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Editorial: Litvinenko - By Way Of Deception
Joe Quinn
Signs of the Times
24/11/2006
How easily our logic fails us in the face of the all-knowing mainstream media. ex-Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko has succumbed to the effects of a radioactive isotope polonium 210, one of the rarest substances on the planet and one few could obtain according to Dr Andrea Sella, lecturer in chemistry at University College London, which he may or may not have ingested at a sushi bar in London.
Litvinenko, a critic of Putin, had been investigating the killing of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, also a vocal critic of Putin, who was gunned down at a Moscow flat last month. There is also the fact that Litvineko had penned a piece back in July of this when for the now-defunct Chechen press where he claimed that Putin was a pedophile. See here for the google cached article.
So, case closed? I mean, all the evidence would seem to point to Putin as the cause of Litvinenko's untimely demise. Well, no, actually. Thinking logically about it, or rather, thinking 'conspiratorially' about it (since this is, after all, a very clear case of conspiracy) it is far more plausible that Litvinenko's murder was carried out by an enemy of Putin. As with all cloak and dagger cases, in the absence of any empirical evidence, the closest approximation to the truth is generally achieved by asking "who benefits?"
Consider how utterly masochistic the Putin government would have to be to murder a man who had been publicly attacking Putin himself. Consider further how amazingly crass it is for Putin, having supposedly decided that Litvinenko had to be "taken care of" to opt for a method of assassination that was absolutely certain of being identified as poisoning. Has the Russian SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service) never heard of "accidental death"? What about a "heart attack"? For god's sake, even pushing the man under a number 9 bus would have been less obvious than poisoning him with an "extremely rare radioactive isotope".
Consider the Israeli Mossad. According to ex-Mossad officer Victor Ostrovsky, the fine upstanding members of Israel's 'cut-throat incorporated' have made covert assassination into a fine, if very unsavory, art form. For example, there was the case where the 'assassinee', who was laid up in a Belgian hotel room, was given a sedative in his drink to first render him unconscious at which point a group of Mossad operatives entered his room, stripped him naked, inserted a tube into his anus, inserted several tablets into the tube which raised his body temperature to dangerous levels, before dumping him in a bath full of cold war. The result? The man was found the next morning in his bath having suffered an "obvious" and verifiable "heart attack".
Do you think the SVR would not capable of something similar if the need arose?
Speaking of Israel; Over the past 6 months, Zionist politicians such as Bibi Netanyahu have gone through dozens of pairs of pants in their excitement at the thought of a US and/or Israeli attack on Iran. Sadly, over the same period, Putin has repeatedly stonewalled Israeli-American attempts to have the UN sanction some "shock and awe" for the Iranian people, and has even gone so far as to ink big contracts to supply advanced weaponry to Ahmadinejad.
In a message from his death bed, Litvinenko himself accused the Kremlin, but then who else was he going to accuse? Litvinenko was poisoned, but as the SVR stated, neither he nor his claims were important enough to cause Putin to lose any sleep, let alone make the crass error of setting himself up for some extremely bad press.
Demonization of Putin by way of a third party, or rather, "by way of deception", is what we are dealing with in the death of Litvinenko. Which reminds us of the recent murder of Lebanese minister Pierre Gemayel by "parties unknown", an event which has served to "destablize" Lebanon.
Who benefits?
Before you answer:
Andrei Kozlov was the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation from 1997 to 1999 and again in 2002 to 2006. On September 14th this year he was shot to death in his car by unknown gun men. Before his death, Kozlov was busily shutting down Russian banks that had been accused of money laundering.
Boris Abramovich Berezovsky is a Russian Jewish billionaire who was head of Russian National Security under Boris
Yeltsin. When Putin came to power he opened investigations into Berezovsky's business activities, including money laundering. Berezovsky responded by feeling to the UK where he was granted political asylum.
 |
| Boris Abramovich Berezovsky |
Berezovsky has been accused of money laundering by the French authorities.
Berezovsky either holds or has held, Israeli citizenship.
In its Dec. 30, 1996 issue, Forbes Magazine published an extensive article called "Godfather of the Kremlin?," in which it charged Berezovsky with responsibility for the 1995 killing of popular television journalist Vladimir Listev. The magazine also accused Berezovsky of having numerous mafia connections and embezzling $50 million collected by his company from thousands of Russians who purchased AVVA shares-allegedly to start producing a new passenger car.
Boris Berezovsky has admitted that he is plotting the violent overthrow of the Russian government and was "warned" by Jack Straw, (who was subsequently sacked from his position as British Foreign Secretary) not to "abuse" his asylum status in Britain. Putin has demanded that Berezovsky be extradited to Russia. Blair had refused to do so.
Boris Berezovsky's lawyer is Alexander Goldfarb. Goldfarb helped Berezovsky secure asylum in the UK. Goldfarb is a Russian dissident who now holds American citizenship.Goldfarb was also a close friend of Litvinenko. Litvinenko's death bed accusation that Putin was being his killer was publicly read out by Goldfarb in a recent BBC broadast. Goldfarb claims that the document was dictated to him by Alexander Litvinenko.
Now, tell me again who killed Alexander Litvinenko.
A final note: All of this has much more to do with Douglas Reed's book The Controversy of Zion, that you could possibly imagine.
Comment on this Editorial
Editorial: Psycho-Babel: A Ponerological Approach to Modern Doublespeak and the Distortion of Language
Harrison Koehli and members of the Signs of the Times forum
24/11/2006
Language deliberately distorted to veil its true meaning is commonly referred
to as 'doublespeak' (from Orwell's 'newspeak' and 'doublethink').
This distortion of words is becoming increasingly severe and overt. Even modern
cinema, as evidenced in the immensely popular V for Vendetta, has noticed and
commented upon this fact. The meanings of words are being changed. Disturbing, and
often violent, concepts are labeled with neutral and ambiguous words, like "collateral
damage", "reducing safety margins" and "extraordinary
rendition", while neutral or meaningless words are given nefarious and
suggestive meanings, like the ubiquitous yet chimerical "suspected terrorist".
How are we to account for this phenomenon? Why is it so viral?
In fact, its appearance in our daily discourse, and its ultimate significance
for our understanding of government and the mental 'hygiene' of
those subject to government policies, was clearly understood and explained
by scientists working behind the "Iron Curtain" during Nazi occupation
and under Communist rule. The work of these scientists was conducted in secret,
beyond the peering eyes of the state and its secret police. Nevertheless, the
scientists soon realized that someone in authority was aware of their work,
for when they attempted to access materials on relevant subjects
from university libraries, (such as human psychology for example), they found
that all such books had been systematically removed. From this, the scientists
quickly understood that to be caught with such forbidden material and research
would mean almost certain death. The research in question is summarized and
explicated in the work of Prof. Andrzej Lobaczewski's Political
Ponerology, and was only made available to the general public when it
was published by Red Pill Press in early 2006.
In his book, Lobaczewski approaches the question of political
evil as a physician approaches the pathodynamics of an infectious virus, following
the causal links between psychopathic individuals in positions of political
power and the negative effects they have on a non-psychopathic population.
One of the key concepts throughout his analysis is the psychopath's use
of language. From an early age, psychopaths become aware of their difference
from the vast majority of their peers, and learn to recognize each other in
a crowd. As a psychopath does not have the in-born ability to feel complex
emotions, expressions of such emotion in normal humans (like an expression of love, a widow in
mourning, a man fearing for his life or family) are seen by the psychopath
as contemptible signs of weakness and naiveté, and only provoke in him
a misplaced sense of superiority. Normal humans are seen by psychopaths as
little more than cattle, and are treated accordingly by them.
However, while psychopaths are aware of their difference
(they might say 'superiority') from 'the mob' of general
humanity, they learn to act as if they, too, are 'normal'. Growing
up, they learn to mimic the movements and expressions that accompany specific
human emotions. They do this because appearing normal is essential to their
own survival at the expense of their victims. A psychopath can appear to be
in emotional pain, eliciting pity and material support; he can seduce women
with his air of confidence (the textbooks are full of unattractive psychopaths
who are surprisingly successful in this venture); he can lead a church congregation
with high-sounding words, while embezzling the funds they give in support.
However, psychopaths know that if what lies behind their mask of sanity were
to be publicly exposed, and if the masses of normal people were suddenly
to understand that psychologically deviant human beings in positions of power
are the real source of war,
the most the Pathocrats could hope for would be long stretches in the nearest
penitentiary. The people would rebel against the terror they have been subjected
to under their influence - the manipulation, the lying and injustice
that have led to interminable war, death and suffering. But for a psychopath,
the only injustice is not getting what he wants: power.
Once a group of psychopaths has reached a position of such
power in government (although the dynamic applies to any organization or hierarchy),
such a government must work to make itself and its policies appear acceptable
to the non-psychopathic human's sense of morality. If such a government
were to lower its mask prematurely and truthfully say, "We, the government
of psychopaths, despise you as much as we despise our so-called 'enemy'.
We will work our hardest until you, our very own citizens, and those of any
hostile foreign power, are utterly destroyed. Through poverty, total war, and
genocide we will kill you all", the people would naturally revolt. As
such, the government of psychopaths (or pathocracy) must mask its language
in an acceptable ideology. Thus, a war of aggression becomes a "holy
war" or
"pre-emptive" war, not for the purpose of imperialistic invasion,
but to
"protect the homeland". This language is immediately recognized
for what it is by other psychopaths, and they can pledge their support accordingly.
But with experience, and after extensive observation and research, a non-psychopathic
individual, too, can develop an ability to read the hidden meaning.
The effect of such language on the minds of normal individuals
is that which Lobaczewski calls 'conversive thinking'. This is
a subconscious selection of premises that leads to false or paralogical conclusions.
The conscious manipulations of psychopaths are unconsciously converted in the
mind of the normal person and taken for truth. For example, we see evidence
of this in the irrational fear many Americans have come to have for Muslims.
It is not uncommon to hear emotional pleas to "nuke them all",
or "turn
the whole
Middle East
into a glass parking lot". A recent CNN commentator, Glenn Beck, even
went so far as to ask a Muslim congressman, Keith Ellison, why he should not
suspect him of being "a terrorist". The net effect of this hysteria is that
the guilt of the minority of every population (i.e., the psychopathic
minority) is projected onto a separate and identifiable religious or racial
group.
The fact that such language, and the resultant conversive
thinking, is pervasive in our own political discourse is not a promising sign
for the health and future of humanity, and should prompt an immediate and in-depth
analysis of the nature of psychopathology and its presence in the leaders of
our governments, military, and intelligence services. The history of "man's
inhumanity to man" is actually one of pathocracy, and if we can learn
one thing from the pathocracies of past generations, it is that millions will
die as a result of the present one. With the advent of depleted uranium munitions
(used during the current occupation of Iraq), white-phosphorous (used in the
recent Israeli attacks on Lebanon and Palestine), and current advances in ethnic-specific
weapons, to name but three modern weapons of mass-genocide, things are looking
far worse than ever before.
The remainder of this essay will provide contemporary examples
of such distortions of language. As a warning, I should say that stripping
the veneer of ideology from the following words and phrases may come as a shock
to some readers. As Lobaczewski warns, "even normal people, who condemn
this kind of [pathocracy] along with its ideologies, feel hurt and deprived
of something constituting part of their own romanticism, their way of perceiving
reality, when a widely idealized group is exposed as little more than a gang
of criminals. Perhaps even some of the readers of this article or Lobaczewski's
book will resent the unceremonious stripping away of all of the literary motifs
of the psychopathic mind.
The fact is; there is no romanticism in the global "War
on Terror". The men and women promoting it are nothing more than a "gang
of criminals", as Lobaczewski puts it. There is no epic "clash
of civilizations"; there is no primeval "good against evil";
there is no heroic "protecting Western freedoms and values". These
are simply ideological "literary motifs", and the truth is much
more prosaic.
War Cries
- "Bringing peace to [insert foreign country here]" - This
refers not to bringing any kind of meaningful peace to a country in turmoil
but to killing all foreign enemies. The idea is that, without anyone to fight
back, there will be peace. For a psychopath, 'peace' is achieved when
any and all opposition has been exterminated;
- "Bringing freedom to [insert foreign country here]" -
This refers not to any real freedoms, but merely the psychopathic freedom
to rape, pillage, plunder, and murder a given group of people. For a psychopath,
freedom means being able to do whatever he wants, without opposition.
- "Protecting our Freedoms" - A variation of #2, this simply
means protecting the right to rape, pillage, plunder, and murder from the
perceived threat of people who disapprove of, and may attempt to bring a
stop to, such acts.
- "Defending oneself" / "acting in self-defense" -
This refers not to any real type of defense resulting from an unprovoked
attack. Self-defense means that a psychopath has the right to maim, torture,
terrorize, or kill anyone who complains that he is already being maimed,
tortured, terrorized by the psychopath in question. For a psychopath, defending
oneself means attacking and blaming the victim for the psychopath's own crimes,
and then holding them fully accountable for these actions.
- "Support our troops" - The does not refer to any real
moral, empathic, physical, emotional, or monetary support for those sent
to die as cannon fodder. For a psychopath, "support" means sacrifice; normal
people, whether part of, or foreign to, the country of the pathocracy, must
be killed, as they form an ever-present obstacle to complete control. Wars
are a perfect means to not only kill a pathocracy's own citizens, but also
those of any 'enemy state'. On another level it means "support what we say
our troops should be doing - do not, under any circumstances, ask the troops
themselves or support their right to disobey illegal orders".
- "The War on Terror" - The war on terror is a war of terror.
It is a war on the victims of terror at the hands of psychopaths. When the
victims of psychopathic terror respond (as have the Palestinians to the terror
of the Israeli government and military), they are attacked in the name of 'anti-terrorism'.
The victims of terrorists (e.g. the Palestinians) become the 'terrorists',
and are killed as a result.
Masks of Sanity
- "Outrageous conspiracy theories" - This refers to actual conspiracies.
By associating the word 'outrageous' with completely plausible conspiracies,
normal people are hesitant to question "official" lies. In fact,
all covert/black operations are considered
'conspiracies'. However, when one is exposed for what it is (whether
it be an assassination, a propaganda campaign, a spy-ring, a drug-running
operation, a
coup d'état, a false-flag), it
is pejoratively labeled "conspiracy theory" for the purpose of
damage control.
- "Patriotism"
- This does not refer to love of one's homeland, but unquestioning belief
and support of official government doctrine. Anyone opposing the official
doctrine is labeled as "unpatriotic", "anti-American", "anti-Israel",
etc.
- "Diplomacy"
- This refers to threats and intimidation preceding an already decided upon
military strike. For example, the invasion of
and the inevitable invasion of
,
Syria
, Lebanon etc.
- "Appeasement"
- This refers to failure to preemptively attack those considered to be "enemies",
like
Iran
presently, and usually refers to an ideology that promotes peace between
nations. For example, Donald Rumsfeld's statement: "Can
we truly afford to believe that somehow, some way, vicious extremists can
be appeased?" In fact, Rumsfeld represents the very "vicious extremists" whom
the majority of world powers are appeasing.
- "Free Elections" This
refers to the
'freedom' psychopaths have to steal elections, by bribing candidates
with campaign donations, blackmailing them for support, and using widespread
voter fraud. In short, free elections are stolen elections.
- "Morality"
(e.g. "Jewish or Christian morality" or "
Israel
's military is the most moral in the world"). When used in the context
of a psychopathic military, 'morality' refers to the psychopathic morality
of complete lack of conscience. For example, feeling empathy for your enemy
is "soft", "weak" or "simple-minded".
Cold-blooded killing machines are extremely moral soldiers, in the minds
of pathocrats.
Word Salad
- "Extraordinary Rendition" - This phrase refers to "out-sourced
torture", without any extradition proceedings. Cynically, 'rendition' can
refer to "giving back" (although prisoners are often 'given
back' to foreign countries that happen to not comply with human rights
legislation), "melting down", "processing", as for
industrial use, as livestock is "rendered". The euphemism is
that these often innocent prisoners are processed as cattle.
- "Collateral Damage" - The intentional killing of innocent civilians.
- "Free Speech Zone" - A (usually) wire enclosure in which
citizens who wish to publicly voice their displeasure with the ruling pathocracy
are confined, which is set up at a enough of a distance from the representatives
of said Pathocracy to ensure the displeasure does not actually reach them.
Any dissenter wishing to express his or her free speech outside of the "free
speech zone" may be harassed or arrested.
- "Intelligence" - The
information (viewable only by military and government leaders) that is used
to justify war, revoking freedoms, and increasing control. Since there is no
way to verify intelligence due to its secrecy, it can easily (and usually is)
fabricated, and the proof of its fabrication usually comes only after it has
served its purpose, and hundreds of thousands are dead.
- "National Security" - How
safe a country is, as determined by "intelligence".
- "The world-wide threat of militant Islamo-fascism" -
This reveals that the psychopaths uttering these words, in fact, wish to
take over the world of normal people, installing the universal 'law' of
the psychopath. This 'law'
can manifest itself in any ideology, whether capitalist, socialist, fascist,
communist, Judaic, Talmudic, Christian, Muslim, etc.
- "Globalization"
- This is not about the distribution of wealth to poor countries, but another
way for pathocratic corporations to steal and plunder the natural resources
of those same poorer countries, leaving the native populations to starve.
Non-substantive Labels
- "Suicide Bomber" - a) an explosive device detonated
at a distance by intelligence services of the pathocracy (Mossad, CIA,
MI5, etc.) and blamed on a fanatical extremist belonging to the religion
of the enemy of the pathocracy. This can also take the form of bombs being
placed in vehicles of the civilian population at check points and later
detonated to create the most mayhem and chaos while maximizing the propaganda
effect. b) A patsy incited to blow themselves up for a cause that appears
worthwhile, but which only suits their handlers, which are again agents
of the intelligence services of the pathocracy (Mossad, CIA, MI5, etc.).
- "Hero"
- This refers to a pathocracy's own military 'cannon fodder',who
died for the expressed purpose of "bringing freedom
and democracy to [country]". They usually die young, and serve the purpose
of emotionally entangling a hesitant population into a war of aggression.
Used in conjunction with "support our troops", this label stifles any
criticism of an aggressor's war crimes.
- "Infiltrators"
- Walid Phares, a neoconservative Pathocrat,
recently wondered "how deeply have 'Jihadist' elements
infiltrated the
U.S.
government and federal agencies?" In fact, as anyone opposing Zionist
terror and propaganda is labeled a "terrorist sympathizer", or "terrorist",
these
'infiltrators' are merely individuals who oppose Zionist terror
and propaganda.
- "Anti-Semitic"
- A label which refers to any behavior critical of the pathocratic Zionist
genocide of Palestinians, or critical of any crime committed by a Jew.
By stifling any criticism of Jews in general, psychopathic Jews escape
any legitimate criticism for their crimes.
- "Self-hating Jew" - A Jew that displays "anti-Semitic" behavior
but cannot have this label/libel applied for obvious reasons.
- "Anti-defamation"
- This refers to "defamation". The so-called "Anti-Defamation
League of B'nai B'rith" and
their imitators commonly use such terms as 'anti-semite', 'Islamo-fascist',
'rabble-rouser', 'radical Left', 'paranoiac', 'lunatic', 'conspiracy
theorist',
'madman', 'nut', 'terrorist sympathizer' to
stifle criticism of Israel or pro-Israeli policies.
- "Security Contractors" - More accurately described as
mercenaries - agencies
and individuals paid to carry out 'black' or 'covert' operations,
usually involving false-flag operations or inciting sectarian violence.
- "Insurgents"
- Individuals who are resisting (often by force of arms) an illegal invasion
of their country by a foreign power.
- "Terrorists"
- Very often, also individuals resisting an illegal invasion of their country.
Terrorism can also be used factually to describe the false flag operations
of the illegal invaders. But generally, when this is the case, they are
called "Arab Terrorists."
- "Freedom Fighters" - Usually the very same "terrorists",
when their actions are acceptable or funded by members of the Pathocracy.
For example, when being funded by the CIA and ISI in
Afghanistan
against Soviet invasion, militant Islamic groups were referred to as freedom
fighters, not terrorists.
The lead article at this
link provides an insightful look at doublespeak in media coverage of
the Palestinian Occupation. Also visit this link for
another lexicon of doublespeak.
[Thanks to Green_Manalishi, Johnno, Justin,
Laura, Navigante, Noise, Ryan, ScioAgapeOmnis, SleepyVinny and
all other contributors to the topic at the Signs of the Times Forum]
Comment on this Editorial
Editorial: Palestinian Solidarity Discourse and Zionist Hegemony
By Gilad Atzmon
A talk given at 11/22/06 in Edinburgh hosted by the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign
Let's face it; while the Palestinian and Arab resistance evolves into an absolute example of the ultimate heroism and collective patriotism, the Palestinian solidarity movement in the UK and around the world is not exactly what could be called a profound success story. In fact, it would be erroneous to state that this is really the fault of those who dedicate their time and energy to it. Supporting the Palestinians is a complicated subject. Though the crimes against the Palestinians have taken place in broad daylight and are not some well-kept secret, the priorities of the solidarity movement are far from being clear.
When thinking about Palestinian society we are basically used to thinking of some sharp ideological and cultural disputes between the Hamas and PLO. Not that I wish to undermine that staunch disagreement, but I am here to suggest an alternative perspective that perhaps could lead towards a different understanding of the notion of Palestinian activism and solidarity both ideologically and pragmatically.
I maintain that Palestinian people are largely divided into three main groups and it is actually this division that dictates three different political narratives, with three different political discourses and agendas to consider: The three groups can be described as follows:
1. The Palestinians who happen to live within the Israeli State and possess Israeli citizenship - The Israelis have a name for them; they call them 'Israeli Arabs'. These Palestinians are largely discriminated by Israeli law in all aspects of their lives; their struggle is for civil rights and civil equality.
2. The Palestinians who live in the Occupied Territories - In most cases those Palestinians are locked behind walls and barbed wire in Bantustans and concentration camps in the so-called 'Palestinian Authority Controlled Area' (PA). Practically speaking, those people live under a criminal occupation. For three decades these people have been terrorised on a daily basis by Israeli soldiers in roadblocks and incursions, they are subject to air raids and artillery bombardments. Their civil system is shattered, their educational system is falling apart, their health system is extinct. These Palestinian people are craving for a single day with no casualties.
3. The Diaspora Palestinians - Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed over the course of the years and denied return to their homes by the racially orientated Israeli legal system (the Law of Return and Absentee Laws). The Israelis do not have a name for them, they simply deny their existence. The Diaspora Palestinians live all over around the world. According to the UN statistics every third refugee is a Palestinian. Millions of exiled Palestinians live in the region in refugee camps, the others can be found in every corner of the globe, many are here may be among us tonight. The Diaspora Palestinians know their rights and they want to be able to come home if they so choose, they demand their right of return.
Confronting very different realities, the three groups above have managed to develop three competing political discourses: The 1st group, the so-called 'Israeli Arabs', struggle for equality. The means they have to achieve their goals are largely political. They search for a voice within the racially orientated Israeli society.
The 2nd group, namely the 'PA inhabitants', battle against the occupation. They fight for liberation. Their means are political, civil resistance as well as armed struggle (in fact it is within the 2nd group where the bitter struggle for hegemony between the PLO and the Hamas is taking place).
Being out of Israel and lacking international support as well as adequate political representation, the 3rd group is still ignored by the entire Israeli political system and even by major players within the international community. The exiled Palestinians are largely neglected and their demand for the right of return is yet to be addressed properly.
Apparently, the Palestinian discourse is fragmented. It is divided into at least three different, sometimes opposing discourses. Cleverly, not to mention mercilessly, on their behalf, it is the Israelis who maintain this very state of fragmentation. It is the Israelis who manage to stop the Palestinian political and cultural discourse from integrating into a single grand solid narrative. How do they do it? They apply different tactics that maintain the isolation and conflict between the three distinct groups. Within the State of Israel the Israelis maintain a racially orientated legal system that turns the Israeli Palestinians into 10th class citizens. When PA inhabitants are concerned, the Israeli military maintains solid and constant pressure on the civilian population. Gaza is kept starving, it is bombed on a daily basis. Some of it is flattened. More than a few observers regard the situation in the PA as nothing but slow extermination and genocide.
In order to humiliate the 3rd group, the Israelis enforce a racist legislation that welcomes Jews to the country but rejects others (Law of Return). In practice it is a racially orientated system that stops exiled Palestinians from returning to their land.
Paradoxically enough, the more pain the Israelis inflict on any of the groups, the further the Palestinians get from establishing a grand narrative of resistance. Similarly, the more vicious the Israelis are, the further the Palestinian Solidarity movement is getting from establishing a unified agenda of activism.
Indeed the Palestinian solidarity campaigner is confused and asks himself what campaign to choose. Who should be supported? The division of the Palestinian discourse into three conflicting narratives makes the issue of solidarity rather complicated. Seemingly, different Palestinian solidarity groups follow different political calls and Palestinian causes. Some call for an end to the Israeli occupation, others call for the right of return. Some call for equality. Many of the solidarity campaigners are divided amongst themselves. Those who call for the right of return and 'one State' are totally unhappy with what they regard as a watery and limited demand for the 'end of occupation'. Seemingly, Palestinian solidarity is trapped.
Joining one call and not another is actually surrendering to a discourse that is violently and criminally imposed by the Israelis. This is exactly where Zionism is maintaining its hegemony within the Palestinian solidarity discourse. It is Israeli brutality that dictates a state of ideological fragmentation upon the Palestinian solidarity discourse. Whatever decision the Palestinian activist is willing to make is set a priori to dismiss a certain notion of the Palestinian cause. It is indeed painful to admit that it is the Israelis who have set us into this trap. Our work, discourse and terminology as activists are totally shaped by Israeli aggression.
The Battle Is Not Lost
However, there is a way around that complexity. Rather than surrendering to the Zionist practice which splits the Palestinian solidarity discourse, we can simply redefine the core of the Palestinian tragedy, which is now turning into a global crisis.
Once we manage to internalise that the discourse of solidarity with Palestinians is dominated by the malicious and brutal Israeli practices, we are more or less ready to admit: it is the Jewish State: a racist nationalist ideology that we must oppose primarily. It is Jewish State and its supporters around the world that we must tackle. It is Zionism and global Zionism that we must confront immediately.
Yet, this is exactly where the solidarity campaigner loses his grip. To identify the Palestinian disaster with the concept of 'Jews Only State' is a leap not many activists are capable to do for the time being. To admit that the Jewish State is the core of the problem implies that there may be something slightly more fundamental in the conflict than merely colonial interests or an ethnic dispute over land. To identify the 'Jews Only State' as the core of the problem is to admit that peace is not necessarily an option. The reason is rather simple: the 'Jews Only State' follows an expansionist and racially orientated philosophy. It leaves no room for other people as a matter of fact and principle.
Yet, once we come to grips with this very understanding, once we are enlightened and realise that something here is slightly more fundamental than merely a battle between an invader facing some indigenous counter freedom fighting. We are probably more or less ready to engage in a critical enquiry into the notion of Zionism. We are more or less ready to grasp the notion of the emerging secular emancipated Jewish collective identity. We are ready to confront the modern notion of Jewishness (rather than Judaism). Once we are brave enough to admit that Zionism is a continuation of Jewishness (rather than Judaism), once we admit that Israel draws its force from a racist ideology, harboured in national chauvinism and blatant expansionism, once we admit that Zionism, which was once a marginal Jewish ideology, has become the voice of world Jewry, once we accept it all, we may be ready to defeat the Zionist disease. We do it for the sake of the Palestinians but as well for the sake of world peace.
The Gatekeepers
Let's try to think of an imaginary situation in which a dozen exiled German dissident intellectuals insist upon monitoring and controlling Churchill's addresses to the British public at the peak of the Blitz. Every time Churchill speaks his heart calling the British people to stand firm against Germany and its military might, the exiled dissident Germans raise their voice: "It isn't Germany, Mr Prime Minister, it is the Nazi party, the German people and the German spirit are innocent." Churchill obviously apologises immediately.
I assume that you all realise that such a scene is totally surreal. Britain would never allow a bunch of German exiles to control its rhetoric at the time of a war against Germany. Moreover, dissident German intellectuals would not have the Chutzpah to even consider telling the British what should or what shouldn't be the appropriate rhetoric to use at time of a war with Germany.
However, when it comes to the Palestinian solidarity discourse, we are somehow far more tolerant. In spite of the fact that it is the 'Jews Only State' that we struggle against, we allow a bunch of self-appointed Jewish leaders and activists to become our gatekeepers. As soon as anyone identifies the symptoms of Zionism with some fundamental or essential Jewish precepts a smear campaign is launched against that person.
I have been closely monitoring the Jewish left discourse for more than a few years now. I might as well admit that I can think of at least one good reason behind Jewish anti-Zionist activism. I do understand the need of some humanist Jews to stand up and say, 'I am a Jew and I find Zionism disgusting.' At a certain stage of my life I myself was saying just that. As some of you know, I totally admire Torah Jews for doing just that. However, when it comes to predominantly Jewish socialist and secular left groups, I am slightly confused.
Moshe Machover, a legendary Israeli dissident and a Jewish Marxist who happens to be the intellectual mentor of the British progressive Jewish activists, expressed the following view just a few days ago when he stated a complaint he had with a petition. (http://www.petitiononline.com/grosveno/petition.html) "anti-Semitism is a Palestinian problem, as it pushes Jews into the arms of Zionism. This has long been understood by all progressive Palestinians. Anti-semitism is an objective ally of Zionism, and the common enemy of Palestinians, Jews, and all humankind." (http://redress.blogsource.com/post.mhtml?post_id=404627)
Indeed anti-Semitism may be a problem, yet, is it really a Palestinian problem? Should the Palestinian solidarity campaign engage in fighting anti-Semitism? Shouldn't we leave it to ADL and Abe Foxman? I think that we better try to do whatever we can to save the people of Beit Hanoun. This is where we are needed. I am certain that the vast majority of the Palestinian activists know that I am right.
Every PSC campaigner I have ever spoken to admits to me that only very few Palestinians find interest in the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. In fact, the statement by Machover provides the reason. According to Machover, those amongst the Palestinians who fail to see that anti-Semitism is the problem are nothing but reactionary, as only the 'Progressive' Palestinians acknowledge that anti-Semitism is indeed a problem. Let me tell you, the Palestinians I know do not like it when Machover or anyone else calls them reactionaries just because they are not that concerned with anti-Semitism. Reading Machover, it is rather clear that such views serve as a body shield for Jewish secular collectivism and the Zio-centric historical narrative. If to be honest, there is not much reason for any Palestinian to join a movement predominated by the obsession with anti-Semitism.
May I tell you, I am not an historian. I am academically trained as a philosopher and particularly as a continental one. I am interested in the notion of essence. For me to attack Zionism is to aim towards a thorough realisation of the essence of Zionism. To a certain extent I am indeed an essentialist. This is pretty worrying for those who try to reduce the discourse into positivistic exchange regarding numbers and historical facts. I am interested in the spirit of Zionism. I'm concerned about that which transforms the Israelis and their supporters into ethically blind killing machines.
Beyond Chutzpah
You may have heard of the book I am holding in my hand. Probably, it's the ultimate Zionist filth: Alan Dershowitz's The Case For Israel. I don't know whether any of you have ever considered reading this banal not to say idiotic text. I did, it fell into my hands a few days ago.
Shockingly enough, this book is structured as a beginner's guide for the Zionist enthusiast, a kind of "Israel for Dummies". It teaches the nationalist Jew how to be an advocate and defend the 'case of Israel'. We know already that Norman Finkelstein has managed to prove beyond doubt that the text is academically a farce. Yet, there is something revealing in this text.
The book is a set of deconstructions of 'the anti-Zionist argument'. It starts with the heaviest ideological and moral accusation against Israel and it gets lighter, more historical and forensic as you progress.
Dershowitz launches with the 'million Shekels' question "Is Israel a Colonial, Imperialist State?" To a certain degree Dershowitz manages to tackle the question. He asks, "if it is indeed a colonial state, what flag does it serve?" Fair enough, I say, he may be right. I myself do not regard Zionism as a colonial adventure. However, hang on for a second, Mr. Dershowitz. It seems you might be getting off the hook easily here. Our problem with Israel has nothing to do with its colonial characteristics. Our problems with the 'Jews Only State' have something to do with its racist, expansionist and nationalist qualities. Our problems with Israel have something to do with it being a Fascist State supported by the vast majority of Jewish people around the world.
Now if you, Scottish activists stop for a second, ask yourselves why Dershowitz starts his book tackling the colonial aspect of Israel rather than facing its Fascist characteristics. My answer is simple. We are afraid to admit that Israel is indeed a Fascist State. It is predominantly the politically correct groups that furnish Dershowitz with a Zionist fig leaf. In fact, it is the Jewish gatekeepers on the left who have managed to reduce Zionism merely into a colonial adventure. Why did they do it? I can think of two reasons:
1. If Israel, the 'Jews Only State' is wrong for being a racially orientated adventure, then 'Jews for peace', 'Jews against Zionism', 'Jewish Socialists', 'Jews Sans Frontieres' etc. are all wrong for the very same reason (being a racially orientated adventure).
2. To regard the Israeli Palestinian conflict as a colonial dispute is to make sure it fits nicely into their notion of working class politics. May I suggest that a universal working class vision of Israel implies that the Jewish State is nothing but a Fascist experiment.
I would use this opportunity and appeal to our friends amongst the Jewish socialists and other Jewish solidarity groups. I would ask them to clear the stage willingly, and to re-join as ordinary human beings. The Palestinian Solidarity movement is craving for a change. It needs open gates rather than gatekeepers. It yearns for an open and dynamic discourse. The Palestinians on the ground have realised it already. They democratically elected an alternative vision of their future. Isn't it about time we support the Palestinians for what they are rather than expecting them to fit into our worldview?
Raised as a secular Israeli Jew in Jerusalem, Gilad Atzmon witnessed and empathised with the daily sufferings of Palestinians and spent 20 years trying to resolve for himself the tensions of his background. Finally disillusioned, he moved away from Israel and went to England to study philosophy. Visit his website http://www.gilad.co.uk
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Editorial: Syria Is A Convenient Fallguy
By Jonathan Cook in Nazareth
24 November, 2006
Countercurrents.org
Unlike my colleagues, I do not claim to know who killed Gemayel. Maybe Syria was behind the shooting. Maybe, in Lebanon's notoriously intrigue-ridden and fractious political system, someone with a grudge against Gemayel -- even from within his own party -- pulled the trigger. Or maybe, Israel once again flexed the muscles of its long arm in Lebanon.
It seems, however, as if the last possibility cannot be entertained in polite society. So let me offer a few impolite thoughts.
As anyone who watches TV crimes series knows, when there is insufficient physical evidence in a murder investigation for a conviction, detectives examine the motives of the parties who stood to benefit from the crime. Better detectives also consider whether the prime suspect -- the person who looks at first sight to be the guilt party -- is not, in fact, being turned into a fallguy by one of the other parties. The murderer may be the person who benefits most clearly from the crime, or the murderer may be the person who benefits from the prime suspect being fingered for the murder.
As most of our politicians and the media's commentators have deduced, suspicion falls automatically on Syria because the Christian Phalangists are one of Syria's main enemies in Lebanon. Partly as a result, they have opposed recent attempts by Syria's main ally in Lebanon, the Shiite group Hizbullah, to win a greater share of political power.
They are also -- and this seems to clinch it for most observers -- part of the majority in the pro-American government of Fuad Siniora that supports a United Nations tribunal to try the killers of Rafik Hariri, an anti-Syria politician and leader of the Sunni Muslim community, who was blown up by a car bomb more than a year and a half ago.
After all six Shiite ministers walked out of the Siniora cabinet two weeks ago, and now with Gemayel's assassination, the government is close to collapse, and with it the tribunal that everyone expects to implicate Syria in Hariri's murder. If Syria can "bump off" another two cabinet ministers and the government loses its quorum, Syria will be off the hook -- or so runs the logic of Western observers.
But does this "evidence" make Syria the prime suspect or the fallguy? How will Syria's wider interests be affected by the killing, and what about Israel's interests in Gemayel's death -- or rather, its interests in Hizbullah or Syria being blamed for Gemayel's death?
In truth, Israel will benefit in numerous ways from the tensions provoked by the assassination, as the popular and angry rallies in Beirut against Syria and Hizbullah are proving.
First, and most obviously, Hizbullah -- as Syria's main political and military friend in Lebanon -- has been forced suddenly on to the back foot. Hizbullah had been riding high after its triumph over the summer of withstanding the Israeli assault on Lebanon and routing an invasion force that tried to occupy the country's south.
Hizbullah's popularity and credibility rose so sharply that the leaders of the Shiite community had been hoping to cash in on that success domestically by demanding more power. That is one of the reasons why the six Shiite ministers walked out of Siniora's cabinet.
Despite the way the Shiite parties' political position has been presented in the West, there is considerable justification for their demands. The system of political representation in Lebanon was rigged decades ago by the former colonial power, France, to ensure that power is shared between the Christian and Sunni Muslim communities. The Shiite Muslims, the country's largest religious sect, have been kept on the margins of the system ever since, effectively disenfranchised.
With their recent military victory, this was the moment Hizbullah hoped to make a breakthrough and force political concessions from the Sunnis and Christians, concessions that indirectly would have benefited Syria. With Gemayel's death, the chances of that now look slim indeed. Hizbullah, and by extension Syria, are the losers; Israel, which wants Hizbullah weakened, is the winner.
Second, the assassination has pushed Lebanon to the brink of another civil war. With a political system barely able to contain sectarian differences, and with the various factions in no mood to compromise after the spate of recent assassinations, there is a real danger that fighting will return to Lebanon's streets.
This will most certainly not be to the benefit of Lebanon or any of its religious communities, who will be dragged into another round of bloodletting. Hizbullah's underground cadres who took on the Israeli war machine will doubtless have to come out of hiding and will pay a price against other well-armed militias.
The benefits for Syria are at best mixed. A possible benefit is that a bloody civil war may increase the pressure on the United States to talk to Syria, and possibly to invite it to take a leading role again in stabilising Lebanon, as it did during the last civil war.
But, given the continuing ascendancy of the hawks in Washington, it may have the opposite effect, encouraging the US to isolate Syria further.
Conversely, civil war may pose serious threats to Syrian interests -- and offer significant benefits to Israel. If Hizbullah's energies are seriously depleted in a civil war, Israel may be in a much better position to attack Lebanon again. Almost everyone in Israel is agreed that the Israeli army is itching to settle the score with Hizbullah in another round of fighting. This way it may get the next war it wants on much better terms; or Israel may be able to fight a proxy war against Hizbullah by aiding the Shiite group's opponents.
Certainly one of the main goals of Israel's bombing campaign over the summer, when much of Lebanon's infrastructure was destroyed, appeared to be to provoke such a civil war. It was widely reported at the time that Israel's generals hoped that the devastation would provoke the Christian, Sunni and Druze communities to rise up against Hizbullah.
Third, Syria is already the prime suspect in Hariri's murder and in the assasination of three other Lebanese politicians and journalists, all seen as anti-Syrian, over the past 21 months.
The US exploited Hariri's death, and the widespread protests that followed, to evict Syria from Lebanon. Syria's removal from the scene also paved the way, whether intentionally or not, for Israel's assault this summer, which would have been far more dangerous to the region had Syria still been in Lebanon.
Despite the looming threat of the UN tribunal into Hariri's death, from Syria's point of view the accusations have grown stale with time and threatened to prove only what everyone in the West already believed. With the walk-out by the Shiite ministers from the Lebanese government, the investigations were looking all but redundant in any case.
Gemayel's assassination, however, has dramatically revived interest in the question of who killed Hariri and brings Syria firmly back into the spotlight. None of this benefits Syria, but no doubt Israel will be able to take some considerable pleasure in Damascus's discomfort.
Fourth, the Israeli government has been under international and domestic pressure to engage with Syria and negotiate a return of the Golan Heights, an area of Syrian territory it has been occupying since 1967.
With it would be resolved the fraught question of the Shebaa Farms, still occupied by Israel but which Hizbullah and Syria claim as Lebanese territory that should have been returned in Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. The status of the Shebaa Farms has been one of the main outstanding areas of dispute between Israel and Hizbullah.
President Assad of Syria has been hinting openly that he is ready to discuss Israel's return of the Golan Heights on better terms for Israel than it has ever before been offered.
According to reports in the Israeli media, Assad is prepared to demilitarise the Golan and turn it into a national park that would be open to Israelis. He would probably also not insist on a precise return to the 1967 border, which includes the northern shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. Traditionally Israel's leaders balked at this idea, and provoked popular fears by conjuring up the vision of Assad's father, Hafez, dipping his feet in the lake.
But if negotations on the Golan are desperately sought by the young Assad, Israel shows no interest in exploring the option. The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has repeatedly ruled out talking to Damascus. That is for several reasons:
* Israel, as might be expected on past form, is not in the mood for making territorial concessions;
* it does not want to end Syria's pariah's status and isolation by making a peace deal with it;
* and it fears that such a deal might suggest that negotiations with the Palestinians are feasible too.
Peace with Syria, in Israeli eyes, would inexorably lead to pressure to make peace with the Palestinians. That is most certainly not part of Israel's agenda.
Gemayel's death, and Syria being blamed for it, forces Damascus back into the fold of the "Axis of Evil", and forestalls any threat of talks on the Golan.
Fifth, pressure has been growing in the US Administration to start talking to Syria, if only to try to recruit it to Washington's "war on terror". The US could desperately do with local local help in managing its occupation of Iraq. It is unclear whether Bush is ready to make such an about-turn, but it remains a possibility.
Key allies such as Britain's Tony Blair are pushing strongly for engagement with Syria, both to further isolate Iran -- the possible target of either a US or Israeli strike against its presumed ambitions for nuclear weapons -- and to clear the path to negotiations with the Palestinians.
Gemayel's death, and Syria's blame for it, strengthens the case of the neoconservatives in Washington -- Israel's allies in the Administration -- whose star had begun to wane. They can now argue convincingly that Syria is unreformed and unreformable. Such an outcome helps to avert the danger, from Israel's point of view, that White House doves might win the argument for befriending Syria.
For all these reasons, we should be wary of assuming that Syria is the party behind Gemayel's death -- or the only regional actor meddling in Lebanon.
Jonathan Cook is a journalist and writer based in Nazareth, Israel. His book Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State is published by Pluto Press. His website is www.jkcook.net
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Living Under Terror
Gaza Revisited; Back to Basics
By Mamoon Alabbasi*
irst Published 2006-11-16, Last Updated 2006-11-16 10:49:08
The recent massacre that killed about eighteen people, mostly women and children, in Beit Hanoun as a result of a direct Israeli attack was nothing new, horrid as it was. Also expected were Israel's explanations of the 'tragic' event.
Both Israeli officials and their apologists were quick to claim that the strike was an accident and that it was supposedly targeting militants who fired Qassam rockets from civilian areas in 'no-longer-occupied' Gaza into 'no-longer-occupying' Israel. Unsurprisingly, many of those apologists added that though they felt sad for the victims' loss of life, they do, however, fully understand Israel's legitimate right to defend itself and its concern for security.
What is truly astonishing, however, is the fact that Israel has managed to get away with what it did unpunished from most mainstream media outlets. Had it been done by any other state or organisation, the normally critical media would have not given the undertakers of the act the benefit of the doubt, while ignoring the whole context of the crisis.
Instead mainstream media has generally acted as an accomplice to Israel's crimes by either abstaining from mentioning the context of the conflict or portraying a misleading context when reporting the Middle East conflict. Whether intentionally or unwittingly, the media has sponsored a number of fallacies and even myths when covering the recent massacre.
No-longer-occupied Gaza:
Israeli officials repeatedly claim that they no longer occupy Gaza. But what are we to understand from that claim? Is Gaza an independent sovereign state with full control of its borders, airspace and sea? The fact that the Israeli army (ironically called 'Israeli Defence Force') is no longer patrolling the streets of tiny but populated Gaza does not make the besieged strip free of occupation.
Retreating from inside the totally occupied area to surrounding positions, Israel has not ended its occupation of Gaza under any law including its own. About 1.5 million people living in a small area surrounded by a ruthless army that has 'fully' occupied them for over 38 years and can come back in whenever it feels like it to commit any inhuman action it pleases is not the concept of 'no-longer-occupied' that would spring to mind to the average Western observer. The fact is, the unholy Israeli presence has never left the God-tested strip.
As a follow up to their claim of no longer occupying Gaza, the Israeli authorities demand that Palestinians living in the strip should no longer engage in military action against Israel. But even if Gaza were suddenly (if not magically) to become an independent sovereign state with full control of its economy, borders, and the rest, such a demand should never escape the scrutiny of free objective media. It's like Bin Laden asking the people of Texas not to antagonise al-Qaeda because his followers never targeted the southern state in the tragic terrorists' attacks of 9/11.
Imagine if Nazi Germany had occupied London during World War II, would it be understandable if Hitler were to ask, say the people of Manchester not to help out the Londoners because his troops were not marching in the streets of Manchester?
What has also escaped the attention of many journalists, and a greater number of lawyers I might add, is the fact that ceasing to do a crime that you've been continuously doing for over 38 years does not give you immunity from punishment. Like the unforgivably monstrous sponsors of the Holocaust, the equally ugly mass murdering occupiers must be brought to justice and shame.
Rockets from civilian areas:
Another repeated claim that goes unnoticed is the idea that Palestinian militants are firing at the Israeli army or at Israel from civilian areas. Not many have bothered to point out that in a small land that has been occupied and severely controlled for over 38 years there is no such thing as a military area. It's not a case of two countries at war. There is no Palestinian army. Those 'militants' are in effect civilians fighting occupation from their homes. Risky and unadvisable as it may be, they do not see a credible alternative way to obtain liberation.
However, if Israel acknowledges that it is 'hitting back' at civilian areas, why aren't there cries of 'terrorism' in Western media? Is this a green light for terrorists that see it as acceptable to kill innocent civilians if there is a non-civilian among them?
Israel's security:
Although they certainly are perusing counter-productive methods, Israel has the right to be concerned about its own security. However, to expect the Palestinians to give a hand is like anticipating invaded Poland to give a damn about Nazi Germany's security phobia. From the perspective of his generals, Hitler had legitimate security concerns, too.
At the end of the day, invading or occupying powers are human too, even if their actions appear to be far from it. But shouldn't people, or countries in this matter, be more concerned with the security of the invaded or occupied party instead? Do you go to the bullied child and ask him/her not to push back? Not for the concern that it would make matters worse for the bullied child, but because it might discomfort the bulling child.
Qassam rockets:
'If it wasn't for the Qassam rockets,' the Israelis would like us to believe, 'none of this would have happened.' But it did happen before. Countless number of times, throughout Israel's 38-year long occupation, and certainly long before the invention of those so called rockets, Israel has committed one atrocity after another. But most journalists and editors fail to mention that. They just nod their heads as Israeli officials make their - what should be -unbelievable statements.
That's probably why the people of Gaza (and the rest of Palestine) seem - and in some cases indeed are - suicidal. They can't bank on international organisations or world media to save them. Even during those instances where the whole world appears to side with them, they have not been rescued from this torturing never-ending occupation. Here's a word that would sum up the context of the whole Middle East conflict; occupation.
* Mamoon Alabbasi is a freelance journalist and editor for Middle-East-Online.com and AlarabOnline.org - He can be reached at: alabbasi@journalist.com
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Palestinian factions agree on limited ceasefire with Israel
www.chinaview.cn 2006-11-24 06:29:52
GAZA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- A senior Palestinian official affirmed on Thursday that the armed Palestinian factions has agreed on a limited ceasefire with Israel.
Khader Habib, Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, told reporters that representatives of national and Islamic factions, who met with Prime Minister Ismail Haneya in Gaza on Thursday night, has agreed on a limited ceasefire with Israel.
He stressed that the ceasefire is mutual and synchronous, noting that "Israel stops its military operations in Gaza and the West Bank, while Palestinian militants stop firing rockets at Israel."
"The agreement also needs the acceptance of both Fatah and Hamas movements," he added.
On Monday, the Israeli army launched a ground military operation into northern Gaza Strip, where 12 Palestinians have been killed and more than 20 others wounded in the latest Israeli operation.
As Palestinian militants continued to launch rockets against southern Israeli cities, Israel decided on Wednesday to continue its military operations in Gaza.
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Palestinians militants: We'll halt Qassam fire if IDF stops attacks
Ynet
24/11/2006
A spokesperson for Islamic Jihad said the representatives of the various organizations in Gaza have reached an agreement according to which the Qassam attacks on Israel would cease in return for an end to the IDF's activity in the Strip and in the West Bank.
Comment: Such offers are pointless. Israel is not interested in peace. It is interested only in provoking Palestinians into attempting to defend themselves and then using such defense as justification for the continued ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
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Israel rejects Palestinian offer to halt rocket fire
AFP
24 November 2006
GAZA CITY - A proposal from Palestinian factions to stop rocket attacks in exchange for an end to Israeli offensives in Gaza and the West Bank was rejected as inadequate by Israel on Friday.
Just hours after a spokesman for the ultra-radical Islamic Jihad made the offer following an overnight meeting between rival factions, a Hamas militant was killed during ongoing Israeli operations in the northern Gaza Strip.
"We are getting nothing from these rockets because nothing they achieve matches the force and power of the Israeli response," Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas declared in Gaza City late Thursday.
"We talked about the rocket fire. There is an agreement to stop the fire in exchange for a halt to Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza," the Jihad spokesman said after inter-faction talks.
"This idea will be transmitted to the Israelis by Abu Mazen (Abbas). If they accept, there will perhaps be a stop to fire on Israeli towns but not a general truce," Khader Habib added.
But Israel did not accept the offer, with government spokeswoman Miri Eisin describing it as a "partial ceasefire" impossible to take seriously.
"The suggestion concerns a partial ceasefire, limited to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in exchange for a total halt to Israeli operations on all fronts. This is not serious," she told AFP.
"Israel has always aspired to an end to violence and we count on a change of attitude from the Palestinians and primarily Hamas in order to give development a priority in the Gaza Strip instead of continued attacks," she added.
The army, meanwhile, said three rockets fired from the territory exploded in Israel overnight, one of which damaged a commercial centre in the town of Sderot, where two people have died in such attacks in the last 10 days.
A spokesman for the Islamist movement Hamas, which heads the internationally boycotted Palestinian government, and an independent MP involved in the faction talks said there could be no way forward if Israel remained intransigent.
"There is no chance of a truce as long as the enemy aggression continues," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum.
"If the enemy agrees to withdraw from the zones it is occupying and top its operations, we can look at something else," he added.
Independent MP Mustapha Barghuti lashed out, branding the Israeli reaction "very discouraging".
"Israel is responsable for the cycle of violence. Each time Palestinians want an end of violence, Israel refuses. Israel is the one that does not want to stop the cycle of violence," he told AFP in Gaza City.
The Jihad spokesman had said that Hamas, Abbas's Fatah movement, his own faction and the Popular and Democratic Fronts for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP and DFLP) had accepted the agreement.
A spokesman for the cabinet headed by Hamas, whose armed wing on Thursday claimed its first suicide attack in almost two years when a grandmother blew herself up in Gaza, also said there was willingness for a mutual halt.
"The Palestinian groups are ready to stop the rocket fire if Israel agrees to stop all forms of aggression. If there is such a halt, there will be a halt to the (rocket fire)," said Ghazi Hamad.
But Tawfiq Abu Khussa, a spokesman for Fatah said talks needed more time, saying the movement was talking about an "unconditional" halt to violence.
Israeli troops have stepped up an air and ground offensive in the northern Gaza Strip in a bid to counter near daily Palestinian rocket attacks.
Ayman Juda, 22, a Hamas militant was killed by Israeli fire in Beit Lahiya, a medic said. An army spokeswoman said she was "checking" the report.
Seven Palestinians, including at least four militants, were killed by Israeli fire in the territory on Thursday.
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Israel dismisses militants' offer on partial ceasefire
First Published 2006-11-24, Last Updated 2006-11-24 09:04:30
JERUSALEM - Israel on Friday dismissed an offer from Palestinian armed groups to stop rocket attacks in exchange for a halt to Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
"The suggestion concerns a partial ceasefire, limited to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in exchange for a total halt to Israeli operations on all fronts. This is not serious," government spokeswoman Miri Eisin said.
"There is no commitment on the part of armed Palestinian groups to put an end to terrorist operations and suicide attacks in particular," she added.
"Israel has always aspired to an end to violence and we count on a change of attitude from the Palestinians and primarily Hamas in order to give development a priority in the Gaza Strip instead of continued attacks," she added.
The army, meanwhile, said three rockets fired from the territory exploded in Israel overnight, one of which damaged a commercial centre in the southern town of Sderot, where two people have recently been killed by such attacks.
A spokesman for the ultra-radical Islamic Jihad group said late Thursday that Palestinian factions were ready to stop firing rockets into Israel if the Jewish state ends its operations in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
"We talked (with Palestinian groups) about the rocket fire. There is an agreement to stop the fire in exchange for a halt to Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in the West Bank and Gaza," said Khader Habib.
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Seven Palestinians killed on Thursday in the Gaza Strip, over twenty residents injured
IMEMC
24/11/2006
Several attacks were carried out at different areas in the Gaza Strip; at least twenty residents were injured. Resident Nasser Al Nithir, 22, was killed after the army fired artillery shells at Palestinian houses in Sheikh Zayid city, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip; two residents were injured in the attack.
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Israel kills 2 Palestinians in Gaza- medics
Fri Nov 24, 2006 2:49 PM GMT
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces shot dead a 10-year-old Palestinian boy and a militant in Gaza on Friday, hospital officials said as the government vowed it would only end its assault when militants stopped attacking Israel.
The latest Israeli ground and air offensive, about a week old, is part of ongoing efforts to stop Gaza militants from firing rockets at Israel. Two Israeli soldiers were slightly wounded in the northern Gaza Strip when gunmen detonated an explosive device near troops, the army said.
"If the Palestinian terror factions, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, stop terror activities from the Gaza Strip, Israel would have no reason or incentive to operate in Gaza," said government spokeswoman, Miri Eisin.
Palestinian factions in Gaza late on Thursday had offered to stop firing rockets if Israel halted military action in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel rejected the offer.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told reporters it was up to Israel to respond positively.
"The issue should not be seen as if there is a Palestinian army with an arsenal of rockets ... The issue is that there is an unarmed Palestinian people who are subject to Israeli aggression," he said.
Palestinian hospital officials said the boy was shot dead east of the town of Beit Lahiya. Israel's army said it was not aware of the incident. Hamas said the other dead Palestinian was a militant and cameraman from the faction's armed wing who filmed Hamas fighters in action.
Israel has killed nearly 400 Palestinians in Gaza, about half of them civilians, since it began its offensive in June following the abduction of an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid, hospital officials and residents say.
Three Israeli soldiers have been killed.
ROW OVER UNITY GOVERNMENT
The fresh fighting coincides with a visit to Gaza by President Mahmoud Abbas of the once-dominant Fatah faction, who has been meeting Haniyeh to try to revive talks on forging a unity government.
Haniyeh is a member of the Hamas movement, which ousted Fatah in elections earlier this year and has resisted international pressure to renounce violence and recognise the state of Israel.
Hamas accused Abbas on Friday of imposing what it called unacceptable conditions for a unity cabinet, including the release of a captured Israeli soldier and a halt to attacks on Israel.
Palestinians hope a unity government will convince Western nations to renew aid to the Palestinian Authority after sanctions were imposed because of Hamas's refusal to recognise Israel and renounce violence.
"Mr Abu Mazen (Abbas) has started putting new conditions which were not included in the understandings and agreements we have concluded to form a unity government," said a Hamas statement from Damascus, where many of its leaders live in exile.
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Abbas aide, said Hamas had "invented" the idea the president was imposing new terms, saying they had been on the table for months.
"This is the latest trick by the Hamas leadership to portray itself to the public as not being responsible for the destruction of the internal Palestinian situation," he said.
Haniyeh was more upbeat, saying the "true intention" of the talks was to reach an agreement.
(Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem, Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah and Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Damascus)
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November in Gaza: 105 killed, 353 injured, 52 left handicapped for life
Maan News
23/11/2006
105 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of November, Palestinian medical sources have reported. The emergency and first aid department in the Palestinian ministry of health reports that 31 percent of the victims were children. Of the 105 killed, 14 were women.
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Israeli soldiers wounded by 55-year-old woman suicide bomber
www.chinaview.cn 2006-11-24 11:09:46
GAZA, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian woman, member of al-Qassam Brigades, armed wing of Islamic Hamas, blew herself up on Thursday evening amid a group of Israeli soldiers in northern Gaza Strip and wounded four of them, Palestinian eyewitnesses and security sources reported.
The sources said that Fatema al-Najjar, a 55-year-old member of Hamas armed wing, carried an explosive belt and walked towards the Israeli army forces, who are operating into northern Gaza Strip, and blew herself up.
An Israeli army spokesman confirmed that a Palestinian female suicide bomber blew herself up near an Israeli army force east of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip, and wounded four Israeli soldiers.
Shortly before the suicide bombing attack, three Palestinians were killed in two separate strikes in northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources said.
Two militants, who were in a car travelling in northern Gaza Strip, were killed when an Israeli aircraft fired one rocket that had directly hit the car, the sources said.
A third Palestinian was killed in Israeli artillery shelling on northern Gaza Strip.
Palestinian medics said the death toll of Palestinians that were killed in a daylong of violence with Israelis reached to seven, including the suicide bomber woman, four militants and two civilians.
Comment: Other reports place her age at 64 and 68. You'd think that her Mossad handler would get the facts straight.
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Matriarch who lost grandson in conflict with Israelis turns into "suicide bomber"
IHT
24/11/2006
Her daughter said Fatma Omar An-Najar was driven to lay down her life in an attack on Israelis Thursday because one grandson was killed and another disabled in clashes with troops. Fatma presided over a small army of militants, mostly from the Islamic Hamas movement, but with a few active in the rival Fatah. Her husband, who died a year ago, served time in Israeli jails, so did five of her seven sons.
Comment: When a person's life has been made into a living hell, many members of their family murdered in cold blood, and the rest in jail for no reason, and they are denied any way to defend themselves or seek retribution, what is there left to live for? What would be driven to do?
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Hamas says new rift with Abbas on government
Fri Nov 24, 2006 12:44 PM GMT
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Hamas accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday of imposing what it called unacceptable new conditions for forming a unity government.
Abbas is putting conditions on the formation of the proposed government, including the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants in June and a halt to attacks by Hamas and other groups on Israel, said a Hamas statement.
The statement is the latest twist in months of on-off talks between Abbas and Hamas to try to form a coalition government that they hope will succeed in lifting eight months of Western financial sanctions.
"Abu Mazen (Abbas), has started putting new conditions which were not included in the understandings and agreements we have concluded to form a unity government," it said.
"The issue of calming down armed resistance was not on the table and should not be raised at this time," The statement said. "Hamas had announced it is ready to stop rocket attacks if Zionist aggression and assassinations stop."
Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior aide to Abbas, denied that Abbas had imposed new terms.
Hamas said it had not received guarantees from Abbas that the West would recognise the proposed government and lift sanctions.
The United States and European Union cut off direct aid to the Palestinian Authority in March after Hamas won elections. Hamas, an Islamist group that is sworn to Israel's destruction, is listed as a terrorist organisation by the U.S. and EU.
The hope is that a new government that unites "technocrats" and members of Fatah, which is more moderate than Hamas, might open the way for the sanctions to be lifted and for the government to again receive desperately needed Western aid.
Even if it is formed, there is no certainty that the sanctions, which have increased poverty throughout the West Bank and Gaza, where 3.8 million people live, will be lifted.
Hamas and Fatah had on Monday suspended negotiations over the formation of the government after disagreement emerged over the distribution of key ministries.
Fatah wants independent "experts" to take them over.
Hamas said in its statement that although it has agreed with Fatah to exclude leading politicians from the new cabinet, it should not be comprised totally of independents.
"This will not be purely technocratic government," it said.
"The new government must not be linked to other issues, such as a ceasefire or the captured soldier. Hamas is deeply worried about attempts to go beyond the bases agreed on with Fatah," the statement said.
"Linking the soldier issue with the proposed government damages Palestinian interests," it said.
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Israel Snubs the World
France okays firing at IAF over Lebanon
Jpost.com
23 Nov 06
French soldiers in Lebanon who feel threatened by aggressive Israeli overflights are permitted to shoot at IAF fighter jets, a high-ranking French military officer told The Jerusalem Post.
Wednesday, several days after meeting with an IDF general in Paris to discuss what he said was a "blatant violation of the cease-fire."
Last weekend, Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan, head of the IDF Planning Directorate, traveled to Paris and met with military officials to explain why the IAF flies over Lebanon despite the UN-brokered cease-fire.
Nehushtan, new to his post and previously deputy commander of the air force, told his French counterparts that Israel was conducting the flights to collect intelligence on Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon.
According to the French officer, Nehushtan apologized for an incident on October 31 when an IAF fighter carried out a mock bombing run over a French UNIFIL position in southern Lebanon, almost prompting troops to fire anti-aircraft missiles.
"There was a reality on the ground and it was important for us to reaffirm what we had seen and explain clearly what are the orders of the French soldiers to protect themselves," the French officer said.
The French told Nehushtan they would view further aggressive flyovers as a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.
"No assurances were made to us that they [the IAF] would stop [the flights]," the French officer said. "The orders that the [French] soldiers have is that their weapons are for self-defense and if a commander will feel threatened, as it was about to happen on the 31st of October, he would have the right to use force."
Milos Strugar, spokesman for UNIFIL, supported the French position, saying that according to the UN resolution, UNIFIL had the right to use force in self-defense, even against Israeli aircraft.
"UNIFIL has the right to take all necessary action to protect UN personnel in self-defense," he said.
France's furor at the overflights was not divorced from French domestic political considerations, government officials in Jerusalem said Wednesday.
France is scheduled to hold the first round of presidential elections in April, and one of those reportedly considering tossing her hat into the ring is Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.
According to these officials, taking a tough stance toward Israel on the issue - a position that grabs headlines in France - helps her raise her profile.
The officials said it didn't hurt Alliot-Marie politically to be seen as someone who needed to be "held back" from responding forcefully to the overflights.
France has said on a few occasions since the end of the war that it came close to firing at Israeli jets over Lebanon. In late October, Alliot-Marie told parliament that Israeli F-15's had dived close to French positions in southern Lebanon.
"Our troops barely avoided a catastrophe," Alliot-Marie told parliament. "Our troops find themselves in a position where they have to fire in legitimate self-defense."
Alliot-Marie is a close ally of French President Jacques Chirac, and if Chirac does not decide to run for a third term, he may back Alliot-Marie to thwart his rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.
The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, has not - contrary to some press reports - asked the IDF to stop the overflights, diplomatic officials said. Rather, they have passed on to the IDF European concerns that the flights be performed more discreetly, and not in a way that could be interpreted by either the Lebanese or the Europeans as a provocation.
Nehushtan declined to be interviewed for this report and the IDF Spokesman's Office released a statement confirming that the IDF general had visited Paris.
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Iraq war was good for Israel: Olmert
Reuters
November 22, 2006
The Iraq war was a boon for Israel's security, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Wednesday, voicing fresh endorsement for a Bush administration sapped by the unpopularity at home of its Middle East policies.
The mid-term election losses of U.S. President George W. Bush's Republican Party were widely considered a repudiation of his decision to topple Iraq's Saddam Hussein as part of a vision of democratizing the region and bolstering allies like Israel.
Olmert avoided explicit comment on the Republicans' fortunes during Washington talks with Bush earlier this month. But in a speech to visiting American Jews, Olmert made clear he had few regrets about the changes wrought by the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
"I know all of his (Bush's) policies are controversial in America. There are some who support his policies in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq, and some who do not," he said.
"I stand with the president because I know that Iraq without Saddam Hussein is so much better for the security and safety of Israel, and all of the neighbors of Israel without any significance to us," added Olmert, who was speaking in English.
"Thank God for the power and the determination and leadership manifested by President Bush."
With U.S.-led forces mired in an Iraqi insurgency, political analysts have speculated that Bush may redirect his attentions toward solving an Israeli-Palestinian conflict that is a major grievance in the Arab and Muslim world.
That could prompt Olmert to reconsider his unilateral policies towards a Palestinian leadership that he has argued is incapable or unwilling to make peace with Israel.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate who has been struggling to revive rapprochement efforts despite opposition from the Hamas Islamists with which he shares power, has said that Israel should seek peace as a key to wider regional calm.
Under Saddam, Iraq backed Palestinian militants and posed a menacing presence to Israel's east. During the 1991 Gulf war, Iraq rained missiles on Israel but Israel held its fire at the behest of Washington, which was wary of alienating Arab allies.
But Olmert's views on today's Iraq have not been shared by all Israeli experts.
Yuval Diskin, chief of the Shin Bet intelligence service, said in a leaked briefing earlier this year that Israel could come to rue Saddam's ouster if it deepens regional instability.
"When you take apart a system in which a dictator has been controlling his people by force, you have chaos," Diskin said in a recording broadcast by Israeli television. "I'm not sure we won't end up missing Saddam."
Comment: Strange. The state of Israel usually profits from the deaths of large numbers of Arab civilians.
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Cleric holds US, Zionist Regime responsible for Gemayel's assassination
Tehran, Nov 24, IRNA
Tehran's substitute Friday prayers leader Hojjatoleslam Ahmad Khatami on Friday held the US and the Zionist Regime of Israel responsible for assassination of Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel.
"All proof and evidence point clearly to the fact that the US and Zionists are behind the assassination because the US State Secretary Condoleezza Rice had earlier disclosed that many assassinations would take place in Lebanon; large amount of weapons have also been shipped to the US Embassy in Lebanon and Gemayel too was assassinated with the same arms," said Khatami in his second Friday prayers sermon.
At least three gunmen rammed their car into Gemayel's vehicle as it was traveling in Beirut's Christian neighborhood and then riddled it with bullets from their silencer-equipped automatic weapons at pointblank range, witnesses said.
Gemayel, 34, was rushed to hospital where he later died of his wounds.
Khatami went on to say, "The reality is that we are witnessing a plot in Lebanon."
He hoped such plots would be defused through wise initiatives of the Lebanese popular officials.
The cleric said, "True, the plots have been masterminded by foreigners, notably the US, but the enemy is at home."
He recalled the 33-day of Lebanese resistance against the Zionist enemy and said there were some Lebanese statesmen who tried to harm the resistance.
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VP: Zionist regime, occupation are indices of bullying system
Istanbul, Nov 24, IRN
Iran's first vice president Parviz Davoudi here on Thursday night said that the Zionist regime and occupation in Iraq are indicators of bullying policy in the region.
Attending the Regional Conference of World Economic Federation in Istanbul, Turkey, Davoudi noted, "Economic strategy based on maximum benefit and maximum personal profit caused an economic development a illegal domination, and neo-liberalists' movement in economy accelerated globalisation in line with benefits of the system."
"Within the framework, the regional nations' rights have been infringed, therefore, they are legally allowed to open markets through political and even military levers," he added.
"After the cold war, unilateral domination policy and efforts to misuse the opportunity in line with strengthening power fomented instability worldwide and the Middle East," he stated.
The VP went on to say that restoration of stability in the region depends on attention to crisis in Palestine, and noted that the nation's legitimate rights have been denied for 60 years, because the Zionist regime usurped their territories and made them baseless.
The US is to deprive Iran from its inalienable peaceful nuclear right based on NPT regulations, and is storming Tehran for its nuclear activities, he said.
He added that the US' skyrocketing debts have brought about instability on the international financial markets and it is issuing dollars to repay the debts which has decreased trust in the exchange unit.
Touching on energy as the most important resource in the region, he noted that energy management is considered as the base factor in regional development and cooperation.
The official stipulated that the total oil and gas reserves should be regarded as a supportive element to promote a great movement for cooperation in all fields particularly in regional and international trade, security and energy sectors.
Davoudi arrived in Turkey on an invitation by Turkish Prime nister Recep Teyyip Erdogan to participate in the Regional Conference of the World Economic Federation.
The two-day conference dubbed 'Joining Regional and Creating New Opportunities' is attended by 13 Turkish ministers including the economy, finance and foreign ministers.
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The Republican Jewish Committee's results for its ad campaign just don't add up.
Dr. Daniel E. Loeb,
Philadelphia Jewish Voice
23 Nov 06
In the run up to the recent mid-term elections, the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) mounted an unprecedented advertising blitz in the Jewish media. The goal? To convince Jewish voters that the Republican party and its candidates best reflect the interests of America's Jews.
The campaign included two and a half months of weekly full-page ads in Jewish newspapers (and even some Russian-language publications) around the country as well as a 500,000-piece direct mailing. Not surprisingly, the campaign gained a lot of attention, but not just for its size. It was also accused of misstating facts and intentionally quoting politicians out of context to make its own partisan points.
To gauge the effectiveness of past ad campaigns, the RJC used the National Election Pool's exit polls as their benchmark. The NEP is a non-partisan organization founded by a consortium of national media outlets, including Fox News, CNN, CBS, NBC and Associated Press. In 2004, the National Election Pool initially suggested that 24% of the Jewish vote was cast to reelect Pres. George W. Bush --- an increase over previous elections. Months later when state samples were available (boosting the total sample from 250 or 300 to about 1500) the Bush's Jewish support slipped to
22% about the same as the 21% Bush received when he was first elected in 2000.
What value did the RJC get on their investment in 2006?
This fall, the National Election Pool conducted a similar exit poll. The results indicate that the RJC's ad campaign was something less than effective. According that poll, Republicans received only 12% of the Jewish vote in the mid-term elections; nearly half of their support had evaporated. This loss of GOP support among Jews mirrored GOP losses in the general electorate where Democrats increased their backing from 46.6% in 2004 to 57.7% in 2006.
Will big RJC donors be asking for their money back?
How does the Republican Jewish Coalition react to this rout?
They are in a state of denial. After a landslide in which they are only left with half of the support they had carefully nurtured over twelve years, they conducted for the first time their own internal survey which purports to show Jewish GOP vote actually increasing to 26.4%.
So which numbers are right?
In effect, the Republican Jewish Coalition abandoned the National Election Pool's exit poll results which they had used in the past, in favor of a home-grown "poll" focusing on particular demographic groups and geographical regions which were likely to be less unfavorable to the RJC. Indeed, according to Matthew Brook's own numbers the RJC oversampled Republicans and undersampled Democrats compared to the most recent American Jewish Committee Survey.
In order to assess this claim we need to take a look at the methodology used in each poll. The RJC has been reluctant to discuss their methodologies, but certain facts are worth noting.
Is the poll non-partisan?
The RJC poll was conducted by Republican political operative
Arthur J. Finkelstein. Over the last twenty-five years, Finkelstein has directed campaigns to elect conservatives in the United States and Israel. On the other hand, the National Election Pool exit poll is conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International, two well-known survey companies whose reputations are based on their accuracy and non-partisanship.
Scholarly analysis of political polls usually ignores all polls commissioned by a group aligned with a particular party or candidate since such polls are usually
non-predictive outliers.
When is an exit poll an exit poll?
While described as an "exit poll," the RJC polls were actually conducted over the telephone. Instead of picking random voters, the RJC called people and asked them
if they had voted, and if so, for whom. According to University of Florida political science professor Kenneth Wald, "there is no assurance that those who say they voted
or would vote actually did; [that is why] exit polls are done [exclusively] at polling places." It is well understood that people tend to respond to polls with the answer
they feel they ought to have given. Perhaps Republicans insufficiently motivated to actually turn out at the polls were included as "voters" in the RJC survey.
Do Unaffiliated Jews Count?
The National Election Pool's exit poll asked voters to indicate their religion if any, and included as "Jewish" any voter who identified themselves as Jewish. In contrast, the RJC's phone survey asked if the "voter" attended an Orthodox, a Conservative or a Reform synagogue.
If the caller was Reconstructionist or unaffiliated,
the call was terminated.
Prof. Steven M. Cohen, sociologist studying the American Jewish community at the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion determined that if the Republican Jewish Coalition's "restrictions were in place on a national level, 54% of America's Jews would qualify and 46% would not."
How are respondants selected?
Since Jews represent only 2% of the American population, the RJC did not call random people to see if they were Jewish. Doing so like the National Election Pool does would have been prohibitively expensive. Instead, they obtained "commercially available Jewish vote lists" which identify Jewish names. Matthew Brooks declined to provide
additional information about the organizations selling their lists to the RJC, but it is likely that the organizations and their mailing lists do not provide a random
cross-section of the Jewish community.
For example, in the RJC sample, 17 percent of respondents included identified themselves as Orthodox, as compared to 8 percent in the most recent American Jewish Committee Survey.
According to the RJC, 42 percent of Orthodox Jews vote Republican, so inflating the Orthodox Jewish vote inflates the overall Republican numbers. Matthew Brooks justified this practice saying, "We wanted to measure people who are practicing Jews [and] expressed some level of religious observance."
Is the survey national in scope?
The National Election Pool took great efforts to count every area of the country in proportion to their electorate. However, the RJC phone survey focused exclusively
on voters in Florida's 22nd district, Pennsylvania's 6th district, and the state of New Jersey.
According to the National Election Pool, Kean of New Jersey, though he lost, had the most Jewish support (28%) among all Republican Senate candidates. Meanwhile,Pennsylvania's 6th district is a gerrymandered marvel designed specifically to elect Jim Gerlach to Congress. Gerlach squeaked by with 50.6% of the vote. These districts are not indicative of the overall trend in 2006,where Democratic candidates for Congress won 57.7% of the vote.
Prof. Cohen concurred "The RJC-sponsored survey ... restricts its coverage to three areas with relatively high rates of Jewish residential density, where Republican
inclinations run a bit higher." In particular, the RJC neglected to survey the Jewish community in liberal bastions such as New York, California, and Illinois. Instead, former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer explained that they wanted to survey voters "where it mattered the most."
In 2004, the RJC had no trouble citing National Election Pool numbers when it served their interests. This fall, when those numbers showed a dramatic fall in Jewish support for the GOP, the RJC ignored them and relied instead on the results of its own dubious survey. What could have motivated such a maneuver? Could it be that the RJC was desperate to show its donors that the money they spent to fund the ad campaign wasnââ,¬â„¢t wasted? As mentioned above, the RJC ad campaign was severely criticized for misstating facts and misquoting politicians. It appears the RJC applied the same level of accuracy to its poll.
In retrospect, after hearing the administration praise FEMA Chief Michael Brown for doing a "heck of a job" and hearing the administrations claims of "Mission Accomplished"
in Iraq, is it surprising that the RJC is patting itself on the back for a job well-done?
© 2006. Permission is hereby granted to redistribute this issue of The Philadelphia Jewish Voice or (unless specified otherwise) any of the articles therein in their full original form provided these same rights are conveyed to the reader and subscription information to The Philadelphia Jewish Voice is provided. Subscribers should be directed to http://www.pjvoice.com/Subscribe.htm.
www.pjvoice.com
Daniel Elliott Loeb Ph.D. is a professional mathematician and publisher of the Philadelphia Jewish Voice www.pjvoice.com.
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S. African Jewish paper causes storm
By AMIR MIZROCH
22 Nov 06
The South African Jewish Report, published weekly in Johannesburg, is engaged in a heated public spat with the country's Jewish minister of intelligence, Ronnie Kasrils, and the South African Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), over the newspaper's refusal to publish a letter by Kasrils that, the paper's editor says, compares Israel's actions in the Palestinian territories to those of the Nazis during WWII.
The Report last week refused to publish Kasrils's reply to an article that questioned his stance on Israel.
SAJR editor Geoff Sifrin initially approved Kasrils's request to reply to an article by Anthony Posner entitled "Some Pertinent Questions to Kasrils."
Posner had concluded the article with the challenge: "So Mr Kasrils... now is your chance to engage in 'civilized discussion.' But perhaps this 'kitchen' is too hot for you? I am sure that the readers of the SAJR will be interested to see whether you have the ability to respond in a rational manner to all the points I have raised in this letter."
Sifrin refused to print Kasrils's reply, arguing in an editorial that it would not contribute to constructive debate and would offend the SAJR's readers.
Kasrils told The Mail and Guardian newspaper he suspected Sifrin had been pressured not to publish his views.
Sifrin rejects that claim. In a telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post, Sifrin said he had initially agreed to publish Kasril's letter but that "what he sent, in my estimation, was too offensive to publish. It referred to an analogy to Nazi action in the Warsaw ghetto and Nazi action after [SS leader Reinhard] Heydrich's assassination after which the Nazis destroyed [the Czech village of] Lidice. He basically said the Israelis are doing the same, and that crossed a red line as far as we were concerned."
Sifrin said he had "agonized" over whether to publish Kasril's letter, and had consulted with the chair of the paper's editorial committee. He rejected, however, Kasril's claim that he had been pressured into not publishing the letter.
"It's not true that I came under pressure by the [South African Jewish] Board of Deputies; nobody called me to threaten me. There is an ethos of a newspaper that one operates with, there was no order from anyone not to publish it. We don't operate in a vacuum. We know our readership - some of which are Holocaust victims. The editorial committee head and I agreed we couldn't publish the letter. Its effect would be unfair to our readers, and we could not give him a platform for this view, which basically crossed a red line," Sifrin told the Post.
In an open letter to Sifrin, published by the the South African Jewish Report on November 17, Kasrils accused the paper of "stifling his words" and said the editorial and Posner's column had distorted what he had written.
"This is a shameful debasement of journalistic ethics, not to mention the questionable morality and crass intolerance that refuses to allow my right to reply to questions directly put to me in your columns," wrote Kasrils.
"You reneged on an undertaking to publish my reply and yet have the temerity to claim that 'the richness and creativity of Jewish life owes much to its acceptance of open debate, even if acrimonious.'
"Your utterances fly in the face of a cowardly action last personally experienced when anything I said or wrote was silenced by an apartheid government banning order in 1962," Kasrils wrote.
He accused the newspaper of misleading readers into believing that he was calling for the annihilation of Israel and that he was a Holocaust denier.
"On the question of my invoking the Nazi parallel with Israel, you fail to acknowledge that I have consistently and pointedly referred to certain comparable measures being employed against the people of Palestine and Lebanon," he said. "I am clearly referring to certain actions and not a total genocidal system such as the Holocaust," Kasrils wrote.
"Mr. Editor, you and the cowardly cabal behind you can ban and vilify me, but as long as I have breath I will continue to protest against Israel's fascist-style brutality and declare 'Not in my name' in the interest of the true values of Judaism and humanity and in support of justice and security for all Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Middle East and further afield."
Kasrils said it was "absolutely dishonest" of the paper to publish Posner's piece without his reply.
Despite his anti-Israel stance, it is thought that Kasrils has been providing protection from terrorist threats to South Africa's Jewish community, several Jewish leaders, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, told the Post.
"I can't comment on that, because I don't know, but it is certainly possible he uses his office to provide protection. Nobody is accusing him of being anti-Jewish. I wouldn't be surprised if he was behind the scenes doing something like that," Sifrin said.
Regarding the decision not to publish Kasril's letter, Safrin said the minister's words had the potential to promote anti-Jewish feelings in South Africa. "The general atmosphere here is pretty anti-Israel. Comments like these rub off on the Jewish community here. All the comparisons that are being made between apartheid and Israel are all over the place, and Kasrils is adding to this. But I wouldn't accuse him of being anti-Jewish in any way," Sifrin said.
"We are not excluding Kasrils from the paper, just his letter, which we couldn't publish," Sifrin said.
Kasrils, in an e-mail exchange with the Post, confirmed that he does use his office to protect South Africa's 80,000-strong Jewish community, but would not go into specifics. Asked if he thought his comments could inflame anti-Jewish sentiment, he replied in the negative.
"No, not anti-Jewish sentiment. The black population in general and the Muslim population in particular congratulate me on demonstrating that not all Jews support Israel's inhumane treatment of the Palestinian and Lebanese people. My actions help them to understand that there is a distinction between Judaism, on the one hand, and Zionism and the Israeli government on the other," Kasrils told the Post.
"I oppose the brutal treatment of the Palestinian people by successive Israeli goverments, and like your first agriculture minister, Aharon Cizling, who in 1948 said to the cabinet, 'Now we too have behaved like Nazis,' I do compare methods such as the indiscriminate bombings of civilians, collective punishment and ethnic cleansing as measures utilized by the Nazis and other fascist regimes.
"I feel it is necessary to remind your government, your military, and Jews everywhere what is being done by a people who should have learnt the dreadful lessons of the Holocaust," Kasrils said.
The South African Jewish Report is also going head-to-head with the South African Freedom of Expression Institute. In a statement released to the media this week condemning the SAJR's decision not to publish Kasril's letter, Jane Duncan, director of the institute, wrote, "The newspaper is engaging in contradictory behavior by publishing an opinion piece posing questions and then denying the person to whom the questions are being put the right to answer them. The SAJR had the right to editorial independence, but this was qualified by normal editorial ethics, which included 'the sacrosanct principle of the right to reply.'"
Duncan further wrote, "Likening certain policing or military measures that the Israeli state uses to Nazi measures does not meet the objective test [of hate speech]."
What really bothered Sifrin, however, were the following words in Duncan's press release: The Jewish Report "comes out of this incident looking like a mere extension of Zionism's repressive project... We wonder what chance ordinary members of the Jewish community have to be heard if they voice dissent against the Israeli state's policies of forced colonial occupation of Palestinian land."
Sifrin said he was writing an editorial for the SAJR's Thursday edition calling into question the institute's claim to be an independent, objective watchdog of freedom of information in South Africa, in light of Duncan's statement.
"This is supposed to be an impartial organization set up for the freedom of information. What is this doing in their media release: "Extension of Zionism's repressive project, and Israeli state's policies of forced colonial occupation of Palestinian land," Sifrin asked. "The FXI was set up several years ago by respected and well-intentioned editors, and this has what became of the organization. This is the organization that is tearing us to pieces. And I have to ask what their agenda is."
Sifrin said he was never contacted by the FXI for comment before the institute published its statement.
"The first I knew was when I read the media release on the Internet. Which again calls into question their credentials. How can they, as a respected watchdog, insert words like that? It shows their bias. They have the audacity to then tear us apart for our editorial policy. Those two phrases are damning, they state it as fact. An impartial organization would never write anything like that," Sifrin said.
Duncan sent a lengthy response to the Post outlining why, in her words, "The FXI has a bias towards poor people resisting colonial occupation."
"We recognize that freedom of expression is heavily mediated by power and politics. So in interpreting this mandate, we have taken a strategic decision to adopt a pro-poor bias, prioritizing marginalized communities who are resisting censorship, repression, colonial occupation, racism and sexism. This is because it is in these communities or sections of our populations where the bulk of freedom of expression problems generally lie. Struggling for freedom of expression in South African in the past meant taking a principled position against apartheid, because it was apartheid that gave rise to the censorship of the media, the banning of gatherings, etc. Similarly, we cannot take a pro-freedom of expression position without taking a position against any ideology or power structure that is used to justify the denial of rights (including the right to freedom of expression) of people.
"Zionism is one such ideology in that it denies various rights of Palestinians and Arabs in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory," the FXI statement said.
"Needless to say, the definition of Zionism is contested, but one constant thread is the assertion that Jews constitute a nation, and therefore have a right to national self-determination on what was Palestinian land.
"The Israeli nation is therefore not constituted by all those who live in that particular geographic area, or who have historic claim to the land in spite of the fact that they may have been rendered stateless. Israel, not being a state of its citizens but a Jewish state, is thus an exclusive, not an inclusive, form of nationalism, and therein lies the problem. In Israel, this has translated into policies that have denied many people the right to coexist and enjoy equal rights on the basis that they fall outside the definition of who should constitute the nation.
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Pharmacy under attack after anti-Semitism charges
By Jane Ulman
Jewish Journal
Fraudulent E-mail alert claims Jewish-owned Beverly Hills store is source of hate
"I verified this information," one woman wrote as she passed the e-mail on. "Please forward this."
Many recipients took the request to heart, forwarding the e-mail to friends, family and contacts at Jewish organizations. Others phoned the pharmacy themselves. A local rabbi asked his orthodontist, who works across the street, to investigate. A formal complaint was lodged with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
First, to put rumors to rest, the charge is definitely false.
An anti-Semitic pharmacy in Beverly Hills?
The notion may sound unlikely, but a widely circulated e-mail bearing the subject heading "Druggist won't do business with 'Jews or Jew Doctors'" sparked concern and outrage in recent weeks as it landed in hundreds of computer mailboxes across the country. After all, the source -- a Jewish woman in Florida -- appeared to be without hostile intent, and the allegation, targeting the Wilshire Roxbury Medical Pharmacy at 436 North Roxbury Drive, allegedly had been vetted.
"I verified this information," one woman wrote as she passed the e-mail on. "Please forward this."
Many recipients took the request to heart, forwarding the e-mail to friends, family and contacts at Jewish organizations. Others phoned the pharmacy themselves. A local rabbi asked his orthodontist, who works across the street, to investigate. A formal complaint was lodged with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
First, to put rumors to rest, the charge is definitely false. The pharmacist/owner, who preferred not to have his name published, is Jewish, as is his assistant. They cater to Jewish customers as well as Jewish doctors.
But almost as problematic as the allegation itself is the absence of a plausible explanation. What brought this about? Was it, perhaps, the result of a misunderstanding, a vendetta or a joke gone awry? The genesis remains a mystery.
"It's like something out of Kafka," said Aaron Breitbart, a senior researcher for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, who investigated the allegation.
Here are the known facts:
On Wednesday, Nov. 1, Sue Hazan, a pharmaceutical representative in Boca Raton, Fla., was making cold-calls to promote a particular medication with a new co-pay plan. The contact information for the Wilshire Roxbury Medical Pharmacy appeared randomly on her computer screen, and she placed a call at 12:21 p.m. Pacific time.
Hazan explained the new plan to the pharmacist, who had answered the phone with the pharmacy's name and who later identified himself as "Jed Shoohed." She then mentioned that two doctors in his building had signed on to use the co-pay plan.
"Is that a Jew doctor?" "Shoohed" asked. "We don't take kindly to Jews around here, and we don't fill Jew doctors' prescriptions."
"But I'm a Jew," Hazan said.
"That's good for you, but don't call my store again if you're one of them," he said.
Hazan reported the incident to her boss and also called her daughter, Helene Abramson, in Princeton, N. J. Abramson, who is active in the Jewish community, then contacted people in her Israel support network for advice. On Monday, Nov. 6, she sent out an e-mail to her Israel support network detailing the incident, and that e-mail was quickly forwarded to hundreds of others.
The following Thursday morning, Nov. 9, a Jewish Journal reporter visited the pharmacy and met the pharmacist, who appeared agitated. The pharmacy is a small operation tucked in the corner of a medical building's wood-paneled lobby. On repeated visits that same afternoon it was virtually empty, except for one customer, the postman, the pharmacist and his assistant. The telephone was ringing almost non-stop.
The pharmacist said he has no idea how or why his pharmacy has come under attack. He confirmed that no one named Jed Shoohed works there, and he denied ever receiving a phone call from Hazan.
"We have no knowledge of this phone call," he said, refusing to say whether or not he was manning the pharmacy on Nov. 1, when Hazan made the call. He also refused to go on record with any further questions, threatening to sue if a story were to be published. He said he had been referring all inquiries to the Beverly Hills Police Department, where he has filed a report.
According to the pharmacist's attorney, Grant Carlson, of Beverly Hills, the pharmacist believes he is the target of an unfair and unwarranted attack by someone who doesn't even know him.
"The person clearly is hysterical and is making things up," Carlson said. But Hazan was not the only person on the receiving end of an anti-Semitic comment after calling this pharmacy. Jami Gan, who lives in Tucson, Ariz. and is part of the Israel support network, phoned the pharmacy at 3 p.m. Pacific time on Monday, Nov. 6. She wanted to confirm the e-mail allegation before forwarding it.
Gan asked for "Jed" and was told he was on another line. She explained she was calling to verify the e-mail. The person who answered assured her he knew what she was talking about and told her to go ahead and pass it along, saying that one day she would understand why people like him felt the way they did about people like her.
He also asked, "Are you familiar with Borat?" referring to the anti-Semitic fictional Sacha Baron Cohen character.
Many people in the building report having a cordial relationship with the pharmacist.
The building manager, Kia Saidnia, has known the pharmacist for about six years, since NIC Real Estate Group took over management of the property. He reported that the pharmacist has been renting the same space for at least 15 years, and he said he has never received any complaints about him.
"He gets along with everyone in the building, as far as I know," Saidnia said. NIC's owner confirmed that.
"He's really nice," said Hamid Shoohed, who himself is Jewish and whose last name is the same as that used by the mythical pharmacist "Jed."
Others in the building report a less amicable association. Dr. Larry Kozek, a dentist on the ground floor of the building, confirmed reports that jokes are frequently posted in the pharmacy's windows, which he described as "weird signs," although none were in sight on Nov. 9.
The Wiesenthal Center's Breitbart, who spent about 25 minutes talking with the pharmacist in person, believes the pharmacist is being victimized.
The ADL is also attempting to evaluate the situation, according to the organization's senior associate director Alison Mayersohn.
But when Mayersohn telephoned the pharmacy on Nov. 9, identifying her ADL affiliation, the speaker, who said his name was "Fred," referred her to the Beverly Hills Police Department.
"ADL's tendency is to be very careful," she said. "Things are not always as they appear."
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IDF admits targeting civilian areas in Lebanon with cluster bombs
By Nir Hasson and Meron Rapoport
Haaretz Correspondents
21 Nov 06
The Israel Defense Forces discovered that there had been "irregularities" in the use of cluster munitions, even before the end of the recent Lebanon war, sources in the defense minister's office said Monday. As a result of this information, Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered an "extensive inquiry" into the use of these munitions before the war's end.
Meanwhile, for the first time Monday, the IDF admitted targeting populated areas with cluster munitions.
In a statement released by the IDF Spokesman's Office, "the use of cluster munitions against built-up areas was done only against military targets where rocket launches against Israel were identified and after taking steps to warn the civilian population."
The statements released by the minister's office contradict Israel Defense Forces' claims - made both during and after the war - regarding the use of cluster munitions.
One IDF version, which remained unchanged until earlier this week, held that the firing of cluster munitions was done in accordance with international law.
On Sunday it was announced that an investigating officer, Brigadier General Michel Ben-Baruch, who was appointed to examine the issue, found that in some cases cluster munitions were used contrary to the orders of Chief of Staff Dan Halutz.
On the basis of these findings, also brought before the Military Advocate General, Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit, a decision was made to appoint an investigating general to carry out an examination of the circumstances under which the use of cluster munitions was made.
Meanwhile, there is growing evidence that the IDF leadership, including the chief of staff's office, authorized the firing of cluster munitions against the areas in southern Lebanon struck by these weapons.
A commander of a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) battery said they had fired many rockets against targets north of the Litani river, and that those targets had been described as "General Staff targets." This description was given to targets authorized by the chief of staff's office. Furthermore, the chief of staff's office also authorized the types of munitions that would be used.
The United Nations bomb dismantling teams have located many sites north of the Litani that were struck by cluster bombs, including populated areas.
Sources in the defense minister's office said that during the fighting, Peretz had been informed that the IDF used cluster bombs. "The defense minister demanded explanations and he was told that [the IDF] is abiding by international agreements and treaties," a statement from Peretz' office said.
A request made in September by Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On for clarifications regarding the use of cluster munitions has gone unanswered.
MK Ran Cohen (Meretz), a reservist colonel who commanded an artillery battalion during the first Lebanon war, said, according to his experience, the use of cluster munitions is "very unusual." As far as he was aware, he said, any use of such munitions requires authorization by the division commander or higher.
"This is a very serious matter," MK Cohen said. "If cluster bombs were used in populated areas, this constitutes an indescribable crime. There is no target that cannot be hit without cluster bombs. The massive use by the IDF of cluster bombs during the war suggests an absolute loss of control and hysteria."
Halutz orders probe into cluster bomb use
On Monday, Halutz named Major General Gershon Hacohen to head a probe into the use of the bombs. Hacohen was one of the commanders of the summer 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip.
"There is no question that one of the things that must be investigated is the way in which the orders were given and implemented."
"Were the orders explicit? I believe that they were."
Asked if he was surprised by the use of the bombs contrary to his orders, Halutz told reporters "I don't know if this is surprising - it is more disappointing."
Following reports first published in Haaretz regarding the scale of cluster bomb use, Halutz appointed Brigadier General Mishel Ben Baruch to head a probe into the use of the weapons.
The inquiry's findings were handed over to Halutz and IDF Advocate General Avichai Mendelblit, who will determine whether the case merits court-martial proceedings.
Based on the findings, Halutz decided to appoint Hacohen to investigate why field commanders blatantly disobeyed his orders.
The chief of staff's decision to appoint an inquiry was first reported Sunday evening by Channel 1.
Each rocket or shell can contain as many as several hundred bomblets, which are meant to disperse over an area of hundreds of square meters, exploding as they hit the ground.
Since the cease-fire went into effect on August 14, at least 22 civilians, including many children, have been killed and 134 others injured by unexploded bomblets.
To date, roughly 58,000 unexploded bomblets have been discovered at about 800 different sites in southern Lebanon. Most are near populated areas.
The United Nations demining unit believes that as much as 30 to 40 percent of bomblets may be duds. This translates into hundreds of thousands of unexploded bomblets throughout southern Lebanon, which endanger the lives of residents and block farmers from working their land.
According to testimony of an MLRS battery commander published in Haaretz, MLRS rockets were heavily used, even though they are known to be very inaccurate - the rockets may deviate up to 1,200 meters from their target - and a substantial percentage of the bomblets are known not to explode, thus becoming mines. In light of this, most experts view cluster ammunitions to be "non-discerning" weapons prohibited for use in a civilian environment.
According to the officer, in order to compensate for the rockets' lack of precision, they were told to "flood" the area with them. "We have no option of striking an isolated target, and the commanders know this very well," he said.
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A brutal taste of the future
Sami Abdel-Shafi
23 November 2006
Khaleej Times
The initiation of Avigdor Lieberman - widely regarded as an outright racist - into Ehud Olmert's Israeli government seems to have already brought a taste of things to come. For the past week, the Gaza Strip city of Beit Hanoun has been made a ground zero by the Israeli army. By yesterday, more than 260 Palestinians lay dead and injured, with 53 fatalities - women, children and ambulance drivers among them.
The Israeli army had vowed to end the firing of home-made rockets towards southern Israel. Many Palestinians disagree with the use of these makeshift rockets, but regard Israeli offensives as flagrantly disproportionate. Beit Hanoun was left with no men between the ages of 16 and 45 in the wake of a massive forced round-up by the Israeli army last Thursday night amid helicopter gunfire, tanks and artillery shelling. Women and children in the city sent urgent calls for help through Gaza's radio stations. To these jobless women, losing their men meant breakdown in their households.
On Friday morning, scores of women marched through Beit Hanoun in a spontaneous rush to aid friends and loved ones after hearing their pleas. Unarmed, they were shot at by Israeli soldiers from their tanks; two women were left dead and others severely injured. These women were said to have been heading to a mosque to free armed men who took refuge there. Television footage and interviews with witnesses show these women posed no military threat, but they were treated as such by the Israeli army without warning.
Meanwhile, Lieberman's party, Yisrael Beiteinu ("Israel is Our Home"), envisages expelling Palestinians or subjecting them to such misery that they are forced to leave. The party's spin doctors state it more mildly, saying that it proposes to relocate Palestinians to areas under the Palestinian Authority's control. The Beit Hanoun offensive offers an example of what lies in store for them.
Today, the Palestinian Authority tries to govern a besieged Gaza Strip and a West Bank with disconnected cities and villages. The 1.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are imprisoned by closure policies, impoverished and without any hope of a dignified life or economic development. The 1.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank are quickly catching up in a collapse created by the dozens of Israeli military checkpoints and the separation wall which make their lives impossible. Israeli restrictions on movement have made the Palestinians of East Jerusalem look as though they live in a faraway country, from the point of view of West Bankers and Gazans.
The present subjugation of Palestinians to siege, poverty and confinement - in addition to continuing Israeli military attacks - can only make it easier for our people to slip into infighting and tragedy. Both the international community and peace-loving Israelis and Palestinians will inevitably face ever more criticism for their failure to stem this tide of misery. Even to those who never supported Hamas, it is impossible to ignore such a huge double standard: the outside world accepts Lieberman's appointment as deputy prime minister, despite his extreme views, while it boycotts the Palestinian Authority's elected Hamas administration.
One can only wonder at Olmert's insistence that his deputy will not diminish whatever prospects remain of peace. Israel's offensives against Gaza punish an entire population. Bulldozing the area's water and sewage systems, including those built with international donor funding, killing civilians and subjecting tens of thousands of residents to oppressive military measures represent the reality of Israel's policy, whatever its stated objectives.
Sami Abdel-Shafi is senior partner at Emerge Consulting Group, in Gaza City
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'When it comes to firing the gun, it's a massive shock. It's what you don't see in the movies.'
November 23, 2006
The Guardian
We followed young British Jews signing up for service in Gaza and the West Bank
He grew up in suburban north London and still misses home comforts like milky British tea, the friends he left behind and the local pub.
But yesterday Joe Wainer joined an elite Israeli army unit, and now he faces the prospect of active service in the occupied West Bank. The 19-year-old, one of nine young Britons who have signed up for a programme that recruits foreign Jews for the Israel Defence Forces, realised his life had changed when he fired an M16 rifle for the first time in training.
"When it comes to fire the gun, it's one of the biggest shocks," he said. "The smell of the gunpowder, the kickback. It's what you don't see in the movies."
The soldiers, all of whom will have dual nationality, are part of a wave of migration to Israel from western countries including Britain, France and the US, as fewer Jews arrive from regions such as the former Soviet Union.
The British recruits, who arrived in the summer when the war with Hizbullah was at its height, believe the Jewish state needs a show of solidarity.
Training began in September, when they spent a week sleeping in tents, learning to obey orders and doing endless press-ups. A two-day test involving running uphill while carrying sandbags decided who was fit for combat roles.
Mr Wainer, who grew up in Barnet, was selected to join Nahal, a reconnaissance unit currently deployed in the West Bank. Nahal soldiers shot dead three Palestinians last month in what the Israeli army said were counter-terrorist operations. Some Israelis have refused to serve in the West Bank or Gaza but he does not share their doubts.
"If it's a job that we have to do, then I have to do it," Mr Wainer said. "Israel has always been under attack. Without the army, there would be no Israel."
For now, the six young men and three women, who are all taking Israeli citizenship under the Garin Tsabar programme, which recruits foreign Jews, live in Sasa, a kibbutz on the border with Lebanon. The hilltop settlement of low-rise concrete buildings became a rear base for the army during the recent war. "We were shooting missiles from the foot of this kibbutz," said Danny Young, 19, another British recruit, pointing from the crest of a hill down to a line of yellow scrub marking the border. "We were also receiving Katyushas [rockets]. Some of them landed in the fields over here."
To the right of the slope is a reminder of another war, the cloud-capped peak of Mount Hermon, part of the Golan Heights that Israel annexed from Syria in the Yom Kippur war of 1973.
Mr Young grew up in Southgate, a north London suburb, and misses the pub, his mates and the 24-hour Asda.
His new home remains geared up for battle. In the evenings, armoured cars clatter along the pathways and there is a constant buzz from a factory making bulletproof vests and vehicle armour.
On Tuesday nights, a bomb shelter is converted into a nightclub, where Israel's foreign legion drink lager and sing karaoke to a soundtrack which includes Bob Marley's Buffalo Soldier.
Mr Young, whose grandfather fought in the British army in the second world war, will serve in the paratroopers. He left Britain because he felt he had to hide his identity, quitting a job at an Essex bus garage because of anti-semitism. "They would be Nazi saluting. On toolboxes, they had written stuff like 'Essex Nazis'. It was done as a laugh, making fun, they'd be saying 'Jew' in German. They didn't know I was Jewish at first, but I didn't like being in a community where I felt I had to put things away."
Mr Wainer fell in love with Israel during a gap year. "There's something very mystical about it," he said. "It's the ancient Jewish homeland. It's where it all started. This is where Abraham was and where Moses fled to.
"There's a feeling of togetherness that England really lacks. There's a lot of different groups in England and they're all at each other's throats."
This British contribution to Israel's defence is tiny in scale, but provides a morale boost. "It's not about the number of people, its about the intention," said Dafna Brenkel, an Israeli soldier who mentors the British group. "The idea of people from overseas showing support and love for Israel, giving up their daily comfort, their home and their usual way of life, is an amazing thing."
Joining the army is a rite of passage in Israel, a formative experience in which friendships are made. For foreign Jews, it can be a shortcut to integration. Mr Young said: "When you join the British army, you're joining just to be in the army - it's a profession. Here it's part of the way of life."
In their spare time they watch DVDs of the US mini-series Band of Brothers on a laptop. Mr Wainer said: "I haven't quite experienced the part where somebody's leg is blown off. Hopefully we never will. But they really are a band of brothers, and that's what we are."
Comment: Just wait until he shoots the first Palestinian civilian and tries to convince himself it was an "evil terrorist". What fun!
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Israel ponders Gaza escalation
By JOSHUA BRILLIANT
UPI Israel Correspondent
24 Nov 06
JERUSALEM -- Israel's Political-Security Cabinet instructed the military to present plans for, "a more extensive operation" in the Gaza Strip to stop rocket attacks and arms smuggling.
The order was issued as more Palestinian Qassam rockets were fired on the town of Sderot, near the Gaza Strip. The army spokesman reckoned that this month Palestinians fired 157 rockets of which 91 made it to the border. Two Israelis were killed in Sderot in the past week.
During the recent Lebanon War, Hezbollah fired some 4,000 short-range rockets that led an estimated 350,000 Israelis to leave their homes. The Israeli military failed to stop those attacks and realized the rockets have become a strategic weapon.
Palestinians maintain Israel is still occupying Gaza, albeit differently than the way it had occupied it before last year's withdrawal.
The head of the Palestinian president's press office, Mohamed Edwan, said Israeli troops surround Gaza, its aircraft fly over it, and it has closed the crossing to Egypt stranding thousands of people.
"Some of those who shelled these Qassam rockets are ... provoking Israel, but Israel is very much provoking them because of all kinds of occupation and terror actions against Palestinian civilians. Do not forget the Beit Hanoun massacre," he said. Edwan was referring to the shelling of that town a fortnight ago. Israel said it wanted to hit a Qasam rocket launching area but that a faulty circuit board caused the cannon to hit the town. Twenty people were killed.
The Palestinian Maan news agency Wednesday quoted medical sources as saying 105 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of November. That brought the Palestinian death toll, since June, to 400. In June, Palestinian militants crossed into Israel and kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Shalit sparking intensified fighting.
Israel Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Sunday told the Cabinet that in the past three and a half months Israel killed some 370 armed Palestinians.
The Israelis insist they pulled out from Gaza, completely. Gaza is not under occupation and there is no justification for continued attacks from there.
They note that they regretted attacks in which innocent civilians were hit but that Palestinian attackers deliberately target Israeli civilians.
"No state would have put up with a situation...whereby crossing a road in one of its cities, or going to the grocery store, would become a bloody poker (move)," wrote Ha'aretz columnist Yoel Markus.
The Israelis retaliated with raids into Beit Hanoun and other areas. It controls a sand dune area that is closest to Ashkelon and strategic Israeli sites including a power plant and a fuel dumps.
Tank and infantry battalions are now inside the Strip clearing vegetation and structures. Then it would easier to monitor movements there. One force Wednesday killed a Palestinian militant and arrested another who tried to launch a rocket. The arrest and interrogation could produce intelligence Israel would need for further operations.
Nevertheless Israel's major concern in the military buildup going on in Gaza. It says arms are smuggled there in tunnels from the Sinai, and by sea.
The head of the Shabak security service, Yuval Diskin, last week told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that in the past year the Palestinians have smuggled into the Gaza Strip some 33 tons of military grade TNT, 20,000 assault rifles, 12 anti-aircraft shoulder fired missiles, 410 anti tank rockets with 95 anti tank rocket launches. They also smuggled Grad rockets, he said.
The Israelis remember all too well that their failure to stop Hezbollah's buildup in southern Lebanon led suddenly made them face thousands of rockets and well-entrenched fortified bunkers. They do not want a repetition in Gaza.
Military Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Dani Halutz Sunday told the cabinet the buildup was more disconcerting than the rocket attacks.
And so, for the time being, the Political-Security Cabinet instructed the army, "To continue countermeasures against all stages of missile launching activity, including know-how, production, storage and firing."
In what seemed be a reference to more targeted killings the Cabinet talked of "Specific countermeasures against those actively involved in terrorist operations." Sunday Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer noted that when he had been defense minister, "Targeted killings of all Hamas leaders and not just the activists in the field produced results ... such activity should be resumed."
Israel might also hit "Hamas institutions in the Gaza Strip," but Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz would first have to specifically approve that.
Meanwhile Israel will try to persuade Egypt to increase its efforts to stop the arms smuggling. According to Diskin the Egyptians know the "smuggling barons'" identities but do not do enough to stop them.
It is also expected to discuss the money smuggling, sometimes in suitcases, through the Rafah Crossing under the eyes of European Union monitors. Diskin estimated that $50 million to $70 million have been smuggled into the Gaza Strip to finance Hamas activities.
Militants reportedly went to Syria and Iran for training then returned to Gaza.
The cabinet statement thus said Israel would "continue diplomatic efforts and cooperation with Egypt and the international community to confront the strengthening of terrorist forces in the Gaza Strip...as well as the transfer of know-how and resources into the Strip."
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Paranoid or Realist?
Moscow dossier embarrasses US and Britain ahead of Riga summit
Tom Parfitt in Moscow
Friday November 24, 2006
The Guardian
In a move likely to inflame tensions ahead of next week's Nato summit in Latvia, Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, yesterday declassified documents claiming that Britain and the US had approved of the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states a year before Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union.
Received wisdom has it that the British prime minister, Winston Churchill, was deeply ambivalent about Moscow taking control of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 1940. But the editor of the 400-page dossier, Major General Lev Sotskov, told the Guardian it demonstrated that the UK and US "perfectly understood" that the region was needed as a buffer zone for the inevitable moment when Nazi Germany would break its non-aggression pact with Moscow and attack the Soviet Union.
Gen Sotskov said the documents proved that American and British leaders were often divided over their position on Soviet troop movements and their "public declarations clashed with internal assessments". But Soviet intelligence showed that Churchill decided it was a pragmatic move not to confront Moscow's occupation of neighbouring territory, which ended with the Nazi invasion of the Baltics in 1941. "Churchill realised this was the only way," he said. "He saw it as a not very pleasant but necessary step to prevent Germany from further intrigues and advance."
The fact that Germany's strike at the Soviet Union ran out of steam later in the war was partly because it had to cross the Baltics, thus justifying Churchill's reasoning, Gen Sotskov said.
Publication of the NKVD documents - almost certainly compiled with material uncovered by spies such as Donald MacLean and Kim Philby - was given wide play in the Russian media.
Moscow says its army saved the Baltic states from Nazism. The Baltic states have always bitterly argued that they were illegally occupied and then forcibly assimilated into the Soviet Union at the end of the second world war. Latvia's president, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, yesterday told the Financial Times that Nato's first summit in Riga would "remove the very last traces of the iron curtain" from the Baltics.
The dossier was commissioned by the lower house of the Russian parliament and the timing of its release hints at a desire by Moscow to sow dissent between western Europe and the Baltic states which recently joined Nato and the EU. The Kremlin has tense relations with all three Baltic states and is incensed at Estonia's plans to remove a monument to Soviet soldiers who "liberated" the city in 1944 after three years of Nazi occupation, during which some men from the Baltic countries joined Waffen SS units.
Gen Sotskov said he accepted that the dossier would be controversial, but the documents were incontrovertible. "Sober-minded people should say, 'Yes, that's how it was'," he said.
Churchill is on record as saying in 1939 that it was in Britain's interests "that the USSR should increase their strength in the Baltic, thereby limiting the risk of German domination in that area". However, he said two years later that no territorial change made during the war should stand without the "free consent and goodwill of the parties involved". He was said to be furious at the treatment that Soviet troops meted out to civilians in the Baltics in 1940 and he later refused to recognise the countries as part of the Soviet Union.
The Baltic states remained in Moscow's grasp until the Soviet break-up in 1991.
Asked what reaction he expected to the dossier in the Baltics, Gen Sotskov said: "That's their problem. All I can say is that the SS was recognised as a fascist organisation at Nuremberg, but in those countries people still march under its flag."
Sergei Ivanov, a spokesman for the SVR, said the dossier was not published to coincide with the Riga summit but was "probably connected with the fact that monuments are being taken down in the Baltics".
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Mark Kurlansky: A pen against the sword
Published: 24 November 2006
He is the author of internationally bestselling micro-histories of cod and salt. Mark Kurlansky tells John Freeman why he has turned his gaze to war - and peace
For a brief moment earlier this month, even the most diehard lefties in New York grudgingly admitted to feeling pretty good about the US mid-term elections. Not Mark Kurlansky, though. "I couldn't celebrate that night," says the 58-year-old historian and food writer, sitting on a tiny stool in his drafty Manhattan office, his eyes basset-hound tired. He adds glumly: "I was so unhappy [Joe] Lieberman was re-elected." The democratic senator from Connecticut, and sometime Bush ally, was defeated in early primaries thanks to his support of the Iraq War. But he regrouped, ran as an independent, and won. To Kurlansky, this victory augured everything he needed to know about what Iraq policy would look like in Washington with a new Congress. "Don't forget," he says, "the Vietnam War was brought to us by Democrats."
Kurlansky doesn't have any problem recalling this bitter memory because he lived through the Sixties, refused the draft for the Vietnam War, and protested alongside Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Many of his closest friends were integral to the movement, and a few were involved in the Weather Underground, an offshoot of the radical left that staged a series of bombings, jailbreaks and riots in the late Sixties. "They were crazy," says the writer, who covered some of this territory in his recent book, 1968. A few miles downtown from where we sit is the Greenwich Village townhouse that exploded when a member of the Weather Underground accidentally set off a homemade bomb, killing three. "How can anyone expect, if they know anything about this country, an armed guerilla movement to become popular?"
For many years, Kurlansky kept his thoughts on the matter to op-ed length pieces, since his day job was corresponding from Latin America for the Miami Herald and other papers. But now that his reporting days are a decade behind him, he has expanded these thoughts into a little book called Non-Violence: the History of a Dangerous Idea (Jonathan Cape, £12.99). Shaped like his bestselling works of micro-history, Salt and Cod, it culls the past two millennia, examining moments when non-violence flourished. It ends with a list of 25 pithy lessons, from "Practitioners of nonviolence are seen as enemies of the state" to "A propaganda machine promoting hatred always has a war waiting in the wings."
Kurlansky has been on and off the road with the book already in America, where lists and pithy ideas are a good thing, but questioning the idea of a "just war" a bit more complicated. "Europeans are far more anti-war than Americans," Kurlansky observes mildly, "they've had more wars and they really just don't believe in it any more. But Americans do." It doesn't help that Kurlansky has taken on three of the most sacred "just wars" in the pantheon of US history: the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and Second World War.
Non-violence attempts to dismantle the idea of these wars in particular by dismantling the myths - quite powerful in the US still - that keep them sacred. Namely, that the Revolutionary War was cleanly fought and force the only option at the time; that the Civil War was a dispute over slavery; and that America entered the Second World War to stop the Holocaust. "When I get into arguments with people, they always start off with: 'Well, what would you do about the Holocaust?' To which I reply: 'The Second World War wasn't about the Holocaust: they weren't doing anything about it.'"
Born in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1948 and raised Jewish, Kurlansky grew up in the shadow of this war and knows its darker, more nuanced shape. His father had been a dentist in the medical corps, and his uncle a soldier in combat. "He came home and told stories for the next 70 years," Kurlansky remembers of that uncle, "but they were sort of jolly stories, with important parts missing, till he got old, and then he started talking about really grim stuff." Kurlansky's father did not have to see combat to hate the organisation committed to it. "He really disliked the military. He wouldn't even buy a raincoat if it had epaulets on it."
Kurlansky's own experiments with non-violence began as a boy. "I grew up in a neighbourhood where there was a lot of fighting," he says. "It's what boys did during school, during recess, after school. And I was a fairly large kid. So everyone wanted to see if they could take me on." It seems odd to imagine Kurlansky - burly, bearded, with shoulders so broad he looks too large for his own office - being pushed around. "I hated it," he says. "So I decided to not fight back. I ducked punches, blocked punches, but I didn't fight back. It sort of worked: they all went away, but I lost all standing." Less than 10 years later, in the early 1960s, Kurlansky had a war to duck and he did that, too.
Against the odds, whether it is in Vietnam or Afghanistan, Kurlansky says that governments conclude force will work where diplomacy has not. To justify their actions, they often lean on religion. "Religious elements are big problems in the US government," Kurlansky says, "but the problem is Bush." The President's enlistment of religious iconography isn't unique to America, though. "Religion is a big problem in Israel and the Arab world, but again the problem isn't religion, but political leaders who want to use the religion. It's like that phrase, 'God bless America'. Do you really believe there's a God that goes around choosing which countries to bless?"
For all its discussion of the abuse of religion, Non-violence is actually a remarkably sanguine book about faith. Kurlansky goes back to the beginnings of the three major religions and argues that all of them began in the spirit of non-violence. The Koran forbids wars of aggression, Kurlansky notes, and wars "to spread the teachings of Islam" are not allowed either. In Judaism, Kurlansky writes, non-violence started with the Ten Commandments, the sixth of which is "Thou shalt not kill." "It is one of the shortest commandments and offers no commentary, explanation, or variations," he continues. "It does not say, as many Jews claim, "except in self-defence.
"Christianity was probably the least violent of all religions, and the least followed," continues Kurlansky. This began to change with Constantine I, who coissued the Edict of Milan, decriminalising Christianity, and solidifying a connection between warfare and the cross. While many Christians believe great damage was done to the faith by Constantine, Kurlansky believes that St Augustine was more responsible for giving a state ruler's abuses the patina of theological justification. "He was on very shaky theological ground," Kurlansky argues.
From the increasing uneasiness of evangelicals to talk of war, to the continued pressure of Quakers, there are signs that non-violent resistance to the current war in Iraq is growing in the religious communities. It's also being felt by the armed forces. Kurlansky is in the middle of four books now, one of which is a cultural history of Gloucester, Massachusetts, the oldest fishing port in the US. The town has sent a lot of soldiers to wars thanks to its maritime tradition. "It has very active veterans groups, and they're not happy about the war," he says. "They don't believe there's any glory in Iraq."
The problem with non-violence has always been how to demonstrate it. Looking backwards, the questions are even thornier. Should Palestinians have resisted non-violently in 1948? If so, what does that mean? Kurlansky doesn't have entirely clear answers to these questions. But he points to successes as a reason why it should be considered for the future. "It takes very little imagination to be violent," he says, "but it takes a great deal of imagination to be non-violent."
As Kurlansky notes throughout this book, there is no word for non-violence in any language that isn't a negative of violence. Without a word, or an image, protest has to look good to be effective, he says. "I think the thing is when people are watching you on CNN, or reading about you in The New York Times... you want them to be sympathetic toward you. You don't want them to think, 'jeeze, these people are really scary.' I think, you know, the 'Clean for Gene' thing isn't a bad idea. Eugene McCarthy, in his 1968 presidential campaign, told all his supporters to be clean-shaven and straight looking. I think they should do that."
Mark Kurlansky will discuss his book with AC Grayling at the South Bank's Purcell Room, London SE1 (08703 800 400) on 28 November at 7.45pm
Biography: Mark Kurlansky
Mark Kurlansky was born in Connecticut in 1948. He worked for many years as a journalist, writing for the Miami Herald, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the International Herald Tribune. His first book, A Continent of Islands, about the Caribbean, was published in 1992. It was followed in 1995 by A Chosen Few, a book about European Jewry and in 1997 by Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World, which was an international bestseller. His other books include Salt: A World History and a novel, Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue. Non-Violence: The History of a Dangerous Idea is published by Jonathan Cape this week. Mark Kurlansky lives in New York with his wife and daughter.
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Bush Blew up the Twin Towers - And other 9/11 conspiracies, thought up right here in Kansas City
By Ben Paynter
The Pitch, Kansas City
Nov 23, 2006
In a recent episode of South Park, the elementary-school-aged troublemakers spend most of the half-hour figuring out whether the U.S. government planned the attacks of September 11, 2001. As they close in on the answer, a squad of poorly drawn, machine-gun-toting Secret Service agents kidnaps Kyle and Stan, along with a 9/11 conspiracy theorist. All of them are whisked away to the Oval Office, where President Bush confesses to everything.
"We've all worked very hard to keep our involvement in 9/11 a secret, but you just had to keep digging," Bush cackles. Then the president pulls out a handgun. He sticks the muzzle in the conspiracy theorist's mouth and blows his brains out. The cartoon blood splatters on a black shirt with the words "911Truth.org."
Bush then explains that he planted explosives in the base of the World Trade Center towers. The missing planes were diverted to an airport in Pennsylvania. Two military jets filled with explosives flew into the twin towers. Then he blew up the Pentagon with a cruise missile. Bush boasts: "It was only the world's most intricate and flawlessly executed plan ever ... ever."
By the end, the show has mocked everybody involved. But the following day, Web traffic to 911truth.org multiplied by five times, spiking the site's number of views to 58,000 a day. A fact omitted from the South Park episode - and from the Web site itself - is that 911truth.org is run by Janice Matthews, a single mother of six from Kansas City, Missouri.
Matthews has become well-known nationally within what's called the truth movement: those who believe that Bush and his buddies were behind 9/11. The idea that the World Trade Center fell in order to fuel President Bush's war machine has become the trendy conspiracy theory, replacing such old standards as aliens in Area 51 and government agents on the grassy knoll.
But those behind the 9/11 conspiracy theories aren't comics-store nerds lamenting the loss of The X-Files. In Kansas City, they include the owner of a popular theater, a dentist, and a group of conservatives that meets every week.
Mostly, truthers, as they call themselves, meet online. The Internet has become their way to spread a message they say is suppressed by the mainstream media and ignored by those who provide research funding. Of course, Matthews knows many people ignore the truth movement because it includes a whole lot of kooks posting some bizarre theories. "We have a whole society to remake," she says. "You go, 'God, people, focus.'" Matthews fights back tears in the children's section of the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library. She's surrounded by hundreds of brightly bound bedtime stories. Nearby, sunshine filters through a row of large windows.
She has short brown hair streaked with gray and piercing blue eyes that are intently focused, despite the tears. She has a silver stud in her nose and a Disney Pooh watch strapped to one wrist. She wears a baby-blue version of the shirt featured on South Park.
On this early Monday morning, she has just returned from dropping off her kids at school. Sometimes, the weight of her mission just gets to her. She's surrounded by mothers who are still oblivious to the idea that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by the U.S. government.
She explains that she began crying when she thought of the 9/11 victims: the rescue workers, the orphans, the family members of those who died.
"It is just the pain," she says, "that our society isn't even looking at what these people are living through and dying through, that we could be so callous to this depth of pain on so many levels."
The mothers circling the stacks ignore Matthews. She says she's positive that she's being watched.
"I don't have some sense that they are out to persecute truth seekers," Matthews says of the phantom G-men she thinks she's seen around town. "I think they are just doing their jobs."
Matthews wasn't always this way. She earned a psychology degree from the University of Kansas in the '80s and trained as a midwife. A conservative Christian, she voted for Bush in 2000. On 9/11, Matthews was raising her children in the small central Kansas town of Lindsborg. "I had a gradual reawakening," she says.
In November 2001, she moved to Kansas City to work as a secretary. Then she read The 9/11 Commission Report. She says the congressional document found that a large number of stock shares in United Airlines had changed hands before the attack, which shows that certain segments of big business knew to expect the attacks.
Two years later, Matthews helped found the national 9/11 Visibility Project, a group that encourages people to protest government cover-ups. It's now active in 35 cities. She organized rallies on the Plaza but realized that most people wanted to avoid the stigma that came with protest marches. A year later, she founded 911Truth.org, which serves as a networking forum, a research hub and an independent news source.
In July 2005, she organized the D.C. Emergency Truth Convergence in Washington, D.C. The conference pulled together various watchdog groups, including Project Censored and the Oklahoma City Bombing Committee. She says their cell phones didn't work at the event, their remote-control car-door openers failed and their computers crashed. "Then we realized it was all electronic jamming," she says. Returning to Kansas City, Matthews found her front door unlocked. She believes her computer was hacked.
She says she learned a month later that her house was bugged, after a friend called and left her a prank message, pretending to have been captured by G-men. "You got me! You got me!" the friend shouted into her answering machine. But after the friend hung up, the machine kept recording. Matthews says she heard two people laughing. "They said, 'Yeah, we got her. We got her,'" she says.
In September, she joined a public-records request filed by peace organizations. The groups asked the government for documents detailing government surveillance of Kansas City-area anti-war activists ("Granny the Terrorist," September 21).
After the South Park slam, Matthews received hundreds of e-mails calling her "retarded," the same word that the show's characters had used to describe the truth movement. The tone of her usual hate calls shifted. "The reaction is much stronger," she says. "It went from 'you are fucking lying' to 'you are going to burn in hell, and your children are going to burn in a fire, you fucking cunt.'"
The calls excited Matthews. They were evidence that people were taking notice - even if the attention came with threats and the occasional c-word. "It reflects people's panic," Matthews says. "People feel much more reactionary about this recently, and the ones who can't let go of their belief structure are much more desperate."
Matthews sees her role as providing a public forum for others to post theories about what happened on 9/11. "We don't want to control what people do," she says.
But that leaves users free to push any theory. Some think planes never actually hit the towers but were superimposed on newscasts. Others believe that the planes carried explosives. Some claim that aliens abducted everyone from the twin towers.
Including everyone's voice has been a liability for the fledgling movement. On the fifth anniversary of 9/11, a corps of truthers rallies at the Uptown Theater. They have been directed there by a post on 911Truth.org. The event culminates a weekend of activities headlined by showings of independent films, including one that uses physics to make an argument that it's impossible for jets to have brought down the twin towers.
Outside, protesters shout and shake signs that read "9/11 was an inside job." They hand out copies of the low-budget films to commuters stuck at traffic lights.
"Steel buildings don't just fall down," shouts Ed Kendrick, a heavyset dentist with a practice on Independence Avenue. Kendrick believes that the buildings actually collapsed because of what he calls a "controlled demolition" from bombs already set inside the towers.
Inside, the lobby resembles a traveling carnival. Tables are littered with pamphlets and petitions that go as far as advocating presidential impeachment. A giant American flag dominates the faux-Mediterranean interior. The mingling conspiracy theorists, some dressed in tie-dyed clothing, refer to one another in religious terms - "brothers" or "believers" who spread "the word." In a corner of the room, a man talks about the 40 astrological signs that keep us from understanding our inner impulses. A cell-phone ring tone emits The X-Files' theme song.
Uptown Theater owner Larry Sells stands away from the crowd to monitor the action. He provided the venue free of charge. Sells has been questioning government party lines since the John F. Kennedy assassination. In the '60s, he was student body president and head of the Young Democrats at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. He served as a Marine during the Vietnam War and has a black belt in karate. Sells imported custom furniture until he bought the Uptown in 1993.
For the past few months, Sells has been playing the conspiracy-theory documentary Loose Change in his lobby during concerts and events. He has handed out 1,500 copies of the movie and other 9/11-related DVDs.
To that end, Sells thinks that he has found a new way to spoon-feed his message. He recently gutted the vacant lobby space abutting the south end of his theater. Sometime next year, he hopes to open a reading salon and a themed restaurant called The Conspiracy. Plans include something of an adult arcade where visitors can try to hit a target with a vintage replica of Lee Harvey Oswald's rifle. Many of the library books will be stocked from Sells' personal 2,200-square-foot library, which spans a four-car garage inside his large home in the Valentine neighborhood.
Sells has investigated the similarities between the World Trade Center collapse and Germany's 1933 Reichstag fire. Each event empowered its country's leader to suspend civil liberties, build up a military and launch invasions. He often compares Bush with Adolf Hitler. "What we are talking about now is as bad as it ever was in Nazi Germany," he says.
At the Uptown on the 9/11 anniversary, a guy reeking of booze stumbles into the reception. Dave Nicholson, a 29-year-old server at Fred P. Ott's, has been canvassing midtown with fliers advertising a drinking book club. Standing outside trying to talk to the protesters, Nicholson grows agitated when they keep handing him "propaganda" videos. "I don't seem to be able to get anyone to talk to me," he says loudly.
Stuart Auld approaches Nicholson. Auld is a member of the Constitution & Freedom Society, a Johnson County group that opposes what it sees as a new world order. As a real-estate and insurance broker in Leawood, Auld considers himself a staunchly conservative Republican. But over the past five years, he has learned to loosen his party loyalties and standards. Nicholson might be drunk and antagonistic, but he receives an open invitation to join the rebellion nonetheless. Auld hands Nicholson a copy of 9/11 Revisited. "I bought that for you," Auld says. On a rainy autumn Wednesday night, 35-year-old Jason Littlejohn waits in a community room in the Department of Motor Vehicles building in Mission. Littlejohn runs a weekly meeting for Midwest Concerned Citizens, a conservative Christian political action group. A former Navy officer, he also is host of a weekly talk show called Lives in the Balance on KCXL 1140 in Liberty. On-air, he talks about issues such as the pending energy crisis and the need to guard the Mexican border.
He believes that the U.S. government had prior knowledge of the attack but simply allowed it to happen. "As far as direct complicity, I don't think the proof is there," he says. Still, he's interested in an independent investigation of 9/11. And he says he's concerned about the legislation meant to keep us safe that tramples civil liberties.
"Our country is moving in a certain direction that is beneficial to a handful of people but detrimental to our country and other countries around the world," Littlejohn says. He has slicked-back hair and broad shoulders. As usual, he wears a pair of tinted aviator shades, though he is indoors and it's well after dark. "I'm trying to create more of a broad base from which I can project this message."
Littlejohn spent the anniversary of 9/11 at the Uptown but, unlike the lefties, shares ideals with the far right. At this Midwest Concerned Citizens meeting, it's clear that the truth movement spans both sides of the aisle.
"A lot of Christians believe that there are very powerful forces that are in control of government around the world," he says. "It was foretold in the Bible. If you actually look at what's been said, as opposed to what's occurring, you can draw some parallels that are rather convincing."
Finally, Littlejohn opts to start the meeting. He expected about a dozen people tonight, but the rain has kept away all but four believers: 79-year-old retiree Esther Miller, 74-year-old part-time file clerk Shirley Mignon, and Roger and Judy Tucker. Roger is 67 and retired. Judy is 50 and between jobs.
The crew skips the usual pledge of allegiance and gathers in a semicircle of chairs. A few large tables are stacked with file folders and satchels filled with photocopied news clippings with blaring headlines ("Fatal Vision - The Deeper Evil Behind the Detainee Bill," "The New World Disorder: 'Shadow' Agency to Issue N. American Border Pass").
"What will happen is, a lot of these articles will come out in newspapers, but when you go back to look for them, they will be gone," Littlejohn says. He stores thousands of duplicated pages at his home in Lawrence.
The five take turns reading long passages from the articles, shuffling their stacks between turns. Sometimes, two people read over each other.
"I'm sure of this," Littlejohn tells the group. "I know what's coming. See, 9/11 was bad. But what's coming out is a whole lot worse."
He asks to borrow Mignon's bottled water. She nods, and he takes it. Everyone in the room looks excited. They've seen him do this before. Littlejohn places the bottle in front of him like a prop. "In the Bible, it says there will come a time when no one will be able to buy or sell something unless it has the mark of the beast," he says, paraphrasing Revelations 13:17.
"The mark of the beast," Mignon echoes.
Littlejohn turns the bottle until he can see its bar code. He says the symbol's longer lines represent the sign of the devil. "Six, six, six," he says.
"If we don't do something," Littlejohn continues, "our way of life as we know it could come to an end."
As usual, they've gotten off the subject of 9/11. Miller adds that three sixes occur in a congressional bill limiting the rights of prison detainees. Everyone agrees that this, too, might be a sign of the coming apocalypse. Kendrick thinks that the woman who enters his dental office on a cool Friday afternoon might be a closet truth-movement sympathizer. She has arrived early for a regular tooth cleaning, and Kendrick has invited her back to his small office to share the word.
The woman faces a screen glowing with a PowerPoint presentation. Kendrick used this for a Communiversity class he taught at UMKC a few weeks ago, "9/11, an Inside Job." The daylong seminar drew 40 people. He reaches over his patient to click the mouse, and President Bush appears on the screen, repeating the word terrorism over and over during various speeches. Kendrick explains that he uses this footage to desensitize his audience to the hot-button words that the Bush administration uses to manipulate Americans.
Kendrick, dressed in brown scrubs, a pair of magnifying goggles around his neck, flips through a series of slides depicting national tragedies that he believes were acts of "state-sponsored terrorism": Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing.
When an image of the collapsing World Trade Center appears on the screen, he points to the "squibs" - signs of controlled demolition - of air blasting out of the sides of the buildings.
The 50-something woman stares, slack-jawed, at the computer. She's a nurse at a local hospital. She has tousled hair and wears thick glasses and a rainbow-colored shirt that clashes with her red slippers.
"Yeah, I'm trying to think," she says. She looks around the room. It's filled with anti-Bush magnets and dental X-rays. Four spools of blank CDs await Kendrick's truth-movement videos and PowerPoint presentation, which he will pass out to patients.
"So what's the purpose? Just for evil?" she asks.
"What it's about is control," he says.
A hygienist in a white coat arrives outside his door with a noticeable sigh. "Excuse me, I need my patient," she tells Kendrick.
Kendrick hands the patient a copy of the two videos, "9/11 Revisited" and "Terrorstorm," and a six-page handout listing 14 parallels between fascism and the Bush administration. So far, he has handed out nearly 500 CDs.
When everyone leaves the room, he becomes somber. "We don't have much time," he says. "I can't help but wonder whether there may be another horrific event."
Kendrick knows that personally delivering his message to patients will get the word only so far. Unlike most people in the movement, he has been trying to find a way to reach people who aren't already inclined to agree. His plan: Hit the streets to find them. Standing at the entrance to the UMKC Student Center, Kendrick looks like a desert commando. He's clad in a beige sweat suit with a canvas vest, and he carries an oversized backpack. His beard is trimmed, and he has a sharp flattop.
To talk to students in the cafeteria, he must get past the food-court manager, a Hispanic guy in a blue polo shirt who stands guard at the cash register. Kendrick greets the manager and launches into his canned speech about how the World Trade Center collapsed by demolition.
The manager cuts him off. "I believe it. I very much believe it," the manager says earnestly. The man steps aside to grant Kendrick entrance.
Kendrick approaches a girl eating a fruit salad by herself. She wears diamond earrings and a glittery barrette in her hair. He asks her if he can talk politics.
"I know nothing about politics," she says dismissively.
Kendrick asks her a series of questions anyway. "How many buildings came down on 9/11?"
"Two," she says.
"It was three. I want to give you this." He slips her a CD of his PowerPoint presentation, like a consolation prize.
"Did you know that a third building came down by controlled demolition?"
Finally, she cuts him off. "Thank you," she answers flatly. "It was informative."
The next table is occupied by a trio of chemistry students. Kendrick introduces himself and slaps down his CD. He waves his dentist's clipboard up and down to demonstrate how the towers fell.
Kendrick repeats the words terrorism and 9/11 over and over, imitating the slides in his PowerPoint presentation. "That has become this administration's mantra," he says.
Kendrick's last stop is a table with two members of the UMKC women's basketball team, one blond and the other brunette. The blonde tells him that she plans to be a history teacher. The brunette wants to be a broadcast journalist.
"People in the towers were murdered," he tells them.
"I've never heard this before. This is new to me," the brunette says. She takes a long sip of soda.
He says that just days before the towers fell, they had been leased by Larry Silverstein, a businessman who took out a huge insurance policy on them. He says President Bush's brother Marvin was a principal at Securacom, the agency in charge of security at the World Trade Center, Dulles Airport and United Airlines.
The blonde stops him. The president's brother -she asks, "That guy in Florida?"
He adds that he believes Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld ordered Flight 93 shot down.
The brunette, too, has a question: "Who is Donald Rumsfeld?"
After his speech, the students gladly accept Kendrick's CD and business cards, which he asks them to give to their professors. "Tell them there's this crazy dentist," he says, "who wants to stir up campus riots."
The young women tell him that they totally sympathize. They'd join the truth movement, they say, if it wasn't for their constant basketball practices.
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How Israel killed Kennedy for the atom bomb (with timeline)
By Bashir A. Syed
via email
During my research as physicist regarding the Manhattan Project and nuclear proliferation incidents, I have come across hints about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. One book described two reasons for for Israel engineering his assassination.
(1) During Eisenhower administration in the fifties U-2 Flights had raised the suspicions about the Dimona facility in the Negev Desert, and sought explanation from David Ben Gurion, and it was described as a Textile Factory, which contradicted the photographs taken by this spy plane. After JFK became President, these facts came to his attention, and he wanted to confront David Ben Gurion with those pictures and perhaps disclose its real purpose in a Press Conference.
(2) In 1953, Eisenhower to sften the impact of Atomic Bombs used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, floated the idea of Atoms for Peace, and in order to popularize the use of Nuclear Energy, Atoms for Peace Exhibitions were sent to the develioping world to promote generation of electrical power from Atomic energy, and U.S. after signing the Baghdad Pact (aka CENTO Teaty with Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan) it was decided to set up a Research Reactor in Baghdad for cooperative research in nuclear physics, chemistry, medicine, metallurgy, and agricultire, for these four countries. Fearing that perhaps some of these countries might eventually acquire enough knowledge that one day they might pursue nuclear weapons, it was decided by the Zionists to stall such efforts, and his assassination was engineered based on these two factors.
This hypothesis is corraborated by not only many assassinations carried out by Israel relaed to acquisition of nuclear knowhow by the Irais and others, but also expressed by Victor Ostrovsky in his second book "The Other Side of Deception," where ghe devotes Chapter 30, to tell the bizarre story of how the right wing Mossad opperatives had hatched another plot to assassinate George H. W. Bush during 1991 Madrid Peace Talks, and someone leaked this plot to him and it was thwarted with the help of Congreesman McCloskey and secret services in time.
Here are some Historical facts and references:
December 5, 1941: "Manhattan Project" to build Atomic Bomb approved by President Roosevelt came into existence.
1944-1950: Julius Rosenburg, his wife Ethel Rosenberg, Martin Sobel, Harry Gold, David Greenglass, and Dr. Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs (all Zionist/Communists) passed the secrets of U.S. Atomic Bomb to Soviet Russia and they were the first nuclear proliferators in the 20th Century.
1945, August 6. US dropped first Atomic Bomb at Hiroshima, Japan killing 75,000.
1945, August 9. US dropped second Atomic Bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing 40,000.
- In an article published in "The World and I" mid eighties, C.P. Snow credited the development of Atomic weapons to four Hungarian/Czech/Polish Jews: Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner, Stanislaw Ulam, and Edward Teller, which changed the world forver. .
1953. President Eisenhower proclaimed a program "ATOMS FOR PEACE."
1968. "Operation Uranium Ship," (aka Plumbat Affair). Israel hijacked a German freighter, manifested for Genoa, which disappeared along with its cargo of some 200 tons of Uranium Oxide. When the freighter re-appeared in Turkish port (Cypress), the cargo was missing, as it had been transferred to an Israeli ship and taken to Haifa. [Reference #
1969, September. Golda Meir visits Richard Nixon, and under the persuation of Henry Kissinger, a top-secret document of understanding between Israel& US, known as "Don't Ask, Don't Test," was signed not known to too many people other that Secretary of Defense, Melvin Laird and his Deputy, David Packard. Since that time no one ever dared to mention about this secret pact.
1974. India explodes her first bomb, dubbed as "The Smiling Buddha."
1974, Nov. 13. Karen Silkwood (Feb 19, 1946 to November 13, 1974), killed in a hit an run accident, while she was on her way to deliver a brown manila folder containing information regarding about 8,000 lbs of missing Plutonium from the Cimmaron Plant of Kerr-McGee Corporation's Plutonium processing plant, near Oklahoma City, OK. Ref. #
1977-78. NUMEC Plant, Apollo, PA reported to have missing about 572 lbs of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU). FBI investigation of its Manager, Dr. Zalman M. Shapiro, curtailed by Presidentail orders, and sealed under "Top Classified" material, not to be seen by anyone again. Zalman Shapiro was fined $929,000, but no one knows if the fine was paid. [Ref. # See
1979, April 6. Mossad operatives blow up the core of a reactor under construction for Iraq at a nuclear plant located in Le Seyne-sur-Mer, nearToulon, France.
1980, June 14. Dr. Yahya el-Meshad brutally assassinated by Mossad through enticement of a prostitute Marie Clause Megal at Meridien hotel outside of Paris. [Ref. #]
1979, September 22. VELA satellite records signature of Israeli/South-African nuclear explosion in Atlantic ocean south-west of the coast of South Africa.
1980, July 12. Megal killed by Mossad through a hit and run accident in Paris.
[Reef #]
1981, June 7. Israeli Air Force F-16's bomb and destroy Iraq's Osirak reactor built outside of Baghdad, upon the directives of Menachem Begin. [Ref.#]
1981, June 8. At 15:30, Menachem Begin announces his act of barbarism on Kol Israel as to how IAF bombed and destroyed this reactor. [Ref #]
1981. Two NYT journalists, Steven Weissman and Herbert Krosney published the book "THE ISLAMIC BOMB [Ref # ] The six chapters in this book were devoted to (1) destruction of Osirak reactor near Baghdad, (2) Col. Qaddafi's nuclear ambitions, (3) India's "Smiling Buddha", (4) Pakistan's Abdul Qadeer Khan, (5) Iraq's desire to become nuclear, and (6) the threat of nuclear holocaust.
We have to remember two important threats made in this book:
1. Page 163: Threat by Henry Kissinger to Z. A. Bhutto: "Stop Chashma or we will make a horrible example of you," and it was carried out. Lately, an ex-US-Ambassador to India disclosed that blowing up of Gen. Zia's plane was carried out by Israel.
2. Page 205: Threat by a Zionist organization calling itself "League for Protecting the Sub Continent (LPSC)." "We will not hesitate to use violent means to make those responsible for nuclear arms proliferation understand the seriousness of their actions. We believe it better to eliminate a feww individuals and destroy a few factories rather than risk the wholsale massacre of millions of human beings." This threat is in the process of execution: destruction of Iraq, next Iran (as predicted by Caspar Weinberger and Maragaret Thatcher in their book "The Next War"), and perhaps Pakistan as shown above by Curren and Karber. The use of "tactical Deep Earth Penetrating" nuclear devices have been a part of testing which very likely resulted the Psunami and the Earth-quake in Northern Pakistan [Ref. Los Alamos scientists upset about testing if the U.S. ever signed CTBT, see The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists www.thebulletin.org (archives:
1985, November 21, Jonathan Jay Pollard and his wife arrested for passing on tons of photocopies of secret intelligence documents from Naval Intelligence Center to Israeli Embassy in Washington DC. His contacts were Rafi Etan (Israel's master spy and Pollard's handler and IAF's Colonel Aviem Sella stationed at Ramon air base in the Negev Desert). The data included information on Soviet submarines, Pakistan and Iran's nuclear activities.
1985. A plan to Dismember Pakistan [Ref # ] published a scenario of the future plan regarding nuclear program and dismemberment of Pakistan. On page 103, under the caption of "Scenario of the future," they published graphic maps to show the scenario of the future in which India with the help from Israel would strike on Pakistan's nuclear facilities. That's why Bush's recent promise to build strategic relationship with India is to use India to make it a reality.
1986, Feb. 28. Olaf Palme, Prime Minister of Sweden mysteriously assassinated by a Mossad gunman for befriending Yasser Arafat and siding with Palestinian cause. [Ref. #]
1986, September 30. Mossad hijacks Mordechai Vanunu at Rome Airport at 21:00 arriving by British Airways flight 504, and kidnap him to Israel, where he spends 14 years in solitary confinement for disclosing the real nature of Dimona the Bomb factory for Israel.
1986, October 5. Sunday Times, London, publishes the information given to them by Mordechai Vanunu, after verification to be authentic photographs.
1990, March 22. Dr. Gerald Bull, was mercilessly killed with five bullets in his head, neck and back, in front of his apartment in Brussells for helping build the Super-gun for Iraq.
1992, July: Physics Today, "Iraq's Secret Nuclear Program," by Jay C. Davis, and David A. Kay. This article describes how the UNSCOM inspectors found and destroyed more than 99% of the items which could be used in Iraq's pursuit for nuclear weapons.
1991, July. Scientific American Magazine: Has a page describing the news blackout for scientists in obtaining the Weather Data for a week coming from NOAA Satellites processing Center in Denver, CO. It was because the U.S. did not want the world to know about the fires set to Kuwaiti oil fields. In fact it was the work of Allied troops but blamed on Kuwaiti troops of Saddam Hussein.
1992, Dec. 7. Dr. Muayad Al-Janabi(52) brutally assassinated by Mossad's hail of bullets in front of his wife and children, while he was parking his car in Amman, Jordan, where he had gone to get Visa for UK.
1998. Both India and Pakistan perform nuke tests.
1994, May, 25. 103rd Congress/2nd Session: Senate,"US Chemical and Biological Warfare-Related Dual Use Exports to Iraq and Their Possible Impact on the Health Consequences of the Persian Gulf War." A Report of Chairman Donald M. Reigle, Jr., and Ranking Member Alfonse D'Amato, of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with respect to Export Administration, United States Sernate. Dated May 25, 1994.
2001. Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage visits ISI Director Gen. Mahmood on 9/11/01 and the next day, and offers him a choice (aka Threat), "Help us and breathe in the 21st Century along with international community or be prepared to live in the tone Age. [Ref. Deutsche Presse-Agnetur, 912/01 and L A Weekly, 11/9/01]
2001. Mid-September. Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker, a few days after 9/11: members of elite counter terrorism unit Sayeret Matkal arrive in the U.S. and begin training with U.S. Special Forces in a secret location. The two groups are developing contingency plans to attack Pakistan's military bases and remove its nuclear weapons if the Pakistani government or the nuclear weapons fall into the wrong hands {Ref. New Yorker, 10/29/01. There may have been threats to enact this plan on Sept. 13, 2001. The Japan Times later notes that this "threat to divest Pakistan of its 'crown jewels' was clearly used by the U.S. first to force Musharraf to support its military campaign in Afghanistan, and then to warn would-be coup plotters against Musharraf." [Japan Times 11/10/01]
2002, Arch/April. Article "It's seven minutes to midnight, from the Board of Directors," March/April 2002, pp. 4-7, Vol. 58, No. 2, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In this article the authors show the displeasure of Los Alamos Laboratory's weapons designers that if the U.S. signed the CTBT, it would tie their hands to test the new tactical nukes on the drawing board.
2004, April 21. Vanunu released after spending 14 years in Eshkelon jail for telling the world about the true nature of Dimona.
2005, Feb. 11. Sanger et al., a Full page article describing the sting operation to expose Abdul Qadeer Khan and his network for nuclear proliferation.
2005, Feb. 14. TIME has picture of Abdul Qadeer Khan on its front cover, with the caption: "The Merchant of Menace" Exclusive: How A Q Khan became the world's most dangerous Nuclear Trafficker," page 22-31, by Bill Powell Tim McGirk/Islamabad, Ghulam Hasnain Karachi and Syed Talat Hussain inIslamabad.
2006, April 10. This evening on PBS-News Hour Program, the war monger Richard Perle (former Pentagon official) and Morton Halperin (former Reagan Administration's NSC & State Department official , and Clinton admin.) left no doubt in any-one's mind that the use of tactical nuclear weapons cannot be ruled out in the case of Iran.
Bibliography:
- For Fear of Jews, by Stan Rittenhouse, The Exhorters Press, Vienna, VA 1982. ISBN 0-9609260-0-3.
The Pledge, by Leonard Slater, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1970. SBN 671-20465-3.
- The Nuclear Barrons: The inside story of how they created our nuclear nightmare, by Peter Pringle & James Spigelman, Sphere Boooks Limited,London, UK 1982. Also published in USA by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York 1981. ISBN 0-7221-7029-7.
- The Islamic Bomb: The Nuclear Threat to Israel and the Middle East," by Steven Weissman and Herbert Krosney, published by NYT/Times Books, New York 1981. ISBN 0-8129-0978-X.
- Israel And The Bomb, by Avner Cohen, Columbia University Press, New York, 1998. ISBN 0-231-10482-0.
- India's Nuclear Programme, by Shamsa Nawaz, Progressive Publishers, Zaildar Park, Lahore, Pakistan 1985.
- Bullseye One Reactor: The Story of Israel's bold surprise air attack that destroyed Iraq's nuclear bomb facility, by Dan McKinnon, House of Hits Publishing, San Diego, CA 1987. ISBN 0-941437-07-8.
- First Strike: The Excusive Story of How Israel Foiled Iraq's Attem,pt to Get the Bomb, by Shlomo Nakdimon Translator Peretz Kidron, Summiot Books, New York 1987. ISBN 0-671-63871-8.
- Dimona The Third Temple? The Story Behind The Vanunu Revelation, by Mark Gaffney, Amana Books, Brattleboro, Vermont. 1989. ISBN 0-915597-77-2.
- Who Killed Karen Silkwood? By Howard Kohn, Summit Books, New York 1981. ISBN 0-671-43654-6 (pbk).
- SILKWOOD, [Hollywood Movie/Video: Starring Meryl Streep, Kurt Russell, and Sher. Produced by Mile Nicjols and Michael Hausman, Directed by Mike Nichols. Summa Video # 41062, Stamford, CT 1983, 1995. ISBN 1-56949-151-8.
- Critical Mass, by Jacque Srouji, Aurora Publishers, Inc., Nashville, London 1977. [Chapter 13: "Silkwood, Karen Gay: Former Kerr-McGee Employee, pages 222 260]
- Dangerous Liaison: The Inside Story of the U.S-Israeli Covert Relationship, by Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, Chapter 4 Sword of Democles, pages 71-97, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1990. ISBN 0-96-01644-1.
- Taking Sides: America's Secret Relations with Militant Israel, by Stephen Green, William Morrow and Company, New York 1984. ISBN 0-688-02643-5.
- Operation Uranium Ship, (aka Plumbat Affair), by Dennis Eisenberg and Eli Landau, Signet Book/New American Library, New York 1978.
- Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community, by Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston/London/Melbourne. 1990. ISBN 0-395-47102. (pbk).
- Territory of Lies: The Fascinating Story of Israel's All-American Spy, - The Rise, Fall and Betrayal of Jonathan Jay Pollard, " by Wolf Blitzer, Harper Paperbacks, Harper & Row, Publishers, New York 1990. ISBN 0-06-100024-8 (pbk).
- By Way of Deception, by Victor Ostrovsky and Claire Hoy,St. Martin's Press, New York 1990. ISBN 0-312-05613-3. (also in Paperback)
- The Other Side of Deception: A Rogue Agent Exposes The Mossad's Secret Agenda," by Victor Ovstrovsky, Harper Collins Publishers, New York 1994. ISBN 0-06-017635-0. [Plot to assassinate Papa Bush in 1991 during Madrid Peace Talks. Chapter 30, pages 277 283].
- Depleted Uranium, Metal of Dishonor: How the Pentagon Radiates Soldiers & Civilians with DU Weapons, by Helen Caldicott, Michio Kaku, Ramsey Clark et al., International Action Center, New York 1999. ISBN 0-9656916-0-8.
- The Longest War Israel in Lebanon, by Jacobo Timmerman, Vintage Books, Random House, New York 1982. ISBN 0-394-71471-7.
- Going All The Way: Christian Warlords, Israeli Adventurers, And The War in Lebanon, by Jonthan C. Randal, Vintage Books, Random House, New York1983. ISBN 0-394-72359-7.
- Israel's Secret Wars: A History of (Israel's Intelligence Services, by Ian Black and Benny Morris, Grove Weidenfeld, New York 1991. ISBN 0-8021-3286-3 (pbk).
- Warriors for Jerusalem: The Six Days That Changed the Middle East in 1967, by Donald Neff, Amana Books, Brattleboro, VT 1988. ISBN 0-915597-57-8. (pbk).
- Enemies Of The State: Mary Surrat, Albert Fall, Al Capone and The Rosenbergs, by Francis X. Busch, Signet Books, # P2179., The New American Library, New York 1954 & 1962.
- Unholy Babylon: The Secret History of Saddam's War, by Adel Darwish and Gregory Alexander, St. Martin's Press, New York 1991. ISBN 0-312-06530-2 (pbk).
- The 1986 Jewish Directory & Almanac, compiled by Ivan L. Tillem, published by Pacific Press Inc. New York 1985 ISBN 0-915399-02-4.
- They Dare to Speak Out People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby, by Paul Findley (A 22 Year, US Congressman from Illinois), Lawrence Hill & Company, Westport, CT 1985. ISBN 0-88208-180-2.
- Deliberate Deceptions: Facing the FACTS about the U.S-Israeli Relationship," Paul Findley (a former US Congressman from Illinois), Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago, IL 1993. ISBN 1-55652-182-0. (pbk).
- Prophecy and Politics: The Secret Alliance Between Israel and the Christian Right, by Grace Halsell, Lawrence Hill Books, Chicago, IL 1986. ISBN 1-55652-054-9.
- The Armageddon Network, by Michael Saba, Amana Books, Vermont 1984. ISBN 0-915597-07-1.
- Stealth PACs: Lobbying Congress For Control of U.S. Middle East Policy, by Richard H. Curtiss, American Educational Trust, Washington, DC 1990 & 1991. ISBN 0-937165-04-2.
- New World Order: The Ancient Plan of Secret Socities, by William T. Still, Huntington House Publishers, Lafayette, Louisiana. 1990. ISBN 0-910311-64-1
The New World Order: A Reality You Cannot Afford To Ignore. A Book You Cannot Afford to Miss, by Pat Robertson, Word Publishing,Thomas Nelson Publishers Dallas/London/Vancouver/Melbourne, 1991. ISBN0-8499-3394-3. (pbk)
- "NUCLEAR TERRORISM: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe," by Graham Allison, Owl Books, Henry Holt and Company, New York 2004. ISBN 0-8050-7852-5.
Graham Allison is the founding Dean of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and is director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He has done a superb job of creating hypothetical scenario involving Pakistani scientists like Bashiruddin Mahmood to scare Americans or Western readers about the invented "Suitcase Bomb." He tends to forget that the long term cancer (lasting for 20 billion years)and other related health effects in Iraq, Arabia, Kuwait, Balkans, Afghanistan, etc. by using several thousand tons of Depleted Uranium munitions is far worse than the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. But by drawing up fabricated stories and hypothetical possibilities he has prepared a great script for a Hollywood Horror movie (like the China Syndrome) and instilling the fear in the minds of Western readers that Muslims are the most dangerous people on this planet pursuing the nuclear weapons as stated in Steven Weissman and Herbert Krosney's book "The ISLAMIC BOMB: The Threat to Israel and to the Middle East," NYT/Times Books, New York 1981. The message conveyed in this book is that only Muslims can commit such nuclear terror and pose a threat to the Western Civilization, an extension of "Clash of Civilizations" by Samuel Huntington.
ARTICLES FROM MAGAZINES and JOURNALS:
- Afghanistan's Ordeal Puts a Region At Risk, by James B. Curren and Phillip A. Karber,in Armed Forces JOURNAL International, pages 78-105, March 1985. In this article the two intelligence analysts (Curren and Karber) discuss "Dismemberment of Pakistan (pages 100 -105) under a heading: "Scenario of the Future." With the help of graphic maps or diagrams:
1. An Unresolved Conflict: India vs. Pakistan shown with three graphic maps
Kashmir 1947-48 Indo-Pakistan War 1965 Bangladesh War 1971
Giving brief details of each event.
2. Nuclearization of the Region: Comparing Pakistan with Iraq and India,
regarding trained scientists, universities with nuclear instruction,
nuclear research centers, Uranium resources, Inventories of Plutonium and
highly enriched Uranium, Enrichment capacity: Research reactors
(large),Power reactors (heavy water type and light-water type);
reprocessing capability, and Heavy-water capability.
Sources: Analysis of Six Issues About Nuclear Capabilities of India, Iraq, Libya, and Pakistan, Congressional Research Service for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, January 1982; Leonard S. Specter, Nuclear Proliferation Today, Ballinger, 1984 (Note: There is no mention of Israel).
3. A Scenario of the Future?
a. Graphic Map depicting Indo-Soviet (or American)Air Offensive:
* Pre-emptive attacks on Pakistan's major air-bases
* Soviet (or American) bombing of refugee camps and aitr assault seizure of key passes.
* Indian Strikes on Pakistani nuclear facilities
* Soviet (or American) interdiction of Karakoram highway
b. Second Graphic map showing Ground Campaign for the Dismemberment of Pakistan
* Creation of independent "Peoples Republic of Baluchistan" with American Naval Base and Force Deployment Treaty
* Absorption of northwest tribal territories into Afghanistan
* Absorption of West Kashmir into India
* Administration of Sind/Punjab autonomous zone by India.
Note: This plan was published in 1985 blaming Russia, which has been replaced by USA as the occupying power in Afghanistan. Slowly but steadily conditions are being created to achieve the goals specified in this article.
Compiled by Bashir A. Syed
Comment on this Article
It's Time to Re-Open the Investigation of RFK and JFK Assassinations
by MICHAEL CARMICHAEL
Baltimore Chronicle
Nov. 22, 2006
Planning to write a film script about the case, Shane O'Sullivan, an independent researcher, investigated the assassination of RFK. But, O'Sullivan found much more than he had hoped.
On Monday night, the BBC broadcast O'Sullivan's report on their high-profile programme, "Newsnight." O'Sullivan's findings shocked many people. Working through an exhaustive analysis of videotapes made at the Ambassador Hotel on the night of RFK's assassination, O'Sullivan identified three figures as former agents of the CIA. Two of the agents O'Sullivan identified could be seen moving away from the hotel pantry shortly after the shooting of RFK.
Following his preliminary identifications, O'Sullivan presented the video images to more authoritative sources, men who knew the three agents personally. While there was a slender degree of uncertainty (circa 5-10%) the men in the videos were positively identified as the former CIA agents:
* David Sanchez Morales;
* Gordon Campbell and
* George Joannides
Morales was known to be involved in coups d'états throughout Latin America and he had a reputation of a dangerous man with an explosive temper who was capable of violence. To entertain his friends, Morales would tell stories about his involvement in the killing and capture of Che Guevara, coups in Latin America and other nefarious covert activities.
Two of the CIA agents in the Ambassador Hotel: Morales and Joannides are now dead, while the whereabouts of the third, Campbell, are presently unknown.
O'Sullivan interviewed Bradley Ayers, U.S. Army Captain retired, who had been stationed at JM-Wave, the Miami base for the CIA. In 1963, David Morales was the Chief of Operations at JM-Wave. Ayers and Morales trained Cuban exiles in the arts of sabotage to be deployed in covert action against the regime of Fidel Castro. On camera, Ayers identified Morales and Campbell with what he described as 95% accuracy. Following that positive identification, Ayers introduced O'Sullivan to David Rabern, a freelance mercenary who had been contracted by the CIA to participate in the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Rabern had been in the ballroom of the Ambassador Hotel on the fateful night in 1968.
While Rabern did not know Morales and Campbell by name, he had noticed them talking to each other in the hotel lobby prior to the assassination. Earlier in the same year, Rabern had noticed Campbell in and around several police stations. If true, this report is rather odd, considering that the CIA has no jurisdiction on U.S. soil. Another bizarre fact: Morales was officially stationed in Laos in 1968.
O'Sullivan found video images of Campbell with another figure who has now been identified as George Joannides, a pivotal figure in the CIA and the re-investigation of the assassination of JFK.
Joannides had been the Chief of Psychological Warfare Operations at JM-Wave. He had retired from his CIA post, but in 1978 he returned to active duty, as it were, as the liaison between the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) during its re-investigation of the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King.
Puzzling, perplexing and problematic, Joannides failed to inform his colleagues at the HSCA that he had ever worked at JM-Wave. This is a troubling enigma, for it suggests that he intended to maintain his covert identity-a fact that would compromise his involvement in the HSCA and jeopardize the entire congressional investigation.
A former researcher with the HSCA, Ed Lopez, identified Joannides as the person in the Ambassador Hotel video with what he described on camera as 99% accuracy. More: Lopez recalled Joannides' obstructive practice of denying the HSCA access to crucial documents in the re-investigation of the assassination of JFK.
O'Sullivan did not stop there. Moving to Washington, he met Wayne Smith, a veteran State Department official who worked with Morales at the US embassy in Havana in the final year of the Batista regime through the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and 1960. When O'Sullivan asked him to respond to the Ambassador Hotel video, Smith immediately stated, "That's him, that's Morales." From a conversation in 1975, Smith recalled that Morales stated that JFK deserved to be assassinated. From Smith's testimony, O'Sullivan learned that Morales "hated the Kennedys"-because of their cancelling the air support for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961.
In a hotel near the CIA headquarters (now named the George H. W. Bush Center for Central Intelligence) in Langley, Virginia, O'Sullivan met with a former agent, Tom Clines who said that all of the men in the Ambassador Hotel videos had been misidentified as former CIA agents. When O'Sullivan informed him that Ayers and Smith had positively identified the men as Morales, Campbell and Joannides, Clines became "disturbed," and he refused to go on camera for the interview.
Following his interview of Clines, senior journalists in Washington advised O'Sullivan to take his testimony with a grain of salt as he was known to "blow smoke" deliberately as a routine function to dissemble facts for the press and public.
Gaeton Fonzi was the lead investigator of the HSCA investigation of the assassination of JFK. In his book, The Last Investigation, Fonzi reported the testimony of Bob Walton, a man who met Morales and discussed JFK with him. According to Fonzi's account, Morales asserted his direct involvement in the assassination of JFK as revenge for the Bay of Pigs.
On the Watergate tapes, Richard Nixon always referred to the assassination of JFK as "the Bay of Pigs thing." During Eisenhower's presidency, Nixon served as the White House liason with the CIA. As Vice-President, Nixon worked directly with Allen Dulles and other senior staff at the CIA on the planning of the Bay of Pigs operation. It should be noted that George H. W. Bush has been known to have been integral to the Bay of Pigs operation since the publication of the enormously popular bestselling book of 1991, Plausible Denial, by Mark Lane.
During his campaign for the presidency in 1960, Nixon was shocked that JFK made public the contents of his top-secret intelligence briefings-and had moved to Nixon's right to advocate overt military intervention against Cuba. The CIA planned to overthrow Castro in an invasion manned with exiled Cubans trained by the staff at JM-Wave. From our perspective today, it is perfectly understandable why JFK would have been compelled to make this policy position public in his presidential campaign. Had he not done so, JFK could have been tarnished with a charge of being "weak on communism," by Nixon, who had been one of the leading witch-hunters of the disgraceful McCarthy Era.
Upon his inauguration as president, JFK continued to support the plans to attack Cuba with the force of exiled Cubans-a project that Nixon had nurtured, supported and managed for the Eisenhower White House. However, JFK decided to withhold U.S. air support in order to maintain an arm's length separation from the Cuban invasion.
The Bay of Pigs became a fiasco. JFK accepted the blame, and he immediately ordered a thorough-going reorganization of the CIA. A few months later, Allen Dulles, who had been a free-wheeling manufacturer of coups d'états while serving as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI), 'retired' after a formal conversation with JFK. JFK promptly named a new director, and John McCone, who had been the director of the Atomic Energy Commission, soon took Dulles's place as DCI.
JFK's reorientation of the CIA did not stop there. Recognizing that the agency's mission to wage a covert Cold War was dangerously counterproductive, JFK ordered the CIA to make nuclear non-proliferation its top priority. Eventually, JFK would successfully negotiate the Test Ban Treaty with Nikita Khruschev in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis-by far the most significant strategic confrontation of the entire Cold War.
While rogue elements in the U.S. intelligence community have long been suspected of meddling in his assassination and those of his brother and Martin Luther King, Jr., Shane O'Sullivan's identification of three CIA agents in the Ambassador Hotel on the night of the assassination of RFK suggests strongly that the case should be reopened. The third agent in the Ambassador Hotel, George Joannides, now appears to have been engaged in a sabotage mission during the HSCA investigation of JFK's assassination.
The assassination of JFK would seem to be an eternal mystery that has long since passed into the realm of myth; however, that is not the case for today; technology has provided a wealth of new tools with which to examine evidence in criminal cases-even cold cases over forty years old.
While O'Sullivan is calling for a re-opening of the case of RFK, it is only reasonable to re-open JFK's case, as well.
In 1968, I was in my final year at the University of North Carolina. From my meeting with a close associate of RFK, I worked as a college and university organizer in his presidential campaign. At the time of his assassination, RFK was the leading candidate for the presidency-far ahead of his nearest rival in the polls and definitely on track to win the November election.
Seeing the BBC broadcast of videotape evidence of three unassigned CIA agents in the Ambassador Hotel Ballroom at the time of RFK's assassination shocked me. The federal government, Congress and the criminal justice system of the United States failed to protect the president of the United States and its leading presidential candidates. Worse. They have failed to tell the truth to the American people.
Today, on the anniversary of one of the most tragic dates in American history-I propose that the cases of RFK and JFK should be re-opened in either the 110th or the 111th Congress.
We must follow the evidence exhaustively and relentlessly, leaving no stone unturned and no document unexamined regardless of its current status: Sensitive; Secret, Top Secret or Above Top Secret. To do any less would be to become complicit in the lies and cover-ups that have denied the American people of the truth.
Michael Carmichael is a historian and author based in Oxford, England, UK. He is the founder and chief executive officer of planetarymovement.org. This article is republished in the Baltimore Chronicle with permission of the author. The complete illustrated and referenced article "Death of a Presidency" by Michael Carmichael is online here.
Comment on this Article
Bush's Mysterious 'New Programs'
Nat Parry
24 Nov 06
Not that George W. Bush needs much encouragement, but Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales a new target for the administration's domestic operations -- Fifth Columnists, supposedly disloyal Americans who sympathize and collaborate with the enemy.
"The administration has not only the right, but the duty, in my opinion, to pursue Fifth Column movements," Graham, R-S.C., told Gonzales during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Feb. 6.
"I stand by this President's ability, inherent to being Commander in Chief, to find out about Fifth Column movements, and I don't think you need a warrant to do that," Graham added, volunteering to work with the administration to draft guidelines for how best to neutralize this alleged threat.
"Senator," a smiling Gonzales responded, "the President already said we'd be happy to listen to your ideas."
In less paranoid times, Graham's comments might be viewed by many Americans as a Republican trying to have it both ways - ingratiating himself to an administration of his own party while seeking some credit from Washington centrists for suggesting Congress should have at least a tiny say in how Bush runs the War on Terror.
But recent developments suggest that the Bush administration may already be contemplating what to do with Americans who are deemed insufficiently loyal or who disseminate information that may be considered helpful to the enemy.
Top U.S. officials have cited the need to challenge news that undercuts Bush's actions as a key front in defeating the terrorists, who are aided by "news informers" in the words of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. [For details, see Consortiumnews.com "Upside-Down Media" or below.]
Detention Centers
Plus, there was that curious development in January when the Army Corps of Engineers awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root a $385 million contract to construct detention centers somewhere in the United States, to deal with "an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs," KBR said. [Market Watch, Jan. 26, 2006]
Later, the New York Times reported that "KBR would build the centers for the Homeland Security Department for an unexpected influx of immigrants, to house people in the event of a natural disaster or for new programs that require additional detention space." [Feb. 4, 2006]
Like most news stories on the KBR contract, the Times focused on concerns about Halliburton's reputation for bilking U.S. taxpayers by overcharging for sub-par services.
"It's hard to believe that the administration has decided to entrust Halliburton with even more taxpayer dollars," remarked Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California.
Less attention centered on the phrase "rapid development of new programs" and what kind of programs would require a major expansion of detention centers, each capable of holding 5,000 people. Jamie Zuieback, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to elaborate on what these "new programs" might be.
Only a few independent journalists, such as Peter Dale Scott and Maureen Farrell, have pursued what the Bush administration might actually be thinking.
Scott speculated that the "detention centers could be used to detain American citizens if the Bush administration were to declare martial law." He recalled that during the Reagan administration, National Security Council aide Oliver North organized Rex-84 "readiness exercise," which contemplated the Federal Emergency Management Agency rounding up and detaining 400,000 "refugees," in the event of "uncontrolled population movements" over the Mexican border into the United States.
Farrell pointed out that because "another terror attack is all but certain, it seems far more likely that the centers would be used for post-911-type detentions of immigrants rather than a sudden deluge" of immigrants flooding across the border.
Vietnam-era whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg said, "Almost certainly this is preparation for a roundup after the next 9/11 for Mid-Easterners, Muslims and possibly dissenters. They've already done this on a smaller scale, with the 'special registration' detentions of immigrant men from Muslim countries, and with Guantanamo."
Labor Camps
There also was another little-noticed item posted at the U.S. Army Web site, about the Pentagon's Civilian Inmate Labor Program. This program "provides Army policy and guidance for establishing civilian inmate labor programs and civilian prison camps on Army installations."
The Army document, first drafted in 1997, underwent a "rapid action revision" on Jan. 14, 2005. The revision provides a "template for developing agreements" between the Army and corrections facilities for the use of civilian inmate labor on Army installations.
On its face, the Army's labor program refers to inmates housed in federal, state and local jails. The Army also cites various federal laws that govern the use of civilian labor and provide for the establishment of prison camps in the United States, including a federal statute that authorizes the Attorney General to "establish, equip, and maintain camps upon sites selected by him" and "make available ... the services of United States prisoners" to various government departments, including the Department of Defense.
Though the timing of the document's posting - within the past few weeks -may just be a coincidence, the reference to a "rapid action revision" and the KBR contract's contemplation of "rapid development of new programs" have raised eyebrows about why this sudden need for urgency.
These developments also are drawing more attention now because of earlier Bush administration policies to involve the Pentagon in "counter-terrorism" operations inside the United States.
Pentagon Surveillance
Despite the Posse Comitatus Act's prohibitions against U.S. military personnel engaging in domestic law enforcement, the Pentagon has expanded its operations beyond previous boundaries, such as its role in domestic surveillance activities.
The Washington Post has reported that since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the Defense Department has been creating new agencies that gather and analyze intelligence within the United States. [Washington Post, Nov. 27, 2005]
The White House also is moving to expand the power of the Pentagon's Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), created three years ago to consolidate counterintelligence operations. The White House proposal would transform CIFA into an office that has authority to investigate crimes such as treason, terrorist sabotage or economic espionage.
The Pentagon also has pushed legislation in Congress that would create an intelligence exception to the Privacy Act, allowing the FBI and others to share information about U.S. citizens with the Pentagon, CIA and other intelligence agencies. But some in the Pentagon don't seem to think that new laws are even necessary.
In a 2001 Defense Department memo that surfaced in January 2006, the U.S. Army's top intelligence officer wrote, "Contrary to popular belief, there is no absolute ban on [military] intelligence components collecting U.S. person information."
Drawing a distinction between "collecting" information and "receiving" information on U.S. citizens, the memo argued that "MI [military intelligence] may receive information from anyone, anytime." [See CQ.com, Jan. 31, 2006]
This receipt of information presumably would include data from the National Security Agency, which has been engaging in surveillance of U.S. citizens without court-approved warrants in apparent violation of the Foreign Intelligence Security Act. Bush approved the program of warrantless wiretaps shortly after 9/11.
There also may be an even more extensive surveillance program. Former NSA employee Russell D. Tice told a congressional committee on Feb. 14 that such a top-secret surveillance program existed, but he said he couldn't discuss the details without breaking classification laws.
Tice added that the "special access" surveillance program may be violating the constitutional rights of millions of Americans. [UPI, Feb. 14, 2006]
With this expanded surveillance, the government's list of terrorist suspects is rapidly swelling.
The Washington Post reported on Feb. 15 that the National Counterterrorism Center's central repository now holds the names of 325,000 terrorist suspects, a four-fold increase since the fall of 2003.
Asked whether the names in the repository were collected through the NSA's domestic surveillance program, an NCTC official told the Post, "Our database includes names of known and suspected international terrorists provided by all intelligence community organizations, including NSA."
Homeland Defense
As the administration scoops up more and more names, members of Congress also have questioned the elasticity of Bush's definitions for words like terrorist "affiliates," used to justify wiretapping Americans allegedly in contact with such people or entities.
During the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on the wiretap program, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, complained that the House and Senate Intelligence Committees "have not been briefed on the scope and nature of the program."
Feinstein added that, therefore, the committees "have not been able to explore what is a link or an affiliate to al-Qaeda or what minimization procedures (for purging the names of innocent people) are in place."
The combination of the Bush administration's expansive reading of its own power and its insistence on extraordinary secrecy has raised the alarm of civil libertarians when contemplating how far the Pentagon might go in involving itself in domestic matters.
A Defense Department document, entitled the "Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support," has set out a military strategy against terrorism that envisions an "active, layered defense" both inside and outside U.S. territory. In the document, the Pentagon pledges to "transform U.S. military forces to execute homeland defense missions in the ... U.S. homeland."
The Pentagon strategy paper calls for increased military reconnaissance and surveillance to "defeat potential challengers before they threaten the United States." The plan "maximizes threat awareness and seizes the initiative from those who would harm us."
But there are concerns over how the Pentagon judges "threats" and who falls under the category "those who would harm us." A Pentagon official said the Counterintelligence Field Activity's TALON program has amassed files on antiwar protesters.
In December 2005, NBC News revealed the existence of a secret 400-page Pentagon document listing 1,500 "suspicious incidents" over a 10-month period, including dozens of small antiwar demonstrations that were classified as a "threat."
The Defense Department also might be moving toward legitimizing the use of propaganda domestically, as part of its overall war strategy.
A secret Pentagon "Information Operations Roadmap," approved by Rumsfeld in October 2003, calls for "full spectrum" information operations and notes that "information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and PSYOP, increasingly is consumed by our domestic audience and vice-versa."
"PSYOPS messages will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public," the document states. The Pentagon argues, however, that "the distinction between foreign and domestic audiences becomes more a question of USG [U.S. government] intent rather than information dissemination practices."
It calls for "boundaries" between information operations abroad and the news media at home, but does not outline any corresponding limits on PSYOP campaigns.
Similar to the distinction the Pentagon draws between "collecting" and "receiving" intelligence on U.S. citizens, the Information Operations Roadmap argues that as long as the American public is not intentionally "targeted," any PSYOP propaganda consumed by the American public is acceptable.
The Pentagon plan also includes a strategy for taking over the Internet and controlling the flow of information, viewing the Web as a potential military adversary. The "roadmap" speaks of "fighting the net," and implies that the Internet is the equivalent of "an enemy weapons system."
In a speech on Feb. 17 to the Council on Foreign Relations, Rumsfeld elaborated on the administration's perception that the battle over information would be a crucial front in the War on Terror, or as Rumsfeld calls it, the Long War.
"Let there be no doubt, the longer it takes to put a strategic communication framework into place, the more we can be certain that the vacuum will be filled by the enemy and by news informers that most assuredly will not paint an accurate picture of what is actually taking place," Rumsfeld said.
The Department of Homeland Security also has demonstrated a tendency to deploy military operatives to deal with domestic crises.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the department dispatched "heavily armed paramilitary mercenaries from the Blackwater private security firm, infamous for their work in Iraq, (and had them) openly patrolling the streets of New Orleans," reported journalists Jeremy Scahill and Daniela Crespo on Sept. 10, 2005.
Noting the reputation of the Blackwater mercenaries as "some of the most feared professional killers in the world," Scahill and Crespo said Blackwater's presence in New Orleans "raises alarming questions about why the government would allow men trained to kill with impunity in places like Iraq and Afghanistan to operate here."
U.S. Battlefield
In the view of some civil libertarians, a form of martial law already exists in the United States and has been in place since shortly after the 9/11 attacks when Bush issued Military Order No. 1 which empowered him to detain any non-citizen as an international terrorist or enemy combatant.
"The President decided that he was no longer running the country as a civilian President," wrote civil rights attorney Michael Ratner in the book Guantanamo: What the World Should Know. "He issued a military order giving himself the power to run the country as a general."
For any American citizen suspected of collaborating with terrorists, Bush also revealed what's in store. In May 2002, the FBI arrested U.S. citizen Jose Padilla in Chicago on suspicion that he might be an al-Qaeda operative planning an attack.
Rather than bring criminal charges, Bush designated Padilla an "enemy combatant" and had him imprisoned indefinitely without benefit of due process. After three years, the administration finally brought charges against Padilla, in order to avoid a Supreme Court showdown the White House might have lost.
But since the Court was not able to rule on the Padilla case, the administration's arguments have not been formally repudiated. Indeed, despite filing charges against Padilla, the White House still asserts the right to detain U.S. citizens without charges as enemy combatants.
This claimed authority is based on the assertion that the United States is at war and the American homeland is part of the battlefield.
"In the war against terrorists of global reach, as the Nation learned all too well on Sept. 11, 2001, the territory of the United States is part of the battlefield," Bush's lawyers argued in briefs to the federal courts. [Washington Post, July 19, 2005]
Given Bush's now open assertions that he is using his "plenary" - or unlimited - powers as Commander in Chief for the duration of the indefinite War on Terror, Americans can no longer trust that their constitutional rights protect them from government actions.
As former Vice President Al Gore asked after recounting a litany of sweeping powers that Bush has asserted to fight the War on Terror, "Can it be true that any President really has such powers under our Constitution? If the answer is 'yes,' then under the theory by which these acts are committed, are there any acts that can on their face be prohibited?"
In such extraordinary circumstances, the American people might legitimately ask exactly what the Bush administration means by the "rapid development of new programs," which might require the construction of a new network of detention camps.
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Anti-terror law hits animal rights activists
Newscientist
24 November 2006
IT MAY be a lame duck in political terms, but the outgoing US Congress has struck a blow against intimidation in the name of animal rights. Last week, the House of Representatives passed the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which aims to protect researchers from violence and harassment. It also covers intimidation of individuals and companies who do business with organisations involved in animal experimentation.
Such tactics have been deployed to distressing effect by a group called Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, or SHAC, which has targeted the animal testing firm Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) in both the UK and US. British law has already been amended to give police more powers to deal with intimidation by animal rights activists.
The US arm of SHAC suffered a serious blow in March when six members were convicted in a New Jersey court for inciting threats and harassment against HLS staff and shareholders. One has been in jail since early October; the remaining five began their sentences last week.
However, obtaining these convictions required an extraordinary effort by the New Jersey authorities to demonstrate breaches of existing laws. "Many US attorneys would choose not to go to that trouble," claims Frankie Trull of the Foundation for Biomedical Research in Washington DC, who hopes the new law will make prosecutors' jobs easier. "Now it needs to be implemented," she says.
From issue 2579 of New Scientist magazine, 24 November 2006, page 6
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Ups and Downs
Chavez Opponent Linked to Coup
Caracas, Nov 24 (Prensa Latina)
Venezuela s Higher Education Minister Samuel Moncada revealed on Friday the participation of opponent Manuel Rosales, candidate to the Republic s presidency, in the April 2002 coup d etat.
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.
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Associated Press Poll Shows Chavez With Strong Lead
Thursday, Nov 23, 2006
By: Ian James - Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- A strong majority of Venezuelans plan to cast their ballots for President Hugo Chavez on Dec. 3, with most saying the fiery opponent of President Bush has handled government and foreign relations well, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that revealed deep divisions along class lines.
About 59 percent of likely voters said they would vote for Chavez for a third term, while 27 percent said they would support opposition candidate Manuel Rosales. Thirteen percent of those surveyed by the polling firm Ipsos for The Associated Press said they were undecided or wouldn't answer.
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.
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N. Ireland Bomb Threat Forces Evacuation
Friday November 24, 2006 1:01 PM
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK
Associated Press Writer
ELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) - Northern Ireland's politicians missed another deadline for forming a power-sharing government Friday, then fled from the building as one of Northern Ireland's most infamous Protestant militants burst in claiming to have a bomb.
The attack came shortly after Protestant leader Ian Paisley refused a nomination as the future head of Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration.
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.
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Canada's Liberal Party Courts Male Pedophiles
LifeSite.net
November 22, 2006
In what is likely a Canadian first for a major political party, the Liberal Party of Canada is proposing lowering the age of consent for "anal intercourse" in their publicly-released book of policy resolutions.
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."
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Trail of Gemayel's Assassination Leads Back to Cheney's Office
by Wayne Madsen
Pierre Gemayel's murder 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, which are restoring diplomatic relations between Damascus and Baghdad.
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.
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Can You Explain This?
Survey shows 'surprising level of paranormal belief'
Roy Stemman's Paranormal Review
22 Nov 06
UNITED STATES. The authors of the Baylor Religion Survey's (BRS) American Piety in the 21st Century have found "a surprising level of paranormal belief and experience in the United States, although those beliefs and experiences tend to be confined to people outside traditional religion".
The BRS claims to have carried out the most extensive and sensitive study of religion ever conducted - in 2005 - and the full report will not be available until June next year. But its initial findings have been released, revealing that...
* three-quarters of the population (74.5%) believe that some alternative treatments are at least as effective as traditional medicine
* half the population (52%) believe dreams can sometimes foretell the future
* a quarter of the population believe UFOs are probably spaceships from other worlds
In addition, 41.2% believe in ancient advanced civilisations, such as Atlantis; 37.2% in haunted houses; 28% in mind over matter (telekinesis); 19.9% in communication with the dead; 17.9% in creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster; and 12.8% in psychics, astrologers and tarot readers being able to foresee the future.
The wide-ranging survey, subtitled New Insights to the Depth and Complexity of Religion in the US, also reveals marked differences in beliefs between the sexes and also between different geographical areas of the US.
The statistics quoted are averages. When broken down they reveal that twice as many women (27.2%) believe in communication with the dead, compared with 14% of men - producing an average of 19.9%. However, more men (29.1%) believe in UFOs, compared with women (23.2%).
The Eastern states also score higher in most categories, compared with the Midwest, South and West.
Almost one in five (19%) in the East had called or consulted a medium, fortune teller or psychic, more than twice the number in the South (8.4%) and almost double the figure for the Midwest (10.5%).
ouija.jpgOne in 10 (11%) of respondents in the East admitted to having consulted a ouija board to contact a deceased person, which is twice as many as in the West (5.6%).
The research, which was conducted by the Gallup Organisation and funded by the John M. Templeton Foundation, was based on the views of 1,721 respondents. Other parts of the survey sought their views on God - and America's four Gods: benevolent, authoritarian, distant and critical - sexual morality, The Da Vinci Code, abortion and terrorism.
Two dozen different studies are now in progress, based on the BSF findings, with publication due in Spring 2007.
The full 74-page report on BRS's initial findings is downloadable, free of charge
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Paranormal Corridor - Southwest USA
by Mary Alice Bennett
22 Nov 06
Using infared binoculars, a researcher in Utah was able to observe a large black animal crawling through a tunnel into our dimension. The ape-like creature moved along using its elbows. After exiting and sauntering off into the night, the anomalous yellow light which contained the tunnel, slowly faded away. This is but one of the events which occurred on the Skinwalker Ranch property while paranormal researchers were there.
The tunnel appeared after a meditation session. After another earlier attempt at meditating, an energy field was seen to swoop down upon the seated fellow. It uttered an animal roar as it sped by - the meditator was completely terrified. The researchers compared what they'd seen to the invisible force scene from the movie "Predator".
Some of the other creatures who populate the Uintah Basin in N.E. Utah are only detectable because they block out the stars or by the enormous foot or claw prints that they leave behind.
The rancher and his family had moved there in good faith, bringing their expensive herd of Angus cattle to the property. They lost so many cows there that they eventually had to leave, allowing the research team to take their place. Whatever is there does not allow domesticated livestock to pollute its sacred ground.
Previous tenants had been warned not to try to dig anywhere on the land. In the 1770s the exploring Spanish had noticed underground activity there along with flying lights. The Ute tribe has 15 generations of tales to tell.
There are deposits of the rare hydrocarbon Gilsonite on the ranch.
The UFO underground mining activity is similar to the situation in Pine Bush, New York. Large black flying triangles are seen in both areas. The rancher had seen a craft entering the atmosphere through a hole in the sky. At night he was able to see blue sky through one of these openings, as if it were the entrance to another world. There was another tunnel up there whose entrance opened directly opposite their homestead. Many of the sightings of anomalous creatures were one-time events, as if the animals were just passing through our dimension.
When they first came to the land, the rancher's wife was greeted at the gate by an oversized wolf that had to lean down in order to gaze into her car window. This sighting is reminiscent of the paranormal black dog of Norfolk, England which inspired the Sherlock Holmes mystery, "The Hound of the Baskervilles". "Black Shuck" as they call him, once appeared in a church, killing two people on his way out. The burn marks he left as he retreated are still visible on the doorway. There had been no repopulation of wolves to the Uinta region. Soon after this encounter, the rancher's wife observed what seemed to be an RV out in the field. There was a dark figure seated behind a desk inside. When he stood up, he took up the entire doorway. He was wearing a black helmet with a visor, black clothes and boots. The next day she and her husband went out to the field. When she saw the 18" bootprints he'd left behind, she became hysterical. The RV-type craft has also been seen in Brazil where they are called "chupas". These UFOs have been known to hunt the Amazonian hunters who wait in the trees at night for animals to pass by.
A darting red light chased the horses off a cliff one night resulting in serious injuries. Sometimes the animals were seen to panic from the presence of invisible creatures. The rancher advised the research team to stalk the phenomenon as if it were a wild animal. He'd observed a multicolored craft one night which lit up the snow with its colorful lights. When a twig broke, the craft turned off its lights and turned towards him. The rancher thought that this was the type of reaction that one would expect from a living creature. In Dulce, New Mexico, sightings of enormous UFOs are not uncommon. One huge manta-ray shaped ship appeared to be covered with the skin of a sea creature. It was grey, dimpled, and wrinkled. A little ET was spotted with the same sort of skin. Some theorize that the craft themselves are alive. This echoes the words of Ezekiel in his first chapter, the famous Biblical UFO
encounter. Ezekiel refers to the "wheel within a wheel" form of the "Throne of God" and to the "living creatures" which accompany the wheels flying in the sky.
The area of N.W. New Mexico is also famous for its suit-wearing wolfmen and ghastly-faced ghost runners which have been know to keep pace with the patrol cars of the Highway Patrol. How do you know whether it was a Bigfoot who raided your garden? Answer: Only the fruit on the top of the tree is gone. Last week there was a sighting of a white Bigfoot up in Fort Apache, Arizona. Since these animals are known to appear on or near Indian reservations, the news was not a surprise.
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Interview With Mike Fortson - Eye Witness To Enormous V-Shaped UFO - AKA "The Phoenix Lights"
By Frank Warren
21 Nov 06
Note-As we approach the 10th anniversary of the so-called "Phoenix Lights" of March 13, 1997, the following is a continuation of a series of interviews/articles with and by direct eye witnesses of this monumental event.
Although many who witnessed this huge "V-shaped craft" have come forward, there are a great deal more who haven't; research concerning this case is ongoing to this day, and it is our hope by highlighting the event(s) and the individuals who witnessed it, more people will come forward and share their experiences. Comments are always welcome, and if requested confidentiality will be honored-FW
FW: Thank you Mike for agreeing to do this interview and being one of the first participants in the latest addition to our "Knowledge is Power" web-site i.e., "the interview section."
In our private correspondence you certainly have convinced me of the "gravity" of what has erroneously become known as the Phoenix Lights; that title certainly doesn't represent what occurred on March 13th, 1997.
In any event, why don't we start by informing the readers of who Mike Fortson is . . . give us some background.
MF: I was born February 24, 1953, in Hertfordshire, UK. My parents are both Americans from Indiana. My father was a staff sergeant in the USAF stationed in London. I spent the first 18 months of my life in England, then Georgia for 5 years or so. Then in 1959 we moved to Kokomo, Indiana where I spent the next 16 years.
I graduated high school in 1971 and unfortunately my lottery number for the draft (Viet Nam) was under 60 and I was headed into the military. Lucky for me my test scores were high enough that the US Navy took me with a 4 year enlistment. During boot camp I was asked if I would be interested in the USN Ceremonial Guard in Washington, D.C. I said, "yes". I spent my entire Navy career (4 years) in DC doing military funerals in Arlington National, state dinners at the White House, participated in full honor arrivals for foreign heads of state. Highlights included; Nixon's inauguration, funerals for Presidents Johnson and Truman. I participated in over 1500 military funerals in Arlington National. I had a White House security clearance.
In June of 1972, I married my high school sweetheart. We have now been married for over 34 years. We have 3 sons, now aged 29, 30 and 32. Along with that comes the grand kids; twin girls 11, another grand daughter 8, 7, and my only grandson, 5 months.
I have been in sales since I got out of the Navy in 1975. In 1979 the auto recession pushed us out of Indiana and we were part of the rush to Texas. I worked in the oilfields until 1986. When oil dropped to $6 a barrel and we loaded up again and moved to Arizona. I now sell real estate in Prescott Valley, Arizona.
FW: Sounds like you've led a very rewarding and interesting life; having a "White House security clearance" certainly is an honorarium for one's resume.
Obviously your military career instilled a certain set of values within you, wouldn't you agree?
MF: Well, being raised with a military discipline and being in the Honor Guard at such a young age, I've almost always been held to a higher standard. My parents were strict and the Ceremonial Guard was very strict, so it's pretty much all I knew. Then we had three boys by the time we were 23 or 24. I guess the best way to measure our values is to look at our sons and the lives they lead.
Having and keeping a "White House Security Clearance" is a must for anyone in the Honor Guard of any branch of the US military. After all, most of the time I'm within arm's length of the President or other heads of state with a fixed bayonet on my rifle. Yes, one better have a very high security clearance. Truthfully, I did not fully appreciate what I had achieved in the military until I had been out for several years. You have no idea the work it takes to have your uniforms perfect. Your brass, shoes and gloves perfect. And since we were in the public eye so much, even our work clothes were starched and pressed. However, on the other side of the coin, I wasn't operating a 50 cal machine gun in the Mekong Delta.
FW:Most certainly the character of one's offspring is indicative of their upbringing, and you're obviously a proud father; my hat is off to you Mike, as it it is with all those who have served.
Turning to Ufology, prior to the events in March '97, what was your view of the subject if any?
MF: I had heard stories of Roswell, but for the most part...my beliefs or non-beliefs were completely non-existent. I pretty much never gave it much thought, if any. We've been told all our lives that "they" don't exist. That belief in UFO's/aliens is just fantasy, so I don't think I had an opinion one way or another. It's kind'a like being from Missouri...show me. (and "they" did)
FW: So, admittedly, prior to your "life-changing event," you were "ignorant to the subject," and had you been asked about it's validity, you would have dismissed it . . . correct?
MF: Correct. I had never sky watched looking for ET prior to March 13, 1997. Nor had I been in any in depth conversations on the subject. I probably would have said, "yeah, right" if someone had told me of an encounter with a UFO.
However, I do remember watching television and movies about UFO's/aliens. I was a Star-Trek fan in the 60's-70's. I also remember watching tv shows like; "Lost in Space", "The Invaders", "Space 1999", etc. movies like "ET" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". These were popular shows and we did enjoy them. I am also a "Star Wars" fan. But the depth of this was entertainment value only.
FW: Aside from being a sci-fi fan (something we have in common) in essence I feel you, like the rest of us were/are the end product of what I call "societal programming," as well as the input from our parents. In other words it's instilled in us that Ufology lies beyond the borders of normalcy, the subject is silly etc. For those of us ignorant of the subject, (as we all were at one time) we're left with only the a fore mentioned dogma.
As you approached March 13th, Hale-Bopp was visible, and there much ado in the media wasn't there?
MF: Yes, I believe that there were early morning and evening opportunities to view the comet. It was rare to see and I believe if not on the news every night, it was revealed by our local weatherman when viewing times would be. I really don't know of anyone who at least didn't watch it for a few minutes at least once. If I remember right, we would keep an 'eye" on it quite often. It was a rare occurrence and we both enjoyed being able to view it.
FW: So it was common knowledge about the comet, and "eyes were to the skies" so to speak? March 13th fell on what day of the week exactly?
MF: March 13, 1997 was on a Thursday.
FW: Do you recall your activities that day; if so please elaborate.
MF: No, not at all as far as any detail goes. In 1997, I worked for a company out of Chicago. I ran a home office for them. My territory was the entire state of Arizona. I would have worked, placed calls, placed orders, and handled company business. I probably got some groceries as I do almost all the cooking. We would have enjoyed dinner around 6:30 and crashed on the sectional sofa watching television (probably college basketball, as March Madness might be getting underway) Then I awoke from a brief nap and told my wife I was going to bed, I glanced to the television and the clock read 8:30. Nothing of any remembrance or importance occurred that day until 8:30 pm. It was just another normal day at the Fortson household. But, 8:30 pm., will be forever embedded in my memory. It was the exact minute when our lives changed forever.
FW: SO, it's now Thursday night at 8:30, March 13th, 1997 . . . what happened then?
MF: I guess now would be the proper place for me to cut and paste my original report I filed in March of 1997....
See: Eye Witness Mike Fortson's Original Report of 'The 'Phoenix Lights'
After the massive V shaped object left our field of view, we must have searched the sky for several more minutes. We wondered if anyone else had seen it. We confirmed again and again that it was ONE solid object. And we tried to reason how something that massive could stay aloft without making any noise. It was just too low and too slow, and for sure just way too big to be something of our Earth. The size of the object left us in a state of awe and mild shock. After several minutes of searching, hoping for one more glimpse we went back inside. Nannette sat on the sofa and I sat on a bar stool facing her. We just stared at each other for multiple minutes, maybe 10, maybe even 30, we don't remember. Then I got up and proceeded back outside and as I passed my wife, I said to her, "we just saw our first UFO!" She looked at me very seriously and said, "I know". We both went back outside and searched the skies one more time. Wanting really some kind of understanding for what we had just witnessed. But after several minutes of searching we gave up and resigned to the fact that there was no more for us to see. At this point, I'm pretty sure we just went to bed.
I did not call any radio stations. I did not call any television stations. I did not call the police nor did I call Luke AFB. Those thoughts never occurred to me to do as something that needed to be or should be done. At this point we thought that we might be the only ones to have seen this profoundly enormous object.
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UFOs are quantum
UFOgroup
21 Nov 06
The UFO phenomenon represents macro-quantum, which seems antithetical to the general theoretical reality of quantum, which is microcosmic in nature and essence.
Bu this is exactly why UFOs remain elusive, scientifically and otherwise: the phenomenon has been examined as conditioned by the reality of general physical laws when it should have been and should be examined as if it is a manifestation of quantum reality, with the applicable theories of quantum mechanics applied.
Schrodinger's cat - the idea that quantum artifacts can either be "alive" or "dead" depending upon the moment and circumstance of observation - can be used as a theoretical construct when it comes to the observation of a UFO, past or present.
Bell's theorem explains the elusive nature of quantum - and UFOs, if one accepts the premise that UFOs are quantum:
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle also applies:
The maxim that events (quantum events) are altered by their observation (measurement) also applies.
When a quantum element (particle) is observed (scientifically "measured") it is changed by that measurement.
In non-quantum reality, observed events are also distorted or affected by their observation.
For example, take a video camera into a room of people and the actions of those people will become quite different than they would be if no camera were present.
The exact behavior can't be determined, just as an observation of quantum artifacts can't be determined, as in Schrodinger's dead cat analogy or as theorized by Heisenberg.
UFOs are the missing link between Newton's (and Einstein's to some extent) physics and the quantum "reality" of Bohr, Heisenberg, et al.
UFOs, which we posit elsewhere here, are moribund, maybe even extinct, but a study of the phenomenon, with the discipline of quantum mechanics could forge a renascence of the things, even going so far as to defining that reality which eludes physicists consumed by dead-end theories like string or unified field.
Yes, UFOs may be dead, like Schrodinger's cat, but a new observation may revive them.
Unfortunately, those interested in UFOs, the mavens of the mystery, are not adept and the kind of reasoning needed to take the phenomenon from anecdotal reality to a physical reality.
And scientists are loath to get mixed up with UFOs and the scatterbrained people who champion the phenomenon.
So, where can one go with all this now? That's also an uncertainty....
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Black Operations & Government Cover Ups! The Catch 22 of it all!
by Lyle Michel
UFO Digest
20 Nov 06
It is extremely important to understand that our government employees in "black operations" are professionals. It is also important to understand that some employees in "black operations" feel that the people should be told what is going on and some do not.
Thus we have a "Catch 22."
One of the ways they have compromised on this issue is to teach people with out actually telling people they are being taught something important. This is done through science fiction sometimes, and sometimes through fact and fiction. They really get a kick out of this one. The alien autopsy film is one of the best examples on the point I am trying to make.
Did aliens actually die in the 1947 Roswell Crash! Of course they did! We have enough courtroom witnesses to make this point. Did they autopsy the aliens to learn as much about these extraterrestrials as they possibly could.. Of course they did! Is the alien autopsy film that many of us have seen the actual film of the autopsy. Maybe and maybe not! Black operations gets a real kick out of this!
They know full well that those of us who have a need to dot every i and cross every t will analyze this to death. So all they have to do is create the slightest discrepancies and many will immediately call the film a fake!
For example, they might take the actual 1947 film and reproduce it on a film that was made in say 1963 (I am making this up!).
Immediately the experts among us will shout fraud and off they will go! "Pleased as punch" that they have proven the film is fraudulent.
Is the film fraudulent! Well yes and no!
In this example the film does represent an actual autopsy of an alien. It just doesn't happen to represent the autopsy of an alien who died in the 1947 crash. It is important to note that a number of aliens have died in crashes. Thus, it could be an autopsy of aliens who were involved in any one of a number of different crashes including the 1947 crashes.
Have "Black Operations" taught us something and still kept the peace among themselves? Of course they have! No panic here!
The facts are that aliens have died when their craft have crashed on earth.
The facts are some if not all of these beings were autopsied.
The facts are that the autopsies were probably filmed!
The facts are that we, the public, have been shown film that has been altered in some way to make us question our own judgment.
Thus, the public has been taught that aliens have died in extraterrestrial crashes on earth. The public has also been taught that our government is fully aware of these events and has done everything they can possibly do to learn as much about the extraterrestrials as they can.
In conclusion, I hope many of you will be able to make sense out of what I have just tried to inform you about. We, the public, are being taught about the beings from other planets coming to earth.
Sometimes with facts, meaning things are exactly what they appear to be! And sometimes through science fiction. Meaning the theme of story is essentially true even if the story itself is made up.
The best public example of this is the Steven Spielberg film "TAKEN." The story is made up but the behavior and abilities of our government are essentially true and the behavior, abilities and technology of the extraterrestrials as presented in the film are also essentially true.
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Scientists Study Mysterious River
John Hollenhorst
KSL.com
17 Nov 06
Imagine a pristine mountain stream that turns on and off every few minutes, all by itself. Believe it or not, there is such a Mystery River not far from here, one of only two in the entire world.
Now, University of Utah scientists have new evidence that may explain how the phenomenon works.
It's not a big river. It's an icy mountain stream. But a few minutes later, it's gone. And a few minutes after that, it's back.
Gerald Vanbrunt, Arkansas Tourist: "This is just as good as Old Faithful."
But it's not a geyser; it's fed by a cold-water spring. In fall and winter it has a natural cycle, about 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off.
The only other spring like it in the world is in France. It's a point of pride in nearby Afton, Wyoming.
Al Hale, Afton, Wyo. Resident: "Well the folklore is that the Indians were the first ones to see this phenomenon."
Just before it erupts, the spring emits a deep gurgling noise. A rising puddle quickly becomes a surprisingly vigorous roaring creek.
Kip Solomon, University of Utah Hydrologist: "Well, everything about this spring is somewhat surprising. It's an extremely unusual occurrence."
The town of Afton built a structure to protect their water supply. It's very cold, very pure, and it tastes good. It's won national awards.
Rulon Gardner, Olympic Gold Medalist: "Of course! You know, Star Valley water. It's the best in the world."
Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner's great-great grand-dad is credited with the discovery.
Rulon Gardner, Olympic Gold Medalist: "He was up there logging. He went up and found a nice little place to get some fresh water. It was intermittent. It went, and stopped. So it was pretty amazing."
In late summer, scientists collected water samples. They're exploring an old theory involving a mysterious underground chamber.
Prof. Kip Solomon: "We can't think of another explanation at the moment."
Here's the theory: As groundwater flows continuously into a cavern, it fills a narrow tube that leads out. As it pours over the high point of the tube, it creates a siphon effect, sucking water out of the chamber. Eventually air rushes in and breaks the siphon.
Gerald Vanbrunt, Arkansas Tourist: "It's kind of like a toilet flushing. All the water goes out, it fills back up, and goes back out."
The spring water's gas content has now been tested at the University of Utah. The data strongly suggests the water was exposed to air underground; strong support for the siphon theory.
Prof. Kip Solomon: "Yeah, I think that we're a step closer to the answer."
Someday, science may have a definitive answer. For now, we can just enjoy the natural wonder of an on-again, off-again, mystery river.
The intermittent spring is at the end of a half-mile hike, in a canyon straight east of Afton, Wyoming.
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Jack the Ripper's face revealed 120 years on
Metro UK
19 Nov 06
The face of Jack the Ripper has been pieced together by Scotland Yard experts from evidence left by the Victorian killer.
Modern profiling techniques have been used to form the most accurate portrait ever of the murderer, whose identity has remained a mystery for 118 years.
The clues also suggest that police at the time were probably searching for the wrong kind of man.
The Ripper, who strangled and butchered five prostitutes in East London in seemingly motiveless attacks in 1888, is thought to have been aged between 25 and 35, about 5ft 6in (1.68m) tall and stockily built.
Laura Richards, head of analysis at Scotland Yard's violent crime unit, which conducted the study, said: 'For the first time, we are able to understand the kind of person Jack the Ripper was.
'We can name the street where he probably lived, we can see what he looked like and we can explain, finally, why he eluded justice.' Ms Richards and former Metropolitan Police commander John Grieve assembled a team of experts including pathologists, historians and a geographical profiler to see whether the case could be solved.
They analysed the Ripper 's killings and examined 13 witness statements taken at the time to come up with a person who, according to Ms Richards, was 'frighteningly normal, yet capable of extraordinary cruelty'.
Mr Grieve added: 'This is further than anyone else has got.
'It would have been enough for coppers to get out and start knocking on doors. They would have got him.'
The results of the team's study will be shown in Jack the Ripper: The First Serial Killer - Revealed, on Five at 8pm tomorrow.
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Targetting France
Sarkozy to formally stake presidential claim
PARIS, Nov 23, 2006 (AFP)
Nicolas Sarkozy, France's hardline interior minister, said Thursday he would officially unveil his presidential ambitions - whether or not he would seek his party's candidacy - next week.
"I will say next week what I want to do and what I'm proposing," he told commercial television network TF1.
Sarkozy, the chairman of the ruling conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), has made no secret of his hope to succeed current head of state Jacques Chirac in elections next year.
His bid to get the party's nomination has been widely expected, especially after the party's political bureau on Wednesday agreed to start accepting candidacies, up to December 31.
The official candidate will be invested at a party congress on January 14, following a vote of the UMP's 300,000 members.
Sarkozy is the UMP's most popular politician and is running neck-and-neck in polls with Ségolène Royal, the opposition Socialist candidate who won her party's primary last week.
The presidential election, to be held in two rounds, on April 22 and May 6, is widely predicted to be a duel between Sarkozy, 51, and Royal, 53.
However in recent weeks, Sarkozy has seen his support slip as a long-running feud between him and Chirac stymied his plans to be named the UMP's candidate.
Chirac, 73, has said he will not announce whether he will retire or stand for a third mandate until early next year, and has encouraged two of his allies, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie to position themselves also as potential candidates.
An IPSOS poll this week showed that Sarkozy has the backing of 77 percent of party sympathisers, compared to 17 percent for Alliot-Marie and just six percent for Villepin.
In the TF1 interview, Sarkozy said he encouraged Alliot-Marie, Villepin and "all those who think they have something to say" to present themselves as candidates before the party.
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Sarkozy moves to take reins of French right
PARIS, Nov 23, 2006 (AFP)
French presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy held breakfast talks with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin Thursday, as the centre-right sought to patch up a bitter feud that is damaging its campaign for upcoming elections.
During a half-hour meeting at Villepin's official residence, Sarkozy briefed the prime minister on a compromise agreement reached late Wednesday on the modalities for selecting the ruling Union for a Popular Movement's (UMP) offficial candidate at the April ballot.
The 51-year-old interior minister is runaway favourite to lead the right against socialist champion Ségolène Royal, 53, but he is fighting a rearguard action against supporters of President Jacques Chirac who want the option of an alternative candidate.
Among those named as possible challengers to Sarkozy are Villepin himself, 53, and Defence Minister Michèle Alliot-Marie, 60. Chirac, 73, has also refused to rule out standing for a third term, saying only that he will reveal his intentions by March.
Anxious to press ahead with his personal campaign in order to counter the publicity blitz triggered by Royal's victory in a Socialist Party (PS) primary a week ago, Sarkozy has been held back by the Chirac camp which wants more time for internal party debate.
In an effort to heal the rift, the UMP's 100-member Political Bureau agreed on Wednesday evening to extend the declaration period for candidates to December 31 and to hold a series of "forums" around the country where policy differences can be aired.
The official candidate will be invested at a party congress on January 14, following a vote of the UMP's 300,000 members. An IPSOS poll this week showed that Sarkozy has the backing of 77 percent of party sympathisers, compared to 17 percent for Alliot-Marie and just six percent for Villepin.
Speculation mounted that Sarkozy, who is also the UMP's president, would make an early declaration in order seize back a news agenda that has been dominated by Royal's triumph and the contrasting discord inside the centre-right.
In what Le Canard Enchaîné weekly described as "Sarkozy's black week", the interior minister was accused by one pro-Chirac minister of stifling debate and "being incapable of allowing ideas that are different from his own."
Villepin indirectly accused him of "fishing in the waters of the (far-right) National Front" because of his tough language on law-and-order, and attacked his support for positive discrimination as a "dead-end street in a country so attached to merit and equality."
François Fillon, a former minister who is a close advisor to Sarkozy, urged Villepin and Alliot-Marie to declare themselves openly as candidates for the nomination, rather than continue sniping from the sidelines.
"Make up your minds. If you want to go for it, now is the time," he told RMC Info radio. "I do not understand people who say they have things to defend, who are apparently eager for battle, and then hesitate about launching their candidature."
France's political right has long been beset by internal divisions. At the 1995 presidential Chirac himself had to fight off a challenge from then prime minister Edouard Balladur - who was backed by a young Sarkozy.
Personal animosity towards Sarkozy from many in the Chirac camp is compounded by a deep political divide, commentators said, with traditional Gaullists seeing him as dangerously pro-American free-marketeer.
France's elections take place in two rounds on Sundays April 22 and May 6.
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Ségolène win fires up 'grandfather' Chirac
By John Lichfield in Paris
Published: 24 November 2006
President Jacques Chirac has convinced himself that he is the only politician on the French right who can defeat the Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal, in next year's presidential election.
Although he has not yet decided whether to run for a third term,M. Chirac, who is 74 next week, believes that only a "grandfather figure" can take on and deflate the pretensions of the "mother figure", Mme Royal.
A senior source on the French centre-right, close to M. Chirac, has told The Independent that Mme Royal's crushing victory in the Socialist "primary" last week has rejuvenated his appetite for political combat.
M. Chirac will therefore intensify his efforts in the next few weeks to trip up his Interior Minister and former protégé, Nicolas Sarkozy, the man who has long appeared certain to succeed him as leader of the French centre-right and candidate for the governing party in next spring's elections.
A semi-public civil war has been raging for months between M. Sarkozy, on the one hand, and M. Chirac and his Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin, on the other. A public show of amity over breakfast between M. Sarkozy and M. de Villepin yesterday convinced no one.
Many politicians on the centre-right have been predicting for weeks that M. Chirac had not yet said his "final word" and would make some attempt to block, or hobble, the Interior Minister's push for the presidency. A "wrecking" independent campaign by M. de Villepin next spring seemed a likely option.
Now, according to the senior source, M. Chirac has persuaded himself that M. Sarkozy's appeal will collapse in the face of Mme Royal's elegance, charisma, social conservatism and vague but unthreatening brand of socialism. The President believes that he may therefore have a chance to parachute into the race next year as the only person capable of saving the French right from five years of "Ségolènisme".
Other politicians on the centre-right - now mostly loyal to M. Sarkozy - say that this a fantasy, encouraged by officials in the Elysée Palace who are "in denial" and dread the end of the Chirac era next spring. The pro-Sarkozy politicians point to the President's great age, his empty record and his unpopularity, even with his own former supporters.
In an opinion poll this week, only 1 per cent of likely voters for M. Chirac's governing party, the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP), said they thought the President should stand again. M. Sarkozy scored 67 per cent.
Nevertheless, M. Chirac has convinced himself that Mme Royal's emergence will overturn the board game. At the very least, it gives him a plausible reason to undermine his detested former protégé. M. Chirac will keep his options open as long as possible, fostering uncertainty on the centre-right in the hope of diminishing M. Sarkozy's chances.
"He believes that the opinion polls in coming days will show a big surge for Ségolène, the senior source said. "Many voters on the centre-right already have doubts about Sarkozy. Chirac believes that those doubts can be encouraged to grow rapidly.
"He believes that it will be impossible for Sarkozy, or any other male politician of her own generation, to attack Ségolène's offer to be the 'mother' of France. Only a 'grandfather' can point to the mother's weaknesses - in other words himself."
Under rules for a UMP party "primary" agreed on Wednesday night, M. Sarkozy looks certain to be selected as candidate by a party conference on 14 January. He is likely to announce his candidature officially this week.
The Defence Minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, now looks likely to run against M. Sarkozy in the official "primary". In return for being ceremonially defeated in January, giving M. Sarkozy added legitimacy, she will expect a big job in a centre-right government.
One or other of M. Chirac and M. de Villepin is expected to mount an independent campaign in the early spring.
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Rwanda recalls ambassador to France, may break diplomatic ties
AFP
24 Nov 06
Rwanda has recalled its ambassador to France and said it might break off diplomatic ties after a French judge said the Rwandan president and nine aides should be prosecuted over the death of his predecessor, the event that sparked the 1994 genocide.
A day after 25,000 people rallied in Kigali to denounce France, the judge and alleged French complicity in the genocide, Rwanda's foreign minister announced the move, accusing Paris of trying to destroy the government.
"We have recalled our ambassador to Paris. We don't see why he should be there at this point," Foreign Minister Charles Murigande said Friday. He added that Kigali might not send the envoy, Emmanuel Ndagijimana, back and could cut ties with France.
"We want some consultations with him and we'll see what happens later," he told AFP. "France is intent on destroying our government. We do not see any need for keeping any relationship with a hostile country."
Murigande added that the French ambassador to Rwanda had been summoned on Thursday to demand an explanation of the actions of French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere.
Bruguiere had called on Monday for the prosecution of Rwandan President Paul Kagame over the death of his predecessor, Juvenal Habyarimana.
Bruguiere on Wednesday issued international arrest warrants for nine top Kagame associates, accusing them of "murder" and "accessory to murder" in the downing of Habyarimana's plane on April 6, 1994.
The death of Habyarimana, killed in the crash along with Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira, set off the 100-day genocide in which Hutu extremists slaughtered some 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Bruguiere is investigating the matter because of a lawsuit filed by the families of French members of the plane crew who were also killed.
Kagame, who headed the Tutsi rebel force that took power in Kigali in July 1994, halting the genocide, has always denied any involvement in the attack on the aircraft carrying the Hutu heads of state of Rwanda and Burundi.
He angrily dismissed Bruguiere's call for his prosecution as "rubbish". He said France should stand trial itself for complicity in the genocide by training and supporting the Hutu militia blamed for most of the killings.
Foreign Minister Murigande said on Friday that Bruguiere's report into the plane shoot-down was "hollow" and a politically motivated attempt by France's top anti-terrorism judge to smear Kagame and his government.
"We have reviewed Brugiuere's report," he said. "It is so hollow that we are surprised that any institution like the court in Paris would authorize indictments on the basis of such a report.
"That confirms our fears that this is political," Murigande said.
In Paris, French foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei denied there had been any government role in Brugiuere's decision to issue the arrest warrants or call for Kagame's prosecution by a United Nations tribunal.
He stressed that France wanted good ties with Rwanda.
"We want to pursue our relationship with Rwanda and the political dialogue that we have with this country, notably concerning security in the Great Lakes region," he told reporters.
The recall of the Rwandan ambassador follows a rare government-authorized rally on Thursday, at which protesters packed the Amahoro National Stadium in Kigali to rail against France and Brugiuere.
"They killed our people," said survivor Mukamu Sana, repeating allegations that French troops in Rwanda had trained and helped the extremist Hutu Interahamwe militia before and during 1994.
"I was afraid of the French as much as I was afraid of the Interahamwe," she told the surging crowd at the stadium, who chanted "We denounce them, we denounce them, we denounce them!"
Paris adamantly denies the charges but Kigali has appointed a commission to determine if there is evidence to file a suit against France for damages at the world court.
The panel began open hearings, which are set to resume on December 11, last month. The move further strained the already tense relations between Rwanda and France, which has long been actively involved in the former Belgian colony.
At the commission's initial public session, witnesses testified that France wanted to support Habyarimana's pro-French, francophone government from attack by Kagame's Ugandan-based, anglophone Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels in order to preserve its influence in Africa.
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Policeman kills PSG fan in post-match racist violence
PARIS, Nov 24, 2006 (AFP)
A French police officer - a black man in plain clothes - shot dead a Paris-Saint Germain football fan after being turned on by a mob during racist violence that followed the team's defeat by Israeli side Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Antoine Granomort, who was in custody Friday morning, fired his handgun into a threatening crowd near the Parc des Princes stadium late Thursday after seeking to defend a French fan of the Israeli club from attack, police and witnesses said.
A 24-year-old man was killed and a 26-year-old who was wounded is in serious condition in hospital, police said.
Five fans were in police custody Friday morning and face possible charges for "racist and anti-Semitic insults", police said.
"Four young people presumably from the Jewish community were rounded on by a group of supporters of PSG. They decided to separate, and one of them Yanniv Hazout was chased by attackers ... The mob grew to some 100 people," said state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin.
"A plain clothes officer from the transport police, Antoine Granomort, told Monsieur Hazout to stand behind him and then tried to keep the crowd away using his tear-gas canister.
Police prep for problems at Marseille v PSG
"The crowd hurled insults - dirty Jew, dirty nigger - and monkey cries and raised Nazi salutes. Some shouted 'Le Pen for president'," he said.
According to Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy: "One of the attackers hit him on the head and another kicked him in the groin, and he fell to the ground. He got out his gun after stating he was a policeman - though in what exact circumstances I do not know."
"(The officer) fired in legitimate self-defense in order to protect his physical person. He had come to the aid of a man in accordance with our rules of engagement, and he had no choice but to shoot," said Patrice Ribeiro of the Synergie police union.
"I am sorry that there is a dead PSG fan but one has to say that these people are racists who attacked a police officer because he was a man of colour," said Joaquin Masanet of the UNSA-police union.
Fans interviewed on French radio said the officer was not wearing an identifying arm-band and fired his gun in panic.
A hard core of PSG supporters - dubbed the Boulogne Kop - is known for its far-right allegiance, and several have been banned from the club's matches. Thursday night's violence followed a humiliating 4-2 defeat for the French side.
In an account on the Internet, Philippe Broussard, a journalist at L'Express magazine who witnessed the incident, described seeing a "black man of about 30, quite tall, wearing a beige woollen sweater.
"He has a tear gas grenade in his hand and is facing a crowd that is increasingly hostile. He is apparently trying to protect someone ... and keeps saying 'Stay behind me.'"
The man sought to take refuge in a McDonald's restaurant "to avoid being lynched." Outside the restaurant, "there is a movement of the crowd as if the 'fugitive' has been caught by his attackers ... Several people shout, 'He's got a gun,' and then suddenly a shot rings out," Broussard wrote.
When they realised the man was a police officer, several in the crowd began chanting, "Dirty nigger" and "France for the French," according to Broussard's account.
"One thing is sure: several dozen people were rushing towards him and wanted to attack him because of the colour of his skin," Broussard wrote.
Police reinforcements arrived after several minutes, by which time all the windows of the McDonald's had been smashed.
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Bombing Iraq into Democracy
U.S. Laments Escalation of Iraq Violence
Friday November 24, 2006 12:46 PM
CAMP DAVID, Md. (AP) - The Bush administration lamented the newest flare up of civilian strife in Iraq, even as the White House looked with anticipation toward a meeting next week between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"We condemn such acts of senseless violence that are clearly aimed at undermining the Iraqi people's hopes for a peaceful and stable Iraq,'' White House spokesman Jeanie Mamo said as the first family spent Thanksgiving at their Catoctin Mountain retreat in Maryland.
"The United States is committed to helping the Iraqis,'' Mamo added.
National security adviser Stephen Hadley said earlier this week that Bush and al-Maliki will hold talks in Amman, Jordan Wednesday and Thursday.
Bush has steadfastly stood behind the U.S. commitment to Iraq, even though growing public displeasure with the protracted war contributed significantly to Democrats retaking the House and Senate from the Republicans in the midterm elections.
A special high-level commission headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III is mulling recommendations for possible changes in U.S. policy in Iraq and is expected to make its findings known sometime next month.
Comment: Can you say "crocodile tears"? The only way to end the violence in Iraq is for the occupying troops to leave. Now.
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Russia Condemns Vicious Bombings in Iraq, Says Tension Mounting
Created: 24.11.2006 15:37 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 15:39 MSK, 3 hours 55 minutes ago
MosNews
The latest suicide bombings in Iraq which killed over 200 people prove that tensions are mounting across the war-torn country, presidential aide in charge of international cooperation on combating terrorism and international crime, Anatoly Safonov, told the Interfax news agency Friday.
"It is not just that the unstable situation persists. It is that tension is mounting in all directions. A fuse and a charge sufficient for an explosion already exist in Iraq. One factor after another serves as the detonator. The scenario is quite alarming," he said.
"There was a glimmer of hope that relations between Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds would not be aggravated. But this factor has also been activated. Everything testifies to the fact that a critical point has been reached which threatens the disintegration of Iraq into three sectors and the start of civil chaos," Safonov said.
International terrorists and resistance not related to al-Qaida or other terrorist groups have become more active in Iraq, he said. The death sentence handed to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was also a factor in the deterioration of the situation in Iraq, Safonov said. Efforts by the international community are required to settle the Iraq situation, he said.
"We were not heard or they did not want to listen when we warned of a possible deterioration. Someone oversimplified the situation. But this is no longer about that. The international community should act together for the purpose of stabilizing Iraq and efforts to find for the best way out of the situation should be consolidated," he said.
Suicide bombers ripped through a Shi'ite market in northern Iraq on Friday and mortars crashed on rival Baghdad neighborhoods, ramping up sectarian tension a day after the bloodiest bombing of the conflict killed 202 people, the Reuters news agency reports.
As political leaders pleaded for restraint and imposed a curfew on the capital to avert all-out civil war, two bombers killed 22 people at Tal Afar near the Syrian border. The Shi'ite faction that controls Baghdad's Sadr City slum, target of Thursday's attack, demanded the prime minister cancel a summit next week with U.S. President George W. Bush.
The demand was made as the people of Sadr City bore away their dead, marching behind coffins and chanting in anger and sorrow for the victims.
Moqtada al-Sadr, the young cleric whose Mehdi Army militia dominates Sadr City, told chanting supporters in a Friday sermon that the most prominent religious figure from the Sunni minority must issue a fatwa demanding an end to the killing of Shi'ites.
One of Sadr's top political aides in parliament told Reuters it would pull out of the U.S.-backed national unity government and from parliament if Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki went ahead with next week's meeting with Bush in Jordan. "We have asked Maliki to cancel his meeting with Bush as there is no reason to meet the criminal who is behind terrorism in Iraq," Faleh Hasan Shanshal told Reuters. "We will suspend our membership in parliament and the cabinet if he goes ahead."
Bush has been expected to discuss with Maliki ways of giving Iraqi security forces more control to raise the prospect of U.S. troops starting to withdraw. But the competence and sectarian loyalties of the U.S.-trained Iraqi forces are in grave doubt.
Maliki is under pressure from an increasingly anxious Washington to make good on promises to disband Sadr's and other Shi'ite militias, which U.S. officials say control parts of the police and army. But the prime minister is dependent on Sadr and his fellow Shi'ite Islamists to maintain his own position.
Sadr, whose Mehdi Army rose up twice in 2004 against U.S. forces, has long demanded their withdrawal and seemed to be seeking to capitalise on the carnage in his Baghdad stronghold to press his case. Another 250 were wounded in the series of six car bombs and several mortar blasts late on Thursday afternoon.
He called for restraint from his followers, although similar public statements after the bombing of a major Shi'ite shrine at Samarra in February failed to prevent thousands of reprisal, killings much of which Sunni leaders blame on the Mehdi Army.
Many Sunnis, the dominant minority under Saddam Hussein and the source of the long insurgency against U.S. occupation, now fear a rapid withdrawal of the 140,000 American troops could unleash an all-out offensive by Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias.
"The situation is now moving to some sort of open civil war," said Iraqi security analyst Mustafa al-Alani of the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. "The situation now gradually becomes more beyond control. Neither the Americans nor the Iraqi government can control it."
Barring security forces, the only movement in the streets of the capital was the thousands of mourners as they began their journey south to the holy city of Najaf, traditional burial site for pious Shi'ites.
"At the end of the day we are all losers," said local man Hassan in Sadr City as the funeral processions passed by. "This is our home, our country. Sunnis and Shi'ites must come together to rebuild our country so we can breathe the air."
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Bomb blasts kill 22 in northern Iraq
Staff and agencies
Friday November 24, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Two bombs killed at least 22 people and wounded another 26 in the northern Iraqi city of Tal Afar today, police said.
The bombs, one hidden in a parked car and the other in a suicide vest worn by a pedestrian, apparently targeted civilians outside a car dealership in the city, 90 miles east of the Syrian border.
The bombings happened at around 11am (0800 BST) as funeral processions were getting under way in Baghdad for many of the more than 200 victims of attacks there yesterday.
The capital remained under a 24-hour curfew aimed at stopping revenge attacks. Hundreds of men, women and children chanted and cried as they walked beside vehicles carrying the coffins of their loved ones.
"God is great. There is no God but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah," chanted about 300 mourners as they beat their chests while walking through the Sadr City slum where the attacks happened.
The bodies were later taken for burial in the holy Shia city of Najaf, 100 miles south of Baghdad.
In the capital, followers of the radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr warned they would suspend their membership of parliament and the cabinet if the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, met the US president, George Bush, in Jordan next week. The al-Sadr bloc in parliament and government is the backbone of Mr Maliki's political support, and its withdrawal, if only temporarily, would be a severe blow to his already tentative hold on power.
As crews continued removing body parts from the wreckage of yesterday's car bomb attacks, tents were erected where the families of the dead could receive condolences from friends and relatives.
Three mortar rounds exploded in the Azamiya area of Baghdad at 9.45am today near the Abu Hanifa mosque, Sunni Muslims' most important shrine, wounding one guard, said the mosque's sheik, Samir al-Obaidi. The rest of Baghdad remained mostly quiet this morning, police said.
In yesterday's coordinated attacks, Sunni insurgents blew up five car bombs and fired mortars in Sadr City, killing at least 215 people and wounding 252.
Shia mortar teams quickly retaliated, firing 10 shells that badly damaged the Abu Hanifa mosque and killed one person.
Leaders from Iraq's Shia, Sunni and Kurdish communities issued a televised appeal for calm after a hastily organised meeting with the US ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad. The Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki also went on state television and blamed Sunni radicals and followers of Saddam Hussein for the attacks on Sadr City.
Three of the coordinated car bombings were carried out by suicide drivers; two used parked cars. Hospital corridors and waiting rooms were packed with victims of the bomb attacks, which struck at 15-minute intervals in the sprawling Shia slum. The area is a stronghold of the Mahdi army militia of the Mr Sadr.
In a TV statement read by an aide, Mr Sadr urged his followers to unite to end the US "occupation", which he said was causing Iraq's strife.
Mr Sadr said the attacks had coincided with the seventh anniversary, according to the Islamic calendar, of the assassination of his father, the Shia leader Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr.
"Had the late al-Sadr been among you he would have said preserve your unity," the statement said. "Don't carry out any act before you ask the Hawza (Shia seminary in Najaf). Be the ones who are unjustly treated and not the ones who treat others unjustly."
However, whether Mr Sadr controls all of the gunmen who act in his name is far from clear.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the pre-eminent Shia religious figure in Iraq, condemned the bombings and issued condolences to family members of the dead. He called for self-control among his followers.
Yesterday's bombings may have been carried out by Sunni gunmen seeking revenge for the kidnapping last week of up to 150 people at the Sunni-dominated ministry of higher education.
The attacks were worse than the coordinated blasts on March 2, 2004 that struck Shia Muslim shrines in Karbala and Baghdad, killing at least 181 Iraqis and wounding 573; a bombing in the southern city of Hillah that targeted mostly Shia police and national guard recruits killed 125 people and wounded more than 140 in February 2004.
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Baghdad under curfew after 202 killed in deadliest attack
AFP
24 Nov 06
The Iraqi capital has been locked down by an indefinite curfew after more than 200 people were killed by a wave of bombings in a Shiite slum in by far the deadliest attack since the war in 2003.
The bloodshed continued when a triple bomb attack in the northern town of Tal Afar killed 11 people and wounded another 42.
On Friday radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's political group, which has 30 MPs in the Iraqi parliament, threatened to pull out of the government if Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met US President George W. Bush in Jordan on November 29.
Iraqi Shiites, many weeping, collected bodies of the victims of Thursday's bomb attacks in Baghdad's Sadr City and headed under police protection to the southern shrine city of Najaf for mass burials.
A hospital source said the toll from four car bombs that tore through the Shiite bastion had risen to 202 dead and 256 wounded, adding that the figure was expected to rise as many of the wounded were in critical condition.
The attacks prompted the interior ministry to impose an indefinite curfew in the Iraqi capital, which came into force at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) Thursday.
Iraq also closed its two main airports, in the capital Baghdad and the southern city of Basra, as well as its southern sea ports, a senior government official said.
On Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, a deathly silence gripped the capital, with key roads and bridges empty as residents stayed indoors and vehicles remained off the streets.
In one of the squares in Sadr City, people were still collecting body parts and burying them in a grave.
They planned to build a memorial at the site to mark the most brutal attack so far against the Shiites in the conflict that followed the toppling of former president Saddam Hussein in a 2003 US-led invasion.
Almost a thousand people have been killed by violence in Iraq since Saddam was sentenced to death on November 5 for the mass killing of Shiites in the 1980s.
Angry mourners blamed followers of Saddam and Sunni leader Hareth al-Dhari, head of the Sunni Muslim Scholars' Association, for the bombings.
Dhari is currently out of Iraq, and local authorities have launched a criminal investigation against him for allegedly inciting sectarian violence.
"The government has been unable to protect us, while the Americans are arousing us to fight against each other," one angry Sadr City Shiite said.
Dozens of funeral tents were set up on streets in the district for people to offer their condolences as weeping men, women and children joined the processions heading for Najaf.
Sadr himself in his Friday sermon called on Dhari to issue fatwas to stop Sunni insurgents killing Shiites and to restrain them from joining groups such as Al-Qaeda.
A few hours before his sermon, insurgents bombed his movement's office in the restive city of Baquba. There were no casualties.
Thursday's bombings in the Shiite heartland of Baghdad are expected to further deepen the rift between the two warring communities.
Premier Maliki appealed for calm but said the attacks posed a grave threat.
"This crime reflects serious danger on Islamic brotherhood by terrorists who are trying to trigger sectarian strife," Maliki said.
Parliamentarian Mahmud Othman said he expected a Shiite backlash.
"There will be a strong reaction to these bombings. Already there are reports of Sunni neighbourhoods being attacked last night (Thursday) and the sectarian rift between the two will deepen further," he told AFP.
In the aftermath of the attacks, 13 mortar rounds slammed into Adhamiyah, a Sunni neighbourhood, wounding 10 people. On Friday, nine more mortar shells fell in northwest Baghdad near the Sunni mosque of Umm al-Qura, headquarters of the hardline Sunni Muslim Scholars' Association.
Othman blamed the growing bloodshed on the country's politicians.
"Leaders from both sides are trading accusations against each other. There have been no meetings between them for (a long time now). How do you expect reconciliation at a national level when it does not exist between them?"
Commenting on the Sadr City bombings, the United Nations Special Representative to Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, said "these crimes can widen the sectarian divide and thrust the country into a cycle of uncontrollable violence threatening the very social fabric of Iraq".
Sadr's group threatened to withdraw from the government if Maliki met Bush, and demanded that the government "specify the nature of its relations with the occupation forces". It also repeated calls for a timetable to pull coalition troops out of Iraq.
Bush and Maliki are expected to discuss new strategies aimed at stopping the bloodshed in Iraq when they meet in Jordan.
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UK Out by spring - a timetable emerges for Iraq
Patrick Wintour and Richard Norton-Taylor
Thursday November 23, 2006
The Guardian
The clearest government timetable yet for Britain's withdrawal from Iraq was set out yesterday when the foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, said she was confident Britain could hand control of the south of the country to Iraqi forces in spring.
It is the first time a British minister has given such an optimistic analysis and was cleared with No 10 before being laid out in the Commons. She denied that her forecast amounted to the government cutting and running, or to a prediction of a total withdrawal. But her remarks are a benchmark against which progress can now be tested.
They also open up the possibility that many troops will be returning home by the time Mr Blair resigns.
Such a development might free up some troops for Afghanistan, where proposals are being drawn up by the military for reinforcements to combat a potential Taliban offensive in the spring.
Ms Beckett and No 10 stressed that the timetable was dependent on the continued good progress of a joint British-Iraq operation in Basra, the largest and most populous of the four provinces originally put under British control. Britain has already relinquished control of two provinces and stood back from frontline security in a third.
Ministry of Defence sources said most of Britain's 7,200 troops in the region would initially be withdrawn from the streets and then pulled back to the Basra airbase. An increasingly residual force would be prepared to re-enter the Shia-controlled city to restore order.
Troops might then be shifted to bases in friendly neighbouring countries.
Ms Beckett's announcement comes against a backdrop of pressure from senior military figures, including General Sir Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff, who has said that the UK's continued presence has exacerbated security problems.
Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, said yesterday he was convinced the British military were now advising the government they had done all they could there.
Yesterday, the foreign secretary told MPs: " Although there can be no question of us abandoning Iraq in the present circumstances, that does not mean that things are standing still. Our approach has evolved significantly in recent months in response to a dynamic situation."
She said Iraq's prime minister, Nouri-al Maliki, was determined to take increasing control of security.
British and Iraqi troops are halfway through Operation Sinbad, the attempt to divide the city into 18 areas and overhaul each one in turn by giving widespread access to drinking water, clearing streets and improving job opportunities.
Major General Richard Shirreff, the British commander in southern Iraq, has said a "reasonable reduction" in the 7,000-strong force in southern Iraq was possible at the end of the operation in February.
Defence officials said last night that the work was "going well" and that clashes between rival Shia militia in Amara, capital of Maysan province, north of Basra, were stopped by Iraqi forces. The British troops on standby were not needed.
Overall, violence has been falling in the city, but the position is unstable and dependent on the wider political situation in Iraq and the speed with which the local police force can be trained. It is still seen as corrupt and penetrated by militias.
Des Browne, the defence secretary, said it was neither appropriate nor helpful to speculate on British troop planning. A defence source said it might still be impossible for troops to leave altogether for at least a year.
It is also likely that any decisions will also need to be coordinated with the Americans. Different security considerations apply in the rest of Iraq, and decisions will await political discussions arising from the bipartisan Baker report due by the end of the year.
William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said a withdrawal would also depend on the state of the civilian police forces in the country.
The Conservatives are also putting increasing pressure on the government to spell out its plans for Afghanistan ahead of the Nato summit in Riga next week.
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Spy vs Spy
Former spy's statement blames Putin for his death
Last Updated: Friday, November 24, 2006 | 8:34 AM ET
CBC News
In a statement read a day after his death, a former Russian spy has accused President Vladimir Putin of poisoning him.
Moscow has denied any involvement with Alexander Litvinenko, whose statement was read Friday by friend Alex Goldfarb.
"You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value. You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilized men and women," Litvinenko's statement said.
"You may succeed in silencing one man, but the howl of protest from around the world, Mr. Putin, will reverberate in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done."
It's not clear when Litvinenko wrote the statement.
A Kremlin spokesperson said Friday the death of a person is always a tragedy and that the investigation is in the hands of police.
Litvinenko died at 9:21 p.m. local time Thursday at London's University College Hospital. A spokesperson for the hospital said New Scotland Yard would be investigating the death.
Friends said Litvinenko had been on a quest to uncover corruption in Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, and unmask the killers of another trenchant critic of the Putin government, investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya.
The 43-year-old's condition deteriorated rapidly Thursday as heart failure left him on life support.
A fierce critic of the Russian government, Litvinenko had been under heavy sedation as doctors struggled to find the cause of his illness.
Early reports suggested he was the victim of thallium or radiation poisioning, but those theories were later ruled out.
His friend, Andrei Nekrasov, told the Associated Press that he spoke to Litvinenko before he lost consciousness on Tuesday, telling him: "The bastards got me, but they won't get everybody."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday called the poisoning allegations "sheer nonsense."
Litvinenko said he fell ill after eating a sushi dinner on Nov. 1 with a contact who reportedly had information connected to his investigation of Politkovskaya's murder. She was shot in her Moscow apartment building in October.
His hair fell out, his throat became swollen and his immune and nervous systems were severely damaged.
Litvinenko's wife, father and one of his three children were with him when he died.
His father, Walter Litvinenko, who wept as he spoke outside the hospital, said his son was killed "by a little, tiny nuclear bomb.
"This regime is a murderous danger to the world ... If we just let it go, if we go about our daily business as usual, this regime will get at all of us."
A former spy for the KGB and FSB, Litvinenko fled to Britain in 2000 after spending nine months in a Russian jail. He had been charged with abuse of office, but was later aquitted.
In 1998, Litvinenko went public with allegations he was ordered to kill Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who is exiled in Britain.
Litvinenko recently received British citizenship.
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Dead spy was victim of radiation
Staff and agencies
Friday November 24, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
The Russian former spy Alexander Litvinenko had received a high dose of radiation, probably polonium 210, before he died, scientists at the Heath Protection Agency (HPA) revealed this afternoon.
Pat Troop, the chief executive, told a news conference the agency was dealing with "an unprecedented event in the UK": the deliberate poisoning of someone with a radiated substance.
Mr Litvinenko, a Russian dissident who fled to the UK in 2000, died last night, three weeks after he fell ill. In a statement dictated before his death, he accused the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, of being behind his killing.
Article continues
Scotland Yard said its counter-terrorism unit was now investigating the "unexplained death".
HPA teams were at the two London hospitals where Mr Litvinenko was treated to assess whether staff or family who had come into contact with him were now at risk, Ms Troop said.
"Our role is to assess the risk to the public and those who might have been in contact with this man," Ms Troop said.
She added that HPA staff had worked throughout the night after the agency was alerted to the presence of radiation at 6pm yesterday.
Roger Cox, director of the HPA's centre for radiation, chemical and environmental hazards, said small doses of polonium 210 could lead to increased cancer risks later in life, but only if it was ingested by people who came into contact with a contaminated substance. At high doses there would be enough damage to bone marrow, intestines and other organs to cause them to malfunction.
"With regards to this incident at 6pm yesterday, the HPA received information via the police that a large quantity of alpha radiation, probably from a substance called polonium 210, had been detected in the urine of Mr Litvinenko," he said. "The links between his symptoms and this exposure is a matter for the police."
He said polonium 210 occurred naturally and was present in some foods in low doses. It was a "pure alpha emitter", which meant its short radiation particles would not pass though solid substances, such as skin, but could be ingested.
Earlier, Mr Litvinenko's friend Alexander Goldfarb read out a statement dictated by the 43-year-old in the presence of his wife, Marina, on Tuesday, two days before he died.
Doctors said they believed Mr Litvinenko had been poisoned, but they did not know what with.
"You may succeed in silencing me, but that silence comes at a price," the statement said. "You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics claim.
"You may succeed in silencing one man. But a howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done."
Mr Litvinenko, who has been living in London since defecting from Russia in 2000, said: "I am honoured to be a British citizen."
He thanked medical staff at University College hospital, the British government and the British people for their support.
Mr Litvinenko died in hospital just after 9pm yesterday. His condition had deteriorated rapidly after he suffered a heart attack and lost consciousness on Wednesday night.
Speaking outside the hospital this morning, his father, Walter Litvinenko, who was at his son's bedside when he died, described him as "very courageous".
"A terrible thing has happened here today," he said in Russian, dabbing tears from his eyes. "He was a very honest and good man and we loved him very much. And now he is not with us.
"He was very courageous when he met his death and I am proud of my son. It was an excruciating death ... but he never lost his human dignity.
"Marina and [Alexander] were the most wonderful couple. They were so happy here in London, but the long hand of Moscow got them here on this soil. This regime is a mortal danger to the world."
Since Mr Litvinenko became ill after a series of meetings in central London on November 1, his friends and family have insisted that he was the victim of a Moscow plot.
The former KGB agent was a fierce critic of Mr Putin's government and was investigating the murder of his friend, the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, when he became ill.
But both the Kremlin and Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, have denied any involvement. A Kremlin spokesman today described his death as "a tragedy".
Mr Litvinenko's friend Oleg Gordievsky, another former spy who defected to Britain, said today: "He was fighting against the evil forces in Russia, against the KGB, against the authorities which are suppressing democracy and liberal freedoms in Russia.
"He became a victim of ... revenge and malice of those forces in Russia."
One doctor said the type of poison used may never be known. Earlier suggestions that it was a heavy metal such as thallium or a radioactive substance were dismissed yesterday.
News of Mr Litvinenko's death spread as officials prepared for an EU-Russia summit in Helsinki, where questions about the former spy threatened to overshadow the main agenda.
If Russia is found to have had a hand in the poisoning, there could be serious diplomatic consequences. It would be the first such incident known in the west since the end of the cold war.
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Ex-Russian spy poisoned by radiation, risk to others being assessed
AFP
24 Nov 06
Former spy Alexander Litvinenko was probably poisoned by radioactive polonium 210, health officials have said, adding they were studying the risk to dozens of people who came into contact with him.
In theory the risk was low, but doctors and nurses at two hospitals which treated him, and staff and diners at a sushi restaurant he visited before he fell ill, were being contacted.
Professor Roger Cox of the Health Protection Agency said Friday a "large quantity" of alpha radiation "probably from a substance called polonium 210" had been detected in Litvinenko's urine.
"We know he had a major dose," added HPA chief executive Professor Pat Troop, adding that it was unprecedented that "someone has apparently been deliberately poisoned by a type of radiation" in Britain.
Litvinenko, who died in a central London hospital late Thursday, would have had to have eaten, inhaled or taken it through a wound, she added, but said it was a police matter about how that was done and how the substance was obtained.
Staff at the HPA had worked through the night to assess the risks for people who came into contact with him since he first fell ill on November 1, and they were working closely with the two hospitals involved in his treatment.
Physical contact with Litvinenko himself would not pose any risks, but the dangers increased when there was contact with excretia from the body such as urine, faeces and to a lesser extent sweat, Cox said.
But he added: "The risk to those individuals from taking in contaminated blood, urine or faeces from Mr Litvinenko is very small and the risk we believe is insignificant."
All staff were being monitored as were the hospitals, the University College Hospital London and the Barnet and Chase Farm Hospital in north London.
Troop declined to speculate how many people might have been in touch with the dead agent. "We're talking minimum of 10s because he was in hospital for several weeks. During that time a number of staff looked after him," she said.
Asked about what caused Litvinenko's death, she added that was for the coroner to determine and their job was to assess the risk to others, including the wider public.
Cox said that he could not rule out that the polonium came from natural causes, but added that this was "unlikely."
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Russia blamed for ex-spy's death but mystery continues
AFP
24 Nov 06
Russia stood accused of being behind the death of former spy Alexander Litvinenko, who lost his three-week fight for life in a London hospital after an apparent poisoning.
"The bastards got me. But they won't get everybody," The Times said Litvinenko, 43, told his friend Andrei Nekrasov, in a reference to the Kremlin, before he died.
But the charge has been repeatedly dismissed by Moscow and with few details from police and contradictory information from doctors, exactly how he died remains a mystery.
A Kremlin spokesman on Friday said simply that Litvinenko's death was a matter for the British authorities and refused to be drawn on whether Moscow would investigate adamant claims from the deceased's friends that Russian secret services were involved.
"Death is always a tragedy. Now this is the turn of the investigation by relevant British services," the spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on the sidelines of an EU-Russia summit in Helsinki.
Britain's Guardian newspaper raised a number of possible lines of police inquiry, including self-poisoning and even that the former Russian Federal Security Services lieutenant-colonel's illness was a result of natural causes.
It also detailed the "polished public relations campaign" that swung into action after Litvinenko's health deteriorated last week, noting that the same agency is retained by his friend, the billionaire dissident Boris Berezovsky.
Berezovsky is wanted in Russia on fraud charges. An avowed enemy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, he has been granted political asylum in Britain.
Alex Goldfarb, who has been fielding media enquiries about Litvinenko throughout, is an executive director of Berezovsky's International Foundation for Civil Liberties, and holds a US passport.
Oleg Gordievsky, a former KGB colonel who defected from Soviet Russia to Britain in the mid-1980s, has also done the round of interviews, saying he had "no doubt" Russian secret services and Putin were behind his friend's death.
"He only had one enemy -- it was the head of the KGB, the KGB itself and Putin. He kept writing articles against Putin and against the KGB, particularly the head of the KGB... So, they decided to kill him," he told the BBC Thursday.
Litvinenko and his entourage have blamed Russia throughout because of the former secret serviceman's outspoken criticism of the Kremlin.
In his book "Blowing Up Russia: Terror from Within", Litvinenko alleged secret services set up the 1999 apartment block bombings which triggered the second Chechen war and propelled the then-little known Putin to power.
He was also investigating the death of the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, a critic of her country's involvement in Chechnya who was shot at her central Moscow apartment building on October 7.
"This is what it takes to prove one has been telling the truth," Litvinenko is said to have told Nekrasov as his strength slipped away at University College Hospital London on Tuesday, The Times said Friday.
Security expert Glenmore Trenear-Harvey rejected the claims of politically-motivated killing, telling BBC radio that the threat to bilateral relations between Russia and Britain would be "far too great".
There was no evidence for the allegations, he added, highlighting the fact that police had classified the case initially as suspected poisoning but it was now being treated as an "unexplained death".
Litvinenko died at 9:21 pm (2121 GMT) Thursday after suffering a dramatic deterioriation in his condition throughout the day, including a cardiac arrest.
Earlier Thursday doctors ruled out an initial theory that the heavy metal thallium was responsible for his condition and that radioactivity was "unlikely". He first fell ill on November 1.
Echo Moscow radio on Friday quoted Goldfarb as saying that Litvinenko's burial date was not yet fixed because of the medical investigation, which could last several days.
At the same time, a rebel website Chechen Press said that Litvinenko had converted to Islam "some time ago" and would be buried in a Muslim graveyard.
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Russia and the EU
Cold war shadow disrupts Russia talks
Staff and agencies
Friday November 24, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
An EU-Russia summit in Helsinki opened in disarray today after Poland blocked the start of talks on a new wide-ranging pact, taking in energy and human rights.
Russia and the EU were supposed to begin talks on a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA), the fundamental text on trade and other issues to replace an existing agreement that ends next year.
The start of the talks was to have been the centrepiece of the summit, but Poland, in a dispute with Moscow over meat imports, wielded its veto.
The European commission can only start negotiations when all 25 EU member states have given it a mandate to do so. Poland - to the exasperation of other EU governments - became the first new member state to use its veto to block talks with a third country.
Poland's veto came in response to a Russian ban on its meat products. Russian authorities accuse Polish producers of violating hygiene laws and smuggling, although Moscow says there is no problem with the quality of Polish produce itself.
Warsaw retorts that the import ban was punishment for its embrace of the west and turning its back on its former imperial master.
The Polish veto was an embarrassing setback for the EU as it seeks agreement with Russia - its biggest energy supplier - over the security of future oil and gas supplies, and on democracy and human rights.
"Of course it would be better not to have it (the Polish veto) but we are going to keep on working," the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said as he arrived at the summit. "The situation will be overcome."
Energy is the thorniest issue between the EU and Russia. With the EU increasingly dependent on oil and gas from Russia, European governments want to ensure security of access and open up Russian oil and gas deposits and export pipelines to European companies.
"Energy is the key and the most difficult issue in EU-Russia relations, and there can be no immediate breakthrough at the summit. Talks may drag on for years," Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, told the Associated Press.
Russia and 50 other countries have signed the so-called Energy Charter, a treaty that took effect in 1998, setting out terms for trading and transporting energy across the Eurasian landmass. Moscow will not ratify it nor conclude a transit protocol with the EU that would force Gazprom, the Russian energy giant, to surrender its monopoly on transporting gas from Turkmenistan.
"It's out of the question that Russia will submit to EU pressure to ratify the charter," Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian parliament's international affairs committee, told The Associated Press.
The EU sees the PCA as a way of getting the charter's language into a treaty, without requiring Russian ratification of the original Energy Charter.
Apart from energy, negotiations for a new partnership accord promise to be lengthy. The two sides have identified four key sectors - economic, justice, external security and research matters - as areas for closer cooperation.
On human rights, Russian officials said if EU chiefs challenged Mr Putin over his record he would counter by pointing to the treatment of ethnic Russians in new EU members Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. Moscow says they suffer discrimination.
The death of Alexander Litvinenko in London - three weeks after the former KGB agent and fierce Putin critic apparently ingested a mysterious poison - also hung over the Helsinki summit.
The Finnish prime minister, Matti Vanhanen, whose country holds the EU presidency, expressed sympathy to Mr Litvinenko's family but declined to say whether he would press Mr Putin about the death.
Russia has rejected claims from Mr Litvinenko's friends it had a hand in the poisoning. A Kremlin spokesman said Mr Litvinenko's death was "a tragedy."
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Russian Prosecutors Charge 17 Muslims With Plotting Terror Attacks
Created: 24.11.2006 15:33 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 15:40 MSK
MosNews
Russian prosecutors have accused 17 people of planning a series of terrorist acts in Tatarstan region during last year's celebrations marking a millennium since the regional capital Kazan was founded, the Associated Press reports.
The 17 defendants are accused of membership in an alleged militant group called Islamic Jamaat, and are charged with crimes including terrorism, illegal weapons possession and inciting religious hatred, the prosecutor general's office said Thursday.
Prosecutors have submitted the case to Tatarstan's Supreme Court, meaning it could go to trial soon.
No attacks took place during Kazan's millennium celebrations.
The group was active in four cities in the traditionally Muslim region - Naberezhniye Chelny, Aznakayevo, Yelabuga and Nizhnekamsk - and recruited six minors to carry out terrorist attacks.
The six minors were sentenced during the summer. Five of them who were tried together were convicted in August of involvement in a terrorist conspiracy and each was sentenced to more than five years in prison.
During the minors' trial, rights activists called the case part of a pattern of security services' harassment of pious Muslim believers in Russia, in an atmosphere of repression fed by the Russian war against Islamic militants and separatists in Chechnya.
Ilgam Gumerov, who was one of the 17 suspects listed in Thursday's statement and has been described by authorities as the alleged group's leader, said during the minors' trial that the case was fabricated and that statements he made were induced by torture.
He said jailers had handcuffed him to his cell for two days, deprived him of food and drink and demanded he sign confessions.
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Russia Ranks Second in World Suicide Rating
Created: 24.11.2006 09:55 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:32 MSK
MosNew
Russia's suicide rate is the second worst in the world after Lithuania, the director of a leading Russian social and psychiatric research center said Thursday.
"Russia takes second place in the world for the number of suicides, after Lithuania," the RIA-Novosti news agency quoted the researcher Tatyana Dmitriyeva as saying. "Suicides claim between 57,000 and 60,000 lives annually," Dmitriyeva said.
With Russia's official population of 145 million, a figure of 60,000 suicides corresponds to 41 per 100,000 people.
The head of the Serbsky National Research Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry said cardiac diseases are the most common cause of death in the country, followed by suicides, cancer and car accidents.
She said about 90% of suicides result from psychological disorders.
Boris Polozhy, a department head with the Serbsky Center, said earlier said official statistics show 36.1 cases of suicide for every 100,000 people in Russia.
He said the most problematic regions in Russia were the Koryak Autonomous District (with 133.5 suicides per 100,000 people), the republic of Komi (110.3), the republic of Altai (101.9) and the Nenets Autonomous Area (95.7).
Polozhny added that the situation was much better in republics of the North Caucasus, with 1.1 registered suicide cases per 100,000 people in Ingushetia, 3.2 in Daghestan, and 4.8 in North Ossetia.
Moscow and St. Petersburg lose 11 and 17.8 people per 100,000 to suicides each year, respectively, according to official data.
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EU, Russia play down discord after Polish veto
AFP
24 Nov 06
Russia and Europe have announced a long-awaited deal on EU airline flights at a summit in Helsinki in a bid to play down discord after a Polish veto on EU partnership talks with Moscow.
"There was an agreement on Siberian overflights," EU presidency spokesman Mikko Norros said Friday, referring to an agreement to phase out taxes paid to Russia by European airlines to end a 20-year dispute.
The taxes cost EU airlines 330 million euros (432 million dollars) in 2006, the European Commission said in a statement, adding that the deal would be signed later Friday.
Both Russian and EU officials minimised the significance of a Polish veto on the start of EU negotiations for a new partnership agreement with Moscow that remains in force despite frantic last-minute diplomatic efforts.
The veto "can be overcome," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said ahead of the summit meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and EU leaders in the House of Estates palace in central Helsinki.
"There were alarmist forecasts. These were not justified," a source from the Russian delegation said after the summit.
"The EU confirmed its intention to start negotiations sooner or later and preferably sooner," the source said.
Talks on a new accord to replace the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between Brussels and Moscow, which formally runs out next year but can be extended, were meant to be central to the summit.
Poland's veto was prompted by a Russian ban on Polish meat and plant imports on food safety grounds and Moscow's refusal to ratify the Energy Charter Treaty, an international agreement on energy investment and transport.
But, speaking on the eve of the summit, Putin defended Russia's ban as a "technical problem" not linked to "political tricks" and called for talks to resolve the issue.
The dispute with Poland has highlighted divisions within the European Union on policy towards Russia, which accounts for around a third of EU energy imports and is a major market for European companies.
In an apparent counter to the Polish veto, Russia has stressed concerns about the standards of EU meat imports as a whole after swine fever outbreaks in Bulgaria and Romania, which are set to join the EU in January.
"We have some phytosanitary problems with Romania and Bulgaria. We hope these problems will be solved before they join the EU," said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin.
The EU's enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said in an interview with Finnish television on Thursday that Russia's food safety concerns were part of "a political game" intended "to put pressure on the EU".
EU meat exports to Russia are worth around 1.7 billion euros (2.2 billion dollars) per year and EU officials said earlier that restrictions on Bulgaria and Romania are already in place.
At the summit, Putin also repeated Russia's refusal to ratify the Energy Charter Treaty, which Moscow signed in 1994, in spite of EU calls for its adoption.
"At the same time, we support the basic principles of the charter and we are ready to discuss the inclusion of these principles of this charter in a future agreement," the Russian delegation source said.
Russia faced further pressure on the sidelines of the summit after Alexander Litvinenko, a former lieutenant-colonel in Russia's Federal Security Service, died from suspected poisoning in London late on Thursday.
Litvinenko was a Kremlin critic and some of his friends have accused Russia of being behind the killing. Russian secret services have denied any involvement.
"Death is always a tragedy and there is nothing to be added to that. Now the case will be investigated by relevant British authorities," Peskov said.
"We hope that those who did this will be brought to justice," he added.
EU and Russian leaders also met on Friday with prime ministers Geir Haarde of Iceland and Jens Stoltenberg of Norway for talks on cooperation in northern Europe.
Summit participants were expected to discuss other international issues such as the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea, tensions in the Middle East and a diplomatic crisis between Georgia and Russia.
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Faces of Amerika
Friedman's Cruel Legacy
by William Greider
The Nation
Dec 11, 2006 issue
Now that the economists and their camp followers have mourned and celebrated the life of Milton Friedman, allow me to kick a little dirt on the icon. Without question, Friedman was the most influential economist of the second half of the twentieth century, as his admirers claim. What they do not say is that he was also the most destructive public intellectual of our time.
Friedman actually failed as a scientific economist but succeeded as a moral philosopher. His greatest scholarly accomplishment -- his monetarist theory of how to regulate money and credit -- was intellectually flawed at its core and collapsed when the Federal Reserve tried to follow it. The central bank wisely discarded Friedman's money-supply approach before it did more damage. It is now a forgotten relic at the Fed.
Friedman's broader argument--that a society should be governed by self-regulating markets instead of big government--did better but also did not lead to the utopia he promoted. His "free market" faith has produced instead the very thing Friedman regularly denounced: a bastardized system of interest-group politics that serves favored sectors of citizens at the expense of many others. Enterprise and markets were indeed set "free" of government regulation, but big government did not go away (it grew bigger). Only now government acts mainly as patron and protector for the largest, most powerful interests--the same ones that demanded their liberation. Instead of serving the broad general welfare, government enables capital and corporations to feed off the taxpayers' money and convert public assets into private profit centers, shielded from the wrath of any citizens trying to object. If that is what Friedman really had in mind, he should have said so.
His most profound damage, however, was as a moral philosopher. He championed an ethic of unrelenting, unapologetic self-interest that effectively pushed aside human sympathy. In fact, humans' responsibility to one another has been delegitimized--portrayed as an obstacle to the hardheaded analysis that maximizes returns. Friedman explained: "So the question is, do corporate executives, provided they stay within the law, have responsibilities in their business activities other than to make as much money for their stockholders as possible? And my answer to that is, no, they do not."
Pay no attention to the collateral consequences. Your only obligation is to the bottom line. Friedman's message was highly appealing--he promised people a path to freedom--but it triumphed, ultimately, because it served the powerful forces of capital over labor, economic wealth over social concerns. Government was indeed failing on many fronts, especially inflation, and liberalism had no answer. Friedman's answer was alluringly simple. Get rid of government.
People everywhere now understand what Friedman's kind of "freedom" means. America has been brutally coarsened by his success at popularizing this dictum--millions of innocents injured, mutual trust gravely weakened, society demoralized by the hardening terms of life. Most people know in their gut this is wrong but see no easy way to resist it. Friedman's utopia is also drenched in personal corruption. The proliferating scandals in business, finance and government flow directly from his teaching people to go for it and disregard moral qualms. When you tell people in power that their highest purpose in life is to maximize their own returns, there is no limit to how much "good" they will do for the rest of us. I don't recall hearing Friedman express any discomfort. Perhaps he regarded looting and stealing as natural features of capitalism that market forces would eventually correct.
This is what the memorials left out: the cruel quality of Friedman's obliviousness. Art Hilgart, a retired industrial economist, recalls hearing Friedman lecture in 1991 and recommend the destruction of Medicare, welfare, the postal system, Social Security and public education. The audience was dumbfounded.
Finally, a brave young woman asked what this would mean for poverty. "There is no poverty in America," Friedman instructed. A clear voice arose from the back of hall: "Bullshit!". The audience cheered wildly.
Comment: There have always been "society pedagogues" who are fascinated by their own "great ideas", which might, sometimes, even be true, but are more often constricted or contain the taint of some hidden pathological thought processes. Such people have always striven to impose their ideas on society, which results in the deformation of that society's psychological world view. Such individuals as Milton Friedman end up inflicting permanent harm on millions of others while claiming to act in the name of some ideal. In short, they actually undermine the values they claim.
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Our Great North American Holiday
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Sara Robinson
When you look at the full scope of North American history, the image of Thanksgiving as a holiday of U.S. exceptionalism becomes much harder to sustain. The Pilgrims were not the first European settlers, as many Americans believe. (Cortez's Spanish troops were.) They weren't even the first English settlers (several English colonies had been doing very well in Canada for decades). Plymouth was not the first European city in the New World (Cuernavaca would have a decent claim there); nor even in America (as anyone from either St. Augustine or Santa Fe will tell you). And theirs was far from the first Thanksgiving. In truth, they were latecomers to a long-standing party that had already become a New World tradition from Montreal to Mexico City.
One of the religious right's firmest convictions is that America was established by God for a special destiny in the history of humankind. We are a uniquely blessed nation -- first among the Elect in power and strength -- because the Puritans alone had the good sense to consecrate this land to the Protestant God from the very first year, a consecration symbolized every year when we renew it at Thanksgiving.
Our glory, they believe, will endure only as long as we continue to maintain our devotion to God -- which is, they insist, why it's so very important that we get over this wall-of-separation thing and openly submit to Biblical law. If we don't accept God's special choosing, he may withdraw it (as he did with the Israelites), and America will be doomed. In fundamentalist homes, Thanksgiving is a celebration of that compact, an affirmation of America's singular destiny as a Chosen Nation.
Poputonian gives a brief rundown of the history of Thanksgiving in North America that got me thinking some about this. Thanksgiving has become a fraught and complicated issue at our house since we moved to Canada, which celebrates the same holiday on the second Monday in October. Some years, we've had two Thanksgivings. Other years, we've had none. (Today, the kids are in school and going to their dad's, and Mr. R is taking a final exam, so I'm on my own, and birdless.) It's never been my favorite holiday to begin with, so our haphazard observance patterns have reflected that as well. But the struggle to make new meaning out of the holiday has also given me a much wider view than most Americans have of where our own Thanksgiving fits into the grand scheme of history.
In the summer of 2005, I spent a month in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Cuernavaca's a gorgeous little city, famous for a year-round spring climate so delicious that Montezuma built his summer palace there. In 1519, Cortez conquered the city, razed the old palace, and built his own castle on the ruins. (Diego Rivera later painted what may be his greatest mural in the castle's loggia.) A few blocks away, there's a huge adobe cathedral that's been standing there since 1533. It may well be the oldest Christian church in the western hemisphere.
To put this in perspective: The church and castle in Cuernavaca had already been standing for nearly a century when the Pilgrims had their little dinner party in 1620.
In fact, by that time, the Spaniards had pretty much conquered Mexico, and were making strong inroads into what is now the American southwest. Pop notes that Pedro Menendez de Aviles founded St. Augustine, Florida in 1565. Farther inland, Don Juan Onate declared the first Mexican Thanksgiving somewhere just south of El Paso in 1598 -- the same year he founded the city of Santa Fe. By 1620, when New England was just seeing its first Europeans, Santa Fe and St. Augustine were both thriving American cities of a thousand souls or more.
The party was already rolling in the Great White North as well. The first Canadian Thanksgiving was declared in 1578 by English explorer Martin Frobisher, who formally proclaimed a Feast of Thanksgiving for his party's safe arrival in Newfoundland. By 1607, the French explorers living in Acadia with Samuel de Champlain formed "The Order of Good Cheer," whose regular feasts of thanks often included their Huron and Algonquin neighbors. (Two hundred years later, following the American Revolution, these feasts also included banished Loyalist refugees, who contributed their own American foods and customs to the Canadian table.)
When you look at the full scope of North American history, the image of Thanksgiving as a holiday of U.S. exceptionalism becomes much harder to sustain. The Pilgrims were not the first European settlers, as many Americans believe. (Cortez's Spanish troops were.) They weren't even the first English settlers (several English colonies had been doing very well in Canada for decades). Plymouth was not the first European city in the New World (Cuernavaca would have a decent claim there); nor even in America (as anyone from either St. Augustine or Santa Fe will tell you). And theirs was far from the first Thanksgiving. In truth, they were latecomers to a long-standing party that had already become a New World tradition from Montreal to Mexico City.
Living in Canada has given me a bigger view of Thanksgiving. It's not a holiday celebrating American uniqueness and destiny, but rather one that connects us in history to all the people of this continent -- those who came on the boats from Spain, then France, then England to brave a world they could not imagine; those who met the boats and lost the world as they knew it; those who have come in the centuries since from every corner of the planet; and those who share the continent with America now, and are as bound to her fate as surely as we are bound to the brothers and sisters we're feasting with today.
We may celebrate it on different days; but the reasons for our gratitude are as recognizably familiar as the menu and the faces. Our strength is not in America's (or this holiday's) singularity, but rather their universality. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.
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Christian Meth
BY ALEXANDER ZAITCHIK
FreezerBox Magazine
22 Nov 06
Indeed words do just "flow out" of some people. Especially when they're jacked up on speed.
A lot of people have pointed to the dialogue in Haggard's spastic cameo in the documentary Jesus Camp, in which Pastor Ted condemns homosexuality and tells a 12 year-old kid he's "very cute." But look beyond the words and the film depicts a man high on more than John 3:16. He stalks the stage wearing a Janet Jackson headset and a grin so big it looks like it's about to rip his face into quadrants. His teeth often appear clamped; his eyes bulging wide. He can't, or at least doesn't, shut up. He's on so many cylinders he even heckles the Jesus Camp crew during his sermon. "If you use any of this footage, I'll sue you!" he jests, cracking himself up. Later, after the Sunday service, he's still going strong. "It's a great life!" he tells the filmmakers for no good reason. Dynamite, even. The man is clearly at an impressive cruising altitude...
"Officer, they stole my wallet! It's all a big misunderstanding. Like a Three's Company episode. Someone came in the wrong door!"
So explains a naked Scott Thompson to two cops outside a highway rest stop in Brain Candy, the brilliant 1996 film by Toronto comedy troupe Kids in the Hall. When Thompson is returned home, still naked and handcuffed, he explains everything to his wife.
"Honey, I think you've got a right to know what happened," says Thompson. "I went out driving, cuz you know I love driving. And suddenly I had to take the biggest pee in the world. I saw this washroom, so I stopped in. But it was full of those types, you know, queens and queers. And they tried to kiss me; and I said no, no, no!"
The scene cuts to Thompson reclining in a shrink's office. "Why would he do that?" asks the Man in Denial.
"Didn't you say you had gripped his buttocks and pulled him closer?" asks the shrink.
"I was concerned he would fall," says Thomspon. "I mean, his pants were down around his goddamn ankles."
I held a special screening of Brain Candy the other week in honor of Ted Haggard, the Colorado mega-church pastor and evangelical leader whose initial "Who put this c**k in my mouth?" half-admission to enjoying the company of a gay prostitute and purchasing methamphetamine was cut straight from a Kids in the Hall skit. Before admitting to "sexual immorality" and quickly disappearing with his wife to an unmapped island in the south Pacific, Haggard claimed that he was innocently referred to a masseuse by a Denver hotel, and that while, yes, he bought meth from the masseuse, who, it turned out, also happened to be a gay prostitute, he threw the devilish drug away before trying it.
Never mind buying speed only to toss it: Crank, for the ultimate relaxing massage!
No, I don't believe Haggard threw the meth away, unless you define "throw away" as "suck up your nose while greasing your abs."
A lot of people have pointed to the dialogue in Haggard's spastic cameo in the documentary Jesus Camp, in which Pastor Ted condemns homosexuality and tells a 12 year-old kid he's "very cute." But look beyond the words and the film depicts a man high on more than John 3:16. He stalks the stage wearing a Janet Jackson headset and a grin so big it looks like it's about to rip his face into quadrants. His teeth often appear clamped; his eyes bulging wide. He can't, or at least doesn't, shut up. He's on so many cylinders he even heckles the Jesus Camp crew during his sermon. "If you use any of this footage, I'll sue you!" he jests, cracking himself up. Later, after the Sunday service, he's still going strong. "It's a great life!" he tells the filmmakers for no good reason. Dynamite, even. The man is clearly at an impressive cruising altitude; lunch is now being served with a choice of chicken or pasta.
Haggard's own boundless energy dominated profiles of his New Life Church. A cover story in Christianity Today repeatedly describes Haggard as "ebullient" and "charismatic," and quotes a colleague who marveled: "Th[e] stuff just flows out of Ted." Indeed words do just "flow out" of some people. Especially when they're jacked up on speed.
The creation story of Haggard's New Life Church reads like notes from a speed-fueled start-up project. In the early days Haggard sat around his garage maniacally building podiums out of buckets and stages out of assorted junkyard effluvia. He also ran around Colorado Springs recruiting, talking to anyone who would listen. When Haggard wasn't smiling, playing with buckets and random shit in his garage, or talking way too fast to uninterested bystanders -- that is, when he was coming down -- he heard the speed voices, saw the speed demons. A May 2005 Harper's profile describes how "evil forces" would call Haggard late at night and threaten to kill him. Anyone who has ever collapsed after a four-day meth binge understands you don't have to be a Believer to know those evil forces are real.
The Harper's story also offers this litany of classic tweaker behavior, including an actual phone book activity:
[Haggard] assigned everyone in the [early] church names from the phone book they were to pray for. He sent teams to pray in front of the homes of supposed witches -- in one month, ten out of fifteen of his targets put their houses on the market. His congregation "prayer-walked" nearly every street of the city.
If Haggard was indeed a speed freak, and I think he was, it was an understandable drug of choice. Every weekend, in front of thousands of swaying, chanting cultists, he had to entertain for hours. It must have been draining. Living within a short drive of a city known for its fine cut glass, why wouldn't Haggard, a hard-working father of five, chip away at the stuff to keep the energy level up? And if his wife wasn't up to it, why shouldn't he find someone to help take advantage of all those nerve clusters, placed there by Haggard's Lord Father, designed after His Own Perfect Image?
The reason, of course, is Jesus-drenched, hip-hop hooray hypocrisy, the currency that fuels the increasingly hi-tech economy of the Religious Right in America. Haggard isn't allowed his harmless pleasures because he spent so much of his life trying to deny them to other people who were actually honest with themselves and the world. Haggard was well known for liking rock and roll in his Church; if only he'd accepted sex and drugs, he could have led his evangelical flock in a healthy new direction -- less hate, more hot tub. But nobody likes a hypocrite, especially Mike Jones, the former hooker who deserves a decent book deal and who better not have accepted a pay-off to destroy all those hours of James Dobson choke-ball footage.
It's hard not to suspect that such footage exists, that the penthouse of the evangelical skyscraper is one big gay bathhouse, with a wrinkled Dobson getting serviced by three leather bears in the center pool. But Dobson no doubt has a serious four-stage security moat around him at his compound in Colorado Springs. My bet for the next gay evangelical scandal is handsome D.C.-based Tony Perkins, the Guy Smiley nitwit running the Dobson spin-off Family Research Council. It's possible Perkins even enjoyed the occasional double massage with his good friend Pastor Ted in Denver, while the two plotted how best to roll back the latest New England state court decision.
In his election-week Family Research Council note to members, Perkins blew a note of mock-disgust at Haggard's dark and repulsive behavior. (The italics are in the Perkins original, quoting from Pastor Ted's letter of apology. But Perkins didn't use quotes, choosing the more menacing italics instead.)
Who put that dark and repulsive cock in your mouth, Tony?
It's true Haggard wasn't as despicable as Perkins, or his neighbor and former spiritual mentor Dobson. Although a proud Republican and a self-professed leader of the Religious Right, Haggard was a relative moderate in that world. He understood that the environment is in serious trouble and that the Bible offers grounds for "Creation Care"; he claimed to admire the social gospel traditions of the black church; he even lauded Lawrence v. Texas, in which the Supreme Court decriminalized sodomy in the Lone Stud State. Haggard's hypocrisy had some bounds, after all.
I just have doubts the same can be said for his meth habit.
Alexander Zaitchik co-founded Freezerbox in 1998. He is currently based in Washington, D.C.
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Heidi Does Long Beach: The SPLC vs. Academic Freedom
By Kevin MacDonald
As you read this, Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center is interviewing some 40 students, faculty, and administrators at California State University-Long Beach, where I am a tenured Professor of Psychology, for an upcoming hit job on me and my research.
Readers of VDARE.COM need little introduction to the SPLC or Ms. Beirich. Since 1971, the SPLC has built up an unsavory reputation, attracting criticism even from the Left for dubious fund-raising tactics, reckless allegations (anyone who opposes open borders is a racist) massive exaggerations (the Ku Klux Klan is on the verge of taking over the entire U.S.) and, by those who actually read its materials, for wholesale misrepresentation. Essentially a gang of political terrorists, well described by Peter Brimelow as a "shakedown scam that preys on the elderly, Holocaust-haunted rich", the SPLC is nevertheless accorded almost religious reverence by many in the media, academia, and government. Case in point: the (otherwise quite fair) student newspaper article on my case was headlined Civil rights group investigates professor [by MaryJane O'Brien, Daily 49er, November 13 2006]. [For the Capitol Research Center's new expose of the SPLC, click here]
The SPLC is paying me attention because it wants to suppress my academic work. I am interested in sociobiology, evolutionary psychology and group behavior. Some years ago I began to study the Jews. This resulted in three scholarly books and a monograph considering Judaism from a modern evolutionary perspective:
A People that Shall Dwell Alone:Judaism as a Group Evolutionary Strategy (1994)
Separation and Its Discontents:Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism (1998)
The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements (1998)
Understanding Jewish Influence: Study in Ethnic Activism (2004)
I have also published a number of related articles (scroll down).
In this body of work I have developed the argument that Jewish activity collectively, throughout history, is best understood as an elaborate and highly successful group competitive strategy directed against neighboring peoples and host societies. The objective has been control of economic resources and political power. One example: overwhelming Jewish support for non-traditional immigration, which has the effect of weakening America's historic white majority. Such behavior would be viewed as perfectly normal from a sociobiological standpoint.
Of course, I could be wrong. Demonstrating this would require logical argument and reinterpretation of the extensive factual evidence I have assembled. I have yet to see any critic of my work able to show that I was wrong about the theory or in my handling of the evidence. But in principle it might be possible.
However, my critics, exemplified by the SPLC, have generally been unwilling to attempt this. Instead, their line has been that the subject is taboo and discussing it should be forbidden. Needless to say, this is not the intellectual tradition out of which the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution came.
My experience provides a case study of these tactics. Beirich, along with another SPLC operative Mark Potok, recently wrote an article listing me as one of the "13 worst people in America" and "The scariest academic". In a country with around 300,000,000 people and 45,000 academics, the SPLC places me in some pretty rarified company.
The Beirich & Potok article is a compendium of ethical lapses. It refers to me as having a Master's degree, although I have held a Ph.D since 1981 and have been a fully tenured faculty member at Cal State Long Beach for 15 years. The implication: I am not a fully qualified and recognized scholar. An academic who acknowledges not having read my work is quoted, while positive comments by academics who have reviewed my research in scholarly publications are ignored. It presents gross oversimplifications of my work-summarizing an entire book in one sentence and leaving out important qualifications (e.g., although the organized Jewish community was the major force in pushing through the 1965 immigration law and in the establishment of multicultural America, I stipulate that many Jews were not involved in these efforts).
Further, Beirich & Potok lift quotations out of context. Most outrageously, they claim that I "suggest[s] that colleges restrict Jewish admission and Jews be heavily taxed 'to counter the Jewish advantage in the possession of wealth.'" In fact, the passage in question discusses the possible consequences of a hypothetical ethnic spoils system in which individuals are assigned access to resources based on their percentage in the population. Obviously, if such a system were in place, it would discriminate against Jews. Merely explaining the real-world consequences of such a system is not the equivalent of advocating it.
Personally, I am appalled that there are major organizations and movements in this country that advocate ethnicity-based access to resources such as university admissions. Behavioral science research clearly documents that different ethnic groups have different average talents, abilities, wealth, etc. These differences can only lead to increasing levels of ethnic tension and competition in multicultural America. An ethnicity-based spoils system would be the end of the country as originally founded. It would lead to a hyper-Orwellian future in which each ethnic group jealously monitors the others to make sure it is getting its "fair" share.
I'm reminded of an earlier hatchet job by Beirich. She made a phone call to Human Events Editor-in-Chief Tom Winter complaining that Kevin Lamb, Human Events managing editor, was also the editor of The Occidental Quarterly-a publication that the SPLC calls "racist" and "white supremacist." (The fact that I have published articles in The Occidental Quarterly is a major part of the SPLC's problem with me.) Lamb was gone within the hour.
More recently, Beirich succeeded with another phone call in frightening the supposedly-conservative Leadership Institute into a last-minute refusal of its premises to the Robert A. Taft Club, which planned to hold a debate-a debate-between American Renaissance's Jared Taylor, National Review's John Derbyshire and black conservative Kevin Martin.
The Taft Club is basically just a group of Washington-area kids. But no band of heretics is too small for the SPLC Inquisition.
Ms. Beirich asked to interview me during her stay in Long Beach. Given her record, I was confident she would be acting in bad faith. But I offered to be interviewed by her-if she would answer my concerns regarding her previous writing about me and make them public to the CSULB community. She has not responded to this offer.
Kevin Lamb was an "at will" employee and really had no defense against the assault of Beirich and the SPLC. But the fact is that even academics with tenure are terrified of being called racists, anti-Semites or any other pejorative concocted by the left.
This is ironic. Unlike politicians, who must curry favor with the public in order to be reelected, and unlike media figures, who have no job protection, tenured academics should be free from any such fears. Part of the job-and a large part of the rationale for tenure in the first place-is that they are supposed to be willing to take unpopular positions.
That image of academia, however, simply and sadly has no basis in reality. Consider, for example, an article appearing almost two months after the publication of John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's famous essay on the Israel Lobby and appropriately titled " A hot paper muzzles Harvard." [by Eve Fairbanks, The Los Angeles Times, May 14 2006]:
"Instead of a roiling debate, most professors not only agreed to disagree but agreed to pretend publicly that there was no disagreement at all. At Harvard and other schools, the Mearsheimer-Walt paper proved simply too hot to handle - and it revealed an academia deeply split yet lamentably afraid to engage itself on one of the hottest political issues of our time. Call it the academic Cold War: distrustful factions rendered timid by the prospect of mutually assured career destruction."
It's not that professors don't want to sound off on public policy issues. When there is an opportunity to spout righteous leftism, professors leap to the front of the line. A good example: the Duke University rape allegation case. Despite considerable evidence that the charges are spurious, three academic departments, 13 programs, and 88 professors at Duke paid for an ad in the campus newspaper in which they assumed the guilt of the men, and stated that "what happened to this young woman" resulted from "racism and sexism".
In that case, of course, the professors who went public with their indignation knew they were part of a like-minded community and that there would be much to gain by being on the politically-correct side.
Seen in this context, the reaction to Mearsheimer and Walt makes a lot of sense. As one professor explained: "People might debate it if you gave everyone a get-out-of-jail-free card and promised that afterward everyone would be friends."
This latest experience with the SPLC has improved my understanding of the dynamics of group control of individuals.
There have been times when I have had to endure vicious charges of anti-Semitism, for instance by Jacob Laksin (Cal State's Professor of Anti-Semitism. Frontpagemag.com May 5 2006). But when discussion was confined to the impersonal world of the internet, it did not bother me. I would write a detailed reply and circulate it among the people who read me. I knew that people who support my writing would rally to my defense and say nice things about me and my reply to Laksin.
Naturally, I also knew that I would a get hate mail and maybe a couple of death threats. But that's to be expected. And it's all rather abstract, since I basically sit in solitude at my computer and read it all. It pretty much ends there. A part of me even sees some benefit in it because visits to my website are up and more people are buying my book.
But then came the SPLC and Heidi Beirich. Someone not connected to CSULB sent an email to the entire Psychology Department-except me-asking why they allowed an "anti-Semite" to teach there. The result was an uproar, with heated exchanges on the faculty email list, a departmental meeting on what to do about me and my work, and intense meetings of the departmental governing committee.
Cold shoulders, forced smiles and hostile stares became a reality. Going into my office to teach my classes and attend committee meetings became an ordeal.
I keep saying to myself: why is this so hard? At the conscious level I was perfectly confident that I could sit down with any of my colleagues and defend my ideas. I know rationally that a lot of the people giving me negative vibes are themselves members of ethnic minority groups-who like the present ethnic spoils system, such as affirmative action and ethnically-influenced foreign policy, just fine.
My theory: Ostracism and hostility from others in one's face-to-face world trigger guilt feelings. These are automatic responses resulting ultimately from the importance of fitting into a group over evolutionary time. We Westerners are relatively prone to individualism. But we certainly don't lack a sense of wanting to belong and to be accepted. Violating certain taboos carries huge emotional consequences.
This little bit of personal experience is doubtless typical of the forces of self-censorship that maintain the political order of the post-World-War-II West. It's the concern about the face-to-face consequences of being a non-conformist in the deeply sensitive areas related to race or to Jewish influence.
My research on Jewish issues is well within the academic mainstream in terms of use of sources and evidence, and it has been well reviewed in a variety of mainstream sources. It would raise no controversy except that it deals with very sensitive issues: Anti-Semitism and Jewish influence on culture and politics.
I am willing to defend the idea that my ethnic identity and ethnic interests are as legitimate as those of the numerous ethnic activists that make a living in academia. Would Mexicans or Chinese be considered moral reprobates if they didn't like the idea of their people losing political, demographic, and cultural control within their homeland? Should academics like Cornel West or Alan Dershowitz be fired or ostracized because of their obvious and deeply expressed ethnic commitments? What of the many Latino professors who marched in the recent spate of pro-immigration rallies supporting more immigration to the U.S. for the people with whom they identify?
All of these are accepted and indeed approved. However, my relatively low-key expression of ethnic identity as a white European-American concerned about the prospects of his people and culture so easily becomes whipped up into mass hysteria on campus.
This guilt trauma is the result of our evolved psychology and a long history of socialization in post-World-War-II America. It's a big part of the problem, and people like me have simply got to become better at dealing with it.
So in the end, I've come to greet Heidi's arrival in Long Beach as therapeutic-a painful but necessary challenge that must be overcome first at the psychological level if any progress is to be made on unabashed and unfettered discussion of critical issues like the Third World Invasion of America and the impending death of the West.
Hell, if Republican candidates had been ready, willing, and able to campaign on these issues, they might not have been so thoroughly "thumped" in the recent elections.
Kevin MacDonald is Professor of Psychology at California State University-Long Beach. For his website, click here.
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Iran-ium
Iran to continue nuclear reactor program without help
www.chinaview.cn 2006-11-23 21:35:23
TEHRAN, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Thursday that his country would continue its heavywater nuclear reactor program, just hours after the UN atomic agency board meeting denied Tehran's technical assistance request to build it.
As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran is legally deserved and receive technical assistance and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has the duty to provide that, Mottaki told reporters at a press conference in Tehran.
"It is the duty of the IAEA to help. If they help, we will appreciate it. If not, we will do it on our own," said the minister.
Earlier Thursday, diplomats in Vienna said that the IAEA had decided to deny Iran technical help request in building the heavy water reactor in Iran's central city of Arak -- at least for now --but left room for Tehran to renew its request.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated in late August part of this reactor facilities which produces heavy water.
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Russia Launches Air Defense Deliveries to Iran
Created: 24.11.2006 16:28 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:28 MSK
MosNews
Russia has begun delivery of Tor-M1 air defense missile systems to Iran, a Defense Ministry official said Friday, confirming that Moscow would proceed with arms deals with Tehran in spite of U.S. criticism, The Associated Press reports.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue, declined to specify when the deliveries had been made and how many systems had been delivered.
Ministry officials have previously said Moscow would supply 29 of the sophisticated missile systems to Iran under a $700 million contract, according to Russian media reports.
The United States called on all countries last spring to stop all arms exports to Iran, as well as ending all nuclear cooperation with it to put pressure on Tehran to halt uranium enrichment activities.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the United States and its allies suspect Iran is trying to develop weapons.
The U.N. Security Council, where Russia is a veto-wielding permanent member, is currently stalemated on the severity of sanctions on Iran for defying its demand to cease uranium enrichment.
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Russia Said to Deliver Arms to Iran
By JUDITH INGRAM
Associated Press
24 Nov 06
Russia has begun delivery of Tor-M1 air defense missile systems to Iran, a Defense Ministry official said Friday, confirming that Moscow would proceed with arms deals with Tehran in spite of Western criticism.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue, declined to specify when the deliveries had been made and how many systems had been delivered.
Ministry officials have previously said Moscow would supply 29 of the sophisticated missile systems to Iran under a $700 million contract signed in December, according to Russian media reports.
The United States called on all countries last spring to stop all arms exports to Iran, as well as ending all nuclear cooperation with it to put pressure on Tehran to halt uranium enrichment activities. Israel, too, has severely criticized arms deals with Iran.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the United States and its allies suspect Iran is trying to develop weapons.
The U.N. Security Council, where Russia is a veto-wielding permanent member, is currently stalemated on the severity of sanctions on Iran for defying its demand to cease enrichment.
The Tor-M1 deal, involving conventional weapons, does not violate any international agreements.
Russian officials say the missiles are purely defensive weapons with a limited range.
According to the Interfax news agency, the Tor-M1 system can identify up to 48 targets and fire at two targets simultaneously at a height of up to 20,000 feet.
Russian media have reported previously that Moscow had conducted talks on selling even more powerful long-range S-300 air defense missiles, but Russian officials have denied that.
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Getting Rid of W
Neil Bush's family values
Bill Berkowitz
WorkingForChange
11.22.06
Despite record of past scams and other controversial business deals, Neil Bush now benefits directly from President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act and father's international network
Two years ago, when Neil Bush and his mother, the former first lady Barbara Bush, were featured guests at a $1,000-a-table fundraiser for the Western Heights School District in Oklahoma City, proceeds from the event were specifically earmarked for the purchase of products from Neil's company, Ignite! Learning. Late last year, when Neil's mom agreed to make a contribution to a Hurricane Katrina relief foundation for those victims that had relocated to Texas, she stipulated that her donation had to be used by local schools to acquire Ignite products.
It must have been a long time ago that Neil Bush, the son of Bush 41 and the younger brother of Bush 43, discovered that the key to unlocking the entrepreneurial vault was to take full advantage of the Family. While entrepreneurial nepotism is as American as apple pie and Thomas Kinkade paintings, the Bush Family has made it a science.
Over the past two decades, while Neil Bush has made impressive amounts of money in all sorts of interesting business deals, he has always seemed like the kid who was caught red-handed throwing chalk at the teacher, got sent to the principal and yet returned to the classroom unscathed.
These days, with the help of the Saudi Royal Family, a former junk bond dealer, a Russian mobster, the Rev. Sum Myung Moon, and mom and dad, family string-pulling is again paying off.
The Los Angeles Times recently reported that Ignite! Learning, headed by Neil Bush "and partly owned by his parents, is benefiting from Republican connections and federal dollars targeted for economically disadvantaged students under the No Child Left Behind Act."
The company has managed to "place its products in 40 U.S. school districts and now plans to market internationally," the Times reported.
"Interviews and a review of school district documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act," by the Los Angeles Times, "found that educators and legal experts were sharply divided over whether Ignite's products were worth their cost or qualified under the No Child law."
According to the Times, "Most of Ignite's business has been obtained through sole-source contracts without competitive bidding. Neil Bush has been directly involved in marketing the product."
A story about these developments also appeared in a mid-October issue of BusinessWeek. Headlined "No Bush Left Behind," the magazine reported that "after five years of development and backing by investors like Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and onetime junk-bond king Michael R. Milken, Neil Bush aims to roll his high-tech teacher's helpers into classrooms nationwide. He calls them 'curriculum on wheels,' or COWs. The $3,800 purple plug-and-play computer/projectors display lively videos and cartoons: the XYZ Affair of the late 1790s as operetta, the 1828 Tariff of Abominations as horror flick. The device plays songs that are supposed to aid the memorization of the 22 rivers of Texas or other facts that might crop up in state tests of 'essential knowledge.'
"Bush's Ignite! Inc. has sold 1,700 COWs since 2005, mainly in Texas, where Bush lives and his brother was once governor. In August, Houston's school board authorized expenditures of up to $200,000 for COWs. The company expects 2006 revenue of $5 million. Says Bush about the impact of his name: 'I'm not saying it hasn't opened any doors. It may have helped with some sales.' (In September, the U.S. Education Dept.'s inspector general accused the agency of improperly favoring at least five publishers, including The McGraw-Hill Companies, which owns BusinessWeek. A company spokesman says: 'Our reading programs have been successful in advancing student achievement for decades; that's why educators hold them in such high regard.')"
According to the Los Angeles Times, "The law provides federal funds to help school districts better serve disadvantaged students and improve their performance, especially in reading and math." However, Bush's company "does not offer reading instruction, and its math program will not be available until next year."
Unfortunately, the Department of Education "does not monitor individual school district expenditures under the No Child program, but sets guidelines that the states are expected to enforce, spokesman Chad Colby said."
Ignite executive Tom Deliganis admitted that "some districts seem to feel OK" about using No Child money for the Ignite purchases, "and others do not."
BusinessWeek also pointed out that the Washington Times Foundation, "A foundation linked to the controversial Reverend Sun Myung Moon has donated $1 million for a COWs research project in Washington (D.C.)-area schools. In 2004 a Shanghai chip company agreed to give Bush stock then valued at $2 million for showing up at board meetings. (Bush says he received one-fifth of the shares.) In 1988 a Colorado savings and loan failed while he served on its board, making him a prominent symbol of the S&L scandal. Neil calls himself 'the most politically damaged of the [Bush] brothers.'"
The Rev. Moon, Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and Milken aren't the only controversial financial participants. Fugitive Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, who has been accused of having strong tries to the Chechen mafia, has been an investor in Bush's Ignite! project since at least 2003.
And then, there's mom and dad. The former first lady got herself in a bit of hot water when she contributed to a Hurricane Katrina relief foundation for storm victims who had relocated to Texas and stipulated that her donation had to be used by local schools for purchases of COWs.
"In January 2004," according to the Los Angeles Times, Neil and his mom "were guests of honor at a $1,000-a-table fundraiser in Oklahoma City organized by a foundation supporting the Western Heights School District. Proceeds were earmarked for the purchase of Ignite products."
While Mary Blankenship Pointer, the organizer of the event "said she planned the event because district students were 'utilizing Ignite courseware and experiencing great results [and].our students were thriving,' ... Western Heights school Supt. Joe Kitchens said the district eventually dropped ... Ignite because it disagreed with changes Ignite had made in its products. 'Our interest waned in it,' he said."
In addition to investors and high-powered international connections, Bush Family ties have provided the sometimes star-crossed Neil with an always accessible escape route from responsibility. Escape from prison was the operative term in 1988, when as a director of the Denver, Colorado-based Silverado Savings and Loan Association Bush presided over a monumental scam that actually cost taxpayers something north of $1 billion. A Resolution Trust Corporation suit against Bush and other officers of Silverado was settled in 1991 -- during the time his father was president -- for $26.5 million. Bush was fined $50,000 and banned from future banking activities.
He managed, however, to avoid going to the hoosegow. Instead, he left the state for the greener pastures of Texas, and the opportunity to get back on the entrepreneurial horse.
It would no doubt be difficult, even for the notoriously loyal Bush Family, to find anyone not concerned by Neil's numerous character flaws; blemishes that oozed into the public domain when Neil decided to divorce his wife of 23 years, Sharon Bush. The story goes that Neil, in one of the more fetid "You've Got Mail" moments in recent years, informed Sharon of his intentions in an e-mail.
The Bush's divorce threatened to spill over into a tell-all book by his former wife because Neil was being downright tightfisted with the financials. He ultimately loosened his purse-strings and Sharon's book was shelved.
Nevertheless, the public's right-to-know was advanced -- although some might argue that it was set back -- when it was revealed in Bush's deposition that during numerous business trips to Asia, Neil was a serial recipient of late-night visits by anonymous prostitutes; assignations that he apparently didn't have to pay for.
In a post dated October 6, Wonkette pointed to several of Neil Bush's unusual business assignations:
# "He earned $2 million from a semiconductor company in China -- owned by the son of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin -- proving once again the long-term value of Poppy's years as U.S. ambassador to communist China."
# He started up "a new company created just for him with $2.3 million from Bush Family confidant Louis Marx. Neil burned through that money in two years and Apex Energy was no more."
# "Then he moved on to the Middle East, using Poppy's oil-sheik connections to get millions from the royalty and politicians of Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Dubai and of course Saudi Arabia."
# "Neil ran some shadowy Swiss 'ecumenical foundation' [the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue] in the 1990s" with Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.
On January 2, 2004, the Associated Press reported, in a story headlined "Neil Bush makes one-day profit over $170,000", that Neil Bush "made at least $798,218 on three stock trades in [the Kopin Corp. of Taunton, Massachusetts] a small U.S. high-tech company where he had been a consultant, according to his tax returns, including $171,370 buying and selling the company's shares in a single day."
AP pointed out that "Unlike the ordinary investor who buys at the market price...Bush benefited from the fact that his stock purchase costs in some cases were minimal because he got a bargain, paying $13 a share when he exercised stock options that were part of his consulting compensation from Kopin. The company's stock price was selling for many times that amount during much of the time Bush was trading. The company granted him 20,000 stock options."
In an e-mail responding to the Los Angeles Times story, Bush said that Ignite's program had improved the test scores of economically disadvantaged children and he denied that his family's political connections helped grow the company.
"As our business matures in the USA we have plans to expand overseas and to work with many distinguished individuals in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa," he wrote. "Not one of these associates by the way has ever asked for any access to either of my political brothers, not one White House tour, not one autographed photo, and not one Lincoln bedroom overnight stay."
He also characterized the Times' piece as "entirely political."
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Death of a Presidency
by Michael Carmichael
Planetary Movement
18 Oct 06
Last week, those of us who live in England were permitted to watch the controversial television film, Death of a President. The film drew a good deal of well-aimed criticism from many quarters because of its plotline and its blatant appeal to the deepest and most frightening instincts of humanity. In the film, the deeply unpopular president of America, George W. Bush, was to be assassinated and his assassin brought to justice through the miraculous powers of special effects.
The film was constructed out of archive footage, and it had a distinctive and dramatic documentary feel. Clever in its conception and execution, perhaps, it was an experiment in testing the limits of the arts and contemporary taste. Revealing little about the causes of Bush's unprecedented levels of political unpopularity, the film focused on the injustices of the American system of justice that rushed to judgment to convict a Muslim suspect of the assassination. As it emerged, the convicted Muslim was innocent, and the actual assassin was revealed to be the Afro-American father of a US soldier who had been killed in Iraq.
At the state funeral, the new president, Richard Cheney, read a moving tribute to the humanity and compassion of the fallen leader that was little more than a generic eulogy and contained zero content on his presidential achievements. It was difficult to escape the notion that the facts of existence matter little, while the consequences of living under a mushrooming government are engulfing every member of humanity in a macabre soap opera written on the winds of time.
In the same week while millions of Britons were witnessing the depressingly melodramatic Death of a President, it became abundantly clear that the presidency of George W. Bush had literally crashed into a brick wall and bounced backwards. Simultaneous political sea changes sweeping across America and the Middle East have dramatically pre-empted Bush's range of executive action. Both parallel political tides - those in the Middle East and America - are now running strongly against the Bush presidency.
In America, three out of four likely voters now believe that Bush has been overactive in policing the world - an astonishing statistic. That fact places Bush in a difficult political position. Now his presidency is seen as less effective in its core mission - national security - than his opponents, the Democrats. The Bush White House is tottering on its heels and threatening to collapse on its face.
In the Middle East, support for Israel and its sponsors in Bush's America, has collapsed in favor of Hizbullah and a constellation of Islamist movements from Hamas and Fatah to the Mahdi Army and the Muslim Brotherhood. The situation is now critical and getting worse. If America were to launch a new war against Iran, the pro-American regimes currently holding the reins of power in Cairo, Amman and Riyadh would be placed under immediate siege. Swiftly, the Islamist factions would topple: Hosni Mubarak in Egypt; King Abdullah of Jordan and Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. In the aftermath, American companies would be unceremoniously ejected from the region, and the price of oil would soar into the stratosphere.
If America were to attack Iran, Israel would suffer immediate missile bombardment from Hizbullah, while Iran's missiles would strike against US military targets in Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and the American armada Bush is now assembling in the Persian Gulf. America's overwhelming military superiority has been placed in check by the military and political collapse of her client state - Israel.
In Israel the situation is moving swiftly from dire to disastrous. Confronted with rape charges, Moshe Kasav, the president of Israel, is now facing public scandal as he awaits indictment for a disgraceful sex crime. This is merely the latest Israeli scandal to reverberate through the Middle East weakening Bush's leverage on the most critical region for his beleaguered presidency. Like his predecessors, Netanyahu and Sharon, Ehud Olmert is now undergoing suspicions of financial corruption, and his government is teeter-tottering on the brink of collapse from their deepening unpopularity following their loss of the war with Hizbullah.
While Bush ordered the US Navy to move into position in the Persian Gulf to strike Iran in the closing days of his midterm campaign, North Korea distracted the world by detonating their first nuclear bomb. This outrage underlined the lengthening list of foreign policy failures now dangling like a chain of dead albatrosses around the necks of: George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice.
Last week, to respond to the maelstrom that is now perceived as a terminal crisis for his presidency, Bush took the immensely unpalatable option and submitted himself to the slings and arrows of one of his exceedingly rare press conferences. In the White House Rose Garden, Bush sought to defend his presidency from further erosion in the midst of the whirlwind of crises that could mushroom into a political earthquake in the midterm elections.
Hastily arranged to respond to the immediate threat posed by North Korea's detonation of a rudimentary nuclear device, Bush's presidential press conference unfolded as if it had been scripted like a garden-variety televisual farce. Impersonating a Hollywood caricature of himself, Bush swaggered into view and raised his voice to a shrill and threatening drawl while he rattled his metaphorical saber and brazenly threatened to wage war against the nuclear regime of Kim Jong-Il.
That was the presidential rhetoric. The strategic reality is stark - and starkly different. There is one and only one plausible US military response to the current situation: an immediate unilateral strike employing Tomahawk missiles. No other military option is feasible. Aerial bombardment - shock and awe - would be counter-productive and so would a nuclear strike. Those two options are not in the realm of political possibility. As for a multilateral military response, that option was swiftly deleted when the Chinese stated that they will support some mild form of sanction - but they will not countenance military intervention. The Pentagon now estimates up to 52,000 American corpses in a war with North Korea.
Bush's presidential paralysis is more than readily apparent. Against his own strident diatribes, Bush has accepted the political reality of a nuclear North Korea. That he still opposes the enrichment of uranium in Tehran - like North Korea a charter member of Bush's Axis of Evil - proves his reflexive xenophobia for the obvious distinction between the two nations is that one is Communist East Asian and the other is a Muslim theocracy. Bush loathes both alien cultures, but he fears the alien religion of Islam more than he distrusts the godlessness of the Marxist regime of Kim Jong-Il. He is undone.
Bush's Rose Garden statement was rhetoric - not reality. It is really nothing more than a desperate man's attempt to draw some distinction between his deeply unpopular Republican Party with its hair-trigger approach to international affairs and the multilateralist diplomacy preferred by the mainstream Democratic opposition who are ascendant in the pre-election polls.
As for the question of predicting what course of action this rogue regime will actually follow over the next three weeks until the fateful midterm elections - all bets are now clearly off. The weaker the Republicans become in the polls, the more likely they are to risk a reckless pre-election military intervention - either against North Korea or against Iran. The repercussions of either would be catastrophic. North Korea is now known to be capable of nuclear war, and Iran has tens of thousands of dedicated suicide bombers awaiting their orders to march if Bush and Cheney launch a pre-emptive attack. Internationally, it is now well known that Bush and Cheney are amassing a massive arsenal of Tomahawk missiles in the Persian Gulf - precisely the tactical instrument that they would need if they chose to strike North Korea - a target that is over 7,000 sea miles from where the US Strike Force led by the Nimitz Class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, USS Eisenhower, is now headed.
During his Rose Garden press conference, Bush was asked to comment on the latest study published in The Lancet about the massive carnage in US-occupied Iraq. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore concluded that 655,000 lives have been lost in Iraq since the US-led invasion commenced in March, 2003. Fully 31% of these deaths can now be reliably attributed directly to the military operations of the American forces, but that figure could be too conservative since fully 56% of the Iraqi dead died from gunshot wounds. Additionally, 27% of the Iraqi dead died from explosions, either car bombs or other explosions - ie. mines, roadside bombs or aerial bombardment. When confronted with the question of the 655,000 Iraqi corpses, Bush predictably swept it away with the rhetoric that the study was not "credible." International experts are now calculating the number of innocent victims of the Bush-Blair war conservatively at 500,000. This is a staggering figure that the UN now regards as the deadliest international conflict of this century. Sadly, it represents only the first phase of the Islamic holocaust.
In the Middle East, the most respected political leader of the Shia in Lebanon, Nabih Berri, has warned that the conflict between Lebanon and Israel could break out again if the Israeli forces do not withdraw from the Shebaa Farms region of Lebanon as they are required to do by the terms of the Security Council Resolution 1701 - the ceasefire agreement. "If Israel does not pull out, we will drive them out," Mr Berri stated emphatically during a recent interview in Beirut. Accusing Israel of air, sea and land violations of the ceasefire agreement, Lebanese politicians of all parties are coalescing behind a tougher and more militant line. Working more closely now with the UN forces (UNIFIL) in the region, Lebanese intelligence is providing counter-intelligence concerning the ongoing operations of Israeli security agents inside the borders of Lebanon. According to reports from the Lebanese capital, Israel continues to conduct intelligence operations inside the territories of Lebanon in violation of Resolution 1701- as well as their lingering military occupation of the Shebaa Farms.
The US controversy over the pre-emption of the freedom of speech of American academic Toby Judt has reached the international press and media. In addition, a new case of suppression has been discovered - that of the highly respected British author and publisher, Carmen Callil. In reports in the British press, Carmen Callil claims that she has been the victim of overt political repression in Bush's America. Callil's latest book concerns the plight of Jews in Vichy France, and it contains one paragraph that caused offense to people the author described as, "fundamentalist Jews." The offensive paragraph lamented the helplessness of the Palestinian people. The concerted reaction of pro-Israel activists in New York led to the cancellation of Callil's book launch at the French Embassy in Manhattan last week. An American Rabbi, Avi Weiss, and Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League have been criticized in the international media for their roles in the growing debate about the freedom of speech of intellectuals and experts to discuss the increasingly unpalatable policies of the government of Israel.
While Bush claims to be the father of a democratic revolution in the Middle Ease, the truth is actually quite different. Meaningful debate - the fountainhead of democracy - about the Middle East is routinely repressed in Bush's America. In the Middle East, the situation is entirely different. Debate about the course of events in the Middle East is robust in: Israel, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia where many are now waiting for the outcome of the midterm elections in the US.
The US midterm elections have morphed into a referendum on Bush and his outlandish policies: the war in Iraq; war with Iran; war with North Korea and his concerted attack on the US constitution and the Bill of Rights.
While the entire globe is rapt in attention, the Middle East has its eagle eyes trained on Bush's America where they are beginning to discern the death throes of a presidency.
References
Accept North Korea into the nuclear club or bomb it now /Economic sanctions are a coward’s response that would only punish the people while propping up Kim Jong-il’s dictatorship
US fears ‘hell’ of a response
North Korea: US pressure would mean war
Usa pronti a colpire i siti nucleari dell’Iran
655,000 Iraqis killed since invasion’
Israel warned: Lebanon war could start again / Hizbullah may fight over territory, says speaker / Shia leader speaks of fear UN troops will not leave
US free speech row grows as author says Jewish complaints stopped launch party / Row over postscript on Palestinians’ plight / British-born academic claims lectures cancelled
Busy Fondling Their Self-Esteem by John Pilger
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Bush Impeachment Proceedings
Cindy Sheehan(*)
Washington, 23 nov (Prensa Latina)
We cannot expect either Republicans or Democrats in Congress to initiate any challenge to the existing order of things. In the history of the nation, serious injustices---slavery, racial segregation, the rights of working people, the condition of women, the war in Vietnam---have only been remedied by powerful social movements that have forced the government to change its policies.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the General Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Preamble to the Constitution of the United States of America
There are many important issues facing our nation and the 110th Congress.
Minimum wage increases and universal health care are long past due.I certainly appreciate the stirrings about bringing our troops home from Iraq within 3 or 4 months, too! After all, sic more troops were killed yesterday while our politicoes are playing footsies with each other! We thought that Nov. 7th was a day to celebrate! When the last of our brave young people come limping home to their relieved families that will be a joy-filled and historic day.
I believe, though, that those same troops and others who have fought so bravely, died so needlessly, and have been wounded for life deserve justice for what the Bush regime has put them through. I believe that this country and the world deserve justice for the raping and pillaging by the pirates who have stolen our liberties and inflicted torture and other pains and hardships upon the world. I believe that impeachment proceedings are the most important issue that the 110th Congress should put on OUR table.
Since I have written open letters to George and Reps Pelosi and Conyers, I have had almost overwhelming support for the ideas, but there are also some legitimate concerns that need to be addressed.
First of all, many people believe that impeachment proceedings will be seen as "political" revenge for what the Republicans have done to the Democrats for the last 12 years or revenge for the impeachment of Bill Clinton.
Impeachment is not a political tool as used by the Republican Congress, but it is a Constitutional remedy for elected or appointed officials who are abusing their powers. If George has not abused his powers as president and commander in chief, then no president in history has. I will not detail his high crimes and misdemeanor and crimes against peace and humanity, because all of his illicit activities have already been well documented. Justice should not be a partisan issue and if Congress took their oath to the Constitution as seriously as they take their allegiance to the special interests and to partisan politicking, George would have already been impeached.
Secondly, many people are fearful that impeachment proceedings will bog down Congress. Elizabeth Holtzman who was a Representative from New York and sat on the investigative committee that recommended impeachment articles be charged against Richard Nixon said, last weekend at our impeachment forum in Philadelphia's Constitutional Hall, that this kind of reasoning doesn't give Congress enough credit. Ms. Holtzman said that Congress is able to "walk and chew gum" at the same time. I will have to take her word for it, since she is the reasoned voice of experience.
Lastly, people are concerned that holding George accountable will further divide a country already damaged and split by the "Uniter." This is a legitimate concern, but our country healed completely after the Nixon debacle, and we will heal again. I would like to also give us Americans the credit that we deserve. We have proven over and over again that we are very resilient and strong enough to withstand a quest for accountability.
Recent polls have shown that most Americans want proceedings instituted against BushCo. The newly elected Congressional leadership will not institute these proceedings unless the will of the people is shown. Many members of the Congresses, in both parties, that have been seated since BushCo came to power in an illegal electoral coup in 2000, have been willing co-conspirators in the Bush crimes against everything and it is up to the will of the American people to correct the course that is robbing the Blessings of Liberty from all of us and from our posterity. As the preamble states, it is our Constitution, as well as it is theirs, and we need to reclaim our country and our humanity before it is lost to us forever.
Bringing Articles of Impeachment against BushCo will not only bring resolution and justice to our nation and the world, but if this regime is made to be held accountable for their crimes and abuses of power, then future administrations may be slower to commit such blatant and belligerent crimes and the world will be a safer and more peaceful place. But there is an overriding reason for these proceedings to be instituted as soon as possible: A president is not above the law, or the law. A president is an elected official who has a duty to obey, carry out and protect the laws of our land, not break them as if he were a dictator of a banana republic, not leader of a once great nation. We need to restore our greatness and our credibility to a world that despises us for allowing BushCo free rein to commit their aggressions against the world.
By attaining this justice that our world so desperately needs, we people of compassion and courage cannot bring back the hundreds of thousands of people who have been killed already. We cannot put the buildings back together that the war machine's bombs have destroyed. We cannot make whole the people who have been emotionally and physically wounded by these high crimes and misdemeanors. We cannot put back together the families who have been torn apart by illegal wars. No matter how hard we try, we cannot prevent the pain that has already been caused by BushCo, but by bringing them to justice, we can, and will prevent more needless suffering here at home and abroad for the present and for our posterity.
Our dead, our soldiers, and the people of Iraq are voiceless in the debate on accountability and we must be their voices. The Constitution cannot break out of its glass at the National Archives and sit-in in front of the White House or walk the Halls of Congress to demand that BushCo quit desecrating it and what the US used to stand for. It is up to us, the citizens, to protect humanity and the law of our land. As historian Howard Zinn states in the introduction to Impeach the President, the Case against Bush and Cheney, edited by Dennis Loo and Peter Phillips:
We cannot expect either Republicans or Democrats in Congress to initiate any challenge to the existing order of things. In the history of the nation, serious injustices---slavery, racial segregation, the rights of working people, the condition of women, the war in Vietnam---have only been remedied by powerful social movements that have forced the government to change its policies.
Now we have another such time.
Our very existence as a nation of laws and justice depends on it.
Please visit Impeach for Change to learn about the new and powerful people's movement for accountability. Sign up for an impeachment forum in your area on Human Rights day, December 10th, or organize one locally if there is not one near you. I will be speaking with, among other notable Americans, Elizabeth Holtzman, at the forum in NYC that day.
Please visit Gold Star Families for Peace to learn about our Walk for Change campaign in the Halls of Congress on January 3rd and 4th, 2007. You can join Gold Star Family members in our demand for peace and accountability.
2006 was the year of the Awakening and 2007 will be the year of the Change!
Cindy Sheehan is the mother of Spec. Casey Sheehan who was KIA in the Bush regime's war of terror on 04 04 04. She is the co-founder and president of Gold Star Families for Peace and founder and director of the Camp Casey Peace Institute. Cindy has published three books and the latest is Peace Mom: A Mother's Journey Through Heartache to Activism.
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When Votes Disappear
by PAUL KRUGMAN
Op-Ed Columnist NY Times
November 24, 2006
You know what really had me terrified on Nov. 7? The all-too-real possibility of a highly suspect result. What would we have done if the Republicans had held on to the House by a narrow margin, but circumstantial evidence strongly suggested that a combination of vote suppression and defective - or rigged - electronic voting machines made the difference?
Fortunately, it wasn't a close election. But the fact that our electoral system worked well enough to register an overwhelming Democratic landslide doesn't mean that things are O.K. There were many problems with voting in this election - and in at least one Congressional race, the evidence strongly suggests that paperless voting machines failed to count thousands of votes, and that the disappearance of these votes delivered the race to the wrong candidate.
Here's the background: Florida's 13th Congressional District is currently represented by Katherine Harris, who as Florida's secretary of state during the 2000 recount famously acted as a partisan Republican rather than a fair referee. This year Ms. Harris didn't run for re-election, making an unsuccessful bid for the Senate instead. But according to the official vote count, the Republicans held on to her seat, with Vern Buchanan, the G.O.P. candidate, narrowly defeating Christine Jennings, the Democrat.
The problem is that the official vote count isn't credible. In much of the 13th District, the voting pattern looks normal. But in Sarasota County, which used touch-screen voting machines made by Election Systems and Software, almost 18,000 voters - nearly 15 percent of those who cast ballots using the machines - supposedly failed to vote for either candidate in the hotly contested Congressional race. That compares with undervote rates ranging from 2.2 to 5.3 percent in neighboring counties.
Reporting by The Herald-Tribune of Sarasota, which interviewed hundreds of voters who called the paper to report problems at the polls, strongly suggests that the huge apparent undervote was caused by bugs in the ES&S software.
About a third of those interviewed by the paper reported that they couldn't even find the Congressional race on the screen. This could conceivably have been the result of bad ballot design, but many of them insisted that they looked hard for the race. Moreover, more than 60 percent of those interviewed by The Herald-Tribune reported that they did cast a vote in the Congressional race - but that this vote didn't show up on the ballot summary page they were shown at the end of the voting process.
If there were bugs in the software, the odds are that they threw the election to the wrong candidate. An Orlando Sentinel examination of other votes cast by those who supposedly failed to cast a vote in the Congressional race shows that they strongly favored Democrats, and Mr. Buchanan won the official count by only 369 votes. The fact that Mr. Buchanan won a recount - that is, a recount of the votes the machines happened to record - means nothing.
Although state officials have certified Mr. Buchanan as the victor, they've promised an audit of the voting machines. But don't get your hopes up: as in 2000, state election officials aren't even trying to look impartial. To oversee the audit, the state has chosen as its "independent" expert Prof. Alec Yasinsac of Florida State University - a Republican partisan who made an appearance on the steps of the Florida Supreme Court during the 2000 recount battle wearing a "Bush Won" sign.
Ms. Jennings has now filed suit with the same court, demanding a new election. She deserves one.
But for the nation as a whole, the important thing isn't who gets seated to represent Florida's 13th District. It's whether the voting disaster there leads to legislation requiring voter verification and a paper trail.
And I have to say that the omens aren't good. I've been shocked at how little national attention the mess in Sarasota has received. Here we have as clear a demonstration as we're ever likely to see that warnings from computer scientists about the dangers of paperless electronic voting are valid - and most Americans probably haven't even heard about it.
As far as I can tell, the reason Florida-13 hasn't become a major national story is that neither control of Congress nor control of the White House is on the line. But do we have to wait for a constitutional crisis to realize that we're in danger of becoming a digital-age banana republic?
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Going Nuts
Job stress leads to burnout, diabetes, heart disease
www.chinaview.cn 2006-11-23 18:25:50
BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- Recent research reveals that on-the-job stress leads not only to burnout but also an increase in the rates of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, flu virus, high blood pressure and metabolic syndrome.
One study showed stress can negate the heart-healthy aspect of a physically active job, leading to thicker arteries in physically active and stressed workers compared to active, non-stressed employees.
The results show that burnout may boost the risk of illness by a "magnitude similar to other risk factors, such as high body mass index, smoking and lack of physical exercise," said study lead author Samuel Melamed of Tel Aviv University in Israel.
A new study of 677 workers in Israel revealed those who suffered job burnout were 1.8 times more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes. In Type 2 diabetes a person's body becomes resistant to the sugar-regulating hormone called insulin. The results held even when factors like age, sex, exercise and obesity were taken into account.
Some studies have found stress can cause poor eating habits and the consumption of more alcohol, both of which can lead to health problems. Researchers in the new study suggest stress can disrupt the body's ability to process glucose, which leads to diabetes.
The scientists studied apparently healthy Israeli workers from 1998 to 2003. Nearly 77 percent of the workers were men, with an average age of 43 years. The subjects had a range of occupations, which the scientists divided into five categories: senior management, middle management or supervisory jobs -- like engineers, teachers and computer workers -- nonprofessional and self-employed persons.
A questionnaire showed about half of the 677 subjects experienced high burnout. Of the workers, 17 developed Type 2 diabetes during the study period, with 3.2 percent of burned-out workers becoming diabetic compared with 1.8 percent of the other workers.
To decide if diabetes was affected by blood pressure, the researchers examined a subset of the subjects -- 507 workers -- for which they had tested for blood pressure. The burned-out workers showed lower blood pressure levels, indicating that it was not hypertension -- high blood pressure -- causing diabetes.
An alternative explanation could be that stress triggers a spike in fatty acids in the blood and a drop in the "good" cholesterol, HDL -- both factors associated with diabetes.
The job burnout may be only part of the picture, Melamed said.
"It is possible that these people are prone to diabetes because they can't handle stress very well," he said. "Their coping resources may have been depleted not only due to job stress but also life stresses, such as stressful life events and daily hassles."
Stress in general can disrupt the body's ability to process glucose, especially in people whose genetics make them vulnerable, said Richard Surwit of the Duke University Medical Center.
Surwit, who was not involved in the study, said the results should be replicated in a much larger group of subjects to see if the same results prevail.
Job burnout can lead to a combination of three symptoms: emotional exhaustion; physical fatigue or exhaustion; and cognitive weariness (slow thinking).
This state differs from a temporary malaise that passes after a period of rest. Causes of burnout include chronic stresses, such as lack of rewards, job insecurity, regular physical abuse and sexual harassment, as well as daily hassles and sudden traumas.
The scientists suggest, in the November/December issue of the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, that the results confirm the need for effective interventions to reduce stress before it becomes burnout.
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The elephants are going mad
Nov. 19, 2006. 10:15 AM
CHARLES SIEBERT
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
But in "Elephant Breakdown," a 2005 essay in the journal Nature, Gay Bradshaw, a psychologist at the environmental sciences program at Oregon State University, and several colleagues argued that today's elephant populations are suffering from a form of chronic stress, a kind of species-wide trauma.
Decades of poaching and culling and habitat loss, they say, have so disrupted the intricate web of familial and societal relations by which young elephants have traditionally been raised in the wild that what we are witnessing is nothing less than a precipitous collapse of elephant culture.
We're not going anywhere," my driver, Nelson Okello, whispered one morning last June, the two of us sitting in a jeep just after dawn in Queen Elizabeth National Park in southwestern Uganda. We'd stopped to observe what appeared to be a "rogue" elephant grazing in a patch of tall savannah grasses.
This elephant, however, soon proved to be not a rogue - a young bull elephant that has been banished after making an overly strong power play against the dominant male of his herd - but part of a cast of at least 30. The ground vibrations registered just before the emergence of the herd from the surrounding trees and brush. We sat watching the elephants cross the road before us, seeming, for all their heft, so light on their feet.
Then, from behind a thicket of acacia trees directly off our front left bumper, a huge female emerged. "The matriarch," Okello said softly. There was a small calf beneath her, freely foraging and knocking about within the secure cribbing of four massive legs.
After 15 minutes or so, Okello started inching the jeep forward, revving the engine, trying to make us sound as beastly as possible. The matriarch, however, was having none of it, holding her ground, the fierce white of her eyes as bright as that of her tusks. Although I pretty much knew the answer, I asked Okello if he was considering trying to drive around.
"No," he said, raising an index finger for emphasis. "She'll charge. We should stay right here."
I'd have considered it a wise policy even at a more peaceable juncture in the course of human-elephant relations. In recent years, however, those relations have become markedly more bellicose.
Just two days before I arrived, a woman was killed by an elephant in Kazinga, a nearby fishing village. Two months earlier, a man was fatally gored by a young male elephant at the northern edge of the park.
African elephants use their long tusks to forage through dense jungle brush. They've also been known to wield them, however, with the ceremonious flash and precision of gladiators, pinning down a victim with one knee in order to deliver the decisive thrust.
Okello told me that a young tourist was killed in this fashion two years ago in Murchison Falls National Park, north of where we were.
These were not isolated incidents. All across Africa, India and parts of Southeast Asia, from within and around whatever patches and corridors of their natural habitat remain, elephants have been striking out, destroying villages and crops, attacking and killing human beings.
In fact, these attacks have become so commonplace that a new statistical category, known as human-elephant conflict, or HEC, was created by researchers in the mid-1990s to monitor the problem.
In the Indian state of Jharkhand near the western border of Bangladesh, 300 people were killed by elephants between 2000 and 2004. Elephants have killed 239 people in Assam, a state in northeastern India, since 2001.
In Africa, reports of human-elephant conflicts appear almost daily, from Zambia to Tanzania, from Uganda to Sierra Leone, where 300 villagers evacuated their homes last year because of unprovoked elephant attacks.
Still, it is not only the increasing number of these incidents that is causing alarm but also the singular perversity - for want of a less anthropocentric term - of recent elephant aggression.
Since the early 1990s, for example, young male elephants in Pilanesberg National Park and the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve in South Africa have been raping and killing rhinoceroses; this abnormal behaviour, according to a 2001 study in the journal Pachyderm, has been reported in "a number of reserves" in the region.
In July of last year, officials in Pilanesberg shot three young male elephants responsible for killing 63 rhinos, as well as attacking people in safari vehicles.
In Addo Elephant National Park, also in South Africa, up to 90 per cent of male elephant deaths are now attributable to other male elephants, compared with a rate of 6 per cent in more stable elephant communities.
For a number of biologists and ethologists, the attacks have become so abnormal in both number and kind that they can no longer be attributed entirely to the customary factors. Typically, elephant researchers have attributed aggression to the high levels of testosterone in newly matured male elephants or the competition for land and resources between elephants and humans.
But in "Elephant Breakdown," a 2005 essay in the journal Nature, Gay Bradshaw, a psychologist at the environmental sciences program at Oregon State University, and several colleagues argued that today's elephant populations are suffering from a form of chronic stress, a kind of species-wide trauma.
Decades of poaching and culling and habitat loss, they say, have so disrupted the intricate web of familial and societal relations by which young elephants have traditionally been raised in the wild that what we are witnessing is nothing less than a precipitous collapse of elephant culture.
It has long been apparent that every large, land-based animal on this planet is ultimately fighting a losing battle with humankind.
And yet entirely befitting of an animal with such a highly developed sensibility, a deep-rooted sense of family and, yes, such a good long-term memory, elephants are not going out quietly. They aren't leaving without making some kind of statement, one to which scientists from a variety of disciplines, including human psychology, are beginning to pay close attention.
Elephants, when left to their own devices, are profoundly social creatures. A herd of them is, in essence, one incomprehensibly massive elephant: a somewhat loosely bound and yet intricately interconnected, tensile organism.
Young elephants are raised within an extended, multi-tiered network of doting female caregivers that includes the birth mother, grandmothers, aunts and friends. These relations are maintained over lifespans as long as 70 years.
When an elephant dies, its family members engage in intense mourning and burial rituals, conducting week-long vigils over the body, carefully covering it with earth and brush, revisiting the bones for years afterward, caressing the bones with their trunks, often taking turns rubbing their trunks along the teeth of a skull's lower jaw, the way elephants do in greeting.
Their sense of cohesion is further enforced by their elaborate communication system.
In close proximity, they employ a range of vocalizations, from low-frequency rumbles to higher-pitched screams and trumpets, along with a variety of visual signals, from the waving of their trunks to subtle anglings of the head, body, feet and tail.
When communicating over long distances, they use patterns of subsonic vibrations that can be felt for several kilometres by exquisitely tuned sensors in the padding of their feet.
The fabric of elephant society, Bradshaw and her colleagues concluded, has effectively been frayed by years of habitat loss and poaching, along with systematic culling to control elephant numbers and translocations of herds to different habitats.
The number of older matriarchs and female caregivers (or "allomothers") has drastically fallen, as has the number of elder bulls, which play a significant role in keeping younger males in line.
As a result of such social upheaval, calves are now being born to and raised by younger, inexperienced mothers. Young orphaned elephants that have witnessed the death of a parent at the hands of poachers are coming of age in the absence of the support system that defines traditional elephant life.
The evidence from various researchers, even on a strictly observational level, is compelling.
The elephants of decimated herds - especially orphans who've watched the death of their parents and elders from poaching and culling - exhibit behaviour typically associated with trauma-related disorders in humans: abnormal startle response, unpredictable asocial behaviour, inattentive mothering and hyper-aggression.
Even the relatively few attempts park officials have made to restore parts of the social fabric of elephant society have lent substance to the elephant-breakdown theory. When South African park rangers recently introduced a number of older bull elephants into several destabilized elephant herds, the wayward behaviour - including unusually premature hormonal changes among adolescent elephants - abated.
But according to Bradshaw, the various pieces of the elephant-trauma puzzle really come together at the level of neuroscience. Though most scientific knowledge of trauma is still understood through research on human subjects, neural studies of elephants are now under way.
(The first functional MRI scan of an elephant brain, taken this year, revealed, not surprisingly, a huge hippocampus, a seat of memory in the mammalian brain, as well as a prominent structure in the limbic system, which processes emotions.)
Allan Schore, a UCLA psychologist and neuroscientist who for the past 15 years has focused his research on early human brain development and the negative impact of trauma on it, recently wrote two articles with Bradshaw on the stress-related neurobiological underpinnings of current abnormal elephant behaviour.
"We know that these mechanisms cut across species," Schore told me. "In the first years of humans as well as elephants, development of the emotional brain is impacted by these attachment mechanisms, by the interaction that the infant has with the primary caregiver, especially the mother.
"When these early experiences go in a positive way, it leads to greater resilience in things like affect regulation, stress regulation, social communication and empathy. But when these early experiences go awry in cases of abuse and neglect, there is a literal thinning down of the essential circuits in the brain, especially in the emotion-processing areas."
For Bradshaw, these continuities between human and elephant brains resonate far outside the field of neuroscience.
"Elephants are suffering and behaving in the same ways that we recognize in ourselves as a result of violence," she said. "How do we respond to the fact that we are causing other species like elephants to psychologically break down?
"In a way, it's not so much a cognitive or imaginative leap any more as it is a political one."
Shortly after my return from Uganda, I went to visit the Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee, an 1,100-hectare rehabilitation and retirement centre in the state's verdant, low-rolling southern hills. The sanctuary is a kind of asylum for some of the more emotionally and psychologically disturbed former zoo and circus elephants in the United States - cases so bad that the people who'd profited from the animals were eager to let them go.
Given that elephants in the wild are now exhibiting aberrant behaviours that were long observed in captive elephants, it perhaps follows that a positive working model for how to ameliorate the effects of elephant breakdown can be found in captivity.
Of the 19 current residents of the sanctuary, perhaps the hardest-luck story is that of Misty, a 40-year-old, five-tonne Asian elephant. Misty spent her first decade in captivity with a number of American circuses and finally ended up in the early 1980s at a wild-animal attraction known as Lion Country Safari in Irvine, Calif.
It was there, in 1983, that she managed to break free of her chains and began madly dashing about the park, looking to make an escape. When a park zoologist tried to corner her, Misty killed him with one swipe of her trunk.
Misty was banished to the Hawthorn Corp., a company in Illinois that trains and leases elephants and tigers to circuses, where she lashed out at a number of trainers.
When Hawthorn was convicted of numerous violations of the Animal Welfare Act in 2003, the company agreed to relinquish custody of Misty to the Elephant Sanctuary. She was loaded onto a trailer transport on the morning of Nov. 17, 2004, and even then managed one final shot at the last in her long line of captors.
"The details are kind of sketchy," Carol Buckley, a founder of the Elephant Sanctuary, told me one July afternoon as we pulled up in her all-terrain four-wheeler to a large, grassy enclosure where an extremely docile and contented-looking Misty waited to greet us.
"Hawthorn's owner was trying to get her to stretch out so he could remove her leg chains before loading her on the trailer. At one point, he prodded her with a bull hook, and she just knocked him down with a swipe of her trunk. But we've seen none of that since she's been here. She's as sweet as can be. You'd never know that this elephant killed anybody."
In the course of nearly two years at the Elephant Sanctuary, Misty has become a testament to the Elephant Sanctuary's signature "passive control" system, a therapy tailored in many ways along the lines of those used to treat human sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Passive control, as a sanctuary newsletter describes it, depends on "knowledge of how elephants process information and respond to stress" as well as specific knowledge of each elephant's past response to stress.
Under this system, there is no discipline, retaliation or withholding of food, water and treats - all common tactics of elephant trainers. Great pains are taken to afford the elephants both a sense of safety and freedom of choice, two mainstays of human trauma therapy, as well as continual social interaction.
Too much about elephants - their desires and devotions, their vulnerability and tremendous resilience - reminds us of ourselves to dismiss out of hand this revolt they're currently staging against their own dismissal. And while our concern might ultimately be rooted in that most human of impulses - the preservation of our own self-image - the great paradox about this particular moment in our history with elephants is that saving them will require finally getting past ourselves; it will demand the ultimate act of deep, interspecies empathy.
The New York Times Magazine
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Family fractures linked to schizophrenia
NewScientist.com news service
23 Nov 06
COULD soaring levels of schizophrenia among Afro-Caribbean people in the UK be caused by family separations?
A team led by Paul Fearon and Craig Morgan of the Institute of Psychiatry in London found that out of 568 people with psychoses in England, Afro-Caribbeans were nine times as likely to have schizophrenia as white Britons.
In another study, the team found that both white Britons and Afro-Caribbean people in England were two to three times as likely to suffer from psychoses if they had been separated from a parent during childhood. Since absent parents are more common in Afro-Caribbean families, the researchers suggest this could explain the higher rates of psychoses (Psychological Medicine, vol 36, p 1541, and DOI: 10.1017/S0033291706009330).
The findings reopen the debate about the relative roles of genes and environment in schizophrenia. "They point quite strongly to environmental factors," says Morgan.
From issue 2579 of New Scientist magazine, 23 November 2006, page 7
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Afghanistan: Enduring Freedom
Abuse of Afghan women: 'It was my decision to die. I was getting beaten every day'
Published: 24 November 2006By Kim Sengupta in Kabul
Halima spends her life in the shadows. The light shows up her face, which bears the marks of her pain and humiliation - damage inflicted by her violent husband, while his family stood and watched.
The 22-year-old woman's left cheekbone was shattered during one of the many beatings she had to endure for four years.
She has other injuries - burns on her chest caused by having the scalding contents of a kettle flung at her; a broken rib; an arm which gives her constant pain because of the force with which it was repeatedly wrenched. But Halima is lucky. She managed to escape her loveless, tortured marriage and return to her parents in Kabul. She is now hiding at the home of a relation, ever fearful that her husband, Gul Mohammed, and his brothers will come from Paktia province and track her down.
At least Halima had the will to live. "They had tried to destroy my life," she says simply. "I was trying to protect what was left of it. If I had stayed with my husband's family I would surely have died."
Others have been so traumatised by the abuse they have received at the hands of men, and the sheer hardship of life, that they commit suicide, sometimes in the most horrific way: by setting fire to themselves.
Five years after the fall of the Taliban and the liberation of women hailed by Laura Bush and Cherie Blair, thanks to the US and British invasion, such has been the alarming rise in suicide that a conference was held on the problem in the Afghan capital just a few days ago.
Those who should be in the best position to help, women MPs, another supposed sign of the brave new Afghanistan, are themselves facing violence and intimidation. Malalai Joya, at 28 one of Afghanistan's youngest MPs, regularly changes addresses because of death threats. "When I speak in parliament male MPs throw water bottles at me. Some of them shout 'take and rape her'.
"Many of the men in power have the same attitude as the Taliban. Women have not been liberated. You want to know how women feel in this country? Look at the rate of suicide," she said.
Nasima Niazi, who represents Helmand, the centre of British operations, is frightened to go back to her constituency. "During Eid I went to visit relations and friends. I had to constantly change my burqa because I was so worried that I was being followed. Obviously it is not possible for me to represent my constituents, women or men, under these circumstances."
Police say the British-led International Security and Assistance Force (Isaf) is putting them under severe pressure vigorously to pursue cases of domestic violence. But, said one police officer: "There are some people here who are old-fashioned. We are trying to change this."
Among the wives who have tried to take their lives is 16-year-old Gulsum. After yet another beating by her heroin-addicted husband, she ran to the kitchen, doused herself oil from a lamp, and lit a match.
Her 40-year-old husband Abdul and his family simply watched. Her life was saved by a neighbour who rushed in, poured a bucket of water over her, and took her to hospital wrapped in a sheet. Gulsum was in a coma and has undergone several operations. More than a month later, her gnarled hands still bleed. Sitting on a hospital bed in Kabul she said: "It was my decision to die. I felt I had no other choice, I was getting beaten every day, but I could not go home because of the shame it would bring on my family. But I did not want to end up like this, with my hands and body like this."
Accurate statistics are difficult to come by, but at least 93 women are believed to have killed themselves last year, with 54 deaths this year. More than 70 per cent of the women who try to kill themselves cannot be saved.
According to a report by the British charity Womankind Worldwide, 60 to 80 per cent of all marriages in Afghanistan are forced. More than half of Afghan women are married before they turn 16, some as young as six. In some rural areas of the country, women are regarded as chattels, exchanged as compensation for a crime or to settle a debt.
Ancil Adrian-Paul of Medica Mondiale, which helps women in conflict zones, said: "A lot of self-immolation and suicide cases are not reported to police for religious reasons, for reasons of honour, shame, stigma. There is this collusion of silence."
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Excessive "Liberation"
Friday, November 24, 2006
"The Air Force has conducted more than 2,000 airstrikes in Afghanistan over the past six months, a sharp increase in bombing that reflects the growing demand for American air cover since NATO has assumed a larger ground combat role, Air Force officials said."
I like how NYT inserted the word "demand." Oh, yeah. There is a huge demand in the Arab world among the people for US bombs over their head. "Thanks America"--is that not what Kanan Makiya wrote after the invasion of his country? Also, is it odd that you still bomb a country from the air 4 years after "liberating" it? Is that not excessive "liberation"?
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Italian philosopher Umberto Eco condemns concept of clash of civilisations as "stupid"
Brussels, Nov 24, IRNA
Umberto Eco has denounced the idea of clash of civilization and accused US President George W. Bush of encouraging terrorism and fundamentalism by his flawed policies in the Middle East.
"It's a lie. That is stupid and dangerous argument," Eco told a press conference in Brussels Thursday evening in reply to a question by IRNA on the idea of clash of civilisations.
"There is a clash between certain elements of a civilization with her elements of a civilizations," he said.
Speaking to IRNA later, Umberto Eco said "I don't believe in a clash of civilizations".
Asked how one could solve the current problems existing between the West and the Muslim world, he replied, "if I knew how to solve it I would be the President of the United States."
"The only thing I know is that President Bush has solved it in the wrong way. He is responsible of encouraging terrorism and fundamentalist by doing what he did," said the Italian thinker.
He also called for greater European diplomatic activity to resolve the current standoff between Iran and the EU.
Umberto Eco is in Brussels to take part in a debate on "India and Europe: strategies for reciprocal knowledge."
The debate is a session of the International Transcultura Institute, the traveling university founded by Umberto Eco and French ethnologist Alain le Pichon in 1988 to promote exchange of ideas between European and non-European cultures.
A number of European and Indian scholars, as well as an Iranian scholar and political philosopher Ali Paya are taking part in the one day event on Friday as part of the ongoing India Festival.
The Belgian Centre of Fine Arts (BOZAR) has organised a four-month long India Festival in Brussels which began in October and will last till January with the aim to strengthen cultural relations between Europe and India.
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A Fistful of Dollars
Dollar loses ground against euro
BBC
24 Nov 06
The dollar has plunged to its lowest level against the euro since April 2005 amid concerns for the US economy.
The euro surged to $1.3086 against the dollar, with many other currencies following suit.
Sterling rose almost 1% to $1.93, the yen hit a two-month high and Russia's rouble rose to a seven-year high.
Analysts have voiced concerns about the US economy after the White House downgraded its growth forecasts amid a sharp slowdown in the housing market.
Meanwhile, expectations that the European Central Bank is once again about to raise interest rates gave a lift to the euro.
Recent figures showing an unexpected rise in German business sentiment - its seventh quarterly rise in a row - also helped. So did French data showing that business confidence held at five-year highs in November.
However, traders added that thin trade as a result of the US Thanksgiving holiday might have benefited the euro.
"For the time being, the news flow is favouring the euro. If we close above $1.30 today, the key will be if we reject all of this as a Thanksgiving phenomenon or not," said Ian Gunner, head of foreign exchange research at Mellon Bank.
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Inuit sue US government over oil
NewScientist.com news service
24 November 2006
MORE troubles have bubbled up for petroleum giant BP in its Alaskan oilfields.
In March, pesky bacteria ate holes in the pipeline carrying crude oil over the permafrost from Prudhoe Bay, causing the largest-ever oil spill on the Alaska North Slope. Now a court may decide BP owes a local Inuit family millions in unpaid royalties.
In the 1980s, the US federal government, which represents Native Americans in contracts involving natural resources, arranged for BP to pay Andrew Oenga royalties for a pipeline and road built over his land. His family has since received $670,000.
BP also built an oil-drilling platform on the land and has brought oil worth $1.6 billion to the surface. The Oenga family is suing the government for failing to negotiate royalties on the platform.
The family says the government took advantage of Oenga, who spoke no English and led a traditional Inuit lifestyle on the land. The back-royalties to be paid by BP may amount to $180 million. The case, thought to be the first against Washington for mismanaging such a deal, could set a far-reaching precedent.
From issue 2579 of New Scientist magazine, 24 November 2006, page 6
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Fury as Hong Kong journalist's appeal fails
AFP
24 Nov 06
Supporters of veteran Hong Kong journalist Ching Cheong have expressed disappointment and anger at a Chinese court decision to uphold his five-year prison term for spying for Taiwan.
The Beijing High Court rejected the appeal by Ching, the chief China correspondent for Singapore's Straits Times newspaper, on Friday, according to his lawyer and China's official Xinhua news agency.
"We are disappointed and angry at the decision," said Serenade Woo, chairman of Hong Kong Journalists Association.
"The court has obviously ignored his defence argument and that has put serious doubt about the fairness of China's legal system," she told AFP.
David Hui, spokesman for the Ching Cheong Incident Concern Group, described the verdict as "disappointing" and "unacceptable".
"The case has not been fairly treated... the court has refused to deal with it in an open manner; we doubt whether the court has taken the case seriously," he told Cable TV.
Another member of the concern group, Helen Cheng, also voiced dismay.
"Of course we are not very happy because we all know what Ching Cheong is like. He is a patriot; he wouldn't have betrayed the country," she said.
Mary Lau, Ching's wife, said she needed time to digest the news and declined to comment on the verdict, according to Cable TV.
Ching's brother, Ching Hei, told reporters in Beijing that his family would try to lodge another appeal.
In a statement delivered by his sister in Beijing, the veteran journalist maintained his innocence and hoped the Chinese government would acquit him.
The Hong Kong government said it was very concerned about the case and will keep in contact with Ching's family and provide any assistance they need.
But it would not comment on the judicial process or the judgement handed down by the Beijing court under the "one country, two systems" policy that outlines China's relationship with Hong Kong.
Ching's supporters were due to hold a press conference in Hong Kong at 0645 GMT which Lau may attend, Woo said.
Ching, 56, was sentenced on August 31 to five years in jail following a one-day, closed-door trial on espionage charges.
In its original verdict, a lower Beijing court said Ching passed on information, some of it top secret, to two people from a Taiwanese foundation who were in fact deputies of an intelligence agency.
Xinhua, quoting a judge at the High Court on Friday, said the August verdict "was a correct application of the law and provided appropriate punishment".
The case has attracted international attention, highlighting fears China was cracking down against foreign and domestic journalists in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
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