The Israeli connection to the Niger and Congo uranium forgeries.

November 4, 2005 -- The Israeli connection to the Niger and Congo uranium forgeries. The neo-cons who are behind the Niger forgeries that were used as justification for the war in Iraq have been aided by former KGB officers who honed their African forgery trade during the Cold War. A number of these KGB officers are now Israeli citizens who are working closely with a special activities unit in Ariel Sharon's office. The former KGB agents, having left the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 1980s when a neo-con cell first nested in Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson's office and then migrated to the Pentagon under Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, now work for Likud and specialize in creating forgeries, especially those attributed to African countries. These Israeli former KGB agents work closely with neocon units in Rome, Washington, and London. The State Department once maintained a full-time office dedicated to proving Soviet generated documents as forgeries. The documents were always easy to detect since the forgeries were crude and the information contained within them was capricious.

The Congo forgeries were overshadowed by the Niger forgeries

Although the focus is on the Niger forgeries, there was another case in which forgeries "proving" Iraq's nuclear ambitions were shopped by the neocons. It received little or no attention.

In July 2002, documents on CIA letterhead were "discovered" in a Nairobi hotel room. They described attempts by Mai Mai guerrillas in Bukavu in the DRC to negotiate the sale of uranium to Saddam Hussein's government. The discovery of the documents in Nairobi came after Wilson, CIA weapons of mass destruction experts -- including Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame Wilson -- the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, the US ambassador to Niger, and the US European Command in Stuttgart concluded that there was no evidence to support the allegation that Iraq was shopping for nuclear materials in Africa -- a charge later leveled by President Bush in his January 2003 State of the Union address.

The "discovery" of the CIA documents -- clearly forgeries like the Niger documents -- were leaked to the press, including Le Soir in Belgium. Their leak was followed by the release of a British government dossier describing Iraq's attempts to obtain uranium in Africa. The DRC government later produced photocopies of original false Bukavu documents -- on which the bogus CIA documents were based -- offering Iraq (or any other high bidder) 9 kilograms of "superior quality" uranium from Mai Mai units in the eastern DRC. U.S. intelligence sources maintain that the Nairobi and Bukavu documents were crude forgeries produced after then-Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Walter Kansteiner III met with Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Kigali on January 15, 2002. The plan was to blame the DRC for providing uranium to Iraq in an attempt to destabilize Kabila and justify the continued presence of Rwandan troops in eastern DRC. Iraq's complicity in obtaining uranium in DRC would then be bolstered by the Niger "evidence" lending credence to Saddam's nuclear "ambitions."

Kansteiner was assisted in the operation by his deputy, Charles Snyder, a former US Special Forces officer who was involved in covert operations in Sierra Leone and is tied to the neo-conservative elements within the Pentagon. Kagame relies heavily on Israeli and Pentagon security advisers in his eastern Congo military operations.

Former KGB disinformation and forgery experts have also been behind illegal forgery operations tied to the Russian-Israeli Mafia's weapons, diamond, gold, platinum, uranium, and plutonium smuggling operations in other African countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Mozambique, Liberia, Congo (Brazzaville), and Benin.

======================

Forged Niger documents: From Italia with Amore

November 4, 2005 -- Bush's State of the Union contention about uranium based on forged documents. The chief of Italy's SISMI intelligence service, Gen. Nicolo Pollari, revealed before an Italian parliamentary committee that an Italian ex-spy and interlocutor for the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans was the source for forged Niger documents alleging Iraq attempted to procure yellowcake uranium from Niger. It was based on these forgeries that were shopped around by ex- Italian spy Rocco Martino and Pentagon neo-cons that Ambassador Joseph Wilson was dispatched to Niger by the CIA. Wilson also determined the documents were forgeries setting off a chain of events that led to a criminal probe of the White House and a five count indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff I. Lewis Libby.

Although the FBI announced it was shutting down its two year investigation of the forgeries on the same day the Italian spy chief made his statement, it is known that much of the evidence collected by the Italians, including a classified parliamentary report, is now in the hands of Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. Italian Senator Massimo Brutti also stated that SISMI informed the CIA in early 2003 that the Niger documents were forgeries. However, it is also being reported by the Italian media that Pollari provided the Niger documents to the Bush White House knowing they were forgeries and that this was done on the orders of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Cheney was the one who ordered the torture:

On NPR yesterday, the former chief of staff to the secretary of state said that he had uncovered a "visible audit trail" tracing the practice of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers directly back to Vice President Cheney’s office.

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Colin Powell, then the secretary of state, told National Public Radio he had traced a trail of memos and directives authorizing questionable detention practices up through Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s office directly to Cheney’s staff.

"There was a visible audit trail from the vice president’s office through the secretary of defense, down to the commanders in the field," authorizing practices that led to the abuse of detainees, Wilkerson said. [...]

Washington Post story

Wilkerson also told National Public Radio that Cheney’s office ran an "alternate national security staff" that spied on and undermined the president's formal National Security Council.

He said National Security Council staff stopped sending e-mails when they found out Cheney’s staff members were reading their messages.

A Cheney-Libby Conspiracy, Or Worse? Reading Between the Lines of the Libby Indictment By JOHN W. DEAN

In my last column, I tried to deflate expectations a bit about the likely consequences of the work of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald; to bring them down to the realistic level at which he was likely to proceed. I warned, for instance, that there might not be any indictments, and Fitzgerald might close up shop as the last days of the grand jury's term elapsed. And I was certain he would only indict if he had a patently clear case.

Now, however, one indictment has been issued -- naming Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby as the defendant, and charging false statements, perjury and obstruction of justice. If the indictment is to be believed, the case against Libby is, indeed, a clear one.

Having read the indictment against Libby, I am inclined to believe more will be issued. In fact, I will be stunned if no one else is indicted.

Indeed, when one studies the indictment, and carefully reads the transcript of the press conference, it appears Libby's saga may be only Act Two in a three-act play. And in my view, the person who should be tossing and turning at night, in anticipation of the last act, is the Vice President of the United States, Richard B. Cheney.

The Indictment: Invoking the Espionage Act Unnecessarily

Typically, federal criminal indictments are absolutely bare bones. Just enough to inform a defendant of the charges against him.

For example, the United States Attorney's Manual, which Fitzgerald said he was following, notes that under the Sixth Amendment an accused must "be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation." And Rule 7(c)(1) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires that, "The indictment . . . be a plain, concise and definite written statement of the essential facts constituting the offense charged." That is all.

Federal prosecutors excel at these "plain, concise and definite" statement indictments - drawing on form books and institutional experience in drafting them. Thus, the typical federal indictment is the quintessence of pith: as short and to the point as the circumstances will permit.

Again, Libby is charged with having perjured himself, made false statements, and obstructed justice by lying to FBI agents and the grand jury. A bare-bones indictment would address only these alleged crimes.

"Must-read" article

Drifting Towards a Police State

Did you know that under the terms of the new Patriot Act prosecutors will be able to seek the death penalty in cases where "defendants gave financial support to umbrella organizations without realizing that some of its adherents might eventually commit violence"? (NY Times editorial, October 30, 2005) So, if someone unknowingly gave money to a charity that was connected to a terrorist group, he/she could be executed.

Or, that the Senate Intelligence Committee is fine-tuning the details of a bill that will allow the FBI to secretly procure any of your personal records without "probable cause" or a court order giving them "unchecked authority to pry into personal and business matters"? ("Republicans Seek to Widen FBI Powers," New York Times, October 19, 2005)

Or, that on June 29, President Bush put "a broad swath of the FBI" under his direct control by creating the National Security Service (a.k.a. the "New SS")? This is the first time we’ve had a "secret police" in our 200-year history. It will be run exclusively by the president and beyond the range of congressional oversight.

Y miles marcharon en repudio a Bush

El frió y la pertinaz llovizna, que a ratos se intensificaba, no impidieron que cerca de 20 mil personas integrantes de organizaciones de muy diversa orientación política e ideológica coincidieran en marchar juntas, enarbolando consignas tales como “Bush: vos sos el terrorista”, “No al ALCA y el ‘libre’ comercio”, “No a la militarización de América latina”, y muchas otras que expresan el rechazo al modelo económico, político, social y cultural que el imperialismo norteamericano intenta imponer al mundo.

La marcha desmintió en los hechos la campaña mediática orquestada desde hace semanas para sembrar el miedo y la desconfianza de las personas que habitan esta ciudad y predisponerlos contra los visitantes, al describirlos poco menos que como hordas que venían a saquear y destruir todo a su paso. No hubo ningún incidente en el largo trayecto que recorrieron los manifestantes por toda la avenida independencia, una de las vías principales de la ciudad, desde la avenida Luro y hasta el complejo deportivo. No fue necesaria la presencia de fuerzas policiales, el orden fue mantenido por los propios manifestantes y ni un efectivo policial o militar fue visto en el trayecto, estos estaban en calles paralelas y sobre todo concentrados alrededor del muro metálico que ha segregado la parte de la ciudad donde se celebrara la Cumbre presidencial.

Los comercios permanecían cerrados y protegidos muchos de ellos con maderas o planchas metálicas en sus vidrieras, muchos comentaban en la marcha cuanto habrían podido vender con las calles llenas de personas. Sin embargo hay que decir que pese a la campaña orquestada miles de marplatenses integraban la marcha y que los visitantes hemos sentido la hospitalidad y el espíritu amistoso de los habitantes de este lugar. Los taxis circulaban pese a que las aseguradoras le retiraron la protección por 48 horas.

Consignas, canciones, lectura de fragmentos de la declaración final de la Cumbre de los pueblos, expresiones musicales de la cultura popular latinoamericana y una profusión de carteles, mantas, volantes y banderas, dieron un colorido y fuerza enorme a aquella masa humana que con energía, pero sin agresividad, levantaban sus voces para hacer valer sus derechos, sueños y anhelos mas sentidos.Una presencia fue constante a lo largo de toda la marcha: la imagen del Che,portada en banderolas, mantas, camisas, remeras y publicaciones que se distribuian, son la evidencia de que su ejemplo inmortal sigue alentando a todos los que luchan contra el imperialismo en cualquier parte,y por supuesto en esta tierra que lo vio nacer.

Los manifestantes recibieron a su paso, desde muchos balcones,ventanas y aceras el saludo de familias marplatenses que de esa forma se sumaban también a la protesta.

Al termino del recorrido los manifestantes ingresaron al estadio mundialista para dar inicio al acto de cierre de esta jornada donde se espera la presencia del presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez Frías.

Otros grupos no vinculados a la Cumbre de los Pueblos, anunciaban otras manifestaciones para esta tarde coincidiendo con el inicio de la reunión de presidentes.

Why Do So Many Americans Believe in God and Fundamentalist "Christianity"?

I'm guessing that some of this blog's readers have already purchased the latest Noam Chomsky book - Imperial Ambitions (Metropolitan, 2005) a remarkable set of interviews with Chomsky (2003-2005) conducted by the award winning radio journalist David Barsaniam, who has a special gift for asking evocative questions that bring NC's unmatched brilliance to bear on numerous, urgent, and wide-ranging issues of interrelated contemporary, historical, domestic and global relevance. Somewhere in this excellent collection (currently sitting a few miles from my computer), there’s an interesting exchange on a problem that seems to uncharacteristically baffle the conversants: why there’s so much religious and particularly so much extreme religious belief in the U.S.

It’s a fascinating and important issue in a country whose "messianic militarist" (Ralph Nader’s description) president once invoked "Christ" as his favorite political philosopher ("because he changed my heart") and announced his imperialist war(s) on (of) terror and the Arab world as "a crusade." A friend of school prayer and the death penalty and a religiously based opponent of abortion rights, gay rights, civil rights, evolutionary science, and stem-cell research, Bush is possibly the nation’s most theocratic president to date.

Experts Dismiss Scare Over Bird Flu

Summary:

If and when it comes to this part of the world, Butcher predicts, it will get here via migratory shorebirds or waterfowl coming from Russia, through Siberia, across the Bering Strait, down through Alaska and Canada."That's how it is probably going to come in, and it is of very little relevance," he said, because the poultry industry in this part of the world is so different than in the parts of the world that have been affected so far.

Gary Butcher has been an extension veterinarian at the University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine since 1988. He was trained as a veterinarian specializing in avian diseases, and has a Ph.D. in poultry virology.

Realistically, avian influenza is not a threat to people, but everywhere you go, it has turned into a circus

Stealing Veteran's Day from the Militarists by Mickey Z.

In a society where "support the troops" is little more than a euphemism for "support the policy," the concept of setting aside a day to celebrate military veterans has always been touchy for the Left. But here's an idea: what if we instead honored veterans of the anti-war movement? I mean those -- from Eugene Debs and Helen Keller to the Berrigans, right up to Cindy Sheehan -- who put their ass on the line to stop war...not wage it. To add a twist, how about military veterans who have since become veterans of the anti-war movement, e.g. Howard Zinn, Stan Goff, Ward Churchill, and Rosemarie Jackowski?

Even better, if you truly want to acknowledge bravery in the line of fire, why not find more heroes like Hugh Clowers Thompson, Jr.?

Thompson arrived in Vietnam on December 27, 1967 and quickly earned a reputation as "an exceptional (helicopter) pilot who took danger in his stride." In their book, Four Hours at My Lai, Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim also describe Thompson as a "very moral man. He was absolutely strict about opening fire only on clearly defined targets." On the morning of March 16, 1968, Thompson's sense of virtue would be put to the test.

Flying in his H-23 observation chopper, the 25-year-old Thompson used green smoke to mark wounded people on the ground in and around My Lai. Upon returning a short while later after refueling, he found that the wounded he saw earlier were now dead. Thompson's gunner, Lawrence Colburn, averted his gaze from the gruesome sight.

After bringing the chopper down to a standstill hover, Thompson and his crew came upon a young woman they had previously marked with smoke. As they watched, a U.S. soldier, wearing captain's bars, "prodded her with his foot, and then killed her."

Unbeknownst to Thompson at that point, more than 560 Vietnamese had already been slaughtered by Lt. William Calley's Charlie Company. All Thompson knew for sure was that the U.S. troops he then saw pursuing civilians had to be stopped.

Bravely, landing his helicopter between the charging GIs and the fleeing villagers, Thompson ordered Colburn to turn his machine gun on the American soldiers if they tried to shoot the unarmed men, women, and children. Thompson then stepped out of the chopper into the combat zone and coaxed the frightened civilians from the bunker they were hiding in. With tears streaming down his face, he evacuated them to safety.

Officially termed an "incident" (as a opposed to a "massacre") My Lai has been widely accepted as an aberration. While the record of U.S. war crimes in Southeast Asia is far too lengthy to detail here, it's clear that was not the case. In fact, on the very same day that Lt. Calley entered into infamy (he later explained: "We weren't there to kill human beings, really. We were there to kill ideology"), another company entered My Khe, a sister sub-hamlet of My Lai. That visit was described as such: "In this 'other massacre,' members of this separate company piled up a body count of perhaps a hundred peasants -- My Khe was smaller than My Lai -- 'flattened the village' by dynamite and fire, and then threw handfuls of straw on corpses. The next morning, this company moved on down the Batangan Peninsula by the South China Sea, burning every hamlet they came to, killing water buffalo, pigs, chickens, ducks, and destroying crops. As one of the My Khe veterans said later, 'what we were doing was being done all over.' Said another: 'We were out there having a good time. It was sort of like being in a shooting gallery.'"

Colonel Oran Henderson, charged with covering-up the My Lai killings, put it succinctly in 1971. "Every unit of brigade size has its My Lai hidden someplace." But not every unit had a Hugh Thompson.

This Veteran's Day, let's hear it for those brave souls who do the fighting...to end the fighting.

Mickey Z. can be found on the Web at: www.mickeyz.net. This essay is excerpted in part from his new book, 50 American Revolutions You're Not Supposed to Know: Reclaiming American Patriotism (Disinformation Books).

The Senate’s Closed Session: Nothing But a Democratic Sham

Oh, what a farce it was. On Tuesday November 1, the Senate Democrats pulled a rare maneuver, kicked the press and the public out of their hallowed chambers, slammed the doors, and for 3-1/2 long hours purportedly took the Republicans to task. The Democrats demanded that the Republicans give them what was promised: an investigation into the Bush administration’s misuse of intelligence leading up to the invasion of Iraq.

It sounds noble enough, and predictably their act, which was led by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, has been praised by a flurry of antiwar pundits and bloggers who claim the Democratic Party must finally be warming up to their side of the war question.

But just because something sounds noble, doesn't mean it is.

Writing for The Nation online, John Nichols opined, "Remarkable as it may sound, there is reason to believe that Congressional Democrats may finally be waking from their long slumber and stirring into a functional opposition party ... [Reid] merits the high praise of being referred to not as a Democrat or a Republican but as the leader of the opposition that this country has so sorely needed."

Opposition to what? Calling for an investigation into how the Bush administration manipulated the public (forget that the Democratic leadership throughout the1990s until, well, November 1, were propagating the same lies about Saddam’s threat) isn’t called "leadership", let alone the makings of a "functional opposition party," as Nichols believes. It was all just a silly ruse. The Democrats certainly know how the Republicans misrepresented and inflated intelligence about Saddam's WMD.

But there is a much bigger charade going on here that most have missed: despite their newly found tenacity, the Democrats still have not taken a sound position on the war in Iraq.

Unembedded Reporting From Iraq: An Interview with Dahr Jamail

In 2003, tired of the US media's inaccurate portrayal of the realities of the Iraq War, independent journalist Dahr Jamail headed to the conflict himself. Instead of following in the footsteps of mainstream media's embedded, "Hotel Journalists," Jamail hit the Iraqi streets to uncover the stories most reporters were missing. His countless interviews with Iraqi citizens and from-the-ground reporting have offered a horrific look into the bowels of the US occupation. From covering the bloody siege of Falluja to breaking a story on Bechtel's failure to reconstruct water treatment plants, his writing and photographs depict an Iraq that is much worse off now than it was before the US invasion. As one Abu Ghraib detainee explained to Jamail, "the Americans brought electricity to my ass before they brought it to my house."

Varieties of Imperial Aggression: The Andean Trade Treaties

When the UN received the recent Mehlis report on the murder of former Lebanese President Rafik Hariri, one suggested tribunal for a possible prosecution was the International Criminal Court. (1) Rejecting such a proposal, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rica remarked, “Everyone knows the United States’ view of the international criminal court.... That view is not going to change.” Rice is on sure ground when she notes most people know why the United States rejects the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. She and her colleagues would soon be in the dock if a US government ever recognized the competence of such a tribunal.

Recently, two foreign courts issued warrants for the arrest of US government personnel protected, in common with terrorists like Luis Posada Carriles, by the US authorities. In September this year, Italian judges in Milan ordered the arrest on kidnapping charges of three CIA agents including Betnie Medero-Navedo, currently First Secretary at the US embassy in Mexico. (2) In October, Spanish judges issued arrest warrants for three US soldiers -- Sergeant Thomas Gibson, Captain Philip Wolford and Lieutenant-Colonel Philip De Camp -- accused of the murder of Spanish cameraman Jose Couso in Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq in 2003. (3)

The US government's persistent refusal to recognize inconvenient international law is the fundamental basis for every aspect of United States foreign policy. In practice, the European Union and other US allies like Canada and Japan consistently support US government delinquency by regularly failing to effectively challenge US government breaches of customary international law. As often as not, as in Haiti and now Syria, European Union officials collaborate actively in US power plays. Translated to the trade arena, a good example of the US-EU consensus on justice in international trade was the sabotage of the world trade talks at Cancun in 2003. Then US and EU trade representatives Robert Zoellick and Pascal Lamy threw out less developed countries' proposals for a fairer global commercial framework.

The Libby Affair and the Internal War

The national debate, which the indictment of Irving Lewis Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice has aroused in the mass media, has failed to address the most basic questions concerning the deep structural context, which influenced his felonious behavior. The most superficial explanation was that Libby, by exposing Valerie Plame (a CIA employee), acted out of revenge to punish her husband Wilson for exposing the lies put forth by Bush about Iraq's "importation" of uranium from Niger. Other journalists claim that Libby acted to cover up the fabrications to go to war. The assertion however raises a deeper question -- who were the fabricators of war propaganda, who was Libby protecting? And not only the "fabricators of war", but the strategic planners, speech-makers and architects of war who acted hand in hand with the propagandists and the journalists who disseminated the propaganda? What is the link between all these high- level functionaries, propagandists and journalists?

Equally important given the positions of power which this cabal occupied, and the influence they exercised in the mass media as well as in designing strategic policy, what forces were engaged in bringing criminal charges against a key operative of the cabal?

Libby's rise to power was part and parcel of the ascendancy of the neo-conservatives to the summits of US policymaking. Libby was a student, protégé, and collaborator with Paul Wolfowitz for over 25 years. Libby along with Wolfowitz, Elliot Abrams, Douglas Feith, Kagan, Cohen, Rubin, Pollack, Chertoff, Fleisher, Kristol, Marc Grossman, Shumsky and a host of other political operators were long term believers and aggressive proponents of a virulently militaristic tendency of Zionism linked with the rightwing Likud Party of Israel. Early in the 1980's, Wolfowitz and Feith were charged with passing confidential documents to Israel, the latter temporarily losing his security clearance.

Secrets and Shame

Ultimately the whole truth will come out and historians will have their say, and Americans will look in the mirror and be ashamed.

Abraham Lincoln spoke of the "better angels" of our nature. George W. Bush will have none of that. He’s set his sights much, much lower.

The latest story from the Dante-esque depths of this administration was front-page news in The Washington Post yesterday. The reporter, Dana Priest, gave us the best glimpse yet of the extent of the secret network of prisons in which the C.I.A. has been hiding and interrogating terror suspects. The network includes a facility at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe.

"The hidden global internment network is a central element in the C.I.A.’s unconventional war on terrorism," wrote Ms. Priest. "It depends on the cooperation of foreign intelligence services, and on keeping even basic information about the system secret from the public, foreign officials and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the C.I.A.'s covert actions."

The individuals held in these prisons have been deprived of all rights. They don’t even have the basic minimum safeguards of prisoners of war. If they are being tortured or otherwise abused, there is no way for the outside world to know about it. If some mistake has been made and they are, in fact, innocent of wrongdoing - too bad.

Wayne Madsen Rerport

November 3, 2005 -- Open letter to Patrick Fitzgerald from one-time James Bath (Dubya's Texas Air National Guard and partner) business associate:

CIA-run secret prison camps AND Karl Rove's home in Rosemary Beach in Walton County

From Wayne Madsen Report

November 3, 2005 -- The leak of information about a network of CIA-run secret prison camps ("black" sites) in a number of countries, including Afghanistan, Thailand, Cuba (Guantanamo Bay), and six Eastern European countries is another indication that the intelligence agency's rank-and-file are critical of draconian methods, including the CIA's "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques," to glean intelligence from suspected terrorists. The part of the CIA that has not yet been purged CIA Director Porter Goss is in open warfare against the neo-cons, according to one CIA agent who spoke on the condition of anonymity. U.S. officials claim the names of the Eastern European countries are being withheld because releasing them would hurt U.S. "counter terrorism" operations in the countries. The truth is that the names are being withheld to prevent an investigation by the European Court of Human Rights and European Union Human Rights Commission. Nevertheless, the European Union is now investigating the secret prisons. The likely locations of the secret prisons, according to informed sources, are Poland, Romania, Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, and Croatia.

==========================

November 3, 2005 -- More on Karl Rove's under-assessed house in Florida. As reported by WMR on October 29, Karl Rove's home in Rosemary Beach in Walton County, Florida seems to be one of the few houses in America that has depreciated in value. While it was bought for $165,000 in 2002, it has been assessed three years later at only $155,000. Other similar homes in the area are being assessed at $350,000 and higher. Is Rove a tax scofflaw courtesy of the man sitting in the Governor's mansion in Tallahassee?

Bush's Increasing Mental Lapses and Temper Tantrums Worry White House Aides

An uncivil war rages inside the walls of the West Wing of the White House, a bitter, acrimonious war driven by a failed agenda, destroyed credibility, dwindling public support and a President who lapses into Alzheimer-like periods of incoherent babbling.

On one side are the dwindling numbers of die-hard loyalists to President George W. Bush, those who support his actions and decisions without question and remain committed to both Bush and scandal-scarred political advisor Karl Rove.

On the other side are the increasing numbers of those who say Rove must go and who worry about the President's declining mental state and his ability to restore credibility with Congress, our foreign allies and the American people.

The war erupted into full-blown shout fests at Camp David this past weekend where decorum broke down in staff meetings and longtime aides threatened to quit unless Rove goes. Insiders say Chief of Staff Andrew Card now leads the anti-Rove legions and has told Bush that he wants out of the high-pressure job.

White House staff members say the White House is "like a wartime bunker" where shell-shocked aides hide from those who disagree with their actions and office pools speculate on how long certain senior aides will last.

Argentine Protest

Buenos Aires. Anti-US protesters are planning a mass demonstration against President George W. Bush's visit to Argentina this week for the Summit of the Americas in the seaside resort of Mar del Plata.

Luis D'Elía, who heads one of the country's so-called piquetero movements - leftwing groups of disaffected unemployed - said the protest would bring together up to 100,000 people and would include popular figures such as Diego Maradona, the former Argentine soccer star.

"The idea is to show the victims of imperialism," Mr D'Elía said yesterday. "We want to put a stop to Bush's military build-up and his persistent threats of invasion around the world."

Family members of fallen US soldiers in Iraq would attend as well as Iraqi civilians who had suffered at the hands of US troops. But he said the centrepiece of Friday's protests would be a speech by Hugo Chávez, the radical Venezuelan president, which is scheduled for 1pm on Friday to coincide with the official start of the summit.

Mr D'Elía said the protest would also reject the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the ailing trade initiative that diplomats say the US will try to revive during the two-day summit. "The FTAA would wipe out our industry and exclude 82 per cent of our exports. We have already seen the results of imperialist economic policy, and in Argentina it destroyed our wealth," he said, referring to the financial chaos that shook the country in December 2001.

The march, together with other protests to mark Mr Bush's first visit to Argentina and rallies in support of Mr Chávez, have forced local authorities to mount the most intense security operation ever seen in the country's history.

An extra 7,000 police have been deployed on the normally calm streets of Mar del Plata, a 176km no-fly zone has been established with orders to shoot down any unauthorised aircraft, and three concentric circles of imposing metal fencing have been erected around the centre with highly restricted access.

"We have been imprisoned," said one resident yesterday morning.

Yet Mr D'Elía insisted that despite Argentines' strong anti-US sentiment -- according to a newspaper poll almost 60 per cent of the population dispprove of Mr Bush's visit -- there would be no violence during Friday's march.

Chavez Restyles Venezuela With '21st-Century Socialism'

CARACAS, Venezuela - Firmly in power and his revolution now in overdrive, President Hugo Chavez is moving fast to transform Venezuela's economy by bucking free-market planning with what he calls 21st-century socialism: founding state companies, seizing abandoned private factories and establishing thousands of cooperatives and worker-run businesses.

The populist government is reorganizing the country's colossal oil industry, taking a bigger share from private multinationals. Planners are reorganizing the banking system, placing stringent restrictions on lending while creating state banks. Venezuela is also developing a state-to-state barter system to trade items as varied as cattle, oil and cement as far away as Argentina and as near as Cuba, its closest ally.

"It's impossible for capitalism to achieve our goals, nor is it possible to search for an intermediate way," Mr. Chavez said a few months ago, laying out his plans. "I invite all Venezuelans to march together on the path of socialism of the new century."

'In India we are at the moment witnessing a sort of fusion between corporate capitalism and feudalism - it's a deadly cocktail'

Arundhati Roy in conversation with Amit Sengupta

In Intellectual Engagement: Arundhati Roy

I start with an old question: When Tehelka was being cornered you had said there should be a Noam Chomsky in India. Later you had once told me that 'I am not an activist'. What is this idea of Noam Chomsky in a context like India?

I think essentially that whether it is an issue like Tehelka being hounded or all the other issues that plague us, much of the critical response is an analysis of symptoms; it’s not radical. Most of the time it does not really question how democracy dovetails into majoritarianism which edges towards fascism, or what the connections are between this kind of 'new democracy' and corporate globalisation, repression, militancy and war. What is the connection between corruption and power?

At one point when the Tehelka expose happened, I thought, thank God the BJP is corrupt, thank God someone’s taken money, imagine if they had been incorruptible, only ideological, it would have been so much more frightening. To me, pristine ideological battles are really more frightening.

In India we are at the moment witnessing a sort of fusion between corporate capitalism and feudalism - it's a deadly cocktail. We see it unfolding before our eyes. Sometimes it looks as though the result of all this will be a twisted implementation of the rural employment guarantee act. Half the population will become Naxalites and the other half will join the security forces and what Bush said will come true. Everyone will have to choose whether they're with "us" or with the "terrorists". We will live in an elaborately administered tyranny.

Chavez sharpens rhetoric for Bush duel at Summit of the Americas

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is loudly gearing up for his next big battle with the United States, this time up close and personal with President George W. Bush at the Summit of the Americas.

Frequently seen as heir-apparent of anti-American imperialism crusader Fidel Castro of Cuba, who will be absent from the summit in Argentina this week, Chavez has unabashedly declared his intention to use the public forum to promote "21st century socialism."

"I see it already. The debate at Mar del Plata will be delicious," Chavez said on his weekly Sunday television show, "Hello President".

WASHINGTON POST UNCOVERS PENTAGON "CONTINGENCY PLAN" AGAINST VENEZUEA

A column in Wednesday's Washington Post Online discloses a previously unknown Pentagon briefing paper that outlines a plan for potential military conflict with Venezuela. The document, dated October 2005 and titled "The FY08-13 POM," lists Venezuela among five potential "threats" to the United States, alongside North Korea, Iran, China and Syria. Venezuela is also described as a "rogue state" in the document.
[Read the column: http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/news/11-02-05wpo.html ]

The Miami Herald followed up today by interviewing Pentagon officials, and the response has been telling: While military spokesman do not deny the existence of the contingency plan outright, they "reacted with deep skepticism" that it exists. Another Defense Department admitted that "it was possible [a Pentagon document] could mention a possible conflict with Venezuela," but said it's no big deal because '' 'thousands' of documents go into the Quadrennial review process."
[Read the Miami Herald story: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/13066998.htm ]

Later this morning, the Post columnist was compelled to follow up with a second column to shed more light on yesterday's disclosure. Arkin, who is a former intelligence officer with the U.S. Army, explains that such documents are not plans to invade, per se, but rather part of a series of "what if" scenarios in case Venezuela initiates aggressive action against the United States.
[Read the column: http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/news/11-03-05wpo.html ]

No matter the designation, the existence of the documents will not assuage the fears of Venezuelans who have long held that U.S. military strategists are poised to assassinate their president and take over Venezuela's vast oil reserves.

REMINDER: VENEZUELA EVENT IN NEW YORK CITY NEXT WEEK
New Yorkers will gather at the city's Town Hall on November 8th to show solidarity with the people of Venezuela. The evening will include music, poetry, speakers and more. For more information, visit: http://www.venezuelanov8.org/

NATIONWIDE DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH VENEZUELA: DECEMBER 2
A coalition of U.S.-based organizations has announced a National Venezuelan Solidarity Day on December 2nd. Representatives from faith-based organizations, Peace groups, and Latin American solidarity organizations will put together a series of events in support of the Bolivarian process and a more balanced U.S. policy toward Venezuela. To find out what is going on in your community or to otherwise get involved, please visit: http://lasolidarity.org/Dec2.shtml

VISIT THE SOCIAL FORUM OF THE AMERICAS: JANUARY 19 -FEBRUARY 1.
For those who are interested in participating in the World Social Forum in Caracas and spending some extra days in Venezuela to learn about the exciting and hopeful changes taking place, the Marin Interfaith Task Force is coordinating this exciting delegation. Highlights will include:

* Activities in both the capital city of Caracas and in the countryside
* Visits to the barrios where innovative social programs are underway
* Discussions with government leaders about the goals of the Chavez administration.
* Meetings with human rights groups to hear their concerns.
* Attending the Social Forum of the Americas

The cost of the delegation is $1,000 (plus airfare). For more information and to request an application please email Dale at geodale1@earthlink.net or mitf@igc.org or call 415-924-3226.

Superiority Complex - Why is the vice president deciding how the U.S. treats foreign detainees?

Today's revelations in the New York Times about the Bush administration's internal debate over how to treat foreign detainees highlight the unprecedented role that Vice President Dick Cheney and his staff are playing in setting national security policy. In the Constitution, the vice president is the nation's understudy. He is not supposed to be in the chain of command. Cheney knows this better than most: In 1989, when he was George H.W. Bush's secretary of defense, Cheney slapped down Vice President Dan Quayle for calling a meeting of the National Security Council about a coup attempt in the Philippines while the president was out of the country.

Yet now the Office of the Vice President is dictating the rules by which the U.S. military interrogates and detains terrorist suspects. This is being done subtly. All the Office of the Vice President has to do is informally convey its opposition to complying with international law in this area, and any such effort is thwarted.

Diez razones para recelar de EEUU

1. EE.UU. le ha quitado todo su peso al sistema de Naciones Unidas.

EE.UU. se ha salido con la suya en lo que atañe a una efectiva anulación de la ONU.

El desprecio hacia ésta se ha visto reflejado a través de una deuda formidable y de una clara opción por fórmulas que sortean a la principal instancia internacional.

El presidente de la Comisión de Asuntos Exteriores del Senado, Jesse Helms, no dudó en señalar que "el pueblo estadounidense no aceptará nunca la condición de la ONU como única fuente de legitimidad en relación con el uso de la fuerza".

2. Desde hace al menos cien años EE.UU. ha practicado sistemáticamente la injerencia en los asuntos de los demás.

A lo largo del siglo XX, EE.UU. ha aplicado en los escenarios más dispares la que en principio fue su conducta en América central: un afán controlador traducido en golpes de Estado e intervenciones militares.

Aunque en los últimos tiempos las fórmulas desplegadas han podido ser más suaves --ahí está el intervencionismo humanitario, detrás del cual se esconden, claro, muchos intereses mezquinos--, el objetivo es el mismo: garantizar la sumisión.

3. EE.UU. no sabe vivir sin amenazas.

Desde la desaparición del muro de Berlín, Estados Unidos precisa de amenazas que, reales o inventadas, permitan mantener una formidable maquinaria militar y represiva.

Si en un principio la apuesta lo fue por preservar, hasta donde fuera posible, la amenaza rusa, después se han cargado las tintas sobre otra, la islámica, en relación con la cual han proliferado las simplificaciones.

Esa amenaza se ve adobada, por lo demás, de una rápida identificación con fenómenos como el terrorismo o el narcotráfico.

4. La política de EE.UU. mantiene una equívoca relación con la democracia.

Son muchos los regímenes no democráticos que han recibido el apoyo de EE.UU.

Bastará con recordar los nombres de Somoza y Duvalier, Pinochet y Franco, Mobutu y Marcos, Hassan II y Suharto.

Es verdad, con todo, que en los últimos tiempos Washington ha acabado por defender regímenes más presentables que configuran lo que se ha dado en llamar "democracias de bajísima intensidad".

No parece, sin embargo, que al amparo de éstas se haya abierto camino algún proyecto orientado a frenar el autoritarismo, la corrupción y la injusticia.

5. EE.UU. se ha entregado al sistemático despliegue de políticas de doble rasero.

La política exterior de EE.UU. ha institucionalizado el principio del doble rasero: no trata de la misma forma a amigos y enemigos. Israel o Turquía pueden permitirse desoír, una y otra vez, las resoluciones del Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU, sin que ello origine sanciones y, menos aún, acciones militares. No sucede lo mismo, en cambio, con los enemigos, obsequiados con duras represalias armadas y macabros embargos.

Detrás de la política estadounidense no hay sino una obscena defensa de intereses geoestratégicos y geoeconómicos.

6. EE.UU. se niega a aceptar la jurisdicción de un tribunal penal internacional.

Una de las ironías de nuestro tiempo es la que nos recuerda que, mientras EE.UU. hacía lo que estaba de su mano para colocar al ex presidente yugoslavo, Milosevic, en La Haya, se oponía firmemente a que cobrase vuelo el Tribunal Penal Internacional perfilado en Roma en 1998.

En lo que se antoja fiel retrato de una doble moral, Washington se niega a aceptar que ese tribunal pueda juzgar a ciudadanos estadounidenses.

7. EE.UU. mantiene una rotunda apuesta por la militarización.

El proyecto norteamericano encaminado a gestar un escudo antimisiles parece llamado a darle nuevas alas a la carrera de armamentos.

En paralelo, el gasto militar estadounidense se apresta a crecer de forma sensible.

En 2001 la suma de los gastos en defensa de Rusia, China y siete "estados gamberros" --Corea del Norte, Cuba, Irak, Irán, Libia, Siria y Sudán-- equivalía a una tercera parte del gasto militar norteamericano.

8. EE.UU. es responsable principal de las miserias que rodean a la globalización neoliberal.

Son las empresas estadounidenses, con respaldo de su gobierno, las que lideran la globalización en curso.

Sus intereses más obscenos han encontrado refrendo en instancias --el Fondo Monetario, el Banco Mundial o la OMC-- controladas también por EE.UU.

Washington es, de resultas, responsable, directo o indirecto, de un orden económico que permite que 1.400 millones de personas tengan que subsistir con menos de un dólar diario.

Mientras, la ayuda al desarrollo que EE.UU. proporciona --5 dólares per cápita anuales-- es extremadamente baja.

9. En EE.UU. el modelo económico y social se caracteriza por alarmantes desigualdades.

En EE.UU. hay más de treinta millones de personas cuya esperanza de vida no alcanza los 60 años, 40 millones que no se benefician de asistencia sanitaria, 52 millones de analfabetos y 46 millones de indigentes.

En los últimos veinte años los ingresos reales de la quinta parte más rica de la población han crecido un 30%, en tanto los de la quinta parte más pobre retrocedían un 6%.

"La primera potencia económica mundial es también, entre los países industrializados, la primera en lo que se refiere a la tasa de pobreza de su población"
(V. Forrester).

10. EE.UU. es el principal responsable de la degradación del medio ambiente.

La economía estadounidense es, con mucho, la que más contamina y la que con mayor dedicación se ha entregado al expolio de recursos escasos.

El efecto invernadero y el agujero en la capa de ozono mucho le deben al capitalismo agresivo y depredador que impera en EE.UU., responsable, también, de un emergente modelo agroalimentario que lleva camino de aniquilar los restos de biodiversidad.

Aunque no sólo se trata de ello: el designio estadounidense de no suscribir el protocolo de Kyoto revela una dramática despreocupación por los problemas de los demás.

En vísperas de la III Cumbre de los Pueblos de América - Escucha el clamor de tu pueblo

Los emergentes históricos de los pueblos son como los ríos subterráneos donde convergen otros ríos y en un momento determinado se unen al gran caudal y surgen a la superficie. Cambian el curso, transformando la realidad y la vida.

Estamos en esa etapa histórica de transformar la realidad impuesta de dominación, del pensamiento único del neoliberalismo, de la crueldad contra los pueblos, el saqueo sin piedad de los recursos, la destrucción de la biodiversidad, del avasallamiento contra los pueblos originarios, el aumento de la pobreza y las continuas violaciones de los derechos humanos.

La III Cumbre de los Pueblos es un espacio de reflexión y propuestas de construcción y unidad continental, en defensa del derecho de los Pueblos a su soberanía, identidad cultural y autodeterminación. Promueve la necesidad de cambios estructurales y sociales, basados en la diversidad cultural y la unidad de los pueblos a nivel continental como así también en el rechazo a las dominaciones.

Muchos de los males que sufren los pueblos, no se podrían hacer sin la complicidad de gobiernos que se someten a las políticas impuestas por el FMI, el BM y el gobierno de los EEUU. Políticas como el ALCA y los demás tratados de libre comercio; la militarización del continente y el establecimiento de bases militares de los EEUU en sus países; el Plan Puebla Panamá, el Plan Colombia y el ingreso de tropas norteamericanas como en Paraguay, donde además se instala una oficina del FBI para el control de la Triple Frontera y para generar tensiones y conflictos con el pueblo de Bolivia y toda la región.

¡¡¡LOS CRIADOS SALIERON RESPONDONES!!! En la Cumbre de Mar del Plata

El rechazo obvio a la gestión del inquilino de la Casa Blanca demostrado en la reciente Cumbre de Salamanca, España pareciera sólo un preludio. Ciertamente, no será menor en Mar del Plata de acuerdo a las proyecciones observadas y difundidas por los medios masivos mundiales, tanto audiovisuales como escritos, incluidos, por supuesto, los medios alternativos. La asistencia del presidente George W. Bush a la IV Cumbre de las Américas (con la eterna excepción de la cenicienta de América, la hermana República de Cuba) a celebrarse en Mar del Plata, Argentina promete ser Salamanca segunda edición, aumentada y corregida.

Las medidas de seguridad a fin de dar la debida protección a tan ilustre visitante resultan poco menos que grotescas con el resultado oneroso y la enorme responsabilidad para la muy querida República Argentina.

Que tenga memoria, jamás había observado en cumbre alguna, incluyendo las del Club de Ricos, el G8, más allá de algunas manifestaciones, algo parecido a esto. ¡Pero semejante convocatoria para demostrar su desagrado a la visita de este presidente, nunca! Se ha iniciado una peregrinación masiva a Mar del Plata para decirle NO a Mr. Bush... Miles de personas del país anfitrión se darán cita para alzar sus banderas. Intelectuales, cineastas, deportistas, el pibe, el 10, el Diego, esa especie de alma profunda y Dios jugando al fútbol, así como miles de ciudadanos de los países vecinos, como brasileños, bolivianos, chilenos, paraguayos, uruguayos y hasta ciudadanos norteamericanos. Todos en señal de repudio a este mandatario quien con sus propuestas hambreadoras y desestabilizadoras de la economía de los pueblos, hará su entrada “triunfal” con su “paquetito bajo el brazo”

_____________________

...Finalmente... “Demostrado ha quedado que el peligroso es el mismo amo de los cipayos vendepatria...” ¿Cuándo se había visto la movilización de todo un Continente en repudio de un mandatario del norte...? ¡JAMÁS! ¡Y lo que falta Mr. Bush!.

¡HUGO PARA TODOS Y TODOS PARA HUGO!

¡LA BARRICADA SÓLO TIENE DOS LADOS.!

Por que a Veja mente, mente, mente, desesperadamente?

Veja é a pior revista do Brasil. Não é um título fácil de obter, porque ela tem duros competidores –Isto É, Época, Caras, Isto é Dinheiro, Quem?, etc., etc. Mas Veja se esmera na arte da vulgaridade, da mentira, do sensacionalismo, no clima de “guerra fria”, em que a revista defende as cores do bushismo no Brasil. A revista, propriedade privada da família Civita, merece o galardão.

Todo país tem esse tipo de publicação extremista, que defende hoje prioritariamente os ideais dos novos conservadores estadunidenses. Herdam os ideais da guerra fria, se especializam em atacar a esquerda, reproduzem as mesmas matérias internacionais e as bobagens supostamente científicas sobre medicamentos, tratamentos de pele, de problemas psicológicos, de educação, para tentar passar por uma revista que atende a necessidades da família.

Seus colunistas são o melhor exemplo da vulgaridade e da falsa cultura na imprensa brasileira. Uma lista de propagandistas do bushismo, escolhidos seletivamente, reunindo a escritores fracassados, a ex-jornalistas aposentados, a autores de auto-ajuda, a profissionais mercantis da educação, misturando-se e mesclando esses temas em cada uma das colunas e nos editoriais do dono da revista. Uma equipe editorial de nomes desconhecidos cumpre a função de “cães de guarda” dos interesses dos ricos e poderosos – que, em troca, anunciam amplamente na revista – de plantão.

''Intelligence Brief: Russia in the S.C.O.''

The recent high-profile meeting of the heads of all the governments of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (S.C.O.), plus a delegation from the S.C.O. observer states, signaled a major new development in Eurasian politics. The maturing of the S.C.O. into a grouping akin to a geopolitical bloc has even been hailed as the "N.A.T.O. of the East" by some observers and policymakers. While this grouping of states has a long way to go before a true geopolitical bloc is formed along major economic, military and political lines, one of the key states in the S.C.O. will be the deciding factor in judging the success of this bold geopolitical venture. [See: "The 'Great Game' Heats Up in Central Asia"]

Russia's Role in the S.C.O.

Russia has been preoccupied with restoring its status in the post-1991 world as a major global player. Its internal weakness in the 1990s has been characterized by its inability to assume the dominant role once held by the U.S.S.R. -- neither the United States nor Europe have given Russia a significant role in major consultations leading up to Western actions in Serbia, Bosnia, Iraq, the Middle East in general, and especially in other areas where Moscow once held sway, such as Latin America, Africa and South/Southeast Asia.

Conspiracy Theory

"Those who suffer from conspiracy phobia are fond of saying: 'Do you actually think there's a group of people sitting around in a room plotting things?' For some reason that image is assumed to be so patently absurd as to invite only disclaimers. But where else would people of power get together – on park benches or carousels? Indeed, they meet in rooms: corporate boardrooms, Pentagon command rooms, at the Bohemian Grove, in the choice dining rooms at the best restaurants, resorts, hotels, and estates, in the many conference rooms at the White House, the NSA, the CIA, or wherever. And, yes, they consciously plot – though they call it 'planning' and 'strategizing' – and they do so in great secrecy, often resisting all efforts at public disclosure. No one confabulates and plans more than political and corporate elites and their hired specialists."

-Michael Parenti, Dirty Truths, City Lights Books, 1996

America's Double Standard on Terrorism

Cuban expatriate Luis Posada Carriles, an old U.S. terrorist chicken, has come home to roost in Bush's nest, exposing the president'santi-terrorist policies as a hoax. Posada, 77, unabashedly embodies violence as Gandhi stood for nonviolence. His resume contains a long list of terrorist "accomplishments," including the bombing of a Cuban commercial airliner over Barbados in which all 73 people aboard died.

Yet this year he returned surreptitiously to the United States, where he had not resided regularly since the mid 1960s. After reports of his presence began to embarrass Homeland Security, he turned himself in and requested political asylum. Because U.S. judges and the government have refused to extradite him to Venezuela to face charges to the crimes he admits to having committed, he’s likely to be allowed to live freely and legally in this country within a few months.

His return to the U.S. in the midst of the President's war against terrorism embarrasses the Bush administration. Posada has forced it to decide on terrorist criteria: "acceptable" acts of terrorism carried out against Cuba versus unacceptable ones undertaken against the United States and its allies.

It is indeed a double standard. And it puts these comments Mr. Bush made in a recent speech in an awkward light: "The United States makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbor them, because they’re equally as guilty of murder."

Posada has confided to journalists and others that for four decades he had worked on and off with the CIA to assassinate Cuban President Fidel Castro. In 1976, Posada teamed up with Orlando Bosch, another obsessed Castro-hater, and hired two Venezuelan killers to detonate a bomb on board a commercial Cubana flight over Barbados. Seventy-three passengers and crew members died. This was a blatant terrorist act. The hired weasels ratted on Posada to the police, landing him in a Venezuelan prison.

After a decade of inconclusive judicial proceedings, Posada's Miami buddies bribed the prison officials and Posada "escaped" to Central America, where he worked for Lt. Col. Oliver North in supplying the Contras in their CIA-backed attempt to overthrow the Nicaraguan government.

In 1990 in Guatemala, an unknown gunman shot Posada in the face. He recovered, but didn't regain full use of his voice. Even that didn't stop him. In 1997, he recruited a Salvadoran to bomb hotels in Cuba. One bomb killed an Italian tourist. Cuban cops grabbed the Salvadoran, who named Posada as his employer.

Posada even boasted about his violence against Cuban tourism to two New York Times reporters in July 1998. How did he feel about killing the innocent civilian, they asked? "I sleep like a baby," he replied. In 1999, beginning to feel age and frustration as the ever elusive Castro still rode high, Posada planned another hit. With three seasoned assassins, he traveled to Panama with explosives that he planned to detonate under the platform where Castro would be speaking. Again, someone informed the police. He and his cronies got caught, tried and convicted – but not of conspiring to assassinate. Rather, with Miami money pulling Panamanian judicial strings, a judge found them guilty of threatening public security and falsifying documents. In 2004, more Miami money bought off Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso, who pardoned Posada during her last week in office.

Despite Posada's terrorist past, the Bush Administration has refused to extradite him to Venezuela to face trial for the airline bombing.

Following his arrival this year, Posada hid in Miami for several weeks. Neither President Bush nor Florida Governor Jeb Bush tried toarrest him. Only after Posada called a press conference did humiliated Homeland Security agents arrest him – which they did gently.

Even in custody, Posada continued to weaken Bush, who owes huge debts to Cuban-Americans. They would scream "treason" if he delivered Posada to Venezuela, a friend of Cuba. What a dilemma. On September 27, a U.S. immigration judge denied Venezuela's request to extradite. The U.S. government lawyer offered no opposition to the judge’s ruling, although it carried heavy implications.

Posada, a notorious terrorist who Hugo Chavez's government labeled "the Osama bin Laden of Latin America," is getting a free ride -thanks to President Bush's policies.

Saul Landau is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies,an independent center for progressive research and education in Washington, D.C. He is the author of the latest book"The Business of America: How Consumers Have Replaced Citizens and How We Can Reverse the Trend" (2004 Routledge).

Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada Served in Washington with Bolivian Demand to Appear to give testimony regarding his potential prosecution for murder.

Months ago the Bolivian government issued a formal order for President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada to return to Bolivia to give testimony regarding his potential prosecution for murder. The charges relate to his government’s repression during 2002 that left dozens dead, hundreds wounded, and eventually forced his ouster from office.

Well, for months, the US departments of State and Justice have failed to meet their legal requirement to serve the Sanchez de Lozada the legal order sent by the Bolivian Attorney General. Perhaps the US bureaucracy lost it. Perhaps they just couldn't find the former President's house in Washington.

On Monday the President of Bolivia Human Rights Assembly and the organization representing Sanchez de Lozada's victims sent a fax to Secretary of State Rice and US Attorney General Gonzales, letting them know that Sanchez de Lozada was scheduled to make an appearance last night at a Princeton University event in Washington. When US officials failed to show up to do the job, two US activists, Sara Grusky and Doug Hertzler formally served Sanchez de Lozada the formal papers.

Here are photos of Sanchez de Lozada receiving those documents last night.

U.S. and Venezuelan Progressives to Gather in NYC for Solidarity Event

On November 8, 2005 in the famous Town Hall in Times Square, New York City, a historic event in solidarity with the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela will take place.

This event will feature speakers from Venezuela's Bolivarian Movement, together for the first time in the United States, including Noly Fernandez, Director, Indigenous Health Care; Gonzalo Gomez, Aporrea; Guillermo Guevara, National Assembly Representative for Indigenous Rights; Jorge Guerrero Veloz, Afroaraguenos Civil Assn., Presidential Committee Against Racism; Miguel Hernandez, Historian, Central University of Venezuela; Leonor Osorio, NewYork Consul General, Bolivarian Government of Venezuela; Martin Sanchez, Venezuelan Consul for the City of Chicago; Fermin Toro Jimenez, Venezuelan Ambassador to the United Nations.

Others on the program include: Padre Luis Barrios, New York City Council Member Charles Barron, Vinie Burrows, William Camacaro, Ramsey Clark, Professor James Cockcroft, Peter Coyote, Ben Dupuy, Jorge Farinacci, Bill Fletcher, Teresa Gutierrez, Curtis Mohammed, Mumia Abu-Jamal's message, Professor August Nimtz, Marlene Jean Noel, representative of Leonard Peltier New York Representative Jose Serrano, Chris Silvera, Lynne Stewart, Roger Toussaint, Reverend Lucius Walker, and Attorney Leonard Weinglass.

The Unfolding Revolution in Venezuela: The Return of Solidarity and Internationalism

Genocide my friend is Blowin' in the Wind - DU is Blowin' in the Wind

New Oz Film - Depleted Uranium Is Genocide Blowin' In The Wind

I have just had the distinct privilege of viewing the Australian short film documentary titled Blowin in the Wind.

Blowing in the Wind has been nominated for Academy Award; it premiered at a Newtown (Sydney) cinema, on Thursday, where it will run for one week, then moves to other major city centres (see www.bsharp.net.au ).

The cleverly produced documentary is a wake-up call to Australians, exposing the dreadful, horrible, inhuman use of the material known as Depleted Uranium, (DU), as a projectile warhead, on all manner of arsenal and weaponry, being used to annihilate nations around the world.

DU is the weapons material of choice for all of the guided missiles and Bunker-Buster, bombs being rained onto the Afghanistan and Iraqi citizens in the senseless, unlawful invasion of these Middle-East countries. Tank shells, heavy calibre machine guns, ship-to-shore rockets and heavy guns, have poured thousands of tons of the miserable compound into the cities and countryside of affected battlegrounds, producing a wasteland of radioactively contaminated earth, water and air,

DU has a half-life, which is rated in millions of years.

So, not only the poor sods who are murdered by the blast or are left dismembered and crippled for the rest of their lives, suffering the effects of the blasted DU, those who survive are also effected. The contamination lingers in their food, drinking water and the air they breath, causing grotesque deformities and diseases, especially in new-born children.

Blowin in the Wind, was produced by New South Wales, North coast film producers, David Bradbury and Peter Scott, who, together with a team of very talented technicians, have put together a most powerful expose, on the manufacture and widespread use of Depleted Uranium weapons, with special emphasis on U.S. and Australian Defence Forces use of the miserable material.

The film draws attention to the lack of awareness amongst Australian residents, regarding the amount of exposure we have in this country, to the effects of DU. Already, cases of horribly deformed new-born babies are occurring in Australia, due to the huge amounts of DU weaponry being dumped onto our countryside in some of the most absurdly stupid and careless acts anyone could possibly imagine. If you want to know more about this dumping of DU into Australia and other serious challenges to you and your family for the future, might I suggest you make it your business to get to see Blowing in the Wind.

Some of the more amazing facts which are exposed in the film, concern the huge amount of cover-up by deliberate lying and either no announcements or outright denials about Australia,s complicit involvement in furnishing the supply of DU into the World's atmosphere, soil and water. You will be stunned when you learn the number of large American Military Bases which exist on this island and more are planned through the Memorandums of Understanding, which are held by our leaders with the United States of America. You will be staggered.

I give this film five stars. I recommend it to all Australians, especially young Australians and Australians with young families. The film is considered to be suitable for 15 plus, however, outside the ugliness in the scenes of maiming and disfigurement, there is nothing which is beyond the comprehension of early teen-agers and I would thoroughly recommend the whole family view what is after all, real life, real time, everybody should know, type drama. I bet there will be some serious family discussion after you see Blowin in the Wind.

Neocon history

There is a good article by Ehsan Ahrari in the Asia Times (why does the Asia Times have such a monopoly on good articles?; you'd never read something this good if you read American journalism for a million years), relying on James Mann's "The Rise and Fall of the Vulcans", on the history of the neocons:

"The real plan to invade Iraq was originally hatched in 1991, when then-president, George H W Bush, was at the helm. Libby was only one of its planners. The 'big enchiladas' were Cheney, who then served as secretary of defense, and Paul Wolfowitz, who served as under secretary of defense. Current Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld became an active participant as someone who was then outside the government. Their plan to oust Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait was reportedly far riskier than the one promoted by then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell. Bush Senior apparently vetoed the Cheney et al's plan and gave a nod to Powell's.

The neo-conservative architects of the invasion of Iraq were 'deeply disappointed' when Bush Senior decided against the hot pursuit of the retreating Iraqi forces from Kuwait."

and:

"As Mann points out, even though the initial military target of the US in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks was Afghanistan, Wolfowitz (then deputy defense secretary) and Libby 'laid out the case for the invasion of Iraq just one week after the Twin Towers fell'.

Libby was also reportedly responsible for the first draft of Powell's now infamous presentation to the United Nations a month before the US invasion of Iraq."

There's a lot more, on how the neocons got away with it, and how their revenge-based ideology still infects American foreign policy (the loss of Libby has done nothing to change the neocon policy - Libby has been replaced by crazies who are even more hard-line - and the failure of the American left to realize how screwed it was by Fitzgerald - two years later, and he's still looking for clues, just like O. J. Simpson is still looking for whoever killed his wife - means that the neocons can continue to carry on their plans without any real opposition). The neocons intended to destroy Iraq years before September 11, years before anyone had ever spoken of al-Qaeda, and years before anyone had any concern whatsoever about the weapons of mass destruction supplied to Saddam largely by Americans like Rumsfeld (and subsequently destroyed). All their lies were simply ad hoc excuses to back up a ten-year old plan which had been thwarted by Presidents too smart to carry it out. Cheney, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld and Libby just bided their time during the Clinton interregnum, waiting for a
Bush stupid enough to go along with their insane ideas. The upshot is the biggest mistake in the history of American foreign policy, soon apparently to be repeated over and over again in places like Syria.

Our Greatest Criminals Are Never Charged With Their Greatest Crimes

Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has now relieved, for the moment at least, the suspense about where his prosecutorial finger was going to point. At Fitzgerald's request, a grand jury has indicted Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on five counts: one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of making false statements to FBI investigators, and two counts of perjury. The offenses for which Libby has been indicted pertain to the Bush administration's efforts to smear and retaliate against its critics, in this case by exposing that one such critic, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was married to then-covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. No indictment was handed up against the president's right-hand man Karl Rove, but Fitzgerald says that he will continue his investigation, so Rove and others remain at risk of indictment later, most likely for the same sorts of offenses.

Much has been made of these proceedings; reporters and commentators have speculated for months about what Fitzgerald might do and what the repercussions of his actions might be. At this juncture, however, it seems that the elephant has labored mightily and borne only a mouse. Libby was not charged with violation of the law that makes it a felony to knowingly expose the identity of a covert CIA agent - it's too difficult to prove that charge in court. The charges against him are certainly not trivial - if convicted on all counts, he can be sentenced to 30 years in prison and fined $1.25 million - yet in view of the much greater crimes in which he has long played such an integral part, the present charges are the moral equivalent of a parking ticket. One almost suspects that such legal proceedings are little more than the regime's proven method of diverting attention away from its greatest criminals and their greatest crimes.

Halliburton, BP and Russian Black Gold

History of Halliburton and TNK

In January, 1994, the US Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) financed a $279m contract in which Halliburton Energy Services supplied oil drilling equipment to Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) for crude petroleum production in Samotlor. This contract (AP067280) was reported differently in the 1994 Ex-Im annual report, which described this as a $266.3m guarantee in which IRI International was to sell oil drilling equipment to Nizhnevartovskneftegaz, a subsidiary of Tyumen Oil.

Also in 1994, Dick Cheney, allegedly on a fishing trip with Halliburton CEO Thomas H. Cruikshank, and other captains of industry in New Brunswick, was asked if he would be willing to become Halliburton's CEO. Vice President Cheney then became Halliburton CEO from 1995 – 2000. The company's revenues rose from $5.7bn in 1994 to $14.9bn in 1999. "You’ve got to go where the oil is," he said.

Where Is the (North) American Press?

A friend from Argentina sent me the following picture today. It is self explanatory and has been seen everywhere in the world except in the United States. Why? In analyzing Bush for several years I keep finding that it is not only his immediate circle that insulates him -- the press insulates us.

Again, why? Does the press think it too painful for us to see how much Bush is reviled by the rest of the world? Is the press afraid of Bush and reprisals if they show photos like this? Why won't the press photograph flag-draped coffins from Iraq? It is not just up to Bush -- but the press has to cooperate with him. And they do to such an extent that they function as enablers to an alcoholic father/leader. It is time for an intervention.

'No to Bush!' Castro salutes Maradona on TV chat show

Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader, has forged an alliance with an unlikely new friend, the former footballing genius Diego Maradona. Interviewed on the Argentinian television show that Maradona presents, La Noche del 10 " The Night of 10" President Castro praised his host for his plan to join an anti-US demonstration at a forthcoming summit. "We have struggled for various years against the United States," said the Cuban leader. " I'm happy you are going to be there."

Maradona has interviewed a number of celebrities on his show, including Pele and Robbie Williams, but the interview with Mr Castro was like no other.

Taped over five hours in Cuba, where Maradona was treated for several years for drug addiction, the interview focused on matters such as the legacy of Che Guevara and the Summit of the Americas, which will be held at the Argentine resort of Mar del Plata later this week.

President George Bush and the leaders of 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries are due to arrive later this week, but Mr Castro will not be there. He is not permitted to participate because Cuba is not a member of the Organisation of American States, which organises the summit.

The Cuban leader urged Mr Bush to stay away from the summit. "It would be better for him to find a pretext and not go. This is seriously an error," he said.

One of the main items on the agenda will be the stalled US proposal to create a Free Trade Area of the Americas a move that has been criticised by left-leaning Latin American leaders as potentially harmful.

Maradona has said he will be among the protesters in Mar del Plata, despite the anticipated heavy security. "No to Bush!" he told reporters in Cuba. "We're going to say it in the streets: fellow Argentines, we will be waiting for you at the march."

Confessions of a Marine

Iraq: The story no American publisher wanted.

In a just-published book, Master-Sergeant Jimmy Massey tells about his mission to recruit for, then fight in, the war in Iraq. He tells why he killed. And cracked.

Jimmy Massey is 34 years old. He's originally a Texas boy, raised as a good Southern Baptist who loves squirrel hunting with his air rifle. After 12 years in the Marines, Jim is a broken man, a veteran afflicted with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, a depressive hooked on his medications, haunted by the nightmare images in which he massacres innocent civilians, scenes experienced in Iraq when he was nothing but a killing machine. Jim has cracked, has withdrawn from the service for medical reasons, and has written a raw and brutal book. Telling the life of a Marine of today, revealing "how he talks, how he thinks, how he fucks, and how he kills." The army denies the facts and his former comrades have insulted, rejected, and threatened him. His testimony ulcerates Neo-Conservative America and shocks the politically correct. In the United States, no publishing house has dared to publish his manuscript. Extracts follow.

The Recruiter

When you're a recruiter, you have to learn fast. And I rapidly learned that if I wanted to keep my job, I couldn't allow myself to have any scruples.

I went to public schools every day where I was able to contact young people easily. I had already been given a list of all the students, with their phone numbers. So I really didn't need the 2002 law - the No Child Left Behind Act 1 - which stipulates that any high school receiving federal funds must furnish military recruitment officers with the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of its students. [...] As usual, I said to myself, "I'm going to get them, those fuckheads," since, you must understand, a recruiter has only one thing in his head if he wants to pay his rent: landing contracts. [...]

(*)Kill! Kill! Kill! by Jimmy Massey (with Natasha Saulnier), published by Editions du Panama, 390 p., 22 Euros.

Original article in French

Chain, Chain, Chain of Cheney Fools

Scooter used to be Cheney's Cheney.

Now we've got Cheney's Cheney's Cheney.

This is not an improvement.

Once Scooter left, many people, including a lot of alarmed conservatives and moderate Republicans, were hoping that W. and Vice would throw open some White House windows to let the air and sun in, and climb out of that incestuous, secretive, vindictive, hallucinatory dark hole they've been bunkered in for five years.

But they like it in their paranoid paradise. One of the most confounding aspects of W.'s exceedingly confounding presidency is his apparent unwillingness to consider that anyone who ever worked for him - and was in any way responsible for any of the disasters now afflicting his administration - should be jettisoned.

This is not loyalty. This is myopia. Where is a meddling, power-intoxicated first lady when we need one? Maybe the clever Nancy Reagan should have a little talk with Laura Bush tonight at the dinner for Prince Charles and Camilla, and explain to her how to step in and fire overweening officials who are hurting your man.

Vice thumbed his nose yesterday at the notion that he should clean up his creepy laboratory when he promoted two Renfields who are part of the gang that got us into this mess.

Dick Cheney has appointed David Addington as his new chief of staff, an ideologue who is so fanatically secretive, so in love with the shadows, so belligerent and unyielding that he's known around town as the Keyser Soze of the usual suspects. At 48, Mr. Addington is a legend: he's worked his way up the G.O.P. scandal ladder from Iran-contra to Abu Ghraib.

"Bush - Nazi Dealings Continued Until 1951" - Federal Documents

From Global Research

Editor's note

We bring to the attention of Global Research readers this important article on the links of the Bush famuily to Nazi Germany, first published in the The New Hampshire Gazette in November 2003.

While this relationship has been amply documented by official US government records (see the book by Webster Tarpley), the authors point in their article to newly discovered US government documents, which suggest that the relationship continued until 1951, nine years after the assets of Prescott Bush were seized under the Trading with the Enemy Act of 1942.

After the seizures in late 1942 of five U.S. enterprises he managed on behalf of Nazi industrialist Fritz Thyssen, Prescott Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, failed to divest himself of more than a dozen "enemy national" relationships that continued until as late as 1951, newly-discovered U.S. government documents reveal.
Furthermore, the records show that Bush and his colleagues routinely attempted to conceal their activities from government investigators.

Bush's partners in the secret web of Thyssen-controlled ventures included former New York Governor W. Averell Harriman and his younger brother, E. Roland Harriman. Their quarter-century of Nazi financial transactions, from 1924-1951, were conducted by the New York private banking firm, Brown Brothers Harriman.

The White House did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Although the additional seizures under the Trading with the Enemy Act did not take place until after the war, documents from The National Archives and Library of Congress confirm that Bush and his partners continued their Nazi dealings unabated. These activities included a financial relationship with the German city of Hanover and several industrial concerns. They went undetected by investigators until after World War Two.

At the same time Bush and the Harrimans were profiting from their Nazi partnerships, W. Averell Harriman was serving as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's personal emissary to the United Kingdom during the toughest years of the war. On October 28, 1942, the same day two key Bush-Harriman-run businesses were being seized by the U.S. government, Harriman was meeting in London with Field Marshall Smuts to discuss the war effort.

CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons - Debate Is Growing Within Agency About Legality and Morality of Overseas System Set Up After 9/11

The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.

The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents.

More Demons Loose in Bolivia - The Reappearance of the Nazis

LA PAZ: They weren't dead, kind readers, just hiding in their dung pile. The Nazis (the Radical National Socialist Union of Bolivia, or UNRSB in its Spanish initials) have taken advantage of these days of uncertainty to return to the public stage. And this correspondent cannot believe that it is just a coincidence. Because while the political class (the political parties of all stripes and the state powers) dedicate themselves to negotiating in the darkness, while gas becomes scarce in the homes of the city of El Alto (for nearly a month supplies have been short), while the Santa Cruz oligarchy makes its latest efforts to maintain its system of life, men (and perhaps women) appear who display the most decedent and repugnant traits of our recent history: the fascists, the racists, the liars, the genocidal...

It is well known that in South America, during various countries' bloody periods of dictatorship, a generation of military men harbored strong and sometimes well-hidden sympathies for Adolf Hitler and his ideas. In Bolivia, where racism is typical fare (in La Paz, in Santa Cruz, in Cochabamba, and in other cities), this correspondent has seen more than one "white power" skinhead/// and in fact, the famous Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie was found in Bolivia, where he lived and "worked" for years helping run the state's secret police.

Read full article in English HERE

Lea Ud. el Artículo en Español

Rodríguez Rearranges Bolivian Congress by Decree

"This isn't about who wins and who loses, but about the fact that we're all Bolivians," said President Eduardo Rodríguez Veltzé, among many other things, just moments ago. He also issued Supreme Decree 28429, with which he has guaranteed a new date for elections and, most importantly, reformulated the division of seats in the National Congress (specifically, in the Chamber of Deputies) that was holding up the political process agreed upon by all political forces last July. This resolution may not end the uncertainty or the noise that the Santa Cruz right wing is making, but at least it’s something. Let’s go to the story...

At 9:45pm the president appeared on the main stairway of the Palace of Government and headed toward the podium to give his message. There had been negotiations going on during the last two days - especially in Santa Cruz, forced by the Pro-Santa Cruz Civic Committee - but nothing happened; no one gave in and there were no agreements to move the electoral process forward.

In a nearly twenty-minute speech, Rodríguez Veltzé spoke of his efforts to follow through on his mandate (holding new elections) and the general inability to reach agreements. Fed up, after consulting with the political parties (including the Movement Toward Socialism) he decided to at last put an end to all the foolishness and issue the "imperious" decree.

After finishing reading his message, the Bolivian president let his spokesman take the floor and read the extensive document that he carried. The decree, based on dozens of legal standards, essentially does the following:

• Redistributes the congressional seats according to the law, giving Santa Cruz three new deputies and one to the department of Cochabamba, taking them away from the La Paz (2), Oruro, and Potosí delegations. All of this follows the population figures provided by the 2001 general census.

• Calls elections for December 18 of this year.

• Gives the parties now campaigning 48 hours to modify their lists of candidates.

And so, faced with the "National Congress' dereliction" of its duties to guarantee Bolivians the right to vote, the president (a lawyer himself, at the end of the day) has kept one last card up his sleeve... and now waits to hand over power this January 23... What we don't know is whether he will, along the way, bump into the people or regions affected... or if the Santa Cruz "Camba" oligarchy won’t come up with some more rubbish.

Keep paying attention, kind readers; this crisis is not over yet...

U.S. Air Force Study on Controling Weather as a WEAPON

It sounds a little like the movie "CORE". Lots of hurricanes, global warming...hell, I couldn't make this up. Read it for yourselves:

Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025

Venezuela avanza hacia un nuevo modelo económico

El Vicepresidente Ejecutivo de la República, José Vicente Rangel, aseguró este miércoles que el Gobierno Nacional ha avanzado hacia un nuevo modelo económico de financiamiento que consolidará el proyecto social revolucionario.

Durante su intervención en el acto con motivo del sexto aniversario del Banco del Pueblo Soberano, Rangel destacó que el Estado recupera la organización social e incentiva el desarrollo de los pueblos a través del trabajo cooperativista.

“Ahora los venezolanos tienen mayor acceso al crédito y a la propiedad, y esto es parte del socialismo del siglo XXI que adelanta el Presidente de la República, Hugo Chávez Frías”.

El vicepresidente dijo a todos los cooperativistas y microempresarios que con la utilización del sistema microfinanciero “estamos derrotando los fantasmas que pretenden aterrorizar el país”.

En tal sentido advirtió “no puede haber desarrollo si el crédito es una palanca cautiva”. Por ello recordó que en el pasado los créditos siempre los recibieron los poderosos, “pero ahora vamos a demostrar que esa historia es distinta a este presente de dignidad y madurez del pueblo venezolano”

Gobierno no hace populismo, hace socialismo a lo venezolano

Wayne Madsen Report - DIPLOMATIC CABLES

November 1, 2005 -- BEIRUT, BERLIN AND WASHINGTON -- WMR has obtained the Confidential version of the Mehlis Report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Mehlis is the Senior Public Prosecutor in the Attorney General's Office in Berlin. He was named Commissioner of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission into the Hariri assassination. Mehlis is a darling of neocons who served in the Reagan administration. It was his investigation of the 1982 La Belle Discotheque bombing in West Berlin that was used as justification by Reagan to launch a 1986 bombing attack on Libya. Mehlis concluded that Libya was behind the attack conveniently at the same time that pro-Israelis in the Reagan administration, including Richard Perle, Michael Ledeen, Paul Wolfowitz, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Scooter Libby, and others were calling for an attack on Muammar Qaddafi.

The Mehlis Report, dated October 19, 2005, states the Commission "focused on the crime scene, technical aspects of the crime, analysis of telephone intercepts, the testimony of more than 500 witnesses and sources, as well as the institutional context in which the crime took place."

The confidential copy indicates that certain information, all of which implicates Syria and pro-Syrian Lebanese officials, was added just before the report was issued. The following is an example of a conclusion seemingly added as an afterthought and based on envisaging a scenario, hardly concrete evidence:

"Building on the findings of the Commission and Lebanese investigations to date and on the basis of the material and documentary evidence collected, and the leads pursued until now, there is converging evidence pointing at both Lebanese and Syrian involvement in this terrorist act. It is a well known fact that Syrian Military Intelligence had a pervasive presence in Lebanon at the least until the withdrawal of the Syrian forces pursuant to resolution 1559. The former senior security officials of Lebanon were their appointees. Given the infiltration of Lebanese institutions and society by the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services working in tandem, it would be difficult to envisage a scenario whereby such a complex assassination plot could have been carried out without their knowledge"

U.S. Military Wants to Own the Weather (wants to, or already does???)

The one-two hurricane punch from Katrina and Wilma along with predictions of more severe weather in the future has scientists pondering ways to save lives, protect property and possibly even control the weather.

While efforts to tame storms have so far been clouded by failure, some researchers aren't willing to give up the fight. And even if changing the weather proves overly challenging, residents and disaster officials can do a better job planning and reacting.

In fact, military officials and weather modification experts could be on the verge of joining forces to better gauge, react to, and possibly nullify future hostile forces churned out by Mother Nature.

While some consider the idea farfetched, some military tacticians have already pondered ways to turn weather into a weapon.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Thunderbolts on demand (???)

What would a military strategist gain in having an "on-switch" to the weather?

Clearly, it offers the ability to degrade the effectiveness of enemy forces. That could come from flooding an opponent's encampment or airfield to generating downright downpours that disrupt enemy troop comfort levels. On the flipside, sparking a drought that cuts off fresh water can stir up morale problems for warfighting foes.

Even fooling around with fog and clouds can deny or create concealment - whichever weather manipulation does the needed job.

In this regard, nanotechnology could be utilized to create clouds of tiny smart particles. Atmospherically buoyant, these ultra-small computer particles could navigate themselves to block optical sensors. Alternatively, they might be used to provide an atmospheric electrical potential difference -- a way to precisely aim and time lightning strikes over the enemy’s head - thereby concoct thunderbolts on demand.

Perhaps that's too far out for some. But some blue sky thinkers have already looked into these and other scenarios in "Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025" - a research paper written by a seven person team of military officers and presented in 1996 as part of a larger study dubbed Air Force 2025.

Wayne Madsen Report

November 1, 2005 -- Bush White House Circling Wagons for a Long Siege. After being identified in the Patrick Fitzgerald indictment of Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff Lewis Libby, Cheney's counsel David Addington has been named as the replacement for Libby as Chief of Staff. Also, John Hannah, who is said to have been "flipped" as a cooperating witness early on by Fitzgerald, has been named as Libby's replacement as Assistant National Security Adviser to the Vice President. This "in your face" reaction to the Libby indictment indicates the White House is preparing for a continued investigation and are preparing a strategy to stonewall the prosecutor and the court that will deliberate the charges against Libby.

Addington was cited in the Fitzgerald indictment as follows: (READ FULL ARTICLE)

30,000 Venezuelan Doctors to Receive 50% Raise

Caracas, Venezuela, October 31, 2005—Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez announced that his government has decided to increase doctors' salaries by 50%. This will affect about 30,000 doctors and other workers in the public medical sector. Also, there will be an additional bonus for doctors who currently work part-time at public hospitals and who decide to become full-time employees. The measure will be effective immediately. Chavez made the announcement during his weekly TV program Aló Presidente, where he also announced new resources for the university sector.

The Venezuelan government is currently experiencing a boom in revenues, due to both improved tax collection efforts and increasing oil revenues, due to the high price of oil. As a result, the government is focusing much of these increased resources on raising public sector salaries, many of which had been practically frozen for several years. The increase is, "just and necessary because professional public health salaries have fallen behind," said Chavez.

Making Exploitation the Main Issue - Bolivia's Top Presidential Hopeful Stresses Freedom From U.S. Economic Interests

COCHABAMBA, Bolivia -- Slapping the leather cover of a Bible, a man in this city's central square attracted a pressing crowd one recent morning with the promise that a passage he had found in Deuteronomy spoke directly to his country.

" 'One from among your brethren you shall set as king over you,' " he said, " 'and you may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother.' "

The biblical foreigner, he explained, was the U.S. government and the multinational corporations that exploit Bolivia's natural resources. The potential king was Evo Morales, a former union leader whose message of the need for freedom from U.S. economic interests has put him at the top of the list of presidential hopefuls.

"Evo is the only one who can defend us," said Jose Meneces Gomez, a bystander who had crowded close to hear. "We need someone who will be a president for Bolivians, not for anyone else."

On Friday, Bolivia's electoral court indefinitely postponed elections, which were to take place in December. While the government dispute involved wrangling about how congressional seats should be distributed, Morales described the decision to suspend elections as a personal attack on his success. He said the squabble over congressional seats was calculated to derail his campaign and stop a wave of anti-globalization spreading through South America.

"If they don't want us to win democratically," he said last week during a rally in central Bolivia, "the people will rise up and take power by force."

The Real Reason for Nuking Iran - Why a nuclear attack is on the neocon agenda

The strategic decision by the United States to nuke Iran was probably made long ago. Tactics adjust to unpredictable events as they unfold.............. (READ FULL ARTICLE)

The real reason for nuking Iran, however, is none of the above. It was spelled out with surprising candor in the Pentagon draft document "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations" [.pdf] as one of several possible reasons geographic combatant commanders may request presidential approval for use of nuclear weapons:

"To demonstrate U.S. intent and capability to use nuclear weapons to deter adversary use of WMD."

Yes, you read it right: The U.S. is prepared to break a 60-year-old taboo on the use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries – not because the survival of the country is at stake, not because the lives of many Americans or allies are at stake – just to demonstrate that it can do it.