Interviewed on the "En Confianza" television program, Moncada publicly shared a report from "La Verdad" daily corresponding to April 13, 2002, where Rosales open support of the action was evidenced.

The official said the facts are undeniable, with Rosales in a photo along with several coup supporters.

The accusation immediately generated phone calls from viewers, indignant at the position of Rosales, who is accused of manipulating truth.

Since Chavez was first elected in 1998, the leftist president has become perhaps Latin America's most controversial leader while gaining notoriety worldwide as an outspoken critic of the U.S. government.

At home, the poll showed, Venezuelans are generally content with the country's direction, with 61 percent of all respondents saying Venezuela is moving in the right direction and 31 percent saying it's on the wrong track.

The survey found sharp differences in voting preference depending on income. The wealthiest likely voters solidly supported Rosales, while the middle class appeared split and the poorest overwhelmingly backed Chavez over Rosales - 70 percent to 16 percent.

Overall, 63 percent said they approve of Chavez's administration, although 66 percent said they see Chavez as authoritarian. Chavez is a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, but an overwhelming 84 percent said they oppose adopting a political system like Cuba's - and that view cut across class lines.

The survey was carried out Nov. 10-18 among 2,500 registered voters interviewed face-to-face at their homes, including 1,500 determined by the pollsters to be likely voters based on their answers and historical turnout levels. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points for results among registered voters, and 3 points for likely voters.

Despite Chavez's often bombastic style, including a recent speech to the United Nations in which he called Bush "the devil," 59 percent said they approve of Chavez's handling of international relations.

A majority, 63 percent, said they have a negative view of Bush, while 55 percent expressed an unfavorable view of the United States in general. Fewer - 44 percent - had an unfavorable view of American people, compared with 48 percent who had a positive view of Americans.

A huge majority, 79 percent, said they consider the political system in Venezuela at least somewhat democratic, though that majority was smaller for the middle class and the wealthy than for the poorest. And 46 percent said there seems to be less freedom in Venezuela today than in the past.

Chavez has increasingly dominated Venezuelan politics since he was first elected nearly eight years ago. In 1999, he oversaw constitutional reforms that triggered new elections, and he easily secured a six-year term in 2000.

Overall, only 44 percent were very confident that votes would be counted accurately and only 42 percent were very confident their votes would be kept secret. Rosales supporters were much less confident in the process.

A full 57 percent of respondents were at least somewhat concerned that people could face reprisals for how they vote - 79 percent of Rosales supporters and 46 percent of Chavez supporters. Such a fear factor is a potential source of survey error, meaning for instance that some respondents might feel afraid to tell an interviewer they support Rosales.

The poll offered contrasting assessments of Chavez himself. Sixty percent saw him as confrontational, while 48 percent thought he put his personal political interests above those of Venezuela. On the other hand, 64 percent said he solves people's problems and 59 percent described him as a good administrator.

A considerable number, 47 percent, said Chavez should cut back on his televised speeches, which he makes nearly every day, often going on for hours. Forty-four percent said they believe he makes the right amount of speeches.

Chavez is less popular with people in the middle class, 56 percent of whom rated him positively, as compared with 80 percent among the poorest.

Chavez got his highest marks overall for his handling of education, with 75 percent approval, and health, 74 percent, and his lowest marks for his handling of corruption and crime - 45 percent and 34 percent, respectively. Violent crime is common, and Chavez's opponents accuse him of doing little to fight endemic corruption.

Crime stood out as Venezuelans' top concern: 67 percent called it one of the most important problem facing the country, with unemployment in second place. Venezuela's jobless rate officially stands at just under 9 percent, but 23 percent of those polled described themselves as unemployed.

Venezuelans disagreed over their country's future, with 37 percent favoring a socialist economic system, 22 percent favoring capitalism and 33 percent preferring a mix of the two.

Although Chavez has sought increasingly close ties with Cuba and Iran, the poll suggested only limited support for those initiatives.

Opinion was split on Castro, with 44 percent expressing negative views and 42 percent positive. Respondents split evenly when asked whether they viewed Cuba favorably as a country. And only 28 percent had a favorable view of Chavez's close ally Iran - fewer than the 37 percent who thought favorably of the U.S.

Fifty-one percent saw the United States as a military threat to Venezuela - as Chavez does - while 44 percent didn't.

The poll found a parallel between support for Chavez and seeing benefits from his oil-funded social programs, which range from free health care by Cuban doctors to heavily subsidized government grocery stores.

Sixty-eight percent of likely voters who have benefited from at least one of the programs, or who know someone who has, said they'd vote for Chavez, compared with 23 percent of those who haven't. While the poor are most likely to see benefits from the programs, the correlation holds true across class lines.

Paisley, whose Democratic Unionist Party is the largest in Northern Ireland, said he would work with Sinn Fein, the Irish Republican Army-linked party that represents most Catholics, only when it supports the police force. If that happened, Paisley said he would accept the post.

"When Sinn Fein has fulfilled its obligations with regard to the police, the courts and the rule of law, then and only then can progress be made. There can and will be no movement until they face and sign up to their obligations,'' Paisley told the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Shortly after his speech, police subdued Michael Stone, the Protestant extremist who killed three people at a Belfast funeral in 1988, after he tossed a bag into the building and claimed it contained a bomb.

Politicians and journalists were ordered out of the building as the fire alarm sounded - and two security guards pinned Stone by both arms to the main doorway.

Police could not immediately confirm whether the bag in the foyer of Stormont Parliamentary Building contained explosives. Stone had tossed it at the building's security checkpoint staff, who operate metal detectors and search bags.

Stone appeared to have been spray-painting the entrance to Stormont with the slogan "Sinn Fein are murderers,'' but security staff stopped him before he could finish the last word.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the disruption "should make us more resolute.''

He called on "all the parties to turn their minds also to the issues of concern to Northern Ireland's people - the economy, education, health, law and order - and show that the democratic process is alive and well and capable of delivering a better future.''

Stone was paroled from prison under terms of Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord, which permitted early releases for more than 500 convicted members of the IRA and outlawed Protestant paramilitary groups.

Stone was convicted for committing one of the province's most audacious terro have a dissolution order drafted, which would have to go through Parliament of course next week, and I might have to deploy that today. I hope not,'' Hain said.

Friday was a British-imposed deadline for Paisley and Martin McGuinness, deputy leader of Sinn Fein, the largest Catholic-backed party, to be nominated to serve in the top two power-sharing posts. The event would have been purely symbolic, because the full 12-member administration would not be formed and given powers until late March.

At stake is the revival of power-sharing, the central goal of the Good Friday accord - a landmark 1998 pact that Paisley opposed chiefly on the grounds it required too little from Sinn Fein.

For weeks, Paisley has insisted he will not accept the office of first minister, the top post, until Sinn Fein abandons its decades-old policy of boycotting the police force in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein insists it will not discuss changing its policy until after McGuinness and Paisley are in office.

In a sign of Britain's desperation to keep the push for power-sharing alive, Blair spoke by phone Thursday night with Paisley and at one point was considering flying to Belfast on Friday, but relented when it became clear that direct intervention would make no difference, officials in the British government and Paisley's party said.

On Monday, the Liberal Party of Canada made available the text of the policy resolutions put forth by the Party's Provincial and Territorial Associations, commissions, and National Caucus. The policy resolutions are to be debated and voted upon at the Liberal Leadership and Biennial Convention to be held from November 28 to December 2, 2006, in Montréal.

While still resolutions, the policies which have made it into the book have already been carefully considered by party faithful. "The policy resolutions represent the culmination of a nine-month grassroots policy process that began at the riding level and has worked its way up to the national Convention," says a release on the resolutions.

Sexual health experts have warned that anal intercourse is a recklessly dangerous activity which is the "riskiest form of sexual activity when it comes to the transmission of HIV/AIDS"

Nevertheless, a Liberal Party policy resolution, attributed to the British Columbia branch of the Party, calls for lowering the age of consent for such activity to 14-years of age. Policy no. 45 reads: "WHEREAS the current law discriminates against unmarried same-sex couples by not permitting unmarried persons under 18 to legally engage in consensual anal intercourse; BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada urge the Federal Government of Canada to bring the age of consent for anal intercourse in equal pairing with other forms of sexual activity." The age of sexual consent for heterosexual intercourse in Canada is 14.

Resolution no. 46 calls for a review of the criminal code on prostitution with a view to legalizing the exploitive practice.

Another resolution seeks to make permanent 'safe houses' in major citiies where heroin addicts can without fear of arrest inject themselves with the deadly drugs. Resolution no. 43 states: "BE IT RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada take all steps necessary to establish a National Safe Injection Site program for large cities."

A proposal by the Young Liberals of Canada seeks not only to legalize marijuana, but also to have the criminal records of those convicted of illegal possession since 1923 expunged. Resolution no. 44 reads: BE IT RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada urges the government of Canada to legalise and regulate Canada's marijuana industry and trade; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Liberal Party of Canada urges the government of Canada to examine the social consequences of granting amnesty to Canadians convicted of simple marijuana possession since 1923, and destruction of all criminal records related thereto."

On Nov. 10/11/12, Wayne Madsen Report reported "Intelligence sources report that the Bush 41 team, still grateful for Syrian President Hafez al Assad's support for Operation Desert Storm, is working to exonerate Bashar Assad, Assad's son, for his government's alleged role in the February 2005 car bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

WMR has previously reported that Hariri's assassination was ordered by neo-cons in Israel and the United States who wanted to implement their 'Clean Break' policy in order to drive Syrian occupation troops out of Lebanon and then engineer wars with the Lebanese Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran . . . The detente with Syria and its Lebanese allies is sure to irritate the neo-cons loyal to Vice President Dick Cheney."

What played out yesterday on a Beirut street demonstrates just how irritated the Cheney wing and its neo-con allies in Jerusalem were with the diplomatic moves between the Iraq Study Group and Iran and Syria that led to the restoration of diplomatic relations between Damascus and Baghdad and an invitation by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad to Syrian President Bashar Assad and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to attend a summit conference in Tehran.

Just as with other "false flag" assassinations of top Lebanese politicians that were designed to destabilize Lebanon and foment a U.S. (and Israeli) military showdown with Syria and Iran, another anti-Syrian Christian Lebanese politician was assassinated -- this time it was Pierre Gemayel, Lebanon's Industry Minister and the son of Phalangist leader Amine Gemayel, a former President. Gemayel's car was blocked by another vehicle gangland style and he was shot in the head by a professional hit man.

Immediately, neocon politicians and their corporate media mouthpieces began to blame Syria for the assassination, a laughable assertion considering Syria's re-entrance on to the Middle East diplomatic stage courtesy of the Baker-Hamilton group.

Saad Hariri, the son of the assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri who has become a poster boy for the neocons, said, "The Cedar Revolution [i.e., the "Made-in-America" Cedar Revolution] is under attack . . . Today one of our main believers in a free democratic Lebanon has been killed. We believe the hands of Syria are all over the place. The people of Lebanon will not give up on the international tribunal (seeking prosecution of those who killed Hariri). This will make them even more determined. We will bring justice to those who killed Pierre Gemayel."

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni wasted no time in laying blame for the shooting death of Gemayel on Syria's doorstep, "The negative role of Syria in Lebanon is not something new or top secret and only a few weeks ago the international community succeeded in taking Syrian forces and Syria out of Lebanon. But clearly they are trying to be involved even now, but it's too early to say something more concrete."

Unconfirmed US ambassador to the UN John Bolton also weighed in by pushing for the quick issuance of the UN's pre-conceived conclusions of the Serge Brammertz report -- which is expected to blame Syria for all the Lebanese assassinations and identify Syrian and Lebanese leaders to be indicted by a special tribunal.

Bolton said, "This is why we need the tribunal established as soon as possible and why it's correct to expand the mandate of the Serge Brammertz investigation and why the tribunal needs the flexibility (for) the perpetrators of the other political assassinations."

However, as previously reported by WMR, the real perpetrators of the Lebanese assassinations, according to knowledgeable intelligence sources, are the international criminal syndicates that use false flag team of professional assassins, including freelance Syrians, Lebanese, Russian, and Israeli hit men, and weapons smugglers to carry out acts of terrorism.

WMR's sources report these teams are associated with the Russian-Israeli Mafia network of notorious weapons smuggler, airline owner, and US defense contractor Viktor Bout.

The real perpetrators of Gemayel's assassination and other Lebanese politicians, as well as Lebanese journalists, are the neocon parallel intelligence operatives who operate out of Vice President Cheney's office and its satellite offices in Jerusalem and Herzliya.

They are assisted by the US ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman, who has become a virtual American viceroy lording over the weak Lebanese government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, which had recently come under attack as too weak by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The neocons, worried that the Baker Group was succeeding in bringing Syria (and, by default, Hezbollah) and Iran into the Iraq peace process and that their Lebanese allies were buckling under pressure from Hezbollah, has to act.

Therefore a target was needed that would bolster the resolve of Saad Hariri, Walid Jumblatt, Amine Gemayel, and Phalangist leader Samir Geagea. In fact, Geagea eerily seemed to have predicted Gemayel's assassination on Nov. 18 when he told Reuters, "the government now has 17 ministers, if 3 of these ministers were eliminated then the government will automatically fall."

Geagea would not say who might assassinate the ministers, but suggested it would be Syria. Geagea was correct about the assassination of a cabinet minister but studiously avoided mentioning the country to the south of Lebanon rather than the country to its east.



Wayne Madsen, publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report, is an investigative journalist, nationally distributed columnist, and author who has covered Washington, DC, politics, national security, and intelligence issues since 1994. He has written for The Village Voice, The Progressive, CAQ, Counterpunch, and the Intelligence Newsletter (based in Paris).

Madsen is the author of Genocide and Covert Operations in Africa 1993-1999 and co-author of America's Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II. His latest book is Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops & Brass Plates. Madsen is also the author of The Handbook of Personal Data Protection (London: Macmillan, 1992), an acclaimed reference book on international data protection law.

Madsen is a former U.S. Naval officer who was assigned to the National Security Agency during the Reagan administration. He also has some twenty years experience in computer security and data privacy. He has also worked for the Naval Data Automation Command, Department of State, RCA Corporation, and Computer Sciences Corporation.