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News :: International Relations |
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AWARE News Notes 030831 |
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by Carl Estabrook
Email: cge (nospam) shout.net (unverified!) |
01 Sep 2003
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Notes from this week's "war on terrorism" -- prepared
for the AWARE meeting, Sunday, August 31, 2003.
[AWARE -- Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort -- is a group of people from C-U and environs who are opposed to the policies of the US government -- neo-imperialism and favoritism of the rich. We hold open meetings every Sunday 5-7pm at the IMC (218 W. Main St., Urbana) to discuss the situation and plan a variety of responses. The selection and the comments below, however, represent my views and not necessarily those of AWARE as a whole or of particular members. --CGE] |
1. IRAQ
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? "The Los Angeles Times is reporting that U.S. intelligence agents have a new theory on what happened to the alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Some officials believe that Saddam Hussein didn't have any banned weapons but created the illusion that he had them. The theory says that Hussein sent bogus Iraqi defectors out of Iraq to plant disinformation about the weapons program to mislead the U.S. The Los Angeles Times reports the U.S. is now re-interviewing all former Iraqi defectors who provided intelligence before the war." [DN 0828]
WHAT WAS THAT 'WAR' ABOUT? The US has suggested that Iraqi oil be sent to refineries in Israel. "The request came in a telegram last week from a senior Pentagon official to a top Foreign Ministry official in Jerusalem. The Prime Minister's Office, which views the pipeline to Haifa as a 'bonus' the U.S. could give to Israel in return for its unequivocal support for the American-led campaign in Iraq, had asked the Americans for the official telegram. The new pipeline would take oil from the Kirkuk area, where some 40 percent of Iraqi oil is produced, and transport it via Mosul, and then across Jordan to Israel ... Iraqi oil is now being transported via Turkey to a small Mediterranean port near the Syrian border. The transit fee collected by Turkey is an important source of revenue for the country. This line has been damaged by sabotage twice in recent weeks and is presently out of service. In response to rumors about the possible Kirkuk-Mosul-Haifa pipeline, Turkey has warned Israel that it would regard this development as a serious blow to Turkish-Israeli relations. Sources in Jerusalem suggest that the American hints about the alternative pipeline are part of an attempt to apply pressure on Turkey." [HAARETZ 0826]
FAIR AND BALANCED MATHEMATICS. "On Fox News, Brit Hume just introduced a new conservative argument as to the reason soldiers dying in Iraq is No Big Deal. Iraq's the same size as California, he said, and while our soldiers in Iraq are dying at a rate of 1.7 per day, there are 6.6 murders daily in California ... There are about 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, and more than 34.5 million people in California. So if we had as many troops in Iraq as there are people in California, and a comparable number were being killed, we would see 385 deaths per day, as opposed to the 6.6 murders in California. So I'm going to go out on a limb and say that these deaths are a pretty big deal. I imagine the families of those dying -- and those at risk -- would agree." [WAGE-SLAVE.ORG 0826]
WE STOLE IT AND IT'S OURS. For the first time, the Bush administration is indicating that it may allow a multinational force sponsored by the United Nations to be stationed in Iraq. The U.S. would demand however that any international force by under the command of an American. [NYT 0827]
WHAT WE USED TO CALL A SATELLITE. "American officials are planning to ferry as many as 28,000 Iraqis to Eastern Europe for an intensive police training course. Bernard B. Kerik, a former New York City Police commissioner in charge of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, said in an interview that American officials had secured permission from the government of Hungary to set up a large police academy inside an old Soviet military base there." [NYT 0825]
2. ISRAEL
A DEADLY METAPHOR FOR THE OCCUPATION. "Israel killed a senior Hamas militant with a helicopter missile strike on a donkey cart he was riding Thursday ... Three Palestinians were wounded, including a 4-year-old boy who was in critical condition." [REUTERS 0826]
AND THE REALITY THAT THE US MAKES POSSIBLE. Israel's defense minister on Sunday suggested an Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, where Palestinian militants already face a deadly air campaign. Israeli military commentators say a ground offensive in the densely populated Gaza Strip, home to more than one million people under Palestinian control, would cause heavy Israeli and Palestinian casualties. "We always have the option of a ground operation in Gaza," Shaul Mofaz said. "We will exercise it when we decide it is right to do so, at the appropriate time." Israel has assassinated 13 Palestinians, including bystanders and children, in as many days. [REUTERS 0831] Israel also took two Palestinian whom it called militants from hospital beds in the West Bank. [LAT 0828]
AND MAY MAKE POSSIBLE. "The Washington Times is reporting that Israel has prepared plans to bomb Iran's Bushehr nuclear-power plant if the plant begins developing weapons grade material" -- as they bombed Iraq in 1981. [DN O829]
3. PAYING FOR TERRORISTS
TORTURE AND MURDER AS AMERICAN POLICIES. A new book by Gerard Posner (Why America Slept) discusses CIA torture interrogation of a leading Al-Qaida member and implies that the CIA assassinated members of the Pakistan and Saudi governments whom they thought he implicated. That is perhaps an explanation of Bush's sniggering reference to US assassinations in his State of the Union address. [TIME 0831]
AND HOW WE PAY FOR IT. "'Black,' or classified, programs requested in President Bush's 2004 defense budget are at the highest level since 1988, according to a report prepared by the independent Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The center concluded that classified spending next fiscal year will reach about $23.2 billion ... 'It's puzzling. It sets the mind to wondering where the money's going and what sort of politically controversial things the administration is doing because they're not telling anybody,' said John E. Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a research group that has been critical of the administration's defense priorities. Pike said part of the surge in the classified budget probably can be explained by increases for the Central Intelligence Agency's covert action programs, which are central to the war on terrorism. Traditionally, Pike said, much of the funding for the CIA is hidden in Air Force weapons procurement accounts. But unlike the 1980s, when it was widely known that the 'black' budget was going to the development of stealth aircraft such as the B-2 bomber and F-117 fighter, the uses of the classified accounts today are far murkier ... it is anybody's guess where most of the classified money is going, Pike said. But he said it is a good bet that some of it is going to programs that the administration is known to strongly favor, such as missile defense and the development of hypersonic planes that can fly beyond Earth's atmosphere. 'This is an administration that likes to play I've got a secret,' he said. 'The growth of the classified budget appears to be part of a larger pattern of this administration being secretive." [WP 0827]
ANOTHER KILLING ADMINISTRATION SECRET. "On Friday the Environmental Protection Agency's Inspector General released a report that found the White House forced the EPA to mislead residents of New York about the safety of the air quality following the collapse of the World Trade Center towers ... The study found that the White House pressured the EPA to delete information from press releases that might have delayed the reopening of downtown New York including Wall Street. Among other things the White House censored reports that high levels of asbestos had been found. The report was quietly released on Friday afternoon during a period in August when many reporters are on vacation ... New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg however defended the White House ... Bloomberg said, 'I know the president and I think he's a very honest guy. It would never occur to me not to trust him.'" [DN 0825]
PAUL KRUGMAN COMMENTS. "The federal government spends much more protecting the average resident of Wyoming from terrorists than it spends protecting the average resident of New York City. All in all, the people running Washington, while eager to invoke 9/11 on behalf of whatever they feel like doing, have treated the city that bore the brunt of the actual attack very shabbily. In September 2004 the Republicans will hold their nominating convention in New York. Will New Yorkers take the occasion to remind them about how the city was lied to and shortchanged?" [NYT 0826]
DO WE WONDER WHOM THEY'RE WORKING FOR? Meanwhile, "a new Bush administration rule exempts thousands of industrial plants and refineries from part of clean air act. The exemption translates into huge savings for industrial plants, even if they increase the amounts of pollutants they emit." [DN 0826]
4. AND THE FECKLESS OPPOSITION
DEMOCRATS TERGIVERSATE. Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean reconsidered his position on the Cuban embargo: formerly opposed to it, he now says it should be kept in place. [MIAMI HERALD 0827] John Kerry did the same flip on Meet the Press Sunday. [NBC 0831] Earlier, Kerry spoke to fellow veterans (as he insists -- a good line from Ann Coulter: "If John Kerry had a dollar for every time he mentions he was in Vietnam -- oh, wait a minute: he does"). He told the Veterans of Foreign Wars that as president he would "get more allies [sic] involved in Iraq." [AP 0825] "Both Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice also addressed the 104th VFW national convention. Rice highlighted what she saw as successes in Iraq as well as in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. It was at the 103rd VFW that Vice President Cheney spoke a year ago kickstarting the administration's push towards war. At the time, Cheney said, 'Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us.'" [DN 0826]
AND NO ONE CARES? "Two-thirds of voters -- including two-thirds of Democrats -- were unable to name any of the Democratic candidates for president, said the CBS News poll out Sunday. Joe Lieberman, Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean topped the field in the poll, with relatively low numbers. Lieberman, Gephardt and Dean were the only three in double digits in support from registered Democrats. Lieberman, a Connecticut senator, had the backing of 14 percent; Gephardt, a Missouri congressman, was backed by 11 percent; and Dean, former governor of Vermont was at 10 percent. Other candidates were in single digits. John Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, was at 5 percent after being in double digits in national polls most of the year. Al Sharpton had 5 percent; Bob Graham, a senator from Florida was at 4 percent; John Edwards, a senator from North Carolina, had 2 percent; Carol Moseley Braun was at 2 percent; and Dennis Kucinich, an Ohio congressman, had 0 percent. Four in 10 Democratic voters said they were satisfied with the current field of nine candidates, while 5 in 10 said they would like more choices. When all voters were asked whether President Bush will definitely be re-elected, 38 percent said yes, but 50 percent said they think a Democrat can win. When voters were asked the same question about Bush's father in October 1991, 66 percent said yes, but that number dropped 20 points in the next month. The first President Bush lost his re-election bid." [AP 0831]
5. ELSEWHERE IN ASIA
NO DOVES ALLOWED. "One of the top State Department experts on North Korea has resigned just days before the U.S. is set to enter into nuclear talks with North Korea and four other nations. The diplomat Jack Pritchard was seen as one of the administrationâ^À^Ùs few moderates on North Korea and has long backed giving North Korea incentives for complying with international demands." [DN 0826]
NO PEACE TREATY ALLOWED. As a response to what they perceive as hostility from the Bush administration, North Korea Tuesday threatened to begin testing nuclear weapons. The threat came during six-nation talks in Beijing. North Korea wants a non-aggression pact with the US, and the administration refuses.
WHO'S RESPONSIBLE? "The Sydney Morning Herald reports on a study of Jemaah Islamiah, the Indonesian terror group apparently responsible for the Bali bombing. The study says it was formed around a core of Indonesians, recruited and paid by the CIA, who fought alongside bin Laden in Afghanistan in the 1980s." [CURSOR 0827]
AND A GENERATION LATER? Reuters is reporting a week-long battle in Afghanistan between Taliban fighters and U.S. forces backed by artillery, jet fighters and attack helicopters ... The U.S. military has confirmed 33 Taliban deaths during the first three days of fighting, which has involved the largest concentration of fighters from the hard-line regime since the movement was driven from power late in 2001. In a separate clash, two U.S. soldiers were killed near their base at Shkin, in the eastern province of Paktika a few miles from the Pakistani border. [REUTERS 0831]
ARCHDUKE FERDINAND? "A sea of mourners filled northern Baghdad Sunday for the funeral of a top Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, killed with nearly 100 others in a bomb attack his brother blamed partly on U.S. forces for failing to bring security to Iraq. The bombing has intensified an international debate about whether U.S.-led occupation forces are capable of pacifying the country. Russia said at the weekend it would back a United Nations force for Iraq -- even if it was under U.S. Command." [REUTERS 0831]
AND ELSEWHERE. "Agence France Press is reporting the death toll from Monday's car bombings in Bombay has reached at least 52 people. No group has taken responsibility. Indian officials blamed Muslim militants. One of the bombs went off near a Hindu temple in the old city." [DN 0826]
6. THE ANDEAN REGION
HOW PACIFICATION WORKS IN OUR BACKYARD. "In Peru, the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission reported Tuesday that more than 69,000 Peruvians died or disappeared from 1980 to 2000 as a result of political violence. The commission held the government and the Maoist rebel group Shining Path almost equally responsible. The president of the commission said Peru's security forces employed a 'systematic or generalized practice of human rights violations.'" [DN 0827]
WHO'S THIS HALLIBURTON WE KEEP HEARING ABOUT? "In other news from Peru, the U.S. Export-Import Bank has rejected a request to lend over $200 million to build a controversial natural gas pipeline through the Peruvian Amazon. Two companies with close ties to the Bush administration, Halliburton and Hunt Oil, were pushing for the project which had come under intense criticism from environmentalists." [DN 0827]
7. TERROR BUSINESS
WONDER WHO'LL GET THE MONEY? "In a WP interview Iraq boss Paul Bremer said it's 'almost impossible to exaggerate' the amount of cash it will take to reconstruct Iraq, putting it at 'several tens of billions' of dollars. The Republican chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees foreign aid as saying that while the reconstruction effort is 'essentially out of funds,' he's not keen on authorizing more money unless the White House details how it's been spending the money." [CURSOR 0827]
WONDER WHO'LL GET THE MONEY? (II) "The Washington Post is reporting that Halliburton has now received contracts worth more than $1.7 billion in Iraq and stands to make hundreds of millions more in no-bid contracts. Rep. Henry A. Waxman of California said, 'The amount of money is quite staggering, far more than we were originally led to believe.' The Post estimates that of the $4 billion the U.S. is spending per month in Iraq, about one third is going to independent contractors. Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. government has increased the size of Bechtel's reconstruction cost [sic] in Iraq by 50 percent. Bechtel will receive an additional $350 million in addition to the previously announced contract of $680 million." THERE'S NO HONOR AMONG THIEVES: BECHTEL HAD COMPLAINED THAT HALLIBURTON WAS GETTING ALL THE MONEY, SO THEY HAD TO BE MOLLIFIED. [DN 0828]
WONDER WHO'LL GET THE MONEY? (III) "Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root has been awarded a no-bid contract to expand the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay. The extra space will allow the U.S. to hold 10 percent more detainees at the base." [DN 0827]
ANSWER: WAR PROFITEERS. "The New York Times reports U.S. officials are preparing to open portions of the Iraq economy to foreign investment for the first time in decades. Despite the massive reconstruction project ahead for Iraq, the proposal would not require foreign investors to invest any of their profits back into Iraq." [DN 0828]
8. THE PRESS
THE STRANGEST THINGS CREPT INTO THE PRINT MEDIA THIS WEEK. A Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial called on Bush to fire War Secretary Rumsfeld; the New York Times editorialized against the Bush administration's "reckless and insupportable decision to eviscerate a central provision of the Clean Air Act and allow power plants, refineries and other industrial sites to spew millions of tons of unhealthy pollutants into the air"; and a right-wing website, ChronWatch, charged the San Francisco Chronicle with *sedition* for asking in an editorial, "Did President Bush or other senior administration officials knowingly exaggerate evidence about weapons of mass destruction or deceive the American public?" [CURSOR 0827] But the most amazing column of the week came from Robert Kuttner, editor of the impeccably liberal journal, The American Prospect, who said that he was "star-struckâ" with Gen. Wesley Clark (hero of Clinton's war against Serbia) as a Democratic presidential candidate -- largely because *the military was such a progressive institution in our society*. [BG 0827]
***
"President Bush has been silent on Schwarzenegger. Of course, he can't pronounce Schwarzenegger." --David Letterman
"The United States is putting together a Constitution now for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It's served us well for 200 years, and we don't appear to be using it anymore, so what the hell?" --Jay Leno
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