THE MONTHLY SEARCH FOR TRUTH IN NEWS

March 2006

Matewan Revisited
Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder. In the Middle Ages when the feudal lords who inhabited the castles whose towers may still be seen along the Rhine concluded to enlarge their domains, to increase their power, their prestige and their wealth they declared war upon one another. But they themselves did not go to war any more than the modern feudal lords, the barons of Wall Street go to war. The feudal barons of the Middle Ages, the economic predecessors of the capitalists of our day, declared all wars. And their miserable serfs fought all the battles. The poor, ignorant serfs had been taught to revere their masters; to believe that when their masters declared war upon one another, it was their patriotic duty to fall upon one another and to cut one another’s throats for the profit and glory of the lords and barons who held them in contempt. And that is war in a nutshell.  The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose—especially their lives. Eugene Debs : 16 June 1918: The speech was given to about 1,200 people and was later used against Debs to make the case that he had violated the espionage Act. The judge sentenced Debs to ten years in prison

EcoEnquirer: A Waste of Cyberspace
Yesterday we received an email from a reader which was also sent to Mike Rivero of What Really Happened and Jeff Rense of Rense.com.

Newt Gingrich's Long Straussian War
Man, what a windfall for Lockheed Martin, Halliburton, Bechtel, Blackwater, and other death merchants and war profiteers. Newt Gingrich believes the "Long War with the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam" (no kidding, this is what the Straussian neocons now call their mass murdering criminal behavior, formerly known as the war on terrorism) will "last as long as 70 years." Gingrich is the former Speaker of the House, neck deep in the Straussian and neolib mire-he is both a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where Bush gets his "minds," and also plays footsies over at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Avian Flu: A Deadly Hoax
A reading of the stories in today's section on the bird flu scare will put the entire media spectacle in a different light. It is, in many ways, a microcosm of the lies and manipulations that are part and parcel of life in this world, ranging from mundane drives such as greed to the deepest of plans by the powers that be to eliminate large portions of the world's people. Let's start with the mundane element of greed.

The setup to destroy America
Failure to recognize what's really happening and who is really behind current events is going to cost us our lives, our country and our planet.
Although the thought has been in my mind for decades, it took a trailer from the controversial new Turkish movie "Valley of the Wolves" to jar my consciousness into really recognizing what is happening. America is being set up to take the fall for everything that's wrong with the world.

Straussian Shock and Awe Plan Against Iran Heats Up
Once again, Israeli Defense (Offense) Minister Shaul Mofaz has rattled his saber at Iran. Mofaz and the Israelis are upset because the United States has yet to shock and awe Iran and really the Jabotinskyites, well accustomed to invading and provoking their Arab neighbors, have no patience for the Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency, currently meeting in Vienna-they want Iran decimated now, no more excuses. "The Israeli approach is that the U.S. and the European countries should lead the issue of the Iranian nuclear programme to the table of the U.N. Security Council, asking for sanctions. And I hope the sanctions will be effective," Mofaz is quoted by Reuters. In other words, sanctions will not be good enough for Mofaz and the Israelis-nothing short of mass murder will suffice.

Satan is Resting Easy: The Power of Christ "Propels" Them
Remember, Big Brother is watching, listening and reading. In light of the illegal surveillance they are conducting at the behest of their incompetent, rogue, and murderous Commander-in-Chief, I am dedicating this essay to the NSA. To George Bush, Dick Cheney, Daniel Pipes, and their soulless war-mongering compadres, I proudly admit that I support the Palestinians (and their democratically elected Hamas leaders) in their struggle against their brutal Israeli oppressors. In fact, consider me a member of the so-called Fifth Column identified by Pipes. I abhor virtually all of the foreign and domestic policies the Machiavellian disciples of Strauss have implemented through wielding their ill-gotten power and influence. However, the United States is as much my country as it is theirs. I fully intend to remain here and work persistently against them by continuing to tenaciously pursue human rights and social justice for humanity, not simply for a select few in the United States and Israel.

False News More Damaging Than No News At All
BBC News' 'On This Day' report for today carries the following flashback story to this day in 1990:

Iraq Invasion: A Straussian Mistake?
In Stuart Rosenberg's classic film, Cool Hand Luke, Strother Martin, playing the Captain of Road Prison 36, tells Luke Jackson, played by Paul Newman: "What we have here is… failure to communicate." As I read the news this morning, I am reminded of the film and this memorable line. Rupert Cornwell, writing for the Independent, tells us "the neo-conservatives who sold the United States on this disastrous war are starting to utter three small words. We were wrong." Cornwell cites the examples of William Buckley, Andrew Sullivan (described as "an influential commentator and blogmeister"), the "patrician conservative columnist" George Will, Francis Fukuyama, Zalmay Khalilzad, and the disgusting William Kristol, all who apparently have second thoughts about the invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Governments, Conspiracies and You
There are approximately 6 billion of us on this planet, the lives and fortunes of whom are directed in various ways by a relatively small group of elected, or unelected, individuals who together make up what is called 'government'.

Iran Shock & Awe Spin Moves into Hyperdrive
It is interesting to follow the corporate media’s take on Iran’s response to threats of military action, most recently amplified by John Bolton and Dick Cheney in speeches delivered to the primary constituency of the United States government, AIPAC. Iran’s “President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s [comments about retaliating if his country is attacked] came as Tehran struck an increasingly threatening tone, with the top Iranian delegate to the U.N. atomic watchdog agency warning a day earlier that the United States will face ‘harm and pain’ if the Security Council becomes involved,” according to ABC News.

Cheney's Got a Gun: Part 2
One of the most amazing things about this case is that even if we accept without question the tale told by Cheney and Armstrong - if we accept that this 'accident' occurred exactly as we have been told it happened - it is perfectly obvious that the consensus media opinion that there was no misconduct or negligence is simply untrue. By his own account, Cheney was hunting by vehicle, a decidedly unsafe, and unethical, practice. By his own account, he was out in a three-man hunting party. By his own account, he made no effort to ascertain the whereabouts of anyone else in his party before firing away. By his own account, he was firing at a bird that would have had to have been flying ridiculously low. By his own account, he swung his gun far beyond "the mid-point" to take his shot. By his own account, he had been drinking that day (undoubtedly far more than he has admitted to). By his own account, he was hunting in flat terrain with a party that included a hostess, two other hunters, several guides and outriders (scouts on horseback), a medical team, and a Secret Service team -- and yet he swung his gun around blindly a full 180º to take a shot at an alleged bird that was supposedly flying just a few feet off the ground.

Cheney's Got a Gun: Part 3
It's hard not to notice, by the way, that two alleged members of the hunting party just happen to have the same last name as the police constable who determined in record time that "this in fact is an accident." Small world, isn't it? It's also hard not to notice that the name of another member of the party contains the names of two of the handful of towns that make up Kenedy County, Texas: Armstrong and Sarita. One wonders if Kenedy County is little more than the Armstrong family's private fiefdom. Perhaps this is a good time to take a quick look at some Armstrong family history.

The 'Why' Of The War On Terror
With American troops sinking ever further into the "Iraq quagmire", Bush's job approval ratings hitting new lows and a growing list of respectable officials using the word dictatorship in reference to the White House,

Rove Vows Forever War
Karl Rove, the Donald Segretti understudy of dirty tricks and political sabotage, told the gathered at a Republican fundraiser at Bowling Green State University the administration will not pull American troops out of Iraq until victory is won, the Associated Press reports. It should be obvious the United States will never achieve "victory" in Iraq and the situation grows more dismal with each passing day, but the neocons and their operatives create their own reality and we are here to follow along. Rove is not simply preaching to the faithful in Ohio, and his avowal of "victory" in Iraq is basically a rhetorical device. Karl Rove is telling us what the neocons have in mind-a generational conflict, a Thirty Years' War, perpetual war for perpetual death merchant profit. Bush's neocons, followers of the fascist Strauss and Schmitt ideology, fully intend to not only reshape the Middle East, but American society as well.

The weight of demons - 9/11 hoax, phony Iraq war, poison media propaganda wind up justifying torture
We need to take the blame — now.
How many more lies do we need to hear that cost thousands of lives and take away our Constitutional rights? How much more poison do we need to have shoved down our throats by official government agencies? How many more friends do we need to see killed by government functionaries doing business as rabid dogs?
How few of us have looked into that deep dark place in ourselves and seen the connection that travels from the sweetest part of our own souls — you know, that stuff we give our families — to the little girl lying dead in the street in Baghdad. And a thousand other dusty towns turned bloody by the shadow that lurks in the hollow of our own wallets.
And don't forget the big new wall that circles the heart of Jerusalem with its shadow of fear, and spreads its crippled cancer into the minds of every human on this planet through toxic electronic fantasies better known as mass media. Already firmly constructed in your own mind from a lifetime of American public schools, that same wall is being constructed in your own town — in New Orleans, for instance, in a thousand places on this planet, at this moment. The war for human freedom is definitely on.

Iran Blame Game: More Bush Lies
Another Day In The Empire In an effort to stem increasingly vociferous criticism, Bush’s neocon handlers have provided him with a new script, basically the old script with new fantastic accusations.

Oh What a Lovely War
I thought I'd share an email that is apparently doing the rounds among all right-thinking Patriotic Americans (i.e. not pinko Commie, Islamo-liberal-terrorists).

DynCorp May Replace Cops in St. Bernard Parish
It's a good thing I don't live in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana.If I did, I’d refuse to accept the authority of DynCorp, the renta-cop and mercenary corporation that may soon replace the police in the storm-ravaged parish.

The Politics of Language, Escalation or "Retaliation" - Israeli Attacks on Palestinians
It is commonplace to read each day in the most prestigious newspapers (Financial Times, New York Times, London Times, Washington Post) of Israeli "retaliation". The reportage frequently mentions a Palestinian attack on an Israeli colonial settlement in the West Bank or urban population center in Israel. The action and reaction always is located in a limited time frame. Palestinian action is always the initial moment and the Israeli military attack is always described as a response or "retaliatory" and therefore, presumably a form of defensive action, "justifiable".

Kenya, John Kerry, Diamonds and Mossad
Now and again, a story pops up that reminds us that, even in the more liberal mainstream press, nothing is ever as it seems and real investigative jounalism simply doesn't exist (if it ever did)...

The Devil Rides Out
She-devil Condolezza Rice is currently on a PR trip to OZ. Speaking to students at the University of Sydney's Conservatorium of Music, Condi waxed duplicitous on how "Iraqis will triumph" and that "we will win in Iraq but we must be patient with these people".

US Military Murders Eleven Members of an Iraqi Family - Five Children Four Women and Two Men
Major Ali Ahmed of the Ishaqi police said U.S. forces had landed on the roof of the house in the early hours and shot the 11 occupants, including the five children. "After they left the house they blew it up," he said. Another policeman, Major Farouq Hussein, said all the bodies had gunshot wounds to the head.

Is Another 9/11 in the Works?
If you were being whipped in one fight, would you start a second fight with a bigger and stronger person? That’s what Bush is doing.

Who made this plan?
Ugly Americans, Dancing Israelis and the crown are endlessly making war on the whole world.
Americans aren't the good guys anymore. Hollow TV pitchmen still insist our boys are dying for their country, but more and more people know that those lives are being wasted on corporate profits, deliberately squandered for somebody's twisted big score scheme. And you know who's making the money. The very pervs who are orchestrating all these wars. Repeat after me: Carlyle Group.

Trust Us
Something fundamental about who we are as a nation is dribbling away, it seems, without alarm or even debate. We torture prisoners - it's out in the open, a done deal. We're fighting an unnecessary war that, well, yes, was launched on a lie, but too late now; we're in, we can't get out. And our neighbor's phone is being tapped. But the worry that trumps all others is the state of this proud, imperfect democracy. We may be surrendering our power to change the national direction or demand that government be responsive to us. My fellow Americans, our voting machines don't work, at least not all the time. The mechanism of our democracy is in chaos, and almost everyone is going along with it.

The Two Americas
Have you ever noticed that America is schizophrenic-of two minds, two ideals, two ideologies that contradict? How much American rhetoric doesn't match up with American actions? Notice how there are so many laws in what's sold to the world as the "land of the free?" Speaking of that slogan, it's ironic how many dictators we support as "allies", isn't it?

Robert Fisk Backs Up Signs of the Times
Regular readers of this site will be aware of the fact that, for about 4 years, we have been repeatedly trying to convince as many people as would listen that the "war on terror" is bogus...

Three Years...
It has been three years since the beginning of the war that marked the end of Iraq's independence. Three years of occupation and bloodshed.
Spring should be about renewal and rebirth. For Iraqis, spring has been about reliving painful memories and preparing for future disasters. In many ways, this year is like 2003 prior to the war when we were stocking up on fuel, water, food and first aid supplies and medications. We're doing it again this year but now we don't discuss what we're stocking up for. Bombs and B-52's are so much easier to face than other possibilities. I don't think anyone imagined three years ago that things could be quite this bad today. The last few weeks have been ridden with tension. I'm so tired of it all- we're all tired.

Where's the Resistance Here on the Home Front?
Three years into the war in Iraq and now about two out of three Americans are against it, as against about one out of fifty elected politicians. In Iraq 2,315 Americans have died, and 17,100 wounded, many of them with limbs lost, some facing a lifetime in a wheel chair. Of the tens of thousands who have returned from combat to army bases or civilian life here, around 2.5 per cent are suffering from severe post traumatic stress syndrome, powder kegs, a menace to themselves and their families. There will be psychic as well as physical wreckage across America for years to come.

Some Things Never Change
According to Reuters, British Prime Minister Tony Blair will call today (Tuesday) for a global, interventionist approach to confront terrorism head on...

More Evidence Neocons Are Destroying Bill of Rights
Another Day in the Empire
I don't know how much more evidence we need to demonstrate there is a plot underway to dismantle the Bill of Rights. Now we learn that soon after "the dark days" of nine eleven, "lawyers from the White House and the Justice Department began meeting to debate a number of novel legal strategies to help prevent another attack," according to US News & World Report. "Meeting in the FBI's state-of-the-art command center in the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the lawyers talked with senior FBI officials about using the same legal authority to conduct physical searches of homes and businesses of terrorism suspects–also without court approval," that is to say in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.

Deranged, Disconnected, and Dangerous
"LewRockwell" -- -- On March 17 William Rivers Pitt wrote that Bush is "deranged, disconnected, and dangerous." In his March 20 Cleveland speech, Bush proved Pitt right.

Iraqi Police
At 230 of 15/3/2006, according to the telegram (report) of the Ishaqi police directorate, American forces used helicopters to drop troops on the house of Faiz Harat Khalaf situated in the Abu Sifa village of the Ishaqi district. The American forces gathered the family members in one room and executed 11 people, including 5 children, 4 women and 2 men, then they bombed the house, burned three vehicles and killed their animals (map coordinates 098702).

Armageddon Anyone? The Truth Behind The War On Terror
When will it stop? Of all the questions I would like answered, this one is the most pressing. How much longer are we meant to endure the incessant lies from government and media about the nature of what is happening in our world?...

Haditha and My Lai: Same Killer Dynamic
Kurt Nimmo In late November, 1969, Time, Life and Newsweek magazines reported extensively on the My Lai massacre, the premeditated murder of 500 civilians in the Quang Ngai Province of South Vietnam. In early 1970, as a young antiwar activist, I remember how this single event more than any other contributed significantly to turning millions of fence-sitting Americans against Nixon's illegal war and subsequently swelled the ranks of the antiwar movement.

War Making 101 - A User's Manual
I've lived through seven decades and can remember the late 1930s before WW II began. In fact, I began my formal education in kindergarten within days of when Hitler sent his Wehrmacht across the Polish border in an act of illegal aggression and began that near six year horror. I was too young to understand it then, and I can barely remember that fateful "first Pearl Harbor" on December 7, 1941. Franklin Roosevelt wanted in on that fight and did all he could to goad the Japanese to attack us. He knew with enough prodding they would, and when it came, we knew about when and where it would happen. We were ready to mobilize and join the battle, we did it, and nothing's been the same since.

Democratizing the World: One Torture Victim at a Time
Analysis of the Long, Repulsive History of the United States Inflicting Torture on Its "Suspected Enemies" (in Conjunction with a Review of A Question of Torture by Alfred W. McCoy)

God Forgive America
Instead of "God Bless America," we should put "God Forgive America" bumperstickers on our cars. Americans, as participants in horrendous war crimes, should ask for forgiveness. America is a killer nation-not only do we kill Iraqis and Afghans, but we are in the process of killing ourselves.

U.S. Military Murders 11 Iraqi Civilans (WARNING: Graphic Photos)
Uruknet - On the afternoon of March 14, Fayiz Harrat, 27 years, and his sister Fayiza, 35 years, were together in their home. Both were teachers in the only school in al-Siffa village near Samara...

Journalists blackmailed by Israeli embassy
Albawaba Recent reports claim that Israel's embassy in Mauritania is operating under directives from the Israeli secret security agency, the Mossad, in an attempt to recruit Mauritanian agents to work for Israel using blackmail and other threats.

Quote Of The Week
Speaking on CNN's 'Late Edition' Republican Senator and apologist for the phony war on terror, Pat Roberts discussed the NSA warrantless wiretapping

The US Gulag Prison System - The Shame Of The Nation and Crime Against Humanity
No, not the one you think, outrageous as it is. I'm referring to the US prison system that's with no exaggeration about as shockingly abusive as the gulag abroad. It qualifies for that label by its size alone - more than 2.1 million as of June, 2004 and growing larger by about 900 new inmates every week. Blacks (mostly poor and disadvantaged) especially are affected. While they make up just 12.3% of the population, they account for half the prison population, and their numbers there have grown fivefold in the last 25 years. Hispanics (also poor) account for another 15%.

Children of Abraham: Death in the Desert
What happened in the village of Abu Sif (Isahaqi), north of Baghdad, on Ides of March? The murk of war – the natural blur of unbuckled event, and its artificial augmentation by professional massagers – shrouds the details of the actual operation. But here is what we know.

Moussaoui - Mind Programmed Patsy
Zacarias Moussaoui has been in US custody for almost 5 years, yet only recently have US authorities seen fit to drag him out into the spotlight in the hope of manifesting their one and only 9/11 conviction and convincing the world of the truth of the official version of the 9/11 event.

Stunning Zacarias Moussaoui into Submission?
NBC news reporter Pete Williams speculates that the feds have rigged a defiant Zacarias Moussaoui with a stun belt, an "electro-shock" device, apparently part of a growing "shock technology" arsenal used by torturers in South Africa, China, and Lebanon. "Amnesty International is extremely concerned about the introduction by the prison authorities in the United States of America of a remote controlled electro-shock stun belt for use on prisoners in chain gangs, judicial hearings and transportation," the human rights organization declared in 1996. "Officers can use it to psychologically threaten a prisoner, and it appears designed to humiliate and degrade a prisoner… Data from other electro-shock weapons indicate that the high pulse 50,000 volt shocks lasting eight seconds at a time could result in longer term physical and mental injuries."

Anti-Semitism: Words have a meaning
Al Beck is a Swiss architect with a distant Syrian heritage. The reflection he sent to me on the use of the word "anti-Semitism" is very original and deserves to be shared. Silvia Cattori.

Denial; It's not just a river in Egypt
A lot of rubbish has been written lately about "religious faith". The fact is, there's a force that's more powerful than faith; the power of denial. America is drowning in denial. Most people would rather keep their heads stuck in the sand than face the disaster right before their eyes.  Congress just voted to spend another $92 billion for a war that nobody wants and, yet, we don't hear a whimper of protest from the people. They've raised the national debt to a whopping $9 trillion, every penny of which will be paid off by our children and their children's children. They'll be indentured servants until the end of time. Do the American people care? No way; a few soothing bromides from our doltish president and they're lulled back to sleep.

War as an Entertaining Sport
The U.S. is so often involved in armed conflicts, war is beginning to be seen as a sports event. For many Americans, starting with George W. Bush, the former owner of a baseball team, a war is a bit like a baseball or football game; the aim of this game is simply to be the strongest and to win. In doing so, the people are entertained and the media are occupied with subject matter to fill their pages and airtime. In the U.S., war is part of the entertainment industry.

Neocon Forever War Plan Creeps Forward
If you believe the line towed by the corporate media, a line manufactured in the deep recesses of the Pentagon, the United States stumbled into Iraq based on "intelligence failures." According to Vernon Loeb of the Washington Post, former CIA analyst and PNAC conspirator Reuel Marc Gerecht, writing under the pen name Edward G. Shirley, tells us the CIA has "grown intellectually dishonest" and the intelligence the agency produced is "often nearly worthless." Because of this, the neocons created the Office of Special Plans (OSP), managed by the Leo Strauss scholar Abram Shulsky, and offered up their own "intelligence," mostly gleaned from the overactive imagination of the convicted embezzler Ahmed Chalabi and the so-called "Iraqi chemical engineer" (and the brother of a top lieutenant of Chalabi) colorfully nicknamed Curveball. It is important to note that Chalabi's lies and fabrications were used by Shulsky's OSP-and subsequently fed to an eager shill, New York Times columnist Judith Miller, for wide dissemination-because a key tenet of the Straussian philosophy is the necessity of deception.

The War Prayer
By Mark Twain
It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country was up in arms, the war was on, in every breast burned the holy fire of patriotism; the drums were beating, the bands playing, the toy pistols popping, the bunched firecrackers hissing and spluttering; on every hand and far down the receding and fading spread of roofs and balconies a fluttering wilderness of flags flashed in the sun; daily the young volunteers marched down the wide avenue gay and fine in their new uniforms, the proud fathers and mothers and sisters and sweethearts cheering them with voices choked with happy emotion as they swung by; nightly the packed mass meetings listened, panting, to patriot oratory which stirred the deepest deeps of their hearts and which they interrupted at the briefest intervals with cyclones of applause, the tears running down their cheeks the while; in the churches the pasters preached devotion to flag and country and invoked the God of Battles, beseeching His aid in our good cause in outpouring of fervid eloquence which moved every listener. It was indeed a glad and gracious time, and the half-dozen rash spirits that ventured to disapprove of the war and cast doubt upon its righteousness straightway got such a stern and angry warning that for their personal safety's sake they quickly shrank out of sight and offended no more in that way.

Podcast: A conversation with Jean-Pierre Petit
Astrophysicist Jean-Pierre Petit learned to fly at 12, was scuba diving in the waters off Marseille long before it became a tourist sport, and was invited to study for a year at Princeton -- where he managed to get sent back to France after his first day for spending his lunch hour exploring the restricted and top secret areas dedicated to secret US military research. Whether it was his breach of security or his declaration to the director that the project wouldn't work that got him thrown out is left to speculation.

Israel Plans More Palestinian Suicide Attacks
The Israeli government claims that it is "expecting more Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade suicide attacks in the coming weeks", and with the Israeli government's uncanny ability to predict 'Palestinian suicide attacks', trumped only by Palestinian militant's ability to provide them...

Could Strange Seattle Killing Spree Be Connected To "Manchurian Candidate" Psy Ops Government Program?
Kyle Huff, 28, gunned down six with a Bushmaster rifle and then killed himself at a home on Capitol Hill after spray painting "NOW" on the doorstep. As the old saying goes, death comes in "threes" but last week the number changed to nine, as a rash of strange killings with undertones of "government psy ops hits" hidden between the lines hit news stands across the country...

The War Drums Are Getting Louder And Sounding A Clear Message
The way things are today, why on earth would the "big fool lunatics in charge" in Washington ever want another war or maybe two of them. Already they're "waist deep in the Big Muddy" in two out-of-control debacles in the Middle East and Central Asia, and the country is leaching multi-billions we don't have to pay for them. Despite this hopeless chaos, it looks almost certain we're now headed for a new one against another Middle East 4-letter country beginning with the letter "I", and may try to "double our displeasure" by including a "fracas in Caracas." I just learned about an "Operation Bilbao" which appears to be blueprint to overthrow the Chavez government and likely includes in it targeted assassinations starting with the guy in charge.

Bush's Insane and Criminal War against Iraq
George W. Bush was planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure 'regime change' in that country, even before he took power in January 2001. It was Bush's plan for the U.S. to take military control of the Middle East Gulf region, whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power in Iraq. In fact, presidential candidate Bush Jr. saw the political benefits of attacking Iraq as early as 1999, as has been confirmed by Bush's biographer, Mickey Herskowitz.

Utterly Laughable Comment Of The Week
You're gonna love this one. It really doesn't get any more tragi-comedic than this...

If we were being bombed and our journalists were being murdered here in the U.S. by a foreign country's military, we would hope that the people of that country would stop what they are doing and go to their president's office and demand that it was stopped. If we were the ones burying thousands and thousands of our family members and watching the destruction of the homes, schools, churches and offices that we had worked for decades to build, we would hope that someone, somewhere would care enough to do something for us. We must stop the criminals in our government NOW. There is no meeting with Congress that is going to change what they are doing. We must put the power of the people into action and stay there until they leave!

Inviting everyone to the White House for a protest rally to show that we do not accept the criminal government, illegal wars and the permanent occupation planned for Iraq and Afghanistan. For Nat Turner, For Martin and Coretta, For all the Torture and Assassination in Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti and many others - We will not allow the Slave Holders that Still Prevail in this Country to Rule us any longer. Imprisonment and torture based on race, religion, resources or region is no different than the slavery we sought to abolish years ago. The Administration is Criminal and if they will not step down, we must storm in, show them how many of us do not accept a criminal government. How can we stand by and watch them kill our brothers, sisters, journalists and friends for their dollars?

We are calling on all citizens and governments in every country to stand with us. We are calling on all Member Nations of the U.N.; All Representatives and Justices in the World Court and International Criminal Courts; All Human Rights Advocates; All Soldiers and CIA agents and government officials who have been blackmailed or are in fear of the dictators to join us in ending this reign of corporate terror in our government. The World Criminal Courts need to incarcerate Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld for admitted crimes and known crimes of international scope. The Political Cooperative will put a new, temporary government in place that is comprised of people from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and all the organizations that have finally made us aware of the truth of the savage practices and illegal policies of our government in assassinating our own officials as well as people throughout the world who oppose their criminal activity. We need all of you to save U.S. victims and global victims from their ongoing criminal activity. We are calling on the military, police, citizens and religious organizations to stand with us and help us to bring democracy back to the United States and by doing so, free the world from the wrath, occupation, theft, torture, blackmail and assassination by the Criminals in the United States Government. What they have done all over the world is much worse than what Saddam Hussein has done, so why are they not in jail too? They have admitted to international and national crimes, so why have they not been taken to Court too?


Location:
White House, Washington DC Starting March 15th, come for as long as you can and bring signs that say U.N. SOS and "Leave Now" or whatever you would like to say. Ride Share and Room Share Plans can be made HERE
1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington DC 20500

Contact:
Darrow Boggiano
admin@politicalcooperative.org

Sponsored By:
We are requesting participation from all members of the United Nations, PFAW, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Code Pink, police, soldiers, ACLU, CIA, NSA and International Courts of Justice/World Court. http://www.PoliticalCooperative.Org

For most of his life Mr. Sekzer was a patriot straight out of central casting. His view was always "If the bugle calls, you go." When he was 21 he was a gunner on a helicopter in Vietnam. He didn't question his country's motives. He was more than willing to place his trust in the leadership of the nation he loved.

"Why We Fight," a thoughtful, first-rate movie directed by Eugene Jarecki, is largely about how misplaced that trust has become. The central figure in the film is not Mr. Jarecki, but Dwight Eisenhower, the Republican president who had been the supreme Allied commander in Europe in World War II, and who famously warned us at the end of his second term about the profound danger inherent in the rise of the military-industrial complex.

Ike warned us, but we didn't listen. That's the theme the movie explores.

Eisenhower delivered his farewell address to a national television and radio audience in January 1961. "This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience," he said. He recognized that this development was essential to the defense of the nation. But he warned that "we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications."

"The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist," he said. "We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes." It was as if this president, who understood war as well or better than any American who ever lived, were somehow able to peer into the future and see the tail of the military-industrial complex wagging the dog of American life, with inevitably disastrous consequences.

The endless billions to be reaped from the horrors of war are a perennial incentive to invest in the war machine and to keep those wars a-coming. "His words have unfortunately come true," says Senator John McCain in the film. "He was worried that priorities are set by what benefits corporations as opposed to what benefits the country."

The way you keep the wars coming is to keep the populace in a state of perpetual fear. That allows you to continue the insane feeding of the military-industrial complex at the expense of the rest of the nation's needs. "Before long," said Mr. Jarecki in an interview, "the military ends up so overempowered that the rest of your national life has been allowed to atrophy."

In one of the great deceptive maneuvers in U.S. history, the military-industrial complex (with George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as chairman and C.E.O., respectively) took its eye off the real enemy in Afghanistan and launched the pointless but far more remunerative war in Iraq.

If you want to get a chill, just consider the tragic chaos in present-day Iraq (seven G.I.'s were killed on the day I went to see "Why We Fight") and then listen to Susan Eisenhower in the film recalling a quotation attributed to her grandfather: "God help this country when somebody sits at this desk who doesn't know as much about the military as I do."

The military-industrial complex has become so pervasive that it is now, as one of the figures in the movie notes, all but invisible. Its missions and priorities are poorly understood by most Americans, and frequently counter to their interests.

Near the end of the movie, Mr. Sekzer, the New York cop who lost his son on Sept. 11, describes his reaction to President Bush's belated acknowledgment that "we've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved" in the Sept. 11 attacks.

"What the hell did we go in there for?" Mr. Sekzer asks.

Unable to hide his bitterness, he says: "The government exploited my feelings of patriotism, of a deep desire for revenge for what happened to my son. But I was so insane with wanting to get even, I was willing to believe anything."

© 2006 The New York Times

McEwan on the afterlife
P.Z.Myers
Pharyngula
Seed sent me a copy of this book, What We Believe but Cannot Prove : Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty, and I've been browsing. It's a collection of short essays (sometimes very short) on assumptions held by individual thinkers without solid evidence. It's thought-provoking, even where I think the writer is a dingbat (Ray Kurzweil) or blithering banalities (Kevin Kelly). I rather liked Brian Goodwin's essay on the fallacy of the nature-nurture problem, but so far, my favorite is one by the author Ian McEwan:

"I continue trying to improve myself as a teacher," he said, adding he would still seek to make his students "think critically."

Disciplinary action was taken against the teacher, though Superintendent Monte Moses declined to provide details. Bennish did not lose any of his salary, his attorney said.

In his lecture during a geography class last month - which student Sean Allen recorded and then made public - Bennish compared President Bush to Adolf Hitler, criticized U.S. foreign policy and said capitalism is "at odds with human rights."

Allen, who appeared Friday on the Dan Caplis and Craig Silverman radio show on KHOW- AM 630, said he was satisfied with the outcome.

"I never wanted him fired," Allen said. "I just wanted him to go back to teaching geography. Hopefully, he won't be teaching the things he previously taught."

Moses said the lecture - which the superintendent thought did not present both sides of the arguments - was a "breach" of district policy. The incident, Moses said, would be discussed among principals and teachers throughout the district.

Some think Mr. Bennish should be fired. Others think he should be praised," Moses said. "In my judgment, the answer is neither. Jay Bennish has promise as a teacher, but his practice and deportment need growth and refinement."

The recording made both Bennish and Allen targets of threats and Internet fodder for liberals and conservatives nationwide over the freedoms that teachers should have in their classrooms. The debate dominated airwaves on talk-radio stations and on cable news.

Even the president weighed in.

At a news conference Friday, President Bush said he thought "people should be allowed to criticize me all they want, and they do."

"Look, there are some certain basic freedoms that we've got to protect," the president said. "The freedom of people to express themselves must be protected."

But teachers in public schools have much less freedom to express their opinions than do university teachers.

A federal appeals court concluded in a 1991 case that teachers do not have a constitutional right to academic freedom. And because teachers are viewed as agents of their school districts, district officials have discretion to decide how far teachers can go with controversial topics.

Since making the classroom recording public, Allen has not returned to his school, though Bennish said Friday that he would "love to have him back in my class."

Allen said he would not return to Overland and planned to enroll at Cherry Creek High School.

Allen and his parents contended that they never wanted Bennish to lose his job over the lecture. During his radio interview, Allen said he was "confident that the decision ... has been investigated for all sides and is the right decision."

News of Bennish's reinstatement raced through Overland via cellphone calls and text messages. Many students said they were happy that Bennish would be back in his classroom. "What makes him cool is exactly what you hear on that recording," said Nerov Rovner, a sophomore who had one of Bennish's geography classes last year. " He says things that will make you think."

Sophomore Noah Perlmutter, who also had Bennish's class last semester, said he was happy other students could experience a class with the teacher.

"It's good to know he'll be able to influence incoming students like he did me," he said.

Inside Overland, science teacher Marilyn Kemp said she trusted the district's decision about her co-worker.

"I'm sure they made the fairest decision they could," she said. "I'm glad to have him back."

For his part, Allen said he would continue to "feel the consequences, both negative and positive, for a long, long time."

Still, he said: "I would do it a million times over. It was the right thing to do."

The House Republicans’ campaign operation is charging that a recently released Democratic report on Republican corruption violated ethics rules.

The 103-page report, “America for Sale: The Cost of Republican Corruption,” was compiled by the Democratic staff of the House Rules Committee and released by the panel’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Louise Slaughter (N.Y.), last week.

The report reiterates repeats many of Democrats’ long-held concerns about Republicans’ actions on healthcare, energy, the environment, homeland security and Hurricane Katrina.

As a lobbyist in 2003 and 2004, Mr. Thune earned $220,000 from the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad, a small but ambitious company in South Dakota. The railroad hopes to rebuild and rehabilitate 1,300 miles of track, the nation's largest proposed railroad expansion in more than a century.

Now, as a junior senator from South Dakota, Mr. Thune is working to make that happen, raising questions about whether there should be curbs on lobbyists-turned-lawmakers in the same way that there are on those who take the more traditional route of leaving Capitol Hill for K Street.

Last year, his first in the Senate, Mr. Thune wrote language into a transportation bill expanding the pot of federal loan money for small railroads, enabling his former client to apply for $2.5 billion in government financing for its project. The loan has yet to be approved; Mr. Thune said he was trying to promote economic development in his home state.

"I don't apologize, and never will," said Mr. Thune, a Republican, "for working for South Dakota companies that are creating South Dakota jobs."

There are no legal restrictions on the legislative activities of former lobbyists who get elected to Congress. But in the wake of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and the subsequent focus on ethics, Mr. Thune's experience has put a spotlight on what some experts call "the reverse revolving door."

The issue is among those likely to be debated on Tuesday, when the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration meets to draft changes to the lobbying law. Senator Mark Dayton, Democrat of Minnesota and a member of the rules committee, is furious with Mr. Thune over the rail project, and intends to propose language imposing a two-year ban on lawmakers' getting "personally and substantially" involved in matters affecting former clients.

"This makes some of the Jack Abramoff deals look like penny ante," said Mr. Dayton, who has a prominent constituent, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., that is fighting the rail expansion. "It's the most despicable special-interest deal I've ever seen in all my 30 years in government."

Independent experts do not go that far, and Mr. Thune, a former House member and former South Dakota state railroad director, has a long history with railroad issues. Yet some outside experts agree with Mr. Dayton that a cooling-off period for former lobbyists is necessary.

Currently, lawmakers and Congressional aides are barred from lobbying former colleagues on Capitol Hill for one year after leaving public office. On Tuesday, Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi and the chairman of the rules committee, is expected to propose legislation that would go further, rescinding House and Senate floor privileges for former lawmakers who become registered lobbyists.

Mr. Lott's bill does not address the issue of lobbyists who get elected to Congress. But Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a government watchdog group, said lobbyists-turned-lawmakers should step aside from legislation involving former clients.

And James Thurber, an expert in money and politics at American University in Washington who has testified before the rules panel, said candidates should not lobby for a year before Election Day.

"If they're going to be running for the Senate or the House they should not be lobbying right up to the election," Professor Thurber said, adding: "The conflict of interest is too serious. In a representative democracy, you have to be very careful about cutting off the linkages to specialized interests while you're in office, as well as just before you get in office and after you leave."

According to public records and a list compiled by Professor Thurber, at least eight current members of Congress worked as lobbyists before being elected. Some, like Mr. Thune and Representative Dan Lungren, Republican of California, became lobbyists during a hiatus in public service.

Mr. Lungren, a former House member and California attorney general, worked as a lobbyist from the late 1990's until he returned to the House in 2005. Mr. Thune, who retired from the House in 2002, began lobbying after he lost his bid for a Senate seat that year. He continued through 2004, when he ran again and won.

His one-man company, the Thune Group, which he operated out of his Sioux Falls home, had just four clients, all with South Dakota connections; they included a boneless-beef manufacturer, a company that builds ethanol plants and a major hospital in Sioux Falls. He was also affiliated with a Washington-based law firm, Arent Fox, representing a recycling facility and the National Milk Producers Federation.

Others have had far more extensive client lists. Representative Doris Matsui, Democrat of California, represented dozens of clients - including agricultural associations, a pharmaceutical business and Verizon, the telephone company - while her late husband, Robert, was serving in Congress. She was elected to fill his seat when he died.

Still others, like Senators Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee, and Robert F. Bennett, Republican of Utah, have not lobbied for years. Mr. Bennett opened the Washington office of the J.C. Penney Company in the 1960's, he said, back in the days "when lobbyists didn't earn as much as members."

Mr. Bennett said he saw nothing wrong with Mr. Thune's work; he said lobbyists often had expertise that could translate into good public policy.

"I left Penney's in 1969 to join the Nixon administration and I didn't come to the Senate until 1992, but I brought with me a residual understanding of retailing and retailing issues," Mr. Bennett said. "That expertise was helpful, and I did some things, frankly, that were helpful to the J.C. Penney Company. If it's good public policy, the fact that I brought that experience and expertise with me probably contributed to it."

That is precisely Mr. Thune's argument.

As the railroad's lobbyist, he helped Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern obtain a $230 million loan from the Federal Railroad Administration. The company president, Kevin V. Schieffer - a former chief of staff to a previous South Dakota senator, Larry Pressler - said that Mr. Thune had "real bona fide rail industry experience," and that he did not see any conflict.

"He got his last check from us a long time ago," Mr. Schieffer said.

Mr. Thune said the work convinced him that the same loan program could finance the big rail expansion, intended to transport so-called "clean-burning coal" from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to the East Coast. Mr. Thune said the project was in keeping with President Bush's energy policy and would also create thousands of jobs in South Dakota.

The trouble was, the loan program was too small - just $3.5 billion all told, with $1 billion for smaller railroads like the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern. So Mr. Thune, drawing on existing legislation that was stalled, proposed increasing it to $35 billion, with $7 billion for small railroads. Although the Senate initially passed a lesser amount, Mr. Thune persuaded colleagues to include the full $35 billion when the transportation bill went to conference with the House.

Mr. Dayton, who once co-sponsored a similar bill but now says that doing so was a mistake, calls the loan provision a "totally irresponsible boondoggle." Mr. Thune says that everything was done in the open, and that his constituents elected him knowing exactly whom he had worked for, and how much he was paid.

"If you start banning elected officials from using their working knowledge on behalf of constituents," he said, "I think it would greatly erode our representative form of government."

The Bush administration and Pentagon have stated repeatedly there is no timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and a U.S. military spokesman repeated that on Saturday.

"We've made no such plans," said Pentagon spokesman Major Paul Swiergosz.

There are currently about 135,000 U.S. soldiers and Marines and about 8,500 British troops in Iraq. The full U.S.-led coalition numbers around 160,000. Italy, which has the fourth largest contingent in Iraq, has said it plans to pull out this year.

Britain's Sunday Mirror newspaper also reported on the planned withdrawal saying it would happen within 12 months.

U.S. and Iraqi officials have said frequently in the past that foreign troops will be gradually withdrawn from Iraq once Iraqi security forces are capable of guaranteeing security for the 27 million population.

U.S. and British troops have trained 230,000 Iraqis to take on roles in the police force and a slowly expanding Iraqi army, although both are currently incapable of securing the country on their own.

The U.S. military withdrew around 15,000 troops after Iraq had successful elections in December for its first full-term parliament since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Tensions in Iraq have soared over the past two weeks as fighting between the country's main Muslim sects has intensified.

There is also an on-going two-year-old insurgency being waged by militants against the U.S.-backed Iraqi government, its security forces and foreign troops.

The recent sectarian violence has provoked fears that the country is on the brink of civil war, a scenario that could greatly complicate the role of foreign troops.

However, the Telegraph, quoting a defense official, said that if civil war were to break out, it would likely cause the withdrawal plan to be put off.

"By the time you get to year six, there's never a break . . . and you get tired," said Ed Rollins, who served five years in President Ronald Reagan's White House. "There's always a crisis. It wears you down. This has been a White House that hasn't really had much change at all. There is a fatigue factor that builds up. You sometimes don't see the crisis approaching. You're not as on guard as you once were."

To Rollins, the uproar over an Arab-owned firm taking over management of some American ports represents a classic example. Bush and his staff did not know about the arrangement approved by his administration, and after congressional Republicans revolted, issued an ineffective veto threat that only exacerbated the dispute, which climaxed with the collapse of the deal last week. "This White House would not have made this mistake two years ago," Rollins said.

Bush's problems go beyond the fatigue factor. An unpopular foreign war, high energy prices and the nation's worst natural disaster in decades have dragged his poll ratings down to the lowest level of any second-term president, other than Richard M. Nixon, in the last half-century. Lately it seems to many in the White House that they cannot catch a break -- insurgents blow up a holy shrine in Iraq, tipping the country toward civil war; Vice President Cheney accidentally shoots a hunting partner; a former top Bush adviser is arrested on theft charges.

But at a time when Bush needs his staff to be sharp to help steer past these political shoals and find ways to turn things around, he still has the same core group working since he turned his sights toward the White House. That group includes Card, deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, senior adviser Michael J. Gerson, counselor Dan Bartlett, budget director Joshua B. Bolten, press secretary Scott McClellan and national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley.

The succession of crisis after crisis has taken its toll. Some in the White House sound frazzled. While there are few stories of aides nodding off in meetings, some duck outside during the day so the fresh air will wake them up. "We're all burned out," said one White House official who did not want to be named for fear of angering superiors. "People are just tired."

White House officials are never genuinely away from the job. Tied to their BlackBerrys and cellular telephones, they are often called to duty even during rare vacations. Weekends are often just another workday. Hadley, for one, schedules a full day of meetings every Saturday. Card comes to the White House on days off to go bicycle riding with Bush.

While other professions demand 14-hour days and six- or seven-day weeks, few involve as much consequence, much less the intense scrutiny of the Internet age. A former Bush aide said, "You don't really realize until you're gone" just how exhausting it really is.

For the record, White House officials reject the suggestion that exhaustion has dulled their political instincts or contributed to the spate of trouble. "People work very, very hard," said White House communications director Nicolle Wallace, and "I'd be lying to say that there aren't some people on some days" who are weary. But "the other side of being here six years is incredible wisdom and steadiness and experience." Moreover, she added, "there's been enough turnover that there's new energy."

Any discussion of the fatigue factor in Republican circles invariably turns to Card, a low-key, self-effacing and well-liked Washington veteran who has been managing Bush's White House team since three weeks after the November 2000 election. Card brought considerable experience to the task, having worked in the Reagan White House, then serving President George H.W. Bush as deputy White House chief of staff and later transportation secretary.

In his current role, Card has proved to be a marathon man, capable of enduring the most brutal hours in perhaps the most brutal job in Washington for longer than anyone in modern times. Only one other person has served as White House chief of staff longer, Sherman Adams, the top aide to President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a far less frenetic, wired era. And if Card makes it to Nov. 1, he will surpass Adams's record, according to the Eisenhower library.

Card retains enormous respect inside and outside the White House, but some Republicans whisper about his judgment in the ill-fated selection of Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court and the handling of Hurricane Katrina, to name two examples. Card declined to be interviewed, but has publicly dismissed concerns that his schedule has sapped his energy.

"All my life I have worked kind of this schedule," he told C-SPAN last fall. "When I was in college, I delivered newspapers early in the morning and worked at McDonald's late at night. So even when I was in high school, I would get up in the morning and get the newspapers ready for the paper boys early in the morning. So I've had this kind of lifestyle of early-to-bed and early-to-rise -- and so far seem to be doing pretty well."

Speculation among Republicans that Card would leave at the beginning of the year proved false or premature. Bush has resisted emulating Reagan, who brought in a fresh team led by Howard H. Baker Jr. when his second term was threatened by the Iran-contra scandal. Reagan and Clinton accepted Washington figures outside their own circles, and each had four chiefs of staff during their tenures. Bush emphasizes loyalty and surrounds himself mainly with people he knows.

Many Republicans were struck by the relative lack of ambition of Bush's State of the Union address, a program including alternative energy research, science education funding and health care tax breaks but nothing of the scope of last year's plan to reinvent Social Security. But some saw that as a reasonable response to the death of the Social Security effort, a recognition that it would be hard to enact dramatic domestic initiatives in a time of war. Others wondered if the White House was running out of ideas.

Grover G. Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform and an adviser to Rove, said he thinks the situation owes not to fatigue but to political realism at the White House. "What they don't have are unreasonable expectations of what can be moved through Congress," he said. "It's not a question of coming up with new ideas. Sometimes you just don't have the votes."

Mr Blair staunchly defended his policy on Iraq - which Australia's conservative PM John Howard supported - saying: "If the going gets tough, we tough it out."

And he repeated his call for a global struggle of ideas and values against the worldwide threat of Islamic terrorism, stressing the importance of international alliances. He also used the speech to signal a fresh bid to revive the Middle East peace process after the Israeli elections on April 9 - an issue he is expected to tackle in America next month.

"The reality is that none of the problems that press in on us can be resolved or even contemplated without them.

"Our task is to ensure that with them we do not limit the agenda to security. If our security lies in our values, and our values are about justice and fairness as well as freedom from fear, then the agenda must be more than security and the alliance include more than America."

He added: "Once the Israeli election has taken place, we must redouble our efforts to find a way to the only solution that works - a secure state of Israel and a viable, independent Palestinian state."

Mr Blair again stressed his belief that democracy and human rights should not be assigned as western values, saying: "To win we have to win the battle of valued as much as arms, we have to show these are not western still less American or Anglo-Saxon values, but values in the common ownership of humanity, universal values that should be the right of the global citizen - this is the challenge.

"Ranged against us are the people who hate us, but beyond them are many more who don't hate us but question our motives, our good faith, our even-handedness, who could support our values but believe we support them selectively.

"These are the people we have to persuade.

"They have to know this is about justice and fairness as well as security and prosperity. And in truth, there is no prosperity without security and no security without justice.

"That is the consequence of an interconnected world - that is why we cannot say we are an open society and close our markets to the trade justice the poorest of the world demand."

On Iraq, Mr Blair told the parliament: "I know the Iraq war split this nation as it did mine, and I have never disrespected those who disagreed with me over it."

But he warned: "We must not hesitate in the face of a battle utterly decisive in whether the values we believe in triumph or fail.

"If the going is tough, we tough it out. This is not a time to walk away. This is a time for the courage to see it through."

Before addressing the parliament, Mr Blair was welcomed to the Australian capital with a 19-gun salute and inspected a guard of honour outside the legislature.

Later, the prime minister, accompanied by Mr Howard, was going on to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier and visit an exhibition commemorating the Australian contribution to the world wars.

Tomorrow he will have official talks with Mr Howard, before the two host a joint press conference.

The plan, which Mr. Bolton is to present before the House International Relations Committee, has circulated privately and infuriated China and Russia, whose dues would rise, while the obligations of the United States, Japan and major European countries would decline.

"Obviously, when any country's contribution goes up, that is not going to be popular," Mr. Bolton said in an interview on Tuesday.

"But the real question is, will the U.N. step out of an antiquated system that it is using now and use something that in the best judgment of most contemporary economists in the international field is a better method," he said.

That method, known by economists as purchasing power parity, or P.P.P., would determine a nation's ability to pay under a system that measures comparative standards of living, rather than using the existing method of basing contributions on gross national products.

"The real issue in calculating the scale of assessments is how you evaluate the strength, the size of economies that are in very different circumstances, with currencies which are often not directly convertible, and that have official exchange rates which are not reflective of the actual size and strength of the economy," Mr. Bolton said.

Mark Groombridge, an economic counselor at the United States mission, said he ran into fierce opposition from China, Russia, India and some developing countries when he discussed the proposal before the General Assembly's budget committee on Monday. "It is fair to say that the U.S. was subject to intense questioning and scrutiny on the matter," he said.

Mr. Bolton said the opponents argued that the collection of data was incomplete and imperfect, but he said that the same was true of the current system.

According to International Monetary Fund figures, the P.P.P. calculation would result in China's gross domestic product rising from its current position of 7th in the world to 2nd, and Russia's from 16th to 10th. India would go from 12th to 4th.

Japan has suggested its own reform plan, which has also drawn opposition from Beijing and Moscow because it would call for a minimum rate of 3 to 5 percent of the United Nations budget for the five permanent members of the Security Council.

The United States, which pays 22 percent, would be unaffected. So would Britain at 6.1 percent and France at 6 percent. But China's current rate is 2.1 and Russia's is 1.1 percent.

Japan, which is the second highest contributor at 19.5 percent, has seen its ambitions to become a permanent member thwarted this year, at least in part because of opposition by China.

New calculations of assessments are made every three years, and the current one is to be decided this summer by a panel of experts and sent to the General Assembly for adoption.

Mr. Bolton said the United States was prepared to "cushion" the effect on countries whose dues would rise the most by phasing them in over a three-to-five-year period. "That certainly eases the burden," he said. "We're prepared to take mitigating factors into account."

The United States estimates that its portion of the $1.9 billion budget would decline from 22 percent to 21.5 percent under its plan, a change that Mr. Bolton argued was so slight that it undermined claims that the American plan was devised to benefit Washington.

"That's why nobody can say we have an ulterior motive with respect to the United States in this," he said. "We think we have a reform that is consistent with the idea of advancing the ideals of all member governments. Member governments should really be assessed in accordance with their real world economic capacity."

He added: "The point about purchasing power parity is that it's not an effort to put the U.S. in a better position or to put somebody else in a worse position. It's an effort to say, 'How do we really capture the strength of economies in the real world, how do we find a better way to reflect that reality in setting the U.N. assessment rate?' "

"We're uniting behind a national security agenda that is tough and smart and will provide the real security
George Bush has promised but failed to deliver," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday.

His counterpart in the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said the Democrats are offering a new direction - "one that is strong and smart, which understands the challenges America faces in a post 9/11 world, and one that demonstrates that Democrats are the party of real national security."

The latest in a series of party policy statements for 2006, the Democrats' national security platform comes seven months before voters decide who will control the House and Senate and as Democrats seek to cut into the public perception that the Republicans are stronger on national security.

Bush's job approval ratings are in the mid- to high-30s, and Democrats consistently have about a 10-point lead over Republicans when people are asked who they want to see in control of Congress.

With the public skeptical of the Iraq war and Republicans and Democrats alike questioning Bush's war policies, Democrats aim to force Republicans to distance themselves from Bush on Iraq and national security or rubber-stamp what Democrats contend is a failed policy.

"The Democrats are going to take back the security issue," said Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Republicans have vowed not to let that happen. They characterized the Democrats' platform as tough election-year talk that isn't backed up by the party's record.

"This is more of the same from the party that opposes this president's effort to keep our country safe," said Tracey Schmitt, a
Republican National Committee spokeswoman. "The bottom line is while this president campaigns against the terrorists, Democrats remain focused on campaigning against this president."

Overall, the Democratic position paper attempts to make the case that the Bush administration's "inadequate planning and incompetent policies have failed to make Americas as safe as we should be."

It covers party policy positions on homeland security, the war on terror, the military, Iraq and energy security, but it contains many of the same proposals Democrats have offered over the past year.

The platform also lacks specific details of how Democrats plan to capture bin Laden, the al-Qaida mastermind who has evaded U.S. forces in the more than four years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

For months, House and Senate Democrats have tried to craft a comprehensive position on national security, but they have splintered, primarily over Iraq.

Republicans have sought to use that division to their own political advantage, claiming that Democrats simply attack the president and his fellow Republicans without presenting proposals of their own.

Abramoff, 47, and Adam Kidan, 41, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud.

They won't start their sentences for at least 90 days so they can continue cooperating in a Washington corruption investigation and a Florida probe into the murder of Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, owner of the SunCruz Casinos fleet they bought.

In court, Abramoff said the case was "incredibly painful" for himself, his family and his friends.

"In the past few years I have begun the process of becoming a new man," he said.

Wearing a dark suit and tan, baseball-style cap, Abramoff arrived at the courthouse several hours early, avoiding the media. He and his lawyers did not speak to reporters as they left the courthouse.

Before the hearing, more than 260 people -- including rabbis, military officers and even a professional hockey referee -- wrote letters on his behalf asking the federal judge for leniency.

The letters put a new spin on the foibles and crimes of a man who became the face of Washington's latest corruption scandal.

"Jack is a good person, who in his quest to be successful, lost sight of the rules," National Hockey League referee Dave Jackson wrote, describing the time Abramoff brought 14 youngsters to his dressing room before a game.

Kidan, in his own letter to the judge, said he knew the SunCruz deal was wrong but said he "was very caught up in the fast paced world of my partner and the high profile that came along with it." He added, "I am not the horrible person that the media has written about."

The two admitted concocting a fake $23 million wire transfer to make it appear they had made a large cash contribution to the $147.5 million SunCruz purchase. Based on that fake transfer, lenders provided the pair with $60 million in financing.

The same week Abramoff pleaded guilty to the SunCruz fraud, he entered guilty pleas to three federal charges as part of a wide-ranging corruption probe that could involve up to 20 members of Congress and aides, including former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican.

No sentencing date has been set in that case.

Abramoff and Kidan are expected to give statements in the investigation into the February 6, 2001, slaying of Boulis, who was gunned down at the wheel of his car amid a power struggle over the gambling fleet.

Meanwhile, three men face murder charges, including one who worked for Kidan as a consultant at SunCruz and who allegedly has ties to New York's Gambino crime family.

Both Abramoff and Kidan have repeatedly denied any role in or knowledge of the Boulis murder.

But prosecutors say Kidan has not been ruled out as a suspect and defense attorneys say Abramoff could provide critical inside information about the dispute with Boulis, who also founded the Miami Subs restaurant chain.

Ultimately, cooperation in those investigations could reduce Abramoff's and Kidan's sentences.

Feingold's censure resolution has rallied the support of a number of liberal groups, but it has also galvanized conservatives in support of the embattled war-time president.

Republicans have dismissed the resolution as a political stunt, while many Democrats have distanced themselves from it as they jockey for position for the November congressional elections.

So far, just two of Feingold's 43 fellow Senate Democrats, Tom Harkin of Iowa and Barbara Boxer of California, have co-sponsored his resolution.

Warren Buffett, sometimes thought of as America's greatest capitalist, said he was buying stocks of companies that do business elsewhere . . .

Bush said the 1998 court decision "should not be the end of the story," and said the legislation he offered to Congress was crafted in a way to satisfy the court's concerns.

"By passing this version of the line-item veto, the administration will work with the Congress to reduce wasteful spending, reduce the budget deficit and ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, said he would introduce the bill.

In striking down the Clinton-era line-item veto by a vote of 6-3, the Supreme Court said Congress was not authorized under the Constitution to hand the president that power.

The White House said its proposal would differ from that 1996 law, which allowed the president to reject specific spending items after a bill was passed by Congress.

Under the Bush proposal, the president would propose getting rid of items he considered wasteful and then send the package back to Congress. Congress would have 10 days to hold an up or down vote on the package of proposed changes.

"With this proposal, I think the responsibilities of the two branches would be well balanced in that the president would have the ability to line out an item, but only with the approval of a majority of Congress," White House budget director Joshua Bolten said.

Democrats, who have criticized Bush's tax cuts as fiscally reckless, said a line-item veto was no panacea for deficits.

"The Bush administration has spent us into record deficits and piled mountains of debt onto our children," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said. But she added, "budget experts agree that the line-item veto would do little to control deficits."

The bank, which still dominates the Syrian market although private banks have been allowed to set up in the last few years, has also stopped dealing with dollars in the international foreign exchange flows of private clients.

The United States has been at the forefront of international pressure on Syria for its alleged role in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri a year ago. Damascus denies involvement in the killing.

"It looks like a kind of pre-emptive action aimed at making their foreign assets safer, preventing them from getting frozen in case of any conflict," said a Middle East economist who requested anonymity.

His 50 billion dollar fortune marked an increase of 3.5 billion dollars from the 2005 Forbes list.

The magazine said strong markets around the world contributed to the surge in wealth, as the total net worth of the list jumped to 2.6 trillion dollars -- more than the annual GDP of Germany.

"Making a billion just isn't what it used to be," observed Forbes Associate Editor Luisa Kroll, who noted that the number of billionaires had grown by more than 300 in the past three years.

While US names accounted for nearly half the fortunes on the roster, this year's ranking was notable for the influx of newcomers from Brazil, India, Russia and other emerging economies.

Oil baron and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich jumped 10 places to 11th in the global ranking with a nest egg of 18.2 billion dollars.

"Why is the list growing? The answer is an obvious one -- the global economy is growing," said Forbes editor-in-chief
Steve Forbes.

"In the last few years the global economy has grown at rates not seen since the end of World War II. It is phenomenal and it's been fuelled by a commodities boom," Forbes said.

The summit of the cash mountain had a familiar look with Gates followed by investment wizard and perennial runner-up,
Warren Buffett, with a 42-billion-dollar fortune. Buffett's pile has fallen by two billion dollars, however.

Mexican telecom magnate Carlos Slim jumped a place to third with 30 billion dollars, while Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad of Sweden moved up two spots to fourth with 28 billion dollars.

Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal dropped two places to fifth with 23.5 billion dollars -- down 1.5 billion dollars.

Newcomers to the top 10 chart included the French luxury retailer Bernard Arnault who made seventh spot with 21.5 billion dollars, and Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing in 10th place with 18.8 billion dollars.

Hind Hariri, the 22-year-old daughter of slain Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, beat out Germany's Prince Albert von Thurn und Taxis by eight months for the title of the world's youngest billionaire.

At the other end of the age spectrum was American John Simplot, 96, who made his fortune processing potatoes.

Thirty-nine people fell off the Forbes list, victims of market forces, dubious ethics and, in 11 cases, death.

Notable disappearances included US lifestyle guru
Martha Stewart, who debuted on the list last year despite serving a five-month prison term, and then found that freedom doesn't pay as her net worth declined to 500 million dollars after her release.

The 2006 roster counted billionaires from 49 countries, with the Czech Republic making its first appearance, and New Zealand and Lebanon both returning after an absence of several years.

The United States boasted 371 names on the list with a collective net worth of 1.1 trillion dollars, while Europe's 196 billionaires enjoyed combined wealth of 802 billion dollars.

Europe's rising star was Russia, with 33 names including seven new faces.

"Russia continues to astound," said Kroll. "For a long time there were questions about where they got their money ... but now the story is just the enormous wealth that is being created from strong commodities markets there."

In the Asia-Pacific region -- home to 115 billionaires -- the standout was India which added 10 new faces to total 23 on the list with a combined worth of 99 billion dollars, 60 percent more than last year.

China saw its presence in the rankings grow from just two billionaires last year to eight.

Of the 793 who made the global list, 452 were self-made billionaires.

The number of women increased by 10 from the previous year to 78 and included US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey who pulled in an extra 100 million dollars over the year to rank 562nd overal with 1.4 billion dollars.

New York has the highest number of resident billionaires with 40, Moscow is second with 25 and London third with 23.

The measure allows the government to pay for the war in Iraq and finance Medicare and other big federal programs without raising taxes. It passed hours before the House was expected to approve another $91 billion to fund the war in Iraq and provide more aid to hurricane victims.

The partisan vote also came as the Senate continued debate on a $2.8 trillion budget blueprint for the upcoming fiscal year that would produce a $359 billion deficit for the fiscal year beginning October 1.

The debt limit will increase by $781 billion. It's the fourth such move -- increasing the debt limit by a total of $3 trillion -- since Bush took office five years ago.

The vote came a day after Treasury Secretary John Snow warned lawmakers that action was "critical to provide certainty to financial markets that the integrity of the obligations of the United States will not be compromised."

On Thursday, Treasury postponed next week's auction of three-month and six-month bills pending Senate action, though the move was likely to be quickly reversed given the Senate's vote.

The present limit on the debt is $8.2 trillion. With the budget deficit expected to approach $400 billion for both this year and next, another increase in the debt limit will almost certainly be required next year.

The debt limit increase is an unhappy necessity -- the alternative would be a disastrous first-ever default on U.S. obligations -- that greatly overshadowed a mostly symbolic,
weeklong debate on the GOP's budget resolution.

Democrats blast Bush

Democrats blasted the bill, saying it was needed because of fiscal mismanagement by Bush, who came to office when the government was running record surpluses.

"When it comes to deficits, this president owns all the records," said Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada. "The three largest deficits in our nation's history have all occurred under this administration's watch."

Only a handful of Republicans spoke in favor of the measure as a mostly empty Senate chamber conducted a brief debate Wednesday evening.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Bush's tax cuts account for just 30 percent of the debt limit increases required during his presidency. Revenue losses from a recession and new spending to combat terrorism and for the war in Iraq are also responsible, he said.

As for the $781 billion increase in the debt limit, Grassley said: "It is necessary to preserve the full faith and credit of the federal government."

Before approving the bill, Republicans rejected by a 55-44 vote an amendment by Max Baucus, D-Montana, to mandate a Treasury study on the economic consequences of foreigners holding an increasing portion of the U.S. debt.

At present, foreign countries, central banks and other institutions hold more than one-fourth of the debt, but that percentage is growing rapidly.

Following the debt limit vote Thursday, the Senate was expected to vote late in the day on the budget plan, a nonbinding measure proposing tax and spending guidelines for the next five years.

Specter seeks spending increases

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania, appears poised to win an increase of $7 billion in new and real funding for education and health research. The $7 billion would effectively be used to break Bush's $873 billion budget cap for 2007, which represents the most significant vestige of fiscal discipline remaining in Senate Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg's budget.

The underlying Senate budget plan is notable chiefly for dropping Bush's proposed cuts to Medicare and for abandoning his efforts to expand health savings accounts or pass legislation to make permanent his 2001 tax cut bill.

Unlike last year, when Congress passed a bill trimming $39 billion from the deficit through curbs to Medicaid, Medicare and student loan subsidies, Senate GOP leaders have abandoned plans to pass another round of cuts to so-called mandatory programs.

But Gregg's measure re-ignites last year's battle over allowing oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, since it would let Senate leaders bring an ANWR drilling measure to the floor under rules blocking a filibuster by opponents.

Still to come is a Senate fight over whether to scrap a controversial budget provision aimed at opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

In debate on Tuesday, the Senate agreed to put back $3 billion into Pentagon accounts that was taken out of Bush's budget request by the Senate Budget Committee. The higher funding would be offset by reducing travel and administrative accounts of several agencies, including the Pentagon's.

Bush had requested $439.3 billion in his defense budget for next year. That does not include $67 billion in emergency funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to approve this week.

The Republican-backed budget plan would cap spending next year at $873 billion on "discretionary" programs that Congress must renew each year. That's about $30 billion above this year. But the measure does nothing in this congressional election year to rein in the rapid growth of popular "mandatory" programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.

Robert Reischauer, a former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office who now heads the Urban Institute think tank, said of the Republican budget, "We're treading water for a year."

'PAY GO' STOPPED

By a vote of 50-50, the Senate defeated a budget discipline "pay-go" amendment that all 45 Democrats and five Republicans supported.

The measure would have resurrected a 1990s budget rule that helped Congress write more disciplined fiscal plans. Under the amendment by North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad, a Democrat, any spending increases to major federal programs like Medicare or Medicaid would have been offset elsewhere in the budget.

Similarly, the cost of lost revenues to the Treasury from tax cuts would have to be offset by spending cuts or other tax increases.

The film, for which George Clooney won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, is definitely a Hollywood version of international politics, complete with caricatures of U.S. political and business leaders and an unbelievably pure oil sheik. But the movie's essence is merely a recounting of recent U.S. history: Consecutive administrations -- Democrat and Republican -- have done whatever was necessary to assure a continuous supply of cheap petroleum. That's the overriding reason that President Bush invaded Iraq.

While most American presidents have been smart enough to avoid an outright war, using U.S. muscle to guarantee the oil supply has been policy for decades, according to Andrew Bacevich, Boston University professor and author of "The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War."

"The clear preference was for a low profile and a hidden hand. ... Washington preferred covert action to the direct use of force," Bacevich, a West Point graduate, wrote in a chapter titled "Blood for Oil." But in March 2003, President Bush radically changed tactics, sending the world's most powerful military to topple
Saddam Hussein.

In the months after the invasion, any skeptic who questioned the war -- or tied it to petroleum -- was derided as a traitor or a fool or both. (I know, since I did.) But now that Bush has careened through a series of justifications for this unnecessary war, none of which bear close scrutiny -- ties to al-Qaida, weapons of mass destruction, weapons-of-mass-destruction-related programs, democracy, etc. -- perhaps it's time for a reasoned look at what the Bush administration hoped to get out of invasion.

Supporters of the Bush Doctrine are quick to suggest the idiocy of an invasion to gain access to Iraqi oil fields. They're right. Instead, the White House wanted to guarantee a military staging ground to replace our bases in Saudi Arabia; the House of Saud is increasingly worried about the backlash from Islamist extremists agitated over the U.S. presence there.
Osama bin Laden specifically denounced the Sauds for allowing "infidels" to tread so closely to Mecca and Medina.

So why not set up shop in Iraq, which gives us access to the entire Persian Gulf region?

While Army Gen. John Abizaid, commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, has said that the United States has no plans for permanent bases in Iraq, the
Pentagon has already spent $1 billion on base reconstruction in and around Iraq and
Afghanistan and wants to spend $1 billion more. Bush administration officials have refused to specifically rule out U.S. bases on Iraqi soil, although doing so might help quell the insurgency -- or at least clarify our intentions. That's because we always intended to stay.

Oil wasn't the only factor, of course. Multiple agendas converged to drive the war wagon to Baghdad: Donald Rumsfeld wanted to try out his theories of a faster, lighter military; neoconservatives such as Paul Wolfowitz genuinely believed they could implant Jeffersonian democracy in the stony soil of Mesopotamia; Darth, ah,
Dick Cheney just enjoys exerting raw power. But Iraq became the centerpiece of their various schemes because they believed it would achieve the higher purpose of preserving access to the oil supply.

The invasion hasn't done that, of course. It hasn't done any of the things they said it would. And it's much too late to do anything about that. Successive U.S. presidents will be dealing with the fallout from our foolhardy Iraqi enterprise for a long, long time.

But it's not too late to start to curb America's huge appetite for oil before we end up at war with China in 10 or 20 years over dwindling reserves. The political moment when it would have been easy to change consumption habits has already passed: President Bush could have sought and received a stiff increase in the federal gas tax -- as much as a dollar a gallon -- just after 9/11. Americans were ready, then, to make sacrifices.

It would be harder now but hardly impossible. Polls show that more than half of Americans would accept a higher gas tax if it led to less reliance on foreign oil. While the price hike would ripple through the economy, we would adjust -- with more public transit, more carpooling and fewer discretionary car trips.

If Americans don't like the portrait of their country they saw in "Syriana," there's one smart way to respond: Change it. Stop using raw power to guarantee cheap oil.

Cynthia Tucker is editorial page editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She can be reached by e-mail: cynthia@ajc.com.

Confronting critics of the Bush administration's economic record, Treasury Secretary John Snow said the widening gap between high-paid and low-paid Americans reflects a labor market efficiently rewarding more productive people . . . Mr. Snow said the same phenominon explains why compensation for corporate chief executives has climbed so sharply.

"In an aggregate sense, it reflects the marginal productivity of CEOs. Do I trust the market for CEOs to work efficiently? Yes. Until we can find a better way to compensate CEOs, I'm going to trust the marketplace."

Wall Street Journal
Snow Defends President's Handling of Economy
March 20, 2006

The two-day meeting was supposed to focus on economic co-operation and reform but is likely to be overshadowed by a simmering row over protectionism.

France and Italy have clashed over a deal to merge two French energy firms, which critics say thwarts competition.

Italy has failed to persuade EU leaders to issue a declaration condemning so-called "economic nationalism".

Takeover battles

But Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is still expected to call for countries to uphold the rules of the single market and not protect firms from foreign takeover - putting him on a possible collision course with French President Jacques Chirac.

Analysis: Modest summit goals

President Chirac is expected to mount a staunch defence of France's policy of giving firms in key sectors of the economy - such as defence and energy - extra legal protection from takeover.

This policy - dubbed "economic nationalism" - has been criticised by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso among others.

He has called on EU governments - several of which have openly opposed foreign takeover deals in the steel, banking and energy sectors - to tone down nationalist rhetoric.

EU leaders had been hoping to push the dispute to one side, focusing instead on issues such as energy co-operation and measures to increase youth employment.

French students protesting about new employment contracts
French labour market reforms have sparked widespread protests

An Italian plan which would have seen all 25 EU members sign a letter condemning protectionism was dropped on Wednesday.

Rome was forced to back down after a number of other countries - including Denmark, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden - refused to support the move.

But observers believe that Mr Berlusconi - who is trailing in the polls ahead of next month's general election in Italy - is unlikely to let the matter rest.

"I think it is almost certain that he will use the summit to launch an attack against French protectionism and reaffirm his liberal values," said Gianni Bonvicini, director of the Italian Institute of International Affairs.

Jobs focus

Mr Berlusconi could win backing from the United Kingdom, as Prime Minister Tony Blair is a strong supporter of moves to open Europe's state-dominated energy markets to more competition.

The Austrian Presidency wants the summit to focus on job creation, cutting bureaucracy and investment in skills and scientific research.

Despite the outlook for many EU economies starting to improve, France and Germany are still suffering from high unemployment.

The EU's record of job creation since it launched the Lisbon Agenda - a 2000 plan aimed at transforming Europe into the world's largest economy - has been poor.

French efforts to reform its labour market by giving employers more flexibility to hire and fire workers have provoked widespread protests in recent weeks.

The 1.7 percent pace matched analysts' expectations. The slight upgrade for the quarter reflected stronger inventory building by businesses than previously thought.

The Federal Reserve and other economists say the economy bounced back smartly in the current January-to-March quarter. Private analysts predict growth during this period will clock in at a brisk pace of 4.5 percent or higher. Then economic activity will moderate to around a 3.4 pace in the April-to-June quarter.

Gross domestic product measures the value of all goods and services produced within the United States and is considered the best gauge of the economy's performance.

In other economic news, the Labor Department reported the new claims filed for unemployment benefits last week dropped by 10,000 to 302,000, another sign that the labor market is strengthening. The decline left claims at a lower level than economists had forecast.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues said Tuesday that the economy has snapped out of its end-of-year doldrums and has "rebounded strongly" in the January-to-March quarter. "But (it) appears likely to moderate to a more sustainable pace" going forward, the board said.

Fed policy-makers chalked up the fourth-quarter's mediocre performance to mostly "temporary or special factors" - an assessment that was shared by private economists who likened the final quarter of 2005 to a temporary breather rather than a sign of prolonged economic troubles ahead.

The 1.7 percent growth rate in the fourth quarter marked a big loss of momentum from the third quarter's zippy 4.1 percent pace.

The fourth quarter's slowdown was blamed on lingering fallout from the Gulf Coast hurricanes and elevated energy prices, which especially caused consumers to tighten their belts.

Consumer spending in the final quarter of 2005 grew at a pace of just 0.9 percent, the weakest since the first quarter of 1995. A cut in spending on big-ticket goods, such as cars, was the main culprit behind the lethargic showing in overall consumer spending.

Cuts in spending by government also contributed to the fourth-quarter's weak performance.

Overall business investment - which includes spending on residential and commercial projects and in equipment and software, however, grew at a speedy pace of 16.1 percent in the fourth quarter, the strongest since the second quarter of 2004.

An inflation gauge closely watched by the Federal Reserve showed that core prices - excluding food and energy - rose at a 2.4 percent pace in the fourth quarter. That was higher than the 2.1 percent growth rate previously reported for the period and marks a substantial pickup from the third quarter's 1.4 percent pace.

To fend off inflation, Bernanke, at his first meeting as Fed chairman on Tuesday, boosted a key interest rate to 4.75 percent and hinted further increases were possible. In doing so, Bernanke and his colleagues hewed closely to the rate-raising script written by former chairman
Alan Greenspan.

Economists predict another rate increase will come at the Fed's next meeting, May 10.

Fresher economic barometers, meanwhile, have flashed good signs for the economy.

The jobs market is improving, with companies adding a sizable 243,000 positions in February. The nation's unemployment rate of 4.8 percent, meanwhile, is close to a 4 1/2-year low reached in January.

Americans' optimism in the economy rebounded in March, climbing to a nearly four-year high, the
Conference Board reported Tuesday.

Still, those things haven't helped President Bush's standing with the public. He has been mired in some of the lowest job-approval ratings of his presidency, according to polls.

Thursday's report also showed companies' profit growth gaining ground in the fourth quarter of 2005. One measure of after-tax profits in the GDP report showed profits increased by 13.8 percent, a turnaround from the third quarter's 4.3 percent decline.

In a speech to a closed meeting of leading Islamic clerics and academics, Hassan Rowhani, who headed talks with the so-called EU3 until last year, revealed how Teheran played for time and tried to dupe the West after its secret nuclear programme was uncovered by the Iranian opposition in 2002.

He boasted that while talks were taking place in Teheran, Iran was able to complete the installation of equipment for conversion of yellowcake - a key stage in the nuclear fuel process - at its Isfahan plant but at the same time convince European diplomats that nothing was afoot.

"From the outset, the Americans kept telling the Europeans, 'The Iranians are lying and deceiving you and they have not told you everything.' The Europeans used to respond, 'We trust them'," he said.

Revelation of Mr Rowhani's remarks comes at an awkward moment for the Iranian government, ahead of a meeting tomorrow of the United Nations' atomic watchdog, which must make a fresh assessment of Iran's banned nuclear operations.



The judgment of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the final step before Iran's case is passed to the UN Security Council, where sanctions may be considered.

In his address to the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, Mr Rowhani appears to have been seeking to rebut criticism from hardliners that he gave too much ground in talks with the European troika. The contents of the speech were published in a regime journal that circulates among the ruling elite.

He told his audience: "When we were negotiating with the Europeans in Teheran we were still installing some of the equipment at the Isfahan site. There was plenty of work to be done to complete the site and finish the work there. In reality, by creating a tame situation, we could finish Isfahan."

America and its European allies believe that Iran is clandestinely developing an atomic bomb but Teheran insists it is merely seeking nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Iran's negotiating team engaged in a last-ditch attempt last week to head off Security Council involvement. In January the regime removed IAEA seals on sensitive nuclear equipment and last month it resumed banned uranium enrichment.

Iran is trying to win support from Russia, which opposes any UN sanctions, having unsuccessfully tried to persuade European leaders to give them more time. Against this backdrop, Mr Rowhani's surprisingly candid comments on Iran's record of obfuscation and delay are illuminating.

He described the regime's quandary in September 2003 when the IAEA had demanded a "complete picture" of its nuclear activities. "The dilemma was if we offered a complete picture, the picture itself could lead us to the UN Security Council," he said. "And not providing a complete picture would also be a violation of the resolution and we could have been referred to the Security Council for not implementing the resolution."

Mr Rowhani disclosed that on at least two occasions the IAEA obtained information on secret nuclear-related experiments from academic papers published by scientists involved in the work.

The Iranians' biggest setback came when Libya secretly negotiated with America and Britain to close down its nuclear operations. Mr Rowhani said that Iran had bought much of its nuclear-related equipment from "the same dealer" - a reference to the network of A Q Khan, the rogue Pakistani atomic scientist. From information supplied by Libya, it became clear that Iran had bought P2 advanced centrifuges.

In a separate development, the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has obtained a copy of a confidential parliamentary report making clear that Iranian MPs were also kept in the dark on the nuclear programme, which was funded secretly, outside the normal budgetary process.

Mohammad Mohaddessin, the NCRI's foreign affairs chief, told the Sunday Telegraph: "Rowhani's remarks show that the mullahs wanted to deceive the international community from the onset of negotiations with EU3 - and that the mullahs were fully aware that if they were transparent, the regime's nuclear file would be referred to the UN immediately."

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited

The question is whether democratic reform can be achieved before Iran becomes a nuclear power. That is the younger Cheney's job. In the State Department she is referred to as the "freedom agenda co-ordinator" and the "democracy czar" for the broader Middle East. "She's fantastic and dynamic," said a colleague.

Her official title is deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and she is in charge of spending the $85m (£48m) - up from $10m last year - recently allocated to promote democracy in Iran. Much of it will be spent on broadcasting the views of exiles, dissidents and reformers inside Iran.

Cheney is better known to Iranian listeners of Voice of America's Persian service than she is to Americans, although she publicly backed her sister Mary's right to privacy when Democrats made an issue of her lesbianism in the 2004 election.

She rarely gives interviews but set out her agenda in a speech to the Foreign Policy Association's annual dinner last June. Cheney said there was a "direct parallel" between reform movements in the Arab world and Poland's Solidarity in the 1980s, which lit the "spark of freedom" in the Soviet bloc.

A strike by Tehran bus drivers that led to the jailing and torture of Mansour Osanloo, a union leader, and protests by textile workers in the northern province of Gilan have raised hopes that Iranians are fed up with the clerics' repressive rule.

"President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad was elected on the basis of a 'chicken in every pot' and there's no sign that he is living up to that," said a senior State Department official. "The patience of people who supported him is going to run out."

Iranian exiles are using the showdown with Tehran over nuclear weapons to build unity among notoriously fractured opposition groups. Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah of Iran, said in Washington last week that democratic regime change was a "race against time".

"Forget about endlessly negotiating with the mullahs," he said. "They will only buy the regime more time and a military strike would be a gift to the clerics. Everybody knows you cannot come away from the precipice without democracy."

Mohsen Sazegara, a former Revolutionary Guard turned reformer who was recently jailed in Iran, said United Nations anti-nuclear sanctions should be linked to improvements in human rights. "Iranians will see that the international community is standing up for the rights of the people of Iran," he said.

Patrick Clawson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy said Cheney was well qualified for the post. "She has a lot of experience dealing with non-governmental organisations and knows what she is talking about. She is a different person from her father."

Another Washington-based expert on Iran suggested her relationship to Dick Cheney sometimes hampered her work. "Her last name can make things difficult for her because people assume everything you tell her is going to go straight to the vice-president."

Father and daughter will be on the same side if Ahmadinejad's regime sees off its internal opposition and acquires nuclear weapons. "There's no credibility gap over our willingness to use force," a State Department official said, "but hopefully it won't come to that."

The United States, Britain, France and Germany are seeking a referral to the UN Security Council at a meeting of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

Washington believes the Iranian nuclear programme is hiding efforts to make an atomic bomb. Tehran insists its research is peaceful.

"The UN Security Council is the right place to intensify the international debate on Iran's nuclear ambitions," said Burns.

"We plan a concerted approach at the UN that gradually escalates pressure on Iran. We will shine a bright spotlight on Iran's nuclear programme. We intend to participate in a vigorous international debate about Iran's nuclear ambitions."

Burns said the Security Council would make a strong statement about Iran and that if the Iranian government does not "accede to the wishes of the international community, then of course we would have to look at possible targeted sanctions, which a number of countries are already beginning to explore."

He said any sanctions "will be specifically targeted to pressure the regime and Iran's nuclear and missile programmes, rather than hurting the great majority of innocent Iranians."

"The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course, the international community is prepared to impose meaningful consequences," he said.

Cheney was addresing 5,000 pro-Israel activists from all 50 states Monday who gathered in Washington, D.C., to attend the two-day Annual Policy Conference of AIPAC, America's pro-Israel lobbyist organization, which began Sunday. The focus of the conference was "the urgency of stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons and isolating the Palestinian government, which is now controlled by the terrorist group Hamas." Additionally, AIPAC delegates had 400 lobbying appointments with members of the House and Senate who were in attendance.

The American vice president joined U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, in condemning the new Hamas-led Palestinian government. Bolton too echoed the vice-president's "unshakeable" commitment to the U.S.-Israel alliance.

"While Mr. Ahmadi-nejad, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has clearly failed his lessons in history, indulge me a moment if you will to offer him up at least one lesson on current events: our commitment to Israel's security and the alliance between the United States and Israel are unshakeable," Bolton told the conference.

The statements were delivered to the 35-member board of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, which is meeting to focus on Tehran's refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.

The White House dismissed the rhetoric out of Tehran.

"I think that provocative statements and actions only further isolate Iran from the rest of the world," White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters traveling with President Bush to hurricane-affected states in the Gulf Coast. "And the international community has spelled out to Iran what it needs to do."

America's ambassador to the United Nations - and the chief architect of U.S. policy in the Security Council once it takes up the Iran issue - said Iran's comments reflected the menace it poses.

"Their threats show why leaving a country like that with a nuclear weapon is so dangerous," he told The Associated Press in a phone call from Washington.

He classified the Iranian comments as "reflecting their determination to acquire weapons."

George Bush's explanation of his volte-face over a proposed Iran-India gas pipeline project appeared slightly disingenuous. "Our beef with Iran is not the pipeline," the US president said on Saturday after withdrawing previous objections and giving the go-ahead to Washington's new friends in Delhi. "Our beef with Iran is the fact that they want to develop a nuclear weapon."

But US fears about Iranian nukes, discussed in Vienna yesterday, are hardly the whole story. Washington is compiling a dossier of grievances against Tehran similar in scope and seriousness to the pre-war charge-sheet against Iraq. Other complaints include Iranian meddling in Iraq, support for Hamas in Palestine and Hizbullah in Lebanon, and human rights abuses.

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Mr Bush regularly urges Iranians to seize the "freedom they seek and deserve". In Tehran's ministries, that sounds like a call for regime change. He has ignored past Iranian offers of talks and tightened US economic sanctions.

Official Washington's quickening drumbeat of hostility is beginning to recall political offensives against Libya's Muammar Gadafy, Panama's Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein, which all ended in violence. Rightwing American media are urging action, deeming Iran "an intolerable threat" that is the "central crisis of the Bush presidency".

As was the case with Iraq, administration tub-thumping is influencing public opinion - notwithstanding subsequent debunking of many of its Iraq claims. Polls suggest many Americans are now convinced Iran is the new public enemy No 1. Forty-seven percent told Zogby International they favoured military action to halt its nuclear activities.

While hopes of avoiding confrontation are not yet dead, warnings by John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, that Iran could face "painful consequences" over its nuclear activities were a reminder of Mr Bush's repeated refusals to eschew armed force. Iranian officials believe the US is determined to undermine and if possible overthrow Iran's theocracy and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government - regardless of whether a nuclear compromise is reached. That helps explain Tehran's hardline negotiating stance.

They cite a US decision to spend $75m (£43m) on funding potential Iranian opposition forces, including NGOs, trade unions and human rights groups, and local language propaganda broadcasts - tactics pioneered in Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine. Iran accuses the US of stirring discontent among its Kurdish, Baluch and Azeri minorities, suspicions fed by a US marine corps investigation to gauge the strength of opposition to the central government among non-Persian groups. Tehran also believes the US is using the People's Mujahideen, an anti-regime group once backed by Saddam and blamed for many terrorist attacks, for intelligence-gathering and destabilisation.

It recently demanded British troops quit Basra after linking them to unrest among Arab Iranians in Khuzestan, abutting south-east Iraq. Britain has rejected the claims.

The "EU three" - Britain, France and Germany - remain focused on the nuclear controversy rather than broader Iran-related issues. A senior British official said they would, if necessary, support "graduated" pressure on Iran via the UN security council, "possibly leading to trade restrictions or more likely, travel and financial sanctions on individuals". But the official said the Europeans "do not have a clear view of what we will do at a later stage" should Iran refuse to bend.

In the absence of a Vienna breakthrough, this lack of an agreed strategy may encourage US hawks, egged on by Israel, to seize the initiative - even at the risk of an Iraq-style split with Europe. They have been biding their time for three years. Now they want action. For starters, Mr Bolton is expected to seek a 30-day UN deadline for Iran to back down or face counter-measures.

Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made an oblique reference to the operation on Sunday in his video address to the annual AIPAC conference in the U.S. He warned that Israel would not be able to stop the Iranians on its own, adding his hope that the international community, led by the U.S., would impose sanctions on Iran. He said the country is a threat to the modern world.

Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz also spoke on Sunday about the issue. He said that Iran poses a major threat to Israel, and that the verbal hostility coming out of Tehran is something that needs to be closely monitored.

He added that Iran's nuclear program is "a substantial and existential threat to the State of Israel". He also warned campaigning parties and politicians not to manipulate Israel's security situation for the election, saying the situation is a very serious matter.

The Bush administration, meanwhile, is placing more pressure on the United Nations as it becomes increasingly concerned with its delay in dealing with the matter. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton said bluntly, "The longer we wait to confront the threat Iran poses, the harder and more intractable it will become to solve."

Iran threatened Sunday to resume its large-scale uranium enrichment if the matter is referred to the UN Security Council. The International Atomic Energy Agency was to meet on Monday to decide whether to refer the issue of Iran's nuclear development program to the Council.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi criticized the U.S. for what he called a "double standard" in its dealings over nuclear development, citing a recent deal with India as proof. "The United States' approach is a form of double standards," he charged at a news conference. "It signed a contract with a country that was not a member of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. That is objectionable," he complained.

"We didn't see a single Iraqi MiG (fighter), and not a single surface-to-air missile was fired," Raz says. "The whole operation was just too perfect."

The Osiraq mission is getting renewed attention in Israel now that the United Nations Security Council is likely to take up the issue of Iran's nuclear program, setting up a possible showdown between Iran and the West.

When asked in December how far he would go to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, the Israeli military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, said "2,000 kilometers" - the approximate flying distance between Israel and key Iranian nuclear sites.

Halutz says diplomatic efforts won't thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. "I believe that the political means that are used by the Europeans and the U.S. to convince the Iranians to stop the project will not succeed."

However, military observers say a quick, Osiraq-style Israeli strike against Iranian targets is unlikely. "We'll never see ... eight planes swooping down on Iran," Raz says. "It could never happen."

Iran and other countries in the Middle East learned lessons from the 1981 airstrike. A now-declassified CIA assessment written shortly after the attack said it would spur countries in the region to strengthen their defenses.

"The most essential condition - surprise - is lacking," Israeli military historian Martin Van Creveld says. "The Iranian sites are numerous, well-camouflaged and hardened. All this means an attack will be much more difficult to carry out."

Van Creveld says destroying some of Iran's critical infrastructure would deal a setback to its nuclear program but not destroy it. Also, he says, planning even a limited strike would require extensive intelligence.

"All the options are bad," says Raz, who retired from Israel's air force and is a defense contractor. "We must choose the least worst."

In 1981, Iraq's nuclear program was concentrated at the Osiraq site and was not well protected.

The eight F-16s sent to destroy the site dropped 16 2,000-pound bombs - 14 of which made direct hits. "It was overkill," Raz says. "We could have done it with half. But I wanted all eight planes because I wasn't sure all of them would make it there."

Six months before the mission, Raz ordered a young captain, 26-year-old Ilan Ramon, to assess the raid's chances of success. Raz says Ramon told him with a smile, "Well, we can definitely get there, but we'll have to ditch somewhere over Jordan on the way home."

According to Ramon's calculations, the only way the fighters could conserve enough fuel to make it to Osiraq and back to Israel was to jettison their external fuel tanks as soon as they were used up. But if a released tank so much as nicked one of the bombs mounted under the planes, the jet could explode.

The F-16's training manual forbade such a move, but the Israelis felt they had no choice. The plan devised by Ramon - who would eventually become an astronaut and would die in the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster - worked.

Raz had other worries. He was leading a mission that many of Israel's leaders, including Ezer Weizman, who would later become president, privately opposed. They warned it would either fail or ignite another Middle East war.

The mission became even more important in hindsight, Raz says. Had it failed, Iraq might have been able to use nuclear-tipped Scud missiles against Israel or American forces in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, he says.

The U.S.-made aircraft were to arrive at Osiraq with the sun setting behind them to make it harder for Iraqi anti-aircraft gunners to see them.

As they approached the target, the jets skimmed along at less than 100 feet above the ground. The planes pulled up, then dived, releasing their bombs and reducing the facility to rubble.

"I am not a believer," Raz says. "But it seems like the mission was protected by the hand of God."