Monitoring the Net for Progressive News and Opinion
JUNE 2003 ARCHIVE
| NATIONAL | INTERNATIONAL |
|
Announcement: |
|
|
Political and economic systems in the US link the concentration of money with the concentration of political power. Each one feeds the other. This summer the Multinational Monitor will do a rare examination of Wealth and Income Inequality in the USA The Multinational Monitor June 14, 2003 EXCERPT The last 30 years has seen a tremendous rise in income and wealth disparity in the United States, and around the world. This issue of Multinational Monitor is devoted to exploring the measures and causes of income and wealth inequality in the United States. In our July/August issue, we will focus on international inequality. As Ed Wolff describes in these pages, the share of national wealth owned by the richest 1 percent has doubled during the past three decades. And as Jared Bernstein explains, income inequality has skyrocketed nearly as fast. These are startling changes in the relative affluence of the country's population over a very short period. They leave the country more class bound, less democratic, less just and more driven by wealth and inequality gaps that mean people's basic life opportunities are unequal. Most of the increased wealth created over the last three decades has been captured by a small sliver of the population. The New Right Wing Agenda by Steven E. Miller Common Dreams June 13,2003 Bush Lies The Progressive June 10, 2003 A concise summary of who said what, when. Questioning the Legitimacy of the Israeli State Left anti-Semitism and the special status of Israel By Joel Kovel Tikkun Available on the net at freespeech.org May-June, 2003 EXCERPT ...we find that special criticism of Israel is indeed warranted, in fact, mandatory, simply because Israel is special, haunted by the grotesque metamorphosis of Jewish exceptionalism into a logic of empire in which the “Chosen People” have become chosen once again. This time, however, chosenness has not been granted by God, as the spiritual tradition demands, but by the Behemoth known as Uncle Sam. All In The Family by James Surowiecki The New Yorker Issue of May 16, 2003 EXCERPT The familiar argument against such concentration is that, by giving a small number of companies too much control over the flow of information and content, it erodes democracy. But the problem isn’t just that a small number of companies run the media business right now; it’s that, under the current system, the same companies will likely be running the media business twenty years from now. Media concentration would be fine if there were genuine competition, but, practically speaking, there isn’t very much (at least, on the broadcast and programming side), thanks to the regulatory reforms of the early nineties (which, among other things, allowed TV networks to own their own shows, instead of having to buy them from outside studios) and the merger boom of the past few years. Was Press Asleep on Pre-War WMD Issue? Strupp Talks to 5 Top Editors By Joe Strupp Editor and Publisher June 12, 2003 EXCERPT "I'm sure the press could have done more," Tim Connelly, international editor of The Dallas Morning News, told me last week. "Questions were being raised, not necessarily by the press, but by diplomats. The skepticism was there, but it may be the case that the press failed to ask this or that question. The British press has been more aggressive in challenging the British intelligence material." Instead, most papers declared or strongly suggested that Powell had successfully "made the case" for an invasion. Only later did we discover that much of Powell's evidence was thin or even fabricated. Bush's rigid press conference restrictions brought almost no complaints from a press corps that should always probe deeper prior to a war. "Clearly, the reporting on this before the war may not have been critical enough," said John Walcott, Washington, D.C. bureau chief for Knight Ridder. "It is possible that we in the press made essentially the same mistakes that the intelligence community made." See also, Amplifying Officials, Squelching Dissent, a FAIR study that finds democracy poorly served by war coverage. White House in Denial By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF New York Times June 13, 2003 Documents Bush Team manipulation of intelligence about Iraqi acquisition of "yellowcake" uranium from Niger. "I don't believe that the president deliberately lied to the public in an attempt to scare Americans into supporting his war. But it does look as if ideologues in the administration deceived themselves about Iraq's nuclear programs — and then deceived the American public as well. " The strategically ambiguous George W. Bush By Bryan Keefer Spinsanity.org June 12, 2003 EXCERPT President Bush's recent claim that weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq highlights two disturbing trends in rhetoric from the White House. The first...is the Bush administration's record of factual misstatements and distortions. The second is the administration's - and especially President Bush's - history of strategically ambiguous statements that, while technically or arguably true, imply connections between two things which he cannot directly demonstrate. Business groups hire army of lobbyists to gut class action lawsuits, vital tool for combating corrupt corporate practices Public Citizen June 12, 2003 EXCERPT At least a hundred companies and industry associations have hired nearly 500 lobbyists to prod Congress into gutting the most effective and vital tool available for consumers to combat unfair and corrupt corporate practices – the class action lawsuit, according to a report released today by Public Citizen. Most of the corporations claiming to have been victimized by unjustified class actions have engaged in harmful practices that would not have been corrected had consumers not been represented in class action suits. Not sexy enough to hold rightwing interest... Hill GOP Rejects Wider Iraq Intelligence Probe By Helen Dewar and Peter Slevin Washington Post Staff Writers June 12, 2003 EXCERPT Congressional Republicans yesterday spurned Democrats' demands for a full-blown probe into whether the Bush administration manipulated prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs, saying Congress's current oversight operations will suffice. Closely held story until now GOP Whip Quietly Tried to Aid Big Donor With an Added Provision in Homeland Security Act By Jim VandeHei Washington Post June 11, 2003 Kucinich: Show Us The Evidence, Mr. President Press Release June 5, 2003 Kucinich Leads 30 Members of Congress In Introducing A Resolution of Inquiry To Force Administration To Turn Over Intelligence On Iraq’s Weapons Of Mass Destruction This is Your Story - The Progressive Story of America. Pass It On. by Bill Moyers Text of speech to the 'Take Back America' Conference June 4, 2003 Health Plans Wary of Drug Proposal By REED ABELSON New York Times June 11, 2003 EXCERPT The government is facing considerable skepticism from managed care companies and drug makers as chances grow that Congress will pass legislation to provide prescription drug coverage to the elderly. "Historically, Medicare starts out paying providers enough so that it is attractive for them to do business," said Paul Heldman, an analyst for the Schwab Washington Research Group. Eventually, however, payments start to drop beneath the real cost of providing services. "There's no reason for it to be any different with any drug benefit," Mr. Heldman said. In fact, many Medicare H.M.O.'s originally covered prescription drugs, in addition to doctor and hospital care, in order to entice elderly people to enroll. But some of those plans have since dropped drug coverage entirely, while others have sharply scaled back the benefit, as their costs outpace payments from the government. So it will not be easy to persuade health plans bruised by the Medicare H.M.O. program to compete to provide coverage under the government's new initiative, industry analysts and company officials said. "The private sector that is supposed to be excited about this isn't," said Ira Loss, who follows the health care industry for Washington Analysis, a service for investors. BUSH TAX CUTS SEND FEDERAL REVENUES, AS A SHARE OF GDP, TO LOWEST LEVEL SINCE 1959 by Isaac Shapiro Center on Budget and Policy Priorities June 4, 2003 EXCERPT ...federal revenues this fiscal year will equal between 16.4 percent and 16.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product. The figures cited so far refer to total federal revenues as a share of the economy. The story becomes even more remarkable when just federal income taxes are considered. Income tax receipts (including receipts from both the individual and corporate income tax) are on course to drop to their lowest level, measured as a share of the economy, since 1943. In absolute dollars, revenues for fiscal year 2003 will fall below their 2002 level. This will mark the third year in a row that revenues have fallen on a nominal basis (i.e., even before adjusting for inflation).3 The last time that revenues declined on a nominal basis for three consecutive years was from 1920 to 1923. Who's Accountable? By PAUL KRUGMAN New York Times June 10, 2003 EXCERPT he Bush and Blair administrations are trying to silence critics — many of them current or former intelligence analysts — who say that they exaggerated the threat from Iraq. Last week a Blair official accused Britain's intelligence agencies of plotting against the government. (Tony Blair's government has since apologized for January's "dodgy dossier.") In this country, Colin Powell has declared that questions about the justification for war are "outrageous." Yet dishonest salesmanship has been the hallmark of the Bush administration's approach to domestic policy. And it has become increasingly clear that the selling of the war with Iraq was no different. I'll tell you what's outrageous. It's not the fact that people are criticizing the administration; it's the fact that nobody is being held accountable for misleading the nation into war. Texas Republicans and Bush Team Misuse Dept of Homeland Security New York Times June 10, 2003 EXCERPT The recent dust-up over Republican attempts to gerrymander the Texas Congressional map had an overlay of old-fashioned political silliness and skulduggery. What is coming to be known as the Tom DeLay Power Perpetuation Act failed famously when more than 50 statehouse Democrats fled to Oklahoma, where they hid out until the bill died, depriving the Republican majority of a quorum. But it turns out that officials in Washington and Austin, desperate to round up the Democrats, made a platoon of Keystone Kops out of federal and state law enforcement agents. That is no laughing matter. The new Department of Homeland Security was called in on the case as if it were the patronage police and the dissenting Democrats were terrorists. Mr. DeLay's office breathlessly passed along detailed intelligence on the fugitives. More than 1,000 hours were devoted to the two-day search by 54 Texas officers. At least one F.B.I. agent appears to have been involved in the search. Democrat Hopefuls Question Bush on Iraq By MIKE GLOVER Associated Press June 9, 2003 EXCERPT President Bush's credibility in foreign policy has been undermined by questions about how the government used intelligence on Iraq before the war, four Democratic presidential candidates said Sunday. Sen. Joe Lieberman, who supported military action in Iraq, questioned whether intelligence agencies "had it right or whether the administration was overstating the case" that Iraq had banned weapons. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean revived a Watergate-era phrase to raise questions about whether Bush withheld information from Congress: "The question now is going to become, `What did the president know, and when did he know it?" Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich said Bush's handling of the issue was fraudulent and demanded a full explanation of reports that some intelligence workers worried that data they were reporting was misused. "They took this country into a war that we did not have to go into," said Kucinich. "They led this country into a war that was unnecessary." Florida Sen. Bob Graham, former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, one of the first to get into the intelligence fray, accused Bush of "a pattern of deception and deceit of the American people." Carol Moseley Braun said Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, "We have just, if you will, blown up our ability to fight terrorism in the real sense, because we have gone into Iraq." Missing Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Is Lying About The Reason For War An Impeachable Offense? By JOHN W. DEAN FindLaw Legal News and Commentary June 6, 2003 EXCERPT President George W. Bush has got a very serious problem. Before asking Congress for a Joint Resolution authorizing the use of American military forces in Iraq, he made a number of unequivocal statements about the reason the United States needed to pursue the most radical actions any nation can undertake - acts of war against another nation. Now it is clear that many of his statements appear to be false. In the past, Bush's White House has been very good at sweeping ugly issues like this under the carpet, and out of sight. But it is not clear that they will be able to make the question of what happened to Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) go away - unless, perhaps, they start another war. (Read "Partial Relief for Some" Maybe) Relief From High Drug Costs New York Times June 9, 2003 EXCERPT Senate committees will take up two bills this week that could help many Americans cope with the ever-rising cost of prescription drugs. With both parties looking toward the 2004 elections, the chances are improving for useful drug legislation to be approved by Congress and signed into law by President Bush. Any prescription drug benefit that passes Congress this year will have inevitable gaps in coverage as the legislators try to control costs and live within the resources left after huge tax cuts siphon off federal revenues. The two most important groups to protect are low-income Americans not eligible for Medicaid and elderly patients who have very high drug bills. If that means most of the elderly end up with skimpy coverage, the lawmakers can explain to voters why they favored tax cuts over health care. US threatens mass expulsions BBC News, World Edition June 9, 2003 EXCERPT More than 13,000 Arab and Muslim men in the US are facing deportation after co-operating with post-11 September anti-terror measures, it has been revealed. They are among 82,000 adult males who obeyed a government demand to register with the immigration service earlier this year, on the grounds they come from 25 mainly Muslim countries said to harbour terror groups. The New Senate Child Credit Legislation--What it Does and Does Not Do By Robert Greenstein Center on Budget and Policy Priorities June 7, 2003 EXCERPT On June 5, the Senate passed 94-2 a bill that would restore a child tax credit provision for low-income working families that was dropped in the House-Senate conference on the large tax-cut bill signed May 28. There has been some confusion about the new Senate legislation, which has obscured a few less-attractive aspects of the bill. The only families the legislation would make newly eligible for the child tax credit are higher-income families. Moreover, many families with incomes above $150,000 — particularly in the $150,000-$200,000 range — would be among the new beneficiaries. Because the low-income provision has an effect only in 2003 and 2004 while the provision providing the child credit to higher-income families likely will be extended and become a regular, ongoing part of the child credit, the bill’s benefits for higher-income families are likely over time to outweigh substantially its benefits for lower-income families. Foundations, Corporations and Politicians The Triumph of the Diligent Dozen By Richard W. Behan AlterNet June 6, 2003 EXCERPT When neoliberal ideologues seek "unfettered markets" what we get is unfettered corporations. It is not stupid to understand and to exploit this consequence. By far the bulk of funding for the neoliberal movement comes from corporate sources. Nor is it stupid to put the public sector on a secular starvation diet, through round after round after round of tax cuts. What better way to shrink the government-as-problem, or to encourage privatization and deregulation? It is no accident the economic and political power of American corporations has risen dramatically in the last several decades, while the economic and political power of the American people – read democracy – has suffered a corollary decline. The Bush administration has much to account for regarding its highly publicized claims prior to the war that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. While it is appropriate to acknowledge the tyrannical nature of Saddam Hussein's regime, concern for the human rights of the Iraqi people was not the justification of the Bush administration for initiating a preventive war. Their justification, stated repeatedly, was the imminent threat of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and it was on this basis that the Bush administration defied international law and the Security Council of the United Nations. Trust, War And Terrorism by Norman Solomon; Z Magazine Online June 07, 2003 EXCERPT On May 28, a report by Amnesty International condemned the American and British governments for a so-called war on terror that actually emboldens many regimes to engage in terrible abuses of human rights. Amnesty's Secretary-General Irene Khan said that "what would have been unacceptable on September 10, 2001, is now becoming almost the norm" - while Washington promotes "a new doctrine of human rights a la carte." She added: "The United States continues to pick and choose which bits of its obligations under international law it will use, and when it will use them." Worldwide, it will be impossible to sustain public trust in anti-terrorist efforts without adhering to standards that consistently reject terrorism. Launching aggressive wars and providing massive support to abusers of human rights are themselves acts of terrorism - by the strong. They are sure to heighten rage and provoke acts of terrorism by the weak. When a country - particularly a democracy - goes to war, the consent of the governed lubricates the machinery of killing. Silence is a key form of co-operation, but the war-making system does not insist on quietude or agreement. Mere passivity or self-restraint will suffice. The world is now shadowed by a special relationship between two governments - the superpower and its leading enabler. In the name of moral leadership, they utilize deception. In the name of peace, they inflict war. In the name of fighting terrorism, they engage in terrorism. Such policies demand trust but deserve unyielding opposition. The Big Lie By DAVID KRIEGER CounterPunch June 6, 2003 EXCERPT The Bush administration has much to account for regarding its highly publicized claims prior to the war that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. While it is appropriate to acknowledge the tyrannical nature of Saddam Hussein's regime, concern for the human rights of the Iraqi people was not the justification of the Bush administration for initiating a preventive war. Their justification, stated repeatedly, was the imminent threat of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, and it was on this basis that the Bush administration defied international law and the Security Council of the United Nations. The buck stops with Mr. Bush. Lying about the reasons for war and misleading the American people into supporting a war has the look and feel of "high crimes and misdemeanors," for which the Constitution provides impeachment as the remedy. Senators Demand Ban on Imports from Burma Anwar Iqbal United Press International YaleGlobal Online Magazine 5 June 2003 EXCERPT In the wake of the detainment of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of the opposition party in Myanmar, two US senators (Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.) are proposing a legislation to ban all imports from the country until it improves its record on human rights and democracy. If the bill passes, the US will join business and labor groups that have already united in support of sanctions. Already, many major corporations such as Saks and The Gap have voluntarily halted the import and sale of products from Myanmar while the International Labor Organization is calling on all its members to impose sanctions. Because Myanmar’s exports to the United States are its primary foreign currency source, the US hopes that a ban would weaken the regime and advance the takeover by the democratic opposition. The bill proposing the ban also includes an expansion of the US President’s power to assist the efforts of the opposition party. Midnight Ride of the Rabble by Thom Hartmann Common Dreams June 4, 2003 EXCERPT These corporate-embracing conservatives are not working for what's best for democracy, for America, or for the interests of "We, The People." They are explicitly interested in a singular goal: Profits and the power to maintain them. Under control, the desire for profit can be a useful thing, as 200 years of American free enterprise have shown. Only a public revolt in disgust over this unconscionable behavior will stop these new conservatives from turning America into a corporate-based clone of Mussolini's feudal vision. As Longfellow reminds us, "In the hour of darkness and peril and need/The people will waken and listen to hear.." It is again that hour, and now is the time for we, the rabble, to re-awaken our fellow citizens. The Enronization Of Public Policy Arianna Huffington Online June 4, 2003 EXCERPT Has there ever been a clearer, more irrefutable example of our political leaders' lack of a moral compass than the clandestine, eleventh-hour elimination of a promised child tax credit for almost 12 million of America's poorest children? Heaping billions on the rich while ensuring that one out of six American kids doesn’t get a penny is dead wrong. Adding to the obscenity is the fact that while the Congressional hatchet men were hacking up the $3.5 billion child tax credit in the name of keeping the total tax cut under $350 billion, they let stand billions in corporate tax dodges and accounting cons, including the use of offshore tax havens. Safeguarding the Vote By Doug Pibe Yes! Magazine Summer 2003 EXCERPT So why do the computer professionals have problems with (direct recording equipment) DRE voting? Because they know, even better than most of us, the vulnerability of computers to error or downright sabotage. Yet there’s a solution. Rebecca Mercuri has designed a simple way to verify electronic votes: the voter uses a touch screen, but is presented with a printed ballot, displayed behind glass. If the voter OKs the ballot, it drops into a ballot box. If not, it is void, and the voter re-votes. ...in the wake of the 2000 Florida debacle, some election officials are wary of paper ballots. Yet the problems with paperless voting threaten to dwarf those of the 2000 election. Selling Drugs: Capitalist Healthcare Yves Engler Z Magazine Online April 2003 EXCERPT More expensive, less effective, but better advertised—that about sums up certain drugs produced by the giants of the pharmaceutical industry and perhaps the very notion of a for-profit health care industry. The conclusion (of a $125 million study) was that 10-cents-a-pill diuretics proved superior to two of the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest-selling classes of drugs. Moreover, patients taking the much cheaper diuretics were less likely than those on the other pills to suffer heart failure, strokes, and other complications of hypertension. Since most new drugs are patented by a few huge pharmaceutical companies the study brings up questions about whether the system overlooks cheaper generic drugs. It also should kick off a debate about the role independent research must play in seeking answers to important medical and economic questions that industry-sponsored trials typically don’t address. More fundamentally, it forces us to question the very idea of capitalist health care. Analysis: 'Potential WMD blow' for Bush By Justin Webb BBC correspondent in Washington June 3, 2003 EXCERPT A full-scale Congressional inquiry has been ordered on the use and possible abuse of intelligence information on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The inquiry - being conducted by the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees - is expected to compare comments made by the administration in the run-up to war with what it was given in terms of intelligence briefing. Here We Go Again New Breed of Missile Silos Put in Alaska $500 Million Construction Project Readies First Installation for Ballistic Interceptors By Bradley Graham Washington Post Staff Writer May 27, 2003 EXCERPT For Bush, who has made development of missile defenses a top priority, establishment of a working antimissile system here would mark a major milestone. Only once before has the United States built such a defense. But that system, set up in North Dakota in 1975, lasted only several months before Congress terminated it amid concerns about cost and effectiveness. Stop Medicare Privatization! Public Citizen June 3, 2003 EXCERPT Seniors deserve a prescription drug benefit under Medicare. But instead of providing it, the Bush administration wants to help the big insurance and pharmaceutical companies by forcing seniors into private insurance plans to obtain drug coverage - at a greater cost to the government! This risky privatization scheme would severely restrict the choice of doctor for seniors, according to a Public Citizen report released today. Our research shows that private insurance plans are less reliable and more costly than the traditional Medicare system. Click here to learn more and to take action to preserve and strengthen Medicare. US: CEO pay continued upward spiral in 2002 World Socialist Web Site Disinformation By Jeremy Johnson 3 June 2003 EXCERPT The sharp drop on Wall Street notwithstanding, the typical CEO of a major US corporation saw his pay packet continue to increase in 2002, according to a number of surveys released this spring. The largest survey, conducted by Business Week magazine, shows that the median pay for the 365 CEOs covered increased by 5.9 percent to $3.7 million. An earlier survey by Fortune magazine, confined to 100 of the very largest companies, showed a much larger percentage increase of 14 percent, to a median annual salary of $13.2 million. By contrast, the total return of the Standard & Poor’s 500 companies was down 22 percent last year. At the same time, the median weekly paycheck for workers in the US fell by 1.4 percent last year, according to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. The study found that both white-collar and blue-collar pay are falling and attributed the decline to the effects of growing long-term unemployment on the labor market. The Pirates of Fiscal Irresponsibility by Lee Drutman and Charlie Cray Common Dreams June 3, 2003 EXCERPT As the nation begins to contemplate the true impact of the "$350 billion" tax cut, some serious questions about the fiscal future of our government have begun to emerge. President Bush and other anti-government politicians like Tom Delay have indicated that this is the first of many tax cuts to come. They sold the tax cuts by repeatedly pounding dubious themes like "jobs and growth" and "stimulating the economy." Maybe they are sincere. But most economists agree that profligate tax cuts geared toward the very wealthy are a weak economic stimulus at best. There is reason to believe that there is something more going on here than a misguided attempt at economic stimulus. There is reason to believe that these politicians actually have little interest in collecting any taxes, that they would prefer to see the government flounder and atrophy, shedding popular programs that benefit the poor and middle class like education and healthcare and even social security. This suspicion was strengthened recently when we learned that the Administration suppressed a study commissioned by its own Department of Treasury, which projected a future budget deficit of $44 trillion. Over the Chants of Protesters The FCC Votes to Unleash the Largest Wave of Media Consolidation in U.S. History June 3, 2003 Democracy Now! EXCERPT Despite fierce opposition, the Federal Communications Commission yesterday voted by a majority of one, to relax or eliminate decades-old rules governing media consolidation. The changes will unleash a major new wave of consolidation among newspaper, television and radio companies. The three decade old ban on a newspaper buying a television or radio station in the same city is largely gone. The commission also has allowed broadcast networks to buy more stations at the local and national levels. FEDERAL TAX CHANGES LIKELY TO COST STATES BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN COMING YEARS Center on Budget and Policy Priorities June 3, 2003 “Decoupling” May Protect Some Revenue by Nicholas Johnson FCC Decision Deals a Blow to Diversity and Democracy New Campaign on Common Carriage for Cable, DSL, and Wireless Broadband Announced Center for Digital Democracy June 2,2003 Washington, DC -- Today's decision by the Federal Communication Commission to weaken existing media ownership safeguards represents a devastating blow to diversity and competition--in both the media marketplace and the marketplace of ideas. "By allowing broadcast networks to amass even more power in the number of stations they can now control across the country," observed Jeff Chester, CDD's executive director, "and by setting aside the prohibition against a single company owning both a newspaper and a television station in the same community, the FCC has weakened the very fabric of our democracy. Fewer owners of the mass media means fewer voices will be heard, fewer opportunities for discourse and debate will be available, and ultimately fewer options for those who seek alternative and minority viewpoints. A handful of companies will gain from today's decision, but the public at large will lose." Democrats: Profiles In Spinelessness Arianna Huffington Democrats: Profiles In Spinelessness May 28, 2003 EXCERPT That was Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, kinda, sorta, uh, not really taking exception to Committee chairman Pat Roberts' assertion that we've turned the corner when it comes to keeping the peace in postwar Iraq. But it could just as easily serve as the motto for the whole Democratic Party: "Vote for us -- we kinda, sorta disagree." The Party leaders are so timid, spineless, and lacking in confidence that to compare them to jellyfish would be an insult to invertebrates. Call them the pusillanimous opposition. Deception About Halliburton Acknowledged by Army Corps of Engineers LA Times June 1, 2003 EXCERPT Army Corps of Engineers officials acknowledged last month that they had downplayed the scope of the contract and that what was billed as an emergency pact to put out anticipated fires in wartime was in fact an assignment to kick-start Iraq's oil industry. And that disclosure came on the heels of an admission that the contract's value could go as high as $7 billion, outraging members of Congress and others who said the Army misled the public into thinking the amount would be in the mere millions. But Wall Street simply isn't troubled: Halliburton shares have gone up 15% since the contract became public March 24. |
U.S.
Forces Launch Raids Across Iraq to Quell Uprisings New York Times By DAVID ROHDE June 15, 2003 EXCERPT In the past, Iraqis have reacted angrily to such raids, calling them heavy-handed and warning that American forces are turning Iraqi public opinion against them. By the time the raids were completed by dawn this morning, angry Iraqis were making those charges again. Tarik Abud Mousa, a 40-year-old truck driver from the city of Qaim in western Iraq, said the drivers had been sleeping peacefully when the Americans arrived. He called the searches a humiliation. Pentagon steps closer to 'GloboCop' role By Jim Lobe Asia Times June 14, 2003 EXCERPT The Pentagon is moving fast to re-deploy US forces and equipment around the world, with forward bases located all along what it calls an "arc of instability". Coincidentally, perhaps, this arc corresponds well with regions of great oil, gas and mineral wealth. "Israelization" of US policy complete... U.S. Doesn't Condemn Strikes by Israelis June 14, 2003 EXCERPT KENNEBUNKPORT Maine, June 13 -- President Bush's spokesman today said the administration did not oppose Israel's strikes on Hamas militants in the Palestinian territories, sharply reversing the president's criticism of such actions this week. "The issue is not Israel," White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said at a briefing here, shortly before Israel launched a new strike on Palestinian militants. "No one can let the terrorists get away with killing." Fleischer expressed sympathy for the Jewish state, saying it was "in a very dangerous time because of the terrorist attacks against Israel." Fleischer said the administration was not calling on Israel to stop its attacks. "Once the terrorism goes down, there won't be a need for Israel to respond to terror," he said. Bush needs to see a psychiatrist. Palestinian Anger At Killing Mounts By Glenn Frankel Washington Post Foreign Service June 14, 2003 EXCERPT Eyad Sarraj, an independent human rights activist and psychiatrist, contends that after killing dozens of civilians in such raids, Israel is just as culpable as Hamas. "Both are committing crimes against humanity, no question," he said. More than 2,000 Palestinians and some 800 Israelis have been killed since violence broke out in September 2000. But Sarraj was one of the few people here who acknowledged any parallel between Israeli and Palestinian suffering. He said Israel's raids had created an atmosphere of fear and anxiety in Gaza, but had only served to enhance Hamas's popularity. "The more they kill, the more Hamas we have," he said. "Today Abdel Aziz Rantisi is a hero not only in Gaza but in the entire Arab world." The attacks also helped create more volunteer martyrs for the Palestinian cause. "Every time Sharon kills somebody, he creates a new wave of hatred," said Sarraj. U.S. Wins Another Exemption from War Crimes Court Jim Lobe, OneWorld U.S. June 13, 2003 While angry and reluctant members of the UN Security Council voted Thursday to extend its exemption of U.S. soldiers and officials from the jurisdiction of the new International Criminal Court (ICC) for a second year, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld threatened to block funding for NATO's new headquarters in Brussels unless Belgium amended or withdrew a controversial law permitting its courts to try foreigners for war crimes and genocide. Israel vows war on Hamas, poll sees public opposed By Jeffrey Heller June 13, 2003 Rueters Foundation Alertnet EXCERPT "...a poll in the Yedioth Ahronoth daily found 67 percent of Israelis wanted what the survey termed the "assassination policy" to stop, at least temporarily, to give new Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas a chance to grow stronger." US troops kill 97 Iraqis in new combat operations Guardian June 14, 2003 EXCERPT Saddam loyalists posing problems two months after Bush declared major combat operations at an end. "What you are seeing here is a fundamental reassessment of the situation in Iraq in terms of political and military stability," said Daniel Gouré, a Pentagon adviser at the Lexington Institute in Washington. "We have been operating on two assumptions, that once the war was over that Iraqis would rapidly move into peaceful mode, and second, that there would be a new political and economic spirit in the country. We discovered neither of those assumptions is true." Annan urges Mid-East peace force BBC News, World Edition June 13, 2003 EXCERPTS "As a government responsible for the security of its citizens, we must wage a war to the bitter end because no one else, at least at this stage, will do it," Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Zeev Boim told army radio. UN peacekeepers should be sent to the Middle East to try to break the accelerating cycle of violence there, the UN secretary general has said. Kofi Annan said a force of 51 American monitors due to arrive next week "was a beginning", but only an armed "buffer" force would be able to halt the escalation of violence. "The issue is Hamas. The terrorists are Hamas," said Ari Fleischer, White House spokesman. Bush Team turns on a dime. White House Backs Latest Israeli Attacks Focus Shifts to Arab Leaders' Commitment to End Support for Militant Groups By Glenn Kessler Washington Post June 13, 2003 The Bush administration signaled strong support for Israel's crackdown on militant groups yesterday, effectively abandoning its earlier criticism of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that had sparked an outcry from lawmakers on Capitol Hill and pro-Israel lobbying groups. Edward S. Walker Jr., president of the Middle East Institute and a former State Department official, said, "Two people have been weakened by this -- Abu Mazen and the president of the United States." The president "makes a statement and it rolls off Sharon's back," Walker said. "He has a credibility problem." U.S. Weapons Aid Repression in Aceh By Frida Berrigan | June 11, 2003 Editor: John Gershman, Interhemispheric Resource Center (IRC) Foreign Policy In Focus June 11, 2003 EXCERPT Far from the spotlight and far from Baghdad, another shock and awe campaign is underway. On May 19th, Indonesia launched a military campaign to "strike and paralyze" a small band of separatist rebels in the Aceh province. Bribery, extortion, et al.., U.S. Pressure on Croatia and Slovenia Undermines Justice Former Yugoslav States Should Reject ICC Side Agreements Human Rights Watch June 10, 2003 EXCERPT The Bush administration's pressure on Croatia and Slovenia in pursuit of a special exemption from the International Criminal Court (ICC) while rightly insisting on cooperation with the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is blatant hypocrisy, Human Rights Watch said today. In recent days, a Bush administration team of negotiators has visited the Balkans in an attempt to obtain bilateral immunity agreements exempting U.S. nationals from the court. On May 28, the U.S. Ambassador to Croatia published an open letter in a Zagreb daily, raising the pressure on the Croatian government to sign an immunity deal. The Ambassador warned Croatia that it would lose $19 million in military assistance if it failed to sign and issued a veiled threat that Croatia's accession into NATO is contingent on an immunity agreement. "In light of the war-related atrocities affecting hundreds of thousands of victims and implicating senior leaders as war criminals, the ratification of the ICC Treaty by all the former Yugoslav republics was particularly significant," said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. "It is therefore vital that Croatia and Slovenia not cave in to U.S. threats." Preparation for "a nuclear option?" Korea: Ominous removal of America's 'tripwire' along Korean DMZ By Ted Galen Carpente Asia Times Online June 13, 2003 EXCERPT During his recent visit to South Korea, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz announced Washington's intention to "reposition" some of its military forces stationed in South Korea. Currently, most US troops are deployed in the northern part of the country, between the capital, Seoul, and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that separates South Korea from communist North Korea. The redeployment would entail moving those forces farther south. Why is the administration of US President George W Bush proposing to abandon the long-standing tripwire function of US forces in South Korea? There is one unsettling possibility: The administration is considering a preemptive military attack on North Korea's nuclear installations and wants to move US troops out of harm's way. Documents Bush manipulation of intelligence sources... Smoking guns and mushroom clouds By Jason Leopold Asia Times June 13, 2003 EXCERPT Six months before the United States was dead-set on invading Iraq to rid the country of its alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD), experts in the field of nuclear science warned officials in the George W Bush administration that intelligence reports showing Iraq was stockpiling chemical and biological weapons was unreliable, and that the country did not pose an imminent threat to its neighbors in the Middle East or the US. But the dissenters were told to keep quiet by high-level administration officials in the White House because the Bush administration had already decided that military force would be used to overthrow the regime of Iraq's Saddam Hussein, interviews and documents reveal. The Struggle for Harmony Myths and realities about China By Henry C K Liu Asia Times June 13, 2003 EXCERPT The Bush administration still nurtures the idea that China is a "strategic competitor" to the US, hence the recent addition of Aaron Friedberg to Vice President Dick Cheney's staff. The appointment has renewed speculation about neo-conservative cooption of US foreign policy in general and China policy in particular. Anti-US Opposition In Iraq And The So Called Roadmap An Interview with Robert Fisk by Amy Goodman and Robert Fisk Democracy Now June 12, 2003 EXCERPT But when you're going to have a situation where you have an Israeli prime minister who doesn't want to end the settlements, who is indeed the creator of the settlements, and a Palestinian prime minister who can't stop the intifada and a U.S. president who is so gutless he can only call a killing of a woman and a child troubling, what chance is there for a road map or peace process or any other kind of agreement in the Middle East? Some rebuke...and this is the first Bush comment about Israeli violence in more a year... Bush Rebukes Israel for Attack in Gaza By STEVEN R. WEISMAN New York Times June 11, 2003 EXCERPT "I am troubled by the recent Israeli helicopter gunship attacks," Mr. Bush said. "I regret the loss of innocent life. I'm concerned that the attacks will make it more difficult for the Palestinian leadership to fight off terrorist attacks. I also don't believe the attacks help the Israeli security." Lowering the nuclear threshold By Ehsan Ahrari Asia Times June 11, 2003 EXCERPT Recent moves by the United States - including the possible development of smaller, more usable nuclear warheads - create a feeling that the country is determined to establish its nuclear hegemony, a perception that is virtually guaranteed to trigger a new nuclear arms race involving China and Russia. And at the same time, a loud and clear message is being sent to Iran, which Tehran can choose to ignore at its peril. Censorship of the press: a familiar story for Iraqis Two months after 'liberating' Iraq, the Anglo-US authorities have decided to control the new, free press The Independent By Robert Fisk 11 June 2003 Paul Bremer has ordered his legal department in Baghdad to draw up rules for press censorship. A joke, I concluded, when one of the newly styled Coalition Provisional Authority officials tipped me off last week. But no, it really is true. Two months after "liberating" Iraq, the Anglo-American authorities and their boss Paul Bremer - whose habit of wearing combat boots with a black suit continues to amaze his colleagues - have decided to control the new and free Iraqi press. Retribution On Israeli "Roadmap?" Israel Targets Top Hamas Official in Gaza City Strike Helicopter Attack Wounds Abdel Aziz Rantisi; 2 Killed, Several Hurt By Ibrahim Barzak The Associated Press June 10, 2003 EXCERPT Gaza Strip –– Israeli helicopters fired missiles at the car of a senior Hamas leader Tuesday, wounding him, killing two bystanders and jeopardizing the U.S.-backed road map to Mideast peace.(A forty-four year old woman was killed and an 8-year old girl was critically injured.) The ever-growing US military footprint By David Isenberg Asia Times June 10, 2003 EXCERPT The war in Iraq is over, so that means that the troops are coming home and the United States is reducing its presence - what military planners like to call its "footprint" in the region, right? Well, wrong, actually. Contrary to much of the recent news coverage about Pentagon pronouncements on the US seeking to reduce its presence in Saudi Arabia, the fact of the matter is that when one looks at the big picture, the US has a huge military presence in the region. And it is not going anywhere. Considering the rhetoric that has come out in the past month from the neoconservative camp and administration officials about their unhappiness with countries such as Syria and Iran, the US military ability to reach out and touch someone must be taken very seriously. Captives Deny Qaeda Worked With Baghdad By JAMES RISEN New York Times June 8, 2003 EXCERPT Two of the highest-ranking leaders of Al Qaeda in American custody have told the C.I.A. in separate interrogations that the terrorist organization did not work jointly with the Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein, according to several intelligence officials. Abu Zubaydah, a Qaeda planner and recruiter until his capture in March 2002, told his questioners last year that the idea of working with Mr. Hussein's government had been discussed among Qaeda leaders, but that Osama bin Laden had rejected such proposals, according to an official who has read the Central Intelligence Agency's classified report on the interrogation. Separately, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the Qaeda chief of operations until his capture on March 1 in Pakistan, has also told interrogators that the group did not work with Mr. Hussein, officials said. The Bush administration has not made these statements public, though it frequently highlighted intelligence reports that supported its assertions of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda as it made its case for war against Iraq. "This gets to the serious question of to what extent did they try to align the facts with the conclusions that they wanted," an intelligence official said. "Things pointing in one direction were given a lot of weight, and other things were discounted." Child sickness 'soars' in Iraq BBC News, World Edition June 9, 2003 EXCERPT The number of children in Iraq suffering from diarrhoea and related diseases appears to have risen dramatically in the past year, the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) said on Sunday. The incidence of diseases such as cholera, dysentery and typhoid was 2.5 times higher this May than for the same month last year, said Unicef spokesman Geoffrey Keele, quoting from a limited survey. N Korea declares nuclear arms goal BBC News, World Edition June 9,2003 EXCERPT North Korea has warned publicly for the first time that it is ready to develop nuclear weapons. A commentary carried by the official news agency in Pyongyang said it would build a nuclear deterrent to counter the threat from the United States, "unless the US gives up its hostile policy". North Korea said its aim in developing such weapons was not to blackmail others, but to reduce spending on conventional military forces and improve the lives of its people. North Korea views Washington as "hostile" because, although the US has stressed that it wants a peaceful resolution to the crisis, there has been discussion of sanctions or even a naval blockade if diplomacy does not work. Washington has also not ruled out a military strike against a country it has labelled part of an "axis of evil". Blunkett regrets Iraq dossier BBC News, World Edition June 8, 2003 EXCERPT The British Government should never have published its controversial second dossier on Iraq's weapons, Home Secretary David Blunkett has said. He said reports on the document - widely criticised when it emerged part of it was copied from a US student's thesis - had turned into "the most absurd political story in the whole of my lifetime". Blow to Blair over 'mobile labs' Saddam's trucks were for balloons, not germs Peter Beaumont and Antony Barnett June 8, 2003 The Observer EXCERPT Tony Blair faces a fresh crisis over Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, as evidence emerges that two vehicles that he has repeatedly claimed to be Iraqi mobile biological warfare production units are nothing of the sort. The intelligence agency MI6, British defence officers and technical experts from the Porton Down microbiological research establishment have been ordered to conduct an urgent review of the mobile facilities, following US analysis which casts serious doubt on whether they really are germ labs. also see Some Analysts of Iraq Trailers Reject Germ Use By JUDITH MILLER and WILLIAM J. BROAD New York Times June 7, 2003 Iraq: War and Democracy by Stephen R. Shalom Editorial, Z Magazine Online April 2003 EXCERPT There are many good reasons to be skeptical that a U.S. military assault will result in any sort of meaningful democracy. First, one only has to look at who the supposed agent of this democratic flowering is to be: George W. Bush, who rules the United States illegitimately, having stolen the 2000 election, and who presides over the most serious assault on the basic democratic rights of the people of the United States in over half a century. Second, one should look at the long record of U.S. foreign policy. Among items mentioned: -Vice-president George Bush Sr. told Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, “We love your adherence to democratic principle.” -Bush team neoconservatives (Richard Perle, Douglas Feith, and David Wurmser) recommended restoring the Hashemite monarchy to power in Iraq. -Wolfowitz credited Indonesian dictator Suharto with much progress through his "strong and remarkable leadership." The claim that the U.S. wants to bring democracy to the region is preposterous. Imagine what democracy in the Middle East today would mean. Is it conceivable that a Saudi Arabian government that reflected the views of its people would be providing bases for Washington’s war? Would a democratic Egypt allow U.S. forces to transit the Suez canal? Would democratic UAE or Qatar or Bahrain be aiding the U.S. war effort? Raytheon-Israel-Congress by Joshua Ruebner Z Magazine Online April 2003 EXCERPT According to the Federation of American Scientists, since 1998 Raytheon has sold to Israel through foreign military sales more than 200 AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles for more than $100 million, 14 Beech King B200 fixed-wing aircraft for $125 million, and a Patriot missile system for $73 million. ...the export of weapons to Israel can take place only if Congress is willing to turn a blind eye to the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, which bans such weapons from being used against civilians. Unfortunately, Israel has used U.S.-provided weapons on several occasions to kill innocent Palestinian civilians. The most egregious example of this happened in July 2002 when F-16s reduced to rubble an apartment building in Gaza City, killing 17 Palestinians civilians in what Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon termed “a great success.” Even White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer admitted that it was “a deliberate attack against a building in which civilians were known to be located.” However, to admit that Israel is in violation of this law would jeopardize future U.S. arms exports to Israel and present the defense industry with a nightmarish scenario in which their $2 billion yearly subsidy would dry up. To prevent this from happening was one reason why the defense industry doled out a whopping $13 million in total contributions in the 2002 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Bush revels in cowboy speak By Kathryn Westcott BBC News Online June 6, 2003 EXCERPT President Bush says he is going to appoint a coordinator to "ride-herd" Middle East leaders along the peace trail. You would be forgiven for not understanding what he meant. Its meaning most likely eluded the leaders from the Middle East who he was meeting. ...his [ride-herd] metaphor is tinged with being slightly patronising. Translated literally, it means that he will want things to go in the direction he wants them to go. Limited by US Restrictions Nuclear inspectors return to Iraq BBC News, World Edition June 5, 2003 EXCERPT A team of United Nations nuclear inspectors has arrived in Baghdad to investigate the looting of material from Iraq's main nuclear facility. But the director of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, says a radiological emergency could be brewing after looters at the Tuwaitha plant left behind piles of uranium and spilled radioactive materials. The nuclear inspection comes in the wake of criticism by chief weapons inspector Hans Blix of the quality of intelligence given to him by the US and Britain about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction. Mr Blix told the BBC that his teams followed up US and British leads at suspected sites across Iraq, but found nothing when they got there. GAO Cites Risks in Missile Defense By Bradley Graham Washington Post Staff Writer June 5, 2003 EXCERPT A congressional report warned yesterday that President Bush's drive to erect a nationwide antimissile system next year is hampered by immature technology and limited testing, raising the risk of failure. The report, by the General Accounting Office, also criticized the administration for refraining from making long-term cost estimates for many elements of the planned system, clouding decisions about what technologies to pursue. The report echoed concerns that missile defense opponents in Congress and elsewhere have raised about the Bush plan. As the president has pressed toward his goal of putting missile interceptors in Alaska and California by September 2004, the political debate over missile defense has shifted from ideological arguments about arms control to practical considerations about performance and cost. Washington Wants to “Roll Back” Illicit Weapons from “Rogue” States By David Ruppe Global Security Newswire EXCERPT The United States aims to “eliminate or roll back” suspected nuclear, chemical and biological weapons possessed by certain states and terrorist groups, potentially by using force, a senior Bush administration official said yesterday. The statement was delivered even as administration officials are increasingly pressed to defend the U.S. justification for the March invasion of Iraq, where U.S.-led occupation forces have so far found no unconventional weapons. Standard Operating Procedure by Paul Krugman New York Times June 3, 2003 EXCERPT The mystery of Iraq's missing weapons of mass destruction has become a lot less mysterious. Recent reports in major British newspapers and three major American news magazines, based on leaks from angry intelligence officials, back up the sources who told my colleague Nicholas Kristof that the Bush administration "grossly manipulated intelligence" about W.M.D.'s. And anyone who talks about an "intelligence failure" is missing the point. The problem lay not with intelligence professionals, but with the Bush and Blair administrations. They wanted a war, so they demanded reports supporting their case, while dismissing contrary evidence. Wolfowitz Confirms Administration Deception on Iraq War Asia Times June 3, 2003 EXCERPT Judging by recent interviews Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz gave to a handful of media outlets during the past week, the short answer is yes, the public was mislead into believing Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States. Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz admit that the plan to go to war with Iraq was initiated two days after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. On September 13, 2001, during a meeting at Camp David with Bush, Rumsfeld and others in the Bush administration, Wolfowitz said he discussed with Bush the prospects of launching an attack against Iraq, for no apparent reason other than a “gut feeling” Why the Security Council Failed Michael J. Glennon Foriegn Affairs May/June 2003 EXCERPT The UN's rules governing the use of force, laid out in the charter and managed by the Security Council, had fallen victim to geopolitical forces too strong for a legalist institution to withstand. By 2003, the main question facing countries considering whether to use force was not whether it was lawful. Instead, as in the nineteenth century, they simply questioned whether it was wise. Oil Companies Put Off Visiting Iraq Security issues may set back crude-production goals By Carola Hoyos FINANCIAL TIMES "June 2, 2003 EXCERPT International oil companies are postponing visits to Iraq because of continued insecurity there, potentially setting back by weeks or even months the timing of reconstruction of the country’s oil production and exports. "With every day the sector’s recovery is delayed, the country loses millions of dollars of revenue it needs to get back on its feet. Meanwhile, looters cause more damage as they steal oil and smuggle it across the Gulf. The Roadmap Hoax by Alexander Cockburn June 01, 2003 ZNet | Mideast EXCERPT Don't waste your time fretting over the fortunes of the "road map" to peace in the Middle East. It's all a fraud, following the contours of all the other frauds down the years, back to such museum pieces as the Rogers Plan, conceived in Nixon time. The mystery is why, after all the years of abortive missions to the Middle East (do you recall the Zinni Plan and the Tenet Plan, to name only two of the more frequent ones?), anyone pays serious attention to this nonsense, beyond cynical recognition that every couple of years the United States has to pretend an interest in a "just and lasting settlement" to throw a sop to world opinion or, since world opinion has mostly wised up to reality, to people like Tony Blair. But the charade goes on. The Sunday talk shows and the editorial pages are freighted with earnest punditry about Sharon's historic shift. To find equivalent drivel one has to go back to the New York Times' respectful editorials of the mid-1930s about Hitler's constructive vision of the future of Europe. Hold the following truths to be self-evident. Members of the U.S. Congress live in mortal terror of AIPAC and the larger pro-Israel lobby. These members know vividly the fate of those who defied the lobby and aroused its enmity, most recently Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia. The lobby would like to see Palestinians removed to Jordan or some small space elsewhere in the world, such as the space between runways at Dallas-Fort Worth airport. For its part Israel knows that at its present rate of onslaught, it's only a matter of a few short years before it will have seized every useful acre of the occupied territories. It's all over, and to pretend otherwise is to partake in a ritual long since purged of everything, save bad faith on the part of Israel and the United States . Enron Used U.S. to Bully Poor Nations By Emad Mekay, Inter Press Service June 1, 2003 EXCERPT Defunct energy giant Enron used the U.S. government to coerce the World Bank and poor nations to grant concessions and resolve its investment problems, according to documents and correspondence released by the Treasury Department. Enron, a bankrupt company that allegedly paid no taxes in the 15 years before it went broke in 2001 – despite earning billions of dollars in declared profits – regularly and aggressively called on staff from the Treasury, the State Department, the office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the World Bank to meet with foreign officials to favorably resolve its problems and disputes with their governments. |