U.S. News
Reuters
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
Washington - The White House expressed concern on Thursday at reports that the U.S. military has secretly paid Iraqi newspapers to run dozens of pro-American articles written by a special military task force.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Wednesday the program began this year and the articles were written in English, translated into Arabic and then given to Baghdad newspapers to print in return for money.
"We're very concerned about the reports. We are seeking more information from the Pentagon," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.
Comment: Yeah, they are concerned alright - concerned that they've been caught with their pants down. Never mind that the same sort of thing goes on in the US constantly...
Jeff Gerth and Scott Shane
The New York Times
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
Washington - Titled "The Sands Are Blowing Toward a Democratic Iraq," an article written this week for publication in the Iraqi press was scornful of outsiders' pessimism about the country's future.
"Western press and frequently those self-styled 'objective' observers of Iraq are often critics of how we, the people of Iraq, are proceeding down the path in determining what is best for our nation," the article began. Quoting the Prophet Muhammad, it pleaded for unity and nonviolence.
But far from being the heartfelt opinion of an Iraqi writer, as its language implied, the article was prepared by the United States military as part of a multimillion-dollar covert campaign to plant paid propaganda in the Iraqi news media and pay friendly Iraqi journalists monthly stipends, military contractors and officials said.
By Karen Abbott - Rocky Mountain News - December 1, 2005
By Karen Abbott - Rocky Mountain News - December 1, 2005
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
Denver, Colorado - Deborah Davis said Wednesday she has been overwhelmed by the support she has received via the Internet and telephone for her stance against having to show her identification while riding on an RTD bus that crosses the Federal Center in Lakewood.
But she's trying to keep up with her daily routine, doing her laundry and, on Tuesday, cleaning the gutters on her home. "It keeps me normal," she said.
Bill Scannell, who has publicized other challenges to government ID requirements, said the Web site he created for the Davis case, www.papersplease.org/davis,had received visits from 2.4 million individuals by about 2 p.m. Wednesday.
SOTT
December 1, 2005
SOTT
December 1, 2005
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
Ernest Partridge
OpEdNews
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
The Bible is the inerrant ... word of the living God. It is absolutely infallible, without error in all matters pertaining to faith and practice, as well as in areas such as geography, science, history, etc. (Rev. Jerry Falwell)
John Kelley
OpEdNews
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
When Fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and be carrying a cross, Sinclair Lewis
On the news this morning was an item about the Pope commissioning a study to give a progressive look at the issue of whether infants who die before baptism should still be considered as going to limbo or whether the heaven or hell options should be reconsidered. After breakfast on the way to work there was a story on NPR about a Father Dowling, a priest in Africa, concerning his belief that the church should condone the use of condoms because of his experiences where 47% of the women are suffering from AIDS because the women are in a society dominated by males in which compulsory sex is normal in order to survive. At least I'm glad that these arguments between obvious superstition and prejudice and reason are not confined to my own family.
Anthony Wade
OpEdNews
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
No one has ever confused George Bush with an intelligent man. What he has always been though is charming, folksy, if you believe the corporate press that is paid to make him look good. This charm was enough to fool America for five years now. Every time Bush had to sell us something, he would traipse out before the cameras and use words like docs or folks and everyone would go ahhh and feel better about their lot in life.
Charm only goes so far though and America has caught on to his clever way of mixing lies into what is left of reality in modern war and politics. Faced with a 68% disapproval rate and calls for an end to the Iraq occupation, and let's be fair that is what this is now, Bush trotted out again before the cameras to bring America his plan for victory in Iraq. Not content with the speech, Bush even had propaganda with him as the White House had produced a book called National Strategy for Victory in Iraq, designed to repackage the current quagmire in Iraq as success and over-simplifying the entire situation that lies ahead of us.
Michael J. Sniffen
Associated Press
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
Washington -- Companies lobbying government, colleges seeking star speakers and groups eager for information or face time paid for $2.3 million in trips over six years for White House officials, a watchdog organization reported Wednesday.
Powerful presidential confidants, like President Bush's political guru, Karl Rove, and President Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, shared in this bounty.
More than 620 White House aides took free trips between late 1998 and late 2004 to speak to conferences in Paris, Rome and other foreign capitals, Hawaii and Florida, ski resorts in Colorado and Switzerland. Of course, less exotic locales, like Detroit, Cleveland and Oklahoma City, also were among more than 350 destinations.
Doug Thompson
Capitol Hill Blue
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
The dwindling numbers of those who continue to support, without question, George W. Bush's failed policies in Iraq didn't get much to support their cause when the President delivered what the White House promised would be a major policy speech.
The speech, offered to a carefully-selected audience of Naval Academy midshipmen at Annapolis, gave us nothing new and offered one more glimpse of Bush's inability to grasp reality.
Either Bush is purposely lying when he claims progress in training Iraqis to handle their own security or he is just too damn dumb to realize how bad things are in the country he invaded two-and-a-half years ago.
Even worse, he apparently learned nothing from the botched photo op aboard an aircraft carrier in 2003 where he stood before that ridiculous Mission Accomplished banner and declared victory in Iraq.
Norman Solomon
Counterpunch
Thu, 01 Dec 2005 12:00 EST
Newspapers across the United States and beyond told readers Wednesday about sensational new statements by a former top assistant to Colin Powell when he was secretary of state. After interviewing Lawrence Wilkerson, the Associated Press reported he "said that wrongheaded ideas for the handling of foreign detainees after Sept. 11 arose from a coterie of White House and Pentagon aides who argued that 'the president of the United States is all-powerful,' and that the Geneva Conventions were irrelevant."
AP added: "Wilkerson blamed Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and like-minded aides. Wilkerson said that Cheney must have sincerely believed that Iraq could be a spawning ground for new terror assaults, because 'otherwise I have to declare him a moron, an idiot or a nefarious bastard.'"
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