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U.S. warplanes and tanks bombarded targets in Fallujah on Saturday and U.S. forces exchanged gunfire with insurgents on the city’s eastern outskirts and the main highway that runs to neighboring Jordan, witnesses said.
Fourteen people were wounded in the violence, including eight children, said Dr. Ali Khamis of Fallujah General Hospital.
The attacks struck the city’s eastern al-Askari neighborhood as well as the industrial area at the eastern entrance of Fallujah. At least four homes (…)

By Noah Shachtman The 9/11 Commission, leaders in Congress — even the government’s top secret-keeper — all agree that Washington’s penchant for keeping information under wraps has grown out of control. Now, a coalition of watchdog groups has documented just how much it’s costing to keep all those records away from the public eye.
During the 2003 fiscal year, the federal government spent more than $6.5 billion securing classified information, according to a new "Secrecy Report Card" from (…)

by SARA KUGLER
NEW YORK - Tens of thousands of Bush administration opponents poured into Manhattan’s streets Sunday on the eve of the Republican National Convention, angrily denouncing the war in Iraq and demanding the United States withdraw its forces.
Flanked by police in riot gear and led by a line of celebrities including actor Danny Glover and filmmaker Michael Moore, the protesters moved through the fortified city on a circular route that took them through midtown and past Madison (…)

United for Peace and Justice Events
LEGAL NUMBER: (212) 679-6018
NLG Legal Observers in green hats with cameras will document any arrests or unlawful police activity. Let them know if you see anything.
Massive Protest at the Republican Convention
Assemble at 10:00AM, Seventh Ave. @ 14th St., NYC March steps off at noon
CCNY Hospitality Center
Sunday, August 29th 2004 10:00 am New York, NY USA
Women’s Peace Rally and Feeder March
Sunday, August 29th 2004 10:00 am New York, (…)

By MARK ENGLER
Like many New Yorkers, I am not native to this place. I arrived from elsewhere, and have made the city my home. My extended family lives in the Midwest. They do not understand New York. I have an uncle who labors with an iron work ethic in carpentry and flooring. He gets up every morning at 5:00 AM, and I have often seen him working, trying to finish off a floor, after 9:30 at night. My uncle tells me that he could not live in New York City. It’s "too busy," he says. I (…)

By JAY AMBROSE
Bush-bashers enjoy saying the president is far, far to the right, but as virtually any conservative will tell you, he has been a me-too liberal on many of the issues that matter most - spending like crazy, expanding the bureaucracy, subsidizing farmers, caving in to free-speech curbs and recklessly enlarging an entitlement program.
That list is just for starters, and the question is whether he and his supporters can make a convincing case before the end of the Republican (…)

By Tom Heneghan
PARIS - The kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq has injected new tension into France’s debate over banning Islamic headscarves in schools just as Paris was hoping for a smooth start to the school year this week.
The Islamic Army in Iraq has given France 48 hours to revoke the controversial ban.
As French leaders scrambled to strategy meetings on Sunday morning, it seemed unlikely they would revoke the ban which has wide support among French voters. Even many (…)

By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON - In his first comments on the two major investigative reports issued this week at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Thursday mischaracterized one of their central findings about the American military’s treatment of Iraqi prisoners by saying there was no evidence that prisoners had been abused during interrogations.
The reports, one by a panel Mr. Rumsfeld had appointed and one by three Army generals, made clear that some abuses occurred (…)

by NYC Indymedia
The DNC 2 RNC march began in Boston following the Democratic National Convention, and arrived in Manhattan today (28 Aug 2004). They had been marching for over a month and for 258 miles. The reason for the march, according to the DNC2RNC, is that, "rather than representing the interests of the people, both Democrats and Republicans choose to build systems of violent exploitation." The march bridged the DNC protests in July with the upcoming RNC protests, and called (…)

By John Whitesides
NEW YORK - President George W. Bush, on the road to next week’s Republican convention, has defended his economic record in hard-hit Ohio as abortion-rights activists marched through New York City on the leading edge of a wave of anti-Bush protests.
Thousands of Republicans poured into New York for Monday’s opening of the four-day convention, and police closed streets and tightened security throughout the heavily fortified city as demonstrators stepped up their pace. (…)