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March 2004US chose to ignore Rwandan genocidePosted: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 Classified papers show Clinton was aware of 'final solution' to eliminate Tutsis by Rory Carroll in Johannesburg, The Guardian President Bill Clinton's administration knew Rwanda was being engulfed by genocide in April 1994 but buried the information to justify its inaction, according to classified documents made available for the first time. Senior officials privately used the word genocide within 16 days of the start of the killings, but chose not to do so publicly because the president had already decided not to intervene. Intelligence reports obtained using the US Freedom of Information Act show the cabinet and almost certainly the president had been told of a planned "final solution to eliminate all Tutsis" before the slaughter reached its peak. Full Article Carlos Ortega Posted: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 Costa Rica throws out Chavez foe Costa Rica's government says it has cancelled the asylum given to a leading Venezuelan opposition figure, after he gave a controversial speech in the US. Union leader Carlos Ortega requested asylum last year, saying he faced persecution in Venezuela. Last week he reportedly told a meeting in Miami, Florida, that he would return to Venezuela to work clandestinely to remove the government of Hugo Chavez. Full Article Latest News Posted: Wednesday, March 31, 2004 ¤ Nine killed in Falluja attacks ¤ Joke's on them ¤ 4 Killed in Iraq Worked for Security Firm ¤ Iraqis Drag U.S. Corpses Through Streets ¤ 9 Americans, including 4 civilians, killed in Iraq ¤ Misspeaking, Lying and Complicit Reporting ¤ Put Bush and Cheney Under Oath ¤ The Illegal Coup in Haiti ¤ Three dead in Parliament suicide bombing ¤ The Failure to Keep America Safe ¤ The Troubling Arc of Media Concentration ¤ Pakistan Policy Sends Dangerous Signal ¤ Violence Flaring In Normally Peaceful South ¤ Washington cuts off aid to Serbia ¤ Iraq Wmd Hunt Still Drawing Blanks ¤ Court Convicts Egyptian Man of Espionage ¤ Fox News and the Iraq War: Fact vs. Fox-tion ¤ Gasoline Rises to 18-Year High After Fire at Texas BP Refinery ¤ USA must leave Iraq - now! Flashback ¤ US warns companies over Israel boycott ¤ Vast majority of Portuguese want troops in Iraq withdrawn ¤ The Ultimate Betrayal ¤ Elephants in the Barracks: The Complete Failure of the 9/11 Commission ¤ 'To the moon, George, to the moon' ¤ Continuing search finds no WMDs ¤ Now searching for Saddam's WMD 'intent' ¤ 'The comedic styling of George W. Bush' ¤ No facts, only motives, in Bush World ¤ Washington Pinocchios and the Lifting of the Veil ¤ Afghanistan: Return of the jihadis ¤ Iraqis Drag 4 U.S. Bodies Through Streets ¤ Court Tells U.S. to Review Mexican Death Row Cases ¤ Annan Completes Cyprus Reunification Deal ¤ OPEC Tightens Screw on Oil Restrictions ¤ Staged Capture of Bin Laden Coming Soon ¤ Who Bombed Turkey and Why? ¤ Endless Fake Terror Alerts: Fear Based Mind Control ¤ Is Fix in at 9/11 Commission? ¤ Rice: No end to controversy ¤ White House caves-in on Condoleezza ¤ Rice told to testify before 9/11 hearing as Bush caves in ¤ Main course: cooked Rice ¤ Bomb Kills Five U.S. Soldiers in Iraq ¤ Many occupation soldiers killed in Iraq ¤ US chose to ignore Rwandan genocide ¤ Hungry Angola bans GM food aid ¤ The people must decide ¤ A widow's battle for compensation ¤ Bremer offers grim assessment of security challenges in Iraq ¤ Iraqi Council Bars UN from Overseeing Elections ¤ Hearts, Minds and Padlocks ¤ Mr. President: Hands Off Clarke ¤ US newspaper ban plays into cleric's hands ¤ Who counts the civilian casualties? ¤ New U.S. tactic in Afghanistan has old ring ¤ 'Troops out' row in Australia ¤ Cost of Iraq war leaves Forces facing cuts ¤ Rice to testify in public as White House backs down ¤ Never mind the torture and political prisoners, he's Bush's man ¤ Costa Rica throws out Chavez foe ¤ The Children Soldiers ¤ UN forced to halt food distribution in Gaza ¤ The First Bush War ¤ Suicide bombings in Uzbekistan may have saved its US aid package ¤ Powell Offers U.S. Help to Uzbekistan After Terrorist Attacks ¤ Terrorism's eastward expansion: Uzbekistan ¤ Arab summit blow-up appears bad for Bush ¤ The democracy lesson backfires ¤ Iraq Contracts Give Halliburton Headaches ¤ Voters Aren't Energy Dummies ¤ Bin Laden Hunt Hurt by U.S. Disrespect of Afghans ¤ Generals: Israeli Wall Will Harm Security ¤ Court Bars Release of Vince Foster Death Photos ¤ US arms hunter explains strategy ¤ CIA accused of lying about WMDs ¤ No WMD in Iraq before war, says Kay ¤ US to broaden hunt for WMD in Iraq Flashback ¤ Cheney: Iraq seeks mass destruction weapons ¤ Iraqi suicide bomber dies outside police chief’s house ¤ Deception is the game in Bush's US ¤ US cuts $400m in world food funding ¤ Iraq was invaded 'to protect Israel' - US official ¤ Eight held as UK police raids find half-tonne 'bomb' ¤ Bomb Kills Five U.S. Soldiers in Iraq ¤ Iraq war heats up Australia's elections ¤ Jewish settlement removal a 'big lie' What's Brewing in Venezuela Posted: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 What's Brewing in Venezuela What Kind of Democracy to Expect If the Opposition Takes Control Many are wondering why there is no unified opposition party in Venezuela ... this is perplexing, especially since there is a large section of society which actively seeks the replacement of the elected government. I began my recent discussions, over a period of the last several months, with opposition supporters ... people interested in the Venezuelan political situation and with supporters of Chavez and the "Bolivarian Revolution." I put forward the idea of the need for true democracy to flourish in the country ... for a "loyal opposition" along the lines of that which has historically been present in the classic "democracies" of Europe and North America. Full Article Latest News Posted: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 ¤ Bush Attacks Painfully Predictable ¤ 'How E-voting threatens democracy' ¤ Gangsters in the White House ¤ War Rationale: Version 10.0 ¤ Hate Mail Over an Assassination ¤ What's Brewing in Venezuela ¤ Confirmation of Israeli Secret Service Shadowing 9-11 Hijackers ¤ Fox's Brit Hume Tells Families Of Dead Soldiers To "Just Get Over It" ¤ Prozac Nation, UK ¤ The British threat ¤ Israel, Suicide Nation ¤ Condoleezza's nonsense about Democracy ¤ Letter Sent to Sept 11. Commission ¤ The US and Pakistan in Afghanistan ¤ How E-Voting Threatens Democracy ¤ Condoleezza Rice to testify on 9/11 ¤ Second Draft ¤ The Ultimate Betrayal ¤ Spike in Iraq Violence Results in Two More Deaths ¤ CIA Finds New Data but No Weapons in Iraq ¤ Indian airforce chief's "goodwill" France visit to buy warplanes ¤ UK plays roulette with Iraqi refugees ¤ Weapons hunt shifts to 'intent' in Iraq ¤ White House Agrees to Let Rice Answer Questions Publicly ¤ U.S. soldier killed in bomb explosion in Iraq ¤ Uzbek Police Storm Militant Hideout; Up to 23 Dead ¤ 'This isn't America' ¤ Chirac in crisis talks after crushing defeat ¤ Voting against reform ¤ Back to the barricades in Paris ¤ Sewerage and fertilisers 'are killing the seas' ¤ Explosions reported as Uzbekistan violence continues ¤ White House moves to defuse Rice row ¤ One Dead, Seven Hurt in Iraq Car Bombing ¤ British soldiers hurt in clash with Islamists ¤ 'Dead zones' in world's oceans are growing, say alarmed UN scientists ¤ Shiites Organize to Block U.S. Plan ¤ Republicans and Democrats call for Rice to testify over 11 September ¤ Musharraf left counting the cost ¤ Pakistan: The Battle That Wasn't ¤ Pakistan: No al-Qaida leader killed ¤ Al-Qaeda intelligence chief may have been killed ¤ The Secret of Their Success ¤ Anti-US cleric's newspaper banned ¤ Thousands voice anger after US gags Shiite paper ¤ Arabs glued to TV news - but not to US-sponsored Al Hurra ¤ Occupational Hazards: Iraq One Year Later ¤ Empire State ¤ One Year Later: Warning Signs in Iraq ¤ 9/11 Commission Director: Iraq War Launched to Protect Israel ¤ Mexico expels British cavers ¤ U.S. Worried as Caribbean Nations Defer on Haiti Leaders ¤ Gun tragedy soldier 'had no training' ¤ US steps into democracy row in Hong Kong ¤ Blast outside Hilla police chief house ¤ US democracy-related law no longer applicable to Pakistan ¤ The Question We Should Be Asking ¤ Origins of Wolfowitz's Overconfidence ¤ Defence or murder? ¤ Britain to send more troops to Afghanistan ¤ Secret tapes put heat on Sharon ¤ Saddam not talking, US officials say ¤ Killings mar end of vote campaign ¤ At Least 10 Killed in Uzbekistan Clashes ¤ 15 men arrested in suspected coup attempt ¤ China, India agree to boost military ties ¤ Iraq holds sovereignty talks with UN advisers ¤ War-time realism ¤ Who is the enemy? ¤ A few pressing realities and questions ¤ Does policy structure need update? AFL-CIO in Venezuela: Deja Vu All Over Again Posted: Monday, March 29, 2004 AFL-CIO in Venezuela: Deja Vu All Over Again By Kim Scipes Massive mobilizations, strikes, street conflict, hysterical mass media, social and economic disruption: Chile in 1972-73 Venezuela in 2002-04. The AFL-CIO is once again on the scene, this time in Venezuela, just as it was in Chile in 1973. Once again, its operations in that country are being funded by the U.S. government. This time, the money is being laundered through the quasi-governmental National Endowment for Democracy, hidden from AFL-CIO members and the American public. Once again, it is being used to support the efforts of reactionary labor and business leaders, helping to destabilize a democratically-elected government that has made major efforts to alleviate poverty, carried out significant land reform in both urban and rural areas, and striven to change political institutions that have long worked to marginalize those at the lowest rungs in society. And also like Allende's Chile, Venezuela's government under president Hugo Chavez has opposed a number of actions by the U.S. Government, this time by the Bush Administration. Full Article Deja Vu All Over Again Posted: Monday, March 29, 2004 AFL-CIO in Venezuela: Deja Vu All Over Again By Kim Scipes Massive mobilizations, strikes, street conflict, hysterical mass media, social and economic disruption: Chile in 1972-73 Venezuela in 2002-04. The AFL-CIO is once again on the scene, this time in Venezuela, just as it was in Chile in 1973. Once again, its operations in that country are being funded by the U.S. government. This time, the money is being laundered through the quasi-governmental National Endowment for Democracy, hidden from AFL-CIO members and the American public. Once again, it is being used to support the efforts of reactionary labor and business leaders, helping to destabilize a democratically-elected government that has made major efforts to alleviate poverty, carried out significant land reform in both urban and rural areas, and striven to change political institutions that have long worked to marginalize those at the lowest rungs in society. And also like Allende's Chile, Venezuela's government under president Hugo Chavez has opposed a number of actions by the U.S. Government, this time by the Bush Administration. Full Article Latest News Posted: Monday, March 29, 2004 ¤ All together now ¤ Suicide bombings rock Uzbeckistan ¤ U.S. Soldier Killed in Bomb Attack in Iraq ¤ Stop your whining and start voting ¤ Africa: Oil, al-Qaeda and the US military ¤ 40 U.S. senators supported Israel’s assassination of Hamas’ leader ¤ Two Afghans killed, 10 missing, in Taliban raid ¤ Shiites Organize to Block U.S. Plan ¤ Annan: UN force in Iraq possible ¤ Musharraf not involved in N-leaks, says Rumsfeld ¤ Rice urged to ‘rise above principles’ ¤ Hamas, Israel's disciplined opponent ¤ Gangsters in the White House ¤ Must Americans show their 'papers please'? ¤ Rice Would Like To Testify In Public, But 'Can't' ¤ America's Most Powerful Hate Group ¤ White House Whitewash ¤ Israeli Assassinations Not Part of Battle Against Terrorism ¤ Bush & the L-Word ¤ Main course: cooked Rice ¤ The New Tone in Washington ¤ Deception through silence ¤ Iraqi detentions fuel anti-US sentiment ¤ A Fading American Conscience? ¤ Bush Knew; and Now We Know He Knew ¤ US admits to killing al-Arabiya journalists ¤ Crisis in the Caribbean ¤ Haiti's Troika of Terror ¤ AFL-CIO in Venezuela: Deja Vu All Over Again ¤ The Casualties of Iraq Include GI Suicides ¤ Rice defends White House refusal to let her testify despite pressure ¤ President Asked Aide to Explore Iraq Link to 9/11 Attacks ¤ US now looking to install a PM in Iraq ¤ G.I.'s Padlock Baghdad Paper Accused of Lies ¤ 911 Incongruities ¤ New World Disorder ¤ Indictment urged for Sharon in bribery case ¤ Sharon Recommended to Step Down ¤ Sharon expected to be charged over bribes ¤ Who knew what before Sept. 11? ¤ U.S. Soldiers Kill 4 Insurgents in Iraq ¤ U.S. Gas Prices Hit New Record High ¤ Afghanistan elections delayed till Sept ¤ Guards killed as Iraq minister escapes attack ¤ Israeli troops kill Palestinian ¤ Wana operation and the opposition ¤ Bush's muddled vision ¤ Israel's Isolation – and America's ¤ Iraqi defector behind America's WMD claims exposed as 'out-and-out fabricator' ¤ Israel was entitled to kill Yassin ¥ How some Jews view an Assassination ¤ Getting out of Iraq should be only a start ¤ Clashes erupt in Basra ¤ Two Iraqis killed over foreigners' deaths ¤ Drugs trade thriving in Iraq ¤ When the fog of war lifts, the truth hurts Latest News Posted: Sunday, March 28, 2004 ¤ Israeli Report Faults Intelligence on Iraq ¤ Half a Million Taiwanese Protest Election ¤ 21 Killed in Two Days of Attacks in Iraq ¤ Briton, Canadian killed in northern Iraq ¤ White House Trying to Explain Rice Policy ¤ PIN THE TALE ON THE DONKEY ¤ The phantom 'Trucks of Death' ¤ Faux journalism is the White House's new ally ¤ The 'war president' waged a war of lies ¤ Radiation in Iraq Equals 250,000 Nagasaki Bombs ¤ South Africans March Against Yassin’s Assassination ¤ New Hamas Leader Calls Bush 'Enemy of God, Enemy of Islam' ¤ U.S.-Led Coalition Shuts Down Iraq Paper ¤ Afghanistan elections postponed till autumn ¤ Bush Snubs Blair’s Plea For Monitors In Palestine ¤ Kerry is a Sheep in Wolves' Clothing ¤ Israel and Its Self-Defeating Actions ¤ Killings of Iraqi police at 350 -- with more expected ¤ Two foreign security guards a Briton and a Canadian killed in Iraq ¤ Israeli Troops Raid West Bank City ¤ Israeli troops raid Nablus ¤ Closure of Al-Sadr daily evokes protests ¤ In a war without heroes, this boy was no martyr ¤ Tensions rise over cave trip farce ¤ Gunmen Kill 2 in Iraq Drive-By Shooting ¤ Slave descendants sue Lloyd's for billions ¤ Iraqi cleric may deem new government void ¤ 9/11 Panel Provokes a Discussion the White House Hoped to Avoid ¤ Nick Turse on Iraq as a weapons lab ¤ Too much U.S. foreign policy is unsupported by intelligence ¤ From the US, the truth about the war in Iraq seeps out. Flashback ¤ Liberating America From Israel ¤ Israel 'fabricated' child-bomber story ¤ Blonde? You've got the job ¤ Sharon Coming to Washington to Meet Bush ¤ Occupiers spend millions on private army of security men ¤ Iraqi women find no end to their suffering ¤ North Korea Rejects U.S. Demand to Scrap Its Nuclear Programs ¤ All eyes on Rice ¤ Official Is Said to Recommend Sharon Charge ¤ Jordanian King Abdullah: Israelis don't want peace ¤ Iraqi police blame US gunfire for toddler death ¤ The war on a terrorism adviser ¤ US criticised for blocking accord ¤ Scandal bubbles to surface ¤ The President's nemesis ¤ Iraq faces $310bn debt crisis ¤ Sharon’s Fight to the Death ¤ UN inspectors arrive in Iran to inspect N-sites ¤ More US Marines deployed in Afghanistan ¤ Kofi Annan ‘s regret on Rwanda genocide ¤ The US veto ¤ 14 killed in Iraq clashes ¤ Hamas leader says Bush is the 'enemy' of God and Islam ¤ Palestinians protest American veto of UN resolution ¤ A very Blairite coup in a tyrant's tent ¤ Israel 'exaggerated' Iraq threat ¤ Israeli troops shoot Palestinian dead ¤ Iraq reels under fresh wave of attacks ¤ US Complicity in Israel's Misdeeds ¤ Clarke fends off White House dirty tricks ¤ 'Visa error' may put British cavers in jail ¤ Britain's secret army in Iraq ¤ 'Rwanda's genocide could have been prevented. ¤ Terror backlash hits Bush's votes U.S. Regulations for Iraq's Media Posted: Saturday, March 27, 2004 U.S. Regulations for Iraq's Media By Roshan Muhammed Salih in Baghdad If the media's job is to tell the truth, then Iraq's newspapers and broadcasters fall a long way short. The burgeoning industry has been heralded by US-led occupation forces as one of their major successes in building the new Iraq. They say the freedom of speech that has followed the fall of Saddam Hussein is an essential building block for a future democracy. This week, US occupation administrator Paul Bremer announced the creation of two commissions which will regulate publicly-owned media to ensure its quality and that it is free from political control. Full Article Israel goes on West Bank rampage Posted: Saturday, March 27, 2004 Israel goes on West Bank rampage aljazeera.net Israel has been destroying roads and vandalising vital infrastructure across the occupied West Bank in an apparent attempt to weaken the Palestinians further before a possible withdrawal. Residents in several Palestinian towns in the northern, central and southern parts of the West Bank said on Saturday that Israeli occupation army bulldozers were sealing off Palestinian towns and villages with huge walls of rock and dirt. Full Article Sharon faces bribery indictment Israeli state prosecutors are preparing to indict Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a long-running corruption scandal that could drive him out of office. Israel’s Channel 2 television on Saturday reported that state attorney Edna Arbel is planning to submit the charge sheet within days to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who will then make the final decision on whether to put Sharon on trial. Full Article Poll: Israelis want Sharon to quit Battered by multiple scandals, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered another blow when an opinion poll in Israel's biggest newspaper showed that for the first time a majority of Israelis want him to quit. Friday's poll in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily found that 53% of those surveyed believe Sharon should resign as a result of the scandals, while 43% wanted him to stay on. Full Article Disturbing Signals: Kerry and Latin America Posted: Saturday, March 27, 2004 By LARRY BIRNS and JESSICA LEIGHT In a series of foreign policy formulations in recent days, the presumptive Democratic party presidential nominee, Senator John Kerry, has issued a number of statements on Latin American-related subjects which, if anything, appear to outflank on the right the Bush administration's extremist regional policymakers, as he shamelessly panders to the anti-Castro paranoia of a group of aging but wealthy Cuban-American ideologues in South Florida, and rich Venezuelan expatriates in Coral Gables. His two primary targets have been President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Cuba's Fidel Castro. While commendably finding fault with Bush policy regarding Secretary of State Powell's failure to protect the Aristide government in Haiti, Kerry's rhetoric regarding Cuba and Venezuela is reminiscent of barren Cold War strictures which, for all purposes, places him in the same extremist ideological bracket as the administration's two chief Latin American policy makers; the State Department's Roger Noriega and the Bush White House's Otto Reich. Strong on Haiti Regarding Haiti, Kerry has said, "This administration has been engaged in very manipulative and wrongful ways. They have a theological and an ideological hatred for Aristide. They always have. They approached this so the [anti-Aristide] insurgents were empowered by this administration." He also has observed in reference to Haiti, "People will know I'm tough and I'm prepared to do what is necessary to defend the United States of America, and that includes the unilateral deployment of troops if necessary." Such declarations have raised hopes that a Kerry administration will take a more forceful stand in favor of Haitian democracy and commit the resources needed to stabilize the country's battered institutions and uphold its constitution, which has been all but ignored by Powell. Kerry's Cuba and Venezuela Policies Duplicate those of Noriega and Reich Regarding Castro, Kerry called for the continuation and intensification of Washington's near-universally acknowledged failed embargo policy towards Havana. ''I'm pretty tough on Castro, because I think he's running one of the last vestiges of a Stalinist secret police government in the world,'' Kerry remarked in recent days. When asked whether he endorsed lifting the embargo, he answered, "Not unilaterally, not now, no." In truth, any action would have to be unilateral, since the embargo is not honored by any other country in the world. As for sending back Elian to his father in Cuba several years ago, Kerry observed, "I don't agree with that. I didn't like the way they did it." Regarding the virulently anti-Castro Helms-Burton measure, Kerry said, "I voted for the Helms-Burton legislation to be tough on companies that deal with him [Castro]." Having endeavored throughout the Democratic primaries to establish his credentials as an advocate of a more principled and professional method of international engagement, in contrast to the interventionist and unilateralist blunderings of the current administration when it came to the Iraq war, the senator is now in danger of tarnishing that reputation through his reckless endorsement of the White House's long discredited Latin America policies that are now even opposed by conservative farm state Republican legislators and businessmen. The positions staked out by Kerry are so far to the right that they even challenge Noriega and Reich for their extremism and irrationality. By so flagrantly tacking to the prevailing political winds in South Florida, Kerry risks alienating voters from elsewhere in the country who want not a reprise of Bush and Powell's tainted foreign policy, but a bold and visionary alternative. Kerry's statements could also potentially deal a heavy blow against Democratic efforts to mobilize some of the more disaffected members of its party base in a year where the drop out of even a handful of previously committed Democratic dissidents could prove deadly to his electoral prospects. Kerry Panders to the Ideologues Kerry's regrettable baiting of Bush on being soft on Castro and Chavez borders on the irresponsible and could have dangerous implications for peace in the region. In 1989, when the first President Bush was confronting deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Manuel Noriega's Panama, the president admirably attempted to contain the situation without having to resort to military force against the Panamanian dictatorship. At the same time, Bush was being mercilessly attacked by Senate liberals, including Leahy, Dodd and Kennedy, for being too soft on Manual Noriega. Since there appeared to be no defined constituency supporting a peaceful settlement of the conflict with Panama, and since there was no formidable bloc that opposed turning to a military resolution of the dispute - quite to the contrary - it can be argued that it was the U.S. Senate liberals who helped to bring on the conflict, because there were few political costs to initiating a conflict, while there were many not to. The same could be said of Kerry's provocative attacks against Cuba and Venezuela at a time when Roger Noriega has been warning Castro that "he's playing with fire," and both he and Reich, without producing any evidence whatsoever, are publicly denouncing Chavez and Castro for working to destabilize the rest of Latin America. Kerry's tilt to the right when it comes to Latin American policy may be attributable to confusion, given the clarity of his charges against the Bush administration's controversial Haiti policy. While this may account for his resorting to aimless babble concerning Venezuela, and pandering for donations and Florida's votes when it comes to Castro, it doesn't entirely explain the inevitably heavy domestic political costs he seems prepared to risk, given the fund raising harangues he is apparently prepared to make to Cuban-American audiences and his eagerness to submit to South Florida's political calculus. Superficial Posturing If his recent statements are any guide, it is obvious that the Kerry campaign has not given any serious consideration to the issues at stake in Washington's relations with Cuba or Venezuela. In fact, prior to the beginning of his presidential campaign, Kerry generally had called for a more moderate and principled Latin America policy from his seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a stance that he now appears ready to sacrifice for short-term political objectives. Having stated in a newspaper interview in 2000 that the embargo was a product only of the "politics of Florida" and should be reconsidered, Kerry recently reversed himself and declared in favor of a tough line against Castro after meeting with prominent Cuban-American exile leaders in Miami six months ago. This reversal only helps to confirm the Bush campaign's damaging accusations that Kerry is a political dandy who is deft at flip-flopping when such an action is to his benefit. Apparently, the politics of Florida are not as distasteful for the senator as they once were. Over the past week, he has sweetened his stance toward Cuban community leaders, perhaps driven by the desire not to repeat Gore's Palm Beach County election debacle, as well as buoyed by polls stating that only 60% of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade and Broward counties_historically a solid Republican constituency_ plan to vote for Bush this November, reflecting the growing conviction among older Cubans that while Bush regularly bashes Castro, he does little to bring him down. In Kerry's estimation, the road to capturing the disaffected 40% lies in emulating candidate Clinton's first presidential race against Bush I, when the latter galloped around his adversary's rightwing flank by accusing Bush of being soft of Havana, and making denunciations of the Castro regime, and by extension, any government that has cordial relations with it. Kerry Strikes out when it Comes to Evidence Embattled President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who, ironically enough, recently declared himself a strong supporter of Kerry, stands accused by the senator of undermining democracy in Venezuela and supporting "narco-terrorists" in neighboring Colombia. Unless Kerry has information that is not being shared with Colombian specialists, no evidence exists to buttress this charge and his attack against the Venezuelan leader is totally specious and without merit. It is quite clear, however, that the real issue here is not the state of democracy in Venezuela, a subject in which Kerry previously has not taken any sustained interest. On the contrary, the most devastating accusation that the Kerry camp seeks to level against Chavez is that his "close relationship with Fidel Castro has raised serious questions about his commitment to leading a truly democratic government." This formulation is pure rubbish. Presumably, Kerry would not extend his theory by questioning the bona fides of President Lula de Silva of Brazil or Argentina's Nestor Kirchner, both of whom have referred to both Castro and Chavez as their friend. Chavez's complex populist nationalism doesn't permit this kind of trivialized analysis, which is both simplistic and represents a vulgarized comprehension of the present balance of forces existing in today's Venezuela. Nor does the spirit of Kerry's rhetoric take into account the practical basis of Chavez's relationship with Castro, with the latter providing subsidized oil deliveries to Cuba and the former providing thousands of badly needed doctors and technicians to Caracas. Kerry's attacks on Chavez are a transparent attempt to win the backing of the most conservative factions of Miami's Cuban-American community as well as its large population of wealthy Venezuelan expatriates who own condos or other second homes in the area, by promising to crack down harder than even Bush has managed to do on the two pesky Latin American leaders. If this is a preview of the Kerry administration's hemispheric policy, there appears to be little reason for optimism that the choice of the Democratic contender over Bush will represent a significant change in direction in present U.S. policy, at least when it comes to Latin America. The Nader Factor Kerry's self-serving hemispheric strategy could have very grave implications for his political fate. When it comes to Latin American issues, there exists a very substantive, vocal and highly sophisticated political constituency in this county - in the hundred of thousands - regarding the region. This bloc repeatedly has denounced Bush, Secretary of State Powell, Noriega and Reich for the extremist policies being directed against Cuba, Venezuela and other left-of-center governments and movements in the region. The prospect of Ralph Nader attracting what normally would have been Kerry's votes, particularly in a year when many Democrats had pledged to close their ears to Nader's electoral blandishments, makes it clear that the cause for Democratic officials' concern could be very real. At this point, Nader's gravitational pull had been faltering as normally Democratic voters, unlike four years ago, seem to be rallying to the presumed Democratic candidate's ranks, motivated by the fear that a pro-Nader tide could mean four more years of Bush rule. The Nader Threat Could Be Formidable Kerry could be making a mortal mistake by assuming that hundreds of thousands of former Nader voters, who at the present time are not in the mood to again "waste" their votes on the latter, will stick with the former at whatever price. On the contrary, Senator Kerry's calculation that embracing a reactionary policy towards Latin America will bring about a win-win situation for him politically could be dangerously misguided. Ever since the Central American wars of the 1980s, there has been an increasingly vocal constituency within the Democratic Party_ including labor, students, farm interests, multinational businesses and minorities_that has been calling for more enlightened policies towards the region. This coalition has advocated the adoption of a Latin America policy that is less belligerent, more balanced, and reflective of greater sensitivity to the region's yearning for authentic democratization as well as its other political and economic aspirations, including the addressing issues of social justice throughout the region. If Kerry persists on his current move to the political right on hemispheric issues, he risks alienating this exceedingly important sector of his Democratic base, imperiling party cohesion and prospects for a high turnout that are essential if the Democrats are to hold any hope of defeating Bush and his huge campaign war chest in the upcoming election. Time for Kerry to Look Within There is still time for Kerry to review his simplistic and unimaginative formulations on regional issues and abandon his mimicking of Roger Noriega and Otto Reich's positions by beginning to articulate a clear alternative to the Bush administration's disastrous Latin America policy. This approach would be far more enlightening than his present one in which Kerry accused Bush of "sending mixed signals by supporting undemocratic processes in our own hemisphere." Kerry should also be denouncing the administration's involvement in a coup attempt in Venezuela, its stubbornness in maintaining a Cuba policy that has not been reviewed since its inception almost five decades ago, and its persistent ignorance of social justice concerns. Kerry also should be condemning the White House's bankrupt trade policy, its attempt to arm-twist its hemispheric counterparts into supporting its Middle East misadventures, and the general direction of Bush's high-handed regional policy, including its fundamental intolerance for differing points of view. Until his campaign begins to trumpet these criticisms and offer a clear agenda for change, Kerry's Latin American policy will appear as nothing more than an echo of Bush's_a position that could disaffect hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters living north of Miami-Dade County, as well as encourage the migration of tens of thousands of liberal Democrats back to Nader, at great cost to Kerry's presidential prospects. Larry Birns is director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs,and Jessica Leight is a COHA Research Fellow. Disturbing Signals: Kerry and Latin America Posted: Saturday, March 27, 2004 By LARRY BIRNS and JESSICA LEIGHT In a series of foreign policy formulations in recent days, the presumptive Democratic party presidential nominee, Senator John Kerry, has issued a number of statements on Latin American-related subjects which, if anything, appear to outflank on the right the Bush administration's extremist regional policymakers, as he shamelessly panders to the anti-Castro paranoia of a group of aging but wealthy Cuban-American ideologues in South Florida, and rich Venezuelan expatriates in Coral Gables. His two primary targets have been President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Cuba's Fidel Castro. While commendably finding fault with Bush policy regarding Secretary of State Powell's failure to protect the Aristide government in Haiti, Kerry's rhetoric regarding Cuba and Venezuela is reminiscent of barren Cold War strictures which, for all purposes, places him in the same extremist ideological bracket as the administration's two chief Latin American policy makers; the State Department's Roger Noriega and the Bush White House's Otto Reich. Strong on Haiti Regarding Haiti, Kerry has said, "This administration has been engaged in very manipulative and wrongful ways. They have a theological and an ideological hatred for Aristide. They always have. They approached this so the [anti-Aristide] insurgents were empowered by this administration." He also has observed in reference to Haiti, "People will know I'm tough and I'm prepared to do what is necessary to defend the United States of America, and that includes the unilateral deployment of troops if necessary." Such declarations have raised hopes that a Kerry administration will take a more forceful stand in favor of Haitian democracy and commit the resources needed to stabilize the country's battered institutions and uphold its constitution, which has been all but ignored by Powell. Kerry's Cuba and Venezuela Policies Duplicate those of Noriega and Reich Regarding Castro, Kerry called for the continuation and intensification of Washington's near-universally acknowledged failed embargo policy towards Havana. ''I'm pretty tough on Castro, because I think he's running one of the last vestiges of a Stalinist secret police government in the world,'' Kerry remarked in recent days. When asked whether he endorsed lifting the embargo, he answered, "Not unilaterally, not now, no." In truth, any action would have to be unilateral, since the embargo is not honored by any other country in the world. As for sending back Elian to his father in Cuba several years ago, Kerry observed, "I don't agree with that. I didn't like the way they did it." Regarding the virulently anti-Castro Helms-Burton measure, Kerry said, "I voted for the Helms-Burton legislation to be tough on companies that deal with him [Castro]." Having endeavored throughout the Democratic primaries to establish his credentials as an advocate of a more principled and professional method of international engagement, in contrast to the interventionist and unilateralist blunderings of the current administration when it came to the Iraq war, the senator is now in danger of tarnishing that reputation through his reckless endorsement of the White House's long discredited Latin America policies that are now even opposed by conservative farm state Republican legislators and businessmen. The positions staked out by Kerry are so far to the right that they even challenge Noriega and Reich for their extremism and irrationality. By so flagrantly tacking to the prevailing political winds in South Florida, Kerry risks alienating voters from elsewhere in the country who want not a reprise of Bush and Powell's tainted foreign policy, but a bold and visionary alternative. Kerry's statements could also potentially deal a heavy blow against Democratic efforts to mobilize some of the more disaffected members of its party base in a year where the drop out of even a handful of previously committed Democratic dissidents could prove deadly to his electoral prospects. Kerry Panders to the Ideologues Kerry's regrettable baiting of Bush on being soft on Castro and Chavez borders on the irresponsible and could have dangerous implications for peace in the region. In 1989, when the first President Bush was confronting deteriorating relations between the U.S. and Manuel Noriega's Panama, the president admirably attempted to contain the situation without having to resort to military force against the Panamanian dictatorship. At the same time, Bush was being mercilessly attacked by Senate liberals, including Leahy, Dodd and Kennedy, for being too soft on Manual Noriega. Since there appeared to be no defined constituency supporting a peaceful settlement of the conflict with Panama, and since there was no formidable bloc that opposed turning to a military resolution of the dispute - quite to the contrary - it can be argued that it was the U.S. Senate liberals who helped to bring on the conflict, because there were few political costs to initiating a conflict, while there were many not to. The same could be said of Kerry's provocative attacks against Cuba and Venezuela at a time when Roger Noriega has been warning Castro that "he's playing with fire," and both he and Reich, without producing any evidence whatsoever, are publicly denouncing Chavez and Castro for working to destabilize the rest of Latin America. Kerry's tilt to the right when it comes to Latin American policy may be attributable to confusion, given the clarity of his charges against the Bush administration's controversial Haiti policy. While this may account for his resorting to aimless babble concerning Venezuela, and pandering for donations and Florida's votes when it comes to Castro, it doesn't entirely explain the inevitably heavy domestic political costs he seems prepared to risk, given the fund raising harangues he is apparently prepared to make to Cuban-American audiences and his eagerness to submit to South Florida's political calculus. Superficial Posturing If his recent statements are any guide, it is obvious that the Kerry campaign has not given any serious consideration to the issues at stake in Washington's relations with Cuba or Venezuela. In fact, prior to the beginning of his presidential campaign, Kerry generally had called for a more moderate and principled Latin America policy from his seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a stance that he now appears ready to sacrifice for short-term political objectives. Having stated in a newspaper interview in 2000 that the embargo was a product only of the "politics of Florida" and should be reconsidered, Kerry recently reversed himself and declared in favor of a tough line against Castro after meeting with prominent Cuban-American exile leaders in Miami six months ago. This reversal only helps to confirm the Bush campaign's damaging accusations that Kerry is a political dandy who is deft at flip-flopping when such an action is to his benefit. Apparently, the politics of Florida are not as distasteful for the senator as they once were. Over the past week, he has sweetened his stance toward Cuban community leaders, perhaps driven by the desire not to repeat Gore's Palm Beach County election debacle, as well as buoyed by polls stating that only 60% of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade and Broward counties_historically a solid Republican constituency_ plan to vote for Bush this November, reflecting the growing conviction among older Cubans that while Bush regularly bashes Castro, he does little to bring him down. In Kerry's estimation, the road to capturing the disaffected 40% lies in emulating candidate Clinton's first presidential race against Bush I, when the latter galloped around his adversary's rightwing flank by accusing Bush of being soft of Havana, and making denunciations of the Castro regime, and by extension, any government that has cordial relations with it. Kerry Strikes out when it Comes to Evidence Embattled President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who, ironically enough, recently declared himself a strong supporter of Kerry, stands accused by the senator of undermining democracy in Venezuela and supporting "narco-terrorists" in neighboring Colombia. Unless Kerry has information that is not being shared with Colombian specialists, no evidence exists to buttress this charge and his attack against the Venezuelan leader is totally specious and without merit. It is quite clear, however, that the real issue here is not the state of democracy in Venezuela, a subject in which Kerry previously has not taken any sustained interest. On the contrary, the most devastating accusation that the Kerry camp seeks to level against Chavez is that his "close relationship with Fidel Castro has raised serious questions about his commitment to leading a truly democratic government." This formulation is pure rubbish. Presumably, Kerry would not extend his theory by questioning the bona fides of President Lula de Silva of Brazil or Argentina's Nestor Kirchner, both of whom have referred to both Castro and Chavez as their friend. Chavez's complex populist nationalism doesn't permit this kind of trivialized analysis, which is both simplistic and represents a vulgarized comprehension of the present balance of forces existing in today's Venezuela. Nor does the spirit of Kerry's rhetoric take into account the practical basis of Chavez's relationship with Castro, with the latter providing subsidized oil deliveries to Cuba and the former providing thousands of badly needed doctors and technicians to Caracas. Kerry's attacks on Chavez are a transparent attempt to win the backing of the most conservative factions of Miami's Cuban-American community as well as its large population of wealthy Venezuelan expatriates who own condos or other second homes in the area, by promising to crack down harder than even Bush has managed to do on the two pesky Latin American leaders. If this is a preview of the Kerry administration's hemispheric policy, there appears to be little reason for optimism that the choice of the Democratic contender over Bush will represent a significant change in direction in present U.S. policy, at least when it comes to Latin America. The Nader Factor Kerry's self-serving hemispheric strategy could have very grave implications for his political fate. When it comes to Latin American issues, there exists a very substantive, vocal and highly sophisticated political constituency in this county - in the hundred of thousands - regarding the region. This bloc repeatedly has denounced Bush, Secretary of State Powell, Noriega and Reich for the extremist policies being directed against Cuba, Venezuela and other left-of-center governments and movements in the region. The prospect of Ralph Nader attracting what normally would have been Kerry's votes, particularly in a year when many Democrats had pledged to close their ears to Nader's electoral blandishments, makes it clear that the cause for Democratic officials' concern could be very real. At this point, Nader's gravitational pull had been faltering as normally Democratic voters, unlike four years ago, seem to be rallying to the presumed Democratic candidate's ranks, motivated by the fear that a pro-Nader tide could mean four more years of Bush rule. The Nader Threat Could Be Formidable Kerry could be making a mortal mistake by assuming that hundreds of thousands of former Nader voters, who at the present time are not in the mood to again "waste" their votes on the latter, will stick with the former at whatever price. On the contrary, Senator Kerry's calculation that embracing a reactionary policy towards Latin America will bring about a win-win situation for him politically could be dangerously misguided. Ever since the Central American wars of the 1980s, there has been an increasingly vocal constituency within the Democratic Party_ including labor, students, farm interests, multinational businesses and minorities_that has been calling for more enlightened policies towards the region. This coalition has advocated the adoption of a Latin America policy that is less belligerent, more balanced, and reflective of greater sensitivity to the region's yearning for authentic democratization as well as its other political and economic aspirations, including the addressing issues of social justice throughout the region. If Kerry persists on his current move to the political right on hemispheric issues, he risks alienating this exceedingly important sector of his Democratic base, imperiling party cohesion and prospects for a high turnout that are essential if the Democrats are to hold any hope of defeating Bush and his huge campaign war chest in the upcoming election. Time for Kerry to Look Within There is still time for Kerry to review his simplistic and unimaginative formulations on regional issues and abandon his mimicking of Roger Noriega and Otto Reich's positions by beginning to articulate a clear alternative to the Bush administration's disastrous Latin America policy. This approach would be far more enlightening than his present one in which Kerry accused Bush of "sending mixed signals by supporting undemocratic processes in our own hemisphere." Kerry should also be denouncing the administration's involvement in a coup attempt in Venezuela, its stubbornness in maintaining a Cuba policy that has not been reviewed since its inception almost five decades ago, and its persistent ignorance of social justice concerns. Kerry also should be condemning the White House's bankrupt trade policy, its attempt to arm-twist its hemispheric counterparts into supporting its Middle East misadventures, and the general direction of Bush's high-handed regional policy, including its fundamental intolerance for differing points of view. Until his campaign begins to trumpet these criticisms and offer a clear agenda for change, Kerry's Latin American policy will appear as nothing more than an echo of Bush's_a position that could disaffect hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters living north of Miami-Dade County, as well as encourage the migration of tens of thousands of liberal Democrats back to Nader, at great cost to Kerry's presidential prospects. Larry Birns is director of the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs,and Jessica Leight is a COHA Research Fellow. Latest News Posted: Saturday, March 27, 2004 ¤ Rice Takes to Airwaves in Counterattack on Clarke ¤ U.S. Regulations for Iraq's Media ¤ Israel goes on West Bank rampage ¤ Sharon faces bribery indictment ¤ ... and the truth the victors refuse to see ¤ US will tell Iraqi council to pick a PM ¤ Taiwanese Protest Election Results ¤ Pentagon warns British firms ¤ Remembering Vietnam ¤ COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM ¤ Richard Clarke Testifies Before 9/11 Commission ¤ Ethical breaches are giving the press headaches ¤ A fatal distraction ¤ Powell dogged by diplomatic missteps ¤ Picky, Picky ¤ A Journey to Rafah ¤ Prelude to an Attack on Syria? The Yassin Assassination ¤ A Monstrous Insanity Blessed by the US ¤ Disturbing Signals: Kerry and Latin America ¤ Bush Tells the World to Drop Dead ¤ Appeasement and Purveyors of Violence ¤ Spinelessness of US Journalism ¤ Scary, Scary John Kerry ¤ Iraq occupation 'unjustified' - Prodi ¤ Four dead in Iraqi rocket attack ¤ W. Virginia Senator on Iraq: 'My Vote Was Wrong ' ¤ Coalition Sets Up Iraqi Media Commission ¤ Doubts grow over Afghan elections ¤ Sweetheart deal for Iraq contract ¤ Taiwan rocked by fresh protests ¤ Seven Iraqi bodyguards for US experts wounded in Baghdad blast ¤ Israel blocking aid, food to Gaza: UN ¤ Violence across Iraq leaves 18 dead ¤ Caribbean group withholds recognition for Haiti ¤ Caribbean Leaders Withhold Haiti Backing ¤ Caricom Leaders Withhold Haiti Backing ¤ New light on the life and death of John O'Neill ¤ Road map to hell ¤ US vetoes UNSC resolution against Israel ¤ Spain today: exemplar or exception ¤ U.S. Troop Deaths in Iraq Again Rising ¤ Coalition 'misanalysed' Iraq mood ¤ Ivory Coast death toll 120, opposition party claims ¤ September 11 attacks: What did Bush know? ¤ Palestinian Boy Killed in Firefight ¤ Clashes continue in heart of Iraqi capital ¤ Palestinians: Israel gets licence to kill Latest News Posted: Friday, March 26, 2004 ¤ Running scared ¤ Two Iraqis Working in U.S. Media Killed ¤ 13 Killed in Iraq, Including U.S. Marine ¤ U.S. Marine, ABC News Cameraman Killed in Fallujah Fighting ¤ The Ordeal of Mordechai Vanunu ¤ Lessons on Apartheid The Sharon Solution ¤ Somalia and Iraq Looking Back and Ahead ¤ Down and Out in Guantanamo ¤ The Truth at Last Cheney's Close Shave ¤ A Comic Bomb ¤ Why John Kerry Must Retract his Position on Venezuela ¤ A Rebuttal to Senator Kerry’s Statement on Venezuela ¤ George Bush, Lying, & the Dogs of War ¤ At least we know what is not a hate crime ¤ How to spot an antisemitic hate crime hoax ¤ In rush to defend White House, Rice trips over own words ¤ Bush's Iraq WMDs joke backfires ¤ Three Bush protesters taken away by police ¤ Insiders offer unflattering accounts of Bush's decision-making style ¤ Deep Cover ¤ Venezuela troops 'used torture' ¤ Palestinians protest U.S. "licence to kill" ¤ The Prez's Iraq humor bombs ¤ Caribbean Said Not to Accept Haiti Gov't ¤ 13 Killed in Iraq, Including U.S. Marine ¤ Rice the off-stage prima donna in 9/11 hearings ¤ Bush jokes about search for WMD, but it's no laughing matter for critics ¤ Aristide to settle in South Africa ¤ The golden handshake: Brave step or a cynical ploy? ¤ U.S. Officials Fashion Legal Basis to Keep Force in Iraq ¤ U.S. Humvee Destroyed After Attack ¤ The Condoleezza Tales ¤ Four US soldiers among 11 killed in Iraq ¤ US may veto UN measure on Yassin’s death ¤ White House 'exaggerated extent of WMD breakthrough' ¤ White House follows long tradition in attacking Clarke ¤ US soldiers face charges of prisoner abuse ¤ Powell dogged by diplomatic missteps ¤ Bremer to appoint Iraqi national security adviser ¤ Spain's PM rejects plea on Iraq troops ¤ Two US soldiers killed in Iraq ¤ 'Wartime President' MIA ¤ Numerous missteps led to Sept. 11 ¤ How Bush's doctrine of pre-emption was ambushed by reality ¤ 'Against All Enemies' ¤ Clarke Smeared by Neocon Slime Machine ¤ Tony Blair and George Bush have made Osama bin Laden’s task a lot easier ¤ Democracy By Force ¤ Intelligence Failures Now and Then ¤ Speaking to America ¤ Another dodgy dossier ¤ The dilemma the left must confront ¤ Big tent politics: Blair signs new recruit to war on terror Is Venezuela Next? Posted: Thursday, March 25, 2004 Misreporting Venezuela Hugo Chavez as Processed by The Independent Many people read the London based Independent newspaper because among its reporters is the outstanding Robert Fisk. The anti-war stance of the newspaper on Iraq and its stance on genetically manipulated foods and other environmental issues may give the impression that the Independent is a responsible newspaper across the board. But a look at its coverage of Venezuela reveals the same old story of distortion, omission and deceit on US intervention in Latin America that one finds everywhere else in the corporate media. Hysteria Mounts: Is Venezuela Next? Democracy in Latin America might also prove nice if the United States would allow it to occur. Traditionally, when Latin Americans elect governments that show even vague intentions of redistributing the lopsided national wealth toward the poor, US officials get their knickers in a twist and force new elections: the pro-US candidate then emerges. But Washington's rhetorically concealed fusion between popular elections and imperial appointments hardly assures Latin American stability. Latest News Posted: Thursday, March 25, 2004 ¤ Blair meets Gadafy ¤ Shell signs $200m Libya deal ¤ South Africa Will Be Aristide's New Home ¤ US muddle aided Bin Laden ¤ Bush's brand new enemy is the truth ¤ All washed up ¤ Condeleezza Rice disputes comment by vice president ¤ Three U.S. Soldiers Killed in Ambushes in Iraq ¤ Misreporting Venezuela ¤ Hysteria Mounts: Is Venezuela Next? ¤ The True Cost of War ¤ Rebuffing the IMF ¤ Fifty Maoists killed in Nepal air raid ¤ World ports struggle to meet U.S. security standards ¤ MIA WMDs--For Bush, It's a Joke ¤ Fog of War Still Hasn't Lifted ¤ The Media Politics of 9/11 ¤ Truth as a Weapon ¤ Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid ¤ Bush's Meandering Moral Compass ¤ U.S. Election: The World Should Also Have a Vote ¤ No Gloating, Please ¤ President feels the heat, launches an all-out attack ¤ How many more have to come forward? ¤ Fog of war still hasn't lifted ¤ PIN THE TALE ON THE DONKEY ¤ US Blocks UN Rebuke of Israel for Assassination ¤ Israel 'fabricated' child-bomber story ¤ Israel: 14-Year-Old Palestinian Caught With Suicide Belt ¤ Israel seeks sponsor of teen's suicide mission ¤ Aristide still to decide on asylum ¤ Turkey accuses ally Israel of 'terrorism' ¤ Clear Channel execs donate more to Bush ¤ Two US Troops Killed in Iraq Convoy Attacks ¤ Three US troops are killed in Iraq ¤ Ivory Coast Clashes Leave 25 Dead ¤ Bush's brand new enemy is the truth ¤ Zapatero holds firm over Iraqi pullout ¤ A 21st-century protest ¤ Soldier Suicide Rate in Iraq Jumped ¤ Betrayed by an oil giant ¤ Blair hails Gaddafi's courage and offers 'hand in partnership' ¤ 'Mr Aznar, I hold you responsible for the death of my son!' ¤ Australia Must Follow Washington ¤ To the Garbage Cleaners Go the Spoils ¤ Condoleezza Rice's bad week ¤ Iraq under the U.S. thumb ¤ American Conservatives Misread the Spanish Election ¤ Coming soon to Iraq: The Passion of the Handover ¤ Engineering consent: The New York Times' role in promoting war on Iraq ¤ Pentagon Finds Iraq Deals Riddled with Problems ¤ US forces set up base in Afghan mountains for al-Qaeda hunt ¤ US principal accomplice in Israeli state terrorism ¤ Beware the ghost of Sheik Yassin ¤ Iraq seeks aid for oil output ¤ ElBaradei calls for WMD-free Mideast ¤ US appeal to Latham: back off on troops ¤ UN rights assembly condemns killing of Hamas founder ¤ Mercenaries were after Taylor ¤ Who's in Room 106? ¤ Arabs drop peace talk from summit ¤ US got it wrong, says bipartisan panel ¤ Fatal flaws in Iraqi constitution ¤ Bomb discovered under French railway track ¤ Eleven Killed in Ivory Coast Protests ¤ Mexico demands answers over mysterious British cavers ¤ Israel presses on with Gaza offensives ¤ US to lift more Libyan sanctions ¤ Moroccan Jewish leader condemns killing ¤ Blair to visit Libya after oil deal ¤ Afghanistan Not Secure Enough for Credible Elections, UN Says ¤ Bush chided for oil prices Bush Backs Israel's 'Self-Defense' Claim Posted: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 Assassinations 'r Us: Israeli Action Reflects, and Indicts, US Policy Bush Backs Israel on Self-Defense U.N. Begins Debate Over Killing of Hamas Founder President Bush yesterday defended Israel's "right to defend herself from terror," one day after a spokesman said the administration was "deeply troubled" by the assassination of Sheik Ahmed Yassin and concerned it could derail efforts to jump-start the peace process. Full Article Assassinated Hamas leader 'offered Israel a truce' Yassin's killing was a grave miscalculation We'll wipe out entire Hamas leadership, says Israel Hamas adjusts sights and brings Americans in range of its fury Kerry's Foreign Policies no different to Bush's Kerry: "The Cause of Israel is the Cause of America" Kerry rebuffs Venezuela's Chavez Kerry Statement on Venezuela Latest News Posted: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 ¤ Oil firms secretly finance crooked regimes ¤ Record £331m fine for Microsoft ¤ Hamas Says It Will Attack Israel, Not U.S. ¤ General Musharraf's IOU ¤ Four Soldiers From New Afghan Army Killed ¤ Is Anyone Better Off? ¤ No Lie Left Behind ¤ You Are Wrong on Venezuela, Senator Kerry ¤ Kerry Statement on Venezuela ¤ The diplomacy of imperialism: Iraq and US foreign policy ¤ Israel's Assassinations Will Only Fuel Suicide Bombings ¤ Iraq Under the U.S. Thumb ¤ Assassinations 'r Us: Israeli Action Reflects, and Indicts, US Policy ¤ The Forgotten Victims of the War in Iraq ¤ Dissent from Within on Iraq War ¤ Enough is enough ¤ In Protests Across Middle East, Throngs Rail Against Israel, US ¤ Yemeni president: ''Sharon is world's no. 1 terrorist'' ¤ United Nations report: Israeli forces have inflicted a “reign of terror” ¤ 9/11: Blood on Bush's hands? ¤ The Poisoned Well ¤ Blowing the whistle on Mr. Bush ¤ US to increase African military presence ¤ Britain orders asset freeze against Hamas leaders ¤ UN Vehicle Attacked in Kosovo; Two People Killed, AFP Reports ¤ Army worries Iraq strain will lead GIs to quit ¤ Damage keeps Iraqi oil flow low ¤ Sharon is prime target, no plans to attack US interests ¤ Iraqi oil pipeline catches fire ¤ Terror Threat Against German President in Africa ¤ Gunmen kill local Iraqi police chief ¤ Former Official Clarke Warned of 'Hundreds Dead' ¤ Gas Price Hits Record High Again -AAA ¤ Unfamiliar foe in Iraq: Rumor mill ¤ US threatens Syria with stiff sanctions ¤ Croatia Backs Off Iraq Troops, International Court ¤ Bush Concerned About High Gas Prices ¤ Hamas: US threat claim is cynical diversion ¤ British banks ordered to freeze Hamas assets ¤ Israel invades Gaza refugee camp ¤ Bush Backs Israel on Self-Defense ¥ Does Bush also defend Palestine's right to 'self-defense'? ¤ Assassinated Hamas leader 'offered Israel a truce' ¤ Yassin's killing was a grave miscalculation ¥ Israel has once again proven that it does not want 'peace'. ¤ We'll wipe out entire Hamas leadership, says Israel ¤ Hamas adjusts sights and brings Americans in range of its fury ¥ Is Israel creating grounds for the next U.S. 9/11? Flashback ¤ Israel 'faked al-Qaeda presence' ¤ Israel's Killing of Yassin Endangers Americans in Iraq and Elsewhere ¤ Sharon throws more oil on the flames ¤ Sharon Edges Closer to World War ¤ Lessons of Pinochet ¤ With election close, Bush will not risk putting pressure on Sharon ¤ Why Israel killed Yassin ¤ Isolated but defiant, Israel promises to assassinate the entire Hamas leadership ¤ 'Why did Sharon do it?' ¤ On Mideast, US response conflicted ¤ White House in row over September 11 evidence ¤ Terror as a weapon of occupation ¤ September 11: the shocking evidence of secret deals... ¤ US 9/11 hearings political dynamite ¤ Ex-White House aide defends 9/11 allegations ¤ 'A tragic lapse into a blame game' ¤ Nine Iraqi police killed ¤ Terror War’s Legal Cost ¤ 11 cops among 15 killed in Iraq violence ¤ When can Yankees go home? ¤ America in the world ¤ Powell: Beguiling by symbolism ¤ statement from Madeleine K. Albright to the National Commission on 9/11 ¤ Bush rejects criticism of September 11 action ¤ Insurgents Attack U.S. Convoy, Three Dead ¤ Enemies of the truth ¤ The perfect storm that's about to hit ¤ The al-Zawahiri fiasco ¤ Taiwan: Recounts, fights, shredded democracy ¤ Israel invades Gaza refugee camp ¤ Four Palestinians killed in Israeli action ¤ Pakistani toll heavy in offensive ¤ Lost on Planet Rummy ¤ Justifying invasion a full-time job ¤ Why A No-Show? In Yassin slaying, Arabs see US hand Posted: Tuesday, March 23, 2004 csmonitor.com WASHINGTON – The "wink" the United States has given Israel in the wake of its assassination of the spiritual leader of Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, exemplifies once again how successful Israel has been at aligning its fight against militant Palestinians with the US war on terror. At the same time, the apparent tacit US approval - which contrasts with the swift condemnation of the killing by other countries - suggests why the road ahead in the Middle East remains so arduous for the US. What looks to Arabs in the region like a US "green light" to Israel also raises the prospect that the US, or at least American interests in the region, will become a target of militant Palestinian reprisal. Full Article ¤ Israeli terrorism ¤ Yassin's killing to harm peace process ¥ Is this what Israel and the U.S. wanted? ¤ In Yassin slaying, Arabs see US hand ¤ The calculus of killing ¤ Why did Sharon give the word? ¤ Egypt leads chorus of outrage ¤ UK and Europe condemn killing ¤ US fails to condemn Yassin assassination ¤ Europe censures attack; U.S. doesn't Latest News Posted: Tuesday, March 23, 2004 ¤ Nine Police Trainees Gunned Down in Iraq ¤ Israel 'targeting entire Hamas leadership' Flashback ¤ Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin signaled truce ¤ Madrid Bombings Death Toll Lowered to 190 ¤ Israelis Promulgate Extrajudicial Murder and the U.S. Looks On ¤ It's Hard for politicians to Say War Wasn't Worth It ¤ Bush's 9/11 Myths Endanger US ¤ Jewish Voice for Peace Condemns Israeli Killing of Hamas Leader ¤ Kerry rebuffs Venezuela's Chavez ¤ Kerry Statement on Venezuela ¤ It Takes a Nitwit ¤ Wag the Osama ¤ A Stand-Up Guy ¤ Why do Americans just LOVE getting sucker-punched by George Bush? ¤ 'Before these crowded streets' ¤ Haitian Rebels Outnumbered, Outgun Police ¤ White House denies Bush obsession with Iraq ¤ Chechen diplomat describes genocide ¤ A Day When the White House Reversed Stand on the Killing ¤ Afghan aviation minister killed in assault on military: commander ¤ U.S. objectives at risk in anti-Israel backlash ¤ Israeli terrorism ¤ Yassin's killing to harm peace process ¥ Is this what Israel and the U.S. wanted? ¤ In Yassin slaying, Arabs see US hand ¤ The calculus of killing ¤ Why did Sharon give the word? ¤ Egypt leads chorus of outrage ¤ UK and Europe condemn killing ¤ US fails to condemn Yassin assassination ¤ Europe censures attack; U.S. doesn't ¤ The attack on Iraq is another chapter of terrorism from the West ¤ Assassination method ¤ Israel to continue 'liquidating' leaders ¤ The life and death of Shaikh Yasin ¤ Blood on their hands ¤ 9/11 hijackers could have been stopped, says ex-aide ¤ White House rebuffs terror expert's savaging of Bush over Iraq ¤ British soldiers injured in Basra ¤ Pakistani Army Convoy Ambushed, 12 Dead ¤ Pakistan's border campaign 'a stunt' ¤ US paying Pakistan $100m monthly for logistics support ¤ Suspects may have escaped through secret tunnels ¤ A War (At Any Cost) President ¤ A blow that may only strengthen Hamas ¤ A charter to intervene ¤ 'Costly war' jibe irks Bush team ¤ Spain frees Moroccan over Madrid bombings ¤ Don't endorse charter Shiite cleric warns U.N. ¤ My Palestinian Wife ¤ Iraqi policemen killed in Kirkuk ¤ U-turn reveals US split on policy ¤ Globalisation: a crow with peacock feathers ¤ The White House Press Corpse ¤ 5 said killed in clashes with IDF in W. Bank, Gaza ¤ Assassination and its price ¤ No WMD in Iraq comment 'taken out of context' Latest News Posted: Monday, March 22, 2004 ¤ Israel assassinates Hamas leader ¤ Sharon vows to continue 'war on terror' ¤ U.S. will retain power in Iraq after transfer of sovereignty ¤ The Wrong Target ¤ The Consequences of Bush's War ¤ Is Bush Unhinged? ¤ What do you mean 'we' were wrong? ¤ Is Spain Caving in to Terrorism? ¤ The Assassination of Sheikh Yassin > Worse Than a Crime; It is an Act of Stupidity ¤ Yassin killing 'a mistake' ¤ U.S. says shooting of cameraman was justified ¤ UK troops hurt in Iraq blasts ¤ US panics over Spain's decision to get out of Iraq ¤ Ireland Lawmakers Want Unarmed Bush Visit ¤ 2 Finnish businessmen shot dead in Baghdad ¤ Karl Rove's Moment ¤ No proof Kosovo children were drowned by Serb attackers ¤ 4 Are Killed as Rockets Hit Near Baghdad Fairground ¤ US paying $100m monthly for logistics support ¤ The slow walk out of their shock and awe ¤ Bad Blood ¤ White House assails ex-aide's 9/11 'tell-all' book ¤ America wakes up and smells the... ¤ Bogus war, Spanish sense ¤ Bush's Terror Hysteria ¤ 'Marching for peace is good, getting rid of Bush is better' ¤ 'Vote theft in 2004: Deja vu all over again' ¤ 'We have yet to learn the lessons of the Arab oil embargo' ¤ Muslim women still oppressed ¤ When Rupert Murdoch Calls...Condoleezza Rice Answers ¤ Songs of Cuba, Silenced in America ¤ One Year Later ¤ Ripples from Spain are Rocking Australia ¤ 'Hey George, thanks for nothing: Muslim women still oppressed' ¤ Tens of Thousands Mourn Yassin ¤ Dow Closes Down 122; Nasdaq Falls 31 ¤ War on Terror Is Suffering in Courtrooms ¤ World stock markets fall sharply ¤ Telling the imperialists to go to hell ¤ Defiant in San Francisco ¤ Old and Young Parade for Peace ¤ White House Fights Terror Claims ¤ Israel Kills Hamas Leader Yassin in Rocket Strike ¤ Israel kills Hamas' Sheikh Ahmad Yasin Flashback ¤ Israel to intensify target killing of Palestinians ¤ Aide's Book Faults Bush 9/11 Response ¤ The Smell of a Real Scandal ¤ Nepalese army 'kills 500 rebels' ¤ Canada to sell marijuana over-the-counter ¤ Taiwan chaos: Chen wins poll, results disputed ¤ Insults fly as poll ends in chaos ¤ Two Israelis suspected of smuggling weapons to Iran ¤ The crime committed in our name ¤ Over 100 killed in Afghan clashes ¤ Airspace violation by US chopper protested ¤ Now, a major non-Nato ally ¤ Britain will never go the way of Spain ¤ Hundred dead in Afghan violence ¤ Taiwan voters demand proof of shooting ¤ Carter savages Blair and Bush: 'Their war was based on lies' ¤ Afghan minister's killing sparks violence ¤ Several Palestinians killed in Gaza raid ¤ New PM flies in to praise rebel gang ¤ Head of Haiti Force Says Won't Disarm Gunmen ¤ U.S. Marines Shoot, Wound 2 Men in Haiti ¤ War on Islamic militants is a stunt, say Pakistan tribal leaders ¤ Frail foe of Israel ¤ French soldier killed in Haiti Israeli Airstrike Kills Hamas Founder Posted: Monday, March 22, 2004 Israeli Airstrike Kills Hamas Founder GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)--Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder and leader of the Hamas militant group that targeted Israelis in suicide bombings, was killed by missiles fired from Israeli helicopters as he left a mosque at daybreak Monday, witnesses said. Hamas confirmed the death in an announcement broadcast over mosque loudspeakers and vowed revenge against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Full Article One year on: Blair told it's time to quit Posted: Sunday, March 21, 2004 By James Cusick, www.sundayherald.com George Bush yesterday ignored global anti-war protests on the anniversary of the war in Iraq and instead proclaimed that it had been "good for America". But in sharp contrast Tony Blair remained publicly silent as tens of thousands took to the streets in London and Glasgow while the former Labour foreign secretary, Lord Owen, used the occasion to call on Blair to stand down, saying his "shelf-life" was almost over and he should not repeat the mistake of Margaret Thatcher by staying too long. Owen said he had held discussions with Blair over Mrs Thatcher staying in office too long. "He was very conscious of this fact." Speaking on GMTV today Owen said he thought eight years in power for Blair was enough and that "his [Blair's] shelf life is coming to an end and he ought to have enough sense to see it." Full Article CNN ends up with "much egg on its face" Posted: Sunday, March 21, 2004 By Khalid Hasan, www.dailytimes.com Washington: After according saturation-type coverage to the al-Zawahiri story most of the day Thursday, CNN, realising it had raised worldwide expectations of the imminent capture or death of Osama bin Laden’s deputy, suddenly dropped the story Friday. "There should be many red faces at CNN which calls itself the 'world's news leader' today because of what it did Thursday," said a New York-based South Asian journalist who like millions of people across the world stayed glued to his television set most of the day, waiting for the drama to come to an end. Full Article Latest News Posted: Sunday, March 21, 2004 ¤ Mosque blasts expose deadly power struggle ¤ Afghan Minister, 50 to 100 Others Killed ¤ 22 GIs Die in Iraq This Week as 2 U.S. Soldiers Killed Sunday ¤ Israel prepares for the 'day after' court's fence ruling ¤ Ask No Questions ¤ Support for the war in Iraq declines in Texas, poll finds ¤ The Bush doctrine has been turned on its head ¤ Ask No Questions ¤ Is this any way for a nation to act? ¤ For Black America, The Thrill of Powell and Rice Is Gone ¤ As many as 100 killed in Afghan fighting ¤ The Unmentionable Source of Terrorism ¤ US Afghan allies committed massacre ¤ Iraq pullout all but inevitable for Zapatero ¤ Blair lays low during Iraq anniversary ¤ Taiwan's opposition challenges election ¤ Global protests mark invasion anniversary ¤ Tens of thousands of Britons protest against Iraq war ¤ Egypt rallies against Iraq war ¤ Thousands rally against the war in New York; other demonstrations planned ¤ Iraq Peace March held in Kyiv, Ukraine ¤ Millions demand end to Iraq occupation ¤ The strategic interests behind the ‘debut appearance of Al-Qaeda’ in Europe ¤ Worldwide protests demand Iraq pullout ¤ Iraq war chest 'will be empty by July' ¤ Major Protests Mark Iraq War Anniversary ¤ War protest moves peacefully through Chicago ¤ 100,000 at NYC rally against the war ¤ Millions protest against Iraq war ¤ Marine killed in anniversary attack ¤ Israel invades Gaza City ¤ U.S. Charges 6 Officers in Iraqi Abuse ¤ The secret war ¤ One year on, and still the hard core march the world over ¤ Iraqis unite to condemn interim constitution ¤ Malta joins Global Anti-War Protest ¤ Tens of Thousands Peacefully Protest War ¤ Global anti-war protests on the Iraqi war anniversary ¤ US chopper attacks Pakistan by mistake ¤ 41 killed in Wana operation ¤ US warplanes bomb Pak territory ¤ US airstrike kills six Afghans ¤ Four US soldiers among six killed in Iraq ¤ 11 die, 41 troops hurt in held Kashmir ¤ Painful anniversary ¤ Spain’s March 11 ¤ One Year in the Quagmire: We learned anything yet? ¤ New 'fake stories' row hits US media ¤ Top US journalist fabricated reports ¤ Unbelievable timing, incredible account ¤ Bush's Ex-Terror Adviser Blasts President ¤ Hopes fading that al-Qaida leaders trapped ¤ MPs charged with abuse in Iraq ¤ Israeli Troops Kill 5 Palestinians in Gaza-Medics ¤ Rumsfeld pushed Iraq as 'good target': book Latest News Posted: Saturday, March 20, 2004 ¤ Spaniards Offended by Wolfowitz Comment ¤ Thousands take to Sydney streets ¤ Anti-war protesters to stage peace rally in Rome ¤ Demo to mark Iraq war anniversary ¤ Thousands in Asia Protest Iraq War ¤ Peace protests follow the sun ¤ The year of delusion ¤ US soldier electrocuted in Iraq ¤ Palestinian girl, 7, dies after being shot by IDF in Gaza ¤ Baghdad in no mood to celebrate ¤ Rumsfeld Calls Saddam an Uncooperative Prisoner ¤ U.S. Bombing Kills Six Civilians - Afghan Officials ¤ Sunnis: Feeling Of Being Excluded ¤ CNN ends up with "much egg on its face" ¤ Intolerable Opinions in an Age of Shock and Awe ¤ Tony Blair's Moral Responsibility for Atrocities ¤ The Plot Against Syria ¤ Fox News and the Masters of War ¤ Kerry and Black America ¤ 1000 in Brisbane war protest ¤ Londoners clock big anti-war protest ¤ Bush misleads on Iraq goals ¤ Occupied Iraq: The myth of 'normality' ¤ Rights Group Slams US Actions in Iraq ¤ Turabi criticizes Washington's exaggeration of magnifying al-Qaida's size ¤ Getting Together to Defeat Terrorism ¤ Taiwan Counts Votes in Cliffhanger Election ¤ Arab journalists confront Powell ¤ Bush calls for unity in Iraq mission ¤ Military drops all charges against chaplain ¤ Demands have U.S. candidates counting cash ¤ War protest in S.F. ¤ Iraq War Protesters Arrested in San Francisco ¤ Battle rages with al Qaeda fighters ¤ WMD AWOL from Bush Speech ¤ Iraqis stage anti-US demonstration ¤ Can Iraq embrace democracy? ¤ Wheels fall off US war doctrine ¤ Blair vulnerable after Spain's voter backlash ¤ US $300m to help Pakistan fight terrorism ¤ Two US soldiers, journalist killed in Iraq ¤ Blasts rock Kosovo as NATO troops pour in ¤ Madrid bombings result of US policy ¤ Pot calling the kettle black ¤ Ex - Advisor Says Bush Eyed Bombing of Iraq on 9 / 11 ¤ With Bush logo, made in Burma ¤ USE A COCKROACH TO CATCH A COCKROACH ¤ USA Today says reporter faked major stories ¤ Raid rewards soft line by Bush on smuggling ¤ History will damn them ¤ US firms try to block cheap Aids drugs ¤ Bomb Kills Two Soldiers in Kashmir ¤ Al-Qaida links denied in court ¤ In Morocco's gateway to Europe, disbelief greets arrests over Madrid bombings ¤ Chomsky backs 'Bush-lite' Kerry ¤ Bush's re-election prospects hang on Iraq ¤ Another Ayatollah ¤ Bush 'gunning' for Iraq after 911 ¤ UN experts back in Iraq within days ¤ Al-Qaida leaders 'safe' ¤ Bush seeks to rally support for war ¤ Bush likely to bar Syrian flights in new sanctions ¤ Powell voices concern over Saudi arrests ¤ Bush strives to stiffen wavering allies U.S. furious at Jamaica for embrace of Aristide Posted: Friday, March 19, 2004 By Andres Oppenheimer, www.miami.com Jamaica's decision to welcome former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has infuriated Bush administration officials, who say U.S. relations with English-speaking Caribbean countries have reached a new low. Senior U.S. officials refuse to speculate whether Washington will retaliate against Jamaica, which currently presides over the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) regional bloc. But other U.S. officials say that if Aristide's return from Africa to the Caribbean triggers new bloodshed in Haiti and U.S. troops get in harm's way, there would be congressional calls for a strong U.S. reaction against Jamaica. "U.S. officials say much of CARICOM's tilt to the left in recent years is because of its member countries' reliance on Venezuelan oil and their chronic complains that Washington fails to pay attention to its Caribbean neighbors. Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chávez, a close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro, is influencing most Caribbean decisions these days, they say." Full Article Latest News Posted: Friday, March 19, 2004 ¤ Ex-Advisor Says Bush Eyed Bombing of Iraq on 9/11 ¤ Madrid tremors reach Italy ¤ Spaniards Offended by Wolfowitz Comment ¤ Negative power ¤ Blix Says Iraq War May Have Worsened Terror Threat ¤ Arab Journalists Walk Out of Colin Powell's Press Conference ¤ Zapatero to Kerry: Back Off, Senator, Our Troops Are Coming Home ¤ Roll Back this Coup, Mr. Bush ¤ Spinning the Past; Threatening the Future ¤ "Missing" Evidence ¤ The End of Aznar, Bush's Best Friend ¤ Canada Got it Right on Iraq ¤ We Aren't the World ¤ The Made for TV Presidency ¤ Bush's Distortions Misled Congress in Its War Vote ¤ We Were Led to War Under False Pretenses ¤ 16 GIs Die in Iraq This Week as 2 Marines Killed Today ¤ Welcome to the quagmire ¤ Assessing the Bush Doctrine Experiment, One Year Later ¤ George Bush: Seven Days, Fourteen Lies ¤ Pilger claims proof of WMD lies ¤ Bush Urges Poland Not to Waver in Iraq ¤ Predictions off mark on Iraq war's impact ¤ Galloway accepts damages over newspaper claims he received Iraqi money ¤ 'Mission demolished' ¤ Iraqi Reporters Rebuff Powell, Leave News Conference ¤ 'Taken for a ride' ¤ 'Lies, damn lies and Scott McClellan' ¤ Night Sweats ¤ SPANISH LIE ¤ Gas Prices Set to Rise; Crude Oil at Highest Cost since 1990 ¤ The invasion of Iraq was Britain's worst foreign policy blunder since Suez ¤ Bremer expects "some really bad days" ahead of June 30 transfer date ¤ Iraq War Protesters Arrested in San Francisco ¤ Are the Balkans set to explode again? ¤ Violence flares on Iraq war anniversary ¤ Pakistan is awarded favoured ally status by US ¤ Powell Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq ¤ US Asians and Hispanics to triple in number as baby boomers fade away ¤ Suspect in coup plot dies ¤ Like it or not, the west just can't leave the Middle East ¤ Journalists' death toll increases ¤ Cheney's friend to rule on case ¤ Arab TV worker 'killed by US troops' ¤ U.S. commander sees no end to Iraq violence ¤ Silencing the Truth About the Attacks in Spain ¤ 'Secret service caught by bluffs and blunders' ¤ Rift Over Iraq Belies Much Deeper Strains ¤ This Cliché Is A Lie ¤ One Drop of Government Is All It Takes ¤ More Turning To The Net For News ¤ 11 more killed in Iraq ¤ Bush has made world a more dangerous place: Mahathir ¤ UN poll team attacked in Afghanistan ¤ At the losing end ¤ The disarming facts ¤ Taiwan's president shot ¤ US shuts embassy as Kosovo death toll rises ¤ Afghan offensive: Grand plans hit rugged reality ¤ Pakistan as a 'key non-NATO ally' ¤ VIOLENCE IN IRAQ: 'No one is safe anymore' ¤ Secretary of State Powell visits Iraq amid weeklong rebel offensive ¤ Powell hails Iraq war after year of bloodshed ¤ Whites' years as US majority numbered ¤ Sacked army officer named in Mandela home shoot-out ¤ Stumbles at the top put the war on terror at risk ¤ Bush Marks First Anniversary of Iraq War ¤ The American right strikes back ¤ Opening up the IMF ¤ Pride and pre-emption ¤ Purgatory in Iraq ¤ Spinning the Past, Threatening the Future ¤ More dead, more spin ¤ A year later, U.S. faces greater risk ¤ Only one line of work is booming, in Baghdad and that is security ¤ Bush vows to do 'whatever it takes' to win in Iraq ¤ IDF officer to be charged in deaths of 4 Palestinians ¤ US Moves to Seize More Iraqi Assets ¤ UN poll team attacked in Afghanistan ¤ U.S.-led force in Haiti tries to disarm population ¤ Zapatero rejects Kerry call on Iraq troops ¤ Second journalist killed by US in Baghdad ¤ S Korea won't send troops to Kirkuk Latest News Posted: Thursday, March 18, 2004 ¤ Haitians Hesitant to Surrender Weapons Flashback Saddam Hussein Did Not Commit Genocide ¤ Israel gets its 1st slice of Iraqi pie ¤ U.S.: Syria Might Pay for Terror Stance ¤ End of hot meals for U.S. troops in Iraq? ¤ Journalists Find Many Ways to Kill Truth in Iraq ¤ No Surprise That Media Briefing on Iraq Costs Was Cancelled ¤ US troops shoot dead journalist in Baghdad ¤ Aristide's Fall was Really a U.S.-led Coup ¤ The Worst of Bush's Iraq Whoppers ¤ 237 misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq ¤ Poland 'Misled' on Iraq, President Says ¤ US downplays Polish criticism over Iraq WMD ¤ Massive Iraq protests planned in the US ¤ US-led forces 'violate' rights in Iraq ¤ Last Rites for the Bush Doctrine ¤ Halliburton Made $73 Million from Saddam ¤ Hastert, Bush and Cheney on Spain ¤ The Chickens Come Home to Roost ¤ Soft Target, Hostile Crowd ¤ 'The 'war' president' ¤ Bush vs. informed voters ¤ Bomb kills 27 in Iraq ¤ Iraq invasion 'a fiasco': PM ¤ White House feels blast impact ¤ Powell highlights nation's progress ¤ Death toll surpasses 55 in northern Russia apartment-building blast ¤ 22 People Killed in Kosovo Rioting ¤ Kerry Criticizes Bush's Iraq Policy ¤ Pentagon Won't Pay Halliburton $300M ¤ Al-Qaeda threatens Australia ¤ Baghdad hotel bombing toll rises to 29 ¤ World opinion hardens against US policy ¤ Mel Gibson joins stars to question Iraq war ¤ US likely to slap investment sanctions on Syria ¤ Lessons from Spain ¤ French Interior Ministry propaganda department of FSB? ¤ Imperial schizophrenia ¤ Taking Stock One Year After the U.S. Invasion of Iraq Flashback ¤ Things We Don't Know ¤ Martha Stewart's ‘Crime' ¤ Madrid 2004 = Munich 1938? Not Even Close ¤ 2 U.S. Soldiers Die in Iraq Mortar Attack ¤ Bush fears the truth will set him free ¤ Spain's Zapatero Rejects Bush Appeal on Iraq ¤ This Cliché Is A Lie ¤ Blair and Zapatero clash on troops for Iraq ¤ MPs criticise Israel over treatment of Palestinians ¤ War of words as Rwanda marks genocide ¤ Kofi Annan calls Aznar author of his own defeat ¤ Welcome to the Titanic ¤ Two Iraqi Journalists Killed in Shooting ¤ US casualties mount ahead of anniversary ¤ Bashir: Spain paid price for coat-tailing US ¤ US vs. Europe: two views of terror ¤ 'Liberating' Saudi's Shi'ites (and their oil) ¤ $400m boost for war on terrorism ¤ Probing U.S. ties to Haiti coup ¤ France Minister: Terror Threat Not Typical ¤ Iraqis say life is better but want U.S. out: Poll ¤ One Year later: Imposing 'universal values' ¤ William Safire: UN kickbacks in Iraq ¤ After Madrid ¤ Anti-War Activists Call for Bush Censure Over Iraq ¤ Pentagon Withholds 15 Percent of Halliburton Bills ¤ Why catching bin Laden is difficult ¤ Shock and Awe, from Mesopotamia to Madrid ¤ Just another Baghdad car bombing ¤ US foreign policy is popular - in the US Haiti's New "illegitimate" Government Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 Venezuela Won't Recognize Haiti's New "illegitimate" Government Caracas, March 17 (Venezuelanalysis.com).- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced yesterday that his government will not recognize Haiti's new government, which according to him is illegitimate because it is the product of a coup d'etat. According to Aristide and other sources, he was forced by U.S. military personell to board a U.S. airplane which took him out of the country. The Venezuelan President has said that Aristide had called him shortly before he was flown out of Haiti, but that the conversation was mysteriously cut out, an evidence that he was being kidnapped. Full Article Latest News Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 ¤ Iraq: a year of war ¤ Zapatero stands by Spanish troop withdrawal ¤ Powerful blast shatters Baghdad hotel ¤ Spirits of Haiti ¤ Intelligence failure, misinterpretation or deceit? Flashback ¤ In Their Own Words: Iraq's 'Imminent' Threat ¤ Bush's War Exercise: The Backpedal ¤ That's the way the coalition crumbles: Honduras gone, Netherlands may be next ¤ Majority of Turks oppose US-led anti-terrorism effort, poll says ¤ Growing anti-US sentiment in Europe ¤ Killing Iraq With Kindness ¤ Spain Got the Point ¤ Harvard Author Unveils Latest Alarmist Theory ¤ Al-Qaeda 'planning attack by sea' ¤ US sergeant repulsed by Iraq war ¤ A rejection of the Bush Doctrine ¤ Israel Kills 4 in Stepped-Up Gaza Raids ¤ Crude Oil Jumps to 13-Year High ¤ Crude Oil Hits 13-Year High ¤ Afghan president hints at delaying general elections ¤ Bush camp exposed as 'serial liars' ¤ France accused over Tutsi genocide ¤ Madrid: UN's Credibility Critically Wounded ¤ Iraqi Exile Group Fed False Information to News Media ¤ Chávez opens door to Aristide ¤ Dem Congresswoman Questions Aristide Departure ¤ Madrid bomb suspect linked to UK extremists ¤ Gap Grows Between US, World Public Opinion ¤ Terrorists – and Freedom Fighters? ¤ War Or Terror Or War On Liberties? ¤ The Reign in Spain Falls Mainly on the Pain ¤ Untruth And Consequences ¤ Europe and the US are now adrift ¤ Iraqi politician hits a wall of frustration ¤ Annual Report Due on the War For Political, Corporate Profit ¤ Spain's Sophisticated Voters ¤ The Pinocchio presidency ¤ US Sets 'Terrible Example' in Afghanistan ¤ Israel to intensify target killing of Palestinians ¥ We are going to kill Palestinians... ¤ 'New Spanish premier not giving in to terrorism' ¤ Taking an elephant to bed ¤ Flames of war spread to Pakistan ¤ The emergence of hyperterrorism ¤ US hawks blocking normalisation with Iran ¤ Spain's wake-up call to US - to lead, listen to global constituents ¤ US Mideast plan: right idea; wrong, ham-handed approach ¤ US turns on Spanish 'appeasement' ¤ America's Image Further Erodes ¤ Vote in Spain may spell trouble for Berlusconi ¤ Castro calls on S. American troops to quit Iraq ¤ Bush could try UN resolution to save coalition ¤ Saddam Not Giving Much Information - U.S. Official ¥ At least not the information they want the world to hear... ¤ Bush Urges Dutch Leader Not to Follow Spaniards Out of Iraq ¤ Seventh Iraq war veteran kills himself ¤ Spain got the point ¤ 'Making politics with horror and blood' ¤ Spain accused of easing up on terror watch ¤ Howard won't face the music on Iraq ¤ Howard at end of credibility line on Iraq ¤ So Bush is tough on terrorism? Don't believe it ¤ West 'has failed to stop' Congo war profiteering from war' Venezuela Won't Recognize New Haitian Government Posted: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 Venezuela opens doors to President Jean Bertrand Aristide and criticizes Organization of American States (OAS) Bylined to: Patrick J. O'Donoghue; Vheadline.com Venezuela opens doors to President Jean Bertrand Aristide and criticizes Organization of American States (OAS) President Hugo Chavez Frias says Venezuela will open its doors to receive deposed Haitian President Jean Bertrand Aristide and has called on the Organization of American States (OAS) to be more pro-active about the kidnapping of a President elected by the People. Speaking at the closure of an Andean Region Health Ministers meeting in Puerto Ordaz, has raised what he calls the humanitarian issue of a president deposed by US troops ... "I'm sure that more could be done with the effort of many countries." Venezuela has already donated $100 million to health projects through Central and South America and recently has sent oil supplies, along with medicines, food and water to Haiti to keep the hospitals functioning. President Chavez Frias' offer to President Aristide comes at the critical moment, as Aristide touches down in Jamaica for a visit and frenzied US State Department mandarins implement measures to curtail possibilities of Aristide returning to power in Haiti or dictating policy to followers from a Caribbean base. Analysts suggest that Caribbean Economic Community (Caricom) leaders hold the key to pushing the Aristide issue and this latest offer from President Chavez Frias may force their hand to lobby the OAS, at least to review the case in the light of OAS Democratic Charter, which the Venezuelan opposition and the USA government has waved in front of President Chavez Frias since the political conflict in Venezuela escalated. (Source: Vheadline.com) Latest News Posted: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 ¤ Venezuela Won't Recognize New Haitian Government, Chavez Says ¤ US general says Iraq can do without Spanish troops ¤ Arab lawyers denounce US meddling ¤ Israeli attack helicopters take aim on house, car in Gaza ¤ Translator for U.S. Forces Shot Dead in Iraq ¤ The Bushes' New World Disorder ¤ The Fruits of Poverty ¤ Dear W, Your Father Knew Best ¤ Madrid Diary ¤ The History Behind the Spanish Elections ¤ Aznar Was Going Anyway ¤ The Aftershocks from Madrid ¤ The truth leaks out ¤ Rumsfeld Caught Lying, Yet Again ¤ Spanish victor says Iraq war based on 'lies' ¤ Two killed in Israeli raid ¤ Spanish leader accuses Bush and Blair ¤ A brutal lesson for Blair ¤ Audiences for US journalists decline ¤ Bush's feminine side ¤ 'You can't organise a war with lies' ¤ Bush's woes pile up as election beckons ¤ Imperial schizophrenia ¤ The U.S. Global Empire ¤ Election Year Predictions ¤ Don't Trust Newspapers ¤ Bush Loses Spanish Election ¤ Madrid: UN's credibility critically wounded ¤ Spanish election sets off global shock wave ¤ US bludgeons nations to reject war crimes court ¤ Jamaica Criticized Over Aristide's Return ¤ The answer to terror is plain ¤ For Bush, a new diplomatic hurdle ¤ Three U.S. Baptists killed in Iraq ¤ The Iraq War: Is the United States Better Off? ¤ Government Lies on Iraq, Bombings, Led to Defeat at the Polls ¤ Spanish Blowback: Iraq War Boomerangs ¤ US seeks support for Iran stance ¤ Israel urges West to keep up pressure ¤ Spanish Flu ¤ Now it is paying the price of the 'war on terror' ¤ Three Days in Spain ¤ Official Doubts in Kelly's Death ? ¤ Taos Residents to Topple Statue of Donald Rumsfeld ¤ Three killed in US raid on Afghan cave ¤ Soldier who refused to return to Iraq to surrender in North Miami ¤ Anti-Iraq War U.S. Soldier to Surrender ¤ Let's not kid ourselves there are easy deals with fanatics ¤ Power balance blown apart ¤ A Vindicated Hans Blix Returns to U.S. ¤ Aristide back in the Caribbean ¤ Israel promises more assassinations ¤ Spanish troops 'critical' to Iraq, U.S. says ¤ An upset in Spain ¤ The IMF is not the property of the rich ¤ Blix: Lack of 'Critical Judgment' Led to Iraq War ¤ Bush puts brave face on crushing diplomatic blow ¤ Haiti suspends ties with CARICOM ¤ Relatives of US soldiers killed in Iraq protest outside US base ¤ Most Canadians believe US president lied to justify Iraq war Latest News Posted: Monday, March 15, 2004 ¤ Gunmen Kill 3 U.S. Civilians, Wound 2 in Iraq ¤ 3 U.S. Civilians Killed in Iraq Shooting ¤ Pride and Preconceptions ¤ U.S. Marine shot and wounded in Haiti ¤ Smearing the messenger ¤ Terror Nothing New to Europe ¤ The Tragic Symmetry of Terrorism ¤ Haiti: a Coup without Consultation ¤ Liars Lose -- The Lessons of Regime Change in Spain ¤ Spanish Voters Throw Out Pro-War Party ¤ The Truth Leaks Out ¤ Bush Leans on Vacationers to Cuba ¤ Kennedy: the public may never trust Blair again ¤ Bush administration shills pose as journalists for bogus TV news ¤ Beware instant democracy ¤ Imagine if there were oil in Haiti ¤ Aristide Arrives in Jamaica, Haiti Incensed ¤ Furious at Jamaica welcoming Aristide, Haiti freezes diplomatic ties ¤ Blowback: U.S.- and Israeli-Style ¤ Furious voters oust Spanish government ¤ Angry voters demand to know the truth behind carnage ¤ Spanish government admits defeat ¤ Spanish PM-elect: Iraq war a disaster ¤ America's Financial War on Terror: Fighting for Failure ¤ Socialists Oust Spain's Conservatives ¤ Gloating at Madrid's graveside ¤ Election blow to Bush's war on terror ¤ Don't flinch in fight against terror, warns White House ¤ Bush Officials Say Iraq War Worthwhile ¤ Aristide due to arrive in Jamaica later today ¤ U.S. forces kill three in gunbattle during raid on Afghanistan cave complex ¤ Kissinger, Nixon condoned assassination, human rights abuses in Chile ¤ Rumsfeld: Iraq Weapons May Still Be Found ¤ Arms and the Man ¤ US Soldiers Kill 1 Uniformed Man, Wound 1, On Iraq Border ¤ Basque's gesture costs his life ¤ After attack, Spaniards channel anger at the polls ¤ Voters reshape Spanish politics after terror strikes ¤ Bush aides confident over war on terror ¤ New PM promises realignment in Europe ¤ US sends special forces into north Africa Flashback With Mideast uncertainty, US turns to Africa for oil Flashback Bush in Africa, but is he there to plunder or provide? ¤ ''How Involved Was the United States in the Removal of Aristide?'' ¤ 12 Taliban killed in US air raid in Kandahar ¤ Syria strives to endure US pressure ¤ Nuclear watchdog and Iran trade accusations ¤ 'New planet' discovered ¤ Suicide Bombers Kill 11 at Israeli Port ¤ Deep-rooted commodity trap lies behind Africa's poverty ¤ Trade centre relics cast a shadow ¤ Bombs backlash seals Socialist win ¤ The West was warned. Now it is paying the price of the 'war on terror' ¤ Police Detain Supporters of Aristide Spanish vote out War Govt, they were just waiting Posted: Monday, March 15, 2004 NEW SPANISH GOVERNMENT The bombs in Madrid have cost the Spanish government its hold on power - they have conceded defeat to opposition Socialists in the general elections. The government of Jose Maria Aznar was judged on its response to the atrocity, in which 200 people died, and its support for the war in Iraq. Speaking after the victory, Socialist leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said his priority is to combat terrorism. Official results from Spain's general elections show the opposition Socialist Party leading the ruling Popular Party by 43.1% to 37.1%. The figures are based on results after 77% of the votes were counted, Reuters news agency reported. According to figures, more than 62% of voters turned out for the elections - over seven percent more than the number in the last elections four years ago. Full Article Socialists Oust Spain's Conservatives MADRID, Spain - The opposition Socialists scored a dramatic upset win in Spain's general election Sunday, unseating conservatives stung by charges they provoked the Madrid terror bombings by supporting the U.S.-led war in Iraq and making Spain a target for al-Qaida. Full Article Bombs backlash seals Socialist win Spain's Socialists won a sensational victory in yesterday's general elections, in a vote that confounded the polls and inflicted a huge punishment on the Popular Party government for supporting the war in Iraq. One of the main planks of Mr Zapatero's platform was his promise to bring home the 1,300 Spanish troops now serving with the coalition in Iraq. This is a position supported by all the other parties in opposition to the Popular Party. Full Article Spain 'to withdraw Iraq troops' Spain's Socialist Party prime minister-elect has confirmed his intention to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq. Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said: "The war in Iraq was a disaster, the occupation of Iraq is a disaster." Full Article Angry voters demand to know the truth behind carnage At El Pozo, the polling station overlooked the tracks where the last bomb exploded. A train carriage with its middle blown out, steel guts still dangling, sat marooned in a car park metres from the door. It was guarded by a lone policeman drawing on a cigarette. But as voters filed in, it was clear that the grim reminders of Thursday's bombing would cause an angry electorate to punish the People's party (PP) in spectacular fashion. Full Article New PM promises realignment in Europe The big question on foreign policy remains whether Mr Zapatero sticks to his guns and withdraws Spain's 1,300 troops from Iraq if the UN does not take control by June 30. The crowds outside his party headquarters shouting "No to war!" last night will certainly expect that. In Europe, Mr Zapatero can be expected to move closer to France and Germany, though Spain's record as a tough partner that fights its corner hard in the EU is unlikely to change. Full Article Racist Globovision Network Posted: Sunday, March 14, 2004 Racist Comments in Venezuelan TV www.venezuelanalysis.com Racist Comments in Venezuelan TV "an Offense to the African People", African Ambassadors Say As "a grotesque and indecent spectacle full of racist content" a group of Ambassadors from African nations in Venezuela described the ridicule of the President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe in a local TV show broadcasted by the commercial network Globovision. A letter sent to the General Manager of Globovision, Alberto Federico Ravell, by representatives of several diplomatic missions from Africa (including Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Saharawi, South Africa and Nigeria) expressed deep rejection and astonishment for what they consider to be offensive remarks "against the African people and human dignity". The clip featured humorous music and snoring sounds in the background while the show's host Leopoldo Castillo mentioned that it reminded him of the movie "The Planet of the Apes". One of the show's guest, Humberto Calderon Berti, added that the Mugabe incident reminded him "of a little dog falling off a taxicab". Berti is a former president of the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA and former president of OPEC during the governments headed by the parties that ruled the country for more than forty years, and which are now seeking to oust Chavez. Leopoldo Castillo also enjoyed privileges during previous governments as Venezuela's ambassador to El Salvador in the 80's. The other show host, Marisabel Párraga, also laughed at Mugabe. Full Article Latest News Posted: Sunday, March 14, 2004 ¤ Debunking the Media's Lies about President Aristide ¤ Putin emerges with strong voter mandate ¤ Spain analyses authenticity of "Al Qaeda" tape ¤ Agencies Bid to Identify 'Al Qaida' Man on Tape ¤ Powell: Too Soon to Link Spain, al-Qaida ¤ An election so nasty, so soon ¤ Powell says prewar intelligence wasn't 'cooked' ¤ Senate oil move highlights US price fears ¤ Eight Killed in Double Bombing at Israeli Port ¤ 10 killed in double suicide bombing in Ashdod port ¤ Israel cancels summit with Palestinian leader in wake of bombing ¥ How convenient.... ¤ Bush has turned Iraq into one big prison camp ¤ Bush's war is a financial disaster ¤ The Chilling New Evil In Our Midst ¤ Bush-speak redefines 'sovereignty' ¤ Powell Says World Cannot Be Idle on Iran ¤ Sharon says U.S. should also disarm Iran, Libya and Syria ¤ Moroccan Arrested in Madrid Was Watched ¤ White House Intimidation: A Brief History of Threats and Defamation ¤ Anti-government protests spring up across Spain ¤ Aznar accused of cover-up as Spain mourns its dead Spain began burying its dead yesterday as pressure grew for the government to come up with a convincing explanation for tragedy ¤ Al-Qaeda 'claims Madrid bombings' ¤ We bombed Madrid, says al-Qaeda tape Folks, think about that white van, left at the scene, complete with detonators and Koran. Who left it there? The actual bombs were remote controlled with cel phones. So, what the facts indicate is that the bombers drove to the train station in a van filled with conspicuously damning materials, parked, planted the bombs, walked away, detonated the bombs, then left the area leaving that van filled with conspicuously damning materials where it would be found. Frame-ups don't get any more obvious -Comment taken from http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ ¤ Blasts: Spain arrests three Moroccans, two Hindus ¤ Europeans now understand what the US went through ¤ Video threatens new attacks ¤ Blair: 'We must be prepared for the terrorists to strike' ¤ Australia will experience terrorist attack ¤ U.S. Issues Transit Alert ¤ Sears Tower Purchased By Same People Who Bought WTC!!! ¤ Facing up to terror ¤ Iraqis investigate Halliburton over allegations of bribery ¤ Taliban Attack Leaves Four Dead at Border ¤ Revealed: the full story of the Guantanamo Britons ¤ Did African coup begin in Chelsea? ¤ Pentagon-Sponsored Robot Race Ends Without Winner ¤ Culture War May Find WMD ¤ Bush praises man in speech on women's rights ¤ Mercenaries aimed to topple oil-rich despot ¤ Once America's friend, now forgotten ¤ Japanese Firm Sold Libya Uranium Conversion Plant ¤ Fear and death are the only certainties ¤ Top US military commander touches down in Haiti ¤ Our pilots refused to bomb 40 times ¤ Two US soldiers killed in Iraq, attacks on increase as key dates loom ¤ Bombs Kill Six U.S. Soldiers in Iraq ¤ Taliban attack leaves four dead at border ¤ Israeli Soldiers Kill Three Palestinians in Gaza ¤ Bombs kill four US soldiers ¤ Bush Draws Line in Sand with Iran ¤ Seoul vows to hold line on Iraq ¤ Bombs kill 4 U.S. soldiers in Iraq ¤ US forces launch new offensive in Afghanistan ¤ Bush plays Iraq card in presidential campaign ¤ Blair is doomed to be ignored Mercenaries aimed to topple oil-rich despot Posted: Sunday, March 14, 2004 The inside story of the ties that bind President Obiang and powerful American interests By Paul Lashmar 14 March 2004, Independent.co.uk The tale of the 67 men of assorted nationalities now in a Zimbabwe jail accused of being mercenaries continued to unfurl yesterday like the plot of a lurid airport novel. A bit too much like fiction, in fact, involving as it does a cast that includes the despotic leader of a little-known West African state, the Eton-educated son of an English cricket captain, fake passports, and a shadowy company registered in the Channel Islands that is linked to SAS old boys. All this, plus talk of CIA, MI6 and Spanish secret service activity, and a plane now impounded at Harare airport that contained equipment more suited to burglary than seizures of power. Officially, it was announced yesterday that the men will be formally charged on Monday. Unofficially, The Independent on Sunday has been told by security sources that the men were intending to mount a coup in Equatorial Guinea and were in Zimbabwe to buy the arms that would help accomplish that. But then on Tuesday, tipped off by South African intelligence that the team led by Briton Simon Mann was landing to pick up arms bought from Zimbabwe Defence Industries, the Harare authorities arrested them. But if who paid whom for what services has not yet been revealed, the intended target is not in doubt: President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, leader of a country whose lack of renown belies its strategic significance. And for "strategic" read oil. Not for nothing is this land known in US government circles as the "Kuwait of the Gulf of Guinea". Not without reason has President Bush welcomed President Obiang, a confirmed if not convicted corrupt despot, to the White House. He may be a despot, but as presider over an oil-rich state, he is their despot. The sight and smell of oil is everywhere palpable in the port of Malabo. From here you can see the flames shooting into the night sky from the offshore oilrigs. Every day tens of thousands of barrels are extracted from huge crude oil reserves underneath the seabed off Equatorial Guinea.It is one of the oil-rich sub-Saharan countries that now supplies 15 per cent of American oil. Experts predict that the amount of oil the US receives from the prolific fields of Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Angola will double in the next five years. Hence the succour that American companies - and, since 9/11, the American government - have given to Obiang. Vice President Dick Cheney has said: "Along with Latin America, West Africa is expected to be one of the fastest-growing sources of oil and gas for the American market." Full Article Did African coup begin in Chelsea UK? Antony Barnett and Patrick Smith on the failed putsch in Equatorial Guinea The observer.guardian.co.uk A tycoon who lives in a mansion off the Kings Road in Chelsea has emerged at the centre of accusations over an alleged coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. In a remarkable tale of bizarre twists, millionaire Ely Calil, who once advised Lord Archer, has been accused of financing an operation to hire foreign mercenaries to overthrow the government of the oil-rich West African country. The Information Minister of Equatorial Guinea has alleged Calil arranged to pay Old Etonian and former SAS soldier, Simon Mann, $5m to hire a group of mercenaries to oust the ailing President Obiang. In the 1980s Mann founded Executive Outcomes, one of the world's most successful mercenary outfits, which was involved in controversial operations in Sierra Leone and Angola. Calil has been accused of hiring Mann to help his friend Severo Moto, the exiled Equatorial Guinean politician now living in Spain who harbours ambitions to return as President. It is alleged that, had the coup been successful, its backers, including Calil, would be given oil concessions in the tiny state that is now producing more 250,000 barrels a day. Full Article Rwanda 'black box' turns up in UN drawer Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2004 By David Usborne in New York 13 March 2004, Independent UK An embarrassed United Nations was struggling to defend itself yesterday following the discovery that a data recorder, that may have come from an aircraft shot down in 1994 while carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi, had been hidden in a locked drawer in New York for 10 years. Called a "first class foul-up" by UN secretary general Kofi Annan, the affair surfaced after questions were put to UN officials earlier last week by reporters from Le Monde newspaper of France. The world body initially responded by ridiculing the suggestion it had the recorder. But, by Thursday, it found itself performing a humiliating about-face. The chief UN spokesman, Fred Eckhard, confirmed a recorder that could have come from the aircraft had been found in a drawer in the Air Safety Unit of the UN, in a building across the road from its New York headquarters. He further admitted it had apparently never been opened, nor its tapes analysed. Full Article Assassination of former Rwandan President Habyarimana? By Robin Philpot Rwandan Genocide: Crisis in Central Africa raceandhistory.com Latest News Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2004 ¤ U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Condemns Iran ¤ Sharon says U.S. should also disarm Iran, Libya and Syria ¤ Follow The Leader ¤ Brauchli: Leave no terrorist behind ¤ Confused U.S. Marines Search For WMD In Haiti ¤ U.S. Unloading WMD in Iraq ¤ Guantanamo Britons were 'chained to the floor and beaten' ¤ Employee Suspended for Anti-Bush Message ¤ Terrorism Inc. ¤ Haiti Leader Objects to Aristide Jamaica Trip ¥ US undemocratic puppet leader Objects to Aristide Jamaica Trip ¤ Two U.S. GIs Die in Iraq Roadside Blast ¤ Spain Arrests Five in Madrid Bombings ¤ UN war crimes judge defies calls to resign ¤ Forgotten black box may cast light on Rwanda ¤ Russia warned of new attacks ¤ Eating Their Words ¤ US revealed to be secretly funding opponents of Chavez > Washington has been channelling hundreds of thousands of dollars > to fund the political opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ¤ Rwanda 'black box' turns up in UN drawer ¤ Inquiry urged into Haliburton's Iraq links ¤ A Tale of Two Heroines: Rachel Corrie & Jessica Lynch ¤ The Pentagon's refusal to estimate the cost of war in Iraq ¤ Too much U.S. foreign policy is unsupported by intelligence ¤ You can't force democracy ¤ Putin's grip squeezes life out of election ¤ Blast in Tikrit Kills 2 U.S. Soldiers ¤ MoD damned over death of marine in Iraq ¤ Election ad 'plays on fear of Arabs' ¤ Iraq's loose ends may unravel ¤ On Rights, US Government Not Too Far from Asian Regimes ¤ No country immune from terror attacks: UN ¤ Raped US soldier breaks silence ¤ Pentagon Shadow Loses Some Mystique ¤ 2 U.S. troops killed, 4 hurt in Iraq ¤ Bush tells it like it isn't ¤ Madrid Bombings Death Toll Rises to 200 ¤ George Carlin Responds to Indecency Uproar ¤ The Assassination of former Rwandan President Habyarimana? ¤ Two Palestinians killed in Gaza ¤ US begins new sweep to net Bin Ladin ¤ 'Sharon wants US nod for land plan' ¤ Showdown looms as Iran bars nuclear inspections ¤ Bombing in Iraq Kills Two U.S. Soldiers ¤ U.S. Announces New Afghan Operation ¤ Haiti's New Prime Minister Is Sworn In ¤ This creeping sickness ¤ Amec wins Iraq work for Britain ¤ Eta issues strong denial but remains the prime suspect U.S. secretly funding opponents of Chavez Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2004 Extract From: By Andrew Buncombe in Washington, Independent.co.uk Washington has been channelling hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the political opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - including those who briefly overthrew the democratically elected leader in a coup two years ago. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that, in 2002, America paid more than a million dollars to those political groups in what it claims is an ongoing effort to build democracy and "strengthen political parties". The revelation about America's funding of Mr Chavez's opponents comes as the president is facing a possible recall referendum and has been rocked by a series of violent street demonstrations in which at least eight people have died. His opponents, who include politicians, some labour leaders, media executives and former managers at the state oil company, are trying to collect sufficient signatures to force a national vote. The documents reveal that one of the group's organising the collection of signatures - Sumate - received $53,400 (£30,000) from the US last September. Jeremy Bigwood, a Washington-based freelance journalist who obtained the documents, yesterday told The Independent: "This repeats a pattern started in Nicaragua in the election of 1990 when [the US] spent $20 per voter to get rid of [the Sandinista President Daniel] Ortega. It's done in the name of democracy but it's rather hypocritical. Venezuela does have a democratically elected President who won the popular vote which is not the case with the US." The funding has been made by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) a non-profit agency financed entirely by Congress. It distributes $40m (£22m) a year to various groups in what it says is an effort to strengthen democracy. But critics of the NED say the organisation routinely meddles in other countries' affairs to support groups that believe in free enterprise, minimal government intervention in the economy and opposition to socialism in any form. In recent years, the NED has channelled funds to the political opponents of the recently ousted Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide at the same time that Washington was blocking loans to his government. Full Article: news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=500711 US funding opponents Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2004 U.S. secretly funding opponents of Chavez By Andrew Buncombe in Washington, independent.co.uk Washington has been channelling hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund the political opponents of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez - including those who briefly overthrew the democratically elected leader in a coup two years ago. Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that, in 2002, America paid more than a million dollars to those political groups in what it claims is an ongoing effort to build democracy and "strengthen political parties". Full Article Who Was Behind the Madrid Bombings? Uncertainty Reigns Posted: Friday, March 12, 2004 MADRID, Mar 12 (IPS) - Spain awoke Friday still in a state of shock over the devastating terrorist attacks in Madrid which left at least 198 dead and 1,430 injured Thursday. As the country gets ready for Sunday's elections, uncertainty prevails over who was responsible for the attacks. Prime Minister José María Aznar said Friday that the authorities had not ruled out ''any line of investigation.'' He added that ''the only difference marking religious fanaticism is the alibis they use, but all terrorists obey the same murderous impulse.'' No one claimed responsibility for the attacks immediately. However, Interior Minister Angel Acebes initially told reporters that ''there is no doubt that the (Basque separatist) terrorist group ETA is responsible'' for the incidents. Full Article Slaughter in Madrid: Consolidating an Ally? By James Hollander, www.counterpunch.org My own feeling is that the attack, either deliberately or not, could end up making Spain a firmer ally of Washington in the "war on terror," regardless of who wins the elections this Sunday. Some 94% of the population opposed the invasion of Iraq and the Aznar government's unconditional support for it, and at least 10% of the population took to the streets against the war on February 15 last year. That is, the "war on terror" and the US/UK/Israel crusade aroused very little support among the populace. As Spain's own 9/11, this attack might be the "blood bond," the tool for the Spanish political class to consolidate broader social support for coming imperial wars, restrictions of civil liberties and general social paranoia, phenomena from which Spain had been relatively exempt until today. Those responsible for this must have known. Full Article Madrid bombings expected to play decisive role in Sunday's general elections in Spain Depending on who voters believe is responsible for the Madrid bombings, Sunday's general election in Spain could turn into a referendum on Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar's support for the Iraq war. Spaniards reacted furiously last year when Aznar aligned himself with President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to support the U.S.-led invasion. Aznar did not send combat troops but did dispatch 1,300 peacekeepers. The Spanish government initially blamed the Basque separatist group ETA for Thursday's devastating train blasts in Madrid that killed 199 people and wounded more than 1,400. But now it is analyzing a reported claim of responsibility on behalf of al-Qaida. Full Article ¤ Madrid atrocities: Was it Eta or al-Qa'ida? ¤ Bombing not work of Al-Qaida ¤ Finger points at ETA as Madrid toll rises to 198 ¤ Spain mourns Madrid bomb victims ¤ 'This is our September 11' ¤ Purported Qaeda Letter Says U.S. Strike Near Ready ¤ Investigation of Bombings in Madrid Yields Conflicting Clues ¤ Iran: 'We're not going to take it anymore' ¤ Mercenary leader goes on TV to describe plot to kidnap president Latest News Posted: Friday, March 12, 2004 ¤ The US Must be Isolated and Constrained ¤ UN investigates 'loss' of Rwanda black box ¤ Millions protest Madrid attacks ¤ War on Terrorism Makes Us All Less Safe ¤ War Games: America's Media Leads the Charge ¤ Behind Aristide's Fall. What Led to the Coup? ¤ Nobody Can Call It a "Plane Crash" Now! ¤ Role in Haiti Events Backfiring on Washington ¤ Pin Heads ¤ Americans are Tools ¤ "Analyzating" Bush's Grey Matter ¤ Bush's Latest Preemptive Strike ¤ Zimbabwe to Charge 'Mercenaries' with Plotting ¤ ETA denies attacks as Spain grieves ¤ Iran postpones crucial UN nuclear checks ¤ US breaks deficit records ¤ Plane Did Stop At Grantley Adams ¤ Long-lost Rwandan black box at U.N. ¤ S. Korean parliament votes to oust President ¤ Finger points at ETA as Madrid toll rises to 198 ¤ Sharon says U.S. should also disarm Iran, Libya and Syria Flashback ¤ Iraq: the missing billions ¤ Bombing not work of Al-Qaida ¤ Two women among five killed in Iraq ¤ CIA Chief Clueless on Neocon Intelligence Channel ¤ CIA 'wildly inconsistent' about policing Iraq claims ¤ At least four wounded as police clash with Aristide supporters in Haiti ¤ Spain mourns Madrid bomb victims ¤ Madrid atrocities: Was it Eta or al-Qa'ida? ¤ Zimbabwe set to charge 60 'mercenaries' ¤ Aristide to visit Jamaica ¤ The last thing Iraq needs is a US election campaign ¤ Washington publicist held as Iraqi agent ¤ Madrid attacks will harden Washington's resolve ¤ Journalist Death Toll Doubles in 2003 ¤ Army Desertions Complicate Afghan Election Plans ¤ Don’t forget to pack your machine gun ¤ Nothing to fear but fear itself ¤ The 9/11 ad campaign and Iraq fictions ¤ Logic of Empire ¤ Washington’s Greater Middle East Initiative ¤ Problem of Haiti’s gun culture ¤ North Korea needs nuclear arsenal to defend its existence ¤ Fake police kill first American civilians ¤ New PM arrives as US troops warn rebels ¤ US expands duties of Marines in Haiti ¤ UN: Palestinians increasingly unable to get enough food ¤ 'This is our September 11' ¤ Mercenary leader goes on TV to describe plot to kidnap president ¤ CIA chief plays dumb on neo-con intelligence ¤ Purported Qaeda Letter Says U.S. Strike Near Ready ¤ Investigation of Bombings in Madrid Yields Conflicting Clues ¤ Iran: 'We're not going to take it anymore' Mercenaries captured in Equatorial Guinea coup bid Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2004 By Michael Padera, www.herald.co.zw THE 67 suspected mercenaries arrested in Harare on Sunday were on their way to Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, to remove the government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the Minister of Home Affairs, Cde Kembo Mohadi revealed yesterday. The leader of the group, Simon Mann, had allegedly been promised cash payment of one million British pounds and oil mining rights in the Malabo Islands. Equatorial Guinea is rich in oil. The country's exiled rebel leader Severo Moto who is currently resident in Spain, Madrid, hired them to do the job. Cde Mohadi said this during a media briefing yesterday evening. He said the group, which landed in Harare on Sunday, wanted to collect arms and ammunition from the Zimbabwe Defence Industries. "From Zimbabwe the plane was expected to fly straight to Malabo, the capital of Equatorial Guinea, landing in Malabo in the early hours of Monday the 8th of March. On landing the group was expected to be joined by co-conspirators already in Malabo to stage a coup to remove President Obiang from power," he said. After the mission, the mercenaries were to fly to the DRC where the arms and ammunition bought from Zimbabwe were to be handed over to Katangese rebels. Mann and Nicholas du Toit were assisted by another man only identified as Bonds in planning the coup. "As part of his assignment Bonds spent December 2003 and January 2004 in Malabo carrying out reconnaissance. It was Bonds who was expected to give the signal for the planned coup," said Cde Mohadi. He said in the event of stiff resistance from forces loyal to President Obiang, the mercenaries were to fly to a safe haven in Sao Tome and Principe. Cde Mohadi said Mann had revealed that the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Spanish Secret Service aided the group. The secret services persuaded the Equatorial Guinea service chiefs, that is the head of police and commander of the army, not to put up any resistance. They were promised cabinet posts in Moto's government. The agencies were responsible for the hiring of the Boeing 727-100 from Dodson Aviation and they also provided satellite communication system to link up Moto in Spain, Mann and du Toit in South Africa and Bonds in Malabo. United States forces are reportedly carrying out military exercises around Equatorial Guinea. Cde Mohadi said investigations showed that the plane flew from Sao Tome and Principe on March 7, 2004 through South Africa where it was handed over to the crew. "Investigations are continuing and more information will be released as it comes to hand," he said. In Malabo, national radio quoted President Obiang as confirming that the 15 suspected mercenaries arrested in Equatorial Guinea were linked to the plane load of alleged soldiers of fortune detained in Zimbabwe. "A group of mercenaries entered the country and was studying plans to carry out a coup d'etat in Equatorial Guinea," said Obiang. They were found to be in possession of maps of the capital, Malabo, and satellite telephones, Obiang said, adding they were linked to the plane load of suspected mercenaries who have been detained since the weekend in Zimbabwe. Although Harare maintains that those on board the impounded plane were mercenaries and threw them in prison, a British company which said it was operating the flight claimed those on board were on their way to work in the mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "We spoke with the South African president who warned us that a group of mercenaries was heading towards Equatorial Guinea ... Angola also sent messages to tell us to be vigilant. That's what I expect of friendly countries," said Obiang. Obiang said the suspected putschists "were funded by enemy powers, by multi-national companies and also by countries that do not like us," but did not name names. Equatorial Guninea official radio said Wednesday that the 15 were led by a 48-year-old South African national, Nick du Toit, who was a "trafficker of arms and diamonds". It added that the others were from Armenia, Angola, Sao Tome and South Africa, and that there was also one German national in the group. All of them were wanted in their countries, the radio said, adding du Toit had been in Malabo since July 2003 while the others had arrived in waves posing as businessmen. The radio did not give any more names, but Obiang pointed the finger at opposition activist Severo Moto, who is in exile in Spain, and who tried to mount a coup against Obiang in 1997 from Angola. Moto, who recently set up a government in exile for the tiny, oil-rich Gulf of Guinea country, was sentenced in absentia by a court in Malabo to 100 years in jail for his role in the 1997 coup bid, and his Party for Progress in Equatorial Guinea was banned. Moto yesterday denied that he had anything to do with the alleged coup bid, saying in a statement that he "has at no time left Spain." – additional reporting by Reuters and AFP. Other News: 'Mercenaries' are from SADF sundaytimes.co.za Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe Say Coup Nixed yahoo.com Alleged mercenaries were to abduct E Guinea president channelnewsasia.com Mercenary plot thickens iht.com Aristide to press charges against French, US diplomats jang.com.pk Aristide plans to sue France and the US independent.co.uk Venezuela to File Complaint Against U.S. yahoo.com Latest News Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2004 ¤ Slaughter in Madrid: Consolidating an Ally? ¤ Bush Says U.S. Stands with Spain Against Terrorism ¤ Al-Qaeda claims Madrid, Istanbul bombings: paper ¥ Sure.... ¤ Madrid bombings tied to Muslim extremists? ¥ Sure.... ¤ Bombs kill more than 170 in Spanish train system ¤ Bombers wreak havoc in Madrid ¤ Bremer Sees Threat of Iraq Attacks Next Month ¥ He sees dead people ¤ Bedtime for Democracy ¤ They Shoot Journalists, Don't They ¤ Tired of the Lies ¤ To Hunt Down the Causes of the Iraq War is Folly. ¤ One Island, Two Nations and Three Occupiers Yields a Tortured History ¤ New Haiti PM Starts Choosing Cabinet ¤ Kidnappings rise in Iraq ¤ Palestinian Death Toll Rises to 27 in 5 Days, 4 Children Among Dead ¤ 'Mercenaries' face Zimbabwe court ¤ Dozens killed in Madrid bombs ¤ 62 People Killed in Madrid Explosions ¤ Discredited Iraqi exiles still land US spy funds ¤ Alleged mercenaries accused of Equatorial Guinea coup bid ¤ Aristide to press charges against French, US diplomats ¤ ‘Australia bowed to US pressure to join Iraq war' ¤ Widespread faults in Halliburton's cost estimates for Iraq contracts ¤ British, U.S. Firms Get New Iraq Deals ¤ Boeing sees strong military sales despite deficits ¤ Venezuela to File Complaint Against U.S. ¤ Equatorial Guinea, Zimbabwe Say Coup Nixed ¤ Alleged mercenaries were to abduct EGuinea president ¤ Two Iraqi Translators Killed in Basra ¤ UK accused of mercenaries plot ¤ Mercenary plot thickens ¤ US pilot 'not at fault' for killing Afghan children ¤ McDonald's bans Arabic ¤ Illegal Interim PM appointed in Haiti ¤ Aristide plans to sue France and the US ¤ Haiti: It's Groundhog Day...Again ¤ On the trail of the Snark ¤ America Is Not a Free Country ¤ Why They Throw Rocks ¤ New tactic heightens terror fear in Iraq ¤ Two US nationals, Iraqi translator shot dead near Baghdad ¤ Abbas widow says US 'killed' him ¤ The Death of a President and What It Portends ¤ Jonathan Schell on a failed globe ¤ The spies who pushed for war ¤ Afghanistan: The spring trap is sprung ¤ War: Just whose business is it anyway? ¤ Five Palestinians killed in West Bank raid Footage of BBC Zimbabwe documentary linked to MDC Posted: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 The Herald (Harare) March 10, 2004 Harare The footage of the BBC documentary, which falsely claimed that the Zimbabwean Government has set up secret camps across the country to train youths to rape, torture and kill, was done by political activists with strong links to the MDC working with well known media personalities, it has emerged. Sources yesterday said the footage of the documentary was not done by the producer of the documentary, Hilary Andersson, who has since admitted that the stories were inconsistent and could not be substantiated, or the BBC itself but by political activists and media personalities. According to the sources, among the media personalities co-ordinating the footage was Silas Nhara, a cameraman. The sources said Nhara is said to have played a key role in the assembling of the hotly disputed footage and links which have been described by some observers as amateurish. They said Nhara was assisted by Reuters photographer Howard Burditt, who was using his accreditation to do undercover work, and Tsvangirai Mukwazhi, a former photographer of the Daily News. "This is the core team which has been assembling the fictitious footage. This is a reinforcement particularly in the wake of the demise of the Daily News," the sources said, adding that the British intelligence and the British Embassy in Harare were also involved in co-ordinating the operation. They said following growing criticism of the BBC documentary, which is now widely seen in diplomatic circles as crude propaganda, the team has been beefed up. Those brought in to beef up the team include Andrew Chadwick who, together with Charlene Smith, ran the failed MDC media support centre in the run-up to the 2000 parliamentary elections, Edwina Spicer, the Reuters head for Southern Africa and other foreign correspondents based in Zimbabwe. Spicer had fled the country with her son to Britain who is a well known MDC activist who is wanted by police in connection with a murder case. The Herald understands that Spicer and Chadwick have since their return been under close surveillance by security authorities because the activities they have been involved in have raised eyebrows. The back-up team is also linked to the United Nations news agency IRIN in Johannesburg, which is headed by a Nigerian who is known to be anti-Zimbabwe. According to the sources, the head of IRIN was trying to recruit Zimbabweans in the local media but the recruitment has not been successful following the crackdown on journalists moonlighting for hostile foreign media. The IRIN head and the Reuters head for southern Africa were also understood to be linking up on the operation. The Reuters head was recently in Zimbabwe to meet the team running the operation. The sources added that Tom Kirkhood, who heads Reuters Television, "and is a strong Rhodesian with family land in Zimbabwe and is said to be very bitter about losing land" had been assigned to take over the work of Mighty Movies, which had been doing footage for the same group. "He has come in because Mighty Movies 'had the luxury of telling a balanced story'," the sources said. Some of the people accused of co-ordinating the programme denied involvement in the exercise when reached for comment yesterday. Nhara said he had no dealings with the BBC and that he worked for Independent Television Channel 3, UK. "Where did you get that? I don't understand how I fit in this and I have no dealings with the BBC at all. I have been a freelance for 10 years now and worked for IT (Independent Television) which competes with the BBC," Nhara said. Howard also said he had no connections with the BBC and said he was a still photographer. "I have got nothing to do with the BBC. I'm a still photographer and BBC is a television," Howard said. The others could not be reached for comment yesterday. Asked for a comment, a Government spokesman confirmed these developments saying they were fully aware of the whole plot. "Soon or later they (the co-ordinating team) will find themselves in the quandary of a spider web trapped by its own web," the spokesman said. The BBC's onslaught to discredit Zimbabwe's human rights record has suffered a major hitch after Andersson backtracked on claims of alleged torture camps in the country. As part of efforts to place Zimbabwe on the agenda of the March 15 United Nations Human Rights Commission meeting to be held in Geneva Switzerland, the BBC last week recycled discredited claims that the Zimbabwean Government has set up secret camps across the country to train thousands of youths to rape, torture and kill opponents of the Government and Zanu-PF. Reproduced From: www.herald.co.zw/index.php?id=29839&pubdate=2004-03-10 Seized U.S. plane: Zimbabwe Probe continues Posted: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 The Herald (Harare) March 10, 2004 Harare GOVERNMENT yesterday revealed the nationalities of the 64 suspected mercenaries who were detained at the Harare International Airport on Sunday night after the owners of their plane had made false declaration of the cargo and crew. They are 20 South Africans, 18 Namibians, 23 Angolans, two Congolese (DRC) and one Zimbabwean with a South African passport. The Minister of Home Affairs Cde Kembo Mohadi said Zimbabwean security authorities became suspicious after the pilot had only kept the cockpit lights on with the rest of the plane in darkness. "This was deliberate and it was clearly intended to hide the presence of the additional 64 passengers. On the discovery of the undeclared passengers, the plane was immediately grounded and the crew and passengers arrested," he said. Cde Mohadi said the captain of the plane had advised the Harare tower that the plane was empty except for the crew of three and four loaders. An advance team met the plane at the Harare International Airport and it consisted of one Simon Mann and two other men who had entered the country on March 5 this year. The minister said initial investigations revealed that the plane was a former US Airforce aircraft which was sold to Dodson Aviation of the United States, a company he said had links to the US government. "The plane recently flew to South Africa with an American crew which then swapped with a South African crew in Pretoria. It was at Wonderboom Airport that the mercenaries embarked and loaded their cargo," he said. The plane is believed to have stopped at Petersburg airport before proceeding to Harare. Cde Mohadi said Mann had initially visited the country in February this year together with one Nicholas du Toit. The two referred to themselves as international technical consultants based in the British Virgin Islands. "Simon Mann claimed to run a company called Logo Logistics while du Toit ran a company called Military Technical Services Incorporated. Both operated from the same address," he said. The two made inquiries about the purchase of arms and ammunition and indicated they worked with a country in the Great Lakes to train Katangese rebels. They later changed their story and claimed that they wanted weapons to protect a mining property in the DRC. "Questions were raised as to why the two South Africans would want to buy weapons from Zimbabwe if the end use was legal. South Africa is a much bigger arms manufacturer," he said. Cde Mohadi said a sinister motive was suspected and measures to monitor their plans until the arrest were instituted. He said only the white component of the group seemed knowledgeable of the final destination and the purpose of the expedition. It is believed a briefing on the mission was to be given to the rest of the members once the plane was airborne. Cde Mohadi said investigations had also revealed that Mann was a former member of the British Special Airforce Service (SAS). He said when the other members were arrested, du Toit was not there and had started arranging for the legal representation of the accused. He said a Simon Witherspoon, a known South African mercenary who has operated in various countries in Africa, including Cote d*Ivoire, appeared to be the spokesman of the group. He left the South African Defence Forces in 1989 to join the mercenary company, Executive Outcomes. The minister said preliminary investigations indicated that Harare was not the final destination of the group as Bujumbura in Burundi and Mbuji Mayi in the DRC had been mentioned as the other destinations. "Further investigations are underway and more information will be released to the public as it becomes available," Cde Mohadi said. Government was working closely with other Sadc members on the issue. Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe chief executive officer Mr Karikoga Kaseke said the flight plan of the impounded plane had a lot of inconsistencies and was very misleading and at times conflicting. He said the owners of the plane said the plane had only three crew members and four loaders and carried cargo. "This is the reason why we parked it in the cargo section. They did not tell us they had people inside," he said. Mr Kaseke said the crew asked for a technical stopover for refuelling but it later emerged they had other plans. He said the crew indicated they were flying to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Checks with flying records had also shown that the plane was flying very low which is a security risk, Mr Kaseke said. South African Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Mr Aziz Pahad said in a statement his ministry would remain in close contact with its ambassador in Zimbabwe Mr Jeremiah Ndou to seek clarity on the circumstances surrounding the incident. "Should the allegations that those South Africans on board are involved in mercenary activities prove true, this would amount to a serious breach of the Foreign Military Assistance Act which expressly prohibits the involvement of South Africans in military Conventional Arms Control Committee," he said. Zimbabwe security authorities detained the United States-registered plane on Sunday night after its owners had made false declaration of its cargo and crew. The capture of 64 suspected mercenaries in Harare on Sunday took a new dimension yesterday in South Africa, the United States, Britain, Democratic Republic of Congo and Equatorial Guinea. This comes amid contradictory reports over the suspects* mission with Reuters news agency reporting that Equatorial Guinea had arrested a 15-strong "advance party" from the same group while the South African Press Association claimed that the suspected mercenaries were mining contractors travelling to the Democratic Republic of Congo. SAPA news agency reported that a British company, Logo Logistics Ltd, was operating the impounded plane. The South African news agency said the company sent it a statement in which it said: "We can make it clear that we have no current or intended business in Zimbabwe and certainly no illegal intentions against its government and people." Logo told SAPA that what Zimbabwean authorities described as "military" items on board was in fact working equipment such as boots, pipe-bending and wire-cutting tools. Logo said the aircraft, seized at Harare International Airport on Sunday, was recently purchased and still registered in the United States. "There is no other link with the US," the company said. However, authorities in Equatorial Guinea, a country in West Africa, said they had arrested a 15-strong "advance party" from the same group. "Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here in Equatorial Guinea and it was connected with that plane in Zimbabwe. They were the advance party of that group," Equatorial Guinea Information Minister Agustin Nse Nfumu told Reuters. According to Reuters, the arrests come amid speculation among exiled opposition politicians in Equatorial Guinea that a coup was in the offing. Charles Burrows, a senior executive of Logo Logistics, said most of the people on board were South African and had military experience, but were on contract to four mining companies in Congo. "They were going to eastern DRC. They stopped in Zimbabwe to pick up mining equipment, Zimbabwe being a vastly cheaper place for such," he said. Burrows, whose company is registered in Britain*s Channel Islands, denied any connection between the group detained in Harare and those arrested in Equatorial Guinea. "I haven*t the foggiest idea of what they*re talking about," he said by telephone from London. South African air traffic control said the plane had left Johannesburg on Sunday and made a stop at Wonderboom airport near Pretoria. From there it flew to the northern South African town of Polokwane, where it took on some 63 passengers and completed departure formalities. Craig Partridge, a spokesman for South Africa*s Air Traffic and Navigation Services, said the plane had filed full flight plans showing it would travel to Harare and from there to Bujumbura in Burundi on Congo*s eastern border. In Washington, the State Department said it had no indication that the plane was connected to the US government. US Federal Aviation Administration records show the plane registered to Dodson Aviation Inc. based in Ottawa, Kansas. Dodson said it had sold the plane about a week ago to an African firm called Logo Ltd. The white plane with a blue stripe across its body contained an assortment of military hardware that included a rubber boat (dingy), sleeping bags, loud hailers, hammers, sophisticated radio communication equipment, water proof boots and bolt cutters. According to media reports from South Africa the plane was sold to a South African firm last week. Jim Pippin the acting general manager for Dodson International, a subsidiary of Dodson Aviation Inc, which is headquartered in Ottawa, Kansas, said the Boeing 727-100 was sold to Logo Logistics. "The plane was sold by Dodson out of the United States. The company took delivery of the plane over the weekend after it most likely flew out from Florida," Pippin told AFP from Wonderboom airport, just north of Pretoria. Asked why an internet search showed the plane was still with a US registration in the name of Dodson, Pippin said: "They have not yet had time to do a re-registration." AFP reports said the owner of a flying school at Wonderboom airport, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Boeing 727-100 landed there about 8.00am on Sunday. "They asked me to move some of my aircraft because the jetstream from such a large aircraft could have damaged them," he said. Peet van Rensburg, a spokesman for Wonderboom airport, confirmed that the plane was at the airport on Sunday, but also said he believed it proceeded to Polokwane. Moses Seate spokesman for the South African Civil Aviation Authorities said the organisation would release a statement as soon as investigations are complete. Reproduced From: www.herald.co.zw/ Zimbabwe: Mercenary Suspects May Face Death Penalty 'Namibians among mercenaries' detained in Zimbabwe Zimbabwe accuses foreign media of being 'mercenaries' Speech by President Hugo Chávez, at the opening of XII G-15 Summit Posted: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 Chavez gives a speech to the G-15 in which he proposes to "retake the Spirit of the South" by relaunching the G-15 for the purposes of deepening cooperation between southern countries on health and education issues while radically altering economic relations, removing dependencies on the North. He also proposes to create a TV station to to "crush the media monopoly" and let the world know, "the South also exists". By Hugo Chavez March 01, 2004 HIS EXCELLENCY NÉSTOR KIRCHNER, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARGENTINA. HIS EXCELLENCY LUIS INACIO LULA DA SILVA, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERATIVE REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL HIS EXCELLENCY SEYED MOHAMMED KHATAMI, PRESIDENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN. HIS EXCELLENCY PÉRCIVAL JAMES PATTERSON, PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA. HIS EXCELLENCY RÓBERT GABRIEL MUGÁBE, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE. HIS EXCELLENCY AMBASSADOR NASSIR ABDULAZIZ AL_NASSER, PRESIDENT OF THE GROUP OF 77. DISTINGUISHED HEADS OF THE DELEGATIONS AND HIGH OFFICERS OF ALGERIA, COLOMBIA, CHILE, EGYPT, INDIA, INDONESIA, KENYA, MALAYSIA, MEXICO, NIGERIA, PERU, SENEGAL AND SRI LANKA. THEIR EXCELLENCIES, FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTERS OF THE GROUP OF 15. HIS EXCELLENCY RÚBENS RICÚPERO, SECRETARY GENERAL TO THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT (UNCTAD). THEIR EXCELLENCIES THE HEADS OF DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS AND HONORABLE REPRESENTATIVES OF INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES CREDITED BEFORE THE VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT. DISTINGUISHED JOURNALISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS AND CAMERAMEN. FELLOW VENEZUELANS.... LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. Welcome to this land washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, crossed by the magnificent Orinoco River. A land crowned by the perpetual snow of the Andean mountains....! A land overwhelmed by the never-ending magic of the Amazon forest and its millenary chants...! Welcome to Venezuela, the land where a patriotic people has taken over again the banners of Simon Bolivar, its Libertador, whose name is well known beyond these frontiers! As Pablo Neruda said in his "Chant to Bolivar": Our Father thou art in Heaven, in water, in air in all our silent and broad latitude everything bears your name, Father in our dwelling: your name raises sweetness in sugar cane Bolivar tin has a Bolivar gleam the Bolívar bird flies over the Bolivar volcano the potato, the saltpeter, the special shadows, the brooks, the phosphorous stone veins everything comes from your extinguished life your legacy was rivers, plains, bell towers your legacy is our daily bread, oh Father. Yes, ladies and gentlemen: Bolivar, another "Quixote but not mad" (as Napoleon Bonaparte had already called Francisco de Miranda, the universal man from Caracas), who on this very same land of South America tried to unite the Rising Republics in a single, strong and free Republic. In his letter to Jamaica in 1815, Bolivar said talking about the Panama isthmus and his idea of convening there a Amphictyonic Congress: "I wish one day we would have the opportunity to install there an august congress with the representatives of the Republics, Kingdoms and Empires to debate and discuss the highest interests of Peace and War with the countries of the other three parts of the world." Bolivar reveals himself as an anti-imperialist leader, in the same historic perspective that 140 years after that insightful letter at Kingston materialized in the Bandung Conference in April 1955. Inspired by Nerhu, Tito y Nasser, a group of important leaders gathered at this conference to face great challenges and expressed their wish of not being involved in the East-West conflict and rather work together toward national development. This was the first key milestone: the first Afro-Asian conference, the immediate precedent of the Non-Aligned Countries that gathered 29 Heads of State and from which the "Conscience of the South" was born. Two events of great political significance occurred in the 60's: the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade in 1961 and the Group of the 77 in 1964: Two milestones and a clear historic trend: the need of the self-awareness of the South and of acting together in a world reality characterized by imbalance and unequal exchange. In the 70's a proposal, arising from the IV Summit of Heads of State of the Non-Aligned Countries in Algiers in 1973, becomes important: the need to create a new international economic order. In 1974 the UN Assembly ratified this proposal, which maintains full effectiveness, but ended up becoming a mere historical reference. Two events that were very important for the struggles in the South occurred during the 80's: the creation of the Commission of the South in Kuala Lumpur in 1987 under the leadership of Julius Nyerere, the unforgettable fighter of Tanzania and the world. Two years later, in September 1989, the Group of the 15 is born within the framework of the meeting of the Non-Aligned Countries, with the purpose of strengthening the South-South cooperation. In 1990, the South-Commission submitted its strategic proposal: "A Challenge for the South". And later on... later on came the Flood with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the implosion of the Soviet Union; unipolarity appears and the "happy 90's" arrived, as Joseph Stiglitz said. All those struggles, ideas and proposals sunk in the Neo-liberal Flood and the world began to witness the so-called "end of History" and the triumphant chant of the Neo-liberal Globalization, which today, besides an objective reality, is a weapon of manipulation intended to force us to passiveness faced to an Economic World Order that excludes our South countries and condemns them to the never-ending role of producers of wealth and recipients of leftovers. Never before had the world such a tremendous scientific-technical potential, such a capacity to generate wealth and well-being. Authentic technological wonders that have made any place in the world to be always close with regard to distances and communications and have not been capable of bringing well-being for everybody, but only for a meager 15% living in the countries of the North. Globalization has not brought the so-called interdependence, but an increase in dependency. Instead of wealth globalization, there is poverty wide spreading. Development has not become general, or been shared. To the contrary, the abysm between North and South is now so huge, that the unsustainability of the current economic order and the blindness of the people who try to justify continuing to enjoy opulence and waste, are evident. The face of this world economic order of globalization with a neo-liberal sign is not only Internet, virtual reality or the exploration of the space. This face can also be seen, and with a greater dramatic character in the countries of the South, in the 790 millions of people who are starving, 800 millions of illiterate adults, 654 millions of human beings who live today in the south and who will not grow older than 40 years of age. This is the harsh and hard face of the work economic order dominated by the Neoliberalism and seen every year in the south, the death of over 11 millions of boys and girls below 5 years of age caused by illnesses that are practically always preventable and curable and who die at the appalling rate of over 30 thousand every day, 21 every minute, 10 each 30 seconds. In the South, the proportion of children suffering of malnutrition reaches up to 50% in quite a few countries, while according to the FAO, a child who lives in the First World will consume throughout his or her life, the equivalent to what 50 children consume in an underdeveloped country. The great possibilities that a globalization of solidarity and true cooperation could bring to all people in the world through the scientific-technical wonders, has been reduced by the neo-liberal model to this grotesque caricature full of exploitation and social injustice. Our countries of the South were repeated a thousand times that the sole and true "science" capable of ensuring development and well-being for everybody, without exception, was synthesized in leaving the markets operate without regulation, privatizing everything and creating the conditions for transnational capital investment, and banning the State from intervening the economy. Almost the magic and wonderful philosopher's stone!! Neoliberal thought and politics were created in the North to serve their interests, but it should be highlighted that they have never been truly applied there, but they have been spread throughout the South in the past two decades and reached the disastrous category of a single thought. Through the application of the sole thought, the world economy as a whole grew less than in the three decades between 1945 and 1975, when the Keynesian theories promoting market regulation through State intervention were applied. The gap separating the North and the South continued to grow, not only with regard to economic indicators, but also in he strategic sector of access to knowledge, from which the fundamental possibility of integral development in our times arises. The countries of the North with 15% of the world population count with over 85% of Internet users and control 97% of the patents. These countries have an average of over 10 years of schooling, while in the countries of the South schooling hardly reaches 3.7 years and in many countries is even lower. The tragedy of underdevelopment and poverty in Africa, which historic roots lay in colonialism and the slavery of millions of its children, is now reinforced by the neoliberalism from the North. In this region, the rate of infant mortality in children under 1 year of age is 107 per each thousand children born alive, while in the develop countries this rate is 6 per each thousand children born alive; also, life expectancy is 48 years, thirty years less than in countries of the North. In Asia, economic growth in some countries has been remarkable, but the region, as a whole, still presents a delay with regard to the North in basic economic and social development aspects. We are, dear friends, in Latin America, the favorite scenario of the neo-liberal model in the past decades. Here, neoliberalism reached the status of a dogma and was applied with greatest severity. Its catastrophic results can be easily seen and are the explanation for the growing and uncontrollable social protest that the poor people and the excluded people of Latin America have been expressing, every day more vigorously, for some years now, claiming their right to life, to education, to health, to culture, to a decent living as human beings. Dear friends: I saw with my own eyes, a day like today but exactly 15 years ago, the 27 of February 1989, when an intense day of protest broke out on the streets of Caracas against the neo-liberal package of the International Monetary Fund and ended in a real massacre known as "The Caracazo". The neo-liberal model promised Latin Americans greater economic growth, but during the neo-liberal years growth has not even reached half the growth achieved in the 1945-1975 period with different politics. The model recommended the most strict financial liberalization and exchange freedom to achieve a greater influx of foreign capitals and greater stability. But in neo-liberal years the financial crises have been more intense and frequent than ever before, the external regional debts non-existent at the end of the Second World War amounts today to 750 billion dollars, the per capita highest debt in the world and in several countries is equal to more than half the GDP. Only between 1990 and the year 2002, Latin America made external debt payments amounting to 1 trillion 528 billions of dollars, which duplicates the amount of the current debt and represented an annual average payment of 118 billions. That is, we pay the debt every 6.3 years, but this evil burden continues to be there, unchanging and inextinguishable. ¡¡It is a never-ending debt!! Obviously, this debt has exceeded the normal and reasonable payment commitments by any debtor and has turned into an instrument to undercapitalize our countries additionally to the imposition of socially adverse measures that subsequently generate powerful politically destabilizing factors for the governments that insist in their implementation. We were asked to be ultraliberal in trade and to lift any barrier, which may obstruct the imports coming from the North, but the oral champions of free trade actually are the champions in the praxis of protectionism. The North spends 1 billion dollars a day in practicing what has been banned from doing, that is, subsidizing inefficient products. I want to tell you – and this is a true and verifiable data – that each cow grazing in the European Union receives in its four stomachs 2.20 dollars a day in subsidies, thus having a better situation than 2.5 billion poor people in the South who hardly survive with an income less than 2 dollars a day. With the FTAA, the government of the United States wants us to reach a zero tariff situation in their benefit and wants us to give away our markets, our oil, our water resources and biodiversity, in addition to our sovereignty, whereas walls of subsidies for agriculture keep access closed to the market of that country. It is a peculiar way of relieving the huge commercial deficit of the United States, to do exactly the contrary to what they present as a sacred principle in economic policy. Neoliberalism promised Latin American people that if they accepted the demands of the multinational capital, investments would overflow the region. Indeed, the incoming capital increased. A portion to buy state-owned companies sometimes at bargain prices, another portion was speculative capital to seize the opportunities involved in the financial liberalization environment. The neo-liberal model promised that after a painful adjustment period necessary to deprive the State of its regulatory power over economy and liberalize trade and finance, wealth would spread over Latin America and the long-lasting history of poverty and underdevelopment would be left behind. But the painful and temporary adjustment became permanent and appears to become everlasting. The results cannot be concealed. Taking 1980 as the conventional year of the commencement of the neo-liberal cycle, by that time around 35 percent of the Latin American population were poor. Two decades thereafter, 44 percent of Latin American men and women are poor. Poverty is particularly cruel to children. It is a sad reality that in Latin America most of the poor people are children and most children are poor. In the late 90s', the Economic Commission for Latin America reported that 58 percent of children under 5 were poor, as well as 57% of children with ages ranging from 6 to 12. Poverty among children and teenagers tends to reinforce and perpetuate inequalities of access to education, as shown by a survey conducted by the Inter-American Development Bank on 15 countries where householders in 10 percent of the population with the highest income had an average schooling of 11 years, whereas among householders in 30 percent of the lowest income population such average was 4 years. Neoliberalism promised wealth. And poverty has spread, thus making of Latin America the most unequal region over the world in terms of income distribution. In the region, the wealthiest 10 percent of the population –those who are satisfied with neoliberalism and feel enthusiastic about the FTAA- receive nearly 50 percent of the total income, where the poorest 10 percent – those who never appear in high class society chronicles of the oligarchic mass media – barely receive 1.5 percent of such total income. This exploitation model has turned Latin America and the Caribbean into a social bomb ready to explode, should anti-development, unemployment and poverty keep increasing. Even though the social struggles are growing sharp and even some governments have been overthrown by uprisings, we are told by the North that the neo-liberal reform has not yielded good results because it has not been implemented in full. So, they now intend to recommend the formula of suicide. But we know, brothers and sisters, that countries do not commit suicide. The people of our countries awake, stand up and fight! As a conclusion, their Excellencies, because of its injustice and inequality, the economic and social order of neo-liberal globalization appears to be a dead-end street for the South. Therefore, the passive acceptance of the excluding rules imposed by this economic and social order cannot be the behavior to be exercised by the Heads of State and Government who have the highest responsibility before our peoples. The history of our countries does not admit any doubt – passivity and grieving are useless, instead, the joined and firm action is the sole conduct enabling the South to rise from its sad role of exploited and humiliated rearguard. Thanks to the heroic struggle against colonialism, the developing countries broke the economic and social order condemning them to the condition of exploited colonies. Colonialism was not defeated by the accumulations of tears of sorrow or by the repentance of colonialists, but for centuries of heroic fights for independence and sovereignty in which the resistance, tenacity and sacrifice of our peoples worked wonders. Here, in South America, this year we are precisely commemorating 180 years of the heroic deeds of Ayacucho battle, where people joined and became a liberating army after almost 20 years of revolutionary wars under the bright leadership of José de San Martin, Bernardo O'Higgins, José Inacio Abreu e Lima, Simon Bolivar and Antonio José de Sucre, sending away the Spanish empire hitherto extended from the warm Caribbean beaches to the cold lands of Patagonia, thus ending 300 years of colonialism. Today, vis-á-vis the obvious failure of neoliberalism and the great threat that the International Economic Order represents for our countries, it is necessary to retake the Spirit of the South. That is where this Summit in Caracas is heading for. I propose to re-launch the G-15 as a South Integration Movement rather than a group. A movement for the promotion of all possible trends, who walks towards the Non-aligned Movement, the Group of 77, China… The entirely whole South!! I propose that we retake the proposals of the 1990 South Commission: Why not focus our attention and our political actions to the proposals for granting several thousands of the "Grants of the South" per year to students from underdeveloped countries to continue studies in the South; or multiplying cooperation in health to decrease infant mortality, provide basic medical care, fight AIDS and many other actions that would only be possible if we would foster them with the solidarity necessary to ease the dark panorama of life in the South and thus face the expensive and ineffective dependency from the North? Why not create the Debtors Fund as an elemental defense tool to have consultations and coordinate collective action policies, taking into account the full operation of the creditors forum structured by different bodies to protect their interests? Why not advance the system of trade preferences among developing countries that only exists symbolically, whereas the protectionism of the North expels our countries from the markets? Why not promote the compensation trade and investment flows within the South instead of competing in a suicidal fashion among us offering concessions to the multinationals of the North? Why not establish the University of the South? Why not create the Bank of the South? These and other proposals retain their value and await for our political will to become true. But finally, dear friends, I would like to mention in particular a proposal, which, in my opinion, has great significance within this set of proposals: In the South we are victims of the media monopoly of the North, which acts as a power system responsible for disseminating in our countries and planting in the minds of our citizens, information, values and consumption patterns that are basically alien to our realities and that have turned themselves into the most powerful and effective tool of domination. Never is domination more perfect than when the dominated people think like the dominators do. To face and begin to change this reality, I dare to propose the creation of a TV channel that could be seen throughout the world showing information and pictures from the South. This would be the first and fundamental step to crush the media monopoly. In a very shot time this TV channel of the South could broadcast throughout the world our own values, our own roots and tell the people in the world in the words of the great poet Mario Benedetti, a man from the deep South, Uruguay, where the La Plata River opens so much that it looks like a silver sea, and washes my dear Buenos Aires and bluish Montevideo: "THE SOUTH ALSO EXISTS" With its French horn and its Swedish academy its American sauce and its English wrenches with all its missiles and its encyclopedias its stars war and its opulent viciousness with all its laurels the North commands, but down here close to the roots is where memory no remembrance omits and there are who undies and who unlives and thus, all together work wonders be it known: the South also exists. Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you very much Reproduced from: www.venezuelanalysis.com/docs.php?dno=1011 Hugo Chávez, at the opening of XII G-15 Summit Posted: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 Speech by President Hugo Chávez, at the opening of XII G-15 Summit Chavez gives a speech to the G-15 in which he proposes to "retake the Spirit of the South" by relaunching the G-15 for the purposes of deepening cooperation between southern countries on health and education issues while radically altering economic relations, removing dependencies on the North. He also proposes to create a TV station to to "crush the media monopoly" and let the world know, "the South also exists". By Hugo Chavez March 01, 2004 HIS EXCELLENCY NÉSTOR KIRCHNER, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARGENTINA. HIS EXCELLENCY LUIS INACIO LULA DA SILVA, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERATIVE REPUBLIC OF BRAZIL HIS EXCELLENCY SEYED MOHAMMED KHATAMI, PRESIDENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN. HIS EXCELLENCY PÉRCIVAL JAMES PATTERSON, PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA. HIS EXCELLENCY RÓBERT GABRIEL MUGÁBE, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE. HIS EXCELLENCY AMBASSADOR NASSIR ABDULAZIZ AL_NASSER, PRESIDENT OF THE GROUP OF 77. DISTINGUISHED HEADS OF THE DELEGATIONS AND HIGH OFFICERS OF ALGERIA, COLOMBIA, CHILE, EGYPT, INDIA, INDONESIA, KENYA, MALAYSIA, MEXICO, NIGERIA, PERU, SENEGAL AND SRI LANKA. THEIR EXCELLENCIES, FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTERS OF THE GROUP OF 15. HIS EXCELLENCY RÚBENS RICÚPERO, SECRETARY GENERAL TO THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT (UNCTAD). THEIR EXCELLENCIES THE HEADS OF DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS AND HONORABLE REPRESENTATIVES OF INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES CREDITED BEFORE THE VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT. DISTINGUISHED JOURNALISTS, PHOTOGRAPHERS AND CAMERAMEN. FELLOW VENEZUELANS.... LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. Welcome to this land washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, crossed by the magnificent Orinoco River. A land crowned by the perpetual snow of the Andean mountains....! A land overwhelmed by the never-ending magic of the Amazon forest and its millenary chants...! Welcome to Venezuela, the land where a patriotic people has taken over again the banners of Simon Bolivar, its Libertador, whose name is well known beyond these frontiers! As Pablo Neruda said in his "Chant to Bolivar": Our Father thou art in Heaven, in water, in air in all our silent and broad latitude everything bears your name, Father in our dwelling: your name raises sweetness in sugar cane Bolivar tin has a Bolivar gleam the Bolívar bird flies over the Bolivar volcano the potato, the saltpeter, the special shadows, the brooks, the phosphorous stone veins everything comes from your extinguished life your legacy was rivers, plains, bell towers your legacy is our daily bread, oh Father. Yes, ladies and gentlemen: Bolivar, another "Quixote but not mad" (as Napoleon Bonaparte had already called Francisco de Miranda, the universal man from Caracas), who on this very same land of South America tried to unite the Rising Republics in a single, strong and free Republic. In his letter to Jamaica in 1815, Bolivar said talking about the Panama isthmus and his idea of convening there a Amphictyonic Congress: "I wish one day we would have the opportunity to install there an august congress with the representatives of the Republics, Kingdoms and Empires to debate and discuss the highest interests of Peace and War with the countries of the other three parts of the world." Bolivar reveals himself as an anti-imperialist leader, in the same historic perspective that 140 years after that insightful letter at Kingston materialized in the Bandung Conference in April 1955. Inspired by Nerhu, Tito y Nasser, a group of important leaders gathered at this conference to face great challenges and expressed their wish of not being involved in the East-West conflict and rather work together toward national development. This was the first key milestone: the first Afro-Asian conference, the immediate precedent of the Non-Aligned Countries that gathered 29 Heads of State and from which the "Conscience of the South" was born. Two events of great political significance occurred in the 60's: the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade in 1961 and the Group of the 77 in 1964: Two milestones and a clear historic trend: the need of the self-awareness of the South and of acting together in a world reality characterized by imbalance and unequal exchange. In the 70's a proposal, arising from the IV Summit of Heads of State of the Non-Aligned Countries in Algiers in 1973, becomes important: the need to create a new international economic order. In 1974 the UN Assembly ratified this proposal, which maintains full effectiveness, but ended up becoming a mere historical reference. Two events that were very important for the struggles in the South occurred during the 80's: the creation of the Commission of the South in Kuala Lumpur in 1987 under the leadership of Julius Nyerere, the unforgettable fighter of Tanzania and the world. Two years later, in September 1989, the Group of the 15 is born within the framework of the meeting of the Non-Aligned Countries, with the purpose of strengthening the South-South cooperation. In 1990, the South-Commission submitted its strategic proposal: "A Challenge for the South". And later on... later on came the Flood with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the implosion of the Soviet Union; unipolarity appears and the "happy 90's" arrived, as Joseph Stiglitz said. All those struggles, ideas and proposals sunk in the Neo-liberal Flood and the world began to witness the so-called "end of History" and the triumphant chant of the Neo-liberal Globalization, which today, besides an objective reality, is a weapon of manipulation intended to force us to passiveness faced to an Economic World Order that excludes our South countries and condemns them to the never-ending role of producers of wealth and recipients of leftovers. Never before had the world such a tremendous scientific-technical potential, such a capacity to generate wealth and well-being. Authentic technological wonders that have made any place in the world to be always close with regard to distances and communications and have not been capable of bringing well-being for everybody, but only for a meager 15% living in the countries of the North. Globalization has not brought the so-called interdependence, but an increase in dependency. Instead of wealth globalization, there is poverty wide spreading. Development has not become general, or been shared. To the contrary, the abysm between North and South is now so huge, that the unsustainability of the current economic order and the blindness of the people who try to justify continuing to enjoy opulence and waste, are evident. The face of this world economic order of globalization with a neo-liberal sign is not only Internet, virtual reality or the exploration of the space. This face can also be seen, and with a greater dramatic character in the countries of the South, in the 790 millions of people who are starving, 800 millions of illiterate adults, 654 millions of human beings who live today in the south and who will not grow older than 40 years of age. This is the harsh and hard face of the work economic order dominated by the Neoliberalism and seen every year in the south, the death of over 11 millions of boys and girls below 5 years of age caused by illnesses that are practically always preventable and curable and who die at the appalling rate of over 30 thousand every day, 21 every minute, 10 each 30 seconds. In the South, the proportion of children suffering of malnutrition reaches up to 50% in quite a few countries, while according to the FAO, a child who lives in the First World will consume throughout his or her life, the equivalent to what 50 children consume in an underdeveloped country. The great possibilities that a globalization of solidarity and true cooperation could bring to all people in the world through the scientific-technical wonders, has been reduced by the neo-liberal model to this grotesque caricature full of exploitation and social injustice. Our countries of the South were repeated a thousand times that the sole and true "science" capable of ensuring development and well-being for everybody, without exception, was synthesized in leaving the markets operate without regulation, privatizing everything and creating the conditions for transnational capital investment, and banning the State from intervening the economy. Almost the magic and wonderful philosopher's stone!! Neoliberal thought and politics were created in the North to serve their interests, but it should be highlighted that they have never been truly applied there, but they have been spread throughout the South in the past two decades and reached the disastrous category of a single thought. Through the application of the sole thought, the world economy as a whole grew less than in the three decades between 1945 and 1975, when the Keynesian theories promoting market regulation through State intervention were applied. The gap separating the North and the South continued to grow, not only with regard to economic indicators, but also in he strategic sector of access to knowledge, from which the fundamental possibility of integral development in our times arises. The countries of the North with 15% of the world population count with over 85% of Internet users and control 97% of the patents. These countries have an average of over 10 years of schooling, while in the countries of the South schooling hardly reaches 3.7 years and in many countries is even lower. The tragedy of underdevelopment and poverty in Africa, which historic roots lay in colonialism and the slavery of millions of its children, is now reinforced by the neoliberalism from the North. In this region, the rate of infant mortality in children under 1 year of age is 107 per each thousand children born alive, while in the develop countries this rate is 6 per each thousand children born alive; also, life expectancy is 48 years, thirty years less than in countries of the North. In Asia, economic growth in some countries has been remarkable, but the region, as a whole, still presents a delay with regard to the North in basic economic and social development aspects. We are, dear friends, in Latin America, the favorite scenario of the neo-liberal model in the past decades. Here, neoliberalism reached the status of a dogma and was applied with greatest severity. Its catastrophic results can be easily seen and are the explanation for the growing and uncontrollable social protest that the poor people and the excluded people of Latin America have been expressing, every day more vigorously, for some years now, claiming their right to life, to education, to health, to culture, to a decent living as human beings. Dear friends: I saw with my own eyes, a day like today but exactly 15 years ago, the 27 of February 1989, when an intense day of protest broke out on the streets of Caracas against the neo-liberal package of the International Monetary Fund and ended in a real massacre known as "The Caracazo". The neo-liberal model promised Latin Americans greater economic growth, but during the neo-liberal years growth has not even reached half the growth achieved in the 1945-1975 period with different politics. The model recommended the most strict financial liberalization and exchange freedom to achieve a greater influx of foreign capitals and greater stability. But in neo-liberal years the financial crises have been more intense and frequent than ever before, the external regional debts non-existent at the end of the Second World War amounts today to 750 billion dollars, the per capita highest debt in the world and in several countries is equal to more than half the GDP. Only between 1990 and the year 2002, Latin America made external debt payments amounting to 1 trillion 528 billions of dollars, which duplicates the amount of the current debt and represented an annual average payment of 118 billions. That is, we pay the debt every 6.3 years, but this evil burden continues to be there, unchanging and inextinguishable. ¡¡It is a never-ending debt!! Obviously, this debt has exceeded the normal and reasonable payment commitments by any debtor and has turned into an instrument to undercapitalize our countries additionally to the imposition of socially adverse measures that subsequently generate powerful politically destabilizing factors for the governments that insist in their implementation. We were asked to be ultraliberal in trade and to lift any barrier, which may obstruct the imports coming from the North, but the oral champions of free trade actually are the champions in the praxis of protectionism. The North spends 1 billion dollars a day in practicing what has been banned from doing, that is, subsidizing inefficient products. I want to tell you – and this is a true and verifiable data – that each cow grazing in the European Union receives in its four stomachs 2.20 dollars a day in subsidies, thus having a better situation than 2.5 billion poor people in the South who hardly survive with an income less than 2 dollars a day. With the FTAA, the government of the United States wants us to reach a zero tariff situation in their benefit and wants us to give away our markets, our oil, our water resources and biodiversity, in addition to our sovereignty, whereas walls of subsidies for agriculture keep access closed to the market of that country. It is a peculiar way of relieving the huge commercial deficit of the United States, to do exactly the contrary to what they present as a sacred principle in economic policy. Neoliberalism promised Latin American people that if they accepted the demands of the multinational capital, investments would overflow the region. Indeed, the incoming capital increased. A portion to buy state-owned companies sometimes at bargain prices, another portion was speculative capital to seize the opportunities involved in the financial liberalization environment. The neo-liberal model promised that after a painful adjustment period necessary to deprive the State of its regulatory power over economy and liberalize trade and finance, wealth would spread over Latin America and the long-lasting history of poverty and underdevelopment would be left behind. But the painful and temporary adjustment became permanent and appears to become everlasting. The results cannot be concealed. Taking 1980 as the conventional year of the commencement of the neo-liberal cycle, by that time around 35 percent of the Latin American population were poor. Two decades thereafter, 44 percent of Latin American men and women are poor. Poverty is particularly cruel to children. It is a sad reality that in Latin America most of the poor people are children and most children are poor. In the late 90s', the Economic Commission for Latin America reported that 58 percent of children under 5 were poor, as well as 57% of children with ages ranging from 6 to 12. Poverty among children and teenagers tends to reinforce and perpetuate inequalities of access to education, as shown by a survey conducted by the Inter-American Development Bank on 15 countries where householders in 10 percent of the population with the highest income had an average schooling of 11 years, whereas among householders in 30 percent of the lowest income population such average was 4 years. Neoliberalism promised wealth. And poverty has spread, thus making of Latin America the most unequal region over the world in terms of income distribution. In the region, the wealthiest 10 percent of the population –those who are satisfied with neoliberalism and feel enthusiastic about the FTAA- receive nearly 50 percent of the total income, where the poorest 10 percent – those who never appear in high class society chronicles of the oligarchic mass media – barely receive 1.5 percent of such total income. This exploitation model has turned Latin America and the Caribbean into a social bomb ready to explode, should anti-development, unemployment and poverty keep increasing. Even though the social struggles are growing sharp and even some governments have been overthrown by uprisings, we are told by the North that the neo-liberal reform has not yielded good results because it has not been implemented in full. So, they now intend to recommend the formula of suicide. But we know, brothers and sisters, that countries do not commit suicide. The people of our countries awake, stand up and fight! As a conclusion, their Excellencies, because of its injustice and inequality, the economic and social order of neo-liberal globalization appears to be a dead-end street for the South. Therefore, the passive acceptance of the excluding rules imposed by this economic and social order cannot be the behavior to be exercised by the Heads of State and Government who have the highest responsibility before our peoples. The history of our countries does not admit any doubt – passivity and grieving are useless, instead, the joined and firm action is the sole conduct enabling the South to rise from its sad role of exploited and humiliated rearguard. Thanks to the heroic struggle against colonialism, the developing countries broke the economic and social order condemning them to the condition of exploited colonies. Colonialism was not defeated by the accumulations of tears of sorrow or by the repentance of colonialists, but for centuries of heroic fights for independence and sovereignty in which the resistance, tenacity and sacrifice of our peoples worked wonders. Here, in South America, this year we are precisely commemorating 180 years of the heroic deeds of Ayacucho battle, where people joined and became a liberating army after almost 20 years of revolutionary wars under the bright leadership of José de San Martin, Bernardo O'Higgins, José Inacio Abreu e Lima, Simon Bolivar and Antonio José de Sucre, sending away the Spanish empire hitherto extended from the warm Caribbean beaches to the cold lands of Patagonia, thus ending 300 years of colonialism. Today, vis-á-vis the obvious failure of neoliberalism and the great threat that the International Economic Order represents for our countries, it is necessary to retake the Spirit of the South. That is where this Summit in Caracas is heading for. I propose to re-launch the G-15 as a South Integration Movement rather than a group. A movement for the promotion of all possible trends, who walks towards the Non-aligned Movement, the Group of 77, China… The entirely whole South!! I propose that we retake the proposals of the 1990 South Commission: Why not focus our attention and our political actions to the proposals for granting several thousands of the "Grants of the South" per year to students from underdeveloped countries to continue studies in the South; or multiplying cooperation in health to decrease infant mortality, provide basic medical care, fight AIDS and many other actions that would only be possible if we would foster them with the solidarity necessary to ease the dark panorama of life in the South and thus face the expensive and ineffective dependency from the North? Why not create the Debtors Fund as an elemental defense tool to have consultations and coordinate collective action policies, taking into account the full operation of the creditors forum structured by different bodies to protect their interests? Why not advance the system of trade preferences among developing countries that only exists symbolically, whereas the protectionism of the North expels our countries from the markets? Why not promote the compensation trade and investment flows within the South instead of competing in a suicidal fashion among us offering concessions to the multinationals of the North? Why not establish the University of the South? Why not create the Bank of the South? These and other proposals retain their value and await for our political will to become true. But finally, dear friends, I would like to mention in particular a proposal, which, in my opinion, has great significance within this set of proposals: In the South we are victims of the media monopoly of the North, which acts as a power system responsible for disseminating in our countries and planting in the minds of our citizens, information, values and consumption patterns that are basically alien to our realities and that have turned themselves into the most powerful and effective tool of domination. Never is domination more perfect than when the dominated people think like the dominators do. To face and begin to change this reality, I dare to propose the creation of a TV channel that could be seen throughout the world showing information and pictures from the South. This would be the first and fundamental step to crush the media monopoly. In a very shot time this TV channel of the South could broadcast throughout the world our own values, our own roots and tell the people in the world in the words of the great poet Mario Benedetti, a man from the deep South, Uruguay, where the La Plata River opens so much that it looks like a silver sea, and washes my dear Buenos Aires and bluish Montevideo: "THE SOUTH ALSO EXISTS" With its French horn and its Swedish academy its American sauce and its English wrenches with all its missiles and its encyclopedias its stars war and its opulent viciousness with all its laurels the North commands, but down here close to the roots is where memory no remembrance omits and there are who undies and who unlives and thus, all together work wonders be it known: the South also exists. Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you very much Reproduced from: www.venezuelanalysis.com/docs.php?dno=1011 Latest News Posted: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 ¤ Operation Enduring Sweatshop ¤ US Press Torpedoes Aristide ¤ Iran clashes with US over nuclear policy ¤ Iran Blames U.S. 'Bullying' for U.N. Nuke Resolution ¤ March 20: The World Still Says No to Iraq War ¤ South Africa Confirms Nationality of Suspected Mercenaries ¤ Weapons found in seized aircraft ¤ Zimbabwe: West behind 'mercenaries' Flashback ¤ Wolfowitz Cites Importance of Africa in US Security Policy ¤ Report on raid that killed nine Afghan children kept secret ¤ Pilger on the US and terrorism ¤ U.S. military bases in Afghanistan attacked with rockets, gunfire ¤ U.S. Marines fatally shoot two Haitians, official says ¤ Airport chaos as hundreds scramble to leave Haiti ¤ Two U.S. Civilians, Iraqi Killed in Iraq ¤ The Occupation of Haiti: Recalling 1915-1934 ¤ The Uses of al-Qaeda "Links" ¤ Blowback: U.S.- and Israeli-Style ¤ Israel kills five Palestinians ¤ The First US Takeover of Haiti set the Stage for Later Interventions ¤ U.S Trade deficit widens to a record $43.1B ¤ Interim prime minister appointed for Haiti ¤ Two U.S. Civilians, Iraqi Killed in Iraq ¤ Hope crumbles in Rafah as homes are ground to dust ¤ Watch this space ¤ Washington sniper sentenced to death ¤ Tenet attacked over intelligence failures ¤ CIA says Cheney was wrong ¤ Tenet defends Bush administration ¤ Don't skimp on security ¤ Marines explain driver's shooting ¤ War: Just whose business is it anyway? ¤ Iraqis learn red tape, the Indian way ¤ ‘Iraq looking for good ties with Turkey’ ¤ Haiti needs long-term aid, says Annan ¤ Haiti/U.S. council chooses interim prime minister ¤ US marines admit killing pro-Aristide gunman ¤ Anti-Semitism: the Israeli crutch ¤ Starved of the truth ¤ Equatorial Guinea Says Arrests 'Mercenaries' ¤ 9/11 As Campaign Fodder ¤ Some Iraqi analysis 'wildly inconsistent,' ¤ Neocons' Iraq Strategy Now Focused on Syria ¤ Neoconservatives Use Oil to Keep Heat on Mideast ¤ Remember Suez? ¤ Mercenaries mystery deepens as African state arrests 15 men ¤ Explosion rocks Shia office in Iraq ¤ UN 'shied away' from Iraq nuke truths ¤ CIA: Pentagon lied in run-up to war ¤ Occupation hinders Iraqi agriculture ¤ US pressured me, says Blix ¤ Crackdown overrode liberty: security chief ¤ C.I.A. Chief Says He's Corrected Cheney Privately ¤ Stand up to US, Blix tells Howard ¤ War crimes QC under pressure to quit after bias claims ¤ Britain Releases Guantanamo Prisoner ¤ Militants Attack U.S. Base in Afghanistan Latest News Posted: Tuesday, March 9, 2004 ¤ Argentina and IMF in duel over $3.1bn loan ¤ Marines kill driver in new Haiti unrest ¤ Neo-Cons Target Syria ¤ The Same Old Iraq Just a Tiny Bit Worse Than Last Month ¤ Will the Filthy Rich Dump Bush? ¤ The Dead, the Bad and the Ugly ¤ Bush owes 9/11 answers, not TV ad ¤ Al Hurra-Al Who?: Haven't heard? We're Free, They're Not! ¤ The Risks of Waging 'Culture War' ¤ Do as we Say, Not as we Do ¤ U.S. Replaces Halliburton Iraqi Fuel Contracts ¤ The Worst Form of Exploitation ¤ Promises, Promises ¤ Bush ratings slide on Iraq, economy ¤ U.S. Soldier Killed by Bomb in Iraq's Sunni Triangle ¤ Zimbabwe plane mystery continues ¤ One Nation, Divisible ¤ Weapons of Misdirection ¤ War, Bush's Lies Still Need Protesting ¤ Get ready for Operation Martian Freedom ¤ Explosion at Government Building in Iraq ¤ U.S., Europe Split on Iran Nuke Activities ¤ I'm still president, says a defiant Aristide ¤ Invade us and it's no more oil, Chavez tells US ¤ 'Heavy drinking on rise in US military' ¤ ARISTIDE UNDER LOCK & KEY, U.S. DELEGATION SAYS Flashback ¤ Nixon 'Wrecked Early Peace In Vietnam' ¤ Four killed in Karachi violence ¤ Iran demands entry to nuclear club ¤ Bush Blasts Kerry on U.S. Intelligence ¤ Washington sticks to softer line on Tehran ¤ Toward transfer of sovereignty ¤ Beware when Tigers fall out ¤ Iraqi council signs constitution ¤ Chalabi, Bush's shadowy man in Baghdad ¤ Sex discrimination is alive and well ¤ Women are region's peacemakers, but excluded from leadership ¤ Anti-fence demonstrators clash with army northwest of Jerusalem ¤ Two more girls' schools set alight in Afghanistan ¤ Powell: New Iraqi constitution won't discriminate against Jews ¤ Diplomats criticise US stance towards Syria ¤ Haiti gunmen fire at US Marines ¤ Haiti's interim president Alexandre officially inaugurated ¤ Iraq/U.S. puts Kirkuk oil out to tender ¤ US Food Co Says Halliburton Owes $87 Million For Iraq Deal -NBC ¤ Guerrilla Warfare In Afghanistan ¤ The 9/11 factor in election ¤ The axis of reconstruction ¤ US Sets 'Terrible Example' in Afghanistan ¤ US plane 'carrying soldiers' is seized in Harare ¤ US faces opposition to resolution on Iran ¤ US Marine condemns Guantanamo injustice ¤ Al-Sistani: Constitution not yet legitimate Zimbabwe seizes US plane with 'mercenaries' Posted: Monday, March 8, 2004 Zimbabwe 'alert' over seized jet CNN - Mar 09, 04 HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's government says it has put its army on full alert after seizing a U.S.-registered cargo plane that officials say was carrying 64 suspected mercenaries and a cargo of military gear. In Washington, a U.S. State Department spokesman said the aircraft had no connection to the U.S. government, and the company listed as the plane's owner said the aircraft was sold recently. Full Article Mystery plane flew from S Africa BBC- Mar 9, 04 A plane carrying 64 alleged mercenaries impounded by Zimbabwe came from South Africa, say air authorities there. The intended destination of the men on board - described as burly and white, and militarily equipped - is unknown. The US authorities have denied that there is any connection between the plane and the government, while acknowledging that it may be US-registered. US aviation records show the plane - with a tail number N4610 - registered to an Dodson Aviation in Ottawa, Kansas, but a company official said it was sold to Logo Aviation, a South-Africa-based firm, a week ago. Although a BBC correspondent in Johannesburg says this company appears not to exist. Full Article Zimbabwe seizes US plane with 'mercenaries' sabcnews.com Zimbabwe has seized a US-registered cargo plane carrying 64 suspected mercenaries of various nationalities and a cargo of military gear, officials said today. The Boeing 727-100 aircraft was impounded yesterday evening at Harare International Airport "after its owners had made a false declaration of its cargo and crew," said Kembo Mohadi, the home affairs minister, in a statement. "The plane was actually carrying 64 suspected mercenaries of various nationalities," Mohadi said, adding an investigation had also found military material. Full Article Zimbabwe Seizes U.S.-Registered Plane guardian.co.uk The Boeing 727-100 was detained at Harare's main airport late Sunday after its owners allegedly made "a false declaration of its cargo and crew," Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mahadi said at a briefing. "The plane was actually carrying 64 suspected mercenaries of various nationalities," he said. "Further investigations also revealed that on board was military material." Full Article Zimbabwe 'seizes US cargo plane' BBC A US-registered cargo plane with 64 suspected mercenaries on board has been impounded in Harare, Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi has said. The Boeing 727-100 was held on Sunday after it had "made a false declaration of its cargo and crew," Mr Mohadi said. He said the plane was carrying mercenaries of differing nationalities and "military material". Full Article A Shot Off the Bow: Haitian Democracy be Damned! Posted: Monday, March 8, 2004 By Jack Random March 08, 2004 We have seen in Haiti what happens when a democracy goes against the interests and ideology of the Bush administration. For all their talk of democracy (the only surviving rationale for the war on Iraq), we now know what we ought to have known all along: America's support is contingent on cooperation in free trade policies; democracy be damned! "It is clear to us who know Haiti that this is not an uprising of the people against their government, but rather a military operation by former soldiers and death squads with the support of shadowy sectors in the US and Dominican governments," says Ray Laforest of the Haiti Support Network. Mr. Laforest is generous in his analysis. When true history makes its account it will record that the shadows of this government began at the top. It will reveal that special operations, with the expressed support of the president, were dispatched to foster unrest and to organize, supply, arm and finance opposition forces for the sole purpose of overthrowing lawfully elected governments in Haiti and Venezuela. It remains to be seen if Lula of Brazil has sufficiently reformed his policies to avoid the same fate. The action in Haiti is a shot off the bow. It is a warning to all governments in the hemisphere: Drop your trade barriers and allow the international corporations to move in or you will be replaced by any means. The arrogance of this administration has reached new heights. They will proceed with their plans for global dominance even in an election year. They will not so much as pretend to be peacemakers (or rather their pretense is so blatantly fraudulent that it is offered as a mere diplomatic courtesy). They will mock their glorified claims to democracy and flaunt it like a drag queen at a gay pride parade. The case against Aristide seems to be that he came to power in a fraudulent election (he won with 90% of the vote) and his administration was corrupt. The audacity of the Bush White House is almost admirable. We had heard about a fraudulent millennial election but it was several hundred miles north of Port-au-Prince. Did Aristide disenfranchise tens of thousands of registered voters? Did he purge the electorate and blockade the polls? Did he hire partisan thugs to stop a mandated recount? Was he appointed by a politicized Supreme Court? Americans were instructed to forgive and forget the "shenanigans" of our own politicians but the poor citizens of Haiti must endure another in a long line of military coups. Was their corruption in the Aristide government? Is there a third world nation on earth that is immune to the charge? How would it compare to the Enron debacle and the fraudulent west coast energy crisis? Fifty billion dollars were stolen from the California economy alone, bankrupting the state and triggering a nationwide recession, yet none of the Bush supporting Texas corporations responsible has been held to account. California was rewarded with a political coup but at least we were spared a military occupation. What really went down in Haiti? We know that economic sanctions were imposed on the hemisphere's most impoverished state. We know that the leaders of the insurgency - Guy Philippe, Jean Pierre Baptiste and Louis Jodel Chamblain - are thugs, assassins and terrorists who served the former Duvalier regime and the reversed 1990 coup. We know that they were well armed and organized in military units. We know that they returned to Haiti from exile and their numbers poured across the Dominican border. We know that they converged on the capital with machine-like precision, facing little resistance from a stunned and desperate populace. Who organized the operation: Haitian exiles or operatives in Langley, Virginia? The operation bears all the markings of central intelligence. In all but the outcome, it is a replay of the failed Venezuelan coup of April 2002. For two days it appeared that that coup had succeeded until the people rose up to demand democracy and the military backed down. The battle goes on in Venezuela. What prevents a similar reversal in Haiti is the absence of a Haitian military (abolished by Aristide in 1995) and the imposition of a clearly biased international force, lead by America with the cooperation of France (both accountable for Haitian reparations). What will follow are continued poverty, suffering and struggle. The Bush administration is right in one regard: There is an inherent desire for freedom and democracy. It may lie dormant under conditions of extreme poverty and oppression but it will rise again. For Americans, there are a great many questions and an obligation to demand answers: 1. What role did our intelligence community play in the insurgency? Did we provide planning, logistical support, arms and financing for the uprising? Were our operatives on the ground in Haiti or in the Dominican Republic? Did we engage in propaganda or "Cyclops" to foster unrest? Did we act to destabilize the population? 2. What role did the US play in pushing Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile? Did we apply pressure? Did we threaten or otherwise influence the lawfully elected president of a sovereign nation to leave his country in the hands of terrorists? 3. When the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) plan for restoring peace and stability within a democratic framework was rejected by the rebels and accepted by Aristide, why did we then side with the rebels? Why did this administration demand Aristide's removal from office against all precepts of democratic transition? 4. What happens now? Have we assumed responsibility for nation building in Haiti? We will detain Aristide's followers at Guantanamo Bay or let them suffer retribution? Will we commit our troops, our aid and assistance for the long term or was it just about getting rid of Aristide? 5. What was and is our role in the continuing violence in Venezuela? Under the blissful eye of a cooperative corporate media, have we embarked on a murderous policy of covert operations reminiscent of the Cold War era? Under the administration of Ronald Reagan, when anti-Castro fanatics such as Roger Noriega and Otto Reich (servants of the current administration) ran terrorist operations throughout Latin America, Congress finally found the courage to conduct hearings. The results were a shock to the American psyche and a temporary halt to the terrorist war in Nicaragua. We must demand that our congressional leaders conduct comprehensive hearings now. Unlike their predecessors, congressional oversight must not only be intensive but ongoing. The Bush administration's campaign of covert operations in contradiction to democracy and in detriment to the anti-terrorist cause must end. We have too many enemies already. It is not for us, as the most powerful nation on earth, to select which kinds of governments are allowed to proceed from democracy. It is our greater challenge and ultimate responsibility to embrace democracy in all its diverse forms. Jazz. Jack Random is the author of Ghost Dance Insurrection (Dry Bones Press 2000) and the Jazzman Chronicles, Volume One (Crow Dog Press 2003). This article is reproduced at Trinicenter with permission from the author, and was originally published at www.counterpunch.org Latest News Posted: Monday, March 8, 2004 ¤ Aristide Speaks ¤ Aristide refuses to admit defeat ¤ Aristide Declares He Still Rules Haiti ¤ Cold War returns to US backyard ¤ Haitian Democracy be Damned! ¤ The Rape of Haiti ¤ U.S. Marines say they killed one gunman at weekend demonstration ¤ U.S. Marines open fire in Haiti ¤ US and France Kiss and Makeup, Haitian Democracy Dies ¤ World Energy Vs. Usa Gas Shortage ¤ Selling Death for Fun and Profit ¤ Prosecuting the cabal ¤ President's short-term memory problem ¤ Dumb and Dumber ¤ Refugee children killed in Gaza raid ¤ Why is Apartheid Touted as a Solution? ¤ The Forgotten Soldiers of Operation "Iraqi Freedom" ¤ Enemy and ally redefined once again ¤ VP Cheney Helped Cover Up Pakistani Nuke Proliferation > In '89 So US Could Sell Country Fighter Jets ¤ Zimbabwe seizes US plane with 'mercenaries' ¤ After Haiti, Venezuela is wary of US interference ¤ The ouster of democracy ¤ American troops are killing and abusing Afghans ¤ 14 die in Israeli raid on Gaza refugee camps ¤ US helps Iraq prepare for war crimes trials ¤ Scientist 'gagged' by No 10 after warning of global warming threat ¤ Bush and Blair behaved as if they were on a 'witch hunt' ¤ US forces accused of looting, torture and death in Afghanistan ¤ Iraq rebuilding contracts to be awarded this week ¤ Socialists voted out after 10 years ¤ Pakistan struggles with role in war on terror ¤ An empty sort of freedom ¤ Six shot dead at Haitian protes ¤ Three U.S. soldiers wounded in explosion in eastern Afghanistan ¤ Bush, Blair Knew They Were Hyping Case for War-Blix ¤ 'It's the same old Iraq, just a tiny bit worse than it was last month' ¤ Ethnic divide deepens in new Iraq ¤ Ad Hoc Détente to Continue Despite Conservative Sweep ¤ Investigations could make or break Bush ¤ US agents ignored doubts on Iraqi arms ¤ Are those dirty US fingerprints on Aristide's ouster? ¤ Violence escalates in Gaza ¤ US blocks Guantanamo Brits release ¤ Israel threatens to annihilate Hamas ¤ Syria urges US to reconsider sanctions ¤ Iraq war looks like a dud in Spain vote Hiding the Witness at the Scene of the Last Crime? Posted: Sunday, March 7, 2004 The truth about Haiti's Coup By Sean Douglas, Newsday TT The ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from Haiti was orchestrated by external powers, and Cuba and Venezuela could be next. Full Article Hiding the Witness at the Scene of the Last Crime? by Andrew Grice narconews.com This much is undeniable. After doing absolutely nothing to prevent the coup in Haiti, both France and the United States called on Aristide to resign. Soon after, well armed U.S. personal flew him to....the Central African Republic. Aristide called it a modern kidnapping, part and parcel of the modern coup against the only democratically elected President Haiti has ever had. Why CAR? Why not Trinidad or Jamaica, or Venezuela or any number of nearby countries? If Aristide was as free a man as Colin Powell and a half dozen other senior Bush administration officials insist, why the hell would he have wanted to go to CAR? There's no answer to that question. Full Article 'More could have been done for Aristide' by Garwin Davis, jamaica-gleaner.com RANDALL ROBINSON, former president of TransAfrica an African-American lobby group for Africa and the Caribbean and a close family friend of Jean-Bertrand Aristide said yesterday that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) should assist in providing a home for the deposed Haitian president somewhere in the region. Full Article Swimming with sharks and other perils by Claude Robinson, jamaicaobserver.com THE row between Caribbean leaders and the George W Bush administration over the ditching of Caricom's plan for power sharing in Haiti and the forced exile of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, underscores the perilous paths that small nations have to tread in a world where practical politics trumps principle every time. Full Article Washington's Tar Baby by John Maxwell, jamaicaobserver.com The US State Department, which is seeking to foster the lie that the president and his aides have clean hands, claims that Aristide asked to be taken to safety. Aristide says he was forced to go, by US operatives on the ground in Haiti. Considering the fact that the State Department's point man has a long history of defending Haitian dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier, while attacking proponents of democracy and economic justice such as Aristide, reasonable people will be disinclined to believe the State Department. Full Article Kerry: Bush should have backed Aristide Aristide and US Imperial Intervention Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide is stranded in the Central African Republic (itself under a rogue regime under AU constitutive act of Union) reportedly on his way to exile in South Africa courtesy of President Thabo Mbeki. Mbeki was the only African leader with the sense of history to judge it important to be in Haiti as guest of Aristide early this year during the Bicentenary celebrations of Haiti's revolution that established the first Independent Black republic led by Slaves. I am not sure how many Africans or Black people in general are aware of the significance of Haiti in the history of Pan Africanist resistance. That says a lot about our miseduucation. Full Post Aristide muzzled Contact with journalists restricted, say hosts BANGUI, (AFP) - The Cabinet in the Central African Republic went into talks yesterday, reportedly to discuss what to do with their difficult guest, ousted Haitian leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and took steps to keep him quiet. National radio announced that all local and foreign journalists with questions relating to Aristide, who has annoyed his hosts with embarrassing statements, must henceforth first address themselves to the CAR authorities. Full Article Poor Haiti...poor Aristide...poor all of us by Barbara Gloudon, jamaicaobserver.com If there is anybody left on the face of this planet who has not got the message that when America dumps you, you're truly dumped, then speak up now or forever sink into the silence of naiveté and deepest ignorance. To listen to some of the duplicitous denials about how Aristide suddenly left home, you'd think he got up and decided to go on vacation, opting to flying for 20 hours to one of the least-known, least-respected countries of the world. Maybe he is right. It is only a "kidnapping" which could have got anybody there. Full Article Latest News Posted: Sunday, March 7, 2004 ¤ Ha! Those White so-called liberals ¤ The truth about Haiti's Coup ¤ Car Bomb, Rockets Explode in Baghdad ¤ President's panel skewed facts, 2 scientists say ¤ Guns smuggled from South Florida arming Haitians Flashback ¤ The lies that bind White House team to Iraq ¤ The True Rationale? It's a Decade Old ¤ Hiding the Witness at the Scene of the Last Crime? ¤ Aristide's Final Hours ¤ Aristide muzzled ¤ Bush, Haiti & Venezuela: A Children's Tale ¤ Sparring over Aristide's fall ¤ Washington's Tar Baby ¤ Fears of rising violence in capital ¤ Poor Haiti...poor Aristide...poor all of us ¤ Bush and the myth of great leadership ¤ Facts are stubborn things, but they are still facts ¤ The Pentagon's secret scream ¤ 2 Iraqis Killed in Police Station Attack Flashback ¤ 300 words That Make CIA, FBI, and NSA to Look at Your Site ¤ Scotland defies Blair and puts block on GM ¤ Shia boycott of signing widens Iraqi divisions ¤ Iraq: One year on ¤ Iraq demands a new world order ¤ This moral vacuum on Iraq ¤ Bush is the fly in Blair's ointment ¤ 2 Iraqis Killed in Police Station Attack ¤ 14 Palestinians Killed in Gun Battles ¤ Russian Haiti ¤ An American odyssey ¤ Sanctions: Zim tells US to 'go to hell' Flashback ¤ George H.W. Bush, the CIA & a Case of State Terrorism ¤ Democratisating ME: Myth or reality ¤ 12 killed in Israeli sweep of refugee camps ¤ Seven British soldiers hurt in attack near Basra ¤ Bush Hails Iraqi Constitution in Address ¤ Will the PM turn his back on Bush? ¤ Capture would boost Bush campaign ¤ War chief reveals legal crisis ¤ Complications in the 'war on terror' ¤ The good ship US Economy ... and why it won't sink ¤ John Kerry: A thorn in India's side ¤ Optimism energizes Democratic campaign ¤ A work in progress -- or regress ¤ Task Force 121 steps up hunt for Bin Laden ¤ Many dead as terror strikes Gaza ¤ Thousands march against Venezuelan president ¤ US detaining 10,000 Iraqis Onward to Venezuela? Posted: Saturday, March 6, 2004 Onward to Venezuela: Mission Accomplished in Haiti By Kurt Nimmo, www.kurtnimmo.com Hugo Chavez, in no uncertain terms, has warned the Bushites he will use the oil weapon against the United States if Bush attacks Venezuela, America's fourth-largest oil exporter. "[I]f Mr. Bush is possessed with the madness of trying to blockade Venezuela, or worse for them, to invade Venezuela in response to the desperate song of his lackeys... sadly not a drop of petroleum will come to them from Venezuela," Hugo Chavez recently told supporters, according to AFP/Reuters. Is Chavez paranoid? Full Article A Report from Caracas Venezuela Equals Haiti? By Alan Cisco Venezuela will be the next Haiti, or at least that's the hope of the desperate Venezuelan opposition, whose "leaders" and media try to draw the analogy. Their fury is nominally based around signatures for a recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez. In the 1999 constitution, product of the constituent assembly fostered by Chavez, there is an unprecedented measure allowing for a recall vote on any elected official after half their term of office has expired, if it is petitioned by 20% of the electorate. Half of the Chavez's six year term ended last August 19, 2003. Full Article Chavez Tells U.S.: 'Get Your Hands Off Venezuela!' By Pascal Fletcher CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told the United States on Friday to "get its hands off Venezuela" as he accused Washington of backing a wave of opposition protests seeking a recall vote against him. Chavez, who sent troops onto the streets to control a week of protests in which at least eight people were killed, appealed to the international community to condemn what he said was the second U.S. attempt in two years to topple him. Full Article Aristide Muzzled: Contacts Restricted Posted: Saturday, March 6, 2004 Haiti's fate in the balance Patterson meets UN envoy for talks on CARICOM's position Omar Anderson, www.jamaica-gleaner.com PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson said a decision on whether Haiti will remain a member of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is to be made at a special meeting in St. Kitts and Nevis later this month. He was speaking with Reginald Dumas, the very recently appointed Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a meeting at Jamaica House yesterday. From March 25-26, CARICOM will, at its inter-sessional meetings, discuss and analyse its future relation with the beleaguered nation. Full Article Aristide muzzled Contact with journalists restricted, say hosts BANGUI, (AFP) - The Cabinet in the Central African Republic went into talks yesterday, reportedly to discuss what to do with their difficult guest, ousted Haitian leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and took steps to keep him quiet. National radio announced that all local and foreign journalists with questions relating to Aristide, who has annoyed his hosts with embarrassing statements, must henceforth first address themselves to the CAR authorities. Full Article Coup in Haiti by Amy Wilentz For those who know Haitian history, this has been a time of eerie, unhappy déjà vu. Part of the pain is to see the elected president coerced out of office by heavy-handed pressure from the United States and France, accompanied by a show of force and the threat of a blood bath. But to also hear that he's been spirited off to a secret location is to be bluntly reminded of the fate of the fabled leader of Haiti's revolution, former slave and stable boy Toussaint L'Ouverture, who was entrapped by the French, bound, and hustled away from Haiti on a ship, to die in solitary confinement in a fortress prison in the Jura mountains in France. Full Article ¤ Aristide supporters protest against US "occupation" ¤ Haitian rebels press to re-establish army ¤ Canada to send 450 troops to Haiti ¤ Large protest in Haiti focuses on role of U.S. ¤ Supporters of ousted president vent anger outside embassies ¤ Canada to send 450 troops to Haiti ¤ Aristide supporters protest 'occupation' ¤ High death toll in Haiti ¤ Haiti: US Soldiers' Boots Follow Footprints From the Past Latest News Posted: Saturday, March 6, 2004 ¤ Mission Accomplished in Haiti Onward to Venezuela? ¤ Chavez Tells U.S.: 'Get Your Hands Off Venezuela!' ¤ High death toll in Haiti ¤ Unrest continues in Haiti ¤ Oh, Canada The Coup Coalition ¤ A Report from Caracas: Venezuela Equals Haiti? ¤ Venezuelans March to Protest Recall Vote ¤ Haitian Democracy be Damned! ¤ Iraq: Losing the American Way ¤ George W. Bush molests the dead ¤ To Preserve, Protect ... or Abandon ¤ Rally for regime change in America ¤ Six Palestinians Die in Failed Attack on Israelis ¤ Six Palestinians killed in border assault ¤ Kerry on Bush: 'Houston, We've Got a Problem' ¤ Bush Vows to Respond to Iraq Bombings ¤ Blix: Blair Lacked 'Critical Thinking' ¤ Bush, Blair Misled by Intelligence on Iraq - Blix ¤ North Korea looks to ouster of Bush ¤ Mass Deportations Mostly Go Unnoticed ¤ Kerry Criticizes Bush for Failing to Back Aristide ¤ Haiti's problems spill over into U.S. presidential race ¤ Aristide supporters protest against US "occupation" ¤ Haitian rebels press to re-establish army ¤ Large protest in Haiti focuses on role of U.S. ¤ Supporters of ousted president vent anger outside embassies ¤ Canada to send 450 troops to Haiti ¤ Aristide supporters protest 'occupation' ¤ High death toll in Haiti ¤ Haiti: US Soldiers' Boots Follow Footprints From the Past ¤ US army admits killing Iraqi civilians ¤ US sanctions against Syria 'imminent' ¤ Sept. 11 and the U.S. campaign ¤ Blair confronts war critics: I was right, and I still am ¤ Rampant Dishonesty ¤ Crossing the threshold ¤ Ashcroft Gets His Pound of Flesh ¤ Bush to Visit Sept. 11 Memorial ¤ Need to build a case for war? ¤ Amnesty says violence on women is as great an evil as terrorism ¤ Suicide Attackers Strike Gaza Crossing ¤ 'I learnt I had been vilified, crucified and made to look like an imbecile' ¤ Why Blair was convinced by the intelligence in his fight against evil ¤ Iraq's Chalabi Says 'Blame CIA, Not Me' About WMD ¤ US hires mercenaries for Iraq role ¤ US admits shooting dead four civilians in Iraq ¤ U.S., Certain That Iraq Had Illicit Arms, Reportedly Ignored Contrary Reports ¤ What's the rush, America? ¤ Blair defends war, suggests UN reform ¤ Signing setback in Iraq US faces mounting international fury over Aristide's departure Posted: Friday, March 5, 2004 Godfather Colin Powell: The Gangster of Haiti U.S. Called off their Dogs Haiti's rebels abandon claims of power after brief talk with Marines Reuters , Port-Au-Prince, Haiti via taipeitimes.com The decision by rebel leader Guy Philippe, whose month-long revolt led to Aristide's downfall, came after a brief meeting with the top US Marine officers in Haiti. He was told the US expected him to honor his word and disarm. "We have decided to lay down our arms," Philippe said a day after announcing that he was chief of the military and police, in defiance of the US, which is heading a UN-authorized mission to restore order. "The Front from now on has no men patrolling the streets," Philippe said, referring to the rebel forces. Full Article Jamaica returns arms to S Africa Plane with weapons for Haiti landed in Kingston Sunday Observer Reporter, March 05, 2004 A South African military aircraft, which arrived too late with arms and equipment destined for the Haitian police, spent four days on the tarmac at Kingston's Norman Manley Airport before returning home on Wednesday with all its cargo onboard, the Jamaican government confirmed last night. The South African press had reported last week that President Thabo Mbeki had agreed to send guns, bullets and bullet-proof vests to Haiti's ill-equipped police force to help Aristide, who was facing an armed insurrection, defend himself. Full Article US faces mounting international fury over Aristide's 'forced' exit By Andrew Gumbel, independent.co.uk South Africa added its voice last night to a growing international chorus questioning the circumstances surrounding Jean-Bertrand Aristide's departure from Haiti and demanded an investigation into allegations that the US forcibly removed a democratically elected president from office. In a thinly veiled attack on the Bush administration, South Africa's Foreign Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, said that if Mr Aristide had been prised from power against his will, it would have "serious consequences and ramifications for the respect of the rule of law and democracy the world over". Full Article Aristide wishes to return to Haiti HAVANA, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide said in Bangui on Thursday he wished to return to Haiti, a Haitian radio station in the capital city of Port-au-Prince reported. Aristide said he was not officially resigned as the president and hoped he could return to Haiti, the report cited Aristide as saying on Thursday. Full Article Supporters Question Aristide Letter By PAISLEY DODDS and MICHELLE FAUL Associated Press Writers, newsday.com PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Supporters of ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide are questioning whether Aristide's resignation was voluntary or forced. Aristide said he was forced to sign the letter as he fled Haiti on Sunday, and he refused to confirm in a subsequent interview that he had resigned. His comments, broadcast by radio stations in Haiti, have won sympathy at home where some expressed doubt about whether the resignation was genuine. Full Article Native Struggle Posted: Friday, March 5, 2004 Analysis: Chavez backs native struggle By Carlos Coello, www.upi.com CARACAS, Venezuela, March 4 (UPI) -- The Venezuelan government is acting as a driving force behind the populist Latin American indigenous movement, despite the fact that there are only about 250,000 natives in the county, who have no political clout. President Hugo Chavez has become a pillar of a continental revolution, along with his close associate Cuban leader Fidel Castro. According to analyst Alberto Garrido, the revolutionary movement extends from Mexico to Tierra del Fuego, taking in farmers, indigenous peoples, labor unions and guerrilla organizations. It includes the indigenous movements of Mexico, Central America, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador as well as Nicaragua's Sandinistas, Salvador's Farabundo Marti movement, Argentinean strikers, Brazilian members of Sin Tierra's landless movement and Colombia's leftist guerrillas. All are tightly connected to the "Bolivarian Revolution" initiated and led by President Lieutenant Colonel Chavez. Full Article Latest News Posted: Friday, March 5, 2004 ¤ Dozens of Inca Mummies Found on Outskirts of Lima ¤ Oil prices hit one-year high ¤ Ex-Soldier Accused of Planting Bombs Aimed at Israeli Arabs ¤ The Bush Ads ¤ Stop Hiding the Toll of War ¤ Head of U.S. Security Firm That Guarded Aristide Speaks Out ¤ Coup in Haiti ¤ How the WMD Scam Put Money in the Bush Family's Pockets ¤ The Swirl of Chaos ¤ Canada and Haiti ¤ Some Dead Bodies are More Politically Viable Than Other ¤ "Who Cares About Haiti, Anyway?" ¤ Despite New G.I. Tactics, Bombs Are Still Biggest Peril ¤ Aristide denies 'formal resignation,' plans return ¤ Dumb Dubya ¤ White lies and whoppers ¤ Godfather Colin Powell: The Gangster of Haiti ¤ Operation Sweatshop ¤ Mad about you ¤ Haiti Aid Shortfall Led Nation Into 'Silent' Emergency, UN Says ¤ Thousands of Aristide Supporters Pour Into Streets ¤ Martha Stewart Guilty on All Counts ¤ Haitian criminals on run as jails empty ¤ Lawlessness, revenge rage on within Haiti ¤ Supporters Question Aristide Letter ¤ Haiti: US Soldiers' Boots Follow Footprints From the Past ¤ US faces mounting international fury over Aristide's 'forced' exit ¤ Nightmare in the Caribbean ¤ Haitian government spent millions on lobbying U.S. ¤ Mixed reactions to U.S. Marines in Haiti ¤ Haiti's Aristide accuses France ¤ US rejects push for Haiti 'kidnap' inquiry ¤ Aristide wishes to return to Haiti ¤ Analysis: Chavez backs native struggle ¤ Venezuela fears drive oil to one-year high ¤ Coup by Technicality ¥ Preparing the U.S public for a Coup? ¤ 9/11 election ads have Bush in hot water ¤ Fear and fortitude in Baghdad ¤ Get Osama - but where, and when? ¤ The capture of bin Laden ¤ Wolfowitz’s ‘U-turn’ on Iraq war shocks Europeans ¤ Political settlement only solution to terrorism in Iraq ¤ Top US general raises spectre of Iraq civil war ¤ Bush plays terror card in poll battle ¤ America, land of the vengeful ¤ Bush or Kerry? No Difference ¤ US contractor recruits guards for Iraq in Chile ¤ Bremer's plan to tighten security fails to allay fears ¤ Sunnis and Shias must play an equal part in a new Iraq ¤ U.S. Marines Draw Hostility in Haiti ¤ Bush accused of exploiting 9/11 attacks ¤ Blix: Iraq war was illegal ¤ U.S. didn't interview tipster on mobile labs ¤ Israel Intensifies Assassination Offensive ¤ Hutton shocked by negative impact of report ¤ Public doesn't trust Israeli PM - poll Don't Fall For Washington's Spin On Haiti Posted: Thursday, March 4, 2004 A Typical American Coup by John Horvath When it comes to removing heads of state by indirect means, the US still has what it takes to get the job done Jean Bertrand Aristide has finally fled Haiti -- again. Meanwhile, the mainstream press the world over focuses on the anarchy that has engulfed the tiny Caribbean nation. Yet most reports merely skim the surface. There was talk of rebel advances, people with guns, looting, revenge attacks, etc. What was missing was one simple question: what was the uprising all about? Perhaps the reason why journalists, especially those from the US and other "allied" countries, failed to dig deep into what was going on is because they know what they would find: that the US was behind the ugly overthrow of a democratically elected government, a move akin to the Iraq invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Full Article Don't Fall For Washington's Spin On Haiti by Jeffrey Sachs; Financial Times; March 01, 2004 The crisis in Haiti is another case of brazen US manipulation of a small, impoverished country with the truth unexplored by journalists. In the nearly universal media line on the Haitian revolt, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was portrayed as an undemocratic leader who betrayed Haiti's democratic hopes and thereby lost the support of his erstwhile backers. He "stole" elections and intransigently refused to address opposition concerns. As a result he had to leave office, which he did at the insistence of the US and France. Unfortunately, this is a gravely distorted view. Full Article Haitian Fantasies: Mainstream Media Fails Itself By Peter Phillips On February 29, Richard Boucher from the U.S. Department of State released a press release claiming that Jean Bertrand Aristide had resigned as president of Haiti and that the United State facilitated his safe departure. Within hours the major broadcast news stations in the United States including CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, and NPR were reporting that Aristide had fled Haiti. An Associated Press release that evening said "Aristide resigns, flees into exile." The next day headlines in the major newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, New York Times, and Atlanta Journal Constitution, all announced "Aristide Flees Haiti." The Baltimore sun reported, "Haiti's first democratically-elected president was forced to flee his country yesterday like despots before him." Full Article The Press and Haiti: Assuming the Right to Intervene By Norman Solomon It's not just a matter of American boots on the ground and bombs from the sky. Much more common than the range of overt violence from U.S. military actions is the process of deepening poverty from economic intervention. Outside the media glare, Washington's routine policies involve pulling financial levers to penalize nations that have leaders who displease the world's only superpower. Full Article Democrats Slam Bush Administration over Aristide Ouster by Jim Lobe The Bush administration's role in facilitating the ouster of Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide came under sharp and sustained attack by Democrats in Congress Wednesday, while leaders of the of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) called for an independent investigation into the circumstances that led to his exile aboard a U.S.-chartered jet Sunday. Full Article Destabilization Posted: Thursday, March 4, 2004 The Script of Destabilization as Applied These days the audience of Venezuela's four most important private TV-channels must have the impression that there is a popular revolt against the Chávez government going on. Globovision is in a leading position with an uninterrupted live program. The local news-source for CNN is selling the idea of street fighting throughout the whole country. Even images of two burning litterbags or simply some rocks lying around are supported with dramatic music while aggressive politicians from the opposition talk about a supposed dictatorship and make calls for disobedience. Full Article Don't fall for Washington's spin on Haiti The crisis in Haiti is another case of brazen US manipulation of a small, impoverished country. Much of the media portrayed President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as an undemocratic leader who betrayed Haiti's democratic hopes and thereby lost the support of his erstwhile backers. He "stole" elections and intransigently refused to address opposition concerns. As a result he had to leave office, which he did on Sunday at the insistence of the US and France. Unfortunately, this is a very distorted view. Full Article Latest News Posted: Thursday, March 4, 2004 ¤ The Press and Haiti: Assuming the Right to Intervene ¤ From His First Day in Office, Bush Was Ousting Aristide Flashback ¤ Kissinger Had a Hand in 'Dirty War' ¤ Fairy Tales, Bush & the 9-11 Commission ¤ Ah!: Arsonists for Haiti? ¤ Haitian Fantasies: Mainstream Media Fails Itself ¤ Furor Over Bush's 9/11 Ad ¤ Osama Lama Ding Dong ¤ Rockets Fired at US Baghdad HQ ¤ Democrats Slam Bush Administration over Aristide Ouster ¤ Haiti, Is That One of the Tahitian Islands? ¤ We were duped ¤ Protect and survive ¤ Israeli Forces Raid Gaza Town, Kill Boy ¤ Annan calls in UK envoy over bugging ¤ Throughout Iraq, they blamed the US ¤ Haiti's Requiem for Nation-Building ¤ U.S. Soldier Being Investigated in Iraq ¤ Venezuela's Opposition Pleads for Help ¥ Coup attempt coming Chavez way again ¤ Retrial Ordered for Convicted 9/11 Suspect ¤ 271 killed in Iraq bombings ¤ Three killed in Port-au-Prince gun battles ¤ Russia against US air marshals plans ¤ ‘UK troops may stay in Iraq for more than two years’ ¤ A constitution drenched in blood ¤ Army Excesses in Pakistan's Tribal Zone Could Wreck US War on Terror ¤ WMD joins the Hall of Intelligence-Twisting Fame ¤ Chilean Pres's Decision to Send Troops to Haiti Triggers Political Storm ¤ Entangling the American Gulliver ¤ US issued its annual review of human rights around the world ¥ Only one country escaped scrutiny: the US itself. ¤ Fears Iraq being manipulated into civil war ¤ Shi'ite attacks pave way for rapid responses ¤ Israeli strike kills 3 in Hamas ¤ Marines start patrols of tense Haiti streets ¤ The longest, and perhaps the dirtiest, of US campaigns ¤ Bush Ads Use World Trade Center Imagery ¤ Powell and Aide Questioned on Haiti by Panel's Skeptics ¤ 41 dead in Nepal clashes ¤ Sharon warns rogue settlers ¤ War doubters hit back at Austrailian PM ¤ U.S. Patrols Start in Haiti, but Residents Remain Wary ¤ Attorney General conceded doubts over legality of war ¤ Blair to launch defiant defence of Iraq conflict ¤ Sharon linked to deal to free soldier Latest News Posted: Wednesday, March 3, 2004 ¤ Caribbean Won't Help With Peacekeeping ¤ Reign of terror follows US-backed coup in Haiti ¤ Urgent Alert: U.S. Led Coup in Haiti? ¤ A Typical American Coup ¤ Haiti: A Case History ¤ For Bush, an Election-Year Powder Keg ¤ Regime Change in Haiti: A Coup By Any Other Name ¤ Bush Fails Democracy in Haiti ¤ Haiti, Is That One of the Tahitian Islands? The Yuppie Silence ¤ 143 Murdered in "Liberated" Iraq ¤ Israeli Organized Crime ¤ Racism kills ¤ BBC revives propaganda blitz against Government ¤ US widens its sanctions against Zimbabwe ¤ All This Talk of Civil War, Now This ¤ Festival time in Iraq. But by the end of the day 220 lay dead ¤ Nepal Rebels Kill at Least 29 Soldiers ¤ Shia pilgrims gunned down ¤ Admit WMD mistake, survey chief tells Bush ¤ Mismanaging the World ¤ Reality 1, Neocons 0 ¤ Shi'ite bombings: Civil war a step closer ¤ Pakistan stirs a tribal war ¤ US military spending soars, security suffers ¤ It's Kerry v Bush after Super Tuesday rout ¤ Mistakes in Haiti, Venezuela ¤ Venezuelan Protests Intensify After Ruling ¤ Fresh protests rock Venezuela ¤ Blasts kill more than 140 in Iraq ¤ Israeli troops kill West Bank militant ¤ Anger over Chavez recall effort spills into violence ¤ Haiti helping mend the U.S.-France rift ¥ Partners in crime ¤ 9/11 Panel Struggles For White House Cooperation ¤ Pentagon Gives Marines Limited Job in Haiti ¤ Iraq mourns blast victims ¤ Worried Bush to air re-election ads early ¤ Palestinian fighter 'tortured' and shot dead ¤ Israel to step up operations in territories ¤ Rights Groups Slam US Over Haiti ¤ Iraqi exile attains his goal ¤ Chavez ruling triggers protests ¤ U.S. Sees No Rebel Role in New Haiti Government ¤ Iraq claims hardened after Bush call ¤ US says Iraq bombs do not mean security failing Opposition Did Not Collect Enough Signatures Posted: Tuesday, March 2, 2004 Venezuela's Opposition Did Not Collect Enough Signatures Yet for Chavez Recall Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) announced today that not enough valid signatures were collected by the opposition to force a recall referendum on President Hugo Chavez without first re-verifying one million signatures directly with the signers. After finishing the counting and validation of signatures, the Council found that only 1,832,493 signatures are valid. Full Article Caricom should help restore Mr Aristide to power Posted: Tuesday, March 2, 2004 Caricom should help restore Mr Aristide to power for his remaining two years in office March 02, 2004 by Ayanna Gillian Self Empowerment Learning Fraternity, Trinidad and Tobago The URL of this article is: www.rootswomen.com/ayanna/articles/02032004.html "We were in direct communication with President Aristide on Saturday afternoon and nothing that he said to us then would that he said to us then would have led us to believe that his resignation was imminent," Mr. Patterson told journalists during yesterday's post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House. If we are to call ourselves sovereign nations, and deserve, even for a moment in our sorry histories the right to call ourselves independent, we must answer the call of Haiti. CARICOM must fight to reinstate President Jean Bertrand Aristide!! Throughout our histories as Caribbean nations we have neglected Haiti in favour of keeping our bellies full and our backs safe. We have cowed in the face of the U.S, and Europe and paid lip service to the beacon that Haiti has been, the only true light shining in the West. This Coup is not about the removal of a corrupt leader, (though he may have been) and it is not the quelling of civil war, (which I sincerely doubt will be achieved). This is a blatant, arrogant attack on democracy and the sovereignty of the entire Caribbean and by extension the entire world. We sit here and feel that the plight of the world cannot touch us and that we are somehow safe in the hazy cocoon of breeze and sand and sex. But this is now in our backyard, as it has always been though we refused to see it. The international media would like to attempt to pull this one off, just as they attempted to do in Venezuela and just as they did in Georgia and countless other states. But the whistle has been blown and the cover is shot. If there has been no other time that we in the Caribbean must stand together and present a united front against this atrocity it is NOW. The outcome of this CARICOM meeting must send a strong signal to the United States and her cronies: the Caribbean will not take this one sitting down. We must demand a full reinstatement of President Aristide and fully expose the role of the U.S in the coup that ousted him. The international community will certainly not be our allies in this. They have never been friends of Haiti and have sought since her glorious independence to crush any spark of political and economic power displayed by African people. Haiti has paid for not 'knowing her place' and is still paying for it. Why should we believe that the fate of any other black sovereign state would be any different? The Euro-American powers have clearly shown that they have no regard for our sovereignty, for our independence and for our capacity to govern. As we think on Haiti, we must remember Grenada and Venezuela; we must remember Cuba and Panama, we must think on the so-called 'fishing dispute' between Barbados and Trinidad, we must think of the rampant drug trade in Jamaica and political instability and poverty in Guyana. None of us are safe. We never have been and will not be unless we stand now! No other conclusion is acceptable. The U.S with its forked-tongued, macabre vision of democracy has fueled civil war in Haiti, supported, armed and encouraged a bloody paramilitary faction with no legal or legitimate claim to power, masterminded a coup, kidnapped and ousted a democratically elected and constitutionally recognized President and is now attempting to fool the world again and come out with its hands clean. We must sound a clarion call that will be heard worldwide. We have presented a weak front for too long and allowed CARICOM to be used as a pawn and taken for a joke. We must state unequivocally: This was a U.S masterminded coup. The appointment of The Haitian chief justice, Boniface Alexandre is illegal and unconstitutional and we do NOT recognize it. REINSTATE ARISTIDE! WE WILL ACCEPT NO QUARTER. Latest News Posted: Tuesday, March 2, 2004 ¤ The Bush Dominoes Keep Falling ¤ US forced me into exile, says Aristide ¤ Democracy Takes a Back Seat in Haiti ¤ Afghanistan: The Liberation That Isn't ¤ Haiti: the Dangerous Muddle ¤ Blasts kill at least 143 at Iraqi Shiite shrines ¤ Don't fall for Washington's spin on Haiti ¤ At Least 44 Dead in Attacks on Pakistan Shi'ites ¤ U.N.: Iraq had no WMD after 1994 ¤ Was the war legal? Leading lawyers give their verdict ¤ EU imposes sanctions on United States ¤ Rebel leader says he'll arrest prime minister in Haiti ¤ At least 143 people died in suicide attacks at Shiite Muslim shrines ¤ Death toll of Iraq bombings rises to 182 ¤ US tells Haitian rebels to lay down arms, go home ¥ Good Job!!! ¤ Bush stonewalls 9/11 commission, and the families wonder why ¤ 'Bush's great debate - with himself' ¤ Will The End of Oil Mean The End of America? ¤ The Accomplished Destruction of Aristide... ¤ Cheney: Iraq bombings show democracy foes "desperate" ¥ This statement makes Chaney sound desperate ¤ US soldier killed in Iraq attack ¤ CARICOM MUST REINSTATE ARISTIDE NOW! ¤ Coup d'etat in Haiti ¤ Brazilians denounce slave labor ¤ Aristide: 'White American Military' Kidnapped Me ¤ Aristide: 'U.S. Forced Me to Leave Haiti' ¤ Round 2 for US nation-building in Haiti ¤ Aristide accuses U.S. of forcing his ouster ¤ US Marines occupy Haitian capital amid charges Aristide was kidnapped ¤ Kidnapped or refugee ¤ Was Aristide kidnapped by US forces? ¤ PRESIDENT ARISTIDE SAYS I WAS KIDNAPPED ¤ Some Marines Question Haiti Mission Value ¤ Caribbean denounces Aristide 'removal' ¤ Shattered democracy in Haiti ¤ US soldier killed in Iraq attack ¤ Shia worshippers targeted in Iraq explosions ¤ At least 100 killed in Iraq explosions ¤ Who cares about Haiti? In Florida, the voters do ¤ Aristide kidnapped by US soldiers. Forced out ¤ Aristide says he was 'kidnapped' ¤ Bush-bashing: international sport? ¤ Quake Kills Six, Injures Two in Turkey ¤ High Infant Mortality Rate in Iraq ¤ Scores killed and injured in Iraq bombings ¤ Imperial power and us ¤ 50 feared dead in blasts at Shi'ite ceremonies ¤ US rebuffs Aristide abduction claims ¤ No apologies for war: Howard ¤ PM's Iraq claims 'not supported' ¤ Doubt cast on Howard's reasons for Iraq war ¤ Weaknesses to be found from the start to the end ¤ Iraq civil war: Rumors and reality Overthrow of Aristide: a coup made in the USA Posted: Monday, March 1, 2004 Haiti's coup made in the USA The violent overthrow and forced exile of Haiti’s President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has ripped aside the democratic pretensions of Washington and the other major powers to expose the brutal and predatory character of resurgent imperialism. The actions taken by the US government in Haiti demonstrate the farcical character of its claims that the aim of the US invasion of Iraq was to inaugurate an era of democratization and freedom in the Middle East and around the world. Full Article Another blow to democracy in homeland, local Haitians lament "Aristide was kidnapped!" they screamed, draped in Haitian flags. "Election yes, coup no," said the placards they raised in defiance. Full Article Chavez warns the US Posted: Monday, March 1, 2004 President threatens US with oil weapon CARACAS, March 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Venezuela would block the US access to its oil resources if the United States imposes sanctions on or invade the country. Chavez was responding to a recent threat from the United States that it would impose sanctions on Venezuelan oil companies on the US soil if Venezuelan suspends oil exports to it. In a televised speech to the nation, Chavez said "If Mr. Bush is possessed with the madness of trying to blockade Venezuela, or worse for them, to invade Venezuela in response to the desperate song of his lackeys ... sadly not a drop of petroleum will come to them from Venezuela." Full Article Latest News Posted: Monday, March 1, 2004 ¤ U.S. Rep Maxine Waters: Aristide Says 'I Was Kidnapped' ¤ The fire this time in Haiti was US-fueled ¤ The overthrow of Haiti's Aristide: a coup made in the USA ¤ U.S. activist claims Aristide kidnapped at gunpoint by U.S. troops ¤ Haiti's Aristide says he was abducted ¤ Lawyer's Account Differs From Administration's Story ¤ Aristide Tells U.S. Contacts He Was Abducted ¤ Haiti president accuses US of kidnap ¤ Haiti as Target Practice ¤ US Sponsored Coup d'Etat ¤ Aristide backers blame US for ouster ¤ Déjà vu All Over Again in Haiti ¤ The strange "suicide" of David Kelly ¤ Lies, Damn Lies and Politicians ¤ Aristide hits back at opponents ¤ US troops 'made Aristide leave' ¤ Bush administration assailed as withholding support ¤ Aristide has gone, the death squads are back ¤ More US marines head for Haiti ¤ Haitians now ask: 'What next?' ¤ Haiti: Opposition - and US - must step up to bat ¤ US goes in as Aristide flees Haiti ¤ Aristide Arrives in Central Africa ¤ Paris and Washington find common ground in Haiti ¤ UN approves multinational force for Haiti ¥ How the U.N. Supports removing democratically elected leaders ¤ At least 10 killed in Port-au-Prince violence ¤ Chaos on the streets after Aristide flees Haiti for exile ¤ Haiti's 'New Chapter' ¥ How the Media supports removing democratically elected leaders ¤ Breach of trust between UK officers, soldiers identified: report ¤ British agents spied on UN rights chief, says report ¤ One year after ¤ U.S. has lost its moral right to preach ¤ Campaign checklist - first, find Osama ¤ Disarmament stalled by US, says Pyongyang ¤ Israel soldier guilty of killing Palestinian ¤ Mission to Planet Rumsfeld ¤ Bush changes tactics in Osama hunt ¤ Iraq fails to meet Bush deadline ¤ Short defies gag in attack on Whitehall ¤ Joy and panic as Haitian grapevine spreads word that the Aristide era is over ¤ Up go oil prices ¤ Chavez threatens to stop oil to US ¤ U.S. Oil Hits 6-Week High ¤ Chávez supporters march in capital ¤ Threat of legal action fails to silence Short ¤ Putin nominates new PM ¤ PM gives green light to new inquiry ¤ Israeli army raid northern West Bank, arrest 1 Palestinian ¤ Russia warns of possible military intervention in North Korea ¤ Iraq advice 'must be made public' ¤ Large Explosion Heard in Central Baghdad ¤ $1 billion committed for Iraq rebuilding projects in 2004 |
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