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To Smother Chechen Insurgency, A Campaign of House Burning - NYTimes.com : "In the case of Ms. Basargina, she and her relatives said her family had no connections to the insurgency, but had been under police scrutiny since last year. Before the attack, Ms. Basargina and 11 relatives had lived together in several small buildings behind a wall; the building was badly damaged and is no longer habitable. Their troubles began, they said, when a car formerly owned by her nephew was used by a rebel in an attack last year. The rebel escaped after a skirmish, but abandoned the vehicle, which the police traced back to her nephew, Abubakar Musliyev, 31, the father of five. Mr. Musliyev had sold the car long before, the family said, but the police did not believe him. He was summoned repeatedly to the police station during the ensuing year and was beaten several times, they said. On Aug. 8, he disappeared. His relatives said they did not know where he went; their accounts of his activities ca...

Fatah official admits U.S. vetoes national Palestinian dialogue_English_Xinhua : "RAMALLAH, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- A leader from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement on Sunday admitted that Washington vetoes talks between Fatah and its rival Hamas movement. Azzam al-Ahmad, the head of Fatah parliamentary bloc, said that he doesn't deny 'a consistent American veto and interference in the internal Palestinian affairs.' However, al-Ahmad accused Hamas of 'boosting and strengthening that veto' by rejecting to start immediate talks and give up control on the Gaza Strip. The Gaza takeover by force last year complicated ties between Hamas and Fatah, the biggest Palestinian factions. Hamas tightened its grip on Gaza while Fatah responded by consolidating the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) rule in the West Bank. Egypt mediates between the Palestinian factions to launch a national Palestinian dialogue to end the split between the Ga...

Tit-for-tat Kurds reverse Saddam's 'ethnic cleansing' - Yahoo! News by Amal Jayasinghe Sun Sep 28, 2:22 PM ET KHANAQIN, Iraq (AFP) - For Iraqi Kurdish mathematics teacher Mohammed Aziz, two wrongs can make a right. After decades of forced exile by the Baath party of Saddam Hussein, he is back with a vengeance. Aziz was just four years old in 1975 when his family was evicted from Bawaplawi village, near the northern city of Khanaqin, and Arab settlers grabbed their home. Now schoolteacher Aziz is back and has done to the Arabs what they did to him. "Our homes were taken over by the Arabs without paying us any compensation," Aziz, 37, said at the modest single-storey brick house which he has occupied since the fall of Saddam's regime in 2003. "We moved in and took any house that was empty. The Arabs who were here had fled." Saddam's "Arabisation" campaign sought to change the demography of Khanaqin, which originally had a vast majority ...

Garowe Online - Home : "BELETWEIN, Somalia Sep 27 (Garowe Online) - Ethiopian forces deployed in central Somalia withdrew from a key region Friday, Radio Garowe reported. A contingent of Ethiopian troops driving 29 army trucks left the Jante Kundisho military camp in the outskirts of Beletwein, the capital of Hiran region. The troops were reported to have headed for the Ethiopian border, where the Ethiopian army maintains a huge base to monitor security in Somalia's central regions. On September 13, Ethiopian forces peacefully withdrew from Beletwein after facing consistent attacks from insurgents linked to the ousted Islamic Courts movement. Islamist guerrillas, who are in control of virtually all districts in Hiran, also control the southern port of Kismayo and the town of Jowhar, which is located 90km from the national capital Mogadishu."

Olmert decries 'evil wind of extremism' in Israel - Yahoo! News JERUSALEM - An "evil wind of extremism" is threatening Israel's democracy, outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Sunday, after a pipe bomb attack wounded a professor critical of Israel's settler movement. Olmert's forceful comments came amid growing concerns in Israel about violence by hard-line radicals, including extremist West Bank settlers. Israeli defense officials and human rights groups have noted a rise in settler violence against Palestinian soldiers and Israeli soldiers in recent months. On Sunday, police were investigating the shooting death of a 19-year-old Palestinian shepherd whose body was discovered in ravine in a remote area of the West Bank. The shepherd's relatives blamed Jewish settlers, but police said they were still investigating. Also, dozens of Israeli civilians entered the Palestinian village of Kufr Diek in the West Bank late Saturday, smashing the windows o...

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Obituary: Paul Newman : "Screen legend Paul Newman has died from cancer, aged 83. With his piercing blue eyes and laid back style, Paul Newman became one of the most recognised leading men in Hollywood. But he always doubted his own acting ability, once claiming that 'I only got by on looks and energy.' Paul Leonard Newman was born on 26 Jan 1925 in the Shaker Heights suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. His father, Arthur, who ran a successful sports goods store, was Jewish while his mother Theresa came from a Slovakian Catholic family."

Activists postpone Gaza sail to defy Israel - Yahoo! News : "NICOSIA (Reuters) - Foreign activists who planned to sail to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade have delayed their trip to late October, an organizer said on Friday."

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 09/26/2008 | Pakistani tribesmen organize to fight Taliban insurgents WARI, Pakistan — A popular resistance movement is emerging in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province to challenge Islamic extremists, who now exercise control over whole districts and maintain a stranglehold over the local population. The movement in both the province and the lawless tribal territory bordering Afghanistan relies on fierce tribal customs and widespread ownership of guns in the north west of the country, to raise traditional private armies, known as a lashkar, each with the strength of hundreds or several thousand volunteers. The movement arose after local tribal leaders came to realize decided that the state can't or won't come to their aid as a radical, alien, form of Islam seeks to impose itself on them down the barrel of an AK-47. There are parallels with the "Sunni Awakening" in Iraq, where tribesmen took on al Qaida militants in Anbar province...

With All Eyes on the Bailout, House Passes Trillion-Dollar Defense Bill | War on Iraq | AlterNet : "On Wednesday, the House passed a mammoth defense bill by a 392-39 vote. It's expected to clear the Senate with little difficulty next week. It was part of a trillion-dollar stop-gap measure to keep programs running through next March, allowing lawmakers to skip town without passing a final budget. The Associated Press reports, 'The legislation came together in a remarkably secret process that concentrated decision-making power in the hands of a few lawmakers.' In keeping with the tradition of recent years, Bush held a gun to his own head and threatened to pull the trigger if his demands weren't met. According to the AP, 'To earn President Bush's signature rather than a veto, House and Senate negotiators dropped several provisions he opposed. They include a ban on private interrogators in U.S. military detention facilities and what would have amounted to congr...

BBC NEWS | Americas | 'Car sleepers' the new US homeless By Rajesh Mirchandani BBC News, Santa Barbara Santa Barbara boasts a classic laidback California lifestyle, with uncongested beaches, wholesome cafes and charming Spanish-style architecture. Of course there's a hefty price tag: nestled between the gentle Santa Ynez mountains and the inviting Pacific Ocean are multi-million dollar homes. But in this sun-washed haven of wealth, many live far from the American dream. In a car park across the street from luxury mansions, the evening brings a strange sight. A few cars arrive and take up spaces in different corners. In each car, a woman, perhaps a few pets, bags of possessions and bedding. Across the street from homes with bedrooms to spare, these are Santa Barbara's car sleepers. Homeless within the last year, they are a direct consequence of America's housing market collapse. 4x4 homes In this woman-only parking lot, Bonnee, who gives only her first name, wears ...

Japanese aid worker taken hostage in Ethiopia :: Ethiopian Review By Shiomi Kadoya, Yomiuri Shimbun JOHANNESBURG - Two aid workers, believed to be a Japanese woman and a Dutchman, working for the nongovernmental organization Medecins du Monde, were abducted Monday afternoon in the eastern region of Ethiopia, the group said Wednesday. An armed gang is suspected to have kidnapped the two in the Ogaden region, which is close to the Somali border, while they were working. They are believed to have been taken to the central part of Somalia.

Tariq Ali: Casualties of another war | Comment is free | The Guardian The deadly blast in Islamabad was a revenge attack for what has been going on over the past few weeks in the badlands of the North-West Frontier. It highlighted the crisis confronting the new government in the wake of intensified US strikes in the tribal areas on the Afghan border. Hellfire missiles, drones, special operation raids inside Pakistan and the resulting deaths of innocents have fuelled Pashtun nationalism. It is this spillage from the war in Afghanistan that is now destabilising Pakistan. The de facto prime minister of the country, an unelected crony of President Zardari and now his chief adviser, Rehman Malik, said, "our enemies don't want to see democracy flourishing in the country". This was rich coming from him, but in reality it has little to do with all that. It is the consequence of a supposedly "good war" in Afghanistan that has now gone badly wrong. The director of US Nati...

allAfrica.com: Somalia: Mogadishu Rocked By 'Worst Shelling Yet' (Page 1 of 1) : "At least 100 people were killed and thousands fled their homes in the 'worst fighting' to hit Mogadishu in recent months, locals told IRIN. The fighting on 22 September pitted Ethiopian troops, African Union peacekeeping troops (AMISOM) and Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces against insurgents. More than 200 people were reportedly wounded, hospital sources said."

Here’s to the misfits, the round pegs in the square holes… Where Tech Meets Music and Tyranny » Blog Archive » Veterans Climb Government Building, Call for Arrest of Bu Right now, five military veterans — from Veterans for Peace — are occupying a 35-foot high ledge at the National Archive Building and have raised a 22×8-foot banner reading, “DEFEND OUR CONSTITUTION. ARREST BUSH AND CHENEY: WAR CRIMINALS!” The veterans currently risking arrest have declared their intention to stay on the ledge, fasting for 24 hours “in remembrance of those who have perished and those still suffering from the crimes of the Bush administration,” according to a written statement. 

On the ledge, the veterans have brought with them a portable PA system, and they are broadcasting recorded statements from prominent Americans for the impeachment and/or arrest of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney. Other impeachment activists are at the entrance of the National Archives distributing “Citizens Arrest Warrants” to...

Death toll from N.Iraq ambush rises to 35 - police BAGHDAD, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The death toll from an ambush of Iraqi security personnel northeast of Baghdad on Wednesday rose to 35 from 20, police said. Gunmen killed policemen and members of U.S.-backed Sunni local patrol groups in the attack close to the city of Baquba in Diyala province, police said. (Writing by Mohammed Abbas: Editing by Alison Williams)

Christian Fundamentalism Permeates the Republican Party: Sarah Palin’s links to the Christian Right Some days ago, most Americans had never heard of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Now, following her Vice Presidential acceptance speech, viewed live by more than 40 million people, Palin is viewed favorably by 58% of American voters according to the latest Rasmussen Reports survey. The self-described ‘hockey mom’’s poll ratings, if they are to be believed, are that of a rock superstar who is rated now higher than either McCain or Democrat Obama. The same Bush-Cheney propaganda apparatus that made the nation believe that Saddam Hussein was the new Hitler and that Georgia was a helpless victim of ruthless Russian aggression after 8.8.08 in Georgia is clearly behind one of the most impressive media propaganda efforts in recent history—the effort to package Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska for less than 19 months, to be the American dream candidate. Her re...

      Why does the US think it can win in Afghanistan?       : Information Clearing House - ICH : "Poor old Algerians. They are being served the same old pap from their cruel government. In 1997, the Pouvoir announced a 'final victory' over their vicious Islamist enemies. On at least three occasions, I reported – not, of course, without appropriate cynicism – that the Algerian authorities believed their enemies were finally beaten because the 'terrorists' were so desperate that they were beheading every man, woman and child in the villages they captured in the mountains around Algiers and Oran. And now they're at it again. After a ferocious resurgence of car bombing by their newly merged 'al-Qa'ida in the Maghreb' antagonists, the decrepit old FLN government in Algiers has announced the 'terminal phase' in its battle against armed Islamists. As the Algerian journalist Hocine Belaffoufi said with consummate wit the other day, 'According t...

US soldier accused of abusing and killing Iraqi : "Military prosecutors accused a U.S. soldier Sunday of taking an Iraqi detainee to a remote desert location, stripping him naked, shooting him in the head and chest and then watching as another soldier set fire to the body with an incendiary grenade. The allegations were made at the opening hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence against 1st Lt. Michael C. Behenna for a court-martial. He has already been charged with premeditated murder of his prisoner, Ali Mansour Mohammed. Prosecutors also accuse Behenna of trying to cover up the killing. The key testimony at the hearing came from the only witness, an Iraqi translator identified only as 'Harry.' He said he saw Behenna shoot Mohammed on May 16 in a tunnel near their forward operating base, Summerall. The base is near Beiji, 155 miles north of Baghdad. Harry's real name was not revealed to protect his identify. He said Iraqi translators for U.S. forces are...

Was it an attack on US Marines? : "ISLAMABAD: Was there a top secret and mysterious operation of the US Marines going on inside the Marriott when it was attacked on Saturday evening? No one will confirm it but circumstantial evidence is in abundance. Witnessed by many, including a PPP MNA and his friends, a US embassy truckload of steel boxes was unloaded and shifted inside the Marriott Hotel on the same night when Admiral Mike Mullen met Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and others in Islamabad. Both the main gates (the entrance and the exit) of the hotel were closed while no one except the US Marines were either allowed to go near the truck or get the steel boxes unloaded or shift them inside the hotel. These steel boxes were not passed through the scanners installed at the entrance of the hotel lobby and were reportedly shifted to the fourth and fifth floors of the Marriott. Besides several others, PPP MNA Mumtaz Alam Gilani and his two friends, Sajjad Chaudhry, a PPP leader, a...

‘Hotel to be rebuilt in three months’ ISLAMABAD: Sadruddin Hashwani, the owner of the Marriott Hotel, has assured employees that not one of them will be rendered jobless, as he plans to reconstruct the hotel within the next three months at an estimated cost of over half a billion rupees. His assurance must have come as a great relief to some 1000 employees of the hotel who were suddenly faced with the prospect of becoming jobless after the hotel was destroyed in Saturday's suicide attack. "Let me make it very clear to you that not a single employee would be rendered jobless as they will all be getting their salaries during the period of reconstruction of the hotel", said Mr. Hashwani while talking to The News. He said one of the employees who died in the blast had five small daughters. From now onwards, he said, they are his daughters and he would take care of them. Hashwani said that all these employees would be actively taking part in the rehabilitation of the hotel. Bu...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Pakistan troops 'repel US raid' : "Pakistani troops have fired warning shots at two US helicopters forcing them back into Afghanistan, local Pakistani intelligence officials say. The helicopters flew into the tribal North Waziristan region from Afghanistan's Khost province at around midnight, the reports say. Tensions have risen after an increase in US attacks targeting militants. The incident comes amid mounting security fears after a militant bomb attack on the Islamabad Marriott hotel."

Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Taliban denies role in hotel attack : "A senior commander of the Taliban in Pakistan has denied that his group was responsible for a bomb attack at Islamabad's Marriott hotel, in which at least 53 people died and 270 were injured. Baitullah Mehsud said on Monday that the Taliban had no role in Saturday's attack, Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, reported. 'Mehsud said that their group does not believe in killing so many locals in the attack,' Hyder said."

Informed Comment: A Nation of Masochists After the 2002 mid-terms, even George W. Bush wanted to do a tax cut for the middle classes. But Cheney over-ruled him, insisting on another deep tax cut for the very wealthy. We won the mid-terms, Cheney said. This is our due. Deficits don't matter. "Our" due? Cheney is saying that the Republican Party is the party of the super-rich, of the 3 million at the top of American society who own 45% of the privately held wealth (as though we were Brazil), and they are the ones that will be exclusively benefited by Republican rule. Of course, there were many other conspiracies by the pirouetting pirates of plunder. There was the Iraq War, one of the great criminal conspiracies of modern times. Barton Gellman has how related the story of how Dick Cheney lied to Dick Armey before the vote on the war, telling him that Saddam's family was all al-Qaeda and that Saddam's evil scientists had made a suitcase nuclear bomb that he would cer...

blackagendareport.com - Freedom Rider: Boycott Israel : "To call attention to Israel's apartheid policies is to ask for immediate labeling as an 'anti-Semite.' Just ask former president Jimmy Carter. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater performer Abdur-Rahim Jackson was separated from the troupe and made to dance for Israeli airport security - twice - to prove he wasn't a danger to the Jewish State, based on his name. 'Israel's dismal human rights record has created numerous calls for economic boycotts of that nation,' and cultural boycotts, as well. 'The Israelis at the airport acted like Jim Crow segregationists of old, never forsaking an opportunity to publicly humiliate black people.' Israel acts like the U.S. 'did in its own apartheid era.'"

Al Jazeera English - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Hunt for Pakistan bomb clues

IAEA shows photos alleging Iran worked on missile - Yahoo! News : VIENNA (AFP) - The UN nuclear watchdog has shown its members documents and photographs suggesting that Iran secretly tried to modify a missile cone to carry a nuclear bomb, diplomats said. "Diplomats who attended a special briefing Tuesday said the IAEA's head of inspections in the Middle East, Herman Naeckerts, had shown them new proof indicating that Iran tried to refit the long-distance Shahab-3 missile to carry a nuclear payload. The US envoy to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, said Naeckerts showed photos and diagrams of Iranian work on re-designing a Shabab-3 'to carry what would appear to be a nuclear weapon. 'The Secretariat told us the information they have is, in their words, 'very credible', unquote, and they have asked Iran to provide 'substantive responses', unquote', Schulte said. Iran has refused IAEA requests to interview engineers involved in the work and visit their ostens...

Russia rejects new measures against Iran - Yahoo! News MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia said Saturday it had rejected US proposals for new UN Security Council measures against Iran over its suspect nuclear programme amid deteriorating ties between Moscow and Washington. At a meeting Friday with diplomats from the United States, China, Britain, France and Germany, Russia "said it was against the development at this stage of additional measures in the UN Security Council," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The Russian side underlined the necessity of continuing efforts to restore constructive dialogue with Tehran with the aim of moving forward the negotiation process," the statement said after the meeting in Washington. The White House on Monday warned Iran that it faced possible new sanctions over its failure to stop uranium enrichment, which can be a key step towards making nuclear weapons.

BBC NEWS | Middle East | US air raid kills Iraq civilians The US military says seven people, including three women civilians, have been killed in an air strike in Iraq. The US said it was targeting insurgents in the village of al-Dawr, near Tikrit north of Baghdad, where Saddam Hussein was captured in 2003. Witnesses are quoted as saying the attack happened after US troops had surrounded a compound in the village. The village is home of a former leader of the Baath party, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, who is still a fugitive.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Top Republican says Palin unready : "Senior Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has voiced doubts about Sarah Palin's qualifications for the vice-presidency. John McCain's running mate 'doesn't have any foreign policy credentials', Mr Hagel told the Omaha World-Herald. Mr Hagel was a prominent supporter of Mr McCain during his 2000 bid for the US presidency, but has declined to endorse either candidate this year. He was opposed to the Iraq War, and recently joined Mr McCain's rival Barack Obama on a Middle East trip."

allAfrica.com: Somalia: Conference Disrupted After Ethiopia Ambassador Arrives (Page 1 of 1) A conference attended by interim Somali Prime Minister Nur "Adde" Hassan Hussein and opposition chief Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed was postponed Wednesday after Ethiopia's ambassador to Djibouti entered the talks venue, Radio Garowe reported. Shamsudin Roble, the Ethiopian ambassador, attended the talks on behalf of the Ethiopian government's membership in the International Contact Group (ICG) for Somalia. But his arrival prompted opposition delegation from the Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (ARS) to walk out of the conference hall in protest. UN Special Envoy Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, as well as Prime Minister Nur Adde and Italy's ambassador to Djibouti, took part in efforts to convince the ARS delegates to return to the conference. By day's end, the opposition delegates agreed to return to the conference hall and met privately with government officials, sources...

       Pakistan Invades America --        : Information Clearing House - ICH : "The U.S. State Department lodged a sharp protest over ongoing Pakistani missile strikes and ground raids today, saying the Islamic Republic was violating American sovereignty. 'We will try to convince Pakistan . . . to respect [the] sovereignty of the United States -- and God willing, we will convince,' State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.1 The controversy stems from the Pakistan Army's recent decision, leaked in a prominent Pakistani newspaper, to mount intensifying air attacks and new ground assaults against extremists hiding in American safe havens across the ocean. American papers reported that under the new policy, the Pakistani military will no longer seek America's permission in killing Americans, but will inform American diplomats about these killings as a friendly gesture between close allies.2 Pakistan Army General Ashfaq Kayani told reporters outside Isla...

ei: Testimony: Woman delivers stillborn child at checkpoint : "Naheel Awni Abd al-Rahim Abu Rideh, 21, married with one child, is a homemaker and a resident of Qusra in Nablus district. Her testimony was given to Salma a-Deba'i on 8 September 2008 at the witness's home:"

ei: And so it continues: 26 years after the massacre : "This week marks the 26th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, one of the bloodiest events of the second half of the twentieth century. A Google search for recent news reports on this year's commemoration of the atrocity, however, brought up very little. Yes, there were some emotional blog posts, as well as a link to the BBC's 'On this Day' page, featuring quick facts and figures about the massacre, alongside an archival, and iconic, photograph of twisted corpses lying in a heap next to a cinderblock wall, the victims of an execution-style killing. It has been more than a quarter of a century since more than 1,000 unarmed men, women, and children were raped, maimed and slaughtered. The massacre occurred at the dividing point of the 1975-1990 Lebanese war. Some might say that the killings were the marker or the catalyst of the war's horrible turning point. Before the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and...

Media Matters - Call your Savage Station Take Action Your voice is critical in holding Savage accountable for his comments. I hope you take the time to call and tell those stations exactly what you think of Michael Savage. Use the drop-down box below to find the stations in your area that carry The Savage Nation. First, pick your state, then click on the station that is closest to you. Next, you will be asked to log into our calling tool, where you will get the contact information for your station, a link to the page with all of the information on this issue so you can refer to it during your call, and a reporting form. Your responses will help us track how each station is responding. On autism: "A fraud, a racket. ... I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is. What do you mean they scream and they're silent? They don't have a father around to tell them, 'Don'...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Afghan civilian casualties soar There has been a sharp increase in the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan this year, according to new figures released by the United Nations. They show that August had the highest number of deaths since the overthrow of the Taleban almost seven years ago. The UN says that from January to August 1,445 civilians were killed - a rise of 39% on the same period last year.

Israel's Gaza shelling may be war crime - Tutu : "GENEVA, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Israel's deadly shelling in the Gaza Strip in November 2006 may constitute a war crime, South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu said in a report to the United Nations released on Monday. Tutu, who serves as an independent U.N. human rights envoy, said Israel must be held accountable for its strike that hit two homes in the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, killing 18 people. 'In the absence of a well-founded explanation from the Israeli military -- who is in sole possession of the relevant facts -- the mission must conclude that there is a possibility that the shelling of Beit Hanoun constituted a war crime,' he said in the report to the U.N. Human Rights Council. The South African cleric said his mission had also made clear to leaders of the Palestinian faction Hamas that 'the firing of rockets on the civilian population in Israel must stop'. The Israeli military has said it decided t...

So, the President May Kill Anybody He Pleases, Right? by Robert Higgs : "Among the many cock-and-bull stories set afoot by the Bush administration during the lead-up to its attack on Iraq was the one about the now-infamous drones of death. Later, it became sufficiently clear that this alleged threat had no more substance than the others the administration and the lapdog mainstream media had served up to a credulous public. Although the ludicrously primitive Iraqi drones had no capacity whatsoever to harm the American public, the lethality of U.S. drones is another matter. Predator drones equipped with Hellfire missiles now provide the U.S. government with a means of flying over territory that U.S. ground troops dare not penetrate, observing activities on the ground, and killing people there with, shall we say, a minimum of due process. In November 2002, for example, BBC News reported: 'America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) carried out an attack in Yemen that killed six s...

Zimbabwe deal sees Mugabe cede some power : "President Robert Mugabe relaxed his iron hold on Zimbabwe for the first time in nearly three decades of one-man rule on Monday, forced by escalating economic chaos into sharing power with his bitter political rivals. Thousands of supporters of the rival parties threw stones at each other outside the convention center and several hundred broke through the gates into the sprawling grounds of the convention center where the signing ceremony took place. Police fired warning shots and set dogs on the crowd, which calmed after the initial clashes and cheered as their leaders left. Mugabe, main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a faction that broke away from Tsvangirai's party, all pledged with passion to make the deal work. But long-simmering and bitter differences between the two sides and the nation's worsening economic collapse are expected to put the power-sharing deal under intense pressure....

Somali rebels drive back Ethiopia’s army of occupiers|20Sep08|Socialist Worker Ethiopia’s US-backed occupation of Somalia is fast unravelling, threatening US control over the Horn of Africa. In late August, Somali rebels seized the southern port city of Kismayo. The US has made Somalia its “third front in the war on terror” following a popular rebellion that catapulted the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) to power in June 2006. The UIC emerged after years of anarchic rule by warlords and their militias. It grew in popularity after it began to intervene on behalf of people wronged by the militias. After they were driven from power the warlords formed the Transitional Federal Government in exile and declared the UIC was the “Somali Taliban”. They warned that the new government would turn the country into “a base for Al Qaida” in eastern Africa. In December 2006 the US pressured Ethiopia to invade its neighbour in return for financial aid and economic development. Ethiopian troops, backed by...

Common plastics chemical linked to human diseases | Health | Reuters A study has for the first time linked a common chemical used in everyday products such as plastic drink containers and baby bottles to health problems, specifically heart disease and diabetes. Until now, environmental and consumer activists who have questioned the safety of bisphenol A, or BPA, have relied on studies showing harm from exposure in laboratory animals. But British researchers, who published their findings on Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, analyzed urine and blood samples from 1,455 U.S. adults aged 18 to 74 who were representative of the general population.

 Democrats Do Poland   : Information Clearing House - ICH : "Historically, the country of Poland has always been assigned the same role in the theater of international politics. Its kinda like the unnamed actor in the red shirt who beams down to the planet with Kirk and Scotty and the rest of the regular gang. He’s only there for one (fleeting) reason. You know he’s gonna get zapped by the local evil alien. If you’re Poland, you’re expected to do two things. One is to get smashed by one or perhaps even several of your vastly more powerful neighbors. The other is to then be occupied, or perhaps even simply swallowed up wholesale. Over time, the Poles even got good at this themselves, sometimes assisting in their own annihilation with techniques like the liberum veto, an innovation which allowed any (and every) member of parliament to unilaterally bring the legislative session to a close and vacate all legislation already passed to that point. Sort of like the veto-driven ineffectiv...

Why Soldiers Rape | War on Iraq: A Soldier Speaks | AlterNet : "An alarming number of women soldiers are being sexually abused by their comrades-in-arms, both at war and at home. This fact has received a fair amount of attention lately from researchers and the press -- and deservedly so. But the attention always focuses on the women: where they were when assaulted, their relations with the assailant, the effects on their mental health and careers, whether they are being adequately helped, and so on. That discussion, as valuable as it is, misses a fundamental point. To understand military sexual assault, let alone know how to stop it, we must focus on the perpetrators. We need to ask: Why do soldiers rape? Rape in civilian life is already unacceptably common. One in six women is raped or sexually assaulted in her lifetime, according to the National Institute of Justice, a number so high it should be considered an epidemic. In the military, however, the situation is even worse. Rape...

blackagendareport.com - 9/11 and the Great American Decline : "'So, what do you think will happen now?' The question was posed by the taller of two young Israelis, my sole companions in this section of Liberty State Park on the Jersey City side of the Hudson River, the morning of September 11, 2001. 'Everything has changed,' I replied, unaware that the same phrase was simultaneously forming on the lips of millions around the globe. 'Yes, everything has changed,' said the Israeli, looking not at all displeased. He turned to resume taking photos of the great smoking space that had been the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, and of the huge, low cloud that drifted across New York Bay to Brooklyn. My fellow witnesses to the collapse of the second tower were already positioned at the riverbank when I arrived at the scene on foot after having rushed past police who blocked all vehicular entrance to the park. The athletic, military age duo were clicking away w...

American Civil Liberties Union : New FBI Guidelines Open Door to Further Abuse : "Washington, DC - Following a briefing today at the Department of Justice (DOJ), the American Civil Liberties Union reiterated its deep concern over new guidelines that would govern FBI investigations. The new guidelines would lower standards for beginning 'assessments' (precursors to investigations), conducting surveillance and gathering evidence, and would replace existing guidelines for five types of existing guidelines: general criminal, national security, foreign intelligence, civil disorders and demonstrations. The rewritten guidelines have been drafted in a way to give the FBI the ability to begin surveillance without factual evidence, stating that a generalized 'threat' is enough to use certain techniques. Also under the new guidelines, a person's race or ethnic background could be used as a factor in opening an investigation, a move the ACLU believes will institute racial ...

Woyanne starts exporting women to Saudi Arabia :: Ethiopian Review : "Housemaids from Ethiopia will start arriving in the Kingdom soon. This follows the go-ahead given by the government in Addis Ababa for the recruitment of housemaids to work in the Kingdom. Recruitment offices across the Kingdom have already begun to make contacts with manpower agencies in the Horn of African country. The arrival of the first batch of housemaids within a fortnight will ameliorate the shortage in house help especially after the recruitment of Indonesian housemaids has become problematic, Al-Madina Arabic daily said."

120,000 Iraqis enduring an unhappy limbo in Egypt - The National Newspaper : "CAIRO // More than three years after thousands of Iraqis fled to Egypt to escape sectarian violence in their war-torn country, many say they still do not feel welcome here, but are wary of returning home. “I wish I could go back home, but the security situation is still not good; electricity and water are not available all the time, and prices are very high,” said Abdel Khedr Abdullah Jawad, who left Iraq with his wife and two sons in early 2006, after violence between Sunni and Shias flared. The family now lives in a sparsely furnished rented flat in 6th of October City, 20km south-west of Cairo, nicknamed “New Baghdad” for the thousands of Iraqis who have settled there. Egypt has become a popular destination for Iraqis. Before the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, there were less than 800 Iraqis living here. That number has swollen to 120,000, according to the Iraqi Embassy, with a further 10,600 registered...

Truthdig - Reports - Quagmire, Phase 2: The Invasion of Pakistan The United States has just invaded Cambodia. The name of Cambodia this time is Pakistan, but otherwise it’s the same story as in Indochina in 1970. An American army, deeply frustrated by its inability to defeat an anti-American insurgent movement despite years of struggle, decides that the key to victory lies in a neighboring country. In 1970, the problem was the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia. Today it is Taliban and al-Qaida bases inside Pakistan, which the United States has been attacking from the air for some time, with controversial “collateral damage.” George W. Bush has now authorized independent ground assaults on Taliban and al-Qaida targets in Pakistan’s Tribal Territories, without consultation with Pakistan authorities. These already have begun. This follows a period of tension, with some armed clashes, between American and Pakistani military units, the latter defending “Pakistan’s national sovereignty.” Pakista...

Garowe Online - Home BELETWEIN, Somalia Sep 13 (Garowe Online) - Ethiopian troops withdrew from the central Somali town of Beletwein overnight Friday, after controlling the key town since July 24, Radio Garowe reported. Hundreds of locals took to the streets and walked by areas where Ethiopian soldiers used to patrol, including the main administration building and the police station. It was not clear why the Ethiopian army pulled out of Beletwein, which has the third-largest concentration of Ethiopian forces deployed in Somalia after Mogadishu and Baidoa. But the region's traditional elders have been negotiating with Ethiopian commanders to leave Beletwein during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Islamic Courts officials claimed victory, saying the Ethiopian troops withdrew after loosing many soldiers in insurgent attacks. Beletwein residents told Radio Garowe that Islamist fighters had entered the town and took control of strategic areas, including two key bridges. Officials app...

Progressive Historians: History For Our Future : "Most people think that all you need to maintain an empire is guns, bombs, and soldiers. They are wrong. To maintain an empire what you need above all else is money. Lots and lots of money. A victorious army in the field is useless without the wealth behind it. A good example of this is the Suez Crisis of 1956, which marked the end to the British Empire. America is following in Britain's footsteps. Britain's attempt to strong-arm Egypt had indirectly caused a nationalist backlash and Gamal Abdul Nasser's rise to power. When Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, Israel, France, and Britain invaded and quickly routed the Egyptian army. But they had forgotten to do one thing - clear it with America. Eisenhower was afraid the middle east would embrace the Soviet Union. But what could America do to stop it from the other side of the world? Plenty, as it turned out. When the U.S. tried to pass a resolution through the U.N. Secur...

The Raw Story | Muslim groups condemn 'Muslim Massacre' video game : "A crudely-done video game titled 'Muslim Massacre' The Game of Modern Religious Genocide' is arousing the ire of Muslim groups, who would like to see action taken against it. The game, which features 80's-era graphics and audio, announces as its theme that 'The United States of America has declared war on Islam! Take control of the American hero and wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons.' The action consists of having your character run around and reduce everyone on the screen to a bloody smear on the pavement. Britain's Independent Television News reports that some justify the game as a satirical commentary on American attitudes, but Mohammed Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation believes that is just an excuse. He told ITN, 'They glorify the killing of Muslims. ... If it was they other way around, and if this was a Muslim game a...

The Raw Story | ACLU challenges FISA update with first legal brief : "The ACLU filed the first legal challenge to the constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act Friday, criticizing the law as a infringement of U.S. residents' right to privacy. The latest step in the ACLU's prolonged lawsuit against the FISA bill, the brief accuses the federal government of broadening its surveillance far past what is needed to defend the country from terrorists, according to a press release from the organization. 'The FISA Amendments Act allows the mass acquisition of Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls,' said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. 'The administration has argued that the law is necessary to address the threat of terrorism, but the truth is that the law sweeps much more broadly and implicates all kinds of communications that have nothing to do with terrorism or criminal activity of any kind. The Fourth Amendment was...

The Raw Story | Andover law school convenes Bush War Crimes Conference - WATCH LIVE Saturday morning, the dean of Massachusetts School of Law at Andover will convene a two day planning session with a single focus: To arrest, put to trial and carry out sentence on criminals in the Bush Administration. The conference, arranged by Lawrence Vevel, cofounder of the Andover school, will focus on which of Bush's officials and members of Congress could be charged with war crimes. The plan also calls for "necessary organizational structures" to be established, with the purpose of pursuing the guilty "to the ends of the Earth." "For Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Yoo to spend years in jail or go to the gallows for their crimes would be a powerful lesson to future American leaders," Velvel said in a media advisory.

 Was America Attacked by Muslims on 9/11? -  Page 1   : Information Clearing House - ICH : "Much of America's foreign policy since 9/11 has been based on the assumption that it was attacked by Muslims on that day. This assumption was used, most prominently, to justify the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is now widely agreed that the use of 9/11 as a basis for attacking Iraq was illegitimate: none of the hijackers were Iraqis, there was no working relation between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, and Iraq was not behind the anthrax attacks. But it is still widely believed that the US attack on Afghanistan was justified. For example, the New York Times, while referring to the US attack on Iraq as a 'war of choice,' calls the battle in Afghanistan a 'war of necessity.' Time magazine has dubbed it 'the right war.' And Barack Obama says that one reason to wind down our involvement in Iraq is to have the troops and resources to 'go after the people in...

  Go home, gringo  : Information Clearing House - ICH On the 35th anniversary of the military overthrow of Salvador Allende in Chile on September 11, 1973, which had the overt support of the United States, the presidents of Bolivia and Venezuela have asked the US ambassadors accredited to their countries to leave. They both believe they are facing the possibility of an imminent coup d'etat in which they accuse the Americans of being involved. A third country, Paraguay, announced 10 days ago that it had detected a conspiracy involving military officers and opposition politicians. Latin America now faces its most serious crisis since the re-introduction of democratic practice at the end of the last century. Brazil and Argentina have both denounced the violent activities of opposition groups in Bolivia that have led to the closure of the natural gas pipelines to their countries, while President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela has warned that a coup against Evo Morales of Bolivia would be see...

Tomgram: Slaughter, Lies, and Video in Afghanistan The Value of One, the Value of None An Anatomy of Collateral Damage in the Bush Era By Tom Engelhardt In a little noted passage in her bestselling book, The Dark Side, Jane Mayer offers us a vision, just post-9/11, of the value of one. In October 2001, shaken by a nerve-gas false alarm at the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney, reports Mayer, went underground. He literally embunkered himself in "a secure, undisclosed location," which she describes as "one of several Cold War-era nuclear-hardened subterranean bunkers built during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations, the nearest of which were located hundreds of feet below bedrock…" That bunker would be dubbed, perhaps only half-sardonically, "the Commander in Chief's Suite." Oh, and in that period, if Cheney had to be in transit, "he was chauffeured in an armored motorcade that varied its route to foil possible attackers." In the ba...

High Court May Immunize Big Pharma -- In These Times : "Struck by a blinding migraine, Vermont musician Diana Levine went to a clinic where she was injected with the anti-nausea drug Phenergan, produced by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Within weeks, the hand that had fingered her guitar was black with gangrene. Doctors amputated below the wrist and, when that failed to stop the necrosis, removed her forearm. Wyeth’s label had warned that hitting an artery could cause irreversible damage, but it did not specifically direct physicians to avoid delivering the drug with intravenous (IV) push injection — rather than free-flowing IV drip or intramuscular shot."

"Rick Shenkman 'They must think you're stupid' Thus spoke Barack Obama in mocking derision of an obvious falsehood after McCain began selling himself as the real agent of change. I have news for Mr. Obama. 'They' the Republicans do think 'you're stupid.' And I have to admit the evidence keeps piling up that they're right. We spend two whole days debating whether Barack Obama insulted Sarah Palin and we're supposed to think that's a sign of our intelligence as a self-governing people? Please. Obama had the nerve the other day to echo his veep's claim that the American people are smart. But where's the evidence of it? It's my official position of course that it is silly to call the American people stupid. It's impossible to generalize like that about 300 million plus people. But they sure aren't smart. Smart voters wouldn't put up with debates about pigs wearing lipstick."

Every year on September 11, Americans whip up a type of nationalism and islamophobic statements to isolate, to shame and to justify attacks against Muslims around the world including here in America, Afghanistan and Iraq. No one ever dare to mention names of perhaps a million innocent deaths of Muslims and Arabs around the world, No one ever dare to oppose the rape of a nation of Iraq by Bush regime , No one ever dare to protest torture and violations of a Geneva Conventions going on as we speak. How could any one be happy on such a day that paved a way for terror to be unleashed? George Bush and his henchmen did a perfect terror campaign for the last seven years which destroyed American credibility around the world to the lowest point in history; except the majority of Americans, the whole world saw hypocrites talking about democracy while suppressing it, talking about freedom of press while bombing installations of Aljazeerah and jailing its correspondence for years torturing him jus...

Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs HONG KONG - Dear, sweet Laura Bush told the biggest, baldest lie at last week's Republican National Convention. "Let's not forget," the first lady said, "President [George W] Bush has kept the American people safe." Mrs Bush, your husband and his administration did not keep the American people safe. On September 11, 2001, nearly 3,000 people died, and more than 6,000 were injured as al-Qaeda hijackers crashed commercial aircraft into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington. The Bush people act as if someone else was in charge when it happened. It's the greatest political mystery of the 21st century, perhaps in American history: how have the Republicans avoided responsibility for 9/11? How can they keep claiming the deadliest attacks on the American mainland as a badge of honor, rather than a stain on their record?

Next president faces swelling U.S. debt | csmonitor.com Washington - The US is about to end this fiscal year with a $407 billion budget deficit that is more than double what it was in 2007 – and the red ink is projected to flow on. Even before the full cost of the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is calculated, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the nation will add more than $2.3 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years. This updated CBO report, released Tuesday, is the latest sign that the next president will face tough fiscal choices early on in a new administration. But it's already prompted even tougher rhetoric in Congress – and on the campaign trail – over who is to blame for all the red ink. "This Democratic Congress really does deserve the name "Do Debt, Do Deficit, and Do Nothing," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R) of New Hampshire, the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee in a briefing after the release of t...

Why the Peaceful Majority of Muslims Are Not Irrelevant : "A few years ago, FrontPageMag.com columnist Paul Marek wrote an article titled “Why the Peaceful Majority Is Irrelevant.” His thesis was that even if the majority of Muslims abhor violence, it doesn’t matter because “the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history.... The hard quantifiable fact is, that the ‘peaceful majority’ is the ‘silent majority’ and it is cowed and extraneous.” For Marek, the upshot is this: “We must pay attention to the only group that counts: the fanatics who threaten our way of life.” He’s wrong. No, he’s worse than wrong, because his position could be used to justify mass murder. Marek and those who have applauded his column point out that most Germans and Japanese during World War II were not warmongers, but warmongers controlled policymaking. The implication is that the United States was right to regard the peaceful majority as nonexistent. That’s exactly what the Allies did. Under Franklin R...

FT.com / World - US military trained Georgian commandos By Charles Clover in Moscow and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington Published: September 5 2008 18:49 | Last updated: September 5 2008 18:49 The US military provided combat training to 80 Georgian special forces commandos only months prior to Georgia’s army assault in South Ossetia in August. The revelation, based on recruitment documents and interviews with US military trainers obtained by the Financial Times, could add fuel to accusations by Vlad­imir Putin, Russian prime minister, last month that the US had “orchestrated” the war in the Georgian enclave. The training was provided by senior US soldiers and two military contractors. There is no evidence that the contractors or the Pentagon, which hired them, knew that the commandos they were training were likely be used in the assault on South Ossetia.

ei: Jim Crow alive and well in Hebron : "I left my home in the United States to spend the summer in the West Bank, where I was attacked by Israeli settlers late last month. As a member of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT), I went to the south Hebron Hills to help keep young Palestinian children safe from Israeli settlers intent on dominating and hurting Palestinians. Armed only with a video camera, it was my job to escort the children back and forth from school and summer camp. On 27 July, the children and I were walking home when a group of Israeli settlers assaulted us from a hilltop with fist-sized stones. Some narrowly missed my head. Focusing my video camera, I recorded an Israeli settler flinging stones at the children from his long-range slingshot. When he saw that I was filming him, he struck me in the leg with a rock. He chased me, kicked me and screamed that he was going to kill me. Wrestling the video camera from my hand, he then repeatedly struck me in the face and u...

 When Protest Is Terrorism          : Information Clearing House - ICH : "In what appears to be the first use of criminal charges under the 2002 Minnesota version of the Federal Patriot Act, Ramsey County Prosecutors have formally charged 8 alleged leaders of the RNC Welcoming Committee with Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism. Monica Bicking, Eryn Trimmer, Luce Guillen Givins, Erik Oseland, Nathanael Secor, Robert Czernik, Garrett Fitzgerald, and Max Spector, face up to 7 1/2 years in prison under the terrorism enhancement charge which allows for a 50% increase in the maximum penalty. Affidavits released by law enforcement which were filed in support of the search warrants used in raids over the weekend, and used to support probable cause for the arrest warrants, are based on paid, confidential informants who infiltrated the RNCWC on behalf of law enforcement. They allege that members of the group sought to kidnap delegates to the RNC, assault police officers with fire...

   Turning Away From American State Terrorism       : Information Clearing House - ICH The choice we face in November is very clear. It is a choice to continue to support the US terror war, or to turn away from this path of unlimited destruction. This lie-based war is all about terrorism – whether America actually fights terrorism or promotes its use. To find the answer to this conundrum all we have to do is turn our gaze to Pakistan. In Pakistan we find the complete history of the American “war on terrorism,” from its Cold War origins nearly thirty years ago to its present incarnation in the illegal American aggression in Pakistan’s Frontier region (FATA, Federally Administered Tribal Areas) and in American attempts to reignite the Cold War with Russia. The latest cross-border attack against Pakistan in South Waziristan, which involved American helicopters and ground troops, costing 15 villagers their lives, represents the first steps in American attempts to escalate its war into a re...