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AlterNet: God’s Harvard: The New Grooming Ground of the Evangelical Movement : "A small Christian school outside the nation’s capital is dispatching the next round of evangelicals to the front lines of science and politics, where they will battle for control of the nation. "

Asia Times Online :: South Asia news - Talks with the Taliban gain ground : "KARACHI - The process of reconciliation with the Taliban continues on both sides of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. A Former top Taliban commander and present member of the Afghan Parliament, Mullah Abdus Salam Rocketti, and the former Taliban ambassador in Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, are two key figures who have been holding talks with Taliban elders in southwestern Afghanistan for a political"

: "Although imperfect, no country anywhere is closer to a model democracy than Venezuela under President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias. In contrast, none is a more shameless failure than America, but it was true long before the age of George W. Bush. The difference under his regime is that the mask is off revealing a repressive state masquerading as a democratic republic. This article compares the constitutional laws of each country and how they're implemented. The result shows world's apart differences between these two nominally democratic states - one that's real, impressive and improving and the other that's mostly pretense and under George Bush lawless, corrupted, in tatters, and morally depraved. "

: "In 1971, Lt. William Calley was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the massacre of some 500 civilians in the Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai. In response to Calley's conviction, Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) convened the 'Winter Soldier Investigation.' Over a three-day period, more than a hundred veterans testified to atrocities they had witnessed committed by U.S. troops against Vietnamese civilians. Their expressed intention was to demonstrate that My Lai was not unique, that it was instead the inevitable result of U.S. policy. It was a travesty of justice, they claimed, to focus blame on the soldiers when it was the policy makers, McNamara, Bundy, Rostow, Johnson, LeMay, Nixon and the others who were truly responsible for the war crimes that had been committed."

: "rom a limestone hill rising above Qalandia refugee camp you can see Jerusalem. I watched a lone figure standing there in the rain, his son holding the tail of his long tattered coat. He extended his hand and did not let go. 'I am Ahmed Hamzeh, street entertainer,' he said in measured English. 'Over there, I played many musical instruments; I sang in Arabic, English and Hebrew, and because I was rather poor, my very small son would chew gum while the monkey did its tricks. When we lost our country, we lost respect. One day a rich Kuwaiti stopped his car in front of us. He shouted at my son, 'Show me how a Palestinian picks up his food rations!' So I made the monkey appear to scavenge on the ground, in the gutter. And my son scavenged with him. The Kuwaiti threw coins and my son crawled on his knees to pick them up. This was not right; I was an artist, not a beggar . . . I am not even a peasant now.' "

: "08/23/07 'ICH' -- - In 1991 the US military introduced a new weapon that the people of the world–––with hindsight–––will probably come to view as symbolic of America’s failed leadership after the Cold War. The introduced weapon was a new kind of munition: shells and bullets made from depleted uranium (DU). It turned out to be extremely effective in the first Gulf War against the forces of Saddam Hussein. Unfortunately, the DU weapons also proved nearly as dangerous to our own troops and to Iraqi civilians. The military alliance cobbled together by George Bush Sr. won a decisive victory in that war. But since its conclusion at least 13,000 American veterans have died from DU-related causes, far more than the 148 who died in combat; and of the nearly 700,000 who served in the war at least 250,000 are now (in 2007) permanently disabled; a percentage far higher than in any previous war.[1] Despite this, Pentagon generals continue to insist that DU munitions pose no danger,

: "But that is about as deep as Rove’s involvement in the two issues that will define the presidency of George W. Bush gets. While Rove might be the “genius” behind the kind of winner-takes-all dirty politics that won the Republicans a majority in Texas The vice president is the single greatest threat to American and international security in the world today. Not Osama Bin Laden. Not the ghost of Saddam Hussein. Not Ahmadinejad or Kim Jung Il. Not al-Qaida, the Taliban, or Jose Padilla himself. Not even George W. Bush can lay claim to this title. It is Dick Cheney’s alone. Operating in a never-never land of constitutional ambiguity which exists between the office of the president and the Congress of the United States, Cheney’s office has made its impact felt on the policies of the United States of America as had no vice president’s office before him. Granted unprecedented oversight over national security and foreign policy by executive order in early 2001, many months pri

Chechnya Weekly from the Jamestown Foundation

The Baath party denies any negotiation with the Iraqi "government" :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it : "The Baath party denied that it is negotiating with the US or with the iraqi 'government'. On August 21, 2007, Al-Hayat reported that the leader of the Baath party, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, decided to join efforts by the Iraqi authorities to fight al-Qaeda. Al-Hayat quoted a party's former top officials, Abu Wisam al-Jashaam, as saying : 'Al- Duri has decided to cease coordination with al-Qa'ida, and join a project of national resistance which will bear arms against al-Qa'ida and launch a dialogue with the government and foreign forces.' According to the London-based pan-Arab paper, in return, for cooperating in the fight against al-Qaeda, al-Douri would have asked for guarantees over his men's safety and for an end to Iraqi army attacks on his militias."

Woyanne shakes down Addis residents for money � Ethiopian Review : "Woyannes are currently distributing fund raising pledge forms to Addis Ababa residents through the EPRDF offices (see the form here) in preparation for the upcoming rigged elections. Woyanne controls most of the Ethiopia's heavy industries, ranging from mining to insurance. Profits from Ethiopians Airlines, Ethiopian Telecommunications, and other state-controlled industiries are siphoned off and diverted to Woyanne accounts controlled by its money-man, Sebhat Nega. Now, the ravenous Woyanne is shaking down the poor residents of Addis Ababa. Click here to see a partial list of companies owned by the Endowment Fund for Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT), a Woyanne business group under direct control of the Meles crime family."

Alarming situations in Ogaden and Oromia regions � Ethiopian Review : "In the past few weeks, conflicting reports are coming from Ethiopia. On one hand, the government released some political prisoners, mostly leaders and members of the CUD party and journalists. We had hoped that their release would lead to a more conciliatory gesture by the government by releasing all prisoner of conscious and starting dialogue with opposition groups. On the contrary, however, human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch and credible newspapers such as the New York Time, the Washington Post and radio programs such as National Public radio have reported Ethiopian government’s atrocities in the Ogaden and Oromia regions."

The Underside of the Eritrean Issue � Ethiopian Review : "These days we catch the TPLF leaders openly claiming the paternity of the Eritrean independence and boasting about their achievement. More surprisingly, as though the issue of a second reunification of Eritrea with Ethiopia was back on the agenda, we hear them expressing their absolute opposition to such a development and their resolution to prevent it by all means necessary. Witness Sebhat Nega recently gave an interview in which he emphatically declares: 'the EPRDF-led government of Ethiopia is the one and only force that would defend the independence of Eritrea' (Ethiomedia). In another interview, backing Sebhat, Meles reaffirms the unwavering commitment of his government to the Eritrean independence and its resolution to oppose fiercely any attempt to reverse the status quo. Since I do not see any credible force in Ethiopia today that would seriously threaten the Eritrean independence, I am puzzled by these inte

For Baghdad couples, love often lost amid sectarian struggle :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it : "Wissam wouldn't leave her Sunni husband when the Mahdi Army came and forced his family to leave their Shiite neighborhood. So now she lives in the Sunni enclave of Ameriyah and visits her parents in her old neighborhood only with the care of a spy, with two stops to change cars. Her husband never makes the trip. Intermarriage between Sunnis and Shiites was once common in Iraq , but no more. Warfare between the country's two major sects has segregated neighborhoods and divided families. Now it's ending marriages and filling with dread the few unions strong enough to survive."

A TALE OF TWO CITIES~~ WARSAW AND GAZA :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it : "Many times I ask myself what the Jewish people learned while living in Eastern Europe during World War Two. The answer I come up with is so different from what is actually happening today to Palestinians living under the occupation of Israel. An occupation so similar to the nazi occupation of Europe, with one big difference, the victims of yesterday are the oppressors of today. Is this the lesson that was meant to be? I think not! When we say 'Never to forgive, never to forget', does that not mean never to let it happen again TO ANYONE? That's how I see it.... But instead, what happened in Warsaw is now happening in Gaza."

Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it : "Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)"

Baath party 'ready to help US withdrawal' :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it : "Puffing on a Havana cigar, he appeared confident that it would soon regain a powerful role in Iraqi. America's difficulties establishing a stable, secure post-Saddam democratic state made, he predicted, a troop withdrawal inevitable. When US troops went, the government, which was installed after elections in 2005, would fall. 'American cannot add new troops to achieve a military solution in Iraq, it is now looking for a political solution,' he said. 'But it will not find it in those structures it has set up. They will collapse and the agents and traitors will run away with the occupiers.'"

Al-Jazeera cameraman in worse condition at Gitmo, lawyer says - International Herald Tribune : "SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: The health of a hunger-striking TV cameraman at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay has deteriorated sharply in recent months, according to notes released Tuesday by his lawyer after they were censored by U.S. authorities."

Remembering Al Qaim by Rick Fisk : "What the report fails to revisit, even briefly, is Al Qaim. The uranium purification plant located there (built by Switzerland) was dismantled under supervision of the IAEA. So where was this yellow cake from Niger going to be processed? There isn’t even a whiff of speculation as to this crucial detail in Lord Butler’s report. There is absolutely no credible reason to seek the importation of yellow cake absent a facility to purify it into weapons-grade uranium. Such a facility wasn’t even alleged to exist elsewhere in Iraq by either the CIA or British Intelligence. "

Dangerous Delusions - by Leon Hadar In their alternate reality, the ouster of Saddam Hussein was part of the war on the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks. In the real world, Saddam Hussein had no ties to al-Qaeda, whose leaders and members are now hiding in Pakistan (which in the Neocon World is an ally of the United States in the war against al-Qaeda). In the Neocon World, there were WMDs in Iraq. In the real world, such Iraqi WMDs do not exist. In the Neocon World, the United States has liberated Iraq. In the real world, U.S. troops are facing a powerful insurgency, and most Iraqis want them out. In the Neocon World, the United States has turned Mesopotamia into a model of political and economic freedom. In the real world, Iraq is ruled by a Shi'ite government committed to narrow ethnic interests and religious values, its economy is ruined, and it is disintegrating into a bloody civil war. In the Neocon World, the United States is now spreading democracy in the Middle E

Sunnis gain by working with U.S. -- The Washington Times, America's Newspaper : "BAGHDAD — Iraq's Sunni tribal leaders, marginalized after the fall of Saddam Hussein, are enjoying a resurgence of power and influence, Iraqis and U.S. military commanders say."

Wednesday: 15 GIs, 154 Iraqis Killed; 175 Iraqis Wounded - Antiwar.com

Militias Seizing Control of Iraqi Electricity Grid - New York Times BAGHDAD, Aug. 22 — Armed groups increasingly control the antiquated switching stations that channel electricity around Iraq, the electricity minister said Wednesday.