Conspiracy Girl Friend

West Nile more virulent than predicted: study
A study in the Canadian Medical Association journal shows that healthy people who became severely ill with the disease had poor outcomes. Only about one-quarter of those studied were able to return to independent living immediately after leaving hospital.

U.S. Approves Force in Detaining Possible SARS Carriers
As part of the government's efforts to prevent an epidemic of SARS in the United States, the Bush administration has authorized immigration and customs agents at the nation's international airports to use force to detain arriving passengers who appear to have symptoms of the disease, senior administration officials said.

Robert Fisk: So he thinks it’s all over...

The Independant wants to charge for reading Fisk's articles...Here it is for free

When Iraqi civilians look into the faces of American troops, President Bush famously told the world on Thursday, “they see strength and kindness and goodwill”. Untrue, Mr Bush. They see occupation

05/05/03: (Independent) So, it’s the end of the war in Iraq, is it? If anyone thinks George Bush Jnr could pass that one off aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln last week – “major combat operations have ended” was the expression he used on Thursday night – they should take a closer look at Secretary of Defence Rumsfeld’s cosy, sinister little speech to US troops in Baghdad a day earlier.

It was filled with all the usual myth-making: the “many” Iraqis who flocked to welcome the Americans on their “liberation” of Baghdad, the “fastest march on a capital in modern military history” (which the Israelis achieved in three days in 1982). But the key line was slipped in at the end. The Americans, he said, still had “to root out the terrorist networks operating in this country”. What? What terrorist networks? And who, one may ask, are behind these mysterious terrorist networks “operating” in Iraq? I have a pretty good idea. They may not actually exist yet. But Donald Rumsfeld knows (and he has been told by US intelligence) that a growing resistance movement to America’s occupation is gestating in Iraq. The Shia Muslim community, now supported by thousands of Badr Brigade Iraqis trained in Iran, believes the US is in Iraq for its oil. It is furious at America’s treatment of Iraq’s citizens; in three days last week at least 17 Sunni demonstrators were killed, two of them less than 11 years old. And it is not impressed by Washington’s attempts to cobble together an “interim” pro-American government.

Even during the war, you could hear the same sentiments. Yes, the Shias would tell us, the Americans can get rid of Saddam. No one doubted his viciousness. But, always, this sentiment was followed by a desire to see the back of the Americans. Most of the civilian victims of American and British bombs were Shias, especially around Nasiriyah and Hillah. Which is another reason why the Americans did not arrive in Baghdad – where a US armoured vehicle pulled down the famous statue of Saddam – to be greeted by flowers and music. When Iraqi civilians look into the faces of American troops, President Bush famously told the world on Thursday, “they see strength and kindness and goodwill”. Untrue, Mr Bush. They see occupation.

Already it is possible to identify some familiar landmarks in the progress of occupation: a series of brutal incidents for which the Americans are never, ever, to blame. Just like the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the killing of civilians is never the fault of the occupiers. The driver and the old man shot and killed by US forces near a checkpoint in Baghdad, and the little girl and the young woman badly wounded whose tragedy Channel 4 witnessed, received no apology from the United States. A family is shot in its car in southern Iraq; cameramen are killed in the Palestine Hotel; 15 Iraqis, including at least one child, are gunned down in Falujah. For the Americans, it is always “self-defence”. Though, strangely, few if any Americans have been seriously wounded in these incidents. Of course, there must be gunmen shooting at the Americans. But the evidence suggests there aren’t very many. The evidence also suggests that very soon, there are going to be a lot more. You have only to observe how deeply the Iraqi Shias admire the Lebanese Hizbollah to understand how well they comprehend the art of guerrilla resistance. Succoured by Iran – or schooled in Saddam’s torture chambers – they are not going to take orders from ex-General Jay Garner, whose all-expenses-paid trip to Israel to express his admiration for the Israeli army’s “restraint” in the Palestinian occupied territories is well known in Iraq. And they realise full well that America’s big corporations are preparing to make millions from their broken country.

Without waiting for any “interim” government to take such decisions, the US Agency for International Development has invited American multinationals to bid for everything from road rebuilding to new text books. A US company, Stevedoring Services of America, has already gobbled up the $4.8m (£3m) management contract for the port at Um Qasr. US oil executives, many of them chums of George Bush and his administration, are expected to visit the Iraqi oil ministry (one of only two Iraqi ministries that the Americans miraculously saved from arsonists) within a week.

No, Iraq today resembles not some would-be democracy but rather the tragedy that greeted the British when the German occupation of Greece ended in 1944. Hitler, like Saddam, had ensured there were plenty of abandoned weapons lying around to fuel a guerrilla resistance against the new rulers. Churchill supported the nationalist government of George Papandreou – the Ahmed Chalabi of Greece – but the Elas Communist guerrillas wanted power. They had fought the Nazis since Germany’s 1941 invasion and, like many of the Muslim Shia today, feared that they were going to be excluded from power by a new pro-Allied regime.

So the “liberation” of Athens quickly turned into a pitched battle between British troops (for which read the Americans in Iraq) and the Communists, who had received years of support from the Soviet Union. For Russia then, read Iran now. Claiming that he stood for freedom, Churchill remarked that “democracy is no harlot to be picked up in the street by a man with a tommy-gun”. But when martial law was imposed by the British (something the Americans may have to consider) Churchill less charitably told the British commander in a secret message that he should “not hesitate to act as if you were in a conquered city”. In various battles, there were attempts to find a mediator – not unlike the desperate meetings in Falujah last week between Iraqis and Americans. In the event, Churchill was able to restore order only because he had secretly obtained Stalin’s agreement that Greece should remain in the Western sphere of Europe. Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and other eastern European countries paid the price. The parallels are not exact, of course, and a critical difference today is that the nation which might be able to help Washington, as the Soviets helped London, is Iran. And Iran, far from being an uneasy ally, is part of President Bush’s “axis of evil”, which fears that it may be next on America’s hit list. So here is a little prediction.

Mr Bush says the war is over, or words to that effect. Then Shia resistance begins to bite the Americans in Iraq. Of course, Mr Rumsfeld will have warned of this: it will be characterised as the famous “terrorist networks” which still have to be fought in Iraq. And Iran – and no doubt Syria – will be accused of supporting these “terrorists”. The French did much the same in their 1954-62 war against the FLN in Algeria. Tunisia was to blame. Egypt was to blame. So stand by for part two of the Iraq war, transmogrified into the next stage of the “war on terror”. —Independent

China's SARS hotspots remain a mystery
World Health Organisation experts are mystified as to how SARS has jumped thousands of kilometres from southern China and Hong Kong to Beijing while barely touching anywhere in between.

Israelis fire on parents of injured British peace activist

The parents of a British peace activist who was shot in the head by Israeli troops came under fire themselves as they travelled to the spot where their son was critically injured.

Anthony and Jocelyn Hurndall were in a British diplomatic convoy entering the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip when Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint fired a shot, which passed narrowly over the top of their vehicles.

The incident on Saturday afternoon took place despite the Israeli Army being given notice of the journey on at least three occasions – the last minutes before the convoy arrived.

Floods leave Nairobi dry
Up to one million residents of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, are facing water shortages after floods damaged a dam.

Workers file $7bn uranium lawsuit
South African mining group Gold Fields faces a $7bn (£4.4bn) legal challenge from former workers, who claim they were contaminated by uranium and have now fallen ill.

US troops 'encouraged' Iraqi looters
General Tommy Franks is threatened with a Belgian war crimes trial alleging US troops failed to prevent looting in Iraq. BBC News Online uncovers evidence suggesting his soldiers even egged on some looters.

Pakistan offers to scrap nukes
"As far as Pakistan is concerned, if India is ready to denuclearize, we would be happy to denuclearize," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said. "But it will have to be mutual."

Sars fears shut Beijing reservoirs
The reservoir closure is an attempt to prevent the virus reaching the public water supply. It follows the publication of new research from the World Health Organization, which said that the Sars virus can survive outside the human body for much longer than was previously thought.

China sub deaths baffle experts
Military analysts are puzzling over what caused the deaths of all 70 crew members on board a conventionally-powered Chinese submarine.

Rescuers pull out more bodies of children from quake-wrecked dormitory
Relief teams have been using cranes and bulldozers to lift concrete slabs since Friday afternoon, after sniffer dogs and electronic listening equipment failed to detect signs of life. The four-storey dormitory collapsed in a pre-dawn quake Thursday, killing more than 60 sleeping students

200 new cases of SARS have appeared in Beijing

Taiwan is seeing its SARS problem grow, with eight total deaths. Cases of people being treated for the illness have doubled in the past week to 100.

Lawmakers there passed legislation Friday allowing for prison sentences of up to three years for those who are convicted of knowingly infecting someone with SARS. They also created a billion-dollar fund to fight the disease

accused persecuted over Islam

The US Army sergeant accused of setting off three grenades in a tent in Kuwait that killed two officers and wounded 14 soldiers has told his mother that he was relentlessly humiliated about his Islamic faith by three superior officers.

Asan Akbar told his mother that after his deployment to Kuwait, fellow soldiers often called him a "raghead". He further claimed that he was "provoked and harassed" and felt as though he was the enemy rather than an American soldier about to help liberate Iraq.

Iraqis vow revenge as hatred of US grows

Hatred of the Americans is boiling on the streets of Falluja, where Iraqis lobbed grenades into the US military compound yesterday, wounding seven and damaging vehicles.

All over the town were banners calling on the Americans to go, while local people shook their fists at foreigners, vowing to take revenge.

Outside the mayor's office, which is next to the American compound, staff had hung an uncompromising banner: "Sooner or later, US killers, we will kick you out."

According to the mayor, Taha Bedeiwi, who is recognised by the US forces, 20 people have been shot dead by the Americans so far - 16 in a late-night incident on Monday and four more when a US convoy clashed with stone-throwing demonstrators on Wednesday.

China fears many new Sars cases
Beijing is likely to continue seeing new cases of Sars at the current high rate of more than 100 a day, a city health chief has said.

researchers warn SARS virus mutating
Doctors at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said they have completed genetic sequencing on virus samples taken from 11 SARS patients and that they found two forms of the illness in Hong Kong.

U.S. warns Canada against easing pot laws

VANCOUVER - A top White House drug policy official is threatening retaliation from the U.S. if Canada relaxes its laws against marijuana possession.

David Murray, right-hand man to U.S. "drug czar" John Walters, says he doesn't want to tread on another country's sovereignty, but warned there would be consequences if Canada proceeds with a plan to decriminalize the possession of marijuana.

Did Rice and Rove block Pentagon plans to invade Syria?
Anna Perez, White House communications counselor, Friday sharply contested a United Press International report that national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and political adviser Karl Rove shut down a Pentagon plan to expand the Iraqi ground war to Syria in closing days of combat.

Found Iraqi Intelligence Bogus: Investigative Journalist
The problem with these documents is that they are being provided by the U.S. military to some of its "favored" reporters, Wayne Madsen, an American investigative journalist, wrote Wednesday, April 30, in the Online Journal.

RIAA's Rosen 'writing Iraq copyright laws'
"Who's really going to win this war? It looks like Madonna," Palast told Democracy Now radio. "Where before, they feared Saddam Hussein, now they have to fear Sony Records will chop off their hands if they bootleg a Madonna album."

TWO KILLED IN NEW IRAQ DEMO SHOOTING
IT started when a young boy hurled a sandal at a US jeep - it ended with two Iraqis dead and 16 seriously injured. I watched in horror as American troops opened fire on a crowd of 1,000 unarmed people here yesterday. Many, including children, were cut down by a 20-second burst of automatic gunfire during a demonstration against the killing of 13 protesters at the Al-Kaahd school on Monday.

Counting the cost in children's lives
Since the current upsurge in violence - the second intifada - began in 2000, 528 children have been killed. Of those 436 were Palestinian and 92 Israeli, according to the United Nations children's agency, Unicef.

Asia's Sars epidemic has been claiming non-human victims
In Beijing, dogs and cats belonging to Sars patients are being rounded up and killed, officials said on Wednesday.

Two new SARS cases in T.O.?
There were stark reminders Thursday that Toronto's battle with SARS is not over, with the revelation that there may be two new cases among hospital workers.

Iraqis demand restoration of utilities

"Recovered patients have the virus in their stools and urine,"
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong doctors have discovered for the first time traces of the deadly SARS virus in the stool and urine of patients thought to be free of the virus and discharged from hospital, officials said on Thursday. The news came after doctors in Hong Kong found evidence of permanent lung scarring and possible cases of relapses in patients who had been infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

US challenged over boy prisoners

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has defended the detention of the boys - aged between 13 and 15 - at Camp Delta, saying they are "enemy combatants", captured while fighting for the Taleban or al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

General Richard Myers, chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the boys were being held "for a very good reason - for our safety".

The UN's Mr Otunnu told BBC News that both the participation of children in armed conflict and their detention were "equally prohibited under international law".

That the US sees nothing wrong with holding children at Guantanamo and interrogating them is a shocking indicator of how cavalier the Bush administration has become

Amnesty International

Iraqis target Gen. Franks for war crimes trial

Iraqi civilians are preparing a complaint to present in court in Belgium accusing allied commander Gen. Tommy Franks and other U.S. military officials of war crimes in Iraq, according to the attorney representing the plaintiffs.

Iraqi civilians are preparing a complaint to present in court in Belgium accusing allied commander Gen. Tommy Franks and other U.S. military officials of war crimes in Iraq, according to the attorney representing the plaintiffs.

The complaint will state that coalition forces are responsible for the indiscriminate killing of Iraqi civilians, the bombing of a marketplace in Baghdad, the shooting of an ambulance, and failure to prevent the mass looting of hospitals

Tariq Aziz is set to live like a king in Britain
Plans have been drawn up to reward Aziz with a new identity and a £1.5million home — complete with 24-hour police protection. He would be brought in via RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, aboard a US Air Force plane. Aziz would then be held under military police guard — possibly at the Army garrison in Chicksands, Beds — for between six months and a year. Once he has met his part of the bargain — by leading the Allies to Saddam’s evil arsenal and turning in members of Saddam’s toppled regime — he would be given a new identity.

If the deal goes through, Aziz will also get a lump sum and an annual pension for the rest of his life.

Quarantined ship carrying anthrax suitcase, says report
According to a report from Reuters in Brazil, the man allegedly planned to bring a suitcase that might have contained anthrax into Canada. The report says Ibrahim Saved Soliman Ibrahim died when he opened the suitcase, which is in Brazil.

Women Fear Their Rights Will End With Hussein Era

Many in Iraq say their liberties and ambitions may be curtailed if Shiite religious leaders prevail

BAGHDAD — Haida Azzawi doesn't wear a scarf to hide her long, flowing hair. She dresses in striped cotton trousers and a colorful T-shirt. She comes and goes from her house as she pleases, unescorted by male relatives. And she wants to keep it that way.

Like many Iraqi women, the lively 24-year-old, who has a degree in math and statistics from a private college in Baghdad, is happy about the end of Saddam Hussein's rule, but she worries that the change in government could lead to a dramatic erosion of women's freedoms.

"I have never worn hijab, and I don't want to," said Azzawi, referring to the head covering worn by observant Muslim women. "But now I wonder if that is what's in store for the future. That and more things like it."

For decades, Iraqi women — at least those living in Baghdad and some other big cities — have enjoyed a degree of personal liberty undreamed of by women in neighboring nations such as Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf emirates.

They can drive. They can attend coeducational college classes. They can work outside the home in offices where men work as well. They can inherit property equally with their brothers.

Women make up a large proportion of Iraq's professional class — doctors, lawyers, engineers, college professors, bank directors, faculty deans. Many are free to choose whom, or even whether, to marry.

But there is a growing sense here that the power vacuum left by Hussein's fall will probably be filled, in large measure, by Shiite Muslim political figures who may seek to impose the conservative social mores that are typical in Iraq's Shiite-dominated south.

US arrests 'Baghdad mayor'
US soldiers have arrested a self-proclaimed "mayor" of Baghdad, Mohammed Mohsen al-Zubaidi. US military officials accuse him of trying to sabotage coalition efforts to restore basic services to the war-torn capital.

Billion SARS cases feared
MORE than one billion people worldwide could be infected by the deadly SARS virus within a year, a leading UK scientist has warned.

Millions trapped as Beijing shuts gates
China has been forced to deny it is about to declare martial law in Beijing to counter the SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) threat, but has begun erecting roadblocks around the capital.

Fury as explosion at weapons dump kills 40

As many as 40 Iraqi civilians were killed and many were injured in a series of blasts at an arms dump on Baghdad's outskirts yesterday, an Iraqi medic told Reuters near the scene.

US troops blamed unidentified attackers who fired flares into the munitions store. But local people turned their anger on the Americans, shooting and forcing them back, soldiers said.

Some soldiers were wounded, an Army sergeant-major told Reuters at Zaafaraniya, a mixed residential and industrial suburb on the southern edge of the capital.

Residents blame the US military for the deadly barrage that rained on their village.

BAGHDAD – Munzen Sabr Hassoun had thought the war was over. But as he sat in a blood spattered robe at a window in Zafaraniyah hospital Saturday morning, heaving with sobs while medical workers laid his wife's body in a plywood coffin outside, peace was more painful.

Mr. Hassoun's wife was among the at least six people killed and some 50 injured when a huge collection of captured Iraqi weapons and munitions exploded at a US base on the outskirts of Baghdad early on Saturday morning, provoking deep anger among local residents.

North Korea warns of "merciless deadly blows" at US
"If the US imperialists and their followers invade even an inch of our inviolable sky, land and seas despite our serious warning, our people's army will deal merciless deadly blows at the aggressors and win a final victory in the confrontation with the US," he was quoted as saying.

Turner Calls Rival Media Mogul Murdoch 'Warmonger'
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Ted Turner said on Thursday too few people owned too many media organizations and called rival media baron Rupert Murdoch a warmonger for what he said was Murdoch's promotion of the U.S. war in Iraq.

U.N. spotlights malaria in Africa
GENEVA, Switzerland, April 25 (UPI) -- The world needs to intensify its efforts to combat malaria in Africa, where the disease still kills more than 3,000 children daily, a joint report by two specialized U.N. agencies said Friday.

South African skeleton 4 million years old
WASHINGTON — A new dating technique suggests that a human-like fossil skeleton found in South Africa was buried about 4 million years ago, which makes it one of the oldest known hominid discoveries.

U.S. conspiring against Cuba, alleges Castro
HAVANA - Cuban President Fidel Castro accused the United States of conspiring with exiles living in Miami to stir up unrest on the communist island.

WHO says Toronto travel ban wasn't political
GENEVA - The World Health Organization denied on Friday that politics had anything to do with a warning against travelling to Toronto.

Saddam escaped to Belarus?
Western intelligence sources said several intelligence agencies in the Middle East and Europe base this assessment on new information about a March 29 flight from Baghdad to Minsk. They said the flight of a chartered cargo plane could have transported Saddam, his sons and much of his family to Belarus.

Sars 'could kill one in seven'
The death rate for Sars could be significantly higher than previously thought, an expert study into the pneumonia-like virus is expected to suggest. The research by a British scientist, due to be published in a medical journal next week, is expected to say the virus could kill between 8% and 15% - or one in seven - of those infected.

Long road ahead for Palestinians
Palestinians have their new government - almost - but peace is another question.

Cuba's phoney war
On state television every night for the last 10 days, Cubans have been told in stark terms that their country is defending itself against the threat of war.

US army chief resigns
There has been periodic speculation that Mr White might resign or be fired for at least a year.

Ethiopia hunger worsens
The country's Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission said there are now 12.6 million in need.

Robert Fisk: Did the US murder these journalists?
What is a journalist's life worth? I ask this question for a number of reasons, some of them – frankly – quite revolting.

Would-be US looters foiled by their own incompetence
As more details emerged yesterday of the botched attempt by US soldiers to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars recovered from an Iraqi government safe house, it became clear this was a dizzying tale of impulsive greed and colossal incompetence.

A Turkish Special Forces team is caught by U.S. troops in Kurdistan

Gulf troops face tests for cancer
Soldiers returning from the Gulf will be offered tests to check levels of depleted uranium in their bodies to assess whether they are in danger of suffering kidney damage and lung cancer as a result of exposure, the Ministry of Defence said last night.

Something deeply corrupt is consuming journalism

On 8 April, newspapers around the world carried a despatch from a Reuters correspondent, "embedded" with the US army, about the murder of a ten-year-old Iraqi boy. An American private had "unloaded machine-gun fire and the boy . . . fell dead on a garbage-strewn stretch of wasteland". The tone of the report was highly sympathetic to the soldier, "a softly spoken 21-year-old" who, "although he has no regrets about opening fire, it is clear he would rather it was not a child he killed".

According to Reuters, children were "apparently" being used as "fighters or more often as scouts and weapons collectors. US officers and soldiers say that turns them into legitimate targets." The child-killing soldier was allowed uncritically to describe those like his victim as "cowards". There was no suggestion that the Americans were invading the victim's homeland. Reuters then allowed the soldier's platoon leader to defend the killer: "Does it haunt him? Absolutely. It haunts me and I didn't even pull the trigger. It blows my mind that they can put their children in that kind of situation." Perhaps guessing that readers might be feeling just a touch uncomfortable at this stage, the Reuters correspondent added his own reassuring words: "Before - like many young soldiers - he [the soldier] says he was anxious to get his first 'kill' in a war. Now, he seems more mature."

I read in the Observer last Sunday that "Iraq was worth ?20m to Reuters". This was the profit the company would make from the war. Reuters was described on the business pages as "a model company, its illustrious brand and reputation second to none. As a newsgathering organisation, it is lauded for its accuracy and objectivity." The Observer article lamented that the "world's hotspots" generated only about 7 per cent of the model company's ?3.6bn revenue last year. The other 93 per cent comes from "more than 400,000 computer terminals in financial institutions around the world", churning out "financial information" for a voracious, profiteering "market" that has nothing to do with true journalism: indeed, it is the antithesis of true journalism, because it has nothing to do with true humanity. It is the system that underwrote the illegal and unprovoked attack on a stricken and mostly defenceless country whose population is 42 per cent children, like the boy who was killed by a soldier who, says the Reuters story, "now seems more mature".

There is something deeply corrupt consuming this craft of mine. It is not a recent phenomenon; look back on the "coverage" of the First World War by journalists who were subsequently knighted for their services to the concealment of the truth of that great slaughter.

What makes the difference today is the technology that produces an avalanche of repetitive information, which in the United States has been the source of arguably the most vociferous brainwashing in that country's history.

A war that was hardly a war, that was so one-sided it ought to be despatched with shame in the military annals, was reported like a Formula One race, as we watched the home teams speed to the chequered flag in Baghdad's Firdos Square, where a statue of the dictator created and sustained by "us" was pulled down in a ceremony that was as close to fakery as you could get. There was the CIA's man, an Iraqi fixer of the American stooge Ahmad Chalabi, orchestrating that joyous media moment of "liberation", attended by "hundreds" - or was it "dozens"? - of cheering people, with three American tanks neatly guarding the entrances to the media stage. "Thanks, guys," said a marine to the BBC's Middle East correspondent in appreciation of the BBC's "coverage". His gratitude was hardly surprising. As the media analyst David Miller points out, a study of the reporting of the war in five countries shows that the BBC allowed the least anti-war dissent of them all. Its 2 per cent dissenting views was lower even than the 7 per cent on the American channel ABC.

The honourable exceptions are few and famous. Of course, no one doubts that it is difficult for journalists in the field. There is dust and deadlines and danger, and a dependent relationship on an alien military system. It is unfathomable which of these constraints contributed to the Reuters travesty described above. None, I suspect; for what it represented was the essence of propaganda. The protection of and apologising for "our" side is voluntary; it comes, it seems, with mother's milk. The "others" are simply not the same as "us".

Imagine the terror of a mother, cowering with her children on the road as the "softly spoken 21-year-olds" decide whether to kill them, or kill the old man failing to stop his car? The children are clearly "scouts"; the old man is, well, who knows and who cares? Now imagine that happening in a British high street during an invasion of this country. Absurd? That only happens in countries like Iraq, which can be attacked at will and without a semblance of legitimacy or morality: weak countries, of course, and never countries with weapons of mass destruction; the Americans knew Saddam Hussein was disarmed.

The corruption of journalism is most vivid back in the commentary booth, far from the dust and death. "Yes, too many died in the war," wrote Andrew Rawnsley in the Observer. "Too many people always die in war. War is nasty and brutish, but at least this conflict was mercifully short. The death toll has been nothing like as high as had been widely feared. Thousands have died in the war, millions have died at the hands of Saddam."

Mark his logic, for it is at the heart of what is dispensed day after day, night after night. The clear implication is that it is all right to have killed thousands of people in the invasion of their homeland, because "millions" died at the hands of their dictator. The lazy language, the idle dismissal of human life - each life part of so many other lives - is striking. Saddam Hussein killed a great many people, but "millions"? - the league of Stalin and Hitler? David Edwards of MediaLens asked Amnesty International about this. Amnesty produced a catalogue of Saddam's killings that amounted mostly to hundreds every year, not millions. It is an appalling record that does not require the exaggeration of state-inspired propaganda - propaganda whose aim, in Rawnsley's case, is to protect Tony Blair from the grave charges of which many people all over the world believe he is guilty.

There is, for example, not a single mention by Rawnsley of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis who died as a direct result of the 12-year, medieval siege of Iraq conducted by America and backed by Britain - and enthusiastically by Blair. Professor Joy Gordon in Connecticut has spent three years studying this embargo as a weapon of social destruction. A preview of her voluminous, shocking work appeared in Harper's Magazine. She describes "a legitimised act of mass slaughter".

The protectors of Blair regard the entirely predictable crushing of a third-world minnow by the world's superpower as a "vindication". The great Israeli journalist and internationalist Uri Avnery wrote recently about this corruption of intellect and morality. "Let's pose the question in the most provocative manner," he wrote on 18 April. "What would have happened if Adolf Hitler had triumphed in World War Two? Would this have turned his war into a just one? Let's assume that Hitler would have indicted his enemies at the Nuremberg war crimes court: Churchill for the terrible air raid on Dresden, Truman for dropping the atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Stalin for murdering millions in the Gulag camps. Would the historians have regarded this as a just war? A war that ends with the victory of the aggressor is worse than a war that ends with their defeat. It is more destructive, both morally and physically."

Tank captain admits firing on media hotel
A US army captain has admitted that an Abrams tank under his command fired on the Palestine hotel in Baghdad, killing two journalists, but said he had not been told that the hotel was home to the international press.

Ba'athists slip quietly back into control
They have quietly removed the pictures of Saddam Hussein from their sitting rooms, and reconfigured their memories to transform lives of privilege into tales of suffering. Less than two weeks after the collapse of the regime, thousands of members of the Arab Ba'ath Socialist party, the all too willing instrument of Saddam, are resuming their roles as the men and women who run Iraq.

Britain's Astronomer Royal says mankind and the Earth itself have only an even chance of surviving the current cent

PROFESSOR Sir Martin Rees has made a chilling assessment of how technology, terrorism and disasters both man-made and natural threaten our species.

"I think the odds are no better than 50-50 that our present civilisation on Earth will survive to the end of this century," he said.

"Our choices and actions could ensure the perpetual future of life – not just on Earth, but perhaps far beyond it, too.

"Or 21st-century technology could jeopardise life's potential."

US blueprint to bomb N Korea
THE Pentagon has produced detailed plans to bomb North Korea's nuclear plant at Yongbyon if the communist rogue state goes ahead with reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel rods that would yield it enough plutonium for half a dozen nuclear weapons within six months.

US jails children

SUSPECTED child terrorists are being held by the United States in the controversial prison at the Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

US officials yesterday confirmed for the first time that children under the age of 16 years were among 650 suspected terrorists imprisoned at the naval base without legal access or guaranteed protections under the Geneva Convention

US Administration Divided Over North Korea
Just days before President Bush approved the opening of negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear program, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld circulated to key members of the administration a Pentagon memorandum proposing a radically different approach: the United States, the memo argued, should team up with China to press for the ouster of North Korea's leadership.

Our oil is for us, Iraqis warn US firms
Despite US pledges that Iraq's oil reserves will benefit only the Iraqi people, people here are wary that US firms may reap a windfall in production revenues and service contracts.

'Precision Warfare' Breaks Down in Counting Dead
Asked how many Iraqis had been killed since U.S.-led forces launched a war on March 20 to overthrow Saddam Hussein, Captain Frank Thorp at U.S. war headquarters in Qatar said: "We really don't know...The measure of success in this operation was whether the regime fell."

Gunfire interrupts first press conference by 'Pentagon's man'
As Ahmed Chalabi, the Pentagon's candidate for leader of Iraq, was being asked if he was a thief, the sound of gunfire interrupted the press conference. Mr Chalabi insisted his conviction for embezzling $60m (£38m) was all a plot. Outside, one of his supporters, Haqi Ismail, sat in shock dabbing the graze on his nose from one of the eight bullets fired into his pick-up truck.

Iraqi cleric warns U.S. to leave before 'we force you out'

Another cleric warned that "long queues of holy warriors" were lining up to fight the Americans.

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Then the worshipers, joining a large crowd outside, marched peacefully, calling for unity among the country's Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish populations. "Our revolution is Islamic," they chanted, in the biggest nationalist demonstration in many years.

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A large banner said: "Leave our country. We want peace."

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A U.S. patrol was surrounded by part of the crowd and one of the soldiers, fingering his rifle, told people to back off, "or I'm going to shoot you."

.

An elderly woman shouted back: "We have our pride."

.

The Iraqi police, who have only just returned to duty, escorted the nervous Americans away from the crowd.

.

AP Cameraman Shot and Killed in West Bank
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) - An Israeli soldier shot and killed a cameraman with Associated Press Television News who was covering a skirmish between troops and rock-throwing Palestinians in the West Bank city of Nablus on Saturday, witnesses said.

Regional states unite in appeal for boycott
Egypt led calls for a boycott of any US-led administration of Iraq yesterday as regional states gathered in a belated attempt to exert influence on the outcome of the war. Six neighbouring states of Iraq put aside their rivalries and sent foreign ministers to Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, to share their fears for the future and try to work out a common position on who replaces Saddam Hussein.

Up to 20 N.Korea Scientists, Military Defect
Sat April 19, 2003 03:23 AM ET SYDNEY (Reuters) - Up to 20 high-ranking North Korean military officers and nuclear scientists have defected to the United States and its allies under a plan involving several countries including the Pacific state of Nauru, an Australian newspaper said on Saturday.

Powell Retreats on Syria Trip
WASHINGTON -- A U.S. State Department official declared Friday that Secretary of State Colin Powell has no plans to visit Syria nor to launch a Middle East peace trip anytime soon.

Thousands join Baghdad protests
To chants of "No to America, we want an Islamic state", tens of thousands of demonstrators flooded the streets of Baghdad yesterday, demanding the immediate withdrawal of US forces.

Shia clergy denounce US troop presence
cleric at one of Shia Islam’s holiest shrines in the Iraqi city Karbala denounced the presence of US troops in the country during Friday prayers, saying it amounted to imperialism by “unbelievers.” “We reject this foreign occupation, which is a new imperialism. We don’t want it anymore,” Sheikh Kaazem Al-Abahadi Al-Nasari told thousands of Muslim faithful at the mausoleum of Imam Hussein, revered by the Shias and the grandson of the Prophet Mohammad.

Baghdad Museum Was Looted by Professional Thieves
PARIS, April 17 – Well-organized professional thieves stole most of the priceless artifacts looted from Baghdad's National Museum of Antiquities last week, and they may have had inside help from low-level museum employees, the head of UNESCO said today.

Robert Fisk: For the people on the streets, this is not liberation but a new colonial oppression
It's going wrong, faster than anyone could have imagined. The army of "liberation" has already turned into the army of occupation. The Shias are threatening to fight the Americans, to create their own war of "liberation".

"I saw Marines Kill Civilians!"
Laurent Van der Stockt, a photographer working for the Gamma agency and under contract for the New York Times Magazine, followed the advance of the 3/4 Marines (3rd battalion, 4th regiment) for three weeks, up to the taking of Baghdad on April 9. He was accompanied by New York Times Magazine editor, Peter Maas. Born in Belgium in 1964, Laurent Van der Stockt mainly works in conflict zones: the first Gulf War, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Africa and the Occupied Territories. This is his eyewitness account of the Marines' march to Baghdad:

Victory's brutal cost on view in hospitals

A man with a gaping wound like the curled-back petals of a crimson rose at his throat.

A teenage girl with her lips nearly burned off, the under layers of skin on her chest hanging in shreds.

A motherless boy who mewls like a kitten when a doctor probes gently at the shrapnel nuggets embedded in his narrow abdomen.

An unconscious child, almost serene in his deep sleep, who has not opened his eyes since he picked up a grenade in the yard last week, and tossed it...

If this is victory in Iraq, it's come at an appalling price

Gulf states warn US over Syria
Six key pro-Western Gulf Arab states have called on the United States to stop threatening Syria in the wake of the war in Iraq.

The history of Ur
UR, IRAQ – Iraqi soldiers from Talil Air Base fled the recent US advance through the nearby ruins of Ur, one of civilization's earliest cities. Their dusty uniforms lie abandoned on the floor of a house believed to have belonged to Abraham, the Biblical patriarch.

Top Kurdish leader assesses the costs of war
SALAHUDDIN, IRAQ – For the Kurds, this may be the first war to end without massive casualties and political defeat. But to Massoud Barzani - leader of one of two main Kurdish parties in northern Iraq - the war is rife with disappointments and far from over.

Baghdad's unexploded bombs

BAGHDAD, IRAQ – A two-inch-long black cylinder hangs on a white "stabilizer" ribbon from the branch of a lemon tree, a deadly fruit in a leafy Baghdad neighborhood.

It's one of the unexploded cluster bombs fired by US forces last week that still litter several residential areas of the city.

Kurds force Arabs out of homes near Kirkuk
victims of a new wave of intimidation and crime in northern Iraq. They are among thousands of Iraqi Arabs expelled from their homes by armed Kurds, one of the Americans' most exuberant allies in the war against Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi Arabs here were ordered by Kurds to move away within three days.

British mother asks Israelis: Was my son shot deliberately?
The family of a British peace protester, shot by an Israeli sniper as he shielded three young children, claimed yesterday that he appeared to have been deliberately targeted for assassination.

US troops kill merchant defending shop against looters

BAGHDAD (AFP) - US soldiers shot and killed a Baghdad shopkeeper who was defending his shop with a Kalashnikov assault rifle against looters, neighbours told an AFP photographer.

The merchant pulled his rifle on the thieves when they began sacking the shop, neighbours said.

When US soldiers approached the area, the looters told them that the shopkeeper was a member of Saddam Hussein 's Fedayeen paramilitary force.

The American troops opened fire with heavy machine guns, killing the man, the neighbors said.

The photographer saw the covered body of Mohammad al-Barheini, 25, lying on a shelf of his shop, his head in a bag, on the Al-Rashid commercial street in the capital.

Marchers demand end to war
Demonstrators have been marching in their tens of thousands across the continents to demand a halt to the US-led military operation in Iraq.

Analysis: Calm must come quickly
To mount full-scale peacekeeping operations in Baghdad, Basra and throughout the towns and cities across the country, would take many more troops than are available.

Baghdad protests over looting

The protesters chanted slogans and carried placards demanding tighter security to prevent looting.

It follows a Red Cross warning that the Baghdad medical system has virtually collapsed amid the continued violence and fear.

But there are signs that US forces are beginning to step in and restore order after looters turned to raiding people's homes.

Bagdad is still dangerous with gunfire in the streets of the city and continued fighting in the north-eastern suburb known as Saddam City.

The BBC's Paul Wood in Baghdad reports that violence is now crossing the religious divide, with some Shia Muslims fighting gun battles with their Sunni neighbours.

Priceless antiquities lost in Baghdad looting

BAGHDAD - Iraq's national museum joins hospitals and schools as having been ransacked by looters.

Museum officials are putting the potential losses in the billions of dollars. Artifacts dating back thousands of years have been either stolen or destroyed.

When two bridges were opened by U.S. forces in Baghdad Saturday, it simply provided new territory in which looters could forage.

US Army Commander in Iraq Says City Not Yet Liberated
The commanding general of the U.S. Army in Iraq says it is much too soon to declare Baghdad a liberated city. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu accompanied Lieutenant General William Scott Wallace on Thursday as he visited commanders and troops in downtown Baghdad

US Soldiers Looting As Well
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Since they arrived, U.S. Marines have been doing their own kind of looting - grabbing Iraqi pistols, rifles, uniforms and pictures of Saddam Hussein. On Friday, they were ordered to dump what they took or lose their rank.

Civilians, US tank crew killed in attempt to destroy arms
Many Iraqi civilians and a US tank crew died today when a huge explosion destroyed around 20 houses in Baghdad, Al Jazeera channel reported. The explosion was the result of US marines attempting to decommission Iraqi munitions and rockets left by Saddam Hussein’s army in the Atayfiyya residential quarter of the capital.

Who is to blame for the collapse in morality that followed the 'liberation'?

Pillage merits a specific prevention clause in the Geneva Conventions, just as it did in the 1907 Hague Convention

When an occupying power takes over another country' s territory, it automatically becomes responsible for the protection of its civilians, their property and institutions. Thus the American troops in Nasiriyah became automatically responsible for the driver who was murdered for his car in the first day of that city's "liberation". The Americans in Baghdad were responsible for the German and Slovak embassies that were looted by hundreds of Iraqis on Thursday, and for the French Cultural Centre, which was attacked, and for the Central Bank of Iraq, which was torched yesterday afternoon.

Robert Fisk: Flames engulf the symbols of power

Baghdad is burning. You could count 16 columns of smoke rising over the city yesterday afternoon. At the beginning, there was the Ministry of Trade. I watched the looters throw petrol through the smashed windows of the ground floor and the fire burst from them within two seconds.

Then there was a clutch of offices at the bottom of the Jumhuriyah Bridge, which emitted clouds of black, sulphurous smoke. By mid- afternoon, I was standing outside the Central Bank of Iraq as each window flamed like a candle, a mile-long curtain of ash and burning papers drifting over the Tigris.

A city in flames. A nation in chaos

Chaos threatened to engulf Iraq yesterday, with American-led forces apparently unwilling or unable to deal with a storm of arson, looting, car-jacking, drunkenness and factional fighting that swept Baghdad, Mosul and other big cities.

The Red Cross, aid charities and Iraqi citizens pleaded with the US to honour its obligations under the Geneva Convention and protect the civilian population.

But a senior commander said: "At no time do we really see [ourselves] becoming a police force."

As Looting and Mayhem Continue, Coalition Handles Chaos Gingerly

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The people of Baghdad's Karadeh neighborhood, fed up with thievery, took the law into their own hands: They grabbed Kalashnikov rifles, set up roadblocks and checked passing cars for stolen goods.

When they found it, they knew what to do. They confiscated the loot - and beat the culprits.

Even law enforcement was anarchic in Iraq on Friday. Unchecked by American and British forces, some Iraqis looted and burned; their neighbors cowered behind barricaded doors, and pleaded for intervention to restore civic peace to a country still enmeshed in war.

"Tell the Americans to stop the killing and the looting. We can't live like this much longer, with Muslims looting other Muslims," said 41-year-old Jabryah Aziz. "I need to feel safe so I can go and collect my food ration."

Ricin Find in Paris Train Station Turns Out to Be Wheat Germ
PARIS (AP) - Vials of what was suspected as the poison ricin found in train station locker last month turned out to be wheat germ and barley, officials said Friday. The discovery of the suspicious substance at the Gare de Lyon in central Paris on March 17 set off widespread terrorism concerns just two days before the start of the Iraq war.

Saddam and the CIA
U.S. forces in Baghdad might now be searching high and low for Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, but in the past Saddam was seen by U.S. intelligence services as a bulwark of anti-communism and they used him as their instrument for more than 40 years, according to former U.S. intelligence diplomats and intelligence officials.

No compensation for Afghan bomb victims: US military
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, April 10 (AFP) - There will be no compensation for the families of the 11 Afghan civilians killed Wednesday when a US bomb went astray and hit their home, a US military spokesman said Thursday.

US threatens to use biggest bomb on Iraqi north
In what looked to be a calculated propaganda move, the Pentagon issued a thinly disguised threat to deploy – for the first time in the war – the biggest non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal, the 21,000lb massive ordnance air burst. The warning came as Allied forces continued the aerial bomb- ardment of Tikrit and the Republican Guards protecting the town.

IDF SHOOTS YET ANOTHER PEACE ACTIVIST
Friday April 11, 2003

Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip today shot a British peace activist as he was trying to move children away from gunfire, witnesses said.

The activist, named by Reuters as Tom Handoll, in his early 20s, had been working as a human shield with the International Solidarity Movement at the Rafah refugee camp, near the Eyptian border.

He was standing between Israeli troops and a group of Palestinian children when soldiers opened fire, said Khalil Abdullah, an activist with the Palestinian-backed group.

(EU)Brussels to investigate US contracts in Iraq
The European Commission is examining contracts awarded by the US for reconstruction work in Iraq to find out whether they breach World Trade Organisation rules and discriminate unfairly against European companies.

Experts say U.S. `discovery' of nuclear materials in Iraq was breach of U.N.-monitored site
VIENNA, Austria (AP) American troops who suggested they uncovered evidence of an active nuclear weapons program in Iraq unwittingly may have stumbled across known stocks of low-grade uranium, officials said Thursday. They said the U.S. troops may have broken U.N. seals meant to keep control of the radioactive material.

CNN: The News We Kept To Ourselves
ATLANTA — Over the last dozen years I made 13 trips to Baghdad to lobby the government to keep CNN's Baghdad bureau open and to arrange interviews with Iraqi leaders. Each time I visited, I became more distressed by what I saw and heard — awful things that could not be reported because doing so would have jeopardized the lives of Iraqis, particularly those on our Baghdad staff.

UK Withdraws Troops
LONDON - With most of Iraq now under the control of U.S.-led forces, Britain is withdrawing some military personnel from the region.

U.S. violating law by allowing looting: UN

BAGHDAD - The United Nations says U.S.-led forces in Iraq have broken the Geneva Conventions by failing to stop looters from taking equipment from hospitals.

The UN calls the scenes from Baghdad anarchy and chaos and says under the Geneva Conventions occupying forces must keep order and ensure the safety of civilians.

Looters have been seen wheeling incubators and heart monitors from a maternity ward.

'We're here to fight the regime, not civilians, but I had to save my men'
Something terrible happened on Highway 8. Some say a hundred civilians died there. Others believe that only 40 or 50 men, women and children were cut to pieces by American tank fire when members of the 3rd Infantry Division's Task Force 315 were ambushed by the Republican Guard.

Robert Fisk: Baghdad: the day after

Arson, anarchy, fear, hatred, hysteria, looting, revenge, savagery, suspicion and a suicide bombing

excerpts from Fisk's report

The Americans may think they have "liberated" Baghdad but the tens of thousands of thieves – they came in families and cruised the city in trucks and cars searching for booty – seem to have a different idea what liberation means

American control of the city is, at best, tenuous – a fact underlined after several marines were killed last night by a suicide bomber close to the square where a statue of Saddam Hussein was pulled down on Wednesday, in the most staged photo-opportunity since Iwo Jima.

And what is one to make of the scene on the Hillah road yesterday where I found the owner of a grain silo and factory ordering his armed guards to fire on the looters who were trying to steal his lorries. This desperate and armed attempt to preserve the very basis of Baghdad's bread supply was being observed from just 100 metres away by eight soldiers of the US 3rd Infantry Division, who were sitting on their tanks – doing nothing. The UN offices that were looted downtown are 200 metres from a US Marine checkpoint.

And already America's army of "liberation" is beginning to seem an army of occupation. I watched hundreds of Iraqi civilians queuing to cross a motorway bridge at Daura yesterday morning, each man ordered by US soldiers to raise his shirt and lower his trousers – in front of other civilians, including women – to prove they were not suicide bombers.

After a gun battle in the Adamiya area during the morning, an American Marine sniper sitting atop the palace gate wounded three civilians, including a little girl, in a car that failed to halt – then shot and killed a man who had walked on to his balcony to discover the source of the firing. Within minutes, the sniper also shot dead the driver of another car and wounded two more passengers in that vehicle, including a young woman. A crew from Channel 4 Television was present when the killings took place.

Meanwhile, in the suburb of Daura, bodies of Iraqi civilians – many of them killed by US troops in battle earlier in the week – lay rotting in their still-smouldering cars. And yesterday was just Day Two of the "liberation" of Baghdad.

Truck Delivered Dismembered Women, Children
OTTAWA -- Red Cross doctors who visited southern Iraq this week saw "incredible" levels of civilian casualties including a truckload of dismembered women and children, a spokesman said yesterday from Baghdad.

Red Cross: Iraq Wounded Too High to Count
The number of casualties in Baghdad is so high that hospitals have stopped counting the number of people treated, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday.

HE'LL SPILL HIS GUTS, OR ELSE
Law-enforcement sources told The Post that the CIA has had the 7- and 9-year- old sons of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in custody since September, and plans to use them as leverage to get the No. 3 man in al Qaeda to disclose Osama bin Laden's whereabouts and details of future terror operations.

US accused of plans to loot Iraqi antiques

FEARS that Iraq's heritage will face widespread looting at the end of the Gulf war have been heightened after a group of wealthy art dealers secured a high-level meeting with the US administration.

It has emerged that a coalition of antiquities collectors and arts lawyers, calling itself the American Council for Cultural Policy (ACCP), met with US defence and state department officials prior to the start of military action to offer its assistance in preserving the country's invaluable archaeological collections.

Want water? Be Baptised first!

CAMP BUSHMASTER, Iraq - In this dry desert world near Najaf, where the Army V Corps combat support system sprawls across miles of scabrous dust, there's an oasis of sorts: a 500-gallon pool of pristine, cool water.

It belongs to Army chaplain Josh Llano of Houston, who sees the water shortage, which has kept thousands of filthy soldiers from bathing for weeks, as an opportunity.

''It's simple. They want water. I have it, as long as they agree to get baptized,'' he said.

And agree they do. Every day, soldiers take the plunge for the Lord and come up clean for the first time in weeks.

A Busy Day for Bulldozers
It's been a busy day today for Israeli bulldozers. They had to do 16 houses by sundown, and they couldn't start until the men who live in them had gone off to work in the morning. But those machines are tireless, and by the end of the day, you could find 16 families sitting on heaps of rubble, weeping and cursing. Children, too.

US Special forces waering civilian clothes

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon on Friday defended the use of some civilian clothes by U.S. special operations forces, a tactic used to help them blend in with the local population.

Asked at a Pentagon press conference why it is OK for American commando troops to take off their uniforms, but a crime when the Iraqis did it, Defense Department spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said she thought American forces wear something that distinguishes them from civilians, but deferred the question for a later answer.

History Shows U.S. Faces Risks
"It's just not going to work out, no matter how many people you kill or cow," said Hala Fattah. Her forecast: "Low-grade insurgency, civil unrest, power struggles."

A Journalist's Shame
"Bush is almost always seen against a background of soldiers. The stage designer sees to it that the soldiers are all around the President, so that from any photo angle the admiring faces shine behind him .."

Pope calls for swift end of war
Pope John Paul II today called for a quick end to the conflict in Iraq, expressing special concern for civilians caught in the conflict.

U.S. Mistakenly Bombs Kurd Convoy; 18 Die
IRBIL, Iraq - U.S. aircraft mistakenly bombed a convoy of allied Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 18 people and wounding 45, Kurdish officials said. Among the wounded was a brother of the man who runs half the Kurdish enclave.

Thirsty
Nasiriyah, Iraq -- A thirsty Iraqi mimed drinking from a bottle. A U.S. Marine shook his canteen to show it was empty.

Russian Diplomats, Journalists Come Under Fire Leaving Baghdad
MOSCOW (AP) - A convoy of Russian diplomats, including the ambassador, came under fire Sunday as the group was evacuating Baghdad and heading toward the Syrian border, the Kremlin said. Several people were wounded, the Foreign Ministry said.

U.S. Friendly Fire Kills 17 Kurds, Injures 45, Including Leader's Brother
IRBIL, Iraq (AP) - U.S. aircraft mistakenly bombed a convoy of allied Kurdish fighters in northern Iraq on Sunday, killing at least 17 Kurdish fighters and wounding 45, including a brother of the man who runs half the Kurdish enclave, a spokesman for the leader's party said.

966 Congolese Killed!
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Almost 1,000 people were killed in attacks by armed militants on villages in northeastern Congo this week, a United Nations spokesman said Sunday.

Western Journalists Beaten, Starved by Americans
KUWAIT CITY, 3 April 2003 — Two Western journalists have arrived safely back in Kuwait City after being arrested, beaten up and deprived of food and water in Iraq — by members of the US Army’s military police.

'No sign' of US in Baghdad
Baghdad - There was no sign of a US military presence in Baghdad on Saturday despite American officials' claim that coalition troops were in town to stay, AFP correspondents reported.

Pilots Worry About Hitting Each Other Over Baghdad
ABOARD THE USS KITTY HAWK (AP) - Pilots say the sky over Baghdad is so congested with coalition planes that they worry more about in-flight collisions than Iraqi anti-aircraft fire.

American Peace Activist Shot in Face in West Bank
JERUSALEM (AP) - An American peace activist volunteering as a human shield in the West Bank was seriously wounded on Saturday when Israeli troops allegedly opened fire on him.

Hoon is 'cruel' for claims on cluster bombs claims
When put to him that the Iraqi mother of a child killed by cluster bombs would not thank British forces for their actions, Mr Hoon replied: "One day they might.

Aussie tells of blood in Baghdad's streets
The ground was still covered in pools of blood, she said.

We Are a Legitimate Military Target
If you think only Saddam places civilians near military targets, visit your local military base

Relief agency says Iraqis will be starving within a month
The World Food Programme believes that the poorest Iraqis will begin to run out of food by the end of the month, the agency said yesterday.

Guerrilla Warfare Has Made Monkeys Of Invading Forces

The War Americans Don't See

US heavy-handedness baffles British
THE American infantryman controlling the checkpoint on the road to Nasiriyah was clad in so much body armour he looked like Darth Vader.

'Liberated' city
where looters run wild and death stalks the streets

U.S. troops inflict 'so many deaths'
"I hope we don't experience anything like that again," said Sgt. Simon, 38, who gave only one name. "It is like [the 1991 Persian Gulf war]. When I see that many bodies, I just don't want to be here anymore."

Turf war rages in Washington over who will rule Iraq

A Spurious 'Smoking Gun'
Why has the news media ignored a Congressman's assertion that White House officials used evidence they knew to be false to build their case for war?

people are desperate

I have recently returned from Angola where I witnessed haunting scenes of poverty but I never expected to see the same levels of misery in Iraq, a country floating on oil.

The town is not under control. It's like the Wild West, and even the most serious humanitarian concern, water, is not being adequately administered.

Everywhere I went in Umm Qasr, people asked me for water. Wherever you look, people are carting around buckets and drums.

While tankers are being sent into the city by the Allied forces, people in the town told me that the water was being sold by the Iraqi drivers at 250 dinars for 20 litres – the average Iraqi earns 8,000 dinars a month. The standard humanitarian quota for water in emergency situations is a minimum of 20 litres per person each day.

Double Standards
The United States is right to insist that Iraq honor the Geneva Conventions. But its position is weakened by failure to practice what it preaches in holding 641 prisoners without charges at the U.S. military facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Bush believes he was called by God to lead the nation at this time

Marines Battle With Bayonets in Marsh

Saddam Was Not Always Washington’s ‘Demon’
WASHINGTON, 5 April 2003 — “Evil tyrant” or tactical ally? Saddam Hussein has been both to the United States over the past 20 years, depending on where it saw its interests.

two boys who grew up in the slums and died in another country's war
Jose Antonio grew up in Guatemala in the 1980s; Thaer Othman was born in the Palestinian refugee camp of Bourj el-Barajneh

‘Say No To War’ may mean ‘yes’ to e-mail worms
Mumbai, April 4: BEWARE, if you are an Anti-war activist and are trying to join any world peace movement via the Internet. Your computer server runs the risk of being infected by a virus.

Gorbachev calls for end to "bloodbath" in Iraq
BEIRUT (AFP) Apr 04, 2003 Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev called here Friday on the United States and Britain Friday to end the "bloodbath" in Iraq and allow the United Nations to resolve the crisis.

Canadian a suspect in plot to kill Israeli PM
TEL AVIV - Intelligence officials suspect a Canadian man arrested here last year was involved in a plot by the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah to assassinate the prime minister of Israel, the National Post has learned.

Bush Mix of God and War Grates on Many Europeans
PARIS (Reuters) - The religious overtones in President Bush's speeches increasingly grate on many ears in Europe, where leaders invoking God in times of war are widely suspect of misusing faith for political purposes.

Regime Change by Andrew Motion

Advancing down the road from Niniveh Death paused a while and said 'Now listen here.

You see the names of places roundabout? They're mine now, and I've turned them inside out.

Take Eden, further south: At dawn today I ordered up my troops to tear away

Its walls and gates so everyone can see That gorgeous fruit which dangles from its tree.

You want it, don't you? Go and eat it then, And lick your lips, and pick the same again.

Take Tigris and Euphrates; once they ran Through childhood-coloured slats of sand and sun.

Not any more they don't; I've filled them up With countless different kinds of human crap.

Take Babylon, the palace sprouting flowers Which sweetened empires in their peaceful hours -

I've found a different way to scent the air: Already it's a by-word for despair.

Which leaves Baghdad - the star-tipped minarets, The marble courts and halls, the mirage-heat.

These places, and the ancient things you know, You won't know soon. I'm working on it now.'

Iraqi Doctors induced Labour for premature babies right before war started!
"The doctor tried to induce labour but failed, so he had to perform a caesarean," he explained. "We had to take the risk because we hear that war is starting in few days and then there'll be no hospital to take her to." Trying to ease my horror he continued: "She isn't the only one. Hundreds of women in Baghdad are doing the same thing."

FISK:'Butterfly' bomblets rip into Iraqi children

The wounds are vicious and deep, a rash of scarlet spots on the back and thighs or face, the shards of shrapnel from the cluster bombs buried in the flesh.

The wards of the Hillah teaching hospital are proof that something illegal - something quite outside the Geneva Conventions - occurred in the villages around the city once known as Babylon.

The wailing children, the young women with breast and leg wounds, the 10 patients upon whom doctors had to perform brain surgery to remove metal from their heads, talk of the days and nights when the explosives fell "like grapes" from the sky.

Baghdad maternity hospital 'bombed'
The US military is investigating reports that coalition aircraft have bombed a Red Crescent maternity hospital in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

U.S. accused of neighborhood attack
GENEVA (AP) -- Red Cross workers saw the bodies of dozens of people -- including women and children -- at a town south of Baghdad where Iraqi officials claim U.S. helicopters attacked a residential neighborhood, the relief organization reported Wednesday.

Ordinary Americans Are Burdened with Anxiety
For most American civilians, they are as if waking from a dream. They said surprisingly "it turns out that our strength is actually not so strong". That is the latest reaction of many people who follow the warfare closely. A person named Kent in Wisconsin said: I didn't expect that we would lose so many people, it seems that our strength is not so strong as originally estimated. Someone named Jilander in Chicago said: Now we will no longer believe those high-sounding words uttered before the start of the war, the US troops really make one feel worry. A nurse in California said: "The war situation is worse than what I've imagined". The fact that US troops suffered setbacks has caused a fall in the stock market.

Bush benefits from decay of democracy
Bush's march to war has also been marked by one misrepresentation after another. Seymour Hersh, writing in The New Yorker, recently exposed as a forgery the administration's claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking to buy enriched uranium for nuclear weapons. The war is not the cakewalk Bush forecast. Ordinary Iraqis are not greeting American troops with flowers, while US casualties mount. The recriminations -- generals versus Rumsfeld, Pentagon versus State Department -- are already leaking into the press.

Teen held over website SARS rumours
Police say they have arrested a 14-year-old boy for allegedly spreading an online rumour that officials planned to declare Hong Kong an "infected city" as a deadly new flu-like disease spread.

Switzerland Documents U.S.-British War Crimes In Iraq
13 days after the launch of U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the Swiss Foreign Ministry has decided to document U.S.-British war crimes against Iraqi civilians on a separate section within its website.

We don't understand Iraqis, admits US officer
Two weeks into the war in Iraq, some senior military commanders are beginning to admit that American understanding of the Arab world is limited and that they still have to convince the Iraqis that they are liberators, not occupiers

Fisk:Children killed and maimed in bomb attack on town
Reporters from the Reuters news agency said they counted the bodies of 11 civilians and two Iraqi fighters in the Babylon suburb, 50 miles south of Baghdad. Nine of the dead were children, one a baby. Hospital workers said as many as 33 civilians were killed.

Victim of massacred Family Speaks
On March 16, Hassan and his family began to harvest tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions and eggplant. It was a healthy crop, and they expected a good year. "We had hope," he said. "But then you Americans came to bring us democracy and our hope ended." Lamea is nine months pregnant. "It would be better not to have the baby," she said. "Our lives are over."

MIA's ??
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq says it has shot down two U.S. helicopters, killing at least two crew, and from now on it will bury all enemy dead on the battlefield.

Pakistan Hopefuls want to use NUKES to protect Iraq
PESHAWAR: The MMA leadership on Friday said that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenals would serve as deterrence for the defence of the entire Muslim world if their party came to power.

FISK: suicidal act of war has struck fear into Allied hearts

Sergeant Ali Jaffar Moussa Hamadi al-Nomani was the first Iraqi combatant known to stage a suicide attack. Not even during the uprising against British rule did an Iraqi kill himself to destroy his enemies.

Nomani was also a Shia Muslim – a member of the same sect the Americans faithfully believed to be their secret ally in their invasion of Iraq. Even the Iraqi government initially wondered how to deal with his extraordinary action, caught between its desire to dissociate themselves from an event that might remind the world of Osama bin Laden and its determination to threaten the Americans with more such attacks.

When U.S. Foreign Policy Meets Biblical Prophecy

Does the Bible foretell regime change in Iraq? Did God establish Israel's boundaries millennia ago? Is the United Nations a forerunner of a satanic world order?

For millions of Americans, the answer to all those questions is a resounding yes.

For many believers in biblical prophecy, the Bush administration's go-it-alone foreign policy, hands-off attitude toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and proposed war on Iraq are not simply actions in the national self-interest or an extension of the war on terrorism, but part of an unfolding divine plan.

Twenty civilians killed when raid hit farm
Twenty people, including 11 children, were killed Saturday when a nighttime air raid hit a farm near Baghdad, relatives told AFP

“no regard for human life”

THREE wounded British soldiers described yesterday how they survived a terrifying attack by an American anti-tank aircraft that killed one of their troop and destroyed two armoured vehicles.

One of the survivors criticised the American pilot for showing “no regard for human life” and accused him of being a cowboy who had gone out on a jolly.

Another survivor said that he had stumbled out of the burning wreckage of his light tank and waved frantically to the pilot of the low-flying A10 to try to halt his “friendly fire” as he returned to attack again...

“All this kit has been provided by the Americans. They’ve said if you put this kit on you won’t get shot,” LCoH Gerrard said from his hospital bed on the Argus. “We can identify a friendly vehicle from 1,500 metres, yet you’ve got an A10 with advanced technology and he can’t use a thermal sight to identify whether a tank is a friend or foe. It’s ridiculous.

“Combat is what I’ve been trained for. I can command my vehicle. I can keep it from being attacked. What I have not been trained to do is look over my shoulder to see whether an American is shooting at me.”...

“ I’m curious about what’s going to happen to the pilot. He’s killed one of my friends and he’s killed him on the second run.”

IRAQIS BRING AID TO BASRA

Crowds of Iraqi civillians forced their way through Coalition checkpoints on the outskirts of the embattled southern city of Basra on Saturday to bring food and water to desperate relatives.

Around 2,000 Iraqis flooded across the bridge into the city as cars, trucks, taxis and carts loaded with supplies were eventually given permission to pass through Coalition lines.

British soldiers sent home after protesting at civilian deaths
Three British soldiers in Iraq have been ordered home after objecting to the conduct of the war. It is understood they have been sent home for protesting that the war is killing innocent civilians.

1,000 BRITS COULD DIE
MORE than 1,000 British troops could be killed if the coalition has to fight street battles in Baghdad, say military chiefs.

Chaos You Can Not Imagine
Town becomes horrific battleground

British troops sad and angry at fifth friendly fire death
Those who were first at the scene spoke of soldiers reduced to tears by the futile horror of the death and injuries. As news spread of another "blue on blue" – the Army's anodyne term for an allied attack on its own troops – there was impotent fury, with troops speaking of the uniquely recognisable profile of the Scimitar and the clarity of the weather at the time.

'Why give out food and then bomb us?'

US assassins 'kill Iraqi chiefs' in Baghdad
AMERICAN special forces have assassinated several senior Iraqi officials in a series of bomb and sniper attacks in Baghdad and other cities, it was revealed yesterday.

Dissent rounds on Rumsfeld
The US Defence Secretary is emerging as the fall guy amid accusations of ignored intelligence and poor tactics. Julian Coman in Washington reports

Eyewitness: Basra 'besieged'
A Western journalist who managed to get inside the southern Iraqi city of Basra says earlier claims of a popular uprising appear to be incorrect.

North Korea refuses Nuke Inspections
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea vowed on Saturday to resist all international demands on the communist state to allow nuclear inspections or agree to disarm, saying Iraq had made this mistake and was now paying the price.

British Commanders Question War Strategy
The commanders did not anticipate the level of resistance from Iraqi soldiers and the population at large in southern Iraq, where the British effort is concentrated, an informed defense source said.

War by numbers

31.03.2003

36: American soldiers killed in fighting so far.

7: American prisoners of war, according to Iraqi officials.

16: American soldiers missing, according to US officials.

23: British soldiers killed.

23 March: the costliest date for American lives so far - 11 dead, 16 missing and five taken prisoner.

589: Iraqi civilians killed so far, according to Iraqi officials.

4582: Iraqi civilians wounded, according to Iraqi officials.

4000: Iraqi prisoners of war, according to US officials.

2: posthumous medals awarded to suicide bomber Ali Hammadi al-Namani by Saddam Hussein.

6: the number of times US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld asked the military to reduce ground troops to invade Iraq, according to New Yorker magazine.

212: the number of Iraqi leaders and security chiefs the Pentagon wants to investigate for crimes in war or against human rights.

10: the number of "punks" who were moved on by Chinese police for holding an anti-war protest in Beijing without state permission.

Rumsfeld ignored Pentagon advice on Iraq
WASHINGTON - US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeatedly rejected advice from Pentagon planners that substantially more troops and armour would be needed to fight a war in Iraq, New Yorker Magazine reported.

Hit on Ansar Al-Islam Camp Finds No Signs of Chemical Weapons
U.S. Special Forces troops went on the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in northeastern Iraq Saturday but came up empty-handed.

Iran and Syria hit back over Rumsfeld threat
THE spectre of war spreading beyond Iraq’s borders loomed large last night after Iran - part of President Bush’s "axis of evil" - joined Syria in angrily rejecting US accusations of interference.

Bush reportedly shielded from dire forecast
WASHINGTON - President Bush's aides did not forcefully present him with dissenting views from CIA and State and Defense Department officials who warned that U.S.-led forces could face stiff resistance in Iraq, according to three senior administration officials.

Red Cross worker killed in Afghanistan
A Swiss Red Cross worker has been shot dead in Afghanistan underscoring the lawlessness and chaos that prevails 18 months after the US led a war against the Taliban and installed a new government.

Israelis trained US troops in Jenin-style urban warfare
The American military has been asking the Israeli army for advice on fighting inside cities, and studying fighting in the West Bank city of Jenin last April, unnamed United States and Israeli sources have confirmed. Reports that US troops trained with Israeli forces for street-to-street fighting have been denied.

Turkey issues warning to US over Iraq
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned the United States the country would make up its own mind on whether to send troops into northern Iraq as Kurdish groups controlling the breakaway region advanced on the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.

OOPS Tomahawks Land in SAUDI ARABIA!!
CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar (AP) — The United States halted Tomahawk cruise missile launches over parts of Saudi Arabia after the kingdom complained some of the weapons landed in the vast desert country, the Central Command said today.

Iraq fights invasion with fiery abuse
Since the war on Iraq started 10 days ago, the leaders of the United States and Britain have been branded "an international gang of criminal bastards", "blood-sucking bastards", ignorant imperialists, losers and fools.

Bush Prepares U.S. for More Casualties
President Bush on Saturday sought to marshal the nation's resolve to withstand more casualties, saying further sacrifice must be expected with U.S.-led troops "now fighting the most desperate units" of the Iraqi army.

Protests renewed worldwide
Campaigners are taking to the streets across the world once again to protest against the Iraq war, amid mounting public fears the US-British forces could become embroiled in a bloody and prolonged conflict.

Pope says war must not become "religious catastrophe"
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope John Paul has said he hopes that the human tragedy of the war in Iraq will not set Christians and Muslims against each other and spark "a religious catastrophe".

Robert Fisk: The Truth About Basra
Two British soldiers lie dead on a Basra roadway, a small Iraqi girl – victim of an Anglo American air strike – is brought to hospital with her intestines spilling out of her stomach, a terribly wounded woman screams in agony as doctors try to take off her black dress...

Why did the Administration endorse a forgery about Iraq’s nuclear program?
Last September 24th, as Congress prepared to vote on the resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to wage war in Iraq, a group of senior intelligence officials, including George Tenet, the Director of Central Intelligence, briefed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Iraq’s weapons capability. It was an important presentation for the Bush Administration. Some Democrats were publicly questioning the President’s claim that Iraq still possessed weapons of mass destruction which posed an immediate threat to the United States. ...

Iraqi civilians feed hungry US marines
CENTRAL IRAQ (AFP) - Iraqi civilians fleeing heavy fighting have stunned and delighted hungry US marines in central Iraq by giving them food, as guerrilla attacks continue to disrupt coalition supply lines to the rear.

Blair, Chirac want to Work Closely on Post-War Iraq
PARIS (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac want their two countries to work closely together with the United Nations ( in post-war Iraq ,Chirac's office said on Saturday.

Suicide attacks will continue: Iraqi minister
NAJAF, IRAQ - U.S. and coalition soldiers will face more suicide attacks, Iraq's vice-president said hours after a bomber killed four American soldiers.

Baghdad rejects new UN oil-for-food resolution
Iraq has rejected a new United Nations Security Council resolution reached unanimously on Friday that renewed the seven-year-old oil-for-food programme for the country.

Robert Fisk: 'It was an outrage, an obscenity'

27 March 2003

It was an outrage, an obscenity. The severed hand on the metal door, the swamp of blood and mud across the road, the human brains inside a garage, the incinerated, skeletal remains of an Iraqi mother and her three small children in their still-smouldering car.

Two missiles from an American jet killed them all – by my estimate, more than 20 Iraqi civilians, torn to pieces before they could be 'liberated' by the nation that destroyed their lives. Who dares, I ask myself, to call this 'collateral damage'? Abu Taleb Street was packed with pedestrians and motorists when the American pilot approached through the dense sandstorm that covered northern Baghdad in a cloak of red and yellow dust and rain yesterday morning.

It's a dirt-poor neighbourhood, of mostly Shia Muslims, the same people whom Messrs Bush and Blair still fondly hope will rise up against President Saddam Hussein, a place of oil-sodden car-repair shops, overcrowded apartments and cheap cafés. Everyone I spoke to heard the plane. One man, so shocked by the headless corpses he had just seen, could say only two words. "Roar, flash," he kept saying and then closed his eyes so tight that the muscles rippled between them.

How should one record so terrible an event? Perhaps a medical report would be more appropriate. But the final death toll is expected to be near to 30 and Iraqis are now witnessing these awful things each day; so there is no reason why the truth, all the truth, of what they see should not be told.

For another question occurred to me as I walked through this place of massacre yesterday. If this is what we are seeing in Baghdad, what is happening in Basra and Nasiriyah and Kerbala? How many civilians are dying there too, anonymously, indeed unrecorded, because there are no reporters to be witness to their suffering?

Abu Hassan and Malek Hammoud were preparing lunch for customers at the Nasser restaurant on the north side of Abu Taleb Street. The missile that killed them landed next to the westbound carriageway, its blast tearing away the front of the café and cutting the two men – the first 48, the second only 18 – to pieces. A fellow worker led me through the rubble. "This is all that is left of them now," he said, holding out before me an oven pan dripping with blood.

At least 15 cars burst into flames, burning many of their occupants to death. Several men tore desperately at the doors of another flame-shrouded car in the centre of the street that had been flipped upside down by the same missile. They were forced to watch helplessly as the woman and her three children inside were cremated alive in front of them. The second missile hit neatly on the eastbound carriageway, sending shards of metal into three men standing outside a concrete apartment block with the words, "This is God's possession" written in marble on the outside wall.

The building's manager, Hishem Danoon, ran to the doorway as soon as he heard the massive explosion. "I found Ta'ar in pieces over there," he told me. His head was blown off. "That's his hand." A group of young men and a woman took me into the street and there, a scene from any horror film, was Ta'ar's hand, cut off at the wrist, his four fingers and thumb grasping a piece of iron roofing. His young colleague, Sermed, died the same instant. His brains lay piled a few feet away, a pale red and grey mess behind a burnt car. Both men worked for Danoon. So did a doorman who was also killed.

As each survivor talked, the dead regained their identities. There was the electrical shop-owner killed behind his counter by the same missile that cut down Ta'ar and Sermed and the doorman, and the young girl standing on the central reservation, trying to cross the road, and the truck driver who was only feet from the point of impact and the beggar who regularly called to see Mr Danoon for bread and who was just leaving when the missiles came screaming through the sandstorm to destroy him.

In Qatar, the Anglo-American forces – let's forget this nonsense about "coalition" – announced an inquiry. The Iraqi government, who are the only ones to benefit from the propaganda value of such a bloodbath, naturally denounced the slaughter, which they initially put at 14 dead. So what was the real target? Some Iraqis said there was a military encampment less than a mile from the street, though I couldn't find it. Others talked about a local fire brigade headquarters, but the fire brigade can hardly be described as a military target.

Certainly, there had been an attack less than an hour earlier on a military camp further north. I was driving past the base when two rockets exploded and I saw Iraqi soldiers running for their lives out of the gates and along the side of the highway. Then I heard two more explosions; these were the missiles that hit Abu Taleb Street.

Of course, the pilot who killed the innocent yesterday could not see his victims. Pilots fire through computer-aligned co-ordinates, and the sandstorm would have hidden the street from his vision. But when one of Malek Hammoud's friends asked me how the Americans could so blithely kill those they claimed to want to liberate, he didn't want to learn about the science of avionics or weapons delivery systems.

And why should he? For this is happening almost every day in Baghdad. Three days ago, an entire family of nine was wiped out in their home near the centre of the city. A busload of civilian passengers were reportedly killed on a road south of Baghdad two days ago. Only yesterday were Iraqis learning the identity of five civilian passengers slaughtered on a Syrian bus that was attacked by American aircraft close to the Iraqi border at the weekend.

The truth is that nowhere is safe in Baghdad, and as the Americans and British close their siege in the next few days or hours, that simple message will become ever more real and ever more bloody.

We may put on the hairshirt of morality in explaining why these people should die. They died because of 11 September, we may say, because of President Saddam's "weapons of mass destruction", because of human rights abuses, because of our desperate desire to "liberate" them all. Let us not confuse the issue with oil. Either way, I'll bet we are told President Saddam is ultimately responsible for their deaths. We shan't mention the pilot, of course.

Liberal caucus considered expelling U.S. ambassador

Toronoto extends SARS quarantine
TORONTO (CP) - Thousands of people have been told to "quarantine themselves," wear masks and in some cases stay home in an effort to stop the spread of a deadly SARS outbreak in Toronto that health officials are calling "an incident of unprecedented scope and magnitude."

What's Behind the Killer Virus?
Until Monday, scientists believed the virus, which has killed over 50 people (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report only 17) worldwide and infected up to 500, belonged to a family of viruses called paramyxovirus, the same family as that of mumps and measles. But on Monday, CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding said at a news conference that CDC researchers found no link to paramyxovirus in their samples

Ontario government declares "health emergency" over disease outbreak
TORONTO (CP) - Protective face masks flew off supply store shelves Wednesday as anxious Torontonians sought to shield themselves against a deadly SARS outbreak that prompted Ontario to declare a "health emergency."

US using Depleted Uranium munitions
US Marines called up A-10 strike aircraft to deal with ‘pockets of resistance’ but even the BBC ‘failed’ to mention that the A-10 uses DU rounds. They are spraying uranium aerosols in Iraq; and no one is being told

U.S. military won't shelve depleted uranium
ARLINGTON, Va. — The U.S. military will use its arsenal of depleted uranium weapons against armored Iraqi tanks in the event of an invasion, in spite of critics who have said the chemical is linked to various cancers and birth defects, officials said.

US troops fight Iraqi child soldiers

21 March 2003: Saddam has trained children as young as 10 to fight through ambushes, sniping, and terrorist-type operations, reports Derwin Pereira

American GIs may have a psychological battle on their hands if they invade Iraq. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has trained children - some as young as 10 - to confront them in small-scale ambushes, sniping, roadblocks and terrorist-type operations behind the battle lines.

A recent report from the respected Washington-based Brookings Institute suggested that these 'child soldiers' could become problematic for US troops even if they have overwhelming military superiority over Baghdad.

The report noted: 'Because Iraq's child soldiers have been rigorously indoctrinated by the regime, the flow of the war and even the disintegration of resistance by regular Iraqi military forces may have little impact on their actions.'

Shocking. Not awesome

In English, on this side of the Atlantic at any rate, the word "awe" is generally used in the passive voice. It has been so since Gibbon so used it in The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Now George Bush has added the word "shock" and turned the voice from passive to active. The plan of the US military was thus to "shock and awe" the benighted Iraqis.

We Brits are not so keen. Partly this is on grounds of grammatical correctness. Partly it is a question of taste: "awe" ought to conjure a sense of reverence, yet this man's awesome is another man's gruesome – particularly to those on the receiving end of it. But the main objection is the sense of American arrogance, not to say hubris, that the unhappy phrase conveys. If we truly want to liberate the Iraqis, "shock and awe" is not what we should be showering upon them, either linguistically or in terms of military hardware.

Minute after minute the missiles came
Saddam's main presidential palace, a great rampart of a building 20 storeys high, simply exploded in front of me ­ a cauldron of fire, a 100ft sheet of flame and a sound that had my ears singing for an hour after. The entire, massively buttressed edifice shuddered under the impact. Then four more cruise missiles came in...

U.S. Battles Calls for Emergency UN Session on Iraq
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States has launched a worldwide diplomatic drive to head off the calling of an emergency session of the U.N. General Assembly to condemn the U.S.-led war on Iraq diplomats said on Friday.

'Baghdad was a red glow'
The British Tornado air crews who paved the way for the massive aerial bombardment of Baghdad returned safely to base in northern Kuwait late last night and spoke of the "awesome" sight of the city erupting in flames as they delivered their missiles and turned for home.
One thing I have noticed is that there has been no new film of the "shock and Awe" blitz on Baghdad since that big mushroom cloud they showed the other day.

US FORCES look for but can't find WMD!!
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. special operations troops combing Iraq for Scud missiles and chemical or biological weapons have found none so far, a senior American military officer said Saturday.

Global anti-war demonstrations gain momentum

Iraq war could be longer than predicted

An Open Letter to the American People on Resisting War
It is not possible for any of us, after the 1991 Gulf war, the attacks of 9/11 and the 2002 war in Afghanistan, to trust that smart bombs or combat operations, whether primitive or highly technical, could bring peace and security to any nation.

Anger grows in Arab World
CAIRO, Egypt -- Thousands of Arabs seething with anger at the U.S.-led bombing of Iraq protested for a third day on Saturday, amid concern the demonstrations could threaten stability in the volatile region.
UMMM I think it is actually the war that threatens stability in the region!

Grenade attack on US camp injures 10
Ten soldiers have been wounded in an attack on Camp Pennsylvania, a military base in northern Kuwait, the US military said today
Children among 50 killed in bombings
Three dead, 250 civilians wounded in Baghdad, says Iraq
Four US soldiers reported killed in central Iraq

Stray missiles land in Iran
I thought they said their weapons were so precise they didn't make mistakes anymore?

North Korea readies for war
BEIJING - North Korea is preparing for a possible war with the United States, according to a UN envoy who returned Saturday from Pyongyang.

KURDS WARN TURKS!

Germany threatens Turkey
BERLIN - Germany said Saturday it would withdraw its crew members from NATO surveillance planes that are patrolling Turkish airspace if Turkey moves its troops into Iraq.
The threat was announced by Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Defense Minister Peter Struck following a meeting of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Security Cabinet. It came as the Turkish military denied reports that some 1,000 Turkish commandos had crossed into northern Iraq.
Germany has staunchly opposed military action in Iraq, and has said that it will not take part in a war.

Anti-war protests sweep the globe

Exodus in northern Iraq
Up to 500,000 people in northern Iraq have fled their homes ahead of the US-led invasion - and the movement is continuing, a UN aid agency has said

Conscripts shoot their own officers rather than fight

Saddam believes he can win even when staring at defeat

100 casualties in Baghdad, says Red Cross

keep tinned food, bottled water and a battery-powered torch at home.

This is actually good advice. When the attack begins on Iraq today, all of us in the "West" and really anywhere in the world are in danger of being affected by retaliation from the "enemy".

Be advised that your local grocery store only has a few days supply of food. If you live in a remote area, and if there is any disruption of the distribution system, it may be several days or weeks before the trucks can reach your area. Don't be left in the dark without food. It is prudent to keep at least a 3 day supply of what you will need.

Beans and rice will keep you in good health. It may be wise to obtain a supply of dried beans and legumes and one of those large sacks of rice. It will last almost forever and will be a good reserve if it is ever needed. Canned food is also a great alternative to keep you fed.

Everyone should have a three day supply of water per person. Think carefully how much water you use everyday. You will require water for cooking, washing and hygiene in addition to drinking. It would be prudent to allow a minimum of 3 gallons of bottled water per day, per person.

If something does happen such as the electricity going out for an extended period, it would be a good idea to have some ice on hand to keep whatever fresh food you do have cool. It will be too late to make ice once the electricity goes out so make it now. If you live in a cold climate, you can simply store your perishables outside or grab some snow and ice from the street to put into your cooler.

If anything does happen, God forbid, it would be a good idea to stay home. Don't bother to send the kids to school, call work to ask if they would prefer you stay home. Stay at home and keep the family together. There may be chaos in the streets and even martial law. You do not want to be mistaken for a looter or a rioter. You do not want to be the victim of further violence.

Keep cash on hand in small bills. A major terrorist attack could mean financial and economic chaos. If there is a run on the banks, you will be left cashless and very vulnerable. Standing outside a closed bank alongside a bunch of other disapointed patrons could become a violent situation you will want to avoid. Get to the bank before the chaos starts.

Don't take any chances. Consider the worst case scenario and make choices about which scenarios you should prepare for.

Life a bitch lately? Blame your elected leaders who support the War. Blame yourself if you support the War!

War may reshape global order

It is shattering old alliances and creating unlikely new ones on a scale not seen since World War II

By Peter Grier and Faye Bowers | Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor

WASHINGTON – Today the world may have reached a defining geopolitical moment similar to the late 1940s, when the East-West alignment that characterized the cold war emerged from the chaos of World War II.

As that war shattered old alliances and created new ones, so a US invasion of Iraq appears likely to scramble an order that has seemed as fixed as the stars for almost 60 years. Poland - remember that old term, East bloc? - is sending troops to the Middle East, but not France.

Bulgaria is one of America's new good friends, while Germany, for the moment, has been downgraded from "ally" to "acquaintance."

The nascent US-Russian relationship has cooled, while China looks on warily, unsure what all this means for Asia. The Middle East? It will be different. How different, and in what manner, few who have had much experience in that battered region are willing to guess.

"I think we're actually in a new period without much modern historical analogy," says Jim Walsh, an international security expert at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass. "A lot depends on what happens in Iraq."

For for of this article, click on the link

American Troops stretched Thinner & Thinner!

One has to wonder how many American troops can be placed all over the world plus be effective in a Mideast war. The population of the American military is much smaller than the potential militaries of China, India and other Asian countries.

Gulf deployment leaves US military stretched thin

With heavy ground forces and carriers in Gulf, a crisis elsewhere would test resources.

By Seth Stern | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Although US forces deployed to the Persian Gulf are smaller in absolute size than they were in 1991 for Operation Desert Storm, America is sending a higher proportion of its combat units into battle at once than it has in decades.

Analysts say the US still has the capability - through air power - to respond to possible flashpoints such as Korea or Taiwan.

But, despite a longstanding military doctrine of "two-war" capability, a long war or occupation of Iraq will strain the military's ability to do much more than hold out against other potential enemies.

"It's a substantial portion of the force structure [in the Gulf], and it's not something that could be sustained," says Owen Cote, associate director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's security studies program.

Click on the link for the rest of this story

Has Tariq Aziz been killed?!
The Islamic Republic News Agency is reporting that perhaps Tariq Aziz, deputy PM of Iraq may have been killed. Other News about Aziz suggests he has been captured by the Americans and is being interrogated.

Vatican: US, Backers Responsible Before God on Iraq

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican said on Tuesday countries that decide to wage war on Iraq without a global consensus must take responsibility before God and history -- making clear the Pope would not endorse their actions.

"Those who decide that all peaceful means that international law makes available are exhausted assume a grave responsibility before God, their conscience and history," said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls.

Navarro-Valls' comment was the Vatican's first official reaction to Washington's ultimatum to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to go into exile within 48 hours or face war. Both the British and Spanish prime ministers have backed Washington.

The latest developments will be a setback for Pope John Paul, who has led a vigorous diplomatic campaign against the threatened U.S.-led attack on Iraq, emerging as one of the world's most powerful anti-war voices.

At the weekend he issued a passionate plea for peace and said Iraq's leaders had a duty to cooperate with international community to avert war. He told both sides there was still time to negotiate.

The 82-year-old pontiff has held talks with world leaders who are opposed to war and those who are its staunchest supporters. He has also sent peace envoys to both Washington and Baghdad.

The Vatican has said it will not shut its embassy in Iraq even if war breaks out.

War is about to begin!

BAGHDAD (AP) - In an edgy prelude to war, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein mocked a U.S. ultimatum Tuesday to surrender power and President George W. Bush's administration claimed public support from 30 countries for its international coalition supporting Iraq's disarmament.

Click on the link for more of this news article

whatreallyhappens.com is not what it appears to be
What Really Happens at whatreallyhappened.com?

The role of the conspiracy theorist is not to provide answers but to raise the questions not being asked - to sniff out suspicious patterns and duplicitous sources. Casting a critical eye at mainstream media is but one necessary task, casting a critical eye at self-proclaimed independent media is another - after all, conspiracies don't conveniently end at corporate boundaries.

One independent website of note, whatreallyhappened.com, is widely referenced by conspiracy theorists the world over. Yet for a website dedicated to exposing hidden truths, there is a suspicious lack of information about those who support the enterprise. Only the editorial commentator Michael Rivero is a public identified participant, as referenced by a couple links to off-site interviews (home page, bottom left corner).

While it is true that Michael Rivero's has been published numerous times on well-established sites like Rense, the Yellow Times, and the World Net Daily, strangely his interviews were conducted by two obscure websites, GoOff! and BankIndex. This peculiar choice of "media outlets" as a promotional tool deserved a closer look...

The BankIndex interview: Conducted by J. Conti (who also writes for GoOff.com) the interview comprises of three parts, between advertisements for loans, foreclosure notices, debt consolidations, and credit cards offers endorsed by BankIndex. The site also "provides a global platform upon which the Financial Businesses of the world can showcase their product lines and services" and "for select Financial Institutions we offer a highly competitive fee structure to be included in our different promotional plans 'Showcase' arena." It just so happens that BankIndex is a division of PMC4, LLC.

So why would Michael Rivero, an avowed anti-globalist, anti-corporate champion of the truth be working for (or very closely with) a corporate operation like PMC4, LLC? Perhaps it's better to ask what is the nature of Aventura, Florida corporation's business; "From web hosting to options to mutli-faceted revenue generation strategies, PMC4, LLC offers a variety of services and solutions intended to optimize your path to profitability." Their objective is to specialize "in assisting small to medium sized businesses as well as Fortune 100 companies whose presence on the Internet is more than ancillary to their core business."

For more of this story click on the link

Yank soldiers have a lot in common with Barney Fife!
I can see now why they have troubles dropping bombs on the right people.
Dispatch from the 101st
Mask, gun: check. Bullets: not so fast.
By WES ALLISON, Times Staff Writer © St. Petersburg Times published March 13, 2003

CAMP UDAIRI, Kuwait -- This may surprise the folks back home, but the U.S. Army forces massing across the Iraqi border are largely unarmed.

Even though all U.S. soldiers deployed to the six main Army camps in northern Kuwait must carry their rifles at all times -- even to the latrine in the middle of the night -- few are carrying any bullets.

This is not an oversight, or a lame-brained cost-saving measure ordered by the Pentagon, or an indication that American military leaders believe they can take Iraq without firing a shot.

Rather, it's an effort to stave off the sad inevitable: Once the Army starts issuing ammo en masse, soldiers will accidentally shoot themselves and each other.

Those who served in Afghanistan, Desert Storm and other conflicts can attest to it.

At Wednesday's morning briefing at Camp Udairi, American leaders were told that four soldiers in the British sector were injured when one of their rifles accidentally discharged.

Last week, a U.S. Marine was shot in the neck by an officer who was cleaning his pistol in another tent. He survived but required major surgery, doctors said.

Officers say the safety risk far outweighs the security risk.

"We may be rolling the dice, but I can guarantee that you're not going to have any large forces rolling across the border and over-running our camp," said Maj. Spencer Smith, a logistics coordinator for the 101st Airborne Division.

In the meantime, the soldiers patrolling the perimeter and the sentinels have all the rounds they could ever need. The Apache and Black Hawk helicopters patrolling the skies above the camps can quickly bring a hellstorm of cannon and missile fire on any approaching enemy, and Patriot missile batteries stand ready to shoot down any Iraqi Scud missiles.

Smith and others couldn't recall a combat deployment where the bulk of troops remained without bullets for so long. Some got here in December, although most of the 101st Airborne arrived about 10 days ago.

Many soldiers say they feel silly carrying empty guns.

"If something kicks up, we're s--- out of luck," said Pfc. Jessica Ruth, 19, of Florence, S.C., supply clerk in the Division Supply Command of the 101st Airborne.

At the same time, she said, "I don't feel comfortable with (ammo) because we got some careless people around here."

On base, it's easy to tell which soldiers are ready for ammunition. Infantrymen -- who have been given some bullets -- and former infantrymen wield their weapons as deftly as a chef handles a knife and saute pan. The M-4 rifle is the tool of their trade, and they practice with it for hours a day. It is an extension of themselves.

But even in the Airborne, the famously aggressive combat unit from Fort Campbell, Ky., and in the 3rd Infantry Division of Fort Stewart, Ga., many support personnel lack that fluidity and comfort with guns.

For some, the rifle is like a third arm, awkward and heavy and forever in the way. They drop it, or leave it behind, or use it as a tool.

They lean it against a cot or a tent post, then knock it over, sending it clattering to the plywood tent floor. They forget about it when they turn around in the tent, bonking their buddies with the barrel or butt.

Early this week, a private was reprimanded for using her gun barrel as a pry bar while she was assembling the aluminum frame of cot.

"No, no, no," her sergeant barked. "What are you thinking?"

In Afghanistan, medics with the 101st Airborne treated three soldiers who were inadvertently shot by their friends, including an engineer who lost the lower half of one leg, said Sgt. 1st Class Jesse Carabajal, 39, a senior medic who deployed to Afghanistan, and is now serving in Kuwait.

One night as Carabajal and other medics lounged in their tent, a bullet whizzed through the canvas and struck a center support poll, then ricocheted through the roof. A soldier in the tent next door had fired his gun accidentally while cleaning it.

The M-4 rifle that is the standard weapon of the U.S. Army soldier these days is a shorter, lighter, more maneuverable version of the M-16. It carries a magazine with 30 5.56-millimeter rounds.

Officers also carry 9mm pistols, and each squad has an M-249 machine gun. Many infantry platoons carry a heavier M-60 machine gun as well.

Accidental discharges, as the Army calls them, typically occur in a war zone while a soldier is cleaning an M-4 or a pistol, or while "clearing" it -- that is, removing the magazine, emptying the chamber and pulling the trigger.

Each day, every soldier must disassemble the firing mechanism -- including the bolt, the firing pin and a large spring -- and wipe out the grime inside.

This keeps the gun firing smoothly, and is especially important in the desert, where sand and dust infiltrate every moving part. After cleaning and reassembling the gun, the soldier then must pull the trigger, listening for the comforting "click" of the firing pin.

Only then should the soldier re-insert the magazine. Unfortunately, soldiers sometimes confuse the steps, and insert the magazine before they check the trigger, Carabajal said.

"I'm scared, like everybody else, of getting shot accidentally by another soldier," Carabajal said. "It happens. Hopefully it won't, but it's happened everywhere we've gone."

Meanwhile, U.S. troops at Udairi on Wednesday received an unwelcome order: They must now wear "full battle rattle," minus the Kevlar flak vests, whenever they leave the tents.

That means carrying gas mask, biochemical protective suit and weapons, and wearing helmet and the heavy load-bearing vest, where most soldiers carry essential battle items such as canteens, a compass, and pressure dressing.

And ammunition, if they had any.

13 Questions We Wish They'd Asked

By Ari Berman

13 Questions We Wish They'd Asked At President Bush's Press Conference Thursday Night

1. You say Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction and is evil enough to use them. If not during an American invasion of his country, then when? Have you calculated how many U.S. troops might die in such an attack?

2. Why, if North Korea has the capability to produce six nuclear warheads by mid-summer, are you letting their very reluctant neighbors take the lead in deterring them (as you announced tonight) while demanding that the U.S. take charge in confronting Saddam?

3. You praise the Iraqi people, say we have no quarrel with them, pledge to save them from the dictator and give them democracy. Would you tell us how many of them are likely to die in even the best invastion scenario? And how many civilians might die if Saddam, indeed, uses chemical weapons to defend himself?

4. Why do you think Turkey's parliament voted against hosting U.S. troops after being offered such a large aid package, especially since they are on Iraq's border?

5. With the economy skaken and deficits climbing, how do you respond to critics who say you're ignoring domestic issues and the long-term economic security of this country by focusing so much of your time and resources on Iraq?

6. You say one major reason for taking this action is to protect Americans from terrorism. How do you respond to the warnings of CIA Director George Tenet and others that invading Iraq would in fact likely increase terrorism?

7. Why have you threatened "retribution" against Mexico if it votes against our U.N. resolution? And do you think it is wise to warn that Mexicans could face the same reaction as the "backlash against the French" from our public (as you recently said) when this might be directed at some of the tens of millions of Hispanics living in the U.S.?

8. Rather than make us wait for a supplemental budget request -- after the war has been launched -- to tell us what it, and its aftermath, will cost, don't you think the American people (who will pay the bill) deserve to know the latest long-term estimates before the fact?

9. Why did the U.S. edit the 12,000 page Iraqi weapons report (as recently revealed) to the U.N. Security Council, removing all names of U.S. companies that sold weapons materials to the Iraqis in the past?

10. Would you confirm or deny the reports this week, based on a leaked memo, that the U.S. bugged and otherwise spied on representatives of countries that are swing votes on the U.N. Security Council? Do you approve of such actions?

11. You claimed tonight that Iraq has started producing new missiles -- but are these nothing more than less capable versions (fully permitted by the U.N.) of the missiles being destroyed now?

12. How do you respond to reporter Daniel Schorr's statement that the "coalition of the willing" is actually a "coalition of the billing?"

13. Why is the U.S. threatening a non-U.N.-backed war if 59% of Americans do not support a U.S. invasion without the approval of the U.N. Security Council, according to a Feb. 24-26 USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll?

Town in Italy will give Saddam Safe Refuge

Town Tempts Saddam with Exile

ROME (Reuters) - Desperate to avoid war in the Gulf, a small Italian town is offering Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and his family exile.

"We are doing the only possible serious thing, we are saying Saddam and his family can come and live here in a recently renovated building in the center of town," said Mario Caligiuri, mayor of Soveria Mannelli, in the southern region of Calabria.

The mayor said the 3,500 residents of the town, tucked down in the foot of the boot-shaped country, would be happy to have Saddam as their neighbor -- even though the United States accuses him of developing weapons of mass destruction. Iraq denies it has such weapons. "Once Saddam leaves Iraq there's no risk, either for him or for us," Caligiuri, 42, told Reuters by telephone on Friday.

He said the town would contact the Iraqi embassy in Rome to make a formal offer, but in the meantime had arranged protection for Saddam's family in the event the proposal was accepted.

"We have already organized round-the-clock security for them, namely our three local policemen," Caligiuri said.

Lysistrata

Today I had a really traumatic exam in Greek Mythology...I lived though.

Aristophenes' anti-war play, written in 410 BC, is now being performed by theatre groups around the world to protest a possible war with Iraq.

Oil prices shoot up to Gulf war levels

Oil prices shot to their highest level since the Gulf war yesterday as fears of an imminenimminent conflict in Iraq intensified, and investors sought to rebuild.

With the UN deadline for Iraq to begin destroying illicit missiles looming, the cost of a barrel of US light crude rose more than a dollar to $38.74 before falling back to $38.50.

"It's just reached the stage where it can't take much more. It's a meltdown," said Paul Horsnell, oil analyst at JP Morgan.

Women for a Free Iraq

"We are a diverse group of women from Iraq who have come together to speak up about the suffering of our people under Saddam Hussein's brutal rule, and their yearning to be liberated. We represent a broad cross-section of Iraq's diverse ethnic groups - Sh'ias, Sunnis, Kurds and Assyro-Chaldean Christians. ...

Canada's East Coast cod fishery looks bleak
Cod populations remain at or near record lows around Nova Scotia. Even with a complete ban on fishing, stocks would probably keep declining in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the scientists said.

Iraqis face famine and thirst
Nearly half of the Iraqi population may be left without food or water in the aftermath of a war against the country, the United Nations has warned in a new report...And it noted that the shortages inflicted by conflict would come as a double blow in a nation which already faces severe food distribution problems as a result of sanctions... A high proportion of Iraq's 23 million people currently depend on food rations provided by the Baghdad government. If central distribution were disrupted - as it would be in a war - the UN estimates that these people would, at best, have six weeks worth of rations before food runs out. Military action is also likely to destroy much of the country's sanitation infrastructure, leaving 50% of the population without access to drinking water.

North Korea testing missiles
Meanwhile, Despots take advantage of shakey world peace.

Chrétien says give Saddam a few more weeks
"war has to be the last resort." says Chretien. Remember he is a lame duck PM. He will not run again nor will he finish this term. He has the guts to say what he really believes and credibly does so because he will soon retire anyway.

AIDS Breakthrough!!??!!
A harmless virus that seems to infect millions of people without causing symptoms may help slow the deadly progress of the AIDS virus, researchers said.

Protest for PEACE on Saturday!
Find the protest nearest you and join it. Be a part of history!

Korean Nukes can Hit West Coast !
According to CNN, the North Koreans can actually hit the USA with their missiles. Well I am happy to be on the East Coast of this continent is all I can say. They are broadcasting day and night the threat we are about to face from a terrorist attack...the cia and the FBI are reporting they have never been so sure of a pending attack ever before. People are apparently buying sheets of plastic and guntape to cover their doors and windows with just in case of a chemical attack. Everyone is acting crazy...the whole world is acting crazy! The Politicians are telling us the attacks will come as soon as the Hajj ends...WHY must we be fighting a religious war in 2003? It is all crap...our entire existence is crap! We are not free but rather we are slaves to a handful of despots who have gained control of the world. God help us all.

Big Fine for Petting Whale!
Ok when I started reading this story I thought...omigod why would petting a whale be a crime? Then as I read on I find out people are going down to the dock and pouring beer in its mouth!!! Well I guess this actually turns out to be a story about animal cruelty...and yes feeding wild animals beer is cruel...feeding wild animals any sort of human food is cruel.

Man goes to war, sperm stays at home
Ok when I read this story I decided to make up my owm conspiracy...maybe because there are a bunch of crummy reruns on TV tonight namely Terminator 2 and Universal Soldier...ANYHOW... So I figured, all these young Bucks going off to war yet saving their sperm in jars for safe keeping incase they are for some reason rendered sterile during WWIII. Why would the govt want their sperm? Well to breed a race of super soldiers of course! They (the govt) can use the swimmers from those soldiers who turn out to be the fittest during actual war...I mean you can train all you want but its only like video games and no one really knows how a soldier will react until he/she actually starts killing real people and watching all his/her buddies get slaughtered around him/her. But I digress...so the evil govt sneaks a few swimmers, fucks with the DNA a little to enhance brawn and decrease compassion, then impregnates some eggs harvested from Bertha (a German Fraulein who medaled in weightlifting)and VOILA! It's the Arnold Swarzenegger of several bad movies hopefully minus that stupid accent...but not just one Arnie...a whole army full of cloned Jean-Claude's, Dolf's and Rambo's. This way the Bush family can send in an occupying force to any malnourished country with exploitable oil reserves and no one ever needs to know. Once the occupation of Iraq starts, the soldier clones will be raised in Iraq and can train on real live Iraqi civilians! Oh and war will be fun because no one except foreign scum will get hurt or be affected in any way (except of course unless we want to do some profiteering). Ok so remember I made this up. If you hear it in the bar next week...I MADE THIS UP!!

Pope John Paul pleaded with the world Saturday to find peaceful solutions to disputes.
"Tensions and winds of war" are swirling around the planet, he said, and people are being tempted by "hate and violence." What a concept! Instead of feeling guilty about who you slept with last night...feel guilt about not doing all you can for peace!

Iraqi Threatens to Send Suicide Attackers
"We have no long-range missiles or bomber squadrons, but we will deploy thousands of suicide attackers," Ramadan told the weekly Der Spiegel. "These are our new weapons, and they will be used not only in Iraq."

People are starving in Gaza
Almost three quarters of Palestinians now live on less than US$2 a day - below the United Nations poverty line.' The report details how, in the ten years of the Oslo peace process, living standards have worsened for almost all Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Last year, due to Israeli closures of these regions, Palestinian earnings from agriculture fell by 70 per cent, as farmers were unable to market their produce, for instance.

Warmongers and Peaceniks too similar for my taste!
Those of us who have been to websites like Worldnetdaily.com or whatreallyhappened.com realise how opposite these two websites are and in fact the two authors of these pages even seem to have personal animosity towards one another. Warmonger Joseph Farah of WND is of course a nut bar and his total agenda is to vilify the Palestinians and the Syrians and (and strangely Mexican Americans) and promote the absolute squeaky clean whiteness of Israel in all it’s political doings. I think it is important to realise that Joe Farah is particularly biased in that he seems to belong to a Christian Fundamentalist Sect which is fixated on the building of the third temple on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Christian Zionists are plenty of fun but for the most part they are nut bars and Joe Farah is no exception. One should also note that Joe Farah is an Arab Christian from Lebanon (although he has long since shed the Orthodox or Catholic faith of Lebanese Christiandom and replaced it with that special brand of USA fundamentalism), and his point of view of the region is intricately entwined with the civil war in his former country and all the politics that went with it. However Joe Farah’s crazy attitude looks crazy enough for most people to set aside. The real danger these days seems to be Mike Rivero of WhatReallyHappened. As a peacenik and a conspiracy theorist, Rivero has gained great popularity on the web. A lot of his stuff is appealing to the masses searching for answers in this difficult era. However over the months I have been visiting his site he has slipped down the slope from the balanced view of not all Jews are Zionists (which is an absolute true statement) to outright anti-semitic comments and even of late has begun to question the historicity of the Holocaust! Sprinkled between reasonable commentary of current events, Rivero has begun to insert snide comments questioning the numbers of Holocaust victims and suggesting that Jews have caused problems in every community since the beginning of time! This type of talk removes all credibility of the peace movement! I am not sure Rivero is consciously becoming an anti-semite but rather that his obsession and frustration with current events is propelling him in that direction. Even in a recent editorial, he attempts to argue that the crimes of an individual should not tarnish an entire people but then he concludes with a statement that nasty Jews have been purposely hiding behind allegations of racism for thousands of years! It seems that Rivero is either struggling with his own anti-semitism or that he is conditioning his reader to slowly come to the realisation that “Jews are bad” (a useful cult brainwashing technique actually). I don’t know about you all but I believe Rivero has gone over the edge and will soon do more harm than good, and once Rivero is identified as a Holocaust denier by the media…it will be a tough road back to credibility for us all.

Space Shuttle Lost
Ok what is with CNN and their terrorism SPIN regarding this space shuttle accident??! One thing I have noticed is one of the crew members stated there would be no room on the flight for any personal objects due to the fact this would be the heaviest space shuttle ever. Well I can see how there might have been an accident due to this overweight factor…HOWEVER does CNN discuss this? No! All they can discuss over and over all day is how one of the crew is an Israeli and that he may have been the target of terrorism. On and on they drone that this crewmember caused additional security measures to be performed yet somehow something went wrong anyway. Even Ramon thought it was ridiculous that he could be the target of terrorism or that terrorists would even look at the space shuttle as a potential target! All I can say is that this is the stupidest SPIN I have ever witnessed. What is it that CNN is trying to tell us? Are they suggesting that any vehicle, building, public park, ship, SPACECRAFT!, or anyplace else that has an Israeli (or Jewish person?) in it’s midst is a target for terrorism? This is crazy! First off I want to point out that spinning tragic accidents with anti-semitism and references to the Holocaust is truly disgusting and disrespectful to actual victims of the Holocaust. What is wrong with these people?

Does Tony Blair Have Any Idea What the Flies Look Like That Feed Off the Dead?
Not enough attention is being paid to the actual ugly reality of war. Hardly anybody alive remembers WWII and how many people were killed. In fact all these Baby Boomers running the show now were born after the war and didn't have to suffer in any way whatsoever. What will happen if we suddenly have to start rationing food? That is something that was done in WWII. Will people stand for limits on luxuries like coffee, sugar, meat? What if we have spend every night in blackout? Can you trust your neighbours to curb their light pollution? What about every week one of your friends gets a telegram saying his kid was killed, or gassed or dismembered... There is a reason people dance in the streets when war is over.

Jordan moves to Iraq. Palestine moves to Jordan. Abdallah becomes King of Iraq. Plan in works to move Petra to Baghdad&#
What planet am I on? Is this a dream? Quick! Pinch me!

The Electrocuting Water Cannon
The electrocuting water cannon falls under the black and moldy umbrella of nonlethal weapons technology!The aqueous electrocutor sprays a "high-pressure saline solution with additives" mixed in to maximize range in putting down that troublesome rabble. "[Debilitating] but not lethal shocks" move through the water jet, according to Jaycor's online brochure. The company hints the voltage can be turned up "to deliver potent electrical shocks to equipment as well as individuals."

Liberal MP visits Baghdad
SHHHHHHHHhhhhhh! Don't tell Dubya!

Christians Say Saddam's Iraq a Safe Haven
But I thought Saddam hated all Christians???!!!!!

U.S. Pilots Apologize for Bombing Canadians
Majs. Harry Schmidt and William Umbach, their hands shaking while they read prepared statements in the hearing room, said they deeply regretted the April 17 incident, which has been a wrenching case in Canada and an embarrassment to the U.S. military, but blamed it on the fog of war.

Bush wants to "persecute" Iraqi soldiers!
"Should any Iraqi officer or soldier receive an order from Saddam Hussein or his sons or any of the killers who occupy the high levels of their government, my advice is don't follow that order," Bush said. "If you choose to do so, when Iraq is liberated, you will be treated, tried and persecuted as a war criminal."

The Great Banana Famine!
Bananas could be extinct in only a decade due to disease! What will we put in our smoothies??

Whenever will they release the next Harry Potter book?!
A 12-year-old Norwegian boy got tired of waiting for the next "Harry Potter" book to come out. He took matters into his own hands and simply wrote his own.

Mad Cow Disease Info You Need to Know
"In 1907, Dr. Alzheimer published a treatise about a disease that would one day carry his name. He had two young colleagues who worked with him, Dr. Creutzfeldt and Dr. Jakob, and they too identified a similiar brain-wasting disease that now has Europe in a panic. The brains of cows turn into a sponge-like mass and their behavior is called "mad." The human variant of Mad Cow Disease has been named Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease, or CJD. The protein causing CJD has no DNA, and has been described as more like a crystal than cellular material. In labs, 1000 degree Fahrenheit heat does not destroy this protein particle. Some scientists say that once infected, the incubation period can last anywhere from one month to thirty years. As the human brain turns into a sponge, this spongioform encephalitic condition physically debilitates those so infected."

More Crazy Bush Stuff
"The reaction to 9/11 is beyond anything Osama bin Laden could have hoped for in his nastiest dreams. As in McCarthy times, the freedoms that have made America the envy of the world are being systematically eroded. The combination of compliant US media and vested corporate interests is once more ensuring that a debate that should be ringing out in every town square is confined to the loftier columns of the East Coast press. "

SHUNDAHAI NETWORK--Dedicated to Breaking the Nuclear Chain
Interesting activism and information regarding Nuclear waste

SHUNDAHAI NETWORK--Dedicated to Breaking the Nuclear Chain
Interesting activism and information regarding Nuclear waste

115 unarmed children killed by Israeli soldiers in 2002
The rate of Palestinian children killed at the hands of Israeli soldiers requires immediate international intervention, Erakat said.

Dr. Laura's Tips on how to get rich
Dr. Laura wants Mom's to stay at home with their kids. Well staying at home is great except for the Mom's who have no choice but to work or starve. What is amazing is how assinine these suggestions are!!! First off it has been said that you have as much chance making it big in the stock market as you do winning the lottery. The real estate plan is even stupider. Flipping a house a year at 35K profit takes a s special kind of real estate market that only comes around once or twice in a lifetime and last only one year if you are lucky. Don't believe me? Ask your realtor.

more dirt on buddy Falwell
This guy is so much fun!

Falwell pays off Clinton's Accusers
I guess I am on a Falwell tirade today but this stuff is too good not to link to...

Burning questions about Biblical Interpretation.
This is quite funny actually. It very much reminds me of all that rhetoric about Islam being a terrorist religion. Blah!

The Big 10 Conspiracies about 9/11 and the Coming War
Just in case you needed a refresher.

World is DOOMED!
Among the worst trends worldwide is that 420 million people live in countries which no longer have enough crop land to grow their own food and have to rely on imports. Around 1.2 billion people, or about a fifth of the world's population, live in absolute poverty - defined as surviving on the equivalent of less than $1, or 62p, a day.

The Blackout Bomb!
The soft bomb's cost is estimated to be about that of an average cluster bomb—several hundred thousand dollars—making it easy on the taxpayer wallet by Department of Defense standards...

The Burrowing Nuke
Also affectionately known as the "burrowing bomb," the newest edition of the B-61, called the Mk-11, was developed just for use against non-nuclear third-world patsy-tyrants who have heard the call of "Dig we must," and buried themselves and their alleged caches of biological and chemical weapons deep underground...

Starvation fears for N Koreans as food withheld
Oh good idea! It might just take a special amount of genius to come up with a plan to slowly starve the nuclear capable enemy to death...yeah just drive them into a state of having nothing left to lose.

GOOD NEWS FOR A CHANGE!!!
Photographer finds everyone alive on cyclone-smashed island

Anglicans Pray for Peace
I know you Fundamentalist Christians don't exactly consider Anglicans to actually be saved but I am pretty impressed by their new prayer... "Lord, we pray fervently for the people of Iraq facing the horror of a full-scale war, and for those people who may be called upon to fight. Help us to persuade world leaders to continue negotiations. Help all of us: individuals, nations, governments and world leaders to remember -- the unnecessary loss of life for millions of innocent people, the scale of human suffering that war brings, the right of Iraqi people to determine their own future, the gross violations of human rights and crimes against humanity that are committed in the name of war, nobody has total power over any country or its people but God alone. Let us be open to God's words in our forthcoming decisions and try not to be God ourselves."

the role of water in conflict and co-operation

Palestinians subjected to new Israeli technique called ‘the lottery’
In the lottery, they said, border policemen order apprehended Palestinians to pick from folded pieces of paper that have different punishments written on them — such as "broken leg," "smashed hand" or "smashed head" — and then administer the chosen punishment. "The army does not come out with a clear message that says, ‘You are not allowed to assault a civilian Palestinian."

"Forum of Holocaust survivors and descendants to halt the deterioration of Israeli humanism"
Holocaust survivors are getting sick and tired of the treatment of Palestinians such as this... according to evidence taken by Hashash, the four soldiers the IDF can't seem to find, walked into a barbershop in H2, the Palestinian part of Hebron, four weeks ago, today. One of the soldiers ordered the owner of the barbershop, Bassem Masawde, 24, to sit in one of the barber chairs. The soldier then began to shave Masawde's head with the electric razor. Masawde tried to ask what the soldier was doing, and was smacked and told to be silent. The soldier kept shaving, ignoring Masawde's request to stop. When he finished cutting off Masawde's hair, the soldier ordered Wayal Abu Rumeila, 19, who was in the barber shop at the time, to sit in the barber chair, and he too was given a close-cut hair cut by the soldier. Then, say the eyewitnesses, the soldier approached the 19-year-old with a bottle of shampoo, and ordered the youth to open his mouth. When Rumeila refused, the soldier struck him with a metal bucket in the shop, knocking Rumeila to the floor with a bloody nose, crying. The soldier kicked him in the stomach, saying if Rumeila didn't shut up, the soldier would shoot him in the head. The entire time, the other three soldiers were slapping around three other Palestinians in the barber shop - and one of the soldiers grabbed Bilal Al Jerby, and using Jerby as a shield, and Jerby's shoulder as a resting place for his rifle barrel, began shooting at children who started throwing stones. This horrifying testimony, was sent, as usual, to the IDF by B'Tselem. Now the IDF wants B'Tselem to find the suspected soldiers.

Pot is legal in Canada!!
Well ok not totally legal but you can carry it around in small amounts without fear now.

Israeli use of Human Sheilds
Absolutely disgusting! Imagine if the Germans strapped Jews on the front of their tanks during WWII. Does it have a different spin on it now?

Pope Pleads for Peace
"Despite the serious and repeated attacks to the serene and joint cohabitation of peoples, peace is possible and right," the pope said, to rare applause interrupting his homily during a New Year's Day mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

30 Million about to starve!
Imagine if we spent the cost of just a few bombs to feed the masses.

Palestinians fear US attack on Iraq
With the US troops engaged in over 60 diferent locations throughout the world, it staggers the mind they have enough manpower for a full scale invasion of Iraq. However the threat of war remains and what better time for the expusion of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza then when the world is embroiled in a major war. Imagine if all the Blacks in America were rounded up and shipped to the West Indies. Would there be an outcry? I would hope so. What if all the Puerto Ricans were rounded up and kept indefinitely in squalid refugee camps for 50 years or so? Would anyone speak for them? Why is it ok to keep Palestinians in camps for 50 years with the future intent of "transfer" to other countries? It sounds like some of the stuff Hitler did doesn't it?

Bin Laden tape STILL a fake!
"I think it's a good way to scare people so that they're more ready to accept a war on Iraq," he says.

FBI Warns Corporate Leaders Of Possible Attacks By Antiwar Activists
OK Mr. Secret Agent Man. We peaceniks are all about peace and non violent solutions. We want to feed the starving masses, unchain the slaves, liberate the poor, and grow our own food on our organic hobby farms. The last thing we want to do is is cause more terror and more despair. half of us don't even eat meat and therefore can't muster up enough violent forethought to plan something terrible. Ugly ugly ugly accusations Mr. Secret Agent Man.

Happy New Year!