tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-131895922024-03-08T00:20:12.937+00:00INDEX RESEARCHIndex Research will focus on a country or an issue which is of particular interest to me. Articles have appeared on
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org
http://www.albasrah.net
http://www.aljazeerah.info
http://www.bellaciao.org
http://www.brussellstribunal.org
http://www.globalresearch.ca
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info
http://www.mediachannel.org
http://www.uruknet.info
http://www.williambowles.info
and others.Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comBlogger119125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-22252557568036544282010-06-22T08:46:00.004+01:002010-06-22T08:54:33.641+01:00In memory<p>Dear friends of Sarah Meyer,<br /><p>Sarah had many passions. One was tennis. Once a year, mum would spend the morning gardening in her beautiful garden at Summer Cottage and the afternoon glued to her TV. Wimbledon's men's final day was one of her annual rituals for years. My sister Heather and I spent a lot of time discussing how to pay tribute to mum - she requested no formal service or memorial event ("not my style"). We have decided to replay her annual ritual one last time in her cottage in Rodmell, before the house goes on the market. Please drop by anytime on the afternoon of July 4th to enjoy mum's garden, have a glass of Pimms, watch a set or two of tennis, and tell some stories.<br /><p>RSVP. to jonmeyer at gmail<br /><p>Heather & Jonathan Meyer<br /><p>July 4, from 1pm - 7pm<br>Summer Cottage<br>Rodmell, Lewes<br>East Sussex, BN7 3HF<br>tel 01273 472 109<br><br /></p><br /><img style="width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0E-DMI-vF0KS_ACjQOIPftUohC7o9cb-LEeHi0bYP0SRzi2p0wMkZ2irRaOTgqOqsexkioqxiaAqtEU-Hh8ibYF39CYtzhtUpYqIjj2W4Rm7knN2cs-aWIuPUWlbyrIy5Dkyi/s400/sarah-meyer.jpg" border="0" alt=""/><br><br /><img style="width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8aLgAJZHqlQc6dIdmgY3Ph7TW8ZV3yYg5IHL9KPCC9wxFIfPnoHctcH1RknfHZ6z-iTZOUTWDph_eQV5HEcj_iWU_I7ddxGBJaArf278afwdvQe9cx3NHO3Z9cz8Bk66jth8u/s400/summer-cottage.jpg" border="0" alt="" /><br>Jonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236393476246175573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-38145370984904905272010-03-24T00:34:00.003+00:002010-03-24T00:34:57.547+00:00Summer Cottage in Spring<img style="width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5nRVnVfN6U2-HSvSPMI3Qw6wiTrgU2C_xC0rYkZWmUgDXQhUtp15KfllwV3BpKTCHZAoisNimGqFb9OV7-J_WuUHl7JXW255Kruf7LBpexAugZKUxHglW4xytqaaoVxjqMcsX8Q/s400/summer_cottage.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="Summer Cottage"> <br /><br /><p>Sarah Meyer died on March 3rd, 2010. As if on schedule, the snowdrops and daffodils at Summer Cottage chose that week to bloom. Sarah had said many times she was ready for death, ready to be a part of the life-death cycle. The flowers in her garden were a reminder of this cycle. We will announce a garden open day celebrating her life, in late May or early June.Jonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04236393476246175573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-52292378258646759302009-11-09T12:15:00.002+00:002009-11-09T12:24:12.893+00:00My Cancer: The Waiting Game<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-cancer-waiting-game.html&title=My+Cancer+The+Waiting+Game&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-cancer-waiting-game.html&title=My+Cancer+The+Waiting+Game&bodytext=">Digg this</a></td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=5229237825864675930" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=5229237825864675930" title="Email Post">Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><em><b>Birth Is The Disease; Death Is The Cure.</b></em><b></b></div><br /><br />The language applied to cancer sounds like Obama’s wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. We hear about "battles" - “Fighting the Enemy” and the “War on Cancer.” Constructively discussing the actual process of life and death can often be a no-go zone. Even the word <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death">‘death' </a> is replaced by the awful term, “passing away.”<br /><br />I am almost 73 now, and I am ready for death. The suffering of peoples on our planet is a burden for me. I have tried for much of my life to be useful, but of course one cannot ‘cure’ this central crux of life itself.<br /><br />Some people emailed that they were "shocked" at my cancer news. Why is this? Cancer is a big reality in our times. <a href="http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=915"> 1 in 3 people die of cancer (UK)</a>.<br /><br />I hope that this essay will be helpful and informative for others. If you would wish to write to me with your own experiences of cancer, or obstruction of your wishes, or treatment, please email me (see <u> About Me </u> above), with subject: "cancer."<br /><br /><b> 1. <a href="#1000">My Story</a><br />2. <a href="#2000">Other Stories</a><br />3. <a href="#3000">Cancer and Money</a><br />4. <a href="#4000">Conclusions</a><br />5. <a href="#5000">Reference</a> </b><br /><br /><br /><a id="1000"></a><b> 1. MY STORY </b><br /><br /><u>12 July 2009</u>: My physical problems started: pain before, during and after peeing. Accompaning this were labia ulcers and a swollen clitoris. . I saw *my* local NHS GP. I have been a rather difficult patient for the past 10 years, usually refusing medications – and if I do take medicine, eg statins following a stroke, I stop because my body inevitably throws up ugly side effects. On this visit, GP prescribed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clindamycin">Clindamycin </a>. Side effects: 5 days later, I had bloody urine. GP went on a holiday. A woman GP then saw me on 19 August and 2 September. I had urine and blood tests: they demonstrated a "defective kidney". This doctor prescribed the same medication, and 5 days later there was again blood in my urine. Blood in urine is not mentioned as one of the side effects of this medicine; perhaps it should be? Q. How many patients complain about side effects and are these complaints taken to the company that made the pills ? I also had severe diarrhoea, which is mentioned in ‘side effects.’ I asked her about booking a trip to Greenland. “Do that,” she said.<br /><br /><u> 14.09. </u>: Saw my GP on his return from holiday. He prescribed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estrogen">oestrogen cream</a>. I wrote a letter saying I was not going to take any medication until my symptoms were properly diagnosed. In any case, I would have refused <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steroid"> steroids</a>, no matter what my problem. Steroids mean that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pharmaceutical_companies">pharmaceutical companies</a> make yet further money by giving medication to treat the <a href="http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Steroid-Tablets.htm"> side effects</a> of the steroids. A pharmaceutical merry-go round then ensues till death they do part. I believe that pharma companies care shite about peoples' health and a great deal more about the health of their own budgets.<br /><br /><em>Excellent and educative article</em>:<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15758">The Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex: A Deadly Fairy Tale</a></b><br />21.10.09. Dr. Doug Henderson and Dr. Gary Null, Global Research. The [US] is pacified by a blind belief that the drugs being prescribed to them have been proven safe because our government health agencies have our physical health and well-being in their best intentions. This is a lie, an extraordinarily deadly lie. Iatrogenesis, medically induced injury and death, is the number one cause of death in American medicine annually, since only a small percentage of these deaths are actually reported. Each year more Americans die from preventable deaths due to our medical system than all military causalities in the two world wars combined. This is tantamount to medical genocide. One of the major causes of these deaths is the overmedication of Americans in all ages. The constant need for profits has created an environment that allows the pharmaceutical industrial complex to use their enormous financial and political clout to literally <u>make normal life experiences into new diseases ... in order to sell its drugs</u>.<br /><br />In Herzog's film, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435776/"> The White Diamond</a>,the Airship engineer Dr.Graham Dorrington speaks of pharmaceutical companies being able to use the 'pristine' forest canopy for their medicinal purposes. This, it seems to me, is a very 'western' approach. It would be better for people to go to Guyana and learn from the knowledgeable residents how <em> they</em> use the forest for medicine. This would not rape the canopy for profit.<br /><br /><u>8 October</u>. I was referred to <a href="http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/pages/Hospital.aspx?id=5P701">Lewes Victoria Hospital </a> for a scan. A GP, whom I have never met, rings in pm to give me results. I don't remember him mentioning the word 'cancer.'<br /><br /><u>12 October</u>. Appt. to speak with with urologist at the Lewes Hospital,. He is from Iraq. I tell him about the <a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Genocide070909.htm"> Brussels Tribunal</a> war crimes case against 4 presidents and 4 prime ministers. He tells me I have cancer of the bladder. That I should have a biopsy, with an epidural, during which - if the cancer was on the surface of the bladder, they would remove this simultaneously. This doctor said they would not, however, operate on my cancer if it's <em>in</em> my bladder, because of my medical history (stroke 4 years ago, high blood pressure). Thus I hear all about medical stuff and nothing about the actual process of the cancer - which I need to know to make an [<em> buzz word </em>] "informed decision."<br /><br />Spend 2 days on internet researching bladder cancer. NHS surgery phones to make appt. with GP. Will save further questions for this Dr.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM-h9X88f6qEapewmeLIH8KMQx5nG5E8QNtEv-bagX1sxxiI3PacoKqVoGhFBUYPhFV3rZ_s28mW8O6WUkujW0lol-PvGh4cC_AcN_KJuVoWgYs-nOJ6IM-FIThc7mn-1W6LvL/s1600-h/P1010314.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 135px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM-h9X88f6qEapewmeLIH8KMQx5nG5E8QNtEv-bagX1sxxiI3PacoKqVoGhFBUYPhFV3rZ_s28mW8O6WUkujW0lol-PvGh4cC_AcN_KJuVoWgYs-nOJ6IM-FIThc7mn-1W6LvL/s320/P1010314.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402055687651346290" border="0" /></a><u>14.10 </u> Arrange with Clare for her to have my tiny (and blind) Yorkshire Terrier when the time comes. A positive aspect of knowing one has cancer is the opportunity to clear up house as well as bank arrangements, bills, etc.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Clare and Yorkie Nana © Sarah Meyer</span><br /><br /><br /><br />Phone Sister Brenda, who had previously given me blood tests and taken care of my garden wounds with much professionalism and care, to ask her for dietary advice for bladder cancer. I had read that green tea, broccoli and garlic were good. She said the diet I had been following, with her earlier advice on high cholesterol, was good. (oily fish, beans; no cheese, butter or full milk / cream. I also take <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lecithin">Lechithin</a>. I told her I didn't wish a biopsy, and could she please inform Lewes hospital. She did. Result: flak.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091026172052.htm"> Link Between Alcohol And Cancer Explained: Alcohol Activates Cellular Changes That Make Tumor Cells Spread </a> (27.10.09. ScienceDaily)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www,.care2.com/greenliving/anti-cancer-superfoods-do-they-really-work.html">Anti-Cancer Superfoods: Do They Really Work?</a></b><br />01.11.09. Care 2. Eat: Berries: raspberries, cranberries, blueberries; green tea; garlic, onions, leeks; broccoli and cabbage; tomatoes; revasterol in red wine; soya beans, (NOT Genetically Modified); tofu; tumeric; watercress; spinach.<br />worse alcohol, smoking<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.therebel.org/science-a-technology/medicine/81011">Curry, new anti-cancer treatment </a></b><br />28.10.09. rebel news. Curry had long been thought to have healing powers in certain cultures; a new study finds that the bright yellow curry spice, turmeric, can also kill off cancer cells.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2009-11-05-1Aweightcancer05_ST_N.htm">Obesity linked to specific cancers</a> (05.11.09. usa today) See also:<a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=9008016"> Obesity Causes 100,000 US Cancer Cases, Group Says </a> (05.11.09. ABC)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rebelnews.org/opinion/food/89547">Chicken poo in your burger? USDA allows it in cattle feed</a></b><br />06.11.09. Mike Adams, rebel news. There are 14 billion hamburgers consumed each year in the United States alone. The people who eat those burgers, though, have little knowledge of what's actually in them. Current USDA regulations, for example, openly allow beef contaminated with E. coli to be repackaged, cooked and sold as ready-to-eat hamburgers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.google.co.uk/news?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=Dark+chocolate+prevents+wrinkles,+skin+cancer&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=maH3SqbQH4q24Qb1ivnUAw&sa=X&oi=news_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CA4QsQQwAA">Dark chocolate prevents wrinkles, skin cancer</a></b><br />08.11.09. press tv. [NB: didn't prevent my wrinkles, but was suggested as part of diet for bladder cancer]<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><u> 12.10.09. </u> Ian writes: "if it was me I'd be inclined to dump everything, sell everything, and go live in a coastal town in India. You could teach many things, and spend the rest of the time with the ocean, and opium."<br /><br /><u>15.10</u>. Letter from consultant at Victoria Hospital. I am copying some of this letter without permission: ... "Sister in outpatients today has brought to my attention the fact that you do not wish to have any intervention for the cancer in your bladder. / I would consider this to be a huge error and potentially masses in bladders can be sorted out with a relatively minor procedure carried out through a telescope. This in itself at best may be curative but even if it isn't at least it allows to have a histological diagnosis of the mass in your bladder to allow further treatment to be planned. ... you may however be suitable for radiotherapy but there is no way of knowing this without you having an endoscopic procedure in the first instance. I would therefore urge you to keep your hospital appointment to have this done ... "<br /><br />= increase in blood pressure,. Daughter phones during my teary crisis. Says "it is your life and your death and your decision." Great daughter support! Later she says "I was weepy, too, before going to bed." Feel badly at giving her emotional distress.<br /><br /><u>16.10</u>. My calm restored, and ticking myself off for not remembering "trust the process." I should have known that there would be Mainstream Medical kickback with my decision to die my way.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRC6kzOfUhpIcH_NS7UTap4XAkR6PllklpRJKppAaAQWVvYRMfzUkkCsEcYuPcMMMY9G5e6Gg5l_eZWh_Fy-keoroM-lyGg13WXSicg33mKqAToaKQP-_EMNOY22KppZgfCDGB/s1600-h/P1010322.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRC6kzOfUhpIcH_NS7UTap4XAkR6PllklpRJKppAaAQWVvYRMfzUkkCsEcYuPcMMMY9G5e6Gg5l_eZWh_Fy-keoroM-lyGg13WXSicg33mKqAToaKQP-_EMNOY22KppZgfCDGB/s200/P1010322.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402057944620161282" border="0" /></a><u>19.10.</u><br /><br /><br />Grief. Today I had my Siamese cat put down. She had breast cancer.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">My (sick) Siamese cat © Sarah Meyer</span><br /><br /><u>20.10</u>. Appointment with GP, with list of questions:<br />1. Who is my doctor - now 6 choices.? A: I have been treating you the longest, know you the best. But we are all at this surgery part of the NHS.<br />2. ref: ‘biopsy’ letter from consultant at Lewes hospital. If refuse, which is likely, will St Andrews surgery / health service continue to support me with care options if I say "no"? A: Definitely yes.<br />3. Can I ring your surgery when feel change of symptoms / need help? A: Yes. Will I be 'struck off' Lewes Hospital? .A: No<br />4. Blood test hospital 12.10. What did it say?<br />A: given printed copies of all tests, with explanation. Useful.<br />5. gyne appt necessary? appt. for 21.10.<br />A: Yes, go ahead with this.<br />6. more exrays / scans / urine tests for kidneys? throat / chest exray? A: GP arranges CT scan for 'staging' at Haywards Heath hospital on 21.10.<br />7. Process of bladder (and other?) cancer. What <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_staging">"stage"</a> cancer do I have 1 - 4? It sounds as if, from consultant’s letter, that it is not possible to establish "stages" without biopsy.<br />A: will talk about after results in.<br />8. Radiotherapy? How done? Could have without bladder inspection? (would refuse implant into bladder via urethra); What kind of radiotherapy treatment could I have? What are the likely side effects of this treatment?<br />A: discuss later.<br />9, sleep not good (peeing = waking up). may I have some Ibuprofen if pain increases?<br />A: Yes (gives prescription; free on UK National Health Service if over 60)<br />10. <a href="http://www.stpeter-stjames.org.uk/">St. Peters hospice? </a> Macmillan cancer nurse? referral necessary? site says you "have to be referred to the Macmillan nurses by a doctor or nurse who knows you. Talk to your nurse, GP or hospital doctor if you would like to see a Macmillan nurse."<br />A: speak with Dr. Dyer, St. Peters Hospice.<br />11. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignitas_"> Dignitas</a> a possibility. Can nurse go with me on plane or is that "aiding and abetting"?<br />A: Probably a private nurse could go with you.<br /><br />Later in the month, there is a hoo-ha in the media about Dignitas and assisted suicide. Most media do not support a person’s right to decide their own way of death. I decided when made out my will in 2000 that Dignitas would be my path if I did not feel I had any quality of life.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />VIDEOS: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2009/03/20093963822808445.html">Should Assisted Suicide be Allowed, Part 1 </a> (10.03.09); and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08jt5gxb5cA"> Riz Kahn, Part 2 </a> (09.03.09).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/oct/23/assisted-suicide-doctors-terminally-ill"> Third of doctors act to shorten lives of dying </a></b><br />23.10.09. Sarah Boseley, Guardian. <a href="http://www.dignityindying.org.uk/"> Dignity in Dying </a> said decisions at the end of life should be made by patients wherever possible. Sarah Wootton, its chief executive, said they were concerned by "the ethical fudge which permits the refusal of treatment and terminal sedation, but not assisted dying".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6894726.ece">Swiss crackdown on 'suicide tourism' could spell end of Dignitas clinic</a></b><br />29.10.09. Times on Line. The plans — in the form of two draft Bills that will be offered for public debate — are likely to set off a rush of patients from Britain and elsewhere in Europe since Switzerland has become the main destination for those seeking assisted suicide.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/292400,regulating-assisted-suicide-stirs-debate-in-switzerland--feature.html">Regulating assisted suicide stirs debate in Switzerland – Feature </a></b><br />29.10.09. earth times. The government wants to tighten the reins around assisted suicide. Organizations that offer the service insist people have the "right to die with dignity," and that those with crippling illnesses or painful fatal diseases should be able to decide when their time has come. / However, a new proposal this week by the Swiss Federal Council - the executive branch of government - would seek to regulate the clinics, in a move also likely to make it harder for foreigners to use the services.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/11/05/right-to-die-under-increased-scrutiny-in-the-u-k/">'Right to Die' Under Increased Scrutiny in the U.K.</a></b><br />05.11.09. Delia Lloyd, politics daily. While that legislation [House of Lords backing of appeal] will not allow the creation of Dignitas-style clinics in the U.K., the easing of some legal restrictions around this issue -- particularly for close family members in the case of a terminal illness -- is seen as a victory for the right-to-die movement. / … Europe is giving this whole issue a re-think.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/the-great-canadian-euthanasia-debate/article1353068/">The great Canadian euthanasia debate</a> (05.11.09. globe and mail)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5h5c4J_eos5Kw-AFwXAmNmUXqgVaA">Scots to back assisted suicide bill </a> (08.11.09. UKPA)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Phone nurse at Brighton hospital to confirm that I wish to cancel appointment with consultant for a biopsy. I feel okay and calm about this. I wonder if Greenland and Arctic ice in June-July will be possible. We shall see. Perhaps another, bigger adventure awaits me.<br /><br /><u>21.10</u> Today, had a gyne inspection by the registrar at Haywards Heath hospital (Sussex). She thought the pain in my urethra / cervix was from pressure <em>in</em> the bladder. She thought, thus, that there was thus no point in oestrogen treatment. Asked me to phone her if start bleeding. At 4PM, CT scan on back, stomach and chest, including lymph glands.<br /><br /><u>22.10 </u>. 1.30 am: wake as usual to pee 2ce; can't get back to sleep. Coughed up bloody sputum ... enough to make me anxious and query its cause ... become neurotic about this by 4.30, because of two previous haemorrhages. Ring night doctor, who asks questions. Stop being neurotic and start reading emails and passing on political information.<br /><br />Secretary at St. Peter's and St. James Hospice, rang about an appointment on 5 November. Good! I like their nurse, Dee, with whom I earlier spoke at this hospice: "You have an 'unconventional' approach," she said. Quite.<br /><br /><u>The 'Mainstream Medical Establishment' hassle continues, to my despair! </u><br />S.C., a nurse, saying she was connected with consultant urologist, phones. I felt she either bossed or patronised me . She pressured me to have the biopsy; said I was not making an [<em> buzz word </em>] 'informed decision.' Explained I was having a CT scan. She said the CT scan would “not show up everything the way a biopsy would.” But later, the doctor who gave me the CT scan said it would show <u>in greater detail</u> what was happening with my bladder / kidneys / lymph glands, chest). Nurse wanted to talk with me next week. I said I was talking to *my* GP doctor on 3 November when will get the results of my tests; that I would not wish to speak with her before that. She asked if she could ring hospital to find results. "Of course", I said. Went into mode "quiet fury." THIS IS KIND OF PRESSURE I DO NOT WANT OR APPRECIATE. Receive leaflet from her on 26.10. Susan writes: "There is always another side to consider, She probably has to deal with a number of depressed/not very assertive elderly people who do need to be cajoled/bullied into keeping vital appointments. She wouldn't be doing her job if she didn't follow up." Later in month ask GP to please phone Lewes Hospital and request that people stop phoning/writing me as it is too distressing. He did so.<br /><br /><u> Email from <a href="http://pacetua.blogspot.com/%22"> Musafir </a></u><br />Difficult days for you, not only the physical discomforts but the interference from well-meaning people who see things differently.<br /><br />"Dying is regarded as bad taste in this society in spite of the fact that 10 out of 10 people do it." San Francisco advertising executive Howard Gossage told friends when he learned of his terminal illness.<br /><br />But you have support of your children. Although I have talked about the subject to my daughters they are averse to seriously thinking about it. Don't think they will disregard my wish if I happen to be in a situation when their consent will be needed.<br /><br />Thought you might like this:<br /><br /><em>"A star looks down at me<br />And says: "Here I and you<br />stand, each in our degree:<br />What do you mean to do--<br />Mean to do?"<br /><br />I say: "For all I know.<br />Wait, and let Time go by<br />Till my change come"--Just so."<br />The star says: "So mean I--<br />So mean I."</em><br />--Thomas Hardy, "Waiting Both"<br /><br /><u>23 October</u>: From <a href="http://www.williambowles.info/"> William Bowles </a>: “Real sorry to hear that Sarah. How are you coping? Been through my own trials and tribs this past year, tested for just about everything, and all it did was make me feel ill from the worry of it all (go figure). "I've been tested for urinary cancer, liver cancer, kidney cancer, diabetes, bowel cancer… all negative of course but the stress of waiting for results is just too much, no wonder I've been having anxiety attacks. After I did the bowel cancer one, I finally get a letter saying I'm ok BUT that doesn't mean you won't get it etc. Do these fucking people know what they do to us? It's the language, the indifference…"<br /><br />Yes, we've been conned into thinking that we can live forever."<br /><br />The NHS might be 'free' but the price I've paid being allegedly treated by a bunch of uncaring and totally indifferent doctors has been awful. I'm now on my third practice (having burned my bridges with the previous two). They really don't like being questioned do they.<br /><br />The NHS makes money for the pharmas with our money (and privatize the rest thru the back door). Yeah, the one good thing the gp did was advise against me taking statins ('high' cholesterol can just be the way you are), it has awful <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=bad+effects+of+statins&meta=&btnG=Google+Search"> side effects</a>. I'm still waiting to take the test on circulation (postponed one month already).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/health/research/25anderson.html">A Place Where Cancer Is the Norm</a></b><br />24.10.09. NY Times. Doctors are encouraged to try everything, and when insurers balk, they pick up the phone, repeatedly, hoping to persuade them to pay for what may be unconventional treatments. / The federal government gives more cancer research money to this hospital [ M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas] than to any other, and the hospital has an abundance of specialists in many forms of cancer, including rare ones. Medicare offers more generous reimbursement, and the hospital offers treatments that often go far beyond what can be offered at most other places. / ... But like a modern version of the tuberculosis sanatorium in Thomas Mann’s “Magic Mountain,” [which I just finished reading] Anderson is a world where the best that medicine has to offer is often far from enough. The odds are still grim, and while there are exhilarating recoveries, the exhausting, dispiriting road traveled by many patients comes into sharp relief. / ... With more than 17,000 employees and warrens of color-coded hallways so vast that even employees get lost, M. D. Anderson is its own parallel universe, where nothing matters but cancer. / ... “Everyone is totally immersed in the idea that <b>death is the enemy</b>,” Dr. Harris said. Such a no-holds-barred stance, he added, is spurring a growing debate in the cancer community.<br /><br />Ragnar writes: <em>What a sad email you’ve sent me! I didn’t realize that it was cancer & end of the road until I read the link to Musafir’s beautiful article. You must tell me more about this when the energy’s there, and I certainly look forward to your story on cancer. I just forwarded your email to Paola, with a copy to you). .. PS: Tanja started to weep when she read the email </em>. Ragnar later published Musafir’s two articles, 'Hands Across the Seas', on <a href="http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2009/11/02/hands-across-the-seas"> The People’s Voice</a>.<br /><br />Danny Schechter of <a href="http://mediachannel.org/"> Media Channel </a> wrote: "thank you for sharing this with me....Thank you for being my friend, and being so supportive and taking me to task when I needed to be and picking me up at the station that night......I want you do what you think is best.....That’s all we can do but I do hope we can chat on the phone" Danny also later published Musafir’s articles, “Hands Across … "<br /><br /><u>26.10</u>. Consultant urologist's secretary phoned to make an appointment to see him next week. Not possible ... houseguests, two appointments with doctors next week. They will ring after they speak <em>again</em> with my GP. Determined, are they not? So am I.. <em> Non serviam</em>. Poor Dr. GP - "Piggy in the Middle". “<em>That is my responsibility</em>, he commented.<br /><br />From Winston: "All I can say is I am here for you Sarah"<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifvRr11P68u-QsUrE5c-pVfkjW0Sa5ul8YvMNvERNoKRQCGCd3ohAonvFxFuvMsMH_GOBI6Y6Sft8hKcpbrk-i56DVB1FliafUa6QVkrBRQXjEFAx72hiGKwB6iBvnndVVSdK/s1600-h/P1010320.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 112px; height: 151px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgifvRr11P68u-QsUrE5c-pVfkjW0Sa5ul8YvMNvERNoKRQCGCd3ohAonvFxFuvMsMH_GOBI6Y6Sft8hKcpbrk-i56DVB1FliafUa6QVkrBRQXjEFAx72hiGKwB6iBvnndVVSdK/s320/P1010320.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402058520587422802" border="0" /></a><u>From Pete Dewell,</u>who came for weekend. I gave him someof my books, as he has done so much for me.<br /><em>Im glad that you are still as contrary as ever; not giving in to anything. I think it would be a shame if you caved in & accepted the medical advice you are getting. As I said, I don't know what I would do in your situation, but you know your own mind/body, so stick with it, no matter what. Do what *you* want, not what you are told. One of the oldest "freedoms" in the world - Habeas Corpus. If that disappears, then there really is no hope for the remains of so-called civilisation. ... There is no reason to change any part of your life simply because there has been a change to your body (other than having to get up at 1 AM to pee). It has not affected your brain, or your desires, or anything else. It is a purely physical change, which means that you may have to modify your lifestyle in some respects, but not change *what* you do. / I would say that you should carry on as you have been. By all means, make the most of seeing your children/grandchildren while you can, but there is no requirement on you to change any other part of your life, apart from your physical ability. And if *ANYBODY* thinks that you should, including me, F*** 'em. / Anyway, that's my three penn'orth. ... / And as for the ME (medical establishment) I sympathise with your doctor, but he should be able to handle the buggers OK. You're *his* patient, not theirs, and he is respecting *your* wishes as regards your treatment, which is only right & proper for any ethical doctor</em>.<br /><br />Susan writes: "Sorry about doctor hassle - no doubt they will get the message eventually."<br /><br />"Progress." if that is the right word. *My* GP just rang. He had spoken with consultant urologist who thinks, from the CT scan, that perhaps cancer has spread to kidneys and urethra, and possibly to lungs. Consultant doesn’t know about lymph glands. As a consultant urologist feels he <u>would not operate in any case</u>. Whew! that 15-day biopsy struggle over.<br /><br /><u>From Musafir</u>: Perhaps, in a way it is "progress". In your case, I suppose that is the right, pragmatic, view to take. And yet I must admit that it affected me...the fact that you will not be around for long; there will be no messages from you; no more pictures of your summer garden; of your pets; no more comments about Israel's atrocities, about the abuse of power by major nations. / You know that I fully support your position. Nevertheless, it hurts. / I shall be 76 soon. Have you heard of Norman MacLean, the American author? / He wrote something that I sometimes think of.<br /><br />"<em>As I get considerably beyond the biblical<br />allotment of three score years and ten, I feel<br />with increasing intensity that I can<br />express my gratitude for still being around on<br />the oxygen side of the earth's crust only by<br />not standing pat on what I have hitherto<br />known and loved. While the oxygen lasts, there<br />are still new things to love, especially<br />if compassion is a form of love</em>."<br /><br />…<br /><br />Pete writes: “Well, I suppose it's progress of a sort - although admittedly not necessarily the progress you'd like... / Good to hear that GP is being so good about things - he seems like a damn good doctor to me. / … Well, you aren't allowed to get any worse until I'm back from Australia, and can get you to Italy (via Autun).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV4BwnWJ20mdzXu86gAfEZTZCQhnBzet-pemjVy6YTrUtpiKO_H5CcXXmmMlSUA8JEeuF2wTvtZ1JX7NdcZMEwr79s83pBduULnjuwbbIjT8mYVRiwtHPmcRE7kVMbOCHcyENnwg/s1600-h/P1010285.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 282px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV4BwnWJ20mdzXu86gAfEZTZCQhnBzet-pemjVy6YTrUtpiKO_H5CcXXmmMlSUA8JEeuF2wTvtZ1JX7NdcZMEwr79s83pBduULnjuwbbIjT8mYVRiwtHPmcRE7kVMbOCHcyENnwg/s320/P1010285.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402062393341991618" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Garage cleanup © Sarah Meyer<br /></span></div><br /><u> 26 – 28.10</u>. Heather comes with Isadora and Heloise for three days. We clean out the garage. Boxes will go to <a href="http://www.oxfam.org.uk/"> OXFAM</a>, the skip, or auction. We also clear out cupboards, making space for a live-in nurse. Wonderful ***** support and caring from Heather. "Don't be in a hurry to die," she pleaded on phoning upon her arrival home.<br /><br /><u> 28.10</u>. I am dreaming a lot about cancer. Remember in detail. Good book about dreams is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Death-Jungian-Interpretation/dp/0812693671/ref=sr_1_26?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257390399&sr=1-26"> On Dreams & Death </a>by Marie von Franz.<br /><br />Working on putting up research, <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/10/surveillance-societies.html">Surveillance Societies</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20091028/cancer-group-focuses-on-environmental-factors?src=RSS_PUBLIC">Cancer Group Focuses on Environmental Factors </a></b><br />28.10.09. web md. The American Cancer Society is increasing its focus on environmental factors that may contribute to cancer, according to a new report the organization has issued. The report calls for new strategies to more effectively and efficiently screen the chemicals to which the public is exposed. / This research is just one part of ACS’s comprehensive prevention program, which also includes activities related to tobacco use, nutrition, obesity and inactivity, excessive sun exposure, alcohol consumption, and certain chronic infections.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1Rk98EQQzvkReTmqBss0Zjv9NoA-iIddO6E4tmRGb6_S8JFnlsl5ZGaOLM3iSSIzMkh4OLuG6emOqEzTuesIEWGJM_FGHXt1WnGYGzsMsz55kqtuTK7bhyphenhyphenQuAb4Li7l1Xwh6EQ/s1600-h/P1010286.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp1Rk98EQQzvkReTmqBss0Zjv9NoA-iIddO6E4tmRGb6_S8JFnlsl5ZGaOLM3iSSIzMkh4OLuG6emOqEzTuesIEWGJM_FGHXt1WnGYGzsMsz55kqtuTK7bhyphenhyphenQuAb4Li7l1Xwh6EQ/s320/P1010286.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402062899033289506" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Autumn Leaves © Sarah Meyer<br /><br /></span></div><u> 01.11.09</u> Huge winds and storms. The autumnal leaves on my lawn remind me of the autumn of my life.<br /><br />Haiku from Musafir:<br /><br /><em>Blow if you will,<br />fall wind--the flowers<br />have all faded.</em><br />--Gansan<br /><br />More poetry, sent by Dai Williams: <a href="http://www.afon.org/">AFON </a>, and <a href="http://www.afon.org/peace/greylight.htm"> "especially noted" </a><br /><br /><u> 03.11.09</u>.<br /><br />Visit with GP. He had phoned hospital and requested no phone calls or letters to me. Life peaceful again.<br /><br />He draws picture of my kidney cancer extending to ureters, bladder and urethra.<br />Questions GP:<br />Results of gyne consultant; CT scan - lymph / lung cancer?<br />A: Results not fully in yet. Will phone Lewes Hospital doctor and fax to Dr. Dyer.<br /><br />Infection, as in July, last week October. Better now.<br />Cramps = Have twice fallen when trying to stand in middle of night. Two nights ago, concussed head, banged other parts of body. Last evening 6 PM, blood in urine. (self prescribe <a href="http://www.homeoint.org/clarke/a/arn.htm"> Arnica </a>)<br /><br />When last tested diabetes? Noisy purple bruises l. arm; doubt if related to aspirin as originally thought.<br />A: Doesn’t appear to be diabetes problem. Speak with St. Peters doctor.<br /><br />MacMillan nurse: NHS? Live in my home? At what stage? What to prepare for her/him? Suggestions donation after my death to St. Peter’s?<br />A: Speak with hospice Dr. on 5th.<br /><br />Self prescribe ‘the’ victim remedy, Staphisagria. While I was happy with earlier appointment and hugged GP, felt disappointed' this time around. Then again, NHS doctors only have 10 minutes to speak with a patient, and so are often pushed for time. And as a friend pointed out - "being a doctor is a huge juggling act between people like yourself, who can take bad news, and those who go to pieces if they get a cold." And "he was doing what he thought best for you."<br /><br /><u> email from Beth Elon </u><br /><br />I do not recognise this person of whom Beth generously writes. Beth and I worked together in Senator Humphrey's campaign office in 1960. Beth went on to marry our friend, Amos Elon while Karl and I braved the snow for JFK's inauguration.<br /><br />"When did you learn of this, and are you in a lot of pain? I wish I could offer the proper solace, but you are so brave, and so right, I feel, that I can only support you and wish that I might do the same in your circumstances. I share your convictions -- about afterlife, about religion generally -- and think the only thing we can take account for is how we've led our lives. And yours is more than exemplary; you have worked consistently, steadily, courageously, for all you believe in, not simply mouthed off at dinner parties and gone to demonstrations like most of us. You have been ACTIVE, and that many more people will regret that you no longer can effect what you've so bravely done up to now.<br /><br />What more to say? If there is anything I can do, please share with me. And, if I get to England as I plan to, beginning December, I'll make every effort to spend a day with you. We have so many memories together, the best of times, and we've led our lives as a result of so many decisions we made then."<br /><br /><u>05.11.09</u><br /><br /><table width="100%"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjioX5oVDOOdtff3y2Z6BaHLNH8X_i8FiSWwdUiCTI_OEQhl9PC2M__LnPrCzGNXkyHpOGxEXzybIOnqcM15V5pM_gu-kBz-OMH8scEvDmZQNn4eIFOt-TYxhz107F1wRVcrizhQQ/s1600-h/P1010293.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 191px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjioX5oVDOOdtff3y2Z6BaHLNH8X_i8FiSWwdUiCTI_OEQhl9PC2M__LnPrCzGNXkyHpOGxEXzybIOnqcM15V5pM_gu-kBz-OMH8scEvDmZQNn4eIFOt-TYxhz107F1wRVcrizhQQ/s320/P1010293.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402064388943991522" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">St Peter's Hospice</span></td><td align="right"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCD3D_Hq1JODLAVa_mWdMgQaR1snNg7NNs-4GVcQvoSQj0IWPvFeTLNDu14Wji73Fc0t05lnK0mo-tCIBQhp8CPxcV6mVqFfLxZrG9kze5zbnr7n1gZnNny9lXzBu6Il9X2-etiw/s1600-h/P1010301.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 188px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCD3D_Hq1JODLAVa_mWdMgQaR1snNg7NNs-4GVcQvoSQj0IWPvFeTLNDu14Wji73Fc0t05lnK0mo-tCIBQhp8CPxcV6mVqFfLxZrG9kze5zbnr7n1gZnNny9lXzBu6Il9X2-etiw/s320/P1010301.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402064314894603394" border="0" /></a></td></tr></tbody></table><br />This morning, I met Dr. Dyer at St. Peter and St. James (charity) hospice for 1 1/2 hours. The hospice is in beautiful Sussex grounds overlooking the South Downs, with large sweep of pastures, woods and 2 donkeys. Lots of birds, too. The buildings are clean, well taken care of. Was impressed. Anna, a “community care nurse” sat with us and listened. Told I can ring her if have questions or need to chat. Anna has daily consultations with Dr. Dyer. Both Anna and Dr. Dyer were focused and honest.<br /><br />Dr. Dyer looked at his notes and said that he understood my illness had started in September. "No", I said, my illness had "manifested itself on 12 July and that I had first been to my GP on July 21st; and had been waiting for a diagnosis since." He put his hand on mine and said, “I am sorry.”<br /><br />Dr. Dyer faxed the hospital for my CT scan results, which had not been forwarded to him. This clinical report was verified on the 26th of October.<br /><br />I do not have cancer of the kidney. The kidney is deteriorating because of the pressure, inflammation and cancer in my bladder. My cancer, as my GP explained, extends through ureters to bladder to urethra and is now evident in my <a href="http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Cancerinformation/Cancertypes/Lymphnodessecondary/Secondarycancerlymphnodes.aspx"> lymph glands</a>, as well as lungs. The cancer is at Stage 4. He thought it unlikely that I would be able to go to Greenland at the end of June.<br /><br />I have associated lymph gland cancer with a history of GRIEF for a long time.<br /><br />Dr. Dyer asked me lots of questions about my life; also about my appetite, and about whether I take a bath or shower. "Bath." "Good."<br /><br />"At first, you will lose appetite and lose weight." ( Vitamin C proposed) "Then you will go into decline, and then into a downward dive ... You would be welcome to come and spend your last days at the hospice.” That would be my last two weeks of life, when I would probably be comatose. Alternatively, Anna said, a <a href="http://www.mariecurie.org.uk/"> Marie Curie </a>nurse could come, live in my home, spend the nights with me. She will come and discuss nursing with me on 13 November. I feel the hospice would be easier and less time-consuming for everyone concerned ....<br /><br />I spoke about my concern for my childrens’ grief. Dr. Dyer said that grief can be transformative. I certainly noticed this whillst working with people in clinics during the Bosnian war. Two patients, in particular, following the murders of their entire families, reached out to help others. I am still grateful to them for teaching me so much. Memories of them bring on my tears. .<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHzBDrlDa2gBQtd1qMicR8VMauG-lVoTUTUTwjMP24UtdYSqYeyej90HLnKPG5_7Z_WZ4EbC7zqxPgiDrSVUkTZqEy_hx9IhGi7yYiQ2G-YWM6xEuaUTp1G7i06v6h4ShPnWrnaQ/s1600-h/P1010289.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 189px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHzBDrlDa2gBQtd1qMicR8VMauG-lVoTUTUTwjMP24UtdYSqYeyej90HLnKPG5_7Z_WZ4EbC7zqxPgiDrSVUkTZqEy_hx9IhGi7yYiQ2G-YWM6xEuaUTp1G7i06v6h4ShPnWrnaQ/s320/P1010289.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402066406177240290" border="0" /></a><br />Daughter Heather just now on phone: calm and supportive.<br />“You expected this; it is very helpful for us for you to be organized and informative.”<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG9hZLzMfaCk0bX2j0LSgSSxSa__hPAUVhQ-Umz0MH25jdV5YKxclryLuC8lTTsue3GeEr1SgaVNMk4PK9Fhf-KjO9C1ZXLhCqWzDmLXz4zpfrouaDWyvqQQugvOUV_eVGOgJyHw/s1600-h/P1010225.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 195px; height: 259px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG9hZLzMfaCk0bX2j0LSgSSxSa__hPAUVhQ-Umz0MH25jdV5YKxclryLuC8lTTsue3GeEr1SgaVNMk4PK9Fhf-KjO9C1ZXLhCqWzDmLXz4zpfrouaDWyvqQQugvOUV_eVGOgJyHw/s320/P1010225.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402066412328618226" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Jon Meyer in St. Ives 2009, © Sarah Meyer<br /></span></div><br />“I feel very sad and love you so much.” Jon says from California. Will dying goodbyes with my children be the most difficult for us all?<br /><br /><u> 06.11.09 </u>. I slept last night for 6 hours. The Waiting Game is now over. Now I can get on with my life-death process. That feels good.<br />…<br /><u> 07.11.09 </u><br /><br />Today, I emailed my eldest, and estranged, son in California about my cancer. No reply as of 9 November.<br /><br />This diary will hopefully be continued and published as <em> My Cancer (2): Blowing in the Wind </em> during the last stages of my life/death.<br /><br /><br /><a id="2000"></a><b> 2. OTHER STORIES </b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/takingtime/page2"> Denial of cancer</a><br /><br />“Sometimes, denial is a serious problem. If it lasts too long, it can keep you from getting the treatment you need. It can also be a problem when other people deny that you have cancer, even after you have accepted it.”<br /><br />Phyl Phyl was in denial about her breast cancer until her death. This was difficult for two of us caring for her. We especially worried about her children “Her death was terrible, “ said her friend.<br /><br /><u> Morag </u> Morag was also in denial about her cancer. Two friends were with her when she died. “Terrible, terrible,” said Maureen.<br />. . .<br /><br /><u> Olive </u> A woman who breeds Burmese cats told me she had a bladder operation, followed by 5 months in hospital with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methicillin-resistant_Staphylococcus_aureus"> MRSA </a>. Her husband later had bladder cancer - he had a biopsy, but then died of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepsis"> sepsis</a>.<br /><br /><em> dying at home </em><br /><br /><u> Ruzica Silic</u>, my Zagreb clinics translator during Bosnian war. "One day an old peasant woman from a village nearby was brought into my hospital room. She had some stomach troubles. Was on infusion. After several days her daughter came to me asking for some advice. She knew that her mother was dying and wanted to take her back home to die there in a dignified way. I was so stupid believing in modern medicine and doctors and persuaded her that she should let her mum stay in the hospital (Look, the doctors know what to do and how to help your mum!). The next day, they took her out to some other room where she died. She could have died in a magnificent way holding her daughter by the hand. And that daughter - the simple woman - she had more finance trouble coming to Zagreb and taking her mum's deceased body back to the village. Yes, if I can back you for your decision from far away Zagreb, you have it.<br />...<br /><u>Pete </u>, "A little story I recently heard about the medical profession from a friend. He has been seriously ill, and has to see the doctor fairly frequently for checkups. They took his blood pressure with all the wonderful electronic gizmos that they have, and it turned out that he had high blood pressure. So they gave him tablets to lower it. After a while he found it difficult to breath at times. Several tests later, somebody decided to use the old-fashioned method of testing his blood pressure - it was way too low, even though the electronic thingy said it was ok. Like you, seeing the doctor pushed his blood pressure up anyway. So they stopped trying to lower his normal blood pressure. They don't always get it right."<br /><br /><u> Sara’s story </u>. “Sara was complaining about her symptoms for nearly 2 years before somebody decided to actually examine her, instead of sending her for more tests, or prescribing tranquilisers. Then they found the renal cancer. Still, she was recently paid a backhanded compliment by her doctor (after a bout of Herpes Simplex Encephalitis) ... "You never have anything *normal*, do you?" I suppose it does mean that they will take her a little more seriously next time she goes. For fuller story of Sara, see References, below.<br /><br /><u> Rolf’s story </u> . Rolf had been a junkie in the 1960s, and got cancer sometime after that. He lost a lung, half his liver, and other bits of his anatomy in the operation. However, he was "cured", and ended up as a highly respected drugs counsellor, lecturing to police chief constables and working all over the place. He even used to get his clients accosting him in the pub. "Errr, Rolf. Can I have a word please?" Rolf never refused them. "Buy me a pint & sit over there. I'll be with you in a few minutes." And we wouldn't see him for the rest of the night. He smoked, he drank, and lived a relatively unhealthy lifestyle, but considered himself lucky to be alive and determined to enjoy himself while he could. While he could, he carried on with his life.<br /><br />When the cancer came back he decided that it wasn't worth bothering with any treatment - given how little there was left of him. So they gave him painkillers and he arranged for a hospice. I remember him in the pub one night, gulping down a couple of morphine tablets, looking at them, grinning evilly and saying "Good God. When I was younger they used to put me in prison for having this stuff. Now they give it to me for free!" When he finally went into the hospice, about a month before his death, he refused to let any of us come and visit - only his son was allowed to see him. His son used to take him tobacco & rum so that he could still enjoy himself, as much as was possible, and told us that one day they were chatting in his room. Rolf had lit a cigarette, and had a tot of rum as well when a nurse came in. "You really should stop smoking Mr. Gstaad. It's very bad for you." Rolf looked astonished and said "I have terminal cancer. How much worse can it get?" The nurse left.<br /><br /><from><a href="http://www.mohavedownwinders.com/main.htm"> Downwinders</a><br /><br />I have been the webmaster for the Mohave Down Winders for several years.<br />Two days ago our Eleanore passed away from the effects, likely, of "Dirty Harry", detonated at 0505 hours, May 19th, 1953.<br /><br />She was but a child on that day and I was yet unborn. But we have, collectively, suffered the effects of this travesty.<br /><br />Until some other person steps up to the plate the Mohave Downwinders are no more, overcome by history and lies.<br /><br />I cannot do this anymore. I have "buried" hundreds of people I have known; and I simply cannot continue.<br /><br />I wish each and every one of you "God's Speed".<br /><br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><b> 3. CANCER AND MONEY </b><br /><br />Gift Aid is a key income stream for <a href="http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/publicpolicy/Ourpolicypositions/charity/gift_aid/?a=5441"> Cancer Research UK</a><br />– in 2006/07 the scheme generated approximately <b>£23m</b> of income. This income could cover the cost of running approximately 23 laboratories within the Cancer Research UK London. (Presumably this applies to pharmaceutial companies).<br /><br />"In recent years, the <a href="http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/NCI/research-funding"> US National Cancer Institute </a>'s budget has been flat, at approximately $4.8 billion per year."<br /><br />(Google cancer research usa)<br />. . .<br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/health/policy/27fda.html?_r=1&hpw">Industry Years Behind on Testing Approved Drugs</a></b><br />26.10.09. NY Times. Federal drug officials have long been criticized for failing to force drug makers to complete studies proving that their drugs work as hoped, and Congressional investigators on Monday released yet another report pointing out that some of these studies remain undone many years after being promised. / The result is that doctors and patients remain unsure whether some critical medicines used to treat illnesses like cancer and heart disease are actually beneficial.<br /><br /><u> Sartre’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/No-Exit-Three-Other-Plays/dp/0679725164/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257338180&sr=1-1"> No Exit? </a></u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/health/research/25anderson.html">A Place Where Cancer Is the Norm</a></b><br />25.10.09. NY Times. M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has a mission statement, and everyone who works there, from the president to the cleaning crews, can state it like a catechism: to “eliminate cancer in Texas, the nation and the world.”/ For the nearly 90,000 patients who will go to the center in Houston this year, that mission cannot be fulfilled soon enough. They and their families arrive at the world’s largest freestanding cancer hospital from around the world, often leaving behind jobs and stashing children with relatives for months. Some rent apartments or stay in mobile home parks near the hospital./ They enter through a soaring lobby, with cheery aquariums and exuberant volunteer greeters eager to help in any way. They come looking for hope. / But there is no mistaking what this place is: the front line of the frustrating <u>war</u> on a still largely incurable disease.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.utexas.edu/news/2009/10/27/biomedical_cancer/">Biomedical Engineers Get $11.6 Million from National Cancer Institute to Offer Non-traditional Cancer Research Approaches</a></b><br />27.10.09. utexas. "The Center for Transport Oncophysics will focus on understanding how biological molecules and drugs are transported in cancer and healthy tissues. This will allow a new vision, a new prism through which to look at cancer and exploit its weaknesses to mount decisive attacks against its most damaging forms, such as metastatic and locally advanced disease," / The new center will be called the Center for Transport Oncophysics (CTO). The goal of the five-year initiative is to engage trans-disciplinary scientific teams from fields of engineering, physics, mathematics and chemistry to examine new, non-traditional approaches to cancer research. The Center will receive $2.4 million during the first year and could receive funds totaling $11.6 million over a five-year period. / ... Other members of the consortium include The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, M.D. <u>Anderson Hospital</u> in Houston, along with Rice University and Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital. {sounds pretty "traditional" to me ...}<br /><br /><b><a href="http://orlando.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories/2009/11/02/daily15.html">Women Playing for T.I.M.E. raises $453K</a></b><br />03.11.09. orlando biz. Women Playing for T.I.M.E. has raised $453,000 this year for breast cancer research and programs at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando. / The group, formed in 1993, has donated $8 million over the past 17 years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/11/inequality-the-root-source-of-sickness-in-america/">Inequality: The Root Source of Sickness in America</a></b><br />03.11.09. Susan Rosenthal, Dissident Voice / ICH. The United States spends more on health care than any other industrial nation, yet it has the highest infant death rates and the lowest life expectancy. / This problem is attributed to a fragmented, <u>profit-oriented medical system</u> that denies millions of people access to care.(1 ). While a national medical plan that covers everyone is desperately needed, improving the general health of the population requires more fundamental change.<br /><br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><b> 4. CONCLUSIONS </b><br /><br /><em><b> When You Walk through a storm hold your head up high<br />And don't be afraid of the dark ... </b></em>. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx4vME0d1w8"> Mahalia Jackson </a><br /><br />Fear of the dark as a child; fear of cancer and death when older. Fears can rule our imaginations. Often the reality of these fears will become manifest if they are not dealt with. A positive approach to fears is more useful, if difficult. Unfortunately, in the West, governments seem to thrive on The Fear Factor.<br /><br />My cousin's wife, Patty Horner, died of cancer while sitting in a chair on their porch overlooking the sea in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weekapaug,_Rhode_Island">Weekapaug </a>, Rhode Island. Jack told me stories of her illness and death. Patty's cheerfulness and courage have been an inspiration for me.<br /><br />I do not believe that cancer will be <em> cured </em> by a drug. The key to cancer is perhaps in understanding the <b> causes </b> of cancer. If one listens to case histories of cancer patients, for example, one hears common <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carcinosin-A-Compendium-of-References/dp/B001QAH6IW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257655723&sr=1-1">threads</a> running though all cases.<br /><br />These “threads” can include a genetic history of cancer; ailments from: <u>anxiety; being abused; after anger; after strong emotions: excitement, shock; developmental milestones of children arrested, long history of domination by others; suppressed emotions; fear; fright; grief; disappointed love; in children, after punishment; burdened with responsibility at too young an age</u>.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuLtqYtf1ABUYLjwAdvZgB1ls38Wo56EtoNyySK-k6wuGMLLODMG6sx92Ulv3KDcAHLy3oQ0rvldY1sOK1mz0yBKGxnEiY-aj6tn8RHg7kqEW29PIigqBTQ_GLqVC19iXDiWSoBw/s1600-h/falls.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuLtqYtf1ABUYLjwAdvZgB1ls38Wo56EtoNyySK-k6wuGMLLODMG6sx92Ulv3KDcAHLy3oQ0rvldY1sOK1mz0yBKGxnEiY-aj6tn8RHg7kqEW29PIigqBTQ_GLqVC19iXDiWSoBw/s400/falls.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5402069533173566050" /></a><br /><br />At the end of Herzog's stunning film, The White Diamond, 1 million <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tipped_Swift"> white-tipped swifts </a> dive in the evening from the blue sky, follow the thundering drop of the Kaieteur Falls in Guyana, and swoop into the black cave behind these falls, which is home and source of myths of the people who live there. This is how I see my life - and my death.<br /><br /><em>”Keep flying while your wings are strong.<br />Then glide forever!</em> <a href="http://www.afon.org/"> Afon </a><br /><br /><br /><a id="5000"></a><b> 5. REFERENCES </b><br /><br />Andrei Tarkovsky, a filmmaker, had TB and died of lung cancer. His superb book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sculpting-Time-Tarkovsky-Filmaker-Discusses/dp/0292776241/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256625802&sr=1-1">Sculpting in Time </a>, made a huge impression on me in many ways. Ah, that such people with deep integrity were running our world rather than our present <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlatan">charlatans </a>who know nothing of morality, reality or the hopes and wishes of the people they represent.<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium"> Depleted Uranium </a><br /><br /><u> Sara’s story in more detail </u><br /><br />Several years ago, Sara started complaining of adrenaline surges. She had problems sleeping, was always on the move, doing fairly heavy physical labour for 8 hours at a time without any problem, and essentially acting like somebody permanently on amphetamine. Visits to the doctors, and batteries of tests gave nothing. The doctors prescribed tranquilisers (which didn't work, so she gave them back), and various other drugs, none of which had any effect.<br /><br />The most striking thing about this was her lack of tiredness. I saw her move a cellarful of bricks over a day with 2 other people, both of whom wilted in the heat after about 2 hours, while Sara kept at it for about 6 hours straight, with only a couple of cups of coffee. She must have shifted tons of bricks that day.<br /><br />After all the tests. etc. nothing happened, so she lived with it, occasionally going back to the doctors when the symptoms got too bad (more tests - clean results). It started affecting her eating, which got to the point where she couldn't even finish a slice of toast, as that would fill her up.<br /><br />Eventually, about 18 months or so after first reporting the symptoms, she finally saw a locum doctor, who actually put her on the couch and physically examined her - the first time this had happened since she started complaining. After about a minute, he had arranged for her to visit hospital that day for an ultrasound scan. The hospital wouldn't let her see the pictures, and immediately referred her to another hospital for a CT scan the following week.<br /><br />After the CT scan, at another appointment with the doctor, she was told that she had "an atypical cyst on the kidney", and was sent to see the consultant urologist in Hereford.<br /><br />The consultant said that the cyst had grown into the kidney, and that he had two choices :-1) Try to remove the cyst and save the kidney. However, this was risky, in that he may not get all of the cyst, and she may have to come back in 6 months for another operation.-2) Remove the kidney altogether. He said that he would like to "consult with my colleagues before making a decision." One month later, we were back with the consultant. When we arrived there, there was a MacMillan nurse in the office as well. The MacMillan nurse gave Sara a card, and said "Call me at any time." I think the card was lost before we got home. This was the first time the word "cancer" was mentioned.<br /><br />So Sara went into hospital a month after this meeting for the operation to remove the kidney. Because they wanted to remove the cyst in one piece, they didn't do the usual small incision to remove the kidney; instead they sliced right across the stomach, just under the ribs. The anaethsatist afterwards told us that the cyst was the size of a rugby ball - no wonder she couldn't eat.<br /><br />So far, so good. Although the original diagnosis took ages, due to the doctors inability to physically examine her, once the cyst had been found, things did move pretty quickly, and there are no complaints about the way she was treated up to the operation.<br /><br />The real problems occurred in the aftercare. She was in the hospital for 3 days (including half a day for the operation) and in that time she received *nothing at all* to eat, until just before she discharged herself. She was extremely thirsty, and the nurses refused to give her anything more than tiny mouthfuls of water at a time. When the consultant came round the morning after the operation, and asked if she wanted anything, her response was "I could murder a cup of coffee." The consultant looked surprised. "You haven't had any? Why not?" and turning to the nurse in charge "This patient has had a kidney removed. We need to get the other one working as soon as possible. She is to have as much fluid as she wants, when she wants it." Good on him. So the nurses brought Sara a 2-litre glass jug of water. Bear in mind that *all* of her stomach muscles had been sliced though, and it was painful to even lift up her arm at the time. It was impossible for her to lift the jug. Great.<br /><br />On top of this, every time she woke up, she was in a different part of the ward - they moved her while she was asleep. They left her sitting on the bed for 2 hours before they removed the catheter (painfully). They said that she had refused medication (she was asleep at the time, but this "refusal" went into her notes), and, as stated, she had nothing to eat. There were other issues as well, but I'm trying to keep this 'short'.<br /><br />So after two days of being treated like shit, she called me, and said "I'm discharging myself, I've had enough." So I drove over. They had pulled her consultant off the golf course (it was a Saturday) to try and persuade her to stay. She went through the litany of problems, and he looked shocked. The boss nurse looked sheepish when he berated her for such shoddy care. He said that Sara could go if she ate something before she left. He left specific instructions with the charge nurse that she *must* have a light meal at lunchtime, and then she could go. The charge nurse made notes & said she would see to it. At lunchtime, the meal trolley came ... and went. It was out in the corridor before I nabbed it. "Oh no, we've got nothing in our lists for her." In the end I managed to get a bowl of cornflakes (all there was) for Sara, who managed to eat most of it.<br /><br />Then we went back. No wheelchair to take her to the hospital entrance. Just a "goodbye" and that was it. She had to walk (quite a long way) to get out.<br /><br />A month later, when she went back for the follow-up visit to the consultant, he shuffled through his notes when we first went in and said "Well Miss Priestley, you'll be pleased to know that you hold the record for the shortest stay in hospital after this kind of operation." However, he was pleased with the progress - the cancer had been caught in time, and so far, she hasn't had a recurrence. As she left, in front of the waiting room, he shook her hand and said "I hope I never have to see you again." and grinned. Everyone in the waiting room looked horrified. Sara laughed. She hasn't had to see him again.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>+</b></div><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the UK. She is a retired UK registered homoeopath; and studied Jungian psychology for 30 years, while simultaneously studying Tibetan Buddhism</em>.<br /><br />The url to My Cancer: The Waiting Game is <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-cancer-waiting-game.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-cancer-waiting-game.html</a><br />The shorter url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/yb7awg7">http://tinyurl.com/yb7awg7</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>+</b></div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><u><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></u></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>+</b></div><br />TAGS:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>,<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Cancer" rel="tag">Cancer</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Money+and+Cancer" rel="tag">Money and Cancer</a>,<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Pharmaceuticals" rel="tag">Pharmaceuticals</a>,<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Assisted+death" rel="tag">Assisted death</a>,<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Dignitas" rel="tag">Dignitas</a>,<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/St+James+and+St+Peters+Hospice+Sussex" rel="tag">St James and St. Peter's Hospice, Sussex</a>,<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Marie+Curie" rel="tag">Marie Curie</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-16435865805370590782009-10-31T23:26:00.000+00:002009-11-01T11:29:40.560+00:00Surveillance Societies<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/10/surveillance-societies.html&title=Surveillance+Societies&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/10/surveillance-societies.html&title=Surveillance+Societies&bodytext=">Digg this</a></td><td valign="bottom" align="right"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=1643586580537059078" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=1643586580537059078" title="Email Post">Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQtA_W5NhDFEqfWJO7CDhDoR9UYWn3r_3QLb500m6FGXwGoIbu9-yk7Iw7fSO6JWfZjKOrXgainBcYI3D4NqJNA59Buunxh8zfFFXqIyPUJqPXgyf-VmO63PxKghzyQbMzqLJ/s1600-h/surveillance-cameras-400.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 194px; height: 145px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEQtA_W5NhDFEqfWJO7CDhDoR9UYWn3r_3QLb500m6FGXwGoIbu9-yk7Iw7fSO6JWfZjKOrXgainBcYI3D4NqJNA59Buunxh8zfFFXqIyPUJqPXgyf-VmO63PxKghzyQbMzqLJ/s400/surveillance-cameras-400.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066705416756002" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://peterhgregory.wordpress.com/2007/08/01/seventy-one-percent-in-favor-of-increased-surveilliance/"> <span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Peter Gregory, wordpress</span></span></a></div><br /><b><br />1. <a href="#1000">INTRODUCTION</a><br />2. <a href="#2000">OBAMA’S AFPAK WARS</a><br />3. <a href="#3000">AFRICA</a><br />4. <a href="#4000">ARCTIC</a><br />5. <a href="#5000">AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND</a><br />6. <a href="#6000">CANADA</a><br />7. <a href="#7000">CHINA</a><br />8. <a href="#8000">EU: UK, GERMANY, FRANCE, IRELAND</a><br />9. <a href="#9000">FINLAND</a><br />10. <a href="#10000">INDIA</a><br />11. <a href="#11000">ISRAEL</a><br />12. <a href="#12000">JAPAN</a><br />13. <a href="#13000">LATIN AMERICA</a>: Brazil; Colombia, Honduras, Peru<br />14. <a href="#14000">US</a><br />15. <a href="#15000">SURVEILLANCE COMPANIES</a><br />16. <a href="#16000">REFERENCES</a> </b><br /><br /><em> Research does not include either marine surveillance, medically-related surveillance and only little of the expensive drone surveillance in the US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, </em><br /><br /><br /><a id="1000"></a>1. <b>INTRODUCTION </b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.henry-porter.com/"> HENRY PORTER</a>, much respected columnist for the Observer, was the main inspiration for this research on surveillance. Porter has had an impressive <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/bios/bio_porter"> career</a>, which includes being the London editor of Vanity Fair.<br /><br />Porter has recently published his superb novel,<a href="http://www.henry-porter.com/Books/Dying-Light.html"> The Dying Light </a>, which has ten 5* reviews on <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dying-Light-Henry-Porter/dp/0752874845/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254120982&sr=1-1"> Amazon.co.uk</a>. The book is also No. 1 on the 'spy stories' best seller list. This book is cheaper to buy on amazon.co.uk than on the US amazon website.<br /><br />Porter writes: “<em>Spy fiction used to explore the murky no man's land between rival superpowers, but now the threat to freedom lurks far closer to home.</em>.”<br /><br />In the name of “<b>National Security</b>”, one of the biggest lies is “<em>making you safer </em>.” This absurd promise applies to surveillance as well as to the reason for prisons, torture, rendition (kidnapping),, etc. But “Making you safer” is really about making money for corporations.<br /><br />An article in <a href="http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/135770145"> The American Chronicle </a> says: <em>”The governments of the major countries have put stimulus packages in place to aid industry in an effort to maintain employment, encourage apprenticeships and training and support the ongoing research and development that <u> is necessary for growth.” </u></em><br /><br />Surveillance is especially important in making fortunes for the <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search?q=industrial+military+complex#11000"> US military-industrial complex </a> on the backs of taxpayers.<br /><br />Surveillance supports governmental <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_mongering"> ‘fear-mongering.’</a> Fear mongering, governments hope, will stop protests.<br /><br />The UK surveillance system mirrors the present US Martial Law buildup, now with the <u>excuse</u> of H1N1 swine flu.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>+</b></div><br /><br /><em> “The failure to be free is always the result of inner cowardice and passivity, of lack of determination in the assertion of your will in accordance with the voice of conscience.” </em> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sculpting-Time-Tarkovsky-Filmaker-Discusses/dp/0292776241/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254760675&sr=1-1"> Sculpting in Time </a>, Andrei Tarkovsky 1986, (p. 237)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>+</b></div><br /><a id="2000"></a><b> 2. OBAMA’S AFPAK WARS </b><br /><br /><em> “Many theorists see Sicily’s history of banditry interwoven with that of the Mafia as a kind of continuing resistance to foreign occupations – six in all – which never permitted the creation of a stable state. … Since the state offered no protection, it fell to the individual to do what he could to defend himself, and his best recourse was to join forces with other victims of oppression in the organisation of underground action. Thus, according to the theory, the Mafia was born.” </em> Norman Lewes,<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Ant-heap-Norman-Lewis/dp/0330370472/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256915541&sr=1-1"> The Happy Ant Heap </a><br /><br /><u>Afghanistan </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748704471504574438660617984826.html">Testing Afghanistan Assumptions</a></b><br />28.09.09. John Kerry, wsj. Some have argued that counterterrorism commandos and sophisticated surveillance might be effective at targeting al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoV9-WzqtsFdO5aCBtyMJqzZUaAX5LHkkgQzqbBeezswz7EG63IBLpsoj9E5xd3hTsxWU3ThWazt4Xkw1IrfdaJq7gCX7t1JahY8gxvvgJ8c-Zaqwn1WbhlCT9Ux0GYvZx0HQF/s1600-h/wired_afghanistan.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 167px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoV9-WzqtsFdO5aCBtyMJqzZUaAX5LHkkgQzqbBeezswz7EG63IBLpsoj9E5xd3hTsxWU3ThWazt4Xkw1IrfdaJq7gCX7t1JahY8gxvvgJ8c-Zaqwn1WbhlCT9Ux0GYvZx0HQF/s400/wired_afghanistan.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066720445446770" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-10/01/uk-style-surveillance-state-spreads-to-afghanistan.aspx">“Afghans value their privacy and many are suspicious of British and American motives.’</a></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-10/01/uk-style-surveillance-state-spreads-to-afghanistan.aspx">UK-style surveillance state spreads to Afghanistan </a></b><br />01.10.09. wired. The relative helplessness of soldiers in Afghanistan could soon end. In the next few months, a surprisingly unwarlike piece of kit inspired by the CCTV cameras that have proliferated in British cities and beyond, might tip the odds in favour of successful coalition counter-strikes, while reducing further the risk to civilians. That, in turn, could help turn the tide against the Taliban in embattled provinces such as Wardak. / Cameras, infrared sensors and miniature radars, mounted in clusters to 30-metre towers or dangled from a 15-metre-long aerostat blimp, are giving more and more coalition troops such a precise view of Taliban shooters that coalition artillery and mortar crews will be cleared to fire back more often, confident that they won't hit civilians. / … Officially called the "Base Expeditionary Targeting and Surveillance Sensors-Combined," but usually referred to as the "Rapid Aerostat Initial Deployment" (RAID), the elevated sensor system is central to the strategy of the British, American, Canadian and Dutch forces in Afghanistan. / Surveillance technology just might help win the Afghanistan war for the coalition, but it would be a victory at a high price. <u>Just as the spread of security cameras in the UK has alarmed civil rights advocates and the many everyday citizens caught in their unblinking gaze, the expanding Afghan surveillance state buys security at the price of the very freedoms the coalition is trying to bring to Afghanistan.</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/05/eveningnews/main5364715.shtml">Battle of Wanat - Inside the Ambush </a></b><br />05.10.09. CBS. They also fired [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> illegal </span>] white phospherous artillery at what they believed was a Taliban campfire. The rounds which were never intended to be used against personnel. They were supposed to be protecting the population but according to the report the people "whose homes were being leveled and . . . Neighborhoods . . . turned into battlefields .. / Saw no . . . Improvement in their lives and no real evidence of security." Despite signs of an impending attack, <u>unmanned surveillance drones which had been watching over the platoon were diverted to a higher priority mission.</u> . . . For more on Wanat, see <a href="http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/09/30/what_happened_in_wanat_x"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20091109/satia">Attack of the Drones</a></b><br />21.10.09. Priya Satia, The Nation. "Attack of the Drones," a homage to the lesser of the Star Wars trilogies, is the headline of choice in reports on the One Good Thing to come out of the "war on terror": very cool gadgets. With the media stoking laddish pleasure in "weapons porn" (Newsweek's phrase), we might be forgiven for forgetting that this "greatest, weirdest, coolest hardware in the American arsenal" has neither brought the war to a swifter end nor enabled the capture of archenemy Osama bin Laden. / Indeed, behind the glittering mirage of news about the technological wizardry of drones and the giddy success of manufacturers from California to Karachi lies a chilling void of information about their use.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jt6zR4pxEVgPbjvHHbSVsIQuO82wD9BK7I401">Israel drones to be used by Germany in Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.10.09. AP. Israel Aerospace Industries said Wednesday it would supply unmanned spy planes to Germany that will see action in Afghanistan early next year. / .. It would not reveal how many drones were sold or for how much but said it was a <u>multimillion dollar deal</u>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/6455616/Nimrod-crash-review-MoD-put-budget-targets-ahead-of-safety.html">Nimrod crash review: MoD put budget targets ahead of safety</a> (29.10.09. Telegraph)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/oct2009/dfns-o30.shtml">Obama signs bills for record Pentagon, Homeland Security spending</a></b><br />30.10.09. WSWS. US President Barack Obama signed legislation authorizing the largest ever military budget, a gargantuan <b>$680 billion for the Pentagon, including $130 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan</b>. On Thursday, he signed a spending bill funneling another <b>$44 billion into the Department of Homeland Security, to strengthen the apparatus of state repression within the United States</b>. / The back-to-back bill signings are a <u>clear demonstration that Obama is extending and intensifying the program of militarism and attacks on democratic rights for which the Bush administration was deservedly hated, in the United States and worldwide</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KJ31Df01.html">NATO forces turn to warlords</a></b><br />31.10.09. Gareth Porter, Asia Times. … United States and other NATO military contingents operating in the provinces of Afghanistan's predominantly Pashtun south and east have been hiring private militias controlled by Afghan warlords, according to these sources, to provide security for their forward operating bases, other bases and to guard convoys./ General Stanley McChrystal, the US's chief in Afghanistan, has acknowledged that US and NATO ties with warlords have been a cause of popular Afghan alienation from foreign military forces. But the policy is not likely to be reversed anytime soon, because US and NATO officials still have no alternative to the security services the warlords provide.<br /><br /><br /><u>& PAKISTAN</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://stopwar.org.uk/content/view/1571/27/">Attack of the Obama drones: covering up the grisly facts</a></b><br />21.10.09. Stop the War. Drone surveillance is fast becoming the excuse for an extended American presence over Iraq and Afghanistan. But the US military's certainty of the drones' effectiveness is difficult to take on trust, when it neither counts nor identifies those killed. Related: <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23830.htm"> ‘US Drone Attacks May Break International Law’</a> (28.10.09. AFP / ICH) US drone strikes against suspected terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan could be breaking international laws against summary executions, the UN’s top investigator of such crimes said Tuesday. / ‘"You have the really problematic bottom line that the CIA is running a program that is killing significant numbers of people and there is absolutely <b>no accountability</b> in terms of the relevant international laws,' Alston said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breakingnews/article_212263740.shtml?ref=rss">U.S. Military Providing Surveillance Video</a></b><br />23.10.09. post chronicle. The <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&ved=0CAkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FWaziristan&ei=JXXiSrSkDYP24Aas8bGCAg&usg=AFQjCNEVyYqfJWbcUFF6QyZ56hNYVSqAjA">South Waziristan campaign </a>, which began a week ago, is designed to root out the Taliban, al-Qaida and other terror groups [protestors] suspected of using the tribal region as a sanctuary to launch attacks including across the border in Afghanistan against U.S. and NATO forces. / The Times report said the help [sic] strengthens Pakistan's intelligence gathering and points to how the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama wants to deal with the insurgency in Pakistan [3rd US war] as part of its overall Afghan war strategy [2nd US war] / .. The current use of military drones for intelligence gathering is different from the Predator attacks carried out by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, the Times said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/29/world/asia/29weapons.html">U.S. Speeds Aid to Pakistan to Fight Taliban</a></b><br />28.10.09 E. Schmitt, NY Times. Even as the Pakistani government plays down the American role in its military operations in Taliban-controlled areas along the border with Afghanistan, the United States has quietly rushed hundreds of millions of dollars in arms, equipment and sophisticated sensors to Pakistani forces in recent months, said senior American and Pakistani officials. / … President Obama personally intervened at the request of Pakistan’s top army general to speed the delivery of 10 Mi-17 troop transport helicopters. Senior Pentagon officials have also hurried spare parts for Cobra helicopter gunships, night vision goggles, body armor and eavesdropping equipment to the fight. / American military surveillance drones are feeding video images and target information to Pakistani ground commanders, and the Pentagon has quietly provided the Pakistani Air Force with high-resolution, infrared sensors for F-16 warplanes, which Pakistan is using to guide bomb attacks on militants’ strongholds in South Waziristan<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hitISYixOv_DC0ABZeYzc6dg2BDAD9BL14R00"> Clinton meets with Pakistani students in lively Q & A, but questions on drones are off limits </a> (29.10.09. AP)<br /><br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><b> 3. AFRICA </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.infoworld.com/t/regulation/study-ethiopia-only-sub-sahara-africa-nation-filter-net-151">Study: Ethiopia only sub-Sahara Africa nation to filter Net </a></b><br />08.10.09. infoworld. Though various African countries monitor and restrict Internet access in some way, Ethiopia is the only country with a technical filtering regime in the sub-Saharan region, according to a report by OpenNet Initiative, a collaborative partnership between Harvard, Toronto, Cambridge and Oxford universities.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rocketnews.com/2009/10/us-drones-join-africa-piracy-fight/">US drones join Africa piracy fight</a> (21.10.09. rocket news)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/67596">AFRICOM: Just another Western tool of de facto colonization </a></b><br />23.10.09. Rick Rozoff, media monitors. "The campaign to subjugate an entire continent with its more than one billion inhabitants to Western military and economic demands is an integral and milestone component of broader designs around the world.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news4u.co.in/?p=41141">US sends drones to monitor east African pirates </a></b><br />24.10.09. AP / news 4 u. US military surveillance drones are patrolling off Somalia’s coast for the first time in hopes of stemming a rising piracy trade.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5hQ5QLcsI5yqSyFGUgx6Cih2wTx2w"> Human Rights, media groups deplore abuse in Tunisia ahead of presidential election </a> (24.10.09. Canadian press.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/assaults-journalists-tunisia-must-punished-20091030">Assaults on journalists in Tunisia must be punished</a></b><br />30.10.09. Amnesty Int. … Amnesty International said that the targeting of these journalists, all known critics of the Ben Ali's government, reflects a wider and long standing pattern in which critics of the government, and human rights activists, are routinely subjected to oppressive police surveillance, threats and intimidation by security officials or people in plain clothes believed to be acting on their behalf.<br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><b> 4. ARCTIC </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://themoderatevoice.com/48031/potential-for-conflict-in-a-melting-arctic/">Potential for Conflict in a Melting Arctic</a></b><br />30.09.09. J. Malone, moderate voice. The U.S. Geological Survey now estimates that the offshore Arctic contains over 400 billion barrels of oil and natural gas equivalent, and that estimate assumes existing oil and gas technologies – advances in exploration and drilling techniques could bump up that number significantly. / Retreating sea ice is opening new lanes, which means more tonnage through the Arctic, which in turn means more need for military patrols and monitoring. Ottawa is apparently already budgeting for drone aircraft earmarked for <u>Arctic surveillance.</u><br /><br /><br /><a id="5000"></a><b> 5. AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,27574,26114520-2682,00.html">SA Police cars fitted with mobile surveillance cameras</a></b><br />23.09.09. news.com.au. NEW mobile police surveillance cameras which automatically read number plates have become operational, SA Police have announced.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/12/2711204.htm">CCTV van to patrol CBD</a></b><br />12.10.09. ABC. The council says the system could cost about $100,000 a year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/billionaire-arrested-over-22m-insider-trading-scam-20091018-h2va.html">Billionaire arrested over $22m insider trading scam</a></b><br />18.10.09. David Glovin, David Scheer, Bob Van Voris, Brisbane times. Electronic surveillance snares six Wall Street high-flyers.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pogowasright.org/?p=4885"> NZ: Telecom blows whistle on Search and Surveillance Bill </a>(30.10.09. Pogo was right)<br /><br /><br /><a id="6000"></a><b> 6. CANADA </b><br /><br /><a href="http://diaconspiracyfiles.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/dia-picks-canadian-company-for-massive-surveillance-upgrade-at-airport/"> DIA picks Canadian company for massive surveillance upgrade at airport </a> (30.09.09. diaconspiracy files.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/march-networks-ranked-as-one-of-50-fastest-growing-technology-companies-in-canada-63289722.html"> March Networks Ranked as One of 50 Fastest-Growing Technology Companies in Canada </a> (02.10.09. pr newswire)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://columbiavalleynews.com/news/2009/10/03/olympic-industry-greenwashing-concerns-activists/">Olympic industry greenwashing concerns activists</a></b><br />03.10.09. Columbia valley news. The Council of Canadians is committed to working with activists who are highlighting the negative aspects of the 2010 Games, especially the fact they are being held on unceded First Nations territories and are providing mining, resort, real estate and energy developers with opportunities to continue expansion of projects on indigenous territories throughout the province. / As well, we are concerned that the civil liberties of local communities and those who have a critique of the Games are being undermined by an <u>unnecessary security presence. The security budget for the games has ballooned to $1 billion, while security and law enforcement agencies have identified protest groups as the most significant threat to the Games.</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/4867-poice-state-prepares-for-civil-war.html">Battening Down the Hatches: Secret State Monitors Protest, Represses Dissent</a></b><br />11.10.09. pacific free press. As social networking becomes a dominant feature of daily life, the secret state is increasingly surveilling electronic media for what it euphemistically calls "actionable intelligence." Take the case of Elliot Madison. …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://brianroberts.me/infowars/police-state-canada-2010-and-the-dark-side-of-the-olympics.html">Police State Canada 2010 and the Dark Side of the Olympics</a></b><br />12.10.09. Dana Gabriel, infowars. The 2010 Winter Olympic Games will be held in Vancouver, British Columbia, from February 12-28. It will be the largest security operation in Canadian history. Military planners will undoubtedly use it as a template for securing future high profile events. Canadian security officials continue to <u>work closely with their American counterparts</u> in preparation for the test that the Games will pose to the security of its shared border.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gpFJKlbc1gbRB3M_uJyH4rV2sfDQ">Harper government refuses to expand information, privacy laws</a> (15.10.09. Canadian press)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/711158--ottawa-won-t-budge-on-secrecy-laws">Ottawa won't budge on secrecy laws</a></b><br />16.10.09. the star. Privacy experts have warned that Canada's outdated Privacy Act does not cover modern technologies, such as surveillance cameras and DNA samples from suspects.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/29/2933.asp"> Canada: Privacy Commissioner Concerned Over License Plate Spying </a> (18.10.09. the newspaper)<br /><br /><br /><a id="7000"></a><b> 7. CHINA </b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c88945"> IP Cameras Are the Next Growth Area in China's Video Surveillance Equipment Market </a> (04.08. research and markets)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/business-in-china/100178251-1-taxi-gps-devices-raise-surveillance.html">Taxi GPS devices raise surveillance concern</a></b><br />27.09.09. news.alibaba. Sui went on to explain that the government has equipped cabs with Global Positioning System (GPS) devices in order to "protect the safety of the drivers and to collect traffic flow information for traffic management departments."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/world/china/human-rights-concerns-ahead-of-china-s-60th-anniversary-$1330394.htm">Human rights concerns ahead of China's 60th anniversary</a></b><br />29.09.09. in the news. Amnesty International has claimed authorities have increased surveillance, harassment and imprisonment of activists in an attempt to prevent them from raising human rights concerns during the apparent displays of "social harmony".<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/10/200910152634871159.html"> Show of force for China anniversary </a> 01.10.09. al jazeera)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/china-security--surveillance-technology-inc-announces-registered-direct-offering-and-to-repurchase-50-million-convertible-notes-63275542.html">China Security & Surveillance Technology, Inc. Announces Registered Direct Offering and to Repurchase $50 Million Convertible Notes </a> (02.10.09. prnews)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://minnickarticles.blogspot.com/2009/10/beijing-prepares-for-cidex-2008.html">Beijing Prepares for CIDEX 2008</a></b><br />03.10.09. minnick defense news. The China Defence Electronics Application Forum will include sessions on remote sensing, radar, guidance techniques, electronic information, electronic intelligence, electronic surveillance measures and communication encryption technologies.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS30387+12-Oct-2009+PRN20091012">Global Sources opens its largest-ever electronics trade shows with over 3,000 booths</a></b><br />12.10.09. Reuters. Global Sources' Executive Director, Sarah Benecke, said: "Smart suppliers have realized that as the global economy starts to improve, they need to increase their marketing efforts to win orders and meet new buyers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/017/075xdfep.asp">The People's Republic at 60</a></b><br />14.10.09. weekly standard. After over four months of laborious dawn to dusk practicing, several dress-rehearsal run-throughs, and endless planning, the October 1 National Day parade celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Peoples' Republic came off without a hitch. The fact that there were no glitches or major faux pas comes as no surprise because China is the land of no surprises. This is the land where the Communist Party's legions of secret police, informants, security services, hidden microphones, video surveillance networks--aided by thousands of "patriotic volunteers"--are placed about in overwhelming numbers to make sure that someone planning something off-color (even if only in their dreams) never even gets to first base.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.howestreet.com/articles/index.php?article_id=11249">Let China’s “Big Brother” Program Make You Rich</a></b><br />23.10.09. howe street. This industrial hub [in Shenzhen] is not only home to millions of residents — it’s also teeming with high-tech surveillance equipment. As part of a project that began a couple of years before the Beijing Olympic Games, the government installed about 200,000 surveillance cameras throughout the city, according to journalist Naomi Klein./ Right now, the Chinese government is in the midst of a massive security overhaul. When the dust clears, the sprawling city of Shenzhen will contain more than 2 million closed-circuit television cameras. That’s double the number of cameras lining the streets and shops of London.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8329090.stm">US urges China military dialogue</a></b><br />28.10.09. BBC. China has also criticised US surveillance of waters off Chinese coast.<br /><br /><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125684513126916779.html"> China Moves to Repair Fire-Damaged TV Building</a> (30.10.09. online wsj)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news4u.co.in/?p=41841">US calls for transparency by Chinese military in Asia-Pacific</a></b><br />31.10.09. news for u. n March, a US surveillance ship, the Impeccable, was surrounded by Chinese vessels in the South China Sea, with Beijing saying the Impeccable was conducting “activities in China’s exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea without China’s permission.” <br /><br /><br /><a id="8000"></a><b> 8. EU</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Security_and_Defence_Policy">European Security and Defence Policy</a></b>. “Europe has never been so prosperous, so secure nor so free". Its conclusion is that "The world is full of new dangers and opportunities".<br /><br /><em>In modern combat, technology has become a weapon that is increasingly being investigated and deployed, often utilising methods and systems <u>developed for the commercial market</u>.</em>. <a href="http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/135770145"> American Chronicle </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/20/project-indect-an-ai-to-police-all-of-europe/">‘Project Indect’: An A.I. to police all of Europe</a></b><br />20.09.09. Raw Story. The European Union is spending tens of millions of euros on an artificial intelligence system known as “Project Indect,” which would draw from multiple data sources, namely public surveillance cameras, in order to detect “threats” and recognize “abnormal behavior” across the whole continent. / According to the project’s Web site, once completed, Project Indect would even be able to track vehicles as a type of support network for EU police officers. / Perhaps more chilling, the project promises “continuous monitoring” of “web sites, discussion forums, usenet groups, file servers, p2p networks [and] individual computer systems”.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/eu-plans-massive-surveillance-panopticon-that-would-monitor-abnormal-behavior.htmldual">EU Plans Massive Surveillance Panopticon That Would Monitor “Abnormal Behavior”</a></b><br />21.09.09. Paul J. Watson, Prison Planet. The European Union is developing a 21st century panopticon, a beast surveillance system that critics describe as “Orwellian,” “sinister,” and “positively chilling,” that would collate data from numerous sources, including surveillance cameras and personal computers, in order to detect “abnormal behavior” across the entire continent. /In a broader sense, this is part of the move towards creating a pan-European federal police force, where information and powers are shared as part of a centralized system. It is also a giant step towards the creation of a European CIA tasked not with keeping tabs on foreign enemies, but spying on its own population. See also: <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6210255/EU-funding-Orwellian-artificial-intelligence-plan-to-monitor-public-for-abnormal-behaviour.html"> EU funding 'Orwellian' artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for "abnormal behaviour"</a> (23.09.09. Telegraph)<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shami_Chakrabarti"> Shami Chakrabarti</a>, the director of human rights group Liberty, described the introduction of such mass surveillance techniques as a "sinister step" for any country, adding that it was "positively chilling" on a European scale.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newswiretoday.com/about.php">Superior Security Systems Boost the Seaport Security Markets in EU-Accession States Says Frost & Sullivan</a></b><br />22.09.09. news wire today. … the market earned revenues of over $27 million in 2008 and estimates it to reach $188 million by 2016. The application segments covered in this research service are perimeter security and intrusion detection systems, surveillance systems, and biometric and access control systems.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0923/p09s01-coop.html">EU President Barroso: Europe will push its values at G-20 summit</a></b><br />23.09.09. CS monitor. This "new globalization" requires global governance, based on universal human values and reflecting the reality of economic interdependence.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.surveillance-studies.org/blog/2009/09/27/eu-security-industrial-complex/">EU Security-Industrial Complex</a></b><br />27.09.09. Surveillance Studies. It is not just a case of „sleepwalking into” or „waking up to” a „surveillance society”, as the UK’s Information Commissioner famously warned, it feels more like turning a blind eye to the start of a new kind of arms race, one in which all the weapons are pointing inwards.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90853/6769780.html">EU defense ministers to meet in Göteborg</a></b><br />28.09.09. English people. EU defense ministers will meet in Göteborg on Monday to discuss European security and defense policies and coordinate stances so that the EU can be a global actor. / … As the EU presidency, Sweden will spread its integrated maritime surveillance techniques in dealing with shipping safety.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/sep/25/eu-security">Big business and security</a></b><br />08.09.09. B. Hayes, Guardian. <em>In its haste to cash-in on the security boom, the EU has outsourced its research agenda to corporate self-interest. </em>The European security research programme (ESRP) has a €1.4bn EU budget and its twin objectives are to enhance European security and foster the growth of a globally competitive security industry in Europe. / It has created bodies outside the formal structure of the EU, beyond parliamentary scrutiny and democratic control. The result is a public research programme designed by lobbyists, for lobbyists, with corporations invited to shape the objectives and annual priorities, and then apply for the money on offer. / … Of 85 EU security research contracts awarded to the end of 2008 – <b>worth some €210m – 40 projects (47%) were led by companies that primarily service the defence sector.</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://radicalglasgowblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/defence-industry-dominates-eus-security.html">Defence industry dominates EU’s security research programme</a></b><br />30.09.09. annarky’s blog. The NeoConOpticon report, released today by the Transnational Institute (TNI) and Statewatch, reveals the extent to which Europe’s largest defence and IT contractors are benefitting from a €1.4 billion EU “security research” programme that has the explicit aim of fostering a European Homeland Security industry to compete globally with the USA in a fast growing market. / “The whole process appears to have been designed by lobbyists, for lobbyists“, says Ben Hayes, TNI associate and author of the report. “In its desire to increase ‘industrial competitiveness’, the <u>EU has effectively outsourced the design of the security research agenda to the some of the corporations that have the most to gain from its implementation”.</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/6258138/EU-embryonic-Home-Office-set-up-in-secret-talks-under-Lisbon-Treaty.html">EU embryonic Home Office set up in secret talks under Lisbon Treaty</a></b><br />04.10.09. Telegraph. Under the plans, the scope of information available to law enforcement agencies and "public security organisations" would be extended from the sharing of DNA and fingerprint databases, kept and stored for new digital generation ID cards, to include CCTV footage and material gathered from internet surveillance. / Cosi will coordinate policy between national forces and EU organisations such as Europol, the Frontex borders agency, the European Gendarmerie Force and the Brussels intelligence sharing Joint Situation Centre, under measures known as the "Stockholm programme". It will sharply step up collaboration among member states' police forces.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wiseupjournal.com/?p=1179">What do you know about the EU “Stockholm Programme” </a></b><br />07.10.09. wise up journal. On the 6th October 2009 the EU Commission produced a 35 page document for the EU Parliament and the Council, called the <a href="http://www.iabe.org/.../IABE-2008%20Stockholm-%20Program%20Outline-Online.pdf"> “Stockholm Programme”</a> that could more accurately be called the “Stockholm Syndrome”. / Despite the language used throughout the whole document appearing to care and respect people’s rights, it is the complete opposite, designed to hide the clear fact that it is about harmonising / standardising laws/cultures and people themselves. / It is a draft blueprint of the elite’s vision of how the EU should be run and how they should control nearly every aspect of our lives, which a article from the Telegraph on this issue shows. / The European Union is stepping up efforts to build an <b>enhanced pan-European system of security and surveillance</b> which critics have described as “dangerously authoritarian”. / Civil liberties groups say the proposals would create an EU ID card register, internet surveillance systems, satellite surveillance, automated exit-entry border systems operated by machines reading biometrics and risk profiling systems.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1558893/eu-signs-cyber-security-boss">EU signs up new cyber-security boss</a></b><br />16.10.09. the inquirer. THE EUROPEAN UNION has appointed Dr Udo Helmbrecht as the executive director of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.chronicle.gi/headlines_details.php?id=17451"> EU BOOSTS SEA SURVEILLANCE, MIGRANTS IN SPOTLIGHT </a> (16.10.09. chronicle.gi.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/136081/Brussels-is-plotting-a-spy-state-">BRUSSELS IS 'PLOTTING A SPY STATE'</a></b><br />25.10.09. Sunday express. A CHILLING report warns Britons will be powerless to prevent a super-surveillance state in Brussels once the Lisbon Treaty is ratified. / .. The study, due to be published this week, raises the spectre of a Europe getting its own secret service and storing data on millions of citizens./ Following the “yes” vote in the Irish referendum, only the Czech Republic stands in the way of full ratification.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u>War Criminal Blair </u><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/25/henry-porter-charles-grant">Is Tony Blair the right man to be president of Europe?</a></b><br />25.10.09. Charles Grant and Henry Porter, Observer. Yes, says Charles Grant. His presence would improve the global credibility of the EU. No, says Henry Porter. He co-authored the Iraq war and is not a convinced democrat.<br /><br />BUT. <em>Hope exists after all?</em><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/29/tony-blair-european-council-presidency">Tony Blair's bid for EU presidency sinks</a></b><br />30.10.09. Guardian. Ex-PM's chances of winning role slide as Sarkozy and Merkel fail to back him<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1224190/Inside-Blair-Inc-Complex-web-official-duties-secretive-private-companies-business-deals-make-life-No-10-lucrative.html">BLAIR: War Crime Pays</a></b><br />31.10.09. Daily Mail / <a href="http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Peoples">Peoples Voice</a>. Inside the shadowy (and very lucrative) world of Blair Inc: How the ex-PM has become a one-man multinational money-making machine. At a conservative estimate, he has made £15million from his commercial activities since stepping down as prime minister in 2007, and there is every sign that his earning capacity is increasing. He remains in demand as a £100,000-a-time international speaker, he has contracts to provide advice with several banking institutions, he is writing his memoirs, and he has established Tony Blair Associates (TBA) to provide advice to foreign governments for money. WikiPedia: Impeach Blair campaign. Brussells Tribunal: LEGAL CASE FILED AGAINST FOUR US PRESIDENTS AND FOUR UK PRIME MINISTERS FOR WAR CRIMES, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND GENOCIDE IN IRAQ.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><a href="http://www.europolitics.info/business-competitiveness/london-threatened-with-eu-court-action-art252868-9.html">London threatened with EU court action</a></b><br />29.10.09. europolitics (extract). The United Kingdom does not always provide sufficient protection for its internet users and could face action before the EU Court of Justice if it fails to comply with EU rules guaranteeing the confidentiality of electronic communications.<br />and<br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda/2009/oct/30/digital-media-phorm">EU goes to next stage in privacy action against Britain</a></b><br />30.10.09. Guardian. UK government gets a final warning on claims that its laws don't protect Britons from ad targeting companies such as Phorm. … / the EU Commission has <u>also sent letters of formal notice, the first stage of the infringement procedure, to Romania, Poland and Germany</u>.<br /><br /><u> UK, IRELAND</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyCFfZ4nyqSgrA0gW9WkwhWMIfgAduJpg_dru_YRXv2_57GcPmmU71vFQJ6hbeDVtFoF1oCNK-rZ8zWbu1uRcgc8cqXJOaTCsMHutNpL2cweDqeegSkt99vbaypxCtQ1w6P0-3/s1600-h/stoporillshoot.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyCFfZ4nyqSgrA0gW9WkwhWMIfgAduJpg_dru_YRXv2_57GcPmmU71vFQJ6hbeDVtFoF1oCNK-rZ8zWbu1uRcgc8cqXJOaTCsMHutNpL2cweDqeegSkt99vbaypxCtQ1w6P0-3/s400/stoporillshoot.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066578659830306" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.guidespot.com/guides/cctv_surveillance_cameras_pictures">"Stop Or I’ll Shoot!”</a></span></div><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.dipity.com/timetube/YouTube_Surveillance_Society"> Britain is 'surveillance society'</a> (2008)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.henry-porter.com/Articles/Waiter-there-s-a-spy-in-my-soup.html">Waiter, there's a spy in my soup</a></b><br />20.09.09. Observer. Last week, I went out with some friends after a party. We ended up in a restaurant in Marsham Street, central London, the heart of surveillance land. / … Our party of 10 sat down and ordered. I looked round and saw that our table was being watched by three cameras. / There is almost nothing that annoys me more than this kind of pointless blanket surveillance which paying customers are told is for their protection.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/29/2907.asp"> UK Billboards Equipped with License Plate Spy Cameras </a> (22.09.09. the newspaper)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/intelligent-pre-crime-surveillance-cameras-coming-within-five-years.html">“Intelligent” Pre-Crime Surveillance Cameras Coming Within Five Years</a></b><br />23.09.09. Steve Watson, Prison Planet. Surveillance cameras that can identify suspicious individuals and prevent crimes before they take place could be rolled out all over the UK within the next five years scientists have claimed. The program, named ISIS (Integrated Sensor Information System), presumably after the Pagan Goddess, is in development at Queen’s University Belfast. See also <a uk="" science="" 6222938="" html=""> Artificially Intelligent CCTV could prevent crimes before they happen </a> (23.09.09. Telegraph)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://britanniaradio.blogspot.com/2009/09/all-uk-dogs-to-be-microchipped-even.html">All UK Dogs to be Microchipped</a></b><br />27.09.09. Britannia radio. 'Even dogs cannot escape the surveillance state. Under plans to be put forward by both Labour and the Conservatives at the next election, all dogs will have to be fitted with a microchip with their owner’s name, address and phone number. / In addition, a national database will hold details of all dogs in the country, including their breed, age and health. Owners who fail to insert a microchip containing a unique barcode will face a fine and possibly the right to keep their dog.' [cats next?]<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1216414/Now-drivers-details-sold-DVLA-used-bizarre-roadside-adverts-Castrol.html"> Drivers' details sold by DVLA are used in bizarre roadside adverts for Castrol </a> (27.09.09. Daily Mail)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/uk/Wanted-in-UK-Women-007s-who-can-drive-read-maps/articleshow/5063460.cms">Wanted in UK: Women 007s who can drive, read maps</a></b><br />28.09.09. Times of India. British security agency MI5 is urging women to apply for £25,000 per year mobile surveillance officer roles. / The unusual step comes at a time when the security services are suggested to be desperately short of women to carry out surveillance operations on the 2,000 terror suspects, being monitored up and down the country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_5177.shtml">The UK is now a surveillance society</a></b><br />29.09.09. Ken Craggs, Online Journal. Next month, local authorities (councils) in the UK will again be giving details about citizens to the Audit Commission. Personal details are handed over if a citizen pays Council Tax, claims Housing Benefit, lives in a council’s property, is disabled and has a travel pass, residents’ parking permit, or a blue badge; has a licence for market trading, market operating, taxi driving or a personal licence to sell alcohol. / The Audit Commission then crosschecks the information with information that other public bodies have about citizens. These public bodies include the National Health Service, other local authorities, government departments, Age Concern, Council of Mortgage Lenders, National Association of Pension Funds, Trades Union Congress (TUC), UNISON, Passenger Transport Authorities, Police Authorities, Fire and Rescue Authorities, National Park Authorities, Waste Authorities, and non-government organisations, such as pension schemes and housing associations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.henry-porter.com/Articles/Gordon-Brown-s-sleight-of-hand-on-ID-cards.html">Gordon Brown's sleight of hand on ID cards</a></b><br />29.09.09. Henry Porter, Guardian. So the full energy of this disastrously wasteful and intrusive policy remains in tact. Gordon Brown's announcement that a reduction in the amount of personal detail required for ID cards and passports will mean that people's civil liberties are being respected is obvious nonsense.<br /><br /><a href="http://ubisurv.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/conference_2010_call/"> Call for Papers: 4th Surveillance & Society Conference, 2010 </a> (30.09.09. April 13-15 2010)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8283240.stm">Surveillance state 'a good thing'</a></b><br />30.09.09. BBC. "The surveillance state is in many circumstances a jolly good thing," an adviser to the NHS has told a fringe meeting at the Labour Conference.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1218225/Internet-game-awards-points-people-spotting-crimes-CCTV-cameras-branded-snoopers-paradise.html">Internet game that awards points for people spotting real crimes on CCTV is branded 'snooper's paradise'</a></b><br />05.10.09. Daily Mail. The 'Internet Eyes' service involves players scouring thousands of CCTV cameras installed in shops, businesses and town centres across Britain looking for law-breakers. Players who help catch the most criminals each month will win cash prizes up to £1,000.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nursingtimes.net/whats-new-in-nursing/acute-care/cctv-to-be-trialled-in-ae-departments/5007140.article">CCTV to be trialled in A&E departments</a></b><br />08.10.09. nursing times. The Welsh Assembly has announced that the use of CCTV cameras are to be piloted at four A&E departments from December.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/6269535/Big-Brother-culture-attacked-by-countrys-top-barrister.html">Big Brother culture attacked by country's top barrister</a></b><br />08.10.09. C. Hope, Telegraph. The 'Big Brother' culture is on the march across Britain, allowing the state to snoop on phone calls, emails and even walking the dog, the country's top barrister, Desmond Browne QC, has warned.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi83VbLRfMDHirDWNcvZAQQfqW2LmOZAyLTFsiuMJR0RPEnTVByolYISCzfqBZO5-TjB6Ea4p-0Ju6E6An5ebF4Hp7eJXQ3H9bi-yZZ-t5YWrvFtHqncdplJJNz_Ujq-LFJPEAq/s1600-h/telegraph_electricity-meter.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 157px; height: 98px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi83VbLRfMDHirDWNcvZAQQfqW2LmOZAyLTFsiuMJR0RPEnTVByolYISCzfqBZO5-TjB6Ea4p-0Ju6E6An5ebF4Hp7eJXQ3H9bi-yZZ-t5YWrvFtHqncdplJJNz_Ujq-LFJPEAq/s400/telegraph_electricity-meter.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066715669897634" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/6292809/Smart-meters-could-be-spy-in-the-home.html"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Getty Images</span></a></div><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/6292809/Smart-meters-could-be-spy-in-the-home.html"> Smart meters could be 'spy in the home’</a> (11.10.09. Telegraph)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.labourmatters.com/harrow-labour/one-cctv-camera-in-harrow-nets-the-council-over-1m-a-year/"> One CCTV camera in Harrow nets the Council over £1m a year</a> (12.10.09. labour matters)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/313464/Intelligent+CCTV+system.htm">Intelligent CCTV system</a></b><br />12.10.09. the engineer. Threatening behaviour on buses could soon be tracked and confronted by remote security analysts to protect the public from assaults and other criminal activity. / This is the hope of researchers at Queen’s University <u>Belfast</u> who are developing intelligent software to recognise anti-social behaviour from real-time CCTV feeds.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article6871833.ece">Soaring CCTV cameras ‘are costly, futile and politically motivated’</a></b><br />13.10.09. Lindsay McIntosh, Times Online. CCTV fails to cut crime and the technology needs to be curbed in <b>Scotland</b>, where the number of cameras has almost doubled in the past six years, a leading academic has said. / Mike Press, who has spent the past decade studying how design can contribute to crime reduction, told The Times that the expensive policy is politically motivated and ineffectual. He also warned that it can have the opposite effect of that intended, by giving citizens a false sense of security and encouraging them to be careless with property and personal safety. / “We should, as a society, question why we have got it,” said the professor of design policy at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design in Dundee. “Our civil liberties have been crushed and trampled upon and compressed and this is part of that. We have yet to see it have any positive impact. I think we should have a moratorium on it.”/ …His comments come after figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that there are now <u>2,235 public CCTV cameras and mobile camera vans in Scotland</u>, compared with 1,269 in 2003. / … Professor Press believes that <b>much of the increase is driven by the marketing efforts of security companies who promote the crime-reducing benefits of their products. He described it as a “lazy approach to crime prevention” and authorities should instead be focusing on how to alter the environment to reduce offending.</b> / .. An average camera costs <u>£25,000</u> to build, while a purpose-built portable unit is £80,000. Scottish councils and police are said to have spent more than £4 million on CCTV in the past three years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/henryporter/2009/oct/13/david-cameron-surveillance">A David for this surveillance Goliath?</a></b><br />13.10.09. Henry Porter, Guardian. I have to concede that there is some sign that David Cameron has taken on board the arguments being made here and elsewhere. In a part of his conference speech that was not well covered he said: "To be British is to be sceptical of authority and the powers-that-be. That's why ID cards, 42 days and Labour's surveillance state are so utterly unacceptable, and why we will sweep the whole rotten edifice away."/ Apart from a speech he made in the House of Commons about 42 days, this is the third time he has gone on record about liberty and privacy, which is important and signals that a change of government will at least stop some of the worst excesses of the executive. But much more is needed. / the opposition needs to map the database state, possibly by drawing on the report done by Professor Ross Anderson and Phil Booth of NO2ID for the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. / This found that the United Kingdom had become has become the "most invasive surveillance state, and the worst at protecting privacy, of any western democracy". It concluded that a quarter of public sector databases are either disproportionate, run without consent, have no legal basis, or have major privacy or operational problems. …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1219974/How-airport-passengers-naked-photos-taken-human-X-ray-machine.html">UK: Airport passengers to have 'naked' photos taken by full-body X-ray machine</a></b><br />13.10.09. daily mail / ICH. The full body scanner, being trialled at Manchester Airport, will also show up any breast enlargements, false limbs, piercings, and a clear outline of passengers' private parts.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWm2u5EOV_YDCxKGEdwg5naPku_1cHOD9o1zl2VhOgDai-AwBYB6JLCIjWRaz-Mk-5Sz-PvBpfZcDkQxT7neptHnUf1KrOww3fTjqNDjnR5focx5SfYQjyd2fYb3rL0DjVTtSk/s1600-h/houn_warmemorial.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 162px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWm2u5EOV_YDCxKGEdwg5naPku_1cHOD9o1zl2VhOgDai-AwBYB6JLCIjWRaz-Mk-5Sz-PvBpfZcDkQxT7neptHnUf1KrOww3fTjqNDjnR5focx5SfYQjyd2fYb3rL0DjVTtSk/s400/houn_warmemorial.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066392360132146" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.hounslowchronicle.co.uk/west-london-news/local-hounslow-news/2009/10/13/british-legion-disgusted-by-cctv-camera-109642-24922122/">British Legion fury at 'eyesore' CCTV camera</a></b><br />14.10.09. hounslow chronicle. Members of Heston Royal British Legion have expressed their 'disgust' after council chiefs put up a CCTV camera beside the war memorial without any consultation.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427301.100-the-pocket-spy-will-your-smartphone-rat-you-out.html?full=true">The pocket spy: Will your smartphone rat you out?</a> (14.10.09. new scientist)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ubisurv.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/pigs-subvert-surveillance/">Pigs subvert surveillance</a></b><br />15.10.09. David, ubisurv. apparently pigs in several locations have independently learnt how to get round this surveillance system. Some pigs hate the collars so much that they rip them off. These pigs then don’t get to eat of course, but other pigs have learnt that if they pick up the collars they can go through the gate a second time – and they have even taught other pigs how to this… see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ImZmDYme_s"> VIDEO</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/16/anti-terrorism-strategy-spies-innocents">Government anti-terrorism strategy 'spies' on innocent</a></b><br />16.10.09. Vikram Dodd, Guardian. The government programme aimed at preventing Muslims from being lured into violent extremism is being used to gather intelligence about innocent people who are not suspected of involvement in terrorism, the Guardian has learned. / The information the authorities are trying to find out includes political and religious views, information on mental health, sexual activity and associates, and other sensitive information, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Other documents reveal that the intelligence and information can be stored until the people concerned reach the age of 100. / Tonight Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, branded it the biggest spying programme in Britain in modern times and an affront to civil liberties. / The government and police have repeatedly denied that the <u>£140m programme</u> <a href="http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=7890410"> [Preventing Violent Extremism]</a> is a cover for spying on Muslims in Britain. VIDEO.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.burtonmail.co.uk/burtonmail-news/displayarticle.asp?id=457077"> CCTV ‘won’t help catch the criminals’"</a> (- 09, burton mail)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/10/19/cameras-in-the-classroms/?test=latestnews">Cameras in the Classrooms</a></b><br />19.10.09. Fox news. Nearly 100 schools in the UK have signed up to in-class surveillance efforts using high definition cameras, mikes, and recorders. / … As for the US, officials at the Chicago national headquarters of the PTA tell us they are not aware of any widespread use of cameras in classrooms, but if the demand is there, Big Brother could come to American schools too!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pandct.com/media/shownews.asp?ID=22888"> New website launches for IP surveillance network solutions </a> (21.10.09, pandct. 57 pg. booklet)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLn7hLPA7QMCjfHvJwzXmhBqho7X2QyJdXywjbpArTv81RMZgy7S0HbEmqMosxkdp3o3fZH_deGfxXEbF6EhhZpOjNAZR9Hgs7vZRi27_GBxSLCd-Yx6EuLk8KjSXKPCWL5oFF/s1600-h/banksy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 247px; height: 340px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLn7hLPA7QMCjfHvJwzXmhBqho7X2QyJdXywjbpArTv81RMZgy7S0HbEmqMosxkdp3o3fZH_deGfxXEbF6EhhZpOjNAZR9Hgs7vZRi27_GBxSLCd-Yx6EuLk8KjSXKPCWL5oFF/s400/banksy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066387823746562" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/blog/ourkingdom/guy-aitchison/2009/10/21/art-and-the-surveillance-society">Art and the surveillance society</a></b><br />21.10.09. Guy Aitchison, open democracy. The UK's surveillance society has been the target of some fantastic satirical artwork, most famously by Banksy whose wonderful "One Nation Under CCTV" piece adorns a wall above a Post Office near Oxford Circus. Now, over at Guidespot, Jay Ferris has put together a great collection of CCTV-themed pieces.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.kippreport.com/2009/10/spying-at-630-per-minute/">Spying at $630 per minute</a></b><br />21.10.09. Kipp report. Around $630 a minute, amounting to $330 million per year will be spent on public surveillance in the UK, according to a report in The Daily Mail. Officials in the country will have access to details of every click made by every citizen on the internet. According to the report, the amount indicates a 1,700 percent increase on the cost of the current surveillance program in the UK. / The “snooping actions” carried out by the police and government department has increased by 44 percent in two years, the report says.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/4700832.Anger_over_Risborough_CCTV_costs/"> Anger over Risborough CCTV costs </a> (25.10.09. bucks free press)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/20/nuclear-police-run-covert-network">Secret files reveal covert network run by nuclear police</a></b><br />20.10.09. Rob Evans, Guardian. •<em> Industry-funded force uses moles and surveillance; • Strategic aims include tackling 'public disquiet'</em>. The nuclear industry will pay <b>£57m </b> this year to finance the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC). The funding comes from the companies which run 17 nuclear plants, including Dounreay in Caithness, Sellafield in Cumbria and Dungeness in Kent. / … The force is expected to expand as the government presses ahead with plans for a new generation of nuclear plants, which are likely to attract protests. / … Rose, the chief surveillance commissioner, noted last year: "The strategic aims of the constabulary remain on the threat from terrorism and public disquiet over nuclear matters, including demonstrations/protests and criminal offences towards nuclear movements/installations." / The force keeps secret the extent of its clandestine surveillance operations on protesters and others. It has been collecting more intelligence in recent years./ .. He (Rose) says he has been told during inspections that "senior officers regard covert surveillance as a long-term requirement"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/world/europe/25surveillance.html?_r=1&hp">Ever-Present Surveillance Rankles the British Public</a></b><br />24.10.09. NY Times. A report in 2007 by the lobbying group Privacy International placed Britain in the bottom five countries for its record on privacy and surveillance, on a par with Singapore.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/2009/10/report-uk-police-categorize-political-activists-domestic-extremists/">Police in £9m scheme to log 'domestic extremists'</a></b><br />25.10.09. Paul Lewis, Rob Evans, Matthew Taylor, Guardian. Police are gathering the personal details of thousands of activists who attend political meetings and protests, and storing their data on a network of nationwide intelligence databases. / The hidden apparatus has been constructed to monitor "domestic extremists", the Guardian can reveal in the first of a three-day series into the policing of protests. Detailed information about the political activities of campaigners is being stored on a number of overlapping IT systems, even if they have not committed a crime.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/2009/10/report-uk-police-categorize-political-activists-domestic-extremists/">Report: UK police categorize political activists as ‘domestic extremists’</a></b><br />25.10.09. Raw Story. British police inspectors have been building a massive, secret database containing personal information on thousands of otherwise innocent political activists, an investigative report revealed Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/25/police-surveillance-protest-domestic-extremism">How police rebranded lawful protest as 'domestic extremism'</a></b><br />25.10.09. Rob Evans, Paul Lewis, Matthew Taylor, Guardian. The term "domestic extremism" is now common currency within the police. / … Police insist they are just monitoring the minority who could damage property or commit aggravated trespass, causing significant disruption to lawful businesses. Activists respond by claiming this is an excuse that gives police the licence to carry out widespread <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/surveillance"> surveillance </a> of whole organisations that are a legitimate part of the democratic process.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/25/police-files-data-protection-act"> Campaigner uncovers police files for £10 and a letter </a> (25.10.09. Rob Evans, Paul Lewis, Guardian)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/oct/25/doth-i-protest-too-much">Doth I protest too much?</a></b><br />25.10.09. Mark Thomas, Guardian. When police admit you could be put on a secret database for being at a demo, it's time to worry<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/henryporter/2009/oct/26/police-domestic-extremists">The breakdown of free society</a></b><br />26.10.09. Henry Porter, Guardian. The shocking Guardian report into the surveillance operations run by the police National Public Order Intelligence Unit makes it clear that the right of free protest in Britain now hangs in the balance, and that the very expression of opinion and attendance at meetings is enough for an individual to be categorised as an enemy of society. / Anyone now who feels strongly about climate change or the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is now liable to be labelled a "domestic extremist" to be photographed and monitored and to be subject to automatic tracking by the number plate recognition system. There are few stories that capture the parlous state of Britain's democracy like this one, and I suggest none that portray the government's institutionalised contempt for rights and its casual attitude to unfettered growth of police powers./ The outrage that will be expressed in the wake of the investigation by Paul Lewis, Rob Evans and Matthew Taylor, which is to run over the next two days, will mean nothing unless we manage to change attitudes across the board. We now live in a society whose values and instincts have been so skewed by Labour's corrosive rule that it is possible in one week to watch the leader of a fascist organisation promoting his cause on BBC TV – and the next to learn that legitimate protesters with mainstream views are regarded as "domestic extremists" and harried by the police using anti-terror laws when their cars pass through the field of automatic number plate recognition cameras.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/26/police-challenged-protest-files">Police forces challenged over files held on law-abiding protesters</a></b><br />26.10.09. Rob Evans, Paul Lewis, Guardian. Chief constables will be forced to justify the legality of recording thousands of law-abiding protesters on secret nationwide databases, the government's privacy watchdog announced today.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/27/protest-police-demonstrators-liberties"> Surveillance of protesters </a> (27.10.09. Guardian letters) See VIDEO:<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ApoEzZJL0"> Police target protesters and journalists</a> (08.08.08. Climate Change demo)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/oct/28/big-brother-watch-freedom">Big Brother, we're watching you</a></b><br />28.10.09. Alexander Deane, Guardian. Our research shows that four out of five Britons believe their freedoms are disappearing. Left and right must fight this together<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/henryporter/2009/oct/29/charles-clarke-reponse#att-most-commented">Charles Clarke just doesn't get it</a></b><br />29.10.09. Henry Porter, Guardian. "In the areas of security and liberty many would argue (and I agree) that there has been too much legislation," wrote Charles Clarke last week. / Some may experience a sense of vindication reading this but I believe the proper reaction is nearer scorn, for the article contains neither concession nor apology, but is merely an attempt to reposition Labour before the next election.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/article/84906">Pub closed due to faulty CCTV</a></b><br />29.10.09. morning advertiser. A pub closed for three days under police pressure because its CCTV cameras weren’t working.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/29/eu_phorm/">UK gets final warning over Phorm trials</a></b><br />29.10.09. the register. The UK government today came a step closer to international embarrassment over its failure to act against BT and Phorm for their secret trials of mass internet snooping technology.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/oct/31/counter-terrorism-prevent-muslims">Reshaping Prevent</a></b><br />31.10.09. Guardian. While the initial coverage of Arun Kundnani's report for the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), "Spooked", has focused on accusations of spying and large-scale targeted surveillance, the most insightful aspect of the report is its charting of the transformation of counter-terrorism policy in the UK. Kundnani illustrates in a non-emotive manner how the government's Prevent strategy has metamorphosed from a policy based on community engagement and partnership into a policy which seeks to control how and what Muslim communities are thinking and saying.<br /><br /><u>DNA</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/henryporter/2009/oct/02/dna-test-asylum-seekers">A deeply flawed DNA test</a></b><br />02.10.09. Henry Porter, Guardian. Sir Alec Jeffreys, the inventor of DNA fingerprinting, called the human provenance pilot project, run by the UK Border Agency "naive and scientifically flawed".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/henryporter/2009/oct/14/dna-gene-test-human-provenace">Determining Human Provenance</a></b><br />14.10.09. Henry Porter, Guardian. The original memo on the UK Borders site said: "The nationality swapping – Isotope analysis and DNA testing process has been has been temporarily suspended and the instruction withdrawn. Officers will be notified when the process resumes." / It now reads, "Alterations have been made to the nationality swapping – Isotope analysis and DNA testing process. This process continues to operate. The present instruction has been withdrawn whilst amendments are made."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/henryporter/2009/oct/19/innocent-dna-database">This is no innocent U-turn on DNA</a></b><br />19.10.09. Henry Porter, Guardian. Knowledge of the Home Office statement on the subject is all you need to have to understand that the project remains a live ambition. Its spokesman said:<br /><br /> <em>We have now completed a public consultation on proposals to ensure the right people are on the database as well as considering when people should come off.<br /><br /> Those proposals were grounded in the research and allowed us to respond to the judgment of the European court of human rights both swiftly and effectively. The government will take the most expedient route to address the issue as soon as possible in order to comply with the European court's judgment.</em><br /><br />That is pure waffle.<br /><br /><u> Ireland </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wexfordpeople.ie/news/tensions-mounts-over-cctv-in-kilmore-quay-1908335.html">Tensions mounts over CCTV in Kilmore Quay</a></b><br />07.10.09. Wexford People. THE Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) has been granted planning permission for CCTV cameras at Kilmore Quay, despite a huge number of local objections. [story of Mrs. Paton, trailed by Poole police)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thegovmonitor.com/world_news/britain/uk-gets-tough-on-cybercrime-with-new-cyber-security-center-9400.html">UK gets tough on cybercrime with new cyber security center</a></b><br />11.10.09. gov monitor. Leading edge research that will help keep crime off the internet and combat anti-social behaviour and street crime is to be unveiled today at the official opening of the UK’s lead cyber security research centre. / The new <b>£30</b> million Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at <u>Queen’s University Belfast’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology</u>, has been set up to exploit the university’s international research expertise in high performance data and network security and intelligent surveillance. / The centre is one of the first Innovation and Knowledge Centres (IKCs) created in the UK. Funders include the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Technology Strategy Board. / … Currently, while much criminal activity is captured by the UK’s four million CCTV cameras, very little is observed in real time because of the high cost of employing sufficient numbers of people to monitor activity on screens.<br /><br /><u> France </u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.lesarcsnet.com/whats_new_article.php?id_whats_new=5493&id_back=1">Big Brother's watching you in Courchevel...</a> (19.10.09. les arcsnet)<br /><br /><u> Germany </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thelocal.de/national/20091021-22705.html">Criminal charges filed in Deutsche Bahn employee spying case</a></b><br />21.10.09. the local.de. The case allegedly details criminal surveillance within Deutsche Bahn and there are several individuals who have accused the company of violating data protection laws, the spokesperson said. Investigations are still ongoing, he added.<br /><br /><br /><a id="9000"></a><b> 9. FINLAND </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.barentsobserver.com/increased-electronic-surveillance.4640309-116321.html">Increased electronic surveillance</a></b><br />06.10.09. Barents observer. Finland’s border to Russia is increasingly being guarded with surveillance equipment, with personnel watching computer screens instead of patrolling the bush.<br /><br /><br /><a id="10000"></a><b> 10. INDIA </b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.reportlinker.com/p0150373/Indian-CCTV-Market-Analysis---2009-Edition.html"> Indian CCTV Market Analysis - 2009 Edition</a> (Report linker.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/174440/indias_new_it_law_increases_surveillance_powers.html">India's New IT Law Increases Surveillance Powers</a></b><br />27.10.09. IDG / pc world. A new IT law has come into force in India that frees Internet portals from liability for third-party content and activity, but also gives the government powers to monitor communications on the Internet, and block web sites that are found to be offensive.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.livemint.com/2009/10/30004350/Sweden8217s-Axis-to-tap-dig.html?h=B">Sweden’s Axis to tap digital surveillance market in India</a> (30.10.09. live mint)<br /><br /><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Install-security-gadgets-police-tell-banks/articleshow/5181973.cms"> Install security gadgets, police tell banks (31.10.09. Times of India)<br /><br /><br /><a id="11000"></a><b> 11. ISRAEL </b><br /><br /><b></b></a><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1119655.html">Israeli firm to unveil helicopter spy drone</a></b><br />08.10.09. haaretz. Steadicopter says the main advantage of the helicopter system is that it can observe places inaccessible by more conventional espionage methods, such as ordinary drones.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.therebel.org/opinion/middle_east/israel%27s_export_of_occupation_police_tactics_2009100968038/">Israel's export of occupation police tactics</a></b><br />09.10.09. the rebel. The training offered by Israeli police and security forces is exported all over the world. For example in India, Israel has drawn upon its experience in south Lebanon, rural West Bank and urban population centers in Gaza and the West Bank to help train Indian forces. According to a 9 September 2009 article in Defense News, the inspiration for these efforts came after New Delhi took "a keen interest in the homeland security operations, armaments and <u>surveillance</u> devices used by Israeli troops." <em>Discussion of exporting to US, Canada, China </em>… However, <u>no country in the world has a closer cooperation with Israeli police forces than the US</u>. Just a sampling of US cities and institutions that have trained or are training in Israeli methods are Alameda County; Atlanta; Boston; Cambridge, MA; Commerce, GA; Detroit; Duxbury, MA; Georgia Tech University; Knoxville, TN; Los Angeles: the Maryland Department of Transportation; Miami; New York City; Pembroke Pines, FL; San Francisco; San Mateo; Santa Clara; Seattle; Stamford, CT; Sterling Heights, MI; and Suffolk County, NY. Low-level bilateral relationships between city police, sheriff's departments and other agencies of order in the US are reinforced by arrangements put in place by high-level officials like the memorandum of understanding signed by former Minister Dichter and former US Director of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff in 2007. A statement put out prior to the agreement and quoted by The Jerusalem Post stated "that there exists a vital need to promote operational, scientific and technological cooperation between the parties in the field of homeland security."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sindhtoday.net/news/1/59073.htm">16 Israeli companies to attend Delhi defence expo</a></b><br />09.10.09. sind today. The Israeli pavilion will provide solutions for emergency preparedness and response, critical infrastructure protection, transportation security (aviation, marine and land); counter terrorism, law enforcement and intelligence, surveillance.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255204772362&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">Israeli security expert helping South Africa make 2010 World Cup <em>safe</em></a></b><br />11.10.09. j post. But South African-born Israeli security expert Marc Kahlberg - hired by the South African authorities to provide Israeli policing know-how and technological solutions - told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that police in the country are well prepared for the tournament, and that soccer tourists will be safe so long as they remain in city "safe zones." / … Other Israeli defense firms have pitched in to the South African security effort as well, including <a href="http://www.bat.co.il/"> Bet Alfa Technologies </a> and <u>Elbit Systems Ltd</u> [see 'Companies, below]. These companies have sold their hi-tech solutions to the South African police.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.swp.ie/index.php?page=439&dept=News">Department of Defence’s shameful deal with Separation Wall supplier</a></b><br />12.10.09. swp. An Israeli company, Elbit Systems Ltd, has just won a defence contract to supply surveillance equipment for new Irish army armoured cars. / The surveillance equipment is to be mounted on the 27 new <u>Irish</u> armoured vehicles which are being bought for €19.6m from BAE Systems of South Africa. / .. Under International Law Ireland has obligations not to not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation created by the wall. Entering into a contract with a company who is directly implicated in the oppression of the Palestinian people is illegal and unacceptable. / Minister Kristin Halvorsen declared that “The International Court of Justice has said the fence construction breaches the Fourth Geneva Convention and that Elbit is clearly aware of exactly where and how the system is intended to be used”. This is in direct contrast to the situation in Ireland where it appears the Department ignores international humanitarian law when it comes to Defence spending.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ67I2Erk_WsU2vX_6tVh0_Lbwxqvg9OHC6UFOBqNq8MdB2ZRhN5JzhhyphenhyphenpwLzdjXMuyHK1wdsRDT-yBzKRiBTvZymBy2M6WL3fQ8300cGPTVB9G4ZmcV_gIxVIIxJeLrdmq_rj/s1600-h/israeli_spy_device.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 191px; height: 258px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ67I2Erk_WsU2vX_6tVh0_Lbwxqvg9OHC6UFOBqNq8MdB2ZRhN5JzhhyphenhyphenpwLzdjXMuyHK1wdsRDT-yBzKRiBTvZymBy2M6WL3fQ8300cGPTVB9G4ZmcV_gIxVIIxJeLrdmq_rj/s400/israeli_spy_device.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066564912014818" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gLlHfLvSAmhihTuvQx3YeTN6EnLg">Photo AFP</a></span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gLlHfLvSAmhihTuvQx3YeTN6EnLg">Three suspected Israeli spy devices blown up in Lebanon</a></b><br />18.10.09. A security official in south Lebanon told AFP the devices were used for "surveillance of communications by the resistance," referring to the Shiite Hezbollah movement which fought a bloody 34-day war with Israeli in 2006 that devastated the south of the country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/cook211009.htm">Israeli Police Don Arab Disguise</a></b><br />21.10.09. Jonathan Cook, Countercurrents. Civil rights groups in Israel have expressed outrage at the announcement last week that a special undercover unit of the police has been infiltrating and collecting intelligence on Israel’s Arab minority by disguising its officers as Arabs.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1123814.html">Lawyers in EU draw up list of alleged IDF war criminals</a></b><br />27.10.09. Haaretz. A number of human rights groups are busy working to create an international organization that would enable closer surveillance of those they suspect of war crimes and torture, as well as seek warrants for their arrest.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=46811&catid=855">Spy Devices In Lebanon OK, Israel Says </a> (28.10.09. official wire)<br /><br /><em> But not fisherman taking photos in Gaza </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=59479&s2=29">Shot after photographing the Gaza sea</a></b><br />28.10.09. Eva Bartlett, uruknet. On 4 October, Ashraf Abu Suleiman, a 16-year-old from Gaza's Jabaliya refugee camp, went to the northwest coast town of Sudaniya to visit an ill school friend. The teen then went to the sea, where he rolled up the legs of his pants, waded into the water and enjoyed the late summer morning. He took some photos of the sea and of the area around him, intending to play with the photos later on Photoshop, a hobby he and his father share. / Minutes later, Ashraf was running in blind terror as Israeli soldiers in a gunboat off the coast began shooting at Palestinian fishermen.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/0/89128F033137FB91C2257660005C7AFB?OpenDocument">Yaalon: Israel Will Continue Surveillance Inside Lebanon Until Hizbullah Disarms</a></b> (31.10.09. Naharnet.) <br /><br /><br /><a id="12000"></a><b> 12. JAPAN </b><br /><br /><a href="http://pr-canada.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=128625&Itemid=61">Hochiki and Bosch Security Systems co-operate to sell IP Video Surveillance Systems in Japan </a> (28.09.09. Canada net)<br /><br /><br /><a id="13000"></a><b> 13. LATIN AMERICA</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=35590&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=7&cHash=36c3b73903">Strategic Implications of Chinese Aid and Investment in Latin America</a></b><br />07.10.09. jamestown. The implications of this trend can be understood in terms of four overlapping effects: (1) the interaction is transforming the physical, economic, educational and social structure of the region; (2) it is enabling the survival and spread of regimes oriented against the United States, Western-style democracy and economic models; (3) it is enabling the emergence of Brazil as a regional powerbroker; and (4) it is undermining the United States as a source of political and economic influence in the region, as well as U.S. options for regional engagement. While China is transforming Latin America through such effects, however, this does not imply that they are deliberate, primary objectives of Chinese foreign policy toward the region.<br /><br /><u> Brazil </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ubisurv.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/surveillance-cameras-in-the-favelas-2/">Surveillance cameras in the favelas</a></b><br />20.10.09. ubisurv. A couple of weeks ago, I found out that the military police had installed surveillance cameras in the favela of Santa Marta, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. VIDEO.<br /><br /><u> Columbia </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cipcol.org/?p=1123">An overview of the DAS Scandal</a></b><br />07.10.09. cipol. On February 21, 2009, Colombia’s most-circulated newsweekly, Semana, broke an important story. It revealed that the Administrative Security Department (DAS), the Colombian Presidency’s internal intelligence agency, had been carrying out a campaign of wiretaps and surveillance of human rights defenders, Supreme Court justices, opposition politicians, and journalists. DAS agents also followed their targets’ children, wives, and assistants. / New evidence has emerged over the course of 2009. It indicates that the DAS was conducting warrantless wiretapping since at least 2003 through 2008, and possibly this year. The full extent of the illegal spying, and the identity of the individual(s) who ordered the program, remain unknown.<br /><br /><u> Honduras </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3517/surveillance-camera-footage-honduras-coup-invasion-channel-36">Surveillance Camera Footage of Honduras Coup Invasion of Channel 36</a></b><br />08.10.09. Al Giordano, narco news. 2 VIDEOS. It should be added that this kind of jackbooted censorship is endorsed and defended by the US public relations firm of ‘Chlopak, Leonard, Schechter & Associates on behalf of the Office of the President of the Republic of Honduras,’ and Washington DC lobbyist Lanny Davis, enemies of press freedom, all. So next time any of those goons in suits and ties try to spin a story angle on you, kind journalists, remember to ask them about the invasion and censorship of Channel 36, in which they, too, are complicit.”<br /><br /><u> Peru</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hhemb7JRpdjh9l6r335sk6grjMlA">Peru's Fujimori admits to corruption</a></b><br />29.09.09. AFP. Fujimori, 71, accepted counts of bribing opposition lawmakers, illegal purchase of a media outlet and <u>wiretapping politicians</u>, journalists and businesspeople through top aide and spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos.<br /><br /><br /><a id="14000"></a><b> 14. US </b><br /><br /><u> Buzz word: </u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_center"> <em>Fusion centre. </em></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.publicintelligence.net/dod-announces-new-information-sharing-access-to-help-fusion-centers-combat-terrorism/">DoD Announces New Information-Sharing Access to Help Fusion Centers Combat Terrorism</a></b><br />14.09.09. public intelligence. The Departments of Defense (DoD) and Homeland Security (DHS) today announced an initiative to grant select state and major urban area fusion center personnel access to classified terrorism-related information residing in DoD’s classified network.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/09/22/us/politics/politics-us-usa-security-congress.html?_r=1">Big Brother “Fusion Centers” Part of US Domestic Intelligence and Surveillance Apparatus</a> (26.09.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blacklistednews.com/?news_id=5717">U.S. Intelligence Budget: $75 Billion, 200,000 Operatives. Fusion Centers Will Have Access to Classified Military Intelligence</a></b><br />26.09.09. Tom Burqhardt, Blacklisted news. Speaking at San Francisco's Commonwealth Club September 15, Director of National Intelligence Admiral Dennis C. Blair, disclosed that the current annual budget for the 16 agency U.S. "Intelligence Community" (IC) clocks-in at <b>$75 billion</b> and employs some 200,000 operatives world-wide, including private contractors.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE58L69A20090922"> Tennesse Fusion [spying] Center: Teachers Be On the Lookout </a> (11.10.09. Reuters / public intelligence)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE58L69A20090922">Senate Democrat Backs Extending Surveillance Methods</a></b><br />22.09.09. Reuters. U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy on Tuesday unveiled a bill to extend three controversial surveillance techniques that are set to expire this year, setting up a battle among Democrats. / Leahy proposed added privacy safeguards while extending permission for authorities to use roving wiretaps, access business records and track suspected foreign militants who may be working individually instead of with a larger group<br /><br /><b><a href="http://i3.democracynow.org/2009/9/22/obama_administration_seeks_renewal_of_three">Obama Administration Seeks Renewal of Three Key Parts of PATRIOT Act</a></b><br />22.09.09. Demoncracy Now. The administration has asked lawmakers to extend powers allowing the government to collect a wide range of financial and personal records, as well as monitor suspects with roving wiretaps.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i9LLhtcanBcNhniDqSpnQljdFVogD9ASLM4O1">Administration wants to continue surveillance law</a></b><br />23.09.09. AP. The Obama administration promised Congress on Tuesday to negotiate stronger privacy protections for Americans under terrorism surveillance <em>but</em> insisted on retaining current authority to track suspects and obtain records. See also <a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/cooke290909.htm"> The U.S. Creeps Closer To A Police State</a> (29.09.09. Shamus Cooke, countercurrents). When the Patriot Act was first enacted, there was no shortage of writers and activists warning about the potential of misuse. These predictions have been fully confirmed. Both the Military Commissions Act and the Patriot Act have created what many believe to be the framework for a full-fledged police state, with the initial flurry of abuses creating a series of dangerous precedents./ One famous precedent is the so-called Telecom scandal, where tele-communication corporations colluded with the Bush-controlled National Security Agency to illegally spy on an unknown number of innocent people.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/massive-fbi-database/">Report: Massive FBI database set to quadruple in size</a></b><br />23.09.09. Raw Story. In the months after 9/11, the Pentagon's research arm launched a controversial project known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Awareness_Officee">"Total Information Awareness" </a> -- a massive database collating every available bit of digital information about, well, everything. After a public outcry, Congress defunded the project in 2003. / But now, it looks like it's back, and this time in the hands of the FBI, under the name <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Security_Branch_Analysis_Center"> National Security Branch Analysis Center, or NSAC</a>. A news report at Wired magazine says the NSAC has now collected more than 1.5 billion pieces of information, much of it from the private sector. / … The news report, based on declassified data, adds more weight to the argument that the expansion of government power in the wake of the 9/11 attacks has been used for more than hunting terrorists. RAW STORY reported on Wednesday that the "sneak-and-peek" search warrants the Bush administration said were crucial to counter-terrorism aren't actually being used for terrorist surveillance, and are primarily being used in drug investigations. See also <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15569"> Big Brother FBI </a> (08.10.09. T. Burghardt, global research)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/23/MNQB19RL8R.DTL">Bush's wiretapping goes to court in S.F.</a></b><br />23.09.09. Sfgate. Neither the president's constitutional powers as commander in chief nor Congress' authorization to use military force against terrorists after Sept. 11, 2001, entitled Bush to override a 1978 law requiring court approval for electronic surveillance of suspected terrorists, Eisenberg argued.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/intelligent-pre-crime-surveillance-cameras-coming-within-five-years.html">“Intelligent” Pre-Crime Surveillance Cameras Coming Within Five Years</a> (23.09.09. Steve Watson, Prison Planet)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/142847/tracking_sex_offenders_on_your_phone%3A_smart_or_paranoid">Paranoid?</a></b><br />24.09.09. Liliana Segura, AlterNet. A hot new iPhone App uses GPS technology to track registered sex offenders everywhere. Are they keeping you safe, or <u>profiting off paranoia?</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/23/AR2009092303907.html%20Talking%20Transparency%20Isn%27t%20the%20Same%20as%20Seeing%20It%20Through%2024.09.09.%20%20Dana%20Milbank,%20Wash%20Post.%20President%20Obama%20campaigned%20on%20a%20promise%20to%20restore%20transparency%20to%20government.%20But%20now%20the%20time%20has%20come%20to%20renew%20the%20USA%20Patriot%20Act,%20the%20bete%20noire%20of%20civil%20libertarians.%20When%20the%20Obama%20administration%27s%20point%20man%20on%20the%20legislation%20came%20to%20Capitol%20Hill%20on%20Wednesday,%20he%20sounded%20very%20much%20like%20his%20predecessors%20in%20the%20Bush%20administration.%20%20%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" edu="" edition="world"">Obama's Terrorism Policy: Change If Necessary, But Not Necessarily Change</a></b><br />25.09.09. JURIST. In the past week the Obama administration has made two policy announcements which suggest that President Obama's terrorism policy has come to resemble that of his predecessor. / … President Obama’s predecessor was criticized for routinely invoking the state secrets privilege in a number of lawsuits over that administration’s domestic electronic surveillance program and its practice of extraordinary renditions. Many hoped President Obama would reverse or at least limit the controversial practice of asserting the privilege in these and like cases. But President Obama continued the practice of his predecessor in asserting the privilege, effectively shutting down the litigation of many controversial cases.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thefinalredoubt.blogspot.com/2009/10/brownshirts-patrolling-montana-usa.html">Brownshirts Patrolling Montana USA</a></b><br />29.09.09 final redoubt. A private security force whose biggest role is helping the U.S. government to combat terrorism is now patrolling the streets of a town in Montana, acting as law enforcement but accountable to nobody and operating completely outside the limitations of the U.S. constitution in a chilling throwback to the brownshirts of Nazi Germany." / "The American Police Force organization is a paramilitary unit that provides surveillance, investigative, and military services across the world, according to its website, which shows men dressed in military fatigues carrying machine guns. / This is completely unconstitutional and a flagrant threat to the liberty and security of the population of Hardin. VIDEOS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27724.html">FBI disclosure stokes fears</a></b><br />30.09.09. politico. The FBI’s release of portions of its internal manual for investigations is stoking fears among some civil liberties and Muslim organizations that the federal law enforcement agency is engaged in intrusive surveillance of political and religious groups with no connection to crime or terrorism.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN30208533">US Supreme Court to decide terrorism support law</a></b><br />30.09.09. Reuters. The U.S. Supreme Court said on Wednesday it would hear an <u>Obama administration appeal defending part of the Patriot Act,</u> which has been criticized by civil liberties groups for giving the government broad powers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/143018/no_more_unlawful_government_spying%3A_pass_the_justice_act_now%21">No More Unlawful Government Spying: Pass the Justice Act Now!</a></b><br />01.10.09. The American Civil Liberties Union/Alternet. Senator Russ Feingold and nine other senators have introduced S. 1686, the JUSTICE Act, which reforms our surveillance laws, including the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/143034/supreme_court_to_take_up_patriot_act_with_review_of_humanitarian_aid_case/">Supreme Court to Take Up PATRIOT Act With Review of Humanitarian Aid Case</a></b><br />01.10.09. Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now!/Alternet. In its first review of the PATRIOT Act, the Court will rule on an anti-terror law outlawing any aid to groups on the State Department's list of terrorist groups.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://newsjunkiepost.com/2009/10/03/feingold-leads-the-fight-for-our-rights-against-the-patriot-act/">Feingold Leads The Fight For Our Rights Against The Patriot Act</a></b><br />03.10.09. junkie post. On October 1ST, the Senate Judiciary Committee began its debate on a version of a bill to extend the Patriot Act. It was a very troubling start falling far short of including much needed civil liberties and rights of privacy protections. The water-down version of the bill proposed by Senators Feinstein & Leahy is not reversing most of the unacceptable provisions contain in the original Patriot Act. / However, a few Senators are putting their best efforts to safeguard American citizens’ rights. …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/nyregion/05security.html?_r=2">Surveillance Will Expand To Midtown, Mayor Says</a></b><br />04.10.09. NY Times. A network of private and public surveillance cameras, license plate readers and weapons sensors already established in Lower Manhattan as an electronic bulwark against terrorist attacks will soon expand to a large patch of Midtown Manhattan<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cambridgewireless.co.uk/news/article/default.aspx?objid=37388">Blighter radar helps secure American border</a></b><br />- . Cambridge wireless. Frustrated by the current intruder interception rate in their local area, a group of ranch owners have developed their own state-of-the-art multi-sensor surveillance systems, utilising the Blighter radar, to protect their land and help the enforcement organisations intercept and apprehend the immigrants.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/23231">Who's in Big Brother's Database?</a></b><br />05.10.09. James Bamford, NY books. <em>The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency</em> by Matthew M. Aid. On a remote edge of Utah's dry and arid high desert, where temperatures often zoom past 100 degrees, hard-hatted construction workers with top-secret clearances are preparing to build what may become America's equivalent of Jorge Luis Borges's "Library of Babel," a place where the collection of information is both infinite and at the same time monstrous, where the entire world's knowledge is stored, but not a single word is understood. At a million square feet, the mammoth $2 billion structure will be one-third larger than the US Capitol and will use the same amount of energy as every house in Salt Lake City combined. / Unlike Borges's "labyrinth of letters," this library expects few visitors. It's being built by the ultra-secret National Security Agency—which is primarily responsible for "signals intelligence," the collection and analysis of various forms of communication—to house trillions of phone calls, e-mail messages, and data trails: Web searches, parking receipts, bookstore visits, and other digital "pocket litter." Lacking adequate space and power at its city-sized Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters, the NSA is also completing work on another data archive, this one in San Antonio, Texas, which will be nearly the size of the Alamodome.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nowpublic.com/world/gestapo-usa-govt-funded-vigilante-network-terrorizes-america">GESTAPO USA: Gov't-Funded Vigilante Network Terrorizes America</a></b><br />06.10.09. now public. A virulent form of government-enabled domestic terrorism is destroying the lives of citizens across America. / Victims of so-called organized "gang stalking" or "community stalking" charge that the rule of law has broken down nationwide at the hands of state-supported vigilantes -- operating under the cover of citizen community policing and neighborhood watch corps and business-related anti-terrorism programs, supplemented by municipal workers and members of private and fraternal organizations. / A nationwide network comprised of these citizen groups, funded and apparently overseen by elements of government at multiple levels, is the mechanism of "extrajudicial" targeting and punishment that victims say is dispensing officially tolerated "vigilante justice" -- a bypass of the judicial system and the rule of law. / … Information gleaned from surveillance, such as details of private conversations, is funneled to the street stalkers -- who then repeat these "directed" comments within earshot of the target -- a form of psychological harassment intended to provoke anxiety and fear. … / see VIDEO <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSGprwJx_zs&NR=1">Air Force Research Lab's Directed Energy Directorate </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.comcast.net/articles/finance/20091001/BUSINESS-US-IMF-USA/">United States calls for rigorous IMF surveillance</a></b><br />06.10.09. Comcast. In remarks prepared for delivery to the IMF and World Bank annual meetings here, Geithner said the IMF needed to help police economic and currency policies among the Group of 20 developed and emerging countries.<br /><br /><a href="http://rawstory.com/2009/10/dhs-suspicious-flyers/"> Homeland Security plans to scan air travelers’ bodily functions </a> (06.10.09. Raw Story)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.findlaw.com/technologist/">Presidential Powers During Cybersecurity Emergencies</a></b><br />06.10.09. find law. aides to Senator Jay Rockefeller reportedly have been working recently on a revised draft Senate bill that would give the President broad powers in the event of a Cybersecurity emergency, and that apparently would go so far as allowing the President to temporarily seize control over computer networks in the private sector.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-macleodball/congress-is-losing-its-ch_b_312949.html">Congress Is Losing Its Chance to Reform the Patriot Act</a></b><br />07.10.09. Michael Macleod-Ball, huff post. The bill, The USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act, includes minor tweaks to the Patriot Act but does not go nearly far enough to thoroughly protect the Fourth Amendment rights of Americans. / The Patriot Act is a reactionary law. It was passed 45 days after 9/11 with virtually no debate and granted the government sweeping surveillance powers including the ability to conduct secret searches of Americans' homes without warrants or even the presence of the resident. / Easily one of the most dangerous powers handed over in the Patriot Act was the expansion of the National Security Letters (NSL) statute which allows the government to demand a huge variety of our information (medical records, tax records, books we borrow from the library, etc.) from recipients like Internet service providers (ISP), financial institutions, and libraries without any proper judicial oversight.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/opinion/08thu1.html">Patriot Act Excesses</a></b><br />07.10.09. NY Times editorial. Congress is headed toward renewing the provisions — including expanded authority to search financial records, conduct roving wiretaps and track “lone wolf” terrorist suspects — without adequate oversight or safeguards or touching other problematic areas of the new surveillance and intelligence framework. / … over all, the measure taking shape in the Senate committee is far too weak to restore essential constitutional checks and balances. / … The question is what powers the government really needs and how best to balance them with the rights and liberties on which this nation was founded. / … To a troubling extent, the debate is happening in the dark. Several senators have asked the Obama administration to release classified information that would inform thediscussion without harming national security. It has largely been ignored. / … It [the review] is one more critical chance to add missing civil liberties and privacy protections, address known abuses and trim excesses that <u>contribute nothing to making America safer.</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/10/senate-committee-approves.php">Senate committee approves reauthorization of expiring Patriot Act provisions</a></b><br />08.10.09. JURIST. The portions of the act to be renewed allow federal authorities to conduct "roving" wiretaps, compel the production of business, medical and library records, and designate suspects as "lone wolf" agents of a foreign power. The bill would also impose greater oversight on the FBI's use of its surveillance powers and would cause several provisions of the act to expire after another four years.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/08/18624933.php"> Should U.S. Government Use Illegal Wiretaps Against Americans Not Involved In Terrorism?</a> (08.10.09. Dan Scott, Indymedia.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leslie-harris/obama-versus-obama-on-the_b_315638.html">Obama versus Obama on the PATRIOT Act</a></b><br />09.10.09. Leslie Harris, Huff Post. While the bill they passed strengthened civil liberties in several small ways, the Committee failed to make any meaningful improvements to the PATRIOT provisions that are most prone to abuse. Disturbingly, Obama Administration officials played a significant behind the scene role in opposing stronger civil liberties protections, directly contradicting Obama’s positions as a Senator. / … Why did President Obama about-face on the very civil liberties protections he supported a few short years ago as a Senator?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2009/10/09/us/politics/politics-us-security-usa-wiretaps.html">Obama Lawyer Says No Position on Bush - Era Wiretaps</a></b><br />09.10.09. Reuters/NY Times. A lawyer [Thomas Bondy] for the Obama administration said on Friday it had no position on the legality of the former Bush administration's program to intercept Americans' e-mails and phone calls without a warrant. / The suit, filed in 2007 by the Center for Constitutional Rights against the Bush administration Justice Department and the National Security Agency, said both agencies refused to release the records first requested by the rights group in January 2006. / Justice Department lawyer Thomas Bondy told the appeals court it should uphold a lower court's decision that ruled in favor of the government's position that it did not need to confirm or deny the existence of any records.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/round-reactions-yesterdays-patriot-vote">Round-Up of Reactions to Yesterday's PATRIOT Vote </a> (09.10.09. Kevin Bankston, eff.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/oct2009/pers-o12.shtml">Obama continues assault on democratic rights</a></b><br />12.10.09. WSWS. . Actions taken by President Barack Obama over the past month have confirmed that he is every bit as committed as his predecessor, George W. Bush, to the expansion of the police powers of the state. / Last week, Obama moved to significantly weaken a “media shield” bill advancing through Congress that would give new protection to government whistle-blowers and journalists in cases involving sources who speak with reporters on condition of anonymity. It marked yet another volte-face for Obama, who as a senator championed a similar measure. / … Obama’s transparent aim is to intimidate the press and prevent members of the intelligence and defense apparatus from revealing government secrets and crimes. / … The latest moves follow a well-established pattern. Since his inauguration, the candidate of “change” has consistently upheld the anti-democratic policies of the Bush administration. … <b> Obama, no less than Bush, represents the interests of the American financial aristocracy.</b>. / .. The police-state framework built up under Bush and Obama is a <u>response by the ruling elite to a threat not from foreign terrorists, but from its main enemy—the American working class.</u><br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u>Nobel “Peace” Prize</u><br /><br /><em>"When war becomes peace,<br />When concepts and realities are turned upside down,<br />When fiction becomes truth and truth becomes fiction.<br />When a global military agenda is heralded as a humanitarian endeavor,<br />When the killing of civilians is upheld as "collateral damage",<br />When those who resist the US-NATO led invasion of their homeland are categorized as "insurgents" or "terrorists".<br />When preemptive nuclear war is upheld as self defense.<br />When advanced torture and "interrogation" techniques are routinely used to "protect peacekeeping operations",<br />When tactical nuclear weapons are heralded by the Pentagon as "harmless to the surrounding civilian population"<br />When three quarters of US personal federal income tax revenues are allocated to financing what is euphemistically referred to as "national defense"<br />When the Commander in Chief of the largest military force on planet earth is presented as a global peace-maker,<br />When the Lie becomes the Truth"</em>. <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15622"> Michel Chossudovsky </a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/10120912">Obama Administration Accused Again of Concealing Bush-Era Crimes</a></b><br />12.10.09. Matt Renner, truthout. Last week, in a federal courthouse in New York, Obama's Justice Department attorneys again argued in favor of secrecy. The case involved 23 lawyers representing detainees at Guantánamo Bay who alleged in court papers that they were targets of the Bush administration's so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program(TSP), an initiative operated by the National Security Agency (NSA) that Obama called "unlawful and unconstitutional" during his presidential campaign in 2007. / "Our work with our clients may have been deeply compromised by illegal surveillance carried out by the last administration," said Shayana Kadidal, senior managing attorney of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Guantánamo Global Justice Initiative, a civil rights organization. "The new administration has no legal basis for refusing to come clean about any violations of attorney-client privilege by the NSA."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.skipease.com/blog/people-search-news/google-earth-cctv-show-real-time-people-cars/">Google Earth Used to Track People, Vehicles in Real Time </a> (13.10.09. skipease. With VIDEO)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/13/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5382580.shtml"> Liz Cheney Launches Group to "Keep America Safe" </a> (13.10.09. CBS)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aclu.org/natsec/gen/38798res20090224.html">About the ACLU's National Security Project</a></b><br />ACLU. The Project litigates cases relating to detention, torture, discrimination, surveillance, censorship, and secrecy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/143236/obama_administration_accused_again_of_concealing_bush-era_crimes">Obama Administration Accused Again of Concealing Bush-Era Crimes</a></b><br />14.10.09. Matt Renner, TruthOut / alternet. Last week, in a federal courthouse in New York, Obama's Justice Department attorneys again argued in favor of secrecy. The case involved 23 lawyers representing detainees at Guantánamo Bay who alleged in court papers that they were targets of the Bush administration's so-called Terrorist Surveillance Program(TSP), an initiative operated by the National Security Agency (NSA) that Obama called "unlawful and unconstitutional" during his presidential campaign in 2007. / "Our work with our clients may have been deeply compromised by illegal surveillance carried out by the last administration," said Shayana Kadidal, senior managing attorney of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Guantánamo Global Justice Initiative, a civil rights organization. "The new administration has no legal basis for refusing to come clean about any violations of attorney-client privilege by the NSA."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/politics&id=7067295">Obama gets criticism from both sides</a></b><br />15.10.09. ABC. You know what I thought was going to be a transformational president in my opinion has turned out to be the third Bush presidency," says Garvin. ./Garvin has a long list of grievances; he listed "His retreat on the FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] issue and surveillance, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, there are more troops there now than a year ago, uh Don't Ask, Don't Tell." VIDEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-16-voa22.cfm">White House Backs Controversial Domestic Surveillance Provisions</a></b><br />16.10.09. VOA News. The Obama administration is urging lawmakers to extend three provisions of the controversial domestic surveillance law known as the USA Patriot Act. / The U.S. Justice Department issued a letter Tuesday asking Congress to renew provisions of the law that allow authorities to conduct roving electronic eavesdropping, or wiretaps, access business records and track so-called "lone wolf" suspects with no known links to foreign powers or terrorist groups.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pacificfreepress.com/news/1/4907-telecoms-lobbying-congress-a-the-national-security-state.html">Telecoms, Lobbying, Congress & the National Security State</a></b><br />18.10.09. pacific free press. Federal District Court Judge Jeffrey White denied a motion by the Obama administration that the court issue a 30-day stay to "release records relating to telecom lobbying over last year's debate over immunity for corporate participation in government spying," the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported. / … One might add, since the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, a well-funded surveillance-industrial-complex fueled by giant defense firms and the telecommunications industry have, as investigative journalist Tim Shorrock reported back in 2005 "fielded <u>armies of lobbyists to keep the money flowing</u>."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.itnewsonline.com/showprnstory.php?storyid=70062"> TSA Announces $4.9 Million for Airport Surveillance at Philadelphia International Airport </a> (19.10.09. ITN newsonling)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/10/exclusive-us-spies-buy-stake-in-twitter-blog-monitoring-firm/">Exclusive: U.S. Spies Buy Stake in Firm That Monitors Blogs, Tweets</a></b><br />19.10.09. Noah Shachtman, Wired. America’s spy agencies want to read your blog posts, keep track of your Twitter updates — even check out your book reviews on Amazon. / In-Q-Tel, the investment arm of the CIA and the wider intelligence community, is putting cash into Visible Technologies, a software firm that specializes in monitoring social media. It’s part of a larger movement within the spy services to get better at using ”open source intelligence” — information that’s publicly available, but often hidden in the flood of TV shows, newspaper articles, blog posts, online videos and radio reports generated every day.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/cia-to-monitor-internet-chatter-for-anti-government-sentiment.html">CIA To Monitor Internet Chatter For Anti-Government Sentiment</a></b><br />20.10.09. Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet. High-tech fascism straight out of V For Vendetta on the horizon. In the 2005 movie V For Vendetta, a film about a totalitarian society ruled by a fascist government with an iron surveillance fist, there’s a scene where state spooks drive down a residential street with a gadget that records the conversations people are having inside their homes and gives them a rating on how antagonistic towards the authorities they are.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i9LLhtcanBcNhniDqSpnQljdFVogD9BF3DOO2">House bill would make changes in Patriot Act</a></b><br />21.10.09. AP. House Judiciary Committee leaders on Tuesday introduced a bill to place new restrictions on government surveillance and seizures in anti-terrorism investigations, while allowing the Obama administration to continue some tactics used by its predecessor./ Three important sections of the USA Patriot Act will expire at year's end, unless Congress continues them in the law designed to prevent a terrorist attack on the homeland.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-oew-mcneil-sanchez21-2009oct21,0,1110751.story"> The Patriot Act: Does it actually work? </a> (21.10.09. LA Times).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS124764+22-Oct-2009+BW20091022">Harris Poll Shows 96 Percent of Americans Support Uses of Video Surveillance to Counteract Terrorism</a></b><br />22.10.09. Reuters. Four out of five adults feel that in extreme cases, such as a terrorist attack, the government should be able to use any available means to protect citizens, and more than half (54 percent) of U.S. adults are even willing to put a portion of the government`s stimulus funds toward setting up video surveillance to help reduce crime. / …However, <u>citizen support of video surveillance rests on the assumption that more cameras will result in more secure environments, but that isn`t the case</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://antifascist-calling.blogspot.com/">Mind Your Tweets: CIA and European Union Building Social Networking Surveillance System</a></b><br />24.10.09. anti-fascist calling. That social networking sites and applications such as Facebook, Twitter and their competitors can facilitate communication and information sharing amongst diverse groups and individuals is by now a cliché. / It should come as no surprise then, that the secret state and the capitalist grifters whom they serve, have zeroed-in on the explosive growth of these technologies. One can be certain however, securocrats aren't tweeting their restaurant preferences or finalizing plans for after work drinks. / No, researchers on both sides of the Atlantic are busy as proverbial bees building a "total information" surveillance system, one that will, so they hope, provide police and security agencies with what they euphemistically call "actionable intelligence." / In this context, the whistleblowing web site Wikileaks published a remarkable document October 4 by the <a href="http://www.indect-project.eu/">INDECT Consortium</a>, the Intelligence Information System Supporting Observation, Searching and Detection for Security of Citizens in Urban Environment. …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-patriot25-2009oct25,0,6958490.story">Privacy and the Patriot Act</a></b><br />25.10.09. LA Times. In the aftermath of 9/11, legislators cut legal corners to protect the nation. Congress should amend that now by revising certain expiring provisions of the law.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20091025poisoning_at_harvard_6_lab_workers_sickened_by_coffee/srvc=home&position=4">Poisoning at Harvard</a></b><br />25.10.09. boston herald. Harvard University Medical School is locking down its New Research Building, installing <u>new surveillance cameras</u> and imposing tighter security after researchers in the pathology department of the Boston building drank poisoned coffee and were hospitalized.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />US MARTIAL LAWS EXPAND<br /><br />VIDEO:<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k5y3fBH9Og"> The Militarization of the Police Force in USA</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_13620723">Heavily armed law enforcement teams will scatter across the Bay Area this weekend</a></b><br />22.10.09. contra costa times / legitgov. Twenty-seven crack teams will compete in the Urban Shield exercise<br /><br /><a href="http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=7080414"> 25 teams practice emergency response </a> (23.10.09. ABC / legitgov.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/weekinreview/25fink.html?_r=1">Worst Case: Choosing Who Survives in a Flu Epidemic</a></b><br />24.10.09 NY Times / legitgov. MOMENTS OF TRUTH: <em> Health officials are deciding who would be treated if hospitals are overwhelmed by patients with the H1N1 flu virus</em>/ New York’s governor has declared a state of emergency and hospitals are following the state’s pandemic ventilator allocation plan — actual guidelines <u>drafted in 2007</u> that are now being revisited. / In recent years, officials in a host of states and localities, as well as the federal Veterans Health Administration, have been quietly addressing one of medicine’s most troubling questions: Who should get a chance to survive when the number of severely ill people far exceeds the resources needed to treat them all? / The draft plans vary. In some states, patients with Do Not Resuscitate orders, the elderly, those requiring dialysis, or those with severe neurological impairment would be refused ventilators, or admission to hospitals. Utah divides epidemics into phases. Initially, hospitals would apply triage rules to residents of mental institutions, nursing homes, prisons and facilities for the “handicapped.” If an epidemic worsened, the rules would apply to the general population. / Federal officials say the possibility that America’s already crowded intensive care units would be overwhelmed in the coming weeks by flu patients is small but they remain vigilant.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091024/D9BHAM9G1.html"> LA officials to unveil $437M police headquarters </a> (24.10.09. AP)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.info-zone.eu/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-toolbar/toolbar.php?wp-toolbar-tourl=http://markcrispinmiller.com/2009/10/pentagon-has-nations-kids-under-surveillance/&wp-toolbar-fromurl=http://blog.info-zone.eu/?p=5085&wp-toolbar-fromtitle=Pentagon%20has%20nation%E2%80%99s%20kids%20under%20surveillance&wp-toolbar-blogurl=http://blog.info-zone.eu&wp-toolbar-blogtitle=Blog%20Info-Zone.eu">Pentagon has nation’s kids under surveillance</a></b><br />26.10.09. info zone. Recruiters hit pay dirt in 2002, when then-Rep. (now Sen.) David Vitter (R-La.) slipped a provision into the No Child Left Behind Act that requires high schools to give recruiters the names and contact details of all juniors and seniors. Schools that fail to comply risk losing their NCLB funding. This little-known regulation effectively transformed President George W. Bush’s signature education bill into the most aggressive military recruitment tool since the draft. Students may sign an opt-out form-but not all school districts let them know about it.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23838.htm">NSA Supercenters to Store Americans' Private Data Permanently</a></b><br />29.10.09. Thomas R. Eddlem, New American / ICH. The National Security Agency is building huge new storage facilities to store the unconstitutionally gained data on the American people's telephone calls and Internet traffic permanently, including new buildings in suburban Salt Lake City, Utah, and San Antonio, Texas.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.workers.org/2009/us/fbi_assassinates_1105/">FBI agents assassinate Michigan Islamic leader</a></b><br />29.10.09. workers org. Conversion to the Islamic faith within the African-American community has been taking place at a phenomenal rate over the last few decades. The federal government has used both the scourge of anti-Islamic hysteria and racism to enhance the repressive apparatus in the United States. This <u>pattern of surveillance</u>, harassment and entrapment is utilized in a desperate attempt by Homeland Security and the Pentagon to build support for the ongoing wars against Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.defenselink.mil//news/newsarticle.aspx?id=56454">Exercise Seeks Battlefield Information Effectiveness</a></b><br />29.10.09. defense link. U.S. warfighters and allies operating in Afghanistan and Iraq depend on various sensor platforms that can provide information about the enemy’s whereabouts night or day, a senior U.S. military officer said today. / That’s why the annual joint Empire Challenge demonstration, which explores how to improve dissemination of vital intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance information to battlefield commanders, is so important, Air Force Col. George J. Krakie, the director of this year’s exercise, told American Forces Press Service. / … U.S. military members from all service branches as well as allied participants from France, Norway, Great Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand took part in this year’s demonstration, Krakie said. / .. This year’s Empire Challenge was conducted at 20 sites worldwide, Krakie said, with scenarios based on lessons learned and case studies that came out of Iraq or Afghanistan. / The main ground demonstrations conducted at China Lake, <u>Calif</u> ., took advantage of geographic and climatic conditions similar to those found in Afghanistan. China Lake “had the terrain we wanted,” Krakie said, as well as the heat, dust and wind.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.securitymanagement.com/news/blackberry-app-can-spy-you-us-cert-warns-006401">BlackBerry App Can Spy on You, US CERT Warns </a> (30.10.09. security management)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/10/obama-administration-invokes-state-secrets-privilegeagain.html">Obama Administration Invokes State Secrets Privilege…Again</a></b><br />30.10.09. ABC. The Obama administration invoked the controversial "state secrets" privilege again on Friday, arguing that if U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker were to permit a legal case against the government to proceed, he would be putting <em>national security</em> at risk. / Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement about the case, Shubert et. al v. Obama, that "there is no way for this case to move forward without jeopardizing ongoing intelligence activities that we rely upon to <u>protect the safety [sic] of the American people.</u>" / The statement and legal documents were released in a particularly active Friday afternoon document dump -- including stimulus jobs numbers and White House visitors logs. / … President Obama has invoked the state secrets privilege in a number of cases since taking office.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/31/AR2009103102141.html">1,600 are suggested daily for FBI's list </a></b> (01.11.09. Walter Pincus, Washington Post)<br /><br /><br /><u> US-NATO </u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvywjtO2_9ZOFW_EsvNkl44Qgz4_deNuQ7JB03o9G1iTr-KktQtbwqEIuw92FesWnH9uI-EPszrw8jFN93W81udOZG0l_TW3yDWAGLlrMKHajmTdcCS7Vf9sH6ZzLFW0H2sPOg/s1600-h/Predator-surveillance-drone.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 230px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvywjtO2_9ZOFW_EsvNkl44Qgz4_deNuQ7JB03o9G1iTr-KktQtbwqEIuw92FesWnH9uI-EPszrw8jFN93W81udOZG0l_TW3yDWAGLlrMKHajmTdcCS7Vf9sH6ZzLFW0H2sPOg/s400/Predator-surveillance-drone.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066568657642402" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Surveillance Drone, <a href="http://newsx.com/story/52744"> PHOTO AFP</a></span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/09/28/332836/nato-ground-surveillance-deal-moves-forward-after-15-nation.html">NATO ground surveillance deal moves forward after 15-nation agreement</a></b><br />28.10.09. flight global. Made on 25 September, the agreement will enable prime contractor Northrop Grumman and its multinational industry partners to complete their proposal for the RQ-4B Global Hawk unmanned air vehicle-based AGS system. The US company will then enter into negotiations that it believes will "support contract award next year".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.isria.com/pages/5_October_2009_144.php">NATO sponsors critical infrastructure protection technology demonstration</a></b><br />05.10.09. isria. More than <u>160 companies</u> will join military units and technology experts to show, test and explain technologies for defending against different threat scenarios, including mortar, rocket and improvised explosive devices; chemical and biological attacks; and threats to land-based, maritime and aviation infrastructure. Technologies for intelligence, <u>surveillance</u>, reconnaissance, target acquisition and non-lethal capabilities will also be shown.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ca.sys-con.com/node/1148465">Verizon Business to Help Strengthen Network Security for NATO</a></b><br />19.10.09. ca-sys. Under a new deal valued at about <b>$5 million </b> covering two years and an optional one-year extension, Verizon Business through Verizon Cybertrust Security in Belgium will implement a highly resilient virtual private network for approximately 30 locations on the agency's existing network.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.defpro.com/news/details/10682/"> SELEX Galileo Welcomes Milestone Achievements in NATO Alliance Ground Surveillance Programme </a> (20.10.09. defpro)<br /><br /><br /><a id="15000"></a><b> 15. COMPANIES: Making Money to "Make You Safer" </b><br /><br /><em> “It is the so-called sane people that have led the world to the brink of catastrophe.” </em> . From the film, Nostalghia, by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Tarkovsky"> Andrei Tarkovsky </a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>+</b></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9WqPLZZ_P6hrWsz5kQleD2VJhiPDLxUh_d3ClcIciJ8MGfO70upgYT5ruwDJtJlg7wmWev1rjppYqYRg1-UNGnZep3wLfPNcv2FHeAfPZ94mzp8Qc0KUAvXfy7IMWpGeJ2Aq/s1600-h/intervention.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 275px; height: 394px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9WqPLZZ_P6hrWsz5kQleD2VJhiPDLxUh_d3ClcIciJ8MGfO70upgYT5ruwDJtJlg7wmWev1rjppYqYRg1-UNGnZep3wLfPNcv2FHeAfPZ94mzp8Qc0KUAvXfy7IMWpGeJ2Aq/s400/intervention.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066396599876946" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.williamlamson.com/#/work/intervention/works/1"> “intervention”, © William Lawson </a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2009/09/23/Competition-grows-in-high-definition-security-imaging/UPI-86951253716665/">Competition grows in high-definition security imaging</a></b><br />23.09.09. UPI. Competition in security imaging technologies is becoming fierce as demand for high-definition surveillance grows worldwide, giving manufacturers the chance to tap lucrative new markets.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/c4isr-journal-names-winners-for-2009-big-25-awards-63138427.html"> C4ISR Journal Names Winners For 2009 'Big 25 Awards' </a> (01.10.09. pr news)<br /><br />= = =<br />* <em> this is not a complete "Companies" list. Suggestions for further companies welcome: email me? Ta. </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.alanbolen.com/?p=17234"> ADT</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.arecontvision.com/"> ARECONT VISION </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.artesiansolutions.com/"> ARTESIAN SOLUTIONS</a><br /><br /><a href="http://newsblaze.com/story/2009100107414100001.we/topstory.html"> Artesian Solutions announces year on year growth increase of 60% </a> (01.10.09, News blaze)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sourcesecurity.com/companies/enhanced-company-listing/avigilon-corporation.html"> AVIGILON (Canada) </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.bikal.co.uk/"> BIKAL IP CCTV (UK, EU, US, ME)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_Worldwide"> BLACKWATER / XE </a><br /><br /><em>It is not possible to search “surveillance’ on this website. There is zero information of any use. If, however one googles Blackwater-XE-surveillance, one finds more material </em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=110793">Blackwater has arms warehouse in Islamabad</a></b><br />22.10.09. daily star/legitgov Blackwater has implanted sensitive instruments at Sihala to monitor activities of Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Kahuta, as well as to keep an eye on the nuclear assets of Pakistan. But US <a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C10%5C24%5Cstory_24-10-2009_pg7_8"> rejects allegations</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110059&sectionid=351020401">'Blackwater behind Peshawar blast'</a></b><br />31.10.09. press tv.ir/ Peoples’ Voice. Pakistan's pro-Taliban militants blame private US security firm Blackwater for a Wednesday bomb blast in Peshawar which killed over 100 people. See also<br /><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110030&sectionid=351020101"> here </a> and <a href="http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=560302"> here </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/finance?q=LON:BSST"> BLUE STAR SECUTEC (China)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.canon.co.uk/"> CANON (UK)</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Canon_Forays_into_Surveillance_and_Security_Space/551-106752-582.html">Canon Forays into Surveillance Space</a></b><br />07.10.09. Techtree. The company also announced its foray in the security business with a range of 10 network Surveillance IP cameras suitable for various security and surveillance applications like monitoring, tracking and recording human movement even in the dark.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Cantronic-Systems-Inc-TSX-VENTURE-CTS-1062528.html"> CANTRONIC</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ecit.qub.ac.uk/csit/"> CSIT: Centre for Secure Information Technologies</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.darkreading.com/security/government/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=220101007">New U.K. Cybersecurity Centre Opens Doors</a></b><br />23.09.09. dark reading. Leading edge research that will help keep crime off the internet and combat anti-social behaviour and street crime is to be unveiled today at the official opening of the UK's lead cyber security research centre. / The new <u>£30 million</u> Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) at Queen's University <u>Belfast's Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology</u>, has been set up to exploit the university's international research expertise in high performance data and network security and intelligent surveillance.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.csst.com/en/enabout.asp"> CHINA SECURITY AND SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY INC. </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.beatingbuffett.com/?p=1240"> China Security & Surveillance – A Speculative Growth Company - CSR</a></b><br />29.09.09. Beating buffet. China Security & Surveillance Technology, Inc. (CSST) manufactures, distributes, installs, and services surveillance and safety products and systems in mainland China. The Company’s customers include governmental entities [customs agencies, courts, public security bureaus, prisons, schools, museums, sports arenas, libraries, airports, hotels, real estate, banks, mines, railways, supermarkets, and entertainment venues. CSST operates primarily in five segments: Installation, Manufacturing, Distribution, Software, and Services.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/10/07/business-industrials-us-china-security-stock-offering_6977085.html"> China Security raises $58.5 mln in stock offering</a> (07.10.09. Forbes)<br />OR <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5huY99HzYnMAHUCUh5onNgbUTXUGgD9BKB8182">China Security & Surveillance shares drop </a> (28.10.09. AP)<br />OR <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS118029+28-Oct-2009+PRN20091028">Reuters story </a>, “the Company's cash position at the end of the third quarter was $100.98 million, up from $89.47 million at the end of second quarter 2009.”<br /><br /><a href="http://www.controlware.de/en"> CONTROLWARE </a><br /><br /><a href="http://controlware.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/the-oldham-college-benefit-from-advanced-ip-cctv-system-that-improves-security-and-safety/"> College benefit from advanced IP CCTV system that improves security and safety </a> (-. Controlware blog)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.efjohnsontechnologies.com/"> E F JOHNSON</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2009/09/28/daily12.html">EF Johnson inks $11M military order</a></b><br />29.09.09. Dallas biz journal. The company will provide secure broadband technology, energy management tools and real-time video surveillance for use by the American military.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.elbitsystems.com/"> ELBIT </a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy6IToG78kgDwb0goO1Kmd0Gp9kfvJYGtnw8zCKM9fWp4wpbKXc4h8mCGdnoUpldgeNfaYtU4nJ3S7ZDFVyDh-78waQ_SIer2gAnXITuB5itFagOyFaxX4SA4rjFAnrFD1U6nW/s1600-h/Skylark-I_Launch.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 268px; height: 179px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy6IToG78kgDwb0goO1Kmd0Gp9kfvJYGtnw8zCKM9fWp4wpbKXc4h8mCGdnoUpldgeNfaYtU4nJ3S7ZDFVyDh-78waQ_SIer2gAnXITuB5itFagOyFaxX4SA4rjFAnrFD1U6nW/s400/Skylark-I_Launch.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066573166472978" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/images/AIR_UAV_Skylark-I_Launch_and_Controller_lg.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-larks-still-bravely-singing-fly-elbits-skylark-uav-04444/&usg=__K6uERpHhWcjRi1CAke1Uue9WogY=&h=685&w=1024&sz=150&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=Dq6EIVHXhFxeBM:&tbnh=100&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3DELBIT%2BSURVEILLLANCE%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG"> <span style="font-size:85%;">“Skylark”</span></a></div><br /><br />Elbit Systems also supply the surveillance equipment for the apartheid separation wall. The <a href="http://www.paltelegraph.com/opinions/editorials/2583-obamas-mandate-from-and-vanunus-letter-to-the-2009-nobel-peace-prize-committee"> Norwegian government </a> dropped the Israeli firm Elbit Systems Ltd. from the government pension fund, because regular people brought to the attention of their government Elbit's involvement in building the Apartheid Wall in the Occupied West Bank.<br /><br /><a href="http://qwstnevrythg.com/2009/10/israel%E2%80%99s-largest-defense-company-opens-office-in-azerbaijan/"> Israel’s largest defense company opens office in Azerbaijan </a> (07.10.09. qwstneverything)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.4-traders.com/ELBIT-SYS-9214/news/ELBIT-SYS-Elbit-Systems-of-America-Celebrates-500th-Delivery-of-the-Kollsman-Enhanced-Flight-Vision--13263015/"> ELBIT SYS : Elbit Systems of America Celebrates 500th Delivery of the Kollsman Enhanced Flight Vision System </a> (18.10.09. 4-traders)<br /><br />(see Israel, above)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flir.com/GB/"> FLIR</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.gesecurity.com/portal/site/GESecurity/menuitem.f76d98ccce4cabed5efa421766030730?selectedID=656&seriesyn=false&t=prod"> GE SECURITY</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.genetec.com/English/Products/Pages/video-surveillance.aspx"> GENETEC (Canada) </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ibm.com/uk/en/"> IBM (UK)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.indigovision.com/"> INDIGO VISION</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business-in-wales/business-news/2009/09/28/shares-tips-from-the-newspapers-91466-24793648/">Shares tips from the newspapers</a></b><br />28.09.09. IndigoVision makes video surveillance equipment which is digital and internet based, meaning it is more reliable and quicker to access than the analogue equipment that accounts for 90% of closed-circuit television cameras. It has installed systems in 64 countries, and recently signed a contract with the Canada Border Services Agency to monitor the entire US-Canadian border and Vancouver airport.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.iqt.org/"> INQTEL (IQT) </a><br /><br /><a href="http://kratosdefense.com/"> KRATOS (US) </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2009/09/23/EODT-wins-security-contract-in-Iraq/UPI-43921253715442/"> Kratos wins contracts valued at $6.6 million </a> (16.10.09. UPI)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.intransa.com/"> INTRANSA </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.l-3com.com/"> L-3 </a><br /><br />L-3 makes communications and surveillance systems for the federal government,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/l-3-profit-jumps-19-on-surveillance-growth-2009-10-27"> L-3 profit jumps 19% on demand for surveillance technology </a> (27.10.09. market watch)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lockheedmartin.com/capabilities/sfc/"> LOCKHEED MARTIN </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/economy/ap/63661872.html"> Lockheed Martin gets $133 million Army pact to provide threat-detection systems </a> (07.10.09. Washington examiner)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.marchnetworks.com/"> MARCH NETWORKS (Canada) </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS202280+20-Oct-2009+PRN20091020"> March Networks Ranked as One of North America's Fastest-Growing Technology Companies </a> (20.10.09. Reuters)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/workforce-optimization/"> NICE SYSTEMS </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tmcnet.com/channels/workforce-optimization/articles/65693-totalview-central-management-tool-optimizes-call-center-workforce.htm">TotalView Central Management Tool Optimizes the Call Center Workforce</a></b><br />02.10.09. TMCnet. TMCnet has discussed various video surveillance contracts secured by NICE Systems (News - Alert) for casinos in Oklahoma and for small- and mid-sized deployments.<br /><br /><a href="http://searching.northropgrumman.com/search?site=All_Northrop_Grumman&client=default_frontend&output=xml_no_dtd&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&q=SURVEILLANCE&Search.x=32&Search.y=10"> NORTHROP GRUMMAN </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=125281&cat=1">Northrop Grumman Space Tracking and Surveillance System Demonstrator Satellites Successfully Launched Into Orbit</a></b><br />26.09.09. transworld news. Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2009/10/02/USAF-gets-plug-and-play-sensors/UPI-41591254506732/http://www.itech-ny.com/"> USAF gets plug-and-play sensors </a> (02.10.09. UPI. $153 million contract )<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/northrop-grumman-opens-new-facilities-for-design-and-manufacture-of-unmanned-ground-vehicles-in-coventry-uk-64087172.html">northrop-grumman-opens-new-facilities-for-design-and-manufacture-of-unmanned-ground-vehicles-in-coventry-uk</a></b><br />13.10.09. pr newswire. Northrop Grumman has a strong presence in the UK with a heritage spanning nearly 100-years. The company operates from primary locations in London, Fareham, Chester, Coventry, New Malden, Peterborough, RAF Waddington and Solihull and provides avionics, communications, electronic warfare systems, marine navigation systems, unmanned ground vehicle systems, C4ISR solutions and mission planning, IT systems and software development, aircraft whole life support and airport security solutions.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.itech-ny.com/"> NY SECURITY AND IT EXPERTS</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.searchengine.co.za/spy-surveillance-cameras-parinto.html"> PARINTO (South Africa)</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.pivetal.com/"> PIVETAL </a><br /><br />Pivetal provides a comprehensive range of managed services for voice, data and converged networks, from basic surveillance through to highly integrated fault, performance and configuration management. NOC services, repair and return, patch and software upgrades are also available. / customers include BT, Cable & Wireless and Nortel, comprising both carrier and enterprise technologies ranging from TDM through to next generation IP voice and converged services.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.plextek.co.uk/"> PLEXTEK </a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QinetiQ"> QINETiQ </a><br /><br />makes all sorts of scary robots and surveillance equipment<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Raytheon"> RAYTHEON / RAID </a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJy94lgl1BQiL53KVzoiBhepwXD1AkiNzA9mrAsbud7fHFG3OGcTC6oGIsdeodsiEhHYLam7J3m4-s_AFqa66vBwUK2FjInR2okargAMk-mwavAbu3DrFtNTnuPp_LWy77vlr6/s1600-h/RAID-Tower-674.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 167px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJy94lgl1BQiL53KVzoiBhepwXD1AkiNzA9mrAsbud7fHFG3OGcTC6oGIsdeodsiEhHYLam7J3m4-s_AFqa66vBwUK2FjInR2okargAMk-mwavAbu3DrFtNTnuPp_LWy77vlr6/s400/RAID-Tower-674.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066571386267234" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-10/01/uk-style-surveillance-state-spreads-to-afghanistan.aspx"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Raid tower, photo Raytheon</span></a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2009-10/01/uk-style-surveillance-state-spreads-to-afghanistan.aspx">uk style surveillance state spreads to afghanistan</a></b><br />RAID started as a small-scale experiment in Afghanistan in 2003. The idea, according to Peter Schoate, the Raytheon program manager, was to take the military's standard daytime and infrared cameras and give them a wider field of view by elevating them. "They liked it and it took off," Schoate said of his military customers. The Pentagon and the British Ministry of Defence bought extra RAID sets – some strictly tower-mounted, others strapped to blimps – and installed them at the biggest bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2006, a RAID-style aerostat was a veritable landmark, bobbing over the sprawling British military base in Basra province, southern Iraq. Soon smaller bases began getting them too. / Today, there are "several hundred" installed RAID systems,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/army-awards-raytheon-13-million-to-improve-situational-awareness-for-pilots-63666747.html"> Army Awards Raytheon $13 Million to Improve Situational Awareness for Pilots </a> (07.10.09. prnewswire)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.openpr.com/news/102702/Raytheon-Ansch-tz-integrates-Romanian-Surveillance-System.html"> Raytheon Anschütz integrates Romanian Surveillance System </a> (24.10.09. open pr)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sourcesecurity.com/news/co/s2-security-corporation.html"> RELIANCE HI GH TECH LTD S2 SECURITY CORP (UK) </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.sourcesecurity.com/news/articles/co-1151-ga-co-4933-ga.3894.html"> RISCO GROUP USA – MILESTONE SYSTEMS</a> (23.09.09. Source Security)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.samsung.com/uk/"> SAMSUNG (UK) </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/20090928/blue-star-signs-chinese-distribution-agreement.htm">Blue Star signs Chinese distribution agreement</a></b><br />28.09.09. IB Times. Chinese video security company, Blue Star has signed a strategic partnership agreement with WinHi Technology Electronic, the exclusive distribution agent for <u>Samsung Electronics</u>' surveillance products in China.<br /><br /><a href="http://sanyo.com/environment/en/overseas/na.html"> SANYO NORTH AMERICA CORP </a><br /><br /><a href="http://headsets.tmcnet.com/topics/headsets/articles/65039-sanyo-unveils-nine-new-hd-surveillance-cameras.htm"> SANYO Unveils Nine New HD Surveillance Cameras </a> (23.09.09. TMCnet)<br /><br /><a href="http://scallopimaging.com/about.php"> SCALLOP IMAGING (Boston, Mass.) </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.terahertz.co.uk/"> TERAHERTZ </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/yb/135770145"> Microwaves in Europe: Upbeat During the Downturn?</a></b><br />28.09.09. American chronicle. Terahertz systems are beginning to appear on the commercial market, aimed at imaging and spectroscopic applications for safety, security and environmental surveillance, with the life sciences also being a rich field of application.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.telco.com/"> TELCO</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.timesightsystems.com/company/"> TIMESIGHT SYSTEMS</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.utc.com/utc/home.html"> UNITED TECHNOLOGIES </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=amoDTc5GSf.Y"> United Technologies Said to Lead GE-Security Bidding </a> (27.10.09. Bloomberg)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.vassecurity.com/default.htm%20"> VAS SECURITY SYSTEMS </a><br /><br /><a href="http://search.verizon.com/?tp=c&rv=a&q=surveillance&Search.x=30&Search.y=8"> VERIZON, AT & T, BELL SOUTH </a><br /><br /><em>My personal emails to my sister, who lives in the U.S. were blocked by Verizon. In order to communicate with her, Verizon requested that I fill in a Verizon <a href="http://www2.verizon.net/micro/whitelist/"> “Whitelist Request Form</a>.” I refused to do this, neither being a fan of the US government surveillance system nor wishing my details to go on some US/UK ‘terrorist’ list because I disagree with most rhetoric, policies and plans. The "Verizon package" was unfortunately too seductive, so I no longer, sadly, communicate with her. </em><br /><br /><a href="http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/fortune/custom_ranking_2009.jsp"> Fortune </a> reported on 4 May 2009 that<br /><a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/snapshots/2756.html"> AT & T </a> was no. 8 on the Fortune 500 list;<br /><a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/snapshots/2773.html"> Verizon </a> was No. 17.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-05-10-nsa_x.htm">NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls</a></b><br />11.05.06. usa today. <b>The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT & T, Verizon, and BellSouth</b>, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY. / … The NSA record collection program: "It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA's activities, declined to be identified by name or affiliation. The agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders, this person added. For the customers of these companies, it means that <u>the government has detailed records of calls they made — across town or across the country — to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others</u>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.betanews.com/article/How-Verizon-Turned-Over-Surveillance-Documents-Without-Court-Order/1192551985">How Verizon Turned Over Surveillance Documents Without Court Order </a> (16.10.09, beta news)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200909291339dowjonesdjonline000329&title=hoyerno-support-to-revisit-telecom-immunity-from-wiretapping-suits">Hoyer: No Support To Revisit Telecom Immunity From Wiretapping Suits</a></b><br />29.09.09. Nasdac. Some of the largest U.S. phone companies including <u>AT & T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. </u>, were accused of cooperating with government requests to provide access to Americans' phone calls and emails following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The companies themselves always declined to comment on their participation.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWc_4ewZVJAzH5n_M3EovTXoqnq8zfTmRT3eCSW9HK3OLxdSg7Uxkx7BbZUABM5UAf_9AsqMnppUaovEsxdwDkn4gby8QgPTdeH30iMDwjZggmlPqpyingkcM8iNRjMOQ5O1HM/s1600-h/att1-300x216.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 233px; height: 167px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWc_4ewZVJAzH5n_M3EovTXoqnq8zfTmRT3eCSW9HK3OLxdSg7Uxkx7BbZUABM5UAf_9AsqMnppUaovEsxdwDkn4gby8QgPTdeH30iMDwjZggmlPqpyingkcM8iNRjMOQ5O1HM/s400/att1-300x216.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066385734377810" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/att-doj-foia/">Telephone Company Is Arm of Government, Feds Admit in Spy Suit</a></b><br />08.10.09. wired. The Department of Justice has finally admitted it in court papers: The nation’s telecom companies are an arm of the government — at least when it comes to secret spying. / … The <a href="http://www.eff.org/"> Electronic Frontier Foundation </a> wanted to see what role telecom lobbying of Justice Department played when the government began its year-long, and ultimately successful, push to win retroactive immunity for AT & T and others being sued for unlawfully spying on American citizens. / .. The feds were supposed to make the documents available Friday, but in a motion late Thursday, the <u>Obama administration is asking for a 30-day emergency stay (.pdf) so it can file a further appeal</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/10/fcc-approves-adoption-of-net-neutrality.php">FCC approves adoption of 'net neutrality' rules</a></b><br />22.10.09. JURIST. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted Thursday to approve the formation of rules mandating so-called "net neutrality," promising openness commensurate with the ideals of the Internet itself. The idea of net neutrality, supported unanimously by the FCC commissioners, is to allow an open flow of information over the Internet, regardless of the amount of revenue generated by the information. The implementation of new rules has been vigorously opposed by telecommunications giants Verizon and AT & T among others, which argue that such rules would inhibit their ability to effectively manage Internet traffic. The FCC at the same time announced a call for public input to the process, in order to maximize consumer benefit under the proposed rules.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.viaas.com/grip-on-business/index.html"> VIAAS</a><br /><br /><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-10360398-250.html"> Piecing together smart cameras at DemoFall 09</a> (23.09.09. Cnet.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.visibletechnologies.com/"> VISIBLE TECHNOLOGIES </a><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://spydevices.info/spy-gear-listening-devices-youtube-surveillance-product-demonstration-video-spy-gadgets"> spy gear listening devices</a> (Sept. 09)<br /><br /><br /><a id="16000"></a><b>16. REFERENCES</b><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzvjg57zhZ1vH8uv_6uCDyNQqSQs_5d3r1yD7r_a1knDxilakIP5Ri1amIugI2voxD-sznuovyed27nZNFoesYvlLD09_-GZ5fYgrHUsmscGytWbYzVx-8mcoMr_OrcCBR8FG/s1600-h/dying_light.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 125px; height: 125px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitzvjg57zhZ1vH8uv_6uCDyNQqSQs_5d3r1yD7r_a1knDxilakIP5Ri1amIugI2voxD-sznuovyed27nZNFoesYvlLD09_-GZ5fYgrHUsmscGytWbYzVx-8mcoMr_OrcCBR8FG/s400/dying_light.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399066390202334210" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Voyeur-Nation-Privacy-Peering-Culture/dp/B001GIP3NO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256104187&sr=8-2"> Voyeur Nation: Media, Privacy, And Peering In Modern Culture</a>, Kindle, Basic Books 2004. “In his book Voyeur Nation, (2000) critique what he describes as a culture of ‘mediated voyeurism’, in which, for reasons largely to do with <u> media company profits</u>, our worst voyeuristic instincts are being sanctioned and fed.”<br /><br /><a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/"> FIRST AMENDMENT, US CONSTITUTION</a>:<br /><br /><em>Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. </em><br /><br /><a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment01/06.html#1"> FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION--SPEECH AND PRESS</a><br /><br /><u>"Post Democracy" from Index Research </u>:<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/us-martial-law-timeline.html"> U.S. Martial Law Timeline </a> (21.08.07. Index Research)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/10/us-surveillance-these-boots-are-made.html"> US Surveillance: These Boots Are Made for Walking </a> (10.10.07. Index Research)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/will-economic-crisis-lead-to-police.html"> Will Economic Crisis Lead To A Police State World ? </a> (30.03.09. Index Research)<br /><br /><u> Drones</u> from Index Research: <br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/06/index-on-war-in-pakistan-may-2009.html#7000"> Drones</a> (01.06.09. Index Research: 'War in Pakistan')<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html#3000">U.S. Drones in Pakistan</a> (26.10.09. Index Research)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>+</b><br /><br /></div><em>Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the UK. She is on the BRussels Tribunal Advisory Committee</em>.<br /><br />The url to SURVEILLANCE SOCIETIES is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/10/surveillance-societies.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/10/surveillance-societies.html</a><br />The shorter url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/yblntxf">http://tinyurl.com/yblntxf</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>+</b></div><br /><br />TAGS<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Surveillance" rel="tag">Surveillance</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Surveillance+Companies" rel="tag">Surveillance Companies</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Police+states" rel="tag">Police states</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Henry+Porter" rel="tag">Henry Porter</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>+</b></div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b>+</b></div>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-44531054515597397842009-06-01T09:45:00.011+01:002009-10-22T09:07:29.814+01:00Index on War in Pakistan, May 2009<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/06/index-on-war-in-pakistan-may-2009.html&title=Index+on+War+in+Pakistan+May+2009&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/06/index-on-war-in-pakistan-may-2009.html&title=Index+on+War+in+Pakistan+May+2009&bodytext=">Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=4453105451559739784" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=4453105451559739784" title="Email Post">Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://imagecache01a.allposters.com/images/pic/LPIPOD/BN435_1202-FB%7ENational-Flag-Pakistan-Posters.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; height: 261px; width: 348px;" src="http://imagecache01a.allposters.com/images/pic/LPIPOD/BN435_1202-FB%7ENational-Flag-Pakistan-Posters.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">National Flag of Pakistan</span></div><br /><br />1. <a href="#1000">Preface: Themes in Three Wars</a><br />2. <a href="#2000">Gas in Pakistan</a><br />3. <a href="#3000">Strategic Imperatives</a><br />4. <a href="#4000">Demonising the Taliban</a><br />5. <a href="#5000">Nuclear Issues</a><br />6. <a href="#6000">The War</a><br />7. <a href="#7000">Drones</a><br />8. <a href="#8000">Pakistan's Supply Depots for Afghanistan</a><br />9. <a href="#9000">Blame and Counterblame</a><br />10. <a href="#10000">Backlash to War & Censorship</a><br />11. <a href="#11000">Refugees</a><br />12. <a href="#12000">Aid to Pakistan</a><br />13. <a href="#13000">References</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><br /><a id="1000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>1. Preface: Themes in Three Wars</b></div><br /><br />The threads running through Bush/Obama's three wars have the same themes.<br /><br />TERRORISTS (al Qaida / Taliban (etc.): "<em>Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists</em>."<a href="http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/20/gen.bush.transcript/"> George W. Bush</a>, address to a joint session of Congress on September 20, 2001.<br /><br /><u> Afghanistan </u>: America went to war in Afghanistan, following 9/11, with the excuse to ‘get’ the (now dead?) Osama bin Laden. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/child.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 271px; height: 180px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/child.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54285&s2=17"> <span style="font-size:85%;">"My girls, do they look like Taliban?" Photo Jason Motlagh, Washington Times</span></a></div><br /><br /><u> Iraq</u>. The Bush administration took the ‘opportunity’ to <a href="http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var.2508623.0.0.php"> torture </a> victims for an admission that Saddam Hussein was connected to Al Qaida.<br /><br /><u> Pakistan</u><br /><br />"<em> We have a clear and focused goal: to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan</em>." <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29898698/"> Barack Obama</a>. Obama has now taken on the Bush administration’s mantle, <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html"> continuing </a> the war in Pakistan. America’s 3rd war in Pakistan was not mentioned in Obama’s recent "two war" <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/21/obama-administration-guantanamo-interrogation"> address </a> to the National Archives; nor is the 3rd war mentioned by US spokespeople. As if this war doesn’t exist.<br /><br /><u> Iran </u>: It would be worth exploring the funding/hiring source for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jundallah"> Jundallah</a>, recently accused of bombing a mosque in Iran and an attack [regime change?] on Iran’s president [see below].<br /><br /><br />NUCLEAR WEAPONS<br /><br /><u> Afghanistan </u>: Bush said threats by Osama bin Laden to use weapons of mass destruction must be taken <a href="http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/11/06/gen.attack.on.terror/"> seriously</a>.<br /><br /><u> Iraq </u>: <a href="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/wariniraq/colinpowellunsecuritycouncil.htm"> General Colin Powell </a>, Address to the United Nations Security Council; <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/sep/24/iraq.uk1"> “The” Dossier</a>: Iraq close to building nuclear weapons (24.10.02. Guardian)<br /><br />Iraq’s nuclear weapons did not exist.<br /><br /><u> Pakistan</u>: Pakistan has <a href="http://israelifacts.blogspot.com/2007/05/list-of-countries-with-nuclear-weapons.html"> 25-30 nuclear weapons </a>. The US, to manufacture consent for its 3rd war, started <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/14/plan-pakistan-teeters-falling-taliban/"> agitating </a>about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons on 14 May 2009, combining this threat with that of the Taliban.<br /><br /><u> ? War 4 in Iran </u>: Both Bush and Obama have been manufacturing consent for war on Iran, citing <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/iran-no-change-for-obama.html"> nuclear weapons</a>.<br /><br /><br />OIL / GAS. In ALL these US wars, Bush-Obama have failed to mention the US agenda of <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/03/pnac-rebuilding-americas-defenses.html"> “special interests”</a>: OIL, GAS and pipelines.<br /><br /><u> Afghanistan </u>: <a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov2001/afgh-n20.shtml"> US planned war in Afghanistan long before September 11 </a> (20.11.01. WSWS)<br /><br /><u> Iraq</u>: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/iraq-oil-vultures-are-waiting.html"> Iraq Oil: The Vultures are Waiting </a> (09.10.07, Index Research - updated)<br /><br /><u> Pakistan </u>: (see section 2, below)<br /><br /><u> Iran </u>: <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/oil.htm">Iran's Oil reserves fourth largest in the world </a> following the end of hostilities in 1989. (Global security)<br /><br /><br />DIVIDE AND RULE: ‘Balkanisation‘ has taken place in Afghanistan, Iraq and now <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article22681.htm"> Pakistan </a>. Walls and barbed wire, reminiscent of Communist Russia, are now worldwide symbols of “democracy and freedom.” See Divide and Rule (Wikipedia)<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=" org="" wiki="" divide_and_rule=""> here </a>.<br /><br /><br />FEAR MONGERING: The above factors lead the US government to psychological “Fear mongering” the public into accepting America’s policy directions. Fear mongering was a strategy at which ex-VP Cheney excelled. The Obama administration has continued fear mongering. "National Security" is usually invoked.<br /><br />The above policies have resulted in:<br /><br />REFUGEES<br /><br /><u> Afghanistan </u>: <a href="http://www.austcare.org.au/ourwork/countries/afghanistan.aspx"> 2006: 2.1 million (UNHCR)</a>; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghan_refugees"><br />1.7 million </a> registered Afghans still remain in Pakistan March 2009,<br /><br /><u> Iraq </u>: <a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/SouadAlAzzawi_Numbers.htm"> 2 Million Displaced Iraqis inside of Iraq </a>; 3 Million Iraqis forced to leave the country. (26.03.09. BRussels Tribunal, Let the Numbers Speak)<br /><br /><u> Pakistan </u>: <a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-number-of-displaced-persons-exceeds-three-million--il--09%20"> 3.4 million refugees</a> (30.05.09. Dawn)<br /><br /><br />CIVILIAN DEATHS<br /><br /><u> Afghanistan</u>: Karzai has always been, and is still, complaining about <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/rumsfelds-renegade-unit-blamed-for-afghan-deaths-1685704.html"> Afghan civilians murdered by American airstrikes</a>, including the most recent in <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22603.htm"> Farah Province </a>, where 140 were killed, including 93 children. No records have been kept of the total number of dead civilians.<br /><br /><u> Iraq </u>: <a href="http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/1-over-one-million-iraqi-deaths-caused-by-us-occupation/"> Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation </a><br /><br />“<em>We don’t do body counts</em>.” <a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Tommy_Franks"> US General Tommy Franks </a>.<br /><br /><u> Pakistan </u>: Censorship. No count made.<br /><br /><br />LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY<br /><br /><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/05/us-must-do-more-to-prevent-war-crimes.php"> US must do more to prevent war crimes: UN rapporteur </a> (29.05.09. JURIST)<br /><br /><br />NO CLEAR EXIT STRATEGY: In <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/04/obamas-iraq-no-change.html"> Iraq </a> there is a lack of a <em>clear</em> exit strategy. There are also no U.S. exit strategies for Afghanistan and Pakistan.<br /><br /><br /><a id="2000"></a><div style="text-align: center;">2. Gas in Pakistan</div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/gas_pipelines.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 462px; height: 338px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/gas_pipelines.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/gas_pipelines.jpg"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Present and Future Natural Gas Pipelines </span></a></div><br /><br /><br />"<em>No matter what political reasons are given for war, the underlying reason is always economic</em>."<a href="http://www.antiwar.com/quotes.php"> A. J. P. Taylor</a>.<br /><br /><em> Nothing of significance takes place in Eurasia without an energy angle</em><br /><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175050"> Pepe Escobar </a>, 'Welcome to Pipelineistan'.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/opinion/13iht-edacohen.html?_r=1&ref=global">Bye Bye, Eurasian Pipelines?</a></b><br />12.05.09. Ariel Cohen, NY Times Op Ed. the United States and Europe should not lose sight of the strategic importance of Eurasian pipelines. At stake is access to an energy treasure-trove worth up to $4 trillion, and giant fields elsewhere are approaching exhaustion. And the pipelines are a critical source of revenue for the economic development of newly independent states in Central Asia and the Caucasus.<br /><br /><u>TAPI PIPELINE IN PAKISTAN</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/afg_pipeline.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 392px; height: 451px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/afg_pipeline.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/afg_pipeline.jpg"> <span style="font-size:85%;">TAPI Pipeline (1)</span></a></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/pipelines.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 502px; height: 337px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/pipelines.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/pipelines.jpg">TAPI pipeline (2)</a></span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afghanistan-the-true-story.blogspot.com/2008/06/pipeline-opens-new-front-in-afghan-war.html">Pipeline opens new front in Afghan war</a></b><br />10.06.08. Shawn McCarthy, Globe and Mail. Afghanistan and three of its neighbouring countries have agreed to build a $7.6-billion (U.S.) pipeline that would deliver natural gas from Turkmenistan to energy-starved Pakistan and India – a project running right through the volatile Kandahar province. … In a report to be released Thursday, energy economist John Foster says the pipeline is part of a wider struggle by the United States to counter the influence of Russia and Iran over energy trade in the region.<br /><br />The so-called Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline has <u>strong support from Washington</u> because the U.S. government is <u>eager to block a competing pipeline that would bring gas to Pakistan and India from Iran</u>. (see photo, below).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://uskowioniran.blogspot.com/2007/10/turkmenistan-gas-pipeline-replacing.html">Turkmenistan Gas Pipeline Replacing Iran Pipeline</a></b><br />11.10.08. US kowioniran. TAPI will replace Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) proposed pipeline. India boycotted a critical meeting in Tehran earlier this month to sign the IPI agreement. India’s decision to choose TAPI over IPI will be a major defeat for the Iranians. (see IPI photo below)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C14%5Cstory_14-5-2009_pg7_16">Govt to reactivate TAPI gas pipeline project</a></b><br />14.05.09. daily times.pk. The government has decided to reactivate the multi-billion-dollar Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project, and is considering taking 25 percent of the total amount from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for this purpose. / According to a senior official of the Ministry of Petroleum, a tripartite agreement was signed by Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan in December 2002 for laying hundreds of kilometres of gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp05202009.html">Courting Hekmatyar</a></b><br />20.05.09. Gary Leupp, Counterpunch. … … / The point is, very powerful forces in the U.S. see the [TAPI] gas pipeline as the whole purpose for being in Afghanistan. They may not care who’s in charge of Afghanistan, what sort of law they implement or what costume they make women wear. If their goal can be met without an endless counter-insurgency war taking heavier tolls by the year, so much the better.<br /><br /><br /><u><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balochistan_%28Pakistan%29"> Balochistan</a></u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/images/dalbandin_overview.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 616px; height: 698px;" src="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/images/dalbandin_overview.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/images/dalbandin_overview.jpg"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Balochistan US airbase (global security)</span></a></div><br /><br />“<em> Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the Bush administration used its “for us or against us” doctrine ro force dictatorships in Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to surrender sovereignty and to permit construction of what the Pentagon hoped would become permanent U.S. military bases. … These were designed not only to keep the (repressive) peace within the region, but to augment the encirclement of both China and Iran.” </em> <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bases-Empire-Struggle-Transnational-Institute/dp/0745328326/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242727129&sr=1-1"> The Bases of Empire</a>, (Joseph Gerson (chapter 1, p. 62), edited by Catherine Lutz, Pluto Press, December 2008.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-balochistan-apc--il--05">Balochistan APC</a></b><br />23.05.09. Dawn Editorial. Promises abound when it comes to addressing the problems faced by Balochistan. / … Balochistan is poor when it should be rich. It has a relatively small population and <u>vast reserves of fossil fuels and precious metals such as gold and copper</u>. The province has been exploited ruthlessly, if not pillaged, by the centre. It has been on the receiving end of brutal military crackdowns, torture and forced ‘disappearances.’<br /><br /><b><a href="http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KE09Df03.html">Balochistan is the ultimate prize</a></b><br />09.05.09. Pepe Escobar, Asia Times. Part 2 of <u>Rebranding the Long War</u>. It's a classic case of calm before the storm. The AfPak chapter of Obama's brand new OCO ("Overseas Contingency Operations"), formerly GWOT ("global war on terror") does not imply only a surge in the Pashtun Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). A surge in Balochistan as well may be virtually inevitable. / An immense desert comprising almost 48% of Pakistan's area, rich in uranium and copper, potentially very rich in oil. … / Washington's dream scenario is Gwadar as the new Dubai - while China would need Gwadar as a port and also as a base for pumping gas via a long pipeline to China. … / To top it all, there's the New Great Game in Eurasia fact that Pakistan is a key pivot to both NATO and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), of which Pakistan is an observer. So <u> whoever "wins" Balochistan incorporates Pakistan as a key transit corridor to either Iranian gas from the monster South Pars field or a great deal of the Caspian wealth of "gas republic" Turkmenistan</u>. … /<br /><br />And it's no secret to anyone in the region that since 9/11 the US virtually controls the Baloch air base [see photo above] in <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/dalbandin.htm"> Dalbandin </a> and Panjgur.<br /><br />How crucial Balochistan is to Washington can be assessed by the study <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB853.pdf"> "Baloch Nationalism and the Politics of Energy Resources: the Changing Context of Separatism in Pakistan" </a> by Robert Wirsing of the US Army think-tank Strategic Studies Institute. Predictably, it all revolves around Pipelineistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/16-balochistan-and-the-centre-hs-02">Balochistan and the centre</a></b><br />18.05.09. Dawn Editorial. The past week has seen at least four statements by senior politicians regarding the situation that has been festering in Balochistan for decades.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/05/23/french-tourist-kidnapped-in-pakistan/">French tourist kidnapped in Pakistan</a></b><br />23.05.09. AP. A Pakistani police official told The Associated Press the French tourist was taken at gunpoint from a village in the southern Baluchistan province.<br /><br /><br /><u>IPI GAS PIPELINE PROJECT</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/ipi.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 391px; height: 380px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/ipi.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/ipi.jpg"> <span style="font-size:85%;">IPI<br />Gas Pipeline Project </span></a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=194528">Iran, Pakistan explore ways to boost economic ties</a></b><br />14.05.09. Tehran Times. Pakistan views Iran’s energy as a source for its economic development. Currently the most important project for the extension of Iran-Pakistan economic ties is the completion of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, known as the IPI gas pipeline project.<br /><br /><em> conflicting conference stories </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/05/15/world/worldwatch/entry5017134.shtml"><br />Pakistan's Zardari Cancels Trip To Iran </a> 15.05.09. CBS. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> questionable reasons smelling of PR given</span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=194829">Tehran, Islamabad to finalize Peace Pipeline deal next week</a></b><br />18.05.09. Tehran times. The Mehr News Agency quoted Hojjatollah Ghanimifard as saying that a Pakistani delegation headed by Pakistani Federal Minister of Petroleum and Natural Resources Asim Hussain is to arrive in Tehran on May 23 to finalize the Peace Pipeline deal based on the new price formula suggested by Iran and approved by Pakistan’s cabinet on April 10. / … The Iran–Pakistan–India gas pipeline, also known as the IPI pipeline or the Peace Pipeline, is a proposed 2,775-kilometer pipeline to deliver natural gas from Iran to Pakistan and India. … The negotiations over the project were initiated in 1994 but there are still several obstacles to closing the three-way deal due to tension between India and Pakistan<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hx_Vo9xI4INTuZ0hYjbNGA3JNTTQ">Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan summit postponed</a></b><br />18.05.09. AFP. The summit, scheduled for Tuesday, was put off due to the busy programme of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi told reporters. He did not give any new date for the summit, but said it will be fixed after "co-ordination" with the offices of the two other presidents [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> & the US govn </span>].<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/14-iran-summit-with-zardari-and-karzai-on-sunday-zj-04">Iran summit with Zardari and Karzai on Sunday</a></b><br />22.05.09. Dawn. A delayed summit hosted by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts will now go ahead in Tehran on Sunday, diplomatic sources said. / … Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said that the summit would be held in Tehran at ‘the beginning of the coming week,’ without specifying the day. Saturday is the beginning of the week in Iran.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C22%5Cstory_22-5-2009_pg7_36">Pak delegation leaves for Iran to discuss gas pipeline project</a></b><br />22.05.09. Daily Times, pk. The delegation consists of Sabri, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited Managing Director Rashid Lone, Inter-State Gas Company Managing Director Hassan Nawab and other senior officials of the ministry. / Sabri said the Petroleum Ministry had already gotten approval of the federal cabinet to negotiate with Iranian authorities the price of gas to be imported through the gas line.<br /><br /><em> Gas Supply Agreement </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200905182221.htm"> 'Pak, Iran will sign gas supply agreement next month'</a> (18.05.09. hindu.com)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://pakobserver.net/200905/21/news/topstories02.asp">Crucial talks in Tehran tomorrow; Pakistan, Iran may ink gas price deal</a></b><br />21.05.09. Shah Hasan, Pak Observer. “Both sides, according to the sources, are hopeful to seal the gas price deal this time as federal cabinet of Pakistan has already given the mandate to Mi istry of petroleum and Natural Resources to sign the much awaited deal even at 80 percent of the crude oil price as desired by the Iranian authorities,” a senior official at Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources told Pakistan Observer.<br /><br />India’s IPI participation, in greater detail:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/Iran-Pakistan-India.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 360px; height: 318px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/Iran-Pakistan-India.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Pakistan-India_gas_pipeline"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Iran–Pakistan–India gas pipeline (wikipedia)</span></a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95350&sectionid=351020101%E2%80%9D">India’s IPI participation, in greater detail: Zardari to attend Iran-hosted summit</a></b><br />20.05.09. press tv.ir. The visit will take place on May 24, Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told IRNA Tuesday. / He added that Zardari would also hold talks with senior Iranian officials on ways to improve relations and economic cooperation, border security and a <u>gas pipeline agreement</u>.<br /><br /><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINDAH53144420090525"> UPDATE 1-India can still join Iran-Pakistan gas deal – Iran </a> (25.05.09, Reuters)<br /><br /><em> <a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KE27Df03.html"> more on India </a></em> (27.05.09):<br /><br />While India maintains that only issues over the IPI pipeline project are pricing and its commercial viability, Pakistan accuses India of adopting delaying tactics in signing a gas sales purchase agreement involving Iran, Pakistan and India. Iran has also got tired of waiting for New Delhi to come to terms on the proposed IPI project and last year it warned that China was eager to step in on the deal in India's place.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Energy/Local-oil-cos-caught-in-US-Iran-tug-of-war/articleshow/4586582.cms"> Local oil cos caught in US-Iran tug-of-war</a></b><br />28.05.09. economic times.India times. Indian energy firms are finding themselves at the receiving end of the US government’s efforts to isolate Iran, with the US Senate<br />recently passing a Bill advocating action against firms that have commercial ties with Iran.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/business/09-iran-pakistan-sign-gas-pipeline-deal-media-szh--07">Pakistan, Iran finally sign gas pipeline accord</a></b><br />24.05.09. Dawn. After fourteen years of delayed negotiations over the Iran–Pakistan–India (IPI) gas pipeline project, Pakistan and Iran have finally signed the initial agreement in Tehran on Sunday. / … ‘The next phase was to sign the gas sales purchase agreement with Iran,’ member of the delegation told Dawn. / ‘Pakistan has already appointed a German designer is ‘ILF’ for the pipeline,’ petroleum ministry sources said, adding that the pipeline would enter Pakistan from its border near Gwader area to Nawabshah, which is the hub of gas pipelines in the country. / <b>The IPI project was conceived in 1995 and after almost 13 years India finally decided to quit the project in 2008 despite a severe energy crises in that country. Pakistan is also facing severe criticism from the US over any kind of economic deal with Iran</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C25%5Cstory_25-5-2009_pg1_1">Trade and transit of goods get special attention : Pakistan, Iran sign ‘peace pipeline’ declaration</a></b><br />25.05.09. Daily Times, pk. Some 1,100 of the 2,100 kilometre pipeline would be laid in Iran’s territory and 1,000 kilometres in Pakistan. / Foreign Office Spokesman Abdul Basit said Iran would supply 23 million cubic metre gas per day for 25 years under the agreement, adding the agreement could be extended for an additional five years.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/business/13+final+deal+on+gas+pipeline+in+3+weeks+iran-za-10"> Final deal on gas pipeline in three weeks: Iran </a> (26.05.09. Dawn)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KE27Df03.html">Pakistan, Iran sign gas pipeline deal</a></b><br />27.05.09. Syed Fazl-e-Haider, Asia Times. Officials from Pakistan on Sunday finally signed a gas pipeline accord with Iran, without India's participation, after 14 years of on-off negotiations over what <u>was</u> initially framed as the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KE29Df02.html">Pipelineistan goes Iran-Pak</a></b><br />29.05.09. Pepe Escobar, Asia Times. The earth has been shaking for a few days now all across Pipelineistan - with massive repercussions for all the big players in the New Great Game in Eurasia. United States President Barack Obama's AfPak strategists didn't even see it coming. / A silent, reptilian war had been going on for years between the US-favored Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline and its rival, the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline, also known as the "peace pipeline". This past weekend, <u>a winner emerged. And it's none of the above: instead, it's the 2,100-kilometer, <b>US$7.5 billion IP (the Iran-Pakistan pipeline), with no India attached</b></u>.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i6-iLT_b3Nu1fKk-eeO0vtD1tgnQ">Gazprom eyes role in Iran-Pakistan pipeline</a></b><br />27.05.09. AP. "We are ready to join the project as soon as we receive an offer," Russia's deputy energy minister Anatoly Yankovsky told the [Kommersant] daily.<br /><br /><u> Other projects in Pakistan </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090516/BUSINESS/905169993/-1/NEWS">UAE companies eye projects in Pakistan</a></b><br />16.05.09. the national.ae. he Abu Dhabi Group may invest up to US$600 million (Dh2.2 billion) in a power plant project in Pakistan and is considering further investments in the energy sector.<br /><br /><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C19%5Cstory_19-5-2009_pg7_35">Anne Patterson: ‘ambassador to Pakistan’s economy’</a> (19.05.09. Daily Times. - ‘democracy’s' busy bee -)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C20%5Cstory_20-5-2009_pg3_2">ANALYSIS: The transit trade controversy</a></b><br />20.05.09. Ijaz Hussain, Daily times pk. The Memorandum of Understanding on transit trade that the Gilani government recently signed with the Afghan government in Washington is proving to be a hot potato. [discussion of controversy of MoU agreement]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/13+bids+invited+for+bhasha+dam--za-09">International bids invited for Bhasha dam</a></b><br />22.05.09. Dawn. Talking to newsmen, Farhatulah Babar said the offer contained an incentive clause for early completion of the project. / Three <u>Chinese</u> companies had already expressed interest in the project. He said the feasibility study had been offered to Chinese companies.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/business/09-iran-to-provide-gwadar-port-100mw-free-of-cost-szh--05">Iran to provide Gwadar Port 100MW free of cost</a></b><br />22.05.09. Bakhtawar Mian, Dawn. Iran has allocated a separate budget for supplying 100 megawatt electricity free of cost to Gwadar Port in Pakistan in order to ease the growing power crisis there. / The Minister said that Pakistan and Iran shared a long history of friendly relations and underscored the need to enhance mutual cooperation in various sectors of economy. He said that Pakistan was working to develop new communication links with Iran in order to increase its share of trade with the latter. / He informed the Ambassador that a new road connection with Iran through Makran Coastal Highway will be opened soon which he hoped will go a long way in bringing the people of the two countries closer together.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KE27Df03.html">China pipeline? </a><br /><br />China and Pakistan are already working on a proposal for laying a trans-Himalayan pipeline to carry Middle Eastern crude oil to western China. Pakistan provides China the shortest possible route to import oil from the Gulf countries. Even so, passage over the Himalayas would be an expensive and challenging engineering feat, and once the oil reached China it would have to be shipped thousands of kilometers further east to coastal areas, where most energy demand is centered. / The pipeline, which would run from the southern Pakistan port of <u>Gwadar</u> and follow the Karakoram highway, would be partly financed by Beijing. <u>The Chinese are also building a refinery at Gwadar</u>. Imports using the pipeline would allow Beijing to reduce the portion of its oil shipped through the narrow and unsafe Strait of Malacca, which at present carries up to 80% of its oil imports. Islamabad also plans to extend a railway track to China to connect it to Gwadar.<br /><br /><em> History in Afghanistan </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/nov2001/afgh-n20.shtml">US planned war in Afghanistan long before September 11</a></b><br />20.11.01. Patrick Martin, WSWS. The major problem in exploiting the energy riches of Central Asia is how to get the <u>oil and gas from the landlocked region to the world market</u>. US officials have opposed using either the Russian pipeline system or the easiest available land route, across Iran to the Persian Gulf. Instead, over the past decade, US oil companies and government officials have explored a series of alternative pipeline routes—west through Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to the Mediterranean; east through Kazakhstan and China to the Pacific; and, most relevant to the current crisis, south from Turkmenistan across western Afghanistan and Pakistan to the Indian Ocean. … / With the installation of George Bush in the White House, the focus of American policy in Afghanistan shifted from a limited incursion to kill or capture bin Laden to preparing a more robust military intervention directed at the Taliban regime as a whole.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/energy/100103238-1-majors-look-first-afghan-oil%252C.html">Majors look into first Afghan oil, gas bidding round</a></b><br />17.05.09. alibaba. ….. / Last April Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India signed an agreement for a $7.6 billion pipeline to bring natural gas south from the Caspian to the Arabian Sea.<br /><br />"Seven years ago, Iran co-operated with the US in its war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. That was before being labelled by the Bush administration as part of a so-called "axis of evil." Since then, the security situation in Afghanistan has only deteriorated. Washington has signaled it will have to engage Tehran to stabilise a country that <u>some observers say has become a battleground for the US - Iran rivalry</u>. From Kabul, Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reports." VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MllRkOW5lT4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Euruknet%2Ede%2F%3Fs1%3D1%26p%3D54528%26s2%3D26&feature=player_embedded"> Iran-US role in Afghanistan - 24 May 09 </a><br /><br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>3. Strategic Imperatives</b></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KE08Df02.html">Obama does his Bush impression </a></b><br />08.05.09, Pepe Escobar, Asia Times, Part 1 of <u> Rebranding the Long War</u>. In Obama's own words, the "lasting commitment" is above all to "defeat al-Qaeda". [also about Obama’s opium war in Afghanistan]<br /><br />In Pakistan, “The final song, of course, remains the same: the Pentagon running the show, very tight with the Pakistani army.” .. "We want to respect their sovereignty, <u>but</u> we also recognize that we have huge strategic interests, huge national security interests in making sure that Pakistan is stable and that you don't end up having a nuclear-armed militant state." … / Pakistani "sovereignty" is a joke; <b>Pakistan is now openly being run from Washington</b>. … In this complex neo-colonial scenario Pakistan's "Talibanization" - the current craze in Washington - looks and feels more like a diversionary scare tactic.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54094&s2=10">Thoughts On The War Between The USA And Pakistan </a></b><br />08.05.09. Winter Patriot, uruknet. Signs and omens, suddenly everywhere, tell us war between the USA and Pakistan is imminent... The signs are misleading. War between the US and Pakistan is not imminent. It's ongoing. So far the US has made more than 60 airstrikes against Pakistan using unmanned aircraft, and one commando raid using ground troops and attack helicopters. These attacks have killed more than 700 people, and even the most "optimistic" government reports count only 14 al Qaeda leaders among the dead...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54178&s2=13">Obama’s Middle East Imperialism</a></b><br />11.05.09. Shamus Cooke, uruknet. The velvet gloves are off and the reality of Obama’s Middle East plans are being revealed: a bare-fisted pummeling of Afghanistan and Pakistan — with Iraq’s fate yet to be determined. The media have been preparing this for months, with incessant talk about the alleged "troop drawdown" in Iraq, the "surge" in Afghanistan and the "immediate threat" that supposedly is represented by Pakistan. It’s now crystal clear that zero "change" will be forthcoming when it comes to U.S. foreign policy, minus a strategic shifting of troops. This fact was highlighted recently when Obama asked for an additional $83.4 billion in "emergency spending" to fight the Iraq/Afghan/Pakistan wars. It must be noted that so-called "emergency funds" were precisely the avenue Bush chose to fight his wars, enabling him to skirt the already-gigantic military budget...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2009/05/200951281757493843.html">The battle for the soul of Pakistan</a></b><br />12.05.09. Riz Khan, al jazeera. When Pakistan was founded in 1947, it was dubbed "the Islamic state experiment".<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/empire/2009/04/2009430131311544246.html"> Obama's new 'AFPAK' mission </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.daily.pk/world/americas/10044-using-al-qaeda-myth-from-bush-to-obama-an-excuse-for-permanent-war.html">Using Al-Qaeda Myth From Bush to Obama: An Excuse for Permanent War</a></b><br /> 13.05.09. Daily.pk. President Barack Obama said in several speeches that the US war in Afghanistan and Pakistan aims at defeating Al-Qaeda. / The same rhetoric was used by the Bush administration to justify the 2003 US invasion and occupation of Iraq, its global war on Muslim activists dubbed "war on terror," and tightening its grip on power in the United States in favor of the beneficiaries of the military-industrial-Zionist complex.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22600.htm">"We Are Helping The Taliban"</a></b><br />13.05.09. Ron Paul. Video and Transcript. Very little has changed, except perhaps rhetoric, but what does that matter when the bombing missions are only getting deadlier? Rather than drawing down violent military interventions into the affairs of other countries, <b>the new administration is escalating the foreign policy of the previous administration</b>.<br /><br />In Pakistan that entails the continuation and even escalation of military interventionism just across the border with Afghanistan. The targets are believed to be enclaves of Taliban militants, however, many innocent civilians have been caught in the deadly crossfire, severely damaging our image in the region. Many ordinary Afghanis and Pakistanis that never had cause to take up arms against us are being provided with motivation as family and friends are killed and maimed by our clumsy and indiscriminate bombs. Is it worth it for us to be involved in this way at such a high cost of blood, treasure and goodwill? Is there anything to be gained by this policy?<br /><br />We are helping the Taliban and other enemies to actually gain numbers and strength, while driving them down from the mountains in the border regions deeper into Pakistan... / Both the House and Senate have newly introduced bills to triple foreign aid to Pakistan, from $500 million to $1.5 billion, with every indication that the leadership in Pakistan is taking advantage of the situation with the Taliban to milk more aid from the US taxpayer. We are broke. This is money we don’t have, and <b>it is an insult to the American people to run up the national credit card for this type of military adventurism after many Americans thought they were voting for peace</b>.<br /><br />The bottom line is our involvement in Pakistan’s internal problems is not making us safer.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090517/india_nm/india396810">ANALYSIS - Pakistan's Swat offensive leaves India sceptical</a></b><br />17.05.09. Reuters. Pakistan's military offensive against the Taliban in the Swat valley has done nothing to allay Indian doubts about its willingness to crack down more widely on Islamist militants, analysts say. / That leaves both countries vulnerable to a flare-up of tensions still simmering after last November's attack on Mumbai which could torpedo the U.S. administration's plans for Afghanistan and Pakistan. / It also <u>complicates U.S. efforts to coax Pakistan into moving troops from its eastern border with India</u> to fight the Taliban on its western border with Afghanistan.<br /><br /><em> ‘Manufacturing Consent’, Cheney style, for US Martial Law</em><br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090517/ts_alt_afp/usattackssecuritytransport"> Huge New York rehearsal for next terror strike </a> (17.05.09. AFP)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/437864/yet_another_bogus_terror_plot?rel=hp_picks">Yet Another Bogus 'Terror' Plot</a></b><br />22.05.09. Robert Dreyfus, The Nation. By the now, it's maddeningly familiar. A scary terrorist plot is announced. Then it's revealed that the suspects are a hapless bunch of ne'er-do-wells or run-of-the-mill thugs without the slightest connection to any terrorists at all, never mind to Al Qaeda. Finally, the last piece of the puzzle: the entire plot is revealed to have been cooked up by a scummy government agent-provocateur.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/opinion/17rich-5.html"> Obama Can’t Turn the Page on Bush </a> (17.05.09. Frank Rich, Op Ed NY Times)<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u> Appointments </u><br /><br />HOLBROOKE<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/us/17iht-letter18web.html">Holbrooke Is the Right Man to Steer Pakistan and Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.05.09. NY Times. Al Qaeda and the Islamic terrorists are on the march in both countries. Afghanistan has a weak government rife with corruption; Pakistan has a military-intelligence apparatus more focused on India than the much more real threat of terrorism. It’s a country with millions of refugees, and it has nuclear weapons. / That’s just the sort of assignment Richard C. Holbrooke relishes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.currentconcerns.ch/index.php?id=784">Warmongers Have Been Setting the Tone for 10 Years now!</a></b><br />No 9/10 2009. Willy Wimmer, Current Concerns. The appointment of Richard Holbrooke as the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan by President Obama was a clear signal. After experiences with Mr Holbrooke prior to and during the war in Yugoslavia we are justified to say: Wherever Richard Holbrooke is to be found there is war. / [justifications] have one single objective, namely to occupy the public’s attention until the real target set by US American policy has been accomplished. … / .. With his coup à la Holbrooke President Obama has at least decided on the extension of the South Asian war area from Afghanistan to Pakistan.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/01/us/politics/web01holbrooke.html?_r=1"> Obama Sends Envoy to Pakistan Refugee Camps </a> (31.05.09. NY Times)<br /><br />McCHRYSTAL<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/140068/cheney%27s_chief_assassin_is_now_obama%27s_commander_in_afghanistan/">Cheney's Chief Assassin Is Now Obama's Commander in Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.05.09. James Petras, Axis of Logic / alternet. The deteriorating position of the US is manifest in the tightening circle around all the roads leading in and out of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul as well as the expansion of Taliban control and influence throughout the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Obama’s inability to recruit new NATO reinforcements means that the White House’s only chance to advance its military driven empire is to escalate the number of US troops and to increase the kill ratio among any and all suspected civilians in territories controlled by the Afghan armed resistance. / The White House and the Pentagon claim that the appointment of McChrystal was due to the ‘complexities’ of the situation on the ground and the need for a ‘change in strategy’. ‘Complexity’ is a euphemism for the increased mass opposition to the US, complicating traditional carpet ‘bombing and military sweep’ operations. / <b>Putting McChrystal in charge of the expanded Afghanistan-Pakistan military operations means putting a notorious practitioner of military terrorism – the torture and assassination of opponents to US policy – at the center of US foreign policy</b>. Obama’s quantitative and qualitative expansion of the US war in South Asia means massive numbers of refugees fleeing the destruction of their farms, homes and villages; tens of thousands of civilian deaths, and eradication of entire communities. All of this will be committed by the Obama Administraton in the quest to ‘empty the lake (displace entire populations) to catch the fish (armed insurgents and activists)’. / Obama’s restoration of all of the most notorious Bush Era policies and the appointment of Bush’s most brutal commander is based on his total embrace of the ideology of military-driven empire building. Once one believes (as Obama does) that US power and expansion are based on military conquests and counter-insurgency, all other ideological, diplomatic, moral and economic considerations will be subordinated to militarism. Read more about “The Big Muddy” <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175074/the_pressure_of_an_expanding_war"> here </a>.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54355&s2=18">Cloud of Unknowing: Ignorance and Arrogance in the Af-Pak 'Surge'</a></b><br />17.05.09. Chris Floyd, uruknet. ...This genuine nightmare scenario -- Pakistan's proxy-warring against the Pashtuns on behalf of America's energy-driven dominationist policies -- is growing apace. Pakistani military forces are preparing to follow the American leader in an upcoming attack on the largest town in the Swat Valley, ready to turn Mingora into another Fallujah ... But even in the midst of this burning lake of corpses, the murderous beserkers in the Beltway and the Pentagon have the gold-plated gall to criticize the Pakistanis for their "heavy-handedness" in an operation urged on them by -- the Americans! ...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54385&s2=20">Losing Pakistan</a></b><br />18.05.09. Sic Semper Tyrannis, uruknet. The tragedy now unfolding in Pakistan is occurring due the pursuit of shortsighted policies by the United States as well as the Pakistan government and military. The US has pressured Pakistan into engaging in brutal military operations in Bajaur and Swat, with no regard for how this would affect its own vital interests in the region. The Pakistani rulers (bedazzled by the glitter of all those promised billions) have meekly complied in waging war on parts of their own people, again with no thought to the likely outcome for them and their country. The main impact of this has been to the civilian population, some million and a half of whom have been displaced (with many killed and maimed, although no figures for these are yet available).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/12-us-wronged-pakistan-for-30-years-admit-hillary--bi-04">US wronged Pakistan for 30 years, admits Hillary</a></b><br />19.05.09. Anwar Iqbal. Dawn. Hillary Clinton said ‘it is fair to say that our policy towards Pakistan over the last 30 years has been incoherent. I don’t know any other word’.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-20-voa51.cfm">Clinton Says US Losing Media War in Afghanistan, Pakistan</a></b><br />20.05.09. VOA. She told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Wednesday that militants broadcasting from radio equipment on the backs of pickup trucks are threatening and intimidating people. / Secretary Clinton says as a result, the Obama administration is revamping its communications strategy - looking at new ways to directly reach people in areas where militants are active - including on their cell phones. / Clinton says the U.S. must not lose the "information war" in the region, and much do a better job at communicating its values and ideals to Afghans and Pakistanis. / She is <u>seeking $48.6 billion in State Department funding for 2010, a seven percent increase </u> over 2009 funding levels.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article22665.htm">Obama Steers Toward Endless War With Islam</a></b><br />20.05.09. Michael Scheuer, anti-war / ICH. In just over 100 days, President Obama is on the verge of ensuring that militant Islam's war on America will be waged for decades to come and its forces will never suffer manpower or money shortages. How did he accomplish so much in some little time? He simply behaved as all U.S. political leaders behave; that is, as an ignorant and arrogant interventionist.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/16-incoherent-us-policy-hs-02">‘Incoherent’ US policy</a></b><br />21.05.09. Dawn Editorial. Pakistan and the United States have ostensibly been allies since the early days of the Cold War. America has pumped billions into this country in the form of cash and weapons and we, in turn, have readily done its bidding, most notably during the fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. / … Washington’s public criticism of Islamabad’s inaction in the fight against the Taliban did not go down well with Pakistan’s power brokers. Such censure, it was felt, would have been better voiced privately.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175074/the_pressure_of_an_expanding_war">The Pressure of an Expanding War</a></b><br />21.05.09. Tom Engelhardt, Tom Dispatch. Going for Broke: Six Ways the Af-Pak War Is Expanding: 1. Expanding Troop Commitment: 2. Expanding CIA Drone War: 3. Expanding Air Force Drone War: 4. Expanding Political Interference: 5. Expanding War in Pakistan: 6. Expanding Civilian Death Toll and Blowback.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54448&s2=22">Slouching towards balkanization </a></b><br />21.05.09. Pepe Escobar, Asia times / uruknet. Happy Days are here again. It's as if the George W Bush years in Afghanistan had never left, with Washington still wallowing in an intelligence-free environment. A surge is coming to town - just like the one General David Petraeus engineered in Iraq. A Bush proconsul (Zalmay Khalilzad) wants to run the show - again. A hardliner (General Stanley McChrystal) is getting ready to terrorize any Pashtun in sight. A new mega-base is sprouting in the "desert of death" in the s! outhern Afghan province of Helmand. And as in Bush time, no one's talking pipeline, or the (invisible) greatest regional prize: Pakistani Balochistan. / <b> In the long run, Obama's AfPak strategy may acquire its own relentless, volatile momentum of addicting the military in Islamabad to make war on their own people - be they Pashtuns or Balochis. So Washington may in fact be setting the slow but inexorable march towards the balkanization of Pakistan</b>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/polya220509.htm"> UN And US Death Statistics Expose Obama’s Fake War On Terror </a> (22.05.09. Dr Gideon Polya, Countercurrents)<br /><br /><u> The CIA</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://pubrecord.org/commentary/916-the-cias-history-of-bamboozling-the-congress.html">The CIA's History of Bamboozling The Congress </a></b><br />22.05.09. Melvin A. Goodman, public record. There is a long and substantiated record of CIA deceit and dissembling to the congressional intelligence committees. Here are some highlights of that record.<br /><br /><br />"<em><b>We will maintain America's military dominance and keep you the finest fighting force the world has ever seen." </b></em><b></b> B. Obama<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/22/obama-promises-naval-grads-no-wars-without-goals/">Obama Promises Naval Grads: No Wars Without Goals</a></b><br />22.05.09. Jason Ditz, anti-war. Speaking to graduates at the US Naval Academy today, President Barack Obama promised that he would not send them into wars without some sort of reason. Even then, he promised to go in with “the strategy, the well-defined goals, the equipment and the support that you need to get the job done.”<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/us/politics/22obama.text.html?ref=politics"> Text: Obama’s Address at the Naval Academy </a> (22.05.09. NY Times)<br />VIDEO: <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/video-obamas-speech-to-the-naval-academy/"> Obama’s speech at Annapolis</a><br />[<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">what about an exit strategy? </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/12-nato-broadening-its-engagement-with-pakistan-mullen--bi-01">Nato broadening its engagement with Pak</a></b><br />23.05.09. Anwar Iqbal, Dawn. Where I see [US-)Nato going is increasingly toward a broader and more in depth relationship with Pakistan, because of the common interests,’ [Adm. Mullen] told a Senate panel. / .. While Nato is not going to offer membership to Pakistan, diplomatic observers in Washington say that the alliance may offer greater training facilities to Islamabad and may also offer equipment to enhance its counter-insurgency capabilities.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thespec.com/News/BreakingNews/article/569768">Pakistan: A source of great U.S. frustration</a></b><br />23.05.09. Dan Rather, the spec. The closer one looks at the U.S. fight against the Taliban and al-Qaida, the more one appreciates the gap between intentions hatched in Washington and the realities on the ground. Now, as President Obama looks to refocus U.S. strategy, we're seeing once again how the same native forces that often frustrated the Bush administration's efforts can do the same for a new White House security team. / … Our force levels in Afghanistan are rising, but in Pakistan we must continue to rely primarily on the desultory efforts of the Pakistani military, supplemented by covert CIA and U.S. military efforts.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22730">Pakistan on the Brink</a></b><br />23.05.09. Ahmed Rashid, Guardian Review / June NY Review Books. Pakistan is close to the brink, perhaps not to a meltdown of the government, but to a permanent state of anarchy, as the Islamist revolutionaries led by the Taliban and their many allies take more territory, and state power shrinks. There will be no mass revolutionary uprising like in Iran in 1979 or storming of the citadels of power as in Vietnam and Cambodia; rather we can expect a slow, insidious, long-burning fuse of fear, terror, and paralysis that the Taliban have lit and that the state is unable, and partly unwilling, to douse. Sections: The Current Crisis; Who are the Pakistani Taliban?; The Army and Politics. [Very good read]<br /><br /><em> Who is paying this person?</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/24/majid-nawaz-pakistan-death-threats">Former British Islamist faces death threats during lecture tour of Pakistan</a></b><br />24.05.09. Declan Walsh, Guardian. The last time Maajid Nawaz visited Pakistan, he was on a covert mission: to infiltrate the country's universities, persuade the educated elite to join his cause, and lay the foundation for a military coup that would create an Islamic caliphate. / Ten years later he is back on a different kind of mission. Last week about 100 students crowded into a lecture hall at Islamabad's largest university to hear Nawaz, now in a suit and working for a British government-funded organisation, issue a strident denunciation that Islam should be the basis for a country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=NLetter&id=0b99bd69-91d1-45f9-9ec3-e0464de2c086&Headline=China+now+bigger+threat+than+Pakistan%2c+says%26nbsp%3bIAF+chief">China now bigger threat than Pak: IAF chief</a></b><br />25.05.09. Hindustan Times. Taking China's dramatic military expansion seriously, the Indian Air Force chief has said China poses a more real and potent threat to India than Pakistan, which remains caught in a vortex of conflict and instability<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/13+pakistan+to+wipe+out+militants+us+senators+assured-za-09">Pakistan to wipe out militants, US senators assured</a></b><br />26.05.09. Dawn Report. The delegation comprised Patrick Leahy, Mark Warner and Sheldon Whitehouse. [photo]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/us-calls-on-china-to-help-pakistan-fight-militants-20090525-bksv.html">US calls on China to help Pakistan fight militants</a></b><br />26.05.09. smh.au./ICH. The proposal is part of a broad US push to enlist key allies of Pakistan in an effort to stabilise the country. The US is seeking to persuade Pakistan to step up its efforts against militants, while supporting the fragile civilian government and its tottering economy.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=8.iran_summit_vah104.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 235px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=8.iran_summit_vah104.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=8.iran_summit_vah104.jpg">Meeting: Karzai, Ahmadenijad, Zardari</a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54565&s2=26">Iran-Pak-Afghan Alliance?</a></b><br />25.05.09. Khaleej Times/uruknet. As Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadenijad, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed to develop trilateral cooperation on the issues of terrorism, drug trafficking and to boost trade, an important chapter in the history of the three regional states began. / The significance of the meeting draws from the recognition of forging regional alliances to resolve common security threats and socio-economic challenges. Besides, as expected, Ahmadeinjad voiced strong criticism on the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, terming it as the major factor for destabilisation in the region. Despite the scathing attack on foreign intervention from the Iranian president, the US and NATO member states should welcome the formation of a regional bloc, constituting three important states that are directly involved in Afghanistan’s stability. / US President Barack Obama has been pushing for greater regional involvement to help stabilise Afghanistan, including that of Iran. It is learnt that the three leaders have also expressed willingness for other states to participate in future meetings. This would in all probability, be the US, some NATO states and possibly Russia, China and India. Afghanistan continues to hold a pivotal position in US foreign policy and its stabilisation is not only of paramount importance in its immediate vicinity, but also impacts other states in the region, including the Gulf States. {see story above, IPI gas agreement]<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 199px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx2wZsbnO6tIlHe_Qr7jm_vxrmO663Yl5PHvdfihaHyFtxFFOWeuDt_TCjAOljDHcTLvyJbfR_lsyT2bsuaVKiqANVrA_RZG10Su8YTHCpN0YhaAvvf-qYIeUvAXHNO4yJeZEC/s320/agosto_final.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342267294384532578" border="0" /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46978"> U.S. Army Specialist Victor Agosto; Credit:Courtesy of Victor Agosto</a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46978">U.S.: "There's No Way I'm Going to Deploy to Afghanistan"</a></b><br />26.05.09. Dahr Jamail, IPS. "It’s a matter of what I’m willing to live with," Specialist Victor Agosto of the U.S. Army, who is refusing orders to deploy to Afghanistan, explained to IPS. "I’m not willing to participate in this occupation, knowing it is completely wrong." … / Agosto added, "<b>The only way to make them responsive to the needs of the people is if soldiers won’t fight their wars, and if soldiers won’t fight their wars, the wars won’t happen</b>. I hope I’m setting an example for other soldiers."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/05/ap_campbell_suicides_052709/">11 suicides at Campbell trigger stand-down</a></b><br />27.05.09. army times. Regular duties are suspended for three days at Fort Campbell, which leads the Army in suicides this year, so commanders can identify and help soldiers who are struggling with the stress of war and most at risk for killing themselves.<br /><br /><u> Iraq</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/26/pentagon-us-ready-to-keep-troops-in-iraq-for-another-10-years/">Pentagon: US Ready to Keep Troops in Iraq For Another 10 Years</a></b><br />26.05.09. Jason Ditz, anti-war. While US officials have continued to insist that the timetable for removing troops from Iraq remains in place, a growing trend of violence and a delay to Iraq’s national parliamentary elections has led to considerable speculation that the US won’t ultimately abide by the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) deadline to have troops out of the nation by the end of 2011. / That speculation seemed well-founded today, when Army Chief of Staff General George Casey said that the world “remains dangerous and unpredictable” and that his planning envisions leaving combat troops in Iraq for another decade “to fight extremism and terrorism.”<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/052709R">COLONIZING CULTURE</a></b><br />27.05.09. DAHR JAMAIL, Truthout. Sections on <b>Transgress</b>, <b> Transform </b><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><u> Bilderberg</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13738">The Bilderberg Plan for 2009: Remaking the Global Political Economy</a></b><br />26.05.09. Andrew G. Marshall, global research. After the meetings finished, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/True-Story-Bilderberg-Group/dp/0979988624/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243433023&sr=1-1"> Daniel Estulin </a> reported that, “One of Bilderberg’s primary concerns according to Estulin is the danger that their zeal to reshape the world by engineering chaos in order to implement their long term agenda could cause the situation to spiral out of control and eventually lead to a scenario where Bilderberg and the global elite in general are overwhelmed by events and end up losing their control over the planet.”[3] <b> Bilderberg’s Plan in Action?</b>: <em>Reorganizing the Federal Reserve’ ; The IMF as a Global Treasury </em>. List of who was there – royalty, private and central bankers, some of Obama administration, “other notables.”; Appendix 1 & 2<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13759">West Plots To Supplant United Nations With Global NATO</a></b><br />27.05.09. Rick Rozoff, global research. Ten years ago it first became evident to the world that moves were afoot in major Western capitals to circumvent, subvert and ultimately supplant the United Nations, as the UN could not always be counted on to act in strict accordance with the dictates of the United States and its NATO allies.<br /><br /><em> Lest We Forget </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.currentconcerns.ch/index.php?id=787">It Began with a Lie – and the Lie Continues</a></b><br />No 9/10, 2009. Erica Vogeli, Current Concerns. <em> 10 years after the war against Yugoslavia</em>. … Even prior to 9/11, NATO and the West aligned themselves with the US war power, backing ever more exclusively on war propaganda and actual censorship.<br />The situation today is that the West confronts the rest of the world with the intolerable arrogance of warlords and colonial rulers and at the same time is deceiving their own people daily; with arrogance and a rhetoric of lies, which unfortunately culminates in the behavior of the new US-American President. / The larger rest of the world, however, is no longer ready to accept this behavior. Therefore, there is great danger that the West, striving to maintain its past supremacy in the world at any cost, is no longer willing to pursue an honest compromise. It strives for the “final victory”, and thus resorts to ever tougher means to exercise its power. So the worldwide conflicts continue to escalate and political solutions are becoming ever more difficult.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b>REPORT</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/05/pakistan_trip_report.html">Meeting the Challenges in Pakistan</a></b><br />(27.05.09. Lawrence J. Korb, Brian Katulis, Colin Cookman, America Progress. Trip report and recommendations for U.S. policy. Pakistan faces internal instability and violence and is now a top national security concern.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://original.antiwar.com/ali-gharib/2009/05/29/implementing-af-pak/">Discussion of Report: Implementing Af-Pak Strategy Is the Hard Part</a></b><br />30.05.09. anti-war. With the strategic review for U.S. goals in Afghanistan and Pakistan now complete, the administration of President Barack Obama must shift to the more difficult task of choosing and – even more daunting – implementing policies that seek to quell the militant insurgencies in both countries, says a new report from a think-tank known to be close to the administration.<br /><br /><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C27%5Cstory_27-5-2009_pg7_19"> US State Dept lacks people who speak Taliban’s language </a> (27.05.09. Daily Times, pk) so <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/29/AR2009052903054_pf.html"> CIA Announces Push to Improve Agency's Language Proficiency </a> (30.05.09. Washington Post)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/68952.html">Iraq redux? Obama seeks funds for Pakistan super-embassy</a></b><br />27.05.09. McClatchy. The U.S. is embarking on a $1 billion crash program to expand its diplomatic presence in Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan, another sign that the Obama administration is making a costly, long-term commitment to war-torn South Asia, U.S. officials said Wednesday. / The White House has asked Congress for — and seems likely to receive — $736 million to build a new U.S. embassy in Islamabad, along with permanent housing for U.S. government civilians and new office space in the Pakistani capital. / The scale of the projects rivals the giant U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, which was completed last year after construction delays at a cost of $740 million.<br /><br /><u> Another Long War</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090518_the_disease_of_permanent_war/?ln">The Disease of Permanent War</a></b><br />18.05.09. Chris Hedges, Truthdig. The embrace by any society of permanent war is a parasite that devours the heart and soul of a nation. … / Massive military spending in this country, climbing to nearly $1 trillion a year and consuming half of all discretionary spending, has a profound social cost. Bridges and levees collapse. Schools decay. Domestic manufacturing declines. Trillions in debts threaten the viability of the currency and the economy. The poor, the mentally ill, the sick and the unemployed are abandoned. Human suffering, including our own, is the price for victory.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/27/senate-dems-on-pakistan-u_n_208240.html">Senate Dems On Pakistan: U.S. Here To Stay</a></b><br />27.05.09. Huff Post. Look for the United States to be sending resources not only to Afghanistan, but Pakistan and the rest of the region for the foreseeable future, a group of swing Democratic senators said toward the end of their fact-finding trip to the Middle East<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54667&s2=30">US Army chief sees Iraq, Afghanistan occupations continuing for a decade </a></b><br />29.05.09. By Bill Van Auken, uruknet. The chief of staff of the US Army, Gen. George Casey, said this week that the American military is preparing to continue its interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan for at least another decade. In an invitation-only interview Tuesday with selected reporters and think tank representatives, Casey said that the protracted US occupation of the two countries was necessary in order to meet a "sustained US commitment <b>to fighting extremism and terrorism</b> in the Middle East," the Associated Press reported...<br /><br /><em>"Overseas Contingency Operation"</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/05/31/the-war-party-returns/">Behind the Headlines: The War Party Returns</a></b><br />01.06.09. Justin Raimondo, anti-war. … The Pentagon recently issued a diktat to its minions, notifying them that "this administration prefers to avoid using the term ‘Long War’ or ‘Global War on Terror’ [GWOT]. Please use ‘Overseas Contingency Operation.’”one has to note that the Bushian terminology at least had the virtue of honesty. This new crowd, which supposedly disdains all ideology and is devoted to a streamlined, hard-as-nails "pragmatism," is slipperier than a greased-up eel in a frying pan. "Overseas Contingency Operation" indeed! … / In taking a stab at it, however, one is forced to conclude that the term "Long War" is forbidden precisely on account of its accuracy. Whatever contingencies will bring America’s post-9/11 madness to an end lie in the far future. / … <b> The fundamentals of U.S. foreign policy – a policy based on the grandiose delusion that the U.S. can and must retain hegemonic power in the world in order to ensure its own security – haven’t changed a single iota</b>. /What has changed, however, is the willingness of the American people to put up with an "overseas contingency operation" without end.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54640&s2=29">Tales of U.S. Hegemony and Pakistani Government Betrayals</a></b><br />28.05.09. Talha Mujaddidi. Axis of Logic/uruknet. Exccellent in-depth study of problems with maps: Sections: Who Wants Peace: Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP); Zardari's damage to Pakistan; "Af-Pak" - U.S. Imperialist Policy for Afghanistan & Pakistan; Nuclear Weapons; The endgame for U.S in Afghanistan?; U.S plans for Pakistan and a puppet Pakistani government; Glossary.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />DIVIDE AND RULE: <em> WHO is bombing Iran? </em><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/mosque.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 274px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/mosque.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE54R5O320090528">Reuters </a></span></div><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE54R5O320090528"> Blast at mosque in Iran's Zahedan kills 30: report </a> (28.05.09. Reuters)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-bombs30-2009may30,0,5032616.story">Tensions rise in Iran as gunmen attack campaign office</a></b><br />29.05.09. LA Times. A day after a mosque is bombed in Zahedan, gunmen open fire at a campaign office in the city for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Officials blame Sunni militants, who they allege are <u>guided by U.S</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=96389&sectionid=351020101">Iran mosque blast bears 'US, Israel thumbprints'</a></b><br />29.05.09. presstv.ir./ICH. A senior Iranian official says Israel and the US have had a hand in the mosque bombing that shook the southeastern city of Zahedan to its core.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/30/content_11458212.htm">Iran summons Pakistani ambassador over Zahedan mosque bombing</a></b><br />30.05.09. Xinhuanet. In the meeting with Muhammad Bux Abbasi, Iran "strongly voiced its protest at and deep concern about the illegal activities of the terrorist group along the joint borders of Iran and Pakistan," IRNA reported. / It referred to<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jundallah"> Jundallah </a> (God's Soldiers, an armed Sunni Iranian opposition group that is based in Pakistan and claims to be fighting for the rights of Sunni Muslims in Iran. / Jundullah has been identified as a terrorist organization by both Iran and Pakistan and <b>many believe it is linked to the al-Qaida terrorist group. It also allegedly receives support from the U.S. government</b> [* see References, below]. / In the past few years, Iran has often been hit by bombings and armed attacks in its southeastern provinces bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, which the authorities usually blamed on Jundullah.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/world/middleeast/31bombers.html?_r=1&ref=world">Iran Hangs 3 Men Held in Bombing of Mosque</a></b><br />30.05.09. NY Times. A Sunni militant group called Jundullah, meaning God’s Brigade, took responsibility for the attack on its Web site and said it was a suicide bombing. / It also said in a statement on its Web site on Saturday that the three men who were executed had no involvement in the bombing. / Iran says the group is a terrorist organization linked to Al Qaeda and backed by the United States.<br /><br /><em> murky? </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C31%5Cstory_31-5-2009_pg7_5">Jundullah faces US terrorist title</a></b><br />31.05.09. Daily Times, pk. The United States State Department is considering placing Jundullah on its terrorism list to send a conciliatory signal to Iran. / Jundullah has killed scores of Iranian soldiers and border guards since 2003. Most recently it has claimed responsibility for the Thursday suicide bombing in an Iranian mosque that killed 25 and wounded 125. [arguments discussed]<br /><br /><em> (US?) Regime Change </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.arabtimesonline.com/client/pagesdetails.asp?nid=32962&ccid=11"> Gunmen attack Ahmadinejad campaign centre in Zahedan </a> (29.05.09. Arab Times Online)<br /><br /><em> Belated US ‘condolences’ PR</em><br /><br /><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/05/29/us-condemns-bombing-of-iranian-mosque/"> US condemns bombing of Iranian mosque </a>(29.05.09. AP)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22462"> Jundullah a threat to Pak-Iran ties, gas pipeline</a> (01.06.09. the news, int.)<br /><br /><br /><em>Petraeus</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-petraeus-paid-secret-visit-to-islamabad--il--11">Petraeus paid secret visit to Islamabad</a></b><br />29.05.09. Dawn. US Central Command chief Gen David Petraeus paid a secret visit to Islamabad on Tuesday to allay Pakistan’s concerns that the military build-up in Afghanistan by the United States would add to its woes.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aaf2CmgTek4Q&refer=home"> Petraeus Warns of Declining Public Support in Pakistan for US </a> (30.05.09. Bloomberg)<br /><br /><em> Viewpoints</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54686&s2=30">America seeks to destroy Pakistan</a></b><br />29.05.09. Atif Salahuddin, Kashmir Watch / uruknet. .. America itself has failed to control Afghanistan; it badly needs the Pakistan army to conduct this operation to save it's failing occupation of Afghanistan. This operation is designed by the Zardari regime to punish the people of Swat for their support to the fighters who attack the American and NATO supply convoys heading for Afghanistan and for their Pakhtoon brethren across the border who are fighting the American led occupation. By displacing up to a staggering 2.4 million [now <a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-number-of-displaced-persons-exceeds-three-million--il--09"> 3.4</a>] people from the area, the Zardari regime, coupled with the terror of the American drone strikes in the area, has effectively cleansed the area of it's population and thereby sought to increase the security of the American and NATO supply lines. By creating an area free from it's population, the Zardari regime has also created a buffer zone along the Afghan border in order to stem Western losses inside Afghanistan. In the process Zardari has created the biggest humanitarian refugee crisis the world has seen since the Rwanda genocide in 1994 according to the United Nations. With no independent journalists allowed inside the theatre of operation, it is anyone's guess as to how many men, women and children have died, how many have been injured and how many have lost their homes and had their livelihoods destroyed in the process. ..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22735.htm">The Main Result of the "War on Terror": The Destabilization of Pakistan</a></b><br />29.05.09. Gary Leupp, Counterpunch / ICH. So far the principle result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan following the events of 9-11 has been the destabilization of Pakistan. The interests of U.S. imperialism in this case, in the form of regime change in Afghanistan, and the way it was done, have antagonized much of the Pakistani population.<br /><br /><em> Pull the other one? </em><br /><br /><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C31%5Cstory_31-5-2009_pg1_7"> US ‘very sensitive’ to Pakistan’s sovereignty, says Gates </a> (31.05.09. The News, int. )<br /><br /><u> The Drug Trade </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/world_agenda/article6371989.ece">World Agenda: Tehran summit could be a turning point</a></b><br />27.05.09. Times Online. Though it attracted little attention, the meeting on Sunday between the leaders of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan could prove to be a turning point in international efforts to control drug smuggling, defeat the Taleban and stabilise one of the world’s most dangerous regions.<br /><br />VIDEO: Seeds of Terror – 27 May 2009<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yfJEa20pyw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish%2Ealjazeera%2Enet%2Fprogrammes%2Frizkhan%2F2009%2F05%2F200952762353387680%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded"> Part 1</a>; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dsr-awih73E"> Part 2</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/world_agenda/article6371989.ece">World Agenda: Tehran summit could be a turning point</a></b><br />27.05.09. Times Online. Though it attracted little attention, the meeting on Sunday between the leaders of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan could prove to be a turning point in international efforts to control drug smuggling, defeat the Taleban and stabilise one of the world’s most dangerous regions.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2009/06/20096194347147321.html">Pakistan's critical test</a></b><br />01.06.09. Riz Khan, al jazeera. Pakistan has become synonymous with political upheaval, military coups and social unrest. VIDEO: Riz Khan - Pakistan's critical test - 01 June 09: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6adKdn9Y6LM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish%2Ealjazeera%2Enet%2Fprogrammes%2Frizkhan%2F2009%2F06%2F20096194347147321%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded"> Part 1</a>; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsG2MGBs9wA"> Part 2 </a><br /><br /><u> Blowback from Pravda </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.pravda.ru/world/asia/26-05-2009/107625-middle_east-0">USA's enforced democracy plan turns Middle East into one big gaping wound</a></b><br />26.05.09. Pravda.ru. George W. Bush unveiled his plan to spread democracy in the Middle East – from Pakistan to Morocco – in 2004. The United States decided to implement the plan despite the criticism from many other Western countries. The propaganda of democracy resulted in blood shed in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bush did not achieve his goal; Barack Obama has not suggested anything new yet. If the US administration does not change its politics, both the Middle East and the United States will have to face a serious danger.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/29-05-2009/107648-russia_war-0">Russia creates its own version of NATO in Central Asia to be prepared for big war</a></b><br />29.05.09. Pravda. The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) follows the instructions from President Dmitry Medvedev, who ordered to increase the military constituent and develop the coalition force development. A strong military group, which may appear in Central Asia in the nearest future, will make the CSTO become an analogue of NATO. The following post-Soviet countries are included in the treaty: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. / The Russian administration is now working on a much larger project, The Kommersant newspaper wrote. A large group of troops is to be deployed in Central Asia in addition to Russia-Belarus and Russia-Armenia groups, which already exist within the scope of the CSTO. A package of documents has been prepared and will be coordinated with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan soon. / “The work is being conducted in all directions. It will be a <u>purely military structure that will be set up to maintain security in Central Asia in case of attack from the outside</u>,” a source from Russia’s Foreign Ministry said.<br /><br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 4. Demonising The Taliban </b></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/pak_taleb_map.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 431px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/pak_taleb_map.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8047504.stm"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Taliban extending control in northwest (BBC)</span></a></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8047504.stm">Pakistan conflict map</a></b><br />13.05.09. BBC. A map produced by the BBC suggests only 38% of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and surrounding areas is under full government control. … Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari rejected the findings, telling the BBC it was an "incorrect survey".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6221874.ece">Mistrust of the West is stronger in Pakistan than fear of the Taleban</a></b><br />05.05.09. Times Online. The war that has resumed between the Pakistani Army and the Taleban. One of those violent periods is resuming now.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KE01Df01.html">The myth of Talibanistan</a></b><br />01.05.09. Pepe Escobar, Asia Times. Apocalypse Now. Run for cover. The turbans are coming. / So if Islamabad is not burning tomorrow, why the hysteria? There are several reasons. To start with, what Washington - now under Obama's "Af-Pak" strategy - simply cannot stomach is real democracy and a true civilian government in Islamabad; these would be much more than a threat to "US interests" than the Taliban, whom the Bill Clinton administration was happily wining and dining in the late 1990s. … /<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/Ashfaq_Kayani.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 253px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/Ashfaq_Kayani.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/Ashfaq_Kayani.jpg"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Ashfaq Parvez Kayani (wikipedia)</span></a></div><br /><br />So the man of the hour - and the next few hours, days and months - is discreet General <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashfaq_Parvez_Kayani"> Ashfaq Kiani </a>, Benazir's former army secretary. He is very cozy with US military chief Admiral Mike Mullen, and definitely not a Taliban-hugger. / ..<br /><br />The myth of Talibanistan anyway is just a diversion, a cog in the slow-moving regional big wheel - which in itself is part of the new great game in Eurasia.<br /><br />During a first stage - let's call it the <u>branding of evil</u> - Washington think-tanks and corporate media hammered non-stop on the "threat of al-Qaeda" to Pakistan and the US. FATA was branded as terrorist central - the most dangerous place in the world where "the terrorists" and an army of suicide bombers were trained and unleashed into Afghanistan to kill the "liberators" of US/NATO.<br /><br />In the second stage, the new Obama administration accelerated the Predator "hell from above" <u>drone war</u> over Pashtun peasants. Now comes the stage where the soon over 100,000-strong US/NATO troops are depicted as the true liberators of the poor in Af-Pak (and not the "evil" Taliban) - an essential ploy in the new narrative to legitimize Obama's Af-Pak surge.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blog.lefigaro.fr/inde/assets_c/2009/03/Baitullah%20Mehsud%202-thumb-280x390.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 193px; height: 268px;" src="http://blog.lefigaro.fr/inde/assets_c/2009/03/Baitullah%20Mehsud%202-thumb-280x390.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://blog.lefigaro.fr/inde/assets_c/2009/03/Baitullah%20Mehsud%202-thumb-280x390.jpg">Baitullah Mehsud, Le Figaro</a></span></div><br />For all pieces to fall into place, a new uber-bogeyman is needed. And he is TTP leader Baitullah Mehsud, who, curiously, had never been hit by even a fake US drone until, in early March, he made official his allegiance to historic Taliban leader Mullah Omar, "The Shadow" himself, who is said to live undisturbed somewhere around Quetta, in Pakistani <u>Balochistan</u>.<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/03/200939102529353355.html"> Talking to the Taliban </a> (10.05.09. Imran Khan, al jazeera)<br /><br /><em> PR c**p on behalf of US in order for Pakistan to get more US money?</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200951318231992667.html">Taliban wants 'new world order'</a></b><br />[NB: The ‘true’ Taliban have <u>always</u> maintained that they want occupying forces OUT of Af-Pak.]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54216&s2=14">The real vs fake Taliban</a></b><br />13.05.09. Nauman Qaiser, uruknet. This is where the whole problem lies; we haven't, as yet, been able to differentiate between what I call the "real" Taliban who solely focus on fighting the occupation forces in Afghanistan, and the "fake" Taliban, who are working on a hidden agenda of the United States and its ally, India, to disintegrate Pakistan. I call them fake, because it was during Musharraf's nine-year rule, whilst we considered ourselves an American ally, that the secret agencies of United States, India, Britain and Afghanistan established their hold throughout the length and breadth of Pakistan by setting up an extensive espionage network of their own, which recruited and subsequently released thousands of trained operatives garbed in the cloths of "Taliban" into the Pakistani territory....<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54289&s2=17">America Creating 'Talibanization' in Pakistan, Say Arab Media</a></b><br />15.05.09. Jalal Ghazi, uruknet. The specter of a Taliban takeover of Pakistan has been haunting Western media. As the fighting between Pakistani forces and the Taliban intensifies, Arab media are pointing the finger at the United States. The Obama Administration does not understand Pashtun cultural traditions, say the media. It is using force first, just as the Bush administration had done. In fact, the air strikes killing many civilians are actually creating more "Talibanization," say Arab media. / … Arab media, however, regard the collapse of the Swat Valley peace agreement as a catastrophe. Many Arab televisions focused on the suffering of the hundreds of thousands who were forced to flee from the fighting areas to poorly prepared camps lacking food and water. Arab media do not condone the Taliban’s treatment of women, but they see what is happening in the Swat Valley as much bigger than women vs. Taliban.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54315&s2=18">In imperialist 'surge,' Washington pushes Pakistan into war</a></b><br />16.05.09. Mazda Majidi, uruknet. Contrary to the sensationalized stories in the U.S. business media, any breach of agreements was not an indication of their designs to take over all of Pakistan. The notion that the tribal leaders of Swat and South Waziristan, with no conventional military and only light weapons, were intent on occupying all of Pakistan and take over its nuclear arsenal is a fabrication. This fabrication serves the purpose whipping up a frenzy to convince U.S. public opinion of the need to expand its war in the region.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/16-taliban-got-free-hand-under-anp-govt-musharraf-hs-09">Taliban got free hand under ANP govt: Musharraf</a></b><br />17.05.09. Masood Haider, Dawn. Talking to some Pakistani reporters at a hotel here on Friday, Gen (retd) Musharraf rejected a suggestion that Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan had come to the fore during his watch.<br />Related: <a href="http://www.deccanherald.com/content/2794/musharraf-terms-mistake-past-deals.html"> Musharraf terms as 'mistake' past deals with Taliban </a> (16.05.09. deccan herald/anti-war)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-correcting-the-focus--05">Correcting the focus</a></b><br />18.05.09. Imtiaz Gul, Dawn. Almost a dozen countries, the US, Canada, Great Britain and Italy among them — have appointed special envoys to advise on how to steer Pakistan out of the woods. The overriding objective is to protect Pakistan against radical gangs including those inspired by Al Qaeda or Mulla Omar. They want Pakistan’s security establishment to review its threat perception, as enunciated by President Barack Obama. / … The dilemma that Pakistan’s security establishment currently confronts essentially revolves around the ‘perennial threat from the east.’ Its enemy number one remains India. / .. A string of statements by Obama and British premier Gordon Brown shows the two leaders look at the situation altogether differently; for them the Al Qaeda-inspired Talibanisation poses a mortal threat not only to Pakistan but also to the rest of world. What they overlook is that Indian superiority — whether in conventional armament or international stature as the largest emerging economy and the largest democracy — shapes the Pakistani establishment’s threat perception.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/05/18/mackay-pakistan-afghanistan551.html">MacKay to discuss security concerns with Pakistan</a></b><br />18.05.09. CBC. Defence Minister Peter MacKay will travel to Pakistan on Monday to meet with officials over <u>growing concerns about Taliban activity</u> along the country's shared border with Afghanistan.<br /><br /><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/18/pakistan.politics.mobilization/"> Pakistan seeks national support against Taliban</a> (18.05.09. CNN)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-war-against-taliban--04">War against Taliban</a></b><br />21.05.09. Tahir Wasti, Dawn. The battle against the Taliban and extremism will decide the fate of democracy and the future history of Pakistan. Although the Taliban are continuing with their bid to push back the army and create rifts among political parties, there are no signs of demoralisation in the army.<br /><br /><em> Fear Mongering </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE54K66U20090521">U.S. Afghan surge could push militants into Pakistan</a></b><br />21.05.09. Reuters. A U.S. military offensive in southern Afghanistan could push <u>Taliban</u> fighters into Pakistan, whose troops are already struggling to combat militants, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Thursday. / The comments by Admiral Mike Mullen raised the prospect that Pakistan, waging battles with militants [sic] who have forced about 2 million people from their homes, could face even greater turmoil in the months ahead. / The United States is pouring thousands of troops into Afghanistan this year to try to reverse gains by a resurgent [sic] Taliban, particularly in its southern heartland. / Mullen, the most senior U.S. military officer, said the United States had a clear <u>national security</u> interest in taking on the Taliban. / "They want Afghanistan back. We can't let them or their <u>al Qaeda</u> cohorts have it. We can't permit the return of the ... very same safe havens <em>from which the attacks on 9/11 were planned and resourced</em>," Mullen said. / "Yet we can't deny that our success in that regard may only push them deeper into Pakistan," he told the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/22/gates-timing-not-right-for-taliban-reconciliation/">Gates: Timing Not Right for Taliban Reconciliation</a></b><br />22.05.09. Jason Ditz, anti-war. “I think the view of most of us is that until the momentum of the battle turns against the Taliban… that the likelihood of any kind of reconciliation on the part of the leadership of the Taliban is very small,” Secretary Gates said. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">what Gates does not mention is fact that Taliban has refused to negotiate with occupying war mongers</span>.]<br /><br /><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C23%5Cstory_23-5-2009_pg1_1"> Govt to hunt Taliban everywhere: Zardari</a> (23.05.09. Daily Times, pk.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/06-us-troop-surge-to-bring-more-militants-to-pakistan-mullen-rs-08">Next year crucial for war against Taliban: US</a></b><br />23.05.09. Anwar Iqbal, Dawn. In an off the record briefing, which does not allow journalists to identify the briefer, the official said the Obama administration would also <u>continue its predecessor’s reliance on Predator drones</u> and other unmanned vehicles for targeting militants hideouts in Pakistan and Afghanistan. [photo of Mullen]<br /><br /><u> Osama bin Laden </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22708.htm">Osama Bin Laden: Dead Or Alive?</a></b><br />26.05.09. ICH. Tod Fletcher - Review of a new book by David Ray Griffin.<br /><em>The Eight-Year-Long Psychological Operation</em>. Griffin is a crucially important and timely examination of the whole range of evidence bearing on the question, is Osama bin Laden still alive? The importance of this question for the present comes from the fact that the United States under its new president is escalating its offensive in Afghanistan and expanding the war into Pakistan, and has claimed that the “hunt for bin Laden” is one of its principal motivations for doing so. Either explicitly or implicitly, the US government and major media outlets such as The New York Times and Washington Post continue to assert that bin Laden is alive, hiding in the tribal territories on the “AfPak” border, posing an undiminished threat to US security. / In his gripping new book, Griffin strikes at the root of this pretext for war by closely examining all the evidence that has come out since September 11, 2001, either indicating that bin Laden is still alive or that he is in fact dead. His conclusion is that bin Laden is certainly dead, and that in all likelihood he died in very late 2001. Griffin shows that many US experts in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency came to this very same conclusion long ago, but their views, which do not support the continuation of what President Obama, borrowing the term from Dick Cheney, calls “the long war,” have received very little media attention. Were they to do so, one of the main props for the war regime would be undermined./ … In Chapter 4, Griffin turns to the important question “Who Might Have Been Motivated To Fabricate Messages?” He shows that the US military in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 employed a psychological operations unit to produce bogus evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, as a pretext for the invasion. The psyops unit produced a “letter” from a Jordanian in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, that was then “intercepted”, purportedly enroute to Al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan. The psyop was advanced after the invasion by the New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins, who wrote front-page stories presenting the “evidence” as genuine. …<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C29%5Cstory_29-5-2009_pg1_7"> Swat Taliban pay mercenaries to kill policemen </a> (29.05.09. Daily Times, pk.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.pravda.ru/world/asia/30-05-2009/107650-middle_east-0">USA shamefully betrays its only staunch ally in Middle East</a></b><br />30.05.09. Pravda. The escalation of combat action in the north-west of Pakistan, where governmental troops conduct a large-scale operation against Taliban guerrillas, has led to numerous terrorist acts committed across the nation. / … The United States never expected such a development of the situation in Pakistan at the time when US troops were invading Afghanistan, Pakistan’s neighboring state. Now US officials have to acknowledge that the counter-terrorist operation in Afghanistan has led to the domino principle.<br /><br />“<b>It seems that the Pentagon officials do not know where the Taliban guerrillas are hiding. US troops kill many civilians for the sake of destroying only several al-Qaeda gunmen. Why is that? Is that because of poor intelligence, mistakes of the special services or is it because of the absolute disdain of everything for the sake of achieving military objectives</b>?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/wanted.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 216px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/wanted.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"> <a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/12-from-much-sought-after-to-most-wanted--bi-01"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Dawn</span></a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/12-from-much-sought-after-to-most-wanted--bi-01">From much sought after to ‘most wanted’</a></b><br />31.05.09. Dawn. Accompanied by dozens of well armed Taliban fighters, Muslim Khan, Sirajuddin, Mahmmod Khan and some others (who are said to be responsible for killings of hundreds of soldiers and civilians) were being hosted by the former commissioner of Malakand, Syed Mohammad Javed.<br /><br /><em> Meanwhile, in Afghanistan … </em><br /><br /><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/05/31/fighting-taliban-_-if-us-patrols-can-find-them/"> Fighting Taliban _ if US patrols can find them </a> (31.05.09. AP)<br /><br /><br /><a id="5000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>5. Nuclear Issues</b></div><br /><br /><em>"I want the world to stop being such a horrible place, Hiroko said."</em><br />Kamila Shamsie, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Burnt-Shadows-Novel-Kamila-Shamsie/dp/0312551878/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243769101&sr=1-1"> Burnt Shadows</a> (p. 292)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://original.antiwar.com/lobe/2009/05/10/hawks-divided-afpak-or-iran/">Hawks Divided: AfPak or Iran?</a></b><br />11.05.09. Jim Lobe and Daniel Luban, anti-war.com. A potentially major clash appears to be developing between powerful factions inside and outside the U.S. government, pitting those who see the Afghanistan/Pakistan ("AfPak") theater as the greatest potential threat to U.S. national security against those { <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">AIPACers</span>] who believe that the danger posed by a nuclear Iran must be given priority.<br /><br /><a href="http://israelifacts.blogspot.com/2007/05/list-of-countries-with-nuclear-weapons.html"> List of countries with nuclear weapons </a><br /><br />United States: 5,735/9,960<br />Russia: 5,830/16,000<br />UK: 200<br />France: 350<br />ISRAEL: 75-200<br />China: 130<br />India: 45<br />Pakistan: 30-52<br />North Korea: 1-10<br /><br /><em> Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Pakistan</em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/14/plan-pakistan-teeters-falling-taliban/"> U.S. Has Plan to Secure Pakistan Nukes if Country Falls to Taliban </a> (14.05.09. Fox News)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/contentView.do?contentType=EDITORIAL&programId=1073750968&articleType=&contentId=5477849">Pak increasing nuclear weapons: US </a></b><br />15.05.09. MM Online / ICH. The confirmation came during a Senate Armed Services committee hearing when Democrat senator Jim Webb, an expert on defence issues, raised fears that Pakistan is adding to the nuclear weapons it traditionally has pointed toward India, and questioned whether US aid could be funding it.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/world/asia/18nuke.html?_r=1&exprod=myyahoo">Pakistan Is Rapidly Adding Nuclear Arms, U.S. Says</a></b><br />17.05.09. Thom Shanker, David Sanger, NY Times. Members of Congress have been told in confidential briefings that Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency, raising questions on Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid might be diverted to Pakistan’s nuclear program. / Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed the assessment of the expanded arsenal in a one-word answer to a question on Thursday in the midst of lengthy Senate testimony. Sitting beside Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, he was asked whether he had seen evidence of an increase in the size of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal. “Yes,” he said quickly, adding nothing<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD988PGT80"> Pakistan denies it is expanding nuclear arsenal</a> (18.05.09. Zarar Khan, AP)<br /><br />REPORTS<br /><br /><em> just like war in Iraq, we now have satellite images of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.isis-online.org/"><br />Pakistan Expanding Dera Ghazi Khan Nuclear Site: Time for U.S. to Call for Limits</a></b><br />19.05.09. David Albright, Paul Brannan, and Robert Kelley, Institute for Science and International Security. … US officials have recently said that Pakistan has the fastest growing nuclear weapons program in the world, at least in terms of installing additional capacity to produce nuclear materials for nuclear weapons. Commercial satellite imagery supports the conclusion that Pakistan, over the last several years, has concentrated on greatly expanding its nuclear weapons production complex.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.isis-online.org/">Pakistan Expanding Plutonium Separation Facility Near Rawalpindi</a></b><br />19.05.09. David Albright and Paul Brannan, Institute for Science and International Security.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.isis-online.org/">Update on the Khushab Plutonium Production Reactor Construction Projects in Pakistan</a></b><br />23.05.09. David Albright and Paul Brannan, Institute for Science and International Security.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090520/pl_afp/pakistannuclearweaponsus">Photos show Pakistan 'expanding nuclear sites'</a></b><br />20.05.09. AFP. Satellite photos released show Pakistan has expanded two sites crucial to its nuclear program as part of an effort to bolster the destructive power of its atomic arsenal, a US arms control institute said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article22669.htm">The World Doesn't Have a Pakistan Nukes Problem ... It Has a David Albright Problem</a></b><br />20.05.09. Peter Lee, Counterpunch / ICH. Washington, apparently believing that it doesn't have enough on its plate with al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban and the Pakistan Taliban, is suddenly awash with dramatic plans to add a self-created problem to the mix: a quixotic effort to wrest Pakistan's nuclear weapons out of the hands of the Army if the situation deteriorates. … / You know what it smells like to me? It smells like an effort by some to put a radical U.S. nuclear counterproliferation doctrine on the table now, so when it’s the end of the year and it’s time to deal with that other Muslim country with the destabilizing nuclear capability—you know, the one on the other side of Afghanistan, the one that the Israelis are so upset about—public opinion has been primed to accept the idea that some combination of air strikes, special ops, and insertion of U.S. forces is needed to save the world from an Islamic nuclear program that’s…outta control!<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22184">All options open on securing Pak nukes: Obama</a></b><br />18.05.09. the news.pk. US President Barack Obama has voiced confidence in the safety of Pakistan’s nuclear assets. BUT [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Rhetoric and Reality of Obama-speak</span>] at the same time he made it clear that he could consider all options to secure the nuclear weapons, if the country got less stable.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54640&s2=29">US demands for the Pakistani government (2 of 7)</a></b><br />28.05.09. Talha Mujaddidi. Axis of Logic, <u>Tales of U.S. Hegemony and Pakistani Government Betrayals</u>" 1. Completely freeze Pakistan’s nuclear and missile program; 2. Handover the existing enriched uranium to U.S special task force so that it can be moved to a "safe location" outside Pakistan<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/27/AR2009052703706_pf.html"> Nuclear Aims By Pakistan, India Prompt U.S. Concern</a>(28.05.09. Washington Post)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/11-pakistan-enhances-second-strike-n-capability--us-report--il--12">Pakistan enhances second strike N-capability: US report</a></b><br />30.05.09. Dawn. Pakistan has addressed issues of survivability in a possible nuclear conflict through second strike capability, says a US congressional report.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22732.htm">The Pakistan Quagmire</a></b><br />Moammar Gadhafi, Washington Times / ICH. The West, particularly America, and Israel never wished for Pakistan to possess a nuclear bomb. But on May 28, 1998, they woke up to the fact that Pakistan had become a nuclear state and blamed their intelligence services for failure to anticipate the nuclear tests. Countless books, articles and speeches called Pakistan's nuclear bomb the "Islamic bomb," as loaded a term as any, as many considered it a doomsday weapon directed against their interests. / American Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger frankly told then Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, "If you make the bomb, we'll make an example out of you."/ Mr. Bhutto, the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, was, of course, hanged. Gen. Zia al-Haq, who Islamized Pakistan and consolidated its nuclear program, was murdered. More recently, Benazir Bhutto, Mr. Bhutto's daughter, was assassinated. Others still may face a similar fate. / The question, however, is: Why do neither the Americans nor the Israelis want Pakistan to possess the bomb? …<br /><br /><em> Manufacturing Consent for War on Iran</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/may/13/aipac-iran-us-obama">Aipac's hidden persuaders</a></b><br />15.05.09. R. Silverstein, Guardian. A case in point is Iran. That bogey-nation was everywhere at the Aipac conference. Every keynote speech – if they weren't directly written by that group's staff – seemed unmistakably scripted and "on message", dedicated to the existential threat that Iran poses not just to Israel, but the entire world. / … The Israelis are following the template of the Bush administration's run-up to the Iraq war. First, the US government advocated half-hearted efforts at diplomatic engagement. Then it ratcheted up pressure through sanctions and UN resolutions. That is where the Israeli campaign stands now. … / But any sensible person can guess that the final step will be war: "Israeli leaders have … hinted at pre-emptive military strikes if they decide that diplomacy has failed." / … I've become convinced, in doing the research and speaking to knowledgeable sources, that Israel is prepared at some date in the near future to attack Iran itself, even against the wishes of the US.<br />BUT<br /><a href="http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=32091"> Arabs see Israel - not Iran - as nuclear threat </a> (17.05.09) middle east online)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/05/20/clinton-iran-cant-have-nuclear-arms-capability/">Clinton: Iran can't have nuclear arms capability</a></b><br />20.05.09. AP/anti-war. Sec'y of State Clinton: Iranian nuclear capability represents an 'extraordinary threat'<br /><br /><em> North Korea Nuclear Test </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/world/asia/26nuke.html?th&emc=th">Tested Early by North Korea, Obama Has Few Options</a></b><br />25.05.09. NY Times. [SM: <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The best option is for the US to stop crying wolf about Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons?</span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/world/asia/29korea.html?_r=1">South Korea and U.S. Raise Alert Level</a></b><br />27.05.09. NY Times. One day after North Korea warned of a possible attack against the South, the United States and South Korea ordered their forces here to their highest alert for three years, increasing surveillance flights and satellite reconnaissance to counter what officials termed a “grave threat.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=62994">Casey: Army would have to ‘shift gears’ for N. Korea battle</a></b><br />30.05.09. stars and stripes/legitgov. Right now, the Army is focused on the counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan [Pakistan? ], but North Korea’s recent saber rattling has raised the prospect that the Army might be called upon to fight a conventional war.<br /><br /><u>US</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/01/nuclear-weapons-spending-topped-52-billion-last-year">US Nuclear Weapons Spending Topped $52 Billion Last Year</a></b><br />12.05.09. Mother Jones / ICH. According to a new report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, spending on US nuclear weapons infrastructure and related programs surpassed $52 billion in 2008.<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/01/nuclear-usa-september-november-2007.html"> Nuclear USA: September – November 2007 </a> (06.01.08. Index Research)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.legitgov.org/minot_afb_nukes_oddities.htmls%29"> Minot AFB Clandestine Nukes 'Oddities'</a> (Lori Price, Legitgov)<br /><br /><em> It's called "National Security" </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/us/03nuke.html?_r=1">U.S. Releases Secret List of Nuclear Sites Accidentally</a></b><br />02.06.09. NY Times. The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons. The publication of the document was revealed Monday in an online newsletter devoted to issues of federal secrecy. That set off a debate among nuclear experts about what dangers, if any, the disclosures posed. It also prompted a flurry of investigations in Washington into why the document had been made public<br /><br /><br /><a id="6000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 6. The War</b></div><br /><br /><em>'We are bombing a sovereign country. Where do we get the authority to do that? Did the Pakistani government give us written permission? Did the Congress give us written permission to expand the war and start bombing in Pakistan?' </em> asked the US lawmaker. Anwar Iqbal & Ron Paul: <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22568.htm">US Bombing a Sovereign Country: US Lawmaker</a> (with video: Ron Paul Questions Richard Holbrooke.)<br /><br /><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/09/content_11342406.htmattack"> U.S. drone kills 10 in Pakistan's tribal region</a> (09.05.09. Xinhuanet)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54109&s2=10"> At least 8 killed, 7 injured as US drone fired four missiles in South Waziristan </a> (09.05.09. Nation)<br /><br /><a href="http://williambowles.info/pakistan/2009/0509/pak110509.html"> Pakistan Newslinks 10-11 May, 2009 </a> (InI, William Bowles)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54176&s2=13">Pakistan: 700 Militants Killed in Past Four Days: Thousands More to Die, According to Zardari</a></b><br />11.05.09. Jason Ditz, anti-war / uruknet. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik today claimed that 700 militants have been killed in the past four days of military offensives in and around the Swat Valley. Yesterday the military said it had killed 200 in one 24 hour period. The tolls and the success being touted by the government in its attacks could not be independently confirmed because the military has barred journalists from the valley.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/12/content_11358460.htm"> At least 8 killed in U.S. drone attack in Pakistan's tribal area </a> (12.05.09. Xinhuanet)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=214739">Pakistan: 86 "militants" killed in Swat, Dir Lower</a></b><br />12.05.09. Pak Tribune. Security forces claimed to have killed 52 militants in restive Swat Valley during the last 24 hours, while 31 persons, including three civilians were killed in Lower Dir on Monday.<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/2009512122453341592.html"> Pakistan 'captures Taliban hideout'</a> (13.05.09. al jazeera)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insidestory/2009/05/2009514855248795.html"> Pakistan’s Army 13.05.09</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hizb.org.uk/hizb/press-centre/press-release/brown-welcomes-the-butcher-of-buner-to-downing-street.html">Brown welcomes the butcher of Buner to Downing Street</a></b><br />13.05.09. hizb. Org / ICH. Commenting on Zardari's visit to Britain, Hizb ut Tahrir Britain's Media representative Taji Mustafa said "Once again we see the British government roll out the red carpet for another Muslim ruler who is engaged in the barbaric slaughter of his own people.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/68213.html">Civilians say they're casualties of Pakistan's fight against the Taliban</a></b><br />14.05.09. Saeed Shah, McClatchy / legitgov. The Pakistani army denies knowing that its war against Islamic militants has caused civilian casualties, but patients and family members at a local hospital told McClatchy Thursday that multiple relatives were killed when the military shelled or bombed their homes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=ahhR6P781XyU&refer=asia">Pakistani Troops Kill 54 More Taliban Militants in Swat Valley</a></b><br />14.05.09. Bloomberg. Pakistani troops killed 54 Taliban militants in the last 24 hours in the country’s northwest region, taking the death toll to more than 800 since the operation began on April 26, a military spokesman said.<br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=a4r5nlHwH0SQ&refer=india"> Bloomberg Update 2</a><br />President Asif Ali Zardari, pressed [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">bribed </span>] by the U.S., has deployed thousands of soldiers in the northwestern region after the Taliban took advantage of a February peace accord that introduced Islamic law in Swat and neighboring districts. The insurgents reneged on the peace agreement and advanced toward the capital. President Barack Obama, whose officials warned that the Pakistani government was appeasing the Taliban, said a $1.5 billion-a-year aid package is tied to tackling the extremists.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090513/wl_nm/us_pakistan_violence">Pakistani army ordered to avoid civilian casualties</a></b><br />13.05.09. Reuters. "[Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani] has instructed the army to ensure minimum collateral damage, even at the expense of taking risks, by resorting to precision strikes," the army said in a statement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200951475710533747.html">Pakistan 'shells Taliban bases'</a></b><br />15.05.09. al jazeera. The army shelled suspected Taliban bases in the districts of Swat and Lower Dir on Thursday, marking the 18th successive day of attacks by the military in the Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP). / "Militant hideouts were targeted in Dir and Swat and many of their hideouts were destroyed in mountains," a security official told the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520267,00.html"> 22 Taliban Militants Killed in Afghanistan </a> (15.05.09. Fox News)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/2009515163822529823.html">Pakistan missile hits Afghan mosque</a></b><br />15.05.09. al jazeera. "It seems to have been an attempt to target <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fob_salerno.htm"> Camp Salerno </a>, which is the third largest US base in Afghanistan," Zeina Khodr, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Afghanistan, said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/20095164639783704.html">Deaths in US drone raid on Pakistan</a></b><br />16.05.09. al jazeera. The drone fired two missiles into the Khaisor area of North Waziristan's ethnic Pashtun tribal region on Saturday, hitting a house and a vehicle. / "We have reports that three people have been killed. We are making further checks," an intelligence official in the region told Reuters news agency. / The bombing is the third such raid this month, and comes days after eight people were killed in an attack by a US drone in neighbouring South Waziristan.See also:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/16-us-drone-attack-in-north-waziristan-3-killed-hs-08"> US drone attack kills 29 in North Waziristan </a> (16.05.09. Dawn)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1477669.php/Car_bomb_military_actions_kill_at_least_80_in_Pakistan__2nd_Roundup__"> Car bomb, military actions kill at least 80 in Pakistan (2nd Roundup)</a> (16.05.09. M & C)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/16-survival-without-military-and-mullah-hs-07">Survival without military & mullah</a></b><br />17.05.09. Kunwar Idris, Dawn. Prime Minister Gilani told parliament that the military campaign in Swat was launched not under US pressure but for ‘the survival of the country’. The Centcom adviser and the prime minister both were thus on the same grid regarding the threat to the existence of the country — only their perceptions of the outcome differed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pakistannews.net/story/502724">Pak Army does not require foreign training: General Kayani</a></b><br />17.05.09. Pakistan news. Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Kayani, has said that the Army has a full range of counter-insurgency training facilities,and added and that it does not require any foreign training to tackle militancy. / …<br />"The uncalled for aspersions of various quarters on our training methods or orientation are apparently due to lack of knowledge and understanding of our training system in vogue," [Kayani] said. / … the United States is reportedly sending special forces teams to Balochistan [see above] to accelerate training of the Pakistani military and enhance its counterinsurgency capabilities.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.winnipegsun.com/comment/columnists/eric_margolis/2009/05/17/9482521-sun.html">U.S. stirs a hornet's nest in Pakistan</a></b><br />17.05.09. Eric Margolis, Winnipeg sun. Pakistan finally bowed to Washington's angry demands last week by unleashing its military against rebellious Pashtun tribesmen of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) -- collectively <u>mislabelled "Taliban" </u> in the West. / The <b>Obama administration had threatened to stop $2 billion US annual cash payments to bankrupt Pakistan's political and military leadership and block $6.5 billion future aid, unless Islamabad sent its soldiers into Pakistan's turbulent NWFP along the Afghan frontier</b>. / The result was a bloodbath: Some 1,000 "terrorists" killed (read: mostly civilians) and 1.2 million people -- most of Swat's population -- made refugees.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pak-times.com/2009/05/17/swat-operation-opening-a-window-of-experiments-in-pakistan/">Swat Operation-opening a window of experiments in Pakistan</a></b><br />17.05.09. Pak Times opinion. hence some who do not wish peace in the region and has the capacity to call shots, pushed those disillusioned to advance on Buner and Dir district portraying a fear that soon Islamabad will be under those thugs, and questions on security of Atomic weaponry. / … Army operation in any part of current Pakistan must be used as a last resort, due to variety of international vested interests in the region. It is open secret that no one can work at that length and breadth against Pakistan on its soil unless foreign money, weapons and money is involved. / … <b>As long as US forces are working in Afghanistan it is unthinkable that peace may return in the region unless a solution is achieved</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD987ULL00">Pakistan: Offensive kills 1,000+ alleged militants</a></b><br />17.05.09. AP. A Pakistani military offensive against Taliban fighters near the Afghan border has killed more than 1,000 <em>suspected </em> insurgents and "will continue till the last Taliban are flushed out," a top official said Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22177">40 "militants" killed in US drone attacks</a></b><br />17.05.09. the news.jang..pk..ICH. Soon after the attack, other militants staying at the building arrived and started rescue work. "They were recovering bodies of the slain militants when the drone fired two more missiles, almost 12 minutes after the first attack. It was terrible as almost all the Taliban involved in rescue work were targeted," stated a local militant commander based in Mirali..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/detailed_news.asp?date1=5/17/2009#4">11 persons killed in two blasts in Peshawar</a></b><br />17.05.09. ICH. At least 11 people, including two women and two children, were killed and another 31 injured when a powerful car bomb ripped through a congested locality in Peshawar<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/17/zardari-vows-to-expand-war-beyond-swat/">Zardari Vows to Expand War Beyond Swat</a></b><br />17.05.09. Jason Ditz, anti-war. Hot on the heels of military reports that the offensive against the Swat Valley had killed over 1,000 “suspected insurgents,” President Asif Ali Zardari has ominously declared that “Swat is just the start.” Zardari is now soliciting international donors for billions of dollars to expand the war across the tribal areas, and seemingly across the entire 2,400 km border with Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22211">Civilians fleeing Swat come under attack</a></b><br />19.05.09. The News Int. Several persons, including women and children, were killed and a number of others sustained injuries when families fleeing the military operation in Swat’s Matta town were shelled while crossing a mountainous path to reach Karo Darra in Dir Upper on Monday, eyewitnesses and official sources said. Eyewitnesses, who escaped the attack or were able to reach Wari town of Dir Upper in injured condition, said they were targeted by gunship helicopters. However, police officials said they might have been hit by a stray shell. Local people said they saw some 12 to 14 bodies on a mountain on the Swat side but could not go near to retrieve them or help the injured for fear of another aerial attack.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5idkePjSXsoZVQGopK2o9Emc1MJag"> Pakistan 2009 growth will be slowest in decade </a> (20.05.09. AFP)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aIbJ1wiGlKrc&refer=home">Pakistan Calls on Islamic Scholars to Help Combat Extremism</a></b><br />20.05.09. Ed Johnson, Bloomberg. Pakistan’s government is trying to build support in the world’s second-most populous Muslim nation for its offensive against Taliban insurgents. / … The military campaign in Swat is being waged under pressure from the Obama administration, which says the extremists threaten the stability of the nuclear-armed nation and endanger U.S. security.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/09-military-warns-malakand-residents-against-abetting-terrorists-szh--10"> Military warns Swat residents against abetting terrorists </a> (20.05.09. Iftikhar A. Khan, Dawn)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/269691,pakistani-troops-seize-taliban-stronghold-80-rebels-killed--summary.html">Pakistani troops seize Taliban stronghold, 80 rebels killed -Summary</a></b><br />20.05.09. Earth Times / ICH. Pakistani troops overran an important militant stronghold in north-western district of Buner, killing some 80 Taliban fighters, an army spokesman said Wednesday. "Security forces have cleared Sultan Was area last night after intense clashes," Major General Athar Abbas told the reporters in Islamabad.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8059236.stm">Pakistan army struggles in Buner</a></b><br />20.05.09. BBC / ICH. The Pakistani government has not fully asserted control in the district of Buner, military officials have told a visiting team of BBC journalists. VIDEO.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/22/AR2009052200261.html"> Taliban Foiling Pakistani Army </a> (23.05.09. Wash Post)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ajuO99E_As&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish%2Ealjazeera%2Enet%2Fnews%2Fasia%2F2009%2F05%2F2009524162345483245%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded"> Nightmare of war grips Pakistan's children - 24 May 09 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/24/2579151.htm?section=justin"> Pakistan army battles Taliban militants </a> (24.05.09. ABC)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/24/swat-valley-mingora-pakistan-taliban"> Pakistani army fights street by street to banish Taliban from Swat valley </a> (24.05.09. Declan Walsh, Guardian)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/05/200952411916978127.html">Regaining control of Swat valley</a></b><br />24.05.09. Mike Hanna, al jazeera. This is more a fortress than a camp. It is a staggering complex of caves, tunnels and concealed gun emplacements – and commands a view of virtually the entire Swat valley. Some Flickr photos.<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200952411590295133.html"> Pictures: Scenes from Swat </a> (24.05.09. al jazeera)<br /><br /><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C25%5Cstory_25-5-2009_pg1_6"> 18 killed in Orakzai shelling </a> (25.05.09. Daily Times, pk)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/25/massive-police-desertions-reported-in-swat-valley/"> Massive Police Desertions Reported in Swat Valley</a></b><br />25.05.09. Jason Ditz, anti-war. 75 Percent of Buner District Police Have Left.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-25-voa28.cfm">Pakistan Taliban Says It Will Stop Fighting in Swat Valley</a></b><br />25.05.09. VOA. Taliban Spokesman Muslim Khan says militants will stop their resistance in Swat's main town of Mingora out of concern for the safety of civilians and their property.<br />& <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=13189592&postID=4453105451559739784" org="" dynamic="" stories="" a="" site="AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2009-05-25-08-27-50""> Pakistani Taliban to Swat civilians: Come back </a> (26.05.09. AP)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-troops-take-over-maalam-jabba--il--07">Troops take over Maalam Jabba</a></b><br />26.05.09. Iftikhar A. Khan, Dawn. According to AFP, Military spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas warned it could take up to 10 days to regain control of Mingora, as the punishing assault across three rugged northwest districts entered a fifth week.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/270435,six-troops-29-taliban-killed-in-pakistans-swat-valley--summary.html">Six troops, 29 Taliban killed in Pakistan's Swat Valley - Summary</a></b><br />26.05.09. Earthtimes / ICH. The Pakistan Army said it had killed 29 militants and lost six soldiers Tuesday in the north-western Swat Valley and its neighbouring districts as a rights group warned of a humanitarian catastrophe<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thecurrentaffairs.com/index.php/us-b-52-bomber-violates-pakistani-airspace/">US bomber violates Pakistani airspace</a></b><br />26.05.09. current affairs. A United States B-52 bomber aircraft on Tuesday violated Pakistan's airspace over North Waziristan Agency. The violation came early morning near the Pak-Afghan border in Mera Din areas of Goreek and Shawaal. The US bomber flew over the Pakistani territory for nearly an hour in brief intervals. Residents of the area expressed concern and anger over the airspace violation by the US aircraft.<br /><br /><u> Lahore bomb</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/lahore_blast.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 268px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/lahore_blast.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/Services/Gallery/?GalleryId=200952718227388769">photo AFP / al jazeera</a></span></div><br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/Services/Gallery/?GalleryId=200952718227388769"> Pictures Lahore bombing </a> (Al jazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200952744857804382.html">Dozens feared dead in Lahore blast</a></b><br />27.05.09. al jazeera. At least 30 people are thought to have been killed in a blast outside a police station and a building housing the country's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNzv3B_64s4"> Dozens dead after Lahore suicide attack - 27 May 09 </a> (al jazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/metropolitan/04-explosion-on-lahore-mall-road-qs-02">Suicide car blast in Lahore kills 23</a></b><br />27.05.09. Muhammad Faisal Ali, Dawn. Among the dead were 16 policemen, an army officer and many civilians including a 12-year-old boy. Officials at the city morgue said two of the bodies were as yet identified. / More than 251 others were injured, rescue services were looking for survivors trapped in the rubble late into the night. It was feared that the death toll may also rise. / No less than 70 vehicles and motorcycles and dozens of adjacent and nearby buildings, mostly used for shops and offices, were damaged.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/05/200952773518388374.html">Pakistan diary: New battle lines?</a></b><br />27.05.09. Imran Khan, al jazeera. <em>On the road to Lahore</em>. There was always a fear that Pakistan's war with the Taliban would spill over into the major cities. / We have seen attacks in the last 10 days in Peshawar, but this attack in Lahore has all the hallmarks of something more organised and more deadly.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090527/wl_mcclatchy/3241045"> Deadly bombing in Pakistan <em>may be</em> payback for military offensive </a> (27.05.09. McClatchy)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0527/p06s23-wosc.html">In Pakistan's terrorist attacks, who gets the blame?</a></b><br />27.05.09. CSM. Many Pakistanis have previously accused the government of provoking the Taliban. This time, residents directed their anger at both sides.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200952804641591199.html">Taliban group claims Pakistan blast</a></b><br />28.05.09. al jazeera. A group claiming to have links with the Taliban in Pakistan has claimed responsibility for a bombing in Lahore that killed at least 30 people and wounded over 200 others<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/09-landmines-kill-driver-schoolboy-in-dera-bugti--03"> Landmines kill driver, schoolboy in Dera Bugti </a> (27.05.09)<br /><br /><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C28%5Cstory_28-5-2009_pg7_2"> Security forces kill 15 in South Waziristan (28.05.09. Daily Times, pk)<br /><br /></a><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/28/content_11449962.htm"> 7 more militants killed in NW Pakistan operation </a> (28.05.09. Xinhuanet)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/pakistan703/images/f_pic.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 176px;" src="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/pakistan703/images/f_pic.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Maulana Fazlullah, PBS</span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=96280&sectionid=351020401">Pakistan sends bounty hunters after militants</a></b><br />28.05.09. presstv.ir. Pakistan has offered a bounty worth of PKR 5 million (USD 62,250) for the arrest of Swat valley militant leader <u>Maulana Fazlullah</u>.<br /><br /><u> Peshawar & Dera Ismail Khan </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/metropolitan/04-blast-in-peshawar-no-word-on-casualties-qs-06">Four blasts kill at least 10, hurt over 80 in northwest</a></b><br />28.05.09. Dawn. Two bombs exploded in a market in the Frontier capital of Peshawar on Thursday, killing six people, and gunmen on rooftops ambushed police as they arrived at the scene, police said. / A short while later, a suicide bomber attacked a paramilitary checkpost in another part of the city, killing two soldiers and wounding three. / The attack was soon followed by a huge bomb blast and gunfire was heard on the streets of Dera Ismail Khan, police said. / Three were killed and seven injured after a bomb planted in the city’s town hall exploded, police told DawnNews.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/2009528141633904430.html">Deadly blasts hit Pakistani cities</a></b><br />29.05.09. al jazeera. At least 13 people have been killed and more than 100 others injured in a series of blasts in <u>Peshawar</u>, the capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, and in another city in the same region. While the explosions in Peshawar are believed to have caused 10 of the deaths, the attack in <u>Dera Ismail Khan</u>, a city 300km south of Peshawar, accounted for the other three.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/05/200952974427976625.html">Pakistan diary: Night of terror</a></b><br />29.04.09. Imran Khan, al jazeera. After four separate attacks, all allegedly linked to the army's action in the Swat valley, one in particular stands out for me. The attack on Khissakhwani Bazaar.<br /><br /><u> Mingora, Swat </u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/news/home/?pageDesign=new_Special_swat"> “Battling the Taliban: Where does it stop?” </a> (Dawn)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfV6Nn9nFgc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish%2Ealjazeera%2Enet%2Fnews%2Fasia%2F2009%2F05%2F2009528191531335919%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded"> Inside Pakistan's war zone - 28 May 09 </a> (al jazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/fixed/arch/arch.htm">Mingora likely to be secured in the next two days: ISPR</a></b><br />28.05.09. Dawn. Security forces claimed on Wednesday to have secured 70 per cent of Mingora town after fierce clashes which left 286 militants and seven soldiers dead. Eight soldiers and 25 militants were injured in the fighting.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/12-swat-main-town-almost-secured--bi-03"> Army takes ‘complete control’ over Mingora </a> (30.05.09. Iftikhar A. Khan. Dawn)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/09-army-relaxes-curfew-in-mingora-stranded-residents-flee-szh--08">Humanitarian situation grave in Mingora; residents flee</a></b><br />31.05.09. Hameedullah Khan, Dawn. The residents, who had remained confined to their houses without electricity and gas supplies for the last one month, streamed out of the area to reach camps set up for the internally displaced persons in Mardan and Swabi districts.<br /><br />(see Refugees, below)<br /><br /><u> Zaybul - Daychopan district </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/2009529124311580162.html">'Taliban killed' in Afghan province</a></b><br />29.05.09. al jazeera. At least 35 Taliban fighters have been killed and another 13 wounded in fighting in the Afghan province of Zabul, <em>the US military has said</em>. Details of the clash in Zabul's Daychopan district could not be independently verified.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22448"> Taliban behead three ‘spies’ in Pacha Killay </a> (31.05.09. The news, int.)<br /><br /><u>Waziristan</u><br /><br /><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C31%5Cstory_31-5-2009_pg1_2"> Soldier, two Taliban killed in Waziristan </a> (31.05.09. The news, int)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/69137.html">Pakistan plan to attack Taliban haven promises wider war</a></b><br />31.05.09. Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers. Waziristan, the remote area that's the epicenter of Taliban and al Qaida militants in Pakistan, is set to become the next war zone in the nation'fight against Islamic extremists, where clashes between insurgents and the army erupted over the weekend. / o far, there are just skirmishes in Waziristan but the key U.S. ally plans a full-scale military offensive there this summer, according to Pakistani and Western officials, a fight that is certain to be deadlier than the current operation in Swat valley and with profound international repercussions.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/05/200953175646167681.html">Pakistan diary: Hit-and-run tactics</a></b><br />31.05.09. Imran Khan, al jazeera. A Pakistani defence official has said Pakistan's battle will be <u>over in two to three days</u>. / … The assessment is seen as "optimistic". / The Taliban are still fighting back on the outskirts of Mingora. They are still in control, so local sources tell us, of key towns and villages surrounding Swat valley city.<br /><br /><br /><a id="7000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>7. Drones</b></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/protest.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 216px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/protest.jpg" alt="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD9858LRO0?index=1" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD9858LRO0?index=1">AFP/File </a></span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-predator13-2009may13,0,2239914.story">U.S. military, Pakistan carrying out Predator drone missions together</a></b><br />12.05.09. LA Times. The U.S. military has begun flying armed Predator drones inside Pakistan and has given Pakistani officers significant control over targets, flight routes and decisions to launch attacks under a new joint operation, according to U.S. officials familiar with the program.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/11-cia-chief-says-drones-minimise-collateral-damage--07"> Drone attacks have drawn widespread protest in Pakistan</a></b><br />13.05.09. Dawn. Suspected Taliban stormed a depot in northwest Pakistan handling supplies for NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan on Wednesday and torched eight trucks, as the Pakistani army battled militants elsewhere in the region in an offensive that has sent hundreds of thousands fleeing. / ... NATO and U.S. commanders say their losses from the attacks have been minimal and pose no threat to their expanding military operation in Afghanistan. Still, they have begun seeking alternative routes through Central Asia.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/13/us-military-starts-drone-strike-partnership-with-pakistan/">US Military Starts ‘Limited’ Drone Partnership With Pakistan</a></b><br />13.05.09. Jazon Ditz, anti-war. According to officials, the military’s strikes will be coordinated under the direction of the Pakistani military, with Pakistani officers having “significant control” over the targets and the decision to launch attacks. The US will also provide surveillance information, with some limits. / President Asif Ali Zardari says his government is presently negotiating over the drones, and is demanding that the Pakistani government be given “ownership” over the drones.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/05/drone-war-story-turns-strange/">Pentagon, Pakistan No Longer Cooperating in Drone War? (Updated)</a></b><br />14.05.09. Noah Shachtman, wired. Mullen testimony. (long list of drone-related articles at end of page)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/07-pakistan-has-no-deal-with-us-on-drone-use-fm-10"> Pakistan has no deal with US on drone use: FM </a> (15.05.09. Dawn)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94788&sectionid=3510203"> Mullen: drones future of military aviation </a> (15.05.09. Presstv.ir)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud150509.htm">The Drones Are Coming: New War On Civilians </a></b><br />15.05.09. Ramzy Baroud, Countercurrents. There are an estimated one million Pakistanis already on the run in the northern and eastern parts of the country. They are threatened by fighting, hunger and all sorts of predators, including US drones circling overhead<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/06-pakistan-drones-policy-criticised-06-rs">Pakistan’s policy on drones under fire in US Senate</a></b><br />15.05.09. Anwar Iqbal, Dawn. Pakistan’s policy towards drone strikes faced severe criticism in the US Senate where a senior lawmaker accused Islamabad of duality, claiming that while it quietly approved the attacks publicly it censured America for carrying them out.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/opinion/17exum.html?_r=1&th&emc=th">Death From Above, Outrage Down Below</a></b><br />16.05.09. OpEd, NY Times. we feel that expanding or even just continuing the drone war is a mistake. In fact, it would be in our best interests, and those of the Pakistani people, to declare a moratorium on drone strikes into Pakistan./ … Press reports suggest that over the last three years drone strikes have killed about 14 terrorist leaders. But, according to Pakistani sources, they have also killed some 700 civilians. This is <u>50 civilians for every militant killed</u>, a hit rate of 2 percent — hardly “precision.” … every one of these dead noncombatants represents an alienated family, a new desire for revenge, and more recruits for a militant movement that has grown exponentially even as drone strikes have increased. / … <b> The persistence of these attacks on Pakistani territory offends people’s deepest sensibilities, alienates them from their government, and contributes to Pakistan’s instability</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/11-cia-chief-says-drones-minimise-collateral-damage--07">Drone attacks to continue in Pakistan: CIA chief</a></b><br />19.05.09. Dawn. CIA director Leon Panetta defended the use of unmanned aircraft to target Al-Qaeda militants on Monday and said President Barack Obama’s policies had severely disrupted the network’s leadership. / In his first speech since taking over as head of the Central Intelligence Agency in February, Panetta told a luncheon in Los Angeles that counter-terrorism and defeating Al-Qaeda remained the agency’s top priority. / <b>‘Al-Qaeda remains the most serious security threat that we face ... to US interests and our allies overseas</b>,’ Panetta told the gathering organized by the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles. / Pakistani officials say the drone strikes, which have killed more than 390 people in about 42 attacks since August 2008, violate its territorial sovereignty and deepen resentment in the nuclear-armed nation. / Meanwhile Panetta said US authorities remained alert to the possibility of <em>Al-Qaeda fleeing Pakistan or Afghanistan for refuge elsewhere [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">next US war for oil in Africa? </span>], saying Somalia and Yemen were regarded as possible safe havens for the group </em>. ‘Al-Qaeda {<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Taliban, "insurgents" are</span>] known however for seeking shelter elsewhere,’ Panetta said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=215029">I am against drone attacks, says PM Gilani</a></b><br />19.05.09. Pak Tribune / ICH. Terming drone attacks as a serious blow to Pakistan's sovergnity, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesday made it clear that US must review its policy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C23%5Cstory_23-5-2009_pg7_14">CIA's war in Pakistan</a></b><br />23.05.09. Daily Times, pk. Along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, the US has deployed some of the most sophisticated killing machines ever created. / Al Qaeda and the Taliban, which could not be eliminated by tanks, gunships and missiles, will they be stamped out by CIA-operated unmanned aircraft?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6345944.ece">Concern mounts over US Predator covert killings</a></b><br />23.05.09. Times Online. David Kilcullen, who was the chief counter-terrorism adviser to Condoleezza Rice, the former Secretary of State, has said that the programme should be scrapped. "Since 2006 we've killed 14 senior al-Qaeda leaders using drone strikes; in the same time period we've killed 700 Pakistani civilians in the same area. The drone strikes are highly unpopular." he said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22318">Drone attacks undermining Swat operation: Gilani</a></b><br />24.05.09. the int news. Says Army operation well-planned; denies extension of operation to other parts. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said the US would have to review its policy of drone attacks, which were undermining the Pakistan government’s strategy and the military operation against the militants in Swat and Malakand. “Pakistan has conveyed its concerns to the US on drone attacks and the whole world also supports Pakistan’s viewpoint,” Gilani said while answering questions on all parties’ unanimous demand to halt the US drone attacks.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2009/drone_war_13672">The Drone War</a></b><br />03.06.09. Peter Bergen, Katherine Tiedemann, New America Foundation / New Republic. The drone war against Al Qaeda's leaders--and, increasingly, their Pakistani-based Taliban allies--has been waged with little public discussion or congressional investigation of its legality or efficacy, even though the offensive is essentially a program of assassination that kills not only militant leaders, but also civilians in a country that is, at least nominally, a close ally of the United States. Nor has there been a substantive debate about whether the gains of winnowing the ranks of Al Qaeda's leadership outweigh the fact that the inevitable civilian casualties are a superb recruiting tool for the Pakistani Taliban. Indeed, the drone strikes have pushed militants deeper into Pakistan and given them an excuse to strike the heartland of the country, further destabilizing the already rickety government in Islamabad. All of which raises the question of whether the drone campaign, however useful in the short term, might fatally undermine U.S. efforts to stabilize the region and to win the long-term war against Al Qaeda and its allies. ...<br />*** <b>Officially, the United States does not assassinate people</b>. ...<br /><br />"General Petraeus also offered drone intelligence gathering for the Swat operation. / The US has already launched dozens of drone strikes inside the Pakistani derrieres, killing more than 800 people over some past months." <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=96369&sectionid=351020401">Petraeus Visit </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/29/predator-drones-face-legal-challenges-liberals/">Predator Drones Could Face Legal Challenges From Human Rights Advocates</a></b><br />29.05.09. Fox. Human rights activists are turning their attention to the drone program in part because they say there's no warning to innocent civilians who are in a targeted area.<br /><br /><em> Wash. Post repeats the PR </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/31/AR2009053102172_pf.html">Al-Qaeda Seen as Shaken in Pakistan</a></b><br />01.06.09. K. de Young, Washington Post. Drone-launched U.S. missile attacks and Pakistan's ongoing military offensive in and around the Swat Valley have unsettled al-Qaeda and undermined its relative invulnerability in Pakistani mountain sanctuaries, <em>U.S. military and intelligence officials say</em>. … / Although al-Qaeda remains "a serious, potent threat," a U.S. counterterrorism official said, "they've suffered some serious losses and seem to be feeling a heightened sense of anxiety -- and that's not a bad thing at all."<br /><br /><br /><a id="8000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>8. Pakistan’s Supply Depots for Afghanistan</b> </div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/trucks.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 243px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/trucks.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD9858LRO0?index=1"> <span style="font-size:85%;">AP Photo/K.P. Butt</span></a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD9858LRO0">Trucks torched at NATO supply terminal in Pakistan</a></b><br />13.05.09. AP. Suspected Taliban stormed a depot in northwest Pakistan handling supplies for NATO troops in neighboring Afghanistan on Wednesday and torched eight trucks, as the Pakistani army battled militants elsewhere in the region in an offensive that has sent hundreds of thousands fleeing. / Attacks on terminals and trucks rolling through the Khyber Pass toward Afghanistan have intensified since last year, adding to concern that more regions along the Afghan border are slipping from government control and into the hands of Taliban and al-Qaida.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200951361410165123.html">Taliban warns Pakistani politicians</a></b><br />13.05.09. al jazeera. Speaking to Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Muslim Khan, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, gave members of the national and regional assemblies a three-day deadline to denounce the military assault on Taliban fighters. / The warning came hours after suspected Taliban fighters attacked Nato supply trucks at a transport terminal near the northwestern city of Peshawar, destroying eight vehicles. … None of the containers holding Nato supplies and stored at the terminal were damaged, Ghafoor Khan Afridi, a police official, said. [see damaged vehicle photo above]<br /><br /><br /><a id="9000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>9. Blame and Counterblame </b></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/pers-m11.shtml">Pakistan war fuels international tensions</a></b><br />11.05.09. WSWS. Comments by China’s ambassador in Islamabad last Thursday highlight the reckless character of the Obama administration’s escalating intervention in Pakistan.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54205&s2=13"> Zardari: Osama was an “Operator” for the United States </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/CIA-ISI-together-created-Taliban-Zardari/articleshow/4508279.cms">CIA and ISI together created Taliban: Zardari</a></b><br />11.05.09. Times of India. "I think it was part of your past and our past, and the ISI and CIA created them together," Zardari told the NBC news channel in an interview.<br />See also <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94397&sectionid=351020401"> press.tv.ir</a> : "I think it was part of your past and our past, and the ISI and the CIA created them [the Taliban] together," Zardari told the NBC news channel in an interview on Monday. … / Zardari's remarks come after the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in a congressional hearing explained how the militancy in Pakistan was linked to the US-backed proxy war against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. "Let's remember here ... the people we are fighting today we funded them twenty years ago ... and we did it because we were locked in a struggle with the Soviet Union," she said on April, 23.<br /><br /><em> predictable response </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/05/200951218454539418">US rejects Pakistan refugee blame</a></b><br />13.05.09. al jazeera. "This is <u>caused by the Taliban and al-Qaeda, let's be absolutely clear on that</u>," Holbrooke told Al Jazeera on Tuesday, before blaming them for breaking a deal with the government.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=77394">Country should abandon war on terror: Imran Khan</a></b><br />11.05.09. news.pk. The chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Imran Khan has said that <b>the country should dissociate itself from the so-called war against terrorism</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=214776">Leading think tank asks US to stop drone attacks</a></b><br />12.05.09. Pak Tribune. A comprehensive report on the current conflict and future of Pakistan, released here on Monday by a known independent think tank [Institute for Social Policy and Understanding], strongly recommends that the drone attacks in Pakistan should be replaced with a humanitarian aid package for the internally displaced people of the Fata and the Swat region.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-wanted--a-people-s-leader--08">Wanted: a people’s leader</a></b><br />15.05.09. Dawn Editorial. It is shocking that the person at the helm who should be instilling courage in a despondent nation is not at the scene and is away on foreign jaunts.<br /><br /><br /><a id="10000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>10. Backlash to War </b></div><br /><br /><a href="http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/spytalk/2009/05/young-pakistan-army-officers-m.html"> Young Pakistan Army Officers May Be Turning to Taliban, Insiders Say </a> (11.05.09. CQ Politics)<br /><br /><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/12/experts-warn-of-backlash-to-swat-valley-offensive/"> Experts Warn of Backlash to Swat Valley Offensive </a> (12.05.09. Jason Ditz, anti-war)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/05/2009512101233951264.html">Pakistan diary: Peshawar protests</a></b><br />12.05.09. Imran Khan, al jazeera. Peshawar is a town with a past littered with the ghosts of war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/05/12/taliban-stocks-rise-with-the-massacre-of-the-pashtuns/">Taliban’s popularity rises after massacre of the Pashtuns</a></b><br />12.05.09. Crikey. As thousands of injured and starving Pashtuns fall in droves from the mountains of the Hindu Kush this week they bring stories with them of aerial bombing campaigns by the Pakistani Air Force akin to those witnessed against Afghan villages by the Soviets in the 1980s, a massacre of grand proportions to which the world seems oblivious. [see refugees, below]<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jx2yAB-WbF1MQznIZBMf78W6kadQD985HQU00"> Pakistan's religious minorities report violence </a><br />(13.05.09. AP)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/2009524141212281322.html">Pakistan rally against Swat assault</a></b><br />al jazeera. Hundreds of supporters of Pakistan's opposition Jamaat-i-Islami party have demonstrated in what is believed to be the first major protest against the military's offensive against the Taliban in North West Frontier Province (NWFP). / Many of the protesters were carrying banners carrying slogans condemning the role of the United States in Pakistan. … "This is a great point of contention for many Pakistanis” …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/05/28/residents-seethe-as-pakistan-army-destroys-homes-2/">Residents seethe as Pakistan army destroys homes</a></b><br />28.05.09. anti-war. Bombed out mosques, homes show Pakistan challenge to win hearts in Taliban war. / Beyond any doubt is their fury at authorities for wrecking their homes — just what the army does not want as it tries to win the support of the people for its month-old offensive against the Taliban in Pakistan's northwest frontier region near the border with Afghanistan. "The Taliban never hurt the poor people, but the government has destroyed everything,"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C29%5Cstory_29-5-2009_pg1_9">Pakistani militant groups uniting</a></b><br />29.05.09. Daily Times pk. “Ultimately we’re going to reach a tipping point where the Taliban will have opened so many fronts in Punjab that it will be almost impossible for the army to deploy against so many fronts which are so distant from each other geographically,” says <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Rashid">Ahmed Rashid </a> (website: <a href="http://www.ahmedrashid.com/"> here </a>.<br /><br />& Censorship (By Whom?)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3782"> CBS Pro-Drone Propaganda </a> (12.05.09. FAIR)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C13%5Cstory_13-5-2009_pg7_33">‘Govt should ensure media’s access to Mingora’</a></b><br />13.05.09. daily times, pk. “There is a complete blackout of news from Swat, Buner and Dir where military operation against militants is in progress. There’s no source of dissemination of news. No one is aware of the actual situation in these districts,”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/16-no-access-to-the-front-hs-06">No access to the front</a></b><br />17.05.09. Gul Bukhari, Dawn. So what is one to believe, given that direct news reports and images from the independent media, which might enable the public to get a better sense of the ground reality, are completely missing?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iEXD03TvRg_vu-vSrpL6Wu9QscOg">Swat unrest prompts strike in Pakistan finance hub</a></b><br />25.05.09. AFP. Shops in Pakistan's volatile financial hub Karachi closed, witnesses said, after nationalists called a strike to protest the arrival of refugees from the conflict-hit northwest. / The Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) movement, which promotes the cause of natives of southern Sindh province, opposes the influx of ethnic Pashtuns fleeing a military offensive in three northwest districts.<br /><br /><br /><a id="11000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>11. Refugees in Pakistan</b></div><br /><em><br />“These poppies of your yard<br />are scattered in my clouds.” </em>.<br />John Berger, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pages-Wound-Drawings-Photographs-1956-96/dp/0747529752/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243755745&sr=1-1"> Pages of the Wound</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">= = = </div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/idps.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 452px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/idps.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">UNCS</span></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI0IyhdTUXEUFp4hVk8yszyciiOeDgVDALQ6nmaz7r6T40FDqq3uvJG4ftiwJNHIc6TrE7u8fJDOaiLc_0SIkN_9Ccg3KMztWiZfEQFWbo4nnorboO9hv7Eu_e-Qh_T8X1Lgj5/s1600-h/refugees-swat.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 273px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI0IyhdTUXEUFp4hVk8yszyciiOeDgVDALQ6nmaz7r6T40FDqq3uvJG4ftiwJNHIc6TrE7u8fJDOaiLc_0SIkN_9Ccg3KMztWiZfEQFWbo4nnorboO9hv7Eu_e-Qh_T8X1Lgj5/s400/refugees-swat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342268124515836130" border="0" /></a><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/survivors-of-the-swat-massacre-1684047.html?action=Popup"><span style="font-size:85%;">photo AFP / Getty </span></a><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/08/pakistan-offensive-swat-valley">Swat residents flee as UN warns of humanitarian crisis </a></b><br />08.05.09. Guardian. UN officials repeated warnings that the flood of people was swelling into one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek_7BAALOo8&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish%2Ealjazeera%2Enet%2Fnews%2Fasia%2F2009%2F05%2F20095911182798557%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded"> Pakistan Swat refugees seek help - 09 May 09 </a><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DD4PH6Ourwp8"> Desperate Pakistanis flee violence in Swat - 10 May 09 </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8045732.stm">Eyewitness: Trapped in Mingora</a></b><br />12.05.09. BBC. Fighting in the Swat valley between the Pakistani army and Taleban militants has almost completely destroyed the communications network and links with the rest of the country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=argusleader&sParam=35024520.story">Pakistan army: 1.3 million fled fighting</a></b><br />12.05.09. USA Today. The offensive has also unleashed a tide of refugees, whose plight could sap public support for the kind of sustained action against an increasingly interlinked array of Islamist extremists that the cash-strapped country's Western backers want to see.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/12/pakistan-taliban-maulana-fazhullah-army">Commando attack on Taliban stronghold leaves 800,000 homeless</a></b><br />12.05.09. Declan Walsh, Guardian. Pakistani commandos swooped into a Taliban mountain stronghold by helicopter today as the army pushed forward with an operation it said had killed over 750 militants [sic] and left at least 800,000 civilians homeless.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/survivors-of-the-swat-massacre-1684047.html">Survivors of the Swat massacre</a></b><br />13.05.09. Independent. <em> They have walked for days, forsaking their homes to escape Pakistan's campaign against the Taliban [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">and US drones </span>]. And these refugees are the lucky ones</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EDIS-7RZL94?OpenDocument">Pakistan: ICRC enters Buner for first time since onset of hostilities</a></b><br />13.05.09. Relief Web. "We went into Buner as soon as we could," said Dr Bart Janssens, the ICRC's health coordinator in Pakistan, who led the operation. "You can see the scars of recent fighting. There is no more electricity or clean drinking water. Most shops are closed. Goods on the market are scarce. The streets feel empty. The district is rapidly being emptied of its inhabitants."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/survivors-of-the-swat-massacre-1684047.html">Survivors of the Swat massacre</a></b><br />13.05.09. Independent. <em> They have walked for days, forsaking their homes to escape Pakistan's campaign against the Taliban. And these refugees are the lucky ones</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSISL425112._CH_.2400">Pakistan will defeat Taliban, must win hearts – PM</a></b><br />14.05.09. Reuters. Pakistan will defeat the Taliban militarily but could lose the public relations war if it fails to help the hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the fighting, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Thursday.<br /><br /><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/gc07/idUKTRE54D1Q420090514?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0"> FACTBOX: Key quotes on threat posed by Pakistan turmoil </a> (14.05.09. Reuters)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=18swat-r1720171902.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 272px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=18swat-r1720171902.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54381&s2=20"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) camp in the outskirts of Peshawar</span></a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud150509.htm">The Drones Are Coming: New War On Civilians </a></b><br />15.05.09. Ramzy Baroud, Countercurrents. There are an estimated one million Pakistanis already on the run in the northern and eastern parts of the country. They are threatened by fighting, hunger and all sorts of predators, including US drones circling overhead.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KE15Df03.html">Pakistan reels under Swat offensive</a></b><br />15.05.09. Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times. All of Pakistan's major political parties have given their support - along with the United States - to the [Swat] operation, but with no exit strategy in place, <b>the unfolding humanitarian crisis looms as a bigger threat than the Taliban</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/RMOI-7S2VAY?OpenDocument">Health risks on the rise for Pakistan's displaced children</a></b><br />15.05.09. Save the Children / Relief web. "We are seeing cases of diarrheal disease, respiratory infections and other illnesses related to exposure and to very crowded living conditions," said Ned Olney, who heads Save the Children's humanitarian response efforts around the world. "In addition, our medical teams are reporting numerous fatigue and stress-related ailments, which is not surprising as families have walked 30–50 miles under great duress in search of safe haven."<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFzZPQYOcGw"> Pakistan refugees facing 'humanitarian crisis' - 15 May 09 </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/05/2009514132115765248.html">Pakistan diary: Storytellers Bazaar</a></b><br />15.05.09. Imran Khan, al jazeera. Whatever Pakistanis feel about the military operation, the humanitarian crisis has united them. / … At least 1.3 million people are on the move and more than 800,000 are registered with the UN alone as refugees. … / had a chance to reflect on the numbers while I was in the camp. Watching children roam freely, playing as they do, I found myself wondering how many of them would spend their formative years living in places like these. When so many people live together disease also becomes a problem. Cases of diarrhoea and skin problems have already been registered. I wonder how many of the children I saw will survive.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/roberts150509.htm">Who Rules America?</a></b><br />15.05.09. Paul Craig Roberts, countercurrents. Not a dime to prevent millions of Americans from losing their homes, but hundreds of billions of dollars to murder Muslim women and children and to create millions of refugees, many of whom will either sign up with insurgents or end up as the next wave of immigrants into America.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/pstan_refugees.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 238px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/pstan_refugees.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200951512551688563.html">'Thousands flee' Taliban-held town</a></b><br />16.05.09. al jazeera. People rushed out of Mingora on Friday after the government relaxed its restrictions around the city and advised civilians to leave.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><em>Yeh jo dehshatgardi hey<br />Iss key peechay wardi hey</em><br />(Behind all this terrorism is the military)</div><br /><a href="http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/05/war-on-terror-causes-mass-exodus-in-swat/"> “War on Terror” Causes Mass Exodus in Swat </a> (18.05.09. Farooq Sulehria, Dissident Voice)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Pakistan-fighting-displaces-145-million-civilians-UN/articleshow/4548485.cms">Pakistan fighting displaces 1.45 million civilians: UN</a></b><br />18.05.09. Times of India / ICH. UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond says that is in addition to the more than 550,000 people who were displaced earlier by the military offensive in northwest Pakistan, meaning the total is now more than <b>2 million</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25504960-5005961,00.html">Two million flee Pakistan</a></b><br />19.05.09. news.au. The number of people forced to flee fighting in northwestern Pakistan since August 2008 has <u>exceeded the two million mark</u>, the UN refugee agency said on Monday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/05/2009520113129618882.html">Mirabadi Village</a></b><br />20.05.09. Imran Khan, al jazeera. The vast majority of Pakistan's refugees are living outside of the camps in private accommodation.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWs4DC5ABsc"> Pakistan’s displaced struggle to find shelter 20.05.09</a><br /><br /><em> No Food</em><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/kids.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 216px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/kids.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/media-gallery/07-scrambling-for-food-10?pageDesign=new_mg_wht_detail12-7"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Scrambling for food at Jalozai camp. AP </span></a></div><br /><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/SHIG-7S8HDM?OpenDocument"> Food finally begins to reach displaced people in conflict-hit Buner </a> (20.05.09. ICRC/Relief Web)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C21%5Cstory_21-5-2009_pg7_13">Food shortage worsening in restive Malakand areas</a></b><br />21.05.09. daily times/pk. * Residents say no food items available in Malakand, prices have tripled for whatever is present; * Locals demand govt open routes to let food supplies through. [similar problems in Swat]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gME3HH7-A4QYFj8dGIvklE9S8Ltw">Mingora: Ghost town of Pakistan's Swat</a></b><br />28.05.09. S.H. Khan, AFP. "If anybody wants to see the day of judgment, he should go to Mingora," said Mohammad Daud, a shell-shocked refugee from Pakistan's fierce military onslaught in the capital of Swat valley. / "There is nothing left for people to survive," said Daud, a tailor who scraped by for 20 days on potatoes scavenged from his neighbour's house, as security forces fought Taliban fighters in the mountainous district.<br /><br />* VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ90kozkE_A&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish%2Ealjazeera%2Enet%2Fnews%2Fasia%2F2009%2F05%2F20095222232620258%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded"> Pakistan troops battle for Swat - 23 May 09<br /><br /><b></b></a><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54539&s2=26">Mental trauma of displaced Pakistani children </a></b><br />24.05.09. Nasir Jaffry, AFP / uruknet. Nabila Bibi sits in a tent in the blistering heat thinking about the dolls she left behind at home in the Pakistani mountains where the army and Taliban rebels are killing each other.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C25%5Cstory_25-5-2009_pg7_16">IDPs being barred from entering Punjab, Sindh: Muqam</a></b><br />25.05.09. Daily Times, pk. The people of Swat and Malakand are at war against the Taliban and rendering sacrifices for the country’s survival, but the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from these areas are being barred from entering Punjab and Sindh, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) provincial President Ameer Muqam said on Sunday. / “It’s not an issue of Swat and Malakand alone. It’s an issue of the entire country as the Taliban want to reach Islamabad,” Muqam told a press conference at his Peshawar residence.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C25%5Cstory_25-5-2009_pg1_11">Over 0.2 million Afghan refugees residing in Punjab</a></b><br />25.05.09. Daily Times, pk. Most refugees settled in the NWFP (1,878,170) followed by Balochistan (769,268), Punjab (207,768), Sindh (135,724), Islamabad (45,269) and then (13,079) in Azad Kashmir.<br /><br /><em> Heat in Pakistan</em><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/child2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 214px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/child2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/05/2009525123617480706.html">Refugees in the camps face a battle to keep cool in searing temperatures [Al Jazeera]</a></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/05/2009525123617480706.html"><br />Pakistan diary: Beating the heat</a></b><br />25.05.09. Imran Khan, al jazeera. The heat is punishing. It must be 45 degrees Celsius with no wind. A haze seems to rise from every surface. / It's midday in the camp. Seemingly, there no escape from the brutal sun. / Children try and cool off by splashing water over each other, which would be a happy scene anywhere else in the world. / Except here.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whLehmv6Nn8"> Heat wave ordeal for Pakistan's displaced - 25 May 09 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95914&sectionid=351020401"> UN: Nearly 2.4 million displaced in Pakistan </a> (26.05.09. press tv.ir.)<br /><br /><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C26%5Cstory_26-5-2009_pg1_7"> 6,000 pregnant women in camps </a> (26.05.09. Daily Times, pk.)<br /><br /><u> Malakand</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=26swat7-r1430773374.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 399px; height: 266px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=26swat7-r1430773374.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">photo: REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood</span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54587&s2=27">Pakistan: Trapped civilians face catastrophe: </a></b><br />26.05.09. The News International/uruknet. <em>HRW Urges Islamabad to lift curfew; UNHCR says 126,000 displaced daily by conflict</em>. Thousands of civilians trapped in the <u>Malakand</u> Division face "humanitarian catastrophe" unless help reaches them soon, a rights watchdog said on Tuesday. New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said people were living with scant food and water in the war zone where security forces were bombarding the militants in a push to extinguish their two-year insurgency. "People trapped in the Swat conflict zone face a humanitarian catastrophe unless the Pakistani military immediately lifts a curfew that has been in place continuously for the last week," said Brad Adams, the group’s Asia director. "The government cannot allow the local population to remain trapped without food, clean water and medicine as a tactic to defeat the Taliban," he said.He urged Islamabad to lift the curfew in the under-siege Swat Valley and nearby districts..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MYAI-7SE7Z7?OpenDocument">Pakistan: Lift Swat curfew for trapped civilians</a></b><br />26.05.09. Human Rights Watch / Relief web. The Pakistani authorities should immediately lift a 24-hour curfew in place since May 18 in the Swat valley and adjoining areas of the Malakand Division of Pakistan's Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), Human Rights Watch said today. Severe shortages of food, water, and medicine are creating a major humanitarian crisis for the hundreds of thousands of civilians still trapped in the region where Pakistani armed forces are fighting Taliban insurgents.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54576&s2=27"> Police on the run in Malakand region: Almost 75% desert force in Buner, 40% in Swat</a> (26.05.09. Javed Aziz Khan, uruknet)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/16-refugees-plight-hs-02">Refugees’ plight</a></b><br />28.05.09. Dawn Editorial. The tale of human misery unfolding in the Frontier has few parallels in Pakistan’s recent history. It is estimated by the United Nations that nearly 2.4 million people have been displaced from their homes this month alone. Some 126,000 refugees from <u>Malakand</u>, says the UNHCR, are streaming into relief camps or registration centres on a daily basis. / Yet there are an untold number of families who are still trapped in Swat, unable to flee the battle raging between security forces and the Taliban. / Curfew restrictions are a major hurdle<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/features/article_1479427.php/Threat_of_death_haunts_people_marooned_in_Swat__News_Feature__">Threat of death haunts people marooned in Swat (News Feature)</a></b><br />26.05.09. M &ampC. many in Pakistan's war-torn Swat valley the choice is not between life and death, but between a death caused by bullets or bombs and a death by starvation or disease.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-troops-take-over-maalam-jabba--il--07"> Troops take over Maalam Jabba </a> (26.05.09. Dawn)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/08-about-126%2C000-displaced-daily-by-pakistan-conflict-ts-06"> About 126,000 displaced daily by Pakistan conflict </a> (26.05.09. Dawn)<br /><br /><u> Health </u><br /><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-26-voa7.cfm"> Aid Agencies Fear Disease Outbreaks In Northwestern Pakistan </a> (26.05.09. VOA)<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 307px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCxdU_mMt-gRfCl8K3JfF3oi39miHjwaEv5uvGvqK4VbbM6Kw-tUL2H-fsQ5xRINZri4Ap2kZc0sCem415co8NI_KZqbjKMy5ompLVCBQBobOBK6ncXsJL9Cz6kpmucHE-m3-2/s320/pakistan-time.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342267295382218770" border="0" /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900906,00.html"> photo Emilio Morenatti / AP </a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900906,00.html">Fleeing the Taliban, Millions of Pakistani Refugees in Limbo</a></b><br />27.05.09. Time Magazine. … As the Pakistani military moved in to push back against Taliban fighters edging closer to the capital, the family traveled in the opposite direction, across the mountains that form a backdrop to the camp in which they now live. They are among an estimated 2.4 million Pakistanis who have been displaced …<br /><br /><a href="http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1897932,00.html"> Pakistan Beneath the Surface: Photographs by Alixandra Fazzina for TIME </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MYAI-7SE7Z7?OpenDocument">Pakistan: Lift Swat curfew for trapped civilians</a></b><br />26.05.09. Human Rights Watch / Relief web. The Pakistani authorities should immediately lift a 24-hour curfew in place <u>since May 18</u> in the Swat valley and adjoining areas of the Malakand Division of Pakistan's Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (PATA), Human Rights Watch said today. Severe shortages of food, water, and medicine are creating a major humanitarian crisis for the hundreds of thousands of civilians still trapped in the region where Pakistani armed forces are fighting Taliban insurgents.<br /><br /><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C27%5Cstory_27-5-2009_pg7_9"> 100 Pakistanis stranded at Attari </a> (27.05.09. Daily Times, pk)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://uk.news.yahoo.com/22/20090527/video/vwl-icrc-suspends-aid-in-swat-valley-d7f4ae7.html"> ICRC Suspends Aid in Swat Valley (?) (Reuters, 27.05.09)<br /><br /><b></b></a><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EDIS-7SFMFA?OpenDocument">Pakistan: Civilian population affected by ongoing fighting in North-West Frontier Province</a></b><br />27.05.09. ICRC / relief web. Armed conflict in several areas of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) continues to affect the civilian population, in particular in the Swat, Buner and Lower Dir districts. The ICRC has been providing support for hospitals and helping displaced people to meet their most basic needs.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/cogan280509.htm">Millions Displaced As Pakistani Military Extends Its Offensive</a></b><br />28.05.09. James Cogan, WSWS. The Pakistani military is deepening its assault against Islamist militants in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) district of Swat Valley and beginning to extend its operations into other ethnic Pashtun-populated areas. The Obama administration insisted that the Pakistani government launch the offensive as part of US efforts to crush the anti-occupation insurgency over the border in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54695&s2=30">Ethnic discrimination? </a></b><br />29.05.09. Babar Sattar*, the news.com/’pk/ Uruknet. A naked ugly form of ethnic prejudice is fettering the right of our wretched brothers and sisters displaced from Swat to move freely and settle anywhere across Pakistan. The invidious stance against the temporary settlement of IDPs in Sindh adopted by Sindh political parties (JSQM, and in a more equivocal yet equally unmistakable manner by the MQM) exposes the ethnic fault-lines dividing our national fabric and lack of generosity of spirit of various political actors. But m! ore importantly the ease with which fundamental rights of a vulnerable group of citizens can be transgressed in pursuit of selfish ethnic interests raises serious constitutional questions.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>3.4 million</b><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-number-of-displaced-persons-exceeds-three-million--il--09">Number of displaced persons exceeds three million</a></b><br />30.05.09. Dawn. Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said at a press conference at the Officers’ Mess here on Friday that the number of IDPs now stood at 3.4 million — 2.8 million of them from Malakand division alone.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/in-pakistan-an-exodus-that-is-beyond-biblical-1693513.html">In Pakistan, an exodus that is beyond biblical</a></b><br />31.05.09. Andrew Buncombe, Independent. The language was already biblical; now the scale of what is happening matches it. The exodus of people forced from their homes in Pakistan's Swat Valley and elsewhere in the country's north-west may be as high as 2.4 million, aid officials say. Around the world, only a handful of war-spoiled countries – Sudan, <u>Iraq</u>, Colombia – have larger numbers of internal refugees.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/08-government-vows-to-take-full-care-of-displaced-ts-04">Government vows to take ‘full care’ of displaced</a> (30.05.09. Dawn)<br /><br /><u> Returning </u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/swat.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 216px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/swat.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/media-gallery/11-refugees-return-to-swat--il--12"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Refugees return to Swat, Buner (Dawn Media Gallery)</span></a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/07-displaced-residents-return-to-destroyed-sultanwas-village-ha-06">Displaced residents return to destroyed Sultanwas village</a></b><br />29.05.09. Dawn. When Pakistan army drove the Taliban back from this small north-western village, it also destroyed much of everything else here. / F-16 fighter jets, military helicopters, tanks and artillery reduced houses, mosques and shops to rubble, strewn with children’s shoes, shattered TV sets and perfume bottles. / Commanders say the force was necessary …<br /><br /><br /><a id="12000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>12. Aid to Pakistan</b></div><br /><br /><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm"> United Nations humanitarian fund gives $8.3 million to bolster aid to internally displaced persons in Pakistan </a> (12.05.09. relief web)<br /><br /><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/14/content_11374370.htm"> China offers $1 mln emergency aid to Pakistan </a> (14.05.09. Xinhuanet)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C16%5Cstory_16-5-2009_pg5_5"> Pakistan may seek additional $4.5 billion from IMF </a> (16.05.09. Daily Times, pk)<br /><br />Related: <a href="http://www.pakwatan.com/business_detail.php?id=5729">Pakistan to receive $2.3 billion by June: Tarin</a> (-no date- pakwatan). The World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and US would release $600 million, $800 million and $900 million respectively, whereas International Development Bank (IDB) will give $23 million. He said that Pakistan's delegation had convinced the IMF during the review of March quarter in Dubai for allowing an increase in fiscal deficit by next fiscal year.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.3316717458"> Pakistan: France to give 12 mln euros for refugees </a> (16.05.09. adnk)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76372&Itemid=2"> Japan provides $20 mln assistance to Pakistan </a> (18.05.09. AP.pk.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-7S62Z9?OpenDocument">Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan 2008-2009 - Revision</a></b><br />17.05.09. relief web. Revised expanded humanitarian response plan requires $544 mln to urgently assist conflict IDPs in north west.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-7S62Z9?OpenDocument">Pakistan Humanitarian Response Plan 2008-2009 - Revision</a></b><br />17.05.09. relief web. Revised expanded humanitarian response plan requires $544 mln to urgently assist conflict IDPs in north west.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/RMOI-7SCHHJ?OpenDocument">Pakistan Humanitarian Forum urges comprehensive and effective aid for "desperate" situation among the displaced, as UN and humanitarian community launches Flash Appeal</a></b><br />22.05.09. Oxfam. A consortium of 29 of the largest International NGOs in Pakistan is publicly appealing to the international community to immediately fund the United Nations Flash Appeal, for the nearly 2 million people displaced by conflict in northwest Pakistan. The Appeal will be formally launched on May 22.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/1BC6C6E3F2E79269652575C5001BC697?OpenDocument"> UN Secy-Gen seeks urgent aid for refugees in northwest Pak </a> (29.05.09. ptinews)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/29/Russia-promises-1M-for-Pakistan-refugees/UPI-45201243634379/"> Russia promises $1M for Pakistan refugees </a> (29.05.09. UPI)<br /><br /><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-39970220090529"> U.N. offers tents, toilets to Pakistan refugee hosts </a> (29.05.09. Reuters)<br /><br /><br />U.S. Aid<br /><br /><a href="http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/13/us-sends-5-million-to-aid-swat-refugees/"> U.S. sends $5 million for Swat refugees </a> (13.05.09. Washington Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-05-15-voa22.cfm">Debate Intensifies on New US Strategy on Pakistan, Afghanistan</a></b><br />15.05.09. Ravi Khann, VOA. The lawmakers want more accountability and some are questioning whether providing more aid is the answer. Analysts at Washington's think tanks are also weighing in with opinions on the new strategy.<br /><br />Related:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/khan.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 402px; height: 216px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/khan.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/khan.jpg"><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">A Q Khan </span></a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/11-us-bill-links-military-aid-to-a-q-khan--02">US bill links military aid to A Q Khan</a></b><br />17.05.09. Anwar Iqbal, Dawn. While all eyes are focused on the congressional approval of $1.9 billion of US economic assistance to Pakistan earlier this week, a bill pending before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs can all but stifle US military assistance to Pakistan. / The bill — H. R. 1463 – was introduced in the House of Representatives on March 12 and has now been referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs for further action. / If adopted, it will place Pakistan in a very uncomfortable position. To qualify for US military assistance, Pakistan will have to produce Dr. A.Q. Khan before American interrogators. Islamabad will also have to pledge to monitor all future activities of the nuclear scientist who is seen as a hero at home but as a villain in the West./ The purpose of the bill, as enunciated in the official text, is ‘to restrict US military assistance to the government of Pakistan.’<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pakistantimes.net/pt/detail.php?newsId=664"> US House approves $ 2.3 billion for Pakistan </a> (16.05.09. Pakistan times)<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090518/pl_afp/pakistanunrestusaid"> US prepares to ferry aid to Pakistan's northwest </a> (18.05.09. AFP)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN20512482"> Pakistan aid crisis seen lasting all this year-US </a> (20.05.09. Reuters)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/12-us-to-keep-an-eye-on-aid-utilization-hillary--bi-09">US to keep an eye on aid utilization: Hillary</a></b><br />21.05.09. Anwar Iqbal, Dawn. Hillary Clinton agreed with a legislator’s proposal that conditions be attached to the assistance provided to Pakistan and Afghanistan so that the money was used only for the purpose named in the bill concerned.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/09-us-grapples-with-nuclear-issue-while-finalizing-aid-bill-szh--09">US grapples with nuclear issue while finalizing aid bill</a></b><br />24.05.09. Anwar Iqbal, Dawn. The US Congress will not seek to roll back Pakistan’s nuclear programme when it meets next week to consider a bill to triple economic assistance to the country, but final legislation may include restrictions to prevent Islamabad from further expanding its arsenal.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=76932&Itemid=1"> US senators urge Obama to provide largescale aid to IDPs</a> (24.05.09. AP-pk)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/13+us+sets+up+special+counter-insurgency+fund-za-13">US sets up special counter-insurgency fund</a></b><br />27.05.09. Anwar Iqbal, Dawn. The PCCF was added to the war supplemental that the US House of Representatives passed on May 14 and the Senate approved on May 21. Congressman Howard Berman, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, added an additional $700 million for the PCCF in the House’s version of a Pakistan aid bill — which cleared the committee on May 20. / The Pentagon will carry out the programme with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, complementing existing and planned State Department efforts. The PCCF will allow the commander of the US Central Command to work directly with the Pakistani military to build its counter-insurgency capability. / ‘We are asking for this unique authority for the unique and urgent circumstances we face in Pakistan,’ US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates recently told a congressional panel while seeking approval for the programme. ‘It is a vital element of President Obama’s new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy.’ / But the fund has started a turf war between the Pentagon and the State Department. Recent reports in the US media suggest that members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the State Department’s legislative affairs insist that the fund ought to be placed under the auspices of the State Department. …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C05%5C27%5Cstory_27-5-2009_pg7_15">US Congress divided over plan for Pakistan</a></b><br />27.05.09. Daily Times, pk. * Undersecretary of defence for policy calls programme ‘absolutely critical to the success’ of US strategy in Pakistan; * Counterinsurgency experts say its hybrid style of warfare is ‘80 percent political and only 20 percent military’; * Congress members contend that fund ought to be placed under State Department<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/article.aspx?RsrcID=48639">Hillary Clinton Wants Americans to Text Donations to Pakistani Refugees</a> (27.05.09. CNS)<br />[<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">before or after they have paid their taxes to support the US wars? </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=22441">US pays $447 million to Pakistan</a></b><br />30.05.09. the news int/anti-war. The Obama administration has provided two installments totalling $447 million to Pakistan in shape of <b>military reimbursement bill</b> against the services rendered by the Pakistan Army to flush out the Taliban from its volatile tribal areas, it was learnt. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> what about aid for 3.4 million refugees? </span>]<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/29/AR2009052902620.html"> A Better Bargain for Aid to Pakistan </a> (30.05.09. Wash Post.)<br /><br /><br /><a id="13000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 13. References </b></div><br /><br /><u> General </u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bases-Empire-Struggle-Transnational-Institute/dp/0745328326/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242727129&sr=1-1"> The Bases of Empire</a>, edited by Catherine Lutz, Pluto Press, December 2008<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Burnt-Shadows-Novel-Kamila-Shamsie/dp/0312551878/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243788498&sr=1-1"><br />Kamila Shamsie </a>, Burnt Shadows, Picador, April 2009<br /><br /><u> The Jundullah</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://irancoverage.com/2008/07/08/seymour-hersh-us-training-jundullah-and-mek-for-bombing-preparation/">Seymour Hersh: US Training Jundullah and MEK for Bombing Preparation</a></b><br />08.07. 08. CASMII / Iran coverage. According to an interview with Seymour Hersh, the US is training terrorist groups to cause chaos inside Iran, provoking an aggressive reaction from the Iranians, which will serve as a pretext for military action from the US.<br /><br /><br /><u> Index Research</u><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/07/index-research-pentagon-and-oil.html"><br />Index Research: The Pentagon and Oil </a> (24.07.08), incorporating material from Sohbet Karbuz.<br /><br />PAKISTAN<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-on-afghanistan-january-2007.html#200"> Strategic Imperatives: Reports & Documents </a>; General, Afghanistan, Pakistan, UK, US (January 2007)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/04/index-on-afghanistan-march-2007.html#200"> Strategic Imperatives </a> (Afghanistan, Pakistan, US, Media & Videos (March 2007)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/autumn-07-in-afghanistan.html#300"> Strategic Imperatives </a> (Afghanistan, Pakistan, United States) (Index Afghanistan Autumn ’07)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/index-on-afghanistan-april-2008-famine.html#4000"><br />Pakistan: Food; The ‘Tribal Belt’; New Government; and US; Nuclear; Enter China </a> (Index Afghanistan April ’08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html"><br />Index on Afghanistan and Pakistan - Murder & Security, Aug/Sept. ’08 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/index-on-afghanistan-april-2007-murder.html#200"> Index on Afghanistan April 2009 </a> (Oil and Gas - Pakistan/Iran /India & Iraq)<br /><br /><a href="http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/mayfaire/latimes0167.htm"> Bush's third war </a> (27.09.08, A. Bacevich, article listed in Index Afghanistan Preface, Oct. ’08 Timeline)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html"> Index Research on Pakistan, October 2008 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2008.html#3000"> Oil and Gas in Afghanistan and Pakistan</a> (Index Afghanistan December ’08)<br /><br />OIL/US BASES IN IRAQ<br /><br /><a href="<br />http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/06/usuk-bases-in-iraq-part-ii-south.html">US/UK BASES IN IRAQ, Part II. The South : Falcon-Al-Sarq, Tallil, Shaibah </a> (07.06.06. Index Research)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/iraq-oil-vultures-are-waiting.html"> Iraq Oil: The Vultures are Waiting </a> (03.09.07. Index Research)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/iraq-new-us-base-wasit.html"> Iraq: New U.S. Base – Wasit </a> (11.09.07, Index Research)<br /><br /><br />OIL AND GAS IN AFGHANISTAN<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/08/index-on-afghanistan.html#400"> Index on Afghanistan </a> (31.08.06 - updated)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/10/index-on-afghanistan-september-2006.html#200"> Index on Afghanistan: September 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/index-on-afghanistan-october-2006.html#200"> Index on Afghanistan : October 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/index-on-afghanistan-november-2006.html#200"> Index on Afghanistan : November 2006 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-on-afghanistan-january-2007.html#100"> Index on Afghanistan: January 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/03/index-on-afghanistan-february-2007.html#100"> Index on Afghanistan: February 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/04/index-on-afghanistan-march-2007.html#100"> Index on Afghanistan: March 2007 </a> (Pakistan/Iran /India & Iraq)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/index-on-afghanistan-april-2008-famine.html#8000"><br />Oil and Gas: The Great Game</a> (Index Afghanistan April ’08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/06/index-on-afghanistan-may-2007-part-i.html#100"> Index on Afghanistan May 2009</a> (Oil and Gas - Pakistan/Iran /India & Iraq)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/schisms-index-on-afghanistan-august.html#2000"> Oil and Gas: The Great Game </a> (Index on Afghanistan August 2007)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/autumn-07-in-afghanistan.html#200"> Oil and Gas; The Great Game</a> (Index on Afghanistan Autumn ’07)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-disaster-winters.html#5000"> A Wider Perspective: Global Oil Struggle</a> (Index Afghanistan Feb. ‘08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html#6000"> Oil and Gas </a> (Index Afghanistan April ’08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html#6000"><br />oil and gas </a> (Index Afghanistan Aug/Sept ’08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-on-economics-and-peril-in.html#7000"> oil and gas </a> (Index on Afghanistan October 2008)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2008.html#3000"> Oil and Gas in Afghanistan and Pakistan </a> (Index Afghanistan December ’08)<br /><br />US<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/03/pnac-rebuilding-americas-defenses.html#5">PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses - A Biopsy on Imperialism; Part II: "Special Interests" - The Persian Gulf </a> (29.03.06. Index Research; maps / bases)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/07/index-research-pentagon-and-oil.html"> Index Research: The Pentagon and Oil </a> (24.07.08. Includes research by Sohbet Karbuz)<br /><br /><br /><br />CIVILIAN MURDERS IN AFGHANISTAN<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/index-on-afghanistan-april-2007-murder.html"> Index on Afghanistan: April 2007: Murder in Nangarhar</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/dead-in-afghanistan-may-2007.html">Dead in Afghanistan: May 2007 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=993"> Civilian Deaths and Counternarcotics to Top Agenda at Bush-Karzai Meeting </a> (Schisms: Index on Afghanistan, August 2007)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/afghanistan-cleared-of-wrongdoing.html"> Afghanistan: Cleared of Wrongdoing </a> (29 Sept. 07)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-disaster-winters.html"> Index on Afghanistan: Disaster, A Winter's Tale (1) February 2008 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html#2000"> Murder in Azizabad </a> (Index Afghanistan April ’08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-on-economics-and-peril-in.html#5000"> Killing Civilians </a> (Index Afghanistan October ’08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54400&s2=20"> Killing of Afghan civilians covered-up by Australian military </a> (19.05.09. James Cogan, uruknet)<br /><br /><br />"TERRORISTS" IN AFGHANISTAN<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/index-on-afghanistan-april-2008-famine.html#1000"> Preface, Index on Afghanistan </a>, April '08: 'The U.S. government repetitive phrases and words need examining. World governments and the international media have been infected by White House propaganda since 9/11':<br /><br />* Harm national security<br />* Al Qaeda<br />* Criminal gangs<br />* Enemy / enemies / enemy combatant<br />* Evil<br />* Extremists<br />* Militants<br />* Outlaws<br />* Radical<br />* Rogue (states, elements, etc)<br />* (add Taliban)<br />* Terrorists<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2008.html#7000"> The Taliban </a> (Index Afghanistan Dec. ’08)<br /><br /><br />RENDITION AND TORTURE<br /><br /><u>Iraq</u>: On the sidebar of Index on Afghanistan, there are articles about torture.<br /><br /><u>Afghanistan</u>: In every Index on Afghanistan, there is a section on Rendition and Torture under the "Human Rights" section.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the UK</em>. She is a member of the BRussels Tribunal Advisory Committee. The BR. T. has published this research <a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Meyer/Pakistan0609.htm"> here </a>. <br />I would like to give thanks for help to Winston Weeks, Musafir and L. Chadderdon.<br /><br />The url to ‘Index on War in Pakistan, May 2009’ is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/06/index-on-war-in-pakistan-may-2009.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/06/index-on-war-in-pakistan-may-2009.html</a><br /><br />The smaller url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/nd5faa">http://tinyurl.com/nd5faa</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br />TAGS<br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Pakistan" rel="tag">Pakistan</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/AF-PAK" rel="tag">AF-PAK</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Taliban" rel="tag">Taliban</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Obama" rel="tag">Obama</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Zardawi" rel="tag">Zardawi</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Afghanistan" rel="tag">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/India" rel="tag">India</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Iraq" rel="tag">Iraq</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Iran" rel="tag">Iran</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Gas+TAPI" rel="tag">Gas TAPI</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Gas+IPI" rel="tag">Gas IPI</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Nuclear" rel="tag">Nuclear</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Refugees" rel="tag">Refugees</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Jundullah" rel="tag">Jundullah</a><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">FINIS</div>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-28840527712845798142009-04-20T07:45:00.026+01:002009-07-24T05:46:33.145+01:00Obama’s Iraq: NO ‘CHANGE’<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/04/obamas-iraq-no-change.html&title=Obamas+Iraq:+NO+CHANGE&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/04/obamas-iraq-no-change.html&title=Obamas+Iraq:+NO+CHANGE&bodytext=">Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=2884052771284579814" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=2884052771284579814" title="Email Post">Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://therealbarackobama.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/b-2002-antiwar-rally-davidson.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 251px; height: 203px;" src="http://therealbarackobama.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/b-2002-antiwar-rally-davidson.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com/2008/10/30/loudon-the-axelrod-axis-who-is-behind-the-man-behind-obama/"> <span style="font-size:85%;">“The Real Barack Obama” , ANTI-WAR RALLY 2002 </span></a></div><br /><br /><br /><em> click on Index section in which you are interested </em><br /><b><br />1. <a href="#1000">Obama On Iraq Before the Election</a><br />2. <a href="#2000">Obama’s Agenda in Iraq</a> (Feb., March, April 2009)<br />3. <a href="#3000">Reality in Iraq Now</a><br />4. <a href="#4000">UPDATES: More "extraordinary achievements" in Iraq</a><br />5. <a href="#5000">References</a></b><br /><br />(most recent update 23.07.09)<br /><br /><a id="1000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>1. OBAMA ON IRAQ BEFORE THE ELECTION</b> </div><br /><br />"What I do oppose is a dumb war."<br />Barack Obama 2002<br /><br />...<br /><br />"Most of you know that I have opposed this war from the start. I thought it was a tragic mistake. .. That's why I have a plan that will bring our combat troops home by March of 2008 ... letting the Iraqis know that we will not be there forever ... "<br />Barack Obama, 2007.<br /><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhpKmQCCwB8"> Barack Obama on Iraq, Opposition from the Start</a><br /><br /><br /><a id="2000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>2. OBAMA’S AGENDA IN IRAQ </b></div><br /><br />Asked in Turkey how he was <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30095474#30095474">different from President Bush</a>, Mr. Obama said: "<em>Here in the US is like piloting a big tanker. They're not like people ... You can't just whip them around and go in a new direction. Instead, you've gotta slowly move it and then eventually you end up in a very different place</em>. "<br /><br />Very difficult for President Obama, when – for political survival - he has chosen to listen to those with the mindset from the military - industrial complex/PNAC/AIPAC. The key word that now gives a clue to the reality of Obama’s formerly hopeful policies is “<b>BUT</b>,” following his “change” rhetoric.<br /><br />Q.: Can one surmise that the military / CIA/corporate interests will ensure and maintain the <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=90904&sectionid=351020201"> ‘al Qaeda’</a> violence level in Iraq in order to keep troops there indefinitely? Listening to General Odierno, it sounds as if this is already happening. President Obama already has his very own Quagmires: Iraq, NATO, Afghanistan plus now Pakistan, and Israel. Very big ships to move.<br /><br />When the Obama team hears criticisms, it will use the <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/8328"> Common Purpose Project </a>, a weekly meeting PR group who want to “enforce a kind of message discipline.” But no Obama <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/us/politics/16web-baker.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=polb1"> “Change in tone” </a> will change the impression that the President is Bush's second hand car dealer. Even the NY Times noted that “President Obama’s foreign policy has much in common with that of his predecessor.”<br /><br />America needs to wake up from its delusion of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/17/barack-obama-supporters-naomi-klein/print"> hope</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">= = =</div><br /><em> But the time-line of the drawdown is back-loaded with the first US troops not scheduled to come home until this September – and even then our force in Iraq will only be reduced by 12,000. / At that point, approximately 135,000 US troops will still occupy the country. That’s the same number that invaded Iraq back in March 2003</em>.<a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-6451-US-Military-Examiner%7Ey2009m3d30-The-Troops-Arent-Coming-Home"><br />Aaron Glantz</a>, <u>The Troops Aren’t Coming Home</u><br /><br /><br /><u>February 2009</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.postchronicle.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=119&num=206843">Iraq Troop Withdrawal Decisions Delayed</a></b><br />09.02.09. Post Chronicle / ICH. U.S. military officials have delayed implementing Iraq troop withdrawals to give President Barack Obama more time to consider his options, sources say. / Quoting two unnamed senior Pentagon officials, CNN reported Monday that Obama has asked military leaders to assess the risks and implications of three timelines that envision withdrawing U.S. combat troops over 16-, 19- or 23-month periods.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/09/petraeus-leaked-misleadin_n_165450.html">Petraeus Leaked Misleading Story on Pullout Plans</a></b><br />09.02.09. Gareth Porter, IPS/ Huff Post. . The political maneuvering between President Barack Obama and his top field commanders over withdrawal from Iraq has taken a sudden new turn with the leak by CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus - and a firm denial by a White House official - of an account of the Jan. 21 White House meeting suggesting that Obama had requested three different combat troop withdrawal plans with their respective associated risks, including one of 23 months./ The Petraeus account, reported by McClatchy newspapers Feb. 5 and then by the Associated Press the following day, <b>appears to indicate that Obama is moving away from the 16-month plan he had vowed during the campaign</b> to implement if elected.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/13/AR2009021301648.html">The war in Iraq isn't over. The main events may not even have happened yet</a></b><br />15.02.09. Thomas Ricks, Washington Post. President Obama campaigned on withdrawing from Iraq, but even he has talked about a post-occupation force. The widespread expectation inside the U.S. military is that we will have tens of thousands of troops there for years to come. Indeed, in his last interview with me last November, Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, told me that he would like to see about 30,000 troops still there <u>in 2014 or 2015</u>. / Yet many Americans seem to think that the war, or at least our part in it, is close to being wrapped up.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/washington/26troops.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1">Obama’s Iraq Plan Has December Elections as Turning Point for Pullout</a></b><br />25.02.09. P Baker, T. Shanker, NY Times. President Obama’s planned Iraq troop drawdown would leave the bulk of American forces in place until early next year while <em>some</em> combat units would remain in place in new roles even beyond a declared August 2010 target for withdrawal, administration officials said Wednesday. / The plan would maintain relatively high troop levels through Iraq’s parliamentary elections, to be held in December, before beginning in earnest to meet the August 2010 target for removing combat forces, the officials said. Even after August 2010, as many as 50,000 of the 142,000 troops now in Iraq would remain, including some combat units <b>reassigned as “Advisory Training Brigades</b>” or “<u>Advisory Assistance Brigades</u>,” the administration and Pentagon officials said. / … The administration intends to call those remaining troops a “<b>transition force</b>.” / Mr. Obama plans to <b>seek more money for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from a separate fund outside the Pentagon’s base budget</b> (Bush’s game), which will also grow beyond the 2009 spending plan of $513 billion. The separate “war costs” budget proposal for 2010 could reach $130 billion to $140 billion, officials said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/02/25/us-combat-missions-in-iraq-will-continue-after-pullout/">US Combat Missions in Iraq Will Continue After ‘Pullout’</a></b><br />25.02.09. anti-war. Just one day after reports came out regarding the Obama Administration’s 19 month withdrawal plan from Iraq, the Pentagon was detailing the enormous number of troops that would remain on the ground after Obama ostensibly fulfils his promise to remove all combat troops, and all the combat they’ll be engaging in. / After the “pullout,” as many as 50,000 troops will remain on the ground, and despite being touted as a withdrawal of combat troops, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell conceded that some would continue to “conduct combat operations,” and Iraq would still be considered a war zone. The rest would be what he described as “enablers.” / President Obama promised a 16-month pullout from Iraq during the campaign, but backed off the promise under pressure from the military. Since then he has spoken of a “responsible military drawdown,” but even as he is set to officially unveil this new plan the question of when the troops will actually be out of Iraq entirely seems like it will remain unanswered.<br /><br /><b>The contradiction between President Obama's speech at Camp Lejeune and his rhetoric before he was elected should serve as a warning to those who take his words at face value</b>. But more important, combined with his plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan, Obama's adoption of key lies from Bush's Iraq narrative should be seen as a <u>dangerous indicator of things to come</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52136&s2=27">Orwell in Babylon: Obama's War-Continuing "Withdrawal" Plan</a></b><br />25.02.09. Chris Floyd, uruk.net. It would be superfluous in us to point out that a plan to "end" a war which includes the continued garrisoning of up to 50,000 troops in a hostile land is, in reality, a continuation of that war, not its cessation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090225/pl_afp/usmilitarypoliticsbudgetgates">Pentagon moves to impose secrecy on budget talks</a></b><br />25.02.09. AFP/ anti war. Senior Pentagon officials have had to promise they will keep the details of the US military budget secret as the Defense Department prepares to make tough cuts on weapons programs, a spokesman said on Wednesday. / In an unprecedented move, Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked top military officers and civilian officials to sign non-disclosure forms in which they agree not to reveal deliberations about the politically charged budget.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52204&s2=28">Obama Seeks $205 Billion for Wars : Gates Touts "Strong Commitment to Our Security"</a></b><br />26.02.09. Jason Ditz. anti-war, uruknet. In his first budget proposal, President Barack Obama has requested over $205 billion in war funding through the end of fiscal 2010. The funding would be in addition to the $533.7 billion he is asking for the Pentagon’s regular budget next year. Defense Secretary Robert Gates cheered the movie as a "strong commitment to our security" at a time when the economy is floundering. The move is a break from the Bush Administration’s tactic of funding the war through "emergency" requests. President Obama says putting the war funding "on the books" is important to ensuring officials are <u>honest</u> about the amount of money being spent on the nation’s assorted wars...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ips-dc.org/articles/1117">Obama to Announce Iraq Troop Withdrawal</a></b><br />26.02.09. Phyllis Bennis, IPS. The troop withdrawal as planned would leave behind as many as 50,000 U.S. troops. Those troops won't include officially designated "combat" troops. But those tens of thousands of troops will still be occupying Iraq. Doing what? Very likely, just what combat troops do — they would walk and talk and bomb and shoot like combat troops, but they’d be called something else. The New York Times spelled it out last December: describing how military planners believe Obama's goal of pulling out combat troops “could be accomplished at least in part by re-labeling some units, so that those currently counted as combat troops could be 're-missioned,' their efforts redefined as training and support for the Iraqis.” <b>That would mean a retreat to the lies and deception that characterized this war during Bush years — something President Obama promised to leave behind</b>. It would also mean military resistance in Iraq would continue, leading to more Iraqi and U.S. casualties. … more!<br /><br /><b><a href="http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/02/26/1811617.aspx">Reminder About Iraq Troop Withdrawal</a></b><br />26.02.09. Jim Miklaszewski, NBC. However it may be framed politically, President Obama's decision on U.S. troop levels in Iraq will NOT withdraw all U.S. combat forces from Iraq within the next 19 months.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12464">Obama’s Iraq withdrawal plan sets stage for continued war</a></b><br />26.02.09. Bill Van Auken, global research. In his first address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, President Barack Obama promised that he would "soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war." / The US president offered no details about his plan. Subsequent leaks from within the administration and the Pentagon, however, have made it clear that, as with so much of his high-flown but ambiguous rhetoric, the vagueness was deliberately crafted to mask a lie—or in this case, two lies.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=obama_lejune_speech300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=obama_lejune_speech300.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=obama_lejune_speech300.jpg">photo Marine Corps / Lance Cpl. Michael J. Ayotte</a></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-of-President-Barack-Obama-Responsibly-Ending-the-War-in-Iraq/">Remarks of President Barack Obama – Responsibly Ending the War in Iraq</a></b><br />27.02.09. whitehouse.gov. Remarks of President Barack Obama – As Prepared for Delivery; Responsibly Ending the War in Iraq, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, Friday, February 27, 2009<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/senate-democratic-leaders-concerned-about-obamas-iraq-plan/?nl=pol&emc=pola2">Senate Democratic Leaders Concerned About Obama’s Iraq Plan</a></b><br />26.02.09. NY Times. Senate Democratic leaders expressed concerns over reports that President Obama’s proposal to withdraw troops from Iraq over a 19-month timeline would leave a residual force there of as many as 50,000 troops.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/19389.html">Pelosi butts heads with Obama</a></b><br />27.02.09. John Bresnahan, Politico. On Wednesday night, Pelosi made it clear to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that she <u>wasn’t happy with Obama’s plan to leave 50,000 U.S. troops in Iraq</u> and that, unlike Obama, she “absolutely” favors criminal prosecutions for any Bush administration officials involved in torture or other excesses in the fight against terrorism.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52178&s2=27">Freeing Up Resources... for More War</a></b><br />26.02.09. Norman Solomon, anti war/uruknet. Hours after President Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress, the New York Times printed the news that he plans to gradually withdraw "American combat forces" from Iraq during the next 18 months. The newspaper reported that the advantages of the pullout will include "relieving the strain on the armed forces and freeing up resources for Afghanistan." The president’s speech had little to say about the plans for escalation!, but the few words will come back to haunt: "With our friends and allies, we will forge a new and comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan to defeat Al Qaida and combat extremism, because I will not allow terrorists to plot against the American people from safe havens halfway around the world. We will not allow it." Obama didn’t mention the additional number of U.S. troops -- 17,000 -- that he has just ordered to Afghanistan...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/feb2009/pers-f26.shtml">Obama’s Iraq withdrawal plan sets stage for continued war</a></b><br />26.02.09. Bill Van Auken, WSWS / uruknet. In his first address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, President Barack Obama promised that he would "soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war." The US president offered <u>no details</u> about his plan. Subsequent leaks from within the administration and the Pentagon, however, have made it clear that, as with so much of his high-flown but ambiguous rhetoric, the vagueness was deliberately crafted to mask a lie—or in this case, two lies / … Obama's plan will neither end the war nor "leave Iraq to its people."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7914291.stm">Iraqis 'impatient' for handover</a></b><br />27.02.09. BBC. Iraqis are "impatient" to run their own affairs once British and US troops have left the country, UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has told the BBC.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=14319">The Silence of the Liberals As Obama launches "war on terrorism" II </a></b><br />27.02.09. J. Raimondo, anti-war. In short: we aren't leaving.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52221&s2=28">Drawdown Plan May Leave Combat Brigades in Iraq</a></b><br />27.02.09. Analysis by Gareth Porter*, uruknet. President Barack Obama has given military commanders a free hand to determine the size and composition of a residual force in Iraq up to 50,000 troops, apparently including the option of leaving one or more combat brigades or bringing them from the United States, after the August 2010 deadline for the ostensible withdrawal of all combat brigades now in Iraq. Although the ostensible purpose of the combat brigades remaining in Iraq would be to protect other U.S. troops in the country, they would also provide the kind of combat capability that U.S. commanders have wanted to maintain to deal with a broad range of contingencies...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/tools/index.php?page=print&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsws.org%2Farticles%2F2009%2Ffeb2009%2Firaq-f28.shtml">Obama announces plan to continue US military occupation of Iraq</a></b><br />28.02.09. WSWS. Far from bringing the war to an end, the plans will maintain present troop levels for one year and ensure a substantial military presence for at least three years, through the end of 2011. / As leaked to the press earlier this week, Obama's plan calls for the withdrawal of all "combat troops" by August 31, 2010, 19 months after his inauguration. This means that the US military presence will continue at present levels through the Iraqi elections scheduled in the fall, ensuring that the occupying forces can maintain a watchful eye over the "democratic" process. / Obama also said that all US soldiers would be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, as required by the Status of Forces Agreement reached by the Bush administration and the Iraqi government in 2008. In a press conference call on Friday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates indicated that this deadline is largely a diplomatic fiction that could be altered. "My own view would be that we should be prepared to have some very modest-sized presence for training and helping them with their new equipment and providing, perhaps, intelligence support and so on," <b>past 2011</b>, he said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/129362/?page=entire">All Troops Out By 2011? Not So Fast; Why Obama's Iraq Speech Deserves a Second Look</a></b><br />28.02.09. Jeremy Scahill, Alternet. <em> Obama's speech at Camp Lejeune delivered a number of lines -- wrapped in laudatory <u>rhetoric</u> -- that could have been delivered by Bush himself. </em>. As far as rhetoric goes, Obama's statement seems very clear. But in reality, it is far more complicated. <b>Obama's plan, as his advisors have often said, is subject to "conditions on the ground</b>," meaning it can be altered at any point between now and 2011. / … the Pentagon certainly seems to believe its forces may well be in Iraq after 2011./ … Then there's the monstrous U.S. embassy unveiled last month in Baghdad, the largest of any nation anywhere in the history of the planet and itself resembling a military base. Maintaining this fortified city will require a sizable armed U.S. presence in Baghdad and will regularly place U.S. diplomats in armed convoys that put Iraqi civilian lives in jeopardy./ … the Status of Forces Agreement, which supposedly lays out a timetable for U.S. withdrawal, contains a gaping loophole that leaves open the possibility of a continuation of the occupation and a sustained presence of U.S. forces well beyond 2011, "upon request by the government of Iraq."/ … The same Democratic leaders expressing their disappointment ignored the credible voices of dissent for years while supporting the occupation through votes and funding. That they would wait to express their dissent until long after it would actually have had an impact is one of the best examples of what has been so wrong with the Democrats' role from the beginning of President George W. Bush's declaration of war against the world and his 2003 invasion of Iraq../ … <b>The contradiction between President Obama's speech at Camp Lejeune and his rhetoric before he was elected should serve as a warning to those who take his words at face value. But more important, combined with his plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan, Obama's adoption of key lies from Bush's Iraq narrative should be seen as a dangerous indicator of things to come</b>.<br /><br /><br /><u> March 2009</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/us/politics/02gates.html?hp">Gates Defends Iraq Withdrawal Plan</a></b><br />01.03.09. NY Times. “Let me say this as plainly as I can: by Aug. 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end.” / .. When pressed how the administration came up with the number 50,000 for the remaining troops, Mr. Gates responded that the figure came from a dialogue with the joint chiefs and their chairman, Admiral Mike Mullen, commanders in the field and the president. / “So having a somewhat larger residual, or transition, force, <em>mitigates the risk of having the combat units go out sooner</em>,” Mr. Gates said. / He said that the remaining forces, who would no longer be called “combat troops” but rather “<b>advisory and assistance brigades</b>,” would be consolidated to a limited number of bases to mitigate risk.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22130.htm">The Iraqi Resistance Responds to President Obama</a></b><br />02.03.09. Rafican / ICH. There is no such thing asfriendly occupation, and we advise you to revise your plans to vacate Iraq at a time suitable for our people and not suitable for your agents in the green zone.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/opinion/03herbert.html?emc=eta1">Wars, Endless Wars</a></b><br />02.03.09. Bob Herbert, NY Times Op Ed. The U.S. economy is in free fall, the banking system is in a state of complete collapse and Americans all across the country are downsizing their standards of living. The nation as we’ve known it is fading before our very eyes, but <b>we’re still pouring billions of dollars into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with missions we are still unable to define</b>. / In short, we’re committed to these two conflicts for a good while yet, and there is nothing like an etched-in-stone plan for concluding them. I can easily imagine a scenario in which Afghanistan and Iraq both heat up and the U.S., caught in an extended economic disaster at home, undermines its fragile recovery efforts in the same way that societies have undermined themselves since the dawn of time — with endless warfare.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090302_its_obamas_war_now/">It’s Obama’s War, Now</a></b><br />02.03.09. Chris Hedges, Truthdig. Barack Obama has shown that he is as capable of <u>doublespeak</u> as any other politician when he announced an end to the war in Iraq. Combat troops are to be pulled out of Iraq by August 2010, he said, but some 50,000 occupation troops will remain behind. Someone should let the Iraqis know the distinction. I doubt any soldier or Marine in Iraq will notice much difference in 19 months. Many combat units will simply be relabeled as noncombat units. And what about our small army of well! -paid contractors and mercenaries? Will Dyncorp, Bechtel, Blackwater (which recently changed its name to Xe), all of whom have made fortunes off the war, pack up and go home? What about the three large super-bases, dozens of smaller military outposts and our imperial city, the Green Zone? <u>Will American corporations give up their lucrative control of Iraqi oil?</u> The occupation of Iraq will not be disrupted. Lies and deception, which launched the war in the first place, are being employed by Democrats to maintain it. <b>This is not a withdrawal. It is occupation lite</b>... Iraq, because of our invasion and occupation, no longer exists as a unified country...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/pers-m02.shtml">With Iraq plan, Obama embraces US militarism</a></b><br />02.03.09. WSWS. In extending the full-scale US occupation of Iraq for another 18 months, and acceding to the timetable already adopted by the Bush administration for a tentative pullout by the end of 2011, President Barack Obama has done more than betray the hopes of the millions of antiwar voters who supported his candidacy in 2008. / He has fully identified the incoming Democratic Party administration with the fraudulent arguments employed by the Bush White House to justify the ongoing war in Iraq, after its initial claims about "weapons of mass destruction" and ties between Iraq and the 9/11 terrorist attacks had been proven to be lies. / Obama's speech to thousands of Marines at Camp Lejeune was an effort to legitimize the US conquest and occupation of Iraq and present the American military as an instrument of liberation rather than imperialist war and oppression.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52291&s2=03">Obama Expands War, Slaps Peace Voters</a></b><br />02.03.09. Jack A. Smith, uruknet. The Obama Administration has engineered a triple setback for the U.S. peace movement and the millions of Americans who opposed the Bush Administration’s unjust, illegal, immoral wars. In the last two weeks of February, President Barack Obama — upon whom so many peace supporters had counted to change Washington’s commitment to wars and militarism — delivered these three blows to his antiwar constituency: 1. By ordering 17,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, President Obama is continuing and expanding George W. Bush’s war. It’s Obama’s war now, and it’s getting much bigger. 2. By declaring Feb. 27 that up to 50,000 U.S. soldiers would remain in Iraq after "combat brigades" departed, President Obama is continuing the war in a country that remains a tragic victim of the Bush Administration’s aggression and which has taken the lives of over a million Iraqi civilians and has made refugees of 4.5 million people. 3. By announcing Feb. 26 that his projected 2010 Pentagon budget was to be even higher than budgets sought by the Bush Administration, President Obama was signaling that his commitment to the U.S. bloated war machine — even at a time of serious economic recession — was not to be questioned..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KC05Ak01.html">Iraqi Kurds dreading US troop withdrawal</a></b><br />05.03.09. Mohammed A Salih, Asia Times. Recently, Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani gave his interpretation of the term "responsible". / "I restate that the role of the United States should be to help resolve the problems in Iraq such as Article 140, the oil law, and the law on the distribution of its oil wealth," Barzani told reporters in the northern city of Irbil, tallying the list of contentious issues between Kurds and the Iraqi government. / Article 140 refers to a constitutional provision to settle the critical issue of disputed territories between Kurds and Iraqi Arabs, including the gold-prize contested city of Kirkuk which is afloat on some of the world's largest <u>oil reserves</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/09/090305_generic_invader_nonsense.php">GENERIC INVADER NONSENSE - OBAMA ON IRAQ</a></b><br />05.03.09. Media Lens. Politicians typically hide their ruthlessness behind compassionate verbiage. Obama, we are to believe, is hiding his compassion behind ruthless verbiage - Machiavellianism in reverse.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/polya060309.htm">Obama's Failure On War, Economy And Climate Genocide</a></b><br />06.03.09. Gideon Polya, MWC News / countercurrents. Obama has been in office for only about 40 days and 40 nights but the deluge of bad news and broken promises persists - despite the marvellous Obama rhetoric. 1. Apartheid Israel, Gaza Concentration Camp, Occupied Palestine, Palestinian Holocaust and Genocide. 2. Occupied Afghanistan, Afghan Holocaust and Afghan Genocide. 3. Financial Crisis, Recession, Depression, Banks and Bankers. 4. Climate Change, Climate Disruption, Climate Emergency and Climate Action. 5. <b>Occupied Iraq, Iraqi Holocaust and Iraqi Genocide</b>. 6. Global Avoidable Mortality, Mass Murder and Climate Genocide. 7. War, Zionism and Carbon-burning Lobbyists.<br /><br />VIDEOS:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A-SC8lmO8U&feature=related"> Obama's Iraq pullout plan - 22 Jan 09</a> (1.38 min)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW4HUGoMcT8&feature=channel_page"> Inside Iraq - Obama's pullout plan - 6 Mar 09 - Part 2</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5juCh_HVfD7EwuM6E-RocdYNL22gAD96ONFH80">Iraq withdrawal raises concerns for elite forces</a></b><br />07.03.09. Lolita C. Baldor, AP. As the U.S. readies the pullout of its major combat units from Iraq, officials are concerned that the Pentagon's Green Berets and other elite anti-terror warriors staying behind won't have the helicopters, equipment and other logistical support they need.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m52445">Generic Invader Nonsense: Obama on Iraq</a></b><br />07.03.09. Media Lens/uruknet. As a presidential candidate, Barrack Obama described the war in Iraq as one that "<em>should never have been authorised and never been waged</em>." On February 27, as president, Obama saw it differently.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/07/AR2009030701795.html">Solicitation for Media Team in Iraq Hints at Contracting-Overhaul Snags</a></b><br />08.03.09. Walter Pincus, Washington Post. The Army wants a <b>private firm</b> to provide a seven-member media team to support the public affairs officer of the 25th Infantry Division, now serving as Multi-National Division-North in Iraq -- at least three media specialists, two Arab speakers, a Web manager in Iraq and a media specialist stateside. / ... President Barack Obama called last week for the Defense Department to stop outsourcing services that the government could perform. A look at solicitations last week on the Web site FBODaily.com showed more than 40 notices about new and modified contracts for Iraq and Afghanistan, including contracts for building an air-traffic control tower at an Iraq air base, providing security guards for U.S. military facilities in Iraq and hiring a new Food for Peace officer in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/world/autocodes/countries/afghanistan/12-000-us-troops-exit-iraq-by-autumn-$1275509.htm">12,000 US troops to exit Iraq by autumn</a></b><br />08.03.09. AP. A statement from the Pentagon said two combat brigades would be withdrawn by September. / The Iraqi government also confirmed that the withdrawal of 4,000 British troops from the country's south, already announced by Gordon Brown, would go ahead as planned by July.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/us/politics/08obama.html?_r=2%27%3E%20Obama%20Ponders%20Outreach%20to%20Elements%20of%20Taliban%3C/a%3E%20%2808.03.09.%20%20NY%20Times%29%20%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" com="" politics="" id="7037897&page=1"">EXCLUSIVE: Top General in Iraq Says 'If They Ask Us to Stay We Will Probably Stay'</a><br />09.03.09. ABC / ICH. Gen. Ray Odierno, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, said that <u>continuing the fight against insurgents in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul might lead to U.S. troops remaining in the city past a June 30</u>, 2009 deadline for all U.S. combat troops to leave Iraqi cities<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/obam-m10.shtml">Obama’s New York Times interview: Military aggression and attacks on democratic rights to continue</a></b><br />10.03.09. Barry Grey, WSWS. In an extensive interview conducted last Friday with the New York Times and published on Sunday, President Barack Obama outlined policies on national security and foreign affairs that underscore the essential continuity between his administration and that of his predecessor, George W. Bush. / The <u>interview made clear that the new administration has embraced the basic political and ideological framework of the Bush administration to justify military aggression and illegality internationally and attacks on democratic rights within the United States—the so-called "global war on terror</u>." / … "I think it would be hard to argue, Jeff," he said. "We have delivered [sic] on every promise that we've made so far. We said that we would end the war in Iraq and we've put forward a responsible plan."<br /><br />"Responsible" is a code word for delaying any significant draw-down of US troops until the end of the year, in line with the demands of the military, and abandoning his campaign pledge to withdraw one combat brigade a month and all "combat" forces within 16 months. In the plan for Iraq that Obama announced last month, a residual force of up to 50,000 so-called "non-combat" troops will remain in Iraq at least until the end of 2011.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/bennis.php?articleid=14382">Holding Obama to His Promises</a></b><br />11.03.09. Phyllis Bennis, anti-war. The meaning of President Obama's Iraq withdrawal speech, and its influence on real U.S. policy in Iraq, will not be determined solely by his actual words. The import of the speech – and whether its promises become real – will be determined by a fluid combination of what Obama says, his own definitions of what he says, and the disparate ways his speech is heard, perceived, described, and contested by others – the mainstream media, Congress, the military, other centers of elite power, and crucially, the peace movement. / The words of the speech were quite amazing: "And under the status of forces agreement with the Iraqi government, I intend to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. We will complete this transition to Iraqi responsibility, and we will bring our troops home." <b>Ending the War: A Definition</b>: And at the end of the day, President Obama did not make a single real commitment to meeting our definition of ending the war. <b> Who Opposes, Who Supports?</b>: Leading Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid, criticized Obama's plan for leaving 50,000 or more U.S. troops in Iraq after the withdrawal of "combat brigades." it was key Republicans – including Sen. John McCain – who voiced immediate support for Obama's withdrawal plan. Clearly they understand the huge loopholes inherent in the "withdrawal" strategy. They recognize the limited character of Obama's pledges. Military leaders, including top U.S. generals in Iraq and the region, heads of the joint chiefs of staff, and the Republican secretary of defense, have also expressed support. Of course they are the most familiar with all the wiggle room in the plan. <b>Our Job: Make Him Do It</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://washingtonindependent.com/33361/iraq-diplomacy-program-to-change">As Troops Withdraw, Iraq Provincial Reconstruction Teams to Change</a></b><br />11.03.09. Washington independent. Since 2005, small groups made of U.S. diplomats, military officers, development experts and legal advisers called Provincial Reconstruction Teams have worked with Iraqi leaders at the province and district levels around the country to bolster their capacity to govern. In an application of untraditional diplomatic work that some in and outside the State Department see as vital in weak or failed states, the teams help Iraqis write and execute budgets and aid in the development of their judicial systems. While the drawdown and eventual withdrawal of U.S. troops in Iraq will ultimately mean the end of the PRTs, “the PRT program is not going to disappear anytime soon,” said Wade Weems, the Department of State’s Director of Provincial Reconstruction, Transition and Stabilization for Iraq. <b>We’re not leaving more quickly than the military</b>.” … In addition to the 14 PRTs, there are also ten teams that work at the district level, known as Embedded Provincial Reconstruction Teams, or ePRTs, owing to their status as embedded units within the U.S. Army’s Brigade Combat Teams. Over the course of the next 15 months, the Brigade Combat Teams will leave Iraq or transition into Advisory and Assistance Brigades.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/hassan130309.htm">Obama’s Manufactured Troop’s Withdrawal</a></b><br />12.03.09. Ghali Hassan, countercurrents. On February 27, 2009, President Barack Obama announced to withdraw U.S. troops occupying Iraq by September of 2010. However, Obama’s withdrawal is nothing short of a <b>colonial Occupation of Iraq</b>, and a <u>betrayal</u> of Mr. Obama’s promise to end the U.S. war on the Iraqi people.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/03/15/us-troops-to-remain-active-in-iraq-after-pullback/">US troops to remain active in Iraq after pullback</a></b><br />15.03.09. Reuters. American forces will still conduct joint combat operations even after they pull back to bases outside Baghdad and other cities as part of the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement, a spokesman [Brig. Gen. Frederick Rudesheim] said Sunday. / "I want to leave it very clear that there's <b>no cessation of combat operations</b>," Rudesheim said at a news conference in Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq-moving16-2009mar16,0,4465813.story"> In Iraq withdrawal, equipment poses a key logistical challenge</a> (16.03.09. LA Times)<br /><br />Video & Transcript:<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/17/engaging_the_muslim_world_middle_east"> “Engaging the Muslim World”–Middle East Analyst Juan Cole on US Policy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Israel and Beyond </a> (17.03.09. Democracy Now) <br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/03/18/six-years-later-iraq-war-continues-apace/">Six Years Later: Iraq War Continues Apace</a></b><br />18.03.09. anti-war. <em> An Illusory Pullout Scheme and 138,000 Troops - Will The War Ever End? </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-19-voa2.cfm"> Hopes High, Violence Low, But Problems Remain at 6th Anniversary of Iraq War</a> (19.03.09. VOA)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5huMMPNr5VdTibnqbqMIse2rqq2-QD972H6V80">PROMISES, PROMISES: Obama rhetoric, reality clash</a></b><br />20.03.09. AP. In office two months, he has backpedaled on an array of issues, gingerly shifting positions as circumstances dictate while ducking for political cover to avoid undercutting his credibility and authority. That's happened on the Iraq troop withdrawal timeline, on lobbyists in his administration and on money for lawmakers' pet projects.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=anfVzQWORpYQ&refer=home">Iraq Freezes 66,000 New Police Hires, Minister Says (Update3)</a></b><br />22.03.09. Bloomberg. Iraq’s interior minister has frozen the hiring of 66,000 new members of the security forces <u>due to falling oil prices</u>, a cutback that he said will not endanger U.S. plans to withdraw troops as the insurgency is in its “final throes.”<br /><br /><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0327/p01s02-wome.html"> US general: American forces may not leave key Iraqi cities</a> (27.03.09. CSM.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52899&s2=26">Despite Obama’s Vow, Combat Brigades Will Stay in Iraq</a></b><br />25.03.09. Gareth Porter, uruknet. Despite President Barack Obama’s statement at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina Feb. 27 that he had "chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months," a number of Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), which have been the basic U.S. Army combat unit in Iraq for six years, will remain in Iraq after that date under a new non-combat label. A spokesman for Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates, Lt. Col. Patrick S. Ryder, told IPS Tuesday that "several advisory and assistance brigades" would be part of a U.S. command in Iraq that will be "re-designated" as a "transition force headquarters" after August 2010...<br /><br /><em> Protests </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/newton/2009/03/newton_peaceniks_say_obama_wit.html"> Newton peace activists say Obama withdrawal plan is not enough</a> (13.03.09, boston.com)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2009/03/18-4">Nation's Largest Peace Group Laments Sixth Anniversary of War in Iraq</a></b><br />18.03.09. Common Dreams. <em> Peace Action Calls on President Obama to end occupation of Iraq swiftly and completely and to re-consider surge of U.S. troops to Afghanistan </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5glBhAIXcGhm7XFLjjNaWCsxqfv9A"> Hundreds rally in Japan on Iraq war anniversary</a> (20.03.09. AFP)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gbpZpzf22HQklONb49NWXybzhSAgD972MMNO0">Protests in Washington, Calif. call for war's end</a></b><br />21.03.09. AP / legitgov. Seven out of ten people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday, the sixth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, say they support the president's announced plan to remove most U.S. troops from Iraq by August of next year but keep a force of 35,000 to 50,000 in the country.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_11967033">Demonstrators in LA, SF press for end to Iraq war</a> (21.03.09. mercury news / legitgov)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/images/0409-01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 337px; height: 450px;" src="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/images/0409-01.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.truthout.org/032309O"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Photo Allison Shelley, Washington Times</span></a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/032309O">Protesters Mark Milestone</a></b><br />22.03.09. Wash. Post / TruthOut. Thousands of demonstrators (at the Pentagon) marked the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq with an impassioned protest of the nation's military policies yesterday, demanding that President Obama bring U.S. troops home. / The demonstration was <u>the first in Washington of the Obama presidency</u>, replete with many of the same messages of protests during the Bush era. Placards read "War Is Not the Answer," "Troops Out Now" and "We Need Jobs and Schools, Not War."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/firefox?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official"> Students to march in protest of Iraq War</a>(25.03.09. Indiana daily student)<br /><br /><a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/03/19/cnn-poll-americans-back-iraq-troop-withdrawal-plan/"> CNN Poll: Americans back Iraq troop withdrawal plan </a> (19.03.09. CNN) <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/03/19/army_suicides/index.html">Soldier suicides skyrocket</a></b><br />19.03.09. salon / legitgov. But a tepid Senate hearing on Wednesday, with no testimony from lower-ranking combat troops from Iraq or Afghanistan, does little to explain why.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gxxGSWVx7DMnJbhgfM_QNlKr4OXwD977OGBO0">Obama: won't speed up Iraq pull out</a></b><br />30.03.09. AP. "<em>I think the plan that we put forward in Iraq is the right one" because it calls for "a very gradual withdrawal through the national elections in Iraq</em>," he said in an interviewed aired Sunday on <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/13753884/President-Obama-on-Face-the-Nation-CBS-March-29-2009-TranscriptVid-Link"> CBS' "Face the Nation."</a> .. "<em>I'm confident that we're moving in the right direction. <b>But</b> Iraq is not yet completed. We still have a lot of work to do</em>," the president said of the war that's winding down after six hard-fought years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-6451-US-Military-Examiner%7Ey2009m3d30-The-Troops-Arent-Coming-Home">The Troops Aren’t Coming Home</a></b><br />30.03.09. Aaron Glantz, Examiner. But the time-line of the drawdown is back-loaded with the first US troops not scheduled to come home until this September – and even then our force in Iraq will only be reduced by 12,000. / At that point, approximately 135,000 US troops will still occupy the country. That’s the same number that invaded Iraq back in March 2003.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22318.htm">The Logistical Nightmare in Iraq</a></b><br />30.03.09. Alternet / ICH. Jeremy Scahill <b>283 Bases, 170,000 Pieces of Equipment, 140,000 Troops, and an Army of Mercenaries. </b> In the latest episode of Occupation Rebranded, it was revealed that the administration intends to reclassify some combat forces as "advisory and assistance brigades." While Obama's administration is officially shunning the use of the term "global war on terror," the labels du jour, unfortunately, seem to be the biggest changes we will see for some time.<br /><br /><br /><u> April 2009</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0402/p06s09-wome.html">Interview: Top US commander in Iraq</a></b><br />02.04.09. CSM. Gen. Raymond Odierno says that despite a goal of pulling out of all Iraqi cities by June, he <em>won't repeat the mistakes of the past</em> and rush withdrawing from areas that could revert to ‘insurgents' control.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.heritage.org/2009/04/02/president-obama-and-iraq-toward-a-responsible-troop-drawdown/">President Obama and Iraq: Toward a Responsible Troop Drawdown</a></b><br />02.04.09. Heritage. The Iran Policy Committee (IPC) launched its fourth book in a series at the National Press Club today looking at the situation in Iraq, titled President Obama and Iraq: Toward a Responsible Troop Drawdown. / The book seeks to provide a dispassionate view of the situation in Iraq and the drawdown with an eye to Obama’s plans for Afghanistan and Pakistan. / <b>A key finding was that the withdrawal of American forces in Iraq is likely to give a significant opening to Iran</b>.<br /><br /><em> Obama’s ‘Scientific’ Prostitution</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22350.htm">Procuring Academics for Empire: The Pentagon Minerva Research Initiative</a></b><br />04.04.09. James Petras, ICH. The Pentagon is seriously engaged in this military-academic empire building strategy, allocating almost <u>100 million dollars</u> to contracting academic collaborators and funding multiple ‘research’ projects throughout the world against targeted states, movements and communities: <b>The “Minerva Research Initiative” (MRI)</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090406_the_business_of_war_repost/">"The Business of War" </a></b><br />The Truthdig Podcast: Karen Kwiatowski, Lew Rockwell / Truthdig. Pentagon whistle-blower Karen Kwiatowski returns to the Truthdig podcast to take stock of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which she says are effectively “a government jobs program for the military and military contractors.”<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mn4Cuu8Mw4&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish%2Ealjazeera%2Enet%2Fprogrammes%2Finsideiraq%2F2009%2F03%2F200935144513489384%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded"> Inside Iraq - Obama's pullout plan - 6 Mar 09 - Part 1 </a>; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jW4HUGoMcT8"> Part 2 </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/08-1">Obama Should Listen to Iraqis, Not Lecture Them</a></b><br />08.04.09. Jonathan Steele, Guardian / Common Dreams. More worryingly, Obama is <b>increasingly adopting a narrative of the US presence that sounds like the Bush version</b>. US troops, Bush always used to say, are in Iraq to defend democracy and provide security until the Iraqis are ready to step up to the plate. Obama now says the same, and expresses concern that as US troops start to leave Iraq violence may resume. It's comforting and paternalistic stuff, designed to paint a picture of neutral peacekeepers nobly holding the ring until the natives grow up or come to their senses. / … Why doesn't Obama consult Iraqi opinion? The latest poll, by the BBC and ABC in February, shows that nothing has changed in the longstanding majority view that the occupation forces (British as much as the Americans) have not been a bastion of security. They have been the problem more than the solution. Sixty-nine per cent said they had "done a bad job". Forty-six per cent think they should leave Iraq before the end of 2011, while 35% said the timetable is right. Less than 20% want them to stay longer. One reason is that Iraqis by a 53% majority view the US as still running the country. Another is that 59% already think Iraqi forces are capable of providing sufficient security. / … On Tuesday Obama told US troops rather haughtily that it was "time for Iraqis to take responsibility for their country". He should listen rather than lecture. Iraqis have been trying to give the US that very message for quite some time.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53261&s2=09">Will Obama Vacate Iraq?</a></b><br />08.04.09. Nasir Khan, uruknet. On February 27, 2009 President Barack Obama delivered his much-anticipated policy speech on Iraq. The important point in his announcement was the withdrawal of some U.S. troops from Iraq by August 31, 2010. However, it did not mean an end to the American occupation of Iraq, or an end to an illegal genocidal war that the Bush-Cheney administration had started. Despite his high-blown rhetoric about withdrawing from Iraq, Obama did not deal with many important questions. Thus what was not said cannot be regarded as an oversight but rather as an indication of how the new administration intends to pursue its policy objectives. Those who had wished to see a break by the new administration with the Bush-Cheney administration’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are concerned because they detect the continuation of the goal of the U.S. domination, which the American rulers usually refer to as the 'U.S. interests’ in the region....<br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u> US Military Budget</u><br /><b><a href="http://www.creative-i.info/?p=5839">Up Is Down: The Military Budget</a></b><br />08.04.09. David Swanson, After Downing Street / Creative-i. The largest military budget in the history of the world is being increased. Certain weapons are being cut back, others expanded. But the overall budget is going UP. However, you don’t need me to tell you that. You’ve learned it from these fine news sources …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53321&s2=11">Cost of Iraq war will surpass that of Vietnam war by year's end </a></b><br />08.04.09. Julian E. Barnes, uruknet. If Congress approves a request for another $87 billion, the Iraq war will have cost about $694 billion. The Vietnam war cost $686 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars; World War II cost $4 trillion.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gTwALhA-6u9xoToe67OlHgdxXsfQD97F4O380">Obama to seek $83.4 billion for Iraq, Afghan wars</a></b><br />09.04.09. AP. … pressing for a war supplemental spending bill like the ones he sometimes opposed when he was senator and George W. Bush was president.<br /><br /><a href="http://original.antiwar.com/scahill/2009/04/09/will-democrats-stand-up-to-obamas-bloated-military-budget/"> Will Democrats Stand Up to Obama’s Bloated Military Budget? </a> (10.04.09. J. Scahill)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/14/AR2009041403347_pf.html">Hill Response to Plans Pleases Pentagon Chief</a></b><br />15.04.09. Wash Post / anti-war. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Tuesday that he has been "pleasantly surprised" by the response from lawmakers to his plans for shifting billions of dollars in Pentagon spending toward programs of immediate benefit to today's wars.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2008/04/24/amd_genodierno.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 289px;" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2008/04/24/amd_genodierno.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2008/04/24/amd_genodierno.jpg"> <span style="font-size:85%;">General Ray Odierno</span></a></div><br /><a href="http://enduringamerica.com/2009/04/12/video-and-transcript-general-odierno-on-cnns-state-of-the-union/"> Video and Transcript: General Odierno on CNN’s State of the Union</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/04/09/gen-odierno-us-may-ignore-iraq-deadline-because-of-al-qaeda/">Gen. Odierno: US May Ignore Iraq Deadline Because of al-Qaeda</a></b><br />09.04.09. anti-war. In yet another sign that the Obama Administration’s “pullout” timeline for Iraq is not set in stone, General Ray Odierno told The Times today that US combat troops <u>may remain in Iraq’s cities beyond the June 30 deadline </u> mandated by the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). He pointed to increased trouble from al-Qaeda as the justification. … / this appears to be the first time the top commander in Iraq has <b>publicly acknowledged that things are not going according to schedule</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=90904&sectionid=351020201">'US behind recent Iraq bomb attacks'</a></b><br />09.04.09. presstv.ir. An Iraqi lawmaker alleges that 'the occupiers' are behind the recent bomb blasts in Iraq basing his claims on the fact that the US has access to Iraq's security and intelligence files. Maha al-Dori, a member of Sadr fraction in the Iraqi parliament said that "the occupiers are causing disarray in Iraq with aim of at taking control over the country's affairs." [Not to mention, oil.]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.capitolhillblue.com/node/17278">Obama's Iraq troop withdrawal plan hits a snag</a></b><br />10.04.09. capitol hill blue. A dramatic increase in al-Qaeda violence in Masul and Baqubah may doom President Barack Obama's plans to withdraw combat troops from Iraq. The top American general this week told The Times of London that more troops may be needed to control violence in those two troubled cities.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=91050&sectionid=351020201">Sadrists condemn 'politically-motivated' arrests</a></b><br />10.04.09. presstv. Ir/legitgov. "<em>We say to those who carry out such arrest operations that what goes around comes around</em>," said Abdel Hadi Mohammedawi, a cleric close to influential Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr.<br /><br /><em> Meanwhile, a bit of US military corruption </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-military-theft12-2009apr12,0,215137,full.story">Some U.S. troops tempted by reconstruction cash</a></b><br />12.04.09. LA Times. <em> The Justice Department has secured more than three dozen bribery-related convictions in the awarding of reconstruction contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. At least 25 theft investigations are underway</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/bloggers/www.alternet.org/136387/">Troops Stole Boxes of Iraq Reconstruction Cash ... Literally ... But There's a Lot More to the Story</a></b><br />13.04.09. Liliana Segura, AlterNet. <em> A wave of prosecutions and some 25 "theft probes" are underway, but it's the inevitable result of a Pentagon policy that has bred rampant corruption</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7998814.stm">US troops 'might stay in N Iraq'</a></b><br />14.04.09. BBC. US combat troops may stay in northern Iraq after a deadline for them to pull back by the end of June has passed, the top US commander in the area [Col Gary Volesky] has said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/middleeastCrisis/idUSLD613467">Murky origins of Iraq attacks stir foreboding</a></b><br />14.04.09. Reuters. Violence in Iraq remains sharply down on past years, when most attacks were blamed on al Qaeda or Shi'ite militias, but uncertainty about the origins of the recent violence has led to an incendiary mix of conspiracy theories and accusations.<br /><br />Naomi Klein on Hopeover, Hopercoaster, Hopesick, Hopefiend, Hopebreak, Hopelash, with a quote from Studs Terkel: “"Hope has never trickled down. It has always sprung up." <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/17/barack-obama-supporters-naomi-klein/print"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jx2-KUEQZxdMnueKlUPlqW6Zgnmw">Iraq says attacks will not derail US withdrawal</a></b><br />17.04.09. AFP. "(Al-Qaeda) is trying to regain power through terrorist operations aimed at proving its existence and raising its spirits ahead of the withdrawal of US forces from the cities," defence ministry spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said.<br /><br /><em> Another quagmire</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/Injured_in_Iraq_and_Afghanistan__Contractors_Fight_AIG_for_Medical_Care_90418">Injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, Contractors Fight AIG for Medical Care</a></b><br />18.04.09. allgov. Private security and logistics contractors who come home wounded from Afghanistan and Iraq face an insurance-created nightmare, according to a joint investigation by <a href="http://www.propublica.org/feature/injured-war-zone-contractors-fight-to-get-care-from-aig-416"><br />ProPublica and the Los Angeles Times </a>. Unlike wounded members of the US military, who receive medical care, rehab, and other services from the Defense Department, civilian workers have had to rely on insurance companies paid by the federal government to get the care they need—and, in many instances, they have had to fight for months or even years to get companies like AIG to live up to their contractual obligations. Many of the workers, who totaled 200,000 in Iraq and Afghanistan last year, lost limbs or suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.<br /><br /><br /><em> US Shadows Over the UK</em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=868318&SMap=1"> British troop withdrawal from Basra to begin by end of March</a> (27.02.09. rtt news)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=a3ULf5Igcm7s&refer=uk"> Majority of Britons Wants Iraq War Public Inquiry, Poll Finds </a> (16.03.09. Bloomberg)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/230901/PM-Gordon-Brown-to-order-inquiry-into-Iraq-war.html">Gordon Brown to order Iraq inquiry</a></b><br />22.03.09. news of the world. <em>War review starts after troops leave</em>. Senior Whitehall sources say he will also appoint a senior British Muslim, possibly a judge, to carry out the inquiry. / It will have access to intelligence used to justify the invasion and records of the Cabinet’s discussions before the war. It is also expected to review the Army’s performance in the invasion and its aftermath. The report will be designed to clear up loose ends from the Hutton Inquiry into the death of weapons of mass destruction expert Dr David Kelly, as well as the Butler Review into intelligence used before the war. 14.04.09: Brown seeks to delay until <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/14/iraq-war-inquiry-brown-hussein"> after election</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/14/iraq-war-army-basra-counter-insurgency">Britain and Iraq: fortunes of war</a></b><br />14.04.09. Guardian leader. Iraq may already be fading from the headlines, but it casts a long shadow.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6115286.ece">British intelligence prosecution fear over US torture memos</a></b><br />18.04.09. Times Online. Fresh revelations about the CIA’s torture techniques have thrown the spotlight on British Intelligence, which gained valuable insight into terror networks from confessions extracted by American officers. They have raised further fears that British agents could be prosecuted for their indirect role in the abuse of detainees.<br /><br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>3. REALITY IN IRAQ NOW</b></div><br /><em>You have given Iraq the opportunity to stand on its own as a democratic country. That is an extraordinary achievement, and for that you have the thanks of the American people</em>." <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/04/07/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4926494.shtml"> Barack Obama</a>, 7 April 2009.<br /><br /><u> Following is a short record of recent "extraordinary achievements" </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/1-over-one-million-iraqi-deaths-caused-by-us-occupation/">No. 1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation</a></b><br />PROJECT CENSORED. Top 25 stories for 2009.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/AlKhayat180309.htm">Dr. Faleh Al Khayat: Speech in the European Parliament</a></b><br />18.03.09. BRussels Tribunal. … Iraq, because it was weakened during the .. fourteen years of sanctions, and because of the destruction of part of its infrastructure, especially the military infrastructure, it was ready to fall by a small force of occupying power and to prove it 50 to 60 thousand American soldiers walked from the Kuweiti boarder all the way to Iraq. So, let’s occupy this country. But what did this occupation result into? The Americans and the occupying powers thought they will keep the oil industry intact and I have to tell you, they did not bomb any oil installation. / But, what happened after the occupation was an extensive looting and pillage that destroyed a lot of equipment and systems that deal with oil production. The damage was so bad that, two months before the war were producing 2.8 million barrels per day on average and we haven’t achieved that figure till today, six years after the occupation./ … Now is starting the real fight between the people who are controlling Iraq today about the division of the cake of the Iraqi oil industry, simply because it may be feasible that international oil companies might come into Iraq./ … we should not commit ourselves, Iraq, never commit itself to 25-year-contracts, under the present circumstances. Let us do short term contracts, let us rebuild our refineries, let us buy equipment, but no 25-year-contracts, until there is a revision of the constitution, which we were promised 4 years ago, there is a national reconsiliation, which we were promised for years and unless there is a concensus that who is ruling us represents our adequate majority.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Abdul.htm#SpeechEP">Baghdad will not be subjugated</a></b><br />18.03.09. Abdul Ilah Albayaty: Speech in the European Parliament, BRussels Tribunal. … And in its invasion, the US followed a clear plan, and it was to destroy Iraq economically, politically and militarily, and to force its partition, and to destroy its thinking, and all its capacity to build. For the United States, the important thing is to control Iraq’s oil. And for this it poured on us problems … For six years we see nothing except destruction and killing and prisons and prisoners and kidnappings. Why? Because without the destruction of the essential values of Iraqi society, controlling Iraq is not possible.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=52827">Iraq: A forgotten humanitarian disaster</a></b><br />21.03.09. Lieven De Cauter, BRussells Tribunal/uruknet. The sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is a sad occasion for the balance sheet: during six years of occupation 1.2 million citizens were killed, 2,000 doctors killed, and 5,500 academics and intellectuals assassinated or imprisoned. There are 4.7 million refugees: 2.7 million inside the country and two million have fled to neighbouring countries, among which are 20,000 medical doctors. According to the Red Cross, Iraq is now a country of widows and orphans: two million widows as a consequence of war, embargo, war again and occupation, and five million orphans, many of whom are homeless (estimated at 500,000). Almost a third of Iraq’s children suffer from malnutrition. Some 70 per cent of Iraqi girls no longer go to school. Medical services, not so long ago the best in the region, have totally collapsed: 75 per cent of medical staff have left their jobs, half of them have fled the country, and after six years of "reconstruction" health services in Iraq still do not meet minimum standards.<br /><br />Because of the use of depleted uranium in ammunition by the occupation, the number of cancer cases and miscarriages has drastically increased.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/SouadAlAzzawi_Numbers.htm">Let the Numbers Speak</a></b><br />26.03.09. Dr. Souad N. Al-Azzawi, BRussels Tribunal.<br /><br /><u>Six years into the occupation</u> …<br /><br />- 72 months of destruction<br /><br />- $607 Billions spent on the war<br /><br />- 2 Million Barrels of oil being sold per day<br /><br />- 2 Million Displaced Iraqis inside of Iraq<br /><br />- 3 Million Iraqis forced to leave the country<br /><br />- 2615 professors, scientists, and doctors killed in cold blood<br /><br />- 338 dead journalists<br /><br />- $13 Billion misplaced by the current Iraqi government<br /><br />- $400 Billion required to rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure<br /><br />- 3 hours average of electricity daily<br /><br />- 24 car bombs per month<br /><br />- 7 major mafias running the country<br /><br />- 4260 Americans dead<br /><br />- 10,000 cases of cholera per year<br /><br />- 50 of my friends dead<br /><br />- 22 of my relatives dead<br /><br />- 15 abductions of close relatives and people I know and love<br /><br />- At least 1.3 million Iraqis dead since 2003.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/images/0409-01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 337px; height: 450px;" src="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/images/0409-01.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/images/0409-01.jpg">Photo REUTERS/Ali Jasim</a></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/04/20094973036503530.html">Iraqi protesters call for US exit</a></b><br />10.04.09. al jazeera. "The US has said verbally that it will end the occupation but we do not know what the real ambition of the invaders is. They could <u>yet say there is no stability in the country and extend their presence there</u>. "I think that every Iraqi wants US troops out of the country because what has occurred is the'Fallujah never leaves my mind'<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53308&s2=11">'Fallujah never leaves my mind'</a></b><br />09.04.09. Laith Mushtaq, uruknet. <em> Laith Mushtaq was one of only two non-embedded cameramen working throughout the April 2004 'battle for Fallujah' in which 600 civilians died. Five years on, he recounts the events he witnessed and filmed.</em>. Interview by Stephanie Doetzer<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/06/child-trafficking-iraq">Iraqi babies for sale: people trafficking crisis grows in corrupt system</a></b><br />06.04.09. Guardian. <em>At least 150 children a year sold for £200 to £4,000 --Some bartered youngsters become sex abuse victims</em>. Some bartered youngsters become sex abuse victims<br /><br /><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MYAI-7R24XL?OpenDocument"> Displaced Iraqis unwilling, unable to return home </a> (09.04.09. Refugees International / Relief Web)<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWng2gKIdJjzJOqQl9OrYxzZc8qp1asWiysknoQ2GQxixKxkXHwC5zAiMU3_NW00rNGyxeg6BUzXWxZPhT_OX0xShEhgtDxht15oaIve44zRWbxxXhvdHmwoK352fH1VNSqWJZ/s1600-h/dahr.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 211px; height: 282px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWng2gKIdJjzJOqQl9OrYxzZc8qp1asWiysknoQ2GQxixKxkXHwC5zAiMU3_NW00rNGyxeg6BUzXWxZPhT_OX0xShEhgtDxht15oaIve44zRWbxxXhvdHmwoK352fH1VNSqWJZ/s400/dahr.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326662496178707730" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Dahr Jamail Photo © Sarah Meyer June 2007.</span></div><br /><br />JFK had <em> some</em> very good advisors. President Obama et.al. would do well to listen to <a href="http://dahrjamailiraq.com/"> Dahr Jamail </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/040209A">The Growing Storm</a></b><br />02.04.09. Dahr Jamail, Truthout. Trouble with US-hired death squads in Iraq as the US policy of Divide and Rule continues. Last weekend, the Iraqi government arrested an Awakening Group leader of a Baghdad neighborhood, then moved into the area. With the help of US occupation forces, they disarmed the militiamen under his control, but only after fighting broke out between US-backed Iraqi government security forces and the US-formed Sunni Awakening Group militia. This disturbing event is the realization of what most Iraqis have long feared - that the relative calm! in Iraq today would eventually be broken when fighting erupts between these two entities. <u>The US policy that has led to this recent violence has been long in the making</u>, as it has only been a matter of time before the tenuous truce between the groups came unglued...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6028">Iraq in Fragments</a></b><br />10.04.09. Dahr Jamail, FPIF. On Wednesday, March 25, Major General David Perkins of the U.S. military, referring to how often the U.S. military was being attacked in Iraq, told reporters in Baghdad, "Attacks are at their lowest since August 2003." Perkins added, "There were 1,250 attacks a week at the height of the violence; now sometimes there are less than 100 a week." / While his rhetoric made headlines in some U.S. mainstream media outlets, it was little consolation for the families of 28 Iraqis killed in attacks across Iraq the following day. Nor did it bring solace to the relatives of the 27 Iraqis slain in a March 23 suicide attack, or those who survived a bomb attack at a bus terminal in Baghdad on the same day that killed nine Iraqis. / Having recently returned from Iraq, I experienced living in Baghdad where people were dying violent deaths on a daily basis. Nearly every day of the month I spent there saw a car bomb attack somewhere in the capital city. Nearly every day the so-called Green Zone was mortared. Every day there were kidnappings. On good days there were four hours of electricity on the national grid, in a country now into its seventh year of being occupied by the U.S. military, and where there are now over 200,000 private contractors.<br /><br />Upon returning home, I experienced the disconnect between that reality, lived by roughly 25 million Iraqis, and the surreal experience of living in the United States — where most media pretend the occupation of Iraq is either not happening, or uses the yardstick of decreased U.S. military personnel deaths in Iraq as a measure of success. In the words of Major General Perkins, "If you take a look at military deaths, which is an indicator of violence and lethality out there, U.S. combat deaths are at their lowest levels since the war began six years ago." But it's a less useful metric when one looks at the broader picture inside of Iraq: the ongoing daily slaughter of Iraqis, the near total lack of functional infrastructure, the fact that one in six Iraqis remains displaced from their homes, or that at least 1.2 million Iraqis have died as a result of the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of their country. …<br /><br /><b>All of the recent talk of withdrawal from Iraq is empty rhetoric indeed to most Iraqis, who see the giant “enduring” U.S. military bases spread across their country, or the U.S. “embassy,” the size of the Vatican City, in Baghdad. The gulf between the rhetoric of withdrawal and the reality on the ground spans the distance between Iraq and the United States, while the reality is pressed in the face of the Iraqi people each day the occupation continues</b>.<br /><br />FILM: <a href="http://www.iraqinfragments.com/"> Iraq in Fragments</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://dahrjamailiraq.com/no-coincidences-in-iraq#more-1471">No Coincidences in Iraq</a></b><br />13.04.09. Dahr Jamail, dahrjamail.iraq.com. Obama was a harsh critic of the Bush administration tactic of avoiding placing the costs of both occupations in the overall military budget, yet now he is doing the same.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dahrjamailiraq.com/human-body-parts#more-1476">Human Body Parts</a></b><br />18.04.09. In Iraq, time leaves bloody marks upon each day of the ongoing US occupation. The policies of the Obama administration, adopted from the Bush administration, continue to wreak their havoc on the Iraqi people. [Dahr describes “complicating matters” in various sectors of Iraq]<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><u> the Walls of Baghdad</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://analepsis.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/baghdad_wall0509.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 360px; height: 235px;" src="http://analepsis.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/baghdad_wall0509.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/analepsis.wordpress.com/understanding-iraq/"> Bagdad, city of walls </a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53373&s2=13">An Iraqi City Divided by Walls, by Sect, By Bitterness</a></b><br />12.04.09. Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post Foreign Service/ uruknet. Fifteen feet tall, half a mile long, the walls wind like a concrete ribbon through the heart of this scarred holy city, the cradle of Iraq's sectarian war. Shiite pilgrims flow alongside them toward the shattered al-Askari mosque, a symbol of a resuscitating Iraq. Shiite national security forces -- and not a single local Sunni policeman -- patrol the area. On the other side of the walls, shops lie shuttered; ! alleys are blanketed by silence. Padlocked red doors, built into the partition, prevent Shiite visitors from mixing with the city's mostly Sunni citizens. Here, Mohammed al-Saeed, a Sunni shopkeeper, fumes. "This wall is a sectarian wall," he said. "They don't trust us." The destruction of the venerated mosque in this central Iraqi city in 2006 has come to be seen as the spark for the terrible sectarian violence that gripped Iraq. Now, the Iraqi government holds up Samarra as evidence that peace is possible, even in the country's most contentious areas. But the quiet here is a brittle one, where Shiites exercise dominance and alienated Sunnis wallow in resentment. "These walls give an idea like death is waiting for us," declared Mohammed Hussen, a local Sunni council leader. "Their ambition is to make Samarra into a Shiite city." ...<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53467&s2=17"> Baghdad: City of Walls </a> (Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Guardian/ uruknet)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090416/wl_mideast_afp/iraqunrestsecuritybarrierslead">Barriers to be off Baghdad streets by 2009: army</a></b><br />16.04.09. AFP / anti-war. "We have received instructions from the prime minister (Nuri al-Maliki) that all concrete barriers should be removed from the streets of Baghdad by the end of 2009," Major General Qassim Atta, the Baghdad security spokesman, told AFP. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">? PR?</span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/04/15/report-us-air-strikes-in-iraq-kill-mostly-women-children/">Report: US Air Strikes in Iraq Kill Mostly Women, Children</a></b><br />15.04.09. J. Ditz, antiwar. In a <a href="http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/360/16/1585"> report </a> to be published in tomorrow’s issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have concluded that air strikes by US-led coalition forces have killed mostly women and children. 39 percent were children, while 46 percent were women. [{NB: <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The report refers to the mostly discredited 'Iraq Body Count' numbers of dead only </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53476&s2=17">IRAQ: More Than Two Million Refugees Waiting to Come Home</a></b><br />16.04.09. Marina Litvinsky, uruknet. ...The report, "Iraq: Preventing the Point of No Return," issued last week, notes that despite encouraging returns, the government of Iraq has not realistically assessed the country's ability to absorb large numbers of returns. RI found that Iraqis who have returned struggle to find shelter, electricity, water, jobs and access to health care. "There is immense pressure on displaced Iraqis to return home. The problem is that they return home to ethnically cleansed neighbourhoods and poor government services," said RI President Ken Bacon.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53479&s2=17">International Seeds Day on April 26 to advocate for Patent-FREE seeds, biodiversity farmers rights and to challenge Iraq’s Order 81</a></b><br />Institute of Near Eastern & African Studies (INEAS)/uruknet.<br />- Organizations, activists, farmers and organic food advocates around the world have endorsed and will observe April 26 as International Seeds Day (ISD). The purpose of the ISD is to educate the public and inform the media about Order 81 and how it had and will devastate the future of IRAQ's agriculture;<br /><br />* how to resist the ability of giant agricultural corporations’ to control seed resources;<br /><br />* the importance of biodiversity and how to practice seed saving; and<br /><br />* the dangers of genetically modified food and patent seeds<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/17/world/middleeast/17iraq.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">Suicide Attack Kills at Least 15 in Iraq</a></b><br />16.04.09. NY Times. The officials, however, provided starkly conflicting reports of casualties. … The tally of wounded ranged from as few as 17 to more than 50. … punctuating a <u>spike in bombings</u> that has killed more than 70 people this month … few attackers have succeeded in penetrating so deeply into a restricted military base. “There is a security violation,” Lt. Hussam Rahim, an officer at the base, said in an interview at a hospital in Ramadi where many of the wounded were treated. “Someone helped him to enter the base.” … <b>Journalists were prohibited from entering the base and the hospital, which Iraqi and American officers visited after the wounded arrived</b>.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53522&s2=20"> Death squad memories haunt Iraqi civilians – 17 Apr ‘09</a><br />al jazeera; Thirty-three per cent of deaths since the start of the US-led 2003 invasion are now being blamed on execution-style killings.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/national_world/stories/2009/04/18/Iraq_AP_0418.ART_ART_04-18-09_A6_57DJEJM.html?sid=101">Attack in peaceful area raises new fears</a></b><br />18.04.09. AP. The attack in the Jisr Diyala district reinforced worries that security forces might need to shift attention back to areas that have been relatively quiet in recent months, even as they battle to control the last insurgent strongholds north of Baghdad in Diyala and Mosul. / The attack also raised concerns about Iraq's ability to maintain security in Baghdad and other key areas after the U.S. military withdraws from major cities by July.<br /><br /><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/04/18/shells-hit-baghdads-green-zone-after-3-month-lull-2/"> Shells hit Baghdad's Green Zone after 3-month lull</a> (18.04.09. anti-war)<br /><br /><em> The Ultimate Irony: No Oil for US "Interests" in Iraq?</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/apr/18/iraq-shell-gas-energy">Iraq parliament promises to push Shell out of gas deal</a></b><br />18.04.09. Guardian. Shell has been considered a frontrunner in the race to seize control of the Iraqi energy sector after signing a $4bn deal to process and market gas from the south of the country and ship it, possibly to Britain as liquefied natural gas (LNG). / But the preliminary agreement - and a subsequent one with China National Petroleum Corporation - were unconstitutional and detrimental to Iraq's economic interests, said Jabir, who worked for more than 15 years at Iraq's state-run Southern Gas Company. /"We are going to do everything we can to revoke this deal and to push Shell out," Jabir told Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/world/wests-access-to-iraqi-oil-in-doubt-20090418-aasd.html">West's access to Iraqi oil in doubt</a></b><br />19.04.09. smh. The warning from the secretary of the Iraqi parliament's oil and gas committee, Jabir Khalifa Jabir, was seen by financial analysts yesterday as a serious threat to Western investment opportunities in a country that holds the second-largest oil reserves in the world. / Shell has been considered a front runner in the race to seize control of the Iraqi energy sector after signing a $US4 billion ($5.5 billion) deal to process and market gas from the south and ship it, possibly to Britain, as liquefied natural gas.<br /><br />Weekly show: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insideiraq/"> Inside Iraq </a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>UPDATES: More "extraordinary achievements" in Iraq</b></div><br /><br /><u> General </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/25/world/middleeast/25iraq.html?_r=1&th&emc=th">Storm of Violence in Iraq Strains Its Security Forces</a></b><br />24.04.09. NY Times. A deadly outburst of violence appears to be overwhelming Iraq’s police and military forces as American troops hand over greater control of cities across the country to them. On Friday, twin suicide bombings killed at least 60 people outside Baghdad’s most revered Shiite shrine, pushing the death toll in one 24-hour period to nearly 150. / Like many recent attacks, the bombings appeared intended to inflame sectarian tensions, to weaken Iraq’s security forces and to discredit its government.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/world/middleeast/27withdraw.html?th&emc=th">Exceptions to Iraq Deadline Are Proposed</a></b><br />26.04.09. NY Times. The United States and Iraq will begin negotiating possible exceptions to the June 30 deadline for withdrawing American combat troops from Iraqi cities, focusing on the troubled northern city of Mosul, according to military officials. Some parts of Baghdad also will still have combat troops.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53755&s2=28">Hillary Clinton makes crisis visit to Iraq</a></b><br />27.04.09. Bill Van Auken, uruknet. ...Clearly, Washington’s aim is to keep Iraqi forces <u>weak enough so that the country’s government remains dependent upon US support for its survival</u>. By maintaining its military domination over the country, the US aims to secure <u>effective control over Iraq’s vast oil reserves</u>. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/autocodes/countries/iraq/iraqi-pm-brands-us-soldiers-criminals--$1291132.htm">Iraqi PM brands US soldiers 'criminals'</a></b><br />27.04.09. in the news. Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki says a US raid south-east of Baghdad was a "crime" that violated a security pact between the two countries. / The US army disputed the details however, stating that only one person - a woman - died in the raid, which targeted Shia Muslim fighters reportedly funded by Iran. {<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">because it was “a woman”, it doesn’t matter, then? </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dahrjamailiraq.com/and-so-it-goes#more-1487">And So it Goes…</a></b><br />27.04.09. DAHR JAMAIL. Last week found Iraq swimming in blood once again. Attacks last Thursday brought the worst violence Iraq has seen in over a year, with at least 96 Iraqis killed and 157 wounded in two massive suicide bombings. Over 35 bombings have rocked Baghdad this month alone. <em>There appears to be no end in sight for the escalating violence. For an Obama administration that plans to keep at least 50,000 US troops in Iraq indefinitely, look no further for a justification in doing so</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53791&s2=29">The Picture of Dorian Gray: Obama's Iraq</a></b><br />28.04.09. Jeremy Scahill, uruknet. Remember when Barack Obama made that big announcement at Camp Lejeune about how all US combat troops were going to be withdrawn from Iraqi cities by June 30? Liberals jumped around with joy, praising Obama for ending the war so that they could focus on their "good war" in Afghanistan. Of course, the celebrations were and remain unwarranted. Obama’s Iraq plan is virtually identical to the one on Bush’s table on January 19, 2009. Obama has just rebranded the occupation, sold it to liberals and dropped the term "Global War on Terror" while, for all practical purposes, continuing the Bush era policy (that’s why leading Republicans praised Obama’s plan). In the real world, US military commanders have said they are preparing for an Iraq presence for another 15-20 years, the US embassy is the size of Vatican City, there is no official plan for the withdrawal of contractors and new corporate mercenary contracts are being awarded...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m53828&hd=&size=1&l=e">April deadliest month in a year as security in Iraq plummets</a></b><br />29.04.09. Corinne Reilly and Hussein Kadhim | McClatchy / uruknet. April was the bloodiest month for violence in Baghdad in more than a year, another sign that Iraq's security gains are beginning to reverse... In Baghdad alone, more than 200 people have been killed in attacks so far this month, compared with 99 last month and 46 in February, according to a McClatchy count. The last time McClatchy recorded more than 200 civilian deaths in one month in the capital was in March 2008...<br /><br />MAY 2005<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6211364.ece">Iraq bloodshed rises as US allies defect</a></b><br />03.05.09. Times Online. RAQ is threatened by a new wave of sectarian violence as members of the “Sons of Iraq” – the Sunni Awakening militias that were paid by the US to fight Al-Qaeda – begin to rejoin the insurgency. If the spike in violence continues, it could affect President Barack Obama’s pledge to withdraw all combat troops from Iraqi cities by the end of June. All US troops are due to leave the country by 2012.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/iraq-basra-is-now-worse-than-when-the-british-troops-arrived-1677856.html">Iraq: 'Basra is now worse than when the British troops arrived'</a></b><br />03.05.09. Hugh Sykes, Independent. Basra was once known as the Venice of the East as it has dozens of canals. But there is no romance in them now. They are clogged with sewage and rubbish - household waste, abandoned cars, broken bikes and plastic bottles and bags.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article6211364.ece">Iraq bloodshed rises as US allies defect</a></b><br />03.05.09. Times Online. <em> http://www.truthout.org/050409JObama’s withdrawal pledge is at risk as militias paid by the US begin to rejoin the insurgency</em><br />see also Dahr Jamail <a href="http://www.truthout.org/050409J"> Combat Operations in Fallujah </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KE07Ak01.html">Why suicide bombers are back in Iraq</a></b><br />07.05.09. Steve Niva, Asia Times. Suicide bombings are back in Iraq, signaling that the war is far from over. After a significant downturn, with only six suicide attacks between December 2008 and March 2009, there have been 25 suicide bombings in Iraq in the last two months, contributing to the worst spate of violence in Iraq in nearly a year.<br /><br />The reality, however, is that the latest surge in violence isn't because the United States is leaving, but because the timeframe and terms of withdrawal are unclear. The real story behind the new wave of suicide bombings is that Iraqi insurgents are in conflict with the American backed Iraqi state and the US effort to perpetuate an order favorable to continued American influence and interests in Iraq even while American forces draw down, a policy long known in the region as neo-colonialism.<br /><br /><b>Bombings because the US is not leaving</b><br />Despite its high-minded claims about "ending the war", Obama's announced withdrawal plan clearly doesn't end the Iraq occupation, but rather continues it in a new form. The plan only calls for the withdrawal of "combat troops" by August 2010, while leaving behind 35,000-50,000 occupying troops until the end of 2011, many of whom will be combat troops simply relabeled as "advisory and assistance brigades".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/09/world/middleeast/09military.html?_r=1">General Sees a Longer Stay in Iraq Cities for U.S. Troops</a></b><br />08.05.09. NY Times. The top American general in Iraq said Friday that <b>one-fifth of American combat troops would stay behind in Iraqi cities even after the June 30 deadline</b> that the United States and Iraq had set for the departure. The estimate by Gen. Ray Odierno, at a Pentagon briefing, was the most specific yet for the extension of American combat operations in Baghdad and Mosul. The general declined several times to put an actual number on the combat troops who would remain in Baghdad and Mosul after June 30 because, he said, <b>he did not know [sic] ] the precise number of troops there now</b>. <br /><br /><u> Manufacturing Consent to Stay in Iraq </u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/08/world/middleeast/08security.html?em"> Concerns Mount on Preparedness of Iraq’s Forces </a> (07.05.09. NY Times )<br /><br />…<br /><em> Iraq has a US puppet government and has no say in whether US troops go or stay </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/03/AR2009050301515.html"> Iraq rules out extension of U.S. withdrawal dates </a> (03.05.09. Wash Post)<br />… <br /><em> OIL: Will US do the same?</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/gc05/idUSTRE53T2X920090430">Britain seeks role in protecting Iraqi oil supplies</a></b><br />30.04.09. Reuters. "We hope to sign an agreement with the Iraqi government about the future role that we can play in training and in protecting the oil supplies of Iraq and that will be an agreement between our two governments rather than any new United Nations resolution," Brown told a news conference.<br /><br /><u> Murder & Assassinations </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53890&s2=03">“What Happened To Nuclear Physics professor Dr Ismail Khalil Jasim Al-Tikriti ?” </a></b><br />01.05.09. The BRussells Tribunal Committee, uruknet. The assassinations and threats against academics in Iraq continue unabated despite optimistic press reports on levels of violence falling dramatically and pompous declarations of the Iraqi puppet government about "reconciliation". On April 21, a female university professor has become the latest victim in a string of murders of intellectuals in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Last month, Ahmed Murad Shehab, a professor of Mosul University's Faculty of Administration and Economics, was fatally shot on the city's left bank. Some Iraqi academics who fled abroad from violence and oppression are reportedly trickling back home. This is not in response to pleas from the puppet government, but rather because in addition to the difficulties of life abroad — without working permits — their savings have been depleted. It is also because Western countries are refusing them refugee status and political asylum due to the so-called "improvement" of the security situation, while neighbouring countries cannot satisfy all their needs...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54082&s2=09">Laying the Groundwork for Violence </a></b><br />07.05.09. Dahr Jamail, uruknet. ... On May 5, the Iraqi military killed Basim Mohammed and detained his brother. Mohammed was a member of the Sahwa, the 100,000-strong Sunni militia composed mostly of former resistance fighters that <u>the US created</u> in order to use them to battle al-Qaeda in Iraq, as well as paying them off to draw down the number of attacks against occupation forces. The Sahwa, who were supposed to be given government jobs either in security or in civil services, have been betrayed. Instead of being given the promised jobs, they have been consistently targeted by the Iraqi military, and at times the US military...<br /><br /><em> How is this any different from Haditha, where all US soldiers were acquitted? </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8039257.stm">US ex-soldier guilty of Iraq rape</a></b><br />07.05.09. BBC. A jury in the US state of Kentucky has found a former private soldier guilty of the rape of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her and her family.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8VBR608YjM"> Iraq War - The rape and murder of Abeer Qassim Hamza </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/67862.html"> U.S. soldiers, attacked, kill a 12-year-old Iraqi boy </a> (09.05.09. McClatchy)<br /><br /><u> Toxic War </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m53883&hd=&size=1&l=e">Half Life of a Toxic War: Iraq's Wrecked Environment</a></b><br />01.05.09. Jeffrey St. Clair, Joshua Frank, uruknet. The ecological effects of war, like its horrific toll on human life, are exponential. When the Bush administration (parts one and two) and its congressional allies sent troops to Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein’s regime, they not only ordered these men and women to commit crimes against humanity, they also commanded them to perpetrate crimes against nature. Former Chief United Nations Weapons Inspector Hans Blix, prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said the environmental consequences of the Iraq war could be more ominous than the issue of war and peace itself. Blix was right. Months of bombing during the first Gulf War by the United States and Great Britain left a deadly and insidious legacy: tons of shell casings, bullets and bomb fragments laced with depleted uranium. In all, the United States hit Iraqi targets with more than 970 radioactive bombs and missiles... More than 15 years later, the dire health consequences of our first radioactive bombing campaign in this region are coming into focus. Since 1990, the incidence rate of leukemia in Iraq has increased over 600 percent. Detection and treatment of cancers was made unnecessarily difficult by Iraq’s forced isolation under a regime of sanctions, producing what was described by former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan as "a humanitarian crisis."...<br /><br />TORTURE: as in the US, so in Iraq: <em> If Obama does not prosecute torture facilitators in US, then Iraqis also have an excuse to torture? </em><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=obama-torture.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 221px; height: 334px;" src="http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=obama-torture.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m53911&hd=&size=1&l=e"> President Obama Won't Rule Out Torture</a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m53888&hd=&size=1&l=e">Iraq's Underworld</a></b><br />01.05.09. Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues / uruknet. ... Fate decided that I was to watch the program aired by Al-Sharqiya called Al-Aglabiya Al-Samita -- The Silent Majority. And here I was stuck with the silent majority. The program was solely devoted to the gross human rights violations and abuses in "liberated" Iraq with particular reference to the plight of prisoners/detainees in Iraq's Gulag. Many called in. Some were ex-prisoners, other relatives of someone who is still in prison or reported dead while in prison. The stories were harrowing. I felt as if I was watching a horror film. Truly, I still have not fully recovered from what I heard that evening. People were calling in from ALL of Iraq - Baghdad, Basra, Diwaniya, Suleymania, Erbil...Some were exiled and calling from outside of Iraq and they had escaped a similar ordeal, a similar ordeal as that of the still lingering prisoners. Some were very close relatives of someone still imprisoned in some Iraqi dungeon [...] All the prisoners have not been formally charged with any "crime" and none has had access to any legal council or trial. An example : someone drew an anti-occupation graffiti on the wall of one neighborhood, all of the men in the age range of 15 to 45 of that same neighborhood were arrested the following day and imprisoned. - All of the stories report widespread use of horrific torture methods. Common torture methods across the country are : electrocution, being hanged by hooks from the ceilings, sleep deprivation, food deprivation, isolation, made to listen to torture from other cells, beatings, crammed space - one example 150 inmates in one cell of 3 by 8 meters, amputating fingers, amputation of limbs following torture, pulling nails and teeth, burning with cigarettes and acid, blinding one eye, drilling extremities...and rape including gang rape of male prisoners was commonly reported. One example given was in the space of one day 45 policemen raped around 100 detainees. Rape includes the forcing of bottles in the anus. This was a common theme that came up in every single story...<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insideiraq/2009/04/2009430124439500718.html"> Inside Iraq: Silent Torture PART 1, 1 May 2009</a>; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwYo1bgTSiI"> PART 2, 1 May 2009</a>. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m53909&hd=&size=1&l=e">UN: RIGHTS ABUSED IN IRAQ</a></b><br />02.05.09. William Fisher, uruknet. Iraqi prisons are torturing detainees, locking people up for months without charges and, in most cases, allowing the perpetrators of these human rights to escape justice, according to a new United Nations report. "Security may not be sustainable unless significant steps are taken in the area of human rights such as strengthening the rule of law and addressing impunity," the report warned... The UN report found that: The 26,249 people being held in Iraq prisons in December faced "months or even years in overcrowded cells" and many had not been formally charged. The use of torture as an interrogation method and the ill-treatment of detainees remains "a serious challenge to Iraq’s criminal justice system." <b>There is no known case in which any official in the powerful Ministry of Defense, which has its own jails, "has been held accountable for human rights abuses</b>."...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m53908&hd=&size=1&l=e">The Big Lie About Torture</a></b><br />02.05.09. Bernard Chazelle, uruknet. The story goes like this: The US didn't torture until the Bush gang came to power. Some say we're a nation of laws and criminal investigations are the only way to return to our virginal past; others share the same objective but reject prosecutions as needlessly divisive; a third group advocates torture as the new post 9/11 norm (...) It's been amply documented that the US has condoned, taught, and practiced torture since WWII. The military created a whole university to teach such things as electrocution, confining detainees in coffin-like boxes, kidnapping their parents, etc. The Phoenix program institutionalized torture in Vietnam....<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54006&s2=07">Torture and Impunity in Iraqi Prisons</a></b> <br />05.05.09. Jeremy Scahill, uruknet. Part of the deadly serious problem with the Obama administration’s position on (not) holding accountable CIA torturers, their lawyers, and the Bush administration officials who authorized and ordered all of these crimes is this: It <b>sends a message to other governments that if Washington does it, we can too. Especially governments completely created by the U.S. government</b>. No governments on the planet are more controlled by the U.S. right now than the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pubrecord.org/torture/895-senators-urge-obama-to-block-release-of-new-detainee-abuse-photos.html">Senators Urge Obama to Block Release of New Detainee Abuse Photos </a></b> <br />10.05.09. W. Fisher, pub record/ICH. Civil libertarians are condemning a call by two influential U.S. senators for the White House to block the impending release of photographs showing detainees being abused by U.S. military personnel at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at other American detention facilities in the Middle East and elsewhere. The plea to intervene to stop the expected May 28 release of the photos came in a letter Thursday to President Barack Obama from Senators Joseph Lieberman and Lindsey Graham.<br /><br /><br /><u> Executions </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54097&s2=10">Iraq: Stop Executing Prisoners</a></b> <br />06.05.09. Human Rights Watch/URUKNET. Iraq should institute an immediate moratorium on the death penalty in the aftermath of a large number of executions on May 3, 2009, Human Rights Watch said today. According to United Nations officials in Baghdad, the Iraqi government hanged 12 people in Baghdad on May 3 who had been convicted of criminal offenses. The UN officials said they believed that another 115 prisoners could face execution in the near future... Human Rights Watch said it was particularly! concerned that Iraq continues to admit into judicial proceedings confessions obtained under duress. The organization called on the Iraqi government to disclose all information regarding the identities and status of prisoners on death row, the crimes for which they have been convicted, the manner in which they were charged, tried, and sentenced, the prisons in which they are detained, and details of any impending executions...<br /><br /><u> US Military</u><br /><br />Dahr Jamail's new book, /Military Resisters: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight in Iraq and Afghanistan/, is now available for pre-order <a href="http://tinyurl.com/cnlgyu"> here</a>. <br /><br />As one of the first and few unembedded Western journalists to report the truth about how the United States has destroyed, not liberated, Iraqi society in his book Beyond the Green Zone, Jamail now investigates the under-reported but growing antiwar resistance of American GIs. Gathering the stories of these courageous men and women, Jamail shows us that far from “supporting our troops,” politicians have betrayed them at every turn. Finally, Jamail shows us that the true heroes of the criminal tragedy of the Iraq War are those brave enough to say no.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54165&s2=12">U.S.-IRAQ: Massacre Puts War Trauma Under the Spotlight</a></b> <br />11.05.09. Aaron Glantz, uruknet. A U.S. soldier shot five of his colleagues dead at a base in Baghdad, Iraq Monday. The Pentagon says at least two other people were hurt in the shootings and the gunman is in custody. Details are still coming in, but the incident reportedly happened at a stress clinic where troops get help for personal issues or combat trauma. At an afternoon press conference, Secretary of Defence Robert Gates was tight-lipped about the details of the shooting, the first such spree by a U.S. soldier through six years of war in Iraq.<br /><br /><u> historical </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22543.htm">Right to the very end in Iraq, our masters denied us the truth</a></b><br />04.05.09. Independent / ICH. Robert Fisk. The sentence 'millions of Iraqis now live free of oppression' is pure public relations.<br />= = = <br /><b><a href="http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news\2009-05-02\kurd.htm">Violence kills 335 Iraqis and maims more than 1,300 in April</a></b><br />02.05.09. azzaman. The group said altogether more than 1,700 Iraqis were either killed or maimed in April which it described as the bloodiest since September 2008 in which 444 Iraqis were killed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090526/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_iraq">Army chief says US ready to be in Iraq 10 years</a></b><br />26.05.09. AP. The Pentagon is prepared to leave fighting forces in Iraq for as long as a decade despite an agreement between the United States and Iraq that would bring all American troops home by 2012, the top U.S. Army officer said Tuesday. / Gen. George Casey, the Army chief of staff, said the world remains dangerous and unpredictable, and the Pentagon must plan for extended U.S. combat and stability operations in two [sic] wars. <br />See also:<br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/26/pentagon-us-ready-to-keep-troops-in-iraq-for-another-10-years/">Pentagon: US Ready to Keep Troops in Iraq For Another 10 Years</a></b><br />(26.05.09. Jason Ditz, anti-war. While US officials have continued to insist that the timetable for removing troops from Iraq remains in place, a growing trend of violence and a delay to Iraq’s national parliamentary elections has led to considerable speculation that the US won’t ultimately abide by the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) deadline to have troops out of the nation by the end of 2011. / That speculation seemed well-founded today, when Army Chief of Staff General George Casey said that the world “remains dangerous and unpredictable” and that his planning envisions leaving combat troops in Iraq for another decade “to fight extremism and terrorism.”<br /><br />==<br />researching War in Pakistan May 2009, where also there is "No Change"<br />==<br /><br /><u> Obama Lying by Omission</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/martin050609.htm">Obama In Cairo: A New Face For Imperialism</a></b><br />05.06.09. Patrick Martin, WSWS / Countercurrents. The <a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/obama050609.htm"> Speech </a><br />delivered by US President Barack Obama in Cairo yesterday was riddled with contradictions. He declared his opposition to the “killing of innocent men, women, and children,” but defended the ongoing US wars in <u>Iraq</u> and Afghanistan and the US <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/06/index-on-war-in-pakistan-may-2009.html"> proxy war in Pakistan </a>, while remaining silent on the most recent Israeli slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. These wars have killed at least one million Iraqis and tens of thousands in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Palestinian territories<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=55086&s2=14">US opposes Iraqi popular vote on troop withdrawal </a></b><br />13.06.09. Tom Eley, ueoknet. An Iraqi national referendum on last year’s security pact with the US is currently scheduled to take place on July 30. According to Iraqi law, if voters reject the pact, which calls for the US to remove all troops by December 31, 2011, Washington would have to remove its military 17 months sooner—by July 30 of 2010. Should the vote be held as scheduled, it is a virtual certainty that the Iraqi masses will repudiate the pact. Washington, of course, has no intention of obeying any popular referendum. Yet it wishes to avoid the political embarrassment of a broad repudiation of its occupation of the oil-rich country...<br /><br /><em> I seem to remember the US saying it would leave Iraq if asked to do so. </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/world/140715/shame%3A_the_%27anti-war%27_democrats_who_sold_out_/?page=entire">Shame: The 'Anti-War' Democrats Who Sold Out</a></b><br />17.06.09. Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet. In a historic vote, only 30 of 256 Democrats stood against $100 billion for more war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=99036§ionid=3510203">US reneges on Iraq withdrawal promises</a></b><br />26.06.09. presstv.ir. On Wednesday, a spokesman for the US military in Iraq, Brigadier General Steve Lanza, said a number of the country's troops are to remain in the urban areas after the June 30 deadline, Reuters reported.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22959.htm">Iraq: Troop Movements Are not a 'Withdrawal'</a></b><br />30.06.09. Dennis Kucinich, ICH. "This is not a great victory for peace. On May 19, the Christian Science Monitor reported that Iraqi and U.S. military officials virtually redrew the city limits of Baghdad in order to consider the Army's Forward Operating Base Falcon as outside the city, despite every map of Baghdad clearly showing it with in city limits. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/pers-j30.shtml">Oil and the Iraq “withdrawal”</a></b><br />30.06.09. WSWS. It is fitting that today’s deadline for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq’s cities coincides with a meeting in Baghdad to auction off some of the country’s largest oil fields to companies such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and British Petroleum. It is a reminder of the real motives for the 2003 invasion and in whose interests over one million Iraqis and 4,634 American and other Western troops have been killed. The Iraq war was, and continues to be, an imperialist war waged by the American ruling elite for control of oil and geo-strategic advantage.<br /><br /><br />JULY 2009<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22960.htm">Neocons Agree: Report Projects Continued U.S. Military Presence in Iraq</a></b><br />01.07.09. Axcess News. When former Republican presidential candidate John McCain said in January 2008 that he would be OK with United States troops in Iraq for another 100 years, Democrats ridiculed him as a warmonger. Now, a report from a "centrist" political think tank predicts that U.S. troops will remain in Iraq well after the current December 2011 withdrawal deadline. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/070609J">US Occupation of Iraq Continues Unabated</a></b><br />06.07.09. Dahr Jamail, Truthout. We have passed the June 30 deadline that, according to a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed between US Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on November 17, 2008, was the date all US forces were to have been withdrawn from all of Iraq's cities. Today, however, there are at least 134,000 US soldiers in Iraq - a number barely lower than the number that were there in 2003. In addition, US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates testified on June 9 that the United States would maintain an average of at least 100,000 troops in Iraq through fiscal year 2010.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud090709.htm">Forget The Headlines: Iraqi Freedom Deferred </a></b><br />09.07.09. Ramzy Baroud, countercurrents. Before we take our eyes off Iraq, Americans must remember their own culpabilities in what transpired there. Antiwar activists and people of conscience must not forget that 130,000 US soldiers remain in the country; that the US has complete control over Iraqi airspace and territorial water; that there is not yet a reason to celebrate and move on<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=55991&s2=15">Pentagon Prepares to Maintain Iraq Troop Levels Through Early 2010</a></b><br />14.07.09. Jason Ditz, anti-war / uruknet. In a press release today, the Pentagon has announced troops rotations for the Iraq War starting in the fall and continuing through early 2010. The rotations consist of three division headquarters units and eight combat brigades, roughly 30,000 troops. The announcement points out that, despite repeated administration promises of an eventual pullout, the Pentagon is operating under the assumption that they will maintain the current level of troops through at least the beginning of next year...<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/07/2009723181757315574.html">Iraq PM admits US troops may stay</a></b><br />23.07.09. al jazeera. The Iraqi prime minister has admitted US troops could stay in the country beyond 2011. Under the US-Iraq Status of Forces agreement, which sets out a timetable for the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, American troops must exit the country by December 31, 2011. Al-Maliki's apparent willingness for US forces to stay in Iraq beyond the 2011 deadline comes a day after he met Barack Obama, the US president, at the White House. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><a id="5000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 4. References </b></div><br /><br />On the sidebar of <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/"> Index Research</a> there are 24 articles on Iraq.<br /><br />Also see:<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/03/pnac-rebuilding-americas-defenses.html"> PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses - A Biopsy on Imperialism; Part II: "Special Interests" - The Persian Gulf </a> (20.03.06)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/security-company-death-squads-timeline.html"> Security Company Death Squads Timeline </a> (25.09.07)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html"><br />Who Is The President Elect - Obama or AIPAC? </a> (10.11.09, updated)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/israel-obamas-foreign-policy-no-change.html"> Israel: Obama's Foreign Policy - No Change </a> (21.01.09, updated)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-our-seamless-president-elect.html"> Obama: Our “Seamless” President Elect</a> (26.11.09)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/iran-no-change-for-obama.html"> Iran: No Change in Obama's Diplomacy? </a> (24.01.09, updated)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/obamas-rhetoric-damning-evidence-on.html"> Obama's Rhetoric Vs. Damning Evidence on Guantanamo, Rendition, Torture </a>(01.03.09)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><br /><em>Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK. She is on the advisory committee of the <a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/"> BRussels Tribunal </a> </em>.<br /><br />The url to ‘Obama’s Iraq: No Change’ is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/04/obamas-iraq-no-change.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/04/obamas-iraq-no-change.html</a><br /><br />The smaller url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/c2ny6h">http://tinyurl.com/c2ny6h</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><br />TAGS: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/OBAMA" rel="tag">OBAMA</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/IRAQ" rel="tag">IRAQ</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/No+Change" rel="tag">No Change</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Dahr+Jamail" rel="tag">Dahr Jamail</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/BRussels+Tribunal" rel="tag">BRussels Tribunal</a>,Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-19831075455485880262009-03-30T14:20:00.016+01:002009-04-12T13:35:52.564+01:00Will Economic Crisis Lead To A Police State World ? s<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/will-economic-crisis-lead-to-police.html&title=Will+Economic+Crisis+Lead+To+A+Police+State+World&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/will-economic-crisis-lead-to-police.html&title=Will+Economic+Crisis+Lead+To+A+Police+State+World&bodytext=">Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=1983107545548588026" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=1983107545548588026" title="Email Post">Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.foto8.com/home/images/festival/reportage/fallingman_060829015536020_wideweb__300x4301.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 430px;" src="http://www.foto8.com/home/images/festival/reportage/fallingman_060829015536020_wideweb__300x4301.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.foto8.com/home/images/festival/reportage/fallingman_060829015536020_wideweb__300x4301.jpg">©TheFalling Man by Richard Drew</a></div><br /><br /><em> Click on the section in which you are interested </em><br /><br /><b> 1. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=13189592&postID=1983107545548588026#1000">Introduction</a></b><br /><br /><b>2. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=13189592&postID=1983107545548588026#2000">February 2009</a></b> (ECONOMIC CRISIS: ‘Bailout', Billion $ Club, Media Speaks;THE GOVERNMENT SPEAKS: DoD Contracts, Imperial Wars; Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (US, Iran/Israel,N. Korea); Fear Mongering, Surveillance (US, Canada, Israel, UK), Police State (US, UK) THE WORLD SUFFERS: jobless)<br /><br /><b>3. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=13189592&postID=1983107545548588026#3000">March 2009</a></b> (ECONOMIC CRISIS: Bailout, Billion $ Club, China;, G20., The Car, Media; THE GOVERNMENT SPEAKS: DoD Contracts, (+ Israel), Imperial Wars, missile defense; Fear Mongering, Surveillance, Police State (US, Israel, UK); THE WORLD SUFFERS (poverty, tent cities; PEOPLE POWER (demonstrations)<br /><br /><b> 4. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=13189592&postID=1983107545548588026#4000">References </a></b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+ </div><br /><a id="1000"></a><b> 1. Introduction</b><br /><br />The iconic photograph of the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXnA9FjvLSU"> Falling Man </a> at the World Trade Centre was "the defining image" of that day. I see his 10-second journey as also a symbol of 7+ years of the "War on Terror;" as an archetype that resounds throughout the history of humankind.<br /><br />I think of other famous falling symbols: the rebellious <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satan"> fallen angel </a> thrown out of heaven because he tempted humans "to sin or commit evil deeds," representing "a crisis of faith, individualism, free will, wisdom and enlightenment." I think of <a href="http://thanasis.com/icarus.htm"> Icarus </a>,who flew too close to the sun and, with burnt wings, fell into the sea. I think of Virgil leading Dante through the circles of hell in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy"> The Divine Comedy</a>. I think of<u> The Fall</u> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Camus"> Albert Camus</a>,about a "man's confessions that reveal his "perception of justice and his own downfall." I think of the painter,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Baselitz"> Georg Baselitz </a>, and his stunning paintings of a falling eagle.<br /><br />Barack Obama was elected as the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero"> "heroic"</a> saviour. Stories of heroism can serve as moral examples. But Obama has a problem: his rhetoric is a contradiction of reality. Obama is a good lawyer, a good debater. Debaters are taught to be able to support both sides of a story equally well. Obama's double-speak statements reveal the military, political and "intelligence" schisms within the White House. The contradictory mood music coming out of Washington remind me of <a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3433507052114896375"> The Lyre Bird </a> whose sweet callings are interspersed with chain saws and sirens.<br /><br />The results are not encouraging. Defense contracts are numerous; surveillance is omnipresent; police state mentality and laws have infected Israel and the United Kingdom. Illegalities (torture, rendition, eg.) are not prosecuted and continue. Terrorism remains a focus of the a government rampant with <a href="http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/genevaconventions"> Human Rights </a> war crimes. The American jobless public, under a pall during the "War on Terror," have transfered their anger to rebelling against economic injustice.<br /><br />We all mourn <a href="http://www.literature.org/authors/milton-john/paradise-lost/"> "Paradise Lost" </a>.<br /><br />Until America's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augeas"> Augean Stables </a> are cleansed and purified, the Falling Man will continue to fall.<br /><br /><a id="2000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 2. FEBRUARY 2009</b></div><br /><br /><b>I. ECONOMIC CRISIS </b><br /><br /><u> General</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090202_its_not_going_to_be_ok/">It’s Not Going to Be OK</a></b><br />02.02.09. Chris Hedges, truthdig. The daily bleeding of thousands of jobs will soon turn our economic crisis into a political crisis. The street protests, strikes and riots that have rattled France, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Iceland will descend on us. It is only a matter of time. ... / At no period in American history has our democracy been in such peril or has the possibility of totalitarianism been as real. Our way of life is over. Our profligate consumption is finished. ... / There are a few isolated individuals who saw it coming. The political philosophers Sheldon S. Wolin, John Ralston Saul and Andrew Bacevich, as well as writers such as Noam Chomsky, Chalmers Johnson, David Korten and Naomi Klein, along with activists such as Bill McKibben and Ralph Nader, rang the alarm bells. They were largely ignored or ridiculed. Our corporate media and corporate universities proved, when we needed them most, intellectually and morally useless. ... / Wolin argues that a failure to dismantle our vast and overextended imperial projects, coupled with the economic collapse, is likely to result in inverted totalitarianism. He said that without “radical and drastic remedies” the response to mounting discontent and social unrest will probably lead to greater state control and repression. There will be, he warned, a huge “expansion of government power.” ... / Wolin writes that in inverted totalitarianism consumer goods and a comfortable standard of living, along with a vast entertainment industry that provides spectacles and diversions, keep the citizenry politically passive. ... / He said the widespread political passivity is dangerous. It is often exploited by demagogues who pose as saviors and offer dreams of glory and salvation. He warned that “the apoliticalness, even anti-politicalness, will be very powerful elements in taking us towards a radically dictatorial direction.... / Wolin lamented that the corporate state has successfully blocked any real debate about alternative forms of power. Corporations determine who gets heard and who does not, he said. And those who critique corporate power are given no place in the national dialogue. ... / . But what I am struck by now is the narrow range within which palliatives are being modeled. We are supposed to work with the financial system. So the people who helped create this system are put in charge of the solution. There has to be some major effort to think outside the box.” ... / “The puzzle to me is the lack of social unrest,” ...<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nJ7LM3iyNg">'Worst economic collapse ever</a> (10.02.09)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWbW0ORAQZ9Dg1XYMuyPo200qQIT8nhNSDAf61E6UfX62JYXgqJC21HBlieiD3eb3mfOEmb-QyMWdqe_7_7pyrbzPTIQLWZufrx_2q33-PI3hFc-GSer27x8ILtuVf_HdAuNX/s1600-h/P1010122.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 275px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWbW0ORAQZ9Dg1XYMuyPo200qQIT8nhNSDAf61E6UfX62JYXgqJC21HBlieiD3eb3mfOEmb-QyMWdqe_7_7pyrbzPTIQLWZufrx_2q33-PI3hFc-GSer27x8ILtuVf_HdAuNX/s400/P1010122.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318959955816834018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, Hay Festival 2008 ©Sarah Meyer<br /><br /></span></div><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/124166/">Is the Entire Bailout Strategy Flawed? Let's Rethink This Before It's Too Late</a></b><br />02.02.09. Joseph STIGLITZ, CNN./alternet. The hope that President Obama will be able to get us out of the mess is tempered by the reality that throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at the banks has failed to restore them to health, or even to resuscitate the flow of lending.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nationbooks.org/book/177/The%20Gods%20that%20Failed">The Gods that Failed</a></b><br />- .02.09. nation books. Over the past three decades, governments have ceded economic control to a new elite of "free-market" operatives as well as national and international institutions such as the <b>IMF, World Bank and WTO</b>. This trend has left the global economy more vulnerable to a financial collapse than any time since 1929. Two leading British economists, Dan Atkinson and Larry Elliott, dissect this financial elite, tracing their origins to a secretive gathering of free-market economists in 1947, and propose a series of far-reaching reforms that can save us from a new depression.<br /><br /><br /><b> The Bailout</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21990.htm">Large U.S. Banks on Brink of Insolvency, Experts Say</a></b><br />13.02.09. Steve Lohr, IHT / ICH. Some of the large banks in the United States, according to economists and other finance experts, are like dead men walking. A sober assessment of the growing mountain of losses from bad bets, measured in today's marketplace, would overwhelm the value of the banks' assets, they say. The banks, in their view, are insolvent.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22019.htm">Ron Paul: On The Stimulus Bill</a><br />17.02.09. Paul tells CNN viewers that only 5 hard copies of the bill were available for house of Congress members to read. 4 + min.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cfr.org/about/newsletters/editorial_detail.html?id=1347">Top of the Agenda: Obama's Budget and the U.S. Deficit</a></b><br />23.02.09. CFR. - Deficit questions loom as Obama plans ten-year budget release.<br />- Sri Lanka rejects Tamil Tiger cease-fire request.<br />- U.S. advisers reportedly working secretly to aid military in Pakistan.<br />- Somali terror group vows further attacks against AU peacekeepers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/02/2009223201522151396.html">Obama pledges to halve US deficit</a></b><br />24.02.09. al jazeera. Barack Obama, the US president, has pledged to cut the $1.3 trillion US budget deficit in half over the next four years. The Obama administration, which has just pushed through a $787 billion economic stimulus package, also announced more funding for ailing US banks on Monday amid a continuing economic crisis.<br /><br /><a href="http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/02/24/us/politics/1194838107676/president-obama-s-address-to-congress.html?nl=pol&emc=polb2">Obama's Address to Congress</a><br /><br /><em> (A commentator noted that when Obama speaks the market crashes </em>)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/wireStory?id=6937328">Major Stock Market Indexes Fall to 1997 Levels</a></b><br />23.02.09. ABC.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/opinion/23krugman.html">House Passes Spending Bill, and Critics Are Quick to Point Out Pork</a></b><br />25.02.09. NY Times. The House on Wednesday passed a $410 billion omnibus spending bill packed with pet projects requested by Democrats and Republicans alike.<br /><br /><br /><u> The Billion $ Club</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Bush_overpaid_78_billion_for_bank_0206.html">Bush overpaid $78 billion for bank shares in bailout, report finds</a></b><br />06.02.09. Raw Story. Bush Treasury Sec. 'subsidized' his ex-firm with $2.5 billion. ronically, the "subsidy" itself was doled out by Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the former chief executive of investment bank Goldman Sachs. According to the report, Goldman got an effective $2.5 billion subsidy from the Treasury Department.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21957.htm">Capitalism’s Self-inflicted Apocalypse</a></b><br />10.02.09. Michael Parenti, ICH. n the corporate world of “free-trade,” the number of billionaires is increasing faster than ever while the number of people living in poverty is growing at a faster rate than the world’s population. Poverty spreads as wealth accumulates.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21991.htm">Looting Social Security</a></b><br />14.02.09. William Greider, Nation / ICH. "Governing elites in Washington and Wall Street have devised a fiendishly clever "grand bargain" they want President Obama to embrace in the name of "fiscal responsibility." The government, they argue, having spent billions on bailing out the banks, can recover its costs by looting the Social Security system. They are also targeting Medicare and Medicaid. . The pitch sounds preposterous to millions of ordinary working people anxious about their economic security and worried about their retirement years. But an impressive armada is lined up to push the idea--Washington's leading think tanks, the prestige media, tax-exempt foundations, skillful propagandists posing as economic experts and a self-righteous billionaire spending his fortune to save the nation from the elderly.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22018.htm">The People Be Damned: The President of Special Interests</a></b><br />17.02.09. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. The Bush/Obama bailout/stimulus plans are not going to work. Both are schemes hatched by a <u>clique of financial insiders</u>. The schemes will redistribute income and wealth from American taxpayers to the shyster banksters, who have destroyed American jobs, ruined the retirement plans of tens of millions of Americans, and worsened the situation of millions of people worldwide who naively trusted American financial institutions.<br /><br /><br /><b> The Media Comments</b><br /><br /><u>Paul Krugman</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21941.htm">The Destructive Center</a></b><br />09.02.08. Paul Krugman, NY Times / ICH. What do you call someone who eliminates hundreds of thousands of American jobs, deprives millions of adequate health care and nutrition, undermines schools, but offers a $15,000 bonus to affluent people who flip their houses? A proud centrist.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/128124/">Who Will Stop the Economic Pain?</a></b><br />21.02.09. Paul Krugman, NY Times / alternet. We're in the midst of a crisis that bears an eerie resemblance to the onset of the Depression. How and when will it all end?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/23/opinion/23krugman.html">Banking on the Brink</a></b><br />22.02.09. Paul Krugman. The real question is why the Obama administration keeps coming up with proposals that sound like possible alternatives to nationalization, but turn out to involve huge handouts to bank stockholders. For example, the administration initially floated the idea of offering banks guarantees against losses on troubled assets. This would have been a great deal for bank stockholders, not so much for the rest of us: heads they win, tails taxpayers lose. Now the administration is talking about a "public-private partnership" to buy troubled assets from the banks, with the government lending money to private investors for that purpose. This would offer investors a one-way bet: if the assets rise in price, investors win; if they fall substantially, investors walk away and leave the government holding the bag. Again, heads they win, tails we lose.<br /><br /><u>Danny Schechter, Dissector, Media Channel</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/128052/">PBS Screws Up Report on Financial Crisis</a></b><br />21.02.09. Danny Schechter, Media Channel / Alternet. At a time when we need hard-hitting investigations into our financial catastrophe, we are getting superficial reporting -- even on PBS.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22074.htm">As New Scammers Emerge, Is It Jailout Time Yet?</a></b><br />23.02.09. Danny Schechter, Media Channel / ICH. Judging by my in-box, there seem to be no shortage of organizations and individuals obsessed with an image: Dick Cheney and George Bush in prison, and Karl Rove in the next cell. Never mind that Congress doesn’t have the guts or the President the gumption to go after those responsible for the gutting of the Constitution. Nevertheless, there are many campaigns and calls to hold the last Administration accountable for its crimes. / At the same time, as we watch an economy in free fall, there seems to a lot less agitation for a serious investigation of those responsible for this collapse. Evan as you overhear conversations in every bar and union hall that begins with “those bastards should be in jail,” few progressives are leading the charge to demand a Jail-Out alongside those stimulus bailouts. It’s as if economic crimes provoke a ho-hum reaction among activists.<br /><br /><br /><b>II. THE GOVERNMENT SPEAKS</b><br /><br /><b>DoD Contracts</b><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=p49935c84e6ef9.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 180px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=p49935c84e6ef9.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/05/pentagon-spending-billions-pr-sway-world-opinion/">Pentagon Spending Billions on PR to Sway World Opinion</a></b><br />05.02.09. AP/legitgov. Associated Press finds that over the past five years, the money the military spends on winning hearts and minds at home and abroad has grown by 63 percent, to at least $4.7 billion this year.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u> Imperial Wars </u><br /><b><a href="http://tinyurl.com/asf9h5">Experts tell Congress Iraq, Afghanistan may cost $860B by 2019</a></b><br />05.02.09. stripes. Even with reducing the number of deployed combat troops to 75,000 worldwide, the CBO estimates that the Defense Department faces recurring personnel costs of at least $69 billion a year, coupled with other equipment repair costs.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21943.htm">Ship of Fools</a></b><br />09.02.09. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. The unreality in which the US government operates is beyond belief. A bankrupt government that cannot pay its bills without printing money is rushing headlong into wars in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. According to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Analysis, the cost to the US taxpayers of sending a single soldier to fight in Afghanistan or Iraq is <b>$775,000 per year</b>!<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/126825/iraq_from_an_armored_bmw:_where_u.s._%27reconstruction%27_funds_are_really_going/">Iraq From an Armored BMW: Where U.S. 'Reconstruction' Funds Are Really Going</a></b><br />14.02.09. Dahr Jamail, Tomdispatch.com. Fallujah remains devastated, even as the U.S. military delivers shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills to the sheiks in charge.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=av.r.Cs8ohak">Gates Sees Need for at Least $83 Billion More in 2009 for Wars</a></b><br />20.02.09. Bloomberg / legitgov. he $83 billion is $13.3 billion more than Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in late December was needed. That estimate of $69.7 billion didn’t include the cost of sending more troops to Afghanistan, he said then.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52016&s2=25">US commander warns American troops will be in Afghanistan for years</a></b><br />21.02.09. Peter Symonds, uruk. The top US commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, warned on Wednesday that the huge boost to US troop numbers announced this week would have to continue for years. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">How Much Will This Cost?</span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22098.htm">Freeing Up Resources... For More War</a></b><br />25.02.09. Norman Solomon, common dreams / ICH. In his first speech to Congress, the new president threw down a 90-month-old gauntlet, reaffirming the notion that committing to war halfway around the world -- in Afghanistan and now in Pakistan too -- will make Americans safer. With drumrolls like that, the mission could outlive all of us.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22099.htm">Cut the Military Budget</a></b><br />25.02.09. Barney Frank, The Nation / ICH. Those organizations, editorial boards and individuals who talk about the need for fiscal responsibility should be challenged to begin with the area where our spending has been the most irresponsible and has produced the least good for the dollars expended--our military budget.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/washington/26troops.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1">Obama’s Iraq Plan Has December Elections as Turning Point for Pullout</a></b><br />25.02.09. NY Times. Mr. Obama plans to seek more money for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from a separate fund outside the Pentagon’s base budget (Bush's game), which will also grow beyond the 2009 spending plan of $513 billion. The separate “war costs” budget proposal for 2010 could reach <b>$130 billion to $140 billion</b>, officials said.<br /><br />The War in Iraq Costs $600,252,605,395. See the cost in your community <a href="http://www.blogger.com/nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182"> here</a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/126464/?page=entire">How Did $50B Worth of High-Risk, Job-Killing Nuclear Loans Get into the Stimulus?</a></b><br />11.02.09. Joseph Romm, Climate Progress/alternet. The same budget gimmicks that got us into the credit mess are creeping into the stimulus.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://armoredd.com/home/lockheed-martin-awarded-786-million-contract-to-produce-upgrades-for-aegis-weapon-system/2009/02/15/">Lockheed Martin Awarded $78.6 Million Contract To Produce Upgrades For Aegis Weapon System</a></b><br />15.02.09. armorred.com. “This production contract represents an orchestrated plan to deliver new capability to the fleet on an aggressive schedule, while maintaining the operational quality that defines Aegis today,” said Kevin Kenney, Manager, Systems Acquisition Division, Program Executive Office Integrated Warfare Systems 1.0. “This work will field improved ballistic missile defense capability and set the stage for full combat system modernization on all of the Navy’s Aegis destroyers.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3956514">"DoD Officials Must Vow Secrecy on Budget"</a></b><br />19.02.09. John T. Bennett, Defense News / Secrecy News. For a further explanation of what this means, see Secrecy News<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/8234">Getting Consumers to Pay Now for Nukes Later</a></b><br />23.02.09. AP / PR WATCH. Georgia Power, a subsidiary of the energy utility Southern Power, has mounted an intensive lobbying campaign for legislation that would allow it to bill customers now for as much as $2 billion of the $14 billion price tag of two new nuclear reactors proposed for the Vogtle power station. The utility, notes Associated Press reporter Shannon McCaffrey, has employed five lobbyists, used its four in-house lobbyists, and paid for meals for the House Republican leadership, House Democrats and the executive committee of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus. McCaffrey's article was published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution the day before it published an opinion column by former Greenpeace activist turned PR consultant Patrick Moore. Moore, who enthusiastically championed Georgia Power's case, was simply described as the "co-chairman of the Clean and Safe Energy Coalition'' which supports "increased use of nuclear energy." The paper didn't disclose that the coalition was created and is funded by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), and that Georgia Power is one of NEI's members (pdf).<br /><br /><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090225_3482.php">Congress Reaffirms No Funding for New Nuclear Warhead</a> (25.02.09. nti)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090225/pl_afp/usmilitarypoliticsbudgetgates">Pentagon moves to impose secrecy on budget talks</a></b><br />25.02.09. AFP/ anti war. Senior Pentagon officials have had to promise they will keep the details of the US military budget secret as the Defense Department prepares to make tough cuts on weapons programs, a spokesman said on Wednesday. / In an unprecedented move, Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked top military officers and civilian officials to sign non-disclosure forms in which they agree not to reveal deliberations about the politically charged budget.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/411785/1/.html">Obama seeks US$663.7b for 2010 defence spending</a></b><br />27.02.09. channel news, asia / ICH. President Barack Obama on Thursday unveiled a 663.7 billion dollar defence budget, up a modest 1.5 percent on 2009, but projected a sharp decline in spending on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the coming years.<br /><br /><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090226_5987.php"> U.S. to Reduce Funding for Planned Nevada Nuclear Waste Site</a> (26.02.09. nti)<br /><br /><u>and Israel</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1235410695275">Baird wants US to reassess aid to Israel</a></b><br />23.02.09. jerusalem post. Baird also said he was troubled by the American origin of so much of the IDF weaponry used in Gaza, and suggested that the US should reconsider the military aid it provides and the weapons it sells to Israel.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/23/military-aid-israel-amnesty">Suspend military aid to Israel: Amnesty urges Obama after detailing US weapons used in Gaza</a></b><br />23.02.09. Guardian. "As the major supplier of weapons to Israel, the USA has a particular obligation to stop any supply that contributes to gross violations of the laws of war and of human rights," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program director. "To a large extent, Israel's military offensive in Gaza was carried out with weapons, munitions and military equipment supplied by the USA and paid for with US taxpayers' money."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/Our-economy-cannot-sustain-by-Mary-MacElveen-090224-394.html">Our economy cannot sustain AIPAC's and Israel's influence over us</a></b><br />24.02.09. M. MacElveen, oped. President Barack Obama convened an economic summit where he stated the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan will be figured into what we the tax payer are actually paying for. / … "74 percent - about $2 billion a year - stays in the United States to finance Israeli purchases of U.S.-made products, ranging from fighter jets and helicopters to bullets and missiles, spare tank parts and fuel to bulldozers and more"<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/547157.aspx">Israeli Defense Officials Fear U.S. Aid Cuts</a> (24.02.09. CBN)<br /><br /><br /><b>Nuclear /Biological / Chemical</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/so-admiral-what-have-you-got-to-say-about-the-nuclear-submarine-crash-1623787.html">So, Admiral, what have you got to say about the nuclear submarine crash?</a></b><br />17.02.09. Independent. British and French vessels had enough material to carry out 1,248 Hiroshima bombings. Defence chiefs are facing an inquiry into the safety of the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent after British and French submarines, each laden with missiles powerful enough for 1,248 Hiroshima bombings, collided while submerged in the mid-Atlantic.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/11/AR2009021103281.html">Lost U.S. Weapons May Be Going to Taliban, GAO Says</a></b><br />12.02.09. Washington Post. Tens of thousands of assault rifles and other firearms in Afghanistan are at risk of being stolen because U.S. officials have lost track of them, according to a congressionally ordered audit that warns that some weapons may already be in Taliban hands. The audit by the Government Accountability Office found that inventory controls were lacking for more than a third of the 242,000 light weapons donated to Afghan forces by the United States -- a stockpile that includes thousands of AK-47 assault rifles as well as mortars, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers. / There were no reliable records showing what ultimately happened to an additional 135,000 weapons donated by other NATO countries, the report said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090224_7895.php">U.S. Energy Department Cannot Account for Nuclear Materials at 15 Locations</a></b><br />24.02.09. nti. A number of U.S. institutions with licenses to hold nuclear material reported to the Energy Department in 2004 that the amount of material they held was less than agency records indicated. But rather than investigating the discrepancies, Energy officials wrote off significant quantities of nuclear material from the department's inventory records. A report released yesterday by Energy Department Inspector General Gregory Friedman that concluded "the department cannot properly account for and effectively manage its nuclear materials maintained by domestic licensees and may be unable to detect lost or stolen material."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/02/john-bolton-cpac-benefits-nuking-chicago">John Bolton at CPAC: The Benefits of Nuking Chicago</a></b><br />26.02.09. Jonathan Stein, Mother Jones / legitgov. Former UN Ambassador John Bolton believes the security of the United States is at dire risk under the Obama administration. And before a gathering of conservatives in Washington on Thursday morning [Conservative Political Action Conference - CPAC], he suggested, as something of a joke, that President Barack Obama might learn a needed lesson if Chicago were destroyed by a nuclear bomb.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/ts_20090227_5921.php">New Security Lapse at Los Alamos Triggers Angry Response From Energy Department</a></b><br />27.02.09. nti. Plutonium handling practices are so poor at a major U.S. nuclear-weapon laboratory that they threaten the facility's ability to function at all, Energy Department officials warned in a letter this week<br /><br /><u>Israel / Iran</u><br /><br />see <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/">Information Clearing House</a> heading "manufacturing consent for war in Iran."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1064852.html">Is Israel assassinating Iran nuclear scientists?</a></b><br />17.02.09. Haaretz / legitgov.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=85778&sectionid=3510203"> Iranian bioweapon researcher dies suspiciously</a></b><br />15.02.09. presstv/ir. A US-based Iranian doctor working to discover an antitoxin therapy of biological weapons has purportedly died a "suspicious death." / According to Tabnak, Dr. Talebzadeh's achievements in finding a cure to bioweapons had made him the target of various accusations from the government of the United States -- one of the possessors of biological weapons -- since 1992.<br /><br /><u>North Korea</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090218_3695.php">U.S. Might Have to Accept North Korea With Nuclear Weapons, Expert Says</a></b><br />18.02.09. nti. "If the United States can deal with major nuclear weapons states such as China and Russia [and Israel?] , it can tolerate a nuclear-armed North Korea that may or may not actually have the weapons arsenal it claims," Harrison, Asia program chief at the Center for International Policy, wrote following a trip last month to Pyongyang.<br /><br /><br />Bio / Chemical<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/18/content_10838633.htm">Czech researchers exposed to bird flu virus via vaccine</a></b><br />17.02.09. Xinhuanet / legitgov. Pharmaceutical company that developed vaccine admitted it mistakenly sent infected material to Czech Republic Thirteen Czech researchers have been exposed to the H5N1 bird flu virus strain through a contaminated vaccine obtained from an Austrian company, Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) reported Tuesday. The 13 people who had contact with the ferrets were in danger but were not infected with the lethal virus, said Josef Duben, a spokesman for the Czech veterinary authority. The bird flu virus was being tested positive on ferrets by the Biotest company in Konarovice when the animals began to die.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wvgazette.com/News/200902240749">"Board Cancels Hearing Under Bayer Pressure"</a></b><br />25.02.09. wv gazette. Under pressure from Bayer CropScience, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board has canceled a public meeting where it planned to brief Kanawha Valley residents on its investigation of the August explosion that killed two Institute plant workers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126974.100-revealed-scientific-evidence-for-the-2001-anthrax-attacks.html">Revealed: Scientific evidence for the 2001 anthrax attacks</a></b><br />27 02.09. Key forensic evidence in the US anthrax attacks of 2001 has been revealed. The FBI had previously prevented the scientists involved from speaking publicly about their findings in case this interfered with court proceedings [their coverup], but last August, after chief suspect Bruce Ivins 'committed suicide,' the case collapsed and the FBI lifted many of the restrictions... These show how the FBI traced the spores used in the attacks to a single flask at a US government lab, but they don't explain why the FBI made Ivins - who worked at the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) - the chief suspect.<br /><br /><br /><b>Fear Mongering</b><br /><br />[NB: a brilliant discussion of the history of US fearmongering can be read in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Power-American-Exceptionalism-Project/dp/0805088156/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237267517&sr=8-2"> The Limits of Power</a> by Andrew Bacevich]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18390.html">Cheney warns of new attacks</a></b><br />04.02.09. politico. Former Vice President Dick Cheney warned that there is a “high probability” that terrorists will attempt a catastrophic nuclear or biological attack in coming years, and said he fears the Obama administration’s policies will make it more likely the attempt will succeed. VIDEO of INTERVIEW.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21940.htm">WTO Chief Warns of Looming Political Unrest</a></b><br />09.02.09. AFP. The global economic crisis could trigger political unrest equal to that seen during the 1930s, the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said in a German newspaper interview Saturday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN1246924120090212">UPDATE 3-World economic crisis is top security threat -U.S</a></b><br />12.02.09. Reuters. The global economic crisis has become the biggest near-term U.S. security concern, sowing instability in a quarter of the world's countries and threatening destructive trade wars, U.S. intelligence agencies reported on Thursday. / ... The report represents the findings of all 16 U.S. intelligence agencies and serves as a leading security reference for policymakers and Congress. Besides reviewing adversaries, it also considered this year the security impact of issues including climate change and the economy.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21983.htm"> Worst Than The Great Depression? ' Worst Economic Collapse Ever'</a><br />In 2009 we are going to see the worst economic collapse ever, the Greatest Depression, says Gerald Celente, U.S. trend forecaster. He believes its going to be very violent in the U.S., including there being a tax revolt. 11 min.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21976.htm">Economic Crisis 'Top Threat to US'</a></b><br />13.02.09. Al Jazeera/ICH. Dennis Blair said in a report to US congress on security on Thursday that the longer the economic recovery, the greater likelihood of "serious damage" to US strategic interests. Several countries in South America, Africa and the former Soviet Union were unprepared for economic crises and risked "regime-threatening stability" if the situation were to persist.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20090216_bad_news_from_americas_top_spy/">Bad News From America’s Top Spy</a></b><br />16.02.09. Chris Hedges, Truthdig. ... The specter of social unrest was raised at the U.S. Army War College in November in a monograph titled “Known Unknowns: Unconventional ‘Strategic Shocks’ in Defense Strategy Development.”[click on Policypointers’ pdf link to see the report] The military must be prepared, the document warned, for a “violent, strategic dislocation inside the United States,” which could be provoked by “unforeseen economic collapse,” “purposeful domestic resistance,” “pervasive public health emergencies” or “loss of functioning political and legal order.” The “widespread civil violence,” the document said, “would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security.”<br /><br />“An American government and defense establishment lulled into complacency by a long-secure domestic order would be forced to rapidly divest some or most external security commitments in order to address rapidly expanding human insecurity at home,” it went on.<br /><br />“Under the most extreme circumstances, this might include use of military force against hostile groups inside the United States. Further, DoD [the Department of Defense] would be, by necessity, an essential enabling hub for the continuity of political authority in a multi-state or nationwide civil conflict or disturbance,” the document read.<br /><br />In plain English, something bureaucrats and the military seem incapable of employing, this translates into the imposition of martial law and a de facto government being run out of the Department of Defense. They are considering it. So should you.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theherald.co.uk/business/news/display.var.2489347.0.Warning_for_the_West_as_crisis_spills_onto_streets.php">Warning for the West as crisis spills onto streets</a></b><br />16.02.09. the herald / legitgov. The slump that has swept through developed nations like the UK, the eurozone and the United States is hitting the world's emerging economies with a speed and ferocity that has shocked even the most pessimistic analysts. Until recently, many investors and economists thought such countries could provide a bulwark against the collapse in growth elsewhere. Instead, the latest data suggests that emerging economies as a group actually contracted late last year, and will likely shrink further in 2009.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2009/02/20/news/companies/bank_failures/?postversion=2009022022">Get ready for a wave of bank failures</a></b><br />20.02.09. CNN / ICH. In less than two months, regulators have seized 14 banks. Experts think many more banks will collapse before the financial crisis is over.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22064.htm">Brzezinski Warns Of Riots in US</a></b><br />21.02.09. Press TV/ICH. Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former national security advisor, has warned that the US could witness riots if economy continues its downward spiral.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/23/AR2009022301850.html">FBI Director Warns of Terror Attacks on U.S. Cities</a></b><br />23.02.09. washington post / legitgov. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III today warned that extremists "with large agendas and little money can use rudimentary weapons" to sow terror, raising the specter that recent attacks in Mumbai that killed 170 people last year could embolden terrorists seeking to attack U.S. cities.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/128716/">Economic Crash Will Fuel Social Unrest</a></b><br />24.02.09. Michael T. Klare, Tomdispatch/ alternet. Governments across the planet are preparing for a surge of violent protests from economic upheaval. Wars may follow.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090225_7793.php">Economic Meltdown Could Hamper Chemical Weapons Disarmament, OPCW Chief Says</a></b><br />25.02.09. nti. Nations might find it more difficult amid the global economic meltdown to provide the funding needed to meet the international deadline for chemical weapons disarmament, the head of the organization that monitors compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention said yesterday<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/25/AR2009022503389.html">CIA Adds Economy to Threat Updates</a></b><br />26.02.09. washington post / legitgov. The daily White House intelligence report that catalogs the top security threats to the nation has a grim new addition, reflecting the realities of the age: a daily update on the global financial crisis and its cascading effects on the stability of countries through the world. The first Economic Intelligence Briefing report was presented to the White House yesterday by the CIA. The addition of economic news to the daily roundup of terrorist attacks and surveillance reports appears to reflect a growing belief among intelligence officials that the economic meltdown is now preeminent among security threats facing the United States.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51P2SJ20090226">Stock market "capitulation" needs shock trigger</a></b><br />26.02.09. Reuters / legitgov. Are global stock markets set for "capitulation" after sliding to six-year lows and wiping out a stuttering recent recovery? One key factor is preventing that sharp, panicky selling of shares that cleans the stables out and heralds an equities rebound: the piecemeal nature of government attempts to rescue banks and the economy... " So <u>for capitulation to happen, markets will have to be hit by a big, negative news event</u>, and for the rebound to be sustainable, the overall environment would have to improve. "We need to see an event that would shock everybody -- a big U.S. bank failure, or a country in Europe going broke," said Mark Bon, fund manager at Canada Life. [See Naomi Klein, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shock-Doctrine-Rise-Disaster-Capitalism/dp/0676978010/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237269249&sr=1-1"> Shock Doctrine </a>]<br /><br /><u>UK</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/4571944/Ed-Balls-minister-fears-rise-of-fascism-amid-economic-gloom.html"> Ed Balls: minister fears rise of fascism amid economic gloom</a> (10.02.09. Telegraph)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/feb2009/summ-f27.shtml">Britain: Senior police officer warns of “summer of rage”</a></b><br />27.02.09. WSWS. A senior officer in London's Metropolitan Police has issued a public warning that Britain could experience a wave of demonstrations and direct-action protests this year as a result of the economic crisis.<br /><br />23.02.09. Paul Lewis, Guardian / legitgov. Middle-class anger at economic crisis could erupt into violence on streets<br /><br /><br /><b> Surveillance</b><br /><br />VIDEO. <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21902.htm">THE SPY FACTORY</a>. an eye-opening documentary on the National Security Agency (NSA) by best-selling author James Bamford and Emmy Award-winning producer Scott Willis, NOVA exposes the ultra-secret intelligence agency's role in the failure to stop the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent eavesdropping program that listens in without warrant on millions of American citizens.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21906.htm">The War on Terror is a Hoax</a></b><br />04.02.09. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. According to US government propaganda, terrorist cells are spread throughout America, making it necessary for the government to spy on all Americans and violate most other constitutional protections. Among President Bush’s last words as he left office was the warning that America would soon be struck again by Muslim terrorists.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/feb2009/stse-f16.shtml">Obama administration seeks to block lawsuit over illegal wiretapping</a></b><br />16.02.09. WSWS. For the second time in less than a week, lawyers from the Justice Department headed by Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder have embraced the Bush administration's pseudo-legal argument that the "state secrets" doctrine bars civil lawsuits challenging the methods used in its so-called "war on terror."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jconline.com/article/20090216/NEWS09/90216023/">Despite Obama pledge, Justice defends Bush secrets</a></b><br />16.02.09. AP/Secrecy News. "Despite President Obama's vow to open government more than ever, the Justice Department is defending Bush administration decisions to keep secret many documents about domestic wiretapping, data collection on travelers and U.S. citizens, and interrogation of suspected terrorists. Also see related story from Inside Defense <a href="http://defensenewsstand.com/insider.asp?issue=02162009sp"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/1440402,mayor-daley-emergency-surveillance-cameras.article">Surveillance cams help fight crime, city says</a></b><br />19.02.09. sun times / legitgov. Mayor Daley has argued that security and terrorism won’t be an issue if his Olympic dreams come true because, by 2016, there will be a surveillance camera on every street corner in Chicago. In 2004, City Hall used a $5.1 million federal homeland security grant to install 250 cameras at locations thought to be at high risk of a terrorist attack and link them and 2,000 existing city cameras to the 911 center.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/23/MNFS1634KK.DTL">Judge questions law giving telecoms immunity</a></b><br />23.02.09. sfgate / legit gov. A federal judge in San Francisco is raising questions about the constitutionality of a law designed to dismiss suits against telecommunications companies accused of cooperating with government wiretapping. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker has asked President Obama's Justice Department to present its views by Wednesday on whether the law gives the attorney general too much power to decide whether a company is immune from lawsuits. Obama supported the measure as a senator when Congress approved it last year.<br /><br />= = =<br /><em>It's OK for them to track us, but NOT okay for us to track them </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090221/D96G5E9G0.html">Obama administration tries to kill e-mail case</a></b><br />21.02.09. AP / legitgov. The Obama administration, siding with former President [sic] George W. Bush, is trying to kill a lawsuit that seeks to recover what could be millions of missing White House e-mails. Two advocacy groups suing the Executive Office of the President say that large amounts of White House e-mail documenting Bush's eight years in office may still be missing, and that the government must undertake an extensive recovery effort.<br /><br /><u>Canada</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/Sports/story.html?id=1247902">Surveillance cameras must vanish after 2010</a></b><br />20.02.09. canada.com. Surveillance cameras at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver must not be used by police to monitor the city’s residents after the games, the privacy commissioners of Canada and British Columbia said Monday. / “People who spend a lot of time thinking about the privacy of our citizens are worried that once the games are over, the surveillance may not disappear, and there may be new ways that are thought up to justify keeping the surveillance apparatus with us,” said federal privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart.<br /><br /><u>Israel</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52167&s2=27">ZIO WEB ATTACKS ~~~ ARE YOU A ‘VICTIM’?</a></b><br />26.02,09. Desertpeace, uruknet. Do you write articles giving the truth about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict? Do you have a Blog known for its anti zionist viewpoints? Have you been getting extra 'visitors’ to your Blog who leave negative comments or participate in polls? If yes to any of the above, there is a good reason for all of this….it’s a project called Megaphone Israel. It is a new desktop tool that alerts its subscribers to any entries that might be anti Israel or anti zionist...<br /><br /><u>UK</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/peers-warn-surveillance-state-is-threat-to-freedom-1547668.html">UK: Peers warn surveillance state is threat to freedom</a></b><br />06.02.09. Independent/ICH. The vast growth of surveillance and data collection risks undermining freedoms vital to the British way of life, a group of eminent peers is warning today.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/feb/16/mobile-phone-internet-advertising">UK mobile phone firms to sell data about customer activity</a></b><br />16.02.09. Richard Wray, Guardian. Industry tells Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that it plans to make information available to commercial parties later this year<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/02/rights-group-claims-uk-parliament.php">UK laws post-1997 'compromised' traditional liberties: rights group</a></b><br />20.02.09. JURIST. Under the leadership of successive Labour Party governments the UK Parliament [official website] has systematically infringed on freedoms and rights of individual British citizens over the past decade, according to a report [text; PDF] released Thursday by the Convention of Modern Liberty [advocacy website]. The report, compiled by the University College of London Student Human Rights Programme [advocacy website] cites governmental actions that allegedly limit liberties guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights [text], incorporated by statute by the Human Rights Act of 1998 [text], as well as uncodified freedoms. Such limitations include increased use of electronic surveillance on individuals, right to detain individuals for up to 28 days without a formal charge, and a lowering of the standard of proof for criminal trials.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22063.htm">We Are All Extremists Now</a></b><br />21.02.09. Seumas Milne, Guardian / ICH. The government is criminalising legitimate dissent under the guise of fighting 'extremism', a word for which it has no definition.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1152876/JAMES-SLACK-Yes-raging--Government-spies-citizens-ignoring-crimes-greedy-bankers.html">UK: Yes we are raging - against a Government that spies on its citizens while ignoring the crimes of greedy bankers</a></b><br />24.02.09. Daily Mail / ICH. Today one of Britain's most senior police officers with responsibility for public order raises the spectre of a 'summer of rage', with victims of the increasingly bitter recession taking to the streets in possibly violent protest.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4790389/Remote-controlled-planes-could-spy-on-British-homes.html">Remote-controlled planes could spy on British homes</a></b><br />24.02.09. Telegraph / legitgoc. Police could soon use unmanned spyplanes like those used to track enemy troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for surveillance operations on British homes. The Home Office has suggested that the remote-controlled drones could be used to help police gather evidence and track criminals without putting officers at risk. The miniature aircraft could be fitted with cameras and heat-seeking equipment, allowing police to carry out aerial reconnaissance from a control room. Plans to introduce the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is outlined in the Home Office's Science and Innovation Strategy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/25/personal-data-terrorism-surveillance">Fight against terror 'spells end of privacy'</a></b><br />25.02.09. Guardian / legitgov. Former security chief warns searching personal data will 'break moral rules' . Privacy rights of innocent people will have to be sacrificed to give the security services access to a sweeping range of personal data, one of the architects of the government's national security strategy has warned. Sir David Omand, the former Whitehall security and intelligence co-ordinator, sets out a blueprint for the way the state will mine data - including travel information, phone records and emails - held by public and private bodies and admits: "Finding out other people's secrets is going to involve breaking everyday moral rules."<br /><br /><br />Travel<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2009-02-17-detectors_N.htm">Body scanners replace metal detectors in tryout at Tulsa airport</a></b><br />18.02. 09. USA Today/legitgov. Machines raise privacy concerns because their images reveal outlines of private body parts. For the first time, some airline passengers will skip metal detectors and instead be screened by body scanning machines that look through clothing for hidden weapons, the Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday. An experimental program that begins today at Tulsa International Airport will test whether the $170,000 body scanners could replace $10,000 metal detectors that have screened airline passengers since 1973.<br /><br /><br />UK<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/government-compiles-travel-records-database-1604187.html">Government compiles travel records database</a></b><br />08.02.09. Independent. The Government is compiling a database to track and store the international travel records of millions of people. / The intelligence centre will store names, addresses, telephone numbers, seat reservations, travel itineraries and credit card details for all 250 million journeys made in and out of the UK each year. / The computerised pattern of every individual's travel history will be kept for up to 10 years. / The government says the database is essential in the fight against crime, illegal immigration and terrorism. / But opposition MPs and privacy campaigners fear it is a significant step towards a surveillance society.<br /><br /><br /><b>Police State </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-md.lawsuit04feb04,0,7029669.story">City police sued over strip search</a></b><br />04.02.09. Baltimore Sun / legitgov. A Baltimore man filed a $210 million civil lawsuit yesterday against the city Police Department, a former commissioner and several officers in connection with a 2006 incident during which he says a band of rogue cops held him at gunpoint in the street, stripped him and searched his rectum in front of about 30 onlookers. / The federal suit is the second filed since March in U.S. District Court in Baltimore alleging"widespread and persistent" civil rights violations by police officers who belonged to an elite "Special Enforcement Team" that worked mainly in the southeastern part of the city.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/spyfactory/police.html">The New Thought Police</a></b><br />James Bamford, PBS. The National Security Agency (NSA) is developing a tool that George Orwell's Thought Police might have found useful: an artificial intelligence system designed to gain insight into what people are thinking.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/17/AR2009021703006.html">Obama, Gates at Odds Over New Whistleblower Protections</a></b><br />18.02.09. Washington Post. During an election featuring Democratic allegations that U.S. intelligence was distorted to justify a misbegotten war, Barack Obama endorsed new protections for national security officers who blow the whistle on abusive, corrupt or illegal behavior, by offering them the right to sue for damages and challenge denials of their security clearances. / But by keeping a Republican-appointed secretary of defense strongly opposed to those changes, President Obama is finding the path to a new policy on federal whistleblowing much more complicated.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22071.htm">Kill The Messenger</a><br />By Sibel Edmonds. Most Americans have never heard of Sibel Edmonds, and if the U.S. government has its way, they never will. The former FBI translator turned whistleblower tells a chilling story of corruption at Washington's highest levels-sale of nuclear secrets, shielding of terrorist suspects, illegal arms transfers, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, espionage<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newsok.com/okc-officer-pulls-man-over-for-anti-obama-sign-on-vehicle/article/3347038">Oklahoma City police officer pulls man over for anti-Obama sign on vehicle</a></b><br />19.02.09. newsok/legitgov. VIDEOS. The police officers who stopped Oklahoma City motorist Chip Harrison and confiscated a sign from his car told him he has a right to his beliefs, but the Secret Service "could construe this as a threat against President Obama," according to the incident report released this morning.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/02/22/police_report_expanded_use_of_tasers/">Police report expanded use of Tasers</a></b><br />22.02.09. boston com/legitgov. Police in Massachusetts cities and towns have sharply expanded their use of Tasers to control criminal suspects over the last three years, despite a call for suspension of the stun gun's use so experts can study its risks. The police in Massachusetts communities reported using Tasers in 229 incidents between September 2007 and September 2008, a fourfold increase from three years earlier, according to state figures.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.infowars.com/us-army-to-buy-6-million-of-riot-equipment/">U.S. Army to Buy $6 Million of Riot Equipment</a></b><br />24.02.09. Steve Watson / legitgov. The U.S. Army is to invest $6 million in riot equipment, a fact that has furthered fears that troops will be used inside the U.S. in order to quell any civil unrest resulting from the ongoing economic crisis. The U.S. Army Contracting Agency, based at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, has a post on the Federal Business Opportunities website, requesting the equipment and has received several notices of interest from potential vendors<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29418513/">Schools Hold Lockdown Drills For Safety</a></b><br />26.02.09. NBC / legitgov. (Omaha, NE) Area schools are teaching students how to prepare for the possibility of [their] violence on campus by holding lockdown drills so they'll know what to do. Students at Dundee Elementary went through one of those drills, announcing a mock emergency and giving people three minutes to secure the building.<br /><br /><u>Homeland "Security"</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/us/politics/17terror.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1">Re-evaluation of National Security Ordered</a></b><br />16.02.09. Eric Schmitt, NY Times. The homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, is re-evaluating the largest federal program for testing the country’s ability to respond to terrorist attacks, one of several Bush administration initiatives she has ordered to come under review. / As governor of Arizona, Ms. Napolitano sent a searing two-page letter to her predecessor as secretary, Michael Chertoff, complaining that a $25 million national exercise in October 2007, which she and 23,000 other federal, state and local emergency workers participated in, was too expensive, too long in planning and “too removed from a real-world scenario.” / Now, in her first weeks as head of the Homeland Security Department, Ms. Napolitano has ordered a review of that program and several others, including cybersecurity, a strategy for protecting the border with Canada, and the vulnerability of power plants and other critical infrastructure.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-police-spying0217,0,907231.story">Homeland Security reportedly passed protest information to Md. police</a></b><br />17.02.09. AP. baltimore sun / legitgov. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security tracked an anti-war group's plans for peaceful protests and passed the information on to the Maryland State Police, according to documents released to The Washington Post and reported in today's editions. / The documents are the first indication that the state police had federal partners during their widely condemned spying on activist groups, which went on in 2005 and 2006. The revelation has alarmed Maryland's U.S. senators, who are asking DHS for more details about how it obtained the information it shared.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/02/rights-groups-and-non-profit-advocates.php">Rights groups and non-profit advocates oppose terrorist designation of charities</a></b><br />27.02.09. JURIST. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [advocacy website] and other rights and philanthropic groups filed an amicus curiae brief [text, PDF; ACLU press release] Friday with the US District Court for the Northern District of Ohio [official website] arguing against the classification of some charitable groups as terrorist organizations. The brief, filed by the ACLU to support the plaintiffs in KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development, Inc. v. Paulson et al [ACLU backgrounder and materials], argues that the designation of charitable groups as terrorist organizations without due process violates the groups' constitutional rights and discourage and undermine their humanitarian aid efforts. Other organizations supporting the brief included Grantmakers Without Borders, OMB Watch, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee [advocacy websites].<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=90008">Radio chip coming soon to your driver's license?</a></b><br />28.02.09. WND. Homeland Security seeks next-generation REAL ID. Privacy advocates are issuing warnings about a new radio chip plan that ultimately could provide electronic identification for every adult in the U.S. and allow agents to compile attendance lists at anti-government rallies simply by walking through the assembly.<br /><br /><br /><u>Israel</u>: Israel, the "51st state", is another police state. See <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/general/2009/02/2009220135633240902.html"> Focus on Gaza </a><br /><br /><br /><u>UK</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/peers-warn-surveillance-state-is-threat-to-freedom-1547668.html">UK: Peers warn surveillance state is threat to freedom</a></b><br />06.02.09. Independent/ICH. The vast growth of surveillance and data collection risks undermining freedoms vital to the British way of life, a group of eminent peers is warning today.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/4643415/Spy-chief-We-risk-a-police-state.html">Spy chief: We risk a police state</a></b><br />17.02.09. Telegraph. Dame Stella Rimington, the former head of MI5, has warned that the fear of terrorism is being exploited by the Government to erode civil liberties and risks creating a police state. See also K. Sengupta's Independent article <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/terrorist-threat-exploited-to-curb-civil-liberties-1623795.html"> here<br /><br /><b></b></a><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/02/rights-group-claims-uk-parliament.php">UK laws post-1997 'compromised' traditional liberties: rights group</a></b><br />20.02.09. JURIST. Under the leadership of successive Labour Party governments the UK Parliament [official website] has systematically infringed on freedoms and rights of individual British citizens over the past decade, according to a report [text; PDF] released Thursday by the Convention of Modern Liberty [advocacy website]. The report, compiled by the University College of London Student Human Rights Programme [advocacy website] cites governmental actions that allegedly limit liberties guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights [text], incorporated by statute by the Human Rights Act of 1998 [text], as well as uncodified freedoms. Such limitations include increased use of electronic surveillance on individuals, right to detain individuals for up to 28 days without a formal charge, and a lowering of the standard of proof for criminal trials.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22063.htm">We Are All Extremists Now</a></b><br />21.02.09. Seumas Milne, Guardian / ICH. The government is criminalising legitimate dissent under the guise of fighting 'extremism', a word for which it has no definition.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090224/tuk-straw-will-veto-iraq-minutes-6323e80.html">Straw 'will veto' Iraq minutes</a></b><br />24.02.09. yahoo. The UK Government will exercise veto powers to block publication of key Cabinet minutes under freedom of information laws. Justice Secretary Jack Straw said he could not permit the release of records from 2003 discussions over the invasion of Iraq because it would cause too much "damage" to democracy.<br /><br /><br /><b>III. THE WORLD SUFFERS</b><br /><br /><u>General</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,606721,00.html">Popular Rage Grows as Global Crisis Worsens</a></b><br />09.02.09. Spiegal / legitgov. As the global economic crisis deepens, tempers around the world are getting shorter. French and British trade unions are organizing strikes, Putin is sending troops into the streets and Beijing is trying to buy itself calm.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theherald.co.uk/business/news/display.var.2489347.0.Warning_for_the_West_as_crisis_spills_onto_streets.php">Warning for the West as crisis spills onto streets</a></b><br />16.02.09. The Herald. The slump that has swept through developed nations like the UK, the eurozone and the United States is hitting the world's emerging economies with a speed and ferocity that has shocked even the most pessimistic analysts. / .. Street clashes have broken out in Moscow and other cities and the government is clearly worried about further outbreaks of violence.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7903518.stm">Huge protest over Irish economy</a></b><br />21.02.09. BBC. About 100,000 people have taken part in protests in Dublin city centre to vent their anger at the Irish government's handling of the country's recession.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/23/police-civil-unrest-recession">Britain faces summer of rage - police</a></b><br />23.02.09. Paul Lewis, Guardian / legitgov. Middle-class anger at economic crisis could erupt into violence on streets<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,610099,00.html">We're Not Paying For Your Crisis!': Anger rises in Germany as the economy falls</a></b><br />26.02.09. spiegel. Anger rises in Germany as the economy falls. Trade unions and globalization-critical protesters are planning demonstrations in Berlin and Frankfurt under the banner: "We're not paying for your crisis." Alexis Passadakis, 31, an activist from the group Attac, tells SPIEGEL what's wrong with the system.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,610159,00.html">Thousands of Opel Workers Demonstrate against GM</a></b><br />26.02.09. speigel. Huge losses in Detroit threaten to doom the German carmaker Opel, and the workers want a divorce from the parent company.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=auZeM63nrgzo&refer=home">Arsonists Torch Berlin Porsches, BMWs on Economic Woe</a></b><br />27.02.09. bloomberg. When Berlin resident Simone Klostermann returned from vacation and couldn't find her Mercedes SLK, she thought it had been towed. Police told her the 35,000- euro ($45,000) car had been torched.<br /><br /><u>US</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/124836">The Whole World Is Rioting as the Economic Crisis Worsens -- Why Aren't We?</a></b><br />03.02.09. Joshua Holland, AlterNet / ICH. Americans are rightfully angry about the economic decline, but with a few small exceptions, quietly so. Why? It depends on whom you ask.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/125566/">Public Revolt Builds Against Rip-off Rescue Plans for the Economy</a></b><br />06.02.09. NAOMI KLEIN, The Nation/ alternet. Governments that respond to a crisis created by "free-market" ideology with the same bad ideas will not survive to tell the tale.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/turse230209.htm">America's Municipal Meltdowns</a></b><br />23.02.09. Nick Turse, countercurrents. Stories about the economic woes facing individual cities and towns are already a staple of national newspapers, even as the bad news, experts believe, is only beginning to flow in. Spikes in unemployment already reaching double-digit levels in some cases, municipal governments deep in the red, essential cutbacks in local services, increasing lines at food pantries, towns facing bankruptcy or even contemplating municipal suicide are increasingly common nationwide.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailynewscaster.com/2009/02/22/angry-citizens-spray-paint-congressmans-car-and-home/?ref=patrick.net">Angry citizen(s) spray paint Congressman's car and home</a></b><br />- . Daily Newscaster. After the first round of bankster bailouts was passed by Congress against the will of the American people several representatives in Minnesota found their cars and homes spray painted by angry constituents.<br /><br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>3. MARCH 2009 </b></div><br /><br /><b> I. ECONOMIC CRISIS </b><br /><br /><u> General </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12517">America's Fiscal Collapse</a></b><br />03.03.09. Michel Chossudovsky, global research. In actuality, what we are dealing with is the <b>most drastic curtailment in public spending in American history, leading to social havoc and the potential impoverishment of millions of people</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=190523">Recession compounds world food crisis: UN’s WFP</a></b><br />05.03.09. Reuters. The global economic downturn has compounded the food crisis, pushing more people over the brink of hunger and threatening stability around the world, the head of the United Nations’ food relief agency said on Tuesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22168.htm">The U.S. Financial System Is Effectively Insolvent</a></b><br />05.03.09. Nouriel Roubini, Forbes/ ICH. <em>There is a grave risk of a global L-shaped depression</em>. Even with the $2 trillion of government support, most of these financial institutions are insolvent, as delinquency and charge-off rates are now rising at a rate--given the macro outlook--that means expected credit losses for U.S. financial firms will peak at $3.6 trillion. So, in simple words, the U.S. financial system is effectively insolvent.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWbW0ORAQZ9Dg1XYMuyPo200qQIT8nhNSDAf61E6UfX62JYXgqJC21HBlieiD3eb3mfOEmb-QyMWdqe_7_7pyrbzPTIQLWZufrx_2q33-PI3hFc-GSer27x8ILtuVf_HdAuNX/s1600-h/P1010122.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXWbW0ORAQZ9Dg1XYMuyPo200qQIT8nhNSDAf61E6UfX62JYXgqJC21HBlieiD3eb3mfOEmb-QyMWdqe_7_7pyrbzPTIQLWZufrx_2q33-PI3hFc-GSer27x8ILtuVf_HdAuNX/s400/P1010122.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318959955816834018" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, Hay Festival,©Sarah Meyer<br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/130535/how_to_get_our_banking_disaster_fixed_right_before_we_waste_trillions_more/?page=entire">The Only Way to Avoid Wasting Many Billions More: Take Over the Banks</a></b><br />07.03.09. JOSEPH STIGLITZ, The Nation / alternet. <em>American banks have polluted the economy; it's a matter of equity and efficiency that they now be forced to clean it up</em>. The news that even Alan Greenspan and Senator Chris Dodd suggest that bank nationalization may be necessary shows how desperate the situation has become.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22248.htm">Was the Bailout Itself a Scam?</a></b><br />19.03.09. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. After Washington's trillion dollar bank bailouts and trillion dollar gratuitous wars for the sake of the military industry's profits and Israeli territorial expansion, there is no money for Social Security and Medicare.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/opinion/22rich.html?th&emc=th">Has a ‘Katrina Moment’ Arrived?</a></b><br />21.03.09. Frank Rich, NY Times. OpEd. Unless and until Barack Obama addresses the full depth of Americans’ anger with his full arsenal of policy smarts and political gifts, his presidency and, worse, our economy will be paralyzed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2009/0903.galbraith.html">No Return to Normal</a></b><br />03-04.09. James K. Galbraith, Washington Monthly. <em>Why the economic crisis, and its solution, are bigger than you think</em>. The president has an economic program. But there is, so far, no clear statement of the thinking behind that program, and there may not be one, until the first report of the new Council of Economic Advisers appears next year. We therefore resort to what we know about the economists ... Danny Schechter (News Dissector) writes: James K. Galbraith makes the case for a much darker picture of what’s in store. He begins by questioning an assumption held by nearly all modern economists, including those around Obama: that economies are naturally self-stabilizing, and therefore that economic slumps can be righted with relatively modest, short-term nudges from government. That idea fits the experience of every post-War recession. But what if the current crisis is less like those downturns and more like the Great Depression, when the economy famously failed to return to normal? In that case, the actions that official Washington has taken are bound to be woefully inadequate to the challenge.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/132858/the_president_needs_to_hear_a_second_opinion_on_his_economic_plans_--_millions_of_them/">The President Needs to Hear a Second Opinion on His Economic Plans -- Millions of Them</a></b><br />23.03.09. William Greider, The Washington Post / alternet. <em>Obama is trapped between the governing elites who decide things and the people who are governed. Which side is he on?</em><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/3cf2381c-c064-11dd-9559-000077b07658.html?_i_referralObject=1069619695&fromSearch=n"> Future of Capitalism </a> (23.03.09. Financial Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22490">Capitalism Beyond the Crisis</a></b><br />26.03.09. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amartya_Sen"> Amartya Sen</a>, NY Review of Books / Guardian. The question that arises most forcefully now concerns the nature of capitalism and whether it needs to be changed.<br /><br />DVD: <a href="http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=139"> Capitalism Hits the Fan</a><br />Richard Wolff on the Economic Meltdown Media Education Foundation. Review / Transcript. “With breathtaking clarity, renowned University of Massachusetts Economics Professor Richard Wolff breaks down the root causes of today's economic crisis, showing how it was decades in the making and in fact reflects seismic failures within the structures of American-style capitalism itself. Wolff traces the source of the economic crisis to the 1970s … Wolff argues convincingly that the proposed government "bailouts," stimulus packages, and calls for increased market regulation will not be enough to address the real causes of the crisis, in the end suggesting that far more fundamental change will be necessary to avoid future catastrophes.” VIDEO<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/133450/9_reasons_obama%27s_fiscal_plan_fails_both_markets_and_taxpayers/">9 Reasons Obama's Fiscal Plan Fails Both Markets and Taxpayers</a></b><br />26.03,09. Joseph Stiglitz, Project Syndicate / alternet. <em> The real failings in the Obama recovery program lie not in the stimulus package, but in its efforts to revive financial markets.</em> Let's be clear: President Barack Obama inherited an economy in freefall and could not possibly have turned things around in the short time since his election. Unfortunately, what he is doing is not enough.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22302.htm">Stocks Will Drop; Banks Will Go Belly Up – Roubini</a></b><br />27.03.09. Charting Stock. Roubini transcript from Bloomberg interview. The stock market will drop as major banks go belly up says Nouriel Roubini, the NYU economist that successfully predicted the current economic collapse.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/133438/obama%27s_economic_plan%3A_a_version_of_the_monopoly_game%2C_but_no_one_loses/">Obama's Economic Plan: A Version of the Monopoly Game, But No One Loses</a></b><br />28.03.09. William Greider, The Nation/alternet. <em>It's very much like the regular Monopoly game -- only better -- because this one uses real money, provided courtesy of the taxpayers</em><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOYAuk809fY"><br />Hey Paul Krugman (A song, A plea) </a><br /><br /><br /><b> The Bailout </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52288&s2=03">A Banana Republic by 2012: Obama's Budget</a></b><br />02.03.09. PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS, uruknet. President Obama has presented the most irresponsible budget in US history. His fiscal year 2010 budget projects federal spending of $3.5 trillion and a federal deficit of $1.75 trillion. In other words, 50 percent of the government’s budget consists of red ink. And Americans are angry that sub-prime borrowers took mortgages they couldn’t afford. The bald fact is that the US government is going to have to borrow -- or print -- half of the money it intends to spend in Obama’s first budget...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/business/worldbusiness/03markets.html?_r=1">Dow Falls Below 6,800; Lowest Close Since ’97</a></b><br />04.03.09. NY Times<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/03/05/senate-preparing-huge-spending-bill-for-obama-2/">Senate preparing huge spending bill for Obama</a></b><br />06.03.09. A. Tayor, anti-war. <em>Laden with pet projects, huge spending bill moving through Senate despite criticism</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5854168.ece">Barack Obama bets the farm in $4 trillion poker game </a></b><br />06.03.09. Times on Line. The President believes he can change US politics for a generation. If he's wrong he could bankrupt the whole country<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/11/AR2009031104346.html">Administration to Ask Congress to Expand Funds Available to IMF </a></b><br />12.03.09. Washington Post. The Obama administration is planning to ask Congress to expand the United States' primary line of credit to the International Monetary Fund from about $10 billion to $100 billion to boost emergency support for struggling economies around the world, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said today.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/03/11/budget-deficit-reaches-765b-in-5-months-3/">Budget deficit reaches $765B in 5 months</a></b><br />11.03.09. anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thetruthaboutmortgage.com/completed-foreclosures-hit-new-high-in-February/">Completed Foreclosures Hit New High in February</a></b><br />11.03.09. truth about mortgage / ICH. Even pre-foreclosure filings hit a new high, rising to 207,703 in February, up 24 percent from 166,860 in January and nine percent from 190,467 in December, the previous high.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/messenger120309.htm">Key Obama Economic Adviser Admits He Has No Answers</a></b><br />12.03.09. Alex Messenger, countercurrents. In a sign of the panic gripping Washington's policy-makers, one of Barack Obama's key economic advisors, Paul Volcker, has warned a gathering of his leading peers that the crash of 2008 might be "the mother of all financial crises<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/us/politics/16assess.html?th&emc=th">Bracing for a Backlash Over Wall Street Bailouts</a></b><br />15.03.09. NY Times. The Obama administration is increasingly concerned about a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street, worried that anger at financial institutions could also end up being directed at Congress and the White House and could complicate President Obama’s agenda.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1639142420090316?sp=true">U.S. credit card defaults rise to 20 year-high</a></b><br />16.03.09. Reuters / ICH. "There is a continued deterioration. Trends in credit cards will get worse before they start getting better," said Walter Todd, a portfolio manager at Greenwood Capital Associates<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/us/politics/18obama.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1">Obama Defends Budget Proposal</a></b><br />17.03.09. NY Times. “If there are members of Congress who object to specific policies and proposals in this budget, then I ask them to be ready and willing to propose constructive, alternative solutions,” Mr. Obama said. “ ‘Just say no’ is the right advice to give your teenagers about drugs. It is not an acceptable response to whatever economic policy is proposed by the other party.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20139.html">National debt hits record $11 trillion</a></b><br />17.03.09. politico / ICH. The eye-popping national debt surpassed $11 trillion Monday, the largest in U.S. history.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/132083/crash_and_burn%3A_the_case_for_a_third_stimulus_package/">Crash and Burn: the Case for a Third Stimulus Package</a></b><br />17.03.09. Joshua Holland, AlterNet. <em>The economy continues its death-spiral and will sink further without more aggressive intervention, argues economist Dean Baker</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22247.htm">Restoring our Financial Sovereignty: A New Monetary System</a></b><br />19.03.09. Nikki Alexander, ICH. Today the nation is essentially bankrupt and hoping Barack Obama's team of Wall Street advisors will forestall economic collapse. This expectation is equivalent to hoping that Al Capone will make our streets safe. Obama's economic recovery team is a Trojan horse filled with the same Wall Street racketeers that infected the global economy with a quadrillion dollar derivatives bubble, using deliberately deregulated mechanisms.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22275.htm">U.N. Panel Ways World Should Ditch Dollar</a></b><br />21.03.09. Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent, Reuters / ICH. A U.N. panel will next week recommend that the world ditch the dollar as its reserve currency in favor of a shared basket of currencies, a member of the panel said on Wednesday, adding to pressure on the dollar.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22266.htm"> Keith Olbermann's "Special Comment" on Bank Bailout </a><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/03/24/us/20090325-OBAMA_index.html?nl=pol&emc=polb2"> Obama Addresses Economy in News Conference </a> (24.03.09)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB5n4bpUrTI"> Obama Should Save the Banks not the Bankers </a> (25.03.09. MSNBC)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29892857/"> Obama Town Hall Talk </a> (26.03.09)<br />Comment David Swanson <a href="http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/41107"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_12004035?nclick_check=1">Commercial real estate loan defaults skyrocket</a></b><br />26.03.09. mercury news / legitgov. With loan defaults rising, analysts say the struggling commercial real estate industry is poised to fall into the worst crisis since the last great property bust of the early 1990s. Delinquency rates on loans for hotels, offices, retail and industrial buildings have risen sharply in recent months and are likely to soar through the end of 2010 as companies lay off workers, downsize or shut their doors.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/world/europe/27germany.html?th&emc=th"> “Kurzarbeit”</a> (26.03.09. Ny Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/roberts270309.htm">Is The Bail Out Breeding A Bigger Crisis?</a></b><br />27.03.09. Paul Craig Roberts, countercurrents. At his March 24 press conference President Obama demonstrated that he is capable of understanding issues as presented to him by his advisers and able to pass on the explanations to the press. The question is whether Obama’s advisers understand the issues.<br /><br />= = =<br />BAIL IN: US 3RD WAR - IN PAKISTAN<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/06/09/lyre-lyre/files/2006/Lyre_bird.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 165px; height: 220px;" src="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2006/06/09/lyre-lyre/files/2006/Lyre_bird.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></div><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://aubreyj818.blogspot.com/2009/03/on-ground-updates-afghanistanpakistan.html"> Afghanistan-Pakistan; Obama unveils new comprehensive strategy today on Afghanistan/Pakistan War </a><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuFyqzerHS8"> Lyre Birds </a> (2007; Chain saws and power alarms)<br /><br /><u>Toxic Assets</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/business/21bank.html?th&emc=th">Toxic Asset Plan Foresees Big Subsidies for Investors</a></b><br />20.03.09. NY Times. The Treasury Department is expected to unveil early next week its long-delayed plan to buy as much as $1 trillion in troubled mortgages and related assets from financial institutions, according to people close to the talks.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/washington/21deficit.html?th&emc=th">New Deficit Forecast Casts Shadow on Obama Agenda</a></b><br />20.03.09. NY Times. The Congressional Budget Office placed a new hurdle in front of President Obama’s agenda on Friday, calculating that the White House’s tax and spending plans would create deficits totaling <b>$2.3 trillion more</b> than the president’s budget projected for the next decade.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/21/AR2009032102246.html">Treasury's toxic asset plan could cost $1 trillion</a></b><br />22.03.09. Wash Post / legitgov. The Obama administration's latest attempt to tackle the banking crisis and get loans flowing to families and businesses give away the National Treasury to corpora-terrorists rely on a new government entity, the Public Investment Corp. to help purchase as much as $1 trillion in toxic assets on banks' books. The plan that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner intends to announce Monday aims to use the resources of the $700 billion bank bailout fund, the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYkO7rFk7Ow"> Economists criticise US bailout plan - 22 Mar 2009</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/21/AR2009032102246.html">New Body to Work With Private Investors</a></b><br />22.03.09. Wash Post / legitgov. Treasury Presses Ahead With Plan For Toxic Assets The Treasury Department will unveil the next step in its financial rescue efforts tomorrow, announcing that it intends to create a government body, called the <u>Public Investment Corp.</u>, to finance the purchase of as much as <b>$1 trillion</b> in soured loans and toxic assets from ailing banks, according to sources. The plan calls for the new entity to combine its resources with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve and private investors to buy those loans and other assets. But the government will put far more money into the deals and take on more risk than the investors, which could include hedge funds, private-equity firms, pension funds and foreign investors with U.S. headquarters, the sources said. The corporation will be funded with $75 billion to $100 billion from the $700 billion financial rescue package. See also <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/business/economy/24bailout.html?nl=pol&emc=pola1"> NY Times </a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25233545-643,00.html"> Wall Street soars 7pc on US toxic bank debt plan</a> (24.03.09. Australian news / legitgov)<br /><br /><u> & The Fed</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/131351/fixing_the_beast%3A_the_fed_has_to_be_transformed_for_a_healthy_financial_system/">Fixing the Beast: The Fed Has to be Transformed for a Healthy Financial System</a></b><br />13.03.09. William Greider, The Nation / alternet. <em>To restore the nation's broken financial system, Washington must reform the Federal Reserve</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/17/us-injecting-billions-int_n_175454.html">U.S. Injecting Billions Into Foreign Central Banks</a></b><br />17.03.09. Huff Post. Deutsche Bank $11.8 billion; Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg $100 million ; Calyon $2.3 billion; Rabobank $800 million; Société Générale $11.9 billion;; The Royal Bank of Scotland $700 million ; Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank $1.7 billion’; Dresdner Bank AG $2.6 billion; UBS $5 billion; Bank of Montreal $1.1 billion; KFW Bankengruppe $500 million; Banco Santander $300 million; Danske $200 million;BNP Paribas $4.9 billion ; HSBC $3.5 billion; Dresdner Kleinwort $2.6 billion; ING $1.5 billion; Credit Suisse 400 million. See comment <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22297.htm"> Is the Bailout Plan Breeding a Greater Crisis? </a> by Paul Craig Roberts.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/18/ap6184492.html">Bank stocks soar after Fed promises to buy bonds </a></b><br />18.03.09. Forbes/legitgov. Bank stocks soared Wednesday after the Federal Reserve announced plans to buy up to $300 billion of long-term Treasuries, expanding its commitment to pump money into the financial system and encourage lending. The KBW Bank Index, which tracks 24 of the nation's largest banks, surged more than 11 percent following the Fed's announcement at midafternoon.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/fitts180309.htm">The Fed Did Indeed Cause The Housing Bubble</a></b><br />18.03.09. Catherine Austin Fitts, countercurrents. To: The Wall Street Journal; Re: “The Fed Didn’t Cause the Housing Bubble” By: Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve... / Alan Greenspan is a liar. The Federal Reserve and its long standing partner, the US Treasury, engineered the housing bubble, including the fraudulent inducement of America as part of a financial coup d’etat. Our bankruptcy was not an accident. It was engineered at the highest levels.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/hudson180309.htm">Mr. Bernanke Spreads The Fire</a></b><br />18.03.09. Michael Hudson, countercurrents. On the March 15 CBS show “60 Minutes”, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke used a false analogy already popularized by President Obama in his quasi-State of the Union Speech. ... / These neighbors were given U.S. Treasury bonds in “cash for trash” transactions. The rest of the economy will be paying interest on this debt for a century to come. This is what causes “debt deflation.” Revenue is diverted from spending on goods and services to pay interest and taxes. So <b>the Treasury is spreading the fire, not putting it out</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/03/20093191300597758.html">US economy gets $1.2 trillion boost</a></b><br />19.03.09. al jazeera. The US Federal Reserve has moved to pump $1.2 trillion into the country's financial system, hoping to spur lending to beat the recession. Concluding a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, the central bank said it would buy up to $300bn in longer-term government bonds called treasuries to bring down borrowing costs.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/20093193513321741.html">Analysis: The Fed moves on debt</a></b><br />19.03.09. al jazeera. Some financial experts say the US Federal Reserve decision to buy $1.2 trillion worth of debt to help boost lending and promote economic recovery is a "dramatic" move. / The Fed said it hopes the measure will boost mortgage-lending and the struggling housing market by lowering interest rates on mortgages and other forms of consumer debt. / The size of the move has surprised investors, causing the Dow Jones stock index to jump at least 200 points.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/03/20093191300597758.html">US economy gets $1.2 trillion boost</a></b><br />19.03.09. al jazeera business. The US Federal Reserve has moved to pump $1.2 trillion into the country's financial system, hoping to spur lending to beat the recession. / Concluding a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, the central bank said it would <b>buy up to $300bn</b> in longer-term government bonds called treasuries to bring down borrowing costs<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/20/AR2009032001820.html">U.S. Federal Deficit Soars Past Previous Estimates</a></b><br />20.03.09. Wash Post / legitgov. Deteriorating economic conditions [of the Bush Depression] will cause the federal deficit to soar past $1.8 trillion this year and leave the nation wallowing in a sea of red ink far deeper than the White House had previously estimated, congressional budget analysts said today.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/opinion/21sat1.html?th&emc=th">The Fed Does Battle, Again</a></b><br />20.03.09. Editorial, NY Times. This crisis is unlikely to turn around until President Obama and his aides come up with a plan for failing banks that does not arbitrarily reject the idea of nationalization. They must also follow through on their housing plan to reverse the tide of unnecessary foreclosures.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22271.htm">Launching Lifeboats Before the Ship Sinks</a></b><br />21.03.09. Paul Craig Roberts. ICH. The New York Times reported that "the dollar plunged about 3 percent against other major currencies" in response to the Fed's announcement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/us/politics/22regulate.html?_r=1&th&emc=th">Administration Seeks Increase in Oversight of Executive Pay</a></b><br />21.03.09. NY Times. The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, government officials said./ ... Officials said the proposal would seek a broad new role for the Federal Reserve to oversee large companies, <u>including major hedge funds</u>, whose problems could pose risks to the entire financial system.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/21/MNQ016K9N9.DTL">Budget office sees skyrocketing deficit</a></b><br />21.03.09. sfgate / anti-war. President Obama's budget would produce <b>$9.3 trillion</b> in deficits over the next decade, more than four times the deficits of Republican George W. Bush's presidency, congressional auditors said Friday. / The new Congressional Budget Office figures offered a far more dire outlook for Obama's budget than the new administration predicted just last month - a deficit <b>$2.3 trillion worse</b>. It's a prospect even the president's budget director called unacceptable.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.truthout.org/032209G"> President Obama on the Federal Budget: 4 Principles </a> (21.03.09. Truthout)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYkO7rFk7Ow"> Economists criticise US bailout plan - 22 Mar 2009 </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/21/AR2009032102246.html">New Body to Work With Private Investors</a></b><br />22.03.09. Wash Post / legitgov. Treasury Presses Ahead With Plan For Toxic Assets The Treasury Department will unveil the next step in its financial rescue efforts tomorrow, announcing that it intends to create a government body, called the <u>Public Investment Corp.</u>, to finance the purchase of as much as <b>$1 trillion</b> in soured loans and toxic assets from ailing banks, according to sources. The plan calls for the new entity to combine its resources with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve and private investors to buy those loans and other assets. But the government will put far more money into the deals and take on more risk than the investors, which could include hedge funds, private-equity firms, pension funds and foreign investors with U.S. headquarters, the sources said. The corporation will be funded with $75 billion to $100 billion from the $700 billion financial rescue package. See also <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/business/economy/24bailout.html?nl=pol&emc=pola1"> NY Times </a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,24897,25233545-643,00.html"> Wall Street soars 7pc on US toxic bank debt plan </a> (24.03.09. Australian news / legitgov)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/business/economy/25react.html?partner=rss&emc=rss">Dissecting Bank Plan for a Way to Profit</a></b><br />24.03.09. NY Times. Up and down Wall Street, bankers and traders sharpened their pencils on Tuesday as they began the complex financial calculus of the latest bank rescue plan. Their goal: to find ways to profit from it.<br /><br /><u> Geithner</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/geithner.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 245px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/geithner.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/"> Truthdig</a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/132548/geithner_admits_treasury_pushed_for_bonus_loophole%2C_takes_full_responsibility_/">Geithner Admits Treasury Pushed for Bonus Loophole, Takes Full Responsibility</a></b><br />19.03.09. Nick Sabloff , Huffington Post /alternet. <em>Geithner confirmed that his department had pushed Dodd to add a loophole in the federal stimulus bill allowing bailout recipients to receive bonuses</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090319_the_geithner_problem/">The Geithner Problem</a></b><br />19.03.09. Eugene Robinson, Truthdig. <em>The treasury secretary may indeed be the hardest-working man in Washington. But in order to survive, let alone succeed, he’s going to have to make a more convincing case that he’s part of the solution and not part of the problem</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22261.htm">Obama's Moment is Passing Quickly</a></b><br />20.03.09. Dave Lindorff, Common Dreams/ ICH. He should promptly demand Geithner's and Summers' resignations, and should also fire the CEO of AIG, Edward Liddy (as 80% owner of AIG, the US has the power to do that anytime). It would also be a good idea at the same time to fire the CEOs of all the leading banks that are at this point surviving on government bailouts.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="obama:%20%20Geithner%20will%20not%20be%20allowed%20to%20resign"> Obama: Geithner will not be allowed to resign </a> (Interview with CBS, 22.03.09)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/21/AR2009032101513.html"> Obama Backs Geithner Despite Vast Criticisms </a>(22.03.09. Washington Post)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22279.htm">Judgment Day for Geithner</a></b><br />23.03.09. Mike Whitney, ICH. Insolvent financial institutions have to be taken into receivership and liquidated. Shareholders and bondholders will have to take a haircut. And Geithner, Summers and the rest of the White House banking fraternity will have to resign or be fired. Obama should mull over Albert Einstein's sage advice when he said, "The problems we face today cannot be solved by the minds that created them."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/132981/geithner%E2%80%99s_housing_plan_made_simple%3A_probably_a_rip-off_/"><br />Geithner’s Housing Plan Made Simple: Probably a Rip-Off</a></b><br />23.03.09. Joshua Holland, AlterNet. The heart of the issue remains pricing. No matter how they structure the financing of any plan to buy up all those “toxic securities” on the books of a few big financial institutions — and clearly they’re trying to use as little tax-payer cash up front as possible — they’re still protecting investors against losses that are likely inevitable. Or, at the very least, they’re taking on a lot of risk -- on behalf of you and I and the tax-payers we know -- in order to protect investors from the potential for steep losses.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/216480/Part-II-Geithner-Obama-Kowtowing-to-%22Massively-Corrupted%22-Banks-Galbraith-Says?tickers=XLF,FAS,SKF,C,BAC,JPM,%5EDJI">Geithner, Obama Kowtowing to "Massively Corrupted" Banks, Galbraith Says</a></b><br />23.03.09. yahoo finance / ICH. PART II. Like it or not, many people seem to be resigned to the idea there's no alternative to the public-private investment fund scheme Treasury Secretary Geithner detailed this morning. That's hogwash, says University of Texas professor James Galbraith, author of The Predator State. Of course there's an alternative: FDIC receivership of insolvent banks. V|DEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22288.htm">Geithner Plan Will Rob US Taxpayers</a></b><br />24.03.09. Reuters / ICH. The U.S. government plan to rid banks of toxic assets will rob American taxpayers by exposing them to too much risk and is unlikely to work as long as the economy remains weak, Nobel Prize-winning economist JOSEPH STIGLITZ said on Tuesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22289.htm">Geithner Update: Bend Over and Say, "Uncle Sam"</a></b><br />24.03.09. Mike Whitney, ICH. Here's what everyone needs to know: The US government (you) will provide up to 94 percent of the financing (low interest, of course) for dodgy mortgage-backed assets that no one in their right mind would ever buy so that wealthy and politically-connected banksters can scrub up to $1 trillion of red ink from their balance sheets. Ugh! / The so-called "private partners" in this confidence scam, will get non recourse loans, which means that if the plan backfires and they lose their skimpy 6 percent investment they can call it quits and leave the taxpayer holding the bag. ($1 trillion in potential losses!)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/24/AR2009032400847.html">Geithner Asks Congress for Broad Power to Seize Firms</a></b><br />24.03.09. Wash Post / ICH. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner today told Congress the administration will seek unprecedented power to seize non-bank financial companies whose collapse could jeopardize the economy, a move Geithner said would have allowed the government to bail out insurance giant American International Group at a far lower cost to taxpayers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/5050407/US-backing-for-world-currency-stuns-markets.html">US backing for world currency stuns markets</a></b><br />27.03.09. Telegraph / legitgov. US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner shocked global markets by revealing that Washington is "quite open" to Chinese proposals for the gradual development of a global reserve currency run by the <b>International Monetary Fund</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22300.htm">US Backing for World Currency Stuns Markets</a></b><br />27.03.09. Telegraph/ IICH. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard. <em>US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner shocked global markets by revealing that Washington is "quite open" to Chinese proposals for the gradual development of a global reserve currency run by the International Monetary Fund</em>. BUT <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22304.htm"> clarified </a> his remarks.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12953">Geithner’s ‘Dirty Little Secret’: The Entire Global Financial System is at Risk</a></b><br />30.03.09. F. William Engdahl, globalresearch.ca. <em> US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has unveiled his long-awaited plan to put the US banking system back in order. In doing so, he has refused to tell the ‘dirty little secret’ of the present financial crisis. By refusing to do so, he is trying to save de facto bankrupt US banks that threaten to bring the entire global system down in a new more devastating phase of wealth destruction.</em><br /><br /><u> The Billion $ Club</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/bonus_sm.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 232px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/bonus_sm.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/"> Truthdig</a></div><br /><br /><em>We're at war, and the enemy is not the government per se, but the super-rich corporatists that run the government and who prevent the economy from serving human needs</em>. <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22221.htm"> Mike Whitney</a>, <u> Obedience to Authority in America: A Different Kind of Revolution</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/129732/?page=entire">Zombie Banks Are Devouring Our Public Money with No End in Sight</a></b><br />04.03.09. Bill Moyers, Bill Moyers Journal/alternet. Bill Moyers talks with Robert Johnson about "zombie banks." Johnson is concerned "that the zombie will continue to lose more, and <u>the taxpayer ... will continue to experience larger and larger burden of future losses</u>."<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insidestory/2009/03/200935132417249438.html">Financial crisis to hit the poorest</a> 05.03.09. Al jazeera, Inside Story. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is warning that the global economic downturn could create a widespread humanitarian crisis in the world's poorest and most vulnerable countries.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/130161/mortgage_brokers_who_got_us_into_this_mess_are_making_a_killing_with_the_obama_bailout/">Mortgage Brokers Who Got Us Into This Mess Are Making a Killing with the Obama Bailout</a></b><br />05.03.09. Alyssa Katz, Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute/alternet. <em> Obama is banking on "loan modifications" to help struggling homeowners -- but mortgage brokers are the real winners</em>.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22131.htm"> "The World Is A Business"</a> We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale. The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bye-laws of of business. 4 min.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/23">The Real Criminals are Neither Lynndie England nor the AIG Traders</a></b><br />23.03.09. Thom Hartmann, Common Dreams. The philosophy that it's possible to bomb people into democracy and torture them into being on our side drove the Bushies. It was wrong, flawed, and frankly insane, and we're paying a huge price for it. / Similarly, the philosophy that playing the game of business and investment without rules (the technical term is Laissez-faire Capitalism) has driven our government since the election of Ronald Reagan<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090323_america_is_in_need_of_a_moral_bailout/">America Is in Need of a Moral Bailout</a></b><br />23.03.09. Chris Hedges, Truthdig. In decaying societies, politics become theater. The elite, who have hollowed out the democratic system to serve the corporate state, rule through image and presentation. They express indignation at AIG bonuses and empathy with a working class they have spent the last few decades disenfranchising, and make promises to desperate families that they know will never be fulfilled.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sanders.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=310323">LET'S STOP WALL STREET LOAN-SHARKING</a></b><br />23.03.09. sanders.senate/legitgov. The “Masters of the Universe” on Wall Street – through their greed, recklessness and illegal behavior – have plunged this country into a deep recession causing millions of Americans to lose their jobs, their homes, their savings and their hope for the future. In order to fully understand the cause of this fiasco, I have introduced legislation calling for a thorough investigation of the financial meltdown and the prosecution of those CEOs who broke the law. The culture of greed, fraud and excessive speculation must come to an end.<br /><br />VIDEO" <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article12642.htm"> The Century of the Self</a> How politicians and business learned to create and manipulate mass-consumer society.<br /><br />= = =<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/63606.html">Regulatory reports show 5 biggest banks face huge losses</a></b><br />09.03.09. Mcclatchy. America's five largest banks, which already have received $145 billion in taxpayer bailout dollars, still face potentially catastrophic losses from exotic investments if economic conditions substantially worsen, their latest financial reports show. / Citibank, Bank of America, HSBC Bank USA, Wells Fargo Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase reported that their "current" net loss risks from derivatives — insurance-like bets tied to a loan or other underlying asset — surged to $587 billion as of Dec. 31. Buried in end-of-the-year regulatory reports that McClatchy has reviewed, the figures reflect a jump of 49 percent in just 90 days.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/11/rich-lists-warren-buffett">Slumping billionaires: financial crisis slashes ranks of world's super rich</a></b><br />11.03.09. Guardian. • Billion dollar club cut from 1,125 members to 793 • Bill Gates claims back No 1 spot from Warren Buffett<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/images/looting.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 354px; height: 278px;" src="http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/images/looting.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/business/12crime.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1">Financial Fraud Is Focus of Attack by Prosecutors</a></b><br />11.03.09. NY Times. Spurred by rising public anger, federal and state investigators are preparing for a surge of prosecutions of financial fraud.11.03.<br /><br />INTERVIEW: <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22225.htm"> “Capitalism’s Self-Inflicted Apocalypse” </a> (Michael Parenti 12.03.09)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/131120/unionbusting_firms_profiting_from_corporate_america%27s_fear_of_workers%27_rights/">Unionbusting Firms Profiting from Corporate America's Fear of Workers' Rights</a></b><br />12.03.09. Art Levine, Huffington Post/alternet. <em> "Union avoidance" firms are marketing "Employee Free Choice Act Defense Kits" for $5,000 a set</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/03/federal-judge-orders-stanford-assets.php">Federal judge orders Stanford assets frozen indefinitely</a></b><br />13.03.09. JURIST. Stanford was charged [complaint, PDF; JURIST report] last month with orchestrating a fraudulent $8 billion investment scheme by selling certificates of deposits on the promise of improbably high interest rates.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/home/regularieninhalte/world-news-ticker/world/2009/03/12/bernard-madoff-due-in-court.html">BERNARD MADOFF Jail for $50bn fraudster</a></b><br />15.03.09. bild.de. Financial con-artist Bernard Madoff has been jailed after pleading guilty to masterminding one of the world's largest ever frauds. The financier set up a Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s, and could face up a prison sentence of up to 150 years. The scam is reported to have defrauded thousands of investors of $50 billion.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/4986287/IMF-poised-to-print-billions-of-dollars-in-global-quantitative-easing.html">IMF poised to print billions of dollars in 'global quantitative easing'</a></b><br />16.03.09. Telegraph / ICH. The International Monetary Fund is poised to embark on what analysts have described as "global quantitative easing" by printing billions of dollars worth of a global "super-currency" in an unprecedented new effort to address the economic crisis.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22224.htm">The TALF: Bernanke's Witness Protection Program</a></b><br />16.03.09. Mike Whitney, ICH. Fed chief Ben Bernanke's new funding facility is a real doozy. In fact, if the Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility or TALF, which is set to launch on Thursday, doesn't convince the American people that it's time to take a wrecking ball to the Central Bank and start over, than nothing will. Bernanke and his co-conspirator at Treasury, Timothy Geithner, are planning to revive the shadow banking system by dumping $2 trillion into the same over-leveraged, derivatives-based garbage that blew up the financial system in the first place. All the blabbering about a "good bank-bad bank" remedy appears to have been a diversion. / This is how Bloomberg sums it up: "Geithner’s program has three main elements: Injecting fresh government capital into some of the country’s biggest financial institutions; establishing a public-private partnership to handle as much as $1 trillion of banks’ bad assets; and starting a credit facility with the Federal Reserve of as much as $1 trillion to promote lending to consumers and businesses. Related: see also Prof. Michael Hudson's <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22229.htm"> article </a> about <em>misleading the American public</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/israels_government_abuses_free_trade_agreement_with_us/0017211">Israel’s government abuses 'Free' Trade Agreement with US</a></b><br />16.03.09. Ray Hanania, the american muslim. Free trade agreements (FTAs) are supposed to help American businesses improve their profits, create more jobs and build their industries by opening new markets for export of their products with foreign countries under rules based trade. The US has FTAs with 20 foreign nations, including six added in 2006, Bahrain, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Morocco, and Nicaragua. Israel lobbied for a bilateral Free Trade Agreement with the US in 1984 and it was approved in 1985. But since then, according to a study conducted by the Washington DC based Institute for Research: Middle East Policy (IRmep) of documents released only last year, the United States has <b>lost more than $71 billion</b> in the deal and the equivalent of an average of 100,000 jobs in each of the past 10 years alone.<br /><br />Report: <a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40438.pdf">"Ongoing Government Assistance for American International Group (AIG),"</a> (March 16, 2009)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/132342/aig_won%27t_release_names_of_executives%2C_citing_death_threats/">AIG Won't Release Names Of Executives, Citing Death Threats</a></b><br />18.03.09. Ryan Grim, Huffington Post, American News Project / alternet. <em>Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the Financial Services Committee, requested the names and threatened to subpoena them</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/03/18/former-bush-aide-gets-30-months-in-prison-2/">Former Bush aide gets 30 months for stealing from Cuban democracy advocates</a></b><br />18.03.09. anti-war. ... for stealing nearly $600,000 from a government-funded program that promotes democracy in Cuba. Felipe Sixto apologized for stealing from the Center for a Free Cuba, telling U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton that in addition to his own greed and selfishness, he "<u>wanted to provide a lifestyle for my family I could not afford</u>."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/132298/moral_decay_swirls_around_banking_bailout%3A_time_for_a_criminal_investigation/">Moral Decay Swirls Around Banking Bailout: Time for a Criminal Investigation</a></b><br />19.03.09. Robert Scheer, Truthdig/alternet. Those who stole billions in 401(k)s of innocent victims were rewarded handsomely, rarely needing to break the laws their lobbyists purchased.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/19">Too Big to Fail is Too Big</a></b><br />19.03.09. David Korten, common dreams. <em> David Korten wrote this article in response to CBS's Sixty Minutes interview with Ben Bernanke, March 15, 2009</em>. In a September 22, 2008 interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!, Senator Bernie Sanders famously said that if a bank "is too big to fail, it probably is too big to exist." That should be a watchword slogan of any effort to fix the financial system. Major responsibility for the financial collapse rests with the deregulation process that allowed for the consolidation of banking power in the hands of Wall Street. Reversing that process should be an immediate priority. <b> Before Wall Street there was Main Street; Wall Street holds government hostage; Bailout now, solutions later; Restructure first; </b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29773472/">13 firms receiving bailouts owe back taxes</a></b><br />19.03.09. NBC . legitgov. ... The committee said it could not legally release the names of the companies owing taxes. It said one recipient had almost $113 million in unpaid federal income taxes from 2005 and 2006. A second recipient owed almost $102 million dating to before 2004. Another was behind $1.1 million in federal income taxes and $223,000 in federal employment taxes. ... <u>No one from the Treasury Department appeared at Thursday’s hearing</u>. Lewis said he asked Treasury officials for a private briefing on their efforts to uncover unpaid taxes, as well as someone to testify at Thursday’s hearing. ... Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is already under fire on Capitol Hill for not preventing $165 million in bonuses from being paid to employees at troubled insurance giant AIG.<br /><br /><a href="http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/a-forbes-400-expert-explains-the-list/?ref=your-money"> Watching Trends in a List of the Rich</a> (20.03.09, NY Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/georgias-firstcity-bank-becomes-18th/story.aspx?guid=%7B26FBCC8E%2DFFC3%2D4078%2DBC26%2DECD86099D155%7D">Georgia's FirstCity Bank becomes 18th failure of 2009 </a></b><br />20.03.09. Market Watch / legitgov. FDIC: FirstCity had $297 million in assets and <b>$278 million</b> in deposits as of March 18. 20 Mar 2009 Stockbridge, Ga.-based FirstCity Bank was closed by regulators Friday, marking the 18th U.S. bank failure of 2009. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said in a statement that it will mail checks to insured depositors Monday morning, and that FirstCity's direct deposits from the federal government such as Social Security and Veterans' payments will be transferred to SunTrust Banks Inc.<br /><br />VIDEO:<a href="http://www.blogger.com/Time%20to%20Get%20Tough%20with%20Bankers"> Time to Get Tough with Bankers </a> (Keith Oberman, NBC)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/us/politics/21bailout.html?th&emc=th">Obama Uneasy About Tax on Bonuses </a> (20.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/opinion/21collins.html?th&emc=th">Rage Redux: Changing Channels</a></b><br />20.03.09. OpEd, NY Times. Ref the <u>George W. Bush Presidential Center</u>: A nonprofit foundation is trying to raise <b>$300 million in tax-deductible donations</b> for a huge complex on 25 acres at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Groundbreaking is scheduled for this fall.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123758929303200145.html">Developer of 9/11 Site Seeks Aid</a></b><br />21.03.09. Online WSJ./ legitgov. see also <a href="http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3135.shtml"> Online Journal Commentary</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/education/22schools.html?th&emc=th"> Some Rich Districts Get Richer as Aid Is Rushed to Schools </a> (21.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/education/22schools.html?th&emc=th"> Banks Lost $32.1 Billion in Fourth Quarter</a> (21.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/WallStreet/story?id=7146474&page=1">JPMorgan Chase to Spend Millions on New Jets and Luxury Airport Hangar</a></b><br />23.03.09. ABC / legitgov. Embattled bank JPMorgan Chase, the recipient of $25 billion in TARP funds, is going ahead with a <b>$138</b> million plan to buy two new luxury corporate jets and build "the premiere corporate aircraft hangar on the eastern seaboard" to house them, ABC News has learned. The financial giant's upgrade includes nearly $120 million for two Gulfstream 650 planes and $18 million for a lavish renovation of a hangar at the Westchester Airport outside New York City.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/toxi-m24.shtml">Wall Street celebrates government windfall for banks and big investors </a></b><br />24.03.09. WSWS / legitgov. Wall Street erupted in a demonstration of euphoria and greed Monday as the Obama administration announced a plan to offload bankers' bad debts that amounts to an unprecedented looting of taxpayer funds to benefit the financial elite. All of the major stock indexes soared as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner laid out details of the administration's so-called Public-Private Investment Program--a euphemism for a scheme to bankroll private investment firms and guarantee them huge profits in return for buying failed home loans and securities from the banks at vastly inflated prices.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52O5KB20090325">Stimulus, bailout will lead to more fraud: FBI</a></b><br />25.03.09. Reuters / legitgov. The FBI is bracing for a wave of fraud and corruption cases stemming from the government's multitrillion-dollar effort to get the economy moving again, the agency's chief told Congress on Wednesday. The expected surge in economic crimes will place further strain on an agency already stretched thin as it investigates mortgage fraud, terrorism and corrupt politicians, FBI Director Robert Mueller said. See also <a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/03/fbi-director-says-financial-fraud-cases.php"> JURIST</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/business/28p">onzi.html?_r=1">Bank ofAmerica Accused in Ponzi Lawsuit</a></b><br />27.03.09. NY Times. Bank of America effectively set up a branch in a Long Island office that helped Nicholas Cosmo carry out a $380 million Ponzi scheme, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aQ29yg1j1Ces">Bank Executives May Keep TARP Funds After Meeting With Obama</a></b><br />28.03.09. Bloomberg. Thirteen chief executive officers of the nation’s biggest financial institutions met with President Barack Obama yesterday at the White House to discuss housing, proposed rules and executive pay, as well as the Treasury Department’s plans to revive the banking industry. While some lenders plan to soon return billions of dollars in assistance they accepted since October, potentially undermining the rescue effort, others backed away.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/us/30walkaway.html?th&emc=th"> Banks Starting to Walk Away on Foreclosures </a> (29.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><u> The Car </u><br /><br /><u> Shareholder Value</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e2b02cf2-14ef-11de-8cd1-0000779fd2ac.html">Corporate governance without a hint of systemic surveillance</a></b><br />20.03.09. FT. Mr Welch caught our attention with a pithy statement, noting that shareholder value is a dumb strategy and can only be pursued as an outcome of leadership focused on the full stakeholder community. The FT followed up with their own call for a more enlightened approach to making shareholder value the “operative goal”.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/business/28ponzi.html?_r=1">Bank of America Accused in Ponzi Lawsuit</a></b><br />27.03.09. NY Times. Bank of America effectively set up a branch in a Long Island office that helped Nicholas Cosmo carry out a $380 million Ponzi scheme, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aQ29yg1j1Ces">Bank Executives May Keep TARP Funds After Meeting With Obama</a></b><br />28.03.09. Bloomberg. Thirteen chief executive officers of the nation’s biggest financial institutions met with President Barack Obama yesterday at the White House to discuss housing, proposed rules and executive pay, as well as the Treasury Department’s plans to revive the banking industry. While some lenders plan to soon return billions of dollars in assistance they accepted since October, potentially undermining the rescue effort, others backed away.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/us/30walkaway.html?th&emc=th"> Banks Starting to Walk Away on Foreclosures </a> (29.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><u> The Car </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/03/20093393113452846.html">Japan's troubled Toyota seeks loan</a></b><br />03.03.09. aljazeera. Toyota has projected it will report a loss of $3.6bn at the end of its financial year in March, its first annual loss in nearly six decades.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200933202145636939.html">US vehicle sales plummet</a></b><br />04.03.09. aljazeera. General Motors reported a sales drop of more than 53 per cent compared to 2008 on Tuesday, Ford said its sales were down by 48 per cent, while Chrysler posted a 44 per cent fall in sales for the same period.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.aol.com/article/auto-suppliers-to-get-5-billion-in-aid/389607">Auto suppliers to get <b>$5 billion</b> in aid</a></b><br />19.03.09. AP. / legitgov. The funds, announced Thursday, will be made available from the government's Troubled Assets Relief Program, or TARP<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7936397.stm">Toyota cuts working hours and pay</a></b><br />11.03.09. BBC. The cuts will take effect on 1 April and will last for one year. They affect 4,500 staff at plants in Burnaston, Derby, and Deeside, Flintshire.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7952701.stm"> British 2010 motor show cancelled </a> (19.03.09. BBC)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7954349.stm">UK car production in record drop</a></b><br />20.03.09. BBC. The number of new cars produced in the UK <u>fell by a record 59%</u> in February, year-on-year, as the motor industry continues to suffer from weak demand.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/world/europe/23saab.html?_r=1&th&emc=th"> Sweden Says No to Saving Saab </a> (23.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article5976696.ece">Ford ready to get rid of Volvo at huge loss</a></b><br />26.03.09. Times on Line / ICH. Ford is believed to be preparing to take a knockdown price for Volvo to get the loss-making Swedish division off its hands.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/28/business/economy/28auto.html">U.S. Expected to Give More Financing to Automakers </a> (27.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/business/30auto.html?th&emc=th">U.S. Moves to Overhaul Ailing Carmakers</a></b><br />30.03.09. NY Times. The White House on Sunday pushed out the chairman of General Motors and instructed Chrysler to form a partnership with the Italian automaker Fiat within 30 days as conditions for receiving another much-needed round of government aid.<br /><br /><u>AIG</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/ds_aig_greed.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 307px; height: 208px;" src="http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/ds_aig_greed.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/"> news dissector blog</a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22162.htm">AIG: Billions Dished Out in the Dark</a></b><br />05.03.09. Robert Scheer, Nation/ ICH. The problem is with what is not being debated: the far more expensive Wall Street bailout that is being pushed through--as in the case of the latest AIG rescue--in secret, hurried deal-making primarily by the unelected secretary of the treasury and the chairman of the Federal Reserve.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/8263">The PR Firm for "Evil"</a></b><br />07.03.09. pr watch. After it was revealed that the floundering American International Group (AIG) had hired <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Burson_Marsteller">Burson Marsteller (B-M)</a> as one of its PR advisers, Rachel Maddow, the host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC, wondered who else the firm had worked for.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/business/15AIG.html?_r=1">A.I.G. to Pay $100 Million in Bonuses After Huge Bailout</a></b><br />14.03.09. NY Times/legitgov. Despite being bailed out with more than $170 billion from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, the American International Group is preparing to pay about $100 million in bonuses to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year. / .. Administration officials said they had managed to reduce some of the bonuses but had allowed most of them to go forward after the company’s chief executive said A.I.G. was contractually obligated to pay them./ .. In his letter to the Treasury, Mr. Liddy said A.I.G. hoped to reduce its retention bonuses for 2009 by 30 percent. He said the top 25 executives at the Financial Products division had also agreed to reduce their salary for the rest of 2009 to $1.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/opinion/15sun1.html?th&emc=th"> Following the A.I.G. Money</a> (14.03.09. Editorial, NY Times)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/16/business/16rescue.html?th&emc=th"> A.I.G. Lists Which Banks It Paid With U.S. Bailout Funds </a> (15.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/us/politics/17obama.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1"> Obama Orders Treasury Chief to Try to Block A.I.G. Bonuses</a> (16.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/03/16/Help-for-small-business-condemnation-for-AIG-bonuses/"> Help for small business, condemnation for AIG bonuses</a> (16.03.09. whitehousegov)<br /><br />Report: <a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40438.pdf">"Ongoing Government Assistance for American International Group (AIG),"</a> (March 16, 2009)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5927055.ece">AIG bonus millionaires have left the company</a></b><br />17.03.09. Times Online / legitgov. <em> Eleven AIG workers who received retention bonuses of $1 million or more have already left the company</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090317_ny_attorney_general_investigates_aigs_staggering_bonus_mess/">N.Y. Attorney General Investigates AIG’s ‘Staggering’ Bonus Mess</a></b><br />17.03.09. Truthdig. In a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, reprinted here, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo shares what his office has discovered so far about AIG’s scandalous bonuses, which “made more than 73 millionaires in the unit which lost so much money that it brought the firm to its knees, forcing a taxpayer bailout.”<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/17/AR2009031702046.html"> Cuomo: 73 AIG Executives Got $1 Million Bonuses or More </a> (17.03.09. Washington Post / legitgov)<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/03/20093172334152828.html"> US vows to recover AIG money</a> (18.03.09. al jazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/132342/aig_won%27t_release_names_of_executives%2C_citing_death_threats/">AIG Won't Release Names Of Executives, Citing Death Threats</a></b><br />18.03.09. Ryan Grim, Huffington Post, American News Project / alternet. <em>Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the Financial Services Committee, requested the names and threatened to subpoena them</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/business/economy/19geithner.html?th&emc=th">A.I.G. Uproar Is a Test for Geithner</a></b><br />18.03.09. NY Times. All three of President Obama’s top economic advisers were on message when they appeared Sunday on separate television talk shows. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, they said, had concluded, based on lawyers’ advice, that he could <u>not stop the $165 million in bonuses</u> that the American International Group was even then doling out to hundreds of employees.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2213942/">The Real AIG Scandal</a></b><br />18.03.09. Eliot Spitzer, Slate / legitgov. Why are AIG's counterparties getting paid back in full, to the tune of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars? For the answer to this question, we need to go back to the very first decision to bail out AIG, made, we are told, by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, then-New York Fed official Timothy Geithner, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke last fall... And who were AIG's trading partners? No shock here: Goldman, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, UBS, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and on it goes. So now we know for sure what we already surmised: <b>The AIG bailout has been a way to hide an enormous second round of cash to the same group that had received TARP money already</b>.<br />&<br /><b><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2214407/">The Real AIG Scandal, Continued!</a></b><br />22.03.09. Eliot Spitzer, slate / legitgov. <em> The transfer of $12.9 billion from AIG to Goldman looks fishier and fishier</em>. The AIG scandal is getting ever-more disturbing. Goldman Sachs' public conference call explaining its trading relationship and exposure with AIG established once again that Goldman knows how to protect itself. According to Goldman, even if AIG had failed, Goldman's losses would have been minimal. How did Goldman protect itself? Sensing AIG's weakening capital position through 2006 and 2007, Goldman demanded more collateral from AIG and covered outstanding risk with instruments from other firms. But this raises two critical questions. The first is why did $12.9 billion of taxpayer money go from AIG to Goldman? What risk--systemic or otherwise--was being covered? If Goldman wasn't going to suffer severe losses, why are taxpayers paying them off at 100 cents on the dollar?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B0EAB224A%2DFC97%2D410C%2DA210%2DF7766237C699%7D"> House approves bill to tax AIG bonuses at 90% </a> (19.03.09. market watch/ legitgov}<br /><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/19/obama-envoy-richard-holbr_n_177161.html">Obama Envoy Richard Holbrooke Served On AIG's Board </a>(19.03.09) Huff Post)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/business/20aig.html">A.I.G. Sues U.S. for Return of $306 Million in Tax Payments </a></b><br />19.03.09. NY Times. While the American International Group comes under fire from Congress over executive bonuses, it is quietly fighting the federal government for the return of $306 million in tax payments, some related to deals that were conducted through offshore tax havens. A.I.G. sued the government last month in a bid to force it to return the payments, which stemmed in large part from its use of aggressive tax deals, some involving entities controlled by the company’s financial products unit in the Cayman Islands, Ireland, the Dutch Antilles and other offshore havens.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aBwUb_K6GQ7s">AIG Bonuses Contemplated By Bush Administration, TARP Inspector Says</a></b><br />19.03.09. Bloomberg / legitgov. George W. Bush’s administration "specifically contemplated" paying bonuses to American International Group Inc. employees in its November agreement to provide federal bailout funds to the insurance giant, the inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said today. Neil Barofsky testified before the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/19/obama-envoy-richard-holbr_n_177161.html"> Obama Envoy Richard Holbrooke Served On AIG's Board </a> (19.03.09) Huff Post)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22260.htm"> We're on The Verge Of A Major Crisis</a> (20.03.09. Ron Paul on AIG bonus, 6 min)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/treasury-fed-reviewed-aig-bonus-info-months-ago/">Treasury, Fed Reviewed AIG Bonus Info Months Ago</a></b><br />20.03.09. fox bus., legitgov. As Congress and the Obama Administration consider legislation to limit bonuses at American International Group, documents obtained by FOX Business show AIG bonuses and other compensation were reviewed and changed by officials at the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve in November, when the Treasury made its first investment of taxpayer funds -- $40 billion -- in the company... Despite their deliberations at the time, the Treasury and Fed officials, which were part of the Bush Administration, eventually decided to restrict compensation on just the top 75 company executives--and some of them may still have received hefty bonuses.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/hc-aig-bonuses-3021_lat,0,2706556.story">AIG bonuses $218 million, not $165 million, A.G. says</a></b><br />21.03.09. LA Times / legitgov. The ongoing AIG bonus controversy continued Saturday as Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the total paid was actually more than $50 million higher than previously believed. The overall bonuses to employees at the embattled insurance giant were $218 million, not $165 million, he said. That number was calculated after Blumenthal's office received documents from the company on Friday.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/18/60minutes/main4873938.shtml"> Obama on AIG Rage, Recession, Challenges</a> (22.03.09. ’60 minutes’, CBS.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/216480/Part-II-Geithner-Obama-Kowtowing-to-%22Massively-Corrupted%22-Banks-Galbraith-Says?tickers=XLF,FAS,SKF,C,BAC,JPM,%5EDJI">Geithner, Obama Kowtowing to "Massively Corrupted" Banks, Galbraith Says</a></b><br />23.03.09. yahoo finance / ICH. Like it or not, many people seem to be resigned to the idea there's no alternative to the public-private investment fund scheme Treasury Secretary Geithner detailed this morning. That's hogwash, says University of Texas professor James Galbraith, author of The Predator State. Of course there's an alternative: FDIC receivership of insolvent banks. V|DEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wcbstv.com/topstories/aig.bonuses.andrew.2.965998.html">Cuomo: 9 Of 10 Top AIG Execs To Return Bonuses</a></b><br />23.03.09. web stv. In all 15 of the top 20 bonus recipients have agreed to give back the money, which equals approximately $30 million. / .. <b>Of the $165 million pool, we calculate that employees have agreed to return approximately $50 million</b>.<br /><br /><em> The “Change" phenomena: “enemy combatants”; “leaving Iraq”; “AIG” … </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52M1KE20090323"> AIG now AIU Holdings </a> (23.03.09. Reuters)<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=obama_patches_russell_means.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 296px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=obama_patches_russell_means.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=obama_patches_russell_means.jpg%E2%80%9D">uruknet </a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175040">The Dictionary of American Empire-Speak</a></b><br />01.03.09. Tom Englehardt, TomDispatch. <em>The Imperial Unconscious: Afghan Faces, Predators, Reapers, Terrorist Stars, Roman Conquerors, Imperial Graveyards, and Other Oddities of the Truncated American Century</em><br />= = =<br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/geit-m25.shtml">Democrats prepare to ditch AIG bonus bill</a></b><br />23.03.09. WSWS. Within days of the overwhelming passage by the House of Representatives of a bill imposing a 90 percent surtax on bonuses awarded by the insurance giant American International Group (AIG) and other firms that have received government bailout money, the Democratic leadership in both the House and the Senate have signaled they will drop the measure.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://action.citizen.org/t/6413/content.jsp?content_KEY=5511">Panama FTA: AIG Sues U.S. for Back Taxes Dodged in Panama Tax Haven</a></b><br />25.03.09. Global Trade Watch / legitgov. AIG is claiming that it overpaid taxes related to activities of an AIG-linked Panamanian corporation chartered in tax haven Panama. No surprise then, that none other than AIG - along with other bailed-out banks - supports a hangover Bush Free Trade Agreement with Panama.<br /><br /><br /><u>Citigroup</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a5_f5rPe0U48">Citigroup Said to Pay $13 Million for Scrapped Trips</a> (09.03.09. Bloomberg)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52F3MP20090316">Citigroup CEO awarded $10.8 million </a></b><br />16.03.09. Reuters / legitgov. <em>Citigroup got $45 billion from TARP and the government agreed to share losses on $300.8 billion of troubled assets</em>. Citigroup Inc awarded Chief Executive Vikram Pandit $10.82 million of compensation in 2008, a year when the government propped up the bank with $45 billion of capital. The bank faces increased government pressure to right itself after more than $85 billion of writedowns and credit losses since the middle of 2007. Pandit's compensation was higher than the $9.96 million that Bank of America Corp, which has also received $45 billion of TARP money, awarded its CEO, Kenneth Lewis.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE52G0X420090317">Citi, Morgan Stanley look to sidestep bonus caps: report</a></b><br />17.03.09. Reuters / legitgov. Anticipating restrictions on bonuses, officials at Citigroup Inc and Morgan Stanley are exploring ways to sidestep tough new federal caps on compensation, the Wall Street Journal said. Executives at these banks and other financial institutions that received government aid are discussing increasing base salaries for some executives and other top-producing employees, the paper said, citing people familiar with the situation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=adLGVE_YzvUU">Citigroup May Spend $10 Million for Executive Suite (Update1)</a></b><br />19.03.09. Bloomberg / legitgov. Citigroup Inc. plans to spend about $10 million on new offices for Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit and his lieutenants, after the U.S. government injected $45 billion of cash into the bank.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/should-white-house-employees-keep-bonuses/?nl=pol&emc=pola2">Should White House Employees Keep Bonuses?</a></b><br />24.03.09. NY Times. Several members of the Obama administration worked for financial companies that received bailout funds, raising the question of whether they should keep any bonus they received. / … At least three members of the still-growing team of political appointees, for example, worked at Citigroup and were eligible for year-end bonuses. One of the former Citigroup executives, Michael Froman, the deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, has decided to give his bonus to charity. The White House declined to provide specific details on what the other two<br /><br /><br /><u> Wal-Mart</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/8269"> Wal-Mart Buys PR in Bulk </a> (10.03.09. pr watch)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.clickorlando.com/money/18973265/detail.html">Wal-Mart Giving Workers $933M In Bonuses</a></b><br />20.03.09. click orlando / legitgov. Retail giant Wal-Mart will hand out its largest annual award -- <b>$2 billion</b> -- which includes bonuses to every part-time and full-time hourly employee. The $2 billion includes 401k contributions, about $1 billion in profit-sharing, millions of dollars in merchandise discounts and $933 million in bonuses. The average cash bonus for employees will be $667.<br /><br />[For general good information on Walmart, see <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wal-Mart_Stores"> Sourcewatch</a>)<br /><br /><u>China</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52530&s2=11">China is the Key to America’s problems</a></b><br />10.03.09. Peter Chamberlin, uruknet. China and America are locked into an economic pact of mutually assured destruction, if either side falls or falters, then the other side sinks as well.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5899805.ece">Chinese Premier concerned about assets in US</a></b><br />13.03.09. times on line / ICH. Wen Jiabao reminded the United States of its responsibilities in easing the global financial crisis - and of its indebtedness to his country, which now owns the bulk of US Treasuries. "I would like ... to once again request America to maintain its trustworthiness, keep its promise and guarantee the safety of Chinese assets," he said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/03/200931382836946878.html">US reassures China over assets</a></b><br />14.03.09. al jazeera Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for Barack Obama, the US president, said on Friday: "There's no safer investment in the world than in the United States." Gibbs was responding to comments by Wen Jiabao, China's prime minister, who voiced concern over the outlook of US government bonds, calling on Washington to ease worries about US assets.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22282.htm">China Urges New Money Reserve to Replace Dollar</a></b><br />23.0309. David Baroza, NY Times / ICH. In another indication that China is growing increasingly concerned about holding huge dollar reserves, the head of its central bank has called for the eventual creation of a <u>new international currency reserve</u> to replace the dollar.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aUTIiOnyg6LQ&refer=home">China to Keep Buying Treasuries, Top Official Says</a></b><br />23.03.09. Bloomberg. China's top foreign-exchange official said the nation will keep buying Treasuries and endorsed the dollar's global role, supporting the U.S. as the Obama administration increases spending to revive growth<br /><br /><em> Related</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/03/how-big-deal-is-loss-of-dollars-reserve.html">How big a deal is the loss of the dollar's reserve status?</a></b><br />22.03.09. market skeptic/ ICH. To answer this question, lets first calculate just how large are the dollar holdings of foreign governments. From the CIA's world Factbook, below is a ranking of countries by reserves of foreign exchange. SEE CHART.<br /><br /><a href="http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080315/tbs-venezuela-commodities-oil-currency-e-5268574.html"> Venezuela opts for oil contracts in euros: report </a>(15.03.08. yahoo.)<br /><br /><u>G20 / WORLD BANK / IMF</u><br /><br />G20 [<em> dead loss</em>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/03/2009314165757794380.html">G20 nations pledge financial fix</a></b><br />15.03.09. al jazeera.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/22/g20-global-economy">G20 warned unrest will sweep globe</a></b><br />22.03.09. Guardian. <em>Crunch 'will cost developing world £520bn'</em>. A wave of social and political unrest could sweep through the world's poorest countries if G20 leaders fail to come to their aid, the World Bank warns today, as new research says the credit crunch will cost developing countries $750bn (£520bn) in lost output and drive millions more into poverty.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/2009-03-23-voa35.cfm"> G20 Nations Told Not to Forget the Poor at Upcoming Summit</a> (23.03.09. VOA. (Tom Arnold of Care Worldwide) is calling on G20 to keep its commitments to poor)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ioHIu3Ptddb0raKt_c6aszR9kwWQD976E4I81">A timeline of the planned G20 protests </a>(27.03.09. AP)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/washington/29global.html?th&emc=th">Obama Will Face a Defiant World on Foreign Visit</a></b><br />28.03.09. NY Times. Despite his immense popularity around the world, Mr. Obama will confront resentment over American-style capitalism and resistance to his economic prescriptions when he lands in London on Tuesday for the Group of 20 summit meeting of industrial and emerging market nations plus the European Union.The president will <u>not even try to overcome NATO’s unwillingness to provide more troops</u> in Afghanistan when he goes on later in the week to meet with the military alliance.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/g20-summit/5067296/G20-summit-blow-for-Gordon-Brown-as-1.4-trillion-spending-blueprint-is-leaked.html"> G20 summit: blow for Gordon Brown as £1.4 trillion spending blueprint is leaked </a> (29.03.09. Telegraph)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVtHYqHLEBA">G20 Meltdown </a> (2 min.)<br /><br />= =<br /><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/09/news/international/global_economy_world_bank/index.htm">World Bank: Economy worst since Depression </a> (09.03.09. CNN)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200932222917600684.html">World Bank: Global economy to dive</a></b><br />22.03.09. Al jazeera. The global economy is set to shrink by one to two per cent this year, Robert Zoellick, the World Bank president has said.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://salvationpoem.com/images/imf.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 131px; height: 131px;" src="http://salvationpoem.com/images/imf.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/03/20093204464077169.html">IMF expects world economy to shrink</a></b><br />20.03.09. al jazeera. The International Monetary Fund has predicted the global economy will shrink by as much as 1.5 per cent this year - its first contraction since World War II. The IMF said G20 countries should develop plans to cope with failing financial institutions before the broader economy is infected.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12922">The Bourbons of Global Finance</a></b><br />27.03.09. Prof Howard Stein and Prof Claudia Kedar, global research.ca. Today’s International Monetary Fund (and, to a lesser degree, the World Bank) recall Talleyrand’s description of France’s Bourbon kings: it has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. At a time when rich countries like the United States are running deficits of 12% of GDP because of the global financial meltdown, the IMF has been telling countries like Latvia and Ukraine, which did not start the crisis but have turned to the Fund to help combat it, that they must balance their budgets if they want aid.<br /><br /><br /><b> The Media </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25484">Annual 2008 Report The plight of journalists in 98 countries reviewed</a></b><br />Reporters Without Borders.(pdf)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3730">What the Dow Isn't</a></b><br />05.03.09. Fair. <em> Stocks misused as 'scorecard' of White House policy</em>,<br />If reporters really want to assess public reaction to White House economic proposals, there is a much more straightforward way to do that:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ilSE0udp2avqEyU8jL65w2Qq6TXgD96QIR900"> Newspaper publisher McClatchy cutting 1,600 jobs </a> (09.03.09. AP.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1883785,00.html"> The 10 Most Endangered Newspapers in America </a> [Time]<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/131463/jon_stewart_demolishes_cnbc%27s_jim_cramer_in_daily_show_showdown_%28uncensored%29/%3E%20Jon%20Stewart%20Demolishes%20CNBC%27s%20Jim%20Cramer%3C/a%3E%20%2813.03.09%29%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" org="" node="" 8277="">The Bleak State of the News Media</a><br />16.03.09. Project for Excellence in Journalism,/PR Watch. "Newspaper ad revenues have fallen 23% in the last two years. ... By our calculations, nearly one out of every five journalists working for newspapers in 2001 is now gone, and 2009 may be the worst year yet," reads the summary of the "State of the News Media 2009" report.<br /><br />VIDEO:<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTN3s2iVKKI"> NETWORK</a> (4 min)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52N67F20090324">U.S. bill seeks to rescue faltering newspapers</a></b><br />24.03.09. Reuters / legitgov. With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, a Democratic senator on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks. Senator Benjamin Cardin's Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090326_newspapers_self-inflicted_wounds/">Newspapers’ Self-Inflicted Wounds</a></b><br />26.03.09. David Sirota, Truthdig. <em> Most newspaper postmortems insist that decreased ad revenues brought on by the Internet and the recession caused journalism’s problems, but a look at the vapid celebrity-obsessed pages of the nation’s ever-thinner rags tells a different story`</em><br /><br /><u>Paul Krugman</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/despair-over-financial-policy/?scp=1&sq=The%20Geithner%20plan%20has%20now%20been%20leaked%20in%20detail.&st=cse">Despair over financial policy</a></b><br />21.03.09. P. Krugman, NY Times. The Geithner plan has now been leaked in detail. It’s exactly the plan that was widely analyzed — and found wanting — a couple of weeks ago. The zombie ideas have won. / The Obama administration is now completely wedded to the idea that there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the financial system — that what we’re facing is the equivalent of a run on an essentially sound bank. As Tim Duy put it, there are no bad assets, only misunderstood assets. And if we get investors to understand that toxic waste is really, truly worth much more than anyone is willing to pay for it, all our problems will be solved./ ... Or to put it another way, Treasury has decided that what we have is nothing but a confidence problem, which it proposes to cure by creating massive moral hazard. / This plan will produce big gains for banks that didn’t actually need any help; it will, however, do little to reassure the public about banks that are seriously undercapitalized. And I fear that when the plan fails, as it almost surely will, the administration will have shot its bolt: it won’t be able to come back to Congress for a plan that might actually work.<br /><br /><b>What an awful mess</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/opinion/23krugman.html?th&emc=th">Financial Policy Despair</a></b><br />22.03.09. P. Krugman, NY Times. Over the weekend The Times and other newspapers reported leaked details about the Obama administration’s bank rescue plan, which is to be officially released this week. If the reports are correct, Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, has persuaded President Obama to <u>recycle Bush administration policy</u> — specifically, the “cash for trash” plan proposed, then abandoned, six months ago by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. This is more than disappointing. In fact, it fills me with a sense of despair. / It’s as if the president were determined to confirm the growing perception that he and his economic team are out of touch, that their economic vision is clouded by excessively close ties to Wall Street. And by the time Mr. Obama realizes that he needs to change course, his political capital may be gone.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/opinion/27krugman.html?th&emc=th">The Market Mystique</a></b><br />26.03.09. Paul Krugman, NY Times. The top officials in the Obama administration still believe in the magic of the financial marketplace and in the prowess of the wizards who perform that magic.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/30/opinion/30krugman.html?th&emc=th">America the Tarnished</a></b><br />29.03.09. Paul Krugman, NY Times. historical analysis & final paragraph: “The financial crisis has had many costs. And one of those costs is the damage to America’s reputation, an asset we’ve lost just when we, and the world, need it most.”<br /><br /><br /><u> Danny Schechter, Media Channel </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22129.htm">Who Will Rescue Us? No One Seems To Know Or Be Willing To Say How Bad Things Are</a></b><br />02.03.09. Danny Schechter (of Media Channel) / ICH. Does anyone even know how bad the economy is, or how much worse it will get?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/2009/03/05/europe-coping-with-deepening-crisis-and-regulating-crooks/">Europe Coping With Deepening Crisis And Regulating Crooks</a></b><br />05.03.09. Danny Schechter, Dissector, Media Channel. <em>REPORTING FROM EUROPE: THE FINANCIAL CRISIS (AND FINANCIAL CRIME) IS HERE </em>. Obsessed as we are about our own crumbling economy, it’s hard for most Americans to see and appreciate the global nature of the crisis and how it is impacting and will impact others throughout the world. / We don’t recognize how many in other countries blame the fall of their own economies on a kind of “financial aids” born in the USA. / And even as protests spread with Britain just putting its own Army on alert for fear of disruptions this summer by anarchists with a bent on class war with slogans like “burn a banker,” mass demonstrations show no sign of abating in France, Iceland, Ireland, Greece and other EU countries.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.creative-i.info/?p=5155">THE FINANCIAL CRISIS SLAMS INTO EUROPE: Do Americans Realize How The Crisis Breeds Global Chaos? </a> (Danny Schechter, Creative-i)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/21-0">Pitchforks and Protests: The Fury Down Below</a></b><br />Will Public Anger With The Ongoing Rip-off Have An Impact?<br />21.03.09. Danny Schechter, Common Dreams. It took a little time but the American public is in a state of growing fury, looking for who is to blame for their declining economic fortunes. It's being called a "populist fury."/ ... Overall expect more crime, protests and unrest. It doesn't take a weatherman to see which way this wind is blowing. / The challenge of course is that most activists are no clearer on a comprehensive program for change than the politicians, the business world or the media. Republicans are focusing their fire on Tim Geithner, who they perceive as the weak link in Obama's chain. Democrats are bashing business and each other, as is often the case. There seems to be no extra-Congressional opposition/movement to challenge all the finger pointing. / We need a serious plan for the public to rally behind, a set of demands that make sense. We are in a whole new period with an enraged public ready to act. How do we avoid descending into empty slogans, conspiracy distractions and a blame game to target "irresponsible borrowers," or that old standby that the Jewish cabal of bankers or whoever else seems most blameworthy? / Don't think these issues will go away. Will political activists be able to rise to the occasion?<br /><br /><br /><br /><b> II. THE GOVERNMENT SPEAKS</b><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=p49935c84e6ef9.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 180px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=p49935c84e6ef9.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><em>With the possible exception of the war on drugs, it would be difficult to find a greater terrorist-producing machine than the U.S. government’s occupation of Afghanistan.</em> <a href="http://www.fff.org/comment/com0903l.asp"> Jacob G. Hornberger</a><br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> Imperial Wars </b><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/03/opinion/03herbert.html?emc=eta1">Wars, Endless Wars</a></b><br />02.03.09. Bob Herbert, NY Times Op Ed. The U.S. economy is in free fall, the banking system is in a state of complete collapse and Americans all across the country are downsizing their standards of living. The nation as we’ve known it is fading before our very eyes, but <b>we’re still pouring billions of dollars into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with missions we are still unable to define</b>. / In short, we’re committed to these two conflicts for a good while yet, and there is nothing like an etched-in-stone plan for concluding them. I can easily imagine a scenario in which Afghanistan and Iraq both heat up and the U.S., caught in an extended economic disaster at home, undermines its fragile recovery efforts in the same way that societies have undermined themselves since the dawn of time — with endless warfare.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/07/AR2009030701795.html">Solicitation for Media Team in Iraq Hints at Contracting-Overhaul Snags</a></b><br />08.03.09. Walter Pincus, Washington Post. The Army wants a <b>private firm</b> to provide a seven-member media [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">propaganda</span>] team to support the public affairs officer of the 25th Infantry Division, now serving as Multi-National Division-North in Iraq -- at least three media specialists, two Arab speakers, a Web manager in Iraq and a media specialist stateside. / ... President Barack Obama called last week for the Defense Department to <u>stop outsourcing</u> services that the government could perform. A look at solicitations last week on the Web site FBODaily.com showed more than 40 notices about new and modified contracts for Iraq and Afghanistan, including contracts for building an air-traffic control tower at an Iraq air base, providing security guards for U.S. military facilities in Iraq and hiring a new Food for Peace officer in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/874">Obama’s Budget: Where’s the Peace Dividend?</a></b><br />13.03.09. New America. President Obama is increasing the total military budget over even the post-“surge” levels of the current year. His budget proposal states: "<em>The 2010 Budget for the Department of Defense (DOD) requests $533.7 billion, or an increase of four percent from the 2009 enacted level of $513.3 billion (excluding funding from the American recovery and reinvestment Act of 2009). This funding increase allows DOD to address its highest priorities, such as the President’s commitment to meet the military’s goal to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps, to continue to improve the medical treatment of wounded servicemembers, and to reform the acquisition process"</em>. / Overall military spending — which includes the cost of “contingency operations” in Iraq and Afghanistan — would increase by $9 billion to <b>$663.7 billion</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/15/america/military.php">U.S. reconsiders its '2-war' readiness strategy</a></b><br />15.03.09. Thom Shanker, IHT / anti-war. The protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are forcing the administration of President Barack Obama to rethink what for more than two decades has been a central premise of American strategy: that the nation need only prepare to fight two major wars at a time.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/washington/19gates.html?th&emc=th">‘Stop-Loss’ Will All but End by 2011, Gates Says</a></b><br />18.03.09. Thom Shanker, NY Times. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">this is Obama double speak: WHAT does <u>"all but end"</u> mean? </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/us/politics/19military.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">U.S. Plans Vastly Expanded Afghan Security Force</a></b><br />18.03.09. Thom Shanker, Eric Schmitt, NY Times / ICH. A plan awaiting final approval by the president would set a goal of about 400,000 troops and national police officers, more than twice the forces' current size, and more than three times the size that American officials believed would be adequate for Afghanistan in 2002, when the Taliban and Al Qaeda appeared to have been routed.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2009/03/6-years-in-iraq-a-timeline-in-images.php?img=4%206%20Years%20in%20Iraq:%20A%20TimeLine%20in%20Images%20%3C/a%3E%20%28TPM%20%28courtesy%20Danny%20Schechter,%20News%20Dissector%2019.03.09%29%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" com="" orig="" articleid="14434"">Obama and the Neocon Middle East War Agenda</a><br />21.03.09. Stephen J. Sniegoski, anti-war. Many Americans, in fact, many people in the world, have been under the impression that Obama's approach to foreign policy, especially as it pertains to the Middle East, would be the antithesis of that of the Bush administration. This dichotomy, however, is increasingly questionable as the professed advocate of change looks more like a proponent of continuation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090322/ts_nm/us_obama_afghan_pakistan">Obama: U.S. must have "exit strategy" in Afghanistan</a></b><br />22.03.09. [Obama] made clear [on CBS ‘60 minutes’] his new approach would call for a greater emphasis on economic development in Afghanistan, diplomacy with neighboring Pakistan and better coordination with international partners than under his predecessor George W. Bush. [but DoD contracts still being given; troops still <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/03/22/report-five-afghan-civilians-killed-in-us-raid/">killing civilians in Pakistan/Afghanistan </a>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/03/26/obama-plans-additional-afghan-escalation/">Obama Plans Additional Afghan Escalation</a></b><br />26.03.09. anti-war. <em> Despite Talk of "Exit Strategy," Plan Will Further Increase Presence</em>. In addition to the 17,000 troops President Obama has already committed to add to the war effort in Afghanistan, his new “comprehensive strategy” will reportedly include another 4,000 troops and hundreds of “civilian advisers,” bringing the US military presence in Afghanistan to nearly 60,000. / Just days ago in a high profile interview, Obama said the plan would have to include some sort of “exit strategy.” So far there has been no indication that this is the case, and the new revelations indicate that if anything, the latest plan is going to further entrench US forces in the nation and escalate the conflict even further.<br /><br />Related: <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pak-set-to-reap-35-billion-windfall-from-terrorism/articleshow/4318277.cms"> Pakistan set to reap $35 billion windfall from terrorism</a><br />MEANWHILE: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/world/asia/27taliban.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">Pakistani and Afghan Taliban Unify in Face of U.S. Influx</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0327/p01s02-wome.html"> US general: American forces may not leave key Iraqi cities</a> (27.03.09. CSM.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/roberts270309.htm">Paul Craig Roberts</a> writes (27.03.09): "Despite the near-term budget costs of ending the occupation of Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, terminating these pointless military adventures would produce immediate large out-year budget savings. Closing many foreign military bases and cutting a gratuitously large military budget would produce more out-year savings. The Obama administration’s belief that it can continue with Bush’s wars of aggression while it engages in a massive economic bailout indicates a lack of seriousness about America’s predicament."<br /><br /><u> US 3rd war</u>: See <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html"> Pakistan</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/mar/23/barack-obama-afghanistan">Obama's Afghan quagmire deepens</a></b><br />23.03.09. S. Tisdall, Guardian. <em>The US president inherited a mess in Afghanistan, but he needs to bring some order to his mish-mash of policies for the country</em>. Confused, apparently contradictory, statements by Barack Obama suggest America's new president is having as much trouble as his hapless predecessor in defining US strategy in Afghanistan.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://vodpod.com/watch/1466149-inside-story-obamas-afghanistan-strategy-24-march-09-part-2"> Inside Story-Obama's Afghanistan strategy-24 March</a> <a href="http://mefeedia.com/entry/inside-story-obamas-afghanistan-strategy-24-march-09-part-2/15829832"> PART 2</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12919">US Predators Provoke Pakistan</a></b><br />26.03.09. Michael Carmichael, global research.ca. … the US has continued the Bush Era tactic of launching drone missile strikes against targets the CIA has identified as outposts of Al Qaeda. While the CIA claims that US Predator drones have killed a few of the multitude of ‘senior leaders’ of Al Qaeda, to date the result is far from impressive -- for there is a <b>steadily rising mountain of civilian corpses killed by unmanned missiles</b> that is producing a searing political backlash in the nuclear-armed nation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-03-25-afghanistan_N.htm">Report: Afghanistan aid program flawed</a></b><br />26.03.08. USA Today/ICH. The multibillion-dollar U.S. aid program in Afghanistan is disjointed, bureaucratic and overly dependent on private Western contractors, according to a report to be released today with implications for President Obama's Central Asia strategy.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://aubreyj818.blogspot.com/2009/03/on-ground-updates-afghanistanpakistan.html"> Afghanistan-Pakistan; Obama unveils new comprehensive strategy today on Afghanistan/Pakistan War</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5460244/zardari-calls-change-antiterror-policy/">Zardari calls for change in US anti-terror policy</a></b><br />28.03.09. nz news / ICH. Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari called for a US change of policy and voiced opposition to missile strikes, as President Barack Obama was to unveil Friday a new strategy against Al-Qaeda .<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-obama-afghan30-2009mar30,0,1660365.story">Afghanistan will not be a quagmire, Obama assures</a></b><br />29.03.09. LA Times/legitgov. President Obama says the troop buildup and other efforts are not open-ended, emphasizing the need for diplomatic and development efforts in both Afghanistan and Pakistan to curb militancy. [double speak?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/30/content_11096660.htm">Obama vows not to deploy ground troops in Pakistan</a></b><br />30.03.09. Xinhuanet. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Yup, easier to kill people with planes or drones and keeps Pentagon happy </span>]<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><u> Blackwater</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/17/new-deal-for-blackwater-bucks-decision-by-iraq/">New deal for Blackwater</a></b><br />17.03.09. wawshington times. Days after the Baghdad government decided it no longer wanted the company then known as Blackwater in Iraq, the State Department signed a <b>$22.2 million</b> deal in February to keep the embattled contractor working there through most of the summer, contract records show.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/132171/president_obama,_why_did_you_pay_blackwater_$70_million_in_february/">President Obama, Why Did You Pay Blackwater $70 Million in February?</a></b><br />17.03.09. Jeremy Scahill, Alternet. Obama may keep the company [now Xe] on the government payroll months after its Iraq contract expires. Not bad for a firm supposedly going down in flames. / ... I reviewed Blackwater's recent transactions with the Obama State Department and discovered a <b>$45 million payment to Blackwater on February 4, 2009 for "protective services-Iraq</b>." It is described as a "funding action only." Here is the interesting part: The estimated "Ultimate Completion Date" is 5/07/2011.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52746&s2=19">Blackwater still works for U.S. in Iraq</a></b><br />17.03.09. UPI/uruknet. The U.S. State Department re-signed the security firm formerly known as Blackwater despite Iraq saying it didn't want the company there, records show. The State Department said <b>$22.2 million deal signed with Blackwater, since renamed Xe</b>, in February was a contract modification concerning aviation work, The Washington Times first reported. The contract expires in September, months after its contract for work in Baghdad was to have run out. One observer said the deal rais! es questions about why the United States would want to pay a contractor for work in Iraq if the government won't approve its operating license...<br /><br /><br /><u>DoD Contracts</u><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_defense_contractors"> List of United States defense contractors </a> (Wikipedia)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/kbr-posts-88-million-fourth-quarter/story.aspx?guid=%7BA97A3686-9C88-41B5-8A7A-95779A9ED113%7D">KBR Posts $88 Million Fourth-Quarter Profit, an Industrial Info News Alert</a> (03.03.09. marketwatch / legitgov)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2009/03/02/daily15.html">General Dynamics picks up $94.6M in contracts</a></b><br />03.03.09. bizjournals. The USMC and Navy work represents additional orders on Pentagon contracts already awarded to GD.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2203979/">EF Johnson wins $50 million contract from US DoD customer</a></b><br />03.03.09. trading markets. For its ES Series Project 25 compliant two-way radios.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aRzCEt5NLsj0&refer=us">Lockheed Beats L-3 for $5 Billion U.S. Commando Order (Update1)</a></b><br />03.03.08. Bloomberg. The work for the U.S. Special Operations Command will be performed in Lexington, Kentucky, and other locations across the globe, the Pentagon said today in a statement on its Web site. The so-called indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract runs through March 2018 and would reach its full value only if all options are exercised.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.defpro.com/news/details/5927/">United States DoD contracts for March 3, 2009</a> (04.03.09. defpro. Add up the total?)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_Navy_Awards_GD_Contract_For_Production_Of_FA_18_Gun_Systems_999.html">US Navy Awards GD Contract For Production Of F/A-18 Gun Systems</a></b><br />04.03.09. spacewar. The U.S. Navy has awarded General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, a business unit of General Dynamics, a $16 million contract extension for the production of M61A2 20mm automatic Gatling gun systems for use on F/A-18 fighter jets. [see above 03.03]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29506799/">EMS Technologies Announces 2008 Year-End Results</a></b><br />04.03.09. NBC, Annual Revenues <em>Increase</em> by More Than 16 Percent, Earnings-Per-Share of $1.31 Meet Company Guidance<br /><br /><a href="http://www.defpro.com/news/details/5954/">United States DoD contracts for March 4, 2009</a> (05.03.09. defpronews. Add them up?)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2009/03/02/daily79.html">Oshkosh Defense receives $1 million contract for military all-terrain vehicles</a></b><br />06.03.09. biz journals<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2009/03/02/daily45.html">Battelle snags $78.5 million contract renewal</a></b><br />06.03.09. biz journals.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://sev.prnewswire.com/aerospace-defense/20090306/NE8037006032009-1.html">Eagle-New Bedford Secures Additional $9.3 Million for DoD Contract</a></b><br />06.03.09. prnews wire.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/washington/08army.html?_r=1">The U.S. Army is developing its own electronic warfare teams</a></b><br />08.03.09. Thom Shanker, NY Times. The initial goal is to train more than 1,600 people from enlisted ranks through the officer corps by 2013, and to double that in the following years... The Army’s new field manual, "FM 3-36, Electronic Warfare in Operations," instructs commanders in how to integrate electronic warfare into all tasks, from planning to carrying out military operations. Electronic warfare is among the military's most highly classified efforts, routinely carried out in conjunction with the nation's intelligence agencies. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">How much will THIS cost??</span>]<br /><br /><a href="http://www.defpro.com/news/details/6014/">United States DoD contracts for March 6, 2009</a> (09.03.09. defpro. Add it up?)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://online.barrons.com/article/SB123639085348259121.html?mod=googlenews_barrons">Northrop Grumman: Full Speed Ahead</a></b><br />09.03.09. barrons. Most major defense stocks, including Lockheed Martin (LMT), Boeing (BA) and General Dynamics (GD), have been underperforming the market for the past year, and none more so than Northrop. At about $35, the stock is down 58% from its 2008 high.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/09/ap6141727.html">Ahead of the Bell: Defense Contractors</a></b><br />09.03.09. AP. An analyst said Monday he believes <u>defense contractors will benefit from increased Pentagon spending, boosted by the Obama administration and powerful members of Congress</u>. / Analyst Michael French of Morgan Joseph said in a note to investors that the market is wrong to believe that President Barack Obama may seek immediate cuts in defense spending.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://sev.prnewswire.com/null/20090310/NY8018610032009-1.html">Swissray Awarded US Government Contract</a></b><br />10.03.09. prnewswire. to sell their complete line of digital radiography systems. This contract allows any branch of the Department of Defense, VA Medical Centers or Government Agencies to purchase directly from Swissray. With exercisable option years the contract could be effective until December, 2016. (<u> amount omitted from story</u>)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/031109-verizon-dod-service-contract.html">Verizon lands massive $2.5 billion DoD service contract</a></b><br />11.03.09. network world., The network is the Defense Department's official enterprise-class network for providing data, video and voice services<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=asqeua1LdTAs&refer=us">General Dynamics U.S. Truck Bid Cut; BAE Passes Twice (Update2)</a></b><br />11.03.09. bloomberg. General Dynamics Corp.’s bid for a contract valued at about $6.5 billion to make trucks that would protect troops in Afghanistan from roadside bombs was rejected. Designs from rival BAE Systems Plc cleared the U.S. military’s first round. / ... The Army has said it wants to buy as many as <u>10,000</u> all- terrain vehicles that can navigate Afghanistan’s undeveloped road network. Rejection of the General Dynamics-led bid means the company’s only remaining chance for the contract is through a partnership with Force Protection Inc. The pair face competition from at least three other bidders that have confirmed their vehicles passed the first round of competition.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2009-03-11.asp">The Drug War: An Old Mission for the Pentagon</a></b><br />11.03.09. Hornberger FFF / ICH. Here is how the system works. U.S. government policy produces the conditions for a crisis, which then is used as the excuse for military intervention, which means ever-growing budgets for government officials. [cf Naomi Klein]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2009/03/12/Insitu_contracts_Inmedius_for_data_support/UPI-93221236872291/">Security Industry: Insitu contracts Inmedius for data support</a></b><br />12.03.09. UPI. Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA) subsidiary Insitu contracted Inmedius for its trademarked S1000D Publishing Suite designed to support the S1000D international specifications for military-aircraft technical-publications production.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/12/ap6160550.html">Raytheon receives contract for airline tracking</a></b><br />12.03.09 AP / Forbes. No financial terms given.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29653958/"> Kratos Awarded $11 Million Prime Contract to Support Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Program </a> (12.03.09. NBC)<br /><br /><a href="http://military-online.blogspot.com/2009/03/military-contracts-march-12-2009.html"> MILITARY CONTRACTS March 12, 2009 </a> (12.03.09. military news. Add these up?)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29661926/">BRS Wins Major Army Parachute Contract</a></b><br />12.03.09. NBC. Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded a $4.1M military contract to provide 1,200 G-12 cargo parachutes to the U.S. Army through August 2010. An option for an additional 1,500 systems may be exercised by the Army once this initial batch is delivered, equating to an additional $5.1M contract or a <b>total potential of $9.2M</b> in revenue if fully realized.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090313_5442.php">Spending Bill Includes $700 Million for Pandemic Preparedness</a></b><br />13.03.09. nti. The $410 billion omnibus spending bill signed into law this week by U.S. President Barack Obama <b>includes more than $700 million in pandemic funding </b><><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C03%5C14%5Cstory_14-3-2009_pg7_39">Pentagon plans ‘spy’ blimp</a><br />14.03.09. Daily Times/pk. The Pentagon on Thursday said it intends to spend <b>$400 million</b> to develop a giant dirigible that will float 65,000 feet above the Earth for 10 years, providing intricate radar <u>surveillance</u> of the vehicles, planes and people below.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031303062_pf.html">Army Defends Costly Weapons Program</a></b><br />14.03.09. Washington Post / anti-war. Top Army officials yesterday defended their largest and most expensive modernization effort, the Future Combat System, despite suggestions that the contract will overshoot cost estimates and that the service should limit the amount of money it gives the program. The program likely will cost <b>more than the $159 billion</b> the Pentagon has estimated, according to the Government Accountability Office's annual review of the program<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/17/ap6176822.html">L-3 Communications' team gets US Army deal</a></b><br />17.03.09. Forbes. The deal could ultimately be worth up <b>$17.5 billion</b>. L-3's MRPI unit will oversee the company's team which includes Link Simulation and Training, Global Solutions and Engineering Services, Enterprise IT Solutions, C2S2, D.P. Associates, Coleman Aerospace and TCS units.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2009/03/dod-contracts_3983.htm"> DOD contracts for 16 March 2009 </a> (16.03.09. Global Security. Add up?)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2009/03/16/daily29-Protonex-wins-33M-defense-contract.html">Protonex wins $3.3M defense contract</a></b><br />18.03.09. mass high tech. Under terms of the deal, Protonex (LSE: AIM: PTX and PTXU) will develop a pre-production fuel cell power system for powering small, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">take the cost of one of these UAVs - divide by number of civilians killed to see if this weapon is cost effective;; then keep eye out for "damages" given to family of the murdered </span>]<br /><br /><a href="http://www.defenseprocurementnews.com/2009/03/18/contracts-for-march-18-2009/">Contracts for March 18, 2009 </a> (18.03.09. defense procurement news. ... add costs up?)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=887983&SMap=1">Raytheon Gets $106 Mln US Navy Contract - Update </a> (18.03.09. rtt news. for production of the Joint Standoff Weapon C-1.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.defpro.com/news/details/6292/">United States DoD contracts for March 20, 2009</a></b><br />(defpro. Add up costs?) and also at Global Security <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2009/03/dod-contracts_3987.htm"> here </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.india-defence.com/reports-4271">Raytheon Wins USD 106 Million Contract for Joint Standoff Weapon C-1 Production</a></b><br />21.03.09. India Defence /anti-war, The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon Company a <b>$106 million</b> contract for production of the Joint Standoff Weapon C-1.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2009/03/23/daily7.html"> Raytheon inks $27M radar-system deal </a> (23.03.09. biz journals)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.defpro.com/news/details/6292/"> United States DoD contracts for March 20, 2009 </a> (defpro. Add up costs?) and also at Global Security <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2009/03/dod-contracts_3987.htm"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.india-defence.com/reports-4271">Raytheon Wins USD 106 Million Contract for Joint Standoff Weapon C-1 Production</a></b><br />21.03.09. India Defence /anti-war, The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon Company a <b>$106</b> million contract for production of the Joint Standoff Weapon C-1. and/or <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2009/03/23/daily7.html">Raytheon inks $27M radar-system deal</a>(23.03.09. biz journals)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/ef-johnson-technologies-receives--million-task-order-dod-customer/"> EF Johnson Technologies, Inc. Receives $1 Million Task Order From DoD Customer (24.03.09. Fox business)<br /><br /></a><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2544586420090325"> Lockheed gets $320 mln US F-35 aircraft deal</a>(25.03.09. Reuters)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2009/03/23/daily22.html"> San Antonio oil refiners win $831 million worth of defense contracts </a> (25.03.09. biz journals)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2544586420090325"> Lockheed gets $320 mln US F-35 aircraft deal</a> (25.03.09. Reuters)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/raytheon-awarded-phase--contract-stand-radiation-detection-1924480462/">Raytheon Awarded Phase 3 Contract for Stand-Off Radiation Detection System</a></b><br />26.03.09. Fox. The <u>Department of Homeland Security</u> has awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN: 39.4, 0, 0%) a phase 3 contract to continue development of a Stand-Off Radiation Detection System (SORDS: undefined, undefined, undefined%). Phase 3 is an eight-month contract for <b>$2.3</b> million managed by DHS' Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO: undefined, undefined, undefined%);<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/industrials/concurrent-technologies-corporation-awarded--year--million-contract-continue/">Concurrent Technologies Corporation Awarded 3-Year, $11 Million Contract to Continue Support of the U.S. Navy Carriage, Stream, Tow, and Recovery Program</a></b><br />26.03.09. fox<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u> Obama Speak</u><br /><b><a href="http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2009/03/25/Taking_on_US_defence_lobby_will_be_tough_Obama">Taking on US defence lobby will be 'tough': Obama</a></b><br />25.03.09. AAP live news. Obama said on Tuesday that there was wide agreement in both major US political parties that the way the government purchased weapons was plagued by waste, <b>but</b> that defence firms were influential in Congress and had ensured industry jobs were spread across the country. "I think everybody in this town knows that the politics of changing procurement is tough,"<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/256/story/64779.html">Pentagon exploring robot killers that can fire on their own</a></b><br />25.03.09. McClatchy / legitgov. The unmanned bombers that frequently cause unintended <b>civilian casualties</b> in Pakistan are a step toward an even more lethal generation of robotic hunters-killers that operate with limited, if any, human control. The Defense Department is financing studies of autonomous, or self-governing, armed robots that could find and destroy targets on their own. <b>On-board computer programs, not flesh-and-blood people, would decide whether to fire their weapons</b>. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> Meanwhile, US drones continue to kill civilians in Pakistan</span>]<br /><br /><u>US Bases</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22137.htm">Too Many Overseas Bases</a></b><br />03.03.09. David Vine, FPIF / ICH. In the midst of an economic crisis that's getting scarier by the day, it's time to ask whether the nation can really afford some 1,000 military bases overseas. For those unfamiliar with the issue, you read that number correctly. One thousand. One thousand U.S. military bases outside the 50 states and Washington, DC, representing the largest collection of bases in world history.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22155.htm">U.S.: Military Dominance in Mideast Proven a Costly Myth</a></b><br />05.03.09. Analysis by Gareth Porter, IPS / ICH. Apart from its nearly 200,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States had surrounded Iran with a network of airbases scattered across the region from the Persian Gulf sheikdoms through Iraq and Afghanistan to the Central Asian republics of Kyrgystan and Uzbekistan, along with aircraft on U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/audits/130900/the_costs_of_empire%3A_can_we_really_afford_1%2C000_overseas_bases/?page=entire">The Costs of Empire: Can We Really Afford 1,000 Overseas Bases?</a></b><br />10.03.09. David Vine, FPIF , alternet. <em> Our overseas military bases are pushing the nation deeper into debt and making the United States and the planet less secure</em>.<br /><br /><u> "Shoulder to Shoulder" with Israel</u><br /><br />On the 14th of April 2008, the US signed a <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43081&s2=16"> nuclear cooperation agreement </a> with Israel to “step up cooperation in the field of nuclear safety.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/christison03052009.html">U.S. Military Aid to Israel</a></b><br />06.03.09. Kathleen and Bill Christison, Counterpunch / ICH. U.S. military aid to Israel is doled out in annual increments of billions of dollars but remains virtually unchallenged while other fiscal outlays are drastically cut.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52461&s2=09">Obama and Israel's Military: Still Arm-in-Arm </a></b><br />08.03.09. Stephen Zunes, z mag / uruknet. ...Currently, Obama is on record supporting sending up to <u>$30 billion</u> in unconditional military aid to Israel over the next 10 years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1070318.html">U.S. official: Obama won't cut military aid to Israel</a></b><br />11.03.09. Haaretz. U.S. President Barack Obama will not cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday. / The $30 billion in aid promised to Israel over the next decade will not be harmed by the world financial crisis, the official told Israel Radio. He spoke on condition of anonymity.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52602&s2=14">$30 Billion For Israel's Military </a></b><br />13.03.09. Haitham Sabbah, uruknet. Same old story, new president: U.S. President Barack Obama will <b>not</b> cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday. The $30 billion in aid promised to Israel over the next decade will not be harmed by the world financial crisis, the official told Israel Radio. He spoke on condition of anonymity. The U.S. military aid to Israel was increased in a decade-long deal agreed to by Bush in 2007.!<br /><br />See <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html"> Who Is The President Elect - Obama or AIPAC?</a> (10.11.08, updated)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jta.org/news/article/2009/03/27/1004048/aipac-head-testifies-on-israel-aid">AIPAC head testifies on Israel aid</a></b><br />27.03.09. JTA. Howard Kohr, executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, told the House Appropriations Foreign Operations subcommittee that "American assistance to Israel serves vital U.S. national security interests and advances critical U.S. foriegn policy goals." / He requested that Israel receive <b>$2.775 billion in military aid in fiscal year 2010</b>, as called for in the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Israel that allocates $30 billion in aid for the Jewish state over 10 years.<br />= = =<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/64789.html">Why secretly funded DEA surveillance planes aren't flying</a></b><br />25.03.09. McClatchy / legitgov. The first sign of trouble with the Drug Enforcement Administration's new surveillance planes surfaced almost immediately. On the way from the manufacturer to the agency's aviation headquarters, one of them veered off a runway during a fuel stop. A month later, the windshield unlatched in mid-flight and smashed into the engine. Then, in a third incident on the same plane, a connection between the propeller and the engine came loose and forced an emergency landing. In January, after less than 10 months of operation, the cascade of mechanical problems forced the DEA to ground the planes. / .. The twin-engine planes, manufactured by Schweizer Aircraft, likely came out of an even more shadowy funding provision known as "<b>black earmarks</b>."<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> Missile Defense Contradictions</b><br /><br />See <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/us-nato-missile-shield-programme-index.html"> US-NATO 'Missile Shield' Programme: Index Timeline Part II</a> (03.04.08 updated to 27.03.09)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2009/03/02/daily52.html">Raytheon wins $11.4M Patriot contract</a></b><br />05.03.09. bizjournals. from the U.S. Army to provide technical assistance for the Patriot missile defense system.<br /><a href="http://www.aviationnews.eu/?p=6281"> Boeing and US Army Collaborate on Space and Missile Defense Research </a> (12.03.09. aviartion news)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090312_barack_obama_meet_team_b/">"Barack Obama, Meet Team B"</a></b><br />12.03.09. Scott Ritter, truthdig. The president must be getting bad advice. Why else would he offer not to build a missile defense system he doesn’t want in exchange for Russia’s help with an Iranian nuclear weapons program that doesn’t exist?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090313_5113.php">Raytheon Announces $128 Million Patriot System Support Contract</a></b><br />13.03.09. nti. Friday, to provide engineering support and other assistance for the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/03/16/us-missile-shield-in-europe-would-cost-billions-probably-wouldnt-work/">US Missile Shield in Europe Would Cost Billions, Probably Wouldn’t Work</a></b><br />16.03.09. anti-war. Despite the growing harm being done to US-Russian relations by the proposed US missile defense system in Poland, Obama Administration officials maintain that it is vital to defend <em>against the Iranian “threat</em>.” / But in addition to having <b>cost over $144 billion since 1985</b>, a growing number of reports put into doubt whether the system would even work. Technical analysis has pointed to the systems being fooled by decoys, even balloons, and former Pentagon testing chief Philip Coyle says the successful tests were “scripted for success.”<br />See also nti article <a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090316_5218.php"> here</a>. "It would cost between <b>$9 billion and $13 billion</b> to field a radar in the Czech Republic and 10 missile interceptors in Poland, the Congressional Budget Office found, adding that <u>the European system would not protect the entire continent against Iranian missiles</u>. The United States in the last 24 years has spent $144 billion on programs to defend the country against missile threats, according to the agency.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090318_1624.php">U.S. Missile Defense Costs Skyrocket</a></b><br />18.03.09. nti. The U.S. Government Accountability Office said Monday that missile defense program costs could <b>exceed expectations by $2 billion to $3 billion</b>. ... The Missile Defense Agency's costs for weapon development and deployment since 2002 have nearly reached <b>$56 billion, and another $50 billion is likely to be necessary in the next half-decade</b>, according to the GAO report.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5971">Arms Race in Space</a></b><br />19.03.09. Bruce K. Gagnon, FPIF. <em> The new arms race in space is shaping up to be the largest industrial project in Earth's history. To pay for this project, the aerospace industry has been <u>lobbying</u> Washington for a dedicated funding source. Budget allocations for missile defense — Star Wars — are only part of the huge sums of money redirected toward preparations for war in space.</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090325_9013.php">Clinton Promises U.S. Support for Poland While <em>Skirting</em> Missile Defense Plans</a></b><br />25.03,09. NTI. While avoiding any promise to deploy U.S. missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sought yesterday to reassure Warsaw that the United States would meet its defense obligations to its NATO ally, Agence France-Presse reported.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090325_7694.php">Contractors Push for Missile Defense Funding</a></b><br />25.03.09. NTI. Missile defense spending rose to about $10 billion per year during the Bush administration, but President Barack Obama has suggested <b>cutting that figure by $2 billion</b> in the fiscal 2010 budget, according to industry officials. / .. Officials from <u>Boeing and Northrop Grumman</u>, however, held briefings yesterday to <u>defend</u> their projects. …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/energy/raytheon-awarded--million-phase--contract-wide-bandgap-semiconductor/">Raytheon Awarded $29.3 Million Phase 3 Contract for Wide Bandgap Semiconductor Development Program</a></b><br />25.03.09. fox business. This 38-month phase of the program is a collaboration between DARPA and the Missile Defense Agency (MDA: undefined, undefined, undefined%). Its objective is to rapidly mature and demonstrate the capabilities of gallium nitride (GaN) to improve the performance of missile defense radars. To accelerate the technology development, it will combine the results of Raytheon's DARPA-funded WBGS Phase 2 and the MDA-funded Next Generation Transmit Receive Integrated Microwave Module.<br /><br /><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090326_5827.php"> PAC-3 Interceptor Misses Target in Test</a> (26.03.09. NTI)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><u> The F22</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.local12.com/content/breaking_news/story/F-22-Fighter-Crashes-Near-Edwards-AFB/hgaAUgPzikiW8ApjfkuJrQ.cspx"><br />F-22 Fighter Crashes Near Edwards AFB</a> (26.03.09)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/28330">State to suffer from federal cuts</a></b><br />27.03,.09. Yale Daily News. The F-22 Raptor is by far the most expensive military jet fighter in U.S. Air Force history. Now, after committing to ordering 183 of the nearly $140 million aircraft — down from an initial order of 750 jets — the Defense Department has had enough, a move that jeopardizes thousands of jobs in Connecticut and across the nation. / Connecticut’s defense contractors employ tens of thousands of workers, with the state ranking as the ninth largest recipient of defense contract dollars and the third highest recipient per-capita in fiscal year 2007.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://original.antiwar.com/wheeler/2009/03/27/what-does-an-f-22-cost/">What Does an F-22 Cost?</a></b><br />27.03.09. Winslow T. Wheeler, anti-war. On Wednesday, March 25, an F-22 crashed near Edwards Air Force Base, CA. Very sadly, the pilot was killed. The news articles surrounding this event contained some strange assertions about the cost of the F-22. … the cost per aircraft was typically described in many media articles as about $140 million. / What utter hogwash. … / Here’s the arithmetic: $2.907 + $.327 + $.607 + $.427 = $4.268 billion for 20 aircraft. That’s <b>$213 million each</b>.<br /><br /><br /><b>Nuclear / Chemical / Biological </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090303_4732.php">Energy Department Struggles to Secure Unwanted Radiation Sources</a></b><br />03.03.09. nti. The United States is struggling to secure domestic radiation sources as quickly as their owners determine they are no longer needed<br /><br /><b><a href="http://williambowles.info/wmd/065002008.pdf">Nuclear Notebook: US Nuclear Forces 2009</a></b><br />- .(PDF) Bulletin of Atomic Scientists / w. bowles. The United States has officially reached the upper limit of 2,200 operationally deployed strategic warheads set by the Moscow Treaty, yet warhead dismantlement is proceeding slowly.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090304_7879.php">Nuclear Warhead Maintenance Programs Mismanaged, U.S. Auditors Say</a></b><br />04.03.09. nti.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090306_8119.php">U.S. Plan for Nuclear Waste Appears Dead</a></b><br />06.03.09. nti. The Obama administration has publicly shelved a two-decade effort to establish a high-level nuclear waste facility in <u>Nevada</u>, raising the prospect of lawsuits from the nuclear industry and protests from lawmakers in states where the waste is currently stored, according to reports this week<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2494129.0.how_the_us_forgot_how_to_make_trident_missiles.php">How the US forgot how to make Trident missiles</a></b><br />- . Sunday Herald. The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) "lost knowledge" of how to make a mysterious but very hazardous material codenamed Fogbank. As a result, the warhead refurbishment programme was put back by at least a year, and racked up an extra <b>$69 million</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1069303.html">U.S. Army document describes Israel as 'a nuclear power'</a></b><br />08.03.09. Haaretz. In a rare breach of official American adherence to Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity, the U.S. military is terming Israel "a nuclear power" on a par with Russia, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea, all of which have declared their nuclear weapon status, and ahead of "nuclear threshold powers" Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and the "emerging" Iran.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.metimes.com/Security/2009/03/10/nuclear_sustainment_is_top_priority/5aca/">Nuclear sustainment is top priority</a></b><br />10.03.09. middle east times. The commander of the U.S. Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center said robust nuclear sustainment is critical and a top priority.<br />Brig. Gen. Everett Thomas, commander of the Air Force Materiel Command Nuclear Weapons Center in New Mexico, said in order to effectively support U.S. military objectives, an efficient and sustained nuclear enterprise must remain in focus, the Materiel Command reported.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090310_7968.php">U.S. to Fund Nuclear Waste Storage Site in Jordan</a></b><br />10.03.09. nti. The deal calls for the <u>United States to provide the $370,000 needed for construction</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090312_5512.php">Obama Signs Spending Bill to Sustain Nuclear Programs</a></b><br />12.03.09. nti. U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday signed an omnibus spending bill that <b>includes funding for U.S. nuclear laboratory activities through September</b>. The law provides <b>$6.38 billion to maintain the U.S. nuclear stockpile</b> and <b>$1.48 billion for nonproliferation efforts</b>, including finding and securing loose nuclear materials.<br /><br />REPORT: <a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R40439.pdf">"Nuclear Weapons R&D Organizations in Nine Nations," March 16, 2009</a><br />The organization and management of nuclear weapons research in nine countries -- the United States, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, and the United Kingdom -- are examined in a new report from the Congressional Research Service obtained by <a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/03/nine_nations.html"> Secrecy News</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090319_2082.php">U.S. Deploys Truck-Borne X-Ray Scanners</a></b><br />19.03.09. NTI. The U.S. Border Patrol has begun deploying pickup trucks loaded with X-ray technology that can be used to <u>detect nuclear or radiological threats</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/20/usa-navy-vessels-collision-straits-hormuz">US navy vessels collide near Iran</a></b><br />20. 03.09. Guardian. Two US navy vessels, including a <b>nuclear-powered submarine</b>, collided in one of the Middle East's key oil routes today lightly injuring 15 sailors and causing oil prices to rise. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">why are US nuclear ships near Iran? no wonnder Iran is suspicious of Obama's 'friendly' Iran speach </span>]<br /><br /><u> Iran</u><br /><br />see <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/">information clearing house </a> under heading "<u>Manufacturing Consent For War on Iran</u>"<br /><br /><em>Clinton part of Iran war mongering</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE5222ON20090303">Clinton says missile shield to protect from Iran</a></b><br />03.03.09. Reuters. "What we have said specifically in regard to missile defence in Europe is that it has always been intended to deter any missiles that might come from Iran," Clinton said. "It remains our position. We have explained that to the Russians before."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis140.html">Muslim Weapons of Mass Destruction</a></b><br />10.03.09. Eric Margolis, Lew Rockwell / anti-war. As America struggles with its debt-ravaged economy and surging unemployment, Iran and its alleged nuclear weapons program have again become an issue of major contention. In recent weeks, Obama administration officials and the media issued a blizzard of contradictory claims over Iran’s alleged nuclear threat, leaving one wondering who is really charge of US foreign policy?<br /><br />... Evidence<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5201Y920090301">Iran "not close" to nuclear weapon: Gates</a></b><br />01.03.09. Reuters. "They're not close to a stockpile, they're not close to a weapon at this point, and so there is some time," Gates said on NBC television's "Meet The Press." / Gates' comments followed a televised interview with Adm. Mike Mullen, head of the U.S. military Joint Chiefs of Staff, who told CNN's "State of the Union" that he believed Iran has enough fissile material to make a nuclear bomb.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5irdDSeMH9rhchHhLaW-1Xi8j8uRQD96RAFEG1">Officials: Iran does not have key nuclear material</a></b><br />10.03.09. AP. Iran does not yet have any highly enriched uranium, the fuel needed to make a nuclear warhead, two top U.S. intelligence officials told Congress Tuesday, disputing a claim by an Israeli official. U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Maples said Tuesday that Iran has only low-enriched uranium — which would need to be refined into highly enriched uranium before it can fuel a warhead. Neither officials said there were indications that refining has occurred. Their comments disputed a claim made last weekend by Israel's top intelligence military official, who said Iran has crossed a technical threshold and is now capable of producing atomic weapons. See also jazeera <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200931135043573744.html"> here </a>.<br /><br /><em>"The argument that the U.S. would be naked against an Iranian threat unless we deploy the GMD system in Europe is simply not right,"</em>[<a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/news/us_politics/view/2009_03_23_US_lawmaker:_missile_threat_from_Iran_exaggerated/srvc=home&position=recent"> Dem. Rep. Ellen Tauscher</a>] said, referring to the long range system. (23.03.09)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25wed1.html?th&emc=th">Watershed Moment on Nuclear Arms</a></b><br />24.03.09. NY Times editorial. Mr. Obama must reaffirm his campaign pledge to transform American nuclear policy that is still mired in cold war thinking.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/ziabari280309.htm">The U.S. Has 'No Moral Standing' To Criticize Iran: Zunes </a></b><br />28.03.09. Kourosh Ziabari, countercurrents. This article investigates the double standards of U.S. foreign policy about Iran and its nuclear program, and its support for the war in the Middle East<br /><br /><u>Israel</u><br /><br />On the 14th of April 2008, the US signed a <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43081&s2=16"> nuclear cooperation agreement</a> with Israel to “step up cooperation in the field of nuclear safety.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1069303.html">U.S. Army document describes Israel as 'a nuclear power'</a></b><br />08.03.09. Haaretz. In a rare breach of official American adherence to Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity, the U.S. military is terming Israel "a nuclear power" on a par with Russia, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea, all of which have declared their nuclear weapon status, and ahead of "nuclear threshold powers" Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, and the "emerging" Iran. For further details, see <a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/03/israel_nuclear.html"> here </a> (17.03.09, Secrecy news)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.military.com/news/article/March-2009/us-army-confirms-israeli-nukes.html?col=1186032310810">US Army Confirms Israeli Nukes</a></b><br />18.03.09. military com. The Army has let slip one of the worst-kept secrets in the world -- that Israel has the bomb. Officially, the United States has a policy of "ambiguity" regarding Israel's nuclear capability. Essentially, it has played a game by which it neither acknowledges nor denies that Israel is a nuclear power.<br /><br /><br />RUSSIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-deploys-new-nuclear-cruise-missiles-1656057.html">Russia deploys new nuclear cruise missiles</a></b><br />28.03.09. Independent / anti-war. Six new atomic submarines, armed with improved nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, will join the Russian navy. The Defence Ministry said the first, the Severodvinsk, will be launched in 2011 and at least five others of the same type will be built by 2017.<br /><br />UK<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090319_9675.php">British Nuclear Deterrent Depends on Timely <u>U.S.</u> Help, Lawmakers Report</a></b><br />19.03.09. NTI. British plans to collaborate with U.S. weapon designers on a next-generation nuclear-armed submarine could threaten London's nuclear deterrent because the two nations are using different design schedules, a panel of lawmakers reported today. / The problem stems from British reliance on the United States for the missiles that will be deployed on the submarines, according to today's report [PDF] from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.... / "Collaboration with the United States on Trident D-5 missile life extension presents significant risks to the United Kingdom's future nuclear deterrent," the report says.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090319_9675.php">British Nuclear Deterrent Depends on Timely U.S. Help, Lawmakers Report</a></b><br />19.03.09. NTI. British plans to collaborate with U.S. weapon designers on a next-generation nuclear-armed submarine could threaten London's nuclear deterrent because the two nations are using different design schedules, a panel of lawmakers reported today. / The problem stems from British reliance on the United States for the missiles that will be deployed on the submarines, according to today's report [PDF] from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.... / "Collaboration with the United States on Trident D-5 missile life extension presents significant risks to the United Kingdom's future nuclear deterrent," the report says.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cnduk.org/index.php/press-releases/trident/trident-replacement-will-have-4-subs-not-3-says-minister.html"> Trident Replacement will have 4 subs not 3, says minister</a> (27.03.09)<br /><br />Bio-Chemical ..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/africaCrisis/idUSHKG196430">Experts fight H5N1 bird flu using smallpox vaccine</a></b><br />01.03.09. Reuters. <em>'We put in many other proteins into that vaccine; Vaccine uses a Vietnam strain of the H5N1 virus</em>. Scientists in Hong Kong and the United States have developed an experimental H5N1 bird flu vaccine for people by piggybacking it on the well-tested and highly successful smallpox vaccine. / experts fear it could mutate into a form that people could easily pass to one another, sparking a pandemic that could kill tens of millions and <u>topple the global economy</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090303_2757.php">Lawmaker Introduces Anthrax Mailing Probe Legislation</a></b><br />04.03.09. nti. U.S. Representative Rush Holt (D-N.J.) yesterday introduced legislation that would create a bipartisan commission to investigate the 2001 anthrax mailings and the FBI determination that a single Army researcher carried out the attacks<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090304_8070.php">Waste From Blue Grass Chemical Disposal Project Reaches Texas</a></b><br />04.03.09. nti. The first batch of wastewater produced by a small-scale chemical warfare materials disposal project at the Blue Grass Army Depot in <u>Kentucky</u> has arrived at a Texas incinerator,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090304_8070.php">Waste From Blue Grass Chemical Disposal Project Reaches Texas</a></b><br />04.03.09. nti. The first batch of wastewater produced by a small-scale chemical warfare materials disposal project at the Blue Grass Army Depot in <u>Kentucky</u> has arrived at a Texas incinerator,<br /><br />see Steven Aftergood's comments on chemical safety brefing at Secrecy News <a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/03/chem_safety_briefing.html"> here </a> (05.03.09)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090309_2336.php">Connecticut Plans Anthrax Response Exercise</a></b><br />09.03.09. nti. The May exercise was scheduled to assess the ability of 20 local health departments and other agencies to distribute medical supplies following a mock attack<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/germs.pdf">"Germs, Viruses, and Secrets: The Silent Proliferation of Bio-Laboratories in the United States," </a></b><br />House Committee on Energy and Commerce, October 4, 2007 (published December 2008).For comments by Stephen Aftergood (10.03.09) of Secrecy News, see <a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/03/germs.html"> here </a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Judge_says_its_okay_for_Navy_0316.html">Judge says its okay for Navy to spray recruits with banned chemical</a></b><br />16.03.09. John Byrne, Raw Story / anti-war. The Navy can spray recruits in the eyes with pepper spray, even though it has been linked to death and is banned during warfare by international law, a federal judge ruled Friday. / ... Pepper spray is made from oleoresin capsicum, an oily extract of pepper plants. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, there have been 27 deaths among people sprayed in California alone since 1993, although the deaths were not directly linked to the chemical. In particular, it can be fatal for individuals with asthma. / Pepper spray is banned for use in war by Article I.5 of the Chemical Weapons Convention.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-03-21-pa-acid-spill_N.htm"> 5K evacuated after hazardous Pa. acid spill </a> (22.03.09. USA Today / legitgov)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090324_3402.php">Angry Wife Should Not Have Faced Chemical Weapons Charge, Lawyer Says</a></b><br />24.03.09. NTI. A Pennsylvania woman should not have been convicted of trying to use a chemical weapon against her husband's mistress, her lawyer said yesterday during an appeals hearing. The 1999 federal chemical-weapon statute "<u>was intended to deal with a rogue state, intended to deal with terrorists. It wasn't intended to deal with a housewife</u>," said defense attorney Robert Goldman.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6335446.html">Border plants to be poisoned to reveal smugglers </a></b><br />24.03.09. chron.com/ legitgov. The U.S. Border Patrol plans to poison the plant life along a 1.1-mile stretch of the Rio Grande riverbank as soon as Wednesday to get rid of the hiding places used by smugglers, robbers and illegal immigrants. If 'successful,' the <b>$2.1 million</b> pilot project could later be duplicated along as many as 130 miles of river in the patrol’s Laredo Sector, as well as other parts of the U.S.-Mexico border. … detractors say the experiment is reminiscent of the Vietnam War-era Agent Orange chemical program and raises questions about long-term effects. “We don’t believe that is even moral,” said Jay Johnson-Castro Sr., executive director of the Rio Grande International Study Center, located at Laredo Community College, adjacent to the planned test area.<br /><br /><u>Israel</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1236103158631&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">Ministries take 'full responsibility' for anthrax vaccine trials</a></b><br />04.03.09. jerusalem post / legitgov. <em>A quarter of participants were given an American version of the vaccine, while 75 percent were injected with the Israeli vaccine, which had not been previously tested</em>. The Defense Ministry, Health Ministry and IDF said they took "full responsibility" for all side effects suffered by participants in a test of an anthrax vaccine, in a joint statement issued Wednesday. The statement will be submitted to the High Court next week as a reply to petitions submitted by two IDF soldiers who took part in the trial and <u>suffered negative aftereffects</u>. The vaccine trial, code-named Omer 2, took place between 1998 and 2006, and sought volunteers from elite IDF units.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3692344,00.html">Israel admits to testing anthrax vaccine on troops</a></b><br />25.03.09. Ynet news / legitgov. Cleared for publication: Defense Ministry admits to experimenting on 716 IDF soldiers during secret research project without disclosing full details; defense official: Israel now possesses anthrax vaccine that can protect [sic] entire population<br /><br /><br /><b>Fear Mongering</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/03/brzezinski-warns-of-us-riots-due-to-economic-crisis/">Brzezinski warns of US riots Due to Economic Crisis</a></b><br />03.03.09. chartingstocks. Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former national security advisor, has warned that the US could witness riots if economy continues its downward spiral./ There’s going to be growing conflict between the classes and if people are unemployed and really hurting, hell, there could be even riots!” said Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor, in a recent interview with NBC.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insidestory/2009/03/200935132417249438.html">Financial crisis to hit the poorest</a> 05.03.09. Al jazeera, Inside Story. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is warning that the global economic downturn could create a widespread humanitarian crisis in the world's poorest and most vulnerable countries.<br /><br /><em> Justifying killing civilians in Pakistan </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/04/pakistan-global-security-threat">Pakistan poses global security worry, says top US official</a></b><br />04.03.09. J. Borger, Guardian. The top US diplomat in Kabul [Christopher Dell] warned yesterday that Pakistan posed a bigger security challenge to America and the world than Afghanistan, as Islamabad grappled with the latest terrorist attack on its soil and the escalating Taliban insurgency on its north-western border.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.disasternews.net/news/article.php?articleid=3856">Scientists say pandemic is certain</a></b><br />09.03.09. disaster news. <em> Expert panel tells emergency managers it's just a matter of when the avian flu will spark a pandemic</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/11/terrorism.recruitment/index.html">Domestic terror threat growing, Senate committee warns</a></b><br />11.03.09. CNN. There is an increasing threat of homegrown terror stemming from segments of a deeply isolated and alienated Somali-American community, a U.S. Senate committee hearing concluded Wednesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090313_3464.php">Terrorists Could Obtain Nuclear Material from Russia, Former U.S. Official Says</a></b><br />13.03.09. nti. There remains a very real threat that nuclear material from Russia could fall into terrorist hands, a former U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration official warned earlier this year in a wide-ranging interview with the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. [What about the lost atomic bomb from Minot that has never been found? ]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/somalia/4987199/US-facing-home-grown-Islamic-terror-threat.html">US facing home-grown Islamic terror threat</a></b><br />13.03.09. Telegraph / anti-war. The United States is facing what has been described as its "most serious instance of domestic terrorism" to date, the FBI has warned. [Enter Somalia]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cheney16-2009mar16,0,2699764.story">Cheney: Obama terrorism policies make U.S. vulnerable</a></b><br />16.03.09. LA Times. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Old dog with same bone </span>]. Obama <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/16/AR2009031603044_pf.html"> derides </a>(wash post 17.03)<b>BUT THEN</b>:<br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/washington/28prexy.html?_r=1&hp">Obama Sounds Cautious Note as He Sets Out Afghan Plan</a></b><br />27.03.09. NYT / ICH. “The situation is increasingly perilous,” the president told government officials, top military officers and diplomats at the White House, presenting the conclusions of a review he ordered when he came into office in January. In strikingly ominous tones, Mr. Obama warned - just as President George W. Bush did repeatedly over the years - of intelligence estimates that al Qaeda "is actively planning attacks on the U.S. homeland from its safe haven in Pakistan." / .. “We have a clear and focused goal to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and to prevent their return to either country in the future.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/pers-m25.shtml">IMF director warns of war</a></b><br />25.03.09. WSWS. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned on Monday that the global economic situation is "dire" and could lead to social upheaval and war. The statement is the latest in a series of worried pronouncements from leading international figures in the financial and political establishment.<br /><br /><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090326_8491.php"> Former U.S. Senator Brings WMD Warning to Australia</a> (26.03.09. NTI)<br /><br /><br />UK<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/16/nuclearpower-nuclear-waste">New generation of nuclear power stations 'risk terrorist anarchy'</a></b><br />16.03.09. Guardian. The new generation of atomic power stations planned for Britain, China and many other parts of the world risks proliferation that could lead to "nuclear anarchy", a security expert warned in a report published today. / .. "We are at a crossroads. Unless governments work together to safeguard nuclear energy supplies, the rise in unsecured nuclear technology will put us all in danger. Without this, we are hurtling towards a state of nuclear anarchy where terrorists or rogue states have the ways and means of making nuclear weapons or 'dirty bombs', the consequences of which are unimaginable," says Barnaby.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/22/brown-counter-terrorism-al-qaida">Brown warns of enduring al-Qaida threat to UK</a></b><br />22.03.09. Guardian. Prime minister says 60,000 civilians have been trained to deal with terrorist incidents. See also <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/22/gordon-brown-terrorism"> We are about to take the war against terror to a new level</a> (Guardian 22.03.09 by Gordon Brown).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1164317/Fanatics-use-roadside-bombs-kill-VIPs-Britain.html">Fanatics 'could use roadside bombs to kill VIPs in Britain'</a></b><br />25.03.09. Mail Online / legitgov. Terrorists could use Iraq-style roadside bombs to target VIPs in Britain, officials fear. An attack by a nuclear 'dirty bomb', which spreads radioactive material, is also becoming more likely, according to an official report yesterday. The report, unveiled by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith yesterday, refers to 'significant developments' in the IED threat to the UK, 'in particular the use of novel home-made explosives and the detonation of devices by suicide bombers'.<br /><br /><br /><b> Surveillance</b><br /><br /><em> Barack Obama began <u>backing off</u> his opposition to Bush-era surveillance policies while running for president last year. Now that he's in the Oval Office, he has shown <u>no intention</u> of turning back or taking a new direction</em> <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/nj_20090321_6471.php"> Shane Harris </a> (21.03.09. National journal, subscription only)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-spying0302,0,4840632.story">Lawmakers begin push to outlaw surveillance tactics</a></b><br />02.03.09. Baltimore Sun. Brushing aside assurances from the Maryland State Police that troopers will never again secretly monitor and collect information on peaceful protest groups, state lawmakers and Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration are moving ahead with a plan to outlaw such tactics and will push for legislative action at hearings Tuesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/03/bush-lawyers-ap.html">Bush Lawyers Approved Constitution-Free Domestic Military Ops, Docs Show</a></b><br />02.03.09. Wired. The Justice Department secretly authorized President George Bush to use the military inside the United States to snoop on, raid and even kill citizens in order to fight terrorism without regard to the Fourth or Fifth Amendment, according to a Oct 23, 2001 memo released by the Obama Administration Monday.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u> THE Memos</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2009/03/bush-lawyers-ap.html">Bush Lawyers Approved Constitution-Free Domestic Military Ops, Docs Show</a></b><br />02.03.09. Wires. The Justice Department secretly authorized President George Bush to use the military inside the United States to <u>snoop on, raid and even kill citizens</u> in order to fight terrorism without regard to the Fourth or Fifth Amendment, according to a Oct 23, 2001 memo released by the Obama Administration Monday.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/187342"> Newsweek</a> (02.03.09) writes about THE MEMO: "But the memo from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel—along with others made public for the first time Monday—illustrates with new details the extraordinary post-9/11 powers asserted by Bush administration lawyers. Those assertions ultimately led to such controversial policies as allowing the waterboarding of terror suspects and <u>permitting warrantless wiretapping</u> of U.S. citizens—steps that remain the subject of ongoing investigations by Congress and the Justice Department. / "In perhaps the most surprising assertion, the Oct. 23, 2001, memo suggested the president could even suspend press freedoms if he concluded it was necessary to wage the war on terror. "First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully," <b>Yoo</b> wrote in the memo entitled "Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activity Within the United States."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/02/justice.memos.released/">Obama releases internal Bush Justice Department memos</a></b><br />03.03.09. CNN. 2001 memo declaring that in terrorism cases the military may conduct searches in the United States without a warrant if approved by the president. / "We conclude that the president has ample constitutional and statutory authority to deploy the military against international or foreign terrorists operating within the United States," wrote John Yoo, then a deputy assistant attorney general. "We further believe that the use of such military force generally is consistent with constitutional standards, and that it need not follow the exact procedures that govern law enforcement operations.<a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/warpowers925.htm">READ THE MEMO</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/129722/secret_bush_memos_released%3A_read_them_here%21/">Secret Bush Memos Released: Read Them Here!</a></b><br />03.03.09. Huffington Post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/129972/">Newly Released Secret Memos Provide the Blueprint for Bush's Police State</a></b><br />04.03.09. Marjorie Cohn, Alternet. <em> The memos' authors, John Yoo and Jay Bybee, should be investigated, prosecuted, and disbarred</em>. Seven newly released memos from the Bush Justice Department reveal a concerted strategy to cloak the President with power to override the Constitution. The memos provide "legal" rationales for the President to suspend freedom of speech and press; order warrantless searches and seizures, including wiretaps of U.S. citizens; lock up U.S. citizens indefinitely in the United States without criminal charges; send suspected terrorists to other countries where they will likely be tortured; and unilaterally abrogate treaties. According to the reasoning in the memos, Congress has no role to check and balance the executive. <b>That is the definition of a police state</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/03/sunshine-week-missing-documents-nsa-surveillance">Sunshine Week: February 8, 2002 NSA Surveillance Memo</a></b><br />18.03.09. eff. Yesterday, we published a list [ pdf file] of missing documents related to the NSA warrantless surveillance program as part of EFF's celebration of Sunshine Week, and began to analyze what some of these missing documents might be. / Today, we turn to a document known as OLC 62. According to a declaration filed by Deputy Assistant Attorney General Steven Bradbury:<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/technology/08stream.html?_r=1&th&emc=th">Police Take the Fight Onto the Web</a></b><br />07.03.09. NY Times. As in so many other realms where the use of technology has expanded in what seems an eye-blink, this crime-fighting method promises great improvements over traditional ways of getting things done. But it <u>also challenges existing privacy protections</u>, like limitations on the information investigators can share about people they may suspect of committing crimes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://lohud.com/article/20090308/NEWS03/903080344/-1/newsfront">Clarkstown to put surveillance cameras in highway department work area</a></b><br />08.03.09. LoHud. "It's for security. When you put up a camera, you deter people from doing something," said Ballard. "It's not [sic] a Big Brother thing."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/obam-m10.shtml">Obama’s New York Times interview: Military aggression and attacks on democratic rights to continue</a></b><br />10.03.09. WSWS. ... Asked about striking a "balance" between national security and civil liberties, Obama gave his stamp of approval to the role of top Bush intelligence officials who oversaw massive domestic spying, rendition, secret CIA torture centers and illegal detentions, including of legal residents and US citizens. He suggested that while in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 there may have been abuses, by the time he took office these excesses had been corrected.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.kbtx.com/local/headlines/41060277.html"> Surveillance Cameras Rolling in Downtown Bryan</a> (10.03.09. KBTX)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/03/11/US_cybersecurity_head_quits_citing_growing_role_of_spy_agencies/UPI-64411236692969/">U.S. cybersecurity head quits, citing growing role of spy agencies</a></b><br />10.03.09. UPI / legitgov. The official in charge of coordinating the U.S. government's cybersecurity operations has quit, saying the expanding control of the National Security Agency over the nation's computer security efforts poses "threats to our democratic processes."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-03-10-watchlist_N.htm">Terrorist watch list hits 1 million</a></b><br />11.03.09. USA Today / legitgov. The government's terrorist watch list has hit 1 million entries, up 32% since 2007. / Federal data show the rise comes despite the removal of 33,000 entries last year by the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center in an effort to purge the list of outdated information and remove people cleared in investigations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.infowars.com/secret-state-police-report-ron-paul-bob-barr-chuck-baldwin-libertarians-are-terrorists/">Secret State Police Report: Ron Paul, Bob Barr, Chuck Baldwin, Libertarians are Terrorists</a></b><br />11.03.09. Kurt Nimmo,, infowars. Alex Jones has received a secret report distributed by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC) entitled “The Modern Militia Movement” and dated February 20, 2009. A footer on the document indicates it is “unclassified” but “law enforcement sensitive,” in other words not for public consumption. A copy of the report was sent to Jones by an anonymous Missouri police officer. / The MIAC report specifically describes supporters of presidential candidates Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr as “militia” influenced terrorists and <b>instructs the Missouri police to be on the lookout for supporters displaying bumper stickers</b> and other paraphernalia associated with the Constitutional, Campaign for Liberty, and Libertarian parties.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/analysis/2238170/isps-comply-snooping-law-sunday-4515931">Welcome to 1984: ISPs must comply with snooping law from Sunday</a></b><br />11.03.09. Computing / ICH. UK ISPs will be required to hand over records of customers' internet surfing habits, including IP addresses and times of use, to police and intelligence agencies from Sunday<br /><br /><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-spyblimp13-2009mar13,0,1393627.story"> Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights </a> (13.03.09. LA Times. (see Defense Contracts]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29702451/">Council drops plans forsurveillance cameras</a></b><br />16.03.09. NBC. ... but one official said the issue will be brought up again. The council on Tuesday considered an application for a <b>$39,000</b> state grant to buy and install [ELEVEN] cameras at busy intersections, borough hall and the police station. The discussion was dropped when it was determined that the borough couldn't make the application deadline.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/03/20/fbi.muslim.groups/index.html">FBI planting spies in U.S. mosques, Muslim groups say</a></b><br />20.03.09. CNN. en U.S. Muslim organizations threatened this week to cease working with the FBI, citing "McCarthy-era tactics" by the agency, including efforts to covertly infiltrate California mosques.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rgj.com/article/20090320/MVN01/903200365/1305/BIZ01">Surveillance equipment vendor selected for schools</a></b><br />20.03.09. RGJ. A contract for surveillance equipment for Lyon County schools was awarded March 10 to Surveillance Integration in the amount of <b>$78,314</b> by the Lyon County School District Board of Trustees.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/133592/fbi_director_pushes_to_renew_patriot_act_surveillance_powers/">FBI Director Pushes to Renew PATRIOT Act Surveillance Powers</a></b><br />26.03.09. Liliana Segura, AlterNet. <em>Robert Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that key provisions set to expire this year are 'exceptionally helpful</em>.' Earlier this month, the ACLU released a report taking stock of the USA PATRIOT Act, almost eight years after its passage. The study, titled "Reclaiming Patriotism," identifies key sections of the law that codified the most radical abuses of power under the Bush administration, interweaving stories of people who were unlawfully spied on, coerced, and intimidated through the PATRIOT Act's sweeping powers. "More than seven years after its implementation, there is little evidence to demonstrate that the Patriot Act has made America more secure from terrorists," the report's authors write.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-surveillance0326,0,7803736.story">House gives initial OK to police surveillance bill</a></b><br />26.03.09. Baltimore sun. The bill was put forward in response to state police surveillance that resulted in dozens of people wrongly being described as terrorists in a police database. Police used the surveillance on peace activists and people opposed to capital punishment.<br /><br /><br /><u> Asia </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2224221/">Research and Markets: Asia Pacific IP Video Surveillance Markets Study: Improving IP and Camera Technology Makes a Case for IP Video Surveillance</a></b><br />16.03.09. trading markets. Even though the lack of standards and prohibitive costs had restrained the uptake of IP video surveillance in the Asia Pacific in the past, technological improvements and the shortcomings of the closed circuit television (CCTV) have swung the market in favor of IP video surveillance in the last three to four years.<br /><br /><br /><u> China </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.securityinfowatch.com/Manufacturers/1310698">Large growth expected in Chinese video surveillance equipment market</a></b><br />16.03.09. Security info watch. <em> Research report forecasts market to exceed $3B by 2012</em>. A new report out this week from UK-based IMS Research predicts that the market for video surveillance equipment in China will see huge gains over the next several years, eventually reaching over $3 billion by 2012. / According to analysts, due to the ongoing global financial crisis and the aftermath of the 2008 Olympic Games and the earthquake that rocked the country’s Sichuan province in August, the Chinese government has passed its own version of a stimulus package that invests in new housing, road, railway, and airport projects, which will undoubtedly require video surveillance equipment. In addition, <u>the research firm predicts that in 2012, nearly 16 million security cameras will be sold in China</u> either for new surveillance systems or as replacements in legacy systems.<br /><br /><br /><u>Germany</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSL536638620090305">Berlin to give 400 mln eur to NATO surveillance plan</a></b><br />05.03.09. Reuters. The Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS), a system allowing NATO to survey wide surface areas from high altitude, is <b>to cost the 17 participating nations around 1.5 billion euros ($1.89 billion) </b> in total.<br /><br /><u>UK</u><br /><br />"We need to be able to say what sort of country this is going to be."<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/07/economic-recovery-strategy"> John Denham</a>, UK "skills secretary".<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/06/police-surveillance-protesters-journalists-climate-kingsnorth">Revealed: police databank on thousands of protesters </a> (07.03.09. Guardian)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/audio/2009/mar/06/surveillance-justice"> Police surveillance: 'They're focusing on the press more than the protesters'</a> (07.03.09). Guardian<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/civil-liberties"> Civil Liberties</a> (07.03.09. Guardian).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/06/police-surveillance-database-activists-intelligence">Caught on film and stored on database: how police keep tabs on activists</a></b><br />06.03.09. Paul Lewis and Marc Vallée, Guardian. Police footage obtained by the Guardian has revealed the crude monitoring methods deployed across the country against protesters, thousands of whom have their personal details stored on criminal intelligence systems for up to seven years.. VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/surveillance"> editorial, Guardian </a> (07.03.09). .<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4953396/Only-incompetence-will-save-us-from-Orwells-surveillance-state.html">Only incompetence will save us from Orwell's surveillance state</a></b><br />07.03.09. Telegraph. The vast amount of data now being generated, and the impossibility of looking at it all, is, together with bureaucratic incompetence, the best guarantee we have that we're not going to wake up one morning and find we are living in a version of Nineteen Eighty-Four. The biggest threat contained in the Government's proposal to introduce identity cards is not that it will create an all-knowing state which will crush each and every one of us. It is that officials will bungle when they enter the data, or misread it, so that the wrong people will be identified as benefit cheats or as terrorists (accurate identification of both being the main purpose of ID cards). The introduction of computer systems has been consistently mishandled by the Government, thank God. The NHS has spent £6 billion on its new data system – and it still doesn't work. Last week, Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee reported that tens of millions of pounds had been wasted on a computer system designed to enable Government departments to consult secret intelligence quickly and securely. The system has now been abandoned because it doesn't work and never will. [not to speak of lost data or data found in bins, etc]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2009/03/26/only-terrorists-fear-surveillance/">Only Terrorists Fear Surveillance</a></b><br />26.03.09. anti-war. The London Police department is launching a new ad campaign to keep people frightened and submissive. / The campaign includes a bizarre poster which encourages people to view as a terrorist suspect anyone who looks closely at government surveillance cameras.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5j9k6BSwOK1bgMGFfJPUtEvVkUN0Q">‘Snooping' powers used 10,000 times</a></b><br />26.03.09. AP. Surveillance powers designed to tackle terrorism have been used by local councils more than 10,000 times - for "crimes" as minor as littering. / The Liberal Democrats, who obtained the details, said it represented a fresh erosion of civil liberties and warned that Ripa was becoming a "snooper's charter".<br /><br /><em> Travel</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=93080">Londoners photographed 425 times a day</a></b><br />28.03.09. wnd. The UK already is the West's most surveyed nation – the average Londoner is secretly photographed an average 425 times a day – and officials now are launching a new Big Brother plan that will intensify the observation of civilians, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin. / An anonymous building in a business park on the outskirts of Heathrow Airport is where the MI5 Security Service<br />has begun monitoring all passengers arriving at or flying out of the facility's terminals from this week onwards / There is no exemption for Americans starting their flights in the United States.<br /><br /><br /><b>Police State </b><br /><br />US<br /><br /><em> The more suffering one inflicts on the other, the more anxious one becomes of the possible potential deadly capacity around</em>. <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22259.htm"> Gilad Atzmon</a><br /><br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2009_rpt/ssci.html">"Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence, United States Senate Covering the Period January 4, 2007 to January 2, 2009,"</a></b><br />March 2 2009, Stephen Aftergood of Secrecy News writes: A new report from the Senate Intelligence Committee summarizes theCommittee's activities in the last Congress, in which it addressed a host of major and minor issues from the amendment of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to the proposed expansion of the authorities of the Public Interest Declassification Board. / The 50-page report contains much that is familiar, along with some new details on staff study projects, "the poor status of IC financial management," the Committee's own difficulty in obtaining information from the Administration, and other topics. / One qualitative change in intelligence oversight that is not mentioned in the new report is that the Committee no longer publishes intelligence agency answers to Questions for the Record that are submitted following the Committee's annual intelligence threat hearing. For further details, see <a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/03/intel_oversight.html"> here</a>. (17.03.09, Secrecy News)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/03/01/18574204.php">Martial Law in Berkley</a></b><br />01.03.09. indybay. Today two more Apache Military helicopters with a third, flew low over Berkeley.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15308">GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit </a></b><br />01.03.09. Erin Rosa, Corpwatch. While the nation’s economy flounders, business is booming for The GEO Group Inc., a private prison firm that is paid millions by the U.S. government to detain undocumented immigrants and other federal inmates... GEO reported impressive quarterly earnings of $20 million on February 12, 2009, along with an annual income of $61 million for 2008 – up from $38 million the year before... Behind the financial success and expansion of the for-profit prison firm, there are increasing charges of negligence, civil rights violations, abuse and even death.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/local/education/article/B4-COMM01_20090228-211613/218593/">High school students get close-up look at law enforcement</a></b><br />01.03.09. Huguenot High School junior Calvin Walker wants to be a prosecutor, so he's trying to learn as much as he can about how local law enforcement works. / Walker is one of 20 high school students to join a Youth Adult Police Commission, a new program formed by Richmond Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood that seeks to form ties between the Police Department and local teenagers. / Norwood said he launched the program to give young people a voice and to help the police better understand the thinking of the student population, helping officers to better relate to young adults.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rutherford.org/articles_db/commentary.asp?record_id=581">The Groundwork Has Already Been Laid for Martial Law</a></b><br />04.03.09. John W. Whitehead. ... the groundwork was laid for an imperial presidency and a potentially totalitarian government--a state of affairs that has not ended with Barack Obama's ascension to the Oval Office, despite hopes to the contrary that President Obama would fully restore the balance between government and its citizens to a pre-Bush status quo.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/obam-m10.shtml">Obama’s New York Times interview: Military aggression and attacks on democratic rights to continue</a></b><br />10.03.09. WSWS. ... Asked about striking a "balance" between national security and civil liberties, Obama gave his stamp of approval to the role of top Bush intelligence officials who oversaw massive domestic spying, rendition, secret CIA torture centers and illegal detentions, including of legal residents and US citizens. He suggested that while in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 there may have been abuses, by the time he took office these excesses had been corrected.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/131153/seymour_hersh%3A_%22executive_assassination_ring%22_answered_to_cheney%2C_had_no_congressional_oversight/">Seymour Hersh: "Executive Assassination Ring" Answered to Cheney, Had No Congressional Oversight</a></b><br />12.03.09. Eric Black, MinnPost.com./alternet. Investigative journalist Sy Hersh dropped a bombshell revelation on Monday about international killings ordered under Bush. <a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/131992/rep._dennis_kucinich_seeks_investigation_of_cheney_%22assassination_ring%22/"> Investigation?</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/131255/cia_confirms_12_of_92_videotapes_destroyed_showed_prisoners_tortured/">CIA Confirms 12 of 92 Videotapes Destroyed Showed Prisoners Tortured</a></b><br />12.03.09. Jason Leopold, TruthOut.org. /alternet. <em> ACLU: "This new information underscores the need for full and immediate disclosure of the CIA's illegal interrogation methods."</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/immigration/131401/sheriff_arpaio_under_investigation_by_u.s._justice_department/">Sheriff Arpaio Under Investigation By U.S. Justice Department</a></b><br />12.03.09. Cara, Feministe / alternet. <em> "The U.S. Justice Department has launched a civil-rights investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office." </em>. The U.S. Justice Department has launched a civil-rights investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office after months of mounting complaints that deputies are <u>discriminating in their enforcement of federal immigration laws</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/police-trained-nationwide-that-informed-americans-are-domestic-terrorists.html">Police Trained Nationwide That Informed Americans Are Domestic Terrorists</a></b><br />13.03.09. Paul Joseph Watson, Kurt Nimmo & Alex Jones<em>. Law enforcement across the country are being educated that informed Americans who know their rights are dangerous and that cops are their enemy</em>< <b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-11-03-drugkits_N.htm">False results put drug tests under microscope </a></b><br />13.03.09. USA Today / legit gov. The couple were caught up in what civil libertarians, public defenders and some narcotics experts say is a growing problem: the use of unreliable field drug-test kits as the basis to arrest innocent people on illegal drug charges. The inexpensive test kits are used by virtually every police department in the country and by federal agents, including Customs officers at the nation's borders. "The tests have no validity," says former FBI narcotics investigator Frederick Whitehurst. And as more organic products come on the market, "the potential for civil rights violations when these presumptive tests are out there is phenomenal." <b>'We are alarmed by the growing number of people who have been taken to jail for simply possessing organic products.' </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_29871.shtml">Students hindering the Zionist meeting in NY arrested by U.S. Police</a></b><br />14.03.09. Kourosh Ziabari, Axis of Logic. At 6:30 PM on Thursday January 29, some 250 protestors from various nationalities and political belongings staged a rally before the hotel to blockade the party and hinder the entrance of AIPAC members into the lobby. 10 young activists and students who were the main organizers of the demo on behalf of the Break the Siege On Gaza Coalition's Student Committee were consequently attacked by the New York Federal Police and arrested for interrogation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2009/03/15/if-you-are-reading-this-you-may-already-be-a-terrorist/">If You Are Reading This, You May Already be a Terrorist</a></b><br />15.03.09. anti-war.com. The State of Missouri Information Analysis Center recently issued a no-longer-secret report on domestic terrorism. / The Feb. 20 report called “The Modern Militia Movement” [pdf file) specifically identifies people who “display Campaign for Liberty, Constitution Party, or Libertarian material. These members are usually supporters of former Presidential candidate: Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr.” The report identifies red flags that can identify potential domestic terrorists. See also <a href="http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=28%20Peaceful%20Dissent%20and%20Government%20Witch%20Hunts"> by Anthony Gregory</a> of Campaign for Liberty.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iCinuTHn_3vpntjtgAwqboEWDUGA">Riot police quell protest as water forum opens</a></b><br />16.03.09. AFP. The World Water Forum, a seven-day arena aimed at addressing the planet's deepening crisis of fresh water, was launched here Monday amid a violent protest broken up by riot police using tear gas; detaining at least 15<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2009/03/2009314143449488638.html">The Long War</a>.<br />Riz Khan, al jazeera, speaking with Philip Bobbitt and others about America's "War on Terror".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Army_investigating_unwarranted_troop_deployment_in_0318.html">Army probes domestic use of troops in Alabama</a></b><br />18.03.09. Raw Story. Though the strained Samson Police Department was no doubt glad to have U.S. Army military police on hand to direct traffic during last week's tragic shooting spree, it appears that the troops were deployed without the proper authorization and in possible violation of federal law.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/03/who-sent-soldie.html">Who sent soldiers into an Alabama town last week?</a></b><br />18.03.09. blogs usa today. Who sent 22 military police and an Army officer into the tiny Alabama town of Samson last week after a gunman went on a rampage that left 11 people dead? / The Associated Press reports that an Army spokesman says the military has launched an inquiry to find out what happened, why the troops were sent from nearby Fort Rucker, what they did while there and whether any federal laws were broken.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/gatto180309.htm">We Have Seen The Enemy</a></b><br />18.03.09. Timothy V. Gatto, countercurrents. How did a nation that took so much pride in lively debate and different opinions become a nation that <u>questions the loyalty of people who have dared to disagree with the policymakers</u> in Washington?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/us/politics/18visa.html?th&emc=th">U.S. Is Urged to Lift Ban on Foreign Scholars</a> (18.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/17/us/politics/17signing.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">Obama Undercuts Whistle-Blowers, Senator Says</a></b><br />18.03.09. NY Times. A leading Republican senator [Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa] maintains that President Obama is <b>violating a campaign promise</b> with his claim that he can <u>bypass whistle-blower protections</u> for executive branch officials who give certain information to Congress. / A <u>signing statement</u>, occasionally [frequently by Bush] issued by presidents upon their signing a bill, is a document that instructs executive branch officials on how to carry out the new law. In this statement, Mr. Obama flagged a provision that protects officials who give information to Congress about their jobs or agencies. He said the statute could not limit his power to control the flow of certain information to lawmakers. / Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project, a group that promotes the defense of whistle-blowers, said Mr. Obama’s statement could mean very different things, depending on how broadly the administration defined the word “confidential.” / “The president has a responsibility to clear up the confusion,” Mr. Devine said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12793">Preparing for Civil Unrest in America: Legislation to Establish Internment Camps on US Military Bases</a></b><br />18.03.09. Michel Chussodovsky, global research. <b>The Economic and Social Crisis</b>: The financial meltdown has unleashed a latent and emergent social crisis across the United States. / What is at stake is the fraudulent confiscation of lifelong savings and pension funds, the appropriation of tax revenues to finance the trillion dollar "bank bailouts", which ultimately serve to line the pockets of the richest people in America. This economic crisis is in large part the result of financial manipulation and outright fraud to the detriment of entire populations, leading to a renewed wave of corporate bankruptcies, mass unemployment and poverty. <b> The Protest Movement</b>: When people across America, whose lives have been shattered and destroyed, come to realize the true face of the global "free market" system, the legitimacy of Wall Street, the Federal Reserve and the US administration will be challenged. <b>"Orwellian Solution" to the Great Depression: Curbing Civil Unrest</b>: At this particular juncture, there is no economic recovery program in sight. The Washington-Wall Street consensus prevails. There are no policies, no alternatives formulated from within the political and economic system. <b>Homeland Security's Internment Camps</b>; <b>Combat Units Assigned to the Homeland</b>; <b>Spying on Americans: The Big Brother Data Bank</b>; Text od <u>H.R. 645: National Emergency Centers Establishment Act</u> .<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/city-considers-implementing-martial-law-to-clean-up-policing.html">City Considers Implementing Martial Law To Clean Up Policing</a></b><br />19.03.09. Steve Watson, Prison Planet, infowars. <em>City Considers Implementing Martial Law To Clean Up Policing</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://capitalnews9.com/content/top_stories/135816/schenectady-mayor-considers-options--martial-law-over-police-woes/Default.aspx">Schenectady mayor considers options, martial law over police woes</a></b><br />19.03.09. capital news9. Currently, officials are reviewing the legal options and planning to present a full report in early April - options like a consolidated county-wide police force or bringing in the State Police. / The mayor said there is another option - and that would be declaring martial law. The governor would have to declare it and then the National Guard would come in. The mayor said it's more for a transition to a new police force if that were to happen. He said, "It may be that as a stopgap measure, that you would need military forces - State Police, National Guard."<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/workplace/131853/heartbreaking_footage%3A_dateline_follows_police_evicting_families_from_their_homes/"> The Evictors and Their Victims </a> (19.03.09. NBC)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/03/20/fbi.muslim.groups/">FBI planting spies in U.S. mosques, Muslim groups say</a></b><br />20.03.09. CNN. Ten U.S. Muslim organizations threatened this week to cease working with the FBI, citing "McCarthy-era tactics" by the agency, including efforts to covertly infiltrate California mosques.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=policestate.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 342px; height: 257px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=policestate.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52831&s2=23">Is America Already a Police State?</a></b><br />22.03.09. Nathan Coe, GNN/uruknet. In the last eight years we have seen a slew of police state legislation, to the point that it has often been hard to keep up. By now, most take the Department of Homeland Security for granted, but the implications of its emergence should not be ignored. We’ve all, of course, heard of the PATRIOT Act*, though by now it is in the back of our minds, having been normalized in the discourse of the mainstream, corporate media. A few remember the 'continuity of government’ measures implemented during 9/11 (though few are aware that they were never revoked and instead left in place indefinitely). Many haven’t forgotten the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003. Still, many Americans have lost track of the legislative developments, or assumed that the end of the Bush era meant the end of the era of police state preparations, which it obviously did not...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://amconmag.com/article/2009/mar/23/00016/">Terror Begins at Home</a></b><br />23.03.09. american conservative / anti-war. <em> Will the Obama years see another militia scare?</em>. Background to government responses.<br />pments, or assumed that the end of the Bush era meant the end of the era of police state preparations, which it obviously did not...<br /><br />Read Steven Aftergood (Secrecy News) on Freedom of Information Act <a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2009/03/foia_policy_test.html"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://cbs2chicago.com/local/police.private.security.2.966243.html">Can Private Security Guards Act As Cops?</a></b><br />24.03.09. Chicago.com/legitgov. The private security officers now on patrol on the city's Far South Side are expected to have their powers expanded as part of a citywide ordinance now being prepared. / But officials are questioning whether this means public safety is being outsourced.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thecitizen.com/%7Ecitizen0/node/35785">Nap Time is Over America- Wake Up or Lose Your Republic</a></b><br />24.03.09. the citizen. Tyranny has a beach head in America. The police are being militarized, FEMA Emergency Centers have been constructed,and martial law is now being Beta tested in smaller cities and towns across the nation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3144719">Martial-Law Gun Rights Bill Passes Idaho House</a></b><br />24.03.09. istock analyst. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, today persuaded the Idaho House to vote 61-9 in favor of his legislation that would prevent the government from seizing guns in cases of "extreme emergency." / HB 229 declares that during a such states including martial law, invasion or insurrection, "No government authority will have the right to come and pick up our arms and ammunition."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/25/AR2009032501862.html">Director of FBI Urges Renewal of Patriot Act</a></b><br />26.03.09. Wash Post / legitgov. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III urged lawmakers yesterday to renew intelligence-gathering measures in the USA Patriot Act that are set to expire in December, calling them "exceptional" tools to help protect national security. The law, passed shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, created divisions between proponents, who said it was necessary to deter terrorism, and privacy advocates warning that it tramples on Americans' civil liberties. Portions of the law are up for reauthorization this year. / The ACLU issued a report earlier this month depicting what it called "<b>widespread abuses" of government authority under the Patriot Act</b>, approved by Congress less than two months after terrorist strikes hit New York and Washington in 2001.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.creative-i.info/?p=5531">The Criminalization of Everyday Life</a></b><br />26.03.09. Robert Neuwirth, Mathaba net / Creative I. Welcome to the ugly underside of the zero-tolerance era, where insignificant rule violations get inflated into criminal infractions.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61620"> Officer with TB who refused to deploy is convicted </a> (27.03.09. Stars and Stripes)<br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=7190735">FBI-Muslim Relations Strained as Government Looks for Terrorists</a></b><br />29.03.09. ABC/legitgov. <em> Relations Soured After FBI Cut Ties With Prominent American-Islamic Group</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=90028&sectionid=3510203">Economic crisis fueling civil unrest in US</a></b><br />30.03.09. Five people have been shot dead in California in what appears to be another sign of a social crisis on the back of falling US economy<br /><br /><br /><br /><u>Homeland Security</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.acus.org/new_atlanticist/us-and-germany-sign-homeland-defense-technology-sharing-agreement">US and Germany Sign Homeland Defense Technology Sharing Agreement</a></b><br />16.03.09. acus.org. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said after signing the agreement with German Research Minister Annette Schavan that the countries would pool resources in developing analytical tools and other technological and scientific research pertaining to security issues. "Homeland security is not about walling ourselves off from other countries, it is about cooperating with our allies," Napolitano said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090319_2186.php">U.S. Lacks Technology to Meet Air Cargo Screening Goal</a></b><br />19.03.09. NTI. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is not on pace to meet a congressional mandate to ensure that all cargo transported on passenger planes is screened for weapons of mass destruction, government officials said yesterday. House <u>Homeland Security</u> Transportation Security Subcommittee Chairwoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) and senior Republican committee member Charles Dent (Pa.) agreed that the agency should meet the air cargo mandates that Democrats placed in a 2007 bill, which was intended to implement unfulfilled recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission. The bill, which then-President George W. Bush signed into law, set the 2010 deadline for the agency to ensure all cargo carried aboard passenger aircraft is screened.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/mar/24/us-civil-liberties-terrorism">Who's watching the watchmen?</a></b><br />24.03.09. Guardian / anti-war. <em>US law enforcement agencies are keeping tabs on Americans in order to thwart terrorism. But how accurate is their intelligence?</em> There's an ominous and Orwellian sounding phrase creeping into Washington discourse: "<b>homeland security intelligence</b>". The heart of homeland security intelligence is this: getting good intelligence into the hands of local and state police officers so they can prevent a terrorist attack before it occurs.<br /><br /><br />"War on Terror"<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/ds_terrorism.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 326px;" src="http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/ds_terrorism.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/">News Dissector</a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-536-Civil-Liberties-Examiner%7Ey2009m3d16-Theyre-not-enemy-combatants-anymore-but-Obama-will-still-detain-them-without-charges">They are not 'Enemy Combatants' Any More</a></b><br />16.03.09. J.D. Tuccille, examinter. but Obama will still detain them without charges.<br /><br />VIDEOS: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/general/2009/02/20092565012929122.html"> DINING WITH TERRORISTS</a><br />Since the events of September 11, the word "terrorism" has acquired a new political dynamic. / Wars are waged and many lives have been lost in the name of combatting "terror" and strict legislation has been passed to prevent acts of "terrorism". .. In this six-part series, author and journalist Phil Rees travels to South Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas to explore the debate surrounding the meaning of the word "terrorism".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20090318_counterterrorism_funding_old_fears_and_cyclical_lulls">COUNTERTERRORISM FUNDING: OLD FEARS AND CYCLICAL LULLS</a></b><br />18.03.09. Fred Burton and Scott Stewart, Stratfor. Boom-and-Bust Funding:<br />One of the problems problem created by the feast-or-famine cycle of security funding is that during the boom times, when there is a sudden (and often huge) influx of cash, agencies sometimes have difficulty spending all the money allotted to them in a logical and productive manner. Congress, acting on strong public opinion, often will give an agency even more than it initially requested for a particular program -- and then expect an immediate solution to the problem. Rather than risk losing these funds, the agencies scramble to find ways to spend them. Then, quite often, by the time the agency is able to get its act together and develop a system effectively to use the funds, the lull has set in and funding is cut. These cuts frequently are accompanied by criticism of how the agency spent the initial glut of funding.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/03/rights-group-claims-us-immigrant.php">Rights group claims US immigrant detention policy violates international Law</a></b><br />25.03.09. JURIST. A substantial increase in the number of immigrants detained by the US over the last decade and the length of their detentions "falls short of international human rights law," according to a report [text, PDF; AI executive summary] released Wednesday by Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website].<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/politics/26justice.html?th&emc=th">White House to Keep Agencies’ Focus on Terrorism</a></b><br />25.03.09. NY Times. The Obama administration is moving to solidify one of the most significant shifts of resources <u>put into place under President George W. Bush</u>: the transformation of the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into agencies where the top priority is counterterrorism rather than conventional law enforcement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/ips/fisher.php?articleid=14469">Obama Faces Spate of 'Terror War' Lawsuits</a></b><br />27.03.09. William Fisher, anti-war. Human rights lawyers are proving to be a major headache for the new administration of President Barack Obama, stepping up court challenges on issues of prisoner abuse to test the reality of the president's pledge to create a "an unprecedented level of openness" in government.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/29/guantanamo-bay-torture-inquiry">Spanish judge to hear torture case against six Bush officials</a></b><br />29.03.09. Observer / legitgov. Legal moves may force Obama's government into starting a new inquiry into abuses at Guantánamo Bay and Abu Ghraib<br /><br /><br /><em> Travel</em><br /><br /><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/03/europe-court-rules-airplane-prohibited.php"> Europe court rules airplane prohibited items list must be published </a> (11.03.09. JURIST)<br /><br /><br /><br /><u> Afghanistan</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=1741254.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 249px; height: 267px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=1741254.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52805&s2=22"> Afghanistan and Iraq: War Crimes Against Children ascribed to former President Bush </a> (21.03.09. Sherwood Ross, uruknet)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/PSLG-7QHG9H?OpenDocument">Arbitrary detention: A call to action</a></b><br />26.03.09. Relief Web. The United Nations in Afghanistan today releases a major report on arbitrary detention in the country. The report by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) found that Afghans are often detained without lawful reason and in many instances detainees do not enjoy basic rights that are enshrined in Afghanistan's Constitution.<br /><br /><br /><u> Australia </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25240192-5014239,00.html">Police raid Wikileaks.de domain owner Theodor Reppe's home over 'censorship lists'</a></b><br />25.03.09. Newscom.au / legitgov. # Police crack down on whistleblowing website; # Domain owner's homes raided for evidence; # Raided after Australian blacklists leaked. See also <a href="http://www.techworld.com.au/article/296161/australia_web_blacklist_leaked"> here</a>.<br /><br /><br /><u> Canada </u><br /><br />Read Prison Planet's response to bolshie police officer in Canada <a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/the-martial-law-mind-set.html"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25204128-5005961,00.html">Shoes thrown to protest Bush</a></b><br />18.03.09. news.com / ICH. Three Canadians were arrested and others threw shoes in protest against [war criminal] George W. Bush today when he gave his first post-presidential speech in western Canada's oil patch.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22252.htm">British MP Galloway Barred from Canada Over 'Supporting Hamas'</a></b><br />20.03.09. DPA/ ICH. Outspoken British anti-war member of parliament (MP) George Galloway Friday denounced as "outrageous" a decision by the Canadian authorities to refuse him entry on the grounds of national security. Galloway vows <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5i7mjH5DqRUPtglyx80I-rwwNuZkA"> to fight Canada ban</a>.<br /><br /><br /><u> Iraq</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22267.htm">A forgotten humanitarian disaster</a></b><br />20.03.09. Lieven De Cauter , BRussels Tribunal / ICH.<br />The sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is a sad occasion for the balance sheet: during six years of occupation 1.2 million citizens were killed, 2,000 doctors killed, and 5,500 academics and intellectuals assassinated or imprisoned. There are 4.7 million refugees: 2.7 million inside the country and two million have fled to neighbouring countries, among which are 20,000 medical doctors. According to the Red Cross, Iraq is now a country of widows and orphans: two million widows as a consequence of war, embargo, war again and occupation, and five million orphans, many of whom are homeless (estimated at 500,000). Almost a third of Iraq’s children suffer from malnutrition. Some 70 per cent of Iraqi girls no longer go to school. Medical services, not so long ago the best in the region, have totally collapsed: 75 per cent of medical staff have left their jobs, half of them have fled the country, and after six years of “reconstruction” health services in Iraq still do not meet minimum standards.<br /><br /><br /><u>Israel</u><br /><br />Israel, the "51st state", is another police state. See <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/general/2009/02/2009220135633240902.html"> Focus on Gaza </a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52672&s2=16">Gaza: World's leading investigators call for war crimes inquiry - open letter</a></b><br />15.03.09. Amnesty International/uruknet. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mary Robinson and Justice Richard Goldstone among signatories "shocked to core" by recent events. Includes text of letter and signatories.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072247.html">The lead is cast</a></b><br />19.03.09. Haaretz Editorial. Operation Cast Lead ended two months ago in a show of arrogance by Israeli leaders. The price paid by Gaza's civilian population - hundreds killed, in addition to the hundreds of armed men from Hamas and other organizations - was presented as an unfortunate, but necessary, result of the combat methods required to protect soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces. / With disappointment growing as the operation's declared achievements dissipate, a second wave of <b>evidence and revelations is being heard from the soldiers who were there, who saw what was happening and are sometimes even describing what they themselves did</b>. / ... The soldiers describe the killing of innocent civilians, pointless destruction, expulsions of families from homes seized as temporary outposts, disregard for human life and a tendency toward brutalization./ .. <b>It would be appropriate to investigate the problems from outside the IDF and root them out before the rot destroys the IDF and Israeli society</b>.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://palestinevideo.blogspot.com/2009/03/israeli-soldiers-say-killing-of.html"> Israeli soldiers say killing of civilians 'allowed' - 19 March 09</a><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://vodpod.com/watch/1444218-gaza-family-tells-of-israeli-shooting-19-mar-09"><br />Gaza family tells of Israeli shooting - 19 Mar 09</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/ips/frykberg.php?articleid=14432">Israelis Using 'Excessive' Force Against Protesters</a></b><br />20.03.09. Mel Frykberg, IPS / anti-war. The critical wounding of a U.S. activist has highlighted the excessive use of force by Israeli forces. / The activist, Tristan Anderson, 38, was shot in the head by Israeli soldiers during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the Palestinian West Bank last week. ... Details of murders of: Ahmed Mousa, 10; Yousef Amira, 17; Arafat Rateb Khawaje, 22; Mohammed Khawaje, 20<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22253.htm">UN Envoy: Gaza op Seems to be War Crime of Greatest Magnitude</a></b><br />20.03.09. News Agencies, haaretz / ICH. Richard Falk, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said the Geneva Conventions required warring forces to distinguish between military targets and surrounding civilians. "If it is not possible to do so, then launching the attacks is inherently unlawful and would seem to constitute a war crime of the greatest magnitude under international law," Falk said.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=13189592&postID=1983107545548588026">http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3689673,00.html"> Israel bans Palestinian cultural events </a> (20.03.09 Ynet news)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22264.htm">Israel's War Crime</a></b><br />Richard Falk / ICH. For the first time since the establishment of Israel in 1948 the government is facing serious allegations of war crimes from respected public figures throughout the world.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/03/israel-military-orders-internal.php">Israel military orders internal investigation of war crimes allegations</a></b><br />20.03.09. JURIST. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) [official website] said Thursday that it would conduct an internal investigation into reports that Israeli soldiers have committed war crimes against Palestinian civilians. The announcement follows soldiers' reports of civilian killings [Haaretz reports] and vandalism under liberal rules of engagement during a recent operation in the Gaza Strip. It also came on the same day that UN Special Rapportuer on human rights in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk [appointment release] issued a report to the UN Human Rights Council [official website], in which Falk criticized Israel [Haaretz report] for failing to take adequate precautions to distinguish between civilians and combatants in their offensives in the region. <b>Falk called for an independent investigation into the alleged crimes</b>, which he said <u>included the targeting of hospitals and mosques, the use of white phosphorus incendiary bombs in heavily populated areas, as well as Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip</u>. [Background info on other criticisms / trials.] .<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22264.htm">Israel's War Crime</a></b><br />21.03.09. Richard Falk / ICH. For the first time since the establishment of Israel in 1948 the government is facing serious allegations of war crimes from respected public figures throughout the world.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3690028,00.html"> Har Adar banning movement of Palestinians </a> (22.03.09. ynet news / ICH)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072968.html"> Barak freezes move to raze settlement homes built on Palestinian land </a> (22.03.09. Haaretz / anti-war)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/23/israel-gaza-war-crimes-guardian"> THREE DOCUMENTARIES: Guardian investigation uncovers evidence of alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza </a> (23.03.09. Clancy Chassay and Julian Borger, Guardian)<br /><br /><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2009/03/rights-group-claims-israel-military.php"> Rights group claims Israel military violated medical ethics code in Gaza offensive</a> (23.03.09) JURIST<br /><br /><a href="http://www.agi.it/world/news/200903231324-cro-ren0028-art.html"> GAZA: UN, ISRAEL OFFENSIVE COULD BE "WAR CRIME" (23.03.09. AGI)<br /><br /><b></b></a><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/03/2009323225126719889.html">Israel accused of 'new Gaza crime'</a></b><br />24.03.09. al jazeera. Richard Falk, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, said Israel had confined Palestinian civilians to the combat zone in Gaza, a unique move which should be outlawed. "Such a war policy should be treated as a distinct and new crime against humanity, and should be formally recognised as such, and explicitly prohibited," Falk said in a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Monday./ Palestinian civilians were prevented from leaving the Gaza Strip during the three-week bombardment by the Israeli authorities.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=white-phosphorus-001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 460px; height: 276px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=white-phosphorus-001.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/25/israel-white-phosphorus-gaza">Israel accused of indiscriminate phosphorus use in Gaza</a></b><br />25.03.09. Guardian/ICH. <em>Human Rights Watch report claims Israel committed war crimes in its use of air-burst white phosphorus artillery shells</em>.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a6Vxvb5L5I&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish%2Ealjazeera%2Enet%2Fnews%2Fmiddleeast%2F2009%2F03%2F2009326204642498490%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded"> Israeli settlement building threat in West Bank - 26 Mar 09</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=100441">UN envoy: Israel must hand over maps of cluster bomb locations</a></b><br />28.03.09. Daily Star / anti-war. United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams on Friday urged Israel to provide detailed maps indicating the location of cluster bombs in south Lebanon. He said the United Nations Interim Force in <b>Lebanon</b> (UNIFIL) has asked Israel to provide such detailed maps more than once.<br /><br /><br /><u>UK</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/01/kingsnorth-power-station-climate-camp">Police 'over the top' at climate camp</a></b><br />01.03.09. Observer. have been accused of setting a "dangerous precedent" when they confiscated hundreds of items of property - including children's crayons, a clown's outfit and a pensioner's walking stick - from people attending an environmental protest camp at Kingsnorth power station. / A list of more than 2,000 possessions taken from protesters, who were repeatedly searched going to and from the camp last August, has been obtained through a freedom of information request by Liberal Democrat justice spokesman David Howarth. / It shows that officers took packets of balloon, tents, a clown's outfit, camping equipment, cycle helmets and bike locks, plastic buckets, bin bags, blankets, soap, banners and leaflets, books, party poppers and nail clippers. A toy plastic gun, life-jackets, inflatable dinghies, paddles and foot pumps were also confiscated, police say, to stop protesters taking to the river around the Hoo peninsula in Kent. Much of the property has yet to be returned.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.creative-i.info/?p=5042">Police State: Liberty groups unite to defend UK rights</a></b><br />01.03.09. Tracy McVeigh, Guardian / Creative-i. . W riters, pop stars, lawyers and politicians from across the party spectrum yesterday issued a call to arms. They joined the largest ever campaign across Britain to warn of the erosion of freedoms and the emergence of surveillance techniques. / ...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/86981/MI5-alert-on-bank-riots">MI5 Alert On Bank Riots </a></b><br />01.03.09. Daily Express / legitgov. Top secret contingency plans have been drawn up to counter the threat posed by a "summer of discontent" in Britain. MI5 and Special Branch are targeting activists they fear could inflame anger over job losses and payouts to failed bankers. / .. The chilling prospect of soldiers being drafted on to the streets has not been discounted, although it is regarded as a last resort. / ..<br />This week Britain’s most senior police officer warned that the summer could bring a wave of protests orchestrated by extremists in which ordinary people, fired by their own anger and fear at the economic downturn – became “foot soldiers”.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22152.htm">War Comes Home To Britain</a></b><br />04.03.09. John Pilger, New Statesman / ICH. Freedom is being lost in Britain. The land of Magna Carta is now the land of secret gagging orders, secret trials and imprisonment. The government will soon know about every phone call, every email, every text message. Police can wilfully shoot to death an innocent man, lie and expect to get away with it. Whole communities now fear the state. The foreign secretary routinely covers up allegations of torture; the justice secretary routinely prevents the release of critical cabinet minutes taken when Iraq was illegally invaded. The litany is cursory; there is much more. / Indeed, there is so much more that the erosion of liberal freedoms is symptomatic of an evolved criminal state. / ,,, Freedoms are being lost in Britain because of the rapid growth of the “national security state”. This form of militarism was imported from the United States by New Labour. Totalitarian in essence, it relies upon <b>fear mongering</b> to entrench the executive with venal legal mechanisms that progressively diminish democracy and justice.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/06/police-surveillance-database-activists-intelligence">Caught on film and stored on database: how police keep tabs on activists</a></b><br />06.03.09. Paul Lewis and Marc Vallée, Guardian. Police footage obtained by the Guardian has revealed the crude monitoring methods deployed across the country against protesters, thousands of whom have their personal details stored on criminal intelligence systems for up to seven years.. VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/06/police-surveillance-protesters-journalists-climate-kingsnorth">Revealed: police databank on thousands of protesters </a> (07.03.09. Guardian)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/audio/2009/mar/06/surveillance-justice"> Police surveillance: 'They're focusing on the press more than the protesters'</a> (07.03.09). Guardian<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/civil-liberties"> Civil Liberties</a> (07.03.09. Guardian).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090315/FOREIGN/580770968/1013/SPORT">MP targets protests by Muslims</a></b><br />15.03.09. national.ae / ICH. A law specifically intended to stop Muslims from protesting when British soldiers return from Iraq or Afghanistan is being proposed by a senior Conservative MP.<br /><br /><a uk="" 2009="" mar="" 16="" police=""> Muslim man suffered 'gross brutality' during terrorism raid, court told </a> (16.03.09. Guardian)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22210.htm">Neo-Fascist Britain: Mindless Jingoism Supporting Wars of Imperial Conquest</a></b><br />16.03.09. Mark Brougham, ICH. The hysterical smear campaign targeting the Luton protesters has been orchestrated by the establishment-controlled media to deter others (and in particular, Muslims) from speaking out against the crimes of the state. Protesting against armed aggression by your country is incumbent on all decent citizens - it is an utter disgrace that a small group of British Muslims were left to carry the torch for human rights and international law.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/greece-uk-police-step-up-anti-terrorism-collaboration-634367">Greece, UK Police Step Up Anti-terrorism Collaboration</a></b><br />16.03.09. easy bourse. /legitgov. Two U.K. police officers were due in the Greek capital Monday to reinforce anti-terrorism collaboration with Scotland Yard amid mounting violence by Greek extremist groups in recent months. Two groups - the far-left Revolutionary Struggle and the Revolutionary Sect - have multiplied their attacks here, including two recent bomb strikes against U.S.-based banking [terrorist] group Citibank, for which Revolutionary Struggle claimed responsibility.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/sent-back-by-britain-executed-in-darfur-1646507.html">Sent back by Britain. Executed in Darfur</a></b><br />17.03.09. Independent / ICH. Failed asylum-seeker followed home from airport and shot by Sudan security officials<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/03/17/afx6175304.html">BRIEF-Vislink wins surveillance contracts</a></b><br />17.03.09. Reuters. <a href="http://www.vislink.com/"> Vislink </a> contracts with an aggregate value of $2.3 million<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/19/mi5-terror-interrogations">MI5 faces new rules on terror interrogations</a></b><br />19.03.09. Richard Norton Taylor, Guardian. <em>PM orders code on questioning abroad</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/19/mi5-torture-allegations-gordon-brown">Series of allegations that finally forced Brown to act</a></b><br />&<br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/18/torture-ban-guidelines"> Publication of interrogation rules a tacit admission that all is not well</a><br />&<br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/19/binyam-mohamed-tourture"> Account not rendered </a> (Guardian editorial 19.03.09)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/19/europe/protest.php">London police fear violent protests at G-20 economic meeting</a></b><br />19.03.09. IHT. The British police are preparing to deal with violent protests as anarchists threaten to bring chaos to the Group of 20 summit meeting in London. / All leave for police officers in the capital has been called off and businesses are being advised to cancel unnecessary meetings because protesters have vowed to target the financial district as the world leaders gather to discuss the financial crisis. / Previous world economic summit meetings and conferences have been targeted by anarchists, anti-globalization protesters and other groups. The police say they fear that the gathering April 2 in London, set against anger at the economic downturn, could provoke more violence. / Environmentalists, antiwar campaigners and protesters have already indicated that they would demonstrate April 1 as politicians and officials begin arriving in London.<br />See <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7958198.stm"> Police 'heavy-handed at protests'</a> (BBC, 23.03.09)<br />& see also: <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/G20/article5993139.ece"> G20 protesters face police with Tasers </a> (29.03.09. Times Onine)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/20/judge-upholds-barclays-tax-gag">Judge upholds Barclays' attempt to gag Guardian</a></b><br />20.03.09. Guardian. Barclay's obtained a continuing gag order against the Guardian yesterday, after a judge ruled that the bank's tax documents remained confidential despite their publication elsewhere.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/quarter-of-uks-databases-are-illegal-1651718.html">Quarter of UK's databases are 'illegal'</a></b><br />23.03.09. Independent / legitgov. One in four of the major government databases is almost certainly illegal and should be scrapped, a report says. The national DNA database, the proposed national identity database and the ContactPoint system, which will hold <u>records of all children in England</u>, are among the systems singled out for fundamental reform or abolition.<br />See <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/23/dna-database-idcards"> Ten ways to track the citizen </a> (23.03.09, Guardian)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-identify-200-children-as-potential-terrorists-1656027.html">Police identify 200 children as potential terrorists</a></b><br />28.03.09. Independent / anti-war. Two hundred schoolchildren in Britain, some as young as 13, have been identified as potential terrorists by a police scheme that aims to spot youngsters who are "vulnerable" to Islamic radicalisation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/29/pakistan-afgan-border-foreign-policy">UK backs Pakistan offensive</a></b><br />29.03.09. Guardian. Defence secretary <b>insists</b> Britain has to back American plans to hunt down al-Qaida leaders across the Afghan border. UK plays Poodle:<br />http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/29/pakistan-afgan-border-foreign-policy<br />UK backs Pakistan offensive<br /><br /><br /><em> Travel</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4987415/All-travel-plans-to-be-tracked-by-Government.html">All travel plans to be tracked by Government</a></b><br />14.03.09. D. Millward, Telegraph. Anyone departing the UK by land, sea or air will have their trip recorded and stored on a database for a decade.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/4996018/Motorists-could-be-banned-from-leaving-Britain-over-unpaid-parking-fines.html">Motorists could be banned from leaving Britain over unpaid parking fines</a></b><br />16.03.09. D. Millward, Telegraph / legitgov. <em>A million motorists with unpaid parking fines face being stopped from leaving the country.</em><br /><br /><br /><b>III. THE WORLD SUFFERS </b><br /><br /><b> Environment</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/">Clusterfuck Nation</a></b><br />02.03.09. James Howard Kunstler. The Peak Oil story was never about running out of oil. It was about the collapse of complex systems in a world economy faced by the prospect of no further oil-fueled growth. It was something of a shock to many that the first complex system to fail would be banking. / ... The collapse of complex systems is actually predicated on the idea that the systems would mutually reinforce each other's failures. This is now plain to see as the collapse of banking (that is, of both lending and debt service), has led to the collapse of commerce and manufacturing. The next systems to go will probably be farming, transportation, and the oil markets themselves (which constitute the system for allocating and distributing world energy resources). As these things seize up, the final system to go will be governance, at least at the highest levels. / ...Every week, the failure to recognize the nature of our predicament thrusts us further into the uncharted territory of hardship. The task of government right now is not to prop up doomed systems at their current scales of failure, but to prepare the public to rebuild our systems at smaller scales./ ... But what happens when farming collapses? The prospect for that is closer than most of us might realize. The way we produce our food has been organized at a scale that has ruinous consequences, not least its addiction to capital. The way we produce our food has been organized at a scale that has ruinous consequences, not least its addiction to capital. / ... My guess is that the disorder in agriculture will be pretty severe this year, especially since some of the world's most productive places -- California, northern China, Argentina, the Australian grain belt -- are caught in extremes of drought on top of capital shortages. If the US government is going to try to make remedial policy for anything, it better start with agriculture, to promote local, smaller-scaled farming using methods that are much less dependent on oil byproducts and capital injections.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/mickeyz050309.htm">Pawns With Lawns</a></b><br />05.03.09. Mickey Z. , countercurrents. The single most irrigated crop in the United States is… lawn. Yep, 40 million acres of lawn exist across the Land of Denial and Americans collectively spend about $40 billion on seed, sod, and chemicals each year. And then there's all that water<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090309_we_are_breeding_ourselves_to_extinction/">We Are Breeding Ourselves to Extinction</a></b><br />08.03.09. Chris Hedges, Truthdig. We are experiencing an accelerated obliteration of the planet’s life-forms—an estimated 8,760 species die off per year—because, simply put, there are too many people. Most of these extinctions are the direct result of the expanding need for energy, housing, food and other resources.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthpicturegalleries/4980120/Polar-bears-will-not-survive-without-action-to-tackle-climate-change.html">Polar Bear Extinction </a> (Telegraph)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/Green%20Jobs:%20Watch%20the%20Panels"> Green Jobs: Watch the Panels </a> (09.03.09. White House blog. 2 VIDEOS)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSTRE52C05020090313"> Disaster declared after Australia oil spill </a>(13.03.09. Reuters)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/mittelstaedt130309.htm">UN Warns Of Widespread Water Shortages</a></b><br />13.03.09. M. Mittelstaedt, countercurrents. The world faces a bleak future over its dwindling water supplies, with pollution, climate change and rapidly growing populations raising the possibility of widespread shortages, a new report compiled by 24 agencies of the United Nations says<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25182517-2703,00.html">Scientists warn of a world on the brink</a></b><br />14.03.09. Australian. THE world is on the brink of dangerous climate change and immediate action is needed to avert it, scientists say, issuing one of the bleakest assessments yet of the current state of the planet. See also Lord Stern on global warming: "It's even worse than I thought"<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/lord-stern-on-global-warming-its-even-worse-than-i-thought-1643957.html"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/leahy170309.htm">In Search of a Green Economic Stimiulus</a></b><br />16.03.09. Stephen Leahy, IPS / countercurrents// Dissector. The high-level scientific climate conference that concluded last week in Copenhagen warned that humanity is rapidly approaching an irreversible, 1,000-year-long climate catastrophe. / The good news is that this dark future has an escape hatch: make major and immediate reductions in carbon emissions. / However, climate change activists worry that instead, trillions of dollars, endless hours of media coverage and all of policy-makers' attention are being devoted to the economic crisis. That's a bit like trying to get a clearer channel on the radio as your car is about to slam full speed into a bridge abutment, they say. / And while the current economic crisis affects tens of millions of people, the economic system has long been nothing but a "global Ponzi scheme," as Paul Reitan, a geologist and climate expert at the University of Buffalo, commented recently. / <b>This system, rooted in the concept of never-ending growth, was always guaranteed to collapse because humanity is living off Earth's limited capital - natural resources and services provided by healthy ecosystems</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/17/content_11022539.htm">Climate change warnings become dire</a></b><br />17.03.09. Xinhuanet. Reports on climate change are like the persistent drip of a leaky faucet getting louder and more frequent. The dire consequences forecast for planet Earth are becoming less a trickle and more a torrent. / The global recession is the latest factor to complicate the equation.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090315-new-york-sea-level.html?source=email_wn_20090320&email=wn"> New York Seas to Rise Twice as Much as Rest of U.S.</a> (15.03.09. national geographic.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/17/royaldutchshell-energy">Shell dumps wind, solar and hydro power in favour of biofuels</a></b><br />17.03.09. Guardian / legitgov. Shell will no longer invest in renewable technologies such as wind, solar and hydro power because they are not economic, the Anglo-Dutch oil company said today. It plans to invest more in biofuels which environmental groups blame for driving up food prices and deforestation. Executives at its annual strategy presentation said Shell, already the world's largest buyer and blender of crop-based biofuels, would also invest an unspecified amount in developing a new generation of biofuels.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u> GM food </u><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/government-launches-bid-to-allay-fears-over-gm-food-1647353.html">Government launches bid to allay fears over GM food </a></b><br />18.03.09. Independent / legitgov. <em>PM hopes to gather fabricate enough evidence to prove genetically modified crops are safe</em> The Government has asked its top scientist to investigate the merits of genetically modified food in the hope that his verdict will allay public fears about so-called "Frankenstein foods". Officially, Gordon Brown and his ministers remain neutral on the issue of GM because of public hostility... But they have quietly ordered a major research project, which they hope will provide the launchpad for a campaign to persuade people that GM food is safe. The study will be led by Professor John Beddington, the Government's Chief Scientific Officer, and carried out by the Foresight Institute, a science and technology think-tank that looks into long-term issues for the Government. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b> Britain is a GM-FREE country and should stay that way, no matter how much pressure Monsanto - the agricultural AIPAC - puts on UK government</b> </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/sharma210309.htm">Do GM Crops Increase Yield? The Answer Is No</a></b><br />21.03.09. Devinder Sharma, countercurrents. Monsanto’s claim that GM crops increase yields is not only false, but also fraudulent. Please, don't try and fool the world by fabricating and distorting scientific facts.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/mar/18/nasa-climate-change-james-hansen">Leading climate scientist: 'democratic process isn't working'</a></b><br />18.03.09. Guardian / legitgov. Protest and direct action could be the only way to tackle soaring carbon emissions, a leading climate scientist has said. James Hansen, a climate modeller with Nasa, told the Guardian today that <b>corporate lobbying</b> has undermined democratic attempts to curb carbon pollution. "The democratic process doesn't quite seem to be working," he said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/mar/18/perfect-storm-john-beddington-energy-food-climate">World Faces 'Perfect Storm' of Problems by 2030, Chief Scientist to Warn</a></b><br />18.03.09. Ian Sample, Guardian. A "perfect storm" of food shortages, scarce water and insufficient energy resources threaten to unleash public unrest, cross-border conflicts and mass migration as people flee from the worst-affected regions, the UK go<br />vernment's chief scientist will warn tomorrow.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.myclimatechange.net/UserImage/3/ArroundTheWorld/WorldDrought.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 430px; height: 389px;" src="http://www.myclimatechange.net/UserImage/3/ArroundTheWorld/WorldDrought.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.myclimatechange.net/UserImage/3/ArroundTheWorld/WorldDrought.jpg"> my climate change </a></div><br /><br />WATER<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/8278">Multinational Corporations' New World Water</a></b><br />16.03.09. AlterNet / PR Watch. The fifth World Water Forum, in Istanbul, Turkey, is titled "Bridging Divides for Water." It's an ironic choice, writes Mark Hays, as the <b>corporations steering the Forum "have a stake in maximizing profits from water services delivery and the current global water crisis</b>." … Activists peacefully protesting the Forum have been tear-gassed, arrested and deported.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.nowpublic.com/environment/inside-story-running-out-water-18-march-09-part-2"> Inside Story - Running out of water - 18 March 09 - Part 2</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/water/132359/corporate_water_barons_indifferent_to_running_water_but_not_security_at_world_water_forum/">Corporate Water Barons Indifferent to Running Water But Not Security at World Water Forum</a></b><br />19.03.09. Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch, alternet. It's unbelievable to think that over 20,000 people traveled thousands of miles to hear shortsighted corporate spin.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/22/content_11052854.htm">5th World Water Forum ends without declaring water human right</a></b><br />22.03.09. Xinhuanet / legitgov. The Istanbul Ministerial Statement came out on the last day of 5th World Water Forum Sunday without recognizing water as a human right. The final statement does not say water is a human right, against the wishes of some countries.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/03/200932093346987110.html">World Water Forum diary</a></b><br />22.03.09. al jazeera. Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's reporter in Istanbul, has been writing daily dispatches from the World Water Forum in Istanbul from Monday, March 16 to Friday, March 20.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/shaw240309.htm">Water: Commodity Or Human Right?</a></b><br />24.03.09. Mary Shaw, Countercurrents. I am writing this on March 22, World Water Day. And I am thinking about how spoiled we Americans are. We use and abuse our natural resources without giving it a second thought. But our recklessness could soon turn around to bite us -- and the rest of the world<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/shukla240309.htm">Water Water Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Drink</a></b><br />24.03.09. Shobha Shukla, Countercurrents. With every country seeking to satisfy its ever increasing water needs from shrinking and limited water resources, there could be a future of conflict. As the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon remarked recently that water scarcity is the potential fuel for wars and conflict. But cooperation, not conflict should guide us in our quest for a solution to this crisis<br /><br />= = =<br /><br /><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0319/1224243068780.html"> Scarce food, water, energy will bring global mayhem by 2030, says scientist</a> (19.03.09.Irish Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://atlanticfreepress.com/news/1/8726-shell-oil-to-planet-earth-drop-dead-by-.html">Shell Oil to Planet Earth: Drop Dead</a></b><br />20.03.09. Chris Floyd, Empire Burlesque, AtlatnicFree Press. Shell says it is dropping its much-publicized work on alternative energy sources – because the bucks just aren't big enough. Green energy, it seems, just doesn't produce enough long green for the Oil Lords. Instead, they are going to keep scraping out carbon from the guts of the earth – and going in for biofuels, ie., diverting vast acreages of arable land from food production for the world's poor to energy for the world's rich...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090324_obamas_plan_to_save_the_world/">Obama’s Plan to Save the World</a></b><br />24.03.09. Scott Ritter, Truthdig. Forget about terrorism for a moment. The potential catastrophe that climate change could unleash on America makes every other national security crisis pale in comparison. President Obama cannot secure the homeland without addressing this global emergency.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/03/24/bc-exxon-valdez-protest-pipeline-kitimat.html"> Group protests pipeline project on Exxon Valdez anniversary </a> (24.03.09. CBC) See also: <a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2009/2009-03-24-01.asp"> 20 Years After Valdez Oil Spill, Exxon Still Owes $92M</a><br />&<br /><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29838444/wid/18298287/?GT1=45002">Oil plagues sound 20 years after Exxon Valdez</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090320_7496.php">Evolution Offers National Security Lessons, Scientists Say</a></b><br />23.03.09. NTI. Those charged with protecting the United States from terrorism could take lessons from the evolutionary strategies that nonhuman life-forms have used to survive in a world filled with predators, according to a mixed group of scientists and security experts. <u>Animals do not expend energy seeking to defeat a threat in their environment that is likely to prove permanent, unlike human efforts to eliminate narcotics or extremism, said Duke University marine ecologist Raphael Sagarin. Instead, they learn to manage the danger</u>. “Fish don’t try to turn sharks into vegetarians. They learn to live with sharks, one way or the other, through various adaptations,” said Sagarin, who formed the 4-year-old working group. “How they do that is the question.”/ Several years of consideration of this idea have produced a book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Natural-Security-Darwinian-Approach-Dangerous/dp/0520253477/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237872187&sr=1-1"> Natural Security: A Darwinian Approach to a Dangerous World</a>. Proponents now hope to make their case on Capitol Hill and to the Homeland Security Department and other federal agencies.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?S=10063317&nav=menu554_2/members?cat-id=%27">Conservationists protest Adobe Town leases</a></b><br />24.03.09. local news 8. Three conservation groups have formally protested plans to offer parcels in the Adobe Town area in southwest Wyoming for <u>oil and gas leasing</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/nyregion/26ecocops.html?th&emc=th">Polluters, Beware: These Eco-Police Officers Are for Real</a></b><br />25.03.09. NY Times. As a member of a small force of police officers whose sole focus is enforcing environmental laws, Officer Stevens carries a gun and handcuffs and can haul a suspect off to jail. These environmental conservation officers number barely 20 in New York City, out of about 300 around the state, but issue about 2,000 summonses for violations and criminal charges annually.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/spence280309.htm">The Worsening U.S. Failure</a></b><br />28.03.09. Emily Spence, countercurrents. In light of overall environmental degradation, ever larger human population, ongoing major resource depletion, over-consumption of products that have been overproduced by too small a work force to involve full employment and climate change effects all increasing in their impacts, it seems likely that the worldwide economy will never completely recover and expand. Certainly cutbacks in both economic and population growth are absolutely necessary to curtail further ruin of the natural world on which all life ultimately depends for its continued survival<br /><br /><br /><b> Poverty Around The World</b><br /><br /><u> General</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc100?OpenForm"> Relief Web. Covering: Countries and Emergencies; Latest Natural Disasters</a>. Maps, press releases<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insidestory/2009/03/200935132417249438.html">Financial crisis to hit the poorest </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22156.htm">Trickle Down Misery</a></b><br />04.03.09. Abid Aslam, IPS / ICH. Soaring food and fuel prices pushed 130 million to 155 million people in developing countries into poverty in 2008 and the World Bank reckons another 53 million people could join them this year. This would bring the total of those living at or below the international poverty line of two dollars a day to more than 1.5 billion people.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMO6dqHNDJ8">Developing world to suffer most from economic crisis - 09 March </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Global-trade-collapsing-forcing-everyone/story.aspx?guid=%7B5E877CF4-8D66-46A2-A144-3EE1FF6F6C37%7D">Global trade collapsing</a></b><br />13.03.09. market watch. U.S. exports falling at 49% pace as customers fade away<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22223.htm">How The World Pimps America: How the US is shifting the financial crisis onto the rest of the world</a></b><br />16.03.09. Pepe Escobar, ICH. The US Treasury will borrow no less than one trillion dollars from the developing world in 2009. It will need even more in 2010. Pepe Escobar argues the US is indeed in a privileged position: not only it unleashes a global financial crisis, it then sucks up money from all over the world, based on the fact that the US in fact remains the "manager" of choice of global capitalism. VIDEO 10min.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a7d696d0-1412-11de-9e32-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1">Poor still hit by high food prices, says UN</a></b><br />19.03.09. FT. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation’s findings show that poor countries continue to suffer the impact of high food prices. The blow was now compounded by sharply lower economic growth and remittances, said food aid officials.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/132523/will_our_economic_collapse_cause_the_death_of_millions_abroad/">Will Our Economic Collapse Cause the Death of Millions Abroad?</a></b><br />20.03.09. Michael T. Klare, FPIF / alternet. <em>As the ealthier nations cease investing in the developing world or acquiring its exports, the crisis is hitting them with a vengeance</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2009/03/kerry_focuses_c.html">Kerry focuses committee on global food crisis</a></b><br />24.03.09. boston.com. Kerry’s opening statement: We are here to consider one of the great moral challenges the world faces today: the persistence of global hunger. It is remarkable that in 2009, there are over 850 million hungry people in the world. One in seven people on Earth goes hungry every day. We must do more to alleviate this crisis and the suffering it causes. …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/ghosh260309.htm">Economic Crisis: Why More Of The Same Will Not Work</a></b><br />26.03.09. Jayati Ghosh, Monthly Review / countercurrents. There is no question that current "Northern" standards of life cannot be sustained if they were made accessible to everyone on this planet. This means that future economic growth in the developing world has to involve more equitable and sensible patterns of consumption and production.<br /><br /><a href="http://larouchepub.com/other/1995/2249_kissinger_food.html">History of Kissinger’s Plan for Food Control Genocide</a>. (J. Brewda. Larouchepub)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.alertnet.org/db/an_art/20316/2009/02/27-170057-1.htm"> World's hungry exceed 1 billion, U.N. tells Financial Times </a>(27.03.09. Reuters)<br /><br /><br /><u> Countries</u><br /><br /><u> Africa</u><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jfP6qYnM_A"> Africa's Depleting Riches 9 March 2009</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/03/20093108392738860.html">Africa 'faces increased poverty'</a></b><br />10.03.09. al jazeera. The IMF's assessment comes a day after the World Bank said that developing countries face a financing gap of $270bn to $700bn this year as trade income dwindles and rich nations vie for capital to deal with the global economic slowdown.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzfqioJ-uZo"><br />Africa Uncovered - Shifting sands - 25 Aug 08 - Part 1<br /><br /></a><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PWZRS07Y60"> Africa Uncovered - Shifting sands - 25 Aug 08 - Part 2 </a><br /><br /><br /><u> Australia</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2009/03/2009342225337424.html">Australian economy contracts</a></b><br />04.03.09. aljazeera. The Australian economy has shrunk for the first time in eight years with a 0.5 per cent negative growth rate in the last quarter of 2008, according to government data.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.farminguk.com/news/Australia-Arabs-buying-up-Ausralian-farms.12808.asp">Australia-Arabs buying up Ausralian farms</a> (09.03.09. farminguk)<br /><br /><br /><u> China</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/opinion/08friedman.html">The Inflection Is Near?</a></b><br />08.03.09. T. L. Friedman, NY Times. We have created a system for growth that depended on our building more and more stores to sell more and more stuff made in more and more factories in China, powered by more and more coal that would cause more and more climate change but earn China more and more dollars to buy more and more U.S. T-bills so America would have more and more money to build more and more stores and sell more and more stuff that would employ more and more Chinese. / We can’t do this anymore.<br /><br />VIDEOS: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GRL_tYiTcA"> China's growing jobs crisis - 06 March 2009 Part I</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzm5BwNH8xM"> Part II</a><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://mefeedia.com/entry/global-downturn-hits-chinese-town-27-mar-09/15911391"> Global downturn hits Chinese town 27 March 2009</a><br /><br /><br /><u> Egypt</u><br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/03/200932512215936455.html"> Adliya: Meet the locals</a>. (27.03.09. al jazeera)<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/03/200932662023703599.html"> Carving out hope in Egypt</a> (27.03.09. Rawya Rageh, al jazeera. in Damietta, Egypt. Video.)<br /><br /><br /><u> Gaza</u><br /><br />VIDEOS: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/general/2009/02/2009220135633240902.html"> FOCUS ON GAZA</a><br /><br /><br /><u> India</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/greenwald/58451">India : A Starving Democracy</a></b><br />13.03.09. Commentary / ICH. In India a shocking 42.5 percent of children under 5 are malnourished. A World Food Program report last month noted that India remained home to more than a fourth of the world's hungry, 230 million people in all.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/singh180309.htm">India-EU Free Trade Agreement: Should India Open Up Banking Sector?</a></b><br />18.03.09. Kavaljit Singh, countercurrents. In India, the much-touted benefits associated with European banks are yet to be materialized. The urban-centric European banks largely serve the niche market segments consisting of high-net-worth individuals and large corporations. Keeping these important developments in view, the policy makers should rethink about the benefits of opening up of banking and financial services under the framework of India-EU<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/boga250309.htm">Poverty, Rebel Groups Push Poor Farmers To Drug Cultivation In India</a></b><br />25.03.09. Dilnaz Boga, countercurrents. India’s North Eastern state of Manipur is paying a high price for its proximity to the notorious Golden Triangle. A population of 2.4 million grapples with HIV/AIDS that stems out of a heroin addiction problem directly related to local poppy cultivation. With a land area of 22, 327 sq km – roughly the size of Israel – Manipur has one of the highest per capita HIV+ patients in India. Lack of infrastructure, corrupt government agencies and poverty has pushed poor farmers to poppy cultivation on lands occupied by underground groups.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/sen250309.htm">Human Rights Evicted </a></b><br />25.03.09. Jhuma Sen, countercurrents. A Review of the UDHR: From in‘adequate' Housing to Forced Evictions and the Myth of Adequate Housing in India<br /><br /><br /><u> Iraq</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090318/wl_mcclatchy/3191674">Baghdad's water still undrinkable 6 years after invasion</a></b><br />16.03.09. McClatchy/ ICH. The stench of human waste is enough to tell Falah abu Hasan that his drinking water is bad. His infant daughter Fatma's continuous illnesses and his own constant nausea confirm it<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/03/19/red-cross-raises-iraq-concerns/">Red Cross Raises Iraq Concerns</a></b><br />19.03.09. anti-war. Red Cross officials today warned that the country remains in a ‘stagnant humanitarian climate.’ ... Millions remain displaced at home and abroad. ... Baghdad’s tap water remains undrinkable much of the time.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22267.htm">A forgotten humanitarian disaster</a></b><br />21.03.09. BRussels Tribunal/ICH. The sixth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq is a sad occasion for the balance sheet: during six years of occupation 1.2 million citizens were killed, 2,000 doctors killed, and 5,500 academics and intellectuals assassinated or imprisoned. There are 4.7 million refugees: 2.7 million inside the country and two million have fled to neighbouring countries, among which are 20,000 medical doctors. According to the Red Cross, Iraq is now a country of widows and orphans: two million widows as a consequence of war, embargo, war again and occupation, and five million orphans, many of whom are homeless (estimated at 500,000). Almost a third of Iraq’s children suffer from malnutrition. Some 70 per cent of Iraqi girls no longer go to school. Medical services, not so long ago the best in the region, have totally collapsed: 75 per cent of medical staff have left their jobs, half of them have fled the country, and after six years of “reconstruction” health services in Iraq still do not meet minimum standards.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/SouadAlAzzawi_Numbers.htm">Let The Numbers Speak</a></b><br />26.03.09. Dr. Souad N. Al-Azzawi, BRussels Tribunal<br />Six years into the occupation…<br />- 72 months of destruction<br />- $607 Billions spent on the war<br />- 2 Million Barrels of oil being sold per day<br />- 2 Million Displaced Iraqis inside of Iraq<br />- 3 Million Iraqis forced to leave the country<br />- 2615 professors, scientists, and doctors killed in cold blood<br />- 338 dead journalists<br />- $13 Billion misplaced by the current Iraqi government<br />- $400 Billion required to rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure<br />- 3 hours average of electricity daily<br />- 24 car bombs per month<br />- 7 major mafias running the country<br />- 4260 Americans dead<br />- 10,000 cases of cholera per year<br />- 50 of my friends dead<br />- 22 of my relatives dead<br />- 15 abductions of close relatives and people I know and love<br />- At least 1.3 million Iraqis dead since 2003.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090327/FOREIGN/967836593/1011/NEWS">Iraq: Poor sell kidneys just to survive</a></b><br />27.03.09. national.ae / ICH. Despite Iraq's massive wealth - it has among the largest oil reserves in the world - poverty is rife. A 2007 study by the United Nations found one-third of Iraqis lived in poverty, with five per cent of the population in extreme poverty.<br /><br /><br /><u> Ireland</u><br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/03/2009310154442679795.html"> Ireland's economy 'to shrink by 6%'</a> (10.03.09. al jazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/03/200932611544390293.html">Irish economy in sharp contraction</a></b><br />26.03.09. al jazeera. Ireland, the first eurozone country to fall into an official recession, has released more gloomy financial data, with official statistics revealing that its gross domestic product <u>shrank by 7.5 per cent</u> in the three months to December, compared with the fourth quarter of 2007. The figures, released by the Central Statistics Office, showed that overall the country's economy contracted by 2.3 per cent in 2008.<br /><br /><br /><u> Italy</u><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuJbU7bqlH8&feature=channel_page"> Chinese immigrants found living under pavement in Milan 26 March 09</a><br /><br /><br /><u> Japan </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Economy/idUSTRE52966Z20090311">45 percent of world's wealth destroyed: Blackstone CEO </a></b><br />11.03.09. Reuters. "Between 40 and 45 percent of the world's wealth has been destroyed in little less than a year and a half," Schwarzman told an audience at the Japan Society. "This is absolutely unprecedented in our lifetime."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/27/japan-economy-deflation-brink">Plunging sales leave Japan on the brink of deflation</a></b><br />27.03.09. Guardian. <em>The consumer price index remained unchanged for a second month, but economists reckon it must fall soon</em>. The weak state of the Japanese economy was underlined by separate data showing that retail sales fell by 5.8% last month, the sharpest monthly decline in seven years. Retail sales in Japan have now fallen for the last six months. / Business at department stores, which indicates demand for <u>luxury goods and premium items</u>, was particularly <u>poor</u> in February. Sales plunged 11.5% from a year earlier, according to the Japan Department Stores Association. / Japan's manufacturers are suffering badly from the global downturn, with firms such as Toyota and Sony cutting production in response to declining demand. Exports <u>fell by nearly 50%</u> in February.<br /><br /><br /><u> Kenya </u><br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/03/200932692116288795.html">Malindi: Meet the locals </a> (27.03.09. al jazeera)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q25S1GAUwsk&feature=channel_page"> Global Recession - Little Italy on the rocks - 27 Mar </a><br /><br /><br /><u> Latin America </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/arce180309.htm">Latin America Hit Hard By World Crisis</a></b><br />18.03.09. Luis Arce, countercurrents. Capital Economics—a leading macroeconomics research and consultancy firm that supplies analysis to institutional investors and clients across the globe—reports in its latest Latin America Chart Book that "Latin America's five-year economic boom has come to an abrupt end." The bleak figures cited by Capital Economics stand in stark contrast to the rosy picture painted by financial analysts not so long ago<br /><br /><br /><u> Palestine</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52750&s2=19">Report: UK economic links with Israeli settlements</a></b><br />18.03.09. Report, Profundo / uruknet. <em>edited summary of the research paper, "UK economic links with Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory." The paper was prepared for the Sir Joseph Hotung Programme for Law, Human Rights and Peace Building in the Middle East, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London by the research group Profundo.</em>. <b> Trade relationships</b>: mislabeling practice. A total of 27 Israeli companies operating in settlements and exporting to the United Kingdom have been identified.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=100209">Abbas: Solve water problems before peace deal</a></b><br />20.03.09. AFP, daily star.lb Mahmud Abbas accused Israel on Thursday of forcing Palestinians to live in chronic water scarcity and declared a "rightful share" of water should not be tied to a peace deal. In a message read at the World Water Forum in Istanbul, the Palestinian Authority president said Israel's unilateral control over rivers and aquifers meant scarce water resources were not being shared equitably "as required by international law." Palestinians had four times less water per capita than Israelis living in Israel, a consumption level that fell far below the World Health Organization's guidelines for minimum daily access to water<br /><br /><br /><u> Russia</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20090302_financial_crisis_and_six_pillars_russian_strength">The Financial Crisis and the Six Pillars of Russian Strength</a></b><br />03.03.09. Stratfor. Russia is yet again on the cusp of a set of massive currency devaluations that could destroy much of the country’s financial system. With a crashing currency, the disappearance of foreign capital, greatly decreased energy revenues and currency reserves flying out of the bank, the Western perception is that Russia is on the verge of collapsing once again. Consequently, many Western countries have started to grow complacent about Russia’s ability to further project power abroad. <b> The State of the Russian State</b>: Russia has faced a slew of economic problems in the past six months. Incoming foreign direct investment, which reached a record high of $28 billion in 2007, has reportedly dried up to just a few billion. Russia’s two stock markets, the Russian Trading System (RTS) and the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX), have fallen 78 and 67 percent respectively since their highs in May 2008. And Russians have withdrawn $290 billion from the country’s banks in fear of a financial collapse. / ... <b>Geography and Development</b>: But before one can truly understand the roots of Russian power, the reality and role of the Russian economy must be examined. From this perspective, the past several years are most certainly an aberration — and we are not simply speaking of the post-Soviet collapse. ... / <b>The Reality of Russian Power</b>: So while Russia might be losing its financial security and capabilities, which in the West tend to boil down to economic wealth, the global recession has not affected the reality of Russian power much at all.<br /><br /><br /><u>UK</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/13/rbs-tax-avoidance">RBS avoided £500m of tax in global deals</a></b><br />13.03.09. Guardian. <em>State-supported bank admits billions were put into schemes to cut tax bill</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5908388.ece">Britons suffer 17% plunge in wealth</a></b><br />15.03.09. Times Online. Households witness biggest drop in the value of their assets for 40 years after house price and stock market collapses<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/4996994/Britain-showing-signs-of-heading-towards-1930s-style-depression-says-Bank.html">Britain showing signs of heading towards 1930s-style depression, says Bank</a></b><br />16.03.09. Telegraph. The country is displaying early symptoms of being trapped in a so-called “debt deflation trap” where families find themselves pushed further and further into the red every month, according to a Bank report published today.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/16340000-each-the-personal-cost-of-the-downturn-1645727.html">£40,000 each: The personal cost of the downturn</a></b><br />16.03.09. Independent / legitgov. The worst economic slowdown in three-quarters of a century has wiped £40,000 from the wealth of every adult in the United Kingdom, a national total of almost £2 trillion; that is £2,000bn, or £2,000,000,000,000.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/unemployment-among-young-workers-hits-15-per-cent-1645728.html">UK: Unemployment among young workers hits 15 per cent</a></b><br />16.03.09. Independent. Embarrassment for Brown as new figures set to show jobless total has hit 2 million<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/17/gordon-brown-recession-banking-regulation">Brown: I should have done more to prevent bank crisis</a></b><br />17.03.09. Guardian. PM accepts 'full responsibility' and declares <u>pure free-market era is over</u>. In an interview with the Guardian, the prime minister concedes that in retrospect he wishes he had mounted a popular campaign 10 years ago to demand more responsible regulation of the world's financial markets.<br /><br /><em> Racism</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1162375/More-quarters-Britons-want-jobless-immigrants-forced-leave-UK.html">More than three-quarters of Britons want to see jobless immigrants forced to leave UK</a></b><br />17.03.09. Daily Mail. The poll also found that more adults in the UK, 54 per cent, than in Germany, France, Italy or Spain, are against citizens from other EU countries getting a job in their country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/18/usemployment-gordon-brown%20Brown%20under%20pressure%20over%20record%20jump%20in%20jobless%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3E18.03.09.%20%20Guardian.%20%20the%20headline%20figure%20of%20people%20out%20of%20work%20rose%20above%20two%20million%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" uk="" business="" 2009="" mar="" 19="" claims="">New whistleblower claims over £1bn Barclays tax deals</a></b><br />19.03.09. Guardian. • Judge upholds ban on publishing bank's documents; • Insider says tax avoidance central to firm's business. Also: <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/20/barclays-tax-documents-guardian"> The seven secret Barclays tax documents we have been barred from publishing – and what an expert told the court they mean</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.france24.com/en/20090318-business-british-unemployment-2-million-jobless-jump-6.5-percent-two">UK: Two million jobless for the first time in 12 years</a></b><br />19.03.09. france 24 / ICH. The number of people claiming jobless benefits rose by the largest amount on record last month, official data showed, and total unemployment rose above two million for the first time since 1997.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/24/rpi-inflation-zero">Surprise rise in inflation defies City predictions</a></b><br />24,03,09. Guardian. • CPI inflation rises to 3.2% in February; • Price rises fall to 0% on RPI measure<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/mar/25/energy-suppliers-direct-debit-which-survey">Energy companies 'profit from excessive consumer payments'</a></b><br />25.03.09. Guardian. • Which? says firms earn interest from customer's money; • Energy suppliers score poorly in customer satisfaction survey<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/mar/26/gordon-brown-bonds-fiscal-stimulus">Gordon Brown retreats on spending as market sounds warning</a></b><br />26.03.09. Guardian. • PM says no plan for more stimulus; • Government bond issue fails<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/5057877/Britain-to-send-more-troops-to-Afghanistan.html">Britain to send more troops to Afghanistan</a></b><br />27.03.09. Telegraph. Britain is preparing to send an extra 1,700 soldiers to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, the head of the Army has indicated.<br /><br /><br /><u> USA</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://graphics.nytimes.com/books/99/07/18/specials/evans.4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 334px;" src="http://graphics.nytimes.com/books/99/07/18/specials/evans.4.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://graphics.nytimes.com/books/99/07/18/specials/evans.4.jpg">© Walker Evans Archive, Metropolitan Museum of Art</a></div><br /><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/worst-job-losses-60-years/story.aspx?guid=%7B3DD6787D-0D70-4B14-94EC-808F4212D419%7D">Worst job losses in 60 years expected</a> (01.03.09. Marketwatch)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.prwatch.org/node/8257"> Bad Economy = Easier Military Recruiting</a> (02.03.09. prwatch)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090303/NEWS01/903030349/1001">Payments to poor, disabled cut in half</a></b><br />03.03.09. honolulu advertiser. State trying to stretch general assistance funds through June<br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52478R20090305">Food stamp enrollment jumps to record 31.8 million</a> (05.03.09. Reuters)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200936132544136220.html">US unemployment hits 25-year high</a></b><br />07.03.09. al jazeera. US unemployment has risen to 8.1 per cent, the highest level since December 1983, according to a US government report.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insidestory/2009/03/200935132417249438.html">Financial crisis to hit the poorest Part 1</a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSpA07ZvwvA"> Part 2</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE52B1KM20090312">U.S. jobless seen nearing 10 percent</a></b><br />12.03.09. Reuters. ... leaving more than 13 million Americans jobless, according to a Reuters poll of economists.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/arts/design/13metr.html?th&emc=th"> 74 Are Laid Off at Met Museum; More May Follow</a> (12.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.jta.org/philanthropy/article/2009/03/13/1003717/atlanta-federation-lays-off-almoost-20-percent-of-its-staff">Atlanta layoffs</a></b><br />13.03.09. JTA. The Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta has laid off close to 20 percent of its staff, according to an email sent out by its president Steve Rakitt.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/03/13/unemployment.fees/index.html">Another twist for the unemployed: Debit card fees</a></b><br />14.03.09. CNN. If you're out of work like Steve Lippe, who was laid off from his job as a salesman in January, you know you already have problems. But looking at the fine print that came with his new unemployment debit card, he became livid.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/industrial-production-falls-fourth-straight/story.aspx?guid=%7B0A26D8DD-A812-4B15-8BC9-9FD0898EE915%7D&dist=msr_1">Industrial production down for fourth straight month </a></b><br />16.03.09. Market Watch. Output declines 1.4%, more than forecast<br /><br /><b><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CATERPILLAR_LAYOFFS?SITE=AP">Caterpillar to lay off 2,454 workers in 3 states</a></b><br />17.03.09. AP / ICH. Caterpillar Inc. on Tuesday announced plans to lay off more than 2,400 employees at five plants in Illinois, Indiana and Georgia as the heavy equipment maker continues to cut costs amid the global economic downturn.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-consumer-prices-rise-04-apf-14675456.html">Consumer prices rise 0.4 percent in February</a></b><br />18.03.09. AP / finance / ICH. U.S. consumer prices rose in February by the largest amount in seven months as gasoline prices surged again and clothing costs jumped the most in nearly two decades.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/132461/approaching_a_depression_new_twist_in_the_old_saga_of_under-counting_the_unemployed/">Approaching a Depression? New Twist in the Old Saga of Under-Counting the Unemployed</a></b><br />19.03.09. Joshua Holland, AlterNet. <em> An expert points out that the pain we're feeling relative to past recessions is even worse than it appears at first glance</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSTRE52I74S20090319">U.S. unemployment rate likely around 9.5 percent: think tank</a></b><br />19.03.09. Reuters / ICH. The U.S. unemployment rate was probably around 9.5 percent, comparable to the jobless rate in 1982 if adjustments were made to factor in demographic changes and undercounting, a think tank said on Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/132461/approaching_a_depression_new_twist_in_the_old_saga_of_under-counting_the_unemployed/">Approaching a Depression? New Twist in the Old Saga of Under-Counting the Unemployed</a></b><br />19.03.09. Joshua Holland, AlterNet. <em>An expert points out that the pain we're feeling relative to past recessions is even worse than it appears at first glance</em>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/nyregion/20hhc.html?th&emc=th"> City’s Public Hospital System to Cut Jobs and Programs</a> (19.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/03/20/post.office.cuts/index.html"> Postal service to slash more than 3,000 jobs, offer early retirements </a> (20.03.09. CNN)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2009/03/20/USPS_to_close_district_offices/">USPS to close 2 New England district offices</a></b><br />20.03.09. boston.com/legitgov. U.S. Postal Service district administrative offices in North Reading and in Manchester, N..H. will be among the six to be closed across the nation under the postal service cutbacks announced today. The USPS office in Manchester serves both New Hampshire and Vermont and its operations will be transferred to the office in Portland, Maine.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175048">The Secret War Against American Workers: The Unemployment Story No One Notices</a></b><br />20.03.09. Robert S. Eshelman, Tom Dispatch. <em>Bosses are using minor transgressions of work-place rules as the trigger for firings -- <u>putting the fear</u> of god into those who remain</em>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/business/21age.html?th&emc=th"> Young and Old Are Facing Off for Jobs</a> (20.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-03-19-jobless-veterans_N.htm">Jobless rate at 11.2% for veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan</a></b> .<br />20.03.09. USA Today / legitgo . <em>Army records show the service has hit 152% of its re-enlistment goal this year</em>. The economic downturn is hitting Iraq and Afghanistan veterans harder than other workers -- one in nine are now out of work -- and may be encouraging some troops to remain in the service, according to Labor Department records and military officials. The 11.2% jobless rate for veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and who are 18 and older rose 4 percentage points in the past year.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URp1VIgH81A"> Many Iraqi refugees face hardships in the US - 21 Mar 09 </a><br /><br /><em> Racism?</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/us/22immig.html?th&emc=th">A Slippery Place in the U.S. Work Force</a></b><br />21.03.09. NY Times. ... the folding chairs are filled with immigrants from Latin America. See comments: <a href="http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/what-this-economy-means-for-low-wage-workers/?hp"> Low-Wage Workers in This Economy</a><br />23.03.09. NY Times. <u>Feeling the Brunt</u> by Gordon Hanson: Because illegal immigrants accounted for a disproportionate share of the new jobs created in the upswing, they are among those most exposed to job destruction in the downswing. Whether we intended to or not, we have assigned these workers the role of shock absorber for the United States labor market. <u>Unemployment Is Hard on Everyone</u> by Philip Martin: (the article) is misleading in suggesting that most jobless Americans receive government help while unauthorized workers are left to fend for themselves. There are 12.5 million unemployed U.S. workers — including a million or more unauthorized ones — and fewer than five million are receiving unemployment insurance benefits. [there are further comments to read …]<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU3MFnXf6Ak"> New faces of US homeless - 23 Mar 09 </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/64577.html">Stimulus? U.S. to buy Chinese condoms, ending Alabama jobs</a></b><br />23.03.09. McClatchy / legitgov. The U.S. Agency for International Development has distributed an estimated 10 billion U.S.-made AIDS-preventing condoms in poor countries around the world. But not anymore. In a move expected to cost 300 American jobs, the government is switching to cheaper off-shore condoms, including some made in China... The switch comes despite implied assurances over the years that the agency would continue to buy American whenever possible. A USAID official, who spoke on the condition that he would not be named, said the reasons for the change included lower prices and the fact that <b>Congress dropped "buy American language" in a recent appropriations bill</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2009/03/2%203/more_students_get_subsidized_lunches/">More students get subsidized lunches</a></b><br />23.03.09. boston globe. The number of Massachusetts families seeking free and reduced-price meals for schoolchildren is rising as economic hardships extend to school lunchrooms.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxmLOLRab70"> Scramble for work in California - 24 Mar 09</a><br /><br /><a href="http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-technology/ibm-to-shift-large-number-of-us-jobs-to-india-20090326-9as2.html">IBM to shift 'large number' of US jobs to India</a> (26.03.09. Brisbane times / legitgov)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/26charity.html?th&emc=th">Financial Safety Net of Nonprofit Organizations Is Fraying, Survey Finds</a> (25.03.09. NY Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/2009-03-25-company-match-retirement_N.htm">More companies cut or end 401(k) plan matches</a></b><br />26.03.09. USA today / legitgov. The battle for a secure retirement is about to get even tougher. Several new surveys of company executives show that they plan to reduce or suspend their company's retirement-plan contributions this year.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-technology/ibm-to-shift-large-number-of-us-jobs-to-india-20090326-9as2.html"> IBM to shift 'large number' of US jobs to India </a> (26.03.09. Brisbane times / legitgov)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/2009-03-25-company-match-retirement_N.htm">More companies cut or end 401(k) plan matches</a></b><br />26.03.09. USA today / legitgov. The battle for a secure retirement is about to get even tougher. Several new surveys of company executives show that they plan to reduce or suspend their company's retirement-plan contributions this year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/nyregion/27unemployed.html?th&emc=th">City Jobless Rate Takes Highest-Ever One-Month Leap</a></b><br />26.03.09. NY Times. In the biggest jump in a single month on record, New York City’s unemployment rate leapt to 8.1 percent from 6.9 percent in February, the State Labor Department reported on Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jsanM66tszKz1zFq0LOG4XvWS7zAD975V6M01">Jobless rolls swell again as recession persists</a></b><br />26.03.09. AP. For the 10th week in a row, the number of people receiving jobless benefits grew. It now stands at nearly 5.6 million, the government said — an indication that the labor market is still grim.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29891754/Want%20to%20go%20on%20welfare?%20Just%20say%20no%20to%20drugshttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29891754/">Want to go on welfare? Just say no to drugs</a></b><br />26.03.09. NBC. <em> Lawmakers in some states want recipients to submit to random testing</em><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO9DKdFwUpU&feature=channel_page">Job losses hurt US small town - 27 Mar 09 </a> (Danville, VA)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/03/27/ap6223527.html">SC unemployment reaches 11 percent for February</a></b><br />27.03.09. Forbes / ICH. South Carolina's jobless rate surged to 11 percent in February, edging closer to the 14 percent peak a state advisory board expects as the recession throttles the state with the nation's second-highest unemployment rate.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBTa0e1ODD5k&refer=home">Jobless Rate Exceeds 10% in Three More U.S. States</a></b><br />27.03.09. Bloomberg / ICH. The number of U.S. states with a jobless rate exceeding 10 percent almost doubled in February as the worst employment slump in the postwar era spread.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29891754/"> Want to go on welfare? Just Say No to Drugs</a> (26.03.09) NBC. <em> Lawmakers in some states want recipients to submit to random testing</em><br /><br /><br /><u>Homeless & US Tent Cities</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/slum2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 364px; height: 211px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/slum2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1159677/Pictured-The-credit-crunch-tent-city-returned-haunt-America.html">The credit crunch tent city which has returned to haunt America</a></b><br />06.03.09. daily mail. Tents are once again springing up in the city of Sacramento. But this time it is for people with no hope and no prospects.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cJNEeI-lFM&feature=related"> American Tent Cities</a> (09.03.09; 3 min)<br /><br /><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22209.htm"> Homeless Tent Cities Springing Up In US </a> (13.03.09. NBC / ICH. + Video)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.homelesschildrenamerica.org/">America's Youngest Outcasts </a></b><br />10.03.09. homeless children. One in 50 U.S. Children Is Homeless Each Year: New Report Ranks 50 States From Best To Worst<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ghost-town-an-american-nightmare-1646434.html">Ghost Town: An American Nightmare</a></b><br />17.03.09. Independent / ICH. Wilmington, a small town in America's Midwestern rust belt, was home to the world's largest private airport. Then recession struck<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/once-prosperous-town-now-mired-by-the-economic-crisis-18-march-2009/15548519/"> Once prosperous town now mired by the economic crisis - 18 March 2009 </a> (al jazeera in Ohio)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22298.htm">Is the U.S.A. the World's Greatest Nation Now?</a></b><br />25.03.09. Bob Kendall, Political Cortex / ICH. According to the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Coalition, 3.5 million people in a given year will experience homelessness with 1.5 million of them children. The current national jobless figure stands at over 8 percent and is rising while there are 37 million Americans on food stamps.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/us/26tents.html?th&emc=th">Cities Deal With a Surge in Shantytowns</a></b><br />25.03.09. NY Times. Like a dozen or so other cities across the nation, Fresno is dealing with an unhappy déjà vu: the arrival of modern-day Hoovervilles, illegal encampments of homeless people that are reminiscent, on a far smaller scale, of Depression-era shantytowns.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKqkjyYkFN8w">Schwarzenegger Opens California Fairgrounds to Homeless Camp</a></b><br />25.03.09. Bloomberg / legitgov. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said a make-shift tent city for the homeless that sprang up in the capital city of Sacramento will be shut down and its residents allowed to stay at the state fairgrounds.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12920">Hidden Homeless Emerge as US Economy Worsens</a></b><br />26.03.09. Steve Gorman and Suzanne Hurt, global research. SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Emergency shelters brimming with homeless people in California's capital are quietly turning away more than 200 women and children a night in a sign of the deteriorating U.S. economy. / … A "tent city" of up to 200 homeless in Sacramento was thrust into the media spotlight last month as a symbol of the battered U.S. economy. California authorities said this week they would shut down the illegal settlement and find other shelter for its residents, most of them chronically homeless. Related: <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aKqkjyYkFN8w"> Schwarzenegger Opens California Fairgrounds to Homeless Camp</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/26/tent-city-california-recession-economy">US tent cities highlight new realities as recession wears on</a></b><br />26.03.09. Guardian. Tent cities reminiscent of the "Hoovervilles" of the Great Depression have been springing up in cities across the United States - from Reno in Nevada to Tampa in Florida - as foreclosures and redundancies force middle-class families from their homes.<br /><br /><u> Canada </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-tents18mar18,0,1589130.story">‘Ontario residents only’ at tent city</a></b><br />18.03.09. LA Times/legitgov. <em>Officials begin thinning out the encampment, saying the city can provide space only for those who once lived there and can prove it</em>. The aim is to reduce the number of people living there from over 400 to 170. / Large, often confused, crowds formed ragged lines behind police barricades where officers handed out color-coded wristbands. Blue meant they were from Ontario and could remain. Orange indicated they had to provide more proof to avoid ejection, and white meant they had a week to leave. <br /><br /><br /><b> III. PEOPLE POWER</b><br /><br /><u> Argentina</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=anXDzwM6EyDc&refer=latin_america">Argentine Farmers Plan Week-Long Tax-Protest Strike (Update1)</a></b><br />20.03.09. Bloomberg. Argentine growers will halt sales of grains and livestock for a week, setting up roadblocks and hampering exports to press for lower taxes.<br /><br /><br /><u>Australia</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.declarepeace.org.uk/captain/murder_inc/site/pics/story.pine.gap.ap.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 168px;" src="http://www.declarepeace.org.uk/captain/murder_inc/site/pics/story.pine.gap.ap.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://mefeedia.com/entry/people-power-pine-gap-four-21-march-09-part-1/15678322%20People%20and%20Power%20%E2%80%93%20Pine%20Gap%204%20%E2%80%93%2021%20March%202009%3C/a%3E.%20%20See%20story%20%3Ca%20href=" org="" nautilus="" australia="" facilities="" gap=""> Joint Australian-US intelligence facility - Pine Gap</a><br /><br />See also <a href="http://gc.nautilus.org/Nautilus/australia/australian-defence-facilities/pine-gap/"> Joint Australian-US intelligence facility - Pine Gap</a><br /><br /><br /><u> Bolivia</u><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9XjiqFMAGA"> Bolivia transfers land from rich to poor - 16 March 2008</a><br /><br /><br /><u> Brazil</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/2009320143655413809.html">Brazil Indians gain land victory</a></b><br />20.03.09. al jazeera. The Amazon's indigenous groups have won a major victory with Brazil's Supreme Court upholding the integrity of a vast native reserve. Friday's ruling paves the way for the expulsion of white farmers living in the Raposa Serra do Sol reserve the government created in 2005.<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200932404229651526.html"> Brazil oil workers strike over pay</a> (24.03.09. al jazeera)<br /><br /><br /><u> France</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/07/terrorist-attack-french-vineyard">French radicals trample out the grapes of wrath</a></b><br />07.03.09. Guardian. The group strikes when times are hard - and times have never been quite so hard as they are now. / .. After years of falling demand and competition from the New World and large-scale producers, local growers are now seeing the global financial crisis send prices plummeting to unprecedented levels.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiV99hs_KZbNRTF-EAaPUvYqINjdvaDVnqOtrPjVzfINzbBEf0jMIyyuqkf-e7em0j6hhcYxOO7zfyQaxHiA-idhaXmqMNuBXXTXdmOPKajxoeE8iJnJDisS14HyiybkanFQW3/s1600-h/france-demo.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 273px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiV99hs_KZbNRTF-EAaPUvYqINjdvaDVnqOtrPjVzfINzbBEf0jMIyyuqkf-e7em0j6hhcYxOO7zfyQaxHiA-idhaXmqMNuBXXTXdmOPKajxoeE8iJnJDisS14HyiybkanFQW3/s400/france-demo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318959946900999090" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sarkozy-under-pressure-as-millions-take-to-streets-1648608.html"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images</span></a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/mar2009/fran-m20.shtml">France: Millions strike and march against austerity</a></b><br />20.03.09. Antoine Lerougetel, WSWS / legitgov. Several million workers and youth took to the streets in 213 cities and towns throughout France yesterday in opposition to rising poverty, rapidly growing unemployment and government austerity policies involving cuts in the social services. Opinion polls have put approval ratings for the day of action at between 72 and 78 percent of the French population.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/french-boss-barricaded-in-office-by-employees-1654292.html">French boss barricaded in office by employees</a></b><br />26.03.09. Independent / legitgov. Striking French workers at the US manufacturer 3M held their boss hostage amid labour talks yesterday at a plant south of Paris, as anger over layoffs and cutbacks mounted around the country. / While the situation at the 3M plant outside Pithiviers was calm, worker rage elsewhere boiled over into an angry march on the presidential palace in <u>Paris</u> and a bonfire of tyres set alight by Continental AG employees whose car parts factory was being shut down.<br /><br /><br /><u> Guadeloupe</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.socialistvoice.ca/">'First Victory' in Guadeloupe General Strike</a></b><br />09.03.09. <em> Movement Spreads to Other French Colonies </em>, Guyane in South America and La Réunion in the Indian Ocean, both of which are experiencing mounting unrest — have the highest unemployment rates in the European Union, double those of metropolitan France. Also, prices of basic commodities and food staples, most of them imported, are much higher.<br /><br /><br /><u> Haiti</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5952&l=1">Haiti 2009: Stability at Risk</a></b><br />03.03.09. Crisis Group. A series of crises in 2008 have increased the potential for serious trouble in Haiti this year. The politically motivated, violent April riots against high living costs caused widespread disruption and suffering, / ... In August and September, four tropical storms and hurricanes killed 800, affected nearly one million, exacerbated food shortages and pushed yet more Haitians into poverty. Extensive damage was caused to infrastructure and agriculture. The global financial crisis is making it difficult for donors to meet commitments and reducing diaspora remittances.<br /><br /><br /><u> Iraq</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7r502k02LjAsDwqWtZ8jAzYEz6NpvlqZ48YobyJY13TMbSmmj4jzTfpRl73amvGQLS-0aNg95P4o1v3Ug7p0R1-plxahalYjCwsDgihSnk6Hc7PFgBLmihyphenhyphen-2jXQbzQN-rXd/s1600-h/iraq_burn.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 342px; height: 228px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7r502k02LjAsDwqWtZ8jAzYEz6NpvlqZ48YobyJY13TMbSmmj4jzTfpRl73amvGQLS-0aNg95P4o1v3Ug7p0R1-plxahalYjCwsDgihSnk6Hc7PFgBLmihyphenhyphen-2jXQbzQN-rXd/s400/iraq_burn.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318959956732253714" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/radical-Shiite-cleric/photo//090320/481/0932331ea00746729078705412124c13//s:/ap/20090320/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq"> AP Photo/Karim Kadim)</a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090320/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq">US flag-burning marks war anniversary</a></b><br />20.03.09. AP / ICH. American flags were set on fire Friday to chants of "no, no for occupation" as followers of an anti-U.S. Shiite cleric marked the sixth anniversary of the Iraq war.<br /><br /><br /><u> Israel</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-israel-looting19-2009mar19,0,6978050.story">In Israel, recession pressures boil over into looting</a></b><br />19.03.09. LA Times. First came the employees, shortchanged two months' pay and laid off by the supermarket called God's Blessing. They rifled through their shuttered workplace, helping themselves to crates full of groceries. / .. Within hours the parking lot was jammed with ordinary shoppers. They left car engines running and brought their children to help pick the shelves clean. Finally even the shelves were hauled away, leaving latecomers to scrounge the floor for leftover fruit.<br /><br /><br /><u>Kyrgyzstan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/03/2009327121251176829.html">Kyrgyz protest against president</a></b><br />27.03.09. al jazeera. More than 1,000 people have rallied in the streets of Kyrgyzstan to protest against the government of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the nation's president, ahead of a July presidential election. / The demonstrators accused Bakiyev's government of rampant corruption and said the president had failed to implement economic reforms.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW-4UX4vMSA&feature=channel_page">Frustrated Kyrgyz take to the streets - 27 March 09</a><br /><br /><br /><u>Latvia</u><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKeWBO3_uCc&eurl=http://www.newsdissector.com/blog/2009/03/05/europe-coping-with-deepening-crisis-and-regulating-crooks/"><br />European Journal | Latvia: Anti-Government Protests</a><br /><br /><br /><u> Malaysia</u><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX8in2voMl0%E2%80%9D"> 101 East - Fight the power - 19 Mar 09 - Part 1</a><br /><br /><br /><u> Montenegro</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/25/business/EU-Montenegro-Russia-Metals-Tycoon.php"> Montenegrins protest over possible factory closure</a> (25.03.09. IHT)<br /><br /><br /><u> South Africa </u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.epherald.co.za/article.aspx?id=397596"> Protesting chokka fishermen force labour office to close </a> (17.03.09. epherald. + video)<br /><br /><br /><u>UK/Ireland/Scotland</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/lawandorder/4948903/Recession-crime-wave-hits-Britain.html">Recession crime wave hits Britain</a></b><br />06.03.09. Telegraph. Senior officers revealed a 63 per cent increase in reported financial crime compared to this time last year, with more than 10,000 victims across UK at a cost running into "hundreds and hundreds of millions of pounds".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/warning-after-goodwins-home-attacked-1653530.html">Warning after Goodwin's home attacked</a></b><br />25.03.09. independent / legitgov. <em>An emailed statement warned today of further attacks on bankers after the home of former RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin was damaged by vandals.</em> VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5974253.ece">Anti-capitalist group boasts of attack on Sir Fred Goodwin's home</a><br /><br /><br /><u>USA</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22281.htm">Five Reasons Why Americans Won't Resist</a></b><br />24.03.09. Mickey Z., ICH. With the stakes never higher than they are now, why aren't activists ramping up the pressure and looking <u>beyond tactics that are allowed by those in power</u>? Here are my five guesses. …<br />= = =<br /><b><a href="http://www.pollingreport.com/obama_ad.htm">Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. March 4-5, 2009</a></b><br />March 4-5, 2009, polling report. public opinion polls - Those show much more public support for the Obama administration than is evident among Wall Street investors--or millionaire TV journalists.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.lifegen.de/newsip/shownews.php4?getnews=2009-03-05-2710&pc=s02">United States threatened by riots and social unrests</a></b><br />05.03.09. lifegen.de. But the Big Bailout will probably end as Big Bang: With no changes on the more-growth-more-capital-more financial market power mentality there will be no escape from the vicious circle. A global monetary reform seems to be the last exit from chaos and before social unrests will inevitably start. Are the US awaiting the next revolution?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wcbstv.com/breakingnewsalerts/recession.budget.protest.2.951551.html">BUDGET BACKLASH: Thousands Rally At City Hall</a></b><br />06.03.09. WCBSTV. Organizers Say 50,000 On Hand For 'Rally For New York'. Taxpayers Furious With Budget Cuts Take Frustration To Streets Of NYC<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5271EJ20090308">Protesters target U.S. foreclosed-homes auctioneer</a></b><br />08.03.09. Reuters. An auction of foreclosed homes in New York City on Sunday drew protesters who blamed banks for an epidemic of home losses and called for a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://adage.com/article?article_id=135092">Gun Makers and Retailers Post Strong Sales Increases</a></b><br />09.03.09. adage / ICH. Smith & Wesson is reporting pistol sales up 40%, and Sturm, Ruger & Co. reported an 81% increase in firearm revenue.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.socialistalternative.org/news/article14.php?id=1047">New York City: Over 50,000 Gather to Protest Budget Cuts </a> (10.03.09. socialist state alternative) <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/131456/americans_are_raring_for_a_fight_against_corporate_power/">Americans Are Raring for a Fight Against Corporate Power</a></b><br />16.03.09. Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown/alternet. <em>3/4 of Americans want to see a huge worker protection bill pass through Congress, and the greedy corporations are running scared</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-03-16-poll_N.htm">Poll: More view Afghan war as 'mistake'</a></b><br />16.03.09. USA Today. In the poll taken Saturday and Sunday, <b>42% of respondents said the United States made "a mistake" in sending military forces to Afghanistan</b>, up from 30% in February. That's the highest mark since the poll first asked the question in November 2001 when the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban government that sheltered al-Qaeda terrorists responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/nyregion/20dodd.html?nl=pol&emc=pola3">Connecticut Senator Draws Voters’ Ire for His Bonus Role</a></b><br />19.03.09. NY Times. Across Connecticut, anger is erupting against Mr. Dodd, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, whose stature in Washington once reflected the state’s beneficial ties with the financial industry. Now, he finds himself a symbol of the political establishment’s coziness with tainted corporations and a target of populist wrath over their excesses.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=83137&catid=187"> Local Protests Against AIG Launched </a> (20.03.09. Wash. D.C)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.centredaily.com/116/story/1182224.html">Group protests bank exec bonuses</a></b><br />20.03.09. centre daily (Texas). On Thursday evening, more than two dozen people protested outside the State College offices of <u>Merrill Lynch</u>, carrying signs decrying corporate excess.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46207">ECONOMY-US: At Failed Firms, No Bad Deed Goes Unrewarded</a></b><br />20.03.09. IPS / ICH. Thousands of angry U.S. workers took to the streets Thursday to protest some major banks and insurance companies that have handed out extravagant bonuses on the taxpayers' dime, as the U.S. House of Representatives voted to get some of the bonus money back.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/us/politics/21memo.html?th&emc=th">As the Public Simmers, Obama Lets Off Steam</a></b><br />20.03.09. NY Times. To win the White House, Barack Obama grew <u>adept</u> at navigating obstacles. But few of those challenges tested his communications and political skills as much as this week’s outbreak of populism [<span style="" com="" s="" ap="" 20090321="" ap_on_re_us="" aig_bonuses=""> Protesters visit AIG officials' lavish Conn. homes<br />21.03.09. AP / legitgov. A busload of activists representing working- and middle-class families paid visits Saturday to the <u>lavish homes of American International Group executives</u> to protest the tens of millions of dollars in bonuses awarded by the struggling insurance company after it received a massive federal bailout. About 40 protesters sought to urge AIG executives who received a portion of the $165 million in bonuses to do more to help families. In addition to AIG executive James Haas' colonial house, protesters on Saturday also visited the Fairfield home of AIG executive Douglas Poling.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newstimes.com/latestnews/ci_11968298">Hundreds protest federal government spending in Ridgefield</a></b><br />21.03.09. news times. ... about 300 strong, lining both sides of Main Street in front of Ballard Park on Saturday for a "Tea Party" protest against President Barack Obama's $3.5 trillion budget and the government's effort to "stimulate" the sagging U.S. economy through spending.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/t-workers-protest-connecticut/2009-03-22">AT&T workers protest in Connecticut </a> (22.03.09. fierce telecom.)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M0ZOMXPzQ0"> Taxpayers Gather to Protest</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/local/ny-posuff2512580310mar24,0,6331576.story">Hundreds of Suffolk workers protest potential layoffs</a></b><br />24.03.09. newsday. Shouting "Union strong, Levy wrong," several hundred county employees rallied at the Legislature Tuesday, protesting the widespread job cuts proposed by County Executive Steve Levy.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977635202"> Wednesday March 25th Spontaneous Geithner Protest in New York City</a> (24.03.09. gather.com)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3144719">Martial-Law Gun Rights Bill Passes Idaho House</a></b><br />24.03.09. istock analyst. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, today persuaded the Idaho House to vote 61-9 in favor of his legislation that would prevent the government from seizing guns in cases of "extreme emergency." / HB 229 declares that during a such states including martial law, invasion or insurrection, "No government authority will have the right to come and pick up our arms and ammunition."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7014553939"> Chicago Residents Protest New Parking Meter Rate Hike</a> (25.03.09. all headline news)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25242685-661,00.html"> Row over lunch prices sparks protest at Vermont Secondary College</a> (26.03.09. herald sun)<br /><br /><a href="http://news10now.com/content/all_news/136323/bu-students-protest-suny-tuition-hikes/Default.aspx"><br />BU students protest SUNY tuition hikes</a> (26.03.09. news 10 now)<br /><br /><a href="http://ivaw.org/"> Iraq Veterans Against the War </a><br /><br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 4. REFERENCES</b></div><br /><br /><u> Internet</u><br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/" al="" jazeera=""></a><br />You can watch this superb news programme live; jazeera also does excellent special programmes, many of which are sited in this research.<br /><br /><br /><u> Books </u><br /><br />Tariq Ali, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Duel-Pakistan-Flight-American-Power/dp/1416561013/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238181392&sr=8-1"> The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power</a> (Hardcover), Grove 2005.<br /><br />Andrew Bacevich,<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Limits-Power-End-American-Exceptionalism/dp/0805090169/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238467260&sr=1-1"> The Limits of Power</a>, Holt McDougal, 2009<br /><br />Joseph Bakan, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Corporation-Pathological-Pursuit-Profit-Power/dp/0743247469/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237649330&sr=1-1"> The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power</a>, Free Press, 2005<br /><br />Michel Chossudovsky, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Globalization-Poverty-New-World-Order/dp/0973714700/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237833119&sr=1-2"> The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order </a>, Gobal Research (2nd edition), 2003<br /><br />Fritz Fanon, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wretched-Earth-Frantz-Fanon/dp/0802141323/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237792147&sr=1-2"> The Wretched of the Earth</a><br />“<em>Although socialism has seemingly collapsed in the years since Fanon's work was first published, there is much in his look into the political, racial, and social psyche of the ever-emerging Third World that still rings true </em>.”<br /><br />David C. Korten, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/When-Corporations-World-David-Korten/dp/1887208046/ref=pd_sim_b_4"> When Corporations Rule the World </a>, Berrett-Koehler Publishers (2nd edition) 2001<br /><br />Chalmers Johnson:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blowback-Second-Consequences-American-Project/dp/0805075593/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237792443&sr=1-1"> Blowback</a>, Holt (2nd edition), 2004<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sorrows-Empire-Militarism-Republic-American/dp/0805077979/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237647148&sr=1-3"><br />Sorrows of Empire </a>, Holt, 2004<br /><br />Naomi Klein, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shock-Doctrine-Rise-Disaster-Capitalism/dp/0805079831/ref=pd_bbs%20_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197035261&sr=1-1"> Shock Doctrine </a>, Picador (paperback) 2008<br /><br />David Loyn, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Butcher-Bolt-Hundred-Foreign-Afghanistan/dp/0099522632/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238237115&sr=1-1"> Butcher and Bolt, Two Hundred Years of Failure in Afghanistan</a> , Windmill (paperback) 2009<br /><br />Ilan Pappe, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ethnic-Cleansing-Palestine-Ilan-Pappe/dp/1851685553/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237805935&sr=1-1"> Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine</a>, Oneworld Publications 2007<br /><br />Philippe Sands, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Torture-Team-Rumsfelds-Betrayal-American/dp/0230603904/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237806073&sr=1-1"> Torture Team</a>, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008<br /><br />Danny Schechter, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Plunder-Investigating-Economic-Calamity-Subprime/dp/1605203157/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238400900&sr=1-1"> Plunder </a> (Paperback) Cosimo, Sept. 2008<br /><br />John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Israel-Lobby-U-S-Foreign-%20Mearshimer%20/%20Walt%20Policy/dp/0374531501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237647473&sr=1-1"> Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy </a>, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008<br /><br /><b>Index Research</b><br /><br />For relevant research, please see the sidebar of Index Research <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/"> here</a>.<br /><br /><u>Afghanistan</u><br /><br />There are 13 research articles on all facets of the war in Afghanistan through December 2009, which can be found at the sidebar at <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/"> Index Research</a>.<br /><br />Especially economically relevant is <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-on-economics-and-peril-in.html">Index on Economics and Peril in Afghanistan, October 2008 Timeline </a> whch has extensive research on the US Military Industrial Complex, Contracts, Contractors<br /><br /><u> Environment</u>: 5 research articles on the environment.<br /><br /><u> Iran</u>: 3 articles. There is one also one article under <u> Lebanon </u><br />about weapons used by US-Israel in the war on Lebanon.<br /><br /><u> Missile Shield (US-NATO)</u>: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/us-nato-missile-shield-programme-index.html">US-NATO 'Missile Shield' Programme: Index Timeline Part II </a> (updated 18.03.09)<br /><br /><u> Pakistan</u>: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html">Index Research on Pakistan, October 2008”> Index Research on Pakistan, October 2008 </a>. (Focus on Drones and Civilian Deaths)<br /><br /><u> Palestine</u> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/palestine-wake-up-america.html">Palestine: Wake up America</a> (Updated 02/06/08)<br /><br /><br /><br /><u> USA: </u>(most relevant)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html"> Who Is The President Elect - Obama or AIPAC?</a>(updated 18.03)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/07/index-research-pentagon-and-oil.html"> Index Research: The Pentagon and Oil</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/01/nuclear-usa-september-november-2007.html"><br />NUCLEAR USA: SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER 2007</a>(Updated 25.03.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/10/us-surveillance-these-boots-are-made.html"> US Surveillance: These Boots Are Made for Walking</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/10/us-war-on-children.html"> The U.S. War on Children</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/security-company-death-squads-timeline.html"> Security Company Death Squads Timeline</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/sos-united-states-of-terror.html"> SOS: The United States of Terror</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/us-martial-law-timeline.html"> U.S. Martial Law Timeline</a> (Updated through January 2009)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/02/totalitarianism-and-obedience.html"> Totalitarianism and Obedience</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/03/pnac-rebuilding-americas-defenses.html"> PNAC: Part II - "Special Interests" - The Persian Gulf</a> (Updated 03/03/08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/02/pnac-rebuilding-americas-defenses.html"> PNAC: Part I - Blueprint for Imperialism</a><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the United Kingdom</em><br /><br />The url to Will Economic Crisis Lead To A Police State World? is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/will-economic-crisis-lead-to-police.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/will-economic-crisis-lead-to-police.html</a><br /><br />The shorter url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/c2eozo">http://tinyurl.com/c2eozo</a><br /><br />S. Meyer is a member of the BRussels Tribunal Advisory Committee. You can see this work published <a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Meyer/Crisis.htm"> here</a>.<br /><em>With thanks for support and help to</em> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Schechter"> Danny Schechter</a>, <a href="http://www.citizensedproject.org/"> Winston Weeks</a> and <a href="http://pacetua.blogspot.com/"> Musafir</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><br />Tags:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Obama" rel="tag">Obama</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Economic+Crisis" rel="tag">Economic Crisis</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Bailout" rel="tag">Bailout</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Geithner" rel="tag">Geithner</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/AIG" rel="tag">AIG</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/DoD+Contracts" rel="tag">DoD Contracts</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Fear+Mongering" rel="tag">Fear Mongering</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Surveillance" rel="tag">Surveillance</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Police+State" rel="tag">Police State</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Poverty" rel="tag">Poverty</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Protest" rel="tag">Protest</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Afghanistan" rel="tag">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/China" rel="tag">China</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Iraq" rel="tag">Iraq</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Israel" rel="tag">Israel</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Pakistan" rel="tag">Pakistan</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-57811810401566612162009-01-24T11:15:00.031+00:002009-07-13T05:24:54.681+01:00Iran: No Change in Obama's Diplomacy?<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/iran-no-change-for-obama.html&title=Iran:+No+Change+in+Obamas+Diplomacy&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/iran-no-change-for-obama.html&title=Iran:+No+Change+in+Obamas+Diplomacy&bodytext=">Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=5781181040156661216" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=5781181040156661216" title="Email Post">Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Updated 12.07.09.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://floortwo.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/obama-aipac.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 248px; height: 185px;" src="http://floortwo.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/obama-aipac.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /> <br />“Focusing on diplomacy”. The words sound good. But Obama, Hillary, Biden and ‘Zipi’ still appear to be following Bush”s policy on Iran. The articles below illustrate NO CHANGE for Iran. The ‘diplomacy’ looks more like arm - bending pressure for America’s ‘special interests’ - with the help of AIPAC. Belonging to the WTO, which exploits the poor, is not a priority for many countries. Is Hillary already stabbing Obama in the back? Why does ISRAEL/ 'Zipi' have to be involved in Obama's "diplomacy" in Iran? Was Israel's war on Gaza a forerunner to Iran? <br /><br /><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/foreign_policy/"> Iran</a><br /><br /> * "Diplomacy: Barack Obama supports tough and direct diplomacy with Iran without preconditions. Now is the time to use the power of American diplomacy to pressure Iran to stop their illicit nuclear program, support for terrorism, and threats toward Israel. Obama and Biden will offer the Iranian regime a choice. If Iran abandons its nuclear program and support for terrorism, we will offer incentives like membership in the World Trade Organization, economic investments, and a move toward normal diplomatic relations. If Iran continues its troubling behavior, we will step up our economic pressure and political isolation. In carrying out this diplomacy, we will coordinate closely with our allies and proceed with careful preparation. Seeking this kind of comprehensive settlement with Iran is our best way to make progress."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=51120&s2=23"> Obama 'will talk to Iran'</a></b><br />22.01.09. AlJazeera.net. The Obama administration said in a website statement on Wednesday that it aimed to use "the power of American diplomacy" over what it called "Iran's illicit nuclear programme, support for terrorism, and threats towards Israel". / "Seeking this kind of comprehensive settlement with Iran is our best way to make progress," the statement said.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://webdesignsphere.com/biden.jpg "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 205px;" src="http://webdesignsphere.com/biden.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://eldib.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/biden.jpg"> BIDEN: “I am a Zionist”</a></div><br /><br /><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/foreign_policy/"> Nuclear Weapons</a><br /><br /># "Strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: Obama and Biden will crack down on nuclear proliferation by strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty so that countries like North Korea and Iran that break the rules will automatically face strong international sanctions."<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://shalomtv.org/images/AIPAC2008_Clinton.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 264px; height: 198px;" src="http://shalomtv.org/images/AIPAC2008_Clinton.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090123_6842.php">U.S., Israel to Work Closely on Iran</a></b><br />23.01.09. nti. New U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni yesterday vowed to work closely to resolve the stalemate over Iran's nuclear program, the Xinhua News Agency reported (see GSN, Jan. 22). / Shortly after taking her office, Clinton spoke with Livni by telephone; the officials agreed to increase pressure on Iran to halt atomic activities that could support nuclear weapons development, according to Haaretz. Tehran has defended its nuclear program as a strictly peaceful effort (Xinhua News Agency, Jan. 22). / Meanwhile, U.S. Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner yesterday said he would continue efforts to strip controversial Iranian activities of funds and other resources, Agence France-Presse reported.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/files/2008/04/tzipi-livni.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 225px; height: 300px;" src="http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/files/2008/04/tzipi-livni.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/files/2008/04/tzipi-livni.jpg"> Tzipi Livni</a></div><br /><br />UPDATES<br /><br /><b>Obama, like Bush, still manufacturing consent for war on Iran</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090212_6525.php">Obama Administration Expresses Certainty of Iranian Nuclear Bomb Intent</a></b><br />12.02.09. nti. High-level members of the Obama administration have voiced conviction that Iran is determined to acquire a nuclear weapon, <b>largely discounting (like Bush) a 2007 intelligence finding that the Middle Eastern state halted its formal bomb development efforts more than five years ago</b>, the Los Angeles Times reported today.<br /><br />BUT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article21972.htm">US Intel Confirms Iran Not Developing Nukes</a></b><br />13.02.09. Press TV/ICH. The new chief of US intelligence has confirmed the findings of a 2007 intelligence report that Iran has no nuclear weapons program. Dennis Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee that his organization has assessed that Tehran does not have nuclear weapons design and weaponization work. <br /><br /><em> What about <a href="http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/02/just-laughed-when-obama-said-that-a-nuclear-iran-might-set-off-a-nuclear-arms-race-in-the-region-i-wonder-what-effect-he-th.html"> Israel</a>’s nuclear weapons?</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=87365§ionid=351020101">Israel draws 'red lines' for Obama on Iran</a></b><br />03.03.09. presstv. Israel prepares a set of red lines for Washington to inject into its Iran policy as the current US approach toward Tehran rankles Tel Aviv.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090303_3718.php">Clinton Expresses Doubts on Dialogue With Iran</a></b><br />03.03.09. nti. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday questioned whether dialogue between Iran and the United States could resolve long-standing disputes between the two nations, the Washington Post reported <br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE5222ON20090303">Clinton says missile shield to protect from Iran</a></b><br />03.03.09. Reuters. "What we have said specifically in regard to missile defence in Europe is that it has always been intended to deter any missiles that might come from Iran," Clinton said. "It remains our position. We have explained that to the Russians before."<br /><br />"<em>The hawkish Hillary Clinton’s naming of veteran Israel supporter Dennis Ross as her special adviser on Iran and the Gulf suggest she is more interested in building future domestic political support than securing balanced advice</em>."<a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22176.htm">Eric Margolis</a>, <br /><u>Here We Go Again With the Iranian Nuclear Scare</u> [09.03.09]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/12/obama-extends-sanctions-iran-year/">Obama Extends Sanctions Against Iran</a></b><br />12.03.09. Fox / ICH. Citing a continued "unusual and extraordinary threat to U.S. national security," President Obama on Thursday extended sanctions against Iran for one year in a public notice.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=88870§ionid=351020101">Iran 'disappointed' in Obama behavior</a></b><br />17.03.09. press tv.ir / ICH. The lawmaker was referring to some of Obama's measures against the Islamic Republic, which did not conform with his campaign slogan of "change."<br /> <br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072664.html">Obama offers Iran 'new beginning' in diplomacy</a></b><br />20.03.09. haaretz / ICH. U.S. President Barack Obama issued an unprecedented videotaped appeal to Iran on Friday offering a "new beginning" of diplomatic engagement to turn the page on decades of U.S. policy. Video: Obama's Norouz Message to Iran.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=100226">Is the US talking to Iran, or dictating?</a></b><br />21.03.09. daily star / ICH. If sticks and stones speak louder than words, the American sanctions would seem to convey a much tougher posture than the conciliatory video message. This would seem to be the first contradiction the US needs to sort out in its overtures to Iran.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200932184033678481.html">Iran's leader dismisses Obama offer</a></b><br />21.03.09. al jazeera. Iran's supreme leader has dismissed overtures from the US president, saying Tehran does not see any change in US policy under Barack Obama's administration. ... "They chant the slogan of change but no change is seen in practice. We haven't seen any change," he said. / Khamenei criticised US behaviour towards Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution, saying that the US was "hated in the world" and should <b>stop interfering in other countries' internal affairs</b>. US continues to accuse the country of supporting terrorism and seeking nuclear weapons; tests at the Bushehr nuclear plant in the south of the country had convinced other nations that its nuclear plans would not be abandoned. sanctions against Iran; "He [Khamenei] said if the US changes its policy ... especially towards Israel and the Palestinian people, the Iranians can move forward..<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY_utC-hrjI"> The President's Message to the Iranian People </a> (19.03,09) see also <a href="http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/mayfaire/latimes0207.htm"> LA Times</a>: <u>Iran is suspicious of Obama's overture</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090331_1201.php">Obama to Continue Economic Pressure on Iran</a></b><br />31.03.09. nti. The United States plans to continue hounding Iran's Revolutionary <br />Guards with economic sanctions while the Obama administration seeks to improve diplomatic ties to Tehran's leadership, the Washington Times reported today. "I have not seen any indication that the Obama administration is backing away from continuing the strategy of acting to disrupt Iranian covert networks," ou ratchet up the financial pressure while you do these negotiationssaid Kenneth Katzman, an Iran expert with the Congressional Research Service. / Obama chose to retain the Bush administration's key attack dog for the sanctions, Treasury Undersecretary <br /><a href="http://www.irmep.org/iust.htm"> Stuart Levey</a>. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090406_5863.php">U.S. Missile Defense Plan Endangered in Czech Republic</a></b><br />06.04.09. NTI. BUT: Obama said, “As long as the <u>threat from Iran persists</u>, we will go forward with the missile system,” Obama said in Prague. “If the Iranian threat is eliminated, we will have a stronger basis for security, and the driving force for missile construction in Europe will be removed", <br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE53551R20090406">Iran's Ahmadinejad waiting for US policy change</a></b><br />Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday welcomed overtures by U.S. 06.04.09. Reuters / iCH. President Barack Obama but said Tehran was waiting for concrete steps to back up his words.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.ie/world-news/obama-vows-to-build-missile-shield-in-standoff-with-iran-1699584.html">Obama vows to build missile shield in stand-off with Iran</a></b><br />06.04.09. Independent/ie. /ICH. The United States will continue to develop a missile defence shield until Iran abandons its nuclear ambitions, President Barack Obama said yesterday.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=90730§ionid=351020104">US sanctions target Iranian firms</a> (07.04.09. presstv.ir) <br /><br />“‘<em>As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost-effective and proven. Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran’s neighbors and our allies</em>.’” <a href="http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/04/05/the-two-faces-of-barack-obama/"> Barack Obama </a><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://wonkette.com/407655/heritage-foundation-releases-terrifying-new-action-film"> Protecting America </a><br />(Heritage Foundation.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22397.htm">Dennis Ross's Iran Plan</a></b><br />12.04.09. Robert Dreyfuss, The Nation / ICH. Diplomats and Middle East watchers hoping Ross would be sidelined are wrong. He is building an empire at the State Department: hiring staff and, with his legendary flair for bureaucratic wrangling, cementing liaisons with a wide range of US officials. The Iran portfolio is his, says an insider. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=91475§ionid=3510304"> Iran's letter to UN over Israeli threats </a> (15.04.09. presstf.ir)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090416_8452.php">Top U.S., EU Diplomats Plot Iran Strategy</a></b><br />16.04.09. NTI. "With respect to the latest speeches and remarks out of Iran, we welcome dialogue," Clinton said after the meeting. "We've been saying that we are looking to have an engagement with Iran, but we haven't seen anything that would amount to any kind of proposal at all." "We will continue to work with our allies to make it clear that Iran cannot continue to pursue nuclear weapons," she said, vowing further action by the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany, which have pursued new nuclear dialogue with Iran. "We will stand behind the sanctions that have already been implemented, and we will look for new ways to extend collective action (on) Iran's nuclear program." <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/375948.htm">Obama Says U.S. Will Pursue Missile Shield Because of Iran</a></b><br />06.04.09. moscow times. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> Is what Obama is actually saying is that the US will pursue Missile Shield because of pressure from Israel / AIPAC? </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=1676">Act of war? US Senators Move To Wring Gasoline Out of Iran</a></b> <br />28.04.09. energy tribune. The US Senate has added its voice to the US House of Representatives in a newly-crafted resolution designed to choke off Iranian gas imports. See related story, "AIPAC pushing for new Iran sanctions bill?" <a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=92854§ionid=3510203"> here </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud020509.htm">Clinton’s Unpromising Start</a></b><br />02.05.09. Ramzy Baroud, Countercurrents. Clinton told US legislators 23 April that the key to peace between Israel and the Palestinians was Tehran; that <u>without getting tough on Iran, Israel could not be expected to pursue peace with the Palestinians</u>. "The two go hand in hand," she emphasised. What a baffling approach to peacemaking. In order for peace to prevail, Israel should engage Mahmoud Abbas's Palestinian Authority in "discussions" aimed at inspiring the isolation of Iran, for reasons entirely pertinent to US interests and Israeli "security".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/aer69.html">The Anti-Empire Report</a></b> <br />04.05.09. William Blum, Some thoughts about torture. And Mr. Obama. And Iran. During the presidential campaign much was made of Obama's stated promises to engage in direct talks with Iran, as opposed to the Bush administration's refusal to speak to the Iranians and threatening to attack them and bomb their nuclear facilities. This was one more example of the much-vaunted "change" that Obama was going to bring. But, in actuality, it wouldn't be much of a change. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22599.htm">Are We Being Conditioned To Accept a Pre-emptive Attack on Iran?</a></b><br />12.05.09. rds2301, Daily Kos / ICH. President Obama is concerned that Iran has sought nuclear weapons and its leaders "allegedly" deny the Holocaust and threaten Israel. Publically, Obama and Biden believe that it was reckless for Congress to give George Bush any justification to extend the Iraq War or to attack Iran but President-Elect Obama didn’t wait for his inauguration to appoint "saber-rattling" Hillary Clinton Secretary of State and retained Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense. / … The historical precedent for the hatred fomented against the "alleged" Arab terrorists and Iran would be the Nazis in Germany, not Arab terrorist in Iraq. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=95022§ionid=351020101">Obama says Iran war not off the table</a></b><br />17.05.09. press tv.ir. "I've been very clear that I don't take any options off the table with respect to Iran. I don't take options off the table when it comes to US security, period," said Obama.<br /><br /><em> “Setting the Trap” </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5349041/Barack-Obama-Iran-must-meet-nuclear-deadline.html">Barack Obama: Iran must meet nuclear deadline</a></b><br />19.05.09. Telegraph / ICH. US President Barack Obama has told Iran it has until the end of the year to respond to his diplomatic outreach over stopping its nuclear programme. See also <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1086628.html"> 'Israel will have to take on Iran alone once Obama's efforts fail'</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4936">Netanyahu's Washington Victory</a></b> <br />05.09. Foreign Policy/ICH. How Obama moved closer to the Israeli position on Iran. Obama had moved closer to his counterpart's position. He called for a "clear timetable" to be established for Iran to halt its nuclear program. "We are not going to have talks forever," Obama said, after meeting Netanyahu. "[B]y the end of the year I think we should have some sense as to whether or not these discussions are starting to yield significant benefits." / The U.S. president's statements, which appear to be a compromise between the Israeli position (aggression) and the American one (diplomacy) actually represent a major victory for Netanyahu: The Israelis are fine with talks in the short term, because they are convinced -- perhaps correctly -- that talks will fail and that their failure can be used to justify more aggressive measures down the road.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/05/20/clinton-iran-cant-have-nuclear-arms-capability/">Clinton: Iran can't have nuclear arms capability</a></b><br />20.05.09. AP/anti-war. Sec'y of State Clinton: Iranian nuclear capability represents an 'extraordinary threat'<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1087270.html">U.S. Military: Nuke-armed Iran Would be 'Calamitous'</a></b><br />21.05.09. Reuters / Haaretz. The consequences of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon would be "calamitous" and major powers must act together to prevent it, the top U.S. military commander [Adm. Mullen] said on Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article22679.htm">Timeline Of a War Foretold: Bringing Iran In From the Cold</a></b><br />22.05.09. Nader Mousavizadeh, Wash Post / ICH. A fateful consensus is forming around the proposition that war with Iran is inevitable. The failure of the past eight years' non-diplomacy has resulted in a worst-case scenario whereby Iran, most experts agree, has passed the point of no return in terms of technical nuclear weapons capability without violating its legal obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/05/22/obama-orders-update-to-iran-attack-plan/">Obama Orders Update to Iran Attack Plan</a></b><br />22.05.09. Jason Ditz, anti-war. On NBC’s Today Show this morning, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that President Obama has ordered him to update the plans for a US attack on Iran, plans which were last updating during the Bush Administration. Gates says the plans are “refreshed” and insists that “all options are on the table” with respect to the potential attack.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/business/09-iran-pakistan-sign-gas-pipeline-deal-media-szh--07">Pakistan, Iran finally sign gas pipeline accord</a></b><br />24.05.09. Dawn. After fourteen years of delayed negotiations over the Iran–Pakistan–India (IPI) gas pipeline project, Pakistan and Iran have finally signed the initial agreement in Tehran on Sunday. / … ‘The next phase was to sign the gas sales purchase agreement with Iran,’ member of the delegation told Dawn. / ‘Pakistan has already appointed a German designer is ‘ILF’ for the pipeline,’ petroleum ministry sources said, adding that the pipeline would enter Pakistan from its border near Gwader area to Nawabshah, which is the hub of gas pipelines in the country. / <b>The IPI project was conceived in 1995 and after almost 13 years India finally decided to quit the project in 2008 despite a severe energy crises in that country. Pakistan is also facing severe criticism from the US over any kind of economic deal with Iran</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/business/09-iran-to-provide-gwadar-port-100mw-free-of-cost-szh--05">Iran to provide Gwadar Port 100MW free of cost</a></b><br />22.05.09. Bakhtawar Mian, Dawn. Iran has allocated a separate budget for supplying 100 megawatt electricity free of cost to Gwadar Port in Pakistan in order to ease the growing power crisis there. / The Minister said that Pakistan and Iran shared a long history of friendly relations and underscored the need to enhance mutual cooperation in various sectors of economy. He said that Pakistan was working to develop new communication links with Iran in order to increase its share of trade with the latter. / He informed the Ambassador that a new road connection with Iran through Makran Coastal Highway will be opened soon which he hoped will go a long way in bringing the people of the two countries closer together.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090524/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_mullen_iran">Military chief: Iran wants nuclear weapons</a></b><br />24.05.09. AP. President Barack Obama's top military adviser says Iran's objective is to obtain nuclear weapons - and that threatens the region.<br /><br /><u>ref North Korea Nuclear Test</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/26/world/asia/26nuke.html?th&emc=th">Tested Early by North Korea, Obama Has Few Options</a></b><br />25.05.09. NY Times. [comment SM: <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The best option is for the US to stop crying wolf about Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons?</span>]<br /> <br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22765.htm">Report Ties Dubious Iran Nuclear Docs to Israel</a></b><br />03.06.09. Gareth Porter, IPS / ICH. A report on Iran’s nuclear programme issued by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month generated news stories publicising an incendiary charge that U.S. intelligence is underestimating Iran’s progress in designing a "nuclear warhead" before the halt in nuclear weapons-related research in 2003. That false and misleading charge from an intelligence official of a foreign country, who was not identified but was clearly Israeli, reinforces two of Israel’s key propaganda themes on Iran – that the 2007 U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on Iran is wrong, and that Tehran is poised to build nuclear weapons as soon as possible.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1090954.html">Clinton: If Iran strikes Israel, expect retaliation</a></b><br />07.06.09. Haaretz. United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that Iran must expect full retaliation from a "a battery of nuclear weapons countries" should it ever attack Israel. Meanwhile, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that a new report on Iran by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog shows that the global body cannot be trusted to monitor the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22919.htm">U.S. Dollars Support Iranian "Dissidents"</a></b><br />26.06.09. Ken Dilanian, USA / ICH. The Obama administration is moving forward with plans to fund groups that support Iranian dissidents, records and interviews show, continuing a program that became controversial when it was expanded by President Bush. / The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which reports to the secretary of state, has for the last year been soliciting applications for $20 million in grants to "promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Iran," according to documents on the agency's website. The final deadline for grant applications is June 30.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3743156,00.html">Clinton calls for 'even stricter' Iran sanctions</a></b><br />08.07.09. AFP. Is window of opportunities given by Washington to Tehran about to close? The United States will call for "even stricter sanctions on Iran to try to change the behavior of the regime," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a TV interview broadcast in Venezuela.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=100339§ionid=351020104">Obama ends G8 with warning to Iran</a></b><br />11.07.09. presstv.ir. Obama, speaking at the end of a G8 summit in Italy, said Iran should understand that world countries are "seriously concerned" over its nuclear work, and would not wait "indefinitely" to allow Tehran to develop a nuclear weapon. / He, however, said that G8 countries are united in their decision to negotiate with Tehran to resolve the international standoff over the Iranian nuclear issue. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Obama’s speeches, since day 1 of his Presidency, have been filled with ‘but’ and ‘however’ - morsels for those who still believe in “change” </span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1246443778558&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">US House passes limited Iran sanctions</a></b><br />12.07.09. Jerusalem Post. The House bill also includes <b>$2.22b. in military aid to Israel</b>, which comes on top of the $555 million allocated earlier this year, as part of the 10-year agreement governing US assistance to Israel.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+ </div><br /><br />References:<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/iran-war-resource-info.html">Iran war : Resource Info</a> (Updated to 23.04.07)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/will-israel-play-proxy-in-iran.html"> Will Israel Play Proxy in Iran?</a> (updated 04.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-our-seamless-president-elect.html">Obama: Our “Seamless” President Elect</a> (updated 28.11.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html"> Who Is The President Elect - Obama or AIPAC?</a> (updated 23.11.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/israel-obamas-foreign-policy-no-change.html"> Israel: Obama's Foreign Policy - No Change</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+ </div><br />The url to Iran: No Change in Obama's Diplomacy is <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/iran-no-change-for-obama.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/iran-no-change-for-obama.html</a><br />The shorter url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/b4xn3f">http://tinyurl.com/b4xn3f</a><br /><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher in the UK. She is a member of the <br /><a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org"> BRussels Tribunal Advisory Committee</a> </em><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+ </div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br />TAGS: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Obama" rel="tag">Obama</a>, <a href=http://technorati.com/tag/Iran rel=”tag”>Iran</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Israel" rel="tag">Israel</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/US+Foreign+Policy" rel="tag">US Foreign Policy</a><br /><br />.Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-83189872506139865892009-01-21T10:50:00.018+00:002009-11-01T18:19:27.077+00:00Israel: Obama's Foreign Policy - No Change<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/israel-obamas-foreign-policy-no-change.html&title=Israel+Obamas+Foreign+Policy+No+Change&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/israel-obamas-foreign-policy-no-change.html&title=Israel+Obamas+Foreign+Policy+No+Change&bodytext=">Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=8318987250613986589" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=8318987250613986589" title="Email Post">Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Updated 01.11.09<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=gazanew_459761a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 585px; height: 350px;" src="http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=gazanew_459761a.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m51026&hd=&size=1&l=e"> Amnesty International: Israel's use of white phosphorus against Gaza civilians "clear and undeniable"</a></div> <br /><br />“The Obama administration took over the cyber-address of the presidency, WhiteHouse.gov, with a flourish,” wrote the <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/change-at-the-white-house-web-site/?nl=pol&emc=pola2"> New York Times </a> (21.01.09).<br /><br />There may be "CHANGE" at the White House web site, but there is NO "change" on the new U.S. President’s <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/foreign_policy/"> Foreign Policy page:</a><br /><br /><b>Israel</b><br /><br />* <b>Ensure a Strong U.S.-Israel Partnership</b>: Barack Obama and Joe Biden strongly support the U.S.-Israel relationship, and believe that our first and incontrovertible commitment in the Middle East must be to the security of Israel, America's strongest ally in the region. They support this closeness, and have stated that the United States will never distance itself from Israel.<br /> <br />* <b>Support Israel's Right to Self Defense</b>: During the July 2006 Lebanon war, Barack Obama stood up strongly for Israel's right to defend itself from Hezbollah raids and rocket attacks, cosponsoring a Senate resolution against Iran and Syria's involvement in the war, and insisting that Israel should not be pressured into a ceasefire that did not deal with the threat of Hezbollah missiles. He and Joe Biden believe strongly in Israel's right to protect its citizens.<br /><br />* <b>Support Foreign Assistance to Israel</b>: Barack Obama and Joe Biden have consistently supported foreign assistance to Israel. They defend and support the annual foreign aid package that involves both military and economic assistance to Israel and have advocated increased foreign aid budgets to ensure that these funding priorities are met. They have called for continuing U.S. cooperation with Israel in the development of missile defense systems.”<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div><br />Last evening, the reporter Robert Fisk, interviewed on al jazeera following Obama’s inaugural speech, was incensed that no mention had been made of the primary US foreign policy problem: Justice for the Palestinians.<br /><br />For those who wish to comment on the new whithouse.gov. entry, you can write to <em>Comments@whitehouse.gov</em>.<br /><br />UPDATES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/abunimah050309.htm">Did Clinton Sabotage A Palestinian Reconciliation?</a></b><br />05.03.09. Hasan Abu Nimah & Ali Abunimah, countercurrents. There are many in the region who were encouraged by US President Barack Obama's appointment of former Northern Ireland mediator Senator George Mitchell as Middle East envoy. But in all other respects the new president has continued the Bush administration's disastrous policies. It is not too late to change course, for persisting in these errors will guarantee only more failure and bloodshed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5923">Obama and Israel's Military: Still Arm-in-Arm</a></b><br />04.03.09. Stephen Zunes, FPIF. In the wake of Israel's massive assault on heavily populated civilian areas of the Gaza Strip earlier this year, Amnesty International called for the United States to suspend military aid to Israel on human rights grounds. Amnesty has also called for the United Nations to impose a mandatory arms embargo on both Hamas and the Israeli government. Unfortunately, it appears that President Barack Obama won't be heeding Amnesty's call. Sections on <u>Obama Tilts Right</u>; <u>Obama's Defense of Israeli Attacks on Civilians</u>; <u> Not Good for Israel</u>; <u>Betraying His Constituency</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52389&s2=07">THE UNITED STATES OF ISRAEL</a></b><br />05.03.09. Khaled Amayreh, uruknet. In her recent visit to Occupied Palestine, the former NY senator, who had proven herself a submissive pawn in the service of Zionist circles, reiterated the same old platitudes about US commitment to the "two-state" solution. ... However, she didn’t dare utter a word against the unmitigated expansion of Jewish colonies in the West Bank. ... Mrs. Clinton dutifully asserted US commitment to Israel’s security, ... which possess hundreds of nuclear warheads and has one of the world’s strongest armies ... .<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/christison03052009.html">U.S. Military Aid to Israel</a></b><br />06.03.09. Kathleen and Bill Christison, Counterpunch / ICH. U.S. military aid to Israel is doled out in annual increments of billions of dollars but remains virtually unchallenged while other fiscal outlays are drastically cut.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52461&s2=09">Obama and Israel's Military: Still Arm-in-Arm</a></b> <br />08.03.09. Stephen Zunes, z mag / uruknet. ...Currently, Obama is on record supporting sending up to <u>$30 billion</u> in unconditional military aid to Israel over the next 10 years. Such a total would represent a 25% increase in the already large-scale arms shipments to Israeli forces under the Bush administration. Obama has thus far failed to realize that the problem in the Middle East is that there are too many deadly weapons in the region, not too few. Instead of simply wanting Israel to have an ad! equate deterrent against potential military threats, Obama insists the United States should guarantee that Israel maintain a qualitative military advantage. Thanks to this overwhelming advantage over its neighbors, Israeli forces were able to launch devastating wars against Israel's Palestinian and Lebanese neighbors in recent years...<br /><br />"<em>The hawkish Hillary Clinton’s naming of veteran Israel supporter <u>Dennis Ross</u> as her special adviser on Iran and the Gulf suggest she is more interested in building future domestic political support than securing balanced advice</em>." <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22176.htm"> Eric Margolis</a>, Here We Go Again With the Iranian Nuclear Scare [09.03.09]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2009/03/13/30-billion-for-israels-military/">$30 Billion For Israel's Military </a></b> <br />13.03.09. Haitham Sabbah. Same old story, new president: U.S. President Barack Obama will not cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday. The $30 billion in aid promised to Israel over the next decade will not be harmed by the world financial crisis, the official told Israel Radio. He spoke on condition of anonymity. The U.S. military aid to Israel was increased in a decade-long deal agreed to by Bush in 2007.! ..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52602&s2=14">$30 Billion For Israel's Military</a></b> <br />13.03.09.Haitham Sabbah, uruknet. Same old story, new president: U.S. President Barack Obama will not cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday. The $30 billion in aid promised to Israel over the next decade will not be harmed by the world financial crisis, the official told Israel Radio. He spoke on condition of anonymity. The U.S. military aid to Israel was increased in a decade-long deal agreed to by Bush in 2007.! ..<br />See also:<br /><b><a href="http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=80057&language=en">Amnesty: US Arms Delivery to Israel Threatens "Mideast Peace"</a></b><br />02.04.09. almanar / ICH. The delivery of munitions in the Zionist entity from the US earlier this month has thrown President Barack Obama's commitment to maintaining peaceful relations between Israel and Palestine into question, according to Amnesty International. The humanitarian group said Thursday that the arrival of the Wehr Elbe, a German cargo ship, and her delivery of 300 containers of munitions to the Israeli port of Ashdod suggested the new administration will not act to prevent further attacks against civilians.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22327.htm">Please Tell Me, Where is Israel Headed?</a></b><br />31.03.09. John J. Mearsheimer, FP / ICH. The Israel lobby, will adamantly defend Israel's right to do whatever it wants in the Occupied Territories and make it impossible for the president to put significant pressure on Israel. Netanyahu, like all Israeli leaders, understands this basic fact of life. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075528.html">Obama tells Netanyahu: U.S. committed to Israel's security</a></b> <br />01.04.09. Haaretz. U.S. President Barack Obama called newly sworn in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to congratulate him on his new position, and to reaffirm steadfast U.S. commitment to Israel and its security.<br /><br /><em>Obama’s death squads in Jerusalem</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/134594/obama%27s_blackwater_chicago_mercenary_firm_gets_millions_for_private_%22security%22_in_israel_and_iraq_/?page=entire">Obama's Blackwater? Chicago Mercenary Firm Gets Millions for Private "Security" in Israel and Iraq</a></b> <br />02.04.09. Jeremy Scahill, alternet. <em>Federal records obtained by AlterNet reveal a multi-million dollar contract for a private U.S. paramilitary force operating out of Jerusalem</em>. On the campaign trail, Barack Obama's advisers said he "can't rule out [and] won't rule out" using mercenary forces, like Blackwater. Now, it appears that the Obama administration has decided on its hired guns of choice: <b>Triple Canopy</b>, a Chicago company now based in Virginia. It may not have Blackwater's thuggish reputation, but Triple Canopy has its own bloody history in Iraq and a record of hiring mercenaries from countries with atrocious human rights records. <br /><br /><em> Obama’s ‘scientific’ prostitution</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22350.htm">Procuring Academics for Empire: The Pentagon Minerva Research Initiative</a></b><br />04.04.09. James Petras, ICH. The Pentagon is seriously engaged in this military-academic empire building strategy, allocating almost <u>100 million dollars</u> to contracting academic collaborators and funding multiple ‘research’ projects throughout the world against targeted states, movements and communities: <b>The “Minerva Research Initiative” (MRI)</b><br /><br />“<em>As long as the threat from Iran persists, we will go forward with a missile defense system that is cost-effective and proven. Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to <u>Iran’s neighbors</u> and our allies</em>.’”<a href="http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2009/04/05/the-two-faces-of-barack-obama/"> Barack Obama</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/04/2009422162624284627.html">US policy on Hamas 'unchanged'</a></b><br />22.04.09. al jazeera. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has reiterated the US position that it will not deal with or fund a Palestinian government that includes Hamas until certain conditions are met.<br /><br /><u> Illegal Israeli settlements continue unchecked today </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1060043.html">"Secret Israeli Database Reveals Full Extent of Illegal Settlement"</a></b><br />by Uri Blau, Haaretz, February 1, 2009. Last January 30, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz disclosed a secret Israeli government database on settlements in the occupied West Bank, and posted the Hebrew text (pdf) of the database on their website. Last month, the ODNI Open Source Center completed an English translation of the 200-page document. Secrecy News obtained a copy of the translation (pdf) which we are publishing today...<br /><br />An English translation of the settlement dataase prepared by the ODNI Open<br />Source Center is now available <a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/world/israel/database-e.pdf"> here </a><br /><br />NB: Ilan Pappe writes extensively about the Zionist plans and developemnt for the first settlements in his superb book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ethnic-Cleansing-Palestine-Ilan-Pappe/dp/1851685553/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241500575&sr=8-1"> The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine </a>. Will someone please give this book to Obama? <br /><br /><u> Goldstone Report </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article23754.htm">Obama joins Netanyahu in Shielding Israel from War Crimes Charges</a></b><br />19.10.09. Jean Shaoul, WSWS / ICH. The United Nations Human Rights Council has endorsed a report into Israel’s 22-day assault on Gaza in December and January, accusing Israel of war crimes. / Israel’s premier, Binyamin Netanyahu, predictably denounced the report as biased against Israel and unjust and insisted that he would not allow any Israeli officials to face trial for war crimes. The Obama administration echoed Israel, calling the report unbalanced, and said that its adoption would damage the possibility of resuming talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The talks are a necessary fig leaf for bringing the Arab regimes on side against Iran.<br /><br /><u> Hillary's Betrayal </u>: Facts screwed up<br /><br />http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/10/2009103121332825958.html<br />US backs Israel on 'preconditions'<br />01.11.09. jazeera. She said Israel has made "unprecedented" concessions on settlement building. [NB: How much was Hillary paid by AIPAC to make this statement?]<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=phosphorous_469695a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 185px; height: 360px;" src="http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=phosphorous_469695a.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m51029&hd=&size=1&l=e">Blind and burnt: Mahmoud, 14, young victim of banned white phosphorus shelling</a></div><br /><br /><u>Related</u>:<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/04/obamas-iraq-no-change.html"> Obama's Iraq: No Change </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-our-seamless-president-elect.html">Obama: Our “Seamless” President Elect</a> (updated) <br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html"> Who Is The President Elect - Obama or AIPAC?</a> (updated)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/will-israel-play-proxy-in-iran.html"> Will Israel Play Proxy in Iran?</a> (23.11.09, updated)<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/palestine-wake-up-america.html">Palestine: Wake up America</a> (Updated 01/06/08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/08/appendix-ii-index-on-weapons-in.html"> WAR CRIMES in LEBANON and PALESTINE </a>(16.08.06) <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br />The url to Israel: Obama's foreign policy- No Change is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/israel-obamas-foreign-policy-no-change.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/israel-obamas-foreign-policy-no-change.html</a><br />The smaller url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/9qccp4">http://tinyurl.com/9qccp4</a><br /><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK. She is a member of the <a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org"> BRussels Tribunal Advisory Committee</a></em>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><b><b><u><u><b><em><u><u><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --><br /></u></u></em></b></u></u></b></b>+</div><br /><br />TAGS: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Obama" rel="tag">Obama</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Gaza" rel="tag">Gaza</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Israel" rel="tag">Israel</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/US+Foreign+Policy" rel="tag">US Foreign Policy</a>,Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-6745829387857299012009-01-04T10:45:00.011+00:002009-01-22T07:44:21.208+00:00Index on Afghanistan, December 2008 Timeline: “Graveyard of Empires”<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2008.html&title=Index+on+Afghanistan+December+2008+Timeline:+Graveyard+of+Empires&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2008.html&title=Index+on+Afghanistan+December+2008+Timeline:+Graveyard+of+Empires&bodytext=">Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=674582938785729901" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=674582938785729901" title="Email Post">Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"href="http://webdesignsphere.com/camels.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 452px; height: 337px;" src="http://webdesignsphere.com/camels.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a id="1000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>1. Preface: Airbrushing History in Afghanistan</b></div><br />Stalin was not the only person to carry out <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_revisionism_%28negationism%29"> historical revisionism</a>. This ‘negationism’ also happened in Japan. Germany’s holocaust denial was a shocker. <a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20081210_1663.php"> Iraq </a>has been the new focus for <a href="http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/121808.html">“deceptive semantics</a>.”<br /><br />Afghanistan is also getting its fair share of revisionism. A <a href="http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/24047.pdf"> CRS Report for Congress </a>, written by Kenneth Katzman and dated 27 August 2003, airbrushed the history of wars in Afghanistan. “Afghanistan is a fragile state attempting, with substantial U.S. help, to stabilize after more than <u>22 years of warfare including a US-led war</u>, that brought the current government to power.” The report continues “Afghan citizens are enjoying new personal freedoms that were forbidden under the Taliban.” A read of all the Index on Afghanistan research articles will show this to be false. It is no wonder US ‘intelligence’ is in trouble with such a “mistaken interpretations”, for which the US government is <a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20081210_1663.php"> well known</a>. Further, the Pentagon <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121103319_pf.html">merges </a> public affairs with propaganda, assisted by the corporate media.<br /><br />History is also suffering from a <a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/12/crisis_in_frus.html"> crisis of mismanagement </a> within the State Department’s Historical Advisory Committee which does not bode well for historical integrity.<br /><br />Obama has blamed Afghanistan and Pakistan, as being the ‘source’ of terrorism. He is wrong. This myopic AIPAC view, this <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49972&s2=28"> disinformation </a>,needs immediate correction. Israel has occupied the Palestinian territories for <b>51 YEARS</b> [<a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21680.htm">?61?</a>). This occupation is the ‘source’ of world terrorism. Now Obama has adopted Bush’s delusion of <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/27-2">“progress”</a>. The reality is <a href="http://www.hrweb.org/legal/genocide.html">Genocide </a>.<br /><br />There is talk these days of (new buzz word) “disproportionate” bombing. Tell me, what is proportionate bombing? Are those civilians - women and children - murdered in the Gaza strip, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq or Afghanistan killed by "proportionate" bombs? It is the illegal and unjust wars that are disproportionate. Those who are silent about, or support these criminal actions are themselves criminals.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/12/hbc-90004012"> “Operation Legacy”</a> is Bush’s attempt to <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49644&s2=17"> airbrush </a> his presidential years. The biggest lie these days is “PROGRESS”, One hears this word about every country where US policy FAILURE is endemic. “Progress in Afghanistan” is actually a “spiral downward.” The ongoing <a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24820700-2703,00.html"> impasse </a> at the Khyber Pass is historically reminiscent and symbolically represents the present failure.<br /><br />‘Intelligence’ and Obama’s <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21441.htm"> National Intelligence Team </a> would do well to read David Loyn’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Butcher-Bolt-Hundred-Foreign-Afghanistan/dp/0091921406/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228473675&sr=1-1"> Butcher and Bolt </a> (October 2008). The subtitle of this excellent book is “<u>Two Hundred Years of Foreign Engagement in Afghanistan</u>. The book focuses on the 19th century British, 20th century Russian and present US war in Afghanistan. The book “provides the definitive analysis of the lessons these conflicts have for the present day.” The same tactical mistakes are being made. This is most obvious with the British and Russian efforts to control the mountainous passes into Afghanistan; in their attitudes towards the mujahideen and Afghan people; the lack of cultural understanding; the historical tradition of the Afghan loathing of foreigners in their country. <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98498372"> Loren Jenkins </a> hauntingly recalls the Russian failures and notes the similarity with today’s Afghanistan.<br /><br />The US/NATO war in Afghanistan relentlessly continues to be a disaster, now to be augmented by Gates’ call for <em>more</em> troops to support the so-called “War on Terror.” Despite warnings, Obama’s Pit Bull Parade seems intent on bloating the <a href="http://www.alternet.org/audits/113789/?page=entire"> Pentagon budget </a> during a severe <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11401"> global depression </a>. The U.S. government's 'fear mongering' elite are preparing, says the ‘Making America Safer’ corporate brigade, for <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11483"> US civil violence</a>.<br /><br />One can ask, as do <a href="http://www.truthout.org/120908A"> Normon Soloman</a>, <a href="http://www.esquire.com/the-side/richardson-report/afghanistan-vietnam-120908"> John H. Richardson </a> (Esquire) and <a href="http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_28981.shtml"> Les Blough </a>(Axis of Logic) : Is Afghanistan Obama’s Vietnam?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><em> (click to read chapter in which you are interested) </em><br /><br /><b>Index<br />1. <a href="#1000">Preface: Airbrushing History in Afghanistan</a><br />2. <a href="#2000">Famine; Refugees, Women, Children & Health</a><br />3. <a href="#3000">Oil and Gas in Afghanistan & Pakistan</a><br />4. <a href="#4000">Aid in Afghanistan</a> </b> (Report, Articles) <b><br />5. <a href="#5000">Opium in Afghanistan</a><br />6. <a href="#6000">Corruption in Afghanistan</a> </b> (ICOS Report, Articles, Mullahs, Kidnapped)<b><br />7. <a href="#7000">The Taliban</a><br />8. <a href="#8000">The War in Afghanistan</a> </b> (Warzone Timeline / Suicide attacks)<b><br />9. <a href="#9000">Obama</a>:</b> (Cabinet: Ensuring Continuity; Flip Flops)<b><br />10. <a href="#10000">US in Afghanistan</a></b> (Reports, Troop Surge & Viewpoints)<b><br />11. <a href="#11000">Military Industrial Complex, Contracts; Contractors</a><br />12. <a href="#12000">US-NATO</a></b> (General, Transportation: The Khyber Pass)<b><br />13. <a href="#13000">US-NATO Coalition</a> </b> ((Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Rep., Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, UK)<b><br />14. <a href="#14000">Dead in Afghanistan</a><br />15. <a href="#15000">Human Rights</a> </b> (Airbrushing History, 9/11, April Gallop, “War on Terror,” US Soldiers, Cluster Bombs, Prisons, Detainees, Rendition, Guantanamo, Torture, War Crimes: mass graves, Cheney; The Root of the Problem; Gaza Timeline <b><br />16. <a href="#16000">References</a> </b><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><a id="2000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>2. Famine; Refugees, Women, Children & Health</b></div><br /><br /><em> “After all, you’ve got girls are back in school; boys flying kites again; health clinics, the economy has more than doubled in size … </em> George Bush 2008<br /><br /><br />FAMINE<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 314px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbrvtBuTCclNnMRje_ISHigAboqQOadUoMpjJoPAJOdhei6OnU5-Mvt8FrJ3g57qcSReAFEu496i_RMPdg4Rrrj4Fnv15HVtNCFWIgl-gRbiid-TfGn76PGN14DOCwyFT2wcbv/s400/irin_land.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285183176919330482" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82062">Photo: Akmal Dawi/ IRIN</a></span><br /></div><br />"<em>Underlying the expansion of Taliban presence is the international community's failure to deliver on the many promises of a better life made to the Afghan people in the wake of the invasion. Seven years on, most of the country still lacks basic amenities and the majority of the population struggle to secure necessities such as food and shelter, let alone a sustainable livelihood. Field research by ICOS has presented a picture of acute hardship and deep uncertainty, with the majority of respondents worried about feeding their families</em>."<a href="http://www.icosgroup.net/documents/Struggle_for_Kabul_ICOS.pdf"> ICOS report </a>.<br /><br />REPORTS<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/i0291e/i0291e00.htm"> The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.fews.net/pages/country.aspx?gb=af&l=en"> UN/FAO estimated food security conditions, 4th Quarter 2008</a><br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://eye-on-the-world.blogspot.com/2008/12/pakistan-looting-stops-food-aid-convoys.html"> Pakistan looting stops food aid convoys to Afghanistan</a></b><br />14.11.08. eye on the world.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81624">AFGHANISTAN: WFP starts food aid deliveries to over five million people</a></b><br />24.11.08. irin news.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/2008/11/winter-of-hunger-looms-in-afghanistan.html">Winter of hunger looms in Afghanistan</a></b><br />27.11.08. Heidi Vogt, AP. As the days shorten and the nights grow colder, this winter threatens to be Afghanistan's most desperate in nearly two decades.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81752">AFGHANISTAN: Hunger may cause deaths this winter, government warns</a></b><br />01.12.08. irin news.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2008/12/16/afghanistan-on-brink-of-famine-aid-agency-warns.html">Afghanistan on brink of famine, aid agency warns</a></b><br />12.12.008. Peter Goodspeed / ICH. Foreign aid organizations say food shortages and early snows may leave eight million Afghans -- 30% of the population -- on the brink of starvation this winter. Famine could easily overtake violence as the country's top problem.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/hung-d13.shtml">Nearly 1 billion of the world’s people face chronic hunger</a></b><br />13.12.08. Oliver Richards, WSWS. The number of undernourished people in the world has increased from 923 million in 2007 to 963 million in 2008. This disturbing figure comes from a report on world hunger released on December 9 by the Rome-based UN Agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), entitled The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008./ … The US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have had a direct, negative impact on levels of undernourishment in the Near East and North Africa regions, which have generally experienced some of the lowest levels of undernourishment. The number of chronically hungry undernourished persons in the region nearly doubled, from 15 million in 1990-92 to 28 million in 2003-2005. This number has <b>increased by 4.9 million in Afghanistan</b>, and by 4.1 million in Iraq.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/JBRN-7MDDDG?OpenDocument">WFP calls for rescue package for the world's hungry</a></b><br />16.12.08. Relief Web. "Foreign aid organizations say food shortages and early snows may leave eight million Afghans -- 30% of the population -- on the brink of starvation this winter. Famine could easily overtake violence as the country's top problem.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2008/12/24/aihrc-poverty-in-the-rise-in-afghanistan.html">AIHRC: Poverty in the rise in Afghanistan</a></b><br />10 million people in the country suffer from severe poverty, says the commission<br />RAWA News. Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has expressed concerns over the increasing poverty in the country. According to the latest report by the commission, about ten million people in Afghanistan which make 37% of the population, suffer from severe poverty. Also a large number of people in Afghanistan earn less than Afg.50 (1.0 US$) in a day. The commis! sion has warned that if no attention is paid to this problem, the country will face a humanitarian disaster this winter. The Anti-natural Disasters Struggle Department (ADSD) has confirmed the report...<br /><br /><u> Agriculture </u><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 348px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4DbVSA_pShhbcuyW3FnCBwHHhJ2i0c_f7z8diSWOYON8azZ2HkQhdtT35bJJUR0oCstP336KtdxBoDauTiGFYk8yFEjQzo01YlL1-eRsChsdC2Qa7FgaBX6BIYFM_pWyd65hn/s400/sfgate_abdulkareem.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285184368049956194" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/12/12/MNJS14KPRF.DTL&o=2">© James Palmer / For The Chronicle</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/12/MNJS14KPRF.DTL">7 dry years add to misery in Afghanistan</a></b><br />12.12.08. sfgate. The dearth of water has ruined up to 80 percent of agriculture lands throughout the country and has severely affected 19 of the Islamic republic's 34 provinces, according to the Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Ministry. During this same period, roughly 10 percent of all livestock - at least 1.5 million animals - have died due to shortages of water and food, according to aid agencies. / Moreover, more than two decades of conflict have prevented the expansion of modern irrigation systems, further exacerbating Afghanistan's water shortages. The drought and lack of development highlights the struggles facing rural communities where more than half of the population of 32 million live in poverty.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 146px; height: 179px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4sCKBNbumyyYy8wi2oq4o07UaeOe76bCNjEdYCOPPIu_jS8Y89gwWe0A-JvOSeAZ9p1MmnHVHrHaZ41H6IxK_RZmyd0HrrUFgrq8ALZaNhK5Ri5WZN8bNzg0q2z7Imc7V8f5z/s400/fsar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286290040528272338" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://medc2org.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/toxic-wheat-afghanistan-02-her-44-deaths/">‘Charmak’ disease still killing people, livestock in west</a></b><br />16.12.08. Relief Web. Over 270 people have been diagnosed with a hepatic veno-occlusive disease (VOD), locally known as “camel belly” or ‘charmak’ disease, in the western province of Herat — and at least 44 deaths have been confirmed — since November 2007, provincial health officials told IRIN. / .. Animal husbandry and agriculture are the 2 main sources of income for people in Gulran District. Local people, however, say they now need emergency food aid because `charmak’ has badly affected their grain harvest and livestock.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82062">AFGHANISTAN: Bleak forecast for agriculture</a></b><br />23.12.08. IRIN. Agricultural production will see no major increase in 2009 and Afghanistan will continue to rely on external assistance and food imports, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7672414.stm">Afghanistan's looming food crisis </a> (BBC. 21.10.08)<br /><br /><br />REFUGEES<br /><br />“Afghans with money,” he said, “want to move their families to Dubai or India; they’re looking at an exit strategy.” Perhaps, he suggested, America and its allies should start doing the same: “We’re not up to the task of success in Afghanistan.”<br /><a href="http://thenational.ae/article/20081128/REVIEW/861067314/1043"> From article by Nir Rosen </a><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6b8FXJqc9OQ9Hfl73nsTEGjpll-111RY4KigdnVDQ3zfvgSEppx4lNUhJW0M-EwOAoPeTaxSCdKwe6bcHE5zIdTpUuKjYeNXYP4Y7ZOFzk3Cm0PjT_7MT2TyIYReEOG7-avDz/s400/mathaba_refugees.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285183174577881314" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://mathaba.net/news/?x=612772">UN concerned about reversed flow of Afghan refugees</a></b><br />01.12.08. mathaba. There is a now new wave of Afghan refugees who seek shelters in other countries, he [Knut Ostby] said.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-afghan-refugees_barkerdec03,0,2144763.story"> Afghans caught in middle huddle in grim camp</a> (03.12.08. Chicago tribune)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81894">Villagers bombed in August still living with relatives</a></b><br />09.12.08. Irin. Mullah Gol Ahmad lost several members of his extended family when US forces dropped bombs on <b>Azizabad</b>village, Shindand District, Herat Province on 22 August. His house was destroyed and he and four members of his family have lived with relatives ever since. … / Akhtar Mohammad, whose house was also damaged in the incident, voiced similar concerns.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 418px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZdGATf64Idn8pP1vcx53BJXqWK7FC97NuoJ4z0ZKc29S6IndJFnZWtfIF5tFW64Dn8I0F5wwkDPItB_JYgiHNi8hyphenhyphenG_4GeDpzdhPZLQtJPQWzY59C8hNvIQ9yM0g_r_Yv2BPw/s400/map_irin_IDP.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285974699365469554" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81993">Map showing location of IDPs in Afghanistan</a></span><br /></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81993">“Local integration” key to internal displacement – report</a></b><br />17.12.08. irin. Internal displacement in Afghanistan poses complex challenges, and finding ways of resolving the issue of tens of thousands of IDPs is “neither easy nor quick”, said the report entitled National Profile of Internally Displaced Persons in Afghanistan (NPIDP). / Excluding conflict displacement, which has been difficult to gauge due to access restrictions, the report said there were 235,833 IDPs nationwide. Most (166,153) had been displaced since 2001-2002. / “Internal displacement in Afghanistan is a highly complex phenomenon; its causes include not only armed conflict and natural disasters such as droughts and floods, but also inter-communal tensions and human rights violations.” <b>”Go home” policy no longer workable</b>; Five categories: The report identified five categories of IDPs: protracted IDPs from 2001, new conflict-affected IDPs (mostly in insecure areas), returnees and deportees from neighbouring countries, IDPs as a result of food insecurity, and urban IDPs.<br /><br />See Irin Refugee photos <a href="http://www.irinnews.org/PhotoSearchResults.aspx?Country=AFG&CountryDescription=Afghanistan&Region=All&RegionDescription=All%20Regions&KW=&ImageId=&Theme=REF&ThemeDescription=Refugees/IDPs"> here</a>.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t73e4BenyA"> A Refugee Crisis in Afghanistan </a> (03.12.08. NY Times)<br /><br /><br />WOMEN<br /><br /><em>Conrad saw cruelty as an integral part of human nature. This cruelty arrives, however, in different forms. Stable, industrialized societies, awash in wealth and privilege, can construct internal systems that mask this cruelty, although it is nakedly displayed in their imperial outposts. We are lulled into the illusion in these zones of safety that human beings can be rational. The “war on terror,” the virtuous rhetoric about saving the <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F03E7D6133BF93BA25752C1A9679C8B63">women in Afghanistan </a> from the Taliban or the Iraqis from tyranny, is another in a series of long and sordid human campaigns of violence carried out in the name of a moral good.</em> <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/22-2">Chris Hedges </a> (22.12.08 Truthdig)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hVqN-XEi6W0Nafe6vFHCeBZyHzdw">350 women in Afghan prisons, many for 'moral crimes:' UN</a></b><br />01.12.08. AFP. Afghanistan has some 12,500 prisoners, including 350 women, many of whom are being detained for "moral crimes" such as running away from home, the United Nations said on Monday. / "In 2001 in this country, there were around 600 prisoners and today they are around 12,500 -- 350 of them are women," Christine Oguz, head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 273px; height: 164px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlX41yENR0mvA8RjFrfTe6MY7a2Y0L-Tro-uzXQZaSeQwUaaC4xRG69oX9aVnvi1jZG9g0TUpHUeNiQK12gHOk-1HZEwrwMhyPyfRMeLupdhE0oqbklEpKERt5yH4-aY0rvIbb/s400/guard-joya.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285960672194513794" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=836&catID=1">Malalai Joya, photo Monica Munich </a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=836&catID=1">A brave woman in Afghanistan</a></b><br />02.12.08. Guardian. When <b>Malalai Joya</b>, a young female Afghan politician [24] , spoke out against the presence of 'war criminals' in the affairs of state, she was expelled from parliament among shouts of ‘whore’ and ‘communist’. … / Sadly, the US seems to be giving a helping hand to these criminal warlords. In 2001 the US government invaded Afghanistan in the name of democracy, but it has betrayed our people by helping to power the bloodiest enemies of these values. The horrible regime of the Taliban was replaced by corrupt and brutal warlords and former Russian puppets. / The plight of victims such as these girls is my driving force. I will never give up my fight for justice, and I’ll continue to try to represent the millions of voiceless Afghan people – especially women and children – who are still being brutalised by fundamentalist warlords and the Taliban. Malalai Joya was speaking to Saundra Satterlee. For further information visit Joya's website at <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.malalaijoya.com/index1024.htm"> malalaijoya.com.</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://on-truth.blogspot.com/2008/12/open-letter-to-obama-from-voice-for.html">Open Letter to Obama from a Voice for the Women of Afghanistan: What We Expect Is ‘Change’ From ‘Wars of Terror’</a></b><br />02.12.08. Orzala Ashraf, on-truth.blogspot. An increase in military troops worries us – we are concerned that it just means more house raids and more bombing of civilians. This is not a war that can be fought by military means. / .. The militarization of development aid has jeopardized the work of civilian humanitarian assistance organizations, and as a result, hundreds and thousands of people are deprived of basic health and educational opportunities. / .. at this point, seven years after the fall of the Taliban, the situation still deteriorates. / .. Women in Afghanistan, despite some claims to the contrary, are not liberated. Nor they can be liberated by an outside force.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120508WA">Afghan women leaders face growing Taliban threats</a></b><br />04.12.08. AP/truthout.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3845/context/archive">Women Wed to Addiction Find Relief at Kabul Center</a></b><br />07.12.08. womens enews.<br /><br /><u> Siddiqui</u> (cont)<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 204px; height: 127px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirbXjXzMeCC2nh-HkmDbDEWFyNwcoea-8dJKAHp4tJTRYkeMGUN6AnLEjLvWdWrO5Nsp4spcTRVFsZFsnKEtP-JeCNMsa9ocRVhfKwIVmG-aOe_TwimHvZsE-ODcJuQyAn4ngM/s400/uruknet_aafia_siddiqui.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285184371239946626" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49620&s2=16">Abduction, Torture, & Repeated Raping of Aafia Siddiqui</a></b><br />15.12.08. Stephen Lendman, uruknet. Post-9/11, the "war on terror" has been a jihad against Islam, the colonizers v. the colonized, or what Edward Said called "the familiar (America, Europe, us) and the strange (the Orient, East, them)." Dr. Aafia Siddiqui is one of its most tragic, aggrieved, and ravaged victims. Her ordeal continues horrifically. Boston Magazine's Katherine Oxment asked: "Who's afraid of Aafia Siddiqui? She went to MIT and Brandeis, married a (physician, lived in Boston), cared for her children....raised money for charities....did other volunteer work, hosted play groups in her apartment, (is) deeply religious....distribute(d) Korans to inmates in area prisons," and did nothing out of the ordinary. [Siddiqui] "was a normal woman living a normal American life. Until the FBI called her a terrorist....a high-profile Al Qaeda operative," but we've seen these charges before, and each time they were bogus. They're egregiously so against Aafia - a woman guilty only of being Muslim at the wrong time in America or elsewhere if you're on Washington's target list...<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 186px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAg_Oa0FYaKJyn2qV2Iwi_omjYH1C4judvgl-ioJ4IPP9FpsINjffhnH1s7VfSPwgQJJ5Tfu103qUSEw8uotkS0QCQojUCOCL8uF1ZW2Pv_KrpI3rWO8-7JEmV3CyzLtFG9Mo3/s400/shamsia.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285955302436380226" border="0" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Shamsia Husainai, Photo AP</span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7779908.stm">Afghan parents keep children home</a></b><br />12.12.08. BBC / anti-war. There has been a significant decline recently in the number of pupils, especially girls, attending school in the central province of Ghazni. / The provincial council says 15,000 pupils have stopped going to school so far this year. / Fifty schools have closed because of the security situation./ The Taleban denied it was responsible for last month's acid attack on schoolgirls in Kandahar province<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thestar.com/specialsections/article/553770">World court inquiry sought in Afghan rapes</a></b><br />15.12.08. the star. The International Criminal Court should probe allegations some Canadian officers serving in Afghanistan told subordinates to look the other way when Afghan soldiers and local interpreters sodomized young boys, says one of Canada's leading human-rights lawyers. / .. In a story published yesterday in the Star, former Canadian soldier Tyrel Braaten said that during his tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2006, he witnessed Afghan interpreters bringing young boys inside buildings at Forward Operating Base Wilson, a remote Canadian base outside Kandahar. The boys were then sodomized by the interpreters and Afghan soldiers, Braaten said. / Other Canadian soldiers have complained to chaplains and military medical personnel that officers told them not to get involved because the sodomy was tantamount to "cultural differences."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=11444">Afghan Editor Receives Courage in Journalism Award</a></b><br />18.12.08. Feminist. Afghan journalist <b>Farida Nekzad</b> was honored by the International Women's Media Foundation with a Courage in Journalism Award for her support of women's rights and freedom of the press in Afghanistan. As the managing editor and deputy director of Pajhwok Afghan News, the leading independent news agency in Afghanistan, Nekzad has fought to increase opportunities for women in journalism. /… "For the last year, the situation is worse for women. There are no rights for women and they don't like women to be journalists," she said. Nekzad frequently changes cars while traveling to work and sleeps in different rooms of her house because she fears an attack. Despite repeated death threats and harassment, Nekzad has continued to report on the deteriorating security for women in Afghanistan and on the influence of Afghan warlords.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/27/maternal-mortality-rate-among-highest/">Afghan maternal mortality rate high</a></b><br />27.12.08. Washington Times. Doctors cite lack of facilities<br /><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ul3DBGSVNk0">Independent Lens 'MOTHERLAND AFGHANISTAN'</a> (Preview PBS. 28.11.08: Nearly one in seven Afghan women die in childbirth.)<br /><br />& CHILDREN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81790">AFGHANISTAN: UN calls for more action to protect children</a></b><br />04.12.08. irin. "Parties to the conflict have to take proactive measures to safeguard children from being affected by the ongoing armed conflict, and we will engage them to support and oversee the design of appropriate measures that will prevent further violations," Kristine Peduto, UNICEF child protection specialist, told IRIN in Kabul on 2 December. / Over the past few years "grave violations" have been perpetrated against children by "parties to the conflict, both state and non-state actors", according to the UN. / .. “Children have been killed, maimed, sexually abused, arbitrarily detained, recruited as foot soldiers, used as suicide attackers and deprived of development and education,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.un.org/children/conflict/english/securitycouncilwgroupdoc.html">said in a report </a> to the Security Council in November.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mytelus.com/ncp_news/article.en.do?pn=canada&articleID=3050508">Hospital ward at Kandahar Airfield is filled with Afghan children</a></b><br />10.12.08. Globe Trotter / ICH. In a land of IEDs, landmines and suicide bombers civilian casualties are commonplace in Afghanistan and are often mentioned in passing in news reports or for that matter not mentioned at all.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=an&nid=1032&ad=13-12-2008">US bill might limit mily aid to Afghanistan</a></b><br />13.12.08 Frontier post. Under legislation adopted by the US Congress on December 10, 2008, governments identified as using child soldiers may no longer qualify for US military assistance, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a press release Friday. Government forces that continue to recruit children into their ranks are going to risk losing US military assistance, said Jo Becker, childrens rights advocate for Human Rights Watch (HRW). The legislation could affect six countries currently receiving US military training, financing, and other defense-related assistance of which Afghanistan is one<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2008-12-20-voa2.cfm">The Hazardous Life Of Afghan Children</a></b><br />19.12.08. VOA. In his first report to the United Nations Security Council on the situation of children and armed conflict in Afghanistan, U. N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon noted that <b>children are being killed, exploited and abused in ever increasing numbers in the conflict-torn country</b>. / According to the report, the use of children by armed forces and groups has been a serious problem throughout the 30 years of armed conflict in Afghanistan./ .. the Taliban continues to actively recruit children to be not only fighters, but also suicide bombers./ .. "violence against children, specifically of a sexual nature, occurs particularly during times of instability. The practice of 'bacha-baazi' (boy-play), consists of boys kept cloistered and used for sexual and harmful social entertainment by warlords and other armed group leaders."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3901941/Afghan-parents-selling-their-sons-to-survive.html">Afghan parents selling their sons to survive</a><br />23.12.08. Telegraph. The trade in children is spurred by the battered country's economy and the failure of foreign aid to reach beyond the coffers of central government in the capital Kabul. see VIDEO <a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/afghanistan+crumbles+despite+aid/2891477"> here </a> (channel 4 news)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24846516-5005961,00.html">Boys killed playing with mortar shell</a></b><br />27.12.08. news.au. FOUR boys have been killed and six wounded in eastern Afghanistan when a mortar shell exploded as they played with it. The children, all under 14, were struck by the device in the town of Gardez, Paktya province intelligence chief Ghulam Dastagir Rostumyar said.<br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHDVjdMLnXg"> UNICEF: Children and AIDS in Afghanistan </a> (03.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/422855/graveyard_of_empires/"> AFGHANISTAN: GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES </a><br /><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 212px; height: 138px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3eVZ3vJlYAi_T7LS-ZO3xukoSsfqMeYiQR56ORNdc4R6He-Cuwet3vEAkDyphM0qA9samGqVIaKBW-ePTquNgBCDwgiYyWd0yh1r9aQNGZgnM4qrDEE8-_qnlCoIq5BekxWS6/s400/uruknet-sjal2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285184376759053666" border="0" /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49772&s2=22">Civilian casualties in Afghanistan</a> (21.12.08, Clancy Chassay, Guardian/uruknet)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=levFw2UmlE8"> Bush: Much <em>Progress</em> in Afghanistan Since '01</a><br /><br /><br />HEALTH<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 303px; height: 201px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKJ8yiDcYKP5TlnPxphE5RcU7ptzq1QxVwUUBCLCDiaT97ALuQrjI_YBFFDU-l-S6pdLtHefj0j3RAKOqBhKyXgycNGm6kfm1ykTEkHXyOO9PxS5yrNBftvWOSh2CAi6GWHHyr/s400/ch_tribune_ill.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285183168720796530" border="0" /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-afghan-mental2_barkerdec26,0,40482.story"></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Wali Sultani, a mentally ill patient, is chained in a small cell at Mia Ali Saeb Shrine in Samar Khel, Afghanistan. The patients, brought here by family members, are provided only water, black pepper and bread during the 40-day "treatment," which is believed to rid patients' bodies of bad spirits. (Tribune photo by Kuni Takahashi / November 12, 2008)</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-afghan-mental2_barkerdec26,0,40482.story">Afghanistan's mentally ill left to superstition</a></b><br />26.12.08. Kim Barker, Chicago Tribune. Wali Sultani has been chained to the wall of his cell for almost a month. He is wearing the same dirty clothes and he is eating the same diet every day—bread, black pepper and water. / Sultani, 25, is no criminal. He is mentally ill. / Like almost everything else in war-torn Afghanistan, the mental health system is in shambles, and many Afghans do not understand the concept of mental illness. So they bring people here, to this grubby shrine outside the eastern city of Jalalabad, and chain them to trees when the weather is hot and inside concrete cells when it is cold. And they leave them for 40 days so God can cure them.<br /><br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>3. Oil and Gas in Afghanistan & Pakistan</b></div><br /><br />"<em>The reality is that curbing terrorism was never the motive for the invasion of Afghanistan. The September 11 attacks were seized upon as the pretext for an intervention into the very heart of Central Asia, a resource-rich region that was part of the former Soviet Union until 1991. Far from being "aimless", the purpose of the ongoing occupation is to establish a US client state and major military bases in a region that is vital for American economic interests</em>." <a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/afgh-d13.shtml"> WSWS</a> (13.12.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.daily.pk/business/economy/8536-30-trillion-cubic-feet-gas-lying-trapped-in-tight-reservoirs-of-pakistan.html">30 trillion cubic feet gas lying trapped in Tight Reservoirs of Pakistan</a></b><br />11.12.08. daily.pk/legitgov. There is a need to further develop local and foreign exploration and production companies and service sector to further strengthen the oil and gas producing capacity of the country, said a senior official sources in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources. / According to Pakistan Petroleum Exploration and Production Companies Association (PPEPCA) Technical Expert Committee the tight reservoirs are of poor quality and therefore require additional effort and expensive technologies to recover gas from them.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp12262008.html">Obama and the Graveyard of Empires</a></b><br />26-8.12.08. Gary Leupp, Counterpunch. … / .. the focus will be on the competition for control over Central Asian oil and gas. That means a degree of control over Afghanistan that has eluded Washington since the invasion of 2001. … / (By the way: Afghanistan is scheduled to hold a presidential election in October 2009, and Afghan-American neocon politician Zalmay Khalilzad, one-time UNOCAL executive, Afghan kingmaker in 2002, former ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the UN, may well be a candidate.) <b>Obama wants to “finish the job” in Afghanistan, a real war for oil in the guise of “the war on terror</b>.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pej.org/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=7567&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0">A New Turn in the Afghanistan War and Occupation</a></b><br />31.12.08. PEJ. In reality, the aim of "fighting terrorism" is only for public relations consumption. There are stronger economic and geo-political motivations at work behind the Afghanistan occupation that bear no relation to the sound bites fed to the American people. These motivations revolve around the need of U.S. big business to assert its economic and political control over Central Asia's energy resources against all potential competitors. / The central reason behind the Afghanistan war and occupation is to gain control over an oil and natural gas transit route that can provide Europe with much of its energy, and to contain the influence of Russia, China, and Iran in the region.<br /><br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>4. Aid in Afghanistan </b></div><br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.baag.org.uk">Aid and Civil-Military Relations in Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.11.08. BAAG and ENNA policy briefing.<br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/23/afghanistan.karzai.obama/">Karzai: Obama promises Afghanistan more aid</a></b><br />23.11.08. CNN. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said President-elect Barack Obama assured him Saturday that the United States would send more aid and pay more attention to his war-torn country, according to Karzai's office, <u>but Obama aides declined to confirm the call had included specific promises</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=81624">AFGHANISTAN: WFP starts food aid deliveries to over five million people</a></b><br />24.11.08. irin news.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews+articleid_2839788.html"> Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Cuba to Get Russian Food Aid in 2009 – Ministry</a> (28.11.08. istock analyst)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/JBRN-7LSJYT?OpenDocument">Aid and civil-military relations in Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.11.08. relief web. Across all provinces in Afghanistan, there are non-governmental organisations (NGOs) delivering assistance in the midst of violence and political instability. Their ability to implement programmes safely and effectively is increasingly jeopardised by the deteriorating security situation. In some districts, NGOs have significantly reduced their operations or even withdrawn entirely as their staff, projects and beneficiaries come under attack. [see report, above]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C11%5C28%5Cstory_28-11-2008_pg7_14">'Foreign militants entering Balochistan via Pak-Afghan border'</a></b><br />28.11.08. dailytimes.pk / ICH. 'Major chunk of Indian aid to Afghanistan being used to support anti-Pakistan quarters<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=an&nid=1013&ad=29-11-2008">Aid agencies ask for assistance to avoid humanitarian crisis</a></b><br />29.11.08. frontier post. Aid agencies working in Afghanistan reported to members of the UN Security Council visiting Afghanistan, that their operating environment is becoming increasingly difficult. Access to communities in need of assistance and protection is shrinking day by day. Thirty humanitarian workers have been killed so far in 2008 – twice as many as last year. Eighty have been kidnapped. Agencies have also had to suspend or modify operations in areas where they have worked for decades due to security concerns. If this trend continues, the people of Afghanistan could soon remain without assistance.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=a3j_kh60YRSo&refer=australia"> U.S. Ranks 17th in Assistance to Poorest Nations, Report Says</a>(04.12.08. Bloomberg)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/MUMA-7M63FA?OpenDocument">Germany continues winter aid in Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.12.08. Relief web. The Federal Foreign Office is making available another one million euro to the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to provide basic necessities to people in particularly remote regions.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3861552,00.html">German Aid Group Wants Action After Spying Revelations</a></b><br />09.12.08. dw-world. "We are astonished and puzzled to learn that a German constitutional body should have kept tabs on an independent German aid organisation," German Agro Action General Secretary Hans-Joachim Preuss wrote in a letter to Merkel.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7781108.stm">UK gives aid package to Pakistan</a></b><br />13.12.08. BBC / anti-war. The UK is giving a £480m support package to Pakistan to help increase security on the Afghanistan border..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gbLrdes8ftKVc_7i3nq2j8LgQZ9g">United Nations doubles Afghan aid budget</a></b><br />17.12.08. AFP. For 2009 its budget will be 150-160 million dollars, up from 81 million dollars in 2008.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81993">“Local integration” key to internal displacement – report</a></b><br />17.12.08. irin. Aid agencies and the government must focus on “local integration” to help bring to an end long-term displacement, says a new report by an internally displaced persons (IDP) task force comprising government bodies, NGOs and the UN. / Such a policy, if favoured by the government, would require land distribution and the creation of basic infrastructure such as schools, health clinics and roads, it said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/12/19/ST2008121902949.html">The Pentagon is muscling in everywhere. It's time to stop the mission creep</a></b><br />21.12.08. Thomas A. Schweich, Washington Post. Until this year, the State Department received an average of about <b>$40 million a year for rule-of-law programs in Afghanistan, according to the department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs -- in stark contrast to the billions that the Pentagon got to train the Afghan army</b>. Under then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, the Defense Department failed to provide even basic security for the meager force of civilian police mentors, rule-of-law advisers <u>and aid workers</u> from other U.S. agencies operating in Afghanistan and Iraq, driving policymakers to turn to such contracting firms as Blackwater Worldwide. After having set the rest of the U.S. government up for failure, military authorities then declared that the other agencies' unsuccessful police-training efforts required military leadership and took them over -- after brutal interagency battles at the White House.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C12%5C22%5Cstory_22-12-2008_pg1_7">US to increase Pakistan’s military assistance by $300 million</a></b><br />22.12.08. daily times pk. This was part of a $3.2 billion US aid package agreed upon in 2003 and was evenly divided between military and economic assistance. / Validity: The new military aid package will be valid for the next five years. Sources said although it was initiated by the outgoing Bush administration, <u>a change of government on January 20 will not impact the package</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122500931.html">Little Blue Pills Among the Ways CIA Wins Friends in Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.12.08. Washington Post. Four blue pills. Vi*gra. "Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.<br />The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception.<br />&<br /><b><a href="http://pacetua.blogspot.com/2008/12/bush-doctrine-and-viagra.html">The Bush Doctrine and Viagra</a></b><br />26.12.08. Musafir’s Musings. The Bush administration has a policy of not allowing US aid funds being used by recipient nations for sex education and birth control -- for condoms. It was implemented to appease members of the so called Christian Right who are among Bush's core supporters. Yet, the CIA is doling out Viagra to Afghani men to win their support in the war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081227/OPINION/812270313/1028/OPINION02">Foreign aid workers too isolated to help Afghanistan's people</a></b><br />27.12.08. Concord Monitor. I agree with those in the military who have said that 80 percent of the struggle for Afghanistan is about reconstruction and sustainable economic development and only 20 percent about military operations. In the face of a heightened Taliban insurgency, the U.S. military has changed its tactics. But if civilian U.S. agencies do not change the ways they deliver economic assistance, they jeopardize their chances for success and risk alienating the Afghan people.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/30/content_10582051.htm"> China offers fresh $11 mln aid to Afghanistan </a> (30.12.08. Xinhuanet)<br /><br /><em> How It Should Be </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1226/p01s01-wosc.html">Promoting peace in Afghanistan – with a lighter touch</a></b><br />26.12.08. Dana Harmon, CSM. Born out of the mantra that the war in Afghanistan cannot be won by military means alone, the mission of these small units – 26 in total – is to coordinate with local leaders and do development work – thus winning Afghan hearts and minds. / It was not always like this. As the war here began in October 2001, there was much talk about the need for reconstruction. But a RAND Corp. study found that, even as President Bush was promising a "Marshall Plan" for Afghanistan, the country received less assistance per capita than postconflict Bosnia, Kosovo, or Haiti, and less than half of what later would be spent in Iraq. / Last year, though, the budget for reconstruction projects here tripled, USAID development experts were shipped out by the dozens, and the PRTs were given new status. The US has now spent more than $32 billion on assistance to Afghanistan – 32 percent of which was allocated to development and humanitarian assistance. That number, according to the US State Department, will continue to climb in 2009.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 335px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd8Xz2-_N4qSYuai5WDvojbtQJZU32ezcAUXtA0i2DfZtCnfQWmkSDgJXJ1Da3kAIx3npI8mGndcN2lhweBCqZIoNJnKFiCLAm09dKVTAKVALFEr3vRu-qiFLTJ8NJ9fnDvFvu/s400/nyt_doctor.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285183174936568034" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/12/25/world/20081225AFGHAN_2.html">PHOTO: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times</a><br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/world/asia/25afghan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">A Foreign Face Beloved by Afghans of All Stripes</a></b><br />24.12.08. John Burns, NY Times. History has fostered a notion here that all foreign occupations of Afghanistan are ultimately doomed. There was the catastrophic retreat of a British expeditionary force in 1842. Nearly 150 years later came the Soviet troop withdrawal of 1989. Now, with the Taliban pressing in on this city and dominating the countryside, there are fears that this occupation, too, will eventually fail.<br />But whatever the outcome, Afghans of all ethnic and political stripes, even the Taliban, seem likely to count Alberto Cairo as one foreigner who left the country better than he found it. SLIDE SHOW.<br /><br /><br /><a id="5000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>5. Opium in Afghanistan</b></div><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicI0pVqI9J2cnrnCa5sbGzUA8xP8P6em81nEGwzBsqWJCCJ1CEFOgJaJwSyGX0JC2gH5EP8ZI5qFb0M9vJpRvUnYCT2d41OG91VDmRpB0tDapLYj3p0pQrJnypVOcD0Ker4GOC/s1600-h/poppy_small.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 199px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicI0pVqI9J2cnrnCa5sbGzUA8xP8P6em81nEGwzBsqWJCCJ1CEFOgJaJwSyGX0JC2gH5EP8ZI5qFb0M9vJpRvUnYCT2d41OG91VDmRpB0tDapLYj3p0pQrJnypVOcD0Ker4GOC/s400/poppy_small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285938201123266066" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">(Opium) Papaver Patty’s Plum © Sarah Meyer, Index Research</span></div><br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.feedblitz.com/t.asp?/264759/4531211/http://www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/AREU_opiumBalkh2008.pdf">“Let Them Eat Promises”: Closing the Opium Poppy Fields in Balkh and its Consequences (pdf)</a></b><br />December 2008. Adam Paine, Afghan Conflict Monitor. In 2007, many pointed to the example of Balkh Province, where the reported area of opium poppy fell from 7200 hectares (ha) in 2005-06 to zero in 2006-07. Drawing on these area statistics, international agencies have claimed that incentives, and improvements in security and governance, preceded and led to the end of opium cultivation. Afghan officials offer a different interpretation of events and emphasise the failure to respond to the decline that has been achieved, effectively admitting that the closure was due to coercion. The field evidence presented in this report does not support claims that farmers’ decisions to stop cultivating opium poppy stemmed from the provision of incentives or development — nor does it find evidence of improved governance or security. If anything, conditions are worse. Moreover, the report discovered that the sudden closure of opium poppy cultivation in 2006 in Balkh has prompted a decline in livelihood security for many rural households, the effects of which have been compounded by the harsh winter and subsequent failure of the rains in early 2008. / … What could better counter-narcotic policy practice in Balkh have been? First, the coerced closure of opium poppy cultivation should not have been accepted; the guidelines of the NDCS should have been followed, requiring careful monitoring of processes of change and rejecting opium area as an appropriate indicator at this stage. Second, a <b>better understanding should have been developed regarding the underlying drivers of opium poppy cultivation in the district. This would have prompted the realisation that off-farm prospects of employment for the effectively landless poor -- who make up the majority of households — would be extremely limited once the opium economy dried up</b>, and that measures would need to be taken and interventions designed to address this.<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article5254411.ece">Scots army chief: 'Afghan opium setback'</a></b><br />28.11.08. Times Online. A senior officer has admitted that the Army's efforts to curb opium production in Afghanistan have been “pretty patchy”. / In an interview with The Times, Brigadier Andrew Mackay, who commanded 52 Brigade when it headed Taskforce Helmand this year, said that work to eradicate poppy cultivation would be ineffective unless accompanied by a drive against the crime lords who fuel the opium trade and by provision of alternative jobs for poppy farmers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49196&s2=01">New York Times Misleads on Taliban Role in Opium Trade</a></b><br />29.11.08. Jeremy R. Hammond, uruknet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.centcom.mil/en/press-releases/ansf-coalition-forces-disrupt-militants-narcotics-activities.html">ANSF, Coalition forces disrupt militants’ narcotics activities</a></b><br />30.11.08. Centcom.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/12/switzerland-voters-approve-permanent.php">Switzerland voters approve permanent heroin assisted treatment program</a></b><br />01.12.08. JURIST. The government of Switzerland on Sunday announced that voters in a referendum have approved a measure making the country's heroin assisted treatment program (HAT) permanent. Sixty-eight percent of 2.26 million voters approved the permanent legalization of heroin while voting against a proposal for the decriminalization of marijuana by 63.2 percent The key difference between the two legalization schemes was scope. The legalization of heroin is limited to 21 outpatient clinics and two prisons where dist ribution is tightly controlled by prescriptions and given only to addicts who have been unsuccessfully treated elsewhere. In contrast, the proposed amendment to the federal constitution concerning marijuana would have broadly legalized the consumption, growing, and sale of cannabis for personal use.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3545652/Heroin-seized-on-way-from-Afghanistan-to-Europe.html">Heroin seized 'on way from Afghanistan to Europe'</a></b><br />03.12.08. Telegraph. Security forces in Tajikistan have found more than 1,200 lbs of heroin and cannabis worth millions of pounds hidden in a lorry in the country's biggest ever drug seizure.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=news/news_show.php&id=27511">Afghan Led Operation Uncovers Drugs and Weapons in Southern Helmand</a></b><br />12.11.08. dvids.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=81896">Drug producers, smugglers under pressure?</a></b><br />10.12.08. Irin. Drought helps stem opium production; Corruption<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7657478.stm">Pleas of Afghan ex-poppy farmers</a></b><br />15.12.08. BBC. Farmers in this remote village in Sherzad district in eastern Afghanistan say they stopped growing poppies last year, and are now growing wheat, vegetables and maize instead. / More than a year ago, the Afghan government backed by international forces eradicated their poppy fields. / But <b>locals say they are still waiting for the help they were promised</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-7MCS8A?OpenDocument">Tackling the Afghan opium threat</a></b><br />15.12.08. Relief Web. Senior international counter-narcotics officials are meeting in Vienna this week to improve efforts to stem the supply of deadly drugs out of Afghanistan. / More than 50 countries and international organizations participate in the Paris Pact. / .. Afghanistan supplies more than 90 per cent of the world's opiates. Although recent data has shown that opium has become less important to the Afghan economy in 2008, the progress is fragile.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_314958.html">Drug trafficking on the rise</a></b><br />16.12.08. Khushwant Singh, straits times. DESPITE Singapore having some of the strictest drug laws in the world, newly-released figures suggest a growing number of heroin smugglers could be using the country as a transit point. / In the first nine months of this year, 46kg of heroin has been seized, nearly three times the total for the whole of last year. / .. Also, 11kg of this year's haul is the purest grade of the drug, heroin No. 4, which is rarely consumed here. It is injected by addicts and the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) believes that it was not meant for the local market; instead it was likely bound for the United States and Europe. / .. More heroin is flooding into Singapore mainly because of last year's bumper opium harvests in the Golden Triangle between Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, as well as in Afghanistan, by far the world's leading producer of the crop. / Opium is the raw material used in making heroin and the UNODC estimated that Afghanistan churned out 8,200 tonnes of it last year, <b>almost doubling the global output of illegal opium from 2005</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/21/content_10532454.htm">Over 2 tons of drugs seized in Afghanistan</a></b><br />21.12.08. Xinhuanet. Afghan forces backed by the U.S.-led Coalition forces discovered and destroyed over two tons of drugs in a local school in southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Friday, said a Coalition statement released here on Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/22/heroin-opium-poppies-afghanistan">Heroin, schools and the heart of the insurgency</a></b><br />22.12.08. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Guardian. The relationship between the Taliban, police and poppy trade is quite simple, he added: "If we don't plant opium then smugglers don't make money. If we [the smugglers] don't make money the Taliban and police don't make money. The Taliban and the officials have a very strong relationship - if they don't then how can we do so much trade and travel to so many districts?"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/world/asia/23poppy.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">Obstacle in Bid to Curb Afghan Trade in Narcotics</a></b><br />22.12.08. T. Shanker, NY Times. A drive by the NATO alliance to disrupt Afghanistan’s drug trade has been hobbled by new objections from member nations that say their laws do not permit soldiers to carry out such operations, according to senior commanders here. / .. NATO officials in Brussels <u>declined to list the nations that have opposed widening the alliance mandate</u> to include attacks on drug networks, and no nation has volunteered that it has legal objections. / But a number of NATO members have in broad terms described their reluctance publicly, including Germany, Italy, Poland and Spain. Their leaders have cited domestic policies that make counternarcotics a law enforcement matter — not a job for their militaries — and expressed concern that domestic lawsuits could be filed if their soldiers carried out attacks to kill noncombatants, even if the victims were involved in the drug industry in Afghanistan. / As has been the case in a whole range of combat operations mounted by NATO forces in Afghanistan, each country is allowed to state its reservations and opt out of missions that are viewed as too risky, either politically or militarily. Those <b>“caveats” have been a source of enormous frustration to American commanders</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/24/nato-commanders-reluctant-to-launch-anti-drug-operations/">NATO Commanders Reluctant to Launch Anti-Drug Operations</a></b><br />24.12.08. anti-war. Getting NATO to agree to the US plan to dramatically escalate the war on drugs in Afghanistan was no small task. Tired of trying to persuade the nations of the necessity of the operation, perpetually exasperated General John Craddock lashed out at NATO allies in October, claiming those who didn’t agree with the US position “have not listened to the argument.”<br /><br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUkFCfMVpPE&eurl=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-bradley/obamas-new-power-troika-f_b_148252.html"> Gen. James Jones on the future of Afghanistan </a> (07.07)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/dec/22/afghanistan-drug-abuse"> Lost souls of Afghanistan's heroin trade </a> (22.12.08 Guardian)<br /><br /><br /><a id="6000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>6. Corruption in Afghanistan</b></div><br /><br />REPORTS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afghanistan-the-true-story.blogspot.com/2008/11/corruption-and-warlordism-critical.html">Corruption and Warlordism: A critical review of Corruption situation in Afghanistan</a></b><br />29.11.08. Abdul Basir Stanikzai. Corruption has become part of a complex triad (corruption, opium economy and terrorism) where warlords, insurgents, factional leaders, corrupt officials and drug dealers are contributing to its sustenance.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5824&l=1">Policing in Afghanistan </a></b><br />18.12.08. International Crisis Group<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-afghan-corrupt_barkernov25,0,891584.story">Pervasive corruption fuels deep anger in Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.11.08. Chicago Tribune. "In the Afghan administration now, money is the law," said Bashardost, the former planning minister. "When you have money here, you can do anything. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where corruption is legal." / Not exactly legal, but definitely rampant. Increasingly, corruption is driving a wedge between the government and the Afghan people, who are growing more and more resentful of their leaders, experts say. And that poses an enormous challenge for President Hamid Karzai and the U.S.- and NATO-led forces intensifying their efforts to defeat a Taliban-led insurgency.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-nobody-supports-the-taliban-but-people-hate-the-government-1036905.html">'Nobody supports the Taliban, but people hate the government'</a></b><br />27.11.08. Robert Fisk, Independent. "The 'open market' led many of us into financial disaster. Afghanistan is just a battlefield of ideology, opium and political corruption. Now you've got all these commercial outfits receiving contracts from people like USAID. First they skim off 30 to 50 per cent for their own profits – then they contract out and sub-contract to other companies and there's only 10 per cent of the original amount left for the Afghans themselves."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49184&s2=30">Pervasive corruption fuels deep anger in Afghanistan: Many long for harsh but clean rule of Taliban</a></b><br />28.11.08. Kim Barker, RAWA / uruknet. "In the Afghan administration now, money is the law," said Bashardost, the former planning minister. "When you have money here, you can do anything. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where corruption is legal." / Not exactly legal, but definitely rampant. Increasingly, corruption is driving a wedge between the government and the Afghan people, who are growing more and more resentful of their leaders, experts say. And that poses an enormous challenge for President Hamid Karzai and the U.S.- and NATO-led forces intensifying their efforts to defeat a Taliban-led insurgency. / Corruption is turning more people toward the fundamentalist Taliban, which is seen as clean in comparison.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thenational.ae/article/20081128/REVIEW/861067314/1043">The Broken Slate</a></b><br />28.11.08. Nir Rosen, the national. At the centre of the state, a very senior Western diplomat told me, “is an extremely weak president, a corrupt and ineffective ministry of interior, an army that will fight but has no command and control capabilities,” backed by “a dysfunctional international alliance.” “I’m very worried and negative,” he continued. “The analysis of our intelligence people is that things are getting worse.”<br /><br />The rapid defeat of the Taliban – and the equally rapid establishment of a new government in Kabul – left power in the hands of the warlords who helped depose the Taliban. “I thought the Americans and the international community could succeed in 2001,” the former Taliban government official told me, “I thought we would get rid of the warlords, but in the first six months they supported the warlords and put them in power. There was hope at the elections, but the warlords won. Now they are in parliament, ministers, deputy ministers.” “<b>The American intervention issued blank checks to these guys,” the senior NGO staffer said. “They threw money, weapons, vehicles at them. Anyone willing to work with the Americans was welcome</b>.”<br /><br />“The police are highly corrupt,” a senior UN humanitarian official in Kabul explained, “and they are at the centre of the collapse of the state and the Karzai government. They are involved in everything from corruption to harassment. Locals feel alienation from police and they have been the best promoters of the Taliban. The police make them support the Taliban.” The British intelligence officer was more blunt. “People might hate the Taliban,” he said, “but they hate the government just as much. At least the Taliban have rules.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/surge-of-phantom-female-voters-in-afghanistan-1054047.html">Surge of 'phantom' female voters in Afghanistan</a></b><br />05.12.08. Jerome Starkey, Independent. Afghan women appear to be massively outnumbering male voters in one of the most conservative parts of the country, amid allegations of <b>widespread fraud</b> designed to re-elect President Hamid Karzai in next year's polls. / Western officials admit the figures are "completely implausible", given the region's entrenched Pashtun values which make it difficult for women to register in person. "We know the figures are hyped but no one is doing anything about it," said a diplomat in Kabul. … / The practice raises the prospect of phantom voters being counted in the 2009 elections. The UN has no official oversight role and none of the foreign diplomatic missions are in charge of monitoring the registration process, although <b>Britain is helping bankroll the operation</b>. … / Questions have already been raised over voter registration figures in neighbouring Logar province, which saw a 50-50 split between men and women. The UN spokesman in Kabul, Adrian Edwards, said: "In some provinces there has been registration fraud, principally in Logar and Paktia. But that doesn't translate | into election fraud."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/2008/12/warlords-toughen-us-task-in-afghanistan.html">Warlords Toughen US Task In Afghanistan</a></b><br />09.12.08. afghan conflict monitor/Time<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/dec/11/afghanistan-kim-howells-corruption-karzai">Ex-minister slates UK policy on Afghanistan</a></b><br />11.12.08. P. Wintour, Guardian. The former Foreign Office minister [Kim Howells] with responsibility for Afghanistan yesterday accused the country of being corrupt "from top to bottom", and said the international community had wrongly treated President Hamid Karzai with kid gloves. / "Institutionally, Afghanistan is corrupt from top to bottom. There are few signs that the chaotic hegemony of warlords, gangsters, presidential placemen, incompetent and under-resourced provincial governors and self-serving government ministers has been challenged in any effective way by President Karzai. / On the contrary, those individuals appear to be thriving, not least because Hamid Karzai has convinced himself that he cannot afford to sack or challenge the strongmen who, through corruption, brutality, power of arms or tribal status are capable of controlling their territories and fiefdoms." / He told MPs that British public support for the war in Afghanistan was fragile. The government, he said, "will be asked, quite properly, why the lives of our service personnel should be risked ... We will be asked why we are fighting to preserve what looks remarkably like a regime that is being undermined by corrupt cliques that have access to the highest levels." / He said the government had to change its "daft" rhetoric on the war. "Forget the nonsense about being prepared to fight on the mountains and plains of Afghanistan for 30 years. People will not accept the notion that British families should send their sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters to risk their lives fighting religious fanatics, tribal nationalists, corrupt warlords and heroin traffickers in one of the most godforsaken terrains on the face of the earth. The notion is daft, however much we may try to rationalise it by arguing that it is better to fight al-Qaeda over there than over here."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/11/factbox-key-facts-about-afghanistans-security-forces/">FACTBOX-Key facts about Afghanistan's security forces</a></b><br />11.12.08. Reuters / anti-war. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on a visit to Afghanistan on Thursday that he wanted to speed up efforts to double the size of the Afghan army to 134,000 troops./ But the U.S. general in charge of their training said the expansion would be faster if it were not for endemic corruption in the Afghan forces. [ following are key facts about security forces]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LB211278.htm">INTERVIEW-Corruption holds back Afghan army expansion</a></b><br />11.12.08. Jon Hemming, Reuters. Endemic corruption is one of the main obstacles to the Afghan army and police being able to take over their country's security duties, the U.S. general in charge of their training said on Thursday./ .. commanders recognise that any "surge" in foreign troops can ultimately only buy time to expand for the Afghan army and police to learn to stand on their own feet. / "The final point is corruption, corruption, corruption; it is endemic," U.S. General Robert Cone, commander of the force that trains the Afghan army and police, told Reuters in an interview.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98120237">Afghan Mistrust In Justice System Pronounced</a></b><br />12.12.08. Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, npr. In Afghanistan, people say they are losing faith in their government amid growing insecurity and rampant corruption. But nowhere is people's mistrust of public institutions more pronounced than in the justice system. / Seven years after the West began rebuilding the country, experts say the court system is little more than a complicated maze fraught with graft. Afghan officials admit bribe-taking is rampant. Some say former warlords and strongmen exert undue influence on cases.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/12/AR2008121203290.html">The Other Front</a></b><br />14.12.08. Sarah Chayes, Washington Post. In the seven years I've lived in this stronghold of the Afghan south -- the erstwhile capital of the Taliban and the focus of their renewed assault on the country -- most of my conversations with locals about what's going wrong have centered on corruption and abuse of power. "More than roads, more than schools or wells or electricity, we need good governance," said Nurallah during yet another discussion a couple of weeks ago.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-hdyn/content/article/2008/12/17/AR2008121702928.html">Afghan police must fight crime, not Taliban: ICG</a></b><br />17.12.08. Washington Post. "The U.S. military, the dominant actor, still mainly sees the police as an auxiliary security force rather than an enforcer of the law. The Afghan National Police is ill equipped for this role," the <a href="http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5824&l=1"> ICG </a> said in its report.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rferl.org/content/Afghan_Commerce_Minister_Impeached_By_Parliament/1361296.html">Afghan Commerce Minister Impeached By Parliament</a></b><br />18.12.08. rferl. Afghan Commerce and Industry Minister Mohammad Amin Farhang, who has been accused of collusion with gas distributors, has been impeached by the lower house of parliament, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reports.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/international/50-afghan-cops-held-for-helping-taliban.aspx">50 Afghan cops held for helping Taliban</a></b><br />30.12.08. . The age / ICH. The Afghan government disarmed and arrested about 50 Afghan policemen, suspected of corruption and helping the Taliban, while a dozen others defected to the Taliban, a provincial official said on Tuesday.<br /><br /><br /><a id="7000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>7. The Taliban</b></div><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqofpPqZU5YoSKwSmtCGgjDk2Xg8n42qUr6u_PzHMZts7uXxLJF006RBFWefZz0_vDO_V2PyCy6q-epf6u86ihufDr6RMzYLHjcgWSJz5iARy2wW4xsm_5eESPmSOm8FFBilrt/s400/taliban.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285955312403499506" border="0" /><br /><em><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> “The Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan had called the rebels ‘dukhi’, Russian for ghosts, never knowing when they would arrive, never understanding how they could slip away suddenly, the only explanation being that they had other-worldly assistance. </span></em> Nadeem Aslam, <u> The Wasted Vigil</u> (p. 79).<br /><br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/struggle_for_kabul">Struggle For Kabul: The Taliban Advance(Pdf)</a></b><br />12.2008. ICOS (formerly Senlis Council). Report. Content:<br /><br />1. The Taliban are back: Situation update December 2008<br />2. Advance of the Taliban: maps<br />3. Full Methodology for the Afghanistan and Kabul Maps<br />4. Taliban Tactics: The Secret of Their Success<br />5. Inverting the Pyramid: New Architecture Counter Insurgency Theory. In this chaptue, there is a section called <em>New Global Security Architecture required</em>: “There is manifestly a requirement for a new global security architecture to deal with conflicts and in particular ‘War on Terror’ conflicts. <b>The current rulebook on how the International Community approaches conflict needs to be rewritten</b>. A new system of conflict management is needed to both plan for the worst situation while hoping for the best. There must be sufficient contingency planning to handle the most complex of security challenges. Unfortunately, the present infrastructure cannot respond effectively to what we have now, let alone future worst case scenarios. Classic security instruments such as military intervention and intelligence must continue to be fully supported - but other elements such as sustainable job creation and development should also be seen as key security instruments, along with the development of the rule of law, effective counter-narcotics policies, literacy, a free and open media and civil society and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. This New Architecture must provide a structure for intervention as a threat containment tool - a way to ensure security by minimising current threats or preventing them from escalating into full-blown insurgencies with linkages to militant Islamist groups.”<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 454px; height: 305px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-G4b7521giCeHCfSFY5UijLeJgGytZ4IAxBM8bXmKpvS2tSHfLc_Up06_J3r5BKIqNPRnLmM2w3yrN9xXY8Oj8RMqMAEKXkaB8FWdSnDnR5TBc3pTNnLfnqPRiZ2RybqYRTs/s400/map_icos_taliban.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285974691346658770" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Taliban presence Afghanistan Nov. 2007</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.icosgroup.net/modules/reports/struggle_for_kabul/taliban_advance"> </a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuXlQInP00I-Tt0MN-BkHw1QF0FpakU-xvhiIzE3LckXXKUmjNxq53LNM9E00EHIhr9810FjAdHJ8vDcyhRLl7DMxvuZBoy7yRqkuYkcOX40Q23uvLilyEOzc3KcgwmZNlIkQn/s1600-h/map_icos_taliban_pres.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 269px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuXlQInP00I-Tt0MN-BkHw1QF0FpakU-xvhiIzE3LckXXKUmjNxq53LNM9E00EHIhr9810FjAdHJ8vDcyhRLl7DMxvuZBoy7yRqkuYkcOX40Q23uvLilyEOzc3KcgwmZNlIkQn/s400/map_icos_taliban_pres.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285976841919204802" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">November 2008 ICOS map of Afghan resistance in control of 72% of country</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/=" net="" modules="" reports="" struggle_for_kabul="" taliban_advance=""> </a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSISL26617._CH_.2400">Taliban in 72 pct of Afghanistan, think-tank says</a></b><br />08.12.08. J. Hemming, Reuters. The findings by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_International_Council_on_Security_and_Development_%28ICOS%29"> International Council on Security and Development (ICOS)</a> come in the wake of a series of critical reports on Western-led military and development efforts to put an end to the seven-year Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. / The U.S. government is conducting a wide-ranging review of strategy aimed at countering the Taliban guerrilla and bombing campaign which analysts agree has grown in both scale and scope in the last year. / But while the trends in the ICOS report reflected prevailing sentiment on Afghanistan, many of its findings appeared flawed and contained some glaring errors, security analysts said. … / ICOS said the Taliban are "closing a noose" around the Afghan capital, Kabul, "establishing bases close to the city from which to launch attacks ... Using these bases, the Taliban and insurgent attacks in Kabul have increased dramatically".<br /><br />(see also:)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49431&s2=10">ICOS: Afghan Resistance Controls 72% of Afghanistan: 3 of 4 roads leading out of Kabul "compromised"</a></b><br />08.12.08, L. Blough, Axis of Logic / uruknet. Compare the changes in Afghan Resistance control of Afghanistan in the last 12 months reported by a highly credible think-tank, the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS). Note that the U.S. and NATO fiercely deny the credibility of ICOS numbers and Reuters is running interference by carpeting the Internet with these denials when reporting on the ICOS findings, but never showing the latest revealing map or from ICOS. 2 maps.<br />&<br /><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/09/content_10478465.htm"> Afghan govn. in denial </a><br />&<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/world/asia/07troops.html?ref=asia"> In New Strategy, U.S. Will Defend Kabul Environs </a><br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-nobody-supports-the-taliban-but-people-hate-the-government-1036905.">'Nobody supports the Taliban, but people hate the government'</a></b><br />27.11.08. Robert Fisk, Independent. The collapse of Afghanistan is closer than the world believes. Kandahar is in Taliban hands – all but a square mile at the centre of the city – and the first Taliban checkpoints are scarcely 15 miles from Kabul. Hamid Karzai's deeply corrupted government is almost as powerless as the Iraqi cabinet in Baghdad's "Green Zone"; lorry drivers in the country now carry business permits issued by the Taliban which operate their own courts in remote areas of the country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thenational.ae/article/20081128/REVIEW/861067314/1043">The Broken State</a></b><br />28.11.08. Nir Rosen, the national.ae. (<em>Nir Rosen reports from Kabul and its surrounding provinces as the Taliban attempt to wrest control from Hamid Karzai's government</em>) <b>The situation in Afghanistan is not as bad as you've heard – its worse</b>. “There are too many symptoms of Afghanistan’s decline to inventory, but the roads are an easy place to start, a clear sign of the shrinking zone of order that now barely reaches beyond the outskirts of Kabul. We were driving on the “ring road”, the most critical thoroughfare in Afghanistan, and the fastest, most direct and practical way of travelling between major cities – if you ignore the mounting risk. It is the only road that even resembles a motorway in Afghanistan, and the only viable route for large supply convoys. The only alternatives are small provincial roads, many just gravel or dirt – on which a journey can take days rather than hours. The section of the ring road between Kabul and Kandahar, rebuilt with international funds in 2003, was a crucial connection between the two main American bases at Bagram and Kandahar and linked the two halves of the country, reducing a two-day trip to six hours. Now bridges along the route have been destroyed, and the transport of supplies to support the Afghan government and coalition forces has become difficult. The Taliban continue to mount audacious ambushes against convoys, destroying dozens of lorries at a time and killing some of the drivers. / The provinces of Wardak and Logar, which border Kabul to the south and east, lay between Kabul and Ghazni; both have descended into chaos, and it was in Wardak that the Taliban destroyed a convoy of 54 lorries in June.<br /><br />As I saw on the road to Ghazni, the Taliban have succeeded in essentially cutting off Kabul from the rest of the country. The road southwest to Kandahar was lethal. “The Kabul to Ghazni road is gone,” a British intelligence officer told me, “the Ghazni to Gardez road is exceedingly bad, the Wardak road is sh***, the Jalalabad road is sliding. The ambushes have become routine.”<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 192px; height: 130px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQfrVskh8TSAwEMILIgYr3DEja6Opoh70cJm2z9V-WTq1MV2xMQFv_srKmOb6ERyYgoczPrXsG2H-Si2NAYazyY45IyIIkAiAduMaQPG277g7FsbKLUzXbsDpx3BKpmsPQWhj0/s400/independent_elders.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285183172962260850" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tribal-leaders-to-sabotage-wests-assault-on-taliban-1050600.html">Photo J. Starkey</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/tribal-leaders-to-sabotage-wests-assault-on-taliban-1050600.html">Tribal leaders to sabotage West's assault on Taliban</a></b><br />04.12.08. J. Starkey, Independent. Plan to enlist local militias threatens to backfire. America's plans to enlist Afghan militias in the war against the Taliban are running into difficulties while still in their infancy. In eastern Paktia province, the white-bearded Afghan village elders who are crucial to the "Afghan awakening", are threatening to unite against the Americans unless such night raids by US special forces are halted. Examples of American horrors.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175010/anand_gopal_making_sense_of_the_taliban">Who Are the Taliban?</a></b><br />04.12.08. <a href="http://anandgopal.com/"> Anand Gopal</a>, Tom Dispatch. Just three years ago, the central government still controlled the provinces near Kabul. But years of mismanagement, rampant criminality, and mounting civilian casualties have led to a spectacular resurgence of the Taliban and other related groups. Today, the Islamic Emirate enjoys de facto control in large parts of the country's south and east. According to ACBAR, an umbrella organization representing more than 100 aid agencies, insurgent attacks have increased by 50% over the past year. Foreign soldiers are now dying at a higher rate here than in Iraq. / Who exactly are the Afghan insurgents? / … The movement is a mélange of nationalists, Islamists, and bandits that fall uneasily into three or four main factions. The factions themselves are made up of competing commanders with differing ideologies and strategies, who nonetheless agree on one essential goal: kicking out the foreigners.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49317&s2=05">Defections hit Afghan forces</a></b><br />04.12.08. AlJazeera.net/uruknet. After fighting the Taliban for the past seven years, many working for the Afghan security forces are now switching sides./ .. some 70 police and soldiers have switched allegiances across the western region in the past two months.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5288230.ece">In the lair of the Taliban</a></b><br />07.12.08. Nir Rosen, Sunday Times.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49406&s2=08">Taliban gains could lead to political crisis</a></b><br />07.12.08. Chris Sands, uruknet. Insurgents have made substantial progress in Afghanistan this year and now pose a serious threat to the forthcoming presidential elections, analysts warn. Record numbers of civilians and foreign soldiers have been killed in 2008, but the death tolls are only half the story. Observers of the conflict say the rebels are winning, having taken new ground and adopted more sophisticated tactics. They do not regard defeat for the government and its foreign allies as inevitable, but they do say the state’s future is hanging precariously in the balance. If violence continues to rise in the spring and summer, a political crisis could develop...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/12/08/081208fa_fact_wood">Policing Afghanistan</a></b><br />08.12.08. Letter from Pashmul, New Yorker.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008/12/11/where-the-taliban-gets-their-money/">Where the Taliban Gets Their Money</a></b><br />11.12.08. J. Ditz, anti-war. One company reported spending 25% of its security money to the Taliban, while another company is reportedly on such good terms with the militants that they send fighters to escort their convoys. / It provides an interesting alternative explanation for the recent attacks on NATO vehicles around Peshawar, perhaps the depots fell behind on their protection fees. [see NATO Transportation, below]<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 341px; height: 233px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwhUy1_tkZB4CNpw6fNJJYdgfUpA-Q1Z3RBmKYO_aSfFvHY9Jki1VmkrPhqB3rpLZjKqQZQAou6pYf_F-5TkfKSJBRIie7P2RsoMHYY2eDPBvL1WJT7lqDANHRuFcSbYkLRpWa/s400/sfgate2_village.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285184368643709522" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/12/11/MNQH14DRPH.DTL&o=0">Photo Jason Motlagh </a><br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/11/MNQH14DRPH.DTL">U.S. at disadvantage in Afghan insurgent hotbed</a></b><br />11.12.08. Jason Motlagh in Jalrez Valley, sfgate. In the past year, the Taliban and other insurgent groups in Wardak have increased their attacks by 58 percent, the U.S. military says. And with deadly frequency, the militants use the valley to launch attacks on Kabul and a national highway that is the economic lifeline to the southern part of the country. / As a result, they have made alarming gains in Wardak. A shadow Taliban government collects taxes and runs roadside checkpoints, according to intelligence reports and residents, while fighters - many of them foreign - are largely free to train and stash arms and kidnap victims with little interference. / The surging Taliban, the weakness of Afghan security forces, and the prospect of mass voter intimidation ahead of next year's national elections have forced the U.S.-led coalition to pay closer attention to Wardak, and in particular, the Jalrez Valley.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/14/afghanistan-terrorism">Face to face with the Taliban</a></b><br />14.12.08. Ghaith Abdul, Guardian. Exclusive report from a Taliban veteran's compound in Afghanistan and on the battlefield<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081227/ap_on_re_as/as_taliban_shadow_government;_ylt=Andby9nFKiCAMxSVyMFawGQDW7oF">As Taliban nears Kabul, shadow gov't takes hold </a></b><br />27.12.08. J. Straziuso, AP. The Taliban has long operated its own shadow government in the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan, but its power is now spreading north to the doorstep of Kabul, according to Associated Press interviews with a dozen government officials, analysts, Taliban commanders and Afghan villagers.<br /><br /><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE4BS2DF20081229"> Afghan Taliban urge Muslims to rise up over Gaza raids </a> (29.12.08. Reuters)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50150&s2=31"> Afghan police join the Taliban </a> (30.12.08. Quqnoos/uruknet)<br /><br /><u> Kidnapped</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://anandgopal.com/rise-in-crime-kidnapping-top-afghans-worries/">Rise in crime, kidnapping, top Afghans’ worries</a></b><br />25.11.08. Anand Gopal, CSM. Western forces target the Taliban, but for many Afghans the biggest threat comes from criminals and complicitous police. … / About 60 businessmen are kidnapped per year, mostly by organized criminal syndicates that demand huge ransoms, according to the Afghanistan International Chamber of Commerce. With many businesses wary of entering such an environment, private investment in the country dropped almost by half from 2006 to 2007,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD94P75700">Taliban frees 2 kidnapped Afghan journalists</a></b><br />30.11.08. J. Straziuso, N. Khan, AP. The two journalists freed late Saturday are Dawa Khan Menapal of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and Aziz Popal, who worked for a local TV station in Kandahar, said Gulab Shah Alikheil, the deputy governor of Zabul province.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iZ-q9z38drUW4xlzAYThDJTmXC8QD94RDO100">French aid worker freed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.12.08. AP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Taliban_kidnaps_seven_in_Afghanistan_one_dead/articleshow/3836898.cms">Taliban kidnaps seven in Afghanistan, one dead</a></b><br />14.12.08. Times of India. "One of the six musicians abducted on Saturday by Taliban was found dead in the district. We have no information on the fate of the other five," [Hameedullah Jowak] said./ The Taliban claimed responsibility<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Taliban_abduct_Indian_cook_demand_Rs_1_crore_ransom/articleshow/3888396.cms">Taliban abduct Indian Cook, demand Rs 1 crore ransom</a></b><br />25.12.08. Times of India.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgTxmDHArD0"> Kidnapping threat to businessmen in Afghanistan</a> (Aljazeera, 10 Dec 08)<br /><br /><u> Mullah Mohammed Omar </u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1655000/images/_1657677_omar300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 180px;" src="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1655000/images/_1657677_omar300.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1655000/images/_1657677_omar300.jpg"> Mullah Omar in (alleged) Prophet's Cloak (AFP/ Getty)</a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=49365">Taliban Leader Warns U.S, NATO Not to Send New Troops to Afghanistan</a></b><br />05.12. 08. Right Side News/uruknet. The latest issue of the Taliban monthly e-journal Al-Sumoud, posted December 2, 2008 on the Islamist forum Al-Faluja, contains a message by Taliban leader Mullah Omar. In it, Mullah Omar warns the U.S. and NATO not to send new troops to Afghanistan, as this will only lead to more NATO casualties. He states further that the global financial crisis is the result of the U.S.'s "failing belligerent policy," and calls on Muslims to support the mujahideen in Iraq and Palestine. He warns the mujahideen against internal strife, and stresses that resisting American influence in the region is a common interest of Afghanistan and its neighbors.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2008/December/international_December481.xml&section=international&col=">Mullah Omar calls on Afghans to boycott election</a></b><br />07.12.08. Khaleej Times / ICH. "Do not allow yourselves to be deceived by this dishonest election announcement. In reality, the choice will be made in Washington," he said in an email released on the eve of the Eid-ul-Adha festival in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=479704">Taliban urges Western troops to leave Afghanistan</a></b><br />07.12.08. Wired / anti-war. Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar urged Western forces on Sunday to take a "golden opportunity" to leave Afghanistan before thousands of their troops were killed in the Islamist group's renewed insurgency.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49471&s2=11">Glory At Hand: The Psychology Of The Taliban</a></b><br />08.12.08. Adeel Malik, uruknet. ...Faced with the dilemma of facing a humiliating defeat in Afghanistan or leaving in retreat, the US government has publicly admitted that its stooge government of Hamid Karzai is trying to negotiate with the Taliban. The Taliban leader <u>Mullah Omar</u> has said that he will not negotiate with anyone unless foreign forces leave Afghanistan. Just consider the irony of this situation. Just try to remember the countless movies that you have seen in which a senior US official says: "We do not negotiate with the terrorists!" And that’s the most important dialogue of the whole film. And now the situation has changed. Now those same people are trying to negotiate with the Taliban and the Taliban are saying: "We don’t negotiate unless our conditions are met" And that "We will kick foreign forces out of Afghanistan"...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=19170">Mulla Omar denies talks with Karzai govt, Saudi mediation</a></b><br />24.12.08. int news / anti-war.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=56mullah_omar.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 263px;" src="http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=56mullah_omar.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=56mullah_omar.jpg"> Mullah Mohammed Omar</a></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/20/content_10530769.htm">Taliban chief proposes formula to end crisis in Afghanistan</a></b><br />20.12.08. Xinhuanet. "Peacekeeping troops from Muslim countries should replace the NATO and U.S. troops to ensure a smooth transition until the Afghans can reach a consensus government”; / .. he also demanded the consolidation of the Taliban fighters into the Afghan army and amnesty for them./ .. warned to intensify attacks on foreign troops if the White House sends additional troops to Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/21/taliban-unimpressed-by-promised-us-surge/">Taliban Unimpressed by Promised US Surge</a></b><br />21.12.08. anti-war. Mullah Omar Warns US Will Face Same Fate as Soviets<br /><br /><u> Abdul Rashid Dostum</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40414000/jpg/_40414453_rashap.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 203px; height: 152px;" src="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40414000/jpg/_40414453_rashap.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40414000/jpg/_40414453_rashap.jpg"> Dostum, Photo © AP </a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/57647.html">Afghan warlord Dostum is 'everyone's friend'</a></b><br />11.12.08. T. Lasseter, McClatchy. The name Dostum means "everyone's friend," and in a certain sense that sums up the political career of Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum: from Soviet-supported militia leader during the Russian occupation of Afghanistan to close ally of the United States after 9-11.<br /><br /><a id="8000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>8. The War in Afghanistan </b> (Warzone Timeline, Suicide Attacks)</div><br /><br />“<em>It was a pattern repeated throughout the war – a tough fight, then an absent enemy and an easy march forward – violence, deception, feint. Everything was an illusion</em>.” <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Butcher-Bolt-Hundred-Foreign-Afghanistan/dp/0091921406/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228473675&sr=1-1">David Loyn</a>, writing on the 2nd Anglo-Afghan War in 1878.<br /><br /><br />WAR ZONE TIMELINE<br /><br /><u> On Killing Civilians </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/16/afghanistan-taliban-us-foreign-policy">'I was still holding my grandson's hand - the rest was gone'</a></b><br />16.12.08. Clancy Chassay, Guardian. … … "The anti-American feelings in Afghanistan are not just coming from conservative or religious elements," said Shukria Barakzai, a female MP. "<b>These feelings stem from the actions and military operations of the foreign troops. The anti-western sentiment is directly because of the military actions, the civilian casualties, and the lack of respect by foreign troops for Afghan culture</b>."<br /><br /><em>“There were 1,798 civilians killed in insurgency-linked action in the first 10 months of this year.”</em> <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081225/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestusnatorightscivilian"> IHRC</a>.<br /><br /><u> Zabul</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/24/world/asia/24afghan.html?ref=asia">Clash Leaves Civilian Dead in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.11.08. NY Times. A joint patrol of American and Afghan security forces killed a civilian and two armed insurgents during an operation in the southern province of Zabul, the American military command said Sunday. / The American account, however, ran counter [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">it usually does</span>) to a report by a top elected Afghan official in the region, who said that four civilians had been killed in the clash.<br /><br /><u> Kabul</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/28/afghan-misunderstanding-isaf">British troops in fatal Kabul shooting</a></b><br />28.11.08. guardian. Afghans pelted police with stones today after British troops shot dead a local civilian and injured three others following a "misunderstanding" in Kabul, according to officials and witnesses.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 342px; height: 252px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgz-vO7wOmRksBtoq2clzGSbDiU64xTiTWvt3MEqo_ieNzWn9jWcsasykyerfGR444fR9lamXq6tlzfHLKmcojvdQDPxNq-CJosiaE_P_tPda8Kgp4s9BvCeAvw9bKAoaSuYpG/s400/reuters_yhoo_prison.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286290049345515330" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Afghans riot in Kabul after civilian killed <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ehttp://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4AR1KF20081128?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews"> REUTERS </a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081128/wl_nm/us_afghan_violence">Afghans riot in Kabul after civilian killed</a></b><br />28.11.08. Reuters. Dozens of angry Afghans pelted police with stones after a convoy of foreign contractors rammed a minivan off a road and one civilian was killed and three more wounded in the Afghan capital on Friday, witnesses said. / Seething resentment against the presence of some 65,000 foreign troops is growing in Afghanistan after scores of Afghan civilians have been killed in a series of mistaken air strikes this year. / Rioting began after a convoy of foreign contractors hit a grey minivan off a main road in eastern Kabul, witnesses said. / .. The Kabul chief of police had earlier said British soldiers had opened fire on the minivan, but ISAF said none of its troops fired their weapons during the incident. / .. <b>Afghans often blame the presence of foreign troops for attracting suicide bombs</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/11/2008112810532994618.html">Afghan anger over another civilian killed</a></b><br />28.11.08. Al jazeera . "This morning a convoy of British troops were passing here and they had a misunderstanding with a civilian vehicle. The troops opened fire and killed one civilian and wounded three more," Mohammad Ayoub Salangi, Kabul's police chief, told Reuters news agency.<br /><br /><u> Badghis Province</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/11/28/taliban-kill-13-afghan-soldiers-capture-16-others-in-ambush/%20Taliban%20Kill%2013%20Afghan%20Soldiers,%20Capture%2016%20Others%20in%20Ambush%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3E28.11.08.%20%20anti-war.%20More%20than%20300%20militants%20attacked%20an%20Afghan%20military%20convoy%20in%20Badghis%20Province%20late%20Thursday,%20sparking%20a%20battle%20which%20killed%2013%20Afghan%20security%20forces%20and%20injuring%2011%20others.%20The%20militants%20eventually%20withdrew,%20but%20took%20with%20them%2016%20captured%20soldiers%20and%20most%20of%20the%2047%20vehicles%20being%20transported%20by%20the%20convoy.%20/%20A%20number%20of%20Taliban%20were%20also%20killed%20in%20the%20battle,%2030%20according%20to%20an%20Afghan%20army%20commander%20but%20only%207%20according%20to%20the%20province%E2%80%99s%20Deputy%20Governor%20Abdul%20Ghani%20Saber.%20%3Cb%3EViolence%20in%20Afghanistan%20is%20at%20its%20highest%20levels%20since%20the%20international%20invasion%20in%202001%3C/b%3E.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cu%3E%20Helmand%20%3C/u%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" uk="" world="" 2008="" nov="" 27="" killed="">Two UK occupation force soldiers killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />27.11.08. Guardian / ICH. Insurgent attack in Helmand brings number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 128.<br />&<br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/28/asia/AS-Afghanistan.php">Taliban kill 13 Afghan troops in ambush</a></b><br />28.11.08. AP. Taliban insurgents killed 13 Afghan troops in an ambush of their convoy in northwestern Afghanistan, while NATO-led troops fired on insurgents inside Pakistan, officials said Friday.<br /><br /><u> Ghazni</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=470669">Taliban in dress, 52 others killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />29.11.08. AP. The U.S. forces targeting the commander surrounded a house Friday in <u>Ghazni</u> province and ordered everyone inside to leave, a military statement said. / Six women and 12 children left the building, but while soldiers were questioning the women they discovered one was actually a man dressed in a burqa, the traditional all-encompassing dress that most Afghan women wear. The man, later identified as the targeted commander Haji Yakub, tried to attack the soldiers and was killed, the military said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/28/asia/AS-Afghanistan.php">20 Killed As Taliban Ambush Afghan Troops</a></b><br />28.11.08. IHT / ICH. Taliban insurgents killed 13 Afghan troops in an ambush of their convoy in northwestern Afghanistan, while NATO-led troops fired on insurgents inside Pakistan, officials said Friday.<br /><br /><u> Zhari district </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5howr7SQqP0uihPsj7IgP0CT4x6TA">Coalition forces strike into heart of Zhari district - killing 21 Taliban</a></b><br />28.11.08. Canadian press. Canadian press. A Canadian-led occupation force has completed a major operation in the heart of the Zhari district that has left 21 Taliban dead and several others in custody.<br /><br /><u> Nangahar </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/30/content_10434485.htm">Female UN employee shot dead in E. Afghanistan</a></b><br />30.11.08. Xinhuanet / ICH. One Afghan female employee of UN has been killed by unknown gunman in Surkh Rod district of Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, said a UN statement released here on Sunday.<br /><br /><u> Kandahar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/30/content_10434173.htm">Roadside bombing kills U.S. mercenary in S Afghanistan</a></b><br />30.11.08. Xinhuanet / legitgov. Roadside bombing targeting one U.S. (private security) mercenary company <b>USPI</b> on Sunday left one Afghan employee dead and another injured in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan, said an Afghan official. Zalmai Ayubi, spokesman for the provincial government, told Xinhua that the incident occurred at around 11 a.m. (0630 GMT) when a vehicle laden with explosive material was blown off by remote control in the Spinboldak highway near airport and NATO military base there.<br /><br /><u> Ghazni</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newkerala.com/topstory-fullnews-54228.html">Gunmen on motorbike kill governor in Afghanistan</a></b><br />01.12.08. new kerala / ICH. Two Taliban fighters on motorbike shot dead a district governor in southern Afghanistan Monday morning, the latest in a series of assassinations of senior provincial officials. / Abdul Rahim Desiwal, governor of Andar district in <u>Ghazni province</u>, was killed in front of his house in the provincial capital,<br /><br /><u> Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD94R62P00">US forces kill 10 Taliban militants in Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.12.08. AP. Seven militants were killed during a clash with a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol in the Nad Ali district of the southern Helmand province on Tuesday, the military said in a statement.<br /><br /><u>Helmand</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081204/wl_afp/denmarkafghanistannatounrest">Two Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.12.08. AFP. The soldiers were killed when clashes erupted with enemy forces while they were on patrol about eight kilometers (five miles) south of the town of Gereshk in the Helmand province, the statement said.<br /><br /><u> Herat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dvidshub.net/?script=news/news_show.php&id=27227">Troops in Afghanistan Kill Militants, Detain Suspects</a></b><br />05.12.08. dvids. With help from coalition troops, Afghan security forces killed two militants and detained two others today in the Shindand district of western Afghanistan's Herat province, military officials said.<br /><br /><u> Helmand</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=1b36c7b3-b71c-4bab-a802-b0226d350c8f&&Headline=Two+civilians+killed+in+southern+Afghanistan+">Two civilians killed in southern Afghanistan</a></b><br />06.12.08. Hindustan Times. Two civilians have been killed and six others wounded in the southern Afghan province of Helmand today, the British military said. / It was not immediately clear how the civilians were hurt, but local media said the casualties were the result of a foreign military air strike.<br />&<br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081206/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistannatoviolencecivilians">Taliban and civilians hit by bombardment</a></b><br />06.12.08. AFP/anti-war. Four Taliban militants were killed and at least <u>four civilians</u> injured on Saturday as international forces bombed two houses in southern Afghanistan after a patrol was attacked, officals said. / The air strike targeted the village of Shena Kali in the Nadali district of Helmand, a hub of Taliban fighters and the main opium production centre in the south of the country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jgReET_FBicL-buwkYuRYQsH664A">Twelve insurgents, five soldiers killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />07.12.08. AFP. Twelve Taliban militants and five Afghan soldiers were killed in separate violence across the country over the weekend, officials said Sunday. / Most the militants died when they attacked a police post in Afghanistan's restive southern Helmand province late Saturday, triggering a gunbattle that also left policemen wounded.<br /><br /><u> Logar Province, Kabul</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD94V2NSO0">NATO kills Taliban commander in targeted operation</a></b><br />09.12.08. AP. NATO and Afghan forces killed a Taliban commander [Mohammad Bobi] during a targeted operation just south of Kabul in a province militant fighters have poured into this year, the NATO-led force said Tuesday.<br /><br /><u> Qalat, Zabul </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081210.wafghandead1210/BNStory/Afghanistan/home">6 Afghan police, civilian killed in mistaken U.S. strike</a></b><br />10.12.08. globe and mail / anti-war. A U.S. military statement says the deaths early Wednesday resulted from a “tragic case of mistaken identity on both parts.” / The statement says the police fired on the U.S. forces after the troops battled and killed an armed militant close to a police station in the city of Qalat, the capital of Zabul province. Thirteen Afghans were wounded in the firefight. / Gilani Khan, the deputy provincial police chief, says the attack collapsed the police station's roof. More <a href="http://www.truthout.org/121008J"> here </a> (NY Times).<br /><br />and/or<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/10/us-bombs-afghan-police-station-killing-seven/">US Bombs Afghan Police Station, Killing Seven</a></b><br />10.12.08. anti-war. According to Zabul Province’s deputy governor, the special forces did not inform the police they were going to be in the area, and they assumed they were Taliban attacking the village. The US forces assumed that the police station was a militant hideout and called in a strike. / .. Afghan officials warned that the <b> growing number of Afghan forces killed or wounded by international forces may strain ties between the allies</b>.<br /><br /><u> Tarin Kowt, Oruzgan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081210/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanattacksoruzgan">Two killed in Afghanistan market blast</a></b><br />10.12.08. AFP. The device went off Tuesday in the centre of a market north of Tarin Kowt, the capital of Oruzgan province, provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat told AFP./ "A seven-year-old child and an adult were killed and nine other civilians, including four children, wounded, but their lives are not in danger."<br /><br /><u> Wardak </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/world/asia/13afghan.html?ref=world">4 Killed in Shooting by U.S. at a Bus Carrying Afghans</a></b><br />12.12.08. AP / NY Times. United States soldiers opened fire on a bus carrying civilians Friday in central Afghanistan, killing four passengers after the driver refused to stop, military officials said./ .. At least 10 passengers were wounded.. / The United Nations said in September that 577 Afghan civilians had been killed this year by American, NATO and Afghan troops, a 21-percent increase from 2007.<br /><br /><u> Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081213/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestus">Seven killed in Afghan violence</a></b><br />13.12.08. AFP / anti-war. A police officer and six militants have been killed in military operations in southern Afghanistan, the US-led and Afghan forces said Saturday. / The police officer died in a gun battle Friday set off when the two forces raided a manufacturing and storage facility for explosives in the southern province of Helmand, the coalition said.<br /><br /><u> Kandahar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=axR_06RbaC54&refer=canada">Three Canadian Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan, AFP Reports</a></b><br />14.12.08. Bloomberg/anti-war. The three soldiers were killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their armored vehicle while on patrol in the Arghandab district of southern Kandahar province,<br /><br /><u> Helmand</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jvylVEY7q3ehHQpSRnrNBeG19jDg">35 Taliban militants killed in 'clean-up': Afghan commander</a></b><br />14.12.08. AFP. General Muhaidin Ghori, army commander for southern Afghanistan, said the militants had been killed in an ongoing joint NATO and Afghan security forces operation launched on Thursday in Helmand province. / "We cleared Nad Ali district of Taliban presence," the general said, adding the 35 dead Taliban included three rebel commanders.<br /><br />And/or..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/international/40-taliban-killed-in-nato-afghan-action.aspx">40 Taliban killed in Nato-Afghan action</a></b><br />15.12.08. asian age / ICH. The operation in the Nad Ali and Murja districts of Helmand province began on Thursday and continued through Monday, said Dawood Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand's governor. / Mr Ahmadi said that 40 militants have died in the operation, though he said that government officials had recovered only seven bodies, which were given to tribal elders for burial. Ahmadi said the government knows another 33 fighters were killed through intelligence sources.<br /><br /><u> Gereshk area, Helmand</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1095160/British-soldier-killed-enemy-gunfire-Afghanistan-fifth-die-days.html">British soldier killed by enemy gunfire in Afghanistan the fifth to die in three days</a></b><br />16.12.08. Daily Mail. The soldier from 29 Commando Royal Artillery was at a Forward Operating Base in the Gereshk area of Helmand Province when he was wounded. / He received immediate medical treatment and was taken by helicopter to the ISAF military hospital at Kandahar but subsequently died of his wounds.<br /><br /><u> Lashkar Gha, Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/16/content_10513938.htm">Taliban attack leaves 2 policemen dead in S. Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.12.08. Taliban rebels killed two policemen and wounded three more in a sneak-raid on one police checkpoint in southern Afghan province of Helmand early Tuesday morning, Assadullah Sherzad, the provincial police chief said. / Sherzad told Xinhua the incident occurred at the wee hours on Tuesday when a group of insurgents launched assault at the police post in southwestern Lashkar Gha city, capital of Helmand province, sparking an 30 minutes' clash. / "<u>Five policemen were killed</u> and wounded during the fire exchanging," he said. "One insurgents was also killed with whose weapons left on the battle field."<br /><br /><u> Uruzgan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-12-16-voa29.cfm">US Military: Civilian Deaths Probed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.12.08. VOA News. A military statement Tuesday says there are unconfirmed reports that two men and one woman were killed last Wednesday in an exchange of fire between coalition forces and unidentified attackers in the southern Uruzgan province. / The military says coalition forces on patrol that night returned fire after being ambushed with small-arms, machine-gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire in Deh Rawood district.<br /><br /><u> Lashkar Gah, Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gjiMEetxqWsyrdwPXfRQlHWH9D5Q">Sixth British soldier in a week killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.12.08. AFP. The soldier from 1st Battalion The Rifles was killed by enemy fire in an area north west of Lashkar Gah in southern Helmand province while fighting in the district of Nad-e-Ali, the ministry in London said. / He was treated at the scene before being taken to the military hospital at Camp Bastion by helicopter, but later died of his wounds.<br /><br /><u> Kundi, Khost</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/17/content_10518701.htm">U.S-led military operation against militants kills 3 civilians in E Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.12.08. Xinhuanet. "The Coalition forces in conjunction with Afghan forces carried out operation against a suspected person Dr. Bilal in Kandio village outside the provincial capital Khost city Tuesday night during which three persons were killed and another was injured," Baqizai told Xinhua but did not give more details.<br /><br />&<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/world/asia/19afghan.html?_r=1&ref=world">Tensions Rise As Afghans Say U.S. Raid Kills Civilians</a></b><br />18. 12.08. NY Times. A deadly United States military raid on a house near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan became a new source of tension on Thursday, with the Americans calling it a successful counterterrorism strike and the Afghans saying it left three innocent civilians dead and two wounded, including a 4-year-old boy bitten by an attack dog./ The raid took place on Wednesday in the village of Kundi, in Khost Province. American military leaders and Afghan officials said they were investigating the conflicting accounts of what happened. But President Hamid Karzai, who has grown increasingly impatient with the American-led war effort against the Taliban insurgency, condemned the raid in front of government leaders and foreign diplomats, saying that “entering by force to our people’s houses is against the government of Afghanistan.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD958CGL00">Karzai attends memorial for 3 killed in US raid</a></b><br />23.12.08. AP. President Hamid Karzai attended a memorial ceremony Tuesday for three Afghans killed in an overnight raid by U.S. forces, an incident Karzai has asked America's top military officer to investigate.<br /><br /><u> Helmand</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/18/content_10525355.htm">Australian man dies in Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.12.08. Xinhuanet. An Australian man fighting with British defense forces has been killed in a firefight with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. / The unnamed soldier was fighting with Britain's 1st Battalion in Helmand province, a volatile area in the south of the war-torn country.<br /><br /><u>Uruzgan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/20/content_10530555.htm">one Dutch soldier was confirmed being killed</a></b><br />20.12.08. Xinhuanet. he stepped on an explosive device during a fire-fight with the Taliban in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, said Dutch officials.<br /><br /><u> Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlB_SF_LXFOof19P4tYCCQZL50DgD9561TJ80">3 Danish soldiers killed, 1 injured in Afghanistan</a></b><br />20.12.08. AP. In Copenhagen, the army said the three Danes were killed and a compatriot badly injured when their armored vehicle drove over a bomb or a land mine in Helmand province<br /><br /><u> Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gGLCNttq_cPQUdPh-P84_8J1qfoQ">Nine militants killed in Afghanistan: official</a></b><br />20.12.08. AFP. The rebels were killed on Friday in Helmand province<br /><br /><u> Badghis</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/world/asia/21ambush.html?_r=1&ref=world">Ambush Raises Unsettling Questions in Afghanistan</a></b><br />20.12.08. NY Times. It was one of the most humiliating attacks the Afghan security forces had ever suffered. On Nov. 27, Taliban insurgents ambushed a supply convoy in the northwest province of Badghis, killing nine Afghan soldiers and five police officers, wounding 27 men, capturing 20 others, destroying at least 19 vehicles and stealing five, Afghan officials said. / .. The ambush, and the presidential pardon [ of Mr. Dastagir] that allowed the insurgent to go free, have become the subject of a governmental inquest and the source of profound embarrassment for the Afghan government. / .. “<b>The Afghan and foreign security forces don’t have a strategy for security in Badghis</b>,” said Qari Dawlat Khan, the leader of the provincial council.<br /><br /><u> Qalat, Zabul</u> [? Same story as above?]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081221/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanusunrestcivilians">US says four Afghan rebels dead, locals cry foul</a></b><br />21.12.08. AFP. US forces killed four suspected rebels in an operation in southern Afghanistan, the US military said Sunday, but Afghan officials said they were probing claims the victims were civilians. / The four militants were killed and five other suspects captured on Saturday in fighting outside Qalat, the main town in restive Zabul province, the US military said in a statement. / But villagers reached by telephone told AFP the victims were not Taliban fighters, but local residents.<br /><br /><u> Kunar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=79191&sectionid=351020403">'Lion Heart' kills 20 in Afghanistan</a></b><br />22.12.08. presstv.ir. Kunar Governor Sayed Fazeullah Wahidi said on Monday that the militants, including 2 Arabs and 2 Pakistanis, have been killed in 'Operation Lion Heart' over the last month.<br /><br /><u> Lashkar Gah, Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4BL2DD20081222http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/999235?UserKey&UserKey=">Royal Marine killed in Afghan blast</a></b><br />22.12.08. press and journal. The serviceman, from the Commando Logistics Regiment Royal Marines, died yesterday morning while on a routine mission north-west of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province./ .. The marine is the 135th British serviceman to die in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001.<br /><br /><u>Nahr Surkh, Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4BL2DD20081222">FACTBOX: Security developments in Afghanistan</a></b><br />22.12.08. Reuters. Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces killed an insurgent in Nahr Surkh district, about 530 km (305 miles) from Kabul, on Sunday, U.S. military said.<br /><br /><u> Zabul </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4BL2DD20081222http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/24/content_10554074.htm">4 Taliban insurgents killed in S. Afghanistan</a></b><br />24.12.08. Xinhuanet. The U.S.-led Coalition forces killed four rebels on Wednesday during a combined operation with Afghan forces against the Taliban network in southern Afghan province of Zabul, officials said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/2411cd3571b4f088/id/446817/cs/1/">Afghan tribal elders threaten to boycott elections</a></b><br />27.12.08. irish sun. Chieftains and tribal elders in Afghanistan's southern province of Zabul have warned that they would boycott the upcoming presidential election if the government fails to protect civilians from being harmed in the anti-terror campaign, a newspaper reported Saturday.<br /><br /><u> Sorobi, Kabul</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://en.rian.ru/world/20081224/119150479.html">Six Taliban militants killed near Afghan capital</a></b><br />24.12.08. rian.ru/ICH. International forces in Afghanistan have killed six Taliban militants in Kabul province in an operation against the radical Islamist movement's terrorist network, the U.S. military said in a statement. "The operation in Sorobi (Sorubi) District, approximately 60 km [37 miles] northeast of Kabul city, targeted a Taliban militant believed to conduct terrorist activities throughout the Kabul, Laghman and Kapisa provinces," Tuesday's statement reads.<br /><br /><u> Lashkar Ghah, Helmand</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINLP55013820081225">British soldier killed in fighting in Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.12.08. Reuters. A British Royal Marine was killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday during fighting with insurgents in Helmand province, the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday.The soldier was taking part in combat operations near Lashkar Gah, the MoD said.<br /><br /><u>Zhari, Kandahar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/Canadian+soldier+killed+injured/1115827/story.html">Canadian killed, 3 injured by Afghan bomb</a></b><br />A Canadian soldier is dead and three others were injured after their armoured vehicle was struck by an explosive device Friday in Zhari district, about 24 kilometres west of Kandahar City.<br /><br /><u> Maiwan, Kandahar </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hUaZt_L-B3D5rzR815KZloeuK1TQ">US-led force says 11 Taliban killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.12.08. AFP. It said the head of the extremist cell was among those killed in the district of Maiwand, a Taliban stronghold about 75 kilometres (45 miles) west of the provincial capital of Kandahar.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/27/world/asia/27briefs-PROTESTSOVER_BRF.html?_r=1">Afghanistan: Protests Over Raid</a></b><br />26.12.08. NY Times. For the second time in a little over a week, a deadly United States military raid on an Afghan house has incited protests and produced conflicting reports over who was killed. The Americans said they killed 11 armed Taliban militants, part of a bomb-making cell in the Maiwand District west of Kandahar, on Thursday. The Americans said they found dozens of land mines, grenades and bomb-making materials. But <u>local government leaders said eight militants and four civilians were killed</u>. Outraged Afghans protested by blocking the highway between Kandahar and Herat with burning tires.<br /><br /><u> Kabul</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD95B7EV01">3 teen sisters killed in Kabul rocket attack</a></b><br />27.12.08. AP. A rare rocket attack in the Afghan capital Saturday night demolished two rooms of a mud-brick home and killed three teenage sisters, the family and police said. The rocket attack on the southern end of Kabul landed on a house adjacent to an Afghan police training center. The attack crushed a mud home and killed three sisters, ages 13, 15 and 16, said Sayed Farah Muz, the girls' uncle.<br /><br /><u> Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD95ASVLO0">Coalition, Afghan forces kill 6 militants</a></b><br />27.12.08. The U.S. coalition says Saturday that the combined forces were on a patrol in Helmand province Thursday when they spotted militants pulling out weapons from a hiding spot. The combined forces killed the militants and destroyed the weapons.<br /><br /><u> Panjwal, Kandahar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/12/27/canada-afghanistan.html">2 more Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.12.08. CBC. Two Canadian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city on Saturday, bringing to three the number of Canadian troops killed there since Friday. Warrant Officer Gaetan Joseph Roberge and Sgt. Gregory John Kruse were on a security patrol in the Panjwai district around 12:15 p.m. local time when the explosion occurred. An Afghan police officer and Afghan interpreter were also killed in the blast about 25 kilometres west of Kandahar city.<br /><br /><u> Nawa, Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5izuEqC-G47OomorSa_9C8pueJDlw">Afghan, NATO troops kill nine rebels: police</a></b><br />30.12.08. AFP. At least nine Taliban-linked militants were killed in clashes with Afghan and international forces in troubled southern Afghanistan, a police commander said Tuesday. / The fighting erupted in the Nawa district of Helmand province after dozens of rebels attacked Afghan security forces manning a checkpoint, provincial police chief Assadullah Sherzad told AFP.<br /><br /><u> Sanguin, Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/31/europe/EU-Britain-Afghanistan.php">UK military: British marine dies in Afghanistan</a></b><br />31.12.08. AP. The British Ministry of Defense says a member of the country's 45 Commando Royal Marines was killed by an explosion Wednesday afternoon in the Sangin district of Afghanistan's restive Helmand province. / The death brings to 137 the number of U.K. military personnel who have died while serving in Afghanistan since British forces entered the country as part of a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE4BU1J120081231">Security developments in Afghanistan, Dec 31</a></b><br />31.12.08. Reuters. 6 “insurgents” killed E. Afghanistan;11 “militants” killed nr. Kabul<br /><br /><u> Near Kabul </u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.zmong-afghanistan.com/profiles/images/hekmatyar.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 241px;" src="http://www.zmong-afghanistan.com/profiles/images/hekmatyar.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.zmong-afghanistan.com/profiles/profile_list.asp"> Gulbaddin Hekmatyar </a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=19313">17 militants killed in Afghan violence</a></b><br />01.01.09. the int news. The US military said troops under its command had killed armed militants on Tuesday in an operation against the radical Hizb-e-Islami faction led by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulbuddin_Hekmatyar"> Gulbaddin Hekmatyar</a>, about 60 kilometres from the capital, Kabul. [NB: Loyn has excellent description of Hekmatyar in his book, Butcher and Bolt]<br /><br /><br />SUICIDE BOMBS<br /><br /><u> Kabul</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/world/asia/01afghan.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss">Suicide Blast in Kabul Kills 2 Civilians</a></b><br />30.11.08. Asia Pacific / ICH. A suicide bomber detonated his payload of explosives on Sunday in clogged traffic here, killing two people and wounding three, the Afghan authorities said.<br /><br />&<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081130/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrest">23 dead in Afghan clashes, Kabul suicide attack</a></b><br />30.11.08. AFP. A suicide attack near a German diplomatic convoy in Afghanistan's capital Kabul left <u>three</u> Afghan civilians dead Sunday as 20 other people, most of them insurgents, were reported killed in other unrest. / … It was the second suicide attack in Kabul since Thursday, when a car bomb outside the heavily barricaded US embassy killed four Afghan civilians and wounded nearly 20. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Thursday blast.<br /><br /><u> Kandahar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4AT10F20081201">Suicide blast kills 8 Afghan civilians, 2 police</a></b><br />01.12.08. Reuters. The attack in the town of Musa Qala in Helmand was aimed at a police convoy, provincial police chief Assadullah told Reuters by telephone. A spokeswoman for British forces in the area said there were no casualties among its soldiers.<br /><br /><u> Khost</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/12/20081246503663574.html">Afghan intelligence office attacked</a></b><br />04.12.08. al jazeera. A number of men disguised as army soldiers reportedly attacked the base after the bomber blew himself up on Thursday morning. / A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the assault in a phone call to Al Jazeera.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081204/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestsuicide">Double suicide attacks kills five in Afghanistan: official</a></b><br />04.12.08. AFP. Two suicide attacks against a counter narcotics office and the intelligence agency Thursday killed at least five people and wounded ten others in eastern Afghanistan, an official said.<br /><br /><u> Kunduz</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jclband.com/2008/12/taliban-kill-christian-aid-worker-in-afghanistan/">Taliban kill Christian aid worker in Afghanistan</a></b><br />12.12.08. jclband. An Afghan official says a suicide bomber in<br />northern Afghanistan has killed two German soldiers and five children.The governor of Kunduz province, Mohammad Omar,says two other German soldiers and two children were wounded in the blast Monday. NATO confirms.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD9511J4G0">Suicide bombs tearing at ordinary Afghan families</a></b><br />12.12.08. J. Straziuso, AP. {US bombs killing civilians “tear at Afghan families”, too]<br /><br /><u> Helmand</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/12yearold-afghan-suicide-bomber-kills-three-marines-1064463.html">'12-year-old' Afghan suicide bomber kills three marines</a></b><br />13.12.08. Kim Sengupta/ Jerome Starkey, Independent / anti-war. The bomb in Helmand, detonated by the youngest known suicide attacker against Western forces in the country, was followed by a mine blast that killed another marine. In Basra, a soldier was shot dead.<br /><br />&<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/13/suicide-bomb-kills-4-policemen-in-afghanistan/">Suicide bomb kills 4 policemen in Afghanistan</a></b><br />14.12.08. Reuters / anti-war. A suicide bomb killed at least four policemen on Sunday in the southern Afghan city of <u>Kandahar</u>, local police said.<br /><br /><u> Ghazni</u><br /><br />A car laden with explosives <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4BL2DD20081222"> exploded </a> outside government buildings in the city of Ghazni on Monday [22.12], 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Kabul, <u>killing one civilian as well as the two would-be suicide bombers</u> in the car, police said. The blast went off prematurely and also wounded seven civilians.<br /><br /><u> Herat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-12-26-voa28.cfm">Suicide Bomber Attacks Foreign Troops in Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.12.08. VOA News. Afghan officials say a suicide bomber has attacked a convoy of international troops in the western province of Herat. / Authorities say at least one soldier and two civilians were wounded in the explosion Friday. They say the bomber attacked U.S. forces assigned to train Afghan police.<br /><br /><u>Kandahar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsMaps/idUSTRE4BQ13020081227">Suicide bomber kills five in Afghanistan</a></b><br />27.12.08. Reuters. A suicide bomber killed three Afghan police officers and two civilians and wounded four in the southern province of Kandahar on Saturday, a senior police official said. The suicide bomber was on foot when he detonated the device next to a police checkpoint on the outskirts of Kandahar city, about 400 km (250 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul, near a highway connecting Kandahar to western Afghanistan.<br /><br /><u> Khost</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/world/asia/29afghan.html?_r=1&hp">Blast Kills 16 Afghans Near Pakistan Border</a></b><br />28.12.08. NY Times. A suicide bomber detonated a bomb in a black sport utility vehicle outside a local government compound in Khost Province on Sunday, killing at least 16 people, including 13 schoolchildren, and wounding 53, local government officials and coalition forces said. The bombing, near the border with Pakistan, occurred next to a school, and many children were among the wounded.<br /><br />VIDEO captures deaths of 14 Afghan students. See <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081228/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan"> here </a><br /><br /><u> Bagram </u><br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/29/afghanistan-suicide-bombi_n_153919.html">Afghanistan suicide bombings kill 5</a></b><br />29.12.08. Huff Post. A unit of U.S. troops from the nearby American base at Bagram was meeting with the governor, and their vehicles were parked outside the gate when the bomber detonated his explosives, said Parwan province's police chief, Khalil Ziae. The blast killed two Afghans and wounded 15, said Ziae. U.S. Sgt. 1st Class Joel Peavy said two American troops outside the compound were among the wounded. American forces inside the complex were not harmed.<br /><br /><br /><a id="9000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>9. Obama:</b> (Cabinet: Ensuring Continuity, Flip Flops </div><br /><br /><em> The system is "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today"</em><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21441.htm"> Martin Luther King </a> as quoted by John Pilger.<br /><br />ENSURING CONTINUITY<br /><br />“<u>In Case You Missed It</u>”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20095.htm">Obama Is A Hawk</a></b><br />14.06.08. John Pilger, ICH. In 1941, the editor Edward Dowling wrote: "The two greatest obstacles to democracy in the United States are, first, the widespread delusion among the poor that we have a democracy, and second, the chronic terror among the rich, lest we get it." What has changed? The terror of the rich is greater than ever, and the poor have passed on their delusion to those who believe that when George W Bush finally steps down next January, his numerous threats to the rest of humanity will diminish. / The foregone nomination of Barack Obama, which, according to one breathless commentator, "marks a truly exciting and historic moment in US history", is a product of the new delusion.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html">Who Is The President Elect - Obama or AIPAC?</a></b><br />10.11.08. Index Research.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-our-seamless-president-elect.html">Obama: Our “Seamless” President Elect</a></b><br />26.11.08. Index Research.<br /><br /><u> National Security Team</u><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWrKD_L-vi8us3bJDagUI8MYMARADldGDIjAixFGlG9wNDHSr6x6_K-JXJRTVrrzf8miPOi_gPusNqdNQ9K3RMAHAppJaqKzjOBbuZSah6ZsxCYC4dHnyo2PIBcWk15vv3KE6Q/s1600-h/nyt-obama4-.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 475px; height: 262px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWrKD_L-vi8us3bJDagUI8MYMARADldGDIjAixFGlG9wNDHSr6x6_K-JXJRTVrrzf8miPOi_gPusNqdNQ9K3RMAHAppJaqKzjOBbuZSah6ZsxCYC4dHnyo2PIBcWk15vv3KE6Q/s400/nyt-obama4-.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285938197216918754" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02obama.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1">Photo Jim Wilson, NY Times</a>.</span><br /></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21365.htm">The End of the Affair</a></b><br />01.12.08. Justin Raimondo, anti-war / ICH. Antiwar voters took a chance on Obama, reasoning that anything would be better than four more years of Bushian belligerence, yet now they discover to their chagrin that the dice are loaded.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21408.htm">Obama and the World Crisis</a></b><br />05.12.08. Richard C. Cook, ICH. Even as preparations are underway for Barack Obama to assume office as the 44th president of the United States on January 20, the U.S. military juggernaut that is roaring toward global conquest hasn't missed a beat. This is shown by the team of hawks-including holdover Robert Gates at Defense and Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State-that Obama has assembled to handle the levers of the war machine and its diplomatic front.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/16/national/w045935S43.DTL">Cheney lauds Obama's choice of national security team</a></b><br />16.12.08. sfgate. Vice President Dick Cheney is calling President-elect Barack Obama's national security lineup "a pretty good team."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21492.htm">A Hypocrite as Our Diplomat in Chief</a></b><br />18.12.08.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._MacArthur"> John R. MacArthur </a>, Providence Journal / ICH. so far, the president-elect's Cabinet choices make a joke of the liberals who backed him in the hope that something fundamental might change in America's belligerent behavior abroad. As the neo-conservative Max Boot approvingly observed, the appointment of Gen. James Jones as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the retention of Robert Gates as defense secretary "could just as easily have come from a President McCain." / So too, in principle, could that of hawkish Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, which makes Obama's rhetoric of restraint in foreign affairs begin to sound as empty as President Bush's professed skepticism about "nation building" eight years ago during his race against Al Gore.<br /><br /><u> Gates</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9818">Obama Chooses to Stay the Course on Foreign Policy</a></b><br />03.12,08. Christopher Preble, CATO Institute. Obama's search for personnel to fill the top foreign and defense policy posts in his new administration has placed such a great emphasis on experience and continuity. Obama should revisit his apparent presumptions: Nowhere is change more needed than in U.S. foreign policy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/03/AR2008120302893.html">The Danger of Holdovers</a></b><br />04.12.08. D. Broder, Washington Post. In the two most crucial areas facing his presidency, national security and economic policy, Barack Obama has opted for continuity, not change. That is reassuring to many in the short term, but it entails long-term risks. … / It has often been said that in government, people are policy. <b>When the people are holdovers, their policy needs extra scrutiny</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21399.htm">Analysis: Obama Defense Agenda Resembles Gates'</a></b><br />06.12.08. Robert Burns, AP / ICH. … President-elect Barack Obama is remarkably in sync with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on many core defense and national security issues - even Iraq. (Discussion of Gates’ article in Foreign Affairs – see 01-02.09.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21441.htm">Beware Of Obama's Groundhog Day</a></b><br />12.12.08. John Pilger, ICH. Having campaigned with "Change you can believe in", President-elect Barack Obama has named his A-team. They include <b>Hillary Clinton</b>, who voted to attack Iraq without reading the intelligence assessment and has since threatened to "totally obliterate" Iran on behalf of a foreign power, Israel. During his primary campaign, Obama referred repeatedly to Clinton's lies about her political record. When he appointed her secretary of state, he called her "my dear friend". / Obama's slogan is now "continuity". His secretary of defence will be <b>Robert Gates</b>, who serves the lawless, blood-soaked Bush regime as secretary of defence, which means secretary of war (America last had to defend itself when the British invaded in 1812). Gates wants no date set for an Iraq withdrawal and "well north of 20,000" troops to be sent to Afghanistan. He also wants America to build a completely new nuclear arsenal, including "tactical" nuclear weapons that blur the distinction with conventional weapons. / Another product of "continuity" is Obama's <b>first choice for CIA chief, John Brennan</b>, who shares responsibility for the systematic kidnapping and torturing of people, known as "extraordinary rendition". Obama has assigned Madeleine Albright to report on how to "strengthen US leadership in responding to genocide". Albright, as secretary of state, was largely responsible for the siege of Iraq in the 1990s, described by the UN's Denis Halliday as genocide. / There is more continuity in Obama's appointment of officials who will deal with the economic piracy that brought down Wall Street and impoverished millions./ … / .. <b>Is this a grand betrayal?</b> / … If there is a happy ending to the Groundhog Day of repeated wars and plunder, it may well be found in the very mass movement whose enthusiasts registered voters and knocked on doors and brought Obama to power. Will they now be satisfied as spectators to the cynicism of "continuity"? READ ARTICLE! <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/AerospaceandDefense08/idUSTRE4BE3DC20081215">Defense policy under Obama and Gates</a></b><br />15.12.08. Reuters. Iraq; Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Missile Defense, Size of US Military, Weapons Programs<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/gate-d16.shtml">Obama’s defence appointee signals continuing US belligerence</a></b><br />16.12.08. WSWS. The trip by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to the Middle East over the past week provided a sobering warning of what to expect when Barack Obama becomes president next month. Far from any winding back of US militarism, Gates, who will remain in his post under Obama, emphasised that the occupation of Iraq would continue and the war in Afghanistan escalate, even as he renewed threats against Iran. (see below)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/122308C">Guantanamo Prisoner's Lawyers Accuse US Defense Secretary</a></b><br />23.12.08. Richard Norton-Taylor, Tguardian.truthout. "Lawyers for a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay have accused Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, of signing a '<b>flagrantly false' affidavit to avoid having to disclose evidence of torture</b>. In a sworn affidavit to a district court in Washington, Gates says the US authorities have provided <u>Binyam Mohamed</u>'s lawyers and the British government with all the information they possess relating to Mohamed's treatment while held in secret prisons. Gates declared his affidavit to be the truth 'under penalty of perjury.'"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/23/report-gates-asks-bush-war-team-stay/">Obama to Keep About 150 Bush Pentagon Appointees</a></b><br />23.12.08. Fox. Defense secretary asks many Bush administration Pentagon appointees to remain on the job until the incoming Obama administration finds replacements. Gates asked the president-elect to allow him to keep the staff until replacements are found in order to <em>ensure continuity</em> as military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to percolate through the presidential transition process. The Defense Department is the only agency considering such a request. All other political appointees in other branches had to submit their resignation letters by Friday.<br /><br /><u> Hillary </u><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbYH_ZiEGDczNIdln8BbjsNOUmnz3hngxvWLwC4AI0i6XsxpCn4OgZgFjCBihTh345IhHS42fTiXgR4UBuS_JHSN_Q6-ecfU1V2Fjl9WBiFL9gf5Kb_WVm0nmu1nd5Vh5l6_pF/s1600-h/truthout-hilary.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 103px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbYH_ZiEGDczNIdln8BbjsNOUmnz3hngxvWLwC4AI0i6XsxpCn4OgZgFjCBihTh345IhHS42fTiXgR4UBuS_JHSN_Q6-ecfU1V2Fjl9WBiFL9gf5Kb_WVm0nmu1nd5Vh5l6_pF/s400/truthout-hilary.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285940531489780738" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120208J%5C">photo Reuters</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120208J">Jeremy Scahill | Barack Obama's Kettle of Hawks</a></b><br />01.12.08. Jeremy Scahill, The Guardian UK/truthout. "Barack Obama has assembled a team of rivals to implement his foreign policy. But while pundits and journalists speculate endlessly on the potential for drama with Hillary Clinton at the state department and Bill Clinton's network of <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5367118.ece"> shady funders </a>, the real rivalry that will play out goes virtually unmentioned. The main battles will not be between Obama's staff, but rather against those who actually want a change in US foreign policy, not just a staff change in the war room."<br /><br />Blackwater among <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gCUguzH-fmrMebReafr13cBkhxHgD95596UO1Clinton"> foundation donors </a> (18.12.08. AP) The <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/security-company-death-squads-timeline.html"> Blackwater Training Center </a> donated $10,001 to $25,000. [Blackwater might <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g4OiK8Bkks3epqQ-eXeiSGX6cu7gD954JJA80"><br />lose license </a> in Iraq, but this is doubtful]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02obama.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1">Appointments Begin a New Phase for Obama</a></b><br />01.12.08. P. Baker, NY Times. Introducing a national security team anchored by <b>Hillary Rodham Clinton</b> as secretary of state, Mr. Obama said a new strategic agreement with Baghdad put the United States “on a glide path to reduce our forces in Iraq.” But while he reaffirmed his desire to pull out combat brigades within 16 months, Mr. Obama emphasized his willingness to consider options put forth by the military. / <em>“But as I have said consistently, I will listen to the recommendations of my commanders. </em>” VIDEO: OBAMA INTRODUCES NATIONAL SECURITY TEAM. See another NY Times article <a href="http://www.truthout.org/120108T"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5299035.ece">Clinton builds loyalist empire</a></b><br />07.12.08. times online. When Hillary Clinton was offered the job of America’s top diplomat, she made one non-negotiable demand: she must be allowed to take her own team of loyalists with her to the State Department. / Stalwarts such as Maggie Williams, Clinton’s former chief of staff at the White House, who was drafted in to salvage the former first lady’s campaign, and the glamorous Huma Abedin, Clinton’s closest personal assistant, are likely to join the new secretary of state’s kitchen cabinet, while James Steinberg, a top official from husband Bill’s administration, is predicted to become deputy secretary of state.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theweek.com/article/index/91332/3/How_they_see_us_Will_Hillary_be_a_team_player">How they see us: Will Hillary be a team player?</a></b><br />12.12.08. The week. Can Hillary Clinton really be subordinate to Barack Obama? asked Beat Ammann in Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The U.S. president-elect this week officially named as his secretary of state the one person in the world “who enjoys just as much star status” as he does. In fact, world leaders already know Clinton far better than they do her boss. So is that a good thing or not? Optimists say yes, because Obama can trust that Clinton won’t need to waste time learning on the job. But pessimists—and there are apparently far more of these—fear that the appointment “could lead to the implosion of the Obama administration.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=20382">Hillary’s Nuclear Umbrella</a></b><br />15.12.08. Doug Bandow, national interest / anti-war. Maybe it’s time to ask how many wars the next president plans on fighting. / Offering Israel a nuclear umbrella is a slightly abbreviated version of a campaign promise by Senator Hillary Clinton / … But Senator Clinton didn’t stop with Israel. She advocated providing “a deterrent backup” for Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Arab countries.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/05/AR2008120502602.html?hpid=opinionsbox1">This Wasn't Quite the Change We Pictured</a></b><br />07.12.08. Washington Post. The more things change, the more they<br />stay . . . well, you know. And looking at President-elect Barack Obama's top appointments, it's easy to wonder whether convention has triumphed over change -- and centrists over progressives. / A quick run-down: …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/23/james-steinberg-clinton-aide-tapped-deputy-secretary-state/">James Steinberg, Former Clinton Aide, Tapped For Deputy Secretary of State</a></b><br />23.12.08. Fox.<br /><br /><u> Eric Holder </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=473303">Obama AG pick defended Guantanamo policy</a></b><br />02.12.08. AP. President-elect Barack Obama's choice to become the next attorney general, <b>Eric Holder</b>, once defended the Bush administration's arguments for holding detainees at Guantanamo Bay, a position that runs counter to his more recent comments — and to a signature policy of the incoming administration. See also <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/02/obama-appointee-adds-to-mixed-signals-on-gitmo/"> here </a>.<br /><br />“It will be up to the new Attorney General, Eric Holder—not a notably passionate constitutionalist in his previous role in the Justice Department—to, as Kukis adds, "issue new legal guidance that supersedes all those legal opinions, seen or unseen, if he hopes to prevent a return to such practices in the future" (emphasis added). / So, keep an eye on Mr. Holder. And if he does bury those John Yoo–style torture memos and other (and, here, I use the term loosely) "legal opinions," Holder should be tasked by the president to reveal what they permitted.” <a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-12-17/columns/what-obama-doesn-t-know/"> NAT HENHOFF </a> (16.12.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081205_keeping_track_of_change/">Keeping Track of Change</a></b><br />05.12.08. Eugene Jarecki, Truthdig. As someone who seeks fundamental reform of so much of the American system, I’ve been heartened to see a growing number of voices on the airwaves and blogosphere express concern at certain choices made by the Obama transition team that are hard to reconcile with the public’s hopes for change. This kind of unrelenting pressure for reform is vital and has already provoked an entirely healthy discourse even among Obama’s most ardent supporters between those who seek far-reaching change and those who see themselves as more pragmatic. Since Obama has not yet even been inaugurated, these voices can only speculate on what his governance might look like, and there’s a danger of being either prematurely critical or overly complacent. Still, it’s never too early to be vigilant. Let us not forget that it was Obama himself who invited each of us to fulfil our end of the contract between citizen and president in a historic effort to bring about change.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175011/transition_mania">Transition Mania</a></b><br />07.12.97. Tomgram. Think of it this way: After the Imperial Campaign -- that two-year extravaganza of bread and circuses (and money) -- comes the Imperial Transition. Everything in these last weeks, like the preceding two years, has been bulked up, like Schwarzenegger's Conanesque pecs. In other words, since November 5th, what we've been experiencing in the midst of one of the true crisis periods in our history has essentially been an unending celebration of super-sized government. Consider it an introduction to what will surely be the next Imperial Presidenc<br /><br /><u> Jones </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/07/america/letter.php">Obama's best pick yet: Jones as national security adviser</a></b><br />07.12.08. IHT. Jones, never a fan of the Iraq war, has indicated that he considers Afghanistan an enormous challenge. Although he supports sending more forces there, he also believes that success is impossible without a comparable effort to reform the Afghan government and to use American "soft power."<br /><br /><u> Shineski</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/12/presidentelect_obama_seventh_p.html">Transcript announcing Shineski</a></b><br />08.12.08. In this speech, Obama says, “Nearly 70 years ago today, a date "that will live in infamy," our harbor was bombed in Hawaii and our troops went off to war.” [MORE airbrushing of history. See <a href="http://www.independent.org/events/detail.asp?eventID=28"> Pearl Harbor: Official Lies in an American War Tragedy</a>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/us/politics/09obama.html?nl=pol&emc=pola2">Liberals Wonder When Obama’s Team Will Reflect Them</a></b><br />08.12.08. NY Times. In assembling his team to date, Mr. Obama has largely passed over progressives, opting to keep President Bush’s defense secretary, tapping a retired general close to Senator John McCain and recruiting economists from the traditionally corporate, free-trade [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">sic</span>], deficit-hawk wing of the party. The choices have deeply frustrated liberals who thought Mr. Obama’s election signaled the rise of a new progressive era. / But so far, they are mainly muting their protest, clinging to the belief that Mr. Obama still means what he said on the campaign trail and remaining wary of undermining what they see as the most liberal president sent to the White House in a generation. They are quietly lobbying for more liberals in the next round of appointments, seeking at least some like-minded voices at the table. And they are banking on the idea that no matter whom he installs under him, Mr. Obama will be the driving force for the change they seek.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/election08/111143/?page=entire">What's with Obama's Deputy Telling Progressives to Pipe Down?</a></b><br />09.12.08. David Sirota, Open Left/Alternet. (Obama aide Steve Hildebrand explicitly attacks "the left wing of the Democratic Party" with Fox News-style talking points.) Most progressives questioning Obama have done so rather gently, and have done so on the pragmatic substance. For instance, people wondering about the appointment of <u>Larry Summers</u> to a top economic position in the White House have wondered whether it's such a good idea to empower an ideological free market fundamentalist (pro-free trade [sic], pro-deregulation) whose policies as Bill Clinton's Treasury Secretary played a major role in creating the economic crisis. That is, most have wondered why Obama thinks that kind of ideologue is "the most qualified person" to deal with our economic situation, rather than, say, a pragmatist like <b>James Galbraith or Joseph Stiglitz </b>who has been right all along.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/121008R">Capitalist Fools</a></b><br />01.09. Joseph E. Stiglitz, Vanity Fair. Truthout. "There will come a moment when the most urgent threats posed by the credit crisis have eased and the larger task before us will be to chart a direction for the economic steps ahead. This will be a dangerous moment. Behind the debates over future policy is a debate over history - a debate over the causes of our current situation. The battle for the past will determine the battle for the present. So it's crucial to get the history straight."<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><u> R. Emanuel</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21427.htm">How Rahm Emanuel Made Mega-Millions and Bought His Way to Power</a></b><br />09.12.08. Ben Protess, ICH. New details emerge of Emanuel's days as an investment banker.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21479.htm">Senate Scandal Snares Obama's Chief Aide</a></b><br />16.12.08. Sarah Baxter, Times / ICH. THE bullish, foul-mouthed but effective Chicago arm-twister Rahm Emanuel has come under pressure to resign as Barack Obama's chief of staff after it was revealed that he had been captured on court-approved wire-taps discussing the names of candidates for Obama's Senate seat.<br /><br /><u> Susan Rice</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/09/obamas-dueling-transition-teams/">Obama’s Dueling Transition Teams</a></b><br />09.12.08. anti-war. Sources are reporting that President-elect Barack Obama’s appointee for US ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Susan Rice, after a visit to the State Department headquarters, plans to install her own transition team, independent of incoming Secretary of State Sen. Hillary Clinton’s, in the department.<br /><br /><u> CIA; Hayden?</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=41595&dcn=todaysnews">House Democrat urges Obama to keep Bush's intelligence chiefs</a></b><br />10.12.08. govexec. The House Intelligence Committee's top Democrat said Tuesday he has recommended that President-elect Barack Obama keep the country's current national intelligence director and <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49468&s2=11"> CIA chief</a> in place for some time to ensure continuity in U.S. intelligence programs during the transition to a new administration. / Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said he also recommended to Obama's transition team that <u>some parts of the CIA's controversial alternative interrogation program should be allowed to continue</u>. He declined to say what he specifically recommended, however.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/13/obama-huddles-with-cia-director-on-security/">Hayden-Obama briefing stirs speculation</a></b><br />13.12.08. Washington times. CIA Director Michael V. Hayden flew to Chicago on Tuesday to give a full intelligence briefing to President-elect Barack Obama, The Washington Times has learned.<br /><br />UPDATE<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hLxzlYKY19s03rxyFUt39YavbYUAD95H9LBG0">Panetta has unusual portfolio to be CIA chief </a> (06.01.09 AP)<br /><br /><u> Dennis Blair </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20081217_2507.php">Homeland Security Council Out? Obama Might Add Responsibility to National Security Council</a></b><br />17.12.08. nti. The incoming Obama administration is considering changes to the White House's role in homeland security policy that could dramatically enhance the influence of the president's national security adviser, giving him a primary role in shaping disaster management and counterterrorism policy within the United States.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122970963384222109.html?mod=special_page_campaign2008_mostpop">Obama Picks Military Man, Blair, as Top Spymaster</a></b><br />19.12.08. WSJ. Retired Admiral, Next Director of National Intelligence, Is Expected to Play Advisory Role in Choosing CIA Chief. / .. New names for CIA director have surfaced, including Deputy CIA Director Steven R. Kappes, former CIA analysis chief John Gannon and former CIA operations chief Jack Devine.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?p=49910">The Bloody Career of Admiral Dennis C. Blair: Obama's New Intelligence Chief Ran Interference for Indonesia's Butchers</a></b><br />26.12.08. Bradley Simpson, uruknet. The presumptive appointment by President-elect Barack Obama of retired Admiral Dennis C. Blair as his new Director of National Intelligence is being greeted with cheers by the national media, which hail his experience, bureaucratic infighting skills and comparatively moderate views on national security issues. The New York Times, in a recent profile, seemed much impressed by the fact that the 34-year Navy veteran once water skied behind an aircraft carrier, in addition to his stints with the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Institute for Defense Analysis (from which he resigned in 2006 over conflict of interest charges involving the F-22 raptor)....<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-12-17/columns/what-obama-doesn-t-know/">What Obama Doesn't Know</a></b><br />16.12.08. Nat Henhoff, village voice / anti-war. No presidential transition team in recent history has ranged as widely as Barack Obama's in its attempt to find out what minefields he may be walking into. For example, The Washington Post notes, 10 teams of 135 explorers, wearing yellow badges, have descended on dozens of Bush administration offices and agencies to look into their programs, policies, and records. / Will the Obama sleuths be able to peer into plans of the military Special Operations forces around the world, whose SWAT-style moves can quickly inflame even our allies? Covertly authorized four years ago by Donald Rumsfeld, these warriors are empowered to attack secretly any apparent terrorist venture, anywhere. No press allowed./ <b> will President Obama order the countermanding of the FBI's return to the unbounded surveillance practices of J. Edgar Hoover? </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/12/19/ST2008121902949.html">The Pentagon is muscling in everywhere. It's time to stop the mission creep</a></b><br />21.12.08. Thomas A. Schweich, Washington Post. President-elect Barack Obama's selections of <u>James L. Jones</u>, a retired four-star Marine general, to be his national security adviser and, it appears, retired Navy Adm. <u>Dennis C. Blair</u> to be his director of national intelligence present the incoming administration with an important opportunity -- and a major risk. These appointments could pave the way for these respected military officers to reverse the current trend of Pentagon encroachment upon civilian government functions, or they could complete the silent military coup d'etat that has been steadily gaining ground below the radar screen of most Americans and the media.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/tools/index.php?page=print&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsws.org%2Farticles%2F2008%2Fdec2008%2Fpers-d23.shtml">Obama, the military and the threat of dictatorship</a></b><br />23.12.08. WSWS. With his choice of Admiral Dennis Blair as director of national intelligence, President-elect Barack Obama has now named three recently retired four-star military officers to serve in his cabinet. This unprecedented representation of the senior officer corps within the incoming Democratic administration is indicative of a growth in the political power of the US military that poses a serious threat to basic democratic rights. / Earlier this month Obama spelled out his subservience to the Pentagon by declaring, “<b>To ensure prosperity here at home and peace abroad, we all</b> [SIC] share the belief we have to maintain the strongest military on the planet.” To that end, he has pledged to increase the size of US ground forces by 100,000 soldiers and Marines and made it clear that there will be no significant cuts to a military budget that is gobbling up some $850 billion annually under conditions of soaring deficits and an intensifying financial crisis. / The threat of an even uglier confrontation under Obama is very real <b>given the disastrous effects of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan</b> on the military and reports of a growing delusional sentiment within the officer corps that the failures of the US operations in these countries were the result of a “stab in the back” delivered by the civilian authorities, the media and the American people themselves. / But there is a more fundamental process underlying both Clinton’s experience and Obama’s bowing before the military today. It is the immense growth in the power of the “military industrial complex” against which President Dwight Eisenhower warned nearly half a century ago—a power which grew uninterruptedly during the whole of the Cold War. / During the last seven years of the so-called “global war on terrorism,” this expansion of power—together with the rise in military funding—has only escalated, accompanied by increasingly sinister features bound up with US imperialism’s growing reliance on militarism as a means of offsetting the decline in its global economic position. / … <b>Meanwhile, in prosecuting two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military command has been tasked with running colonial-style administrations with virtually unfettered power over entire populations</b>.<br /><br /><u> Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/30/Surge_in_security_tech_seen_under_Obama/UPI-85321230665401/">Surge in security tech seen under Obama</a></b><br />30.12.08. UPI. PHOENIX, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Police across the United States say they are encouraged about the prospects for new security technology under Barack Obama's administration. / Obama's nominee for Homeland Security secretary, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, has been a staunch advocate of using the latest surveillance and identification technologies for law enforcement purposes, USA Today reported Tuesday. / civil liberties advocates say they are wary about the effects technology can have on privacy.<br /><br /><u> Stephen Chu & N. Sutley & Browner</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/us/politics/11appoint.html?_r=1&th&emc=th">Obama Team Set on Environment</a></b><br />10.12.08. J. Broder, NY Times. The officials said Mr. Obama would name Steven Chu, the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as his energy secretary, and Nancy Sutley, deputy mayor of Los Angeles for energy and environment, as head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Mr. Obama also appears ready to name Carol M. Browner, the E.P.A. administrator under President Bill Clinton, as the top White House official on climate and energy policy and Lisa P. Jackson, New Jersey’s commissioner of environmental protection, as the head of the E.P.A.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/12/10/obama.energy/index.html">Obama makes pick for energy chief, sources say</a></b><br />11.12.08. CNN / legitgov. President-elect Barack Obama is likely to name Steven Chu, a physicist who runs the<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Ernest_Orlando_Lawrence_Berkeley_National_Laboratory"> Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory </a> [the “Rad Lab”], as his energy secretary, three Democratic officials close to the transition said. / The three officials said the announcement is expected next week in Chicago, Illinois, and that Obama will also name Carol Browner, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Clinton administration, as the newly created "climate czar" inside the White House.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/us/politics/12climate.html?nl=pol&emc=pola1">Title, but Unclear Power, for a New Climate Czar</a></b><br />11.12.08. J. Broder, NY Times. Much remains unknown, and perhaps undecided, about <u>Carol M. Browner</u>’s new position as White House coordinator of energy and climate policy.<br /><br /><u>Tom Daschle</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/12/us/politics/12daschle.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1">Health Care Policy Is in Hands of an Ex-Senator</a></b><br />11.12.08. NY Times. Barack Obama picked <u>Tom Daschle</u>, center, to lead the Health and Human Services Department and the White House Office of Health Reform, where Jeanne Lambrew will be deputy director.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/11/daschles_lobbyist_wife_might_c.html">Daschle's Lobbyist Wife Might Complicate New Post</a></b><br />19.11.08. Washington Post. At her current firm, she counts American Airlines, Boeing, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Lockheed Martin and L3 Communications among her clients, according to her online biography. She has been called a "major lobbying force" by associates, according to The Hill, and The New York Times said she is one of the "most influential professional lobbyists in the capital."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121102948.html">Worried on the Left?</a></b><br />12.12.08. E.J. Dionne, Jr., Washington Post. The Disillusionment Story Line Is Overdone<br /><br /><u> Shaun Donovan </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/121408Z">Obama: HUD Pick Central Part of Economic Blueprint</a></b><br />13.12.08. Philip Elliott and Jim Kuhnhenn, AP/Truthout. The selection of Shaun Donovan as secretary of Housing and Urban Development puts the current New York City housing commissioner at the forefront of one of the more nettlesome economic challenges confronting the new administration - the soaring foreclosures that are threatening homeownership nationwide. / Donovan joins a team led by <u>Tim Geithner</u> Obama's nominee for Treasury secretary, and <u>Larry Summers</u>, who will chair Obama's National Economic Council. Obama has his team working on an ambitious economic recovery plan that includes saving or creating 2.5 million jobs over the next two years./ … Right now, the Bush administration's Treasury Department is resisting an effort by FDIC chairwoman Sheila Bair to use $24 billion in financial bailout funds to help 1.5 million borrowers avoid foreclosure by guaranteeing modified mortgages.<br /><br /><u>Timothy Geithner</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/opinion/15mon1.html?th&emc=th">Questions for Mr. Geithner</a></b><br />14.12.08. Editorial, NY Times. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Mr. Geithner was a key decision maker last September when the government let Lehman Brothers fail and then, two days later, bailed out the insurer American International Group for $85 billion. / Those decisions proved cataclysmic. The markets and the economy have yet to recover from Lehman’s failure. The bailout of A.I.G. dealt a further blow to the Fed’s credibility — and, by extension, Mr. Geithner’s — because it was an abrupt reversal from the no-new-bailouts stance that had applied to Lehman and, initially, to A.I.G. Together, the decisions showed that several months into the financial crisis, officials lacked the information and the insight to correctly call the shots. / Making matters worse, the Fed and the Treasury have now changed their story about how the calamity unfolded. .. But <b>an after-the-fact revision of what happened at best raises questions and worse, looks like an attempt to dodge accountability</b>.<br /><br /><u>Education: Arne Duncan </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3663">Media's Failing Grade on Education 'Debate'</a></b><br />16.12.08. Fair. President-elect Barack Obama chose Chicago schools superintendent Arne Duncan as his nominee for Education secretary after an almost entirely one-sided media discussion that portrayed the most progressive candidate in the running for the post--Stanford educational researcher Linda Darling-Hammond--as an unacceptable pick. Media discussed: NY Times, Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, AP, Tribune.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/121708R">Obama's Betrayal of Public Education? Arne Duncan and the Corporate Model of Schooling</a></b><br />17.12.08. Henry A. Giroux. Kenneth Saltman, Truthout: "Barack Obama's selection of Arne Duncan for secretary of education does not bode well either for the political direction of his administration nor for the future of public education. Obama's call for change falls flat with this appointment, not only because Duncan largely defines schools within a market-based and penal model of pedagogy, but also because he does not have the slightest understanding of schools as something other than adjuncts of the corporation at best or the prison at worse."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://i1.democracynow.org/2008/12/18/duncan">Obama’s Choice for Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, Seen as Compromise Between Divided Strands</a></b><br />18.12,08. Democracy Now. Duncan was seen as a compromise pick between progressive and conservative education advocates. We speak to Michael Klonsky, professor of education and longtime school reform activist in Chicago, and Deborah Meier, a well-known teacher, writer and public advocate. [includes rush transcript]<br /><br /><u> Tom Vilsack: Secretary of Agriculture</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/113477/">It's Vilsack: Obama Picks Pro-GMO and Pro-Biofuels Ag Secretary</a></b><br />16.12.08. Tara Lohan, AlterNet. If you're at all concerned with genetically modified foods [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> banned in UK </span>], cloned animals, and biofuels [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> drive up food prices; starve the poor </span>], then this appointment is likely to disappoint.<br /><br /><u> Interior Dept. Salazar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/18/us/politics/18salazarcnd.html?_r=1&nl=pol&emc=pola1">Environmentalists Wary of Obama’s Interior Pick</a></b><br />17.12.08. NY Times. he will have to work hard to overcome skepticism among many environmentalists about his views on resource and wildlife issues. / .. Mr. Salazar was not the first choice of environmentalists, who openly pushed the appointment of Representative Raul Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona, who has a strong record as a conservationist. / Oil and mining interests praised Mr. Salazar’s performance. / .. He also backed a compromise that would let oil companies drill for natural gas in limited parts of the Roan Plateau in northwestern Colorado./ … he had not spoken out forcefully against oil and gas development in millions of acres of national forests and roadless areas./ .. While industry officials praised his moderation, Mr. Salazar drew harsh criticism from some environmentalists.<br /><br />“He is a right-of-center Democrat who often favors industry and big agriculture in battles over global warming, fuel efficiency and endangered species,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of <a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/"> Center for Biological Diversity </a>, which tracks endangered species and habitat issues. “He is very unlikely to bring significant change to the scandal-plagued Department of Interior. It’s a <b>very disappointing choice for a presidency which promised visionary change</b>.”[ Mr Patterson] said that Mr. Salazar has justifiably become the most controversial of Mr. Obama’s cabinet appointees. “Salazar has a disturbingly weak conservation record, particularly on energy development, global warming, endangered wildlife and protecting scientific integrity..” VIDEO<br /><br /><u> Inauguration: Rick Warren</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles_of_faith/2008/12/obama_taps_evan.html">Obama taps evangelical for inauguration</a></b><br />17.12.08. boston.com. President-elect Barack Obama (right) has tapped Rick Warren (left), the most prominent evangelical preacher of the post-Billy Graham generation, to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. / .. he does not support abortion or same-sex marriage, / .. The choice is winning praise by anti-abortion groups that have been concerned about the Obama administration. / .. <b>"a grave disappointment''</b>/ .. There is no shortage of religious leaders who reflect the values on which President-elect Obama campaigned and who are working to advance the common good.''<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/17/rick-warren-obama-invocat_n_151877.html">Rick Warren, Obama Invocation Choice, Causing First Real Rift With Progressives</a></b><br />17.12.08. Huff Post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://pacetua.blogspot.com/2008/12/obama-courts-evangelicals.html">Obama Courts Evangelicals</a></b><br />18.12.08. Musafir’s Musings. Politically it will pay dividends. The Republicans must be scratching their heads. In one fell swoop Obama disarmed many of the Christian Right who bitterly fought his candidacy. / .. Are wars going to be launched because of divine guidance ? .. Time will tell. The signals, however, are alarming.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/salaita.php?articleid=13937">Obama Fans Suddenly Outraged by Bigotry</a></b><br />22.12.08. Steven Salaita, anti-war. Barack Obama's choice of Pastor Rick Warren of Orange County's Saddleback Church to give the invocation at his inauguration has sent the liberal blogosphere into a frenzy of apprehension and indignation. Warren is an advocate of Proposition 8, the measure that repealed gays' right to marry in California. It is no doubt a poor choice by Obama, but the outrage arising from the liberal-Left misses a number of crucial points, primary among them the fact that Obama's selection of Warren may be in poor taste but it is in no way a betrayal.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/115088/">Rick Warren Is an Unapologetic Christian Radical -- And There's No Need to Apologize for Opposing Him</a></b><br />24.12.08. Amy Goodman, Democracy Now/alternet.<br /><br /><u>Ron Kirk, Hilda Solis, Ray LaHood and Karen Mills</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/20/us/politics/20cabinet.html?_r=1&em%20Obama%20Reshapes%20White%20House%20for%20Domestic%20Focus%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3E19.12.08.%20%20NY%20Times.%20The%20collective%20moves%20shift%20the%20political%20center%20of%20gravity%20farther%20away%20from%20the%20cabinet.%20/%20..%20Transition%20officials,%20who%20insisted%20on%20anonymity%20to%20discuss%20internal%20deliberations,%20said%20they%20were%20thinking%20about%20folding%20the%20White%20House%20Homeland%20Security%20Council,%20which%20Mr.%20Bush%20established,%20into%20the%20National%20Security%20Council%20%E2%80%A6%20Mr.%20Bush%E2%80%99s%20national%20security%20adviser,%20Stephen%20J.%20Hadley,%20has%20privately%20urged%20the%20Obama%20team%20to%20keep%20the%20Homeland%20Security%20Council.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cu%3EHoldren,%20Lubchenco%3C/u%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" org="" 122008c="">Obama Names Holdren, Lubchenco to Science Posts</a></b><br />20.12.08. Hope Yen, AP / Truthout. "President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday named Harvard physicist John Holdren and marine biologist Jane Lubchenco to top science posts, signaling a change from Bush administration policies on global warming that were criticized for putting politics over science."<br /><br /><b>To get a sense of how substantial the deception was, liberals should ask themselves this question: would you - on principle and not personality - have voted for someone who promised to appoint as secretary of agriculture an ethanol booster and ally of Monsanto, an education secretary who would continue the war on public education, an energy secretary who is pro nuke and pro Yucca Mountain, a defense secretary who has been part of the Iraq disaster, a budget director who favors cutting Social Security for those under 59, an attorney general who helped increase the prison time served by young blacks on minor drug offenses, a secretary of state involved in numerous scandals, a transportation secretary who is an extreme conservative and knows little about the field, a staff stuffed with a team of revivals form the Clinton years, and an inaugural preacher who treats gays and women as lesser beings much as others once did to blacks? / That is not change we can believe in. That's a lot of problems.</b> <a href="http://prorev.com/2008/12/flotsam-jetsam-obama-con.html"> Sam Smith </a><br /><br /><em><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> When the big deal is that you vote for a lesser of two evils, then evil is just what you get -- get conned with! </span></em>. Comment by <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/hellraiser/2001/05/truman.html?welcome=true">Preston Jay Truman <u> A Senate Bad Choice </u><br /><br /><b></b></a><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/zunes/?articleid=13953">Feinstein: Bad Choice for Intelligence</a></b><br />26.12.08. Stephen Zunes, anti-war. Feinstein was among those who falsely claimed in 2002 – despite the lack of any apparent credible evidence – that Saddam Hussein had somehow reconstituted Iraq's arsenal of chemical and biological weapons, as well as its nuclear weapons program. She used this supposed threat to justify her vote in October 2002 to grant President George W. Bush the unprecedented authority to invade Iraq. it is <b>particularly disturbing that Democrats would award the coveted Intelligence Committee chair to someone from the party's right-wing minority</b>.<br /><br />OBAMA FLIP FLOPS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/obama-drops-windfall-profits-tax-for-oil-and-gas-industry,640403.shtml" com="" 2008="" 12="" 04="" us="" politics="" partner="rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all" campaign="" promises="" on="" ending="" the="" war="" in="" iraq="" now="" muted="" by="" reality=""></a></b><br />03.12.08. NY Times. Critique on this article <a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/pers-d06.shtml"> here </a>.<br /><br /><u> Media Response</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3659"> Corporate media root for Obama to reject withdrawal timeline </a><br /><br />&<br /><br /><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/jscahill.php?articleid=13863"> Obama Doesn't Plan to End the Iraq Occupation </a> (06.12.08. Jeremy Scahill)<br /><br />&<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=3692c736-406c-4ee1-9bb9-4ec6cc15531f"> Not So Fast: Don't hold your breath waiting for withdrawal from Iraq </a> (New Republic 24.12.08)<br /><br />&<br /><br /><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/19/content_10527451.htm"> U.S. military's Iraq withdrawal plan differs from Obama's promise</a> (Xinhuanet 19.12)<br /><br /><br /><a id="10000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>10. US in Afghanistan</b> (Reports; Troop Surge: Eyes Wide Shut & Viewpoints)</div><br /><br />US TROOP SURGE: EYES WIDE SHUT<br /><br />"<em>To ensure prosperity here at home and peace abroad, we all </em> [sic] <em>share the belief we have to maintain the strongest military on the planet</em>."<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3540167/Barack-Obama-says-US-will-maintain-strongest-military-on-planet-as-Clinton-confirmed-top-diplomat.html"> Barack Obama</a>.<br /><br />REPORTS<br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.defenselink.mil/news/2008%20national%20defense%20strategy.pdf"> National Defense Strategy (pdf)</a> (11.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.csbaonline.org/4Publications/PubLibrary/R.20081215.Cost_of_the_Wars_i/R.20081215.Cost_of_the_Wars_i.pdf"> Cost of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Other Military Operations Through 2008 and Beyond</a>. 15.12.08. CSBA (pdf)<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><u> Manufacturing Truth</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081128/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestun">Afghanistan not in crisis: UN Security Council</a></b><br />28.11.08. AFP. Afghanistan is not in a security crisis and disillusionment and recriminations about its situation should be avoided, a UN Security Council team said at the end of a three-day assessment tour. / There were <u>even reasons for "cautious optimism</u> [sic]," the delegation told reporters before wrapping up a visit which comes as attacks linked to the insurgency led by the Islamic Taliban are at record levels. / "There is undoubtedly a difficult security situation which is developing... but <u>not a security crisis</u>," said the head of the delegation, Italian ambassador Giulio Terzi.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/29/AR2008112901912_pf.html">Joint Chiefs Chairman 'Very Positive' After Meeting With Obama</a></b><br />30.11.08. Karen DeYoung, Washington Post. There was little talk of exiting Iraq or beefing up the U.S. force in Afghanistan; the one-on-one, 45-minute conversation ranged from the personal to the philosophical. Mullen came away with what he wanted: a view of the next president as a non-ideological pragmatist who was willing to both listen and lead. After the meeting, the chairman "felt very good, very positive," according to Mullen spokesman Capt. John Kirby.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/3540167/Barack-Obama-says-US-will-maintain-strongest-military-on-planet-as-Clinton-confirmed-top-diplomat.html">Barack Obama says US 'will maintain strongest military on planet', as Clinton confirmed top diplomat</a></b><br />02.12.08. Telegraph. VIDEO. .. the former Illinois senator, whose rise was built on his opposition to the Iraq war, delivered a message of surprising toughness that at times could have come from George W Bush.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-12-02-voa75.cfm">Gates: New Afghanistan Strategy a High Priority</a></b><br />03.12.08. VOA. Secretary Gates told reporters at the Pentagon on Tuesday that one of his first priorities in the new administration, which begins on January 20, will be to re-evaluate U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. / The Bush administration is reviewing the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan , and the Obama administration is expected to do the same.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iWxiu65iLP4CvDJ7BEsBOx-u_vdwD94SM4CO0">US preparing for troop buildup in Afghanistan</a></b><br />05.12.08. AP. The military is beginning a big building effort in Afghanistan to house the roughly 20,000 additional troops who are expected to begin pouring in early next year, a top military officer said Friday. Maj. Gen. Michael Tucker, deputy commander for operations for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, <u> could not quantify the number of buildings or contractors mercenaries involved</u> , but said the military has done several in-depth studies over the past month and a half to determine exactly how many buildings, helicopter pads, dining facilities,and even latrines will be needed. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">what about a “big building effort” for the Afghan people instead of jobs for KBR? </span>].<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/07/world/asia/07troops.html?ref=asia">In New Strategy, U.S. Will Defend Kabul Environs</a></b><br />06.12.08. NY Times. It will be the first time that American or coalition forces have been deployed in large numbers on the southern flank of the city, a decision that reflects the rising concerns among military officers, diplomats and government officials about the <u>increasing vulnerability of the capital and the surrounding area</u>. / .. The new Army brigade, the Third Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y., is scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan in January and will consist of 3,500 to 4,000 soldiers. The “vast majority” of them will be sent to Logar and Wardak Provinces, adjacent to Kabul, said Lt. Col. Rumi Nielson-Green, a spokeswoman for the American units in eastern Afghanistan. A battalion of at least several hundred soldiers from that brigade will go to the border region in the east, where American forces have been locked in some of the fiercest fighting this year. / The plan for the incoming brigade, then, means that for the time being fewer reinforcements — or none at all — will be immediately available for the parts of Afghanistan where the insurgency is most intense. / It also means that most of the newly arriving troops will not be deployed with the main goal of curbing the cross-border flow of insurgents from their rear bases in Pakistan, something American commanders would like and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has recommended.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=a_s6Kfdqg7M4&refer=india">Obama Says He Seeks ‘Strategic Partnership’ With South Asia</a></b><br />08.12.08. Bloomberg.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-12-07-afghantroops_N.htm">Commander sees 'tough fight' in Afghan war</a></b><br />09.12.08. USA Today. [Gen. David McKiernan] in Afghanistan said Sunday that 2009 will be a "tough fight" in Afghanistan and the United States will need nearly twice as many troops for up to four years to stabilize the country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ilykdqL3ncZM_Wjbv-rT6qemqmRw">Petraeus favours US troop surge in Afghanistan</a></b><br />09.12.08. AFP. Petraeus said he had "already made recommendations" for an almost doubling of US troops in Afghanistan based on requests from General David McKiernan, the top commander of US and NATO troops in the central Asian country.<br /><br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u> Obscene $ Spending </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081209.wafghansurge09/BNStory/Afghanistan/home">Kandahar base braces for wave of U.S. troops</a></b><br />09.12.08. G. Smith, globe and mail / ICH. Engineers say they're planning an $850-million (U.S.) expansion of <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/webinator/search?pr=default&query=kandahar+airfield&submit=Submit&notq=&prox=page&sufs=0&rorder=500&rprox=500&rdfreq=500&rwfreq=500&rlead=500&rdepth=0"> Kandahar Air Field</a> in the coming year, approximately doubling the population of the <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/afghanistan/kandahar_afld-gallery.htm" sprawling="" facility=""></a> to make it the largest military base in Afghanistan. That means space available for a minimum of 12,000 more personnel to stand alongside Canada's troops in <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/afghanistan/kandahar_afld-2005-2008.htm"> Kandahar </a>.<br /><br />One U.S. officer said his superiors are telling him to prepare for a minimum 60-per-cent expansion of KAF in the next two years, while other plans have the base nearly tripling its population in a year. Col. Horgan, who co-ordinates the expansion plans on behalf of the base commander, said it's "almost guaranteed" that KAF will double in size within 12 months./ Whatever the size and timing of the expansion, however, it shows a shifting emphasis in the war. For years, the largest military facility in the country has been Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, the main hub for U.S. forces concentrated in the mountainous eastern region where the Taliban insurgents are reportedly mixed with other extremists such as al-Qaeda fighters. / Now the balance of American power appears to be shifting south, toward the deserts and river valleys where the Taliban were born and a majority of the insurgents are local tribesmen. / "It will be quite a bit bigger than Bagram," said Lieutenant-Colonel John Uptmor, a U.S. engineer who is leading the U.S. expansion at KAF. … / The new hospital will be made of concrete strong enough to resist the 107-millimetre rockets that regularly slam into the base, like several other buildings under construction. Even the <b>new Italian restaurant</b> is equipped with thick concrete walls, giving a more permanent appearance than the Tim Hortons, Subway and Burger King outlets all camped in modified trailers. / That impression of long-term planning will grow stronger as road paving begins next year on major routes around the base, and technicians start laying down a fibre-optic network for communications. / Still, he acknowledged that some aspects of the base would be difficult for the Afghans to maintain. Even the NATO engineers are having difficulty handling KAF's garbage disposal, he said. The base already produces about 50 tonnes of waste per day, he said, and that number is expected to double. The current method of burning heaps of trash, which sends a foul column of smoke over the base, "would certainly not meet North American requirements," he said. / A more common odour lingering over the base is the smell of raw sewage… / [the new] plant may not be ready for 12 to 18 months.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/24/AR2008122402306_pf.html">Contracts Point to Significant U.S. Commitment in Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.12.08. Walter Pincus, Washington Post / anti-war.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3703201/Thousands-of-US-troops-to-reinforce-British-in-Afghanistan.html">Thousands of US troops to reinforce British in Afghanistan</a></b><br />11.12.08. Thomas Harding, Jerome Starkey, Telegraph. While it is expected that the Ministry of Defence will consider a surge of its own next year, the 8,000-strong British force in southern Afghanistan is to be joined by 10,000 US troops. / General David McKiernan, the commander of US forces and the Nato coalition, said most of some 20,000 extra American troops pledged to Afghanistan will be sent to the volatile south and southwest of the country to turn the tide against the Taliban. / He insisted the insurgents were not winning, but admitted the country was at a "tipping point" and that "2009 is going to be a critical year for this campaign". / .. <b> "There are areas where we are, at best, in a stalemate</b> ," Gen McKiernan said (11.12.08. IPA.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49530&s2=13">Gates Seeks More Troops in Afghanistan by Spring </a></b><br />11.12.08. E. Bumiller, NYTimes/uruknet. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here on Thursday that the Pentagon, which plans to send 20,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, was trying to get thousands of them into the country as soon as next spring, a sign of the seriousness of the threat by the Taliban. The soldiers were requested by Gen. David D. McKiernan, the top commander in Afghanistan. The first of them, about 3,500 to 4,000 troops from the Third Brigade of the 10th ! Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y., are scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan next month...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=1886">Gates in Afghanistan: Gates Predicts 'Sustained' Afghan Mission</a></b><br />12.12.08. Washington Post/anti-war. The U.S. military will pour thousands of troops into Afghanistan by next summer and can expect to commit a sustained force for several more years, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and his top military commander there said Thursday. / Visiting Afghanistan for the second time in four months, Gates got a short but intensive look at the leading military priority facing him and the incoming Obama administration in the coming months. / … When the additions are complete, the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will climb to more than 50,000. About 31,000 U.S. troops are there now.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/iraq/2008/12/12/us-general-many-in-afghanistan-dont-feel-secure.html">U.S. General: Many in Afghanistan 'Don't Feel Secure'</a></b><br />12.12.08. us news. Gen. David McKiernan says efforts to improve security depend on more troops arriving quickly<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/afgh-d13.shtml">US military prepares for Obama’s expansion of Afghan war</a></b><br />13.12.08. James Cogan, WSWS. The intention is to have at least 55,000 to 60,000 US troops in Afghanistan, as well as the 33,000 troops from various NATO states and other US allies. The head of the NATO-commanded International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), US General David McKiernan, told journalists: "I don't like to use the term ‘surge' here, because if we put these additional forces in, it's going to be for the next few years, this three- or four-year period. It's not a temporary increase of combat strength."/…Defense Secretary Robert Gates—chosen by the president-elect to remain in that job and head the seamless foreign policy transition from the Bush to the Obama administration—described the Afghan war on Thursday as "<b>an ideological conflict with violent extremists" that could only be compared with the Cold War. "The last ideological conflict we were in lasted about 45 years</b>," he declared.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/world/asia/15gates.html?_r=1&ref=middleeast">A Defense Secretary at Work for 2 Commanders in Chief</a></b><br />14.12.08. E. Bumiller, NY Times. At a brief news conference in Kandahar, Afghanistan, an Afghan reporter asked Robert M. Gates, President Bush’s defense secretary, the first, pertinent question: Just what was President-elect Barack Obama’s policy for his war-weary country? / “The president-elect has been very explicit throughout the campaign and since the election that he believes that waging this fight in Afghanistan is a high priority and he would like to see more resources devoted to this fight, including more troops,” Mr. Gates said at the news conference, held Thursday at a military base in Kandahar, the ideological center of gravity for the Taliban. “So I think that you will see a continuing American commitment to defeating the enemies of the Afghan people during the administration of the president-elect.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/iraq/2008/12/16/us-military-to-launch-pilot-program-to-recruit-new-local-afghan-militias.html">U.S. Military to Launch Pilot Program to Recruit New Local Afghan Militias</a></b><br />16.12.08. US news. The U.S. military will soon launch a pilot program to raise local militias, paid by the Pentagon, in an effort to improve security throughout the country. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">just like the US supporting OBL during Russian occupation? </span>]<br /><br />[see <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gzpXPc6nzGvaBNrn5EUIPwucDpOA"> Militias won’t work </a> (16.12.08. Canadian press]<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>The Surge</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7792899.stm">US 'to boost Afghanistan force'</a></b><br />19.12.08. BBC. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has ordered the deployment of an additional combat aviation brigade to Afghanistan early next year, officials have said. The decision to send about 2,800 soldiers, equipped with both attack and transport helicopters, comes as part of an effort to counter the insurgency.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/19/us-approves-combat-aviation-troops-for-afghanistan/">US approves combat aviation troops for Afghanistan</a></b><br />19.12.08. reuters / anti-war. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. Army brigade of about 2,800 soldiers, equipped with both attack and transport helicopters, would deploy next year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/122108Y">Pentagon Wants to Double Force in Afghanistan</a></b><br />20.12.08. Golnar Motevalli, Reuters/truthout. "The United States is aiming to send 20,000 to 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan by the beginning of next summer, the chairman of the S Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Saturday."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGQ7.MhuUNg0&refer=home">Pentagon to Send U.S. Aviation Brigade to Afghanistan</a></b><br />22.12.08. Bloomberg. The 2,800-person unit is separate from four ground combat brigades that U.S. commanders said they need in Afghanistan, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today in Washington<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/usPoliticsNews/idUKTRE4BH7FT20081218">Obama urged to act swiftly on Afghan crisis</a></b><br />18.12.08. Reuters. The incoming Barack Obama administration will inherit an urgent crisis in Afghanistan and must increase U.S. and NATO troop levels there while enlarging the Afghan army, a U.S. think tank <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Brookings_Institution">[Brookings Institution]</a> recommended on Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/99a2e8b6-cfa7-11dd-abf9-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1">Rice says Obama likely to follow Bush on foreign policy</a></b><br />21.12.08. Financial Times<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSISL66257">NATO to engage Afghan tribes in Taliban fight</a></b><br />22.12.08. reuters. While U.S. forces prepare to send up to 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, behind the scenes Afghan government officials are working to engage tribal elders as a way of undermining the growing influence of Taliban insurgents. / Engaging with leaders in rural areas of Afghanistan is part of a new NATO and U.S. strategy in Afghanistan; to promote traditional methods of local rule and undercut the lawlessness that feeds in the strengthening Taliban insurgency./ .. Using shuras -- meetings of tribal leaders -- the IDLG wants power-brokers in remote areas to cherry-pick civilians for jobs in the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/6178173.html">Security officials keep Obama informed about Afghanistan</a></b><br />22.12.08. J. Barnes, LA Times. The Pentagon and U.S. national security officials are transmitting a battery of new information concerning the Afghanistan war to President-elect Barack Obama's transition team in hopes that the incoming administration will act quickly to prevent U.S. fortunes there from eroding further. The effort underscores the urgency of addressing an increasingly dangerous situation in Afghanistan. Many military leaders believe that a broad strategic shift is needed to reverse the growing violence and begin to turn back advances by the Taliban and other extremists. Obama's staff is being given detailed information on findings of separate strategy reviews by the Pentagon and the White House National Security Council. Those reviews cover proposals to beef up U.S. force levels, improve coordination among government agencies and overhaul U.S. foreign aid efforts, including to countries such as Pakistan. "<b>Right now, there is a sense you need to apply a tourniquet of some kind," said a senior defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_081223.htm">Bush Team Wants Obama To Move Quickly On Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.12.08. US News.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/23/report-us-asks-skorea-to-go-afghanistan/">US asks S. Korea to go Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.12.08. AP. Though both governments denied such a request was made, it is no secret that the United States wants its traditional Asian ally — which it defends against threats from North Korea — to resume contributions to the war in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21532.htm">U.S. Draws India Into The Afghan War</a></b><br />25.12.08. M.K. Bhadrakumar, The Hindu / ICH. The time has come to carefully assess the U.S. motivations in widening the gyre of the Afghan war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123025518760134597.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">A U.S. Strategy Unfolds at Kabul's Training Center</a></b><br />26.12.08. Online WSJ. <em>Officials Seek to Expand Afghan Army as Crucial Step in Securing Nation, but Low Literacy Levels, High Attrition Pose Hurdles</em>. The sprawling Kabul Military Training Center here was a Soviet base and then a Taliban one. Today it's at the heart of an ambitious American plan to double the size of the Afghan army within the next two years, an initiative that could determine the course of the war here.<br /><br /><em> the logic (below) defies belief </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CNN_U.S._to_arm_Afghan_civilians_1226.html">U.S. will give free weapons to Afghan civilians</a></b><br />27.12.08. David Edwards, Stephen C. Webster, Raw Story. One way to quell a violent and deteriorating situation, according to the U.S. military, is to flood the place with guns. That's exactly what is planned for Afghanistan, where a rising tide of chaos is slowly pushing the country past Iraq as the most dangerous battlefield Americans tread upon.<br />==<br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jHi4znl2oz7YdEeUEzrIIfr85GHQD95C2EC80">Mrs. Bush, Rice: Bush presidency not a failure</a></b><br />29.12.08. AP. Mrs. Bush noted that under her husband's watch, the U.S. toppled Saddam Hussein and liberated [SIC] millions of people in Afghanistan and Iraq from oppressive governments. / … She said her husband responded to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in a way that has <em>kept the nation safe</em> [US mantra] .<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20090101faessay88103/robert-m-gates/how-to-reprogram-the-pentagon.html">A Balanced Strategy</a></b><br />01-02.09. Robert Gates, Foreign Affairs. Reprogramming the Pentagon for a New Age. The Pentagon chief says the nation's armed forces need to be better prepared to fight unconventional battles. The United States' ability to deal with future threats will depend on its performance in current conflicts. To be blunt, to fail -- or to be seen to fail -- in either Iraq or Afghanistan would be a disastrous blow to U.S. credibility, both among friends and allies and among potential adversaries. … / In Afghanistan, as President George W. Bush announced last September, U.S. troop levels are rising, with the likelihood of more increases in the year ahead. Given its terrain, poverty, neighborhood, and tragic history, Afghanistan in many ways poses an even more complex and difficult long-term challenge than Iraq -- one that, despite a large international effort, will require a significant U.S. military and economic commitment for some time.<br /><br /><br />VIEWPOINTS on US WAR IN AFGHANISTAN<br /><br /><em>.. now politicians of both parties, led by Barack Obama, have begun to suggest a redeployment of forces to Afghanistan in the false hope that more American troops will solve Afghanistan’s problems as well. … “<b> The end will be like with the Russians … The Americans will never succeed in containing the conflict. There will be more bleeding, the evacuation of foreigners. It’s coming to the same situation – by 1985 or 1986, the Communist forces held only the provincial capitals. There were 465,000 military and civilian members of the puppet government. But the Russians were still confined to their bases</b></em>.”<a href="http://thenational.ae/article/20081128/REVIEW/861067314/1043"> Nir Rosen </a> (28.11.08)<br /><br />REPORTS<br /><br />Report 1 (pdf):<br /><b><a href="http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/081201ForcefulEngagement.pdf">Forceful Engagement: Rethinking the Role of Military Power in US Global Power</a></b><br />CHARTS: (1) Monthly Terrorism Fatalities Before and After 9/11; (2) Fatalities Due to Terrorism Worldwide 2004 –07; (3) US Military Personnel Overseas, Active and Reserves; (4) Percent of Active Component US Military Overseas; (5) Global Views of the USA; (6) World Opinion and US Military Power; (7) Post Cold War US Defense Spending; Allocation of World Military Spending<br /><br />(in html, no charts)<br /><b><a href="http://www.comw.org/pda/081201ForcefulEngagement.htm">Forceful Engagement: Rethinking the Role of Military Power in US Global Policy</a></b><br />12.08. Carl Conetta, Project on Defense Alternatives.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.comw.org/images/globalviewsofUS.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 525px; height: 723px;" src="http://www.comw.org/images/globalviewsofUS.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />REPORT 2 (pdf):<br /><b><a href="http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/081201ReenvisioningDef.pdf">Re-Envisioning Defense: An Agenda for US Policy Debate and Transition</a></b><br />12.08. Carl Conetta, Project on Defense Alternatives. Charts: (1) Post-Cold War Defense Spending; (2) US Federal Debt As Percentage of GDP 1940 - 2007<br /><br /><u>In html (no charts)</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.comw.org/pda/081202ReenvisioningDef.htm">Re-Envisioning Defense :An Agenda for US Policy Debate and Transition</a></b><br />05.12.08. Carl Conetta, Project on Defense Alternatives. The US defense policy paradox: less security at increasing cost -<br /><br />The United States is entering a critical period of policy transition. Beginning with the advent of the Obama administration, and continuing through the end of 2010, all of America's national security and defense planning guidance will be revised. Certainly the need for change is broadly felt by the public. And it is not difficult to understand why.<br /><br />Recent defense policy evinces a disturbing paradox: it has been delivering less and less security at ever increasing cost. With national defense expenditures approaching $700 billion per year, the United States today accounts for about 46 percent of all military spending worldwide – up from 28 percent in 1986. Approximately 440,000 US troops are presently stationed or deployed overseas, which is close to the number overseas at the end of the Cold War. But, in no area of concern has this prodigious effort produced substantial or sure progress – not in the “war on terrorism”, weapon proliferation, relations with allies, relations with China and Russia, or in the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Mideast, or Africa. Indeed, the world seems less stable and more polarized today than it did in 2001. And anti-Americanism is at a level not seen since the Vietnam war years. <b>Three core concerns; An agenda for policy debate and change</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">EXECUTIVE SUMMARY by CARL CONETTA</div><br /><b>The limits of force</b>. During the past ten years (and especially since the 2001 attacks) there has been a remarkable surge in US military spending and operations abroad. On balance, the costs have outweighed the benefits.<br /><br />Despite initial successes in Afghanistan and Iraq, an over-reliance on military instruments has weakened America’s armed forces, unsettled its alliances, spurred anti-Americanism, and prompted balancing behavior on the part of China and Russia. Global terrorist activity has increased, not decreased. And there is no real end in sight for US commitments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, instability is spreading to other countries and so are US military operations.<br /><br />The cost-benefit balance sheet indicates that the United States is using its armed forces and military power beyond the limit of their utility. Thus, the nation finds itself paying more and more for less and less security.<br /><br />The new administration seeks to place greater emphasis on diplomacy. Even more fundamental, however, is the need to roll back America’s over-reliance on military instruments. This is essential to the revival of America’s reputation and leadership position. What most divides the United States from those it hopes to lead is the issue of when, how, and how much to use force and the armed forces.<br /><br />Read more on:<b>The Lure of Primacy; Precepts for a New Direction; Elements of an Alternative</b>: “The real measure of a renewed US diplomacy will be efforts to reach across current strategic divides — especially to Russia, China, and the Muslim world — and find common ground. Cooperation on water, food, energy, and health security, global warming, economic development, and the management of globalization could serve as a foundation for progress on more divisive issues. A re-emphasis on traditional “quid pro quo” diplomacy will pay higher dividends in resolving divisive issues than will the resort to coercive diplomacy and saber rattling.”<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><em>Conrad understood what we did to others in the name of civilization and progress. And it is Conrad, as our society unravels internally and plows ahead in the costly, morally repugnant and self-defeating wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, whom we do well to heed</em>.<a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081221_man_is_a_cruel_animal/"> Chris Hedges</a><br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://image.guardian.co.uk/artsblog/authorpics/tariq_ali.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 140px; height: 140px;" src="http://image.guardian.co.uk/artsblog/authorpics/tariq_ali.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.tariqali.org/"> Tariq Ali</a></div><br />“The argument that more NATO troops are the solution is equally unsustainable. All the evidence suggests that the brutality of the occupying forces has been one of the main sources of recruits for the Taliban. American air power, lovingly referred to as ‘Big Daddy’ by frightened US soldiers on unwelcome terrain, is far from paternal when it comes to targeting Pashtun villages. There is widespread fury among Afghans at the number of civilian casualties, many of them children. There have been numerous incidents of rape and rough treatment of women by ISAF soldiers, as well as indiscriminate bombing of villages and house-to-house search-and-arrest missions.”<a href="http://www.newleftreview.org/?page=article&view=2713%22"> Tariq Ali </a> AFGHANISTAN: MIRAGE OF THE GOOD WAR, New Left Review, March-April 2008.<br /><br />Everything written in the above article holds true today.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20011101facomment5771/milton-bearden/afghanistan-graveyard-of-empires.html">Afghanistan, Graveyard of Empires</a></b><br />11-12.08. Milton Bearden, Foreign Affairs. Summary: The first engagement in the new war on terrorism -- with Osama bin Ladin in Afghanistan -- poses severe challenges for the United States. Rooting out bin Ladin's network will require military success in a country that the Soviet Union could not conquer in ten years of trying, as well as support from unstable surrounding nations. Washington may be tempted to try to oust the Taliban regime, but doing so could rekindle Afghanistan's brutal civil war. The United States must proceed with caution -- or end up on the ash heap of Afghan history.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/112908A">Mumbai to Obama: End Bush's War on Terror</a></b><br />29.11.08. Steve Weissman, Truthout. "The terrorist attacks in Mumbai call out to President-elect Barack Obama and his advisors to rethink the signature blunder of George W. Bush's eight years in office - the so-called War on Terror. As US intelligence reports have made clear, the centerpiece of the supposed campaign against terror, the military occupation of Iraq, has increased the likelihood of more attacks like those in Mumbai, Madrid, London and Manhattan. <b>The new escalation in Afghanistan will similarly increase terrorist attacks there, in neighboring India and Pakistan, in disputed Kashmir, and throughout the world."</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/171254">The Things We Need to Do Now</a></b><br />29.11.08. Andrew J. Bacevich, Newsweek. What is our definition of victory? <b>In Afghanistan today, the United States and its allies are using the wrong means to pursue the wrong mission.</b> Sending more troops to the region, as incoming president Barack Obama and others have suggested we should, will only turn Operation Enduring Freedom into Operation Enduring Obligation. Afghanistan will be a sinkhole, consuming resources neither the U.S. military nor the U.S. government can afford to waste.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120208N">Fallout Will Hit Obama's Afghan Plan</a></b><br />29.11.08. Maleeha Lodhi, The Independent/ truthout. "The terrorist attacks in Mumbai have dramatised how the urgent will often take precedence over the important for the incoming Obama administration. The attacks have plunged relations between Pakistan and India into unpredictable territory just when a series of policy reviews in Washington are focused on overhauling strategy in Afghanistan. <b>With Afghanistan in a 'downward spiral' </b> Washington is groping for a new strategy."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20081001faessay87603/barnett-r-rubin-ahmed-rashid/from-great-game-to-grand-bargain.html">From Great Game to Grand Bargain</a></b><br />11/12.08. Barnett R. Rubin and Ahmed Rashid, Foreign Affairs. The crisis in Afghanistan and Pakistan is <b>beyond the point where more troops will help</b>. U.S. strategy must be to seek compromise with insurgents while addressing regional rivalries and insecurities.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhMH_mWpV9c">Herat's residents regret city's hardship </a>(al jazeera 30.11.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/world/asia/02strategy.html?ref=us">Afghan Strategy Poses Stiff Challenge for Obama</a></b><br />01.12.08. NY Times. Military experts agree that more troops are required to carry out an effective counterinsurgency campaign, but they also caution that the reinforcements are unlikely to lead to the sort of rapid turnaround that the so-called troop surge in Iraq produced after its start in 2007. see also <a href="http://www.truthout.org/120108T"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer64.html">Vote First. Ask Questions Later</a></b><br />01.12.08. William Blum, Killing Hope. . The future as we used to know it has ceased to exist / ., The next time you encounter a defender of American foreign policy, someone insisting that something like Mumbai justifies Washington's rhetorical and military attacks against Islam, you might want to point out that the United States does the same on a regular basis. For seven years in Afghanistan, almost six in Iraq, to give only the two most obvious examples … ... breaking down doors and machine-gunning strangers, infidels, traumatizing children for life, firing missiles into occupied houses, exploding bombs all over the place, pausing to torture ... every few days dropping bombs on Pakistan or Afghanistan, and still Iraq, claiming they've killed members of al-Qaeda, just as bad as Zionists, bombing wedding parties, one after another, 20 or 30 or 70 killed, all terrorists of course … Obama may prove to be as big a disappointment as Nelson Mandela … / Another comparison might be with Tony Blair. The mythology of the War on Terrorism. Since the first American strike on Afghanistan in October 2001 there have been literally scores of terrorist attacks against American institutions in the Middle East, South Asia and the Pacific, more than a dozen in Pakistan alone: military, civilian, Christian, and other targets associated with the United States. / .. Obama has appointed former CIA official John O. Brennan as an adviser on intelligence matters and co-leader of his intelligence transition team. Brennan has called "rendition" – the kidnap-and-torture program carried out under the Clinton and Bush administrations – a "vital tool", and praised the CIA's interrogation techniques for providing "lifesaving" intelligence. / An even more insidious myth of the War on Terrorism has been the notion that terrorist acts against the United States can be explained, largely, if not entirely, by irrational hatred or envy of American social, economic, or religious values, and not by what the United States does to the world; i.e., US foreign policy. Just put down that stereotype and no one gets hurt.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://webdesignsphere.com/house.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 277px;" src="http://webdesignsphere.com/house.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120108D"> Photo: Allauddin Khan / AP</a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120108D">Confronting the Terrorist Within</a></b><br />01.12.08. Chris Hedges, Truthdig/ Truthout. "<b>The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when viewed from the receiving end, are state-sponsored acts of terrorism</b>. These wars defy every ethical and legal code that seek to determine when a nation can wage war, from Just War Theory to the statutes of international law largely put into place by the United States after World War II. <b>These wars are criminal wars of aggression. They have left hundreds of thousands of people, who never took up arms against us, dead and seen millions driven from their homes. We have no right as a nation to debate the terms of these occupations</b>. And an Afghan villager, burying members of his family's wedding party after an American airstrike, understands in a way we often do not that terrorist attacks can also be unleashed from the arsenals of an imperial power. / Barack Obama's decision to increase troop levels in Afghanistan and leave behind tens of thousands of soldiers and Marines in Iraq-he promises only to withdraw combat brigades-is a failure to rescue us from the status of a rogue nation. It codifies Bush's "war on terror." And the continuation of these wars will corrupt and degrade our nation just as the long and brutal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank has corrupted and degraded Israel. George W. Bush has handed Barack Obama a poisoned apple. Obama has bitten it. … / <b>The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are a ‘radical evil’</b>."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081222/dreyfuss?rel=hp_picks">Obama's Afghan Dilemma</a></b><br />03.12.08. R. Dreyfuss, Nation. But assertions by the US command and the Obama team that we can both "surge" and negotiate overlook the glaring reality that sending more troops into the Afghan quagmire and urging the Pakistani government to escalate the war it is fighting against its own people <b>will make the crisis worse, not better</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120408J">The Threat of Realism</a></b><br />04.12.08. Marc Ash, Truthout. In Afghanistan, for whatever reason, everyone on a US national security level seems to have <u>forgotten the lessons that the vastly superior Soviet military learned in Afghanistan two decades ago</u>, i.e., do not leave your military there. It is what military experts have always referred to it as <b>the graveyard of foreign armies</b>. / There seems to be a desire on the part of US military planners to do in Afghanistan now what they "should have" or were "not allowed" to do in 2002. But now is now and then was then. Now, a new strategy must be developed. One that doesn't repeat the mistakes of Mikhail Gorbachev or George W. Bush. <b>The plan currently offered won't pass muster</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts259.html">Washington Arrogance Has Fomented a Muslim Revolution</a></b><br />05.12.08. Paul Craig Roberts, Lew Rockwell. The attack on Mumbai required radicalized Muslims. <b>Radicalized Muslims resulted</b> from the US overthrowing the elected government in Iran and imposing the Shah; from the US stationing troops in Saudi Arabia; <b>from the US invading and attempting to occupy Afghanistan and Iraq, bombing weddings, funerals, and children’s soccer games; from the US violating international and US law by torturing its Muslim victims</b>; from the US enlisting Pakistan in its war against the Taliban; from the US violating Pakistan’s sovereignty by conducting military operations on Pakistani territory, killing Pakistani civilians; <b><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">from the US government supporting a half century of Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their lands, towns and villages</span></b>; <b>from the assault of American culture on Muslim values</b>; from the US purchasing the government of Egypt to act as its puppet; from US arrogance that America is the supreme arbiter of morality.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21387.htm">Afghanistan: Another Untold Story</a></b><br />05.12.08. Michael Parenti, ICH. <b>The war against Afghanistan, a battered impoverished country, continues to be portrayed in US official circles as a gallant crusade against terrorism</b>. If it ever was that, it also has been a means to other things: destroying a leftist revolutionary social order, gaining profitable control of one of the last vast untapped reserves of the earth's dwindling fossil fuel supply, and planting US bases and US military power into still another region of the world. <u>Sections on History</u>: Jihad and Taliban, CIA Style; The Holy Crusade for Oil and Gas<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21406.htm">Peace</a></b><br />05.12.08. Cindy Sheehan, ICH. If the USA had a national Peace Movement, Obama would not be our President-Elect right now. Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh) would have been the nominee for the Democrats and Ron Paul (R-Tx) would have been nominated from the GOP and Cynthia McKinney (G) and Ralph Nader (I) would have had seats at debates. What we have here in the US is an "anti-war" movement that is selective in its opposition to war.<br /><br />"<em>Your Hope of Winning [the War] By Sending In Additional Troops is Illogical and Misguided. <b> The main cause of the financial storm that has swept through the world is America's failing belligerent policy and its strategy of occupation.</b> The negative effects have spread, in one form or another, to all corners of the world ... Your Hope of Winning By Sending In Additional Troops is Illogical and Misguided</em>" <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49365&s2=07"> Mullah Omar </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49410&s2=08">In the lair of the Taliban</a></b><br />07.12.08. Nir Rosen, Asian Window / uruknet. ...It is foolhardy to believe that the Americans can prevail where the Russians failed. And it is too late for Bush’s "quiet surge", or even for Barack Obama’s plan for more robust reinforcements in Afghanistan. <b>More soldiers on the ground will only lead to more contact with the enemy, and more air strikes will only lead to more civilian casualties that will alienate even more Afghans.</b> Sooner or later, the Americans will be forced to negotiate, just as the Soviets were before them. Bush vowed that he would never allow the Taliban to return to power in Afghanistan. But they have already returned, and they appear to be winning. As a high-ranking Taliban leader said recently, "You westerners have your watches. But we Taliban have time."..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21428.htm">Afghanistan: The Arrogance and Ignorance</a></b><br />10.12.08. Yvonne Ridley, ICH. The western leaders can either choose to remain in denial and send in more troops while listening to pompous civil servants, politicians and diplomats who say only what they think their masters want to hear, or they can sit down and read the ICOS report (see Taliban, above) and act upon it.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3724570/Afghan-troops-losing-support-from-locals.html">Afghan troops losing support from locals</a></b><br />12.12.08. Telegraph. (The behaviour of international troops is jeopardising the support of the Afghan people, the country's most senior United Nations official has warned.) Kai Edie, the UN Secretary-General's special representative, said he was <b>worried about the effects of civilian casualties, unlawful detentions and heavy-handed searches.</b> / Civilian deaths, particularly from coalition airstrikes, have caused deep resentment in Afghanistan and President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly demanded villages are not bombed. / Civilians have also repeatedly been shot dead when cars and buses have failed to heed warnings and strayed too close to coalition convoys and patrols. / He said: "<b>In the end the Afghans themselves have to win the hearts and minds of their population, we can contribute, but I am afraid that we will be less welcome in the Afghan public if we do not correct our behaviour.</b>"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/121608R">Afghanistan: A Way Forward</a></b><br />16.12.08. Maya Schenwar, interview with Stephen Kinzer. “In the first place, <b>increasing the number of American troops in Afghanistan is sending the wrong signal</b>. The very presence of foreign troops in aggressive, frontline military roles in Afghanistan is an incitement for reaction from local people. The first thing we need to do is decide to <b>maintain our troop strength at the relatively modest level that it's at now, and not increase it. / Resisting foreign armies is something Afghans have been doing for thousands of years - they're probably better at it than anyone else in the world. The British learned this in the 19th century, the Soviets learned this in the 20th century. We shouldn't have to repeat those very painful lessons</b>.” … VIDEO OF INTERVIEW.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gzpXPc6nzGvaBNrn5EUIPwucDpOA">Using Afghan militias to keep peace wouldn't work in the south: Thompson</a></b><br />16.12.08. Canadian press. The tactic has long been endorsed by Gen. David Petraeus, the former top U.S. military official in Iraq who now oversees the Afghan war as commander of U.S. Central Command. / But there are some crucial differences between Afghanistan and Iraq, said Brig.-Gen. Denis Thompson, who oversees Canada's operations in Kandahar.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11411">The American-Made Insurgency in Afghanistan: A Million McVeighs Now</a></b><br />16.12.08. Chris Floyd, global research. <b>The "Good War" </b>in Afghanistan – the Bush-launched war that Barack Obama tells us we must fight and win – continues to deteriorate before our eyes. Just like every other operation in the so-called "War on Terror" (another Bush-launched campaign that Obama has fully embraced as his own), the Afghan war, now in its seventh year, has proven entirely counter-productive to its stated aims. Instead of stabilizing a volatile region and denying it as a base for violent extremism, it has of course done the opposite. The shock waves of the heavy-handed American-led invasion of Afghanistan – a country that no foreign power has ever conquered and held – have spread across Central Asia, most dangerously into Pakistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21496.htm">Obama's War</a></b><br />19.12.08. Patrick J. Buchanan, Creator’s Syndicate / ICH. Just two months after the twin towers fell, the armies of the Northern Alliance marched into Kabul. The Taliban fled. The triumph was total in the "splendid little war" that had cost one U.S. casualty. Or so it seemed. Yet, last month, the war against the Taliban entered its eighth year, the second longest war in our history, and <b>America and NATO have never been nearer to strategic defeat</b>.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>Karzai</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/112808Y">Afghan Leader Demands Plan for NATO Withdrawal</a></b><br />27.11.08. Candace Rondeaux, The Washington Post/truthout. "Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sharply criticized the United States and NATO, demanding a <b>timeline for the withdrawal of foreign forces</b>. Karzai's comments came late Tuesday in a speech to a U.N. Security Council delegation visiting Kabul, the capital, this week. He accused the international community of failing 'to fight the Taliban properly' since the U.S.-led war in the country began in 2001."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://tinyurl.com/6bdww9">Karzai: Foreign troops have not made life better</a></b><br />28.11.08. dailytimes/pk / ICH. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has criticised the seven-year Afghan war, complaining that the <b>US and NATO troops have not made life better</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD9555N2O2">Afghan leader sends demands to US on troop conduct</a></b><br />18.12.08. AP/legitgov. President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly called for foreign troops to do more to prevent civilian deaths during strikes and raids. He also wants them to show <b>more respect for the country's traditional Muslim culture</b>, in which men can cause great affront by entering a house with women inside.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=78989&sectionid=351020403">Karzai: US forces alienated Afghans</a></b><br />20.12.08. presstv. Karzai reiterated that <b>concentrating more troops around the Afghan capital was not a good idea</b> and called for clarification of responsibilities of the ISAF forces and the Afghan government. / President Hamid Karzai has grown increasingly impatient with the American-led war effort against the Taliban insurgency and has repeatedly condemned the US strikes against the Afghan civilians.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD957VNV80">Afghan leader presses US military on strategy</a></b><br />22.12.08. J. Straziuso, AP. President Hamid Karzai pressed America's top military leader Monday on the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan and preparations to pour up to 30,000 more forces into the country, reflecting Karzai's concerns over civilian casualties and operations in villages. Karzai asked Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, <b>what kinds of operations the newly deployed troops would carry out and told him that the Afghan government should be consulted about those missions</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/itsonlyfair/latimes0584.html">Afghanistan's President Karzai laments coalition use of 'thugs'</a></b><br />22.12.08. Kim Barker, LA Times / Fair use. Interview with Karzai.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1590000/images/_1591584_valley300bbc.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 180px;" src="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1590000/images/_1591584_valley300bbc.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/1591584.stm"> Panjshir Valley</a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98498372">Lessons On The Ground In Afghanistan</a></b><br />19.12.08. Loren Jenkins, npr. To drive up into [Panjshir valley] where the Mujaheedin fought the Soviet Red Army to a standstill two decades ago, is to understand why those who know Afghan tribesmen's long history of resisting foreign armies — from Alexander the Great to today's NATO forces — warn of quagmires to come. / <b>To see these vast depots of destroyed weaponry only an hour's drive outside Kabul should give pause to the policymakers who believe that U.S. might and determination can prevail here, where others through history — the Persians, the British, the Russians, among others — have consistently failed</b>. / So far, however, that has not been the case. After seven years of war, with some 34,000 U.S. troops and another 30,000 from NATO, the conflict here is going badly. This year, for the first time, there were more American casualties than we have had in Iraq, and one recent study said the Taliban is operational in 72 percent of the country. / <b>Indeed, things have been going so badly that Washington has so far not released any data from its new National Intelligence Estimate on Afghanistan or the results of several strategy studies on the Afghan war. / Escalation, of course, is a very slippery slope — especially when it occurs in countries whose history and martial cultures are little understood or appreciated by foreigners forging policies half a world away.</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JL20Df01.html">All roads lead out of Afghanistan</a></b><br />20.12.08. *** M K Bhadrakumar, Asia Times. The measure of success of president-elect Barack Obama's new "Afghan strategy" will be directly proportional to his ability to delink the war from its geopolitical agenda inherited from the George W Bush administration. / It is obvious that Russia and Iran's cooperation is no less critical for the success of the war than what the US is painstakingly extracting from the Pakistani generals. Arguably, Obama will even be in a stronger negotiating position vis-a-vis the tough generals in Rawalpindi if only he has Moscow and Tehran on board his Afghan strategy. / But then, Moscow and Iran will expect that Obama reciprocates with a willingness to jettison the US's containment strategy towards them. The signs do not look good. This is not only from the look of Obama's national security team and the continuance of Robert Gates as defense secretary. / On the contrary, in the dying weeks of the Bush administration, the US is robustly pushing for an increased military presence in the Russian (and Chinese) backyard in Central Asia on the ground that the exigencies of a stepped-up war effort in Afghanistan necessitate precisely such an expanded US military presence. / Sections on <b>Russian-Iranian proximity; Politics of transit routes; US's Caucasian thrust; US holds trump cards</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2475090.0.army_top_brass_warn_afghanistan_will_be_our_next_northern_ireland.php">Army top brass warn: Afghanistan will be our next Northern Ireland</a></b><br />21.12.08. Sunday Herald/anti-war. <b>Senior British army officers fear the deployment of troops in Afghanistan's Helmand province will turn into an operation lasting as long as that in Northern Ireland</b>./… His fears were echoed by the Chief of the Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshall Sir Jock Stirrup, who warned that the end of the British presence in Basra in Iraq would not necessarily provide a magic wand for him and his planners. / "We're currently doing more than we're structured or resourced for over the long term," he told an audience at the Royal United Services Institute, a Whitehall-based think tank. "We cannot simply make a one-for-one transfer from Iraq to Afghanistan." / Military analysts also fear the tours of duty in Helmand will not be as successful as in Northern Ireland because the army is failing to win the hearts and minds of the local population. / According to Dr Daniel Marston, a counterinsurgency warfare specialist, the army will have to relearn the lessons of Northern Ireland if it is ever going to be successful in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mid-day.com/news/2008/dec/221208-Iran-US-troops-Afghanistan.htm">Iran warns US over more troops to Afghanistan</a></b><br />22.12.08. mid-day / ICH. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in a press briefing in Tehran that the US should be careful of the consequences of its new policies in Afghanistan and not make the same mistakes as in Iraq.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/22/afghanistan-military-us-foreign-policy-max-hastings">Under US orders</a></b><br />22.12.08. Max Hastings, Guardian. … / Privately, [the Americans] acknowledge that Afghanistan cannot afford a huge war machine. The average defence spend of developing nations is about 2% of GDP. To fund the 300,000 troops the US thinks necessary to secure the country, at a cost of $10,000 a man, Kabul would need to spend a crazy 20% of its GDP. <b>Some Washington strategy gurus argue that the US military is promoting a model that is unsustainable</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081221_man_is_a_cruel_animal/">Man Is a Cruel Animal</a></b><br />22.12.08. Chris Hedges, Truthdig. … <b>Those who attempt to mend the flaws in the human species through force embrace a perverted idealism. Those who believe that history is a progressive march toward human perfectibility, and that they have the moral right to force this progress on others, no longer know what it is to be human. In the name of the noblest virtues they sink to the depths of criminality and moral depravity</b>. This self-delusion comes to us in many forms. It can be wrapped in the language of Western civilization, democracy, religion, the master race, Liberté, égalité, fraternité, the worker's paradise, the idyllic agrarian society, the new man or scientific rationalism. The jargon is varied. The dark sentiment is the same. / … Conrad rejected all formulas or schemes for the moral improvement of the human condition. Political institutions, he said, "whether contrived by the wisdom of the few or the ignorance of the many, are incapable of securing the happiness of mankind."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gDCr6suboeYAxnLdXhBtWyWLz8OA">Coalition forces slammed for 'abusive' raids, air strikes in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.12.08. AP / legitgov. Lethal air strikes and "abusive" nighttime raids by coalition forces in Afghanistan threaten to turn the local population against foreign troops, according to a report released Tuesday. The Report, released in Kabul by the <a href="http://www.aihrc.org.af/index_eng.htm"> Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission [AIHRC]</a>, says U.S. and NATO air strikes and nighttime searches of civilian houses could undermine seven years of trying to win the hearts and minds of Afghans. "<b>Afghan families experienced their family members killed or injured, their houses or other property destroyed, or homes invaded at night without any perceived justification or legal authorization</b>," the report says. See Reuters on the report, “From Hope to Fear” <a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1108205"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/391551/obama_s_afghan_escalation?rel=hp_picks">Obama's Afghan Escalation</a></b><br />23.12.08. Robert Dreyfuss, The Nation. True enough, Barack Obama has pledged to support a "surge" in US forces in Afghanistan, as bad an idea as that might be.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a_G.w1Vgsork&refer=us">Obama’s Afghan Troop-Surge Plan May Prove Too Much, Too Late</a></b><br />24.12.08. Ken Fireman, Bloomberg. Sending more U.S. forces to Afghanistan is an idea whose time has come. The question is whether the time when it could work has already gone. … The tension between the short-run need for more muscle to thwart the Taliban and the long-term trap of becoming the <u>latest in a long line of foreign intruders bogged down in Afghanistan</u> forms the core of the dilemma confronting Obama.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?p=49914">US to fight "insurgency" across Muslim world for 25 years </a></b><br />25.12.08. Anwar Iqbal, uruknet.<br />The United States is committed to fighting insurgency [sic] in the Muslim world for 25 years, says a report released by the US Joint Forces Command. Besides this general commitment to fighting insurgency, the United States is <b>building permanent military structures in Afghanistan</b> to indicate its plans for a long-term stay in the war-ravaged country. Earlier this week, the US Corps of Engineers sought bids for some of these projects. One such project in Kandahar could cost as much as $500 million while three separate projects for housing facilities for the US troops will cost at least $100 million each... [NB: The US is not fighting “insurgents.” The US is fighting Islam.]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122500757_pf.html">Study Criticizes Bush Approach to War Funding, Calls for Changes</a></b><br />26.12.08. Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post/anti-war. President-elect Barack Obama's administration needs to monitor war spending much more closely than the current White House has, according to a new study that criticizes President Bush's approach to funding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars -- a bill that is projected to approach nearly $1 trillion next year. / … The <a href="http://www.csbaonline.org/4Publications/PubLibrary/R.20081215.Cost_of_the_Wars_i/R.20081215.Cost_of_the_Wars_i.pdf"> CSBA </a> … blamed the ballooning budgets on the Bush administration's unprecedented decision to fund the wars through giant emergency spending measures rather than through appropriations requests.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp12262008.html">Obama and the Graveyard of Empires</a></b><br />26-8.12.08. Gary Leupp, Counterpunch. Beardon citing Louis Dupree, the premier historian of Afghanistan, attributed the “British disaster” of 1878-81 to four “mistakes”: the occupation of Afghan territory by foreign troops, the placing of an unpopular ruler in power, harsh acts committed against local enemies, and paltry subsidies paid to local allies. “The United States would be wise to consider them today,” he concluded. Again, Beardon was writing just as the U.S. was beginning its adventure in Afghanistan, and when the war in Iraq based on lies was still a twinkle in Dick Cheney’s eye.<br /><br /><b>Does Obama, often described as lacking knowledge of foreign affairs, and praised (by all the wrong people) for reaching out to (all the wrong) “experienced” foreign policy wonks, really believe that he can succeed in Afghanistan where so many others have failed? Here perhaps we find the audacity of sheer historical ignorance</b>.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.metacafe.com/watch/422855/graveyard_of_empires/">AFGHANISTAN: GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/ashraf-ghani-afghanistan-is-a-failing-state-it-needs-a-marshall-plan-1214980.html">Ashraf Ghani: Afghanistan is a failing state. It needs a Marshall Plan</a></b><br />29.12.08. Independent. The current impetus for a new perspective in US interventions comes from the military, in the form of the new counter-insurgency doctrine. Building on lessons learned by the British in Malaysia and the French in Algeria in the 1950s and 1960s, a group of thinkers organised by General Petraeus in the US have formulated the thesis that the struggle for the people is the central issue in any counter-insurgency campaign. While 20 per cent of the campaign might centre on use of force, 80 per cent depends on political and economic efforts. Under this doctrine, the definition of partners rests on the litmus test of dedication to the people. The incoming administration must translate this doctrine into a focused strategy for Afghanistan. This will require a fresh look at the polity, the economy, and foreign aid. / .., <b>The present crisis was not inevitable, but rather the result of avoidable missteps</b>.<br /><br /><u> Another Viet Nam? </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081204_remaking_the_world_in_americas_image/">Remaking the World in America’s Image</a></b><br />04.12.08. William Pfaff, truthdig. This same war to make other states “into the American image” has been waged repeatedly during the last 50 years: in <u>Vietnam </u>, in Laos and Cambodia, in Nicaragua, in Iraq where “victory” (whatever that would be) still eludes the U.S., in Afghanistan in a war now spreading into Pakistan, in Somalia (through an Ethiopian proxy), and against Hezbollah and Hamas./ It invariably has failed, at heavy cost to the societies involved, and little or no benefit to the United States. <b>The rule long ago empirically established is that intervention in other countries to remake them invariably inflames and sustains nationalist resistance to the invader</b>. But Barack Obama and his team seem ready to try again.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120908A">Afghanistan: The Silent Winter of Escalation</a></b><br />08.12.08. Norman Solomon, Common Dreams /Truthout. the silence now enveloping the political nonresponse to plans for the Afghanistan war is a <b>message of acquiescence that echoes what happened when the escalation of the Vietnam War gathered momentum</b>. Right now, the basic ingredients of further Afghan disasters are in place - including, pivotally, a dire lack of wide-ranging debate over Washington's options. VIDEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_28981.shtml">ICOS: Afghan Resistance Controls 72% of Afghanistan. 3 of 4 roads leading out of Kabul "compromised"</a></b><br />08.12.08. L. Blough, Axis of Logic. The ICOS Report statistics, followed by 'Remembering Vietnam.'<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.esquire.com/the-side/richardson-report/afghanistan-vietnam-120908">Six Signs That Afghanistan Could Be Another Vietnam</a></b><br />09.12.08. John H. Richardson, Esquire. (Why the state of U.S. foreign policy, circa 2008, looks a whole lot like our policy in 1963 -- and how Robert Gates's strategy going forward is both encouraging and alarming). I have a terrible feeling that it is 1963 all over again, at least in one key aspect of our foreign policy. Here are the signs” – 6 illustrations given, with comments on Robert Gates’ Foreign Affairs article [see above].<br /><br /><em> “Wouldn’t you wish to learn what had happened to Jonathan in Viet Nam?” </em> A different war – but maybe at some level it was the same war.” <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wasted-Vigil-Nadeem-Aslam/dp/030726842X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229881596&sr=1-1"> Nadeem Aslam </a>, <u>The Wasted Vigil</u>.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQA1V9uPFjU"> On War - My Heart of Darkness </a><br /><br /><br /><a id="11000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 11. Military Industrial Complex, Contracts; Contractors </b></div><br /><br />MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX<br /><br /><u> Articles </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/110808/?page=entire">Why the U.S. Military Is in Shambles</a></b><br />08.12.08. Andrew Cockburn, CounterPunch / Alternet. Coinciding with the arrival of Obama and his deputies in Washington, the <a href="http://www.cdi.org/"> Center for Defense Information </a> is releasing <a href="http://www.cdi.org/friendlyversion/printversion.cfm?documentID=4404"> America's Defense Meltdown -- Pentagon Reform for President Obama and the New Congress </a>, a primer on what is wrong with our defense system written by men with long and honorable experience in the bowels of the military services and Pentagon bureaucracy. The book's editor, Winslow Wheeler, is familiar to readers of this site for his acrid and knowledgeable commentaries on the defense establishment. CounterPuncher Andrew Cockburn interviews him about the book and its message.<br /><br /><em> Conflict of Interest</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/30/washington/30general.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=mccaffrey%20military-industrial&st=cse">One Man’s Military-Industrial-Media Complex</a></b><br />29.11.08. David Barstow, NY Times. .. Through seven years of war an exclusive club has quietly flourished at the intersection of network news and wartime commerce. Its members, mostly retired generals, have had a foot in both camps as influential network military analysts and defense industry rainmakers. It is a deeply opaque world, a place of privileged access to senior government officials, where war commentary can fit hand in glove with undisclosed commercial interests and network executives are sometimes oblivious to possible conflicts of interest. … / … Many retired officers hold a perch in the world of military contracting, but General McCaffrey is among a select few who also command platforms in the news media and as government advisers on military matters. These overlapping roles offer them an array of opportunities to advance policy goals as well as business objectives. But with their business ties left undisclosed, it can be difficult for policy makers and the public to fully understand their interests. / On NBC and in other public forums, General McCaffrey has consistently advocated wartime policies and spending priorities that are in line with his corporate interests. But those interests are not described to NBC’s viewers. He is held out as a dispassionate expert, not someone who helps companies win contracts related to the wars he discusses on television.<br /><br />&: see D. Barstow/s earlier article, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html"> Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand </a>.<br /><br />Related - see:<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/110768/"> NBC's "One-Man Military-Industrial-Media Complex"</a></b><br />08.12.08. Diane Farsetta, PR Watch/alternet. (As a consultant for military contractors, retired general and Pentagon pundit Barry McCaffrey is a first-class war profiteer.) What will it take for the Defense Department officials involved to be held responsible for an illegal government propaganda campaign? Why don't news professionals realize that they need to vet their commentators and disclose any potential conflicts of interest to their audiences? When will the cable and network television stations that featured the Pentagon's pundits tell viewers that their war commentary was anything but independent?<br /><br />Also related: see <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/falsies2008"> The 2008 Falsies Awards </a> (PR watch)<br /><br /><em>Perhaps Mr. Barstow / PR Watch could investigate the following story, which sounds like another close knit club? </em> <a href="http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=9478503"> Security panel warns U.S. is losing global cyberwar </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49554&s2=13">Just How many US Military Bases ?</a></b><br />12.12.08. Sohbet Karbuz, uruknet. We know that the Pentagon’s Global Presence and Basing Strategy asked the total number of American military sites abroad to be reduced to 550 by 2012. That’s fine. This number is completely irrelevant simply because of the fact that today we don’t know how many military bases exist. <b>DoD’s reference of Base Structure Report does not tell the truth</b>./ … In fact, the DoD is the world’s largest landlord, much ahead of the US General Services Administration and General Electric as claimed by some. For example the US military bases in many countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Hungary, Austria, Israel, Bulgaria, Qatar, etc. are not listed in Bases Structure Report.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/u_s_weapons_war_2008_0">U.S. Weapons at War 2008 - Beyond the Bush Legacy</a></b><br />12.08. William D. Hartung, Frida Berrigan, New America Foundation. The United States, which entered into over $23 billion in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) agreements in fiscal year (FY) 2007 and $32 billion in FY 2008 (see table 1), is the world's largest arms supplier. / … In 2006 and 2007, the United States sold weapons to over 174 states and territories, a significant increase from the beginning of the Bush administration when the number of U.S. arms clients stood at 123.[1] While many of these sales were relatively small deals licensed commercially by the State Department, a number of important new states were added or restored to the U.S. client list, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, East Timor, Indonesia, Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan. Related article <a href="http://www.antiwar.com/ips/gharib.php?articleid=13893"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/world/middleeast/14reconstruct.html">Report Spotlights Iraq Rebuilding Blunders</a></b><br />13.12.08. NY Times / legitgov. <b>Pentagon 'put out inflated measures of progress to cover up the failures’</b>'. An unpublished 513-page federal history of the American-led reconstruction of Iraq depicts an effort crippled before the invasion by Pentagon planners who were hostile to the idea of rebuilding a foreign country, and then molded into a $100 billion failure by bureaucratic turf wars, spiraling violence and ignorance of the basic elements of Iraqi society and infrastructure. The history, the first official account of its kind, also concludes that when the reconstruction began to lag... the Pentagon simply put out inflated measures of progress to cover up the failures.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/15/us-costs-of-iraq-afghan-wars-top-900-bln-report/">US costs of Iraq, Afghan wars top $900 bln -report</a></b><br />15.12.08. Reuters / anti-war. A new study released by the nonpartisan <a href="http://www.csbaonline.org/2006-1/index.shtml">Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments </a>,or CSBA, said the Iraq conflict's $687 billion price tag alone now exceeds the cost of every past U.S. war except for World War II, when expenditures are adjusted for inflation. / With another $184 billion in spending for Afghanistan included, the <b>two conflicts surpass the cost of the Vietnam War by about 50 percent</b>, the report said<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008/12/19/the-high-cost-of-an-enormous-nuclear-arsenal/">The High Cost of an Enormous Nuclear Arsenal</a></b><br />19.12.08. Jason Ditz, anti-war. The United States has spent somewhere in the realm of $5.5 trillion creating its enormous nuclear arsenal, but even as they look to God-only-knows-how-much more on modernizing their warheads, a much less recognized expense, what to do with the enormous stockpile of waste from their construction looms large. Fear not, the Department of Energy has a plan to cut corners here. / Of course there’s plenty of opposition, but essentially, the plan is to <u>hollow out a mountain near Las Vegas</u>, and chuck all the material in there. If that sounds dangerous, don’t worry: in another hundred years the Energy Department will send an army of yet-to-be-invented robots into the facility to install some likewise yet-to-be-invented titanium shields to protect the waste from the water and the water from the waste. Win-win, at least in a hundred years.<br /><br /><u> US/UK “Special Relationship” </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20081219_6734.php">U.S. Firms to Get Controlling Stake in British Nuclear Weapons Complex</a></b><br />19.12.08. nti. A California-based engineering firm said Wednesday that it purchased a one-third share of the entity responsible for building and maintaining the United Kingdom's nuclear warhead stockpile, the Financial Times reported. / Although the United States already produced British nuclear-weapon components, London has maintained the U.K. Atomic Weapons Establishment as an independent authority to oversee its arsenal. The government put its AWE share on the market in 2007 when top officials decided to dismantle British Nuclear Fuels, the state-run firm holding the stake. / British Nuclear Fuels co-owned the Atomic Weapons Establishment with U.S. defense contractor <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lockheed_Martin">Lockheed Martin </a> and the British firm <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Serco"> Serco</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/secret-nuclear-selloff-storm-1204979.html">Secret nuclear sell-off storm</a></b><br />20.12.08. independent. Aldermaston bomb factory is sold to American company in bid to boost Treasury coffers provoking fury as Parliament is bypassed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/2139/britains-independent-deterrent">Britain's Independent Deterrent</a></b><br />22.12.08. Jeffrey, arms control wonk. After a couple of days at the AWE, and a tour of the lovely historical collection, I accepted the reality that, no, the United Kingdom does not in any way, shape, or form have an independent nuclear deterrent. VIDEO.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZqKGtX12opfGWgHH7WfTAR85WzvxbrVMtDKIg0G0bvqv03-f25pO8DNYIs9xxwJ3zRyiaXJf2Wepx9ECgFoyhD4ymU8MZE0mqRooCQewxufwU39uXwsL4cv89hr9-R4lIiAU/s1600-h/greenham2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 236px; height: 333px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlZqKGtX12opfGWgHH7WfTAR85WzvxbrVMtDKIg0G0bvqv03-f25pO8DNYIs9xxwJ3zRyiaXJf2Wepx9ECgFoyhD4ymU8MZE0mqRooCQewxufwU39uXwsL4cv89hr9-R4lIiAU/s400/greenham2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285938197642073522" border="0" /></a>NB: In 1983, the Greenham women + friends demonstrated at ONE HUNDRED AND TWO US bases on UK soil<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/12/19/ST2008121902949.html">The Pentagon is muscling in everywhere. It's time to stop the mission creep</a></b><br />21.12.08. Thomas A. Schweich, Washington Post. We no longer have a civilian-led government. It is hard for a lifelong Republican and son of a retired Air Force colonel to say this, but the most unnerving legacy of the Bush administration is the encroachment of the Department of Defense into a striking number of aspects of civilian government. Our Constitution is [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">has been since 9/11</span>] at risk. / While serving the State Department in several senior capacities over the past four years, I witnessed firsthand the quiet, de facto military takeover of much of the U.S. government. The first assault on civilian government occurred in faraway places -- Iraq and Afghanistan -- and was, in theory, justified by the exigencies of war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21522.htm">Guns, Butter, and Obama</a></b><br />25.12.08. Conn Hallinan, ICH. Over the next several months there will be a battle for hearts and minds, but not in Iraq or Afghanistan. The war will be here at home, waged mostly in the halls of Congress, where grim lobbyists for one of the top 15 economies in the world are digging in to preserve their stake in the massive U.S. military budget. … / the money at stake is staggering, although nailing down exactly what this country spends on the military is extremely difficult. "Figures on defense spending are notoriously unreliable," defense expert Chalmers Johnson points out. "<b>All numbers released by the Pentagon should be regarded as suspect </b>."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122500757_pf.html">Study Criticizes Bush Approach to War Funding, Calls for Changes</a></b><br />26.12.08. Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post/anti-war. President-elect Barack Obama's administration needs to monitor war spending much more closely than the current White House has, according to a new study that criticizes President Bush's approach to funding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars -- a bill that is projected to approach nearly $1 trillion next year. / … The <a href="http://www.csbaonline.org/4Publications/PubLibrary/R.20081215.Cost_of_the_Wars_i/R.20081215.Cost_of_the_Wars_i.pdf%20CSBA%20%3C/a%3E%20%E2%80%A6%20blamed%20the%20ballooning%20budgets%20on%20the%20Bush%20administration%27s%20unprecedented%20decision%20to%20fund%20the%20wars%20through%20giant%20emergency%20spending%20measures%20rather%20than%20through%20appropriations%20requests.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cu%3E%20Economics%3C/u%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Ca%20href=" com="" bin="" f="/n/a/2008/12/10/national/w110232S43.DTL""> Federal deficit totals $164.4B in November </a> (10.12.08. sfgate)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081211_we_told_you_so/">We Told You So</a></b><br />11.12.08. David Sirota, truthdig. In the slow-motion train wreck that became the current economic meltdown, our bipartisan political establishment and the sycophantic punditburo have been wrong over and over and over again. They told us that eviscerating consumer protections would unleash the market’s benevolent power and boost the economy. They told us that a trillion-dollar Wall Street bailout would solve a credit crisis. They told us that bailout would be subjected to intense oversight and scrutiny. / Wrong, wrong and wrong—and when critics predicted just that, sneering commentators and congressional leaders berated us as know-nothing Luddites, conspiracy theorists, or both. / But with the release of three new reports, there’s no debate anymore about who was correct and who wasn’t. The studies prove that the critics were right and the ideologues of Washington were wrong.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/114542/fighting_the_greedy_defense_lobbyists:_our_schools_vs._their_worthless_weaponry/">Fighting the Greedy Defense Lobbyists: Our Schools vs. Their Worthless Weaponry</a></b><br />22.12.08. Conn Hallinan, Foreign Policy in Focus/ICH. The war will be here at home, waged mostly in the halls of Congress, where grim lobbyists for one of the top 15 economies in the world are digging in to preserve their stake in the massive U.S. military budget. With the country in deep recession and resources dwindling for the new administration's programs on health care, education, and the environment, the outcome of this battle may well end up defining the next four years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/audits/113789/?page=entire">Pentagon Tries to Lock Obama Into an Outrageously Bloated Budget</a></b><br />24.12.08. Mark Engler, In These Times/Alternet. Given the financial crisis and the promise of President Bush’s departure from office, many have hoped that overheated defense spending might give way to the need to addressing domestic problems. Yet, countering these hopes, the Pentagon has already maneuvered to lock the Obama administration into greater military spending. On Oct. 9, Congressional Quarterly reported that a forthcoming spending estimate from defense officials would call for $450 billion in additional funds over the next five years. The publication Defense News subsequently confirmed with Bradley Berkson, the Pentagon’s director of program analysis and evaluation, that the military would indeed be seeking additional funds -- although Berkson cited the figure of $360 billion over six years. In either case, these billions would be increases on top of already escalating military budgets. <b>The Pentagon is currently set to receive $515 billion for 2009, and $527 billion for 2010. Each sum is roughly five times what the federal government will spend annually on education, housing assistance and environmental protection combined</b>.<br /><br /><em> US – Israel special relationship </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://antiwar.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=Israel%27s+Constant+Crisis-+by+Justin+Raimondo&expire=&urlID=33367368&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.antiwar.com%2Fjustin%2F%3Farticleid%3D13978&partnerID=16">Israel's Constant Crisis</a></b><br />31.12.08. J. Raimondo, anti-war. Because Israel is almost entirely dependent on international support – and especially American support – for its very survival, without U.S. public opinion behind it the Jewish state would soon wither on the vine. What this means, in practice, is that a constant stream of pro-Israel propaganda must be directed at the American people in order to justify the high levels of financial and military aid that keep Israel afloat.<br /><br /><u> Cyberspace </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/itsonlyfair/latimes0558.html">Cyber-attack on Defense Department computers raises concerns</a></b><br />28.11.08. J. Barnes, LA Times / fair use / anti-war. Defense officials would not describe the extent of damage inflicted on military networks. But they said that the attack struck hard at networks within U.S. Central Command, the headquarters that oversees U.S. involvement in Iraq and <u>Afghanistan</u>, and affected computers in combat zones. The attack also penetrated at least one highly protected classified network.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2232">Virus hits nearly 75% of systems on Afghanistan military base</a></b><br />29.11.08. zdnet. Earlier this month we saw the military ban the use of USB drives and other removable media. Apparently the virus outbreak that lead to this measure affected 75\% of all systems at the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan. / Details are still sparse, but both the LA Times and the U.S. News and World Report are reporting that the intrusion was severe enough to raise the INFOCON status, the information security equivalent of the DEFCON alert, and also necessitate the briefing of the president. We also don’t know the source of the attack, but signs point to state rather than non-state actors, with the most popular contenders being either Russia or China.<br /><br /><br />CONTRACTS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/3536943/Pentagon-hires-British-scientist-to-help-build-robot-soldiers-that-wont-commit-war-crimes.html">Pentagon hires British scientist to help build robot soldiers that 'won't commit war crimes'</a></b><br />01.12.08.Telegraph. The US Army and Navy have both hired experts in the ethics of building machines to prevent the creation of an amoral Terminator-style killing machine that murders indiscriminately. / By 2010 the US will have invested $4 billion in a research programme into "autonomous systems", the military jargon for robots, on the basis that they would not succumb to fear or the desire for vengeance that afflicts frontline soldiers./ … Last month the US Army took delivery of a new robot built by an American subsidiary of the British defence company <a href="http://www.qinetiq.com/"> QinetiQ </a>, which can fire everything from bean bags and pepper spray to high-explosive grenades and a 7.62mm machine gun.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/10/us/politics/10jets.html?em">A Fighter Jet’s Fate Poses a Quandary for Obama</a></b><br />09.12.08. NY Times<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1228728211411&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">ISRAELI UAVs to fly in Afghanistan</a></b><br />15.12.08. Jerusalem Post. Last month, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Aerospace_Industries"> Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI)</a> supplied a number of Heron UAVs to the Canadian military for operations in Afghanistan. The Heron will replace a small French-built UAV that Canada has been operating in Afghanistan for several years. / The Heron was supplied to Canada under a $95 million contract signed in August./ … With the delivery of the Heron, IAI is hoping to secure another contract with the Canadians, valued at $750 million and called "Project Justas" (Joint Unmanned Surveillance Target Acquisition System).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Elbit-Systems-SkylarkR-I-LE/story.aspx?guid=%7BFE2DC9CD-2F09-4E23-B5B6-5D7D1B7765DC%7D">Elbit Systems' Skylark(R) I LE Selected by the Ministry of Defense as IDF Battalion Level Mini UAV</a></b><br />16.12.08. marketwatch. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbit_Systems"> Elbit Systems Ltd.</a> announced that it was selected by the Israeli Defense Ministry to answer the battalion-level IDF tender, calling for a wide procurement of mini-UAVs for all IDF Ground Forces battalions, including training and logistics support. The Skylark(R) I LE is based on the accumulated experience acquired by the Skylark(R) I, in thousands of operational hours performed, in various battlefields, including Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://canadianarmedforcesblogger.blogspot.com/2008/12/canadian-helicopters-ltd-wins-afghan.html">Canadian Helicopters, Ltd. Wins Afghan Contract</a></b><br />22.12.08. Canadian armed forces.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.connpost.com/ci_11316727">Sikorsky nets $129m in deals</a></b><br />26.12.08. Conn Post. …. Some analysts have worried the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama might reprogram defense dollars toward education and other social programs, but Martin said, "<b>so far, from the comments of the president-elect, it doesn't look like they're going to slash anything anytime soon</b>."<br /><br />Big deals Defense Dept. contracts <b>awarded to Connecticut companies from Dec. 19-24</b>: SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT Stratford 6 Navy helicopters -- $85 million. Maintenance work -- $38 million. 60 percent of a weapons and repair contract on H-60 helicopters -- $16 million. ELECTRIC BOAT Groton Design and engineering services for a new missile compartment for United Kingdom submarines -- $76 million. 8 Virginia class submarines -- $14 billion. WARD CONSULTING LLC/ FULL CIRCLE CONSULTING GROUP Stamford Selected to compete for a portion of $5.3 billion in various Naval systems research and development contracts. COLT DEFENSE INC. West Hartford A five-year development contract to create the Marine Corps' infantry automatic rifle -- potentially $14 million.<br /><br /><br />CONTRACTORS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.twincities.com/ci_11150852?nclick_check=1">ATK wins $87M Afghan ammo deal</a></b><br />05.12.08. twin cities.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Alliant_Techsystems">Alliant Techsystems Inc.</a>, the largest supplier of ammunition to the U.S. military, has a new customer — Afghanistan / The Eden Prairie-based manufacturer of bullets, tank shells and rocket systems said it has an $87 million contract with the U.S. Army Sustainment Command to provide ammunition for the Afghan Security Forces for one year. / Afghan troops don't use the kind of ammunition Alliant makes for the U.S. and NATO troops. Instead, Alliant will scour suppliers around the world for ammunition designed for Russian-style weapons like the AK-47 assault rifle, the mainstay of the Afghan army.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/12/06/one_thriving_sector_the_business_of_war/">One thriving sector: The business of war</a></b><br />06.12.08. Boston Globe. Across the nation, companies are lopping off hundreds of thousands of jobs, retailers are shuttering stores, and automakers are tottering on the edge of bankruptcy. / But here in the Merrimack River Valley, and over the state line at several industrial sites around Massachusetts, [corrupt] defense contractor <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=BAE_Systems"> BAE Systems </a> is hoisting "Help Wanted" signs. / At a time when 1.7 million jobs have been lost in the United States this year, the company is hiring 200 engineers and manufacturing workers in Nashua, Hudson, and Merrimack, N.H., and Burlington, Lexington, and Marlborough, Mass. / Defense spending has climbed steadily during the Bush administration, reaching $671.7 billion in the 2008 fiscal year, including emergency supplemental appropriations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That represents a <b>72 percent increase from fiscal 2000</b>, after adjusting for inflation. Others ‘ramping up’ :<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Raytheon"> Raytheon</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=General_Dynamics"> General Dynamics </a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/07/AR2008120702676.html">Private Contractors Sought As Guards in Afghanistan</a></b><br />08.12.08. Walter Pincus, Washington post. The U.S. Army is looking to private contractors to provide armed security guards to protect Forward Operating Bases in seven provinces in southern Afghanistan. In a recent study, Anthony H. Cordesman, an intelligence expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, described five of those provinces -- Helmand, Kandahar, Nimruz, Zabol and Uruzgan -- as among the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aXtg3mDSS3yA&refer=us">Boeing Plans Cheaper Military Gear Amid U.S. Budget Constraints</a></b><br />11.12.08. Bloomberg. For example, he said, the Pentagon might order additional Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets if Lockheed Martin Corp.’s costlier F-35 Lightning II is further delayed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/The_Leaky_Ship_of_Human_Terrain_Systems">The Leaky Ship of Human Terrain Systems</a></b><br />12.12.08. David Price, wikileaks/counterpunch. … the British scientific journal Nature .. declared that the “the US military's human-terrain programme needs to be brought to a swift close.” / … The Human Terrain program is the brainchild of anthropologist Montgomery McFate, whose longtime interest in supporting the suppression of insurgent groups through the adoption of counterinsurgency tactics led to the formation of Human Terrain Systems based at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas and <b>run through <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=BAE_Systems">BAE Systems contractors </a></b>./ … These Human Terrain Teams are designed to incorporate military-embedded anthropologists and other social sciences who interview members of local populations in war zones, often with armed Team members, sometimes wearing uniforms./ Because of the complex ethical issues involved in conducting ethnographic fieldwork for occupying military forces in war zones, the Human Terrain Program is viewed by most anthropologists as being highly problematic./ .. In the last half year, American journalist John Stanton has written a series of damaging exposés published here on the CounterPunch site, in Pravda and elsewhere detailing a failures of Human Terrain management and the program’s overall inefficiency in the field. Stanton’s work draws largely on unidentified disgruntled Human Terrain personnel and paints a picture of fiscal mismanagement, poor field supervision, lack of training before sending social scientists into life-threatening situations, and a non-working “reach-back system” that was supposed to connect deployed field Human Terrain personnel with personnel located at HTS headquarters at Ft. Leavenworth.<br /><br />Nothing seems to be working right at Human Terrain. During the past year two Human Terrain social scientists have been killed and last month saw an attack on, and severe burning of, a third Human Terrain social scientist. Murder charges were recently filed against Human Terrain Team member Don Ayala. Ayala is accused of executing a detained man believed to have attacked and burnt his Human Terrain Team colleague). Many have tried to dismiss John Stanton and his work because it appears in alternative press sources but bastions of mainstream journalism have been giving the Human Terrain program a free ride since its inception, so I would not look to these sources to publish critical reports. That Nature has turned against Human Terrain is big news.<br /><br /><b> Inside the Leaked Handbook</b>. to read handbook, see <a href="https://secure.wikileaks.org/wiki/US_military:_Human_Terrain_Team_Handbook,_Sep_2008"> here </a>. Article further describes how the US military has attempted to paint the teams as assisting military "cultural sensitivity", but it is clear from the handbook that the teams report to military unit commanders and are used to map family, political and other relationships for general operations and irregular warfare.<br /><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/12/video-air-force.html"> Air Force's Killer Bugbots Attack </a> (12.12.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/afgh-d13.shtml">US military prepares for Obama’s expansion of Afghan war</a></b><br />13.12.08. James Cogan, WSWS. As well as the military reinforcements, the Obama administration will make greater use of private security companies, or mercenaries. On November 26, the US Army began advertising for contractors to provide hundreds of armed guards to protect US bases in Afghanistan, as well as supply routes and transport convoys. The five provinces where the mercenaries will be operating are Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, Zabul and Nimruz—the most volatile in the country. The initial contracts are to begin on January 1 and last for 12 months, with the option of them being renewed for a further three years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article5342049.ece">Staying the course</a></b><br />15.12.08. Times Online. The West's money, troops and backing will be needed for a long time, as the Prime Minister will reaffirm to Parliament today. What is at stake is not only the viability of Afghanistan, whose collapse would boost terrorism, drug production and extremism in the heart of Asia; it is the credibility of Nato itself. And until the alliance can agree common rules of engagement, its military potential will be wasted and its political coherence undermined. Nato and the incoming US administration also need to understand their political priorities: as long as relations with Russia, Iran and other neighbouring countries are bad, there is little chance of isolating the Taleban, even if support from neighbouring Pakistan can be cut off.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/harford/bal-apg1215,0,4360979.story">$27 billion Marine Corps vehicle program at crossroads</a></b><br />15.12.08. Baltimore Sun. The Marine Corps and contractor <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=General_Dynamics"> General Dynamics Corp.</a> face a critical test this week of the so-called Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle program. / A failure this week for the vehicles designed to replace a Vietnam-era fleet could doom the $27 billion program. Critics say amphibious vehicles are not needed for modern warfare, especially in places such as Afghanistan that have no access to water.<br /><br /><a href="http://alexanderhamiltoninstitute.org/lp/Hale/Special%20Reports%5CDefense%20Contractors%5CDefense%20Contractors%20-%20SourceWatch.htm">Defense contractors </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/iraq/2008/12/16/us-military-to-launch-pilot-program-to-recruit-new-local-afghan-militias.html">U.S. Military to Launch Pilot Program to Recruit New Local Afghan Militias</a></b><br />16.12.08. Us news. The U.S. military will soon launch a pilot program to raise local militias [ mercenaries], paid by the Pentagon, in an effort to improve security throughout the country. / The plan is modeled in part on a similar program in Iraq to build up Sunni neighborhood militias. But officials warn that the forces must be carefully vetted to avoid repeating the mistakes of Afghanistan's past, notably bolstering local warlords. / … Lately, however, there is growing concern about the militias. Some in the Sons of Iraq have accused Iraq's government of discrimination and baseless detentions, a development that is being closely watched throughout the rest of the country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/12/more-oversight.html">U.S. Wants Contractor to Monitor Mercs in A'stan</a></b><br />17.12.08. Nathan Hodge, blog.wired. According to a solicitation released earlier this week by the coalition headquarters at Bagram Airfield, the military is looking for a contractor to run something called the "Armed Contractor Oversight Directorate." The work statement says the new office will be responsible for tracking private security companies (PSCs) -- and keeping tabs on how often they resort to force.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6488463&page=1">FBI Agents Overcharge in Wars, Report Finds</a></b><br />18.12.08. ABC. It's not just contractors who are profiting off the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. FBI agents have been trying to rake in extra cash by billing overtime they aren't entitled to, a report released Thursday by the Justice Department's inspector general found.<br /><br />See “US Military Industrial Complex, Contracts, Contractors” in <u>Index on Economics and Peril in Afghanistan, October 2008 Timeline</u> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-on-economics-and-peril-in.html#11000"> here </a><br /><br /><br /><a id="12000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>12. US-NATO</b> (General; Transportation)</div><br /><br />GENERAL<br /><br /><u> Worn out Record</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1201/p03s05-usfp.html">Will NATO do more for Obama?</a></b><br />01.12.08. CSM. Obama's popularity abroad may not get him the extra forces in Afghanistan from NATO allies.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-12-03-voa61.cfm"> NATO Chief: More Troops Needed in Afghanistan</a> (03.12.08. VOA)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/12/12/troops-see-a-candid-robert-gates-at-town-halls-meetings-in-afghanistan.html">Troops See a Candid Robert Gates at Town Halls Meetings in Afghanistan</a></b><br />12.12.08. usnews. The Pentagon chief has blunt words for NATO, saying U.S. bears "disproportionate" share of mission<br /><br /><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIssues/idUKTRE4BK19120081221"> Allies must follow U.S. in boosting Afghan forces: NATO</a> (21.12.08. Reuters)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4AS0ZV20081129">Press and "Psy Ops" to merge at NATO Afghan HQ: sources</a></b><br />29.11.08. reuters. U.S. General [war criminal?] David McKiernan, the commander of 50,000 troops from more than 40 nations in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), ordered the combination of the Public Affairs Office (PAO), Information Operations and Psy Ops (Psychological Operations) from December 1, said a NATO official with detailed knowledge of the move. / "This will totally undermine the credibility of the information released to the press and the public," said the official, who declined to be named./ The move has worried Washington's European NATO allies -- Germany has already threatened to pull out of media operations in Afghanistan -- and the officials said it could undermine the credibility of information released to the public.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://en.rian.ru/world/20081204/118680557.html">NATO air strike 'accidently destroys' flock of sheep</a></b><br />04.12.08. en.rian.ru. Shots fired from NATO helicopters killed over 200 sheep belonging to local shepherds.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=480745">NATO says no Afghan winter lull in fight with Taliban</a></b><br />08.12.08. wired / anti-war. "The bottom line is, we do not want the enemy to be allowed to rest in Afghanistan during the winter," [U.S. Brigadier General James McConville] said. .. / Even though heavy snows and poor visibility hamper the use of air power, particularly helicopters, as in previous years, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) sees the winter as an opportunity to strike militarily and forge ahead with development projects to try to win [sic] hearts and minds.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gP8z4G0R3wViPCC-qkgBS973wWrQ">NATO says Afghan security will improve in 2009</a></b><br />17.12.08. AFP. Lieutenant General Jim Dutton, deputy commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said plans to boost the Afghan army and police force and increase the number of foreign troops would turn things around.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.australia.to/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2282:mullen-takes-pulse-of-us-nato-commands-in-afghanistan-&catid=71:world-news&Itemid=30">Mullen Takes Pulse of U.S., NATO Commands in Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.12.08. Australia.to. Fighting in Afghanistan probably will increase in the coming year, but it will be on U.S. and NATO terms, not on the enemy's, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today. / … New bases should not give the Afghan people the idea that they are being occupied, he explained. The chairman said the size of the U.S. force in Afghanistan concerns him, and that he agrees with Gates that numbers alone do not guarantee success, as the Soviet Union had 120,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and still lost. / .. The chairman called the Afghan people the center of gravity in the conflict. "We cannot be there if it looks like we're taking over," he said. "It has to have their face on it; it has to have their will, their security forces."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/26/europe/letter.php">NATO awaits new leadership</a></b><br />26.12.08. IHT. Now, as the alliance's main challenge, in Afghanistan, gets bogged down, allies bicker over who should take more of the military strain. In a policy journal called Europe's World, Nick Witney, a former senior British official and ex-head of the European Defense Agency, recently wrote an article under the title "The Death of NATO." But rumors of its demise may be exaggerated. In 2009, NATO will celebrate its 60th anniversary at a summit meeting in Strasbourg and Kehl, a small German city just across the border. / That meeting should anoint a secretary general to succeed Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Dutch diplomat whose low-key period in office ends in July. <u>Already there is discreet jockeying for the job</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ijDE4QXPoIEh91XFNWTxjCmro4dQ">NATO commander calls for new US troops for Afghanistan's south</a></b><br />28.12.08. AFP. The NATO commander in southern Afghanistan [Dutch Major General Mart de Kruif] called Sunday for most of the extra US troops due next year to be sent to his area, which he called the main military effort against extremists. / … The US military has already indicated that most of the soldiers would be sent to the east, where there is also heavy insurgent activity, and to central areas near the capital, Kabul.<br /><br /><u> New Members ?</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/02/over-us-objections-nato-resumes-contacts-with-russia/">Over US Objections, NATO Resumes Contacts with Russia</a></b><br />02.12.08. anti-war. NATO foreign ministers led by Germany managed to forestall fast-track membership for <u>Georgia and Ukraine</u>, and likewise reached an agreement to resume limited ties with Russia. The move was described as “conditional and graduated re-engagement” by NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JL11Ag01.html">Kazakhstan ponders joining Afghan fray</a></b><br />11.12.08. asia Times. Kazakhstan is seriously considering sending its peacekeepers to Afghanistan, which would mark the first deployment of soldiers from Central Asia since the Soviet-Afghan war of the 1980s. / .. Saudabayev, addressing a plenary session of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) parliamentary assembly in Valencia on November 20 indicated that Astana would like to increase its overall level of support for peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan by sending military personnel there. / This may involve elements drawn from Kazakhstan's peacekeeping battalion (KAZBAT) to work in military hospitals and at ISAF headquarters in Kabul. Saudabayev said expanding constructive and mutually beneficial cooperation with NATO is a key priority in Kazakhstan's foreign policy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.takimag.com/site/article/incoherent_empire_the_case_for_getting_out_of_nato/">Incoherent Empire: The Case for Getting Out of NATO</a></b><br />18.12.08. Doug Bandow, Takis/anti-war. Another NATO conference, another example of geopolitical futility. At the alliance’s recent ministerial meeting, the Europeans rebuffed Washington’s push for speedy membership for Georgia and Ukraine. NATO is coming up on its 60th anniversary, and it is completely bereft of a raison d’être. The organization has changed from a military alliance directed at protecting U.S. security to the international equivalent of a gentleman’s club. / .. What is the West, let alone the U.S., achieving with this willy-nilly expansion?/ .. In fact, remaining the dominant member of NATO makes no sense for the U.S. at any level. First, America remains a global colossus, accounting for roughly half of the globe’s military outlays. / .. It’s time for a NATO rethink. / .. What should come next for European security? It’s up to the Europeans. Americans spent the last six decades looking after friends and allies around the world. It’s time they started looking after themselves.<br /><br /><br />TRANSPORTATION<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhErM4E2EQvvrTvvQ8XhMNnY18efxc-d2lsy14PwB5BQ4SkNc_15gwGP_yG6yklecXXpDVjfgDPYE2uxvT1Qg6qoTPJavt6WGNAmrQR51aUJOp9GIQnu1Bv1m-Zdudc3Ab40Fxv/s400/hindu-kush.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285960680759541330" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://bobmckerrow.blogspot.com/2008/11/full-description-of-mountain-ranges-of.html">The start of the Hindu Kush oriental, Afghanistan, Photo: Bob McKerrow </a></span><br /></div><br /><em>With home-bred hordes the hillsides teem,<br />The troopships bring us one by one<br />At vast expense of time and steam<br />To slay Afridis where they run.<br />The "captives of our bow and spear"<br />Are cheap, alas! as we are dear</em><br />Kipling, quoted by <a href="http://bobmckerrow.blogspot.com/2008/11/full-description-of-mountain-ranges-of.html"> Bob McKerrow </a><br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34763.pdf"> Islamist Militancy in the Pakistan-Afghanistan Border Region and U.S. Policy </a> 21.12.08. FAS. (pdf, new format, with map).<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 347px; height: 257px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9BpkBLe_p3o4NL83iKEkPzW_rHRr3n9XMLAB-th8BnMPbuZBXrCg4qFo59k9lUJG-seowihmkHEyS9zQCpLp7Vj27bSyYuXCn6dIYAzNbvZoI0cfOPsd4qBmi5CHB8ytz6ZK3/s400/tol_khyber-pakistan_449321a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286296391659560706" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">The road was built by the British in 1879 and the railway from Jamrud to Landi Khana was built over six years by Victor Bayley and completed in 1925. <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/template/2.0-0/element/pictureGalleryPopup.jsp?id=5346023&offset=0&sectionName=Sport"> Photo Des Jenson/The Times </a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINISL35802420081202">Pakistani Taliban bomb Afghan supply convoy, 3 hurt</a></b><br />02.12.08. Reuters. It was the second attack in two days on supplies for Western forces heading through Pakistan's Khyber Pass, a vital supply route into landlocked Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/2008/12/nato-wants-transit-agreement-for-moving-cargo-to-afghanistan.html">NATO Wants Transit Agreement For Moving Cargo To Afghanistan</a></b><br />02.12.08. afghan conflict monitor. "Nato Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has said that they wanted to deepen their political dialogue with Islamabad to arrive at a transit agreement for moving the Nato cargo to Afghanistan.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iKuOOgNjsZH5g3JgdFu2N3-0vhuYr-qjfnlzqmN1gc1b8awU1gWrPglYcH4Mz-7IAcYGBcTGP1TYWh0fH0aVC4bWHPI-TBALebej6QnSb5YoVxEunSe9HuFB3vcmS29NAha_/s1600-h/afp_trucks.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 223px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iKuOOgNjsZH5g3JgdFu2N3-0vhuYr-qjfnlzqmN1gc1b8awU1gWrPglYcH4Mz-7IAcYGBcTGP1TYWh0fH0aVC4bWHPI-TBALebej6QnSb5YoVxEunSe9HuFB3vcmS29NAha_/s400/afp_trucks.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286322055924317298" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j8aps--nauJMMPTRZkaGszT6ObHg">Pakistan militants torch 65 NATO supply trucks: police</a></b><br />08.12.08. AFP. Police described the attack, in which one guard was shot and killed and two armoured vehicles were also destroyed, as the biggest of its kind so far. / NATO said on Monday the earlier attack had not substantially affected the alliance's operations in Afghanistan, but that it was looking at alternative routes to the Khyber Pass.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.google.co.uk/news?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hl=en&tab=wn&nolr=1&q=PESHAWAR+2ND+HIT+supplies&btnG=Search"> More than 160 US, NATO Vehicles Burn in Pakistan </a> 07.12.08. BBC<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49394&s2=08"> Nato supply convoy torched in Peshawar </a> (07.12.08. aljazeera / uruknet)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49393&s2=08">The Road War Moves to Pakistan</a></b><br />07.12.08. Moon of Alabama, uruknet. It seems that the winter campaign of the resistance in Pashtunistan, the area on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan boarder, will be against U.S./NATO supply convoys. The road war within Afghanistan has been going on for quite a while. The road war now moves into Pakistan. / At least 75% of all NATO/U.S. supply in Afghanistan comes through the Pakistani port of Karachi (1). Most of it goes up to Peshawar (2) and then through the Khyber pass to Kabul (3). A second route is from Karachi (1) through Quetta (5) to Kandahar (4). A part of the Afghan ring road connects Kabul (3) and Kandahar (4).It is constantly under attack. MAP<br /><br /><b>The Soviet learned some lessons about this. It was the road war that eventually killed their attempts in Afghanistan</b>. / U.S./NATO supplies are even more endangered because: (1) They need much more general supply per man than the Soviets did; (2) They do not have a boarder to Afghanistan but have to route the supply through Pakistan; (3) Alternative routes are too long and odious.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=480726">US plays down impact of convoy attacks in Pakistan</a></b><br />08.12.08. wired / anti-war. "The overall impact on our logistical efforts to resupply U.S. forces, NATO forces ... as well as Afghan forces has been small and had an overall insignificant impact to date," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ts&nid=3481">Taliban torch 50 more NATO trucks</a></b><br />09.12.08. Frontier Times / ICH. Taliban militants set on fire 50 more NATO trucks in their second attack during 24 hours in Peshawar, police said on Monday. "It was almost the same type of attack as some 200 armed militants torched to ashes 50 more NATO supply trucks" police official Anwar Zeb told The Frontier Post.<br /><br /><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C12%5C09%5Cstory_9-12-2008_pg7_12"> Attacks increase fears of Peshawar’s fall to Taliban </a> (09.12.08. daily times.pk./anti-war)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081209/wl_time/08599186522300">How the Taliban Hopes to Choke U.S. Afghanistan Mission</a></b><br />09.12,08. Mark Thompson, Washington, Yahoo news/ICH. Perhaps the Taliban are observing the old military axiom that amateurs study tactics, while professionals study logistics.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/09/afghanistan-nato-supply-routes">Convoy attacks trigger race to open new Afghan supply lines</a></b><br />09.12.08. Richard Norton-Taylor, Julian Borger and Suzanne Goldenberg, Guardian. NATO countries are scrambling for alternative routes as far afield as Belarus and Ukraine to supply their forces in Afghanistan, which are increasingly vulnerable to a resurgent Taliban, the Guardian has learned.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/09/europe/EU-NATO-Pakistan-Raid.php">NATO: attacks will not disrupt Afghan supplies</a></b><br />09.12.08. AP / IHT. NATO operations in Afghanistan will not be affected by escalating attacks on the alliance's supply lines through Pakistan, Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Tuesday. / The militants "should not be under any illusion that they can disrupt the lines of communication, since <u>we have alternatives</u> [sic]," de Hoop Scheffer said. / … In recent months, NATO has tried to develop other supply routes into Afghanistan. One of the possibilities is a northern overland route that would carry supplies by rail through Russia and the Central Asian nations to northern Afghanistan. Although Moscow has given its consent, NATO is <u>still negotiating</u> with Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. / "It is sad of course to see attacks on convoys, but let me assure you there will be not the slightest disruption for the ISAF forces in Afghanistan," de Hoop Scheffer said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49448&s2=11">Insurgent attacks on NATO trucks highlight US military crisis in Afghanistan</a></b><br />09.12.08. Barry Grey, uruknet. A series of attacks on US and NATO military equipment depots in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Sunday and Monday have underscored the increasingly dire security situation facing American and allied forces conducting the counterinsurgency war in neighboring Afghanistan. Anti-US insurgents attacked three depots in separate incidents, destroying some 200 trucks and containers loaded with military equipment and sup plies bound for American and NATO forces across the mountainous border in Afghanistan. The trucks contained dozens of Humvees and military personnel carriers and other materiel.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE4B97HI20081210">U.S., NATO seek less dependence on supply routes</a></b><br />10.12.08. Reuters. NATO and the Pentagon have played down recent attacks, calling their effects insignificant. "They were barely measurable on the graph of what goes into Afghanistan on a daily basis," NATO spokesman James Appathurai said. / But analysts warn that while the immediate impact has been negligible, convoy attacks constitute a developing threat that could easily become more serious.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5327618.ece">Taleban extract heavy tribute to let vital Nato supplies pass</a></b><br />12.12.08. Times Online. The (Khyber) pass lies just inside Khyber Agency, one of Pakistan's seven Federally Administered Tribal Areas which have been quasi-autonomous since Pakistan's independence in 1947. The area has traditionally been controlled by the Afridis, a tribe of about 600,000 people. [The Afridis are described in Loyn’s book]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5327683.ece">Taleban tax: allied supply convoys pay their enemies for safe passage</a></b><br />12.12.08. Times Online. The West is indirectly funding the insurgency in Afghanistan thanks to a system of payoffs to Taleban commanders who charge protection money to allow convoys of military supplies to reach Nato bases in the south of the country. / Contracts to supply British bases and those of other Western forces with fuel, supplies and equipment are held by multinational companies. / However, the business of moving supplies from the Pakistani port of Karachi to British, US and other military contingents in the country is largely subcontracted to local trucking companies. These must run the gauntlet of the increasingly dangerous roads south of Kabul in convoys protected by hired gunmen from Afghan security companies. / The Times has learnt that it is in the outsourcing of convoys that <b>payoffs amounting to millions of pounds, including money from British taxpayers, are given to the Taleban</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-12-11-airdrop_N.htm">Afghanistan airdrops pose risks</a></b><br />12.12.08. Jim Michaels, USA Today. The number of airdrops has increased to 800 this year from 99 in 2005, according to Central Command's air operations center. Planes dropped 15 million pounds of cargo this year, nearly double last year's load of 8.2 million pounds.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/12/more-nato-supplies-destroyed-as-peshawar-attacks-continue/">More NATO Supplies Destroyed as Peshawar Attacks Continue</a></b><br />12.12.08. anti-war. Militants in the Pakistani city of Peshawar continued tonight what has been already a week-long string of attacks on supply depots holding NATO trucks and containers throwing the reliability of NATO’s chief source of supplies to the military effort in Afghanistan into serious doubt. / In the latest attack, militants launched a rocket at Bilal Terminal in Peshawar at 3 AM local time Saturday morning, lobbing petrol bombs and destroying ten NATO supply trucks and 15 containers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5333435.ece">Nato hard at work making deals to beat the Khyber Pass convoy trap</a></b><br />13.12.08. Times Online. Nato plans to open a new supply route to Afghanistan through Russia and Central Asia in the next eight weeks following a spate of attacks on its main lifeline through Pakistan this year, Nato and Russian sources have told The Times. / Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the former Soviet Central Asian states that lie between Russia and Afghanistan, have agreed in principle to the railway route and are working out the small print with Nato, the sources said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081213/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan">Pakistan: Fresh attack on NATO supply route</a></b><br />13.12.08. AP. .. The raiders torched 11 trucks along the outskirts of Peshawar<br /><br /><em> This “strategy” <a href="http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htmurph/articles/20081214.aspx"> article</a> illustrates the skewed logic and lack of ‘intelligence’ of the US policy in Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan have never wanted foreigners in their country. Their lives, and deaths, are for honour rather than for business. </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=apMbK84vGgt8&refer=uk"> Petraeus Sees Routes to Afghanistan Through Ex-Soviet Republics </a> (14.12.08) Bloomberg.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/ips/ebrahim.php?articleid=13905">Taliban Raids on NATO Convoys Crippling, Say Analysts</a></b><br />15.12.08. Zofeen Ebrahim, anti-war. While NATO and United States forces have downplayed raids in Peshawar by pro-Taliban militants, destroying hundreds of their military vehicles and supply containers destined for Afghanistan, analysts here believe that the damage is significant.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=18962">Truckers stop Nato supplies</a></b><br />15.12.08. the news / anti-war. The decision was taken by the Khyber Transport Association (KTA) during an important meeting on Sunday. Owners of over 3,000 trailers, trucks and tankers belong to the Khyber Agency, located on the border with Afghanistan, who can move across the border without producing passports or other travelling documents. “We feel that our drivers and vehicles are not safe anymore. Also, as tribesmen, we are concerned over frequent <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html"> attacks by the US drones </a> in our tribal areas, and that is why we want to stop the supply of goods to the US-led allied forces in Afghanistan,” Shakir Afridi, president of the KTA, told The News after the meeting. / The KTA president said 3,000 to 4,000 trucks, trailers and tankers, which made the major share of vehicles transporting the Nato supplies, were owned by the tribesmen of the Khyber Agency alone. / Some vehicle owners are not members of the KTA and may continue with their job. However, they alone cannot manage to meet the needs of the Isaf forces.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/15/content_10509650.htm">NATO supply route resumed in Pakistan</a></b><br />15.12.08. Xinhuanet. The supply route in Pakistan, a lifeline for U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan, was resumed on Monday after a week-long suspension due to militant attacks.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 470px; height: 349px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9C9_1vfOM5DiuM_XWbW9mZuaR4G3-yklUBUDOw6ClMnxSnUyug6q6eknuEUwxjNK4hxn_aBloSN7QETOQA4eC5s35yAgEl6D8n13-1c8dVMvj7xqUESAk-8vtRvLGSaBgULib/s400/tol_khyber-taliban_449339a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286296395339063298" border="0" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Khyber Pass: Pakistani lorry owners and drivers have refused to resume delivering supplies to foreign troops in Afghanistan after a series of militant attacks on convoys plying the main supply route via the Khyber Pass <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/template/2.0-0/element/pictureGalleryPopup.jsp?id=5346023&offset=0&sectionName=Sport"> Photo Tariq Mahmood/AFP/Getty Images</a></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5344612.ece">Pakistani lorry drivers supplying Nato troops in Afghanistan go on strike</a></b><br />16.12.08. Times Online. An association of Pakistani lorry owners and drivers refused yesterday to resume delivering supplies to foreign troops in Afghanistan after a series of militant attacks on convoys plying the main supply route via the Khyber Pass. / An international shipping company that handles US military supplies through Pakistan also said that there was now "a large backlog of military freight" across the country from Karachi, where the cargo arrives by ship, to the Afghan border, "Clearly the security situation is very difficult," Kevin Speers, a spokesman for Maersk Lines Ltd, told The Times. "Movement through the Pass has been severely restricted."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2008/12/mil-081216-irna01.htm">Convoy of supplies trucks, fuel for NATO leaves for Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.12.08. global security. A convoy of oil tankers and trucks, carrying supplies for US-led NATO troops in Afghanistan, left for Afghanistan Monday under tight security after a week-long suspension due to attacks on vehicles, officials said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://voanews.com/english/2008-12-17-voa32.cfm">Taliban Targets NATO Convoy in Pakistan</a></b><br />17.12.08. VOA News. Pakistani officials said suspected Taliban militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at a NATO supply convoy, killing a woman in a nearby house and wounding at least one of her children.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=pakr2797209460.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 399px; height: 265px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=pakr2797209460.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49719&s2=21">Pakistanis protest US supply line into Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.12.08. Munir Ahmad, AP News/uruknet. More than 10,000 Pakistanis protested Thursday against allowing U.S. forces to ship supplies through Pakistan into Afghanistan in a sign of growing pressure on Islamabad to harden its foreign policy. It was one of the largest rallies against the government since it took office in March.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5361455.ece"> Gunmen attack new Afghan supply route </a> (18.12.08. Times Online)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9060&Itemid=132">U.S.–Georgia Security and Military Agreement in the Works</a></b><br />18.12.08. Georgian daily. the United States is about to increase its reliance on the supply route through the South Caucasus for U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The goals include helping Georgia fulfill the criteria for NATO membership..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gvdpVPBRKXHBRbtXUJtpo8vt6E3wD9558I900">NATO to resume contacts with Russia, official says</a></b><br />18.12.08. AP. Moscow also has agreed to allow the alliance to use its territory to resupply Western forces in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1219/p01s01-wosc.html">Afghanistan: Soviet failures echo for US</a></b><br />19.12.08. CSM. Control of roads and rural areas vexes coalition effort. [NB: The Brits had the same problem]<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24820700-2703,00.html"> Khyber impasse as Afghan trail hit by militants </a> (19.12.08. Australian news / anti-war)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5371264.ece"> Taleban blow up British Christmas turkeys </a> (19.12.08. Times Online)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD956E7180">Militants kill 3 in latest convoy attack</a></b><br />20.12.08. AP. The assailants struck the oil tankers Friday as they traveled through the famed Khyber Pass, said Fazal Mehmood, a government official in the lawless Pakistani tribal area for which the route is named.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JL20Df01.html">Politics of transit routes</a></b><br />20.12.08. M K Bhadrakumar. … Apart from the Karachi route, there are three alternate routes to supply the troops in Afghanistan: one, via Shanghai port straight across China to Tajikistan and to Afghanistan; two, the Russia-Kazakhstan-Uzbekistan/Turkmenistan land routes up to the Afghan border on the Amu Darya; three, the shortest and the most practical route via Iran./ … China / … But surprisingly, Washington wouldn't look at any of these alternate routes. Iran is understandably a no-go area (even though, in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan the Bush administration sought and obtained logistical support from Iran). But the US is equally wary of involving Russia and China in the war effort. It apprehends that tomorrow these countries might well demand a say in war strategy, which has so far been the US's exclusive turf. Then, there are other implications. / .. The containment strategy towards Russia and China cannot be sustained if there is a critical dependence on these countries for the US's war effort in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/21/securing-the-khyber-pass-who-pays/">Securing the Khyber Pass: Who Pays?</a></b><br />21.12.08. anti-war. Promised Khyber Security Comes at a High Price And No One Wants to Pay<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C12%5C22%5Cstory_22-12-2008_pg7_6">Tanker destroyed in Khyber Agency</a></b><br />22.12.08. daily times.pk. An attack by unidentified men destroyed an oil tanker in Bahadar Khel area of Khyber Agency late on Saturday [20.12], local sources said. No casualties were reported.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/world/asia/25khyber.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all"> Amid Taliban Rule, a NATO Supply Line Is Choked </a> (24.12.08. NY Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Pakistan+%26+Sub-Continent&month=December2008&file=World_News2008122703514.xml">NATO goods terminal being shifted to Punjab</a></b><br />27.12.08. peninsular Qatar. Private parties transporting supplies for the US and Nato forces from Karachi to Kabul and Bagram airbase via Torkham border town in Pakistan since 2003 have rented plots at Tarnol and Burhan towns in Attock district across the Kabul River for establishing terminals and parking facilities.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7804133.stm">Pakistan suspends Afghan supplies</a></b><br />30.12.08. BBC. Pakistan has blocked a key supply route to US and Nato forces in Afghanistan in order to begin an offensive against militants, officials say. / Troops backed by helicopter gunships and tanks began the operation in the Khyber Pass area early on Tuesday.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/world/asia/31military.html?_r=1"> U.S. to Widen Supply Routes in Afghan War </a> (30.12.08. T. Shanker, NY Times.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUKLV551899">NATO, Russia discuss equipment move to Afghanistan</a></b><br />31.12.08. Reuters. NATO and Russia are discussing whether to allow the military alliance to move its equipment through Russian airspace to Afghanistan, the pact's spokesman said on Wednesday./ So far, Russia has allowed only some individual NATO member states to ship weapons and equipment through its land to Afghanistan, where the alliance is fighting resurgent Taliban.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/31/pakistan-afghanistan-khyber-pass">Pakistan launches Khyber Pass offensive to support US-led forces</a></b><br />31.12.08. Guardian. Helicopter gunships strike along border in effort to secure supply lines for western troops, officials say<br /><br />PHOTOS: <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/template/2.0-0/element/pictureGalleryPopup.jsp?id=5346023&offset=0&sectionName=Sport"> TIMES ON LINE PICTURE GALLERY POP-UP </a><br /><br /><br /><a id="13000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>13. US-NATO COALITION</b> (Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, UK)</div><br /><br />AUSTRALIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/30/2433625.htm">2 Australians wounded in Afghanistan</a></b><br />30.11.08. ABC/legitgov. The soldier and civilian were travelling in the same vehicle when it was struck by the bomb in <u>Oruzgan</u>province yesterday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21430.htm">Australian SAS Units Function as Death Squads in Afghanistan</a></b><br />11.12.08. James Cogan, WSWS / ICH. The Labor government repeatedly tries to ennoble the Afghan war with flowery descriptions of Australian soldiers as "heroes" who are "putting their lives on the line for the rest us". The truth is they are killing and maiming people, including entirely innocent civilians, of an oppressed country for a thoroughly reactionary, neo-colonial cause.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/afghanistan-on-track-to-be-lost-cause-general/2008/12/19/1229189885837.html">Afghanistan on track to be lost cause: general</a></b><br />20.12.08. smh. AUSTRALIA should prepare to deploy up to 6000 troops to Afghanistan and lobby for greater commitment to a war that the US-led forces are on track to lose, says a retired Australian general, Jim Molan. / The call comes as Kevin Rudd, returning from the Middle East, told the Herald he had no plans to increase troop numbers in Afghanistan but was committed to the war and believed the Australians were making <em>progress</em>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24827197-12377,00.html"> Government to provide $5m to support Afghanistan elections </a> (20.12.08. Australian news)<br /><br /><u> David Hicks</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/20/australian-former-guantanamo-bay-detainee-freed-3/">Australian former Guantanamo Bay detainee freed</a></b><br />21.12.08. AP / anti-war. Authorities on Sunday lifted the last remaining restrictions on an Australian man who spent more than five years as an inmate at Guantanamo Bay and admitted to supporting terrorism.<br /><br />"<em>As a sign of our commitment," said Mr. Bush, "we've increased American troop levels in Afghanistan. Our NATO allies have done the same</em>."<a href="http://www.voanews.com/uspolicy/2008-12-23-voa7.cfm"> George Bush </a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/23/stories/2008122356051200.htm">No extra troops for Afghanistan, says Australia</a></b><br />23.12.08. hindu.com. In an interview, Mr. Fitzgibbon said: “We have had no approach from the U.S., for example, to increase our troop commitments.”<br /><br /><br />BULGARIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/30/content_10577968.htm">Bulgaria to increase forces in Afghanistan next year</a></b><br />30.12.08. Xinhuanet. According to [General Zlatan Stoykov], NATO had asked Bulgaria to increase its troops in Afghanistan. The scope of the surge in Bulgarian forces in the central Asian country, however, remained unclear.<br /><br /><br />CANADA<br /><br /><u> Cliff Cornell </u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/12/03/war-resister.html"> Federal government orders U.S. war resister deported </a> (03.12.08. CBC)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081217.wresister1217/BNStory/National/home">U.S. deserter faces deportation Christmas Eve</a></b><br />17.12.08. globe and mail. The War Resisters Support Campaign says Citizenship and Immigration Canada has told a U.S. deserter living in Nanaimo, B.C., that he must leave Canada by Dec. 24 or face removal by force. / Cliff Cornell, originally from Arkansas, arrived in Canada in January, 2005. He currently works as an assistant manager of a retail store near Nanaimo. Mr. Cornell's deportation order comes after similar orders for war resisters Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman and his family, Patrick Hart and his family, Matt Lowell and Dean Walcott. / The group says in a release that another, Kim Rivera, will receive a decision on Jan. 7.<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/12/2008124172130205704.html"> Canada parliament suspended </a> (05.12.08. aljazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081205.wafghan_main06/BNStory/Front">Top commander plays down combat milestone</a></b><br />05.12.08. globe and mail. “During my short time in Kandahar province, a female civilian member of our task force was set on fire, a man had his eyes gouged out in front of his family, children have been used as suicide bombers to attack security forces, a bus load of young men was executed and young girls had their faces sprayed with acid on their way to school,” the commander said. / “Canadians serving here in Afghanistan are not the type of people to sit idly by while insurgents commit these terrible atrocities on the local population,” he said. “Standing up to terror and injustice is not easy, and it's not without a cost, but the implications of not taking a stand are even more unimaginable to those of us serving here.” / The Canadian brigadier-general, who serves as chief spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, also <u>predicted that next year's arrival of thousands more U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan will mean a higher level of violence</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.metronews.ca/ottawa/Canada/article/106782">Afghanistan debate rages on for Canada</a></b><br />07.12.08. metro news. As Canada marked the tragic milestone of 100 soldiers killed in Afghanistan, voices across the country debate the rising costs, both human and economic, of a war that rivals the Second World War in length.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/democracy/110809/?page=entire">The Shock Doctrine Got Shot Down in Canada</a></b><br />08.12.08. Rabble / Alternet. Kim Eliot interviews Naomi Klein.<br />KE: Can you comment on both the Harper government's economic and fiscal statement introduced last week, and on the Opposition's response to that -- that is, the formation of a coalition -- in the context of the shock doctrine?<br /><br />Naomi Klein: <em>"Yes, absolutely. What I think we are seeing is a clear example of the shock doctrine in the way the Harper government has used the economic crisis to push through a much more radical agenda than they won a mandate to do. / At the same time we are seeing an example of what I call in the book a "shock resistance," where this tactic has been so overused around the world and also in Canada that we are becoming more resistant to the tactic -- we are on to them -- and Harper is not getting away with it</em>".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081211.wafghanistan1211/BNStory/Afghanistan/home">Top U.S. official hints Canada should keep fighting in Afghanistan after 2011</a></b><br />11.12.08. globe and mail. In addition to the new American troops, Mr. Gates suggested that an extended Canadian commitment would be appreciated in the dangerous zone around Kandahar, known as Regional Command South.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=355#more-355">The Coalition: Its Nature, Its Future and Our Perspectives</a></b><br />12.12.08. B. Rioux, Socialist Voice. An intolerable economic statement. The formation of a coalition of opposition parties claiming they want to bring down the government. A shuttered parliament, MPs flushed from it for two months at the prime minister’s whim. The House of Commons has been the setting for a parliamentary crisis the likes of which have never been seen in Canada. How should we analyze what has just happened and its consequences?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49565&s2=14">Washington urges Canada to wage war in Afghanistan beyond 2011</a></b><br />13.12.08. John Mackay and Keith Jones, Uruknet. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates has urged Canada to continue its leading role in the Afghan war beyond 2011. Canada has deployed close to 3,000 troops, tanks, and, in recent weeks, an air wing, comprised of combat helicopters and drones, to the south Afghan province of Kandahar, which is a center of the insurgency against the US-NATO occupation of Afghanistan. Gates' call for Canada to have a major military presence in Afghanistan beyond 2011 clearly reflects the views of the incoming Democratic Party administration of Barack Obama.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081216.wafghancanada1216/BNStory/Afghanistan/home">Canadian commander sees Afghan conflict peaking in 2009</a></b><br />16.12.08. globe and mail. Lieutenant-General Michel Gauthier, responsible for all overseas forces and widely viewed as the most experienced military official on Afghan issues, said he believes an influx of U.S. troops next year will bring a new surge in the violence.…/ “There will be decreased violence in 2010, and increased capacity naturally, especially where we're focused,” he said, referring to Canada's zone of operations in Kandahar.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49751&s2=21">Troops to use laser dazzlers on Afghan civilians But critics say Canada could be breaking international treaties</a></b><br />19.12.08. Canwest News Service / uruknet. The Canadian military is spending more than $10 million on 500 laser dazzlers for troops in Afghanistan in what it calls an attempt to reduce civilian casualties. The devices cause temporarily blindness and the army is hoping they can be used to ward off Afghans who drive or walk too closely to Canadian checkpoints or convoys. Troops -- worried about suicide bombers -- have killed or wounded civilians who ignored or didn't heed warnings to keep their distance...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/557103">Canada won't support U.S. plan to arm Afghan militias: MacKay</a></b><br />21.12.08. the star / ICH. Washington's plan to arm local tribes to take on the Taliban in untamed districts of Afghanistan is possibly ``counter-productive" and not something Canada supports, says Defence Minister Peter MacKay.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gDCr6suboeYAxnLdXhBtWyWLz8OA%20Coalition%20forces%20slammed%20for%20%27abusive%27%20raids,%20air%20strikes%20in%20Afghanistan%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3E23.12.08.%20%20Canadian%20press.%20Canada%27s%20top%20soldier%20in%20Afghanistan%20confirmed%20his%20forces%20raid%20the%20homes%20of%20suspected%20Taliban%20militants%20after%20nightfall,%20a%20controversial%20practice%20that%20some%20say%20stokes%20anger%20and%20resentment%20among%20ordinary%20Afghans%20against%20foreign%20troops.%20Thompson%20made%20the%20remarks%20in%20response%20to%20a%20scathing%20report%20released%20Tuesday%20by%20the%20%3Ca%20href%20af=" 2008_dec="" pdf_pro_g="" pdf=""> Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission </a>, which said lethal air strikes and "abusive" overnight raids by coalition forces threaten to turn Afghans against foreign military forces. "Afghan families experienced their family members killed or injured, their houses or other property destroyed, or homes invaded at night without any perceived justification or legal authorization," the report says. The report says the night raids frequently involve "abusive behaviour and violent breaking and entry," which it says stoke almost as much anger toward coalition forces as the air strikes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h5kqcomzNRK6EvGhklMntCy3lJEQ">Canada opens inquiry into insurgent's death in Afghanistan</a></b><br />31.12.08. AFP. Colonel Jamie Cade did not give any details, but said he had learned of "allegations" around the death of a "presumed insurgent" in Helmand province in mid-October.<br /><br /><br />CZECH REPUBLIC<br /><br /><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=477911"> Denmark's Kabul embassy moved for security reasons </a> (05.12.08. WIRED)<br /><br /><br />FRANCE<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1449230.php/French_Defence_Minister_says_no_new_troops_in_Afghanistan__Roundup__">French Defence Minister says no new troops in Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.12.08. Monsters and Critics. Morin told journalists in Paris that no plan to reinforce French forces in Afghanistan was being prepared. However, he left open the possibility that President Nicolas Sarkozy may himself announce such a move.<br /><br /><br />GERMANY<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/30/europe/germany.php">German general breaks silence on Afghanistan</a></b><br />30.11.08. IHT / legitgov. Breaking with a military tradition of keeping silent about policy, a top German general [General Hans-Christoph Ammon, head of the army's elite special commando unit, or KSK] has branded his country's efforts in Afghanistan a failure, singling out its poor record in training the Afghan police and allocating development aid.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/03/german-general-afghan-police-training-a-miserable-failure/">German General: Afghan Police Training a ‘Miserable Failure’</a></b><br />03.12.08. anti-war. Germany’s military commitment to the NATO mission in Afghanistan is focused almost exclusively on training Afghanistan’s floundering police force, but is having very little success. So little success in fact that General Hans-Christoph Ammon has condemned the training scheme as “a miserable failure.” / General Ammon castigated the German government for spending a paltry 12 million Euros on its training mission, likely around the same as the cost of the 1.7 million pints of beer imported for the German soldiers for last year. At this rate, the General opined, “it would take 82 years to have a properly trained police force” in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/3546154/German-soldiers-too-fat-to-fight-the-Taliban.html"> German soldiers too fat to fight the Taliban </a> (03.12.08. telegraph)<br /><br />[<em>Following is a general article about Afghanistan /NATO/the US, with a focus on Germany</em>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081209_wests_role_in_afghanistan_needs_re_examining/">West’s Role In Afghanistan Needs Re-Examining</a></b><br />09.12.08. William Pfaff, truthdig. (Why are the allies waging war against the largest of the native ethnic groups in Afghanistan? The NATO answer is that the allies didn’t set out to fight a war against the Pashtuns. It just happened that way) … <b>The truth is that German soldiers are in Afghanistan because the United States demanded that they go there</b>, and for nearly 60 years Germany has supported Washington in nearly everything the United States has wanted to do. This is considered on both sides as an inevitable consequence of the Second World War. / No one puts the matter so crudely these days. Officially, the United States is in Afghanistan to fight al-Qaida and defend a legitimate [sic] [US puppet] government. Officially, the argument goes, Germany is in Afghanistan because if the Taliban are allowed once again to take power in that country, international terrorism will be strengthened and the danger of terrorist attacks in Western Europe will increase. / … <b>George Bush’s [so-called] global war on terror now is a hopelessly confused affair in which nearly everyone is fighting for misconceived reasons and for objectives impossible to attain</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=an&nid=1062&ad=16-12-2008">German aid to logistics school</a></b><br />16.12.08. frontier post. According to a press release, the agreement extended already existing cooperation between Afghanistan and Germany until 2012. At the same time, three new ANA Logistics Shool buildings were inaugurated.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/26/germanys-police-military-bicker-over-whose-fault-afghan-mission-failure-is/">Germany’s Police, Military Bicker Over Whose Fault Afghan Mission Failure Is</a></b><br />26.12.08. anti-war. Few Police Willing to Go to Afghanistan<br /><br /><br />JAPAN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7779177.stm">Japan extends Afghan mission</a></b><br />12.12.08. BBC / legitgov. The Japanese parliament has approved a year-long extension of the country's support for the US-led military operation in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/12/13/Japanese_refueling_efforts_questioned/UPI-89901229198499/">Japanese refueling efforts questioned</a></b><br />13.12.08. UPI. The involvement of Japan's military in refueling efforts in support of the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan has done little to reduce terrorism, critics say.<br /><br /><br />NETHERLANDS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hHQqVhMrwYr_G3-buCvy2RLIGZpA">Dutch defence minister visits troops in Afghanistan: ministry</a></b><br />25.12.08. AFP. "Troops in Afghanistan received a visit from Defence Minister Eimert van Middelk over the holiday period," on Wednesday and Thursday, his ministry said in a statement. The visit came nearly a week after the 18th Dutch soldier was killed in the country since mid-2006.<br /><br /><br />SPAIN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jXr4GUsiLkg0OoXrZIqbKs3HE63gD9501LH80">Spain moves to lift limit on troops abroad</a></b><br />10.12.08. AP. Spain's defense minister said Wednesday she will propose lifting a limit on how many troops the country can deploy overseas, clearing the way for a possible increase in its Afghanistan mission. / .. Spain has 800 peacekeeping troops in the NATO force in Afghanistan and expects U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to ask for more after he takes office next year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/26/europe/EU-Spain-Afghanistan.php">Spain PM says no more troops for Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.12.08. IHT / anti-war. [Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero] said Spain has carefully measured what it "should and can" contribute to the allied operation in Afghanistan and "the government's position is not in favor of increasing Spanish troops in Afghanistan."<br /><br /><br />UK<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvtqMXkMRSYXowmGxBdLEGyjUEyiT3vPURtffeNQapl31M488vO49TxGzDvJZdMPeOHijhyphenhyphenx19YtsVZHj6szIO11zJatjjvNGZpUc7abumknFW8li1llHeXqWM_3anmWIJ6dHv/s1600-h/remnants_army.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 376px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvtqMXkMRSYXowmGxBdLEGyjUEyiT3vPURtffeNQapl31M488vO49TxGzDvJZdMPeOHijhyphenhyphenx19YtsVZHj6szIO11zJatjjvNGZpUc7abumknFW8li1llHeXqWM_3anmWIJ6dHv/s400/remnants_army.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285938203082934706" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Remnants of an Army, Lady Eizabeth Butler, 1879, Tate Gallery </span><br /></div><br />“<em>A non-recognition of their failures and a considerable and often ridiculous exaggeration of their successes constitute the characteristics of Englshmen. They like to exaggerate the scale of the enemy, the low casualties, and the hardship..” </em> Major General L. N. Soboleff – former chief o the Asiatic Department of the Russian General Staff, 1885, as quoted by David Loyn in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Butcher-Bolt-Hundred-Foreign-Afghanistan/dp/0091921406/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228473675&sr=1-1"> Butcher and Bolt, Two Hundred Years of Foreign Failure in Afghanistan </a>, p. 99.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3527696/John-Hutton-Nato-put-at-risk-by-European-failure-over-Afghanistan.html"> John Hutton: Nato put at risk by European failure over Afghanistan </a> (26.11.08) telegraph.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j9_7k8qJTNQhlZw3eFUA8mNiiWwAD94O17M00">Britain to consider Afghanistan troop request</a></b><br />28.11.08. D. Stringer, AP. Britain will carefully examine any request from the incoming U.S. administration to send more troops to Afghanistan, Foreign Secretary <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Miliband"> David Miliband </a> said in an interview published Friday. / .. Britain contributes around 8,000 to a 50,000-strong NATO mission and is the second largest military presence in the country after the United States.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/dec/03/afghanistan-troops-jock-stirrup">Military chief urges Afghanistan rethink</a></b><br />03.12.08. Richard Norton Taylor, Guardian. No more British troops should be sent to Afghanistan unless other countries make greater efforts to promote the economic and political development of the country, senior British military officials have said. / [Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock] Stirrup said it was not enough just to deploy more British troops to southern Afghanistan to add to the 8,000 already there. What was needed, he said, was help in building up the Afghan economy and civil society. "I and others, have been saying for over two years now that we have to get a grip of the civilian effort," he told the Royal United Services Institute on Monday.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 264px; height: 158px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwNeiV25xI0ETStWbmGB8o-pWqehSOPi3wp4pJV6IUnFZbKc_Jb1y9m69jtCBoQLETqvhQojb0rVBKmBzW_zMC42I7Yic5uCZb-uQ5LQpYdjcbj6Zb2DZEbYguWPB12Vv5-Z2F/s400/guard-br-sol.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285960670932790770" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Royal Marines urge a village elder in Lashkar Gah,<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/07/british-army-afghanistan-talibal"><span style="font-size:85%;"> Photo Sean Smith</span> </a><br /><br /></div><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/07/british-army-afghanistan-talibal">Army starts negotiations in Helmand</a></b><br />07.12.08. Observer. Officers say there will be no settlement until enemy forces can be persuaded to change sides<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/10/analysis-no-fast-afghan-reinforcement-after-uk-iraq-pullout/">ANALYSIS-No fast Afghan reinforcement after UK Iraq pullout</a></b><br />10.12.08. Reuters / anti-war. A British military withdrawal from Iraq by June 2009 will not lead to an immediate increase in the size of the UK force in Afghanistan despite the growing demands of the conflict there.<br /><br />Confirmed to parliament that the extra troops would be deployed in Afghanistan until August on a<a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1448488.php/Britain_to_step_up_Afghan_troops_on_temporary_basis_"> 'temporary basis.'</a> (15.12.08)<br /><br />Earlier today, Defence Secretary John Hutton said <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7794787.stm"> further increases </a> in UK troop numbers could not be ruled out. (21.12.08, BBC)<br /><br />In the new year, President Barack Obama will arrive in Europe on a wave of public euphoria. <b>One almost inevitable consequence is that the British government will commit more troops to a campaign that is going nowhere, because we are too deeply committed to do anything else</b>. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/22/afghanistan-military-us-foreign-policy-max-hastings"> Max Hastings </a> (Guardian 22.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/3708736/Prince-Harry-to-return-to-Afghanistan-as-helicopter-pilot.html"> Prince Harry to return to Afghanistan as helicopter pilot </a> (11.12.08. Telegraph)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/dec/12/defence-military-budget-john-hutton">Aid for Afghan troops as £4bn aircraft carrier plan delayed</a></b><br />12.12.08. Richard Norton Taylor. The government delayed its £4bn aircraft carrier project yesterday in an effort to head off a crisis in the defence budget and quieten a growing number of critics within the military, insisting that priority must be given to frontline troops. / .. The Ministry of Defence, meanwhile, had agreed with the Treasury a budget of <b>£635m</b> for "urgent operational requirements" next year on top of nearly £10bn received from the reserve since 2001.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article5333416.ece">SAS to take on Taleban 'decapitation' mission after leaving Iraq</a></b><br />13.12.08. M. Evans, Times Online. Two SAS squadrons are to switch from Iraq to Afghanistan next year to mount one of the biggest covert operations for decades against the Taleban leadership and opium smugglers, who help to fund insurgents.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-12-13-voa10.cfm">British Prime Minister Visits Afghanistan </a> (13.12.08. VOA)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/14/pakistan-gordonbrown">Brown's al-Qaida blame game</a></b><br />14.12.08. Tariq Ali, Guardian/ICH. Gordon Brown is targeting Pakistan. His claim that 75% of UK terror plots originate there is now part of a common western stance that refuses to accept any responsibility for encouraging the growth of recruits to jihadi organisations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7784152.stm">UK to increase Afghanistan force</a></b><br />15.12.08. BBC. The number of British troops in Afghanistan will increase by 300, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has told MPs. / Total deployment will rise to 8,300 from March until August next year, with the extra soldiers carrying out "security" operations. VIDEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/featuresopinon/display.var.2475126.0.Afghan_war_is_adventure_we_can_no_longer_afford.php">Afghan war is adventure we can no longer afford</a></b><br />15.12.08. the herald. Let's face it, few people in Britain have any idea what we are doing in Afghanistan and even fewer care. The government can't afford to pay for the war any more, having blown £13bn in the region since 2003, and British troops are exhausted after years of fighting losing battles there and in Iraq. The commander of British forces in Afghanistan, Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, said in October that a decisive military victory could not be won. Yet we keep our soldiers hanging about in a land where every 13-year-old with a wheelbarrow is a potential killing machine. / If we are to continue sending British soldiers to their deaths in Afghanistan, then the very least we can do is have some idea of what they are meant to be dying for.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5349036.ece">US accuses Britain over military failings in Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.12.08. Times Online. The performance of Britain’s overstretched military in Afghanistan is coming under sustained criticism from the Pentagon and US analysts even as Gordon Brown ponders whether to send in further reinforcements. / British officials are concerned that the US may take over control of Helmand – where Mr Gates plans to deploy an extra 5,000 troops – if Mr Brown fails to support the surge. The Americans have grievances over Britain’s lack of equipment, including helicopters, which has left troops unable to perform the same tasks as US counterparts and led to more cautious tactics. There is also grumbling about the regularity with which US airstrikes are called to rescue British troops. / It is understood that there has been “tension and resentment” over the air of superiority adopted by British commanders such as Brigadier Nigel Aylwin-Foster, who suggested that his American counterparts needed to take lessons from Britain’s experience in Northern Ireland and Malaya.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3834811/Nato-commander-Britains-extra-troops-will-not-do-the-trick.html">Nato commander: Britain's extra troops will not do the trick</a></b><br />18.12.08. Telegraph. Some British officials fear that the US will refuse to allow a British general to command Nato troops in the southern region next year unless Britain sends a 2,000-strong battle group and more helicopters to Afghanistan. / But so far, Mr Brown has only announced a modest increase in Afghan numbers, an extra 300 troops until next autumn's presidential elections. / Gen Craddock said he would not "name and shame" particular allies over their commitments to Afghanistan. But he made clear that Britain's extra 300 troops will not "do the trick."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5372344.ece">The Saturday Interview: The Rt Hon John Hutton, MP</a></b><br />20.12.08. Times Online. Does the Defence Secretary believe that the war has finally been won? “I think Iraq is in a fundamentally better place,” … I am prepared to accept that maybe the majority thought it wrong, but I believe profoundly it was the right thing to do and I would do it again. / … The focus will now shift to Afghanistan. Mr Hutton insists that the mission there is about security on the streets of London as well as safety in Kabul. “The argument is very clear. This is where our national security is determined. We must tackle the threat at source [sic], it’s not just going to go away. It is a struggle against fanatics that may not challenge our borders but challenges our way of life in the same way the Nazis did.” / … I think the deployment now is producing significant results. We have to stay the course. The key thing now is not that the Taleban or al-Qaeda can defeat us in Afghanistan – their tactic is to outlast us. So we need to make political and economic advances as well.” / .. Barack Obama is planning a surge in Afghanistan next year. If he asks Britain to join it: “We would look at the request very seriously indeed. The US are our principal allies – no one wants to jeopardise that, but the discussion has to be taken with our other allies and there would have to be a debate in Parliament.”/ “We will stay there as long as is necessary to secure all our objectives. It’s going to be years.” / The history of Afghanistan does not give much cause for hope, but Mr Hutton refuses to be defeatist. “You’ve got to understand history but you can’t be a prisoner of it. We make history. History doesn’t set precedents. You’ve got to be prepared to get involved when something is wrong.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/22/afghanistan-military-us-foreign-policy-max-hastings"><br />Under US orders</a></b><br />22.12.08. Max Hastings, Guardian. The Guardian last week vividly described the <b>shambles of Afghanistan. Simon Jenkins argued on these pages for recognition of failure. I share his analysis of the west's predicament</b>. But I find it impossible to believe the British government will precipitate a crisis in Anglo-American relations by pulling out of the war. / … The British army is chastened by its Afghan experience. Senior officers were rashly over-optimistic. Today, <b>they realise they are making little progress in securing Helmand, and far less controlling the drug industry</b>. The UK is getting scant thanks from the Americans, who believe we are not doing enough. / Even a reinforcement of, say, 3,000 UK troops is unlikely to alter fundamentals. More men are of limited value when the British are chronically short of helicopter lift to deploy them outside their firebases. / .. US pressure on Gordon Brown is likely to be increased by the fact that most Nato leaders will reject Obama's appeals for extra troops.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3966178/Winter-offensive-against-the-Taliban-in-Helmand-leads-to-scores-of-British-casualties.html">Winter offensive against the Taliban in Helmand leads to scores of British casualties</a></b><br />27.12.08. Telegraph. In eight weeks of fighting, 16 soldiers and marines have been killed and around 60 have been wounded in action fighting the Taliban and al-Qaeda gunmen in central Helmand. / The casualty surge is a result of Operation "Sond Chara", pashto for "Ginger Dagger", a multinational operation involving around 1000 British, Estonian and Danish troops, which is attempting to encircle a large Taliban force.<br /><br />VIDEOS: ROSS KEMP IN AFGHANISTAN<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5uVUmXaFCM"> Ross Kemp in Afghanistan 1</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4NlB0pwxmE&feature=related"> Ross Kemp in Afghanistan 2 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiM8pFG4d5E&feature=related">Ross Kemp in Afghanistan 3 </a><br /><br /><br /><a id="14000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>14. Dead in Afghanistan</b></div><br /><br /><u> Australia</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/18/content_10525355.htm">Australian man dies in Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.12.08. Xinhuanet. An Australian man fighting with British defense forces has been killed in a firefight with Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. / The unnamed soldier was fighting with Britain's 1st Battalion in Helmand province, a volatile area in the south of the war-torn country.<br /><br /><br /><u> Canada</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jq3kEfDozqwURxZY-b8h0_DCG2cw">Afghanistan deaths bring Canada troops' toll to 100: military</a></b><br />05.12.08. AFP. The overall toll of Canadian military service member deaths in Afghanistan reached 100 after three Canadian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb, a senior military official said Friday./ The soldiers were killed early Friday when their vehicle struck an explosive device in the Arghandab district of southern Kandahar province, the commander of the Canadian forces in Afghanistan, General Denis Thompson, said at a press briefing in Kandahar./ Two other Canadian soldiers were wounded, one seriously, during a separate incident involving an explosive device, he said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=axR_06RbaC54&refer=canada">Three Canadian Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan, AFP Reports</a></b><br />14.12.08. Bloomberg/anti-war. The three soldiers were killed and another wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their armored vehicle while on patrol in the Arghandab district of southern Kandahar province,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.calgaryherald.com/Canadian+soldier+killed+injured/1115827/story.html">Canadian killed, 3 injured by Afghan bomb</a></b><br />A Canadian soldier is dead and three others were injured after their armoured vehicle was struck by an explosive device Friday in Zhari district, about 24 kilometres west of Kandahar City.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/Timeline+Canadian+deaths/1037437/story.html">Timeline: Canadian deaths in Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.12.08. Vancouver sun. One hundred and four Canadian soldiers, one diplomat and two aid workers have been killed since the Canadian military deployed to Afghanistan in early 2002.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/12/27/canada-afghanistan.html">2 more Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.12.08. CBC. Two Canadian soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb west of Kandahar city on Saturday, bringing to three the number of Canadian troops killed there since Friday. Warrant Officer Gaetan Joseph Roberge and Sgt. Gregory John Kruse were on a security patrol in the Panjwai district around 12:15 p.m. local time when the explosion occurred.<br /><br /><u>Denmark</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081204/wl_afp/denmarkafghanistannatounrest">Two Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.12.08. AFP. The soldiers were killed when clashes erupted with enemy forces while they were on patrol about eight kilometers (five miles) south of the town of Gereshk in the Helmand province, the statement said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlB_SF_LXFOof19P4tYCCQZL50DgD9561TJ80">3 Danish soldiers killed, 1 injured in Afghanistan</a></b><br />20.12.08. AP. In Copenhagen, the army said the three Danes were killed and a compatriot badly injured when their armored vehicle drove over a bomb or a land mine in Helmand province<br /><br /><br /><u> Netherlands </u><br /><br /><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/12/19/afghanistan.dutch.soldier.dead/">a Dutch soldier was killed Friday in southern Afghanistan, the NATO command confirmed.</a> (20.12.08. CNN)<br /><br /><br /><u> UK</u><br /><br /><em> "How do we keep explaining dead British soldiers to the British people, when we are getting nowhere?" </em> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/22/afghanistan-military-us-foreign-policy-max-hastings"> Retired General to Max Hastings </a> (22.12.08, Guardian)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Two_Danes_And_Brit_Killed_In_Afghanistan_999.html">Two Danes And Brit Killed In Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.12.08. space war / ICH. The soldiers were killed when clashes erupted with enemy forces while they were on patrol about eight kilometers (five miles) south of the town of Gereshk in the Helmand province, the statement said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081212/wl_uk_afp/britainmilitaryafghanistantoll">Four British marines killed in Afghanistan blasts</a></b><br />12.12.08. AFP. "Four Royal Marines were killed in two separate incidents in the Sangin area of Helmand province this morning," the MoD said in a statement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g7r0r_0ZKuPnUW2LTqS1-H3dDsRQ">British soldier killed by enemy fire in Afghanistan: ministry</a></b><br />15.12.08. AFP. The soldier from 29 Commando Royal Artillery was at a forward operating base in the Gereshk area of Helmand province when he was wounded, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement./ He was taken by helicopter to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) military hospital at Kandahar but died of his wounds.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gjiMEetxqWsyrdwPXfRQlHWH9D5Q">Sixth British soldier in a week killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.12.08. AFP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/999235?UserKey&UserKey=">Royal Marine killed in Afghan blast</a></b><br />22.12.08. press and journal/ICH. The serviceman, from the Commando Logistics Regiment Royal Marines, died yesterday morning while on a routine mission north-west of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province./ .. The marine is the 135th British serviceman to die in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINLP55013820081225">British soldier killed in fighting in Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.12.08. Reuters. A British Royal Marine was killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday [24.12] during fighting with insurgents in Helmand province, the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday.The soldier was taking part in combat operations near Lashkar Gah, the MoD said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/12/31/europe/EU-Britain-Afghanistan.php">UK military: British marine dies in Afghanistan</a></b><br />31.12.08. AP. The British Ministry of Defense says a member of the country's 45 Commando Royal Marines was killed by an explosion Wednesday afternoon in the Sangin district of Afghanistan's restive Helmand province. / The death brings to 137 the number of U.K. military personnel who have died while serving in Afghanistan since British forces entered the country as part of a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.<br /><br /><br />US<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/12/AR2008121203573.html">US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 557</a></b><br />12.12.08. AP. As of Friday, Dec. 12, 2008, at least 557 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Friday at 10 a.m. EST.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6171508.html">Georgia soldier from Fort Hood dies in Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.12.08. Chron.com. DOD says Pvt. Colman J. Meadows III of Senoia, Ga., died Tuesday at Forward Operating Base Ramrod of injuries suffered in a non-combat related incident. / The circumstances are under investigation.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD95DP4HG0"> Record 151 US troops die in Afghanistan in 2008 </a> (31.12.08. J. Straziuoso, AP)<br /><br /><em> Ref: Daniel Perle in Pakistan </em><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/17/AR2008121701709_pf.html"><br />Reporter's Death Inspires a Seminar and a Lawsuit</a></b><br />18.12.08. Susan Kinzie, Washington Post / anti-war. For more than a year, a group of Georgetown University students has been poring over documents, searching for cellphone numbers of suspected terrorists and calling Pakistani police in the middle of the night. Now their class project has come to this: They're suing the CIA and the FBI. / The students' assignment was to find out who killed Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl and why. Although the class ended last spring and many of the students graduated, they're still trying to write that last paper./ Although [Khalid Sheik]Mohammed (see below) "has confessed to the crime, there hasn't been any publicly disclosed corroborating evidence," Todd wrote in an e-mail. "One of the goals of the Pearl Project is to establish whether there is any evidence linking . . . Mohammed to the murder. Even if we establish conclusively that he did murder Danny, there were three murderers and we want to establish the identities of the other two."/ <b>The complaint filed yesterday also names the Defense Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Central Command and the State, Justice and Treasury departments</b>.<br /><br /><br /><a id="15000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>15. Human Rights </b> (Reports, Airbrushing, 9/11, April Gallop, “War on Terror,” US Soldiers, Cluster Bombs, Prisons, Detainees, Rendition, Guantanamo, Torture, War Crimes, The Root of The Problem)</div><br /><br /><u> Reports</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/dec08/WPO_UDHR_Dec08_rpt.pdf">25-Nation Poll Finds Worldwide Support for Principles in Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a></b><br />11.12.08. World public opinion. Majorities in all the nations polled, including those with authoritarian governments, endorse the [six] principles …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aihrc.org.af/index_eng.htm">From Hope to Fear: An Afghan Perspective on Operations of Pro-Government Forces in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.12.08. Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. This report represents the Afghan perspective on the operations of Pro-Government Forces (PGF). The incidents documented in this report have resulted primarily from operations by International Military Forces (IMF), Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), or joint operations involving airstrikes and nighttime searches of civilian houses (“night raids”).<br /><br /><u> Articles</u><br /><br />AIRBRUSHING HISTORY<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 343px; height: 254px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5u6zG6kYpIYV_SXaiPXYW61kZzXdJaSJj-q0IByRS29U7SEUZjMxLsY3eXsM5z0lOoYztzVPShED5-tfg_0CaywdkOn_vTJyEheTG0lskFGNR_64H3LRNsQRFKd1HgahYHMpx/s400/bushbell512ready.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285968888257419554" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/cartoon/2008/jun/18/georgebush.legacy?gusrc=rss&feed=news">Steve Bell </a></span><br /></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.annistonstar.com/opinion/2008/as-editorials-1212-editorial-8l11r0742.htm">How we view our history: Dealing with the Bush legacy</a></b><br />12.12.08. Editorial, Anniston star. The Soviet-era Kremlin had a method of dealing with inconvenient people and truths: erase the parts the Politburo would rather forget. / .. The Bush administration's whitewashing of its awful missteps won't be so easily Photoshopped out of the picture.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121103319_pf.html">Pentagon May Have Mixed Propaganda With PR</a></b><br />12.12.08. Walter Pincus, Washington Post. The Pentagon's inspector general said yesterday that the Defense Department's public affairs office may have "inappropriately" merged public affairs and propaganda operations in 2007 and 2008 when it contracted out $1 million in work for a strategic communications plan for use by the military in collaboration with the State Department. / "Without clearly defined strategic communications responsibilities, DoD may appear to merge inappropriately the public affairs and information operations functions," the inspector general said in a report released yesterday. Strategic communications programs, which have become a major part of the Pentagon's information operations carried out in the "war of ideas" in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, should be under the oversight of the undersecretary of defense for policy, the report added.<br /><br />VIDEO:<a href="http://www.blogger.com/http" info="" htm=""> WAR MADE EASY </a><br />Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail <u>how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administration</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/12/hbc-90004012">The Torture Presidency</a></b><br />13.12.08. Scott Horton, Harpers. President George W. Bush has launched “Operation Legacy,” which he placed in the hands of his ultimate advisor, indeed his “brain,” Karl Rove. .. The Rove effort features a 2-page set of talking points which have been circulated to members of the administration’s team highlighting the supposedly major Bush accomplishments which have begun to fill the American media. They start with the contention that “Bush kept us safe” by preventing any further attack on American soil after 9/11. Really? / … This [Senate] report sums up all you need to know about George W. Bush’s eight years of leadership. Karl Rove stresses that Bush has been a perfect moral example for young people in the country. The [Senate] report tells us that when photos and other evidence of abuse first surfaced, the Bush Administration firmly denied any connection between their policies and the abuse, then attempted to scapegoat a group of more than a dozen young recruits (but not, of course, any of their supervising officers, who knew the details of the administration’s involvement and would have made things messy if disciplined)./ The report has some more bombshells in it waiting to emerge on declassification.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/111104/">Bush Tries to Whitewash History; Portrays Himself as a Victim</a></b><br />17.12.08. Matthew Yglesias, The American Prospect / Alternet. Even after all this time, Bush views the Iraq War with regret not over anything he did, but rather, over something that was done to him. / It's tiresome to need to point this out at this late date but, yes, George W. Bush and his administration misled the country while making the case for war with Iraq and, remarkably, are <u>still trying to mislead</u> people about it.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/121808.html">Obama v. Washington Mythmaking</a></b><br />18.12.08. Robert Parry, consortium/anti-war. <b>Over the years, Washington has evolved into a city of deceptions where semantics cloud reality and where a hazy mix of lies, half-truths and mythology can combine to unleash the devastating military might of the United States for no good reason.</b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/article1059364.ece?startindex=-1"> President Bush's Speech on Global Democracy and Freedom </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://freespeachblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/martin-luther-kings-final-speech.html">Martin Luther King's Final Speech Fraudulently Edited</a></b><br />18.12.08. free speech. Rev. Martin Luther King’s final speech has omissions and substituted text in 18 out of 20 online sources<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49709&s2=19">Report raps ex-White House pair on Iraq claims</a></b><br />18.12.08. P. Hess, AP / uruknet. Former White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales <u>misled Congress</u> when he claimed the CIA in 2002 approved information that ended up in the 2003 State of the Union speech about Iraq's alleged effort to buy uranium for its nuclear weapons program, a House Democrat [Rep. Henry Waxman] said Thursday. / … Waxman said Gonzales, and Rice to a lesser degree, misled the public and Congress.<br /><br />See also: <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49712&s2=19">Rice and Gonzales Lie to Congress About Lying </a> (18.12.08. Matthew Yglesias, uruknet)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/19/comment-brown-iraq-afghanistan">Rosy rewriting of the Iraq debacle will fuel worse disaster in Afghanistan</a></b><br />19.12.08. Simon Jenkins, Guardian. With British troops at last due to leave Iraq next spring, everyone is for a public inquiry. That is fine. But what about an inquiry into where they are going, straight from the frying pan into the fire, from Iraq to Afghanistan? The Iraq inquest can be written on a postcard. A British force was sent on the false claim by Tony Blair that Iraq was a threat to Britain. How this made sense was never explained, despite the efforts of Alastair Campbell and his colleagues. It has since emerged that Blair simply could not bring himself to desert the American president, George Bush. That in a nutshell is why 178 British servicemen and women have died in Iraq. … <b>The greatest honour Britain could pay the dead of Iraq is to inquire into why any more should die in Afghanistan. Why wait for the same number of soldiers to be killed (already 134)? Why wait for the same multiple of civilian deaths, the same villages bombed, the same infrastructure destroyed? Why wait for the same bombast to die down and truth-telling and realism to gain the upper hand? Why tip another billion pounds into this craziness, billions that we can ill afford? .. Brown's repeated thesis that the occupation of Helmand is vital "to keep terror from the streets of Britain" is nonsense.</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=98660">Rice claims history will recognize that 'America has stood for the Arab world'</a></b><br />24.12.08. AFP. "Over time I think that the fact that America has stood for the Arab world and for the Arabs to have the same rights and the same ability to live in freedom as we have, that that will ultimately be respected," Rice said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/122608.html">Two Dangerous Bush-Cheney Myths</a></b><br />26.12.08. Robert Parry, Consortium. As George W. Bush and Dick Cheney make their case for some positive legacy from the past eight years, two arguments are playing key roles: the notion that torturing terror suspects saved American lives and the belief that Bush’s Iraq troop “surge” transformed a disaster into something close to “victory.” Not only will these twin arguments be important in defining the public’s future impression of where Bush should rank on the presidential list, but they could constrain how far President Barack Obama can go in reversing these policies. In other words, the perception of the past can affect the future.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/27-2">How Can Anyone Believe There Is 'Progress' in the Middle East?</a></b><br />27.12.08. Robert Fisk, Independent / Common Dreams. "And seeing if we can build on some of the progress, at least in conversation, that's been made around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be a priority." / What is this man talking about? "Building on progress?" What progress? On the verge of another civil war between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, with Benjamin Netanyahu a contender for Israeli prime minister, with Israel's monstrous wall and its Jewish colonies still taking more Arab land, and Palestinians still firing rockets at Sderot, and Obama thinks there's "progress" to build on? / I suspect this nonsensical language comes from the mental mists of his future Secretary of State. "At least in conversation" is pure <u>Hillary Clinton</u> - its meaning totally eludes me - and the giveaway phrase about progress being made "around" the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is even weirder. Of course if Obama had talked about an end to Jewish settlement building on Arab land - the only actual "building" that is going on in the conflict - relations with Hamas as well as the Palestinian Authority, justice for both sides in the conflict, along with security for Palestinians as well as Israelis, then he might actually effect a little change.<br /><br /><em> Lies, Lies, Lies </em> Even worse than Iraq, if that is possible<br /><br />The ULTIMATE MYTH: <a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/petras030109.htm"> GENOCIDE IN GAZA BECAUSE OF 'HAMAS.'</a> See below, War Crimes in Gaza. <br /> <br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 220px; height: 177px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpv7H_TR0mR0Jz-vOrSbqQNSndcIB7JqW0lqv-KUNT2m_uUBDNaLYBh3gYpG-e8r95W0niPq3LfUAYN1CsCoDrkinwWPC7dHJ0UpSrjEioMAg9QiqyxVfGBSw6LRUTuxZ66xJ5/s400/bush_on_shoe.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285955296592520066" border="0" /><br /><br /><u>9/11</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/05/bush-fear-terrorism-mumbai-911">America, cowering to an imaginary enemy, is not the country I once knew</a></b><br />05.12.08. Simon Jenkins, Guardian. America seems much in need of Roosevelt's maxim to stop fearing fear itself. Virtually all comment on the Mumbai massacre has mentioned 9/11 and al-Qaida, and thus invited citizens to continue feeling afraid. No matter that Mumbai appears to have been primarily about Kashmir and the status of India's Muslims. No matter that Osama bin Laden has no dog in that fight. Any stick will do to elevate al-Qaida as America's enemy number one.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.daily.pk/local/other-local/8548-ex-isi-chief-gul-exposes-911-inside-job-pakistani-general-goes-in-depth-on-details-cnn-refused-to-broadcast.html">Ex ISI Chief Gul Exposes 911 Inside Job Pakistani General Goes In-Depth On Details CNN Refused to Broadcast</a></b><br />12.12.08. daily.pk/ legitgov. The UPI interview with Gul remains online and in it he questions the delayed response to the hijackings by the U.S. Air Force. / Gul said that he first went public on who he thought was behind 9/11 UPI two weeks after the attacks, but that the report was blocked by the western news media./ "It is quite amazing that for a very long period of time the air traffic control did not report this nor did the U.S. Air Force act in time," said Gul, noting that fighters were scrambled from bases further away than where the hijacked planes were. / "The time that it took was enormous, it was 120 minutes, a very long time in which to act - was the U.S. Air Force sleeping and if it was sleeping which heads were rolled?" asked Gul, adding that if the botched response was a mere intelligence failure then why was nobody disciplined or taken to task and why had nobody resigned. / Gul then questioned why standard operating procedure was not followed, stating, "In the past within minutes the U.S. aircraft has been on the wing of the hijacked aircraft, in this case it did not happen, the U.S. alert system is so high and it is so sophisticated that if a missile was to take off from Moscow and was to head towards New York, the U.S. Air Force and the missile system is supposed to intercept it within nine minutes….the system is in place but it did not work and nobody tried to question this."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/12/mumbai-arundhati-roy">Mumbai was not our 9/11</a></b><br />12.12.08. Arundhati Roy, Guardian. … / There are those who point out that US strategy has been successful inasmuch as the United States has not suffered a major attack on its home ground since 9/11. However, some would say that what America is suffering now is far worse. If the idea behind the 9/11 terror attacks was to goad America into showing its true colors, what greater success could the terrorists have asked for? The US army is bogged down in two unwinnable wars, which have made the United States the most hated country in the world. Those wars have contributed greatly to the unraveling of the American economy and who knows, perhaps eventually the American empire. (Could it be that battered, bombed Afghanistan, the graveyard of the Soviet Union, will be the undoing of this one too?) Hundreds of thousands people including thousands of American soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. The frequency of terrorist strikes on U.S allies/agents (including India) and U.S interests in the rest of the world has increased dramatically since 9/11. George Bush, the man who led the US response to 9/11 is a despised figure not just internationally, but also by his own people. Who can possibly claim that the United States is winning the war on terror?<br /><br />The only way to contain (it would be naïve to say end) terrorism is to look at the monster in the mirror. We're standing at a fork in the road. One sign says Justice, the other Civil War. There's no third sign and there's no going back. Choose.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 152px; height: 172px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWgG23m9yt0em8eWcG8S2f8rOltwNshVMBQQXJDvw5j-JuGOMGPQ8Pz9XmEzFGyzT8YkL_IIHtuBC5nheOHNXT75W7DQxv1cWmtRsh_DeWKyPxDVQeRTP1Ixi643hCd2FIm18F/s400/rawstory.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285960678399906690" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/911_survivor_blasts_Rumsfeld_Cheney_No_1217.html">April Gallop, career army officer, sues Cheney, Rumsfeld, Meyers, saying no evacuation order given on 9/11: Transcript</a></b><br />17.12.08. Raw Story. A career Army officer who survived the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, claims that no evacuation was ordered inside the Pentagon, despite flight controllers calling in warnings of approaching hijacked aircraft nearly 20 minutes before the building was struck. Gallop also says she heard two loud explosions, and does not believe that a Boeing 757 hit the building. Her son sustained a serious brain injury, and Gallop herself was knocked unconscious after the roof collapsed onto her office.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/114774/">Dick Cheney Calls 9/11 the "Highest Moment" of the Last Eight Years</a></b><br />22.12.08. Steve Benen, Washington Monthly/Alternet. On Fox News yesterday, Chris Wallace asked Dick Cheney to identify the "highest moment" of the last eight years. It wasn't a trick question. Cheney pondered this for a few moments before answering, "Well, I think the most important, the most compelling, was 9/11 itself, and <b>what that entailed</b>, what we had to deal with." VIDEO.<br /><br /><em>I really believe something happened to America; after 9/11 we became a different country. That is fine, presidents sometimes might want to do that, but my issue is how did Bush do it? How did he beat the press? How did he beat the military and Congress and turn everyone into a coward? Why didn't people stand up to him in this situation? In other words, how fragile is the American constitution; it turns out that it is much more fragile than people think</em>. <a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/114994/?page=entire"> Seymour Hersh </a>(interview 25.12.08)<br /><br /><br />“WAR ON TERROR”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fff.org/blog/jghblog2008-12-10.asp">Enemy Combatants and Freedom of Speech</a></b><br />10.12.08. Jacob G. Hornberger, blog. Some Americans favor the federal government’s post-9/11 assumption of power to arrest Americans and treat them as “enemy combatants” in the “war on terrorism.” It doesn’t matter to them that the Pentagon now has the power to round up Americans, keep them in prison camps indefinitely, torture them, and deny them all the rights and guarantees enumerated in the Bill of Rights. The reason it doesn’t bother them is that they figure it would never happen to them, only to other people. / ... There is also another important factor relating to a free society that Americans should consider about this post-9/11 power that is now being claimed by the Pentagon and other federal officials. That factor involves the fundamental right of freedom of speech, as guaranteed by the First Amendment. / Once it seeps into the consciousness of the American people that the federal government now wields the omnipotent power to arrest, punish, and detain people indefinitely without trial, a pall of silence will almost certainly fall [has fallen] over the land with respect to criticism of the Pentagon and the rest of the federal government.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/12/eu-members-infringing-free-movement.php">EU members infringing free movement rights: report</a></b><br />11.12.08. JURIST. Vice President of the European Commission Responsible for Justice, Freedom, and Security Jacques Barrot on Wednesday reported that European Union (EU) governments are violating people's right to travel freely among the EU member states. Directive 2004/38/EC gives nationals of EU member states the right to move and reside freely among any of the states. According to the report, no member states have fully implemented the directive. The two biggest problems are the right of entry and residence of third country family members and the requirement of submitting additional documents for residence not foreseen in the directive.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/121608A">War Talk, the Death of the Social, and Disappearing Children: A Lesson for Obama</a></b><br />16.12.08. Henry Giroux, Perspective / Truthout. Under the Bush administration, the language of war has taken on a distinctly new register, more expansive in both its meaning and its consequences. War no longer needs to be ratified by Congress since it is now waged by various government agencies that escape the need for official approval. <b>War has become a permanent condition adopted by a nation state that is largely defined by its repressive functions in response to its powerlessness to regulate corporate power, provide social investments for the populace and guarantee a measure of social freedom</b>"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Court_sides_with_ACLU_strikes_down_1216.html">Court sides with ACLU, strikes down Patriot Act gag provision</a></b><br />16.12.08. Stephen C. Webster, raw story/anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/Al-Zaidi.htm#lantern">Brussells Tribunal Demands Protection for Muntadhar Al-Zaidi</a></b><br />19.12.08. Dirk Adriaensis, BRussels Tribunel. Small actions from ordinary people can have maximum impact in times of manifest injustice. <b> Resistance actions should be remembered.</b> Resistance to foreign occupation didn’t start with the illegal invasion of Iraq. It also happened in occupied Europe in WW2. And as in Iraq, the resistance fighters were labelled as “terrorists” by the German occupiers and the Quisling government. Al-Zaidi threw his shoes for the widows and orphans killed in Iraq by the US nazis, <a href="http://users.telenet.be/holocaust.bmb/eng/Maistriau.htm"> Robert Maistriau</a> saved more than 200 jews of a certain death by the hands of the German nazis. / … History should not be remembered through the biographies of presidents. History should be remembered through stories of a lantern, a red rag and a pair of shoes.<br /><br /><em>The invocation of a “global war on terror” is a big-lie propaganda device that has no grounding in reality. The proof that “terrorism” does not exist as an enemy identifiable by commonality of structure, purpose and leadership comparable to the World War II Axis or the Confederacy can be found in its use as a target to justify the invasion of Iraq. An invasion billed as a response to the 9/11 attacks, which had nothing to do with Iraq. The Bush administration, with Cheney in the lead, did not so much fight the danger of terrorism as exploit it for partisan political purpose.</em>.<a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081223_cheneys_legacy_of_deception/"> Robert Sheer </a> (23.12.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-12-24/columns/obama-s-black-widow/">Obama's Black Widow</a></b><br />23.12.08. Nat Hentoff, Village Voice/anti-war. Barack Obama will be in charge of the biggest domestic and international spying operation in history. Its prime engine is the National Security Agency (NSA). … / What particularly outraged civil libertarians across the political divide was that the FISA Amendments Act gave immunity to the telecommunications corporations—which, for seven years, have been a vital part of the Bush administration's secret wiretapping program—thereby dismissing the many court cases brought by citizens suing those companies for violating their individual constitutional liberties. <b>This gives AT&T, Verizon, and the rest a hearty signal to go on pimping for the government. That's OK with the Obama administration? Please tell us, Mr. President</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/122608S">Bush's Costly War on Terror</a></b><br />26.12.08. Mark Thompson, Time Magazine/truthout. "The news that President Bush's war on terror will soon have cost the US taxpayer $1 trillion - and counting - is unlikely to spread much Christmas cheer in these tough economic times. A trio of recent reports - none by the Bush administration - suggests that sometime early in the Obama presidency, spending on the wars started since 9/11 will pass the trillion-dollar mark. Even after adjusting for inflation, that's four times more than America spent fighting World War I, and more than 10 times the cost of 1991's Persian Gulf War (90 percent of which was paid for by US allies). The war on terror looks set to surpass the cost of the Korean and Vietnam wars combined, to be topped only by World War II's price tag of $3.5 trillion."<br /><br />VIDEO`: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/listeningpost/2008/11/2008112912353324994.html"> Gaza Media Blackout </a> (Listening Post, al jazeera)<br /><br /><br />US SOLDIERS<br /><br /><em>“I take the issue of wounded warriors personally.”</em> <a href="http://www.health.mil/Press/Release.aspx?ID=388"> Robert Gates </a> (October 2008)<br /><br /><u> Reports</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.aclu.org/pdfs/humanrights/crc_report_20080513.pdf">SOLDIERS OF MISFORTUNE </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.veteransforamerica.org/home/vfa/"> The American Veterans’ and Servicemembers’ Survival Guide </a> (12.08. Veterans for America)<br /><br /><u> Articles </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49168&s2=30">America's Child Soldiers: US Military Recruiting Children to Serve in the Armed Forces</a></b><br />28.11.08. Sherwood Ross, uruknet. The Pentagon "heavily recruits on high school campuses, targeting students for recruitment as early as possible and generally without limits on the age of students they contact," the ACLU states in a 46-page report titled <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.aclu.org/pdfs/humanrights/crc_report_20080513.pdf"> "Soldiers of Misfortune."</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=470661">Bases brace for surge in stress-related disorders</a></b><br />29.11.08. AP. Some 15,000 soldiers are heading home to this sprawling base after spending more than a year at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and military health officials are bracing for a surge in brain injuries and psychological problems among those troops.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/02/gates-stop-loss/">Sec. Gates: Stop-loss will continue through 2009 at least</a></b><br />02.12.08. Think progress/anti-war. During a press conference today, Secretary of State Robert Gates was asked whether he foresaw an end to the practice of stop-loss — where military personnel can be forced to remain in the military even after completing their enlistment terms — by 2009. “No, I don’t,” Gates replied, though he added that he opposes the policy, which many soldiers call a “backdoor draft,” and will work to end it. VIDEO.<br /><br /><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=474096"> US soldiers re-enlisting because of poor economy </a> (02.12.08. AP)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://socialistworker.org/2008/12/04/challenging-myths-good-war">Challenging the myths of the "good war"</a></b><br />04.12.08. socialist worker. Eric Ruder talks to veterans of the war on Afghanistan about why they want the U.S. to end its occupation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120908R">A Crisis of Conscience</a></b><br />09.12.08. Camillo "Mac" Bica, Truthout: "Soldiers are legally obligated to sometimes disobey superior orders. US chief prosecutor Robert K. Jackson at the NMT declared in 1948: '[T]he very essence of the [Nuremberg] Charter is that individuals have intentional duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience imposed by the individual state.'"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/10/national/main4661785.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories">Injured Veterans Denied Promised Reviews</a></b><br />10.12.08. CBS. Thousands of similar stories caused veterans advocates to protest that the military was manipulating disability ratings to save money, and Congress last year ordered the Pentagon to accept appeals from wounded and injured troops. / So far, officials have yet to examine a single case. / "Congress finally took action to give those troops a fair hearing, and now the Department of Defense is dragging its feet,"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/12/asy.html">Exclusive: Pentagon Pro-Troop Group Misspent Millions, Report Says</a></b><br />12.12.08. Noah Shachtman, blog.wired. A Defense Department project, supposedly designed to support U.S. troops, was used instead to channel millions of dollars to personal friends and allies of its chief. The "America Supports You," or ASY, program was led in a "questionable and unregulated manner," according to a Department of Defense Inspector General report, obtained by Danger Room. At least <b>$9.2 million</b> was "inappropriately transferred" by the project's managers. Much of that money served only to further promote ASY, instead of assisting servicemembers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/10/AR2008121003984_pf.html">Nonprofit Formed to Help Veterans Wasted Large Sum, Senate Report Says</a></b><br />Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post/anti-war. The National Veterans Business Development Corp., also known as the Veterans Corp. (TVC), grossly mismanaged taxpayer dollars -- including lavish spending on costly dinners and luxury hotels, first-class travel, and compensation for its top two executives that amounted to nearly a quarter of the charity's federal funds, according to a report obtained by The Washington Post. / Created in 1999 to set up a national network of veterans centers and help veterans start small businesses, TVC has spent only 15 percent of its funding on the centers since it was formed, including only 9 percent last year, the investigation found. As a result, centers in Massachusetts, Michigan and Missouri are in danger of closing, it said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1046049.html">U.S. Army sends American-Israeli woman to Afghanistan</a></b><br />13.12.08. Haaretz / anti-war. The Foreign Ministry on Thursday began reviewing an unusual plea from a 55-year-old American-Israeli woman from Netanya who is fighting the U.S. Army's decision to send her to active reserve duty in Afghanistan. / Citing the fact that Command Sergeant Orli Avior is also an Israeli citizen, the woman's husband wrote Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that his wife's Afghani tour would be "unnecessarily dangerous and irrational." Orli Avior is currently in Kuwait, awaiting mobilization to Afghanistan. / .. In October, amid news of a severe shortage of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Orli Avior was summoned to serve 400 days in an infantry unit in Iraq - a country Israelis are legally forbidden to enter. Her orders were later changed to Afghanistan, apparently with no connection to her Israeli citizenship. Orli, says her husband, hoped she would be reposted if she explained the situation to her commanders, but her requests were not heeded.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/13/ap-newsbreak-war-vet-widows-wrongly-denied-help-2/">War vet widows wrongly denied help</a></b><br />13.12.08. AP / anti-war. Widows of war veterans have been wrongfully denied up to millions of dollars in government benefits over the past 12 years due to computer glitches that often resulted in money being seized from the elderly survivors' bank accounts.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.combat14dec14,0,1772974.story">Pentagon limits claims for combat-related injury</a></b><br />14.12.08. LA Times. In a little-noticed regulation change in March, the military's definition of combat-related disabilities was narrowed, costing some injured veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits - and triggering outrage from veterans' advocacy groups.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21474.htm">The Failed Logic of Supporting the Troops</a></b><br />16.12.08. Remi Kanazi, ICH. Dangerously, most Americans put forth the notion that the troops' intrinsic heroism provides them with the impunity to destroy any bogeymen who stand in their way, cultivating a code of silence that strongly discourages dissent. It is under this premise that we support our "brave" and "noble" soldiers… While one may comprehend the mindset of the troops, this understanding does not validate support for them. If the invasion of Iraq [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">or Afghanistan</span>] , the mission, and the occupation as stated policy are all wrong, then support for the armed forces carrying out the mission must also be wrong. / US soldiers are not a monolith and nearly everyone would argue that the majority of the troops are "good people." Yet, our emotional inclinations and the societal norm that tells us troops are good like bumper sticker slogans shouldn't serve as justification for supporting them and, by extension, the mission they are carrying out. We are led to believe that a soldier can either serve out the rest of his tour or be branded a disgrace and imprisoned for becoming a conscientious objector. In reality the choice is much starker: a soldier can refuse to serve or contribute to the death of a million Iraqis [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">or civilian afghan murders</span>].<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/113079/kids_learn_that_killing_is_fun_at_the_army%27s_lethal_new_theme_park_/?page=entire">Kids Learn that Killing Is Fun at the Army's Lethal New Theme Park</a></b><br />19.12.08. Penny Coleman, AlterNet. The Army's new recruitment tool lets high-tech video game centers desensitize, condition, train and even enlist America's youth. The Army Experience Center, located in the Franklin Mills Mall just <u>north of Philadelphia</u>, bills itself as a "state-of-the-art educational facility that uses interactive simulations and online learning programs to educate visitors about the many careers, training and educational opportunities available in the Army." / Nonsense. The only thing they're teaching here is how to blow shit up. If it's state-of-the-art anything, it's state-of-the-art adolescent boys’ wet dreams.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59537">Casey: Ending stop loss is priority</a></b><br />21.12.08. Stripes. Ending the Army’s reliance on stop loss to maintain troop levels in war zones is a priority now, <u>even though the practice of keeping soldiers beyond their enlistment won’t officially end for nearly two more years</u>, the Army’s chief of staff said Friday during a tour of bases in Japan and South Korea.<br /><br /><em> Deception </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/international/us-troops-may-stay-in-iraq-in-disguise.aspx">US troops may stay in Iraq in disguise</a></b><br />22.12.08. asian age / ICH. Though the deadline for withdrawal of US troops from Iraqi cities has been decided as June 30, 2009, experts have argued that roughly 10,000 American troops should remain in Baghdad after that period, <u>in the guise of "trainers" and "advisers" in what are effectively combat roles</u>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ocala.com/article/20081222/VIDEO/812220318/1026/sports">Recruiter Suicides Lead to Army Probe </a> (22.12.08. Ocala/anti-war) Video.<br /><br />SONG<br /><br />Holger Terp, founder of the <a href="http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/faquk.htm"> Danish Peace Academy</a>,is collecting Peace Songs. Here is one of them: <a href="http://www.fredsakademiet.dk/abase/sange/sang34.htm"> "I Didn’t Raise my Boy To Be a Soldier" </a><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyfZu4V-KY0"> Afghanistan, Frontline: Korengal </a> (aljazeera. 03.12.08)<br /><br /><br />CLUSTER BOMBS<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 196px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3EGp29w1djniZm7jnH6Ziv4NgBZI5bkWBt9qePobbrkjcPUYmKZjsZrSAqyMmtq798DxMhwLJm-NItc2fcgeQCCZ2RFLS6sjZbtTF0j2Ga7-nXKqBDuFQkROKyh15J1EZybZx/s400/clusterbomb.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285960661829674242" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://blogs.amnesty.org.uk/blogs_entry.asp?eid=1311">Unexploded bomblet from cluster bomb </a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_stands_by_refusal_to_sign_cluste_12022008.html">US stands by refusal to sign cluster bomb ban</a></b><br />02.12.08. Raw Story. The United States said Tuesday it will refrain this week from signing a treaty in Norway to ban cluster bombs, because the document is too broad and endangers US soldiers. / Some 100 countries will ban the use of such weapons when their delegates sign the Convention on Cluster Munitions on Wednesday in Oslo but major producers like the United States, China and Russia are shunning the pact.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7423714.stm"> US keeps cluster bombs on UK soil </a>. (25.05.08. BBC)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/world/04cluster.html?em">Afghanistan Says It Will Sign Cluster Bomb Treaty</a></b><br />03.12.08. NY Times. In a last-minute change, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan agreed on Wednesday to join some 90 other nations signing a treaty banning the use of the cluster munitions that have devastated his country in recent years. / The decision appeared to reflect Mr. Karzai’s growing independence from the Bush administration, which has opposed the treaty and, according to a senior Afghan official who spoke on the condition of anonymity following diplomatic protocol, had urged Mr. Karzai not to sign it.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/landmark-cluster-bomb-treaty-signed-oslo-20081203">Landmark cluster bomb treaty signed in Oslo</a></b><br />03.12.08. amnesty.org. Ninety two states signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions - which bans the production, stockpiling, use and export of cluster bombs during a ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday./ Further signatories are expected on Thursday as the conference continues with civil society campaigners predicting at least 100 states eventually signing the treaty, which also requires states to provide adequate assistance to victims of these weapons.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=5817&l=1">"Obama Needs to Take a Stand on Cluster Bombs"</a></b><br />11.12.08. Donald Steinberg, Huff Post/crisis group.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 169px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEintqaApHsZtrt-8ep-UscaWW-afSViPFwifZO99So19sBUHWp6yFLDLnBJNJ4F6TH8u0vFF_kgJeO602rOa_0evXlzXesakTuFy-EsM6SI_UKk9BUYcfBcrfBHI0trS614g7eJ/s400/uruk-clusterbomb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285963165242757538" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49575&s2=14">Cluster Bomb Treaty and the World's Unfinished Business</a></b><br />13.12.08. Ramzy Baroud, uruknet. The United States, Russia and China are sending a terrible message to the rest of the world by refusing to take part in the historic signing of a treaty that bans the production and use of cluster bombs. In a world that is plagued by war, military occupation and terrorism, the involvement of the great military powers in signing and ratifying the agreement would have signaled – if even symbolically - the willingness of these countries to spare<br />ci!vilians’ unjustifiable deaths and the lasting scars of war. Nonetheless, the incessant activism of many conscientious individuals and organizations came to fruition on December 3-4 when ninety-three countries signed a treaty in Oslo, Norway that bans the weapon, which has killed and maimed many thousands of civilians...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/23/mixed-signals-from-india-on-war-prospects/">Mixed Signals From India On War Prospects</a></b><br />23.12.08. anti-war. the Indian Defense Ministry is asking the United States to fast track its previous order of $375 million worth of cluster bombs.<br /><br /><br />PRISONS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE4B42LL20081205?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401">Afghan jail operation kills 8 prisoners in Kabul</a></b><br />05.12.08. Reuters / ICH. Eight prisoners were killed and 15 others were wounded after Afghan security forces clashed with inmates during a search operation in an Afghan prison [<u>Pul-i-Charkhi</u>] near Kabul, an official said.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 257px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkwsONI43E97mKK7iUzXj7Q0DroJuQWkb_ig8h-SF8ODjE16yPn6MuI0WK-nU5otSiOF6dL7ytwGi52z4Jq_AZEIcsI1Es1blVQuOYQnQwoW4djUXwlhQ1IXa-BgANta0V3vrf/s400/quqnoos_pul-e-charki.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5286290047739882146" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2185&Itemid=48">Police retake Afghanistan's largest jail</a></b><br />06.12.08. Quqnoos.com/anti-war. Five policemen held hostage by prisoners in Kabul’s Pul-e-Charqi prison for two days have been released.<br /><br /><br />DETAINEES<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=61image616972x.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 370px; height: 278px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=61image616972x.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49239&s2=02">Half of Afghan prisoners have not faced trial-U.N.</a></b><br />01.12.08. Jonathon Burch, Reuters / uruknet. More Afghans are being detained without trial, with poor people or those without powerful connections, the most common victims, unable to pay bribes to secure their release, the United Nations said on Monday. / Afghanistan is emerging from nearly 30 years of war and its judicial and law enforcement systems are still very much in their infancy. Corruption is endemic at all levels of the police force, experts say, who often milk the populace for bribes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/02/content_10445726.htm">2 U.S. soldiers inquried for abusing detainees in Afghanistan</a></b><br />02.12.08. Xinhuanet. "An Article 32 investigation commenced today at <u>Forward Operating Base Salerno</u> in eastern Afghanistan to review allegations of detainee abuse and several other lesser offenses by two U.S. service members," the statement said. / It added that "the initial investigation of Capt. Roger T. Hilland 1st Sgt.Tommy L. Scott, both of 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment, was prompted by a report from within the unit about potential detainee abuse."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/12/aclu-protests-censorship-of-guantanamo.php">ACLU protests censorship of Guantanamo detainee testimony</a></b><br />06.12.08. JURIST. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sought to prohibit government censorship of prisoners' testimony about alleged torture and abuse at Guantanamo Bay in a motion filed Friday in military commission proceedings against five "high value detainees" accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks. The motion says observers at the proceedings watch on a closed-circuit video monitor with a 20-second delay, allowing officials to cut the feed when it appears a defendant is discussing the conditions of their detention.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hpY40NyozpTIzU63pjChD3phBNqQD950V6T80">Panel blames White House, not soldiers, for abuse</a></b><br />12.12.08. AP. The physical and mental abuse of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was the direct result of Bush administration detention policies and should not be dismissed as the work of bad guards or interrogators, according to a bipartisan Senate report released Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=anwO_4Bs9ZgI&refer=us">U.S., NATO-led Forces Should Review Afghan Detentions, UN Says</a></b><br />18.12.08. Bloomberg. “People are detained and often are held for a long period of time on the basis of mistaken identity or mistakes with regard to whether these people are insurgents,” Kai Eide said at a news conference in Kabul. / Some of the UN’s closest contacts have been held by international troops, prompting frustration among Afghans, he said. <b>House searches should also be led by Afghans who clearly understand cultural sensitivities in the nation</b>, Eide said. adding that such knowledge is “critically important.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m49811&hd=&size=1&l=e">Detainees Killed In Afghan Prisons?</a></b><br />22.12.08. Spencer Ackerman, uruknet. This is a really creepy press release that the U.S. military command in Afghanistan just emailed reporters under the headline "Suspected Militants Die In Zabul Province." I reprint it here in its entirety: <em>Two known Taliban extremists were reported deceased on Dec. 18. The militants were part of a group of five suspects taken into custody, Dec. 17, by Afghan National Police and Coalition forces during a combined patrol conducted in Shinkay district, located in Zabul Province, approximately 160 km northeast of Kandahar. The five detainees were last seen alive at the Surri Police Station the early morning of the 18th, according to a Coalition report…. </em> This is a confusing and euphemistic press release, to say the least. (Are the two dead men "known Taliban extremists" or "suspected militants"?) The release suggests that the detainees died in Afghan National Police custody, but it’s by no means clear. What could have changed between the "early morning" of Dec. 18 and later that day, when the detainees "were reported deceased"? ...<br /><br /><u>Ali Saleh Kalah al Marri</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/images/almarri.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 160px; height: 200px;" src="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/images/almarri.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/06/us/w05scotus-web.html?nl=pol&emc=pola1">Justices Take Case on President’s Power to Detain</a></b><br />05.12.08. NY Times. The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide the most fundamental question yet concerning executive power in the age of terrorism: May the president order the indefinite military detention of people living legally in the United States? / The case concerns <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/ali_saleh_kahlah_al_marri/index.html?inline=nyt-per"> Ali al-Marri </a>, the only person on the American mainland being held as an enemy combatant, who is in custody at the Navy brig in Charleston, S.C.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21383.htm">The Last US Enemy Combatant: The Shocking Story of Ali al-Marri</a></b><br />05.12.08. Andy Worthington, ICH. In brighter times, before a fog of fear descended on the United States, and the discourse of decent men and women was coarsened by an acceptance of the use of torture as a "no-brainer," it would have been inconceivable that an American could have been held for seven years without charge or trial on the US mainland, in a state of solitary confinement so debilitating that he is said to be suffering from "severe damage to his mental and emotional well-being.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/584">Imprisoned for Seven Years Without Being Charged</a></b><br />09.12.08. T. Eddlem. New American. Consider this incredible sequence of events. A young American citizen was invited to study in a Middle Eastern country. Having arrived there, the dictatorship running the country kidnapped him and held him in solitary confinement for seven years without a trial. The dictatorship didn't just incarcerate him, they stubbornly refused to charge him with a crime during his incarceration. His family and friends have petitioned for his release, but the dictator vaguely insists he was a subversive and intended to attack his country — though the ruler stubbornly refuses to provide any details about how this might have happened. Release of these details — even seven years later — would jeopardize "national security." But it's also widely known that this person was apprehended unarmed and had not engaged in any violence.<br /><br />For more on Al-Marri, see <a href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/category/ali-al-marri/"> here</a>.<br /><br /><u> Sameh Khouzam </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/12/third-circuit-blocks-deportation-of.php">Third Circuit blocks deportation of Egypt detainee despite 'no torture' pledge</a></b><br />06.12.08. JURIST The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on Friday ruled that an Egyptian Christian who could face torture in Egypt may challenge his deportation from the United States. Sameh Khouzam fled to the US in 1998 allegedly to escape religious persecution. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawyers representing Khouzam argued before the US District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania that the US government was not abiding by its obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture by relying on assurances from the Egyptian government that Khouzam would not be tortured if he were returned to authorities in Egypt.<br /><br /><u> Javaid Iqbal </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120908C">Who's at Fault for Harsh Antiterror Tactics?</a></b><br />09.12.08. Warren Richey, The CSM / Truthout. :"The US Supreme Court this week takes up a case examining whether cabinet-level officials in the Bush White House can be held legally accountable for the administration's controversial tactics in the war on terror. At issue is an attempt to force former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI director Robert Mueller to stand trial with federal agents, prison guards, and their supervisors. They are all named in a lawsuit filed by a Pakistani man [Javaid Iqbal] who was held as a terror suspect for five months in solitary confinement in a US prison although there was no evidence connecting him to terrorism."<br /><br /><u>Redha al-Najar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hblMfW68NhL_wmxCyV4j6Xj8hYSQD95028V80">Tunisian man sues for freedom from US detainment</a></b><br />10.12.08. AP. Lawyers for Redha al-Najar, 43, said he wants his freedom from a prison on an American air base in <b>Bagram</b>, Afghanistan, but not if the U.S. government follows through with its threat to send him to Tunisia. "He faces the grim prospect of being hunted down, abused and tortured, based on his status as a practicing Muslim," lawyers said in court papers. "Given that the stamp of his wrongful detention in Bagram will contribute to such treatment, to permit the U.S. government to return petitioner al-Najar to Tunisia would be tantamount to sanctioning his torture and indefinite detention there." / .. "Redha al-Najar is just one of an untold number of people who continue to be unlawfully imprisoned by the United States in Afghanistan and other locations around the globe," Olshansky said in a statement.<br /><br /><br />RENDITION<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/12/spain-aided-us-rendition-flights-report.php">Spain aided US rendition flights: report</a></b><br />01.12.08. JURIST. The Spanish Foreign Ministry expressly allowed the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] to use Spanish resources in transporting terror suspects to Guantanamo Bay, according to a 2002 internal Foreign Ministry memorandum released by Madrid's El Pais newspaper on Sunday. According to the document, an official for the ministry granted a CIA request to allow the US to use Spanish air space and military bases for flights between Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay. The Ministry, now under new leadership since the government of conservative Prime Minister Aznar was replaced in 2004 by that of socialist Zapatero, said it would investigate whether the country had actually granted the permission. The Spanish government has previously conceded that CIA flights may have stopped on its soil but denied that it had granted permission for such planes to transport prisoners. <a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1446783.php/Spain_denies_illegal_CIA_flights_through_its_territory_"> Spain denies </a>(05.12.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Rice_will_not_deny_CIA_renditions_1206.html">Rice refuses to deny CIA transported suspects to countries using torture</a></b><br />06.12.08. Raw story. Outgoing Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on Friday refused to deny the CIA had engaged in transporting terror suspects to countries that routinely practice torture, when asked by a Danish television reporter. .. / The reporter backtracked, and asked the secretary if that means there had been no CIA flights over Denmark. "I have given a commitment to the foreign minister about the future, and I have said that we will respect Danish sovereignty," she said, dodging his inquiry. As recently as April, the CIA admitted in documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act that the program will continue. (Spain, Portugal, Italy have similarly dodged questions).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/12/spain-judge-to-review-us-rendition-memo.php">Spain judge to review US rendition memo as investigation continues</a></b><br />11.12.08. JURIST. Spanish National Court Judge Ismael Moreno Wednesday asked the Spanish Foreign Ministry for a certified copy of a 2002 internal government memorandum detailing a US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] request to use Spanish resources in aiding CIA extraordinary rendition flights. Moreno said that after reviewing the memo he will subpoena the memo's purported author, Foreign Ministry official Miguel Aguirre de Carcer. Charges could be filed against current or former government officials who knowingly allowed US planes carrying prisoners to make stopovers on Spanish soil. / The memo in question, originally labeled "very secret" but published by Madrid's El Pais newspaper late last month, is especially controversial because the Spanish government had previously <b>denied consent or knowledge of rendition flights</b> routed through Spain since 2005. When the memo was authored, Spain was led by a conservative government that gave way to the socialist administration of Prime Minister Rodríguez Zapatero in 2004. In 2006, Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told the European parliament that, despite assurances from the US to the contrary, rendition flights may have stopped on Spanish islands off of the country's south coast.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/opinion/14gerecht.html"> Out of Sight </a></b><br />13.12.08. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Reuel_Marc_Gerecht"> M. E. Gerecht</a>, NT Times. Mr. Obama will soon face the same awful choices that confronted George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and he could well be forced to accept a central feature of their anti-terrorist methods: extraordinary rendition. If the choice is between non-deniable aggressive questioning conducted by Americans and deniable torturous interrogations by foreigners acting on behalf of the United States, it is almost certain that as president Mr. Obama will choose the latter.<br /><br /><u> Maher Arar </u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/images/maherarar.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 175px; height: 175px;" src="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/images/maherarar.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://amlawdaily.typepad.com/amlawdaily/2008/12/second-circuit.html">Second Circuit Hears Argument in Extraordinary Rendition Case</a></b><br />10.12.08. am law daily / legitgov. In a long but lively <em>en banc </em>argument, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Tuesday heard the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen arrested in New York in 2002 and secretly sent to Syria for interrogation and torture. / Arar is the case that first brought to light the United States' program of <b>"extraordinary rendition,"</b>by which U.S. authorities have sent detainees to other countries for interrogation, even though (or because) those countries are known to interrogate suspects under torture. / Georgetown Law Professor David Cole, arguing on behalf of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents Arar (with assistance on the brief from DLA Piper), made a vigorous case in the first hour of the argument that federal officials and the U.S. government are liable for damages under the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torture_Victim_Protection_Act_of_1992"> Torture Victim Protection Act </a> and under the <a href="http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment05/"> 5th Amendment to the Constitution </a> if Arar can prove his allegations that they conspired to keep him from seeing his lawyer and from accessing the US courts, and that they sent him to Syria to be tortured. / The defendants include <u>former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former deputy AG Larry Thomson, the FBI, the INS, and the United States itself</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21539.htm">The Noose Tightens: Rumsfeld, Ashcroft and other top Bush officials could soon face legal jeopardy</a></b><br />19.12.08. Jonathan Tepperman, Newsweek / ICH. The United States, like many countries, has a bad habit of committing wartime excesses and an even worse record of accounting for them afterward. But a remarkable string of recent events suggests that may finally be changing<br /><br /><br />GUANTANAMO<br /><br /><em>I can't even tell you how many times I have heard that between Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and our treatment of prisoners, we have created [more members for the] Taliban in Afghanistan and many Al Qaeda [followers], or that is Jihadists in Iraq. It is very easy to recruit young men to commit terrible acts because of the way we dehumanize Arabs</em>. Seymour Hersh (interview 25.12.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/109083/">After Seven Years, Guantánamo Prisoners Need to be Tried or Released</a></b><br />29.11.08. Marjorie Cohn, Jurist / Alternet. Judge: "Seven years of waiting for a legal system to give them an answer ... is more than enough."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7761315.stm">Guantanamo 'a stain on US military'</a></b><br />02.12.08. BBC. Darrel Vandeveld tells the BBC why he quit as a Guantanamo Bay prosecutor. "I know so many fighting men and women who are stained by the taint of Guantanamo, so I'm here to tell the truth about Guantanamo and how a few people have sullied the American military and the constitution," he told me during an interview in his home town of Erie, Pennsylvania. VIDEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120508E">What Next for Guantanamo Bay?</a></b><br />04.12.08. Philippe Sands, Guardian/truthout. Obama needs to say five things on day one, to America and to his global audience.<br /><ul><br /><li>he should state that he will not use the phrase "war on terror"</li><br /><li> he should announce that the US will, as a matter of legal obligation, no longer use torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as defined by international law.</li><br /><li>he should declare the closure of Guantanamo …</li><br /><li>he must address what will happen to the 50 or so detainees who will remain in the US, some of whom are now subject to proceedings before military commissions under the Military Commissions Act 2006. He should announce the immediate suspension of all such proceedings and the repeal of that Act ..</li><br /><li>he should announce that the US will honour and underscore its historic commitment to international efforts against impunity, so that past detainee abuses will not be forgotten. His administration should establish a comprehensive investigation of alleged post-9/11 detainee abuse, to be undertaken by an independent, expert commission, with a mandate to establish the facts as to how the administration embraced cruelty, and to make recommendations by the end of 2009.</li></ul><br /><br /><em>Philippe Sands QC is professor of law at University College London, a barrister at Matrix Chambers and author of Lawless World (2005) and Torture Team (2008)</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/04/guantanamo-bay-human-rights1">What about the ghost prisoners?</a></b><br />04.12.08. Clive Stafford Smith, Guardian. The men in Guantánamo represent <b>fewer than 1% of the 27,000 prisoners being held by the US beyond the rule of law</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/04/guantanamo-bay-human-rights">The answer is easy</a></b><br />04.12.08. T. Otty, Guardian. The answer to the question "What to do with those still held at Guantánamo?" is at one level extraordinarily easy, and it remains the same as it has been since the detentions first began almost seven years ago. The detainees should be given a fair trial consistent with internationally recognised standards, or they should be released.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/3704514/Guantanamo-commander-says-base-will-not-close-soon.html">Guantanamo commander says base will not close soon</a></b><br />10.12.08. Telegraph. Rear Adm David Thomas said he expected "rigorous debate" in America before the 250 detainees are flown out, pouring cold water on speculation that the military's offshore prison might close within days after Mr Obama is sworn in on Jan 20.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/washington/16gitmo.html?_r=1&th&emc=th">U.S. Is Set to Release 3 Detainees From Base</a></b><br />15.12.08. NY Times. The Bush administration is preparing to transfer to Bosnia three Guantánamo detainees whom a court ordered freed last month after the first court hearing into the evidence the government used for detaining men at the prison./ .. The three men who are to be transferred were Mohamed Nechle, Mustafa Ait Idir and Hadj Boudella,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/12/09/guantanamo/">Don't replace the old Guantánamo with a new one</a></b><br />-.12.08. Jameel Jaffer and Ben Wizner, Salon / anti-war. … But even as President-elect Obama repeats his oft-made promise to shutter the prison that has so besmirched the nation's reputation, some legal experts, and not just those on the right, are talking about giving him the right to open a new Gitmo here at home. An extraordinary debate is under way about whether Congress should expressly authorize the new president to do what the outgoing president did on his own claimed authority: imprison alleged terrorists without charge or trial.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnN10339403.html">September 11 families denounce Guantanamo trials</a></b><br />10.12.08. Reuters / legitgov. Two dozen people who lost loved ones in the September 11 attacks issued a statement on Wednesday denouncing the Guantanamo war crimes trials as illegitimate, shameful and politically motivated.<br /><br /><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/11/portugal-offers-to-take-guantanamo-detainees/"> Portugal offers to take Guantanamo detainees </a> (11.12.08. AP/ anti-war)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 245px; height: 173px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOZPIhPj6PeJKoCXHNI-gXGQr6tUkPRKIs4hWj8BFIommttt75cpRuNTWwTBC6p-MWwtBlm0Zi_RQNTLMkZSPmLBVXamMyolfGml1-ZDFZ0RHhQ3kVD2IYwiScG1ZJWB4eYB-f/s400/usatoday_guant.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285968895080207490" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-12-11-detainees_N.htm">Photo AFP /Getty </a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-12-11-detainees_N.htm">Guantanamo Bay officials describe prison's progress</a></b><br />12.12.08. USA today. The cages, known as Camp X-Ray, haven't housed prisoners in six years, they said. They like to describe their new, state-of-the-art detention facilities that have cost more than $400 million to build and staff in terms <em>more suited to summer camp</em> than prisons.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5333753.ece">US calls on Europe to take Guantánamo inmates</a></b><br />13.12.08. Times Online. America is putting increasing pressure on Britain and other European countries to take in dozens of Guantánamo detainees so that Barack Obama can close down the infamous prison camp.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/14/chertoff-obama-shouldnt-rush-on-guantanamo-bay/">Chertoff: Obama shouldn't rush on Guantanamo Bay</a></b><br />14.12.08. D. Stringer, anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/121608K">US Supreme Court Orders Review of Guantanamo Torture Case</a></b><br />15.12.08. Agence France-Presse/truthout. "The US Supreme Court on Monday revived a lawsuit by four former British detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, ordering a lower court to reconsider their claims of torture and religious bias. The justices ordered a Washington DC appeals court to review its January 2008 ruling quashing the lawsuit against former Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and 10 senior US military officers."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/worthington/?articleid=13908">A History of Music Torture in the 'War on Terror'</a></b><br />16.12.08. Andy Worthington, anti-war. … soldiers, who were largely left to their own devices when choosing what to play, frequently selected songs with blunt messages – "F*ck Your God" by Deicide, for example, which is actually an anti-Christian rant, but one whose title would presumably cause consternation to believers in any religion – even though, for prisoners not used to Western rock and rap music, the music itself was enough to cause them serious distress. / Approval for the Use of Music Torture in the "War on Terror"…/ The Experiences of Binyam Mohamed and Donald Vance…/ Musicians Take Action …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24816310-12335,00.html">Guantanamo 'worst place on Earth'</a></b><br />17.12.08. Australian news / ICH. AN Algerian-born man who has just been freed from Guantanamo Bay has described the US "war on terror" camp as the worst place on Earth, in an interview published in a Bosnian newspaper. / For almost seven years, I was at the end of the world, at the worst place in the world,'' <u>Mustafa Ait Idir</u> told the Dnevni Avaz a day after arriving back in his adopted homeland of Bosnia. "It would have been hard even if I had done something wrong (but) it is much harder if one is totally innocent,'' he said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/12/2008121822716620698.html">Guantanamo closure plan ordered</a></b><br />19.12.08. al jazeera / ICH. Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, has ordered his staff to draw up plans to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba.<br /><br />“<em>The committee's report also found that Rumsfeld's authorization of aggressive interrogation techniques for use at Guantanamo Bay was a direct cause of detainee abuse there. Those techniques migrated to Iraq and Afghanistan, where prisoners in US custody were also tortured.”</em> <a href="http://www.truthout.org/121908J"> Marjorie Cohn </a> (19.12.08.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/23/us-rebuffs-china-call-for-17-guantanamo-suspects/">U.S. rebuffs China call for 17 Guantanamo suspects</a></b><br />23.12.08. Reuters / anti-war. Although the U.S. military no longer considers the 17 Chinese Uighurs "enemy combatants," they have remained at Guantanamo because the United States has been unable to find a country willing to take them.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081224/wl_afp/usattacksjusticeguantanamoeu"> Europe cautious on resettling Guantanamo detainees</a> (24.12.08. AFP)<br /><br /><u> Uigars </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/23/us-rebuffs-china-call-for-17-guantanamo-suspects/">U.S. rebuffs China call for 17 Guantanamo suspects</a></b><br />23.12.08. Reuters / anti-war. Although the U.S. military no longer considers the 17 Chinese Uighurs "enemy combatants," they have remained at Guantanamo because the United States has been unable to find a country willing to take them.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/58488.html">Uncertainty shrouds 17 unusual Guantanamo detainees</a></b><br />25.12.08. McClatchy. At Camp Iguana, 17 Muslims from China taken captive in Afghanistan seven years ago now get Pepsi, Ping Pong and a 42-inch plasma screen for sports and religious videos. What they can't get is an answer to the question of when they might leave this place, ordered by a judge in October, and what nation might grant them asylum.<br /><br /><u>Binyam Mohamed</u><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 119px; height: 178px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1KoBgjzXGOCfr7XxhsIBGcHYvhPjMpTscfZSnErdTG-nbObGtsHCtEVF8-iVtum7Ws2S0kjt9n0fFd8LG_mePMughD31tanvssS4P_DDPZYOJaH-O4M0cg7YXjL-TKuTqgBa/s320/Binyam_Mohamed_30348t.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262353284958004066" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1203/p03s04-usju.html">In Guantánamo case, a judge tightens the screws on the US</a></b><br />03.12.08. W. Richey, CSM. He is insisting that the government disclose any evidence that points to a detainee's innocence in a 'dirty bomb' plot.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=479151">Former Guantanamo prosecutor may be key in UK case</a></b><br />06.12.08. wired. When Darrel Vandeveld became a U.S. military prosecutor at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, he thought he would deliver justice to the men Donald Rumsfeld once described as "the worst of the worst." Instead, he grew so disillusioned by the alleged suppression of evidence that he quit. .. / One such case is being heard in the British High Court — a case that has rankled the CIA and Britain's Foreign Office. / Lawyers are appealing for secret documents they say could free Guantanamo detainee <u>Binyam Mohamed </u>— an Ethiopian refugee who moved to Britain when he was 15 — and raise questions over whether the U.S. and Britain knew of Mohamed's alleged torture in Morocco. / Vandeveld — a career prosecutor who now practices consumer law in Pennsylvania — was a prosecutor in the Mohamed case before he quit in September. It was one of seven cases he handled since his arrival in May 2007.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21425.htm">Gitmo Military Prosecutor Breaks His Silence </a> (BBC; 9 min)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/122308C">Guantanamo Prisoner's Lawyers Accuse US Defense Secretary</a></b><br />23.12.08. Richard Norton-Taylor, guardian/truthout. "Lawyers for a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay have accused Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, of signing a '<b>flagrantly false' affidavit to avoid having to disclose evidence of torture</b>. In a sworn affidavit to a district court in Washington, Gates says the US authorities have provided <u>Binyam Mohamed</u>'s lawyers and the British government with all the information they possess relating to Mohamed's treatment while held in secret prisons. Gates declared his affidavit to be the truth 'under penalty of perjury.'"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Guantanamo_lawyer_says_Gates_may_have_1222.html">Guantanamo lawyer says Gates may have committed perjury</a></b><br />22.12.08. A. Worthington, Raw Story. US appears to ignore findings of British court on detainee's torture<br /><br /><u>Salim Hamdan</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.historycommons.org/events-images/a370_salim_ahmed_hamdan_2050081722-7505.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 136px; height: 185px;" src="http://www.historycommons.org/events-images/a370_salim_ahmed_hamdan_2050081722-7505.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;">Salim Hamdan </div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/109748/">The End of Guantánamo</a></b><br />03.12.08. Andy Worthington, alternet. The repatriation of <u>Salim Hamdan</u> to Yemen should hasten the demise of the U.S. prison camp.<br /><br /><u>Omar Khadr</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120808F">Witness Against Omar Khadr Withdrawn</a></b><br />07.12.08. Canadian Press / Truthout. The American government has withdrawn a witness against Omar Khadr in an effort to hide evidence of its mistreatment of the Canadian during his detention at Guantanamo Bay, his Pentagon-appointed lawyer says.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/12/canadians-battle-role-cast-in-doubt-at-guantanamo/">Canadian's battle role cast in doubt at Guantanamo</a></b><br />12.12.08. Reuters / anti-war. A Canadian teen was buried under the rubble of a bombed-out compound when someone threw the grenade that killed a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, according to a soldier's report cited at the U.S. war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Friday. The account raised doubts about whether Canadian defendant Omar Khadr, who is charged with murdering U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer, could have thrown the grenade that killed Speer during the 2002 firefight in a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><u>Khalid Sheik Mohammed</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/images/waterboardingsuspects.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 330px; height: 248px;" src="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/images/waterboardingsuspects.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/images/waterboardingsuspects.jpg"> </a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/57292.html">Closing Guantanamo a minefield of critical steps</a></b><br />08.12.08. The Pentagon on Monday begins more hearings for the proposed death penalty trial of reputed 9/11 mastermind <u>Khalid Sheik Mohammed</u>, even as President-elect Barack Obama's transition team and the Bush administration work to possibly close the Navy base prison camps.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/12/alleged-911-conspirators-withdraw.php">Alleged 9/11 conspirators postpone offers to plead guilty at military commission hearing</a></b><br />10.12.08. JURIST. Three out of five Guantanamo Bay detainees, including <u>Khalid Sheikh Mohammed</u>, the self-proclaimed architect of the 9/11 attacks on Monday postponed their offers to plead guilty to the charges against them after the judge required competency hearings for two of the suspects [Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Ramzi Bin al-Shibh].<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/12/11/guantanamo/">Chaos in the 9/11 courtroom</a></b><br />11.12.08. Jennifer Daskal, Salon. In Guantánamo, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-defendants don't know the rules -- and neither does the judge.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Cheney_admits_authorizing_detainees_torture_1215.html">Cheney admits authorizing detainee's torture</a></b><br />15.12.08. David Edwards, Stephen C. Webster, Raw Story. ABC asked [Cheney] if in hindsight he thought the tactics went too far. "I don't," he said. / The prisoner in question, <u>Khalid Sheikh Mohammed</u>, who the Bush administration alleges to have planned the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is one of Guantanamo's "high value targets" thus far charged with war crimes.<br /><br /><u>Mohammed Jawad</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/10/last-guantanamo-trial-of-bush-era-is-delayed-2/">Last Guantanamo trial of Bush era is delayed</a></b><br />10.12.08. Reuters / anti-war. A U.S. military judge Wednesday indefinitely delayed the January trial of a young Afghan captive, leaving the future course of justice at the Guantanamo prison camp in the hands of President-elect Barack Obama. / Defendant <u>Mohammed Jawad</u> had been set to go to trial at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba on Jan. 5 on charges of throwing a grenade that injured two U.S. soldiers and their Afghan interpreter at a bazaar in Kabul in December 2002. / .. A military judge, Army Col. Stephen Henley, indefinitely postponed Jawad's trial Wednesday to give prosecutors time to appeal his earlier decision to throw out much of the evidence. / Henley had ruled that Jawad's confession to Afghan government authorities was obtained through death threats that constituted torture and that his subsequent confession to U.S. interrogators was fruit of that torture. / The judge ruled that neither could be admitted as evidence against Jawad, who was drugged and only 16 or 17 years old at the time of his arrest in Afghanistan. Jawad was turned over to U.S. forces and sent shortly afterward to Guantanamo.<br /><br /><u>Ahmed Darbi</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/57867.html">New Guantanamo chief judge warns of change with Obama</a></b><br />15.12.08. Carol Rosenberg, McClatchy. An Army colonel who presided over the courts martial of several guards in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal is the new chief judge for military commissions, the Pentagon announced Monday. / Army Col. James Pohl replaced Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, who is retiring from service early next year. / … At Guantanamo, Pohl has shown himself at the war court to be impatient with some prison camp rules that have impacted the court. / In March, he sternly informed prosecutors in the Darbi case that lawyers who defend prisoners before him should have easy access to their clients. He also declined to issue a ruling, sought by prison camp commanders, to order a tackle-and-shackle technique called ''Forced Cell Extraction'' on occasions when Darbi refused to come to court.<br /><br /><u>Ahmed Zuhair</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iwzJXqzST3n1TAjrTYuqvs2-qT8AD955VFJG0">Medical exam ordered for Guantanamo hunger striker </a> (19.12.08. AP)<br /><br />VIDEO: Watch Shoe Throwing video <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzInWK2ldgE"> here</a>.<br /><br />For more on the above people, see <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-on-economics-and-peril-in.html#15000"> here </a>, as well as even earlier Index on Afghanistan - Human Rights section) blogs.<br /><br /><br />TORTURE<br /><br /><u> Reports </u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/hrc.berkeley.edu/pdfs/Gtmo-Aftermath.pdf"> Guantánamo and Its Aftermath</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081212_report_rumsfeld_responsible_for_detainee_abuse/"> Senate Panel’s Report on U.S. Torture Abuse </a> [12.12.08. truthdig (pdf)]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.democrats.com/senate-armed-services-committee-report-on-torture">Senate Armed Services Report on Torture</a></b><br />11.12.08. democrats.com. <u>Executive Summary</u>. “The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of ‘a few bad apples’ acting on their own. The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees.”<br /><br /><u> Articles</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/may/14/guantanamo.usa">The true purpose of torture</a></b><br />14.05.05. Naomi Klein, Guardian. Guantánamo is there to terrorise - both inmates and the wider world<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/torture-truth-and-reconciliation.html">Torture: Truth and Reconciliation Imperative </a> (28.11.08. Index Research)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/120308N">Ex-Generals to Urge Obama Action on Torture Issue</a></b><br />02.12.08. Randall Mikkelsen, Reuters:/truthout. "Barack Obama should act from the moment of his inauguration to restore a US image battered by allegations of torturing terrorism suspects, said a group of retired military leaders planning to press their case with the president-elect's transition team on Wednesday. 'We need to remove the stain, and the stain is on us, as well as on our reputation overseas,' said retired Vice Adm. Lee Gunn, former Navy inspector general."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/109392/">O'Reilly Whitewashes Torture at Gitmo: 'There's Certainly No Proof That Ever Happened'</a></b><br />02.12.08. Ryan Powers, Think Progress<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21372.htm">How Many Americans Died Because of Bush’s Torture Program?</a></b><br />02.12.08. Scott Horton, Harpers. The torture techniques developed by the Bush torture team were the most effective recruitment tool we could ever have given terrorists. They cost thousands of American lives. And that’s a key element of the legacy of the forty-third president.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081203/pl_nm/us_security_mukasey"> Mukasey opposes prosecutions for torture advice </a> (03.12.08. Reuters)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.progressive.org/mag/mpratner120308.html">Obama should prosecute Bush officials who designed torture policy</a></b><br />03.12.08. M. Rattner, progressive.org. A few months ago, <b>Holder</b> was even more explicit. “Our government authorized the use of torture, approved of secret electronic surveillance against American citizens, secretly detained American citizens without due process of law, denied the writ of habeas corpus to hundreds of accused enemy combatants and authorized the use of procedures that violate both international law and the United States Constitution,” he said. “We owe the American people a reckoning.” / The day of reckoning is fast upon us.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hN2ypSAeEYf2zcSYL82fgFy_14qQD94RHF1G0">Obama legal team meets with anti-torture generals</a></b><br />04.12.08. AP. Obama has criticized practices that he says amount to torturing detainees during interrogations and has promised to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. / Among those who met with Eric Holder, Obama's pick to be attorney general, and Greg Craig, the incoming White House counsel, were Gen. Charles Krulak, a former Marine Corps commandant, and retired Marine Gen. Joseph Hoar, former chief of the Central Command.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/feinstein-issues-statement-on-torture/?nl=pol&emc=pola2">Feinstein Issues Statement on Torture</a></b><br />05.12.08. NYTimes. “I strongly believe there should be a single, clear standard for interrogation across the federal government, and that this standard should comply with the Geneva Convention, the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and U.S. law. I plan to introduce legislation in January that would close Guantanamo, make the Army Field Manual the single standard for interrogations, prohibit contractors from being used to carry out interrogations and provide the International Committee of the Red Cross with access to detainees. If the incoming administration decides to propose an alternative to this legislation, I am willing to hear its views. But I believe we must put an end to coercive interrogations by the C.I.A.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=a5d6rDFL9ILk&refer=home">Bush Bailout for Rumsfeld, Torturers Might Be Next</a></b><br />05.12.08. Ann Woolner, Bloomberg. Beyond the wiretappers, the perjurers, the obstructers of justice in the U.S. attorney firings are those who promoted the notion that torture isn’t torture, and even if it is, it isn’t necessarily illegal… / It would be pleasant to turn our back on the shame of the recent past, fervently denounce torture as un-American and, with a new president and a world eager to trust him, say it won’t happen again. .. / The problem with just moving on is, as William Faulkner put it, “The past is not dead. In fact, it’s not even past.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/109792/">Former U.S. Interrogator: Torture Policy Has Led to More Deaths than 9/11 Attacks</a></b><br />05.12.08. Amy Goodman, Democracy Now / Alternet. "How anyone can say that torture keeps Americans safe is beyond me," says the author of How to Break a Terrorist. Interview with a former special intelligence operations officer, who led an interrogations team in Iraq two years ago<br /><br /><b><a href="http://washingtonindependent.com/21313/21313">Legal Scholars Outraged by Talk of Blanket Pardons</a></b><br />08.12.08. Washington independent / anti-war.<br /><br />References: <a href="http://torturingdemocracy.org/"> here </a><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21422.htm"> Torturing Democracy</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/580">Report Confirms Torture at Guantanamo</a></b><br />08.12.08. New American. Last month, a consortium of human-rights groups from the University of California at Berkeley released a report entitled Guantanamo and Its Aftermath: U.S. Detention and Interrogation Practices and Their Impact on Detainees [pdf]. [see above, Report] Its 136 pages prove in dispassionate prose allegations that Americans passionately debate: the U.S. government imprisoned mostly innocent men, without trial or criminal charges, at its prison in Guantanamo Bay, abused a great many of them, and tortured some. / Because a notoriously left-wing university sponsored the report, apologists for the Bush administration may dismiss it. They do so unjustly. Studies of human beings and an event's "impact" on them can never be purely objective, but this investigation comes as close as possible to pursuing and distilling the truth. For that we can thank its rigorous methodology, scrupulous reporting, and a style "devoid of rhetoric," as "the Honorable Patricia M. Wald" says in her forward. / From July 2007 to July 2008, researchers interviewed 112 people "using semi-structured questionnaires." Among respondents were 62 of Gitmo's former prisoners as well as 50 "key informants, including former and current U.S. government officials, representatives of nongovernmental organizations, attorneys representing detainees," and prison personnel. The report frequently quotes their anonymous but persuasive testimonies. Researchers then "compared" this "data to 1,215 coded media reports about former Guantanamo detainees, relevant documents released by the Department of Defense, and reports by the U.S. government, independent organizations, and the media." <em> Let the trials begin. </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=41595&dcn=todaysnews">House Democrat urges Obama to keep Bush's intelligence chiefs</a></b><br />10.12.08. govexec. Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said he also recommended to Obama's transition team that some <b> parts of the CIA's controversial alternative interrogation program should be allowed to continue</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49508&s2=12">How Two Federal Judges Invoked "Secrecy" to Block Access to Bush Torture Data</a></b><br />11.12.08. Sherwood Ross, uruknet. Two Federal judges have deliberately invoked secrecy statutes to conceal the Federal government’s illegal use of torture, a prominent legal authority says. Named are judges Terence Boyle of the U.S. District Court of Eastern North Carolina, and T.S. Ellis III of the U.S. District Court of Eastern District of Virginia, both nominees of President Ronald Reagan. According to Lawrence Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover, Judge Boyle refused to allow CIA contractor David Passaro access to government memos that could be construed to show he was acting under orders when he tortured a prisoner to death...<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49548&s2=13">Rotted From the Head: Senate Lays Bare Bush Torture System -- But So What?</a></b><br />12.12.08. Chris Floyd, uruknet. ...Now, what is going to be the upshot of this shocking report from the highest reaches of the national government? Why....nothing, of course! As Juan Cole notes, the report "calls for no sanctions to be imposed" -- and certainly no prosecution of what were clearly, beyond all question, violations of U.S. law. Cole also professes to be "mystified" as to "why this report is being announced now, at the end of the week and at a time of the year in the political calendar when it will not get much play." Surely he is being ironic; it was released in this manner precisely to ensure that "it will not get much play." It will almost certainly be no more than a one-day story; indeed, even on its one day, it has been obscured by the Blagojevich brouhaha and the failure of the auto bailout. Here is the bottom line: No one who was in any position of real power is going to be punished for these outrages. Not even Rumsfeld; his "fall guy" role will be confined to serving as a lightning rod for bad PR, for awhile, before an inevitable, Nixon-like "rehabilitation" somewhere down the line. (Maybe Obama will appoint him to some blue-ribbon "bipartisan" commission on some weighty matter.)..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/12/15/rumsfeld/index.html">Senate report links Bush to detainee homicides; media yawns</a></b><br />15.12.08. Glenn Greenwald, Salon. There are countless other episodes like this of human beings in American custody dying because of the mistreatment -- authorized by Bush, Rumsfeld and others -- to which we subjected them. These are murders and war crimes in every sense of the word. That the highest level Bush officials and the President himself are responsible for the policies that spawned these crimes against humanity have been long known to anyone paying minimal attention, but now we have a bipartisan Senate Report -- signed by the presidential nominee of Bush's own political party -- that directly assigns culpability for these war crimes to the President and his policies. It's nothing less than a formal declaration from the Senate that the President and his top aides are war criminals. / .. This Report was issued on Thursday. Not a single mention was made of it on any of the Sunday news talk shows, with the sole exception being when John McCain told George Stephanopoulos that it was "not his job" to opine on whether criminal prosecutions were warranted for the Bush officials whose policies led to these crimes.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes_main.html"> Ann Telnaes CARTOON </a> (Washington Post)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/122008Z">Tortured Reasoning</a></b><br />16.12.08. David Rose, Vanity Fair/truthout. "George W. Bush defended harsh interrogations by pointing to intelligence breakthroughs, but a surprising number of counterterrorist officials say that, apart from being wrong, torture just doesn't work. Delving into two high-profile cases [<u>Abu Zubaydah & Khalid Sheikh Mohammed</u>] the author exposes the tactical costs of prisoner abuse.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081218_torture_proponents_have_no_serious_argument/">Torture Proponents Have No Serious Argument</a></b><br />18.12.08. William Pfaff, truthdig. Vice President Dick Cheney was on American television last weekend to say that he directly approved CIA torture of American prisoners, and that he favors keeping the Guantanamo prison camp open until “the end of the war on terror,” a date which “nobody can specify.” / Those of Cheney’s persuasion are trying to convince Barack Obama that “realism” requires continued torture and the offshore prison system by which, under George W. Bush and Cheney, the United States took up the precedent and practices of Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia and other criminal regimes that gave the 20th century its reputation for moral depravity. / Pleas are beginning to appear in the American press in support of torture.<br /><ul><br /><li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Reuel_Marc_Gerecht"> Reuel Marc Gerecht </a></li><br /><li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Philip_Bobbitt"> Philip Bobbitt </a></li><br /><li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Alan_Dershowitz"> Alan Dershowitz </a></li></ul><br /><br />The [ticking bomb] argument always ignores the point repeatedly made by FBI and police officials, and other professional interrogators: that … Torture produces lies, fabulation, telling the torturer whatever he wants. / It corrupts the torturers and their superiors, as well as the legal and intelligence systems involved. / The country used to be governed by a different class of people. It seems reasonable to hope that in Barack Obama the United States has elected president someone who belongs to the category of people who have the values of that other America.<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/2008121618330140949.html"> Bush shoe-thrower 'tortured'</a> (17.12.08. aljazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/12/hbc-90004059">What Motivates the Torture Enablers?</a></b><br />20.12.08. Scott Horton, Harpers. Torture works, the defenders of the Bush Administration say. Torture saves lives. The safety of our country depends on torture. But it didn’t depend on torture before George W. Bush. In fact, as the World War II era poster found in post offices around the country taught my parents’ generation, “Torture is the tool of the enemy.” It’s also the tool of Dick Cheney–go figure. And “Vice” himself has been heard this week. Torture is good for you, he told us. Torture is the moral thing to do. Duncan Hunter offered us the most surreal, inane defense of this thesis and David Rivkin the most nuanced. RIZ KHAN (jazeera) VIDEO INTERVIEW. / What drives the torture enablers like Rivkin and Hunter? … READ ON. .. The threshold from principled analysis to partisan propaganda has been crossed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/12/24/torture/index.html">Torture ambivalence masquerading as moral and intellectual superiority</a></b><br />24.12.08 (updated). Glenn Greenwald, Salon. Behold the now-solidified Smart, Reasonable American Consensus on torture: the agreed-upon method for dismissing away -- mitigating and even justifying -- the fact that our leaders, more or less out in the open, instituted a systematic torture regime with the consent of our key elite institutions and a huge bulk of the American citizenry, engaging in behaviors which, for decades, we insisted were <b>inexcusable war crimes</b> when engaged in by others<br /><br /><u> Jawed Ahmad </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/cloughley12242008.html">Torture, Slaughter and Lies</a></b><br />24.12.08. Brian Cloughley, Counterpunch / ICH. In September an Afghan journalist, Jawed Ahmad, was released from a US military prison in Afghanistan where his jailers " broke two of my ribs during the beatings." He worked for Canadian TV and the BBC, among other media outlets, and he had done nothing wrong. That is obvious, because he was freed without charge after a year of hellish treatment at the hands of uniformed filth whose claim to being human is at best feeble. / … In February Jawed Ahmad was declared an "enemy combatant," which is a glib catch-all description used by Washington's foulest to describe any foreigner who, in shades of the horrible McCarthy years, they suspect of possibly being involved in what they term anti-American activities. These victim of hysteria, of whom there are countless thousands around the world, are locked up in prisons [eg. Deigo Garcia, Guantanamo, Bagram, Kandahar] where their treatment varies from casual brutality to hideous torture. [examples of horrors in Afghanistan]. …<br /><br />Will there be change under Obama? Will he order a case review of the 15,000 people held without charge or trial, without legal advice, in hellish conditions, without hope, by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan? Will he be able to release from captivity the unknown number of people kept in foreign jails by arrangement with US intelligence operatives? Will he make it his business to ensure that the demented out-of-control special forces be reined in? Will he order inquiries into torture? Will he, above all, insist on the truth being told? Watch this space.<br /><br /><em> “In Case You Missed It” </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.zmag.org/zmag/viewArticle/13822">The United States as Torture Central</a></b><br />May 2004, Edward S. Herman, Z magazine. T he recent release of five British citizens from the Camp X-Ray prison at Guantanamo Bay and their disclosures of serious abuse and torture at the hands of U.S. personnel, raises once again the question of the U.S. position vis-à-vis torture and its role in the global system in which the United States is the dominant power. / I say "again" because the question arose in the 1970s, when Amnesty International's 1974 Report on Torture pointed out that torture, which had been at a low ebb for centuries, "has suddenly developed a life of its own and become a social cancer.<br /><br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2008/12/20081219111346162592.html"> Riz Khan, An Interrogator Speaks </a> (al jazeera 19.12.08.)<br /><br />PLAY ‘SOCK AND AWE <a href="http://play.sockandawe.com/"> here </a>.<br /><br />(<em> See War Crimes, below </em>)<br /><br /><br />WAR CRIMES<br /><br />"<em>We have made clear that governments that sponsor terror are as guilty as the terrorists - and will be held to account</em>."<a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Any_govt_supporting_terrorists_would_be_held_to_account_Bush/articleshow/3815487.cms"> George Bush </a><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2977"> Civilian casualties in Afghanistan </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/09/BA0I14K7P3.DTL&tsp=1">Berkeley Council urges war crimes prosecution</a></b><br />10.12.08. sfgate/anti-war. After an emotional, rancorous debate over torture and academic freedom, Berkeley's City Council passed a measure late Monday night imploring the United States to prosecute Berkeley resident and former White House official John Yoo for war crimes./… Anderson, who represents South Berkeley, wept as he recalled torture he had witnessed as a soldier during the Vietnam War. His arguments against the city scaling back the measure drew a standing ovation. / The city will send a letter to the incoming U.S. attorney general and the U.S. attorney for Northern California asking that they prosecute Yoo for war crimes. The measure updates a March 2007 initiative asking the United States to prosecute former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Yoo and other officials./ … the arguments Yoo used to justify torture were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> Massacre </b><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49518&s2=13">FLASHBACK: Bush's Afghan Massacre</a></b><br />28.11.08. by Ted Rall, uruknet. (Film Accuses U.S. of Atrocities at Dasht-i-Leili) Did American soldiers commit war crimes during the invasion of Afghanistan? According to eyewitnesses, U.S. Special Forces supervised--some say orchestrated--the systematic murder of more than 3,000 captured Taliban soldiers in November 2001. That charge is the centerpiece of a documentary film, "Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death," expected to be released in the United States within the next few weeks. "There has been a <b>cover-up by the Pentagon</b>," says Scottish director Jamie Doran, a former producer for the BBC. "They're hiding behind a wall of secrecy, hoping this story will go away--but it won't."...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/57649.html">U.S. keeps silent as Afghan ally removes war crime evidence</a></b><br />11.12.08. T. Lasseter, McClatchy/legitgov. Seven years ago, a convoy of container trucks rumbled across northern Afghanistan loaded with a human cargo of suspected Taliban and al Qaida members who'd surrendered to Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, an Afghan warlord and a key U.S. ally in ousting the Taliban regime. / When the trucks arrived at a prison in the town of Sheberghan, near Dostum's headquarters, they were filled with corpses. Most of the prisoners had suffocated, and others had been killed by bullets that Dostum's militiamen had fired into the metal containers. / Dostum's men hauled the bodies into the nearby desert and buried them in mass graves, according to Afghan human rights officials. By some estimates, 2,000 men were buried there. / <b>Earlier this year, bulldozers and backhoes returned to the scene, reportedly exhumed the bones of many of the dead men and removed evidence of the atrocity to sites unknown</b>. In the area where the mass graves once were, there now are gaping pits in the sands of the Dasht-e-Leili desert./ … However, the fact that U.S. special forces and CIA operatives were working closely with Dostum in late 2001, when the killings took place, has fueled <b>suspicions that the warlord got a free pass</b>./ .. the number of people killed during transport to Sheberghan "may approach 2,000. <a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003922618"> Greg Mitchell </a>praises Lasseter.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 130px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHem5DsJyyv4xLAeqjohjkwWlPTFcPDTJK3K7hC5UXsR_AzjiqQWjwaodgU66YnUGya52q_jxZ16clD4gpbyaRBr8igW9lUkakcUrAUr8ZBUiaYylwwQkeLpZ1Jo9zE9UMX6wg/s400/genocide_afghan_massacre.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285968888736968242" border="0" /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3267.htm"> Afghan Massacre : The Convoy of Death </a> Jamie Doran has uncovered evidence of a massacre. Amy Goodman presents background (<b>20.05.04</b>)<br /><br />[NB: more US airbrushing of history: about time Americans are seeing the film that we, elsewhere in our world, saw when it came out in <b>May 2004</b>. The story was also extensively covered on the internet, including on Index Research]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jw5CkEUEpBl3oPuyPfKA9bNJu8EgD951BN4G0">UN confirms Afghan mass grave site disturbed</a></b><br />12.12.08. AP. "We can confirm that the site at Dasht-e-Leili has been disturbed," said Dan McNorton, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in Afghanistan. He declined to say how or when the site had changed, saying that details would be available in an upcoming report.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/57886.html">Groups ask U.S., NATO to help secure Afghanistan gravesite</a></b><br />15.12.08. McClatchy. A human rights group Monday called on the commander of U.S. and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan to assist the United Nations in securing a mass gravesite from which the remains of as many as 2,000 suspected Taliban and al Qaida fighters appear to have been removed. VIDEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/58132.html">Mass graves still unguarded as U.S., U.N., Afghans duck task</a></b><br />18.12.08. Tom Lasseter. McClatchy Newspapers. A week after the revelation that remains had been bulldozed from a mass grave site that held up to 2,000 bodies in Afghanistan, the location remains unprotected, the United Nations hasn't released its own investigation and the warlord who's accused of the exhumation is comfortably lodged just down the street from a Starbucks in Turkey's capital. / None of the key players in Afghanistan — the U.S. military, NATO, the United Nations or the Afghan government — has taken responsibility for safeguarding the site at Dasht-e Leili in northern Afghanistan. Each says that someone else should take the first step.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a href="http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2008/12/scream_bloody_murder.html"> Witnesses to Genocide </a> (04.12.08. Christiane Amanpour, Washington Post)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/11/AR2008121101969.html">Report on Detainee Abuse Blames Top Bush Officials</a></b><br />12.12.08. Washington Post. A bipartisan panel of senators has concluded that former defense secretary <b>Donald H. Rumsfeld and other top Bush administration officials bear direct responsibility for the harsh treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and that their decisions led to more serious abuses in Iraq and elsewhere</b>. / The report … contends that Pentagon officials later tried to create a false impression that the policies were unrelated to acts of detainee abuse committed by members of the military. / "The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own," the report states. "The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees." / The report is the most direct refutation to date of the administration's rationale for using -aggressive interrogation techniques torture-- that inflicting humiliation and pain on detainees was legal and effective, and helped protect the country. The 25-member panel, without one dissent among the 12 Republican members, declared the opposite to be true. See<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/news/primary_sources/2008/12/12/treatment_detainee/"> Report: Torture started with Bush </a>(M. Benjamin, Salon, 11.12.08)<br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><br /><b> Cheney</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Cheney_admits_authorizing_detainees_torture_1215.html">Cheney admits authorizing detainee's torture</a></b><br />15.12.08. David Edwards, Stephen C. Webster, Raw Story. When asked by ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl whether he approved of interrogation tactics used against a so-called "high value prisoner" at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison, Mr. Cheney, in a break from his history of being press-shy, admitted to giving official sanctioning of torture. / "I supported it," he said regarding the practice known as "water-boarding," a form of simulated drowning. After World War II, Japanese soldiers were tried and convicted of war crimes in US courts for water-boarding, a practice which the outgoing Bush administration attempted to enshrine in policy./ "I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn't do," Cheney said. "And they talked to me, as well as others, to explain what they wanted to do. And I supported it." / He added: "It's been a remarkably successful effort .. VIDEO<br /><br /><b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=6464919&page=1">Exclusive: Cheney Holds Hard-Line Stance</a></b><br />15.12.08. Jonathan Karl, ABC. In an exclusive interview Monday with ABC News, Vice President Dick Cheney issued an unapologetic defense of the Bush administration's anti-terror policies, including the use of waterboarding, and said the prison at Guantanamo Bay should remain open as long as there's a war on terror. / Cheney held fast to his views on coercing information out of alleged terrorists, saying waterboarding was an appropriate means of getting information from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. / Cheney resisted those who say the Bush administration has overstepped its bounds on torture, saying national intelligence is an art, not a science. VIDEO.<br /><br />Cheney revelling in his “Darth Vader” image <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/12/16/BL2008121601443.html"> here </a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes12192008.html"> CARTOON ANN TELNAES </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/121908J">Cheney Throws Down Gauntlet, Defies Prosecution for War Crimes</a></b><br />19.12.08. Marjorie Cohn, Truthout. Dick Cheney has publicly confessed to ordering war crimes. / .. Why is Cheney so sanguine about admitting he is a war criminal? Because he's confident that either President Bush will preemptively pardon him or President-elect Obama won't prosecute him. <b>Both of those courses of action would be illegal</b>. / … Lawyers who wrote the memos that purported to immunize government officials from war crimes liability include <u>John Yoo, Jay Bybee, William Haynes, David Addington and Alberto Gonzales</u>. There is precedent in our law for holding lawyers criminally liable for participating in a common plan to violate the law. / Obama has promised to bring real change. This must be legal and moral change, where those at the highest levels of government are held accountable for their heinous crimes. The new president should move swiftly to set an important precedent that you can't authorize war crimes and get away with it.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/18/cheney-claims-power-to-decide-his-public-records/">Cheney claims power to decide his public records</a></b><br />18.12.08. AP / anti-war. Dick Cheney's lawyers are asserting that the vice president alone has the authority to determine which records, if any, from his tenure will be handed over to the National Archives when he leaves office in January. / .. Cheney is being sued by <a href="http://www.citizensforethics.org/">Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics </a> in Washington, a government watchdog group that is trying to ensure that no presidential records are destroyed or handled in a way that makes them unavailable to the public.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes_main.html"> 2nd Ann Telnaes / Cheney Cartoon </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081223_cheneys_legacy_of_deception/">Cheney’s Legacy of Deception</a></b><br />23.12.08. R. Sheer, Truthdig. Nothing, not his suspect role in the Enron debacle, which foretold the economic meltdown, or his office’s fabrication of the false reasons for invading Iraq, has ever been seriously investigated, because of White House stonewalling. Nor will the new president, committed as he is to nonpartisanship, be likely to open up Cheney’s can of worms.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><u> Media complicity </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49928&s2=28">Media Ignores Cheney's Admission He 'Signed Off' on Waterboarding</a></b><br />27.12.08. Jason Leopold, The Public Record/uruknet. Author's note: Cheney’s admission during an interview with the Washington Times this week about his role in approving the waterboarding of three Guantanamo detainees and the so-called "enhanced interrogation" of 33 prisoners was, disturbingly, not covered at all by the mainstream media.<br /><br /><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Mukaseys_recommendation_of_exec_privilege_to_1231.html">Mukasey's recommendation of exec privilege to hide Cheney transcript revealed </a> (31.12.08. Nick Juliano, Raw Story)<br /><br /><em> <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">When Nimrod built a pyre to burn Allah’s prophet Ibrahim, the hoopoe carried water in its beak and released it onto the flames from above. An onlooker, some Dick Cheney of his time, asked the hoopoe whether it thought the two drops of water would put out the mighty blaze. ‘I don’t know,’ replied the bird. ‘All I know is that when Allah makes a list of those who built this fire and those who tried to put it out, I want my name to be in the second column.’</span></em> Nadeem Aslam, <u> The Wasted Vigil</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49717&s2=19">Wishful thinking for 2009</a></b><br />18.12.08. John Pilger, uruknet. The good news for the new year is as follows ...<br /><br />January: Tony Blair is arrested at Heathrow Airport as he returns from yet another foreign speaking engagement (receipts since leaving office: £12m). He is flown to The Hague to stand trial for <b>war crimes for his part in the illegal, unprovoked attack on a defenceless country, Iraq</b>, justified by proven lies, and for the subsequent physical, social and cultural destruction of that country, causing the death of up to a million people. According to the Nuremberg Tribunal, this is the "<b>paramount war crime</b>". The prosecution tells Blair's defence team it will not accept a plea of "sincerely believing". Cherie Blair, a close collaborator who has compared her husband with Winston Churchill, is cautioned.<br /><br />February . . .<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-12-10/columns/war-criminals-self-reflection/">What Does Letting Our Own War Criminals Go Free Tell Us About Ourselves?</a></b><br />09.12.08. Nat Hentoff, Village Voice / anti-war. Congressman Jerrold Nadler’s House Resolution 1531.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/12/0082303">Justice after Bush:: Prosecuting an outlaw administration</a></b><br />December 2008. Scott Horton, Harpers. I. THE CRIMES: Americans may wish to avoid what is necessary. We may believe that concerns about presidential lawbreaking are naive. That all presidents commit crimes. We may pretend that George W. Bush and his senior officers could not have committed crimes significantly worse than those of their predecessors. We may fear what it would mean to acknowledge such crimes, much less to punish them. But avoiding this task, simply “moving on,” is not possible. / This administration did more than commit crimes. It waged war against the law itself. … / <b>II. THE CONSEQUENCES OF INACTION</b> … / <b>III. POSSIBLE METHODS OF SANCTION</b>: INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL; FOREIGN COURTS; DOMESTIC COURTS; COMMISSION OF INQUIRY; <b>IV: A TWO -PART SOLUTION</b>; V. IMPLEMENTATION: COMPOSITION; POWERS OF THE COMMISSION; SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATION; FINDINGS; RECOMMENDATIONS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/24/george-bush-guantanamo-bay-us-government">Seasonal forgiveness has a limit. Bush and his cronies must face a reckoning</a></b><br />24.12.08. Jonathan Freedland, Guardian. Heinous crimes are now synonymous with this US administration. If it isn't held to account, what does that say about us? .. Yes, the new year would get off to a more soothing start if we could all agree to draw a line and move on. But it would be wrong. First, because we cannot hope to avoid repeating the errors of the last eight years unless they are subject to a full accounting. (It is for that reason Britain needs its own full, unconstrained inquiry into the Iraq war.) Second, because a crucial principle, one that goes to the very heart of the American creed, is at stake. And third, because this is not solely about the judgment of history. It may be about the judgment of the courts - specifically those charged with punishing war crimes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21438.htm">Obama Will Not Prosecute Bush And Cheney</a></b><br />11.12.08. Joseph A. Lopisi, countercurrents / ICH. Along the same lines as his predecessors, President Obama will deal with the current financial crisis by pointing his finger at everyone except the real culprit, the Federal Reserve Bank, the U. S. executive and legislative branches and their partners in crime, the Wall Street financial institutions.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-biden-to-protect-bush-administration-criminals.html">Obama & Biden To Protect Bush Administration Criminals: Nuremberg trials also judged “a waste of time”</a></b><br />22.12.08. Paul Joseph Watson, Prison Planet.com/uruknet. It’s par for the course for Obama and Biden, the men who promised "change" but in every step of their preparations for assuming office have pursued nothing but continuity, to acknowledge that they will protect criminals in the Bush administration from prosecution for authorizing torture, a complete violation of both the U.S. constitution and the Geneva Conventions. When asked by ABC host George Stephanopoulos if top level Bush administration officials would be prosecuted for mandating prisoner abuse, Biden said that he and Obama would be "focusing on the future," adding "I think we should be looking forward, not backwards."...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20081221/NEWS07/812210467">Groups want Obama to investigate Bush for war crimes</a></b><br />21.12.08. Marissa Taylor, McClatchy. Emboldened by a Democratic win of the White House, civil libertarians and human-rights groups want the incoming Obama administration to investigate whether the Bush administration committed war crimes. They don't just want low-level CIA interrogators, either. They want President George W. Bush on down. … However, many of the retired military officials who were early critics of the administration's legal justification of harsh interrogations aren't on board. They argue that criminal prosecution would be too difficult legally and politically to succeed.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b> The Root of the Problem: US/Israeli Policy; Gaza Timeline</b></div><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 324px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKb8jed01UxbqliKWMWBBnQ3A5ovgXdFg1dC-m6x0IqaFziDk9JRoY_glNBKWVpin1IoldZc-uU34t7OalkWNVyaugbOovkveOOHdhiF6MoOk1hpf7A9G5AQssdKIa2KuoH-8I/s400/uruk_gaza.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285968890216540162" border="0" /><br /><b><em>What is the difference between George Bush reading MY PET GOAT while the WTC burns, and Obama playing golf in Hawaii while Gaza burns? </em></b><br /><br /><b>WAR CRIMES, WHEREVER THEY ARE COMMITTED, SHOULD BE PROSECUTED</b><br /><br /><b> The Occupation of Gaza </b><br /><br /><u> Articles </u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49981&s2=28"> Can there be any doubt who the real terrorists are?</a> (27.12.08 Stuart Littlewood, uruknet)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49941&s2=27"> Gaza City hospital a gruesome scene </a> (27.12.08, Ma’an news)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/inside-gaza-the-hospital-morgues-were-already-full-the-dead-were-piled-on-top-of-each-other-outside-1213839.html"> Inside Gaza: 'The hospital morgues were already full. The dead were piled on top of each other outside'</a> (28.12.08. Independent)<br /><br /><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/12/28/israel-using-us-supplied-bombs-in-gaza-attacks/"> Israel Using New US-Supplied Smart Bombs in Gaza Attacks </a> (28.12.08. anti-war)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50016&s2=29"> The Jewish Third Reich </a> (28.12.08. Khalid Amayreh. Uruknet)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/28/AR2008122802111_pf.html"> Food and Medical Supplies Grow Scarce in the Gaza Strip </a> (29.12.08. Washington Post)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081229_party_to_murder/"> Party to Murder </a> (29.12.08. Chris Hedges)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50083&s2=30"> Gazans: 'We are living a nightmare'</a> (29.12.08. AlJazeera.net)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.creative-i.info/?p=3376"> Eyewitness account of Israeli terror in Gaza </a> (29.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081229_leaders_lie_civilians_die_and_lessons_of_history_are_ignored/"> Leaders Lie, Civilians Die, and Lessons of History Are Ignored </a> (29.12.08. Robert Fisk, Independent / Truthdig)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/five-sisters-killed-in-gaza-while-they-slept-1216224.html"> Five sisters killed in Gaza while they slept </a> (30.12.08. Independent)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0812/S00472.htm"> From Dachau to Gaza </a> (30.12.08. Francis A. Boyle, scoop)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/hassan301208.htm"> Jewish Terrorism </a> (30.12.08. Ghali Hassan)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.truthout.org/123008A"> A Hundred Eyes for an Eye </a> (30.12.08. Normon Solomon)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50141&s2=31"> Voiceless in Gaza: Israeli Carnage and the American Courtiers </a> (30.12.08. Chris Floyd, uruknet)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50146&s2=31"> World must say “No” to Jewish Nazism before it is too late </a> (30.12.08. Khaled Amayreh, uruknet)<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/12/20081230121412669439.html"> Israeli vessel hits Gaza-bound boat </a> (31.12.08. aljazeera. Also: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRghMmgQ1kA"> VIDEO </a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21576.htm"> The Holocaust </a> (31.12.08. Dahlia Wasfi, ICH)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21588.htm"> Gaza: The Logic of Colonial Power </a> (31.12.08. Nir Rosen)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=BOY20081230&articleId=11541"> An Israeli War Crimes Tribunal (ICTI) May be the Only Deterrent to a Global War </a> (31.12.08. Francis A. Boyle,)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/ali301208.htm"> From The Ashes Of Gaza </a> (31.12.08. Tariq Ali, Guardian/Countercurrents)<br /><br /><em> it is a war crime to bomb an ambulance </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/world/middleeast/01gaza.html?ref=world"> In Dense Gaza, Civilians Suffer </a> (31.12.08. NY Times )<br /><br /><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-self-delusion-that-plagues-both-sides-in-this-bloody-conflict-1218224.html"> The self delusion that plagues both sides in this bloody conflict </a> (31.12.08. Robert Fisk, Independent / ICH)<br /><br />31.12.08: <br />Palestinian dead: 400+ 2000+ injured<br />Israeli dead: 4<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21607.htm">Israeli Violates International Humanitarian Law</a></b><br />02.01.09, Prof. Richard Falk, "United Nations Human Rights Council"/ICH. The Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip represent severe and massive violations of international humanitarian law as defined in the Geneva Conventions, both in regard to the obligations of an Occupying Power and in the requirements of the laws of war.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5geAMqY-swsw4kBkaLf_U8RMsDO-Q"> Thousands of Afghans demonstrate against Israel, US </a> (02.01.09. AFP)<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090102/wl_mideast_afp/mideastconflictgazairaq"> Iraqi preachers slam Israel's attacks on Gaza </a> (02.01.09. AFP)<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/01/2009121017558371.html"> Angry protests over Gaza offensive </a> (02.01.09, Jazeera)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=80394§ionid=351020202"> Israel bars ICRC entering Gaza </a> (03.01.09. presstv.)<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> Media in Gaza</b> <br /><br /><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/27"> Israel Bars Credible Observers from Gaza </a> (27.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50130&s2=31">Israeli Military Declares Online Media ‘Another War Zone: Journalists Kept Carefully Away From Gaza as Israel Tries to Restrict Coverage</a> (30.12.08. uruknet)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50144&s2=31"> Foreign journalists demand Gaza access </a> (30.12.08. Guardian/uruknet)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.truthout.org/123108C"> Israel Ordered to Let International Media Into Gaza </a> (31.12.08, Guardian / Truthout.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230733119444&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull"> 8 foreign reporters allowed into Gaza </a> (31.12.08 Jerusalem Post) <br /><br /><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/02/despite-court-order-israel-wont-let-journalists-into-gaza/"> Despite Court Order, Israel Won’t Let Journalists Into Gaza </a> (02.01.09, anti-war)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50300&s2=04"> Gaza war diary: Al Jazeera detained </a> (02.01.09. A. Fisher, jazeera)<br /><br />04.01.09. No longer safe to report from outside.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5Cz9PdX1dc&eurl=http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/listeningpost/2008/11/2008112912353324994.html"> GAZA MEDIA BLACKOUT </a> (jazeera 28.11.08)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=3gennaio-r4214731917.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 269px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=3gennaio-r4214731917.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m50318&hd=&size=1&l=e"> Report direct from Gaza: New Israeli weapons are used, death toll up, ground operation to start </a> (03.01.08. Samah A. Habeeb, uruknet) <br /><br /><br /><b> Photos, Israeli War Crimes in Gaza </b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49933&s2=27"> In pictures: Gaza Massacre </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49961&s2=28"> Photos, Axis of Logic </a> (27.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49967&s2=28"> Photos of the day </a> (27.12.08. Haitham Sabbah)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50118&s2=31"> Massacre of Gaza Children </a> (30.12.08. uruknet.)<br /><br /><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb"> Sameh A. 's Public Gallery</a><br /><br />VIDEOS:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49943&s2=27"> Israel Launches Massive Bombardment Of Gaza </a> (27.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49946&s2=27"> 'The Hospitals In Gaza City Cannot Cope'</a> (27.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50014&s2=29"> Gaza's hospitals struggle with casualties </a> (28.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5osk2toY1E"> Nowhere to run </a> (jazeera 30.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/witness/2007/04/2008525173127963474.html"><br />Gaza Fixers </a> (31.12.08. Witness, Part I, aljazeera)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21612.htm"> The Reality In Gaza </a> (4 min) A doctor from Norway details the reality of Israeli attacks on Gaza. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50303&s2=04"> Israeli army attack funeral of Mohammed Khawaje </a> (03.01.09. ISM/uruknet. teargas canisters containing incendiary material used)<br /> <br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50301&s2=04"> Living in fear in Gaza City </a> (02.01.09. jazeera)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50299&s2=04"> A week of Israel's war on Gaza</a> (02.01.09. jazerra)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPiRy3fKofw"> Israel launches ground offensive in Gaza </a> (04.01.09. jazeera)<br /><br /><br /><b> The Propaganda </b><br /><br /><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2008/12/28/israel-says-it-does-not-intend-to-occupy-gaza/"> Israel says it does not intend to occupy Gaza </a> (28.12.08. AP)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=378&PID=0&IID=2808&TTL=Did_Israel_Use_%E2%80%9CDisproportionate_Force%E2%80%9D_in_Gaza"> Did Israel Use "Disproportionate Force" in Gaza? </a> (28.12.08. Dore Gol,)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3646008,00.html"> IDF stations artillery batteries near Gaza </a> (28.12.08. ynet news)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21574.htm"> Israel's Lie Machine Working Flat Out To Dodge "Killer" Question </a> (31.12.08. Stuart Littlewood)<br /><br /><a href="http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5424671.ece"> Gaza: secondary war being fought on the internet </a> (31.12.08. Times Online)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50163&s2=01"> Don’t fall for Israeli propaganda </a> (31.12.08, L. Heard, Online Journal/uruknet)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/mark-steel/mark-steel-so-what-have-the-palestinians-got-to-complain-about-1218135.html">So what have the Palestinians got to complain about?</a></b><br />31.12.08. M. Steele, Independent. [<em> To portray this as a conflict between equals requires some imagination</em>] When you read the statements from Israeli and US politicians, and try to match them with the pictures of devastation, there seems to be only one explanation. They must have one of those conditions, called something like "Visual Carnage Responsibility Back To Front Upside Down Massacre Disorder". / For example, Condoleezza Rice, having observed that more than 300 Gazans were dead, said: "We are deeply concerned about the escalating violence. We strongly condemn the attacks on Israel and hold Hamas responsible." / Someone should ask her to comment on teenage knife-crime, to see if she'd say: "I strongly condemn the people who've been stabbed.. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=80337§ionid=351020202"> Livni spilling Gazan blood for power?</a> (03.01.09. presstv.ir<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/03/middleeast-israelandthepalestinians"> “No Humanitarian Crisis” </a> (03.01.09. Guardian)<br /><br /><br /><b> Complicity in Genocide </b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49970&s2=28"> Gaza massacre – Israel’s cynicism supported by the West’s complicity</a> (27.12.08. PSC)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49978&s2=28"> Gaza burns and the American media is mute </a> (27.12.08. Tumeke)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=49953&s2=28"> Obama on Gaza: ‘No Comment’</a> (27.12.08. Justin Raimondo)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/abunimah030109.htm"> Obama's Deadly Silence </a> (03.01.09. Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada/countercurrents)<br /><br /><em> Probably NO Flip Flop </em><br /><br /><u>Audio and Transcript</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21604.htm">Obama's Speech at AIPAC</a></b><br />I want you to know that today I'll be speaking from my heart, and as a true friend of Israel. And I know that when I visit with AIPAC, I am among friends. Good friends. Friends who share my strong commitment to make sure that the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable today, tomorrow and forever. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21547.htm"> Bush Winks at Israel's Slaughter in Gaza: Obama and Clinton Are Silent</a> (27.12.08. M. Rothschild, Progressive / ICH)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5404545.ece"> Britain and US refuse to demand end to Israeli airstrikes on Gaza </a> (28.12.08. Times Online)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3645321,00.html"> Pelosi: US must stand strongly with Israel</a> (28.12.08. Ynet news)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/02/AR2009010200706_pf.html"> Hamas Provoked Attacks, Bush Says </a> (02.01.09. Washington Post)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=13994"> Amnesty Calls on Rice to Drop 'Lopsided' Gaza Stance </a> (03.01.09. J. Lobe)<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> US Weapons Used in Gaza </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50064&s2=30">Gaza: the smoking American gun</a></b><br />29.12.08. Eli Stephens, Left I on the News/uruknet. The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. / The missile, called GBU-39, was developed in recent years by the US as a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and low collateral damage strikes. / Israel received approval from Congress to purchase 1,000 units in September and defense officials said on Sunday that the first shipment had arrived earlier this month.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21613.htm">The Politics of An Israeli Extermination Campaign Backers, Apologists and Arms Suppliers</a></b><br />02.01.09. James Petras, ICH. Because of the unconditional support of the entire political class in the US, from the White House to Congress, including both Parties, incoming and outgoing elected officials and all the principle print and electronic mass media, the Israeli Government feels no compunction in publicly proclaiming a detailed and graphic account of its policy of mass extermination of the population of Gaza. .. / Like all totalitarians in the past, the Jewish state boasts of having systematically pre-planned the extermination campaign – months in advance – up to and including the precise hour and day of the bombing to coincide with inflicting the maximum murder of civilians: The rockets and bombs fell as children were leaving school, as graduating police cadets were receiving their diplomas and as frantic mothers ran out from their homes to find their sons and daughters. / … From the moment that the Israeli Government decided it would destroy the newly elected Hamas government and punish the democratic electorate of Gaza with starvation and murder, the entire Zionist Power Configuration (ZPC) in the US, including the PMAJO, pulled all stops in implementing the Israeli policy. The PMAJO encompasses the fifty-two Jewish organizations with the largest membership, with the greatest financial clout and the most influential backers. The most prominent lobbyist within the PMAJO is AIPAC, which has over 100,000 members and 150 full-time operatives in Washington actively pressuring the US Congress, the White House and all administrative agencies whose policies may relate to the interests of the State of Israel.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21632.htm">US Weapons 'Killing Innocent Civilians' in Gaza</a></b><br />03.01.09. David Edwards, Muriel Kane, Raw Story / ICH. Just last September, Congress approved a $77 million dollar deal to sell a thousand Boeing GBU-39 bunker-buster "smart bombs" to Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday that these small, GPS-guided missiles have now been used on underground tunnels and launchers in Gaza. CNN VIDEO. <br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net//news/middleeast/2008/12/2008123123854128676.html"> US military aid underpins Gaza offensive </a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=50049"> Shock, Awe and Lies: The Truth Behind the Israeli Attack on Gaza </a></b> <br />29.12.08. Chris Floyd, uruknet. Here is a simple, stone cold fact. <b>You cannot read or hear the truth about what is happening in Gaza from any corporate media in the United States</b>).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50064&s2=30">Gaza: the smoking American gun</a></b><br />29.12.08. Eli Stephens, Left I on the News/uruknet. The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. / The missile, called GBU-39, was developed in recent years by the US as a small-diameter bomb for low-cost, high-precision and low collateral damage strikes. / Israel received approval from Congress to purchase 1,000 units in September and defense officials said on Sunday that the first shipment had arrived earlier this month.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.wsws.org/tools/index.php?page=print&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsws.org%2Farticles%2F2008%2Fdec2008%2Fpers-d31.shtml"> The New York Times and Gaza: Justifying genocide </a> (31.12.08. WSWS )<br /><br /><a href="http://www.creative-i.info/?p=3342"> Agent of a foreign power? </a> (31.12.08. William Bowles)<br /><br /><em> This backgrounnd noise is disturbing? </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=80067&sectionid=3510203"> Bolton: Gaza raids precursor to Iran war </a> (31.12.08. presstv.ir.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052025.html"> ANALYSIS / Israel must prepare to turn its military might from Gaza to Iran </a> (03.01.09. haaretz)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.ie/world-news/middle-east/turmoil-could-spark-air-strike-against-iran-1591064.html">Turmoil could spark air strike against Iran</a></b><br />04.01.09. independent.ie./ICH. Iran's open support for Hamas, coupled with US and Israeli accusations that Tehran has supplied it with weapons, could harden Israeli public opinion in favour of military strikes against Iran whose nuclear programme is seen as an "existential" threat to the Jewish state.<br /><br />==<br /><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2009/01/02/egypt-bars-gaza-protest-arrests-opposition-organizers/"> Egypt Bars Gaza Protest, Arrests Opposition Organizers </a> (02.01.09. anti-war)<br /><br /><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/01/02/jordan-police-protesters-clash-near-israel-embassy/"> Jordan police, protesters clash near Israel embassy </a> (02.01.09, Reuters)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50284&s2=03">THE DR. GOEBBELS OF ISRAELI PROPAGANDA UNLEASHES LIES AND DECEIT</a></b><br />02.01.09. Damian Lataan, uruknet. The Dr. Goebbels of Israeli propaganda, Yardin Vatikai, chief of the Israeli Zionist’s propaganda office known as the National Information Directorate (NID), has his work cut out as he attempts to justify and lie Israel’s way out of accusations by the people of the world that Israel is committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=afyZaL6zcjhY&refer=uk"> Israel Drafts YouTube, Netanyahu to Woo World Opinion on Gaza </a> (03.01.09. Bloomberg) <br /><br /><a href="http://www.alternet.org/audits/116855/"> America's Hidden Role in Hamas's Rise to Power </a> (03.01.09. Stephen Zunes, AlterNet)<br /><br /><a href="http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1052315.html"> EU presidency: Israel ground op in Gaza 'defensive not offensive'</a> (04.01.09. haaretz) <br /><br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-fRLODYoH0"> US firmly behind Israel over Gaza attacks </a> (28.12.08)<br /><br />see more videos <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?uploaded=w&search_query=Gaza"> here</a>.<br /><br />==<br /><br /><u>3- 4 January 2009, 7.30 am</u><br /><br />03.01.09. Worldwide protests; 10000 in London.<br /><br />11 Israelis have been killed in past 10 years by Palestinian rockets. Of these, 4 have been in the most recent war on Gaza. With the many civilian dead now entering hospitals,rockets are still being fired into Israel. International organisarions (UNRWA) are saying there IS a humanitarian crisis. <br /><br />Last evening, 3 January, film footage showed 'stars' floating from the sky - <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPiRy3fKofw">phosphorus bombs </a> - much like the RAI video of phosphorus bombs used in Fallujah. A reporter this am, 4 January, asked an Israeli about this, but he declined to comment on what kinds of weapons are being used.<br /><br />Another film also showed a HUGE explosion, making the sky yellow; after this, a HUGE white fireball rose from the explosion. <br /><br />Palestinians: 485 + killed, over 2,750 wounded. <br />Israelis killed by Palestinian rockets: 4.<br />The number of Israelis killed / wounded because of their ground invasion assault is increasing. <br /><br />UN Security Council Fails to Pass Resolution Calling for Cease Fire. <br /><br />==<br /><br />The best sources, I have found, for news about the Israel & Palestine situation are:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet/"> http://www.uruknet.info" </a> <br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/">al jazeera </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/watch_live3.aspx"> Watch press tv. Live </a> (300 Kpbs – windows media player)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/watch_live5_us.aspx"> Watch press tiv live </a> (Broadband 500 Kpbs US – Windows media player)<br /><br />jazeera news<br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/"> live </a><br /><br />Jazeera: Also click jazeera “programmes” where you will find superb shows and videos, eg. Witness, Riz Khan, One on One and Inside Iraq. The US corporate media, acting on behalf of the US government, and some parroting Americans say jazeera is <a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230733119488&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull"> biased </a>. These same NY Times-reading addicts also say that Robert Fisk and John Pilger are “irresponsible.” <br /><br />The White House has felt, since 9/11, that it was necessary, in order to proceed with the “War on Terror,” to have US citizens wearing designer <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50176&s2=01"> blinkers </a>. Will people soon be arrested for watching aljazeera or reading uruknet? Will people soon be arrested for watching aljazeera?<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 396px; height: 269px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB3MK_xN4JIjeVtYr4DKIfWIswyZ5DocW5wWnt9XVD-7VgOYjhyMGc-HCeJ5nYgQzvfUN6BKPDc8U_MhFBUTbxvHeDjO-CPWWKRF3QY3cNpDLlT-dsd6jGs1aHmW06wRDX9WQ7/s400/indep_sisters.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5285968890654908354" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/five-sisters-killed-in-gaza-while-they-slept-1216224.html">Photo Getty</a></span></div><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=50175&s2=01"> Five Little Girls on a Sofa </a> (31.12.08. Brian Cloughley, uruknet)<br /><br /><br /><a id="16000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>16. References</b><br /></div><br /><br />Nadeem Aslam<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wasted-Vigil-Nadeem-Aslam/dp/030726842X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229881596&sr=1-1"> The Wasted Vigil </a> , Knopf 2008.<br /><br />Andrew Bacevich<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Power-End-American-Exceptionalism/dp/0805088156/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230458319&sr=1-1"> The Limits of Power </a>, Metropolitan Books, August 2008<br /><br />Chris Hedges<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/War-Force-that-Gives-Meaning/dp/1400034639/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1230458477&sr=1-1"> War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning </a>, Anchor 2003<br /><br /><a href="http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1864617,00.html"> Interview with Khaled Hosseini </a> (05.12.08, Time)<br /><br />David Loyn,<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Butcher-Bolt-Hundred-Foreign-Afghanistan/dp/0091921406/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228473675&sr=1-1"> Butcher and Bolt, Two Hundred Years of Foreign Failure in Afghanistan </a>,Hutchinson, October 2008.<br /><br />Bob McKerrow,<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Afghanistan-Mountains-Minds-Bob-McKerrow/dp/8188353175/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228636519&sr=1-1"> Afghanistan: Mountains of Our Minds </a>, India Research Press, 2004<br /><br />Bob McKerrow’s photos<br /><a href="http://bobmckerrow.blogspot.com/2008/11/full-description-of-mountain-ranges-of.html"> A Full Description of the Mountain Ranges of Afghanistan </a><br /><br />Philippe Sands,<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Torture-Team-Rumsfelds-Betrayal-American/dp/0230603904/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229881075&sr=1-1"> Torture Team </a>, Palgrave Macmillan 2008.<br /><br />Norman Soloman,<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/War-Made-Easy-Presidents-Spinning/dp/047179001X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229881221&sr=1-1"> War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death </a>. Wiley 2006.<br /><br />Andy Worthington,<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Guantanamo-Files-Stories-Detainees-Americas/dp/0745326641/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1229881391&sr=1-1"> The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 759 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison</a>, Pluto Press 2007.<br /><br />VIDEOS: <br /><br /><a href="http://christinesmith.us/wordpress/2008/12/16/the-nazis-a-warning-from-history/">THE NAZIS: A WARNING FROM HISTORY</a><br /><br /><a href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1380976485995401321"> Al Dhameer Al Arabi </a> (The Arab Conscience Operetta)<br /><br /><br /><u>From Index Research</u><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-on-economics-and-peril-in.html"> Index on Economics and Peril in Afghanistan, October 2008 Timeline</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html"> Index on Afghanistan and Pakistan - Murder & Security, Aug/Sept. ’08</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/index-on-afghanistan-april-2008-famine.html"> Index on Afghanistan April 2008: FAMINE</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-disaster-winters.html">Index on Afghanistan: Disaster, A Winter's Tale: February 2008</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-nato-failure.html">Index on Afghanistan, NATO Failure: A Winter's Tale, Part II </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/autumn-07-in-afghanistan.html"> Autumn '07 in Afghanistan</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/security-companies-in-afghanistan.html">Security Companies in Afghanistan</a>(updated 11.11.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/afghanistan-cleared-of-wrongdoing.html"> Afghanistan: Cleared of Wrongdoing</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/schisms-index-on-afghanistan-august.html"> Schisms: Index on Afghanistan, August 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/06/index-on-afghanistan-may-2007-part-ii.html">Index on Afghanistan: May 2007: Part II - NATO; Human Rights</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/06/index-on-afghanistan-may-2007-part-i.html">Index on Afghanistan: May 2007 Part I</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/dead-in-afghanistan-may-2007.html">Dead in Afghanistan: May 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/index-on-afghanistan-april-2007-murder.html">Index on Afghanistan: April 2007: Murder in Nangarhar</a>(updated 24.05.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/04/index-on-afghanistan-march-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : March 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/03/index-on-afghanistan-february-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : February 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-on-afghanistan-january-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : January 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : December 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/index-on-afghanistan-november-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : November 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/index-on-afghanistan-october-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : October 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/10/index-on-afghanistan-september-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : September 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/08/index-on-afghanistan.html">Index on Afghanistan</a> (Updated to 31/08/06)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html">Index Research on Pakistan, October 2008</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/us-nato-missile-shield-programme-index.html">US-NATO 'Missile Shield' Programme: Index Timeline Part II</a>(updated 30.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/us-martial-law-timeline.html">U.S. Martial Law Timeline</a> (Updated 29.12.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/08/appendix-ii-index-on-weapons-in.html"> Index on Weapons in Lebanon: War Crimes in Lebanon and Palestine </a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+ </div><br /><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK</em>.<br /><br />The url to <b> Index on Afghanistan, December 2008 Timeline: "Graveyard of Empires" </b> is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2008.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2008.html</a><br /><br />The shorter url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/9hr2pw">http://tinyurl.com/9hr2pw</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+ </div><br /><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><b><b><u><u><b><em><u><u><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --><br /></u></u></em></b></u></u></b></b><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><br />TAGS:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Afghanistan" rel="tag">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Taliban" rel="tag">Taliban</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Opium" rel="tag">Opium</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/US-NATO" rel="tag">US-NATO</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/NATO+Coalition" rel="tag">NATO Coalition</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Politics" rel="tag">Politics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Bush" rel="tag">Bush</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Military+Industrial+Complex" rel="tag">Military Industrial Complex</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Contracts+and+Contractors" rel="tag">Contracts and Contractors</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Oil+and+Gas" rel="tag">Oil and Gas</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/9/11" rel="tag">9/11</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Detainees" rel="tag">Detainees</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Guantanamo" rel="tag">Guantanamo</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/War+Crimes" rel="tag">War Crimes</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Torture" rel="tag">Torture</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Obama" rel="tag">Obama</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Gaza" rel="tag">Gaza</a><br /></div>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-41473453442630653862008-11-28T20:15:00.016+00:002008-12-01T10:04:26.971+00:00Torture: Truth and Reconciliation Imperative<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/torture-truth-and-reconciliation.html&title=Torture:+Truth+and+Reconciliation+Imperative&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/torture-truth-and-reconciliation.html&title=Torture:+Truth+and+Reconciliation+Imperative&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=4147345344263065386" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=4147345344263065386" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/PresidentialPardons.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 452px; height: 314px;" src="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/PresidentialPardons.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.webdesignsphere.com/PresidentialPardons.jpg">webdesignsphere</a></div><br /><br /><em>"I would like to be a person remembered as a person who, first and foremost, did not sell his soul in order to accommodate the political process. I came to Washington with a set of values, and I'm leaving with the same set of values. And I darn sure wasn't going to sacrifice those values; that I was a President that had to make tough choices and was willing to make them. I surrounded myself with good people. I carefully considered the advice of smart, capable people and made tough decisions. I'd like to be a President (known) as somebody who liberated 50 million people and helped achieve peace; that focused on individuals rather than process</em>."<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/11/20081128.html"> George Bush </a> (The self-described "compassionate conservative": 12.11.08 interview)<br /><br /><br />Michael Isikoff wrote an article in <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/170368?from=rss"> Newsweek</a> entitled ‘Obama To Take On Torture’: The “new Obama Justice Department is not likely to launch major new criminal probes of harsh interrogations and other alleged abuses by the Bush administration.”<br /><br />Chris Hedges, in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/War-Force-that-Gives-Meaning/dp/1400034639/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227893648&sr=1-1"> War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning</a>,wrote (p.130): <br /><br />“<b>The effort to give a name to the victims and killers begins a collective act of repentance, a national catharsis. The process, as seen in South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, is the only escape. And while justice is not always done … dignity, identity, and most important, memory are returned. This, for many families, is enough. …<br /><br />Usually those who pay the price – if there is one to be paid – are the lowly gunmen who are tried and imprisoned to take the heat off their commanders. Most of those who carry out war crimes, however, are never punished. They are allowed to fade away in retirement, whispered about but never finally condemned. There are powerful institutions security services, armed forces, and ministries of the interior, that my permit some facts to be exposed but will rarely permit a society to ascribe any responsibility to the actual state organs that directed the killings. Yet despite the inevitable injustice of any investigation, the power it has to restore memory is vital for recovery from war</b>.“ <br /><br />Mr. Hedges continues the theme of memory and reconciliation until the end of the chapter, p. 141:<br /><br />"<b>There probably can never be full recovery of memory, but in order to escape the miasma of war there must be some partial rehabilitation, some recognition of the denial and perversion, some new way given to speak that lays bare the myth as fantasy and the cause as bankrupt. The whole truth may finally be to hard to utter, but the process of healing only begins when we are able to at least acknowledge the tragedy and accept our share of the blame</b>."<br /><br />Our whole world deserves this Truth and Reconciliation process. Mr. Hedges’ morally powerful and moving book should be on all college reading lists as well as as a MUST READ for the US Justice Department, and the Pentagon and White House staff. <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+ <br /></div><br />REFERENCES:<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.valleycentral.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=225769"> Full copies of the Cheney indictments </a> (21.11.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/03/prisons-and-torture-in-iraq.html"> PRISONS AND TORTURE IN IRAQ </a> (13.03.07)<br /><br />Philippe Sands <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Torture-Team-Rumsfelds-Betrayal-American/dp/0230603904/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227900181&sr=1-1"> Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values</a> Palgrave Macmillan (May 13, 2008)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+ <br /></div><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK</em>. With thanks to Musafir and Winston. <br /><br />the url to <b>Torture: Truth and Reconciliation Imperative </b> is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/torture-truth-and-reconciliation.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/torture-truth-and-reconciliation.html</a><br />the smaller url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/58349a">http://tinyurl.com/58349a</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+ <br /></div><br /><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+ <br /></div><br /><br />TAGS: <br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <br /><a href=”http://technorati.com/tag/torture” rel-“tag”>torture</a>,<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/justice" rel="tag">justice</a>, <br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Obama" rel="tag">Obama</a>,<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Truth+Reconciliation" rel="tag">Truth and Reconciliation</a>, <br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Chris+Hedges" rel=”tag”>Chris Hedges</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-90234504117207622702008-11-26T13:55:00.018+00:002008-11-29T07:05:25.164+00:00Obama: Our “Seamless” President Elect<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-our-seamless-president-elect.html&title=Obama:%20+Our+Seamless+President+Elect&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-our-seamless-president-elect.html&title=Obama:+Our+Seamless+President+Elect&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=9023450411720762270" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=9023450411720762270" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 206px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_rhJ3OcDeUa0-HDofH74yNKSWQBwMUf8WJRNntObfDKbJFB4qwven5ndsDcHZq5dZkCcoDyHZRZHvQbYBNW1EarUdhZBTyBBwEYs9730CXD2e-wxEP5n_yaWqPIHu1bdgFids/s320/bush_obama.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272965122608720114" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7720974.stm">BUSH and BO</a></span><br /></div><br />With Bush, we had sentimental creepiness & neo-con lies; with Obama we have rhetorical hypocrisy. With many appointments now made, we can see that Obama is indeed trying to please the “48% that didn’t vote for me.” To complete his team, he might as well nominate Cheney as head of Homeland Security and Sarah Palin (with bear rugs) as Secretary of Agriculture. To placate the disgruntled anti-war movement, he could then ask “progressive” power-happy HuffPo <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11139"> Arianna Huffington </a> [ <em>“I only text three people – my two teenage children and Barack Obama.</em>”] to be his press secretary. <br /><br />Following are some comments from The Disappointed and Angry. These articles represent the 53% of the US public that voted for Obama, hope and "CHANGE." <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/385746?rel=hp_picks">Obama's Foreign Policy Team</a></b><br />23.11.07. Robert Dreyfus, The Nation. So are we surprised that now, as president-elect, Obama is selecting people whose views are coherent with Obama's frequently stated views? Are we surprised that the views of Obama's conservative and centrist advisers are, in fact, coherent with Obama's own? And are we surprised that his choices for his foreign policy and national security appointments are drawn exclusively from conservative, centrist, and pro-military circles without even a single -- yes, not one! -- chosen to represent the antiwar wing of the Democratic party? No, we are not. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://i4.democracynow.org/2008/11/20/agents_of_change_or_hawks_clintonites%20Agents%20of%20Change%20or%20Hawks,%20Clintonites%20and%20Neocons?%20A%20Discussion%20about%20Barack%20Obama%E2%80%99s%20Advisers%20and%20Transition%20Team%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3E20.11.08.%20%20Jeremy%20Scahill,%20Democracy%20Now.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" ca="" context="va&aid=11139"">Obama's Foreign Policy: The Case for Pessimism</a></b><br />24.11.08. Justin Raimondo, global research. The new president's appointments resound like slaps in the faces of his liberal supporters / In that alternate universe, where up is down and black is white, it makes perfect "sense" for a president to appoint people to key posts who oppose his policies. In our own world, however, such an approach would be crazy – yet it seems to be happening right before our eyes. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/bush%20gates.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 350px; height: 263px;" src="http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/bush%20gates.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/bush%20gates.jpg">Gates and Bush</a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/us/politics/26gates.html?_r=1&th&emc=th">Obama Plans to Retain Gates at Defense Department</a></b><br />25.11.08. P. Baker, T. Shanker, NY Times. In deciding to ask Mr. Gates to stay, Mr. Obama put aside concerns that he would send a jarring signal after a political campaign in which he made opposition to the war his signature issue in the early days. Some Democrats who have advised his campaign quietly complained that he was undercutting his own message and risked alienating war critics who formed his initial base of support, especially after tapping his primary rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, for secretary of state.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/election08/108539/obama%27s_treasury_pick_has_all_the_wrong_ideas/">Obama's Treasury Pick Has All the Wrong Ideas</a></b><br />25.11.08. William Greider, The Nation/alternet. Timothy Geithner is an architect, and now an enabler, of the unfolding crisis.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/pers-n26.shtml">Obama appointees signal continuing aggression and war</a></b><br />26.11.08. WSWS. Barack Obama’s vague campaign promises of “change” are rapidly evaporating as the key positions in the next administration are filled with veterans of the US political establishment. Far from ending war abroad and social reaction at home, Obama’s choices underline the essential continuity with the policies of the Bush administration.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.infowars.net/pictures/sept2007/240907HillaryBush.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 337px; height: 248px;" src="http://www.infowars.net/pictures/sept2007/240907HillaryBush.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.infowars.net/pictures/sept2007/240907HillaryBush.jpg"> Hillary Clinton and Bush</a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/108538/?page=entire">Watch out for Obama's Team Selling Conservative Policies as Progressive Politics</a></b><br />26.11.08. David Sirota, Open Left / Alternet. Obama's early list of names for his staff doesn't bode well for all the progressive policy promises Obama made during the campaign.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081124_starving_for_change/">Starving for Change</a></b><br />24.11.08. Chris Hedges, Truthdig. The swelling numbers waiting outside homeless shelters and food pantries around the country have grown by at least 30 percent since the summer. If Barack Obama continues to turn to the elites who created the mess, if he does not radically redirect the nation’s resources to assist the working class and the poor, we will become a third-world country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081125_obama_chooses_wall_street_over_main_street/">Obama Chooses Wall Street Over Main Street</a></b><br />25.11.08. Robert Sheer, Truth Dig. Why then has he appointed the very people responsible for this disaster to now make it all better? Why not ask him? Heck, yes, it is time for the many of us who responded to his e-mails during the campaign to now challenge our e-mail buddy as to why he suddenly acts as if the interests of Wall Street and Main Street are one and the same.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2008/11/26/you-aina-8217-t-seen-nothing-yet">You ain’t seen nothing yet</a></b><br />26.11.08. Mike Whitney, Peoples Voice. Obama hasn’t even been sworn in yet, and already the Wall Street cheerleaders are celebrating his first great triumph. According the pundits, the stock market staged a surprise 494 point rally last Friday because -- get this -- it was announced that Timothy Geithner would be appointed Obama’s Treasury Secretary.<br /><br /><u> Some people still hope</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/26/barack-obama-cabinet-hillary-clinton">Obama's choice of a team of rivals says much about the president he will be</a></b><br />26.11.08. Jonathan Freedland, Guardian. We're still waiting for change because Obama is not yet president. George Bush is still in the White House and will remain there for nearly 60 more days. / ... Obama understands that servants need not be identical to their master, so long as they can implement his will. / ... More widely, the incoming president is betting that he can still cast himself as the new broom come to sweep out the Augean stables, even when he's surrounded by a team of Washington insiders. . So he has turned to the former Senate majority leader Tom Daschle, a Capitol Hill fixture, to reform healthcare. / .. The true believers on the liberal left/ ... are enraged by the proliferation of ex-Clintonites in the incoming administration ... / But this concern probably rests on a misreading of the way Obama sees his cabinet and circle of advisers. His longtime strategist David Axelrod gave the clearest clue at the weekend, when he said: "He's not looking for people to give him a vision. He's going to put together an administration of people who can effectuate his vision." In other words, he's not hiring Daschle or Summers or Clinton for their ideological colour. He's hiring them as political professionals who will take a brief - ultimately authored by him - and get the job done. / Perhaps that is a gamble on Obama's part, to imagine he can construct a progressive administration staffed by those in the centre and even on the centre-right. / ... The traditional reading of this would be as a sign of weakness, suggesting Obama feels compelled - New Labour style - to keep right-leaning opinion on board. But it could just as easily be read as evidence of tremendous confidence: that he is sure enough in his own convictions to be surrounded by those who are far from nodding yes men. / ... The Hillary nomination is the one that gives me pause. But the other signs are encouraging. The only real criticism of Obama's presidency? That it hasn't started yet.<br /><br />I do not have such hope as Mr. Freedland. The 'root' problem lies within <a href="http://www.truthout.org/112608A"> THE SYSTEM</a>. <br /><br /><b>IF YOU WANT TO TELL PRESIDENT ELECT OBAMA HOW YOU FEEL, CLICK <a href="http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourstory"> <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">HERE </span> </b></a><br /><br />VIDEOS:<br /><br /><a href="http://cspanjunkie.org/?p=1097"> Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill</a> (Miami Book Fair)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.truthout.org/112408T"> Obama Introduces his economic team </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jj1kjsZg0g"> Danny Schechter's promo film for his book, PLUNDER. </a> Sign up for Danny's superb daily 'Dissector' on the financial problems <a href="http://www.mediachannel.org.">here. </a> <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />REFERENCES:<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html"> Who Is The President Elect - Obama or AIPAC?</a> (10.11.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/us-martial-law-timeline.html#5000"> US Martial Law Timeline, November 2008 </a><br /><br />UPDATES<br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/11/26/for-obamas-national-security-team-experience-trumps-change/">For Obama’s National Security Team War Experience Trumps Change</a></b><br />26.11.08. anti-war. When President-elect Barack Obama announces his national security team next week, the most obvious break ushered in will be from his promise for dramatic foreign policy change. For while Senator Obama ran his campaign around a mantra of change, his team will consist without exception of experienced, and hawkish, elder statesmen who seem set to drive America’s foreign policy around the same old, familiar roads that Obama ran so firmly against.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/108830/">Obama Addresses Worries That There Isn't Enough 'Change' in His Cabinet Picks</a></b><br />26.11.08. Steve Benen, Washington Monthly, Alternet. During the Q&A, CNN's Ed Henry asked if there were enough new faces on his team to fulfill Obama's pledge to bring change to Washington. The president-elect first noted it would be even more jarring if his team didn't include officials with experience from the Clinton administration. ... / t was the first real inkling that Obama is aware of the media chatter, and he hopes to put some of this to rest, reminding his audience that he plans to "combine experience with fresh thinking." The change, according to his argument, will come from his vision, not his cabinet picks. [we shall see?]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/108956/">Obama’s Budget Head Would Cut Social Security</a></b><br />28.11.08. Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive/ alternet. On Tuesday, Obama picked <b>Peter Orszag</b> to direct the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Orszag believes that Social Security benefits should be cut back to help balance the Social Security Trust Fund over the next 75 years. He spells out his views in a paper he wrote with Peter A. Diamond for the Brookings Institute back in 2005, called “Saving Social Security: The Diamond-Orszag Plan.” In it, they call for “a reduction in benefits, which would apply to all workers age 59 and younger.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/108958/?page=entire">Radical Solutions for a Crazy Economy</a></b><br />28.11.08. Nouriel Roubini, Forbes / alternet. [Nouriel Roubini, a professor at the Stern Business School at New York University and chairman of Roubini Global Economics, is a weekly columnist for Forbes.com.] The fight against a deadly combination of stagnation/recession and deflation has to be unorthodox.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/27/AR2008112702048.html">Obama's Bush Doctrine</a></b><br />28.11.08. E. J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post. In electing Barack Obama, the country traded the foreign policy of the second President Bush for the foreign policy of the first President Bush. / That is the meaning of Obama's apparent decision to keep Robert Gates on as defense secretary and also to select Hillary Clinton as secretary of state. / With strong ties to the military and a carefully cultivated image of tough-mindedness, Clinton will protect the incoming president's back from those on the right ready to pounce at any sign of what they see as weakness. / As for Gates, Obama has found the ideal figure to help him organize his planned withdrawal from Iraq, and to bless it. / <b>Ironically, Obama is likely to show more fidelity to George H.W. Bush's approach to foreign affairs than did the former president's own son. That's change, maybe even change we can believe in, but it's not the change so many expected</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21337.htm">The Custodians Of Empire</a></b><br />28.11.08. Tom Engelhardt, New Republic / ICH. Obama's "New" National Security Team Is Not Very New. On Hillary Clinton, General James L. Jones, Robert Gates, Yochi Dreazen; Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mike Mullen, Centcom Commander David Petraeus, Generals Raymond Odierno and David McKiernan, the U.S. commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan -- all second term Bush picks; others. <br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br /><em>Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK</em>.<br /><br />The url for <b>Obama: “Seamless" President Elect</b>” is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-our-seamless-president-elect.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-our-seamless-president-elect.html</a><br /><br />The shorter url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/5qfd9n">http://tinyurl.com/5qfd9n</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />TAGS<br /><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Politics" rel="tag">Politics</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Obama" rel="tag">Obama</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Hillary+Clinton" rel="tag">Hillary Clinton</a>,<br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%9D" com="" tag="" rel="tag">Robert Gates</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Timothy+Geithner" rel="”tag”">Timothy Geithner</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-32427433090796374082008-11-23T07:30:00.022+00:002009-05-21T06:14:47.250+01:00Will Israel Play Proxy in Iran?<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/will-israel-play-proxy-in-iran.html&title=Will+Israel+Play+Proxy+in+Iran&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/will-israel-play-proxy-in-iran.html&title=Will+Israel+Play+Proxy+in+Iran&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=3242743309079637408" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=3242743309079637408" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://citizensedproject.org/indexresearch/cheney_olmert_small.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 252px; height: 165px;" src="http://citizensedproject.org/indexresearch/cheney_olmert_small.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.vicepresidents.com/files/u41/cheney_olmert.jpg"> Cheney and Olmert </a></div><br /><u>Updated 17.05.09</u><br /><br /><em>The terrorists are determined never to surrender, and are ready to kill and be killed</em>."<a href="http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/20/1001109/idf-chief-to-nato-defeat-global-terrorism">Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi </a>.<br /><br />How much can go wrong in the two months before Mr. Obama takes the oath of office? The answer, unfortunately, is: a lot, wrote Paul Krugman in the New York Times (21.11.08). ... Most obviously, were in the midst of the worst stock market crash since the Great Depression, he said. <br /><br />What Mr. Krugman did not address was the forthcoming meeting between the Lame Duck Vice President and President Olmert during his visit to Washington. Both men have had an interest in bombing Iran, the 4th largest world oil producer who allegedly wants/has nuclear warheads. <br /><br />To assess the present Israel /US vs Iran aggression, first it is useful to look at Cheneys US-IRAQ statements, taken from Barton Gellmans recent riveting book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Angler-Cheney-Presidency-Barton-Gellman/dp/1594201862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227280267&sr=1-1"> Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency </a>. <br /><br /><br />IRAQ<br /><br />If someone did not stop Saddam .. its the judgment of many of us that in the not-too-distant future he will acquire nuclear weapons. <br /><br />"The vice president brought the disquieting news that Iraqs ability to miniaturize weapons of mass destruction particularly nuclear, had been substantially refined since the first Gulf war,' Armey recalled." <br /><br />Several agencies assessed (incorrectly, it turned out) that Saddams government was <u>shopping for equipment to enrich uranium</u>.<br /><br />See pp. 218 219 for Cheney-backed stories about <u> enrichment in aluminum tubes</u>. <br /><br />See Cheneys stories about Iraq fitting drones (UAVs) with sprayers for biological weapons. (p 220); for Iraqs purchase of electronic maps of US. (p. 221). <br /><br />Mr. Cheney claims that he thinks and acts for the good of his country. This is self-delusion and hogwash. Mr. Cheneys motives are the same as any other corporate fat cat. Mr Cheney does act for special interests i.e. oil - and his own personal profit. <br /><br /><br />IRAN<br /><br />Cheney and Rumsfeld were advancing the theory that Iran had a <u>secret uranium enrichment program</u>, a plausible suspicion for which the CIA had found no evidence. (Gellman, p. 245). <br /><br />The United States (Cheney) has come to believe that Iran was actively pursuing nuclear weapons in bald defiance of the international community. Eight months earlier [i.e. prior to June 2008], Cheney had accused Iran of speeding ahead with <u>uranium enrichment</u> while dragging out talks, practicing delay and deception in an obvious attept to buy time. Iran would not be allowed to win at that game. Our country and the entire international community cannot stand by as a terror-supporting state fulfils its most aggressive ambitions. The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its present course, the international community is prepared to impose serious consequences we will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. (Gellman 368-9)<br /><br />Disinformation and war-pimp stories on Iran have been rampant and consistent for years. Here is recent story:<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11076">Media Disinformation regarding Iran's Nuclear Program: Tehran rejects NY Times atom bomb story</a></b><br />21.11.08. globalresearch.ca. Iran has rejected a New York Times report which claimed the country has produced enough nuclear material to make 'a single atom bomb'. / The latest UN nuclear watchdog report on Iran, released Wednesday, disclosed that the country had 'produced approximately 630 kilograms [1,390 pounds] of low enriched UF6'. / UF6 is used in the uranium enrichment process that produces fuel for nuclear reactors and weapons. / Later, the New York Times, citing nuclear experts, reported that the amount of UF6 at the disposal of Iran 'was enough for a bomb'. / The nuclear experts, meanwhile, cautioned that the milestone was 'mostly symbolic' because to produce a nuclear bomb, Iran would have to 'breach its international agreements and kick out the (UN nuclear watchdog) inspectors' and put an extremely purified fuel -- which Iran does not possess the technology to produce -- 'into a warhead design', the report added.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />Which side are you on?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3611129,00.html">ElBaradei: Iran incapable of developing bomb now</a></b><br />21.10.08. ynet news. IAEA chief says Tehran yet to obtain necessary raw unenriched uranium to build even single nuclear weapon. Meanwhile another round of talks amongst UN Security Council members on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program fails to yield results. Even if Iran were to withdraw from the non-proliferation treaty today, the likelihood of the Islamic Republic assembling even a single nuclear weapon in the near future is low, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed ElBaradei, said on Monday. This report has now been superceded by a further (biased?) IAEA report. The IAEA report <a href="http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8709020565"> confirmed </a> that Iran has managed to enrich uranium-235 to a level "less than 5 percent". Such a rate is consistent with the construction of a nuclear power plant. Nuclear arms production, meanwhile, requires an enrichment level of above 90 percent. / The Vienna-based UN nuclear watchdog continues snap inspections of Iranian nuclear sites and has reported that all "declared nuclear material in Iran has been accounted for, and therefore such material is not diverted to prohibited activities."But some experts <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1039403.html"> argue </a> that this amount, at least in theory, is enough to produce one atom bomb - if it undergoes further processing, and the enrichment is at a high level. The experts are divided. The implications of this latest report will be discussed in the last week of November. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.headlinesindia.com/government-policy-news/bilateral/iran-has-every-right-to-develop-nuclear-energy-india-3301.html">Iran has every right to develop nuclear energy: India</a></b><br />01.11.08. headlines India. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081120_to_each_his_own_nuke/">To Each His Own Nuke</a></b><br />20.11.08. William Pfaff, truthdig. The propaganda argument usually made about Iran is that nuclear weapons would allow that country to threaten the United States, Israel and Europe. The missile defense that the Bush administration has wanted to build in Poland and Czechoslovakia is not meant to defend anything. It was designed to have a political effect by dividing old Europeans from the new ones who support the American proposal. Above all, it is meant to intimidate Russia. It is not directed at Iran, for whom a nuclear missile attack on the West would be nonsensical, as Teheran and Washington both know. / The purpose of U.S. pressure on the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency to provide further justification for Security Council sanctions on Iran is to prevent that country from obtaining the only feasible deterrence it could present to a future American or Israeli intervention in that country.<br /><br />==<br /><u> Iran feeling the pressure</u>: <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1036735.html">Iran says it test-fired new surface to surface missile capable of hitting Israel</a> (12.11.08. Haaretz)<br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=463917">Iran holds defence drills, warns on oil route</a></b><br />23.11.08. Reuters. An Iranian militia held civil defence drills on Sunday to prepare for any hostile air strikes and the military said it could close a waterway crucial for world oil supplies if Iran was attacked.<br /><br />== <br /><u> Poodle Pimp</u>: <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081121/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_iran"> Britain's Miliband calls Iran world threat </a> (21.11.08. AP) <br /><br />In Afghanistan, Robert Fisk reports that the Shias are asking their mullahs what they should do <a href="http://www.truthout.org/112208C"> if America attacks Iran </a>, and their mullahs told them that if this happens, they should support the Islamic Republic and attack all American and Nato interests in Kandahar."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/385122/print">That Iranian "Bomb"? Relax</a></b><br />20.11.08. Robert Dreyfus, The Nation. Ever since the U.S. intelligence community concluded, in that famous National Intelligence Estimate a year ago, that Iran had halted its secret weapons program, assorted neocons and hawks have tried to continue sounding the alarm about Iran, with only limited success. With the election of Obama, now, the hawks are regrouping -- see, the formation of the bipartisan collection of hawks flocking together in United Against Nuclear Iran -- and the usual suspects at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) are venting their spleens. But it's clear that Iran isn't going to build a bomb next week, or next year, or even the year after, and that Obama will have lots and lots of time to deal with this problem in a leisurely manner. So relax.<br /><br />Umm, Israelis? That means you, too.<br /><br /><br />ISRAEL<br /><br />US-NATO has, in the quite recent past, involved Israel, who <a href="http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/israel/nuke/">possesses nuclear weapons</a>, in military exercises, and even suggested that Israel become a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/20/AR2006022001121.html">member of NATO</a>. Israel wants a pre-emptive war against Iran, and has been pressuring the United States to help. The strong US/Israel alliance is the 'root' cause for unrest in the Arab world. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1011764.html">Israel source denies U.S curbing arms sales to deter Iran strike</a></b><br />14.08.08. Haaretz. [According to the current plan, American soldiers will control the radar, which will be connected to the Israeli Air Force's Arrow control room in Palmahim.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/news/2008/space-080928-voa01.htm">US Deploys Radar in Israel Amid Fears of Iranian Attack</a></b><br />28.09.08. global security.org. The U.S. has provided Israel with an advanced radar system to give early warning in the event of an Iranian missile attack. The system has been set up at an air base in the Negev desert in southern Israel. Israeli officials say 120 American military personnel have been deployed at the base to operate the radar. .. / "The Iranians should see this as a ratcheting up, that Israel and the United States are preparing to do something because they are worried about an Iranian counter attack and preparing to block that as well," Steinberg said. <br />The radar system will be <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hxkJQcz_X-HUmMmsVHPT5YOhde0A"> activated </a>(22.11.08, AFP)next month. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://citizensedproject.org/indexresearch/map_small.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 343px;" src="http://citizensedproject.org/indexresearch/map_small.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://virtualglobetrotting.com/map/20402/view/?service">NEVATIM Air Base, Negev, Israel</a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1222017409653">US: IDF can't man Negev radar system</a></b><br />28.10.08. Jerusalem post. An IDF request to permit Israeli soldiers to control the new high-powered radar that the US has deployed in the Negev has been declined, senior defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. .. / The X-Band radar's arrival in Israel last Sunday was kept under tight wraps until it was revealed over the weekend by Defense News, an industry newsletter. / The system, which came in a convoy of 12 transport planes and together with a 120-member crew, has been set up temporarily at the <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/israel/nevatim.htm"> Nevatim air base </a> in the Negev and will be moved to a permanent site in the next few months.<br /><br />The high-powered radar, known as FBX-T, will be hooked up to the US military's <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/...ary/reports/gao/ns96071.pdf"> Joint Tactical Ground Station </a> [risky] and, assisted by satellites, will be capable of picking up a ballistic missile shortly after launch at which point it can estimate the time and location of its impact. .. / According to the report, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert raised the issue in a meeting with US President George W. Bush in May. <b>Bush</b>, senior European diplomatic officials told the paper, <b>said he would not support a strike on Iran and added that his position was unlikely to change as long as he was in office</b>. / Bush's position was apparently the result of two factors, the sources said: The first was US concern over Iranian retaliation, which would likely include attacks on US targets in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as on trade routes in the Persian Gulf; the second was US fears that Israel would not succeed in disabling Iran's nuclear facilities in a single strike, while ongoing strikes could bring on a full-scale war. / Israel would likely have to fly over Iraqi airspace - of which the US has total control - in order to strike in Iran, the sources said, and so America would be blamed for any such attack, even if it did not actively support it.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1019989.html">Israel asks U.S. for arms, air corridor to attack Iran</a></b><br />09.11.08. Haaretz. About a month ago, Haaretz reported that the Bush administration had turned down an Israeli request for certain security items that could upgrade Israel's capability to attack Iran. The U.S. administration reportedly saw the request as a sign preparations were moving ahead for an Israeli attack on Iran.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1036416.html">Construction of Negev missile defense base run by U.S. troops completed</a></b><br />13.11.08. Haaretz. Pictures of an American anti-missile radar installed in southern Israel were released earlier this week, depicting a recently completed military base, which will house the first permanent U.S. force to be deployed on Israeli soil. Construction of the base was completed in the last few days at Mount Keren near the Ketziot prison in the Negev." VIDEO. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20081120_9407.php">Israeli Firm to Sell U.S. Biodefense Drugs</a></b><br />20.11.08. nti. A newly signed deal establishes <a href="http://www.medisonpharma.com/"> Medison Pharma </a> as Israel's sole distributor of countermeasures manufactured by the Maryland firm PharmAthene, representatives from the U.S. firm said yesterday. They added that Medison Pharma would obtain government authorization for the drugs as well as promote and deliver them. / The companies did not disclose the agreement's financial details.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jta.org/news/article/2008/11/20/1001109/idf-chief-to-nato-defeat-global-terrorism">IDF chief to NATO: defeat global terrorism</a></b><br />20.11.08. jta. "At this time, our main objective is to defeat global terrorism and bring stability and tranquility to the worlds population," he said. "This is definitely a complex mission" since the "terrorists have financial support, resources and equipment from terror collaborators" and they are supported by radical states that sponsor terrorism. .. / Ashkenazi met with his American counterpart, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, as well as his counterparts from other countries, including Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, Spain, France and Poland. He also met with senior NATO and E.U. officials.<br /><br /><em>Israel has pressed hard for a U.S. attack on Irans nuclear facilities, not because it fears nuclear aggression by Iran, which is inconceivable and would be suicidal folly. Israels concern is that if Iran acquires one or several nuclear weapons, it would deter conventional attack by its enemies, notably the United States</em>. <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081120_to_each_his_own_nuke/"> William Pfaff </a>(20.11.08, Truthdig)<br /><br />Israel, who has US funding, is at the moment committing <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/11/2008112382840977947.html">war crimes in Gaza</a> and Palestine. IDF Chief of Staff, Ashkenazi, spoke at a <br /><a href="http://www.defpro.com/news/details/3907/"> NATO Chiefs of Defense Conference </a> (21.11.08). His hypocrisy was breathtaking. He said that "at this time our main objective is to defeat global terrorism and bring about stability and tranquility to the world's populationthis is definitely a complex mission sincethe terrorists have financial support, resources and equipment from terror collaborators". If Obama wants to have a "fresh view" on the US role in the world, there are many institutions which should be abolished, amongst them US-NATO. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5201621.ece">Bush and Olmert to meet over Iran's nuclear ambitions</a></b><br />21.11.08. Times Online. President Bush is to hold White House talks with the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Monday after publication of a nuclear watchdogs report this week showing that Iran may have stockpiled enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb. / <b>The timing of the talks, between two lame duck leaders with only weeks to go before they leave office, is intriguing</b>. Israel has stated repeatedly that it would be unacceptable for an Iranian regime to acquire nuclear weapons. .. / During his visit to Washington, which begins on Sunday, Mr Olmert is expected to meet the Vice-President <b>Dick Cheney</b>, the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary. .. / Intelligence sources have told The Times that <b>the prospect of Israel taking preemptive military action to knock out Irans nuclear facilities appears to have become significantly more likely in recent weeks. Such an operation would require at least tacit US cooperation because it would almost certainly involve Israeli warplanes flying through US-controlled airspace in Iraq</b>.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />Which Side Are you On?<br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=76137§ionid=351020104">Prospect of Israel war on Iran 'stronger'</a></b><br />21.11.08. presstv.com/ICH. Israeli sources told the Times on Friday that in the past few weeks Tel Aviv has witnessed an increase in the chances of launching an airborne attack on Iran's nuclear infrastructure. / The revelation comes as Israeli military officials recently sent mixed signals about a calculated attack on Iran. / In a Wednesday interview with German weekly Der Speigel, Israeli Air Force Commander General Ido Nehushtan claimed that his forces were ready to follow any order to bring Iran's nuclear program to a halt. / .. Former Israeli military general Moshe Ya'alon, meanwhile, claimed that Tel Aviv has the 'right capabilities' to launch a successful strike on Iran./ .. The head of the Israeli military's Diplomatic-Security Bureau Amos Gilad, however, said a military attack on Iran would pose a 'considerable challenge'../ Israel's military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin also dismissed an Israeli plan to strike Iran, saying the world financial crisis and Barack Obama's election as the next US president have dissipated the chances of wiping out the Iranian enrichment program. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><a href="http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/16562-israeli-air-force-chief-we-ready-deal-iran.html">Israeli Air Force chief: We are ready to deal with Iran </a></b><br />22.11.08. defence.pk / jerusalem post. We are ready to do whatever is demanded of us" in order to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, IAF commander Maj. -Gen. Ido Nehushtan told German magazine Der Spiegel in an interview published Tuesday. Nehushtan told the magazine that whether a military strike is eventually decided upon is a political question and not an issue of Israel's military capabilities.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=97895">Olmert Eyes New Commitments on Iran During US Visit</a></b><br />22.11.08. AFP. Israel has repeatedly said that "all options are on the table," alluding to a military strike, to halt Iran's nuclear drive. The US and Israel accuse Tehran of covertly building nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian atomic program. .. / "For Olmert, this is a farewell visit from a close friend and ally. He wants to tie loose ends with regards to promises the Bush administration has given Israel," a government official said. / Olmert will press Bush and Congress to allow Israel to purchase dozens of F-35 stealth fighter-bombers, which would considerably boost the Israeli Air Force's ability to carry out long-range strikes. / In September, the Pentagon announced that the Jewish state had asked to buy up to 75 of the advanced warplanes, but Congress has yet to give the $15 billion deal a green light. / Over the past year, the US has considerably increased its already tight military ties with its ally, giving the Jewish state an unprecedented 10-year, $30 billion aid commitment. / Israel, the region's sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, considers Iran its main strategic threat because of its nuclear program, which Israel and the US claim aimed at developing an atomic bomb. Iran has denied the charge.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ik3FeeyI7bBJ_dR-u6FLPnuMbb0gD94JRVF80">Lame-duck US, Israeli leaders to meet a final time</a></b><br />22.11.08. AP. The three-day visit beginning Sunday will focus on Iran's nuclear program and progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks launched by Bush last year. .. / Even with time running out for both Olmert and Bush, it is not too late for them to take bold actions, such as drafting a peace deal with the Palestinians or ordering an airstrike targeting Iran, said Avraham Diskin, a political science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/3503213/Iran-to-dominate-last-meeting-of-Ehud-Omert-and-George-W-Bush.html">Iran to dominate last meeting of Ehud Olmert and George W Bush</a></b><br />23.11.08. T. Shipman, T. Butcher, Telegraph. Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, will seek new assurances that the US is determined to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon when he meets President George W Bush at the White House on Monday. .. / Bush has been sending mixed signals. "He's shown no sign of wanting to go out in a blaze of glory by supporting a strike, American or Israeli, but you never know."<br /> <br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5213323.ece">Israel fears US will dither while Iran goes nuclear</a></b><br />23.11.08. Times Online. Israel is concerned that Bush will pass the Iranian hot potato to Barack Obama, the president-elect, while the last chance of destroying Tehrans nuclear bomb-making programme may be passing. / A Pentagon source told The Sunday Times earlier this year that Bush had given Israel an amber light to carry on with military preparations to attack Iranian nuclear sites. / The <a href="http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2008/iransyriareport1108.html"> International Atomic Energy Agency </a>, which has been inspecting Irans main nuclear facility at Natanz, published a report last week which concluded that Iran is rapidly increasing stockpiles of enriched uranium and may be on course to build a nuclear weapon by next year.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u> Divisions within Israel</u><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=76329§ionid=351020101">Israeli army brass advocate timely war on Iran</a></b><br />23.11.08. presstv. An Israeli security assessment has recommended devising contingency plans to attack Iran even if it means courting a conflict with the US. The leaked paper drawn up by Israeli military chiefs maintains that Tel Aviv has a 'limited' window of opportunity to act against Iran before the country obtains a nuclear weapon, claiming that in 2009, Israel might have to face a nuclear Iran 'alone'. / Senior Israeli officials had earlier expressed concern that an Obama administration might lead up to the restoration of Washington-Tehran relations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/11/23/israeli-military-urges-contingency-plan-for-iran-strike/">Israeli Military Urges Contingency Plan for Iran Strike</a></b><br />23.11.08. anti-war. Experts disagree on whether Iran even has the raw material to construct a single nuclear weapon if it chose to do so. They seem to agree, hawkish political sloganeering notwithstanding, that Iran has not diverted any of that material to military ends. Either way, the Israeli militarys annual security assessment sees them as a grave threat to Israels very survival, what with that non-zero possibility that they might hypothetically be able to make a single atomic weapon if they really wanted to. / To that end, the assessment calls for Israel to work discreetly on contingency plans for an attack on Iran, in addition to keeping a close eye on the US to prevent any deal between the Americans and Iran that would undermine Israels agenda. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/11/23/israeli-general-eyes-regime-change-assassination-in-iran/">Israeli General Eyes Regime Change, Assassination in Iran</a></b><br />23.11.08. anti-war. In an interview, former Israeli military chief and potential future Defense Minister General Moshe Yaalon says that the Iranian revolution must be confronted immediately, and suggests some rather extreme measures which this confrontation might involve. / Firstly an Israeli attack, in the generals estimation, should not begin and end with striking Irans civilian nuclear power plant, presently being constructed by Russia. Rather, Gen. Yaalon envisions follow-up to prevent the regime from rehabilitating itself, and ultimately, regime change. Beyond that, Gen. Yaalon also proposes assassinating Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, though his aides later insisted that was taken out of context.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b>Will George Bush put the brake on Cheney and Israels hope for a war on Iran? </b><br />UPDATE: <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/11/24/report-us-asked-israel-not-to-start-any-major-wars-until-obama-takes-office/">Report: US Asked Israel Not to Start Any Major Wars Until Obama Takes Office </a>. (24.11.08. anti-war) Amid several bellicose comments about the possibility of an impending Israeli strike against Iran Israeli Defense Ministry officials say they have been contacted by US officials who have asked them to refrain from launching any attacks against Iran until after President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January. Likewise, the officials reportedly have cautioned Israel not to launch its long-reported ground invasion of the Gaza Strip until after the inauguration. / An Israeli attack on Iran would almost certainly be interpreted as an American attack. BUT<br /><br /><u> Updates</u> <br /><b><a href="http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_has_never_advised_Israel_against_Iran_strike_Olmert_999.html">US has never advised Israel against Iran strike: Olmert</a></b><br />25.11.08. AFP. The outgoing prime minister, who ends what is probably his last visit to Washington in office, said he had "spoke at length with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the president on Iran." / "There is a basic, deep understanding about the Iranian threat and the need to act in order to remove threat," he told reporters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070327/62697703.html">Russian intelligence sees U.S. military buildup on Iran border</a></b><br />27.11.08. rian.ru. "The latest military intelligence data point to heightened U.S. military preparations for both an air and ground operation against Iran," the official said, adding that the Pentagon has probably not yet made a final decision as to when an attack will be launched. He also said the U.S. Naval presence in the Persian Gulf has for the first time in the past four years reached the level that existed shortly before the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. / Col.-Gen. Leonid Ivashov, vice president of the Academy of Geopolitical Sciences, said last week that the Pentagon is planning to deliver a massive air strike on Iran's military infrastructure in the near future.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1227702421218&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">IDF preparing options for strike at Iran without US assent</a></b><br />04.12.08. jerusalem post. While its preference is to coordinate with the US, defense officials have said Israel is preparing a wide range of options for such an operation. "It is always better to coordinate," one top Defense Ministry official explained last week. "But we are also preparing options that do not include coordination." <br /><br /><br />FINALE<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/21/AR2008112100091.html">Report Sees Nuclear Arms, Scarce Resources as Seeds of Global Instability</a></b><br />21.11.08, Peter Finn and Walter Pincus, Washington Post. The drive for dwindling resources, including energy and water, combined with the spread of nuclear weapons technology could make large swaths of the globe ripe for regional conflicts, some of them potentially devastating, according to a report released by the National Intelligence Council yesterday. / The report, <a href="http://acus.org/files/publication_pdfs/3/Global-Trends-2025.pdf"> Global Trends 2025</a>, covers a range of strategic issues, including great-power rivalry, demographics, climate change, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, energy and natural resources. It makes for sometimes grim reading in imagining a world of weak states bristling with weapons of mass destruction and unable to cope with burgeoning populations without adequate water and food. <a href="http://westhawk.blogspot.com/2008/09/global-trends-2025-preview-contradicts.html">One reader </a> found the presentation <b>superficial, gullible, self-contradictory, and suffering from historical amnesia</b>. <br /><br />Chris Hedges wrote an excellent book exploring the idea of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanatos"> Thanatos </a>, which has destroyed our world community since the "War on Terror" following 9/11.<br /><br />The United States was the first, and only, nuclear terrorist. It is heartwarming to read Andrew Bacevich (p. 178): For the United States, abolishing nuclear weapons ought to be an urgent national security priority. So, too, should preserving our planet. These are the meta-challenges of our time. <br /><br />UPDATE: THE SOLUTION?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/opinion/01cohen.html">Try Tough Love, Hillary</a></b><br />01.12.08. Roger Cohen, Op Ed, NY Times. So, by saying Israel has been wrong, Olmert was also saying the United States has been wrong, even if he never mentioned America.In a frank September interview with the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, reprinted this month by The New York Review of Books, the Israeli leader chose to exit with a mea culpa for his country's policies. / Those policies have been encouraged by the Bush administration, whose war on terror was embraced by the Israeli government as a means to frame Israel's confrontation with the Palestinians as part of the same struggle. No matter that Al Qaeda and the Palestinian national movement are distinct. The facile conflation got Bush in lock step with whatever Israel did.<br /><br />Israel and Washington have continued to thump war drums since this article was first published. In March 2009:<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=87365§ionid=351020101"><br />Israel draws 'red lines' for Obama on Iran</a></b><br />03.03.09. presstv. Israel prepares a set of red lines for Washington to inject into its Iran policy as the current US approach toward Tehran rankles Tel Aviv. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1236103158937&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">'Israel seriously considering military action against Iran'</a></b><br />05.03.09. Jerusalem Post. Israel is seriously considering taking unilateral military action to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, according to a report by top US political figures and experts released Wednesday./ The report, <a href="http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC04.php?CID=308">"Preventing a Cascade of Instability,"</a> was put out by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP). It also argues that international sanctions against Iran need to be intensified urgently for the engagement the Obama administration is planning with Teheran to be effective. / An early draft of the report was endorsed by Dennis Ross before he withdrew upon joining the Obama administration<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5irdDSeMH9rhchHhLaW-1Xi8j8uRQD96RAFEG1">Officials: Iran does not have key nuclear material</a></b><br />10.03.09. AP. Iran does not yet have any highly enriched uranium, the fuel needed to make a nuclear warhead, two top U.S. intelligence officials told Congress Tuesday, disputing a claim by an Israeli official. U.S. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Maples said Tuesday that Iran has only low-enriched uranium which would need to be refined into highly enriched uranium before it can fuel a warhead. Neither officials said there were indications that refining has occurred. Their comments disputed a claim made last weekend by Israel's top intelligence military official, who said Iran has crossed a technical threshold and is now capable of producing atomic weapons. See also jazeera<br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200931135043573744.html"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1071490.html">Ashkenazi in U.S.: IDF must prepare to strike Iran</a></b><br />17.03.09. Haaretz / legitgov. During a visit to Washington, D.C., Ashkenazi met with Dennis Ross, the designated U.S. envoy to the Persian Gulf, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">both AIPAC suppoters</span>] to discuss the Iranian issue. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csis.org/component/option,com_csis_pubs/task,view/id,5337/type,1/">Study on a Possible Israeli Strike on Iran's Nuclear Development Facilities</a></b><br />16.03.09. CSIS / ICH. This report provides a detailed analysis of Israeli capabilities, possible flight paths, sorties requirements, battle damage capabilities relative to target hardening, and the other details of possible Israeli strikes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/130490">IDF to U.S.: Israel Closing In on Taking Military Aim at Iran</a></b><br />18.03.09. israel natioanl news. The newspaper quoted sources that claimed Lieutenant-General Ashkenazi told American officials that Israel is preparing for a military attack<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=89413§ionid=351020202">Commander confirms Netanyahu war plans</a></b><br />23.03.09. presstv.ir/ICH. Israel is preparing for all-out war on multiple fronts that include Iran, Syria and Lebanon, a senior military commander claims.<br /><br /><em>Manufacturing Consent for War</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a6m8Gjlv2Njs&refer=home">Petraeus Says Israel Might Choose to Attack Iran</a></b><br />01.04.09. Bloomberg. Army General David Petraeus told Congress that "the Israeli government may ultimately see itself so threatened by the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon that it would take preemptive military action <br />See also: <br /><b><a href="http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/NewsDetails.aspx?id=80057&language=en">Amnesty: US Arms Delivery to Israel Threatens "Mideast Peace"</a></b><br />02.04.09. almanar / ICH. The delivery of munitions in the Zionist entity from the US earlier this month has thrown President Barack Obama's commitment to maintaining peaceful relations between Israel and Palestine into question, according to Amnesty International.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1075528.html">Obama tells Netanyahu: U.S. committed to Israel's security</a></b><br />01.04.09. Haaretz. U.S. President Barack Obama called newly sworn in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to congratulate him on his new position, and to reaffirm steadfast U.S. commitment to Israel and its security.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/04/02/war-is-coming-to-iran-and-israel/">War is Coming to Iran and Israel</a></b><br />02.04.09. pak alert/ ICH. The primary imperative for the United States and President Barack Obama is to put an end to Iran's nuclear race, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said before his swearing-in Tuesday, adding that if the US failed to do so Israel might be forced to resort to a military strike on the Islamic Republic's nuclear installations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trita-parsi/netanyahu-and-threat-of-b_b_183822.html">Netanyahu and threat of bombing Iran</a></b><br />06.04.09. Huff Post / ICH. In an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic, incoming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed to have told President Barack Obama that either America stops Iran or Israel will. Not surprisingly, the interview sparked quite a controversy and only a day later, General David Petreus told the Senate Arms Services Committee that "the Israeli government may ultimately see itself so threatened by the prospect of an Iranian nuclear weapon that it would take preemptive military action to derail or delay it." / So once again, in spite of President Obama's best efforts, the military option was put back on the table and the atmosphere for dealing with Iran was turned into "Do as we say - or else..." Even if the President wants to give diplomacy a chance, disbelievers have been quick to limit Obama's options by seeking to set arbitrary deadlines for negotiations - or by threatening Israeli military action if America doesn't act with its military might.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1077035.html">IDF planninglargest-ever drill to prepare Israel for war</a></b><br />07.04.09. Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz /. ICH. <br /> The Home Front Command is preparing to hold the largest exercise ever in Israeli history, scheduled to take place in about two months, in hopes of priming the populace and raising awareness of the possibility of war breaking out.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/8/worldupdates/2009-04-07T185526Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-389311-1&sec=Worldupdates">Israel carries out missile test - Defence Ministry</a></b><br />07.04.09. the star / ICH. Israel carried out a test launch of its Arrow II interceptor missile on Tuesday, the Defence Ministry said, a system designed to defend against possible ballistic missile attacks by Iran and Syria.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/audits/136295/will_israel_attack_mixed_messages_from_washington_could_lead_to_catastrophe_in_iran/">Will Israel Attack? Mixed Messages from Washington Could Lead to Catastrophe in Iran</a></b><br />13.04.09. Roane Carey, Tomdispatch.com/alternet. <em> Anything short of a categorical, even vociferous U.S. refusal of an Israeli attack could have horrific consequences</em>. Israel has been steadily ratcheting up pressure on the United States concerning the grave threat <u>allegedly</u> posed by Iran, which seems poised to master the nuclear fuel cycle, and thus the capacity to produce nuclear weapons. The new Israeli prime minister, Likud Party hawk Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned President Barack Obama that if Washington does not quickly find a way to shut down Iran's nuclear program, Israel will.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=91241§ionid=351020101">Peres on Ahmadinejad: We'll strike him</a></b><br />12.04.09. presstiv. Israel 'will' launch its much-predicted military strike against Iran, should Washington's overture to Tehran prove to be of no avail. In an interview with Kol Hai Radio, Israeli President Shimon Peres launched into a tirade against Iran and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warning him about his stance.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61999">U.S. troops take part in ISRAEL X-Band radar test</a></b><br />13.04.09. Stars and Stripes. U.S. troops took part in a missile defense exercise in Israel last week that <u>for the first time incorporated a U.S.-owned radar system deployed to the country in October</u>. [Just the ticket to keep the Muslims happy? </span>] About 100 Europe-based troops continue to operate the X-Band radar, which is intended to give Israel early warning in the event of a missile launch from Iran.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/39/Don_t_flash_the_yellow_light_.html">Don't flash the yellow light</a></b><br />13.04.09. al jazeera. <em>Mixed messages from Washington could lead to catastrophe in Iran</em>. Israel has been steadily ratcheting up pressure on the United States concerning the grave threat allegedly posed by Iran, which seems poised to master the nuclear fuel cycle, and thus the capacity to produce nuclear weapons. The new Israeli prime minister, Likud Party hawk Benjamin Netanyahu, has warned President Barack Obama that if Washington does not quickly find a way to shut down Iran's nuclear program, Israel will.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6115903.ece">Israel stands ready to bomb Iran's nuclear sites</a></b><br />18.04.09. Times Online. The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government. … The distance from Israel to at least one of the sites is more than 870 miles, a distance that the Israeli force practised covering in a training exercise last year that involved F15 and F16 jets, helicopters and refuelling tankers. … “Many of the leaks or statements made by Israeli leaders and military commanders are meant for deterrence. The message is that if [the international community] is unable to solve the problem they need to take into account that we will solve it <em>our</em> way,” Mr Kam said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1079197.html">What would be the timetable for Israel strike on Iran?</a></b><br />19.04.09. Haaretz / anti-war. The timing of Saturday's Times of London <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article6115903.ece"> article </a>, which claimed that the Israel Defense Forces is training for an attack on Iran on very short notice, is certainly no coincidence. Israel is trying to make clear that even though the United States plans to begin a diplomatic dialogue with Iran, it holds a realistic military option against Tehran's nuclear program. Without a deal that assuages Israel's concerns, there may be no other choice but to attack.<br /><br /><em> Putting the screws in </em> - wrong way around – <br />GET RID OF YOUR OWN NUKES, ISRAEL!<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/21/AR2009042103998.html">Israel Puts Iran Issue Ahead of Palestinians</a></b><br />22.04.09. Wash Post. The new Israeli government will not move ahead on the core issues of peace talks with the Palestinians until it sees progress in U.S. efforts to stop Iran's suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon and limit Tehran's rising influence in the region, according to top government officials familiar with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's developing policy on the issue.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=53595&s2=22">Lieberman tells Russian newspaper: U.S. will accept any Israeli decision</a></b><br />21.04.09. Lily Galili and Barak Ravid, Haaretz / uruknet. The Obama Administration will put forth new peace initiatives only if Israel wants it to, said Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in his first comprehensive interview on foreign policy since taking office. "Believe me, America accepts all our decisions," Lieberman told the Russian daily Moskovskiy Komosolets.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0424/p09s05-coop.html">The danger of an Israeli strike on Iran</a></b><br />24.04.09. CS Monitor. The US needs to make it clear it will not tolerate a first strike.<br /><br /><em> using ‘swine flu’ as excuse for bioweapons </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20090427_4755.php">Israel Updates Biodefense Program to Counter Terror Threat</a></b><br />27.04.09. nti. Israel has updated its biological defense efforts to counter threats from terrorists and regional rivals <em>such as Iran</em>, the Jerusalem Post reported yesterday. / "A bioweapon can be dispersed in a hall full of people and the consequences would only be felt a week later," Eiland added. "This is unlike a chemical attack, which would be felt immediately. The swine flu (that has broken out in Mexico and, apparently, other countries) helps illustrate the threat of bioweapons."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/164535">Gingrich to AIPAC: Attack Iran</a></b><br />04.05.09. Israel national news. The Bush administration was too soft on Iran, which should be in the crosshairs of the American armed forces, former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich said in a speech on the opening day of the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) meeting Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/131153">Israeli Planes Prepare for Airstrike on Iran</a></b><br />05.05.09. Israel national news. Israel Air Force planes conducted exercises between Israel and Gibraltar, including midair refueling, according to a report published Saturday in the French weekly L'Express.<br /><br /><em> An astonishing comment from a country that has already ‘gone nuclear': </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1082792.html"> Israel's new U.S. envoy to AIPAC: We won't let Iran go nuclear</a> (05.05.09. Haaretz)<br />= = = <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE54523R20090506">Israel would inform, not ask U.S. before hitting Iran</a></b><br />06.05.09. Reuters. While no one questions Israel's willingness to attack should it deem U.S.-led talks on curbing Iranian uranium enrichment a dead end, <b>such strikes would almost certainly entail at least last-minute coordination with Washington</b>. Israel would want to ensure that its jets would not be shot down by accident if overflying U.S.-occupied Iraq... One U.S. diplomat envisaged Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak telephoning Pentagon chief Robert Gates, unannounced, "to give a heads-up and explain" once the mission were under way.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22597.htm">The Bomb Iran Faction</a></b><br />12.05.09. Gary Leupp, Counterpunch / ICH. There is clearly a faction of the power elite that is, and has for some years been pressing, for a U.S. military attack on Iran. It is not advocating a war, at least openly, or an occupation of that vast nation; rather, it is advocating an operation similar in concept to the Israeli attack on Iraq's French-built Osiraq nuclear reactor in 1981. In a word, it is both advocating an Israeli-like action and justifying it explicitly as one on behalf of Israel. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22599.htm">Are We Being Conditioned To Accept a Pre-emptive Attack on Iran?</a></b><br />12.05.09. rds2301, Daily Kos / ICH. President Obama is concerned that Iran has sought nuclear weapons and its leaders "allegedly" deny the Holocaust and threaten Israel. Publically, Obama and Biden believe that it was reckless for Congress to give George Bush any justification to extend the Iraq War or to attack Iran but President-Elect Obama didn’t wait for his inauguration to appoint "saber-rattling" Hillary Clinton Secretary of State and retained Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense. / … The historical precedent for the hatred fomented against the "alleged" Arab terrorists and Iran would be the Nazis in Germany, not Arab terrorist in Iraq. <br /><br /><u>Manufacturing Consent For Attack On Iran</u><br /> <br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090512/wl_mideast_afp/irannuclearpoliticsisrael">Iran very close to getting nuclear arms: Israel</a></b><br />12.05.09. AFP. "Iran is at the moment very close to getting a military nuclear arsenal," Amos Yadlin told parliament's foreign affairs and defence committee, adding that "Iran can manage to stabilise its military nuclear programme by 2010."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6301606.ece">Obama courts Israel with pact against Tehran</a></b><br />17.05.09. Times Online. PRESIDENT Barack Obama hopes to tempt Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli leader, into making concessions to the Palestinians by holding out the prospect of a “grand alliance” of moderate Arab states against a nuclear Iran.<br />See recent updates at <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/iran-no-change-for-obama.html"> Iran: No Change in Obama's Diplomacy? </a><br /><br /> <br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div><br /><em>Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK </em><br /><br />The url to <b>Will Israel Play Proxy in Iran?</b> is <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/will-israel-play-proxy-in-iran.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/will-israel-play-proxy-in-iran.html</a><br /><br />The shorter url is:<a href="http://tinyurl.com/564w84">http://tinyurl.com/564w84</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br />REFERENCES<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/iran-war-resource-info.html"> Iran War: Resource Info </a> (24.01.07, some updates)<br /><br />UK and US Weapons to Israel: see <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/07/index-on-illegal-us-weapons-in-lebanon.html"> here</a>. (30.07.06). <br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/us-nato-missile-shield-programme-index.html"> US-NATO 'Missile Shield' Programme: Index Timeline Part II </a> (03. 04.08, continuously updated)<br /><br /><u> See all "No Change" articles</u><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/04/obamas-iraq-no-change.html"> Obama's Iraq: No Change </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/iran-no-change-for-obama.html"> Iran: No Change for Obama </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/israel-obamas-foreign-policy-no-change.html"> Israel: Obama's Foreign Policy - No Change </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/obamas-rhetoric-damning-evidence-on.html"> Obama's Rhetoric vs. Damning Evidence on Guantanamo, Rendition, Torture </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-our-seamless-president-elect.html"><br />Obama: Our Seamless President Elect </a><br />==<br /><br /><a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/israel/airfield.htm"> Airfields, Israel </a> (global security)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/webinator/search/?pr=default&order=r&query=US+Joint+Tactical+Ground+Station&submit=Submit"><br />More on US Joint Tactical Ground Station </a><br />(global security)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22060">The Co-President at Work</a></b><br />20.11.08. David Bromwich, NY Book Review. The man who held decisive authority in the White House during the Bush years has so far remained unaccountable for the aggrandizement and abuse of executive power; for the imposition of repressive laws whose contents were barely known by the legislature that passed them; for the instigation of domestic spying without disclosure or oversight; for the dissemination of false evidence to take the country into war; for the design and conduct of what the constitutional framers would have called an imperium in imperio, a government within the government.<br />==<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://content-1.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780805088151"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 120px; height: 180px;" src="http://content-1.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780805088151" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Andrew J. Bacevich <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Power-End-American-Exceptionalism/dp/0805088156/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227282247&sr=1-1"> The Limits of Power </a>, Metropolitan Books, August 2008<br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21288.htm">Video interview with A. Bacevich </a> (21.11.08. al jazeera / ICH)<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://di1.shopping.com/images/pi/37/d6/ed/2000700169-177x150-0-0.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 177px; height: 150px;" src="http://di1.shopping.com/images/pi/37/d6/ed/2000700169-177x150-0-0.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Chris Hedges <a href="http://www.amazon.com/War-Force-that-Gives-Meaning/dp/1400034639/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227282358&sr=1-1"> War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning </a>, Anchor, June 2003<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i43.tower.com/cover-art/ss111854931/angler-barton-gellman-hardcover-cover.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 80px; height: 121px;" src="http://i43.tower.com/cover-art/ss111854931/angler-barton-gellman-hardcover-cover.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Barton Gellman,<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Angler-Cheney-Presidency-Barton-Gellman/dp/1594201862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1227280267&sr=1-1"> Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency </a>, Penguin Press, September 2008<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />TAGS<br /><a href=http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/USA" rel="tag">USA</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/IRAN" rel="tag">IRAN</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Israel" rel="tag">Israel</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Cheney" rel="tag">Cheney</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Olmert" rel="tag">Olmert</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/NATO" rel="tag">NATO</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-89003293296569616822008-11-18T13:24:00.014+00:002008-11-18T16:56:04.076+00:00Index on Past, Present and Future<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/index-on-past-present-and-future.html&title= Index+on+Past,+Present+and+Future&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/index-on-past-present-and-future.html&title=Index+on+Past,+Present+and+Future&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=8900329329656961682" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=8900329329656961682" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.docpresent.de/artikel/fussmatten/fm_heimat.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 241px;" src="http://www.docpresent.de/artikel/fussmatten/fm_heimat.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">HEIMAT TO HOMELAND </div><br /><br />Heimat means 'Homeland.' A boxed edition of Edgar Reitz's 1982 film, Heimat, just arrived. 6 disks (english subtitles) with an introductory booklet by David Parkinson.<br /><br />I would like to share Edgar Reitz's outline in his press notes on Heimat, quoted by Mr. Parkinson in "Reactions and Responses." Why? Because what seemed relevant in Germany then is now also relevant to the United States today, as the U.S. president and his retinue are getting ready to leave the White House. Hopefully there will be no more home-made disasters before this becomes an actuality.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />"Telling stories has a great deal to do with remembering. Memories are always a part of one's experience; they are personal. When the ability to remember is joined with the ability to organize the images that are recalled, stories originate. That doesn't mean sticking exactly to the memories. The original truth is best contained when told freely.<br /><br />We Germans have a hard time with our stories. It is our own history that is in our way. The year 1945, the nation's Zero Hour, wiped out a lot, created a gap in people's ability to remember. As Mitscherlich put it, a entire people has been made "unable to mourn". In our case, that means "unable to tell stories" because our memories are obstructed by the great historical events (with which) they are connected. <br /><br />Even now, 40 years after the war, we are still troubled by the weight of moral judgments, we are still afraid that our little, personal stories could recall our Nazi past and remind us of our mass participation in the Third Reich. That is the problem. We have so many little stories that make up our past that can't be told, can't be true, that are stifling us, perhaps because they are so normal and for that reason so blind to history that they don't dare be told." <br /><br /><u> For reflection and memory, eg.:</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/111808J">Obama Advisers Say No Charges Likely Against Those Who Authorized Torture</a></b><br />17.10.908. Lara Jakes Jordan, AP/truthout. <br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><em>Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK</em>.<br /><br />The url to Index on Past, Present and Future is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/index-on-past-present-and-future.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/index-on-past-present-and-future.html</a><br />The shorter url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/6eoqpc">http://tinyurl.com/6eoqpc</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />Tags:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Bush" rel="tag">Bush</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Heimat" rel="tag">Heimat</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Germany+1945" rel="tag">Germany 1945</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-7731636249668751992008-11-13T09:43:00.018+00:002009-05-21T06:21:05.412+01:00Index Research: US – Israel Missile Defense Cooperation<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/index-research-us-israel-missile.html&title= Index+Research:+US++Israel+Missile+Defense+Cooperation&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/index-research-us-israel-missile.html&title=Index+Research:+US++Israel+Missile+Defense+Cooperation&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=773163624966875199" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=773163624966875199" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Updated 21.05.09.<br /><br /><em> "Pictures of an American anti-missile radar installed in southern Israel were released earlier this week, depicting a recently completed military base, which will house the <b>first permanent U.S. force to be deployed on Israeli soil</b>. Construction of the base was completed in the last few days at Mount Keren near the Ketziot prison in the Negev</em>." <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1036416.html"> Haaretz </a> (12.11.08) <br /><br /><br />Were the numerous 'missile shield' stories on 12 November 2008 designed to impress (the first half-white President-elect) Obama and his AIPAC war hawk team with the need for a continuation of an obscenely expensive NATO Missile Defense programme? Could the US financial crisis be helped by lessening the absurd amounts of money given to Israel for its defense? <br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20081112_2535.php">U.S. Installs Missile Defense Radar in Israel</a></b><br />12.11.08. nti. The United States has completed installation of a missile defense radar station in Israel that will be operated by the first permanent deployment of U.S. troops in the nation, Haaretz reported yesterday. The detachment would consist of about 120 personnel working under the U.S. European Command. / Israel is particularly concerned about Irans missile capabilities. / In addition to the radar, the United States has agreed to rapidly provide missile launch detection data collected from U.S. satellites, according to Defense News. / Since they threw in [the launch warnings], it's become a whole new ball game. We're looking at a very generous gift from the United States, even if it means we have to compromise on sovereignty by having U.S. troops deployed here, the expert said. / The radar is the same model as the system the United States erected in Japan in 2006.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20081112_7529.php">Raytheon Gets $54 Million for Multiple Kill Vehicle</a></b><br />12.11.08. nti. Defense contractor Raytheon has received a <u>$54 million</u> contract from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency for ongoing work on a weapon that would use one interceptor to destroy multiple enemy warheads.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iwuDjsP_k1wPhaN4Fui_UYh_AVWg">US missile chief to Obama: anti-missile system 'is workable'</a></b><br />12.11.08. AFP. The anti-missile defense system -- which preliminary tests have shown is capable of shooting down ballistic missiles -- "is workable," Obering, who heads the Missile Defense Agency, told reporters by teleconference.<br /><br />And the influence of AIPAC? An earlier <a href=www.aipac.org/Publications/AIPACAnalysesIssueBriefs/U.S.-Israel_Missile_Defense_Cooperation.pdf> AIPAC document </a>(21.12.06) states that The close partnership between the United States and Israel has yielded leading military technologies such as the Arrow, a missile defense system that is currently deployed in Israel. Jointly developed by the two allies, the Arrow is among the worlds most sophisticated missile shields. It is the only operational system that has consistently proven that one missile can shoot down another at high altitudes and speeds. The joint partnership on this program, which grew from the experiences during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, has brought significant benefits to America as well, which has incorporated many of the technologies into other U.S. missile defense programs. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>It is thus not likely that the AIPAC Pit Bulls will allow Obama to dump the missile shield defense programme</b></span>. <br /><br /><br />Meanwhile, the US denounces the Iranian missile shield test:<br /><br /><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20081112_9326.php"> Iran Tests New, More Accurate Missile</a> (12.11.08. nti) see also <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=74970§ionid=351020101"> here</a>. <br /><br />The US <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-11/13/content_10349510.htm"> denounces </a> missile test. See also <a href="http://www.payvand.com/news/08/nov/1110.html"> Bush ruined prospect of Iran-US talks</a>. <br /><br /><br />The disagreement with Russia over the "NATO" missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland continues: <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE4AB2XW20081112">Russia rejects U.S. missile proposals</a></b><br />12.11.08. Reuters. Then: <a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=450919"> Italy offers mediation</a> in Russia/US missiles spat (12.11.08. AP)<br /><br /><br />Other Missile Proliferation = more starvation:<br /><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/nw_20081112_6574.php">India Tests Ballistic Missile</a> (12.11.08. nti) <br /><br /><a href="http://gsn.nti.org/gsn/ts_20081104_7074.php">North Korea Developing Missile Site, South Says</a> (12.11.08. nti)<br /><br />Obama would do well to listen to the Pentagons <a href="http://www.defenselink.mil/dbb/"> Defense Business Board</a> report (10.11.08), which contends that the nation's recent financial crisis makes it imperative that the Pentagon and Congress slash some of the nation's <a href="http://www.truthout.org/111008E"> most costly and troubled weapons</a> to ensure they can finance the military's most pressing priorities. The report says that Raytheon, Massachusetts' largest employer, is involved in numerous weapons programs from ships to <b> missile defenses</b> (see above contract) and satellites. <br /><br />UPDATE<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/8/worldupdates/2009-04-07T185526Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-389311-1&sec=Worldupdates"> Israel carries out missile test - Defence Ministry</a></b><br />07.04.09. the star / ICH. Israel carried out a test launch of its Arrow II interceptor missile on Tuesday, the Defence Ministry said, a system designed to defend against possible ballistic missile attacks by <u>Iran and Syria</u>.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK</em><br /><br />The url to <b>Index Research: US Israeli Missile Defense Cooperation</b> is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/index-research-us-israel-missile.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/index-research-us-israel-missile.html</a><br />The shorter url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/687h3a">http://tinyurl.com/687h3a</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br />REFERENCES<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html"> Who Is The President Elect - Obama or AIPAC?</a> (10.11.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/us-nato-missile-shield-programme-index.html"> US-NATO 'Missile Shield' Programme: Index Timeline Part II </a> (continuously updated)<br /><br />UPDATES: SEE ABOVE INDEX TIMELINE, AND FOLLOWING:<br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/11/13-2">Obama's Chance to End the Fantasy That Is Star Wars</a></b><br />13.11.08. Johann Hari, Independent / Common Dreams. This is the tale of how a man with Alzheimer's Disease came up with a physically impossible fantasy based on a B-movie he once starred in and how the US spent $160bn trying to make it come true. These billions succeeded only in making some defence companies very rich, and making Russia point its nukes at Poland and the UK once more. And if Obama doesn't decide to close this long-running farce now, it will make one more contribution to world history: the number of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the world will dramatically increase. [ODDS OBAMA will not "Close this long-running farce!] <br /><br />YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED: <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/11/the_coming_middle_east_missile.asp">The Coming Middle East Missile War</a></b><br />19.11.08. Weekly Standard. Russia's plan for the new Iskander theater ballistic missile doesn't stop with their proposed Kaliningrad deployment. Aviation Week reports that once domestic requirements are met, Russia may export the weapon to Syria, India, and the UAE -- to start. Algeria, Belarus, Kuwait, and Vietnam have also expressed interest in the SCUD replacement, though Russia claims to be working on an "Echo" variant of the rocket for export that reduces the Iskander's range from 400km to appx. 280km. / What is interesting is the potential for another East v. West technological showdown in the Israeli-Syria theater. Israel is currently deploying a robust rocket and missile shield that is designed to knock out everything from short range Hezbollah rocket attacks all the way up to an Iranian Shahab-III ballistic missile laydown. That shield will include top-of-the-line American missile defense systems such as the Patriot PAC-3, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), and a highly-sensitive new x-band radar, as well as Israeli weapon systems like David's Sling and Iron Dome. ... / If nothing else, Ivan's <u>callous proliferation</u> of these heavy shooters should be enough to cast doubt on any existing plan to cut missile defense from the budget. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">WHO, pray, STARTED the "callous proliferation?" </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.unnindia.com/english/story.php?Id=4476">Israel''s missile shield will operate in 2010</a></b><br />10.04.09. unnindia. The Israeli missile shield set up to intercept missiles fired from Gaza, its called Iron Dome, is to start operation in the summer of 2010 and cover the parameters of Gaza Strip, Israeli defence sources informed today.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61999">U.S. troops take part in ISRAEL X-Band radar test</a></b><br />13.04.09. Stars and Stripes. U.S. troops took part in a missile defense exercise in Israel last week that <u>for the first time incorporated a U.S.-owned radar system deployed to the country in October</u>. [Just the ticket to keep the Muslims happy? </span>] About 100 Europe-based troops continue to operate the X-Band radar, which is intended to give Israel early warning in the event of a missile launch from Iran.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1239633076339">Israel, US to hold largest-ever joint missile defense drill</a></b><br />14.04.09. Jerusalem Post. In the face of Iran's continued pursuit of nuclear capability, Israel and the United States will hold an unprecedented and massive exercise later this year to jointly test three different ballistic missile defense systems, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The exercise, called Juniper Cobra, will be held in Israel and will include the newly developed Arrow 2, as well as America's THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) and the ship-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.defpro.com/daily/details/290/">Joint missile defence exercise “Juniper Cobra” to be held soon</a></b><br />15.03.09. def pro. Israel and the United States will hold their largest-ever joint missile defence drills later this year, testing three anti-ballistic missile systems, The Jerusalem Post reported yesterday. The “Juniper Cobra” exercise will be held for the fifth time, however this year’s drill is likely to be the most complex yet and will for the first time include the launch of interceptors.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1086938.html">U.S. to continue funding Israel anti-missile system</a></b><br />21.05.09. Haaretz / ICH. Israeli defense officials have recently been concerned that cuts in the U.S. defense budget, along with Pentagon unwillingness to fund a project that does not employ American workers, could harm the future of the Arrow.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />TAGS<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Politics" rel="tag">Politics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Obama" rel="tag">Obama</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/AIPAC" rel="tag">AIPAC</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Israel" rel="tag">Israel</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/NATO" rel="tag">NATO</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Missile+Shield" rel="tag">Missile Shield</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/U.S." rel="tag">U.S.</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Russia" rel="tag">Russia</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/IRAN" rel="tag">IRAN</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-5042250628186810732008-11-10T09:23:00.090+00:002009-07-20T05:15:16.131+01:00Who Is The President Elect - Obama or AIPAC?<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html&title= Who+Is+The+President+Elect+-+Obama+or+AIPAC&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html&title=Who+Is+The+President+Elect+-+Obama+or+AIPAC&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=504225062818681073" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=504225062818681073" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />Updated 19 July 2009<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://floortwo.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/obama-aipac.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 248px; height: 185px;" src="http://floortwo.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/obama-aipac.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I know that when I visit AIPAC I am among friends. <a href="http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.aipac.org/images/newsphotos/DennisRossPC08-med.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.aipac.org/about_AIPAC/Learn_About_AIPAC/2841.asp&h=102&w=150&sz=20&hl=en&start=4&usg=__vGVMAG6jDH4fYt8BaBgCyYt0mzE=&tbnid=F2PHmdzDcX18RM:&tbnh=65&tbnw=96&prev=/images%3Fq%3DDenis%2BRoss%2BAIPAC%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG">Barack Obama</a>.<br /><br />"Color does not matter when you are in the service of White racist leadership." <a href="http://www.grandestrategy.com/2008/11/obama-first-gift-to-jewish-lobby-new.html"> Jafar Syed </a>. <br /><br />It is important that President Obama hear well-reasoned, fact-based viewpoints which differ from main-line views. There has been no progress under Bush on so many issues because he disliked discussion and dissent. There will be no progress on Israel/Palestine, for example, if no-one outside of the umbra of AIPAC advises Obama. <a href="http://www.tnr.com/talkback.html?id=d9c611ee-9ed5-40d9-8352-bd23acd600bf">Peter Beaumont</a>. <br /><br /><b><br />1. <a href="#1000">Rahm Emanuel</a><br />2. <a href="#2000">Dennis Ross</a><br />3. <a href="#3000">Meanwhile, No Change</a><br />4. <a href="#4000">Updates</b></a> (Summers, Clinton, VP Biden, Pelosi, C. Freeman)<br />5. <a href="#5000">References</a><br /><br />Too much hope, expectations that are too high, are both pathological and produce their shadow pathology - disappointment. We saw this earlier after the congressional elections; we are now seeing it again. <br /><br /><br /><a id="1000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>1. RAHM EMANUEL</b><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/25878/thumbs/s-OBAMA-AND-RAHM-large.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 260px; height: 190px;" src="http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gen/25878/thumbs/s-OBAMA-AND-RAHM-large.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_M._Emanuel"> Benjamin M. Emanuel</a>, (Wikipedia)<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irgun"> Irgun </a>(Wikipedia)<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm_Emanuel"> Rahm Emanuel</a> (Wikipedia)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8091986/the_enforcer">The Enforcer</a></b><br />20.10.08. J. Green, Rolling Stone. Friends and enemies agree that the key to Emanuel's success is his legendary intensity. There's the story about the time he sent a rotting fish to a pollster who had angered him. There's the story about how his right middle finger was blown off by a Syrian tank when he was in the Israeli army. And there's the story of how, the night after Clinton was elected, Emanuel was so angry at the president's enemies that he stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign, grabbed a steak knife and began rattling off a list of betrayers, shouting "Dead! . . . Dead! . . . Dead!" and plunging the knife into the table after every name. "When he was done, the table looked like a lunar landscape," one campaign veteran recalls. "It was like something out of The Godfather. But that's Rahm for you."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://counterpunch.org/cockburn11072008.html">Hail to the Chief of Staff</a></b><br />7-9.11.08. Patrick Cockburn, Counterpunch. The first trumpet blast of change ushers in Rahm Emanuel as Obamas chief of staff and gate keeper. This is the man who arranges his schedule, staffs out the agenda, includes, excludes. Its certainly as sinister an appointment as, say, Carters installation of arch cold-warrior Zbigniev Brzezinski as his National Security Advisor at the dawn of his change is here administration in 1977.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://bodyontheline.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/rahm-israel-emanuel-north-american-mossad/">rahm israel emanuel & north american mossad</a></b><br />07.11.08. bodyonthe line. The Wayne Madsen Report. Obama faced with security problem at outset of transition process. WMR has learned from informed U.S. intelligence sources that prospective Barack Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has an active FBI counter-intelligence file maintained on him. Emanuels rise to the Chief of Staff position may pose a significant security problem for President-elect Obama if the FBI insists on conducting the full background security investigation normally required for senior White House officials. <b>Questions about Emanuels links to the Israeli intelligence service, the Mossad, were allegedly so great that President Bill Clinton was forced to dismiss Emanuel from the White House staff in 1998.</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13728">Forget the Honeymoon</a></b><br />07.11.08. Justin Raimondo, anti-war. When the House Democratic majority passed a military appropriations bill slated for Iraq, a clause that would have prohibited an attack on Iran without a vote in Congress was deleted at the instigation of Emanuel and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. [Both Pelosi and Emanuel have the nickname, Pitbull} More on JANE HARMON (ambition is matched only by her recklessness) - and AIPAC. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-silverstein/does-emanuel-appointment_b_142312.html">Does Emanuel Appointment Signal Obama Pro-Israel Tilt?</a></b><br />08.11.08. Richard Silverstein, Huff Post. There seems to be a semi-conspiratorial meme developing in the left blogosphere that Rahm Emanuel's appointment as Obama chief of staff (along with Dennis Ross' potential role at State possibly dealing with Iran or Israel-Palestine negotiations) involves a sort of "pro-Israel fix" in which Aipac guarantees itself both access and an administration fully supportive of Israeli interests. I don't buy it.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://uncapitalist.com/blog/?itemid=1768">Rahm Emanuel: Chief of Staff, All-Around Thug</a></b><br />08.11.08. Dark Wraith, uncaptitalist. President-elect Obama promised during his campaign for the presidency to be a consensus-builder; upon winning the election, he said during his victory speech on the night of November 4, "I will listen to you, especially when we disagree." These words appear to ring hollow now that he has put between him and those who would address him a gatekeeper like Rahm Emanuel, who has no tolerance for disagreement and who has crafted a well-earned reputation for intolerance with troubling tendencies for violent expression of his desire to get his own way. Indeed, Rahm Emanuel has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is "from good Irgun stock."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10857">The Promised Land? Obama, Emanuel and Israel</a></b><br />08.11.08. John V. Whitbeck, Counterpunch / global research. That was always likely. Obama repeatedly pledged unconditional allegiance to Israel during his campaign, most memorably in an address to the AIPAC national convention which Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery characterized as "a speech that broke all records for obsequiousness and fawning", and America's electing a black president has always been more easily imagined than any American president's declaring his country's independence from Israeli domination. / The profound loathing and hatred of the Muslim world toward the United States, which has always had its roots for America's unconditional support for the injustices inflicted and still being inflicted on the Palestinians, can fairly be considered the core of the primary foreign policy and "national security" problems confronting the United States in recent years. Why would Obama, a man of unquested brilliance, have chosen to send such a contemptuous message to the Muslim world with his first major appointment? Why would he wish to disabuse the Muslim world of its hopes (however modest) and slap it across the face at the ealiest opportunity?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21177.htm">Conned Again</a></b><br />09.11.08. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. Indeed, Obamas selection of Rahm Israel Emanuel as White House chief of staff is a signal that change ended with Obamas election. Rahm Israel Emanuel is a supporter of Bushs invasion of Iraq. Emanuel rose to prominence in the Democratic Party as a result of his fundraising connections to AIPAC. / My despondent friends in the Israeli peace movement ask, What is this man doing in Obamas administration? .. / Obamas advisers are drawn from the same gang of Washington thugs and Wall Street banksters. .. / DENNIS ROSS has long associations with the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. .. Ross is chairman of a new Jerusalem-based think tank, the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, funded and founded by the Jewish Agency. .. Clearly, this is not a group of advisors that is going to halt Americas wars against Israels enemies or force the Israeli government to accept the necessary conditions for a real peace in the Middle East. <b> If Obama were to reach outside the usual crowd, anyone suspected of being a bringer of change could not get confirmed by the Senate. Powerful interest groups--AIPAC, the military-security complex, Wall Street--use their political influence to block unacceptable appointments</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://mideast.blogs.time.com/2008/11/09/obama-mideast-watch-rahm-emanuel/">Obama Mideast Watch: Rahm Emanuel</a></b><br />09.11.08. Scott MacLeod, Time. After hearing of Emanuel's appointment, the paper headlined its next editorial "Don't pin much hope on Obama." Arab expectations, the paper [Arab News] warned, "are likely to be dashed, generating a great deal of pain and resentment...The new team may turn out to be as pro-Israeli as the one it is replacing." / Arab disappointment aside, there's enough in Emanuel's background to raise a fair question of whether the key appointment of such a demonstratively pro-Israel figure is going to help or hurt the prospects for Obama's avowed plans to play an effective role in brokering Middle East peace.<br /><br />VIDEO INTERVIEW: <a href="http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=2759"> Obama and Emanuel </a> (with Robert Parry)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Columns/17-Nov-2008/Lessons-that-should-be-learned">Lessons that should be learned</a></b><br />17.11.08. Dr. James Zogby. Defends Emanuel. Now read rebuttal to Zogby article <a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/kanazi181108.htm"> here </a>. <br /><br /><em> Is Rahm Emanuel the New Cheney?</em><br /><br /><br /><a id="2000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 2. DENNIS ROSS</b></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.aipac.org/images/newsphotos/DennisRossPC08-med.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 102px;" src="http://www.aipac.org/images/newsphotos/DennisRossPC08-med.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://antiwar.com/orig/giraldi.php?articleid=13712">Obama's Neocon in Residence</a></b><br />04.11.08. Philip Giraldi, anti-war. The grip that the Israeli lobby has over both political parties means that any real shift in U.S. Middle Eastern policy is unlikely, whoever is elected president today. Discussion on Fox News commentator and WINEPs Ross. Ross reportedly has been helping the Obama campaign formulate positions that AIPAC would be comfortable with.<br /><br />"<em>The hawkish Hillary Clintons naming of veteran Israel supporter Dennis Ross as her special adviser on Iran and the Gulf suggest she is more interested in building future domestic political support than securing balanced advice</em>." <a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22176.htm"> Eric Margolis</a>, <u>Here We Go Again With the Iranian Nuclear Scare</u> [09.03.09]<br /><br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 3. MEANWHILE: NO CHANGE</b></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/11/09/obama-camp-to-us-curb-your-enthusiasm/">Obama Camp to US: Curb Your Enthusiasm</a></b><br />09.11.08. anti-war. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/11/09/obama-stifles-hope-of-change-on-iran-relations/">Obama Stifles Hope of Change on Iran Relations</a></b><br />09.11.08. anti-war <br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/11/09/pakistans-protests-against-us-strikes-fall-on-deaf-ears/">Pakistans Protests Against US Strikes Fall on Deaf Ears</a></b><br />09.11.08. anti-war <br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/christison03052009.html">U.S. Military Aid to <br />Israel</a></b><br />06.03.09. Kathleen and Bill Christison, Counterpunch / ICH. U.S. military aid to Israel is doled out in annual increments of billions of dollars but remains virtually unchallenged while other fiscal outlays are drastically cut.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=52461&s2=09">Obama and Israel's Military: Still Arm-in-Arm</a></b><br />08.03.09. Stephen Zunes, z mag / uruknet. ...Currently, Obama is on record supporting sending up to $30 billion in unconditional military aid to Israel over the next 10 years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1070318.html">U.S. official: Obama won't cut military aid to Israel</a></b><br />11.03.09. Haaretz. U.S. President Barack Obama will not cut the billions of dollars in military aid promised to Israel, a senior U.S. administration official said Wednesday. / The $30 billion in aid promised to Israel over the next decade will not be harmed by the world financial crisis, the official told Israel Radio. He spoke on condition of anonymity.<br /><br /><em> US-Israel manufacture consent for war in Iran BUT </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=190736">U.S. spills the beans on Israel nukes</a></b><br />09.03.09. tehran times. A document approved for publication in late 2008 by the U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) has termed Israel “a nuclear power” on a par with Russia, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea, Israeli daily Ha'aretz reported Sunday. / JFCOM is one of ten combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense, the only command focused on the transformation of U.S. military capabilities.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/will-israel-play-proxy-in-iran.html"> Will Israel Play Proxy in Iran? </a> (updated 10.03.09)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/iran-no-change-for-obama.html"> Iran: No Change in Obama's Diplomacy?</a> (updated 09.03.09)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/obamas-rhetoric-damning-evidence-on.html"> Obama's Rhetoric vs. Damning Evidence on Guantanamo, Rendition, Torture</a> (updated 10.03.09) <br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>4. UPDATES </b></div><br />LAWRENCE SUMMERS<br /><br />LAWRENCE SUMMERS: He made a financial mess of Russia; but the US is <em>already</em> in a financial mess. For mess in Russia, see <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shock-Doctrine-Rise-Disaster-Capitalism/dp/0312427999/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226492106&sr=1-1">Naomi Klein, The Shock Doctrine</a>. Chapters 11) Bonfire of a Young Democracy: Russia Chooses "The Pinochet Option"' 12) The Capitalist ID: Russia ad the New Era of the Boor Market; and 21) Losing the Peace Initiative, Israel as Warning. <br /><br /><a href="http://usembassy-israel.org.il/publish/peace/archives/2000/may/me0522a.html"> TEXT: TREASURY SECRETARY SUMMERS' REMARKS AT AIPAC CONFERENCE</a> (22.05.00) <br /><br /><a href="http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2008/10/i-love-john-mearsheimer-hes-tough-he-could-give-a-s--t-that-he-gets-disinvited-from-the-chicago-council-on-global-affairs-a.html"> Meersheimer, Walt and Summers</a>. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/106553/?page=entire">Keep Larry Summers as Far as Possible from the U.S. Treasury</a></b><br />12.11.08. Mark Ames, The Nation / alternet. In light of all of the corruption and cronyism that have marked the career of Lawrence Summers, why is Obama considering him for treasury secretary?<br /><br />HILLARY CLINTON<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://baltimorejewish.com/wp-content/uploads/hillary-at-aipac.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 306px; height: 320px;" src="http://baltimorejewish.com/wp-content/uploads/hillary-at-aipac.png" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://baltimorejewish.com/wp-content/uploads/hillary-at-aipac.png"><br />Hillary Clinton</a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/hillary_rodham_clinton_birthda.html">Hillary Rodham Clinton birthday Sunday; in Chicago for AIPAC speech</a></b><br />26.10.08. suntimes. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/17/hillary-clinton-secretary-of-state">Hillary Clinton to accept Obama's offer of secretary of state job</a></b><br />17.11.08. Ewen MacAskill, Guardian. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21264.htm">The Irresponsibility of Appointing Hillary Clinton Secretary of State</a></b><br />18.11.08. Bill and Kathleen Christison, Counterpunch / ICH. In 2005 Hillary Clinton stood in Palestine and praised the apartheid wall that the government of Israel was building with large amounts of U.S. aid in furtherance of the Zionist goal of destroying one of the world's peoples -- the Palestinians. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/22/AR2008112201999.html">Some in Arab World Wary of Clinton</a></b><br />23.11.08. Washington Post. There is possibly no person President-elect Barack Obama considered for secretary of state who is more reliably pro-Israel than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), the woman to whom he appears likely to give the job sometime after Thanksgiving.<br /><br />VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://webdesignsphere.com/biden.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 248px; height: 269px;" src="http://webdesignsphere.com/biden.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3586542,00.html">VP Biden: <b>"I am a Zionist"</b></a></div><br /><br /><em> You have been warned </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/107666/?page=entire">This is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House</b></a><br />10.11.08. Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet. A who's who guide to the people poised to shape Obama's foreign policy.<br /><br />THE PELOSI-AIPAC CONNECTION IS NOT HELPFUL, EITHER<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.rense.com/general74/pelosi4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 333px; height: 223px;" src="http://www.rense.com/general74/pelosi4.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rense.com/general74/pelosi4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.rense.com/general74/isis.htm&usg=__SK2AXZVpSn5r18j1RIRlUslWy5g=&h=223&w=333&sz=17&hl=en&start=1&sig2=9w_14RsndossoTXYwEtqqw&tbnid=claaZu2bwFHE-M:&tbnh=80&tbnw=119&ei=gVAiSfPGLYaO0QSk6cDbCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3DPelosi%2BAIPAC%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG">PHOTO rense.com</a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1037253.html">The Internet intifada</a></b> <br />14.11.08. B. Hartman, Haaretz. This is the realm of the "virtual intifada," digital combat played out in cyberspace by intensely partisan pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli activists-cum-hackers, or in the vernacular of the Information Age, "hacktivists." One incarnation of this online political activism has hitched its battlewagon to the stars of social networking, taking advantage of the runaway popularity of sites like Facebook and MySpace. ... / At the forefront of pro-Israel hacktivists are the shock troops organized as the Jewish Internet Defense Force, a group best known for its activities against anti-Israel groups on Facebook. ... / JIDF members also edit content on Wikipedia entries and monitor YouTube and Google Earth. ... / Early on, anti-Israel hackers landed blows against the Web sites of the Foreign Ministry, the Israel Defense Forces and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group. AIPAC's site was compromised in November 2000 by a Pakistani hacker who published the personal details and credit card numbers of hundreds of AIPAC supporters. / Pro-Israel hackers returned fire, striking a number of anti-Israel sites, including two sites run by Hezbollah, whose servers crashed after they were overloaded by millions of hits. Sites run by Hamas met a similar fate. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jstreet.org/">J Street</a></b> <br />J Street is the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement. We seek to change the direction of American policy in the Middle East and to broaden the public and policy debate in the U.S. about the Middle East. We support strong American leadership to end the Arab-Israeli and Palestinian-Israeli conflicts peacefully and diplomatically.<br /><br /><em> "if you are not with us ... "</em><br /><br /><u> Charles Freeman</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22192.htm">The Tactics Of the Israel Lobby</a></b> <br />11.03.09. Charles Freeman, WSJ / ICH. I have concluded that the barrage of libelous distortions of my record would not cease upon my entry into office. The effort to smear me and to destroy my credibility would instead continue. I do not believe the National Intelligence Council could function effectively while its chair was under constant attack by unscrupulous people with a passionate attachment to the views of a political faction in a foreign country. I agreed to chair the NIC to strengthen it and protect it against politicization, not to introduce it to efforts by a special interest group to assert control over it through a protracted political campaign. ... I am saddened by what the controversy and the manner in which the public vitriol of those who devoted themselves to sustaining it have revealed about the state of our civil society. It is apparent that we Americans cannot any longer conduct a serious public discussion or exercise independent judgment about matters of great importance to our country as well as to our allies and friends. ... <br /><br />The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East. The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth. The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis, and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those that it favors. ... <br /><br />There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government – in this case, the government of Israel. I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel. It is not permitted for anyone in the United States to say so. This is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/200931113340555177.html">Obama pick quits over Israel lobby</a></b><br />11.03.09. al jazeera. The candidate for a leading US intelligence post has withdrawn his nomination after accusing the country's Israel lobby of plumbing "the depths of dishonour and indecency" to assassinate his character. Charles "Chas" Freeman, a former US ambassador who is now president of the Middle East Policy Council think-tank, had initially agreed to chair the US National Intelligence Council that produces assessments of security issues. But on Tuesday he withdrew his nomination following what he called a "barrage of libellous distortions" of his record by the Israel lobby in the US. <br /><br /><b><a href="http//www.antiwar.com/ips/lubanlobe.php?articleid=14386">Freeman Withdrawal Marks Victory for Israel Lobby</a></b><br />11.03.09. Daniel Luban and Jim Lobe, anti-war. mb. Chas Freeman withdrew from consideration for a top intelligence post in the Obama administration on Tuesday, following a vitriolic battle that pitted Republican lawmakers and pro-Israel hardliners opposed to his appointment against liberals and members of the intelligence and diplomatic communities who had come to his defense. Freeman's withdrawal came as a surprise to many in Washington, particularly since it came only hours after Adm. Dennis Blair, the administration's director of national intelligence (DNI) who made the appointment, issued a strong defense of Freeman during his testimony before the U.S. Senate.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/031109a.html">Timidity Derails Obama Intel Choice</a></b><br />11.03.09. Ray McGovern, consortium. On Tuesday morning, Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis Blair, employed the indicative mood in describing the high value that Chas Freeman, his appointee to head the National Intelligence Council (NIC), will bring to the job — “his long experience and inventive mind,” for example. / By five o’clock that afternoon, Freeman announced that he had asked that his selection “not proceed.”/ Borrowing from George Washington’s Farewell Address the pointed warning against developing a “passionate attachment” to the strategic goals of another nation, Freeman made it clear that he was withdrawing his “previous acceptance” of Blair’s invitation to chair the NIC because of the character assassination of him orchestrated by <u>the Israel Lobby</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/mar/11/chas-freeman-israel-lobby-obama">The Israel lobby's Lexington and Concord</a></b><br />11.03.09. Richard Silverstein, Guardian. Chas Freeman's resignation is the first skirmish in what will be a long war between the Obama administration and the Israel lobby. / This is a very sad day for anyone who really wishes for Israeli-Palestinian peace and a vigorous American role in achieving it.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/washington/12lobby.html?nl=pol&emc=pola1">Israel Stance Was Undoing of Nominee for Intelligence Post</a></b><br />11.03.09. NY Times. Some of Mr. Freeman’s defenders say his views on Israel are extreme only when seen through the lens of American political life, and they asked whether it was possible to question American support for Israel without being either muzzled or marginalized. / “The reality of Washington is that <u>our political landscape finds it difficult to assimilate any criticism of any segment of the Israeli leadership</u>,” said Robert W. Jordan, who was ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2001 to 2003. . ,,, Five days after Mr. Rosen’s blog item appeared, Senator Schumer telephoned Rahm Emanuel [see above], the White House chief of staff, to ensure that the White House was aware of Mr. Freeman’s past comments about Israel. According to Senator Schumer, his staff then sent the White House copies of the statements.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/031209a.html">Israel Lobby Knocks Out Freeman</a></b><br />12.03.09. Melvin A. Goodman, Consortium / anti-war. The forced withdrawal of former U.S. Ambassador Charles “Chas” Freeman as chairman of the National Intelligence Council, which oversees the intelligence community’s assessment of threats to the United States, marks an important defeat for the Obama administration over how far it can go in pursuing Middle East peace. / Washington’s powerful neoconservative establishment led the successful assault against Freeman because of his past criticism of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, as former senior CIA analyst Melvin A. Goodman notes in this guest essay:<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=14394">Behind the Headlines</a></b><br />13.03.09. Justin Raimondo, anti-war. <em> Forced to withdraw, he took the Israel lobby down with him </em>. Charles "Chas" Freeman from a post as head of the National Intelligence Council is not, as is commonly averred, a victory for the Israel lobby. It is, instead, a Pyrrhic victory – that is, a victory so costly that it really amounts to a defeat for them. Sure, they managed to keep out a trenchant critic of their Israel-centric and grossly distorted view of a proper American foreign policy, and, yes, they managed to smear him and put others on notice that someone with his views is radioactive, as far as a high-level job in the foreign policy establishment is concerned. And yet – and yet …. They – the Lobby – have now been forced out in the open<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/417420/interview_with_charles_freeman?rel=hp_currently">Interview With Charles Freeman</a></b><br />13.03.09. R. Dreyfuss, Nation. <br /><br /><em> The Washington Post Has Supported AIPAC </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/03/the_real_chas_freeman.html?hpid=opinionsbox1">The Real Chas Freeman</a></b><br />11.03.09. C. Lane, Washington Post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/11/AR2009031103384.html">Blame the 'Lobby'</a></b><br />12.03.09. Washington Post. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Freeman- mud-slinging by AIPAC-supporting Washington Post</span>] The article mentions AIPAC's support of Nancy Pelosi [see above]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jta.org/news/article/2009/03/11/1003639/rosen-sues-aipac-for-defamation">Rosen sues AIPAC for defamation</a></b><br />11.03.09. JTA. Steve Rosen filed a civil action March 2 in District of Columbia Superior Court seeking $21 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, its officers at the time of his dismissal in 2005 and an outside spokesman hired to deal specifically with the case. / In his complaint, a copy of which was obtained by JTA, Rosen charges that "false and defamatory statements" made on AIPAC's behalf caused him to "suffer personal and professional humiliation, career damage, damage to his personal and professional reputation, mental and emotional distress, and loss of income and earnings and other financial losses." <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/03/washington-post-urges-dismissal-of-aipac-espionage-case-asks-for-counterargument-and-promptly-reject.html">'Washington Post' urges dismissal of AIPAC espionage case, asks for counter-argument, and promptly rejects same</a></b><br />14.03.09. phillip weiss. The other day the Washington Post editorial page -- ran an editorial urging the Justice Department to drop the "misguided" espionage case against former AIPAC staffers Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman. [read what happened <em> then</em>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/14/AR2009031401605_pf.html">Mideast Press Questions Obama</a></b><br />15.03.09. W. Pincus <em>Top Intelligence Pick's Pullout Blamed on 'Pro-Israel Hawks'</em>. A commentary in Abu Dhabi's the National, a newspaper owned by an investment fund controlled by the government, said Freeman's decision Tuesday to withdraw as chairman of the National Intelligence Council "threw the Obama administration into the heart of a long-running controversy over the alleged supremacy of pro-Israel hawks in determining U.S. foreign policy after having taken a cautious approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so far consistent with previous administrations."... / ... Meanwhile, Obama has not discussed the matter, and press secretary Robert Gibbs has repeatedly dodged questions about it. ... / When a reporter asked "for straight answers," Gibbs said, "I gave you as straight of one as I can get."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175046/robert_dreyfuss_the_freeman_affair">Is the Israeli Lobby Running Scared?</a></b><br />15.03.09. Robert Dreyfuss, Tomgram. Is the Israel lobby in Washington an all-powerful force? Or is it, perhaps, running scared? / Judging by the outcome of the Charles W. ("Chas") Freeman affair this week, it might seem as if the Israeli lobby is fearsome indeed. Seen more broadly, however, the controversy over Freeman could be the Israel lobby's Waterloo.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22241.htm">Israel’s American Chattel</a></b><br />18.03.09. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. The Obama administration, despite the Democrats’ decisive electoral victory in last November’s election, has demonstrated that the great unipower cannot appoint its own chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Charles Freeman, a distinguished and independent-minded American, former ambassador and former Assistant Secretary of Defense, found his appointment blocked by Steve Rosen, a former official of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) currently under indictment as an Israeli spy, and a handful of American Jewish neoconservatives closely identified with the right-wing government in Israel. / <b>How is the United States a superpower when it cannot appoint the official who oversees the National Intelligence Estimate without the approval of the Israeli right-wing government and its American agents? </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22240.htm">Of Patriots and Assassins</a></b><br />18.03.09. Pat Buchanan, CS / ICH. ... (Freeman's qualifications) ... At MEPC, however, Freeman committed a great crime. He published "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" by Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, which went onto the New York Times best-seller list — and put Freeman on AIPAC's enemies list. ... [Rosen's qualifications ... faces imminent federal criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act for transferring top-secret Pentagon documents to the Israeli Embassy.<br /><br />"The tactics of the Israel lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods and an utter disregard for the truth." <br /><br /><b><a href="http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_29871.shtml">Students hindering the Zionist meeting in NY arrested by U.S. Police</a></b><br />14.03.09. Kourosh Ziabari, Axis of Logic. At 6:30 PM on Thursday January 29, some 250 protestors from various nationalities and political belongings staged a rally before the hotel to blockade the party and hinder the entrance of AIPAC members into the lobby. 10 young activists and students who were the main organizers of the demo on behalf of the Break the Siege On Gaza Coalition's Student Committee were consequently attacked by the New York Federal Police and arrested for interrogation...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22278.htm">The Lobby Falters</a></b><br />22.03.09. John Mearsheimer, LRB / ICH. When pro-Israel forces clashed with a major political figure in the past, that person usually backed off. Jimmy Carter, who was smeared by the lobby after he published <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Palestine-Peace-Apartheid-Jimmy-Carter/dp/B001SARCHA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237875275&sr=1-1"> Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid </a><br />, was the first prominent American to stand his ground and fight back. <br /> <br />VIDEOS: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sGyG6z5PWM">Empire - Israel and the US - 25 Feb 09 - Part 1</a>; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1NmEJ_epts"> Part 2 </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/special-preview---br--they-re-doing-the-j-street-jive-15103">They’re Doing the J Street Jive</a></b><br />April 2009. Noah Pollak, Commentary. In December 2008, two weeks before Hamas abandoned the six-month lull in its rocket war against Israel, the founder and executive director of the new lobbying group J Street [Jeremy Ben-Ami] delivered a message via <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkhdr-wV3Ns"> YouTube </a><br />to potential supporters. “<em>I don’t find it American to not allow people to express alternative opinions, and I certainly don’t find it to be pro-Israel. . . . I’ve decided that I had to speak out</em>.” The group Ben-Ami founded seeks to be the vehicle for this protest. It has sought to challenge the ascendancy of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the hub of the legendary “Israel Lobby” in Washington that critics of strong American support for Israel see as a key obstacle to their goal of Middle East peace.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jta.org/news/article/2009/03/27/1004048/aipac-head-testifies-on-israel-aid">AIPAC head testifies on Israel aid </a></b><br />27.03.09. JTA. Howard Kohr, executive director of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, told the House Appropriations Foreign Operations subcommittee that "American assistance to Israel serves vital U.S. national security interests and advances critical U.S. foreign policy goals."He requested that Israel receive <b>$2.775 billion in military aid</b> in fiscal year 2010, as called for in the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Israel that allocates $30 billion in aid for the Jewish state over 10 years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22327.htm">Please Tell Me, Where is Israel Headed?</a></b><br />31.03.09. John J. Mearsheimer, FP / ICH. The Israel lobby, will adamantly defend Israel's right to do whatever it wants in the Occupied Territories and make it impossible for the president to put significant pressure on Israel. Netanyahu, like all Israeli leaders, understands this basic fact of life. <br /><br /><br />APRIL 2009<br /><br /><u> Freeman </u> (cont.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/goekler04032009.html">Was Gaza Israel's Waterloo?</a></b><br />3-5 April 2009. John Goekler, Counterpunch. <em> Is the Power of AIPAC on the Decline?</em>The usual suspects who savage anyone questioning the AIPAC / Neo-Con party line that America and Israel are Siamese twins conjoined by identical interests delivered the attacks. They were coordinated by former AIPAC official Steve Rosen (currently on trial for allegedly passing top secret US documents to Israel) and featured congressional obeisance by members as senior as senators Joseph Lieberman and Charles Schumer. / The counterintuitiveness is stunning. The message that America’s intelligence officers should follow any party line, rather than operate analytically and objectively, is a red flag to thoughtful Americans of all political persuasions. It is particularly foolish mere weeks after the departure of an administration that twisted intelligence to “slam dunk” the US into Iraq. / The subtext is even more important – AIPAC, Lieberman and Schumer have tacitly acknowledged that America’s strategic and security interests are secondary to Israel’s. For this reason, future historians will likely see the Freeman affair as the apex of a policy arc in which America moved toward Israel, and is now beginning to head away. / The subtext … ) cont. reading … <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wrmea.com/archives/April_2009/0904066.html">By Their Enemies You Shall Know Them</a></b><br />April 2009. WRMEA. Former U.S. ambassader to Saudi Arabia Chas Freeman, most recently president of the respected Middle East Policy Council, has been named to head the National Intelligence Council. Freeman’s appointment was first criticized by accused spy for Israel Steve Rosen, formerly a top AIPAC honcho, now a blogger with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pipes"> Daniel Pipes </a>’ Middle East Policy Forum Web site. <br /><br /><em>Buckling under to “aid” for Israel</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jta.org/news/article/2009/04/03/1004226/senate-restores-foreign-aid-cuts">Senate restores foreign aid cuts</a></b><br />03.04.,09. JTA. The U.S. Senate restored $4 billion in cuts to the Obama administration's foreign assistance proposals. / The American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbied hard for the amendment crafted by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) that restored the money to the $53.8 billion proposed by the White House; the cuts had been inserted while the budget cleared the requisite Senate committees.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/">Paging Stephen Walt: Obama's Mind Captured by AIPAC</a></b><br />07.04.09. Jeffrey Goldberg, Atlantic. President Obama, speaking in France, had this to say about al-Qaeda's motivations:<br /><br /> Al Qaeda is still bent on carrying out terrorist activity. It is-- al Qaeda is still bent on carrying out terrorist activity. It is, you know, don't fool yourselves because some people say, well, you know, if we changed our policies with respect to Israeli/Palestinian conflict or if we were more respectful towards the Muslim world, suddenly, these organizations would stop threatening us.<br /><br /> That's just not the case. It is true that we have to change our behavior in showing the Muslim world greater respect and changing our language and changing our tone. It is true that we have to work very hard for Israeli/Palestinian peace.<br /><br /> <b>But</b> what is also true is that these organizations are willing to kill innocent people because of a twisted distorted ideology and we, as democracies and as people who value human life, can't allow those organizations to operate.<br /><br /><br /><u>Summers</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090407_robert_scheer_april_8_column/">Living Large and in Charge</a></b><br />07.04.09. Robert Sheer, Truthdig. Not surprisingly, Lawrence Summers is convinced that he deserved every penny of the <b>$8 million</b> that Wall Street firms paid him last year. And why shouldn't he be cut in on the loot from the loopholes in the toxic derivatives market that he pushed into law when he was Bill Clinton's treasury secretary? No one has been more persistently effective in paving the way for the financial swindles that enriched the titans of finance while impoverishing the rest of the world than the man who is now the top economic adviser to President Obama.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/136008/obama%27s_top_economic_adviser_is_greedy_and_highly_compromised/">Obama's Top Economic Adviser Is Greedy and Highly Compromised</a></b><br />10.04.09. Matt Taibbi, True/Slant/ alternet. <em>Among the payoffs Larry Summers received: $45K from Merrill Lynch days before he joined Obama's team. And it gets worse</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/16/AR2009041603244.html">Why We Should Banish Larry Summers From Public Life</a></b><br />19.04.09. Naomi Klein, Wash Post. The criticisms of President Obama's chief economic adviser are well known. He's too close to Wall Street. And he's a frightful bully, of both people and countries. Still, we're told we shouldn't care about such minor infractions. Why? Because Summers is brilliant, and the world needs his big brain. / And this brings us to a central and often overlooked cause of the global financial crisis: Brain Bubbles. This is the process wherein the intelligence of an inarguably intelligent person is inflated and valued beyond all reason, creating a dangerous accumulation of unhedged risk. Larry Summers is the biggest Brain Bubble we've got.<br /><br /><u> Ross</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22397.htm">Dennis Ross's Iran Plan</a></b><br />12.04.09. Robert Dreyfuss, The Nation / ICH. Diplomats and Middle East watchers hoping Ross would be sidelined are wrong. He is building an empire at the State Department: hiring staff and, with his legendary flair for bureaucratic wrangling, cementing liaisons with a wide range of US officials. The Iran portfolio is his, says an insider. <br /><br /><u> Rahm Emanuel</u><br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2009/04/19/rahm-emanuel-there-is-no-law/"> Rahm Emanuel: There is no law</a><br /><br /><u> Hillary Clinton </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/04/2009422162624284627.html">US policy on Hamas 'unchanged'</a></b><br />22.04.09. al jazeera. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has reiterated the US position that it will not deal with or fund a Palestinian government that includes Hamas until certain conditions are met.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />UK infected by AIPAC<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8000922.stm">BBC Middle East editor criticised</a></b><br />15.04.09. BBC. The body which oversees the BBC on behalf [sic}of its audiences has criticised an article by the BBC's Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22438.htm">How Can You Trust The Cowardly BBC?</a></b><br />16.04.09. Robert Fisk, Independent. The BBC Trust is now a mouthpiece for the Israeli lobby which abused Bowen. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22486.htm">It is time AIPAC register as a foreign lobbyist</a></b><br />24.04.09. Marcy Winograd, Huff Post. On Harman's Wiretap Woes and the AIPAC Cabal.<br /><br />MAY 2009<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=92854§ionid=3510203">AIPAC pushing for new Iran sanctions bill?</a></b><br />02.05.09. presstv.ir. Influential Israeli lobby group in the US, AIPAC is to push for a newly crafted resolution designed to choke off Iranian gas imports. "It's no coincidence that the bills, which are strongly backed by AIPAC, are "dropping" into Congress for consideration this week, having 6,000 conference-goers press for their passage next Tuesday is bound to give them a turbo boost," the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) said on Monday.<br /><br /><u> Biden </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jta.org/news/article/2009/05/02/1004854/biden-to-address-aipac">Biden to address AIPAC</a></b><br />02.05.09. JTA. – U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will close this year’s AIPAC policy conference. <br /><br /><a href="http://digg.com/politics/Transcript_V_P_Joe_Biden_Speech_at_AIPAC_Conference_May"> Transcript: V.P. Joe Biden Speech at AIPAC Conference - May </a><br />===<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/us/politics/05aipac.html?ref=politics">At Annual Meeting, Pro-Israel Group Reasserts Clout</a></b><br />04.05.09. NY Times. The formidable political strength of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the nation’s major pro-Israel lobby, has been on decidedly intentional display here in the last few days. … More than half the members of the House and Senate attended Monday night's dinner, which featured the group's "roll call" in which the lawmakers all rise. It is a conscious - and effective - effort to demonstrate the group's influence on Capitol Hill.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/06/us-israel-palestinians-middle-east">US pro-Israeli group attempts to stop shift in White House Middle East policy</a></b><br />05.05.09. Guardian. <em>Aipac urges Congress members to sign letter to Barack Obama calling for Israel to set pace of negotiations with Palestinians</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54031&s2=07">The New Discourse on anti-Semitism</a></b> <br />06.05.09. Shafiq Morton, uruknet. Those who criticize Israel or those who interrogate Zionism (the ism that gave birth to Israel) are often labeled "anti-Semitic" by the Zionist lobby. This lobby, a world-wide movement, is seen to be most influential in the United States where it vigorously defends the interests of Israel. To view Israel unsympathetically means vilification by this group: it avows political critique is something that threatens the existence of all Jews. Yet, ironically, some of the most ardent critics of Israel have been Jews – academics and political liberals who have not denigrated their Jewishness in any way because of their conscience...<br /><br /><u> J Street </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wire.antiwar.com/2009/05/24/a-look-at-pro-israel-lobbying-by-j-street-aipac/">A look at pro-Israel lobbying by J Street, AIPAC</a></b><br />25.05.09. AP. A comparison of the resources and techniques of 2 pro-Israel lobbying organizations<br />= = = <br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22726.htm">Who will Stand Up To America and Israel?</a></b><br />27.05.09. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. The military/security complex that rules America, together with the Israel Lobby and the financial banksters, needs a long list of dangerous enemies to keep the taxpayers' money flowing into its coffers.<br /><br />JUNE 2009<br /> <br /><u> Dennis Ross</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1093058.html">Why is Dennis Ross being ousted as Obama envoy to Iran?</a></b><br />15.06.09. Haaretz. Dennis Ross, who most recently served as a special State Department envoy to Iran, will abruptly be relieved of his duties, sources in Washington told Haaretz. / Washington insiders speculate that a number of reasons moved the administration to reassign Ross. One possibility is Iran's persistent refusal to accept Ross as a U.S. emissary given the diplomat's Jewish background as well as his purported pro-Israel leanings. Ross is known to maintain contacts with numerous senior officials in Israel's defense establishment and the Israeli government. / Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem surmised that another possibility for Ross' ouster is his just-released book, "Myths, Illusions, and Peace - Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East." / … Another possible reason for the reshuffle could be Ross' dissatisfaction with his present standing in the State Department.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1162375/More-quarters-Britons-want-jobless-immigrants-forced-leave-UK.html">U.S. foreign policy veteran Ross moves to White House</a></b><br />26.06.09. daily mail, uk. After only a few months as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's "Iran czar," Ross is moving to the White House, raising speculation about tensions within President Barack Obama's foreign policy team.<br /><br /><br /><u> Summers & Geithner </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061402443.html">A New Financial Foundation</a></b><br />15.06.09. Timothy Geithner and Lawrence Summers, Washington Post. In recent years, the pace of innovation in the financial sector has outstripped the pace of regulatory modernization, leaving entire markets and market participants largely unregulated.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090617_obamas_economic_misfits_finally_get_it/">Obama’s Economic Misfits Finally Get It</a></b><br />17.06.09. Robert Sheer, Truthdig. On Monday, two men with considerable responsibility for enabling the banking meltdown confronted the error of their ways. Not directly, of course, for accountability is hardly the mark of either Lawrence Summers, the top White House economic adviser, or Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Their careers have long been fueled by error. / … What they wrote this week in a joint Op-Ed article in The Washington Post is a condemnation of the Wall Street shenanigans they once abetted and celebrated. I hope their apparent sudden conversion to common sense indicates the seriousness of the banking regulation plan that President Obama will present to Congress today. / … According to Summers and Geithner, the Obama plan to be revealed today promises that all derivatives dealers will be “subject to supervision, and regulators will be empowered to enforce rules against manipulation and abuse.” / If such language is ever passed into law, I hope that Brooksley Born is in the gallery and gets the standing ovation she deserves. That’s the woman who, when she headed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, warned that the derivatives market needed to be regulated. Summers and his predecessor as treasury secretary, Robert Rubin, destroyed Born’s career because she dared to accurately predict today’s crisis.<br /><br />JULY 2009<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/abunimah160709.htm">Obama's Prizes For Israel Are Not "Pressure" </a></b><br />16.07.09. Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada/Countercurrents. President Barack Obama received 16 leaders of the most prominent pro-Israel organizations at the White House. The gathering was an effort to <u>assuage American Jewish concerns</u> about US pressure on Israel over a settlement freeze in the occupied West Bank. / But rather than using American leverage to require Israel to comply with international law, the Obama administration is actually offering it more rewards at the expense of Palestinians and Arab states.<br /><br /><u>Hillary Clinton</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23097.htm">Clinton Outlines Continuation of Bush Policies Under Obama at CFR</a></b><br />19.07.09. Jeremy R. Hammond, ICH. Setting aside the platitudes that comprised most of Clinton's speech and looking closely at her remarks that actually spoke meaningfully towards U.S. policy under the Obama, a picture emerges, one not of a change of course from Bush but rather of near perfect continuity between the two administrations. <br />http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23097.htm<br /><br /><u> AIPAC </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article23098.htm">How Israel Lobby Took Control Of US Foreign Policy</a></b><br />19.07.09. Jeff Gates, ICH. In the early 1960s, Senator William J. Fulbright fought to force the American Zionist Council to register as agents of a foreign government. The Council eluded registration by reorganizing as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC has since become what Fulbright most feared: a foreign agent dominating American foreign policy while disguised as a domestic lobby. <br /><br /><br /><a id="5000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>5. REFERENCES</b><br /></div><br /><a href="http://www.aipac.org/about_AIPAC/default.asp"> ABOUT AIPAC</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Israel_Public_Affairs_Committee"> American Israel Public Affairs Committee</a> (Wikipedia)<br /><br />See <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=AIPAC#Articles"> here</a> for Sourcewatch articles on AIPAC.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/pilger.php?articleid=2159">The Unmentionable Source of Terrorism</a></b><br />20.03.04. John Pilger, anti-war. Israel is the guard dog of America's plans for the Middle East. / Until recently, a group of Zionists ran their own intelligence service inside the Pentagon. This was known as the Office of Special Plans, and was overseen by <em>Douglas Feith</em>, an under-secretary of defence, extreme Zionist and opponent of any negotiated peace with the Palestinians.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0374177724.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 107px; height: 160px;" src="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0374177724.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Israel-Lobby-U-S-Foreign-Policy/dp/0374531501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226302223&sr=1-1">The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy </a> by John J. Mearsheimer & Stephen M. Walt, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, September 2008.<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/index-research-us-israel-missile.html">Index Research: US Israel Missile Defense Cooperation </a> (13.11.08) <br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/palestine-wake-up-america.html">Palestine: Wake up America</a><br /><br /><u> See all "No Change" articles</u><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/04/obamas-iraq-no-change.html"> Obama's Iraq: No Change </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/iran-no-change-for-obama.html"> Iran: No Change for Obama </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/01/israel-obamas-foreign-policy-no-change.html"> Israel: Obama's Foreign Policy - No Change </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/obamas-rhetoric-damning-evidence-on.html"> Obama's Rhetoric vs. Damning Evidence on Guantanamo, Rendition, Torture </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-our-seamless-president-elect.html"><br />Obama: Our Seamless President Elect </a><br />==<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK.</em><br /><br />The url to 'Who Is The President Elect - Obama or AIPAC?' is <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/11/who-is-president-elect-obama-or-aipac.html</a><br /><br />The shorter url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/59d5kv">http://tinyurl.com/59d5kv </a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />NB: <em> parts of original blog were trashed and this blog has thus been rearranged before republishing on 11 March 09</em>. <br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />TAGS:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Politics" rel="tag">Politics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Obama" rel="tag">Obama</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/AIPAC" rel="tag">AIPAC</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Israel" rel="tag">Israel</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Palestine" rel="tag">Palestine</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Rahm+Emanuel" rel="tag">Rahm Emanuel</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Jane+Harmon" rel="tag">Jane Harmon</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Dennis+Ross" rel="tag">Dennis Ross</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Hillaey+Clinton" rel="tag">Hillary Clinton</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Biden" rel="tag">Biden</a>,<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Charles+Freeman? rel=tag">Charles Freeman</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-6219219186625098312008-10-29T11:40:00.014+00:002008-11-17T16:56:25.140+00:00Index on Economics and Peril in Afghanistan, October 2008 Timeline<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-on-economics-and-peril-in.html&title=Index+on+Economics+and+Peril+in+Afghanistan,+October+2008+Timeline&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-on-economics-and-peril-in.html&title=Index+on+Economics+and+Peril+in+Afghanistan,+October+2008+Timeline&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=621921918662509831" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=621921918662509831" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><em>"A big thanks for your great essay. It is really splendid: one of the best pieces I ever read about afghanistan</em>." <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48363&s2=30">Paola at uruknet</a>. <br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><a id="1000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 1. Preface</b></div><br /><a onblur="try{parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.antiwar.com/docs3/budgets.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 451px; height: 300px;" src="http://www.antiwar.com/docs3/budgets.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Following <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html"> Afghanistan Murder and Security catastrophes </a> in September ‘08, we now have a global economic disaster. We also have forecasts of “doom” in Afghanistan.<br /><br />Global financial meltdown followed the <a href="http://www.kirotv.com/save-money/17596060/detail.html"> Bush Bailout </a> vote on 1 October 2008. The US financial collapse is related to the “industrial military complex”, and defense expenditures. Eight days after <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174992/the_global_war_on_terror_report_card">7% Bush </a> signed the Bailout, while global markets were collapsing, a headline announced: "Pentagon Wants <a href="http://www.truthout.org/101108Z"> $450 Billion Increase </a> Over Next Five Years." On / following 1 October '08, the US awarded, to date, AT LEAST $3.3 billion for military contracts for Afghanistan and Iraq. (see "contracts" below. <b>*</b> A proper assessment needs doing!) No, Mr. Bush and Co., for all your crocodile compassion, you failed to learn in Iraq, and now in Afghanistan, that human beings and community structure are more important than Propaganda, People- killing and Toys for the Boys.<br /><br />The day following the Bailout, “harsh conclusions” on the war in Afghanistan were made by the UK’s Ambassador to Kabul, <a href="http://www.truthout.org/100108R"> Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles </a>. On 4 October, the Times reported <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4887927.ece"> Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith</a> as saying that a military victory over the Taleban was “neither feasible nor supportable.” General John Craddock, NATO’s Supreme-Allied Commander, allegedly <a href="http://pakobserver.net/200810/28/Articles03.asp"> defended </a> Brig. Carleton-Smith’s viewpoint. <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/world/fitzgibbon-echoes-frustrations-over-afghanistan-war-20081007-4vtp.html"> Fitzgibbon </a>, the Australian Defense Minister, echoed his frustrations on 8 October. The French army chief <a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jd3DKrlYPLUzIwIfryRK7U8tAPYQ"> concurred </a> with Carlton-Smith. Canada’s <a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=b9507d68-41ab-4e64-85c2-711ebfb07c39"> Prime Minister </a> chimed in, depending on where he was electioneering. A further verdict came from a <a href="http://www.truthout.org/100908C"> US report</a> to be published <u> after the election</u>. The report represents “a harsh verdict on decision-making in the Bush administration, which in the months after the Sept. 11 2001 attacks made Afghanistan the central focus of a global campaign against terrorism.”<br /><br />Both<a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20971.htm"> Obama and McCain </a> agree to wage the <a href="http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/513548"> “Good War”</a> [sic] in Afghanistan; both want a <a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/54605.html"> bigger</a> force “to help thwart terrorism” It is disturbing, presuming that Obama wins the election, to hear him feel “honoured” by the support of war criminal, <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48109&s2=21"> Colin Powell</a>. It is even more disturbing to hear his reasoning for wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan: “The other thing that we have to focus on, though, is al Qaeda. They are now operating in 60 countries. We can't simply be focused on Iraq. We have to go to the <b> root cause”</b> and that is in <a href="http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/torture/index.asp">Afghanistan and Pakistan.”</a>. Erm. Bypassing <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery06092008.html"> AIPAC</a>, isn’t the “root cause” the Israeli wall and illegal “settlements” accompanied by Israeli <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48113&s2=21"> violence</a> and <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48170&s2=24"> intimidation</a> of farmers in Palestine?<br /><br />Meanwhile, the US started its <a href="http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/mayfaire/latimes0167.htm"> 3rd war</a>, illegally invading <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20819.htm"> Pakistan</a> on 3 September, killing 15 men, women and children with drones.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drones"> Drone systems</a> will soon be operated by<a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/armed-shadows.html"> teenagers</a> pushing death buttons – thus even further alienating the killer from the victim(s).<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><b>Index<br />1. <a href="#1000">Preface</a><br />2. <a href="#2000">Poverty; Refugees, Women; Transportation, Security & Kidnapping</a><br />3. <a href="#3000">The ‘Neo Taliban’</a><br />4. <a href="#4000">The War in Afghanistan</a></b> (War Zone Timeline, Dead)<b><br />5. <a href="#5000">Killing Civilians</a><br />6. <a href="#6000">Viewpoints on the war in Afghanistan</a><br />7. <a href="#7000">Oil and Gas in Afghanistan</a><br />8. <a href="#8000">Aid in Afghanistan</a><br />9. <a href="#9000">Opium in Afghanistan</a><br />10. <a href="#10000">United States in Afghanistan</a></b> (Reports, Happy Families, Black Sheep, "Disaster Capitalism")<b><br />11. <a href="#11000">Military Industrial Complex; Contracts; Contractors</a><br />12. <a href="#12000">US-NATO</a><br />13. <a href="#13000">NATO Coalition</a></b> (Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, UK) <b><br />14. <a href="#14000">Dead in Afghanistan</a><br />15. <a href="#15000">Human Rights</a> </b>(Media, “War on Terror”, War Crimes, Detainees, 9/11, Prisons, Siddiqui, Torture)<b><br />16. <a href="#16000">Obama and McCain on Afghanistan</a><br />17. <a href="#17000">References</a> </b><br /><br /><br /><a id="2000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <b> 2. Poverty, Transportation, Women, Security & Kidnapping</b></div><br /><br />POVERTY<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/LSGZ-7JTMYX?OpenDocument">ACT Alert Afghanistan no. 39/2008: Severe drought and food insecurity</a></b><br />25.09.08. relief web. The United Nations and the Government of Afghanistan have indicated that there is a need for <u>US$ 72 million</u> in assistance for the last half of 2008 to avoid a massive humanitarian disaster.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINISL35607520080929">FEATURE-Food crisis competes for Afghan "hearts and minds"</a></b><br />29.09.08. Reuters. a farmer once besieged by the Taliban, then by drought, who then fled to the city and now rails against food prices he blames on the very government he voted for.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80777">AFGHANISTAN: El-Tor cholera leaves 17 dead</a></b><br />07.10.08. irin. An outbreak of El Tor cholera in northern, eastern and southeastern Afghanistan has killed at least 17 people - mostly women and children - in the past few weeks, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) said on 6 October.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQoZrl38fZ4&feature=user"> Cholera plagues Afghanistan </a> (21.10.08. al jazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MCOT-7KGFTN?OpenDocument">More effort needed to eradicate poverty in Afghanistan: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty</a></b><br />17.10.08. Relief web. A UN appeal to help address food insecurity is still under-funded. A combination of food price hikes, a downturn in the global economy, the effects of climate change, weak governance, and the intensification of the armed conflict, threaten to push even more Afghans into the ranks of the desperately poor. The poor have limited access to clean water and sanitation, adequate nutrition, shelter and other essentials that are fundamental to a life with dignity.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://voanews.com/english/2008-10-17-voa10.cfm">Race Begins to Deliver Afghan Food Aid Before Winter</a></b><br />17.10.08. Steve Herman, VOA. Afghan officials are in a race against time to get food into remote areas that will soon be isolated when the first significant seasonal snow falls. VOA Correspondent Steve Herman in Kabul says compounding the challenge are security concerns, a terrible harvest and soaring food prices.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7674623.stm">Will next US president rethink Afghanistan?</a></b><br />21.10.08. Damian Grammaticas, BBC. In the hospital in Bamiyan a nurse is examining Mohammed Hakim. He is almost two years old, but his tiny figure is shrivelled and weak, little more than skin and bone. / Every month, 20 severely malnourished children are being admitted to this hospital. Their wasted figures are a warning. 2 months of food in Bamyan. VIDEO.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHxSapWp7Qk"> Poverty forces Afghan children into smuggling </a> (03.10.08. Aljazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/772/39803">Why the war criminals must leave Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.10.08. Pip Hinman, green left. Most of the rebuilding projects have been handed over to profit-driven private corporations. Most roads and buildings remain in tatters. Average life expectancy is 44 years. Between 53% and 80% of Afghan people live below the official poverty line (depending on which part of the country). / Adult literacy is 29%. In some regions, less than 1% of the population is literate. One in five children dies before the age of five. If anything, <b>the war is preventing progress being made</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m48329&s1=h1">Garbage sustains Afghan 'ragpickers'</a></b> <br />28.10.08. Jason Motlagh, uruknet. Six-year-old Ali Reza Khan spots a half-eaten apple and steps toward it, darting when another boy makes his move. In one quick swoop, he picks it up, wipes it with a soiled sleeve and takes a bite. It's 7:30 a.m. at the city garbage dump, and the hunt is on. Several truckloads of refuse soon arrive, and Ali tosses aside the rind to join a frenzy of Afghan children who depend on the bounty hidden within each steaming mound to support themselves and their families. Known locally as "ragpickers," most were born in Pakistan after their parents fled the violence and economic hardships that continue to worsen across the border...<br /><br /><br />REFUGEES<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 197px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT8-prc1TYOeeJHNzZ411W06AkiizGlRDe3i3E50k2W7qHPIwQHKkM-suPyRE7yxU6yxvzxdap0mTJqcNllbT4Qo7SJmhmbPTo-bMJxeUApTe3DUsJXRTNdMKtr37TCPVvZQQU/s320/msajjad_ap.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261971476028327122" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD93LP6AG1">AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad</a><br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/05/pakistan-aims-to-expel-afghan-refugees-as-bajaur-offensive-continues/">Pakistan Aims to Expel Afghan Refugees as Bajaur Offensive Continues</a></b><br />05.10.08. anti-war. The Pakistani government has announced a “crackdown” on the <u>30,000 plus Afghan refugees</u> it estimates are living in the troubled Bajaur Agency. Pakistan gave the refugees a three day deadline to return to Afghanistan which expired this weekend. The director general of Kunar’s Refugee Department is quoted as saying “seven to eight” families had returned by the deadline, but they expected some more might come later.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 170px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilNKdcDwtsoAcO-LsoLgQ81bMyLndCke13QOaFpgYtLy-bg0mdlBGd7eYAPwHJnIWIiLu_uFVsYAcvpbpTrLFFmZFHfYd9xoXSF9x8U4CZCeKuDSSOmHvCeH5sX0riHWBJV3n_/s320/bbc_mountains.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261971467325448434" border="0" width="310" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7656745.stm">BBC</a><br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7656745.stm">Hard times for Afghan nomads</a></b><br />13.10.08. Bilal Sarwary, BBC / anti-war.<br /><br />See more Kuchi photos <a href="http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&ndsp=20&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=Kuchi+Afghanistan&start=0&sa=N"> here </a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102408E">Thousands of Iraqi, Afghan and Georgian Exiles Pour Into Graeco-Turkish Border</a></b><br />21.10.08. Guillaume Perrier, Le Monde/truthout. European countries ignore both Geneva and EU conventions concerning refugees as migrants from global conflicts pour into Greece.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article5025923.ece">Afghan asylum seekers sent home by Australia 'killed by Taleban'</a></b> <br />27.10.08. Anne Barrowclough, Times Online/ICH. Chris Evans, the country's Immigration Minister, has ordered an inquiry into claims that the murdered refugees were among 400 asylum refugees refused entry into Australia by John Howard's government. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/LSGZ-7KUDZY?OpenDocument">Afghanistan: Increasing hardship for growing displaced population</a></b><br />28.10.08. Relief web / ICH. Around 185,000 people, internally displaced before and just after the 2002 fall of the Taleban government, continue to live in camp-like settlements in the south, west and south-west.<br /><br /><br />WOMEN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/101504/">Women Who Took On the Taliban -- and Lost</a></b><br />03.10.08. Kim Sengupta, Independent/alternet. Of five prominent Afghani women interviewed three years ago by The Independent, three are dead and a fourth has had to flee.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/world/asia/06bamian.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">In Poverty and Strife, Women Test Limits</a></b><br />05.10.08. Carlotta Gall, NY Times. Women are driving cars — a rarity in Afghanistan — working in public offices and police stations, and sitting on local councils. There is even a female governor, the first and only one in Afghanistan. / In many ways this province, <u>Bamian</u>, is unique. … / More than 80 percent of Afghan women are illiterate. Women’s life expectancy is only 45 years, lower than that of men, mostly because of the very high rates of death during pregnancy. Forced marriage and under-age marriage are common for girls, and only 13 percent of girls complete primary school, compared with 32 percent of boys. / The cult of war left women particularly vulnerable. For years now they have been the victims of abduction and rape. Hundreds of thousands were left war widows, mired in desperate poverty<br /><br /><u> Anna Politkovskaya Award </u><br /><br /><em>Malaya Joya (cont) </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-35828420081007">Afghan woman rights campaigner wins courage award</a></b><br />07.10.08. Reuters. Malalai Joya's bravery was recognised this week when she was named as the second winner of the <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/10/in-memoriam-anna-politkovskaya.html">Anna Politkovskaya</a> award -- in memory of the campaigning Russian journalist murdered two years ago in Moscow.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081020/joya">Bearing Witness: The Afghan Tragedy</a></b><br />07.10.08. Malaya Joya, The Nation. Remarks on receiving the award. “… Exactly seven years ago, the United States and its allies attacked Afghanistan in the name of liberating Afghanistan and its women. Weeks after the overthrow of the Taliban regime, Laura Bush stated proudly, "Because of our recent military gains in much of Afghanistan, women are no longer imprisoned in their homes. The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women." / But only few days ago, a top European diplomat Francesc Vendrell warned that Afghanistan is in the worst shape since 2001. In an interview with BBC he said, "<b>In 2002, we were being welcomed almost as liberators by the Afghans. Now we are being seen as a necessary evil</b>."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/772/39803">Why the war criminals must leave Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.10.08. Pip Hinman, greenleft. / Malalai Joya, a courageous MP and one of the few elected, rather than appointed, Afghan politicians, is now living in hiding for daring to expose the crimes of the warlords who dominate the parliament. / Joya described the parliament as being like a “mafia”, “80% of which are warlords or drug lords”. “They either snatched their places in parliament at gun point or bought these seats off with US dollars”, she told a Pakistani journalist in September. / Asked if she thought the security situation would worsen if the US-NATO forces left, she said: “We have to continue to expose the crimes of this occupation, and not let our opposition to the Taliban blind us to the fact that foreign interference and military occupation is not helping bringing democracy.” / She went on: “They [the US-NATO coalition forces] are even embracing the Taliban. Recently, in Musa Qila, a Taliban commander Mulla Salam was appointed as governor by Karzai. The US has no problem with the Taliban so long as it’s ‘our Taliban’. / “People here believe that the warlords are cushioned by the US troops. If the USA leaves, the warlords will lose power because they have no base among our people. The people of Afghanistan will deal with these warlords once US troops leave Afghanistan”, Joya added. / We should also heed Joya’s call to “support the democratic forces in Afghanistan” and to send doctors, nurses and teachers, not soldiers. We must support self-determination for the people of Afghanistan and force the Rudd government to withdraw the troops.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://crankyoptimist.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/nobel-laureates-honour-afghan-recipient-of-international-human-rights-award/">Nobel Laureates Honour Afghan recipient of International Human Rights Award</a></b><br />09.10.08. cranky optimist. We, six women Nobel Peace Laureates—Shirin Ebadi, Jody Williams, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchu, Betty Williams and Mairead Maguire—are honoured to once again support the Reach All Women In War (RAW) Anna Politkovskaya Award. … / Thankfully there are courageous women around the world who, like Anna Politkovskaya, are willing to speak truth to power. Malalai Joya—the recipient of this year’s award—is one such woman.<br /><br />Also see <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/#4000"> here</a>.<br /><br />==<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081020/FOREIGN/870521554/1002">North slipping into different kind of hell</a></b><br />20.10.08. Chris Sands,the national.ae. For more than a week she [age 13] was handed around the area to whomever wanted a piece of her. By the end of it all, she had been raped eight times.<br /><br /><br />TRANSPORTATION<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=133772">Government to build road to China</a></b><br />25.09.08. online news.<br /><br /><em> The Promised Road</em><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www3.icm.gov.mo/gate/gb/www.macauart.net/News/photo/2008_06/080606l2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 345px;" src="http://www3.icm.gov.mo/gate/gb/www.macauart.net/News/photo/2008_06/080606l2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=413386">Afghans reopen road despite threat to heritage site</a></b><br />08.10.08. Wired/antiwar. Hundreds of Afghans forcibly reopened a road in the western city of Herat on Wednesday that had been shut to protect a 15th century heritage site after a promised alternate route was not provided. The Musallah complex in the western city of Herat was built during the Timurid empire founded by the legendary conqueror Tamerlane and today consists of six minarets and two domed chambers. See earlier story on closure <a href="http://www3.icm.gov.mo/gate/gb/www.macauart.net/News/ContentE.asp?region=I&id=155435">here </a> (06.06.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showexclusives.php?subaction=showfull&id=1223909908&archive=&start_from=&ucat=15&var1news=value1news">Importance of Silk Route</a></b><br />13.10.08. Kashmir Watch. … / Now in the the 21st century, the great East-West trading route has regained major prominence. The New Silk Road -- the revival of trade and investment between the Gulf and Asia -- features large movements of capital as well as goods. / … Over the last two years <u>U.S. policy makers</u> have been promoting a new vision for Central and South Asia. This vision advocates the creation of a new Silk Road. The idea behind the vision is to restore links between Afghanistan, the Central Asia Republics, and their neighbours. … Finding ways to lower transaction costs is the critical task for the United States and its partners. For the United States and its eastern partners to succeed in their nation building efforts in Afghanistan, they need to find ways to improve economic conditions in the country. According to American policy makers, the best way to accomplish this is to expand economic [oil / gas?] links between Central and South Asian nations. … The essence of the American vision for both regions is the creation of a new Silk Road. Its creation could conceivably open up new markets and economic opportunities for the landlocked countries of Central Asia and Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1323949&lang=EN">Railway to Iran</a></b><br />19.10.08. trendaz. A NEW railway linking Iran with the western Afghan city of Herat is 60% complete. / The ministry says rail transport is five times cheaper than transporting goods by road. / But one kilometer of railway built in Afghanistan costs about $2 million<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.trendaz.com/?show=news&newsid=1325584&lang=EN">Afghan-Iranian Company Increases Commercial Relations</a></b><br />21.10.08. Trendaz. A joint Afghan-Iranian transportation company will be set up in the Iranian sea port of Chabahar in a bid to boost trade between the two countries.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 477px; height: 314px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhgdy449bFjvJsb2c0pj4-FHQ7v55fe69nHQ1iTNwVJAUT0uy_Rd2JCPRgWHjgoCJEAIeGvcsJtCmYmoEL0IFgNxGtFKeyF0A1FhON0MdYj0mv75zmLk3FO6NuuLS8skqso6Oo/s320/atash+parcha.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261971460972976274" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://kabulaus.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/afghanistan-in-pictures/">Photo Atash Parcha</a><br /></span></div><br />(see more excellent road / scenery photos by Atash Parcha <a href="http://kabulaus.wordpress.com/2008/02/04/afghanistan-in-pictures/"> here</a>)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JJ24Df03.html">Death stalks the highway to hell</a></b><br />24.10.08. Salih Muhammad Salih, Abubakar Siddique, asia times. Following its reconstruction in 2003, the Kabul to Kandahar highway was seen as a logistical lifeline that would bring hope and promise for Afghanistan's future. / But today the nearly 500-kilometer route, known as Highway One, might arguably symbolize the dangers ahead as the country continues its efforts to defeat the Taliban and other "enemies of Afghanistan", to borrow the government's phrase for insurgents and other brigands undermining central authority. / Afghans who use the road warn that it has become exceedingly treacherous …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48206&s2=25">Afghan Mad Max Highway 1 to nowhere: Ring Roads rise & fall</a></b><br />23.10.08. Moin Ansari, uruknet. Its been dubbed the Afghan Mad Max Gauntlet. The Afghan Highway 1 Ring Road has been heralded as Afghanistan’s revival, and the great reconstruction of the infrastructure. Indians also dreamed of hooking it up to Iran and then to the Indian built Iranian port of Chahbahar. Today the Ring Road is an unmitigated disaster. Most of the bridges have been blown up and the Taliban and the 38 other anti-occupation forces run a gauntlet on the road. It is not safe, and it does not allow ISAF and NATO to reach hot spots in a hurry. Those risking to run the gauntlet are trapped by the insurgents, kidnapped, held ransom, or simply killed and blown-up...Already all the roads to Kabul are in Talib control...<br /><br />(also see transporation at 7. Oil and Gas)<br /><br />SECURITY AND KIDNAPPING<br /><br /><u> Report</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/21/content_10087272.htm">Security Rights HRRAC.</a></b><br />21.09.08. Xinhuanet. [<a href="http://www.afghanadvocacy.org.af/index.html"> HRRAC </a>] said in its report released on Sunday that majority of Afghans believe the security situation is getting worse since 2004. "Sixty three percent of Afghans believe that the security situation in their communities has worsened since 2004,"the report said.<br /><br /><u> Articles</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=376627">FEATURE-Afghan army slowly pulls itself up by bootstraps</a></b><br />25.09.08. Sanjeev Miglani, Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-35661220080926">Afghan security worse, more police needed - U.N.</a></b><br />26.09.08. in Reuters.<br /><br /><u> And Kidnapping</u><br /><br /><u> Report </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/terrorism/sup6.pdf">"Kidnapping and Terror in the Contemporary Operational Environment"</a></b><br />(Secrecy News)<br /><br /><u> Articles </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://en.rian.ru/world/20080922/117030267.html">Afghanistan protests to Pakistan over abduction of consul</a></b><br />22.09.08. Rian.ru.<br /><br />Pakistan assures <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/23/content_10097651.htm"> safe recovery</a> of abducted Afghan envoy. (23.09.08 xingua).<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/30/top3.htm"> Freed</a> (30.09.08. Dawn. BUT: Release is <a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17619"> “speculation and hearsay.”</a> (01.10.08. int times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C09%5Cstory_9-10-2008_pg7_50">Protest in Afghanistan over envoy’s kidnapping</a></b><br />09.10.08. dailytimes.pk. “Around 1,000 people, mostly influential elders, marched in a peaceful protest calling on both countries, the United Nations and the Taliban to free Mr Farahi,” Farah province Governor Rohul-Amin said. The demonstrators read a statement in front of the governor’s office accusing both countries of not doing enough for the release of the Afghan diplomat, who had been promoted to ambassador but had yet to take up the job.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17793"> Search on for missing Afghan diplomat</a></b><br />13.10.08, the news<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Farah_province_detail_map.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 411px; height: 263px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Farah_province_detail_map.png" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Farah_province_detail_map.png"> <span style="font-size:85%;">FARAH </span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">, not too far from US airbase in Shindand</span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=367397">Militants kidnap 155 workers building Afghan base</a></b><br />22.09.08. wired / AP. The laborers were working on a military base for the Afghan army in the city of Farah,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jqZbN0DXGfea7SFo4XyZ7zA6YakQ">New efforts to free 150 Afghan hostages: official</a></b><br />24.09.08. AFP. Tribal elders, members of village and town councils, and other influential men have been called to meet later in the day in the town of Farah near where the workers were abducted Sunday, the deputy provincial governor said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080926/wl_afp/afghanistanunrestkidnap">Taliban frees 118 kidnapped labourers</a></b><br />26.09.08. AFP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcHwlf_7MHyuRuc26AxK26Lz0OOg">Kidnappers target the rich, influential in Afghanistan</a></b><br />30.09.08. AFP. Mohammed Hashim Wahaaj, a large Afghan doctor with a bushy beard, thought he was going to die.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1438016.php/Gunmen_kidnap_former_Afghan_presidential_candidate_in_Kabul_">Gunmen kidnap former Afghan presidential candidate in Kabul</a></b><br />20.10.08. m and c / anti-war. Humayun Asifi and two relatives were kidnapped by unknown gunmen at 11 pm on Sunday night when he was on his way to his home in western part of Kabul city, Zemarai Bashary, interior ministry spokesman, said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ibMC1kpzJpkkGq67OWkJsXfR2wpQD93VOLEG0">US commandos rescue American hostage near Kabul</a></b><br />22.10.08. Jason Straziuso, AP. U.S. Special Forces soldiers conducting a daring nighttime operation freed a kidnapped American working for the Army Corps of Engineers — the first known hostage rescue by American forces in Afghanistan. The American, who was abducted in mid-August, had been held in a growing insurgent stronghold 30 miles west of Kabul, U.S. military officials told The Associated Press. They said several insurgents were killed in last week's mission to free him.<br /><br /><u>Khost</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQExQlqyd1lm0UcLLFT1QxdOvXnAD941KEAO3">Turkish govt says 3 Turks kidnapped in Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.10.08. AP. The Turkish nationals were kidnapped in the eastern province of <u>Khost</u>on Thursday,<br /><br /><u> Kabul</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1439165.php/Afghan_security_forces_free_former_Afghan_presidential_candidate_">Afghan security forces free former Afghan presidential candidate</a></b><br />26.10.08. M %amp C. Acting on a tip-off, joint Afghan police and intelligence forces recovered both hostages in a safe-house in the Tarakhel area of Kabul city, said Afghan intelligence service spokesman Sayed Ansari. / 'Today our forces freed <em>Humayun Shah Asifi</em> and <em>Abdul Latif</em> from the hands of their kidnappers,' Ansari said, but declined to provide further details.<br /><br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <b>3. The ‘Neo-Taliban’</b><br /></div><br />“<em>The mystique vital for any outgunned guerilla movement-<br />the capacity to be both invisible and omnipresent</em>. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chains-Heaven-Philip-Marsden/dp/0007173474/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223216959&sr=8-1"> Philip Marsden </a>, The Chains of Heaven, p. 268.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=taliban55fighters.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 315px; height: 237px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=taliban55fighters.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=taliban55fighters.jpg"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Taliban fighters</span></a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47342&s2=20">Insurgents in Afghanistan show strength, sophistication</a></b><br />18.09.08. Laura King, LA Times / uruknet. This summer, foreign troop deaths have exceeded those of U.S. forces in Iraq. 'We feel that things are going very, very well for us,' one Taliban fighter says.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/19/AR2008091903980.html">A Modernized Taliban Thrives in Afghanistan</a></b><br />20.09.08. P. Constable, Washington Post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/3073379/US-told-it-must-hold-talks-with-Taliban.html">US told it must hold talks with Taliban's Mullah Omar</a></b><br />25.09.08. Telegraph. The US must broker a power-sharing agreement with the head of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, in order to establish peace in the region, the Governor of Pakistan's lawless border areas has said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jZ3zOCdZHAuNz5PD0Xj72La-YIkAD93F1K980">US general: Taliban can't launch winter campaign</a></b><br />26.09.08. AP. A top U.S. general [Maj. Gen. Jeffrey J. Schloesser] said he expects militant violence in Afghanistan to rise some 30 percent this winter compared with last year, but that <b>he does not think insurgents have the ability to mount a massive campaign during the country's harsh weather</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1306565&lang=EN">West Prevents Establishment of Stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan</a></b><br />27.09.08. trendaz. The former Chairman of the Council of National Unity of Afghanistan, Ahmet Ziya Rafet, said that the USA and Great Britain support terrorists in the country and conduct games in the region to achieve their strategic interests. / Rafet told Trend News correspondent in Kabul that Taliban and the terrorist forces were in actuality created by the West, especially by the USA and Great Britain to achieve their interests in the region.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C28%5Cstory_28-9-2008_pg7_34">Taliban show no let up despite 8,000 soldiers in FATA</a></b><br />28.09.08. dailytimes.pk. The newspaper [the times] said in a report on Saturday that a constant supply of fresh fighters from inside the country and across the border in Afghanistan is helping the Taliban to stay in the fight.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/28/afghanistan.defence">Revealed: secret Taliban peace bid</a></b><br />28,09.08. Jason Burke, Guardian. Saudis are sponsoring a peace dialogue involving a former senior member of the hardline group. See another article (28.09.08) about the ‘back channels of diplomacy’ by Jason Burke in <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/28/afghanistan.terrorism"> The Observer</a>. Taliban leadership <a href="http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2008/09/29/world/taliban-leadership-denies-report-of-afghan-talks.html&template=/news/feeds/story-template-reuters.html"> denies report </a> of Afghan talks (29.09.08, Reuters).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=385783">Afghan minister does not confirm Taliban talks</a></b><br />28.09.08. Reuters. "I deny there is any contact between the Foreign Ministry and the Taliban about the negotiations," he said when asked for elaboration.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47588&s2=29">Are You Confused About Taliban? The Good Taliban, The Bad And The Ugly</a></b><br />28.09.08. Ahmed Quraishi, uruknet. There used to be one Taliban, the Afghan one. The new Talibans you see today are not only fake, but also penetrated by the spy agencies of several countries. Their target appears to be Pakistan. At the time of 9/11, there was only one Taliban, the Afghan Taliban. Now there are several. This is not natural. It is the result of a great game that intelligence agencies from several countries are playing to confuse the situation on the Pak-Afghan border. Some, like the Indians, are using it to send trained terrorists. Others, like the Americans, are using it to support terrorists like BLA. And Russia is suspected of financing some other militants to keep the Americans tied down. The Good Taliban are those who are patriots, they understand the situation created by the enemies of Pakistan. They support the Army and its various agencies that are all busy protecting Pakistan. The Good Taliban also include the Afghan Taliban, who is the original Taliban. They are good not because we like or dislike their policy, but because they, too, have never attacked Pakistan or Pakistanis. They are part of the Afghan opposition to the puppet regime of Hamid Karzai and are part of the Afghan resistance to a foreign occupation, all of which has nothing to do with Pakistan....<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE48S8ZW20080929">Taliban's Omar offers deal to U.S. on withdrawal</a></b><br />29.09.08. Reuters. Taliban leader Mullah Omar on Monday urged U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan to withdraw or face a similar defeat to occupying Soviet troops a generation ago. / "Reconsider your wrong decision of wrong occupation, and seek a safe exit to withdraw your forces," said the message, which the Taliban said came from Omar. "If you leave our lands, we can arrange for you a reasonable opportunity for your departure," he said, adding that the Taliban posed no harm to anyone in the world.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/world/asia/01afghan.html?_r=2&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Karzai Sought Saudi Help With Taliban</a></b><br />30.09.08. NY Times. But Mr. Karzai said his appeals had failed to yield any talks, and his tone suggested a degree of frustration with the Saudi government for not having acted more decisively. Nor was there any indication that senior Taliban leaders were ready for talks on any grounds that the Karzai government and its Western backers would be likely to accept.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://voanews.com/english/2008-09-30-voa10.cfm">Afghanistan's Karzai Calls for Talks with Taliban</a></b><br />30.09.08. Ayaz Gul, VOA. Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has made a call for peace to fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Wants Omar to <a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=56866"> return</a> to Afghanistan.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>3. bin Laden </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/100108S">Bush Had No Plan to Catch Bin Laden After 9/11</a></b><br />29.09.08. Gareth Porter, IPS/truthout. "New evidence from former U.S. officials reveals that the George W. Bush administration failed to adopt any plan to block the retreat of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders from Afghanistan to Pakistan in the first weeks after 9/11. That failure was directly related to the fact that top administration officials gave priority to planning for war with Iraq over military action against al Qaeda in Afghanistan."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20961.htm">Elite Officer Recalls Bin Laden Hunt</a></b><br />07.10.08. CBS / ICH. Shortly after 9/11, the Pentagon ordered a top secret team [Delta] of American commandos into Afghanistan with a single, simple order: kill Osama bin Laden. It was America's best chance to eliminate the leader of al Qaeda. The inside story of exactly what happened in that mission, and how close it came to its objective has never been told until now. VIDEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/102020/">bin Laden After 9/11</a></b><br />07.10.08. Gareth Porter, IPS News/alternet. Mere weeks after 9/11, the Bush administration was too busy planning to invade Iraq to follow through on its mission in Afghanistan.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47680&s2=03">Afghans back Taliban, says abducted senator </a></b><br />02.10.08. Chris Sands, The National/uruknet. It was early one morning this summer when Abdul Wali Ahmadzai began to understand the true strength of the Taliban in his province. As the senator for Logar travelled to a meeting, eight men armed with weapons including Kalashnikovs and rocket-propelled grenade launchers stopped his convoy on a dirt road. He was held hostage for more than two months and would come away having witnessed a reality some insist does not exist. "The important point is that the people support the Taliban. This is the main problem: now the people do not like the government and they support the Taliban,"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47700&s2=03">Taliban Rejects Karzai Call for Talks</a></b><br />03.10.08. Jason Ditz, Antiwar.com/uruknet. Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave an interview on Pakistani television in which he implored Taliban leader Mullah Omar to return to the country and compete in the next presidential election. Karzai promised to be "wholly solely responsible for his safety." But top Taliban official Mullah Brother phoned Reuters rejecting the offer "by the Afghan’s puppet and slave President Hamid Karzai." He insisted that Karzai "only says and does what he is told by A! merica," and that he was in no position to negotiate....<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/06/afghan.saudi.talks/?iref=mpstoryview">Taliban split with al Qaeda, seek peace</a></b><br />(no date) CNN. Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country's bloody conflict -- and are severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-07-voa38.cfm">Afghan Government Denies Talking with Taliban</a></b><br />07.10.08. N VOA / ICH. Presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzada told reporters that while President Hamid Karzai has asked the Saudi King to arrange such discussions, they have not yet occurred.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/patrick-cockburn-the-british-commander-is-right-youll-never-beat-taliban-13994483.html">The British commander is right... you'll never beat Taliban</a></b><br />07.10.08. Patrick Coburn, Belfast telegraph. In Afghanistan the US policy has been catastrophically misconceived. The first serious talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban took place <u>10 days ago in Mecca</u> under the auspices of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. During the discussions all sides agreed that the war in Afghanistan is going to be solved by dialogue and not by fighting. / The Taliban leader, <u>Mullah Omar</u>, was not present but his representatives said he was no longer allied to al-Qa'ida.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/USA/US_backs_Taliban_return_to_power_in_Afghanistan/rssarticleshow/3571370.cms">US backs Taliban return to power in Afghanistan</a></b><br />08.10.08. timesofindia / ICH. Gates' comments followed revelations that Taliban representatives met with Afghan government officials last month in Saudi Arabia, a former high-level Taliban ambassador said on Monday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JJ08Df03.html">A fatal flaw in Afghan peace process</a></b><br />08.10.08. M K Bhadrakumar, asia times. With the reported intra-Afghan talks under the mediation of Saudi Arabia in Mecca on September 24-27, attention inevitably shifts to the hidden aspects of the "war on terror" in Afghanistan - the geopolitics of the war. …/.. However, what is beyond doubt is that inter-Afghan peace talks have finally begun. There is a readiness to admit that the legacy of the Bonn conference in December 2001 must be exorcised from Afghanistan's body politic and stowed away in history books. The recognition seems to have dawned that peace is indivisible and victors must learn to share it with the vanquished. .. / .. Against such a complex backdrop, Washington could - and perhaps should - have logically turned to the United Nations or the international community to initiate an inter-Afghan peace process. Instead, it has almost instinctively turned to its old ally in the Hindu Kush - Saudi Arabia. …<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1910000/images/_1910409_hekmatap150.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 190px;" src="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1910000/images/_1910409_hekmatap150.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Gulbuddin Hekmatyar<br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1910000/images/_1910409_hekmatap150.jpg"> BBC 2002 </a></span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/secret-saudi-dinner-karzais-brother-and-the-taliban-955243.html">Secret Saudi dinner, Karzai's brother and the Taliban</a></b><br />08.10.08. Kim Sengupta, Independent / ICH. The Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai has been involved in secret negotiations with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the former Mujaheddin leader now labelled a ‘terrorist’ by the US and Britain.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3179534/Afghan-president-offers-Taliban-a-role-in-governing-country.html">Afghan president offers Taliban a role in governing country</a></b><br />11.10.08. Nick Meo, Telegraph. President Hamid Karzai has offered Taliban leaders the possibility of positions in his government if they agree to a peace deal which could bring fighting to an end.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27187149/">U.N envoy: Afghan insurgency spreading</a></b><br />14.10.08. MSNBC / legitgov. The 'insurgency' in Afghanistan has spread beyond Taliban strongholds while the number of attacks in the country has reached a six-year high, a top U.N. envoy said on Tuesday. Kai Eide, the U.N.'s special representative to Afghanistan, told the United Nations Security Council that insurgents are unlikely to ease attacks this winter as their influence continues to spread beyond traditional strongholds to provinces around Kabul.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/14/as-taliban-influence-grows-shadow-government-seems-an-increasingly-viable-option-to-afghans/">As Taliban Influence Grows, ‘Shadow Government’ Seems an Increasingly Viable Option to Afghans</a></b><br />14.10.08. anti-war. While coalition forces continue to kill militants in the provinces south of Kabul, the resilient Taliban forces continue to expand their influence in the area. Their presence is so overwhelming in some areas that they’re set up their own ’shadow government’ with its own court system. In the areas they control most completely, these government systems are considerably more powerful than their coalition-supported counterparts, and according to some reports, better accepted.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47976&s2=16">Kabul Is Now Surrounded By The Taliban</a></b><br />14.10.08. G.SMITH, Globe and Mail / uruknet. ...The Taliban are isolating Afghanistan's capital city from the rest of the country, choking off important supply routes and imposing their rules on the provinces near Kabul.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=565385668298997769">Taliban make travel out of Kabul treacherous</a></b><br />14.10.08. newspress/ICH. The Taliban are isolating Afghanistan's capital city from the rest of the country, choking off important supply routes and imposing their rules on the provinces near Kabul.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1015/p01s01-wosc.html">Some Afghans live under Taliban rule – and prefer it</a></b><br />15.10.08. Anand Gopal, CSM / ICH. In provinces just south of Kabul, the insurgents have a shadow government that polices roads and runs courts.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47994&s2=16">“How We Lost the War We Won: A Journey into Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan”</a></b><br />15.10.08. Democracy Now!/uruknet. ...And then, once we got to the province of Ghazni, we were basically in Taliban-controlled territory. They have checkpoints there during the day, where they stop cars and take people out, kill them if they want to. They conduct daytime patrols in their villages with rocket-propelled grenades on their backs, with fairly large groups, some six to eight, ten people with machine guns. They conduct trials, adjudicating disputes between farmers, etc....<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/10/200810152158993793.html">Defections hit Afghan forces</a></b><br />15.10.08. aljazeera.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.2590822622">Afghanistan: Pakistan's ex-spymaster outlines Taliban demands</a></b><br />15.10.08. adnkronos/ICH. The Taliban will agree to peace talks if they are recognised as a political force, if a date is set for the withdrawal of international forces, and if Taliban prisoners are released, according to Pakistan's former spy chief, Retired Lt. General Hamid Gul. / Gul a former head of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), said he believes negotations need to be taken forward with Taliban leader Mullah Omar. / Pakistan has to be brought on board too.."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48000&s2=16"> Video: Afghan defectors turn to the Taliban </a> (15.10.08. AlJazeera.net)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1016/p01s04-wosc.html">To fight Taliban, US eyes Afghan tribes</a></b><br />16.10.08. Mark Sappenfield, CSM / anti-war.<br /><br /><u> Haqqani </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/16/afghan-ally-is-now-a-foe/">Afghan ally Haqqani is now a foe</a></b><br />16.10.08. James Rupert, Bloomberg / anti-war. [NB: <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">bin Laden was also once a US “Afghan ally” </span>] When Jalaluddin Haqqani fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the U.S. showered him with praise, guns and money. The congressman celebrated in "Charlie Wilson's War," the movie and book about that conflict, called him "goodness personified." / Now the U.S. is trying to kill Mr. Haqqani, who commands a Taliban guerrilla force fighting Americans in five Afghan provinces from his base in western Pakistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=428713">FACTBOX-Facts about veteran Taliban commander Haqqani</a></b><br />23.10.08. Reuters. A gaunt, ethnic Pashtun man with a long beard and, in the few photographs of him, always seen wearing a large turban, Haqqani is in his 70s. He won recognition as a rugged commander during the Afghan jihad, or holy war, against Soviet occupiers in the 1980s. … -- Haqqani had close links with U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Pakistani intelligence services, notably the military's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), during the war against the Soviets. / .. -- The New York Times reported in July that the CIA had given Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani evidence of the ISI's continued involvement with Haqqani.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48046&s2=18">Afghanistan Taliban becomes stronger in numbers</a></b><br />17.10.08. Calcutta News.Net, uruknet. The Taliban's strength in Afghanistan has increased by up to 20-30 percent over the past year, according to <u>Major General Jeffrey Schlosser</u>, a top general in-charge of US ground troops in Afghanistan. In a CBS TV interview to be telecast this Sunday, he said evidence of the increase in numbers was apparent on a base in eastern Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border, which has been hit with rockets and mortars at least 30 times since March, when a major battle took place...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/10/200810173815406492.html">Afghan mayor turns Taliban leader</a></b><br />17.10.08. al jazeera. Given exclusive access to one of his 20 mountain bases hidden deep inside rugged terrain that Akbari says were also used to fight the Russians, Al Jazeera's Qais Azimy found a group of at least 60 well-armed Taliban fighters. / The former mayor of Afghanistan's Herat province is now the most powerful local Taliban commander. / Ghullam Yahya Akbari told Al Jazeera that he will not negotiate with the Afghan government as long as foreign troops are on Afghan soil. IN VIDEO: Afghan mayor joins Taliban<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB_ixi-iWTg">Video: Afghan mayor turns Taliban leader </a>(17.10.08. aljazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINLL27376520081021">Saudi says Afghan mediation depends on peace desire</a></b><br />21.10.08. Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102301601.html">The 'Unthinkable' in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.10.08. Greg Bruno, Council on Foreign Relations, Wasington Post. The sudden emergence of a diplomatic dialogue illustrates just how far the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan has deteriorated, some experts say.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C24%5Cstory_24-10-2008_pg3_5">analysis: Afghanistan in peril</a></b><br />24.10.08. Najmuddin A Shaikh, daily times.pk. It is clear that the Taliban are not as monolithic as sometimes assumed. Various power centres have developed and many vested interests have been created. The Taliban that have spoken about negotiations do not represent mainstream Taliban. / The military situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated sharply in this year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=431220">Taliban say NATO troops must leave to end Afghan war</a></b><br />25.10.08. Sayed Salahuddin, Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.military-world.net/Afghanistan/868.html">Taliban rule returning to Kandahar province</a></b><br />28.10.08. military world / ICH. As Canadian Forces continue to fight and die throughout Kandahar province, the Taliban have quietly set up parallel governments only kilo-metres away from the provincial capital, local residents say.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/23612315/how_we_lost_the_war_we_won">How We Lost the War We Won</a></b><br />30.10.08. Nir Rosen, rolling stone / anti-war. <em>A journey into Taliban-controlled Afghanistan</em>: An evocative article on GHAZNI. Until recently, Ghazni, like much of central Afghanistan, was considered reasonably safe. But now the province, located 100 miles south of the capital, has fallen to the Taliban. Foreigners who venture to Ghazni often wind up kidnapped or killed. In defiance of the central government, the Taliban governor in the province issues separate ID cards and passports for the Taliban regime, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Farmers increasingly turn to the Taliban, not the American-backed authorities, for adjudication of land disputes.<br /><br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <b> 4. The War in Afghanistan</b> (War Zone timeline, Suicide Attacks, Dead, Refugees)<br /></div><br /><br /><u> The Embattled Frontier</u><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 352px; height: 263px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiubuHveUviV1MhmFxXAKUBNXGpu4XfmUIfbr-U2A0wGe5lUB53H91ptxJ8I6069szaBZGD7gxvvgI4QsRByVHTGP6b_I2maTAKK6yppVx5WH5AUpEyRVMmJL9NWY0uJ-ZZcm-/s320/black_widow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261971470509289698" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7639752.stm">BBC: Black Widow's inhospitable beauty</a><br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7639752.stm">Black Widow's inhospitable beauty</a></b><br />27.09.08. John Simpson, BBC. The immense border between Afghanistan and the north-west frontier of Pakistan is harsh, inhospitable and breathtakingly beautiful. / It has been the cause of tension for at least a century and a half.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95784580">Series Overview: The Embattled Frontier</a></b><br />13.10.08. Doug Roberts, npr. The 1,600-mile-long frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan has always been a wild and often violent region — and never more so than today. There is warfare on both sides of the border now. 5 part series by various authors.<br /><br /><br />WAR ZONE TIMELINE<br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://hrw.org/reports/2008/afghanistan0908/">“Troops in Contact”</a></b><br />September 2008. Human Rights Watch. Airstrikes and Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan.<br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><u> Azizabad Revisited</u><br /><br /><b>‘If it’s been officially denied, then it’s probably true’</b> <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20997.htm"> John Pilger</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=164502">The incessant slaughter of Afghan civilians</a></b><br />23.09.08. D. Lewis, aljazeera. Why American military “investigations” do nothing to prevent airstrike massacres against Afghan civilians.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/55559">Hundreds of Afghan civilians still dying in the United States' "good war</a></b><br />06.10.08. usa.media monitors. The US insists that American forces do not deliberately target civilians. No compensation has been paid by the US to the victims’ families, according to Attiqullah. He admitted that the Karzai government had paid $2,000 for each death and $1,000 to each injured person. This shows the little value that is placed on Afghan lives."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/07/us-inquiry-revises-herat-civilian-toll-still-disputes-un-afghan-accounts/">US Inquiry Revises Herat Civilian Toll, Still Disputes UN, Afghan Accounts</a></b><br />07.10.08. Jason Ditz, anti-war. The investigator, Brigadier General Michael Callan, determined that many more civilians were killed than officials had previously claimed. He still put the number at only “more than 30,” still quite a bit below the other accounts. The report also insists that the strike was on a “legitimate target” and does not recommend any punishment for those involved.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/09/us-report-declares-herat-strike-legitimate-self-defense/">US Report Declares Herat Strike “Legitimate Self-Defense”</a></b><br />09.10.08. anti-war. Rather than admitting that their initial findings were in error however, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said simply that <b>“sometimes the truth can change.”</b> .. / And indeed, even now that they are conceding to killing at least dozens of Afghan civilians (though still a far lower number than the other investigations), the report maintains that the killings were legitimate self-defense. Rear Admiral Greg Smith says the matter is now closed and no disciplinary action will be taken against those involved in the killings.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/10/afghan_attack_death_toll_rises.html">After Afghan Probe, Military Vows Changes</a></b><br />09.10.08. D. Kravitz, Washington Post. Last month, during a visit to Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates acknowledged the human and public relations damage caused by such incidents. He promised additional measures to minimize them and to conduct more transparent investigations. He also said that in the future, the United States will <b>compensate [sic] the families</b> of alleged victims even before completing its investigations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/everest10172008.html">Afghanistan: Not a Good War Gone Bad</a></b><br />17.10.08. L. Everest, Counterpunch / anti-war.<br /><br />See Brian Cloughley’s superb article in <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/cloughley10222008.html"> here</a>.<br /><br />See ‘Murder in Azizabad’ <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html#2000"> here </a>.<br /><br /><u> Uruzgan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=642848">Australian troops 'kill Afghan governor'</a></b><br />07.10.08. National nine news / ICH. In the incident on <u>September 18</u>, Australian special forces soldiers came under fire during a patrol in the Oruzgan district capital Tarin Kowt. / Defence promptly confirmed that Chora district governor and tribal leader, Rozi Khan, was among those killed but said it was not possible at that time to confirm if he was killed by ADF fire. / The Australian Defence Force (ADF) was working with the governor's tribe to ensure his death had no negative consequences for operations in the region.<br /><br /><u> Kandahar </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200809191521.htm">NATO troops kill a civilian in Afghanistan</a></b><br />19.09.08. hindu.com. The civilian victim was riding in a truck that was heading directly for a NATO patrol in Kandahar province Thursday, the military alliance said in a statement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/26/content_10117203.htm">20 Taliban militants killed in failed ambush in S Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.09.08. Xinehuanet. "Afghan police came in reinforcement and called in NATO air strike support," Ayubi said. "Hours' fire fighting left 20 militants dead and two trucks destroyed." However, he did not provide any information about the casualties on neither police nor the security guards.<br /><br /><u>Ghazni</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080927/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrest">Five Taliban said killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />27.09.08. AFP. International forces helping Afghanistan to fight a Taliban-led insurgency had carried out the air strikes, he [Ismail Jahangir] said, but this could not be immediately confirmed by the forces.<br /><br /><u>Kandahar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7640263.stm">Top Afghan policewoman shot dead</a></b><br />28.09.08. BBC. [it is alleged that she supported US troops in Afghanistan]<br /><br /><u> Kunar</u><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 331px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEZsstc3tENjPJeXKxgsuWVWh7qRNT5b32JlaCz8ZEyBYAuw5lEGKRPNs9wdKLiEJ1P7WaIPxTec0YIuoIFUJIfhQXWeKj0pMEQ8KOnw11Nt2EKBSluTJLefpVfC7H4LsyJhqT/s320/dead_afghans.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261971473544115554" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gHhUXzbqpnMb06QeBz3S_Nujzr6w">Afghan men, allegedly killed in a US-led forces operation (AFP)</a><br /></span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7833899">Afghan police: 3 civilians die in coalition strike</a></b><br />28.09.08. Rahim Faiez, AP/ Guardian. A coalition operation apparently targeting a suicide bomb cell in eastern Afghanistan killed three civilians but no militants, a police official said Sunday. US military to <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080928/pl_afp/afghanistanunrestnatouscivilian"> probe claims </a> (28.09.08, AFP). US<br /><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD93FM7N80"> disputes claim </a> (29.09.08, AP)<br /><br /><u> Kandahar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mytelus.com/ncp_news/article.en.do?pn=world&articleID=3005108">Rebels attack provincial chief in southern Afghanistan; 4 bodyguards killed</a></b><br />29.09.08. AP, my telus. The target of the attack late Sunday in the southern city of Kandahar was Mohammad Hashim, the provincial council chief in neighbouring Zabul province.<br /><br /><u> Paktika province</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-09-29-nato-afghanistan_N.htm">NATO: Afghan policeman fires on U.S. troops, 1 dead</a></b><br />29.09.08. AP/usatoday.<br /><br /><u> Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hQ-Q0XlVzTTShikeN-QnBCChjPCg">British soldier kills Afghan civilian after warning: official</a></b><br />30.09.08. AFP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.kirotv.com/save-money/17596060/detail.html">Senate passes Bailout</a></b><br />01.10.08.<br /><br /><u> Kunar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1434673.php/Two_civilians_killed_four_wounded_in_attacks_in_Afghanistan_">Two civilians killed, four wounded in attacks in Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.10.08. monsters and critics. Further info. on <u> Helmand</u>.<br /><br /><u> Pech, Kunar </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/2411cd3571b4f088/id/414385/cs/1/">Two civilians killed, four wounded in Afghanistan attacks</a></b><br />03.10.08. Irish Sun. Taliban militants attacked a convoy of Afghan and US-led coalition forces in the Pech district of eastern Kunar province Friday morning, resulting in deaths of one civilian and injuries to four others, the US military said in a statement. (Mention of a further incident in Helmand)<br /><br /><u>Ghazni</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i4EUZ3HIQ6JpRaPVqHp36uRCZkRg%27%3EMore%20than%2020%20rebels%20killed%20in%20Afghanistan%20violence:%20officials%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3E04.10.08.%20%20AFP.%20%20On%20Saturday,%20dozens%20of%20villagers%20carrying%20the%20corpses%20of%20two%20men%20marched%20to%20the%20governor%27s%20house,%20claiming%20the%20casualties%20they%20were%20carrying%20were%20civilians,%20local%20government%20spokesman%20Ismail%20Jahangir%20told%20AFP.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cu%3E%20Kadahar%3C/u%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" com="" s="" afp="" 20081005="" wl_sthasia_afp="" afghanistanunrest="">Six killed in new Afghan violence</a></b><br />05.10.08. AFP. … One militant was killed, while three women and three children in the house were wounded, he said. Four more Taliban and the policeman were killed in a clash after security forces chased the attackers, Khan said.<br /><br /><u> Ghazni</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=96535">Two dozen dead in series of attacks, clashes across Afghanistan</a></b><br />07.10.08. dailystar / anti-war. Attacks and clashes across troubled Afghanistan have left more than two dozen people dead, including a cook and his 12-year-old son allegedly shot dead by Taliban, authorities said Monday.<br /><br /><u> Qalat, Zabul</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5064346/nearly-60-militants-killed-southern-afghanistan/">U.S.-led coalition and Afghan security forces killed 43 militants </a></b><br />08.10.08. Reuters. during heavy fighting in Qalat district of southern Zabul province Sunday, the U.S. military said in a statement Tuesday.<br /><br /><u> Nad Ali, Helmand</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5064346/nearly-60-militants-killed-southern-afghanistan/">Afghan and international troops killed 16 Taliban insurgents </a></b><br />08.10.08.Reuters (cont.) … and wounded six more during a gun battle in Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province on Monday, provincial police chief Asadullah Sherzad told Reuters.<br /><br /><u> Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/09/content_10170884.htm">Clash leaves 9 militants dead in S Afghanistan</a></b><br />09.10.08. Xinhuanet.<br /><br /><u> Kandahar and Ghazni</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/11/content_10179655.htm">Anti-militant operations leave 9 militants dead in Afghanistan</a></b><br />11.10.08. Xinhua. Two operations against militant activities in southern Afghan province of Kandahar and central province of Ghazni left nine militants dead on Friday, said statements of the U.S.-led Coalition forces issued here on Saturday.<br /><br /><u>Lashkar Gah, Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4930183.ece">Taleban stage audacious 'Tet-style' attack on British HQ city</a></b><br />13.10.08. Times Online. British and Afghan forces repulsed an attempt by hundreds of Taleban fighters to attack the provincial capital of Helmand, Lashkar Gah, on Saturday night in the most audacious Taliban attack in the province since 2006. <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-afghan13-2008oct13,0,5927132.story">62 killed </a>.<br /><br /><u> Khost</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j2vc-GrYIqqpCfQ-08Q7jWQAyGqA">Seven killed in Afghan violence: officials</a></b><br />13.10.08. AFP. The civilians, an elderly woman and a child, died Sunday when a rocket fired by Taliban-linked extremists at a nearby NATO base in eastern Khost province hit their home, provincial police chief Abdul Qayoum Baqizoi said. Two other children were injured in the attack, he said.<br /><br /><u> Ghazni </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/200810/13/content_10186772.htm">Coalition forces kill 5 Taliban militants in central Afghanistan</a></b><br />13.10.08. Xinhuanet. The operation in Andar district of Ghazni targeted a known Taliban militant believed to have been in contact with foreign fighter facilitators intended to destabilize the region, the statement said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C14%5Cstory_14-10-2008_pg7_4">14 militants, 8 civilians killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />14.10.08. daily times pk / anti-war. Six civilians were killed and two more wounded when a minibus hit a roadside bomb in Zana Khan district of Ghazni province on Monday. .. / In another incident, international and Afghan troops killed five militants in an operation targeting a foreign fighters’ network in Ghazni province on Monday, said a statement by US military.<br /><br /><u> Ghazni</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C14%5Cstory_14-10-2008_pg7_4">14 militants, 8 civilians killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />14.10.08. daily times pk / anti-war.<br /><br /><u>Uruzgan and Ghazni</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/101408C">Three NATO Soldiers, 16 Afghans Killed in Bomb Blasts</a></b><br />14.10.08. Amir Shah, AP / Truthout. : "In a demonstration of the increasingly deadly attacks [in Afghanistan], a roadside blast in the east [Uruzgan] where U.S. soldiers operate killed three NATO troops, while two separate roadside bombs in the south [Ghazni?] killed 16 Afghan civilians, officials said. In Afghanistan, militant attacks have turned deadlier and more sophisticated this year, part of the reason more U.S. and NATO troops have died there in 2008 than in any year since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion."<br /><br /><u> Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/10/15/afghanistan-violence.html">70 Taliban killed in air strike in Afghanistan</a></b><br />15.10.08. CBC. Capping a particularly bloody day in Afghanistan, about 70 Taliban fighters were killed in an overnight air strike by foreign forces in southern Helmand province, the provincial governor's spokesman said Wednesday. / .. U.S. and NATO forces said they had no immediate information on the strike, and neither could confirm involvement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48026&s2=18">Taliban 'seizes 180 Afghan troops'</a></b><br />15.10.08. AlJazeera.net/uruknet. A spokesman for the Taliban movement has told Al Jazeera that the movement's fighters have captured at least 180 Afghan soldiers in southern Helmand province. Qari Yusuf Ahmadi said on Wednesday that the soldiers were seized while travelling in three buses on their way to Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province. The Afghan government made no immediate comment on the abduction claims. Ahamdi said that the soldiers were dressed in civilian dress and were on a mission to reinforce government troops in the area, "to prevent the fall of Lashkar Gah into the hands of the Taliban". Ahmadi said that he expected Lashkar Gah to soon fall under Taliban control because of their escalated operations in the area...<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/15/AR2008101503572_pf.html">NATO Modifies Airstrike Policy In Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.10.08. Washington Post / anti-war. In a bow to public outrage over a recent spate of U.S.-led airstrikes in Afghanistan that resulted in more than 100 civilian deaths, NATO officials have ordered commanders to try to lessen their reliance on air power in battles with insurgents, NATO and Afghan officials said Wednesday. / "We'll do anything we can to prevent unnecessary casualties, and we'll ensure that we'll have safe use of force. That includes not only airstrikes but ground operations," Blanchette said.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><u> Lashkar Gah, Helmand</u><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 176px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnYjvVNddJ9QWiDae88O_p08-lDTlvvtmATvtGnZlHneumVrzcUPhIY9PMN20EP4OdfC342EbPVc-7dcFrs7RT7ZxxwY_7Hkoo-EaDK_cWTWk-PBe-fi0I7f5KeFulPENRWOnd/s320/nyt_photo.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261971579260888114" border="0" /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/world/asia/17afghan.html?%20%20_r=1&oref=slogin">photo Abdul Khaleq/Associated Press</a></span></div><br /></span><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/world/asia/17afghan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">Afghan Officials Say Airstrike Killed Civilians</a></b><br />16.10.08. J.F. Burns, NYTimes. A NATO airstrike on Thursday on a village near the embattled provincial capital of Lashkar Gah killed 25 to 30 civilians, Afghan officials in the area said. While NATO confirmed that an airstrike had taken place in the area, where Taliban fighters have been battling NATO forces, it said that the reports were being investigated and that the command was “unable to confirm any civilian casualties.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/16/report-nato-air-strike-in-helmand-kills-25-civilians/">Report: NATO Air Strike in Helmand Kills At Least 25 Civilians</a></b><br />16.10.08. anti-war. NATO forces launched an air strike in Nad Ali District, Helmand Province early this afternoon. According to local officials, the attack killed between 25 and 30 civilians. / It is unclear which NATO member launched the air strike, but during reported protests in Lashkar Gah this afternoon angry locals condemned the Afghan government and <u>British forces</u>. District Chief Mahboob Khan said the anger was even more widespread however, and while they are “busy burying their family members now … tomorrow, they will demand to know why their houses were targeted.” Provincial Police Chief Assadullah Sherzad confirmed the air strike, but was unable to vouch for the number killed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/17/afghanistan-nato">Villagers say 18 civilians killed in Nato air strike in Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.10.08. Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian. Angry villagers took 18 bodies - including badly mangled bodies of women and children - to the governor's house in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, Haji Adnan Khan, a tribal leader in the city who had seen the bodies, was reported as saying. He said there might be more bodies trapped under the rubble. / A BBC reporter in Lashkar Gah said he saw the bodies - three women and the rest children ranging in age from six months to 15. The families brought the bodies from their village in the Nad Ali district.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=wailing.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 170px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=wailing.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7674435.stm">Afghan strike 'kills civilians'</a></b><br />16.10.08. BBC. At least 18 civilians have been killed in an air strike by foreign forces in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, reports say. / A BBC reporter in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah saw the bodies - three women and the rest children - ranging in age from six months to 15.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/17/nato-afghanistan">We do our utmost to avoid killing civilians</a></b><br />17.10.08. Letter to Guardian from James Appathurai, Nato spokesman, Brussels, Belgium.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=422685">Afghan authorities probe civilian deaths in battle</a></b><br />17.10.08. wired / anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/18/MNJA13JOQM.DTL">New civilian deaths raise Afghanistan tension</a></b><br />18.10.08. Laura King, sfgate / anti-war.<br /><br /><u> Paktika</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=421668">US military: Afghan policeman kills US soldier</a></b><br />16.10.08. wired. It was the second time in less than a month that an Afghan officer has killed a U.S. soldier. / In the latest attack on U.S. soldiers, the policeman standing on a tower attacked the American foot patrol in Bermel district of the eastern Paktika province, the military said. The troops returned fire on the tower, killing the policemen. The military said it was investigating the attack.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17900">Seven killed as Taliban ‘shoot down’ US chopper</a></b><br />19.10.08. the news / anti-war.<br /><br /><u> Jairez, Wardak </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/18/content_10214092.htm">19 insurgents killed in N Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.10.08. Xinhuanet. The joint troops engaged insurgents by small-arms fire, heavy weapons and helicopters in Jalrez district where the fighting continued through the night on Oct. 16, resulting in 19 militants killed, the statement said.<br /><br /><u> Paktika</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17900">Seven killed as Taliban ‘shoot down’ US chopper</a></b><br />19.10.08. The News International, Pakistan<br /><br /><u> Kandahar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/10/20081019123431605467.html">Dozens killed in Afghan bus ambush</a></b><br />19.10.08. aljazeera. General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the defence minsitry spokesman, said on Sunday that 31 civilians were killed in the attack in the Maiwand district, a Taliban-controlled area just west of Kandahar city. / But a Taliban spokesman said that 27 Afghan army personnel had been killed. / Qari Yusuf Ahmadi said that Taliban fighters had checked the documents of the passengers and released all the civilians before killing the soldiers/ Azimi denied the Taliban claims saying: "Our soldiers travel by military convoy, not in civilian buses. And we have military air transportation."<br /><br /><u> Helmand </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/237816,over-60-taliban-killed-in-fight-with-afghan-nato-forces.html">Over 60 "Taliban" killed in fight with Afghan, NATO forces</a></b><br />20.10.08. earth times / ICH. NATO and Afghan forces killed more than 60 "Taliban militants" in country's southern region in separate clashes, officials said Monday. In the latest attack, Afghan and NATO forces killed 34 Taliban militants in volatile southern Helmand province on Sunday night<br /><br />and<br /><br />Afghan defence ministry said in a statement that their forces killed six Taliban militants in Lashkargah, the provincial capital for the same Helmand province.<br /><br /><u> Wardak</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=425588">NATO: 20 insurgents killed west of Afghan capital</a></b><br />20.10.08. wired/anti-war. The province has become an insurgent stronghold at the gates of the capital just 40 miles west of Kabul.<br /><br /><u> Bagram</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-21-voa49.cfm">US Plane Destroyed in Afghanistan Accident</a></b><br />21.10.08. VOA. A U.S. Navy plane was destroyed Tuesday when it overshot the runway at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. / .. Authorities at the base say the plane sustained serious structural and fire damage as a result of the crash.<br /><br /><u> Khost</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Afghanistan.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">Coalition Airstrike Kills 8 Afghans, Officials Say</a></b><br />22.10.08. AP / NY Times. A U.S.-led coalition airstrike hit an Afghan army checkpoint early Wednesday, killing eight soldiers and wounding four others, Afghan officials said. / The strike hit an army checkpoint in Sayed Kheil area of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan, said Arsallah Jamal, the province's governor. / The potential friendly-fire incident could further strain relations between the government of President Hamid Karzai and its foreign backers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE49L0ZU20081022">Foreign troops kill nine Afghan soldiers</a></b><br />22.10.08. Reuters.<br /><br /><u> Uruzgan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.agi.it/world/news/200810221116-pol-ren0023-art.html">FIGHT BETWEEN REBELS AND POLICE CAUSED, 38</a></b><br />22.10.08. agi.it. The death toll of a cruel fight yesterday evening is at least 35 dead including 35 Taliban and three state police officers. The fight went on until the morning in the south-centre province of Uruzgan,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aEeHcpxCbBoQ&refer=us">U.S., Afghan Forces Kill 55 Militants; 3 Coalition Members Die</a></b><br />22.10.08. Robin Stringer,, Bloomberg / ICH.<br /><br /><u> W. Afghanistan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/23/asia/AS-Afghanistan.php">3 US coalition troops killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.10.08. AP. No location given.<br /><br /><u> Kabul</u><br /><br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu_nycYQG7sR_zz6tqyuyvxH991p7DKWd1SSPPEVH7PIEr_VcQtryvBQ6pua-Z4boKUqhvPNKi4fcCQbmbqF9zx9MXxqsgxied6xviMOJ-KNkpm9dgl-hipFEdxUg0mssVIwm6/s320/000460afghan.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262528038401566258" /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/25/afghanistan-pakistan"> Photograph: Ahmad Masood/Reuters </a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/25/afghanistan-pakistan">Afghanistan: Three people shot dead outside DHL's offices in Kabul</a></b><br />25.10.08. M. Tran, Guardian. The killings took place in front of the DHL headquarters in the upmarket Sher Pur area of Kabul, where many foreigners live. The Foreign Office named the British victim as David Giles. The other two killed were a South African and an Afghan.<br /><br /><u> Ghazni </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/26/afghanistan-investigates-reports-us-air-strike-killed-20-guards/">Report: US Air Strike Kills 24 Afghan Guards</a></b><br />26.10.08. anti-war. US forces called in an air strike in Ghazni Province to fend off a Taliban attack on guards for a road construction project. Now, provincial officials say they are investigating reports that the air strike killed 24 guards. A spokesman for the US military said they have <u>no information </u> regarding the incident. / .. This is the second major report of friend-fire casualties caused in a US air strike in the past few days. On Wednesday morning, a US air strike in Khost Province leveled an Afghan army checkpoint, killing nine soldiers. The coalition attributed those killings to “a case of mistaken identity on both sides.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE49P15A20081026?rpc=401">Afghans check killing of 20 in U.S. air strike</a></b><br />26.10.08. reuters / ICH. Afghan provincial authorities on Sunday were investigating reports that 20 private security guards were killed in a U.S.-led coalition air strike southwest of Kabul, two officials said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=b8be3f2f-5611-4afd-8894-3fb9c5d8de4e">U.S. troops say Afghan security guards attacked them</a></b><br />27.10.08. Canada.com. U.S. forces in Afghanistan said on Monday they had launched an air strike that killed a number of private Afghan security guards only after coming under fire from that position.<br /><br /><u> Wardak</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=auBiJrKrIsEI&refer=worldwide">Afghan Clashes Force Down Helicopter, Kill 2 Troops, U.S. Says</a></b><br />27.10.08. Gregory Viscusi, Bloomberg. The helicopter's 10-member crew was rescued without casualties after a gun battle in Wardak province, west of Kabul, U.S. spokesman Lieutenant Commander Walter Matthews said in a telephone interview from the Afghan capital. The helicopter was secured.<br /><br />In another attack, the soldiers died and three others were injured when they were targeted by a suicide bomber in northern Afghanistan, Matthews said. The <u>exact location of the incident wasn't revealed</u> because operations were still under way, he added. The dead soldiers were Americans and the attack took place in Baghlan province when an assailant dressed as a policeman detonated his charge, the Associated Press said.<br /><br /><u> Uruzgan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/asiapacific/081027-NATO-Uruzgan">New NATO offensive in Uruzgan</a></b><br />27.10.08. Hans de Vreij, radio Netherlands. NATO has conducted one of its larger operations to date in Southern Afghanistan. In a secret operation, one thousand soldiers were deployed to chase Taliban fighters from a contested area in Uruzgan province. The operation lasted ten days and ended on Sunday, the Dutch ministry of Defence announced. / Operation 'Bor Barakai' (or Thunder) took place in the Mirabad region, just east of the capital of Uruzgan Province, Tarin Kowt. ; British marines; small squirmishes;<br /><br /><br />SUICIDE ATTACKS<br /><br /><u> Herat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ww4report.com/node/6057">Afghanistan: 11 police dead in hydro-dam attack</a></b><br />21.09.08. ww4report / ICH. … in a rebel attack in western Afghanistan's Herat province Sept. 21.<br /><br /><u> Khost</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?206193">Afghan suicide blast kills three persons: Officials</a></b><br />26.09.08. Pak Tribune / ICH. A suicide bomber blew himself up in a bazaar in Afghanistan close to the border with Pakistan and killed three people, police said, in an attack similar to dozens by Taliban.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-09-26-voa22.cfm">Suicide Bomber Kills 4 in Eastern Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.09.08. VOA<br /><br /><u> Spin Boldak </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/PoliticsNation/6_killed_in_Taliban_suicide_attack_in_Afghanistan/articleshow/3537422.cms">6 killed in Taliban suicide attack in Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.09.08. India times. A suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up near two police vehicles in a border town in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing six people and wounding 17, police said.<br /><br /><u> Herat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081005/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrest">Six killed in new Afghan violence</a></b><br />05.10.08. In the western city of Herat on Sunday, a suicide attacker blew up an explosives-laden motorbike near an Afghan army convoy, wounding three civilians and a soldier in the convoy, police said. … / The attacker's body was torn to pieces.<br /><br /><u> Khost</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/236434,two-afghan-officials-46-taliban-killed-in-suicide-attack-clashes.html">Two Afghan officials, 46 Taliban killed in suicide attack, clashes</a></b><br />10.10.08. earthtimes / ICH<br /><br /><u> Uruzgan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C12%5Cstory_12-10-2008_pg7_30">12 killed in latest Afghan violence</a></b><br /><br /><u> Herat </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gl1jaqxJ9uLf0loXkKiwEYjg17xg">Suicide blast wounds NATO troops in Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.10.08. AFP. The car bomb exploded at the gates of a base which is run by Italian troops in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) with some Spanish soldiers also stationed there. .. / ISAF does not release the nationalities of its casualties.<br /><br /><u> Kunduz</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1438096.php/5_children_2_German_troops_die_in_Afghan_suicide_bombing">5 children, 2 German occupation troops killed in Afghan suicide bombing</a></b><br />20.10.08. m and c / ICH. Two other children who were playing nearby and two German soldiers were also wounded, Engineer Mohammad Omar said.<br /><br /><u> Kandahar</u><br /><br />[ATTN: ANIMAL LOVERS!]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=97042">Donkey bomb Kills Policeman</a></b><br />24.10.08. AFP. A donkey loaded with explosives was remotely blown up close to a police vehicle in southern Afghanistan Thursday, killing a policeman and wounding three others, police said. The force of the blast flung the vehicle into a ditch several meters away in the southern city of Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban movement that is behind an increasing number of bombings in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><u> Other Dead in Afghanistan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6514851.html">Unknown gunmen shot dead gov't official in S Afghanistan</a></b><br />14.10.08. English people. Two unknown gunmen Tuesday morning shot dead [Dost Mohammad Arghestani, the provincial chief of work and public affairs department] on his way to work in southern Afghan province of <u>Kandahar</u>, a police official said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=140878">With Malangay’s death, a top underworld figure meets his fate</a></b><br />14.10.08. The news. His real name was Zahir and he was an Afghan national. But few knew his real name and fewer still were aware that he wasn’t a Pakistani. Malangay in due course of time became a household name just like other known criminals from the past. / He was killed Sunday in mysterious circumstances on the M-1 Section of the Motorway linking Peshawar with Islamabad. / .. Malangay and Ahmer were killed on the spot while the driver and Hayat sustained serious injuries. Tahir, brother of Malangay, told media that they had recognized their enemies and very soon they would avenge the killing.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=458ba7c5-6bf0-41d7-9794-afb5791ab009">Afghan elder and son shot dead outside mosque</a></b><br />18.10.08. Canwest News Service / legitgov. Haji Ali Ahmad Khan, a leader of the Barackzai tribe in Kandahar, and his son, Gul Ahmad, were leaving a mosque in <u>Kandahar</u>'s Bekhoja neighbourhood at roughly 6 a.m. when the assailants struck.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=423740">Former Karzai bodyguard killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.10.08. wired/anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=431931">Attackers gouge out Afghan man's eyes</a></b><br />26.10.08. Noor Khan, Reuters. Sayed Ghulam, 52, was recovering in a hospital in the country's largest southern city, Kandahar. Ghulam said three armed men knocked on his door in the Sangin district of Helmand province late Thursday. When he opened the door, they punched him in the face, put the barrel of a Kalashnikov rifle in his mouth and gouged out his eyes with a knife in the presence of his wife and seven children. / … Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi denied that Taliban fighters were involved. "Whenever we carry out an attack we claim responsibility," Ahmadi said. "We didn't gouge out this man's eyes."<br /><br /><br /><a id="5000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <b> 5. Killing Civilians</b><br /></div><br /><em>”In real life, the escalating civilian death toll is not a mistake, but the result of a clear decision to put the lives of occupation troops before civilians; westerners before Afghans.”</em><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/16/afghanistan-nato"> Seamus Milne</a> (Guardian 16.10.08)<br /><br />For more info on Drones and their cost, see <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html"> here </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://hrw.org/reports/2008/afghanistan0908/">Airstrikes and Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan</a></b><br />September 2008. Human Rights Watch. The US, which operates in Afghanistan through its counter-insurgency forces in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), has increasingly relied on airpower in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations. The combination of light ground forces and overwhelming airpower has become the dominant doctrine of war for the US in Afghanistan. The result has been large numbers of civilian casualties, controversy over the continued use of airpower in Afghanistan, and intense criticism of US and NATO forces by Afghan political leaders and the general public. .. / Key Recommendations: <b>Human Rights Watch urges the US and NATO to adopt measures that reduce civilian casualties from airstrikes</b>.<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=114659&d=22&m=9&y=2008">Downhill in Afghanistan: The most remote place on earth is now the most dangerous</a></b><br />22.09.08. Jonathan Power, arab news / antiwar. In Barack Obama’s phrase, American public opinion doesn’t get it. .. / The policy, made within hours of the atrocity of 9/11, seemed to be to try to bomb the country to cinders, irrespective of the number of civilian casualties, not learning the lesson of Dresden, that wild bombing rather than leading to capitulation merely reinforces local opinion against the aggressor. Later, troops on the ground have continued to alienate local opinion with their seeming inability to differentiate between fighters and civilians. …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=164502">The incessant slaughter of Afghan civilians</a></b><br />23.09.08. D. Lewis, aljazeera magazine. Why American military “investigations” do nothing to prevent airstrike massacres against Afghan civilians. / However, the U.S. reaction to this latest in an unending stream of gung-ho trigger happy massacres of defenceless civilians has been entirely predictable with the <em>hollow promise</em> of “an investigation” and an immediate counter claim that “only 30 were killed” as if that makes it O.K! … / (discussion of the Wedding Murders) / If this is the standard of “investigation” we can expect from the U.S. Military, desperately focusing on exonerating their own incompetence even in the teeth of their own evidence whilst blaming the innocent Afghan children for getting in the way of their hail of bullets then there is little hope of any improvement in their regular slaughter of defenceless Afghan women and children.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/09/24/un-afghan.html">Civilian casualties threaten military efforts in Afghanistan: Karzai</a></b><br />24.09.08. CBC/anti-war. The death of innocent Afghan civilians in foreign bombing raids could seriously undermine the efforts to fight terrorism, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai told the UN General Assembly Wednesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.muslimnews.co.uk/paper/index.php?article=3710">US and NATO airstrikes triple Afghan civilian death toll</a></b><br />26.09.08. Fatema G Valji, muslim news. Air attacks by US and NATO forces killed at least 321 Afghan civilians last year, as compared to 116 killed in 2006, states Human Right Watch (HRW) in a report released on September 8. It warns that deadly air strikes continue to inflict mass civilian casualties in 2008, with at least 119 civilians already killed by US and NATO airpower from January to July.<br />However, the HRW’s 43-page report fails to document mass civilian casualties prior to 2006. / According to a 2002 study by Carl Conetta, co-director of the Project of Defense Alternatives (PDA), a minimum of 1,000 to 1,300 civilians were killed directly as a result of aerial bombardment in the first 3 months of the invasion. Jonathan Steele of The Guardian has argued that as many as 20,000 may have been killed due to starvation, dislocation and other indirect consequences of air strikes from October 2001 to early 2002. / The HRW report focuses only on the last 2 of 7 years of western military intervention, neglecting to trace the resulting Afghan civilian death toll since the US-led war began in October 2001.<br /><br />SEE ALSO <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp10072008.html"> here</a>.<br />According to the United Nations, 1,445 civilians were killed in the war from January through August this year---a rise of 39 per cent over 2007. At least 577 of these deaths were due to the actions of pro-government forces. Deaths from air strikes have tripled since 2006.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://2ser.podomatic.com/entry/eg/2008-10-03T23_51_02-07_00">RAZORS EDGE</a></b><br />03.10.08. John Pilger, Current Affairs from 2SER FM, Sydney, Australia. in.reuters. A recent Human Rights Watch report has shown that twice as many bombs were dropped on Afghanistan in 2007 than were in 2006. / Civilian deaths are also on the rise, yet in the West, Afghanistan seems to have an image as a ‘good’ or ‘just’ war, compared to Iraq. / So are citizens in ‘coalition’ nations aware of these facts, and would the Afghanistan conflict enjoy the same public support if they did? Pilger talks with Nick Hollins.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hI3vuvC-SOmTbaRC_fDTM4XjIyng">3,200 Afghan civilians killed by NATO, US action since 2005: study</a></b><br />07.10.08. AFP.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=01010000000000.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 419px; height: 139px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=01010000000000.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47790&s2=08">The Matrix of Death. A New Dossier on the (Im)Precision of U.S Bombing and the (Under)Valuation of an Afghan Life</a></b><br />07.10.08. Prof. Marc Herold, uruknet.de. The overarching theme of this dossier is to carefully document the very low value put on the lives of common Afghans by U.S. military and political elites (along with their many handmaidens in the corporate media). Highlights include:<br /><br /> Exposing three common subterfuges used to rationalize the killing of Afghan civilians;<br /><br /> Pointing out that Afghan civilians killed by U.S/NATO forces’ direct action since January 1, 2006 now outnumber those who perished in the original U.S. bombing and invasion during the first three months (2001) of the U.S. Afghan war. The overall human toll is far greater than just those killed by direct U.S/NATO actions as it includes all those who died later from injuries, the internally displaced who died in camps, etc.;<br /><br /> Documenting that close air support (CAS) bombing is more deadly to Afghan civilians than was the strategic bombing of Laos and Cambodia;<br /><br /> Revealing that CAS air strikes now account for about 80 % of all Afghan civilians who perish at the hands of the U.S. and NATO;<br /><br /> Emphasizing that by relying upon aerial close air support (CAS) attacks, US/NATO forces spare their pilots and ground troops but kill lots of innocent Afghan civilians. Air strikes are 4-10 times as deadly for Afghan civilians as are ground attacks;<br /><br /> Revealing that Human Rights Watch "counts" at best only 50% of the Afghan civilians killed by U.S/NATO actions, whereas the figure for the Associated Press is a mere 33 %; moreover neither present verifiable/reproducible disaggregated data thereby violating a basic tenet of social science;<br /><br /> Presenting a unique analysis of compensation/condolence payments made by the United States in eight countries. The United States spent ten times more on saving an Alaskan sea otter after the Exxon Valdez oil spill than in condolence payments to Afghan families for a family member killed by U.S. occupation forces.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/16/afghanistan-nato">Civilian dead are a trade-off in Nato's war of barbarity</a></b><br />16.10.08. S. Milne, Guardian. The killing of innocent Afghans by US bombs is the result of a calculation, not just a mistake. And it is fuelling resistance. .. most telling is the political and military calculation that underlies the Afghan civilian bloodletting. "Close air support" bomb attacks called in by ground forces - which rose from 176 in 2005 to 2,926 in 2007 and are now the US tactic of choice - are between four and 10 times as deadly for Afghan civilians as ground attacks, the figures show, and air strikes now account for 80% of those killed by the occupation forces. / But while 242 US and Nato ground troops have died in the war with the Taliban this year, not a single pilot has been killed in action. The trade-off could not be clearer. With troops thin on the ground and the US military up to their necks in Iraq and elsewhere, US and Nato reliance on air attacks minimises their own casualties while guaranteeing that Afghan civilians will die in far larger numbers.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=wailing.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 170px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=wailing.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48013&s2=17">Road to Perdition: Yet Another Atrocity in Afghanistan, More to Come</a></b><br />16.10.08. Chris Floyd, uruknet. On Wednesday night, the BBC reported that a British soldier had been killed in Helmland province in Afghanistan. On Thursday night, the BBC reported that an airstrike by as-yet unidentified "foreign forces" has killed at least 18 civilians -- in Helmland province. From the BBC: A BBC reporter in the provincial capital <u>Lashkar Gah</u> saw the bodies - three women and the rest children - ranging in age from six months to 15. The families brought the bodies from their village in the Nad Ali district, where they say the air strike occurred. A further nine bodies are said to be trapped under destroyed buildings. Nato-led forces say they are investigating the incident in an area where the British military are known to operate. This attack comes on top of an even more horrific mass slaughter a few weeks ago, when an American airstrike killed more than 90 civilians in Azizabad. Then, the Pentagon, with the connivance of FOX "journalist" Oliver North -- who made his bones running guns from the mullhas of Iran to the terrorist Contra army in Nicaragua -- at first denied that any citizens were killed in the village, then tried to insinuate that the Taliban had planted the dead bodies. Only after video evidence and on-the-ground probes by the Afghan government and the UN did the Pentagon re-open its investigation, and finally admit that, well, maybe a few civilians did get knicked, er, fatally, in what was otherwise a magnificent feat of arms against a bristling enemy position...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KKAA-7KN9PF?OpenDocument">Statement by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Kai Eide</a></b><br />21.10.08. Relief web. "Yesterday's killing of five children in Kunduz from a suicide bomb attack; the reports I have seen of beheadings and loss of life on a bus in Kandahar; abductions of innocent Afghans across the country; and the killing of a foreign aid worker in Kabul are of very great concern to me. / "I have stressed many times over the past months the need for proper protection of civilians during combat. With these incidents there was no combat. The purpose of such attacks is to stoke fear among the wider population. I strongly condemn all such acts.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/cloughley10222008.html">Kid Killers are Barbarians</a></b><br />22.10.08. Brian Cloughley, Counterpunch. [discussion of Lashkar Gah murders] .. on suicide bombing in Pakistan; On 90 killed in Azizabad: … / In a series of statements about the operation, the US military has said that extremists who entered the village after the bombardment encouraged villagers to change their story and inflate the number of dead.” … / If there had been no independent reporting of the atrocity it would, like so many others, have been forgotten about. … But Washington was forced to order an inquiry. Not that there is any intention to take disciplinary action against those responsible for any aspect of the horrible affair, even when it was eventually admitted there were “more than 30” civilians killed, because, with indifferent callousness, the spin-masters pronounced that the strike was against “<u>a legitimate target</u>.”<br /><br /><b>The pattern is clear : first lie your head off after a war crime has been committed; then try to play down the gravity of the slaughter and while you’re at it, vilify anyone courageous enough to have held an independent inquiry that discovered the truth. After it is obvious that a major atrocity did actually take place, all must wring hands and announce that an inquiry is to be held. (If anxious to appear serious it is better to state that it will be a “full” inquiry. But on no account must there be representation at the inquiry by officials, or, indeed, attendance by any citizens of the country in which the attack has taken.) Last, when irrefutable evidence has to be grudgingly admitted, say that there has been a mistake but that the people who identified the target, fired the missiles or lied in their teeth about the squalid affair are not going to receive even a wrist-slap in punishment. Then the whole affair will be forgotten except by the few hundred more Afghans, Iraqis or Pakistanis who have been persuaded that US “freedom” is meaningless and queue up to join the ranks of anti-western fanatics and suicide bombers.</b><br /><br />People who kill kids, for whatever reason and no matter in what manner, are disgusting, murderous, cowardly barbarians.<br /><br />There is a chilling parallel between the types of child killers. On the one hand, a formal military organisation is adamant that “legitimate targets” must be blasted even if the deaths of children are inevitable. On the other, the psychotic savages who plan and carry out suicide bombings that slaughter innocent youngsters are convinced their atrocities are justified by a warped interpretation of their Faith.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?Id=752046&SMap=1">NATO 's top military official discusses civilian casualties in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.10.08. rtt. "There are problems in a few areas, but there is also peace in the rest of Afghanistan," Di Paola [chairman of NATO's military committee] told reporters Thursday. / His briefing comes a day after coalition forces killed nine Afghan soldiers in an erroneous air strike in the troubled eastern province of Khost.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=c681d3d8-7915-475a-ae2f-534ef455faeb">Thousands protest killing of Afghan civilians by Taliban</a></b><br />24.10.08. AFP. Thousands of people took to the streets of eastern Afghanistan Friday to protest against the killing of 27 [bus] civilians by Taliban insurgents. / .. Protesters on Friday chanted "Death to the barbarian Taliban and Americans" as they took to streets in Mihtarlam, the capital of Lahgman province in the east of the country.<br /><br /><em> True or False? </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24548793-2702,00.html">ADF's Afghan victims top Iraq</a></b><br />25.10.08. Australian news. MORE innocent civilians have been accidentally killed or injured by Australian troops in Afghanistan than occurred during the entire Iraq conflict. / The Australian Defence Force does not disclose the total number of civilians killed or injured in ADF operations, but it has revealed that more "moral" compensation payments to victims have already been made in Afghanistan than were made during the war in Iraq.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/world/middleeast/28syria.html?_r=2&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin"> US “terrorist aggression” </a><br /><br /><br /><a id="6000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 6. Viewpoints on the War in Afghanistan</b><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47455&s2=24">Coming Attractions: War Without End, Amen</a></b><br />23.09.08. CHRIS FLOYD, uruknet. In a remarkably candid document, "The 2008 Army Modernization Strategy," the Pentagon lays out the perpetual blowback arising from the relentless pursuit of what George W. Bush once proudly hailed as "the single sustainable model of national success" -- i.e., rapacious crony capitalism backed up with state violence. This "model" -- which was once proclaimed as the "end of history," the unsurpassable apex of human development -- has been imposed -- at gunpoint, bribery and extortion -- on much of the world. The result has been, quite literally, the devouring of the earth: resources stripped bare, the climate poisoned and sent careening wildly out of balance, nations destroyed, populations dispossessed, societies rent asunder, violence run rampant, a tsunami of corruption and degradation ravaging the world.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>Polls</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/697188.html">Most Americans think U.S. is losing war on terrorism, poll finds</a></b><br />22.09.08. S. Thomma, McClatchy<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/ips/gharib.php?articleid=13523">US War on al-Qaeda Widely Viewed as a Bust</a></b><br />29.09.08. Ali Gharib. Anti-war. The U.S. is failing to rein in its primary target in the "global war on terror" – al-Qaeda – according to a new poll [.pdf] of 23 countries across the globe. Conducted for the BBC World Service by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) and Globescan, the poll reveals that in every country surveyed but one, respondents think that the U.S.' actions have failed to weaken the international terror group.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><em> Immunity</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=166848">“International law cannot reach Bush!”</a></b><br />29.09.08. aljazeera. Bush and his aides have full protection against legal actions taken against them for committing crimes against humanity. Bush passed The Impunity Bills in the U.S. Congress silently with the help of the U.S. and the European media before he invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. / <b>These bills give Bush and his gang a full and impenetrable constitutional and legal protection against any legal action taken against them by anyone at home or abroad for committing crimes against humanity</b>. / Under these bills, they cannot be extradited to any country or to The International Court of Law in The Hague for a trial.<br /><br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> Robert Fisk</b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20818.htm"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyHxMGAW7KVna7zGxaGMm5KGZ49l_8wE60-TfQ34MBCeKyaI5EsvWLSAudWxz6rllBPA0RYQOxNiI4RCXPPETk9xlBh1bgWlymPjIp_RrH8GwVUtQUh1s-yc11v5pYHtXKrZGz/s200/robertfisk.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261978794194896658" border="0" /></a><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20818.htm">Why Does the US Think it Can Win in Afghanistan?</a></b><br />20.09.08. Robert Fisk, Independent / ICH. Back in 2001, we won the war in Afghanistan by overthrowing the Taliban. Then we marched off to win the war in Iraq. Now - with at least one suicide bombing a day and the nation carved up into mutually antagonistic sectarian enclaves - we have won the war in Iraq and are heading back to re-win the war in Afghanistan where the Taliban, so thoroughly trounced by our chaps seven years ago, have proved their moral and political bankruptcy by recapturing half the country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080926_robert_fisk_the_middle_east_is_not_a_complex_place/">Robert Fisk: ‘The Middle East Is Not a Complex Place’"</a></b><br />26.09.08. Robert Sheer, Truth Dig interview. The acclaimed journalist stopped by our offices this week, where he told Truthdig Editor Robert Scheer that the Middle East is a lot less puzzling than it’s made out to be: “It’s we who are there, not the other way round. ... It’s not our land. It’s not our religion. Our soldiers are in the Muslim world and they should not be there.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisks-world-bush-rescues-wall-street-but-leaves-his-soldiers-to-die-in-iraq-944071.html">Robert Fisk's World: Bush rescues Wall Street but leaves his soldiers to die in Iraq</a></b><br />27.09.08. Robert Fisk, Independent. … Indeed, a strange narrative is now being built into the daily history of America. First we won the war in <u>Afghanistan</u> by overthrowing the evil, terrorist-protecting misogynist Islamist crazies called the Taliban, setting up a democratic government under the exotically dressed Hamid Karzai. Then we rushed off to Iraq and overthrew the evil, terrorist-protecting, nuclear-weaponised, secular Baathist crazies under Saddam, setting up a democratic government under the pro-Iranian Shia Nouri al-Maliki. Mission accomplished. Then, after 250,000 Iraqi deaths – or half a million or a million, who cares? – we rushed back to Kabul and Kandahar to win the war all over again in Afghanistan. The conflict now embraces our old chums in Pakistan, the Saudi-financed, American-financed Interservices Intelligence Agency whose Taliban friends – now attacked by our brave troops inside Pakistani sovereign territory – again control half of Afghanistan./ We are, in fact, now fighting a war in what I call Irakistan. It's hopeless; it's a mess; it's shameful; it's unethical and it's unwinnable and no wonder the Wall Street meltdown was greeted with such relief by Messrs Obama and McCain.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080929_bush_favors_bankers_over_soldiers/">Bush Favors Bankers Over Soldiers</a></b><br />29.09.08. Robert Fisk, independent / Truthdig. It was a weird week to be in the United States. On Tuesday, secretary of the treasury Henry Paulson told us that “this is all about the American taxpayer – that’s all we care about.” But …<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frvhEB6C-xU"> INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT FISK ON ALJAZEERA </a> (30.09.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20921.htm">"The Age of the Warrior"</a></b><br />02.10.08. Robert Fisk, Democracy Now. As the US-led wars in the Middle East shows no sign of abating we turn now to a man who has chronicled eleven major wars in this part of the world. Fisk on the U.S. Elections, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Israel-Palestine<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisks-world-collateral-damage-or-targeted-killing-the-effect-is-much-the-same-957903.html">'Collateral damage' or targeted killing, the effect is much the same</a></b><br />11.10.08. Robert Fisk, Independent / ICH. When a Taliban attack on Nato forces in Afghanistan provokes a US air strike on a village and leaves women and children torn to pieces in the ruins – this now seems the inevitable result – what is the difference between those innocent deaths and the destruction of the families of Abdullah's grandchildren in Dujail? / Yes, I know that Saddam's thugs selected the relatives of his enemies and we merely kill anyone in the area of our enemies. And yes, I grant you the outcome is not the same. The Iraqi dictator was hanged in Baghdad in 2006, cursed by his hooded Shia "Al-Dawa" executioners as he stood on the scaffold. For us, there will be no hangings.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48255&s2=26">Why the U.S. Plan Failed in Afghanistan and Iraq</a></b><br />12.10.08. Ghanem Abdel-Zahra, Translated By Samar Elia, uruknet. ...The U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan have failed miserably and their dangerous implications have started surfacing in the U.S. economy, a foreteller to the fall of American power and the one pole governing the world, reaching to the disappearance of the American empire Bush dreamed about when he said, after invading Iraq: "God has commissioned me to do this." This is the year of falling in the Iraqi and Afghan quagmire, out of which the only way is to quickly withdraw before it is too late...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081018_ancient_words_our_leaders_should_heed/">Ancient Words Our Leaders Should Heed</a></b><br />18.10.08. Robert Fisk, Truthdig. … I have to admit that I was inspired to reread the great man’s fourth-century BC tract by Professor David Rovie of the Auckland University of Technology, who startled a weary Fisk in New Zealand a few weeks ago by pointing out that Thucydides’ work contained all the lessons we need to learn about war, human rights, the treatment of prisoners, the cowardice of politicians, and the cold-hearted decisions of nation states. / Thucydides himself said – it is, of course, his most famous quotation – that it was enough for him that his words “be judged useful by those who want to understand clearly the events which happened in the past and which (human nature being what it is) will, at some time or other and in much the same ways, be repeated in the future”. / His work, Thucydides wrote – and I am using Rex Warner’s translation – was “not a piece of writing designed to meet the taste of an immediate public but was done to last for ever”. Well, he can say that again. How many of our historians or journalists or novelists or playwrights work for those who will (despite the internet) still read them in 2,000 years’ time? Tolstoy maybe, Shakespeare, I imagine. But will the historians of our latter-day wars – the Beavors and the Barnetts and the Bullocks, even the Churchills – be read in 4008?<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/27/foreign-journalists-risk-warlords-islamic-hard-lin/">Risks increase for Afghan war reporters</a></b><br />27.09.08. Washington times.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1001/p99s01-duts.html">key players differ on containment strategy</a></b><br />02.10.08. CS Monitor. The divergent approaches of the U.S., Pakistan, and Afghanistan highlight the complexity of developing a unified front on terrorism.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/3/1623-the-wounded-shark-good-war-lost-but-the-imperial-project-goes-on.html">The Wounded Shark: 'Good War' Lost, But the Imperial Project Goes On</a></b><br />05.10.08. Chris Floyd, empire burlesque. Don't tell Obama and McCain, but the war they are both counting on to make their bones as commander-in-chief -- the "good war" in Afghanistan, which both men have pledged to expand -- is already lost. Their joint strategy of pouring more troops, tanks, missiles and planes into the roaring fire -- not to mention their intention to spread the war into Pakistan -- will only lead to disaster.<br /><br />Who says so? America's biggest ally in the Afghan adventure: Great Britain. This week, two top figures in the British effort in Afghanistan -- Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, UK ambassador to Kabul, and Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, the senior British military commander in Afghanistan -- both said that the war was "unwinnable," and that continuing the current level of military operations there, much less expanding it, was a strategy "doomed to fail."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/10/06/news0967.htm">India factors in Afghanistan crisis</a></b><br />06.10.08. Gregory r. Copley, The New Nation. The U.S. conduct of the war in Afghanistan has created an enormous potential for instability in Pakistan, which Washington has claimed is a major 'non-NATO ally' on which it depends. / U.S. and Western media reporting currently portrays the problems facing ISAF as coming into Afghanistan from Pakistan, but the reality is the reverse of this: stirring the problem in Afghanistan causes problems to flow into Pakistan. … / India's involvement follows an historical geopolitical pattern, but much of it is institutionalized as 'payback' for Pakistani Government support for the Muslim separatist movement in Indian-occupied Jammu & Kashmir over the past decades. At the same time, close U.S.-Indian intelligence ties at a formal level and within the Afghan battle space mean that India is feeding a range of 'tailored intelligence' into the U.S. system which shapes U.S. political and intelligence perceptions of the situation, encouraging the belief that 'Pakistan is the problem' in resolving the counter-Taliban conflict in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47794&s2=08">TIME TO FACE FACTS IN AFGHANISTAN</a></b><br />06.10.08. Eric Margolis, URUKNET. For those who savor historical irony, the Soviet Empire collapsed in the years 1989-1991 because of an implosion of its economy brought on by a ruinous arms race with the United States and the heavy costs of occupying Afghanistan. / Seventeen years later came the turn of the world’s other great imperial power, the United States. Lethally bloated by runaway debt, and burdened by 50% of the world’s military spending, the house of cards known as the US economy finally collapsed....<br /><br />VIDEO <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/insidestory/2008/10/2008105115518198495.html">Losing the war in Afghanistan </a> (07.10.08.Inside Story, aljazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/bookman/entries/2008/10/07/us_grip_on_afghanistan_slippin.html">U.S. grip on Afghanistan slipping</a></b><br />07.10.08. Jay Bookman, ajc. Obscured by the presidential elections and the drama on Wall Street, our grip on Afghanistan seems to be slipping.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp10072008.html">Seven Years in Afghanistan: From "War on Terror" to "War of Terror"</a></b><br />07.10.08. Gary Leupp, Counterpunch. Seven years ago today the U.S. began the assault on Afghanistan that toppled the Taliban regime and produced the present mess. Abetted by U.S. bombing and commando operations, the Northern Alliance took Kabul on November 13, 2001. This was the initial U.S. response to 9-11, an assault on the U.S. by Saudi Islamist fanatics based in Afghanistan. The al-Qaeda attacks killed 3000 people. By March 2002 the U.S. bombing had produced that many Afghan civilian fatalities. This was just the beginning. The invasion produced little change in the daily life of the average Afghan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174986/anand_gopal_who_rules_afghanistan_">The Surge That Failed</a></b><br />09.10.08. Anand Gopal, Tomgram. When, decades from now, historians compile the record of this Afghan war, they will date the Afghan version of the surge -- the now trendy injection of large numbers of troops to resuscitate a flagging war effort -- to sometime in early 2007. Then, a growing insurgency was causing visible problems for U.S. and NATO forces in certain pockets in the southern parts of the country, long a Taliban stronghold. In response, military planners dramatically beefed up the international presence, raising the number of troops over the following 18 months by 20,000, a 45% jump. … / During the same period, the country descended into a state of utter dereliction -- no jobs, very little reconstruction, and ever less security. In turn, the rising civilian death toll and the decaying economy proved a profitable recipe for the Taliban, who recruited significant numbers of new fighters. They also won the sympathy of Afghans who saw them as the lesser of two evils. Once confined to the deep Afghan south, today the insurgents operate openly right at the doorstep of Kabul, the capital. / This last surge, little noted by the media, failed miserably, but Washington is now planning another one, even as Afghanistan slips away.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u> Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=47622">Afghan resistance statement: withdrawal of invader forces is the only solution to Afghan conflict</a></b><br />10.10.08. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, uruknet. The Americans, British and the United Nations are now raising a hue and cry that there is no military solution to the crisis in Afghanistan, that a peaceful solution should be sought and that face-to-face talks should be held with the Taliban. If they had thought about this seven years ago and had not resorted to the invasion of Afghanistan, not trampled upon the sanctity and dignity of Afghanistan, not martyred tens of thousands of innocent Afghans, not tormented thousands of Afghans under the pretext of fighting terrorism in dark prisons, then such talk would have been more appropriate with some chance of being listened to. ... The Islamic Emirate wants to make it clear that the only solution and the most successful path for resolving the Afghanistan problem is for the foreign forces to leave Afghanistan unconditionally and to respect Afghanistan's national independence and Islamic faith...<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBMXLJjBRZ7CIWzp0N67U0ZkwdKhp0a5MGK595DPWxLZPiR5YV7uxEsrO9tIzUhyphenhyphen0DKXFFrPCa6c885D27LLgq-2rqfKUhDiRA6eJ_EOe-8OLuhkt5-10c5cFm9hh5CIYMeH8B/s320/fighters.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261981230956076418" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48036&s2=18">Afghan resistance statement” US Economic Crisis Indicates the Beginning of the Fall of the American Empire</a></b><br />17.10.08. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan/uruknet. The US economy and the credit crisis have reached a phase that cannot be easily turned back. Neither America nor the European monetary funds and banks have any effective way out strategy. The European Union Summit in Paris, far from giving any financial shoulder to [the] US to save it from a depression, tried to stay away from the negative impacts of the crisis. In a flurry of efforts to evade the negative spill over of the current US credit crisis, the members of the European Union are openly lambasting the US Administration for its stubborn military approach towards world affairs, which consequently ushered the present financial quagmire. In another word, the current economic crisis is, in fact, a sign of the fall of the American empire ..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48168&s2=24">Statement regarding mobile phone usage restrictions</a></b><br />22.10.08. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan/uruknet. The Mujahid nation of Afghanistan is faced with a stubborn and rebellious enemy that has no commitment to any national or international standards. Given this information, The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is compelled to adopt measures that force decisions on some complicated and challenging issues. The occupying invader forces use telephone communications for espionage and investigation purp! oses in order to suppress Afghans. This is against all international standards. Therefore, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has decided to ban the use of mobile phone services at night in order to protect the Afghan people and the Mujahideen<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48188&s2=25">Americans Last Ditch Attempt</a></b><br />23.10.08. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan/uruknet. The US and its alliance of warlords have not been able to build a peaceful, prosperous Afghanistan after the passage of seven years and despite their using of various tactics of terrorism and occupation. Nor they have been able to establish a central, successful and representative government, nor an administration based on their vision and pre-conceived formulas. / This is because they wanted to impose on the Afghans a surrogate regime nurtured in the nursery of the West, being headed by a quasi-Afghan faces. Thus, the US wanted to keep the Afghan patriotic nation chained in its colonial tentacles. / The Americans are determined to form tribal militias via dispensation of dollars and play the tribal people against the Mujahideen. During his visit to Afghanistan, US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, indicated that they were pondering to hammer out a new strategy for Afghanistan and the region, because the tribal militias strategy has proved its effectiveness in Iraq. The US Defence Secretary and the masterminds behind the formation of the tribal militias should know that the tribal militias strategy was never a successful one in Iraq either.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48297&s2=29">Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan on false reports of eye gouging</a></b><br />27.10.08. Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan / uruknet. Some media outlets have published reports, quoting a person who very well may have been admitted to Mirwais Hospital in Kandahar province. .. The aforementioned individual did not on any occasion identify Taliban fighters as his attackers. Furthermore, in response to questions from several journalists, he (the victim) only elaborated that the area in which the attack occurred is under the control of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan... According to the latest reports, Taliban in the area say that even after comprehensive and widespread inquiries they have not received any information about such an incident... Recently the enemy, out of desperation, has engaged in numerous conspiracies against the Mujahideen and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan... By publishing such reports, the enemy wants to promote colonialism and hide the shameful practice of bombing civilians en masse....<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://khaledhosseini.com/blog/2008/10/optimism_or_pessimism_thoughts_1.html">Optimism or Pessimism - thoughts on Afghanistan's future</a></b><br />11.10.08. Khaled Hosseini. There is plenty going in Afghanistan to fuel pessimism. … / I went to Afghanistan in September 2007 with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and I saw for myself the high blast walls on the streets of Kabul, aimed at protecting against suicide attacks. Those walls did not exist the last time I was in Kabul, back in the spring of 2003, and I did not feel at that time the unease I did this time when I walked through crowded streets and bazaars.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081014_bush_doctrine_becomes_dod_dogma/">Bush Doctrine Becomes DoD Dogma</a></b><br />14.10.08. William Pfaff, Truthdig. Last June the U.S. Department of Defense unexpectedly issued a new version of its National Defense Strategy. It was unexpected because there will be a new administration in Washington in January, which might be expected to issue a statement of its own ideas about military strategy. … / The noteworthy thing about this National Defense Strategy statement is that it says nothing directly about American national defense. It is a <b>strategy for intervening in other countries, and preventing others from blocking or resisting American interventions</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JJ15Df01.html">A mad scramble over Afghanistan</a></b><br />15.10.08. M K Bhadrakumar, asia times.<br />An impression is being created that there is a "rift" between the United States and Britain regarding the reconciliation track involving the Taliban. The plain truth is that the US, Britain, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are in this murky game together. … / Ultimately, the objectives of nation-building and legitimate governance in an environment of overall security that allows economic activities and development can only be realized by accommodating native priorities and interests. Washington has been far too prescriptive, creating a US-style presidential system in Kabul and then controlling it.<br /><br /><u> “Human Terrain”</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/afghanistan-d-3.html">Afghanistan Diary: Mapping the Human Terrain in Helmand, Part II</a></b><br />15.10.08. Nathan Hodge, blog.wired. the Marines handed out over $784,000 in battle damage aid at the Civil Military Operations Center in Garmsir. They also took biometric data – fingerprints, photos and retina scans. “We logged everybody who came in, took their pictures, thumbprints, all that kind of stuff,” he said. .. / “Human terrain mapping” is all the rage inside the Pentagon these days, part of a larger push to increase the cultural sophistication of the military.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/26/19799459_2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 462px; height: 357px;" src="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/08/26/19799459_2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/08/harpers-hts.html"> <span style="font-size:85%;">Blog.wired.com</span></a> </div><br /><br />Also read Noah Schachman’s Article, “Inside Afghanistan's 'Human Terrain' (Updated)”<a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/08/harpers-hts.html"> here</a>. (27.08.08. blog.wired.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=13608">Moving Towards a 'Grand Bargain' in Afghanistan</a></b><br />19.10.08. Jim Lobe, anti-war. Increasingly frustrated by the "downward spiral" that the U.S. intelligence community sees in Afghanistan, the Pentagon appears to be moving in support of engaging leaders of the resurgent Taliban who are prepared to disassociate themselves from al Qaeda. / While the seeds for that strategy are being planted now, the next U.S. president – be it the current front-runner, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, or his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain – will likely be advised by Pentagon chief Robert Gates and the new chief of the U.S. Central Command (Centcom), Gen. David Petraeus, to support such an effort as the most effective way to stabilize Afghanistan where the "global war on terror" first began seven years ago.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.e-ariana.com/ariana/eariana.nsf/allDocs/659E7EC72EB1418E872574E8004FF2EF?OpenDocument">From Great Game to Grand Bargain: Ending Chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan</a></b><br />20.10.08. Barnett R. Rubin, Ahmed Rashid, Foreign Affairs/ariana. Excellet article, suggest reading all.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=563Eb-541xc"> Losing the War in Afghanistan</a> (05.10.08, Part 1. aljazeera). PART 2 <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=563Eb-541xc"> here</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102008M">Afghanistan's Emerging Antiwar Movement</a></b><br />20.10.08. Anand Gopal, The Christian Science Monitor / Truthout. In a musty room near the edge of town, a group of bearded men sit on the floor and heatedly discuss strategy. The men are in the planning stages of an event that they hope will impact Afghan politics - a peace jirga, or assembly, that will agitate for the end of the war between the Taliban and Afghan government by asking the two sides to come to a settlement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.e-ariana.com/ariana/eariana.nsf/allDocs/659E7EC72EB1418E872574E8004FF2EF?OpenDocument">From Great Game to Grand Bargain: Ending Chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan</a></b><br />20.10.08. Barnett R. Rubin, Ahmed Rashid.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/david-davis-we-are-losing-taliban-battle-966926.html">David Davis: We are losing Taliban battle</a></b><br />20.10.08. MP David Davis, Independent/uruknet. It is time to face facts in Afghanistan: the situation is spiraling downwards, and if we do not change our approach, we face disaster. Violence is up in two-thirds of the country, narcotics are the main contributor to the economy, criminality is out of control and the government is weak, corrupt and incompetent. The international coalition is seen as a squabbling bunch of foreigners who have not delivered on their promises. Although the Taliban have nowhere near majority support, their standing is growing rapidly among some ordinary Afghans...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081020_the_idiots_who_rule_america/">The Idiots Who Rule America</a></b><br />20.10.08. Chris Hedges, Truthdig. Our oligarchic class is incompetent at governing, managing the economy, coping with natural disasters, educating our young, handling foreign affairs, providing basic services like health care and safeguarding individual rights. That it is still in power, and will remain in power after this election, is a testament to our inability to separate illusion from reality. We still believe in “the experts.” They still believe in themselves. They are clustered like flies swarming around John McCain and Barack Obama. It is only when these elites are exposed as incompetent parasites and dethroned that we will have any hope of restoring social, economic and political order. / … Democracy is not an outgrowth of free markets. Democracy and capitalism are antagonistic entities. Democracy, like individualism, is not based on personal gain but on self-sacrifice. A functioning democracy must defy the economic interests of elites on behalf of citizens. This is not happening.<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P5_t4kmSPE">FRONTLINE | The War Briefing </a> (PBS) NY TIMES review of this film<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/arts/television/28fron.html?_r=1&oref=slogin"> here </a>.<br /><br /><br /><a id="7000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 7. Oil and Gas in Afghanistan </b><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=56033">Swat plight: Unknown militants blow up gas plant</a></b><br />23.09.08. Already without power for two days, Swat district is now devoid of the gas supply also as militants blew up a gas pipeline in Blogram area near Mingora city. The area has been placed under curfew for an indefinite period. / Meanwhile, <u>security forces</u>continue their operation in the valley, killing 3 militants, the ISPR confirmed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17472">Pakistan, Iran to speed up work on IPI project</a></b><br />24.09.08. int times. The two leaders stressed the importance of early completion of over 2,700-km-long IPI gas pipeline project that could meet the much needed energy needs for the large industrial sector in Pakistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://globalnewsblog.com/wp/?p=905">AFGHANISTAN: Subsidised Fuel Trail Winds Back to Pakistan</a></b><br />30.09.08. IPS. In a teeming petrol market on the outskirts of Kabul, black market traders sell fuel to everyone from individual customers to large business groups. Although much of this petrol comes from Iran or the Central Asian countries, a good amount also hails from Pakistan, where government subsidies have made the fuel much cheaper than in Afghanistan. / The Afghan government and private businesses generally avoid buying petrol from Pakistan because of the spiralling <u>insecurity on the routes</u> into Afghanistan, but still much petrol manages to get in. How it does so and where it goes illustrates the complicated world of smugglers, border patrol agents and foreign militaries.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/opinion/2008/October/opinion_October21.xml&section=opinion&col=">Time to Face Reality of Afghan Mission</a></b><br />06.10.08. Eric S. Margolis, khaleejtimes. The current war is not really about Al Qaeda and `terrorism,’ but about opening a secure corridor through Pashtoon tribal territory to export the oil and gas riches of the Caspian Basin of Central Asia to the West. / The US and NATO forces in Afghanistan are essentially pipeline protection troops. As that great American founding father Benjamin Franklin said, “there is no good war, and no bad peace.” It’s time for the West to face reality in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2008/10/24/Analysis_Afghanistans_untapped_energy_riches/UPI-96301224860420/">Analysis: Afghanistan's untapped energy riches</a></b><br />24.10.08. John C.K.Daly, UPI. ... According to the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration, while Afghanistan's estimated oil reserves are relatively modest, "with perhaps up to 100 million barrels," the country's natural gas reserves are far more substantial. As northern Afghanistan is a "southward extension of Central Asia's highly prolific, natural gas-prone Amu Darya Basin," Afghanistan "has proven, probable and possible natural gas reserves of about 5 trillion cubic feet."<br /><br />Nearly eight years after the overthrow of the Taliban, the CIA estimates that Afghanistan's oil consumption, all imported, is slightly more than 5,000 barrels per day, while indigenous natural gas production, which is all domestically consumed, is approximately 20 million cubic meters per year. It is not that Afghanistan lacks energy and mineralogical resources; far from it, <b>but what has been signally lacking since the overthrow of the Taliban is the political will and economic assistance needed to develop them</b>. / Ironically, during the 1979-1988 Soviet occupation of the country, extensive Soviet exploration produced superb geological maps and reports that listed more than 1,400 mineral outcroppings, along with about 70 commercially viable deposits even under the grotesquely inefficient Soviet economic system. The Soviet Union subsequently committed more than $650 million for resource exploration and development in Afghanistan, with proposed projects including an oil refinery capable of producing a half-million tons per annum, as well as a smelting complex for the Ainak deposit that was to have produced 1.5 million tons of copper per year. In the wake of the Soviet withdrawal a subsequent World Bank analysis projected that the Ainak copper production alone could eventually capture as much as 2 percent of the annual world market. The country is also blessed with massive coal deposits, one of which, the Hajigak iron deposit, in the Hindu Kush mountain range west of Kabul, is assessed as one of the largest high-grade deposits in the world. / We will never know what a Soviet-dominated development of Afghanistan would have looked like, because they were never able to quell the insurgency there. ...<br /><br />With the overthrow of the Taliban, new possibilities seemed to open up, but these were quickly dashed, as the <u>Bush administration continued to pursue a military option largely to the exclusion of everything else</u>. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Plus ca change?</span>] In a grotesque demonstration of the administration's post-Taliban priorities for Afghanistan, in 2002 the U.S. Geological Survey requested $70 million from the U.S. Department of State to reassess Afghanistan's water and mineral resources, oil, gas, coal, earthquake hazards, infrastructure development and training. The State Department offered less than 10 percent of the requested funding, and what was given was solely for oil and gas. / ... Engagement does not seem to include help in developing the country's energy or mineralogical wealth in order to bankroll a much needed infrastructure for the Afghan people.<br /><br /><u> Backgrounnd to Big US Plans </u><br /><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/dollar-signs-in-afghan-eyes-as-gas-pipeline-gets-new-lease-of-life/2005/08/24/1124562921969.html"><br />August '05 </a><br /><a href="http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/Afghanistan/EnergyOverview.html"> Feb. 2006 </a><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/asia-pacific/4952784.stm"> April 2006 </a><br /><br />The US govn. wants to run before it can crawl. The plan should have been, as is valid also in the US, to look after the infrastructure FIRST; then see if walking might be possible. Grade: FAIL.<br /><br /><br /><a id="8000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <b> 8. Aid in Afghanistan</b><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglCUx-Ucrx5WDxGdmcxqKddz57lvFyc3fvH4U5JQ49qCTgWvkbZSqCMDgiDlWphWSMKmbtgkeZsN0Ycp7VvJsCkc4eE2TGdcn9xK6hRsDO805ZyqYeexssjjQaN5tGyHNpomr7/s1600-h/image_chap4_graph.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 315px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglCUx-Ucrx5WDxGdmcxqKddz57lvFyc3fvH4U5JQ49qCTgWvkbZSqCMDgiDlWphWSMKmbtgkeZsN0Ycp7VvJsCkc4eE2TGdcn9xK6hRsDO805ZyqYeexssjjQaN5tGyHNpomr7/s320/image_chap4_graph.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262363617729745810" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/Afghanistan_Five_Years_Later/chapter_05">Senlis Council: Military vs. Development Aid </a><br /></span></div><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.stimson.org/budgeting/Publications/A_Foreign_Affairs_Budget_for_the_Future.pdf%20-">A Foreign Affairs Budget for the Future</a></b><br />American Academy of Diplomacy (AAD) / Henry L. Stimson Center<br />(see 16.10.08 below, Jim Lobe)<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202953_pf.html">World Leaders At U.N. Fear For Aid Efforts</a></b><br />23.09.08. Colum Lynch, Washington Post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=137720">UN seeks over $17 million for IDPs in Pakistan</a></b><br />24.09.08. int news/anti-war. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has appealed for more than $17 million to help tens of thousands of people displaced by the conflict and floods in north-western Pakistan. / According to government figures, there are now an estimated 90,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP) due to the ongoing fighting in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jWKFoGeRHeaWhdvR0aPjows7xe7w">Bush frees aid for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Georgia</a></b><br />02.10.08. AFP. US President George W. Bush on Friday freed up to 8.3 million dollars in emergency aid to help Afghanistan, Georgia, and Pakistan cope with urgent refugee needs, the White House said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://interactivemediadesign.blogspot.com/2008/10/book-with-friends-like-these-de.html">Book: With Friends Like These (De Crisiskaravaan)</a></b><br />Royal academy of Art, The Hague / interactive media design. ‘Famine rarely results from food shortages. It arises far more often because people are denied their right to food.’ The appalling security situation in Afghanistan means projects are outsourced, and enormous sums of money disappear along unaccountable chains of contractors and subcontractors. Recipients make improper use of funding. ‘Aid groups are happy to allow themselves to be financed three times over. After all, donors don’t come here to check,’ an Afghan accountant tells her. / The aid industry, the world’s fifth largest economy, ‘are businesses in a market of supply and demand dressed up as Mother Teresa, but that’s not the way we see them, writes Polman.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/afghan-aid-blunders-waste-millions-962708.html">Afghan aid blunders 'waste millions'</a></b><br />16.10.08. Kim Sengupta, Independent / anti-war. Millions of pounds of British aid to poor and war-torn countries has been wasted because of mismanagement and corruption, an official report reveals today. / An investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO) found a series of expensive blunders by the Department For International Development (DFID) in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq have undermined reconstruction efforts.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=13598">Top Ex-Diplomats Slam 'Militarization' of Foreign Policy</a></b><br />16.10.08. Jim Lobe, anti-war. While the Pentagon's budget has risen to heights not seen since World War II, US diplomatic and foreign aid assets have largely atrophied and must be quickly rebuilt by any new administration that takes office in January, according to a new report released here this week by former senior foreign service officers. / The report [see above] by the <u>American Academy of Diplomacy (AAD) and the Henry L. Stimson Center</u> is calling for a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of diplomats and aid and development specialists recruited into the foreign service over the next five years. This would cost about three billion dollars – or approximately what the Pentagon is currently spending every 10 days on military operations in Iraq – over current budget estimates./ the report calls for the State Department to take over control from the Defense Department (DOD) of nearly 800 million dollars a year budgeted for several security assistance programs, including humanitarian aid, created in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to help friendly militaries prosecute the "global war on terrorism."<br /><br /><br /><a id="9000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <b> 9. Opium in Afghanistan </b><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9qR4b9ua4HnrWrUoVt4Gahx-qovQdpAg1yKDf9HGQjvFc-gxf0JavF_yClDmABIAo5ehk10OWSDAJ5DrYeE6jP7bWjMNjNANJhfOwHPajyqt4EjgosBG7t97UXQP7ui_ss6O/s1600-h/opium_afghan2008_432.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 207px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9qR4b9ua4HnrWrUoVt4Gahx-qovQdpAg1yKDf9HGQjvFc-gxf0JavF_yClDmABIAo5ehk10OWSDAJ5DrYeE6jP7bWjMNjNANJhfOwHPajyqt4EjgosBG7t97UXQP7ui_ss6O/s320/opium_afghan2008_432.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262363613434761074" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=373777">US presses NATO allies to target Afghan drug lords</a></b><br />24.09.08. wired / anti-war. So far, the effort has not been successful, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has expressed some doubt that the allies could be convinced.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=377979">NATO considering more aggressive Afghan drugs role</a></b><br />26.09.08. wired / anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/2008/09/tajik-forces-ki.html">Tajik Forces Kill Afghan Opium Smugglers</a></b><br />26.09.08. afghan conflict monitor. "Tajik border guards have shot dead a group of Afghan drug smugglers and seized more than 250 kilograms of opium and other drugs, a border-guard spokeswoman said. Tajikistan lies on the main trafficking route out of neighbouring Afghanistan -- the world's top producer of opium and its refined form, heroin – to Western Europe.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/02/world/asia/02military.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">NATO Aims at Afghans Whose Drugs Aid Militants</a></b><br />01.10.08. T. Shanker and E. Schmitt, NY Times. The comments by the commander, Gen. David D. McKiernan, made clear that international troops in Afghanistan were not going to eradicate opium poppy crops.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/world/asia/04helmand.html?_r=1&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/T/Taliban&oref=slogin">Governor of Afghan Opium Capital Pushes for Crop Replacement</a></b><br />03.10.08. Carlotta Gall, NY Times. .. the governor, Gulab Mangal, says he plans to try something that has worked in more peaceful parts of Afghanistan, but which remains untested in lawless Helmand. He hopes to persuade farmers not to plant poppy at all, rather than eradicating the crop once it has already been planted, a policy he blames for sowing greater strife in Helmand.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47749&s2=05">Reports Link Karzai’s Brother to Heroin Trade </a></b><br />04.10.08. James Risen, uruknet.de. Before long, the commander, Habibullah Jan, received a telephone call from Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai, asking him to release the vehicle and the drugs, Mr. Jan later told American investigators, according to note! s from the debriefing obtained by The New York Times. He said he complied after getting a phone call from an aide to President Karzai directing him to release the truck.<br /><br /><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=409317%7C%3E%20denies%20links%20to%20drug%20trade%3C/a%3E%20%2806.10.08.%20%20AP%29%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" com="" id="" 2201622="">How To Win Afghanistan's Opium War</a><br />06.10.08. C. Hitchins, Slate. The best way to deprive the Taliban of drug profits? The United States should buy Afghanistan's poppy crop instead of trying to eradicate it.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/06/gen-craddock-tired-of-explaining-need-for-aggressive-afghan-drug-war/">Gen. Craddock Tired of Explaining Need for Aggressive Afghan Drug War</a></b><br />06.10.08. anti-war. n a surprisingly harsh outburst, NATO Supreme Commander for Europe [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">war criminal</span>] General John Craddock has condemned those allies who are questioning the wisdom of the US plan to ratchet up raids against Afghan drug lords. Gen. Craddock complained that a “handful” of unnamed nations “have not listened to the argument” and keep bothering him with the same questions over and over.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h5jxXAIDqpNALTnKrFt4OKoGrEmg">NATO commander calls for blitz on Afghan drugs traffic</a></b><br />07.10.08. AFP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markeaston/2008/10/map_of_the_week_the_mystery_of.html">Afghanistan: The mystery of the missing opium</a></b><br />08.10.08. Mark Easton, BBC / ICH. It's a mystery that has got British law enforcement officials and others across the planet scratching their heads. Put bluntly, enough heroin to supply the world's demand for years has simply disappeared<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/09/international/i040301D83.DTL">Nations balk at US anti-drug plan for Afghanistan</a></b><br />09.10.08. L Baldor, sfgate.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4920523.ece">Nato troops given new mandate to attack heroin drug barons in Afghanistan</a></b><br />11.10.08. Michael Evans, Times Online.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-7KKH4J?OpenDocument&RSS20=02-P">Helmand Governor turns opium poppy fields into food zones</a></b><br />14.10.08. Relief Web. The first Governor-led initiative to tackle opium poppy in Afghanistan took a big step forward this week with the launch of a £6 million programme to support wheat farming in Helmand. / To mark the start of the programme, counter narcotics ministers General Khodaidad and General Daud flew to <u>Lashkar Gah</u> today (Tuesday) to join Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal at a distribution centre and met the farmers who are swapping poppy for wheat. / The Food Zones programme, coming at a time of national wheat and food shortage, is a timely initiative that will see wheat seed and fertiliser being distributed to 32,000 farmers in Helmand province. This is enough seed to grow 26,000 hectares of wheat.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-margolis/how-deeply-is-the-us-invo_b_134989.html">How Deeply is the U.S. involved in the Afghan Drug Trade?</a></b><br />15.10.08. Eric Margolis, Huff Post. America's local allies in Afghanistan, the politicians and warlords who overthrew Taliban in 2001, are up to their turbans in the heroin trade. Drug money is the blood that courses through Afghanistan's veins and keeps the economy limping along. The U.S.-installed Karzai regime in Kabul propped up by US and NATO bayonets has only two sources of income: cash handouts from Washington, and the proceeds of drug dealing. / .. Washington called off efforts by the Drug Enforcement Agency to combat the Afghan drug trade for fear of endangering the power base of its former CIA `asset,' President Hamid Karzai. Starting with Karzai's brother, Ahmed Wali, the U.S.-installed regime's most important supporters are all involved in varying degrees with the heroin trade. As this writer has seen himself, almost every important warlord gets revenue from the drug trade. The Northern Alliance warlords are considered the biggest of the nation's narco-dealers. Ahmed Karzai denies involvement. / Moving against the drug warlords would have meant undermining Karzai's sole domestic support. So Washington held its nose and let the drug trade flourish in order to sustain the occupation. .. there is no way that simple Afghan farmers or Taliban fighters are running the drug trade, as Washington claims. Poppy sap is collected and converted into opium tar. Then it is smuggled to secret labs in Pakistan to be transformed into first morphine base, and then purified into heroin. None of these drugs would move south into Pakistan or be processed with imported chemicals without the full cooperation and assistance of the Afghan government, its supporting warlords, and local Pakistani officials. The drugs are then smuggled out of the port of Karachi, again under at protection by port and local officials. Pakistan is a key U.S. ally. / The Karzai regime has been totally corrupted by the drug trade, and so has parts of Pakistan's establishment. But the United States has also become corrupted in the sense that it has done nothing to combat this scourge and has collaborated with Afghanistan's drug barons by at minimum turning blind eye.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=430207">US, UN differ on Afghan opium ebb</a></b><br />24.10.08. wired/anti-war. In a report obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its planned release Friday, the Bush administration claims that production of the heroin precursor will plunge by 31 percent, from 8,800 tons in 2007 to 6,100 tons this year. That's more than five times the drop in production predicted by the United Nations in late August. / .. U.N. experts said the drought was a crucial reason, along with anti-drug campaigns, for the significant decline in poppy cultivation from 477,000 acres in 2007 to 388,000 acres in 2008.<br /><br /><br /><a id="10000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 10. United States</b> (Reports, Happy Families, "Black Sheep", "Disaster Capitalism")<br /></div><br />REPORTS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csis.org/index.php?option=com_csis_pubs&task=view&id=4885">Losing The Afghan-Pakistan War? The Rising Threat</a></b><br />18.09.08. Anthony Cordesman, CSIS. Internal Security and Post-Conflict Reconstruction. <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47441&s2=23"> Comment on report </a>(22.09.08. R. Dreyfus, uruknet)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5867448">'Grim' Afghanistan Report To Be Kept Secret by US</a></b><br />23.09.08. Brian Ross, ABC/legitgov. "No Plans to Declassify" New National Intelligence Estimate for White House. Officials say a draft of the classified NIE, representing the key judgments of the US intelligence community's 17 agencies and departments, is being circulated in Washington and a final "<u>coordination meeting</u>" of the agencies involved, under the direction of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, is scheduled in the next few weeks. / According to people who have been briefed, the NIE will paint a "grim" picture of the situation in Afghanistan, seven years after the US invaded in an effort to dismantle the al Qaeda network and its Taliban protectors.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.g8.army.mil/G8site_redesign/modStrat.html">Army Modernization Strategy 2008</a></b><br />23.09.08. G8.army. mil. 90 page document. "The army is engaged in the third-longest war in our nation's history and . . . the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) has caused the army to become out of balance with the demand for forces exceeding the sustainable supply."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2008/sept/110323.htm">United States-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Joint Statement</a></b><br />25.09.08. US Department of State<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34473.pdf">Defense: FY2009 Authorization and Appropriations</a></b><br />Updated 29 September 2008. pdf. Secrecy News.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2008/RAND_MG632.pdf">Green Warriors: Army Environmental Considerations for Contingency Operations from Planning through Post-Conflict</a></b><br />Rand Corporation (pdf). Prepared for the US Army. Article on this report, in Navy Times, <a href="http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/10/military_toxiciraq_100208w/"> here </a>. Specifically referencing Afghanistan, the Report says U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan buried several drums containing unidentified liquids, which later turned out to be hazardous, posing a risk of soil and groundwater contamination.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10">New Army Doctrine on Stability Operations</a></b><br />06.10.08. Secrecy News. An Army field manual (large pdf) published today updates military policy on “stability operations,” referring to the use of military and other instruments of national power “to maintain or reestablish a safe and secure environment, provide essential governmental services, emergency infrastructure reconstruction, and humanitarian relief.” / … “But this doctrine looks beyond the here and now to address a likely future where threats to our national security emerge from regional conflicts arising from increased competition for scarce natural resources, teeming urban populations with rising popular expectations, unrestrained technological diffusion, and a global economy struggling to overcome the strain of the American financial crisis, meet mounting demands from emerging markets, and extend foreign development aid into third world countries.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/100908C">US Study Is Said to Warn of Crisis in Afghanistan</a></b><br />09.10.08. Mark Mazzetti and Eric Schmitt, NY Times / Truthout. "A draft report by American intelligence agencies concludes that Afghanistan is in a 'downward spiral' and casts serious doubt on the ability of the Afghan government to stem the rise in the Taliban's influence there, according to American officials familiar with the document." / The classified report, a nearly completed version of a National Intelligence Estimate, is set to be finished <b> after the November elections</b>.<br /><br /><br />“HAPPY FAMILIES”<br /><br /><em>“They listen, but they do not hear.”</em><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/world/europe/20russian.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin"> Ambassador, Zamir N. Kabulov </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/2990814/General-Petraeus-told-he-must-succeed-in-Afghanistan.html">General Petraeus told he 'must succeed' in Afghanistan</a></b><br />19.09.08. Telegraph. General David Petraeus must "knit together" Afghanistan's confused command structure if the coalition is to avoid a humiliating defeat, a senior American defence official has said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092203036_pf.html">U.S., Afghans and Pakistanis Consider Joint Military Force</a></b><br />23.09.08. Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post/anti-war. Afghan Defense Minister Rahim Wardak said he had proposed the idea and it was discussed last month at a meeting of military officers from the three countries that focused on the border problem. .. / "The terrorists have not recognized any boundaries," Wardak told reporters. .. / Pakistan's government is considering the plan,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/23/AR2008092300875.html">U.S. has no more troops for Afghan war until spring</a></b><br />23.09.08. Reuters/Washington Post. The United States will not have enough forces available to meet a request for more troops from NATO's top commander in Afghanistan until next spring at the earliest, the U.S. defense chief said on Tuesday. BUT a 24.09.08 article in The National says that the “US military has begun<br /><a href="http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080924/FOREIGN/39840441/1002"> reinforcing </a>its presence in Afghanistan weeks ahead of an expected troop build-up amid reassurances that efforts to avoid civilian casualties will be redoubled.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />“<em>Words. Words. Words</em>” <a href="http://www.online-literature.com/quotes/quotation_search.php?author=Shakespeare&from=Hamlet">Hamlet, Act 2, scene 2 </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/09/20070925-4.html">President Bush Addresses The United Nations General Assembly</a></b><br />23.09.08<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jXmhAdLqDW7YnavztuW-2ciQVlGQD93ELS900">Bush, Karzai discuss conditions in Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.09.08. AP. During his session with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Bush said work being done by more than two dozen reconstruction teams is a central part of the counterinsurgency strategy in the nation. / "No question it's difficult, but if you listen to the people who are actually on the ground working with the citizens of Afghanistan on matters such as agriculture, or education, or infrastructure, you'll understand why I said that there is <u>progress and promise — and hope</u>," Bush said.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> “Coordinating” Afghanistan</b><br /><b><a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2008/0922/1221998220381.html">US generals planning for resource wars</a></b><br />22.09.08. Tom Clonan, Irish Times / legitgov. Under the auspices of the US department of defence and department of the army, the US military have just published a document entitled 2008 Army Modernization Strategy [see “Reports”, above) .. The 2008 modernisation strategy, written by Lieut Gen Stephen Speakes, deputy chief of staff of the US army, contains the first explicit and official acknowledgement that the US military is dangerously overstretched internationally. It states simply: <b>"The army is engaged in the third-longest war in our nation's history and . . . the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) has caused the army to become out of balance with the demand for forces exceeding the sustainable supply</b>." Against this backdrop, the 90 page document sets out the future of international conflict for the next 30 to 40 years - as the US military sees it - and outlines the manner in which the military will sustain its current operations and prepare and "transform" itself for future "persistent" warfare. In its preamble, it predicts a post cold war future of "perpetual warfare".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/washington/23policy.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">Bush Administration Reviews Its Afghanistan Policy, Exposing Points of Contention</a></b><br />22.09.08. E. Schmitt andd T. Shanker, NY Times. Four months before President Bush leaves office, his top civilian and military aides are conducting <u>four major new reviews of the war strategy and overall mission in Afghanistan</u>, which have exposed internal fissures over American troop levels, how billions of aid dollars are spent, and how to cope with a deteriorating security situation in neighboring Pakistan. .. / Related to General McKiernan’s request, one of the other assessments proposes a military <u>campaign plan for Afghanistan for the next 5 to 10 years</u>, creating long-term requirements for troop levels in the southern and eastern parts of the country, where most of the fighting is taking place, according to one participant in the study. But some American officials say that European allies may balk at these long-term force commitments, potentially leaving the United States to supply an even larger share of the troops. .. / More broadly, many of these assessments are seeking to improve synchronization across the military and the rest of the government, suggesting that <b>seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the United States still cannot marshal its power effectively to prevail in Afghanistan</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/un-votes-to-keep-troops-in-afghanistan/2008/09/23/1221935581207.html">UN votes to keep troops in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.09.08. smh, au. The 15-nation council's unanimous decision extends the mandate of the NATO-led force until at least October next year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1001/p02s01-usmi.html">Military sees window to adjust Afghanistan plan</a></b><br />01.10.08. Gordon Lubold, CSM. Reviews under way, to be ready for the next president, are intended to accelerate a new strategy<br /><br /><em>Pause for Bush “Bailout”and subsequent global market crash</em><br />global market crash <a href="http://www.kirotv.com/save-money/17596060/detail.html"> Senate passes Bailout </a>. (01.10.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24472229-2703,00.html">George W. Bush rethinks his Afghan war tactics</a></b><br />10.10.08. Australian news. THE Bush administration has begun an urgent review of Afghanistan policy, amid growing concern it <u>lacks a cohesive strategy</u> for the war and as intelligence officials warn of a rapidly worsening situation on the ground.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/15/AR2008101503685_pf.html">Petraeus Mounts Strategy Review</a></b><br />16.10.08. Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post / anti-war. Gen. David H. Petraeus has launched a major reassessment of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the surrounding region, while warning that the lack of development and the spiraling violence in Afghanistan will probably make it "the longest campaign of the long war." / The 100-day assessment will result in a new campaign plan for the Middle East and Central Asia, a region in which Petraeus will oversee the operations of more than 200,000 American troops as the new head of U.S. Central Command, beginning Oct. 31. / The review will formally begin next month, but experts and military officials involved said Petraeus is already focused on at least two major themes: government-led reconciliation of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the leveraging of diplomatic and economic initiatives with nearby countries that are influential in the war.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080926/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_usa_review">U.S. Afghan policy review sees no big changes</a></b><br />26.09.08. Reuters. William Wood, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, also said he did not expect a shift in strategy as happened in Iraq. President George W. Bush ordered 30,000 additional troops to Iraq in 2007 after a similar review of U.S. policy there.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080926/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/homeland_study">New terrorism risk review released Friday</a></b><br />26.09.08. E. Sullivan, AP. The Homeland Security Department paid $450,000 for an independent organization to make recommendations on a classified terrorism program, but the review — which took two years to complete — is practically outdated as it's released Friday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=379108">INTERVIEW-Rice sees promising Pakistan-Afghanistan rapport</a></b><br />26.09.08. wired / anti-war. "There's a new spirit between President Zardari and President Karzai," Rice told Reuters in an interview after the launch of a multilateral "Friends of Pakistan" group to help Islamabad tackle its massive economic and security problems.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=382630">Senate sends $612 billion defense bill to Bush</a></b><br />27.09.08, wired … The bill envisions nearly $70 billion for U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/09/29/couricandco/entry4486228.shtml">Bush Administration Adds $4 Trillion To National Debt</a></b><br />29.09.08. CBS.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rttnews.com/Content/GeneralNews.aspx?Node=B1&Id=725091">Gates says US troops likely to stay in Iraq and Afghanistan for years</a></b><br />29.09.08. RTT / ICH.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/world/asia/01petraeus.html">Insurgents in Afghanistan Are Gaining, Petraeus Says</a></b><br />30.09.08. Carlotta Gall, NY Times. As he prepares to take up his post as head of Central Command, Gen. David H. Petraeus said in an interview this week that he expected the fight against the insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan to get worse before it got better.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iWxiu65iLP4CvDJ7BEsBOx-u_vdwD93HUC003">General: Urgent need for troops in Afghanistan now</a></b><br />01.10.08. L Baldour, AP. Trying to meet Gen. David McKiernan's urgent need for weapons and equipment, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked the military for additional surveillance drones and armored vehicles right now for Afghanistan, The Associated Press has learned. It is a short-term solution to a persistent shortfall of military assets in a seven-year war often overshadowed by the larger U.S.-led conflict in Iraq.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1222017431869&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">Bush says extremists can't stand progress in Afghanistan</a></b><br />01.10.08. Jerusalem post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/03/fact-check-cost-of-iraq-combat-v-afghanistan-reconstruction/">Fact check: Cost of Iraq combat v. Afghanistan reconstruction</a></b><br />03.10.08. CNN. In July, the State Department reported that, since fiscal year 2001, the United States has spent $17.2 billion on security in Afghanistan and $1.3 billion on "governance, rule of law, and human rights" efforts.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/719487.html">Afghanistan military situation will worsen next year, Mullen says</a></b><br />10.10.08. McClatchy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/12/gen-mckiernan-denies-nato-losing-in-afghanistan/">Gen. McKiernan Denies NATO Losing in Afghanistan</a></b><br />12.10.08. anti-war. In a news conference in Kabul today, top NATO general in Afghanistan General David McKiernan said that while the “progress” is not “as fast as many of us would like, but we are not losing in Afghanistan.” The general also pressed for more military forces to fight the seven year old war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1014/p03s05-usmi.html">Is US fighting force big enough?</a></b><br />14.10.08. Gordon Lubold, CS Monitor / anti-war. Last week, the Army released a new manual on "stability operations" [see Report, above] that outlines for the Army a prominent global role as a nation-builder. The service will maintain its ability to fight conventional land wars, but the manual's release signals that it expects future conflicts to look more like Iraq or Afghanistan than World War II.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2008/10/enemy-in-afghan.html">Enemy in Afghanistan has increased up to 30 percent in a year, U.S. general tells CBS' "60 Minutes"</a></b><br />16.10.08. orlado sentinel. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">The US needs “enemies” to justify defense contracts </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/robert-gates-to-succeed-in-afghanistan-will-require-much-more-than-just-guns-964174.html">Robert Gates: To succeed in Afghanistan will require much more than just guns</a></b><br />17.10.08. Independent. [extract from a lecture delivered to the US Institute of Peace [sic] on Wednesday] Think about the scale of the effort in Afghanistan. There are 42 nations, hundreds of NGOs, universities, development banks, the United Nations, the European Union, Nato, all working as part of a multinational, civil-military effort.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/the-us-agrees-only-a-surge-can-beat-taliban-965466.html">The US agrees: only a 'surge' can beat Taliban</a></b><br />18.10.08. Kim Sengupta, Independent. American officials have backed the view of General Sir David Richards, the new head of the British Army, that a "surge" is needed in Afghanistan to beat the Taliban. / Patrick Moon, the United States' deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia, said that the extra troops were essential to carry out a security drive in the country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/obama-petraeus.html">Obama, Petraeus, McCain Agree: Taliban Talks OK (Updated)</a></b><br />23.10.08. Noah Shachtman, blog.wired. In recent days, there have been conflicting reports about some less-hostile Taliban representatives gathering for talks in Saudi Arabia, to try to cut a deal with the Kabul government. Observers are skeptical about how much juice these talkin' Taliban really have. But Obama tells Klein that this divide-negotiate-and-conquer approach "is one useful lesson that is applicable from Iraq." {NB. Al jazeera had programme of the ‘split’ a few weeks ago now]. / UPDATE: The full transcript of the Time interview is up. And it shows that Obama has embraced another key element of Petraeus' Iraq counterinsurgency -- the need to get inside the country's social, cultural, and political networks.<br /><br /><em> Obscene</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/republican-party-spent-150000-on-palins-wardrobe-969785.html">Republican Party spent $150,000 on Palin's wardrobe</a></b><br />21.10.08. Independent.<br /><br /><br />"BLACK SHEEP" OF FAMILY<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/26/un-warns-of-deteriorating-afghan-security-as-bush-touts-progress/">UN Warns of Deteriorating Afghan Security as Bush Touts “Progress”</a></b><br />26.09.08. anti-war. United Nations Special Envoy <a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C27%5Cstory_27-9-2008_pg7_17"> Kai Eide </a> has warned that the security situation in Afghanistan “is worse than it was three months ago,” and that the deteriorating atmosphere was distracting countries from fulfilling the commitments they made at June’s conference in Paris. Meanwhile, during a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, President Bush downplayed the rising violence and touted the “progress” being made in the war-torn country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/100108R">Leaked Memo Questions War Strategy in Afghanistan</a></b><br />01.10.08. Charles Bremner and Richard Beeston, The Times UK/truthout. "The official version of the US-led campaign in Afghanistan received a blow today with a leaked report that the British Ambassador in Kabul <u>believes that US strategy is wrong and the war is as good as lost</u>. The potentially explosive views were published by Le Canard Enchaîné, a respected French weekly, which said that they were direct quotations from a diplomatic cable written by François Fitou, the French Deputy Ambassador in Kabul."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/chorus-of-failure-grows-ever-louder-over-afghanistan/2008/10/02/1222651267524.html">Chorus of failure grows ever louder over Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.10.08. smh.au. Cutting across the official belief in Washington and London that the war is hard but winnable, Fitou says that <u>Cowper-Coles</u> told him current American strategy "is destined to fail".<br /><br /><br />"DISASTER CAPITALISM"<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> Naomi Klein</b><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 142px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAX7ANj-kkAv_NC8VVB_gAon8I0PlD0xbIKQx2vcUg8hsDecX4-7Te-vLstnTXmLsunaLJHE1r8_5tzPw9Aa9JpjcLswnMVeHHE1xLA_YWMGyB995toHzDcby8kZNA5rG58vsk/s320/naomi.jpg" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Naomi Klein,Photo © Sarah Meyer, Hay Festival ’08</span></div><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Naomi_Klein_Financial_crisis_part_of_0921.html">Naomi Klein: Financial crisis part of Bush 'shock doctrine'</a></b><br />21.09.08. David Edwards and Andrew McLemore, Raw Story. "The disaster was on Wall Street and they have moved the disaster to Main Street." .. / "The real disaster has yet to come; the real disaster is the debt that is going to explode on American tax payers," Klein said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/14-reasons-main-street-loses/story.aspx?guid=%7BF63EC448%2DD9C1%2D4138%2DAC18%2D97BF0FE68EE3%7D&dist">Wall Street's 'Disaster Capitalism for Dummies'</a></b><br />20.10.08. Paul B. Farrell, Market Watch. 14 reasons Main Street loses big while Wall Street sabotages democracy. Yes, we're dummies. You. Me. All 300 million of us. Clueless. We should be ashamed. We're obsessed about the slogans and rituals of "democracy," distracted by the campaign, polls, debates, rhetoric, half-truths and outright lies. McCain? Obama? Sorry to pop your bubble folks, but it no longer matters who's president.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Politics/story?id=5920248">Historic Disapproval: Bush Hits All-Time Low Amid Economic Meltdown</a></b><br />30.09.08. ABC.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 269px; height: 202px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1LTed2Vman58pHLTTf6OaIj67uq3EYftVviqasTDXrBQT7cW7ydqukAUFHP_fP0HpkP_x0oQzUpzK-czhU32hsOnqMlkjF9d-w-POPh7bCKuT6NWfwoHL2TqtotQBzNscYqBk/s320/alternet.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262347670167975298" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Wall St. Bailout demo,<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/images/managed/blogimage_img00193.jpg"> Photo Jeremy Scahill, Alternet</a></span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/?p=1039">One Nation under Capitalism: It’s Time for a Crucifixion</a></b><br />02.10.08. Jason Miller, best Cyrano / Tom Paine’s Corner. For years we have satiated our desires with utter disregard for environmental cost, have ignored the abject suffering we inflict upon humans and animals, and have spilled a veritable ocean of blood to enable corporate plunder and to stomp anti-capitalist movements into the ground.<br /><br />Yet when we finally reaped a bit of what we’d sown in September of 2001 and again in September of 2008, we wailed, wept, and gnashed our teeth as if we were the only people ever to have sustained staggering blows. .. / Capitalism has had its run and it has failed. Miserably.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?p=m47722&hd=&size=1&l=e">Shock and Awe: Bipartisan Beltway Terrorists Launch Economic 9/11 on the American People</a></b><br />03.10.08. Chris Floyd, uruknet.de.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10437">Food Riots Have Already Begun as Global Grain Prices Skyrocket, Supplies Dwindle</a></b><br />04.10.08.David Gutierrez, globalresearch.ca.<br /><br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><em>from Voltaire’s Pangloss</em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0640700220081006"> Bush says U.S. economy will be fine in long run </a> (06.10.08. Reuters/legitgov)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/110983/Americans-Satisfaction-AllTime-Low.aspx">Americans’ Satisfaction at All-Time Low of 9%</a> (07.10.08. gallup.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1006/p02s01-usmi.html">U.S. military to deploy more surveillance planes to Afghanistan</a></b><br />06.10.08. CSM/anti-war. … The US Army is sending a new unit of remote-controlled aircraft, similar to one it fielded in Iraq two years ago, to Afghanistan to monitor insurgents and enemy targets. The Air Force, meanwhile, is deploying about three dozen small turboprop planes with reconnaissance and surveillance crews to add to the unmanned planes already being used there. Both services are also trying to put more laptop computers in the hands of soldiers on the ground so they can benefit from the data provided by the "eyes in the sky."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rgemonitor.com/blog/roubini/">The world is at severe risk of a global systemic financial meltdown and a severe global depression</a></b><br />09.10.08. Nouriel Roubini. The US and advanced economies’ financial system is now headed towards a near-term systemic financial meltdown as day after day stock markets are in free fall, money markets have shut down while their spreads are skyrocketing, and credit spreads are surging through the roof. There is now the beginning of a generalized run on the banking system of these economies; a collapse of the shadow banking system, i.e. those non-banks (broker dealers, non-bank mortgage lenders, SIV and conduits, hedge funds, money market funds, private equity firms) that, like banks, borrow short and liquid, are highly leveraged and lend and invest long and illiquid and are thus at risk of a run on their short-term liabilities; and now a roll-off of the short term liabilities of the corporate sectors that may lead to widespread bankruptcies of solvent but illiquid financial and non-financial firms.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE49D9GL20081014">FY '08 budget deficit swells to record $455 billion</a></b><br />14.10.08. Reuters.<br /><br />See Chart (Preface) <a href="http://www.antiwar.com/docs3/budgets.jpg"> Putting the Financial Rescue Package in Perspective (in billions of $s)</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21009.htm">Big Banks Get $125 Billion Cash Going Away Gift</a></b><br />14.10.08. Robert Wenzel. "EconomicPolicyJournal" / ICH. Approximately half of the first $250 billion tranche of money approved by Congress for the mortgage crisis will end up in the hands of the "healthy" big banks. ... / No matter how they frame this,the truth is this is a roughly $125 Billion going away gift from the Bush Administration to Wall Streets elite.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/101508EA">This Stock Collapse Is Petty When Compared to the Nature Crunch</a></b><br />14.10.08. George Monbiot, The Guardian UK/truthout. "As we goggle at the fluttering financial figures, a different set of numbers passes us by. On Friday, Pavan Sukhdev, the Deutsche Bank economist leading a European study on ecosystems, reported that we are losing natural capital worth between $2 trillion and $5 trillion every year as a result of deforestation alone. The losses incurred so far by the financial sector amount to between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion." [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">NB: aljazeera recently showed film of The World Bank supporting deforestation in the Amazonian Rainforest</span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.creative-i.info/?p=1459">How about socialism for the rest of us</a></b><br />15.10.08. William Bowles, Creative-i. f it wasn’t so tragic for so many millions of ordinary working folk, it would be laughable to read the corporate press as it pees into its corporate pants. .. / The ‘crisis’ therefore is a crisis of the capitalist and political classes legitimacy, wholly self-made with ‘eyes wide open’. / .. What needs to be made is a concerted effort by the left, indeed by everybody, to force the debate about who owns the economy into the public domain.<br /><br />VIDEO <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21024.htm"> The 56 Trillion Dollar Deficit </a> (Bill Maher Interviews Fmr. Comptroller General David Walker)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/gatto161008.htm">The Illusion Of Democracy</a></b><br />16.10.08. Timothy V. Gatto, countercurrents. It seems like the citizens of this country should be enjoying the proceeds of the largest economy on Earth. Instead, 1% of the families in the United States own 54% of its wealth. This is up from 38% last year. Basing an economy on debt and then subsidizing the very people that profit from that debt is outrageous. One of the main reasons that we are in the predicament that we find ourselves in is that politicians in Washington rely on advice from those that have an inherent interest in the status quo<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21032.htm">“Working Poor”</a></b><br />16.10.08. Tom Eley, WSWS / ICH. A report released Tuesday by the Working Poor Families Project reveals that more than 28 percent of American families with one or both parents employed are living in poverty.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21030.htm">Infant Mortality: US Ranks 29th Lowest In The World</a></b><br />16.10.08. Gardiner Harris, ICH. Infant mortality has long been considered one of the most important indicators of the health of a nation and the quality of its medical system. In 1960, the United States ranked 12th lowest in the world, but by 2004, the latest year for which comparisons were issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that ranking had dropped to 29th lowest.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/10/20081017203511724975.html">Stocks slide follows Bush speech</a></b><br />18.10.08.aljazeera.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/17/executivesalaries-banking">Wall Street banks in $70bn staff payout</a></b><br />18.10.08. Simon Bowers, Guardian. Financial workers at Wall Street's top banks are to receive pay deals worth more than $70bn (£40bn), a substantial proportion of which is expected to be paid in discretionary bonuses, for their work so far this year - despite plunging the global financial system into its worst crisis since the 1929 stock market crash, the Guardian has learned. / Staff at six banks including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are in line to pick up the payouts despite being the beneficiaries of a $700bn bail-out from the US government that has already prompted criticism. The government's cash has been poured in on the condition that excessive executive pay would be curbed. / Pay plans for bankers have been disclosed in recent corporate statements. / The sums that continue to be spent by Wall Street firms on payroll, payoffs and, most controversially, bonuses appear to bear no relation to the losses incurred by investors in the banks. .. / At one point last week the Morgan Stanley $10.7bn pay pot for the year to date was greater than the entire stock market value of the business. … Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, ad nauseum.<br /><br />VIDEO <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21041.htm">"The New Kleptocracy":"The largest financial theft in American history</a>."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081020_the_idiots_who_rule_america/">The Idiots Who Rule America</a></b><br />20.10.08. Chris Hedges, Truthdig. Our oligarchic class is incompetent at governing, managing the economy, coping with natural disasters, educating our young, handling foreign affairs, providing basic services like health care and safeguarding individual rights. That it is still in power, and will remain in power after this election, is a testament to our inability to separate illusion from reality. We still believe in “the experts.” They still believe in themselves. They are clustered like flies swarming around John McCain and Barack Obama. It is only when these elites are exposed as incompetent parasites and dethroned that we will have any hope of restoring social, economic and political order. / … Democracy is not an outgrowth of free markets. Democracy and capitalism are antagonistic entities. Democracy, like individualism, is not based on personal gain but on self-sacrifice. A functioning democracy must defy the economic interests of elites on behalf of citizens. This is not happening.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/23/population-egalitarian-cities-urban-growth">Wealth gap creating a social time bomb</a></b><br />23.10.08. John Vidal, Guardian. Growing inequality in US cities could lead to widespread social unrest and increased mortality, says a new United Nations report on the urban environment. / In a survey of 120 major cities New York was found to be the ninth most unequal in the world and Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington, and Miami had similar inequality levels to those of Nairobi, Kenya and Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Many were above an internationally recognised acceptable "alert" line used to warn governments. / "High levels of inequality can lead to negative social, economic and political consequences that have a destabilising effect on societies," said the report. "[They] create social and political fractures that can develop into social unrest and insecurity."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/baroud241008.htm">World Food Day: Global Crises’ Double Standards </a></b><br />24.10.08. Ramzy Baroud, countercurrents. Whether the American, European or any other government infused bailout packages rectify the financial crisis or not, chances are that 16 October 2009 will bring similarly devastating news about the plight of the world's poor and which is likely to remain that: mere "news" that requires little action, if any at all<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49N1XX20081024">U.S. has plundered world wealth with dollar: China paper</a></b><br />24.10.08. reuters. The front-page commentary in the overseas edition of the People's Daily said that Asian and European countries should banish the U.S. dollar from their direct trade relations for a start, relying only on their own currencies.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21111.htm">PM Putin Suggests Russia, China Ditch Dollar in Trade Deals</a></b><br />28.10.08. RIA Novosti/ICH. "We should consider improving the payment system for bilateral trade, including by gradually adopting a broader use of national currencies," Putin told a bilateral economic forum. He admitted the task would be tough, but said it was necessary amid the current problems with the dollar-based global economy. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/104875/?page=entire">5 Reasons Why Wall Street's Bailout Won't Work</a></b><br />28.10.08. Danny Schechter, (Media Channel) / Alternet. ...../Still to be answered: can the system be saved from itself?<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> "Regrets</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081016/meltdown_paulson.html">Paulson regrets mistakes on economy</a></b><br />16.10.08. AP / ICH. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday expressed regret for the many errors made that led to the biggest financial crisis in seven decades, but he insisted the administration is pursuing the correct [sic[ course now to end the debacle.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 136px; height: 158px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD6lewCQO4rIsR2FD6smhG98Vh0Wy8a-Yx5PjH-Dk8fu6TebvpFEG63EzC66OogyiFfgS5CQJZnJn6ZD0f1EDeccINI1yu3VtmmENSVeUNBzqAGlfmU5skS7Wr2OrGq8TvC25Z/s320/greenspan.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262347683699923346" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102308R">Greenspan Admits Error in Trusting Free Markets</a></b><br />23.10.08. Michael M. Grynbaum, NY Times / Truthout.: "Facing a firing line of questions from Washington lawmakers, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman once considered the infallible maestro of the financial system, admitted on Thursday that he 'made a mistake' in trusting that free markets could regulate themselves without government oversight."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/business/2008/10/20081023161043967668.html">Greenspan admits 'flaw' in ideology</a></b><br />24.10.08. aljazeera.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102708B"> ”Who could’ve known?” asks Greenspan </a>. Well, <a href="http://www.mediachannel.org"> Danny Schechter </a> has known and written about it for a LONG time. And then there is Naomi’s book, too. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><em> The Economics of Doom </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=8753">The deluge of a mess that McCain/Obama will inherit</a></b><br />27.10.08. Don Woodard, FW Business. That quagmire would include Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, terrorism, Guantanamo, torture, the Patriot Act, global warming, hurricanes, floods, droughts, forest fires, the collapsing infrastructure, the housing debacle, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, bankrupt banks, the Wall Street bailout, the looming energy famine, Social Security, illegal immigration, pro-choice/pro-life, the dire $13 trillion national debt hanging over our grandchildren’s heads like the sword of Damocles.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hnn.us/articles/56154.html">Obama or McCain will need Global Hunger Czar</a></b><br />27.10.08. William Lambers, hnn.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/hassan271008.htm">The Bailout</a></b><br />27.10.08. Ghali Hassan, countercurrents. The U.S. and its Western allies are sinking in deep recession. The bailout is a bogus solution and doomed to fail. However, there is an alternative based on the promotion of human community. Investment in productive activities to create jobs, build housing, schools, healthcare services and vital public infrastructure will lead to lasting economic recovery in a regulated financial system characterised by openness, transparency and accountability, free of greed and corruption. If elected President of the United States, Barack Obama should position himself to the left of President Hugo Chávez.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 124px; height: 140px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnH6toUtrMkKMClGtrFmiaQXPUxluseqiRxRlwZzIwKOiMRzMXNnqCIsKyye5gVyaCvZRSextf_dFRR99HAS9wrHu7E6f3sAosjS9sAYf94IByqVul-Qr8zwVcOIoJU5bXuvK9/s320/dahr2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262347684929440210" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Dahr Jamail, Photo © Sarah Meyer<br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102708A">The Cost of Slumber</a></b><br />27.10.08. Dahr Jamail, Truthout. The economy is in shambles. Yet, in the heated exchanges between Obama and McCain about the economy, there appears to be no connection whatsoever between the occupation, now costing a cool $3 billion per week, and the financial dire straights the country is in.<br /><br />Here, in the East Bay Area of California, famed for its moderate temperatures, lots of sunshine and fresh ocean air, I peer across the Bay through the pollution to catch the silhouette of San Francisco. My eyes smart from the effort. We're in a drought, the reservoirs are drying up. Water scarcity is a reality, even here. The Poles are melting. Within my lifetime, this airport may be completely submerged, along with the streets of several major US cities, one of a string of countless results of climate change.<br /><br />I watched a plane unload and people rushing past, trying to remain abreast of the inhuman pace thrust upon us by the industrial growth society, a pace inherently unsustainable. I marvel continually, awed and uncomprehending that life here goes on as it does, while so much is burning.<br /><br />See Dahr’s website <a href="http://dahrjamailiraq.com/"> here</a>.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a id="11000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>11. US Military Industrial Complex, Contracts, Contractors </b> </div><br /><br />US MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX<br /><br />[See chart, Preface]<br /><br /><u> Report</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/news/2008/10/odni102808.html">National Intelligence Programme 2008 for $47.5m</a>. Read what Secrecy News has to say about it <a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10"> here </a>. <br /><br /><u> Articles </u><br /><br />[<b>ALL THIS MONEY SPENT AND GOVERNMENTS DO NOT EVEN EQUIP THEIR FORCES PROPERLY?</b> Priorities sure are wonky!]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://institute.ourfuture.org/debate/2008094029/prisoners-war#">Prisoners of War</a></b><br />The equally costly illusions about America’s role as an “indispensable nation” policing the globe go without challenge. We remain prisoners of war. / Most Americans have no sense of the cost and scope of America’s role as globocop. We sustain what Chalmers Johnson calls an “empire of bases” across the globe – over <b>700</b> active bases in more than 30 countries.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2940425220080929">UPDATE 1-Gates predicts no sharp cuts in US defense budgets</a></b><br />20.09.08. Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/audits/100801/">There Might Be a Financial Crisis, But the World's Arms Dealers Are Doing Just Fine</a></b><br />30.09.08/ Frida Berrigan , Foreign Policy in Focus/alternet. The weapons sector remains recession-proof.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174982/chalmers_johnson_the_pentagon_bailout_fraud">We have the money if only we didn’t waste it on the Defense Budget</a></b><br />30.09.08. Chalmers Johnson, Tom Dispatch. . <b>On Wednesday, September 24th, right in the middle of the fight over billions of taxpayer dollars slated to bail out Wall Street, the House of Representatives passed a $612 billion defense authorization bill for 2009 without a murmur of public protest or any meaningful press comment at all</b>. (The New York Times gave the matter only three short paragraphs buried in a story about another appropriations measure.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/3135641/Bail-out-leads-to-conflict-of-interest-claims-as-Wall-Street-financiers-cash-in-on-crisis.html">Bail-out leads to conflict of interest claims as Wall Street financiers cash in on crisis</a></b><br />04.10.08. Telegraph / legitgov. <u>It is a move reminiscent of the US government's controversial use of private military contractors to fight the war in Iraq.'</u> New questions have been raised about the $700 billion economic bail-out of the US economy as President [sic] George W. Bush warned that the world may have to wait weeks for the benefits of the rescue package to be felt... Doubts about the package were fuelled when financial experts warned that conflicts of interest could arise because Wall Street financiers, many of whom have been blamed for causing the financial meltdown in the first place, <u>will have a hand in spending the $700 billion of taxpayers' money</u>... Between five and 10 asset management companies will also be paid a commission on the work they do. <b>They can expect to make several billion dollars in profits between them.</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/military_privatized_152.html">U.S. Military Increasingly Privatized</a></b><br />(?) Oct. ’08. Richard Walker, American free press. The next president will find that <u>private contractors</u> have not only benefited from the war on terror and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq but they have become an integral and expanding part of America’s military-industrial structure. The Government Accountability Office (GAO)—says there has been a <b>78 percent increase</b> in Department of Defense spending on private sector services since 2001. The money spent has exceeded by a wide margin DOD spending on supplies, equipment and weapons systems. This expanding role of the private sector has led to a diminishing government-employee workforce and less oversight of contracts, resulting in numerous examples of fraud and wasteful spending.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/06-5">Making Some Sense of $700b.</a></b><br />05.10.08. James Carroll, boston globe / common dreams.<br />"<b>By a nice coincidence, though, the financial rescue package of $700 billion duplicates a number that was also in the news last week - the Pentagon budget. In the fiscal year just beginning, the Defense Department will spend $607 billion on normal military costs, and an additional $100 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (As of June 30, 2008, Congress had appropriated $859 billion for the wars; Congressional Budget Office projections assume further costs of $400 billion to $500 billion as the wars wind down). But for the coming year, $700 billion is the Pentagon's nice round number (this includes neither Homeland Security nor intelligence costs)</b>."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100301977.html">He Told Us to Go Shopping. Now the Bill Is Due</a></b><br />05.10.08. Andrew J. Bacevich, Washington Post. It's widely thought that the biggest gamble President Bush ever took was deciding to invade Iraq in 2003. It wasn't. His riskiest move was actually one made right after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks when he chose not to mobilize the country or summon his fellow citizens to any wartime economic sacrifice. Bush tried to remake the world on the cheap, and as the bill grew larger, he still refused to ask Americans to pay up. During this past week, that gamble collapsed, leaving the rest of us to sort through the wreckage. … / So as the American soldier fought, the American consumer binged, encouraged by American banks offering easy credit. / From September 2001 until September 2008, this approach allowed Bush to enjoy nearly unfettered freedom of action. To fund the war on terror, Congress gave the administration all the money it wanted. Huge bipartisan majorities appropriated hundreds of billions of dollars, producing massive federal deficits and pushing the national debt from roughly $6 trillion in 2001 to just shy of $10 trillion today. Even many liberal Democrats who decried the war routinely voted to approve this spending, as did conservative Republicans who still trumpeted their principled commitment to fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets. READ ON; BRILLIANT.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47781&s2=08">All You Need To Know </a></b><br />06.10.08. Winter Patriot, uruknet. ...Meanwhile, very quietly, Congress allocated another $615 billion of your money to keep the Pentagon going for another year of death and destruction -- anywhere, anytime, and preferably by remote control, if the monsters-in-control have their way (...) We have no money for health care. We have no money for education. We have no money to fix our roads and bridges, and we especially have no money for the people who have lost everything they owned, to hurricanes or predatory len! ding schemes or medical bills. And yet we have hundreds of billions every year for killing foreigners, and hundreds of billions more for ... for what, exactly? Except that we don't have the money; we'll be borrowing that money to give it away, and paying interest on it forever. It's an enormous "gift" from us and our children and their children, a gift we have been (or will be) forced to "give". And the rich will get richer, and the poor will get slaughtered, and if you are an American taxpayer, you will pay for it. That's the New American Deal -- the economic setup for the New American Century...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/98978-defense-investors-in-today-s-volatile-markets">Defense Investors in Today's Volatile Markets</a></b><br />08.10.08. Scott Sacknoff, seeking Alpha. what I think would be beneficial is to answer the top things on the minds of A&D investors without delving into the market itself.<br /><br />1. 2009 Defense Budget<br />2. Strike at Boeing<br />3. Third Quarter Reporting Expectations<br />4. Presidential Election<br />5. Afghanistan: Planning for a Surge<br />6. Tanker Contract<br />7. Global Defense Spending<br />8. Fixed Price vs. Cost Plus Contracts<br />9. Major End-of-Year Contracts Awarded<br />10. Loan Crisis/Liquidity Impact on A&D<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C08%5Cstory_8-10-2008_pg3_6">Military industrial complexities</a></b><br />08.10.08. Brian Cloughley, dailytimes.pk. those who gain most from war are the world’s arms manufacturers, of whom by far the most are in the US. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have brought enormous profits for Boeing and the rest of what President Eisenhower called the Military-Industrial Complex, that unholy alliance of big business, their supporters in uniform, and those in Congress who are deeply beholden to weapons companies for financial donations. / It would be a brave US legislator who would vote against even a nonsensical bill proposing vast expenditure on weapons if his or her district had an arms factory employing hundreds of voters. And the gunrunners are big-hearted as regards contributing to politicians’ treasure chests, irrespective of party affiliation. No politician would ever endorse a bill that might upset a major donor of cash. This is the Military-Industrial Complex at work.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/53674.html">Financial crisis could put crimp in defense spending plans</a></b><br />08.10.08. Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy. In the fiscal year that just ended, the U.S. spent $694.2 billion on defense, up 52 percent from the 2000 defense budget in constant dollars. (That year, the department spent $292 billion.) The fiscal 2008 total includes $514.2 billion in the defense budget and another $180 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been financed through so-called "supplemental" budgets.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/101108Z">FOCUS | Pentagon Wants $450 Billion Increase Over Next Five Years</a></b><br />09.10.08. Josh Rogin, Congressional Quarterly/truthout: "Pentagon officials have prepared a new estimate for defense spending that is $450 billion more over the next five years than previously announced figures. The new estimate, which the Pentagon plans to release shortly before President Bush leaves office, would serve as a marker for the new president and is meant to place pressure on him to either drastically increase the size of the defense budget or defend any reluctance to do so, according to several former senior budget officials who are close to the discussions."<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />BUT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=169273">Defense spending faces long-term hit</a></b><br />10.10.08. aljazeera. Analysts say U.S. and European defense budgets face deep long-term cuts due to the global financial crisis.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/244/story/53766.html">Economy's bust is a boon for military's recruiting effort</a></b><br />10.10.08/ Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy/anti-war.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10">Secrecy News reports </a>: “The Department of Defense Inspector General recently reported that defense contractors had failed to properly manage, recover or revoke thousands of Common Access Cards that permit the holder to access controlled defense information on DoD information systems.<br /><br />This presents "a potential national security risk that may result in unauthorized access to DoD resources, installations, and sensitiveinformation worldwide," the DoD IG said.” See: <a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/dod/ig-cac.pdf">" Controls Over the Contractor Common Access Card Life Cycle" </a> (10.10.08. (large pdf), DoD Inspector General"<br /><br />“Among other things, a failure to reliably protect restricted information that is unclassified may produce an undesirable incentive to classify such information.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008257178_favorfactory12.html">The Favor Factory</a></b><br />12.10.08. David Heath and Christine Willmsen, Seattle Times. <b>Despite reforms, Congress hides $3.5B in defense earmarks</b>. After months of investigating the $459 billion 2008 defense bill, The Times found:<br /><br />• The hidden $3.5 billion included 155 earmarks, among them the most costly in the bill. Congress disclosed 2,043 earmarks worth $5 billion.<br /><br />• The House broke the new rules at least 110 times by failing to disclose who was getting earmarks, making it difficult for the public to judge whether the money is being spent wisely.<br /><br />• In at least 175 cases, senators did not list themselves in Senate records as earmark sponsors, appearing more fiscally responsible. But they told a different story to constituents back home in news releases, claiming credit for the earmarks and any new jobs.<br /><br />Lawmakers do not face penalties for failing to follow these ethics rules.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21005.htm">Liquidating the Empire</a></b><br />14.10.08. Patrick J. Buchanan, ICH. With U.S. markets crashing and wealth vanishing, what are we doing with 750 bases and troops in over 100 countries? America’s first trillion-dollar deficit is at hand.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21034.htm">Additional Thoughts on the Bailout</a></b><br />16.10.08. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. Just as the Bush regime’s wars have been used to pour billions of dollars into the pockets of its military-security donor base, the Paulson bailout looks like a Bush regime scheme to incur $700 billion in new public debt in order to transfer the money into the coffers of its financial donor base. .. /The explanations that have been given for the crisis and its bailout are opaque.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/sharp.php?articleid=13602">Goodbye to Defense's Gilded Age?</a></b><br />17.10.08. Travis Sharp, anti-war. What many Americans may not realize is that the United States is likely to spend $711 billion on national defense in the fiscal year that began on October 1 (assuming fiscal year 2009 war costs are $170 billion, an estimate provided by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates). You read that correctly: the United States will spend more on defense over the next 365 days than on the $700 bailout package.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4969025.ece">Pentagon plans ‘spaceplane’ to reach hotspots fast</a></b><br />19.10.08. John Harlow, Times Online/anti-war. The American military is planning a “spaceplane” designed to fly a crack squad of heavily armed marines to trouble spots anywhere in the world within four hours. / At a recent secret meeting at the Pentagon, engineers working on the craft, codenamed Hot Eagle, were told to draw up blueprints for a prototype which generals want to have in the air within 11 years. / The two-stage Hot Eagle would be launched from an aircraft carrier. A large booster rocket would carry a smaller spacecraft containing 13 “space troopers” 50 miles into space, far above hostile radar, before landing in enemy territory./ .. Roosevelt Lafontrant, a former marine colonel now employed by the <a href="http://www.schafercorp.com/"> Schafer Corporation</a>, a technology company, said the technology was advancing rapidly.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Defense_contractors"> Defense contractors </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2008/10/23/in-these-tough-times-at-least-people-are-still-buying-missiles/">In these tough times at least people are still buying missiles</a></b><br />23.10.08. anti-war. Does your portfolio continue to take a hit in this helter skelter market? / Have you thought about boosting it with some nitroglycerin-filled firepower? / Bloomberg is reporting that Raytheon not only turned a profit but beat analyst estimates. This is great news for the defense industry which only received a nominal increase in new appropriations for FY 2009, $711 billion altogether.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122481320401165471.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">Profits Rise at Defense Firms</a></b><br />24.10.08. wsj. [subscriber content review] Raytheon Co. and L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. reported robust quarterly results, indicating that companies that supply the Pentagon with advanced military and networking technologies, as well as services such as training, continue to thrive despite the broadening economic downturn.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102203082_pf.html%20Huge%20New%20Biodefense%20Lab%20Is%20Dedicated%20at%20Fort%20Detrick%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3E23.10.08.%20%20Nelson%20Hernandez,%20Washington%20Post.%20%20The%20Department%20of%20Homeland%20Security%20dedicated%20a%20massive%20biodefense%20laboratory%20in%20Frederick%20yesterday,%20moving%20toward%20the%20facility%27s%20opening%20despite%20questions%20raised%20about%20the%20risks%20of%20deadly%20pathogens%20to%20be%20studied%20there.%20/%20...Construction%20began%20in%20June%202006%20on%20the%20%3Cb%3E$143%20million%3C/b%3E,%20160,000-square-foot%20facility%20inside%20the%20fort,%20the%20Army%27s%20sprawling%20medical%20research%20post%20in%20Frederick.%20The%20ship-shaped%20building%20will%20be%20divided%20between%20the%20lab%27s%20major%20divisions:%20a%20forensic%20testing%20center,%20which%20aims%20to%20identify%20the%20culprits%20in%20biological%20attacks;%20and%20the%20Biothreat%20Characterization%20Center,%20which%20seeks%20to%20predict%20what%20such%20attacks%20will%20look%20like%20and%20guide%20the%20development%20of%20countermeasures.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" de="" s1="1&p=48244&s2=26"">The Opium of the Masses</a></b><br />25.10.08. Max Kantar, uruknet.<br />This November, Americans face a choice. But the choice not between John McCain or Barak Obama; it is between submitting to the will of the corporate-military establishment or taking a moral stand in boycotting their rigged institutions of fake democracy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48249&s2=26">Militarization of the American Homeland: Suppression of "Civil Disturbances" : ACLU Demands Information on U.S. Military Domestic Operations</a></b><br />25.10.08. Tom Burghardt, uruknet. On October 2, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding information from the government on U.S. Northern Command's (NORTHCOM) deployment of the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Combat Brigade Team (BCT) on U.S. soil for "civil unrest" and "crowd control" duties. Last month, Army Times published a ! piece detailing how the 1st BCT spent "35 of the last 60 months in Iraq." The 1st BCT--also known as the "Raiders"--carried out house-to-house raids and engaged in close-quarters combat in the city of Ramadi to suppress Iraqi resistance to U.S. occupation...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.connpost.com/ci_10815494?source=rss">Defense budget cuts won't hurt Sikorsky</a></b><br />26.10.08. connpost.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102608D">Jonathan Schell | When the Gloves Come Off</a></b><br />15.10.08. Jonathan Schell, The Nation/truthout. The country's military power is evaporating in failing ground wars in two pulverized, impoverished countries, leaving its recent pretensions to global imperial grandeur in ashes. Its economic power is crumbling daily as its banking system collapses and its instruments of credit seize up in what Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke has told Congress may be a 'heart attack.'"<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>”Yard Sales”</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21081.htm">Maybe U.S. Needs Yard Sale</a></b><br />22.10.08. Eric Margolis, Toronto Sun / ICH. [My “comment” on this article:<br />“Ref: "Well if you don't have an enemy, create him." The best item to put in a yard sale would be the Pentagon. Better still, demolish the bloody building. America needs to do away with the manufactured "enemy" delusion, which is created by the government / corporate world so they can make $s billions and/or trillions profit.”]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174994/nick_turse_putting_the_pentagon_on_the_auction_block">The Trillion Dollar Tag Sale</a></b><br />Nick Turse, Tom Dispatch. … Today, the Pentagon acknowledges 761 active military "sites" in foreign countries -- and that's without bases in Iraq, Afghanistan, and certain other countries even being counted. This "empire of bases," as Chalmers Johnson has noted, "began as the leftover residue of World War II," later evolving into a Cold War and post-Cold War garrisoning of the planet. / Since 2001, the Bush administration's Global War on Terror (including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq) has cost taxpayers more than the recent bailout -- more than $800 billion and still climbing by at least $3.5 billion each week. And the full bill has yet to come due. According to Noble Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard University professor Linda Bilmes, the total costs of those two wars could top out between $3 trillion and $7 trillion. / While squandering money, the Global War on Terror has also acted as a production line for the creation of yet more military bases in the oil heartlands of the planet. Just how many is unknown -- the Pentagon keeps exact figures under wraps -- but, in 2005, according to the Washington Post, there were 106 American bases, from macro to micro, in Iraq alone. / If the Pentagon sold off just the buildings and structures on its officially acknowledged overseas bases at their current estimated replacement value, the country would stand to gain more than $119 billion. Think of this as but a down payment on a full-scale Pentagon bailout package. / In addition, while it leases the property on which most of its bases abroad are built, the Pentagon does own some lucrative lands that could be sold off. For instance, it is the proud owner of more than 11,000 acres in Abu Dhabi, "the richest and most powerful of the seven kingdoms of the United Arab Emirates." With land values there averaging $1,100 per square meter last year, this property alone is worth an estimated $48.9 million. Add in the structures there and you're talking almost $80 million. The Pentagon also owns several thousand acres spread across Oman, Japan, South Korea, Germany, and Belgium. Selling off these lands as well would net a sizeable sum. [More. Excellent. ] … Capping, if not decreasing, the size of the military and bringing troops home would be the foundation for a new foreign policy based on non-aggression and fiscal responsibility.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />[See U.S. Martial Law Timeline (updated) <a href="http://www.blogger.com/=" com="" 2007="" 08="" html=""> here</a> for the ENORMOUS amount of taxpayers money spent on Homeland Security for "protection" in the so-called "War on Terror".]<br /><br /><br />CONTRACTS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/09/15/daily85.html">Northrop, Raytheon given Pentagon contracts for Southern Arizona operations</a></b><br />19.09.08. bizjournals. Arizona operations of Raytheon Co. and Northrop Grumman were awarded $237.4 million in Pentagon contracts Friday… / Northrop's operations in Sierra Vista are getting a $16.9 million U.S. Army contract related to unmanned aerial vehicles. UAVs, or drones, are used by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">and Pakistan </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/09/24/ap5467553.html">Force Protection gets $42M contract expansion</a></b><br />24.09.08. Forbes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/09/24/ap5465667.html">GE gets $15M engine contract by Defense Department</a></b><br />24.09.08. forbes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2008/09/22/daily38.html?ana=from_rss">iRobot wins $8.5M U.S. Army contract</a></b><br />25.09.08. bizjournals.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1906429/">ICx Gets $12 Million Follow-On Cerberus Contract for U.S. Army Under BETSS-C</a></b><br />28.09.08. trading markets. ICx will send additional Cerberus mobile surveillance towers for use at bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. ICx had been previously awarded an order for $14 million under this program.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.kirotv.com/save-money/17596060/detail.html">Senate passes Bailout. </a></b><br />01.10.08.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C01%5Cstory_1-10-2008_pg4_15">Italy to supply 18 planes to Afghanistan</a></b><br />01.10.09. dailytimes.pk. [Alenia Aeronautica, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica] has won a 287 million dollar contract to supply 18 transport planes to the Afghan armed forces through the US air force, the Italian group Finmeccanica said Tuesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/nato-consortium-completes-agreement-acquire/story.aspx?guid=%7B789A697F-1E81-4C90-9B4C-164D9AE8E2EF%7D&dist=hppr">NATO Consortium Completes Agreement to Acquire Boeing C-17s</a></b><br />01.10.08. marketwatch.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/10/06/daily12.html">Weston company gets $10M military contract</a></b><br />06.10.08. bizjournals. For “24-passenger armored buses for U.S. military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ocbj.com/article.asp?aID=3229615.21225102.1691183.1932205.15647302.149&aID2=130082">Ceradyne Gets $2.4B Army Order</a></b><br />06.10.08. ocbj. The company is coming off peak demand for its body armor in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. See also: <a href="http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/10/army_plates_101508w/"> Army to field improved body armor plate </a> (15.10.08. Matthew Cox, Army Times). The Army has tapped BAE Systems Aerospace & Defense Group Inc., Ceradyne Inc. and The Protective Group to produce X Small Arms Protective Inserts as part of three Oct. 3 contract awards worth more than $6 billion.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/local/newsletter/orl-biznews-northrop100608,0,6155012.story">Northrop Grumman's Orlando unit wins $128M Army deal</a></b><br />06.10.08. Richard Burnett, orlando sentinel. The laser designator/rangefinders are critical to the Army's operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, officials said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/us-army-awards-advanced-blast/story.aspx?guid=%7B0B7F9B38-8EC6-48E4-9854-49E18B027F55%7D&dist=hppr">U.S. Army Awards Advanced Blast Protection $10 Million Contract to Produce Armored Buses</a></b><br />06.10.08. marketwatch. three-year Firm Fixed Price Requirements Contract from the U.S. Army to produce 24-passenger armored buses for U.S. military forces supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan). .. The base contract … is valued in excess of $10 million.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-10-07-surge-in-sas-army-sales-to-us">Surge in SA's army sales to US</a></b><br />07.10.08. mg.co.za. South Africa sold 427 armoured combat vehicles to the United States army last year, presumably for use in US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">? Cost?</span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2008/10/06/daily15.html">Goodrich lands Army contract</a></b><br />07.10.08. bizjournals. The five-year contract has a potential value of up to $300 million.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/10/09/ap5532187.html">General Dynamics unit gets $33M Army contract</a></b><br />09.10.08. Forbes. The U.S. Army Sustainment Command in Rock Island, Ill., gave <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Government-industry_revolving_door"> the company </a>'s ordnance and tactical systems unit the contract with up to <u>four option years. If all options are exercised the contract value would exceed $500 million</u>. / [the ammunition] is being used extensively in Afghanistan and Iraq, the company said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/navistar-expands-military-applications-leveraging/story.aspx?guid=%7B064B3728-1E4D-4992-9420-E0C4EA19B74F%7D&dist=hppr">Navistar Expands Military Applications by Leveraging Commercial Vehicle Platforms</a></b><br />09.10.08. marketwatch. Contracts totaling $60.4 million to produce buses and trucks for Iraq and Afghanistan; $35.8 million for MaxxPro(TM) MRAP<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081009/APC03/81009133/1028">Pierce lands $10.7M Army contract</a></b><br />09.10.08. post crescent. The order from the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Command will support military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq security forces.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/wire/story/3702906/">DataPath lands $3.7M contract for military satellite communications</a></b><br />09.10.08. local techwire. DataPath will provide personnel to maintain and operate the systems as part of U.S. Central Command operations in Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/10/06/daily69.html">General Dynamics gets $33M to make ammunition</a></b><br />09.10.08. bizjournals.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2008/10/13/daily53.html:%3EIRobot%20lands%20$2.1M%20U.S.%20Army%20order%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3E16.10.08.%20%20bizjournals.%20%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" com="" ap="" financialnews="" htm="">Pentagon cancels Textron's helicopter program</a></b><br />16.10.08. business week.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/10/20/ap5579193.html">Raytheon gets contract to improve artillery round</a></b><br />20.10.08. AP. The U.S. Army awarded Raytheon Co. a $12 million contract for work on a one-pound precision-guided artillery round known as Excalibur, the military contractor said Monday.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.barnardmicrosystems.com/scan_image065.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 372px; height: 280px;" src="http://www.barnardmicrosystems.com/scan_image065.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://defense-technologynews.blogspot.com/2008/10/aai-receives-contract-for-additional.html">AAI Receives Contract For Additional Shadow TUAS</a></b><br />21.10.08. defense technology news. AAI has announced that it has received a contract totaling $242.1 million for 17 additional Shadow Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems (TUAS). Thirteen systems will be delivered to the U.S. Army and four to the U.S. Marine Corps. / Deliveries on this award are expected to begin in December 2009 and end in November 2010. Up to two systems are planned to be delivered per month. … / This contract comes as Shadow TUAS achieved 350,000 total flight hours. The vast majority of the systems' flight hours have been in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www10.giscafe.com/nbc/articles/view_article.php?articleid=605719">Flight Landata Wins U.S. Army Contract Extension for Aerial Imaging in Afghanistan</a></b><br />21.10.08.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.yourdefencenews.com/military+to+spend+$100+million+to+detect+roadside+bombs_13480.html">Military to spend $100 million to detect roadside bombs</a></b><br />22.10.08. your defence news. The Canadian military will spend $100 million on surveillance balloons and towers equipped with high-tech sensors, as well as other related equipment, as it tries to deal with the ongoing threat of roadside bombs in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/10/24/ap5601436.html">KBR gets military projects worth $197 million</a></b><br />24.10.08. Forbes / legitgov. [In Iraq].<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/10/27/ap5608809.html">ITT receives $206M vehicle systems contract</a></b><br />27.10.08. Forbes. Shares of ITT fell 9 cents to $37.37. Earlier in the session, the stock hit a five-year low of $35.81, and is down 43 percent for the year.<br /><br /><u> Israel</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1025528.html">U.S. approves "sale" to Israel of 25 F-35 fighter jets</a></b><br />01.10. 08. The Israeli embassy in Washington bent over backwards to have the deal approved by the current Congress, and a critical development in the legislation was achieved this weekend. VIDEO. Meanwhile, the deepest cause of world concern,<br /><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/lendman101008.htm"> land grab of Palestinian territory </a> by Israel, continues.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=581522061">IAI's Heron UAV Hunkers Over To Canadian Forces In Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.10.08. sat news/cgi. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has delivered the first Heron UAV system to the Canadian Air Force. IAI and MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) as prime contractor were recently awarded a contract to deliver IAI’s Heron UAV through MDA to Canadian forces deployed in Afghanistan<br /><br /><u> Articles ABOUT Contracts</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5h6N8YeBLGr_zeo-i5XELvWdcMkCw">Canadian military supplier's website contained anti-Muslim comments</a></b><br />21.09.08. canadianpress. A company [Gear Up Motors] that supplies knives, flashlights and other equipment to the Canadian armed forces referred to Muslims as "rag-headed, heathen bastards" on its website as recently as Sunday when the federal government complained.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/10/12/10122008wacDefense.html">Defense contracts net $7.2 million for Central Texas projects, studies</a></b><br />12.10.08. waco trib.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2008/09/30/20080930biz-econfiller0930.html">Firm likely out of Army deal</a></b><br />30.09.08. az central. Chandler's ArmorWorks LLC has likely been cut out of a billion-dollar U.S. Army contract to build advanced body armor for troops in Iraq and <u>Afghanistan</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/29/AR2008092901148.html?hpid=moreheadlines">Ex-CIA Official Pleads Guilty to Fraud</a></b><br />30.09.08. Jerry Markon, Washington Post. … Foggo, 53, admitted that he conspired to defraud the government through his relationship with Brent R. Wilkes, a California businessman and close friend./ .. court documents say, Foggo helped Wilkes get lucrative contracts, including one in which the CIA paid 60 percent more than it should have for water a Wilkes-affiliated company supplied to CIA outposts in <u>Afghanistan</u> and Iraq.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/100108LA">As Profits Soar, Boeing Demands Concessions, Driving Machinists on Strike</a></b><br />01.10.08. Tiffany Ten Eyck, Labor Notes/ truthout. "Aircraft maker Boeing has been groaning under a $275 million backlog of orders for new airplanes that waste less fuel. The company booked a $4.1 billion profit last year, and its principal union, the Machinists (IAM), says Boeing's profits have soared by 828 percent in recent years. But all that cash didn't stop the company from demanding concessions from 27,000 employees. IAM members called the company's bluff and struck, after rejecting a final offer on September 4 with an 80 percent vote."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/102008/10022008/414981">Va. gets lots of federal dollars</a></b><br />02.10.08. fredericksberg.com. In 2007, Virginia topped the nation in the amount of federal government money received per capita with $14,277. Next were Alaska with $13,721 and Maryland with $12,569. Nevada had the least with $6,032.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/101020/college_campuses_now_a_hotbed_for_developing_frightening_new_weapons/">College Campuses Now a Hotbed for Developing Frightening New Weapons</a></b><br />02.10.08. Bryan Farrell, Voices of Central Pennsylvania/alternet. Military culture is taking hold of universities, which defense researchers are using to develop weapons like puke rays and acoustic bazookas.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008265781_apwaearmarkreform.html">Congress hides $3.5B in earmarks</a></b><br />14.10.08. Seattle times. A year ago, Congress passed new ethics rules requiring lawmakers, for the first time, to disclose their earmarks - federal dollars they were quietly doling out as favors. But time after time, Congress exploited loopholes or violated those rules, a Seattle Times investigation has found. An in-depth examination of the 2008 defense bill found $8.5 billion in earmarks. Of those, 40 percent - $3.5 billion - were hidden.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nextgov.com/nextgov/ng_20081016_9851.php">"IG: Army is lax in overseeing issuance of contractor ID cards" </a></b><br />16.10.08. Bob Brewin, Government Executive, NextGov,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-defense16-2008oct16,0,7326157.story">Defense contractors may see leaner times</a></b><br />16.10.08. LA Times. A new administration and broad economic pressures are expected to mean cutbacks in federal spending. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> NB: Don’t count on it</span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=77790">Boeing to Supply Security Systems for Minuteman III Launch Facilitie</a></b><br />20.10.08. webwire / legitgov. Boeing will perform the production work under a $10 million subcontract to Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. The 42-month firm-fixed-price and award-fee contract has a maximum value of approximately $27 million, when all priced options are included<br /><br /><b><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122471439729260241.html?mod=googlenews_wsj">Helicopter Pact Latest to Hit Snag</a></b><br />23.10.08. by August Cole, wsj. Air Force Delays $15 Billion [Boeing] Contract [CSAR-X], Another Big Decision Left to Next Administration. The Air Force has postponed awarding a [Lockheed] disputed $15 billion contract for search-and-rescue helicopters<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2008/10/packs-of-robots-will-hunt-down.html">Packs of robots will hunt down uncooperative humans</a></b><br />22.10.08. Paul Marks, new scientist / legitgov. The latest request from the Pentagon jars the senses. At least, it did mine. They are looking for contractors to provide a "Multi-Robot Pursuit System" that will let packs of robots "search for and detect a non-cooperative human"... Given that iRobot last year struck a deal with Taser International to mount stun weapons on its military robots, how long before we see packs of droids hunting down pesky demonstrators with paralysing weapons? Or could the packs even be lethally armed?... Steve Wright of Leeds Metropolitan University is an expert on police and military technologies, and last year correctly predicted this pack-hunting mode of operation would happen.<br /><br /><em> Bully Boys and Their Toys</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/world/middleeast/25iran.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">U.S. Penalizes Companies for Selling Arms Technology</a></b><br />24.10.08. NY Times. The State Department in the Federal Register said 13 “foreign persons” — from Russia, China and Venezuela, among other countries — violated the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act. / The sanctions went into effect in August but were published in the register only on Thursday, State Department officials said. The measure bans American government sales of high technology munitions equipment to a number of entities, including Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, North Korea’s Korea Mining Development Corp., Russia’s Rosoboronexport and Sudan Master Technology. / Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, reacted sharply to the notice in the Federal Register, accusing the Bush administration of breaking international law.<br /><br /><br />CONTRACTORS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.metimes.com/Security/2008/09/19/dogs_of_war_wpps_world/51b1/">Dogs of War: WPPS World</a></b><br />19.09.08. D. Isenber, metimes. The Worldwide Personal Protective Services contract, or WPPS, is the way the State Department hires private security firms to protect its personnel.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://hamptonroads.com/2008/09/house-approves-612b-defense-bill-military-pay-raise">House approves $612B defense bill with military pay raise</a></b><br />25.09.08. hamptonroads / ICH. Facing a veto threat, lawmakers backed away from provisions that would have limited the use of private security contractors in war zones. [includes contract details]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htlog/articles/20080926.aspx">Contractors Expand As Conscription Fades</a></b><br />26.09.08. strategy page. The use of civilian contractors to support combat troops is becoming increasingly popular. Current forecasts see a market $400 billion market for these services over the next ten years. It was not just the U.S. that was using contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, but many other nations around the world have been doing the same thing. It's particularly popular in Europe, but even Russia and China are picking up on this.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.military-quotes.com/forum/u-s-policy-fuzzy-arms-t67880.html">U.S. Policy Is Fuzzy On Arms Purchases From Former Warsaw Pact Nations</a></b><br />29.09.08. Walter Pincus, Washington Post / Team Infidel. What is the U.S. policy about supplying weapons to Afghanistan that come from Russia and former Warsaw Pact countries? Can the U.S. military deal directly with foreign countries that have these weapons and the ammunition that goes with them? Or must they go through private contractors, who act as middlemen and profit from such transactions?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aGGMo21aihyg">U.S. Treasury to Hire Up to 10 Asset Management Firms (Update1)</a></b><br />03.10.08. Rebecca Christie and Robert Schmidt, Bloomberg. The U.S. plans to hire five to 10 asset-management firms as Secretary Henry Paulson establishes the government's new office for handling the financial bailout, a Treasury official said. / The department will also add about two dozen new employees, a mix of bankers, lawyers, accountants and others, the official said today on condition of anonymity. The Treasury's first attempt to hold an auction to buy troubled assets from financial firms will take at least four weeks to set up, said the official.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/doj-announces-fraud-charges-against.php">Fraud charges laid against USAID subcontractor in Afghanistan</a></b><br />05.10.08. Jurist. US Department of Justice officials announced Friday that a private security company contracted by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and four of its executives and employees have been charged with conspiracy, major fraud and wire fraud in connection with alleged efforts to interfere with US military and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. Delmar Dwayne Spier, Barbara Edens Spier, William Felix Dupre, and Behzad Mehr all worked for United States Protection and Investigation (USPI) based in Houston.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hm2ccBZjQewSOGTOXDlOmH0l0VYQD93NLJJO0">Gov't probes US defense contractor over payments</a></b><br />10.10.08. AP. Army criminal investigators are examining whether <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Combat_Support_Associates%2C_Ltd."> Combat Support Associates </a>, a defense contractor that has earned more than $2 billion so far supporting U.S. troops in Iraq, overcharged the government. The company said it is cooperating in the case. The investigation is among 168 by the Army Criminal Investigation Command related to contract fraud in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan since 2005.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10523">Impact on Human Rights of Private Military and Security Companies’ Activities</a></b><br />11.10.08. José L. Gómez del Prado. globalresearch.ca/ In Afghanistan it is estimated that there are some 60 PMSC employing between 18 000 and 28 000 employees.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/afghans-trained-by-blackw_b_134919.html">Afghans Trained by Blackwater Defect to Taliban</a></b><br />15.10.08. Jamal Dajani, Huff Post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/16/AR2008101603946.html">Afghan Subcontractor Accuses DynCorp of Fraud</a></b><br />Wash Post (subscription only) ... states that after being awarded a contract worth $50 million from the US Army Corps of Engineers in 2007 to build a military base for Afghan troops …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/103345/?page=entire">Private Military Contractors Writing the News? The Pentagon's Propaganda at Its Worst</a></b><br />17.10.08. Liliana Segura, AlterNet. … / Regardless of what you call it, the so-called "War on Terror" has cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in propaganda costs alone. As with so much of modern war-making, most of this work is carried out by private military contractors. With the word "Halliburton" now shorthand for waste, fraud and abuse for many Americans, taxpayers' tolerance for war profiteering has reached new lows -- especially when private military companies operating with no oversight undermine the very "hearts and minds" that mission propaganda is supposedly meant to advance.<br /><br /><u> CACI</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/revised-pentagon-directive-requires.php">Revised Pentagon directive requires monitoring of non-DOD interrogations</a></b><br />17.10.08. Jurist. … / Several former detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison have sued US military contractors alleging that they were tortured in violation of US and international law. This month, lawyers for one contractor, CACI International, moved to dismiss a lawsuit on grounds of immunity. CACI's lawyers argued that the company is protected by derivative absolute immunity because its work was ordered by the government. That lawsuit, filed in July, followed a similar action brought by another ex-detainee in May. Last year, a US district judge refused to dismiss a class action lawsuit against CACI alleging that the contractor was responsible for the torture of more than 250 former detainees held in Iraqi prisons. The Washington Post reported this week that two classified memos sent from the White House to the CIA in 2003 and 2004 sanctioned the use of certain harsh interrogation techniques. US Justice Department (DOJ) memos released in July suggested that certain "enhanced" interrogation techniques are lawful and that those who employ them in good faith lack the specific intent required to be charged with torture. See <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/security-companies-in-afghanistan.html"> Security Companies in Afghanistan</a><br /><br /><u> Immunity In Iraq</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/us-military-contractor-claims-immunity.php">US military contractor claims immunity in seeking Abu Ghraib lawsuit dismissal</a></b><br />03.10.08. Jurist. Lawyers for private US military contractor CACI filed a motion Thursday to dismiss a torture lawsuit against the company based on a claim of immunity. In July, four former detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison filed lawsuits against CACI and L-3 Communications which performed interrogation and interpretation work for the US military, alleging that they violated the Geneva Convention, the Army Field Manual and US law by torturing and conspiring to torture the detainees. They further alleged that CACI and L-3 negligently failed to prevent the torture. In a motion to stay discovery filed last week in US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia [official website], CACI's lawyers argued that the company is protected by derivative <u>absolute immunity</u> For CACI and other contractors in Afghanistan, see <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/security-companies-in-afghanistan.html"> here</a>.<br /><br /><a id="12000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 12. US-NATO</b><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 274px; height: 182px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7ye8JCAcrl3sSedCfe-7Fmo62Jz9qs9z_XJP2hInc_eBeS1WD2M_68rDJjLQ1w0QVhhjo6Jd1a6Jrw0WMfJqd2dtG9c94DFKsC7NMLoa58Vwj5o3U0M9N0-Zmtv9unlTvAaTh/s320/stones.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262347690702433762" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=afghans-throwing-stones-at-isaf-jeep.jpg%E2%80%9D">Afghans throwing stones at ASIF jeep </a><br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200809191521.htm">NATO troops kill a civilian in Afghanistan</a></b><br />19.09.08. hindu.com. The civilian victim was riding in a truck that was heading directly for a NATO patrol in <u>Kandahar</u> province Thursday, the military alliance said in a statement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17387">Nato must share cost of raising Afghan army: Gates</a></b><br />20.09.08. int’news.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/30926">U.S. blocks NATO’s activities - Russian envoy</a></b><br />24.09.08. Russia today/legitgov. Russia regrets that a session of the Russia-NATO council scheduled for Wednesday was cancelled by a U.S. initiative. The country's envoy to the alliance, Dmitry Rogozin, accused the U.S. of <u>foisting its views on other NATO members</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/26/AR2008092603452_pf.html">NATO Hopes to Undercut Taliban With 'Surge' of Projects</a></b><br />27.09.08. Pamela Constable, Washington Post. NATO alliance troops facing ever more aggressive Taliban insurgents are planning a winter "development surge" of civil works projects in eastern Afghanistan designed to win over tribes in regions near the Pakistan border and to prevent their sons from joining the Taliban's ranks, according to military officials here.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10363">Will NATO's Expansion Bubble Burst?</a></b><br />28.09.08. Sara Flounders, globalresearch.ca/. U.S. imperialism's every effort to assert itself and reverse its declining global domination confirms its weakened position. Washington increasingly looks to threats of sanctions and/or military attack to resolve its every problem and challenge. But the Bush administration finds it more difficult to line up its imperialist allies for each new aggression. Even some U.S. puppet and client states now try to distance themselves from U.S. initiatives.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/3104420/General-David-Petraeus-applies-pressure-for-more-Nato-troops-in-Afghanistan.html">General David Petraeus applies pressure for more Nato troops in Afghanistan</a></b><br />29.09.08. Telegraph. The American military commander Gen David Petraeus stepped up the pressure for extra troops to fight in Afghanistan after British commanders ruled out reinforcements.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hgGcUweHQDNEgV7arrJpj_Xj2MTA">Bush to meet commander of NATO Afghan force</a></b><br />01.10.08. AFP. US President George W. Bush will meet on Wednesday the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, with 2008 already the bloodiest year for international troops in the war-torn country since the 2001 invasion. / The meeting, set for 2:25 pm (1825 GMT), comes two days after incoming US regional commander General David Petraeus warned that parts of Afghanistan were in a "spiral downward."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=421723">INTERVIEW-Taliban gets foreign help but won't win-general</a></b><br />16.10.08. wired. U.S. General David McKiernan told Reuters that non-native militants were posing an increasing threat in Afghanistan by bringing in techniques developed elsewhere and by providing training and help in combat.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1435838.php/NATO_considers_Afghanistan_reinforcements_despite_financial_crisis">NATO considers Afghanistan reinforcements despite financial crisis</a></b><br />09.10.08. South Asia News. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer on Thursday said the global financial crisis should not stand in the way of desired increases in military spending by the alliance's member states.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=419022">NATO troops to retreat if Afghan civilians at risk</a></b><br />14.10.08. Hamid Shalizi, Reuters. NATO has ordered its troops in Afghanistan to pull back from firefights with the Taliban rather than call in air strikes that might kill civilians, Afghan and NATO officials said on Tuesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/15/AR2008101503572_pf.html">NATO Modifies Airstrike Policy In Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.10.08. Washington Post / anti-war. In a bow to public outrage over a recent spate of U.S.-led airstrikes in Afghanistan that resulted in more than 100 civilian deaths, NATO officials have ordered commanders to try to lessen their reliance on air power in battles with insurgents, NATO and Afghan officials said Wednesday. / "We'll do anything we can to prevent unnecessary casualties, and we'll ensure that we'll have safe use of force. That includes not only airstrikes but ground operations," Blanchette said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17833">Pakistan, Afghan, US top commanders meet</a></b><br />16.10.08. the news.pk. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, his Afghan counterpart General Bismullah Khan and the commander of Afghanistan’s Nato force, General David McKiernan, attended the talks.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/54025.html">Recent NATO commander tells what it's really like in Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.10.08. McClatchy. Though under-staffed, multi-national forces are <em>making progress</em> [sic] in Afghanistan, the former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan [war criminal Gen. Dan K. McNeill] told the Beaufort Rotary Club during a luncheon Wednesday.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 462px; height: 184px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd7GcCltmJCLKEFq1fl9EeCwKSZ_zKdsZEp4ltSNbhti30lS-vlQTHZ2AkVCcHbEQf7aeXAGBThFvh0j1fm9qT5SlH8JgWSI9S7Fh_FOLm-OOIjPrgnh271-zs6TEuULHiQsrX/s320/wazir+akbar.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262347693966784018" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/13/18503788_4a73891381_o.jpg">Wazir Akbar Khan</a><br /><br /></span></div><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48045&s2=18">NATO PESSIMISM : The West Is at a Loss in Afghanistan </a></b><br />17.10.08. Susanne Koelbl, Spiegel, uruknet.<br />More and more military and civilian leaders are voicing pessimism when it comes to the NATO mission in Afghanistan. As the fight continues, ideas for how to break through the ongoing stalemate are few. Some are beginning to think that victory -- for either side -- is impossible. It is one of the last mild summer evenings in Kabul. A group of Western diplomats and military officials is meeting for a private dinner in one of the embassies in <u>Wazir Akbar Khan</u>, an upscale residential neighborhood. Almost all of the 12 envoys and generals represent countries that have troops stationed in southern Afghanistan and the mood is somber. "Nothing is moving forward anymore, and yet we are no longer able to extricate ourselves," one of the ambassadors says over dessert, a light apple pastry. He gives voice to that which many here are already thinking: "We are trapped."...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE49J4AC20081020">NATO's political will "wavering" in Afghanistan</a></b><br />20.10.08. Reuters. NATO members are wavering in their political commitment to Afghanistan, [General Craddock] said on Monday, describing the nearly seven-year-old campaign against the Taliban as disjointed. / Pointing to more than 70 "caveats" that give individual countries a veto over certain operations, and the fact that troop commitments remain unfulfilled, General John Craddock said he was fearful the operation was being short-changed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=58273">Logistics support policy to NATO should be reviewed: Q-League</a></b><br />21.10.08. the news,pk / anti-war. Pakistan Muslim League-Qaid-e-Azam (PML-Q) has asked the government to review its policy of providing logistics support to Nato troops stationed in Afghanistan. / While giving its recommendations in Parliamentary Committee meeting here on Tuesday, PML-Q parliamentarians demanded that government should hold dialogue with all tribal leaders, compensate all military personnel and civilians who embraced Martyrdom in operation against terrorism and set up a permanent parliamentary committee. / It said that proposed parliamentary committee would review Pakistan’s policy against war on terrorism and submit its recommendations to the Parliament.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=3f167d73-9070-412a-9532-1fff13d19e5b&&Headline=NATO+supports+Afghanistan-Taliban+talks">NATO supports Afghanistan-Taliban talks</a></b><br />23.10.08. hindustan times. Stressing that military means alone cannot bring peace in war ravaged Afghanistan, NATO has said it was not opposed to talks between the government and Taliban leaders willing to lay down their arms, reports EuAsiaNews.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5019417.ece">Nato officers rent villa owned by Naples Mafia boss Antonio Iovine</a></b><br />27.10.08. Times Online/anti-war. American Nato officers have been renting a villa near Naples <u>for years</u> that belongs, indirectly, to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casalesi_clan"> Antonio Iovine</a>, a clan chieftain of the Camorra, the Neapolitan Mafia. Mr Iovine, 44, nicknamed “o’ninno” — the baby — because of his small stature, is wanted for murder and other crimes, and is listed among the 30 most dangerous criminals in Italy. He has been on the run for 12 years. / According to an investigation that was published in Corriere della Sera yesterday the villa of Mr Iovine may be only the tip of an iceberg. Italian police sources suggested that there were scores of similar cases in the Naples area of Nato service personnel living in houses that were owned by the Camorra. There are several Nato facilities in the area, notably a US telecommunications centre in Bagnoli and the US Air Force base at Capodichino.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gayle-tzemach/on-the-ground-in-afghanis_b_138203.html">On the Ground In Afghanistan</a></b><br />27.10.08. Gayle Tzemach, Huff Post. Violence is swelling nationwide while NATO countries squabble over who will send how many troops when. Not even Kabulis hardened by three decades of war know what will come next, but signs point in the familiar directions of violence, upheaval and instability. Attracting foreign dollars to build a bright future for the country is far harder than it was three years ago; foreign investment has plunged 50 percent in 2008. Rising kidnapping threats menacing the country's business elite will sink this figure even further.<br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><em> = Propaganda Dept. Action</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jZoCJh7WDYVqPkFx3R2GbXbq4LXAD942MMOO1">NATO general: Negative Afghan headlines overblown</a></b><br />27.10.08. Jason Straziuso, AP. NATO's top commander in Afghanistan is tired of negative headlines, and he is on an offensive to counter what he sees as a wave of unwarranted pessimism in news reports coming out of the country. / U.S. Gen. David McKiernan's public relations push comes at a time when more U.S. and NATO troops have died than in any other year since the 2001 U.S. invasion, in part because Taliban militants are launching increasingly complex and deadly attacks. / "There's a lot of negative reporting. Somebody likes to report an attack somewhere and that becomes the trend in Afghanistan, or they don't report the positive events or the absolute brutality or the illegitimacy of the Taliban," McKiernan told The Associated Press in an interview Sunday.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><a href="http://pakobserver.net/200810/28/Articles03.asp">NATO’s wavering commitment to Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.10.08. Col Ghulam Sarwar, pak observer. There is a general consensus among the informed circles that NATO members are wavering in their political commitment to Afghanistan. These views were also endorsed by one of the alliance’s top commander who described the nearly seven-year-old campaign against the Taliban, as disjointed. Commenting on the outcome of this campaign General John Craddock was heard saying that he was fearful that the operation was being short-changed. Craddock a United States general and NATO’s Supreme-Allied Commander, Europe, said this in a speech to policy makers and defence analysts in London “It is this wavering political will that impedes operational progress and brings into question the relevance of the alliance here in the 21st century”, he said. In this context, the actual position is that as insecurity increased in Afghanistan. NATO troops had steadily been drown into more deadly operations, and primarily this was the factor that had dissuaded some nations from deeper involvement. Craddock defended the view expressed by Britain’s outgoing commander in Afghanistan, Brig. Mark Carleton Smith … <br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7694350.stm">Nato's Afghan forces 'hit limit'</a></b><br />28.10.08. BBC News - UK. Coalition forces in Afghanistan have "now reached their limit", according to General Sir Michael Rose, former commander of UN forces in Bosnia. He said Nato forces should consider forming local tribal militias to help stabilise the country.<br /><br /><u> US-NATO and Hungary</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jx32jX2NR_lsxivYZ0GU3eLXaguw">NATO countries agree to buy giant transport planes for airlift missions</a></b><br />01.10.08. The 10 NATO members that took part in Wednesday's deal are Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the United States. Britain and Canada have separately acquired a total of 10 of the planes. The planes will be based at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A1pa"> Papa air base</a> in Hungary with multinational crews.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=57885">U.S. troops to staff NATO base in Hungary</a></b><br />04.10.08. John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes. The Strategic Airlift Capability Partnership — which involves the joint acquisition of three C-17 Globemasters — will increase NATO’s ability to transport large numbers of troops and supplies to far-flung places, such as <u>Afghanistan</u>. The town of Papa will host the base to be commanded by U.S. Air Force Col. John Zazworsky.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE48MBHS20080923">Afghanistan to dominate agenda of NATO defense ministers' meeting</a></b><br />07.10.08. Reuters, china view. NATO defense ministers will meet in the <u>Hungarian capital of Budapest</u> on Thursday and Friday to discuss primarily the NATO-led operations in Afghanistan amid doubts over the alliance's counter-insurgency strategy in the war-torn country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/08/content_10163595.htm">Hungary suggests NATO set up foundation to finance Afghanistan mission</a></b><br />08.10.08. xinhuanet. Hungary has proposed setting up a common NATO foundation to finance the bloc's mission in Afghanistan, instead of the current mechanism that each participant sponsors their own activities, Istvan Bocskai, spokesman for the Hungarian Defence Ministry said Tuesday. / NATO member states should make "fair contributions" to the foundation [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">instead of to the US?</span>] in proportion to the size of their armies, the spokesman stressed, adding that the proposal would be presented at NATO's summit in Budapest slated for Oct. 9-10.in proportion to the size of their armies, the spokesman stressed, adding that the proposal would be presented at NATO's summit in Budapest slated for Oct. 9-10.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JJ08Df04.html">A fatal flaw in Afghan peace process</a></b><br />08.10.08. M K Bhadrakumar, asia times. … / Paradoxically, Washington will be relieved if Russia-NATO cooperation over Afghanistan altogether ceases. There is simply no other way that NATO can cast Russia as an adversary. But Russia is not obliging. Russian officials have recently alleged that Washington has prevailed on Karzai to freeze all cooperation with the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on the vital front of combating drug trafficking. But Russia has failed to react and instead has began fortifying its own mechanism within the framework of CSTO (and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization) to counter drug-trafficking. / The main challenge for NATO is that its dependence on Moscow for logistical support in the Afghan war cannot be terminated as long as there is uncertainty about the supply routes via Pakistan. Here the Saudis can be of help. Their involvement in the Afghan peace process will discourage the Taliban from seriously disrupting the supply routes through Pakistan.<br /><br /><u> US-NATO and Iran</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=71581&sectionid=351020101">Iran: Intruding jet belonged to NATO</a></b><br />08.10.08. presstv/ir / ICH. A Falcon jet that violated Iranian airspace and was forced to land in the Islamic Republic belongs to the NATO forces, a report says.<br /><br /><u>and Japan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE4952JZ20081006">U.S. urges allies to fight in Afghanistan or write cheque</a></b><br />06.10.08. Reuters. The United States has asked Japan and NATO allies who have refused to send troops to Afghanistan to pay the estimated $17 billion (9.7 billion pounds) needed to build up the Afghan army, according to U.S. defence officials.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/world/20081020TDY02301.htm">U.S. wants Japan to send SDF copters to Afghanistan</a></b><br />20.10.08. Yomiuri Shimbun<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/21/japan-to-extend-naval-mission-to-afghanistan/">Japan to Extend Naval Mission to Afghanistan</a></b><br />21.10.08. anti-war. Japan’s lower house of parliament approved a bill today to extend its naval refueling mission to landlocked Afghanistan. The bill will allow Japanese ships to continue refueling warships in the Indian Ocean past January 15. / .. The United States has regularly pressured Japan to continue providing support for its seven year long war in Afghanistan. Last year they cautioned that they would be “very, very concerned” if Japan declined to continue its mission.<br /><br /><u> Report: US-NATO Enlargement</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34701.pdf">"NATO Enlargement: Albania, Croatia, and Possible Future Candidates,"</a></b><br />06.10.08. fas.org.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=9738">Don't Expand NATO</a></b><br />Benjamin H. Friedman and Justin Logan , World Politics Review/cato/anti-war. At the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in December, U.S. officials will once again make the case for admitting Georgia and Ukraine to the alliance. Our NATO allies, with Germany and France leading the way, already blocked the two countries' path to membership last spring, a move that in retrospect might have prevented August's dustup between Russia and Georgia from escalating into a nuclear standoff. Rather than being grateful to them, U.S. leaders are instead doubling down on folly. / .. [The US foreign policy] narrative is devoid of strategic logic.<br /><br /><a id="13000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 13. US-NATO Coalition</b><br /></div><br />AUSTRALIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.smh.com.au/national/fitzgibbon-meets-nato-delegation-20080924-4n4v.html">Fitzgibbon meets NATO delegation</a></b><br />24.09.08. smh.au/. A visiting NATO delegation has been told Australia expects the alliance nations to contribute more troops to Afghanistan and impose fewer restrictions on their deployment.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/29/2377129.htm">Government losing support for Afghanistan campaign</a></b><br />29.09.08. ABC. Australian support for a continued military presence in Afghanistan has significantly dwindled in the latest wide-reaching poll conducted by the international policy think tank, the Lowy Institute.<br /><br /><em> Dog Pens (cont. from previous Index Afghanistan)</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_5268.shtml">Australian defense minister ignores alleged abuse</a></b><br />30.09.08. final call. Following a firefight to “clear” a compound in Oruzgan province on April 29, four men—suspected Taliban fighters—were taken prisoner and “held in walled pens during the night and guarded by (force element) soldiers” at a forward operating base, according to the ADF’s inquiry officer, Col. D.K. Connery.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/31914">More Australians Want to Leave Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.10.08. Angus reid poll<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/death-of-a-warrior-blow-to-australian-afghan-war-strategy-20081004-4txs.html?page=-1">Death of a warrior blow to Australian Afghan war strategy</a></b><br />06.10.08. the age.au. When the shooting stopped, three men lay dead — and Australia's strategy in Afghanistan was left with a gaping wound.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/06/2383459.htm?section=australia">Financial crisis distracting US from Afghanistan: Fitzgibbon</a></b><br />06.10.08. ABC. The Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has raised concerns that the economic meltdown in the United States will inhibit the number of troops the country sends to Afghanistan. / Mr Fitzgibbon will use next month's NATO meeting in Canada to lobby for a greater troop commitment.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/world/fitzgibbon-echoes-frustrations-over-afghanistan-war-20081007-4vtp.html">Fitzgibbon echoes frustrations over Afghanistan war</a></b><br />08.10.08. Brendan Nicholson, the age. He said the British officer was right to be frustrated because there had been little progress in NATO's plan to co-ordinate military and civil goals and actions in Afghanistan. "Unless we properly resource those three branches and properly co-ordinate them, progress is going to be frustratingly slow," he said. / At the [NATO April] summit there was an implied commitment from many of those present to increase their troop numbers in Afghanistan. "But we've seen virtually none of that," he said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24471002-29277,00.html">Government considers paying family of dead Afghan governor</a></b><br />09.10.08. news.com.au. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has yet to officially acknowledge that Chora district governor and tribal leader Rozi Khan died from shots fired by Australian soldiers. / But defence head Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said this week it certainly looked that way. / Lt Gen Hurley declined to disclose the size of the potential payment.<br /><br /><br />CANADA<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/canada-afghanistan/assets/images/kabul_embassy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 390px; height: 123px;" src="http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/canada-afghanistan/assets/images/kabul_embassy.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.canadainternational.gc.ca/canada-afghanistan/assets/images/kabul_embassy.jpg"> Embassy of Canada, Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul</a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=5dc0bb4e-5144-4c5f-86d7-752729090605">Military to dump $250M drones</a></b><br />02.09.08. Canada.com. The Canadian military will shut down its fleet of aerial drones now being used in Afghanistan after spending more than <b>$250 million</b> on the aircraft.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1079759.html">Canada’s $22-billion non-issue</a></b><br />19.09.08. C. Lambie, chronicle herald. Why isn’t the Afghan mission higher on our election radar? … The total adds up to more than $22 billion when these items are included: $2 billion for mission-specific equipment, including Chinook helicopters, Leopard tanks, howitzers and aerial drones; another $2 billion to replace the army fleet of light armoured vehicles; and $405 million for repair and overhaul costs.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=368898">US deserter in Canada wins stay of deportation</a></b><br />22.09.08. AP. Then <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/6056546.html"> ordered to leave </a> (13.10.08, Chron com)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE49212N20081003">NATO can't be in Afghanistan forever: Canada's PM</a></b><br />02.10.08. Reuters. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has committed to pulling out Canadian troops from Afghanistan in 2011, said on Thursday some other Western leaders wrongly believed NATO forces could stay there forever.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/canada-watch-group-brings-suit-to.php">Canada watch group brings suit to challenge early election</a></b><br />03.10.08. Jurist. Canadian government accountability group Democracy Watch brought a lawsuit on Thursday, seeking to postpone the country's parliamentary elections scheduled for October 14. The group argues that the elections, proposed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper would violate a 2007 amendment to the Canada Elections Act. Under the amendment, the next election would be held in October 2009. The group argues that only a vote of no-confidence by Parliament can legitimately bring an early election, and that allowing the prime minister to schedule elections goes against the intent of the amendment. The group also argues that giving the prime minister such control would allow the ruling party to schedule elections during periods of popular support, and to prepare for elections before they are announced.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10438">Canada will be Lost if you Vote for the Tories: Prime Minister Harper officially endorses North American Union</a></b><br />04.10.08. Paul Chen, globalresearch.ca. Mr. Harper has been apparently directed by the principal funders of the Conservative Party of Canada, which are ideologically linked to the CFR, to assimilate Canada into a new "Fortress North America" which is controlled by the U.S. political-military-industrial complex by no later than 2010.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081006.ELECTIONAFGHAN06/TPStory/International">War effort thrust into Canada's election</a></b><br />06.10.08. globe and mail. Brig. Carleton-Smith's controversial comments [see below] thrust Canada's combat mission into the election campaign yesterday./ Liberal candidate Bob Rae told CTV's Question Period that the Conservative Party needs to be more candid and accountable to Canadians about its assessment on the ground. / "We've been saying it for some time that this exclusively military focus in Afghanistan is not the right one, that there has to be an effort at finding a broader political and diplomatic solution, that efforts have to be made with Pakistan, that efforts have to be made across the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan," Mr. Rae said. / NDP Leader Jack Layton said the British commander's views validate his party's position on the conflict.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/mini/CTVNews/20081006/election2008_afghanistan_081006/20081006?s_name=election2008&no_ads=">Harper says talks with Taliban up to Afghanistan</a></b><br />06.10.08. CTV. "President (Hamid) Karzai has always been open to talking to the Taliban at various levels, provided these people are willing to participate in the democratic and constitutional process," he said Monday while campaigning for the Oct. 14 federal election.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=b9507d68-41ab-4e64-85c2-711ebfb07c39">Ending Afghan insurgency not realistic: Harper</a></b><br />06.10.08. Canada.com. Afghanistan will never be completely free of an insurgency, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Monday, echoing the top British commander who said Sunday western forces could not defeat the Taliban.<br />vs.<br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hht2Y3JyM7DmwlDRZQr8YD6ezXhQ">Foreign troops cannot bring peace to Afghanistan: Canadian PM</a></b><br />08.10.08. AFP. "I don't believe -- and I've said many times I don't believe -- that we can pacify every corner of Afghanistan as foreign troops," said Harper in an interview with CBC television.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/513548">Soldier says it's time to end Afghanistan war</a></b><br />08.10.08. Letter to the Editor from Corporal Paul Demetrick, Canadian Army (Reserve), Penticton, B.C.<br />I love my country just like anybody else. But when I hear of things our troops have done in Afghanistan, I have to ask, "What kind of legacy do we wish to leave behind?" Some examples: we respond to hostile fire by indiscriminate bombing and shelling of villages, killing innocent men, women and children; we fire white phosphorus shells (a chemical weapon outlawed by the Geneva Conventions due to the horrific way it burns human beings) into vineyards where it was known Afghan insurgents were deployed; we hand over prisoners of war to Afghan authorities, who torture them; and we shoot and kill a 2-year-old Afghan boy and his 4-year-old sister. Do we want to be remembered for hating, killing and destroying, or caring, healing and helping with reconstruction?<br /><br /><b>The war in Afghanistan is a lie. </b> How can we inspire the Afghan people to respect liberty, democracy, equality for women, education for children, human rights and respect for life when we are maiming and murdering them and destroying their homes, communities, the economy and their country? …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGYrBUQr4k1aTj9x2AXjnZVkQxTA">Canada's Afghanistan mission tally 10.5 billion dollars so far</a></b><br />09.10.08. AFP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/reghai101008.htm">The Last Bastion Of Acceptable Prejudice</a></b><br />10.10.08. Bahija Réghaï, countercurrents. The elections on both sides of the Canada-US border have revealed that prejudices against Arabs and Muslims are the last bastion of acceptable prejudice in North America<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=cb50a0b1-2647-4d3d-b7c5-f0b9dc9bafad">War costs illuminate debate on Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.10.08. Canada.com. How do you do the accounting for a war? Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page wrestled with that problem, and has come up with a figure of $10.5 billion over the seven years that Canada has been involved in Afghanistan. / Further, he said in a report made public yesterday, by the time Canadian troops leave that country in 2011, the total could be as high as $18 billion. / .. [Page] said he can't be precise. If equipment is purchased early for Afghanistan, but will one day come home, for example, then what proportion of its cost should be billed to the mission?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://globalnewsblog.com/blog/?p=6354">Afghanistan - Afghan war may cost Canada $15.7 billion</a></b><br />10.10.08. global news blog.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iBQbZMcn-v9rem_9AHFAdisWXjKw">Harper wins re-election in Canada</a></b><br />15.10.08. ukpress.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=21903720-86b4-4e8b-be18-8e7836d52d0c">Four-legged heroes saving lives in Afghanistan</a></b><br />15.10.08. Canada.com. Though two of the animals have made the supreme sacrifice themselves after accidentally triggering bombs, they are generally looked after very well.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=581522061">IAI's Heron UAV Hunkers Over To Canadian Forces In Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.10.08. sat news/cgi. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has delivered the first Heron UAV system to the Canadian Air Force. IAI and MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) as prime contractor were recently awarded a contract to deliver IAI’s Heron UAV through MDA to Canadian forces deployed in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/10/18/afghanistan-demonstrations.html">Protesters want Canadian troops out of Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.10.08. CBC./anti-war. Peace groups organized the protests, to take place in 16 cities Saturday and Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/kitson.php?articleid=13621">Blind Spot: Afghanistan in Canada's Federal Election</a></b><br />22.10.08. Neil Kitson, anti-war. Meanwhile, Canada's foreign policy, already a festering mash of incompetence, head-in-the-tar-sands ignorance, and Pollyana-ish magical thinking, has erupted in several thousand Canadian troops being holed up in Kandahar on a mission of completely opaque legality, morality, and practicality. If we "won," what would it look like, and who is "we"?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/523548">Rank Afghan injustice</a></b><br />24.10.08. Editorial, the star. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government is spending $30 million or more in Afghanistan to "protect and promote" human rights and to "strengthen the rule of law" by training judges, prosecutors and public defenders. It is part of our $1.3 billion Afghan aid program. / But Canada's effort to help modernize the legal system has been cast in doubt by the disturbing case of <em>Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh</em> [see Human Rights, below], a 23-year-old journalism student who was condemned to death earlier this year by a court in Mazar-e-Sharif after a five-minute trial.<br /><br /><br />CZECH REPUBLIC<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/02/content_10140259.htm">Czech gov't to send more troops to Afghanistan in 2009</a></b><br />02.10.08. Chinaview.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.praguepost.com/articles/2008/10/15/politicians-debate-foreign-missions.php">Politicians debate foreign missions</a></b><br />15.10.08. Ondrej Bouda, Prague Post. At a time when U.S. secret services are warning against the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and the rising influence of the Taliban, the Czech government is struggling to pass a proposal to double the number of soldiers serving in the country. / Currently, there are more than 70,000 soldiers serving in International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan. However, according to mission commanders, at least 10,000 more will be needed if the force is to fight effectively against rising violence by the Taliban. / The Czech government now wants to increase the number of servicemen abroad from 900 to 1,386. Most of the reinforcements would be sent to Afghanistan, where the number of Czech soldiers would rise to 745 if Parliament approves the government plan.<br /><br /><br />DENMARK<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jp.dk/uknews/article1491201.ece">Soldiers retreat from Taleban stronghold</a></b><br />21.10.08. jp.dk / ICH. The lack of Afghan soldiers forces Danish troops to pull back from Taleban areas. The government-backed Afghan National Army (ANA) is lacking so many troops in the Taleban stronghold of Helmand province that both the ANA and the international forces have retreated and focused their efforts on the large cities in the area.<br /><br /><br />FRANCE<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp7hBR5CHbY-reXdRF21XbEx6sG-nMtRCYZ1SQZs4-kIbJvK4KIsW238Z0WEo0Ifk6x9y6innxxg5XYANPIaMSLWBv9FVZDVQ6CSfUhNo8rtW9NrzZc2_RWCg0yZAcEurNL6T9/s320/paris20090802hq8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262353291710365314" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.911blogger.com/node/17854%E2%80%9D">911blogger.com</a><br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/090908/afghanistan-cette-guerre-n-est-pas-la-notre">Afghanistan: cette guerre n'est pas la nôtre</a></b><br />09.09.08. mediapart.fr/legitgov.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNUT2NTd2QkrQOiMoE9fZyolu90w">US general praises French 'leadership'</a></b><br />26.09.08. AFP. General David Petraeus, who will take charge of US forces in southwest Asia and the Middle East next month, also said he was aware of the concerns among the European public about the ongoing bloodshed in Afghanistan. / "Obviously, public opinion, it's very important to maintain it," the former head of coalition forces in Iraq told reporters at the US embassy in Paris, during a two day visit for talks with French military officials.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/3042557/French-troops-ran-out-of-ammunition-in-Afghanistan.html"><br />French troops 'ran out of ammunition' in Afghanistan</a></b><br />21.09.08. Telegraph. Ten French soldiers killed by Taliban fighters last month in Afghanistan were woefully ill-equipped, according to a report citing a classified Nato document.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/21/europe/EU-France-Afghanistan.php">France denies troops ill-equipped in Afghanistan</a></b><br />21.09.08. AP / IHT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7628597.stm">France to vote on Afghan troops</a></b><br />22.09.08. BBC. Ten French soldiers were killed near Kabul in August in one of the deadliest attacks on foreign troops. / Reports say a stormy debate is expected but parliament is likely to support maintaining the French presence.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://tinyurl.com/43nleg">French parliament approves military reinforcement plan in Afghan occupation</a></b><br />-.09.08. RTT. The lower house of the French parliament approved the government's move to reinforce its military presence in Afghanistan, under which, 100 extra troops and helicopters and drones would back up its 2,600-strong force in the terror-stricken country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=ab116cff-0806-4f37-961b-c8c77541e541">France to boost Afghan forces</a></b><br />23.09.08. Canada.com. Prime Minister François Fillon, speaking before the National Assembly voted to keep the country's 2,600 troops in Afghanistan, said the government will add helicopters, drones, artillery and roughly 100 more troops.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/31833">French Want Soldiers Out of Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.09.08. Angus Reid poll.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=96404">Afghan warlord Hekmatyar claims attack on French troops</a></b><br />30.09.08. AFP. Afghan insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has claimed responsibility in a video message for an August ambush that killed 10 French soldiers, an Afghan news agency reported Monday, saying it had seen the footage.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGv4cEqc-wRw_6Mt57psjGEs9lLgD93I76501">Official: French troops wound 4 civilians in Kabul</a></b><br />02.10.08. AP. Kabul's police chief Ayub Salangi said the civilians were inside a minibus which got in between a French military convoy as it was traveling outside the capital on Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10445">French troops: We won't go to Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.10.08. globalresearch.ca. According to French media, troops in the 27th battalion stationed in a southern France military base said on Friday that they were unwilling to go to Afghanistan as part of France's mission in the central Asian country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jd3DKrlYPLUzIwIfryRK7U8tAPYQ">French army chief rules out military victory in Afghanistan</a></b><br />08.10.08. AP. The head of the French military General Jean-Louis Georgelin on Wednesday backed comments by a senior British military officer’s view that the <u>war in Afghanisgan was unwinnable. </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=a2UmE5F1tUpM&refer=europe">France Ready to Be Flexible on EADS's A400M Delay Penalties</a></b><br />15.10.08. Delphine Liou-Brugeilles and Francois de Beaupuy, Bloomberg.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=4db57f36-fdc4-4abd-a15d-cf7667e82a77">An interview with Nicolas Sarkozy</a></b><br />16.10.08. Canada.com<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=426591">France to host regional Afghan meeting by year-end</a></b><br />21.10.08. Reuters / anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/24/french-anti-tank-missiles-abandoned-in-taliban-clash/">French Anti-Tank Missiles Abandoned in Taliban Clash</a></b><br />24.10.08. anti-war. A French unit was surrounded last weekend in Kapisa Province Afghanistan and had to withdraw from the field, leaving behind two anti-tank Milan missiles and a launcher. Journalists say no French soldiers were hurt in the clash, but “all 14 Taliban insurgents were killed.” / French Defense Minister Herve Morin sought to downplay the significance of the loss, saying “the essential thing is that everyone is alive,” and that it would be difficult for anyone to use the captured missiles “without proper training.”<br /><br /><br />GERMANY<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/04/europe/EU-Germany-Afghanistan.php">German FM wants special forces out of Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.10.08. AP, IHT. Frank-Walter Steinmeier is quoted by Der Spiegel magazine on Saturday as saying German military commandos stationed in Afghanistan have not participated in a single mission.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wb%3eiredispatch.com/news/?id=410067">Germany not to renew special forces' Afghan mission</a></b><br />06.10.008. wired. Germany will no longer make troops from its elite KSK special forces available to support U.S.-led counterterrorism missions in Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said on Monday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/10/07/afx5519644.html">German cabinet backs extra troops for Afghanistan</a></b><br />07.10.08. forbes. Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet agreed on Tuesday to extend Germany's participation in a NATO mission in Afghanistan and raise the number of troops it can send there by 1,000, sparking a heated parliamentary debate. [4,500 total]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_3709367,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf">Think tanks say Germany on verge of recession</a></b><br />14.10.08. DW-World / ICH. A group of leading German economic think tanks say Europe's largest economy is on the brink of a recession.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/10/16/europe/OUKWD-UK-GERMANY-AFGHAN.php">Germany backs extra troops for Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.10.08. Reuters. Germany's lower house of parliament voted Thursday to increase the number of troops Berlin can send to Afghanistan by 1,000 soldiers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3728666,00.html">Opinion: An Unwinnable War in Afghanistan</a></b><br />21.10.08. dw-world.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thelocal.de/15053/20081022/">Military association blames government for dead soldiers</a></b><br />22.10.08. thelocal.de. The German military association DBwV has blamed the government for the death of two German soldiers and five children in Afghanistan this week, daily Passauer Neue Presse reported on Wednesday.<br /><br /><br />ITALY<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C01%5Cstory_1-10-2008_pg4_15">Italy to supply 18 planes to Afghanistan</a></b><br />01.10.09. dailytimes.pk.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Politics/?id=3.0.2606917834">Italian foreign minister rejects call for extra troops</a></b><br />20.10.08.<br /><br /><br />NORWAY<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1435361.php/Norwegian_foreign_minister_visits_Afghanistan_">Norwegian foreign minister visits Afghanistan</a></b><br />07.10.08. monsters and critics. Norway has around 500 troops in Afghanistan and is part of NATO-led operations in the country.<br /><br /><br />UK<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47412&s2=22">MoD accused of covering up injuries to troops</a></b><br />21.09.08. Sean Rayment, Telegraph/uruknet. Soldiers, MPs and lawyers representing injured servicemen and women claim the real cost to those fighting on the front line in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, is being hidden from the public for political reasons.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5ih2rZ-dD9zJAeI8znWPfX1pv89SQ">UK 'has uphill task in Afghanistan'</a></b><br />22.09.08. ukpress.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/call-for-more-afghan-troops-941472.html">Call for more Afghan troops</a></b><br />25.09.08. Kim Sengupta, Independent. The commander of British troops in Afghanistan has said troop levels need to be raised by at least 50 per cent to fight a resurgent Taliban in Helmand and an international presence would be required in the country for <u>up to 15 years</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4834570.ece">No more British troops to be deployed despite Taleban resurgence</a></b><br />27.09.08. Telegraph.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47554&s2=28">Too Much of Nothing: Notes From an Imperial Microcosm</a></b><br />27.09.08. Chris Floyd, uruk.de. Britain is a small and withered appendage of the American imperium, but it still serves as a mineshaft canary and microcosm of the fetid atmosphere of the Potomac Empire … / But this global war of the Anglo-American elite against all those who threaten their supremacy -- including the people of their own countries -- rages on little noticed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/sep/29/military.defence">Troops in Afghanistan to get 600 new armoured vehicles</a></b><br />29.09.08. Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian. British troops in Afghanistan will be supplied with 600 new armoured vehicles under a £500m deal agreed between the Ministry of Defence and the Treasury, government sources said yesterday.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/100108R">Leaked Memo Questions War Strategy in Afghanistan</a></b><br />01.10.08. Charles Bremner and Richard Beeston, The Times UK/truthout. "The official version of the US-led campaign in Afghanistan received a blow today with a leaked report that the British Ambassador in Kabul [Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles] <u>believes that US strategy is wrong and the war is as good as lost</u>. The potentially explosive views* were published by Le Canard Enchaîné, a respected French weekly, which said that they were direct quotations from a diplomatic cable written by François Fitou, the French Deputy Ambassador in Kabul."<br /><br /><b>The current situation is bad, the security situation is getting worse, so is corruption, and the government has lost all trust....The presence of the coalition, in particular its military presence, is part of the problem, not part of its solution. Foreign forces are the lifeline of a regime that would rapidly collapse without them. As such, they slow down and complicate a possible emergence from the crisis.*</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4882597.ece">War on Taliban cannot be won, says army chief</a></b><br />05.10.08. Christina Lamb, Sunday Times. Britain's most senior military commander in Afghanistan has warned that the war against the Taliban cannot be won. Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith said the British public should not expect a “decisive military victory” but should be prepared for a possible deal with the Taliban.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/02/afghanistan.foreignpolicy">Kabul and the coming chaos</a></b><br />02.10.08. Robert Fox, Guardian. The Foreign Office can deny its Afghan ambassador's reported remarks; in reality, it must know the truth of his bleak assessment. / The suggestion that Britain's man in Kabul has warned a fellow ambassador that the current international military campaign against the Taliban is, in the words of the Times, "doomed to failure", should surprise no one. What is news is the way that the Foreign Office has tried to cover the tracks of Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles in a web of obfuscation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/3/1623-the-wounded-shark-good-war-lost-but-the-imperial-project-goes-on.html">The Wounded Shark: 'Good War' Lost, But the Imperial Project Goes On</a></b><br />05.10.08. Chris Floyd, Empire Burlesque. This week, two top figures in the British effort in Afghanistan -- Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, UK ambassador to Kabul, and Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, the senior British military commander in Afghanistan -- both said that the war was "unwinnable," and that continuing the current level of military operations there, much less expanding it, was a strategy "doomed to fail." [see above] … / These are indisputable facts that have been glaringly obvious to most sentient observers for many years. Yet the diplomat's acknowledgement of reality has been greeted as a shocking breach of decorum by his fellow professional liars in Anglo-American officialdom. His brief outburst of truth (which, to be fair to the good knight, was meant to be in secret; he didn't mean to tell the public the truth!) was quickly disavowed in Washington and London. Although the cable's authenticity was not in question, the UK Foreign Office said that their ambassador's comments "did not reflect official British policy."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4882624.ece">Britons accused over roadside bomb network</a></b><br />05.10.08. timesonline / anti-war. Two Iranian-born British men are accused of being part of a network supplying components for the roadside bombs which are killing coalition soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. / The network, uncovered by American investigators, is alleged to have illegally shipped more than 30,000 electronic components from the United States to Iran via other countries.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4882416.ece">Grim reality of life beyond Helmand</a></b><br />05.10.08. C. Lamb, timesonline. British officials are pleased with their reconstruction. Our correspondent finds little for them to crow about<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7648020.stm">Bloodiest year so far in Afghanistan</a></b><br />06.10.08. Caroline Wyatt, BBC. This year has been the bloodiest year so far in Afghanistan for the Nato and US missions there since the Taleban was removed from government in 2001, with senior defence officials in the UK admitting the Taleban are proving "more resilient" than expected.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/06/gates-cautions-brits-against-defeatism-in-afghanistan/">Gates Cautions Brits Against “Defeatism” in Afghanistan</a></b><br />06.10.08. anti-war. Speaking in reaction to recent comments from two high profile British officials regarding the situation in Afghanistan, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates cautioned against having a “defeatist” outlook or “underestimating the opportunities to be successful in the long run.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oct/08/military.law">Rights law 'makes UK forces shun arrests'</a></b><br />08.10.08. Afua Hirsch and Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian. British forces are avoiding detaining suspected insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq because of fears they will be liable under the European human rights convention, a key Bush administration lawyer told the Guardian yesterday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/porter/?articleid=13576">Afghan Peace Talks Widen US-UK Rift on War Policy</a></b><br />10.10.08. G.Porter, anti-war. According to a French diplomatic cable that leaked to a French magazine last week, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government is looking for an exit strategy from Afghanistan rather than an endless war, and it sees a US escalation of the war as an alternative to a political settlement rather than as supporting such an outcome.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4926401.ece">Taliban leader killed by SAS was Pakistan officer</a></b><br />12.10.08. C. Lamb, times on line / ICH. British officials covered up evidence that a Taliban commander killed by special forces in Helmand last year was in fact a Pakistani military officer, according to highly placed Afghan officials. [discussion of Karzai fury with Brits]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oct/12/military-afghanistan">UK soldier set to face charge over friendly fire</a></b><br />12.10.08. Mark Townsend, Guardian. NCO blamed for giving wrong co-ordinates in Afghan airstrike that killed three British troops<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/we-need-30000-more-soldiers-to-beat-taliban-says-general-964290.html">'We need 30,000 more soldiers to beat Taliban,' says general</a></b><br />17.10.08. Kim Sengupta, Independent. Exclusive: General Sir David Richards, who will today be named as the British Army's new head, appeals for a dramatic 'surge' in Afghanistan. General Sir David Richards, who will take over from General Sir Richard Dannatt, is believed to favour sending up to 5,000 more British troops to Afghanistan on top of the 8,000 already in the country. / Ministers have publicly insisted that despite the impending withdrawal of British forces from Iraq, no further troops will be available for the Afghan mission. However, senior military sources have told The Independent that <b>talks have already been held in Whitehall about possible further deployment next year </b>following a request from General David McKiernan, the head of Nato forces in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7675948.stm">Deaths put spotlight on equipment</a></b><br />17.10.08. BBC. The inquest into the death of Corporal Mark Wright in Afghanistan is not the first time defence chiefs have been criticised over the supply of equipment to troops. Capt. James Philippson, L/Sgt. Chris Casey and L/Cpl Kirk Redpath, Redcap deaths, Sgt. Steven Roberts, Pte Jason Smith, L/Cpl Andrew Craw, Fusilier, Gordon Gentle, Pte. Marc Ferns. / The Ministry of Defence says it is now spending £6bn a year on new equipment and that there have been huge improvements in standards and supply.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/soldiers-families-furious-over-163100m-perks-for-top-brass-966255.html">Soldiers' families furious over £100m perks for top brass</a></b><br />19.10.08. Independent / anti-war. Officers get chauffeurs, chefs and private school fees, while troops die for lack of equipment<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5014727.ece">Only ‘cretins’ jeer forces, says John Hutton</a></b><br />26.10.08. Times Online. How long will British troops be there? “I think we have to realise we’re in for the long haul,” [Hutton] says, without putting a figure on it. Pushed, he predicts it will be “years” before the Taliban are crushed, and “could well be” decades before our other objectives are achieved.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/oct/26/military-afghanistan">Survivors of the 'mouth of hell' back with tales of a deadly tour of duty</a></b><br />26.10.08. M. Townsend, Observer. In six months in Helmand, 2 Para suffered the highest death rate of any British unit in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://itn.co.uk/news/9bfe5918bd42e6b4114df255e68c9a38.html">Vow for better equipment for troops</a></b><br />25.10.08. ITN.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5014730.ece">US chiefs plan troop surge in Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.10.08. Michael Smith, Times Online. American military chiefs are to send up to 9,000 troops to Helmand next year, potentially sidelining the UK’s 5,000-strong force in the southern Afghanistan province. {<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">I thought Western leaders had admitted the "war cannot be won militarily"</span>] The move comes amid US frustration that the British have insufficient soldiers and helicopters to maintain security and reconstruct Helmand, with the Taliban acting freely in large tracts of the province. British sources said the revelation that the bulk of the troops were to be sent to Helmand made it <u>doubtful the British could stay in charge</u>. / There are also likely to be <u>differences over tactics</u>. US commanders are more inclined than the British to call in close air support, which heightens the risk of civilian deaths.<br /><br /><br /><a id="14000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 14. Dead in Afghanistan</b></div><br /><br />GENERAL<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/238766,duty-in-afghanistan-costs-lives-of-more-than-1000-foreign-troops.html">Duty in Afghanistan costs lives of more than 1,000 foreign troops</a></b><br />27.10.08. earthtimes. More than 1,000 foreign soldiers died in Afghanistan since late 2001, the internet site icasualties.org said Monday. According to the organization, which reports on military casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 1,000-death threshold was crossed Monday when two US soldiers died in a suicide bombing, bringing the total death toll to 1,002.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.icasualties.org/oef/"> icasualties Afghanistan </a><br /><br />DENMARK<br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE48N7QH20080924">Dane confirmed dead in Marriott blast</a></b><br />24.09.08. Reuters.<br /><br />FRANCE<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.politique-digitale.fr/08-20-08---afghanistan-10-french-military-dead-21-wounded-synd00509413.html">Afghanistan : 10 French military dead; 21 wounded</a></b><br />20.08.08. politique-digitale.fr.<br /><br />UK<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7613590.stm">Afghan battle claims UK soldier</a></b><br />12.09.08. BBC. The number of soldiers killed on operations there since 2001 now stands at <b>119</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2008/09/22/20080922B1-update0923.html">Tucson infantryman killed by bomb in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.09.08. azcentral / arizonarepublic.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jSCHeyinzXTBbG0Ol3--yMRBjVGg">British soldier killed in Afghanistan blast: ministry</a></b><br />16.10.08. AFP. In Helmand. He was the <b>121st British fatality </b> in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001, the ministry said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hu7-BdiqBJT0OZ8VKpfZkUl8Ipig">British aid worker shot dead in Afghan capital</a></b><br />20.10.08. AFP. The interior ministry and police said earlier the woman [Gayle Williams] was a South African working with an NGO called SERVE Afghanistan, and there were some suggestions she had dual nationality.<br /><br /><br />US<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3dO01zk6vBUdavNiW-Zfe-SJuvQD93EQCVO0">US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 535</a></b><br />27.09.08. AP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nolanchart.com/article5111.html">US Soldier 2008 Body Count in Afghanistan Sets All-Time High</a></b><br />05.10.08. Jake, Nolan chart. A total 609 Americans soldiers have died in Afghanistan, 4,177 in Iraq, and another 444 American contractors, bringing the total to 5,230 Americans dead in the War on Terror. … / All wars since WWII have been undeclared wars, which I write for the umpteenth time is unconstitutional per the Constitution of the United States, Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3dO01zk6vBUdavNiW-Zfe-SJuvQD93UI95G0">US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 546</a></b><br />21.10.08. AP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fox11az.com/news/topstories/stories/KMSB_20080922_br_soldierkilled_.a0baa445.html">Tucson soldier dead in Afghanistan</a></b><br />22.09.08. fox11az.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD93GGELO0">Afghan policeman opens fire on US troops, kills 1</a></b><br />29.09.08. AP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-afghanistan-illin,0,1581135.story">Metro East graduate killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />02.10.08. Chicago trib.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bnd.com/news/local/story/489205.html">Soldier from Highland killed by blast in Afghanistan</a></b><br />02.10.08. Bnd/anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.queenscourier.com/articles/2008/10/08/news/top_stories/news06.txt">Local G.I. dies in Afghanistan</a></b><br />08.10.08. queens courier / anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.adn.com/military/story/555286.html">Alaskan killed in Afghanistan vehicle accident</a></b><br />13.10.08.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2008/10/massachusetts_s_2.html">Massachusetts soldier killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.10.08. boston.com<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-beach-park-soldier-both-18-oct18,0,4945313.story">Beach Park soldier killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.10.08. Chicago tribune.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=365911">American Female Teacher Shot Dead In Afghan Capital</a></b><br />20.10.08. bernama. In a similar development, unknown armed men <u>abducted a Canadian female journalist</u> on Oct. 12 in Kabul but police have yet to find any clue about her whereabouts.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--nypd-soldierkille1023oct23,0,603790.story">NYPD soldier killed serving in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.10.08. AP.<br /><br /><em> Names of the US Dead in Afghanistan</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/us/23list.html?ref=world">Names of the Dead</a></b><br />22.09.08. NY Times. <b>595</b> who have died as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom, which is centered in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/us/01list.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin">Names of the Dead</a></b><br />30.09.08. NY Times. <b>600</b> American service members who have died as a part of the Afghan war and related operations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/us/07list.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin">604</a></b> (06.10.08. NY Times)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/us/19list.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26refQ3Dus&OP=65bb3dbeQ2FQ2361qQ23ZQ24_VcQ24Q24iDQ23DttrQ23atQ23aQ2AQ23pVQ23aQ2AsQ22ViQ20Uihs"> 610</a>(19.10. NYTimes)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/23/us/23list.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin"> 612 </a> (22.10.08. NYT )<br /><br /><u> Suicides</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6023927.html">Houston soldiers' suicides prompt scrutiny</a></b><br />26.09.08. chron.com. An alarming number of suicides among Houston-based Army recruiters — including two in recent weeks — has prompted calls by a senator and veterans' advocates for closer scrutiny of high-stress recruiting duty during wartime.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1221900973286160.xml&coll=1">NY Guard soldier killed at air base in Afghanistan</a></b><br />20.09.08. Syracuse.com<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view/2008_10_01_Skepticism_remains_in_GI_s_death/srvc=home&position=also">Skepticism remains in GI’s death</a></b><br />01.10.08. Mike Underwood, boston herald.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://httw.dallasobserver.com/2008-10-02/news/collateral-damage">Soldier Suicides</a></b><br />02.10.08. dallas observer. Two Texas brothers fall in the war on terror—one in combat, one by his own hand<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nolanchart.com/article5114.html">Complaint re: Veteran Suicide Cover-Up by Department of Veteran Affairs Mental Health Division</a></b><br />05.10.08. Jake, nolanchart. from Dr. Ira Katz, the Veteran's Affairs Head of Mental Health: "There are about 18 suicides per day among America's 25 million veterans. This follows from CDC findings that 20% of suicides are among veterans. It is supported by the CBS numbers. Veteran Affair's own data demonstrate 4-5 suicides per day among those who receive care from us." / To do the calculation at 18 suicides per day, in the 7-year span of the Global War on Terror approximately 46,000 veterans have committed suicide.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/07/AR2008100702780_pf.html">Army's Life-or-Death Drama</a></b><br />08.10.08. Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post/ anti-war. Alarmed by a record rate of suicide in its ranks, the Army yesterday unveiled a unique prevention tool -- an interactive video ["Beyond the Front"] to be mandatory viewing Army-wide -- in which soldiers will play the role of an anguished infantryman and make virtual choices that lead the character to get help or, in the worst case, shoot himself in the head. / .. The video is one of several initiatives launched by the Army to try to stem the suicide rate among active-duty soldiers. That rate increased from 12.4 per 100,000 in 2003, when the Iraq war started, to 18.1 per 100,000 last year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/11/AR2008101101516_pf.html">Family Blames Soldier's Suicide on Anti-Malaria Drug</a></b><br />12.10.08. Wahington Post.<br /><br /><br /><a id="15000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 15. Human Rights</b> (Media, “War on Terror”, War Crimes, Detainees, 9/11, Prisons, Siddiqui, Torture)<br /></div><br />REPORT<br /><br />"The Department of Defense DNA Registry and the U.S. Government Accounting Mission" by Brion C. Smith, August 2005 (at page 14).Read about it<a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10/a_dna_database.html"> here</a>.<br /><br />GENERAL<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/30/18542046.php">Anthrax Case Reopens: Why Did the FBI Let Fort Detrick Scientists Investigate Themselves?</a></b><br />30.09.08. Bill Simpich, indybay.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/10/01">Blistering critique of U.S. counterintelligence capabilities</a></b><br />01.10.08. secrecy news. The critique was authored by Michelle Van Cleave, the former National Counterintelligence Executive, in a case study prepared for the Project on National Security Reform. Link to document given.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/10/20081020132346256814.html">China decries US 'moral authority'</a></b><br />20.10.08. Tony Cheng, aljazeera. But according to the Chinese government, the American dream is exactly that, a myth perpetrated by the rich to keep millions locked in a cycle of poverty that is virtually impossible to escape. / In a report issued annually by the Chinese State Council, the Chinese government accuses the US government of "widespread human rights abuses on its own territory", and says that US criticism on the human rights records of other countries is simply hypocrisy.<br /><br /><br />JUSTICE AND JUDGES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/magazine/28law-t.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">When Judges Make Foreign Policy</a></b><br />25.09.08. NY Times magazine. The Supreme Court is on the verge of several retirements; how the justices will address critical issues of American foreign policy in the future hangs very much in the balance.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/E1_101008R">Justice Department Scandal Almost Buried by Financial Crisis</a></b><br />10.10.08. Marilou Johanek, The Toledo Blade / truthout. Investigators from both the department's Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility found that political pressure did indeed drive the dismissal action against at least three of the nine federal prosecutors abruptly fired. At the time, then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales insisted the individuals were all dismissed for inadequate performance, or failure to implement the President's law enforcement agenda.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=97068">US federal judge seeks definition of 'enemy combatant'</a></b><br />25.10.08. daily star.<br /><br /><br />CORRUPTION<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=7c3f22a2-a9df-430e-ba9e-3516b603338b">Change slow in Afghanistan</a></b><br />22.10.08. Thulasi Srikanthan, The Ottawa Citizen. Corruption is the enemy that is destroying the government of Afghanistan from the inside, says the chairwoman of an independent human rights commission in the country. "There is no clear mechanism to fighting this corruption. <b>We have an anti-corruption commission, but we don't know what it does</b>," Dr. Sima Samar, of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said during a brief stop in Ottawa yesterday<br /><br /><br />MEDIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mediachannel.org/wordpress/2008/10/01/project-censored-the-top-10-stories-the-us-news-media-missed-in-the-past-year/">Project Censored: The Top 10 Stories the US News Media Missed in the Past Year</a></b><br />01.10.08. SFBG/Media Channel. 1. How Many Iraqis have died?; 2. NAFTA On Steroids; 3. INFRAGARD Guards Itself; 4. ILEA: Training Ground for Illegal Wars?; 5. Seizing Protest; 6. Radicals = Terrorists; 7. Slavery’s Runner-Up.; 8. Bush Changes the Rules; 9. Soldiers Speak Out; 10. APA Helps CIA Torture; Other stories in the top 25.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.radionetherlands.nl/news/international/6001845/Human-rights-award-for-Dutch-war-reporter">Human rights award for Dutch war reporter</a></b><br />10.10.08. radio Netherlands. The organisations praised Arnold Karskens for presenting an independent view of the war in Afghanistan, as one of the few journalists to travel in the country without being embedded with ISAF forces.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.metimes.com/Security/2008/10/23/commentary_leaning_tower_of_babble/32ac/">Commentary: Leaning tower of babble</a></b><br />23.10.08. Arnaud de Brochgrave, UPI. With scores of foreign correspondents riffed by the financial and economic squeeze, news bureaus closing the world over, some newspapers canceling their principal source of information as they no longer can afford the cost of an Associated Press contract, and dozens of offices for rent in Washington's National Press Building, the U.S. public is ill-served and uninformed about the rest of the world.<br /><br /><em>Sayed Parwiz Kambakhsh</em><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv13U3DZ76oD_rRm91CANrhpecmd3bhIFFMIjJaL6ert32AMoCHId7vnqf0Gs9yjD68jBtRLqdK4MtZ0s0Oq_4ZkySwDlMsM-zqzne49yccBIEvB7gmnl1zTmdppFtwQlmq-7p/s320/not_nyt.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262353288629456626" border="0" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/0aXjaZHapI7ED/610x.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.daylife.com/photo/0aXjaZHapI7ED&h=405&w=610&sz=65&hl=en&start=3&usg=__BbQEBrPnjgvnryPk4J1eMBndQfI=&tbnid=KOxTymaEeBVkpM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=136&prev=/images%3Fq%3DSayed%2BParwiz%2BKambakhsh%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG">PHOTO AFP / Getty Images</a></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/world/asia/22afghan.html?hp">No Death Sentence for Afghan Journalist</a></b><br />21.10.08. Abdul Waheed Wafa, NY Times. An appeals court sentenced a young Afghan journalist to <u>20 years in prison for blasphemy</u> on Tuesday, overturning a death sentence ordered by a provincial court but raising further concerns of judicial propriety in the case.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/3235482/Channel-4-chief-grilled-over--150000-ransom-paid-to-Taliban.html">Channel 4 chief grilled over "£150,000 ransom paid to Taliban"</a></b><br />22.10.08. Anita Singh, Telegraph.<br /><br /><br />SOLDIERS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/102155/">As More Troops Refuse to Deploy, Getting Conscientious Objector Status is an Uphill Battle</a></b><br />08.10.08. Sarah Lazare, alternet. Anderson is not alone: a growing number of U.S. troops are refusing to fight in the so-called "war on terror." Army soldiers are resisting service at the highest rate since 1980, with an 80 percent increase in desertions, defined as absence for more than 30 days, since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to the AP Press. Over 150 resisters have come out publicly against the war, and some cases, such as Lt. Ehren Watada, the first army officer to refuse to deploy to Iraq, have garnered widespread support and attention. .. / The rising number of troops who do not want to join the war face a challenge because conscientious objector status is difficult to obtain.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2008/10/09/7024841-sun.html">'Disgusted' to be U.S. soldier</a></b><br />09.10.08. Toronto sun. Family's hopes of becoming Canadian citizens shattered after deportation order<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i-FIz_Hb0DFkqr78IZ6HlvfATpuQD93NUBP00">Atheist soldier to leave Army, drops religion suit</a></b><br />10.10.08. AP/anti-war. An atheist soldier who accused U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the Defense Department of violating his religious freedom dropped the lawsuit Friday, citing his plans to leave the Army next spring. / But the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which filed the suit in 2007 with Pfc. Jeremy Hall, still plans to pursue allegations of widespread religious discrimination within the military in a separate lawsuit it filed with a second atheist soldier.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.epinews.com/">"U.S. Army delays, alters medical studies under little-known scientific censorship program"</a></b><br />21.10.08. Bryant Furlow, EPINews<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/asoldierspeaks/103926/?page=entire">Despite the Threat of Harsh Punishment, Soldier Says "No" to Deployment in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.10.08. Sarah Lazare, AlterNet. How 21-year-old soldier <em>Blake Ivey</em> came to see war as "flat-out murder." "I believe war is the crime of our times," Blake Ivey, a specialist in the U.S. Army, said over the phone in a slow, deliberate voice. / Ivey, currently stationed in Fort Gordon, Ga., is publicly refusing to deploy to Afghanistan./ .. Ivey joins what appears to be a growing number of troops refusing to fight in the so-called Global War on Terror.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.kansascity.com/637/story/852096.html">Foreclosure crisis falls hard on veterans</a></b><br />24.10.08. Kansas city/legitgov.<br /><br />[<b>All soldiers moaning about their kit. See 13. Nato Coalition, above</b>.]<br /><br /><br />UK / EUROPE WAR OF TERROR<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/3110533/EU-to-introduce-virtual-strip-searches-at-airports-by-2010.html">EU to introduce 'virtual strip searches' at airports by 2010</a></b><br />01.10.08. Telegraph. Tony Bunyan, the editor of Statewatch, fears that Brussels is rushing to follow the US by introducing a technology that could subject "people including women, old people and children to such a shameful and undignified experience".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/10/02/uk_id_cards_more_than_identification">UK ID Cards – More Than Identification</a></b><br />02.10.08. peoples voice. The proposed ID Card will be different from any card you now hold. It will be connected to a database called the NIR, (National Identity Register) where all of your personal details will be stored. This will include the unique number that will be issued to you, your fingerprints, a scan of the back of your eye, and your photograph. Your name, address and date of birth will also obviously be stored there. / There will be spaces on this database for your religion, residence, sexual tastes, number of partners, medical records status and many other private and personal facts about you. There is unlimited space for every other details of your life on the NIR database, which can be expanded by the Government with or without further Acts of Parliament.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4882600.ece">Government will spy on every call and e-mail</a></b><br />05.10.08. timesonline. Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain.<br /><br /><br />US WAR OF TERROR<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/99987/">Rape, Torture and Humiliation in Women's Prisons: A Global State of Crisis</a></b><br />23.09.08. Lys Anzia, Women News Network/alternet. Physical and psychological abuse are rampant in women's prisons from the U.S. to Canada to Pakistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5j43_WwojKvcZDeNIRwcjvonr-v_g">Bush approach to war on terror under pressure as term ends</a></b><br />12.10.08. AFP. Only two years ago, the Bush administration could count on public fear of terrorism and a Republican-controlled Congress to support an array of anti-terrorism tactics and programs that tested or exceeded the limits of US law. / Coercive interrogations, indefinite detentions, secret overseas prisons, and warrantless surveillance of phone calls and emails were among the tools used in its no-holds-barred response to the September 11 attacks on the United States. / "The approach this administration took is breaking down. Some of it is, as it loses its political steam and its credibility, people are willing to speak out."<br /><br />[see <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/us-martial-law-timeline.html"> U.S. Martial Law Timeline </a> (updated)]<br /><br /><br />WAR CRIMES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://pakobserver.net/200809/27/Articles05.asp">Pakistan first</a></b><br />27.09.08. Rizwan Ghani, pak observer. Moscow, Beijing, UN, EU, ASEAN, SCO, OIC and other international and regional platforms are morally and legally bound to ban US military commanders and political team for executing Bush’s illegal policies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Georgia, which have resulted in <b>war crimes</b> against humanity including innocent deaths.<br /><br /><em> Cheney</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/09/federal-judge-directs-cheney-to.php">Federal judge directs Cheney to preserve disputed records</a></b><br />22.09.08. Jurist. A US federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction requiring US Vice President Dick Cheney to preserve all his official records pending resolution of a lawsuit alleging that his office has failed to maintain records as required by law. In an opinion released Saturday, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the US District Court for the District of Columbia wrote that it was "unmistakably clear that Defendants apply a narrowing interpretation" to the Presidential Records Act of 1978 which governs the official records of presidents and vice presidents.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/99909/">How Dick Cheney's Zeal for Warrantless Spying Nearly Brought Down Bush Presidency</a></b><br />Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, Democracy Now / alternet. A new book delves into the secret history of the vice presidency, revealing Cheney as "the father of the warrantless domestic surveillance program."<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu-qWoPYDh3bv0_h-Xkv1qjKJq-1FYkYxqr-5dfaZ_dQPi1PjVYChjdRGHNOQRQMfrJSTlh2itXz7TRwxp9Tv2WaT9H-ZceGB7UKFgAvub6VZUhHvyPgGEIbJ0cLfZSikE2Jjp/s320/veterans_forpeace.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262353301771927394" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://dinofond.com/2008/09/23/veterans-climb-government-building-call-for-arrest-of-bush-and-cheney">Veterans for Peace</a><br /><br /></span></div><b><a href="http://dinofond.com/2008/09/23/veterans-climb-government-building-call-for-arrest-of-bush-and-cheney">Veterans Climb Government Building, Call for Arrest of Bush and Cheney</a></b><br />23.09.08. dinofond. VIDEO. [I think original story was in LA Times]<br /><br /><br />9/11<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47527&s2=27">The Lies and Crimes of 911: A Canadian View of the War on Terror’s Origin</a></b><br />26.09.08. Anthony J. Hall, uruknet. During this, the season of the seventh anniversary of 911, we must continue to increase the effectiveness of our transnational peace lobby aimed at extending the Nuremberg process towards an international investigation into the <u>war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the name of the War on Terror</u>. Such an investigation must begin by asking some foundational questions about the underlying crime that gave rise to the War on Terror. Were the events of 911 orchestrated by a very different cast of characters and for very different motives than those identified in the trial by media that began with unseemly haste on the very day of the Great Shock? Is the War on Terror a <u>War on Truth</u>? Did the official conspiracy theory originate in a web of lies, distortions and cover-ups expressed to this day in the dense shroud of public mythology surrounding the events of 911? We must empower a credible international tribunal of esteemed jurists with sufficient independence to asses on its own merits the growing body of evidence …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/spytalk/2008/10/fbi-prevents-agents-from-telli.html">FBI Prevents Agents from Telling 'Truth' About 9/11 on PBS</a></b><br />01.10.08. blogs.cqpolitics / legitgov. The FBI denied Rossini and Miller permission to participate in the book or the PBS "NOVA" documentary, which is also being written and produced by Bamford, on grounds that the FBI "doesn't want to stir up old conflicts with the CIA," according to multiple reliable sources.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20947.htm">The Bush Doctrine & The 9/11 Commission Report: Both Authored by Philip Zelikow</a></b><br />04.10.08. David Ray Griffin, ICH. The document in which the Bush Doctrine was first fully articulated---the 2002 version of The National Security Strategy of the United States of America (NSS 2002) [pdf]---was written by the same person who was primarily responsible for the 9/11 Commission's report: its executive director, Philip Zelikow.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/3/1623-the-wounded-shark-good-war-lost-but-the-imperial-project-goes-on.html">The Wounded Shark: 'Good War' Lost, But the Imperial Project Goes On</a></b><br />05.10.08. Chris Floyd, Section II, Empire Burlesque. The ostensible reason given for the seven long years of continuous death and destruction in Afghanistan -- and the justification for its escalation for many years to come -- is, of course, the 9/11 attacks in the United States. But even if for some reason you took the official account of 9/11 as the gospel truth in every respect, Afghanistan played no role in it at all. We are told that the attack was masterminded by bin Laden's Karl Rove, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- who operated in Pakistan. We are told that the other conspirators operated mostly in Germany -- and the United States. There has never been any evidence presented that the Taliban regime in Afghanistan had the slightest operational role -- or even the slightest knowledge -- of an attack on the United States. / On the other hand, there is a good deal of credible evidence that the United States promised to attack Afghanistan -- months before 9/11 -- if the Taliban didn't play ball on oil deals and other issues. There is evidence that even before the attacks, the Taliban offered to turn bin Laden over to international justice, if evidence of his involvement in terrorism was presented. This offer was repeated even more frantically after 9/11. But as for evidence of Afghan involvement in 9/11, there is none.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jAspTsYA50EJNgfFynB9fCjYDcxQD93L89601">Former CIA official: 9/11 could not be averted</a></b><br />06.10.08. P. Hess, AP. A top former CIA official said the intelligence agency had more than <u>100 Afghans acting as spies</u> before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but told a magazine .. that nothing could have averted the attacks. Cofer Black, the former head of the CIA's counterterrorism center [<b> & a top executive with Blackwater Worldwide</b>], said that looking back, he can't think of a thing "we could have done that would have changed anything.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/oct/18/stella-rimington-9-11-mi5">Response to 9/11 was 'huge overreaction' - ex-MI5 chief</a></b><br />18.10.08. Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian. A former head of MI5 today describes the response to the September 11 2001 attacks on the US as a "huge overreaction" and says the invasion of Iraq influenced young men in Britain who turned to terrorism. / In an interview with the Guardian, Stella Rimington calls al-Qaida's attack on the US "another terrorist incident" but not qualitatively different from any others. / In common with Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, who retired as MI5's director general last year, Rimington, who left 12 years ago, has already made it clear she abhorred "war on terror" rhetoric. / She challenges claims, notably made by Tony Blair, that the war in Iraq was not related to the radicalisation of Muslim youth in Britain. / Asked what impact the war had on the terrorist threat, she replies: "Well, I think all one can do is look at what those people who've been arrested or have left suicide videos say about their motivation. And most of them, as far as I'm aware, say that the war in Iraq played a significant part in persuading them that this is the right course of action to take." / She adds: "So I think you can't write the war in Iraq out of history.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13613">Susan Sontag Was Right</a></b><br />20.10.08. Justin Raimondo, anti-war. (And so were Michael Moore, Noam Chomsky, and the former head of British intelligence) .. The problem is that the lessons of the post-9/11 hysteria, an emotional tsunami generated in large part by opportunistic politicians, have still not been fully absorbed, either by the public or by elite opinion. Presidential frontrunner Barack Obama, after all, has pledged to escalate our endless "war on terrorism" on at least two fronts: Afghanistan, where he is eager to send tens of thousands more U.S. troops, and Pakistan, which – in a troubling, albeit unacknowledged reiteration of the Bushian doctrine of "preemption" – he has repeatedly threatened to invade.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/everest10222008.html">Global War, Regional Ambitions : 9/11 and the Imperial Adventure in Afghanistan</a></b><br />22.10.08. L. Everest, Counterpunch. The war in Afghanistan is not a "good war" gone bad. It’s been an unjust, imperialist war of conquest and empire from its inception. Part 1 documents the U.S. rulers’ efforts in the 1990s, after the Soviet Union’s collapse, to begin forging an unchallengeable global empire, which laid the groundwork for the so-called "war on terror." Part 2 details how, immediately after 9/11, the Bush regime conceived and launched the so-called "war on terror" in order to achieve these imperialist aims, which had been a decade in the making. About five hours after hijacked jets crashed into the World Trade Center and then the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, George W. Bush’s Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld turned to an aide and told him to begin drawing up plans for war. His instructions: "Go massive. Sweep it all up.<br /><br /><em> False Flags</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-10-12-powder_N.htm">White powder scares cost law enforcement time, money</a></b><br />13.10.08. usa today/anti-war. Firefighters and federal agents have responded to more than <b>30,000</b>incidents involving suspicious powders, liquids or chemicals since 2001 in what authorities say is the terrifying legacy of the anthrax attacks after 9/11.<br /><br /><br />DETAINEES<br /><br /><u> Report</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/dod/d3115_09.pdf">"DoD Intelligence Interrogations, Detainee Debriefings, and Tactical Questioning,"</a></b><br />09.10.08.DoD Directive 3115.09,<br /><br /><u> Articles</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nysun.com/new-york/aclu-says-military-prison-photos-confirm/86390/">ACLU Says Military Prison Photos Confirm Widespread Abuse</a></b><br />23.09.08. NYSun / anti-war. The photos were taken at six different locations across Iraq and Afghanistan, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals wrote, and involve a greater number of detainees and military personnel than similar photographs from Abu Ghraib. The ACLU attorney who argued the case, Amrit Singh, said the material shows that prisoner abuse is a systemic problem in the military.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jI5rPEqYvM_cYgZ3huxZWXWIX4_AD93C2SS00"><br />Court: US govt can't block detainee photos release</a></b><br />23.09.08. L. Neumeister, AP/ legitgov. The color photographs were taken by servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The government has opposed the release of pictures of abuse, saying they would incite violence against U.S. troops in Iraq and provoke terrorists.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/canada-commission-to-go-ahead-with.php">Canada commission to go ahead with public hearing on Afghan detainee transfers</a></b><br />01.10.08. Caitlin Price, The Jurist. The Canadian Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) [official website] decided Tuesday to move forward with a public hearing investigating the country's military detainee transfer process in Afghanistan despite a move from the Canadian Department of Justice to block the inquiry. MPCC Chair Peter A. Tinsley, issuing the decision pursuant to the National Defence Act rejected the government's arguments that the MPCC's reach is limited to military policing issues and thus lacks jurisdiction to conduct the investigations that involve military operational decisions regarding detainee treatment:<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/proposed-uk-terror-law-could-violate.php">Proposed 42-day UK detentions could violate rights: anti-torture commission</a></b><br />02.10.08. Jurist. <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article4887653.ece">dropped as unworkable</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/37083prs20081008.html">New Documents Reveal Unlawful Guantánamo Procedures Were Also Applied On American Soil</a></b><br />10.08.08. ACLU. According to newly released military documents, the Navy applied lawless Guantánamo protocols in detention facilities on American soil. The documents, which include regular emails between brig officers and others in the chain of command, uncover new details of the detention and interrogation of two U.S. citizens and a legal resident – Yaser Hamdi, Jose Padilla and Ali al-Marri – at naval brigs in Virginia and South Carolina.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>Siddiqui</b> (cont.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/21/18540573.php">Was neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui raped and tortured at US Bagram prison?</a></b><br />21.09.08. Ernesto Cienfuegos, indybay. Last month the seriously injured, bleeding, frail, traumatized and confused Dr. Siddiqui re-appeared in a wheel chair in a New York federal court accused of terrorism and to face charges that she attempted to kill FBI and US soldiers in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20080923073755">Children Of Arrested Pakistani-US Doctor Are Missing, Says Human Rights Group</a></b><br />23.09.08. mindinao examiner. The alleged US arrest in July of Pakistan-US national Dr Aafia Siddiqui has left a series of unanswered questions about her missing children. With Dr Siddiqui now in US custody it is suspected that two of her children are still being detained illegally, and reports suggest that one child may have died. U.S. and Pakistan authorities have denied knowledge of their whereabouts.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE48MBHS20080923">Victim of torture: U.S. says Pakistani suspect may be unfit for trial</a></b><br />23.09.08. Reuters / ICH. Fink asked that her client be placed in a hospital for medical and psychological care and be treated as someone who may have been the victim of torture.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=371328">Pakistani defendant must undergo NY psych tests</a></b><br />23.09.08. wired / anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=413653">Pakistani MPs call on U.S. to free al Qaeda suspect</a></b><br />08.10.08. Reuters. / anti-war. A five-member delegation of Pakistani parliamentarians met Siddiqui for three hours at a medical facility in a military prison compound at Fort Worth near Dallas, Texas. / "She seemed calm and composed, and her mind was active and alert," Mushahid Hussain Syed, head of the Pakistani delegation, told Reuters by telephone from Dallas. / He said Siddiqui told them she had no faith in the U.S. courts hearing her case.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=413653">Pakistani MPs call on U.S. to free al Qaeda suspect</a></b><br />08.10.08. Reuters. / anti-war. A five-member delegation of Pakistani parliamentarians met Siddiqui for three hours at a medical facility in a military prison compound at Fort Worth near Dallas, Texas. / "She seemed calm and composed, and her mind was active and alert," Mushahid Hussain Syed, head of the Pakistani delegation, told Reuters by telephone from Dallas. / He said Siddiqui told them she had no faith in the U.S. courts hearing her case.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2008/10/23/dont-blame-the-victim-aafia-siddiqui-case">Don’t Blame the Victim - Detailed analysis of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s case</a></b><br />23.10.08. Teeth Maestro, teeth.com/pk.<br /><br />(See earlier stories <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/#12000"> here</a>)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />PRISONS<br /><br /><u> Bagram</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hLe8QaHVObNHpB68kZRDy5Nm__KwD93CFB500">US allows first family visits to Afghan prison</a></b><br />23.09.08. Fisnik Abrashi, AP. Five detainees in an American military prison in Afghanistan met with their families Tuesday in the <u>first face-to-face visits allowed since the U.S. set up the detention center six years ago</u>.<br /><br /><em> Jawed Ahmad (‘JoJo’)</em><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 181px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghzBs2jhgFSxV4WvscZG4JSS1bAdF9W97RSnf2TjZW3pNEpX9IRMx2j2u47FxAoq0wk5VU4xEPr2OBxd34p0gzC68EPtdXTzq3-P4HZX1U6f0non1CwJxEbg20H_HuYqG37M3b/s320/jawed_ahmad.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262353284114500306" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Jawed Ahmad </a><br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080922.wafghanfixer22/BNStory/Afghanistan/home">U.S. frees Afghan fixer after 10-month detention he describes as 'hell'</a></b><br />22.09.08. Graeme Smith, globe and mail.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=137694">Afghan reporter seeks ‘justice’</a></b><br />24.09.08. int news. An Afghan reporter held for nearly a year at US military bases in Afghanistan vowed on Tuesday to fight for redress, alleging his captors tortured him while in detention without being charged. / Jawed Ahmad, a 22-year-old reporter who worked for Canadian TV (CTV), was handed to the Afghan government at the weekend after spending 11 months in military jails at Bagram north of Kabul and in Kandahar.<br /><br />Jawed Ahmad, a 22-year-old reporter who worked for Canadian TV (CTV), was detained Oct. 26, 2007, at a NATO base near the southern city of Kandahar. He was initially labeled by the U.S. military as "an unlawful enemy combatant" but was released 11 months later without charge. /Ahmad was accused of having contact with Taliban leaders, including possessing their telephone numbers and video footage of them. / "I want justice. I'll knock the doors of (U.S.) Congress, I'll go to (U.S. President George W.) Bush, I'll go to (Democratic presidential hopeful) Obama, to everywhere and everyone until I get justice," Ahmad said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=169809">How U.S. detention destroyed a young Afghan journalist</a></b><br />09.10.08. Philippe Khan, aljazeera. "They destroyed me financially, mentally and physically… But most importantly, my mother is taking her last breath in hospital just because of the Americans,” said Jawed Ahmad following his release from the U.S. military base at Bagram air base near the Afghan capital, Kabul, where the U.S. detains suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda fighters.<br /><br /><br />GUANTANAMO<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=gu-711f9e0e4548f1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 220px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=gu-711f9e0e4548f1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=362263">Pentagon moves Gitmo legal official amid criticism</a></b><br />19.09.08. WIRED. Pentagon shifts Guantanamo legal adviser [Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann] to new role after months of criticism. The Pentagon shifted a senior member of the Guantanamo war-crimes trials to another position Friday after defense lawyers, human rights groups and even military colleagues accused him of misconduct in his role as legal adviser. / The former chief prosecutor, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, and others had accused the general of pushing for prosecutions that would captivate the public for political gain, even before the detainees were ready to be charged.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/09/federal-judge-extends-government-filing.php">Federal judge extends government filing deadline in Guantanamo habeas cases</a></b><br />23.09.08. Jurist. The chief judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia granted a government motion Friday to extend from August 30 to September 30 its deadline to file the first fifty factual returns in the habeas corpus appeals of more than two hundred Guantanamo detainees. Judge Thomas F. Hogan nonetheless said he granted the government's motion <u>reluctantly</u>. See also <a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/worthington.php?articleid=13497"> here </a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/glantz/?articleid=13493">Calling Gitmo What It Is</a></b><br />23.09.08. Aaron Glantz, winter Soldier Iraq / anti-war. Excerpt of Guardsman. Christopher Arendt (who) served a tour at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/09/report-gitmo-pr.html">Report: Gitmo prosecutor quits, alleging evidence withheld from detainee</a></b><br />24.09.08. AP / usatoday/legitgov. A military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay has resigned because his office withheld exculpatory evidence against an Afghan detainee, the prisoner's lawyers say. The attorneys for Mohammed Jawad say the prosecutor, Army Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, backs their bid to get charges dismissed against Jawad, who is accused of throwing a grenade [when he was age 16 or 17] that injured two U.S. soldiers. Michael Berrigan, the tribunals' deputy chief defense counsel, said today that Vandeveld told them the prosecutor's office was refusing to hand over the evidence.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/sep/27/terrorism.uksecurity">Former spy chief joins 42-day detention critics</a></b><br />27.09.08. Duncan Campbell, Guardian. · First female boss of MI5 condemns Guantánamo; Peers expected to reject anti-terror legislation<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/worthington.php?articleid=13539">The Dark Heart of the Guantánamo Trials</a></b><br />02.10.08. Andy Worthington. On the roles of Col. Lawrence Morris and Brig. Gen. Hartman.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7644989.stm">Investigating 'Africa's Guantanamo'</a></b><br />01.10.08. BBC.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/us/05gitmo.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">Despite Ruling, Detainee Cases Facing Delays</a></b><br />04.10.08. NY Times. When the Supreme Court ruled in June that detainees at Guantánamo had the right to challenge their detention in federal court, the justices said that after more than six years of legal wrangling the prisoners should have their cases heard quickly because “the costs of delay can no longer be borne by those who are held in custody.” / But nearly four months later, as the Bush administration has opened a new defense of its detention policies in federal court, none of the scores of cases brought by detainees have been resolved by any judge.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/us-military-judge-rules-detainees-not.php">US military judge rules detainees not entitled to Internet access for trial defense</a></b><br />13.10.08. Jurist. The US Department of Defense (DOD) released a ruling Sunday indicating that Guantanamo detainees who represent themselves at trial are not entitled to Internet access and some computer hardware and software to aid in their defense.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/13/AR2008101302419_pf.html">Lawyers Criticize Quality of Guantanamo Interpreters; Fairness of Sept. 11 Trials Said to Be Undermined</a></b><br />14.10.08. Washington post / anti-war. Something was being lost in interpretation. <em>Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi</em>, a Saudi national accused of war crimes and murder for his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was speaking in Arabic. Ralph H. Kohlmann, a Marine colonel and military judge at Guantanamo Bay, was listening to a simultaneous interpretation in English.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>The Uighurs</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/federal-judge-orders-release-of-uighurs.php">Federal judge orders Uighurs released from Guantanamo</a></b><br />07.10.08. Jurist. A US district judge ordered the Bush administration Tuesday to release 17 Uighur detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay ruling that the Constitution forbids their indefinite detention without cause. Judge Ricardo Urbina of the US District Court for the District of Columbia gave the government until Friday to release the Chinese Muslims into the United States, marking the first time that a US court has ordered Guantanamo detainees to be freed. Urbina rejected arguments by the Justice Department (DOJ) that the court could not require the Uighurs' release without violating the doctrine of separation of powers. He further ordered immigration authorities not to take the Uighurs into custody upon their arrival in the US. Another hearing in the case is scheduled for October 16.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2008/10/09/from-guantanamo-to-the-united-states-the-story-of-the-wrongly-imprisoned-uighurs/">From Guantánamo to the United States: The Story of the Wrongly Imprisoned Uighurs</a></b><br />09.10.08. andy worthington.co.uk. In an extraordinary and unprecedented ruling in a US District Court, Judge Ricardo Urbina has ruled that 17 wrongly imprisoned Chinese Muslims at Guantánamo must be allowed entry to the United States. It is, as the media has been reporting, the first time that a US court has directly ordered the release of a prisoner at Guantánamo, and the first time that a foreign national held at the prison has been ordered to be brought to the United States. It is also a resounding blow to the administration’s claims that it can seize anyone it wishes as an “enemy combatant,” and hold them indefinitely, even if there is no evidence whatsoever to support their detention.<br /><br />BUT<br /><br /><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=412554"> W.House disagrees with court on Guantanamo ruling </a> (07.10.08, Reuters)<br /><br />THEN<br /><br /><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=414497"> Uighurs ask court to not block their release</a> (08.10.O8. AP/ anti-war)<br /><br />SO<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081009/ap_on_go_ot/guantanamo_chinese_detainees"> Chinese Muslims' release into US blocked for now </a> (09.10.08, AP)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1010/p02s01-usju.html">Showdown ahead over 17 Uighur detainees</a></b><br />10.10.08. CSM. The Justice Department says the judiciary does not have the power to release Guantánamo detainees into the US.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JJ10Ad03.html">Uyghurs stuck in Guantanamo limbo</a></b><br />10.10.08. Ali Gharib, asia times. But despite the Uyghurs not being considered threats or even enemy combatants, the Justice Department still claims that the Department of Defense as part of the executive branch - rather than the judiciary - has control over the detainees.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/102601/from_gitmo_to_the_u.s.%3A_how_17_uighur_prisoners_could_be_let_into_the_united_states/">From Gitmo to the U.S.: How 17 Uighur Prisoners Could Be Let Into the United States</a></b><br />11.10.08. Andy Worthington, AlterNet. In an extraordinary and unprecedented ruling in a U.S. District Court, Judge Ricardo Urbina has ruled that 17 wrongly imprisoned Chinese Muslims at Guantánamo must be allowed entry to the United States. It is, as the media has been reporting, the first time that a U.S. court has directly ordered the release of a prisoner at Guantánamo, and the first time that a foreign national held at the prison has been ordered to be brought to the United States. It is also a resounding blow to the administration's claims that it can seize anyone it wishes as an "enemy combatant," and hold them indefinitely, even if there is no evidence whatsoever to support their detention.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/washington/16gitmo.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">Release of 17 Guantánamo Detainees Sputters as Officials Debate the Risk</a></b><br />15.10.08. W.Glaberson, NY Times. An urgent effort by the Bush administration to find a country willing to accept 17 detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has stalled because of a bitter dispute inside the government about whether the men are dangerous.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/20/AR2008102003495.html">Appeals Court Halts Release Of 17 Guantanamo Detainees</a></b><br />21.10.08. Washington Post. A federal appeals court last night blocked the release of 17 Chinese Muslims into the United States from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, until it can hear further legal arguments in the case.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/worthington.php?articleid=13563">Two 50-Year-Olds Released From Guantánamo</a></b><br />08.10.08. Andy Worthington. Anti-war. As the U.S. courts put pressure on the government to justify the long detention of prisoners at Guantánamo without charge or trial (following the Supreme Court's ruling, in June, that they have constitutional habeas corpus rights, and that the government must justify their imprisonment), two of Guantánamo's oldest prisoners have been quietly repatriated: 51-year-old Sudanese prisoner <em>Mustafa Ibrahim al-Hassan</em>, and <em>Mammar Ameur</em>, a 50-year-old refugee from Algeria.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=414102">Pentagon releases Guantanamo inmate to Sudan</a></b><br />08.10.08. wired / anti-war. <em>Mustafa Ibrahim Mustafa Al Hassan</em> says he saw soldiers throw a Quran into the dirt during his confinement. He says it was part of "all types of tortures" at the Guantanamo Bay Navy base in Cuba.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/">New Evidence of Systemic Bias in Guantánamo Trials</a></b><br />10.10.08. andy Worthington. In the last three weeks, two events have occurred that have dealt what should have been a knockout blow to the Military Commissions at Guantánamo, the system of trials for “terror suspects” — outside of the US court system and the US military’s own judicial system — that was created by Vice President Dick Cheney and his close advisers (in particular, his legal counsel David Addington) in November 2001.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/10/10385_16_words_detain.html">16 Words: New Court Filing Suggests Manufactured Terror Threat in Bush's 2002 State of the Union</a></b><br />17.10.08. Mother Jones. A new court filing by the lawyers for Lakhdar Boumediene and five other Guantanamo detainees suggests that the Bush administration ordered the Bosnian government to arrest and hold the men after an exhaustive Bosnian investigation had found them innocent of any terrorism related activity and had ordered their release, in order to use them as props in Bush's January 2002 State of the Union speech.<br /><br /><em> Surprise Surprise! </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102108J">Bush Decides to Keep Guantanamo Open</a></b><br />20.10.08. Steven Lee Myers, NY Times / Truthout. Despite his stated desire to close the American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, President Bush has decided not to do so, and never considered proposals drafted in the State Department and the Pentagon that outlined options for transferring the detainees elsewhere, according to senior administration officials. / .. Mr. Bush adopted the view of his most hawkish advisers that closing Guantánamo would involve too many legal and political risks to be acceptable, now or any time soon, the officials said. / .. The administration is proceeding on the assumption that Guantánamo will remain open not only for the rest of Mr. Bush's presidency but also well beyond, the officials said, as the site for military tribunals of those facing terrorism-related charges and for the long prison sentences that could follow convictions. ../Both presidential candidates, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, have called for closing Guantánamo.<br /><br /><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/gates-confirms-no-us-closure-of.php"> Gates confirms no US closure of Guantanamo under Bush </a> (Jurist 22.10.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102108T">US Drops Charges Against Five Detainees</a></b><br />21.10.08. AP / Truthout. The detainees against whom charges were dropped are Mohamed, Noor Uthman Muhammed, Sufyiam Barhoumi, Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi and Jabran Said Bin al Qahtani. BUT. <b> None of the men will be freed, and the military said it could reinstate charges later</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/21/guantanamo-terror-rendition-mohamed">Guantánamo's bleak farce</a></b><br />21.10.08. Andy Worthington / Guardian. While the world remains transfixed by the economy and the US election, today's events at the US government's flagship "war on Terror" prison at Guantánamo indicate that the role of the military commissions – the novel system of terror trials created in the wake of the 9/11 attacks – are unravelling at a furious pace, and that what remains of the government's tattered credibility is collapsing alongside them. / What may be the endgame for the commissions began on September 24, when Lt Col Darrel Vandeveld, a key prosecutor, resigned unexpectedly, citing intractable problems regarding the deliberate suppression of evidence vital to the prisoners' defence. One of Vandeveld's cases was that of the British resident <em>Binyam Mohamed</em>.<br /><br /><em> Binyam Mohamed </em><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 119px; height: 178px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT1KoBgjzXGOCfr7XxhsIBGcHYvhPjMpTscfZSnErdTG-nbObGtsHCtEVF8-iVtum7Ws2S0kjt9n0fFd8LG_mePMughD31tanvssS4P_DDPZYOJaH-O4M0cg7YXjL-TKuTqgBa/s320/Binyam_Mohamed_30348t.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262353284958004066" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/02/guantanamo.terrorism">Lawyers say UK Guantánamo suspect has no hope of fair trial</a></b><br />02.10.08. Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian. The system of US military courts is so politically biased that Binyam Mohamed, a British resident held at Guantánamo Bay, has no prospect of a fair trial, his lawyers said yesterday. / Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian national and British resident, was held in Pakistan in 2002, when he was questioned by an MI5 officer. He was later <u>secretly rendered to Morocco</u>, where he says was <u>tortured</u> by having his penis cut with a razor blade. The US subsequently <u>flew him to Afghanistan</u> and he was transferred to Guantánamo Bay in September 2004. He denies any connection with terrorism.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101403146.html?hpid=topnews">Key Allegations Against Terror Suspect Withdrawn</a></b><br />15.10.08. Washington Post / anti-war. The U.S. Justice Department has withdrawn a series of allegations made in federal court that tie Binyam Mohammed, a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay, to a plot to explode a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the United States, blow up apartment buildings here and release cyanide gas in nightclubs./ Defense lawyers said the decision should force the Pentagon to drop charges of conspiracy and material support for terrorism against Mohammed, which were filed by military prosecutors in May. The charges, the lawyers said, are spurious and based on false confessions obtained through torture.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102203105.html">U.S. Pressed to Turn Over Detainee Papers</a></b><br />23.10.08. P. Finn, Washington Post. The British High Court yesterday condemned the U.S. government's failure to turn over intelligence documents that could support the claims of a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who has argued that statements he made confessing to terrorism resulted from <u> torture<</u>and are, therefore, worthless.<br /><br /><em> Omar Khadr</em><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/images/maherarar.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 175px; height: 175px;" src="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/images/maherarar.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/99537/">At 22, Omar Khadr Has Spent a Third of His Life in Guantanamo</a></b><br />20.09.08. Andy Worthington, Andy Worthington's Blog/alternet. Yesterday was the birthday of Guantanamo's child soldier and sole Canadian citizen, Omar Khadr, who has been held in isolation since he was 15.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/09/30/bar-khadr.html">Return Khadr to Canada, bar association and legal groups demand</a></b><br />30.09.08. CBC.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/512279">Protesters rally for Omar Khadr's return to Canada</a></b><br />05.10.08. the star/legitgov.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2008/10/20/omar-khadr-the-guantanamo-files/">Omar Khadr: The Guantánamo Files</a></b><br />20.10.08. Andy Worthington. When is a child not a child? Apparently, when he is <em>Omar Khadr</em>, a 15-year old Canadian who was shot in the back after a firefight in Afghanistan in July 2002. Omar has been in US custody ever since, first at a prison at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, and for the last six years in Guantánamo. Disturbingly, he has never received any treatment befitting his status as a juvenile — someone under the age of 18 when the crime they are accused of committing took place — even though the United States is a signatory to the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (on the involvement of children in armed conflict), which stipulates that juvenile prisoners “require special protection.” The Optional Protocol specifically recognizes “the special needs of those children who are particularly vulnerable to recruitment or use in hostilities”, and requires its signatories to promote “the physical and psychosocial rehabilitation and social reintegration of children who are victims of armed conflict.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=430820">Guantanamo trial for Canadian delayed to January</a></b><br />24.10.08. wired / anti-war. The new date for Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr's trial is Jan. 26.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48324&s2=29">The Collapse of Omar Khadr's Guantánamo Trial</a></b><br />28.10.08. Andy Worthington, uruknet. <br />Hardly a day goes by without some extraordinary news from the military commissions, the system of "terror trials" conceived in the office of the vice president in November 2001, and their days now seem to be as numbered as those of the Bush administration itself. Following the outspoken resignation of former prosecutor Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld and the Pentagon's desperate decision to drop charges against five prisoners to prevent Vandeveld from testi! fying for the defense, the latest news to rock the commissions is that the trial of Omar Khadr – a supposedly flagship case, along with that of the Yemeni Salim Hamdan, who received a surprisingly light sentence after a trial this summer – has been delayed until after the administration leaves office....<br /><br /><em> Ahmed Zaid Zuhair</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/detainees-rights-subverted-guantanamo-their-lawyers-say">Detainees' Rights Subverted at Guantanamo, Their Lawyers Say</a></b><br />23.09.08. Huma Yusuf, The CSM / truthout. "On July 18, Ahmed Zaid Zuhair, a detainee in Camp 6 of the US Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, wrote to his legal team in the US, terminating all written communication. He claimed that two guards had harassed him the previous night: one threatening to kill him and quarter his body; the other threatening to cut off his ears and nose. One guard then read through his legal correspondence, confiscating several documents."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=430834">Guantanamo guards struggle with hunger striker</a></b><br />24.10.08. wired / anti-war. Three years ago, the man known as Internment Serial Number 669 stopped eating. <em>Ahmed Zaid Zuhair</em>, a father of 10 children in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, had been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002 without charges and decided to join a mass hunger strike in protest. The U.S. military was determined not to let him succeed. / Since then, according to court documents reviewed by The Associated Press, guards have struggled with him repeatedly, at least once using pepper spray, shackles and brute force to drag him to a restraint chair for his twice-daily dose of a liquid nutrition mix force-fed through his nose.<br /><br /><em> Mohammed Jawad</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24402651-2703,00.html">Guantanamo Bay prosecutor quits over ethical issues</a></b><br />26.09.08. Australian news / legitgov. A US military prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay has resigned over ethical disputes with his superiors, claiming they suppressed evidence that could help clear a young Afghan prisoner of alleged war crimes. The prosecutor, Lieutenant Colonel Darrel Vandeveld, described the disagreements in a statement supporting a defence plea to dismiss the charges against <em>Mohammed Jawad</em>. "Potentially exculpatory evidence has not been provided," Lieutenant Colonel Vandeveld wrote, citing failure by the "prosecutors and officers of the court". <b>The disclosure triggered new attacks on the integrity of the US military tribunal system, which has faced accusations from other insiders of ethical breaches and political interference</b>.<br /><br /><br /><em> Sami al-Haj </em><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 165px; height: 220px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjed4zX1MadTKE6uMYywE_7gssXQT3rmIpGiZIyFIc26EhyphenhyphenX9kYScxChNkc9cfkDBilMBcwVWp2DLLRsw30hoRZOlpFwuA6y5WTwfiUt-Te94ckpvxiPHob32GjimfjmwecAajl/s320/sami_al-haj.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262359029033317074" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/fisk250908.htm">Six Years In Guantanamo</a></b><br />24.09.08. Robert Fisk, countercurrents. Sami al-Haj walks with pain on his steel crutch; almost six years in the nightmare of Guantanamo have taken their toll on the Al Jazeera journalist and, now in the safety of a hotel in the small Norwegian town of Lillehammer, he is a figure of both dignity and shame. The Americans told him they were sorry when they eventually freed him this year – after the beatings he says he suffered, and the force-feeding, the humiliations and interrogations by British, American and Canadian intelligence officers – and now he hopes one day he'll be able to walk without his stick.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgilAjrTarptj7p_JCemSzztdilR5RGI9sSdKD1mes_QSNinzxg1APMLBHRyiYrQXbxVL9S-3l9gJ_LrAO8zv4T0nUtvlbjv7ypqz729XQknqFLYRJwjj2kol-usDpR9sO_RO3f/s320/andyworthington.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262359040406289090" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/images/samitorture1b.jpg">Sami al-Haj banned torture picture 1</a><br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.alarabiya.net/search_en.php?PHPSESSID=bbti7chgqdus4fu7bjofinkdg6&x=45&y=12&cnt_search=US+military+destroyed+my+soul%3A+Afghan+reporter">US military destroyed my soul: Afghan reporter</a></b><br />24.09.08. AFP, AlArabiya.net/uruknet. Says he wants justice after he was tortured for 11 months. An Afghan journalist held for nearly a year in Afghanistan said Tuesday he would stop at nothing to get justice to compensate for the "hell" he went through at the torturing hands of the U.S. military.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQj01F735Q6IWg68MNwPVsrfTbuh1_bddCQyDkrjK_cCmG6Bfi_Juau0of2c_pxbcwmETup1PtBW-3G6VwD4rm_zQT3e7zrHzEmdTdwaNRlZ7clDFi1QG_q4QLp3X_GofJs_P/s320/andyworthington2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262359039600656386" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/images/samitorture5.jpg">Sami al-Haj: The 5th banned torture picture</a><br /></span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1844512,00.html">Six Years Inside Gitmo: A Journalist's Tale</a></b><br />25.09.08. time.<br /><br /><em>Mamdouh Habib</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.theage.com.au/national/govt-news-colluded-against-me-habib-20081007-4vri.html">Govt, News colluded against me: Habib</a></b><br />07.10.08. the age. Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib will argue that the government colluded with publisher Nationwide News to attack his credibility in a defamation suit ahead of his high-profile compensation claim.<br /><br /><em> Salim Ahmed Hamdan</em><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.hrw.org/photos/2008/guantanamo/images/Salim-Hamdan.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 180px; height: 224px;" src="http://www.hrw.org/photos/2008/guantanamo/images/Salim-Hamdan.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/17/AR2008101703353.html?sub=AR">Detainee's Time Served Is Challenged</a></b><br />18,10.08. P. Finn, Washington Post. The Bush administration is seeking to recall a military jury that gave a light sentence to Osama bin Laden's driver in one of the first trials at Guantanamo Bay, arguing that the judge improperly credited the defendant for time he had already spent in the detention facility.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/pentagon-files-war-crimes-charges.php">Pentagon files war crimes charges against two Kuwaitis at Guantanamo</a></b><br />23.10.08. Jurist. <em>Fouad Rabia</em>, a US-educated aeronautical engineer suspected of running a supply depot at Tora Bora, and <em>Fayiz Kandari</em>, an alleged adviser to Osama bin Laden were charged with conspiracy and providing material support for terror. The two men, who have spent over seven years in Guantanamo, are said to have the longest-running Guantanamo unlawful detention lawsuits pending in the US District Court in Washington. Rabia and Kandari now face a maximum of life in prison.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/mayfaire/latimes0174.htm">Guantanamo tribunals overseer under investigation</a></b><br />25.10.08. LA Times. The Air Force is reviewing allegations that Hartmann bullied prosecutors, logistics officials and others at Guantanamo -- resulting in cases going to trial that were not ready and the prosecution of at least one individual on charges that were unwarranted -- and assertions that he advocated using coerced evidence despite prosecutors' objections. / … A second investigation, being conducted by the Department of Defense's Office of the Inspector General, was sparked by the complaints of at least two military officials about Hartmann's allegedly abusive and retaliatory behavior toward them within the Office of Military Commissions. That office oversees the prosecutors and defense lawyers in the terrorism trials taking place at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.<br /><br /><em>Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/second-guantanamo-detainee-goes-on.php">Second Guantanamo detainee goes on trial before military commission</a></b><br />27.10.08. Jurist. Alleged al Qaeda propagandist Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul [DOD materials] went on trial Monday before a military commission at the Guantanamo Bay prison. Al Bahlul is only the second detainee to go on trial in Guantanamo since it opened in 2002.<br /><br /><br />TORTURE<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47667&s2=03">Top White House Officials Discussed and Approved Torture, Rice Admits</a></b><br />01.10.08. Tom Burghardt, Uruknet. White House officials discussed torturing suspected "enemy combatants" early in 2002, according to a detailed questionnaire put to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by Senate investigators. The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) released a series of new documents that shed additional light on the origins of U.S. torture policies...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/us/03taylor.html?_r=2&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Tales of Torture Overseas in a Case Testing U.S. Law</a></b><br />02.10.08. NY Times/ICH. Mr. Turay had flown in from Sweden for a trial that marks the first test of a 1994 law that makes it a crime for United States citizens to commit torture overseas.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.kansas.com/opinion/editorials/story/551752.html">Many approved torture</a></b><br />06.10.08. Kansas.com.anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47935&s2=15">Public At Last</a></b><br />14.10.08. Stephen Soldz, Counterpunch / uruknet. Guantánamo's SERE Standard Operating Procedures. One of the most important documents of the U.S. torture program has just become publicly available for the first time. This is the JTF GTMO "SERE" Interrogation Standard Operating Procedure, now posted on the website of the new documentary, Torturing Democracy. This document clearly specifies that the abusive interrogation techniques to be used at Guantamo [JTF GTMO] are based upon the military’s Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape [SERE] program. The document is notable for its documentation of the extent to which abuse was bureaucratically standardized for routine use.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/14/AR2008101403331.html">CIA Tactics Endorsed In Secret Memos</a></b><br />15.10.08. Washington Post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/10/revised-pentagon-directive-requires.php">Revised Pentagon directive requires monitoring of non-DOD interrogations</a></b><br />17.10.08. Jurist. The US Defense Department (DOD) has released a revised directive [PDF text] mandating military supervision of intelligence interrogations and questioning conducted by other US government agencies, foreign governments and contractors. The directive, issued October 9 by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England but only made public this week, supersedes a 2005 version that merely required non-DOD entities conducting such procedures to conform to Pentagon policies. According to the new directive,<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEMtAa8BWKBNmN7t-Zd9JxA4-bqxhtUqleDq8xJB_PAPjW3iQ6YrkHqHiBoigQxSS4l4CSUQjCsSC3skwrgFCrKYS0ZFCT0JKc2Zu7Tn6Bohfy5i7V2lD0flAL2kfE2vzR3bYn/s320/P1010129.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 142px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEMtAa8BWKBNmN7t-Zd9JxA4-bqxhtUqleDq8xJB_PAPjW3iQ6YrkHqHiBoigQxSS4l4CSUQjCsSC3skwrgFCrKYS0ZFCT0JKc2Zu7Tn6Bohfy5i7V2lD0flAL2kfE2vzR3bYn/s320/P1010129.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Philippe Sands Photo @ Sarah Meyer<br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/18/renditon-usa-georgebush">THE TORTURE TIME BOMB</a></b><br />18.10.08. Philippe Sands, The Guardian. As the US presidential election reaches a climax against the background of the financial crisis, another silent, dark, time bomb of an issue hangs over the two candidates: torture. For now, there seems to be a shared desire not to delve too deeply into the circumstances in which the Bush administration allowed the US military and the CIA to embrace abusive techniques of interrogation - including waterboarding, in the case of the CIA - which violate the Geneva conventions and the 1984 UN torture convention. / … Buried away in this testimony lies the most dangerous material of all: evidence which may establish that abuses on detainees in Iraq in September 2003, in the period perhaps including the events at Abu Ghraib, were the result of decisions taken at the highest levels of the administration. The administration has long proclaimed it did not allow aggressive interrogations in Iraq, since the Geneva conventions applied. Last month we learned this was false.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21096.htm">The Torturer's Tale</a></b><br />27.10.08. Jolyon Jenkins, The First Post / ICH. It was fine to douse the prisoner with icy water and put him in front of an air-conditioner, so long as the paperwork was in order.<br /><br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10554">The Prosecution for War Crimes of President Bush</a></b><br />13.10.08. Sherwood Ross Assoc. Press Release, globalresearch.ca/. <b> Massachusetts law school Dean Lawrence Velvel will chair a Steering Committee to pursue the prosecution for war crimes of President Bush and culpable high-ranking aides after they leave office Jan. 20th</b>. Besides Velvel, members of the Steering Committee include:<br /><br />Ben Davis, a law Professor at the University of Toledo College of Law, where he teaches Public International Law and International Business Transactions. He is the author of numerous articles on international and related domestic law.<br /><br />Marjorie Cohn, a law Professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, Calif., and President of the National Lawyers Guild.<br /><br />Chris Pyle, a Professor at Mount Holyoke College, where he teaches Constitutional law, Civil Liberties, Rights of Privacy, American Politics and American Political Thought, and is the author of many books and articles.<br /><br />Elaine Scarry, the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University, and winner of the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism.<br /><br />Peter Weiss, vice president of the Center For Constitutional Rights, of New York City, which was recently involved with war crimes complaints filed in Germany and Japan against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others.<br /><br />David Swanson, author, activist and founder of AfterDowningStreet.org/CensureBush.org coalition, of Charlottesville, Va.<br /><br />Kristina Borjesson, an award-winning print and broadcast journalist for more than twenty years and editor of two recent books on the media.<br /><br />Colleen Costello, Staff Attorney of Human Rights, USA, of Washington, D.C., and coordinator of its efforts involving torture by the American government.<br /><br />Valeria Gheorghiu, attorney for Workers’ Rights Law Center.<br /><br />Andy Worthington of Redress, a British historian and journalist and author of books dealing with human rights violations.<br /><br />Initial actions considered by the Steering Committee, Velvel said, are as follows:<br /><br /># Seeking prosecutions of high level officials, including George Bush, for the crimes they committed.<br /><br /># Seeking disbarment of lawyers who were complicitous in facilitating torture.<br /><br /># Seeking termination from faculty positions of high officials who were complicitous in torture.<br /><br /># Issuing a recent statement saying any attempt by Bush to pardon himself and aides for war crimes prior to leaving office will result in efforts to obtain impeachment even after they leave office.<br /><br /># Convening a major conference on the state secret and executive privilege doctrines, which have been pushed to record levels during the Bush administration.<br /><br /># Designation of an Information Repository Coordinator to gather in one place all available information involving the Bush Administration’s war crimes.<br /><br /># Possible impeachment of 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jay Bybee for co-authoring the infamous “torture memo.”<br /><br />Further information and to arrange interviews with Dean Velvel, contact Sherwood Ross, Sherwood Ross Associates, Suite 403, 102 S.W. 6th Avenue, Miami, FL 33130; (305) 205-8281. E-mail sherwoodr1@yahoo.com.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/swanson241008.htm">Pardon Me, Congress?</a></b><br />24.19.08. David Swanson, countercurrents. Jerry Seib, executive Washington editor of The Wall Street Journal said on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR last week that he expects Bush, Cheney, and their subordinates to be prosecuted for torture. This expectation is spreading.<br /><br /><br /><a id="16000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 16. Obama & McCain on Afghanistan</b><br /></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=7obama-mccain.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 307px; height: 184px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=7obama-mccain.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=432178"> Bush leaves successor a world of trouble </a> (26.10.08. Headline, wired)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/99801/">What Makes Obama and McCain Think They Can "Win" Afghanistan?</a></b><br />22.09.08. ROBERT FISK, Independent/Alternet. To claim the U.S. can achieve now what the British couldn't in the 19th century and the Russians couldn't at the end of the 20th is pure fantasy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/09/25/politics/horserace/entry4477239.shtml">In CBS Interview, Palin Calls For Surge In Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.09.08. CBS. The logistics that we are already suggesting here, not having enough troops in the area right now. The… things like the terrain even in Afghanistan and that border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where, you know, we believe that-- Bin Laden is-- is hiding out right now and… and is still such a leader of this terrorist movement. There… there are many more challenges there. So, again, I believe that… a surge in Afghanistan also will lead us to victory there as it has proven to have done in Iraq. And as I say, Katie, that we cannot afford to retreat, to withdraw in Iraq. That's not gonna get us any better off in Afghanistan either. And as our leaders are telling us in our military, we do need to ramp it up in Afghanistan, counting on our friends and allies to assist with us there because these terrorists who hate America, they hate what we stand for with the… the freedoms, the democracy, the… the women's rights, the tolerance, they hate what it is that we represent and our allies, too, and our friends, what they represent. If we were… were to allow a stronghold to be captured by these terrorists then the world is in even greater peril than it is today. We cannot afford to lose in Afghanistan. VIDEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=380376">FACTBOX-Foreign policy quotes from US presidential debate</a></b><br />26.09.08. Reuters / wired/anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/swanson270908a.htm">Foreign Policy Debate All About War</a></b><br />27.09.08. David Swanson, countercurrents. Obama favored putting more troops in Afghanistan, claiming that occupying Afghanistan is a response to 9-11. And he added Pakistan -- he would send more troops there too. (Authorized by what Congress and what U.N.?) McCain opposed cutting off aid to Pakistan or launching military strikes into it, or at least announcing your attention to do so.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081002/pl_afp/usvote1monthforeign">US candidates grapple for new foreign policy approach</a></b><br />02.10.08. AFP. With America's reputation abroad tarnished, the White House contenders are tussling over Iraq and Afghanistan as saddled with the Bush "war on terror" strategy they grope for a fresh foreign policy. / Yet, despite their differences, both Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama back a multilateral approach to world affairs -- even if neither totally renounces the "Bush Doctrine" of pre-emptive military strikes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/04/palin-accuses-obama-palling-terrorists/">Palin Accuses Obama of 'Palling Around With Terrorists'</a></b><br />04.10.08. Fox news/ ICH. "This is not a man who sees America as you see America, and as I see America," Palin said. "Our opponent, though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect -- imperfect enough that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. Americans need to know this. ... I think, OK we gotta get the word out. Also See <a href="http://tinyurl.com/3fbsr5"> At home with the Palins: 'struggling working-class Americans' worth $1.2m </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20953.htm">The US Simply Doesn't Get It</a></b><br />06.10.08. Robert Fisk, Independent / ICH. Both Joe Biden and Sarah Palin managed to avoid the use of that poisonous word. "Palestine" and "Palestinians" – that most cancerous, slippery, dangerous concept – simply did not exist in the vice-presidential debate. The phrase "Israeli occupation" was mercifully left unused. Neither the words "Jewish colony" nor "Jewish settlement" – not even that cowardly old get-out clause of American journalism, "Jewish neighbourhood" – got a look-in. Nope.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20081007_what_mccain_and_obama_just_dont_get_about_central_asia/?ln">What McCain and Obama Just Don’t Get About Central Asia</a></b><br />07.10.08. William Pfaff, truthdig. Yet neither the Iraq nor the Afghanistan issue is within the power of any American president to resolve. He only thinks he can, and his advisers tell him he can and should. But the critical variables are outside his control, and certainly outside the control of American and NATO military forces.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174987/chalmers_johnson_the_ultimate_election">Tomgram: The Ultimate Election</a></b><br />07.10.08. Chalmers Johnson, Tomdispatch.<br />Bringing the opposition party to power, however, is not in itself likely to restore the American republic to good working order. It is almost inconceivable that any president could stand up to the overwhelming pressures of the <u>military-industrial complex</u>, as well as the extra-constitutional powers of the 16 intelligence agencies that make up the U.S. Intelligence Community, and the entrenched interests they represent. The subversive influence of the imperial presidency (and vice presidency), the vast expansion of official secrecy and of the police and spying powers of the state, the institution of a second Defense Department in the form of the Department of Homeland Security, and the irrational commitments of American imperialism (761 active military bases in 151 foreign countries as of 2008) will not easily be rolled back by the normal workings of the political system.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/09/afghanistan.johnmccain">Fighting talk is self-defeating</a></b><br />09.10.08. Simon Tisdall, Guardian. As the generals say there is no military solution, Obama and McCain should cut the rhetoric and get real about Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20971.htm">Time To Face The Facts On Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.08.08. Eric S. Margolis, ICH.<br />Both Barack Obama and John McCain are wrong about Afghanistan. It is not a `good’ fight against `terrorism,’ but a classic, 19th century colonial war to advance western geopolitical power into resource-rich Central Asia. The Pashtun Afghans who live there are ready to fight for another 100 years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/102092/?page=entire">Progressive Voter Guide to Human Rights and Civil Liberties</a></b><br />11.10.08. AlterNet. 1. DOMESTIC SPYING; 2. TORTURE; 3. GUANTANAMO AND THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'S SECRET PRISONS; 4. THE SUPREME COURT; 5. STATE SECRETS PRIVILEGE; 6. AMERICANS' RIGHT TO DISSENT; 7. WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS; 8. POLITICIZATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE; 9. EXPANSION OF THE FEDERAL DEATH PENALTY; 10. SIGNING STATEMENTS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://online.barrons.com/article/SB122410737946137993.html?mod=googlenews_barrons">Defense Stocks Can Benefit Even Under Obama</a></b><br />16.10.08. Naureen S. Malik, online.barrons. But it's clear that both he and John McCain, his Republican rival, would be no enemy of healthy Pentagon budgets, even if national budget deficits rise in the years ahead. That bodes well for the defense industry<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/everest10172008.html">Afghanistan: Not a Good War Gone Bad</a></b><br />17.10.08. L. Everest, Counterpuch / anti-war. One thing that’s not been up for debate in the Presidential campaign is Afghanistan: both candidates (not to mention George W. Bush) agree on the urgent need to escalate – and win – that war. This stance has overwhelmingly gone unchallenged – even by most who opposed the invasion of Iraq. But the war in Afghanistan is not the proverbial "good war," now gone bad. It was an unjust, imperialist war of conquest and empire from the start. And it continues to be an unjust, imperialist war of empire today. / The war in Afghanistan was never simply a response to 9/11. It was conceived of by the Bush administration as the opening salvo in an unbounded war for greater empire under the rubric of a "war on terror." This war’s goal was to defeat Islamic fundamentalism, overthrow states not fully under U.S. control, restructure the Middle East and Central Asian regions, and seize deeper control of key sources and shipment routes of strategic energy supplies.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/torture/index.asp"><br />Obama</a></b><br />“The other thing that we have to focus on, though, is al Qaeda. They are now operating in 60 countries. We can't simply be focused on Iraq. We have to go to the <b>root cause, and that is in Afghanistan and Pakistan</b>.“<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 170px; height: 123px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1y0K5qZlfPtb6z8MlmTH31b2ligF99fOf0j717a1PS_eKyVvJeOWkORPmWqMiWp-irWJu_d3uji69zmHnLRcoVPxnveDtQOcKWB0J5h-3WwFWBqxV0YQHW_QEE-1hVzlDkCwg/s320/aipac2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262361259765050322" border="0" /><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 170px; height: 121px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix735FJq3UuAweXKmyZjGD6cbc25PxCwzLEWDzHbWnye61nWe31sPGigVP0LF5FAwCR3Y8HPX0Yly0sUjSKWj3pAXPto7of9kmf4oKeYU60nnbvOL7jMGtO4GCnz345R4qMN5O/s320/aipac.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262361193297293634" border="0" /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48114&s2=21">Alan Dershowitz endorses Obama: Why I Support Israel and Obama</a></b><br />17.10.08. Alan Dershowitz, uruknet. I am a strong supporter of Israel (though sometimes critical of specific policies). I am also a strong supporter of Barack Obama (though I favored Hillary Clinton during the primaries). I am now getting dozens of emails asking me how as a supporter of Israel I can vote for Barack Obama. Let me explain. …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/102169/">Iraq, Afghanistan and the Treatment of Veterans -- Voter Guide</a></b><br />17.10.08. Alternet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/article/3/1632-the-bagman-cometh-obama-embraces-war-criminals-endorsement.html">The Bagman Cometh: Obama Embraces War Criminal's Endorsement</a></b><br />19.10.08. Chris Floyd, Empire Burlesque.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=urine.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 239px; height: 189px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=urine.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=urine.jpg"> Powell shows results of a urine test at UN in 2003</a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=48109&s2=21">Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien: Obama's New Advisor Stands By His War Crimes</a></b><br />20.10.08. Chris Floyd, uruknet. Just to be clear, Barack Obama's brand-new foreign policy advisor, Colin Powell, wants you to know that he continues to support the decision to launch a war of aggression against Iraq in March 2003 -- an act that, according to principles established by the United States and its allies at Nuremberg in 1945, is a war crime punishable by death.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/54605.html">Military: Both McCain and Obama would rebuild U.S. forces</a></b><br />22.10.08. McClatchy. Barack Obama and John McCain each promise that as president they'd continue to transform the U.S. military into a bigger, more agile force that can tackle insurgencies and help allies thwart terrorism. … / "Temperamentally, Senators Obama and McCain are very different on defense. But when you read the details of their defense positions, they are remarkably similar," said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with the Lexington Institute, a conservative public policy organization. "They both want to bolster intelligence, focus on counter-terrorism, reduce big-ticket weapons systems and crack down on defense contracts."<br /><br />McCain would like to increase the size of U.S. ground forces — the Army and Marines — by 150,000 troops to roughly 900,000.<br /><br />Obama supports a Pentagon plan to expand the Army by 65,000 and the Marines by 27,000 in the next decade.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081023.CAMPAIGNSPEECH23/TPStory/International">Obama favours U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.10.08. globe and mail.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/kantar241008.htm">The Opium Of The Masses</a></b><br />24.10.08. Max Kantar, countercurrents. This November, Americans face a choice. But the choice not between John McCain or Barak Obama; it is between submitting to the will of the corporate-military establishment or taking a moral stand in boycotting their rigged institutions of fake democracy<br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxcCQ5X0ovw">Misconceptions of Obama fuel Republican campaign</a></b><br />Part 1: The American Crescent <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDMGrVTsSEQ"> Part 2</a>; <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TEqU750YO0"> Part 3 </a>;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYXX3hXS_S8"> Part 4 </a>/<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102408L">The Case Against the Escalation of the War in Afghanistan</a></b><br />24.10.08. Camillo "Mac" Bica, Truthout: "Despite some subtle nuances regarding a timetable for the phased withdrawal of at least a portion of the combat troops from Iraq, the positions of both John McCain and Barack Obama regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are quite similar. Under both their plans, American young men and women, despite their eventually being withdrawn from Iraq - 'with honor' for McCain, 'responsibly' for Obama - will not be returning home but, rather, redeployed to another battlefield upon which to continue to kill or be killed. Both candidates have promised a surge in Afghanistan, and a commitment to continue the 'war on terrorism' until our enemies, al-Qaeda, the Taliban, perhaps Iran, are defeated and Osama Bin Laden is killed or captured."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/26/AR2008102602179_pf.html">Iraq Aside, Nominees Have Like Views on Use of Force</a></b><br />27.10.08. Robert G. Kaiser, Washington Post. Yet both have revealed a willingness to commit U.S. forces overseas for both strategic and humanitarian purposes. Both agree on a course of action in Afghanistan that could lead to a long-term commitment of American soldiers without a clear statement of how long they might remain or what conditions would lead to their withdrawal.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gayle-tzemach/on-the-ground-in-afghanis_b_138203.html">On The Ground In Afghanistan: Waiting For November 4</a></b><br />27.10.08. Gayle Tzemach, Huff Post. Voters 7,000 miles away are an object of keen curiosity among Kabul's young and educated. / Seven years after the US invasion, citizens speak of the international community's push to rebuild their country in tones ranging from disappointment to disdain to disgust. As they see it, Afghanistan's problems are widely reported and scarcely addressed. / Corruption infects government at all levels, leaving struggling Afghans with even fewer resources. No one knows for certain what the thousands of NGOs do here; waste and duplications hog precious resources while coordination with the Afghan government is nearly nil. Infrastructure remains in shreds.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/pilger/?articleid=13677">The Diplomacy of Lying</a></b><br />27.10.08. John Pilger, anti-war. …the U.S. presidential race becomes surreal. The beatification of President Barack Obama is already under way; for it is he who "challenges America to rise up [and] summon 'the better angels of our nature,'" says Rolling Stone magazine, reminiscent of the mating calls of Guardian writers to the "mystical" Blair. As ever, the Orwell Inversion Test is necessary. Obama claims that his vast campaign wealth comes from small individual donors, yet he has also received funds from some of the most notorious looters on Wall Street. Moreover, the "dove" and "candidate of change" has voted repeatedly to fund George W. Bush's rapacious wars, and now demands more war in Afghanistan while he threatens to bomb Pakistan. … / The lesson learned is that no presidential candidate, least of all a Democrat awash with money from America's "banksters," as Franklin Roosevelt called them, can or will challenge a militarized system that controls and rewards him. Obama's job is to present a benign, even progressive face that will revive America's democratic pretensions, internationally and domestically, while ensuring nothing of substance changes.<br /><br /><a id="17000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 17. References </b></div><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wasted-Vigil-Nadeem-Aslam/dp/030726842X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223886784&sr=8-1"> The Wasted Vigil </a> by Nadeed Aslam, Knopf 2008. Guardian Review of this superbly lyrical book <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/20/fiction2"> here</a>. “Aslam's Afghanistan is a Persian miniature under some terrible curse. Everywhere are moths, gold leaf, butterflies, precious stones, musk and civet, camphor, roses, birdsong, blossom, cluster-mines, booby-traps, judicial amputations. In Marcus's house, books are nailed to the ceiling to escape confiscation by the Taliban. In the abandoned perfume factory in the garden is the monumental head of a Gandhara Buddha, partly excavated. A corpse is covered in fragments of mirror-glass to scare away vultures.”<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Power-End-American-Exceptionalism/dp/0805088156/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224902471&sr=1-1">The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism</a> by Andrew Bacevich, Metropolitan Books, August 2008<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/CIA-Culture-Failure-Intelligence-Invasion/dp/0804756015">THE CIA AND THE CULTURE OF FAILURE </a> by John Diamond, Stanford University Press, Sept. 2008. "A steady stream of intelligence failures in the 1990s occurred in every facet of CIA activity, from intelligence collection to analysis to counterintelligence to covert action," writes John Diamond in a new book on "The CIA and the Culture of Failure."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786717696"> Weapons Grade: How Modern Warfare Gave Birth to Our High-Tech World </a> by David Hambling, Da Capo Press, 2006<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thousand-Splendid-Suns-Khaled-Hosseini/dp/1594489505/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223742386&sr=1-1"> A Thousand Splendid Suns </a> by Khaled Hosseini, Riverhead 2007<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shock-Doctrine-Rise-Disaster-Capitalism/dp/0312427999/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223954164&sr=8-1">The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism </a> by Naomi Klein, Picador (paperback) 2008<br /><br />Review of new book by <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2008/10/afghanistan-british-taliban"> David Loyn </a>, Butcher and Bolt: Two Hundred Years of Foreign Engagement in Afghanistan, Hutchinson 2008.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Politics-Heroin-Complicity-Global-Trade/dp/1556524838/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224666033&sr=1-1"> The Politics of Heroin: : CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, Central America, Columbia </a> by Alfred McCoy, Lawrence Hill Books, May 2003. Mr. McCoy’s original stunner about SE Asia: See <a href="http://www.amazon.com/politics-heroin-Southeast-Asia/dp/0060129018/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224666033&sr=1-2"> here </a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eric-margolis/how-deeply-is-the-us-invo_b_134989.html"> Eric Margolis </a> says: “Author Alfred McCoy's wrote a brilliant study in his ground-breaking `The Politics of Heroin' in which he documents how first French, then American intelligence was drawn into the heroin trade in Laos and Vietnam as a way of supporting anti-Communist guerilla fighters. The same thing happened in Central America where CIA collaborated with cocaine-dealing members of the anti-Communist Contras.”<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Behind-Facades-Films-John-Pilger/dp/B001CMV1NA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1225121969&sr=8-1"> John Pilger </a> Behind the Façade: The Films of John Pilger<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Descent-into-Chaos-Building-Afghanistan/dp/0670019704/ref=pd_sim_b_1"> Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan , Afghanistan, and Central Asia </a> by Amid Rashid, Viking – June 2008. (see *** review <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/oct/04/unitedstates.militarism"> In search of monsters to destroy </a> by Pankaj Mishra, Guardian Review 04.10.08. "'Fiasco', 'The Forever War', 'Descent into Chaos' - the titles of recent books - capture the consensus on the US entanglement in Iraq and Afghanistan."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Torture-Team-Rumsfelds-Betrayal-American/dp/0230603904/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224386707&sr=1-1"> The Torture Team </a> by Philippe Sands, Palgrave Macmillan, May 2008<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Plunder-Investigating-Economic-Calamity-Subprime/dp/1605203157/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223481955&sr=8-1">Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Subprime Scandal </a> by Danny Schechter, Cosimo Books, September 2008. [Danny knows more about the US and global financial world that anyone I know. Sign up for Danny’s excellent<br /><a href="http://www.mediachannel.org/"> Dissector </a> daily email news and / or read his book. Watch his films, too!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/christison09202008.html">The Making of Recent U.S. Middle East Policies </a> Book Review by Bill and Kathleen Christison, Counterpunch / ICH. "Sniegoski’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1932528172/counterpunchmaga"> new book </a> demonstrates clearly how U.S. and Israeli policies and actions with respect to Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the other Gulf states, and even most recently Georgia are all tied together in a bundle of interrelated linkages, each of which affects all the others. / This is a long but quite splendid book."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Guantanamo-Files-Stories-Detainees-Americas/dp/0745326641/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224386584&sr=1-1"> The Guantanamo Files </a> by Andy Worthington, Pluto Press (paperback), September 2007<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><u>Index Research articles on Afghanistan</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%9D" com="" 2008="" 10=""> Index Research on Pakistan, October 2008 </a><br />==<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html"> Index on Afghanistan and Pakistan - Murder & Security, Aug/Sept. ’08</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/index-on-afghanistan-april-2008-famine.html"> INDEX ON AFGHANISTAN APRIL 2008: FAMINE </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-disaster-winters.html">INDEX on AFGHANISTAN: DISASTER, A WINTER’S TALE I: FEBRUARY 2008 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-nato-failure.html">INDEX ON AFGHANISTAN, NATO FAILURE: A WINTER’S TALE, PART II </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/autumn-07-in-afghanistan.html">Autumn '07 in Afghanistan </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/security-companies-in-afghanistan.html">Security Companies in Afghanistan</a> (updated)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/afghanistan-cleared-of-wrongdoing.html"> Afghanistan: Cleared of Wrongdoing</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/schisms-index-on-afghanistan-august.html">Schisms: Index on Afghanistan, August 2007 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/06/index-on-afghanistan-may-2007-part-ii.html">Index on Afghanistan: May 2007: Part II - NATO; Human Rights </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/06/index-on-afghanistan-may-2007-part-i.html">Index on Afghanistan: May 2007 Part I </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/dead-in-afghanistan-may-2007.html">Dead in Afghanistan: May 2007 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/index-on-afghanistan-april-2007-murder.html">Index on Afghanistan: April 2007: Murder in Nangarhar</a> (updated)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/04/index-on-afghanistan-march-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : March 2007 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/03/index-on-afghanistan-february-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : February 2007 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-on-afghanistan-january-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : January 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : December 2006 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/index-on-afghanistan-november-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : November 2006 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/index-on-afghanistan-october-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : October 2006 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/10/index-on-afghanistan-september-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : September 2006 </a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/08/index-on-afghanistan.html">Index on Afghanistan</a> (Updated to 31/08/06)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/07/index-research-pentagon-and-oil.html">Index Research: The Pentagon and Oil</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK</em><br /><br />In addition to those url sources mentioned, special thanks to <a href="http://www.mediachannel.org/">Danny</a>,<a href="http://pacetua.blogspot.com/"> Musafir </a>, <a href="http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/"> Ragnar</a> and <a href="http://www.citizensedproject.org/"> Winston </a>.<br /><br />The url to Index on Economics & Peril in Afghanistan, October 2008 Timeline is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-on-economics-and-peril-in.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-on-economics-and-peril-in.html</a><br /><br />Shorter url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/5jsfj7">http://tinyurl.com/5jsfj7</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br />TAGS:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Afghanistan" rel="tag">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Taliban" rel="tag">Taliban</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Opium" rel="tag">Opium</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/US-NATO" rel="tag">US-NATO</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/NATO+Coalition" rel="tag">NATO Coalition</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Politics" rel="tag">Politics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Bush+Bailout" rel="tag">Bush Bailout</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Military+Industrial+Complex" rel="tag">Military Industrial Complex</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Contracts+and+Contractors" rel="tag">Contracts and Contractors</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Oil+and+Gas" rel="tag">Oil and Gas</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/9/11" rel="tag">9/11</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Detainees" rel="tag">Detainees</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Guantanamo" rel="tag">Guantanamo</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/War+Crimes" rel="tag">War Crimes</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Obama" rel="tag">Obama</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/McCain" rel="tag">McCain</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Robert+Fisk" rel="tag">Robert Fisk</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-62473798377500896902008-10-26T14:10:00.015+00:002009-06-01T17:15:11.667+01:00Index Research on Pakistan, October 2008<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html&title=Index+Research+on+Pakistan,+October+2008&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html&title=Index+Research+on+Pakistan,+October+2008&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=6247379837750089690"title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=6247379837750089690" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><b>1. <a href="#1000">Preface</a><br />2. <a href="#2000">Timeline: War Zones in Pakistan</a><br />3. <a href="#3000">US Drones in Pakistan</a><br />4. <a href="#4000">Refugees in Pakistan</a><br />5. <a href="#5000">Articles on War in Pakistan</a><br />6. <a href="#6000">Financial Difficulties in Pakistan</a><br />7. <a href="#7000">Nuclear Pakistan</a><br />8. <a href="#8000">Oil and Gas in Pakistan</a><br />9. <a href="#9000">Human Rights in Pakistan</a><br />10. <a href="#10000">Obama and McCain on Pakistan</a><br />11. <a href="#11000">References</a></b><br /><br /><br />[Most recent update 12.05.09, before "references". <br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2009/06/index-on-war-in-pakistan-may-2009.html#13000"> Index on War in Pakistan, May 2009 </a><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><a id="1000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 1. Preface</b><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try{parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbP-GLo1HJihVGYKMEyoGHd4PphSYTElJck9QGeiXrZXCLy_7wMMeZRtz77bZlY58dQQa3CR-CEV2QofurgU59Dll3uqgJqgp0cdVjyi9g83PtzInPmW7Q_FM28jT4q8B4-J8X/s1600-h/map1.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 310px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbP-GLo1HJihVGYKMEyoGHd4PphSYTElJck9QGeiXrZXCLy_7wMMeZRtz77bZlY58dQQa3CR-CEV2QofurgU59Dll3uqgJqgp0cdVjyi9g83PtzInPmW7Q_FM28jT4q8B4-J8X/s400/map1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259338196408629938" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/5800">Strata-sphere.com</a><br /></span></div><br /><a href="http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/mayfaire/latimes0167.htm"> Bush’s Third War</a> started, illegally, “with a first ever ground attack” on the night of <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20819.htm"> 3 September </a>,killing 15 men women and children. Further activity in early September can be read <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/#5000"> here</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.kirotv.com/save-money/17596060/detail.html"> Bush’s Bailout Bonanza </a> was on 1 October 2008, catastrophically affecting the global market. <br /><br />In mid - October, <em>in medias res</em> of a global financial meltdown, one US <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle"> drone </a> killed <a href="http://www.newsroomamerica.com/world/story.php?id=434945">one </a> alleged “militant”in Pakistan. <a href="http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14838"> Corpwatch</a> reported that this drone system is <b>“the most expensive Army weapons program ever.”</b> What, then, is the cost ratio of <u>one</u> drone (out of 4 in each system) to one life? Approximately <b> $4.5m </b> if all four are used. And HOW MUCH is given in ‘compensation’ to the family of a civilian victim? Pittance.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.honeybeecentre.com/site_assets/www.honeybeecentre.com/images/dynamic/250px-Drone_24a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.honeybeecentre.com/site_assets/www.honeybeecentre.com/images/dynamic/250px-Drone_24a.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Please also see <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-on-economics-and-peril-in.html"> INDEX ON ECNOMICS AND PERIL IN AFGHANISTAN, OCTOBER 2008 TIMELINE </a> (29.10.08)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><a id="2000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 2. Timeline: War Zones in Pakistan</b><br /></div><br /><br /><em>“Do not strike the chord of sorrow tonight!<br />Days burning with pain turn to ashes.<br />Who knows what happens tomorrow?”</em><br /><a href="http://www.wsu.edu:8080/%7Ewldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/faiz.html">Faiz Ahmed Faiz </a>,translated by Azfar Hussain<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxK6upwATNwYBwJamCOdwn0vD3x34LzBp7Rt73f7BcDJ2IAzdRbICD3uu9ofEeQBDY3zIg0_5uQQnxgswMkSjjr3Q9xg_h7myrEPQeZou2l23PZpHuiE3mSPZsr1qqlcGhXljP/s1600-h/bbc_map.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxK6upwATNwYBwJamCOdwn0vD3x34LzBp7Rt73f7BcDJ2IAzdRbICD3uu9ofEeQBDY3zIg0_5uQQnxgswMkSjjr3Q9xg_h7myrEPQeZou2l23PZpHuiE3mSPZsr1qqlcGhXljP/s400/bbc_map.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259338185703381234" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><br /><br /><u>N. Waziristan </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jjmW24z_5xC41F1DmL0CVGEeuU6gD93HQIE00"><br />Pakistan officials: 6 killed in US missile strike</a></b><br />01.10.08. Munir Ahmad, AP. The attack was the first since President .. Zardari warned that its territory cannot "be violated by our friends."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/01/pakistan.usa">US drone suspected of deadly attack on Pakistan border with Afghanistan</a></b><br />01.10.08. Randeep Ramesh, Guardian.<br /><br /><u> Bajaur</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20081001%20%5CACQDJON200810010454DOWJONESDJONLINE000315.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.na">Pakistani Tribesmen Kill 13 Taliban Militants</a></b><br />01.10.08. nasdaq / ICH. Pakistani tribesmen supporting a government assault on Islamist militants near the troubled Afghan frontier have killed 13 Taliban insurgents, officials said Wednesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20081002%20%5CACQDJON200810020946DOWJONESDJONLINE000616.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=%20http://www.international.na">Pakistan Troops Kill 25 Taliban In Border Area Clashes</a></b><br />02.10.08. nasdaq. Gunbattles erupted overnight and continued until late Thursday after militants attacked security checkposts in four villages in the restive region, a security official told AFP.<br /><br /><u> Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080067602">21 people killed in missile attack in Pak</a></b><br />04.10.08. NDTV. Official sources were quoted by Dawn News channel as saying that a house in a village in Mohmandkhel area, located 15 km from North Waziristan's main town of Miranshah, was targeted in the attack [by a suspected US drone]. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7652614.stm">Pakistanis bury 'US strike' dead</a></b><br />04.10.08. BBC. Pakistani villagers have collected the corpses and body parts of at least 20 people killed by a reported US strike. The US has yet to confirm it carried out the attack<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=409002">Taliban said to be furious over US missile strike</a></b><br />05.10.08. wired. <br /><br /><u> Swat</u><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXea-VeL6dIUogVVjhZRejlmlAn9ZqsB6G_EmfKJ8zq_iSmhdBby71-1Wp7YTQmrKatkJ_LBuydiWcEONvvM1BiPjdg06Ua4KdOm-4DKlnL4X6NDF-nyh2nMjtx1jRJwqLMT-6/s1600-h/pak-af-9-swat.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXea-VeL6dIUogVVjhZRejlmlAn9ZqsB6G_EmfKJ8zq_iSmhdBby71-1Wp7YTQmrKatkJ_LBuydiWcEONvvM1BiPjdg06Ua4KdOm-4DKlnL4X6NDF-nyh2nMjtx1jRJwqLMT-6/s400/pak-af-9-swat.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259338352504032082" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/IG14Df04.html">Swat Valley, Asia Times</a></span><br /></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1434882.php/Pakistan_Army_Two_militant_commanders_killed_in_Swat_district_">Pakistan Army: Two militant commanders killed in Swat district</a></b><br />05.10.08. monsters and critics. Amir Zeb and another rebel leader identified by the single name of Ayub were gunned down during a search operation in the Sambat area of Swat's Matta sub-district, said military spokesman Major Murad Khan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7658681.stm">Swat diary: Living on a frontline</a></b><br />08.10.08. BBC. Munir (not his real name), an administrator in the Swat region of Pakistan, describes the challenges of daily life in his valley as the Taleban and the army vie for influence. This week, as schools are burned down in nearby villages, the area has to cope with lengthy power cuts.<br /><br /><u> near Peshawar</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD93KO5VG1">Pakistani politician's family home escapes rockets</a></b><br />06.10.08. AP.<br /><br /><u> Bajaur</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/10/07/top3.htm">Six militants in ‘militia uniforms’ killed</a></b><br />06.10.08. Anwarullah Khan, Dawn / ICH. In a statement issued in Peshawar, FC authorities said that the militants “wearing militia uniforms” [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">whose? See 07.10.08, MSNBC. </span>] had occupied a house. Sources said that troops had established several checkpoints and cleared one and a half kilometre stretch between Rashakai and Lowi Sam of mines and other types of explosives. Militants’ positions in other areas were also attacked.<br /><br />(See Refugees, Bajaur)<br /><br /><u>N. Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C08%5Cstory_8-10-2008_pg7_3">Tribesmen fire rockets at drones in Miranshah</a></b><br />08.10.08. daily times/pk. According to locals, the tribesmen fired without success on the drones when they attempted to fly at low altitude in various areas of the agency. The tribesmen in the Mir Ali sub-division of North Waziristan Agency had also fired rockets at two drones that had crossed into Pakistan on October 5. The two drones entered Pakistani airspace from Afghanistan, locals said.<br /><br /><u> Bajaur</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gS3fyuapZWc9OS-sQi8FUXUb61Aw">Pakistan troops kill 20 militants in tribal area: official</a></b><br />08.10.08. AFP. "Twelve local and eight foreign militants including their important commanders were killed in the successful airstrike," a security official told AFP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17711">23 militants killed in Bajaur fighting</a></b><br />09.10.08. Mushtaq Yusufzai, thenews/anti-war. <br /><br /><u>North West Frontier Province (NWFP)</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=2dd39c48-7bdf-44f9-895f-31a2c72f085b&&Headline=Five+militants+killed+in+Pakistan">Five militants killed in Pakistan</a></b><br />08.10.08. hindustanitimes. The APP quoted security officials as saying that the security forces targeted militants with artillery and pounded their suspected hideouts in Tor Chapar, Akhurwal and Peerwal Khel areas in North West Frontier Province (NWFP).<br /><br /><u> North Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/09/latest-us-drone-strike-in-north-waziristan-kills-at-least-nine/">Latest US Drone Strike in North Waziristan Kills At Least Nine</a></b><br />09.10.08. anti-war. A missile strike by a US drone hit a house in Ghundai, a village 20 km east of Miramshah in Pakistan’s North Waziristan province today, killing at least nine people. It is the second US air strike in the province in less than a week, as a strike on Friday evening killed at least 21 people. / Today’s strike targeted the home of <em>Maulvi Sahar Gul</em>, who is said to be affiliated with the tribal fighters which signed a peace treaty with Pakistan in February. Five of those killed were reported to be civilians, with another four “suspected foreign militants.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17733">Four foreigners among nine killed in US drone attack</a></b><br />10.10.08. thenews.pk. Five among nine people killed in the attack were family members of Maulvi Sahar Gul, including <u>three children and two women</u>, and four guests staying at the hujra.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD93NNK0O1">Pakistan condemns US strikes in border regions</a></b><br />10.10.08. AP<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C09%5Cstory_9-10-2008_pg1_5">US spy planes violate Pakistan’s airspace</a></b><br />09.10.08. dailytimes/pk. [locals] said <b>two drones</b> flew over the Sheikh Baba, Soraan Darra, Mamadgut, Chamar Kund, Aleengaar, Khazina, Sagi, Duazai and Qandaro areas of the agency in the morning.<br /><br /><u> Swat Valley </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17734">21 millitants killed in Swat</a></b><br />10.10.08. the news.pk. It was the first time that the security forces targeted the suspected hideout of Fazlullah, who has been in full command of the militants for the last one year despite a full-scale military operation.<br /><br /><u> Bajaur </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C10%5Cstory_10-10-2008_pg7_10">Lashkar torches Taliban hideouts in Bajaur</a></b><br />10.10.08. dailytimes / pk.<br /><br /><u> N. Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tehrantimes.com/Index_view.asp?code=179697">U.S. missile hits Pakistani house</a></b><br />11.10.08. Unnamed Pakistani security sources say [the unmanned aircrat (drone)] hit a house in the village of Tappi, North Waziristan, and that the dead include a number of Arabs. There was no immediate U.S. confirmation of the attack.<br /><br />and<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/10/12/top5.htm">Drone attack kills four</a></b><br />11.10.08. Dawn. [Local people] said that two missiles hit a house owned by a tribesman named Rahmat Jahan in an abandoned Afghan refugee camp near the town.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINISL36116520081011">UPDATE 2-Five killed in U.S. missile attack in Pakistan</a></b><br />12.10.08. Haji Mujtaba, in. Reuters. It was the second such attack in North Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border this week. "The missiles were fired with a gap of a minute," a Reuters witness said from Miranshah, the main town of North Waziristan. "They caused huge blasts. I saw flames rising towards the sky after the explosions."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47931&s2=14">Pakistan: All US missile strike victims were tribesmen</a></b><br />12.10.08. The News Int., Pakistan/uruknet. <br />The three people killed in the missile attack by the US drones on a house in Machas Colony area here Saturday night were all local tribesmen. Tribal sources said the dead included Rustam, Munawar and Sakhi, all residents of the area. Five men including Shaider Khan, Faizullah, Muqaddas, Zabiullah and Gul Qadam were injured in the missile strike on a 'hujra’ at Machas Colony, which used to serve as a camp for Afghan refugees in the past. Eyewitnesses told The News that four pilot-less Predators were flying in the airspace of Miramshah at the time of the attack. The tribesmen also opened fire on the drones with heavy arms. One guided missile landed in a desert causing no loss.../ <b>There have been 11 missile attacks by the CIA-operated Predator planes in North Waziristan and South Waziristan since mid-August and the number of people killed in these strikes is now more than 100. Most of those killed in these attacks were civilians, including women and children.</b><br /><br /><u> Khadizai, Orakzai Agency</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE49A11Z20081011">Pakistan tribes raze Taliban houses after bombing</a></b><br />11.10.08. reuters. Angry Pakistani tribesmen traded fire with Taliban militants and demolished their houses in a northwestern tribal region after a car suicide attack killed at least 40 people, residents and officials said on Saturday. Television channels put the death toll at as high as 70.<br /><a href="http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17765"> Death toll rises to 82</a>;<br /><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/12/pakistani-military-kills-37-militants-in-orakzai-as-bombing-toll-rises-to-110/"> death toll at 110 </a> (12.10.08)<br /><br /><u> Swat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/10/12/top16.htm">Three militants, soldier killed in Swat clash</a></b><br />12.10.08. Dawn / ICH. Three militants and a soldier were killed while four security personnel were injured on Saturday in an encounter at Barri, in the troubled Swat district.<br /><br /><u> Bajaur</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jBVscNlqXVfaV_EO8Mwy8hAfzQNg">Pakistan kills 40 Taliban militants</a></b><br />13.10.08. AFP. More than 24 extremists with links to Al-Qaeda were killed on Sunday near the Afghan border in the Bajaur tribal region, where Pakistani security forces launched a major offensive against Islamic militants in August.<br /><br /><u> Swat Valley</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.startribune.com/world/30892174.html?elr=KArks:DCiUBcy7hUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiU">Clashes in Pakistani tribal regions kill 51 as fighting along Afghan border spreads</a></b><br />13.10.08. Zarar Khan, AP - star tribune / ICH. The army media center in the restive Swat valley said security forces traded fire with insurgents the whole day in the area. The clashes killed 25 militants and two members of the security forces.<br /><br /><u> Kurram Agency</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C14%5Cstory_14-10-2008_pg7_21">Kurram Agency Shias, Sunnis agree on temporary truce</a></b><br />14.10.08. Dailytimes.pk / anti-war. <br /><br /><u>Mohmand agency</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=418151">American man arrested in Pakistani border region</a></b><br />13.10.08. wired AP / anti-war. <br /><br /><u>Balochistan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/14/content_10192895.htm">Pakistan arrests 22 Afghan nationals for illegal entry</a></b><br />14.10.08. xinhuanet.<br /><br /><u> Bajaur </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/ED3F4E00915CD2A8652574E20049F869?OpenDocument">Pakistan forces kill 60 militants in troubled northwest</a></b><br />14.10.08. Press Trust of India. At least eight militants were killed in shelling in the militant stronghold of Charmang in Bajaur Agency while 34 rebels were killed in clashes with security forces at Rashakai and Charmang this morning, officials told state-run APP news agency.<br /><br /><u> Swat Valley</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/ED3F4E00915CD2A8652574E20049F869?OpenDocument">Pakistan forces kill 60 militants in troubled northwest</a></b><br />14.10.08. Press Trust of India. In the Swat valley, 18 militants were killed in a skirmish with troops in the Khawazakhela area,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?206750">40 militants killed in latest security forces offensive</a></b><br />14.10.08. pak tribune / ICH. The security forces have claimed to have killed at least 40 militants during the latest series of clashes in Bajaur and Swat area. Two soldiers have also been killed during the violence in the Bajaur region and the Swat valley.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1437208.php/Eight_militants_killed_in_Pakistans_restive_Swat_valley_">Eight militants killed in Pakistan's restive Swat valley</a></b><br />15.10.08. south asian news. <br /><br /><u> Bajaur </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17817">14 Taliban killed in Bajaur clashes</a></b><br />15.10.08. the news.pk / anti-war. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20081015/wl_sthasia_afp/pakistanafghanistanunrest_081015150829">Pakistan military kill 16 militants in tribal area: officials</a></b><br />15.10.08. AFP<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17832">22 killed in Bajaur amid reports of major offensive</a></b><br />16.10.08. the news.<br /><br /><u> S. Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkNrh-PduFLPsjMr0Lxb8_5mYcaA">Suspected US strike inside Pakistan kills four: officials</a></b><br />16.10.04. AFP. A suspected US spy <b>drone</b> fired two missiles on Thursday into a Pakistani tribal area that is a known Al-Qaeda and Taliban hub, killing at least four people, security officials said. / The strike destroyed a house in South Waziristan, which borders on Afghanistan and is a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban chief <u>Baitullah Mehsud</u>. / There was no immediate confirmation of the strike from the Pakistani military or from the US-led coalition in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><em> and</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://voanews.com/english/2008-10-16-voa13.cfm">Suspected US Missile Strikes Pakistan's South Waziristan</a></b><br />16.10.08. VOA. Locals in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal agency say a suspected U.S. drone aircraft has fired a missile into a local home. VOA's Barry Newhouse reports from Islamabad that intelligence officials say four people were killed in the latest apparent attack against Taliban militants.<br /><br />Suspected American drone aircraft have launched about <b>12 missile strikes against targets in North and South Waziristan in the past two months.</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newsroomamerica.com/world/story.php?id=434945">U.S. Missile Strike Kills Militant in Pakistan</a></b><br />16.10.08. newsroomamerica. A suspected U.S. missile strike killed a man <em>believed to be</em> a foreign militant in Pakistan's South Waziristan region.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/us+drone+in+pakistan+house+strike/2545382">'US drone' in Pakistan house strike</a></b><br />16.10.08. channel4 news. Villager Javed Massod said he saw a number of unmanned planes in the sky before a missile struck the house in <u>Kini Guram</u> village in South Wazirstan.<br /><br /><u> Mingora, Swat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.2599375789">Pakistan: Girls' school 'blown up in northwest'</a></b><br />17.10.08. adnkronos. Suspected militants on Friday blew up a girls middle school in Mingora, in the volatile Swat valley in North West Frontier Province, Pakistan's Geo News reported. / The bombing follows a rocket and suicide attack on Thursday against a police station in Mingora that killed at least four Pakistani security officials and wounded twenty-six.<br /><br /><u> Swat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/17/content_10212503.htm">Kidnapped Chinese engineer recovered by security forces in NW Pakistan</a></b><br />17.10.08. xinhuanet. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7677492.stm">Pakistani army 'kills 60 Taleban'</a></b><br />18.10.08. BBC. The operation in the Swat Valley occurred late on Friday shortly after troops found a Chinese engineer alive who had been kidnapped by the Taleban.<br /><br /><u> N. Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/international/suspected-us-spy-killed-by-pak-militants-.aspx">Suspected US spy killed by Pak militants</a></b><br />18.10.08. asian age. The body of Wali Badshah, 35, was found on the roadside near Miranshah, the main town of the North Waziristan region bordering Afghanistan. Khan, was shot in the head and his hands were also chopped off. Pro-Taliban have killed several tribesmen, accusing them of spying for Unites States.<br /><br /><u> Bajaur</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/2CC30DF18D597F5D652574E60050EFB1?OpenDocument">Pak forces kill 12 militants in troubled Bajaur region</a></b><br />18.10.08. Ptinews. At least 12 militants were killed and 14 injured when Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships targeted militant bases in several parts of restive Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan today.<br /><br /><u> Swat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/10/2008101973845202653.html">Pakistan bombs pro-Taliban fighters</a></b><br />19.10.08. aljazeera. Pakistani has bombed a pro-Taliban group's hideout in northwestern Swat valley, killing a commander and at least 30 fighters and destroying an ammunition dump.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/19/30-confirmed-over-100-feared-dead-in-swat-valley-air-strikes/">30 Confirmed, Over 100 Feared Dead in Swat Valley Air Strikes</a></b><br />19.10.08. anti-war. <br /><br /><u> Bajaur</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/19/pakistani-opposition-figure-1500-civilians-killed-in-bajaur-operation/">Pakistani Opposition Figure: 1,500 Civilians Killed in Bajaur Operation</a></b><br />19.10.08. anti-war. Sahibzada Haroonur Rashid, a high ranking official in the Jamaat-e Islami (JI) party from Bajaur Agency, claimed today that 1,500 civilians have been killed since Pakistan’s military offensive in Bajaur began in August. He also condemned the operation for displacing hundreds of thousands of Bajauris, and accused the government of killing people in the tribal areas to ‘appease the United States.’<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17904">Air strikes kill six militants in Bajaur</a></b><br />20.10.08. The news/pk. /anti-war. Military authorities, who are engaged in fighting with the well-armed militants for the past two months in the Bajaur region, said two jet fighters and six gunship helicopters pounded militants’ positions in Zorbandar near Loisam and Mamond Tehsil throughout the day. In Zorbandar area, the sources said, six militants were killed when the planes heavily targeted their hideouts.<br /><br /><u> Swat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.caymanmama.com/2008/10/20/pakistan-news-october20_200810203350.html">Swat attack kills 22 non combatant</a></b><br />20.10.08. cayman mama. Mingora: Pakistani security forces claimed to have killed 25 militant is fresh attacks in Matta area of Swat yesterday morning. <u>22 civilian were also killed </u>in the attack. The journalists present in the area said that, “The bombing was so severe that it forced local people to start running for shelter, but curfew and closure of Venai bridge by security forces multiplied their agony.” The security official claimed that militants suffered heavy casualties.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17903">100 feared dead in Swat aerial blitz</a></b><br />20.10.08. the news/ICH. MINGORA: Some 100 people, including militants, were feared dead and scores of others injured when jet fighters targeted Barthana village in the militant-infested Matta Tehsil of Swat Valley on Sunday. / Confirmed reports, however, said at least 30 people, including 25 militants, were killed and scores of others injured in the air strike on Sunday morning in Barthana area. Dozens of houses were flattened by the bombardment and efforts were on to retrieve the dead and injured from the rubble by the local people.<br /><br /><u> Bajaur</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=avqOxdu_.lE0&refer=worldwide">Pakistani Forces Kill 12 Militants in Border Region, AFP Says</a></b><br />20.10.08. Robin Stringer, Bloomberg / ICH. The strikes today involved air power and artillery bombardments across Bajaur, where Pakistani forces have targeted militants since August, AFP said.<br /><br /><u> Swat </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/237989,three-soldiers-among-19-killed-in-north-west-pakistan-violence.html">Three soldiers among 19 killed in north-west Pakistan violence</a></b><br />21.10.08. earth times. A roadside bomb targeted a security convoy in Kabal area of troubled valley of Swat in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), leaving at least three law enforcers dead and numerous injured, a local official said.<br /><br />and<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD93VFHCG0">At least 12 dead in battle in northwest Pakistan</a></b><br />21.10.08. Zarar Khan, AP. Taliban militants bombed a convoy of Pakistani troops and opened fire on the survivors in a battle that killed five security officers and seven attackers, officials said Wednesday. Tuesday's attack occurred in the Swat valley.<br /><br /><u> N. Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/22/report-us-drone-attacks-north-waziristan-village/">US Drone Attack Kills Four in North Waziristan Village</a></b><br />22.10.08. anti-war. A missile attack by what is assumed to be a US drone has targeted a village near Miramshah in North Waziristan. The village is the same one targeted last month in a strike which killed at least 23. It is the site of a religious school founded by <em>Julaluddin Haqqani</em>. A witness in Miramshah says “a large number of militants are rushing towards the area in vehicles.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/22/report-us-drone-attacks-north-waziristan-village/">US Drone Attack Kills 10 in North Waziristan Village</a></b><br />22.10.08. anti-war. A missile attack by what is assumed to be a US drone has targeted a village near <u>Miramshah</u> in North Waziristan. The village is the same one targeted last month in a strike which killed at least 23. It is the site of a religious school founded by <em>Julaluddin Haqqani</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/10/23/asia/OUKWD-UK-PAKISTAN-MISSILE.php?pass=true">Suspected U.S. missile kills 7 in Pakistan</a></b><br />23.10.08. AP. / IHT. Residents said three missiles were fired by pilotless drones and one hit the madrasa while the other two hit a house 500 metres away.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/10/25/top6.htm">Senate condemns drone raid</a></b><br />24.10.08. Raja Asghar, dawn. The government and major opposition parties in the Senate on Friday denounced Thursday’s deadly drone raid into the North Waziristan tribal area by US-led forces in Afghanistan, renewing charges of their disregard of Pakistan’s sovereignty, but withheld passing a proposed resolution that called for intercepting such flights.<br /><br /><u> Bajaur</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17976">Military kills 35 insurgents in Bajaur</a></b><br />24.10.08. the news / anti-war. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/ISL156667.htm">FACTBOX-Security developments in Pakistan, Oct. 24</a></b><br />24.10.08. alternet. Pakistani forces using artillery and aircraft have killed at least 18 militants over the past 24 hours in attacks on hideouts in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border, paramilitary officials said. / The army says more than 1,000 militants have been killed in an offensive in Bajaur since August but there is no independent verification of that casualty estimate.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hZu3Qpjdvqh8valFIKmIDGT_F_dg">Pakistani troops capture stronghold</a></b><br />25.10.08. ukpress. The military said its forces captured Loi Sam in the Bajur tribal region on Friday after a long and bloody struggle. The town sits on a vital intersection of roads leading to the border as well as to three neighbouring Pakistan regions.<br /><br /><u>Orazai</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17978">Eight Jirga members gunned down in Orakzai</a></b><br />24.10.08. the news / anti-war. Unknown armed men on Thursday shot dead eight Ferozkhel tribal elders, who were returning from a peace Jirga near Babarke village of Utmankhel, Orakzai Agency.<br /><br /><u> NWFP</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1947320&Language=en">Suspected militants kidnap 9 policemen in Pakistan</a></b> <br />25.10.08. kuna / ICH. The kidnapping took place Saturday afternoon in a small village about 15 kilometers from Dera Ismail Khan district of North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), police sources told KUNA."The market is showing some signs that there are value buyers out there."<br /><br /><u> S. Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5imfDkEQ6jr_-MlAp2qhs0qD-CLEA">Suspected US strike kills 10 in Pakistan: officials</a></b> <br />26.10.08. AFP. The air strike on Sunday in the restive South Waziristan tribal zone bordering Afghanistan was the latest in a string of attacks on Pakistani soil that have raised tensions between Islamabad and Washington. It targeted a compound near the town of Ladha, one of the main sectors held by Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, who has been accused of masterminding the assassination of former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto in December.<br /><br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/26/pakistan-pm-slams-us-after-latest-drone-strike-kills-20/">Pakistan PM Slams US After Latest Drone Strike Kills 20</a></b><br />26.10.08. anti-war. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani publicly condemned the “intolerable” series of unilateral US drone strikes launched in North and South Waziristan in the past two months at a press conference today. He said the strikes were an attack on Pakistan’s national sovereignty and were weakening the nation’s anti-terror efforts. He added that he had raised the issue at the latest Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit and they supported the Pakistani position. / The most recent strike came earlier today, when a US drone attacked a village in South Waziristan Agency, killing at least 20 people. The strike reportedly hit two houses in an area of South Waziristan known to be a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader <em>Baitullah Mehsud</em>. See also <a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=18015">here </a> (27.10.08. the news)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.apakistannews.com/pakistan-have-no-objection-over-drone-attacks-united-states-87039">Pakistan Have No objection Over Drone Attacks: United States</a></b><br />27.10.08. a Pakistan news. The Pakistan authorities have no objection over the US drone attacks as the ministers of the government and other leaders have only opposed the US ground attacks in public, US officials said.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/27/washington/27intel.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">United States Takes to Air to Hit Militants Inside Pakistan</a></b><br />26.10.08. M. Mazzetti, Eric Schmitt, NY Times. The White House has backed away from using American commandos for further ground raids into Pakistan after furious complaints from its government, relying instead on an intensifying campaign of airstrikes by the Central Intelligence Agency against militants in the Pakistani mountains. / According to American and Pakistani officials, attacks by remotely piloted Predator aircraft have increased sharply in frequency and scope in the past three months. / Through Sunday, there were at least 18 Predator strikes since the beginning of August, some deep inside Pakistan’s tribal areas, compared with 5 strikes during the first seven months of 2008. <br /><br /><br /><u>Loisam, Bajaur </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24555102-2703,00.html">Pakistan takes town as 'corner turned' in jihadi struggle</a></b> <br />27.10.08. Australian news. Senior army officers described the retaking of Loisam as a turning point in the crucial battle for Bajaur, close to the border with Afghanistan, which has frequently been mentioned as the most likely operational base for Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri.<br /><br /><br /><u>Suicide Attacks</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/pakistan/2008/pakistan-081008-irna01.htm">Pakistan suicide bombers shifting to political leaders</a></b><br />08.10.08. IRNA, global security. The number of suicide attacks and casualties in Pakistan has steadily risen over the past several months. <br /><br /><u> Charsadda </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-10-02-voa14.cfm">Bomb Blast in Pakistan Kills 4 Near Home of Politician</a></b><br />02.10.08. VOA News. <br /><br /><u> Bhakkar, Punjab</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/06/20-killed-over-50-injured-in-punjab-suicide-blast/">20 Killed, Over 50 Injured in Punjab Suicide Blast</a></b><br />06.10.08. anti-war.<br /><br /><u> Islamabad</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/10/20081097222153719.html">Police centre attacked in Islamabad</a></b><br />09.10.08. aljazeera. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/09/asia/pakistan.php">Suicide bombing of Pakistan police wounds 8</a></b><br />09.10.08. Salman Masood, IHT. There was no immediate claim of responsibility and it was unclear if the bomber had died in the explosion.<br /><br /><u> Orakzai</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://voanews.com/english/2008-10-10-voa31.cfm">Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 30 in Pakistan's Northwest</a></b><br />10.10.08. Ayaz Gul, VOA. Pakistani officials say that a meeting of several hundred pro-government tribesmen was in progress in the Orakzai region when the suicide bomber struck. More than 100 people are reported injured, and doctors fear the death toll could go up because some of the victims are in critical condition.<br /><br /><u> Mingora, Swat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i9WmG8oR07cUMDtfgUbbycVG8GegD93RBBA80">Suicide attack kills 2 at Pakistani police station</a></b><br />16.10.08. Zarah Khan, AP. Two officers were killed and more than 30 other people injured, some of them seriously, Tariq said. The police station was badly damaged, he said. / Another police official, Mohammed Ayaz, put the death toll at four.<br /><br /><u> Minorga, Swat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php?sid=419077">Suicide bomber explodes in police compound</a></b><br />17.10.08. big news network. <br /><br /><u> Kohat Tunnel</u><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/white/2005/ODA2005/html/photo/ts222008.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/white/2005/ODA2005/html/photo/ts222008.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4969024.ece">Pakistan and Taliban battle for key tunnel</a></b><br />19.10.08. Times Online / anti-war. (Used for transport to Afghanistan.)<br /><br /><u> Mohmand Agency</u> <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=18017">10 troops killed in Mohmand suicide attack</a></b><br />27.10.08. the news. The attack took place in the tribal area bordering Bajaur region. MAP. <br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 3. U.S. Drones in Pakistan </b><br /></div><br />“Remote-controlled toys (boats, planes) have been in use for years. The drones are more sophisticated and lethal versions. People who allow children to have guns as soon as they reach legal age -- sometimes earlier -- would think nothing about letting them play with remote-controlled toys capable of inflicting injury and death.”<a href="http://pacetua.blogspot.com/"> Musafir</a>. <br /><br />Killers are distanced from their victims when dropping bombs; the alienation is complete with the victims of drones. For "adults" and the military, search google <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&q=you+tube+video+war+games+drones&meta=&btnG=Google+Search"> here </a> for videos of drone war games.<br /><br />The<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/program/collect/uav.htm"> Fas Intelligence Resource Program</a>, created by <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/"> John Pike </a><br />and maintained by Steven Aftergood of <a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/"> Secrecy News </a> gives full details, sources and references concerning the Unmanned Aerieal Vehicles (UAV) systems.<br /><br />"At the end of March 2005, Raytheon received a $26 million firm-fixed-price modification under previously awarded Basic Ordering Agreement (N00164-00-G-0007) to upgrade the MQ-1 Predator’s sensors and targeting capabilities. Work was expected to be finished by June 2007." The article does not say how many UAVs were involved. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Twuav_13_02.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Twuav_13_02.jpeg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://mae.pennnet.com/articles/article_display.cfm?article_id=236315">The evolution of UAV avionics</a></b><br />(09.05. J.R. Wilson)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.afa.org/magazine/dec2003/1203uav.asp">New Horizons for Combat UAVs</a></b><br />12.03. Adam Hebert, afa.org. [in 2003} Air Force planners say the Hellfire-equipped Predator UAV is only the beginning. .. According to its Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Roadmap, DOD projects it will invest $10 billion over the current decade for UAVs, compared to about $3 billion it spent during the 1990s. … The unit cost for an MQ-1 Predator A air vehicle is roughly <b>$4.5 million</b>. When the Air Force starts building newer systems, such as the larger MQ-9 Predator B, with more expensive sensors, said Hornburg, “You’ll find the price of the sensors exceed the price of the airplane.” He added, “They’re not going to be expendable.” The more advanced UCAVs will see similar cost increases as new command, control, and weapons requirements drive up unit costs.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?fsID=122">MQ-1 PREDATOR UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEM</a></b><br />09.08. Af.mil factsheets. The MQ-1 Predator is a <u>system</u>, not just an aircraft. A fully operational system consists of four aircraft (with sensors), a ground control station, a Predator Primary Satellite Link, or PPSL, along with operations and maintenance crews for deployed 24-hour operations. The basic crew for the Predator is one pilot and two sensor operators. They fly the aircraft from inside the ground control station via a line-of-sight data link or a satellite data link for beyond line-of-sight flight. The aircraft is equipped with a color nose camera (generally used by the pilot for flight control), a day variable-aperture TV camera, a variable-aperture infrared camera (for low light/night), and other sensors as the mission requires. The cameras produce full-motion video. … / The Predator aircraft can be disassembled and loaded into a "coffin." This <b> 1997</b> document lists Unit Cost: $30.5 million (fiscal 1997 dollars) (includes 4 aircraft, ground control stations, and Predator Primary Satellite Link) gives <b>$30.5m for the cost for a package including four aircraft (UAVs)</b><br /><br /><em>Further interesting details </em><br /><br />Ian Pritchard of the U.K. <a href="http://www.caat.org.uk/"> Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT)</a> writes: “New UAVs under development will be much more expensive as they are built as combat vehicles (UCAVs) and are likely to include stealth capability, fly higher, have longer endurance, carry more weapons etc. There are absolutely loads of UAV programmes being undertaken across the world at the moment." Ian says the factsheet (above) reconciles with other reports of individual Predators costing around $4.5m.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14838">US: The Army's $200 Billion Makeover</a></b><br />Alec Klein, Washington Post / corpwatch. In the Army's vision, the war of the future is increasingly <u>combat by mouse clicks</u>. It's as networked as the Internet, as mobile as a cellphone, as intuitive as a video game. The Army has a name for this vision: Future Combat Systems, or FCS. . The project involves creating a family of 14 weapons, drones, robots, sensors and hybrid-electric combat vehicles connected by a wireless network. It has turned into the most ambitious modernization of the Army since World War II and the <b>most expensive Army weapons program ever</b> , military officials say.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1842216,00.html">Flying Air Force Drones: Pilots No Longer Required</a></b><br />18.09.08. Mark Thompson, time / legitgov.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-09-22-drone_N.htm">Drone maker can't keep pace with war needs, report says</a></b><br />23.09.08. usatoday. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/more-bangs-for.html">More Killer Drone Bangs For The Buck</a></b><br />09.10.08. David Hambling, blog.wired. Remote-controller Predator and Reaper drones armed with Hellfire missiles have proved extremely effective in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. But if the Hellfire missile has a problem, it's the cost: about <b>$100,000 every time you pull the trigger*</b><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdVamsj_eNLXHabZbLXcy_JCe1wYnhbz6sX8c7lKimjqDQNgQPwzyAQzmEF2zMwLugEbaPkXsMo0AdNRwXoQpbWe1cYsKgMFJ_j1d9VSTDUzny5LzLN3YfMa-B6iYvtVVAeY8r/s1600-h/fox_pterodrone.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdVamsj_eNLXHabZbLXcy_JCe1wYnhbz6sX8c7lKimjqDQNgQPwzyAQzmEF2zMwLugEbaPkXsMo0AdNRwXoQpbWe1cYsKgMFJ_j1d9VSTDUzny5LzLN3YfMa-B6iYvtVVAeY8r/s400/fox_pterodrone.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259338192223464770" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,434504,00.html">New 'Flying Dinosaur' Drone to Look Like Pterodactyl</a></b><br />09.10.08. fox news. <br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4516289n"> AN ARSENAL OF UAVs</a> (13.10.08. CBS).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/10/armed-shadows.html">New Killer Drones Could be Piloted by Teenagers</a></b><br />10.10.08. Noah Shachtman, blog.wired. The Army and Marine Corps use Shadow unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to spy on suspected militants. Not only are they smaller, cheaper, lighter, and lower-flying than the Air Force's array of missile-laden Predator and Reaper drones. But Shadows are considered a "tactical assets," meant to watch over relatively small patches of ground, for relatively small units. Predators, on the other hand, are "theater" or "operational-level" assets -- controlled by generals, and sent all over. / As a result, ground forces often use the most junior of noncommissioned officers to fly their Shadows -- teenagers who've sometimes never even been in combat.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C11%5Cstory_11-10-2008_pg7_1">US drone strikes destabilising Pakistan: FO</a></b><br />11.10.08. daily times/pk.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/UAV_drone_pilots_air_force_198985-1.html">Ramping Up The Unmanned Air Force </a></b> <br />12.10.08. Glenn Pew, avweb. the military plans to grow its fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles from about 100 to about 370, and its roster of non-flying pilots from about 450 to 1,100, by 2011.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ar&nid=456">What have missile bombings achieved?</a></b><br />21.10.08. Air Marshal (Retd) Ayaz Ahmed Khan, frontier post. Drones firing Hellfire missiles have wiped out dozens of villages, scores of terrorist hideouts in Pakistan's tribal areas, since October 2005, with zero success in ending terrorists attacks, especially suicide bombings. / … So far Predator and Rapaer missile bombings have killed hundreds of people in FATA, but terrorist bombings are continuing unabated in Afghanistan and Pakistan. No strategic results are likely to be achieved, by Hellfire missile bombings from un-manned guided planes. US experts claim that un-manned drones will change the nature of anti-terrorist war by their surprise and shock effect. / … The drones are likely to be used in greater numbers by the USAF. They will cause casualties, but without strategic results i.e. surrender. Such attacks will increase revenge suicide bombings into Pakistan. Hellfire missile attacks will aggravate the situation, and will not solve the terrorist problem. US leaders and generals must do some hard thinking, and should desist from slaughters, which will solve nothing.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.redress.cc/global/cking20081021"> A motor cycle rider is blasted to shreds by a US drone</a> (21.10.redress)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/movies/reviews?cid=bac3ebd46dc44eb4&hl=en&fq=The+Eagle+Eye&sa=X&oi=showtimes&ct=reviews&cd=1"> Film The Eagle Eye </a> (Mentioned in above story) <br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081023/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/air_force_drone_pilots">US Air Force creates new pilot programs for drones</a></b><br />21.10.08. L. Baldor, AP. Scrambling to meet commanders' insatiable demands for unmanned aircraft, the U.S. Air Force is testing a new training program that would churn out up to 1,100 desperately needed pilots to fly the drones over Iraq and Afghanistan [and Pakistan?]. Currently there are 30. / .. The urgent push for more drone pilots has been spurred by blunt demands from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.<br /><br /><u> Israel's Drones in Palestine</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1028971.html">Rosh Pina airport shut for drone trials</a></b><br />16.10.08. Haaretz. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/110793.html">Israel moves UAV tests from Golan</a></b><br />17.10.08. JTA. Elbit, the Israeli defense company, agreed to move its unmanned aerial vehicles trials from their usual testing area in the Golan following British objections that the Golan is occupied territory, Ha'aretz reported.<br /><br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 4. Refugees from Pakistan</b><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDciY_ZowGG19ChMCANsai3ylncNJj47B8Q_oC6kkufFxz-lLBByZt1PFQTAh-nMij8tt6oA4q2MBhDzGNAO_J91NRokYbUnEQTdw4TShaCEvhpYi3qXiakwwBO30UfAnwq3LP/s1600-h/4refugees.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDciY_ZowGG19ChMCANsai3ylncNJj47B8Q_oC6kkufFxz-lLBByZt1PFQTAh-nMij8tt6oA4q2MBhDzGNAO_J91NRokYbUnEQTdw4TShaCEvhpYi3qXiakwwBO30UfAnwq3LP/s400/4refugees.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259338182128694946" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD93LP6AG1">AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad </a><br /></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/05/pakistan-aims-to-expel-afghan-refugees-as-bajaur-offensive-continues/">Pakistan Aims to Expel Afghan Refugees as Bajaur Offensive Continues</a></b><br />05.10.08. anti-war. The Pakistani government has announced a “crackdown” on the <u>30,000 plus Afghan refugees</u> it estimates are living in the troubled Bajaur Agency. Pakistan gave the refugees a three day deadline to return to Afghanistan which expired this weekend. The director general of Kunar’s Refugee Department is quoted as saying “seven to eight” families had returned by the deadline, but they expected some more might come later.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD93LP6AG1">Afghans refugees flee Pakistan war zone</a></b><br />07.10.08. AP. Pakistan has told 50,000 Afghans to leave the <u>Bajur</u> tribal region, accusing them of links to militants that used the remote and impoverished area as a base for attacks on both sides of the frontier.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080067945&ch=10/7/2008%202:14:00%20PM">Pakistan's fight against terror affects lives</a></b><br />07.10.08. ndtv.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/14/asia/AS-Pakistan-Refugees.php">UN: Nearly 190,000 have fled fighting in Pakistan</a></b><br />13.10.08. IHT. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102008D">Pakistani Offensive Creates Refugee Crisis</a></b><br />20.10.08. Saeed Shah, Globe and Mail / Truthout. A flood of internal refugees fleeing from fighting in Pakistan's tribal area now look as if they'll spend the biting winter in tents, in squalid conditions, and may be marooned for years. / Around 190,000 people have streamed into the North-West Frontier Province from the neighbouring tribal territory of Bajaur, where, at the start of August, the Pakistani military launched perhaps its most serious offensive against Taliban extremists since Sept. 11, 2001.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/23/international/i115454D48.DTL">Pakistani refugees complain of army and Taliban</a></b><br />23.10.08. AP / sfgate/anti-war. The Taliban beheaded their relatives and terrorized their villages. Now army airstrikes are killing the innocent, say refugees who fled fighting set off by a Pakistani military offensive against the Islamic extremists.<br /><br /><em> Another Wall? </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C11%5Cstory_11-10-2008_pg11_10">Islamabadis angered over ‘great wall’ development</a></b><br />11.10.08. Imran Naeem Ahmad, daily times/pk. Plans of the {which? } authorities to secure the Red Zone by building a wall all around just may not be the right solution to a danger that will continue to lurk anyway. The decision prompted by the September 20 terror strike on the Marriott Hotel, means that billions of rupees from government coffers are to be spent on erecting this ‘great wall’.<br /><br /><br /><a id="5000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 5. Articles on the War in Pakistan</b><br /></div><br /><u> September 2008</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2008/9/16/tariq_ali_on_the_duel_pakistan">Tariq Ali on “The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power”</a></b><br />16.09.08. democracy now interview. “For the last year, there’s been a big debate within the US administration on whether to strike across the border or not. Many people, not part of the administration, but certainly part of the defense and political establishment, have behind-the-scenes been trying to put pressure on them, saying, “Don’t do it.” And the reason they’ve been saying that is because if this becomes a pattern and US tries to have hit-and-run—I mean, hit missions across the Pakistan border, it actually is going to help those people who they claim they are trying to fight.” …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/17492">Violations of Sovereignty: U.S. Raids on Pakistan</a></b><br />27.09.08. Brian Cloughley, Smirking Chimp. [Bush] has no respect for the sovereignty or territorial integrity of any country when criminal violation suits his purpose. The illegal cowboy foray into Pakistan was not denied by Washington; it was merely ignored with that degree of would-be-majestic superiority that is the hallmark of colossal colonial arrogance. Associated Press reported that "a spokesman for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan said it had "no information to give" about the alleged operation, while a spokesman for NATO troops denied any involvement. The US embassy in Islamabad declined to comment." No surprises there. / t doesn't seem to matter to Americans that the blitz conducted by their troops resulted in the deaths of six women and two children, citizens of Pakistan. There has been no indication of regret or sympathy ; not a shred of remorse for killing children. For how long can the non-American world tolerate this sort of barbaric malevolence? In America it doesn't matter, because 'Support Our Troops!' is the American mantra, especially in election year, and if a US citizen doesn't wave the flag and say that American troops are wonderful, even when killing kids in Pakistan, then they are regarded as unpatriotic, which is a dreadful crime.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/n/2827/">Dueling partners: Pakistan and America</a></b><br />30.09.08. Tariq Ali, altmuslim newsmakers/ ICH. A country once callously shrugged off simply as India's "lesser" neighbor, now commands global attention and scrutiny as the next, crucial battleground<br /><br /><u> October 2008</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/oct/01/spanish-report-links-pakistan-to-taliban-1/">Spanish report links Pakistan to Taliban</a></b><br />01.10.08. Wash. Times / ICH. A report marked confidential and bearing the official seal of Spain's Defense Ministry charges that Pakistan's spy service was helping arm Taliban insurgents in 2005 for assassination plots against the Afghan government.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mathaba.net/rss/?x=607675">US losing war in Afghanistan, Pak tribal region: former army chief</a></b><br />01.10.08. mathaba. Former Pakistani Army chief General `Retd` Mirza Aslam Beg on Tuesday said that US has almost lost its war in Afghanistan and Pakistani tribal region and soon will leave with empty hands.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=400999">U.S. raids hurt terrorism fight-Pakistan minister</a></b><br />01.10.08. wired. Shah Mehmood Qureshi said recent attacks by U.S. forces on Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents in tribal areas on the Pakistan side of its border with Afghanistan may set back the government's efforts to fight terrorism there.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pakistanlink.com/Headlines/Oct08/01/02.htm">Prime Minister terms US attacks inside Pakistan terrorism</a></b><br />01.10.08. Pakistan link. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has termed the US attacks inside Pakistan's territory as terrorism. Speaking to media persons at Prime Minister House here on Wednesday<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1001/p07s02-wosc.html">Terrorist attacks in Pakistan stir anger at U.S.</a></b><br />01.10.08. CS Monitor. Nineteen percent of Pakistanis have 'positive' views toward Al Qaeda, according to a BBC poll released Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1001/p99s01-duts.html">Key players differ on containment strategy</a></b><br />02.10.08. CS Monitor. The divergent approaches of the U.S., Pakistan, and Afghanistan highlight the complexity of developing a unified front on terrorism.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20921.htm">"The Age of the Warrior"</a></b><br />02.10.08. Robert Fisk, Democracy Now. As the US-led wars in the Middle East shows no sign of abating we turn now to a man who has chronicled eleven major wars in this part of the world. Fisk on the U.S. Elections, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Israel-Palestine<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20919.htm">America's War, Not Ours</a></b><br />02.10.08. Ahmed Quraishi, the news / ICH. For the growing chorus in the liberal sections of the Pakistani media that wants to 'own' this war, we must understand this: the occupation of Afghanistan and the elimination of Afghan resistance groups is not Pakistan's war. Our war is limited to the insurgencies raging from Gwadar to the Chinese border with partial malicious support from the Afghan soil.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081002/pl_nm/us_pakistan_usa_report">Next U.S. leader must revamp Pakistan policy: study</a></b><br />02.10.08. AFP. Pakistan Policy Working Group, a bipartisan group of a about a dozen experts on U.S.-Pakistan relations, said the nuclear-armed Muslim country of 160 million people could pose the "single greatest challenge" for the next U.S. president. / "Washington needs to rethink its entire approach to Pakistan," said the report. "We must be much smarter about how we work with Pakistan, with whom we work, and what sort of assistance we provide," it added.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5947528&page=1">Pakistan Troops To Get Help From US Military</a></b><br />03.10.08. ABC. After a long delay, a small group of American military trainers and advisors will arrive shortly in Pakistan to help with the training of the paramilitary Frontier Corps that patrol the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan that American military commanders have called a "safe haven" for the Taliban and al Qaeda.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/PoliticsNation/No_Nuke_deal_with_Pakistan_US/articleshow/3555877.cms">US says not contemplating a nuclear deal with Pakistan</a></b><br />03.10.08. economic times.India. The US has said it was not contemplating any deal with Pakistan similar to the Indo-US nuclear agreement, insisting that New Delhi's<br />case was "unique" because of its past record on non-proliferation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=406742">Pakistanis long have been leery of US presence</a></b><br />04.10.08. wired. The poll by the Gallup organization, taken in June, found that almost half of Pakistanis, or 45 percent, thought the U.S. military presence across the border in Afghanistan posed a threat to Pakistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C04%5Cstory_4-10-2008_pg7_1">Pakistan made a ‘scapegoat’ in war on terror: Qureshi</a></b><br />04.10.08. Dailytimes.pk. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/10/05/top9.htm">Pakistanis wary of US presence: poll</a></b><br />04.10.08. Dawn. Pakistanis were leery of their government’s anti-terror cooperation with the United States even before President George W. Bush authorised US military action inside Pakistan without their government’s approval, according to a [Gallup] poll on Friday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/US_proposes_joint_patrols_of_Pak-Afghan_border/articleshow/3563129.cms">US proposes joint patrols of Pak-Afghan border</a></b><br />05.10.08. economic times.India. At a recent video news conference at the Pentagon, Gen David McKiernan, top NATO commander in Afghanistan, told journalists in Washington that a joint patrol could end cross-border raids and deny the Taliban militants their safe havens inside Pakistan, Dawn news reported.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1006/p01s03-wosc.html">Pakistan's fresh resolve in latest battle against Taliban</a></b><br />06.10.08. CS Monitor. … But with militants there [nwestern tribal area] carrying out increasingly brazen attacks in Pakistan's cities, and stirring trouble in Afghanistan – prompting the United States to pressure Pakistan to act – Pakistan appears to be taking its home-grown terrorist threat more seriously.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://nation.ittefaq.com/issues/2008/10/06/news0967.htm">India factors in Afghanistan crisis</a></b><br />06.10.08. Gregory r. Copley, The New Nation. The U.S. conduct of the war in Afghanistan has created an enormous potential for instability in Pakistan, which Washington has claimed is a major 'non-NATO ally' on which it depends. / U.S. and Western media reporting currently portrays the problems facing ISAF as coming into Afghanistan from Pakistan, but the reality is the reverse of this: stirring the problem in Afghanistan causes problems to flow into Pakistan. … / India's involvement follows an historical geopolitical pattern, but much of it is institutionalized as 'payback' for Pakistani Government support for the Muslim separatist movement in Indian-occupied Jammu & Kashmir over the past decades. At the same time, close U.S.-Indian intelligence ties at a formal level and within the Afghan battle space mean that India is feeding a range of 'tailored intelligence' into the U.S. system which shapes U.S. political and intelligence perceptions of the situation, encouraging the belief that 'Pakistan is the problem' in resolving the counter-Taftban conflict in Afghanistan. / There is no doubt that it is comforting for many U.S analysts and journalists to have a scapegoat for the frustrations of the conflict, and it certainly avoids any self-examination by U.S. policymakers, or any considered view of recent and longer-term history.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jesvjENXS9X6TvfN1Pt1FS7Bnang">Pakistan Says No Deal Made With U.S. on Air Strikes</a></b><br />06.10.08. AFP. Pakistan denied Monday that it had struck a deal allowing US missile strikes against militants on its soil, after a report quoted the country's president as saying there was an "understanding".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?206403">Hot pursuit or breach of territorial integrity in Pakistan</a></b><br />06.10.08. Amjad Malik, Pak Tribune. Pakistan is, yet again, paying the price for flirting with the United States, who itself has not learned anything from the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Now Pakistan finds itself between a rock and hard place, and is viewed by many as giving too much to the Americans, who in turn, want nothing but more and more from Pakistan, hence, the unilateral incursions into Pakistan`s sovereignty.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/07/1500617.aspx">Our Secret War In Pakistan?: Don't Ask</a></b><br />07.10.08. Richard Engel, MSNBC / Ich. Don't ask about the troops on bases here in Afghanistan who don't wear uniforms, have long beards (so they can better blend in during covert operations), tattoos and don't mingle with regular soldiers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/07/pakistani-defense-secretary-says-pulling-out-of-us-alliance-not-possible/">Pakistani Defense Secretary Says Pulling Out of US Alliance Not Possible</a></b><br />07.10.08. anti-war. Secretary Rasool did assure that his government had made it “crystal clear” to the US that border violations won’t be tolerated. But prefacing this with a public acknowledgment that his government doesn’t believe it can even consider bucking the American policy on the terror war without facing economic ruin it is unclear how much weight this warning will have.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=13565">Pakistan 'Greatest Single Challenge' to Next President</a></b><br />07.10.08. J. Lobe, anti-war. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">what about Palestine?</span>] "The Pakistan military should understand that its failure to embrace this fundamental shift in outlook will significantly reduce U.S. military assistance," according to the report by the "Pakistan Policy Working Group" of the government-supported U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) that was released with little fanfare here late last week.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C10%5C10%5Cstory_10-10-2008_pg7_33">British Pakistanis concerned over NATO strikes</a></b><br />10.10.08. dailyttimes/pk. UK MP writes to NATO secretary general asking him to avoid incursions * Jaap de Hoop defends NATO’s role<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> Tariq Ali</b><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://image.guardian.co.uk/artsblog/authorpics/tariq_ali.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://image.guardian.co.uk/artsblog/authorpics/tariq_ali.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=140594">Tariq Ali’s book awaits clearance</a></b><br />10.10.08. the news./pk.<br /><br />Tariq Ali writes of “expediting clearance” of his new book <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/oct/18/2"> here</a>. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JJ08Df03.html">A fatal flaw in Afghan peace process</a></b><br />08.10.08. M K Bhadrakumar, asia times. / .. Washington is also unsure to what degree Islamabad can be trusted with the central role in any such sensitive mission to finesse or harness the Taliban. All said, while President Asif Ali Zardari is a predictable figure who can be trusted to dance to just about any American tune, far too many imponderables remain in the post-Pervez Musharraf power structure in Islamabad for the US to be confident that it holds all the controlling strings.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD93MCFGO0">Pakistan's spy chief briefs lawmakers on terrorism</a></b><br />08.10.08. Munir Ahmad, AP. The government called the special session of parliament as it sought political unity to stabilize this key U.S. ally in the war on terror. Officials said the briefing was an effort to include opposition parties in the policy discussion.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/images/jalaluddin_haqqani_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/images/jalaluddin_haqqani_1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/profiles/images/jalaluddin_haqqani_1.jpg"><br />Jalaluddin Haqqani</a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aeRXyu6SWJRI&refer=india">`Biggest Threat' to U.S. in Afghanistan Is Aided by Pakistanis</a></b><br />08.10.08. James Ruppert, Bloomberg / ICH. When Jalaluddin Haqqani fought Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the U.S. showered him with praise, guns and money. The congressman celebrated in ``Charlie Wilson's War,'' the movie and book about that conflict, called him ``goodness personified.'' Now the U.S. is trying to kill Haqqani.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Terrorism_in_Pak_is_threat_to_US_Rice/articleshow/3584659.cms">Terrorism in Pak is threat to US: Rice</a></b><br />11.10.08. times of India. "Pakistan has a very serious terrorism problem, very serious. And it's not just a problem from our point of view that what happens across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, or the presence of al-Qaida there that could be a threat to US interests," said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.etribes.com/node/177968">Lord Ahmed meets US Diplomats in a delegation at House of Lords to convey community feelings on a new US policy</a></b><br />11.10.08. Amjad Malik, etribes. Lord Ahmed briefed them the fall outs of such policy and emphasised on the need of a genuine South African style reconciliation with all the stake holders in Pakistan. He reiterated what he said at House of Lords on 6 Oct that ‘what is needed is a genuine truth and reconciliation commission-a genuine centre for peace and dialogue where the Bugtis, the Mengals, the Murrees, The Maulanas and the Khans can sit and where every citizen of Pakistan can feel respected and equal citizen of Pakistan’.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95784580">Series Overview: The Embattled Frontier</a></b><br />13.10.08. Doug Roberts, npr. The 1,600-mile-long frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan has always been a wild and often violent region — and never more so than today. There is warfare on both sides of the border now. 5 part series by various authors.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=72103&sectionid=351020401">Pak warns US against border violations</a></b><br />13.10.08. presstv.ir / ICH. Pakistan's president warns the US on strikes against Pakistan [again!], saying the violation of the country's border would not be tolerated.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/jafri141008.htm">Talibanization Or Balkanization? What Awaits Pakistan First?</a></b><br />14.10.08. Safdar Jafri, countercurrents. The fact that in the next few years the map of West Asia is quite likely to change and that Pakistan will be at the forefront in this upcoming change makes the entire game of politics very interesting for the analysts. There will be growing chaos, bloodshed, breakaway regions, militancy and above all, most certainly greater US presence in the region in the days to come<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/14/nie-paints-very-bleak-pakistan-picture/">NIE Paints “Very Bleak” Pakistan Picture</a></b><br />14.10.08. anti-war. As Pakistan observes “Defence Day,” the United States is putting the finishing touches on a National Intelligence Estimate on Pakistan. And while much as the NIE on Afghanistan the document is expected to remain classified, those privy to the contents of the document say it paints a “very bleak” picture. Another summarized the conclusions as “no money, no energy, no government.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7671734.stm">Pakistan's risky militia strategy</a></b><br />15.10.08. Haroon Rashid, BBC / ICH. After years of failure, the people in charge of running the "war on terror" in Pakistan's tribal areas are using militias as a new card. / But there remains a strong possibility that this strategy could make a difficult situation even worse.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/15/pakistani-taliban-willing-to-lay-down-arms-for-peace/">Pakistani Taliban Offers to Lay Down Arms for Peace</a></b><br />15.10.08. anti-war. Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Maulvi Omar has offered negotiations with the Pakistani government “without any conditions.” The Pakistani government has previously offered such negotiations, but demanded that the TTP first lay down their arms and agree to expel all foreigners from the tribal areas.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/15/AR2008101503685_pf.html">Petraeus Mounts Strategy Review</a></b><br />16.10.08. Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post / anti-war. Gen. David H. Petraeus has launched a major reassessment of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the surrounding region, while warning that the lack of development and the spiraling violence in Afghanistan will probably make it "the longest campaign of the long war." / The 100-day assessment will result in a new campaign plan for the Middle East and Central Asia, a region in which Petraeus will oversee the operations of more than 200,000 American troops as the new head of U.S. Central Command, beginning Oct. 31. / The review will formally begin next month, but experts and military officials involved said Petraeus is already focused on at least two major themes: government-led reconciliation of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the leveraging of diplomatic and economic initiatives with nearby countries that are influential in the war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17833">Pakistan, Afghan, US top commanders meet</a></b><br />16.10.08. the news.pk. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, his Afghan counterpart General Bismullah Khan and the commander of Afghanistan’s Nato force, General David McKiernan, attended the talks.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/16/violence-wounds-pakistani-trust-in-us/">Violence wounds Pakistani trust in U.S.</a></b><br />16.10.08. Jason Motlagh and Ayesha Akram, Washington Times / anti-war. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 64 percent of Pakistanis say the United States is the greatest threat facing the nation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102108E">Pakistan: Meeting With the Uzbin Taliban</a></b><br />16.10.08. Sara Daniel, Le Nouvel Observateur / Truthout. "Our special envoy Sara Daniel met up with the Taliban leaders responsible for the ambush two months ago in which the French soldiers fell not in Kunar's rough mountains, but in their comfortable residences in a great Pakistani city. Their remarks show that the 'students of religion' have entered the era of global communication and their freedom of movement confirms the spread of their belligerent Islam all the way into the heart of the Pakistani administration."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/17/pakistan-nato">Pakistani politicians divided over action on terror</a></b><br />17.10.08. Saeed Shah, Guardian. A deep rift over anti-terror policy has opened up within Pakistan's political class, as extremist violence and an economic crisis push the country to the verge of collapse. A special session of parliament called by the government to forge a political consensus on the "war on terror" has backfired spectacularly as parties, including some in the ruling coalition, denounced the alliance with Washington and Nato rather than backing the army to take on the Pakistani Taliban.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21048.htm">America's National Strategy of Global Intervention</a></b><br />18.10.08. William Pfaff, ICH. … The new statement lacks the Bush administration’s unilateralism and triumphalism (as if there were anything left to be triumphal about), but it foresees a “Long War” of “promoting freedom, justice and human dignity by working to end tyranny, promote effective democracies and extend prosperity; and confronting the challenges of our time by leading a growing community of democracies.” / .. The noteworthy thing about this National Defense Strategy statement is that it says nothing directly about American national defense. It is a <u>strategy for intervening in other countries, and preventing others from blocking or resisting American interventions</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49H11Q20081018">U.S. official holds talks in crisis-hit Pakistan</a></b><br />18.10.08. Reuters. Boucher [Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs] met Rehman Malik, the head of the Interior Ministry, and was expected to hold talks with leaders of the seven-month-old civilian government, including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, officials said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/19/pakistan-unhinged/">Pakistan unhinged</a></b><br />19.10.08. Thomas M. Sanderson, Washington Times. … What I learned in Peshawar, and from the attack on the Marriott Hotel, gave me a first-person view of the fighting and double-dealing that will perpetuate this cycle of violence. .. / cautious sources relayed inside stories - undoubtedly mixed with rumor and conspiracy theories - of the innumerable missteps, betrayals and subterfuge marking the conflict along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and the effort to settle it./ .. The reality of an $11 billion pipeline of American aid since Sept. 11, 2001, means these operations will continue without significant resistance. Pakistan, though, is genuinely asserting itself in the face of an uncomfortably close U.S.-India relationship. This is exacerbated by Afghan President Hamid Karzai's hearty engagement of New Delhi. But as a donor-dependent country, which spends at least 40 percent of its budget on the military, Pakistan remains highly reliant on American assistance./ .. Working at cross-purposes to the United States, Saudi Arabian charities lend a hand too by funding private schools (madrassas), many of which turn out young men eager to fight U.S. and other Western forces. / With 40 percent of U.S. and NATO supplies for Afghanistan transiting Pakistan's precarious tribal areas, it is no wonder that American leaders handle Islamabad with care. Pakistan, meanwhile, receives $1 million per day in road tolls. Neither side would like to see these strategic lines of communication severed. /… chess game with China; .. India … narcotics .. arms trafficking … keeping Afghanistan pliable … Good & informative article. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.e-ariana.com/ariana/eariana.nsf/allDocs/659E7EC72EB1418E872574E8004FF2EF?OpenDocument">From Great Game to Grand Bargain: Ending Chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan</a></b><br />20.10.08. Barnett R. Rubin, Ahmed Rashid, Foreign Affairs/e-ariana. [excellent – *read entire article] <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17929">Talks only way to root out terrorism, Nawaz tells Boucher </a></b><br /> 21.10.08. the news.pk / ICH. Former prime minister and PML-N Quaid Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Monday said that use of force was not the solution to root out the menace of terrorism, adding, the US should respect Pakistan's territorial sanctity.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1852345,00.html">The US vs. Pakistan: With Friends Like These</a></b><br />22.10.08. Simon Robinson, Time. For one 34-year-old Pakistani soldier, it is a simple matter of respect. The soldier, a Major in the Frontier Corps in the mountainous badlands along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, says recent U.S. military incursions into Pakistan not only breach an agreement between the two countries, but call into question the very spirit of the alliance President Bush says is the most important in the war on terror. "As a Pakistani, nobody likes someone to enter their home. It raises doubts about American credibility and the sincerity of their alliance with Pakistan," says the Major …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102203708_pf.html">Pakistan Will Give Arms to Tribal Militias</a></b><br />23.10.08. Karen DeYoung, Washington Post. Pakistan plans to arm tens of thousands of anti-Taliban tribal fighters in its western border region <u>in hopes -- shared by the U.S. military</u> -- that the nascent militias can replicate the tribal "Awakening" movement that proved decisive in the battle against al-Qaeda in Iraq. / The militias, called lashkars, will receive Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifles and other small arms, a purchase arranged during a visit to Beijing this month by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistani officials said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/23/14-point-resolution-aims-to-set-pakistan-security-on-new-course/">“Sweeping” Pakistan Resolution Either Repudiates or Reinforces Terror Policy</a></b><br />23.10.08. anti-war. Pakistan’s parliament has approved a 14-point resolution with seemingly sweeping ramifications for the nation’s counterterrorism policy. Among other things, it calls for Pakistan to make dialogue with militant groups “the highest priority as a principal instrument of conflict management and resolution.” It also calls for Pakistan to pursue “an independent foreign policy” and to eventually replace military forces in the tribal ares with civilian law enforcement. / But the resolution’s wording is vague enough that both sides are claiming victory in its passing.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/23/us-training-program-for-pakistani-forces-begins-but-distrust-remains/">US Training Program For Pakistani Forces Begins, But Distrust Remains</a></b><br />23.10.08. anti-war. After several delays and threatened cancellations, 25 US military personnel arrived in Pakistan some time last week to begin a controversial training program aimed at bolstering Pakistan’s Frontier Corps (FC). The program would not directly train the corps itself, but rather would train Pakistani army instructors who would then be responsible for training the FC members.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/24/pakistan-us-foreign-policy-terrorism">Pakistan rejects 'America's war' on extremists</a></b><br />24.10.08. Saeed Shah, Guardian. * Parliament vows to end military action on border; * Relations with US will be strained by new strategy. Serious doubts multiplied yesterday about Pakistan's commitment to America's military campaign against al-Qaida and the Taliban after parliament overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for dialogue with extremist groups and an end to military action. / The new strategy, backed by all parties, emerged after a fierce debate in parliament where most parliamentarians said that Pakistan was paying an unacceptable price for fighting "America's war". If implemented by the government, support for Pakistan from international allies would come under severe strain, adding further instability to a country facing a spiral of violence and economic collapse.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Pak_lawmakers_condemn_US_missile_strikes_in_tribal_region/articleshow/3637792.cms">Pak lawmakers condemn US missile strikes in tribal region</a></b><br />24.10.08. times of India. Coming out in strong voice <u>against increasing number of missile strikes by US drones</u> in its restive tribal region bordering<br />Afghanistan, Pakistani lawmakers on Friday said such attacks were "unacceptable".<br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><br /><b>A Declaration to the US?</b><br /><br />The Pakistani Government might ask for a similar statement from “friends of Iraq from France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the United States of America, Egypt, Sweden and Iraq, organized in the International Anti-Occupation Network (IAON) and gathered in Le Feyt, France.”<br /><br />See & Endorse <a href="http://www.anti-occupation.org/">Le Feyt Declaration - Peace in Iraq is an option</a><br /><br /><b> "The US occupation of Iraq is illegal and cannot be made legal. All that has derived from the occupation is illegal and illegitimate and cannot gain legitimacy."</b> read more.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><a id="6000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 6. Financial Difficulties in Pakistan</b><br /></div><br /><u> Financial History</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/US_renting_Pak_army_for__100_million_a_month/articleshow/2202810.cms">US renting Pak army for $100 million a month</a></b><br />14.07.07. timesofindia / legitgov. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pakistanlink.com/Headlines/Dec07/20/05.htm">US Senate approves Pakistan aid worth $785m</a></b><br />20.12.07. Pakistan link / legitgov. (legit gov. notes that 3 days after this Medicaid Funding for Schools Cut)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/world/asia/24military.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">U.S. Officials See Waste in Billions Sent to Pakistan</a></b><br />24.12.07. Rohde, Carlotta Gall, Eric Schmitt, David Sanger, NY Times / legitgov. <br /><br /><u> Present Finances</u><br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/pakaid.pdf">"Direct Overt U.S. Aid, Export Assistance and Military Reimbursements to Pakistan, FY2002-FY2009" </a></b><br />updated 16.10.08. (pdf)<br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3147266/Pakistan-facing-bankruptcy.html">Pakistan facing bankruptcy</a></b><br />06.10.08. telegraph.<br />Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves are so low that the country can only afford one month of imports and faces possible bankruptcy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=ah2dnJdJdrsg&refer=india">Pakistan to Send Delegation to U.S. as It Seeks $10 Billion</a></b><br />07.10.08. Khaleeq Ahmed and Naween A. Mangi, Bloomberg. Pakistan's credit rating was cut two levels yesterday by Standard & Poor's, which cited doubts about its ability to meet about $3 billion in debt-servicing costs. The nation's foreign- exchange reserves have dropped 67 percent in the past year and the rupee has slumped 27 percent in 2008.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JJ09Df04.html">'Play or no pay' warning for Pakistan</a></b><br />09.10.08. Jim Lobe, Asia Times / ICH. Calling Pakistan the "greatest single challenge" to the next United States administration, a bipartisan group of South Asia experts recommends cutting aid to the Pakistani army unless it commits itself to the counter-insurgency struggle against the Taliban and al-Qaeda.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/3189824/Pakistan-seeks-10bn-from-expats-to-avoid-bankruptcy.html">Pakistan seeks $10bn from expats to avoid bankruptcy</a></b><br />13.10.08. Telegraph. Pakistan has turned towards its expatriate community for help in a desperate bid to stave off bankruptcy as negotiations in Washington over an emergency aid package continue.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINSIN38882820081013">World Bank could provide Pakistan up to $1.4 bln</a></b><br />13.10.08. in.reuters. The funding would fall under a three-year country assistance strategy (CAS) that is due to run until the end of June 2009. .. / According to the state-run news agency Associated Press of Pakistan, the World Bank has pledged to provide $1.4 billion support for Pakistan, which includes $600 million for investment portfolio and $800 million for budget support. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">what would be the future debt payment obligations? </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/world/story/53880.html">Severe economic crisis threatens Pakistan's stability</a></b><br />13.10.08. Saeed Shah, McClatchy/anti-war. A worsening economic crisis in Pakistan is pushing millions more people into poverty, and experts fear that it could help Islamic extremists recruit new converts. The crisis began early this year, as democracy was restored after more than eight years of military rule. Now Pakistan's hard currency reserves have shrunk to $3.5 billion, and without an international rescue package, America's key ally in the fight against al Qaida is likely to default on foreign debt repayments in the next two months, economic experts said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1017/p02s01-usfp.html">US plan to help Pakistan fight insurgents</a></b><br />17.10.08. Gordon Lubold, CSM/anti-war. The Pentagon wants to send more F-16 fighters. Critics say the jets could threaten India.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=423685">Pakistan's Zardari wants trade for restive regions</a></b><br />17.10.08. wired / anti-war. Islamabad wants to talk to the next U.S. administration about boosting investment in border regions hit by Islamist militant violence, Chinese state media quoted Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari as saying.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JJ18Df01.html">Pakistan does some US dirty work</a></b><br />18.10.08. Syed Saleem Shahzad, asia times / ICH. the US has given it a contract to build 1,000 Humvees for use by troops in Afghanistan against the Taliban-led insurgency. / Pakistan's Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) has been given the order for an undisclosed sum for the Humvees<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17913">Economists want cut in defence budget</a></b><br />20.10.08. The news. The panel of economists, which worked under the chairmanship of Dr Hafiz A Pasha for the last one month, is likely to present its detailed findings to Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani probably on Oct 25 or 27, 2008, depending on the date given by the Prime Minister’s secretariat.<br /><br /><b>IMF</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aXwrhKFR0Z24&refer=home">Pakistan May Seek IMF Aid to Boost Investor Confidence, FT Says</a></b><br />18.10.08. Bloomberg<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=afm.W1SWpVms&refer=india">Pakistan May Need $10 Billion Over 2 Years, IMF Says (Update1)</a></b><br />20.10.08. Matthew Brown, Bloomberg. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/474bc524-9ed3-11dd-98bd-000077b07658,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F474bc524-9ed3-11dd-98bd-000077b07658.html%3Fnclick_check%3D1&_i_referer=&nclick_check=1">Pakistan considers $15bn support package</a></b><br />20.10.08. FT / ICH. A little over half the total would come in the form of an IMF loan. The balance would be provided by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and bilateral donors, potentially including Saudi Arabia. Pakistan is also seeking funds from China.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=58222">Talks with IMF begin in Dubai today</a></b><br />21.10.08. the news. Pakistani economic and finance managers rushed to Dubai on Monday for urgent talks with the IMF as its officials refused to travel to Pakistan because of security concerns./The talks will be held amid growing expectations that Islamabad will seek bailout package from the IMF in the next 30 days, it was learnt.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gUd7TSyAWi5d2w3M6shhOqrtL6Pg">IMF moves to bail out Pakistan</a></b><br />22.10.08. AFP. "A fund mission will begin discussions with the authorities in the next few days on a program aimed at strengthening economic stability and enhancing confidence in the financial system," [Dominique Strauss-Kahn] said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article4993493.ece">Pakistan to ask for $4m cash aid from the IMF</a></b><br />22.10.08. business times online. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102308N">Pakistan Stares Into the Abyss</a></b><br />23.10.08. Andrew Buncombe, Anne Penketh and Omar Waraich, Independent / UK / Truthout. "Pakistan was locked in crisis last night, with the government pressed by Washington to deepen its conflict with Islamic militants in the lawless regions on the Afghan border, and obliged to call in the International Monetary Fund to stave off financial catastrophe.... A new US intelligence estimate meanwhile has warned that the renewed insurgency, coupled with energy shortages and political infighting, means that Pakistan, which is the only Muslim nation with nuclear weapons, is 'on the edge.'"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\24\story_24-10-2008_pg7_21">Worst to come for Pakistan despite IMF move</a></b><br />24.10.08. daily times.pk. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idINIndia-36143520081024">IMF says Pakistan has not requested financing</a></b><br />25.10.08. in.reuters. <br /><br />==<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=423789">"No danger" of Pakistan defaulting-PM's adviser</a></b><br />18.10.08. wired / anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hsyJvKACo68A9yFCr1EpWZtJBUug">US diplomat warns no blank cheque for Pakistan</a></b><br />20.10.08. US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher visited Pakistan as its leaders face a growing Islamic militant insurgency and major economic difficulties. / But Boucher warned that no hand-outs would be available from the "Friends of Pakistan" -- a group of nations, including China, the US, Britain and the UAE, which have pledged to help the country to stabilise.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/10/20081021123032900873.html">Trade link bridges divided Kashmir</a></b><br />21.10.08. al jazeera. India and Pakistan have opened a historic trade link across divided Kashmir for the first time in six decades.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081022/FOREIGN/856958475/1103">Hope gives way to despair in Pakistan</a></b><br />22.10.08. Tom Hussain, the national.ae. As the country continues its descent into political turmoil and subsequent economic crisis, the typical working-class Pakistani is faced with a stark choice between ruthlessness and desperation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/peiris231008.htm">Pakistan Facing Bankruptcy As World Financial Crisis Deepens</a></b><br />23.10.08. Vilani Peiris, countercurrents. Wracked by political instability and hard hit by the global economic crisis, Pakistan is teetering on the brink of default. The country’s foreign reserves have dwindled to around $4.5 billion, equivalent to about six weeks of imports, foreign investors have fled the country in droves and the rupee has fallen sharply. The international credit rating agency, Standard & Poor’s, has downgraded Pakistan to a position superior only to the Seychelles, which has already defaulted<br /><br /><u> and China </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINISL400458200810%2013">Pakistan president heads to China to boost ties</a></b><br />13.10.08. in.reuters. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari begins his first visit to China on Tuesday to cement economic and commercial ties with Islamabad's long-time ally at a time when its relations with the United States are under stress.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/oct/15/pakistan-gets-help-from-china-for-ailing-econom-1/">Pakistan gets help from China for ailing economy</a></b><br />15.10.08. Gillian Wong, Washington Times / ICH. Zardari and Chinese President Hu Jintao attended a signing ceremony here for 11 agreements, including deals on economic and technical cooperation, minerals, environmental protection, satellite purchases, agricultural research, and electricity. / However, no specifics of the deals were released, and there was no mention of a civilian nuclear deal.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/17/content_10206474.htm">Full text of joint statement between China and Pakistan</a></b><br />17.10.08. Xinhuanet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21081.htm">Maybe U.S. Needs Yard Sale</a></b><br />22.10.08. Eric Margolis, Toronto Sun / ICH. The world balance of power is already shifting. For example, Pakistan's new president, Asif Zardari, went cap in hand this week to China, seeking up to $6 billion US in emergency loans. Pakistan is on the verge of bankruptcy and may shortly default on its debt. / But Pakistan's patron, the United States, which has been renting that nation's politicians and army for $1.2 billion per annum to support the occupation of Afghanistan, can't spare any cash for Pakistan. So Pakistan is turning to China, which has $19 billion in foreign exchange reserves -- the world's largest. The U.S.-led occupation of Afghanistan is likely to be adversely affected by Washington's new pauper status. / Pakistan's move into China's financial embrace is a harbinger of things to come. Unless the U.S. quickly repairs its economy, its world power could slip away as quickly as post-war Britain's, leaving China, Japan, Russia, the EU and India as the world's new super powers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\24\story_24-10-2008_pg7_7">Tribal lashkars to be armed with Chinese weapons</a></b><br />24.10.08 Khalid Hasan, daily times.pk/anti-war. <br /><br /><br /><a id="7000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 7. Nuclear Pakistan </b><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\09\story_9-10-2008_pg7_44">Pakistan takes a swipe at US-India nuclear deal</a></b><br />09.10.08. dailytimes.pk./anti-war. In a sharp though indirect reference to the newly concluded US-India nuclear co-operation agreement, Ambassador Zamir Akram told the UN General Assembly’s First Committee that “policies that create nuclear disparities in our region and reinforce the discriminatory approach towards Pakistan can only contribute to exacerbating strategic asymmetries that would destabilise the entire region and indeed the world.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\10\10\story_10-10-2008_pg7_4">President briefed on nuclear, missile plans</a></b><br />10.10.08. dailytimes / pk. President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday visited the Joint Staff Headquarters and Strategic Plans Division (SPD) in Rawalpindi.The president was briefed on the various dimensions of Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programme at the SPD Secretariat of the National Command Authority. An official statement said that Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman General Tariq Majid and senior SPD officers also attended the briefing.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3583688.cms">India not against US-Pakistan N-deal: Pranab</a></b><br />11.10.08. times of India/anti-war. "We will like to encourage civil nuclear cooperation for peaceful use of nuclear energy," external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee said at a press conference after signing the bilateral 123 agreement with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/163590">How India’s New Nuke Deal Might Set Off an Arms Race</a></b><br />11.10.8. Newsweek. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17813">Pakistan may ink civil nuclear accord with China</a></b><br />15.10.08. the news.pk / anti-war. Pakistan and China may enter a civil nuclear partnership and there is a strong indication that an agreement to this effect will be signed between the two countries during President Asif Ali Zardari’s first state visit to China starting from Tuesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jb4knIrkSTiC6qdm1qhDpFK7Es8QD93SS55O0">China to help build 2 Pakistan nuclear plants</a></b><br />17.10.08. AP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/audits/103313/">The Real Story Behind the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal</a></b><br />17.10.08. Subrata Ghoshroy, AlterNet. The recently passed nuclear pact was not just a late win for an unpopular president, it was a coup for lobbyists and defense contractors.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/USA/US_takes_up_nuclear_issue_with_Pak_China/rssarticleshow/3620982.cms">US takes up nuclear issue with Pak, China</a></b><br />21.10.08. times of India / ICH. The United States had made it clear that Pakistan cannot be given a nuclear deal similar to the one it has worked out with India.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/2066/china-pakistan-nuclear-deal">China Pakistan Nuclear Deal</a></b><br />22.10.08. armscontrolewonk. China has agreed to supply Pakistan with two additional nuclear power plants, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said here Saturday after President Asif Zardari’s just-ended visit to Beijing.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/102408S">Fallout of US-India Nuke Deal</a></b><br />24.10.08. Howard Lafranchi, CSM / Truthout. "China's agreement to help Pakistan build two nuclear power plants is prompting warnings that the new US-India civilian nuclear deal is already pushing other countries to pursue their own nuclear relationships."<br /><br /><a id="8000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 8. Oil and Gas in Pakistan</b><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17472">Pakistan, Iran to speed up work on IPI project</a></b><br />24.09.08. int times. The two leaders stressed the importance of early completion of over 2,700-km-long IPI gas pipeline project that could meet the much needed energy needs for the large industrial sector in Pakistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://globalnewsblog.com/wp/?p=905">AFGHANISTAN: Subsidised Fuel Trail Winds Back to Pakistan</a></b><br />30.09.08. IPS. In a teeming petrol market on the outskirts of Kabul, black market traders sell fuel to everyone from individual customers to large business groups. Although much of this petrol comes from Iran or the Central Asian countries, a good amount also hails from Pakistan, where government subsidies have made the fuel much cheaper than in Afghanistan. / The Afghan government and private businesses generally avoid buying petrol from Pakistan because of the spiraling insecurity on the routes into Afghanistan, but still much petrol manages to get in. How it does so and where it goes illustrates the complicated world of smugglers, border patrol agents and foreign militaries.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/pakistan/2008/10/03/rethinking-us-opposition-to-iran-pakistan-india-pipeline/">Rethinking U.S. opposition to Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline</a></b><br />03.10.08. blogs.reuters. “To encourage better ties and more robust economic linkages between India and Pakistan, the U.S. should eventually reconsider its opposition to the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project,” [the Council on Foreign Relations September ’08 Report] says. ”Assuming that the situation in Pakistan stabilises, and the U.S. determines that the IPI would not undermine international efforts to dissuade Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapons programme, the pipeline could help to stabilise the region over the longer term by providing Pakistan and India with a mutual economic interest.” The Council of Foreign Relations provides a link to the Report <a href="http://www.cfr.org/publication/17413/pakistan_policy_working_group.html"> here </a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1434697.php/Polish_engineer_abducted_by_Taliban_in_Pakistan_">Polish engineer abducted by Taliban in Pakistan</a></b><br />03.10.08. monsters and critics. Unidentified gunmen kidnapped a Polish employee of an oil exploration firm and killed his driver and two guards in northern Pakistan on Sunday, police in Islamabad said. / . Peter Stanczak worked for Poland-based Geofizyka Krakow Limited, which is exploring natural resources reservoirs in the region..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47711&s2=04">Rethinking U.S. opposition to Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline</a></b><br />03.10.08. Myra MacDonald, uruknet.de. Among the more daring recommendations in a new report by the Pakistan Policy Working Group, a bipartisan group of American experts on U.S.-Pakistan relations, is that the United States should eventually reconsider its opposition to a proposed Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline project. The suggestion, aimed at building peace between India and Pakistan, is well hedged...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=179665">Iran backs Pakistan pipeline deal sans India</a></b><br />11.10.08. Tehran times. Iran says it is willing to build a pipeline to export natural gas to Pakistan even if India delays joining the multibillion-dollar project opposed by the U.S.<br /><br /><br /><a id="9000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 9. Human Rights </b><br /></div><br /><br />WARNING: THE PERILS OF US IMMUNITY<br /><br />I don't think "immunity" is mentioned in any Bible, Mr. Bush. The Iraqis have had problems with US immunity since Mr. Bremer signed his “Laws.” Will the question of US immunity soon arise in Pakistan? Read following:<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/17/AR2008101701419_pf.html">U.S., Iraqi Officials Question Terms of Draft Security Deal</a></b><br />18.10.08. Mary Beth Sheridan and Karen DeYoung, Washington Post. At Issue: Legal Authority Over Troops. A provision in the draft would give the United States "primary" jurisdiction over military personnel and Defense Department employees who are on bases or engaged in authorized military operations. .. / An extension of the [illegl?] U.N. mandate, the most likely option if a final agreement is not reached, poses political and legal complications for both sides.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/18/renditon-usa-georgebush"> The US have remained free from prosecution over torture</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/cloughley10222008.html">Kid Killers are Barbarians</a></b><br />22.10.08. B. Cloughley, Counterpunch. On 90 killed in Azizabad … / In a series of statements about the operation, the US military has said that extremists who entered the village after the bombardment encouraged villagers to change their story and inflate the number of dead.” … / If there had been no independent reporting of the atrocity it would, like so many others, have been forgotten about. … But Washington was forced to order an inquiry. Not that there is any intention to take disciplinary action against those responsible for any aspect of the horrible affair, even when it was eventually admitted there were “more than 30” civilians killed, because, with indifferent callousness, the spin-masters pronounced that the strike was against “<u>a legitimate target</u>.”<br /><br /><b>The pattern is clear : first lie your head off after a war crime has been committed; then try to play down the gravity of the slaughter and while you’re at it, vilify anyone courageous enough to have held an independent inquiry that discovered the truth. After it is obvious that a major atrocity did actually take place, all must wring hands and announce that an inquiry is to be held. (If anxious to appear serious it is better to state that it will be a “full” inquiry. But on no account must there be representation at the inquiry by officials, or, indeed, attendance by any citizens of the country in which the attack has taken.) Last, when irrefutable evidence has to be grudgingly admitted, say that there has been a mistake but that the people who identified the target, fired the missiles or lied in their teeth about the squalid affair are not going to receive even a wrist-slap in punishment. Then the whole affair will be forgotten except by the few hundred more Afghans, Iraqis <u>or Pakistanis</u> who have been persuaded that US “freedom” is meaningless and queue up to join the ranks of anti-western fanatics and suicide bombers.</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21086.htm">U.S.Will Determine When Troops Have Immunity</a></b><br />23.10.08. Fox News/ICH. The most controversial article in the draft agreement is on troop immunity. While the U.S. gives up immunity for U.S. troops who are "off duty and off base" if they commit major or intentional crimes, the U.S. retains the authority to determine whether they were off duty.. See also <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21088.htm"> here</a>. <br /><br />If you, or any other country, do not do as the US wishes, Bully Boy will threaten you <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/10/24/maliki-wont-submit-us-security-deal-to-parliament/"> economically </a><br /><br />AND OF US SPIES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21091.htm">Abu Nidal, Notorious Palestinian Mercenary, 'Was A US Spy'</a></b><br />25.10.08. Robert Fisk, Independent / ICH. Iraqi secret police believed that the notorious Palestinian assassin Abu Nidal was working for the Americans as well as Egypt and Kuwait when they interrogated him in Baghdad only months before the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq.<br />===<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thepakistaninewspaper.com/news_detail.php?id=12189">Iftikhar’</a></b> <br />23.10.08. amjad malik, Pakistani newspaper. Iftikhar is translated as ‘honour ’ in the dictionary. This one word in Pakistan has gained significance from the name of deposed Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammed Chowdhary who is still waiting for his restoration on 3rd November position. He was dismissed, and detained by General Musharraf as a result of an unlawful military action. / Chowdhary not only settled the score of history by challenging the myth that Pakistani judges are always ready to work hand in hand to support its generals , but also tried to nip the very evil in the bud, which is core of Pakistan’s constitutional haphazard history, the all time notorious ‘law of necessity.’<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><br /><b>Siddiqui</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2008/09/21/18540573.php">Was neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui raped and tortured at US Bagram prison?</a></b><br />21.09.08. Ernesto Cienfuegos, indybay. Last month the seriously injured, bleeding, frail, traumatized and confused Dr. Siddiqui re-appeared in a wheel chair in a New York federal court accused of terrorism and to face charges that she attempted to kill FBI and US soldiers in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20080923073755">Children Of Arrested Pakistani-US Doctor Are Missing, Says Human Rights Group</a></b><br />23.09.08. mindinao examiner. The alleged US arrest in July of Pakistan-US national Dr Aafia Siddiqui has left a series of unanswered questions about her missing children. With Dr Siddiqui now in US custody it is suspected that two of her children are still being detained illegally, and reports suggest that one child may have died. U.S. and Pakistan authorities have denied knowledge of their whereabouts.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE48MBHS20080923">Victim of torture: U.S. says Pakistani suspect may be unfit for trial</a></b><br />23.09.08. Reuters / ICH. Fink asked that her client be placed in a hospital for medical and psychological care and be treated as someone who may have been the victim of torture.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=371328">Pakistani defendant must undergo NY psych tests</a></b><br />23.09.08. wired / anti-war. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=413653">Pakistani MPs call on U.S. to free al Qaeda suspect</a></b><br />08.10.08. Reuters. / anti-war. A five-member delegation of Pakistani parliamentarians met Siddiqui for three hours at a medical facility in a military prison compound at Fort Worth near Dallas, Texas. / "She seemed calm and composed, and her mind was active and alert," Mushahid Hussain Syed, head of the Pakistani delegation, told Reuters by telephone from Dallas. / He said Siddiqui told them she had no faith in the U.S. courts hearing her case.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.teeth.com.pk/blog/2008/10/23/dont-blame-the-victim-aafia-siddiqui-case">Don’t Blame the Victim - Detailed analysis of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s case</a></b><br />23.10.08. Teeth Maestro, teeth.com/pk.<br /><br />See earlier stories on Siddiqui<a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/#12000"> here</a>.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b><a href="http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Pakistan+%26+Sub%2DContinent&month=October2008&file=World_News200810111616.xml">Pakistani students face US visa woes</a></b><br />11.10.08. peninsulara Qatar. <br /><br />WAR CRIMES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10554">The Prosecution for War Crimes of President Bush</a></b><br />13.10.08. Sherwood Ross Assoc. Press Release, globalresearch.ca/. <b> Massachusetts law school Dean Lawrence Velvel will chair a Steering Committee to pursue the prosecution for war crimes of President Bush and culpable high-ranking aides after they leave office Jan. 20th</b>.<br />Besides Velvel, members of the Steering Committee include:<br /><br />Ben Davis, a law Professor at the University of Toledo College of Law, where he teaches Public International Law and International Business Transactions. He is the author of numerous articles on international and related domestic law.<br /><br />Marjorie Cohn, a law Professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, Calif., and President of the National Lawyers Guild.<br /><br />Chris Pyle, a Professor at Mount Holyoke College, where he teaches Constitutional law, Civil Liberties, Rights of Privacy, American Politics and American Political Thought, and is the author of many books and articles.<br /><br />Elaine Scarry, the Walter M. Cabot Professor of Aesthetics and the General Theory of Value at Harvard University, and winner of the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism.<br /><br />Peter Weiss, vice president of the Center For Constitutional Rights, of New York City, which was recently involved with war crimes complaints filed in Germany and Japan against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others.<br /><br />David Swanson, author, activist and founder of AfterDowningStreet.org/CensureBush.org coalition, of Charlottesville, Va.<br /><br />Kristina Borjesson, an award-winning print and broadcast journalist for more than twenty years and editor of two recent books on the media.<br /><br />Colleen Costello, Staff Attorney of Human Rights, USA, of Washington, D.C., and coordinator of its efforts involving torture by the American government.<br /><br />Valeria Gheorghiu, attorney for Workers’ Rights Law Center.<br /><br />Andy Worthington of Redress, a British historian and journalist and author of books dealing with human rights violations.<br /><br />Initial actions considered by the Steering Committee, Velvel said, are as follows:<br /><br /># Seeking prosecutions of high level officials, including George Bush, for the crimes they committed.<br /><br /># Seeking disbarment of lawyers who were complicitous in facilitating torture.<br /><br /># Seeking termination from faculty positions of high officials who were complicitous in torture.<br /><br /># Issuing a recent statement saying any attempt by Bush to pardon himself and aides for war crimes prior to leaving office will result in efforts to obtain impeachment even after they leave office.<br /><br /># Convening a major conference on the state secret and executive privilege doctrines, which have been pushed to record levels during the Bush administration.<br /><br /># Designation of an Information Repository Coordinator to gather in one place all available information involving the Bush Administration’s war crimes.<br /><br /># Possible impeachment of 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Jay Bybee for co-authoring the infamous “torture memo.”<br /><br />Further information and to arrange interviews with Dean Velvel, contact Sherwood Ross, Sherwood Ross Associates, Suite 403, 102 S.W. 6th Avenue, Miami, FL 33130; (305) 205-8281. E-mail sherwoodr1@yahoo.com.<br /><br /><br /><a id="10000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 10. Obama and McCain on Pakistan</b><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hm1EGm_l8hPaAMJ1fgFGV7yp0D7AD93M2TT00">Debate quotes from McCain, Obama</a></b><br />08.10.08. AP. On foreign relations with Pakistan:<br /><br />OBAMA: "Sen. McCain, this is the guy who sang, 'Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,' who called for the annihilation of North Korea. That I don't think is an example of speaking softly. This is the person who, after we had — we hadn't even finished Afghanistan, where he said, 'Next up, Baghdad.' So I agree that we have to speak responsibly and we have to act responsibly. And the reason Pakistan — the popular opinion of America had diminished in Pakistan was because we were supporting a dictator, (former President Pervez) Musharraf, had given him $10 billion over seven years, and he had suspended civil liberties. We were not promoting democracy. This is the kind of policies that ultimately end up undermining our ability to fight the war on terrorism, and it will change when I'm president."<br /><br />McCain asked for time to respond.<br /><br />McCAIN: "Not true. Not true. I have, obviously, supported those efforts that the United States had to go in militarily and I have opposed that I didn't think so. I understand what it's like to send young American's in harm's way. I say — I was joking with a veteran — I hate to even go into this. I was joking with an old veteran friend, who joked with me, about Iran. But the point is that I know how to handle these crises. And Sen. Obama, by saying that he would attack Pakistan, look at the context of his words. I'll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I'll get him. I know how to get him."<br /><br /><em> another view </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/swanson081008.htm">McCain v. Obama II: The Empire Strikes Back</a></b><br />08.10.08. David Swanson, After Downing Street / countercurrents. <em>Is anybody else sick of these guys after only a debate and a half? Who can face four years?</em><br /><br />Should we ignore the Pakistani border and go in as we went into Cambodia from Vietnam? Great question to Obama. He refuses to answer it, which tells you what his answer is. In fact, after babbling for a while he says Yes we should ignore the border and the law and go in if we're going after bin Laden. "We will kill bin Laden." So much for the rule of law.<br /><br />McCain predictably and redundently refuses to answer the question by saying that you shouldn't announce your plans, which tells you what his answer is.<br /><br />Didn't we already endure the foreign policy debate? Isn't this foreign policy?<br /><br />Obama insists on repeating what he said: If Pakistan is unable or unwilling to hunt down bin Laden and take him out, we will. And McCain sings about bombing Iran, etc., etc.<br /><br />McCain insists on repeating himself on principle.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55045&Itemid=38">Only Pakistan to take action in case of knowledge of Osama's location within borders: Sherry</a></b><br />08.10.08. app.pk / ICH. Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sherry Rehman Wednesday said that if Pakistan has any knowledge of Osama’s location within our borders, it goes without saying that, we will take action ourselves. “If our allies share intelligence with us over high-value targets we will pursue them on the ground. However, we will not allow anyone to challenge our sovereignty and no country should violate Pakistan’s territorial integrity,” the minister said talking to news channels on comments by US Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama over Osama Bin Laden.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINISL9315420081014">Q+A-US presidential race seen through Pakistani lens</a></b><br />14.10.08. Zeeshan Haider, in.reuters. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/torture/index.asp"> Obama</a>: <br />“The other thing that we have to focus on, though, is al Qaeda. They are now operating in 60 countries. We can't simply be focused on Iraq. We have to go to the <b>root cause, and that is in Afghanistan and Pakistan</b>.“ Well, no. Move eyes away from AIPAC flag, Mr. Obama, to Israeli walls and “settlements” on Palestinian land? <br /><br /><br /><br />MAY 2009 UPDATES<br /><br />Obama has taken on the Bush agenda=NO CHANGE for Pakistan. Drones are still popular; civilians are still being killed; Zardawi is still complaining about deaths from US bombs; refugees are exponentially increasing. <br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22568.htm">US Bombing a Sovereign Country: US Lawmaker</a></b><br />07.05.09. Anwar Iqbal & Ron Paul, DAWN, ICH. 'We are bombing a sovereign country. Where do we get the authority to do that? Did the Pakistani government give us written permission? Did the Congress give us written permission to expand the war and start bombing in Pakistan?' asked the US lawmaker. VIDEO: Ron Paul Questions Richard Holbrooke. <br /> <br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/08/pakistan-offensive-swat-valley">Swat residents flee as UN warns of humanitarian crisis </a></b><br />08..05.09. Guardian. UN officials repeated warnings that the flood of people was swelling into one of the world's largest humanitarian crises. <br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek_7BAALOo8&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fenglish%2Ealjazeera%2Enet%2Fnews%2Fasia%2F2009%2F05%2F20095911182798557%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded"> Pakistan Swat refugees seek help - 09 May 09 </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54094&s2=10">Thoughts On The War Between The USA And Pakistan </a></b><br />08.05.09. Winter Patriot, uruknet. Signs and omens, suddenly everywhere, tell us war between the USA and Pakistan is imminent... The signs are misleading. War between the US and Pakistan is not imminent. It's ongoing. So far the US has made more than 60 airstrikes against Pakistan using unmanned aircraft, and one commando raid using ground troops and attack helicopters. These attacks have killed more than 700 people, and even the most "optimistic" government reports count only 14 al Qaeda leaders among the dead...<br /><br /><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/09/content_11342406.htmattack"> U.S. drone kills 10 in Pakistan's tribal region</a> (09.05.09. Xinhuanet)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=54109&s2=10"> At least 8 killed, 7 injured as US drone fired four missiles in South Waziristan </a> (09.05.09. Nation)<br /><br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DD4PH6Ourwp8"> Desperate Pakistanis flee violence in Swat - 10 May 09 </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/may2009/pers-m11.shtml">Pakistan war fuels international tensions</a></b><br />11.05.09. WSWS. Comments by China’s ambassador in Islamabad last Thursday highlight the reckless character of the Obama administration’s escalating intervention in Pakistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/CIA-ISI-together-created-Taliban-Zardari/articleshow/4508279.cms">CIA and ISI together created Taliban: Zardari</a></b><br />11.05.09. Times of India. "I think it was part of your past and our past, and the ISI and CIA created them together," Zardari told the NBC news channel in an interview.<br />See also <a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=94397§ionid=351020401"> press.tv.ir</a> : "I think it was part of your past and our past, and the ISI and the CIA created them [the Taliban] together," Zardari told the NBC news channel in an interview on Monday. … / Zardari's remarks come after the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in a congressional hearing explained how the militancy in Pakistan was linked to the US-backed proxy war against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s. "Let's remember here ... the people we are fighting today we funded them twenty years ago ... and we did it because we were locked in a struggle with the Soviet Union," she said on April, 23.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=77394">Country should abandon war on terror: Imran Khan</a></b><br />11.05.09. news.pk. The chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Imran Khan has said that <b>the country should dissociate itself from the so-called war against terrorism</b>.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-05/12/content_11358460.htm"> At least 8 killed in U.S. drone attack in Pakistan's tribal area </a> (12.05.09. Xinhuanet)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=214739">Pakistan: 86 "militants" killed in Swat, Dir Lower</a></b><br />12.05.09. Pak Tribune. Security forces claimed to have killed 52 militants in restive Swat Valley during the last 24 hours, while 31 persons, including three civilians were killed in Lower Dir on Monday. <br /> <br /><b><a href="http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=argusleader&sParam=35024520.story">Pakistan army: 1.3 million fled fighting</a></b><br />12.05.09. USA Today. The offensive has also unleashed a tide of refugees, whose plight could sap public support for the kind of sustained action against an increasingly interlinked array of Islamist extremists that the cash-strapped country's Western backers want to see.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3782"> CBS Pro-Drone Propaganda </a> (12.05.09. FAIR)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=214776">Leading think tank asks US to stop drone attacks</a></b><br />12.05.09. Pak Tribune. A comprehensive report on the current conflict and future of Pakistan, released here on Monday by a known independent think tank [Institute for Social Policy and Understanding], strongly recommends that the drone attacks in Pakistan should be replaced with a humanitarian aid package for the internally displaced people of the Fata and the Swat region.<br /><br />NB: This is last entry; a fully researched entry on Obama's War in Pakistan will appear at the end of May 2009.<br /><br /><a id="11000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>11. References </b><br /></div><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html#5000"> Index on Afghanistan and Pakistan - Murder & Security, Aug/Sept. ’08</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Duel-Pakistan-Flight-American-Power/dp/1416561013/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223478294&sr=8-1">The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power </a> by Tariq Ali, Scribner 2008<br />Guardian review of this book <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/oct/11/tariq-ali"> here</a>. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Maps-Lost-Lovers-Nadeem-Aslam/dp/1400076978/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223886784&sr=8-2"> Maps for Lost Lovers </a> by Nadeem Aslam, Vintage 2006. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Descent-into-Chaos-Building-Afghanistan/dp/0670019704/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224473071&sr=8-1"> Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia </a> by Ahmed Rashid, Viking 2008. Read Pankaj Mishra ‘s superb essay, “In Search of Monsters to Destroy,”<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/oct/04/unitedstates.militarism"> here</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><em>Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK</em><br />In addition to those source material references already mentioned, I would like to thank<a href="http://citizensedproject.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=427&Itemid=63%20Winston%20Weeks%20%3C/a%3E,%3Cbr%3E%3Ca%20href=" com=""> Musafir</a> and Ian Pritchard at<a href="http://www.caat.org.uk/"> Campaign against the Arms Trade (CAAT)</a><br /><br />The url to Index Research on Pakistan, October 2008 is <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/10/index-research-on-pakistan-october-2008.html</a><br />Shorter url: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/5jeka9">http://tinyurl.com/5jeka9</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br />TAGS: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Pakistan">Pakistan</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Politics">Politics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Bush+Bailout">Bush Bailout</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Drones">Drones</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Nuclear">Nuclear</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Obama+and+McCain">Obama and McCain</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Nadeem+Aslam">Nadeem Aslam</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Tariq+Ali">Tariq Ali</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Siddiqui">Siddiqui</a>,Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-81617277815965197002008-09-22T12:45:00.011+01:002009-03-23T08:44:30.417+00:00Index on Afghanistan and Pakistan - Murder & Security, Aug/Sept. ’08<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html&title=Index+on+Afghanistan+and+Pakistan+-+Murder+&+Security,+Aug/Sept.+08&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html&title=Index+on+Afghanistan+and+Pakistan+-+Murder+&+Security,+Aug/Sept.+08&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=8161727781596519700" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=8161727781596519700" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><em>We cannot kill our way to victory.</em></b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/09/2008910163836871959.html"> Admiral Michael Mullen</a><br /><br /><a id="1000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>1. Preface</b><br /></div><br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=afghan-gravepics.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=afghan-gravepics.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47105&s2=10=">afghan grave pictures</a></div><br /><br />The occupation in Afghanistan is about security for US bases and <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/03/pnac-rebuilding-americas-defenses.html"> US strategic interests. </a><br /><br />The occupation is not about security for the Afghan people, any more than the occupation in Iraq is about security for the Iraqi people. Hiring of<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/31/AR2008083102084.html"> intelligence staff</a> wont help the present <a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/joel040908.htm"> unintelligent </a>US-NATO activities.<br /><br />Nor will the present U.S. bombing campaign in Pakistan bring them "democracy" -- the many "apologies" for killing civilians ring hollow.<br /><br />Too many innocent civilians have suffered <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46866&s2=02"> murder </a>for this U.S.-NATO security in the so-called War on Terror. In the last two months, civilian deaths have multiplied exponentially. US contempt for life is evident.<br /><br />The world is correct in worrying about the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/27/AR2008082703628.html">two page note</a>that holds NATO in wedlock with Afghanistan. This same Washington Post article also writes about security for the death dealers: "the conduct of ongoing military operations gives<b> U.S. troops "a status equivalent" to diplomatic immunity and exempting them from any Afghan "disciplinary authority" or legal jurisdiction</b>. For this reason, immunity will be a problem in <a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/15/focus/2027991&sec=focus"> Afghanistan</a>, just as it is in <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSLA16613820080910"> Iraq</a>.<br /><br />Afghanistan has never been and is not a Just War; is not the Right War; is not a Good War. Unfortunately, many<a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/gatto080908.htm"> Good people</a> believe that it is.<br /><br />Following is a Timeline of US Policy Disasters.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><b>INDEX<br /><br />1. <a href="#1000">Preface</a><br />2. <a href="#2000">Murder in Azizabad</a><br />3. <a href="#3000">Further deaths in Afghanistan</a><br />4. <a href="#4000">Afghanistan</a> (Refugees, Women and Children, Opium)<br />5. <a href="#5000">Pakistan</a> (General; Refugees; Dead in Pakistan)<br />6. <a href="#6000">Oil and Gas</a><br />7. <a href="#7000">Aid, Military Contracts, Contractors</a><br />8. <a href="#8000">United States</a>: Reports, General, Bush - Troops, 9/11<br />9. <a href="#9000">US-NATO</a> (General; Transportation)<br />10. <a href="#10000">NATO Coalition</a><br />11. <a href="#11000">US-NATO deaths</a><br />12. <a href="#12000">Human Rights</a> (Reports, General, Rendition, Guantanamo)<br />13. <a href="#13000">References</a></b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><a id="2000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>2. Murder in Azizabad</b><br /></div><br /><em>no reason can justify killing of civilian in military operations.</em><a href="http://www.aihrc.org.af/pre_eng_civil_klng.htm"> AIHRC </a> (23.08.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca/wp-content/uploads/waristerrorism.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca/wp-content/uploads/waristerrorism.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca/2008/09/why-canada-should-leave-afghanistan/"> Peace Alliance, Winnipeg </a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://williambowles.info/iraq/uruk/2008/0808/uruk_240808.html">AFGHANISTAN: More than 90 killed in coalition strikes: investigation</a></b><br />24.08.08. AFP/INL.<br /><br />The initial reports released by the US military boasted that it had successfully attacked a meeting of Taliban militants in Herat province, <u>killing at least 30</u>.<a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9955"> James Cogan </a> (26.08.08, Global Research)<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=2_afghan-violence_articleimage.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=2_afghan-violence_articleimage.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?p=46651">Anti-US demonstrations in Afghanistan</a></b><br />24.08.08. Euronews/INL. Angry protests have broken out in Afghanistan following the deaths of scores of civilians in an air attack by US-led coalition forces on Friday.<br /><br /> <em>We want our children. We want our relatives. Can you give [them] to us? You cannot, so go away</em>. "<a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080825_hedges_afghanistan_worsening/"> Quote from Afghan citizen</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080825_hedges_afghanistan_worsening/">Pouring Gas on the Afghanistan Bonfire</a></b><br />25.08.08. CHRIS HEDGES, truthdig. Coalition forces carried out an airstrike that killed up to 95 Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan on Friday, 50 of them children, And the mounting bombing raids and widespread detentions of Afghans are rapidly turning Afghanistan into the mirror image of Iraq. / Ghulam Azrat, the director of the middle school in Azizabad, said he collected 60 bodies after the bombing. / "Most of these dead bodies were children and women. It took all morning to collect them." / The seven-year war in Afghanistan has not gone well.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-08-25-voa66.cfm">Pentagon Calls Air Strike in Western Afghanistan 'Legitimate'</a></b><br />25.08.08. VOA / Inl.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hAR057bvyVHaM4H0hP_xkRVERO-QD92PICIG0">US investigating civilian deaths in Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.08.08. AP/InI.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/un-finds-evidence-90-civilians-dead-us-led-strikes">UN Finds Evidence 90 Civilians Dead in US-Led Strikes</a></b><br />26.08.08. Agence France-Presse/truthout. "A United Nations team has found 'convincing evidence' that 90 civilians, including 60 children, were killed in US-led air strikes last week, the body's representative in Afghanistan said Tuesday. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) human rights team was sent to the western province of Herat after local claims that scores of civilians were killed in Friday's strikes."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/your_views/middleeast/200882611257241936.html">How should international forces in Afghanistan be governed?</a></b><br />26.08.08 Your views. Aljazeera.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/26/afghanistan.nato">Afghanistan demands end to Nato air strikes on villagers</a></b><br />26.08.08. D. Pallister, Guardian.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/washington/28military.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">U.S. Officials Describe Afghan Airstrike</a></b><br />27.08.08. E. Schmitt, NY Times. American military officials sought on Wednesday to <u>refute claims</u> that as many as 90 civilians among them 60 children were killed in airstrikes on a village in western Afghanistan last Friday. / United States officials maintain that <b>25 militants and 5 civilians</b> were killed in airstrikes called in after Afghan and American commandos came under heavy fire during a raid on the compound of a top Taliban commander. /several American military officials gave this version of what took place.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/349287/us_massacres_afghan_kids">US Massacres Afghan Kids</a></b><br />27.08.08. R. Dreyfuss, The Nation. So how, exactly, did the United States come to slaughter nearly a hundred Afghans, two-thirds of whom were children aged three months to sixteen years, while they slept? (summary of different news reports). / By all rights, this ought to be a turning point for the Afghan war. the United States and NATO should get out and let the regional powers help Afghanistan deal with its problems--that means Pakistan, India, Russia, and Iran.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=home_destroyed.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=home_destroyed.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=home_destroyed.jpg"> Home Destroyed </a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46742&s2=29">Children Killed By U.S. Airstrike In Afghanistan Were Guilty Of Sleeping</a></b><br />27.08.08. Winter Patriot, uruknet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=&section=opinion&xfile=data/opinion/2008/August/opinion_August121.xml">They are human too Mr Bush!</a></b><br />28.08.08. Aijaz Zaka Syed, khaleej times. But is this the first incident of its kind when the brave soldiers of the coalition of the willing mistook women and children for the militants? <b>As far as the Afghan people are concerned, there's little difference in the Soviet occupation and the current reign of terror. Only the markings on those fighter jets have changed from Russian to English</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C08%5C28%5Cstory_28-8-2008_pg4_16">Russia takes up US attack in Afghanistan at UNSC</a></b><br />28.08.08. daily times.pk. Drafts statement seeking condemnation of US airstrike that killed 90 civilians; Afghanistan says wants to regulate US troops presence and use of air strikes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/27/AR2008082703628.html">Only a Two-Page 'Note' Governs U.S. Military in Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.08.08. K. DeYOUNG, Washington Post. Civilian casualties, long a recurring problem in Afghanistan, tripled last year as thinly spread U.S. and NATO forces grew more dependent on air power against a resurgent Taliban. / casualties due to airstrikes have reached more than 200 through the first eight months of this year, compared with 321 in 2007 and 116 in 2006. / According to the U.S. Air Forces Central Combined Air and Space Operations Center, the number of strikes this year in which munitions were dropped totaled 2,368 as of Aug. 4. The equivalent number for the same period in Iraq was 783.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=24676">No tears in west for 60 Afghan children</a></b><br />29.08.08. Ameen Izzadeen, dailymirror.lk./ICH. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), as this force is properly known, is responsible for thousands of civilian deaths in Afghanistan. August 22, the US troops in ISAF killed 95 civilians, including 60 children and 19 women, adding to the ever increasing number of civilian deaths.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iWxiu65iLP4CvDJ7BEsBOx-u_vdwD92RHDPO0">US says civilian deaths were overstated</a></b><br />28.08.08. AP. After reviewing a disputed airstrike on a village in Afghanistan, U.S. officials have concluded that the civilian death toll was far lower than claimed by the Afghan government and the U.N., three U.S. defense officials said Thursday. / Details of how the U.S. review was conducted were not immediately available.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/28/AR2008082802203_pf.html">Pentagon Reports U.S. Airstrike Killed <u>5</u> Afghan Civilians, Not 90</a></b><br />29.08.08. Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=95547">Afghan official 'saw bodies of <b>50 children</b>' killed in US strike</a></b><br />30.08.08. daily star. An Afghan politician told AFP Friday how he had helped dig out the bodies of women and children after US-led air strikes a week ago, reiterating with another official that around 90 civilians were killed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/30/civilian-casualties-hurt-nato-efforts/">Civilian casualties strain NATO</a></b><br />30.08.08. Washington Times. Death toll in recent strike cited. An errant attack last week on civilians by U.S.-led coalition forces has widened a rift between the Afghan government and the international community that may change the nature of foreign military operations in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8dGftYb0s4XWdUMRdIVs3vh1CKAD92SND0G1">US, UN launch joint probe into deadly Afghan raid</a></b><br />30.08.08. AP. A top NATO official says the U.S.-led coalition, the U.N. and Afghan officials will launch a joint probe into a deadly raid in western Afghanistan. (see below 03.09.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=ec1.aptopix_afghanistan_violence_xfp101.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=ec1.aptopix_afghanistan_violence_xfp101.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46854&s2=01">Afghan puppet army: " US only defended themselves from Afghan sleeping children" </a></b><br />31.08.08. AP / uruknet. Afghan Commission: U.S. Troops Were Fired on First in deadly raid. An Afghan army commander said that U.S. and Afghan troops were fired on first from a village where a government investigative commission says scores of civilians were killed, according to a report released Sunday. / There were no "foreign or internal Taliban" among the victims, the report said. The commission found that <b>15 men, 15 women and 60 children</b> were killed. That finding was backed by a preliminary U.N. report. The commission said eight houses were destroyed and seven damaged...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/30/AR2008083001680.html">Collateral Killing</a></b><br />31.08.08. Washington Post editorial. Too many innocent Afghans are dying in U.S. airstrikes. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><em>editorial supports sending more troops to Afghanistan</em></span>]<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46866&s2=02">The massacre at Azizabad, Herat"</a></b><br />01.09.08. Professor Marc Herold, uruknet. <b>76-91 civilians killed (61 children, 15 women, 15 men</b>) including [Substantial <b>list of names of those killed and wounded in Azizabad</b>] <u>Authoritative report on the massacre</u>.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46856&s2=01">Pentagon denies responsibility for US massacre of Afghan villagers</a></b><br />01.09.08. Tom Eley, uruknet. <u>All the evidence suggests that US claims are utterly bogus</u>. According to an anonymous NATO official, the US assault on Azizabad lasted for several hours, and involved ground troops, gunships, and drones. The battle destroyed or damaged 15 houses. And yet the US military wishes world opinion to believe that it was the victim of an attack that resulted in only a single American injury, and that virtually all those who died in the building were "Taliban."... The criminal and reckless US bombardment of Azizabad has been largely buried by the US media, which has been far more preoccupied with the "disproportionate" Russian response to Georgias invasion of South Ossetia.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/01/content_9746903.htm">Ongoing Afghan battle kills over <u>220</u> militants in South</a></b><br />01.09.08. xinhuanet. The Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and the U.S.-led Coalition forces have killed more than 220 militants during clean-up operations in southern Afghan province of Helmand since Aug. 25, <u>said a Coalition statement</u> released hereon Monday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46868&s2=02">AFGHANISTAN: Endless Massacre</a></b><br />01.09.08. AGI / uruknet. WITNESSES SAY <b>70+</b> CIVILIANS KILLED IN AIR STRIKE. Over 70 civilians have reportedly been killed in an air strike by international forces in the Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Reuters received reports of this from a number of residents in Sangin, the district where the bloodshed allegedly occurred. At the moment the news has not yet been confirmed by the Afghan government, which last week threatened to reconsider the role of foreign troops after another air strike on 22 August, killed 90 civilians, including over 50 children. / The command of the US-led contingent has not commented on the charges but said that last week in the Helmand province 220 suspected Taliban fighters had been killed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8dGftYb0s4XWdUMRdIVs3vh1CKAD92UK4V03">US probe finds fewer Afghan deaths than UN claimed</a></b><br />02.09.08. Jason Straziuso, AP. A U.S. investigation [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><em> by whom? </em></span>] into U.N. and Afghan allegations that dozens of civilians were killed in fighting around a village found Tuesday that <b>seven </b> of the dead were civilians. / <u>No Afghan officials have confirmed that the Afghan government would take part in a three-way investigation</u> [see 03.09).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=15897">Nato tries to hide Afghan massacres</a></b><br />02.09.08. socialist worker / INI. Latest attacks destroy second Afghan village killing 70 | Over 500 civilians killed by Nato forces this year. / Nato is attempting to cover up a series of massacres committed by its forces in a murderous campaign of airstrikes on Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" com="" news="" id="327049"">Afghans accept U.S. probe offer on civilian deaths</a></b><br />03.09.08. Reuters / Wired.<br /><br /><a videoid="90147&newsChannel=" worldnews="">VIDEO. Pressure Mounts in Afghanistan</a> (Reuters, 04.09.08,)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/4990845/afghans-seek-punishment-civilian-deaths-raid/">Afghans seek punishment for civilian deaths in raid</a></b><br />04.09.08. Reuters. Hundreds of Afghans gathered near a village bombed by U.S.-led coalition forces to call on the government to punish those responsible for civilian deaths in the raid.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/04/karzai-says-nato-ties-strained-as-us-continues-to-dispute-herat-toll/">Karzai says NATO Ties Strained as US Continues to Dispute Herat Toll</a></b><br />04.09.08. anti-war. Afghan President Hamid Karzai visited the scene of last months deadly US air strike in Herat Province today. During the visit President Karzai vowed swift punishment for those responsible for the incident, and warned that relations with NATO had been strained by the large number of civilian deaths<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080903%5CACQDJON200809031131DOWJONESDJONLINE000690.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.na">Bush 'Regrets' Civilian Casualties In US Strike</a></b><br />04.09.08. AFP / ICH.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=angry_afghanistan_ny114.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=angry_afghanistan_ny114.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hEE7-jiiMxRnbhmqljKPXrRYOOMwD930NMU80"> Photo Fraidoon Pooyaa / AP </a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hEE7-jiiMxRnbhmqljKPXrRYOOMwD930NMU80">AP IMPACT: Afghans fed up with government, US</a></b><br />05.09.09. Kathy Gannon, AP. Mohammed makes it clear that the tribal chiefs have lost all faith in both their own government and the foreign soldiers in their country. / Such disillusionment is widespread in Afghanistan<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1838778,00.html">Collateral Tragedies</a></b><br />05.09.08. Mark Thompson, Time. There is no fog of war at 20,000 ft. above Afghanistan. .. / On the ground, the picture is much less clear. .. / As U.S. air strikes doubled from 2006 to 2007, the number of accidental civilian <b>deaths soared, from 116 to 321</b>. / The military dismisses such tallies as exaggerated, and their provenance is often murky. In no case is it murkier than in the Aug. 22 strike on the western Afghan village of Azizabad. ..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47057&s2=09">Atrocity in Azizabad: More Child Sacrifices on the Terror War Altar </a></b><br />08.09.08. CHRIS FLOYD, uruknet. Every day, the shame mounts, the lies grow more brazen and more brutal, and the dishonor spreads and deepens -- ineradicable, like a white garment soaked with blood. But the mass death visited upon the sleeping, defenseless citizens of Azizabad encapsulates many of the essential elements of this global campaign of "unipolar domination" and war profiteering: the callous application of high-tech weaponry against unarmed civilians; the witless attack that alienates local supporters and empowers an ever-more violent and radical insurgency; and perhaps the most quintessential element of all -- the knowing lies and deliberate deceits that Washington employs to hide the obscene reality of its Terror War..-<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> THE 2 Videos</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/world/asia/08afghan.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">Evidence Points to Civilian Toll in Afghan Raid</a></b><br />07.09.08. CARLOTTA GALL, NY Times. The Afghan government, human rights and intelligence officials, independent witnesses and a United Nations investigation back up their account, pointing to dozens of freshly dug graves, lists of the dead, and <u>cellphone videos</u> and other images showing bodies of women and children laid out in the village mosque. / Cellphone images seen by this reporter show at least 11 dead children, some apparently with blast and concussion injuries, among some 30 to 40 bodies laid out in the village mosque. Some differing accounts given.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=334693">US has new information on Afghan civilian deaths</a></b><br />07.09.08. Reuters. Afghan and Western officials say Afghanistan's intelligence agency and the U.N. both have video of the aftermath of the Aug. 22 U.S. airstrikes on the village of Azizabad showing dozens of dead women and children.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5inIPXFrPzlWDiQCtRIsXpK5GS3Lw">US to begin new inquiry into Afghan civilian deaths</a></b><br />08.09.08. AFP. US General David McKiernan said in a statement late Sunday there was "emerging evidence" about the incident. / In light of this, "I feel it is prudent to request that US Central Command send a general officer to review the US investigation and its findings with respect to the new evidence," he said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4699077.ece">Harrowing video film backs Afghan villagers' claims of carnage caused by US troops</a></b><br />08.09.08. Tom Koghlan, timesonline. (edited) <b> video of massacre</b>. These are the images that have forced the Pentagon into a rare U-turn. Until yesterday the US military had insisted that only seven civilians were killed in Nawabad on the night of August 21. / .. In the video scores of bodies are seen laid out in a building that villagers say is used as a mosque / The US military said that its findings were corroborated by an independent journalist embedded with the US force. He was named as the <u>Fox News correspondent Oliver North</u> / .. Sources close to one of the investigations said that a video film was shot by Afghan officials the morning after the attack. It corroborates the doctors footage but has not been made public. / .. list of civilian casualties in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzzWba2B_C0&feature=user"> Raw Video: Afghans Civilians Killed by U.S.?</a><em> (edited) same video on youtube</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/08/afghan-children-killed-in_n_124798.html">Afghan Children Killed In US-Led Raid Appear On New Video </a></b><br />08.09.08. Huff Post / ICH. A <b>second video</b> shows three young children wrapped in white shrouds. A fourth child has gruesome head wounds. In total, the bodies of at least 10 children can be seen. / The two videos, both obtained by The Associated Press, give weight to Afghan and U.N. findings that scores of civilians, including 60 children and 15 women, died in the Aug. 22 U.S.-led raid in the village of Azizabad. U.S. special forces and Afghan commandos carried out the operation<br /><br />[<b> NB: 09.08.08 Youtube video of massacre was removed by 5 am. At 7 am, the notice reads: This video is not available in your country" (ie, UK). On the Huff Post, the BBC video has this message: "THIS CONTENT IS NOT AUTORIZED INSIDE THE UNITED KINGDOM."</b>]<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47056&s2=09"> VIDEO: Afghans Civilians Killed by U.S.</a>. AP. This is <u>one of two videos</u> obtained by AP that appear to show the bodies of children and adults covered in blankets and white shrouds lend weight to Afghan and U.N. allegations that a U.S.-led raid killed scores of civilians. (Sept. 8)..<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/militarywatch/2008/09/afghanistan_us_backs_off_the_a.html">Afghanistan: U.S. backs off the air war</a></b><br />08.09.08. Military Watch, Baltimore sun. The Air Force has <u>cut back sharply on the number of daily air strikes</u> it is flying in Afghanistan, as civilian casualties from bombing have risen sharply along with protests from the Afghan government of Hamid Karzai and from the United Nations.<br /><br />[<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">note air strikes in section 3.</span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47105&s2=10">Afghans say will open graves to show civilian deaths</a></b><br />09.09.08. Sharafuddin Sharafiyaar, Reuters/uruknet. Relatives of Afghans killed in a U.S.-led coalition raid in western Herat province offered on Tuesday to dig up graves to support claims of large-scale civilian deaths. But they said that U.S.-led forces must leave Afghanistan "in shame" if it was proven that an American account of the Aug. 22 air strike in Shindand district that most of the victims were Taliban fighters was wrong. The incident has ou! traged Afghans and opened a rift between coalition forces on the one hand and the Afghan government and the U.N. on the other, which both say that more than 90 civilians were killed...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47090&s2=10">Fox News & Oliver North Involved with U.S. Afghanistan Massacre Cover-up</a></b><br />09.09.08. Invictus/uruknet. Perhaps the most amazing political news surrounding the Nawabad massacre is that the Pentagon says it relied for its account, in part, on corroborative evidence by the embedded journalist on the scene: Fox News "reporter" Oliver North! [see above 08.09]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=337878">Afghans hail Bush's move to send more troops</a></b><br />10.09.08. Reuters. "The government has a common stance on this: we need and welcome more foreign troops to tackle the war along with local forces," said chief presidential spokesman Humayun Hamidzadan/"In the long term, the strengthening of national entities, their training and equipping, is the solution," he added.<br />[see below. Bush Troop Surge, Section 8]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47170&s2=12">Afghanistan After Seven Years of War: You Call This a Good War? </a></b><br />11.09.08. Sharon Smith, uruknet. In early September, the Pentagon closed its investigation into allegations that U.S. bombs killed 92 Afghan civilians, including as many as 60 children, as they slept peacefully in the village of Nawabad on the night of August 21st. [history of atrocities] ... Obama did not utter a word of criticism about rising civilian casualties ... The war on Afghanistan is no more justified than the war on Iraq.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> Tom Engelhardts superb roundup with succinct comments on Azizabad</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174975/slaughter_lies_and_video_in_afghanistan">Slaughter, Lies, and VIDEO in Afghanistan</a></b><br />11.09.08. TOM ENGELHARDT, Tomgram. The Value of One, the Value of None: An Anatomy of Collateral Damage in the Bush Era. The incident in Azizabad may represent the single deadliest media-verified attack on civilians by U.S. forces since the invasion of 2001. not just Vice President Cheney but the President and his top officials have remained self-protectively embunkered throughout their years in office. The 60 or so children slaughtered in Azizabad, each of whom belonged to some family, don't matter to them. But they do matter. And when you kill them, and so many others like them, you surely play with fire.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080912/wl_nm/afghan_civilians_dc">Afghans arrested over disputed air strike deaths</a></b><br />12.09.08. Reuters. Afghan police have arrested three men on suspicion of giving false information which led to the death of civilians in a U.S. air strike in western Afghanistan last month, the interior ministry said on Friday. / Anger has mounted over the August 22 raid in the village of Azizabad in western Herat's Shindand district in which the Afghan government says more than 90 people, mostly women and children, were killed, an allegation backed by the United Nations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8dGftYb0s4XWdUMRdIVs3vh1CKAD936KEP00">Afghanistan: US killed civilians after false tip</a></b><br />15.09.08. J. STRAZIUSO, AP. An American bombing that killed up to 90 Afghan civilians last month was based on false information provided by a rival tribe and <b>did not kill a single Taliban fighter</b>, the president's spokesman said Sunday. / "There was total misinformation fed to the coalition forces," Humayun Hamidzada, the spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, told The Associated Press.<br /><br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <b>3. Further Deaths in Afghanistan</b><br /></div><br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/09/08/afghan19766.htm">Afghanistan: Civilian Deaths From Airstrikes</a></b><br />08.09.08. Human Rights Watch. Link to 43-page report. <em>Rapid response airstrikes have meant higher civilian casualties, while every bomb dropped in populated areas amplifies the chance of a mistake</em>. "Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch<br /><br /><u> Summary </u><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/08/afghanistan.usa">08.09.08. Richard Norton Taylor, Guardian.</a> Civilian deaths in Afghanistan from US and Nato air strikes have nearly tripled over the past year, with the onslaught continuing in 2008 and fuelling a public backlash, a leading human rights group says today. / The report by Human Rights Watch says that despite changes in the rules of engagement which had reduced the rate of civilian casualties since a spike in July last year, air strikes killed at least 321 civilians in 2007, compared with at least 116 in 2006. In the first seven months of this year at least 540 Afghan civilians were killed in fighting related to the armed conflict, with at least 119 killed by US or Nato air strikes, such as this July's attack on a wedding party which killed 47, says Human Rights Watch.<br /><br /><br />GENERAL<br /><br /><u>NB: No suicide attacks listed </u><br /><br /><u> Sangin, Helmand</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.topnews.in/coalition-forces-kill-more-dozen-taliban-afghanistan-262136">Coalition forces kill more than a dozen Taliban in Afghanistan</a></b><br />27.08.08. topnews.in. Afghan and coalition forces on Monday spotted a large number of heavily armed militants gathering in small groups and preparing to attack soldiers in Sangin district of the restive Helmand province, the US military said in a statement.<br /><br /><u> Paktika</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=316368">Nearly 50 Taliban killed in Afghanistan-officials</a></b><br />27.08.08. Reuters / Wired. An air strike killed <b>30</b> Taliban in southeastern Afghanistan close to the border with Pakistan and Afghan police killed 18 more militants in the south of the country, officials said on Wednesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/08/27/over-100-killed-in-fighting-along-afghan-pakistan-border/">Over 100 Killed in Fighting Along Afghan-Pakistan Border</a></b><br />27.08.08. anti-war.com. <b>40 </b>Taliban were reported killed in airstrikes after attacking government-run checkpoints in Paktika, not far from Waziristan. Further west, in southern Helmand province, another <b>18</b> Taliban were killed by provincial police. It was also reported today that the Taliban are gaining an increasing level of influence in the city of Kandahar. More<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=316362">Afghan opposition wants international crisis meet</a></b><br />27.08.08. Reuters / wired. Afghanistan is going through a critical period and an international meeting including Taliban-led insurgents should be held to ward off crisis, the country's main opposition group said on Wednesday.<br /><br /><br /><u>Khost</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/08/29/spo09.asp">Occupation forces kill ex-Afghan cricketer - officials</a></b><br />29.08.08. daily news.lk / ICH. Rahmat Wali, 32, who played for the war-torn country's national team between 2001 and 2006, was killed when troops attacked his home in the eastern province of Khost, the national team captain, Nawrooz Khan Mangal said. He said Wali <u>had no ties to Taliban or other insurgents</u>.<br /><br /><u>Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C08%5C29%5Cstory_29-8-2008_pg7_8">US missile attack in Waziristan injures 4</a></b><br />29.08.08. daily times.pk. A missile fired from a United States drone <u>injured a woman and three children</u> in South Waziristan late on Wednesday night, officials and residents told Daily Times on Thursday.<br /><br /><u> Uruzgan and Paktika</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-08-29-Afghan-violence_N.htm">U.S. says at least 24 militants killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />29.08.08. AP / usa tody/ICH. More than a dozen militants were killed after they attacked a coalition base in Shaheed Hasas district of the southern Uruzgan province on Thursday, the coalition said. Two Afghan guards died during the attack. / Separately, about a dozen militants were killed during a raid by coalition troops in the eastern Paktika province, also on Thursday, the coalition said.<br /><br /><u>N. Kunduz</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46804&s2=30">A Woman and Two Children Shot Dead at German Checkpoint in Afghanistan </a></b><br />29.08.08. DPA news ageny / uruk. An Afghan woman and two children were killed and four other children injured as German soldiers opened fire on a civilian vehicle in the northern province of Kunduz, Afghan police said Friday, Aug. 29. The incident -- which occurred south-east of the provincial capital city, also called Kunduz -- took place Thursday evening in a region where German troops lead operations for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force! (ISAF), Defense Ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe said in Berlin.<br /><br /><u>Kapisa</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46828&s2=31">Another 5 Afghan Civilians Killed In US-led Strikes</a></b><br />30.08.08. AFP/uruknet. Two senior Afghan police officers alleged Saturday that the U.S.-led coalition killed <u>five civilians</u> in air strikes aimed at Taliban insurgents, but the <u>force denied causing any civilian casualties</u>. / "Five civilians, including two women and a child, were killed in an air strike by coalition forces early this morning," Sayed Sakhidad, criminal investigation police chief for Kapisa province outside Kabul, told AFP.<br /><br /><u> Sarwan Qala, Sangin</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=16967">500 civilians killed, injured in Afghanistan</a></b><br />01.09.08. The int. news. "Foreign forces have been conducting operation in Sarwan Qala area of Sangin district for the last five days in which artillery and aircraft are being used," Dad Muhammad Khan, member of Wolesi Jirga (lower house of parliament), told Afghan Islamic Press. / "The dead and injured were lying in the area and there is no one to shift the injured. Yesterday, I raised the issue in the parliament but the government has done nothing so far," he said.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>E. Kabul</b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=slain-m5hzfqj99hp73o1fbn1uwdk8y0zj-g.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=slain-m5hzfqj99hp73o1fbn1uwdk8y0zj-g.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46863&s2=01">Afghan family killed in house raid</a></b><br />01.09.08. Aljazeera.net/uruknet. A family of four, including two children, have been killed in an overnight raid by international troops, a police official and witnesses said. / Residents in Hud Kheil in the east of the capital said one of the two children was eight months old and grenades killed the family members during a joint Afghan-US special forces operation. / US special forces said they were not involved. Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said they were investigating media reports.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46861&s2=01">Afghans demonstrate after children die in troop raid</a></b><br />01.09.08. AFP/uruknet. Hundreds of Afghans took to the streets Monday in protest at what they said was the murder of four civilians, including two baby boys, in an early morning raid by international troops. / The demonstrators showed journalists the bloodied bodies of the children shot dead with their father on the eastern outskirts of the capital, an AFP reporter said. .. / A press office official at NATO, whose troops are in charge of security in Kabul, said: "We have no indication whatsoever that NATO forces were involved in this incident."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/09/200891165429151631.html">Afghan children killed by Nato fire</a></b><br />01.09.08. al jazeera. Nato officials said that the attack on Monday happened by accident. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/02/afghanistan.nato"> NATO admits strike </a> (02.09.08. Guardian)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46875&s2=02">Killings of 5 Afghan children inflame tensions</a></b><br />01.09.08. AMIR SHAH, AP / uruknet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/mcafee030908.htm">The Afghan War's Heavy Toll On Children</a></b><br />03.09.08. Brian McAfee, Counter Currents. Again today reports coming out of Afghanistan indicate more dead children. / Rebuilding Afghanistan's infrastructure, food aid and agricultural support are common sense endeavors we should be engaged in.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://quqnoos.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1514&Itemid=48">'US troops are committing war crimes'</a></b><br />02.09.08. Parwiz Shamal, quqnoos/ICH. Afghan rights group accuses foreign troops of <u>deliberately killing civilians,</u>. The <a href="http://www.aihrc.org.af/"> Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) </a> said on Tuesday that, according to their own investigations, civilians are killed in most operations conducted by US forces.<br /><br /><u>Helmand</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/2668595/British-soldiers-kill-200-Taliban-in-Afghan-dam-operation.html">British soldiers kill 200 Taliban in Afghan dam operation</a></b><br />02.09.08. telegraph / ICH. A major secret British operation to boost the economy in Afghanistan's Helmand province has been completed after a force of 5,000 troops fought for a week to drive a huge dam turbine through Taliban lines. [see transportation]<br /><br /><u>Herat</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/4993646/civilians-taliban-killed-afghan-raid-army/">Two civilians, eight Taliban killed in Afghan raid: army</a></b><br />05.09.08. Reuters / ICH. A U.S.-led coalition air strike killed a woman and child and eight Taliban fighters in western Afghanistan on Friday, a top Afghan army official said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSSP33806020080905">U.S. says 2 civilians among 8 dead in Afghan strike</a></b><br />05.09.08. Reuters. Two civilians were among eight people killed in a U.S.-led coalition operation in western Afghanistan on Friday, the U.S. military said, the latest in a mounting toll of civilian deaths that has outraged Afghans. / The military said fighting erupted after coalition and Afghan army troops were ambushed by militants during a reconnaissance patrol in Farah province. / Troops backed by close air support killed six militants, it said in a statement. "Two civilians were killed and two wounded during the conduct of the insurgent ambush operation."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hEE7-jiiMxRnbhmqljKPXrRYOOMwD930NMU80">Afghans fed up with government, U.S.</a></b><br />05.09.08. AP. Mohammed makes it clear that the tribal chiefs have lost all faith in both their own government and the foreign soldiers in their country. Such disillusionment is widespread in Afghanistan, feeding an insurgency that has killed 195 foreign soldiers so far this year, 105 of them Americans.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u>Waziristan (?)</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/scores-killed-pilotless-us-aircraft">FOCUS | Scores Killed by Pilotless US Aircraft</a></b><br />05.09.08. Pir Zubair Shah, Jane Perlez, NY Times / Truthout. : "A missile strike from a remotely piloted United States reconnaissance aircraft killed 6 to 12 people in a group of houses in southern Afghanistan, very close to the border with Pakistan, Pakistani residents of the area said Friday." [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> <em>The New York Times report below states that the damage and civilian deaths were the result of, "A missile strike from a remotely piloted United States reconnaissance aircraft ..." Reconnaissance aircraft do not carry missiles. That contradiction is not addressed by The Times. - ma/TO</em></span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47133&s2=11">The Attack on the Haqqanis</a></b><br />10.09.08. Moon of Alabama, uruknet. Haqqani, an Afghan, is currently one of the Talibans most senior commanders battling the Americans in eastern Afghanistan. His father, Jalaluddin, is a longtime associate of bin Ladens. The Haqqanis are believed to be overseeing operations from a hiding place in the Pakistani tribal agency of North Waziristan. Two days later the U.S. attacked the residence of the Haqqani clan: The drones were apparently targeting the house or the madrassa established by former Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani during the 1978-88 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, residents said. At least 23 people died in that attack. The Haqqani men are said to be in Afghanistan at the time of the attack and were not hit...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47129&s2=11">Another criminal US missile strike inside Pakistan</a></b><br />10.09.08. Peter Symonds, WSWS/uruknet.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47136&s2=11">US's 'good' war hits Pakistan hard</a></b><br />10.09.08. Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times/uruknet. Seven years after the United States led the invasion of Afghanistan in search of al-Qaeda and to topple the Taliban government, US President George W Bush has added neighboring Pakistan to the list of countries that are "a major 'war on terror' battleground", while also announcing a "quiet surge" of troops into Afghanistan. / What Bush didn't spell out is that it is also in the US's interests that Pakistan get tough on militants, and that the US is increasingly taking matters into its own hands inside Pakistan. In the the latest incident on Monday, at least 25 people were killed in a missile attack by unmanned Predator drones on a Pakistani village near the Afghan border.<br /><br /><u> Khost</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i_k55dqWw4yWGpLZe9pQeOovPWsA">Troops kill 10 insurgents in Afghanistan: coalition</a></b><br />07.09.08. AFP.<br /><br /><em>Reuters says</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=334098">U.S. forces, Afghan police kill over 20 Taliban</a></b><br />07.09.08. Reuters<br /><br /><u> More dead in Khost</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/09/09/afghan-airstrikes.html">2 killed, 10 injured by errant NATO bomb</a></b><br />09.09.08. CBC. The bomb was aimed at a site in eastern Khost province used by insurgents to fire rockets. However, the weapon malfunctioned and struck a civilian house two kilometres away, according to a NATO statement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=5758598">Off-Target NATO Bomb Kills 2 Afghan Civilians</a></b><br />09.09.08. Rahim Faiez, AP / ABC. As Karzai decries civilian deaths, NATO bomb misses target by 1 1/2 miles and kills 2 Afghans<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/09/09/afghan-airstrikes.html">2 killed, 10 injured in Afghanistan by errant NATO bomb</a></b><br />10.09.08. CBC. the weapon malfunctioned and struck a civilian house two kilometres away, according to a NATO statement.<br /><br /><u>Tirin Kot, Uruzgan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=95857">Afghanistan bombing kills three coalition troops, local contractor</a></b><br />10.09.08 AFP. The new deaths raise to <b>201</b> the number of international soldiers to die in Afghanistan this year. / Meanwhile, in the southern Uruzgan Province, troops were tipped off about a Taliban gathering on the outskirts of the town of Tirin Kot and sent in a strike early Tuesday, provincial police chief Juma Gul Himat said. "The coalition forces bombed them and killed 16 Taliban and wounded another nine," Himat said./ .. And late Monday aircraft bombed a group of Taliban militants who had attacked a district center in eastern Paktia Province, a spokesman for the provincial government told AFP. "Twelve Taliban were killed in the NATO air strike. Nine of them are Chechens and three are Afghans and Pakistanis," the spokesman said.<br /><br /><u> Uruzgan and Paktika</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=336541">27 militants killed in Afghan airstrikes</a></b><br />09.09.08. Rahim Faiez, AP. Over <b>27</b> militants killed in 2 separate Afghan airstrikes. <u>Uruzgan</u>: 15 militants killed; <u>Paktika</u>: <b>12</b> militants, including nine Chechen fighters killed.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />TALIBAN<br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=taliban-spaceball.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=taliban-spaceball.gif" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47111&s2=11">Secrets of the Taliban's success</a></b><br />10.09.08. SAYED SALEEM SHAHZAD, , asia times / uruknet. ...In an interview with Asia Times Online, Mullah Abdul Jalil, a pioneer of the Taliban movement in Kandahar, elaborated. "There is a lot of rhetoric out of anger and frustration against the West because of the NATO oppression of the Afghan people, but the Taliban leadership still strictly abides by its code of conduct for the resistance against foreign occupation forces in our country," said Jalil, who served as deputy foreign minister and foreign minister during the Taliban regime (1996-2001).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=94d0ba0f-eca4-42ed-98ec-b81347f483be&&Headline=US+at+the+%27edge+of+historical+defeat%27%3a+Taliban&strParent=strParentID">US at the 'edge of historical defeat': Taliban</a></b><br />11.09.08. Hindustan times.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=20-20taliban.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=20-20taliban.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47172&s2=12">Taliban call for unity against US</a></b><br />11.09.08. The News International/uruknet. ..."The United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) must avoid killing innocent people in Afghanistan and stop bid to divide its people on race, language, ethnic and regional lines," the Taliban said in a statement on the occasion of the 7th anniversary of 9/11 attacks. Afghans always remained united against infidelity, foreign aggression and never accepted foreign interference, the Taliban said. "All the international organisations, governm! ent and nations should unite against the cruel policies of US, extend their moral role in the independence of occupied countries and put an end to the insecurity, fighting and injustices in the world," the Afghan Islamic Press quoted the Taliban as saying. The Taliban said the US and Nato had failed in Afghanistan as the West had admitted that all the country except Kabul was in the control of Taliban...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.kashmirwatch.com/showarticles.php?subaction=showfull&id=1221266520&archive=&start_from=&ucat=3&var0news=value0news">American Imperialism v/s Talibanisation</a></b><br />12.09.08. Farooq Tariq, Kashmir Watch. Pakistan is under imperialist siege. Parts of Pakistan are targeted regularly by the NATO forces based on the Afghani-Pakistan border. Killings by missiles have become an everyday event. Innocent tribal men, women and children are the targets of this imperialist aggression. ../ The 3 August 2008 direct attack by NATO forces at Anghoor Ada in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan left 20 dead and scores injured. The excuse is curbing individual terrorism. However this is state terrorism in open collaboration with American imperialism<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><u> Death Squads</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47125&s2=11">From Afghanistan to Africa: The Return of U. S. Death Squads</a></b><br />10.09.08. C. Hallinan, uruknet. United Nations officials charge that secret "international intelligence services" are conducting raids to kill Afghan civilians, then hiding the perpetuators behind an "impenetrable" wall of bureaucracy. /..Suspicion has fallen on the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which led such teams into Afghanistan during the 1990s in an attempt to capture or kill Osama bin Ladin, and again during the 2001 invasion.<br /><br /><u>Tagab district, Kapisa</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8dGftYb0s4XWdUMRdIVs3vh1CKAD9350FLG0">10 militants killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />12.09.08. AP.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=338165">U.S. to include Pakistan in Afghanistan strategy</a></b><br />10.09.08. Reuters. The U.S. military, faced with rising insurgent violence in Afghanistan, will revise its strategy for the region to include militant safe havens in neighboring Pakistan, the top U.S. military officer said Wednesday.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><u>Tagab district, Kapisa</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8dGftYb0s4XWdUMRdIVs3vh1CKAD9350FLG0">10 militants killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />12.09.08. AP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/98619/">Report: U.S.-NATO Airtrikes Over Afghanistan Are Killing Innocent Civilians</a></b><br />12.09.08. Ali Gharib, IPS News/alternet. "Civilian deaths act as a recruiting tool for the Taliban and risk fatally undermining the international effort to provide basic security."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-bergen12-2008sep12,0,5223332.story?track=rss">Does killing Afghan civilians keep us safe?</a></b><br />12.09.08. LA Times/ICH. This week, as we remember the nearly 3,000 American citizens who died in the rubble of the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or in a remote field in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, we also should think about the civilians who are still dying in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/world/asia/15kabul.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&ref=world&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Afghanistan Is in Its Worst Shape Since 2001, European Diplomat Says</a></b><br />15.09.08. A. Smale, NY Times. The envoy, Francesc Vendrell, a Spanish diplomat with eight years experience in Afghanistan, especially criticized the growing number of civilian deaths in attacks by American and international forces. / Those deaths have created a great deal of antipathy and widened the distance between the Afghan government and citizens, he said<br /><br /><u> Wardak</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1431075.php/NATO_forces_kill_11_militants_detain_20_in_Afghanistan_">NATO forces kill 11 militants, detain 20 in Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.09.08. South Asia News.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iIE29KvrMkQhd118TuP3ddanKkywD937VJP00">General: far more US troops needed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.09.08. AP. The senior U.S. general (Gen. David McKiernan) in Afghanistan said Tuesday he is fighting the war with too few ground troops, and that even the reinforcements President Bush announced last week are insufficient. He said the shortage compels him to use more air power, at the cost of higher civilian casualties.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0ff2147e-8462-11dd-adc7-0000779fd18c,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F0ff2147e-8462-11dd-adc7-0000779fd18c.html&_i_referer=">Gates and Mullen signal US concern at Afghan violence</a></b><br />17.09.08. Financial times. The US's two most senior defence officials made separate visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan yesterday marking the mounting concern in Washington about extremist havens in the ungoverned border areas.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-apology18-2008sep18,0,5171767.story">Defense Secretary Robert Gates apologizes for Afghan civilian casualties</a></b><br />18.09.08. J. BARNES, LA Times. He pledges additional steps by the U.S. to avoid errant bombings and to compensate families of the dead more quickly.<br /><br /><u> Tirin Kot </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGv4cEqc-wRw_6Mt57psjGEs9lLgD9396F200">Karzai ally killed in battle with NATO troops</a></b><br />18.09.08. Noor Khan, AP.<br /><br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20796.htm">Senate Passes $612 bln Defense Spending Bill</a></b><br />18.09.08. Jim Wolf, Reuters / ICH. <u>including $70 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/19/usforeignpolicy.afghanistan">US wants $20bn to fund Afghanistan effort</a></b><br />19.09.08. Richard Norton-Taylor and Ian Black, Guardian. Thousands more soldiers will head for country; Allies who do not send troops should give money.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <b>4. Afghanistan: Refugees, Women, Opium</b><br /></div><br /><br />REFUGEES<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 317px; height: 211px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvbqWd9h5Z701isJLDLFpfygFYAa8mARdExP1cENc_v2fSL-h0MlMpx4_JuTH7TmPknZdW_cewZavQQqw5ap-TCt1di7TAfULXlGpJ5oLNvagt2bEfraoMpZXtWsTTSwdKo0Tx/s400/aljazeera_photo1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769025319019202" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2008/08/2008812135027967466.html">Al jazeera </a></span><br /></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2008/08/2008812135027967466.html">Afghanistan's refugee challenge</a></b><br />12.08.08. Aunohita Mojumdar, al jazeera. With five million refugees repatriated since 2001 and three million still harboured mainly in Pakistan and Iran, Afghanistan continues to face formidable challenges in addressing the needs of its refugee population.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav091108a.shtml">AFGHANISTAN: REMEMBERING AFGHAN REFUGEES</a></b><br />11.09.08. M. Ashraf Haidari, eurasianet. the international commitment to Afghanistan seems to have lost traction. One way that Americans can honor the September 11 victims is by keeping Afghan reconstruction efforts on course, and doing their part to ensure that millions of Afghan refugees feel secure enough to return home.<br /><br /><br />FAMINE<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmdm_O-azB_YOGPaV_iwZgYh0msXJyb0c07SnsgYYxGU2GA7PNHmjnVqnSzzzWarDEhiooYdVvRpfLBV-yp-qPIlJJ_veLnkb72VH-5Do3Pa5XwGckLWRV6ecYhRfucGO44kP/s400/national_ph2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769030028935986" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080828/FOREIGN/997896019/1103">Photo Chris Sands</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080828/FOREIGN/997896019/1103">Good security, but empty stomachs</a></b><br />28.08.08. the national.ae. For villagers across the central province of Bamiyan, life is a constant battle for survival.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=321171">Afghanistan faces humanitarian crisis -UK's Oxfam</a></b><br />30.08.08. Reuters / Wired. Afghanistan needs urgent help to avert a humanitarian crisis this winter, with millions facing some of the worst conditions for more than 20 years, [Oxfam] said on Saturday. / Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world with more than half of the population living below the poverty line and millions of Afghans facing constant food shortages. / About 1,000 people died in the last, exceptionally severe winter marked by bitter cold and heavy snowfall.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10127">Disaster in Afghanistan</a></b><br />O1.09.08. John W. Warnock, Global Research, ca. .. The focus of the mass media is almost entirely on the military activities of the Canadian and NATO forces. There is absolutely no coverage of political developments. The news on the economy is limited to the state of the poppy industry. This is no accident. The North American media, including the CBC, has strongly supported the U.S./NATO strategy and the administration of President Hamid Karzai. Contrary to the mainstream message, things are not going well. Topics include: Rise in civilian casualties; The approaching famine; What is happening to womens rights? Change of regime in Afghanistan; Canadian government stresses militarism;<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/19/world/asia/19afghan.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">War and Drought Threaten Afghan Food Supply</a></b><br />18.09.08. CARLOTTA GALL, NY Times. A pitiable harvest this year has left small farmers all over central and northern Afghanistan facing hunger, and aid officials are warning of an acute food shortage this winter for nine million Afghans, more than a quarter of the population.<br /><br /><br />WOMEN AND CHILDREN<br /><br /><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Malalai_Joya_speaking_in_Finland.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Malalai_Joya_speaking_in_Finland.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Malalai_Joya_speaking_in_Finland.jpg">Malalai Joya </a> Wikimedia </div><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/sulehria08182008.html">An Afghan Woman Who Stands Up to the Warlords</a></b><br />18,08.08. Farooq Sulehria, counterpunch. Afghanistan lives in the fear of the US-sponsored war lords. These hated warlords are not scared by the Taliban-monster raising its head in the south. Ironically, they live in the fear of an unarmed girl in her late twenties: Malalai Joya. [interview with Malalai Joya]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.womankind.org.uk/takingstockdownloads.html">Taking Stock: Afghan Women and Girls </a></b><br />4 reports<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174970/ann_jones_afghan_women_behind_closed_doors">Afghan Women Behind Closed Doors</a></b><br />28.08.08. ANN JONES, Tomgram. Now, a promised new American surge in Afghanistan threatens to be too much, too late. Bent on victory again, Americans are easily manipulated by false information to call in air strikes and wipe out whole villages -- men, women, and children -- even with no enemy in sight. / You don't see women among the protesters because they are at home behind closed doors, confined, just as they were before the American "liberation."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/5974708.html">Afghanistan's opium crop sowing misery for women</a></b><br />30.08.08., chron com. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said Afghanistan now produces about 93 percent of the world's opium, yielding an estimated $3 billion a year. / The UNODC statistics also indicate the amount of opium cultivated here has <u>increased every year</u> since 2001, when the U.S. military first deposed the Taliban. [stories of women]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/2008/09/self-immolation.html">Self-Immolation On The Rise Among Women</a></b><br />09.09.08. IRIN. Human Security Report Project. EXCERPT: "Over the past six months, at least 47 self-immolation cases have been recorded by Herat city hospital alone, of whom seven were saved but 40 died.<br /><br /><em>Rape</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://life-afghanistan.blogspot.com/2008/09/afghanistans-epidemic-of-child-rape.html">Afghanistan's Epidemic of Child Rape</a></b><br />01.09.08. life Afghanistan. Child rape is on the rise in Afghanistan's northern provinces, part of a general increase in crime that is largely overshadowed by an equally disturbing spread of insurgency.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/islamsadvance/2008/09/facing_up_to_rape_in_afghanist.html">Facing Up to Rape in Afghanistan</a></b><br />11.09.08. Washington Post. Rape is an endemic problem in Afghanistan. Whether women are forced into arranged marriages as child brides, or attacked by family members or local warlords, they are often held responsible for their own victimization. / Zarghuna, who ran the BBC's Afghan Women's Hour for three years, has spoken to dozens of abused women and is currently writing a book about women in Afghanistan. Here, she tells the story of the family of one rape victim and their search for justice.<br /><br /><em> Trafficking </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.trendaz.com/?show=news&newsid=1297389&lang=EN">Rise in Trafficking Facts in Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.09.08. trendaz.<br /><br /><br />OPIUM<br /><br /><u>Report</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/cjcn-7j7jjw?opendocument&rss=rwmaps">Afghanistan Opium Survey, 2008</a></b><br />August 2008. Relief Web. "The total opium cultivation in 2008 in Afghanistan is estimated at 157,000 hectares (ha), a19% reduction compared to 2007.<br /><br /><u>General</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=45955&s2=27">Karzai 'protecting drug lords'</a></b><br />24.07.08. AlJazeera.net/uruknet. Hillary Mann Leverett, a former US National Security Council official for Afghanistan told Al Jazeera that the US knew that government ministers in Afghanistan, including the minister of defence in 2002, were involved in drug trafficking. .. / She added that the US government chose to work with them in an attempt to stop Afghanistan becoming a haven for al-Qaeda.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/stories/200807/s2314310.htm">Leader denies Afghanistan shields drug trade</a></b><br />25.07.08. radio Australia<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp9c5Scl_BWP09eyN6aEPMf_vASHbiLPl6fclL4G8umKqIOCRkG6cEHrliABs1GjS1T6hnTxLvB3wEbhuZZayM8mnGqsfELikteh8QPSFrkeGKpZbkRHjT_pjMJIfFmDvTqjSV/s400/bbc_chart_ph3.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769030711111874" border="0" /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7582018.stm#chart"><span style="font-size:85%;">from BBC</span> </a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=315168">Bad weather, prices drive down Afghan drug crop</a></b><br />26.08.08. wired. Opium production dropped in Afghanistan this year for the first time since 2001, the United Nations said on Tuesday, but that may have more to do with the weather than international efforts to cut the drug crop.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/dc6dfa16-7497-11dd-bc91-0000779fd18c.html">Afghan harvest</a></b><br />28.08.08. financial times. The Afghan economy is still almost entirely dependent on narcotics revenue and aid. The US-led Nato mission is not winning against the Taliban. And this graveyard of empires is once again in danger of failing as a state and being overrun by insurgents sustained by almost limitless drugs funds / The US and Nato's reliance on air power is killing too many civilians.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csdp.org/news/news/afghanistan_082808.htm">Despite Slight Decrease, Afghanistan Opium Production Near Record High</a></b><br />29.08.08. csdp. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime recently released the executive summary of its annual Afghanistan Opium Survey. The <u>UN's spin: land area devoted to opium production in Afghanistan dropped by about one-fifth from the year before, a dramatic decrease</u>. The rest of the story: <b>2008's estimated opium crop was the second largest in Afghan history</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=8a20382a-090a-430e-8fa0-c370763f60d5">AFGHANISTAN'S POPPY FIELDS</a></b><br />29.08.08. Scott Deveau , Canwest News Service / INL. Drugs and the insurgency feed each other so they must be fought together if the western forces are going to succeed, officials say<br /><br /><b><a href="http://revolutionradio.org/2008/08/30/the-real-drug-lords/">The Real Drug Lords</a></b><br />30.08.08. William Blum, revolution radio. A brief history of CIA involvement in the Drug Trade. France, SE Asia, Indochina, Australia, Panama, Central America, Afghanistan, Haiti.<br /><br />1980s to early 1990s, AFGHANISTAN: ClA-supported Moujahedeen rebels engaged heavily in drug trafficking while fighting against the Soviet-supported govemment and its plans to reform the very backward Afghan society. The Agencys principal client was Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the leading druglords and leading heroin refiner. CIA supplied trucks and mules, which had carried arms into Afghanistan, were used to transport opium to laboratories along the Afghan Pakistan border. The output provided up to one half of the heroin used annually in the United States and three-quarters of that used in Western Europe. US officials admitted in 1990 that they had failed to investigate or take action against the drug operabon because of a desire not to offend their Pakistani and Afghan allies. In 1993, an official of the DEA called Afghanistan the new Colombia of the drug world.<br /><br /><u>Video</u><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL41kwEA3dE"> Afghans resorting to heroin </a> (al jazeera)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nyu.edu/socialwork/ip/news/article-1028504-01B56AEA00000578-254_468x620.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.nyu.edu/socialwork/ip/news/article-1028504-01B56AEA00000578-254_468x620.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.nyu.edu/socialwork/ip/news/article-1028504-01B56AEA00000578-254_468x620.jpg">Poppy fields, Hampshire</a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.bluelight.ru/vb/showthread.php?t=394544">UK produces more opium than 24 of Afghanistan's 35 provinces</a></b><br />02.09.08. bluelight. According to Dr. Liam Fox, Shadow Defence Secretary, in 2007 the UK was the 11th largest producer of opium poppy. / the UK ranks an astonishing 11th place in the amount of opium poppy production in 2007. Figures released by the U.S. State Department show that in 2007 the UK grew more opium poppy than Pakistan.'<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/2008/09/top-afghan-anti.html">Top Afghan Anti-Drugs Judge Murdered</a></b><br />04.09.08. afghan conflict monitor. Gunmen shot dead Alim Hanif, chief judge of the Central Narcotics Tribunal appeals court, soon after he left home to go to work.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://albertbenjaminhoward.blogspot.com/2008/09/accused-afghan-drug-lord-goes-on-trial.html">Accused Afghan Drug Lord Goes on Trial in New York </a></b><br />10.09.08. albertbenjaminhoward. Jury selection began in the case of Bashir Noorzai, 47, a former tribal leader suspected of smuggling more than $50 million worth of heroin into the United States and Europe. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/11/iran.afghanistan">Failed Afghan drug policy harming us, says Iran</a></b><br />11.09.08. J. Borger, Guardian. Heroin addiction on rise, Tehran official warns Britain points to decrease in land used for cultivation. ran's deputy foreign minister, Mehdi Safari, made the complaint at the end of a three-day visit to Britain, after talks with the foreign secretary, David Miliband, and other Foreign Office and Downing Street officials, in an attempt to improve relations. One of the few areas of cooperation between Iran and Britain is counter-narcotics, but Safari expressed frustration at what the Iranian government sees as a lack of progress. / "Unfortunately the situation in Afghanistan every day is getting worse and worse. If you compare it to five or six years ago, it is more than gloomy," Safari told the Guardian.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.asianews.com.pk/india-on-us-20-major-illicit-drug-transitproducers-list-9377">India on US` 20 major illicit drug transit/producers list</a></b><br />17.09.08. asia news. The US has placed India and 19 other nations on a list of major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries while noting New Delhis strong track record of regulating its licit opium production. / Pakistan, Afghanistan and Burma also figured among the countries so identified for fiscal year 2009 in a report sent to Congress Tuesday by President George Bush under Foreign Relations Authorisation Act 2003.<br /><br /><br /><a id="5000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>5. Pakistan</b><br /></div><br /><br />REPORTS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33498.pdf">"Pakistan-U.S. Relations," </a></b><br />updated August 25, 2008 (pdf)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cfr.org/publication/16763/">Securing Pakistans Tribal Belt</a></b><br />Daniel Markey, Council on Foreign Relations Special Report no. 36,<br />July-August 2008. (pdf)<br /><br /><u> comment on this report</u><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.countercurrents.org/mitha170908.htm"></a><br />17.09.08, G. Asgar Mitha, counterurrents). The result of an offensive by either Pakistans military or US/ NATO would be to push the insurgents from FATA into other areas of Pakistan thus sacrificing its national security but ensuring security for US in Afghanistan. The Taliban and Al-Qaeda will have no difficulty in finding shelter and support in Pakistans rural and urban areas. The net effect may be anarchy or at the worse a civil war requiring the army to use firepower against their own people.<br /><br /><br />GENERAL<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_PAKISTAN_AFGHAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-08-28-12-24-12">Pentagon brass meet secretly with Pakistanis: US coalition</a></b><br />28.08.08. AP / ICH. With violence worsening in Afghanistan and Pakistan, top U.S. military officers conducted a secret strategy session with commanders from Islamabad on an aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean. / The meeting aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln was the latest of several between <u>Adm. Mike Mullen</u>, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and General Ashfaq Kayani, chief of staff of the Pakistani army. (Also attended: Gen. David Petraeus, Adm. Eric T. Olson, Gen. David McKiernan, NATO's commander in Afghanistan and Rear Adm. Michael LeFever, American military liaison in Pakistan.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JI06Df01.html">Afghanistan's war has a new battlefield</a></b><br />06.09.08. SYED SALEEM SHAHZAD, asia times. Barely a week after a meeting on the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Indian Ocean American special forces carried out two attacks inside Pakistan.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10015">Pakistan: "The Taliban's Godfather"?</a></b><br />31.08.08. National Security Archive/Global Research. Documents Detail Years of Pakistani Support for Taliban, Extremists<br /><br /><u>Video</u><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xcvuyvV9oM&feature=user"> Bordering on Chaos: Pakistan's porous state lines</a> (03.09.08. James Bays, al jazeera video)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=68455&sectionid=351020401">Poll: US seeking to grab Pak nukes</a></b><br />04.09.08. presstv / ICH. Many people believe that the United States is wreaking mayhem in Pakistan to take control of its nuclear arsenal, a new poll indicates. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/09/three-judges-reappointed-to-pakistan.php">Three judges reappointed to Pakistan high court</a></b><br />05.09.08. The Jurist.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gLdd7jua41lYPvVzJoxCALwGFd7Q">Nato pledge over cross-border raids</a></b><br />11.09.08. The Press Association<br />Nato troops in Afghanistan will not launch raids into Pakistan, an alliance spokesman said. /.. The United States maintains a counterterrorism force of several thousand in Afghanistan operating outside the Nato mission.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20761.htm">Zardari is the New Musharraf</a></b><br />15.09.08. Eric S. Margolis, khaleej times / ICH. The US has been in a bizarre state of semi-war against its 'ally' Pakistan for months, launching covert ground and air raids into its territory while claiming to be a close ally of Islamabad in the so-called war on terror. This week, it was revealed that President George Bush has given the Pentagon the green light to launch major ground attacks inside Pakistan's tribal territory.<br /><br /><br />REFUGEES<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir7k71RtYglUlJasj0YMGE9tiff26p36G68cI5n5tvhfPE_p-yqWfTSEfMXQrAFGyejrApuM5z0ioUmliU_7DmhGcnIN3Cn1fng8uFohGDmlu39-xyGphs-kJp_A5nTeykUMSi/s400/aljazeera_ph4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769033736646978" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/pakistanpowerandpolitics/2008/08/200881742224605612.html">Al jazeera</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/pakistanpowerandpolitics/2008/08/200881742224605612.html">Refugee crisis brews in Pakistan</a></b><br />17.08.08. Kamran Rehmat , aljazeera. News of clashes in Pakistan's tribal areas and the fate of thousands of refugees fleeing the fighting have been overshadowed by the country's focus on Islamabad's growing power struggle.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/26/AR2008082603419_pf.html">Pakistani Push in Tribal Areas Triggers a Flood of Refugees</a></b><br />27.08.08. Candace Rondeaux, Washington post. An estimated 200,000 people from the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan have been displaced since the Pakistani army launched the Bajaur operation early this month in response to growing U.S. pressure to take action against the Taliban in the region, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. / Local officials say the flood of refugees into northwestern and central Pakistan has overwhelmed cities such as Peshawar. And as the army began to push into the tribal area of Kurram last week, government officials in cities as far away as Karachi were bracing for more waves of people. / The political and economic fallout from Pakistan's push against the Taliban and al-Qaeda has widened into a major humanitarian crisis, analysts and local officials here say.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/08/31/asia/pakistan.php">Cease-fire by Pakistan in attacks on militants</a></b><br />31.08.08. Jane Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah, IHT. The Pakistani military, which has been criticized by Washington for not pushing hard enough against Taliban militants, has used jet fighters and helicopter gunships in the past three weeks to strike at insurgents who pour over the border to attack American forces in Afghanistan. .. / But as a result of the air campaign, <u>more than 200,000 civilians have fled their homes</u>, according to the World Health Organization and Unicef, which are providing assistance in the area. Many of the refugees, who are now squatting in makeshift camps or bunking with extended families, are angry at the deaths of relatives and the destruction of property. <u>More than 40,000 people from Bajaur are now refugees in Afghanistan</u>, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=239275&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23">Thousands displaced by Pakistans war on terror</a></b><br />03.09.08. gulf times / INL. As many as 300,000 people have fled from their homes in a matter of weeks. Some are staying with friends and family in safer areas, but many are relying on temporary camps and assistance from NGOs and the government.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtwMGDI1hbpEh9jOFOicncY7od3fZizWyI8bonjr2OxA4jq78frhs5zX6j75Hfshf8oIFhUu2o7bvDs8IP95Xifuh6U8Tea5znfGQDSX2n4MKlzpUfhPYcCq0W7GTs-W5SE2Wy/s400/abc_ph5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769036913589650" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=5785654">AP Photo/Sherin Zada</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7609886.stm">Pakistan's counter-insurgency quandary</a></b><br />11.09.08. Barbara Plett, BBC. More than 2,000 people have fled to the camp to escape an army bombing campaign against the local Taleban in the <u>Bajaur</u> tribal area near the Afghan border. More civilians were killed than militants, they say.<br /><br /><u> VIDEO</u><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_srA_1gssxk"> Pakistan's refugees on the border of chaos </a> (al jazeera, 04.09.08)<br /><br /><br />DEAD IN PAKISTAN<br /><br />[<em> NB: Most suicide attacks have been omitted </em>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26424939/">Fighting flares along Pakistan border</a></b><br />27.08.08. MSNBC. Security forces repel Taliban attack, claim <b>49</b> insurgents killed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/08/27/over-100-killed-in-fighting-along-afghan-pakistan-border/">Around 150 Killed in Fighting Along Afghan-Pakistan Border</a></b><br />27.08.08. anti-war. Meanwhile, in Pakistan, fighting continued in the restive Bajaur agency. Pakistani military spokesman said <b>30</b> were killed in a shelling after militants holed up in a health center.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1427540.php/Roadside_bombing_clashes_leave_31_dead_in_Pakistan__2nd_Roundup_">Roadside bombing, clashes leave 31 dead in Pakistan (2nd Roundup)</a></b><br />28.08.08. monsters and critics. Islamabad - Government forces killed 23 militants in three separate clashes while eight people, most of them policemen, were killed Thursday in a roadside bombing in Pakistan's restive North- West Frontier Province (NWFP), officials said.<br /><br /><u> Swat Valley</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080829%5CACQRTT200808291622RTTRADERUSEQUITY_0875.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.nasd">Two-dozen "Taliban militants" killed in Pakistan's Swat valley</a></b><br />-.08.08. RTT / ICH. An aerial raid targeting Maulana Fazlullah, who has been leading an Islamic insurgency in Pakistan's Swat region for the enforcement of Taliban rule since last year, resulted in the death of two dozens of pro-Taliban militants, reports quoting security officials said.<br /><br /><u>S. Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hnau8mhpgrxgcBUZXy4cKwBM-0Zg">Missile strike kills five near Afghan border</a></b><br />30.08.08. AP. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) At least <b>five</b> people were killed when a missile fired from Afghanistan hit a suspected rebel hideout Saturday in Pakistan's South Waziristan / There has been a series of missile attacks on militants in Pakistan in recent weeks attributed to US-led coalition forces or CIA drones based in Afghanistan.<br /><em>And/or? </em><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24273488-5005961,00.html">Six dead in Pakistan missile strike</a></b><br />01.09.08. news com.au. A MISSILE fired from an unmanned aircraft hit a house in a restive Pakistani tribal area overnight, killing six people <u>including a woman and a young girl</u>, residents and officials said.<br /><br /><u>Kurram Agency</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=53763">Kurram clashes claim 95 lives</a></b><br />31.08.08. int news. In the last one and half years of tribal clashes in Kurram Agency 1500 people have been killed and about 5000 injured.<br /><br /><u> Bajaur</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/01/content_9751972.htm">10 killed in shelling in Pakistan's tribal area</a></b><br />01.09.08. xinhuanet. <b>10</b> killed in shelling in Pakistan's tribal area<br />The 10 people, <u>mostly women and children</u> belonging to the same family were killed when a shell fired by security forces against the militants landed at their house at the town of Enayat Qila in Bajaur tribal region, according to NNI.<br /><br /><u>Peuchar, Swat Valley</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=326920">US-led forces alleged involved in Pakistan attack</a></b><br />02.09.08. Ishtiaq Mahsud, AP / anti-war. US-led forces alleged involved in Pakistan attack; at least <b>15</b> said killed<br /><em>and/or</em><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=16995">15 militants among <u>25</u> killed in Swat</a></b><br />03.09.08. the int. news. Fifteen militants, including a leading commander, and <b>10 civilians</b> were killed and 25 others injured in heavy bombardment carried out by jet fighters on the Taliban strongholds in Peuchar area of the troubled Swat Valley on Tuesday.<br /><br /><br /><b> FIRST US INVASION OF PAKISTAN (03.09.07)</b><br /><br />"<em>From this day forward any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime</em>."<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html"> George Bush </a> (20.11.01)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/03/AR2008090300523.html?hpid=topnews">U.S., Afghan Troops Kill 20 in Pakistan</a></b><br />03.09.08. Washington Post. At least 20 people were killed in northwest Pakistan on Wednesday after U.S. and Afghan troops crossed from Afghanistan to pursue Taliban insurgents in an early morning attack that marked the first known instance in which U.S. forces conducted an operation on Pakistani soil since the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan began, according to witnesses and a Pakistani official. / But <b>the arrival of three U.S. helicopters in the village of Musa Nika, clearly inside the Pakistani border, drew a sharp response from Pakistani officials</b>. <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20679.htm"> Hafiz Wazir </a> says this assault <u>included women and children</u>. Anti-war.com has links to stories of officials who <a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/03/outrage-in-pakistan-as-us-attack-kills-20/"> confirmed </a> the attack.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/world/asia/04attack.html?_r=3&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">American Forces Attack Militants on Pakistani Soil</a></b><br />03.09.08. NY Times. But the commando raid by the American forces signaled what top American officials said could be the opening salvo in a much broader campaign by Special Operations forces against the Taliban and Al Qaeda <u>inside Pakistan</u>, a secret plan that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has been advocating for months within President Bushs war council. / While most American troops in Afghanistan operate under a NATO chain of command, the Special Operations forces who carried out this attack <u>answer only to American commanders</u>. .. / There were <u>conflicting reports about civilian casualties</u> in the operation. American officials said <b> one child</b> had been killed in the strike; a Pakistani military spokesman said the American troops had opened fire on villagers, killing <b>seven</b> people. .. / The Pakistani official said that American military officers in the field had become increasingly vocal about the need for unilateral strikes inside the tribal areas, but that their intelligence [<em>sic</em>] about the location of militant leaders was no better than it had been in the past.<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/04/18_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/09/04/18_01.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/09/us-special-oper.html">U.S. Commandos Hit Pakistan; Islamabad Howls</a></b><br />04.09.08. Noah Shachtman, Reuters. U.S. and Afghan special operations troops attacked militants in Pakistan yesterday -- "the first publicly acknowledged case of United States forces conducting a ground raid on Pakistani soil," according to the New York Times. / Dawn, the Pakistani paper, claims "<b>20</b> people, most of them women and children, were killed" in the assault.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/09/20089313256901630.html">Civilians killed in Pakistan attack</a></b><br />04.09.08, aljazeera.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080904/wl_nm/pakistan_usa_dc">Pakistanis furious over U.S.-led border raid</a></b><br />04.09.08. Reuters / ICH. "We will not compromise on any violation of our sovereignty," [foreign minister] Qureshi told the National Assembly.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601091&sid=aaxRkoC8rvNk&refer=india">Pakistan Summons U.S. Ambassador Over Raid on Village</a></b><br />04.09.08. Bloomberg. Pakistan's military said <b>seven</b>``innocent civilians'' were killed in the raid on Angoor Adda in South Waziristan in the tribal area bordering Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://channels.isp.netscape.com/celebrity/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20080904/0903881042.htm">Pakistani parliament condemns US-led attack</a></b><br />04.09.08. isp / ICH. Parliament passed resolutions Thursday condemning an American-led attack in Pakistani territory after the government summoned the U.S. ambassador to protest the unusually bold raid that officials say killed at least 15 people.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2008/09/04/p28375">US invade Pakistan but no complaints from the international community. </a></b><br />04.09.08. William Bowles, Peoples Voice. Talk about double-standards! Note that the BBC puts the US assault in single quotes and talks of an alleged cross-border raid which calls into question whether or not the US-led coalition of the willing did in fact assault, invade or otherwise use its helicopter gunships against yet another sovereign nation killing perhaps twenty people some of which are, by one report, children (US forces kill 20 in Pakistan cross-border raid). / Predictably of course, the US denies that it assaulted Pakistan. The <u>BBC is not merely the mouthpiece for the UK state but also for the US</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=329439">U.S. special forces carried out Pakistan raid</a></b><br />04.09.08. Reuters. The Bush administration has not officially acknowledged any involvement in the Wednesday attack on the village of Angor Adda that killed up to 20 people, including women and children, according to Pakistani officials. / Pentagon officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the raid by special operations forces targeted suspected al Qaeda operatives and signaled a possible intensification of American efforts to disrupt militant safe havens in Pakistan.<br /><br />Number variants: AFP and Press Trust of India report <u> three children</u> killed; Express India reports <u>five</u> children killed; a later AFP story reports <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080905/wl_sthasia_afp/pakistanafghanistanunrestmissile;_ylt=A0wNcxTZW8FIFg0BHCBvaA8F"> 5 killed</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/symonds050908.htm">US Attack Inside Pakistan Threatens Dangerous New War </a></b><br />05.09.08. Peter Symonds, countercurrents. A ground assault by US Special Forces troops on a Pakistani village on Wednesday threatens to expand the escalating Afghanistan war into its neighbour.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/2680940/US-forces-violate-Pakistan-territory-with-attack-on-Taliban.html">US forces 'violate' Pakistan territory with attack on Taliban</a></b><br />05.09.08. Telegraph / INL. American forces have conducted a raid inside Pakistan the first known foreign ground assault [read invasion] in the country against a suspected Taliban haven.<br /><br /><br />Tom Feeley (ICH) writes: <em>Try not to laugh</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51740&Itemid=39">US respects Pakistan's sovereignty, always grieves loss of innocent life- White House</a></b><br />05.09.08. app.com,.pak / ICH. The United States respects Pakistan's sovereignty and always grieves loss of innocent life, a White House official said Friday without specifically commenting on any US-led coalition forces action on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border. "We respect their sovereignty and we support their new civilian government,"White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said.<br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/porter/?articleid=13434">Intel Council Warned Against Raids in Pakistan</a></b><br />09.09.08. Gareth Porter, anti-war. The National Intelligence Council, the U.S. intelligence community's focal point for estimating future developments, warned the George W. Bush administration last month that a decision to launch commando raids by U.S. troops against al-Qaeda-related targets in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier region would carry a high risk of further destabilizing the Pakistani military and government, according to sources familiar with the intelligence community's response to the issue.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080911_quagmire_phase_2_the_invasion_of_pakistan%7B">Quagmire, Phase 2: The Invasion of Pakistan</a></b><br />11.09.08. William Pfaff, truthdigg. The United States has just invaded Cambodia. The name of Cambodia this time is Pakistan, but otherwise its the same story as in Indochina in 1970.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/14/the-gloves-have-come-off-us-attack-in-pakistan-no-isolated-incident/">The Gloves Have Come Off - US Attack in Pakistan No Isolated Incident</a></b><br />14.09.08. anti-war.. An early morning attack on a South Waziristan village by US helicopters and ground forces on September 3rd may have been unprecedented, but according to a report by National Public Radio, this was no isolated incident but rather phase one of a three stage plan to escalate attacks in Pakistani tribal regions aimed at targeting al-Qaeda safe havens. NPR quotes one source as saying the gloves have come off./ Though neither the Pentagon nor the Bush Administration would discuss the report, it is in keeping with other reports received in the past few days regarding a secret directive by the Bush Administration which came to light last week. The directive came entirely without approval from Pakistans recently elected civilian government or its military, according to officials.<br /><br /><u>N. Waziristan</u> [Kills 4 / 6]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080904/ts_nm/pakistan_missile_dc">Four killed in suspected U.S. drone attack in Pakistan</a></b><br />04.09.08. Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/04/as-pakistan-election-looms-fresh-waziristan-strike-kills-six-civilians/">As Pakistan Election Looms, Fresh US Strike in Waziristan Kills Six Civilians</a></b><br />04.09.08. anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=54179">Drone planes air strike kills six in North Waziristan</a></b><br />05.09.08. the news.pk./ICH. At least <b>six</b> more people have been killed and four injured as another missile strike was lodged by spy plane in Muhammad Khale area of Miramshah on Thursday.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYLv1zzqTL_S3bHacq6uX-zbV9J9RW6RdjD9JgyVOkHyl-js4gWrUBWy5NnId4Yk6Nt1FgFjh9DgRwjEopV39InjRbxggwne2lGRMCCmcVYbwi7Lx7sDRjqFnAe44qD28mqAFx/s400/reuters_ph6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769354661637698" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">anti-government and anti-U.S slogans in Karachi,<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/pictures/ISL14.htm"> Photo REUTERS/MOHSIN RAZA</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=134181">Rallies condemn US attacks on Pak soil</a></b><br />06.09.08. the int.news. The protestors, led by Saad Khan, gathered near Bilal Mosque in Hayatabad. .. Saad Khan said the US commandos had killed innocent women and children but the rulers had failed to protect the sovereignty of Pakistan. /Though neither the Pentagon nor the Bush Administration would discuss the report, it is in keeping with other reports received in the past few days regarding a secret directive by the Bush Administration which came to light last week. The directive came entirely without approval from Pakistans recently elected civilian government or its military, according to officials.<br /><br /><u>Waziristan </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/09/2008985226998512.html">Civilian deaths in Pakistan attack</a></b><br />08.09.08. aljazeera. At least <b>17</b> people have been killed in a missile attack on a Pakistani village near the Afghan border, witnesses and officials say. A religious school founded by Jalaluddin Haqqani, a Taliban leader, was the apparent target of the attack on Monday near Miranshah, capital of North Waziristan. Witnesses said two unmanned aircraft fired six missiles at the school and nearby houses. / Doctors reported that more than 20 wounded - <u>mostly women and children</u> - were taken to Miranshah's main hospital. / Monday's raid is the <u>fourth suspected cross-border strike</u> in the rugged tribal region by the US in almost a week.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/us-attack-kills-several-pakistan">US Attack Kills Several in Pakistan</a></b><br />08.09.08. J. Perlez and P. Zubair Shah, NYT / Truthout: "Five missiles fired from an American pilotless drone aircraft Monday hit a large compound in North Waziristan belonging to one of Pakistans most prominent Taliban leaders, a Pakistani intelligence official and a local resident said. The missile attack at about 10:20 Monday morning killed <b>nine</b> people, <u>including two children</u>, and injured up to 18, according to the account from the intelligence official.<br /><br />(<b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/09/pakistan-preten.html">Pakistan Pretends to Fight Taliban, for U.S. Cash</a></b><br />08.09.08. Noah Shachtman, wired. Perhaps, despite all the evidence, you still believe that Pakistan is an authentic American ally, against Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Dexter Filkins' remarkable story in this week's New York Times Magazine ought to cure you of any such notions )<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24314547-25837,00.html">Missiles stir Pakistani fury at US 'invaders'</a></b><br />09.09.08. Australian news/ICH. The attack .. was the fourth such assault in less than a week. / Pakistani officials say such attacks are counter-productive in the war against terror, since they provoke widespread outrage and increase support for the militants among local people. / Despite Pakistani outrage, <u>Washington is reportedly determined to press ahead with cross-border raids targeting militants</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/porter/?articleid=13434">Intel Council Warned Against Raids in Pakistan</a></b><br />09.09.08. Gareth Porter, anti-war. The National Intelligence Council, the U.S. intelligence community's focal point for estimating future developments, warned the George W. Bush administration last month that a decision to launch commando raids by U.S. troops against al-Qaeda-related targets in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier region would carry a high risk of further destabilizing the Pakistani military and government, according to sources familiar with the intelligence community's response to the issue.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/washington/11policy.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">Bush Said to Give Orders Allowing Raids in Pakistan</a></b><br />10.09.08. E. Schmitt and M. Mazzetti, NY Times. <b>President Bush secretly approved orders in July that for the first time allow American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without the prior approval of the Pakistani government, according to senior American officials</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091103811.html">Pakistan Did Not Agree to New Rules, Officials Say</a></b><br />12.09.08. Karen DeYoung, Washington Post. New rules of engagement authorizing U.S. ground attacks inside Pakistan, signed by President Bush in July, were not agreed to by that country's civilian government or its military, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials. / ... Meanwhile, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said at a news conference in Kabul that he approved of the new U.S. strategy, citing the need to "remove and destroy" insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan. But <u>NATO said it had no intention of sending any of the 48,000 troops under its command in Afghanistan across the border</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/3549B2222F0587E2652574C3001BD617?OpenDocument">US officials evade queries on Bush's approval to Pak raids</a></b><br />13.09.08. Ptinews. Amid strong reactions from Pakistan to US-led coalition forces' raids against militants on its soil, the Bush administration has refused to comment on the issue, evading queries on the reported go-ahead given to American special forces by President George Bush./ ..Asked whether the forces operating in Afghanistan had the powers to launch cross-border attacks, Defence Secretary Robert Gates refused to address the issue but said the commanders had the authority to protect their troops in Afghanistan. / "I would just say that our commanders, I think, have the authorities that they need to protect our troops in Afghanistan, and just leave it at that," Gates replied.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=338592">ANALYSIS-US strikes on Pakistan border may not halt al Qaeda</a></b><br />10.09.08. Reuters / anti-war. Renewed U.S. efforts to defeat al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban fighters based in the rugged, lawless Pakistan-Afghanistan border area may fall short because of an incomplete strategy and lack of local support.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u> North Waziristan: Haqqani </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=335742">U.S. drones kill 23 in missile attack in Pakistan</a></b><br />08.09.08. Reuters. Those killed included one of the several wives of Haqqani, his sister-in-law, a sister, two nieces, eight grandchildren and a male relative. A son-in-law of Haqqani was wounded.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47076&s2=09">At Least 23 Killed as US Drones Attack School in North Waziristan </a></b><br />08.09.08. Jason Ditz, Antiwar.com.uruknet. This morning two US Predator Drones attacked a small village two miles north of Miramshah in Pakistans North Waziristan Agency, killing at least 23 and wounding 20 others. Ten of those killed were said by officials to be militants although a previous official was quoted as saying "no foreign militant was killed" in the strike. <u>At least four women and two children were reported among the dead and most of the wounded are also reported to be women and children</u>...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.infowars.com/?p=4423">U.S. Slaughters Family of Former CIA Asset in Waziristan</a></b><br />08.09.08. Kurt Nimmo, info wars / legitgov. It doesnt pay to have worked with the CIA. Jalaluddin Haqqani apparently found that out after missiles fired by U.S. drones killed several of his wives, his sister-in-law, a sister, two nieces, eight grandchildren and a male relative in North Waziristan. Haqqani is described as a Taliban leader with close ties to the dead Osama bin Laden... Haqqanis links with bin Laden go back to the late 1980s." In other words, Haqqani was a CIA and Pakistan ISI asset.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=340729:%3EU.S.%20attacks%20Haqqani%20network%20again%20in%20Afghanistan%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3E11.09.08.%20%20Reuters.%20U.S.-led%20forces%20targeted%20Taliban%20fighters%20in%20eastern%20and%20southeast%20Afghanistan,%20including%20veteran%20commander%20Jalaluddin%20Haqqani%27s%20network,%20killing%20several%20militants,%20the%20U.S.%20military%20said%20on%20Thursday.%20The%20raids%20came%20days%20after%20U.S.%20drones%20fired%20missiles%20into%20Pakistan%27s%20tribal%20area%20killing%2023%20people,%20mostly%20relatives%20of%20Haqqani%20who%20was%20once%20backed%20by%20the%20United%20States%20during%20the%20war%20against%20the%20Soviet%20invasion%20and%20occupation.%3Cbr%3E%3C/td%3E%3C/tr%3E%3C/tbody%3E%3C/table%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" com="" atimes="" south_asia="" html="">US's 'good' war hits Pakistan hard</a></b><br />10.09.08. Syed Saleem Shahza, Asia Times. Seven years after the United States led the invasion of Afghanistan in search of al-Qaeda and to topple the Taliban government, US President George W Bush has added neighboring Pakistan to the list of countries that are "a major 'war on terror' battleground", while also announcing a "quiet surge" of troops into Afghanistan. Subtitle: In the line of US fire: That the US set its sights on the Haqqanis is perplexing, and - given the failed outcome - indicates that it struck with inadequate, if any, input from Pakistan.</td></tr></table><br /><br /><u>Swat Valley</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080908%5CACQDJON200809080253DOWJONESDJONLINE000061.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.na">10 Militants Killed In Northwest Pakistan Fighting Army</a></b><br />09.08.08. nasdaq/ICH. Fighting between soldiers and militants erupted in the Kabal district of Swat valley late Sunday and continued until dawn, a military spokesman said. / "We have confirmation that at least 10 militants were killed," spokesman Col. Nadeem Anwar said. / .. The clashes erupted after militants hurled a grenade into a group of soldiers on a golf course in Kabal, wounding two soldiers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7609073.stm">US to focus on Pakistani border</a></b><br />10.09.08. BBC. The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has called for a new strategy in Afghanistan which will deny militants bases across the border in Pakistan. Adm. Mike Mullen said he had asked for "a new, more comprehensive military strategy for the region that covers both sides of that border".<br /><br /><u> N. Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gN9azhQVGrJL4JPw2NeIOczvAbfgD933M1QG0">Officials: Al-Qaida operatives killed in Pakistan</a></b><br />10.09.08. Ishtiaq Mahsud, AP. Two top al-Qaida operatives were among four foreign militants killed in a suspected U.S. missile strike in Pakistan's volatile northwest, Pakistani intelligence officials said Wednesday.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=134966">End to loss of life, property in tribal areas demanded </a></b><br />10.09.08. InI news. The <a href="http://www.hrcp-web.org/about.cfm"> Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) </a> has asked the government to take meaningful steps to prevent loss of life and property in the tribal areas in raids by US-led coalition forces operating in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52319&Itemid=38">Pakistan's sovereignty, territorial integrity to be defended at all cost: Gen Ashfaq Kayani </a></b><br />10.09.08. AP. "There is no question of any agreement or understanding with the Coalition Forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border", says an ISPR press release issued here .<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/11/top1.htm">Kayani warns US to keep its troops out</a></b><br />11.09.08. Iftikhar A. Khan, dawn. Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has rejected US claims that the rules of engagement gave the coalition forces in Afghanistan the right to enter Pakistan and declared that the countrys sovereignty and territorial integrity will be defended at all costs.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/09/200891121313843992.html">Pakistan condemns US attack</a></b><br />11.09.08. aljazeera. General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani warned that the cross-border raid into the <u>South Waziristan</u> region could backfire, stoking militancy in a region Washington regards as a haven for al-Qaeda and the Taliban. / "Falling for short-term gains while ignoring our long-term interest is not the right way forward," he said on Wednesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/updates.asp?id=55067">Pakistan capable to tackle terrorism within its boundaries: PM</a></b><br />12.09.08. InI news. He [Yousuf Raza Gilani] said Pakistan enjoys amicable relations with all the countries and we will be able to bring the UK and US round to the fact that we are fully capable of tacking the scourge of terrorism ourselves.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=344093">Pakistan could end cooperation in war on terror</a></b><br />12.09.08. Paul Alexander, AP. Opposition says Pakistan could end cooperation in war on terror after cross-border US raids<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><u>South Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/2827257/Pakistani-fury-as-suspected-US-drone-attack-kills-12.html">Pakistani fury as suspected US drone attack kills 12</a></b><br />12.09.08. Aislinn Simpson, Telegraph A missile from a suspected US drone has killed 12 people in the lawless Pakistani tribal area linked to al-Qaeda, fuelling angry protests and threats of a withdraw from George W Bush's 'war on terror'.<br /><br /><u> Rashkai area of Bajaur district (Nwest)</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080910%5CACQRTT200809101452RTTRADERUSEQUITY_1109.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=">36 militants, six troops killed in fierce clashes in Pakistan</a></b><br />-.09.08. nasdaq. Fierce clashes between security forces and militants in north-west Pakistan resulted in the death of 36 militants and six troops Wednesday, reports quoting an army spokesman said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26660809/">Pakistani forces kill up to 100 militants</a></b><br />11.09.08. Reuters, MSNBC/ ICH. Pakistani security forces killed up to 100 al-Qaida-linked militants in fierce clashes in a volatile tribal region near the Afghan border on Thursday, a security official said.<br /><br /><u> Miramshah, N. Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=342602">Suspected missile strike kills 8 in Pakistan</a></b><br />12.09.08. AP. Two intelligence officials told The Associated press that the missiles struck a home near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region, before dawn.<br /><br />&<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47196&s2=13">Latest US Drone Strike in North Waziristan Kills at Least 14</a></b><br />12.09.08. Jason Ditz, Antiwar.com/uruk. Pakistans military has confirmed that at about 5:30 AM this morning a US drone struck a home and a former government school near the <u> North Waziristan town of Miramshah</u>. The strike killed at least 14 people and injured 12 others.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/another-us-raid-kills-12-pakistan">Another US Raid Kills 12 in Pakistan</a></b><br />12.09.08. Pir Zubair Shah and Alan Cowell, NY Times / truthout: "As the American campaign against suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban militants in Pakistan's tribal areas seemed to intensify on Friday, two missiles fired from a remotely piloted American aircraft killed <b>12</b> people on Friday in an attack on a village compound in North Waziristan, according to a local journalist and television reports."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=342951">Any U.S. blunder in Pakistan could aid al Qaeda</a></b><br />12.09.08. Reuters<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17205">Tribesmen threaten to scrap deal if US strikes continue</a></b><br />12.09.08. int news.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47201&s2=13">Army ordered to hit back</a></b><br />12.09.08. Afzal Khan/uruk. The Pakistan Army has been ordered to retaliate against any action by foreign troops inside the country, army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said on Friday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47200&s2=13">Pakistan could end cooperation in war on terror </a></b><br />12.09.08. Paul Alexander, AP, uruk. The furor intensified Friday over Washington's decision to pursue Islamic militant targets inside Pakistan, with opposition lawmakers threatening the country could pull out of the war on terror if the U.S. refuses to respect its borders. About 100 protesters burned American flags after the latest missile attack left at least <b>12</b> people dead in the North Waziristan region of the troubled northwest. Residents said they heard the sound of propeller-driven U.S. Predator drones circling overhead before the explosions. President Bush secretly approved more aggressive cross-border operations in July, current and former American officials have told The Associated Press...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=82.pakistan_us_lhr103.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=82.pakistan_us_lhr103.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47223&s2=14">Afghanistan: Pakistan fury at US cross-border attacks</a></b><br />14.09.08. Raymond Whitaker, Independent. Raids by US forces based in neighbouring Afghanistan risk undermining Islamabad's new civilian government.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/pp091208.shtml">U.S. COMMANDER CALLS FOR OPERATIONS IN PAKISTANI TRIBAL REGIONS</a></b><br />12.09.08. eurasianet. The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Admiral <u>Michael Mullen</u>, has announced that he is commissioning a new military strategy that will cover both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10179">President Bush authorises US ground operations inside Pakistan</a></b><br />12.09.08. Peter Symonds, global research.ca. In a reckless and criminal attempt to suppress the growing insurgency in Afghanistan, President Bush has secretly authorised the use of US Special Forces against targets inside the border areas of Pakistan. The first publicly acknowledged operation took place on September 3 when helicopter-borne soldiers landed at a village in South Waziristan, attacked three compounds and slaughtered at least 20 people.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/12/usforeignpolicy.usa">Bush secret order to send special forces into Pakistan</a></b><br />12.09.08. Guardian / ICH. Simon Tisdall. The unprecedented executive order, signed by Bush in July after an intense internal administration debate, comes amid western concern that the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan and its al-Qaida backers based in "safe havens" in western Pakistan's tribal belt is being lost; White House seeks British backing<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf/0/3549B2222F0587E2652574C3001BD617">US officials evade queries on Bush's approval to Pak raids</a></b><br />13.09.08. press trust of India/legitgov. Amid strong reactions from Pakistan to US-led coalition forces' raids against militants on its soil, the Bush administration has refused to comment on the issue, evading queries on the reported go-ahead given to American special forces by President George Bush. / Asked whether the forces operating in Afghanistan had the powers to launch cross-border attacks, Defence Secretary Robert Gates refused to address the issue but said the commanders had the authority to protect their troops in Afghanistan. "I would just say that our commanders, I think, have the authorities that they need to protect our troops in Afghanistan, and just leave it at that," Gates replied. .. / The Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto also parried questions on the President's secret approval to the cross-border raids inside Pakistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=177691">Pakistan army ordered to hit back at U.S. forces</a></b><br />13.09.08 tehran times. Army Spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed the orders in a brief interview with Geo News on late Thursday night.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C13%5Cstory_13-9-2008_pg3_1">Editorial: US strategy: excessive and unnecessary</a></b><br />13.09.08. dailytimes.pk.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JI13Ag02.html">Moscow eyes Afghanistan in fear</a></b><br />13.09.08. Dmitry Shlapentokh, asia times. And while Russia is convinced it can withstand considerable pressure from the West, this is not the case with the danger posed by Afghanistan.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><u>Miran Shah, N. Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/13/stories/2008091355981400.htm">US persists with attacks despite Pakistani protests</a></b><br />13.09.08. Hindu. Pakistani media reported at least ,<b>12</b> people were killed in the attack near the North Waziristan town of Miranshah. The identities of the dead are unclear. Some reports said several women and children died in the strike, while others said most of the dead were militants.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.scotsman.com/world/Eight-dead-in-missile-strike.4486258.jp">Eight dead in missile strike</a></b><br />13.09.08. Scotsman. Two intelligence officials said the missiles struck a home near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal region, before dawn today.<br /><br /><u>Baujaur</u><br /><br />[Bajur is a suspected hide-out of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and one of the regions the U.S. fears is a safe haven for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters involved in attacks in Afghanistan. AP, 15.09]<br /><br />?<b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C13%5Cstory_13-9-2008_pg1_3">85 terrorists killed in Bajaur offensive</a></b><br />13.09.08. Daily Times. At least <b>85</b> heavily armed terrorists were killed in an air and land offensive in Bajaur Agency on Friday, a Frontier Corps (FC) statement said. In an encounter with terrorists at Inayat Qila, the troops backed by air, killed 60 terrorists and destroyed 16 vehicles, said the press statement issued by the Media Cell at the FC headquarters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1430711.php/Pakistan_military_kills_30_militants_in_Bajaur_fighting__2nd_Roundup__%22">Pakistan military kills 30 militants in Bajaur fighting (2nd Roundup)</a></b><br />14.09.08. South Asia News/monsters and Critics.<br /><br />&<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jIE0IUn4WIiaMBpjG8SI_6H5RXzgD936UFH80">Official: Women among 32 dead in Pakistan clashes</a></b><br />15.09.08. Zarar Khan, AP. The attack <u>Sunday</u> [14 Sept.?] came in the latest round of a bloody military offensive that has reportedly killed hundreds of people in recent weeks in the Bajur tribal region bordering Afghanistan. / <u>at least three (killed) were women</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jIE0IUn4WIiaMBpjG8SI_6H5RXzgD93780T00">Pakistani troops, jets target border militants</a></b><br />15.09.08. AP. Pakistani troops backed by helicopter gunships and fighter jets killed <b>24</b> militants Monday, an official said, in an operation praised by U.S. commanders worried about Taliban sanctuaries near the Afghan border.<br /><br /><u>Kurram</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\09\15\story_15-9-2008_pg7_11">One killed, five injured in Kurram clashes</a></b><br />15.09.08. daily times/pk.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17268">No al-Qaeda or Taliban leader was killed in recent US strikes</a></b><br />15.09.08. the int. news/anti-war.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47243&s2=15">Pakistani tribal chiefs threaten to join Taliban</a></b><br />15.09.08. Saeed Shah, The Guardian. US warned of uprising if armed incursions continue; <u>New counter-terror policy backfires on Washington</u>. Pakistani tribesmen representing half a million people vowed to switch sides and join the Taliban if Washington does not stop cross-border attacks by its forces from Afghanistan.<br /><br /><u> Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/13/content_9975026.htm">Pakistan sends fighter jets to tribal region</a></b><br />13.09.08. Xihuanet. Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on Saturday sent its fighter aircraft to the northwestern tribal region as the U.S.-led coalition forces are increasing cross-border raids, local media reported. The fighter jets conducted flights in North Waziristan tribal region, News Network International (NNI) news agency said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/US_faces_the_F-16s_it_supplied_Pakistan/articleshow/3482718.cms">US faces the F-16s it supplied Pakistan</a></b><br />14.09.08. times of India. The United States is suddenly faced with the uncomfortable scenario of confronting the very same weapons and military hardware, including F-16 fighter jets, it has armed Pakistan with for decades.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/15/focus/2027991&sec=focus">General Kiyanis Handicap</a></b><br />15.09.08. the star / ICH. Much has been made of the recent statement by General Kiyani about stopping US attacks on Pakistani territory. Yesterday it was reported PAF jets have started flights over North Waziristan suggesting Pakistan was ready to strike back at US forces. But is it really the case? If we look back at the recent F-16 deal, it appears there is no such possibility and these F-16 flights are just for public consumption.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/15/focus/2027991&sec=focus">When a big power acts with impunity?</a></b><br />15.09.08. M. Khor, the star. <b>The increasing frequency of missile attacks on villages in Pakistan and the continuing high civilian casualties of attacks in Afghan villages call into question the <b> lack of accountability</b> of American forces in the two countries</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0915/p02s01-uspo.html">Raids into Pakistan: What U.S. authority?</a></b><br />15.09.08. Howard LaFranchi, CSM/anti-war / The new orders reflect flagging confidence in Pakistan's civilian and military leadership to address the problem of the Taliban and terrorist havens, which are thought to harbor Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. For seven years the Bush administration focused its Pakistan policy on President Pervez Musharraf and his assurances that he was battling the militant sanctuaries. But Mr. Musharraf was forced to resign last month after suffering a crushing electoral defeat earlier in the year, and the US appears to have little confidence in the new civilian and military leaders. / According to intelligence sources, officials from the National Intelligence Council recently briefed the Bush administration's national security team on the potentially dire consequences of US actions that could destabilize the government of a country with nuclear weapons.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> "<em> Could</em> begin?" HAS Begun </span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C15%5Cstory_15-9-2008_pg7_29">US Army general warns Pakistan of new war</a></b><br />15.09.08. dailytimes.pk. A new war could begin if Pakistan does not step up its fight against terrorists, Maj Gen Jeffrey J Schloesser of the US Army said in a report published in an American weekly on Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/15/focus/2027991&sec=focus">When a big power acts with impunity?</a></b><br />15.09.08. M. Khor, the star. <b>The increasing frequency of missile attacks on villages in Pakistan and the continuing high civilian casualties of attacks in Afghan villages call into question the <b> lack of accountability</b> of American forces in the two countries</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0915/p02s01-uspo.html">Raids into Pakistan: What U.S. authority?</a></b><br />15.09.08. Howard LaFranchi, CSM/anti-war / The new orders reflect flagging confidence in Pakistan's civilian and military leadership to address the problem of the Taliban and terrorist havens, which are thought to harbor Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. For seven years the Bush administration focused its Pakistan policy on President Pervez Musharraf and his assurances that he was battling the militant sanctuaries. But Mr. Musharraf was forced to resign last month after suffering a crushing electoral defeat earlier in the year, and the US appears to have little confidence in the new civilian and military leaders. / According to intelligence sources, officials from the National Intelligence Council recently briefed the Bush administration's national security team on the potentially dire consequences of US actions that could destabilize the government of a country with nuclear weapons.<br /><br /><u> S. Waziristan</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/15/officials-pakistani-troops-fired-on-us-helicopters-trying-to-cross-border/">Officials: Pakistani Troops Fired on US Helicopters Trying to Cross Border</a></b><br />15.09.08. anti-war. Early this morning, US helicopters crossed the border into Pakistans South Waziristan Agency and attempted to land in Angor Adda, in a raid reminiscent of September 3rds unprecedented attack by US helicopters and ground forces in the same region, which killed 20 civilians.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/pakistan-says-us-forces-repulsed-military">Pakistan Says US Forces Repulsed by Military</a></b><br />15.09.08. Reuters/triuthout. "Firing by Pakistani troops forced two US military helicopters to turn back to Afghanistan after they crossed into Pakistani territory early on Monday, Pakistani security officials said."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://voanews.com/english/2008-09-15-voa33.cfm">US Denies Reports That Helicopters Crossed Into Pakistan</a></b><br />15.09.08. VOA News. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman Monday said he investigated the alleged incident and found it "did not happen." Tribal leaders in South Waziristan say Pakistani soldiers fired warning shots at the U.S. helicopters before dawn Monday.<br /><br /><u> Bajaur</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ia.rediff.com/news/2008/sep/15pak.htm">64 Taliban militants killed near Afghan border:</a></b><br />15.09.08. ia.rediff/ICH. Pakistani security forces claimed to have killed 64 Taliban [Images] militants in an intensified operation in various parts of the troubled Bajaur tribal region near Afghan border, as the locals continued shifting to safer places.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pakistanlink.com/Headlines/Sep08/15/12.htm">No foreign force allowed to fight terrorism in Pakistan: Fehmida</a></b><br />15.09.08. Pakistan link / ICH. Acting President Dr Fehmida Mirza on Sunday reiterated the government's policy that no foreign force would be allowed to fight the war against terrorism on Pakistani soil.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/16/pakistan.afghanistan">Pakistan orders troops to fire on US cross-border raids</a></b><br />16.09.08. M. Tran, Guardian. Army official says field commanders have been told to take action against further raids launched from Afghanistan<br /><br /><u> Bajaur</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD937OHOG0">Official says Pakistan fighting kills 8 militants</a></b><br />16.09.08. ZARAR KHAN, AP. Security forces, backed by air support, pounded suspected militant hide-outs in a Taliban stronghold in Pakistan's northwest, killing eight alleged insurgents Tuesday, an official said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/16/pakistan.afghanistan">Pakistan orders troops to fire on US cross-border raids</a></b><br />16.09.08. M. Tran, Guardian. Army official says field commanders have been told to take action against further raids launched from Afghanistan<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080916/wl_nm/pakistan_violence_dc">Pakistan bombs militants; U.S. commander arrives</a></b><br />16.09.08. Reuters/ICH. Pakistani aircraft bombed militant strongholds on Tuesday killing 14 insurgents and a suicide car-bomber attacked a security force camp killing three soldiers, military officials said. The violence came as the top U.S. military officer, Admiral Mike <b> Mullen</b>, arrived in Pakistan where stepped up U.S. strikes on militants on the Pakistani side of the Afghan border have angered Islamabad and strained relations between the allies. / There were no reports of U.S. strikes in Pakistan on Tuesday and Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari, said in London he <u> <a href="http://www.pakistanlink.com/Headlines/Sep08/16/01.htm"> did not believe </a>the United States would carry out more raids</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBwrGEAKypNc&refer=home">Gilani Says Pakistan Will Protect Its Soil, U.S. Raids Must End</a></b><br />17.09.08. Khaleeq Ahmed and Paul Tighe, Bloomberg. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country will be safeguarded at all costs,'' the official Associated Press of Pakistan cited Gilani (Pakistan's Prime Minister) as telling U.K. Justice Secretary Jack Straw in the capital, Islamabad, yesterday. [ see NATO coalition, UK]<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aIvB98rdM.sU&refer=canada">U.S. Military Vows to Respect Pakistani Sovereignty (Update1)</a></b><br />17.09.08. Khalid Qayum and Khaleeq Ahmed, Bloomberg. U.S.-Pakistani cooperation will be developed on issues that challenge the security and wellbeing of the people of both countries,'' the embassy said, citing comments by Admiral Michael G. Mullen a day after Pakistan demanded that the U.S. and NATO stop raids on its soil. Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs, spoke during a meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today in Islamabad.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mathaba.net/rss/?x=606650">Pakistan defence minister terms US forces incursion blatant violations</a></b><br />19.09.08. mathaba. Pakistan Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar has said physical incursions into Pakistani territory by the US forces are against the initial agreements agreed between Pakistan and United States.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47340&s2=20">Confidence in U.S. Statements </a></b><br />18.09.08. Moon of Alabama, uruknet. On 16/17 September, Admiral Mullen reiterated the U.S. commitment to respect Pakistans sovereignty. [since then,] At least five people have been killed in a suspected missile attack by a US drone on a village in north-west Pakistan, local officials say. .. / it is easy to imagine how this looks for the rest of the world. One can not trust any official U.S. voice anymore.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><u> South Waziristan - missile strike</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47306&s2=19">Suspected US missile strike kills 6 in Pakistan</a></b><br />16.09.08. Ishtiaq Khan, AP/uruknet. A suspected U.S. missile strike killed at least six people Wednesday, <u>hours after the top U.S. military officer told Pakistani leaders that America respected Pakistan's sovereignty</u>amid a furor over American strikes into Pakistan's northwest. / Two Pakistani intelligence officials told The Associated Press that several missiles hit a compound in the South Waziristan tribal region early Wednesday evening. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak openly to the media. [<b>six</b>people were dead and three more injured]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://voanews.com/english/2008-09-17-voa20.cfm">Pakistani Officials Report 5 Dead in Suspected US Missile Strike</a></b><br />17.09.08. VOA News<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.antiwar.com/2008/09/17/cia-chief-speaks-of-trying-to-provoke-terrorists-as-latest-drone-strike-kills-seven-in-south-waziristan/">CIA Chief Speaks of Trying to Provoke Terrorists as Latest Drone Strike Kills Seven in South Waziristan</a></b><br />17.09.08. anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47316&s2=19">Pakistan Invades America --"Without Permission"</a></b><br />17.09.08. M. Junaid Levesque-Alam, uruknet. The U.S. State Department lodged a sharp protest over ongoing Pakistani missile strikes and ground raids today, saying the Islamic Republic was violating American sovereignty. "We will try to convince Pakistan . . . to respect [the] sovereignty of the United States -- and God willing, we will convince," State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.1<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkiMxbHNH0BqgpWA2ZG6VD6wVTmAD93958281">Pakistan: US did not warn of missile strike</a></b><br />18.09.08. Munir Ahmad, AP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C17%5Cstory_17-9-2008_pg7_5">Taliban to abide by Wana peace deal</a></b><br />17.09.08. Iqbal Khattak, daily times, pk. / ICH. Ahmedzai Wazirs say Taliban should avenge drone attacks from US, not Pak troops<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C18%5Cstory_18-9-2008_pg7_9">Tribesmen to fight US if incursions continue</a></b><br />18.09.08. Iqbal Khattak, dailytimes/pk. 3,000-strong jirga accuses Kabul of misleading US about Qaeda presence in FATA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12267391">A wild frontier</a></b><br />18.09.08. Economist. It will take more than American missiles to bring order to Pakistans north-western border region<br /><br /><u> Islamabad</u><br /><br />I do not write about "suicide attacks" because I am not sure WHOSE death squad is in action. However, the Marriott Hotel explosion made my nose twich. See <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/"> Index Research: The Bomb at The Marriott Hotel, Islamabad</a><br /><br /><br /><a id="6000"></a><b>6. Oil and Gas</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://mathaba.net/news/?x=604341">Pipelines Linked to 9/11 Attacks</a></b><br />28.08.08. Rudo de Ruijter, mathaba. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, followed by the war in Afghanistan and the 'War on Terror' have changed the world. However, like the presumed Weapons of Mass Destruction had nothing to do with the invasion of Iraq, Osama bin Laden had nothing to do with the war in Afghanistan. The real reasons are oil, gas and pipelines around the Caspian Sea. 'Operation September 11' aimed to give a new impulse in the US conquests to gain control over foreign oil and gas. / This article is about the background of the US war against Afghanistan. It is about oil, gas and pipelines around the Caspian Sea. / To transport oil and gas from the east side of the Caspian Sea, pipelines had been planned to go through Afghanistan. Because a US company, UNOCAL, had failed to control the Afghan route, the war was prepared.<br /><br /><br /><b><em>Everything you need to know about oil pipelines</em></b><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 302px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK4mEZcHqO8L_PYttfpvNSJYSvk9ZrVsyvxNHV2Aj6s98dDXKsBLRkYShIVW4mDygzMVrx-1FKwVofWt9bH_VhOtTsz-h3_SZRKK0Lw25h4dIf89Q5Yi__aBNDkWXBD1sAfP7a/s400/gres_ph7.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769355843730514" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9907">The Eurasian Corridor: Pipeline Geopolitics and the New Cold War</a></b><br />22.08.08. MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY. Global Research. The ongoing crisis in the Caucasus is intimately related to the strategic control over energy pipeline and transportation corridors.<br /><br /><ul><br /><li>War in Georgia Timeline;</li><br /><li>Introduction: The GUAM Summit Venue [with map 1]</li><br /><li>Undermining Russia;</li><br /><li>The US-Guam Summit</li><br /><li>US-Georgia War Games;</li><br /><li>Russias War Games in the North Caucasus;</li><br /><li>PIPELINE GEOPOLITICS</li><br /><li>The Guam Transportation Corridor (with map 2 & 3):</li><br /><li>Map 4: Eastern Europe. Plock on the Vistula</li><br /><li>The Baku Tblisi Ceyan (BTC) Pipeline [map 5]</li><br /><li>Pipeline Geopolitics and the Role of Israel. [Map 6: Trans-Israel Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline] Israel is now part of the Anglo-American military axis, which serves the interests of the Western oil giants in the Middle East and Central Asia. Not surprisingly, Israel has military cooperation agreements with Georgia and Azerbaijan.</li><br /><li>America's Silk Road Strategy: The Trans-Eurasian Security System. The Silk Road Strategy (SRS) constitutes an essential building block of US foreign policy in the post-Cold War era.</li><br /><li>The Kazakhstan-China Natural Gas Pipeline (KCP); Map 7.</li><br /><li>Competing Eurasian Strategy protected by the SCO-CSTO Military Alliance</li><br /><li>Full Circle: The US-NATO protected SRS Eurasian transport and energy corridors, are slated to link Central Asia to the Far East, as outlined in the Silk Road Strategy. At present, the Eastward corridors linking Central Asia to China are protected militarily by the SCO-CSTO.</li></ul><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20660.htm">The Pipeline Guardians: NATO, SCO</a></b><br />01.09.08. Kostis Geropoulos, Europe News / ICH. Washington has long hoped that the energy-rich Caspian region would help reduce Iran's role in the global oil market, diversify supplies away from Russia, and provide an alternative to Saudi Arabian oil. "<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/06/top3.htm">Fuel supply to Nato forces suspended</a></b><br />05.09.08. Ibrahim Shinwari, dawn.com. LANDI KOTAL, Sept 5: The government is reported to have decided to stop fuel supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan via the Torkham highway with effect from Saturday. / .. Sources said the federal government did not cite any reason for the move, but the decision was apparently taken in the wake of the US ground and missile attacks in North and South Waziristan tribal regions. [<em> see Transportation</em>]<br /><br /><a href="http://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca/wp-content/uploads/pipelines_tap.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca/wp-content/uploads/pipelines_tap.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca/wp-content/uploads/pipelines_tap.jpg"> Peace Alliance, Winnepeg </a> </div><br /><b><a href="http://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca/2008/09/why-canada-should-leave-afghanistan/">Why Canada Should Leave Afghanistan</a></b><br />06.09.08. peace alliance Winnipeg. If you look at a map you will see that Afghanistan is the gateway to the Caspian basin, hence the US has to control this country in order to build oil and natural gas pipelines to transport these resources from the Caspian Basin to Pakistans warm water ports via Afghanistan. / The following documents shed light on key US goals in Afghanistan and elsewhere [see documents] While the Bush administration implements a war on terrorism the evidence (including mountains of official documents) amply confirms that successive US administrations have supported, abetted and harbored international terrorism. / This fact, in itself, must be suppressed because if it ever trickles down to the broader public, the legitimacy of the war on terrorism collapses like a deck of cards. In the process, the legitimacy of the main actors behind this system is threatened, so they enact new laws to protect themselves:<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.peakoil.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=42503">Global Implications of Chinas Big Investment in Iraq and Afghanistan</a></b><br />09.09.08. peakoil. This article assesses the significance of Chinas recently announced investments in large copper and oil development in Afghanistan and Iraq respectively, with potential significance not only for development and peace in the two war-torn nations, but also for Chinas global role and the US-China relationship. With foreign and domestic investment in both nations barely trickling in despite UN, World Bank, NATO and US efforts, the Chinese plans are highly significant.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://grant-montgomery.blogspot.com/2008/09/us-and-nato-forces-in-afghanistan.html">US and NATO forces in Afghanistan "pipeline protection troops"</a></b><br />10.09.08. G. Montgomery. U.S. energy giants <u>Chevron</u> and <u>Unocal </u>negotiated gas and oil pipeline deals with Afghanistans Taliban. In 2001, Washington gave $40 million in aid to Taliban --until four months before 9/11. The U.S. only turned against Taliban when it gave a major pipeline deal to an Argentine consortium rather than an American one. / .. Fast forward to 2008. Today, U.S. and NATO forces are not fighting "terrorists" in Afghanistan but a loose alliance of Pashtun warrior tribes whose resistance to foreign occupation is legendary./ They are descendants of the same Pashtun mountain warriors who battled Alexander the Great, the Mongols, the British Empire and the Soviet Union. All these invaders were eventually defeated.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://commontragedies.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/who-would-have-thought-the-minerals-management-service-was-this-exciting/">INTERIOR: Sex, drugs, booze and industry cash in MMS ethics scandal </a></b><br />10.09.08. Noelle Straub, E&E News/common tragedies. Interior Department employees accepted gifts from oil and gas companies, participated in "a culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" and considered themselves exempt from federal ethics rules, new reports by the department's inspector general say. / The reports -- the result of three different investigations against more than a dozen current and former employees of the Minerals Management Service, which collects about $10 billion in royalties annually -- found a "relatively small group of individuals" wholly lacking in government ethical standards and management that provided passive or purposeful ignorance, Inspector General Earl Devaney wrote in a memo to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. The US Secretary of the Interior promises <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/09/us-secretary-of-interior-promises-swift.php"> swift response </a> to corruption report (12.09.08. Jurist )<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=133412">Pak to halt oil supply to NATO in case of attack</a></b><br />-.09.08. onlinenews. Pakistan in unequivocal terms has said that it would halt supply of oil and other commodities to NATO in Afghanistan if the US troops continue to violate countrys border.<br /><br /><br /><a id="7000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>7. Aid, Military Contracts, Contractors</b></div><br /><br />AID<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ivZoNPG18Mzo3i29SVsBAiX8elBw">Afghan police hunt for kidnapped Japanese aid worker</a></b><br />26.08.08. AFP. It was the latest in a string of attacks on aid workers that have left 25 dead in Afghanistan and raised alarm about the state of the country seven years after the removal of the Taliban regime in 2001.<br /><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/27/content_9724228.htm"> Dead</a>. (27.08.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/07/opinion/edlieven.php">Urgent aid for Pakistan</a></b><br />07.09.08. Anatol Lieven, IHT. The Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Senator Joe Biden, has drawn up an excellent long-term plan for the United States to help Pakistan economically, thereby strengthening the state against Islamist extremism. .. / He and others have warned that mass anger at rising food prices and lengthening electricity cuts could combine with hostility to the government's campaign against the insurgents and to Pakistan's alliance with America.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://positivity.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/afghanistan-nato-troops-face-extreme-difficulty-in-providing-aid/">Afghanistan: NATO Troops Face Extreme Difficulty in Providing Aid</a></b><br />09.09.08. Nima Maleki. There has been a lot of controversy and difficulty around the delivery of aid to civilians by international forces in Afghanistan. The program of the military delivering aid, commonly called winning hearts and minds, has largely been a failure. There is little to no cohesive plan in delivering aid, and what aid is given often places Afghan civilians at risk. The program often appears superficial, a slapped on to legitimize military presence and action, while a desperate people risk Taliban reprisal by swallowing their pride and asking for humanitarian aid from international armies that often do not deliver on promises and seem incapable or disinterested in protecting those who risk exposure by collaborating with them. Link to PBS file,<br /><a href="http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/afghanistan604/afghanistan-602.html"> Afghanistan: The Other War</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C12%5Cstory_12-9-2008_pg7_4">EU planning anti-terror aid for Pakistan</a></b><br />12.09.08. daily times.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/two-un-officials-killed-in-afghanistan_10095668.html">Two UN officials killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />13.09.08. thaiindian. Two people were killed and 15 injured when a car bomb hit a convoy of vehicles belonging to UN aid agencies in southern Afghanistans Kandahar province Sunday morning, the provincial police said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSSP35513220080918">Attacks on aid challenge Afghan reconstruction</a></b><br />18.09.08. Reuters / Anti-war. Attacks on aid agencies in Afghanistan have spiraled this year, hampering reconstruction efforts just as the country faces both frustration from ordinary Afghans over slow development as well as one of its worst food crises and droughts in years.<br /><br /><u> Videos</u><br /><br />International aid for Afghanistan<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJshHomYN8"> Part 1 </a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwdjIsSfpPQ"> Part 2 <b></b></a><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20799.htm">Corporations Not Paying Income Tax</a></b><br />12.08.08Lynnley Browning, NY Times / ICH. Two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005, according to a report released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/357-million-us-army-contract/story.aspx?guid=%7B0EE962AA-1AB2-4C0F-84A7-7575324D6C9A%7D&dist=hppr">$357 Million U.S. Army Contract Extends HELLFIRE II Missile Production</a></b><br />25.08.08. market watch. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed-Martin">Lockheed Martin </a> (LMT: Lockheed Martin Corporation (Holding Company) under HELLFIRE Services Limited Liability Company (HSLLC), will produce additional combat-proven HELLFIRE(R) II precision-strike, laser-guided air-to-ground missiles for U.S. and international armed forces under a $357 million contract with the U.S. Army. Delivery of missiles produced under this contract will begin in <u>2010</u>. The contract also provides <u>options for major additional orders</u> in 2009 and 2010.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/14c5054e2cf08ad4d2ea4e0b8c996b39.htm">DynCorp awarded $18.1M contract in Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.08.08. AP / MONEY CNN. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=DynCorp"> Dyncorp </a> will build facilities for the Afghanistan National Civil Order Police in the country's Helmand province, including offices, living and operational facilities, motor pool guard towers and a perimeter wall for 305 police personnel [<em>security companies?</em>] with the Patrol Unit Brigade Headquarters and Patrol Battalion.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2008/08/27/20080827biz-talley0827.html">Mesa's Talley wins $51 mil contract for rocket launcher</a></b><br />27.08.08. az central. .. The launcher now in service is based on the Israeli B-300 and was introduced to the U.S. military in 1984. It has seen duty in Operation Desert Storm and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hIbqtRWxlzEOhpDaXPLboynoQeJQD92QT7N80">2 US military accused of Afghan contract bribery</a></b><br />27.08.08. AP. Two U.S. military personnel and <u>four contractors</u> [<em> with what corporation?</em>] have been indicted on bribery and conspiracy charges involving Department of Defense contracts in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/08/25/daily41.html">Northrop gets Pentagon order to fast track Green Dart</a></b><br />27.08.08. biz journals. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Northrop_Grumman"> Northrop Grumman Corp. </a> received a $6.5 million U.S. Army order to fast track construction of what is thought to be super-secret drone used by the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan. The work will be done in Sierra Vista, home to the U.S. Army's Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://military-online.blogspot.com/2008/08/military-contracts-august-26-2008.html">MILITARY CONTRACTS August 26, 2008</a></b><br />summary<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.upi.com/Security_Industry/2008/09/02/Elbit_awarded_contract_for_UAV_technology/UPI-23141220367688/"> Elbit awarded contract for UAV technology</a></b><br />02.09.08. UPI. Subscription<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/09/03/ap5384589.html">General Dynamics gets $32M contract from Army</a></b><br />03.09.08. AP. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=General_Dynamics"> General Dynamics Corp. </a>said Wednesday its information technology business received a $32 million contract from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for work in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/navistar-defense-wins-752-million/story.aspx?guid=%7B9AE728AD-7C8C-4171-9D55-C7B4563AB80C%7D&dist=hppr">Navistar Defense Wins $752 Million Contract for Lighter, More Mobile MRAP Variant</a></b><br />04.09.08. market watch. The MaxxPro Dash maintains the survivability system used on all MaxxPro MRAP variants while also allowing for greater mobility in a smaller, lighter weight vehicle optimized for Afghanistan operations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24296543-31477,00.html">Defence axes $150m Boeing drone deal</a></b><br />05.09.08. Australian news.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://milstuff.blogspot.com/2008/09/continuous-surveillance-in-afghanistan.html">Continuous Surveillance in Afghanistan</a></b><br />06.09.08. milstuff. The expansion of what military officials call "intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance," or ISR, efforts is part of a push by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to use military force with more precision in the two counterinsurgency campaigns.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2008/09/08/daily12.html">Raytheon wins military surveillance contract</a></b><br />09.09.08. Bizjournals.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://defenseindustrialbase.blogspot.com/2008/09/new-mastiff-2-vehicles-to-be-rolled-out.html">New Mastiff 2 vehicles to be rolled out</a></b><br />08.09.08. Jeffrey Bradford, defense industrial base. A £60million contract to deliver the new generation of Mastiff vehicles - the Mastiff 2 - has been announced by Defence Secretary Des Browne on a visit to NP Aerospace, today, Monday 8 September 2008.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0932568720080909">U.S. approves $330 million in arms deals for Israel</a></b><br />Reuters. The U.S. government on Tuesday said it had approved up to $330 million in three separate arms deals for Israel, and sources tracking a much bigger deal for 25 Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 fighter jets said that agreement could be approved later this month.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-fi-tankers11-2008sep11,0,683156.story">Pentagon halts bitter Air Force tanker competition in setback for Northrop Grumman</a></b><br />11.09.08. Latimes. Defense Secretary Robert Gates cancels a lengthy contest that had been marked by scandal. The decision gives new life to an effort by Boeing, which had been expected to lose to Northrop.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=341098">Security still main obstacle for Afghan business</a></b><br />11.09.08. Jonathon Burch, Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/washington/14arms.html?_r=1&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">U.S. Arms Sales Climbing Rapidly</a></b><br />13.09.08. E. Lipton, NY Times.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1020702.html">U.S. to sell Israel Air Force new bunker-buster bombs</a></b><br />14.09.08. haaretz.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/d/defense_contracts/index.html?query=AFGHANISTAN&field=geo&match=exact">Defense Contracts</a></b><br />14.09.08. NY Times Summary of Defense Contracts.<br /><br /><em> "In Case You Missed It"</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174936">Frida Berrigan, The Pentagon Takes Over</a></b><br />27.05.08. TOMGRAM. PART 1. Entrenched, Embedded, and Here to Stay: The Pentagon's Expansion Will Be Bush's Lasting Legacy. But when the countdown ends and George W. Bush vacates the Oval Office, he will leave a legacy to contend with. Certainly, he wills to his successor a world marred by war and battered by deprivation, but perhaps his most enduring legacy is now deeply embedded in Washington-area politics -- a Pentagon metastasized almost beyond recognition.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47270&s2=16">The Army's Totally Serious Mind-Control Project </a></b><br />MARK THOMPSON, Time. Soldiers barking orders at each other is so 20th Century. That's why the U.S. Army has just awarded a $4 million contract to begin developing "thought helmets" that would harness silent brain waves for secure communication among troops. Ultimately, the Army hopes the project will "lead to direct mental control of military systems by thought alone." If this sounds insane, it would have been as recently as a few years ago...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/a-blind-eye-botched-contracts">A Blind Eye for Botched Contracts</a></b><br />16.09.08. David Axe, The Washington Independent/truthout. examines the lack of government oversight over private contractors, citing examples of gross mismanagement of contracts given to Lockheed Martin during the Deepwater scandal.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.americasnewstoday.com/2008/09/16/department-of-defense-contracts-sept-16-08.aspx?ref=rss">Department of Defense Contracts, Sept. 16 '08</a></b><br />16.09.08. blog.Americas news today.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/09/airforce_schwartz_speech_091608/">Schwartz slams retired generals in contracting</a></b><br />17.09.08. Michael Hoffman, air force times. Im speaking of the unfortunate deterioration of the relationship between the Air Force and industry that of late has manifested a hyperbole of insensitivity and a lack of proper communication, he said (at the Air Force Associations annual conference in Washington D.C.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://satellite.tmcnet.com/topics/satellite/articles/40197-ts2-satellite-technologies-lands-contract-us-army-project.htm">TS2 Satellite Technologies Lands Contract for U.S. Army Project in Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.09.08. satellite.tmcnet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/navistar-defense-provide-more-medium/story.aspx?guid=%7BD3A70562-E22C-4882-9417-71BC0A57BC97%7D&dist=hppr">Navistar Defense to Provide More Medium Tactical Vehicles for Iraq and Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.09.08. marketwatch. TACOM Delivery Orders Total More Than $39 Million<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2008/09/15/daily32.html">Navmar Applied Sciences wins $10M defense contract</a></b><br />18.09.08. bizjournals.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://military-online.blogspot.com/2008/09/military-contracts-september-18-2008.html">MILITARY CONTRACTS September 18, 2008</a></b><br />18.09.08. military-online.blogspot<br /><br /><br />CONTRACTORS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jqQxRyynX5DtEL8Rp-B0KpPKlUqAD92QT6EG0">Private contractors hold lots of US intel jobs</a></b><br />27.08.08. AP. The number of government employees at U.S. intelligence agencies is classified, but Sanders confirmed it is more than 100,000. Contractors are not included in that total. / Sanders said the average U.S. intelligence employee costs the government about $125,000 a year, including long-term benefits. The average contractor costs the U.S. government about $207,000 for labor, not including overhead. / Congress required the report because of concern that spy agencies might be relying too heavily on outside contractors to conduct sensitive intelligence work. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><em> the article does not state WHO made the survey, nor does it list the contracting companies </em></span>. ??]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/28/troopers.indictment/?iref=hpmostpop">U.S. troops, contractors indicted in Afghan bribery scheme</a></b><br />28.08.08. CNN.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/31/AR2008083102084.html">Help Wanted: War-Zone Contractors</a></b><br />01.09.08. Walter Pincus, Washington Post. Contracting out traditional military functions continues to be the practice when it comes to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as illustrated last month by new offerings from the State Department and the Army.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=68224&sectionid=351020403">Blasts leave 5 dead in Afghanistan</a></b><br />02.09.08. presstv.ir. Three security guards from a private company were killed in a Taliban militants attack on a convoy supplying international troops in Wardak province. / In another bomb blast, two Afghan police officers were killed and two others wounded when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in eastern province of Khost.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/joel040908.htm">Unintelligence In Federal Intelligence Agencies</a></b><br />04.09.08. Joel S. Hirschhorn, Countercurrents. According to a survey of activities in 2007 by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, about a third of the federal professional intelligence workforce now consists of <u>contractors</u>, mostly in the Washington, DC area. Out of a total workforce of about 100,000 people some 37,000 are private employees that cost the government (we taxpayers) about $207,000 annually, compared with about $125,000 for civilian federal employees salaries and benefits.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17080">Taliban abduct two Indians in Afghanistan</a></b><br />07.09.08. the int news. According to the Afghan Islamic Press, an Afghan security official confirmed to it that the two kidnapped Indians were working with an Indian company as security personnel.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/apwire/b24271f022f997419c70e4988801d32c.htm">Military contractors await new defense budget</a></b><br />08.09.08. CNN. Congress will race to finish defense spending bill; keep close eye on $35 billion tanker deal.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://voanews.com/english/2008-09-12-voa16.cfm">Afghan Taliban Attack US Security Convoy, at Least 15 Dead</a></b><br />12.09.09. Voice of America. At least three guards were believed to have been abducted following the clash between guards and Taliban militants.IN FARAH province. <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">NB: various numbers dead given by media, eg. <b>23</b> (Reuters) </span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/97794/military_contractors_are_still_getting_the_kid_glove_treatment/">Military Contractors Are Still Getting the Kid Glove Treatment</a></b><br />12.09.08. Nick Schwellenbach, Right Web/alternet. A government agency tasked with managing private contracts is bending under the weight of its misplaced priorities.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/13/AR2008091302372_pf.html">Defense Contracts Foretell Military Buildup in Afghanistan</a></b><br />14.09.08. Walter Pincus, Washington Post. The Defense Department is seeking <u>private contractors</u> to carry out a variety of tasks -- such as clearing land mines, building detention facilities and providing fuel -- to assist U.S. forces in Afghanistan, which are set to grow following President Bush's announcement last week that he will expand military operations there.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174976/frida_berrigan_the_pentagon_legacy_of_the_mba_president">Frida Berrigan, The Pentagon Legacy of the MBA President</a></b><br />14.09.08. TOMGRAM. Part 2: Military Industrial Complex 2.0; Cubicle Mercenaries, Subcontracting Warriors, and Other Phenomena of a Privatizing Pentagon. As we prepare to close the book on the Bush presidency, it is worth exploring just how, in the last seven-plus years, the long War on Terror has actually helped build a new, privatized version of the Pentagon. / .. Fast forward to 2007 and the top 10 companies on the Pentagon's list of private contractors were sharing $125 billion in DoD contracts, out of a total of $239 billion being shared among the top 100 contractors. / .. contracts to the top 10 more than doubled, the size of the total pay-out pie increased by two-thirds, and the lowest contract among the top 100 went up almost four-fold. <u>Topics include contracting companies</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C15%5Cstory_15-9-2008_pg7_1">Swat Taliban likely to free kidnapped security personnel</a></b><br />15.09.08. daily times, pk./ anti-war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://en.rian.ru/world/20080915/116806890.html">Afghanistan freezes ties with regional security group</a></b><br />15.09.08. en.rian.ru. The CSTO is a security grouping comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. / "There has been no cooperation with the Afghan side over the past year. A year ago, the Afghan side stopped all diplomatic contacts with CSTO representatives on the issue of a post-conflict settlement," Nikolai Bordyuzha.<br /><br /><br /><a id="8000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>8. United States: Reports, General, Bush troops speech, Election, 9/11</b><br /></div><br /><br />REPORTS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/testimonies/CT311/">Does America Need A New Grand Strategy?</a></b><br />15.07.08. James Dobbins, Rand Report.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/military-maps/">Mission Creep: US Military Presence Worldwide</a></b><br />08.08. MOTHER JONES. The ***** map animation that opens this package uses Pentagon worldwide troop data from every half-decade since 1950, plus 2007, the latest year for which the data is available. / the map, and the associated research, should give you a good feel for what the Pentagon is up to around the world.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2008_cr/sres655.html">SENATORS CALL FOR NEW INTELLIGENCE APPROPRIATIONS SUBCOMMITTEE</a></b><br />12.09.08. SECRECY NEWS, from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy Volume 2008, Issue No. 89. Stating that "dozens of billions of dollars" had been secretly wasted on misconceived intelligence programs, Senator Christopher Bond (R-MO) and other members of the Senate Intelligence Committee yesterday called for creation of a new subcommittee on intelligence within the Senate Appropriations Committee that would exercise greater control on intelligence spending.<br /><br /><br />GENERAL<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7fLLTpFxEn0no9X5BL2Ewq8OFGyvTxq8upntv0Z5IyPM7fjUmxQJtD11A3GvdzuxQYWNm-JAC3auhDvKsneNh-TD0P3efk_AC8rIk5EL1MwgbK6mBkm2Pn-FYpvm3yLErphwC/s400/gres_ph8.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769358215150930" border="0" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10171"> THE BUSH YEARS 2001 - 2008</a></span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/why-we-love-americas-outrageous/story.aspx?guid=0D31C880-32CD-4BA1-8133-329EA57CB069&dist=SecMostRead">'America's Outrageous War Economy!'</a></b><br />18.08.08. Paul Farrell, market watch. Pentagon can't find $2.3 trillion, wasting trillions on 'national defense.' Yes, America's economy is a war economy. Not a "manufacturing" economy. Not an "agricultural" economy. Nor a "service" economy. Not even a "consumer" economy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/US_Special_Forces_Southern_Afghanistan_Counterinsurgency_Handbook_2006">US Special Forces Southern Afghanistan Counterinsurgency Handbook 2006</a></b><br />22.08.08. Wikileaks. This handbook provides guidance to the commanders and staffs of combined-arms forces that have a primary mission of eliminating insurgent forces and discusses the nature of organized guerrilla units and underground elements and their supporters. This handbook provides information on organization; training; and tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) combined-arms forces, in conjunction with civil agencies, can employ to destroy large, well-organized insurgent forces in active counterinsurgency (COIN) conflicts. The focal point is the COIN fight in southern Afghanistan. Many of the examples in this handbook are derived from actual experiences of a United States Special Forces task force during its four deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/27/AR2008082703628.html">Only a Two-Page 'Note' Governs U.S. Military in Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.08.08. KAREN DeYOUNG, Washington Post. For the past six years, military relations between the United States and Afghanistan have been governed by a two-page "diplomatic note" giving U.S. forces virtual carte blanche to conduct operations as they see fit. / Although President Bush pledged in a 2005 declaration signed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to "develop appropriate arrangements and agreements" formally spelling out the terms of the U.S. troop presence and other bilateral ties, no such agreements were drawn up. / But after a U.S.-led airstrike last week that United Nations and Afghan officials have said killed up to 90 civilians -- most of them children -- Karzai has publicly called for a review of all foreign forces in Afghanistan and a formal "status of forces agreement," along the lines of an accord being negotiated between the United States and Iraq. / The prospect of codifying the ad hoc rules under which U.S. forces have operated in Afghanistan since late 2001 sends shudders through the Bush administration, which has struggled to finalize its agreement with Baghdad. "It's never been done because the issues have been too big to surmount," said one U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the subject on the record. "The most diplomatic way of saying it is that there are just a lot of moving parts," the official said. .. / The other side of the equation is even more complicated. Of the 33,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, 19,000 operate under U.S. Central Command, while 14,000 form the largest single component of a 40-nation force led by NATO under a U.N. resolution./ The disparate command structures have frustrated every government involved in the effort, but according to Afghan officials, they have also allowed diffused responsibility for civilian casualties, such as those of last week in the western part of the country. U.S. forces operate up to 90 percent of all strike aircraft in the country, and it is rarely clear whether an individual strike has been conducted as part of a NATO or U.S. operation. <br /><br />The note delves into arcane issues such as customs duties and driver's licenses. It devotes only a few sentences to "the conduct of ongoing military operations," <b>giving U.S. troops "a status equivalent" to diplomatic immunity and exempting them from any Afghan "disciplinary authority" or legal jurisdiction</b>. /<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0828/p99s01-duts.html">U.S. marines shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.08.08. L. Stack, CS Monitor. The redeployment of only 1,500 troops raises concerns that Taliban offensives in Afghanistan are over-extending US forces.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0829/p01s01-usfp.html">Void in U.S. strategy for Afghanistan</a></b><br />29.08.08. CSM. there is increasing fear in the Pentagon that sending in more forces is just a stopgap measure that masks the absence of a broader, viable strategy. / "To a certain extent, we have boxed ourselves into the idea that additional troops is a panacea for revising strategy," says a senior Pentagon official. "That in and of itself becomes the strategy."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=327874">General: US forces to up Afghan winter offensives</a></b><br />03.09.08. J. Straziuso, Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/03/opinion/edwheatcroft.php">Neither respected nor feared</a></b><br />03.09.08. Geoffrey Wheatcroft, IHT. In an exalted phrase, the keynote speaker at the Republican convention reviewed the record of the administration, and asked, "When have we rested more secure in friendship with all mankind?" That wasn't in St. Paul, where the Republicans are gathered this week, but at the 1904 Republican convention in Chicago, when the speaker was Elihu Root, a past Secretary of War and future Secretary of State.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/world/middleeast/05military.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">Plan Would Shift Forces From Iraq to Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.09.08. NY Times. The United States would carry out a modest shift of American forces from Iraq to Afghanistan by early next year under a confidential recommendation to President Bush by the Pentagons top civilian and military leaders, according to Bush administration officials.<br /><br /><u> Capitalist Meltdown</u><br /><br /><a href="http://williambowles.info/americas/0908/meltdown160908.html">Capitalist Meltdown A Roundup of News 16 September, 2008</a><br /><br /><a href="http://williambowles.info/americas/0908/meltdown180908.html">Capitalist Meltdown A Roundup of News 17-18 September, 2008</a><br /><br /><a href="http://williambowles.info/americas/0908/meltdown200908.html">Capitalist Meltdown A Roundup of News 19-20 September, 2008 </a><br /><br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/09/20089902334458494.html"> Mapping the future of US global power</a> (09.09.08. aljazeera.) John Mearsheimer, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, is a leading international relations theorist and outspoken critic of elements of US foreign policy. He speaks to Al Jazeera about how he sees the US' changing role as a global superpower.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />BUSH TROOP SURGE<br /><br /><em>Do the cheerleaders for an expanded war in Afghanistan know any history? Have they studied what happened to the Soviets, who lost 15,000 Red Army soldiers between 1979 and 1988, or even the British in the 19th century? Do they remember why we went into Afghanistan? It was, we were told, to hunt down Osama bin Laden, who is now apparently in Pakistan. Has anyone asked what our end goal is in Afghanistan? Is it nation-building? Or is this simply the forever war on terror</em>? <a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080825_hedges_afghanistan_worsening/"> CHRIS HEDGES<br /><br /><u>Bush Troops speech</u><br /><b></b></a><b><a href="http://voanews.com/english/2008-09-08-voa53.cfm">Excerpts from Prepared Text of Bush Speech</a></b><br />08.09.08. VOA. reduced combat tours in Iraq. AFGHANISTAN: And for all the good work we have done in that country, it is clear we must do even more. As we learned in Iraq, the best way to restore the confidence of the people is to restore basic security and that requires more troops. In November, a Marine battalion that was scheduled to deploy to Iraq will instead deploy to Afghanistan. It will be followed in January by an Army combat brigade. The mission of these forces will be to work with Afghan forces to provide security for the Afghan people, protect Afghanistans infrastructure and democratic institutions and help ensure access to services like education and health care. They will show citizens that the Afghan government and its partners stand with them in the battle against the terrorists and the Taliban. And they will help clarify a stark contrast in Afghanistan: While the terrorists and extremists deliberately target and murder the innocent, Coalition and Afghan forces risk their lives to protect the innocent.<br /><br /><em>What the establishment say</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080910/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestmilitary">Afghanistan's army to double to 134,000: UN</a></b><br />10.09.08. AFP / ICH. The Afghan government and its international partners agreed Wednesday to expand the national army to 134,000 soldiers, almost double its current strength, the United Nations said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/10/usa.usforeignpolicy">Admiral: US military 'running out of time' in Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.09.08. E. Schor Guardian / ICH. The US military is not winning the war in Afghanistan and is "running out of time" for a workable strategy to combat the insurgency there, the Pentagon's uniformed leader [<b> Mike Mullen</b>] said today<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=338165">U.S. to include Pakistan in Afghanistan strategy</a></b><br />10.09.08. Reuters. The U.S. military, faced with rising insurgent violence in Afghanistan, will revise its strategy for the region to include militant safe havens in neighboring Pakistan, the top U.S. military officer said Wednesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gDiAtKh1yygRdtuJv_JjZcrX7v_w">Afghanistan welcomes 'war on terror' shift on 9/11 anniversary</a></b><br />11.09.08. AFP. Karzai also called for an end to civilian casualties in the fight against extremists after a US strike last month which Afghan and UN officials say left 90 villagers dead. Karzai will <a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=343473"> visit with Bush </a> on 26 September. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Karzai has unsuccessfully pressured Bush before about civilian casualties</span>.]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/14/news/Iraq-Petraeus.php">Petraeus: more than troops needed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />14.09.08. AP. U.S. Gen. David Petraeus said Sunday that experience in Iraq shows it will take political and economic progress as well as military action to tackle increased violence in Afghanistan. / <b>"You don't kill or capture your way out of an industrial strength insurgency,"</b> he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C15%5Cstory_15-9-2008_pg7_29">US Army general warns Pakistan of new war</a></b><br />15.09.08. daily times/pk. A new war could begin if Pakistan does not step up its fight against terrorists, Maj Gen Jeffrey J Schloesser of the US Army said in a report published in an American weekly on Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17285">US expert cautions against cross-border attacks</a></b><br />15.09.08. the int.news / anti-war. "We need to get the Pakistanis to see this as their war. And that is going to require some major new initiatives on the American side. Commando raids and Predator strikes are not a long-term solution to this problem," said Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think-tank.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47243&s2=15">Pakistani tribal chiefs threaten to join Taliban</a></b><br />15.09.08. Saeed Shah, The Guardian. <u>New counter-terror policy backfires on Washington</u>. Pakistani tribesmen representing half a million people vowed to switch sides and join the Taliban if Washington does not stop cross-border attacks by its forces from Afghanistan. [see above, Pakistan Dead]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17355">Negroponte against unilateral actions inside Pakistan</a></b><br />19.09.08. the int news.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><em> What Commentators Say </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/opinion/10wed1.html">Still No Exit</a></b><br />09.09.08. NY Times editorial.[Bush] he made it clear that he has no plan at all for ending the war in Iraq and no serious plan for winning the war in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jeXSPSmuc0m_DBW3KJGif8bqfLUg">Seven years on, Afghanistan again 'war on terror' frontline</a></b><br />09.09.08. AFP / anti-war. Seven years after the attacks on the World Trade Centre, Afghanistan is again the frontline of the US-led "war on terror" with extremist unrest intensifying and a new focus on Pakistan's tribal areas. / .. US allies are meanwhile concerned about their own growing casualties, and the difficulty of winning "hearts and minds" as Afghans grow weary of reports of civilians killed in error by military air strikes./ .. "The enemy routinely exaggerates [<em>see videos, above</em>the number of civilian casualties as propaganda, just pure and simple," said Schloesser [US commander in Afghanistan],<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/09/AR2008090903404.html">U.S. Shifts Tactics in Hunt for Bin Laden</a></b><br />10.09.08. Washington Post / legitgov. Frustrated by repeated dead ends in the search for 'Osama bin Laden,' U.S. and Pakistani officials said they are questioning long-held assumptions about their strategy and are shifting tactics to intensify the use of the unmanned but lethal Predator drone spy plane in the mountains of western Pakistan. The number of Hellfire missile attacks by Predators in Pakistan has more than tripled, with 11 strikes reported by Pakistani officials this year, compared with three in 2007.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24323409-5005961,00.html">Afghanistan 'needs more than extra troops'</a></b><br />10.09.08. news.com.au. But "in the long term and as the only solution, it is the building of the Afghan state institutions that matters", [Karzai] said, addressing a joint news conference in Islamabad with Pakistan's new president, Asif Ali Zardari./ "We must diagnose the roots of the problems and cure them and not only resort to cannons, tanks and fighter planes and calling everybody 'enemies'," ex-general Noorulhaq Olumi] said. "A healthy government needs to be formed, the rule of law needs to be enforced to avoid swelling the group of people exhausted by corruption, insecurity and injustice and adding to the opposition<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/09/2008910163836871959.html"> aljazeera </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/09/2008910163836871959.html">US sees 'endgame' in Iraq</a></b><br />11.09.08. aljazeera. Afghanistan focus: While the Bush administration has said that Iraqi security has improved in recent months, US and Nato forces in Afghanistan are facing increasingly frequent attacks from fighters linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda. / "I am not convinced we are winning yet in Afghanistan but I am convinced we can," Mullen [Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff] said. / "That is why I intend to commission and am looking at a more comprehensive military strategy for the region that covers both sides of that border." / But Mullen said that Afghanistan needs more than just "boots on the ground". / "It needs more trucks on the roads, teachers in schools, trained judges and lawyers in courts, foreign investments, alternative crops, sound governance, the rule of law - these are the keys to success in Afghanistan," he said. / "<b>We cannot kill our way to victory</b>." [also: see comments]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gDiAtKh1yygRdtuJv_JjZcrX7v_w">Afghanistan welcomes 'war on terror' shift on 9/11 anniversary</a></b><br />11.09.08. AFP. Karzai also called for an end to civilian casualties in the fight against extremists after a US strike last month which Afghan and UN officials say left 90 villagers dead. Karzai will <a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=343473"> visit with Bush</a> on 26 September. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Karzai has unsuccesfully pressured Bush before about civilian casualties</span>.]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/12/top7.htm">Move to defuse tension in Pakistan-US ties</a></b><br />12.09.08. Anwar Iqbal, dawn. [On Ambassador Haqqanis meeting at White House] Under this new policy, the US military will notify Pakistans government when it conducts raids, but <u>will not seek its permission</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/election08/98598/?page=entire">At All Costs, We Must Avoid a 'Surge' in Afghanistan</a></b><br />13.09.08. Joseph STIGLITZ, The Guardian/alternet. America's Iraq adventure led it into a moral vacuum. Will the error be repeated in the renewed US Afghan campaign? / ... True, the war in Iraq distracted America's attention from Afghanistan. But the failures in Iraq are a matter of strategy, not troop strength. It is time for America, and Europe, to learn the lessons of Iraq -- or, rather, relearn the lessons of virtually every country that tries to occupy another and determine its future.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/patrick-cockburn-the-us-strategy-for-afghanistan-wont-work-13973734.html">The US strategy for Afghanistan won't work</a></b><br />15.09.08. PATRICK COCKBURN, Belfast telegraph / ICH. "Covert action is frequently a substitute for policy," was an aphorism first coined by the former director of the CIA Richard Helms. Its truth is exemplified by the decision of President Bush in July to secretly give orders that US special forces will in future carry out raids against ground targets inside Pakistan, without getting the approval of the Pakistani government. / Mr Bush's order is fraught with peril for the US and Nato forces in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174977/tariq_ali_has_the_u_s_invasion_of_pakistan_begun_">Has the U.S. Invasion of Pakistan Begun?</a></b><br />16.09.08. Tariq Ali, TOMGRAM. As Andrew Bacevich tells us in the latest issue of the Atlantic, there's now a vigorous debate going on in the military about the nature of the "next" American wars and how to prepare for them. / .. "The decision to make public a presidential order of last July authorizing American strikes inside Pakistan without seeking the approval of the Pakistani government ends a long debate within, and on the periphery of, the Bush administration." Barack Obama, aware of this ongoing debate during his own long battle with Hillary Clinton, tried to outflank her by supporting a policy of U.S. strikes into Pakistan. Senator John McCain and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin have now echoed this view and so it has become, by consensus, official U.S. policy<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/khalid170908.htm">Is A US Attack On Pakistan Imminent? </a></b><br />17.09.08. Usman Khalid, countercurrents. Pakistan is nervous; it cannot believe that the USA can turn on its ally so fast and easy. The escalation of the terror war to include Pakistan was announced by President Bush himself. He proclaimed a new war theatre in Pakistan alongside Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20786.htm">Washington Is Risking War with Pakistan</a></b><br />17.09.08. Robert Baer, Time / ICH. As Wall Street collapsed with a bang, almost no one noticed that we're on the brink of war with Pakistan. And, unfortunately, that's not too much of an exaggeration.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JI19Df02.html">Vested interests drive US's Pakistan policy</a></b><br />19.09.08. Gareth Porter, asia times.<br /><br /><u> The Empire </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20714.htm%20">Empire and Imperialism and the USA</a></b><br />11.09.08. JAMES PETRAS, ICH. Modern empires and therefore imperialism which constructs them are ubiquitous: Whether through large-scale multinational corporations or through technologically advanced massive military power, the peoples and nations of the worlds confront the problem of great concentration of corporate and state power on an unprecedented scale. / This stark reality and the evidence of US prolonged wars of conquest and occupation has forced a general recognition of the relevance of the concept of imperialism to understanding global power relations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10144">9/11 and the "American Inquisition"</a></b><br />11.09.08. MICHEL CHOSSUDOVSKY, Globalresearch. Anybody who opposes the American Inquisition is a heretic conspiracy theorist or an accomplice of the terrorists. / .. <b>The GWOT is the ideological backbone of the American Empire. It defines US military doctrine, including the preemptive use of nuclear weapons against the "state sponsors" of terrorism</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/chamberlin170908.htm">Life And Death</a></b><br />17.09.08. Peter Chamberlin, countercurrents. The life or death struggle I am referring to is not with some shadowy terrorist group, or with an axis of foreign governments, but with our own government. We are in an existential struggle with the Bush Administration and everyone in government who supports the violence they carry-out upon the world<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>Election: Why the world worries</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://billtotten.blogspot.com/2008/08/barack-obama-and-afghanistan.html">Barack Obama and Afghanistan</a></b><br />06.08.08. Marc Herold, billtotten / counterpunch / INL. More of the Same, Packaged as Change<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/defense-budget-will-stay-large-under-obama-2008-08-26.html">Defense budget will stay large under Obama</a></b><br />28.08.08. the hill<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/barack-obama-the-american-promise">Obamas Acceptance Speech: The American Promise</a></b><br />28.08.08. Truthout.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9995">The Democrats endorse the "Global War on Terrorism": Obama "goes after" Osama</a></b><br />29.08.08. M. CHOSSUDOVSKY, Global Research. The Democrats have endorsed the "Big Lie". Bin Laden is upheld as the "outside enemy" who threatens the American Homeland. The fact that bin Laden is US sponsored intelligence asset, created and sustained by the CIA, is never mentioned.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bostonherald.com/news/2008/view.bg?articleid=1116003&srvc=2008campaign&position=5">Obama gave Petraeus Afghanistan advice</a></b><br />30.08.08. AP / boston herald. Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama reportedly told the top military commander in Iraq that some U.S. forces should be pulled out of Iraq and deployed to Afghanistan when the two met in July in Baghdad. / At the July meeting, Petraeus did not disclose his opinion on moving troops from one war to the other, according to an article in the Sept. 8 edition of The New Yorker magazine.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46934&s2=04">Both US vice-presidential candidates vow to back Israel</a></b><br />03.09.08. Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News/uruknet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://bellaciao.org/en/spip.php?article17345">Obama denounces Bush for sending too few troops to Afghanistan </a></b><br />11.09.08. B. van Auken, WSWS / bellaciao.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47210&s2=14">Obama calls for US military mobilization</a></b><br />13.09.08. P. Martin, WSWS.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/election08/96395/?page=entire">A Swarm of Lobbyists Would Run McCain's White House</a></b><br />01.09.08. Jim Hightower, Alternet. McCain has already assembled his clique of advisors, and they don't have our best interests in mind. Charley Black, Rick Davis, Randy Scheunemann, Wayne Berman, Carly Fiorina, Meg Whitman, Phil Gramm,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/11/AR2008091103789_pf.html">Palin Links Iraq to Sept. 11 In Talk to Troops in Alaska</a></b><br />12.09.08. Washington post. The idea that the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein helped al-Qaeda plan the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a view once promoted by Bush administration officials, has since been rejected even by the president himself.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10176">John McCain Supports Torture</a></b><br />12.09.08. David Swanson, global research.ca.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10167">Christian Fundamentalism Permeates the Republican Party: Sarah Palins links to the Christian Right</a></b><br />13.09.08. F. William Engdahl, global research.ca.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10189">Assessing the Republican Party Platform</a></b><br />14.09.08. Prof. Stephen Zunes, globalresearch.ca.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wikileaks.org/wiki/VP_contender_Sarah_Palin_hacked">VP contender Sarah Palin hacked</a></b><br />16.09,08. Wikileaks, exposure of Gov Palins shady dealings.<br /><br /><em>and/or</em><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/truskoff170908.htm">I Apologize</a></b><br />17.09.08. D. Truskoff, countercurrents. [not voting for either candidate]<em> What to do about it?</em> See Shadow Government <a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/gatto170908.htm"> here </a>.<br /><br />VIDEO:<br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/uselections2008/"> US 'in need of rebellion' </a> 08.09.08. Al Jazeera speaks to Howard Zinn, Questions: <b>Where is the United States heading in terms of world power and influence?; Q: Is there any hope the US will change its approach to the rest of the world?; How did the US get to this point?; What should the world know about the United States? </b>... more <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/pilger/?articleid=13444">TRY TO LAUGH, PLEASE"</a></b><br />11.09.08. John Pilger, anti-war. A Murderous Theater of the Absurd. Try to laugh, please, at the recent happy-clappy Nurembergs from which will come the next president of the United States. Those paid to keep the record straight have strained to present a spectacle of choice. Barack Obama, the man of "change," wants to "build a 21st-century military... to stay on the offensive everywhere." Here comes the new Cold War, with promises of more bombs, more of the militarized society with its 730 bases worldwide, on which Americans spend 42 cents of every tax dollar. / Thousands of decent Americans came to the two nominating conventions to express the dissenting opinion of millions of their compatriots who believe, with good cause, that their democracy is evaporating. They were intimidated, arrested, beaten, pepper-gassed; and they were patronized or ignored by those paid to keep the record straight. / In the meantime, Justin Webb, the BBC's North America editor, has launched a book about America, his "city on a hill." It is a sort of Mills & Boon view of the rapacious system he admires with such obsequiousness. The book is called Have a Nice Day.<br /><br />Try to laugh, please.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.legitgov.org/shulman_abc_poll_lipstick_110908.html">ABC NEWS POLL: NUMBER ONE ISSUE FACING AMERICANS IS LIPSTICK</a></b><br />11.09.08. Satire by R J Shulman, My Space / legitgov.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_2010budget_091508w/">Pentagon to draft full 2010 budget plan for next president</a></b><br />13.09.08. army times.<br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/uselections2008/"> US Elections 2008 </a>Aljazeera. on-going. Very good. Also on aljazeera - <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/09/20089101504980596.html"> US Election Beat </a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br />9/11<br /><br /><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/51/124900297_b3b699e8a9.jpg?v=0"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/51/124900297_b3b699e8a9.jpg?v=0" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/visuel/124900297/"> 9/11 Magnum photobook</a></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/09/world/africa/09cairo.html">9/11 Rumors That Become Conventional Wisdom</a></b><br />09.09.08. Michael Slackmen, NY Times. Seven years later, it remains conventional wisdom here that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda could not have been solely responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that the United States and Israel had to have been involved in their planning, if not their execution, too. / Americans might better understand the region .. if they simply listen to what people are saying and try to understand why rather than taking offense.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXa4Lz1yDoY&feature=user"> America and Al Qaeda, Part 1 </a> (10 Sep 08, al jazeera)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFSAAPJ7xEI&feature=user"> America and Al Qaeda Part 2 </a>(10.09.08, aljazeera)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174974/andrew_bacevich_worshiping_the_indispensable_nation">9/11 Plus Seven </a></b><br />09.09.08. Andrew J. <a href="http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski211.html"> BACEVICH </a>, TomDispatch.com: "The events of the past seven years have yielded a definitive judgment on the strategy that the Bush administration conceived in the wake of 9/11 to wage its so-called Global War on Terror. That strategy has failed, massively and irrevocably.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/10/seventh-anniversary-white-house/">On 7th Anniversary Of Attacks, White House Claims Bin Laden Was Not The Mastermind of Sept.11</a></b><br />10.09.08. In a press conference today, a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Dana Perino about the administrations ongoing efforts to find Osama bin Laden, calling him the mastermind of 9/11. Perino interrupted the reporter, <u>claiming bin Laden was not the true mastermind of the attacks</u> (VIDEO):<br /><ul><br /><li> Q But Osama bin Laden is the one that you keep talking about his lieutenants, and, yes, they are very important, but Osama bin Laden was the mastermind of 9/11 </li><br /><li>PERINO: No, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind of 9/11, and hes sitting in jail right now.<br /></li></ul><br /><br />VIDEO<br /><a href="http://www.rebelnews.org/opinion/columnists/olbermann%e2%80%99s-disgust-with-the-neocon-%e2%80%9ctribute%e2%80%9d-to-9%1011-20080910385/">Olbermans Disgust with the Neocon Tribute to 9/11</a> (10.09.08. rebel news)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/ford110908.htm">9/11 and the Great American Decline</a></b><br />11.09.08. Glen Ford, countercurrents. In its convulsive "response" to 9/11 - the worldwide "War on Terror" - the United States seized the opportunity to put in motion planetary aggressions that already existed in the blueprints of the neo-con's Project for a New American Century (PNAC).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10158">American Airlines Flight 77The Key to the 9/11 Enigma?</a></b><br />11.09.08. Edward F. Mazur, globalresearch.ca.<br /><br />VIDEO.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article17405.htm"> 9/11 The Falling Man </a> (Not yet released in the U.S.)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=falling.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=falling.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=falling.jpg"> Falling </a><br /></div><br /><em>Where are the hands, as in Rilke's poem, that can hold up all this falling? There are none. And so we keep falling, down and down and still farther down</em>.<a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47169&s2=12"> Chris Floyd </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47169&s2=12">The Falling Land </a></b><br />11.09.08. CHRIS FLOYD, uruknet. There is, apparently, to be no end to our falling. No bottom to the pit of moral nullity through which we keep plunging, no act of evil which we will not accept, and countenance, and even cheer. At one time, it required great lies -- elaborate, monstrous deceits, wrapped in myths of goodness and light -- to disguise the brutal machinations of raw power. Otherwise, it was thought, the people might rise up in anger at the crimes being committed in their name, thus threatening the primacy and privilege of the elite. But this proved to be unnecessary in the end. The foulest deeds could be done in broad daylight, in full view of the world, before the eyes of our children, without the slightest consequence for the perpetrators. The crowd would applaud, or, at worst, simply shrug and move on...' / All of these things, and many more besides, have been done and are being done by the government of the United States today, with either the full-throated approval or the meek acquiescence of the political opposition and the nation's institutions. The people too seem largely in agreement, or completely indifferent. We have just finished a primary campaign in which tens of millions of people voted for candidates who support the system described above in almost every particular -- quibbling about some of the details and tactics perhaps, but expressing absolutely no dissent from its basic premises./ The two major candidates left standing after this appalling process are as similar in policy and philosophy as it is possible to be.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/09/200891133339749344.html">Poll shows many still doubt 9/11 </a></b><br />11.09.08. Alex Sehmer, aljazeeera. More than 50 per cent of people reject the official belief that the attacks on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, were carried out by al-Qaeda, a new survey has revealed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47164&s2=12">9/11 Truth Film To Be Broadcast On Prime Time Russian TV</a></b><br />11.09.08. Russia Today/uruknet. Who was involved in 9/11? Documentary reveals shocking facts.<br /><br />On the anniversary of 9/11, an Italian-produced documentary called <b>ZERO</b>, investigating the tragedy, is opening in Russia. The authors believe that the U.S. official version of events surrounding the attacks can't be true. U.S. networks have rejected the film. VIDEO ZERO: 2.29. The makers of the documentary claim that the report of the official U.S. commission into the tragedy of September 11, 2001 is false. The <a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3626100,00.html"> Filmmaker </a> Urges International Tribunal to Probe 9/11 (08.09.08. dw.) Also See trailer of Zero: an investigation into 9/11 <a href="http://zero911movie.com/site/#"> here </a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3198">The Truth behind 9/11: Who Is Osama Bin Laden?</a></b><br />11.09.08. Michel CHOSSUDOVSKY, globalresearch.ca.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/jensen110908.htm">Arrogance, Ignorance, And Cowardice: Lessons From 9/11</a></b><br />11.09.08. Robert Jensen, countercurrents.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=340646">Afghans say life no better after invasion</a></b><br />11.09.08. Reuters. .. many Afghans say life is no better and some say its worse.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/11/september11.humanrights?gusrc=rss&feed=commentisfree">Bush's bitter legacy</a></b><br />11.09.08. Andy Worthington, Guardian. The administration's response to September 11 was to entrench injustice at home and around the world. Now, this must change.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=114435&d=17&m=9&y=2008">Evils of manipulated history</a></b><br />17.09.08. Osama Al Sharif, arab news. The terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, where thousands of innocent lives were lost, have justified the Bush administrations so-called war on terror. It has been an open-ended crusade which so far has destroyed Afghanistan and Iraq, many believe beyond repair. / This is not to deny that the Taleban era was a dark and gruesome chapter in Afghanistans history, which the world was only too happy to see uprooted. That country has had more than its fair share of obnoxious rule, both at the hands of native and foreign leaders..<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><em> Make Up Your Own Mind </em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.911truth.org/"> 9/11 Truth org. </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ae911truth.org/11rfa911.php"> Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.investigate911.com/911facts.htm"> Investigating 9/11.com</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.legitgov.org/9_1_1_oddities.html"> CLG 9/11 Exposition Zone</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=9/11+facts&revid=1232792550&sa=X&oi=revisions_inline&resnum=0&ct=top-revision&cd=1"> google search 9/11 facts </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=9%2F11+&btnG=Google+Search&meta="> google search 9/11</a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><a id="9000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>9. US-NATO </b> (Report, General; Transportation)<br /></div><br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/US-Army-Releases-2008-Modernization-Strategy-05063/">US Army Releases 2008 Modernization Strategy</a></b><br />09.09.08. Defense Industry Daily<br /><br />GENERAL<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/19/afghanistan.nato?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews">Nato flounders in Afghanistan</a></b><br />19.08.08. M Williams, Guardian comment. The alliance cannot promote security while it has to focus so intently on protecting its own soldiers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/154257">NATOs Defining Moment</a></b><br />20.08.08. Newsweek. The history of grand alliances and global politics is rarely decided by a single skirmish, and the Uzbin Valley ambush by itself could hardly determine the fate of NATO. But it happened at a defining moment as day by day, hour by hour, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization finds itself under greater pressure to define its purpose and prove the worth of its far-flung missions from the Caucasus to the Hindu Kush.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hUpP_MrY8dsWdytP7nviwSdU5uHw%20http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/28/2349650.htm">NATO passes over Kabul security to Afghan troops</a></b><br />28.08.08. ABC. In practical terms there will be little difference to the number of Afghan and international troops on the streets of Kabul, but it is a symbolic move to show the confidence in Afghanistan's security forces. But <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/28/weak-afghan-police-threaten-nato-plan/"> Weak Afghan police threaten NATO plan</a> (Washington Times 28.08.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/walberg310808.htm">Global Famine Is It A Conspiracy?</a></b><br />31.08.08. Eric Walberg, New Dawn / countercurrents / INI. once the US succeeded in amassing overwhelming economic might in the world and in splitting up the Soviet Union, it <u>proceeded to use NATO as just such a world body</u>, successfully tempting the resultant statelets to join it, i.e., to <b>cede effective control over their foreign affairs to the US</b>. The plan was for Russia to be coaxed into the fold as well, though this part of the plan has, as it turns out, hit a snag.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4709981.ece">Alliance divided as members ponder plea of 'Nato come home'</a></b><br />09.09.08. Michael Evans, David Charter and Catherine Philp, timesonline. The division between those who still want to focus the main effort on Afghanistan and others who believe that resources should be switched back to confronting Russia's rediscovered imperialist ambitions has created turmoil within the alliance. Key to this conflict are the tough decisions to be made over who gets to join the alliance, and when.<br /><br /><em> BELIEVE THIS?</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/09/nato.afghanistan">Nato tightens rules of engagement to limit further civilian casualties in Aghanistan</a></b><br />09.09.08. R. Norton-Taylor, Guardian. The orders were issued by General David McKiernan, the Nato commander in Afghanistan, who also asked the US central command to reopen an inquiry into the air strike in the western district of Shindand, as video footage surfaced showing the bodies of child victims. / The rules of engagement for Nato troops will focus on house searches, saying they should be led by Afghan forces, and that permission from homeowners should first be sought./ It was an attempt "to re-educate commanders, to re-emphasise how careful everyone should be" in carrying out air strikes and air support for ground troops./ .. "<b>Killing civilians is not the best way to attract hearts and minds</b>," one European official noted sarcastically yesterday.<br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47093&s2=11">Disaster in Afghanistan</a></b><br />09.09.08. John W. Warnock, uruknet. It is difficult to find out what is really going on in Afghanistan. The focus of the mass media is almost entirely on the military activities of the Canadian and NATO forces. There is absolutely no coverage of political developments. The news on the economy is limited to the state of the poppy industry. This is no accident. The North American media, including the CBC, has strongly supported the U.S./NATO strategy and the administration of President Hamid Karzai. Contrary to the mainstream message, things are not going well...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a_hGK1oU3ja8&refer=home">NATO Orders Lethal Force Review to Cut Afghan Deaths (Update1)</a></b><br />17.09.08. Ed Johnson and Gregory Viscusi, bloomberg.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-09/20/content_10084600.htm">NATO to suspend aggressive operations in Afghanistan on Int'l Peace Day</a></b><br />20.09.08. Xxinhuanet.<br /><br /><em> Future in NATO?</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://cabalamat.wordpress.com/2008/09/05/sweden-and-finland-consider-joining-nato/">Sweden and Finland consider joining NATO</a></b><br />05.09.08. cabalamat / INL<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Pressure_mounts_on_India_to_send_troops_to_Afghanistan/articleshow/3480892.cms">Pressure mounts on India to send troops to Afghanistan</a></b><br />14.09.08. times of India. India is resisting renewed pressure from the West to send its troops into Afghanistan to boost the coalition troops there.<br /><br /><em> Georgia</em><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/05/europe/05cheney.php">Cheney backs membership in NATO for Georgia</a></b><br />05.09.08. IHT / INI.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47283&s2=17">NATO: Georgia Not Democratic Enough to Join </a></b><br />15.09.08. Jason Ditz, Antiwar.com/uruknet.<br /><br />TRANSPORTATION<br /><br /><b><a href="http://warnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2008/08/taliban-are-going-after-natos-lifeline.html">Taliban Ambushes Threaten Nato's Vital Logistics Route Into Afghanistan</a></b><br />30.08.08. War news updates. Taliban fighters are trying to strangle Nato's mission in Afghanistan by stepping up attacks on convoys in the Khyber Pass, the perilous mountain trail that carries most supplies into the country.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=taliban-celebrating.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=taliban-celebrating.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=taliban-celebrating.jpg"> Taliban celebrating </a></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46842&s2=01">Taliban move on Khyber Pass</a></b><br />31.08.08. Nick Meo Peshawar/ uruknet. TALIBAN raiders are trying to strangle NATO's mission in Afghanistan by stepping up attacks on convoys in the Khyber Pass, the perilous mountain trail that carries most supplies into the country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article4663850.ece">Government issued notice to stop Afghanistan reports</a></b><br />03.09.08. ANDREW LOYD, Times on line. They [British commanders] already knew that carrying a delicate, multimillion-dollar cargo of machinery along 75km (47 miles) of road to the power plant at Kajaki would be beset with obstacles. / In spite of misgivings, Nato came under pressure from Washington to secure visible progress in the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWyzELK5vrs%20"> Kajaki hydroelectric project </a> to safeguard future funding lines before the US presidential elections. When The Times tried to publish a story reporting these concerns among US and other Nato officials, the article was <u> blocked by a Ministry of Defence D notice</u>, on the ground that it would endanger forthcoming operations. [also see <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/2668595/British-soldiers-kill-200-Taliban-in-Afghan-dam-operation.html"> above</a> and <a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=325379"> here</a>.]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/09/03/afghan-dam.html">Canadian troops help escort dam turbine through Taliban territory</a></b><br />03.09.08. CBC /INI.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=329717">Kajaki dam: Contentious, costly, and a failure</a></b><br />04.09.08. Reuters / wired. The Kajaki dam is a monument to failed foreign dreams in Afghanistan. It was built by the Americans in the early 1950s as a cold war showcase, the sort of mega-scheme that was supposed to modernise the developing world.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17051">Pakistan cuts supply lines to NATO troops in Afghanistan</a></b><br />05.09.08. int.news/pk. In a major development, the federal government on Friday announced disconnection of supply lines to the allied forces stationed in Afghanistan through Pakistan in an <u>apparent reaction to a ground attack on a border village in South Waziristan agency by the Nato forces</u> [<em>see above Pakistan / death</em>] / Political authorities of the<br /><br />See <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khyber_Agency">Khyber Agency</a><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8a6AmDy8zjLyV4M1U8lq8Lstn0j1kV_SyEqw4ZjohY8YXB7afUcsKyp7-9-baoVs3Su8NvpdH0F_h7t0IhDhhy0Tc90kSz3sv5Tc8oCzGVRrFIpcsNg7H3MObAPWz5yJfmRJb/s400/aljazeera_ph9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769364837419010" border="0" /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/09/2008967658362588.html">Photo EPA, aljazeera</a><br /></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/06/top3.htm">Fuel supply to Nato forces suspended</a></b><br />05.09.08. Ibrahim Shinwari, dawn.com. LANDI KOTAL, Sept 5: The government is reported to have decided to stop fuel supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan via the Torkham highway with effect from Saturday. / Sources said the federal government did not cite any reason for the move, but the decision was apparently taken in the wake of the US ground and missile attacks in North and South Waziristan tribal regions. But then<a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17088"> Supplies to Nato forces restored </a> (07.09.08. the int news.)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.apakistannews.com/fbr-hasnt-blocked-pol-supplies-to-nato-80223">FBR Hasnt Blocked POL Supplies To Nato</a></b><br />07.09.08. apakistannews.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?205431">Tanker supplying oil to Nato attacked; driver killed</a></b><br />08.09.08. pak tribune.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C17%5Cstory_17-9-2008_pg7_10">Tribesmen warn of blocking NATO supplies</a></b><br />17.09.08. Daud Khattak, daily times.pk.<br /><br /><br /><a id="10000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>10. US_NATO Coalition </b>) (Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Holland, United Kingdom)<br /></div><br /><br /><em>We do not have the power or the knowledge, nor do we have the right under international law, to occupy Iraq and Afghanistan</em>.<a href="http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080825_hedges_afghanistan_worsening/"> Chris Hedges </a><br /><br />AUSTRALIA<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b> DOG PENS</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/editorial/cultural-misunderstandings-in-a-war-zone-20080902-47yz.html?page=-1">Cultural misunderstandings in a war zone</a></b><br />03.09.08. theage.com.au. AUSTRALIAN soldiers detaining Taliban prisoners in dog pens in Afghanistan may seem, in the wider context of war, a curiosity or at worst a slight misdemeanour. However, there is in the action, and in the defence of that action by the Defence Force and Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, a more disturbing picture. / The incident occurred in April, but was revealed in an army inquiry only last week. <a href="http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5j-le9iPw3HOh3FYVCkFAsOdnbx5g"> Australian government defends troops who kept Taliban suspects in dog pen</a> (02.09.08, Canadian press)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/766/39539">Afghanistan: The bloodletting continues</a></b><br />06.09.08. Tony Iltis, green left weekly. On September 2, nine Australian soldiers were wounded one left in a critical condition in an ambush in southern Afghanistan. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) claims the Australian soldiers killed several of the alleged Taliban fighters responsible for the attack. / The incident has been used by the Rudd Labor government and Coalition opposition to promote the ongoing US-led occupation of Afghanistan as a noble cause helping liberating the country from terrorists.<br /><br />The attack came amid revelations that Australian soldiers had kept captured suspected Taliban fighters in <u>dog cages</u>. / Defence minister Joel Fitzgibbon initially denied the accusation, then admitted it (describing it as a cultural misunderstanding), then denied it again.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.theage.com.au/national/taliban-targeting-aussie-journalists-20080908-4c3j.html">Taliban 'targeting Aussie journalists'</a></b><br />08.09.08. the age. Journalists in Afghanistan <b>may</b> be targeted by terrorists, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warns.<br /><br /><br />CANADA<br /><br /><a href="http://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca/wp-content/uploads/coffin-troops.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca/wp-content/uploads/coffin-troops.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca/2008/09/why-canada-should-leave-afghanistan/"> Photo by Cpl Robert Bottrill </a>, Canadian Forces Combat Camera.</div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080826.wtaliban26/BNStory/Afghanistan/home">U.S. terrorism experts to teach troops</a></b><br />26.08.08. globe and mail. The federal government is hiring U.S. terrorism experts to deepen Canadian soldiers' understanding of how their Taliban enemies think - saying it needs to prepare troops better as they wage a counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan. Ottawa announced that it is bypassing the normal route for contracting and awarding the job to Arlington, Va.-based Terrorism Research Center on a sole-source basis, saying it's the only firm capable of doing the job. The one-year contract has a maximum annual payout of $848,250 (U.S.), but may be extended.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080903.wMilitants03/BNStory/International/home">Pakistan probes deaths of alleged Canadian militants</a></b><br />03.09.08. globe and mail / INL.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080904.AFGHANBLATCH04/TPStory/National/columnists">The soldiers are doing their part; what of the international players?</a></b><br />04.09.08. Christie Blatchford, globe and mail. But as a recent after-action report on the state of Afghanistan, written July 30 by retired U.S. Army general Barry McCaffrey, points out in blunt soldierly language, the extraordinary difficulty of the job there is compounded at almost every turn by incompetence and bureaucratic dithering at high levels.<br /><br /><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/i/2606;_ylt=Ak5ZQ.9o6hklXjH0r62m_wSWwvIE"> VIDEO</a>: Public support for Afghan mission lowest ever: poll<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080905.wafghan05/BNStory/Afghanistan/home">Inside the Taliban's deadly ambush</a></b><br />05.09.08. Graeme Smith, globe and mail. The ambush that killed three Canadians this week was a carefully planned trap, using an elite team of Taliban fighters and the insurgents' most powerful weapon to strike in a symbolic location near the scene of Canada's bloodiest battles of the mission. / This detailed account of the attack, from a well-informed Afghan government official in Kandahar with strong Taliban contacts, suggests the insurgents were frighteningly organized for the Sept. 3 ambush.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.peacealliancewinnipeg.ca/2008/09/why-canada-should-leave-afghanistan/">Why Canada should leave Afghanistan</a></b><br />06.09.08. Val Gaffray, peace alliance Winnipeg. It seems to me, the only way we will get our Canadian troops out of Afghanistan, is to demonstrate to the Canadian public the illegitimacy of the US-led war on terrorism and hence the illegitimacy of the US-led war in Afghanistan. [extensive footnotes]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iAmHah7h7ih-9K4HCVU7cIN0ytjg">Bodies of fallen soldiers return to Canada from Afghanistan</a></b><br />07.09.08. Canadian press.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iGrkxIueRhRrtEe9-pP21OtDFg6Q">Canada to vote October 14</a></b><br />07.09.08. AFP. Canada's conservative prime minister has called a snap general election to try to firm up his minority government, in what is expected be a heated ideological contest between the right and left. / But a slowing economy, rising Canadian combat casualties in Afghanistan -- including a soldier's death announced only hours after the election writ was dropped -- and the Conservatives' lackluster efforts to stem climate change could dash Harper's bid for an absolute majority in the 308-seat Parliament. / As the campaign got underway, support for Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan was dealt a blow with the announced death Sunday of another Canadian soldier -- the fourth this week. It was the 97th Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan since 2003. / There are some 2,500 Canadian soldiers currently in Afghanistan. Ottawa's mission was extended in March to 2011 by the Conservatives with qualified support from the Liberals, but recent opinion polls suggest a slight majority of Canadians oppose Canada's role in the mission.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpSab39orYup2wrhH7jUOSWVFZMwD933U4280">Canada PM: Troops home from Afghanistan in 2011</a></b><br />10.09.08. Rob Gillies, AP.<br /><br />[<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">NB: interesting how Presidents and Prime Ministers play around with troop numbers at the time of an election? </span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=3355b03f-aaa7-4f01-83d6-0304bde28d45">Pentagon eyeing Canadian satellite technology</a></b><br />10.09.08. David Pugliese , Canwest News Service<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?id=784875">Relatives of 9/11 victims mixed on Harper's Afghan pledge</a></b><br />11.09.08. National Post - Toronto,Ontario,Canada.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/498540">More answers needed on Afghanistan</a></b><br />13.09.08. Letter to the Editor, the star.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/31745">One Third of Canadians Back Afghan Mission</a></b><br />13.09.08. Angus-reid.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.winnipegsun.com/canadavotes/news/2008/09/15/6766326-sun.html">Pessimism seizes PM </a></b><br />-/09.08. Winnepeg sun. On Saturday he [Harper] told Sun Media in an exclusive interview that not only will Canada leave Afghanistan in 2011 but that NATO should be planning an exit as well, which is something he has not said before.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/features/decisioncanada/story.html?id=b82a3ee7-30aa-4e21-9b65-54840bec4c58">Afghan war costs could be thorny election issue</a></b><br />15.09.08. Mike Blanchfield, Canwest News Service.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080916/election2008_harper_afghan_080916/20080917?s_name=election2008&no_ads=">Harper agrees to release of Afghan war cost report</a></b><br />17.09.08. ctv.<br /><br /><br />CZECH REPUBLIC<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.afghanconflictmonitor.org/2008/09/czech-military.html">Czech Military Elite Unit Again Operates In Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.09.08. afghan conflict monitor / INL. The deployment of 100 soldiers from the elite unit who participate in anti-terrorist operations was approved by the Czech parliament this year.<br /><br /><br />FRANCE<br /><br /><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/images/20070811-1_p0801107sc-0026-756v.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/images/20070811-1_p0801107sc-0026-756v.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a> <div style="text-align: center;"> Sarkozy and Bush,<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%9Dhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/images/20070811-1_p0801107sc-0026-756v.jpg%E2%80%9D"> photo by Shealah Craighead</a></div><br /><br /><em>In Case you missed it</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article157821.html">Operation Sarkozy : how the CIA placed one of its agents at the presidency of the French Republic</a></b><br />26.07.08. Thierry Meyssan, Voltairenet. [also in 18.09.08 Current Concerns]. All the information included in this article is provable, except for two assertions signalled by the author who alone takes full responsibility.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://complextopics.blogspot.com/">More on the French Casualties </a></b><br />24.08.08. J. L. Krueger, complex topics. So this is what I've heard about the ambush that killed ten French Soldiers on Monday, 18 August. / Like the attack last month that killed nine Americans, our complacency may have contributed significantly to the casualties. On the battlefield, complacency gets you killed. There is no redo when you screw up. The only time the Taliban try to take on a NATO unit head on, is when they believe they have an immediate advantage. The Taliban watch our patrols. If they determine that our patrols are being complacent, then they believe that they can achieve surprise and tactical advantage.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=95413">France eyes bigger military role in Afghanistan</a></b><br />27.08.08. AFP.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=talibans_qui_ont_abattu_les_dix_soldats_francais.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=talibans_qui_ont_abattu_les_dix_soldats_francais.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=talibans_qui_ont_abattu_les_dix_soldats_francais.jpg">Photo Véronique de Viguerie</a>, ParisMatch</div><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=329269">Taliban ambush trophy photos shock France</a></b><br />04.09.08. Reuters / Wired. A French magazine {Paris Match] published photos on Thursday of Taliban fighters with trophies taken from French soldiers killed last month in Afghanistan, setting off a new round of pained debate about France's presence there.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/the-afghan-impasse-and-how-get-out-it">The Afghan Impasse and How to Get Out of It</a></b><br />04.09.08. Christophe Jaffrelot, Le Monde / Truthout. The ambush that cost ten French soldiers their lives on August 18 reminded our country what other nations engaged in the ISAF (such as Canada, which has lost 93 men) already knew: "We are witnessing the return of war operations," to use the terms the head of the French armed services' General Staff, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, [discussions on] What Are the Roots of the Evil?; What Alternative to the Present Strategy?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-09-09-France-security_N.htm">New security database angers many in France </a></b><br />09.09.08. AP. Edvige opens up "the possibility of tracking the entire population of France." A new French security database that could track anyone deemed a "possible threat to public order" -- even minors as young as 13 -- has outraged privacy crusaders and put France's conservative government on the defensive.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=17146">France slams missile strikes in Pakistan</a></b><br />10.09.08. int news. France warned on Tuesday that missile strikes by suspected US drones in the tribal areas were undermining international efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSSYD17122220080917">France wants Europe to lift Afghan troop restrictions</a></b><br />17.09.08. Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSSYD17122220080917">France wants Europe to lift Afghan troop restrictions</a></b><br />17.09.08. Reuters.<br /><br /><br />GERMANY<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=14e23c05-7250-4225-9689-36e9777643fc">German soldier dies in Afghanistan</a></b><br />27.08.08. Reuters. 3 more injured.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/08/30/asia/OUKWD-UK-AFGHAN-GERMAN-RAILWAY.php">German military proposes new Afghan rail link</a></b><br />30.08.08. IHT. The proposed 67 km (42 mile) stretch would link the northern city of Mazar-I-Sharif with the Uzbek town of Termez, where the German air force has a base, Der Spiegel magazine reported.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3604113,00.html">Germany's Afghanistan Mission Questioned after Civilian Deaths</a></b><br />30.08.08. dw world. After three Afghan civilians, a woman and two children, were killed when German soldiers opened fire on a suspicious civilian vehicle politicians at home have renewed appeals for a withdrawal of German troops.<a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=327354"> German army pays compensation for Afghan shooting</a> (Reuters 03.09.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iT2u1KR5p_Oj_CW4XosMuYGHBiJA">German minister says Afghan pullout debate dangerous</a></b><br />03.09.08. AFP. The German defence minister [Franz Josef Jung] said in Kabul Wednesday that calls in Germany for troops to be withdrawn from Afghanistan because of recent attacks would only heighten risks for the soldiers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3622079,00.html">German Defense Minister Slams US Ground Strike in Pakistan</a></b><br />05.09.08. dw-world. During a visit to Pakistan Friday, German Defense Minister Jung slammed US ground strikes in the country that killed civilians but said Islamabad needed to do more to curb militants operating near the Afghanistan border.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,577023,00.html">Germany Discovers a War in Afghanistan</a></b><br />08.09.08. Speigel on line/anti-war. For years, Germans have preferred to see their country's presence in Afghanistan as armed development assistance. That myth is now becoming more difficult to maintain as the violence spreads to the north where the Germans are based.<br /><br /><br />HOLLAND<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2008/september/17/dipcircles/">Dutch Envoy Sees True Progress in Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.09.08.<br /><br /><br />UK<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?p=46661">Report: British to boost troops in Afghanistan</a></b><br />24.08.08. AP / uruk.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKB31459720080829">Afghan Base is worlds busiest trauma hospital</a></b><br />29.08.08. Reuters. In the past week more than 100 casualties have been shuttled in to the <u>British-run Camp Bastion</u> hospital in southern Afghanistan, more than half with major trauma from explosions and requiring surgery, according to medics.The wounded, and sometimes dead, have included British, American and Danish soldiers, members of the Afghan army and police, and civilians caught up in the crossfire as the battle against the Taliban has intensified across Helmand province.m / in the pristine ward lay a small Afghan child, barely 18 months old, breathing heavily through a respirator. She'd been hit in the abdomen by a fragment of shrapnel. Nurses said she was not faring well. / Asked how she was wounded the nurse said "by a strike", then explained that she'd been hit by U.S. munitions in a mistaken attack on civilians.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/operation-enduring-freedom/46622-hamid-karzai-blames-britain-taliban-resurgence.html">Hamid Karzai blames Britain for Taliban resurgence</a></b><br />07.09.08. world affairs board. His remarks, made to Afghan MPs, follow a clash with Gordon Brown over the Kabul regimes links with warlords and drugs barons. / Karzai claims Brown has threatened to withdraw British troops from Helmand province, where 31 of them have died this year, if the president reinstates two provincial governors sacked for alleged dealings in the heroin trade.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=338131">ANALYSIS-Britain and NATO struggle for Afghanistan numbers</a></b><br />10.09.08. Luke Baker, Reuters. Two-and-a-half years into an operation to secure vast desert reaches of Afghanistan from the Taliban, British commanders quietly admit they are seriously undermanned.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20747.htm">Fear By Fantasy</a></b><br />12.09.08. Yvonne Ridley, ICH. Once again the wretched racists and Islamaphobes in the Metroplitan Force and the British Government have further demonised Muslims and resulted in further ethnic and religious profiling at airports through their fear by fantasy policies.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/2827216/Britain-pays-for-surge-of-spin-doctors-in-Kabul-to-counter-Taliban-propaganda.html">Britain pays for surge of spin doctors in Kabul to counter Taliban </a></b>propaganda<br />13.09.08. N. Meo, Telegraph. Britain is funding a surge of spin doctors in Afghanistan to counter fears that the Taliban is winning the propaganda war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article4749196.ece">New London terror warning</a></b><br />14.09.08. Christina Lamb and Michael Smith, times on line. AMERICAN raids on Taliban and Al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan could provoke terror attacks in London, Pakistans high commissioner to the UK warned yesterday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=133447">Allied forces can conduct operation only inside Afghanistan: Straw</a></b><br />-.09.08. online news. Addressing a one-day workshop organised by Fazl Dad Institute of Human Rights here on Tuesday, Jack Straw opined that terrorists who took shelter in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan are the enemies of the humanities.<br /><br /><br /><a id="11000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>11. US-NATO Deaths</b> (Americans, Australians, Canadians, Danish, Dutch, English, Indian, Romanian)</div><br /><br />GENERAL<br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 428px; height: 207px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Q4mbMpnZvHEWn1leW5YVW_TY8ukjrOnutvyKpn47SZAzH7U58fcaT3FnFIa0FCcWoKgxyhdSp2JKsoe9c9jdqEV9Rs2Z1MWw3YGDtciYcCXgWK8y8Qx4LFDpv7nsyv02oSo9/s400/icasualties_ph10.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769364250324258" border="0" /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.icasualties.org/oef/"> Coalition Deaths by Nationality</a><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.icasualties.org/oef/">iCasualties.org: Operation Enduring Freedom</a></b><br />August 2008. i casualties.<br /><br /><br />AFGHANISTAN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=344528">Afghan governor dies in suicide blast near Kabul</a></b><br />13.09.08. Reuters. Abdullah Wardak died outside his house in Paghman, some 20 km (12 miles) west of the capital.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20080916/as-afghanistan/">UN: 1,445 Afghan civilians killed in 2008 violence</a></b><br />16.09.08. J. Straziuso, Huff Post.<br /><br />[more deaths in AFGHANISTAN: See Sections No. 2, 3]<br /><br /><br />AMERICA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46890&s2=02">A bloody month in Afghanistan</a></b><br />02.09.08. James Cogan, WSWS/uruknet. The August death toll of US and NATO troops in Afghanistan reached 45 on Sundaythe equal highest monthly total of the near seven-year war.<br />http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKISL23676220080905<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?p=46672">Taliban turns lethal: 101 US deaths in Afghanistan</a></b><br />24.08.08. J. STRAZIUSO, AP / uruk.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_soldierkilled_082808/">Oregon soldier killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.08.08. AP/Army Times. 20 yrs. Old.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/69AAEE0937F170D1862574BF001276FE?OpenDocument">GI from St. Louis dies in Afghanistan</a></b><br />09.09.08. St. Louis Post-Dispatch - MO<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/global/story.asp?s=8988711">Marine Lt. from Bothell dead in Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.09.08. Montana news sta.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8dGftYb0s4XWdUMRdIVs3vh1CKAD934JNH01">US death in Afghanistan makes 2008 deadliest year</a></b><br />11.09.08. J. Straziuso. AP. The NATO-led force said the soldier was killed in eastern Afghanistan "when insurgents attacked a compound." It provided no other details, but a Western military official told The Associated Press that the soldier was American. Thursday's death brings to <b>112</b> the number of troops who have died in Afghanistan this year, surpassing last year's record toll of 111.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3dO01zk6vBUdavNiW-Zfe-SJuvQD92S7TUG0">US military deaths in Afghanistan region at 512</a></b><br />29.08.08. AP. As of Friday, Aug. 29, 2008, at least 512 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/69AAEE0937F170D1862574BF001276FE?OpenDocument">GI from St. Louis dies in Afghanistan</a></b><br />09.09.08. St. Louis Post-Dispatch - MO<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=341889">Deadly incidents for US troops in Afghanistan</a></b><br />11.09.08. AP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/global/story.asp?s=8988711">Marine Lt. from Bothell dead in Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.09.08. Montana news sta.<br /><br /><em> Names of the Dead, NY Times </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/us/03list.html?ref=us">Names of the Dead</a></b><br />02.09.08. NY Times. The Department of Defense has identified <b>578</b> American service members who have died as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/08/us/08list.html?ref=us"> Names of the Dead 579 </a> (07.09.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/us/11list.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin"> 581</a> (10.09.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/us/18list.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin"> 587 </a>.<br /><br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>suicides</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/ann-wright-army-cover-up-rape-and-murder-1">Ann Wright | Army Cover-Up of Rape and Murder?</a></b><br />28.04.08. Ann Wright, Truth out. The Department of Defense statistics are alarming - one in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military. / The military has characterized each death of women who were first sexually assaulted as deaths from "noncombat related injuries," and then added "suicide." / Yet, the families of the women whom the military has declared to have committed suicide strongly dispute the findings and are calling for further investigations into the deaths of their daughters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/us-military-keeping-secrets-about-female-soldiers-suicides">US Military Keeping Secrets About Female Soldiers' "Suicides"?</a></b><br />26.08.08. Truthdig / truthout. Fourteen U.S. military women, including five in the Army, one in the Army National Guard, two in the Army Reserves, three in the Air Force, two in the Navy (on ships supporting U.S. forces in Afghanistan) and one in the Marine Corps, one British military woman and six U.S. civilian women have been killed in Afghanistan. According to the Department of Defense, four U.S. military women in Afghanistan died in noncombat-related incidents, including one now classified as a suicide. Four military women of color (three African-Americans and one Latina) have been killed in Afghanistan. / The deaths of 14 U.S. military (13 Army and one Navy) women and one British military woman who served in Iraq, Kuwait or Afghanistan have been classified as suicides.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080904/hl_afp/usmilitaryiraqafghanistanhealthsuicides">Army suicide rate may hit new high: officials</a></b><br />04.09.08. AFP. The US Army is on track to break last year's all-time record for suicides, a pace that would top the civilian suicide rate for the first time since the Vietnam war, army officials said Thursday. / The officials said 93 soldiers have taken their own lives so far this year, approaching last year's 115 suicides, the most ever on record in a single year for the army.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=IhnnDBX62ygoNdJJ8pkHTwBwTaWaKySs">U.S. Military Is Keeping Secrets About Female Soldiers' 'Suicides'</a></b><br />10.09.08. Col. Ann Wright, Truthdig/alternet.<br />Our soldiers' families deserve better than that.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />CANADA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/23/america/NA-Canada-Afghanistan-Deaths.php">Canada nears 100 dead in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.08.08. IHT.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jihadunspun.com/intheatre_internal.php?article=1002825&list=/index.php">Taliban Plan Massive Attack On Kabul; Nine Canadian Soldiers Killed</a></b><br />26.08.08. jihad unspun.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=f9315bec-f992-4188-867e-a743960f648b">Canadian occupation force soldier killed in Kandahar </a></b><br />03.09.08. Canada com/ICH. Canada has lost another occupation force soldier in Afghanistan, just days after he received a medal for bravery.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jYb4U_zSV6B3mnv4K5hLkY6uBOEw">Canadian death toll in Afghanistan: 96 soldiers, one diplomat</a></b><br />04.09.08. Canadian press.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=68782&sectionid=351020403">Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />07.09.08. presstiv.ir.<br /><br /><br />DENMARK<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=4354&icid=4&d_str=20080825">Danish soldier killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.08.08. standard.com.hk.<br /><br /><br />HOLLAND<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1429310.php/Roadside_bomb_kills_one_Dutch_soldier_wounds_five_in_Afghanistan_">Roadside bomb kills one Dutch soldier, wounds five in Afghanistan</a></b><br />07.09.08. monsters and critics.<br /><br /><br />ENGLAND<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hMJFSFxJThnpwyb6KTeJXolQ2gwg">British soldier killed in Afghanistan: NATO</a></b><br />18.08.08. AFP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/onthefrontline/2683496/British-soldier-killed-by-landmine-in-Afghanistan.html">British soldier killed by landmine in Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.09.08. telegraph.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4732827.ece">British soldier killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />11.09.08. times on line. The unidentified soldier, from the Royal Logistic Corps, was on a routine patrol near Musa Qala yesterday when he was caught in the blast. The cause of the explosion is being investigated.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hzQiIRu4cv69q8Uuy-tJyOX5rauA">British soldier shot dead in Afghanistan firefight: ministry</a></b><br />13.09.08. AFP<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080914/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestbritain">British army suffers third casualty in a week in Afghanistan: MoD</a></b><br />14.09.08. AFP. ../ The deaths bring to <b>120</b> the number of British soldiers who have died in Afghanistan<br /><br />IRELAND<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0905/afghan.html">Irish citizen killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />05.09.08. An Irish citizen serving with the British army's Royal Irish Regiment has been killed in Afghanistan, the Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed. / According to reports, the soldier was killed in an explosion while on a routine foot patrol near Sangin, in the south of the country.<br /><br /><br />ROMANIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1427942.php/Romanian_soldier_is_killed_in_Afghanistan">Romanian soldier is killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />31.08.08. monsters and critics/Sasia news.<br /><br /><br /><a id="12000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>12. Human Rights</b><br /></div><br /><br />REPORTS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2008_hr/detainee.pdf">"Improving Detainee Policy: Handling Terrorism Detainees Within the American Justice System," </a></b><br />Senate Judiciary Committee, June 4, 2008:<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/torture2.pdf">"Torture and the Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment of Detainees: the Effectiveness and Consequences of 'Enhanced' Interrogation," </a></b><br />House Judiciary Committee, November 8, 2007:<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm6-01-1.pdf">"Knowledge Management Section,"</a></b><br />29.08.08. U.S. Army Field Manual 6-01.1 (pdf)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.openthegovernment.org/otg/SecrecyReportCard08.pdf">Secrecy Report Card</a></b><br />2008. Open Government. The report describes the mostly unfavorable trends across a range of quantitative indicators, including classification and declassification activity, "black budget" spending, invention secrecy, Freedom of Information Act processing, and more.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/09/08/afghan19766_txt.htm">Afghanistan: Civilian Deaths From Airstrikes</a></b><br />08.09.08. Human Rights Report, "Troops in Contact: Airstrikes and Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan<br /><br />GENERAL<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/96208/">Afghan President Pardons Men Convicted of Gang Rape</a></b><br />24.08.08. Kate Clark, Independent UK/alternet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/military-sending-foreign-fighters-home-nations">Military Sending Foreign Fighters to Home Nations</a></b><br />28.08.08. Mark Mazzetti, Eric Schmitt, NY Times / Truthout: "The United States military has secretly handed over more than 200 militants to the intelligence services of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and other countries, nearly all in the past two years, as part of an effort to reduce the burden of detaining and interrogating foreign fighters captured in Iraq and <u>Afghanistan</u>, according to American military officials. The system is similar in some ways to the rendition program used by the Central Intelligence Agency since the Sept. 11 attacks to secretly transfer people suspected of being militants back to their home countries to be jailed and questioned."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C08%5C29%5Cstory_29-8-2008_pg7_19">Offensive in Bajaur displaces journalists</a></b><br />29.08.08. daily times, pk. A military offensive against militants in Bajaur has displaced almost all journalists working there who are now covering the story from other districts. [<em> one way to get rid of journalists reporting civilian deaths? </em>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2437201.0.Legal_bid_over_RAF_Nimrod_dead.php">Legal bid over RAF Nimrod dead</a></b><br />01.09.08. the herald. Earlier this year, a coroner ruled that the entire RAF fleet of Nimrod aircraft had never been airworthy and should be grounded.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=330263">Pakistani woman suspect refuses US strip search</a></b><br />04.09.08. Reuters / ICH. She was due to appear in Manhattan federal court Thursday where her lawyer, Elizabeth Fink, said Siddiqui was "unbelievably damaged" and in need of psychological care. The lawyer also denied allegations that Siddiqui was plotting to attack New York City landmarks.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090402245_pf.html">Pakistani Tortured, Her Attorney Says</a></b><br />05.09.08. Washington Post / ICH. The attorney for an American-trained behavioral scientist charged with trying to kill U.S. personnel in July said in court Thursday that she believes that her client was imprisoned and tortured for several years before the incident and now could be mentally incompetent.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9980&Itemid=5848">Wrong tactics hurt fight against Al-Qaeda</a></b><br />12.09.08. Sam Makinda, Business Daily Africa. The US and its partners have been unable to contain terrorism because of major weaknesses in their approach. / First, their diagnoses of the causes of transnational terrorism have been shallow and misleading./ Second, the US and its partners have pursued counter-terrorism measures that target individuals as if the capture of such people would make the problem disappear. / Third, while the US and its partners have claimed that they cannot give in to terrorists, they have adopted domestic policies that reduce human rights and inconvenience their own citizens.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.himalmag.com/No-habeas-corpus_nw1936.html">No habeas corpus</a></b><br />-/09.08. Ingrid Massage, Himal Southasian. In Pakistan, an increase of disappearances has taken place since October 2001, as hundreds have gone missing in the context of counter-insurgency measures in the US-led war on terror, including through renditions to US authorities.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1431478.php/Pakistan_human_rights_body_asks_UN_help_to_avert_humanitarian_crisis_">Pakistan human rights body asks UN help to avert humanitarian crisis</a></b><br />17.09.08. South Asia News<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b>Aafia Siddiqui</b><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 149px; height: 177px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnUW8zx5AZ17HCVW1zJ6fFFm21OWWiRcesUkHQi8jxdTyGlgaSnc0VOshYSqA_1K8Lmv0eRLm6C4fHvBpq4Ktt_a_NowdVMVh3aKPI32uHOThOpwuoaRsq_dmMxGSrNtgVPfCn/s400/jpost_ph11.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769539114787586" border="0" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">AAFIA SIDDIQUI is shown after her graduation from MIT in 1995 <a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1220526724978&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">Photo: AP</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/08/26/Al-Qaida_suspects_US_son_held/UPI-76341219775182">Al-Qaida suspect's U.S. son held</a></b><br />26.08.08. UPI. U.S. officials say the <b>11-year-old </b>American son of a suspected Pakistani militant is being held by authorities in Afghanistan. Aafia Siddiqui's son, Ahmed, is a <u>U.S. citizen by birth</u> and has been in Afghan custody since July when his mother was arrested after a shootout with Afghan police in Ghanzi, the Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) said Tuesday. To be released<a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080830/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanpakistanusjusticerightschildren"> soon </a>. (30.08.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C09%5C06%5Cstory_6-9-2008_pg3_3">opinion: Six Pakistani women</a></b><br />06.09.08. Rafia Zakaria, daily times, pk. Six Pakistani women have fuelled international headlines in the past week. Five of them are the hapless victims of the grotesque live burial that took place in rural Balochistan earlier this month, punished for going against tribal tradition and flouting the will of the men for whom they were mere chattel. / The sixth is <b>Dr Aafia Siddiqui</b>, the MIT-trained Pakistani neuroscientist who was recently indicted in a court in New York for attempting to murder and assault US nationals while incarcerated at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. / In a grotesque juxtaposition of the global and the local, a short moment in time saw Pakistani women victimised both by the American war on terror and a local tribal custom of appalling moral decrepitude.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1220526724978&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">NY terror trial of Pakistani woman may lead to first investigation of US secret intelligence techniques</a></b><br />07.09.08. Jerusalem post. "There's all the noise of terrorism, but it's not in the charges," said Joanne Mariner, an attorney with Human Rights Watch in New York who has followed the case. .. / "We are really in a predicament here," he [Prosecutor David Raskin] told US District Court Judge Richard Berman.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080907/Columns/inside.html">When truth and rights are crucified for US security</a></b><br />07.09.08. Thalif Deen, Sunday Times. .. most wars are justified on the strength of blatant lies deployed by both warring parties in any conflict. If insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan resort to pure political hogwash to bolster their cause, are the US and NATO forces, presided over by legitimate governments, justified in resorting to similar tactics in lying about the successes and failures in the battlefield? [examples]. / .. Last month there was yet another incredible story about a US-educated Pakistani neuro-scientist, <b>Aafia Siddiqui</b>, 36, who was apparently nabbed "lingering" outside the house of the governor of Ghazni province in Afghanistan. [examples of lies and human rights abuses].<br /><br /><b><a href="http://writ.news.findlaw.com/mariner/20080908.html">The Strange and Terrible Case of Aafia Siddiqui</a></b><br />08.09.08. JOANNE MARINER, findlaw. Everyone agrees that she's a 36-year-old mother of three young children. But while the New York Post calls her the "Al Qaeda mom," and federal prosecutors claim that when she was arrested in July she was carrying a bag packed with chemicals and handwritten notes about a "mass casualty attack," Aafia Siddiqui's lawyers say she's a victim. "This woman has been tortured and she needs help," explained Elizabeth Fink, one of her defense counsel, at an August 11 court hearing.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5idoFwTiarBQQchocwnjyFSyl4JyA">Afghanistan hands over son of Pakistani scientist</a></b><br />15.09.08. AFP. The Afghan government Monday handed to Pakistan diplomats the young son of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist suspected of links with Al-Qaeda who was arrested with the boy two months ago. Foreign ministry officials handed over the child, identified by the foreign ministry as <u>11-year-old Ali Hassan who was born in the United States</u>, in front of media in Kabul. He would be returned to his family, the Pakistan embassy said.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://dotherightthing-cyberpastor.blogspot.com/2008/09/lights-out-on-liberty.html">Lights Out On Liberty</a></b><br />05.09.08. cyber pastor. email, Mark Steyn. Every day of the week, somewhere in the West, a Muslim lobbying group is engaging in an action similar to what Im facing in Canada. / .. Thus we see that todays multicultural societies tolerate the explicitly intolerant and avowedly unicultural, while refusing to tolerate anyone pointing out that intolerance. .. / I wrote my book<a href="http://www.steynstore.com/product28.html"> America Alone </a> because I wanted to reframe how we thought about the War on Terroran insufficient and evasive designation that has long since outlasted whatever usefulness it may once have had.<br /><br /><br /><u> Bashir Noorzai </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080907/ap_on_re_us/tribal_leader_trial">Afghan tribal leader set for trial in NYC</a></b><br />07.09.08. To, Hays, AP. Afghanistan is in anarchy," the one-time Taliban ally recalls telling his tribesmen. "Americans are establishing our future government." / Rather than thank him, Noorzai claims the U.S. government betrayed him: In 2005, he was branded a most-wanted drug kingpin, lured to New York and arrested.<br /><br /><u> Mohammed Ahmad</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mindanaoexaminer.com/news.php?news_id=20080913023229">Boy Detained In Afghanistan, UN Must Intervene Says Human Rights Group</a></b><br />13.09.08. mindanaoexaminer. The <a href="http://www.ahrchk.net/index.php"> Asian Human Rights Commission </a> is concerned to hear from the United States Department of Justice that an 11-year old boy, and US-Pakistani Citizen, Mohammed Ahmad, has been illegally detained in Afghanistan since 17 July 2008, when his mother was allegedly arrested by the FBI.<br /><br /><em> Watch this space</em><br /><br /><u>ZADARI</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/jemima-khan-mad-and-bad-ndash-but-the-west-will-turn-a-blind-eye-921544.html">Mad and bad but the West will turn a blind eye</a></b><br />07.09.08. Jemima Khan, Independent. The man who now has his finger on the nuclear button was only last year declared unfit to stand trial in a UK court on account of multiple mental problems. He suffers from dementia, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress after spending 11 of the past 20 years in jail in Pakistan. ./ Zardari has long been dogged by allegations of crime and corruption.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.countercurrents.org/ali080908.htm">Asif Ali Zardari: The Godfather As President </a></b><br />08.09.08. countercurrents. Tariq Ali, counter currents. He may be a pliant partner for the west, but with his record of corruption, Zardari is the worst possible choice for Pakistan<br /><br /><u> Dick Cheney; No Paper Trails? </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/lawsuit-ask-that-cheneys-papers-be-made-public">Lawsuit to Ask That Cheney's Papers Be Made Public</a></b><br />08.09.08. Christopher Lee, The Washington Post/truthout. "Months before the Bush administration ends, historians and open-government advocates are concerned that Vice President Cheney, who has long bristled at requirements to disclose his records, will destroy or withhold key documents that illustrate his role in forming U.S. policy for the past 7 1/2 years. In a preemptive move, several of them have agreed to join the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in asking a federal judge to declare that Cheney's records are covered by the Presidential Records Act of 1978 and cannot be destroyed, taken or withheld without proper review."<br /><br />RENDITION<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080904/wl_afp/mexicouscrimedrugs">Mexico drug plane used for US 'rendition' flights: report</a></b><br />04.09.08. AFP. A private jet that crash-landed almost one year ago in eastern Mexico carrying 3.3 tons of cocaine had previously been used for CIA "rendition" flights, a newspaper report said here Thursday, citing documents from the United States and the European Parliament.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=VENJBpbb%2Fa8W08O%2FIK3W0ABwTaWaKySs%20Poland%20Investigating%20Claims%20of%20CIA%20Secret%20Prison%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3EAndrew%20Gilmore,%20Jurist.%20%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cu%3E%20Bagram%3C/u%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" com="" 2008="" 0826="" html="">U.S. builds new detention center in Afghanistan</a></b><br />26.08.08. CSM. The new facility, which will hold up to 1,100 detainees, is aimed at replacing the controversial existing one at Bagram<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-09-15-Bagram-prison_N.htm">Pentagon to expand intel ops at U.S. prison in Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.09.08. Peter Eisler, USA TODAY. Interrogators and analysts are being sought for a bigger Bagram prison scheduled to open next year. They will be hired to question prisoners and provide intelligence that can be used on the battlefield, according to contract solicitations reviewed by USA TODAY. The Army also is seeking a "trained Mullah" to conduct Islamic services for detainees and advise U.S. officials on religious issues. / The developments are the latest indication of U.S. plans for a long-term presence in Afghanistan, where the fundamentalist Muslim Taliban militants have regained strength since U.S. forces ousted them in 2001.<br /><br />GUANTANAMO<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/worthington.php?articleid=13408">Tortured in Egypt, Rendered to Guantánamo: Pakistani Heads Home After Six Years</a></b><br />04.09.08. A. Worthington, anti-war.com<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/09/pakistan-ambassador-to-us-seeks-release.php">Pakistan ambassador to US seeks release of nationals from Guantanamo Bay</a></b><br />09.09.08. The JURIST. The Pakistani Ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, met with US officials on Sunday to discuss the release of six Pakistani citizens currently being held at the US military detention center at Guantanamo Bay. / .. According to reports, any Pakistani prisoners facing terrorism charges upon their release would be tried by Pakistani courts.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg19926733.700">US army is breaking rules to make terrorists talk</a></b><br />11.09.08. new scientist.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 271px; height: 162px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE6FGLMQ8H48tgeKG4qENhsi4dqk_pZ3U92AE1uL-J5Ok4wLtwy2ntEJTz_01KhvkMxKDzTy4jh2T80NG5rQD8br0sPsWiwOaBkGQwBRMOso0JxHF3D7NTPj-_Lry7Pj63eL4R/s400/guardian_ph12.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5248769539126900930" border="0" /><div style="text-align: center;">Abdul Nasir, right, and his brother in Kabul.<br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/14/guantanamo.afghanistan">"Photograph: Jason Burke </a><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/14/guantanamo.afghanistan">Shadow of Guantanamo follows freed inmates back to their homes</a></b><br />14.09.08. Jason BURKE. Observer. After years in detention, Afghan returnees have bitter memories as they face new hardships.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/09/us-denies-pakistan-delegation-access-to.php">US denies Pakistan delegation access to Guantanamo detainees</a></b><br />15.09.08. JURIST. The US has denied a Pakistani delegation's request to meet with Pakistani detainees held at the US military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, according to a Daily Times report published Sunday. According to the report, the US said that it does not permit delegations to meet with specific detainees held at the center.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=352513">Fate of Guantanamo to be left to next US president</a></b><br />16.09.08. Sue Pleming, Reuters / wired.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/us/18psych.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1221815564-h+J8cS+U+yRP9UaCci1lFA">Psychologists Vote to End Interrogation Consultations</a></b><br />17.09.08. NY Times.<br /><br /><em> Binyam</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/worthington.php?articleid=13390">British Court Rules Against UK and US in Guantánamo Case</a></b><br />01.09.08. Andy Worthington, anti-war. When justice finally came for Binyam, it was not at Guantánamo, but in London's High Court, where, last Thursday, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr. Justice Lloyd Jones delivered a stinging rebuke to both the British and the American governments: to the British for the complicity of the UK intelligence services in the U.S. administration's post-9/11 policies of "extraordinary rendition" and torture, and to the Americans for the lawless conduct of the trials by military commission that were established in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to deal with "terror suspects" like Binyam (even though the judges professed in their ruling that they "did not consider it necessary to form any view about the overall fairness of the military commissions procedure").<br /><br /><em>Obaidullah</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=339908">U.S. charges Afghan prisoner at Guantanamo</a></b><br />10.09.08. Jane Sutton, Reuters. Obaidullah, who like many Afghans is known by one name, is charged with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/09/us-military-charges-afghan-detainee-at.php">US military charges Afghan detainee at Guantanamo with war crimes </a></b><br />12.09.08. JURIST. US military prosecutors have brought war crimes charges against a detainee at Guantanamo Bay who they allege stored and concealed anti-tank mines in Afghanistan. The detainee, named Obaidullah, was charged Wednesday with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism.<br /><br /><em> Omar Khadr</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/09/khadr-military-judge-bars-brigadier.php">Khadr military judge bars Hartmann from legal advisor role</a></b><br />05.09.08. The Jurist.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7012262766">Military Judge In Guantanamo Bay Postpones Omar Khadr's Trial </a></b><br />11.09.08. allheadine news / legitgov. The U.S. military judge in Guantanamo Bay postponed the Oct. 8 trial of half-Canadian, half-Afghan youth Omar Khadr. An earlier hearing slated Wednesday was also canceled because the flight of Khadr's lawyers, prosecutors and military judge did not push through due to Hurricane Ike.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jmG-s34NUvHKJyb8wwx-2PzWQTnw">Canadian officials frustrated in efforts to ensure care for Omar Khadr </a></b><br />11.09.08. canadian press / legitgov. A Canadian government representative complained as recently as a few months ago that her efforts to ensure proper medical and other care for Omar Khadr in Guantanamo Bay were being stymied by his American captors, newly released documents reveal.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/52597.html">Canadian won't be tried at Guantanamo until after election</a></b><br />16.09.08. mcclatchy / legitgov. now scheduled for<a href="http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gOevy_KoLh3XHQ68a9KPfnNsrUZA"> 10 November </a> (17.09.08)<br /><br /><u> Genocide and War Crimes</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huliq.com/3263/67860/tradition-one-sided-reports-how-genocides-are-covered-western-media">How Genocides Are Covered Up By Western media</a></b><br />07.09.08. huliq. 1. Japan China, Russia-Georgia. It is not a secret that Western media is far from offering the freedom of speech and expression for which it overtly fights around the world. Going against the so called opinion of the majority is as fatal as it is going against the will of the ruling party in a dictatorial regime.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20740.htm">Afghan Massacre - The Convoy of Death</a></b><br />(50 min -Jamie Doran) Produced and directed by Irish filmmaker and former BBC producer Jamie Doran, the film tells the story of thousands of prisoners who surrendered to the US military's Afghan allies after the siege of Kunduz. According to the film, some three thousand of the prisoners were forced into sealed containers and loaded onto trucks for transport to Sheberghan prison. When the prisoners began shouting for air, U.S.-allied Afghan soldiers fired directly into the truck, killing many of them.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/welcome-to-the-final-stag_b_127990.html">Welcome to the final stages of the coup...</a></b><br />20.09.08. Larisa Alexandrovna, Huff Post. In 2000, the long fought for and long admired democracy of the United States of America began a slow and steady decline toward fascism - a Bush family tradition - with the installment of a president - a man the citizens overwhelmingly rejected (although the funny math told a still believed myth) - by a few corrupt judges on the US Supreme Court. That coup is now nearly complete and checkmate is all but unavoidable.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+ <br /><br /><a id="13000"></a><b>13. References</b></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C08%5C31%5Cstory_31-8-2008_pg3_4"><br />Descent into Chaos</a></b><br />How the War against Islamic Extremism is being Lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia; By Ahmed Rashid; (Allen Lane London 2008) This is a BOOK REVIEW: The inside track on Afghan wars by Khaled Ahmed. See also <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=A+Rashid&x=11&y=18"> Descent into Chaos</a> (Amazon), The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, Ahmed Rashid, Jun 3, 2008<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Power-End-American-Exceptionalism/dp/0805088156/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221292375&sr=8-1">The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism</a></b><br />Andrew Bacevich, Metropolitan Books (August 5, 2008). Robert Kaiser (Washington Post) says: This compact, meaty volume ought to be on the reading list of every candidate for national office. / .. Bacevich is argumentative, and his case is not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, but at the end of this book, a serious reader has a difficult choice: to embrace Bacevich's general view or to construct a genuinely persuasive alternative. For many years our leaders have failed to do either. The price of their failure has been high and could go much higher.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10166">The New Pearl Harbor Revisited: The Definitive Treatment of 9/11</a></b><br />12.09.08. Tod Fletcher, globalresearch.ca. A Review of David Ray Griffin's book<br /><br />S. Brysac asked me to include the following: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kingmakers-Invention-Modern-Middle-East/dp/039306199X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222062693&sr=8-1"> Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East</a> by Karl E. Meyer and Shareen B. Brysac W.W.Norton, 2008.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/index-on-afghanistan-april-2008-famine.html"> INDEX ON AFGHANISTAN APRIL 2008: FAMINE</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-disaster-winters.html">INDEX on AFGHANISTAN: DISASTER, A WINTERS TALE I: FEBRUARY 2008</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-nato-failure.html">INDEX ON AFGHANISTAN, NATO FAILURE: A WINTERS TALE, PART II</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/autumn-07-in-afghanistan.html">Autumn '07 in Afghanistan</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/security-companies-in-afghanistan.html">Security Companies in Afghanistan</a> (updated 10.09.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/afghanistan-cleared-of-wrongdoing.html"> Afghanistan: Cleared of Wrongdoing</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/afghanistans-new-kinetic-team.html">Afghanistan's New "Kinetic" Team</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/schisms-index-on-afghanistan-august.html">Schisms: Index on Afghanistan, August 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/06/index-on-afghanistan-may-2007-part-ii.html">Index on Afghanistan: May 2007: Part II - NATO; Human Rights</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/06/index-on-afghanistan-may-2007-part-i.html">Index on Afghanistan: May 2007 Part I</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/dead-in-afghanistan-may-2007.html">Dead in Afghanistan: May 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/index-on-afghanistan-april-2007-murder.html">Index on Afghanistan: April 2007: Murder in Nangarhar</a> (updated)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/04/index-on-afghanistan-march-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : March 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/03/index-on-afghanistan-february-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : February 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-on-afghanistan-january-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : January 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : December 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/index-on-afghanistan-november-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : November 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/index-on-afghanistan-october-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : October 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/10/index-on-afghanistan-september-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : September 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/08/index-on-afghanistan.html">Index on Afghanistan</a> (Updated to 31/08/06)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/07/index-research-pentagon-and-oil.html">Index Research: The Pentagon and Oil</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK</em><br /><br />The url to Index on Index on Afghanistan and Pakistan - Murder & Security, Aug/Sept. 08 is <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html</a><br />The smaller url is <a href="http://tinyurl.com/49rmxj">http://tinyurl.com/49rmxj</a><br /><br />Difficulties with publishing this Index Research = September final week will be in next Index on Afghanistan. Thank you.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br />Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Index+Research">Index Research</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Afghanistan">Afghanistan</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Pakistan">Pakistan</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Canada">Canada</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/France">France</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Germany">Germany</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/UK">UK</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Security">Security</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/US:+Bush">US: Bush</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Oil">Oil</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Contracts">Contracts</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Contractors">Contractors</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/NATO">NATO</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/NATO+Coalition+and+Deaths">NATO Coalition and Deaths</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Human+Rights">Human Rights</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Rendition">Rendition</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Guantanamo">Guantanamo</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Siddiqui">Siddiqui</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-53563767763581300282008-09-20T19:29:00.033+01:002009-06-10T18:37:27.933+01:00Index Research: The Bomb at The Marriott Hotel, Islamabad<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-research-bomb-at-marriott-hotel.html&title=Index+Research:+The+Bomb+at+The+Marriott+Hotel,+Islamabad&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-research-bomb-at-marriott-hotel.html&title=Index+Research:+The+Bomb+at+The+Marriott+Hotel,+Islamabad&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=5356376776358130028" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=5356376776358130028" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br />updated 20.10.08.<br /><br /><a href="http://kdrv.com/files/apfeed/D93ARMPG1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://kdrv.com/files/apfeed/D93ARMPG1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I have avoided suicide attacks in both Afghanistan and Pakistan in my forthcoming blog on Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, this evening, as I put this blog to bed on the evening of 20 September 2008, <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/09/200892014179932320.html"> al jazeera </a> had excellent live reports on a suicide attack in which “many people” were killed and wounded. This on the day that Zadari said that the US had no right to occupy Pakistan.<br /><br />One only has to look at the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Marriott"><b>board and chief executives of The Marriott Hotel </b></a> to understand why “terrorists” (of whatever nationality) have chosen this location. The video report noted that the hotel is a mecca and ‘safe home’ for “western” interests. As aljazeera also said in its live video report, the Marriott Hotel is “popular with western diplomats and western journalists” (and the CIA?). Wikipedia writes that the Marriott is a <b>“franchisor of a range of value and LUXURY hotels and related lodging facilities. Marriott currently has 2,300 accommodation properties in North America alone</b>.” <br /><br />Not a place the poor in our world can afford.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzIAqZymE1c">Dozens killed in Pakistan hotel blast - 20 Sep 08</a><br /><br />UPDATES<br /> 21 September 2008. al jazeera news, live, reports "no claim of responsibility." See written report<br /><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/09/200892154719180391.html"> here</a>. <br /><br />There are three videos of the Marriott affair in the aljazeera article, <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2008/09/200892154719180391.html"> Rescuers search Pakistan blast site</a>: 1) Grim aftermath of Islamabad hotel attack; 2) Dozens die in attack on islamabad hotel 3) Footage of the attack. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.daily.pk/politics/politicalnews/7422-what-was-mysterious-activity-going-on-in-the-marriott-hotel-islamabad-by-united-states-marines.html">What Was Mysterious Activity Going on in the Marriott Hotel Islamabad by United States Marines</a></b><br />21.09.08. daily pk. After the blast, mysteriously fire was started at the fourth and fifth floors. ... / Though it would never get confirmed but the fire on the fifth and fourth floor of the hotel broke out <b>because those flours were housing the mysterious steel boxes under the heavy guard of United States marines and no one including the Pakistani security forces and the security men of the hotel were allowed to go near with the them</b>. These boxes were shifted inside the hotel when the Admiral Mike <b>Mullen</b> met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and others in Islamabad. See also <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47431&s2=23">here </a>. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://lataan.blogspot.com/2008/09/marriott-hotel-bombing-terrorist-attack.html">THE MARRIOTT HOTEL BOMBING – A TERRORIST ATTACK ALRIGHT, BUT WHO EXACTLY WERE THE TERRORISTS?</a></b><br />21.09.08. lataan. Last Thursday a US Predator drone aircraft fired off four Hellfire missiles into Pakistan killing seven people. This was just hours after the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike <b>Mullen</b>, had personally assured President Asif Ali Zardari that the US would in future respect the sovereignty of Pakistan after previous US incursions both into Pakistani airspace and on to Pakistani soil that had resulted in the deaths of Pakistani civilians. / Relations between the US and Pakistan immediately floundered. Just a couple of day’s later, right on cue, there’s this massive blast at the Marriott Hotel that virtually destroys the hotel and kills scores. ‘Terrorists’ are blamed – the same Islamic extremist ‘terrorists, so we and the Pakistani government are told, who the US was trying to get just a couple of days earlier. And now there’s US National Security Advisor (and one of the few warmongering ultra neocons that is still in the Bush administration), Stephen Hadley, trying to tell the Pakistanis that they need the US to go into Pakistan to get these ‘terrorists’ because Pakistan hasn’t got the wherewithal to do it themselves. / We know, of course, that the Americans and their allies are not above this kind of false flag attack ... / And, since there is no evidence whatsoever to suggest that the explosion was caused by a suicide bomber as claimed, or even that the perpetrator was from one of the so-called Islamic extremist organisations, one can, considering the circumstantial evidence, come to the conclusion that it may more than likely have been a false flag attack perpetrated by the US or their allies than one carried out by Muslim extremists who would, incidentally, have absolutely nothing to gain, especially at that time, from such an attack. / <b>We should get over this ‘our government would never do a thing like that’ mentality and take a good hard look at the geo-political reality of what is actually happening in our world and has been happening for some considerable time</b>.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijA4NgeHmV4&eurl=http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47417&s2=22"> The Marriott Hotel Bombing: A "Horse Head" in the bed?</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://thepost.com.pk/MainNewsT.aspx?bdtl_id=12738&fb_id=2&catid=14">JI links Marriott blast to Delhi bombings</a></b><br />22.09.08. the post. Jamaat-e-Islami has linked Saturday's suicide attack at the Marriott Hotel to the terror bombings in New Delhi exactly a week ago, saying there may be "one force" behind the attacks in both countries, reported Mid Day, an Indian newspaper. "There can be one force behind blasts in New Delhi and the blast in Islamabad," Jamaat-e-Islami deputy chief Liaqat Baloch told IANS, adding that <b>a foreign hand cannot be ruled out</b>. The Marriott blast took place in the high-security Red Zone of the federal capital and there must have been a <b> very well organized group behind it</b>, he maintained. Lashkar-e-Taiba denies role in India blasts: A Pakistan-based Islamist militant group said Sunday it was not involved in a series of orchestrated bombings across India, angrily denying allegations by investigators.http://<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6503467.html">Official: warning on terrorist attack in Islamabad received 3 days ago</a></b><br />22.09.08. People's Daily Online. <br /><br /><b><a href="www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24387968-2703,00.html">Pakistan leaders in narrow escape</a></b><br />23.09.08. australian news. Pakistan's top political and military leadership, including the newly elected President and Prime Minister, came close to being killed in the al-Qa'ida suicide bomb attack on Islamabad's Marriott hotel. / Interior Ministry boss Rehman Malik said last night that President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army commander Ashfaq Kayani were scheduled to be at a dinner in the hotel when the 600kg bomb went off on Saturday night, killing at least 53 people./ ... While Dr Rehman did not say why the Marriott dinner was cancelled, it is believed that intelligence services got wind of a possible terror strike and advised that the venue should be changed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/islamabad+bombing+an+inside+job+/2468782">Islamabad bombing an "inside job"?</a></b><br />22.09.08. channel4. ... But there's no way the Taliban could have done this - the bomb was too big. "The area the hotel is in is too well protected for terrorists working alone to get at either. There are check points throughout Islamabad.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47424&s2=23">Who Is Behind the Bombing in Islamabad?</a></b><br />22.09.08. Moon of Alabama/ uruknet. If one wants to make sense of the big bombing that hit the Marriott hotel in Islamabad yesterday, one has to look at the bigger strategic picture. If you believe the usually 'western' media, the U.S. is still an ally of Pakistan and India is still a neutral country. In reality the U.S. and India are allied in a war against Pakistan and China.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47422&s2=23">Taliban denies role in hotel attack</a></b><br />22.09.08. AlJazeera.net / uruknet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gbeMcYGjrKUouEqVSyGCHuCgE3eQ">Shadowy group claims Islamabad bombing: Al-Arabiya TV</a></b><br />22.09.08. AFP. A shadowy group calling itself "Fedayeen of Islam" has claimed responsibility for the deadly bombing of Islamabad's Marriott Hotel in a telephone call to Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television, the channel said on Monday. .. / The speaker on the recording spoke in English "with a south Asian accent," he said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-09-21-pakistan-sunday_N.htm">Pakistan rejects U.S. help in probe of hotel blast</a></b><br />22.09.08. USA today. "We do not need help. We are competent. We reject it," Interior Ministry adviser Rehman Malik told reporters Sunday after the U.S. offered FBI help in pursuing the terrorists behind the attack.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ahmedquraishi.com/article_detail.php?id=465">The Real Story Behind Marriott Attack</a></b><br />22.09.08. <a href="http://www.ahmedquraishi.com"> ASIF HAROON RAJA</a>,Asian Tribune.<br /><ul><br />`<li> 10,000 Indian troops are stationed in Afghanistan under the garb of supervising construction of road Jalalabad-Port Chahbahar project that has now been completed. Whereas India has officially declared 14 Indian consulates in Afghanistan, on ground they have 107 in which 20 intelligence units are burning their midnight oil to destabilise Pakistan</li><br /><li> After 9/11 CIA bought the loyalties of pro-Pakistan tribal chiefs, leaving ISI and MI behind, those who refused were killed</li><br /><li> Nek Mohammad was killed by Americans when he made peace with Pakistan</li><br /><li> ISI had once given six figure coordinates of Baitullah and yet no Hellfire missile was fired on his hideout by CIA</li><br /><li> Foreign intelligence agents are involved in carrying out gruesome beheadings of security personnel and torching girls’ schools to defame the real Taliban who had a peaceful agenda</li><br /><li> Besides CIA and RAW, even Iran and Uzbekistan had developed their tentacles in Balochistan, Swat and Kurram Agency</li><br /><li> The nexus in Kabul is working upon a scripted plan to make FATA lawless and beyond the control of security forces, push militancy into settled areas and then into major cities and thus create a civil warlike situation to prove their contention that Pakistan was the most dangerous country in the world and that the extremists were on the verge of taking over power and nuclear weapons</li><br /></ul><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20843.htm">Why was the Marriott Targeted?</a></b><br />23.09.08. TARIQ ALI, Counterpunch / ICH. Hellfire missiles, drones, special operation raids inside Pakistan and the resulting deaths of innocents have fuelled Pashtun nationalism. It is this spillage from the war in Afghanistan that is now destabilizing Pakistan. .. / The majority of Pakistanis are opposed to the US presence in the region, viewing it as the most serious threat to peace. Why, then, has the US decided to destabilize a crucial ally? Within Pakistan, some analysts argue this is a carefully coordinated move to weaken the Pakistani state by creating a crisis that extends way beyond the frontier with Afghanistan. Its ultimate aim, they claim, would be the extraction of the Pakistani military's nuclear fangs. If this were the case, it would imply Washington was determined to break up Pakistan, since the country would not survive a disaster on that scale. / ... In my view, however, the expansion of the war relates far more to the Bush administration's disastrous occupation in Afghanistan. ... When in doubt, escalate the war, is an old imperial motto. The strikes against Pakistan represent - like the decisions of President Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, to bomb and then invade Cambodia - a desperate bid to salvage a war that was never good, but has now gone badly wrong.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14764604">Marriott blast: Mystery of US Marines' steel boxes being probed</a></b><br />23.09.08. sify. Pakistani authorities are trying to "solve the riddle" of US Marines and their mysterious steel cases that were shifted to the Marriott Hotel four days before it was razed in the worst terrorist attack in the federal capital, a media report on Tuesday said. "The authorities want to ascertain if it was a routine exercise or part of some special mission that does not have the approval of the government of Pakistan," The News said. / The US embassy insists the activity witnessed was a team of support personnel that often and routinely precede and/or accompany certain US officials.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JI24Df01.html">Marriot blast rips hole in Pakistan economy</a></b><br />24.09.08. Syed Fazl-e-Haider, asia times. Business, commerce and markets in Pakistan are reeling from the shockwaves of Saturday’s suicide blast outside the five-star Marriott Hotel in a high-security zone of Islamabad. ... / he Marriott was an essential stopover for foreign business delegations and its destruction in Saturday's blast has further aggravated security concerns among the investors and businessmen from North America and Europe<br /><br /><b><a href="http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php?sid=410019">Ambassador blames US for hotel bombing</a></b><br />24.09.08. bignewsnetwork. Pakistan's ambassador to the UK, Wajid Shamsul Hassan, has blamed recent US raids inside Pakistani territory for Saturday's hotel blast in Islamabad.Meanwhile, a number of foreign embassies and businesses in Pakistan are said to be re-examining the security situation, after Abdul Khaliq Farahi, Afghanistan's designated ambassador to Pakistan, was kidnapped and his driver killed by unidentified gunmen. .. /<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=137942">Marriott hotel investigation team sends more evidences to lab</a></b><br />26.09.08. int news. The team is trying to know whether there was any chemical material kept in third and fourth floors of the Marriott hotel building before the blast, the channel said. On the other hand, the administration of the Marriott hotel has alleged that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_Development_Authority">Capital Development Authority (CDA)</a> was not cooperating in lifting the wreckage.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.daily.pk/opinions/opinions/7532-some-questions-about-the-9-20-incident-at-marriott-hotel-in-islamabad.html">Some Questions about the '9 20' incident at Marriott Hotel in Islamabad</a></b><br />27.09.08. daily pk. <b>TWENTY</b> ANSWERS REQUIRED! <br /><br /><b><a href="http://thepost.com.pk/MainNewsT.aspx?bdtl_id=13116&fb_id=2&catid=14">Five arrested for Marriott bombing</a></b><br />20.10.08. the post.<br /><br /><br /><u> all good fodder: manufacturing consent for US war in Pakistan </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/06/200961053847918777.html">Police scour bombed Pakistani hotel</a></b><br />10.06.09. al jazeera. VIDEO:<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIwm_xObbYE"> Hotel bomb blast shakes Peshawar - 10 Jun 09</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the UK </em><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><br />Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Index+Research">Index Research</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Pakistan">Pakistan</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Hotel+Marriott">Hotel Marriott</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-90504911859295673462008-08-26T11:10:00.001+01:002008-08-26T11:25:34.197+01:00Index Research: On The Road To ExtinctionSummer 2008<br /><table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/08/index-research-on-road-to-extinction.html&title=Index+Research:+On+The+Road+To+Extinction&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/08/index-research-on-road-to-extinction.html&title=Index+Research:+On+The+Road+To+Extinction&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=9050491185929567346" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=9050491185929567346" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 488px; height: 244px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtxY1dbm9yl8TfDU5etWX2aEjJo-CEcWmzOGC1ouCRgdoj7s9tyPNeCHuTu2hdj7fJcQJ3qsbDWzUO3yL_fbg0U0UMcReZ2xTtZ4841HFt7U1Wnu9ubTp3rgk36z4-vD9VFRa/s400/earth_lights.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546413699740306" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Earth’s City Lights<br /><a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=4333">Image by Craig Mayhew and Robert Simmon</a>, NASA GSFC</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />A history lecturer recently said that if one doesn’t believe in ‘global warming’ one is put in the same category as those who do not believe in the Nazi holocaust. This research of summer 2008 articles is not only about global warming but also about species that have become extinct or are an endangered species.<br /><br />Mr. Bush’s (and ViPer Cheney’s)<a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-12-10.asp"> contempt for endangered species</a> reflects a similar contempt for civilian lives in <a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths.html"> Iraq</a>, <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/szabo07202007.html"> Afghanistan</a> and <a href="http://internationalnews.over-blog.com/article-19549501.html"> Palestine</a>.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />INDEX<br /><br />1. <a href="#1000">Planet Earth</a>: General; Air pollution; Biofuels; Coral Reefs; Dead Zones; Depleted Uranium Contamination; “Democracy,” Food (corn, rice, wheat, famine); Lakes (extinct: Greenland Lake: endangered Baikal); Nuclear Holocaust; Oil (Peak Oil, U.S. exploitation, The Car); Polar Ice; Rainforest; Water; Wetlands<br /><br />2. <a href="#2000">Towards Extinction</a>: General; Amphibians (frogs); Bees; Birds; Deer; Elephant; Fish (salmon, shark, sturgeon, tuna) Flora and Fauna (Lichen, Orchid); Mammals (deer, (elephant, lynx, kangaroo, mustang, polar bear, seal, tiger, whale, wolf, wolverine); Mammoth rhino), Primates (Great Ape, Homo Sapiens, Lemur, Monkey, Orangutan); Reptiles (lizard, turtle, tortoise.<br /><br />3. <a href="#3000">Good News</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><a id="1000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>1. PLANET EARTH</b><br /></div><br /><br /><b>General</b><br /><br /><em>. “It was one of those dreams where all things – the people, the houses and trees, the sky and the earth – are doomed at the outset to be merged in one gigantic vortex of destruction. Doomed from the start, but unless the dreamer is on the lookout he may not realize what is going to happen, because it is a maelstrom which begins to move only after a long while, declaring its presence in its own good time.”</em> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spiders-House-Novel-Paul-Bowles/dp/0061137030/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219419941&sr=8-1">Paul Bowles</a>, The Spider’s House (1955).<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">. . . </div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzurKT_AsMafm8iUcUM5Bah2yxuAVsbv7q5SXcgNPrLULyl9dFW53gBa-D3Tz07tVYdyJc-kKHAofHxsvVbiY_6-a5UXLOPfgk0KFWMZ4JWzEXBFhLpdg-_G41HmaESsNIQ85y/s400/ice1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546427095700674" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">The Arctic Ice Shelf (05.08.08) 80 ° 02.5’ N, 010° 42.’ SE <br />Photo ©Sarah Meyer, Index Research</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174949">Living on the Ice Shelf: Humanity's Meltdown</a></b><br />26.06.08. Mike Davis, Tomdispatch. NASA's James Hansen, the man who first alerted Congress to the dangers of global warming 20 years ago, returned to testify before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming this week. This time around, he was essentially offering a final warning on the subject. …<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/index.html"> London Society </a>is the world's oldest association of Earth scientists, founded in 1807, and its Commission acts as a college of cardinals in the adjudication of the geological time-scale. .. / Although the idea of the "Anthropocene" -- an Earth epoch defined by the emergence of urban-industrial society as a geological force -- has been long debated, stratigraphers have refused to acknowledge compelling evidence for its advent. .. / This new age, they explain, is defined both by the heating trend ... and by the radical instability expected of future environments. In somber prose, they warn that "<b>the combination of extinctions, global species migrations and the widespread replacement of natural vegetation with agricultural monocultures is producing a distinctive contemporary biostratigraphic signal</b>. These effects are permanent, as future evolution will take place from surviving (and frequently anthropogenically relocated) stocks." Evolution itself, in other words, has been forced into a new trajectory.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a5kkq6SVmYqs">Planet Earth Burns, Mankind Pays for Its Ecological Sins: Books</a></b><br />15.07.08. Le-Min Lim, Bloomberg. If we continue to do exactly what we are doing, with no growth in the human population or the world economy, greenhouse- gases in the air would reach a concentration level so high it would make the world too hot to live in during the second half of the century, Speth writes (The Bridge at the End of the World). In other words, our children and grandchildren would reap the full wrath of our excesses.<br /><br /><em>The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk. And even more -- if more should be required -- the future of human civilization is at stake</em>. <a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/al-gore-lays-down-green-challenge-america"> Al Gore</a>, (17.07.08, transcript / video)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/books/story.html?id=2b0ae94f-42a0-4c24-ab39-9aceb56b14c0">Tribute to a Vanishing World</a></b><br />26.07.08. E. Boodman, The Gazette, Canada. Ours has been called an age of extinction; <u>species are vanishing at the same rate as in the five previous periods of massive extinction</u>. The difference is that now, humans are the cause of this environmental crisis as well as the potential victims.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/69534">The Origin and Extinction of Species</a></b><br />26.07.08. Darrell Williams, American chronicle. Understanding the origin and extinction of species is of paramount importance to our own existence and survival. Unfortunately, the vast majority of humans understand neither. About 90% of humankind professes to adhere to a religious philosophy that has absolutely no interest or concern in understanding the most fundamental ecological relationships that exist in nature. Human failure to respect this relationship has resulted in human failure in our own stewardship of our own planet. … /Change is always constant, but the rate of change is never constant. Environments are too complex. Every species lives in a different environment and every environment changes in a different way. A species environment or habitat includes everything that is related to their existence. It includes their food supply, predicators, prey, climate and everything else in their territory that is important for their survival. These are different for each species even if they live in the same geographic location. On a geological time scale, most environments change extremely slow, but they all change. / Every species of living organisms that have ever existed on our planet have had a different rate of evolution. Some species change very fast and some change very slow. The word evolution has one simple meaning. Evolution means change but almost nothing changes at the same rate. …/ Most extinctions are caused by a change in the organism´s environment and the corresponding inability of the species to change fast enough to survive.<br /><br />Humans were part of the natural ecological balance. / But humans did two things that ended this natural balance. The first and most important was the invention of agriculture. ….. / The invention of agriculture has resulted in the human population explosion which has directly assaulted many other habitats and species of both plants and animals. … / The second disastrous human invention was the creation of scientific technology and manufacturing industries. While most people consider scientific technology to have been beneficial to civilization, it has been devastating to the natural environment.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/11/climatechange">On a planet 4C hotter, all we can prepare for is extinction</a></b><br />11.08.08. O. Tickell, Guardian comment. There's no 'adaptation' to such steep warming. We must stop pandering to special interests, and try a new, post-Kyoto strategy<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/08/13/Study_Earth_may_be_facing_mass_extinction/UPI-98011218638519/">Study: Earth may be facing mass extinction</a></b><br />13.08.08. UPI. U.S. biologists say devastating declines of amphibian species around the world are a sign the Earth might be facing a new mass extinction. .. / The fungus that's been killing amphibians around the world has been called the most devastating wildlife disease ever recorded, Wake said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/sixth-species-extinction-can-still-be-avoided">Sixth Species Extinction Can Still Be Avoided</a></b><br />13.08.08. Christiane Galus, Le Monde / Truthout. The human species, 6.7 billion individuals strong, has modified its environment to such a degree that it is now hurting the biodiversity of terrestrial and marine species and, ultimately, its own survival. This to the point that an ever-growing number of scientists unhesitatingly talk about a <u>sixth extinction</u>, successor to the five others - all due to important natural modifications of the environment - that have punctuated life on Earth. The <a href="http://cms.iucn.org/about/index.cfm"> International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)</a>, which focuses on over 41,415 species (of the roughly 1.75 million known) to establish its annual red list, estimates that <u>16,306 are threatened</u>. One mammal species out of four, one bird species out of eight, a third of all amphibians and 70 percent of all plants assessed are in danger, the IUCN observes. / Is it still possible to curb this species decline, which is likely to intensify when our planet carries 9.3 billion humans in 2050?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/95126/the_delusion_revolution:_we%27re_on_the_road_to_extinction_and_in_denial_/">The Delusion Revolution: We're on the Road to Extinction and in Denial</a></b><br />15.08.08. Robert Jensen, AlterNet. Our current way of life is unsustainable. We are the first species that will have to self-consciously impose limits on ourselves if we are to survive.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2008/08/19/evidence-mounts-that-were-in-midst-of-mass-extinction-event">Evidence mounts that we're in midst of mass extinction event</a></b><br />19.08.O8. Jonathan Gitlen, Arstechnica. we're living in the middle of a mass extinction, and we're almost certainly the cause. The irony, if such a word should be used, is that the planet has only just emerged from a mass extinction at the end of the last ice age. / The picture is just as bad in the water; relentless overfishing, pollution, dead zones, warming, and acidification has had a profound impact on marine life. / All across the planet, from ecosystem to ecosystem, we're observing a massive loss of biodiversity—bat colonies being wiped out by a mystery pathogen, huge falls among common bird species, and an entire group, the amphibians, are closest to the edge<br /><br /><br /><b> Air Pollution </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080721160250.htm">Air Pollution Causing Widespread And Serious Impacts To Ecosystems In Eastern United States</a></b><br />22.07.08. Science Daily. If you are living in the eastern United States, the environment around you is being harmed by air pollution. From Adirondack forests and Shenandoah streams to Appalachian wetlands and the Chesapeake Bay, a new report by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies and The Nature Conservancy has found that air pollution is degrading every major ecosystem type in the northeastern and mid-Atlantic United States.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080818183952.htm">Many US Public Schools In 'Air Pollution Danger Zone'</a></b><br />20.08.08. Science Daily. One in three U.S. public schools are in the “air pollution danger zone,” according to new research from the University of Cincinnati (UC).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/19/AR2008081902721.html">Bush Administration Rule on Pollution Struck Down</a></b><br />20.08.08. Washington Post. A federal appeals court yesterday struck down a Bush administration rule that prevented states and local governments from imposing stricter monitoring of pollution generated by power plants, factories and oil refineries than required by the federal government.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/rebuilding-clean-air-policy">Rebuilding Clean Air Policy</a></b><br />21.08.08. Robert Sussman, The Center for American Progress/truthout. "The US clean air program sustained a severe blow on July 9 when a three-judge court in Washington, DC, overturned a sweeping Environmental Protection Agency rule - the Clean Air Interstate Rule - that was key to meeting air quality standards. CAIR mandated deep cuts in nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide emissions at fossil-fuel power plants in 28 Eastern states and the District of Columbia."<br /><br /><br /><b> Biofuels</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/05/2008615165756831869.html">Biofuel threat to Indonesian forest</a></b><br />11.06.08. Simon Pollock, al jazeera. Indonesia is home to 10 per cent of the world's remaining tropical rainforests but environmentalists warn that it is rapidly squandering its natural bounty through deforestation. / The increase in oil palm plantations - in part to meet booming global demand for biofuels - has been cited as a major reason for deforestation. / Indonesia is expected to increase its production of palm oil by more than half over the next 10 years, largely in response to the biofuels boom, while palm oil prices have increased during recent years by about 50 per cent.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNewsAndPR/idUSN2437227120080627">U.S. biofuel plants go bankrupt on feedstock costs</a></b><br />27.06.08. Reuters. Soaring corn and soy prices on top of rising construction costs and tight credit markets have pushed about a dozen U.S. biofuel plants to file for bankruptcy protection, experts said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080708200621.htm">Biofuels And Biodiversity Don't Mix, Ecologists Warn</a></b><br />10.07.08. Science Daily. Rising demand for palm oil will decimate biodiversity unless producers and politicians can work together to preserve as much remaining natural forest as possible, ecologists have warned. A new study of the potential ecological impact of various management strategies found that very little can be done to make palm oil plantations more hospitable for local birds and butterflies. The findings have major implications for the booming market in biofuels and its impact on biodiversity. See also <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jul/03/biofuels.renewableenergy"> Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis</a> (Guardian 04.07.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/setting-important-precedent-indigenous-lands">Setting an Important Precedent for Indigenous Lands</a></b><br />22.08.08. Marta Caravantes, Inter Press Service/truthout. An imminent decision by Brazil's Supreme Court on the demarcation of the Raposa Serra do Sol indigenous reservation in the Amazon jungle region has the country's native communities on edge, because of the precedent it will set. / .. The reservation is home to more than 19,000 members of the Macuxí, Wapixana, Taurepang, Patamona and Ingarikó indigenous communities. ../ The pressure of agribusiness and large-scale agriculture on indigenous lands has intensified as a result of the <u>"biofuels revolution"</u> and the need to produce feed for the world’s livestock, says Barbosa.<br /><br /><br /><b>Coral Reefs</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX9g9EIuxx5PyzabfBqh5tioQse1aRmpFDxXoJLvYcE7EvUYrQ8Pkwe7MwpmCsS3tUbHjOE4M_Z4bOZzJoLUn4_F-ct14FNs1H8FqytgbVmSOp0130Fs-OeJeNXsEHfQqT048G/s400/20080707_coral.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546175024558258" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo: <a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2008/2008-07-07-02.asp"> ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2008/2008-07-07-02.asp">Global Warming Chief Among Threats to Coral Reefs</a></b><br />07.07.08. ENS (ENVIRONMENT NEWS SERVICE). Nearly half of U.S. coral reef ecosystems are considered to be in "poor" or "fair" condition according to a new analysis of the health of coral reefs under U.S. jurisdiction by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080710142935.htm">One-third Of Reef-building Corals Face Extinction</a></b><br />11.07.08. Science Daily. Leading coral experts joined forces with the Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA) -- a joint initiative of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Conservation International (CI) -- to apply the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria to this important group of marine species.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1821971,00.html"> Photos </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=VIDEO+CORAL+REEFS+&btnG=Search&meta=%20"> Videos </a><br /><br />(also see ‘good news’ below)<br /><br /><br /><b> Dead Zones </b><br /><br />Definition: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_zone_%28ecology%29"> Wikipedia </a><br />Dead zones are hypoxic (low-oxygen) areas in the world's oceans, the observed incidences of which have been increasing since oceanographers began noting them in the 1970s. / In March 2004, when the recently-established UN Environment Programme published its first <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UN_Environment_Programme"> Global Environment Outlook Year Book </a> (GEO Year Book 2003) it reported 146 dead zones in the world oceans where marine life could not be supported due to depleted oxygen levels.<br /><br />Where are the ‘dead zones?’ See<a href="http://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/oceancolor/scifocus/oceanColor/dead_zones.shtml"> here</a>. Superb, instructive photos.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEAwQTz46aWW1SEOr58Hk2i1k1YivcP-n9dOdJrheCSy5zHUBrwmwycD8uwXxA4ceT8xy602cH18kAxl8pTlp91c8WcVXBv1ZE8ZTdR96kDtNm3-X8gcxZKQaV5MpBrm5U-Ae7/s400/dead_zones_map.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546188140803218" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Dr. Robert Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) has created a <a href="http://www.vims.edu/bio/faculty/diaz_rj.html"> map</a> of<br />dead zones throughout the world</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080715114149.htm">NOAA Predicts Largest Gulf Of Mexico 'Dead Zone' On Record</a></b><br />16.07.08. Science Daily. The researchers are predicting the area could measure a record 8,800 square miles, or roughly the size of New Jersey. In 2007, the dead zone was 7,903 square miles. The largest dead zone on record was in 2002, when it measured 8,481 square miles.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 280px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoIiZw7_ZwTH3Uie6Jjta6sr_DT_CuOMbS-L9mdRGqf5mvCq1j-eAx6uPzJYmo0-zsMgKg48C_1mJB_W5R42-4H72f1tjY4aw0g3fNJ8yggyfMQ4ARGG73fmxnDizAvaZjgMxk/s400/mississippiplume_gulfdeadzone.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546705818358050" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Mississippi River plume meets Gulf of Mexico water at Southwest Pass, a primary shipping<br />channel in Louisiana waters. (Photo by <a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2008/2008-07-15-10.asp"> N. Rabelais courtesy USGS</a>)</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080714160000.htm">Record-setting Dead Zones Predicted For Gulf Of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay</a></b><br />17.07.08. Science Daily. "The growth of these dead zones is an ecological time bomb," said Scavia, who is also director of the Michigan Sea Grant program based at SNRE. "Without determined local, regional, and national efforts to control them, we are putting major fisheries at risk." According to Scavia, the best way to shrink the dead zones is to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous flowing into these water basins. / Hypoxia refers to the loss of oxygen in water, which then leads to conditions <b>unsustainable for aquatic life</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/conservationists-seek-firm-limits-gulf-dead-zone-pollution">Conservationists Seek Firm Limits on Gulf Dead Zone Pollution</a></b><br />30.07.08. ENS / Truthout. Conservation groups from nine states along the Mississippi River and two national groups petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today to set and enforce numeric standards to limit nutrient pollution in the river basin because it contributes to the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. / The Gulf dead zone, a stretch of water covering nearly 8,000 square miles where oxygen levels are too low to support marine life, is the second largest in the world.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science/AP-SCI-Dead-Zones.html">Ocean dead zones become a worldwide problem</a></b><br />14.08.08. AP – NY Times. Like a chronic disease spreading through the body, ''dead zones'' with too little oxygen for life are expanding in the world's oceans.<br /><br />[<em> I would like to suggest that the human body is also becoming a ‘dead zone’, and propose that this is due to <a href="http://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2008/08/gardasil-meets-measles-coincidence.html"> vaccines</a> and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/aug/23/health.pharmaceuticals?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront"> drugs </a> imbibed since childhood. This human ‘dead zone’ is labelled ‘auto-immune disease’</em>.]<br /><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 411px; height: 536px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMDbRZ2r3QQbpP6gWquxo8qySGNYCXiwed3_E3fBzG1zQ9vr7fG20adT_iHAKxqQvgBOhsnj0Qe5PDDjwflkZ5RA_UQIn95q5Gv3ZoOc8mzt4lvIuOOlu9hxmXsrO0bFKUSIw_/s400/chesapeake.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546180911429426" border="0" /><br />A dead zone also underlies much of the main-stem of Chesapeake Bay, The above <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080814154325.htm"> map</a> shows measurements of hypoxia in the bay in 2003.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080814154325.htm">Study Shows Continued Spread Of 'Dead Zones'; Lack Of Oxygen Now A Key Stressor On Marine Ecosystems</a></b><br />15.08.08. Science Daily. A global study led by Professor Robert Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, shows that the number of "dead zones"—areas of seafloor with too little oxygen for most marine life—has increased by a third between 1995 and 2007. Diaz began studying dead zones in the mid-1980s after seeing their effect on bottom life in a tributary of Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore. His first review of dead zones in 1995 counted 305 worldwide. That was up from his count of 162 in the 1980s, 87 in the 1970s, and 49 in the 1960s. He first found scientific reports of dead zones in the 1910s, when there were 4. Worldwide, the number of dead zones has approximately doubled each decade since the 1960s.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/suffocating-dead-zones-spread-across-worlds-oceans">Suffocating Dead Zones Spread Across World's Oceans</a></b><br />15.08.08. D. Adam, Guardian / Truthout. Critically low oxygen levels now pose as great a threat to life in the world's oceans as overfishing and habitat loss, say experts. / With more than 400 oxygen-starved dead zones in global coastal waters, scientists are calling for such dead zones to be recognised as one of the world's great environmental problems<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/18185494.html">Dead Zone Diet: Why Fertilizers Are Taking Fish off the Menu</a></b><br />18.08.08. Kerry Trueman, Huffington Post/alternet. Fertilizer runoff from industrial agriculture and fossil-fuel use are causing catastrophic "dead zones" in our oceans. / Steak or salmon? Millions of menu-mulling diners ask themselves this question every day. Enjoy your dithering while you can, folks, because the day is coming when you may not have the luxury of choosing the lobster over the London broil. For those with a more populist palate, I've got some bad news, too; a future with no more fried clam strips or canned tuna for you.<br /><br /><br /><b>“Democracy” </b><br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=" org="" wiki="" democracy=""> Definition, Wikipedia </a><br /><br />"Democracy," and the U.S. constitution, as we knew them prior to the present Bush-Cheney administration, is extinct, though politicians, corporate leaders and the media still refer to it as a living concept.<br /><br /><br /><b> Depleted Uranium Contamination</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=45536&s2=09">Crimes of the Century: Occupation & Contaminating Iraq with Depleted Uranium</a></b><br />07.07.08. Dr. Souad N. Al-Azzawi - Associate Professor in Environmental Engineering, Iraq - Brussels Tribunal. Full text <a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/pdf/DU-Azzawi2.pdf"> here</a> (pdf).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/the-depleted-uranium-threat">The Depleted Uranium Threat</a></b><br />13.08.08. Thomas D. Williams, Truthout: "While attempting to act as the planet's nuclear watchdogs, the United States and Great Britain have become two of the world's largest, cancer-causing radiated dust and rusty depleted uranium projectile polluters. Using tanks and planes, the US and British military have fired hundreds of tons of radioactive depleted uranium munitions (DU) while fighting the first Gulf War, the Balkans War, and the more recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. For two decades, successive US and British government leadership has done little overall to clean up the hazardous war waste."<br /><br /><br /><b>Food </b><br /><br />“<em>IMF, WB, GATT, WTO, NAFTA, FTAA – their acronyms gag language. As their actions stifle the world</em>. “<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Letters-LONGLISTED-BOOKER-Recuperated-Berger/dp/1844672883/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219680204&sr=8-1"> John Berger</a>, From A to X (2008). <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/93031/">Are We Facing Just Another Market Problem or a System Collapse?</a></b><br />28.07.08. Danny Schechter, Alternet. Even as foreclosures double, and the price of gas and food rises sharply, it's been business as usual on the business pages, and among the liberal political pundits who would rather debate the cover of the New Yorker than the growing desperation of so many Americans.<br /><br /><em>GM food and health</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9891">Agrobacterium & Morgellons Disease, A GM Connection?</a></b><br />20.08.08. Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and Prof. Joe Cummins. Globalresearch. Preliminary findings suggest a link between Morgellons Disease and Agrobacterium, a soil bacterium extensively manipulated and used in making GM crops; has genetic engineering created a new epidemic?<br /><br /><u>Endangered Food</u><br /><ul><br /><li>Corn<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2008/2008-07-15-10.asp">U.S. Corn Production Feeds Expanding Gulf Dead Zone</a></b><br />15.07.08. J.R. Pegg, ens. This year's dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is likely to be the largest on record and growing. U.S. corn production is a primary cause of the worsening conditions, federal and state scientists said Tuesday. / The research team predicts that the dead zone - a stretch of water without enough oxygen to support marine life - could cover some 8,800 square miles this <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080715114149.htm">summer</a>, an area roughly the size of the state of New Jersey. / The forecast was announced today by scientists with the U.S. National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and Louisiana State University, LSU, who predicted the dead zone would be the largest since official monitoring began in 1985.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/corn-soybeans-rise-dollar-edges/story.aspx?guid=%7B303E75A8-14CF-40AD-804B-B150FF6221C5%7D&dist=msr_1">Corn, soybeans rise as dollar edges lower</a></b><br />28.07.08. market watch / ICH.<br /><br /></li><li>Rice<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9562">The Death Of Rice In India</a></b><br />11.07.08. Arun Shrivastava, Rense / Global Research. We will soon be eating genetically modified rice invented by seeds multinational corporations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20414.htm">Video Report: The Politics of Rice</a></b><br />03.08.08. ICH. A look at how the stories of politics, rice, and the United States are deeply interwoven. Twenty years ago, Haiti produced enough rice to feed its population. Importing rice from other countries like the US was unheard of. Today, the country of less than 10 million people is the third largest importer of US rice in the world - 75 per cent of the rice eaten in Haiti is shipped in from the U.S.<br /><br /></li><li>Wheat<br /><br />“<em>Give us a grain of wheat, our dream. Give it, give it to us</em>.” <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Victims-Map-Bilingual-Anthology-Arabic/dp/0863565247/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218968192&sr=8-1"> Mahmoud Darwish</a>, <u>We Fear for a Dream</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/editorial.php?ed=ali_kulebi">The global food scarcity and Turkey</a></b><br />30.06.08. Turkish daily news. The scarcity of main commodities such as wheat, rice, corn, and leguminous seeds, which are not sufficient for the increasing world population, increased unexpectedly by 185 percent in the last three years. However, the prices of these commodities followed a stable path in the last 20 years. Increasing prices made the conditions of starvation worse, which are tried to be passed by rescuing the day by the people of Africa, Asia, Middle East countries. Today, in our world, <u>850 million people are undernourished</u>.<br /></li></ul><br /><u>Famine</u><br /><br />“<em>I yearn for my mother’s bread and my mother’s coffee</em>.” <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Victims-Map-Bilingual-Anthology-Arabic/dp/0863565247/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218967763&sr=8-1"> Mahmoud Darwish</a>, <u>Give Birth to Me Again That I May Know</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/616/1/">COMMON SENSE AND SURVIVAL</a></b><br />29.07.08. William Kotke, Speaking Truth to Power. The graph line of the global population explosion now goes upward almost vertically. The graph line of reserves of resources that fund that explosion falls precipitously. The point at which population crosses the food production line is the point of the beginning of the coming mass die-off of human population.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20378.htm">Eaten Up</a></b><br />29.07.08. E. Pilkington, Guardian / ICH. Raj Patel’s book Stuffed and Starved predicted the current global food crisis - spiralling food prices, starvation and obesity. Ed Pilkington meets the soothsayer of agro-economics and talks about what will happen when all the food finally runs out<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pej.org/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=7375&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0">Meat Habit Is Fueling World Famine</a></b><br />31.07.08. pej. Approximately 854 million people do not have enough to eat. Thirty-three countries are facing food crises, according to the World Bank, and food riots have recently erupted in Egypt, Haiti, Yemen, Malaysia and other poor nations. .. / While millions of people are starving, a billion more—many of them Americans—are overweight. Our addiction to meat is largely to blame for both problems.<br /><br /><ul><br /><li> Afghanistan<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=kabul_sep07_38.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.info/pic.php?f=kabul_sep07_38.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rense.com/general82/usgen.htm">Afghans Dying From Bombs, Starving From Hunger</a></b><br />26.07.08. Mohammed Daud Miraki, Rense.com. Afghanistan has become a disaster beyond imagination. The invasion by the US has not only condemned the population to daily death and destruction, but it has created conditions that perpetuated death and misery on daily basis. The US-NATO bombing in the south, southwestern, and eastern Afghanistan murder civilians in villages and towns while those that remain alive are forced to abandon their villages due to fear of death and loss of dignity. The internally displaced come to large cities with the hope to find something to eat. However, they come to large cities only to be homeless and face starvation.<br /><br /></li><li> Africa<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bdafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9406&Itemid=5821">Africa’s food crisis the handiwork of IMF, World Bank</a></b> <br />18.08.08. Walden Bello, bdafrica. At the time of decolonisation in the 1960s, Africa was not just self-sufficient in food but was actually a net food exporter. .. / unger and famine have become recurrent phenomena, with the last three years alone seeing food emergencies break out in the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, Southern Africa, and Central Africa.<br /><br /></li><li> East Africa<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iCSd2znuNxl9YRz-WO7Y24bSUXcA">Famine, soaring food prices threaten millions in east Africa</a></b><br />26.07.08. AFP.<br /><br /><br /></li><li> Ethiopia<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7521947.stm">In pictures: Ethiopia's impending famine </a></b><br />BBC<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=46b5712a3f4b1ef50a478654dc30dc83">Ethiopia Faces Famine Again</a></b><br />12.08.08. New America media. As Ethiopians struggle to feed themselves amid a high food prices, fuel costs and the worst famine in 25 years the government in Addis Adiba raised the military budget by $50 million. Shane Bauer is a journalist and photographer based in the Middle East and Africa.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-08-17-ethiopia_N.htm">Ethiopia's new famine: 'A ticking time bomb'</a></b><br />18.08.08. usa today. Ethiopia faces a ‘toxic cocktail:’ drought, global inflation, armed conflict familne and assorted plagues. Now, at least 14 million need food aid. VIDEO.<br /><br /></li><li> Burma<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irrawaddy.org/article1.php?art_id=13943">Children Die in Chin State Famine</a></b><br />20.08.08. irrawaddy. More than 30 children have died in a famine in Chin state, western Burma, according to the Chin National Council, an exile rights group. The famine was caused by a plague of rats, which ate rice stocks in many of the state’s villages.<br /><br /><br /></li><li> Haiti<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/let-them-eat-free-markets">Let Them Eat Free Markets</a></b><br />23.07.08. David Moberg, In These Times/Truthout. How deregulation fuels the global food crisis. "In April, crowds of angry Haitians - reduced to eating mud cakes to staunch hunger - erupted in deadly protests against high food prices, forcing the prime minister to resign. The price of rice, a staple of the Haitian diet, had risen 16 percent on the world market last year, then shot up 141 percent from January to April. Around the world, similar riots - or fears of them - have pushed governments to restrict exports, reduce tariffs, attack hoarding and take other desperate measures as prices of virtually all major food commodities have spiked - and often fluctuated wildly."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20375.htm">Haiti: Mud cakes become staple diet as cost of food soars beyond a family's reach</a></b><br />29.07.08. R. Carroll, Guardian / ICH. With little cash and import prices rocketing half the population faces starvation<br /><br /></li><li> India<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=43046&typeid=1">Rats and official apathy increase Ccpur woes</a></b><br />18.08.08. kangla online. Even as the famine situation in Churachandpur district continues unabated the situation is expected to worsen further with reports of severe crop damage pouring in due to an ever-increasing rat population in the interior area jhum fields.<br /><br /><br /></li><li> North Korea<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-nokorea31-2008jul31,0,4040421.story">Famine warning signs seen in North Korea</a></b><br />31.07.08. LA Times. North Korea is heading toward its worst food crisis since the 1990s because of flooding, successive crop failures and worldwide inflation for staples such as rice and corn, the United Nations World Food Program said.<br /><br /><br /></li><li> Tajikstan<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLE106326._CH_.2400">U.N. agency to help Tajikistan avert famine</a></b><br />14.08.08. Reuters. The impoverished Central Asian nation bordering Afghanistan has suffered from drought, locust infestation and a record cold winter this year. Energy and water shortages have become widespread, threatening to fuel public discontent. / "The prices of bread and vegetable oil have more than doubled in Tajikistan since August 2007, while prices of most other foodstuffs have risen by more than 50 percent," the WFP said in a statement.<br /><br /><br /></li><li> Thailand<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/business/mizoram-facing-famine-rats-devour-rice-and-maize_10076436.html"> Mizoram facing famine, rats devour rice and maize</a></b><br />27.07.08. thaindian.<br /><br /><br /></li><li> Zimbabwe<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=2061">Zimbabwe faced with massive starvation</a></b><br />05.08.08. Zimbabwe times. At least four million Zimbabweans, who constitute nearly a third of the population, are in dire need of relief food aid to mitigate against the effects of a combination of official from the World War 2 Jewish Holocaust (6 million victims, 1 in 6 dying from deprivation) and the WW2 Holocaust in general (30 million Slav, Jewish and Roma dead) are "zero tolerance for racism" and "never again to anyone".<br /></li></ul><br /><br /><b> Lakes</b><br /><br /><u>Extinct</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.whoi.edu/oc%20eanus/viewArticle.do?id=44666&sectionid=1021">Crack! A Lake Atop Greenland Disappears</a></b><br />15.07.08. whoi.edu/oceanus / Geology.com. In late July 2006, a 2.2-square-mile lake atop the Greenland Ice Sheet sprung a leak. Like a draining bathtub, the entire lake emptied from the bottom, sending water through a crack that reached the base of the ice sheet 3,215 feet below. Most of the 11.6 billion gallons of water in the lake drained out in 90 minutes—at times flowing out faster than the water going over Niagara Falls.<br /><br /><u> Endangered</u><br /><br /><a href="http://geology.com/records/satellite-image-of-lake-baikal.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://geology.com/records/satellite-image-of-lake-baikal.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://geology.com/records/satellite-image-of-lake-baikal.jpg&imgrefurl=http://geology.com/records/deepest-lake.shtml&start=3&h=955&w=897&sz=425&tbnid=dplrOGS-Li9WMM:&tbnh=148&tbnw=139&hl=en&prev=/images%3Fq%3DLake%2BBaikal%26gbv%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG&usg=__Q5nzFrjZsxOhEQOfWN4Cd9dXzfQ=">GEOLOGY.COM</a></span></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26139038/">Preserving Lake Baikal</a></b><br />15.08.08. M. Eckel, AP/MSMBC / Geology News. Russia's Baikal is seeing more stress — from warming to development. For centuries Lake Baikal has inspired wonder and, more recently, impassioned defenders. With more fresh water than the Great Lakes combined, and home to 1,500 species of plants and animals found nowhere else in the world, Baikal has been called Sacred Sea, Pearl of Siberia, Galapagos of Russia. / But these pristine waters, a mile deep in some places, are threatened by polluting factories, a uranium enrichment facility, timber harvesting, and, increasingly, Earth's warming climate. / Tourists, most of them newly prosperous Russians, are flocking to the lake, filling the beaches, building vacation dachas and changing the lake's ecology. Resorts are opening. There are more fishermen, hunters and boaters. / "Baikal is the greatest lake in the world. It is a limitless reserve and source for water that all of humanity can drink without any sort of purification,"<br /><br /><br /><b> Nuclear Holocaust </b><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_holocaust"> Definition, Wikipedia</a>.<br />Nuclear holocaust refers to the possibility of complete or nearly complete eradication of human civilization by nuclear warfare. Under such a scenario, all or most of the Earth is destroyed and rendered uninhabitable by nuclear weapons in future world war.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=" net="" images="" stories="" mwc="" art="" jpg=""><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px;" src="http://mwcnews.net/images/stories/MWC/art/Grenada.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://mwcnews.net/content/view/14417/26/">Gideon Polya </a>“Isfahan Matisse” 2007</span><br /></div><br />For the last few years, Cheney and <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ehttp://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=13168"> Israel </a>have been determined to “nuke” Iran. [Failing this objective, this destructive pathology might ensure that another place is chosen.]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20396.htm">Making Nuclear Extermination Respectable</a></b><br />31.07.08. James Petras, ICH. On July 18, 2008 The New York Times published an article by Israeli-Jewish historian, Professor Benny Morris, advocating an Israeli nuclear-genocidal attack on Iran with the likelihood of killing 70 million Iranians – 12 times the number of Jewish victims in the Nazi holocaust …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46509&s2=19">Missile defense: Washington and Poland just moved the world closer to war</a></b><br />18.08.08. F. William Engdahl, Online Journal Contributing Writer/uruknet. The signing on August 14 of an agreement between the governments of the United States and Poland to deploy on Polish soil US 'interceptor missiles’ is the most dangerous move towards nuclear war the world has seen since the 1962 Cuba Missile crisis.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=67541§ionid=351020101">US to build large airport near Iran</a></b><br />25.08.08. presstv.com./ICH <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20614.htm">We Tilt at Windmills as World War Looms</a></b><br />24.08.08. Simon Jenkins, The Times / ICH. Is the world drifting towards a new global war? … / along history’s fault line of conflict from Russia’s European border to the Caucasus and on to Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, diplomats are shifting uneasily in their seats, drums are sounding and harsh words are spoken. The world is now run by a generation of leaders who have never known global war. Has this dulled their senses? … / history shows that “going to war” is never an intention. It is rather the result of weak, shortsighted leaders entrapped by a series of mistakes. For the West’s leaders at present, mistake has become second nature.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4c45d088-720f-11dd-a44a-0000779fd18c.html?nclick_check=1">US ready to put Russia nuclear deal on ice</a></b><br />24.08.08. Financial Times / ICH. Officials expect Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, to recommend that George W. Bush, president, recall the civil nuclear co-operation agreement from Congress in the wake of Russia's conflict with Georgia. "At this point, it's dead," a congressional staffer said.<br /><br /><em> Nuclear Waste</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/23/nuclear.terrorism.united.nations">The time bomb</a></b><br />23.08.08. J. Borger, Guardian. Since the end of the cold war, the United Nations has logged more than 800 incidents in which radioactive material has gone missing, often from poorly guarded sites. Who is taking it - and should we be worried?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/us-cold-war-waste-irks-greenland">US Cold-War Waste Irks Greenland</a></b><br />22.08.08. C. Woodard, Christian Science Monitor, Truthout. A bad precedent. "Greenland is dotted with former US military installations - and one active one - a reminder of its importance as a steppingstone in the fight against Nazi Germany and as a cold-war surveillance and missile-detection base. 'The US and Denmark together have a lot to clean up,' says Aleqa Hammond, foreign minister for Greenland's home rule government. 'It's not even halfway done. The East Coast and icecap areas have thousands of abandoned barrels, and the failure to clean up the [<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thule_Air_Base"> Thule</a>] air base is something that is very heavy in our hearts.'"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/nuclear-waste-containers-likely-to-fail-warns-devastating-report-907200.html">Nuclear waste containers likely to fail, warns 'devastating' report</a></b><br />24.08.08. Geoffrey Lean. Independent / legitgov. Environment Agency reveals thousands of holders do not meet basic specifications for storage and disposal. / (The Report) shows that many containers used to store the waste are made of second-rate materials, are handled carelessly, and are liable to corrode.<br /><br /><em> The final sting?</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1834547,00.html">Will the US Develop a Death Ray?: </a></b><br />21.08.08. M. Thompson, Time / ICH. A band of pre-eminent scientists and war-fighters has concluded that the nation's military might isn't powerful enough for the 21st Century; and so the National Research Council (NRC), an independent, congressionally-chartered body charged with assessing scientific issues, is urging the Pentagon and Congress to get cracking on developing a weapon capable of hitting any target in the world within an hour of being launched.<br /><br /><br /><b>Oil</b><br /><br />Excellent articles at Global Research.ca <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=theme&themeId=6"> here </a> and at Information Clearing House<a href="http://www.google.com/custom?domains=informationclearinghouse.info&client=pub-5174720432180771&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A1%3B&hl=en&q=Peak+Oil&sa=Search&sitesearch=informationclearinghouse.info"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/17/us/17alaska.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1216382799-sN6lI1LZ4KoraqqdQgMDbQ">Interior Dept. Opens 2.6 Million Alaskan Acres for Oil Exploration</a></b><br />17.07.08. NY Times. The Interior Department on Wednesday made 2.6 million acres of potentially <b>oil-rich</b> territory in northern Alaska available for energy exploration. / .. The bureau has already leased out 965,000 acres of the petroleum reserve lands.<br /><br /><em>How does Peak Oil affect people</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/91656/?page=entire">Bush Sees Crises in Fuel, Food, Housing and Banking as Chance to Exploit Us More</a></b><br />16.07.08. Naomi Klein, Democracy Now!/alternet. People are desperate for solutions but instead they're handed policies that don't solve the crises, and are highly profitable for corporations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/cheney-and-exxonmobil-linked-global-warming-policy-shift">Report Links Cheney Office, Oil Giant to Global Warming Policy Shift</a></b><br />18.07.08. LA Times / Truthout. A congressional investigation has produced new details on the degree to which senior Bush administration officials favored using the Clean Air Act to limit greenhouse gas emissions - until pressure from Vice President Dick Cheney's office, ExxonMobil and others in the <u>oil industry</u> led the Bush administration to change course.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/08/peru-institutes-state-of-emergency.php">Peru institutes state of emergency after indigenous groups protest energy law</a></b><br />19.08.08. Jurist. The government of Peru on Monday instituted a state of emergency [Peruvian Times report] in the northern region of the country, banning public gatherings, limiting travel, and increasing police presence for 30 days. The measure comes in response to large protests held by indigenous groups who oppose a new law reducing the majority by which a tribe must <u>agree to sell communal land to oil and natural gas companies</u><br /><u> U.S. attempts to exploit foreign oil </u><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/02/pnac-rebuilding-americas-defenses.html"> PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses - A Biopsy on Imperialism; Part I: Blueprint for Imperialism</a> (18.02.06)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/03/pnac-rebuilding-americas-defenses.html"> PNAC: Rebuilding America's Defenses - A Biopsy on Imperialism; Part II: "Special Interests" - The Persian Gulf</a> (29.03.06)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/08/index-on-afghanistan.html#400">OIL AND GAS IN AFGHANISTAN</a> (31.08.06 and similar sections in all 'Index on Afghanistan' research articles)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/iraq-oil-crunch-index-timeline.html"> The Iraq Oil Crunch: Index Timeline </a> (09.05.07)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/iraq-oil-vultures-are-waiting.html"> Iraq Oil: The Vultures are Waiting</a> (09.09.07 – updated)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/07/index-research-pentagon-and-oil.html"> Index Research: The Pentagon and Oil</a> (24.06.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9907">The Eurasian Corridor: Pipeline Geopolitics and the New Cold War</a></b><br />22.08.08. Michel Chossudovsky, global research.ca. The ongoing crisis in the Caucasus is intimately related to the strategic control over energy pipeline and transportation corridors. / There is evidence that the Georgian attack on South Ossetia on August 7 was carefully planned. High level consultations were held with US and NATO officials in the months preceding the attacks. / The attacks on South Ossetia were carried out one week after the completion of extensive US - Georgia war games (July 15-31st, 2008). They were also preceded by high level Summit meetings held under the auspices of GUAM, a US-NATO sponsored regional military alliance. <br /><br /><u> The Car </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/rupert-cornwell/rupert-cornwell-out-of-america-847329.html">Out of America</a></b><br />15.06.08. Rupert Cornwell, Independent. For a country where the car is king, the soaring price of oil means some long-cherished assumptions are being challenged as never before.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/fashion/27cars.html">Putting the Dream Car Out to Pasture</a></b><br />27.07.08. M. Navarro, NY Times. Mr. Forsythe had been deeply in love. He had custom-ordered the leather seats and the sound system for his S.U.V. and had waited three months for it in 2005, while living in San Antonio. / Mr. Forsythe, who now lives in San Francisco, said he could not justify $1,000 a month for gas, insurance and a car payment. The vehicle that had been a source of pleasure now feels like a ball and chain. / Americans’ longtime romance with the automobile is being severely tested, and in some cases dashed entirely, now that every trip gives rise to worries about how much a fill-up costs, guilt over how much damage the exhaust is contributing to the destruction of the planet, and self-consciousness about the image a full-size behemoth conveys today about its driver. … / News of wrenching dislocations in the car industry arrive daily: automobile sales are at a 10-year low…. / Beyond the bad economic news may lurk a less remarked shift in Americans’ psyches: a change in the role the automobile occupies in people’s emotional lives and self-image. … / <u>For many drivers, their cars are an extension of themselves, displayed as fashion or an accessory</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/06/news/companies/big_three_woes/index.htm?cnn=yes">Big Three face bankruptcy fears</a></b><br />06.08.08. CNN Money. After huge losses and plunging sales, experts aren't ruling out the possibility that GM, Ford or Chrysler might eventually be forced to declare bankruptcy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://seekingalpha.com/article/91589-china-s-new-car-tax-could-make-luxury-cars-an-endangered-species">China's New Car Tax Could Make Luxury Cars an Endangered Species</a></b><br />S. Grimmett, seeking alpha. Only in China would a car salesman refuse to sell you a big fancy foreign car. / China is increasing the tax on large luxury cars, bringing the charge up 13%-33%, depending on engine capacity.<br /><br /><br /><b>Polar Ice</b><br /><br /><u> Arctic</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080620-north-pole.html?email=wn_20080627">North Pole May Be Ice-Free for First Time This Summer</a></b><br />20.06.07. National Geographic.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/exclusive-no-ice-at-the-north-pole-855406.html">Exclusive: Scientists warn that there may be no ice at North Pole this summer</a></b><br />27.06.08. l Independent<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080709113704.htm">Summer Arctic Sea Ice Expected To Be Among Lowest On Record</a></b><br />09.07.08. Science Daily. The ice cover in the Arctic Ocean at the end of summer 2008 will lie, with almost 100 per cent probability, below that of the year 2005 -- the year with the second lowest sea ice extent ever measured. Chances of an equally low value as in the extreme conditions of the year 2007 lie around eight per cent. Climate scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association come to this conclusion in a recent model calculation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7503060.stm">Russian ice camp in rapid shrink</a></b><br />11.07.08. BBC / Geology. Twenty Russian scientists are to be evacuated from their camp on a drifting ice-floe in the Arctic after it started disintegrating sooner than expected.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 301px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-1s0ojuVG54MAM42PTPudDFfiW-tqPa8t0MB98p_g1koEGP47H9CDZ8_SACpFyTwrfk1wvVNNhDLduhJwiofaDh__NyNaUPD-z44PFdOeuCFaDde-3iF9UsJoSvnQQSxBah6-/s400/8_icefloe.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546170020878914" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Photograph by <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/080730-arctic-photo-AP.html?source=email_wn_20080808&email=wn"> Sam Soja/CP/AP</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN2931485920080729?sp=true">Giant chunks break off Canadian ice shelf</a></b><br />29.07.08. D. Ljunggren, Reuters. Giant sheets of ice totaling almost eight square miles broke off an ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic last week and more could follow later this year, scientists said on Tuesday. .. / The ice broke away from the shelf on Ward Hunt Island, an small island just off giant Ellesmere Island in one of the northernmost parts of Canada. It was the largest fracture of its kind since the nearby Ayles ice shelf -- which measured 25 square miles -- broke away in 2005.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804123147.htm">Investigating Sea Ice Decline</a></b><br />05.08.08. Science Daily. A revised outlook for the Arctic 2008 summer sea ice minimum shows ice extent will be below the 2005 level but not likely to beat the 2007 record. DAMOCLES will dispatch eleven research missions into the Arctic this autumn to better understand the future of the sea ice.<br /><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25949747#25949747"> VIDEO</a> (MSNBC)<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgG70PKj7PvqZcO9DyMaI5uLfErtDfWt4nx3D6PCAPacnN6hJOUAhRJ61GTnxcR_lFj13abyzhloXpxZKnVWEQxdHnM8qma3dbTt11t9B2oBU0WEoiSLQUBlTZlkdrHg86QfjZ/s400/ice2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546426567908370" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">ARCTIC ICE CALVING (05.08.08) 80° 02.5’ N; 010° 42.’ SE<br />Photo © Sarah Meyer, Index Research</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/10/climatechange.arctic">Meltdown in the Arctic is speeding up</a></b><br />10.08.08. R, McKie, Observer/legit gov. Scientists warn that the North Pole could be free of ice in just five years' time instead of 60.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080820174714.htm">Continued Breakup Of Two Of Greenland's Largest Glaciers Shown In Satellite Images</a></b><br />22.08.08. Science Daily. Researchers monitoring daily satellite images of Greenland’s glaciers have discovered break-ups at two of the largest glaciers in the last month. / They expect that part of the Northern hemisphere’s longest floating glacier will continue to disintegrate within the next year. See also <a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5haFo02rnjDwdXudd0xvERQuTcziAD92MUI001"> At top of Greenland, new worrisome cracks in ice</a><br /><br /><br /><u> Antarctic</u><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1PKwrh4HYv0K1yTIxo7o94dIpHOszzImtNUBeG9HINTQvTKTDtX9atrLcz2tlztGO545G8PDZhimnLYd-FSQbTCq82kAIAYRoVKGR-L8P3swOtK9IAyQwpY0R2BlLHr8RP16_/s400/brit_ant_sur.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546177012119746" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/11/2301297.htm">British Antarctic Survey/AFP: Jim Elliott</a></span><br /></div><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/11/2301297.htm"><br /><b></b></a><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/07/11/2301297.htm">Antarctic ice shelf 'hanging on by a thread'<br />11.07.08. ABC. </a></b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/01/opinion/edddt.php">DDT on ice</a></b><br />01.07.08. herald tribune. Antarctica, like the Arctic, shows the lasting scars of human negligence. Some of the most persistent and dangerous chemicals ever created have accumulated there and remain there. / Take the long-banned pesticide DDT. When it was still sprayed on crops and gardens across the globe, it moved through the atmosphere to the polar regions, where it was deposited in water, snow and ice, ultimately making its way into the food chain.<br /><br />[<em> What about the other chemicals with which we have recently poisoned our planet, eg. Agent Orange?</em>]<br /><br /><br /><b>Rainforest</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/023673.html">Half the Amazon Rainforest to be Lost by 2030</a></b><br />22.07.08. natural news. The report, "Amazon's Vicious Cycles: Drought and Fire," concludes that 55 percent of the world's largest rainforest stands to be severely damaged from agriculture, drought, fire, logging and livestock ranching in the next 22 years. Another 4 percent may be damaged by reduced rainfall caused by global warming.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=70448&catid=846">Rare Trees More Likely To Become Extinct</a></b><br />14.08.08. UPI. U.S. scientists say rare trees in the Amazon rainforest are more likely to become extinct due to deforestation and road building than are common species. / Rare species will suffer between a 37 percent and 50 percent extinction rate<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.meafordexpress.com/meafordexpress/article/114326">United Nations Biodiversity 2010 Targets are in Jeopardy</a></b><br />20.08.08. A. D. Nadler, meaford express. Biologists now believe that the six per cent of earth's land surface that tropical rain forests represent contain more than 50 per cent of all species. Many primate species live in these forests. The International Primatological Society's 12-year study that was just released in Edinburgh shows a disturbing picture of our forests: of the known 634 primate species and subspecies, 50 per cent are threatened with extinction in the next 10 years! / Primates in Asia face a 70-per-cent extinction rate. / Habitat destruction is the main cause for this terrifying tragedy, but there are other drivers such as climate change, invasive species and the human population which is moving towards at least nine billion by 2050.<br /><br /><br /><b>Water</b><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/water-impending-apocalypse.html"> Water: The Impending Apocalypse</a> (27.11.07, Index Research)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/05/water-world-crisis.html"> Water: World Crisis</a> (19.05.08- updated, Index Research )<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-18-01.asp">World Water Crisis Underlies World Food Crisis</a></b><br />18.08.08. ENS. The world's supplies of clean, fresh water cannot sustain today's "profligate" use and inadequate management, which have brought shrinking food supplies and rising food costs to most countries, WWF Director General James Leape told the opening session of World Water Week in Stockholm today.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/food-fuel-and-water-crises-converging">Food, Fuel and Water Crises Converging</a></b><br />23.08.08. Thalif Deen, Inter Press Service/truthout. "A spectre is haunting the cities and villages of most developing nations, warns a senior official of a <u>World Bank</u>-affiliated organisation. 'It's the spectre of a food, fuel and water crisis,' says Lars Thunell, executive vice president of the Washington-based International Finance Corporation (IFC),, a member of the World Bank group. 'I believe we are at a tipping point,' he said, because the scarcity of water poses a threat to the food supply just when the agricultural sector is stepping up production in response to riots over food prices, growing hunger, and rising malnutrition."<br /><br /><br /><b>Wetlands</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080720150209.htm">Massive Greenhouse Gases May Be Released As Destruction, Drying Of World Wetlands Worsen</a></b><br />21.07.08. Science Daily. Leading world scientists convene in Brazil July 21-25 amid growing concern that evaporation and ongoing destruction of world wetlands, which hold a volume of carbon similar to that in the atmosphere today, could cause them to exhale billows of greenhouse gases.<br /><br /><br /><a id="2000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>2. TOWARDS EXTINCTION</b><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 216px; height: 321px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpHzQAAJ_NQteqb8rkvrWcP2_KSoguEEmQfBI_l-JckAq6DsDRr-qnJMZ_25yeBxbAdiXMOuZVrBbGweJf2p9u1icsASUtWV7i50-S334JUHis4sfondNIEZVnYM6tAQf0432g/s400/extiction_bell.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546417808981538" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">The Extinction Bell, Photo <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/petervanallen/archives/date-posted/2008/05/22/"> petervanallen</a></span><br /></div><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/petervanallen/archives/date-posted/2008/05/22/"><br /><br /><b>General</b><br /><br /><b></b></a><b><a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spe/nie/weeklylessons/stories/20080707-dnnielesson.59af00de.html">Evolution & Extinction</a></b><br />15.07.08. Research published recently in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/index.html"> Nature </a><br />concludes that the current methods for assessing species extinction underestimate the risks. / Most often, a species risk for extinction takes into account how many individuals are born, how many die, and how environmental conditions—like habitat loss—affect species populations. <b>Experts have estimated that more than 16,000 species are at risk of extinction.—that includes about one in three amphibians, one in four mammals, one in eight birds, and 70% of the world's plant species</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080718/OPINION/807180312/1027/OPINION01">Hope in new list of endangered species</a></b><br />18.07.08. Cmonitor. The current list includes 24 endangered species and 12 threatened species. The proposed endangered list would lose two species, the purple martin whose normal range does not include New Hampshire, and the extinct Sunapee trout. Three species, the eastern hognose snake, cobblestone tiger beetle and the common nighthawk - an insect eater which sometimes nests on flat gravel roofs of buildings in downtown Concord - would move from the threatened to the endangered list. Seven new species would be added, including the Blandings turtle, gray wolf and New England cottontail.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0722-philippines.html">Half of the Philippines' endemic wildlife is [threatened] with extinction</a></b><br />22.07.08. mongabay. Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza said that 592 of the 1,137 species of amphibians, birds and mammals found only in the Philippines are considered "threatened or endangered." 227 endemic species of plants are "critically endangered."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://sermitsiaq.gl/klima/article48257.ece?lang=EN">'Red List' names endangered species</a></b><br />23.07.08. sermitsiaq.gl. <u>Greenland</u>'s Infrastructure and Environmental Ministry has published its 'Red List' of plants and animals that are candidates for extinction in the country. … / Critically threatened species include the spotted seal, the white whale, the North Atlantic Right Whale and certain species of narwhals. Vulnerable species include the polar bear and various types of salmon.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/slideshow.asp?newsid=1180149&sldid=1">Save our endangered species</a></b><br />July 2008. DNA. Only a few of the many species at risk of extinction actually make it to the lists and obtain legal protection. Many more species become extinct, or potentially will become extinct, without gaining public notice. Here is a list of ten species of animals that are endangered and facing extinction.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-12-10.asp">Bush Proposal Bypasses Endangered Species Experts</a></b><br />12.08.08. J.R. Pegg, ENS. The Bush administration has proposed sweeping changes to the Endangered Species Act, releasing a plan to give federal agencies the authority to decide <u>without expert consultation</u> whether their activities could harm endangered and threatened species. Administration officials contend the proposal will make the law easier to implement, but critics say the plan would undermine federal protection of imperilled plants and animals.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/18/AR2008081802053.html">Endangered Process</a></b><br />19.08.08. editorial, Washington Post. Proposed rule changes to the Endangered Species Act could do lasting harm in the natural world.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5960455.html">Conservationists warn of border fence's impact</a></b><br />22.08.08. AP / chron,com. The Bush administration's recently proposed changes to rules involving endangered species could lead to projects like the fence being built along the U.S.-Mexico border that could threaten endangered wildlife, the Sierra Club warned Friday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5963966.html">Environmentalists have uphill battle</a></b><br />24.08.08. L. Brezosky, chron.com/legitgov. Homeland Security waives protection laws for border fence. Environmentalists are still smarting over the Homeland Security secretary's use of his authority to waive 37 environmental laws to expedite construction of the [Texas] border fence. Efforts failed to challenge the constitutionality of the waivers in the U.S. Supreme Court. Allen D. McReynolds, who was a member of President Clinton's team of environmental advisers, called the waiver and the subsequent rule change "tragic." "This means any time there is a new federal construction project, well, NEPA (the National Environmental Policy Act) will be waived and <u>there'll be no environmental review</u>," he said.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-18-092.asp">Florida Wildlife Crowded by Swelling Human Population</a></b><br />18.08.08. ENS. .. the report, "Wildlife 2060," shows how continuing the past patterns of urban sprawl could result in fragmented natural places that will squeeze Florida's wild species such as bears, panthers, bobcats, alligators, eagles and wild turkeys, manatees, gopher tortoises and Florida scrub-jays.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.socialistvoice.ca/?p=316">The Myth of the Tragedy of the Commons</a></b><br />24.08.08. I Angus, Socialist Voice. Will shared resources always be misused and overused? Is community ownership of land, forests and fisheries a guaranteed road to ecological disaster? Is privatization the only way to protect the environment and end Third World poverty? Most economists and development planners will answer “yes” — and for proof they will point to the most influential article ever written on those important questions. / Since its publication in Science in December 1968, “The Tragedy of the Commons” has been anthologized in at least 111 books, making it one of the most-reprinted articles ever to appear in any scientific journal. .. / <em>Garrett Hardin hatches a myth; … Where’s the evidence?/ … Why does the herder want more? … Will private ownership do better? … A politically useful myth.</em>.. Stripped of excess verbiage, Hardin’s essay asserted, without proof, that human beings are helpless prisoners of biology and the market. Unless restrained, we will inevitably destroy our communities and environment for a few extra pennies of profit. There is nothing we can do to make the world better or more just. / In 1844 Friedrich Engels described a similar argument as a “repulsive blasphemy against man and nature.” Those words apply with full force to the myth of the tragedy of the commons.<br /><br /><br /><b> Amphibians</b><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibian"> Amphibians</a>, Wikipedia.<br />… Amphibian populations around the globe are threatened or extinct, and scientists do not agree on the reason.<br /><br /><u>Frogs</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080811195627.htm">New Report Details Historic Mass Extinction Of Amphibians; Humans Worsen Spread Of Deadly Emerging Infectious Disease</a></b><br />12.08.08. Science Daily. The authors confront the question of whether Earth is experiencing its sixth mass extinction and suggest that amphibians, as a case study for terrestrial life, provide a clear answer. "A general message from amphibians is that we may have little time to stave off a potential mass extinction," write co-authors Vance T. Vredenburg, assistant professor of biology at San Francisco State University, and David B. Wake, curator of herpetology in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at University of California, Berkeley, in the August 12 issue of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proceedings_of_the_National_Academy_of_Sciences"> PNAS</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080812135654.htm">Dying Frogs Sign Of A Biodiversity Crisis</a></b><br />17.08.08. Science Daily. Devastating declines of amphibian species around the world are a sign of a biodiversity disaster larger than just frogs, salamanders and their ilk, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley.<br /><br /><br /><b>Bees</b><br /><br />“<em>If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would only have four years of life left</em>.” Albert Einstein.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.northern-times.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/4354/Honey_bee_becoming_endangered_species.html">Honey bee becoming endangered species</a></b><br />17.07.08. northern times.co.uk.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080722225336.htm">Commercial Bees Spreading Disease To Wild Pollinating Bees</a></b><br />23.07.08. Science Daily. Bees provide crucial pollination service to numerous crops and up to a third of the human diet comes from plants pollinated by insects. However, pollinating bees are suffering widespread declines in North America and scientists warn that this could have serious implications for agriculture and food supply. While the cause of these declines has largely been a mystery, new research reveals an alarming spread of disease from commercial bees to wild pollinators.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080804100139.htm">Saving Our Bees: Implications of Habitat Loss</a></b><br />05.08.08. Science Daily. Most of the world's plant species rely on animals to transfer their pollen to other plants. The undisputed queen of these animal pollinators is the bee, made up of about 30,000 species worldwide, whose daily flights aid in the reproduction of more than half of the world's flowering plants. / In recent years, however, an unprecedented and unexplained decline in bee populations across the U.S. and Europe has placed the health of ecosystems and the sustainability of crops in peril.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/lawsuit-seeks-epa-pesticide-data">Lawsuit Seeks EPA Pesticide Data</a></b><br />19.08.08. San Fran Chronicle. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is refusing to disclose records about a new class of pesticides that could be playing a role in the disappearance of millions of honeybees in the United States, a lawsuit filed Monday charges. / The Natural Resources Defense Council wants to see the studies that the EPA required when it approved a pesticide made by <u>Bayer CropScience</u> five years ago.<br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0703-honeybee_decline.htm"> HoneyBee Decline </a> (01.07.08. Science daily<br /><br /><br /><b>Birds, General </b><br /><br />“<em>Where should we go after the last frontiers? Where should the birds fly after the last sky?</em>”<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Victims-Map-Bilingual-Anthology-Arabic/dp/0863565247/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218968192&sr=8-1"> Mahmoud Darwish</a>, <u>The Earth is Closing on Us</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/07/25/many-birds-left-flying-close-to-extinction-91466-21403352/">Many birds left flying close to extinction</a></b><br />25.07.08. wales on line. PESTICIDES were last night blamed for a dramatic drop in the numbers of the nation’s birds. A report reveals that almost half are struggling to breed, with a marked decline in species inhabiting farmland and woodland. Species such as <u>curlews</u>, <u>willow warblers</u>, <u>skylarks</u> and <u>pied flycatchers</u> are among those deserting the Welsh terrain.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/campaigns/international_birds_initiative/index.html">INTERNATIONAL BIRDS INITIATIVE</a></b><br />07.08. Biological diversity. Alarmed about declines of scores of the world’s rarest and most beautiful birds, ornithologists submitted petitions to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1980 and 1991 to list 73 imperilled bird species from around the world under the Endangered Species Act. But after a quarter century of unreasonable delay, the agency has only listed six of the bird species and published proposed listing rules for six others. At least five of the 73 birds have gone extinct while waiting for protection.<br /><br />CASE STUDIES: UNPROTECTED INTERNATIONAL BIRDS: Okinawa woodpecker, Blue-throated macaw, Slender-billed curlew.<br /><br />The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that these 56 bird species warrant Endangered Species Act protection:<br /><br />Orange-fronted parakeet (New Zealand)<br />Takahe (New Zealand)<br />Cook’s petrel (Chatham Islands, New Zealand)<br />Chatham oystercatcher (Chatham Islands, New Zealand)<br />Chatham petrel (Chatham Islands, New Zealand)<br />Magenta petrel (Chatham Islands, New Zealand)<br />Codfish Island fernbird (Codfish Island, New Zealand)<br />Ghizo white-eye (Solomon Islands)<br />Heinroth’s shearwater (Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands)<br />Lord Howe pied currawong (Lord Howe Island, New South Wales)<br />Uvea parakeet (Uvea, New Caledonia)<br />Eiao Polynesian warbler (Marquesas Islands)<br />Marquesan imperial pigeon (Marquesas Islands)<br />Fiji petrel (Fiji)<br />Salmon-crested cockatoo (South Moluccas, Indonesia)<br />Okinawa woodpecker (Okinawa Island, Japan)<br />Greater adjutant (South Asia)<br />Jerdon’s courser (India)<br />Slender-billed curlew (Russia, Eurasia, eastern and southern Europe, Greece, Italy,<br />Turkey, North Africa)<br />Cantabrian capercaillie (Spain)<br />Blue-throated macaw (Bolivia)<br />St. Lucia forest thrush (St. Lucia, West Indies)<br />Blue-billed curassow (Colombia)<br />Bogota rail (Colombia)<br />Brown-banded antpitta (Colombia)<br />Cauca guan (Colombia)<br />Gorgeted wood-quail (Colombia)<br />Ash-breasted tit-tyrant (Brazil)<br />Black-backed tanager (Brazil)<br />Black-hooded antwren (Brazil)<br />Brasilia tapaculo (Brazil)<br />Brazilian merganser (Brazil)<br />Cherry-throated tanager (Brazil)<br />Fringe-backed fire-eye (Brazil)<br />Kaempfer’s tody-tyrant (Brazil)<br />Margaretta’s hermit (Brazil)<br />Southeastern rufous-vented ground cuckoo (Brazil)<br />Southern helmeted curassow (Brazil)<br />Helmeted woodpecker (Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina)<br />Junin flightless grebe (Peru)<br />Junin rail (Peru)<br />Peruvian plantcutter (Peru)<br />White-browed tit-spinetail (Peru)<br />Yellow-browed toucanet (Peru)<br />Chilean woodstar (Peru, Chile)<br />Royal cinclodes (Peru, Bolivia)<br />Andean flamingo (Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina)<br />Black-breasted puffleg (Ecuador)<br />Esmeraldas woodstar (Ecuador)<br />Galapagos petrel (Galapagos Islands, Ecuador)<br />Medium tree-finch (Floreana Island, Galapagos Islands)<br /><br /><ul><br /><li>Andean Condor<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/579/story/616153.html">Beloved Andean condor facing threat of extinction</a></b><br />24.07.08. J. Chang, miamiherald. Expanding human development in the Andes is altering the fragile environment of the condor, which is slowly disappearing<br /><br /><br /></li><li>Owls<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/pygmy-owl-07-24-2008.html">Pygmy Owl Continues to Decline in Mexico</a></b><br />24.06.08. biological diversity. The cactus ferruginous pygmy owl population in northern Sonora, Mexico, has declined over the past nine years, according to an ongoing monitoring effort by University of Arizona researcher Aaron Flesch. .. / “The pygmy owl is near extinction in Arizona<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 179px; height: 208px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC5_hiFBeba-49O3DGNn_MtExFgMP7aTWNCTjMaDlrTdBC2vb1qDyEGMb5k78uaMTGG7lQm8IXiJTpRZj4-HGFHPTVZuk5MqBEfu2IdJQA6ThfAN7FVhK5J8aZgeVQk0nrg9SI/s400/spottedowl.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546947448170322" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/spotted-owl-habitat-slashed-population-declines">Photo: Joe Foy</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/spotted-owl-habitat-slashed-population-declines">Spotted Owl Habitat Slashed as Population Declines</a></b><br />12.08.08. Jeff Barnard, AP / Truthout. "The Bush administration has decided the northern spotted owl can get by with less old-growth forest habitat as it struggles to make its way off the threatened species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday that the federal forest land designated as critical habitat for the owl in Washington, Oregon and Northern California would be cut by 23 percent, a reduction of 1.6 million acres."<br /><br /><br /></li><li>Penguins<br /><br /><a href="http://www.penguins.cl/penguins-species.htm"> Penguins by Species </a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/93728/the_death_march_of_the_penguins/">The Death March of the Penguins</a></b><br />04.08.08. Julia Whitty, Mother Jones / alternet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/01/opinion/edddt.php">DDT on ice</a></b><br />01.07.08. herald tribune. Antarctica, like the Arctic, shows the lasting scars of human negligence. Some of the most persistent and dangerous chemicals ever created have accumulated there and remain there. / Take the long-banned pesticide DDT. When it was still sprayed on crops and gardens across the globe, it moved through the atmosphere to the polar regions, where it was deposited in water, snow and ice, ultimately making its way into the food chain. / The residue of DDT found in many Arctic species has declined in the past 30 years. But recently, scientists in Antarctica reported that <u>Adelie penguins</u> have a constant and, in some cases, increasing level of DDT in their body fat. <b>It appears that the birds are being newly exposed to remnants of DDT that was deposited long ago</b>. / Scientists estimate that between 2 pounds and 8.8 pounds of DDT are being released annually. This is not a large amount, but it is troubling nonetheless, especially since the levels released are likely to rise as climate change intensifies. As more ice melts, it will only add to the burden of so-called persistent organic pollutants that have made their way into the Antarctic's life stream. / <b>Nothing could seem farther removed from our ordinary lives than these isolated populations of Adelies. But they are frighteningly near to our pesticidal past and one more reminder of the long-lasting consequences of human behavior</b>.<br /><br /><br /></li><li>Puffins<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7526313.stm">Unexpected fall in puffin numbers</a></b><br />25.07.08. M. Kinver, BBC. England's biggest colony of puffins has seen the birds' numbers fall by a third in just five years, a survey shows. Video.<br /><br /><br /></li><li>Red Knot Bird<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nbc10.com/news/16886286/detail.html">Shorebird With Local Ties Flies Toward Extinction</a></b><br />07.08. NBC. Also VIDEO.<br /><br /><br /></li><li>Sage Grouse<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.torringtontelegram.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&page=&story_id=2093">A critical time for Wyoming sage grouse</a></b><br />16.07.08. Torrington telegram. If the Department of the Interior fails to implement the recommendations of the Wyoming Sage Grouse Implementation Team for conservation of sage grouse core areas in the next few months, a listing of the bird under the Endangered Species Act may be inevitable.<br /><br /><br /></li><li>Sea birds<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/06/eabirds106.xml">Thousand of sea birds killed by fishing trawlers</a></b><br />08.08.08. Paul Eccleston, Telegraph. Thirty-six albatrosses killed by one fishing boat; Sea birds die in fishermen's nets; Fishing bycatch is 'junk food' for sea birds.<br /><br /></li><li> Woodland Birds, UK<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 251px; height: 181px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXHdF_GD3DOgmaDah4imEHgs5QGzbEDY1qb20eUPt9Kw3YhiaD0CvxsKtx0SuYZvVPfQzu_JneQ_582yNlTmYUwI0T8ovs16B2snFWhgyIkYGBBaxJeK1Ppt6taiD23cCmzY8U/s400/IN3828756Wood-warble_38974b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546692082360722" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Wood Warbler</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/woodland-birds-on-route-to-extinction-as-numbers-dive-869734.html">Woodland birds on route to extinction as numbers dive</a></b><br />17.07.08. M. McCarthy, Independent. A suite of woodland species, from the nightingale to the spotted flycatcher, fell by more than 50 per cent between 1994 and last year, according to the report of the annual Breeding Bird Survey, run by the British Trust for Ornithology, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee. The willow tit has declined by 77 per cent over the period and is extinct over much of Britain. But other declines are nearly as bad: since 1994, wood warbler has declined by 67 per cent, nightingale by 60 per cent, spotted flycatcher by 59 per cent and pied flycatcher by 54 per cent. Lesser spotted woodpecker has declined so much that it is too rare to monitor accurately on a national basis. / Over the past 30 years declines of Britain's <u>farmland birds</u> have been the main concern, with grey partridge and corn bunting falling nearly 90 per cent because of the intensification of agriculture. Now woodland birds seem to be going the same way – but the causes are much less obvious.<br /></li></ul><br /><br /><b>Fish, General</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2008/08/14/Study_Earths_edible_fish_face_extinction/UPI-40301218740509/">Study: Earth's edible fish face extinction</a></b><br />14.08.08. UPI. A U.S. scientist predicts continued overfishing will lead to the extinction of the Earth's edible species of fish and affect other levels of the food chain.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/08/21/eco.megafishes/">Keeping watch over the 'megafishes'</a></b><br />24.08.08. CNN. Hogan, an ecologist, photographer and an associate professor at the University of Nevada, heads up the Megafishes Project, a four-year collaboration with the National Geographic Society and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The project, Hogan says is the world's first attempt to identify and document the world's remaining giant freshwater fish. … so that they get a chance of gaining protection from the threat of extinction -- before it's too late. … / The biggest threats are pollution, dams and overexploitation. … / there are about two dozen species that qualify as megafishes. To qualify for the project the fish has to be over 2 meters or more than a 100 kilograms (220 pounds). And my estimate is about 70 percent will qualify as threatened with extinction.<br /><br /><ul><br /><li>Salmon<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9925851?nclick_check=1">Judge: water delivery system harms Calif salmon</a></b><br />18.07.08. AP, mercury news. A federal judge ruled Friday that California's water systems threaten to push native, wild salmon into extinction, but stopped short of ordering any immediate water cutbacks farmers said would have cost them millions in lost crops.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bnd.com/508/story/403018.html">Federal judge rules fish species risk extinction in drought-plagued California</a></b><br />19.07.08. Bnd, McClatchy. And state and federal water project operations are further jeopardizing the winter-run Chinook salmon, spring-run Chinook salmon and Central Valley steelhead, U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger wrote in a 118-page ruling. The Friday ruling is the latest in a series of decisions by Wanger involving the effect of state and federal water projects - which are centered on the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California - on fish species that are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/news/26055594.html">Navy being sued over Puget Sound explosions</a></b><br />29.07.08. pnwlocalnews. The Navy is being sued for exploding ordnance in Puget Sound waters, allegedly killing thousands of fish, including federally protected species such as Chinook salmon. / The Navy, however, said training for its explosive ordnance disposal teams is essential for both military and civilian purposes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/bad-news-senate-votes-down-fisheries-rescue">Bad News: Senate Votes Down Fisheries Rescue</a></b><br />18.08.08. D. Bacher, Truthout. The bill would have required fish rescue contingency plans in the event of future fishery disasters like the one that took place at Prospect Island in the northern Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in November 2007. During last year's fish kill, thousands of striped bass, Sacramento blackfish, Sacramento splittail, black bass, bluegill, catfish, threadfin shad and other species perished after the Bureau of Reclamation drained the island during a levee repair operation… / Beuttler stated, "This bill was to be the beginning of the delta fishery restoration process and would have provided funds for the state's impacted salmon fishery… / Richard Pool .. was disappointed by the bill's defeat because it would have been a major step forward in the restoration of Central Valley salmon and steelhead and California Delta striped bass, delta smelt, longfin smelt, threadfin shad, green sturgeon, white sturgeon, steelhead and other species. .. / (he said “in the end we were <u>outgunned by the intense lobbying of the water contractors and the administration</u>.”<br /><br /><br /></li><li>Shark<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/29/AR2008062901783.html">In Mediterranean, the Predator Is the Hunted</a></b><br />30.06.08. Washington Post. The shark researchers -- who hail from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and several European countries -- are engaged in a huge detective project, much of it inspired by Myers, who pioneered the first global shark assessment before his death in late 2006. Culling both unconventional and traditional sources such as fishing data, museum records and scientific studies, they are tracking not only how drastically sharks' numbers have dropped in recent decades but also how their disappearance is transforming the marine world. … / these sharks can be considered functionally extinct, meaning that they cannot perform their role of top predators in the Mediterranean marine ecosystems anymore," he said. Ferretti and his colleagues published their findings in this month's issue of the journal Conservation Biology.<br /><br /><br /></li><li>Sturgeon<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/kootenai-river-white-sturgeon-07-09-2008.htm">Critical Habitat Finalized for Kootenai River White Sturgeon</a></b><br />09.07.08. biological diversity. “Finalization of critical habitat is welcome news for the Kootenai River <b>white sturgeon</b>,” said Noah Greenwald, science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The sturgeon is on the brink of extinction and desperately needs restoration of critical habitat to survive.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn14311-sturgeon-swimming-towards-extinction-vortex.html">Sturgeon swimming towards 'extinction vortex'</a></b><br />15.07.08. Environment new scientist. Irrational preferences for rare products are likely to drive the few remaining caviar sturgeon in the Caspian Sea to extinction, warn biologists in France. They have shown that snobbish attitudes drive a strong preference for caviar supposedly from "rare" species, even when the samples are the same.<br /><br />Read about the recent G8 thirteen course feast <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/07/g8.japan?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront"> here</a>, following a day discussing food shortages.<br /><br /><br /></li><li>Tuna<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2008/s2314981.htm">Hopes captive breeding will save endangered bluefin tuna</a></b><br />25.07.08. ABC. We hear a lot about endangered whales in the Southern Ocean but quite a bit less about another seriously threatened species, <u>bluefin tuna</u>. Wild stocks of the fish are rapidly disappearing and experts are investing a lot of energy into figuring out whether bluefin tuna could be sustainably farmed. .. / At the Port Lincoln marina tuna boats jostle for space with barely a berth left for the busy fleet. / The industry is booming on the back of worldwide demand for the southern bluefin tuna, which is so highly prized it can fetch up to $50 a kilogram in Japan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://links.mailing.greenpeace.org/servlet/MailView?ms=MTY1MjgxS0&r=MjUwNTc0NDI1S0&j=NjA4ODIzNwS2&mt=1&rt=0">Tinned Tuna's Hidden Catch</a></b><br />13.08.08. Greenpeace. .. sea turtles, sharks and other fish species are all being wiped out in their thousands - caught in the nets and on the long-lines of the global tuna industry. In 2005 this 'accidental bycatch' amounted to some 100,000 tonnes worldwide. And tuna is in trouble itself, with some species critically endangered by overfishing. Also:<br /><a href="http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/oceans/the-tuna-retailers-league-table-2008?utm_source=ebulletin_uk_20080813&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tuna"> Tuna retailers league table 2008</a><br /></li></ul><br /><br /><br /><b> Flora and Fauna</b><br /><br />“ <em>Where should the plants sleep after the last breath of air? We will write our names with scarlet steam</em>.”<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Victims-Map-Bilingual-Anthology-Arabic/dp/0863565247/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218968192&sr=8-1"> Mahmoud Darwish</a>, <u>The Earth is Closing on Us</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080721-149754/More-than-half-of-RP-fauna-nearly-extinct--official">More than half of RP fauna nearly extinct--official </a></b><br />21.07.08. Agence France. MANILA, Philippines -- More than half the birds, amphibians and mammals found only in the Philippines are either threatened or nearly extinct, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Monday. / The tropical southeast Asian archipelago is the sole host to 1,137 animal species and 14,000 species of plants, the DENR said in a statement. / "Worldwide, we rank fifth in the number of plant species. We also rank fourth in bird endemism, which means that these birds are found only in the Philippines," Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Jose “Lito” Atienza said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.themoreheadnews.com/localsports/local_story_218151928.html?keyword=topstory">Species study includes local flora and fauna</a></b><br />05.08.08. the morehead news. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to conduct five-year status reviews of 20 threatened and endangered species that occur mostly in Southeast, including 5 fish, 3 mussels, 1 spider, 1 crayfish, and 10 plants. / A five-year review is conducted to ensure that a listing classification under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is accurate.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080813102725.htm">Climate Change Threatens One In Five Plant Species In Germany</a></b><br />18.08.08. Science Daily.<br /><ul><br /><li>Lichen<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-233850-Queens-County-home-to-endangered-Lichen.html">Queens County home to endangered Lichen</a></b><br />23.07.08, nova news.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/163/story/615849.html">Botanists sound the alarm as rare species face extinction</a></b><br />26.07.08. G. Tasker, Miami herald. Although climate change has been identified as a direct contributor to the extinction of only a few species of flora and fauna so far, plant scientists fear that may soon accelerate. / ''We may lose 30 percent of the plants by 2050,'' says Kathryn Kennedy, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Plant Conservation in St. Louis. … ' / <u>Beach jacquemontia</u>: Although the vine initially was a victim of residential and commercial beachfront development, climate change -- specifically the rising sea level -- poses a new threat to the re-established plant.<br /><br /><br /></li><li>Orchids<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080717110241.htm">Wild Orchids In Borneo: Is There Time To Save Thousands Of Species From Extinction?</a></b><br />22.07.08. Science Daily. Borneo (Kalimantan) is the third largest island in the world. It is rich with a variety of indigenous orchid species that grow in the forests. Borneo's rain forests are also home to some extremely rare species of orchids, all highly valued for their exotic aromas and aesthetic beauty. It has been estimated that 2500 to 3000 orchid species grow in the forests of Borneo. / Borneo's orchids are also endangered, a result of the loss of natural habitat from fire, forest damage, and illegal logging.<br /></li></ul><br /><br /><b> Mammals </b><br /><br />Mammals (class Mammalia) are a class of vertebrate animals characterized by the presence of sweat glands, including sweat glands modified for milk production, hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in the brain. From<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammal"> Wikipedia</a>.<br /><br /><br /><u>Deer</u><br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5Vjnmt1jpKJeAO4nHyp9fXGnKGiuIESVYA9UHwpeejJdDW5rMYaMtbuA9ICcSQFuXFShJJaN1URNpsQLx97j5T2m9gjiqx95iAQmwpiaFeDPS5vfIRO-mdH75Qtn-QmMd-dY4/s400/hangul.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546422135602146" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://kmsnews.org/news/stag-faces-extinction-threat-ihk">Stag faces extinction threat in IHK</a></b><br />20.07.08. kms news. In occupied Kashmir, stag or Kashmiri hangul, one of the world’s most endangered species, is on the verge of extinction due to increasing interference in its habitations. / Scientifically known as Cervus elaphus hanglu, hangul is the only surviving race of the Red Deer family of Europe in the sub-continent. The animal is battling for its survival in its last bastion, the Dachigam Park located on foothills of Zabarwan range on the outskirts of Srinagar.<br /><br /><br /><u>Elephant</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://world-wire.com/news/0807150002.html">ELEPHANTS AT RISK AGAIN</a></b><br />15.07.08. World wires. SSN has consistently argued against any relaxation in the original ivory trade ban approved by CITES in 1989 following a decade when Africa’s elephant population fell by more than 50% from 1.3 million to 600,000. Today, elephant numbers are estimated to hover at around 475,000 – 500,000. Asian elephant numbers stand at a precarious 30,000-40,000. / The illegal black market in ‘white gold’ seems ready to cause parts of Africa to run red with elephant blood once more after today’s decision by the Standing Committee of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to approve China as a ‘trading partner’ for over 100 tonnes of stockpiled ivory from South Africa, Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Many conservationists and wildlife managers have been left stunned and appalled.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080731140219.htm">Ivory Poaching At Critical Levels: Elephants On Path To Extinction By 2020?</a></b><br />01.08.08. Science Daily. African elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory at a pace unseen since an international ban on the ivory trade took effect in 1989. But the public outcry that resulted in that ban is absent today<br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/nationalgeographic.co.uk"> Elephant photos</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/video.nationalgeographic.com"> Elephant videos</a><br /><br /><br /><u>Horse</u><br /><br /><ul><br /><li>Mustang<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gotpetsonline.com/pictures-gallery/horse-pictures-breeders-foals/mustang-pictures-breeders-foals/pictures/mustang-0001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.gotpetsonline.com/pictures-gallery/horse-pictures-breeders-foals/mustang-pictures-breeders-foals/pictures/mustang-0001.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Are_mustang_horses_an_endangered_species">Are mustang horses an endangered species?</a></b><br />Wikipedia. "200 years ago there [were] 2 million wild horses in the United States. … / In the 1970's there were over 170,000 wild horses roaming free throughout the United States."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/us/20mustangs.html">On Mustang Range, a Battle on Thinning the Herd</a></b><br />20.07.08. NY Times. Five mustangs pounded across the high desert recently, their dark manes and tails giving shape to the wind. Pursued by a helicopter, they ran into a corral — and into the center of the emotional debate over whether euthanasia should be used to thin a captive herd that already numbers 30,000. .. / For groups formed to protect the horses, the specter of euthanasia as a solution remains anathema. .. / Today, the fundamental rift between the bureau and its critics involves two judgment calls: how many horses can a range of 29 million acres support, and how should that level be maintained? .. / Arlan Hiner, an assistant field manager for the bureau in Nevada, said, “We’re supposed to be managing for ecological balance.” Over all, the bureau wants to cut the wild herd by about 6,000 horses.<br /><br />If one googles “mustang endangered species", one comes to a page about <a href="http://www.allfordmustangs.com/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/63580/cat/all/ppuser/18110"> Ford CARS</a> .<br /><br /><a href="http://www.supanet.com/media/00/15/01/ford-mustang.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.supanet.com/media/00/15/01/ford-mustang.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /></li><li>Shire Horse<br /></li></ul><br /><a href="http://www.shire-horse.org.uk/images/breed_standards2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.shire-horse.org.uk/images/breed_standards2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/08/20/faithful-british-shire-horse-under-threat-of-extinction-91466-21565719/">Faithful British shire horse under threat of extinction</a></b><br />20.08.08. wales on line. Experts say the use of tractors on farms has been one of the major factors behind the decline of the “heavy horses”, first brought to Britain in 1066 by William the Conqueror and used in medieval warfare to carry his knights into battle.<br /><br /><br /><u>Kangaroo</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24165654-1702,00.html">'Roos 'on the brink of extinction'</a></b><br />11.08.08. News.com.au. FOUR wildlife groups are calling for a moratorium on the killing of kangaroos, claiming they are on the brink of extinction in three states.<br /><br /><br /><u> Lynx </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/lynx-07-14-2008.html">Minnesota Ordered to Take Action to Protect Lynx From Trappers</a></b><br />14.07.08. Biological diversity. After issuing a critical ruling in March declaring the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources in violation of the Endangered Species Act for its authorization of trapping within Canada lynx habitat, a Minneapolis federal court today issued a ruling mandating: Restriction on use of certain types of body-gripping traps and snare use in lynx habitat; Prohibition on the use of fresh meat as bait; That the state must operate a telephone hotline during trapping season to receive reports of incidentally trapped lynx; and That the state must rehabilitate lynx injured by trapping.<br /><br /><br /><u> Polar Bear</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.naturetrek.co.uk/pics/t146-large1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://www.naturetrek.co.uk/pics/t146-large1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Photo <a href="http://www.naturetrek.co.uk/wildlife-holidays-in-europe/detailsdb.asp?ID=146"> Paul Stanbury </a></div><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j88_z01zuIozvdmw4MgwScVp9GZAD91PVAC80">Polar bear harassment by oil companies challenged</a></b><br />08.07.08. J. Lee, AP / legitgov. Two conservation groups filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the Bush administration's decision to let oil companies unintentionally harass or harm polar bears and walruses off the northwestern Alaska coast. / The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Anchorage claims that federal officials violated laws designed to protect the animals and their sensitive habitat in the Arctic waters of the Chukchi Sea.<br />See also<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN0843994520080708"> Suit seeks ban on oil companies disturbing wildlife</a> (08.07.08. Reuters / legitgov.)<br />and<a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/chukchi-sea-07-08-2008.html"> Lawsuit Filed to Protect Polar Bears and Pacific Walrus From Oil Drilling in Chukchi Sea</a> (08.07.08. biological diversity / legitgov)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=5406742&page=1">Last-Ditch Resort: Move Polar Bears to Antarctica?</a></b><br />19.07.08. ABC. If the most dire climate predictions come to pass, the Arctic ice cap will melt entirely, and polar bears could face extinction.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i536jfOol1gh7ago3QLE3rrEvhZgD92BSE780">Alaska sues over listing polar bear as threatened</a></b><br />04.08.08. ap. The state of Alaska sued Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Monday, seeking to reverse his decision to list polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. / Gov. Sarah Palin and other state officials <b>fear a listing will cripple offshore oil and gas development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in Alaska's northern waters</b>, which provide prime habitat for the only polar bears under U.S. jurisdiction.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080730/115252139.html">Russia joins WWF 'polar bear patrol'</a></b><br />30.07.08. rian.ru.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/polar-bear-08-21-2008.html">Polar Bears at Risk of Drowning in the Chukchi Sea</a></b><br />21.08.08. biological diversity. Surveys Show Numerous Bears Swimming Far From Land as Sea Ice Nears Record Low / On August 16th, surveys documented nine polar bears swimming in open water off the northwestern coast of Alaska in the Chukchi Sea, in an area recently opened for offshore oil exploration. One bear was more than 50 miles from land.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/"> Polar Bears International</a><br /><br /><br /><u>Seals</u><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhemHNpK69qp8DbNb5CIp-CPRIUE3uCCeoWYG2IJmXaEDorZJJX_5drmd1P9ODyEigBWMi_63iKldzMboxwH-OnHBoUgwTpZo142C99yBP3DTpVCM1cLp0XfEvBqrjs7w7QU6uE/s400/seal.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546942515559250" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo: <a href="http://www.nmfs.hawaii.edu/"> NMFS Honolulu Laboratory</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/hawaiian-monk-seal-07-02-2008.html">Critical Habitat Protection Sought for Hawaiian Monk Seal</a></b><br />02.07.08. biological diversity. In a formal petition filed today, three conservation groups requested that the federal government protect areas on the main Hawaiian islands as critical habitat for the Hawaiian monk seal under the Endangered Species Act. As monk seal populations plummet on the northwestern Hawaiian islands, the main islands are playing an increasingly important role in the conservation of the species.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pinnipeds.org/species/species.htm"> Seal Conservation Society</a><br /><br /><br /><u>Tiger </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080701221431.htm">Attitudes Toward Consumption And Conservation Of Tigers In China</a></b><br />04.06.07. Science Daily. The potential market for tiger products in China is enormous, but a vast majority of the Chinese public would rather have wild tigers than tiger-bone wine, according to new research.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080701165021.htm">Rare Plants And Endangered Species Such As Tigers At Risk From Traditional Medicine</a></b><br />06.07.08. Science Daily. Two reports from TRAFFIC, the world's largest wildlife trade monitoring network, on traditional<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080702132159.htm">Tigers Disappear From Himalayan Refuge</a></b><br />16.07.08. Science Daily. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is alarmed by the dramatic decline of at least 30 percent in the Bengal tiger population of Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve in Nepal, once a refuge that boasted among the highest densities of the endangered species in the Eastern Himalayas. The recent survey of April 2008 showed a population of between 6-14 tigers, down from 20-50 tigers in 2005.<br /><br />PHOTOS & VIDEOS<br />See<a href="http://www.tigerref.info/?gclid=CMnk4aXlvpQCFRSb1Qod02kHTA"> Here</a> and<a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=al+jazeera+tiger+extinction+july+2008&btnG=Search&meta="> Here</a>.<br /><br /><br /><u>Whale</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2008/2008-07-07-091.asp">Conservationists Sue to Protect Beluga Whales of Cook Inlet</a></b><br />07.06.08. environment news service. Five conservation groups have filed a lawsuit against the Bush administration over what they claim is an illegal delay in listing the Cook Inlet beluga whale under the federal Endangered Species Act.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/08/080808114659.htm">How Whales And Other Marine Mammals React To Sonar</a></b><br />09.08.08. Science Daily. NOAA’s Fisheries Service, in partnership with top international scientists and the U.S. Navy, has just completed a pioneering research effort in Hawaii to measure the biology and behavior of some of the most poorly understood whales on Earth. During the study, for the first time, scientists attached listening and movement sensors on marine mammals around realistic military operations.<br /><br /><br /><u>Wolf</u><br /><br /><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/19/wolves1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/07/19/wolves1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/us/19wolves.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin">Judge Returns Gray Wolves to Endangered List</a></b><br />19.07.08. F. Barringer, NY Times. Gray wolves in the greater Yellowstone area of the northern Rocky Mountains, which would have been fair game for hunters in three states as a result of a federal government decision in March, were again put under the protections of the Endangered Species Act by a judge in Montana on Friday. See also http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2008/07/work-in-progres.html (LA Times)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nrdconline.org/campaign/save_yellowstone_wolves">Tell the Bush administration to stop the slaughter of gray wolves!</a></b><br />NRDC: Petition. Since the Bush administration stripped gray wolves of their endangered species protection in March, more than 100 have been gunned down outside Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, and hundreds more are being targeted for slaughter.<br /><br /><br /><u>Wolverine</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/wolverine-07-08-2008.html">Endangered Species Protections Sought for U.S. Wolverines</a></b><br />08.07.08. Biological diversity. The United States must protect endangered wildlife from global warming and other threats within its own borders and not rely on other countries, such as Canada, to do the job, according to a coalition of 10 conservation organizations that announced today its intention to file a legal challenge against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/opinion/19sat3.html?ref=opinion">Another Species in Danger</a></b><br />19.07.08. NYTimes Editorial. The wolverine is in desperate trouble these days. Perhaps only 500 remain in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. Even that number may be a considerable overestimate, according to a coalition of conservation groups that argues that the wolverine deserves the protection of the Endangered Species Act. They plan to sue the Fish and Wildlife Service if it does not reverse its recent decision to leave the wolverine to its fate.<br /><br /><br /><b>Mammoth </b><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros"> RHINOCEROSES</a>, Wikipedia<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ecoworldly.com/2008/07/30/zimbabwe-a-cry-for-the-environment/">Zimbabwe: A Cry for the Environment</a></b><br />30.07.08. eco worldly. Zimbabwe has about half of the world’s population of black rhinoceroses, an endangered species. During that period, the government even went as far as adopting a radical policy of shooting poachers on sight in order to protect endangered animal species. / In recent years, however, Zimbabwe has experienced desertification, soil and water pollution, slash and burn agriculture resulting in soil erosion mainly caused by an unplanned land resettlement programme initated by incumbent President Robert Mugabe’s government in 2000.<br /><br /><br /><b> Primates </b><br /><br /><u> Great Apes </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/witness/2008/07/20087317736629792.html">VIDEO: Bama's Journey</a></b><br />01.08.08. Witness, al Jazeera. "Great Apes as well as other endangered species in Cameroon are facing possible extinction as a result of rapid deforestation and bush-meat hunting," Nicky Chalk, the film's director explains. / "Out here bush-meat, including gorillas and chimpanzees, is a popular delicacy but over-hunting in recent years means that there are very few of these animals remaining in their natural habitat.<br /><br /><a href="http://savetheorangutan.org/wp-content/orangutan-male.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://savetheorangutan.org/wp-content/orangutan-male.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/orangutans-on-fast-track-extinction">Orangutans "On Fast Track to Extinction"</a></b><br />06.07.08. Michael Casey, The Independent: "The orangutan could be the first great ape to become extinct if urgent action is not taken to protect the species from human encroachment in Southeast Asia, according to a new study."<br /><br /><br /><u>Homo Sapiens, General </u><br /><br />“ ‘ <em>Goodbye,’ says the dying man to the mirror they hold in front of him. ‘We won’t be seeing each other any more</em>.’ “ <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5229/is_2003/ai_n19151604/pg_5">Paul Valery</a><br /><br />“Until a few decades ago, humans were thought to be distinctly set apart from the other apes (even from the other great apes), so much so that many people still don't think of the term "apes" to include humans at all. However, it is not considered accurate by many biologists to think of apes in a biological sense without considering humans to be included.” From<br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ape"> Wikipedia</a>.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 372px; height: 274px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhfJ7kIV8PBijd0XfwAP1VRWQiJUpHW6i5JIUUbIu8XZMxks9ivRhkk-w_zsokBknv0-GMF8S7uTI84X90PqmLcFpPPm_-D6zbLIDqhNPzpe0uNYiSZ5YwUjtp4bQLryemBcL1/s400/intolerable_beauty.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238559106644331330" border="0" /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">© Chris Jordan</div><br /><b><a href="http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php">Running the Numbers: An American self portrait</a></b><br />Chris Jordan. Running the Numbers looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. … This project visually examines these vast and bizarre measures of our society.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/EPA_Value_of_American_life_drops_0711.html">Value of American life drops to $6.9 Million</a></b><br />11.07.08. AP / Raw Story. See related analysis<a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9621"> here</a>.<br />See also: <a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/us-environmental-agency-lowers-value-a-human-life"> US Environmental Agency Lowers Value of a Human Life</a> (11.07.08. Guardian / Truth out). It sounds like a spot of gallows humour, but the numbers are no joke: the US environmental protection agency (EPA) has lowered the value of a human life by nearly $1m under George Bush's administration. / The EPA's estimate of the "value of a statistical life" was $6.9m as of this May - down from $7.8m five years ago - according to an Associated Press study released today<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/z023687.html">Human Race Faces "Oblivion" From Global Warming, Says UN Chief</a></b><br />23.07,08. David Gutierrez, natural news / speaking truth to power. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has warned that without a comprehensive international agreement to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global warming, humanity faces "oblivion."<br /><br />"The world's scientists have spoken with one voice: the situation is grim and urgent action is needed," Ban said. "The situation is so desperately serious that any delay could push us past the tipping point, beyond which the ecological, financial and human costs would increase dramatically. … / The controversy during the meetings resulted largely from a disagreement between the European Union, which favored setting strict mandatory emissions reduction goals, and the United States, which opposed mentioning specific targets and favors only voluntary emissions reductions. … / Even a compromise on the wording, which would have mentioned the U.N. panel's recommendation but not committed the Bali nations to meeting that goal, was ultimately removed from the Bali Roadmap at the insistence of the United States.<br /><br />In Colombia<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 276px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZbzJ4QcwqZrrZVgSHEm_OSQkSdLgaDEQLI0sY_EdEGOxNVeqn8VYPgAbLBo5AXV6690y4A_psqiuThsaB_x46OdwsJcvJsmoiGpBUTmGLK7zyjRF61TYNh0wq6PYfPObJxi_/s400/nukak_medium.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546943546555778" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Nukak men, Colombia <a href="http://www.survival-international.org/news/3595"> © Gustavo Pollitis/Survival</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://colombiareports.com/2008/07/27/nukak-maku-tribe-on-its-way-to-extinction/%20Nukak%20Mak%C3%BA%20tribe%20on%20its%20way%20to%20extinction%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3E27.07.08.%20%20Colombia%20reports.%20Of%20the%201200%20inhabitants%20of%20the%20indigenous%20tribe%20that%20was%20discovered%20in%20Guaviare%20in%201988,%20only%20500%20are%20alive.%20The%20majority%20of%20these%20survivors%20is%20displaced%20by%20violence.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" org="" news="" 3595="">Amazon nomads face 'imminent extinction'</a></b><br />13.08.08. Survival international. Colombia’s last nomadic hunter-gatherer tribe, the Nukak, is in ‘imminent danger of physical and cultural extinction’, according to the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PTT), which investigates and tries human rights violations around the world. / The Nukak were listed by the PTT along with another 27 indigenous groups in Colombia, many of whom have less than 100 members.<br /><br /><em>Genocide</em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.edwebproject.org/sideshow/genocide/convention.html">Definition Genocide</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF3bXnNYXihynUV3fhLjvkpkYbeSKVGxe7fQ5RKLtsgNcyoCqw4qZonqtt_bXb9PEnJRhWYleq6bkSqRAHoh2OViMfpk3gAlk-gnfk6tcrVwJnlp_tbrlkAeuQHOWFejgvrs21/s400/Jerusalem-Madonna.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546702732554306" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://mwcnews.net/content/view/17194/42/">Gideon Polya </a>"Jerusalem Madonna"</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://internationalnews.over-blog.com/article-19549501.html">Apartheid Israel & 60 years of racism, war, theft & Palestinian Genocide</a></b><br />14.05.08. Dr Gideon Polya, international news. The fundamental messages from the World War 2 Jewish Holocaust (6 million victims, 1 in 6 dying from deprivation) and the WW2 Holocaust in general (30 million Slav, Jewish and Roma dead) are "zero tolerance for racism" and "never again to anyone". / These sacred messages from the WW2 Holocaust have been monstrously violated by Apartheid Israel, its Anglo-American backers and its racist Zionist (RZ) supporters for 60 years as summarized below. …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://gpolya.newsvine.com/_news/2008/08/02/1714758-obama-mccain-iraqi-genocide-afghan-genocide">Obama, McCain, Iraqi Genocide & Afghan Genocide</a></b><br />02.08.08. Dr. G. Polya, newsvine. Obama promises to get out of Iraq (1990-2008 excess deaths 4 million) but to continue in Afghanistan (2001-2008 excess deaths 3-6 million). McCain will continue both holocausts and possibly more. / Americans may well be pleased with the recent enthusiastic reception of Barack Obama in Europe. However they need to know what they are actually voting for – either 50% less killing (if a President Obama does get out of Occupied Iraq but not Occupied Afghanistan ) or possibly 100% more killing (if a President McCain decides to devastate Iran as well as continuing the Iraqi and Afghan Holocausts).<br /><br /><u> On This Day, the US Excelled Itself in Killing Afghan Civilians</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/report-us-led-airstrikes-kill-76-afghan-civilians">Afghanistan: 76 Civilians Die in Airstrike, Ministry Claims</a></b><br />Sharafuddin Sharafyar, Reuters/truthout. "US-led coalition forces killed 76 Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan yesterday, most of them children, the country's nterior Ministry said. The coalition denied killing civilians. Civilian deaths in military operations have become an emotive issue among Afghans, many of whom feel international forces take too little care when launching air strikes, undermining support for their presence. 'Seventy-six civilians, most of them women and children, were martyred today in a coalition forces operation in Herat province,' the Interior Ministry said in a statement. Coalition forces bombarded the Azizabad area of Shindand district in Herat province on Friday afternoon, the ministry said. <b>Nineteen of the victims were women, seven of them men and the rest children under the age of 15</b>, it said." [<em> Later reports said that more than <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=46659&s2=25"> 90</a> were killed </em>]<br /><br /><em>Essential, stupendous read on previous genocide</em><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/American-Holocaust-Conquest-New-World/dp/0195085574/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218897921&sr=8-1">American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World </a> by David E. Stannard, Oxford University Press (US), November 1993.<br /><br /><br /><em>Suicide</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080728/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/veteran_suicide">Suicide hot line got calls from 22,000 veterans</a></b><br />28.07.08. AP / legitgov. More than 22,000 veterans have sought help from a special suicide hot line in its first year, and 1,221 suicides have been averted, the government says. / According to a recent RAND Corp. study, roughly one in five soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan displays symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, putting them at a higher risk for suicide. Researchers at Portland State University found that male veterans are twice as likely to commit suicide than men who are not veterans.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/93077/">Suicide Spreads as One Solution to the Debt Crisis</a></b><br />29.08.08. Barbara Ehrenreich, alternet. In a culture where credit rating is the key measure of self-worth, the increasing response to huge debts is "Just shoot me!"<br /><br /><br /><u>Kipunji Monkey</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huliq.com/65272/newly-discovered-monkey-threatened-extinction">Newly discovered monkey is threatened with extinction</a></b><br />29.07.08. Hulig. Known as the "kipunji," the large, forest-dwelling primate hovers at 1,117 individuals, according to a study released in the July issue of the journal Oryx. / The authors also discovered that much of the monkey's remaining habitat is severely degraded by illegal logging and land conversion. In addition, the monkey itself is the target of poachers. Because of these combined threats, WCS proposes that the kipunji should be classified by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as "critically endangered"<br /><br /><br /><u> Lemur </u><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 245px; height: 158px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbKaDq0xbbussOG6UnddF7VcCfEvaqtJ52JLKZVisR_Asa9SPxynvtDhjucUhyZVW0JJQswiU4kmrlA_Weh0L_sUhD4VyMWBCfvQfo5QPxUn69zhdqlNpAm1dwv89B9VRCTO5m/s400/lemur.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546700859683266" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Photograph by <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/photogalleries/endangered-primates-photos/index.html"> Nicole Duplaix/NGS</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/photogalleries/endangered-primates-photos/index.html">Primates Newly Listed as Critically Endangered</a></b><br />12.08.08. National Geographic. Numbers of the black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata)—which, like all lemur species, is found only on the African island of Madagascar—have dwindled as a result of predation and habitat loss. / Last week the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added several species and subspecies of primates, including the ruffed lemur, to the "critically endangered" category in its Red List of Threatened Species. / The additions were made as part of a study by hundreds of experts that suggests <b>half of the world's apes, monkeys, and other primates are in danger of extinction</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/aug/05/endangeredspecies.conservation">Nearly half of all the world's primates at risk of extinction. </a></b><br />See also Guardian editorial <a href="http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=684&catID=4"> FIGHTING FOR MADAGASCAR’S LEMURS </a> (08.08.08)<br /><br /><br /><b> Reptiles </b><br /><br /><u>Lizard</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_disp.asp?n_id=48949&n_tit=Panaji%3A+Banded+Ground+Gecko+Faces+Threat+of+Extinction">Panaji: Banded Ground Gecko Faces Threat of Extinction</a></b><br />21.07.08. Daiji world, India.<br /><br /><u> Turtle </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080720/BREAKING01/80720035/-1/LOCALNEWSFRONT">Memorial held for sea turtle</a></b><br />20.07.08. Honolulu advertiser. The <u>green sea turtle</u> is included on the federal Endangered Species list. .. / The turtle, one of a group of 20 that regularly comes to bask in the sun on the beach commonly called "Turtle Beach," had its shell cut off and was missing a flipper.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Government-project-to-save-endangered-riverine-turtle/338345/">Government project to save endangered riverine turtle</a></b><br />20.07.08. express India. According to the Forest department, the conservation of the endangered terrapin will be an extension of the ongoing Bhagabatpur crocodile project in Sunderbans. “Batagurs usually get caught in fishermen nets. But in recent times, the fishermen say that these turtles have hardly been spotted. So, we have decided to go for a full-fledged conservation before they become extinct,” said SS Bist, principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), Forest department.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24228561-3044,00.html">Australia frogs are facing extinction</a></b><br />24.08.08. J. Lawrence, news.com/au. AUSTRALIAN frogs are facing the biggest wildlife extinction threat since the disappearance of dinosaurs, with 14 of the most endangered species in Queensland<br /><br /><u>Tortoise</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/desert-tortoise-08-04-2008.html">Desert Tortoise Threatened by Draft Recovery Plan That Weakens Protections</a></b><br />04.08.08. biological diversity. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today released a new draft “recovery” plan for the threatened desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii), which was protected under the Endangered Species Act nearly two decades ago. Though desert tortoise populations have continued to crash since that listing, the new draft plan weakens protections and provides few on-the-ground actions for tortoise conservation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10253710?nclick_check=1">Endangered desert tortoise found burned to death at California campground</a></b><br />20.08.08. mercury news. YUCCA VALLEY — An endangered tortoise has been found burned to death in a fire grate at Black Rock campground in the Yucca Valley area. .. / Desert tortoises are a threatened species, protected by the federal Endangered Species Act as well as state wildlife laws. The desert tortoise also is California's official state reptile.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><a id="3000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>3. GOOD NEWS</b><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2007/06/2008525133159851931.html">UN group rules to stop tiger trade</a></b><br />15.06.08. al jazeera<br /><br /><b><a href="http://world-wire.com/news/0807100001.html">11 YOUNG ECO-WARRIORS RECOGNIZED FOR REMARKABLE GLOBAL CONSERVATION ACHIEVEMENTS</a></b><br />10.07.08. world wire. From California to Kenya, eleven young people have decided that the future of the earth just can’t wait until later. Whether it’s global warming or mountains of electronic waste in our landfills or air pollution from idling school buses, the eleven extraordinary 2008 winners of Action For Nature’s International Young Eco-Hero Awards are tackling some of the globe’s most urgent problems with kid power.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hawkesbay.co.nz/index.php/200807152689/Farmers/Farming-News/Frogs-facing-extinction.html">Lincoln researcher helps Frogs facing extinction</a></b><br />15.07.08. Hawkes bay, nz. As frog populations die off around the world, researchers have identified certain genes that can help the amphibians develop resistance to harmful bacteria and disease. The discovery may provide new strategies to protect frog populations in the wild. … / As frog populations die off around the world, researchers have identified certain genes that can help the amphibians develop resistance to harmful bacteria and disease. The discovery may provide new strategies to protect frog populations in the wild.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080713182700.htm">Net Gain For Endangered Dolphins</a></b><br />16.07.08. Science Daily. The rarest marine dolphin in the world – down to 111 individuals following decades of entanglement in fishing nets – is to receive protection over more of its range from the New Zealand government following several years of sustained WWF campaigning. / The critically-endangered Maui’s dolphins, living only along the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island, could be functionally extinct within just 25 years largely as a result of a losing battle with fishing nets.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/5892096.html">Thawed DNA helps revive endangered crane species</a></b><br />16.07.08. New Orleans Times-Picayune. The bulldozers {<em>at whose instructions?</em>] that cut through Mississippi's pine forest to lay down Interstate 10 four decades ago cleaved the breeding grounds of a sandhill crane species, whose numbers dwindled to as few as 40 wild birds. / Now, frozen tanks of DNA hold new hope for the survival of the critically endangered flock. / The Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species has for 10 years restocked the wild Mississippi sandhill crane population with more than 150 birds from eggs laid in captivity at its facility here. This spring, one of the hatching chicks had a decidedly more sci-fi pedigree.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/peirsons-milk-vetch-07-17-2008.html">Federal Government Recognizes Extinction Threat and Upholds Threatened Status for the Imperiled Peirson's Milk-vetch</a></b><br />17.07.08. biological diversity. Today the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dismissed a sham petition to remove the Peirson’s milk-vetch from Endangered Species Act protection. The Service determined that the rare plant is still threatened with extinction owing to rampant off-road vehicle activities in its habitat at the Algodones Dunes in Southern California.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/ocean-quest-the-race-save-worlds-coral-reefs">Ocean Quest: The Race to Save the World's Coral Reefs</a></b><br />17.07.08. S. Conner, Independent. Last week, scientists issued their latest, grim assessment of the world's coral reefs. But as Steve Connor reports from Florida, extraordinary new ocean 'reseeding' techniques mean there may still be time to halt - or even reverse - the destruction of mother nature's marine marvels.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2008/07/17/record_number_of_endangered_butterflies_released/">Record number of endangered butterflies released</a></b><br />17.07.08. Boston.com.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-endangered18-2008jul18,0,5387802.story">State Supreme Court gives new protection to endangered species</a></b><br />18.07.08. LA Times. Commercial interests may be liable for unforeseen losses of wildlife, unanimous court rules.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jul2008/2008-07-22-01.asp">New Group of Endangered Lemurs Found in Madagascar</a></b><br />22.07.08. ENS. Researchers in Madagascar have confirmed the existence of a population of greater bamboo lemurs more than 400 kilometers (240 miles) from the only other place where the Critically Endangered species is known to live, raising hopes for its survival.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2008/wolves-07-18-2008.html">Wolf Killings Stopped: Federal Court Temporarily Restores Protection to Wolves in Northern Rocky Mountains</a></b><br />18.07.08. biological diversity. Today Federal Judge Donald W. Molloy issued a temporary injunction restoring gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains to the endangered species list, and thus halting indiscriminate killing of wolves, for the duration of a trial in which conservationist plaintiffs contest the removal of the wolves from the protected list.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/07/25/easetaside125.xml">Help for endangered farmland birds announced</a></b><br />25.07.08. P. Eccleston, Telegraph. Under the proposals farmers will be paid a top-up under the Environmental Stewardship scheme for using a variety of wildlife-friendly practices such as managing small amounts of land less intensively and creating grass buffer zones. The new measures will come too late to make up for the loss of set-aside in this year's harvest but will come into effect in 2009. / The move was welcomed by the RSPB who said it would create nesting sites for endangered species. / "Many much-loved birds like skylarks, yellowhammers and lapwings have been thrown a lifeline by this decision, which will help bring birdsong back to many parts of the countryside.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/aug2008/2008-08-14-01.asp">Recovery Dawns for Humpbacks and Southern Right Whales</a></b><br />14.08.08. ENS. The humpback whale and other species of large whales are now more secure against extinction than they have been in the recent past, according to the latest cetacean update of the 2008 Red List of Threatened Species released on Tuesday by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/center/articles/2008/san-diego-union-trib-08-14-2008.html">Environmental groups sue Forest Service</a></b><br />14.08.08. Mike Lee, biological diversity. Several environmental groups on Thursday sued the U.S. Forest Service over its management plans for the Cleveland National Forest and three others in Southern California. / The lawsuit said the federal blueprints allow recreation and development to damage the forests' ecology. It cited off-road vehicles and gas drilling as problems for the forests, which total 3.5 million acres.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20080817/OPINION/808170339&title=Condor_country">Condor country</a></b><br />17.08.08. press democrat. … by 1985 the condor was on the brink of extinction with a wild population of just nine birds. / A captive breeding program involving state and federal agencies, conservation groups and zoos in the United States and Mexico has brought the population back to about 330.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 332px; height: 251px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_vUN-jJcAr_GamOiDSqsaW7SieKUmRGX9DTiOKxzjXrN99c4xn83XG7M3-pSoFhV8N5RiWcTKCMNTNXewlTRyi7N-FVIheab2AHjGY_L-Sj6CHZTAav3p35DB6dmDA1Y3N_J6/s400/TurtleSignNet.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238546949393422610" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.novanewsnow.com/article-239664-Watch-out-for-endangered-Blandings-Turtle.html">Watch out for endangered Blanding’s Turtle</a></b><br />18.08.08. nova news. Last week, North Queens residents became the first community in Canada to identify an endangered species on their roads.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2008/08/18/6487006-sun.html">Lord of the Sky</a></b><br />18.08.08. Toronto sun. 4 decades after DDT ban the peregrine falcon is off the endangered list.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.moneybiz.co.za/africa/africa.asp?story=a2a7e7c4-3ebe-4a83-836d-ef5363b428a9">Ivory trade banned in Namibia from September</a></b><br />20.08.08. moneybiz. Namibia will impose a ban on all trade with 'worked ivory' from next month in a bid to assert its control and abide by international regulations on endangered species, an official said on Wednesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/08/21/eavulture121.xml">Indian government to act over drug killing millions of vultures</a></b><br />21.08.08. Paul Eccleston, Telegraph. Scientists have warned that three species of Asian vultures could become extinct within 10 years and one, the Oriental white-backed vulture, has lost 99.9 per cent of its population since 1992. / Oriental white-backed vulture has lost 99.9 per cent of its population. / The manufacture of veterinary diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug, was outlawed in 2006 after scientists proved its use on livestock had brought some vultures to the brink of extinction..<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is an independent researcher living in the U.K. </em><br /><br />The url to The Road to Extinction is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/08/index-research-on-road-to-extinction.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/08/index-research-on-road-to-extinction.html</a><br />The smaller url is: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/5qhb2h">http://tinyurl.com/5qhb2h</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />TAGS : <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Index+Research">Index Research</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Extinction">Extinction</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Endangered+Species">Endangered Species</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Environment">Environment</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Global+Warming">Global Warming</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Polar">Polar</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-91231935687829302342008-07-24T10:39:00.005+01:002008-07-24T12:01:04.442+01:00Index Research: The Pentagon and Oil<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/07/index-research-pentagon-and-oil.html&title=Index+Research:+The+Pentagon+and+Oil&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/07/index-research-pentagon-and-oil.html&title=Index+Research:+The+Pentagon+and+Oil&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=9123193568782930234" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=9123193568782930234" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfgUlboKtosQ3_0FGhYPpR53ThBc2PqLyyvDsqLMdIC4nONPs3O-pUIqOOcXTRxFfGx8-nVZIpbjSwF_LXC8Wru-AV-CI7nBdeQDLg2ry17tl0W7dEpUEfPhAYv9SMLrqNpLEk/s400/abroad.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226329875302935250" /><br /><br />Nick Turse wrote, on <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174956/nick_turse_the_pentagon_fuels_up">Tom Dispatch</a> (17.07.08): “For years, "oil" and "Iraq" couldn't make it into the same sentence in mainstream coverage of the invasion and occupation of that country. Recently, that's begun to change, but "oil" and "the Pentagon" still seldom make the news together. “<br /><br />SOHBET KARBUZ has been following “Oil” and “the Pentagon” since 1999. Karbuz’ most complete article, <u>US Military Energy Consumption- Facts and Figures</u>, with extensive footnotes, was published in May 2007 on <a href="http://www.energybulletin.net/node/29925">Energy Bulletin</a>.<br /><br />From this article, we learn that:<br /><ul><br /><li> <b>The U.S. military is the single largest consumer of energy in the world</b>. The American GI is the most energy-consuming soldier ever seen on the field of war. In 2005, The U.S. Navy was the largest diesel fuel user in the world. </li><br /><br /><li> The DoD's total primary energy consumption in Fiscal Year 2006 was 1100 trillion Btu</li><br /><br /><li> Defense Energy Support Center (DESC) sold $13 billion of energy to DoD services in FY2006. More than half of it was to Air Force. <b>Oil accounts for more than three-fourths of DoD's total site delivered energy consumption</b>. In terms of fuel types, <u>jet fuel</u>(JP-8) accounts for more than 50% of total DoD energy consumption, and nearly 60% of its mobility fuel. In 2006 Air Force consumed around 2.6 billion gallons of jet-fuel, which is the same amount of fuel U.S. airplanes consumed during WWII (between December 1941 and August 1945).</li><br /><br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEialOyurgU5TrfMoNkpCq_Ydff5S3O1HX3_kzQnMthW90_KRylKrhrOMyd8EwClKax_VPoNuuXD2jY8JGd7HYXJwnRbXMTTRJX8QLgnUWRopJwh42UkFgH8bSEve6AcOYCvHPqZ/s400/DoD_energy_adj.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226330310232579266" /><br /><br /><li> Nearly three quarters of DoD site delivered energy is consumed by vehicles … Only one quarter is consumed in buildings and facilities. According to the DoD's Federal Energy Management Report for FY2006, the DoD spent approximately $3.5 billion on facility energy and $16.5 billion on energy for tactical vehicles. To this we should add 238 million spent on non-tactical vehicles. DoD consumed 97 million gasoline gallons for its non-tactical vehicles and for that it spent 238 million dollars.</li><br /><br /><li> The fixed costs of defending Persian Gulf oil amounts to $137.8 billion annually.</li><br /><br /><li> The U.S. military consumed almost 180 million barrels (or 490 thousand barrels per day) of oil in 1985 worldwide. In 2006, its oil consumption was down to 117 million barrels (or 320 thousand barrels per day),[10] despite increasing activity in Iraq and Afghanistan. The discrepancies in these facts are discussed by Karbuz in Fact 7. </li><br /><br /><li> The US spends about 150 thousand barrels abroad (“pessimist estimate”) per day.</li><br /><br /><li> Whatever the true figure, oil consumed by the U.S. military does not show up in world oil demand. For more explanation, see under item #425 in October 2004 issue of <a href="http://www.energybulletin.net/node/2390"> ASPO Newsletter</a>. </li><br /><br /><li> Delivery of Fuel: Over 70 percent of the tonnage required to position today's U.S. Army into battle is fuel. The Air Force spends approximately 85 percent of its fuel budget to deliver, by airborne tankers, just 6 percent of its annual jet fuel usage." … Of the top 10 battlefield guzzlers in the U.S. Army, only 2 are combat vehicles (the Abrams tank and the Apache helicopter). The other eight carry fuel and supplies. Over half of the fuel transported to the battlefield is consumed by support vehicles, not vehicles engaged in frontline combat. … The Army has 40,000 troops involved in either the distribution or movement of energy. </li><br /><br /><li> All Air Force's future aircrafts under procurement (F-22 Raptor, F-35 as well as new aerial refueling tanker KC-X, etc) run on oil. They will remain in service at least until 2030.</li><br /></ul><br />From<a href="http://karbuz.blogspot.com/2006/06/military-oil-consumption-in.html"> Military Oil Consumption in Afghanistan and Iraq</a> (10.06.07), we learn that:<br /><br />The DLA supplied more than 2.8 billion gallons of fuel to Operation Iraqi Freedom and more than 2.2 billion gallons of fuel support to Operation Enduring Freedom as of March 2006. This makes <b>more than 5 billion gallons, or more than 119 million barrels of oil. Today 56 000 barrels of oil per day, with a cost of at least $3 million, is consumed by military in Afghanistan and Iraq </b>.<br /><br />“Unfortunately, total amount of paid and unpaid oil used by the US military in “freedom” operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and its true cost (including delivery) are still a mystery, not helped by the fact that 'The US military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan (including the ones identified here) are not counted in the 3,748 military sites listed in the Base Structure Report for Fiscal Year 2005 of the US Department of Defense'.<br /><br /><u>In Afghanistan</u><br /><br />According to the DLA facts (DLA removed link), as of March 2006 “more than 2.2 billion gallons of fuel,” which makes 52 million barrels, was supplied to Afghanistan.<br /><ul><br /><li> On any given day, there are more than 300 trucks, carrying approximately three million gallons of fuel (71429 barrels), en route to military locations downrange. Interesting discussion, with map, of fuel supply lines.</li><br /><br /><li> In total, the US military consumes roughly 16 kb/d of oil in Afghanistan. Of this amount roughly 2.7 kb/d comes from Turkmenistan, 2.4 kb/d from Uzbekistan and 10.8 kb/d from Pakistan. </li><br /></ul><br /><u>In Iraq</u><br /><br />According to the DLA facts (DLA removed link) as of March 2006, the US military oil consumption in Iraq was more than 2.8 billion gallons, which makes 67 million barrels. According to Colonel Rohrer, Director of Bulk Fuels, American forces in Iraq use more than 1.3 million gallons (31 kb/d) of fuel each day. According to an Atlantic Monthly article, however, it is 1.7 million gallons of fuel a day (40 kb/d). <br /><br />“Each of the 150,000 soldiers on the ground consumes roughly nine gallons of fuel a day. And that figure has been rising.” The number of soldiers varies, so figures can be confusing. [see footnotes]. <br />See <a href="http://karbuz.blogspot.com/2008/04/fuel-consumption-per-us-soldier-per-day.html">Fuel Consumption per US Soldier per day</a> (20.04.08). The last news report citing this issue was <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/02/military-feels-fuelcost-g_n_94765"> here</a>. [Military Feels Fuel-Cost Gouge in Iraq in April 2008]<br /><br />From <a href="http://karbuz.blogspot.com/2008/04/us-military-oil-use-abroad.html"> US Military Oil Use Abroad</a> (27.07.08). we see Karbuz’ estimates which include non-tactical vehicles, i.e., fleet vehicles such as trucks, passenger cars, SUVs etc.<br /><ul><br /><li>Total US military oil consumption went up from 295 kbd in 2000 to 363 kbd in 2007.</li><br /><br /><li> OCONUS (oil consumed abroad) oil consumption accounted for 50% of total US military oil consumption in 2007, compared to only one-third in the year 2000. The US military oil consumption abroad was 180 kbd in 2007.</li><br /></ul><br /><br /><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL6sYauOO35bGsfyROvMqK35cwa1xDaTu4bNWS1xq5W9ePrxHnhpXycdmCbQo1KywqEcbeCodT1BxH5bL_pT_ammruYod9gFn09wZqeHoYoyVyaYln4KEVsicJ6l-YthcaTlIp/s400/Fy2007.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226330915167995682" /><br /><br />See more articles by Sohbet Karbuz:<br /><br /><a href="http://karbuz.blogspot.com/2007/08/privatization-of-warfare-in-iraq.html"> Privatization of Warfare in Iraq</a> (01.08.07)<br /><br /> <a href="http://karbuz.blogspot.com/2008/02/more-fight-less-fuel.html"> More Fight - Less Fuel</a><br />(16.02.08). Critique on Defense Science Board Report: “lacks direct and precise answers to what it was asked to deliver.”<br /><br /><a href="http://karbuz.blogspot.com/2008/06/dod-and-alternatives-to-conventional.html"> DOD and Alternatives to Conventional Oil</a> (12.06.08)<br /><br /><br /><em>Dr. Sohbet Karbuz currently works for an energy industry association in France. A former official of the International Energy Agency, He also worked as a scientist in Germany and Austria.</em><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br /><em>Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the UK.</em><br /><br />The url to Index Research on The Pentagon and Oil is : <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/07/index-research-pentagon-and-oil.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/07/index-research-pentagon-and-oil.html</a><br />The shorter url is : <a href="http://tinyurl.com/5nr2hw">http://tinyurl.com/5nr2hw</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br />Tags : <a rel='tag' href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Oil">Oil</a>, <a rel='tag' href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Pentagon">Pentagon</a>, <a rel='tag' href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/index+research">Index Research</a>, <a rel='tag' href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Sohbet+Karbuz">Sohbet Karbuz</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-2034862861820439122008-05-19T09:55:00.033+01:002008-07-25T18:18:15.155+01:00Water: World Crisis<b>Research Paper No. 2 Spring 2008</b><br /><br /><br /><table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/05/water-world-crisis.html&title=Water:+World+Crisis&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/05/water-world-crisis.html&title=Water:+World+Crisis&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=203486286182043912" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=203486286182043912" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoP-ll-sDoOKIpevWeMfAd8V9yjkZh_qz_5i_TAU7-7eHzEHV2yoAeXdbflqolUoJKzvJn9m7H32rsmdRv6T6Q20orYsqeiIMU-pJXDr0oCNYHSEsiIHPiUYVlUaeypduDN5YZ/s320/photo1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201992691214468898" border="0" width="440" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo : Nick C Carlson</span><br /></div><br />"<em><b>Water will be the oil of the 21st century</b></em>,"<br />Rebecca Wodder, president of <a href="http://www.americanrivers.org/site/PageServer"> American Rivers</a>.<br /><br />Our planet Earth has been convulsed by tsunamis, typhoons, tornados; by hurricanes, earthquakes; floods, fires and volcanic eruptions. Less eye catching for the media are droughts and water pollution, which are linked with the present famines and food shortages. They are causes for future loss of life. . Index first researched many problems associated with water in <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/water-impending-apocalypse.html"> Water: the Impending Apocolypse</a> (November 2007).<br /><br /><br /><br /><b>The Current World Water Crisis</b><br /><br />1. <a href="#1000">General</a> (Oceans, Rivers, Central Asia, Latin America, US, Sahara)<br />2. <a href="#2000">Droughts</a> (General; Afghanistan; Australia, Bolivia, Canada, China, Cypres, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Kenya, Middle East / Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, Palestine, Portugal, Somalia, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, USA, Zimbabwe)<br />3. <a href="#3000">Water Wars</a> (Canada-US, Ethiopia, Spain, US)<br />4. <a href="#4000">Water Pollution</a> (General, Antarctic, Danube, Afghanistan, Albania, Myanmar, Canada, China, France, Ghana, India, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, South Africa, Sudan, UK, USA; Monsanto)<br />5. <a href="#5000">Bottled Water</a><br />6. <a href="#6000">Corporatizing Water</a><br />7. <a href="#7000">Polar Bears</a><br />8. <a href="#8000">Oxygen</a><br />9. <a href="#9000">Good News</a><br />10. <a href="#10000">References</a><br /><br /><b>11. <a href="#11000">Updates</a></b><br />to 25.07.08. See also chapter subheadings. <br /><br /><a id="1000"></a><b> 1. General</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Worldwide_Water_Shortage_On_Horizon_999.html">Worldwide Water Shortage On Horizon</a></b><br />03.04.08. terra daily / Carolyn Baker. A crisis is looming over water shortages worldwide. By 2025 more than half the nations in the world will face freshwater stress or shortages and by 2050 as much as 75 percent of the world's population could face freshwater scarcity.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL1457333520080415?sp=true">Melting Mountains a “time bomb” for water shortages</a></b><br />15.04.08. Reuters. Glaciers and mountain snow are melting earlier in the year than usual, meaning the water has already gone when millions of people need it during the summer when rainfall is lower, scientists warned on Monday.<br /><br /><br />THE OCEANS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/040108EA.shtml">Are the Oceans Giving Up?</a></b><br />31.03.08. Jayalakshmi K., Deccan Herald / Truthout. Ocean deserts, which are non-productive areas, have increased by 15 per cent in the period 1998-2007, according to a study done by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the US and the University of Hawaii. This translates into a total of 6.6 million sq km. On the whole, there are 51 million sq km of such desert zones. The data was collected by Nasa's orbiting SeaStar craft.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415205350.htm">Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, Largest In Northern Hemisphere, Has Fractured Into Three Main Pieces</a></b><br />16.04.08. Science Daily. During their sovereignty patrol across the northernmost parts of Canada over the last two weeks, they visited a new 18 kilometre-long network of cracks running from the southern edge of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf to the Arctic Ocean. This accompanies a large central fracture that was first detected in 2002, and raises the concern that the remaining ice shelf will disintegrate within the next few years.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8qtLu9VOf6tdTEsGzwbpS3714Cyjw5AB4eTqZYxyEdXmThvriKDcHn9bOCDJvwZXaPXtd2EGxBSDQASEgLAN52omsFS1ZOkxqKmh0IN2lmSvLLZLQ9uRu-UAAerXdoNhMXo28/s320/reuters.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5202001100760434562" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/articleslideshow?articleId=USL1674158420080416&channelName=environmentNews#a=1">REUTERS/Mike Blake</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSL1674158420080416?sp=true">Oceans absorbing less CO2 may have 1,500 year impact</a></b><br />16.04.08. Reuters. Research from a five-year project funded by the European Union showed the North Atlantic, which along with the Antarctic is of the world's two vital ocean carbon sinks, is absorbing only half the amount of CO2 that it did in the mid-1990s.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">New</span>: <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7417123.stm"> Vast cracks appear in Arctic ice </a> (23.05.08, BBC. VIDEO)<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajwUcAZ5kd4"> Nations meet to claim Arctic prize </a> (28.05.08, al jazeera)<br /><br /><br />RIVERS<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvt-CoRHTfvms3Y06-CF_FQ0MdRyyFs_2Ke8_S07FhMyfNIS4cGt6Fk0bpOP26uet9YVVUP3urBIU6dSbQnlJTkVG19bmHS9az0KIfaROhOWBleStTHDgIb0-iNNVHOhC0leX_/s320/ff_peakwater1_f.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201991935300224674" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/16-05/ff_peakwater">Photo Donald Milne</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/magazine/16-05/ff_peakwater">Peak Water: Aquifers and Rivers Are Running Dry. How Three Regions Are Coping</a></b><br />21.04.08. wired. 1.1 billion people, about one-sixth of the world's population, lack access to safe drinking water. Aquifers under Beijing, Delhi, Bangkok, and dozens of other rapidly growing urban areas are drying up. The rivers Ganges, Jordan, Nile, and Yangtze — all dwindle to a trickle for much of the year. In the former Soviet Union, the Aral Sea has shrunk to a quarter of its former size, leaving behind a salt-crusted waste.<br /><br />THE SKY<br /><br /><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/229572main_pollution_HI.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/229572main_pollution_HI.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/2008/2008052726891.html">SATELLITES ILLUMINATE POLLUTION'S INFLUENCE ON CLOUDS</a></b><br />27.05.08. earth observatory.<br /><br /><br />CENTRAL ASIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav042808.shtml">CENTRAL ASIA: WATER WOES STOKE ECONOMIC WORRIES</a></b><br />28.04.08. Joanna Lillis, Eurasia net. After enduring extreme cold this past winter, Central Asia is bracing for what some officials say will be a dry summer. Those predictions, in turn, are stirring fears of prolonged power shortages that seriously impair economic functions.<br /><br />The severe winter has already upended Central Asia’s always tenuous water balance. Central Asian states have traditionally been subject to seasonal swings in water supplies – going from inundated in the spring to scorched in the summer and fall. Due to the exigencies of winter, many reservoirs are far lower than normal. Given that the bulk of Central Asia’s power comes from hydro-electric stations, the looming water shortage could hamper the generating capacity of dams.<br /><br /><br />LATIN AMERICA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/water/84145/">Latin America: Why There's a Water Crisis in the Most Water-Rich Region</a></b><br />01.05.08. Bart Beeson, North American Congress on Latin America / alternet. With the most annual rainfall of any region in the world, the water crisis in Latin America is particularly perplexing. / The state of the current world water crisis is well documented: 1.2 billion people are without access to safe water, 2.6 billion are without access to sanitation, and nearly 2 million children die every year because they don't have access to an adequate supply of clean water. / With the most annual rainfall of any region in the world, the water crisis in Latin America is particularly perplexing. Latin American countries face many of the same problems as countries with chronic fresh water shortages. And less than 20 percent have access to adequate sanitation systems. / why do so many people lack access to clean water, when water abounds in the region? In 2006, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reported the answer clearly: "The scarcity at the heart of the global water crisis is rooted in power, poverty and inequality, not in physical availability." / The UNDP report adds, "<b>People suffering the most from the water and sanitation crisis -- poor people in general and poor women in particular -- often lack the political voice needed to assert their claims to water</b>." Yet the water movements brewing in Latin America are beginning to make their collective political voice heard.<br /><br /><b>Advocates of the referendums say establishing a constitutional right to water will provide a legal foundation for holding local governments accountable for water access</b> .. / Fierce protests in Latin America -- and even wars around the world -- show water can be a frequent source of conflict.<br /><br />The Right To Water: Colombia, El Salvador, Mexico, Uruguay.<br /><br /><br />THE UNITED STATES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/water/81301/">The U.S. Nears the Limits of Its Water Supplies</a></b><br />11.04.08. Shiney Varghese, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy / Alternet. Public water systems are failing, several states are setting severe water use restrictions, and key water sources are drying up.<br /><br /><br />THE SAHARA<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVUM3_Y_3YIGZNZE1F6uOmqYA4NhCVzGcKIWX2si8L1jFZrR6Ci9x-J0TB6w49i4GxQTCdTu2R6oRnuklznRoRQycQrxHo2nlSPfMwQalJza9AnQzAw6epS4BDjae230i_eVvr/s320/lake_yoa.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201992502235907842" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Lake Yoa</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080508-green-sahara.html">Once Lush Sahara Dried Up Over Millennia, Study Says</a></b><br />08.05.08. James Owen, National Geographic News. The grassy prehistoric Sahara turned into Earth's largest hot desert more slowly than previously thought, a new report says—and some say global warming may turn the desert green once again. / The new research is based on deposits from a unique desert lake in remote northern Chad. / Lake Yoa, sustained by prehistoric groundwater, has survived for millennia despite constant drought and searing heat.<br /><br /><a id="2000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>2. Droughts</b><br /></div><br /><br />GENERAL<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/LSGZ-7E2J3Y?OpenDocument">Tackling drought essential for food crisis solution</a></b><br />25.04.08. Relief web. Drought and unsustainable water management have been key contributing factors to the global food crisis. In turn, managing drought risk to prepare for the increasing drought impact of climate change, is a crucial part of addressing the food crisis long term. / The effects of drought that we are now seeing on major food exporters like Australia and Ukraine is just a taste of how climate-change could contribute to a future of ongoing global food crises. Water scarcity will contribute to food scarcity.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/04/22/eafred122.xml">Water - the under-reported resource crisis</a></b><br />22.04.08. Fred Pearce, Telegraph. <b>Biofuels</b> 'could cause serious water shortages' # Yangtze River water level at 140-year low # Food shortages: how will we feed the world?<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATE</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/water/89980/?ses=d8d3adfb4118c202c682999d5f42a815">Global Warming's Twin Evil: Wildfires and Drought</a></b><br />30.06.08. Dr. Reese Halter, AlterNet. The facts are unequivocal, and point to a troubling future ahead. Over 850 fires, scorching some 200,000 acres, have set a new 2008 record for early-season wildfires in California. And from March to May precipitation has been the lowest since the inception of record keeping in 1894. In California as well as throughout the West, mountain snowmelts are occurring earlier, and winter storms are arriving later, extending the fire season by at least several weeks.<br /><br /><br />AFGHANISTAN<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgboTcIUJXetv7L6WA3vO3X3J_26tYQcibjOXnj1sWu47EpxXZS8Qnmwk6frV8PvRO-lvf92KCwxJGfNqKHwxAAHr1t0isT2E12ZT6cyu9_2p_K5KIwzDavERiGbp0-s9OmZaUI/s320/melting_timebomb.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201992579545319186" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">This satellite view shows Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains, where glaciers are melting at an<br />alarming rate, a U.S. researcher said Monday. Photo Jeff Schmaltz / NASA-GSFC</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1369258/kabul_conference_warns_about_environmental_problems_in_afghanistan/">Kabul Conference Warns About Environmental Problems in Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.05.08. Red Orbit. [Eshaq Naderi in Dari] More than 80 per cent of our people live in villages. They have not access to sufficient water, grass and agricultural lands. They cut trees and use it for firewood and the consecutive years of drought have badly affected green areas all over the country.<br /><br /><br />AUSTRALIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/water-issues/farmers-on-drought-roller-coaster/2008/04/06/1207420169900.html">Farmers on drought roller coaster</a></b><br />06.04.08. smh.au. Drought figures in NSW have increased this month, leaving the state's farmers on a roller coaster, Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald says.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/07/2209689.htm">Drought tightens grip on NSW</a></b><br />07.04.08. ABC. Latest figures show almost 43 per cent of the state is now in drought, up 3 per cent since February.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/07/2209942.htm">Farmers await details of more drought aid</a></b><br />07.04.08. ABC. <u>Tasmania</u>'s main farming body has welcomed a State Government pledge to provide more practical support for drought-stricken farmers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/10/2212710.htm">Nelson urges extended drought aid for Bourke region</a></b><br />10.04.08. ABC. "People have got to restock, apart from anything else, and I think some of the city-based politicians think that just cause we've had a bit of rain that in some ways it's been fixed, well it obviously hasn't, there's got to be some money spent on the weir and I think we've got to focus on the development of tourism as an industry," he said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23520597-5014046,00.html">Drought a factor in food aid shortage: UN</a></b><br />11.04.08. Australian news. THE UN World Food Program has singled out the drought in Australia as a major factor behind its difficulty in finding food aid for 80 million of the world's hungry.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/business/worldbusiness/17warm.html?_r=1&ref=dining&oref=slogin">A Drought in Australia, a Global Shortage of Rice</a></b><br />17.04.08. Keith Bradsher, NY Times. The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere, once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people around the world. But six long years of drought have taken a toll, reducing Australia’s rice crop by 98 percent and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/sydney-water-asks-for-another-price-increase/2008/04/22/1208742940233.html">Sydney Water asks for another price increase</a></b><br />23.04.08. smh. HOUSEHOLDERS could be charged an extra $20 on their annual water bills on top of the $233 increase Sydney Water has already been granted.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23591762-5005961,00.html">Drought 'killing Anzac trees'</a></b><br />24.04.08. news.com.au. DROUGHT, water restrictions and failing memories are undermining an Anzac legacy - the loss of thousands of trees planted across Australia to honour those who served their country.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23589032-2862,00.html">Australian drought has global impact</a></b><br />24.04.08. news.com.au. THE effects of Australia's drought are being felt around the world as a global food shortage is partly blamed on low crop yields.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/05/12/2241769.htm">Drought tightens grip on central west, far west</a></b><br />12.05.08. ABC. Parts of central and far west new South Wales have slipped further into drought over the past month.VIDEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.energybulletin.net/44323.html">Politicians on peak oil</a></b><br />17.05.08. energy bulletin. Australian drivers face fuel ration shock … / ... "We face the need for a whole new economy, from the way we generate power, to how we deliver water, to how we live," he [Andrew McNamara] said.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8R7WxjlLF8"> Australia's drought-stricken rice fields</a> (23.04.08)<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">UPDATE</span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25617864/">Australia's decade-long drought likely to worsen</a></b><br />10.07.08. msnbc. A decade-long drought in Australia’s most important crop-growing region is worsening and there is little hope for relief from either saving rains or a new government conservation plan, officials said Thursday. / The Murray-Darling river system, which produces 40 percent of Australia’s fruit, vegetables and grain, is facing an economic and ecological crisis because of a decade of below-average rainfall.<br /><br /><br />BOLIVIA<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg0fpk6NDoPh6Qj-pCpWRgFEfNnldXUIhw_tyZ2SiXgUBPuK6EYWo2-fA5K0E8e9RFOYZmURImZLl9BY7oWqHDHE-FlGClsKAvaaKqzVxF96qMMpA4Ak4g77NO3YBfEdAuaBQo/s320/chacaltaya.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201991711961925250" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">The Chacacltaya Glacier in May 2005 <a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-28-01.asp"> Photo by Thomas Wilken</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-28-01.asp">Melting Andean Glaciers Could Leave 30 Million High and Dry</a></b><br />28.04.08. ENS. About 99 percent of the Chacaltaya glacier in Bolivia has disappeared since 1940, says World Bank engineer Walter Vergara, in his new report, "The Impacts of Climate Change in Latin America." / One of the highest glaciers in South America, Chacaltaya is one of the first glaciers to melt due to climate change. Although the glacier is over 18,000 years old, it is expected to vanish this year. / Loss of glaciers in the Andes mountain range is threatening the water supply of 30 million people, and scientists say the lower altitude glaciers could disappear in 10 years.<br /><br /><br />CANADA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080422.WATER22/TPStory/National">Alberta courting water crisis, report warns</a></b><br />22.04.08. globe and mail. Province could face shortage if water rights are sold to non-agricultural users, environmental groups say<br /><br /><br />CHINA<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvs7WfeZGDfU6zNemQ2z8IqSOr8PsK0zJ1xieLLi_tz-deSWNk_kSN_fqLjGFDe3TJO5Cf6ufASCHaDcoVAiDhE-TOVGrFQxdhkiyS432yl8dP7HYpasSbv0oTE1Aw8mslAXHq/s320/harbin.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201992334732183266" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">A frozen lake can be seen next to a small village in a drought-effected farming area near the the northern Chinese city of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province April 4, 2008. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?collectionId=1736&galleryName=All%20Collections#a=14">REUTERS/David Gray</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/13/content_7968535.htm">NE China province braces for drought</a></b><br />13.04.08. Xinhuanet. Different localities in northeast China's Liaoning Province have been taking pains to combat a drought that has forced <u>670,000 residents, plus 230,000 head of livestock</u>, out of drinking water.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/18/content_8004066.htm">Drought leaves 840,000 people short of water in NE China</a></b><br />18.04.08. Xinhuanet.<br /><br /><br />CYPRUS<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEAdw9eKQQjWcyg8bXElPwWPEN-pVVc8oAQB41Q9sA425SFFNG7Wel_dMQGTDyFh-KKR2F1Er9oL5lTdPlkz4SMBf_da8SNlWZXYboVowW1SJjKMKWbYeioNf1cVYWiv5f-9J/s320/goat.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201992154343556802" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">A goat walks along the sun-baked bed of Cyprus' largest reservoir at Kouris,<br />March 20, 2008. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/news/pictures/slideshow?collectionId=1736&galleryName=All%20Collections#a=23"> REUTERS/Andreas Manolis</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gRROZ35vN8v0SXF0Wk1SeYm0JJjA">Drought-hit Cyprus signs deal to ferry water from Greece</a></b><br />21.04.08. AFP.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">UPDATE</span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL30377566">Greek water sent to drought-hit Cyprus</a></b><br />30.06.08. reuters. <br /><br /><br />ETHIOPIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200804071995.html">Ethiopia: The Grim Face of Drought</a></b><br />07.04.08. T. Waldyes, allafrica. What he saw was an alarmingly escalating drought that caused a rising death toll of cattle and insufficient humanitarian responses by local authorities. Local people felt neglected. Experts warn that should the rains fail to fall in the coming season, the consequences will be too horrific to contemplate…. / According to reports from rapid assessment conducted by experts from zonal offices and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating in the area, such as SOS Sahel and GOAL Borena, the drought situation in Borena has undoubtedly increased in its size and scale since January 2008. For instance, the number of needy population increased from 88,000 people then to 314,907 now, according to their findings.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200804111135.html">Ethiopia: Nearly $68 Million Sought to Aid Drought Victims – UN</a></b><br />11.04.08. UN News service / allafrica.<br /><br /><br />INDIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200804261322.htm">Drought a major cause for food crisis: UN agency</a></b><br />26.04.08. hindu.com. Addressing the problem of drought is essential in resolving food crisis that is being faced by several countries, the United Nations agency, tasked with minimizing the threat posed by natural disasters, said on Saturday. / Both drought and unsustainable water management have played a key role in the current problem, and managing drought risk is essential in finding a long-term solution to the crisis, the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Earth/India_on_brink_of_water_crisis/articleshow/2986960.cms">India on brink of water crisis, says climate panel</a></b><br />27.04.08. times of India. The per capita water availability in India is projected to decline to about 1,140 cubic metres per year in 2050 from 1,820 cubic metres per year recorded in 2001, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has stated in a report released recently.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200805041521.htm">Drought in Uttarakhand; State seeks Central assistance</a></b><br />04.05.08. Hindu.com. Dehra Dun (PTI): The long-dry spell of the past six months has badly affected wheat and other rabi crops in Uttarakhand, forcing the state government to seek a special compensation package from the Centre. More than 60 per cent of the hill state of Uttarakhand is facing drought conditions, adding to the woes of the people already reeling under the effect of spiraling prices.<br /><br /><br />IRAN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iranmania.com/News/ArticleView/Default.asp?NewsCode=59768&NewsKind=Current%20Affairs">Majlis to discuss drought in Iran</a></b><br />12.05.08. iran mania.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=168630">Iran allocates $163m emergency fund for drought</a></b><br />14.05.08. Tehran Times. Rasoul Zargar added, “According to statistics, the country faces a 10 percent shortage in water supplies. We will be able to overcome the problem through proper tapping of water resources,” he noted. / Coping with drought requires $1.125 billion<br /><br /><br />IRAQ<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601116&sid=aqM9vF5GfX.M&refer=africa">Iraq's Top Reconstruction Project Failing, Audit Says (Update1)</a></b><br />30.04.08. Tony Capaccio, Bloomberg. raq's Nassriya Water Treatment Plant, the country's largest reconstruction project, is a failure so far because it isn't delivering sufficient water to enough people, a new audit says. … / Potable water is only reaching a fraction of the Iraqi people for which it was designed and intended,'' Inspector General Stuart Bowen said. Two of the intended five cities, Ad Diwayah and Suq Al Shoyokh, weren't receiving water, he wrote.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.agweb.com/get_article.aspx?pageid=142741">Attache: Serious Drought Trims Iraq Grain Production</a></b><br />01.05.08. agweb. he attache says wheat production for all 18 provinces in 2008/09 is forecast at 1.5 MMT, down 36 percent from last year’s estimated harvest of 2.3 MMT.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7384961.stm">Unicef warns of Iraqis 'at risk'</a></b><br />06.05.08. Clive Myrie, BBC. The UN children's agency says over 150,000 people there are having difficulty accessing clean water, food and other essential services. / The Iraqi government says almost 1,000 people have died in recent fighting. / Most of those have been civilians, and aid agencies say around 60% of them are women and children.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43905&s2=11">IRAQ: Running Out of Water in Rising Heat</a></b><br />09.05.08. Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail, uruknet. Water supply is drying out in what was once the agriculturally rich Diyala province north of Baghdad. Baquba, the capital city of Diyala, is now running out of water both for drinking and for irrigation. / Water supply has been hit by power failures. The central pumping station has been running short of electricity supply over the last two years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42378">IRAQ: Nature Adds to Occupation Blows</a></b><br />15.05.08. Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamail, IPS. Farmers in the Diyala province in Iraq have been hit by just about every crisis possible. First the security disaster dried up supplies and markets, then lack of electricity cut irrigation, and now comes a drying up of water resources. Nothing now seems more difficult in Iraq than the business of farming. / "The shortage of water is the biggest threat that Iraqi agriculture has ever faced," an employee in the directorate-general of irrigation for Diyala province, speaking on condition of anonymity, told IPS. "It threatens not only food but also employment in this city (Baquba, capital of the province).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1383037/iraq_mosul_residents_suffer_shortage_of_piped_water/">Iraq: Mosul Residents Suffer Shortage of Piped Water</a></b><br />13.05.08. red orbit. Mosul, capital of the Ninawa Governorate, especially the right side of the city [preceding five words as heard], is suffering from a shortage of piped water, because the purification stations stopped working due to the fact that pumps cannot pump water from the Tigris River, as its water level has dropped.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=44089&s2=17">Iraq to increase grain imports due to drop in local produce</a></b><br />16.05.08. Ali Shatab, Azzaman/uruknet. This year’s severe drought is forecast to lower wheat and barely yields in Iraq by up to 35 percent, th<br />e Ministry of Planning said. / The ministry, in a statement, added that Iraq has been subjected to one of its worst droughts in recent history this year. / Wheat and barley yields may not exceed one million tons, the ministry added. / Iraq needs up to four million tons of wheat to meet domestic produce and at least two million tons of barley used mainly as animal feed.<br /><br />See map of Drought in the Fertile Crescent (Iraq and Syria) <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/shownh.php3?img_id=14868"> here</a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATES</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=44710&s2=09">IRAQ: Demonstration in Jasan Protesting Water Shortage</a></b><br />08.06.08. Gorilla’s Guides/uruknet. Residents in Jasan an agricultural town in Wasit close to Iran demonstrated to protest the lack of drinking and irrigation water in the district. / .. The demonstrators want the following: * An investigation to held as to why the water stopped in the district. * The Governorate’s director of water resources to be dismissed. * Removing all illegal feeds from the district water project. * The project to be connected to an emergency power line.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=45641&s2=12">Drought devastates Iraq's wheat crops</a></b><br />10.07.08. AP / uruknet. Power outages disrupt irrigation. It's been a year of drought and sand storms across Iraq – a dry spell that has devastated the country's crucial wheat crop and created new worries about the safety of drinking water. U.S. officials warn that Iraq will need to increase wheat imports sharply this winter to make up for the lost crop – a sobering proposition with world food prices high and some internal refugees already struggling to afford basics. "! Planting ... is totally destroyed," said Daham Mohammed Salim, 40, who farms 120 acres in the al-Jazeera area near Tikrit, 130 kilometres north of Baghdad. "Even the ground water in wells is lower than before."...<br /><br /><br />IRELAND<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0418/breaking43.htm">Climate threatens water supply - expert</a></b><br />18.04.08. Eoin Burke-Kennedy, Ireland.com. A leading climate expert has warned of “severe implications” for the Irish economy if the effects of climate change on the water supply is not addressed. / Hydrologist Dr Conor Murphy says there is little doubt climate change is now having a major impact on Irish water resources and it can no longer be assumed that the availability will meet future demand.<br /><br /><br />ISRAEL<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/971905.html">As drought nears, Southern landscape browns</a></b><br />06.04.08. haaretz.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/976535.html">Water Authority: Drought years threaten drinking water supplies</a></b><br />21.04.08. Haaretz. Israel stands to lose large amounts of drinking water due to poor quality and problems associated with drought years, according to the Water Authority. Among the threats to water quality, cowsheds in the south have been found to cause groundwater pollution, and sewage could soon pollute drilled wells in the Western Galilee.<br /><br /><br />KENYA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=26304&Cr=drought&Cr1=africa">UN funding appeal for Kenya boosted by $150 million due to drought</a></b><br />04.08. UN.org (no date)<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Update: MIDDLE EAST / NORTH AFRICA </span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/business/worldbusiness/21arabfood.html?_r=2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Mideast Facing Choice Between Crops and Water</a></b><br />21.07.08. NY Times / Speaking Truth to Power. Global food shortages have placed the Middle East and North Africa in a quandary, as they are forced to choose between growing more crops to feed an expanding population or preserving their already scant supply of water.<br /><br /><br />NEW ZEALAND<br /><br /><b><a href="http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/413551/1694047">Waikato drought woes continue</a></b><br />08.04.08. tvnz. The impact of the dry conditions on animal welfare, stress levels and farming practices were high on the agenda. Everyone is pedicting the conditions are set to continue.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601081&sid=aK60GnFmUH30&refer=australia">N.Z. Lamb Flock May Drop to 50-Year Low on Drought (Update1)</a></b><br />14.05.08. Gavin Evans, bloomberg.<br /><br /><br />PAKISTAN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C04%5C27%5Cstory_27-4-2008_pg11_1">Acute water shortage in cantonment areas</a></b><br />27.04.08. Daily Times.com.pk. he residents of Rawalpindi cantonment areas are facing acute water shortage but the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) is paying little attention to solve the problem. / The worst affected areas are Tench Bhata, Bakra Mandi, Allahabad, Gulshan-e-Nayyab, Chak Madad Khan, Habib Colony, Sultanabad, Dhoke Banaras, Gulistan Colony, Chur Harpal and Siham. Tubewells in these thickly populated localities are not enough to meet water requirements.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C05%5C14%5Cstory_14-5-2008_pg7_1">Sindh, Punjab provinces face water shortage</a></b><br />14.05.08. Zafar Bhutta, daily times.pk.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATE</b></span><br /><br />PALESTINE<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=1luglio-satellite.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=1luglio-satellite.jpeg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45335">Waterless West Bank</a></b><br />01.07.08. IOL Staff/uruknet. The occupied West Bank is facing a grave water shortage as a result of the discriminate Israeli policies, an Israeli human rights group warned on Tuesday, July 1. "The shortage will have serious repercussions on the economy and the health of tens of thousands of Palestinians," B'Tselem said. "The chronic water shortage results in large part from Israel's discriminatory policy in distributing the joint water resources in the West Bank, and the limits it places on the Palestinian Autho! rity's ability to drill new wells." B'Tselem said Israel has complete control over the joint water resources and forbids Palestinians from drilling new water wells to meet water needs.<br />See also: <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=45395&s2=03">B'Tselem warns of grave water shortage in the West Bank</a> <br />01.07.08. B'Tselem/uruknet. The chronic water shortage in the West Bank, resulting from an unfair distribution of water resources shared by the Palestinians and Israel, will be much graver this summer because of this year’s drought. In the northern West Bank, water consumption has fallen to one-third of the minimal amount needed. The 2008 drought, the most serious drought in the area in the past decade, aggravates the built-in, constant shortage of water in the West Bank. Rain! fall this year in the northern West Bank was 64 percent of average, while in the southern sections of the West Bank, it was 55 percent. As a result, the water stored from rainfall has already been used....<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=45694&s2=14">Thirst In The Palestinian Territories</a></b><br />13.07.08. Alice Gray, Lifesource.ps/uruknet. The water crisis has started early this year in the Palestinian Territories. In scores of towns and villages throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, people listen eagerly for the gurgle of water in pipelines, and turn on their taps with trepidation, watching anxiously for the first drops to appear, waiting to see if they turn into a stream, or splutter and gurgle to nothing after a few seconds. Others watch and wait for the arrival of water tankers,! transporting the life-giving liquid to them from distant sources across an obstacle course of road blocks, checkpoints and military closures put in place by the Israeli Authorities, an inherent feature of their ongoing military occupation and colonization of the Palestinian Territories....<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=45755&s2=17">Drought and Israeli Policy Threaten West Bank Water Security</a></b><br />16.07.08. Stephen Lendman, uruknet. Fresh water is precious everywhere but especially in one of the driest, hottest places on earth - the Middle East. It's why it's a strategic resource and the reason countries like Israel do everything possible to secure a reliable supply. In the words of former prime minister Moshe Sharett: "Water to us is life itself." It shapes Israeli policy going back to the early Mandate period....<br /><br /><br />PORTUGAL<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.the-news.net/cgi-bin/google.pl?id=955-8">Half the country in moderate drought</a></b><br />19.04.08. the-news. .. half of Portugal was in a moderate drought situation, 13 percent in severe drought and 37 percent in mild drought.<br /><br /><br />SOMALIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200804100860.html">Somalia: Villages Abandoned As Drought Bakes Puntland</a></b><br />10.04.08. allafrica. Like most of Puntland, Hamure village is experiencing what locals describe as one of the worst droughts in decades. The last rains fell three years ago.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-05-01-voa25.cfm">War, Drought Push Somalis to Breaking Point</a></b><br />01.05.08. Lisa Schlein, VOA. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it is deeply concerned about the plight of civilians caught up in Somalia's endless war. It says problems caused by fighting are compounded by a series of natural disasters, which are pushing people to the breaking point. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from ICRC headquarters in Geneva. Includes report and audio.<br /><br /><br />SPAIN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=50325&sectionid=351020606">Barcelona to import water for drought</a></b><br />05.04.08. Presstv.ir. The second largest city in Spain is trying to deal with the region's worst drought in decades by bringing enough water to meet Barcelona's consumption needs for five days at a cost of 22 million euros ($34.4 million), Terra Daily reports. / Water reserves across Spain have dropped to 46.6 percent of capacity, a 20-percentage point drop compared to a decade ago.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://geology.com/news/2008/spain-suffering-worst-drought-since-1912.shtml">Spain Suffering Worst Drought Since 1912</a></b><br />08.04.08. geology.com.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/travel/20DATEzaragoza.html">World Expo in Spain Has Water as Its Theme</a></b><br />20.04.08. NY Times.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8x7tCMkVq5UlOegUBYgFwTVNQzVD9dgDOD2gvdfRpdCKpQsQc5oQYfGh5R8jPwK_i5HnsIH6DIEeXIuWQBidTg2MuUXYKRn5YlxW77Wn7fhhOz0C45rwBduY-6VOaQ8PEC9Vl/s320/catalonia.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201991638947481202" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">The dry Catalonia river reflects the lack of rain in Spain over the last few weeks <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/435867F6-C9DD-43B9-9889-C3674686B64C.htm">EPA</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/14/spain.water">Barcelona forced to import emergency water</a></b><br />14.05.08. Guardian.<br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EltyIhJkbK4&feature=user"> Barcelona forced to ship in water </a> (14 May 08)<br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7398012.stm"> Spanish Drought Reveals Sunken Ghost Town</a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATE</b></span><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">NOT "new" News</span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/world/europe/03dry.html">In Spain, Water Is a New Battleground</a></b><br />03.06.08. Elisabeth Rosenthal, NY Times. <br /><br /><br />THAILAND<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gGkj4HXt3UlL3JAUJwQ9IJVv9g6w">Drought hits millions in Thai rice region: government</a></b><br />21.04.08. AFP. More than 10 million people in parts of Thailand's rice bowl region have been hit by drought, the government said Monday, causing further concerns as prices of the staple grain soar.<br /><br /><br />TURKEY<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=102852">Figs hit by drought, not fewer wasps</a></b><br />26.04.08. Turkish daily news. Despite reports in the British press claiming that fig production in Turkey has decreased due to fewer wasps, experts in Turkey argued that wasps have nothing to do with the problem, but that drought was the real reason behind the decrease in production.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=140853">Drought problems slash grain forecast; Southeast a ‘disaster zone’</a></b><br />04.05.08. Zaman. Minister of Agriculrture Mehdi Eker says he has never seen a drought in southeastern Anatolia as bad as the current one.<br /><br /><br />U.S.A.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNtz4rmhoI9hG4QwZrGe29WXobVzx9bcXJxNz9PTPZQjrEywmTUueNCqpMOkX7Uhkq98SZsdtFpJ3xjV6JUpbIBKb9Q96_0dn54hxaML4vRwMsuab-KsJYXBUH72WZxFVGPW8S/s1600-h/droughtmon.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNtz4rmhoI9hG4QwZrGe29WXobVzx9bcXJxNz9PTPZQjrEywmTUueNCqpMOkX7Uhkq98SZsdtFpJ3xjV6JUpbIBKb9Q96_0dn54hxaML4vRwMsuab-KsJYXBUH72WZxFVGPW8S/s320/droughtmon.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201996225972553570" border="0" width="450" /></a><br /><b><a href="http://www.naturalnews.com/022915.html">Thirty-Six U.S. States to Face Water Shortages in the Next Five Years</a></b><br />31.03.08. natural news / ICH. At least 36 states are expected to face water shortages within the next five years, according to U.S. government estimates. Available freshwater supplies are dwindling across the country due to rising temperatures and droughts, while increasing sprawl, population and inefficient resource usage are leading to rising demand.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/513744.html?showlayout=0%20">Lake forecast reflects continuing drought</a></b><br />05.04.08. KIM FUNDINGSLAND, minot daily news. According to the April reservoir forecast issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, spring runoff into the Missouri River Basin is near normal. However, Lake Sakakawea remains far below its long-term operating level. Thursday’s water level reading was 1,807.6 feet. The previous record low for March 31 was 1,808.7 feet, set in 2005 and equaled in 2007.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTNj3rKimn2QP0lnz91UOU8Hw5dTZdJH48OIKBvDpGhKozwHdqEkWkgQv5MLoBTA7i39u-4BawxVlQ02d4uu1QpyI8pfZTDxCVEjWGryOUZ-mQvER6FWNU49f7KgvPbmjYNk15/s320/anderson.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201991488623625810" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo : Sefton Ipock</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.independentmail.com/news/2008/apr/07/rains-help-drought-lingers-anderson-area/">Rains help, but drought lingers in Anderson area</a></b><br />04.08. ANDERSON — Last week’s rainy days won’t impact the drought status of the Anderson [South Carolina] area in the long run, experts say.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nbc17.com/midatlantic/ncn/news.apx.-content-articles-NCN-2008-04-07-0026.html">Experts: Recent Rain Doesn't Mean Drought Is Over</a></b><br />07.04.08. NBC. DURHAM, N.C. -- Despite all the recent rain, water experts say we haven't had half the amount of rainfall we had last year this same time.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6070394">Easley: Save water, the drought isn't over</a></b><br />09.04.08. ABC. Governor Mike Easley is asking local officials to continue their aggressive water conservation efforts since the drought is not over and a hot, dry summer is still possible. VIDEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsoctv.com/news/15859080/detail.html">Resilient Buffer Trees Dying From Drought, Disease In Charlotte</a></b><br />11.04.08. WSOTV.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/04/11/fountain_0412.html">Despite drought, Centennial park fountain gets pass</a></b><br />12.04.08. AJC.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cattlenetwork.com/content.asp?contentid=213087">Nebraska Ag: Drought Conditions Continue To Impact Rangeland In The Panhandle</a></b><br />14.04.08. cattlenetwork. Drought conditions continue to plague the Nebraska Panhandle. As of April 7 year to date precipitation is on average less than 50% of normal. Season long grass production on native range in the Nebraska Panhandle is highly correlated with the depth of available soil moisture and total precipitation from March through May.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2008-04-14-0008.html">Rising lake levels fail to quench drought fears</a></b><br />14.04.08. tricities. BRISTOL, Va. – Rising water levels in South Holston Lake have temporarily allayed fears about a city water shortage, but officials continue to work on a drought emergency plan and urge conservation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.yourdailyjournal.com/articles/2008/04/16/news/news05.txt">County split on drought conditions</a></b><br />15.04.08. your daily journal. Richmond County is split on drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor of North Carolina. / The northern part of the county is in the severe classification, D2, on a scale of 0 to 4. / The southern part of the county is in the moderate classification, D1.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water18apr18,1,7175600.story">Southeast L.A. County water agency sues over MWD drought plan.</a></b><br />18.04.08. LA times. An agency that supplies water to 2 million residents of southeast Los Angeles County has filed suit to overturn a new Southern California drought plan, saying it inequitably allocates water and "<u>robs from the poor to pay the cost of new development in more affluent areas</u>." [no surprise there, then]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-fri-drought-midwest-farming-apr18,0,231509.story">Chance of Midwest drought heats up</a></b><br />18.04.08. Chicago tribune.<br /><br />Georgia<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/17369459.html">Southwest Georgia Still In A Drought</a></b><br />07.04.08. WCTV,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/bookman/stories/2008/04/21/bookmaned_0421.html">Drought is still extreme; Georgia still being blamed</a></b><br />21.04.08. Jay Bookman, AJC. There's a sense across metro Atlanta that the worst may be behind us, that the extraordinary drought that transfixed the region last fall and winter has eased and that things are finally getting back to normal. / That is a dangerous, dangerous assumption.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQiMonJNw3PpYtvVWv6AUOmSsWFVqIT1PY1lvM13Bh1gBYa20_XXqCNb9u7jeFQKNrjLM6nge95gpG-O-z2QLD310v1W-L12vl_Q0n8XyRxV84-qBHFu-uloK3To8pNVC-ql30/s320/lake_lanier.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201992407746627314" border="0" /> <div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Lake Lanier<br /></span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=114920">Expert: Drought On The Way Back</a></b><br />24.04.08. 11 alive. Georgia's lakes and reservoirs had a chance to crawl out of our persistent drought this winter, but it didn't happen. / Georgia's wet season is now over and the state climatologist says reservoirs like Lake Lanier that had been looking better will likely start dropping again. VIDEO<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1365762/drought_makes_targets_tougher/">Drought Makes Targets Tougher</a></b><br />01.05.08. redorbit. Effects of the drought are apparent on each of the farms in the Tararua monitor programme, reports Sonita Chandar.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.agweb.com/get_article.aspx?pageid=142729">Drought Monitor: Expansion of Drought in Northern Texas</a></b><br />01.05.08. redorbit. According to NOAA's Drought Monitor, rain and thunderstorms with the front brought short-term relief to the Southeast drought areas, while rain associated with the surface Low dampened an area of dryness that had been developing in the Northeast. A spring snowstorm on the back side of the Low dumped beneficial precipitation on the north central states. Meanwhile, dry weather continued from California to the southern High Plains.<br /><br /><br /><u> Worrisome</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/041708EB.shtml">Colorado River to Drop to 500-Year Low as World Warms</a></b><br />17.05.08. Jim Efstathiou Jr., Bloomberg / Truthout.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dnronline.com/news_details.php?AID=16435&CHID=1">Drought Fears Rising Again</a></b><br />05.05.08. dnronline. Wells fed by area aquifers are showing signs of severe drought, officials say, triggering concerns of future water shortages in Shenandoah and Rockingham counties.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9248888">Water rationing imposed on East Bay</a></b><br />13.05.08. Mike Taugher, mercury news. Water deliveries to 1.3 million East Bay residents will be rationed for the first time since the early 1990s after the East Bay Municipal Utility District board of directors on Tuesday declared an emergency water shortage and prohibited a list a potentially wasteful water practices.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/home/2008/05/13/water-electricity-industry-biz-energy-cx_bp_0514water.html">The Water-Industrial Complex</a></b><br />14.05.08. William Pentland, forbes / C. Baker. In 2001, a water shortage in America's Pacific Northwest wiped out nearly a third of the U.S. aluminum industry. Low precipitation levels in the Cascade Mountains during the preceding winter robbed local reservoirs of the water needed to turn the massive turbines inside the region's main hydroelectric power plant, the Bonneville Power Administration. Electricity prices skyrocketed. Over the course of a few months, roughly a dozen aluminum plants closed. Nearly a decade later, only one has reopened.<br /><br />Like oil, water is an essential part of doing business in almost every industry, and unexpected shortages can trigger potentially catastrophic consequences. The trouble for investors: Companies disclose very little if any information about their exposure to water-related risks.<br /><br />"This is not an area that companies like to discuss quite frankly," says Carl Levinson, an economist at J.P. Morgan and the principal author of the recent report <em>Watching Water: A Guide to Corporate Risk in a Thirsty World</em>. "They don't want to call attention to a vulnerability and that applies very much to the water scarcity issue. Investors in general know very little about what is going on in companies' supply chains." / The water risks are most obvious in the food and beverage sector. Together, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nestle"> Nestlé</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Unilever"> Unilever</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Coca-Cola"> Coca-Cola</a>, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Anheuser-Busch"> Anheuser-Busch</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupe_Danone"> Danone</a> consume an estimated 575 billion liters of water every year, <u>or roughly the amount of water needed to meet the basic daily needs of every person on the planet</u>. <em> Read On! </em><br /><br /><br />VIDEO<br /><a href="http://digg.com/environment/Los_Angeles_Drought_Busters"> Los Angeles Drought Busters</a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">UPDATE</span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/us/05drought.html?_r=2&th&emc=th&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Governor Declares Drought in California</a></b><br />05.06.08. NY Times. The drought declaration — the first for the state since 1991 — includes orders to transfer water from less dry areas to those that are dangerously dry. Mr. Schwarzenegger also said he would ask the federal government for aid to farmers and press water districts, cities and local water agencies to accelerate conservation. Drought conditions have hampered farming, increased water rates throughout California and created potentially dangerous conditions in areas prone to wildfires. / The declaration comes after the driest California spring in 88 years, with runoff in river basins that feed most reservoirs at 41 percent of average levels. It stops short of a water emergency, which would probably include mandatory rationing. <br /><br /><br />ZIMBABWE<br /><b><a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200804210779.html">Zimbabwe: 'Allocate Trucks to Ferry Maize for Drought Relief'</a></b><br />21.04.08. allafrica.<br /><br /><br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>3. Water Wars</b><br /></div><br /><br />CANADA / US<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thespec.com/News/CanadaWorld/article/359108">'Water wars' with U.S. in our future: experts</a></b><br />24.04.08. Canadian press/C. Baker. Parched U.S. states could start "water wars" in the years ahead and fight for access to <u>Great Lakes resources</u> as they become more desperate to meet growing needs, Canadian and American experts said yesterday at a water conference.<br /><br /><br />ETHIOPIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/water/83796/">Drought Is Spurring Resource Wars</a></b><br />29.04.08. Ernest Waititu , Indypendent/alternet. In Ethiopia, violence breaks out as water turns to sand and climate change takes hold. It may be a warning to the rest of the world.<br /><br /><br />SPAIN<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBjScZU77F234cDnt_raFLubsaW1-zQj7Po5G1lO7OjdT47c16q3gwUJebK3qAUYQ2t1trM5uUXSVroO8-WUAAWSvgSUgjdIgYJOw1RBfhar6GAcb7VSQaSNmfm9MrHZ_PVimY/s320/river-drought-spain.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201992841538324290" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Severe_Spanish_drought_sparks_regional_fights_over_water_999.html">Severe Spanish drought sparks regional fights over water</a></b><br />04.04.08. TERRA DAILY. The worst drought in decades in Spain is leading to regional disputes over scarce water resources with areas with more reserves resisting transfers to more parched zones.<br /><br />There has been 40 percent less rain than normal across the country since the meteorological year began on October 1, said Angel Rivera, the spokesman for the National Institute of Meteorology<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/06/spain">Drought ignites Spain's 'water war'</a></b><br />06.04.08. Guardian. After months of low rainfall, parched Catalonia has had to appeal to Madrid for help - and now ecologists fear the costs of a long-term solution<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/435867F6-C9DD-43B9-9889-C3674686B64C.htm">Spanish regions squabble over water</a></b><br />22.04.08. al jazeera.<br /><br /><br />UNITED STATES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://citizensedproject.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=6&id=20&Itemid=64">Las Vegas Water Grab</a></b><br />Updated. The proposed Lake Powell Pipeline Project, Utah and Arizona<br /><br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>4. Pollution</b><br /></div><br />GENERAL<br /><br /><u>Uranium Toxicity</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2008/04/17/02335.html">Former Director of the U.S. Army's Depleted Uranium Project reveals toxic effects of America's Military Operations</a></b><br />17.04.08. Dr. Doug Rokke, PhD. The Canadian. After more than 5 years of unprovoked and unjustified war in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and Somalia the use of uranium weapons -- the perfect "dirty bomb" and consequent destruction of each nation's infrastructure, has released all kinds of toxic materials turning these nations into a toxic wastelands. Consequently the number of casualties continues to escalate while U.S. and British officials arrogantly refuse to comply with their own regulations, orders, and directives that require provide prompt and effective medical care to "all" exposed individuals and to clean up all environmental contamination . … /The extent of adverse health and environmental effects of uranium weapons contamination is not limited to combat zones in the Balkans, Iraq, and <u>Afghanistan</u> but includes facilities and sites where uranium weapons were manufactured or tested including <b>Vieques; Puerto Rico; Colonie, New York; Concord, MA; Jefferson Proving Grounds, Indiana; and Schofield Barracks, Hawaii</b>.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATE</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080701110412.htm">Pesticides Persist In Ground Water</a></b><br />02.07.08. Numerous studies over the past four decades have established that pesticides, which are typically applied at the land surface, can move downward to reach the water table at detectable concentrations. The downward movement of pesticide degradation products can also contribute to the contamination of ground water. This study found that the pesticides and degradation products detected most frequently in shallow ground-water samples were predominantly from two classes of herbicides -- triazines and chloroacetanilides ... <br /><br /><br />ANTARCTIC<br /><br /><b><a href="http://environment.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn13848&print=true">Melting glaciers release toxic chemical cocktail</a></b><br />07.05.08. new scientist environment. Decades after most countries stopped spraying DDT, frozen stores of the insecticide are now trickling out of melting Antarctic glaciers. The change means Adélie penguins have recently been exposed to the chemical, according to a new study. / The trace levels found will not harm the birds, but the presence of the chemical could be an indication that other frozen pollutants will be released because of climate change, says Heidi Geisz, a marine biologist at Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester in the US. She led a team that sampled DDT levels in the penguins. / She worries that glaciers could release an alphabet soup of chemical pollutants into the ocean, including PCBs and PBDEs – industrial chemicals that have been linked to health problems in humans.<br /><br /><br />THE DANUBE<br /><br /><b><a href="http://international.ibox.bg/news/id_700659067">Danube River's Pollution Threatens the Potable Water of Millions</a></b><br />17.04.08. international ibox. The main Danube organizations and the European union are increasingly concerned for the future of the EU longest river, which springs from Germany and flows along 10 countries before flowing into the Black sea. / Officials in Budapest called for all the countries along the Danube to stop the irreversible, according to them, damages by undertaking urgent measures against pollution. … / without radical actions for improvement of the condition of the environment around the Danube, the reserves of potable water for nearly 80 million people would be threatened. … / Another unsolved problem is the pollution from NATO's bombing of Serbia in 1999, reckons Milovan Bojinovic, chairman of the Danube commission with headquarters in Budapest, which works for the free navigation on the river. He claims that chemicals from the bombed plants still pollute the Danube.<br /><br /><br />AFGHANISTAN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1369258/kabul_conference_warns_about_environmental_problems_in_afghanistan/">Kabul Conference Warns About Environmental Problems in Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.05.08. Red orbit. [Parliament Speaker in Dari] Afghanistan has been a victim of pollution at both national and international level. Factors such as poverty, the low level of education, long years of war, a dramatic increase in the population and the lack of a culture to protect the environment have contributed to this catastrophe. Today, we do not have a sound and safe environment in Afghanistan and this is a great threat to our health and life in the future.<br /><br /><br />ALBANIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.balkantravellers.com/en/read/article/542">Drinking Water Pollution Plagues Towns in Albania</a></b><br />07.05.08. Balkan travellers. Albanian Instutute for Public Health, quoted by the Koha Jonë newspaper, found that the drinking water in the towns of Milot, Kelcyre, Peshkopi and Lezha, just to the north of the capital Tirana, was contaminated. The outdated water-supply network was stated as the most likely reason for the pollution.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATE - ASIA</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080712150714.htm">Southeast Asia At High Risk For Arsenic Contamination In Water</a></b><br />14.07.08. Science Daily. The contamination of groundwater with arsenic poses a risk to the health of millions of people, especially in the densely populated river deltas of Southeast Asia. To date, no method has been available for identifying high-risk areas without conducting costly sampling campaigns.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATE - BALTIC</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080713183333.htm">Cruise-liner Sewage Adds To Baltic Decline</a></b><br />15.07.08. Science Daily. Most international cruise ship companies operating in the Baltic Sea have refused to co-operate with a plea from WWF to stop dumping their sewage straight into the water. / The Baltic, an inland sea, is one of the most polluted seas in the world, so much so that the countries on its northern European shores have recently joined together to form the Baltic Sea Action Plan in an attempt to reverse its decline<br /><br /><br />BURMA - MYANMAR<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://geology.com/events/cyclone-nargis/cyclone-nargis-satellite-image-600.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://geology.com/events/cyclone-nargis/cyclone-nargis-satellite-image-600.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://geology.com/events/cyclone-nargis/"> Cyclone Nargis</a></span></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050708S.shtml">US Envoy Says Toll From Myanmar Cyclone Might Reach 100,000</a></b><br />07.05.08. truthout. Hungry people swarmed the few open shops and fistfights broke out over food and water in Myanmar's swamped Irrawaddy delta Wednesday as a top U.S. diplomat warned that the death toll from a devastating cyclone could top 100,000. .. / Entire villages in the Irrawaddy delta were still submerged from Saturday's storm, and bloated corpses could be seen stuck in the mangroves. Some survivors stripped clothes off the dead. People wailed as they described the horror of the torrent swept ashore by the cyclone.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />COST OF U.S. WARS: <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3419840.ece"> $3 TRILLION</a><br />OFFER OF US AID TO MYANMAR: $3 MILLION.<br />VIDEO: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbvmH5Uo2Bw">After Nargis in Myanmar Part 9</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080508/ts_nm/myanmar_cyclone_dc_47">U.S. "outraged" by Myanmar's response to cyclone</a></b><br />08.05.08. Reuters. The United Nations estimates 1.5 million people have been "severely affected" by the cyclone that swept through Myanmar and the United States expressed outrage on Thursday at the delays in allowing in aid.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2005/09/09/katrina-authorities-.html">Katrina: Authorities bar Red Cross from NOLA; Blackwater gets carte blanche</a></b><br />09.05.08. boingboing. Armed with assault rifles, contractors from private security firm Blackwater are patrolling the black-water-flooded streets of New Orleans. / Meanwhile, unnarmed Red Cross workers toting food and medicine have been unable to enter the city for days.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/giant-wave-dragged-everything-into-the-sea/2008/05/08/1210131140454.html">'Giant wave dragged everything into the sea'</a></b><br />08.05.08. smh.au. Huddled in the township of Labutta they told tales of survival against the odds even as children, mothers and fathers were swept away by the floodwaters that submerged huge swathes of the Irrawaddy delta.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050908M.shtml">UN Says 1.5 Million People Affected by Burma Storm</a></b><br />09.05.08. Aung Hla Tun, Reuters/truthout.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/water-crisis-raises-fears-for-health-of-children/2008/05/09/1210131264645.html">Water crisis raises fears for health of children</a></b><br />10.05.08. the age.au. HEALTH experts are scrambling to respond to reports of malaria and diarrhoea in areas of Burma hardest hit by cyclone Nargis. / Early estimates indicate 20% of children in these areas are already suffering from diarrhoea, said Osamu Kunii, UNICEF's chief of health and nutrition in Rangoon. "Most of the area is covered by dirty water," he said. There were many dead bodies and people had very poor access to clean drinking water or food, he said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.energybulletin.net/43977.html">Nature & survival </a></b><br />10.05.08. M. Casey, AP / IHT / energy bulletin. When Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, it pushed a wall of water through the Irrawaddy Delta, a low-lying, densely populated area that <u>had been stripped of its protective trees</u>. / The delta had lost most of its mangrove forests along the coast to shrimp farms and rice paddies over the past decade. That removed what scientists say is one of nature's best defenses against violent storms.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://geology.com/events/cyclone-nargis/">Cyclone Nargis Summary</a></b><br />Geology. Com. EXCELLENT. Description, maps, history, aftermath, aid.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/MUMA-7EM3YH?OpenDocument">Myanmar: Saving lives with clean water</a></b><br />12.05.08. Medical Emergency Relief International (Merlin).<br /><br />While the UN chief “slams Myanmar junta for <a href="http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/world/2008/05/12/D90K7LD80_un_myanmar_cyclone/index.html">slow response </a> the UN response to Myanmar government refusal to let NGOs has also been slow, and similar to its response to the massacres in Srebrenica: NOTHING HAPPENING - 11 days following the disaster, the UN spokesman is finally applying for a visa to enter Myanmar.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.energybulletin.net/44174.html">Renewables</a></b><br />14.05.08. G. Shea, AFP / energy bulletin. Myanmar is struggling to feed its people in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis -- in part because the regime has been forcing some farmers to stop growing rice in a plan to produce <b>biofuel</b>instead.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080602/klein">Regime-Quakes in Burma and China</a></b><br />15.05.08. Naomi Klein, The Nation. Taking a page out of the playbook of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, the generals have drafted a Constitution that allows for elections but guarantees that no future government will ever have the power to prosecute them for their crimes or take back their ill-gotten wealth. As Farmaner puts it, after elections the junta leaders "are going to be wearing suits instead of boots." The cyclone, meanwhile, has presented them with one last, vast business opportunity: by blocking aid from reaching the highly fertile Irrawaddy delta, hundreds of thousands of mostly ethnic Karen rice farmers are being sentenced to death. According to Farmaner, "that land can be handed over to the generals' business cronies" (shades of the beachfront land grabs in Sri Lanka and Thailand after the Asian tsunami). This isn't incompetence, or even madness. It's <b>laissez-faire ethnic cleansing</b>.<br /><br />If the Burmese junta avoids mutiny and achieves these goals, it will be thanks largely to China, which has vigorously blocked all attempts at the United Nations for humanitarian intervention in Burma. Inside China, where the central government is going to great lengths to show itself as compassionate, news of this complicity could prove explosive.<br /><br /><a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/May2008/burma_2008126_lrg.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/May2008/burma_2008126_lrg.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Extent of flooding in Burma<br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://geology.com/news/2008/extent-of-flooding-in-burma.shtml">Extent of Flooding in Burma</a></b><br />17.05.08. Geology.com. Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed a method of assembling data for improved mapping of inundated areas.<br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c94gUE-naZ8"> No help reaching Myanmar survivors</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiTD2sZcUxA"> Village at the heart of Myanmar disaster</a><br /><br /><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=mR4UK-qUkuc"> Myanmar cyclone survivors facing an epidemic</a> (16 May 2007)<br /><br />See more videos<a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?uploaded=w&search_query=myanmar+video"> here</a><br /><br /><br />CANADA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=19fa685b-f2b0-4446-9e27-453dcd65d016">Feds to declare bisphenol A toxic</a></b><br />17.04.08. Sarah Schmidt , Canwest News Service. The federal government is going to declare bisphenol A a toxin on Friday, likely leading to its eventual <u>ban in food containers, water bottles and baby bottles</u>.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATE</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9323">Safe Drinking Water in Jeopardy</a></b> 14.06.08. Dr. Hans Peterson, Global Research.ca. Rural Canadians get contaminated drinking water from livestock and human waste run-off<br /><br /><br />CHINA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.breakingnews.ie/world/?jp=mhojidaugbkf&rss=rss2">Pollution ruins water supply to 30 million in China</a></b><br />17.04.08. breaking news. A giant lake in China supplying water to 30 million people has become undrinkable through pollution. / In yet another example of the country’s problems linked to rapid industrial growth, potentially deadly algae is spreading across Lake Taihu.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/050508EB.shtml">Hundreds Stage Anti-Pollution March in China</a></b><br />05.05.08. Edward Wong, IHT / truthout. The protesters in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, walked peacefully through the center of the city for several hours Sunday afternoon to criticize the building of an ethylene plant and oil refinery in Pengzhou. .. / Critics of the project said in interviews Monday that the government had not done proper environmental reviews of the projects, which they said could pollute the air and water and lead to health hazards. .. / The chemical plant and oil refinery is a joint venture of the Sichuan provincial government and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PetroChina">PetroChina</a>, a publicly traded oil company that is the listed arm of China National Petroleum Corp., the state-owned concern that is the country's largest oil producer.<br /><br /><u>Potential Pollution </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://geology.com/events/sichuan-china-earthquake/">Sichuan Earthquake Summary</a></b><br />14.05.08. Geology.com. Maps, Video, news, photos. EXCELLENT.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aV7cRMzqCOso&refer=home">PetroChina May Scrap Sichuan Refinery Plan on Quake (Update2) </a></b><br />15.05.08. Ying Lou and Wang Ying, Bloomberg. ... as many as 500 people demonstrated in Chengdu on May 4 over potential air and water pollution and health hazards from the plants to be built just outside the city, the International Herald Tribune reported.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/internal_ReutersNewsRoom_BehindTheScenes_MOLT/idUSPEK26167920080515">China warns of threat from dams weakened by quake</a></b><br />16.05.08. Reuters. The earthquake that devastated southwest China has left many dams badly damaged, posing an unknown threat of collapse and flooding made worse by poor management and information, the country's water minister said.<br /><br />In Sichuan and Chongqing, at least 17 reservoirs have been damaged, with some dams cracked or leaking water since the quake struck on Monday, according to state media. Several are on the Min River, which tumbles through the worst-hit areas between the Tibetan plateau and the Sichuan plain.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATE</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Chemical_spill_threatens_drinking_water_for_Chinese_city_report_999.html">Chemical spill threatens drinking water for Chinese city: report</a></b><br />09.06.08. terra daily / geology.com. A truck carrying 33.6 tonnes of crude phenol overturned on Saturday and spilled the caustic chemical into the Zhesang river, which feeds a dam serving Baise city in Guangxi province, Xinhua news agency said. / The chemicals entered the dam area on Monday morning, it said, quoting a municipal government official. / About 15 kilometres (10 miles) below the dam was a water intake for 200,000 people in Baise, but it had not been determined how much of the river was polluted, Xinhua said.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATE FRANCE</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php?sid=380258">French town in nuclear emergency</a></b><br />09.07.08. bignewsnetwork / legitgov. The town of Avignon in the south of France has suffered a bad radioactive spill. Radioactive fluid has accidentally leaked from a tank in a nuclear power plant. / Some of the fluid has spilled into three rivers nearby and warnings have gone out to local residents. / The authorities have urged people not to drink any water or catch fish from the Gaffiére, Lauzon and Rhône rivers.<br /><br /><br />GHANA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200804180674.html">Ghana: Anglogold Ashanti Accused of Discharging Sewage Into River</a></b><br />18.04.08. allafrica.<br /><br /><br />INDIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Sunday_Specials/Special_Report/A_pitcherful_of_poison_Indias_water_woes_set_to_get_worse/articleshow/2947840.cms">A pitcherful of poison: India's water woes set to get worse</a></b><br />13.04.08. Times of India. Even as India and the world worry about the current food shortage, it might be water that eventually leaves the nation high and dry. … / In a list of 122 countries rated on quality of potable water, India ranks a lowly 120. And although India has 4% of the world's water, studies show average avail-ability is shrinking steadily. It's estimated that by 2020, India will become a water-stressed nation. … / 37.7 million people — over 75% of whom are children — are afflicted by waterborne diseases every year. Overdependence on groundwater has brought in contaminants, fluoride being one of them. … arsenic, high nitrates … However, it's bacteriological contamination — which leads to diarrhoea, cholera and hepatitis — that is most widespread in India.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/19_more_brands_sell_contaminated_water/articleshow/2955383.cms">19 more brands sell contaminated water</a></b><br />16.04.08. times of India. TOI is in possession of a lab report of the <u>Chennai Corporation</u>, revealing that 71 samples of 51 brands have been tested positive for e-coli and coliform bacteria. This includes 23 brands of bubble-top container water widely used in households for drinking and cooking.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chandigarh/Toxic_water_in_canal_raises_alarm/articleshow/2977319.cms">Toxic water in canal raises alarm</a></b><br />24.04.08. times of India. Sudden increase in cases of water-borne diseases due to supply of highly toxic and polluted water for drinking purpose for the last two weeks has made residents in Faridkot, Muktsar and Abohar areas panicky as authorities have not been able to do anything to improve the situation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=BO&autono=320995">Bhopal gas tragedy`s watery trail to tell a story</a></b><br />24.04.08. business-standard. The Bhopal gas tragedy remains a live issue 23 years after toxic gases leaked out of a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Union_Carbide"> Union Carbide </a> plant in December 1984. Recent developments indicate a desire on the part of the government to put an end to it. A series of reports looks at these developments and the continuing presence of 9,000 tonnes of toxic waste on the premises of the plant. / People living around the Union Carbide plant site here have two options when it comes to drinking water. Either it is the contaminated groundwater, which continues to be affected by toxic wastes dumped in the plant premises, or the municipal water supplied from the nearby Raslakhedi village, known for a huge sewer. The water from both sources has been officially declared unfit for drinking.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=5882">MSU research reaches Supreme Court of India</a></b><br />30.04.08. Montana edu. The Ganges River is considered a goddess, but Tim Ford, head of MSU's microbiology department, said it has become a soup of pollution. / The river contains untreated sewage, cremated remains, chemicals and disease-causing microbes, the researchers said. Cows wade in the river. People wash their laundry in it and drink from it. Ford said the Ganges has become the kind of place where genetic material could transfer between pathogens and create new pathogens. / "Wastewater treatment is critical to protecting human health from waterborne diseases," Ford said. "The Ganges River is a major source of disease burden in that region." / Hamner said MSU and a government lab in India each sampled the Ganges and found a dangerous form of E. coli known as 0157:H7 bacteria.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=133918">Water pollution threatens Goan villagers health</a></b><br />12.05.08. merinews.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATE</b></span> <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/cms/page1764.cfm">http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/cms/page1764.cfm</a></b><br />26.06.08. corporate abuse. Among the thatched huts, coconut trees, and dirt roads that comprise the small south Indian village of Plachimada, sits a virtual fortress of cement and razor wire. Past the gate and a large, mangled sign is a massive Coca-Cola plant that was forced shut in 2004 for polluting drinking water and draining local wells.<br /><br /><br />IRAQ<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/ASIN-7E8NA2?OpenDocument">Iraq: IOM emergency needs assessments</a></b><br />(post Feb 2006 displacement in Iraq) 01 May 2008 bi-weekly report<br />01.05.08. RELIEF WEB. Lack of portable water continues to be a problem throughout the country, with more and more IDPs relying on rivers, drainage canals, and other contaminated water sources. Drought in the north is also affecting both IDPs and host communities. The high price of fuel and deteriorated health care facilities also greatly impacts the living conditions of IDPs.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/84147/">In Iraq 70 Percent of People Lack Clean Water</a></b><br />01.05.08. Abigail Brown, Water For The Ages / alternet. Less than half of Iraq's population of 29 million people have access to clean, drinkable water. And, according to a recent report by Oxfam, the number of civilians in Iraq without water has risen from 50 percent to 70 percent during 2003 to 2007 (the continued US occupation).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL08910831.html">Aid officials urge relief for Baghdad slum</a></b><br />08.05.08. Reuters Civilians caught up in fighting between security forces and Shi'ite militiamen in a Baghdad slum are running out of food, water and medicines and relief agencies are unable to bring in supplies, officials said on Thursday.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATES</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/06/21/witnesses_link_chemical_to_ill_us_soldiers/">Witnesses link chemical to ill US soldiers</a></b><br />21.06.08. Farah Stockman, Boston Globe/legitgov. US soldiers assigned to guard a crucial part of Iraq's oil infrastructure became ill after exposure to a highly toxic chemical at the plant, witnesses testified at a Democratic Policy Committee hearing yesterday on Capitol Hill. / "These soldiers were bleeding from the nose, spitting blood," said Danny Langford, an equipment technician from Texas brought to work at the <b>Qarmat Ali Water treatment plant</b>in 2003. "They were sick." / Langford is one of nine Americans who accuse <b>KBR</b>, the lead contractor on the Qarmat Ali project and one of the largest defense contractors in Iraq, of knowingly exposing them to sodium dichromate, an orange, sandlike chemical that is a potentially lethal carcinogen.<br />see also: <a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=45357&s2=03">Ark. man, others blame KBR for contaminant fears in Iraq</a>AP/uruknet (21.06.08) An Arkansas man who worked as a contractor in Iraq says he lost his job after warning workers they were being exposed to a cancer-causing chemical there.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=45537&s2=09">Prohibited weapons crisis in Fallujah 2008 : The effects of pollution on the public health in Fallujah</a></b><br />07.07.08. CCERF - Fallujah/ uruknet. <br />... This report focuses on the effects caused by pollution on the health of Fallujah population two years after the use of forbidden weapons by the American troops in its major attacks on the city in 2004. Fallujah has a population of almost 650,000 inhabitants. After an American attacks at March – November 2004 in Fallujah and using prohibited weapons like Chemical weapons and Cluster ! mentions.. Three years after the devastating US assault, Fallujah city left without clean water, electricity and medicine...MPT report refer Starting in 2004 when the political situation and devastation of the health care infrastructure were at their worst, there were 251 reported cases of cancer. By 2006, when the numbers more accurately reflected the real situation, that figure had risen to 688. Already in 2007, 801 cancer cases have been reported. Those figures portray an incidence rate of 28.21 by 2006, even after screening out cases that came into the Najaf Hospital from outside the governate, a number which contrasts with the normal rate of 8-12 cases of cancer per 100,000 people... We found in one year like 2006 there are 5928 new illnesses cases that unknown before in Fallujah, more than 70% were of the cancers and abnormalities reported occurred in the 1 day – 12 years age range....<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.brusselstribunal.org/pdf/DU-Azzawi2.pdf">Crimes of the Century: Occupation & Contaminating Iraq with Depleted Uranium</a></b><br />07.07.08. Dr. Souad N. Al-Azzawi (Associate Professor in Environmental Engineering, Iraq) Brussels Tribunal/uruknet. After thirteen years of the devastation of an entire country through the implementation of the criminal economic sanctions that were imposed by the United States of America and the United Nations on Iraq, the US administration decided to invade Iraq. / Gulf War I and the destruction of Iraq’s economy, education, health care system,and society through the continuous bombing and attacks of the illegal No Fly Zones, were all part of the plan to invade Iraq and take over one of the richest oil reserve countries in the Middle East region. Pirating Iraq’s wealth is an advanced step to control and manipulate global economy. / New generations of conventional and banned weapons were used in the invasion of Iraq military operations from March 19th – April 9th of 2003.... Full text available. <br /><br /><br />IRELAND<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.braypeople.ie/news/impurities-found-in-water-supply-1344671.html">Impurities found in water supply</a></b><br />10.04.08. bray people. WICKLOW'S local authority is failing to monitor parasites in its water systems, according to a new report by the Environment Protection Agency (EPA).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0507/breaking9.htm">Four beaches fail water quality test</a></b><br />07.05.08. Ireland.com. Four bathing spots in Cork, Dublin and Galway have been ruled unsafe for swimming due to pollution by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0507/north.html">NI water company fined over river pollution</a></b><br />07.05.08. ens. Northern Ireland Water has been fined £5,000 for pollution of a river in Co Antrim. / A discharge of untreated sewage into the Crumlin River, a tributary of Lough Neagh on 1 April 2007 was traced to a pumping station, a court heard.<br /><br /><br />ITALY<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-03-01.asp">European Legal Issues: Hazardous Substances, Birds, Wolves</a></b><br />03.04.08. ens. The European Commission is bringing Italy before the European Court of Justice for failing to draw up emergency plans in case of major accidents for installations where hazardous substances are present.<br /><br /><br />NIGERIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15037">NETHERLANDS: Nigerians seek damages from Shell over pollution</a></b><br />14.05.08. Arthur Max, Business Week/Corp Watch. Four Nigerian villagers and an environmental group are demanding oil company Shell take responsibility for damage from oil leaks caused by its Nigerian subsidiary, lawyers said Wednesday. / The letters sent to Royal Dutch Shell PLC accuse the company of negligence by improperly maintaining equipment and failing to clean up spills that devastated crops and fish farms in the Niger Delta. / The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, or Shell Nigeria, operates more than 1,000 wells in the delta, an area the size of England.<br /><br /><br />PAKISTAN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C05%5C16%5Cstory_16-5-2008_pg11_10">Unclean water tanks: 80 pc residents vulnerable to waterborne diseases</a></b><br />16.05.08. Atif Khan, Daily Times.pk. ISLAMABAD: Above 80 percent residents of the capital are vulnerable to water-borne diseases including gastroenteritis, typhoid, cholera and dysentery, as they consume unsafe water from unclean underground water storage tanks of their houses.<br /><br /><br />PALESTINE<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=30_wastewater_0_300_0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=30_wastewater_0_300_0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43567&s2=01">Popular committee: Our warning of wastewater flooding in Gaza started to happen</a></b><br />30.04.08. Palestinian Information Center/uruknet. The popular committee against the siege stated that its repeated warnings of impending wastewater flooding in Gaza streets started to happen, warning that 60 percent of wastewater pump stations are going to stop within 24 hours due to the lack of fuel supplies. This came during a press conference held by the committee in front of the wastewater pump facility no. B7 in the Zeitoun area in Gaza, where this station stopped working leading to the inundation of the whole surrounding area with sewage and wastewater.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43553&s2=01">Anti siege committee warns of spread of epidemics in Gaza due to fuel crisis</a></b><br />30.04.08. Palestinian Information Center, uruknet. GAZA, (PIC)-- The popular committee against the siege warned of serious epidemic outbreaks among the Palestinian citizens in the besieged Gaza Strip due to the Israeli persistence in not allowing fuel supplies into Gaza which are used to operate drainage systems and garbage collection vehicles in addition to chlorine used to disinfect drinking water.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=wateringaza_300_0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=wateringaza_300_0.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43787&s2=07">Israeli siege contaminates potable water in Gaza Strip</a></b><br />06.05.08. Palestinian Information Center/uruknet. The spokesperson of the Gaza-based anti-siege popular committee Rami Abdo has warned on Tuesday that the Israeli blockade on Gaza Strip caused a sharp decrease in drinking water, putting lives of the 1.5 million Gazans at risk.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=gaza-tsonami18.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=gaza-tsonami18.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Photo Fady Adwan<br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=44087&s2=17">Gaza Strip Fear a New Tsunami - Sewage Treatment Blocked by the Israelis...</a></b><br />15.05.08. Hiyam Noir, PalestineFreeVoice/uruknet. In 2007, 14 months ago, a *spewing river of sewage and mud erupted after an earth embankment around a cesspool collapsed.Ten people died and more then 60 people were injured, the disaster forced the residents in the beduin village to flee.*Years of insufficient sanitation conditions during the Israeli settlement occupation of Gaza Strip, and the absence of sewage conveyance systems are serious threats to public health and are the major causes of a environmental degradation on Gaza Strip. / The United Nations Office for the "Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs" said in a report released on Wednesday,that Gaza Strip water authority has dumped over 60 million liters of partially treated and untreated sewage into the Mediterranean sea since January 24. / The Israelis blockade of the Gaza Strip is blamed for the Gaza Strip water authority's inability to treat the sewage."This sewage cannot be treated due to lack of a steady supply of electricity within the Gaza Strip, Israel's restrictions on fuel imports and prohibitions on the import of necessary spare parts,"the restrictions on imports and exports into and out of the Gaza Strip, spare parts needed to repair the sewage treatment plants, has not been allowed to cross the border.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATES</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=44672&s2=08">WHO: The flow of untreated sewage to the sea will spread epidemics in Gaza</a></b><br />07.06.08. Palestinian Information Center / uruknet. A report issued by the world health organization (WHO) warned that the increasing flow of untreated sewage from the Gaza Strip to the Mediterranean Sea would spread deadly diseases and epidemics among the Palestinian citizens who visit beaches especially for recreation in the summer. / The sewage treatment plant in Gaza is not working properly due to the lack of steady electricity supply, Israel's restrictions on fuel imports and the ban on the import of materials and necessary spare parts. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=n-17_1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=n-17_1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=45215&s2=27">Narratives Under Siege (17): Swimming in Sewage</a></b><br />26.06.08. PCHR - Palestinian Centre for Human Rights/uruknet. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), since January this year, 50- 60 million litres of untreated and partially treated sewage have been poured into the Mediterranean Sea surrounding the Gaza Strip every day. "This sewage cannot be treated due to the lack of a steady electricity supply within the Gaza Strip" says a recent OCHA report on Gaza sanitation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=45361&s2=03">Sewage in Water Threatens Gazans</a></b><br />02.07.08. Mel Frykberg, uruknet. Gaza is being forced to pump 77 tonnes of untreated or partially treated sewage out to sea daily due to the Israeli blockade of the coastal territory. The fear is that some of this is creeping back into drinking water. "The health of Gaza's 1.5 million people is at risk," Mahmoud Daher, from the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) told IPS following a report released by WHO after it carried out a number of tests on Gaza's contaminated water...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/israel-hamas-standoff-deepens-water-woes">Israel-Hamas Standoff Deepens Water Woes</a></b><br />21.07.08. CS Monitor / truthout. Al-Shati Refugee Camp, The Gaza Strip - Five hundred yards south from where hundreds of children play in the water next to this refugee camp, a pipe spills 20 million liters of raw sewage into the Mediterranean Sea each day. / Between 105 and 120 million liters of sewage are generated daily in Gaza. Of that, only 20 million liters are fully treated, while another 40 million liters are partially treated. The rest flows raw into the sea, storm drains, and a massive landfill north of Gaza City, which spans 4.3 million square feet. The resulting pollution has sullied not only the seawater, but also the aquifer below Gaza, causing a severe shortage of potable water and putting the population at risk for a range of illnesses. ... / Pollution was severely exacerbated by the Israeli bombing of Gaza's power plant two years ago. The siege laid on Gaza for the past year, during which fuel imports were limited, also prevented facilities maintenance.<br /><br /><br />PHILIPPINES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pia.gov.ph/default.asp?m=12&fi=p080412.htm&no=10">Negros Oriental rivers positive for coliform contamination – DENR</a></b><br />12.04.08. pia. Based on the data collected from 1995 to 2004 by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) here, 95 percent of the sampling sites along Negros Oriental rivers have reached a high degree of total coliform contamination that only a classification of Class D - the worst possible water quality<br /><br /><br />RUSSIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2008/gb20080416_489788.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe+index+page_top+stories">Russia's Baltic Pollution Problem</a></b><br />16.04.08. business week. Ineffective, if not negligent, regulation by St. Petersburg's government is allowing the flow of industrial waste into the sea to surge<br /><br /><br />SOUTH AFRICA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=14&art_id=nw20080430145621667C113722">Toxic water killed E Cape babies – report</a></b><br />30.04.08. iol.co.za. Last week, reports emerged that 78 children from the Eastern Cape towns of Barkly East, Maclear, Sterkspruit and Elliot had died as a result of diarrhoea allegedly caused by contaminated water. / An official health report, tabled two weeks at a closed council meeting, indicated there had been a breakdown in a water purification works in October last year<br /><br /><br />SUDAN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200804300877.html">Sudan: Water, Water Everywhere - But It's Not Fit to Drink</a></b><br />30.04.08. allafrica. UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. "Towns along the rivers of Upper Nile, like Malakal, are areas inhabited by citizens who get water directly from the rivers," Peter Pal Riak, the state's minister for physical infrastructure, said on 25 April. "That water is a source of disease."<br /><br /><br />UK<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/exmouthjournal/news/story.aspx?brand=EXJOnline&category=news&tBrand=devon24&tCategory=newsexj&itemid=DEED10%20Apr%202008%2014%3A33%3A26%3A117">SWW fined for water pollution</a></b><br />17.04.08. Exmouth journal.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Raw-sewage-forces-opening-of.3995982.jp">Raw sewage forces opening of flagship park to be cancelled</a></b><br />18.04.08. Scotsman.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_yorkshire/7382067.stm">Firm fined over water pollution</a></b><br />3.05.08. BBC. Yorkshire Water has been fined for polluting a beck in West Yorkshire.<br /><br /><br />USA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-17-01.asp">America's 10 Most Endangered Rivers 2008</a></b><br />17.04.08. Environment News Service. "Water will be the oil of the 21st century," said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers, the conservation group that issues the annual ranking of the country's most endangered rivers. "Yet all across the country, water mismanagement is on full display as politicians resort to placing another straw in their rivers, or outright stealing water from their neighbors, instead of adopting water policies that will make our communities more resilient in the face of global warming," said Wodder. .. /<br /><br /><u>America's Most Endangered Rivers in 2008:</u>:<br /><br />• #1: Catawba-Wateree River in North Carolina and South Carolina<br />• #2: Rogue River in Oregon<br />• #3: Poudre River in Colorado<br />• #4: St. Lawrence River in New York and Canada<br />• #5: Minnesota River in Minnesota<br />• #6: St. Johns River in Florida<br />• #7 Gila River in New Mexico and Arizona<br />• #8 Allagash Wilderness Waterway in Maine<br />• #9 Pearl River in Louisiana and Mississippi<br />• #10 Niobrara River in Nebraska<br /><br /><b><a href="http://sfist.com/2008/03/31/presidential_me_1.php">Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco Formed to Honor George W. Bush</a></b><br />31.03.08. sfist / legitgov. Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility. It seems the group would like to rename the SF Zoo adjacent facility to the "George W Bush Sewage Plant."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gaygiAcZTx5UbK-7Z6H48JW7TJAAD8VU0LJ82">US Water Pipelines Are Breaking</a></b><br />08.04.08. COLLEEN LONG, AP. Two hours north of New York City, a mile-long stream and a marsh the size of a football field have mysteriously formed along a country road. They are such a marvel that people come from miles around to drink the crystal-clear water, believing it is bubbling up from a hidden natural spring. / The truth is far less romantic: The water is coming from a cracked 70-year-old tunnel hundreds of feet below ground, scientists say. / The Environmental Protection Agency says utilities will need to invest more than $277 billion over the next two decades on repairs and improvements to drinking water systems. Water industry engineers put the figure drastically higher, at about $480 billion. / Water utilities, largely managed by city governments, have never faced improvements of this magnitude before. And customers will have to bear the majority of the cost through rate increases, according to the American Water Works Association, an industry group. … / some pipes and tunnels were built in the 1800s and are now nearing the end of their life expectancies. [same problem but worse in UK]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-04-10.asp">Chesapeake Bay Suffering, Restoration Efforts Treading Water</a></b><br />04.04.08. J.R. Pegg, ens. The health of the Chesapeake Bay is dismal and more than three decades of restoration efforts have done little to improve the condition of the nation's largest estuary, according to two independent assessments released Thursday. The reports add to a litany of evidence that the water quality throughout the bay and its tributaries is severely degraded and echo lingering concern that the plan for cleaning up the ecosystem is not working. / The Bay has long suffered from massive unnatural influxes of nitrogen and phosphorous, largely from sewage wastewater, agricultural and urban runoff, and air pollution.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-04-091.asp">70 Groups Agree on Cleaner New York / New Jersey Harbor</a></b><br />04.04.08. ens. The NY/NJ Harbor Consortium of the New York Academy of Sciences examined the causes of ongoing pollution to the harbor and developed management strategies for five important contaminants: <u>mercury, cadmium, dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-07-091.asp">Refinery Water Pollution Costs ConocoPhillips $1.2 Million</a></b><br />07.04.08. ens. Complaint … alleges that ConocoPhillips violated effluent limits in its Clean Water Act permit on over 2,000 occasions between 1999 and 2006.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wptz.com/news/15860982/detail.html">E. Coli Found In Chazy Water Supply</a></b><br />11.04.08. In NY.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://suncoastpinellas.tbo.com/content/2008/apr/14/water-contamination-spurs-class-action-against-ray/">Contamination Spurs Class-Action Against Raytheon</a></b><br />14.04.08. Mark Douglas, suncoast Pinellas.tbo. A Pinellas County attorney filed a class-action lawsuit today against the Raytheon Corp. on behalf of residents who may be affected by contaminated groundwater in the <u>Azalea area of St. Petersburg</u>. … chemicals such as vinyl chloride, 1,4-Dioxane and trichloroethylene that came from Raytheon's plant on 72nd Street are contaminating groundwater in the neighborhood.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.myrecordjournal.com/site/tab1.cfm?newsid=19483937&BRD=2755&PAG=461&dept_id=592709&rfi=6">PCBs found in soil near water treatment plant</a></b><br />15.04.08. my record journal.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hPS27KfYUhJ2G2FiciB631uthR9QD902INCG0">Senators rip EPA over lack of knowledge on drugs in water</a></b><br />15.04.08. AP. The Environmental Protection Agency was lambasted during a Senate hearing Tuesday for allowing the American public to learn that traces of pharmaceuticals are in much of the nation's drinking water from an Associated Press investigative series, not the federal government.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tdn.com/articles/2008/04/15/area_news/doc48044bd6e597d443239356.txt">Contaminated sand from Gulf War to pass through Longview</a></b><br />15.04.08. Eric Olson, tdn. A ship carrying 6,700 tons of sand contaminated with low levels of hazardous waste at a U.S. Army base in Kuwait during the first Gulf War will be unloaded at the Port of Longview on April 22. / The vessel BBC Alabama is delivering 306 containers of the sand, which <u>contains low levels of uranium</u>, to the port, which will then be loaded onto trains bound for a disposal site in Grand View, Idaho, said Doug Averett, the port’s director of operations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-chicago-water-testapr17,0,6323835.story">What's in your water?</a></b><br />17.04.08. Chicago tribune. The Tribune finds trace amounts of drugs and chemicals—including anti-seizure medication and a Teflon ingredient— in <u>Lake Michigan</u> drinking water. Chicago officials have never tested the city and suburban water supply for pharmaceuticals and other unregulated chemicals, even as concern grows about the possible health effects of trace amounts of drugs in drinking water. / So the Tribune and RedEye did the testing the city won't do. / The newspapers hired an independent lab, which found tiny amounts of an anti-seizure drug, a common painkiller, caffeine and two chemicals used to make Teflon and Scotchgard in samples taken from a water supply that serves 7 million people. / The Tribune's findings echo what authorities have detected in tap water supplies elsewhere in the country: dozens of prescription and over-the-counter drugs as well as chemicals from personal-care products, food packaging, clothing and household goods.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-16-091.asp">Corporate Fight Lets Toxics Flow to Long Island Sound</a></b><br />17.04.08. ens. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Gina McCarthy said Monday that the state has requested a temporary injunction against The Sergy Company LLC and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetek,_Inc. “>Magnetek, Inc.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newscow.net/story.php?StoryID=1744">Oklahoma town suing over contamination</a></b><br />17.04.08. Judy Welch, newscow. The lawsuit alleges the town of approximately 7,200 people is contaminated by 58 million pounds of toxic waste, including <u>lead, arsenic, cadmium and zinc</u>, left behind by the smelting activities. The smelter was in operation in Blackwell from 1916 to 1974. It occupied 80 acres and employed 1,000 people. … / The suit was filed by Bob Coffey, Loretta Corn, and Larry and Mary Ellen Jones, individually, "and on behalf of all others similarly situated" against Phelps Dodge Corporation and its parent company Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Inc.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8h1YTCL7IBGIRdSwrUUgGMkuKJ7-2ZfYODXeO-gXPg9F6uWTNSENVWFFl7BHX-BgEUJg7ZWJQ8tJVqr58NNVw-ONa2T7H9PUiR2AHmfYqmrlkWJZOF0-Dvw6TJVpBiK5z5CA7/s1600-h/bangornews.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8h1YTCL7IBGIRdSwrUUgGMkuKJ7-2ZfYODXeO-gXPg9F6uWTNSENVWFFl7BHX-BgEUJg7ZWJQ8tJVqr58NNVw-ONa2T7H9PUiR2AHmfYqmrlkWJZOF0-Dvw6TJVpBiK5z5CA7/s320/bangornews.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201998184477640562" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=163249&zoneid=500">Bangor Daily News, GABOR DEGRA </a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=163249&zoneid=500">Despite progress made, Maine's toxic waste sites still face a lot more work</a></b><br />19.04.08. Kevin Miller, bangornews. They are found in nearly every corner of Maine - hazardous waste sites that threaten the air, water and health of residents.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080419/GPG0101/804190557/1207/GPGnews">Drug disposals aim to reduce water contamination</a></b><br />19.04.08. green bay press. Brown Co. Solid Waste District to hold spring, fall collections<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/20/eco.waterpollution/">Water pollution: Dawn of the 'Dead Zones'</a></b><br />21.04.08. CNN. It's thousands of square miles wide, virtually devoid of oxygen and it has been blamed for an increase in shark attacks: the Gulf of Mexico "Dead Zone" is getting bigger and forcing marine life -- including sharks - into shore. The zone has been caused by a flood of nutrients, such as agricultural fertilizers, which boost algae production in the sea. These growths consume huge amounts of oxygen creating a "marine desert" almost devoid of life. / The "Dead Zone" varies in size each year, but in 1999 it was 7,728 square miles -- that's nearly the size of Delaware and Connecticut combined. / The huge size of the "Dead Zone' is due to the increase in nutrient pollution flowing down rivers, including the Mississippi, which is estimated to have risen threefold in the last fifty years as chemicals become more and more common on farms.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ogj.com/display_article/326499/7/ONART/none/Prong/1/ConocoPhillips-settles-refinery-pollution-charges/">ConocoPhillips settles refinery pollution charges</a></b><br />22.04.08. Ogj. ConocoPhillips agreed Apr. 8 to pay $1.2 million to settle federal water pollution charges involving a 146,000 b/cd refinery in Borger, Tex., that it operates, the US Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency said. / The company allegedly violated the US Clean Water Act (CWA) more than 2,000 times from 1999 through 2006, the agencies said. In a complaint filed with a consent decree in US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, authorities said the case involved two types of pollutants, selenium and whole effluent toxicity.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.charlotte.com/205/story/594973.html">Railroad accused of water pollution in SC wreck</a></b><br />24.04.08. charlotte.com. The railroad owner in a deadly South Carolina train wreck and chemical spill violated a federal pollution law when chlorine seeped into a nearby creek, prosecutors arguing for thousands of dollars in fines said Thursday. / The prosecutors claim Norfolk Southern was negligent by allowing chlorine and diesel fuel to seep into waterways, killing fish and plant life after the crash in the mill town of Graniteville.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/18185494.html">Something in the Water Part Two- Water Contamination at Camp Lejeune</a></b><br />25.04.08. wctv. hey drank it, bathed in it, and swam in it. / Now thousands of people across the country are learning that they were exposed to contaminated water at a military base in North Carolina. / Congressman Boyd is the latest player in the investigation of water contamination at Camp Lejeune from sometime in the 1950's to 1987. VIDEO.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.newburyportnews.com/puopinion/local_story_115160203.html?keyword=secondarystory">Letter: U.S. must act to keep pharmaceuticals out of drinking water</a></b><br />25.04.08. Newburyport news. A number of recent reports have shown that there are traces of pharmaceutical drugs in public drinking water supplies. Anti-depressants, antibiotics, anti-convulsion drugs, sex hormones and mood stabilizers are a few of the prescription drugs found in public drinking water supplies across the U.S.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wvgazette.com/News/200804260261">Mine's selenium deforms fish, expert says</a></b><br />27.04.08. Ken ward, wvgazette. Selenium pollution from one of West Virginia's largest mountaintop removal mines is dangerously poisoning Mud River fish, leaving some with serious deformities, according to one of the nation's leading experts on the issue.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/283784">Madison Water Utility shuts down Northeast side well due to bacteria presence</a></b><br />29.04.08. Madison.com.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-41/1209561348232840.xml&coll=6">Tribes' walk around Lake Michigan draws attention to water pollution</a></b><br />30.04.08. Dave Muller, mlive. he contingent went from Grand Haven to Holland for an overnight stop, and were headed south today as part of a 17-day, nearly 600-mile trek around most of Lake Michigan. / The walk, which started Saturday in Manistee, goes through Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin en route to Hannahville near Escanaba in the Upper Peninsula. The sixth-annual effort seeks to raise awareness about protecting water.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=65300&freebie_check&CFID=30716753&CFTOKEN=74322267&jsessionid=883058282c8a5e287c63">Pollution, wetlands permits remain an issue</a></b><br />01.05. 08. deluth news tribune. Critics of the Murphy Oil refinery expansion in Superior are closely watching how many acres of wetlands the project would fill and how big an increase is expected in traditional pollutants such as sulfur dioxide that spurs acid rain, smog-causing volatile hydrocarbons, benzene, lead and mercury.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/2008/05/01/20080501neamerican0502-ON-CP.html">Human error blamed for water contamination</a></b><br />01.05.08. azcentral. Operator error is blamed for a malfunction in January at a plant owned and operated by the <a href="http://www.azruco.com/AZ_AM_PV_2005/Rigsby_Surrebuttal.pdf."> Arizona American Water Co.</a> (pdf) that treats groundwater contaminated with trichloroethylene, a suspected cancer-causing chemical.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/516483.html">S. Fla. stuck with $3 billion sewage bill</a></b><br />01.05.08. Miami herald / legitgov. The state Legislature passed a measure that requires South Florida counties to halt the discharge of sewage into the sea, but the bill comes with a hefty price tag.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thederrick.com/stories/05022008-5002.shtml">Tainted water plagues community</a></b><br />02.05.08. Judith Etzel, the derrick. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a boil-water advisory for some 500-plus customers of the Emlenton Water Co. An inspection of the system Monday showed cryptosporidium, a nasty diarrhea-inducing parasite, had crept from the water source in the Allegheny River into the plant’s filtration system.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-epa-official-resigns_webmay02,0,601716.story">EPA official ousted while fighting Dow</a></b><br />02.05.008. Chicago Tribune. The battle over dioxin contamination in this economically stressed region had been raging for years when a top Bush administration official turned up the pressure on Dow Chemical to clean it up. / On Thursday, following months of internal bickering over Mary Gade's interactions with <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dow_Chemical"> Dow</a>, the administration forced her to quit as head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Midwest office, based in Chicago.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=8263490&nav=menu227_6">Settlement reached in Colstrip water contamination lawsuit</a></b><br />02.05.08. montana’s news station. A multi-million dollar settlement has been reached in a water contamination lawsuit against the Colstrip power plant. Five corporations, including PPL Montana, have agreed to pay $25 million to settle the case. The suit alleged that the plant officials knew they were contaminating water supplies serving two subdivisions and one trailer park for at least four years before notifying the community.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nebraska.tv/Global/story.asp?S=8262136">Union Pacific finds contaminated water on Grand Island site</a></b><br />02.05.08. Nebraska tv. Residents in a Grand Island neighborhood are drinking bottled water after contamination from a former chemical company seeped into their well water. Union Pacific, which now owns the property used by Nebraska Solvent Co., found the dry-cleaning solution PCE in its well water three weeks ago.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/may/02/letter-taxpayers-shouldnt-pay-pollution-damage/">Letter: Taxpayers shouldn't pay for pollution damage</a></b><br />02.05.08. tc palm. t was not salt that killed the 50,000-year-old coral in the Florida Keys and the life in Florida Bay. It was the unbelievable amounts of phosphorous and nitrogen in the water discharged from sewage systems, from our lawns and from big agriculture north of Lake Okeechobee that wrought this destruction. / How come Big Sugar and other large agricultural enterprises are allowed to dump huge amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen into the water north of Lake Okeechobee?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_9147011">ExxonMobil expands Torrance oil contamination payouts</a></b><br />03.05.08. Nick Green, daily breeze. ExxonMobil has expanded to 19 the number of homeowners it is offering some form of financial assistance to in the wake of the discovery of contaminated soil from gasoline products in a Torrance residential neighborhood adjacent its sprawling refinery. .. / The oil giant, which posted record first-quarter earnings Thursday of almost $11 billion, is offering to buy 10 homes in an area where elevated soil vapor levels were found. The company is offering nine other nearby homeowners a so-called price protection program, which refinery spokeswoman Carolin Keith characterized as a "security blanket."<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSPatjXlQsqjpyJBNSGfiv9lhyphenhyphenKD9_ZtXsYUj2uBra5dYdTBo68ipdm8aNMfojeHINZQlm784-d-CpSGErLzfLhbp5aA6DFrsH8IN_rcNdVib9f3x82rVPKxZc9V0rQrqx5DMX/s320/Hanford_N_Reactor_adjusted.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201992257422771922" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Nuclear reactors line the riverbank at the Hanford Site along the Columbia River. The N-Reactor is in the foreground, with the twin KE and KW Reactors in the immediate background. The historic B-Reactor, the world's first plutonium production reactor, is visible in the distance.</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/shadow/report.aspx?aid=975">A Science Panel's Curious End - How a Critical Advisory Group Got Sidelined by Two Administrations</a></b><br />06.05.08. Growing up in southeastern Washington State, Trisha Pritikin played among the waters and islands of the Columbia River and gave little thought to the looming neighbor upstream: the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/=" org="" wiki="" hanford_site="">Hanford Nuclear Reservation </a>, a sprawling complex of factories where, beginning in the mid-1940s, the U.S. government secretly manufactured plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program. Pritikin, whose parents worked at the Hanford site, was unaware that radioactive residues from the facility had not only contaminated her riverside playgrounds but had also leached the rugs in her family's home. … / By the time George W. Bush took office in 2001, ACERER was already reeling from a three-year struggle with HHS. At issue: The panel wanted the U.S. government to help Americans who had been affected by nuclear weapons testing. Starting in 1995, its members pushed a reluctant—but ultimately yielding—Clinton administration to release a National Cancer Institute study that concluded that nuclear fallout had affected Americans nationwide, not just those living close to the Nevada Test Site where, from 1951 to 1962, nearly 100 above-ground nuclear tests were conducted. As a result, later studies estimated, as many as 212,000 people were at elevated risk of developing thyroid cancer. … / But some former panelists believe the decision to kill ACERER was purely political. "We were raising issues that the Bush administration didn't want to deal with," said Seth Tuler, a senior researcher at the Social and Environmental Research Institute in Greenfield, Mass. "Not even in the Clinton years was this topic a priority." Trisha Pritikin, who is still battling ailments that she blames on Hanford, is among those distraught over the wasted effort: "All my family was killed and no one has helped us."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkmR-wSU9LKmVT3Iduv0DS9XPTbAD90GAM481">EPA might not act to limit rocket fuel in drinking water</a></b><br />07.05.08. Erica Werner, AP/ legitgov. An EPA official said Tuesday there's a "distinct possibility" the agency won't take action to rid drinking water of a toxic rocket fuel ingredient that has contaminated public water supplies around the country. .. / The toxin interferes with thyroid function and poses developmental health risks, particularly to fetuses.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.pr-inside.com/weitz-amp-luxenberg-p-c-secures-r579949.htm">Weitz & Luxenberg P.C. Secures $423 Million Settlement in Groundwater Contamination Lawsuit against Oil Behemoths</a></b><br />08.05.08. Business Wire 2008. The oil companies knew that MTBE would contaminate drinking water when they used it. The defendants who have settled have lived up to their responsibility by not only paying cash but by offering treatment of future contaminated wells for the next 30 years." … / the settlement involves about a dozen oil companies, including ConocoPhillips, Shell, BP, Chevron and Marathon. / Six oil corporations and refineries did not settle, including Exxon Mobil Corp and five smaller companies including chemical maker Lyondell Petrochemical Corp.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-watermay10,0,4375026.story">Traces of pharmaceuticals found in Chicago drinking water, city tests find</a></b><br />10.05.08. Chicago tribune. Chicago's first tests for pharmaceutical drugs in Lake Michigan drinking water detected trace amounts of unregulated chemicals, though officials said the levels were extremely low and posed no health risks.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2008/2008-05-12-092.asp">Dioxins at Doorstep of Washington State Capital</a></b><br />12.05.08. ens. The extent of dioxin contamination in Budd Inlet at the front door of Washington's capital city is beginning to emerge from a study of the inlet's sediments conducted by the state that is being made public Monday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wateronline.com/article.mvc/Water-Contamination-Suit-Results-In-Historic-0001">Water Contamination Suit Results In Historic Settlement</a></b><br />14.05.08. water on line. Representing 153 public water providers, which includes municipalities, water agencies and private water companies, from 17 states, the national law firm of Baron and Budd, P.C. has announced the largest settlement to date with many of America's leading oil companies over drinking water contamination caused by the gasoline additive Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE). The settlement stems from cases pending in a federal Multi-District Litigation (MDL) court in New York established to hear MTBE cases nationwide.<br /><br /><b>UPDATES </b><br /><br /><u>Alaska</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/06/2008625144048697141.html"> Exxon oil spill damages reduced</a></b><br />25.06.08. al jazeera. The US supreme court has overturned a lower court's ruling that ordered ExxonMobil, the oil giant, to pay $2.5 billion in compensation for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill in Alaska. / The court ruled that the punitive damages should be limited to equal the compensatory damages of $507.5 million. / The case involved about 32,000 commercial fishermen, indiegenous Alaskans, property owners and others harmed by the US's worst tanker spill. / Exxon Mobil has posted huge profits in recent years due to high oil prices, reporting earnings of $40.6 billion in 2007.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/pentagon-fights-epa-pollution-cleanup">Pentagon Fights EPA on Pollution Cleanup</a></b><br />30.06.08. Washington Post / Truthout. The Defense Department, the nation's biggest polluter (<b>nb: and oil user</b>), is resisting orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up Fort Meade and two other military bases where the EPA says dumped chemicals pose "imminent and substantial dangers to public health and the environment." <br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jKXW6RjETEPEEdns9iR2le3M2N_wD91VQEB00">Environmentalists sue EPA for cleaner water rules</a></b><br />17.07.08. AP. Five environmental groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday, claiming the federal government is violating the Clean Water Act by failing to set standards for farm and urban runoff that is polluting <u>Florida</u>'s waterways.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25735046/">'Bush' sewage plant proposal makes ballot</a></b><br />18.07.08. MSNBC. Measure would negatively commemorate president by renaming plant. VIDEO. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/article/major-fuel-spill-endangers-mississippi-river">Major Fuel Spill Endangers Mississippi River</a></b><br />25.07.08. Mark Schleifstein, New Orleans Times-Picayune/ Truth out. "A 100-mile stretch of the Mississippi River remains closed indefinitely to ship traffic this morning, as salvage workers drafted plans to remove a split fuel barge from beneath the Crescent City Connection in New Orleans and a half-dozen emergency spill contractors continued efforts to corral hundreds of thousands of gallons of thick, smelly fuel oil as it floated toward the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, residents of Algiers remained skeptical of the assurances given by New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Sewerage & Water Board officials that their water is safe to drink, with many choosing to drink bottled water instead. 'We don't want to give a date right now' for reopening the river, said Coast Guard Capt. Lincoln Stroh, who controls shipping on the river as captain for the Port of New Orleans."<br /><br /><u>MONSANTO: A different kind of toxic contamination</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805">Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear</a></b><br />May 2008. Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, Vanity Fair. Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination. VIDEO:<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/83301/">Artificial Foods and Corporate Crops: Can We Escape the 'Frankenstate'?</a></b><br />02.05.08. Claire Hope Cummings, Beacon Press / alternet. excerpt reprinted from Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds by Claire Hope Cummings. Copyright © 2008 by Claire Hope Cummings. Taking a technological approach to agriculture has put the future of the world's food [and water] supply in jeopardy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/36342">U.S. Using Food Crisis to Boost Bio-Engineered Crops</a></b><br />15.05.08. enn.com/legitgov. The Bush administration has slipped a controversial ingredient into the $770 million aid package it recently proposed to ease the world food crisis, adding language that would promote the use of genetically modified crops in food-deprived countries.<br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19738.htm"> The World According to Monsanto</a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">NEW</span><a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsanto_movie080307"> The World According to Monsanto</a><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATE</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.currentconcerns.ch/index.php?id=589">Monsanto has to Accept Full Responsibility for Genetic Contamination</a></b><br />May 2008, No 5, Current Concerns ... Since Schmeiser could prove that he had never used Monsanto’s genetically modified seeds nor the total-herbicide Roundup Ready going with the Monsanto GM seeds, and that he had indeed no advantage from the pollution and contamination of his harvest, he was acquitted of Monsanto’s compensation demands. ... / In earlier attempts to achieve an out of court settlement, Monsanto had not consented to paying the removal cost amounting to $660, so Schmeiser subsequently had sued the company. Monsanto would have paid for the contamination damage, but only under the condition that Schmeiser signed a “gag agreement”... / Schmeiser rejected. The demands raised by Monsanto were totally immoral. When the judge asked why Monsanto had not simply paid the very small sum of $ 660, Monsanto’s lawyer Richard W. Danyliuk responded that there was a lot more involved than just $ 660. / One hour before the court hearing was scheduled on March 19, 2008 Monsanto accepted all demands of Percy Schmeiser as well as their responsibility for the contamination of Schmeiser’s fields. / Monsanto does not only pay for the damage but also accepts that Schmeiser reports and informs the public about the background and that he can express his opinion and position about this case in public. The acceptance of responsibility by Monsanto as the owner of the patented Transgene for the contamination of neighbouring fields opens the path for all farmers in the world to demand compensation by Monsanto.<br /><br /><br /><a id="5000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 5. Bottled Water</b><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqmNqLHlwF9Ggg5HZigYd_k3FTQumaCh2XZggLsLPsuVPZX_Weflb9LrRuUu0ew7HJe6MbiiqnbazW0-qgRWTIxIA0U_ACsW69jBVJFwkS3VJlRXE0bWM1VyeooDiXSLOQ9Pii/s320/sciencedaily.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201992923142702930" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416211436.htm">Credit: iStockphoto/Martin Bowker</a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hhzGpOtffoubZKQGUXXGsT5FH0MQD8VUGKFO0">Water Bottlers Face Growing Opposition</a></b><br />09.04.08. Samantha Young, AP. The town of 1,300 people in far Northern California struck a deal with <u>Nestle</u> in 2003 under which the Swiss company would build the nation's largest water bottling plant to tap three of the many springs on the mountainside and bottle up to 521 million gallons of water a year. / The project is still awaiting an environmental review from the county and could be several years away from approval, having run into opposition from scientists, fishermen, conservationists and some members of the community 280 miles northeast of San Francisco.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.gcn.com/online/vol1_no1/46122-1.html">NOAA creates national drought portal</a></b><br />11.04.08. gcn. The Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration wants to start building a portal next year to furnish improved drought information to state and federal agencies that study and cope with what scientists call “the creeping disaster.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/water/82493/">More Bad Press for Nestlé in their Quest to Pilfer Spring Water</a></b><br />15.04.08. Tara Lohan, Alternet. Rural communities beware. Although we've reported it before, Nestlé's attack on rural communities and the corporation's pilfering of spring water has made the news again -- this time in Business Week. In "A Town Torn Apart: How a deal for a bottled water plant set off neighbor against neighbor in struggling McCloud, Cailf.," Michelle Conlin explains how the small NorCal town is fighting to keep the world's largest food and beverage company from taking their spring water.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/1051102.html">Say goodbye to bottled water to save environment, money</a></b><br />21.04.08. chronicle herald.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416211436.htm">Making Environmentally Friendly Plastics</a></b><br />2.04.08. Science Daily. Every year, more than <b>30 billion water bottles</b> are added to America's landfills, creating a mountainous environmental problem. But if research at Missouri University of Science and Technology is successful, the plastic bottles of the future could literally disappear within four months of being discarded.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_15/b4079042498703.htm">A Town Torn Apart by Nestlé</a></b><br />16.04.08. business week. How a deal for a bottled water plant set off neighbor against neighbor in struggling McCloud, Calif.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JE08Df04.html">Public water, privately bottled profits</a></b><br />08.05.08. asia times. India's fast-modernizing society, benefiting from economic growth of close to 9% a year, is caught up in a conflict over access to a basic resource - water - that is pitting Coca-Cola and rival bottlers of the stuff against villagers and others who want their activities more tightly regulated. / The country's bottled water industry, part of a US$100 billion global business, has been growing at triple the pace of the economy as a whole. As consumers take advantage of portable potables, residents in drought-prone areas feel their needs are being shunned and officials warn of over-exploitation of ground water resources.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/05/13/tdsb-to-examine-ban-on-sale-of-plastic-water-bottles.aspx">TDSB to examine ban on sale of plastic water bottles</a></b><br />13.05.08. Barry Hertz, national post.com Toronto<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>UPDATES</b></span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/water/89148/">Is Your City Going to Be Bottled Water-Free?</a></b><br />24.06.08. alternet. A new resolution from leading U.S. mayors shows that more cities may be ditching the bottled stuff in favor of tap. / It started with San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom, but now the rest of the country is getting on board. Last summer Newsom issued an executive order canceling San Francisco's bottled water contracts. Now, at the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which represents more than 1,100 mayors nationwide, a resolution was passed to encourage all mayors to phase out their cities' spending on bottled water and to promote tap water.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/water/89596/">Why the Oil Industry Benefits from Bottled Water Sales</a></b><br />Richard Girard, Polaris Institute/alternet. The PET plastic bottles used for bottled water can all be traced back the world's biggest oil giants.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Update: Good news</span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004409638_bottler13.html">Nestlé scales back plan for plant in California</a></b><br />13.05.08. seattle times. Nestlé SA said Monday it is scaling back plans in Northern California to build what would have been the country's largest water-bottling plant. / The announcement by Nestlé Waters North America comes after years of opposition by environmentalists and a group of residents in the rural town of McCloud.<br /><br /><br /><a id="6000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 6. Corporatizing Water</b><br /></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/blogs/water/80536/">The Water Front: What Happens When Water Is for Profit?</a></b><br />25.07.08. Zoe Maggio, Polaris Institute/alternet. A new documentary shows the stark reality of trying to make a buck off a basic necessity. "What if you lived by the largest body of fresh water in the world but could no longer afford to use it?" <a href="http://www.aboutus.org/">The Water Front, a documentary film</a> by Liz Miller, is the story of one community's determined resistance to water privatization.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/06/stories/2008040655420700.htm">Private companies roped in for drinking water schemes</a></b><br />06.04.08. hindu. com. JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Government signed agreements with two private companies on Saturday for launching two new drinking water supply schemes worth Rs.827.08 crore in the desert districts of Barmer and Nagaur. The two projects constitute the latest initiative taken under the public-private partnership model adopted in the State.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marinij.com/sanrafael/ci_8871865">Ecuadorians to discuss conflict with Bechtel</a></b><br />09.04.08. marinij. After <u>Bechtel's</u> involvement with the privatization of water sources in 2001, some Ecuadorians say there has been water contamination, flooding, public health crises and unfair billing practices.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ww4report.com/node/5340">Mexico: Pemex privatization advances</a></b><br />09.04.08. 224report. Mexican President Felipe Calderón's government has submitted a bill to the Senate that would give the state oil company Pemex greater flexibility to <u>hire outside subcontractors and seek private investment</u>. .. / However, the move comes just as Chevron has announced proposals to tap Mexico's oil and natural gas reserves. Chevron's Latin American operations chief Ali Moshiri said the company wants to make Mexico "a big part of our portfolio." .. / Calderón portrayed the move as a necessity mandated by the need to seek foreign capital and technology to access deep-water off-shore reserves.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_marti_oa_080410_water_resoration_act.htm">Water Restoration Act is anything But.......</a></b><br />11.04.08. MARTI OAKLEY, oped. The Water Restoration Act of 2007, brought to you by Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, along with others, gives the federal government complete control over every waterway, river, stream, lake, aquifer, creek, slew, swamp, underground spring and even the rain that runs off your roof. Why? Well to better protect you from polluters and to ensure water safety, and of course “national security”.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-15-094.asp">New Jersey Seeks to Outsource Pollution Cleanups</a></b><br />15.04.08. ens-newswire. Pre-empting legislative debate and the work of its own newly convened task force, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will privatize pollution control and deregulate toxic cleanups, according to statements by the agency's top official. / This decision will jeopardize public health protections and further enmesh the embattled DEP in scandal, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, PEER, argued in testimony today before a joint hearing of the state Senate and Assembly Environment Committees.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080417005390&newsLang=en">Vestara Launches EcoRexNS™ to Reduce Pharmaceutical Waste Pollution</a></b><br />17.04.08. businesswire.<br />NB: <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> <u>another</u> chemical to ‘cure’ existing chemicals? This is like giving a steroid to ‘cure’ arthritis, and then having to find another ‘cure’ for the side effects of steroids. Eventually, the patient dies from iatrogenic disease. </span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/04/21/ap4913453.html">GE unit becomes partner in ConocoPhillips water project</a></b><br />21.04.08. forbes. Oil company ConocoPhillips, and GE Water & Process Technologies, a unit of General Electric Co., said Monday that GE has become an equal partner in ConocoPhillips' water sustainability center I<u>in Qatar</u>. Financial terms were not disclosed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/water/83304/">Turkey Plans to Sell Rivers and Lakes to Corporations</a></b><br />23.04.08. Olivier Hoedeman and Orsan Senalp, Corporate Europe Observatory / alternet. The water privatization fever is hitting Turkey, just a year before the country will host the World Water Forum. / As well as privatizing water services, the government plans to sell of rivers and lakes. Turkish social movements, who hosted their own conference in Istanbul last month, suspect the Government is using the <a href="http://www.worldwaterforum5.org/">World Water Forum</a> (16 – 22 March ’09) to push through this highly controversial agenda. / The Forum is controlled by the <a href="http://www.worldwatercouncil.org/">World Water Council</a>, a private think-tank with close links to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=World_Bank"> World Bank</a> and private water multinationals. … / Tahir Ongur from the Istanbul branch of the Chamber of Geology Engineers (TMMOB) explained that the government not only wants to privatize drinking water supplies, but also the water resources themselves. .. / The government believes that allowing private firms to build dams in rivers and lakes which they also own is the best way to overcome water shortages, both for drinking water and rural irrigation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/01/8655/">One of History’s Great Atrocities: The Corporate Theft of the Public’s Natural Right to Water</a></b><br />01.05.08. Ashley Powdar, Common Dreams / C Baker. The Growing Debate on who will Control the World’s Water Supply. The current 1.1 billion people worldwide without access to potable water only opens one of the smaller windows on the injustices and the multiple casualties being wrought by private water-related industries. In fact, many are clueless to the magnitude of the victims — present and projected — of the growing water crisis as well as to the inhumane implications of the role of the private sector in regards to treating water as a commodity that can be owned and sold for profit. As of now, 2.6 billion people are at high risk for not having access to potable and an additional 1.8 million children die each year from water-related diseases.<br /><br />In the mix of chaos, despair, and confusion, which most affects the poorer elements of society, it is important to note the private corporations’ role, which some critics have identified as being among the major culprits in causing the crisis. Within recent decades, water privatization firms such as Suez, Vivendi, and RWE have bought control of a number of communities’ municipal water services, and then drastically increased the price of water; with some of them failing to effectively purify the water resources they had come to monopolize.<br /><br />An Inate Right; Water is a Means to Life; The “Blue Gold” of the 21st Century; Water Privatization in the Western Hemisphere: Mexico, Stockton, Walkerton, Cochabamba, The Price of a Bottle, Water Democracy<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.greatlakestownhall.org/opinion/issueview.php?forumid=2&topicid=1007&postid=2128&topicsubject=The%20Great%20Lakes%20and%20Humankind&dontscroll">The Great Lakes and Humankind</a></b><br />27.04.08. great lakes town hall.org. / C. Baker.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1367675/shell_and_transcanada_to_appeal_new_yorks_rejection_of_lng/">Shell and TransCanada to Appeal New York's Rejection of LNG Plan</a></b><br />02.05.08. redorbit. The two energy companies are likely to approach the US Commerce Department with an appeal to overturn the decision. It is reported that in preparation of an appeal, John Hritcko, regional project director for the Broadwater (liquefied natural gas) LNG project, has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to forward the case details to the Secretary of Commerce. The appeal will be made before May 12, 2008. / The Broadwater project was rejected [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">right decision</span>]in April by David Paterson, the governor of New York, who reportedly said that it was <b>'fundamentally wrong' to privatize open water</b>. However, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had already approved the project in March despite concerns from local officials, who <u>feared that the plant could be a potential target for an attack [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">wrong reason</span>]</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thetyee.ca/Views/2008/05/12/PublicPower/">End of Public Power in BC?</a></b><br />12.05.08. the tyee. BC woos private power firms.<br /><br /><u> South Korea</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=020000&biid=2008051326628">Sweeping Reform Set for Public Corporations</a></b><br />13.05.08, English donga. Korea Water Resources Corp. will spin off its water supply management to enhance supervision.<br /><br /><b> UPDATES </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_25/b4089040017753.htm">There Will Be Water</a></b><br />12.06.08. Susan Berfield, business week. T. Boone Pickens thinks water is the new oil—and he's betting $100 million that he's right<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/water/89982/">Is the Water Privatization Trend Ending?</a></b><br /> Julio Godoy, IPS / alternet. Paris is the latest city to take action to put water back into public hands, and they may be part of a new trend. The announcement by the Paris municipality that water services will return to public hands by 2010 is in line with a global trend of ending privatisation of such services.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.rgj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080718/MVN01/807180372/1305/BIZ01">Three water right options acquired for Walker River Basin described</a></b><br />18.07.08. rgj. Option 1 is primarily in the Wabuska area, just west of the Mason Valley Wildlife Management Area but there also a site West Walker to the south. This option involves a number of sellers including L & M Family Limited Partnership, Masini Investments LLC, and Valley Vista Ranch LLC. ... / Options 2 and 3 are situated north of Wabuska in the geothermal area of Mason Valley and are with Homestretch Energy, LLC. And Homestretch Energy, LLC.<br /><br /><a id="7000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>7. Polar Bears</b><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihFKmtKaXXAJt9AGGUtvBXvHp-kWKVBhXkTxBhgRtU3J8UqhtnKj7A_uD-7b8_DxE_soW75lfaKLmM-rq9p5qboL6-gT-WN8id7I9TR5ZPtPAkYXfL9lTL91cdbFa6lLZqGc1_/s320/polarbear.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201992768523880242" border="0" width="300" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g_jWwGoKVd8C5dxsswWHt8LN6z8wD90LIVBG0">Subhankar Banerjee</a> (AP, 2003)</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080418-AP-polar-bears.html">Polar Bear Decision Delay Meant to Protect Oil Leases?</a></b><br />Dan Joling, National Geographic. The Department of the Interior wants ten more weeks to decide whether polar bears should be listed as threatened or endangered.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-29-096.asp">Judge to Bush Administration: Decide Polar Bear Listing Now</a></b><br />29.04.08. ens. U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilkin found the Bush administration guilty of violating the Endangered Species Act by missing the deadline for a final polar bear decision by nearly four months.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080508132549.htm">Federal Polar Bear Research Critically Flawed, Forecasting Expert Asserts</a></b><br />10.05.08. Science Daily. Research done by the U.S. Department of the Interior to determine if global warming threatens the polar bear population is so flawed that it cannot be used to justify listing the polar bear as an endangered species, according to a study being published later this year in Interfaces, a journal of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g_jWwGoKVd8C5dxsswWHt8LN6z8wD90LIVBG0">US lists polar bear as threatened species</a></b><br />14.05.08. H. Josef Hebertt, AP / legitgov.<br /><br />BUT THERE IS, OF COURSE, A BUSH LOOPHOLE, IHE POLAR BEAR <b> NOT </b> PROPERLY PROTECTED.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/051508EA.shtml">US Enacts Law to Protect Polar Bears, but Only From Hunting</a></b><br />15.05.08. Leonard Doyle, Independent/Truthout. The bears will only be protected from the direct effects of hunting, and some other activities, because of limits imposed by the Interior Department. It invoked a <b>seldom used loophole to make it easier for the energy industry to actually expand activities that already threaten the bears and their habitat</b>. … / Canada has some 15,500 polar bears and it has given the polar bear its weakest classification, that of "special concern", saying the animals were in trouble but not at risk of extinction.<br /><br />The oil and gas industry of both countries fears that moves to protect the bears may end up being used as a lever to regulate carbon emissions.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1046">U.S. <em>TRUSTING OIL COMPANIES</em> TO SAFEGUARD ARCTIC WILDLIFE — I</a></b><br />15.05.08. peer.org.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">UPDATE</span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080614/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/polar_bears_oil_2"> APNewsBreak: Companies get OK to annoy [sic] polar bears</a></b><br />14.06.08. AP. Less than a month after declaring polar bears a threatened species because of global warming, the Bush administration is giving oil companies permission to annoy and potentially harm them in the pursuit of oil and natural gas.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=1069">FEDERAL WILDLIFE REPORT CENSORED</a></b><br />23.06.08. peer. A large portion of an Inspector General evaluation of federal wildlife programs has been blacked out prior to publication, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Even data tables have been excised from a report on Endangered Species Act implementation, with cutouts so extensive that the core section of the report is virtually unreadable.<br /><br />MEANWHILE<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/an-epidemic-of-extinctions-decimation-of-life-on-earth-829325.html">An epidemic of extinctions: Decimation of life on earth</a></b><br />16.05.08. Independent. Species are dying out at a rate not seen since the demise of the dinosaurs, according to a report published today – and <u>human behaviour is to blame</u>.<br /><br /><br /><a id="8000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 8. Oxygen</b><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-deadzone2-2008may02,0,1285619.story">OXYGEN POOR OCEAN ZONES ARE GROWING</a></b><br />02.05.08. LA Times / C. Baker. .. these areas of the Pacific and Atlantic cannot sustain most marine life, a new study warns.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=awmyMfXdAqZ8&refer=home">Forty-two Percent in U.S. Live in Unhealthful Air (Update1)</a></b><br />01.05.08. Nadine Elsibai, Bloomberg.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/may/13/carbonemissions.climatechange">World Carbon Dioxide Levels Highest for 650,000 Years, Says US Report</a></b><br />13.05.08. David Adam, Guardian / truthout. "The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached a record high, according to the latest figures, renewing fears that climate change could begin to slide out of control. Scientists at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii say that CO2 levels in the atmosphere now stand at 387 parts per million (ppm), up almost 40% since the industrial revolution and the highest for at least the last 650,000 years."<br /><br /><br /><a id="9000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 9. Good News </b><br /></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/03/080321125832.htm">Countering An Approaching Water Crisis</a></b><br />28.03.08. Science Daily. "As dire as the growing problems are with a lack of enough clean water in the world, I have a great deal of hope that many of these problems can be solved by increasing research into the science and technology of water purification," said Shannon, who also serves as director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center of Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems (WaterCAMPWS).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/040208EC.shtml">Women Rise Up to Tackle the Water Crisis</a></b><br />01.04.08. Rhyen Coombs, World Pulse / truthout. "The Women's Earth Alliance unites environmental advocates working to solve problems like water access and sanitation in their communities, by providing connections, resources and training."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/water/80885/">How to Change the Way We Think about Water</a></b><br />11.04.08. Jennifer Greene, World Pulse/alternet. My task is to find the language of water and to learn it to the best of my ability. .. Now I work to change how we think about water -- to shift our understanding of water as a commodity to an appreciation for water as a human right, an environmental right.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0417-13.htm">Millions of Americans Will Be Safer in the Water; House Approves Beach Water Safety Bill</a></b><br />17.04.08. common dreams. According to NRDC’s last beach water quality report, there were 25,000 beach closings and advisories – a record-breaker - because beach waters have dangerously high levels of bacteria contamination from human and animal waste. The pollution at these beaches most often comes from contaminated stormwater or inadequately treated sewage.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgDXDYkrkQ8ZnTTauWL-pk6vUYIXMchEL3K70xFp2DsJVLE0eyRIzGpua9pPAJMpLQyUV1HnQp9L5AoGd3Lf6ufb52KNcC984Reoe7l1DhQcOw-TzYS6HH1Zew18VxjDvWzqai/s320/arsenic-maps-395_tcm18-118678.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201991570228004450" border="0" /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWPiChw6loM32LwuNNqi1WFgcTTY3I0MYSrgYDvzYit81yrPc21GJ9g_Pv30cOU4B8BOuXqHEUBkddXv7tPvs_X5zGExdG228uEeGWafMIPu0QXnuo85zUvNjCjnERUjQHoTwA/s320/fluoride-map-395_tcm18-118679.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5201992077034145458" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/News/2008/April/23040801.asp">Global fluoride and arsenic contamination of water mapped</a></b><br />23.04.08. rsc, Swiss researchers have mapped the levels of arsenic and fluoride in groundwater throughout the world. They hope this new global picture will <b>provide a starting point for planning future drinking water projects, and help to avoid water contamination in developing countries</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://geology.com/nasa/chesapeake-bay-satellite-studies.shtml">NASA Satellites Aid in Chesapeake Bay Recovery</a></b><br />April 2008. geology.com. By studying the landscape around the Chesapeake, NASA spacecraft such as Landsat, Terra and Aqua are helping land managers figure out how to battle the harmful pollutants that have added to the destruction of the bay's once legendary productivity.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/200805070612.html">Uganda: Global Initiative Rescues Country's Looming Water Crisis</a></b><br />07.05.08. Bamuturaki Musinguzi, allafrica. Uganda is among the countries to benefit from a multimillion-dollar partnership to address declining supplies of fresh water and the lack of access to clean water by the world's poorest people. / The $15m Global Water Initiative will work in 13 other countries: Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Mali, Nicaragua, Niger, Senegal and Tanzania. / The Global Water Initiative (GWI) that brings together a group of seven leading international organisations: Action Against Hunger-USA, CARE, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), Oxfam America and SOS Sahel - UK was launched last in October year. CARE will be running the East African cluster. The announcement of the GWI comes at a time when more than one billion people lack access to improved water sources, and more than 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/7752bd509ec34fcc8525744300703564?OpenDocument">EPA Begins Next Phase of Cleanup at New Jersey Superfund Site</a></b><br />08.05.08. Yosemite epa. The six-acre site is located in a light industrial area in Carlstadt and was the former home to a waste processing facility that accepted various wastes for recovery and disposal. Operations ceased as a result of a court order issued in 1980, and some company officials received fines and jail terms for illegally dumping hazardous waste.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=12587">San Francisco to Pilot Cutting Edge Early Warning Contaminant Monitoring and Detection Systems that Could Benefit Utilities Across U.S.</a></b><br />09.05.08. san Francisco sentinel. The grant funds will allow the SFPUC to pilot monitoring, sampling, detection and early warning systems that could serve as a model for other water systems across the nation. New York City also recently received a similar USEPA grant, announced last month.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_9235369?nclick_check=1">Nestle scales back plans to bottle water in Northern Calif.</a></b><br />12.05.08. AP. The Nestle company on Monday said it is significantly scaling back plans in Northern California to build what would have been the country's largest water bottling plant. / The announcement by Nestle Waters North America comes after years of opposition by environmentalists and a group of residents in the rural town of McCloud.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/may2008/2008-05-12-02.asp">U.S. Coastal Waters Less Toxic Than 20 Years Ago</a></b><br />12.05.08. ens. U.S. environmental laws enacted in the 1970s are reducing overall contaminant levels in coastal waters of the United States, finds a 20 year study released today by scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA. <b>But </b> the study shows continuing elevated levels of toxic metals and oils near urban and industrial areas of the coast.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-lawater15-2008may15,0,1615373.story">L.A. prepares massive water-conservation plan</a></b><br />15.05.08. LA Times / C. Baker. The initiative would punish water wasters and limit such activities as watering lawns and washing vehicles. And it would revive a controversial effort to recycle sewage water.<br /><br /><br /><a id="10000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 10. References</b><br /></div><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/water-impending-apocalypse.html">Water: The Impending Apocalypse</a><br />Research Paper No.1.<br />(27.11.07)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Planet-Run-Provide-Drinking/dp/160109017X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208624670&sr=1-1">Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World</a><br />by Robert Redford (Foreword), Rick Smolan (Creator), Jennifer Erwitt , Earth Aware Editions, November 2007.<br /><br />Review of above book:<br /><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/businessheadlines/ci_8982606?nclick_check=1"> Photos tell story of Earth's water woes</a><br />19.04.08. Matt Nauman.<br /><br /><a href="http://water.usgs.gov/"> Water Resources of the United States</a><br />US Water information by topic. Very interesting! Further information<a href="http://water.usgs.gov/ogw/index.html"> here </a>and at US Ground Water Factsheet <a href="http://water.usgs.gov/wid/html/GW.html"> here </a><br /><br />ARCTIC REFERENCE<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Silent-Snow-Slow-Poisoning-Arctic/dp/0802142591/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210263554&sr=8-1"> Silent Snow: The Slow Poisoning of the Arctic </a> by Marla Cone, Grove Press 2006<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><a id="11000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"><b>Updates</b></span><br /></div><br /><br /><b>Since publishing this research, many articles have now appeared about the water crisis.</b> Amongst them are the following;<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9191">The Global Crisis: Food, Water and Fuel. Three Fundamental Necessities of Life in Jeopardy</a></b><br />05.06.08. Michel Chossudovsky, global research. <em> The sugar coated bullets of the "free market" are killing our children. The act to kill is unpremeditated. It is instrumented in a detached fashion through computer program trading on the New York and Chicago mercantile exchanges, where the global prices of rice, wheat and corn are decided upon. / Poverty is not solely the result of policy failures at a national level. People in different countries are being impoverished simultaneously as a result of a global market mechanism. A small number of financial institutions and global corporations have the ability to determine, through market manipulation, the standard of living of millions of people around the World. </em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/water/87224/">How Water Has Become a National Security Issue</a></b><br />06.06.08. Maude Barlow, YES! Magazine, Alternet. Water has become a key strategic security issue for the U.S. government and that has some very concerned. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/06/05/ccwater105.xml">Water crisis to be biggest world risk</a></b><br />06.06.08. Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Telegraph. A catastrophic water shortage could prove an even bigger threat to mankind this century than soaring food prices and the relentless exhaustion of energy reserves, according to a panel of global experts at the Goldman Sachs "Top Five Risks" conference.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/06/07/9464/">Life, Liberty, Water</a></b><br />06.06.08. Maude Barlow, Yes! magazine/Common Dreams/C. Baker. A global water justice movement is demanding a change in international law to ensure the universal right to clean water for all. / It’s a colossal failure of political foresight that water has not emerged as an important issue in the U.S. Presidential campaign. The links between oil, war, and U.S. foreign policy are well known. But water — whether we treat it as a public good or as a commodity that can be bought and sold-will in large part determine whether our future is peaceful or perilous. / Americans use water even more wastefully than oil. The U.S relies on non-renewable groundwater for 50 percent of its daily use, and 36 states now face serious water shortages, some verging on crisis. / Meanwhile, dwindling freshwater supplies around the world, inequitable access to water, and corporate control of water, together with impending climate change from fossil fuel emissions, have created a life-or-death situation across the planet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/home/2008/06/19/water-food-trade-tech-water08-cx_fp_0619virtual.html">Virtual Water</a></b><br />19.06.08. Fred Pearce, Forbes. Food prices are soaring around the world, triggering hunger, hoarding and a crisis in the world food trade. There have been pasta panics in Italy, tortilla wars in Mexico, bread riots from Haiti to Cairo and rice shortages from Bangladesh to the Philippines. Some blame this on biofuels. But the real culprit is water. / Once, countries largely grew their own food, but an increasing number no longer do. And for many, particularly in the arid Middle East, the prime reason is a shortage of water. They can only feed themselves through imports of thirsty food crops. Economists call the water it takes to grow these crops "virtual water." ... <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080619175522.htm">Expect More Droughts, Heavy Downpours, Excessive Heat, And Intense Hurricanes Due To Global Warming, NOAA</a></b><br />19.06.08. Science Daily. The U.S. Climate Change Science Program and the Subcommittee on Global Change Research has released a scientific assessment that provides the first comprehensive analysis of observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes in North America and U.S. territories. Among the major findings reported in this assessment are that droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes are likely to become more commonplace as humans continue to increase the atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><em>Sarah Meyer is a independent researcher living in the UK</em><br /><br />The url to Water: World Crisis is: <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/05/water-world-crisis.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/05/water-world-crisis.html</a><br />smaller url: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/3o99de">http://tinyurl.com/3o99de</a><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+</div><br /><br />Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Index+Research">Index Research</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Water">Water</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Drought">Drought</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Pollution">Pollution</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Monsanto">Monsanto</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Corporatizing+Water">Corporatizing Water</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Water+wars">Water wars</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Bottled+Water">Bottled Water</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Oxygen">Oxygen</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Polar+Bears">Polar Bears</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-73630597809434871272008-05-02T10:29:00.020+01:002009-07-08T04:10:42.155+01:00PHILIPPE SANDS, QC: THE TORTURE TEAM<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/05/philippe-sands-qc-torture-team.html&title=PHILIPPE+SANDS,+QC:+THE+TORTURE+TEAM&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/05/philippe-sands-qc-torture-team.html&title=PHILIPPE+SANDS,+QC:+THE+TORTURE+TEAM&bodytext=">Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=7363059780943487127" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=7363059780943487127" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 217px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEMtAa8BWKBNmN7t-Zd9JxA4-bqxhtUqleDq8xJB_PAPjW3iQ6YrkHqHiBoigQxSS4l4CSUQjCsSC3skwrgFCrKYS0ZFCT0JKc2Zu7Tn6Bohfy5i7V2lD0flAL2kfE2vzR3bYn/s320/P1010129.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5195721328560617570" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Philippe Sands, QC<br /> sarah meyer</span><br /></div><br /><b>Military necessity does not admit of cruelty</b>. President Lincoln, 1863. <br /><br /><a href="#1000">Updates to this article</a> Most recent update 7 July '09. <br /><br />PHILIPPE SANDS, author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Torture-Team-Rumsfelds-Betrayal-American/dp/0230603904/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209698106&sr=8-1">The Torture Team</a> was introduced last evening to a capacity-filled, chandeliered room at The Law Society, 119 Chancery Lane, London WC2. QCs, lawyers and distinguished guests were present, eager to hear the person who was being sponsored by The Guardian. Editor, ALAN RUSBRIDGE opened the evening: Mr. Sands has a way of orchestrating things. What motivates him? He has a passionate sense of justice and a belief in how lawyers should behave. I am here as a fan and am a big admirer of what he does, and of his bravery, Mr. Rusbridge said. The Guardian published several articles (see References) concerning this extraordinary, and quietly spoken, Englishman. Jonathan Cooper, who organises the excellent <a href="http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/humanRights/teaching/Default.htm"> Human Rights course </a> at The London School of Economics, also spoke briefly. <br /><br />The evening opened with a showing of Spencer Tracy in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055031/"> Judgment at Nuremburg</a>. It was the judgment in this film that inspired Mr. Sands to start interviewing the team of lawyers who influenced the U.S. Government to instigate, in its Action Memo, the violatation of Common <a href="http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm">Article Three of the Geneva Conventions</a>, spoken about as Geneva by President Bush.<br /><br />Mr. Sands spoke for over an hour, giving a synopsis of his book about the lawyers involved in decisions concerning new tactics to get information from U.S. prisoners. What were the crucial issues, what is the centre of gravity, he wondered. They emerged. He was particularly interested in these two subjects, he said.<br /><br />1. Why had the Geneva Colnventions been put aside<br />2. What was the relationship between Bybee / Yoo and the decision Rumsfeld took.<br /> <br />There were people, including Republicans, who were against the eighteen new techniques for interrogating detainees. These moles were of help to Mr. Sands, he said.<br /><br />I am not a journalist, I am a lawyer, he said. Perhaps this is why lawyers involved in this important decision agreed to speak with him. <br /><br />Basically, <b>the people were involved in a coverup, willing to shaft individuals in order to protect their own backsides</b>, he said, with reference to the disgraceful way both Diane Beaver (Staff Judge Advocate, JTF=GTMO) and Major General Michael Dunlavey (Joint Task Force 170) were treated in the governments urgency to hide the paper trail. <br /><br />Addington doesnt leave paper trails, never gives interviews to anyone. He is the brains behind it all, said Mr. Sands.<br /><br />I had earlier asked Mr. Sands if he had heard from any of those he interviewed. Dunlavey has not responded, nor has anyone. He was not sure the book is available yet in the U.S. <br /><br />On p. 98, Mr. Sands writes: .. there was a widespread fear of more attacks. A general mood of anxiety pervaded the country. Surely, I said, this anxiety and fear was kickstarted in the White House, and helped by the media. And, I further asked, isnt 'Al -Qaeda' sprinkled around like birdseed by this administration? Mr. Sands smiled. I didnt write opinions. I let the reader sort that out.<br /><br />I had not reached the appropriate page in <u>Torture Team</u>, and so asked the second question related to a reference on p. 101. Mr. Sands wrote: some detainees had tenaciously resisted current interrogation methods. This was a reference to al-Qahtani and another detainee whose identity was and remains classified and secret. Did he know who this classified and secret person was? Slahi, prisoner number 239 (p. 139, 179) Mr. Sands said.<br /><br /><u>Torture Team</u> is a MUST READ book.<br /><br />MR SANDS IS TO TESTIFY AT A HEARING ON TORTURE LIABILITY BEFORE THE HOUSE SUBCOMITTEE ON THE CONSTITUTION, CIVIL RIGHTS, AND CIVIL LIBERTIES AT 10 AM ON Tuesday, 6 MAY. The hearing is entitled 'From the Department of Justice to Guantanamo Bay'. Marjorie Cohn, author and Professor of Law at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, will also provide testimony. Mr. Yoo declined the invitation to testify. There are rumours that other lawyers have refused the invitation to testify. ??<br /><br />REFERENCES<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/02/robicheauxs-nightmare-us-rendition.html">Robicheaux's Nightmare: US Rendition, Guantanamo, Torture in February 2008</a> (UPDATED)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/philippe_sands/">Nasty Bugs</a>: Philippe Sands (Guardian 12.03.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/audio/2008/apr/19/philippe.sands.guantanamo.torture">I Googled 24 and Jack Bauer'</a>(Guardian 19.04.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/19/guantanamo.usa"> Top Bush aides pushed for Guantánamo </a>torture (Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian 19.04.08) <br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/19/humanrights.interrogationtechniques"> Stress, hooding, noise, nudity, dogs</a> (P. Sands, Guardian 19.04.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ken_gude/2008/04/tortured_explanations.html">Tortured explanations</a>, K. Gude, Guardian 19.04.08)<br /><br />Mr. Slahi is mentioned in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/105-9689343-7454053?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=%20Guantanamo+Files&x=8&y=20"> The Guantanamo Files </a> by Andy Worthington, pp. 221-2; 286-8)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/guantanamo200805"> The Green Light </a> (by P. Sands, Vanity Fair May 2008)<br /><br /><a id="1000"></a>UPDATES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/08/20/2340909.htm">US accused of war crimes over torture methods</a></b><br />20.08.08. ABC. The use of torture by the US Government in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 has come under increasing criticism. ... / In his new book, [QC] lawyer Philippe Sands argues that the responsible officials, and the lawyers who advised them, should be charged with war crimes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-01/columns/considering-the-war-crimes-trial-of-the-bush-administration/">Considering the War Crimes Trial of the Bush Administration</a></b><br />01.10.08. Nat Henhoff, Village Voice. Over the weekend of September 13 and 14, a historic gathering in Andover, Massachusetts, took place and garnered little media attention. But at that two-day conference, serious plans were laid for a war-crimes trial of the Bush administration. Convened by Lawrence Velvel, dean of the Massachusetts School of Law, the scheduled participants included two people who have been cited as authorities in this column.<br /><br />The first was Philippe Sands, director of the Centre of International Courts and Tribunals at London's University College and the author of Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values (Palgrave Macmillan), and the other was Jordan Paust, a University of Houston law professor and the author of Beyond the Law (Cambridge University Press). The latter, a peerless documentation of the Bush regime's lawlessness, includes this quote: "Not since the Nazi era have so many lawyers been so clearly involved in international crimes concerning the treatment and interrogation of persons detained during war." (As it happened, Paust was unable to attend due to the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.)<br /><br />Among the 120 legal authorities and scholars at the conference, Dean Velvel notes, was "Ann Wright, a former U.S. Army colonel and U.S. Foreign Service official who holds a State Department Award for Heroism and who taught the Geneva Conventions and the Law of Land Warfare at the Special Warfare Section at Fort Bragg, North Carolina." Also present was Francis Boyle, a professor of international law at the University of Illinois, who drafted the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989 and was earlier responsible for the U.S. implementing legislation for the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention.<br /><br />These war-crimes probers are of a significantly higher moral and intellectual grade than the general run of cable-television and Internet pundits. Read more! <br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10554">The Prosecution for War Crimes of President Bush</a></b><br />13.10.08. Sherwood Ross Assoc. Press Release, globalresearch.ca/. <b> Massachusetts law school Dean Lawrence Velvel will chair a Steering Committee to pursue the prosecution for war crimes of President Bush and culpable high-ranking aides after they leave office Jan. 20th.</b> Besides Velvel, members will include Philippe Sands, Bem Davis, Majorie Cohn, Chris Pyle, Elaine Scarrym Peter Weiss, David Swanson, Kristina Borjesson, Collene Costello, Valeria Gheorghiu, Andy Worthington. <br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/18/renditon-usa-georgebush">THE TORTURE TIME BOMB</a></b><br />18.10.08. Philippe Sands, The Guardian. As the US presidential election reaches a climax against the background of the financial crisis, another silent, dark, time bomb of an issue hangs over the two candidates: torture. For now, there seems to be a shared desire not to delve too deeply into the circumstances in which the Bush administration allowed the US military and the CIA to embrace abusive techniques of interrogation - including waterboarding, in the case of the CIA - which violate the Geneva conventions and the 1984 UN torture convention. / Buried away in this testimony lies the most dangerous material of all: evidence which may establish that abuses on detainees in Iraq in September 2003, in the period perhaps including the events at Abu Ghraib, were the result of decisions taken at the highest levels of the administration. The administration has long proclaimed it did not allow aggressive interrogations in Iraq, since the Geneva conventions applied. Last month we learned this was false.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/apr/21/dick-cheney-torture-fox-hannity">Publish and Be Damned, Mr Cheney</a></b><br />21.04.09. Philippe Sands, Guardian. <em> Dick Cheney wants classified material released to show that torture 'worked'. Let's see it all waterboarding videos included</em>. VIDEO: Sean Hannity interviews Dick Cheney, Part 2 of 4. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2009/05/obama-lawyers-administration"> Q&A: Phillipe Sands</a> (07.05.09. New Statesman) <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jun/18/tony-blair-secret-torture-policy">Tony Blair knew of secret policy on terror interrogations</a></b><br />18.06.09. Ian Cobain, Guardian. Letter reveals former PM was aware of guidance to UK agents. … The policy almost certainly breaches international human rights law, according to Philipps Sands QC, one of the world’s leading experts in the field, because it takes no account of Britain’s obligation to avoid complicity in torture under the UN convention against torture. Despite this, the secret policy went on to underpin British intelligence agencies which had become the UK’s allies in the “war against terror.” <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/21/iraq-inquiry-philippe-sands">This Iraq inquiry must be transparent </a></b><br />21.06.09. Philippe Sands, Guardian. The role of chairman is crucial. I don't know Sir John Chilcot and have no reason to doubt that he is a dedicated civil servant who believes himself to be acting in the public interest. But questions abound. / … the British public should form its own view as to Lord Goldsmith's explanation of the differences between his secret legal opinion of 7 March 2003 and his parliamentary answer of 17 March 2003, or the explanation given by Sir John Scarlett and Tony Blair as to the failure of the Joint Intelligence Committee to advise on Iraq's WMD capability at any time after 18 December 2002. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jul/08/mi5-mi6-acccused-of-torture">The truth about torture</a></b><br />08.07.09. Ian Cobain, Guardian. there is mounting evidence that torture is still regarded by some agents of the British state as a useful and legitimate investigative tool. There is evidence too that in the post-9/11 world, government officials have been prepared to look the other way while British citizens, and others, have been tortured in secret prisons around the world. It is also clear that an official policy, devised to govern British intelligence officers while interrogating people held overseas, resulted in people being tortured. / The Guardian has established that Tony Blair, when prime minister, was aware of the existence of this policy. What he knew of its terrible consequences is less clear: he has repeatedly been asked, in a series of letters from the Guardian, what he believed to have happened to those who were subjected to the policy, but he has repeatedly failed to answer the question. There is a growing suspicion that Blair could not have been alone, and that other very senior figures in government may have been aware of the existence of Britain's secret interrogation policy. What did David Blunkett and Jack Straw, the ministers responsible for MI5 and MI6 at the time, know about the policy and its consequences for people detained in the so-called war on terror? They too have declined to say, stating that it is the British government's policy not to condone torture, but that they cannot comment further because of a number of forthcoming court cases. … On 9 January 2002, a few hours after Blair became the first western leader to visit Afghanistan's new post-Taliban leader, Hamid Karzai, an aircraft carrying the first group of MI5 interrogators touched down at Bagram airfield, 32 miles north of Kabul. A number of MI6 officers were already in Afghanistan, however, and the following day one of them conducted the first British interrogation of a detainee held by US forces. Immediately after the interrogations ended, senior intelligence officers back in London received a clear signal that they and government ministers would need to find innovative ways of co-operating with their US allies in the new, gloves-off world. … / <u> Shoulder to shoulder with the US</u> <b>Sands</b>points out that article 4 of the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture, to which the UK is a party, criminalises "an act by any person which constitutes complicity or participation in torture", and that the 1998 Rome statute of the international criminal court extends criminal responsibility where military commanders and civilian superiors "should have known" that international crimes were being committed but "failed to take all necessary and reasonable measures within his or her power to prevent or repress their commission". The meaning of complicity, he adds, is clarified by a 1998 judgment by the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Its appeal chamber treated "complicity" as being akin to "aiding and abetting" or "assistance" that could be "physical or in the form of moral support". A crime could be committed even if the abettor did not take any tangible action, provided the actions "directly and substantially" assisted and where there was "knowledge ... that torture is being practised". / According to Sands, the instructions "may have caused British personnel to cross a line into complicity", and that ministers who approved the policy may also be culpable. … / <u>Drill another hole in his buttocks' </u>: (details of torture); <u> MI5's 11th commandment: Thou shalt not get caught </u>; Related stories listed. <br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><em>Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the U.K.</em><br /><br />The url to PHILIPPE SANDS, QC: THE TORTURE TEAM is <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/05/philippe-sands-qc-torture-team.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/05/philippe-sands-qc-torture-team.html</a><br />Shorter url: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/4wf5ox">http://tinyurl.com/4wf5ox</a><br /><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br />TAGS: <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Index+Research">Index Research</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Philippe+Sands">Philippe Sands</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Torture+Team">Torture Team</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Geneva+Conventions">Geneva Conventions</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Rumsfeld">Rumsfeld</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Addington">Addington</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Bybee">Bybee</a>, <a rel="tag" href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search/label/Yoo">Yoo</a>Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13189592.post-75767623329485822592008-04-30T05:40:00.008+01:002008-09-25T09:27:14.760+01:00INDEX ON AFGHANISTAN APRIL 2008: FAMINE<table width="100%"><tbody><tr width="100%"><td valign="top">by Sarah Meyer<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/">Index Research</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/index-on-afghanistan-april-2008-famine.html&title=INDEX+ON+AFGHANISTAN+APRIL+2008:+FAMINE&bodytext="><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-pmnexVIduNZthkWZ0ZHx49Wdp7L4oogH1ixbbu3yhJmLGpeCXquBoCo1z7u04Qg29f3fI9SpZ1NtPBatyN1eRnmoPWwsa27REGEfaUljuOhGcjyBS4o0a4hqrPVzV-nPIfl6/s320/digg.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5116668526926548930" border="0" /></a> <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/index-on-afghanistan-april-2008-famine.html&title=INDEX+ON+AFGHANISTAN+APRIL+2008:+FAMINE&bodytext="><br />Digg this</a></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><span class="item-action"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=7576762332948582259" title="Email Post"><span class="email-post-icon"><img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif" /></span></a></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=13189592&postID=7576762332948582259" title="Email Post"><br />Email this</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQJ72n3C6R_cZfKTHnzOb81VKeBqtN0Ww8dHEa8DB8phrU4gOELXA2MW8a-aX_2Z3TBEVyoyZpIo2GAQ0-_JQt6pBAmbLEOhXwaYTZaFMQB4cYKPe3S2K_dbNawVySRUJ5_Jxf/s320/survive.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194374800478746610" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/10237798@N08/1739884440/in/pool-584004@N22">SURVIVAL</a></span><br /></div><br /><br /><b><em>We have raised the beaks of our souls to you.<br />Give us a grain of wheat, our dream. Give it. Give it to us.</em></b>”<br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Victims-Map-Adonis/dp/0863565247/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209015588&sr=8-1"> Mahmud Darwish</a><br /><br /><br /><a id="1000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 1. Preface: Famine in Afghanistan </b><br /></div><br />There was a terrible <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-disaster-winters.html"> winter disaster</a> in Afghanistan. NATO paid little heed. The lives of Afghan people are untenable. Afghanistan is one of the 11 <a href="http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080413/Columns/inside.html"> hunger-prone countries</a> heading towards a "food emergency."<br /><br />The world food crisis has been caused by the <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19759.htm"> World Bank</a>, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=International_Monetary_Fund"> IMF</a>, the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2003/sep/02/globalisation.wto">WTO</a>, The Pentagon, <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/02/pnac-rebuilding-americas-defenses.html"> PNACers</a> and corporate sharks.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2003/05/31/enslaved-by-free-trade/">Free Trade</a>” is a misnomer and <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10305.htm"> ‘globalisation’</a> does not work. Wheat and rice are becoming as precious and sought-after as oil. (cont. below)<br /><br />The famine in Afghanistan is mirrored by the famine within the US-NATO mindset. The White House and US-NATO suffer from a poverty of imagination. The recent NATO conference was a disaster for Afghanistan’s needs. Did any NATO members read the <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-nato-failure.html#2000"> 17 reports </a>on Afghanistan? <a href="http://www.nato.int/issues/afghanistan/index.html">NATO</a> faffed around with money-making missile shield discussions and memberships. They passed a “three fold” <a href="http://www.nato.int/issues/afghanistan/index.html"> “Strategic Vision</a>:”<br /><br /> • through leadership of the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), an international force of some 47,000 troops (including National Support Elements) that assists the Afghan authorities in extending and exercising its authority and influence across the country, creating the conditions for stabilisation and reconstruction;<br /><br /> • a Senior Civilian Representative, responsible for advancing the political-military aspects of the Alliance’s commitment to the country, who works closely with ISAF, liaises with the Afghan government and other international organisations, and maintains contacts with neighbouring countries.<br /><br /> • a substantial programme of cooperation with Afghanistan, concentrating on defence reform, defence institution-building and the military aspects of security sector reform.<br /><br />Bush gave an overused 9/11 propaganda <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7325632.stm"> speech </a>: <b>"If we do not defeat the <em> terrorists</em> in Afghanistan, we will face them on our soil" </b> - not to be compared with speeches of <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2564.htm"> Martin Luther King</a>.<br /><br />The U.S. government repetitive phrases and words need examining. World governments and the international media have been infected by <a href="http://www.the-american-interest.com/ai2/article.cfm?Id=418&MId=19"> White House propaganda </a>since 9/11:<br /><b><br />* Harm national security<br /><br />* Al Qaeda<br /><br />* Criminal gangs<br /><br />* Enemy / enemies / enemy combatant<br /><br />* Evil<br /><br />* Extremists<br /><br />* Militants<br /><br />* Outlaws<br /><br />* Radical<br /><br />* Rogue (states, elements, etc)<br /><br />* Terrorists</b><br /><br />One has to ask if rules that have been / are being passed are to assist “<em>national security</em>” or to line contractors’ pockets.<br /><br />The following research will italicize all words and phrases used to further the U.S. so-called “<b>War on Terror</b>”.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br /><u>Click on the subject in which you are interested:</u><br /><b><br />1. <a href="#1000">Preface: Famine in Afghanistan</a><br />2. <a href="#2000">Afghanistan:</a> Man-Made Famine; Water; Women and Children; Refugees; Slide Toward Mayhem , Taliban, Karzai<br />3. <a href="#3000">Opium</a><br />4. <a href="#4000">Pakistan:</a> Food; The ‘Tribal Belt’; New Government; and US; Nuclear; Enter China<br />5. <a href="#5000">Aid</a><br />6. <a href="#6000">United States:</a> US Troops; $s; US food crisis; Internet & Media; Semantics; <em>Al Qaeda</em> propaganda; Understanding America; “<em>War on Terror</em>.”<br />7. <a href="#7000">Contracts and Contractors</a><br />8. <a href="#8000">Oil and Gas:</a> The Great Game<br />9. <a href="#9000">World Food Crisis;</a> War on Consumer<br />10. <a href="#10000">US-NATO:</a> Reports; Buildup to NATO summit in Bucharest; Sycophancy; Nato Summit in Bucharest; Summit Obituaries; US Spin; Post NATO summit<br />11. <a href="#11000">US-NATO Coalition:</a> Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, UK<br />12. <a href="#12000">Human Rights:</a> General; Rendition; Torture; Guantanamo; War Crimes<br />13. <a href="#13000">Some Deaths:</a> Afghan, Americans, Australians, Canadians, Danish, Dutch, English, Indian, Pakistani<br />14. <a href="#14000">Future Deaths:</a> DU<br /></b><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><a id="2000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <b> 2. Afghanistan</b><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiom5rRhJnihYaWei2M7QGboVMphG7b8FGibPVd9N7_WdM9HnW2z5Ee_ozEQ8OAFuYzx6LKZV6R3RMd2gQ90WEMnv-iPFGgY4QFT80JRTV9qLWQ03e5LX1VlgbGPdsjJpC2W2sG/s320/hard_worker.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194374637269989346" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/10237798@N08/1739918714/in/pool-584004@N22/">HARD WORKER</a> </span><br /></div><br />“A MAN-MADE FAMINE”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=77739">AFGHANISTAN: Over 400,000 people receive food aid amid soaring prices</a></b><br />13.04.08. irin news. Skyrocketing food prices, particularly for wheat flour, and a shortfall in domestic agricultural production have pushed millions of vulnerable Afghans into the "high risk" category of food insecurity, UN and Afghan officials say.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sundaytimes.lk/080413/Columns/inside.html">Rising food prices: We are all in deep trouble</a></b><br />13.04.08. Thalif Dean, Sunday Times. The steep rise in the price of wheat, corn, rice, maize and bread has already sparked demonstrations and/or riots in Egypt, Cameroon, Haiti and Burkina Faso. The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has warned of impending political and social unrest, specifically in countries where 50 to 60 percent of a family's income is spent on food. A rise in both fuel and food prices has also triggered unrest in Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal. And the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has identified 11 countries as "hunger's global hotspots." Sri Lanka is one of the 11 hunger-prone countries heading towards a "food emergency", the others being <b>Afghanistan</b>, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnISL218886.html">No food price relief seen for poor Afghans</a></b><br />14.04.08. Africa reuters / ICH. Top finance and development officials from around the world called in Washington on Sunday for urgent action to stem rising food prices, warning that social unrest will spread unless the cost of basic staples is contained.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0804143105181048.htm">Pakistan, Afghan forces exchange fire over wheat flour smuggling</a></b><br />14.04.08. irna.ir / ICH. Pakistani and Afghan border security forces exchanged fire on Monday after the Pakistani forces tried to stop 'smuggling of flour' to the neighboring country, officials said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://the-mound-of-sound.blogspot.com/2008/04/loosening-opiums-grip-on-afghanistan.html">Loosening Opium's Grip on Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.04.08. the mound of sound. It sounds like a "win-win" proposition. Rising grain prices, especially for wheat, may be enough to entice Afghan farmers to grow grain instead of opium poppies. In fact, UN experts say a switchover would allow Afghanistan to enjoy a food surplus instead of the serious shortages now faced. [NB: watch the corporate world move in on this one?]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=12055&size=A">Afghanistan could feed its population and avert the world food crisis</a></b><br />18.04.08. asia news.it. All it would have to do is replace its massive opium production with wheat, and it could feed the Afghan population, 70% of which suffers from hunger. A study by the FAO, the UN food and agriculture agency, has revealed that by devoting more money to irrigation systems, this dream could become reality<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/19/news/Afghan-Rare-Disease-Deaths.php">WHO: Up to 10 dead in Afghanistan from rare liver disease; wheat contamination suspected</a></b><br />19.04.08. IHT. At least 161 people were also hospitalized with Gulran disease in Herat province on the Iranian border, said Peter Graaff, resident representative of the U.N. World Health Organization. / A toxic weed called charmak grows in the area and contains chemicals that can cause Gulran disease, WHO said. Graaff said the disease is not new but rare, and has killed as many as 10 people in recent weeks… / The Afghan Red Crescent Society received $14,000 to purchase new wheat to replace suspect supplies in the district as a precautionary measure, said Graziella Leite Piccolo, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kabul.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-33130420080420">Scarred and depressed, more Afghans turn to drugs</a></b><br />20.04.08. in. Reuters. Scarred by decades of turmoil and grief, 66 percent of Afghans suffer from depression or some form of mental disorder, and an increasing number are turning to illegal drugs, a top health official said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/22/asia/AS-GEN-Afghan-Food-Relief.php">Afghan government to buy US$50 million (€31.4 million) food relief as prices skyrocket</a></b><br />22.04.08. IHT. Afghanistan has allocated US$50 million (€31.4 million) to buy food from neighboring countries, an official said Tuesday, amid skyrocketing prices of food staples like wheat. / Panicked Afghans have rushed to shops in recent days to purchase rice, flour and cooking oil. In one shop in Kabul, 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of flour was US$1 (€0.63) on Tuesday, up from 80 U.S. cents (€0.50) on Sunday. / The U.N. World Food Program says the cost of a kilogram of wheat in Afghanistan has nearly doubled from 32 U.S. cents (€0.20) last year to 60 U.S. cents (€0.38) in March.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUSISL327679">Afghans hit hard by rising world food prices</a></b><br />23.04.08. Abdul Saboor, Reuters. Already one of the poorest countries in the world, Afghanistan has been hit hard by the rising price of food and while some Afghans have taken to the streets to protest most wonder how they will get by. / Largely reliant on imports of wheat and flour, Afghanistan has been particularly badly hit as Pakistan, faced with its own food problems, has restricted the flow of flour to its neighbour.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jrXuD8k3LglE8wt_ns5IrQfAyt-g">Afghans protest over rocketing food prices</a></b><br />23.04.08. AFP. About 400 people demonstrated in eastern Afghanistan against skyrocketing food prices, witnesses said, in the country's first protest at food costs rising worldwide. / The demonstrators blocked a key road linking the eastern town of Jalalabad to the capital Kabul and demanded the government step in to control prices at food markets.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=140988">Afghan assembly wants tax lifted on food imports</a></b><br />24.04.08. Reuters. Faced with rising food prices that have seen protesters take to the streets, Afghanistan's lower house of parliament on Thursday demanded the removal of all taxes on food imports.<br /><br /><br />WATER<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1TSUQ8e2pFwwOPJAWfNvOHq2oeNdah1CIBKKl5wUOneGm7-hETbjoAZyc37gV9E12dlNt4ZeG0Y84btJ2Mk2Cofo6OxAmr9ggRcUJlbfvgtHv0aUKYDPGpVisH9v7dXdvRLoW/s320/HinduKush.hmedium.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194374461176330194" border="0" /> <span style="font-size:85%;">This satellite view shows Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountains, where glaciers are melting<br />at an alarming rate. <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24127215/"> Photo Jeff Schmaltz / NASA-GSFC </a></span><br /></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24127215/">Melting mountains called a water 'time bomb'</a></b><br />15.04.08. MSNBC. From U.S. to Afghanistan, climate is changing what millions rely on. / Glaciers and mountain snow are melting earlier in the year than usual, meaning the water has already gone when millions of people need it during the summer when rainfall is lower, scientists warned on Monday.<br /><br /><br />WOMEN AND CHILDREN<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfmc76_vomWkxx_O7vA9zXlMvCjdTYvf3QrvBHDArom-t0sFFbUYUkGzqKZeJEQQZpX19foADC3abYTHtlJlnD6hc3ZZhQgV15r5e0lEwCiQGdypHJJLr7fzdGy9XeEwCbn0oS/s320/afghan_mother.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194374328032344002" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/10237798@N08/1739000229/in/pool-584004@N22/">POOR </a></span><br /></div><br /><br /><u>Infant deaths</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19748.htm">War Crimes in Occupied Afghanistan </a></b><br />15.04.08. Gideon Polya, ICH.<br />The annual infant death rate in Occupied Afghanistan (6.2%) is 51 times that in Occupier Australia, 38 times that in Occupier US and similar to the “annual death rate” of 10.2% for Australian prisoners of war of the Japanese in World War 2 – a war crime for which key Japanese leaders were tried and hanged (for details and documentation see: <a href="http://mwcnews.net/content/view/21671/42/">http://mwcnews.net/content/view/21671/42/</a> ).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=136498">Only 35 pct of Afghan schoolchildren are girls-aid group</a></b><br />21.04.08. wiredispatch.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4695501&page=1">The Terrible Plight of Afghan Children</a></b><br />21.04.08. Tan EE Lyn, ABC / ICH. Afghanistan Struggles to Provide Decent Healthcare to Children. "<em>The private hospitals are only for rich businessmen. Poor people have to use government hospitals and if they can't help, the children die</em>," said the young father from Ghazni province as he unwrapped a piece of paper to show a brown pebble measuring half a centimetre in diameter.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/05/AR2008040502600.html?hpid=moreheadlinesAfghans%20Battle%20Drug%20Addiction">Treatment Centers for Women Reflect Increasing Opium Use</a></b><br />06.04.08. Washington Post. Gul is one of 20 women in residential treatment at the Sanga Amaj center in Afghanistan's capital. The small, two-story clinic near Kabul University is one of 40 drug treatment clinics across Afghanistan run by international aid organizations. / More than six years after U.S.-led forces launched a military campaign here against the ruling Taliban movement, drug addiction is fast becoming a major concern for the government. With opium production reaching an all-time high of 6,000 tons last year, according to the United Nations, domestic addiction rates in this nation of nearly 32 million have also soared. A 2005 U.N. report estimated that Afghanistan was home to about 1 million drug abusers.<br /><br />A story on the Sanga Amaj center (BBC. 28.08.07) can be read <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6965837.stm"> here</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/04/expelled-afghanistan-female-mp.php">Expelled Afghanistan female MP petitions for reinstatement</a></b><br />05.04.08. Jurist. Former Afghan parliamentarian Malalai Joya [BBC profile] said Saturday that she has hired a lawyer and is now fighting her controversial May 2007 removal from the Wolesi Jirga [IRIN backgrounder], the lower house of the Afghan parliament [official website]. Joya was expelled [JURIST report] after she compared the parliament to a stable in a private television interview.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0421/p01s03-wosc.html">Afghan lawmakers push cultural bans of Taliban era</a></b><br />21.04.08. CS Monitor. A draft proposal put forth last week would ban loud music, women and men mingling in public, billiards, and more.<br /><br /><br />REFUGEES<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQjB-NaO5hOR4UTH7hRylTwElDL2gqQoLgzcJqpAKzBRmOBh2nOtrSOz-XGsNkcQO-KZK-cYGcHgu7C07Yyepoqp4B4DPnbOustI2xUcKVOh2j8IZ8YQTb9OoLHFWIlPesjO2X/s320/refugees.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194374053154437042" border="0" /><a href="http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=434057&no=382342&rel_no=1">©2008 Daud Khan</a><br /></div><br />In Afghanistan, the<a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=42862&s2=09"> Humanitarian crisis worsens</a>, says Red Cross.<br />08.04.08. Adnkronos International/uruknet. 'The harsh reality is that in large parts of Afghanistan, little development is taking place," he said. /"<em>Instead, the conflict is forcing more and more people to flee their homes. Their growing humanitarian needs and those of other vulnerable people must be met as a matter of urgency</em>."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/15/AR2008041502895_pf.html">After Decades, Pakistan Forces Thousands of Afghans to Leave</a></b><br />16.04.08. Washington Post/antiwar. Officials Cite Extremism, Economics as Reasons for Closure of Camp in Northwest<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=434057&no=382342&rel_no=1">Refugees Stranded Under Open Sky</a></b><br />16.04.08. D. Khan, English oh my news.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=14169">UN warns Pakistan over Afghan refugee repatriation plan</a></b><br />18.04.08. the news.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/indian-afghan-asylum-seekers-languish-in-swedish-prison_10039956.html">Indian, Afghan asylum seekers languish in Swedish prison</a></b><br />20.04.08. thaiindian. Two asylum seekers from South Asia - one a Kashmiri Hindu and the other an Afghan Sikh - are languishing in a Swedish migrant detention centre outside Stockholm. Dhillow Singh, the 37-year-old Kashmiri who came to Sweden illegally five years ago, has been at the Marsta detention centre for eight months now and, according to a psychiatrist, is under severe depression and even suicidal. Harmid Singh, a 26-year-old Afghan Sikh, came even earlier. The two men don’t know what the next day or even the next few hours of any given day may hold for them. As it happens to scores of their fellow inmates routinely every day, either <u>can be picked up any moment in a hermetically sealed police armoured vehicle</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2189625/">To Leave or Not To Leave?</a></b><br />22.04.08. Anna Husarska, slate. After decades in Pakistan, thousands of refugees return "home" to Afghanistan.<br /><br /><br />“SLIDE TOWARDS MAYHEM”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://globalpolitician.com/24366-afghanistan">Afghanistan: The Rats Abandon the Sinking Ship</a></b><br />30.03.08. Nasir Shansab, global policical. What I saw on a visit to Afghanistan in February 2008, combined with the decisions some of the coalition countries have made, convinced me that Afghanistan ’s gradual slide towards mayhem has accelerated. This is what I mean: The Norwegian government announced that it would close its embassy in Kabul , the first coalition government to do so. Such embassy closures bring to mind the gradual embassy closings of the 1980s during the war of resistance against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, leading to the complete abandonment of that country and the emergence of the Taliban in the mid 1990s.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19721.htm">It's Occupation, Not War</a></b><br />03.04.08. Charley Reese , anti-war/ICH. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ended some years ago. In Iraq, the war ended with the fall of Saddam Hussein's government; in Afghanistan, with the fall of the Taliban government. <u>What's been happening since is occupation and resistance to occupation</u>. / <u> It's always helpful to call things by the right name</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1399159.php/UN_envoy_says_international_efforts_in_Afghanistan_&quottoo_fragmented%22">UN envoy says international efforts in Afghanistan "too fragmented"</a></b><br />09.04.08. s. asia news.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041608J.shtml">Busy in Iraq, US Also Faces Surging Violence in Afghanistan</a></b><br />15.04.08. Jonathan S. Landay, McClatchy Newspapers / Truthout. While America's attention remains focused on Iraq ,violence is escalating in Afghanistan, worrying senior U.S. defense officials and commanders who're struggling to find some 7,000 more American and European troops to combat resurgent Taliban and al Qaida forces.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav041708b.shtml">AFGHANISTAN: NEW APPROACHES NEEDED TO DEFEAT <em>INSURGENCY</em> - EXPERTS</a></b><br />17.04.08. Richard Weitz, Eurasia net. Recent gains [sic] made by American troops in Afghanistan could easily be squandered, unless the international community redoubles its commitment to the strife-torn country’s political and economic reconstruction process. To promote success, two prominent security experts argue, counter-insurgency efforts in both Afghanistan and Pakistan should be closely coordinated. / Such were the findings of the two American civilian counterinsurgency specialists – Bruce Hoffman and Seth Jones - who recently returned from Afghanistan, where they spent time with the 82nd US Airborne Division, and visited four Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKq_CU3a5an5u03-ieZFn2tuRY9uZjYOlkL6bYJg-DNqoP0D0rNfNRD8TwP-qnSBzGfC9THEd7n9tFCt2SXXaqR76udLNEdXWeCzW1mM2eGr9GH4S0cBpME_o4G9mHxXCfdr8X/s320/afghan_soldier.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194373894240647074" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Afghanistan is still, however, a work in progress. It remains one of the most heavily-mined countries in the world. It still suffers from insurgent Taliban attacks, its economy is addicted to opium, its people face constant food instability, and the farmers continually fight the effects of drought.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradhuntersplanetcaravan/336855860/"> AFGHAN SOLDIER </a></span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/ASIN-7DTRX8?OpenDocument">Assessing the overall security situation in Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.04.08. International Crisis Group (ICG), Relief Web. Speech by Nick Grono, Deputy President, International Crisis Group, DCAF - NATO Parliamentary Assembly Seminar on "Stabilising Afghanistan: Developing Security, Securing Development." General; The Figures; Perceptions of security.<br /><br /><b>The sad reality is that Afghanistan has suffered from sustained conflict for almost thirty years. The enduring paradigm is that of abusive power-holders preying on the local populations. The power-holders change – absolute monarchs, Afghan communists, Soviet military, mujahedeen, Taliban, and now re-empowered warlords -- but the problem remains the same: highly personalised rule, a culture of impunity, and the abuse of large sections of the population on ethnic, regional, tribal, or sectarian grounds</b>.<br /><br />The U.S. and its allies reinforced this pattern of grievance and impunity in 2001 and 2002 by outsourcing the fighting and stabilisation operations to discredited and largely disempowered warlords and commanders. … The result is festering grievances and an alienated population that often has little faith in its leadership and offers rich pickings for <em>insurgent</em>recruitment.<br /><br /><br /><u> The Taliban</u><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=taliban55fighters.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=taliban55fighters.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?p=42682">Taliban fighters</a></span><br /></div><br /><br />VIDEO.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RC1GlLfw2kU">Taliban fighters regrouping after winter snow</a> (02.04.08)<br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usnews.com/blogs/news-desk/2008/4/7/iran-is-not-providing-militarily-significant-aid-to-the-taliban-says-a-us-general-in-afghanistan.html">Iran Is Not Providing 'Militarily Significant' Aid to the Taliban, Says A U.S. General in Afghanistan</a></b><br />07.04.08. usnews. In an effort to strengthen defence ties with New Delhi, Afghanistan said it is considering sending its armed forces officers for specialised training in Indian counter insurgency warfare institutions. .. / While Defence Minister A K Antony ruled out any military involvement in the war-torn country, he assured his Afghan counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak (who is on a historic visit) that India would remain 'actively engaged' in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the nation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19712.htm">U.S. Needs Taliban to Regain Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.04.08. Jalal Ghazi, New American Media / ICH. The Taliban are back and stronger and more popular than ever. NATO and the United States will soon have no choice but to negotiate with them six years after driving them out of Kabul. That’s the impression one gets from reading Arab media on the war in Afghanistan. / The Afghan government, led by President Hamid Karzai and backed by the United States and NATO, does not even have full control of Kabul. Basdir Ghafuri, a former professor at Kabul University, told the London-based Arab News Broadcast (ANB) in February 2008, “NATO and the U.S. forces have even failed to establish security in Kabul.” / The Afghan people have lost confidence in NATO and the United States. Journalist and political writer Ahmad Asfahani told ANB, <u>“There is a large segment of the Afghan people who will not accept the presence of occupation forces in Afghanistan and will not accept a government that is linked to the occupation.” </u>Many Afghans do not see much difference between today’s occupation and that of the British in the 19th century or the Soviets from 1979 to 1989.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8670">Coalition helicopter drops weapons into Taliban hands, Afghan officials say </a></b><br />13.04.08. AP / global research.ca. A member of parliament, however, said he didn't believe the arms drop was an accident.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/18/nato.afghanistan?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews">Nato admits mistakenly [sic] supplying arms and food to Taliban </a></b><br />17.04.08. Guardian.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.neurope.eu/articles/85222.php">European think-tank sees Taliban growing in Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.04.08. neurope / ICH. The continuing strength of the insurgency and the Afghan government’s weakness make Western and European defeat in Afghanistan a realistic prospect, warns a report published by the newly-established http://www.ecfr.eu/ “>European Council on Foreign Relations, a London-based think-tank. / The report recently presented in Brussels by its author, Daniel Korski, says that six years of war and the biggest military operation in the history of NATO have failed to subdue the Afghan insurgency.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=130113">Afghan opposition says it's been talking to Taliban</a></b><br />16.04.08. Jason Straziuso, AP<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/24/pakistan">Taliban commander orders ceasefire in tribal areas</a></b><br />24.04.08. Declan Walsh, Guardian. Analysts and some American officials reacted coolly to the news, fearing the militants would use the ceasefire as an excuse to re-arm and intensify attacks into Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/04/EAE848E5-E3AF-49B8-9D6D-D27BA748F251.html">Afghanistan: Taliban Evolves Into Network Of Groups</a></b><br />Ron Synovitz, Radio Free Europe. … the Taliban lacks a strong organizational structure and is essentially still a network based on personal relations between the leadership and people at the local level. …/ "Today, the Taliban are essentially a guerrilla movement, whereas in the 1990s -- even in the early days of 1994 or 1995 -- they were never something like that," Giustozzi says. … against the occupation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/30/afghanistan.usa">US marines launch mini surge to weaken Taliban</a></b><br />30.04.08. Declan Walsh, Guardian. · British troops aid attack on Afghan insurgents · Mission aims to disrupt major smuggling routes<br /><br />Supply Lines<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JD26Df01.html">Taliban bitten by a snake in the grass</a></b><br />26.04.08. Asia Times. The Taliban and their <em>al-Qaeda</em> associates, in what they considered a master stroke, this year started to target the Western alliance's supply lines that run through Pakistan into Afghanistan. Their focal point was Khyber Agency, in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, a key transit point for as much as 70% of the alliance's supplies needed to maintain its battle against the Afghan insurgency.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEcO5E7lVso">Taliban targets Afghan-Nato 'lifeline'</a>(24.04.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/34902.html">U.S. Afghan supply lines depend on Islamic militant</a></b><br />25.04.08. McClatchy. The only thing standing between Pakistan's Taliban and the lifeline for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan may be an Islamist warlord who controls the area near Pakistan's famed Khyber Pass. / In an interview with McClatchy, Mangal Bagh, who leads a group called Lashkar-i-Islam, voiced his disdain for America but said he's rebuffed an offer from the Taliban to join them.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j2nLy4q9dYQcKQ3m7LDgYAg4KrsgD908VJJG1">Taliban hamper dam project in Afghanistan</a></b><br />25.04.08. Jason Straziuso, AP.<br /><br /><br /><u>Karzai</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/03/nato.afghanistan">Karzai seeks bigger role for larger Afghan army</a></b><br />03.04.08. Julian Borger, Guardian / anti-war. Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai, is expected to propose a radical expansion of the Afghan army today and call for his troops to take over security responsibilities in Kabul from Nato, according to officials at the alliance's summit in Bucharest. The news came after dismal day for Nato leaders, with the alliance unable to agree on new members.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-32881620080406">Karzai indicates will run again for Afghan president</a></b><br />06.04.08. Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=106957">“NATO is creating its own failure!”</a></b><br />09.04.08. al jazeera. Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the Afghan people on April 6 that he has been in peaceful negotiations with the resistance including the Taliban. / He said he told the NATO summit in Bucharest that these Afghans resist because harm has been done to them and that they should be approached through negotiations. / But NATO ignored Karzai's statement. It’s only interested in more fighting despite the claims made by George Bush at the summit that NATO is 'peaceful and brings democracy' in reference to Russian concerns about NATO expansion. / The Afghan people are increasingly <u>rejecting the occupation</u> of their country when the aim is not peace and reconstruction on the part of NATO and the U.S. population that often has little faith in its leadership and offers rich pickings for <em>insurgent</em> recruitment.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/27/afghanistan.usa">Leave Taliban alone, Afghan president tells West</a></b><br />D27.04.08. Guardian. Karzai says US and British troops are undermining his authority and stopping <em>insurgents</em> from laying down their arms. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has called on British and American troops to stop arresting Taliban <em>insurgents</em> in Afghanistan, saying that their operations undermined his government's authority and were counter-productive./ The stinging attack, made in an interview with the New York Times published yesterday, is the latest in a series of rows between Western governments with troops in Afghanistan and the elected leader of the country. Western diplomats expressed surprise at the Afghan leader's criticism and the Foreign Office played down the row yesterday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/27/world/main4048451.shtml">Karzai Escapes Assassination Attempt</a></b><br />27.04.08. CBS/AP. Suspected Taliban <em>militants</em> attacked a ceremony attended by the Afghan president on Sunday, unleashing automatic weapons and rocket fire that sent foreign dignitaries and senior members of the government fleeing for cover. Three people were killed, including a lawmaker, and eight wounded. / President Hamid Karzai, Cabinet ministers and ambassadors escaped unharmed from the assault on the event marking the 16th anniversary of the end of Soviet-backed rule in Afghanistan. A lawmaker seated about 30 yards from Karzai was among the dead.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/27/afghanistan.usa">Leave Taliban alone, Afghan president tells West</a></b><br />27.04.08. Guardian. Karzai says US and British troops are undermining his authority and stopping <em>insurgents</em> from laying down their arms. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has called on British and American troops to stop arresting Taliban <em>insurgents</em> in Afghanistan, saying that their operations undermined his government's authority and were counter-productive./ The stinging attack, made in an interview with the New York Times published yesterday, is the latest in a series of rows between Western governments with troops in Afghanistan and the elected leader of the country. Western diplomats expressed surprise at the Afghan leader's criticism and the Foreign Office played down the row yesterday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/27/world/main4048451.shtml">Karzai Escapes Assassination Attempt</a></b><br />27.04.08. CBS/AP. Suspected Taliban <em>militants</em> attacked a ceremony attended by the Afghan president on Sunday, unleashing automatic weapons and rocket fire that sent foreign dignitaries and senior members of the government fleeing for cover. Three people were killed, including a lawmaker, and eight wounded. / President Hamid Karzai, Cabinet ministers and ambassadors escaped unharmed from the assault on the event marking the 16th anniversary of the end of Soviet-backed rule in Afghanistan. A lawmaker seated about 30 yards from Karzai was among the dead.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/28/afghanistan">Karzai survives Taliban assassination attempt during military parade</a></b><br />28.04.08. Declan Walsh, Guardian.<br />· MP and two others killed as ambassadors flee scene · Insurgents claim raid shows weakness of Nato<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1347">Kabul Shambles Makes Sorry Spectacle for US, NATO</a></b><br />28.04.08. DEBKAfile Special Report. Some serious stock-taking in the Afghan capital and US-led NATO command has followed the Taliban’s success in breaking up the Afghan army parade in Kabul Sunday, April 27. Scheduled for the 16th anniversary of the Soviet Army’s defeat and expulsion from Afghanistan, it was staged to showcase the progress made by Hamid Karzai’s regime and its US-led NATO allies in the war against the country’s ousted Taliban rulers and their al Qaeda partners. Afghanistan’s government, tribal and military elite were seated on the platform together with Western dignitaries.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gvCyZQ28hxDbfAx_yowdxghZibHQ">Afghanistan investigates deadly parade attack</a></b><br />28.04.08. AFP. Afghanistan was Monday investigating how <em>militants</em> [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">? Blackwater?</span>] could get within 500 metres of President Hamid Karzai and other top leaders to carry out a brazen attack that left three Afghans dead.<br /><br />….. Regurgitating spin<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYd4GN12QWSs&refer=home">Taliban Attack on Karzai Aims to Undermine Democracy, NATO Says</a></b><br />28.04.08. Michael Heath, Bloomberg. The attack by Taliban <em>militants,<em> on President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, yesterday was designed to undermine the country's democratic progress [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">sic: read occupation</span>] , NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.<br /><br /></em></em></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><u> After Karzai? </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/world/asia/04qaeda.html?ref=asia">Rising Leader for Next Phase of <em>Al Qaeda’s</em> War</a></b><br />04.04.08. NY Times. The breakout from the <u>Bagram</u> Air Base by Mr. [Abu Yahya] Libi and three cellmates — they picked a lock, dodged their guards and traversed the base’s vast acreage to freedom — embarrassed American officials as deeply as it delighted the jihadist movement. In the nearly three years since then, Mr. Libi’s meteoric ascent within the leadership of <em>Al Qaeda</em> has proved to be even more troublesome for the authorities. / Mr. Libi, a Libyan believed to be in his late 30s, is now considered to be a top strategist for <em>Al Qaeda</em>, as well as one of its most effective promoters of global jihad, appearing in a dozen videos on <em>militant</em> Web sites in the past year, counterterrorism officials said. At a time when <em>Al Qaeda</em> seems more inspirational than operational, Mr. Libi stands out as a formidable star whose rise to prominence tracks the group’s growing emphasis on information in its war with the West.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/10/wafghan110.xml">US envoy may challenge for Afghan presidency</a></b><br />10.04.08. Thomas Coghlan, Telegraph. The Afghan-born US Ambassador to the United Nations, <u> http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/08/index-on-afghanistan.html#200”> Zalmay Khalilzad</u>, has signalled that he will run for the presidency of Afghanistan in elections next year. / Mr Khalilzad is a senior figure in the Bush administration who served as ambassador to Kabul before becoming ambassador to Iraq and then the UN.<br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><br /><a href="http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/34428-veterans-soviets-in-afghanistan-march-31-pt-1">Veterans - Soviets in Afghanistan</a> - March 31 - Pt 1<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaT-LIjOwcE">Veterans - Soviets in Afghanistan</a> - March 31 - Pt 2<br /><br /><br /><a id="3000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 3. Opium </b><br /></div><br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=6484">Afghan Dilemmas: Defining Commitments</a></b><br />21.04.08. Seoul Times. A report by the <a href="http://www.the-american-interest.com/ai2/article-bd.cfm?Id=423&MId=19"> Center on International Cooperation </a> of New York University – Counter-narcotics to Stabilize Afghanistan: the false promise of crop eradication - released in the run-up to a major international meeting on Afghan policy in Tokyo, warns that U.S.-driven efforts to eradicate the country's opium crop, rather than deprive the Taliban of funding, will instead make more drug money available to fund <em>insurgency</em>, <em>terrorism</em>, and corruption.<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/03/26/afghanistans_opium_dilemma/6923/">Afghanistan's opium dilemma</a></b><br />26.03.08. James Emery, ME Times. [1 of 8] Afghanistan's annual opium crop is expected to rival last year's record yield to exceed a staggering 8,000 metric tons, or more than 90 percent of global production, according to a U.N. survey released in February, with the bulk being grown in Taliban strongholds.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=42588&s2=31">The Opium Brides of Afghanistan</a></b><br />In the country's poppy-growing provinces, farmers are being forced to sell their daughters to pay loans.<br />29.03.08. Sami Yousafzai, Ron Moreau, NEWSWEEK.uruknet. Khalida's father says she's 9—or maybe 10. As much as Sayed Shah loves his 10 children, the functionally illiterate Afghan farmer can't keep track of all their birth dates. Khalida huddles at his side, trying to hide beneath her chador and headscarf. They both know the family can't keep her much longer. Khalida's father has spent much of his life raising opium, as men like him have been doing for decades in the stony hillsides of eastern Afghanistan and on the dusty southern plains. It's the only reliable cash crop most of those farmers ever had. Even so, Shah and his family barely got by: traffickers may prosper, but poor farmers like him only subsist. Now he's losing far more than money. "I never imagined I'd have to pay for growing opium by giving up my daughter," says Shah.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/view/33553/Afghans-20-year-heroin-stockpile/">AFGHANS’ 20-YEAR HEROIN STOCKPILE</a></b><br />30.03.08. daily star.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/RMOI-7D8KSU?OpenDocument">Afghanistan: Tackling rising drug addiction in Parwan Province</a></b><br />30.03.08. relief web.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/04/08/the_taliban_opium_connection/2650/">The Taliban opium connection</a></b><br />01.04.08. James Emery [2 of 8] Many people still mistakenly believe the Taliban were opposed to the drug trade due to the ban they placed on opium cultivation during their last year in power. However, even prior to capturing Kabul on Sept. 27, 1996, the Taliban made deals to allow opium cultivation and processing in return for political support and a cut of the profits.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/warlords-using-heroin-cash-to-buy-surfacetoair-missiles-804544.html">Warlords using heroin cash to buy surface-to-air missiles</a></b><br />04.04.08. Jerome Starkey, Independent / antiwar.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20080406/cm_huffpost/095195">Defeating the Taliban by Treating the World's Sick: A New Approach to the Afghan Poppy Trade</a></b><br />06.04.08. Lisa Gans, huffington post. <b>Currently, the U.S. policy of poppy eradication in Afghanistan is futile, unimaginative and fails to take into account the economic needs of the Afghan population</b>. It also overlooks a creative, ethical and sustainable solution to the problem of the opium trade in Afghanistan. Rather than trying to stomp out poppy production by force, the U.S. should be working with international partners to establish a framework to assist Afghan farmers in selling their poppy crops to organizations that can use them to make medicines for those in the developing world in need of palliative care.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/04/08/afghan_opium_the_farmers_perspective/3848/">Afghan opium – The farmer's perspective</a></b><br />08.04.08. James Emery, ME Times. [3 of 8] In Afghanistan opium poppies are much more likely to be grown in areas where security has broken down and power is wielded by the Taliban, who encourage farmers to grow the crop. It does not take a lot of prodding, since farmers can make about 10 to 20 times more money growing poppies than they can make on wheat [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">this is changing</span>] , corn, cotton, fruit, or other legal crops. But, opium has increased expenses, including additional labor for harvesting and bribes to avoid eradication.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/04/us-federal-judge-refuses-to-dismiss.php">US federal judge refuses to dismiss charges against Afghan drug lord</a></b><br />09.04.08. Jurist. A judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York [official website] ruled Wednesday that an Afghan tribal chief charged [PDF text; JURIST report] with conspiring to violate US narcotics laws must face trial even though US officials lured him into the United States. Drug Enforcement Administration officials arrested Bashir Noorzai [IHT profile] in April 2005 after agents told him in 2004 that he would be given safe passage to and from the United States in return for meeting with American authorities. The judge held that even if US officials made the promises Noorzai contends, those promises did not include official immunity.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/story/82043/">Hearts and Minds: Mercenaries Lure Afghan Warlord to US; US to Charge him for Growing Poppies</a></b><br />11.04.08. Chris Nolan, Majikthiase / alternet. Bashir Noorzai, the leader of a 1 million-person tribe in southern Afghanistan, had traveled to New York voluntarily in 2005, aiming to gain an audience with American diplomats who could help him shore up his power in Afghanistan. The trip had been organized by employees of a shadowy and short-lived security company, http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/product-compint-0001292514-page.html”>Rosete a Research & Consulting LLC, that was seeking to help the federal government conduct investigative work in foreign countries.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/politics/threelinewhip/april08/afghanistanswapsheroinforwheat.htm">Afghanistan swaps heroin for wheat</a></b><br />08.04.08. Con Coughlin, telegraph. Market forces have been the deciding factor - with wheat prices doubling in the past year, and the street price of heroin falling, it is now more cost effective to grow wheat.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=12055&size=A">Afghanistan could feed its population and avert the world food crisis</a></b><br />18.04.08. asia news. All it would have to do is replace its massive opium production with wheat, and it could feed the Afghan population, 70% of which suffers from hunger. A study by the FAO, the UN food and agriculture agency, has revealed that by devoting more money to irrigation systems, this dream could become reality.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/04/16/afghan_drugs_and_regional_addiction_rates/3754/">Afghan drugs and regional addiction rates</a></b><br />16.04.08. James Emery, ME Times. [4 of 8] The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report includes a section on the annual prevalence of abuse for opiates, cannabis, and other drugs as a percentage of the population aged 15 to 64 for each respective country monitored. These rates reflect the percentage of people who used the drug in the 12-month period prior to the survey. Morphine use is typically very small and included in the number of heroin users.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/20/content_8015704.htm">Afghan police seize 4.7 tons opium</a></b><br />20.04.08. Xinhuanet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080421.wAfghanside21/BNStory/Front">NATO undermining opium fight, Khalid says</a></b><br />21.04.08. Graeme Smith, globe and mail. Foreign troops have undermined the Afghan government's poppy-eradication campaign in Kandahar, the governor says, and the lack of support has added to the risks of the operation. … / He said his office notified the Canadian military three weeks ahead of time that his teams would be visiting certain locations in Maywand to destroy the opium fields. But on the appointed day, he said, NATO troops stationed nearby failed to help his men during an hour-long battle against Taliban fighters. .. / The foreign troops have been similarly unhelpful in Panjwai district, he said, where NATO soldiers warned his officers that no assistance would be available if they got into trouble. In Zhari district, he said, NATO troops stopped his teams from working. In Maywand, he said, tribal elders were <u>told that the foreign troops are not against opium cultivation</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/freak-weather-destroys-afghan-poppies-814072.html">Freak weather destroys Afghan poppies</a></b><br />23.04.08. Independent. Scientists believe freezing winter temperatures followed by late rains and a possible drought may cut this year's yields, with some farmers losing half of their crop. / The fierce winter cold – which claimed hundreds of lives across Afghanistan – is thought to have stopped millions of poppy seeds from germinating. Late rains have then stunted many of the plants that survived.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3799400.ece">Mystery buyer of Afghan poppy resin thrives on drug trade</a></b><br />23.04.08. times on line. No one knows what nationality he is – Afghan, Pakistani or Iranian [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">CIA?</span>] – but during the winter he turns up with cash to pay the farmers to keep them in food and supplies, on the understanding that he gets the lion’s share of the poppy resin the following April or May.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.metimes.com/International/2008/04/22/afghanistans_myriad_drug_smuggling_routes/2420/">Afghanistan's myriad drug smuggling routes</a></b><br />24.04.08. James Emery, me times. [Part 5] Heroin, morphine base, opium, and hashish are carried out of Afghanistan along traditional and newly developed smuggling routes that cross its porous borders. … [interesting] / Much of the surplus Afghan heroin is being diverted to Asia and onward to Australia and North America, with Pakistan being the logical transit country. Nigerian criminal groups, who are widely diversified and appear to be everywhere, have been at the forefront of developing and expanding heroin distribution routes in Asia and other parts of the world.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1401682.php/Spain_captures_one_of_worlds_top_drug_lords__Roundup_">Spain captures one of world's top drug lords (Roundup)</a></b><br />24.04.08. monsters and critics. Mohammed Tayeb Ahmed was arrested Wednesday as he was driving around in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on Morocco's northern coast.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/speechanddrama/media/mishaglenny.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/speechanddrama/media/mishaglenny.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/speechanddrama/media/mishaglenny.jpg"> Misha Glenny</a></span><br /></div><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/McMafia-Journey-Through-Criminal-Underworld/dp/1400044111/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208373442&sr=8-1"> McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld</a> By Misha Glenny, Knopf, 2008<br /><br />Video<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMp0dyGMDSs"> Misha Glenny and Stephen Harper on the War on Drugs </a><br /><br />See all videos with Misha Glenny <a href="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Misha+Glenny&search=Search"> here</a><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><br /><a id="4000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>4. Pakistan </b><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK7J4ufvdbFCS1sdjQRPr9lAZr0TzT8wzqXzKkCbOd2NA9QWpt7PrCjeFVsgUtH-ACFKQ28SB8Y3LUKVkqeVvGs93vFBVxoZhapWgSW0Q_ymRSqqpmW_sgIP9qkYTmGmSBHV5i/s1600-h/pakistan-map.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK7J4ufvdbFCS1sdjQRPr9lAZr0TzT8wzqXzKkCbOd2NA9QWpt7PrCjeFVsgUtH-ACFKQ28SB8Y3LUKVkqeVvGs93vFBVxoZhapWgSW0Q_ymRSqqpmW_sgIP9qkYTmGmSBHV5i/s400/pakistan-map.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194373632247642002" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Satellite Image of Pakistan, <a href="http://geology.com/world/pakistan-satellite-image.shtml"> geology.com </a></span><br /></div><br /><br />FOOD<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8483">Will Wheat-Killer Fungus be used to spread GMO wheat?</a></b><br />30.03.08. F. William Engdahl, global research. A deadly fungus, known as Ug99, which <u>kills wheat</u>, has likely spread to Pakistan from Africa according to reports in the British New Scientist magazine. If true, that threatens the vital Asian Bread Basket including the Punjab region. The spread of the deadly virus, stem rust, against which an effective fungicide does not exist, comes as world grain stocks reach the lowest in four decades and government subsidized bio-ethanol production, especially in the USA, Brazil and EU are taking land out of food production at alarming rates. The deadly fungus is being used by Monsanto and the US Government to spread patented GMO seeds.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thepost.com.pk/CorpNews.aspx?dtlid=156306&catid=8">Pakistan to be made self-sufficient in edible oil production: Qamar</a></b><br />19.04.08. the post.pk. that the government will give more incentives to the farmers to make Pakistan self-sufficient in the production of edible oil by <u>decreasing import of palm oil</u>.<br /><br /><br />THE ‘TRIBAL BELT’<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/16/pakistan.afghanistan">The Taliban blowback</a></b><br />16.04.08; Declan Walsh, Guardian / ICH. The US enlisted the help of the mujahideen to fight the Soviet army in 1980s Afghanistan. But Pakistan, too, began fostering Islamist extremism. Now, Declan Walsh reports, it is suffering the violent consequences<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/international/firing-on-pak-afghan-border.aspx">Firing on Pak-Afghan border</a></b><br />16.04.08. asian age / ICH. Pakistan and Afghanistan security forces have exchanged fire according to officials, reports our Pakistan correspondent.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/17/gao.pakistan/index.html"><em>Al Qaeda</em> still in Pakistan tribal areas, report says</a></b><br />17.04.08. CNN / ICH. <em>Al Qaeda</em> is still operating within Pakistan's mountainous tribal region bordering Afghanistan, and the United States lacks a "comprehensive" plan for meetings its national security goals there, a <u>U.S. government study released Thursday said</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080417/wl_sthasia_afp/usattackspakistan">No US plan to fight terror in Pakistan tribal belt</a></b><br />17.04.08. AFP / ICH. More than six years after the September 11 attacks, the United States still does not have a coherent plan to destroy a key staging area for terrorist attacks into the country, according to an independent government watchdog.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080419/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestpakistanarrest">Afghanistan detains 68 Pakistani nationals</a></b><br />19.04.08. AFP.<br /><br />Update on earlier news ..<br /><br /><b><a href="http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?199607">Pakistan envoy being ’held by Taliban’</a></b><br />20.04.08. pak tribune. Armed men surrounded Tariq Azizuddin in the footage, shown on Dubai-based al-Arabiya television.<br /><br /><br />NEW GOVERNMENT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=108409">FACTBOX-Leading figures in Pakistan's new government</a></b><br />31.03.08. REUTERS. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Defence Minister, Ahmed Mukhtar, Information Minister, Sherry Rehman, Rehman Malik, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior and Narcotics,<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/04/pakistan-constitutional-reform-package.php">Pakistan constitutional reform package could restore ousted judges</a></b><br />07.04.08. The Jurist. ] Pakistani Law and Justice Minister Farooq H. Naik has prepared a constitutional package that could restore judges ousted by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf [official profile; JURIST news archive], the Pakistani Nation daily reported Monday. The package, which has reportedly been forwarded to Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani [official profile], calls for a parliamentary committee to limit the tenure of the chief justice to three years. The constitutional amendments also call for restoration of the 1973 Constitution and the abolition of Article 58(2)b [texts], which empowers the president to dissolve the government and the parliament.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/04/pakistan-national-assembly-calls-for-un.php">Pakistan National Assembly calls for UN probe into Bhutto assassination</a></b><br />15.04.08. The Jurist.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jIE0IUn4WIiaMBpjG8SI_6H5RXzgD906B12G0">Pakistan orders release of pro-Taliban <em>militant</em> leader</a></b><br />21.04.08. AP. There was no immediate comment from the government on the freeing of Sufi Muhammad, who is the father-in-law of the current <em>militant</em> leader in Pakistan's Swat Valley.<br /><br /><br />AND U.S.<br /><br /><u>Reports</u><br /><br /><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33498.pdf"> "Pakistan-U.S. Relations," </a><br />CRS, updated March 27, 2008<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/pakarms.pdf"> "Major U.S. Arms Sales and Grants to Pakistan Since 2001"</a> ,<br />CRS.updated April 23, 2008: (fact sheet)<br /><br /><br /><u> Articles </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/03/10/taliban/index.html">Killing ourselves in Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.03.04. Matthew Cole, Salon. As is becoming increasingly clear, for at least two and a half years, and perhaps far longer, the Pakistani government has been receiving massive U.S. aid while its intelligence agency and elements of its military have been pursuing their own anti-American agenda within Afghanistan. The U.S. has given the Musharraf regime $10 billion since Sept. 11, 2001, but Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and factions within the Pakistan army, while helping the U.S. track <em>al-Qaida</em> with one hand, have been aiding the Taliban with the other, both inside Afghanistan and across the Pakistani border in Tribal Areas like North Waziristan. In part because of Pakistani help, the Taliban have made a steady comeback and American and Afghan casualties are at their highest annual levels since the war began. / Islamabad has denied complicity and Washington has maintained official silence, but the double-dealing is not surprising.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080402/wl_sthasia_afp/natosummitafghanistanpakistandiplomacy">NATO chief wants Afghan talks with new Pakistan govt</a></b><br />02.04.08. AFP. Speaking ahead of the formal opening of a NATO summit in the Romanian capital Bucharest, Scheffer pleaded for more contact between the 47,000 strong [US] NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the newly-elected government of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/%202411cd3571b4f088/id/344293/cs/1/">Yet to be paid <em>war on terror</em> dues of 500 mln dlrs may cripple Pak economy </a></b><br />03.04.08. Irish Sun / ICH. Already facing an economic crisis-like situation, the new federal government in Pakistan might face trouble in controlling the rising budget deficit if the US doesn't reimburse 500 million dollars which it had committed to Islamabad to continue its fight against terror, especially in tribal areas.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-gans/us-must-quit-bushs-chi_b_94375.html">U.S. Must Quit Bush's Chicken Little Politics in Pakistan, Cold Turkey</a></b><br />01.04.08. L. Gans, huffington post. Ever since the September 11th attacks, the Bush administration has been warning Americans that, but for the rule of military dictator General Pervez Musharraf, the sky would be falling. Musharraf, we were told, was what was standing between us and a flood of Islamic extremists who would unleash acts of terrorism around the world. In the war on terror, leaders were either with us or against us, and Bush knew, after talking with Musharraf, that the man was in our corner. He would keep the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in check. It's now time for the U.S. to recognize that events on the ground have proven Bush wrong, and to change the way we conduct our relations with Pakistan lest we hamper the chances of the newly-elected government for successful democratic rule. / Since the initial decision to back Musharraf, the Bush administration has developed tunnel vision in Pakistan and failed to examine the conduct of U.S. foreign policy and what we were getting in return for our support. Never mind that ISI, Pakistan's intelligence service, under Musharraf's direction, had helped to keep the Taliban in power in Afghanistan. Never mind that, despite the billions of dollars in aid the U.S. has given to Pakistan over the past six years, mostly to its military, Musharraf has failed to explain exactly what specific benefit he has provided to the U.S. In fact, he has been widely criticized by U.S. policy-makers, scholars, and even NATO commanders who have been concerned that Musharraf has not done enough to combat <em>al-Qaeda</em> and has been giving sanctuary to extremists in Pakistan's tribal areas that border Afghanistan. Much has been written about whether the U.S. has actually benefited from its relationship with Musharraf, and exactly how much has been spent with astonishingly little oversight. Despite this, the Bush administration has continued to deliver enormous sums of money to Musharraf and tout him as a great U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/needtoknow/2008/04/pakistan_from_counterterrorism.html">Pakistan: From Counter-Terrorism to Counterinsurgency</a></b><br />02.04.08. newsweek / Washington post. Nearly half of Guantanamo Bay Prison is full of <em>al-Qaeda</em> operatives caught in Pakistan, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the chief plotter of 9/11. But selective treatment of the Taliban in hopes of finding a political solution, a reduction in human intelligence, and a failure to ‘sell’ the war to the Pakistani people have overshadowed prior victories. Today the realization is growing, among military and civilian leaders alike, that “America’s War” is “Pakistan’s War” and that mistakes have been made.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/02/content_7907362.htm">Pakistan says CIA remarks not helpful to trace <em>al-Qaeda</em></a></b><br />02.04.08. Xinhuanet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174914/the_natives_of_planet_earth">Tomgram: The Natives of Planet Earth</a></b><br />03.04.08. Tom Englehardt, Tomgram. “[The U.S.] Vice President arrived in Baghdad not long before the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki launched its recent (failed) offensive against cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in the southern oil city of Basra. To "discuss" their needs in their President's eternal <em>War on Terror</em>, two of their top diplomats, a deputy secretary of state and an assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs, arrived in Pakistan -- to the helpless outrage of the local press -- on the very day newly elected Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani was being given the oath of office. ("I don't think it is a good idea for them to be here on this particular day… right here in Islamabad, meeting with senior politicians in the new government, trying to dictate terms..." was the way Zaffar Abbas, editor of the newspaper ! Dawn, put it.)<br /><br /><br />US Fearmongering<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pak-based_militants_may_attack_US_Bush_/rssarticleshow/2948657.cms">Pak-based <em>militants</em> may attack US: Bush </a></b><br />13.04.08. Times of India/ ICH. President George W Bush believes another 9/11 attack on the United Sates should be considered a reality, and warned that such an attack could originate from Pakistan [? or the white house?].<br /><br /><br />US Meddling<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/new-pak-government-says-no-to-unilateral-us-operation_10034173.html">New Pak Government says no to unilateral US operation</a></b><br />03.04.08. thaiindian / ICH. New Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the right of hot pursuit to attack targets within Pakistan couldnt be granted to Washington. We cannot allow any other country to take action inside our territory. This is a matter of sovereignty and we cannot compromise on it, Qureshi said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=14127">Rice for civilian control over Pak forces</a></b><br />16.04.08. the news.com.pk. The key sentence in this ‘democracy’ story is: “Rice believed the coming of a democratic government in Pakistan is a new <u>strategic opportunity</u>”. / The top American diplomat said the US engagement with Pakistan will be across a broad front and that the <u>US needs to <b>engage</b> with all institutions of the country</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/17/pakistan.terrorism">US offers Pakistan government $7bn in non-military [sic] aid to fight terrorism</a></b><br />17.04.08. J. Boerger, Guardian. · Civilian cabinet told drone air strikes will be curbed· New strategy marks break with Musharraf and army<br /><br /><em>oops</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C04%5C19%5Cstory_19-4-2008_pg1_10">US to provide military aid to Pakistan: Gates</a></b><br />19.04.08. The United State will provide Pakistan with spare helicopter parts and night vision apparatus to help the latter’s fight against <em>terrorism</em>, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said. .. the Pakistani troops would also be trained for night manoeuvres.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/23/content_8037846.htm">U.S. concerned about possible Pakistan-Taliban talks </a></b><br />23.04.08. Xinhuanet . "We are concerned about it and what we encourage them to do is to continue to fight against the <em>terrorists</em> and to not disrupt any security or military operations that are ongoing in order to help prevent a safe haven for <em>terrorists</em> there," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/34748.html">U.S. angry as Pakistan seeks peace deal with Islamists</a></b><br />23.04.08. mcclatchy. — Pakistan's new government is negotiating a peace deal with <em>militants</em> in the Taliban-controlled Waziristan region, the rugged mountainous area that's thought to be Osama bin Laden's refuge. / The move reflects the changing approach of America's longtime ally in the war on terror, and news of the talks set off alarm bells in Washington Wednesday. "We are concerned about it, and what we encourage [sic] them to do is to continue to fight against the <em>terrorists</em> and to not disrupt any <em>security</em> or military operations that are ongoing in order to help prevent a safe haven for <em>terrorists</em> there," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "We have been concerned about these types of approaches because we don't think that they work."<br />But <a href="http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/2008/04/2127april/eu-reaches-out-to-pakistan/60503.aspx"> EU reaches out to Pakistan`</a> (23.04.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1902203&Language=en">Pakistan protests ISAF, Afghan forces firing, intrusion into its territory </a></b><br />24.04.08. kuna / ICH. Pakistan Thursday lodged strongly-worded protest with Afghanistan and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) over firing and intrusion incident that left one paramilitary trooper dead and wounded another.<br />and <a href="http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/25/top4.htm"> Protest lodged with Nato, Afghan forces over border shelling</a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/25/asia/pakistan.php">U.S. and Afghans doubt Pakistan's impending deal with <em>militants</em></a></b><br />25.04.08. IHT.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailyindia.com/show/232885.php/US-led-NATO-planes-choppers-cross-Pak-border">US-led NATO planes, choppers cross Pak bord</a></b><br />25.04.08. daily India.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEcO5E7lVso">Taliban targets Afghan-Nato 'lifeline' </a> (24 Apr 2008)<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />NUCLEAR<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=111376">Pakistan denies report on nuclear waste dump in Afghanistan</a></b><br />02.04.08. wiredispatch.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=346527">Nuclear plant and surrounding villages evacuated in Pakistan</a></b><br />10.04.08. feeds/bignewsnetwork. The Geo news channel which reported the leak, did not report what had caused the problem.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=14188">No compromise on nuclear programme, NA assured</a></b><br />19.04.08. the news.pk / anti-war. Foreign Minister Shah Mehmud Qureshi assured the National Assembly on Friday that the government would not compromise on the country’s nuclear programme and ruled out the possibility of any foreigner attending the National Command and Control Authority (NCCA) meeting.<br /><br /><br />US Meddling some more …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ia.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/14pak.htm">US seeks direct access to Pakistan's N-arsenal</a></b><br />14.04.08. ia.rediff / ICH. The United States has sought direct access to the body controlling the country's nuclear assets for an American official to be posted at its embassy in Islamabad.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ia.rediff.com/news/2008/apr/16nuke.htm">Pak refuses access to nuclear arsenal</a></b><br />16.04.08. ia/rediff / ICH. Pakistan on Wednesday ruled out giving any foreign official access to the National Command Authority, which is responsible for controlling the country's nuclear arsenal.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=134587">Pakistan tests long-range ballistic missile</a></b><br />19.04.08. Reuters/wieredispatch.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pakistan/Pak_tests_2nd_N-missile_in_three_days/rssarticleshow/2969172.cms">Pak tests 2nd N-missile in three days</a></b><br />22.04.08. times of India/ICH.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />ENTER CHINA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/china-proposes-strategic-partnership-with-pakistan_10036926.html">China proposes strategic partnership with Pakistan</a></b><br />11.04.08. thai Indian. Hu suggested the two countries act in close cooperation at various international and regional forums such as the UN, the http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/10/shanghai-cooperation-organisation-sco.htmlShanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations, and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.<br /><br /><br /><a id="5000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 5. Aid </b> </div><br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.oxfam.org/en/news/2008/pr080325_donors_failing_afghanistan">Falling short: Aid effectiveness in Afghanistan</a></b><br />March 2008, Matt Waldman, Oxfam.<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/JC29Df01.html">Afghanistan adrift in misplaced aid</a></b><br />29.03.08. Aunohita Mojumdar, Asia Times. Discussing the Oxfam Report, <u>Aid Effectiveness in Afghanistan</u> (see Report, above)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://2ser.podomatic.com/entry/2008-03-31T00_10_04-07_00">Profiting from foreign aid</a></b><br />31.03.08. razor’s edge. Oxfam has found that <u>more than a third of aid funds pledged to Afghanistan has not been delivered</u> - and that <b>40% of the money spent- actually returns to donor countries as profit for contractors undertaking the aid work</b>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news2008/0401-14.htm">NATO States Falter on Afghan Aid, Including to War Victims</a></b><br />01.04.08. Common Dreams. War Victims Advocates Call on Members to Fulfill Commitments and Donate to a Fund for Civilian Casualties. Following a new report stating that NATO member states have fallen drastically short in delivering promised aid to Afghanistan, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_for_Innocent_Victims_in_Conflict"> Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC)</a> today called on NATO members to remedy this failure, including by donating to the Post-Operations Humanitarian Relief Fund – a program created to immediately assist civilians caught in the crossfire of the war. The Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR) released a report [see above]Tuesday faulting many countries for failing to deliver 10 billion dollars in promised humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. The report noted that Afghanistan depends heavily on foreign aid and failure to follow through with such pledges is a significant factor in the country’s continued slow rate of development. CIVIC noted that in a striking example of lackluster aid donations, only seven out of twenty-six NATO members have given to the Post-Operations Humanitarian Relief Fund since its inception over a year ago.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.app.com.pk/en_/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34277&Itemid=2">Afghan failure to meet IMF target casts doubt on debt relief: a report</a></b><br />02.04.08. app.pk. The influential British daily ‘Financial Times’ has reported that International aid and debt relief for Afghanistan has been thrown into doubt by the country’s failure to honour an agreement with the International Monetary Fund and warnings that its three-year development master plan could be rejected./ At the same time, the paper said, the World Bank and other donors have told the government that the latest drafts of the <a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.reliefweb.int/.../FilesByRWDocUNIDFileName/%20KHII-6LK3R2-unama-afg-30jan2.pdf/$File/unama-afg-30jan2.pdf"> Afghan National Development Strategy</a>, a (pdf) document to which future funding and debt relief is pegged, is of such poor quality that it will be rejected if submitted in its current form.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gCVIrAnWArDLfnPLU2lh_70S6zVg">Aid agency warns of flood threat</a></b><br />03.04.08. UK press. An aid agency has warned that flash flooding and drought could hit an area of Afghanistan already blighted by its worst winter in 25 years. / International development agency ActionAid is distributing goats, cattle and poultry to 1,000 families most at need in the northern Jawzjan province after thousands of animals died during the winter. Without livestock the families would be destitute, ActionAid said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/world/10202829.html">An exit strategy in Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.04.08. Patrick Seale, gulf news. So far, since 2001, the US has spent $127bn on the war in Afghanistan. One can only weep at such a waste of resources. /In contrast, total international aid to Afghanistan - on which the Kabul government depends for 90 per cent of its expenditure - has averaged only $7m a day since 2001. Half the promised aid has failed to arrive - there is a $5bn shortfall - while two-third of the aid was not channelled through government institutions at all. / An astonishing statistic is that American forces in Afghanistan cost the American tax-payer $100m a day - or, currently, $36bn a year. So far, since 2001, the US has spent $127bn on the war in Afghanistan. One can only weep at such a waste of resources. / In contrast, total international aid to Afghanistan - on which the Kabul government depends for 90 per cent of its expenditure - has averaged only $7m a day since 2001. Half the promised aid has failed to arrive - there is a $5bn shortfall - while two-third of the aid was not channelled through government institutions at all. / These facts and figures are taken from a recent report by <a href="http://www.acbar.org/display.php?page_id=74"> Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief (ACBAR)</a>. / What the ACBAR report makes damningly clear is that some 40 per cent of the aid money finds its way back to the donor countries, one way or another, mainly in the form of salaries to expatriates. An expatriate consultant can cost between $250,000 and $500,000 a year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/05/internationalaidanddevelopment.globaleconomy?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews">Another poor year for overseas aid</a></b><br />05.04.08. Guardian. Developing countries are betrayed by richer nations failing to fulfil their pledges. Growing alarm over the amount of global aid to the developing world was justified yesterday when the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said that financial assistance to the world's poorest countries had fallen for the second year in a row. … / The OECD report shows only seven countries met or surpassed the 0.7% target, with Norway (0.95%) and Sweden (0.93%) topping the chart./ Though the United States made the largest donation ($21.75bn), it contributed lowest percentage of national income, coming bottom of the charts at 0.16%. The US spends the equivalent of $73 per American each year on aid, but $1,763 a person on defence.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-04-08-afghan-pledge_N.htm">U.S. readies $4B pledge to Afghanistan</a></b><br />06.04.08. USA today / ICH. France will host the meeting on June 14 and has set a broad goal of raising $12 and 15 billion to fund Afghan <em>reconstruction projects</em> through 2014. The United States is looking to contribute a minimum of 25% of that total, the official said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/09/asia/AS-GEN-Afghan-UN.php">UN seeks impartial Afghan role as it coordinates aid, development effort</a></b><br />09.04.08. IHT. Kai Eide appeared eager to create a distinction between the U.N.'s humanitarian and political mission and that of international military forces, which are engaged in daily battles with Taliban <em>militants</em><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usnews.com/blogs/news-desk/2008/4/7/iran-is-not-providing-militarily-significant-aid-to-the-taliban-says-a-us-general-in-afghanistan.html">Iran Is Not Providing 'Militarily Significant' Aid to the Taliban, Says A U.S. General in Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.04.08. usnews. A year ago, Gen. Peter Pace, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, charged that Iranian-made weapons were being supplied to the Taliban. It was the first time that such a charge had been made. "We have intercepted weapons in Afghanistan headed for the Taliban that were made in Iran," Pace said last April, adding that it was unclear "which Iranian entity" was doing the shipping of the arms.<br />.<br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jYZlQkjWuVh5Q7TvNtpCoRN2_9ow">Two aid workers reported missing in Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.04.08. AFP. German humanitarian organisation <a hredf="http://www.kinderberg.org/ "> KinderBerg International </a> said on Thursday that two of its workers are missing in Afghanistan. / Abdul Rab, a 44-year-old Afghan medical doctor, and his driver, Abdul Hafiz, left Kabul for Kunduz in the far north on Tuesday, but failed to arrive at their destination, the organisation said in a statement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7340796.stm">Are Afghanistan's aid millions well spent?</a></b><br />13.04.08. George Arney, BBC. An array of foreign aid agencies are delivering assistance to the Afghan people to help them rebuild their shattered country. / But are there too many different groups all trying to do the same thing - and are the billions of dollars pouring into the country being well spent?<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> [NB. As in Iraq, “reconstruction aid” does not appear to go to the Afghan people and their needs, but rather, for example, towards roads leading to “<em>U.S. strategic interests</em>.” </span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041808P.shtml">US Effort to Rebuild From War Criticized</a></b><br />18.04.08. Karen DeYoung, Washington Post/ Truth out. Oversight of teams in Iraq, Afghanistan faulted in Hill report. / The U.S. effort to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan through local reconstruction teams lacks clear goals, organizational structure and lines of command, according to a new congressional report. … / The United States has been in Iraq for five years "and in Afghanistan even longer," the subcommittee's chairman, Rep. Vic Snyder (D-Ark.), said yesterday. "If the current [Provincial Reconstruction Teams] structure was working well, we should have a smooth operation now. But we don't." / Rep. Todd Akin (Mo.), the subcommittee's ranking Republican, agreed. "<em>The organizational structure is a little goofy</em>," he said, adding that it had been "put together with glue and baling wire."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1160542">India’s road to Afghanistan</a></b><br />20.04.08. dna India. India is involved in the reconstruction of war-torn Afghanistan in a major way and has pledged millions of dollars in aid, for a slew of projects starting from building roads to schools, transmission lines, hospitals, digging tube wells as well as building a swanky new Parliament building, the symbol of democracy in Kabul. / But Indian aid goes beyond this to train and prepare Afghan officials to run the administration.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.sabcnews.com/world/north_america/0,2172,168283,00.html">US urged to relook at its foreign aid programme</a></b><br />24.04.08. SABC. US based international advocacy groups say the country's foreign assistance programmes need to be overhauled in order to adequately address the objectives they were intended for. / The US Congress is reviewing the country's programmes amid high expectations that they might be able to alleviate the impact of high food and petrol prices on the poor people around the world.<br /><br /><br /><a id="6000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 6. United States </b><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://cache.wonkette.com/assets/resources/2008/03/bushhuggingbunny.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://cache.wonkette.com/assets/resources/2008/03/bushhuggingbunny.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://cache.wonkette.com/assets/resources/2008/03/bushhuggingbunny.jpg">Bush and, erm, Cheney?</a></span><br /></div><br /><br />“<b><em>The love of liberty is the love of others. The love of power is the love of ourselves</em></b>.” William Hazlitt, Political Essays 1819.<br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=342">Strategic Assets</a></b><br />03.04.08. Lindsey R. Mayer, capital eye. Includes lists from Members of Congress<br />• Committees<br />• Congressional Races<br />• Political Parties<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><u>US Troops</u><br /><br />REPORT<br /><b><a href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG720/%20">Invisible Wounds of War<br />Psychological and Cognitive Injuries, Their Consequences, and Services to Assist Recovery</a></b><br />RAND Corporation. 17 April 2008.<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=111956">Ex-Ranger guilty of in death of comrade</a></b><br />02.04.08. wiredispatch. A Maryland jury has found a former Army Ranger guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a fellow Ranger he had served with in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040308D.shtml">Heavy Troop Deployments Are Called Major Risk</a></b><br />02.04.08. Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post / Truthout. reports, "Senior Army and Marine Corps leaders said yesterday that the increase of more than 30,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has put unsustainable levels of stress on U.S. ground forces and has put their readiness to fight other conflicts at the lowest level in years."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080402/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/army_body_armor_2">Body armor questioned</a></b><br />02.04.08. AP. The Army can't be sure some of its body armor met safety standards, partly because it didn't do proper paperwork on initial testing of the protective vests, a Defense Department audit said. … The inspector general reviewed $5.2 billion worth of Army and Marine Corps contracts for body armor from 2004 through 2006.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.680news.com/news/international/article.jsp?content=w0404107A">U.S. will send more troops to Afghanistan regardless of Iraq situation: Gates</a></b><br />04.04.08. 680 news/legitgov. Gates told reporters while flying to this Persian Gulf country from a NATO summit in Bucharest, Romania, that U.S. President George W. Bush made the pledge to other allied leaders at the summit on Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4591406">Pentagon's Debt Collectors Accused of Ripping Off Soldiers </a></b><br />04.04.08. ABC / legitgov. Suit: Military Deducted Money From Service Members' Gov't Benefits or Tax Refunds U.S. soldiers and veterans have been illegally hit up by Pentagon debt collectors for millions of dollars in payments over military credit card debt, according to the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. Public Citizen and consumer lawyers have filed a class-action lawsuit against the Army and Air Force Exchange Services (AAFES), which issues credit cards to U.S. service members to buy goods at military stores.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040508A.shtml">Bush Pledges to Send More Troops to Afghanistan</a></b><br />05.04.08. James Gerstenzang, LA Times / Truthout. U.S. officials previously made it clear that the foreign force of 59,000, including 31,000 Americans, was insufficient. But they had not committed the U.S. to providing more troops. / The president did not specify how many additional troops the U.S. would send.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080409/pl_afp/usiraqmilitarybush">Bush plans to announce return to 12 month combat tours: official</a></b><br />09.04.08. AFP. President George W. Bush plans to announce a return to shorter 12-month tours for US Army troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, ending 15-month tours that have strained the force, a US defense official said Wednesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Pentagon_issues_pocket_lie_detector_to_0409.html">Pentagon issues pocket lie detector to troops</a></b><br />09.04.08. David Edwards/Nick Juliano, Raw Story. The Pentagon is planning to give US troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan "hand-held lie detectors" aimed at rooting out potential <em>insurgents</em> and terrorists. [NB: How about issuing some to those who need them the most?]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gcNG_xRlY13IlA1WX7Bwzn4c59UAD8VV6RF01">US Troop Levels Up in Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.04.08. Jason Straziuso, AP. The 101st has 7,200 troops in Afghanistan, several hundred more than the 82nd. Its arrival, coupled with the deployment of some 3,500 Marines to the country's south, has pushed the total number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to over 32,000, part of a steady rise in force levels as violence has increased over the last two years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2008-04-10-afghanistan-troop-levels_N.htm">Troop levels reach record high in Afghanistan</a></b><br />11.04.08. usa today / anti war.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/world/bal-te.afghan11apr11,0,5594726.story">Marines immobile in Afghan red tape</a></b><br />11.04.08. Baltimore sun / antiwar. Disagreements and coordination problems high within the international military command are delaying combat operations for 2,500 Marines who arrived here last month to help root out Taliban forces, according to military officers here. / For weeks the Marines -- with their light armor, infantry, artillery and a squadron of transport and attack helicopters and Harrier strike fighters -- have been virtually quarantined at the international air base here, unable to operate beyond the base perimeter.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/04/marine_recruiting_041208w/">Recruiters face lowest propensity in 25 years</a></b><br />12.04.08. Andrew Tilghman, marine corps times. A long-term downward trend reversed briefly after Sept. 11, 2001, up until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But that bump has disappeared, as young men are less drawn to serve in uniform than at any time since the earliest days of the volunteer force a generation ago.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.afghan15apr15,0,2760623.story">General urges longer tours</a></b><br />15.04.08. Baltimore sun. As the Bush administration moves to end 15-month troop deployments, the top commander of U.S. and allied forces here said tours of that length are critical to making progress in the war against Afghanistan's Taliban and other insurgents. He also said he believes it will be necessary to maintain current troop levels here through 2011. / Army Gen. Dan K. McNeill, the four-star commander of the 57,000 U.S. and coalition troops fighting in Afghanistan, said in an interview Sunday that the greatest gains in the war have come from soldiers serving the long tours.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=4674865">Study says 300,000 U.S. troops suffer mental problems</a></b><br />17.04.08. Reuters, ABC. About 300,000 U.S. troops returning from Iraq and <u>Afghanistan</u> suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, but about half receive no care, an independent study said on Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/17/AR2008041701749.html?hpid=topnews">Combat Stress May Cost U.S. Up to $6 Billion</a></b><br />18.04.08. Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post. About 300,000 U.S. military personnel who have deployed to Iraq or <u>Afghanistan</u> are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression, a mental toll that will cost the nation as much as $6.2 billion over two years, according to a < href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG720/"> Rand Corp. report released yesterday. Photo and graph.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43183&s2=19">Mental cost of the occupation</a></b><br />18.04.08. Imad Khadduri, Free Iraq/uruknet. "About 300,000 U.S. troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, but <u>about half receive no care</u>, an independent study [RAND] said on Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080420/ts_nm/usa_iraq_lawsuit_dc_1">Distressed war veterans get day in court</a></b><br />20.04.08. Reuters. Veterans of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere who say they have systematically been denied proper medical care will get their day in federal court starting on Monday in San Francisco. / The lawsuit before a judge in U.S. District Court for Northern California claims the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was unable to deal with the growing number of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, cases emerging from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/82942/">At War With Ourselves: Battling Sexual Violence in the Military</a></b><br />21.04.08. Dana Goldstein, RH Reality Check / Alternet. U.S. servicewomen are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. It's time we dealt with this national disgrace.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/21/usa1">US army increases use of moral waivers to meet demand for troops</a></b><br />21.04.08. E. Schor, Guardian. The US army doubled its use of "moral waivers" for enlisted soldiers last year to cope with the stress of the Iraq war, allowing convicted sex offenders, people convicted of making terrorist threats and child abusers into the military, according to new records released today. / The army gave out 511 moral waivers to soldiers with felony convictions last year, relaxing its recruiting standards in order to admit them. Criminals got 249 army waivers in 2006, a sign that the high demand for US forces in Iraq has forced a sharp increase in the number of criminals allowed on the battlefield. / The felons accepted into the army and marines included 87 soldiers convicted of assault or maiming, 130 convicted of non-marijuana drug offences, seven convicted of making terrorist threats, and two convicted of indecent behaviour with a child. Waivers were also granted to 500 burglars and thieves, 19 arsonists and 9 sex offenders. [are these people also in Afghanistan?]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-army-tours,1,7040369.story">General: Army needs 'stop-loss' until late 2009</a></b><br />21.04.08. Pauline Jelinek, Chicago Tribune / legitgov. It will be more than a year before the Army can end the unpopular practice of forcing soldiers to stay in the service beyond their retirement or re-enlistment dates, a top official said Monday.<br /><br /><a href="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/21/m4_with_203.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px;" src="http://blog.wired.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/04/21/m4_with_203.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/04/ap-takes-on-arm.html">Army's M4 Carbine Controversy Rages</a></b><br />21.04.08. Dan Dupont, wired. No weapon is more important to tens of thousands of U.S. troops in Iraq and <u>Afghanistan</u> than the carbine rifle. And for well over a decade, the military has relied on one company,<br /><a href="http://www.army.mil/-newsreleases/2007/03/29/2471-army-position--m4-carbine-is-soldiers-battlefield-weapon-of-choice/"> Colt Defense</a> of Hartford, Conn., to make the M4s they trust with their lives./ Now, as Congress considers spending millions more on the guns, this exclusive arrangement is being criticized as a bad deal for American forces as well as taxpayers, according to interviews and research conducted by The Associated Press.<br /><br />" <em>What we have is a fat contractor in Colt who's gotten very rich off our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan</em>," says Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/042108WA.shtml">Sending in the Marines (to Recruit Women)</a></b><br />21.04.08. Douglas Quenqua, NY Times / Truthout<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=873">CBS: Cover-up of veteran suicide risk</a></b><br />21.04.08. Raw Story. A CBS reporter cites 12,000 attempted suicides by veterans per year, supporting the charge that the VA has an epidemic on its hands.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/042208a.html">VA Debated PR Plan on Vets' Suicides</a></b><br />(22.04.08. Jason Leopold, Consortium)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wbztv.com/national/VA.suicide.risk.2.705269.html">VA Hid Suicide Risk, Internal E-Mails Show</a></b><br />21.04.08. WBZTV/legitgov.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/82912/">Vets of Bush's Wars Sue the VA: 'More than Half of Wounded Troops Slipping Through the Cracks'</a></b><br />22.04.08. Aaron Glantz, AlterNet. A national class action lawsuit brought by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans went to trial on April 21. The suit, known as Veterans for Common Sense vs. Peake was brought by two veterans organizations who argue the Department of Veterans Affairs is systematically denying hundreds of thousands of wounded veterans needed medical treatment, while forcing them to wait months or even years for the disability benefits they've earned. .. "If you're suicidal you can't wait a month... People placed on waiting lists have killed themselves."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3204.shtml">VA confirms 18 vets commit suicide every day</a></b><br />22.04.08. Jason Leopold, online journal. In a stunning admission, top officials at the Veterans Health Administration confirmed that the agency's own statistics show that an average of 126 veterans per week -- 6,552 veterans per year -- commit suicide, according to an internal email distributed to several VA officials.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080422/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/veterans_care_5">Democrats seek resignation of top VA mental health official</a></b><br />22.04.08. Matthew Daly, AP. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">better seek resignation of Bush Co?</span>}<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/washington/23military.html?_r=1&ex=1366603200&en=a4739c3acf8eee1f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">Sharpened Tone in Debate Over Culture of Military</a></b><br />23.04.08. NY Times. Mr. Gates departed sharply from this tone of reconciliation in two major addresses delivered Monday. In them, he made public deep misgivings about a military culture that squelches independent thinking, and he offered a glimpse into a significant fight over how other parts of the military establishment should support ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. … / Mr. Gates said he was convinced that <u>the next war</u> [?] would not be a conventional conflict, and that “asymmetrical conflict will be the dominant battlefield for decades to come, and procurement and training have to focus on that reality.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news/international/U_S_Gen_Petraeus_picked_to_lead_Iraq_and_Afghan_wars.html?siteSect=143&sid=9008879&cKey=1208979448000&ty=ti">U.S. Gen. Petraeus picked to lead Iraq and Afghan wars</a></b><br />23.04.08. Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0804/S00357.htm">The Hidden Architecture of U.S. Militarism</a></b><br />24.04.08. Jacqueline Cabassoscoop, nz. The Encarta Encyclopedia describes militarism as “advocacy of an ever-stronger military as a primary goal of society, even at the cost of other social priorities and liberties.” And it relates militarism to chauvinism, fascism, and national socialism. As uncomfortable as it may be for many, this chilling definition accurately describes the historical trajectory and current reality of U.S. national security policy. The threatened first use of nuclear weapons remains at the heart of that policy, and at the core of StratCom’s mission. / In many ways, StratCom embodies the hidden architecture of U.S. militarism. By architecture, I mean structural underpinnings and plans that provide coherence. I include both policies and “hardware” (i.e. delivery systems and manufacturing plants). / Much of this architecture is “hidden in plain sight.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/bal-te.afghanpolice26apr26,0,2371074.story">Marines to help train Afghanistan police force</a></b><br />26.04.08. Baltimore Sun. Officers will help fight Taliban, drug trade.<br /><br />SLIDE SHOW<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2008/apr/22/fightingseason">America's Forgotten War</a></b><br />22.04.08. John McHugh, Guardian. Photojournalist John D McHugh on the US's other war<br /><br />VIDEOS<br /><br /><a href="http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier/testimony"> Winter Soldier 2008 Testimony </a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2008/apr/22/fightingseason"> America’s Forgotten War</a><br /><br /><br /><u>U.S. $s</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/31/AR2008033102789.html">GAO Blasts Weapons Budget</a></b><br />01.04.08. Dana Hedgpeth, Washington Post / legitgov. Cost Overruns Hit $295 Billion. The Government Accountability Office found that 95 major systems have exceeded their original budgets by a total of $295 billion, bringing their total cost to $1.6 trillion, and are delivered almost two years late on average. In addition, none of the systems that the GAO looked at had met all of the standards for best management practices during their development stages.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/02/content_7901086.htm">Pentagon's weapon spending surges to $1.6 trillion in 2007</a></b><br />02.04.08. Xinhuanet. The U.S. Defense Department's spending on weapon systems has surged to 1.6 trillion dollars in 2007, doubling from 790 billion dollars in 2000, said a congressional report released on Tuesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19672.htm">US Lawmakers Have As Much As $196 Million Invested In "Defense" Companies</a></b><br />03.04.08. AP / ICH. The review of lawmakers' 2006 financial disclosure statements, by the Washington-based <a href="http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=342%20"> Center for Responsive Politics</a>, suggests that members' holdings could pose a conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending. Several members who earned the most from defense contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments, including Democratic Sen. John Kerry, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Republican Whip Roy Blunt. The study found that more Republicans than Democrats hold stock in defense companies, but that the Democrats who are invested had significantly more money at stake. In 2006, for example, Democrats held at least $3.7 million (€2.3 million) in military-related investments, compared to Republican investments of $577,500 (€372,000).<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/81099/">Bush Administration Wastes Trillions in Worthless Weapons</a></b><br />03.04.08. Robert Scheer, Truthdig/Alternet. A trillion dollars here, a trillion dollars there, and soon you're talking real money. But when it comes to reporting on what the Bush war legacy has cost American taxpayers, the media have been shockingly indifferent to the highest run-up in military spending since World War II. Even the devastating defense spending audit released Monday by the <a href="http://www.gao.gov/"> Government Accountability Office</a> documenting the enormous waste in every single U.S. advanced weapons system failed to provoke the outrage it, and five equally scathing previous annual audits, deserved.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040808S.shtml">US Lawmakers Invested in Iraq, Afghanistan Wars</a></b><br />07.04.08. Abid Aslam, Inter Press Service. Truthout. U.S. lawmakers have a financial interest in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, a review of their accounts has revealed. / Members of Congress invested nearly 196 million dollars of their own money in companies that receive hundreds of millions of dollars a day from Pentagon contracts to provide goods and services to U.S. armed forces, say nonpartisan watchdog groups. .. / In all, 151 current members of Congress - more than one-fourth of the total - have invested between 78.7 million dollars and 195.5 million dollars in companies that received defence contracts of at least 5.0 million dollars , according to CRP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=130727">US needs more war funds by June-Bush budget chief</a></b><br />16.04.08. Reuters, Wiredispatch / anti-war. The White House Wednesday warned that Congress must approve additional money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by the end of May or risk the start of Defense Department layoff notices.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000002705455">Huge War Supplemental in Works</a></b><br />16.04.08. CQ Politics<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2008_4_16.html#B5164E5A">Bush Seeks $9 Billion for Biodefenses</a></b><br />16.04.08. nti.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hj7bLU_VVjrxBnHiIQbBEZqK4FhAD90362A80">White House vows to block add-ons to war funding bill</a></b><br />16.04.08. Andrew Taylor, AP. The White House defended its $108 billion request for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on Wednesday, only to be upbraided by senators in both parties for taking a hard line against efforts to add money for domestic programs.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://mwcnews.net/content/view/21671/42/">How US Capitalism Will End US Military Adventurism</a></b><br />16.04.08. Peter Vickers, ICH. You will not only lose your economic advantages in the fall to come, but harder to bear will be the loss of your illusions about your morality, your superiority, your supremacy, and your vaunted exceptionalism. As in your blind aggressions in foreign lands the innocent within America will be collateral damage.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080417/NEWS07/804170383/1009">Bush to veto war bill revision</a></b><br />17.04.08. freep. White House budget director Jim Nussle said Wednesday that President George W. Bush would veto any attempt to hijack war-spending legislation by lawmakers seeking to add money for domestic programs.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/17/retailers-get-stingy-with-data/">Retailers Get Stingy With Data</a></b><br />17.04.08. dealbook.blogs NYT / ICH. J.C. Penney says the tumultuous economy is making it impossible to predict earnings over the next year. Macy’s asserts that providing monthly sales information is too <u>distracting and confusing</u>. And Starbucks argues that annual profit estimates are <u>unnecessary</u>. .. / Faced with an economic slump, a growing number of national retailers are abandoning the longstanding tradition of reporting monthly store sales and forecasting annual profits.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.janes.com/news/defence/business/jdw/jdw080418_1_n.shtml">Life after Bush - the US defence budget</a></b><br />18.04.08. Matthew Smith, Janes. The administration of US President George W Bush has overseen the largest defence spending increase in real terms for 30 years.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/19/AR2008041901696_pf.html">War Funding Bill Will Put Pelosi's Strength to the Test</a></b><br />20.04.08. Washington Post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN2143927320080421">FOREX-Dollar falls on Bank of America results; euro up</a></b><br />21.04.08. Reuters. The dollar fell on Monday after unexpectedly [sic] weak profits from Bank of America dampened investors' optimism that U.S. financial companies may escape the pinch of the crisis in global credit markets.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/23/AR2008042303346.html">General Dynamics' Profit Rises 32 Percent</a></b><br />24.04.08. Washington Post. General Dynamics said its earnings were up 32 percent in the first quarter, helped by increased sales in its divisions that make tanks, armored vehicles and other equipment. / Profit at the Falls Church company was $572 million ($1.42 a share), up from $434 million ($1.06) in the comparable period a year earlier. Sales grew 11 percent, to $7.01 billion.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042508J.shtml">Democrats May Push $172 Billion for War</a></b><br />25.04.08. Maya Schenwar, Truthout. While America is busy deciding which of the Democratic candidates is most likely to end the war, Congress is debating behind closed doors how much of a priority ending the war should be.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080425/ap_on_re_us/state_finances">Many states appear [sic] to be in recession</a></b><br />25.04.08. AP / ICH. The finances of many states have deteriorated so badly that they appear to be in a recession, regardless of whether that's true for the nation as a whole, a survey of all 50 state fiscal directors concludes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19817.htm"> The Pentagon Strangles Our Economy: Why the U.S. Has Gone Broke</a></b><br />26.04.08. Le Monde. Chalmers Johnson. The military adventurers in the Bush administration have much in common with the corporate leaders of the defunct energy company Enron. Both groups thought that they were the "smartest guys in the room" -- the title of Alex Gibney's prize-winning film on what went wrong at Enron. The neoconservatives in the White House and the Pentagon outsmarted themselves. They failed even to address the problem of how to finance their schemes of imperialist wars and global domination. / Our short tenure as the world's lone superpower has come to an end.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/24367769">MASTERCARD'S EARNINGS DOUBLE AND SHARES SURGE</a></b><br />29.04.08. CNBC / C. Baker. MasterCard, a credit- and debit-card network, said first-quarter earnings more than doubled, beating expectations, helped by the weak dollar and increased customer spending on a growing number of outstanding cards, pushing its shares up more than 9 percent. / The Purchase, N.Y.-based company said quarterly net income was $446.9 million, or $3.38 a share, compared with $214.9 million, or $1.57 a share, a year earlier.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RhnHo3RDfg"> The Great American Dollar Collapse</a><br /><br /><br /><u>US Food Rationing</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www2.nysun.com/article/74994">Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World</a></b><br />21.04.08. Josh Gerstein, NY sun / LEGITGOv/C.Baker. Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Taking a page from the Exxon Mobil playbook, Bush's agri-terrorists have declared war on the US consumer.</span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.peakoilstore.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=66577fe415709673bf2c31674a7cc564&topic=15840.msg200615#msg200615">Food rationing across NYC</a></b><br />23.04.08. Peak Oil Store. This was posted to PeakOil.com by Xerces, formerly known as Mithrates here at LATOC. Sounds like his is freaking out that the rationing might spread from the outer burroughs to the his neck of the woods where the Wall Street types hang out.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0424/breaking13.htm">Rice price rises as curbs imposed</a></b><br />24.04.08. Ireland.com. US rice prices advanced above $25 for the first time today as Wal-Mart's Sam's Club warehouse unit restricted purchases of some types of rice in the US.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042408N.shtml">Shops Ration Sales of Rice as US Buyers Panic</a></b><br />24.04.08. Andrew Clark, Rory Carroll, and Julian Borger, Guardian/truthout. New York and Caracas - The global food crisis reached the United States yesterday as big retailers began to ration sales of rice in response to bulk purchases by customers alarmed by rocketing prices of staples. / The world price of rice has risen 68% since the start of 2008, but in some US shops the price has doubled in weeks.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0424/food.html">Rice rationing for US bulk retailers</a></b><br />24.04.08. RTE / ICH. Two major US bulk retailers are rationing the sale of large bags of rice to consumers amid a growing global food crisis marked by skyrocketing prices and heavy pressure on demand..<br /><br /><br /><u> Internet and Media </u><br /><br />INTERNET<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/03/report-recruit.html">Military Report: Secretly 'Recruit or Hire Bloggers'</a></b><br />31.03.08. Wired/ICH.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23957172">Your Internet provider is watching you</a></b><br />04.04.08. AP / MSNBC.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/opinion/05sat4.html">The Already Big Thing on the Internet: Spying on Users</a></b><br />05.04.08. ADAM COHEN, NY Times. n 1993, the dawn of the Internet age, the liberating anonymity of the online world was captured in a well-known New Yorker cartoon. One dog, sitting at a computer, tells another: "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." Fifteen years later, that anonymity is gone.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/sensitive-military-equipment-for-sale-online/2008/04/11/1207856795540.html">Sensitive military equipment for sale online</a></b><br />11.04.08. smh – au./legitgov. Stolen and sensitive US military equipment, including fighter jet parts <u>wanted by Iran</u> and nuclear biological protective gear, has been available to the highest bidder on popular internet sales sites, according to congressional investigators. / Using undercover identities, investigators purchased a dozen defence-related items on the auction site eBay and the online network Craigslist from January 2007 through to last month and received the items "no questions asked."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9077698">GAO: Stolen U.S. military gear sold on eBay, Craigslist</a></b><br />14.04.08. computerworld / legitgov. Few safeguards found to prevent the sale of defense equipment, agency says. Stolen and sensitive U.S. military equipment, including body armor, night vision goggles, and gear to protect against nuclear or biochemical warfare, are being sold on Craigslist and eBay, a GAO report says.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3277027,00.html">EU to Criminalize Internet-Based Incitement to <em>Terrorism</em></a></b><br />19.04.08. dw-world<br /><br /><b><a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9474.shtml">EI exclusive: a pro-Israel group's plan to rewrite history on Wikipedia</a></b><br />21.04.08. electronic intifada. A pro-Israel pressure group is orchestrating a secret, long-term campaign to infiltrate the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia to rewrite Palestinian history, pass off crude propaganda as fact, and take over Wikipedia administrative structures to ensure these changes go either undetected or unchallenged. / A series of emails by members and associates of the pro-Israel group CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), provided to The Electronic Intifada (EI), indicate the group is engaged in what one activist termed a "war" on Wikipedia.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9926899-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20">FBI wants widespread monitoring of 'illegal' Internet activity </a></b><br />23.04.08. news.com / ICH. Mueller seemed to suggest that the bureau should have a broad "omnibus" authority to conduct monitoring and surveillance of private-sector networks as well.<br /><br /><br />MEDIA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wlfi.com/Global/story.asp?S=8116445">Bush officials mount campaign against media shield bill</a></b><br />03.04.08. wlfi/legitgov. Attorney General Michael Mukasey and other administration officials say the "Free Flow of Information Act" could <em>harm national security</em> and would encourage more leaks of classified information. The officials have written letters to senators stating their objections.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/us/04poll.html?_r=1&ex=1364961600&en=4ed7e105f23045ae&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">81% in Poll Say Nation Is on the Wrong Track</a></b><br />04.04.08. NY Times. In the poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2002.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/040408a.html">(The Late) M.L. King Still Silenced</a></b><br />04.04.08.Jeff Cohen, consortium. in his last years of life, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke out forcefully against the Vietnam War and American militarism, drawing cold contempt from major U.S. media outlets. Now, 40 years after his death, the news media still ignores one of King's last great battles.<br /><br />VIDEO.<br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2564.htm">A Time to Break Silence</a> Rev. Martin Luther King, (04.04.67) with transcript.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/51234">Gullible Media Never Figures Out Bush Administration Lies</a></b><br />13.03.08. media monitors. It is hard to know what is actually taught at journalism school. Perhaps the emphasis is on good personal grooming, dental hygiene, and sentence syntax. / Without doubt, there is no emphasis on truth seeking through journalism, or even common sense. This is particularly true with regards to the Bush Administration's warmongering in Iraq and even in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/?p=674">Beyond the Speed of Lies</a></b><br />17.04.08. Rand Clifford, best Cyrano. Astonishing as it is, the daily load of lies dumped on Americans by mainstream corporate media (CorpoMedia), lurking a step beyond is the reality of most of the lies finding belief. Respect of being told the truth is not earned by swallowing whatever lies are in the load—that simply earns what we have: CorpoMedia as the propaganda arm of our corporate-fascist federal government (CorpoGov). Millions still seem to believe that some kind of law dictates media honesty. But to CorpoMedia, truth, facts…largely illusion, often an enemy. Media conglomeration has left us with only a few monster corporations controlling virtually all mainstream “news”—a stupid liars’ gumbo rich with moral supremacy, victimization, innocence and righteousness cranked with MSG and corn syrup and fat. Sure can taste better than truth—even makes you want seconds. The stuff is hurtling us toward fact-free rule at the speed of lies—and then some.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/washington/20generals.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">Behind Analysts, the Pentagon’s Hidden Hand</a></b><br />20.04.08. David Barstow, NY Times. In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded “the gulag of our times” by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure. / The administration’s communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/04/20/washington/20080419_RUMSFELD.html"> Interactive</a>.<br />More on this <a href="http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/bruce/2008/04/pentagon_pundits_media_facilit.html">here</a>.<br />and <a href="http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/042808a.html"> here</a>(28.04.08) Consortium)<br /><br />...ahhh ...<br /><b><a href="http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23615121-5005961,00.html">Pentagon suspends 'media analysts' program</a></b><br />29.04.08. news.com.au. THE Pentagon has suspended a public affairs program that has come under fire for using retired military "media analysts" as surrogates to get out its messages on the Iraq war, a spokesman confirmed today.<br /><br />BUT (UPDATE)<br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43678&s2=04">Pentagon Expands Propaganda Reach With Foreign "News" Websites </a></b><br />02.05.08. Steve Watson & Paul Watson, Infowars.net . uruknet. Military run electronic media outlets form global network of "Information Operations" to take on "adversaries on the internet"<br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-04-21-bushrating_N.htm">Disapproval of Bush breaks record</a></b><br />22.04.08. USA Today. In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing; 69% disapprove.<br /><br />FILM<br /><a href="http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1407801/"> Fitna</a>: The film is about how the west fears the world (21.04.08) Trading Markets. Compared to all the noise that was made before the self-billed anti-Islam film 'Fitna' produced by Geert Wilders, a Dutch right wing politician, the movie has not exactly lit the world on fire like its previous anti-Islamic media ancestors. / .. Somewhere it also becomes a rallying slogan against Muslims. It has been condemned by all world leaders including the UN Secy-General but it will make Wilders better known also for a crude piece of propaganda. .. / Geert Wilders, an MP, is part of the growing number of anti-Islamics in Europe who are also rooted in mainstream politics.<br /><br /><u> Semantics</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=42787&s2=06">US forces are getting increasingly bogged down in the Afghanistan quagmire</a></b><br />06.04.08. Kaleem Omar, The News - International, Pakistan / uruknet. … the US and ISAF forces are getting increasingly bogged down in the quagmire that is Afghanistan today, and are making little headway in their efforts to defeat what they call the "insurgency". What they are actually facing, however, is not an "insurgency" but a <u>resistance movement made up of Afghans who want to get rid of the foreign forces that have occupied their country</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19706.htm">Honouring The 'Unbreakable Promise'</a></b><br />09.04.08. John Pilger, ICH. We even have a new vocabulary, in which noble concepts have been corporatised and given deceptive, perverse, even opposite meanings. / "Democracy" is now the free market – a concept itself bereft of freedom. "Reform" is now the denial of reform. "Economics" is the relegation of most human endeavour to material value, a bottom line. Alternative models that relate to the needs of the majority of humanity end up in the memory hole. And "governance" – so fashionable these days - means an economic system approved in Washington, Brussels and Davos. "Foreign policy" is service to the dominant power. Conquest is "humanitarian intervention". Invasion is "nation-building". / Every day, we breathe the hot air of these pseudo ideas with their pseudo truths and pseudo experts. They set the limits of public debate within the most advanced societies. They determine who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. They manipulate our compassion and our anger and make many of us feel there is nothing we can do. Take the "war on terror". This is an entirely bogus idea that actually means a war of terror. Its aim is to convince people in the rich world that we all must live in an enduring state of fear: that Muslim fanatics are threatening our civilisation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/fisk/robert-fisk-semantics-cant-mask-bushs-chicanery-808171.html">Robert Fisk: Semantics can't mask Bush's chicanery</a></b><br />12.04.08. Robert Fisk, Independent. Since when did armies go around 're-liberating'. / After his latest shenanigans, I've come to the conclusion that George Bush is the first US president to march backwards. First we had weapons of mass destruction. Then, when they proved to be a myth, Bush told us we had stopped Saddam's "programmes" for weapons of mass destruction (which happened to be another lie). / Now he's gone a stage further. After announcing victory in Iraq in 2003 and "mission accomplished" and telling us how this enormous achievement would lead the 21st century into a "shining age of human liberty", George Bush told us this week that "thanks to the surge, we've renewed and revived the prospect of success".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/glazebrook04182008.html">Just as the Wall is Called a Fence</a></b><br />18.04.08. Dan Glazebrook Interview with Robert Fisk, Counterpunch. Watching the news two weeks ago, I was shocked to see Yassin Nassari and Abdul Patel referred to by the BBC as 'terrorists'--not "alleged" or "suspected", but straight down the line "terrorists" - when the only charges they faced related to "possession of materials" (Islamist literature and video), and they had not even been accused of planning <em>terrorist</em> attacks, let alone carrying any out. <b>Has 'terrorism' become a 'catch-all' phrase</b>?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.co/">Whose Privilege?</a></b><br />18.04.08. Editorial, NY Times. In the name of <em>fighting terrorism</em> — and with a clear goal of avoiding accountability — the Bush administration has imposed a level of secrecy on its operations that has no place in a democracy. / One of its most disturbing tactics has been seeking early dismissal of lawsuits alleging serious government misconduct, claiming they would reveal <em>national security</em> secrets. The Senate is now considering a good bill that would rein in this misuse of the state secrets privilege and give victims fair access to the courts and the public a fuller understanding of their government's actions. In recent years, a number of important lawsuits have raised credible allegations of government abuses including torture, kidnapping, rendition and domestic eavesdropping. All too often, judges have blocked these suits without examining how and why going forward would compromise the nation's security. / Congress has also been far too acquiescent, standing aside as the administration undermined individual rights and the constitutional system of checks and balances. It may finally be ready to act.<br /><br /><br /><u><em>Al Qaeda </em> Propaganda</u>.<br /><br /><b><em>"The U.S., when it belatedly discovered Al Qaeda in the cupboard, has since made a gourmet meal of it"</em></b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/31/2203399.htm"><em>Al Qaeda</em> training 'Western-looking' fighters: CIA</a></b><br />31.03.08. ABC. CIA head Michael Hayden says Al Qaeda is training fighters who have a 'Western' appearance and would be more likely to be able to penetrate US borders to mount terrorist attacks.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hGSVLpeH8u21NKvARSfTiSGFO5AQ">US: <em>Al-Qaeda</em> equally dangerous in Iraq, Afghanistan</a></b><br />08.04.08. The White House on Wednesday distanced itself from the US ambassador to Iraq's statement that <em>Al-Qaeda</em> on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border is a greater threat than <em>Al-Qaeda</em> in Iraq. / "The president is concerned about both, but I have not heard him describe it as prioritizing one or the other. <em>Al-Qaeda</em> is dangerous, full stop," said spokeswoman Dana Perino. / Perino had been asked about a comment from the US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, who told US lawmakers Tuesday that the group was more of a threat to US [<b>OIL]</b>interests along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border than inside Iraq.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/20/AR2008042002227_pf.html">Few Clear Wins in U.S. <em>Anti-Terror</em> Cases</a></b><br />21.04.08. Washington Post. Moving Early on Domestic Suspects Often Does Not Bring Convictions. When seven ragtag men in a Miami religious sect were indicted in 2006 for their role in a bizarre plot to blow up the FBI Miami office and Chicago's Sears Tower, then- Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said the case represented "a new brand of <em>terrorism</em>" among homegrown gangs that "may prove to be as dangerous as groups like <em>al-Qaeda</em>."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2008_4_28.html#8712DA71"><em>Al-Qaeda</em> Would Obliterate a City, Ex-MI6 Chief Says</a></b><br />28.04.08. Nti. <em>Al-Qaeda</em> would destroy an entire city if it acquired the means to do so[<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">where is the ‘lost’ U.S nuclear weapon?</span>] , the former chief of the British intelligence service MI6 warned in defending a proposal to extend the period of time authorities in the United Kingdom can detain terror suspects without filing charges, the London Mail on Sunday reported yesterday (see GSN, April 15).<br />...<br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43244&s2=21">McCain, the Retired Military "Analysts" and the Myth of <em>al-Qaeda</em> in Iraq</a></b><br />20.04.08. Juan Cole, Informed Comment/uruknet. I am quoted in this NYT piece today on John McCain's allegations that the US is fighting "al-Qaeda" in Iraq and that there is a danger of "al-Qaeda" taking over the country if the US leaves. Those allegations don't make any sense. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> Note that Juan Cole puts “Al Qaeda” within quotation marks?. </span>]<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/opinion/walthandelsman/blog/2008/03/animation_its_3_am.html">It's 3 a.m.</a> BRILLIANT ANIMATION by Walt Handelsman<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u>”War on Terror” </u><br /><br /><em>IT'S DANGEROUS TO BE RIGHT, WHEN YOUR GOVERNMENT IS WRONG </em>. Voltaire<br /><br />REPORTS<br /><b><a href="http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/chronic_failures_war_terror%20Chronic%20Failures%20in%20the%20War%20on%20Terror%20-%20From%20Afghanistan%20to%20Somalia%20%20ARPIL%202008.%20%20SENLIS%20COUNCIL.%20%20Click%20for%20full%20report%20%28pdf%29.%20%20%20%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" org="" sgp="" crs="" natsec="" pdf=""> "Organizing the U.S. Government for National Security: Overview of the Interagency Reform Debates</a></b>,"<br />April 18, 2008<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34456.pdf">"2008-2009 Presidential Transition: National Security Considerations and Options</a></b>,"<br />April 21, 2008<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080416/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/dna_collection_4">Feds to collect DNA from every person they arrest</a></b><br />16.04.08. yahoo / legitgov. The government plans to begin collecting DNA samples from anyone arrested by a federal law enforcement agency — a move intended to prevent violent crime but which also is raising concerns about the privacy of innocent people.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19749.htm">The Martial Law Act of 2006</a></b><br />15.04.08. James Bovard, Lew Rockwell / ICH. Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that will make it easy for President Bush to impose martial law in response to a terrorist "incident." It also empowers him to effectively declare martial law in response to what he or other federal officials label a shortfall of "public order" - whatever that means.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%20http://rense.com/general81/shadowgovt.htm">Bush Replaced REX84 With New Martial Law EO</a></b><br />14.04.08. T. Twietmeyer, rense. Once In Control - Martial Law Will Stay. ... / America's case for a repeat of a Hitler type power grab is clearly underway.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/ips/fisher.php?articleid=12725">Trials of Muslim Charities Likened to a Witch-Hunt</a></b><br />22.04.08. William Fisher, anti-war. The U.S. government's anti-terrorist financing programs are based on the "guilt by association" tactics of the McCarthy era and have had a widespread negative impact on U.S. charities, critics say. / The organization [OMB] accused Congress of continuing "an unfortunate pattern of insufficient congressional oversight of anti-terrorist financing programs, neglecting to address the unnecessarily harsh impacts the programs have on U.S. charities and philanthropy." / As an example of insufficient congressional oversight of charities' alleged support of terrorist organizations, OMB Watch cited a recent hearing before the Senate Finance Committee in which the only witness was a government official. The witness was the undersecretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, Stuart Levey, who plays a lead role in identifying charities that the Treasury Department claims are supporting terrorist causes.<br /><br />Important<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2008/04/national_security_and.html">National Security and the Presidential Transition</a></b><br />22.04.08. Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News. “The 2008-2009 election marks the first presidential transition in the post-9/11 era, and is of concern to many national security observers,” a new report (pdf) from the Congressional Research Service says. / “While changes in administration during U.S. involvement in national security related activities are not unique to the 2008-2009 election, many observers suggest that the current security climate and recent acts of terrorism by individuals wishing to influence national elections and change foreign policies portend a time of increased risk to the current presidential transition period.” Reports and important links.<br /><br />Steven continues: Meanwhile, "A growing community of interest, including Members of Congress, senior officials in the executive branch, and think-tank analysts, is calling for a reexamination of how well the U.S. government, including both the executive branch and Congress, is organized to apply all instruments of national power to national security activities," according to another new CRS report. ... (cont)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/22/us_laptop_ruling/">US court waves through border laptop searches</a></b><br />22.04.08. the register. In a recent ruling, a three-judge panel of that court determined that border agents could examine the contents of a laptop <u>without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing</u>. As part of that decision, the court rejected the defendant's contention that his laptop was analogous to his home or his mind because of the amount of storage and type of personal content that could be held there.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/21/AR2008042103036.html?hpid%3Dmoreheadlines&sub=AR">U.S. to Insist That Travel Industry Get Fingerprints</a></b><br />22.04.08. Washington post. The U.S. government today will order commercial airlines and cruise lines to prepare to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the country under a security initiative that the industry has condemned as costly and burdensome. / The proposal does not say where airlines must collect fingerprints -- at airport check-in counters, departure gates or kiosks somewhere in between. But the government estimates the undertaking will cost airlines $2.3 billion over 10 years, a U.S. homeland security official said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042508B.shtml">The War on Terror Feeding Frenzy</a></b><br />22.04.08. Ian S. Lustick, The Hill /Truthout. Nearly seven years after Sept. 11, 2001, what accounts for the vast discrepancy between the <em>terrorist</em> threat facing America and the scale of our response / Why, absent any evidence of a serious domestic <em>terror</em> threat, is the <em>War on Terror</em> so enormous, so all-encompassing, and still expanding? The fundamental answer is that <em>al-Qaeda</em>'s most important accomplishment was not to hijack our planes, but to hijack our political system. / For a multitude of politicians, interest groups, professional associations, corporations, media organizations, universities, local and state governments and federal agency officials, the <em>War on Terror</em> is now a major profit center, a funding bonanza, and a set of slogans and sound bites to be inserted into budget, project, grant and contract proposals.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/23/usa.somalia">US 'war on terror' backfiring, says thinktank</a></b><br />23.04.08. Mark Tran, Guardian. The US "war on terror" has backfired, strengthening extremists in <u>Afghanistan</u>and Somalia and turning them into legitimate political actors in the eyes of their local populations, a thinktank said today. The Senlis Council, which has strongly criticised US policy in Afghanistan in the past, is particularly scathing of the Bush administration's "abject policy failures" in Somalia. [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">see Senlis Report, above</span>]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/24/AR2008042403624_pf.html">Citing Risks, Study Suggests Ways To Ease National Security Handoff</a></b><br />25.04.08. Washington Post. The United States is "lurching toward a period of uncertainty and increased risk" in this election year and during the upcoming presidential transition, according to a new Congressional Research Service study (see above) that suggests counterterrorism responses that Congress, the Bush administration and its potential successors could take. / The report, released Monday, noted that new security officials and agencies put in place after the Sept. 11, 2001, <em>terrorist </em>attacks -- such as the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Counterterrorism Center and the Department of Homeland Security -- will soon undergo their first presidential handoff.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> UK and Europe Colluding in U.S. “War on Terror”</span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/21/nspy121.xml">New anti-terrorism rules 'allow US to spy on British motorists'</a></b><br />Toby Helm and Christopher Hope, Telegraph. Routine journeys carried out by millions of British motorists can be <u>monitored by authorities in the United States and other enforcement agencies across the world</u> under <em>anti-terrorism</em>rules introduced discreetly by Jacqui Smith.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3277027,00.html">EU to Criminalize Internet-Based Incitement to Terrorism</a></b><br />19.04.08. dw-world<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080425/wl_uk_afp/chinaoly2008attacksinterpolbritaintravel">Britain upgrades terror assessment for travellers</a></b><br />25.04.08. AFP. Govt changed its travel advice for China on Friday, as Interpol warned of a possible <em>Al-Qaeda</em>-style attack or violent disruption from pro-Tibet supporters at August's Beijing Olympics. / Interpol chief Ronald Noble said earlier Friday that "we must be prepared for the possibility that <em>Al-Qaeda</em> or some other <em>terrorist group</em> will attempt to launch a deadly <em>terrorist </em>attack at these Olympics".<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,549909,00.html">Germany and US to Share Intimate Data on Terror Suspects</a></b><br />26.04.08. der spiegel. The US and Germany recently signed a deal that would allow them to share data on suspected <em>terrorists</em>. Now it turns out that the new agreement allows for the countries to swap data on suspects' ethnic origin, religious beliefs and union membership -- and even sex lives.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=PCaAZovyJ7w"> Operation Sudden Impact (Martial Law Sweep)</a><br /><br />see<br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/us-martial-law-timeline.html"> U.S. Martial Law Timeline</a><br />(21.08.07. Index Research. Updated April ‘08)<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><u> Understanding America </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://carolynbaker.net/site/content/view/440/">POLITICAL PONEROLOGY: RELINKED REVIEW</a></b><br />14.04.08. Carolyn Baker, Speaking Truth to Power. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Political-Ponerology-Science-Adjusted-Purposes/dp/1897244258/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208173142&sr=8-1%E2%80%9D%3EPolitical%20Ponerology:%20A%20Science%20on%20The%20Nature%20of%20Evil%20Adjusted%20for%20Political%20Purposes%3C/a%3E,%20by%20Andrew%20Lobaczewski%20%5B%3Cem%3Eand%20Laura%20Knight%20Jadczyk%3C/em%3E%5D%20%201998-%202006.%20%5BLobaczeweki%5D%20%20%20noticed%20a%20high%20correlation%20between%20acts%20that%20most%20people%20would%20label%20as%20" evil="" and="" various="" most="" important="" characteristic="" which="" is="" the="" seeming="" absence="" of="" a="" conscience="" or="" empathy="" in="" relation="" to="" other="" living=""><br /><br /><b></b></a><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8673">China and America: The Tibet Human Rights PsyOp</a></b><br />13.04.08. Michel Chossudovsky, global research. The human rights issue has become the centerfold of media disinformation. / China is no model of human rights but neither are the US and its indefectible British ally, responsible for extensive war crimes and human rights violations in Iraq and around the World. The US and its allies, which uphold the practice of torture, political assassinations and the establishment of secret detention camps, continue to be presented to public opinion as a model of Western democracy to be emulated by developing countries, in contrast to Russia, Iran, North Korea and the People's Republic of China.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19739.htm">American Hegemony Is Not Guaranteed</a></b><br />14.04.08. Paul Craig Roberts, ICH. If America really had dangerous enemies, surely the <em>enemies</em> would collude to take advantage of a dramatically over-extended delusional regime that, blinded by its own arrogance and hubris, issues gratuitous threats and lives by Mao’s doctrine that power comes out of the barrel of a gun. / There are other less dramatic scenarios. Why does the US assume that only it can initiate aggression, boycotts, freezes on financial assets of other countries and bans on foreign banks from participation in the international banking system? If the rest of the world were to tire of American aggression or to develop a moral conscience, it would be easy to organize a boycott of America and to ban US banks from participating in the international banking system. Such a boycott would be especially effective at the present time with the balance sheets of US banks impaired by subprime derivatives and the US government dependent on foreign loans in order to finance its day-to-day activities. /Sooner or later it will occur to other countries that putting up with America is a habit that they don’t need to continue.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.the-american-interest.com/ai2/article.cfm?Id=418&MId=19">Terrorphobia, Our False Sense of Security</a></b><br />May-June 2008. John Mueller, American Interest. 1. the international fear of terrorism; 2. The sentiment motivating U.S. security policy since September 11.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174922/steve_fraser_the_two_gilded_ages">The Great Silence</a></b><br />22.04.08. Steve Fraser, Tomgram.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/?p=679">Negotiable or not, the American Way of Life must be extinguished</a></b><br />22.04.08. Jason Miller, best Cyrano. Is the Western consumerist culture that we inflict upon the rest of the world truly the pinnacle of our evolution? If it is, I resign my membership in the human race. Though I don’t fear that I’ll be compelled to tender my resignation any time soon because our so-called “non-negotiable American Way of Life” is a piece of shit, for myriad reasons.<br /><br />We in the Western “developed” nations, particularly in the United States, are an utter disgrace to our species. Our myopic, self-centered, jejune, hubristic, and benighted ways of examining and interacting with the rest of the world, including other human animals, non-human animals, and Mother Earth herself, are reprehensible to the point of nausea and beyond.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174923/turse_a_pentagon_s_who_s_who_of_your_life">The Real Matrix</a></b><br />24.04.08. Nick Turse, Tom dispatch. A Pentagon's Who's Who of Your Life. so wake up with Rick and sample a single spring morning as the alarm on his Sony (Department of Defense contractor) clock interrupts his final dream of the night. Donna is already up and dressed in fitness apparel by Danskin (a Pentagon supplier that received more than $780,000 in DoD dollars in 2004 and another $456,000 in 2005) and Hanes Her Way (made by defense contractor and cake seller Sara Lee Corporation, which took in more than $68 million from the DoD in 2006). Committed to a healthy lifestyle, she's wearing sneakers from (DoD contractor) New Balance and briskly jogging on a treadmill made by (DoD contractor) True Fitness Technology. Read on!<br /><br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arn3lF5XSUg&eurl=http://www.tomdispatch.com/p/zinn"> A People's History of American Empire by Howard Zinn </a><br /><br /><br /><a id="7000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 7. Contracts and Contractors </b><br /></div><br /><br /><br />CONTRACTS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=132941">Air Force leaders under fire for $50 million contract</a></b><br />17.04.08. wiredispatch. Probe of $50 million contract puts beleaguered Air Force leaders under fire again. .. / The report is the latest in a string of problems for Air Force leaders, who have faced questions about the service's handling of nuclear and nuclear-related materials, challenges to a recent $35 billion tanker contract award and anger over their efforts to get more money for the F-22 Raptor.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5710119.html">New bid, same result: KBR shares big Army contract</a></b><br />17.04.08. David Ivanovich, chron.com. Houston-based KBR has again been selected to participate in a 10-year military logistical support contract valued at up to $150 billion, the U.S. Army announced today.<br /><br /><br />CONTRACTORS<br /><br />"<em>Just as the Wall is Called a Fence, So are the Mercenaries Called Contractors</em>" <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/glazebrook04182008.html%E2%80%9D%3E%20Robert%20Fisk%3C/a%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" org="" id="14992"">AFGHANISTAN: Supplier Under Scrutiny on Aging Arms for Afghans</a><br />27.03.08. C. J. Chivers, NYT / corpwatch. Since 2006, when the insurgency in Afghanistan sharply intensified, the Afghan government has been dependent on American logistics and military support in the war against <em>Al Qaeda</em> and the Taliban./ But to arm the Afghan forces that it hopes will lead this fight, the American military has relied since early last year on a fledgling company led by a <u>22-year-old man whose vice president was a licensed masseur</u>.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Guess who is making a 'killing' with oil price hikes and food rationing?</span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aeyAcHA3FbIY">Halliburton Profit Rises After Oil Climbs to Record</a></b><br />21.04.08. Bloomberg. http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=15 Halliburton Co., the world's second-largest oilfield contractor, said profit rose 5.8 percent after crude topped $100 a barrel, prompting producers to increase spending on Middle East and Latin American projects.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=141476">Lawsuit: Company jeopardized security at US embassy in Kabul</a></b><br />24.04.08. Wiredispatch. The two men's federal lawsuit, filed Thursday, charges that their former employer, <u>ArmorGroup North America Inc.</u>, lied to the State Department when it bid on the contract to provide embassy security. The lawsuit claims the company misrepresented it capabilities, its experience and how many hours its contractors would work.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gmjk6XylpXDSULJE8dzzb9n4bqNQ">Police say 17 Afghan security forces jailed for drug smuggling over past year</a></b><br />24.04.08. Canadian press. Gen. Hafezullah Rahjoy, operational commander of the ministry's counternarcotics police, says both soldiers and police officers were among <u>820 people arrested</u> for drug trafficking since March 2007.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43525&s2=29">AFGHANISTAN: Bid to Slay Karzai Exposes Security Mess</a></b><br />28,04.08. Anand Gopal, uruknet. Violence levels have increased in Afghanistan in the first quarter of 2008, compared to the first part of 2007, a series of newly-released studies indicate. / On Sunday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped an assassination bid while attending a military parade in Kabul. A member of parliament and a 10-year-old child were among the dead. A spokesman for the Taliban said the fighters wanted to show they can infiltrate such high security events. / In the past week, three reports have independently warned of a worsening security situation this year. / A Kabul-based security specialist released a study suggesting that insurgent attacks jumped by almost 40 percent in the first months of 2008 compared to the analogous period last year; a non-governmental organisation (NGO) reported that insurgent attacks against NGOs doubled compared to early 2007; and, a European-based think thank announced that an eventual defeat of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is a realistic possibility. / There were 991 "security incidents" -- acts of violence that originated from the Taliban or anti-government elements, in the first 13 weeks of 2008, according to Sami Kovanen, a security specialist with the security firm <u>Vigilant Strategic Services Afghanistan</u>.<br /><br /><br /><a id="8000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 8. Oil and Gas: The Great Game</b><br /></div><br /><br /><em>"Oil at $110 a barrel. Gasoline at $3.35 (or more) per gallon. Diesel fuel at $4 per gallon. Independent truckers forced off the road. Home heating oil rising to unconscionable price levels. Jet fuel so expensive that three low-cost airlines stopped flying in the past few weeks. This is just a taste of the latest energy news, signaling a profound change in how all of us, in this country and around the world, are going to live"</em>. <br /><br /><a href="http://tomdispatch.com/post/174919/michael_klare_oil_rules_%E2%80%9D%3E%20Michael%20Klare%3C/a%3E%3Cbr%3E%20%20%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" net="" html="">Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet - excerpt from Klare's new book</a><br />14.04.08. Michael Klare, Energy Bulletin. World leaders are now facing the stark recognition that all materials vital for the functioning of modern industrial societies (not just oil and natural gas but uranium, coal, copper, and others) are finite and being depleted at an ever-accelerating rate. As a result, governments rather than corporations are increasingly spearheading the pursuit of resources.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_4511.shtml">Is Oil The Motive For War</a></b><br />01.04.08. Louis Farrakhan, final call.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/02/content_7907478.htm">Afghan gov't to encourage private sector to explore oilfields</a></b><br />02.04.08. Xinhuanet. "The Ministry for Mines is going to hand over some oil and gas fields of northern Jauzjan and Sar-e-Pulprovinces and Iron mine of Hajjigak in central Bamyan province to private sector in the current year," daily Rah-e-Nejat quoted Ibrahim Adil, the minister for Mines as saying.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thehilltimes.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=2008/april/14/energy_bridge/&c=2">Parliament is ignoring 'New Great Energy Game' in Afghanistan, says MP</a></b><br />14.04.08. hill times. Economist identifies Afghanistan as a <u>strategic 'energy bridge' for the transport of natural gas</u> from Central Asia to South Asia.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2008/04/16/turkmen-gas-reaching-indian-horizons/">Turkmen gas reaching Indian horizons</a></b><br />16.04.08. Turkmenistan news Eurasia. The ministry of oil and gas industry and mineral resources of Turkmenistan and the ministry of oil and natural gas of the Republic of India signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the oil and gas sector. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov invited Indian partners to join such important international project as the construction of the <u>Turkmenistan - Afghanistan - Pakistan - India gas pipeline</u>. / The preliminary talks with Afghanistan were held recently, during NATO summit.<br /><br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);"> Red Rag to Bull dept. </span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bbj.hu/main/news_38487_china+to+sign+gas+deal+with+iran.html">China to sign gas deal with Iran</a></b><br />16.04.08. bbj.hu / ICH. The two companies signed a memorandum last year to expand gas reserves of the North Pars gas field where as the $16-billion agreement was postponed to be signed through what called international sensitivities.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43220&s2=20">Report: Iran's president says oil at $115 a barrel is too low, calls for higher prices</a></b><br />19.04.08. Ali Akbar Dareini, AP / uruknet.<br /><br />… ... <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Meanwhile, STILL U.S. military spin (see US/media) sucked up by AP this time</span><br /><br /><b><a href="http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2008/04/25/5386151-ap.html">Iran boosting support for Iraqi, Afghan rebels</a></b><br />25.04.08. AP / Cnews. The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff is accusing Iran of increasing support to insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan.<br />... ...<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080048095&ch=4/27/2008%206:31:00%20PM">Ahmadinejad visit to boost Indo-Iran ties</a></b><br />27.04.08. ndtv. When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stops over in New Delhi on Tuesday for a few hours, the visit - his first after assuming power in Tehran nearly three years ago - will be watched keenly not only in this country but the rest of the world, particularly the United States. .. / With decks cleared for the construction of the <u>US-backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline</u>, India is now focusing on the pricing issue with Tehran and transit fee with Islamabad to get the $7 billion Iran-Pakistan-India pipelines off the ground. This could prove crucial for the country's energy security if the nuclear deal does not get through.<br /><br />==<br />Cheney and oil prices<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aeyAcHA3FbIY">Halliburton Profit Rises After Oil Climbs to Record (Update3)</a></b><br />21.04.08. Bloomberg. First-quarter net income climbed to $584 million, or 64 cents a share, from $552 million, or 54 cents, a year earlier<br /><br /><b><a href="http://money.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=453386">Oil rises to $119 on U.S., Iran tensions</a></b><br />25.04.08. money. Ninmsn. U.S. crude futures surged $3.15 to $119.21 a barrel by 1454 GMT, within striking distance of the all-time peak of $119.90 reached on Tuesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/04/22/oil-energy-economy-markets-comm-cx_cg_0422markets33.html">Supply Scare Sends Oil Toward $120</a></b><br />22.04.08. Forbes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/WhyOilCouldHit180DollarsABarrel.aspx">Why oil could hit $180 a barrel</a></b><br />22.04.08. MSN.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/1685">The collapse of the United States is accelerating: Oil in Euros vs. US dollars</a></b><br />23.04.08. Chycho.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://geology.com/news/2008/us-gasoline-price-hits-record-high.shtml"> U.S. Gasoline Price Hits Record High </a></b><br />25.04.08. geology.com. The United States national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline hit a record high of $3.556<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23480318-details/Petrol%20stations%20run%20dry%20as%20minister%20sparks%20fuel%20panic%20by%20admitting:%20%27Supplies%20can%27t%20be%20guaranteed%20on%20every%20forecourt%27/article.do">Petrol price to break through £5 ($9.92)a gallon as forecourts sell out amid fuel panic</a></b><br />27.04.08. this is London.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www2.nysun.com/article/75363">Gasoline May Soon Cost a Sawbuck</a></b><br />28.04.08. ww2.nysun. Get ready for another economic shock of major proportions — a virtual doubling of prices at the gas pump to as much as $10 a gallon.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601102&sid=aEhgXbX_M7tE">Exxon, Shell and BP Profit to Advance on $100 Oil (Update1)</a></b><br />28.04.08. bloomberg. Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc may report record first-quarter profit and BP Plc the highest earnings in two years after oil rose above $100 a barrel and natural gas prices climbed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iftQ-7-T9grM4N1CDCNwSxyYla7Q">Shell profits up 25 pct on record high oil prices</a></b><br />29.04.08. AFP. Crude oil prices smashed record after record in the first quarter and hit an all-time high of almost 120 dollars per barrel on Monday on the back of a British refinery strike and simmering tensions in key producer Nigeria.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2008/BUSINESS/04/29/britishpetroleum.profit.ap/">BP's first-quarter profit jumps 63 percent</a></b><br />29.04.08. CNN. The oil company on Tuesday reported a profit of $7.6 billion compared to $4.4 billion in the first quarter of 2007.<br /><br />==<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jdcGIouXFo5iiGWVvY3CPEJUIFdg">Indian oil minister visits Pakistan for talks on Iran pipeline</a></b><br />22.04.08. AFP. … Talks on the 2,600-kilometre (1,615-mile) Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline began in 1994 but have been stalled by tensions between India and Pakistan. / .. Deora and his Pakistani counterpart will also exchange views over the proposed <u>Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline</u>, to be funded by the Asian Development Bank, the oil ministry official said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/04/022F20C7-BE7F-4438-8AF9-7C367A33CDD2.html">Central Asia: Trans-Afghan Pipeline Discussions Open In Islamabad</a></b><br />23.04.08. B. Pannier, rferl. Officials from Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan have opened a meeting in Islamabad to discuss a pipeline that would bring Turkmen gas to South Asia. / First proposed some 15 years ago, the project has never been carried out, whether due to instability in Afghanistan or strained ties between Pakistan and India. But the parties involved feel that now may be the time to finally carry out the project, which would benefit all four countries.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/25/apworld/20080425192609">Pakistan, India close to finalizing accord on gas pipeline from <u>Iran</u></a></b><br />25.04.08. AP / the star. The U.S. has opposed the project because of [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">OMG</span>] fears it will weaken efforts to isolate Iran, which it accuses of pursuing a nuclear weapons program.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/83548/">We Must Imagine a Life Without Oil</a></b><br />29.04.08. Mark Hertsgaard, The Nation/Alternet. It used to be that only environmentalists and paranoids warned about running out of oil. Not anymore. As climate change did over the past few years, peak oil seems poised to become the next big idea commanding the attention of governments, businesses and citizens the world over. The arrival of $119-a-barrel crude and $4-a-gallon gasoline this spring are but the most obvious signs that global oil production has or soon will peak. With global demand inexorably rising, a limited supply will bring higher, more volatile prices and eventually shortages that could provoke -- to quote the title of the must-see peak oil documentary -- the end of suburbia. If the era of cheap, abundant oil is indeed coming to a close, the world's economy and, paradoxically, the fight against climate change could be in deep trouble. / Though largely unnoticed by the world media, a decisive moment in the peak oil debate came last September, when James Schlesinger declared that the "peakists" were right. You don't get closer to the American establishment and energy business than Schlesinger, who has served as chair of the Atomic Energy Commission, head of the CIA, Defense Secretary, Energy Secretary and adviser to countless oil companies.<br /><br />AND CHINA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Beijing_quiet_on_Musharraf_moves_on_gas_pipeline/articleshow/2954636.cms">Beijing quiet on Musharraf moves on gas pipeline</a></b><br />16.04.08. times of India. The Chinese foreign ministry on Tuesday steered clear of the new issues thrown up by Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, who invited China to join the <u>Iran-India-Pakistan gas pipeline project</u>. / Musharraf also suggested that China can play an important role in defusing the Afghanistan crisis through the <u>Shanghai Cooperation Organisation</u>. The foreign ministry expressed confidence that India would ensure safe passage of the Olympic torch in New Delhi on April 17. Any disruption of the torch relay would only "show the true nature of sabotage of the separatists", Jiang Yu, ministry spokeswoman, told reporters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/04/28/8577/">The US and China Are Over a Barrel</a></b><br />28.04.08. Michael Klare, LA Times / Common Dreams. Among the many reasons given for the recent surge in gas prices is China’s soaring demand for petroleum. Because the Chinese are running around the world buying up every available barrel of oil, the argument goes, we Americans have to pay that much more to outbid them for the leftover pools of crude. And the fact that the Chinese yuan has been growing stronger while the American dollar is shrinking in value has only exacerbated the problem.<br /><br />Unquestionably, there’s some truth to this. … / But let’s put this in perspective. <b>In 2007, according to Energy Department figures, the United States consumed about 21 million barrels of oil a day, nearly three times as much as China. Even more significant, we imported 13 million barrels every day, a vastly greater amount than China’s import tally</b>. So, although it is indeed true that Chinese and American consumers are competing for access to overseas supplies, thereby edging up prices, American consumption still sets the pace in international oil markets.<br /><br /><br /><a id="9000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 9. World Food Crisis </b><br /></div><br /><br />Famine in Afghanistan is a microcosm of what is happening worldwide. For this reason, I include international articles on the food crisis.<br /><br /><u> Report </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fao.org/worldfoodsituation/FoodPricesIndex">WORLD FOOD SITUATION</a></b><br />April 2008, Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations. Food Price Indices.<br /><br /><br /><u> Articles </u><br /><br />“<em>For anyone who understands the current food crisis, it is hard to listen to the head of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, without gagging"</em>. <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19759.htm"> Raj Patel </a><br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041308A.shtml">World Bank to Meet as Rising Food Prices Spark Unrest</a></b><br />13.04.08. AFP / Truthout. The World Bank meets here Sunday as rising food prices spark deadly unrest in developing countries, underscoring the urgency of getting food aid to desperate people. / Policymakers of the anti-poverty bank are due to discuss a massive, coordinated international plan to reduce hunger announced less than two weeks ago by the head of the bank, Robert Zoellick. / With soaring food prices threatening political stability in poor countries, Zoellick called for a "new deal" for global food policy, similar in scope to a 1930s program under US president Franklin D. Roosevelt that tackled the problems of the Great Depression.<br /><u>Related:</u><br /><b><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19759.htm">A Man-Made Famine</a></b><br />16.04.08. Raj Patel, Guardian. Earlier this week, Zoellick waxed apocalyptic about the consequences of the global surge in prices, arguing that free trade [sic] had become a humanitarian necessity, to ensure that poor people had enough to eat. The current wave of food riots has already claimed the prime minister of Haiti, and there have been protests around the world, from Mexico, to Egypt, to India.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080414/ap_on_re_us/un_food_and_poverty;_ylt=Arp9kGA6MAuGzdSI8J0HKpJw24cA">UN chief: Food crisis is now emergency</a></b><br />14.04.08. Yahoo. A rapidly escalating global food crisis has reached emergency proportions and threatens to wipe out seven years of progress [sic] in the fight against poverty, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Monday<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080414.wfood14/BNStory/International">Soaring food prices now top threat, IMF says</a></b><br />14.04.08. globe and mail / ICH. Ministers representing 185 countries agreed on the weekend that soaring food prices threaten global calamity and pledged to co-operate on a solution to save the world's poorest people from starvation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5D2AF197-DB1F-4BD4-BCD3-7374B3B1D3A7.htm">Plea for urgent food crisis action</a></b><br />14.04.08. al jazeera. With help from its twin institution, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank has called for richer nations to contribute $500 million to ease the burden.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=126993">WFP concerned over growing food shortage</a></b><br />16.04.08. online news. The <a href="http://www.wfp.org/english/">World Food Programme (WFP)</a> and the Afghanistan government are concerned over increasing food prices and dearth of basic food. Speaking in a press conference here, Rick Corsino WFP director in Afghanistan said however the wheat produce level was not specified there were still concerns on shortage of food in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.creative-i.info/?p=237">Food - the ultimate weapon of the ruling elite </a></b><br />17.04.08. William Bowles. Using food as a weapon is as old as the siege but today’s barbarians have upped the anté by several orders of magnitude.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/world/americas/18food.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin">Across Globe, Empty Bellies Bring Rising Anger</a></b><br />18.04.08. NY Times. That [Haitian] anger is palpable across the globe. The food crisis is not only being felt among the poor but is also eroding the gains of the working and middle classes, sowing volatile levels of discontent and putting new pressures on fragile governments.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.scotsman.com/world/Global-food-crisis-looms-as.3996034.jp">Global food crisis looms as Asia's rice bowl empties and world price soars</a></b><br />18.04.08. Raju Gopalakrishnan, Scotsman. Highlighted are Viet Nam, Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh.<br /><br />Blowback …<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thepost.com.pk/NatNews.aspx?dtlid=156262&catid=2">NATO forces face food, oil shortages due to road closure</a></b><br />18.04.08. the post.pk. Due to the closure of Pak-Afghan highway, supply of goods to Afghanistan has been stopped and NATO forces are facing severe shortage of food and oil. / According to details, all factories in the Peshawar Industrial Estate have been closed for indefinite period because of the absence of workers, rocket attacks on Hayatabad and growing tension between two warring groups<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=asZwjutieMas&refer=home">Bush, Harper, Calderon Defend Trade Amid Backlash</a></b><br />21.04.08. Bloomberg/ICH. President George W. Bush and the leaders of Canada and Mexico are using a summit meeting today in New Orleans to defend <em>free trade</em> [sic] and $930 billion in cross-border commerce against a political backlash. It won't be easy.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/22/biofuel.crisis">Biofuels starving our people, leaders tell UN</a></b><br />22.04.08. Guardian. The leaders of Bolivia and Peru have attacked the use of biofuels, saying they have made food too expensive for the poor. / Speaking at the United Nations, the Bolivian president, Evo Morales, said the increased use of farmland for fuel crops was causing a "tremendous increase" in food prices.<br /><br /><br />BIOFUELS<br /><br />b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/apr/23/food.biofuels">WFP cuts school meals as food crisis grows</a><br />23.04.08. Julian Borger, Guardian. · Shortfall rises 50% to $755m in two months · Britain gives urgent $60m as experts meet at No 10<br /><br />b><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2008/2008-04-28-03.asp">UN: Biofuel Production 'Criminal Path' to Global Food Crisis</a><br />28.04.08. ENS. The United States and the European Union have taken a "criminal path" by contributing to an explosive rise in global food prices through using food crops to produce biofuels, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to food said today.<br /><br /><br />GAZA<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2FEA3077-65A0-4DFD-BDEF-D87879BE3787.htm">Gaza power plant faces shutdown</a></b><br />22.04.08. al jazeera. “<u>because of a shortage of fuel</u>”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080423%5CACQDJON200804231100DOWJONESDJONLINE000787.htm&&mypage=newsheadlines&title=UPDATE:%20UN:%20Gaza%20Food%20To%20Halt%20Unless%20Israel%20Supplies%20Power">UN: Gaza Food To Halt Unless Israel Supplies Power</a></b><br />23.04.08. AFP. The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees will have to halt the distribution of food to the Gaza Strip within 24 hours if it doesn't receive fresh fuel supplies, its Gaza director said on Wednesday<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/077A1B84-572C-40CE-98B0-676EAF8122FE.htm">UN suspends Gaza food deliveries</a></b><br />24.04.08. al jazeera. The UN has suspended food aid deliveries in the besieged Gaza Strip due to fuel shortages.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=nw20080424132434865C307432">EU calls on Israel to ensure fuel supplies </a></b><br />24.04.08. IHT. "It's essential that the fuel supply to Gaza is resumed, and in particular that fuel provision for the United Nations agencies as well as basic services be guaranteed immediately."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/396FC1EE-558D-4C63-A086-568398068E04.htm">Latin American food fund started </a></b><br />23.04.08. al jazeera. Leaders from four Latin American countries have set up a $100m food security fund for staples such as rice, beans and corn in a bid to offset rising food prices that have sparked global protests.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://moneynews.com/money/archives/st/2008/4/24/100454.cfm?s=st">Wheat Crop Failures Could be Total, Experts Warn</a></b><br />24.04.08. Money news / C. Baker. On top of record-breaking rice prices and corn through the roof on ethanol demand, wheat is now rusting in the fields across Africa. / Officials fear near total crop losses, and the fungus, known as Ug99, is spreading.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/workplace/83457/">Food Riots Erupt Worldwide</a></b><br />25.04.08. Anuradha Mittal, Alternet / C. Baker. Food riots are erupting all over the world. To prevent them and to help people afford the most basic of goods, we need to understand the causes of skyrocketing food prices and correct the policies that have fueled them. World food prices rose by 39 percent in the last year. Rice alone rose to a 19-year high in March -- an increase of 50 per cent in two weeks alone -- while the real price of wheat has hit a 28-year high. / As a result, food riots erupted in Egypt, Guinea, Haiti, Indonesia, Mauritania, Mexico, Senegal, Uzbekistan and Yemen. For the 3 billion people in the world who subsist on $2 a day or less, the leap in food prices is a killer. They spend a majority of their income on food, and when the price goes up, they can't afford to feed themselves or their families. / Over the last few decades, the <b>United States</b>, the <b>World Bank</b> and the International Monetary Fund have used their leverage to impose devastating policies on developing countries. <u>By requiring countries to open up their agriculture market to giant multinational companies, by insisting that countries dismantle their marketing boards and by persuading them to specialize in exportable cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, cotton and even flowers, they have driven the poorest countries into a downward spiral.</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/goff04242008.html">The Politics of Food is Politics</a></b><br />24.04.08. DE CLARKE and STAN GOFF,Counterpunch/C Baker. In recent days, we have seen the rising price of oil and the devaluation of the dollar create two quantum shifts in the economy: the beginning of the collapse of the air travel industry and a global crisis of food-price inflation. These are related in ways that are crucial to understand -- because we are seeing the outlines of an historic opportunity to change the terms of theory and practice for a politics of resistance. As air carriers have gone bankrupt, the knock-on effects on travel agents, airports, airport-colocated hotels, "package" vacation resorts, etc. are considerable.<br /><br /><u>For Food Crisis in US., see 7. United States</u><br /><br />WAR ON CONSUMER: Who is to Blame?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042108R.shtml">America's Role in Haiti's Hunger Riots</a></b><br />21.04.08. Bill Quigley, Truthout. The Economist, which calls the current crisis the silent tsunami, reports that last year wheat prices rose 77 percent and rice 16 percent, but since January rice prices have risen 141 percent. The reasons include rising fuel costs, weather problems, increased demand in China and India, and the push to create <u>biofuels</u> from cereal crops. … / In 1986, after the expulsion of Haitian dictator Jean Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, the <b>International Monetary Fund (IMF)</b> loaned Haiti $24.6 million in desperately needed funds (Baby Doc had raided the treasury on the way out). But, <u>in order to get the IMF loan, Haiti was required to reduce tariff protections for Haitian rice and other agricultural products and some industries, to open up the country's markets to competition from outside countries. The US has by far the largest voice in decisions of the IMF.</u> .. / "<em>American rice invaded the country</em>," recalled Charles Suffrard, a leading rice grower in Haiti in an interview with the Washington Post in 2000. By 1987 and 1988, there was so much rice coming into the country that many stopped working the land.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8754">Global Food Crisis: Hunger Plagues Haiti and the World</a></b><br />21.04.08. Stephen Lendman, global research. Consumers in rich countries feel it in supermarkets but in the world's poorest ones people are starving. The reason - soaring food prices, and it's triggered riots around the world in places like Mexico, Indonesia, Yemen, the Philippines, Cambodia, Morocco, Senegal, Uzbekistan, Guinea, Mauritania, Egypt, Cameroon, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Peru, Bolivia and Haiti that was once nearly food self-sufficient but now relies on imports for most of its supply and (like other food-importing countries) is at the mercy of agribusiness.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/042208HA.shtml">Life Expectancy Falls in Poorer US Counties: Study</a></b><br />22.04.08. Maggie Fox, Reuters/truthout.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8778">Crisis in Food Prices Threatens Worldwide Starvation: Is it Genocide?</a></b><br />24.04.08. Richard C. Cook, global research. Rising worldwide food prices are resulting in shortages, riots and protests, promises by governments to expand food aid, expressions of concern by international bodies like the World Bank, and stress on household budgets even in developed countries like the U.S. Did this just “happen” or is there a plan?<br /><br />Plenty of commentators think they have it figured out and blame such factors as greater demand for high-end protein menus by the increasingly upscale populations of China and India, weather factors relating to global warming such as drought in Australia , and the diversion of animal feed crops such as corn and soybeans to ethanol production. L.H. Teslik of the Council on Foreign Relations speaks of “bubbling inflation and rising oil prices.” / There is also the question of whether a role is being played by commodity speculation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,druck-549187,00.html">The Role of Speculators in the Global Food Crisis</a></b><br />23.04.08. Beat Balzli and Frank Hornig, der Spiegel / C. Baker. Vast amounts of money are flooding the world's commodities markets, driving up prices of staple foods like wheat and rice. Biofuels and droughts can't fully explain the recent food crisis -- hedge funds and small investors bear some responsibility for global hunger.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3586.htm"> THE NEW RULERS OF THE WORLD?</a><br /><br /><br /><u>The GM Danger</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/05/monsanto200805">Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear</a></b><br />May 2008. Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele, Vanity Fair. Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/exposed-the-great-gm-crops-myth-812179.html">Exposed: the great GM crops myth</a></b><br />20.04.08. Geoffrey Lean, Guardian. Major new study shows that modified soya produces 10 per cent less food than its conventional equivalent<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/21/business/21crop.php">In lean times, biotech grains are less taboo</a></b><br />21.04.08. Andrew Pollack, IHT. Soaring food prices and global grain shortages are bringing new pressures on governments, food companies and consumers to relax their longstanding resistance to genetically engineered crops. .. / The pressure to re-evaluate biotech comes as prices of some staples like rice and wheat have doubled in the last few months, provoking violent protests in several countries including Cameroon, Egypt, Haiti and Thailand. Factors behind the price spikes include the diversion of crops to make biofuel, rising energy prices, growing prosperity in India and China, and droughts in some regions — including Australia, a major grain producer. … / And a new international assessment of the future of agriculture, released last Tuesday, gave such tepid support to the role genetic engineering could play in easing hunger that biotechnology industry representatives withdrew from the project in protest. The report was a collaboration of more than 60 governments, with participation from companies and nonprofit groups, under the auspices of the World Bank and the United Nations.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Seeds-Destruction-Hidden-Genetic-Manipulation/dp/0973714727/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208871674&sr=1-1">Seeds of Destruction: The Hidden Agenda of Genetic Manipulation</a></b><br />November 2007, William F. Engdahl, Global Research,<br /><br />Amazon Review: "What is so frightening about Engdahl's vision of the world is that it is so real. In this new age of <em>free markets</em>, everything science, commerce, agriculture and even seeds have become weapons in the hands of a few global corporation barons and their political fellow travelers". --Dr. Arpad Pusztai, biochemist, formerly of the Rowett Research Institute, Scotland.<br /><br />VIDEO:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19738.htm%E2%80%9D%3E%20The%20World%20According%20to%20Monsanto%3C/a%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cu%3ERecommeded%20References%3C/u%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Ca%20href=">Media Channel</a>. Dissector Danny Schechter first revealed the U.S. financial bubble. He wrote (17.04.08) “<em>I raised the troubling suspicion that investors of the stripe and the type who created the credit bubble were also involved in the commodity markets leading to rising food prices with all kinds of speculation</em>.’ Danny also made the film <a href="http://www.indebtwetrust.org/">In Debt We Trust </a>. Sign on for newsletter.<br /><br /><a href="http://carolynbaker.net/site/%20">Speaking Truth to Power</a>. Carolyn Baker’s site: up-to-the-moment alternative reporting of U.S. and international news, articles containing information and opinion. Sign on for newsletter.<br /><br /><br /><a id="10000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b> 10. US-NATO </b></div><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA159YshQKW74h6dmtYeFOvSdn8lLWNcOtAPbDEwtXQM0kDvX9W1krzM0bVXHfc4CpuZRk2Lc8jNDjAarKMOha_i76MwLohoacQKp_0ZRliMl4QcZ_pRiEye8VzKJgqNk2FJlf/s320/mail_tornado.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194763129946814546" border="0" /><br />REPORTS<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL34415.pdf">"Enlargement Issues at NATO's Bucharest Summit," </a></b><br />CRS REPORT, March 12, 2008<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS22847.pdf">"The NATO Summit at Bucharest, 2008,"</a></b><br />CRS REPORT, March 24, 2008<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><u> Buildup to NATO summit in Bucharest </u><br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1397260.php/Russia_offers_aid_in_Afghanistan_but_links_it_to_NATO_concerns">Russia offers aid in Afghanistan, but links it to NATO concerns</a></b><br />28.03.08. monsters and critics. Russia said Friday it was prepared to offer NATO military aid in Afghanistan as long as its security concerns, namely Georgia and Ukraine's inclusion in NATO, were respected, news agency Interfax reported.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=107564">Summit's big question: Whither NATO?</a></b><br />30.03.08. wiredispatch. In Afghanistan, it is battling <em>al-Qaida </em>and Taliban. In newly independent Kosovo, it's up against Serbian protesters armed with firebombs and grenades. And behind the scenes, it is helping [sic] to quell the violence in Iraq and to track down suspected war criminals [for HOW many years now?] in Bosnia.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8488">It’s Time to Promote Peace in Afghanistan</a></b><br />30.03.08. John W. Warnock, global research. There is an opportunity for a new approach to the Afghanistan problem. The NATO countries will be meeting in Bucharest, Romania from April 2 to 4, and the key issue on the agenda is the war. For the first time in history Russia has been invited to attend. Russia will be representing the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). The Russians and their allies in the two organizations are proposing a joint NATO-CSTO agreement for the settlement of the Afghan conflict. This proposal appears to have the support of the governments of France and Germany and several other European NATO countries. The new governments in Pakistan are supporting a negotiated settlement to the Afghan war. This is an opportunity for the Canadian government to take the initiative and promote this new peace initiative.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=108456">Georgia offers 500 troops to NATO Afghan force</a></b><br />31.03.08. Reuters<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033001835_pf.html">Bush to Meet NATO Allies Divided Over Adding Troops in Afghanistan</a></b><br />31.03.08. Washington Post. President Bush heads to Europe today to try to rescue the faltering mission in Afghanistan, and key NATO allies plan to meet his demands for more forces with modest troop increases, though not by as much as U.S. military officers say is needed to put down a stubborn Taliban insurgency.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/31/wafghan131.xml">Nato faces toughest test since Cold War as Afghanistan troubles deepen</a></b><br />31.03.08. David Blair, Telegraph. The mission is dogged by a shortage of troops and the refusal of most Nato members to allow their forces to deploy in southern Afghanistan, where the fight against the Taliban is fiercest. .. Billions of pounds of aid have not produced the expected gains for the Afghan people. .. The tension in Afghanistan's capital is greater now than at any time since the Taliban's downfall in 2001.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-03-31-voa1.cfm">Bush to Endorse Ukraine, Georgia for NATO Membership</a></b><br />31.03.08. VOA. President Bush leaves Monday for a European visit including a NATO summit in Romania and talks about U.S. missile-defense plans with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Bush's first stop will be in Ukraine. The president has said he believes NATO should open the membership process for Ukraine and Georgia, but Moscow has made clear it does not want NATO expanding to Russia's borders. Mr. Putin's successor, President-elect Dmitri Medvedev, says granting NATO membership to the two former Soviet states could threaten European security. At the NATO summit in Bucharest, alliance leaders are expected to offer membership to Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia. They also plan to talk about expanding the number of troops NATO has in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2008/03/31/023.html">Bucharest Cleans Up for NATO</a></b><br />31.03.08. Moscow times. The gathering, which opens Wednesday, is Romania's highest profile event ever. Hotels have been booked for the 3,000 delegates, including U.S. President George W. Bush and President Vladimir Putin, as well as some 3,500 journalists. .. Fighter jets and warships are on standby in Romania and Bulgaria, both NATO's newest members. Authorities have brought in chemical and biological warfare experts, divers and thousands of additional personnel. The gathering will be held in Bucharest's Parliament Palace, the gargantuan product of megalomaniac dreams of communist-era dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, which now serves as the city's main tourist attraction.<br /><br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />ISRAEL<br /><br /><u>Sycophancy?</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1206632378750&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull">Czechs support <u>Israel</u> joining NATO</a></b><br />31.03.08. Jerusalem post. In Israel for a three-day visit to include talks with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Parkanová said in an exclusive interview that Iran was a "rogue state" whose nuclear program was taken "very seriously" by the government in Prague , which would be willing to support Israel, if necessary, with all its available "forces and capabilities."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/107829.html">Israel hosts NATO naval drill </a></b><br />01.04.08. jta/ICH. Israel has been shoring up ties recently with NATO as part of preparations for any future showdown with Iran. / Six NATO frigates commanded by a Turkish admiral arrived Monday in Haifa for a joint drill with Israeli Navy missile boats./ For the first time, Israel this year posted a naval liaison at NATO headquarters in Napoli, Italy.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/01/europe/EU-GEN-NATO-Summit.php">NATO summit faces tough choices on expansion, Afghanistan</a></b><br />01.04.08. IHT. NATO is billing this week's summit as its biggest ever, attended by more than 50 world leaders. It also will have to take some big decisions on how to win the battle for Afghanistan, how far to expand the borders of the western alliance and how to mend increasingly strained relations with Russia. Video: the week ahead: NATO summit<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/01/news/Greece-Macedonia.php">Greece insists that it will block Macedonia's entry into NATO at summit over name dispute</a></b><br />01.04.08. IHT.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/straus.php?articleid=12616">The Wrong MAP for Ukraine and Georgia</a></b><br />02.04.08. Ira Straus, antiwar.com. Much ink has been spilled over whether NATO will give Ukraine and Georgia a "membership action plan," or MAP, at its upcoming summit. The U.S. administration supports it; Angela Merkel of Germany, America's best friend in Europe, opposes it. / Merkel is trying to save America from a dangerous mistake, one potentially worse than Iraq. … What Merkel did, in the speech that has aroused so much attention, was to remind NATO of two of the most basic conditions it had set in the 1990s for new members:<br /><br />* 1. "A country should become a NATO member not only when its temporary political leadership is in favor but when a significant percentage of the population supports membership."<br /><br />* 2. "Countries that are themselves entangled in regional conflicts can, in my opinion, not become members."<br /><br />This means, plain and simply, that Ukraine and Georgia do not qualify, and aren't going to do so anytime soon – as a MAP would imply.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7325882.stm">Ashdown warning over Afghanistan</a></b><br />02.04.08. BBC. The Nato-led alliance is "getting pretty close" to losing control of Afghanistan, Lord Ashdown, the former UN envoy to Bosnia has warned.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iKusKQLDQzN23Yc890KvVh9YtSQgD8VPSSKG0">Analysis: Allies Split Over Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.04.08. ROBERT BURNS, AP. NATO's split is evident even in how the Americans and the Europeans talk about Afghanistan. The other day a European officer at NATO's military headquarters in Belgium was explaining NATO's role in Afghanistan to a few American reporters. He spoke about improving security, building a judicial system and countering drugs. He mentioned training Afghan forces and providing humanitarian assistance. / Not once did "war" or "counterinsurgency" cross his lips.<br /><br />The US_NATO missile shield development is to be a key issue at this summit. See <a href="http://www.blogger.com/%E2%80%9D" com="" 2008="" 04=""> US-NATO 'Missile Shield' Programme: Index Timeline Part II </a> with continued updates.<br /><br /><br /><u>Nato Summit in Bucharest</u><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.creamygoodness.co.uk/Images/Photos/Bucharest/CeausescuPalace1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.creamygoodness.co.uk/Images/Photos/Bucharest/CeausescuPalace1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Former Dictator Ceausescu’s home PARLIAMENT PALACE, Bucharest</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080402.NATO02/TPStory/TPInternational/Asia/">Russia's problems nudge Afghanistan off the map</a></b><br />02.04.08. globe and mail. While Prime Minister Stephen Harper will enter the Bucharest NATO summit today with hat in hand, seeking 1,000 troops needed to prevent Canada from withdrawing from Afghanistan, he may be surprised to discover that the other 25 member nations are instead focused on another visitor with very different deals in mind.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/02/nato-allies-turn-down-bus_n_94780.html">NATO Allies Turn Down Bush Request</a></b><br />02.04.08. Huffington Post. President Bush suffered a painful diplomatic setback Wednesday when NATO allies rebuffed his passionate pleas to put former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia on the path toward membership in the Western military alliance. /In another sign of discord, <u>Greece blocked Macedonia's request</u> to join the 26-nation alliance because of a dispute over its name. <u>Only Croatia and Albania will be invited as new members.</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/03/news/Putins-Victory.php">Putin scores diplomatic victory over US </a></b><br />03.04.08. IHT /ICH. In the waning days of his eight years as president, Putin demonstrated his strength - successfully driving a wedge through the NATO alliance. Russian President Vladimir Putin scored a major diplomatic coup by scuttling the NATO membership bids of Ukraine and Georgia even before he reached the NATO summit. / NATO's plan to expand further into former Soviet turf collapsed Thursday when leaders — anxious to avoid angering Moscow — opted not to put the strategically important nations on track for membership. / Putin had strongly warned the military alliance against moving to bring Ukraine and Georgia aboard. He even threatened that Russia could point its nuclear missiles at Ukraine if it joins NATO and hosts part of a U.S. missile defense system.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=113475">FACTBOX-NATO declaration on Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.04.08. REUTERS/wiredispatch. The leaders of NATO nations and other countries contributing to the alliance's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan issued a declaration on Thursday setting out their "<b><em>strategic vision</em></b>".<br /><br />* provide military commanders with resources to fill shortfalls in ISAF, including forces and training teams for Afghan forces<br /><br />* provide "maximum possible flexibility of use" of forces by the ISAF commander. This is a reference to "caveats", which national governments impose on the use of their forces<br /><br />* take every measure to avoid civilian casualties<br /><br />* provide training teams and equipment to get an effective 80,000-strong Afghan National Army by 2010<br /><br /><b><a href="http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/04/julian_borger_in_bucharest.html">A bad day for Bush in Bucharest</a></b><br />03.04.08. Julian Borger, Guardian / anti-war. The Nato summit is thus far going brilliantly for the Russians and the Greeks. Both have demonstrated their power to keep Nato expansion in check. … For those that believe that Nato membership provides a stable environment for the development of market economies and liberal democracies, this is a bad day for eastern fringes of "the west". .. It's a bad day for George Bush, in particular. He apparently threatened to veto Croatian and Albanian membership if a Macedonian deal could not be reached, in a desperate attempt to force the issue. It failed. / I have just emerged from a Downing Street briefing inevitably portraying the summit so far, as highly satisfactory, if not an outright triumph.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/04/afghanistan.nato">Many pledges but few new troops for Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.04.08. Julian Borger, Guardian / anti-war. Nato leaders yesterday reaffirmed their "firm and shared long-term commitment" to fighting the war in Afghanistan, but it was agreed some member countries could demonstrate that commitment by just sending money or equipment. / Attempts at a summit in Bucharest to expand the alliance eastwards were set back, meanwhile. Membership for Macedonia was postponed because of Greek objections, while Georgia and Ukraine were told they would have to wait at least eight months before they even embarked on the preparations for membership, largely out of concerns over Russia's reaction.<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" border="1"><tr><td width="100" height="200"></td></tr></table><br /><br /><u>Explanation for lack of official NATO photo in Bucharest</u><br /><em>“Bush hates long, windy meetings, and NATO sessions can drag on and on. That may be why Bush suddenly left the final session of the Bucharest summit Thursday night - not bothering to wait for the official group photo</em>.”<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080405/NEWS03/804050376/1013">Bush ducks out of NATO summit early</a></b><br />05.04.08. AP<br /><br /><br /><u> NATO Summit obituaries</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nationalinterest.org/Article.aspx?id=17298">Three Faces of Infantilism: NATO’s Bucharest Summit</a></b><br />04.04.08. Anatol Lieven, national interest.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/columns/world/10202829.html">An exit strategy in Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.04.08. Patrick Seale, gulf news. At their summit meeting in Bucharest this week, Nato heads of state have discussed how to boost the alliance's war effort in Afghanistan. They should instead have debated how to reach a peace settlement with the insurgents - and how to get out. / Nato has evidently got itself into a colossal muddle in Afghanistan. Everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong. It is far from clear why the alliance is fighting there at all, and what it is seeking to achieve. Talk of "victory" is a dangerous illusion. / .. Violence and deaths have increased steadily over the past five years, with attacks on foreign troops now running at a rate of 500 a month. .. / Far from being eradicated, opium production has increased year by year and narco-traffic is booming. .. / Anyone with the slightest knowledge of Afghanistan knows that this is an overwhelmingly Muslim country, profoundly attached to its customs and traditions. What most Afghans have in common is pride and a fierce attachment to their country - as well as a visceral hatred of foreign domination. / A leading French expert on Afghanistan, Professor Gilles Dorronsoro, believes that Nato's key blunder has been the attempt to impose a Western model of modernisation on Afghanistan, where it is inevitably seen as a foreign import. The goals of democracy, of a market economy and of gender equality may be embraced by a small elite in Kabul, but are rejected in much of the countryside, where they face incomprehension and hostility./ An astonishing statistic is that American forces in Afghanistan cost the American tax-payer $100m a day - or, currently, $36bn a year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thestar.com/World/Columnist/article/410713">NATO leaders lower Afghanistan expectations</a></b><br />06.04.08. the star. Behind all the rhetoric, end-game plan centres on preparing Afghans to `manage' the conflict<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thenation.com/docprem.mhtml?i=20080428&s=editors2">Neocon NATO Delusions</a></b><br />09.04.08. The Nation editorial. At the recently completed NATO summit in Bucharest, the Bush Administration took another step in its seven-year effort to transform the transatlantic alliance into an organization with a more global mission supportive of Washington's broader foreign policy goals. .. / In fact, the Administration's mission to transform NATO promises to do great damage to international peace and cooperation. .. / This is a prescription for an even colder peace, if not an outright new cold war, with Russia; continued contentious relations with America's oldest allies in Europe, who do not share Washington's global mission; and an even weaker UN at a time when it is needed more urgently than ever.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u> U.S. spin </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://fpc.state.gov/fpc/103052.htm">U.S. State Dept. Briefing</a></b><br />07.04.08. Dan Fried, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs<br />“<em> It was a remarkable summit for the progress [sic] we made on some of the key issues. </em> And in the course of 36 hours of intense discussions, one of the most interesting, complicated issues -- that is, of a Membership Action Plan for Georgia and Ukraine -- produced a higher level consensus [sic] than anyone would have thought possible the day before. / … NATO leaders adopted a major [ sic ] statement on Afghanistan to that effect, called "ISAF Strategic Vision."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/04/the_afghanistan_success_story_1.html">The Afghanistan success story</a></b><br />10.04.08. Ray Robison, Amerian Thinker. Most of the American media have continuously misreported the NATO mission in Afghanistan as a disaster unfolding, beginning before the effort even began, with warnings of the "brutal Afghan winter." More recently, the media are representing that the Taliban is "resurgent" (when in fact it was NATO that was on the offensive), that the NATO alliance is crumbling, and that Afghanistan is all but lost. … / But even a clear victory finds the media unable to represent the truth of the matter that we are holding, expanding and rebuilding in Afghanistan. To be sure, there are challenges ahead but the general trend is one of victory, not defeat.’ Mr. Robison writes about the NATO report, Progress in Afghanistan.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><u> Post NATO summit </u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080404/103017125.html">Russia, NATO agree on transit of non-lethal cargo to Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.04.08. rian.ru. …<br />comments on this by <a href="http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/JD08Ag01.html">M K Bhadrakumar </a><br />(08.04, asia times) “The Russian ambassador in Kabul, Zamir Kabulov, told Vremya Novostei, "<em>The longer NATO remains in Afghanistan, the worse it will be for them. </em>But it would be incorrect to imagine Russia wants NATO out of Afghanistan as soon as possible, at any cost. We will not let them out of Afghanistan until they solve the problems they have created - international terrorism, unchecked increase in drug trafficking - and build a strong state there, and rebuild the economy." That is to say, Russia will provide all logistical support to NATO so that the alliance can focus attention on bleeding itself white in Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,545348,00.html">Does NATO Want Out of Afghanistan?</a></b><br />04.04.08. Matthias Gebauer, Der Spiegel. In public, NATO is demanding that all allies contribute their fair share to the ongoing effort in Afghanistan. But behind closed doors, a paper has been circulated that may provide the beginnings of an exit strategy. Germany is pushing the plan.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br />Hyping 9/11 propaganda<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-mf0ts_HrloURGvejCLI-GFljCgD8VV95L82">NATO Chief Cites <em>Terrorism</em>Differences</a></b><br />10.04.08. Desmond Butler, AP. NATO's top commander [U.S. Gen. Bantz Craddock] <u> said Thursday that the failure of some European countries to fight <em>terror</em> with military means is contributing to tensions within the alliance.<br /></u></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200804/200804150027.html">Rice Says Afghanistan Tests Credibility of NATO</a></b><br />15.04.08. English.chosun.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thepost.com.pk/NatNews.aspx?dtlid=156262&catid=2">NATO forces face food, oil shortages due to road closure</a></b><br />18.04.08. the post.pk. Due to the closure of Pak-Afghan highway, supply of goods to Afghanistan has been stopped and NATO forces are facing severe shortage of food and oil. / According to details, all factories in the Peshawar Industrial Estate have been closed for indefinite period because of the absence of workers, rocket attacks on Hayatabad and growing tension between two warring groups.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8670">Coalition helicopter drops weapons into Taliban hands, Afghan officials say </a></b><br />13.04.08. AP / global research.ca. A member of parliament, however, said he didn't believe the arms drop was an accident.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/18/nato.afghanistan?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews">Nato admits mistakenly [sic] supplying arms and food to Taliban</a></b><br />18.04.08. guardian. Containers destined for local police forces were dropped from a helicopter into a Taliban-controlled area of Zabul province.<br /><br /><br />McNeill Spin<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/21/world/asia/21afghan.html?ex=1366430400&en=2f92555dfcd0052d&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all">U.S. General Sees Afghans Gains in 3 Years</a></b><br />21.04.08. Carlotta Gall, Asia Pacific. The Afghan Army and police forces should be able to secure most of Afghanistan by 2011, allowing international forces to start withdrawing, the American commander of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan, Gen. <u>Dan K. McNeill</u>, said Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3283800,00.html">NATO Expansion: A Model for Stability or a Grab for Power?</a></b><br />23.04.08. sw-world.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-04-23-voa70.cfm">US Considering Changes to Afghanistan Coalition Command Structure</a></b><br />23.04.08. Al Pessin, Pentagon / voa. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says Pentagon officials are discussing possible changes to the NATO and coalition command structure in Afghanistan. But he says the United States is not ready to make a formal proposal to its allies. Pessin report mp3 / audio.<br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.epicos.com/epicos/portal/media-type/html/user/anon/page/default.psml/js_panename/News+Information+Article+View;jsessionid=A7847E68C53A55D9EDB7F64BF15191D0.tomcat2?articleid=101371&showfull=false">NATO reiterates support for UN coordinating role in Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.04.08. epicos.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0rw5onAX4l3KWC2mfqoIEAztSU85oE2Yl2hKciyQCEeZ_gcF4aCRcbtiRmxZnKl_zkxYKcQWhuNNrluKs36J66fBubKOwQ3BpbnhOd8juGa6ZZhIGmYdYx6U13tgYx_hP-tvm/s320/debka.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194762975327991874" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://www.debka.com/article.php?aid=1347">Kabul Shambles Makes Sorry Spectacle for US, NATO</a></b><br />28.04.08. DEBKAfile Special Report. Some serious stock-taking in the Afghan capital and US-led NATO command has followed the Taliban’s success in breaking up the Afghan army parade in Kabul Sunday, April 27. Scheduled for the 16th anniversary of the Soviet Army’s defeat and expulsion from Afghanistan, it was staged to showcase the progress made by Hamid Karzai’s regime and its US-led NATO allies in the war against the country’s ousted Taliban rulers and their al Qaeda partners. Afghanistan’s government, tribal and military elite were seated on the platform together with Western dignitaries.<br /><br />….. Regurgitating spin<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aYd4GN12QWSs&refer=home">Taliban Attack on Karzai Aims to <u>Undermine Democracy</u>, NATO Says</a></b><br />28.04.08. Michael Heath, Bloomberg. The attack by Taliban <em>militants</em> on President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, yesterday was designed to undermine the country's democratic progress [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">sic: read occupation</span>] , NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.<br /><br /><br />Croatia<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.javno.com/en/croatia/clanak.php?id=142018">Croatia Will Have To Admit NATO Forces</a></b><br />20.04.08. Pjer Simunovic, javno. Although there should be no NATO bases in Croatia, it will still have to adjust a place for alliance soldiers, vehicles and arms to land.<br /><br />Norway<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/english/article2372136.ece">Officers may be sent to southern Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.04.08. aftenposten. From October, 50 Norwegian officers are to begin service training Afghani forces, after which they will be expected to lead the forces in fighting, reports Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).<br /><br />Nato and Russia<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/17/content_7992243.htm">NATO concerned [<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">meddling</span>] over Russia's move on Georgia's breakaway regions</a></b><br />17.04.08. Xinhuanet. "NATO allies, at their recent summit in Bucharest, reiterated their support for the <u>territorial integrity</u>, independence and sovereignty of Georgia. The Russian steps undermine that sovereignty," said de Hoop Scheffer in a statement.<br /><br /><br /><a id="11000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>11. US-NATO Coalition </b></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSL3122050320080331">FACTBOX: NATO's force in Afghanistan</a></b><br />31.03.08. Reuters.<br /><br />* UNITED STATES: 15,000 troops (mainly east)<br /><br />* UNITED KINGDOM: 7,800 (mainly south)<br /><br />* GERMANY: 3,210 (north)<br /><br />* ITALY: 2,880 (west and capital Kabul)<br /><br />* CANADA: 2,500 (south)<br /><br />* NETHERLANDS: 1,650 (south)<br /><br />* FRANCE: 1,515 (Kabul)<br /><br />* POLAND: 1,100 (mobile)<br /><br />* AUSTRALIA: 1,070 (south)<br /><br />Other significant deployments: Denmark (780); Spain (740); Turkey (675); Romania (535). {NB- in the "Factbox", <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/31/content_7893084.htm">Norway</a> was omitted]<br /><br />NB: The United States has a further 14,000-plus troops in Afghanistan outside the NATO force and is sending an extra 3,200 troops for a limited deployment until late-2008.<br /><br /><br /><b>AUSTRALIA</b><br /><br />SPIN<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.smh.com.au/nato-showing-stronger-resolve-smith/20080406-2414.html">NATO showing stronger resolve: Smith</a></b><br />06.04.08. smh.au. Mr Smith said the NATO summit last week, attended by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon, produced a good outcome with a coherent [sic] political, military and strategic plan in place for the first time.<br /><br /><br /><b>CANADA</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/407748">Ottawa advised not to lower flag for dead soldiers</a></b><br />31.03.08. the star. An expert panel has advised cabinet to oppose a move to lower the Canadian flag on the Peace Tower whenever a soldier dies in Afghanistan because it would <em>debase the honour</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7327944.stm">Nato meets Canada's troop demands</a></b><br />03.04.08. BBC. Canada will continue its frontline role in southern Afghanistan after the February 2009 deadline it has set.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2008/04/10/5245176-sun.html">Officials clueless on cost of choppers for Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.04.08. edmontonsun.com.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/04/canada-justice-department-moves-to.php">Canada justice department moves to block public hearing on Afghan detainees</a></b><br />14.04.08. The Jurist. The Canadian Department of Justice [official website] has moved to block a Canadian Military Police Complaints Commission (MPCC) [official website] public hearing investigating the country's military detainee transfer process in Afghanistan [JURIST news archive], the Globe and Mail reported Monday. The government filed papers in Canada's Federal Court [official website] Friday arguing that the MPCC lacks jurisdiction to conduct investigations into military operational decisions regarding detainee treatment, and that the Commission's reach is limited to military policing issues. MPCC Chairman Peter A. Tinsley said that the Commission is "surprised and disappointed" [MPCC press release] by the move, and questioned why jurisdiction was not challenged when the investigation was first launched last year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3761179.ece">Beleaguered Canadians face a long wait for the cavalry</a></b><br />17.04.08. times on line. The [two] attacks ended an especially bloody week for Canadian forces who, more than any other nation, have been at the violent forefront of the mission in Afghanistan. .. / In the week of Private Street’s death, patrols discovered more than 12 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) buried in the road. “<em>It’s anarchy out there. We’re begging for somebody to fire at us so we can shoot back, but this battle has changed</em>,” said Sergeant-Major Gorden Cavanaugh, from the 2nd Battalion of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, the principal unit patrolling the volatile region southwest of Kandahar city. / Commanders here hope that 1,000 additional troops, pledged by Nato the day before Private Street died, will give their 2,500 troops the boost they need in this region, which has long been a sanctuary for Taleban <em>insurgents</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/04/17/afghan-blast.html">Roadside bomb blasts Canadian convoy in Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.04.08. CBC. The Canadian convoy was attacked near Spin Boldak, a town on the Pakistani border, said Lt.-Cmdr. Pierre Babinsky, a spokesman for NATO troops in the south. No one was killed in the explosion<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Edmonton/2008/04/17/5317136.html">General Rick Hillier says goodbye</a></b><br />18.04.08. Edmonton sun. Gen. Rick Hillier says his job was rebuilding a withering military and revamping its image – not winning Afghanistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=459806">Afghanistan spending to top $1-billion in 2008</a></b><br />20.04.08. national post/legitgov. Canada's yearly cost of the war in Afghanistan doubled in 2006 and was projected to crack the $1-billion mark this year.<br /><br /><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOfW3gwARXAChqRpQEIPjnty3ifuz_e3Gpt5UlGDymM8vRWewUyJcIzVFDjQSS5VqbrJVJRPQfXeNQqHUCeWUI6vD8YkRBYyfy-pLTz1nSsE8dx5kGOhv2gKfoGJArGKv5f92q/s320/carpet.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194762889428645938" border="0" /><br /><b><a href="http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jJOXypa2UmJiSihCiXYtsnpM_Kig">War rugs from Afghanistan show rifles, landmines amid flowers</a></b><br />20.04.08. Canadian Press. The rugs from Afghanistan featured in a new exhibition at the <a href="http://tmccelive.ecentricarts.com/index.cfm?page=exhibition.detail&exhId=271"> Textile Museum of Canada </a>reflect the strife that country has endured over the last three decades.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/416888">Canada confusing political, aid relief goals in Afghanistan, MD says</a></b><br />22.04.08. the star. Canada is not on a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan, says James Orbinski, who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize for Médecins sans Frontières in 1999. / "If anything, humanitarian aid and relief in Afghanistan are being held hostage to unclear and unfocused political objectives," said Orbinski, whose book, An Imperfect Offering: Humanitarian Action in the Twenty-First Century, is being launched this week. / He says <u>the "war on terror" has allowed governments to sell the public on warfare as a life-saving operation</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080423.wcompensation24/BNStory/Afghanistan/home">Forces paid for friendly-fire deaths, files show</a></b><br />23.04.08. globe and mail. … in the summer of 2006, the Canadian Forces were involved in at least half a dozen instances of "friendly fire" that left two Afghans dead and four injured. The Forces ended up paying about $35,000 in compensation, even though it admitted no liability for the deaths. Documents … show more than 30 instances since January of 2006 where the Canadian Forces compensated Afghan citizens for everything from lost cellphones to the accidental killing of relatives by Canadian soldiers. The military labelled the vast majority of the payments "ex gratia," meaning they were made voluntarily and with no admission of liability.<br /><br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF0wVy9qiAs">Ground Reality for Canadian troops in Afghanistan</a>. (03.04.08) Al jazeera<br /><br /><br /><b>DENMARK</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3469619&c=ASI&s=TOP">Denmark To Reinforce Afghan Deployment</a></b><br />08.04.08. AFP, defense news. Denmark's defense ministry said April 8 it was sending extra helicopters and troops to Afghanistan, where it has suffered one of the highest per capita death tolls among coalition forces.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cphpost.dk/get/106803.html">Afghanistan leaders have asked Denmark to try and sort out continuing corruption and foreign aid problems</a></b><br />21.04.08. cph post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23792009.htm">Danish, Dutch evacuate Afghanistan embassies</a></b><br />23.04.08. Reuters.<br /><br /><br /><b>FRANCE</b> (new to ‘coalition’)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3648894.ece">Nicolas Sarkozy to lay out Afghan troop plans as Nato struggles</a></b><br />31.03.08. timesonline. President Sarkozy will boost Nato’s struggling campaign in Afghanistan this week when he fleshes out his promise to dispatch up to 1,000 French troops to relieve pressure on the Americans, Canadians and other allied contingents. / The President’s decision, to be announced at the Nato summit in Bucharest on Wednesday, will add to the 1,500 French forces already in the Afghan zone.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/01/nnato201.xml">'A few hundred' French troops for Afghanistan</a></b><br />02.04.08. Henry Samuel, Telegraph. The figure is less than the 1,000-strong force sources last month suggested would be offered, while there was no indication that they would be used in a combat role. … His [Sarkozy} detractors see troop deployment as further proof of France’s shift toward a more US-friendly stance.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alalam.ir/english/en-NewsPage.asp?newsid=031030120080402233215">French MPs reject Afghan aid</a></b><br />02.04.08. alalam.ir. The opposition parties in French Parliament on Wednesday opposed President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to send extra troops to Afghanistan./ According to Alalam TV on Wednesday, Sarkozy's controversial decision to send extra troops to Afghanistan to support NATO has triggered heated debate in French Parliament.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/apr2008/fran-a05.shtml">France: Political fallout from troop deployment to Afghanistan</a></b><br />05.04.08. wsws. President Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to send more troops to bolster the US-led occupation of Afghanistan has become the subject of heated debate in French political circles. The main subject of contention is not support for the occupation, which is unanimous inside the French ruling class. Rather, the French bourgeoisie worries that, coming on the heels of the government’s defeat in the March 16 local elections, its open contempt for democratic procedures in sealing a closer alliance with crisis-ridden Anglo-American militarism risks further destabilising internal French politics.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a.xaFKdFLIL4&refer=home">Sarkozy's Offer to Boost Afghanistan Troops Opposed (Update1)</a></b><br />06.04.08. Heather Smith, Bloomberg. French President Nicolas Sarkozy's proposal to send more troops to fight the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is opposed by 55 percent of French citizens, according to a poll from Ifop published today.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=119280">French govn. wins no-confidence vote on Afghanistan</a></b><br />08.04.08. Wiredispatch.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINL2028824120080420">France to deploy new Afghanistan force by August</a></b><br />21.04.08. Reuters. France will deploy the additional battalion of troops it has promised to send to Afghanistan before the end of August, Defence Minister Herve Morin said on Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=1986">France Wants to Join NATO to Ease the Way for European Defense</a></b><br />23.04.08. world politics. French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he will decide by late 2008 or early 2009 whether France will fully rejoin the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It is one of the more important issues left unresolved at the recently concluded Bucharest Summit, where Sarkozy proclaimed: "I reaffirm here France's determination to pursue the process of renovating its relations with NATO."<br /><br /><br /><b>GERMANY</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hhDbAaLHB6FCU7FU_m1D4K1ILl-w">Bush will not demand Germany send troops to Afghan south: report</a></b><br />30.03.08. AFP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/01/wnato101.xml">Nato row over ex-Soviet state member bids</a></b><br />02.04.08. Adrian Blomfield, Telegraph. In a recent change of tack, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, publicly stated her opposition to membership for Georgia and Ukraine. Both have pro-Western leaders who were swept to power after peaceful popular revolutions. Mrs Merkel has formed a coalition of up to 12 western European states, including France, who are likely to oppose membership for the two countries. Gordon Brown has stayed pointedly silent.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=125611">German official: limits on Afghan participation</a></b><br />12.04.08. wiredispatch. Germany's foreign minister Saturday said the next U.S. administration should not expect significantly greater participation by the German army in Afghanistan. .. / Steinmeier also commented on the recent meeting between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin and urged the United States not to isolate Russia. "<em>A safer world also means that America and Europe must engage with Russia</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/18/content_8000692.htm">Germany pledges more training officers, aid to Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.04.08. Xinhuanet. .. The number of German police training officers would be increased to 45 from the current 30 … / would increase its contributions to civilian reconstruction in Afghanistan to E140 million ($ 220 million) from E80 million ($ 127 million) previously.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ghGFui10x_OH_YcgnA4T0bIpBY8QD904TUQ80">German held by US in Afghanistan</a></b><br />19.04.08. AP. The weekly Der Spiegel, which did not cite sources, reported that the man — whom it identified as Gholam Ghaus Z., 41 — had traveled to Kabul to visit relatives and was arrested as he tried to buy a razor at a U.S. military supermarket.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,549488,00.html">Agency Admits Spying on Afghan Politician and SPIEGEL Journalist</a></b><br />24.04.08. der Spiegel/ICH . The head of Germany's foreign intelligence agency has come under fire over admissions his employees monitored e-mails exchanged between a minister in the Afghan government and a SPIEGEL journalist.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/27/content_8058040.htm">Germany apologies to Afghanistan over spying scandal</a></b><br />27.04.08. Xinhuanet.<br /><br /><br /><b>NETHERLANDS</b><br /><br /><u>Wounded</u><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033000965_pf.html">Blast wounds 3 Dutch NATO-soldiers in Afghanistan</a></b><br />30.03.08. Reuters.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/31/content_7893880.htm">Eight Dutch soldiers wounded by roadside bombs in Afghanistan</a></b><br />31.03.08. xinhuanet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.radionetherlands.nl/currentaffairs/region/netherlands/080421-uruzgan-dutch">Army unions call for reinforcements in Afghanistan</a></b><br />21.04.08. radio Netherlands. The main parties in the Dutch government are against sending troop reinforcements to the Afghan province of Uruzgan. Military unions are calling for extra troops after an attack on a Dutch convoy on Friday killed two soldiers, one of them the son of the newly appointed Dutch Chief of Defence. [see ‘deaths’ below] The latest casualties also seem to be affecting public support for the Dutch contribution to the NATO mission.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/view/30510">Dutch Still Divided on Afghanistan Mission</a></b><br />23.04.08. Angus-reid. 49 per cent of respondents oppose the Dutch engagement in Uruzgan, while 46 per cent support it.<br /><br /><br /><b>NEW ZEALAND</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Global%20News&p=54&type=2&sec=3&aid=2008040354">New Zealand sends reinforcement troops to Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.04.08. philstar. Eighteen extra troops will be posted to Bamiyan during April, lifting the total strength of the team to 140 troops.<br /><br /><br /><b>POLAND</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1356919/">Poland troops in Afghanistan by mid this year</a></b><br />14.04.08. trading markets. Poland will have around 1600 troops in Afghanistan by the mid of this year in view of the importance of Afghanistan for regional security and to support the Afghan National Army and provide security to working on reconstruction projects.<br /><br /><br /><b>UK</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/04/afghanistan.nato">Many pledges but few new troops for Afghanistan</a></b><br />04.04.08. Julian Borger, Guardian / anti-war. Gordon Brown won agreement for a trust fund scheme by which nations could support the war effort with money or equipment. The prime minister argued that the plan would increase the resources available to Nato commanders in Afghanistan. He said Britain would contribute £5m to an initial fund to provide helicopters, in short supply in Afghanistan, and said eight other unnamed countries had put money in.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/07/wafghan107.xml">Extra troops to be sent to fight Taliban</a></b><br />07.04.08. James Kirkup, Telegraph. Britain is poised to send another 450 troops to Afghanistan … Despite concerns that British forces are already overstretched, Cabinet ministers are seriously considering a US request for Britain to take command of all Nato troops in southern Afghanistan for another two years of intense combat with the Taliban.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/apr/11/army.ruling?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront">Faulty army gear may breach human rights, court rules</a></b><br />11.04.08. Guardian. In a potentially significant verdict for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Mr Justice Collins ruled that a soldier "does not lose all protection simply because he is in hostile territory carrying out dangerous operations". / In another blow to the government, he rejected an attempt by the defence secretary, Des Browne, to stop coroners using phrases such as "serious failure" in inquests concerning troops who died on active service. Browne had argued this might prejudice subsequent civil action.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/uk-troops-to-hand-control-of-helmand-hot-spots-to-afghan-army-815849.html">UK troops to hand control of Helmand 'hot spots' to Afghan army</a></b><br />26.04.08. Independent.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/29/wafghan129.xml">Nato's Afghan mission in trouble, says Brown</a></b><br />29.04.08. James Kirkup, Telegraph. The Nato mission in Afghanistan is "critically" short of key troops and equipment, Gordon Brown has told allies. / The Daily Telegraph has obtained a confidential Foreign and Commonwealth Office paper which admits to a catalogue of problems and weaknesses in Western attempts to stabilise the country. .. / n a list of "critical areas to fill", the paper says Nato still needs three infantry battalions, more helicopters, more aircraft and more training teams to help the Afghan army. / It also raises concerns about the situation after November, when <u>more than 2,300 US Marines are to be withdrawn from the south</u>, where British forces are based.<br /><br /><br /><a id="12000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>12. Human Rights</b><br /></div><br /><br />GENERAL<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iheu.org/node/3123">Vote on freedom of expression marks the end of Universal Human Rights</a></b><br />30.03.08. iheu. For the past eleven years the organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), representing the 57 Islamic States, has been tightening its grip on the throat of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Yesterday, 28 March 2008, they finally killed it. With the support of their allies including China, Russia and Cuba (none well-known for their defence of human rights) the Islamic States succeeded in forcing through an amendment to a resolution on Freedom of Expression that has turned the entire concept on its head. The UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression will now be required to report on the “abuse” of this most cherished freedom by anyone who, for example, dares speak out against Sharia laws that require women to be stoned to death for adultery or young men to be hanged for being gay, or against the marriage of girls as young as nine, as in Iran.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=119223">Red Cross to probe state of Afghan terrorism suspects</a></b><br />08.04.08. REUTERS/anti-war. The head of the Red Cross will visit Afghanistan this week to examine conditions under which terrorism suspects are being held by U.S.-led forces, the agency said on Tuesday. / Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), will visit <b>Bagram</b> military airbase during his seven-day trip to Afghanistan. He will focus on the legal limbo of more than 600 security suspects detained there by U.S. forces, the ICRC said in a statement. "<em>We see the need for more robust procedural safeguards in Bagram where -- to this day -- most detainees live in uncertainty about their fate</em>," he said on Tuesday before leaving Geneva, where the humanitarian agency is based.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=345083">UN group clears 350,000 mines in Afghanistan</a></b><br />05.04.08. bignews / legitgov. According to the UN Mine Action Program in Afghanistan, more than 600 Afghans were killed by landmines and explosives last year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=124268">US to skip cluster bomb meeting</a></b><br />11.04.08. wiredispatch.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/columnists/gary_slapper/article3747927.ece">The Law Explored: human rights on the battlefield</a></b><br />16.04.08. Business Times. No job, race, creed, colour, class or age puts a person outside the ambit of human rights, says Professor Gary Slapper. Mr Justice Collins has drawn gasps of disbelief in some quarters by ruling that human rights law might apply to soldiers on active service. In particular, he said, soldiers might enjoy the protection of law on the right to life.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-33185520080422">Two Indian road workers abducted in Afghanistan</a></b><br />23.04.08. Reuters / legitgov.<br /><br /><br />RENDITION<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/04-23-2008/0004798847">CIA Acknowledges it Has More Than 7000 Documents Relating to Secret Detention Program, Rendition, and Torture </a></b><br />23.04.08. pr newswire / ICH. Human Right Groups Charge Documents Reveal CIA Stonewalled; Congressional Oversight Committees; CIA Says Many Documents too Sensitive to Release. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) must stop stonewalling congressional oversight committees and release vital documents related to the program of secret detentions, renditions, and torture, three prominent human rights groups said today.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CIA_knew_secret_detention_interrogation_program_0424.html">CIA admits they will continue rendition program</a></b><br />24.04.08. John Byrne, Raw Story. The Central Intelligence Agency knew from the beginning that its secret detention and torturous interrogation tactics probably bordered on illegal from the start, according to new documents identified through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=560627&in_page_id=1770">Guantanamo eight to sue MI5 and MI6 over 'illegal abduction and interrogation'</a></b><br />19.04.08. daily mail. One of the men said they will argue that Britain was complicit in their illegal abduction, treatment and interrogation. / He said the eight - five Britons and three foreign nationals living here - were put on CIA "torture flights" to the prison camp in U.S.-occupied Cuba.<br /><br /><br />DETAINEES ( = PRISONERS)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=hsnews-000002697912">Evidence Grows of Drug Use on Detainees</a></b><br />04.04.08. CQ. There can be little doubt now that the government has used drugs on terrorist suspects that are designed to weaken their resistance to interrogation. All that’s missing is the syringes and videotapes. / Another window opened on the practice last week with the declassification of John Yoo’s instantly infamous 2003 memo approving harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects. / Yoo advised top Bush administration officials that interrogators could employ mind-altering drugs if they did not produce “an extreme effect” calculated to “cause a profound disruption of the senses or personality.” / Yoo had first rationalized the use of drugs in a 2002 memo for top Bush administration officials.<br /><br /><table border="1" cellpadding="3"><tbody><tr><td><br /><u>Pervez</u><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/search?q=Pervez#7000">Pervez, cont.</a>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=ag.LpMmdH9cA&refer=muse">Condemned Afghan Journalist Wins Right to Appeal Death Sentence</a></b><br />16.04.08. Jeremy Gerard, Bloomberg.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/fears-for-pervez-as-afghan-court-confirms-100-death-sentences-811251.html">Fears for Pervez as Afghan court confirms 100 death sentences</a></b><br />18.04.08. independent. Afghanistan's Supreme Court has confirmed more than 100 death sentences, raising fears over the fate of Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, the student journalist on death row.<br /><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/more-than-100000-sign-petition-to-save-journalist-held-in-afghanistan-817231.html">More than 100,000 sign petition to save journalist held in Afghanistan</a></b><br />29.04.08. Jerome Starkey, Independent. he Independent's petition to save the Afghan student Sayed Pervez Kambaksh from the gallows has collected a staggering 100,000 signatures as the 23-year-old languishes in a cell in Kabul awaiting appeal.<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/10/world/asia/10afghan.html?_r=1&ex=1365480000&en=c43c44d1c4dc8db3&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin">Afghans Hold Secret Trials for Men That U.S. Detained</a></b><br />10.04.08. Tim Golden/ David Rohde, NY Times. Dozens of Afghan men who were previously held by the United States at <b>Bagram</b> Air Base and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are now being tried here in secretive Afghan criminal proceedings based mainly on allegations forwarded by the American military. The prisoners are being convicted and sentenced to as much as 20 years’ confinement in trials that typically run between half an hour and an hour, said human rights investigators who have observed them. One early trial was reported to have lasted barely 10 minutes, an investigator said.<br /><br /><br />Bagram<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5heQ9Db4Eur77oOCnPsposlqAYNVw">US president gets an earful from Afghan governors</a></b><br />09.04.08. Eight Afghan governors met with US President George W. Bush to tell him a few unpleasant truths about the plight of their country as coalition forces fight terrorists and the Taliban. .. / Asadullah Hamdam, Governor of Oruzgan province, was first to raise the thorny issue of <u>indiscriminate arrests by coalition troops</u>. … / "If I just may," Khost Governor Arsala Jamal politely cut in. "I think the issue is greater than that: we have 640 detainees in <b>Bagram</b> and like the governor said, all the governors are facing this problem." … Jamal told Bush about the nightmare people arrested without charge face, and became downcast when Bush apparently failed to understand his suggestion that some operations were best carried out by Afghan rather than coalition forces. MORE. READ THIS.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.impunitywatch.com/impunity_watch_asia/2008/04/brief-red-cross.html">BRIEF: Red Cross Condemns American Prison in Afghanistan</a></b><br />16.04.08. impunity watch. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced this week that it disapproves of the way the United States runs its prison at the <u>Bagram</u> Airbase in Afghanistan, and urged for reforms. / Over 600 prisoners are held at Bagram, and the US military does not reveal who is held there or why. Family and other public visitors are not allowed, including journalists. / The ICRC, however, has visited Bagram 120 times. This recent announcement was made after the ICRC President, Jakob Kellenberger, visited last week.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?199388">200 Pakistanis in Afghan jails: official estimate</a></b><br />13.04.08. pak tribune. The number is feared to be much larger. / "There is no central authority inside Afghanistan that we can deal with for all the Pakistanis who have been detained.<br /><br />AND PUL-I-CHARKHI PRISON<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.phaseloop.com/foreignprisoners/img-loc/Pul-i-Charki_prison.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.phaseloop.com/foreignprisoners/img-loc/Pul-i-Charki_prison.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">PUL I CHARKHI PRISON</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/12/AR2008041202308.html">Afghan Detainees Sent Home to Face Closed-Door Trials</a></b><br />13.04.08. Washington Post. At least 32 detainees transferred from Guantanamo are being held in a high-security wing of the <u>Pul-i-Charki</u> prison near Kabul that was built with U.S. funds.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=af-pr0129-02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.uruknet.de/pic.php?f=af-pr0129-02.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43520&s2=29">Afghanistan's Guantánamo: unfair trials exported</a></b><br />29.04.08. JURIST, uruknet. Sahr MuhammedAlly [senior associate, Law and Security program, Human Rights First]: "While pre-trial motions continue at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, at other end of the globe in Afghanistan more than 60 former Guantánamo and Bagram detainees have been convicted based on little more than mere allegations by the United States. After years of detention in U.S. custody without any due process, these detainees, although now finally in some legal process, are being tried by the Afghans in violation of basic fair trial standards.<br /><br />Earlier this year I was in Kabul, Afghanistan, to examine the prosecutions of former Guantánamo and Bagram detainees. <u>Over 250 Afghans from Guantánamo and Bagram have been transferred since April 2007 to the American-built Afghan National Defense Facility (ANDF) in Pul-i-Charkhi prison</u> in the outskirts of Kabul. Defendants are being tried under a Soviet-era Afghan national security law and are being charged with crimes ranging from destruction of government and private property to assisting enemy forces. Of the 160 persons referred for prosecutions, since October 2007 over 60 have been convicted, and more than 40 have been sentenced to imprisonment for up to 20 years. Trials last between 30 minutes and an hour. There are no prosecution witnesses at the proceedings, no out-of-court sworn prosecution witnesses, and little or no physical evidence is presented. [See Human Rights First, Arbitrary Justice: Trial of Bagram and Guantánamo Detainees in Afghanistan].<br /><br />I personally observed two trials while I was in Kabul - each lasting around 30-35 minutes. The prosecutor stood up and read a statement of the charges and the evidence to support the charges. The evidence consisted simply of what the United States military had accused the defendant of doing, including a summary of the circumstances of capture, and what the Afghan intelligence agency - the National Directorate of Security (NDS) - had found, years after the capture, to support the allegations.<br /><br />The U.S. evidence consisted of second-hand interrogation summaries; a two- to three-page form, which included a short description of the circumstances of arrest; and information about whether the detainee had undergone a polygraph test and the result of the test. There were no witness statements or even identification of government witnesses in these documents other than generically naming the detaining entities as Coalition Forces or Afghan National Army.<br />==<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/12/AR2008041202308.html">US Spends $160M for Closed-Door Trials In Afghanistan </a></b><br />13.04.08. Washington Post / legitgov. Afghan detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are being transferred home to face closed-door trials in which they are often <u>denied access to defense attorneys and the U.S. evidence being used against them</u>, according to Afghan officials, lawyers and international rights groups. Since October 2006, the United States has transferred approximately 50 prisoners out of Guantanamo to the custody of the Afghan government. Once home, many of the Afghans have been left in a legal limbo not unlike the one they confronted while in U.S. custody. Since the invasion, the United States has pledged at least $160 million for judicial reform kangaroo courts in Afghanistan, according to the State Department.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/04/us-military-to-release-detained-ap.php">US military to release detained AP journalist after all charges dismissed</a></b><br />14.04.08. The Jurist. The US military said Monday it plans to release [press release] Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein [AP materials; JURIST news archive] from custody Wednesday. Maj. Gen. Douglas M. Stone, the deputy commanding general for detainee operations, Multi-National Force–Iraq [official website], signed the order approving Hussein's release after confirming that Hussein's conduct fell under Iraq's amnesty law [JURIST report], which was passed in February as part of the national reconciliation effort. A four-member Iraqi judiciary panel dismissed the last remaining charge against Hussein [JURIST report] on Sunday and recommended the US release him from custody immediately. / Hussein has been <b>held by the US military since his arrest in April 2006</b> for <u>allegedly </u> possessing equipment to construct roadside bombs.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/f758124b8fab175c9db8b7c19dcd13eb.htm">Afghanistan: Karzai Should Suspend Death Penalty</a></b><br />16.04.08. Human Rights Watch. Afghan President Hamid Karzai should suspend the death penalty and reject signing execution orders for about 100 prisoners whose death sentences were announced by the Supreme Court on April 16, Human Rights Watch said today.<br /><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/04/afghan-president-rejects-death-penalty.php">Karzai rejects death penalty moratorium </a> (Jurist 21.04)<br /><br /><br />TORTURE<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032803656.html">Ex-Afghanistan Detainee Alleges Torture by U.S.</a></b><br />29.03.08. washingtonpost.com/legit.gov. Murat Kurnaz said that shortly after his capture in Pakistan in fall 2001, the American interrogators insisted he admit to being an <em>al-Qaeda </em>operative and associate of 9/11 plotter Mohamed Atta. Kurnaz said when he said he did not know Atta or refused to talk, the interrogators punished him by hanging him by his arms to the rafters of a freezing aircraft hangar. Kurnaz's allegations about his abusive treatment in a prison at the U.S. military base in Kandahar are to be publicly aired for the first time … on CBS's "60 Minutes." He was released by the U.S. military in August 2006 after spending nearly five years at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Kurnaz, who the U.S. military eventually <u>freed without giving a reason</u>, is publishing a book in April that describes his experiences in custody.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/81991/">A Torture Debate Among Healers</a></b><br />10.04.08. Amy Goodman, King Features Syndicate/alternet. At the heart of the election is a raging debate over torture and interrogations. While the other healing professions, including the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association, bar their members from participating in interrogations, the APA leadership has fought against such a restriction…/ The APA's annual meeting is this summer, in Boston. Expect interrogation to be the major issue confronting the members gathered there. Final voting for the APA president starts in October. The APA and the United States will determine their next presidents at about the same time. In both elections, a thorough debate on torture should be central.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/81406/">The Torture Drawings the Pentagon Doesn't Want You to See</a></b><br />11.04.08. Andy Worthington, AlterNet. Sami al-Haj is a journalist, but one unlike any other. For over six years since December 15, 2001 -- when he was seized by Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border while on assignment as a cameraman for the Qatar-based broadcaster al-Jazeera -- he has been in a disturbing but unique position: a trained journalist held as an "enemy combatant" on the frontline of the Bush administration's "War on Terror," first in Afghanistan, and then in Guantánamo. READ ALL OF THIS HORRIFIC STORY!!!!!<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/34923prs20080416.html">Documents Obtained By ACLU Describe Charges Of Murder And Torture Of Prisoners In U.S. Custody </a></b><br />16.04.08. ACLU. The American Civil Liberties Union obtained documents today from the Department of Defense confirming the military’s use of unlawful interrogation methods on detainees held in U.S. custody in Afghanistan. The documents from the military’s Criminal Investigation Division (CID), obtained as a result of the ACLU’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, include the first on-the-ground reports of torture in <u>Gardez, Afghanistan</u> to be publicly released. “<em>These documents make it clear that the military was using unlawful interrogation techniques in Afghanistan</em>,” said Amrit Singh, an attorney with the ACLU. “<em>Rather than putting a stop to these systemic abuses, senior officials appear to have turned a blind eye to them</em>.”.. / Today’s documents reveal charges that Special Forces beat, burned, and doused eight prisoners with cold water before sending them into freezing weather conditions. One of the eight prisoners, <u>Jamal Naseer</u>, died in U.S. custody in March 2003. In late 2004, the military opened a criminal investigation into charges of torture at Gardez. <b>Despite numerous witness statements describing the evidence of torture, the military’s investigation concluded that the charges of torture were unsupported</b>. It also concluded that Naseer’s death was the result of a “stomach ailment,” even though no autopsy had been conducted in his case. Documents uncovered today also refer to sodomy committed by prison guards; the victims’ identities are redacted<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/torture-and-the-law">Torture and the Law</a></b><br />18.04.08. Spencer Ackerman, The Washington Independent. With nine months remaining in President George W. Bush's term, virtually no legal analyst expects that anyone in his administration will face indictment and prosecution in connection with the torture of terrorism detainees. However, a new admission from Bush last week has some legal analysts contending that the case for such prosecution has gotten significantly stronger.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/19/humanrights.interrogationtechniques">Stress hooding noise nudity dogs</a></b><br />19.04.08. Philippe Sands, Guardian. It was the young officials at Guantánamo who dreamed up a list of new aggressive interrogation techniques, inspired by Jack Bauer from the TV series, 24.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/19/guantanamo.usa">Top Bush aides pushed for Guantánamo torture</a></b><br />19.04.08. R. Norton-Taylor, Guardian<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0804/S00299.htm">Torture Question Hovers Over Chertoff</a></b><br />21.04.08. Jason Leopold, scoop, nz. John Yoo and some other Bush administration lawyers who built the legal framework for torture are now out of the U.S. government, but one still holds a Cabinet-level rank – Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042108M.shtml">Torture Victim's Records Lost at Guantánamo, Admits Camp General</a></b><br />21.04.08. Elana Schor, Guardian / Truthout. The former head of interrogations at Guantánamo Bay found that records of an <em>al-Qaida</em> suspect tortured at the prison camp were mysteriously lost by the US military, according to a new book by one of Britain's top human rights lawyers. / Retired general Michael Dunlavey, who supervised Guantánamo for eight months in 2002, tried to locate records on Mohammed al-Qahtani, accused by the US of plotting the 9/11 attacks, but found they had disappeared. / The records on al-Qahtani, who was interrogated for 48 days - "were backed up ... after I left, there was a snafu and all was lost", Dunlavey told Philippe Sands QC, who reports the conversation in his book Torture Team, previewed last week by the Guardian. Snafu stands for Situation Normal: All Fucked Up.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8771">John Yoo: The President's Executioner</a></b><br />22.04.08. Jennifer Van Bergen. global research. The title of this article – The President's Executioner – is a play on words. It refers to professor John Yoo, who teaches law at Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley. But this man – mild-mannered by all appearances – is not what he seems. He is the man who was, more often than nearly any other, behind the White House decisions to violate the international laws of war. He was the one who told the White House how to get away with committing war crimes. While he may have been a henchman for others who instructed him to make the arguments he did, he repeatedly refused to reverse himself, both while he worked in the Department of Justice and after he left that office and returned to academia. / But it was also during this time period, as we now know, that the Department of Justice became “politicized.” Instead of executing the laws as it should have been doing, the Justice Department became an instrument of President Bush, executing his wishes. / And John Yoo executed White House wishes to twist the law into something it was not and was not meant to be. / Yoo, however, did more than execute orders. The so-called “Torture Memos,” in the writing of which Yoo was an active and primary participant, opened the door to such abuse of the laws that some detainees were actually murdered. For all practical purposes, they were executed, without a trial or guilty verdict. / Thus, the President's Executioner; <b>Yoo & the Unlimited Executive; The Yoo Memos; Media and Legal Experts on Yoo's Memos; “Interrogation Documents; Yoo's Most Recently-Revealed Memo; According to Vincent Warren; Crimes</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/04/fbi-chief-testifies-he-warned-doj-dod.php">FBI chief testifies he warned DOJ, DOD harsh interrogation tactics may be illegal</a></b><br />23.04.08. The Jurist. FBI Director Robert Mueller testified [recorded video; prepared statement, PDF] before the US House Judiciary Committee [official website] Wednesday that he had advised officials at the Departments of Justice and Defense that some interrogation tactics employed against <em>terror </em>suspects might be illegal. Mueller said that the FBI had first raised concerns about the use of harsh interrogation methods in 2002, when CIA interrogators used waterboarding [JURIST news archive] with several alleged <em>al Qaeda</em> leaders, but declined to say how other agencies had reacted to FBI concerns. AP has more.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/042508a.html">The Bush Team's Geneva Hypocrisy</a></b><br />25.04.08. Jason Leopold, Consortium. Newly released U.S. government documents, detailing how Bush administration officials punched legalistic holes in the Geneva Convention’s protections of war captives, stand in stark contrast to the outrage some of the same officials expressed in the first week of the Iraq War when Iraqi TV interviewed several captured American soldiers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/washington/27intel.html?_r=1&oref=slogin">Letters Give C.I.A. Tactics a Legal Rationale</a></b><br />27.04.08. NY Times. The Justice Department has told Congress that American intelligence operatives attempting to thwart terrorist attacks can legally use interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law. … / While the Geneva Conventions prohibit “outrages upon personal dignity,” a letter sent by the Justice Department to Congress on March 5 makes clear that the administration has not drawn a precise line in deciding which interrogation methods would violate that standard, and is reserving the right to make case-by-case judgments. / The fact that an act is undertaken to prevent a threatened <em>terrorist attack</em>, rather than for the purpose of humiliation or abuse, would be relevant to a reasonable observer in measuring the outrageousness of the act,” said Brian A. Benczkowski, … / It has been clear that the order preserved at least some of the latitude that Mr. Bush has permitted the C.I.A. in using harsher interrogation techniques than those permitted by the military or other agencies.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.cvni.net/radio/e2k/e2k031/images/e2k31_mi5hq.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.cvni.net/radio/e2k/e2k031/images/e2k31_mi5hq.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">MI 5 HQ Thames House, London 2005</span><br /></div><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/29/humanrights.uksecurity1">MI5 accused of colluding in torture of terrorist suspects</a></b><br />29.04.08. Ian Cobain, Guardian. Officers of the Security Service, MI5, are being accused of "outsourcing" the torture of British citizens to a notorious Pakistani intelligence agency in an attempt to obtain information about terrorist plots and to secure convictions against <em>al-Qaida</em> suspects. / A number of British terrorism suspects who have been arrested in Pakistan at the request of UK authorities say their interrogation by Security Service officers, shortly after brutal torture at the hands of agents of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI), has convinced them that MI5 colluded in the mistreatment.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Conyers_to_torture_memo_author_Testify_0428.html">Conyers to torture memo author: Testify voluntarily or face subpoena</a></b><br />28.04.08. Nick Juliano, Raw Story / anti-war. House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has threatened to subpoena several former officials in the Bush administration if they do not agree to testify about their roles in the preparation of the so-called "torture memos" that authorized severe interrogation tactics in the war on terror.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=43499&s2=29">The Torture Election</a></b><br />28.04.08. Chris Floyd , Empire Burlesque/uruknet. As the presidential horse race grows more frenzied and absurd -- Flag pins! Bowling! Obliteration!-- it is important to keep in mind what the election is really about: torture. / Specifically, the use of torture as an openly admitted, formally recognized instrument of national policy, approved at the highest level of government. The Bush Administration has now dropped all pretense that it is not engaging in interrogation techniques and incarceration practices long recognized by both international and U.S. law as blatantly criminal. What's more, the Administration boldly asserts that the president can simply ignore laws prohibiting torture if he feels that circumstances warrant the use of "interrogation methods that might otherwise be prohibited under international law," the New York Times reported over the weekend. .. / <b>Torture is at the very heart of the Bush presidency, the most quintessential manifestation of its governing philosophy: a "Commander-in-Chief" state, where presidential directives can override any law in the name of "national security."</b>.<br />[<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">note Chris Floyd puts "<em>national security</em>" within quotes?</span>]]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/apr/29/dickcheney.usa">Cheney lawyer claims Congress has no authority over vice-president</a></b><br />29.04.08. Guardian. The lawyer for US vice-president Dick Cheney claimed today that the Congress lacks any authority to examine his behaviour on the job. / The exception claimed by Cheney's counsel came in response to requests from congressional Democrats that David Addington, the vice-president's chief of staff, testify about his involvement in the approval of interrogation tactics used at Guantanamo Bay. / Ruling out voluntary cooperation by Addington, Cheney lawyer Kathryn Wheelbarger said Cheney's conduct is "not within the [congressional] committee's power of inquiry".<br /><br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.unsubscribe-me.org/waitingfortheguards.php"> Waiting for the Guards</a><br /><br />REFERENCE<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Torture-Team-Rumsfelds-Betrayal-American/dp/0230603904/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209453529&sr=8-1">Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values</a></b><br />by Philippe Sands. Palgrave MacMillan May 2008. Subtitle in English edition: "Deception, Cruelty and the Compromise of Law." [Superby written, gripping book! sm]<br /><br /><br />GUANTANAMO<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/guantanamo/story/474196.html">Navy Lawyer: Gitmo trials pegged to political campaign</a></b><br />28.03.08. Miami herald/legitgov. The Navy lawyer for Osama bin Laden's driver argues in a Guantánamo military commissions motion that senior Pentagon officials are orchestrating war crimes prosecutions for the 2008 campaign. The Pentagon declined late Friday to address the defense lawyer's allegations, noting that the matter is under litigation.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.antiwar.com/orig/worthington.php?articleid=12610">Latest Gitmo Charges Questionable</a></b><br />01.04.08. Andy Worthington, anti-war.com. Ghailani is the sixth of the 14 so-called "high-value detainees" – those held in secret, CIA-run prisons, who were transferred to Guantánamo in September 2006 – to be put forward for trial by military commission. He joins Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Walid bin Attash (plus Mohammed al-Qahtani, a notorious victim of torture in Guantánamo), who were put forward for trial in February in connection with the 9/11 attacks. The novel "War on Terror" trials, conceived by Dick Cheney and his advisers in November 2001, have yet to secure a conviction (the closest they came was the plea bargain negotiated with the Australian David Hicks last year, who returned home to serve just seven months in prison) and have been plagued by controversy since their inception. Damned by their own military defense lawyers, derailed by their own government-appointed judges, dismissed by the Supreme Court and then resuscitated by a somnambulant Congress, they are currently limping toward trials in the cases of the Canadian Omar Khadr, who was just 15 years old when he was captured and whose alleged murder of a U.S. soldier is seriously contested by his legal team, and Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni who was one of Osama bin Laden's drivers.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/32532.html">As Guantanamo trials near, Pentagon limits what can be reported</a></b><br />03.04.08. McClatchy. A defense lawyer lets slip at the war court convening here that a battlefield commander changed an Afghanistan firefight report in a way that seemed to help a U.S. government murder case. Reporters hear the field commander's name but are forbidden to report it./ In another case, a judge approves the release of a captive's interrogation video showing the blurred face of an American agent. But a federal prosecutor on loan to the Pentagon withholds it ``out of an abundance of caution.''/ Even as the U.S. government edges toward full-blown, war-crimes trials by military commission here, with more hearings next week, all sides are grappling with what information can be made public and what must be kept secret./ … As long as there is an <em>al Qaida</em>, they argue, such information could be used to hurt Americans or their allies.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2008/04/military-commission-charges-confirmed.php">Military commission charges confirmed against Afghan Guantanamo Bay detainee</a></b><br />07.04.08. The Jurist. The US Department of Defense said Monday that charges have been referred [press release] against Afghan Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Mohammed Kamin, who is accused of providing material support to terrorism [sworn charges, PDF; JURIST report]. If convicted, Kamin faces a maximum life sentence.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_8905108">War trials boycotted</a></b><br />12.04.08. Bex Fox, AP. The U.S. war crimes trials at Guantanamo Bay are running into a new obstacle: boycotts by the defendants. / Three men accused of being <em>al-Qaida</em> operatives have now chosen to boycott their upcoming trials. More defendants are expected to do the same as the military attempts to prosecute dozens of prisoners at the isolated, high-security U.S. base overlooking the Caribbean.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/12/AR2008041202308.html">Afghan Detainees Sent Home to Face Closed-Door Trials</a></b><br />13.04.08. Washington Post. Afghan detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are being transferred home to face closed-door trials in which they are often denied access to defense attorneys and the U.S. evidence being used against them, according to Afghan officials, lawyers and international rights groups. / Since October 2006, the United States has transferred approximately 50 detainees out of Guantanamo to the custody of the Afghan government, part of a policy aimed at reducing the prison population and ultimately closing the facility [?]. Once home, many of the Afghans have been left in a legal limbo not unlike the one they confronted while in U.S. custody.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0816,our-very-own-axis-of-evil,411810,4.html">Our Very Own Axis of Evil in Guantánamo</a></b><br />15.04.08. Nat Hentoff, Village Voice / anti-war. A former prisoner describes the foul essence of the Bush presidency<br /><br /><br />Murat Kurnaz<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0817,bush-creates-a-legal-black-hole-for-war-on-terror-detainees,419573,4.html">Bush's Gitmo Justice Creates a Legal Black Hole</a></b><br />18.04.08. Nat henhoff, village voice. … Abigail didn't anticipate that another King George, presiding over America almost 250 years later, would have so expanded his authority that <u>he could designate persons—including American citizens—as "enemy combatants"</u> to be held in military prisons without due process. .. / A German citizen, Kurnaz was turned over to the U.S. by Pakistani authorities as a suspected terrorist, brutally tortured in a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan, and then sent to Guantánamo in 2002 for more of what the president routinely calls "enhancement interrogation." … / Azmy found a secret document, filed six months after Kurnaz had been sent to Gitmo in 2002, stating unequivocally that he had been <u>cleared of any connection to <em>Al Qaeda</em></u> by the U.S. Criminal Investigation Task Force and by German intelligence. … / Unfazed, the Defense Department invented new charges against him—that one of his friends had been a suicide bomber, for example. But that fell apart when the purported dead bomber was found alive and well in Germany. Another justification for Kurnaz's continued imprisonment was that he'd been captured near Osama bin Laden's sanctuary in Afghanistan, fighting for the Taliban. But the first time that he went into Afghanistan, Kurnaz was flown there aboard the CIA's rendition plane, on his way to the secret prison where he'd be routinely tortured for the next two months. Nonetheless, despite the lack of any evidence against him, Kurnaz was officially declared an <em>enemy combatant .. </em> [read more!]<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/28/us/28lawyers.html&OQ=_rQ3D1&OP=6e72a45Q2FzoiczmQ203qQ5EQ20Q20r%21z%21ddUzdQ26z%21UzQ7Dqz%21UDQ51oniQ5EqQ25Lr0D">Lawyers Fear Monitoring in Cases on Terrorism</a></b><br />28.04.08. ny times. Across the country, and especially here in Oregon, it seems, lawyers who represent suspects in terrorism-related investigations complain that their ability to do their jobs is being hindered by the suspicion that the government is listening in, using the eavesdropping authority it obtained -- or granted itself -- after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Steven T. Wax, a Portland lawyer involved in several terrorism cases, said he has told clients to assume that everything they say to him is being secretly monitored. Mr. Wax said he "self-censors" his e-mail messages, even to other lawyers and friends. The situation, he said, has elements of "Kafka and ‘Alice in Wonderland.' "<br /><u>Media Manipulation</u><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/042008Z.shtml">Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon's Hidden Hand</a></b><br />20.04.08. David Barstow. NY Times / Truthout. In the summer of 2005, the Bush administration confronted a fresh wave of criticism over Guantánamo Bay. The detention center had just been branded "the gulag of our times" by Amnesty International, there were new allegations of abuse from United Nations human rights experts and calls were mounting for its closure. / The administration's communications experts responded swiftly. Early one Friday morning, they put a group of retired military officers on one of the jets normally used by Vice President Dick Cheney and flew them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of Guantánamo. … / The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air.<br />Critique:<br /><a href="http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/04/20/nyt/index.html"> Major revelation: U.S. media deceitfully disseminates government propaganda</a> (Salon.com 20.04.08)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/21/AR2008042103399.html?hpid=topnews">Detainees Allege Being Drugged, Questioned</a></b><br />22.04.08. Washington Post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alternet.org/rights/82997/">The Pentagon's Guantánamo Problem</a></b><br />23.04.08. Andy Worthington, Andy Worthington’s Blog / Alternet. As prisoners at Guantánamo begin boycotting their own show trials, the U.S. government is focusing on propaganda in lieu of legitimacy.<br /><br /><br /><b>The Torture Memo</b>:<br /><br />see “April ’08 Updates” on <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/02/robicheauxs-nightmare-us-rendition.html"> Robicheaux's Nightmare: US Rendition, Guantanamo, Torture </a> in February 2008<br /><br /><br /><u> War Crimes </u><br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/usmc/mcrp4-11-8b.pdf%20"> "War Crimes," Marine Corps Reference Publication 4-11.8B</a>,<br />6 September 2005<br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><u> by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News </u><br /><br />“One of those Marine Corps documents addresses war crimes, describing prohibited actions and the need to prevent them.<br /><br />"While we Marines fight swiftly and aggressively, we also conduct our military operations with respect toward both the liberated people and the vanquished foe."<br /><br />"Marines do not harm enemy soldiers who surrender. Marines do not torture or kill enemy prisoners of war or detainees. Marines collect and care for the wounded, whether friend or foe."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2008/04/27/2003410381">Mahathir calls for war crimes tribunal for US, UK leaders</a></b><br />27.04.08. taipei times. Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad called on Friday for an international tribunal to try Western leaders for war crimes over the war in Iraq, a spokesman for the organizers said. / In a speech at Imperial College, Mahathir called for a tribunal to try US President George W. Bush and former prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia for their part in the conflict, said a spokesman for the Muslim group the Ramadhan Foundation, which organized the event.<br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXpavT5RCP8"> Law Prof Turley - Bush Ordered War Crimes</a><br /><br /><br /><a id="13000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"> <b>13. Some Deaths in Afghanistan</b><br /></div><br /><br /><b>AFGHAN</b><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEimBJlSvWHHtExZIpspL1bTSgzKbqLdvuf1c-SRumnvfoRc_4FHCd5Yj6iM7f5Wwdk4fMLZ07nogcEkjlwdRfeCMHXSBdA5ScrhJnzXS_y0LwMAymB3stDb7oKD33lW7yiFPS/s320/afghan_bodies.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5194762614550738962" border="0" /><span style="font-size:85%;">Remember<a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/index-on-afghanistan-april-2007-murder.html"> Nangahar</a>, (04. 03.07)? (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)</span><br /></div><br /><em>“The people of Afghanistan are going to be more than grateful</em>”<br /><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080402-4.html%3EAfghan%20Leader%20Criticizes%20U.S.,%20Calling%20Arrests%20and%20Casualties%20Too%20High%3C/a%3E%3Cbr%3E26.04.08.%20%20Carlotta%20Gall,%20NY%20Times.%20President%20Hamid%20Karzai%20strongly%20criticized%20the%20British%20and%20American%20conduct%20of%20the%20war%20here%20on%20Friday,%20insisting%20in%20an%20interview%20that%20his%20government%20be%20given%20the%20lead%20in%20policy%20decisions.%20%20/%20Mr.%20Karzai%20said%20that%20he%20wanted%20American%20forces%20to%20stop%20arresting%20suspected%20Taliban%20and%20their%20sympathizers,%20and%20that%20the%20continued%20threat%20of%20arrest%20and%20past%20mistreatment%20were%20discouraging%20Taliban%20from%20coming%20forward%20to%20lay%20down%20their%20arms.%20/%20He%20criticized%20the%20American-led%20coalition%20as%20prosecuting%20the%20%3Cem%3Ewar%20on%20terrorism%3C/em%3E%20in%20Afghan%20villages,%20saying%20the%20real%20terrorist%20threat%20lay%20in%20sanctuaries%20of%20the%20Taliban%20and%20%3Cem%3EAl%20Qaeda%20%3C/em%3Ein%20Pakistan.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" com="" s="" afp="" 20080330="" wl_sthasia_afp="" afghanistanunrest="">Eight Taliban killed in southern Afghanistan: police</a><br />30.03.08. yahoo.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/01/content_7900276.htm">ISAF rejects reported killing of 3 civilians in S Afghanistan</a></b><br />01.04.08. Xinhuanet. NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Tuesday rejected the reported killing of three civilians in Panjwai district of Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province, saying the casualties were <em>militants</em>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/01/content_7897936.htm">Afghan police kill 3"<em>insurgents</em>, capture 1</a></b><br />01.04.08. Xinhuanet / ICH.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.kuna.net.kw/NewsAgenciesPublicSite/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=1896112&Language=en">Suicide attack kills two cops in Afghanistan</a></b><br />01.04.08. Kuna.net.kw.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/03/2206518.htm?section=world">Several <em>rebels</em> killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.04.08. ABC. International troops have killed several <em>insurgents</em> in an area of southern Afghanistan where two British soldiers died in an explosion four days ago, the US-led coalition said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/%20news/article_1398216.php/Afghan_civilians_kil%20led_wounded_in_NATO_forces_warning_shot_force%20s_warning_shot__Roundup">Afghan civilians killed, wounded in NATO occupation forces </a></b><br />03.04.08. Monsters and Critics. One Afghan civilian was killed and three others were wounded by a NATO-led forces' single 'warning shot' in southern Afghanistan, while several militants were killed in separate air and ground operations, officials said Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-04-03-voa27.cfm">2 Afghan Civilians Killed in Separate Incidents</a></b><br />03.04.08. VOA.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8dGftYb0s4XWdUMRdIVs3vh1CKAD8VQAQO00">Airstrike Kills 3 in Afghanistan</a></b><br />03.04.08. AP. An airstrike in southern Afghanistan killed three armed <em>militants</em>, while a raid by U.S.-led coalition troops in the same region left several <em>insurgents</em> dead, officials said Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1398402.php/">Suicide attack, explosion kill five in Afghanistan (Roundup)</a></b><br />04.04.08. monsters and critics. Meanwhile, the UN Mine Action Programme in Afghanistan said Friday that more than 600 Afghans lost their lives from landmines and explosives last year.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" com="" web="" load="detay&link=138082"">S-led coalition troops kill 3 in S. Afghanistan </a></b><br />05.04.08. zaman. An airstrike in southern Afghanistan killed three armed <em>militants</em>, and a raid by US-led coalition troops in the same region left several <em>insurgents</em> dead, officials said on Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/06/content_7929005.htm">Afghan forces kill 15 Taliban <em>insurgents</em>, arrest key commander</a></b><br />06.04.08. Xinhuanet.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C04%5C07%5Cstory_7-4-2008_pg7_46">Heavy fighting leaves 20 dead in Nuristan</a></b><br />07.04.08. he coalition did not give an exact toll but a local MP said the battle, in which warplanes were also deployed, occurred in the villages of Kendal and Shok, both in Nuristan province, and left 20 people dead <u>including civilians</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1398677.php/Over_20_people_killed_in_US-led_operation_in_Afghanistan__1st_Lead_">Over 20 people killed in US-led operation in Afghanistan (1st Lead)</a></b><br />07.04.08. Monsters and Critics. An Afghan governor said Monday that more than 20 <am>militants were killed in a US-led operation in eastern Afghanistan [Doaba district], but <u>a regional lawmaker said the dead were all civilians, including women and children</u>. / A Taliban spokesman also claimed their fighters had shot down five army helicopters during the same operation, a claim that the US military spokesperson rejected.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=117966">6 die in strike against Afghan warlord</a></b><br />07.04.08. wiredispatch. U.S. and Afghan forces attacked a remote village in a mountainous region of northeastern Afghanistan following reports that an infamous insurgent leader was in the area, a governor said Monday. At least 16 people were killed. / Other provincial leaders said many civilians were killed in the hours-long clash, which included airstrikes in the remote villages of Shok and Kendal. Nuristani said it was too early to know if any of the 16 killed were civilians.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7334735.stm">Probe of Afghan 'civilian deaths'</a></b><br />.04.08. BBC. The Afghan government has launched an investigation into reports that up to <u>33 civilians</u> were killed in a US and Afghan army operation. / The US military said several <em>insurgents</em> were killed but that it had no reports of civilian deaths. / Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly urged the US and Nato to take care to avoid civilian casualties.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/07/world/main3998507.shtml">16 Dead In Hunt For Key Afghan <em>Insurgent</em></a></b><br />07.04.08. CBS. U.S. and Afghan forces attacked a remote village in a mountainous region of northeastern Afghanistan following reports that an infamous <em>insurgent</em> leader [Gulbuddin Hekmatyar] was in the area, a governor said Monday. At least 16 people were killed.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://yannone.blogspot.com/2008/04/afghanistan-mission.html">Nine police killed in Afghanistan: officials</a></b><br />08.04.08. yannone. Seven anti-drugs policemen and five Taliban rebels died in a fierce gunbattle in southern Afghanistan, while two more police died in a roadside bomb, police said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=50678&sectionid=351020403">'US forces kill 23 Afghan civilians'</a></b><br />08.04.08. presstv.ir. At least 23 civilians are killed and up to 50 others injured in US airstrikes in east Afghanistan, an Afghan provincial council chief says. / Ramatullah Rashed added that the US-led coalition and Afghan forces have completely destroyed a part of Shorak village. / A regional lawmaker, confirming Rashed's report, said the dead during the US-led operation were <u>all civilians, including women and children</u>, DPA reported.<br /><br /><br /></am><div style="text-align: center;"><am><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2006/20060417_roadmilitary.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2006/20060417_roadmilitary.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Photo by 1st Lt. Claudia Crossland courtesy U.S. Army</span></am><br /><am></am></div><am><br />NB: <u>The story below does not mention that photographs show the road is being built for a <a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=13189592&postID=7576762332948582259" com="" asp=""> major gas pipeline</a> that will extend from energy rich Turkmenistan through Afghanistan to Pakistan, and perhaps on to India</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/09/world/asia/09afghan.html?_r=1&ref=asia&oref=slogin">Attack on Road Crew Kills 18 and Injures 7 in Afghanistan</a></b><br />09.04.08. Abdul Wafa / Carlotta Gall, NY Times. The ambush happened in Zabul Province, about 30 miles from the provincial capital, in a remote mountainous area near the Pakistan border, said Gulab Shah Ali Kheil, the deputy governor of Zabul.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080409/wl_sthasia_afp/afghanistanunrestpolice">Eight dead in fresh Afghan unrest: officials</a></b><br />09.04.08. AFP. A policeman and seven Taliban rebels were killed in fighting in southern Afghanistan, including a foreign airstrike that also wounded two civilians, officials said Wednesday. International forces' warplanes dropped bombs on a group of Taliban <em>militants</em> travelling by motorcycle overnight, killing three insurgents, said deputy governor of Zabul province, Gulab Shah Alikhail.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ab0gXvlg97QU&refer=home"><em>Al-Qaeda</em> Official Believed Dead, U.S. Official Says</a></b><br />09.04.08. Bloomberg. Obaidah al-Masri … is believed to have died of natural causes in the past several months in Pakistan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/041108B.shtml">Afghan Bombing Kills Up to Eight Civilians, Including Three Children</a></b><br />11.04.08. Taimoor Shah, Carlotta Gall, NY Times / Truthout. Some of the worst such attacks over the last three years have been in Kandahar, the former Taliban stronghold. Civilians have suffered the most from explosions in busy public areas, but civilians have also been shot by NATO soldiers who perceived threats.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jkKFU8CvHoLV5ont_58iLTVBWLVQD9006FE01%27.24%20Taliban%20Killed%20in%20Afghanistan%3C/a%3E%3C/b%3E%3Cbr%3E12.04.08.%20%20AP.%20%20KANDAHAR,%20Afghanistan%20%28AP%29%20%E2%80%94%20A%20provincial%20official%20says%20Afghan%20and%20foreign%20troops%20have%20killed%2024%20Taliban%20%3Cem%3Emilitants%3C/em%3E%20in%20an%20operation%20in%20southern%20Afghanistan.%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cb%3E%3Ca%20href=" org="" articles="" show="" html="">Three civilians, four policemen killed in attacks in occupied Afghanistan </a></b><br />13.04.08. Earthtimes / ICH. Three civilians were killed and as many were wounded in a roadside attack in south-eastern Afghanistan on Sunday morning, while Taliban militants attacked a police patrol in southern region, killing four and wounding seven officers, official said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/ra/news/stories/200804/s2215363.htm?tab=latest">Taliban kill 4 counter narcotics police in Afghanistan</a></b><br />13.04.08. ABC / ICH. Police say an unknown number of <em>insurgents</em> were also killed in the incident.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3735981.ece">Army has killed 7,000 Taliban</a></b><br />13.04.08. Michael Smith, Times on line. BRITISH occupation troops are to scale back attacks on the Taliban after killing 7,000 insurgents in two years of conflict, defence sources said last we<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=127083">Two British soldiers, 11 Afghan police killed</a></b><br />14.04.08. REUTERS/wiredispath.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/14/AR2008041400258.html">Roadside Bomb Kills 2 Afghan Police</a></b><br />15.04.08. AP / Washington Post.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/16/content_7989749.htm">Afghan battle leaves 6 dead</a></b><br />16.04.08. Xinhuanet/ICH. Fighting between Taliban <em>militants</em> and police in Afghanistan's southern Zabul province Wednesday left six persons including five <em>insurgents</em> and one police dead, an official said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/16/terror/main4019115.shtml">Infamous Taliban Leader Killed In Pakistan</a></b><br />16.04.08. CBS/ICH. Mullah Ismail, a notorious Taliban commander from the Afghan province of Kunar, was killed in a shootout with Pakistani police as he traveled with a kidnapped trader, a local police officer said Wednesday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/16/content_7989749.htm">Afghan battle leaves 6 dead</a></b><br />16.04.08. Xinhuanet. Fighting between Taliban <em>militants</em> and police in Afghanistan's southern Zabul province Wednesday left six persons including five <em>insurgents</em> and one police dead, an official said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8dGftYb0s4XWdUMRdIVs3vh1CKAD903J5OO2">9 dead in clashes with troops in central Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.04.08. AP. Afghan and foreign troops battled <em> militants</em> … The clash occurred in the Gilan district of Ghazni province, said district chief Abdul Wali Thofan.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://story.irishsun.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/2411cd3571b4f088/id/349585/cs/1/">13 Taliban <em>insurgents</em> killed, 15 held in Afghanistan</a></b><br />17.04.08. irish sun / ICH. In a separate clash with Afghan troops in the same province Thursday, three <em>militants</em> were killed, according to a defence ministry statement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/18/2220407.htm?section=justin">Afghan suicide blast kills 24</a></b><br />17.04.08. ABC / ICH. Two senior police officers were among the dead and 34 people were also injured in the attack in Zaranj city, capital of Nimroz province bordering Iran, provincial governor Ghulam Dastgir Azad said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iczAYfrbIQwsE4hiHdjURlYsSpCgD904G2C06">US, Pakistan say Taliban commander killed in shootout</a></b><br />18.04.08. Riaz KhanIAZ and Pamela Hess, AP. Police killed Ahmad Shah, also known as Mullah Ismail, at a roadblock near the northwestern city of Peshawar, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSISL155694">Afghan, Iranian border clash kills Afghan teacher</a></b><br />20.04.08. Reuters. An Afghan teacher was killed and two Iranian border guards wounded in a gunbattle between Iranian and Afghan forces in Afghanistan's border province of Nimroz, the Interior Ministry in Kabul said on Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.findlaw.com/ap/i/1104//04-21-2008/20080421002005_16.html">11 Taliban killed in clashes, Afghan Defense Ministry says</a></b><br />21.04.08. findlaw, AP. The ministry says that seven <em>militants</em> have been killed in clashes and airstrikes in the southern Helmand province. / t also says another four <em>militants</em> have been killed in a clash in neighboring Kandahar province. / In Zabul province, a roadside bomb hit an Afghan army patrol, wounding five soldiers, the ministry said in a statement Monday. All incidents happened on Sunday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHANISTAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-04-22-03-31-19">Afghan police kill 9 Taliban fighters in Kandahar </a></b><br />22.04.08. Noor Khan, AP. Afghan police killed nine Taliban fighters in a skirmish Tuesday, a day after <em>militants</em> attacked a checkpoint and left six border policemen dead, officials said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1401165.php/">NATO_soldier_6_police_killed_in_Taliban_attacks_in_Afghanistan">NATO soldier, 6 police killed in Taliban attacks in Afghanistan</a></b><br />22.04.08. monsters and critics. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldier died of wounds and three others were wounded in two separate explosions in southern region on Monday, ISAF said in a statement.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP317852.htm">Suicide blast in Afghan bazaar kills 4</a></b><br />23.04.08. Reuters. A suicide bomber blew himself up in a bazaar in an Afghan town close to the Pakistan border on Wednesday, killing three civilians and wounding at least 14 more, Afghan officials said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/200931,border-clashes-leave-10-taliban-one-pakistan-soldier-dead--summary.html">Border clashes leave 10 Taliban, one Pakistan soldier dead – Summary</a></b><br />23.04.08. earthtimes. Up to 10 Taliban militants and one Pakistani paramilitary soldier was killed Wednesday in clashes on the border with Afghanistan, the military said. "Miscreants (Taliban) attacked the check post at Daud Qilla on the Afghan side of the border in the wee hours of the morning," a statement from army's Inter-Services Public Relations Department said. "Reportedly, 8-10 miscreants were killed and the rest disengaged."<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20080422-2330-afghan-violence.html">10 police killed in Afghan attacks including suicide bombing </a></b><br />24.04.08. sign on sandiego/ICH. A suicide bombing and other attacks on Afghan police left 10 officers dead and 10 others wounded Wednesday, officials said<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=a276b1d3-9ae9-45a2-82e5-a3bd73792297&MatchID1=9&TeamID1=3&TeamID2=8&MatchType1=5&SeriesID1=1&PrimaryID=9&Headline=17+Taliban+militants+killed+in+Afghanistan">17 Taliban "militants" killed in occupied Afghanistan</a></b><br />24.04.08. Hindustan times / ICH. Afghan army forces clashed with Taliban <em>militants</em> in separate areas of the country, killing and wounding more than 17 insurgents, including a rebel commander, the army said on Thursday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.montereyherald.com/ci_9037159?source=rss">Attacks kill 13 in occupied Afghanistan</a></b><br />24.04.08. Monterey herald/ICH. In Kandahar province, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a vehicle carrying intelligence agents in the border town of Spin Boldak, killing three civilians, Kandahar Gov. Assadullah Khalid said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080424%5CACQRTT200804240121RTTRADERUSEQUITY_0054.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.nasd">Nine Killed As Afghan, Pakistani Troops Mistakenly Exchange Fire</a></b><br />No date. Nasdaq/ICH. Afghan and Pakistani troops mistakenly exchanged fire in a chaotic border battle in pre-dawn darkness Wednesday killing eight militants and leaving one Pakistani soldier dead, the Pakistan army said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20080424%5CACQRTT200804240121RTTRADERUSEQUITY_0054.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.nasd">Nine Killed As Afghan, Pakistani Troops Mistakenly Exchange Fire</a></b><br />No date. Nasdaq/ICH. Afghan and Pakistani troops mistakenly exchanged fire in a chaotic border battle in pre-dawn darkness Wednesday killing eight militants and leaving one Pakistani soldier dead, the Pakistan army said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/26/content_8055622.htm">Air attack kill 15 suspected <em>insurgent</em> in Afghanistan :</a></b><br />26.04.08. Xinhuanet. Air attacks carried out by international occupation troops on Taliban resistance in Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province have left over a dozen suspected <em>insurgents </em>dead, spokesman of provincial administration said Saturday.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jL0cztYo3VUCPn5LZ03x0BG741AQ">Census official, police among 24 killed in Afghan unrest</a></b><br />26.04.08. AFP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/27/world/main4048451.shtml">Karzai Escapes Assassination Attempt</a></b><br />27.04.08. CBS/AP. Suspected Taliban <em>militants</em> attacked a ceremony attended by the Afghan president on Sunday, unleashing automatic weapons and rocket fire that sent foreign dignitaries and senior members of the government fleeing for cover. Three people were killed, including a lawmaker, and eight wounded. / President Hamid Karzai, Cabinet ministers and ambassadors escaped unharmed from the assault on the event marking the 16th anniversary of the end of Soviet-backed rule in Afghanistan. A lawmaker seated about 30 yards from Karzai was among the dead.<br />See also<a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jL0cztYo3VUCPn5LZ03x0BG741AQ"> Census official, police among 24 killed in Afghan unrest </a>(27.04.08. AFP)<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">SEE BOX above, Afghanistan / KARZAI </span><br /><br /><b>AMERICANS </b><br /><br /><em>”Vain was the chief’s and sage’s pride<br />They had no Poet and thy dyd!<br />In vain they schem’d, in vain they bled<br />They had no Poet and are dead!</em>”<br /><br />Horace, Odes IV.9: from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/City-Words-CBC-Massey-Lecture/dp/0887847633/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209023047&sr=8-1"> The City of the Worlds</a> by Alberto Manguel<br /><br />REPORT<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22452.pdf">"United States Military Casualty Statistics: Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom,"</a><br />updated March 18, 2008, fas.org (pdf), CRS REPORT.<br /><br /><br />ARTICLES<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/nu_comments.php?id=24879&cid=208">Mainer serving in Afghanistan dies</a></b><br />05.04.08. maine today.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3dO01zk6vBUdavNiW-Zfe-SJuvQD8VS0UBO0">US Deaths in Afghanistan, Region</a></b><br />06.04.08. AP. As of Saturday, April 5, 2008, at least 422 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/national_world/stories/2008/04/10/Iraq_AP_0410.ART_ART_04-10-08_A3_969SURJ.html?sid=101">5 U.S. troops among dozens dead in Iraq</a></b><br />10.04.08. dispsatch / ICH. Errant mortar shells slammed into houses and a funeral tent yesterday, leaving <u>three children among the dead</u> during clashes in a Shiite militia stronghold that was under siege by American and Iraqi forces on the <u>fifth anniversary of the U.S. capture of the capital</u>.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/10/content_7953353.htm">Suicide car bombing targets NATO convoy killing 8, injuring 22 in S Afghanistan</a></b><br />10.04.08. Xinhuanet / ICH. "Eight civilians were killed and 22 others including two policemen were injured,"<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601124&sid=aqlUKTADVlAM&refer=home">Military Personnel Account for 20% of U.S. Suicides</a></b><br />10.04.08. Bloomberg / ICH. About 1,821 current or former soldiers committed suicide in 16 states in 2005, the most recent year of available data, according to the report published today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost half were diagnosed with depression and a third left suicide notes.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3dO01zk6vBUdavNiW-Zfe-SJuvQD8VVV4V00">US Military Deaths in Afghanistan at 423</a></b><br />12.04.08. AP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5F8d1mgTMhPcSf74LZLbA6bzcIw">Two US soldiers killed in Afghanistan: military</a></b><br />17.04.08. AFP. A new US Marine force that began deploying in Afghanistan last month said Thursday it had suffered the first casualties since it began operations in country, losing two soldiers in a bomb blast.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gyXkG8ctsSfLsULOYNSdLVbvZOMw"><em>Militants</em> kill 'US spy' in Pakistan tribal area: official</a></b><br />24.04.08. AFP.<br /><br /><br /><b> AUSTRALIAN </b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/04/28/1209234690844.html">Aussie commando killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />28.04.08. smh. An Australian soldier has been killed in clashes with the Taliban that also left four other Australian soldiers wounded.<br /><br /><br /><b>CANADIAN</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1398447.php/">Canadian_soldier_killed_in_Afghanistan">Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />05.04.08. monsters and critics/legitgov. The soldier, Private Terry John Street, was the 82nd Canadian soldier killed in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban in 2002.<br /><br /><br /><b>DANISH</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKISL26922120080331">Two British soldiers and one Dane killed in Afghanistan</a></b><br />31.03.08. Reuters.<br /><br /><br /><b>DUTCH</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8dGftYb0s4XWdUMRdIVs3vh1CKAD904AIJG0">Son of Netherlands' top general slain in Afghanistan</a></b><br />18.04.08. Fisnik Abrashi and Mike Corder, AP. A roadside bomb attack on a patrol of Dutch soldiers killed the son of the Netherlands' top military officer on Friday, a day after his father took command of the country's armed forces, officials said. Lt. Dennis van Uhm, 23, was one of two Dutch soldiers killed in the explosion 7 miles northwest of Camp Holland, the Dutch military base in restive Uruzgan province.<br /><br /><br /><b>INDIAN</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=436307&sid=NAT">2 Indian engineers killed in Afghanistan suicide attack</a></b><br />12.04.08. zee news.<br /><br /><br /><b>ENGLISH</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5igsG2aNkg_tpKWwfcLcfael9kEBQ">Two British soldiers killed in Afghanistan: official</a></b><br />31.03.08. AFP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/two-raf-men-killed-by-afghanistan-bomb-808811.html">Two RAF men killed by Afghanistan bomb</a></b><br />14.04.08. Independent. Two other UK servicemen were wounded in the blast but are not believed to have life-threatening injuries.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/21/europe/EU-GEN-Britain-Afghanistan-Soldier-Killed.php">British soldier killed by mine in Afghanistan</a></b><br />21.04.08. IHT. (94th UK soldier to be killed)<br /><br /><br /><b>PAKISTANI</b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/news/international/2-killed-in-rebels-attack-in-pakistan.aspx">2 killed in rebels attack in Pakistan</a></b><br />01.04.08. Asian Age/ICH. Pakistani Taliban <em>militants</em> ambushed a van carrying pro-government tribal elders in a northwestern region, killing two tribal leaders and wounding seven others on Tuesday, the police said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/08/world/main4002614.shtml">Nuke Plant Accident Kills 2 In Pakistan</a></b><br />08.04.08. CBS/legitgov.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.thecanadianpress.com/english/online/OnlineFullStory.aspx?filename=w040953A&newsitemid=62067028&languageid=1">7 killed in rioting involving pro-and anti-Musharraf supporters in Karachi</a></b><br />(no date), AP, Canadian press / ICH. Clashes between government supporters and opponents set off rioting in Pakistan's biggest city Wednesday, leaving seven people dead in the worst outburst of political violence since a new government took office.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=14194"><em>Militants</em> kill female health worker in Mohmand</a></b><br />19.04.08. the news.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1401477.php/One_Pakistani_soldier_killed_in_clash_with_Afghan_forces">One Pakistani soldier killed in clash with Afghan forces</a></b><br />23.04.08. monsters and critics. A Pakistani paramilitary soldier was killed and another was injured on Wednesday in a gunfight with the Afghan forces, the military said.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5isYTglzMaCc0if_qfxWzu9OxhjUg">Gunmen shoot dead Pakistani university professor: police</a></b><br />23.04.08. AFP.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1401704.php/Pakistan_protests_to_ISAF_Afghanistan_over_soldiers_death">Pakistan protests to ISAF, Afghanistan over soldier's death</a></b><br />24.04.08. monsters and critics. Pakistan on Thursday vehemently protested Thursday to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan authorities over a border clash that left one Pakistani soldier dead.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/news/article_1402095.php/Clash_between_militants_outlaws_leave_seven_dead_in_Pakistan">Clash between <em>militants</em>, outlaws leave seven dead in Pakistan</a></b><br />27.04.08. monsters ane critics. At least seven people were killed in an overnight gun battle between pro-Taliban <em>militants</em> and <em>suspected criminals</em> in Pakistan's lawless tribal territory along the border with Afghanistan, an official said on Sunday.<br /><br /><br /><a id="14000"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><b>14. Future Deaths</b><br /></div><br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=42361&s2=25">"We are living through another Hiroshima," Iraqi doctor says</a></b><br />24.03.08. Sherwood Ross, URUK.NET. The U.S., Great Britain and Israel are turning portions of the Middle East into a slice of radioactive hell. They are achieving this by firing what they call "depleted uranium" (DU) ammunition but which is, in fact, radioactive ammunition and it is perhaps the deadliest kind of tactical ammo ever devised in the warped mind of man.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=42553&s2=30">Weapons used by Israel against Lebanon </a></b><br />A continuation of the reports from the Bruxelles Tribunal on the Israeli War Against Lebanon<br />29.03.08. Mary Rizzo, Peacepalestine / uruknet. Three expert witnesses gave scientific testimony about the weapons that were used by Israel against Lebanon in the war that lasted 33 days, as well as the effects these armaments had on people and objects. Lebanese nuclear physicist and expert in nuclear radiation measurements, Mohammed Ali Kobeissi, Italian Geneticist Paola Manduca and British Work Psychologist and independent weapons researcher Dai Williams each presented the results of their research, complete with corroborating data.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2008/04/17/02335.html">Former Director of the U.S. Army's Depleted Uranium Project reveals toxic effects of America's Military Operations</a></b><br />(no date) Dr. Doug Rokke, PhD. The Canadian. After more than 5 years of unprovoked and unjustified war in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, and Somalia the use of uranium weapons -- the perfect "dirty bomb" and consequent destruction of each nation's infrastructure, has released all kinds of toxic materials turning these nations into a toxic wastelands. Consequently the number of casualties continues to escalate while U.S. and British officials arrogantly refuse to comply with their own regulations, orders, and directives that require provide prompt and effective medical care to "all" exposed individuals and to clean up all environmental contamination .<br /><br /><b><a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=134823">Afghans to probe whether U.S. used depleted uranium</a></b><br />19.04.08. wiredispatch. The Afghan government plans to investigate whether the United States used depleted uranium during its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and if it might be linked to malformed babies born afterwards. .. / Cases of malformed babies delivered in the heavily bombed Afghan areas have come to light, Faizullah Kakar, Afghan deputy public health minister for technical affairs said on Saturday, citing an unnamed U.S. expert.<br />But<a href="http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=135640"> Afghan ministry denies evidence of depleted uranium</a>(Reuters, 20.04)<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/NEWS01/804230417/1001/LOCALNEWSFRONT">Depleted uranium to remain in Hawaii</a></b><br />23.04.08. William Cole, Honolulu advertiser/legitgov. The Army plans to leave in place depleted uranium discovered in 2005 at a Schofield Barracks firing range from a Cold War weapon that could fire a nuclear warhead, saying it poses no health risk.<br />Advertisement<br /><br /><br />VIDEO<br /><br /><a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19734.htm">What Are We Doing?</a> Bud Deraps, an 82 year old WWII Navy veteran, speaks out against Depleted Uranium.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br /><em> Sarah Meyer is a reseaercher living in the U.K. </em><br /><br />The url to Index on Afghanistan: April 2008 is <a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/index-on-afghanistan-april-2008-famine.html">http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/index-on-afghanistan-april-2008-famine.html</a><br /><br />Shorter url: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/3wn5tk">http://tinyurl.com/3wn5tk</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><b> References</b><br /></div><br /><br />Many of the chapter headings in this Index Research are also in the following articles on Afghanistan. I first started tracking the US ‘<em>war on terror</em>’ in Afghanistan on 26 May 2005. The first research included all PNAC involvement with Afghanistan prior to the US invasion.<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/08/index-on-afghanistan.html">Index on Afghanistan</a> (May to August 2006)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/10/index-on-afghanistan-september-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : September 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/index-on-afghanistan-october-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : October 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2006/11/index-on-afghanistan-november-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : November 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-on-afghanistan-december-2006.html">Index on Afghanistan : December 2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/index-on-afghanistan-january-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : January 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/03/index-on-afghanistan-february-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : February 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/04/index-on-afghanistan-march-2007.html">Index on Afghanistan : March 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/index-on-afghanistan-april-2007-murder.html"> Index on Afghanistan: April 2007: Murder in Nangarhar</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/05/dead-in-afghanistan-may-2007.html">Dead in Afghanistan: May 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/06/index-on-afghanistan-may-2007-part-i.html">Index on Afghanistan: May 2007 Part I</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/06/index-on-afghanistan-may-2007-part-ii.html">Index on Afghanistan: May 2007: Part II - NATO; Human Rights</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/08/schisms-index-on-afghanistan-august.html">Schisms: Index on Afghanistan, August 2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=13189592&postID=1602753553978948133">Autumn '07 in Afghanistan</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-disaster-winters.html"> INDEX on AFGHANISTAN: DISASTER, A WINTER’S TALE I: FEBRUARY 2008</a> (03.03.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/03/index-on-afghanistan-nato-failure.html"> INDEX ON AFGHANISTAN, NATO FAILURE: A WINTER’S TALE, PART II</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/04/index-on-afghanistan-april-2008-famine.html"> INDEX ON AFGHANISTAN APRIL 2008: FAMINE</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/index-on-afghanistan-and-pakistan.html"> Index on Afghanistan and Pakistan - Murder & Security, Aug/Sept. ’08</a><br /><br /><br /><u>Further articles on Afghanistan & NATO</u>:<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/09/afghanistan-cleared-of-wrongdoing.html"> Afghanistan: Cleared of Wrongdoing</a><br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/11/security-companies-in-afghanistan.html">Security Companies in Afghanistan </a>, 7 November 2007<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2008/02/robicheauxs-nightmare-us-rendition.html">Robicheaux's Nightmare: US Rendition, Guantanamo, Torture in February 2008 </a> (28.02.08)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/06/us-nato-missile-shield-programme-index.html">US-NATO 'Missile Shield' Programme: Index Timeline</a> 06.08.07: (updated continuously)<br /><br /><a href="http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/10/shanghai-cooperation-organisation-sco.html">The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO): Index Timeline: "NATO OF THE EAST"</a>. 16.10.07: (updated continuously)<br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br /><!--Creative Commons License--><div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" src="http://creativecommons.org/images/public/somerights20.png" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">This work is licensed under a </span><a style="font-style: italic;" rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/">Creative Commons License</a><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span><br /><!--/Creative Commons License--><!-- <rdf:rdf xmlns="http://web.resource.org/cc/" dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"><br /> <work about=""><br /> <br /><license resource="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /> <br /><dc:type resource="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text"><br /> </work><br /> <br /><license about="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Reproduction"><br /><permits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Distribution"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Notice"><br /><requires resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/Attribution"><br /><prohibits resource="http://web.resource.org/cc/CommercialUse"></license></rdf:RDF> --></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">+<br /></div><br /><br />TAGS: <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Index+Research" rel="tag">Index Research</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Afghanistan" rel="tag">Afghanistan</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Pakistan" rel="tag">Pakistan</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Food+Crisis" rel="tag">Food Crisis</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/United+States" rel="tag">United States</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Internet" rel="tag">Internet</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Media" rel="tag">Media</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/politics" rel="tag">politics</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Contracts" rel="tag">Contracts</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Mercenaries" rel="tag">Mercenaries</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Opium" rel="tag">Opium</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/NATO" rel="tag">NATO</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/NATO+coalition" rel="tag">NATO coalition</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Detainees" rel="tag">Detainees</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Guantanamo" rel="tag">Guantanamo</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Torture" rel="tag">Torture</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Dead" rel="tag">Dead</a>, <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/Depleted+Uranium" rel="tag">Depleted Uranium</a>,Sarah Meyerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18051332957002660798noreply@blogger.com