they will be granted 
the same rights and they will receive the same treatment as 
others held in that facility.
A press release will be made prior to your trip, making public 
your travel itinerary.
Other stipulations may apply. I reserve the right to set the 
rules if I am paying for the trip.
Eligible Persons:http://tvnewslies.org/

George W Bush, his wife, his parents, his daughters & his 
brothers. I will pay for individual trips. They can not travel 
together.
Dick Cheney.
I. Lewis Scooter Libby
Paul Wolfowitz,
Donald Rumsfeld
John Negroponte
Colin Powell
General Meyers
General Franks
Douglas Feith
Any member of FOX News, especially William Kristol, Britt Hume 
and Sean Hannity.
Any member of PNAC.
Any member of Congress who repeats the phrase  We are better 
off without Saddam , without explaining who is better off and 
how they are better off.
Any board members of Halliburton or the Carlyle Group.
EXTRA SPECIAL OFFER!

For George Bush and Dick Cheney, this offer extends to any 
nation on the planet, including America. I will pay for a 1 
week vacation for either of you in our own country. The above 
stipulations apply. If the world is so much safer with you in 
charge, let s see you try to test that claim in your own home 
land.
If the world is so safe, prove it. Personally, I think the 
world has to be made safe FROM you, not BY you. Remember, you 
couldn t even protect us from the September 11th attacks, if 
they were attacks;-) Right Dick?

Sincerely,
Jesse -Editor. TvNewsLIES.org

Please help fund these trips! Donate here!
WHY GEORGE W. BUSH IS THE WORLD S LEADING TERRORIST! - Is there 
any doubt at all that the Bush administration committed acts of 
terrorism when it unlawfully used force and violence against 
the nation of Iraq to intimidate and coerce its government and 
the civilian population, in furtherance of the Bush/PNAC 
political and social objectives.
Dr. Bush s Botched Surgery - Treating a Tumor with a Pitchfork -
 The Bush/PNAC team chose to remove a tumor from a fairly 
stable patient. They opted to use a pitchfork, not a scalpel. 
Their  shock and awe  stabbing motions caused massive bleeding, 
extensive structural damage to the body and resulted in an 
uncontrollable array of post operative infections that are 
rapidly spreading in the region and the world. The tumor was 
not removed. It disappeared. And far more cells are dying on a 
daily basis within the patient today than before the surgery.
Where was Cheney on 9/11?http://tvnewslies.org/
The US Media Deceives Us About Iraq

In response to your being thankful for dead Americans, I would 
be happy to kill you.

Bang...    

You ought to save your breath for your inflatable date   

you can't even speak english u r dumb!

US report on Iraqi weapons deepens Arab hostility towards 
America: analysts
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
Thu Oct 7, 1:38 PM ET   Mideast - AFP 
 
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm

CAIRO (AFP) - A report by the chief United States weapons 
inspector in Iraq (news - web sites) that the regime of Saddam 
Hussein (news - web sites) was not actively pursing weapons of 
mass destruction has only helped deepen Arab hostility towards 
Washington. 


AFP/File Photo 
 


 
Latest headlines:  
  CD in Iraq Said to Have U.S. Schools Info 
AP - 20 minutes ago  
  Report Portrays Saddam As Gangster 
AP - 21 minutes ago  
  Insurgents Hit Baghdad Hotel With Rockets 
AP - 22 minutes ago  
Special Coverage  
 
 

   

Analysts and observers here said Thursday the report compiled by 
Charles Duelfer, the special CIA (news - web sites) adviser 
proved the extent to which the United States was prepared to go 
in harassing Arab countries. 


"All Arab and Muslim peoples are convinced that (US President 
George W.) Bush is persecuting Muslims and Arabs and is 
targeting only the Arab world," said Makram Mohammed Ahmed, 
editor-in-chief of the semi-official Al-Mussawar magazine. 


The report also reinforces the feeling among many Arabs and 
Muslims that the "Americans can never be impartial, they can 
never be honest partners in the peace process or any political 
process for that matter," Ahmed added. 
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm


And this, he said, "increases tensions and hatred. The whole 
Arab world hates America and the Bush administration." 


Mohammed al-Sayed Said, deputy director of the Ahram Center for 
Political and Strategic Studies and a former Washington 
correspondent for the Al-Ahram daily, argued that Bush had a 
preordained plan to invade Iraq. 


"Bush's main priority, even during his election campaign, was to 
invade Iraq, whether or not it possessed weapons of mass 
destruction," said Said, adding that the issue of the weapons 
was simply "a tactic or excuse." 


Said said he found it even more disturbing that "the Americans 
do not have any regret for what they did to the Iraqi people as 
a result of their mistakes." 
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm

Duelfer's report highlighted a series of miscalculations on the 
part of the administration, particularly those on which the 
invasion was based, Ahmed noted. 


These, he said, included false declarations by the Bush 
administration about weapons of mass destruction and Saddam 
Hussein's alleged relations with the Al-Qaeda terrorist network 
of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites). 


"Al-Qaeda came after the American invasion," claimed Said. 
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm

He added that, contrary to claims in Washington, the deposed 
Iraqi leader was probably the most reliable bulwark against Al-
Qaeda infiltration into Iraq. 


He also hailed the Duelfer report for finally answering 
lingering questions concerning Iraq's alleged weapons programs, 
but attacked it for not going far enough in declaring that the 
Bush administration knew the truth all along. 


In this regard, the Duelfer report commits the same error as 
previous ones: "concealing this point," Said alleged. 


It found no evidence that Iraq had either weapons stockpiles or 
active programs by the time US-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003. 


Among the key findings, no evidence was found that Iraq 
attempted to restart its nuclear program after 1991, and its 
ability to reconstitute it progressively decayed after that 
date. 


The investigators also judged that Iraq unilaterally destroyed 
its chemical stockpile in 1991, and they found no credible 
indications that it resumed production of chemical munitions 
thereafter. 

   



In contrast, they found that Iraq attempted to preserve its 
biological warfare programs through 1995, but was believed to 
have abandoned it late that year for fear discovery would 
undercut its efforts to get sanctions lifted. 
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
Duelfer judged that Iraq could have resumed production of 
biological weapons within a few weeks to a few months of a 
decision to do so, but his people discovered no indications that 
the regime was pursuing such a course. 

CIA finds no Zarqawi, Saddam link
A CIA report has found no conclusive evidence that former Iraqi 
President Saddam Hussein harboured Al Queda leader Abu Musab al-
Zarqawi, which the Bush administration asserted before the 
invasion of Iraq. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
"There's no conclusive evidence the Saddam Hussein regime had 
harboured Zarqawi," a US official said yesterday about the CIA 
findings. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stressed that 
the report, which was a mix of new information and a look at 
some older information, did not make any final judgments or come 
to any definitive conclusions. http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com

"To suggest the case is closed on this would not be correct," 
the official said in confirming an American ABC News story about 
the CIA report that the network said was delivered to the White 
House last week. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
ABC quoted an unnamed senior US official as saying that the CIA 
document raises "serious questions" about Bush administration 
assertions that Zarqawi found sanctuary in pre-war Baghdad. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
"The official says there is no clear cut evidence that Saddam 
Hussein even knew Zarqawi was in Baghdad," ABC reported. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
The CIA report concludes Zarqawi was in and out of Baghdad, but 
cast doubt on reports that Zarqawi had been given official 
approval for medical treatment there as President George W Bush 
said this summer, ABC said. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
Yesterday, White House spokesman Scott McClellan reasserted that 
there was a relationship between Saddam and Zarqawi. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com

"He was in contact from Baghdad with Ansar al-Islam in the north-
eastern part of Iraq. http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com

"He had a cell operating from Baghdad during that period, as 
well." http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com

"So there are clearly ties between Iraq and between the regime, 
Saddam Hussein's regime and Al Qaeda," Mr McClellan told 
reporters.http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com 

Before last year's invasion to topple Saddam, the Bush 
administration portrayed Zarqawi as Al Qaeda's link to Baghdad. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com

Following Saddam's capture in December and waves of suicide 
attacks on US and Iraqi security forces which followed, Zarqawi 
quickly became America's top enemy in Iraq. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
The United States placed a $US25 million bounty on his head. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
The Jordanian-born Zarqawi and his militant Tawhid and Jihad 
group have claimed responsibility for a string of suicide 
bombings, kidnappings and hostage beheadings. 

--
Reutershttp://www.bushandcheneysuck.comhttp://www.bushandcheneysu
ck.com

Last Update: Thursday, October 7, 2004. 3:43pm (AEST)
US soldier killed near Fallujah
One US soldier was killed and two others wounded in an overnight 
attack on their convoy near the Sunni rebel bastion of Fallujah, 
west of Baghdad, the US military said in a statement. 
http://www.boycottusa.org
An "unknown type of explosive device" hit the convoy at about 
9:45 pm (1845 GMT) on Wednesday, it said in a statement. 

The three soldiers were taken to a military hospital where one 
died just over an hour later of his wounds. 
http://www.boycottusa.org
Of the surviving casualties, one was said to be in a serious 
condition and the other stable. AFPhttp://www.boycottusa.org

http://www.osamambinladeniswinning.com
At least 35 people have been reportedly killed after an 
explosion rocked a hotel in the Egyptian border town of Taba, 
near Israel.


http://www.osamambinladeniswinning.com
Egyptian police sources said there were also up to 160 wounded 
in the blast on Thursday and the number of fatalities is 
expected to rise.

 

Taba's local hospital reported receiving 100 injured persons 
after the blast.

 

Quoting security sources, Israeli radio reported that the 
explosion inside the Hilton hotel was probably caused by a car 
bomb. 

 

But Egyptian public television reported that a gas leak was the 
cause.

 

Witnesses at the scene reported seeing part of the hotel 
collapse.

 

Two more blasts rocked the resort town early on Friday morning.

 


Warning

 

"The hotel is on fire on the eastern side, the entry point, the 
lobby. People are trying to get out," a reporter for Israel 
Radio said from the scene in Taba. 

 
A part of the hotel is said to 
have collapsed from the blast
 

 

Israeli security forces had warned Israeli travellers against 
visiting Egyptian resorts on the Red Sea, saying they might be 
targeted by "militants". 

 http://www.osamambinladeniswinning.com

There are some 45,000 Israeli tourists celebrating the Jewish 
holiday of Sukkot in Egypt.
http://www.osamambinladeniswinning.com


Israeli helicopters were reported to have started evacuating the 
wounded to nearby hospitals in the Israeli port city of Eilat.

The Egyptian government had formally requested Israeli emergency 
crews to help in any salvage 
operations.http://www.osamambinladeniswinning.comhttp://www.osama
mbinladeniswinning.comhttp://www.osamambinladeniswinning.comhttp:
//www.osamambinladeniswinning.com

CUNT OFF!

I was going to ignore your post, but I have to admit that it 
made me laugh. Rabid gorillas? I've met your sister, and she may 
be huge, hairy, and overweight, but I doubt you have to worry 
about rabies.                

Um... Why would I have to go to your website to attack you when 
I can confront you right here? Do you have an emotional need 
for "home field advantage"? I enjoy slapping (metaphorically) 
someone around who (metaphorically) baselessly attacks others 
(i.e., "yanks"). Seems to me that you have no problem with 
attacking others, yet you cry like a little girl if someone 
challenges you and then beats you at your own game. Victory goes 
to ghost.                     

So YES you're right in everything you say!
But if you want to attack me personally go to my website:
http://forums.gawaher.com/index.php?showtopic=22982&hl=iraq&

Your views are a little misguided though, but what you said 
about me was entirely correct.

I FUCKING HATE EVERY SINGLE FILTHY FUCKING YANK TO DEATH I HOPE 
THEY ALL DIE OF DISEASE OR GET RAPED INTHEIR ASSES BY RABID 
GORILLAS!

One more time this morning (I can't resist). Noam: please go to 
the nearest chemist and purchase a box of Kleenex. With regard 
to your dislike of anything having to do with the war on terror, 
your snivelling is quite unpleasant. I feel embarrassed for you, 
and wish you well in your quest for adulthood. As it stands, you 
have a hopelessly long way to go. Your mother must grieve for 
you.        

Gosh Noam, you sure do like to hear yourself talk, as evidenced 
by your longwinded (and ultimately pointless posts). Are they a 
writing assignment for your poly-sci class, or are you just 
sucking your professor's dick for extra credit? Tell him he's an 
even bigger mental pussy than you are.      

Your bullshit underscores what an idiot you are. Was I supposed 
to feel hurt and angry from your post? Or was I right to have 
done what I did, which was to "consider the source", i.e., that 
you're a pretty stupid person? Please let me know. I really 
care. Truly I do. Would I lie to YOU Noam? Or just catch you in 
my crosshairs?  :)      

Oh of course, they just HACK off heads in Iraq!!;)

N Korea~{!/~}s computer hackers target South and US
By Anna Fifield in Seoul
Published: October 4 2004 11:30 | Last updated: October 4 2004 
11:30

North Korea has trained as many as 600 computer hackers to be 
capable of launching a cyber-war on South Korea, the US or 
Japan, South Korea~{!/~}s defence ministry said on Monday. 

 
Coming amid intelligence reports that Pyongyang might be 
preparing to test a ballistic missile, the report will 
exacerbate jitters over the extent of the communist state~{!/~}s 
destructive ability. 

~{!0~}North Korea~{!/~}s intelligence warfare capability is estimated to 
have reached the level of advanced countries,~{!1~} the ministry 
said in a report to the National Assembly~{!/~}s national defence 
committee. 

North Korea~{!/~}s military command has 500 to 600 hacking staff who 
have undertaken a five-year university programme, the report 
said. Their main task is to gather intelligence from - or launch 
a cyber attack on - the US, Japan and South Korea. 

In a wave of attacks earlier this year, nearly 300 South Korean 
government computers at departments including the National 
Assembly and an atomic energy research institute were infected 
with viruses capable of stealing passwords and other sensitive 
information. 

South Korea is particularly vulnerable to cyber-crime because it 
has the world~{!/~}s highest usage of broadband services and 
relatively poor levels of internet security. 

The South Korean intelligence traced the hackers to China, 
although it was unclear whether they were based in China or just 
using a Chinese network. 

The defence ministry~{!/~}s report comes as Pyongyang~{!/~}s relations 
with Washington, Seoul and Tokyo deteriorate. 

North Korea is refusing to return to the diplomatic table for 
the latest round of six-party talks between the countries, as 
well as China and Russia. The talks have reached an impasse 
owing to what Pyongyang calls the US~{!/~}s ~{!0~}hostile policies~{!1~} 
towards North Korea. 

The process has been further complicated by recent revelations 
that South Korea has enriched a small amount of uranium and 
separated plutonium in secret experiments during the past 22 
years. 

Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy 
Agency, on Monday held talks in Seoul with Lee Hun-jai, the 
South Korean prime minister, as part of the agency~{!/~}s 
investigation into the experiments.

Detection of Sixteen Dead Bodies in A mass Grave

The Detection of Sixteen Dead Bodies in A mass Grave in Falluja
probably belong to American soldiers who were buried in a ditch 
in the North West sector of the city.







The way by which these people were killed is so far unclear. An 
eye witness has said that the grave was detected when the local 
people have smelled a bad odour in the surrounding which urged 
them to dig up the place in order to reveal the source of the 
unpleasant smells.

The witnesses have also added that the local police have arrived 
to the scene and have prevented the civilians and journalist 
from approaching the grave and photographing the dead bodies.

Another mass Grave in Ramadi



The pictures attached in this compressed file are off footage 
taken in the province of Ramadi -Iraq at a site that belongs to 
the Iraqi ministry of agriculture and was used until the end of 
January 2004 by the U.S. occupation forces as a military base. 
Due to the continuous attacks by the Iraqi Resistance, the enemy 
troops were forced to leave. on the 20th of February a scouting 
group visited the site and it's surrounding area to confirm the 
lack of enemy activity in this area. During the mission the 
personnel noticed a lot of dogs & wolfs in this desolate area 
digging & sniffing the grounds.



After a closer look, tracks & markings of heavy vehicles were 
discovered along with trenches and digging area that were left 
unattended. Further exploration of the site revealed the 
infamous black body bags that we in Iraq have heard so many 
rumors about. In these bags we found the dead bodies or 
leftovers of dead soldiers who died as a result of direct hits 
to the head and chest areas by bullets or shrapnel. These bodies 
have been buried for a few months only, & are definitely 
soldiers who belong to the occupying forces.



They are soldiers who have been striped of all their clothes & 
IDs. in order to avoid their identification if discovered. A 
large number of bodies have been discovered & have been removed 
from the sites where they were found & relocated in places only 
known to our active personnel. These bodies have been relocated 
for the sole purpose of uncovering the mass deception & lies 
that the U.S. administration & the British government have 
carried out since the beginning of this conflict.



These bodies will be handed over to the Red Cross at the 
suitable time in order to be returned to their families for 
proper burial. The above statement is being released by the 
Iraqi Islamic Army, one of the active factions that are 
resisting the occupying forces led by the United States & 
Britain. Further information will be released at the appropriate 
time.

Baghdad - Iraq on the 7th of March 2004 


Reuters Cameraman Killed For Filming U.S. Graves: Brother

"Mazen told me by phone few days before his death that he 
discovered a mass grave dug by U.S. troops to conceal the bodies 
of their fellow comrades killed in Iraqi resistance attacks," 
Nazmi said.

"He also told me that he found U.S. troops covered in plastic 
bags in remote desert areas and he filmed them for a TV program. 
We are pretty sure that the American forces had killed Mazen 
knowingly to prevent him from airing his finding.


Wish Icould post pics on this page! DAMN!
GO HERE FOR PICS: 
http://www.abolkhaseb.net/images/3loj/3loj1.jpg)
or here: http://forums.gawaher.com/index.php?
showtopic=22982&hl=iraq&

3 of the angriest words I know!

That is cool that below.  Makes it seem really bogus!

AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE AGAINST IRAQ RESOLUTION 
OF 2002
This is the Congressional authorization for force that Bush used 
to launch the invasion of Iraq. However, if you read Section 3, 
paragraph B, Bush was required to prove to the Congress that 
Iraq was in violation of UN Resolutions by still being in 
possession of weapons of mass destruction, and secondly, that 
Iraq was behind 9-11. Both claims have since been disproved and 
discredited, the product of the Pentagon Office at the heart of 
the latest Israeli spy scandal. 
Therefore, under United States law, the war in Iraq is illegal. 
And We The People are not under any legal or moral obligation to 
pay for it, let alone let our kids be killed in it. 

If anything, Bush and his pro-war Neocon buddies should be 
required to reimburse the treasury for their private use of 
government property. I leave the question of civil lawsuits for 
wrongful deaths to the families of the dead American service 
people, and the live service people still suffering from 
depleted uranium. 

PUBLIC LAW 107 243 OCT. 16, 2002
AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY
FORCE AGAINST IRAQ RESOLUTION OF 2002
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PUBL243
116 STAT. 1498 PUBLIC LAW 107 243 OCT. 16, 2002
Public Law 107 243
107th Congress
Joint Resolution
To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against Iraq.
Whereas in 1990 in response to Iraq s war of aggression against
and illegal occupation of Kuwait, the United States forged a
coalition of nations to liberate Kuwait and its people in order
to defend the national security of the United States and enforce
United Nations Security Council resolutions relating to Iraq;
Whereas after the liberation of Kuwait in 1991, Iraq entered into
a United Nations sponsored cease-fire agreement pursuant to
which Iraq unequivocally agreed, among other things, to eliminate
its nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons programs and the
means to deliver and develop them, and to end its support for
international terrorism;
Whereas the efforts of international weapons inspectors, United
States intelligence agencies, and Iraqi defectors led to the 
discovery
that Iraq had large stockpiles of chemical weapons and
a large scale biological weapons program, and that Iraq had
an advanced nuclear weapons development program that was
much closer to producing a nuclear weapon than intelligence
reporting had previously indicated;
Whereas Iraq, in direct and flagrant violation of the cease-fire,
attempted to thwart the efforts of weapons inspectors to identify
and destroy Iraq s weapons of mass destruction stockpiles and
development capabilities, which finally resulted in the 
withdrawal
of inspectors from Iraq on October 31, 1998;
Whereas in Public Law 105 235 (August 14, 1998), Congress 
concluded
that Iraq s continuing weapons of mass destruction programs
threatened vital United States interests and international
peace and security, declared Iraq to be in   material and 
unacceptable
breach of its international obligations   and urged the 
President
  to take appropriate action, in accordance with the 
Constitution
and relevant laws of the United States, to bring Iraq into
compliance with its international obligations  ;
Whereas Iraq both poses a continuing threat to the national 
security
of the United States and international peace and security in
the Persian Gulf region and remains in material and unacceptable
breach of its international obligations by, among other things,
continuing to possess and develop a significant chemical and
biological weapons capability, actively seeking a nuclear weapons
capability, and supporting and harboring terrorist organizations;
Whereas Iraq persists in violating resolution of the United 
Nations
Security Council by continuing to engage in brutal repression
of its civilian population thereby threatening international 
peace
Oct. 16, 2002
[H.J. Res. 114]
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PUBL243
116 STAT. 1499 PUBLIC LAW 107 243 OCT. 16, 2002
and security in the region, by refusing to release, repatriate,
or account for non-Iraqi citizens wrongfully detained by Iraq,
including an American serviceman, and by failing to return 
property
wrongfully seized by Iraq from Kuwait;
Whereas the current Iraqi regime has demonstrated its capability
and willingness to use weapons of mass destruction against other
nations and its own people;
Whereas the current Iraqi regime has demonstrated its continuing
hostility toward, and willingness to attack, the United States,
including by attempting in 1993 to assassinate former President
Bush and by firing on many thousands of occasions on United
States and Coalition Armed Forces engaged in enforcing the
resolutions of the United Nations Security Council;
Whereas members of al Qaida, an organization bearing 
responsibility
for attacks on the United States, its citizens, and interests,
including the attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, are
known to be in Iraq;
Whereas Iraq continues to aid and harbor other international 
terrorist
organizations, including organizations that threaten the
lives and safety of United States citizens;
Whereas the attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001,
underscored the gravity of the threat posed by the acquisition
of weapons of mass destruction by international terrorist
organizations;
Whereas Iraq s demonstrated capability and willingness to use
weapons of mass destruction, the risk that the current Iraqi
regime will either employ those weapons to launch a surprise
attack against the United States or its Armed Forces or provide
them to international terrorists who would do so, and the extreme
magnitude of harm that would result to the United States and
its citizens from such an attack, combine to justify action by
the United States to defend itself;
Whereas United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (1990)
authorizes the use of all necessary means to enforce United
Nations Security Council Resolution 660 (1990) and subsequent
relevant resolutions and to compel Iraq to cease certain 
activities
that threaten international peace and security, including the
development of weapons of mass destruction and refusal or
obstruction of United Nations weapons inspections in violation
of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 (1991), 
repression
of its civilian population in violation of United Nations
Security Council Resolution 688 (1991), and threatening its 
neighbors
or United Nations operations in Iraq in violation of United
Nations Security Council Resolution 949 (1994);
Whereas in the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against
Iraq Resolution (Public Law 102 1), Congress has authorized
the President   to use United States Armed Forces pursuant to
United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (1990) in order
to achieve implementation of Security Council Resolution 660,
661, 662, 664, 665, 666, 667, 669, 670, 674, and 677  ;
Whereas in December 1991, Congress expressed its sense that
it   supports the use of all necessary means to achieve the 
goals
of United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 as being 
consistent
with the Authorization of Use of Military Force Against
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116 STAT. 1500 PUBLIC LAW 107 243 OCT. 16, 2002
Iraq Resolution (Public Law 102 1),   that Iraq s repression 
of
its civilian population violates United Nations Security Council
Resolution 688 and   constitutes a continuing threat to the 
peace,
security, and stability of the Persian Gulf region,   and that 
Congress,
  supports the use of all necessary means to achieve the
goals of United Nations Security Council Resolution 688  ;
Whereas the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 (Public Law 105 338)
expressed the sense of Congress that it should be the policy
of the United States to support efforts to remove from power
the current Iraqi regime and promote the emergence of a 
democratic
government to replace that regime;
Whereas on September 12, 2002, President Bush committed the
United States to   work with the United Nations Security 
Council
to meet our common challenge   posed by Iraq and to   work
for the necessary resolutions,   while also making clear that 
  the
Security Council resolutions will be enforced, and the just
demands of peace and security will be met, or action will be
unavoidable  ;
Whereas the United States is determined to prosecute the war
on terrorism and Iraq s ongoing support for international 
terrorist
groups combined with its development of weapons of mass
destruction in direct violation of its obligations under the 1991
cease-fire and other United Nations Security Council resolutions
make clear that it is in the national security interests of the
United States and in furtherance of the war on terrorism that
all relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions be
enforced, including through the use of force if necessary;
Whereas Congress has taken steps to pursue vigorously the war
on terrorism through the provision of authorities and funding
requested by the President to take the necessary actions against
international terrorists and terrorist organizations, including
those nations, organizations, or persons who planned, authorized,
committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on 
September
11, 2001, or harbored such persons or organizations;
Whereas the President and Congress are determined to continue
to take all appropriate actions against international terrorists
and terrorist organizations, including those nations, 
organizations,
or persons who planned, authorized, committed, or aided
the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or
harbored such persons or organizations;
Whereas the President has authority under the Constitution to
take action in order to deter and prevent acts of international
terrorism against the United States, as Congress recognized in
the joint resolution on Authorization for Use of Military Force
(Public Law 107 40); and
Whereas it is in the national security interests of the United 
States
to restore international peace and security to the Persian Gulf
region: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This joint resolution may be cited as the   Authorization for
Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002  .
Authorization for
Use of Military
Force Against
Iraq Resolution
of 2002.
50 USC 1541
note.
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116 STAT. 1501 PUBLIC LAW 107 243 OCT. 16, 2002
SEC. 2. SUPPORT FOR UNITED STATES DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS.
The Congress of the United States supports the efforts by
the President to 
(1) strictly enforce through the United Nations Security
Council all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq
and encourages him in those efforts; and
(2) obtain prompt and decisive action by the Security
Council to ensure that Iraq abandons its strategy of delay,
evasion and noncompliance and promptly and strictly complies
with all relevant Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq.
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.
(a) AUTHORIZATION. The President is authorized to use the
Armed Forces of the United States as he determines to be 
necessary
and appropriate in order to 
(1) defend the national security of the United States against
the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and
(2) enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council
resolutions regarding Iraq.
(b) PRESIDENTIAL DETERMINATION. In connection with the
exercise of the authority granted in subsection (a) to use force
the President shall, prior to such exercise or as soon thereafter
as may be feasible, but no later than 48 hours after exercising
such authority, make available to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate his
determination that 
(1) reliance by the United States on further diplomatic
or other peaceful means alone either (A) will not adequately
protect the national security of the United States against the
continuing threat posed by Iraq or (B) is not likely to lead
to enforcement of all relevant United Nations Security Council
resolutions regarding Iraq; and
(2) acting pursuant to this joint resolution is consistent
with the United States and other countries continuing to take
the necessary actions against international terrorist and 
terrorist
organizations, including those nations, organizations, or
persons who planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist
attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001.
(c) WAR POWERS RESOLUTION REQUIREMENTS. 
(1) SPECIFIC STATUTORY AUTHORIZATION. Consistent with
section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution, the Congress
declares that this section is intended to constitute specific 
statutory
authorization within the meaning of section 5(b) of the
War Powers Resolution.
(2) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER REQUIREMENTS. Nothing in
this joint resolution supersedes any requirement of the War
Powers Resolution.
SEC. 4. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.
(a) REPORTS. The President shall, at least once every 60 days,
submit to the Congress a report on matters relevant to this joint
resolution, including actions taken pursuant to the exercise of
authority granted in section 3 and the status of planning for 
efforts
that are expected to be required after such actions are 
completed,
including those actions described in section 7 of the Iraq 
Liberation
Act of 1998 (Public Law 105 338).
President.
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116 STAT. 1502 PUBLIC LAW 107 243 OCT. 16, 2002
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY H.J. Res. 114 (S.J. Res. 45) (S.J. Res. 46):
HOUSE REPORTS: No. 107 721 (Comm. on International Relations).
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD, Vol. 148 (2002):
Oct. 8, 9, considered in House.
Oct. 10, considered and passed House and Senate.
WEEKLY COMPILATION OF PRESIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS, Vol. 38 (2002):
Oct. 16, Presidential remarks and statement.
 
(b) SINGLE CONSOLIDATED REPORT. To the extent that the
submission of any report described in subsection (a) coincides 
with
the submission of any other report on matters relevant to this
joint resolution otherwise required to be submitted to Congress
pursuant to the reporting requirements of the War Powers 
Resolution
(Public Law 93 148), all such reports may be submitted as
a single consolidated report to the Congress.
(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. To the extent that the information
required by section 3 of the Authorization for Use of Military
Force Against Iraq Resolution (Public Law 102 1) is included in
the report required by this section, such report shall be 
considered
as meeting the requirements of section 3 of such resolution.
Approved October 16, 2002.
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adsff

adsff

U.S. Death Toll in Iraq at Least 52 This Month 
    By Ashraf Khalil and Patrick J. McDonnell
    The Los Angeles Times 

    Saturday 18 September 2004 

    Insurgents kill three Marines. In Baghdad, three 
civilians -- two Americans and one Briton -- are 
kidnapped from their home. 

    BAGHDAD - Iraqi insurgents pressed their assault on 
U.S. and allied forces Thursday as two Americans and a 
Briton were kidnapped from their Baghdad house and 
three Marines were killed, bringing the number of U.S. 
military deaths in the country this month to at least 
52. 

    The brazen abduction of the employees of a Middle 
East-based construction firm continued a violent week 
that has left more than 200 Iraqis dead, and it 
followed a similar kidnapping of two Italian women from 
their office 10 days ago. 

    No one immediately claimed responsibility for the 
abduction, but almost all of the more than 120 
kidnappings of foreigners in Iraq have been carried out 
by militant groups seeking to drive out U.S. forces, 
aid workers and foreign companies involved in 
supporting military and reconstruction efforts. 

    Most kidnappings of foreigners in Iraq have 
occurred on the nation's lawless roads, but the spread 
of abductions to homes and offices has sparked new fear 
among an international community already feeling 
besieged. Some companies have pulled out of the 
country, despite the money to be made on reconstruction 
projects. 

    The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad identified the two 
Americans as Jack Hensley and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong. 
Their ages and hometowns were not released. The British 
Embassy confirmed that the third man was one of its 
citizens, but it did not identify him. 

    An Iraqi government official said the three men 
worked for Gulf Services Co., based in the United Arab 
Emirates, but it was unclear whether they were security 
guards or held other positions with the firm. 

    After the abduction, police found the body of a 
blond man believed to be a Westerner, news agencies 
reported. The body, found north of Baghdad, was not 
immediately identified. 

    Eighteen months after U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq 
and ousted President Saddam Hussein, large swaths of 
the nation remain beyond the control of the U.S.-backed 
interim government of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi. 

    Sunni Muslim insurgents control vast areas west of 
Baghdad, and a largely Shiite Muslim rebel militia 
holds significant sway in areas of the capital and 
elsewhere. The nation's security forces are ill-equipped 
to impose order, despite a U.S.-led program to train and 
outfit tens of thousands of soldiers, police officers 
and other forces. 

    One of the most troubled and contentious areas is 
Al Anbar province west of Baghdad, which includes the 
tinderbox towns of Fallouja and Ramadi. The military 
said three Marines died Thursday as the result of enemy 
fire in separate incidents in the province. They were 
not immediately identified. 

    U.S. forces have stepped up offensive operations in 
the province, and Thursday and early today they 
launched four assaults targeting the network of Abu 
Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant suspected in a wave 
of suicide bombings and kidnappings in Iraq. 

    U.S. forces bombed suspected Zarqawi strongholds in 
Fallouja and near the town of Qaryat ar Rufish, 
southwest of Fallouja, U.S. authorities said. 

    The latter attack, on a "terrorist meeting site," 
killed about 60 "foreign fighters," a U.S. statement 
said. That figure could not be verified. 

    If true, the attack would be one of the most deadly 
on insurgents in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003. 
Insurgents have long accused the U.S. military of 
inflating the number of guerrillas killed in 
operations. 

    U.S. forces also launched an offensive in Ramadi, a 
provincial capital in western Iraq and a place where 
Sunni insurgents have significant influence. The 
operation targeted the heretofore little-known Daham 
network, which U.S. officials said has ties to Zarqawi. 

    In addition to carrying out bombings and ambushes 
against U.S. and Iraqi forces, insurgents have abducted 
foreign civilians, apparently believing the tactic will 
scare away companies and workers and thereby slow the 
reconstruction plans. But there are indications that 
criminal gangs seeking ransoms may also be involved in 
the kidnappings. 

    Options are dwindling for foreign workers not 
already barricaded behind concrete blast walls in 
secure compounds, on U.S. bases or inside the Green 
Zone, the U.S.-guarded enclave in central Baghdad. 

    Thursday's abduction in the capital may have been 
an inside job involving at least one of the security 
guards assigned to protect the house, sources said. 

    Sabah Kadhim, spokesman for the Iraqi Interior 
Ministry, said the house was approached by "five masked 
men with weapons" who forced the three victims into a 
minivan. No shots were fired, he said. 

    A 23-year-old neighbor who gave his name as Majid 
said he saw unusual activity when he left his home to 
switch on a generator during a blackout. 

    "I heard voices that sounded like someone was 
trying to drag somebody else," he told Associated 
Press. "I was frightened and left the area, but when I 
came back to the foreigners' house, I saw that the 
outer gate was open and the foreigners' car had gone." 

    Another witness, 19-year-old Ziad Tareq, said he saw 
a man in black clothing dragging one of the hostages by 
the collar toward a vehicle, AP reported. 

    The abduction appears to be part of a new trend in 
which the captors carefully plan their attacks, gather 
intelligence and conduct surveillance of their victims, 
rather than merely seizing targets of opportunity. 

    On Sept. 7, Italian aid workers Simona Pari and 
Simona Torretta were abducted by gunmen from the 
central Baghdad office of their charitable 
organization, Bridge to Baghdad. Two of their Iraqi 
colleagues also were abducted. The four are still 
missing. 

    The captors knew who the Italians were and knew who 
they were targeting, said one foreign embassy official, 
speaking on condition of anonymity. "People seem to 
know exactly who they're going for rather than being 
opportunistic." 

    Allawi's government, which makes security its 
central theme, has been helpless to stop the 
abductions. 

    Kadhim, the Interior Ministry spokesman, hinted 
that former intelligence officers in Hussein's 
government might be offering their services to gangs, 
helping to coordinate information-gathering on 
prospective abductees. 

    "If it's lucrative and you want information, there 
are people willing to supply it," he said. "We mustn't 
forget the complex intelligence service that was in 
place previously   all of whom are now out of a job." 

    The Mansour neighborhood where the Americans and 
Briton were abducted is an upscale one on the city's 
west side, known for its concentration of government 
officials' homes and foreign embassies and firms. Much 
of the area has numerous security guards, roadblocks 
and checkpoints. 

    Companies, aid groups and news organizations 
operating from houses in Baghdad often try to be as low-
profile as possible. However, one Mansour resident said 
that outside the Gulf Services home, someone had hung a 
banner bearing the company's name, and that neighbors 
knew the habits and routines of the residents. 

    For example, he said, it was common knowledge that 
the abductees liked to eat breakfast in the home's 
garden about 6 every morning. 

    Some kidnappers have demanded that the victims' 
employers end their operations in Iraq, and the 
companies have often complied. 

    Several trucking firms have agreed not to return to 
the country after their drivers were snatched, and the 
Philippines withdrew a small contingent of troops this 
summer to secure the release of a truck driver. 


  


-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------

    Go to Original 

    Death Toll for Week Tops 250 as Suicide Car Bomber 
Kills 13 
    By Rory McCarthy
    The Guardian U.K. 

    Saturday 18 September 2004 

    The US military stepped up efforts to check Iraq's 
destabilising insurgency yesterday by pounding the 
restive city of Falluja, killing dozens of people, with 
children reported to be among the injured. 

    Details of the raids emerged as Baghdad was once 
again hit by a suicide car bomber, who attacked a 
police checkpoint. At least eight people died. 

    The bloodshed came at the end of a desperate week 
in which more than 250 people were killed in fighting 
across the country, and three more westerners were 
kidnapped. 

    Violence was also reported in Basra yesterday where 
British troops clashed with fighters loyal to the rebel 
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, raiding an office and seizing 
weapons and explosives after an ambush. 

    A military spokesman said there had been one 
British casualty. 

    The Baghdad car bomb exploded beside a line of 
police four-wheel drives, incinerating seven of the 
vehicles and sending a plume of smoke into the morning 
sky. Five policemen were among the dead and at least 50 
people were injured. 

    Police had set up the cars to block the Martyrs 
Bridge that crosses the Tigris in the centre of 
Baghdad, as part of an early morning operation against 
militants in the Haifa Street area, where there have 
been several days of fighting. 

    US troops said they fired at another car packed 
with explosives that was heading towards their 
checkpoint in Haifa Street. The car exploded, killing 
two men inside and injuring an Iraqi national guard 
soldier. 

    Through the morning there was the sound of heavy 
gunfire as US troops moved through the area. 

    By the end of the day Iraqi police said they had 
arrested 63 suspects, including Syrians, Egyptians and 
Sudanese. Caches of weapons, including rockets and 
grenades, were also seized, Iraqi officials said. 

    Yesterday's suicide bomb signalled a change of 
tactics. Car bombs have usually been directed at fixed 
targets such as police stations and entrances to the US 
headquarters, the heavily fortified green zone. But the 
latest attacks have been against moving targets and 
temporary checkpoints. 

    On Sunday a car bomber also in the Haifa Street 
area detonated his explosives next to a moving US 
Bradley armoured vehicle. A similar attack last week on 
a passing US convoy in Falluja claimed the lives of 
seven US marines. 

    For the past two weeks the US military has led air 
strikes on targets in Falluja almost daily against 
sites it says are used by fighters loyal to Abu Musab al-
Zarqawi, a Jordanian blamed by the US for conducting 
many of the bombings and assassinations that have 
shaken postwar Iraq. 

    New US raids last night de stroyed four houses and 
killed at least six. They followed attacks on Thursday 
on a compound that the military said was being used by 
around 90 "foreign fighters" aiming "to plan attacks 
against the Iraqi people, Iraqi security forces and 
multinational forces". The military estimated that 60 
people had been killed and three buildings destroyed. 

    As is frequently the case, Iraqi officials and 
those in Falluja disputed the US military's account of 
the raid. 

    A spokesman for Iraq's health ministry said 44 
people died and 27 were injured. The injured included 
17 children and two women, he said. Television footage 
showed seriously injured women and children. 

    American jets bombed another compound in the south 
of the city early yesterday. The US military lost 
control of Falluja weeks ago and no longer patrols 
there. But commanders and Iraqi leaders are anxious to 
quell the militants before elections due to be held in 
January. 

    Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, has 
questioned whether the poll will be feasible given the 
security situation. Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, 
said Britain could send more troops to police the vote, 
because it was determined the elections should go 
ahead. 

    Britons in Baghdad are being urged to leave the 
country or live in heavily guarded buildings. The 
British embassy in an email circular warned of "the 
change in tactics away from roadside abductions to 
entering properties to snatch foreign nationals". 

    "Those of you who do decide to stay should review 
your own security arrangements and ... consider moving 
to premises within guarded areas. You should seek 
professional advice on whether the ... arrangements 
that you have in place are sufficient," it said. 


  


-----------------------------------------------------------------
---------------

    Go to Original 

    From Bad to Worse in Iraq 
    By Jim Lobe 
    Inter-Press Services 

    Friday 17 September 2004 

    WASHINGTON - After weeks of hurricanes and 
controversies over swift boats in Vietnam and Texas and 
Alabama National Guard records, Iraq is beginning to 
creep back onto the front pages, and the news is 
uniformly bad. 

    Consider some of the headlines in major newspapers 
that appeared on their front pages on Wednesday alone: 

    Wall Street Journal:  Rebel Attacks Reveal New 
Cooperation: Officials Fear Recent Rise in Baghdad 
Violence Stems from Growing Coordination . 

    Baltimore Sun:  In Iraq, Chance for Credible Vote 
is Slipping Away . 

    Philadelphia Inquirer:  Outlook: The Growing 
Insurgency Could Doom U.S. Plans for Iraq, Analysts 
Say . 

    Washington Post:  U.S. Plans to Divert Iraq Money: 
Attacks Prompt Request to Move Reconstruction Funds to 
Security Forces . 

    And then Thursday: 

    USA Today:  Insurgents in Iraq Appear More Powerful 
Than Ever . 

    New York Times:  U.S. Intelligence Shows Pessimism 
on Iraq's Future: Civil War Called Possible -- Tone 
Differs from Public Statements . 

    All of which tended to confirm the conclusion of 
the latest 'Newsweek' magazine's Iraq feature:  It's 
Worse Than You Think . 

    Against these stories -- putting aside the other 
headlines detailing deadly suicide and other attacks 
that have killed scores of Iraqis in the past week -- 
Bush's insistence in a campaign address to a convention 
of the National Guard Tuesday that  our strategy is 
succeeding  appears awfully hollow, a point made 
repeatedly not only by Democratic, but by some 
Republican lawmakers at a hearing of the Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee Wednesday. 

     It's beyond pitiful, it's beyond embarrassing,  
noted Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, who has 
long been sceptical of administration claims that the 
Iraq occupation was going well.  It is now in the zone 
of dangerous.  

    Indeed, it is now very difficult to find any 
analysts outside of the administration or the Bush 
campaign who share the official optimism. 

    Consider the case of Michael O'Hanlon, a defence 
specialist at the Brookings Institution and former 
National Security Council aide who has been among the 
most confident of independent analysts of the basic 
soundness of Washington's strategy in Iraq. 

     In my judgment the administration is basically 
correct that the overall effort in Iraq is succeeding,  
he testified to a Congressional panel just 10 months 
ago.  By the standards of counterinsurgency warfare, 
most factors, though admittedly not all, appear to be 
working to our advantage.  

    This week, however, O'Hanlon, who has developed a 
detailed index periodically published in the New York 
Times that measures U.S. progress in post-war Iraq, was 
singing an entirely different song at a forum sponsored 
by Brookings and the Center for Strategic and 
International Studies (CSIS). 

     We're in much worse shape than I thought we'd ever 
be,  he said.  I don't know how you get it back,  he 
conceded, adding that his last remaining hope was that 
somehow the U.S. could train enough indigenous Iraqi 
security forces within two to three years to keep the 
country  cohesive  and permit an eventual U.S. 
withdrawal.  A Lebanonization of Iraq  was also quite 
possible, he said. 

    His conclusion was echoed by his CSIS co-panelists, 
Frederick Barton and Bathsheba Crocker, who direct 
their own index that relies heavily on interviews with 
Iraqis themselves in measuring progress in 
reconstruction . 

    According to the five general criteria used by 
them, movement over the past 13 months has for the most 
part been  backward , particularly with respect to 
security which they now consider to be squarely in the  
danger  zone. 

     Security and economic problems continue to 
overshadow and undermine efforts across the board , 
including health care, education and governance, 
according to a report their project released last week. 
Among other things, it noted that despite a massive 
school-building and rehabilitation programme, children 
are increasingly dropping out to help their families 
survive an economy where almost half the working 
population remains unemployed. 

    The growing media chorus of despair actually began 
just one week ago, a few days after the brilliantly 
staged Republican convention in New York City had 
ended, when the U.S. military death toll in Iraq since 
last year's invasion topped the 1,000 mark, and the New 
York Times published a front-page article entitled  
U.S. Conceding Rebels Control Regions of Iraq . 

    Since then, a number of articles have featured the 
increasing violence of the insurgency, which is now 
mounting an average of more than 80 attacks on U.S. 
targets -- four times the number of one year ago and 25 
percent higher than last spring, when the U.S. faced 
serious uprisings in both the Sunni Triangle and in the 
south. 

    Washington officials had predicted that attacks 
would increase sharply just before the transfer of 
sovereignty from the U.S.-dominated Coalition 
Provisional Authority (CPA) to the interim government 
headed by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in late June and 
would tail off. 

    But, as noted by a front-page article in the 
Washington Post late last week, more U.S. troops were 
killed in July and August than during the initial 
invasion in March and April 2003. Injuries suffered by 
U.S. troops in August alone were twice what they were 
during the invasion. 

    The escalation in violence over the summer is now 
being attributed by administration officials to the 
insurgents' efforts to derail the elections, currently 
scheduled for January. 

    The increased violence -- particularly in Baghdad 
and the so-called  Sunni Triangle  where Falluja, 
Ramadi, Baquba and Samarra, among other towns, are 
controlled by insurgents -- has created a serious 
dilemma for administration strategists who, on the one 
hand, reject the notion that there are  no-go  areas 
for U.S. troops, and, on the other, want to keep U.S. 
casualties down and off the front pages and U.S. 
television sets, particularly before the November 
elections here. 

    As a result, they appear to have settled on a 
strategy -- bombing suspected insurgent hideouts from 
the air -- that further alienates the civilian 
population. 

     I don't believe that you can flatten cities and 
expect to win popular support,  noted CSIS' Barton. 

     This is the classic contradiction of 
counterinsurgency,  Steven Metz, a strategy specialist 
at the U.S. Army War College, told the Inquirer.  In 
the long term, winning the people matters more. But it 
may be that in the short term, you have to forgo that 
in order to crush the insurgents. Right now, we are 
trying to decide whether we have reached that point. In 
Vietnam, we waited too long.  

    Meanwhile, both independent and U.S. military 
analysts believe that the insurgency, which the 
administration still insists is made up only of 
Baathist  dead-enders , foreign  jihadis , and 
criminals, has grown from an estimated 5,000 people one 
year ago to at least 20,000 and possibly significantly 
more. 

     The bottom line is, at this moment we are losing 
the war , Col Andrew Bacevich (ret.) of Boston 
University told USA Today Thursday.  That doesn't mean 
it is lost, but we are losing, and as an observer it is 
difficult for me to see that either the civilian 
leaderhsip or the military leadership has any plausible 
idea on how to turn this around . 

cunt

Jewish settlers attack US Christians
By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank  
http://www.georgewankerbush.com
Thursday 30 September 2004, 2:24 Makka Time, 23:24 GMT   
Jewish settler immigrants from North America have attacked and 
severely beat American Christian peace volunteers near the 
village of Yatta south west of Hebron.
http://www.georgewankerbush.com


Palestinian and Israeli sources said the attack occurred on 
Wednesday.

According to the Hebron-based Christian Peace Making Team (CPT), 
five settlers carrying iron chains and baseball clubs, assaulted 
two male and female volunteers who were escorting Palestinian 
schoolchildren to their school at the village of Tuba near the 
settlement of Maon in the southern Hebron hills.

The assailants reportedly beat the two volunteers and robbed 
them. The pair were evacuated by an Israeli ambulance to a 
hospital in the southern Israeli town of Be'ir Sheva were their 
condition is said to be moderate.

The assailants also stole a bag belonging to a female volunteer 
named Kim Lamberty. The bag contained a passport, money and a 
cellular phone. It is not clear if the settlers had wanted to 
attack Palestinian schoolchildren who fled to their homes.

Volunteers severly beaten

CPT spokesperson in Hebron, Cal Carpenter told Aljazeera.net 
that one of the volunteers had a collapsed lung while a woman 
volunteer had sustained cuts and bruises.

"They apparently were unhappy to see us stand by the kids whom 
the settlers want to abuse .so they thought that we were 
frustrating their efforts"

Cal Carpenter,http://www.georgewankerbush.com
Christian Peacemaking Team
 
http://www.georgewankerbush.com
Asked why he thought the settlers assaulted his colleagues, 
Carpenter said the settlers "didn't like what we were doing, 
namely escorting Palestinian kids to their schools."

"They apparently were unhappy to see us stand by the kids whom 
the settlers want to abuse  they thought that we were 
frustrating their efforts."

Carpenter said the CPT volunteers wouldn't be intimidated by the 
Jewish settlers "savagery."

"We will go to the village tomorrow and we will escort the kids 
to their school."

According to Palestinian locals, the settlers in the area 
despise the Christian activists for "helping the Palestinians 
stay in the area."

'Disrupting efforts'http://www.georgewankerbush.com

"The settlers believe the Christians are disrupting their 
efforts to get the Palestinians to leave the area," one local 
told Aljazeera.net.

 
Peace activists are 
often man-handled
 

The incident came less than 48 hours after a Jewish settler from 
a settlement near the Northern West Bank town of Nablus murdered 
a Palestinian driver and father of eight children.

The settler, however, has been freed from police custody and 
placed under temporary house arrest. 

The Israeli army, in concert with settler leaders in the area, 
have been trying to expel several hundred Palestinian families 
from the area for the purpose of expanding the settlement of 
Maon.http://www.georgewankerbush.com

Two years ago, the army destroyed hundreds of caves and many 
cisterns belonging to Palestinians in order to force them to 
leave.

Relations between the settlers and the Christian volunteers have 
never been good.

Jewish settlers, indoctrinated by a staunchly anti-Christian 
ideology, routinely throw rocks and shout obscenities at the 
volunteers.http://www.georgewankerbush.comhttp://www.georgewanker
bush.com

'Bush team helped write Allawi speech' now, does that sound like 
an "Iraqi government" or
by Noam The Cat-Out-Of-The-Bag Bone (no login)
..a "PUPPET GOVERNMENT"???
read on:

'Bush team helped write Allawi speech'

http://www.fuckyoutoo.com
Friday 01 October 2004, 2:03 Makka Time, 23:03 GMT 
A leading US democratic senator has expressed profound dismay at 
the White House for allegedly writing interim Iraqi Prime 
Minister Iyad Allawi's speech to the US congress last week.



In a letter to President George Bush on Thursday, California 
Senator Dianne Feinstein said: "I want to express my profound 
dismay about reports that officials from your administration and 
your re-election campaign were 'heavily involved' in writing 
parts of Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's speech.

"You may be surprised by this, Mr President, but I viewed Prime 
Minister Allawi's speech as an independent view on conditions in 
Iraq," she wrote. 

"His speech gave me hope that reconstruction efforts were 
proceeding in most of the country and that elections could be 
held on schedule. 

"To learn that this was not an independent view, but one that 
was massaged by your campaign operatives, jaundices the speech 
and reduces the credibility of his remarks," Feinstein wrote. 

Her letter was a response to an article appearing in Thursday's 
Washington Post, which also alleged that Allawi was coached by 
US officials - including Dan Senor, former spokesman for the US 
authorities in Iraq - in perfecting his delivery of the speech 
given before a joint session of congress a week ago.

Similarities

"The unusual public-relations effort by the Pentagon and the US 
Agency for International Development comes as details have 
emerged showing the US government and a representative of 
President Bush's re-election campaign had been heavily involved 
in drafting the speech given to congress last week by interim 
Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi," wrote Washington Post journalists 
Dana Milbank and Mike Allen in the article. 




Allawi (L) and Bush both said 
there was progress in Iraq


"Combined, they indicate that the federal government is working 
assiduously to improve Americans' opinions about the Iraq 
conflict - a key element of Bush's re-election message."



The article said Senor coached Allawi in New York.



Senor declined to comment.

In a Washington Post article on 28 September, Milbank also 
compared several key aspects of Allawi's speech to previous Bush 
speeches.

For example, while Allawi said "the world is better off without 
Saddam Hussein", Bush had said "the world is better off without 
Saddam Hussein in power" in one of his previous speeches.

And while Allawi said "it's a tough struggle with setbacks, but 
we are succeeding", Bush had said "it's tough at times ... but 
there is steady progress".http://www.fuckyoutoo.com

FILTHY FUCKING YANKS: - Allies 'planned' Iraq war despite 
denials 
(http://www.bushorchimp.comhttp://www.bushorchimp.comhttp://www.b
ushorchimp.comhttp://www.bushorchimp.com) 
Allies 'planned' Iraq war despite denials
The United States, Australia and Britain started to plan the 
invasion of Iraq months before the conflict, according to a 
report Wednesday quoting a leaked Pentagon document. 
http://www.bushorchimp.com
Senior British and US commanders met at a war-planning session 
in June 2002 and orders to prepare actual military operations 
were given on October 7, 2002, more than a month before a UN 
resolution giving a final warning to Iraqi leader Saddam 
Hussein, the London Evening Standard reported. 

Full battle plans were issued on October 31, 2002, eight days 
before UN Resolution 1441 called for the resumption of arms 
inspections in Iraq and warned Saddam of "serious consequences" 
if he were still seeking weapons of mass destruction, the paper 
said. 
http://www.bushorchimp.com
The document quoted in the report is a Pentagon chronology used 
by US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in an August 2003 
presentation on the "strategic lessons learned from Operation 
Iraqi Freedom". 

The chronology lists a "UK and Australia planning conference" on 
June 28, 2002.

Three weeks later, on July 16, the Prime Minister Tony Blair 
rejected the notion that Britain was gearing up for an invasion. 

When asked by a lawmaker whether Britain was "preparing for 
possible military action in Iraq", Mr Blair responded, according 
to the paper: "No, there are no decisions which have been taken 
about military action".

The newspaper report was written by defense and security 
journalist Andrew Gilligan, the former BBC radio reporter whose 
claim that Mr Blair had "sexed up" his pre-war dossier with a 
claim about Iraqi weapons capability led to his ouster and a 
showdown between the British Government and public broadcaster. 

Britain's defense ministry refused to confirm or deny the 
report, Mr Gilligan wrote. 

"The latest disclosures sit uneasily with Mr Blair's denials 
that the Government was following a course toward war," he said. 

Mr Rumsfeld's document, the article charges, "frequently 
contradicts" public statements by officials in Britain in the 
run-up to the war. 

Mr Blair has been dogged by persistent doubts over the war, and 
Tuesday admitted that his decision to join the US-led invasion 
had made the public lose trust in the Government. 

He also told the annual conference of his ruling Labour Party 
that the claim that Saddam possessed stockpiles of banned 
weapons had "turned out to be wrong". 

According to the Evening Standard article, a British defense 
official was quoted in July 2002 - two weeks after Britain's 
first war-planning huddle with the United States - as 
saying: "We don't have current plans for an invasion or attack 
on Iraq in any form".

Even after Washington began actively preparing its offensive in 
August 2002, British Home Secretary David Blunkett derided war 
talk as "hype", Mr Gilligan wrote.  
 Mr Gilligan's controversial report for the BBC back in May 2003 
used a Government weapons expert, David Kelly, as a confidential 
source who was later outed in public. 

Mr Kelly committed suicide in July of that year, triggering a 
major public inquiry into the causes of his death. 

Its conclusions, written by judge Brian Hutton, absolved Mr 
Blair of wrongdoing but made a scathing attack on the BBC, which 
in turn led to the resignations of Mr Gilligan as well as the 
BBC's chief executive Greg Dyke and chairman Gavyn Davies. 

-- AFP

US friendly fire report 'insidious cover-up' - I wonder why we 
didn't hear of this news in the media?? 
(http://www.antiamerica.comhttp://www.antiamerica.comhttp://www.a
ntiamerica.comhttp://www.antiamerica.comhttp://www.antiamerica.) 
Until now...
(us lefties we saying bullshit as these claims were made)
US friendly fire report 'insidious cover-up'
The Pentagon has covered up major flaws in the US Army's Patriot 
missile system that prompted a battery to shoot down a British 
Tornado during the Iraq war last year, a top US scientist says. 
http://www.antiamerica.com
Theodore Postol, professor of science, technology and national 
security policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
(MIT), says "every one" of the claims made by a Pentagon probe 
into the shoot down was false. 

Postol led an MIT research group to analyse the success of the 
Patriot systems in the first Gulf war.

After that conflict, the US Army claimed the Patriots had 
intercepted 96 per cent of the Scuds they had engaged.

"The real intercept rate was almost certainly zero. Now we have 
discovered a similar but far more insidious cover-up following 
Operation Iraqi Freedom," says Professor Postol, in a commentary 
published in the next of New Scientist. 

The Royal Air Force (RAF) ground-attack Tornado, Yahoo 76, was 
shot down by a Patriot air and missile defence unit over Kuwait 
on March 22, 2003 as it descended with another Tornado along a 
pre-planned "safe" corridor towards its home base west of Kuwait 
city. 

Both airmen were killed.

In its much-delayed investigation into the Tornado incident, the 
US Department of Defence concluded the mistake was caused "in 
major part" by incorrect setting of the plane's Identification 
Friend or Foe (IFF) system. 

The IFF is an electronic system that tells defence crews and 
other aircraft that the plane is friendly, not hostile.

The Pentagon also said the Patriot battery detected what 
appeared to be a hostile Iraq missile heading directly towards 
it.

The "missile", though, turned out to be the Tornado. However, 
according to the report, the allied integrated defence system 
did not work correctly and failed to identify it. 

"We believe that every one of these claims is false," Professor 
Postol says.

By sifting through the data in the appendix in the report, 
Professor Postol says he discovered that the "missile" signal 
received by the Patriot unit was a "ghost", an illusory signal 
that was probably generated by electronic inference from other 
Patriot units nearby.

Far from the assertion that the "missile" was heading towards 
the unit, this false target was in fact heading towards a troop 
encampment 15 kilometres to the north. 

Had it been heading towards the unit, the battery's weapons 
control computer would have classified it as a Category 1 Air 
Threat. 

Instead, it was tagged as Category 9, a threat level so low that 
the computer did not even mark it for engagement, says Professor 
Postol.

Still, believing they were under attack, the Patriot crew fired 
an interceptor missile at the false target, which by this stage 
had "moved" in the area of the two Tornados.
http://www.antiamerica.com 
 Lacking any other target, the missile's radar homed in on one 
of the planes and blew it up.
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
In addition to the false signal problem, the Patriot battery did 
not have high-speed data links that would have enabled it 
to "talk" to the rest of the air defence system.
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
"Unbelievably, the communications module needed for the data 
links had not been shipped with the rest of the equipment," says 
Postol. 

"This was a crucial error. Had the links been working, the 
Patriot battery would have known from other units that the 
target it was tracking was a ghost and that Yahoo 76 was 
friendly and flying down a safe approach corridor," he says. 

Eleven days after the Tornado was shot down another Patriot crew 
fired at another false target, destroying a US Navy F-18, 
killing its pilot. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
The US Army has yet to release its report into this 
incidenthttp://www.humiliateamerica.comhttp://www.humiliateameric
a.comhttp://www.humiliateamerica.com

Lost bomb may have been found
http://www.americansarestupid.com
Retired airman says radiation marks spot nuclear weapon was 
ditched in 1958

By RUSS BYNUM

The Associated Press
http://www.americansarestupid.com

SAVANNAH   The U.S. government is sending a team of 20 
scientists to check out a report of unusual radiation readings 
that could be coming from a hydrogen bomb that was lost off the 
Georgia coast in 1958.

A crippled B-47 bomber dumped the H-bomb into the Atlantic Ocean 
46 years ago after the plane collided with a fighter jet during 
a training flight. Navy divers searched the shallow, murky 
waters near Tybee Island for nearly 10 weeks before declaring 
the bomb irretrievably lost.
http://www.americansarestupid.com
Derek Duke, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who has been 
looking for the 7,600-pound bomb for five years, claimed 
recently that he found a football field-size area off the coast 
with higher-than-normal radiation levels. He suspects it marks 
the burial spot of the lost Mark-15 bomb.

The scientists from the Pentagon and the National Labs met with 
Duke Wednesday and plan to examine the area today.

 Our goal is to survey this area that Mr. Duke has found and 
make a determination on what that source of radiation is,  said 
Billy Mullins, a government nuclear weapons expert leading the 
investigation.  If we determine it is the Mark-15, we will have 
to determine what is the best course of action for that. 

He declined to comment about what the government s options would 
be   from removing the bomb to leaving it alone   if his team 
locates it.

The bomb, believed buried in 10 to 15 feet of mud at the bottom 
of the sea, became one of 11  Broken Arrows    nuclear bombs 
lost during air or sea accidents, according to U.S. military 
records.
http://www.americansarestupid.com
The Air Force has long insisted there is no risk of a nuclear 
blast from the Georgia bomb because the plutonium capsule needed 
to trigger one was removed before the ill-fated flight.

 This bomb was not capable of causing a nuclear explosion in 
1958, and it is not capable of an explosion today,  said Lt. 
Col. Frank Smolinsky, an Air Force spokesman.
http://www.americansarestupid.com
Duke, who lives in Statesboro, has disputed that point over the 
years, citing a Pentagon memo from 1966 that referred to the 
bomb as a  complete weapon.  The Air Force has said that memo 
was wrong.

Al Qaida 'Duped Allies into Waging War' - they're smart those 
little fellas!! Can't Stop 'em!!! 
(http://www.boycottusa.comhttp://www.boycottusa.comhttp://www.boy
cottusa.comhttp://www.boycottusa.comhttp://www.boycottusa.com) 
Al Qaida 'Duped Allies into Waging War' 

By Andrew Woodcock, Political Correspondent, PA News 
http://www.boycottusa.com

One of al Qaida s aims in its September 11 attacks on the US 
three years ago was to draw the west into military conflict on 
Arab soil, Prime Minister Tony Blair s former envoy to Iraq 
acknowledged today.

Sir Jeremy Greenstock s comments appeared to give some credence 
to the argument of critics of the Iraq War that the US and UK 
played into al Qaida s hands by launching last year s invasion.
http://www.boycottusa.com
Opponents of the war warned that it would act as a recruiting 
sergeant for terror chief Osama bin Laden, by appearing to 
confirm his claims that the West was engaged in a war on Islam, 
as well as providing a new field of battle for his militants.

Sir Jeremy today said the allies had  suffered the consequences  
in Iraq of al Qaida s determination to exploit the opportunities 
presented by a war on Arab soil.

He said that the West could not defeat bin Laden s terror 
network by military means alone, but must adopt policies to 
reduce resentment in the Muslim world.
http://www.boycottusa.com
If the allies failed to help Iraq put an end to its current 
instability, they would be left  worse off than when we 
started , he warned.

Sir Jeremy, who was at the centre of events in the run-up to 
last year s war as UK ambassador to the United Nations, told BBC 
Radio 4 s Today programme:  I think it was one of the objectives 
of Osama bin Laden and the al Qaida leadership originally to 
draw America into conflict on Arab soil as close to Saudi Arabia 
as possible. 

Asked if this meant the allies had in fact played into al 
Qaida s hands, he responded:  To some extent, we are suffering 
the consequences of that. 

Iraq must not be allowed to become a failed state, with chaotic 
conditions providing a breeding ground for terrorism, he warned.

 Iraq is not yet a failed state,  said Sir Jeremy.  We are in a 
transition period, which has got considerable difficulties.

 But if Iraq ends up as a failed state and we leave it in that 
state, then we are worse off than when we started.

 If Iraq eventually gets through this phase and decides, within 
its own society, that it doesn t want violence and in particular 
foreign terrorists on its soil, and becomes a more stable and a 
more open state, then we may have made an advance.
http://www.boycottusa.com
 But the present phase is very dangerous and we need to think 
not just about the use of military force, but about the wider 
policies that need to starve terrorism of the oxygen it gets 
from worldwide resentment and polarisation, mostly against the 
West.  ends 
 

British Prime Minister Tony Blair has offered his Labour party 
and the British electorate a partial apology for waging war on 
Iraq.
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm

But as two more British soldiers died in Iraq and a captive 
remained under threat of death, his hopes of drawing a line 
under two years that has wrecked his public trust ratings are 
far from secure.

"The evidence about Saddam having actual biological and chemical 
weapons ... has turned out to be wrong," Blair said on Tuesday, 
his nearest yet to a mea culpa.
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
"The problem is, I can apologise for the information that turned 
out to be wrong but I can't, sincerely at least, apologise for 
removing Saddam," he said. "The world is a better place with 
Saddam in prison, not in power."

Blair's speech was interrupted twice by protesters, one yelling 
that the premier "had blood on his hands". They were quickly 
bundled out of the hall. 

Key issue

For most of his speech, Blair focused on domestic issues which 
he hopes will define his campaign to win a third term at a 
general election expected in May.

But aides said he knew that would not resonate with his party or 
the wider public, if he did not tackle Iraq head-on.


Blair expressed support for captive 
Kenneth Bigley and his family

The prime minister made the case for war on the assertion that 
Saddam had weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) ready to use. The 
fact that none has been found more than a year after major 
military action ended has soured British public opinion.

"Whatever disagreements we have had, we should unite in our 
determination to stand by the Iraqi people until the job is 
done," he said.
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
Security 

Blair implied the invasion of Iraq was legitimate due to 
security fears in Britain - a line often taken by US President 
George Bush - and a change in his own initial stance. 

"The only healing can come from understanding that the decision, 
whether agreed with or not, was taken because I believe, 
genuinely, that Britain's security depends on it.

"If I don't care and act on this terrorist threat, then the 
day will come when all our good work on the issues that decide 
people's lives will be undone because the stability on which our 
economy ... depends, will vanish," he said.

He also mentioned British engineer Kenneth Bigley who is held 
captive in Iraq and the two soldiers killed in Basra on Tuesday.

"I want to express our condolences to the latest British 
casualties in Iraq, and I want to, on behalf of all 
of us, express our support and solidarity with Ken Bigley and 
all the Bigley family."
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
Bigley's brother, Paul, has accused Blair of not doing enough to 
help secure the captive's release. 
 

Oil prices ease back from highs
 http://www.humiliateamerica.com
 
Political unrest in Nigeria is worrying oil traders  
US oil prices eased slightly on Tuesday, having earlier hit 
fresh 21-year highs of more than $50 a barrel. 
Prices leapt to $50.47 a barrel in overnight trading as concern 
grew about disruption to supplies, but settled at $49.90, up 26 
cents, in New York trade. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
The price of Brent crude hit a fresh high in London, touching 
$46.80 before settling up 52 cents at $46.45. 

An adviser to the Saudi royal family said he believed that 
current oil prices were "clearly way too high". 

Price threat 

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, had earlier 
attempted to reassure markets, saying it would raise production 
capacity by 1.5 million barrels to 11 million barrels a day. 

"We believe the price of oil should be between $22 and $28," 
said Adel al Jubeir, an adviser to the Saudi Crown Prince. 

Oil producers' group Opec said high prices threatened the world 
economy but it could do little to cool them. 

Traders said unrest in Nigeria's oil producing region was the 
main reason for the latest price rises. 

"Fifty dollar oil is just another step on the road to much 
higher crude prices," said Peter Schiff, president of asset 
management at Euro Pacific Capital. 

  There will be a danger to the global economy - I warn that 
high oil prices will result in the start of a recession 

Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Opec president  

Other factors holding prices high on Tuesday included the slow 
return of US output after Hurricane Ivan, low US stocks and 
fears about interruptions to Iraqi supply, traders said. 

They also cited recent clashes between Saudi Arabian police and 
suspected Islamic militants in Riyadh as a destabilising 
influence on markets. 

'Nothing we can do' 

"The hits just keep coming," said John Kilduff, senior vice 
president for energy at Fimat USA, predicting prices would reach 
at least $51 a barrel in the next few days. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
 WHAT $50 A BARREL COULD MEAN FOR YOU 
Higher prices for petrol and other fuel 
Higher air fares 
Higher costs for all companies, possibly leading to job losses 
Higher retail prices as costs are passed on 
Economic growth hit as consumer spending falls 


How will $50 a barrel hurt you? 
Why are oil prices so high?  

The Opec president said the oil producers' cartel was worried 
about the potentially inflationary impact of soaring oil prices. 

"At the moment, there's nothing we can do. Opec has spare 
capacity - however, whatever we do there is no sensitivity in 
the market," said Purnomo Yusgiantoro. 

Recession fears 

Opec raised output earlier this year in response to pressure 
from developed industrial nations but the impact was short-
lived. 

"If prices continue to go up there will be a danger to the 
global economy," he said. "I warn that high oil prices will 
result in the start of a recession." 


  


Latest Brent crude price  

Despite Opec's warning, Rodrigo Rato, who heads the 
International Monetary Fund, recently said the world economy was 
in its best shape for five years. 

Robust growth, especially in China, has been a major factor in 
driving up prices, combined with supply bottlenecks. 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
Vulnerable industries 


On stock markets, shares in airlines, car makers and shipping 
firms suffered, though shares in oil firms rose. 

Some industries are particularly vulnerable to rising oil 
prices. 

Rising jet fuel costs could produce losses totalling as much as 
$4bn ( 2.2bn) for airlines this year, the International Air 
Transport Association has warned. 

It calculated that extra fuel costs could add as much as $10bn 
to the global airline industry's bills and wipe out any gains 
from improving passenger numbers. 

The airline industry has remained fragile since 11 September 
2001, with many of the US' and Europe's biggest carriers 
struggling financially. 


Nigeria crisis 

The mounting unrest in Nigeria's Delta region is the latest of 
many factors troubling world oil markets, from instability in 
the Middle East, to hurricanes in the Caribbean and the pressure 
of stronger economic growth on global demand. 

 Nigeria's tensions 
 


Rebel threat to oil workers  

Shell and Agip have both evacuated non-essential workers from 
the south Nigerian Delta in recent days where the government is 
fighting insurgents. 

"The problems of Nigeria have obviously got worse," said Robert 
Laughlin, a trader at GNI-Man Financial. "This is a major 
problem that we don't need because they produce sweet crude oil. 
There is not enough sweet crude oil." 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
This high quality, low sulphur crude oil is commonly used for 
processing into gasoline and is in high demand, particularly in 
the US and China. 

Rebel fighters have threatened "all out war" in the country's 
Niger Delta region but oil firms remain confident that the 
situation is far from being that grave. 

A Shell spokesman in Lagos said the company had 
received "threats like this in the past", and described the 
staff evacuations as "precautionary". 



http://www.humiliateamerica.com
 

time to die i am the beast. i am in the abyss not on land if you 
know what i mean soon i will arise from here out of the water of 
hell nuke ya soon yours truly bin bin ha ha

Why Americans are so 

STUPID 
 

Tales of stupid Americans are legion. Europeans take great delight 
in mocking American ignorance in geographical matters. The fact 
that so many older American tourists in Europe dress like they're 
playing in a golf tournament for the color blind does nothing to 
change that impression. I've actually heard a co-worker ask a client 
in Belgium, "How long does it take to drive there?"

I've never understood this. So many Americans seem to almost 
wallow in their ignorance. If you regularly watch shows like 60 
Minutes or 20/20, you've probably seen videotaped footage of 
college kids being asked challenging geography questions: 

John Stossell: Can you point out Japan on this globe?
Booze-addled sorority girl: Is that it? (giggle)
John Stossell: That's Nigeria.

Why the hell are Americans so stupid? 
A caveat: A great many Americans are culturally and 
geographically literate. Typically, they're people in business, people 
online (AOL and WebTV users excepted), most (but not all) 
teachers... these Americans are culturally and geographically 
literate. With that out of the way, here are some personal theories. 
(Ain't the Web a great place to vent?)

1. Hollywood.
No, it's not a nefarious Hollywood plot. The vast majority of popular 
movies and television shows are either set in the US or some 
bizarre fantasy world. American viewers rarely see other cultures 
or other countries. Meanwhile, the rest of the world gobbles up this 
Hollywood crap. The result? People in the rest of the world think 
they know more about the US than the average American knows 
about, say, Switzerland. For the most part they're right, although 
they do form rather weird misconceptions about the US. 
2. Lazy parents.
I come from a family of voracious readers, and if you've read this 
far you probably did too. I've always loved to read. I've also always 
loved maps, and my parents encouraged this. Kids can easily 
discover the pleasures of learning about the rest of the world, but 
too many parents don't give a crap. Their kids are in day care all 
day, and when they come home Mom is content to plop their butts 
in front of the television, placated on a diet of Nintendo and bad 
Korean animation. (Not to pick on Mom, because she works hard. 
Mom and Dad are usually divorced at this point, if they were ever 
married in the first place, and Dad is out trolling the bars.) 

I am convinced that this is the primary reason why so many of our 
kids are illiterate and/or oblivious to the world around them. 
Parents, get off your lazy asses and act as good role models. 
3. Nonsense in our schools.
Schools have become warehouses for children, with hassled, 
underpaid teachers having to spend more time dealing with 
bureaucratic bullsh**, stupid educational theories (i.e., the Open 
Classroom concept and "self-esteem"), and disciplinary action than 
actual teaching. It doesn't help that so many parents don't give a 
hoot once their kid's in school - the school's simply now a free 
combination day care/restaurant/medical dispensary/discipline 
center for them to drop their kids off. Public education is a big 
suckhole that devours more of our tax dollars each year, so where 
the hell does our tax money go? It sure doesn't go to the teachers. 
4. Self-Gratification
So many American kids get no direction in life other than self-
gratification. "If it feels good, do it!" seems to be their motto, and 
since their parents live that way why should they be any different? 
I've never understood parents allowing their high school-age 
children to go on "spring break". Spring break is an excuse for 
children to get drunk without any supervision. It's natural for kids to 
want to do that. What's NOT natural is that so many parents think 
it's OK. 
5. Perhaps Americans aren't that stupid.
The co-worker I mentioned above is highly skilled at what he does, 
working on sophisticated electronics. He does it well. He just 
doesn't know much about geography. Since the US is an enormous 
country compared to individual European countries, Americans 
haven't had to be as "international" as the residents of the many 
small European countries. While this is changing with the 
expansion of global trade, most Americans still only deal with other 
Americans in the course of their everyday lives, as opposed to 
Europeans who regularly deal with neighboring countries that have 
different cultures.

It all boils down to the fact that knowledge and intelligence are two 
different issues. Rote memorization of world capitals does not 
equate intelligence.

I do find it interesting that Europeans have such strong opinions on 
this, considering that there are many more pressing issues to be 
concerned about. Perhaps the steady European refrain 
of "Americans are stupid" is a reflection of their own deep-rooted 
insecurity. You know -- an inferiority complex.

It is also interesting to note that many French believe that the US 
government flew a 757 into the Pentagon on September 11. This 
belief is incredibly stupid, yet a shockingly large percentage of the 
French find it perfectly reasonable. It is ironic that a society so 
opinionated about Americans believes something so absurd.
 


So what are the answers, Mr. Smart Guy?
I don't know. I do know that I'm raising my kid to appreciate and 
enjoy geography, science and history. It's not difficult to do.

Begin Search -
http://www.workingamerica.org/jobtracker/index.cfm-
 
 http://www.boycottusa.org
Corporations increasingly are shipping U.S. jobs overseas, with 
America's middle-class hardest hit. Since January 2001, the nation 
has lost 2.7 million manufacturing jobs, and some studies say 14 
million white-collar jobs could be sent overseas in the years ahead. 

Unfair trade deals and large tax breaks often encourage 
corporations to export jobs overseas. 

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Pipeline Explodes Northeast of Houston 

Monday September 27, 2004 1:01 AM
http://www.thenausea.com

NEW CANEY, Texas (AP) - A pipeline exploded before dawn 
Sunday, sending plumes of dark smoke billowing for miles and 
forcing 250 people to evacuate, authorities said. 

No injuries were reported and no homes were damaged in the 
blast, about 30 miles northeast of Houston. The fire burned itself 
out and residents were allowed to return to their homes around 
noon. 

Authorities believe someone caused the explosion by puncturing 
the pipeline with a trackhoe, which is used for digging, said 
Montgomery County Fire Marshal Jimmy Williams. He did not know 
whether the damage was intentional. 
http://www.thenausea.com
``This easily could have been a fatality incident,'' Williams said. 
``It was sheer stupidity to use that piece of machinery around the 
pipeline.'' 

He also said someone drove a boom truck, the type with an arm 
that extends to reach power lines, into the nearby woods, raised it 
as high as possible and left it there. 
http://www.thenausea.com
Residents reported hearing a small explosion followed by a larger 
one along the 6-inch diameter propylene pipeline. Propylene is a 
volatile gas used in the production of plastics and gasoline
http://www.thenausea.com

Video shows the bomb attack at HQ in Ramadi
By: iha.com.tr on: 26.09.2004 [21:20 ] (443 reads)
 Baghdad: Iraqi Islamic Army releases CD of bombing Ramadi, 
claims 9 killed
 
(1257 bytes)    

A group of insurgents calling themselves the Iraqi Islamic Army 
have released a CD, showing moment by moment the bomb attack 
at the HQ of Iraqi and US soldiers in Ramadi. 


video link (3.58MB)



1- Exterior shots of the HQ jointly used by American and Iraqi 
soldiers in Ramadi 00" - 38" 
2- The building being blown up as chanting of "Allahu Akbar" rising. 
Intensive smokes covering everywhere. 38" - 1'. 17" 

1- Exterior shots of the HQ jointly used by American and Iraqi 
soldiers in Ramadi 

A group of insurgents calling themselves the Iraqi Islamic Army 
have released a CD, showing moment by moment the bomb attack 
at the HQ of Iraqi and US soldiers in Ramadi. 

The building jointly used by American and Iraqi soldiers was blown 
up a week ago. 

2- The building being blown up as chanting of "Allahu Akbar" rising. 
Intensive smokes covering everywhere. 

Claiming 9 soldiers were killed in the bombing, the resister group 
delivered the CDs to the media in show of power. 

Meanwhile both the US and Iraqi armies has not yet issued any 
statement on the attack. 
GO HERE TO SEE THE CUTENESS AND FRIVOLITY: 
http://www.iha.com.tr/sdc.feed.previews/C20442.mpg

Powell: Iraq situation continues 'worsening'
http://www.humiliateamerica.com

Monday 27 September 2004, 1:01 Makka Time, 22:01 GMT
In a further twist to the confusion surrounding the future of Iraqi 
politics, US Secretary of State Colin Powell has cautioned that 
holding elections in January will prove difficult because of spiralling 
violence in the country.


http://www.humiliateamerica.com
"Yes, it's getting worse," Powell told ABC Television on Sunday. 

 http://www.humiliateamerica.com

"And the reason it's getting worse is that they are determined to 
disrupt the election. They do not want the Iraqi people to vote for 
their own leaders in free, democratic elections."

 

Powell added: "Right now our goal is, and I think it's an achievable 
goal, is to have full, free and fair elections across the whole 
country."

 

The top US military commander in the region, General John 
Abizaid, also warned that "we will fight our way through elections" 
in Iraq, and he could not predict that the entire country would be 
able to vote.
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
 

Conflicting remarks

 

Their remarks stood in sharp contrast to the optimistic scenario 
painted by US President George Bush and interim Iraqi Prime 
Minister Iyad Allawi, who vowed last week that elections would go 
ahead and insisted "we are succeeding in Iraq". 

 http://www.humiliateamerica.com
Allawi (L) said his government is
succeeding, Iraq is progressing
 

 
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
Powell told CNN television's Late Edition: "There will be polling 
stations that are shot at. There will be insurgents who will still be 
out there who will try to keep people from voting." 

 

"I think what we have to keep shooting for, and what is achievable, 
is to give everybody the opportunity to vote in the upcoming 
election, to make the election fully credible, and something that will 
stand the test of the international community's examination."

 

His remarks came after Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on 
Thursday told a congressional committee "so be it" if unrest 
prevents elections from being held in parts of Iraq.

 

"You have an election that's not quite perfect. Is it better than not 
having an election? You bet," he told the Senate Armed Services 
Committee.

 http://www.humiliateamerica.com

Full, free and fair

 

But Powell said Sunday that "it has to be seen as a comprehensive, 
full, free and fair election in order to get the kind of credibility that 
we want it to have."

 

Credibility may be in the balance for the US as the notion of partial 
elections has already raised the ire of regional analysts.
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
 

"What elections under occupation?" asked Mustafa Bakri, editor of 
the weekly Egyptian news magazine al-Osboa. 

 
The rising army casualty count is
a major US election-year concern
 

 

"Iraq is not free nor is it stable. There is nationwide chaos. Its 
infrastructure has been destroyed and its wealth pillaged and 
plundered by the US occupation," he told Aljazeera.net.
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
 

Bakri said elections must be all-inclusive and not leave out any 
sector of Iraq society.

 

Catch-22 situation?

 

In an editorial, The New York Times said the mounting insurgency 
left Washington and Allawi in a Catch-22: "The only hope of 
quelling the insurgency depends on progress towards democratic 
government and the only hope of meaningful elections depends on 
greater progress in quelling the insurgency."

 

"With the original rationales for the Iraq war now discredited and 
with a spreading insurgency killing scores of American soldiers and 
hundreds of Iraqi civilians every month, the prospect of holding 
democratically legitimate elections in January is about the only 
thing the Bush administration could hope for as a sign of eventual 
success," the newspaper said. 

 

 
US hopes a regional conference
on Iraq will pacify the country
 

On Sunday, an international security analyst said Iraq had become 
the "most hostile environment" on earth.
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
 

Paul Beat, director of International Asset Protection at London-
based Control Risks Group, said the violence of recent weeks, with 
armed groups seizing foreigners from the heart of Baghdad and 
staging a spate of bombings, marked a new stage in the conflict. 

 

Conference planned

 

Powell said that an international conference on Iraq is likely in late 
October or early November in a city in the region, possibly Amman 
or Cairo, to build support for the country.

 

Participants could include Iraq's neighbours as well as several 
industrialised nations, he said.

 

"It will be a conference in the region ... so that all of Iraq's 
neighbours can sit with Prime Minister Allawi and his cabinet and 
discuss why it is in the interest of the whole neighbourhood for 
there to be a stable Iraq with an elected government, resting on 
the basis of a democratic system that is no threat to any of its 
neighbours," Powell said.
http://www.humiliateamerica.comhttp://www.humiliateamerica.co
mhttp://www.humiliateamerica.comhttp://www.humiliateamerica.c
omhttp://www.humiliateamerica.comhttp://www.humiliateamerica.
comhttp://www.humiliateamerica.com

In August, Iran said it test fired a new version of its Shahab-3 
ballistic missile. Iran's Defense Ministry did not give its 
range, but Israeli sources in Jerusalem later said it could 
reach targets more than 1,200 miles away, or 400 miles farther 
than its previous range.

Iran Says It Has Tested Strategic Missile
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com

Sep 25, 2:12 PM (ET)

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com 

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran added a "strategic missile" to its 
military arsenal after a successful test, and the defense 
minister said Saturday his country was ready to confront any 
external threat.
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
The report by state-run radio did not say whether the test 
involved the previously announced new version of the Shahab-3 
rocket, capable of reaching Israel and U.S. forces stationed in 
the Middle East, or a different missile.

"This strategic missile was successfully test-fired during 
military exercises by the Revolutionary Guards and delivered to 
the armed forces," Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani was quoted as 
saying.

The exercises were held Sept. 12-18.

Shamkhani refused to give details about the missile 
for "security reasons," but he said Iran was "ready to confront 
all regional and extra-regional threats," according to the radio.

Defense Ministry officials could not be reached for comment.

The announcement in Tehran came amid a war of words between Iran 
and Israel this week as Iran faces increasing international 
pressure over its nuclear energy program.

The United States - which once labeled Iran part of an "axis of 
evil" with North Korea and prewar Iraq - and other nations 
suspect Iran is developing atomic weapons.

The United Nations' atomic watchdog agency, the International 
Atomic Energy Agency, has demanded that Iran freeze its uranium 
enrichment program - a demand that Iran has termed "illegal" but 
has not rejected outright.

Iranian officials have repeatedly said the country's nuclear 
program is a peaceful one.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said Iran was a worldwide 
threat whose missiles can reach London, Paris and southern 
Russia.

In 1981, Israel bombed Iraq's nuclear reactor before the reactor 
could begin operating and the smart bombs are believed to be 
capable of destroying Iranian nuclear facilities.

Earlier this month, Israel said it was buying from the United 
States about 5,000 smart bombs, including 500 1-ton bunker-
busters that can destroy 6-foot-thick concrete walls.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi has warned that Tehran 
would react "most severely" to any Israeli strike against its 
nuclear facilities.

Israel is the only nation in the Middle East that possesses 
nuclear weapons, although Israeli officials have refused to 
confirm this.

Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards staged military maneuvers 
earlier this month near the Iraqi border, with top military 
officials saying the exercise was designed to reinforce Iran's 
resolve to defend itself against "big powers."

During the maneuvers, a "long-range missile" would be test 
fired, state-run radio said. There was no official confirmation 
of the test.The development of the Shahab, whose name 
means "shooting star" in Persian, has raised fears in Israel 
about possible attack by the Iranian government, which strongly 
opposes the Jewish state's existence.
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
Earlier this month, Israel launched a spy satellite meant to 
monitor Iran but the Ofek-6 plunged into the Mediterranean Sea 
shortly after launch. 

http://www.humiliateamerica.com

CBS Nixes '60 Minutes' Story on Iraq War
 
http://www.robert-fisk.com

Sep 25, 11:17 AM (ET)
http://www.robert-fisk.com

NEW YORK (AP) - CBS News has shelved a "60 Minutes" report on 
the rationale for war in Iraq because it would 
be "inappropriate" to air it so close to the presidential 
election, the network said on Saturday.

The report on weapons of mass destruction was set to air on 
Sept. 8 but was put off in favor of a story on President Bush's 
National Guard service. The Guard story was discredited because 
it relied on documents impugning Bush's service that were 
apparently fake.

CBS News spokeswoman Kelli Edwards would not elaborate on why 
the timing of the Iraq report was considered inappropriate.

The report, with Ed Bradley as the correspondent, has long been 
in the works. Originally scheduled for June, it was first put 
off because of new developments, Edwards said.

CBS said no other reports on the presidential election have been 
affected.

The network last week appointed former U.S. Attorney General 
Dick Thornburgh and retired Associated Press chief executive 
Louis Boccardi to investigate what went wrong with the National 
Guard report and recommend changes.

The controversy has put CBS News officials squarely on the fire 
line, particularly anchor Dan Rather, who narrated the National 
Guard report.
http://www.robert-fisk.com
Meanwhile, the network announced that Rather would anchor the 
network's coverage of all three presidential debates, starting 
Sept. 30.

Right it seems that I have to use simpler language. Britain was 
at war with Germany. United States was at war with no-one. Japan 
attacks Pearl Harbour and declares war with US AND Britain on 
same day. Germany, seeing an ally in Japan also declares war on 
US. You created the problem with Japan and that is why she 
attacked you. It was incidental that Germany sided with her and 
so began the full scale war we know today. You cannot 
blame 'Europe' for Japan attacking your country. Britain had 
already secured her position by 1940 and had stopped any plans 
for invasion. You were brought into the war by other means. The 
very fact that you think I "have the audacity" belies your true 
feelings. You DO feel that WE should be thanking you for joining 
the war. Face it, someone else brought you in, not us. Finally, 
the fact that you are one sovereign nation is VERY relevant for 
categorisation purposes. Europe is not and it only unmasks your 
ignorance when grouping us together. Twat. 

CUNT
U
N
T

The Retard of the Month for August 2004 is:

 

Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.  Governor Huckabee is also a 
former Baptist minister and has been granting large numbers of 
pardons and clemencies to Arkansas prisoners for jailhouse 
conversions.  Gov. Huckabee does not deny this.  In fact he said 
in a radio interview with KUAR in Little Rock "I would not deny 
that my sense of the reality of redemption is a factor". 

 

Governor Huckabee has even ignored the unanimous recommendations 
of the Arkansas parole board to deny release of some violent 
criminals.  When a prosecuting attorney objected to the release 
of these violent criminals without a logical reason he received 
this obnoxious reply from the Governor's Office: (go here to see 
www.evilbible.com)
Although any CU_NT on here would qualify too![:)

Forgotten Casualties 
    By Lynn Harris 
    Salon.com 
www.TRUTHOUT.org

    Wednesday 22 September 2004 

Mentally scarred by the horrors they've endured in Iraq, many 
returning U.S. soldiers say the military isn't giving them the 
help they deserve.
    Mike Lemke, a 45-year-old Army National Guard police 
sergeant from Grand Junction, Colo., volunteered for active duty 
after seeing the twin towers fall on TV. "I wanted to, you know, 
kick some tail," he says. He was sent home from Iraq in August 
2003 because of orthopedic and cardiovascular problems - and 
with memories and feelings he couldn't shake. He'd seen what was 
left of one of Saddam's prisons, prowled by feral dogs with 
rotting limbs in their mouths; he'd mingled constantly with 
civilians, never knowing if one was armed. "You never feel 
completely safe," he says. "That stays with you." 

    Lemke could not sleep for his first 22 days in the medical 
barracks in Colorado's Fort Carson, where he remained for more 
than a year on "medical holdover" - a period during which 
wounded soldiers await treatment and subsequently either return 
to duty or get a medical exit from the Army. He experienced 
flashbacks and temper surges and would hit the dirt at the sound 
of a jackhammer. 

    No one approached Lemke to inquire about his mental health. 
Only when a nurse practitioner happened to ask him how he was 
sleeping did the story come out - and even then it took him two 
weeks to accept her suggestion that he seek counseling. 

    Why didn't Lemke ask for help? "There's a culture here of 
unless your legs have been torpedoed off or your arm's shot off, 
then it's not a combat injury," he says. "I did the same thing 
that everyone does in the military: You suck it up. You don't 
whine." 

    Lemke is still on medication and in therapy, and is not 
employed. He is angry at the Army for many reasons, including 
his treatment during the medical holdover. But the issue that 
will most directly affect his future is his dispute with the 
Army over his disability rating. 
www.TRUTHOUT.org

    The Army Medical Evaluation Board (MEB) - the body that 
works in concert with the Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) to 
determine wounded soldiers' medical retirement and disability 
status according to the detailed specifications in Army 
Regulation 635-40 - gave Lemke a 10 percent disability rating 
for PTSD, which classifies it as "mild" and as allowing 
for "adequate" job and social functioning. 

    Whether a soldier is given a 30 percent rating or a rating 
less than that has major financial implications. A 30 percent 
rating grants a soldier lifetime disability benefits, along with 
the military's regular retirement benefits. Anything less than 
30 percent results only in a one-time severance payment: two 
times the soldier's base pay times total years of active duty 
(up to a maximum of 12 years). Had Lemke received medical 
retirement, he estimates that he'd have gotten $1,200 to $1,600 
every month for the rest of his life. His severance payment is 
far less. His 12 years of part-time duty convert to six years of 
active duty. Result, in his case: "For someone who was available 
to the government for 12 years, it's $26K and adios," he says. 

    The Army, citing privacy regulations, declined to discuss 
the particulars of Lemke's or any other soldier's case. 

    Lemke is one of a number of returning soldiers, mostly Army 
National Guard and Reserve, who say they are struggling not only 
to heal from physical and psychological wounds, but also to get 
proper mental health treatment while in the Army's care - and 
adequate financial compensation when their medical condition 
forces them to leave the Army. 

    What was once poorly understood in WWI as "shell shock" 
(and, in the Civil War, as "soldier's heart") is now a much 
discussed, highly researched condition The Army is now 
acknowledging - and devoting a great deal of resources to - the 
ever growing incidence of PTSD and other mental health issues 
within its ranks. 

    According to a study performed at the Walter Reed Army 
Medical Center and published in the July New England Journal of 
Medicine, conservative estimates are that 17 percent of soldiers 
are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan suffering from PTSD, 
along with anxiety and depression. For these soldiers (as 
opposed to Gulf War vets, whose PTSD rates hover at 9 percent), 
the strain and trauma of prolonged urban combat with a hard-to-
identify enemy, and of constant exposure to violent death - 
including that of fellow soldiers - have left them with 
nightmares, flashbacks, and bouts of numbness and rage. 

    The study concludes that reducing "barriers to care among 
military personnel" - barriers such as the stigma of seeking 
mental health care in the first place - must be "a priority for 
research and a priority for the policymakers, clinicians, and 
leaders who are involved in providing care to those who have 
served in the armed forces." 

    However, numerous veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom who 
have come home injured say that such "awareness" has yet to 
change a deeply engrained military culture in which the 
only "real" wounds are physical. Result: Soldiers - especially 
National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers in " medical holdover" -
 say they run into roadblocks to needed mental health care, 
severance arrangements that appear to downplay invisible 
injuries in particular, and even attempts to send mentally unfit 
soldiers back to Iraq. 

    "The DOD [Department of Defense] is taking great care of the 
acutely injured, the injuries you can see, the burns, the lost 
arms and legs that they're treating with state-of-the-art 
prosthetics," says Stephen Robinson, executive director of the 
National Gulf War Resource Center, a veterans' advocacy 
organization in Silver Spring, Md. "But they're doing a horrible 
job with the other injuries that aren't quite so evident." 
Robinson, who served in the Army Special Forces in the Gulf, 
testified in January before the House Armed Services Total Force 
Subcommittee that soldiers in medical holdover receive 
insufficient mental health screening and care. The Center for 
American Progress recently published his 11-page report 
criticizing the military's handling of mental health 
issues. "There are unseen costs of war that have dramatic 
national implications in terms of benefits and care and 
reintegration into society," he says. "It is a national disgrace 
that front-line and combat soldiers need to fight for medical 
care and benefits when they return home from war." 

    Robinson, who has spoken with thousands of Iraq war 
veterans, describes the typical cycle: "When soldiers come back 
they have to go through complicated workman's-comp-type 
paperwork to prove that something they did in the war is the 
reason they're sick," he says. "That can take from four to 16 
months. So they come home injured, and rather than being 
integrated into society, they're stuck in medical limbo waiting 
for their disability rating and then being diagnosed with a 
preexisting condition" - which, he adds, implies that they 
shouldn't have been sent over in the first place. 

    He claims, anecdotally, that the MEB is underevaluating 
soldiers by a fairly consistent 10 to 20 percent - a key 
percentage if it leaves a disability rating under 30 percent. 
Robinson's hypothesis: The DOD simply does not want to foot 
these potentially substantial bills. That, or given the number 
of soldiers who will yet come home injured, it simply can't. 

    Lemke and many of his colleagues say such problems are 
particularly acute among National Guard and Reserve soldiers, 
who make up about 40 percent of deployed troops. (Of nearly 
5,000 soldiers on medical hold, all but about 860 are Reserve 
component troops.) "I don't think they budgeted for the Reserve 
and Guard component," Lemke says. "And now they want to make the 
soldier eat it." 

    "Soldiers are soldiers," counters Jaime Cavazos, media 
relations officer for the U.S. Army Medical Command. "I doubt 
very seriously that an injured soldier would be thought less of 
because he was a guardsman or member of the Reserve." 

    The Army also disputes the charges of deliberately stingy 
severance. "There is no truth to any such opinions," says Col. 
Fred Schumaker, executive officer of the Army Physical 
Disability Agency at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. "The 
Physical Evaluation Boards fully review the facts provided [by] 
the Medical Evaluation Board and then carefully match, as 
closely as possible, the compensation to the impairment in 
accordance with regulatory guidance. The PEBs don't just make up 
disability percentage rates or reduce them arbitrarily. They 
give each soldier exactly what he is supposed to be given." He 
adds: "It would be unusual if soldiers who are not compensated 
by the military disability system were happy about results." 

    Still, Guard and Reserve soldiers say that their low ratings 
are the final blow in a series of actions that lead them to 
question the Army's true commitment to caring for them, 
especially when their injuries are invisible. 

    "A lot of the people I've had contact with are not doing 
very well," says Kaye Baron, a clinical psychologist in private 
practice in Colorado Springs. Baron estimates that 60 to 70 
percent of people she sees are in the military, and of that, 
roughly half have served in or been affected by the Iraq 
war. "For one thing, they're injured psychologically or 
physically, and on top of that they feel they're getting 
disposed of by the military - like no one really cares." 

    Baron has also been puzzled by military diagnoses of, for 
example, personality disorder (which would be a preexisting 
condition, not qualifying a soldier for benefits) in soldiers 
whose symptoms are, in her estimation, fully explicable by 
PTSD. "I don't understand why military mental health is not 
doing more given that we know combat takes a toll on soldiers 
and PTSD is a widely recognized phenomenon. I don't know why 
they're not being more thoroughly examined and diagnosed." 

    Theoretically, based on the unprecedented efforts the Army 
has made recently to acknowledge, find and treat combat stress, 
soldiers should be getting more thorough examinations and 
diagnoses. Teams have traveled to Iraq to assess the mental 
health needs of the soldiers there. Partially in response to the 
2002 murder-suicides at Fort Bragg by soldiers returning from 
Afghanistan, the Army has initiated a Deployment Cycle Support 
Program, designed to facilitate soldiers' transition to home 
life by addressing their health and personal needs. There's a 24-
hour hotline called Military One Source for service members and 
their families. There are new PTSD guides for clinicians. 
Detailed protocols and procedures designed to screen for, track 
and treat soldiers arriving in medical holdover with mental 
health needs are in place. "Before a soldier is considered for 
retirement, we have ensured that we have given him the optimum 
healthcare possible," says Cavazos of the Army Medical Command. 
www.TRUTHOUT.org

    But individual soldiers in medical holdover suggest that 
such improvements to the system have yet to trickle down to 
them. 

    One 47-year-old high-ranking military policeman - who, 
fearing reprisal, requested anonymity - was medevac'd out of 
Iraq late last September for a back injury, but came home with a 
host of other problems. He had been on active duty before, but 
this was different - and not just because of the scorching heat 
and rampant dysentery in his unit's ill-equipped camp. "You're 
out in public all the time with people coming up to you and not 
knowing if they're armed until they fire at you," he says. This 
constant sense of threat meant sky-high stress levels and hyper-
alertness. He only narrowly avoided shooting a kid who marched 
up to him saying "Fuck Americans," rock in hand. "I had a weapon 
on him and in my state of mind, sad to say, I really would have 
put that kid down," he recalls. (The kid, seeming to realize 
this, took off.) 

    When this soldier came back to the States, he figured that 
his flashbacks and nightmares were "the normal stress you go 
through when you come out of a war zone." But while his back was 
being treated, his wife informed him that he "was no longer the 
man she married" - uncharacteristically withdrawn, prone to 
rage, hardly sleeping or eating - and if he didn't get help 
she'd leave him. 

    Eventually, a physician at Kentucky's Fort Knox, where he 
was on medical holdover until being allowed to go home for 
temporary convalescent leave last week, diagnosed him with 
severe post-traumatic stress disorder. The medical report cited, 
among other symptoms: insomnia, nightmares, flashbacks, 
disassociation, easy startling, quick temper, and keeping to his 
room for fear of hurting others, all of which were said to cause 
significant impairment in his "occupational and social 
functioning." He has been able to manage his symptoms somewhat 
with quite a bit of therapy and medication, but he still can't 
tolerate groups of people, or much food. 

    Just two weeks ago the soldier received word that his PTSD 
had received a 10 percent disability rating from the MEB/PEB. 
(He counters that his remaining symptoms and resulting 
disability, as described in a second medical report, match those 
described for a 30 percent rating.) He was also informed that 
both the PTSD and his slipped disks (rated at 20 percent) were 
considered chronic, not directly related to combat in Iraq - 
where he wore and carried 75 pounds of equipment every day. 

    "I lived in Iraq, and before I left I was mentally and 
physically healthy," he says. "I come back and my back's broken 
and my mind's broken. They say it's not combat related. The 
processes that are supposed to be in place to help us aren't 
working. They're just not taking care of us." 

    The Army notes that soldiers have ample opportunity to 
review their files both before they go to the board and after 
initial findings are returned; should they find anything amiss, 
they may request a reconsideration. Still, soldiers who have 
attempted this describe a maddeningly muddled, even misleading, 
bureaucratic process. Others say they accept insufficient 
ratings as a means of escaping the limbo - and often unpleasant 
environment - of medical holdover. 

    It has already been documented that the physical conditions 
in medical holdover can - due in part to sheer overload by 
wounded soldiers returning from Iraq - be less than conducive to 
healing. A story by United Press International last fall 
revealed that soldiers at Georgia's Fort Stewart were housed in 
concrete barracks with insufficient water and no air 
conditioning and that soldiers at Fort Knox waited months for 
medical attention. Sens. Kit Bond, R-Mo., and Patrick Leahy, D-
Vt., were prompted to investigate and demand improvements. Many 
physical problems have since been addressed, and standards have 
been implemented to speed up soldiers' care. 

    Soldiers still say, however, that despite the Army's 
efforts, languishing in medical holdover only compounds one's 
psychological issues. "Everything is uncertain, you're denied 
care, and you know they don't give a damn whether you get well 
or not. It's getting to the point where soldiers will do 
anything to get out of here," says a 45-year-old non-
commissioned officer in medical holdover at Fort Knox who was 
afraid to give his name. "The stress here is higher than in 
Iraq, and I was there." 

    Some soldiers say they spend as much time as possible in 
their rooms, as they fear both crowds and their own temper. The 
main picture they paint is one of heavy medication - "You've got 
soldiers on so much meds all they do is sleep; they can't even 
make formation," says a 37-year-old reserve soldier in medical 
hold at Fort Knox - and of maddening red tape, administrative 
runarounds, and, at best, indifference. 

    Also, Fort Knox, for one, is a training post. "They're 
firing all the time," says the military policeman now on 
convalescent leave, who, like many of his comrades, is startled 
by a mere footstep. "That's a trigger for me." (He has addressed 
this concern to the inspector general's office on post, who 
acknowledged the complaint, but so far no action has been 
taken.) 

    Soldiers do report positive individual experiences with 
physicians - the 37-year-old reserve soldier, who didn't trust 
his own violent temper, says his psychiatrist saved not only his 
life, but likely someone else's as well. While each soldier in 
medical holdover is assigned a case manager to help him work 
with the medical system, some complain that not all case 
managers are as caring or as knowledgeable as they need to be. 
In fact, several of the more experienced soldiers in Fort Knox 
medical holdover have seen fit to become de facto experts on the 
Army's byzantine medical and benefits systems. The military 
policeman on convalescent leave is himself at work on designing 
a series of flow charts and writing a lengthy booklet about the 
disability evaluation system to serve as a guide for other 
soldiers. 

    Beneath the bureaucracy, the matter of military culture runs 
even deeper - and is harder to transform. In his report to the 
Armed Services subcommittee, Stephen Robinson said extensive 
research and tours of medical posts by his organization showed 
that soldiers in medical holdover receive "little to no 
counseling regarding traumatic events experienced during war." 
Why not? More often than not, he says, they're not asking for 
it - and they shouldn't have to in the first place. 

    According to the Army Medical Command, screening for mental 
health issues in medical holdover is done via self-reporting in 
questionnaires, or ad hoc by physicians treating soldiers for 
physical issues. "I'm sure that during the course of treatment a 
soldier will give off signs that will suggest that the 
individual needs some mental health counseling of some kind," 
says Cavazos of the Army Medical Command. 

    Robinson counters that it's essential for Army medical 
personnel to initiate intervention for mental health issues, 
even among soldiers coming home for physical 
injuries. "Questionnaires are not sufficient to establish 
physical and mental fitness," he says, especially given the 
stigma against seeking psychological help or 
admitting "weakness." Indeed, the Walter Reed study found that 
the fear of stigma was "disproportionately greatest among those 
most in need of help from mental health services." Says 
Robinson: "Fear of stigmatization will remain a problem until 
the military changes its culture." 

    By some soldiers' accounts, their commanding officers will 
not be at the vanguard of that change. Their job, after all, is 
to get soldiers back to duty. 

    "I was told [by higher-ups] to 'not worry about it,'" says 
the 45-year-old NCO in medical holdover at Fort Knox, of the 
insomnia, anxiety and panic attacks that eventually got him on 
Zoloft, BuSpar, Ambien, and trazodone. "These soldiers come here 
all wired," he said, referring to the hypervigilance that's 
typical of PTSD, "and they immediately start telling them that 
they're going to try to return them to Iraq." According to him, 
they're told by their chain of command: "Don't settle down 
because you're going to need that high intensity when you go 
back." 

    Spc. Laurence Kiefer, 30, a crane operator with the 
quartermaster combat support unit of the Montana National Guard, 
was brought home from Iraq to Fort Carson in May for reasons 
both medical and legal: injuries relating to a truck accident, 
and charges that he'd stolen grenades. (The judge advocate 
general, the prosecuting body of the military, has since found 
no evidence to support the charges. Kiefer claims the accusation 
came as retaliation for a dispute with his commander.) 

    He was suffering from combat trauma - at one point he'd had 
to drive a 22-ton crane at its maximum speed of 10 to 20 mph, 
for a 17-hour, 350-mile trip, often under fire - compounded by 
stress over the charges, the shock of his wife's announcement 
that she was leaving him, and the fear that he'd be sent back to 
serve in the same unit with hostile command. However, he didn't 
get summoned for his official "outprocessing" exam for nearly 
three months. In the meantime, after first "self-medicating" 
with alcohol, he eventually sought medication and psychological 
treatment. 
www.TRUTHOUT.org

    Soon thereafter, he was told to pack up and re-deploy. He 
appealed to his psychologist, Jacqueline E. Delano, who felt 
that he wasn't ready, and who later asserted in writing that in 
a subsequent phone conversation, Kiefer's commanding 
officer "made statements indicating that he felt Spc. Kiefer was 
over-exaggerating his symptoms to get out of going back to Iraq" 
and "was not interested in this psychologist's professional 
opinion." Delano was able to delay Kiefer's departure by 
insisting on further evaluation; she then diagnosed him with a 
personality disorder, a preexisting condition that renders him 
both unfit to serve and ineligible for benefits. A civilian 
psychologist later asserted that Kiefer's condition was PTSD; 
Kiefer is currently fighting the "personality disorder" 
designation. 

    What recourse do these solders have? Says the 45-year-old 
NCO at Fort Knox: "The attitude here is: I don't trust these 
people. I'll wait till I get home and go to the V.A." Vets may 
apply for benefits through the V.A., which has a more generous 
ratings system. Five thousand veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan 
have gone to the V.A. with mental health diagnoses already. For 
those reasons and others, the V.A. is an appealing resource for 
soldiers in, and just out of, medical holdover. "The V.A. has no 
legal authority. They can't take what we say and turn it against 
us," says the NCO. "They can't hurt you like the Army can." 
www.TRUTHOUT.org

    Now back at home and a civilian, Lemke is still doing his 
best, via word of mouth, to help soldiers who are confused or 
feeling mistreated by the system, or who are simply struggling 
with PTSD themselves. He even gets contacted by soldiers' wives 
who are desperate to find out "what's wrong" with their 
husbands. No matter what, he knows what his fellow soldiers have 
been through. "First I fought the war," Lemke says. "Then I had 
to fight a war for my treatment." 
www.TRUTHOUT.org

Four US soldiers accused of mistreating prisoners at the 
notorious Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq are to face a hearing before a 
military judge in Germany, to decide if they should be court-
martialled. 

http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
The four, Corporal Charles Graner, Specialist Megan Ambuhl, 
Staff Sergeant Ivan Frederick and Specialist Javal Davis, are 
accused of among other charges, assault, coercion and conspiracy 
to mistreat inmates. They will appear on Monday.
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
The humiliation of the prisoners, seen in photographs taken by 
some of the suspects and made public by the media in April, 
caused outrage and has undermined the reputation of the United 
States, above all in Muslim countries. 

During the two-day hearing - known as an Article 39 - a military 
judge could hear witnesses, take evidence and deal with 
procedural matters relating to the four, but nothing that 
touches on their guilt or innocence. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
Security fears
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
The hearing was originally due to take place in Baghdad on 21 
June, but was moved to Mannheim, southern Germany amid security 
fears. 

 
Journalists were frisked before 
entering the court room  
 
"This is a one-time only arrangement - all future proceedings 
will be held in Baghdad unless the military judge grants a venue 
change at a later date," the US military in Mannheim said in a 
statement. 

Since Saddam Hussein's removal, people accused of "anti-
coalition activities" have been detained at Abu Ghraib for 
months at a time, often without charge and usually having their 
cases reviewed only every six months.

Shifting blame
 
The torture scandal has seen blame pushed from a group of guards 
up through the military echelons. It has embarrassed US Defence 
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, but has not resulted in any sackings 
or resignations of high-ranking officials. 

 
Rumsfeld has been embarrassed 
by the scandal 
 
The hearing in Germany follows a court procedure in the US to 
determine whether Private Lyndie England, who was pictured 
holding a leash around the neck of a naked detainee, should face 
a court martial.
 
That hearing has been halted so more witnesses can be called. 

Attention in Mannheim will focus on Graner, who was photographed 
smiling, arms folded behind a hill of naked prisoners and whom 
England says is the father of her unborn child. 

Witnesses in the hearing of England, who could face up to 38 
years in jail, said the abuses at the prison usually started in 
the evening when Graner was in charge of the cell block. 
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
England's lawyer has said she has been made a scapegoat for the 
army and that senior officers at the jail encouraged rough 
treatment and abuse to "soften up" detainees; a defence likely 
to be employed by the accused in Mannheim.

A car bomb has exploded near two US military vehicles in 
Baghdad's upmarket Mansur area hours after another attack 
targeted Iraqi police recruits.http://www.fuckbush.com
A witness said the attack late on Wednesday afternoon apparently 
targeted two US Humvees patrolling the area. Police said there 
were several casualties.

The blast was Baghdad's second car bomb attack in a day.
http://www.fuckbush.com
Earlier, a car-bomb in west Baghdad's busy Rabia street killed 
at least 15 and wounded 50. Iraqi journalist Husayn al-Shammari 
told Aljazeera the blast targeted volunteers for the Iraqi 
National Guard.
http://www.fuckbush.com
"They had assembled in the morning at the same recruitment 
centre where US forces detonated a booby-trapped car on Tuesday. 
But local residents prevented them from queuing up at the 
centre, located behind al-Mulla Hwaish mosque on Rabia Street," 
al-Shammari said.

"So the volunteers queued up a kilometre away from the centre, 
near a building called Madinat al-Hasibat. Soon afterwards, a 
car bomb exploded close by."

Besides the fatalities, the blast destroyed 25 shops in Madinat 
al-Hasibat, al-Shammari said.

More US losses

As thick black smoke spiralled into the sky and shards of glass 
and debris littered Rabia street, US soldiers in armoured 
vehicles cordoned off the area and firefighters doused burning 
cars. 

 
A Black Hawk helicopter crashed
in southern Iraq, injuring three 
 
Wednesday's blasts were the latest in a two-week-long wave of 
car bomb attacks in the Iraqi capital.

In other developments, a US soldier was killed in an attack on a 
patrol in the northern city of Mosul on Wednesday, the US 
military said, a few hours after another soldier died in a 
roadside bomb attack in Tikrit, just north of Baghdad.

Overnight, a US Black Hawk helicopter crashed shortly after 
takeoff in southern Iraq, wounding three crew members, the US 
military said.

The helicopter went down near the city of Nasiriya, 375km south 
of Baghdad.

"The three crew members sustained minor injuries and the 
aircraft was severely damaged," a military spokesman said, 
adding that a military investigation was under way.

Zarqawi aide killed

Meanwhile, Iraqi sources said the head of the legislative body 
of the al-Tawhid and al-Jihad group, responsible for the capture 
and beheading of two Americans, has been killed in Iraq.

The sources said Umar Yusuf Jumaa, also known as Abu Anas al-
Shami, was killed on Friday in a US air strike targeting his 
vehicle in Abu Ghraib.

Al-Shami, 35, was believed to be one of two main figures on the 
group's website, Aljazeera's correspondent in Amman, Yasir Abu 
Hilala, said. The other person mentioned on the site is Abu 
Musab al-Zarqawi, who is alleged to have ties to the al-Qaida 
network.

 
Abu Anas al-Shami, a top aide
to Zarqawi, was killed on Friday
 
Described as a prominent Muslim scholar in Jordan, al-Shami was 
considered the legal brain of the group. 

Al-Shami, who left Iraq for Jordan after the US-led invasion, is 
said to have been responsible for issuing fatwas (Islamic 
edicts) on the website.

Al-Tawhid and al-Jihad last week captured two Americans and a 
British national working in Iraq and threatened to behead them 
unless their demands for female prisoners to be released were 
met. 

The two Americans have since been executed and their bodies 
found by Iraqi police.

Relatives of the British hostage have appealed to British and 
Iraqi officials to heed the captors' 
demands.http://www.fuckbush.com

Oil Touches $49, Investors Boost Gold  
  www.boycottusa.com
Thursday September 23, 5:25 PM EDT 
www.boycottusa.com
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Crude oil prices touched $49 a barrel on 
Thursday on supply worries with the push back near record highs 
in oil pressuring Wall Street stocks and also boosting demand 
for gold from investors seeking a safer haven.

In other commodity markets, orange juice prices closed nervously 
higher with more tropical storms presenting potential problems 
for battered Florida citrus growers. But grains and cotton 
closed lower as harvest of bumper crops continued.

At the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil rose for the 
sixth day in a row as traders saw a possible loan of oil to 
refiners from the U.S. strategic stockpile as too small to make 
up for supply disruptions caused by Hurricane Ivan last week.
www.boycottusa.com
Late on Wednesday, two U.S. refiners asked the Bush 
administration to borrow crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum 
Reserve to make up for supply delays due to last week's storm.

 

The White House said the Energy Department was reviewing the 
requests. Later, a source told Reuters the government was set to 
approve the oil loans.
www.boycottusa.com
But NYMEX November crude oil still closed up 11 cents at $48.46 
a barrel. The day's high was $49, just 40 cents below the $49.40 
record set on Aug. 20.

NYMEX October heating oil set a new all-time record at $1.3630 a 
gallon before settling at $1.3529, up 0.85 cent.

"The market is discounting the release of some small quantity of 
oil from the strategic reserves," said Tom Bentz, analyst at BNP 
Paribas. "It's not a huge amount and traders are feeling that we 
lost a lot more. The price action is still bullish."

Prices had soared on Wednesday as the government reported a 9.1 
million barrel decline in commercial crude stocks last week due 
to shipping delays and production shut-ins caused by Ivan.

In London, November Brent crude set a new record at $45.75 a 
barrel before settling at $45.13 a barrel, up 20 cents.

The two U.S. refiners asked to borrow 100,000 to 200,000 barrels 
and 1 to 2 million barrels from the SPR, respectively.

The last time Washington loaned oil from the SPR was late 2002, 
when Hurricane Lili disrupted oil shipments.

U.S. crude oil inventories are at their lowest since Feb. 6 as 
shipment disruptions from Hurricane Ivan cut down imports by 
almost 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) last week.

Nearly 544,000 bpd of crude oil production in the Gulf of Mexico 
was still shut in as of Wednesday. Ivan had shut a total of 9.1 
million barrels of crude oil and 38.6 billion cubic feet of 
natural gas there, it said.

NYMEX October gasoline rose 0.02 cent a $1.3432 a gallon.

At the COMEX, gold rose to its highest in a month as oil's rally 
fueled more institutional investor interest in the metal, a hard 
asset that can cushion portfolios against inflation.

"It's gaining some momentum here, taking out some technical 
points on the upside," said David Rinehimer, head of commodities 
research at Citigroup Global Markets.

"Indirectly, it's probably taking direction from how high crude 
oil goes because that's impacting inflation expectations, 
impacting interest rates, and impacting the dollar. So that 
looks like, to me, the key variable right now," he said.

COMEX December gold closed up $3.60 at $412.60 an ounce. Gold 
bullion rose to $409.35/0.10 from Wednesday's late level of 
$406.75/7.50. London's afternoon fix was $411.50.

COMEX December silver rose 9.5 cents to $6.47 an ounce.

At the New York Board of Trade, orange juice prices closed 
higher as speculation about whether Hurricane Jeanne in the 
Atlantic will menace Florida this weekend. November frozen 
concentrated orange rose 0.70 cent at 79.60 cents a lb.

"The specs ran it up partly because of Jeanne, and those same 
guys dumped it until we get a clear picture where it is actually 
headed," said one juice trader.
www.boycottusa.com
In the last month, Florida's $9 billion citrus industry has 
already been struck by two hurricanes, Charley and Frances, that 
uprooted trees, dropped fruit and flooded fields.

Cotton in the Southeast has also been hit by recent storms and 
flooding. But harvest progress elsewhere aimed at bringing in a 
still-record U.S. cotton crop pushed NYBOT cotton prices lower. 
December cotton fell 0.27 cent at 48.82 cents per lb.

At the Chicago Board of Trade, excellent harvest weather for an 
expected record corn crop and the second-biggest soybean crop on 
record kept grain prices subdued.
www.boycottusa.com
CBOT corn for December delivery closed 2-1/2 cents per bushel 
lower at $2.07-3/4, setting life-of-contract lows for the tenth 
straight trading session. CBOT November soybeans fell 1/2 cent 
at $5.37-3/4, with prices the lowest in 12 months. CBOT December 
wheat fell 1/2 cent at $3.25-1/4 per bushel. 

Bomb Set Off At McDonald's After Men Receive Bad Shake - and you 
guys bitch about whinig euros et al. They yanks GOTTA have a 
good shake!;) (http://www.americansarestupid.comLIKE THE STUPID 
SEPPOS BELOWhttp://www.americansarestupid.com) 
Bomb Set Off At McDonald's After Men Receive Bad Shake
http://www.americansarestupid.com
LAKELAND, Fla. -- Two brothers serving in the military and a 
third man exploded a small bomb inside a McDonald's because they 
were angry over a bad milkshake, officials said. No one was hurt 
and damage to the restaurant was minor.
http://www.americansarestupid.com
Pedro Garza, 19; Joshua Hackey, 19; and Nathaniel Hackey, 21; 
were arrested Saturday on felony charges of making and 
discharging a destructive device. The older Hackey is in the 
Army and his brother is in the Coast Guard, the Polk County 
Sheriff's Office said. 

"One of the guys said they got a bad milkshake, and they played 
a prank on them," sheriff's Maj. Sammy Taylor said.

Investigators say the men mixed toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum 
foil in a plastic soda bottle as they sat at a table Friday 
evening near the restaurant's restrooms. They then capped the 
bottle, put it on the table and left before it exploded at 10:45 
p.m. Friday. A customer sitting 10 feet away wasn't hit by the 
splashing chemicals.
"The toilet bowl cleaner has an acid base," Taylor said. "It can 
burn your skin and put your eyes 
out."http://www.americansarestupid.com

The three were identified from a surveillance video, 
investigators said.

Marla Baine, the Hackeys' older sister, said they did not think 
about the consequences of their action and now regret them.

"It's a stupid prank, and they weren't thinking," she 
said. "I've had calls from them already, and they said they wish 
they could turn back the hands of time."

Baine said her brothers are "two good kids," who had never been 
in trouble with the law.

"Nathan said he's ready to face what's coming to him," she 
said. "Maybe they'll be made examples, and people won't do this 
type of thing." 
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or 
redistributed
http://www.americansarestupid.com 
 

The Xhosa news bulletin of the South African Broadcasting 
Corporation (SABC) showed the two-minute footage of US engineer 
Eugene Armstrong being decapitated by hooded men in Iraq during 
its 7:30pm (local time) broadcast on Tuesday. 

"Everybody was shocked by the viewing," South Africa's 
Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) spokeswoman Donna 
Mohamed said.

"It went out so early. It's family time and most parents 
encourage their children to watch the news and see what's 
happening."

The BCC opened an investigation and chairman Kobus van Rooyen is 
to view the footage to decide if SABC should face penalties for 
airing it.

Ms Mohamed says the same footage was shown on the 10:00pm 
evening news on the privately owned eTV network, which also 
faces possible action.

But eTV editor-in-chief Joe Thloloe was quoted on the SAPA news 
agency as saying they had "cut the visuals before the beheading, 
although we continued with the screams of the victim".

"It was not prolonged, not graphic - the fade-off constituted 
sensitive editing."

Mr Thloloe defended the decision to air the footage, 
saying: "The story was of global importance and was carried in 
much more graphic detail by international news networks." 

SABC formally apologised to viewers during the same news program 
on Wednesday for showing the video and announced that the show's 
editor was suspended pending the investigation's outcome.

-- AFP
Protest their wimpy back down here//:feedback@sabcnews.com 
 

Hepatitis spreads in 2 Iraqi districts 
James Glanz/NYT NYT 
Friday, September 24, 2004

 http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
Collapse of water and sewage systems is believed to be at root 
of the illness
 http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
BAGHDAD A virulent form of hepatitis that is especially lethal 
for pregnant women has broken out in two of Iraq's most troubled 
districts, Iraqi Health Ministry officials said in interviews 
here this week, and they warned that a collapse of water and 
sewage systems in the country is probably at the root of the 
illnesses.

The disease, called Hepatitis E, is caused by a virus that is 
often spread by sewage-contaminated drinking water.

The officials said that their limited ability to test for the 
virus had already been overwhelmed by the hepatitis outbreaks, 
suggesting that only a fraction of the actual cases have been 
diagnosed. But in Sadr City, a Baghdad slum that for months has 
been convulsed by gun battles between a local militia and 
American troops, as many as 155 cases have turned up.

The second outbreak is in Mahmudiya, a town 56 kilometers, or 35 
miles, south of Baghdad that is known as much for its 
kidnappings and drive-by shootings as for its poverty, where 60 
suspected cases have been seen. At least nine pregnant women are 
believed to have been infected, and one has died. There have 
been five reported deaths overall. "We are saying that the real 
number is greatly more than this, because the area is greatly 
underreported," said Dr. Atta-alla Mekhlif al-Salmani, head of 
the viral hepatitis section at the Health Ministry's Center of 
Disease Control.

The World Health Organization is rushing Hepatitis E testing 
kits, water purification tablets, informational brochures and 
other materials to Iraq to help with the outbreaks, said Dr. 
Naeema al-Gasseer, the health agency representative for Iraq and 
a UN health official, who is now based in Amman, Jordan.

But viral hepatitis comes in numerous forms, and another ominous 
set of statistics suggests that the quality of water supplies 
around the country has deteriorated since the American-led 
invasion last year, Salmani said. In 2003, there were 70 percent 
more cases of hepatitis of all types reported across Iraq than 
in the year before, he said.

During the first six months of 2004, there were as many cases as 
in all of 2002.

In yet another indication of the deteriorating safety of both 
water and food in Iraq, the number of reported cases of typhoid 
fever is up sharply this year, said Dr. Nima S. Abid, the 
ministry's director general of public health and primary health. 
Hospitals across the country are also full of children with 
severe forms of diarrhea, Abid said.
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
The reports have come just as the Bush administration has 
proposed shifting $3.46 billion in reconstruction money for Iraq 
to programs that would train and equip tens of thousands of 
additional security forces. The training would include police 
officers, border guards and national guardsmen in hopes of 
regaining control of a security situation that has spiraled out 
of control. The shift would have to be approved by Congress.

The financing transfer would gut what had been an ambitious 
program to rebuild Iraq's crumbling water and sewage systems, 
forcing the cancellation or delay of most of the projects that 
had been planned. Last autumn, Congress approved $18.4 billion 
for Iraq's reconstruction. So far, only about $1 billion has 
been spent.

"The problem is the whole infrastructure," Abid said of the 
mounting health problems. Abid added that many of them stemmed 
from neglect that began long before last year's invasion. But he 
said: "Definitely no major intervention has been done in this 
last one and a half years to repair the problem."

Viral hepatitis comes in numerous forms and with a variety of 
different consequences, from benign to fatal. The most common 
type, Hepatitis A, can be spread from person to person or 
through contaminated water. Like all forms of the disease, it 
infects liver cells and can cause jaundice and other symptoms, 
but once a recovery is made there is often no permanent damage, 
said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the Department of 
Preventive Medicine at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center 
in Nashville, Tennessee.

Hepatitis E is most dangerous for pregnant women, who can lose 
their unborn children and die from the disease, Schaffner said. 
The World Health Organization and other health agencies are 
currently battling large outbreaks of Hepatitis E among 
thousands of displaced people in the Darfur region of Sudan and 
among refugees across the border in Chad.

The immediate reason for the outbreaks in Sadr City and 
Mahmudiya appear to be easy to pin down, Abid said. The lack of 
infrastructure induces families to tap into water mains with 
improvised hoses, he said, citing his own visits to the 
communities. They then use small electric pumps to bring water 
into their homes.

But in these same communities, sewage either seeps from damaged 
pipes into the ground or runs freely in the streets. So, through 
cracks and holes in people's hoses, sewage is sucked in too, 
becoming mixed with the drinking water and spreading the virus.

"The problem is that there is a leakage in the sewer system of 
Sadr," said an assistant to the director general for water in 
the Baghdad municipality. "Our treatment plant produces water 
with WHO specifications," said the assistant, who asked to be 
identified only as Khalid, "and our test records are very good."

The assistant said that there had been a major water project 
under way for Sadr City, but that the dangerous security 
situation had made it impossible to proceed.
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
The New York Times 

British hostage pleads with Blair to save his life
A video posted on an Islamic web site and allegedly recorded by 
Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi's group in Iraq has shown British hostage, 
Kenneth Bigley, pleading to Prime Minister Tony Blair to save 
his life. 
http://www.thecostofwar.com
"I need you to help me now Mr Blair, because you are the only 
person on God's earth who can help me," says the man dressed in 
orange overalls, whose voice breaks down several times in the 
footage. 

"This is possibly my last chance to speak to you."
http://www.thecostofwar.com
In the video the hostage, whose face is blurred, introduces 
himself as Ken Bigley from Liverpool. 
http://www.thecostofwar.com
Zarqawi's group also posted a video on the Internet showing the 
apparent beheading of US hostage Jack Hensley. 

In the video, Mr Hensley is shown dressed in orange overalls 
typical of US jails and associated around the world with images 
of Muslims detained at Guantanamo Bay. 

One of five masked captors was shown reading a statement before 
the men held the captive down, slit his throat with a large 
knife then decapitated him. 

They are then shown shouting Islamic slogans while one holds up 
his severed head. 

He kneels blindfolded and motionless with his hands tied behind 
his back in the four-minute tape. 

Italian's killed

Meanwhile, an Islamic group in Iraq claims in a statement posted 
on an Internet site not often used by Iraqi militantsit that it 
has killed two female Italian hostages. 

The group, calling itself the Jihad Organisation, said it had 
killed the women because Italy had not obeyed its call to 
withdraw its forces from Iraq. 

Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, who worked on projects to help 
Iraqi children, were the first Western women to be kidnapped in 
Iraq. 

They were seized on September 7 along with two Iraqi colleagues, 
from a charity office where they worked in the heart of Baghdad.

Bigley's plea

In the Bigley video, he is seen sitting in front of a flag 
bearing the name of Tawhid al Jihad (Unity and Holy War), the 
group which has beheaded two American nationals who were 
abducted with him in Baghdad last week. 

The video could not be authenticated.

Both videos were released after the recovery of the body of Mr 
Hensley.
http://www.thecostofwar.com
Mr Bigley is the last survivor of the three hostages taken last 
week by militants.
http://www.thecostofwar.com
The body of Mr Hensley was found beheaded in the same gruesome 
manner as his colleague Eugene Armstrong.

The Bigley family's hopes have been raised by Iraqi officials 
who say they have been considering for a month to release two 
female prisoners, Rihab Taha and Huda Ammash known as "Dr Germ" 
and "Mrs Anthrax".

The United States says it controls their fate and neither will 
be released.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "It would be idle to 
pretend that there was a great deal of hope".

He says the Bigley family is now preparing for the worst.

--ABC/AFP/Reuters

Car bomb kills US soldier - What can I say? I think emoticons 
speak louder than words. :D 
(http://www.boycottusa.orghttp://www.boycottusa.orghttp://www.boy
cottusa.orghttp://www.boycottusa.orghttp://www.boycottusa.org) 
Thursday, September 23, 2004. 2:51pm (AEST)
Car bomb kills US soldier
A US soldier has been killed and four others wounded in a 
Baghdad car bombing, the US military says.
http://www.boycottusa.org
"One Task Force Baghdad soldier died and four others were 
wounded when a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device 
detonated at about 4:30pm (local time)... near a traffic control 
point in Baghdad," a statement read. 
http://www.boycottusa.org
The blast followed a morning Baghdad car bomb attack, which 
claimed the lives of at least seven people and wounded 54 others.
http://www.boycottusa.org
The blast occurred outside a recruiting centre for the Iraqi 
National Guard. 

-- AFP
http://www.boycottusa.org 
 

Italy in anguish over fate of aid workers in Iraq
Italy has sought to play down the credibility of reports 
claiming the murder of two female Italian aid workers taken 
hostage in Iraq, but failed to ease gnawing anguish over their 
fate. 

"The Government has undertaken a series of actions, and for the 
moment, no proof has been found" to back up the alleged 
execution of Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, it said in a 
statement. 

However, the Government added that it was still probing both 
that claim and an earlier one posted overnight on the Internet 
by a group calling itself the Jihad Organisation. 

The group claimed it had "slaughtered" the two women because 
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had not withdrawn Italy's 3,000 
troops from Iraq. 

Italy immediately questioned the authenticity of that report, 
and said the "multiplication" of claims merely confirmed their 
low credibility and "leads us to believe we are probably in the 
middle of a media terrorism". 

Nevertheless, the statement heightened concern over the fate of 
the women, particularly as another militant group earlier this 
week executed two American hostages, posting the grisly video 
images on the Internet, and has threatened to kill a British 
colleague. 

A spokesman for the influential Sunni Committee of Muslim 
Scholars in the Iraqi capital said Ms Pari and Ms Torretta were 
probably still alive and being held by a group with no relation 
to the insurgency against the US-led occupation. 

"I do not think they killed them because the material gain from 
holding them is big," Muthana al-Dhari told AFP at the 
committee's headquarters in Baghdad's Umm al-Qura mosque. 

"I have my doubts about the whole operation from the start 
because the style and method all indicate that the kidnappers 
are an organised gang with no connection to the resistance." 

Mr Dhari said the motive behind their kidnapping was 
inconsistent with the goals of the insurgency, which has claimed 
in several statements that it would only go after those 
cooperating with and aiding the US-led occupation. 

In Baghdad, the Italian embassy said it was checking out the 
claim by the Jihad Organisation and could not say whether it was 
genuine or fake. 

--AFP

Beheading broadcast draws viewers' ire - Awwww...! Spoil it for 
everyone! Tsk tsk...We need to be entertained!;) 
(http://www.sabcnews.com/http://www.sabcnews.com/http://www.sabcn
ews.com/http://www.sabcnews.com/http://www.sabcnews.com/http://) 
Beheading broadcast draws viewers' ire
South Africa's state broadcaster, SABC, has come under 
investigation by a media commission for airing footage of the 
beheading of a United States hostage in Iraq during its early 
evening news programs. 

The Xhosa news bulletin of the South African Broadcasting 
Corporation (SABC) showed the two-minute footage of US engineer 
Eugene Armstrong being decapitated by hooded men in Iraq during 
its 7:30pm (local time) broadcast on Tuesday. 

"Everybody was shocked by the viewing," South Africa's 
Broadcasting Complaints Commission (BCC) spokeswoman Donna 
Mohamed said.

"It went out so early. It's family time and most parents 
encourage their children to watch the news and see what's 
happening."

The BCC opened an investigation and chairman Kobus van Rooyen is 
to view the footage to decide if SABC should face penalties for 
airing it.

Ms Mohamed says the same footage was shown on the 10:00pm 
evening news on the privately owned eTV network, which also 
faces possible action.

But eTV editor-in-chief Joe Thloloe was quoted on the SAPA news 
agency as saying they had "cut the visuals before the beheading, 
although we continued with the screams of the victim".

"It was not prolonged, not graphic - the fade-off constituted 
sensitive editing."

Mr Thloloe defended the decision to air the footage, 
saying: "The story was of global importance and was carried in 
much more graphic detail by international news networks." 

SABC formally apologised to viewers during the same news program 
on Wednesday for showing the video and announced that the show's 
editor was suspended pending the investigation's outcome.

-- AFP
Protest their wimpy back down here//:feedback@sabcnews.com 
 

These people, or should i say sheeple, dont know anything. They 
drive about their daily lives afraid. They think that electing 
a weak bitch like kerry will fix things, they think that taking 
our guns away will help things. they dont know anything. They 
cant see the big picture. These arab heathens pour into our 
country daily, and have been for some time. When these 
sheeple's families are dying all about they will torment 
themselves for thinking the way they did. Or will they? What 
will it take to refresh the tree of liberty? When will they see 
that there is more at stake than their morning starbucks? I'll 
gladly pay a few extra cents on gas to kick those terrorists 
asses.

its all about $$$$$$$$$$$$,  imagine if we had community farms, 
and shared our wealth.  kill someone and yourself today.  we 
will never make it, America is to blame, there is no way out 
now.  This is all small potatoes compared to what US big 
business has done to the environment.

YOu like it the ass dont you God!

enlist in the army or KIll YOURSELF Jihad is here, Fuck Arabs 
and Muslims, Fuck Fundamentalist christians.  WE NEED NUClear 
ARmageddon to cleanse this place, if some survive they may 
remember what we did wrong if not thats FINE cockroaches will 
evolve into more compassionate beings then WE could ever be.  I 
was a pasifist but now its time to fucking fight.  Kill all 
Anti-American fucks now.  We are right.  Fuck It I am voting 
for GW and joining the army tommorrow.

Don't be upset at what is happening.  None of it will matter in
the next 250,000 years when the sun turns super-nova, engulfs
this shithole of a planet and turns it into a molten hunk of
rock.  Good luck humans.  Destroy yourselves!

Don't be upset at what is happening.  None of it will matter in
the next 250,000 years when the sun turns super-nova, engulfs
this shithole of a planet and turns it into a molten hunk of
rock.  Good luck humans.  Destroy youselves!

All of you hate-breeding islamic bastards will meet your "God" 
and you will then be cast down to the bowels of the earth, along 
with the sodomites and pillagers, and become a sex toy to Satan 
and be continously fucked in the ass by him!!!! Oh what a happy 
day it will be when the USA captures these fucking human debris 
militants, who serve no purpose other than to play out their 
psychotic and perverse acts of terror on innocent Americans as 
well as others around the globe.  Hey Zarqawi, Bin Laden, and to 
all the mindless sheep that believe in your cowardly words, WHEN 
you are caught and brought to justice, I will be acquiring a 
front-row seat and I will relish in your pain and lament, and 
just as you take your last breath and succumb for all your sins 
against humanity - YOU WILL SEE ME!!!!  Mark my words, the end 
SHALL come for you and it WILL be a slow, methodical, 
calculated, and extremely painful death.  Yes oh what a happy 
day it WILL be.

The Afghan vice-president has survived an assassination attempt 
after a remote controlled device was detonated near his convoy. -
 Damn! (http://www.robert-fisk.comhttp://www.robert-
fisk.comhttp://www.robert-fisk.comhttp://www.robert-
fisk.comhttp://www.robert-fisk.) 
The Afghan vice-president has survived an assassination attempt 
after a remote controlled device was detonated near his convoy.
http://www.robert-fisk.com


Nimat Allah Shahrani, one of four vice-presidents in the interim 
government of President Hamid Karzai, was in a convoy with other 
officials in the northern province of Kunduz when it was 
attacked, said provincial governor Muhammad Umar Khan. 
http://www.robert-fisk.com
Karzai, favourite to win an 9 October presidential election, 
survived an assassination attempt last Friday.

Remnants of the Taliban and armed allies, including al-Qaida, 
have been blamed for a wave of violence concentrated in the 
south and east of the country in which about 1000 people have 
been killed in the last year. 
http://www.robert-fisk.com

Karzai escaped a rocket attack on
his helicopter on Friday


They have vowed to disrupt preparations for the presidential 
election. 

US soldiers killed

Two soldiers from the US-led coalition hunting al-Qaida and 
Taliban fighters were killed in a gun battle in the southeastern 
province of Paktika, a traditional heartland for armed fighters, 
the US military said.

Six Afghan soldiers had to be evacuated from the scene of the 
battle, although the US military which leads a 17,000-strong 
multinational force in Afghanistan, did not give details of 
their wounds.

Two soldiers from the US-led force were slightly wounded. "Our 
heartfelt condolences go out to the family members of those who 
courageously lost their lives today," the US military said. 

Other clashes erupted on Monday between the US-led force and 
suspected fighters in the central province of Uruzgan and the 
southern province of Zabul. 

'Helping infidels' 

About 60 US soldiers have been killed in action in Afghanistan 
since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. 

The nationality of the two fatalities on Monday was not 
immediately clear. Over the weekend, suspected Taliban fighters 
beheaded three Afghan soldiers in Zabul, a local official said 
on Monday. 

"We have already announced that anyone in the government or 
aiding the infidels will be killed" 

Sabir Mumin,
Commander of the Muslim Army of the Taliban

Zabul security chief Jailani Khan said the soldiers, who were 
not in uniform, were travelling in a taxi from Naubahar district 
to the provincial capital of Qalat when they were stopped by a 
group of men that included two Pakistanis and an Arab. 

The three passengers were beheaded in an attack claimed by a 
breakaway Taliban faction.

"We have already announced that anyone in the government or 
aiding the infidels will be killed," said Sabir Mumin, a 
commander of the Taliban Jamiat Jaish-e-Muslimeen (Muslim Army 
of the Taliban) faction. 

The faction announced in August it had broken away from the main 
Taliban movement, which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 
before being ousted in a US-led war after it failed to 
hand over al-Qaida leader Usama bin Ladin. 
 

A senior Afghan dissident leader has called for the country's 
upcoming presidential election to be postponed saying the US was 
seeking to rig a victory for interim president Hamid Karzai.
www.whatreallyhappened.com


Qalb al-Din Hikmatyar has called on refugees in Pakistan to 
boycott the upcoming US sponsored presidential election in the 
country, Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported on Monday.

 www.whatreallyhappened.com

Hikmatyar made his call through bilingual leaflets in Pashtu and 
Dari, distributed late on Sunday in Pakistan's north-western 
city of Peshawar, bordering Afghanistan, AIP said.

 www.whatreallyhappened.com

The leaflets carried the announcement saying, "casting votes 
will be an act to vote for the anti-Muslim forces of (George) 
Bush, Putin and (Tony) Blair and to support the aggression 
against the Afghan people". 


www.whatreallyhappened.com
Hizbi Islami

Qalb al-Din Hikmatyar, the leader and founder of the Hizbi 
Islami political party in Afghanistan was one of the heros of 
the struggle to oust the former Soviet Union from the country in 
the 1980s.
www.whatreallyhappened.com
In 1996 when the Taliban came to power, amid heavy infighting, 
Hikmatyar formed a power-sharing agreement with Rabbani which 
made him Prime Minister for a while, before having to leave 
Kabul.
www.whatreallyhappened.com
He was given refuge in Iran but returned to his homeland as an 
insurgent after Tehran threw its weight behind Hamid Karzai 
following the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban.
www.whatreallyhappened.com

Elections - a fiasco
www.whatreallyhappened.com


"Under the Taliban, Afghanistan was the safest place on earth, 
now it is the worst"

Abd Al-Wahid,
Afghan resident from Zabul province
 
www.whatreallyhappened.com
In the leaflets, Hikmatyar accused the Bush administration of 
using the Afghan election "fiasco" for selfish political gain.
www.whatreallyhappened.com
The Pashtun leader also noted the elections would be far from 
free and fair since Karzai and his interim administration were 
illegally appointed by the US. Karzai had initially said he 
would not contest the elections, but is now one of the 
candidates.
www.whatreallyhappened.com
"It is actually part of Bush's election campaign. It is also a 
ridiculous fiasco as they have already decided to bring (Hamid) 
Karzai back in power," he said.
www.whatreallyhappened.comwww.whatreallyhappened.com
On Friday, about a dozen presidential candidates in Kabul 
accused the US administration of trying to rig next month's 
election by "influencing" presidential candidates and 
favouritism.

They demanded a postponement at least until the US presidential 
elections in November are over.



 
Critics say interim president Hamid
Karzai is an American stooge
 

Hamid Karzai came to power after the US-led invasion of 
Afghanistan in October 2001.



Critics accuse Karzai of being an American stooge - particularly 
after the way in which the US intervened ahead of the recent 
Loya Jirga (traditional council) to announce that the former 
king would not oppose Karzai as a candidate for head of state.

Residents being harrassed



In an Aljazeera.net interview with an Afghan resident on Monday, 
Abd Al-Wahid from the southern province of Zabul said, "we were 
better off with the Taliban".

He said the Taliban provided unprecedented safety and 
security, "under the Taliban, Afghanistan was the safest place 
on earth, now it is the worst".

"There is no security at all, crime has gone through the roof 
and political pressure is also at its highest", he added.

Abd Al-Wahid says residents are being harrassed by various 
political groups vying for power. 

"In the morning the government people come and threaten us to 
get the Karzai card [voter card]. They say if we don't register 
they will ban us from medical treatment and in some areas from 
food donated to villagers. They also say they will not provide 
us with security."

Lack of trust



 
Afghanis are being threatened 
to obtain a 'Karzai card'
 
"In the evening, the Taliban come to us saying the Americans are 
against us and want to exploit our country. They say we are 
being used and Karzai is working for them [the US]".

"We don't know who to trust. It's a terrible mess. 

The politicians are enjoying a good secure life while the 
civilians are made to suffer," he said

The people of Afghanistan have had enough of war, he said. 

 

"They are tired of old politicians and want to see some 
development. Residents seek peace of mind, a life without 
outrageous crime levels."

Iraqi militants behead US hostage
By Peter Cave in Baghdad and agencies

A militant group led by Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi says 
it has beheaded an American hostage and posted a video of the 
killing on the Internet. 
http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/200409/r30633_76357.jpg
The group is believed to have kidnapped the hostage, along with 
another American and a Briton. 

The deadline for the group's demands that all women prisoners in 
Iraqi jails be freed passed yesterday. 

They had threatened to kill Americans Eugene 'Jack' Armstrong 
and Jack Hensley and Briton Kenneth Bigley. 

The website posted a video which showed one hostage being 
beheaded. 

The video identified the hostage as Eugene Armstrong and showed 
a masked man beheading the hostage.

A United States official said Mr Armstrong's body had been 
recovered. 

In the video, five armed and masked men stood around the 
hostage, who was dressed in an orange overall typical of US 
jails and associated around the world with images of Muslims 
detained at Guantanamo Bay. 

After reading a lengthy statement, during which the hostage sat 
rocking on the floor, one of the gunmen decapitated him. 

The US military says no women are being held in the two prisons 
specified, but that two are in US custody and are accused of 
working on ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's weapons 
program. 

Zarqawi's group has said it was responsible for most of the 
bloodiest suicide bombings in Iraq since the fall of Saddam. 

It has beheaded several hostages, including US telecoms engineer 
Nicholas Berg in May and South Korean driver Kim Sun-il in June.

Meanwhile a Shiite group which claimed to be holding 18 Iraqi 
national guards has released them according to a spokesman for 
the rebel Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr who intervened on their 
behalf. 

There is no news of 10 Turkish truckdrivers still being held by 
yet another Al Qaeda-related group.

In other developments:
An Islamist group has released 18 Iraqi soldiers it had captured 
and threatened to kill unless an aide to Shiite rebel cleric 
Moqtada al-Sadr was released, a video released to the media 
showed on Monday. (Full Story) 
United States Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has 
turned up his criticism of President George W Bush's leadership 
in Iraq, accusing him of "colossal failures of judgment" that 
have turned the country into a haven for terrorists and made 
America more vulnerable. (Full Story) 

US hostage Eugene Armstrong moments before his beheading. 
 

ITS JUST A LOT OF SHIT IN A FUCKED UP WORLD

Kidnappers seize more Lebanese in Iraq
21:41 AEST Sun Sep 19 2004


AP - Three Lebanese men and their Iraqi driver have been 
kidnapped in Iraq, the Lebanese Foreign Ministry said.

The four - identified as Lebanese Fadi Munir Yassin, Cherbal 
Karam Haj and Aram Nalbandian and Iraqi Ahmed Mirza - were 
abducted by gunmen on the Baghdad-Fallujah highway, a Foreign 
Ministry official told The Associated Press.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 
three Lebanese worked for a travel agency that has a branch in 
Baghdad.

The motive for the kidnapping was not immediately clear.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid has instructed the 
Lebanese charge d'affaires in Iraq, Hassan Hejazi, to contact 
Iraqi authorities to secure the release of the three Lebanese, 
the official said.

About 120 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq, and many have 
been killed by their captors.

 
 
 
Insurgents have carried out most of the kidnappings in a bid to 
drive foreign companies out of Iraq and thwart the US-led 
reconstruction of the country. Some kidnappings, though, appear 
to be only for ransom.

Hussein Ali Alyan, a 26-year-old Lebanese construction worker, 
was found shot dead on June 12 and the Lebanese Foreign 
Ministry said his killers sought ransom, not political goals.
www.boycottusa.org
www.fuckbush.com



 AAP 2004

Britain to cut troop levels in Iraq 
http://www.boycottusa.org
Jason Burke, chief reporter
Sunday September 19, 2004
The Observer 

The British Army is to start pulling troops out of Iraq next 
month despite the deteriorating security situation in much of 
the country, The Observer has learnt. 
The main British combat force in Iraq, about 5,000-strong, will 
be reduced by around a third by the end of October during a 
routine rotation of units. 

The news came amid another day of mayhem in Iraq, which saw a 
suicide bomber kill at least 23 people and injure 53 in the 
northern city of Kirkuk. The victims were queueing to join 
Iraq's National Guard. 
http://www.boycottusa.org
More than 200 people were killed last week in one of the 
bloodiest weeks since last year's invasion, strengthening 
impressions that the country is spinning out of control. 

Yesterday grim footage apparently showing a British engineer 
kidnapped from a house in Baghdad last week along with two 
American colleagues surfaced in a video released in the Iraqi 
capital. The group holding the three threatened to execute them 
unless Iraqi women prisoners are released from jail. 

And last night it was reported that 10 more staff working for 
an American-Turkish company had been seized as hostages. 

There are now fears that scheduled Iraqi elections in January 
will have to be delayed because of the growing instability. 

Last week Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, said that more 
troops could be sent to safeguard the polls if necessary, 
although Whitehall sources said there was no guarantee that 
they would be British. 

The forthcoming 'drawdown' of British troops in Basra has not 
been made public and is likely to provoke consternation in both 
Washington and Baghdad. Many in Iraq argue that more, not 
fewer, troops are needed. Last week British troops in Basra 
fought fierce battles with Shia militia groups. 

http://www.boycottusa.org
 
http://www.boycottusa.org
 
http://www.boycottusa.org

 The reduction will take place when the First Mechanised 
Infantry Brigade is replaced by the Fourth Armoured Division, 
now based in Germany, in a routine rotation over the next few 
weeks. 

Troop numbers are being finalised, but, military sources in 
Iraq and in Whitehall say, they are likely to be 'substantially 
less' than the current total in Basra: the new combat brigade 
will have five or even four battle groups, against its current 
strength of six battle groups of around 800 men. 

A military spokesman in Basra confirmed the scaling back of the 
British commitment. 

Currently there are 8,000 British troops in the 14,000-
strong 'multinational division' in southern Iraq, which has 
responsibility for about 4.5 million people. 

The cuts will occur in the combat elements of the deployment - 
the 5,000-strong infantry and armoured brigade that is 
committed to the provinces of Basra and Maysan. Four Royal Navy 
ships will remain in the Gulf. 

However, the incoming force will leave its heavy armour, mainly 
Challenger tanks, behind, but will be equipped with a unit of 
Warrior armoured troop carriers. 

Senior officers say the scaling back of the British commitment 
in Iraq is a sign of their success in keeping order and helping 
reconstruction. But both Basra and Maysan have seen heavy 
combat recently, with some units sustaining up to 35 per cent 
casualties, and remains restive. The al-Mahdi army, which was 
responsible for most of the fighting, remains heavily armed. 

'Whatever they say, fewer troops mean less capability,' a 
military expert told The Observer . 'You need as many boots on 
the ground as you can get for low-intensity warfare and peace-
keeping operations.' 

Iyad Allawi, the interim Iraqi Prime Minister, will hold talks 
with Tony Blair at Chequers tomorrow on security issues, 
including elections and the strengthening of border patrols. 

News of the troop withdrawal comes at a difficult time for 
Blair, with the publication yesterday of leaked documents 
suggesting that he was warned a year before the invasion that 
it could prompt a meltdown. 

However Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary and a close ally of 
Blair, told The Observer that the Prime Minister still believed 
that Britain's actions would be justified by the restoration of 
democracy 'however difficult and remote a prospect that seems 
at the moment, when our headlines are crowded with further 
attacks by the insurgents'. 

In another embarrassment for the Prime Minister, a draft report 
from the Iraqi Survey Group, set up to investigate Saddam 
Hussein's weapons programme, has concluded that the former 
dictator's only chemical or biological armament was a small 
amount of poison for use in political killings. 

Zarqawi group threatens to kill US, UK hostages - chop the 
cunt's heads off NOW!;) 
(http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htmhttp://www.thefourreaso
ns.org/crimes.htmhttp://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htmhttp://
) 
Zarqawi group threatens to kill US, UK hostages
The Tawhid and Jihad Group of suspected Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab 
al-Zarqawi has threatened to kill two US hostages and one 
British hostage seized in Baghdad, Al Jazeera said.
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
The Arabic broadcaster aired scenes from a videotape of the 
three men it had obtained from the group, which said Washington 
had 48 hours to release Iraqi women prisoners in Abu Ghraib and 
Umm Qasr.

"The Tawhid and Jihad Group gave a 48-hour deadline for the 
release of the women prisoners in return for releasing the two 
Americans and Briton kidnapped on Thursday, or they would 
implement the death penalty against them," Al Jazeera said.

The brief extracts aired from the tape showed the three men 
blindfolded as a hooded man stood behind them with a weapon 
pointed at the head of one of them.

The hostages appeared to be giving details of who they were, 
but their voices could not be heard clearly.

They wore normal clothes and appeared to be in good health.

It had not been known up until now who had abducted the three 
men from a house in an affluent neighbourhood of central 
Baghdad.

Zarqawi's group has claimed responsibility for many attacks in 
Iraq, including the kidnapping of foreign workers and suicide 
bombings that have killed Iraqi officials.
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
The United States has offered a $US25 million reward for the 
capture of the Jordanian Zarqawi, its top militant target in 
Iraq who it says is allied with Al Qaeda.

-- Reuters
 
 

2 US soldiers killed, 3 wounded in Baghdad 
 
www.chinaview.cn 2004-09-14 15:21:15 

   BAGHDAD, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Two US soldiers were killed 
and three others wounded when insurgents attacked a US convoy 
with a roadside bomb and small arms in Baghdad, the US military 
said on Tuesday.

   The attack took place at around 4:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) Monday 
in Baghdad, the military said in a statement without giving 
details about where the incident occurred.

   The troops belonged to the US Army's Task Force Baghdad, the 
statement said.

   The wounded soldiers were being treated at a military 
hospital and the dead soldiers' names were withheld pending 
family notification.

   Over 1,000 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the 
start of war in March 2003.  Enditem   

Wife pleads for kidnapped husband's release
The wife of an American civilian kidnapped by militants in Iraq 
has made a sombre plea for mercy and the release of her husband 
and his two colleagues.

Patty Hensley donned gold-rimmed glasses to read a prepared 
statement during an interview on CNN. 

"Jack is a simple, generous man who loves the Iraqi people and 
has made many friends while in Iraq," she said.

"Since Jack has been a guest in your country he has been 
treated with honour and dignity.

"We ask for your mercy in freeing Jack and his co-workers so 
that they can continue to return home to their loving families, 
and it is your decision whether this happens." 

The group of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, which has claimed the 
gruesome killing of foreign hostages in Iraq, is threatening to 
execute the three unless Iraqi women prisoners are freed within 
48 hours. 

The threat has been made in a video showing the three captives 
blindfolded and sitting on the floor with their hands tied 
behind their backs, as a hooded gunman point a gun at their 
heads. 

The video was initially aired by Qatar's Al-Jazeera TV.

It has also been posted on a web site.

It shows each of the three hostages giving his name and 
describing his job as being to "install and furnish camps" at a 
US base north of Baghdad. 

But Ms Hensley says her husband was in Iraq to rebuild strife-
demolished areas including water systems, schools, electrical 
grids and a museum. 

"He is one of the kindest, gentlest people who wanted to help 
and the last person in the world that I would have expected 
this to happen to," she said.

"He has no military affiliations... he's there to help the 
Iraqi people. All three of these guys are all that way." 

Mr Hensley, Eugene "Jack" Armstrong and British engineer 
Kenneth Bigley were snatched from their house in Baghdad's 
upscale Mansour district by gunmen on Thursday. 

Ms Hensley says she and her husband had had "our usual daily 
conversation of how are things going for you, how are things 
going for me" about 45 minutes before the abduction. 

Accustomed to tension and threats that came and went, the three 
sensed something wrong in the days before they were taken. 

"They were provided with round-the-clock guards at their home, 
Iraqi guards who were armed, and the guards had stopped showing 
up for work or showed up for work and had some excuse as to why 
they couldn't stay," Ms Hensley said.

"The morning they were abducted there was no guard as there 
should have been.

"Everybody was working on it, trying to figure out what's wrong 
and what do we need to do, and before they had an opportunity, 
this happened." 

The 48-hour ultimatum has been issued against the backdrop of 
repeated strikes by the US Army on what it says are targets 
linked to Zarqawi.

He has a $US25 million bounty on his head.

I really beleve you could save a lot of bandwidth by just 
calling yourself 'COCK'

IAEA debunks US allegations on Iran

http://www.boycottusa.com
Saturday 18 September 2004, 1:59 Makka Time, 22:59 GMT    
The UN nuclear watchdog has found no signs of nuclear-related 
activity at the Parchin site in Iran, which several US 
officials claimed was linked to secret atom bomb research.
http://www.boycottusa.com


"We are aware of this new site that has been referred to. We do 
not have any indication that this site has nuclear-related 
activities. However, we continue to investigate this and other 
sites (in Iran)," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 
chief Muhammad al-Baradai told reporters in Vienna on Friday. 

    

In Tehran, Iran threatened to take the IAEA to the 
International Court of Justice if it sets a deadline for the 
Islamic Republic to commit to a new freeze on uranium 
enrichment activities.http://www.boycottusa.com
http://www.boycottusa.org
 

Influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told 
worshippers at Friday prayers at Tehran University that Iran 
would lodge a complaint at the Hague tribunal against the IAEA 
for acting outside its powers. 

 

Deadline

    
http://www.boycottusa.org
"If it sets a deadline to halt some of our nuclear activities 
we have the right to go to the Hague court," Rafsanjani said. 

 http://www.boycottusa.org

 
Rafsanjani cries foul
 

"Passing such an unjust resolution with a deadline is a 
violation of the law." 

    

Washington accuses Iran of pursuing nuclear arms under cover of 
a civilian atomic programme. Iran denies this, saying it only 
wants to generate electricity. 

    

A diplomat said on Thursday that Washington had reached a 
compromise with France, Britain and Germany on a resolution 
calling for an immediate halt to the enrichment programme, but 
not setting a deadline. 

 

'Ongoing negotiations'

    

The text still has to be approved by most of the 35 nations on 
the IAEA governing board. 

    

"Passing such an unjust resolution with a deadline is a 
violation of the law" 

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani,
former president, Iran
 
Meanwhile, the IAEA on Friday put off discussing Iran's nuclear 
program as member states were still debating the draft 
resolution, an IAEA spokesman said in Vienna. 
http://www.boycottusa.org
   

The Mexican chairwoman of the 35-nation board of governors, 
Patricia Espinosa Cantellano, said "negotiations are still 
ongoing" on the resolution. 

   http://www.boycottusa.org

"We hope in the next few days to deal with this item," Espinosa 
Cantellano said.

 
http://www.boycottusa.org
Iranian delegation chief Hossein Mousavian said Iran would 
decide on the draft resolution within two or three days. He 
added the Islamic Republic would weigh in on its "national 
interests" whether to respect the IAEA call or resume 
enrichment. 

http://www.boycottusa.comhttp://www.boycottusa.org

France backs Annan on illegal status of war

http://www.boycottusa.org
Saturday 18 September 2004, 1:42 Makka Time, 22:42 GMT  
France on Friday backed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's 
description of the US-led war on Iraq as "illegal".

http://www.boycottusa.org

"You well know that what explains our country's disagreement 
with the way the war was carried out was that it clearly did 
not at that time abide by international law and there was not a 
clear request from the United States to start that action," 
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told journalists.
http://www.boycottusa.org
That was "traditionally" France's view from the start, he added.

"We have always considered that international law constitutes 
the framework for any action, notably against terrorism or for 
stability in the world," he said.

Barnier's comments added fuel to a debate over the legitimacy 
of the US-British invasion of Iraq that promises to loom large 
at the UN in New York next week when world leaders and 
ministers gather for the world body's 59th General Assembly.

Old wounds

Annan threw the spotlight back on the issue and tore the skin 
off old transatlantic wounds when he told BBC radio on 
Wednesday that the US had failed to seek a needed second 
resolution before launching the war in March 2003.

"I've indicated that it was not in conformity with the UN 
charter from our point of view, and from the charter point of 
view it was illegal," Annan said.

Washington hit back on Thursday by claiming it considered that 
a previous UN resolution passed four months prior to the 
conflict gave it sufficient authority to wage its action 
because Iraq had refused to surrender suspected stockpiles of 
weapons of mass destruction.

After 19 months of US troop deployment in Iraq, no such weapons 
have been found by US weapons inspectors scouring the war-
ravaged country.

'Devastating' Secret Papers Reveal Pre-War Iraq Warnings 

By Jon Smith, Political Editor, PA News 
www.whatreallyhappened.com


The Government came under renewed fire tonight after claims 
that Prime Minister Tony Blair was warned before the war in 
Iraq of the scale of the task that would face British and other 
coalition troops after Saddam Hussein was toppled.

Papers marked   Secret and Personal   detailing warnings from 
the Foreign Office to the premier were leaked to The Daily 
Telegraph.

No 10 had no immediate comment on the claims that Foreign 
Secretary Jack Straw had written to Mr Blair a year before the 
conflict saying post-war Iraq would pose major problems.

  There seems to be a larger hole in this than anything,   said 
Mr Straw, according to the Telegraph.

Other papers warned of the dangers of successive military coups 
in Iraq after Saddam was toppled and said ousting Saddam was 
seen as   unfinished business   from the Gulf War of 1991.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell 
said:   If these documents are accurate they provide a 
devastating insight into the political run up to war in Iraq.

  They demonstrate that the Government agreed with the Bush 
administration on regime change in Iraq more than a year before 
military action was taken.

  The justifications offered on many occasions to Parliament 
and the public that the issue was one of WMD are shown to be a 
mechanism designed to get round the legal obstacles in 
international law against the removal of Saddam Hussein.

  The British Government has not come clean and been frank with 
the British people, either about regime change or the long term 
troop commitment which would result if Saddam was removed.

  It is hardly surprising that the Government has resisted any 
form of inquiry which would allow scrutiny of the actions of 
ministers or officials.
www.whatreallyhappened.com
  Iraq has become a question of trust. There is ample material 
in these documents to show why the Government has lost so 
much.  
s  www.whatreallyhappened.com
www.whatreallyhappened.com

Costa Rica abandons US 'coalition of the willing' - Coalition 
of the Shrinking!! (http://www.robert-fisk.comhttp://www.robert-
fisk.comhttp://www.robert-fisk.comhttp://www.robert-
fisk.comhttp://www.robert-fisk.) 
Costa Rica abandons US 'coalition of the 
willing'http://www.robert-fisk.com
The White House has removed Costa Rica from its Internet list 
of Iraq coalition members after the Central American nation 
asked to be excluded from the roster of countries that support 
US policy in Iraq. 
http://www.robert-fisk.com
Costa Rica told US officials last week that it wanted out of 
the Bush administration's so-called "coalition of the willing" 
because of domestic pressures in Costa Rica, where the war is 
unpopular. 

Costa Rican officials specifically asked the White House to 
drop its name from a coalition list posted on the website - 
www.whitehouse.gov - but the list remained unchanged for more 
than a week. 

"We took the concerns of the Costa Rican people with the utmost 
seriousness and removed their name from our website. We did it 
as fast as possible," a senior US administration official said. 

Costa Rica, which abolished its army in 1949, did not provide 
troops or aid for the Iraq occupation but offered political 
support to the US.

Most Central American nations backed the US-led invasion and 
Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador sent troops. 

Honduras and Nicaragua later halted their military involvement 
and only El Salvador still has troops in Iraq. 
http://www.robert-fisk.com
It sent a new contingent of 380 soldiers last month, despite 
threats of retaliation by Islamic militant groups.

-- Reuters 
 

Suicide car bomber kills at least 13 in Baghdad
A suicide car bomber has killed at least 13 people in an attack 
on a police checkpoint in Baghdad, after a night of US air 
strikes around rebel-held Fallujah that killed scores.
http://www.stupidamericans.com
A government spokesman said the bomb had detonated beside a 
line of police vehicles set up to seal off routes to nearby 
Haifa Street, a guerrilla stronghold where US troops have been 
fighting insurgents.
http://www.stupidamericans.com
A large crater was gouged into the road and several police cars 
were ablaze, sending thick smoke into the sky.

The government spokesman said at least 13 people were dead and 
the US military said as many as 50 were wounded.

On Tuesday, a suicide car bomb attack on a Baghdad police 
station killed 47 people in the deadliest single attack in the 
capital in six months.

The US military said an air strike on Thursday night near 
Fallujah, part of a push to quell insurgency and lawlessness 
enough to hold a national election next January, had killed 
around 60 foreign fighters loyal to the Jordanian militant Abu 
Musab al-Zarqawi.

Washington says Zarqawi is allied to Al Qaeda and is its number 
one foe in Iraq, and has put a $US25 million price on his head.

Early on Friday, US warplanes destroyed a compound in south 
central Fallujah which the US military said was also used by 
Zarqawi's militants.

Iraq's Health Ministry said at least 45 civilians had been 
killed in the air strikes.

-- Reuters

Leave Iraq or Be Expelled 

The US is losing in Iraq. Which means it will be politically 
impossible for the US to attack or invade Syria, Iran, Saudi 
Arabia, Lebanon; the rest of the "list". 
Which may explain why Israel has suddenly started to cozy up to 
Russia. 
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
So, looking into the crystal ball... 

1. The US will be out of the Mideast. 

2. Russia will be into the Mideast. 

3. The US will have to pay full market price for oil imports 
from the Mideast. 

4. The global oil currency will change over to the Euro or 
(worst case) the Ruble. 

5. Without the foreign demand for dollars to pay for oil, the 
trade imbalance and accumulated US Government debt will collapse 
the dollar. http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm

Fucking media shit!
IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS BREAKTHROUGH
17.9.2004. 08:34:49

 
 
In a major breakthrough the United States and Europe's three 
main states have reached agreement on a UN draft resolution on 
Iran's alleged nuclear weapons program. 

The resolution does not set an October 31 ultimatum for Iran to 
comply with demands from the UN nuclear watchdog, according to a 
copy of the text obtained by Agence France Press. 

A US State Department official said the text had been approved 
by President George W. Bush's top non-proliferation official, 
Undersecretary of State John Bolton. 

But it still had to be approved by US Secretary of State, Colin 
Powell. 

The official said it also must be approved by the International 
Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) 35-nation board of governors, 
meeting this week in Vienna. 

Many members of the board, including non-aligned nations, had 
been hostile to the US's insistence on an ultimatum. 

The United States accuses Iran of secretly developing nuclear 
weapons, and would like to see the IAEA board judge Iran in non-
compliance with nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) 
safeguards. 

The US also wants the IAEA to take Tehran before the UN Security 
Council for possible sanctions. 

A Western diplomat close to the talks in Vienna said that 
despite the United States acceding to demands from Britain, 
France and Germany to drop the ultimatum, "the language is still 
pretty tough.There are the equivalent of two strong deadlines in 
the text." 

The draft says it is "imperative" for Iran to clear 
up "outstanding issues" with the IAEA "before the board's 
November 25 meeting," such as "the sources and reasons for 
enriched uranium contamination and the import, manufacture and 
use of centrifuges." 

It also said it "is necessary that Iran immediately suspend all 
enrichment-related activities, including the manufacture or 
import of centrifuge components, the assembly and testing of 
centrifuges and the production of feed material" for enriching 
uranium, the process that produces fuel for civilian reactors 
but also the explosive core for atomic bombs. 

The draft says the IAEA board of governors will decide at a 
meeting in November "whether or not further steps are 
appropriate in relation to Iran's obligations under its NPT 
(nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) safeguards agreement and to 
the requests made of Iran by the board in this and previous 
resolutions." 

 

Woman wearing 'President Bush You Killed My Son' T-Shirt 
disrupts first lady's rally 
- JOHN P. McALPIN, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, September 16, 2004 


(09-16) 11:09 PDT HAMILTON, N.J. (AP) -- 

A woman wearing a T-shirt with the words "President Bush You 
Killed My Son" and a picture of a soldier killed in Iraq was 
detained Thursday after she interrupted a campaign speech by 
First lady Laura Bush. 

Police escorted Sue Niederer of Hopewell, N.J., from a rally at 
a firehouse after she demanded to know why her son, Army 1st Lt. 
Seth Dvorin, 24, was killed in Iraq. Dvorin died in February 
while trying to disarm a bomb. 

As shouts of "Four More Years" subsided, Niederer, standing in 
the middle of a crowd of some 700, continued to shout about the 
killing of her son. Secret Service and local police escorted her 
out of the event, handcuffed her and placed her in the back of a 
police van. 

The first lady continued speaking, touting her husband's record 
on the economy, health care and the war on terror to those 
attending the rally in this suburban community of 90,000 people 
near Trenton. 

Mrs. Bush made several references to the Sept. 11 terrorist 
attacks during her speech. She said that many in New Jersey, 
including some in neighborhoods near the firehouse, lost family 
members that day. 

"Too many people here had a loved one that went to work in New 
York that day," Bush said. "It's for our country, it's for our 
children, our grandchildren that we do the hard work of 
confronting terror." 


URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
file=/news/archive/2004/09/16/politics1409EDT0616.DTL 

NEW MOVEON.ORG AD SHOWS DEFEATED U.S. SOLDIER 

NARRATOR: "George Bush misled us into war with Iraq, sending 
poorly equipped soldiers into battle. He said 'Mission 
Accomplished,' yet almost every day more soldiers die." 

CHYRON: "Over 1,000 U.S. Soldiers Killed" 

NARRATOR: "Going it alone, George Bush has spent $150 billion 
dollars, money we need for schools and health care." 

CHYRON: "$150 Billion" 

NARRATOR: "Now, facing a growing insurgency, he has no real plan 
to end the war. George Bush got us into this quagmire. It will 
take a new president to get us out. MoveOn PAC is responsible 
for the content of this advertisement." 

CHYRON: "Quagmire;" MoveOn PAC Disclaimer 

X X X X X 

Bush-Cheney '04 Campaign Chairman Gov. Marc Racicot issued the 
following statement regarding the MoveOn.Org ad: 

"When John Kerry speaks before the National Guard today, he 
should apologize for the actions of his surrogates and demand 
that they take down their ad depicting a defeated American 
soldier. 

"John Kerry's campaign is rooted in the past, hollow with 
pessimism, and preaching defeat to the American people. 

"John Kerry's continually shifting positions on Iraq and his 
sinking rhetoric of a defeated America send a signal to our 
allies and our enemies that America is not willing to finish the 
job. This attitude undermines the great progress that the men 
and women in America's armed forces have made in the fight 
against terror around the world. America expects more from one 
who aspires to the position of Commander-in-Chief." 
http://www.moveon.org
http://www.moveon.org

U.S. Weapons Inspector: Iraq Had No WMD
http://www.robert-fisk.com

Sep 16, 8:54 PM (ET)
http://www.robert-fisk.com
By KATHERINE PFLEGER SHRADER 
http://www.robert-fisk.com 
WASHINGTON (AP) - Drafts of a report from the top U.S. inspector 
in Iraq conclude there were no weapons stockpiles, but say there 
are signs the fallen Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had dormant 
programs he hoped to revive at a later time, according to people 
familiar with the findings.

In a 1,500-page report, the head of the Iraq Survey Group, 
Charles Duelfer, will find Saddam was importing banned 
materials, working on unmanned aerial vehicles in violation of 
U.N. agreements and maintaining a dual-use industrial sector 
that could produce weapons.

Duelfer also says Iraq only had small research and development 
programs for chemical and biological weapons.

As Duelfer puts the finishing touches on his report, he 
concludes Saddam had intentions of restarting weapons programs 
at some point, after suspicion and inspections from the 
international community waned.

After a year and a half in Iraq, however, the United States has 
found no weapons of mass destruction - its chief argument for 
overthrowing the regime.

An intelligence official said Duelfer could wrap up the report 
as soon as this month. Those who discussed the report inside and 
outside the government did so on the condition of anonymity 
because it contains classified material and is not yet completed.

The report is expected to be similar to findings reported by 
Duelfer's predecessor, David Kay, who presented an interim 
report to Congress in October. Kay left the post in January, 
saying, "We were almost all wrong" about Saddam's weapons 
programs.
http://www.robert-fisk.com
Duelfer's report, however, is expected to fall between the 
position of the Bush administration before the war - portraying 
Saddam as a grave threat - and the declarative statements Kay 
made after he resigned.

It will also add more evidence and flesh out Kay's October 
findings. Then, Kay said the Iraq Survey Group had only 
uncovered limited evidence of secret chemical and biological 
weapons programs, but he found substantial evidence of an Iraqi 
push to boost the range of its ballistic missiles beyond 
prohibited ranges.

He also said there was almost no sign that a significant nuclear 
weapons project was under way.

Duelfer's report doesn't reach firm conclusions in all areas. 
For instance, U.S. officials are still investigating whether 
Saddam's fallen regime may have sent chemical weapons equipment 
and several billion dollars over the border to Syria. That has 
not been confirmed, but remains an area of interest to the U.S. 
government.

The Duelfer report will come months after the Senate 
Intelligence Committee released a scathing assessment of the 
prewar intelligence on Iraq.
http://www.robert-fisk.com
After a yearlong inquiry, the Republican-led committee said in 
July the CIA kept key information from its own and other 
agencies' analysts, engaged in "group think" by failing to 
challenge the assumption that Iraq had weapons of mass 
destruction and allowed President Bush and Secretary of State 
Colin Powell to make false statements.

The Iraq Survey Group has been working since the summer of 2003 
to find Saddam's weapons and better understand his prohibited 
programs. More than a thousand civilian and military weapons 
specialists, translators and other experts have been devoted to 
the effort. 
http://www.robert-fisk.com

Thursday, September 16, 2004. 6:35pm (AEST)
Two Americans, one Briton kidnapped in Iraq
Two Americans and a Briton were abducted from their home in a 
plush Baghdad district at dawn today, in the latest blow in 
Iraq's five-month-old foreign hostage crisis, the Interior 
Ministry said. 

"Two Americans and a British civilian were kidnapped from their 
house in the Mansur district in Baghdad this morning around 
6:00am," ministry spokesman Colonel Adnan Abdul Rahman told AFP, 
correcting an earlier statement that the trio were all British. 

He said a group of armed men had driven up in a minibus before 
bursting into the house and snatching the three hostages. 

A colonel from the Maamun police station that patrols the 
western part of Mansur said the Briton and two Americans worked 
for a supply company and had been seized at gunpoint. 

"We've heard the report from the Interior Ministry and we're 
trying to get to the bottom of it," US embassy spokesman Richard 
Schmierer told AFP. 

Jewish-American businessman Nicholas Berg was kidnapped in April 
before his severed head was found in Baghdad. 

The British embassy was desperately trying to determine what 
happened, a spokeswoman said. 

"We are aware of these reports and we are urgently seeking 
information," she said. 

"We're just trying to verify what happened."

British journalist James Brandon was seized by Shiite Muslim 
militants in the main southern city of Basra on August 12. 

He was released the following day in the face of pressure from 
Shiite militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr. 

Britain was the staunchest supporter of last year's US-led 
invasion and is still the second largest troop contributor to 
the coalition, with 8,071 soldiers posted mainly in the south. 

-- AFP

US intelligence offers gloomy outlook for Iraq
A US intelligence report prepared for President George W Bush in 
July has offered a gloomy outlook for Iraq through to the end of 
2005, with the worst scenario being a deterioration into civil 
war, US government officials said.

The report is at odds with the generally optimistic tenor of the 
Bush administration's public statements on Iraq, although Mr 
Bush said last week it was "still tough" there, but insisted 
elections would be held as scheduled in January despite doubts.

The National Intelligence Estimate, which is a compilation of 
views from various intelligence agencies, predicted three 
possible scenarios ranging from a tenuous stability to political 
fragmentation to the most negative assessment of civil war, the 
official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

"There doesn't seem to be much optimism," the official said.

Another official added, "It's a difficult environment, a 
challenging environment".

As recently as Wednesday, the White House was maintaining a 
positive tone about progress in Iraq.

"You know, every step of the way in Iraq there have been 
pessimists and hand-wringers who said it can't be done," White 
House spokesman Scott McClellan had said.

Officials said the 50-page classified intelligence report lays 
out the challenges ahead so US policy-makers can address them, 
and intentionally looks at worst-case scenarios like the 
possibility of civil war.

-- Reuters

Friday, September 17, 2004. 7:08am (AEST)
Three US marines killed in Iraq

The United States military has released a statement saying three 
marines were killed in separate incidents overnight in the 
restive western al-Anbar Province, home to the rebel bastion of 
Fallujah. 

"In three separate incidents, one marine assigned to the First 
Marine Expeditionary Force was killed in action and two died of 
wounds sustained in action September 16," the statement read. 

Before the latest deaths, the Pentagon had reported 1,027 US 
military fatalities in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion.

--AFP

Mystery over N Korea cloud - 
(http://www.costofwar.comhttp://www.costofwar.comhttp://www.costo
fwar.comhttp://www.costofwar.comhttp://www.costofwar.com) 
Mystery over N Korea cloud

http://www.costofwar.com www.antiamerica.com
Satellite images from before (l) and after (r) the blast show 
little change 
The cause of a massive cloud which appeared over North Korea 
last week remains shrouded in mystery. 
North Korea says controlled explosions related to dam building 
caused the cloud, which South Korean observers described as 
mushroom shaped. 
http://www.costofwar.com
But a South Korean satellite which photographed the area on 
Wednesday provided inconclusive evidence. 

And South Korea's National Intelligence Service said the cloud 
may in fact have been a natural formation. 

"There might have been a blast to build a hydroelectric power 
dam... or there might have been natural clouds with a peculiar 
(mushroom-like) shape," the agency was quoted as reporting. 
http://www.costofwar.com
The confusion may be resolved on Thursday, when Britain's 
ambassador in Pyongyang, David Slinn, and a group of other 
foreign diplomats are due to visit the site and seek further 
information. 

The cloud, which appeared near Yongjo-ri in Yanggang Province, 
initially triggered fears North Korea had risked the wrath of 
the international community by testing a nuclear device. 



The US and South Korea have since discounted that possibility. 

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said North Korea's 
explanation for the blast squared with the information 
Washington had gathered. 

"The information they gave is consistent with what we saw, that 
it might have been demolition work for a hydroelectric 
facility," Mr Powell told Reuters news agency on Tuesday. 
www.antiamerica.com
www.antiamerica.com
www.antiamerica.com
www.antiamerica.com
www.antiamerica.com

 

Turkey warns US on northern Iraq -
(http://www.boycottusa.comhttp://www.boycottusa.comhttp://www.boy
cottusa.comhttp://www.boycottusa.comhttp://www.boycottusa.comht) 
Turkey warns US on northern Iraq

http://www.boycottusa.com
The US has been pounding Talafar, which it says has become a 
haven for insurgents 
Turkey says it will end co-operation with the US in Iraq if the 
Americans continue with their offensive in the northern Iraqi 
town of Talafar. http://www.boycottusa.com
Ankara is concerned about the plight of the large Turkmen 
population there, some of whom have been killed. 

US and Iraqi troops last week began a major operation against 
Talafar - a suspected haven for foreign fighters entering Iraq 
from Syria. 

On Friday Turkey's foreign ministry urged the US to halt the 
offensive. 
http://www.boycottusa.com
What is being done there is harming the civilian population, 
that it is wrong 

Abdullah Gulhttp://www.boycottusa.com
Turkish Foreign Minister 


Analysis: North Iraq tension 

"What is being done there is harming the civilian population, 
that it is wrong," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Monday. 

He added that if the operation continues in Talafar, "Turkey's 
cooperation on issues regarding Iraq will come to a total stop". 

Turkey is a major Nato ally of the US. 

The BBC's Jonny Dymond in Ankara says an end to Turkish 
cooperation in Iraq could have a serious impact. 

As well as supplying logistical help for the US armed forces 
there, Turkey is a major trade and supply route into the 
country. 

The Turkish airbase of Incirlik has been used by the US to 
rotate its troops in and out of Iraq. 

Casualties 

Our correspondent adds that it is not clear yet quite what 
Turkey means by ending cooperation - but the US needs Turkey 
enough for it to heed the minister's warning. 



The Turks regards northern Iraq as part of their sphere of 
influence - not only because of its close ethnic and linguistic 
ties with Iraq's Turkmen but because of the presence of large 
Kurdish populations on both sides of the border. 

It is unclear how many people have been killed in the US 
offensive in Talafar. 

But reports suggest that some Turkmen are among the victims, and 
that many thousands have been forced to flee. 

The US ambassador to Turkey, Eric Edelman, has said the American 
forces are doing their best to keep civilian losses to a minimum 
as they fight the Iraqi insurgents. 
 

Rabbi 'dismembered by rent boy' -
(http://www.boycottusa.orghttp://www.boycottusa.orghttp://www.boy
cottusa.orghttp://www.boycottusa.orghttp://www.boycottusa.org) 
Rabbi 'dismembered by rent boy' 

Press Association
Wednesday September 15, 2004
The Guardian 

A trainee rabbi was strangled by a "tattooed rent boy type" and 
his body dismembered after a night drinking in a gay bar, a 
court heard yesterday.
Gifted linguist Andreas Hinz's limbs and head had been "sawn 
off", they were wrapped in bin liners and put out for the 
dustman.

But refuse collectors failed to arrive, and a combination of 
summer heat, a "terrible smell" and a cloud of flies eventually 
led to the gruesome discovery, London's Southwark crown court 
was told.

Within days Thomas McDowell had been arrested and confessed to 
the killing during a walk with a police officer in an exercise 
yard, said Michael Lawson, prosecuting.

He told the jury that the 27-year-old - who denies murder but 
admits manslaughter - first described choking his victim to 
death after laying him out with a "martial arts" kick.

According to the officer's recollection, the defendant then 
added: "I sat with him all night ... it all happened so quickly. 
I don't understand it. I have been having nightmares ... I am 
not a violent man."

A later search of McDowell's flat revealed traces of Mr Hinz's 
blood despite intensive efforts to bleach away any incriminating 
evidence.

The dead man's Hebrew numbered watch was also found along with 
his briefcase, as well as a couple of stained bags thought to 
have been used to temporarily store his limbs.

McDowell, of Camden, north London, denies one count of murder on 
July 3, 2002, but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the 
grounds of diminished responsibility.

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Opening the trial, counsel told jurors that they had to decide 
whether the defendant intended to kill his victim or at least 
cause him "really serious harm". He said that Mr Hinz, a 37-year-
old German in the second year of a course to become a rabbi, had 
been described by one of his flatmates as "complex and gifted".

Mr Lawson said Mr Hinz was a gay man who spent two to three 
evenings a week at the Black Cap gay bar near Camden tube 
station. The night before his death he arrived at the place at 
about 11pm and spent some time drinking alone before striking up 
a conversation with the defendant.

Bar staff, asked to recall the evening, described McDowell as 
a "somewhat unkempt rent boy type" with tattooed arms and what 
they thought was a Scottish accent. They also spoke of having 
seen him earlier, drunk and complaining that he had 
been "dumped" by his long-term 
boyfriend.http://www.boycottusa.org 
 

US debates military strikes on 'nuclear Iran' 
By Guy Dinmore in Washington 
Published: September 15 2004 19:31 | Last updated: September 15 
2004 19:31
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
The Bush administration's warnings that it will not "tolerate" a 
nuclear-armed Iran have opened up a lively policy debate in 
Washington over the merits of military strikes against the 
Islamic republic's nuclear programme. 
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
 
Analysts close to the administration say military options are 
under consideration, but have not reached a level of seriousness 
that indicate the US is preparing actual action. 

When asked, senior officials repeat that President George W. 
Bush is removing no option from the table - but that he believes 
the issue can be solved by diplomatic means. 

Diplomacy on Wednesday appeared stalled. 

The US and its European allies on the board of the International 
Atomic Energy Agency continued to wrangle over the wording of a 
resolution on Iran which insists it has no intention of using 
its advanced civilian programme to make a bomb. 

Gary Schmitt, executive director of the Project for the New 
American Century (PNAC), a neo-conservative think-tank, says 
that with "enough intelligence and spadework", the US could "do 
a good job" of slowing Iran's programme for a while. 

But, he cautions, the Bush administration would need a "game 
plan" for the aftermath. 

That long-term approach is lacking, analysts say, and has 
floundered in the debate over "regime change". 

Asked whether Israel would take military action if the US 
dithered, Mr Schmitt replied: "Absolutely. No government in 
Israel will let this pass ultimately." 

Tom Donnelly, an analyst with PNAC and the American Enterprise 
Institute, says that while inflicting military damage is 
possible, the consequences rule out this option. 

If the US started down the military road, it would have to 
consider going the whole way to invasion and occupation. 

"We have to start thinking in terms of a post-nuclear Iran," he 
said, describing the Europeans as "hopeless" on Iran, and India 
and China boosting their energy relations with the clerical 
regime. 

Henry Sokolski, head of the Nonproliferation Policy Education 
Center, says the US and its allies are in a state of denial, 
that it is too late to stop Iran from getting the bomb. It 
already has the capacity, he says. 

Neither of the US and European options "to bomb or bribe Iran" 
would succeed and both could make it worse. 

Mr Sokolski describes as "highly irresponsible" the idea that 
the US can let Israel do the job. 

The short-term benefits of air strikes would have to be weighed 
against the costs of a blow to US efforts to foster more 
moderate Islamic rule in Iran and the Middle East. 

The military option is laid out in detail by Globalsecurity.org, 
a defence think-tank. 

"The window of opportunity for disarming strikes against Iran 
will close in 2005," it warns, as key plants come on stream next 
year. It says Iran has two dozen suspected nuclear sites. 
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
But it adds that the absence of significant numbers of US 
stealth aircraft, early warning aircraft and other assets in the 
region indicate that the US is not actively considering air 
strike options at the moment. 

Wednesday, September 15, 2004. 11:02pm (AEST)
Decapitated bodies found north of Baghdad
The decapitated bodies of three men, their heads strapped to 
their backs, were found dumped in nylon bags by a roadside north 
of Baghdad on Wednesday, Iraqi police and US officials said.

The bodies were discovered by a group of Iraqi National 
Guardsmen shortly after dawn as they patrolled near the town of 
Dujail, 60 kilometres north of the capital.

The US military said initial indications were the dead men were 
Arabs.

The development comes after a sharp surge in violence over the 
past three days, with at least 150 Iraqis killed in bomb blasts, 
fighting and other attacks.

A car bomb in central Baghdad on Tuesday killed 47 and wounded 
114.

Iraqi police said two of the bodies had tattoos written in the 
Roman alphabet -- one saying "HECER", and the other a letter H.

The third body had tattoos written in Arabic script but the 
words were not Arabic.

There were no documents on the corpses.

Dozens of foreigners have been abducted in Iraq in recent 
months, many of them truck drivers from countries such as 
Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Kuwait.

Several of those hostages have been beheaded after captors' 
demands were not met.

At least four Westerners are also being held -- two male French 
journalists and two female aid workers from Italy.

A group in Samarra, north of Dujail, claims to be holding two 
Australians and two East Asians but has provided no proof.

Australia has dispatched a special team to investigate.

There was no let up in the violence today, with at least 10 
people killed, two of them women, when US troops clashed with 
insurgents in Ramadi, a city west of Baghdad, witnesses and 
Iraq's Health Ministry said.

A car bomb at an Iraqi National Guard post in Suwayra, south of 
Baghdad, killed two people and wounded at least 10, a spokesman 
for Iraq's Interior Ministry said.

In Baquba, north of Baghdad, a roadside bomb wounded four 
policemen and a civilian.

Separately, the US military said a marine had been killed during 
fighting west of Baghdad on Tuesday, raising to at least 769 the 
number of US troops killed in action in Iraq.

The US military has said it plans to "pacify" all rebellious 
Iraqi towns and cities by the end of December, handing security 
responsibility over to Iraq police for national elections due to 
be held by the end of January.

-- Reuters

Thursday, September 16, 2004. 5:09am (AEST)
US marine killed in Iraq Sunni stronghold

A United States marine has been killed in the Al-Anbar Province, 
west of Baghdad, the frontline of the Sunni Arab insurgency in 
Iraq. 

The US military released a statement saying the marine was 
killed during a security operation.

"One marine assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force died of 
wounds sustained in action Sept 15 while conducting security and 
stability operations in the Al-Anbar Province," the statement 
said. 

Another marine was killed on Tuesday (local time) in the same 
province, where extremist Sunni groups are spearheading a 
rebellion against US forces. 

Clashes in the city of Ramadi, in the same province, have 
resulted in the deaths of 23 Iraqis over the past two days. 

According to Pentagon figures, the latest death brings to 1,020 
the number of US fatalities in Iraq since the start of the war 
in March 2003. 

--AFP

Thursday, September 16, 2004. 7:55am (AEST)
US running short of reserve troops: report

The United States military may run out of national guard and 
reserve troops for the war on terrorism because of existing 
limits on involuntary mobilisations, a congressional watchdog 
agency warned in a report released overnight (AEST). 

Government Accountability Office (GAO) said the US Government 
has considered changing the policy to make members of the 1.2 
million-strong guard and reserve subject to repeated involuntary 
mobilisation, so long as no single mobilisation exceeds 24 
consecutive months. 

In commenting on the report, the Department of Defence (DOD) 
says it plans to keep its current approach. 

"Under DOD's current implementation of the authority, reserve 
component members can be involuntarily mobilised more than once, 
but involuntary mobilisations are limited to a cumulative total 
of 24 months," the report said. 

"If DOD's implementation of the partial mobilisation authority 
restricts the cumulative time that reserve component forces can 
be mobilised, then it is possible that DOD will run out of 
forces."

The guard and reserve are crucial to the US war effort because 
they include specialised units such as military police, 
intelligence and civil affairs that are in high demand but in 
short supply in the active duty force. 

The Pentagon also has turned to the guard and reserve to ease 
the strain on active duty infantry divisions that have had to 
deploy repeatedly to Iraq. 

More than 47,600 members of the guard and reserve were serving 
in Iraq as of last month, about a third of the 140,000-member US 
force currently deployed. 

When those deployed in Afghanistan and rear areas are added, the 
total is in excess of 66,000, according to Pentagon figures. 

Since September 11, 2003, more than 335,000 guard and reserves 
have been involuntarily mobilised for active duty - 234,000 from 
the army alone.

Iraq war illegal, says Annan
United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan says the United 
States decision to invade Iraq in March 2003 was "illegal". 

Australia was a key supporter of the war on Iraq and sent troops 
to joined the United States-led invasion last year. 

Mr Annan's comments are likely to reignite debate over whether 
US President George W Bush, Prime Minister John Howard and 
British Prime Minister Tony Blair acted within the bounds of 
international law by failing to get a final UN Security Council 
resolution on Iraq. 

Speaking in an interview with BBC World Service radio, Mr Annan 
says the UN Security Council should have issued a second 
resolution, if a US-led invasion of Iraq was to be allowed.

"I'm one of those who believe that there should have been a 
second resolution," he said.

"Yes, if you wish. I've indicated that it was not in conformity 
with the UN Charter from our point of view, and from the Charter 
point of view it was illegal."

The UN Charter is one of the cornerstones of international law. 

Mr Annan says that given the current level of violence and 
unrest, it is unlikely that Iraq would be able to hold credible 
elections as planned in January 2005. 

"I think there have been lessons for the US and lessons for the 
UN and other member states," he said.

"I think that, in the end, everybody's concluded that it is best 
to work together with our allies and through the UN to deal with 
some of these issues. 

"I hope we do not see another Iraq-type operation for a long 
time...without UN approval and much broader support from the 
international community." 

The council had adopted a number of resolutions over the years 
to compel Saddam Hussein to abandon the pursuit of weapons of 
mass destruction. 

The final resolution was adopted in November 2002, when UN 
inspectors re-entered Iraq, warning the Iraqi regime of "serious 
consequences" if it was found to be in material breach of the 
earlier resolutions. 

Mr Annan says the decision on whether to act on Iraq should have 
been made by the UN.

"It was up to the Security Council to approve or determine what 
those consequences should be," he said.

Mr Annan told a news conference in The Hague, Netherlands, 
shortly before the invasion that if the United States took 
military action without Security Council approval "it would not 
be in conformity with the Charter".

The United States and Britain withdrew a draft resolution in the 
council in mid-March after it was clear there were not enough 
votes. 

France had threatened to veto the draft if UN inspectors were 
not given more time to account for Saddam Hussein's weapons of 
mass destruction. 

-- AFP/Reuters

Print  Email  

Are the Zionists Beginning to   Lose It   in America? - Well, 
let's fucking hope so! 
(http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htmhttp://www.thefourreaso
ns.org/crimes.htmhttp://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm) 
Are the Zionists Beginning to   Lose It   in America?
By Andrew I. Killgorehttp://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
Congressman Jim Moran of Virginia  s 8th District, just across 
the Potomac River from Washington, DC, won his June 8 primary 
race against challenger Andy Rosenberg by a vote of 59 to 41 
percent. The outcome is significant because Rosenberg was 
openly supported by the Israel Lobby.
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
The pro-Israel Washington Post, the leading newspaper in the 
nation  s capital, heavily played an accusation by a former 
pollster for Moran that the congressman privately had made an 
anti-Semitic remark. Moran denied the accusation, which his 
dismissed pollster declined to reveal.

An even more significant attack on the Israel Lobby was an 
almost-unheard-of editorial by the local Falls Church News 
Press.   This election is not about Moran  s ability to lead, 
or about news headlines [i.e., in The Washington Post] accusing 
him of questionable public statements or personal finances,   
the paper stated.   It  s about a cabal of powerful Washington, 
DC-based interests backing the Bush administration  s support 
of right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon  s handling 
of the Middle East conflict trying to up-end an outspoken and 
powerful Democratic opponent.   

Equally persuasive evidence of Israeli slippage in American 
public esteem was contained in the April 14 edition of the 
Zionist Front Page Magazine. FPM reported that students at the 
finest graduate schools in America are turning against Israel. 
The research was done by the Luntz Research Companies. The FPM 
article initially appeared on its Web site, but seems to have 
since disappeared. 

The results of the research, apparently commissioned by Israeli 
interests, is seriously troubling to the Zionists.   The 
problem is simple and its severity cannot be overstated,   the 
researchers concluded.   Tomorrow  s leaders are increasingly 
hostile to the Jewish state. The students at the finest 
graduate schools in America are turning against Israel in 
alarming numbers. What  s at stake is nothing short of American 
foreign policy toward Israel in the years to come  to be 
brutally frank, if current trends are not averted, America  s 
core commitment and alliance with Israel may not survive.   

The Luntz study was based on face-to-face interviews with 
students under age 30 who are attending America  s top graduate 
schools, majoring in journalism, government, business and law. 
The students are described as opinion leaders by the year 2020. 
  They will see Israel as a burden,   the study warned,   and 
one that is not worth carrying.   

The war on Iraq has cast serious doubt on the judgment if not 
on the basic motivations of what has become known as   the 
civilians at the Pentagon,   the cabal of neocons/Zionists. At 
a minimum they are Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the 
sinister/slick Richard Perle, former chairman of the advisory 
Defense Policy Board, and the ubiquitous Douglas  
 

US's defeat a matter of time: Al Qaeda
Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has vowed in a statement 
that the United States would be defeated in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. 
http://www.boycottusa.com
The video statement, broadcast on Al Jazeera, comes two days 
before the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
http://www.boycottusa.com
"The American defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan has become just a 
question of time, God willing," Zawahiri said. 

"In the two countries, the Americans are between two fires - if 
they remain there they will bleed to death, and if they 
withdraw they will have lost everything."

CIA analysts have begun studying the tape to try to determine 
when it was made and whether it contains any hidden messages.

Al Qaeda has been suspected of secretly conveying messages 
about operations to its followers through video and audio tapes 
aired on television.

'Al Qaeda's mujahedeen'

Wearing a white turban and with an assault rifle at his side, 
the fugitive Egyptian cleric says armed Islamists - "Al Qaeda's 
mujahedeen" - lie at the root of the US defeat in both Iraq and 
Afghanistan. 

US President George W Bush sent in troops to Afghanistan to 
hunt down bin Laden and his Al Qaeda operatives as part of his 
self-declared "war on terrorism".

He then invaded Iraq in March last year. 

"In Iraq, the mujahedeen foiled the American plan after the 
interim Government showed such weakness," Zawahiri said.

Zawahiri last appeared in a video, alongside bin Laden, almost 
a year ago to the day. 

In this latest statement he boasts that Al Qaeda's mujahedeen 
are in control of "the entire east and south of Afghanistan" 
with the support of the people. 

"The Americans are dug into their trenches and refuse to come 
out to face the mujahedeen, despite their provocations by 
bombing and besieging them," he said.

He says the Americans and other foreign troops simply "defend 
themselves with air raids". 

"In Kabul, the Americans and the peacekeeping forces are the 
target of rocket attacks by the mujahedeen are constantly in 
fear of martyr (suicide) operations," Zawahiri said.

-- AFP
Between two fires: Ayman al-Zawahri says the US will be 
defeated.http://www.boomspeed.com/thecarp1/redneck.jpg

I would like to begin this message with fuck bindies, fuck 
islam, fuck everyone who opposes us.  You ugly brown bastards 
have no right to vocalize your opinions until you can defend 
yourself. You bitch about America invading your countries 
because you cannot stop us. No matter how you or your french 
sympathizers feel you cannot do a god damn thing about it. The 
only thing wrong with america is its drug policies, other then 
that we are doing exactly what we should be doing, and that is 
teaching all you mother fuckers a lesson. Afghanistan bombed 
america so we taught you a lesson. Iraq did nothing but we still 
taught you a lesson because your such American hating fucking 
bastards. In my opinion we should make that entire area into a 
giant glass table if you know what I mean.  And, to all the 
countries who look down on us you do not matter with one 
exception. China can kick an ass or two; they're the only other 
people whose voice means anything. Until they become upset 
everyone else can suck a giant cock if your not with us. We are 
the new world order. Try and stop us!!!

Excuse, me very thick, me come kill you but me got no clean 
underpants, maybe me come tomorrow if i mum let me.

how do you spelling that fuckers name???????????

sorry for spelling aloha wrong on the last.
when you meet him.tell him a red neck named joeguns
sent you their.i have just started,will never end.some day
soon you will wake up with your throat cut.just so i can
shoot you in the head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

if any of you commie cock suckers want to try to kill me will 
then let me know on this sight. ill be more  than happy to
track you down and clean the earth of one more sand 
nigger.you all will die if not by me(damm)then someone 
else.all of you should go to your country hell ill even pay
for the tickets.that way i will know you all made it safe and 
sound.THEN I CAN KILL ALL OF YOU WITH ONE PUSH OF 
A BUTTEN.TELL ALLA TO KISS MY ASS.

well,first i would like to say,that my pain of 911 runs thru 
me.it always will.i am in nc,and knew of so people in NY.
i offer all my support to NY and its people.
                                  NOW
i hate sand niggers,thay all should die by:cutting thier 
throats.leting the victoms familys have the honer.and no
no one whould go to their level.i am armed and ready for
any oil back fucker to come and try me.ill burn the s.o.b.
then piss on the bones.

Shut the fuck up you bony-armed bitch! You are foul-breathed 
cunt who lives in a sweaty smelly cellar with all your wank-
mags. Crusty spunk all over your thumbs, you fucking loser. I 
make a 5 figure salary and spend it on whatever I want, and you 
can't even pay your rent you piece of dogshit

FUCK THE CORPORATE WORLD BE--------IOUCH!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow,Can you feel the power! Fuck you Arab muslum camel cock 
suckers. And anyone else that appose Us! If you grab the bull 
by the horns your going to get hurt.Sure you may kill a few of 
us but will will kill thousands more of your inocent women & 
childern. W. along with Godfather Cheney want your oil. If it 
were up to me. I would round up all you foren fucks in the US & 
throw them in the grand canyon so all the tourist can lean over 
the railing & shit on them. Well alli be going for now I have 
to take a sheite!

The Faces of 1,000 Soldiers 
    t r u t h o u t | Statement 

    Thursday 09 September 2004 

    Michael Allred and Richard Torres. Kenneth Souslin and 
Gregory Sanders. Brandon Rowe and Alyssa Peterson and Nathan 
Brown. The list goes ever onward. One thousand names, one 
thousand faces, one thousand folded American flags. 

    The editors and staff of t r u t h o u t offer our deepest 
and most profound condolences to the families of the men and 
women who have fallen in Iraq. We offer to our readers the 
names and faces of these men and women, with deepest respect, 
so that all within the reach of our arm know who they were, how 
they smiled, and what they did in the service of our country. 

    We believe George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, 
Paul Wolfowitz, Colin Powell and the members of this 
administration have much to answer for. Defenders of this 
invasion point to the casualty rate of Operation Iraqi Freedom 
and compare it to the casualty rates in other wars. "1,000 
deaths is nothing" compared to Normandy, we hear. 

    To be sure, this is true. But the invasion of Normandy, for 
one example, was undertaken to destroy a regime that had 
ravaged much of Europe, slaughtered millions of innocent 
people, and was determined to spread its darkness across as 
much of the globe as they could reach. The threat was as real 
as the bricks that formed the gas chambers at Dachau and the 
steel of the tanks that had roared into Poland. The men who 
died putting and end to that gave their lives in a cause that 
guaranteed the liberty of millions. 

    Iraq was not a threat to the United States, or to any of 
their neighbors. The sanctions put into effect after the first 
Gulf War had turned that regime's conventional military into a 
large collection of paperweights. There are no weapons of mass 
destruction of any kind in Iraq. There were no connections 
whatsoever between Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and the 
attacks of September 11. 

    The men and women whose faces fill the page below were not 
told this. They were, in fact, told the exact opposite. They 
raised their hands and took the oath, they donned their uniform 
and picked up their weapon, they boarded a plane and flew far 
from home, and they died. They were doing their duty, and they 
believed their President. 

    George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul 
Wolfowitz, Colin Powell and the members of this administration 
have much to answer for. 

Go here to see them 
all:http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091004W.shtml

http://www.truthout.org/imgs.art_01/faces/burketttamariod.jpg

Kill Americans

Kill all the flag-waving, red-blooded, young Yankee boys
String their torsos up and use their dicks as toys
Nuke every US city, blow them to the sky
Every single fucking yank deserves to fucking die

Then get all the mothers and every apple pie
And gun them down with M-16s, aim 'em at their eyes
Round up every US citizen, all except for Jews
Take that lot to Israel and wipe that lot out too

And then get all the Vietnamese that were napalmed to death
And everyone from El Salvadore and Cuba and Chile and the rest
And say 'look the yanks are gone, the world is once again free
No more napalm, no more CIA, no more Wounded Knee'
And when they are all celebrating... nuke the fucking lot
And there'll be lots of jelly gasoline in every babies cot

And then load an M-16, give it plenty of feeling,
Put it to your temple, blow your brains onto the ceiling


June 1983
Great Aussie song from the 80's!

US's defeat a matter of time: Al Qaeda
Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has vowed in a statement 
that the United States would be defeated in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. 

The video statement, broadcast on Al Jazeera, comes two days 
before the anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

"The American defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan has become just a 
question of time, God willing," Zawahiri said. 

"In the two countries, the Americans are between two fires - if 
they remain there they will bleed to death, and if they 
withdraw they will have lost everything."

CIA analysts have begun studying the tape to try to determine 
when it was made and whether it contains any hidden messages.

Al Qaeda has been suspected of secretly conveying messages 
about operations to its followers through video and audio tapes 
aired on television.

'Al Qaeda's mujahedeen'

Wearing a white turban and with an assault rifle at his side, 
the fugitive Egyptian cleric says armed Islamists - "Al Qaeda's 
mujahedeen" - lie at the root of the US defeat in both Iraq and 
Afghanistan. 

US President George W Bush sent in troops to Afghanistan to 
hunt down bin Laden and his Al Qaeda operatives as part of his 
self-declared "war on terrorism".

He then invaded Iraq in March last year. 

"In Iraq, the mujahedeen foiled the American plan after the 
interim Government showed such weakness," Zawahiri said.

Zawahiri last appeared in a video, alongside bin Laden, almost 
a year ago to the day. 

In this latest statement he boasts that Al Qaeda's mujahedeen 
are in control of "the entire east and south of Afghanistan" 
with the support of the people. 

"The Americans are dug into their trenches and refuse to come 
out to face the mujahedeen, despite their provocations by 
bombing and besieging them," he said.

He says the Americans and other foreign troops simply "defend 
themselves with air raids". 

"In Kabul, the Americans and the peacekeeping forces are the 
target of rocket attacks by the mujahedeen are constantly in 
fear of martyr (suicide) operations," Zawahiri said.

-- AFP
Between two fires: Ayman al-Zawahri says the US will be 
defeated.

Guys, apply for email accounts on www.fuckusa.org! Only $2.99 
per month!!!

People in USA are stupid and fat! By the way, is anyone 
selling "USA flag" toilet paper anywhere? 

Here are 101 good reasons to hate USA and yanks! 

'America' is equal to USA! Yeah, sure! 
Anti-crypt campaign 
Barney 
"Bigger is better" hystery 
Comics Code 
Communist persecutions 
Constant trivial laughter and "wow", "yeah", "yipe" etc. 
Destruction of the native american culture 
Disney, disneylands, sissy disney tv shows and movies etc. 
Dollars and "you can have and do anything if you have money" 
50% of yanks believe that 20% of their budget goes to 
developing countries! (Actually, this is true, only it's more 
than 20% - soldiers, depleted uranium bullets, missiles, bombs, 
CIA operations, propaganda, training of future terrorists, 
etc...) 
Fundamentalist christians and other religious crackpots 
Hollywood movies 
Hypocrites: they go to church because everyone else does, they 
don't really know anything about their stupid religion... 
Hysteric attitude 
Internet censorship 
Marvel comics 
McDonalds and other **** food chains 
National anthem, it's so stupid! Even russians have a much 
better one! 
Nirvana (that lousy band) 
Nuclear weapons 
O.J.Simpson "trial" 
PC, bill gates and micro$oft 
Political system with two parties; just like in the ex-Soviet 
Union, only worse 
Pollution of air, water, earth and everything 
Power rangers 
Ragdoll and persian cats, they are sick perversions of nature, 
spoiled by yanks 
Rodeo - torturing animals 
Stupid AOL yank kids trashing the net 
Swimming pools everywhere - horrible waste of water and energy 
T$R, now known as Wizards of the Cost 
The amount of garbage they create 
Their "Music" 
Their "culture" 
Their "education" 
Their average IQ approaches their shoe size (in US units). 
Their fake Santa Claus and his "elves" (they should be gnomes, 
not elves, and they do not wear green clothes, and none of them 
lives at the North Pole!) 
Their gun policy, and NRA 
Their prisons and "law" system 
Their racism 
Their stupid sex scandals which somehow lead to bombing poor 
countries' hospitals etc. 
Their stupid sex scandals, as if anyone was interested with how 
many blow jobs their president gets. 
They always grin and show all their plastic teeth out! 
They stick their noses in other people's business - but only if 
there is something to gain, like oil! World police, yeah sure! 
What about East Timor? 
They think their country is the biggest (Russia is :) 
They think their country is in the center of the world, while 
the truth is, that Europe is in the center. 
They use half of the world's energy! 
"Throwaway-culture" - use something once and throw it away 
(like their brains? No, can't be - they never use their 
brains.) 
US "Army" 
US-ASCII instead of ISO 
"USA is the only country in the world" -attitude 
USA is the source of most satan worshipping in the world!!!!!! 
Filthy stinking yanks never remove their shoes indoors. 
They take a bath but they never wash themselves properly, they 
STINK. 
George W. Bush. 
Rejection of Kyoto agreement. Let's see what you do when New 
York goes underwater, due melting polar ice. 
Monitoring all tele- and datacommunications. (Fortunately, here 
in Europe, we have better encryption system than yanks.) 
Medieval measuring units such as inches and yards. Hey, it's 
the 21st century now! Ever heard of science and scientific 
standards? 
Starship Troopers movie, the repulsive macho military US Army 
commercial flick. 
They claim to be "One Nation Under God  ", but fail to notice 
that even their flag contains occult symbols of satan, 
pentagrams! 

and nobody would even know it, except my dog Luther.  He don't 
never complain though whenever I let one go.  He just kind of 
does his eyes all funny, like maybe he's sayin' "dude" in dog 
talk or somethin.  Sometimes he gets up and comes over to me 
when I float an air biscuit.  He probably thinks sat on a mouse 
or somethin.  Hey, does anybody wanna come over my house for 
biscuits and gravy?  I hate the way it looks, but it tastes 
good.  Call me at.........no, I better not give out my number, 
there's a lot of pissed of dudes on this thing.

Okay later dudes

Can regular colored people talk on here?  I'm just askin' for a 
friend........yeah.

Does anybody have a lighter or something?  I just came here to 
bum a light for my cigarette.

Peace (I guess, if it doesn't offend somebody and get 'em all 
pissed at me.  I just want to smoke, you know?)

Yank My Doodle Dandy
With my lame handy

all yanks are fucked
their cocks by preists get sucked

land of the free?
land of shit it truly be...

Memos reveal Bush failed flying test


Thursday 09 September 2004, 10:59 Makka Time, 7:59 GMT   The 
White House has released memos saying that George Bush was 
suspended from flying fighter jets for failing to meet standards 
of the Texas Air National Guard. 


The Vietnam-era memos released late on Wednesday add new 
dimensions to the bare-bones explanation of Bush's aides over 
the years that he was suspended simply because he decided to 
skip his annual physical exam. 

The exam was scheduled during a year in which Bush left Texas, 
where he had been flying fighter jets, to work on a US Senate 
campaign in Alabama. 

White House communications director Dan Bartlett told CBS' 60 
Minutes II, which first obtained the memos, that Bush's 
superiors granted permission to train in Alabama in a non-flying 
status and that "many of the documents you have here affirm just 
that". 

"On this date I ordered that 1st Lieutenant Bush be suspended 
from flight status due to failure to perform to USAF/TexANG 
standards and failure to meet annual physical examination ... as 
ordered," states a 1 August, 1972, memo by Lieutenant Colonel 
Jerry Killian. 

Clashing opinions

A memo a year later points to turmoil among Bush's superiors 
over how to rate his performance because there was no "feedback" 
from Guard officials in 1972 and 1973 in Alabama, where Bush had 
been largely inactive. 

"...I ordered that 1st Lieutenant Bush be suspended from flight 
status due to failure to perform to USAF/TexANG standards and 
failure to meet annual physical examination ... as ordered" 

Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Killian,
1 August, 1972, memo 
 

A third Killian memo says that Killian was concerned from the 
outset over Bush's plan to go to Alabama because the military 
had spent a substantial sum of money turning Bush into a pilot 
and that his National Guard duties might suffer if he went 
elsewhere. 

"Phone call from Bush," Killian wrote in a 19 May, 1972, 
memo. "Discussed options of how Bush can get out of coming to 
drill from now through November. ... Says that he is working on 
another campaign for his dad. ... We talked about him getting 
his flight physical situation fixed... Says he will do that in 
Alabama if he stays in a flight status." 

The memo added that Bush "has this campaign to do and other 
things that will follow and may not have the time. I advised him 
of our investment in him and his commitment". 

White House explanation

The White House told CBS that Bush "met his drills then when he 
came back" from Alabama "and that's why he received an 
honourable discharge". 

With national security, the war on terrorism and Iraq looming 
large on voters' minds, supporters of Bush and Democratic 
nominee John Kerry are attacking each candidate's Vietnam War 
records. 

 
Senator John Kerry's war record 
has been a politicised topic
 

Republicans have accused Kerry, a decorated Vietnam combat 
veteran, of fabricating the events which led to his five medals. 

Democrats point to gaps in Bush's stateside Air National Guard 
service in 1972 and 1973 to say Bush shirked his duty. 

Asked about Killian's memo which gives two reasons for Bush's 
suspension, Bartlett told CBS, "That might be official 
language." 

'Physical not needed'

Bartlett said "the records have been clear for years that 
President Bush did not take a physical because he did not need 
to take a physical because, obviously, the choice was that he 
was going to be performing in a different capacity". 

Asked about Killian's statement in a memo about the military's 
investment in Bush, Bartlett told CBS: "For anybody to try to 
interpret or presume they know what somebody who is now dead was 
thinking in any of these memos, I think is very difficult to 
do." 

On Tuesday, the Defence Department released more than two dozen 
pages of records about Bush and his former Texas unit. They 
showed Bush flew for 336 hours in military jets after his flight 
training and ranked in the middle of his class. 

Pentagon officials said they discovered the documents released 
on Tuesday while performing a more comprehensive search "out of 
an abundance of caution" in response to a Freedom of Information 
Act lawsuit by The Associated Press. 

Tie me whore-mum down sport,
tie me whore-mum down.

Watch me paedo-dad's tricks sport
watch me paedo-dad's tricks

Beware me slutty-wife's cunt sport,
beware me slutty-wife's cunt

etc.....

Fuck yanks are dumb...ha ha I read some of these posts and FUCK 
you cunts are dumb! Dumb Dumb DUmb!

UNITED WAY: More than half of Los Angeles County's working-age 
population cannot read a simple bus schedule or fill out a job 
application... - and you guys keep insisting that yanks aren't 
DUMB! Sheez! 
(http://www.stupidamericans.comhttp://www.stupidamericans.comhttp
://www.stupidamericans.http://www.americansarestupid.com ://) 
Study: Few English Literacy Programs Meet Workforce Needs
Millions In Los Angeles County Struggle To Read, Write English
http://www.americansarestupid.com 
POSTED: 5:41 pm PDT September 8, 2004
http://www.stupidamericans.com
LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles County has millions of adults who 
struggle to read and write English -- yet only about one in five 
enrolls in a literacy program and half of them promptly drop 
out, according to a study released Wednesday.
http://www.stupidamericans.com
The survey documented a situation the county has faced for 
decades: A large population of immigrants struggling to learn a 
foreign language.
http://www.americansarestupid.com 
A majority of adults who enrolled in literacy programs wanted to 
learn skills needed for their jobs or to find work. But only 
about 30 percent of the programs were tailored for workforce 
needs, the survey found. 

"We're basically wanting to shine a spotlight on the problem. 
The needle is not moving, and it's getting worse," said Terri 
Clark, executive director of the Literacy Network of Greater Los 
Angeles, which did the survey with United Way.

Clark said many non-English speakers work several jobs that 
prevent them from regularly attending English classes.

The survey was conducted from last September to January and was 
based on results of an eight-page questionnaire filled out by 97 
organizations that provided 356 literacy programs. The 
participants included libraries, school districts and nonprofit 
groups.

Among the findings:

About 3.8 million people 16 or older in the county had "low-
literacy" levels, based on 2000 Census data. That included those 
who, for example, couldn't read a prescription bottle or bus 
schedule.

About 592,000 adults were enrolled in literacy programs between 
2002 and 2003. Of those, 50 percent dropped out after three 
weeks.

Two-thirds of the programs offered evening classes. None offered 
classes on weekends.

Los Angeles, Long Beach, Glendale, Pomona and El Monte had the 
largest populations of people considered "low-literate."

The survey offered recommendations for a five-year initiative to 
improve literacy, including connecting English learners with 
employers and educating 1,000 workers with English-language 
deficiencies during the next two years.

Clark said the campaign plans to raise $2 million during the 
next year.

Click here for more information. 
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or 
redistributed.


http://www.stupidamericans.com 
 

Still waiting to kick your ass wimp boy, does everyone on this 
board know what a shithouse you are too?

By the way.......














You kangaroo-faced CUNT!

US death toll hits 1001 in Iraq -----------------------------
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com - 1000, 1001 who's 
counting? What's abody here or there??? 
(http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com) 
Fourteen US soldiers and marines were killed in a 36-hour time 
period in Iraq, bring the death toll to 1001 since the start of 
the war in March 2003. 
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
"One Task Force Baghdad soldier was killed today during an 
attack that took place at about 1200 (0800 GMT) in eastern 
Baghdad," a Centcom press released said on Tuesday.
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
The number of wounded in Iraq, according to Defence Department 
records as of 14 August, stands at 6497, but unofficial sources 
put that number above 6900.
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
August marked the highest death toll - 66 killed - for US forces 
since May 2003, when US-led troops engaged in fierce battles 
with forces loyal to Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr in southern 
Iraq.

In April 2003, US forces suffered 135 fatalities during the 
siege of Falluja.

The cost



In a televised press conference at the Pentagon shortly before 
the 1000-mark was reached, US Secretary of Defence Donald 
Rumsfeld justified the mounting US military death toll.



"Taking the offence, however, of course, has its cost, just as 
staying on defence has its cost," he said. 



"In the global war on terror, we've
lost well more than 1000 already" 




"When combined with US losses in other theatres in the global 
war on terror, we have lost well more than 1000 already," he 
said. 



Rumsfeld's press conference, his first at the Pentagon since mid-
July, came amid fierce fighting in Baghdad between US forces and 
the Mahdi Army loyal to al-Sadr that left three US troops and 
more than 40 Iraqis dead.
US forces were also engaged in a fierce bombardment of Falluja 
on Tuesday night. 
 

GLOBE: BUSH DIDN'T MEET GUARD COMMITMENTS - yeah! cause he's a 
wimpy CUNT! 
(http://www.georgewankerbush.comhttp://www.georgewankerbush.comht
tp://www.georgewankerbush.comhttp://www.georgewankerbush.comhtt) 
GLOBE: BUSH DIDN'T MEET GUARD COMMITMENTS
http://www.georgewankerbush.com
President Bush fell well short of meeting his military 
obligation in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam 
War, the BOSTON GLOBE is planning to front on Wednesday, 
newsroom sources tell DRUDGE.
http://www.georgewankerbush.com
The 1,500 word expose on Bush's records comes just hours ahead 
of an exclusive CBSNEWS interview set to air Wednesday night 
with a man who secured for the 22-year-old Yale graduate Bush a 
coveted place in the Guard -- a man who now claims he regrets 
helping Bush.

The GLOBE claims: "Twice during his Guard service - first when 
he joined in May 1968, and again before he transferred out of 
his unit in mid-1973 to attend Harvard Business School - Bush 
signed documents pledging to meet training commitments or face a 
punitive call-up to active duty.

"He didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the 
records show." 

After laying dormant for most of the summer, big media picks up 
where it left off on the Bush national guard issue in a post-
Labor Day filing frenzy.

In the next hours and days, the ASSOCIATED PRESS, CBSNEWS, 
BOSTON GLOBE and NBCNEWS [who will host Bush author Kitty Kelley 
on Monday] will revisit Bush National Guard.

The upcoming reexamination of Bush's records by the GLOBE show 
that Bush's attendance at required training drills "was so 
irregular that his superiors could have disciplined him or 
ordered him to active duty in 1972, 1973, or 1974. But they did 
neither. In fact, Bush's unit certified in late 1973 that his 
service had been "satisfactory" - just four months after Bush's 
commanding officer wrote that Bush had not been seen at his unit 
for the previous 12 months."

Developing... 
http://www.georgewankerbush.com 
 

Some of the earliest settlers of America may have come from 
Australia, southern Asia, and the Pacific, new research 
suggests. - land rights NOW! Billy Genese is an ugly, decrepit 
black nigger from Australia!!! ha ha BOONG! 
(http://www.stupidamericans.comhttp://www.stupidamericans.comhttp
://www.stupidamericans.comhttp://www.stupidamericans.comhttp://) 
Tribe challenges American origins

By Paul Rincon 
BBC News Online science staff, at the BA festival 
http://www.stupidamericans.com
The skulls (r) are long and narrow, not in keeping with Native 
Indians' broader, rounder features. 
Some of the earliest settlers of America may have come from 
Australia, southern Asia, and the Pacific, new research 
suggests. 
Traditional theories have held that the first Americans 
originated from northern Asia. 
http://www.stupidamericans.com
Dr Silvia Gonzalez conducted a study of ancient bones found in 
Mexico and found that they have very different characteristics 
to Native Americans. 

The results are being presented at the BA Festival of Science 
this week. 

Some of the ancient skulls she has looked at are more than 
12,000 years old. 

These skulls have long and narrow heads that are very different 
from the short, broad skulls of today's Native Americans. 

'Controversial bomb' 

One particularly well-preserved skull of a long-headed female, 
who has been dubbed Penon Woman, has been carbon dated to 12,700 
years ago. 

"They appear more similar to southern Asians, Australians and 
populations of the South Pacific Rim than they do to northern 
Asians," Dr Gonzalez, of Liverpool John Moores University, told 
the British Association's annual meeting in Exeter. 

[Native Americans] cannot claim to have been the first people 
there 

Dr Silvia Gonzalez 
"We think there were several migration waves into the Americas 
at different times by different human groups." 

She said there was very strong evidence that the first migration 
came from Australia via Japan and Polynesia and down the Pacific 
coast of America. 

Dr Gonzalez said the research would be controversial. "[Native 
Americans] cannot claim to have been the first people there," Dr 
Gonzalez said. 

She also hinted that DNA recovered from Penon Woman would 
corroborate measurements of the skulls. "We have extracted her 
DNA. It is going to be a bomb," Dr Gonzalez commented. 

If proved correct, the findings might have implications for US 
legislation that covers the return of Native American remains 
and artefacts to present-day tribes. 

Recently, a coalition of native tribes lost their claim to the 
remains of Kennewick Man, a 9,000-year-old skeleton found in 
Washington State. 

The case was won by a group of scientists who wanted access to 
the remains for study. 

Died out 

A population of the long-headed individuals being studied by Dr 
Gonzalez had survived into historic times, she claimed. 

This tribe, which lived on the Baja California peninsula, were 
called the Pericues. But they appear to have died out in the 
18th Century because of disease. 

Spanish missionaries reported that they were of a different 
racial type and had different customs to other Native Americans. 

The results concur with a study of the Pericues carried out by 
Spanish researchers in 2003. 
 
 

U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq Pass 1,000 - just need ONE more for 
milestone of 1000!:D (http://www.robert-
fisk.comhttp://www.robert-fisk.comhttp://www.robert-
fisk.comhttp://www.robert-fisk.comhttp://www.robert-fisk.) 
U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq Pass 1,000

http://www.robert-fisk.com
Sep 7, 8:30 PM (ET)

By HAMZA HENDAWI
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - U.S. military deaths in the Iraq campaign 
passed the 1,000 milestone Tuesday, with more than 800 of them 
during the stubborn insurgency that flared after the Americans 
brought down Saddam Hussein and President Bush declared major 
combat over.

A spike in fighting with Sunni and Shiite insurgents killed 
seven Americans in the Baghdad area on Tuesday, pushing the 
count to 1,002. That number includes 999 U.S. troops and three 
civilians, two working for the U.S. Army and one for the Air 
Force. The tally was compiled by The Associated Press based on 
Pentagon records and AP reporting from Iraq.
http://www.robert-fisk.com
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld cited progress on multiple 
fronts in the Bush administration's global war on terrorism and 
said U.S. enemies should not underestimate the willingness of 
the American people and its coalition allies to suffer 
casualties in Iraq and elsewhere.

"The progress has prompted a backlash, in effect, from those who 
hope that at some point we might conclude that the pain and the 
cost of this fight isn't worth it," Rumsfeld told a Pentagon 
news conference. "Well, our enemies have underestimated our 
country, our coalition. They have failed to understand the 
character of our people. And they certainly misread our 
commander in chief."


(AP) Residents of Sadr City show cars that were run over by U.S. 
armored vehicles, Baghdad, Iraq,...
Full Image 


The Bush administration has long linked the Iraq conflict to the 
war on terrorism. The Sept. 11 Commission, however, concluded 
that Iraq and al-Qaida did not have a "collaborative 
relationship" before the 2001 attacks on New York and 
Washington, and some have questioned to what extent foreign 
terror groups are involved in the anti-U.S. insurgency in Iraq.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry issued a 
statement saying the United States joined the friends and 
families of those who died in mourning their loss.

"Today marks a tragic milestone in the war in Iraq. More than 
one thousand of Americas sons and daughters have made the 
ultimate sacrifice. Our nation honors their service and joins 
with their families and loved ones in mourning their loss," 
Kerry said.

"We must never forget the price they have paid. And we must meet 
our sacred obligation to all our troops to do all we can to make 
the right decisions in Iraq so that we can bring them home as 
soon as possible."

The 1,002 figure includes deaths from hostile and non-hostile 
causes since the United States launched the Iraq campaign in 
March 2003 to topple Saddam's regime. The vast majority of U.S. 
deaths - all but 138 - came after Bush's May 1, 2003 declaration 
of an end to major combat operations. "Mission Accomplished," 
read a banner on an aircraft carrier where Bush made the 
announcement. 
 

Plaheeeze make to 1000! I am praying for that..although this 
article says you're already there!:) 
 Please make it more than 1000!- 
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm 
(http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm:
D) 
Month US
Named
Dead
* US
Reported
Dead
** US
Wounded
***
**** US Army Evacuations from Iraq 
Wounded
In Action
***** Non-Battle
Injury
***** Disease
***** 
March 2003 65 0 930 3212 5846 
April 2003 73 0 
TOTAL 138 0 550 
May 37 0 570 
June 30 0 
July 47 0 
August 35 0 
September 30 0 1052 
October 43 0 
November 82 0 
December 40 0 581 
January 2004 47 0 223 
February 19 0 146 
March 52 0 330 49 206 367 
April 135 12 876 203 355 262 
May 80 8 818 106 348 146 
June 42 2 589 141 138 389 
July 54 7 533 71 157 337 
August 66 6 1112 
September 1 
Subtotal 978 35 6987 1500 4416 7347 
TOTAL 1013 
* Includes both hostile killed and non-hostile killed 
** Reported Killed but Unidentified Pending Notification of 
Next of Kin 
*** Included both Wounded in Action and non-hostile prior to 01 
Apr 04 
**** Includes only Wounded in Action since 01 Apr 04 
***** Excludes all non-Army troops, and all troops treated in 
theater 
See the Casualty Notes for explanations. 

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm 
 

Mounting US casualty count takes its toll - Come on you're not 
trying! Make it to 1000!! :D 
(http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm)
 
Mounting US casualty count takes its toll
By Ben Duncan in Washington DC 
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm
Friday 03 September 2004, 11:47 Makka Time, 8:47 GMT The number 
of US troops killed in Iraq is steadily approaching 1000, yet 
it remains unclear what impact that number will have on public 
opinion.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm
In early September of last year, the US had lost nearly 300 
troops in Iraq and many political experts were questioning how 
long the American people would accept the slow "drip-drip" of 
casualties.

Conventional wisdom at the time suggested the public might 
tolerate ongoing fatalities as long as they believed the Bush 
administration had a definitive exit strategy and a plan for 
establishing a secure, democratic Iraq.

One year and nearly 700 more deaths later, Americans' verdict 
on the war continues to be mixed.

Some analysts say the crossing of the 1000 figure could spark a 
period of intense public reflection over the current state of 
US operations in Iraq, after several months during which the 
issue of casualties fell below the radar screen for many 
Americans. 

"It [1000 US casualties] becomes a salient threshold for people 
rising out of their slumber and taking another look at the 
situation," Feaver said. "There will be another gut check." 

Evenly divided

As of September, 979 US troops have been killed in Iraq and 
nearly 7000 wounded.

Jay Farrar, vice president of external affairs at the Center 
for Strategic and International Studies, said the figure of 
1000 casualties could be significant because Americans "tend to 
want to quantify issues by numbers", and that it's "an easy way 
to reference in peoples' own minds what something means."


Polls say national security issues
will decide US election's outcome

"I think when you reach a level of 1000 casualties in a war 
against a country that presented very little direct threat to 
the United States, that presents an opportunity for discussion 
among some people who may have been inclined to question our 
motives," Farrar said.

While a recent survey by the Pew Research Center showed that 
six in 10 Americans believe President Bush does not have a 
successful plan for stabilising Iraq, the public appears to be 
evenly divided over the question of whether the war was worth 
the costs involved.

In a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 49% of 
registered voters said removing Saddam Hussein from power had 
not been worth the cost in terms of money and casualties, while 
43% felt it was worth it.

In a recent Gallup Poll, however, 49% said the war had been 
worth fighting and 48% said otherwise.

Breaking ranks

Farrar said his own research indicated that opposition to the 
war is growing.

"My numbers show that a rising percentage of the American 
public is starting to question the cost of [the war] in terms 
of lives and dollars," he said. 

               

Yanks don't get SATIRE or PARODY!! 
 
Comments:  
 US actor Tim Robbins has defended his satirical Iraq war play 
Embedded following "terrible" reviews. 
The Oscar winner wrote and directed the play about coverage of 
the Iraq war, currently being performed in London. 

"Everywhere we go we get terrible reviews but great responses," 
he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. 

"I don't believe people in the media take criticism very well," 
he said. "Some are reviewing it as if it's a news programme 
instead of a satire." 

'Intimidated media' 

Robbins, an outspoken critic of the US-led war against Iraq, 
wrote the play to examine the policy of "embedding" news 
journalists with coalition troops during the war. 

"I fear that we have lost our sense of what it is to have a 
free press in the US," he said. 

Robbins felt that the UK media was "behind" the US in that 
respect, "but headed in our direction". 

"I witnessed the kind of intimidation that the Blair government 
was trying to impose upon its press," he said. 
http://www.costofwar.com
Some people just truly hate it because it's too loud and too 
abrasive and too satirical 

Tim Robbins 
"That is not a healthy thing for any kind of free society or 
democracy."  

"What's wrong with them?"

Americans sit in their front gardens on rocking chairs all day 
with rifels. Listening to blue grass, while drinking home made 
lemmonade. Bloody nutters. You know what 90% of Americans last 
words are? They're: "Hey ya'll, and you billy bob junior, watch 
this!"

Why are Americans so fat!? Its because they sit arround all day 
watching bloody talk shows. Americans all wear the same 
clothes. These clothes consist of a checkered shirt, a cap 
which says bobs steak house, and a pair of pants with baked 
bean stains on them. 

But thats enough about Texas... How about ghetto rap life 
hommy? yoyo biii'atch, word up down in da ghett'o boi. I mean, 
come on guys, what's going on there. Theres is no need to talk 
like a dyslexic goat now is there. And what's going on with rap 
muisc? It's bollocks!!

Americans are so rubbsh, I'll give you an example of a standard 
american house: 

Dad: Bill. Slight alcaholic who enjoys going to the game. Works 
at the office.
Mum: Marry-Ann. House wife, has a friend called Betty.
Kid 1: Billy junior. Slightly over wieght, enjoys picking on 
kids at school.
Kid 2: Marry. High school braud, dates the school jock, shes a 
cheer leader.
Pet Dog: Rover. Big brown dog, really lovable, seems to get 
envolved in unfortunate happenings all the time.

Americans are actually all dyslexic, infact, it's so uncommon 
that an American isn't born with servere dyslexia, the ratio is 
now 1/1,000,000,000,000. That's actually 1 in a billion. 
Americans think a billion is 1,000,000,000 but that's because 
they're all naturally dyslexic. This is also the reason why the 
ones who actually can read and write can't spell properly. It 
is a known fact that dyslexic people often miss out voules.

It is common knowledge that every single American is obese. 
Infact, can you even imagine an obese pregnant woman carrying 
an obese unborn child? Bloody disgusting. Well so much so that 
the blokes have to compete. Americans don't know what "blokes" 
are, because they're dyslexic. The blokes eat so much food that 
they actually sometimes get fatter than pregnant women. An 
obese person in Britain is actually anorexic in America.

CUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnntttttttttt!!!!

3 Americans are in a bomber jet, flying over Iraq, when one of 
them engages the bomb release, sending several bombs down on a 
heavily populated Iraqi town, killing hundreds of Iraqi citizens!
Hahahahahahaha!

A Russian, an American and a Dutch guy are riding on a train. 
The Russian takes out a bottle of Stolichnaya, takes one swig, 
and throws the bottle out the window. The American is 
shocked: 'How can you throw that expensive vodka out the 
window?!' Says the Russian, 'In my country we have so much vodka 
I can afford to throw it away.' Next, the American lights up a 
Marlboro and throws the rest of the pack out the window: 'In my 
country we have so much tobacco I can afford to throw it away.' 
So the Dutch guy takes the American and throws him out the 
window, saying 'We have so many Americans I can afford to throw 
them away.'

All yanks are truly cunts..no this is truth!

http://www.swiftvets.com

http://www.kerryoniraq.com

fff

eat shit

From: Saxon 
To: Fuck Them 
Date: Tue Jun 15 14:06:46 2004 
Message:
YEEE-HAAA! AIN'T NEED NO ED-U-CA-SHUN!! JUST NEED TO KILL ALL 
THEM WHO IS NOT LIKE US!! Look pal, fucking people up IF you 
know they're guilty is one thing, but going after someone just 
because you THINK they MIGHT be against us is NOT American. 
We're in Iraq and Afghanistand to END oppression, not to BE 
oppressive. Or hadn't that little detail occurred to you? Stay 
away from the cheap beer please.  

Aaaaaah fuck you

From: FuckThem 
To: allofthem 
Subject: take it back!!!!!!!! 
Date: Tue Jun 15 01:23:45 2004 
Message:
We are being terrorized by fucking ragheads who are pieces of 
shit.
Look around we are to fucking nice to these people that we LET
live in our counrty. Meanwhile when we go there to help these
scumbags they kill us. We have to come together white, black,
puerto ricans,etc... to start fucking these ragheads up. We are
at war so lets act like it and fuck them up before they kill u or
someone u love. Whos in with me????

no one u stupid asshole

From: 
To: terrorist slayer 
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:53:21 2004 
Message:
why should we bother, and now 
you think your going to rule the world, we should stop letteing 
your asses in here on college scholarships you hadji fucks-------


We? WE? When did YOU get in on the decision-making team?
Tell you what: leave the decision-making to others, and just 
make sure my fries are fresh when I order 'em.

right! you tell that stupid mother fucker

America is the only country that went from barbarism to 
decadence without civilization in between." Osacar Wilde 

Nader Calls US Govt a 'Puppet' of Israel 

Barbara Ferguson

Arab News

NEW YORK, 19 August 2004   Here's something that has been 
curiously overlooked by the US press regarding a candidate 
running for the office of president of the United States.

At issue is Ralph Nader, the independent candidate for 
president. Nader has publicly accused President George W. Bush 
and Congress of being  puppets  of the Israeli government and 
the pro-Israeli lobby.

 What has been happening over the years is a predictable routine 
of foreign visitation from the head of the Israeli government,  
Nader said at several speaking engagements in Washington.  The 
Israeli puppeteer travels to Washington. The Israeli puppeteer 
meets with the puppet in the White House, and then moves down 
Pennsylvania Avenue, and meets with the puppets in Congress. And 
then takes back billions of taxpayer dollars. It is time for the 
Washington puppet show to be replaced by the Washington peace 
show. 

Nader's main campaign issue also accuses the Bush administration 
of eroding civil liberties since Sept. 11, and its refusal to 
debate and discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He also 
attacked the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-
Israel lobby, for its influence on Capitol Hill.

Nader said that the US government,  if it was really interested  
in promoting peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, 
would work more closely with the Israeli peace movement.

 It is time for the US government to recognize that this is not 
just a local conflict anymore. It is not just a regional 
conflict anymore. It is a conflict that is producing flashpoints 
throughout much of the world and endangering US citizens in 
those countries, US businesses in those countries, US workers in 
those countries, and endangering our own national security here. 
It is time for the US government to stand up and think for 
itself,  said Nader.

After Nader's comment, the leaders of the ADL wrote to Nader, 
saying,  the image of the Jewish state as 'puppeteer,' 
controlling the powerful US Congress feeds into many age-old 
stereotypes which have no place in legitimate public discourse. 

Barbara B. Balser, Anti-Defamation League National Chair, and 
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, said:  We write to 
object to your characterization of the White House and Congress 
as 'puppets' of the Israeli government. Reasonable people can 
and do disagree with American policy related to the Middle East, 
and specifically American support for Israel. However, there is 
a line between thoughtful, reasoned, constructive disagreements 
and offensive hyperbole. 

In a three-page letter dated Aug. 5, Nader responded to ADL 
leaders, saying:  The Israelis have a joke for the obvious   
that the United States is the second state of Israel. 

 How often, if ever, has the United States   either the Congress 
or the White House   pursued a course of action, since 1956, 
that contradicted the Israeli government's position? 

Now Foxman is accusing Nader of continuing to spread a  canard  
about the Jews:  He fuels the conspiracy theory that the Jews 
control the White House and the Congress. And it's a lot more 
sinister after Iraq,  Foxman said, adding that Nader's 
comments  border on anti-Semitism. 

Predictably, Nader's comments also drew condemnation from 
corners of Capitol Hill.
http://www.robert-fisk.com
Rep. Steve Israel (D-New York) said,  It is simply astonishing 
to hear Ralph Nader make such inflammatory accusations. 
Historically, such accusations have   wittingly or unwittingly   
fed the paranoia of the worst anti-Semitic elements in societies 
often with very tragic consequences. 

Cool chart!:D

<img src="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/images/oif-
chart.gif">

DO IT DO IT..kill some of those sychophantic, arse-licking, 
brown-nosed, toady yank-loving jew scum!:

Iran may strike if sites threatened
Iranian Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani has warned that Iran 
might launch a pre-emptive strike to prevent an attack on its 
nuclear facilities.



He said this in an interview with Aljazeera TV on Wednesday.



"We will not sit (with arms folded) to wait for what others will 
do to us. Some military commanders in Iran are convinced that 
preventive operations which the Americans talk about are not 
their monopoly," Shamkhani said when asked about the possibility 
of a US or Israeli strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. 



"America is not the only one present in the region. We are also 
present, from Khost to Kandahar in Afghanistan we are present in 
the Gulf and we can be present in Iraq," said Shamkhani. 



Earlier, the Iranian press reported a commander of the elite 
Revolutionary Guards as saying Iran will strike the Israeli 
reactor at Dimona if Israel attacks the Islamic republic's 
nuclear facilities.



"If Israel fires one missile at Bushehr atomic power plant, it 
should permanently forget about Dimona nuclear centre, where it 
produces and keeps its nuclear weapons, and Israel would be 
responsible for the terrifying consequence of this move," 
General Muhammad Baqir Zolqadr warned. 



The minister's and the general's comments mark an escalation in 
an exchange of threats between Israel and Iran in recent weeks, 
leading to speculation that there may be a repeat of Israel's 
strike against Iraqi nuclear facilities at Osirak in 1981. 



Iran's attempt to generate nuclear power at its plant being 
built at Bushehr is seen by arch-enemies Israel and the United 
States as a cover for nuclear weapons development. 



But Iran insists that its nuclear intentions are peaceful, while 
pointing at its enemy's alleged nuclear arsenal, which Israel 
neither confirms nor denies possessing. 

Israel within range

Dimona, in the Negev desert, is allegedly where Israel produces 
weapons-grade plutonium for its estimated 200 nuclear warheads. 


Iran says its nuclear programme
is used to generate electricity

Revolutionary Guard chief Yad Allah Javani warned on Sunday 
that "the entire Zionist territory including its nuclear 
establishments and atomic munitions are now within the range of 
Iran's advanced missiles". 



The statement came a few days after the Islamic republic 
conducted what it called a successful test of an upgraded 
version of its conventional medium-range Shahab-3 missile. 



The missile is considered the mainstay of Iran's military 
technology and portrayed as defensive and dissuasive, but also 
specifically as a weapon against Israel. 



Threats dismissed



The Revolutionary Guards, or Sepah-e Pasdaran, to whom the 
Shahab-3 has been entrusted, exist in parallel to the regular 
armed forces. They are well equipped and have a navy and air 
force as well as ground troops. 



"Israel is not capable of attacking Iran and its threats are 
only propaganda" 

Muhammad Baqer Zolqadr,
Revolutionary Guards chief 


Zolqadr, however, considered that "given the internal crises in 
the Zionist regime and its military, security and geographical 
vulnerability, Israel is not capable of attacking Iran and its 
threats are only propaganda". 



The threats, said General Zolqadr, were intended to deprive Iran 
of its "indisputable right" to nuclear technology for peaceful 
ends. 



Israel in July tested an improved version of its Arrow II anti-
missile system, aimed squarely at fending off any attack by 
Iran. 

Yeah, I'm anti-American. - The world is a game to be played 
Yeah, I'm anti-American.
Yeah, I'm the enemy of the Vatican.
But it wasn't me that declare war first.
And fuck you bitches hating me 'cause I'm doing it like Hearst.
And I'm hoping the Iraqis will kick your Yankee ass.
Fuck you ranchers, it's my land by blood and I will bust back 
when I transpass.
Ain't looking to start one time movement, looking to start 
something that will surpass.
And I can smell pigs miles away so don't bother trying to trap 
me, supergrass.
Try to arrest me and you will find yourself sleeping under the 
sea grass.
 The success of the United States has always rested on the 
certainty that the poor are not dangerous. 
Earl Shorris said that, I said this, half of these so called 
Jesus lovers are nothing but aurivorous.
People in this country really need to be educated.
Having the most money, speaking the loudest shouldn't be how 
leaders are appointed.
And the days are coming when the U.S. will no longer be 
invisible and untouchable.
You're stupid ass hell to think this government isn't 
collapsible.
We were taught to lead lives of political spectators.
Taught to accept being survivors and to accept the police 
predators.
Locking our doors to our homes, you're accepting you're prisoner 
in your own home.
If you don't like what I'm speaking in my poem.
It's because you were taught to hate people like me that speak 
different.
But it's you blue pill people that are indifferent.
Why do you listen to the media that tells you what is good or 
bad?
Seeing y'all eating that shit up like pigs makes me so mad.
Come on, how many of you were actually told Colombus died poor?
In the bible and others it was told this country would be 
destroy by the lord.
Hail Bush like Germans once did with Hitler 'cause you're seen 
as nazis by rest of the world.
Fuck Kerry too, with those two parties there is no such as being 
less evil.
Never think the Lord is in your churches, you're praying to the 
devil.

Americans hardly ever question what they read, see, and hear. 
Instead they either accept it, ignore it, or get depressed by 
it. Which is why so many times I've called y'all slaves.


--------------------
Once a motherfucker get an understanding on the game and what 
the levels and the rules of the game is. Then the world ain't 

Rally to Vow Anti-U.S. Struggle Held in S. Korea -  
(http://antiUSA-Press.da.ru http://antiUSA-Press.da.ru 
http://antiUSA-Press.da.ru http://antiUSA-Press.da.ru 
http://antiUSA-Pres) 
Rally to Vow Anti-U.S. Struggle Held in S. Korea
Pyongyang, August 12 (KCNA) -- The Reunification Solidarity, the 
Phyongthaek Measure Committee against Expansion of U.S. Military 
Base and the 2004 Reunification Vanguard for the Withdrawal of 
Decision on Troop Dispatch to Iraq and National Cooperation 
against the U.S. reportedly co-sponsored a rally to vow to fight 
against the transfer of the U.S. military base to Phyongthaek 
and its expansion and for a stop to the nuclear war plot on the 
Korean peninsula and relocation of the U.S. forces and the 
withdrawal of the U.S. troops from south Korea on August 8 in 
Phaengsong township, Phyongthaek, Kyonggi Province of south 
Korea. Han Sang Ryol, permanent representative of the 
Reunification Solidarity, in his speech called for driving out 
the U.S. which menaces peace and achieving independent 
reunification. 
Ri Kyu Jae, vice-chairman of the South Headquarters of the 
National Alliance for the Country's Reunification, strongly 
demanded the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from south Korea, 
saying national cooperation is the only way out for the Korean 
nation. 
A letter to the U.S. forces' side was read out at the rally. 
At the end of the rally the protesters marched toward the nearby 
U.S. military base, shouting slogans opposing the transfer of 
the U.S. military base and its expansion and demanding the 
withdrawal of the U.S. forces from south Korea. http://antiUSA-
Press.da.ru 
Reaching the U.S. military base, they demanded the U.S. forces' 
side take over the letter. 
When the latter refused this, they read out the letter toward 
the base and burnt it in token of protest. 

1 of the main reasons why even now America is in an advanced 
stage of self-destruct & collapse is that money - which is the 
life-blood of american world-dominance as it is the medium of 
control through debt via the international structure - is really 
only worth the paper which it is printed on. Money- as cleverly 
designed as it is 2day, is totally anaemic- produced & stored 
illusioraly in the database of computers.
The money of America is only numbers printed on bits of paper or 
stored in data-bases - & is part of a gigantic confidence trick. 
They pre-determine how hard anyone has 2 work in order 2 enjoy 
what.
They have also entrenched thier position vis-a-vis the rest of 
the world - which in a nutshell keeps on blowjobbing.
Such wisdom & cunning can only be developed & exploited by 
people who firstly: know how2 control
and secondly: Can c the bigger picture
and thirdly:......
But seeker cant disclose all his secrets

here's some great sites for you to visit (and spread the word!):
http://www.robert-fisk.com
http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm
http://free.freespeech.org/americanstateterrorism/
http://www.truthout.org
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.thenausea.com
And here's some silly ones, but extremely funny and not without 
persiflage lampoonery!)
http://www.stupidamericans.com
http://www.americansarestupid.com
http://www.osamabinladeniswinning.com
http://www.georgewankerbush.com
http://www.bushisacunt.com
http://www.jesusisacunt.com
http://www.dumbpresident.com
http://www.bushorchimp.com
http://www.bushandcheneysuck.com
http://www.boycottusa.org
http://www.boycottusa.com
http://www.humiliateamerica.com
And if you ever needed any proof whatsoever, without a shadow of 
a doubt, that that cunt in the whiteyhouse is as thick as shit 
in the neck of a bottle, well, here's the site:
http://www.dubyaspeak.com
It has irrefutable audio proof of his bumbling discourse of shit-
talk!
Here's another if you want proof of how FAT yanks are!:
http://www.amplestuff.com
These two for the body count that just a keeps pilin' up!:
http://icasualties.org/oif/
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq_casualties.htm
Here to watch the debt clock:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
And here to see what your hard-earned pennies are going to:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
Boycott USA@ (33)


Fuck USA@ (12)


Pictures Animations@ (9)


Stop USA@ (12)


anti-dollar@ (6)


anti-usa groups@ (13)










antitoo - anti directory project

anti-imperialism@

anti-USA@

antiUSA-Press.da.ru - antiUSA News from the World

antiamerica.com - Proud to hate Americans.

antiamerica.org - Dedicated to liberating the American people 
from their oppressive Government.

antiamerika - Das einzige deutsche Satire Magazin. Satire, 
Cartoons, Parodien und grenzwertige Literatur.

antiamerikanismus.de - Antiamerikanismus-Diskussion

boycotamerika.nl - Boycot voor de vrede, Stem met uw portemonnee 
tegen een oorlog in Irak. Koop geen Amerikaanse producten zolang 
de USA het internationale recht met voeten dreigt te treden. 
Koop niet van de zelfbenoemde "eigenrechter / politieman" van de 
wereld.

boycottamerica.org - Boycott the US: Save the climate change 
treaty.

ANTI AMERICAN STAFF - Contre la domination mondiale des USA

Anti-America - We bring forth the truth behind the Anti-
Terrorism acts of America. We uncover the fact that the Anti-
Terrorism acts performed by America are Terrorist acts 
themselves.

Anti-Amerikanismus - Anti- und Anti-Amerikanismus

Anti-Uniformisation Sous-culturelle Am ricaine - Le site contre 
l'"Uniformisation Sous-culturelle Am ricaine" 

BOIKOT AMERIKA - BOIKOT AMERIKA with infopalestina.com

Case Against America - After September 11th, the world had 
sympathy for America. Today, the world despises America. How did 
this happen? The majority of people in the US have no idea.

The Decline and Fall of the American Empire - Eloquent excerpts 
from the book, which is a collection of six important essays by 
Gore Vidal, written between 1986 and 1992

america / anti-america - An effervescent composition of caustic 
criticism and profound praise - a view from the solar center of 
the American empire || Holology.com

americanstateterrorism - American State Terrorism - The history 
and weapons of American state terrorism bibliographies and 
reviews of informative books on American terrorism and closely 
related subjects.

americasucks - The A-AO Home Page! Welcome and BRING IT 
ON!!!!!!! america sucks

anti-AmerikaZionis - This is a "JIHAD" rise call among Muslims 
and non-Muslims that is consisted from various that ranks of 
society to feel to be call above cruelty and cruelty of America 
regime and his associate

anti-america.narod.ru - USA - God or Devil?

anti-american.net - Ever wondered if perhaps your TV isn't 
showing you the whole story ?

anti-americano.blogger.com.br - EUA   a doen a do mundo

anti-amerika-online.de - Anti-Amerika-Online.de

anti-us-america - Mailing list perjuangan menyatukan visi dan 
aksi membentung, mengatasi, dan membalikan usaha permusuhan 
Amerika Serikat terhadap Indonesia.

anti-yankee.narod.ru - Anti-Yankee Russia

anti_america - Welcome to Changing America!

anti_american_group - Anti-American Group : This is a group set 
up for people who despise the United States of America. Feel 
free to post comments etc

anti_israel - this group is totaly anti american and anti israel 
so if any american belong to any other nation(like 
indianamerican) too can come there but not to say america good

antiamerica.boom.ru - anti-america russian website

antiamerica.narod.ru - ANTIAMERICA

antiamerica.wo.to - welcome~ antiamerica

antiamerican.8m.com - ANTI-AMERICAN, ANTI-USA, U.S.A. United 
States of America

antibush.de.ms - ANTI AMERIKA

anticowboy.cjb.net - P gina Anti-Cowboy

contra-usa :: - Contra America site with a lot of info regarding 
America. A site which includs hoffifying facts about the average 
American

evilempire.blogger.com.br - Evil Empire anti-EUA Blog

humiliateamerica.com - Welcome to Campaign Against American 
Terrorism

iamnotamerican.com - the "i am not american" website

stopamerica - People All Around The World Suffer From Terror

stopamerica.org - inter-nation media / stop America

the Anti-American Blog - It is an anti-american blog

unamerican.com - UNAMERICAN: your brain is our domain 

You left out the part about your mother coming to the school, 
and getting gangbanged to pay for your classes.

E101/102 Beginning Drawing 
Semester Summary 

Week 1 

Day 1 : intro to course (syllabus, expectations, objectives, 
materials)
Day 2 :line exercise, brief discussion
lecture on shape, shape definition
making a viewfinder
exercises in learning to see and record shape within the picture 
plane
seeing the whole and working from general to particular
homework: repeat shape recordong exercise 

Week 2 

Day 1: contour/edge as defining of shape
rubbed contour relationshipexercise to solidify shape 
identification
relationship of shape to space
relationship of edge tp space: positive/negative shape, slide: 
MC Escher
extension of rubbed contour study into pos/neg shape exercise
homework: repeat rubbed contour and pos/neg shape exercise 

Day 2 : from shape to volume: shape as plane within space
from angles and diagonals to vanishing points
lecture introducing empirical and linear perspective : 
definition of linear perspective terms, 1,2,3-point perspective
lecture and demo on combining sighting, measuring and linear 
perspective
exercises in drawing a box in 1-point perspective


Week 3 

Day 1 : recap drawing box in 1-point perspective variables in 
placing vanishing points exercises in two point perspective
homework: finish boxes in 2-point perspective
Day 2 : conventions of perspective drawing, weight lines, 
variety of pencils, transparency
slides: weight lines (Albers), piranesi, DeChirico, Rusha
vanishing points outside the picture plane
variables in numbers of vanishing points: angles of objects in 
relation to picture plane
exercises in drawing a box in 2-point in a variety of angles
finish as homework


Week 4 

Day 1: lecture on circle in perspective
exercise developing cylindrical object from rectangular block 
developing cylindrical objects around a central axis
finish as homework
demo: freehand perspective drawing
exercise in freehanding simple boxes in 2- and 3-point Day 
2 :Freehand studies of table
transparent object construction
slides: Giacomett, student work
Homework: freehand studies of table 

Week 5 

Day 1: critique of freehanded table
freehand studies of chair
Day 2 : continue chair studies lecture on value building: 
accumulated mark making (hatching,cross hatching, stippling), 
chiaro- scuro (blending)
cross contour
studies of drawing horses
additive and subtractive value/volume building through use of 
charcoal, eraser, blending stump
homework: 5 small chair studies


Week 6 

Day 1: lecture on drawing organic objects : planar analysis, 
breaking curved lines down into straight lines and defining 
surface structure by breaking it down into geometric shapes and 
systems; weight lines
studies of bananas and branches
finish as homework
Day 2: complex organic object stduies, twisted branches in 
planar analysis


Week 7 

Day 1: recap and continue volume building through value
adding value to object studies in planar analysis through 
accumulated mark making and chiaro/scuro
finish as homework
expansion of planar analysis and accumulated mark making into 
quicker and looser linear approaches: gesture, mass gesture, 
contour, cross contour,additive and subtractive value building
gesture studies from twisted branches


Day 2:exercises in gesture and expanding line vocabulary: 
contour, cross contour, tonal modulations using a variety of 
media (dry and wet)
studies from shoes
homework: compositional study of all types of gestures of shoe


Week 8 

Day 1: continue gesture studies
figure/ground relatio