July 2003

DRC is a nation endowed with vast potential wealth (gold, diamonds, rubber, copper, cobalt, oil, timber, and coltan along with a wide variety of agricultural produce) but its economy has declined significantly since the mid-1980's due a variety of unsuccessful government measures, the residue of colonial rule, and the financial imperialism of new masters. It has been estimated that DRC may comprise the most mineral-rich chunk of land on the globe but its recent history has been one of internal conflict. Much of this arose as the nation absorbed large numbers of refugees from the fighting in Rwanda and Burundi in 1994. But the conflicts in the whole region of central Africa really date back as far as the fifteenth century and are today, as they always have been, conflicts of imperialism.

Many of the countries in this area achieved independence from colonial masters in the 1950's and 1960's and quickly degenerated into fighting within and without their borders, much of it spurred by the "financial colonialists" who stepped into the gap left by the old monarchies. The history of these nations since the fifteenth century has been one of European colonialism, resistance, independence, followed by neocolonialism, and prolonged resistance yet again. The primary beneficiary of the new order in this region was the United States who allegedly maneuvered the assassination of Congo's first president, Patrice Lamumba, in 1960. The country's history has been troubled ever since.

President Joseph Mobutu ruled for over 30 years after coming to power in a CIA-aided coup. He is said to have turned over and again to policies and practices that would favor United States government and business interests over the needs and interests of his people. But rebel groups arose to challenge Mobutu's rule and in 1997, power was seized by Laurent Kabila, a former Marxist who led the Alliance of Democratic Forces. During most of Mobutu's rule the country had been known as Zaire but in May 1997 Kabila formally changed its name to Democratic Republic of the Congo.

On assumption of power, Kabila inherited a country already involved in massive tribal infighting, partly arising because of the influx of refugees in 1994. His rule was quickly challenged by a Rwanda and Uganda backed rebellion in August 1998. Finally, troops from Zimbabwe, Chad, Angola, Namibia, and Sudan intervened to support Kabila's government. Even though a cease-fire was reached in July 1999 between DRC, Zimbabwe, Angola, Uganda, Namibia, Rwanda and the Congolese rebels, sporadic fighting continued unabated. Kabila was assassinated January 16, 2001, again with alleged CIA intervention, and rule of the country fell to his son, Joseph.

Joseph Kabila was successful in negotiating a withdrawal of the Rwandan forces from Congo in October 2002, and early in 2003 all combatant parties finally came to the table and agreed to cease the fighting. They agreed to set up a government of national unity as a caretaker until democratic elections can be held in 2005. These will be the first democratic votes cast in this country in over forty years.

Since the departure of the last of the foreign forces from DRC at the end of April 2003, there has been a steady increase in ethnic violence in areas where it is alleged Rwanda and Uganda deliberately incited longstanding ethnic hatred. The violence became so acute that the United Nations finally decided to intervene and has sanctioned a small international peacekeeping force under the direction of France. Local people and area governments appear united in their complaints that the force is too small, that its mandate is too limited and of too short a duration; much criticism has been leveled at the U.N. for its shortsightedness and many people point to this region as having the potential for any genocidal nightmare like that in Rwanda in 1994.

As of this writing, the peace agreement reached in April is generally holding and the government is beginning its drive toward restoring the infrastructure and social systems of DRC. The nation lost between 3.3 and 4.7 million people (apparently a difficult number to quantify in these remote conditions) as a result of the past five years of fighting. At this point, they are anxious to get back on their feet, without the shackles of colonialism.

More history:
The People and Their History

Venezuela is NOT a fictitious place
Posted: Sunday, July 13, 2003

Venezuela is NOT a fictitious place, even though some have no idea where it is

The last several days have been intriguing. The endless deluge of computer virus attacks (because some people are continuously trying to stop me from writing) finally sent my computer into a coma. These acts of vandalism also left me with the temporary incapacity of doing quick research on the web, thus limiting my writing.

So, while the computer is out for a full diagnosis and overhaul, I have dedicated myself to doing slow research on an old slow computer and to watching more TV news and documentaries. This TV watching led to some interesting discoveries, including the discovery of "General Hospital," a very famous USA soap opera (broadcast by/managed by ABC - American Broadcasting Corporation) that has apparently been in existence since 1963.

There is a character on "General Hospital," whose name is Alcazar. He's a drug mafia type, looks Latino and is involved in some kidnapping scheme. Someone has kidnapped Sonny's wife. Sonny also seems to be a not-so-straight type of mafia person. All this may not seem too surprising for a soap opera.

However, there are some additional interesting details: Alcazar has a private plane and has operations, partners and "people" in Venezuela. Alcazar also invented some "evidence" to convince Sonny that his wife is in Venezuela, kidnapped by some people who apparently have some drug interests in Venezuela.

Recently, Alcazar has told Sonny that he may know where his wife is and that he can possibly find out if Sonny allows him (Alcazar) to bring in a drug shipment from Venezuela through Sonny's "territory."

Since I have only recently discovered "General Hospital", I do not know when Alcazar became part of the show or where he came from. I did a slow not-very-exhaustive search on the ABC website that contains summaries of past episodes dating back years. It appears to me that Alcazar is a relatively recent character.

What struck me about this show (and about the Alcazar character) is that it subliminally depicts Venezuela as the major Latin American drug cultivator and drug runner into the USA. The astounding realization is that millions upon millions of people (mostly USAPS and Canadians, I suspect) watch this series on a daily basis (5 days/week).

For some twisted reason, Alcazar is not involved in Colombia. For some bizarre reason, the name "Venezuela" is being used to brainwash USAPS (and others) into believing that Venezuela is the country that harbors, cultivates and distributes the drugs that the USAPS consume so diligently.

The "Hollywood" focus on drugs seems to have shifted from Colombia to Venezuela, yet Colombia is ... according to most reports ... still the largest cultivator and supplier of drugs to the USA.

Is ABC affiliated in some way with Washington or the USA government or with PNAC (Project for The New American Century)?

Note: This project is signed by Donald Rumsfeld, Jed Bush, Dan Quayle, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Steve Forbes and others, and is a project dedicated to promoting the take-over of the world by the USA through economic dominance and military intervention.

Is ABC assisting the USA government is subtly distributing lies and propaganda to slowly increase the USAPS' "awareness" that Venezuela is a terrorist state?

Note: that the USA is apparently attempting to "categorize" the FARC as a terrorist group in order to justify more military intervention in Colombia in the USA's supposed "war on drugs."

Why is "General Hospital" using Venezuela as a reference point for "evil" drug cartels rather than using Colombia as a reference point?

Is it perhaps because the present Colombian president is on side with the USA and because Chavez is perhaps not?

Because Chavez is a USA (paranoid) communist threat to the USA-led supposed "free-world/free-trade" concept?

If Alcazar is a recent character, is it a coincidence that one of the most-watched USA soap operas suddenly creates a character such as Alcazar within the same timeframe of the USA's growing dislike for Chavez and the fact that the USA is becoming more and more weary about Chavez' relationship with Cuba?

One of the reasons that I bring up such questions is because a few days ago I also watched a TV documentary of an interview with Norman Mailer, a well-known and apparently controversial USA writer. One of his comments was about a visit he made to the USSR in the 1980's and how, upon his return to the USA he was so mad at his own country (the USA) for having led the USAPS to believe that the USSR was an evil enemy that had intentions to attack the USA (during the so called Cold War).

Norman Mailer, upon his visit to the USSR, saw a chronically and profoundly depressed people, completely uninterested in engaging in war.

Other reasons that I have brought up the subject about "General Hospital" with respect to Venezuela (which unfortunately, some USAPS have no qualms about dragging down while Chavez is in power) are:

1) I watched an interview with a journalist, Sarah Cox, who was reporting (for Oxfam) about how the typical small-time coffee growers throughout the world (including Venezuela) are suffering tremendously because of the "free-trade" concept introduced by the USA in their refusal (in 1989) to continue to abide by and OPEC-style agreement between coffee-growing interests that guaranteed the growers a minimum price that allowed them to live with some dignity. She reported that the USA media is doing nothing to let the USAPS know about this issue while they keep expanding and exporting their coffee addiction (e.g.-Starbuck's) to the rest of the world (and making good profits since prices have not gone down for the end-user) while some of the growers receive the equivalent to one-quarter of what they received forty years ago. According to Sarah Cox, the USA is pushing the "free-trade" concept with no consideration for "just-trade" ... which reminds me of the "free-trade" concept that the USA used "against" Canada in the softwood lumber business that forced hundreds of small family businesses into bankruptcy, later to be bought out by several large USA multinationals.

2) I watched another documentary about how Joe McCarthy and the USA media propagated complete lies (McCarthy's list) to the degree that most USAPS actually believed (and were scared) that the USA was being infiltrated by "evil" communists at all levels of the US Federal government.

3) While I was in Kuwait (during the first Gulf War in 1991), CNN was the only TV channel that we were able to get and what was being reported by CNN had a strong pro-USA-hero penchant that was not representative of the real situation in Kuwait at the time.

4) The USA is exporting, through the "Hollywood" media, movies upon movies about how the USA is "always" victorious in war, espionage, etc. (Luckily for the rest of the world, well-made "Hollywood" comedies are still profitable to produce!)

Now, what about slander and defamation?

Don't people sometimes sue the media for defamation?

Maybe the Venezuelan government can consider suing ABC for defamation. Why not?

Venezuela is not a fictitious place, even though some USAPS probably have no idea where Venezuela is. (I remember the times when movies and TV programs would use fake names to depict "evil states.")

I am sure that the USA government would find it very offensive if Venezuelan soap operas depicted the USA as a country that is comprised primarily of drug addicts and gun-wielding white yahoos that arbitrarily murder all blacks and Latinos ... and I think that the greatest insult to the USAPS in this scenario would be that whilst the Venezuelan media propagates such information (to make Venezuelans more aware of the "evil" USA) the USA economy would begin to suffer, reducing the USA's capacity to maintain economic power.

So now, one can perhaps wonder why the Venezuelan tourist industry is suffering so severely. If so many USAPS are watching "General Hospital" and spreading the word to others, why would a USAP take his/her vacation in a country full of drug warlords, drug mafia and kidnappers?

... unless the prospective USAP visitor is a drug user. Then, he/she might surely visit Venezuela in order to do drugs (cheaper and better quality). Perhaps he/she would stay in Venezuela for a lengthy period of time. This would be very convenient to the US government ... send all the USAP drug addicts to Venezuela to help destroy Venezuela further. It is also cheaper (more profitable) to let them go to Venezuela than to put them in jail in the USA.

Perhaps the Venezuelan government is not aware of "General Hospital" ... perhaps Shapiro can advise the US government to advise ABC to treat Venezuela with more respect ... Venezuela is not fiction.

Oscar Heck
oscar@vheadline.com

Latest News
Posted: Sunday, July 13, 2003

¤ Al Qaeda claims exaggerated: analysts
¤ Bush's sea of troubles
¤ When frontier justice becomes foreign policy
¤ War mongers or just lazy?
¤ Betting everything on a hoax about Iraq
¤ Why did the Administration endorse a forgery about Iraq’s nuclear program?
¤ Outrage at US plan to mortgage Iraqi oil
¤ Avoiding the truth about Iraq
¤ Tony Blair vs. the BBC
¤ Angry MPs set Blair a deadline to find weapons
¤ Bush and Blair on the ropes
¤ Let's play pass the buck, George
¤ Iran May Be Top Threat to Israel, Mideast Peace, Sharon Says
¤ CIA Got Uranium Reference Cut in Oct.
¤ Bush Declares His Faith in Tenet and C.I.A.
¤ Bush shielded as CIA takes nuclear claims fallout
¤ 20 Lies About the War
¤ Blair made a fundamental mistake over '45 minutes to deploy' claim
¤ Tony Blair's troubles won't fly away
¤ Blair rethink on weapons inquiry
¤ Niger and Iraq: the war's biggest lie?
¤ Straw defends UK intelligence in row over Saddam's uranium
¤ Blair entering dangerous political territory
¤ Blair ignored CIA weapons warning
¤ The Niger connection
¤ Former Exiles Given Majority on Iraqi Council
¤ Bush Vows to Fight Terror in Africa
¤ The war that just won't end: the hunt goes on in Afghanistan
¤ Africa gets a new best friend
¤ Bush bullish on Aids and trade, but resists appeal from Liberia
¤ Even in Africa, Bush can't avoid Iraq
¤ I've seen the real America, and it's weird
¤ Bid to break anti-US tensions
¤ Overseer Adjusts Strategy as Turmoil Grows in Iraq
¤ U.S. Kills Four in New Iraq Operation
¤ UK tanks roll on Indonesian rebels
¤ Gung-ho Howard lets spooks take the rap
¤ Ho hum...just another credibility gap
¤ Howard ignores call to resign
¤ What Tony Blair must say in Washington
¤ Blair seeks new powers to attack rogue states
¤ Sharon faces protests as he flies in for London talks
¤ Rules for Terror Tribunals May Deter Some Defense Lawyers
¤ Israel threatens Arafat with expulsion
¤ Twins were duped claims grieving dad

Latest News
Posted: Saturday, July 12, 2003

¤ Waist-Deep In Iraq Quagmire, Bush Presses On
¤ CIA Takes the Fall for Bush
¤ Bush Knew Iraq Info Was False
¤ Howard apologises over Iraq claim
¤ The State Of The Union speech Bush wanted to give
¤ 'The fear'
¤ Pentagon “Sexing up” casualty reports?
¤ The news points to this: There were never any WMD
¤ Blair Must Resign If No Wmds Are Found
¤ Zing 'em on!
¤ Sausage attack: Faulty intelligence or none at all
¤ A ‘Concession’ That’s No Concession At All
¤ Israel could consider deporting Arafat, Sharon aide says
¤ Sharon and the media
¤ Canadians vote Bush least-liked president
¤ Washington and London governments embroiled in lies over Iraq
¤ Straw defends dossier uranium claims
¤ Three attacks on US forces in Afghanistan
¤ As ambushes continue in Iraq, some soldiers rethink strategy
¤ Afghan, Pakistan Forces Trade Fire on Border

¥ Operation protect the U.S President at all cost
¤ CIA chief takes rap for Bush's false war claim
¤ CIA Admits It Allowed Error in Bush Speech
¤ CIA head takes blame for Bush's Iraq claim
¤ Bush, Rice say CIA cleared State of the Union speech

¤ PM sorry for relying on Iraq lies
¤ Should be a lovely war
¤ Heads should roll, but they won't - Wilkie
¤ Intelligence mystery on Iraq war continues
¤ US firms seek future oil revenues for reconstruction
¤ Three attacks on US forces in Afghanistan
¤ Europe Undermining Mideast Peace
¤ US and Europe on brink of trade war
¤ Trading on fear
¤ Where US promises proved hollow
> Nigerian villagers have learnt from recent history
> to treat the visit of an American president with scepticism
¤ Mandela praises anti-apartheid comrades
¤ Revealed: first dossier also dodgy
¤ Did CIA warn UK to drop Niger claim?
¤ Blair to challenge Bush over Britons held at Camp Delta
¤ Blair told to refuse his US honour
¤ Blair told to ditch Arafat and save road map
¤ Eight on Texas air base test negative for SARS
¤ We've Been Neo-Conned
¤ Help wanted: but only the young, hip and blue-eyed need apply
¤ US peacekeepers for Liberia
¤ Eight killed in held Kashmir violence
¤ Did they do the right thing?
¤ When lawyers abandon justice for Howard

Chavez Speaks With Greg Palast
Posted: Friday, July 11, 2003

Hugo Chavez is Crazy!
For five centuries, Venezuela has been run by a minority of very white people, pure-blood descendants of the Spanish conquistadors. To most of the 80 percent of Venezuelans who are brown, Hugo Chavez is their Nelson Mandela, the man who will smash the economic and social apartheid that has kept the dark-skinned millions stacked in cardboard houses in the hills above Caracas while the whites live in high-rise splendor in the city center. Chavez, as one white Caracas reporter told me with a sneer, gives them bricks and milk, and so they vote for him.

Hugo Chavez Speaks With Greg Palast
Palast: When you were seized during the coup, and you were put on a helicopter to Orchilla, did you think that that might be your last helicopter ride, that you would never see Rosinez or your other children again? Did you ever think, this is it - they're taking me up in the air and I may not make it to the island, they could just throw me out of the helicopter?

Latest News
Posted: Friday, July 11, 2003

¤ Blame America for Conflict in Liberia, Too
¤ Why Did The Bush Administration Really Decide To Invade Iraq?
¤ 'If It Feels Good, Do It' The Bush 'Preemptive' Doctrine
¤ The Reason Why Governments Fail No Consent = Forced Assent
¤ Transcript of Drilling and Killing Documentary
¤ Chatting with the Almighty About Bush
¤ Give Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz the Boot
¤ Africans weary of Americans bearing gifts
¤ The Two Faces of Bush in Africa
¤ Angry Mandela Attacks Warmonger Blair
¤ An Iraq War & Occupation Glossary
¤ Anatomy of a Quack-Mire
¤ Not A Vietnam-like Quagmire
¤ Where is the Apology for Slavery?
¤ If it looks like a guerilla and walks like a guerilla
¤ Have you no sense of decency, sir?
¤ Barge Poles
¤ What the Hell is going on with CBS?!
¤ Blair should quit, warns Short
¤ Boiling Mad Over Bush
¤ Mr. Bush, You Are A Liar
¤ Dossier of lies
¤ CIA Doubted Uranium Report
¤ Rice: CIA Approved Bush Remark on Iraq
¤ Look at Nixon. He was dishonest too
¤ George W. on the Defensive
¤ From the September dossier to yesterday's backtrack
> A truth-spotter's guide to how official language has changed
¤ The Art of the Re-Spin
¤ U.S. Soldiers Withdraw From Iraq Station
¤ Row over conflict's legality as British PM retreats
¤ Howard: I Didn't Mislead Australia on Iraq
¤ Australian Officials knew of dodgy Iraq file
¤ Bush tries to placate waverers at home
¤ Intelligence 'story' reeks of dishonesty: Wilkie
¤ UK leaders say finding Iraqi arms is unlikely
¤ Digging for dirt
¤ Blair's case for war 'absurd', says ex minister

¤ Powell: Niger evidence too weak for UN presentation
¥ However Powell still went to the UN using 'evidence' that was refuted

Flashback: Inspector refutes US claims
> Two satellite images the American Secretary of State showed
> the council 10 days ago did not prove Iraq was
> clearing a site of forbidden munitions, Blix said.
The case against Powell's case for war
"I'm not reading this. This is bullshit,"
Transcript of Powell's U.N. presentation

¤ Mini-War Against Iraq Prior to 9-11 May Explain Why U.S. Targeted Them
¤ Bush acknowledges Iraq 'security issue'
¤ Iraq's other looting
¤ Iraq Analogous To Vietnam
¤ Bush rouses the ghosts of the Vietnam War
¤ Goverment 'must come clean' on intelligence: ALP
¤ Bush vows to join Africa's war on Aids
¤ Why the US is desperate for Middle East peace
¤ Sharon shuns BBC over documentary
¤ Seven killed in held Kashmir
¤ Freed prisoner demands $10.4m from US
¤ US officials search 18 firms in Iran arms case
¤ Cost of partnership with US
¤ Aid groups in Iraq also under attack
¤ Should we recognise Israel?
¤ Truth spoils a good war story
¤ US admits lack of support for troops in Iraq
¤ Risks to Bush of foreign focus

Latest News
Posted: Thursday, July 10, 2003

¤ U.S. changes reason for invading Iraq
¤ Downer 'moving Iraq goal posts'
¤ Was war based on a lie? Ask Cheney
¤ All spin all the time
¤ Franks: U.S. May Stay in Iraq for Years
¤ Insurgents Attack U.S. Forces North and West of Baghdad
¤ Chaos in Iraq gives US a pretext to stay for ever
¤ War-weary troops long for home
¤ Franks: 10-25 Attacks a Day on U.S. Troops in Iraq
¤ Pentagon: 1,000 troops wounded in Iraq war
¤ What's the exit strategy?
¤ An entire town detained: On Goree Island, Bush visit sparks anger
¤ Who Outted Bush in Afrika?
Flashback: How important is African oil?
¤ US Leaves Injured Iraqis Untreated
¤ Our Gift to Iraq: Depleted Uranium
¤ In the Transatlantic Food Fight, Europe Tells US "Bring 'Em On"
¤ Negligence in Afghanistan
¤ America's Iraq
¤ Criticism grows as Iraq's postwar costs escalate
¤ US warned over Iraq law enforcement
¤ Court Affirms Bush's Power to Detain Citizen as Enemy
¤ False nuclear report dogs Bush
¤ M-16s Jammed During Ambush in Iraq
¤ The war is far from over, claims British officer
¤ Confused commander led convoy into ambush
¤ Army 'error' led to Lynch capture
¤ BBC was most pro-war of British networks
¤ Ambushes Kill Two U.S. Soldiers in Iraq
¤ White House 'lied about Saddam threat'
¤ Bush ducks queries on flawed Iraq intelligence
¤ UK 'backflips' on weapons of mass destruction
¤ BBC accuses No 10 of manipulation as it names source of dossier claim
¤ Duncan Smith rejects Blair's account of sharing intelligence with Tories
¤ The Niger connection:
> What we know, what we don't know, and what we may never be told
¤ Row over weapons allegations threatens to turn the Iraq conflict into liability
¥ Both for Bush and the American Pockets
¤ Rumsfeld Doubles Estimate for Cost of Troops in Iraq
¤ Rumsfeld welcomes UN and NATO help
¥ The US refused the UN advice before the invasion now wants their help
¤ White man's burden
¤ EU officials 'siphoned millions'
¤ Keep to the law, Blair tells Bush
¤ Minister pressures BBC to reveal source
¤ The power of silence
¤ Private Jessica 'saved by her Iraqi captors' says official report
¤ We're ready for war or talk, says North Korea
¤ Nuclear fears grow after N Korea tests
¤ Iran refuses tougher N-inspections
¤ Dark side of 'peacekeeping'
¤ Congo president for all-African peacekeeping force
¤ Bush backs Mbeki on Zimbabwe
¤ The war on the web
¤ Vote Fraud And The Bankruptcy Of The United States
¤ Prostitutes Required" ... for the White House.
¥ Powell, Rice, Rumsfeild, Ari and the mainsteam media need not apply.
¤ Alcohol ad's mixed message
> A coming television commercial for Smirnoff vodka will
> advise drinkers not to drink too much of it.
¤ Over 500 feared dead in Bangladesh boat tragedy
¤ Rampage speaks volumes for Karzai's helplessness
¤ US and its shortsighted policy in Afghanistan
¤ Back to square one?
¤ US president says he and Mbeki were 'absolutely of one mind' about Zimbabwe
¤ Parliamentary whitewash of PM's lies on Iraq falls flat

Latest News
Posted: Wednesday, July 9, 2003

¤ Bush administration stonewalls on 9/11
¤ Blair a likely casualty of Bush's war
¤ Hold Bush Accountable If He Lied About Iraq
¤ Mosaic Of Lies
¤ Ten Myths About Nuclear Weapons
¤ Is the Media Finally Turning on Bush?
¤ Iraq war not about new arms evidence: Rumsfeld
¤ US withheld uranium intelligence from UN
¤ I did not have relations with that Dossier
¤ Faked papers thicken fog around Iraq war
¤ Bush dealt double setback over Iraq
¤ U.S. might ask NATO to take over control of Iraq occupation
¥ Hey you should clean up your own mess.
¤ Court denies Cheney attempt to keep energy group secret
¤ Bush: 'The Wrong Man?'
¤ Handouts from the slavemaster
¤ U.S. Army Baits Ambushers With Own Troops
¤ If Iraq Isn't a Vietnam-like Quagmire, It Is a Pretty Close Imitation
¤ Bush Defends Use of Prewar Intel on Iraq
¤ Bush Recantation Of Iraq Claim Stirs Calls for Probes
¤ Blair on the offensive over missing WMD
Flashback: Not very intelligent
¤ The U.S. could use Blair if Britain gets rid of him
¤ Is Niger the smoking gun?
¤ In Iraq, 'v' doesn't stand for victory
¤ Making oil transparent
¤ Of aspiring emperors and EU hypocrisy
¤ Key US partners clash while Taliban regroups
¤ Guantanamo move puts US on trial
¤ North Korea steps up nuclear programme
¤ Seven US soldiers hurt in Iraq
¤ Eden's Long Gone
¤ Out of Africa
¤ The other battle: coming home
¤ Six die in Miss. factory shooting
¤ 600 feared dead in Bangladesh ferry disaster
¤ Bush Pledges Role in Liberia Crisis
¤ Secret aid poured into Colombian drug war
¤ Part 1: The race toward barbarism
¤ Iran may give way on inspections
¤ Crash victim wakes up after 20 years in a coma
¤ Conjoined twins die during surgery to separate them
¤ 116 perish in Sudanese plane crash
¤ Rights of Arabs & Israelis
¤ A travesty of religion
¤ Weapons of Mass Deception?

Latest News
Posted: Tuesday, July 8, 2003

¤ Words Of Mass Deception
¤ Bush 'warned over uranium claim'
¤ 'More evidence Bush misled nation'
¤ A diplomat's undiplomatic truth: They lied
¤ Palestinian bombing threatens fragile ceasefire
¤ Warning system like 'boy who cried wolf'?
¤ The Insiders Are Coming Out
¤ Lessons of History in Iraq
¤ It Was The Politicians Who Took Us Into War
¤ U.S. Toll in Iraq Nears '91 War Deaths
¤ Iraq Attacks Wound Seven U.S. Soldiers
¤ To Hell With the Lot of Them
¤ Cop, Prosecutor, Defense Lawyer, Judge, Jury & Hangman: All in One
¤ A Nation That Closes Its Eyes Is Sure To Stumble Sometime
¤ Bring what on?
¤ Bring Reality On
¤ Occupation's ordeals ravage Iraqi psyche
¤ Pakistan closes embassy in Afghanistan in protest at mob rampage
¤ Afghan President Apologizes to Pakistan
¤ Liberian Forces Block U.S. Military Mission
¤ Liberian Says U.S. Backs His Enemies
¤ Iraq-Turkey Oil Pipeline Hit by Sabotage
¤ And in conclusion, we have not come to a conclusion
> The Commons foreign affairs committee yesterday "cleared"
> Alastair Campbell of sexing-up intelligence information about Iraq
> -by five votes to five- with Mr Campbell winning
> through the casting ballot of the chairman.
¤ Britain is fast becoming Bush's doormat
¤ MPs' fury at secret US trials of 'terror' Britons
¥ Would There Be Fury If There Were No Britons?
¤ The phoney war
¤ 'Easter egg hunt' for WMD is abandoned
¤ What the U.S. envoy who went to Niger didn't find
¤ Stalemate between BBC and Downing Street
¤ Blair Defends Iraq Intelligence Handling
¤ Blair has run out of steam - it's time for him to quit
¤ White House Acknowledges Error in Speech
> The White House is acknowledging that President Bush was
> incorrect when he said in his State of the Union address
> that Iraq recently had sought significant quantities of
> uranium in Africa.
¤ Iraqi resistance starts killing lone targets
¤ U.S. grapples with delays in restoring basic services to Iraq
¤ As Goodwill Fades, Attacks Rise in Iraq
¤ Cotton farmers' poverty laid at door of US
¤ An administration struggling with adult ADD
¤ Israelis Call Bombing a Terror Attack

Venezuela's President challenges U.S. hegemony
Posted: Monday, July 7, 2003

By Chris Kerr, http://www.vheadline.com

Green Left Weekly's Chris Kerr writes: The Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela is not just a national phenomenon, it is impacted upon greatly by international developments, particularly the US-led campaign against it.

In 2002, the US government stepped up its intervention into Venezuelan affairs, energetically assisting the April 11 coup against President Hugo Chavez. Washington provided finances and advice to the alliance of business leaders, military generals and corrupt trade-union leaders that attempted to depose Chavez.

The military coup, which dissolved the constitution, the parliament and the courts and presided over more deaths from political violence in one day than in Chavez's entire presidency, was rejected by almost every Latin American government. Washington was one of the very few governments to endorse the coup ... and was left isolated when the attempt was foiled within 48 hours by a popular uprising.

In December, Washington supported the shutdown of Venezuela's oil industry, in another attempt to topple Chavez. Although some military and corporate figures called for a coup at the time, the crisis fizzled after two months (however, it left massive economic damage behind).

Although Washington didn't openly support calls for another military coup, it did openly support the unconstitutional demand for new presidential elections. This turned into an embarrassing blunder, however, when the proposal became the first major US initiative to be rejected by the Organization of American States (OAS).

'Friends' of Venezuela

Another Washington attack on the Bolivarian revolution came through the "Friends of Venezuela" group. Initially suggested by Chavez as a way to strengthen international support for his government, the idea was picked up by Brazilian president "Lula" da Silva, who, in January, formed a group made up more of enemies than friends.

The US decided to support the new "friends", which included the powers which have historically exploited Latin America (and which supported the April 11 coup): Spain, Portugal and the US. Da Silva also included some of the most unfriendly governments in the region, including the Chilean government, a product of a bloody coup against a leftist president.

Although Washington attempted to use this group to force a "negotiated solution" on Chavez, the results reflected the balance of forces in Venezuela more than the lopsided international pressure the "friends" represented.

Thus, the original demands of the opposition, which included the resignation of the president, the rehiring of the managers who were fired for sabotaging the country's oil industry, the disarming of the pro-Chavez population and the disbanding of the Bolivarian Circles, were abandoned in favour of two agreements: the opposition and government not to use provocative language when referring to each other (which was violated by both sides within 48 hours); and adherence to the constitution in referendums for elected positions. The latter had been Chavez's position since his election.

Colombia

The Venezuelan government has also had to deal with confrontation with Colombia's ultra-right government, led by President Alvaro Uribe Velez. Venezuela's largest oil-producing province, Zulia, shares its western border with Colombia. Landlord and business oligarchies are powerful there, and peasant leaders are assassinated by their agents with impunity. Just next door, the war on the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC) by Colombian military and right-wing paramilitaries is escalating. The whole region is therefore becoming increasingly militarized, adding to tensions between the governments.

On March 31, Chavez ordered the air force to bomb Colombian government-backed paramilitaries that had intruded into Venezuelan territory. In response, the Colombian government accused the Venezuelan government of actively supporting FARC military actions in Colombia, an accusation which the Venezuelan Vice-President Jose Vicente Rangel described as a "grotesque lie" designed to discredit Chavez.

The Colombian government had already accused Venezuela of protecting FARC members, and supporting the organization.

While some analysts believe that the Colombian government is attempting to deflect the blame for its inability to contain the FARC, others, such as Hector Mondragon, fear it will lay the stage for the US to attack Venezuela in the future. In an article, Mondragon agues that the US could justify such an attack as necessary to "guarantee Colombia's security" and as part of the "war on drugs."

Venezuela is also in conflict with the US over Chavez's proposal for an economic integration program for Latin America, an alternative to the US-led Free Trade Area of the Americas. The FTAA is the latest project seeking to force neoliberal economic policy down the throat of Latin America. Washington's adherence to such policies, and Chavez's opposition to them, has been a major source of conflict.

According to US sociologist James Petras, neoliberalism has already allowed multinational corporations to remit US$1 trillion in profits, interest repayments and debt repayments from Latin America between 1990-2002. In the same period, US and European banks bought over 4000 ex-public banks, telecommunications, transportation, oil and mining, retail and other companies throughout Latin America.

Mercosur

Venezuela has pursued an independent economic strategy. It, along with Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, is a member of the Community of Andean Nations (CAN). It also gives the Caribbean nations cheaper access to oil and gas, and has applied to become a full member of Mercosur, an economic bloc that includes Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Chavez believes Mercosur could further the economic integration of the entire Latin American continent. "We need to create a large union of Latin American republics to be able to negotiate in conditions of equality... we propose the necessity for Mercosur to be expanded, not only on the economic front, but also a political Mercosur", Chavez said at a news conference in Buenos Aires, after meeting with Argentina's President Nestor Kirchner, according to the May 26 Bloomberg website.

Cuba

Venezuela is also in conflict with the US over its policy towards Cuba. Since the Cuban revolution in 1959, Washington has successfully isolated Cuba from the rest of the continent, including securing its expulsion from the OAS. US agitation against left-wing governments in the region during the last two decades has helped to undermine the allies Cuba has had.

Since the presidency of Chavez, Venezuela has become Cuba's largest trading partner, and the island nation's political isolation has been reduced.

Cuban President Fidel Castro was invited to da Silva's and Kirchner's inaugurations. This is particularly important given Washington's recently renewed drive to isolate Cuba from European nations. The US government could not get the most recent OAS meeting, held in Chile, to condemn Cuba's jailing of paid agents of the US government. Venezuelan and Brazilian delegates led the campaign to ensure the motion would be blocked.

OPEC

It is likely that the Venezuelan government will also confront US imperialist interests in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Many OPEC nations are uneasy about US President George Bush's attacks on the governments of Venezuela, Iraq and Iran, all important members of OPEC. According to the June 17 Business Report, one delegate anonymously told Reuters: "The US can't continue to invent wars. We want to deal with the world powers - we will supply oil and gas, but you can't invade my country. After Iraq, who is next?"

Venezuela raised the question of national sovereignty at the recently revived, long-term strategy meeting. "We need to emphasize that the world has left behind the colonial era, when one power could take by force another country's resources", Venezuelan energy minister Rafael Ramirez told reporters after the June 11 OPEC ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar.

Venezuela's proposal, which may be tabled at the next OPEC heads of state meeting in 2005, would link the security of oil supply to the preservation of OPEC nations' national sovereignty, and has been welcomed by Iran and Libya but rejected by Saudi Arabia. It could complicate plans to invade and overthrow more OPEC governments and gain control over their oil resources.

A June 13 Reuters report commented: "The idea of tightening OPEC's grip over two-thirds of the world's oil reserves, and seeking to avoid military attack, has awakened interest from other [OPEC] members. 'Of course it is a serious concern that OPEC members with big oil reserves will become occupied by foreign powers', said a delegate from another of the 11-member group ... Some delegates believe that unless OPEC rediscovers its ideological roots - asserting sovereignty over its natural resources - the cartel could be destroyed by a resurgent US foreign policy, combined with the financial power of four 'super-major' oil companies."

It is thus no surprise that the Venezuelan government is under pressure from Washington. The June 12 Wall Street Journal reports "Washington, which initially dismissed Mr. Chavez as a harmless big talker, now fears Venezuela's increasingly radical stance could hurt regional stability and hobble US initiatives ranging from free trade to the war on drugs. Some US officials say Venezuela has become Washington's biggest Latin American headache after the old standby, Cuba."

This article is scheduled to appear in the July 9, 2003 issue of Australia's Green Left Weekly

Latest News
Posted: Monday, July 7, 2003

¤ The Madness Of King George
¤ Wrestling with the 'Q-word' in Iraq
¤ US decided on Iraq war before finding justifications
¤ Iraq war veteran killed in Highway 11 wreck
> Speer was a member of a unit that helped 'rescue' Jessica Lynch
¤ U.S. Military Trials Displease British
¤ 2004 America: Have Your Passport Ready
¤ WMD report: conclusions
¤ Explained: the WMD report
¤ One stark truth: Blair was wrong and must admit it now
¤ Defiant BBC stands by its war story
¤ Blair Govt. Blasted on Iraq Intelligence
¤ Like Iraq, CIA Also Exaggerated Soviet Nuclear Threat During Cold War
¤ Playgrounds More Like Battlegrounds for Iraqi Children
¤ Diplomat: U.S. knew uranium report was false
¤ Paved With Good Intentions
¤ Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez Frias challenges U.S hegemony
¤ Bush's Africa fan club is hard to find
¤ The World according to Halliburton
¤ Britain: Parliamentary probe exposes lies on Iraqi weapons
¤ US complains about brothel called The White House
¤ Embarrassing facts
¤ Israeli arms makers worried by huge drop in IDF purchasing
¤ Revolt appears to spread
¤ Why the US is losing a man a day
¤ Will Bush ratings follow slumping economy?
¤ Red, white and worried
¤ Fresh attacks kill three US soldiers in Iraq
¤ 3 G.I.'s Killed in Iraq Capital, One at Campus
¤ Shootings of three US soldiers mark escalation of resistance
¤ U.S. Raids Offend Iraqi Sensibilities
¤ Grisly death enrages anti-U.S. town in Iraq
¤ Fatigued, US troops yearn for home
¤ Troop morale in Iraq hits 'rock bottom'
¤ Experts grow more sceptical about extent of threat posed by Saddam
¤ Grounding Planes the Wrong Way
> Coalition troops looted and vandalized the Iraqi airport
> that now must be rebuilt
¤ Australian PM told of doubts on Iraqi arms: US official
¤ Briton killed in Baghdad wanted to be a war reporter
¤ Bush begins his African odyssey today,
> but is he there to plunder or provide?
¤ Oil and terrorism drive the presidential tour
¤ U.S. Military Experts on Way to Liberia
¤ MPs clear Campbell of doctoring dossier
¤ It's a charade and we all know it
¤ Strip Blair of power to appoint his 'cronies' to top jobs, MPs demand
¤ Six killed in held Kashmir
¤ Israel wants full EU membership
¤ White House refuses to treat allies as equals
¤ Liberia's Taylor to accept exile offer
¤ 'Increasingly likely' Saddam is alive
¤ Missing plane turns up in Guinea
¤ Solomons intervention not like in Iraq

Latest News
Posted: Sunday, July 6, 2003

¤ Saddam 'destroyed weapons in 1990s'
¤ Iran, Syria deplore US unconditional support for Zionist regime
¤ PA rejects Israeli criteria for prisoner release
¤ Barbarians battering the gates
¤ News media abandon historic role -- and public suffers
¤ News About Release Of Turkish Soldiers Are Not True
¤ Blix: 45-minute weapons of mass destruction 'unlikely'
¥ The Question remains why didn't Blix reveal this while at the U.N.
¤ US company wins $48 million contract to train new Iraqi army
¤ The battle on terrorism is an excuse to make fighting permanent
¤ Question authority
¤ American soldier critically wounded in Baghdad, two Iraqis shot dead
¤ India's women seek a whiter shade of pale
¤ New blow to Blair over Iraq
¤ Israeli minister suggests to "drown Palestinian prisoners in Dead Sea"
¤ Venezuela refuses to sign agreement with US over ICC
¤ Leading Senators Clash on Iraq Probe
¤ Further setback for Iraqi oil exports
¤ Pakistan opposition opposes Israel recognition, troops for Iraq
¤ Iraqis raise rebel action against US
¤ US forces bedevilled by sneak attacks
¤ 'We've been been shot at almost every day since March'
¤ US soldier shot at Baghdad University
¤ Blast kills recruits in payback for working with US
¤ Macho U.S. runs into Arab male pride
¤ MI6 chief briefed BBC over Iraq arms fears
¤ B.B.C Biased Broadcasting Corporation
¤ Blair: BBC must pay for its attack on my integrity
¤ Army admits units were starved of kit during Iraq war
¤ BBC is sticking to its guns on Campbell and WMD
¤ Britain can no longer tolerate America's abuse of human rights
¤ Confess or die, US tells jailed Britons
¤ Intelligence chief accuses Blair of 'credibility gap' over WMD
¤ U.S. Envoy Says Bush 'Twisted' Iraq Intelligence
¤ Five more years
¤ U.S. falling into bin Laden's trap
¤ Battle station
¤ Bush Sends Experts to Assess Liberia
¤ Using one war to distract from another
¤ US ready to send troops to Liberia
¤ Turkey Protests U.S. Arrest of Forces
¤ U.S. raid: angry Turkey closes border with Iraq
¤ US TV stirs up Iran's young rebels
¤ Iraq: Any direction?
¤ Iraq: the human toll
¤ Explosion Kills 7 Iraqi Police Recruits
¤ Latest Bombing Is Aimed at Iraqis Working With U.S.
¤ Female Suicide Bombers Kill 16 in Moscow
¤ Alastair, God and the Devil
¤ The truth will be as elusive as Saddam
¤ America is a harsher place
¤ CIA's secret war is revealed as Laos jails European journalists
¤ The day suicide bombers came to a Moscow rock concert
¤ Quetta death toll rises to 53
¤ Ghosts of Somalia haunt Bush
¤ The Price On Bush's Head
¤ UN food body calls for strict new rules on GM crops

Latest News
Posted: Saturday, July 5, 2003

¤ British Journalist Dead in Baghdad - U.S. Military
¤ Iraqis wait for US troops to leave
¤ Syria says no peace in Mideast until Israel gets rid of WMD's
¤ Justifying Occupation
¤ Turkey may retaliate unless US releases Turkish soldiers
¤ Foreign Ministry Reacts Strongly to US Detention of Turkish Officers
¤ Turkish fury at US Iraq 'arrests'
¤ Iran, Turkey stress expansion of trade ties
¤ Is There a Road Map Out of Iraq?
¤ Thousands protest near dedication of center
¤ George W. Bush crimes against humanity
¤ Guantanamo Bay: Isolated, strictly supervised and deprived of rights
¤ Sorry, Fresh Out of Weapons... Would You Like Another Vietnam Instead?
¤ Bush: "Bloodsucking vampire"
¤ Peace protesters back at air base
¤ Britain's Blair under fire from his own party
¤ Mad As Hell
¤ Greg Dyke, the BBC's director general summoned to BBC crisis meeting
¤ Thanks for your oil, Iraq. Have a cookie!
¤ Dead on the Fourth of July: One US soldier and eleven Iraqis
¤ US still at war in Iraq, says general
¤ It may be a very rough ride if we go all the way with Bush
¤ Concern as Britons face US tribunal
¤ Officers cast doubt on tale of mosque as bomb factory
Flashback: 'Bomb-making caused Iraq mosque blast'
Flashback: US blames bomb-making class for mosque blast
¤ Wives clamour for US troops return
¤ Suicide bombers at Moscow concert kill 20
¤ Looming dangers on the Iraqi horizon
¤ Explosion Kills 7 Iraqi Police, Recruits
¤ US army kills 11 Iraqis, 18 troops hurt in ambush
¤ Mosque massacre in Pakistan
¤ 44 killed in Quetta Imambargah attack
¤ Public services at risk as US states face financial crisis
¤ Our boys, their rapists? We need a public inquiry
¤ Campbell's fake air of fury... or why the BBC must defeat No 10
¤ Only the Arabs can save US from a new Vietnam
¤ Only dopes get duped
¤ It's Miller time for Bush
¤ Pentagon Seeking New Access Pacts for Africa Bases
¤ Iraqi attacks on U.S. units hit new level
¤ MoD accuses BBC of 'skulduggery' over Iraq documentary

What To The Slave Is The 4th Of July?
Posted: Friday, July 4, 2003

Frederick Douglass Independence Day Speech at Rochester, 1841

Frederick Douglas, a former slave himself, became a leader in the 19th Century Abolitionist Movement

Fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? and am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that the dumb might eloquently speak and the "lame man leap as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn that it is dangerous to copy the example of nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can today take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people.

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! We wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."

Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! Whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorry this day, "may my right hand cleave to the roof of my mouth"! To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow citizens, is American slavery. I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine. I do not hesitate to declare with all my soul that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery-the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate, I will not excuse"; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, shall not confess to be right and just....

For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not as astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, and secretaries, having among us lawyers doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; and that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshiping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!...

What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply....

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms- of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

Latest News
Posted: Friday, July 4, 2003

¤ Iraq attacks linked to Bush taunts
¤ Violence unabated in Iraq
¤ Straw admits hiccups in Iraq
¤ Britain condemns US terror trials
Flashback: Liberia rebels fight for diamonds
¥ Guess who wants ultimate control?
¤ U.S. to send experts’ team to Liberia
¤ No let up in Iraqi attacks for Independence Day
¤ 10 more Taliban killed in fighting
¤ Two U.S. Soldiers Wounded in Afghanistan
¤ Study deals a blow to claims of anti-war bias in BBC news
¤ American troops plead for reinforcements
¤ July 4th Protest Drives President Bush Out of Philadelphia
¤ Angry Protestors Target Bush Trip
¤ George, Would You PLEASE Shut Up!
¤ US forces attacked again in Iraq
¤ George Bush's reaction to Iraqi resistance
¤ War was 'lie' says Meacher
¤ US relied on old data as basis for War in Iraq
¤ Declaring My Independence from the Bush Administration
¤ It's worse than it seems
¤ How Free Are We?
¤ Over 44 die in Pakistan suicide bombing
¤ Anger rises for families of troops in Iraq
¤ Attacks Leave U.S. Soldier Dead, 10 Hurt
¤ US soldier killed, 20 wounded
¤ More attacks on US troops in Iraq despite reward
¤ One-day wonder at looted museum as amnesty to thieves pays off
¤ Americans restore ancient treasures to museum - for two hours only
¤ US forces kill three Iraqis
¤ After Tour, Senators Warn U.S. Is Spread Thin in Iraq
¤ For soldiers' spouses, the wait for a return wears thin
¤ The Che Guevara of Iraq could turn against the Allies
¤ Police kill Riyadh bomb suspects
¤ Trust Is Important
¤ Women allege decades of gang rapes by British army
¤ Israeli claim of victory denounced
¤ Palestinians Protest Gaza Arrests
¤ Palestinians cry robbery as Israeli land grab breaches truce
¤ Coalition Troops Launch Afghan Operation
¤ Afghan army officer shot dead in Herat
¤ Senators Disagree on Iraq WMD Evidence
¤ BBC launches inquiry into 'sexing up' story
¤ Blair's spin-doctor admits tinkering with Iraq dossier
¤ Researchers dismiss attack warning as hype
Flashback: U.S Government Warns of Mass Hacker Attacks
¤ The tyranny of George II
¤ Bush OKs Trial by Tribunal for Six
¤ Solo mission for Bush's buddy
¤ Whoever can play the US card in Iran wins the game
¤ Up to 17,000 unexploded bombs left in war zone, MP warns
¤ Musharraf rules out compromise on N-plan, Kashmir
¤ Pakistan's PPP protests decision to send troops to Iraq
¤ Life for spitting at police officer
¤ Bush may send peace-keeping force to Liberia if Taylor quits
¤ Don't mention the war to the Germans ... the Gulf war
¤ We fight on, say Aceh rebels
¤ Putting a leash on proliferation
¤ Biotech crops and hunger

Latest News
Posted: Thursday, July 3, 2003

¤ Israel defies peace plan with land grab on West Bank
> Bethlehem pullout is a cover for new settlements, say Palestinians
¤ Israel makes cosmetic show of peace as it builds the Bethlehem wall
¤ Recognition of Israel not on the cards
¤ US suspends £30m aid in row over war crimes court
¤ US hypocrisy astounding
¤ British arms exports to Jakarta soar 20-fold
¤ Reaping the whirlwind
¤ Straw promises no troop pull out
¤ Letter reveals Campbell proposed 11 changes to Iraq dossier
¤ Blair spokesman admits doctoring dossier
¥ This is the same Dossier the U.S used to justify the invasion of Iraq
¤ Campbell 'asked for changes to Iraq dossier'
Flashback: Microsoft Word bytes Tony Blair in the butt
¤ US 'lied' about Iraq: poll
¤ Analyst: Iraqi WMD Evidence Often Lacking
¤ Bush moves to reassure Americans
¤ 'Bring them on' Bush says as Iraqi attackers prolong war
Meanwhile: Cops go crooked in Kabul as pay and training lag
> Afghan officials say donor countries are reneging on promises
> to aid the police force.
¤ Bush promises to stay the course in Iraq
¤ Next challenge in Iraq: Sabotage
¤ 15 Taliban killed in clash with Afghan troops
¤ UN, Japan concerned over Afghan disarmament plan
¤ Straw denies quagmire claims in Iraq
¤ Two Iraqis Dead, U.S. Troopers Hurt
¤ New evidence suggests Royal Marine was killed by friendly fire
¤ BP benefits from Iraq oil delays
¤ Imperial history repeats itself
¤ Dangerous slippages
¤ Mistrust and misconceptions
¤ America hints at role in Liberia
¤ Europe-wide rules on GM food labelling likely to anger US
¤ Global scare dissolves with the end of SARS
¤ British arms exports to Jakarta soar 20-fold
¤ Iran nuclear head hopes talks will clear doubts
¤ Cops go crooked in Kabul as pay and training lag
¤ 22 Americans In Kuwait Embrace Islam In A Week
¤ Analysts 'uncertain' on Iraq arms
¤ 'Bring 'Em On' Fetches Trouble
¤ Mistrust and misconceptions
¤ Palestinians cry robbery as Israeli land grab breaches truce
¤ Aqsa Brigades renounce Palestinian truce
¤ Women allege decades of gang rapes by British army
¤ Soldier Dies in Baghdad in 'Non-Combat Shooting'
¤ Afghanistan Postpones Disarmament Plan
¤ The Purging Fires That Empires Need

Latest News
Posted: Wednesday, July 2, 2003

¤ What Do Americans Know? Not Very Much
¤ Autopsy: No Arabs on Flight 77
¤ Bush Asks Congress For $30 Billion To Help Fight War On Criticism
¤ US National Security Advisor invents theory and then attacks it
¤ Why the 'Captain America crowd' is on the defensive
¤ Ambiguity Equals Contradiction
¤ Defense of Your Home Is Not Terrorism, Not Even in Iraq
¤ Good Killing and Bad Killing
¤ We're on a mission from God
¤ War Prevention and the UN
¤ Quagmire Alert
¤ The Emperor's New Quagmire
¤ In day of violence in Iraq, attacks from all directions
¤ Beyond the War on Terror
¤ Bremer requests more troops as violence, tension escalate
¤ I never promised you a ruse garden
¤ Bush to Iraqi Militants: 'Bring Them On'
¤ Expectations gap rankles Iraq
¤ Cease-fire is a start, but can't be the end
¤ CIA raises renewed alarm over nuclear arsenal
¤ America switches its allegiance to Armenia
¤ Some Skeptical of U.S. Report on N. Korea
¤ Lying to wage war a 'high crime'
¤ US Must Prepare for More Attacks in Iraq — Senators
¤ Israel pulls out of Bethlehem
¤ Australia to restore order in Solomons with armed force
¤ Cease-fire is a start, but can't be the end
¤ Blair Challenges Critics of Iraq Dossier
¤ Vote To Impeach Bush: A Message from Ramsey Clark
¤ No Evidence of Ten Commandments in American History, Court Says
¤ US disgusted at Harare's racial attacks on Powell
¤ Zimbabwe calls Powell 'Uncle Tom'
Article From Zimbabwe Herald:
US secretary of state ignorant of Zimbabwean situation
> American foreign policy has always been underpinned by double talk,
> double standards, deception and false promises of money
> if certain leaders are removed.
¤ Washington gets heavy over International Criminal Court
¥ America has 'NO MONEY', they are threatening countries with illusions.
Flashback: US returns to triple-digit budget deficits
Flashback: U.S Budget Deficit Worse Than Projected
¤ Shia cleric challenges Bush plan for Iraq
¤ Pressure on Bush as casualties continue to rise in Iraq
¤ Bush: No Return to Tyranny in Iraq
¤ No Vietnam: Rumsfeld denial while toll rising
¤ U.S. troops face more attacks by Iraqis
¤ US soldiers injured after Iraqis blame army for mosque attack
¤ Iraq's resistance: A new Vietnam for the White House?
¤ Expectations gap rankles Iraq
¤ Dust and despair at Iraqi police post
¤ Afghan Troops Fight Taliban Near Border
¤ The long arm of resistance
¤ Inside Afghanistan: The warlords are reaping the spoils ...
¤ ... while the Afghans await the promised aid
¤ U.S. may not be imperial, but it does have an empire
¤ Washington Yatra - II
¤ Why democracy?
¤ New threats to international stability
¤ How the neo-cons operate
¤ Partners against terror
¤ America switches its allegiance to Armenia
¤ Iraqi holy men leap into postwar politics
¤ Enough playing games
> For every "unauthorized outpost" ostensibly dismantled by the IDF,
> two others are constructed by Israeli settlers.
¤ Israel sends BBC a tough message
¤ US presses Japan to stall Iranian oil deal
¤ Mass protests over security crackdown
¤ Howard is ready and willing to join coalitions

Latest News
Posted: Tuesday, July 1, 2003

¤ In Your Face
¤ Iraq Eerily Starting to Look a Lot Like Vietnam
¤ U.S. Strike Kills 10 In Fallujah Mosque, Iraqis Vow Revenge
¤ Falluja Vows "Martyr Operations" Against U.S. Troops
¤ Underestimating the Capacity of Americans to Detect a Fraud
¤ Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Who Is Fairest.....
¤ Hamas truce puts Sharon in a fix
¤ Was Times Coverage Tainted?
¤ Arms and the Taxman
¤ The United States Dollar A Wmd? A Worthless Monetary Debt-Instrument?
¤ Iraqi mayor chosen by US accused of kidnap
¤ Weapons in Search of a Name
¤ Musharraf hits the 'Israel' button
¤ SE Asia Braces for Terrorist Attacks
¤ Washington gets heavy over International Criminal Court
¤ Abbas sees Israeli withdrawal from West Bank within six weeks
¤ US presses Japan to stall Iranian oil deal
¤ CIA raises renewed alarm over nuclear arsenal
¤ US admits to 50 secret tests of bio weapons on troops
¤ Mr Fixit finds his vision hard to sell
¤ CIA Removes Photos of Uranium Equipment
¤ Afghan warlord vows to fight Karzai, foreign troops
¤ The Forgotten Orphans Of Afghanistan
¤ Japan continues Iran talks despite pressure from U.S.
¤ Israeli fence sparks US fears
¤ 6 U.S. Soldiers Killed, 4 Injured In Baghdad: Reports
¤ Quicker and stronger: US Navy's new battle plan
¤ CIA raises renewed alarm over nuclear arsenal
¤ America To Build Planet-Dominating Super Weapons
¤ US threatens sanctions over ICC
¤ U.S. Suspends Military Aid to Nearly 50 Countries
¤ Bush delivers unprecedented snub to Mandela in Africa visit
¤ America to build super weapons
¤ Four Iraqis killed in flashpoint town blasts
¤ Israelis pull out but leave trail of devastation
¤ Afghan anarchy may delay election
¤ Freedom to operate in Iraqi quagmire
¤ Iraq cleric condemns US plans
¤ Cuba has been left out for too long
¤ Hostages of the empire
¤ Israel Offers Bethlehem to Palestinians
¤ The Homecoming
¤ US forces storm Iraqi towns; dozens killed in blast
¤ The unwilling and disinterested
¤ US admits to 50 secret tests of bio weapons on troops
¤ Remote control bomb wounds 16 in mosque
¤ We will not let Afghans down, Straw promises
¤ In Korea, a quiet US weapons buildup
¤ Sexy spy stories and unsexy truths
¤ To be peacemaker, America must denounce all violence in Middle East

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