Milfuegos

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

American Activists Travel to Cuba to Protest Guantanamo Prison

At Guantanamo Bay, the activists plan to confront one of the U.S. military’s most sensitive installations during a time of war. Even as opposition to U.S. policy in Iraq grows, there has been little call to close what’s known as Joint Task Force Guantanamo.

Illegal Trip Protests Guantanamo Prison

More than two dozen activists from Baltimore and elsewhere have arrived in Cuba to protest the U.S. detention-and-interrogation operation at Guantanamo Bay.
The activists, most of them Christian, have broken U.S. law by traveling to the communist nation. They were planning to set out this morning for the Navy base in southeastern Cuba where the United States is holding about 500 foreign terror suspects without prisoner-of-war status or criminal charges.

They expect the 50-mile march from the city of Santiago to take four or five days. If they reach the installation – which is guarded by U.S. and Cuban checkpoints and surrounded by a minefield – they will demand to see the detainees.

***THE LITTLE PRINCE IN VENEZUELA

When Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s Little Prince visited the planet Earth, he encountered a king who thought he ruled the universe. If the Little Prince were to have returned last week and should have landed in Venezuela, he would have had a moment of extreme deja vu.

The king thought he was so powerful that even the planets obeyed his commands. But when the Little Prince asked to see a sunset, he was informed that he would have to wait until 6:40 p.m. because the king only ordered his subjects to do what they would do anyway.

For seven years, the opposition to the government of Hugo Chávez has acted as though they ruled this little part of the universe. One of their current leaders, Maria Corina Machado, even achieved a personal interview in the Oval Office with the God of Wars, George W. Bush.

Keepers at the Gate - He Who Controls Television Controls the Masses

In this age of modernity and technology, where the television monitor has become the center of the average American household, from cradle to grave acting as surrogate parent, teacher, role model and as influencer of human thought, it should come as no surprise that entire populations can be controlled with such facility and efficiency, turning once thinking humans into grazing sheeple. For in today’s day and age, he who controls television controls the masses, and he who controls the masses controls the nation.

Television has become, quite simply, the greatest tool of mass manipulation and thought control civilization has ever seen, an incarnation of the myriad of myths, fables, fictions, story telling, theologies and all other forms of ‘bread and circus’ history’s elite have concocted from which to retain power and control the lower echelons of man’s corrosive pyramid of hierarchy. In the television the elite have found the greatest weapon of mass control, seemingly able to dictate culture, politics, events, thought and destiny from the moment of birth to the time of death. It can even be said that it is they who can determine reality in twenty-first century America, magically making history disappear, altering the past, changing the present and molding the future. Reality is what they want it to be, shifting culture to their dictates, conditioning minds to fit their goals, pushing society in the direction that most benefits them and erasing from memory any manifestation that does not correspond to the reality they wish to create.

The ruling elite can, through clandestine programming and seemingly innocuous entertainment, influence the way millions of minds think, invariably transforming free thought into shackled reasoning. Over decades of methodical molding and development, beginning at the earliest possible age of a human being, those who control television oftentimes succeed in altering and indeed controlling the opinions, beliefs and thoughts of a person. Thus, the goals and views of the elite are transmuted onto those who stand not to benefit by the beliefs they now possess and the thoughts they have been brainwashed to accept.

The Progress Report: IRAQ - Strike Two!

This morning, President Bush will make the second of three planned speeches on Iraq prior to the December 15 elections -- part of what the Associated Press deems a "public relations campaign" meant to "shore up slumping public support for the war." His address today will focus on reconstruction and Iraq's economy. But rather than reassuring Americans that he recognizes the reality of the challenges we face in Iraq, he plans to tout purported economic progress and "to highlight rebuilding of electrical plants, schools, hospitals and businesses." President Bush is ignoring the big picture. Iraq's reconstruction -- a behemoth effort on par with the post-World War II Marshall Plan -- is simply not achieving its goals. Iraq's economy remains weak and beset by unemployment; basic necessities like potable water and sewage treatment are scarce; and there remains little evidence that the Bush administration is prepared to shift course to reverse these trends.

ECONOMIC WOES: President Bush is expected to point today to Iraq's per capita gross domestic product, which "rose to $942 in 2004 and is expected to rise to more than $1,000 this year," as a sign of the country's economic progress. But as Brookings Institution scholar Michael O'Hanlon argues, "Growing GDP is good for those with access to the twin golden rivers flowing through Iraq - not the Tigris and Euphrates, but oil revenue and foreign aid. The rest of the economy is, on the whole, weak." Unemployment rates hover near 40 percent, meaning "the insurgency will always find fresh recruits," in Sen. Joseph Biden's (D-DE) words. And as "the money runs out on the $30 billion American-financed reconstruction of Iraq, the officials in charge cannot say how many planned projects they will complete, and there is no clear source for the hundreds of millions of dollars a year needed to operate the projects that have been finished." Moreover, serious challenges remain: "In its September World Economic Outlook, the IMF also notes that Iraq's new government 'faces daunting medium-term challenges, including advancing the reconstruction of the country's infrastructure, reducing macroeconomic instability and developing the institutions that can support a market-based economy.'"

INFRASTRUCTURE WOES: U.S. goals...

Don't Let It Bring You Down

Don't let it bring you down,
It's only castles burning,
Find someone who's turning,
And you will come around...

-- Neil Young

Wolf Blitzer got up on his hind legs during his Sunday morning confab with Senator Biden on CNN and expressed his outrage that the Iraqi people and their so-called leaders have not thanked the United States for invading and occupying their country. "There was not one word of appreciation," said Blitzer, "to the United States for liberating Iraq from Saddam Hussein." Wolf went on to ask Biden if the Senator found this as alarming and depressing as he did.

The disconnection is staggering, the comment so two years ago. Remember when Dick Cheney told us before the war that, "My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators"? The vast gulf between our present reality and Cheney's pre-invasion optimism is wide enough to sail the Sixth Fleet through with room to spare. Yet there was Wolf, still waiting for the hearts and flowers.

Blitzer, one can assume, would be appalled by another video on the 'net of a caravan of oil tankers being driven by US troops through Iraq. One troop, driving the tanker and narrating the video, tells the viewer to be ready for the next stretch of road. Children, it seems, gather on that stretch of road to throw rocks at the passing soldiers. The video clearly shows young Iraqis pelting the truck as it rolls along; one rock smashes the windshield. The soldier in the video is vocally frustrated by the rules of engagement which keep him from shooting the rock-throwers.

Maybe those kids are foreign fighters, insurgents shipped in from Iran and Syria to disrupt the march of democracy.

Let's see. Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and maimed during this occupation. 70% of the population is unemployed. Long gas lines are the rule of the day. Hospitals don't work. Electricity is intermittent. Potable water is hard to come by. Bombs go off every day, slaying civilians, police and soldiers indiscriminately. Iraqis disappear into torture chambers. Religious factions growl at each other like dogs in a fighting pit. Even the children throw rocks.

Where's the love, Wolf? Where's the thanks?

Don't let it bring you down, Wolf. It's merely an accent in the symphony. There are a number of people walking around these days groaning for a little love, for those good old days when things like rules and laws were for other people. The Abramoff scandal has a whole pile of Republican trough-diggers in Congress thinking about keeping a bail-bondsman on speed dial. It didn't used to be this way for them, and more than a few are wondering when the rug is going to get jerked out from under them.

PRISONER ABUSE: PATTERNS FROM THE PAST

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 122

Cold War U.S. Interrogation Manuals Counseled "Coercive Techniques"
Cheney Informed of "Objectionable" Interrogation Guides in 1992
"Inconsistent with U.S. Government Policy"
National Security Archive Posts CIA Training Manuals from 60s, 80s, and
Investigative memos on earlier controversy on human rights abuses

AN IMPORTANT READ

Tonto's Revenge

Call it Tonto's revenge: The outrageous rip-off of Native American tribes by a top Republican lobbyist is leading inexorably to a reckoning for the allegedly morally superior religious and political right.

"I don't think we have had something of this scope, arrogance and sheer venality in our lifetimes," Norman J. Ornstein of the conservative American Enterprise Institute wrote in Roll Call. "It is building to an explosion, one that could create immense collateral damage within Congress and in coming elections."

Selling firewater to the natives--or in this case charging them $82 million for government breaks on slot machine and other gaming licenses--is not exactly what the high-minded prophets of the Republican revolution promised. And to see behind the scenes as Christian right superstar Ralph Reed, bought off by top Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff, dupes his grass-roots "pro-family" followers into unwittingly supporting casino-rich Indian tribes under the guise of anti-gambling initiatives is to glimpse moral corruption of biblical proportion.

Reed, now a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Georgia, at first denied knowing the $4 million he acknowledges receiving from Abramoff and his closest associate, public-relations expert Michael Scanlon, to run the pseudo anti-gambling campaigns in the South came from tribes hoping to retain local monopolies for themselves. Once the investigation picked up steam this past summer, however, he changed his mind and said he was assured that the tribal money didn’t come directly from casino proceeds--a hair-splitting attempt at face-saving ethics, indeed, since the goal of the payments was so clearly to benefit the casinos.

An Atheist Manifesto

Editor’s Note: At a time when fundamentalist religion has an unparalleled influence in the highest government levels in the United States, and religion-based terror dominates the world stage, Sam Harris argues that progressive tolerance of “faith-based unreason” is as great a menace as religion itself. Harris, a philosophy graduate of Stanford who has studied eastern and western religions, won the 2004 PEN Award for nonfiction for The End of Faith, which powerfully examines and explodes the absurdities of organized religion. Truthdig asked Harris to write a charter document for his thesis that belief in God, and appeasement of religious extremists of all faiths by moderates, has been—and continues to be—the greatest threat to world peace and a sustained assault on reason.

Somewhere in the world a man has abducted a little girl. Soon he will rape, torture and kill her. If an atrocity of this kind is not occurring at precisely this moment, it will happen in a few hours, or days at most. Such is the confidence we can draw from the statistical laws that govern the lives of 6 billion human beings. The same statistics also suggest that this girl’s parents believe—at this very moment—that an all-powerful and all-loving God is watching over them and their family. Are they right to believe this? Is it good that they believe this?

No.

The entirety of atheism is contained in this response. Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply a refusal to deny the obvious. Unfortunately, we live in a world in which the obvious is overlooked as a matter of principle. The obvious must be observed and re-observed and argued for. This is a thankless job. It carries with it an aura of petulance and insensitivity. It is, moreover, a job that the atheist does not want.

It is worth noting that no one ever needs to identify himself as a non-astrologer or a non-alchemist. Consequently, we do not have words for people who deny the validity of these pseudo-disciplines. Likewise, atheism is a term that should not even exist. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma. The atheist is merely a person who believes that the 260 million Americans (87% of the population) who claim to "never doubt the existence of God" should be obliged to present evidence for his existence—and, indeed, for his benevolence, given the relentless destruction of innocent human beings we witness in the world each day. Only the atheist appreciates just how uncanny our situation is: Most of us believe in a God that is every bit as specious as the gods of Mount Olympus; no person, whatever his or her qualifications, can seek public office in the United States without pretending to be certain that such a God exists; and much of what passes for public policy in our country conforms to religious taboos and superstitions appropriate to a medieval theocracy. Our circumstance is abject, indefensible and terrifying. It would be hilarious if the stakes were not so high.

Jailed for fighting terror

The hypocrisy of the US war on terrorism is revealed by its treatment of my husband

Olga Salanueva
Wednesday December 7, 2005
The Guardian

The United States always says that it is fighting a war against terror. But when it comes to terrorism that is grown in its own backyard, it somehow chooses to forget about it. Worse than that, as in the case of the persecution of the Miami Five, Washington appears to be condoning and protecting terrorists who have been responsible for the deaths of scores of innocent victims.

I am talking about the four-decade-long war of terror that the US government and Cuban emigre groups based in Miami have waged against Cuba - and about my husband René González, one of five Cubans imprisoned in Miami seven years ago for doing nothing more than trying to prevent terrorist attacks being planned against Cuba in the very territory of the United States.

It was in September 1998 that five armed US federal agents burst into our Miami apartment and took René away. It was a traumatic event for our two daughters. This was not the kind of arrest you see in films. There was nothing ethical about it. No one spoke to him of his rights. They had no documents to support their actions and it was not until a day later that I learned that René and the four others had been charged with conspiracy to commit espionage.

My husband is now in his eighth year of imprisonment for a crime he did not commit. He was found guilty in a trial so obviously biased that his lawyers were incredulous that this could happen in the modern-day United States. Without a shred of evidence being presented by the prosecution they were given sentences ranging from 15 years, in the case of my husband, to life in the cases of Gerardo Hernández, Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero. Recently, the Atlanta court of appeals revoked their convictions. The prosecution has appealed against this decision and the process may yet take months or even years to resolve. Meanwhile, my husband and his comrades remain in jail.

The Miami Five were treated to bouts of solitary confinement far beyond the limits that other prisoners have to bear and they have been denied visiting rights. A committee of the United Nations has found their treatment to be in contravention of international human rights standards. It is time the United States was held to account for the injustice that has been done.

Not only has my husband been unjustly imprisoned, his family has also been treated appallingly. For neither my daughters nor myself have seen him in five years because the US refuses me a visa to visit him in prison. Our younger daughter, Ivette, is a US citizen by birth, as is René. Yet they are denied a fundamental right that is supposedly guaranteed US citizens by law.

Time and again the United States has arbitrarily denied me the possibility of visiting René. There is no reason to justify this denial. Like Adriana Pérez, the wife of fellow-prisoner Gerardo Hernández, I am suffering as an additional punishment to the unjust sentence imposed on my husband.

Ivette is now seven, and only knows René through the photos produced by the worldwide campaign to free him; she goes through life asking about him and wondering what life would have been like if she had had her father at home. She asks me constantly when all this will end, if her father will ever come home. Ivette is an innocent child who is being vindictively punished.

We demand the cessation of these cruel, dishonest practices - and denounce and refute all the false arguments and lies that the authorities have tried to use to continue punishing these political prisoners, who are in fact fighters against terrorism.

Olga Salanueva, the wife of René González, one of Cuba's Miami Five, is on a campaigning tour of Britain this week
www.antiterroristas.cu
www.freethefive.org

More CIA contractor aircraft involved in prisoner flights identified.

Wayne Madsen Report

December 7, 2005 -- More CIA contractor aircraft involved in prisoner flights identified.

According to informed sources in Florida, two Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules (C-130) -- N2189M and N8183J -- owned by CIA contractor Tepper Aviation, are involved in prisoner transport in Europe. N2189M was seen at Lajes Field, Azores on March 31, 2005; Prague Ruzyne on May 24, 2004; Tenerife Reina Sofia (Canary Islands) on December 7, 2003; Frankfurt Rhein Main on August 2, 2003 and in December 2001; and Glasgow Prestwick on March 24, 2003. N8183J was spotted in Glasgow Prestwick on November 13, 2004; Frankfurt Rhein Main on January 8 and 19, 2003 and November 20, 2002.

On January 21, 2003, N8183J was en route to Baku, Azerbaijan from Frankfurt when it was intercepted by two Austrian jet fighters over neutral Austrian airspace.

Tepper C-130 N8183J: Tepper's aircraft long used by CIA for covert operations in Angola, Papua New Guinea, Bosnia, Croatia (Split), and Latin America. Past ties between Tepper operations and those of Jack Abramoff

Tepper was registered in Florida in 1989 in Crestview, Florida and its principals reportedly have close ties to Gov. Jeb Bush and other Bush cartel figures. On November 27, 1989, a Tepper L-100-30 Hercules (N9205T) crashed in Jamba, Angola, the jungle headquarters for the right-wing UNITA guerrillas, ferrying arms from Papua New Guinea. At the time of the Tepper crash, UNITA was being backed by Republican operative Jack Abramoff and his International Freedom Foundation. Abramoff organized an expensive anti-communist summit in Jamba that also attracted Nicaraguan contras, Indochinese guerrillas, and Afghan mujaheddin. Some of the mujaheddin later become members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Abramoff also produced a pro-UNITA propaganda movie titled "Red Scorpion." GOP operative and close Karl Rove friend Grover Norquist served as an economic adviser to UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi. Abramoff is currently embroiled in a major GOP money laundering scandal also involving Tom DeLay.

Tepper C-130s were involved in supplying weapons to Bosnian Muslims during the Bosnian war, the funds for the arms gathered from various Muslim nations and deposited in the Bosnian Defense Fund, held by Riggs Bank and run by Richard Perle and Douglas Feith from the Feith & Zell law firm in Washington, DC.

Other CIA and private mercenary contractor planes that overflew Denmark (including Greenland) and are suspected of being CIA transports include:

-- a Raytheon Hawker 800XP (N168BF) registered to Business Focus Sdn. of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (also reportedly owned by Wells Fargo Bank) and seen in Nottingham, UK on September 24, 2005; Edinburgh on August 24, 2005; Zurich on July 9, 2004; London Luton on December 16, 2004; Penang, Malaysia on September 29, 2003; Melbourne, Australia on April 12, 2003; Perth, Western Australia in March 2002; and Singapore Changi on September 16, 2001 and in July 2002.

-- a CASA CN235 CT7 (N187D) registered to Devon Holding and Leasing and seen in Palma de Mallorca on September 30, 2005; Santa Maria, Azores on May 17, 2005; Kabul Khwaja Rawash on January 6, 2005; and Edinburgh on June 20, 2004.

-- a CASA CN235 CT7 (N196D) registered to Devon Holding and Leasing and Steven Express Leasing and seen in Malta Luqa on May 17, 2004.

-- a CASA C212-CC Aviocar (N963BW, ex-N204FN) registered to Blackwater Aviation and seen in Malta Luqa on December 15, 2003; Seville, Spain in December 2003, Cairo on December 16, 2003; and remote airfield in Afghanistan.

-- a CASA C212-CC Aviocar (N960BW) registered to Aviation Worldwide Services of Melbourne, Florida (sister company of Presidential Airways of Melbourne and subsidiary of Blackwater USA, the private military contractor firm that trains mercenaries in North Carolina. Blackwater is part of the Prince Group, headed by Republican Party major contributor Erik Prince of Michigan) and seen in Long Beach Daugherty Field on September 23, 2004 and Helsinki Vantaa on October 3, 2004. On November 27, 2004, this aircraft crashed 80 miles west of Bagram, Afghanistan (the site of a U.S. prison) killing the crew of 3 and 3 passengers.

-- an ATR-42-320 (N212AZ) registered to Kramer Investment Co. of Wilmington, Delaware and seen in Rotterdam on September 1, 2004.

-- a CASA CN235-300 (N219D) seen in Lajes, Azores on May 18, 2005 and October 1, 2004.

-- an ATR 42-320 (N315CR) registered to Jefferson Financial Company, Wilmington, Delaware and seen in Luxembourg Findal on January 27, 2005.

-- a Learjet 35 (N35NK) registered to Aircraft Guaranty Corp Trustee, Houston, Texas and seen in Santa Maria, Azores on February 17, 2005.

-- a Boeing 737 (N368CE) registered to Premier Aircraft Management (also Wells Fargo Bank, Salt Lake City) and seen in Frankfurt Rhein Main on November 12, 2005; October 16, 2005; October 19, 2005; September 18 and 20, 2005; July 14, 22, 27, and 31, 2005; June 8 and 22, 2005; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on May 17, 2005; Long Beach Daugherty Field on September 23, 2003, and Los Angeles LAX on September 17, 2003.

-- a CASA 212-300 (N393DF) leased from CASA by US Coast Guard and seen in Miami Opa Locka and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. FAA database indicates this registration number is not in its records.

-- a Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules (N4557C) registered to Rapid Air Transport of Beltsville, Maryland and seen in Dubai on January 15, 2005.

-- an ATR 42-320 (N470JF) registered to Jefferson Financial of Wilmington, Delaware and seen in Santa Maria, Azores on February 2, 2005.

-- a Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV (N478GS) registered to Braxton Management Services of Great Falls, Montana and seen in Stuttgart on August 9, 2004 and August 5, 2003 and Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque on July 14, 2003.

-- a DeHavilland Canada DHC-8-315B (N505LL) registered to Path Corporation of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware and seen in Afghanistan in early 2005; Daytona Beach on November 30, 2005; Amsterdam Schipol on November 16, 2005; Phoenix Chandler on May 18, 2005.

-- a Gulfstream III (N50BH) registered to Crystal Jet Aviation of Albany, New York and seen in Faro, Portugal in May 2003; Borinquen Field, Puerto Rico in January 2004; San Diego on August 24, 2004; and Atlanta Fulton County on January 26, 2005.

-- a Gulfstream II (N5117H) registered to Amerada Hess but recorded as unassigned in FAA database.

-- a Cessna 28 (N1016M) registered to Crowell Aviation of Dedham, Massachusetts.

-- a Cessna TR182 (N1018H) registered to Tepper Aviation of Crestview, Florida.

-- a Fairchild AT-577 (N120JM) registered to the Path Corporation of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

-- a Cessna 441 (N1210Z) registered to Nevada Conquest Aviation of Coral Gables, Florida.

-- a Beech B200C (N157A) registered to Aviation Specialties of Washington, DC.

-- a Casa CN-235-300 (N168D) registered to Devon Holding and Leasing of Lexington, North Carolina.

-- a Beech B300 (N173S) registered to Stevens Express Leasing of Cordova, Tennessee.

-- a Cessna 208B (N212CP) registered to Path Corporation of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

-- a Learjet 35A (N221SG) registered to Path Corporation.

-- a Learjet 25D (N229WJ) registered to World Jet of Delaware, Wilmington, Delaware.

-- a Beech B200C (N312ME) registered to Aviation Specialties of Washington, DC.

-- a Learjet 35A (N33NJ) registered to National Jets of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

-- a Douglas DC7BF (N381AA) registered to Turks Air of Miami, Florida.

-- a Raytheon B300C (N4009L) registered to Stevens Express Leasing.

-- a Cessna 208B (N403VP) registered to Worldwide Aviation Service of Helena, Montana.

-- a Beech B200 (N4042J) registered to Stevens Express Leasing.

-- a Learjet 45 (N418MN) registered to Aerometro of Houston, Texas.

-- a Learjet 35A (N42HN) registered to CC Medflight of Wilmington, Delaware.

-- a Raytheon B200C (N4456A) registered to Aviation Specialties.

-- a Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV (N475LC) registered to Braxton Management Services of Alexandria, Virginia.

-- a Raytheon B200C (N5139A) registered to Aviation Specialties.

Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot warned today that the Bush administration was "hiding" information about secret prisoners, flights, and prisons. Also comes word that Condoleezza Rice is denying that she told new German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the U.S. made a "mistake" in the kidnapping of German citizen Khaled el-Masri from Macedonia. Because of Rice's lies, hopes for a new era in German-U.S. relations are plummeting with Rice suggesting that it is Merkel, the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, who is twisting the truth. This will now turn many Christian Democratic colleagues of Merkel to the anti-U.S. camp, long dominated by Merkel's Social Democratic coalition partners.

Bush to free Israeli spy as payback to Israel

Free Mordechai Vanunu instead

December 7, 2005 -- The Israeli media is speculating that the Bush administration is considering releasing Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard in return for Israel's release of imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti. Pollard passed a "garage full" of classified documents to the Israelis during the 1980s. Past attempts to have Pollard released were strenuously opposed by U.S. intelligence chiefs, including CIA Director George Tenet who threatened to resign in protest if Clinton pardoned Pollard.

The Bush administration clearly feels that CIA Director Porter Goss and National Intelligence Director John Negroponte and their team of right wing operatives have successfully purged the US Intelligence Community to the point where a Pollard release is possible without mass opposition from the ranks.

However, releasing Pollard in exchange for an Israeli prisoner makes much more sense if the deal involves Israel's release from house arrest and transport to U.S. hands of Israeli nuclear scientists and convert to Christianity Mordechai Vanunu (who was kidnapped by Mossad agents in Rome in 1986). Vanunu has unique insights on Israel's use of international WMD smuggling networks to obtain materials for its nuclear weapons program -- information that would be beneficial to U.S. intelligence.

Americans are profiting from the looting of priceless antiquities from the museums and archeological sites of the Middle East

An informative web site on the parties, some of which are American, who are profiting from the looting of priceless antiquities from the museums and archeological sites of the Middle East. This has been a very under-reported scandal that is rife with connections to wealthy Republicans.

A top US businessman and an international network of smugglers and academics are making millions of dollars through their illegal dealings in looted Middle Eastern artefacts, according to a leading stolen antiquities activist.

Former self-confessed smuggler and police informant Michel Van Rijn told Aljazeera.net that multi-millionaire James Ferrell, the CEO of America's second largest propane gas company Ferrellgas, is running a London-based business that deals in smuggled relics.

Van Rijn says Ferrell established his network on 29 January 2000 with Hungarian-born antiquities dealer William Veres and academic Henry Kim of Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum.

After just eight months of dealing, a copy of Ferrell's own profit calcuations - provided to Aljazeera.net by Veres - show that the Texan-born tycoon had made a 400% profit on his initial $2.5m investment.

Military coup d'état brewing in Washington???

December 6, 2005 -- Retired generals and admirals subject to special investigation by Pentagon surveillance/intelligence team. Retired top U.S. generals and admirals planning to attend a December 7 meeting at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Pentagon City, an office and hotel complex next to the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, have drawn the interest of a special investigation by special agents of the Department of Defense. According to informed sources, the meeting, described as a "retreat," is to be attended by a number of former members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, former heads of intelligence agencies, and key members of the U.S. Congress, including Sen. John McCain.

The generic subject of the meeting is torture and detaining of prisoners. The meeting is strictly a "no media" event, according to individuals familiar with its planning. Pentagon agents have called individuals who have been invited to the meeting and inquired about details and the involvement of active duty officers. One agent, Special Agent Fred Shaw, said to be with Defense Department security and coordinating his activities with Pentagon Inspector General Steve Anthony, also made contact with local police departments asking for assistance in tracking the movements of some of the invited attendees. The Rumsfeld Pentagon is clearly interested in the meeting and the identities of the some 40 invited attend

Political fallout from CIA flights in Germany

December 6, 2005 -- Political fallout from CIA flights in Germany. According to German sources, on December 15, 2005, the new German Christian Democratic/Social Democratic coalition government will be formally questioned in the Bundestag on CIA activities in Germany. In addition, the German Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has been instructed by the Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to present a report in writing regarding clandestine contacts that the past Gerhard Schroeder government had with U.S. embassy personnel on both CIA activities in Germany and the kidnapping of an innocent German citizen, Khaled el-Masri, by the CIA in Macedonia in 2003. Masri was detained at the infamous "Salt Pit," which is actually an old brick factory, in Afghanistan.

CIA plane and prison scandal continues to rage in Germany. Rice admits "mistakes"

Today in Germany, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice admitted, for the first time, possible mistakes by CIA in Germany with regard to the Masri kidnapping. The European Council is asking all member states to formally make a report on clandestine CIA prisoner transports or secret prison sites in member-states by end of February 2006. All member states are required by law to respond to the questions in a true and complete manner under the European Treaty Agreements. Otherwise, their voting rights can be revoked.

"Esta revolución no la pueden destuir ellos, pero sí nuestros defectos y nuestras desigualdades"

Discurso pronunciado por el presidente de la República de Cuba, Fidel Castro Ruz, en el aniversario 60 de su ingreso a la Universidad. La Habana, el 17 de noviembre de 2005.

Queridos estudiantes y profesores de las universidades de toda Cuba;

Queridos compañeros dirigentes y demás invitados que han compartido con nosotros tantos años de lucha:

Ahora viene el momento más difícil, que es el de decir unas palabras en esta Aula Magna, donde se han pronunciado tantas palabras. Un mundo de ideas le viene a uno a la mente, y es lógico, ha pasado algún tiempo.

Ustedes han sido muy amables al recordar hoy un día muy especial: el 60 aniversario de mi tímido ingreso a esta universidad.

Por ahí anda una foto, yo la miraba: un jacketcito; cara así, no sé si de bravo, de malo, o de bueno, o indignado, porque esa foto no la sacaron el primer día, yo creo que ya tenía unos cuantos meses, y yo empezaba a reaccionar contra tantas cosas como las que estábamos viendo. No era un pensamiento formado ni mucho menos; era un pensamiento ávido de ideas, pero también de deseos de conocer; un espíritu tal vez rebelde, lleno de ilusiones, de ilusiones no puedo decir revolucionarias, habría que decir lleno de ilusiones y de energía, también posiblemente de ansias de lucha.

Bueno, había sido deportista, había sido escalador de montañas. Hasta me habían convertido primero —ni sé bien por qué— en una especie de teniente de exploradores y después, más tarde, me hicieron general de exploradores. Así que cuando yo era estudiante preuniversitario me habían dado más grados que los que tengo hoy (Risas), porque fui después Comandante, pero nada más que Comandante, y eso de Comandante en Jefe no quería decir más que era Comandante jefe de aquella pequeña tropa de alrededor de 82 hombres, con los que desembarcamos del Granma.

Ese nombre nace después del desembarco, el 2 de diciembre de 1956. Entre los 82 alguno tenía que ser jefe, después le pusieron “en”. Así, poco a poco, de Comandante jefe pasé a Comandante en Jefe cuando ya había más Comandantes, porque era el grado más alto durante mucho tiempo. Recordaba esas cosas. Uno tiene que pensar qué era, en qué pensaba, qué sentimientos albergaba.

Tal vez circunstancias especiales de mi vida me hicieron reaccionar. Pasé algún trabajo desde muy temprano y fui desarrollando, quizás por ello, el oficio de rebelde.

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"Los ataques a Chávez confirman están haciendo cosas buenas por Venezuela y América Latina"

El escritor uruguayo Eduardo Galeano afirmó que el presidente Hugo Chávez, "cuanto más es atacado, más se confirma que está haciendo cosas buenas por Venezuela y por América Latina".

En entrevista que publicara Jornal do Brasil y apelando a su reconocido estilo irónico, el reconocido intelectual dijo que "Hugo Chávez es un demonio porque alfabetizó a dos millones de venezolanos usando la riqueza natural más importante del mundo, que es el petróleo".

Recordó que en Venezuela había dos millones de niños que no podían ir a la escuela porque no tenían documentos, y "entonces ese gobierno demoníaco hizo una cosa elemental: “un niño debe ser aceptado en la escuela con o sin documentos".

"La presencia de médicos cubanos en Venezuela, pagados con petróleo para atender a los barrios pobres, es otra prueba de que Chávez está en la Tierra de visita, pues pertenece al infierno", continuó ironizando.

Comparó que, del mismo modo, en el mundo de hoy "todo islámico es un terrorista en potencia. Antes eran los comunistas. En el tiempo de la Inquisición eran las mujeres, todas sospechosas de ser brujas". Galeano apuntó que el odio de los enemigos de Chávez contra él "está tenído por el desprecio racial", aunque "si estuviese haciendo una política buena para el capital extranjero y buena para los dueños tradicionales de Venezuela, nadie tendría problema con el color de su piel".

Interrogado respecto a la política externa de aproximación Sur-Sur que aplica el presidente brasileño Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, dijo que es la mejor cosa que el mandatario está intentando hacer, porque "o nos unimos, o estamos fritos".

"Si Brasil, un país inmenso, no puede hacer nada, imaginen Uruguay, un país pequeñito" donde asumió el poder una fuerza progresista, el Frente Amplio, "pero ahí se encuentra una situación imposible, pues todo le es vetado. “Ah, eso el FMI no lo permite”. Nada es posible" "Esto alimenta la cultura de la impotencia", apuntó y remarcó que "todos somos pequeños ante esa estructura mundial de poder omnipotente. La única salvación que tenemos es la solidaridad entre los países excluídos". Recordó que "la elección de Lula fue una esperanza para la humanidad. El hecho de un país como Brasil elegir un dirigente sindical de origen pobre, un obrero en un mundo que desprecia el trabajo, es muy importante".

Ante una pregunta de si el mundo se tornó más democrático, respondió que se volvió más mentiroso, al extremo de que los gobernantes George W. Bush y Tony Blair reconocieron que mintieron, pues Iraq no tenía armas de destrucción masiva, y fueron reelectos.

"Para mí está clarísimo que el mundo hoy no es democrático, está siendo dirigido por algunos organismos internacionales y son estos los que deciden. Hay un supergobierno que gobierna a los gobiernos", agregó. "Por ejemplo: el Banco Mundial decidió que en 16 países el agua debe ser propiedad privada de empresas. Esos 16 países fueron obligados a aceptar la privatización del agua", señaló.

Galeano volvió a ironizar que "el FMI (Fondo Monetario Internacional) decide el ritmo de las lluvias, la velocidad de las focas, la intensidad del amor de los amantes", y preguntó: "?Cuántos países dirigen el FMI? Cinco, y entre estos, sobre todo uno". También ejemplificó que en las Naciones Unidas la Asamblea General sólo hace recomendaciones, pues las decisiones las toma el Consejo de Seguridad, donde cinco países tienen derecho al veto.

"Estos cinco países que velan por la paz en el mundo son los cinco principales productores de armas. O sea: los que lucran con la tragedia humana son los ángeles guardianes de la paz mundial".

¿Un indígena presidente?

Las elecciones generales del 18 de diciembre de 2005, en Bolivia, quedarán para siempre escritas en la historia del país y del continente en su conjunto, no sólo porque se elegirá al futuro Presidente de la República ni a los parlamentarios ni menos a los prefectos, sino sobre todo se definirá, a través de las urnas, el futuro de todo un pueblo.

Aunque, en los bolivianos y bolivianas, cada vez existe menos credibilidad en las encuestas por el descarado manoseo que se realiza, en todas - incluida la de la embajada norteamericana- el virtual ganador es el candidato del Movimiento Al Socialismo-Instrumento Político por la Soberanía de los Pueblos (MAS-IPSP), Evo Morales Aima.

Evo, a pesar de haber sido durante años víctima de la cárcel, el confinamiento, la represión y la satanización a los movimientos sociales y actualmente es víctima de una guerra sucia a través del poder mediático, se ha convertido en el líder del movimiento campesino, indígena, originario, popular y de diferentes sectores sociales de Bolivia.

El líder boliviano, en esta coyuntura -aliado con importantes sectores de profesionales y empresariales incluidas casi todas las organizaciones populares- prioriza en su lucha, su discurso y su accionar diario la defensa de la dignidad y la soberanía nacional, la justicia social para las mayorías históricamente discriminadas, la recuperación de los recursos naturales y las transformaciones estructurales para la nación

War Crimes Made Easy - How the Bush Administration Legalized Intelligence Deceptions, Assassinations, and Aggressive War

Typically, when faced with a problem, the first thing Bush administration officials do is reach for their dictionaries to pretzel and torture words into whatever shape best suits them. Then they declare themselves simply to be following precedent (which turns out, of course, to be whatever they've wanted to do all along). In this way, in the famous torture memos that flowed from the White House Counsel's office, the Justice Department, and the Pentagon, the meaning of "torture" was at one point in 2002 redefined into near nonexistence ("must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death") and then made dependent on the mind and intent of the torturer. As a result, "torture" became, by definition, a policy we didn't engage in even as we waterboarded suspects in our global network of CIA-run (or borrowed) secret prisons. In a similar fashion, this administration has managed to redefine aggressive war, kidnapping, the President's powers to detain both citizens and non-citizens, assassination, the meaning of various international agreements and American laws, and the Constitution itself. Then, definitions in hand, administration officials have marched defiantly into the world, armed to the teeth, and done exactly what they pleased.

The US won in Iraq. And other related Fuckisms ...

From Truth_about_Iraqis

Last week, 14 US soldiers and marines were killed in one day. Three more were killed the next day.

The day after that, the Islamic Army showed footage of three separate attacks on US forces.

Footage included the attack on a foot patrol which saw the loss of 10 US marines and the wounding of 11 more.

Some Iraqis have voiced compassion, if not pity, for the US military personnel.

I took a stand saying I could not feel the same. But I reserved what little compassion is left in the aftermath of this war for the mothers of these soldiers.

Until I saw the arrogance displayed by them.

In Monday's edition of The New York Times; "Among the oldest marines killed in the explosion on Thursday was Staff Sgt. Daniel J. Clay, of Pensacola, Fla. He was 27 and had served for nearly a decade. Like those who signed up after the war began, Sergeant Clay had told his family that he believed fully in the job he was doing in Iraq.

"He was a true patriot who believed in his mission and President Bush," his mother, Sarah Jo, said on Saturday."

A true patriot?

Does patriotism involve invading a country that was never a threat to you, destroying its infrastructure, killing tens of thousands of its citizens, establishing torture chambers and prisons, raping, pillaging, and then having the courage to lie about?

Is that "the mission"?

Well, the dead tell no tales, they say, and he is now resting in pieces.

The White House's Tortured Definition of Torture by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The White House announced today that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will deliver a comprehensive address on the issues of torture on her European trip this week.

But anyone interested in a glimpse of the elaborate rationale that the White House has constructed for evading application of the "t" word can review Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' speech to the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday night.

"We are not going to torture, period," said Gonzales compellingly. He claimed that the president has told him that "even in a situation where you have custody of someone who might have the launch codes of an atomic bomb that's about to go off in Washington D.C. and may kill millions of Americans and that person has the information that may save millions of lives, the president has said we're not going to torture…We don't believe in torture, and we're not going to engage in torture."

Gonzales said all federal government employees were aware of the policy and he dismissed the Abu Ghraib atrocities as the acts of a handful of bad apples on the prison's night shift. "The day shift didn't engage in that kind of conduct."

So far so good. But when asked by Carroll Bogert of Human Rights Watch whether the administration considered "waterboarding" to be torture, Gonzales refused to answer. "I'm not going to get into a discussion about specific methods of questioning people who have information that may save American lives."

No wonder the troops are confused. If the Attorney General won't say what constitutes torture then how is the night shift at Abu Ghraib supposed to know? Gonzales added, somewhat discordantly, that although he could not share the particulars of the administration's secret definition of torture, everyone in the federal government was already thoroughly aware of those details.