contributions

by Mike Whitney
Hugo Chavez seems to take great pleasure in tweaking George Bush’s nose. He’s repeatedly called Bush a “terrorist” and disparaged the US as a “terrorist state”. Just last week, Chavez fired off another broadside saying, “The planet’s most serious danger is the government of the United States...The people of the United States are being governed by a killer, a genocidal murderer, and a madman.”
He got that right.
For liberals and leftists Chavez’s fiery salvos have been a (…)

By SALAH NASRAWI
CAIRO, Egypt - Reaching out to the Sunni Arab community, Iraqi leaders called for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces and said Iraq’s opposition had a legitimate right’’ of resistance.
The communique - finalized by Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni leaders Monday - condemned terrorism but was a clear acknowledgment of the Sunni position that insurgents should not be labeled as terrorists if their operations do not target innocent civilians or institutions designed (…)

By Francis Elliott, Raymond Whitaker and Kim Sengupta
British-trained police operating in Basra have tortured at least two civilians to death with electric drills, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
John Reid, the Secretary of State for Defence, admits that he knows of "alleged deaths in custody" and other "serious prisoner abuse" at al-Jamiyat police station, which was reopened by Britain after the war.
Militia-dominated police, who were recruited by Britain, are believed to have (…)

By PHILIP SHENON
WASHINGTON - The Justice Department has signaled for the first time in recent weeks that prominent members of Congress could be swept up in the corruption investigation of Jack Abramoff, the former Republican superlobbyist who diverted some of his tens of millions of dollars in fees to provide lavish travel, meals and campaign contributions to the lawmakers whose help he needed most.
The investigation by a federal grand jury, which began more than a year ago, has created (…)

Informant’s handlers say they repeatedly warned of unreliability.
By Bob Drogin and John Goetz
BERLIN - The German intelligence officials responsible for one of the most important informants on Saddam Hussein’s suspected weapons of mass destruction say that the Bush Aadministration and the CIA repeatedly exaggerated his claims before the Iraq war.
Five senior officials from Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, or BND, said in interviews with the Los Angeles Times that they warned (…)

INCONGRUITY IN IRAQ
By Peter Fredson
November 21, 2005
“Incongruity: strangeness, absurdity, inappropriateness”, according to my in-computer thesaurus, seems to reflect the puzzlement I feel when looking at the daily news about Iraq for the past four years.
I wonder what those young people in United States uniform, holding automatic weapons at the ready, dressed like Samurai warriors in full-field gear, are doing so far from home. Why are they not back home in Sheboygan, Duluth, or (…)

I protested the execution of Brian Steckel by the State of Delaware on Nov. 4, 2005. I worry, and greatly, that my words will neither do justice to, nor adequately convey, the horror of that night, one which will forever be seared into my memory. Paradoxically, because it is a traumatic memory, I worry too that I will not be able to access all I heard and saw that cold moonless evening in a provincial backwater.
I am not quite sure why we have a death penalty in any state in this country. (…)

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PM halted Bush plan to bomb Arab TV channel off the air Exclusive By Kevin Maguire And Andy Lines
GEORGE Bush’s plot to bomb an Arab TV station in friendly Qatar was crushed by Tony Blair who feared it would spark horrific revenge.
An explosive No 10 memo stamped "Top Secret" records a threat by Bush to unleash "military action" against al-Jazeera, accused by the US of fuelling the Iraq insurgency and denounced as Osama bin Laden’s mouthpiece.
The attack would have led to a (…)

I find this very frightening.... The Man Who Sold the War Meet John Rendon, Bush’s general in the propaganda war By JAMES BAMFORD
The road to war in Iraq led through many unlikely places. One of them was a chic hotel nestled among the strip bars and brothels that cater to foreigners in the town of Pattaya, on the Gulf of Thailand.
On December 17th, 2001, in a small room within the sound of the crashing tide, a CIA officer attached metal electrodes to the ring and index fingers of a man (…)

Sen. Clinton says immediate withdrawal would be mistake By JIM FITZGERALD Associated Press Writer
November 21, 2005, 6:11 PM EST
RYE BROOK, N.Y. — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would be "a big mistake."
While professing "the greatest respect" for Rep. Jack Murtha of Pennsylvania, the ex-Marine who called for a troop pullout last week, Clinton said, "I think that would cause more problems for us in America."
On the other hand, (…)