contributions

By Pepe Escobar
In "Masters of War", Bob Dylan sang, "Hide behind desks" but "we can see through your masks". Now, applying their version of grassroots democracy, the US has declared that Fallujah has been "liberated". But the virtual ghost town is celebrating with no cries of joy - with no cries at all: only with the stench of tons of explosives, and the stench of decomposing bodies.
Baghdad sources close to the resistance tell Asia Times Online that in essence the Americans control (…)

By Erich Marquardt
On October 29, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden released a new videotape, revealing the first images of the leader in more than a year. The video offered proof that bin Laden is alive and healthy with access to modern technology. The resurgence of bin Laden emphasizes the threat still posed by Islamic revolutionaries to the United States and its interests.
Bin Laden applauds US response to September 11 attacks Bin Laden is undeterred by the Bush administration’s (…)

Electronic voting machines were supposed to save us from the nightmare of hanging chads. The day after the election, a lot of Americans learned for the first time that most of these machines are owned by private companies who refuse to divulge exactly how they work; that computer security experts have been highly critical of them; that they’ve already experienced serious failures, and that many of them leave no paper trail for backup.(1) Since then, online forums have been jammed with claims (…)

Highly-charged, jam-packed hearings held here in Columbus have cast serious doubt on the true outcome of the presidential election.
On Saturday, November 13, and Monday, November 15, the Ohio Election Protection Coalition’s public hearings in Columbus solicited extensive sworn first-person testimony from 32 of Ohio voters, precinct judges, poll workers, legal observers, party challengers. An additional 66 people provided written affidavits of election irregularities. The unavoidable (…)

Iraq veteran speaks out against war; Former Marine tells ND crowd his experience reshaped his perspective
By Patrick M. O’Connell / Tribune Staff Writer
SOUTH BEND — Rob Sarra is not a pacifist.
Sometimes, the former U.S. Marine sergeant regrettably believes war is a necessary evil.
"But when military power is used, it better be for a ... good reason," Sarra said. "And this was not it."
Sarra is talking about the U.S.-led war in Iraq, where in 2003 he experienced firsthand both the (…)

by Robert Fisk
So the death of Yasser Arafat is a great new opportunity for the Palestinians, is it? The man who personified the Palestinian struggle - "Mr Palestine" - is dead. So things can only get better for the Palestinians. Death means democracy. Death means statehood. That the final demise of the corrupt old guerrilla leader should be a sign of optimism demonstrates just how catastrophic the conflict in the Middle East has now become. It’s a bit like Fallujah. The more we destroy (…)

“Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state” (Noam Chomsky)
by Yamin Zakaria
There are truths; there are lies; there is then the middle ground of half-truths: propaganda. Those who engage in its dissemination are malicious criminals. And those who are subjected to it are the victims. Propaganda is consumed innocently, like drinking a glass of milk that has been contaminated with small drops of urine; the taste, color, odor of the milk is sustained, so the (…)

Mordechai Vanunu served 18 years in an Israeli prison for blowing the whistle on the country’s nuclear weapons programme. Last week he was arrested again - but not before he had given Duncan Campbell the following exclusive interview
by Duncan Campbell
It was precisely noon in Jerusalem and the bells in the tower of St George’s Cathedral were echoing over the city. The short, trim man in the apricot shirt and dark trousers who was ringing them was smiling broadly. "Down there," he said, (…)

By Alissa J. Rubin
BAGHDAD - U.S. and Iraqi forces struck insurgent strongholds in the northern city of Mosul today, trying to reestablish control over a city where rebels have festered and overtaken local police.
Regional authorities have ordered all four bridges closed into Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city. U.S. and Iraqi troops also began taking back police stations in west Mosul, a military spokeswoman said.
"We are in the process of securing all of police stations and returning (…)

by Ted Glick
I am fortunate to live in the Newark, N.J. area. Because of it I’m a member of the People’s Organization for Progress, a predominantly African American but multi-cultural organization led by its chair, Larry Hamm.
Three days after the November 2 election POP held a fund-raising dinner. When Larry spoke as part of the program of speakers and poetry, the first thing he did was to lead the packed church basement in a chant of "power to the people," as he often does. He spoke of (…)