contributions

Military intelligence officials at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq ordered military police to keep several detainees hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross, leaving a coded message on cell doors to indicate which detainees the visitors were not allowed to see or interview, a court hearing has been told.
Staff Sergeant Christopher Ward, a member of the 372nd Military Police Company who was in charge of the day shift at Abu Ghraib’s most secure cellblock, said that during at (…)

by BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
A nation’s artists and musicians have a particular place in its social and political life. Over the years I’ve tried to think long and hard about what it means to be American: about the distinctive identity and position we have in the world, and how that position is best carried. I’ve tried to write songs that speak to our pride and criticize our failures.
These questions are at the heart of this election: who we are, what we stand for, why we fight. Personally, for (…)

by BBC
Screen icon Marilyn Monroe has been found dead in bed at her Los Angeles home.
The 36-year-old actress’ body was discovered in the early hours of this morning by two doctors who were called to her Brentwood home by a concerned housekeeper.
The doctors were forced to break into Miss Monroe’s bedroom after being unable to open the door. She was found lying naked in her bed with an empty bottle of Nembutal sleeping pills by her side.
The local coroner, who visited the scene (…)

By Caroline Drees, Security Correspondent
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration insists its terror warnings should be taken in deadly earnest, but many Americans feel political motives, faulty intelligence and the "cry wolf" factor may be clouding their credibility.
"The security of the United States and potential terror threats are being perceived by some as a tool to garner political support," said Jonathan Schanzer, a terrorism analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. (…)

By John Spritzler
The United States is not a democracy. Sure, we have elections and all the trappings of a democracy. But if, by democracy, we mean a society shaped by the values of ordinary people rather than by the values of a wealthy and privileged elite, in which the popular vote actually determines the direction of the society, then no, we don’t have a democracy. We have a plutocracy. Billionaires hold the real power because they own the media and the entire private sector and they (…)

Al-Sadr calls for restoration of negotiated cease-fire
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr battled fiercely with U.S., British and Iraqi forces in four cities Thursday. A U.S. soldier, seven Iraqi civilians and seven militants were killed and a U.S. helicopter was shot down before al-Sadr called for a fragile cease-fire to be restored. Sheik Mahmoud Sudani, a spokesman for al-Sadr, said al-Sadr’s office had issued a statement saying he would observe (…)

In the wake of Sunday’s declaration of an "orange alert," unprecedented security measures have been implemented at key financial institutions in Washington, New York and Newark, New Jersey. Hundreds of heavily armed local and federal police have been deployed around the New York Stock Exchange and the Citicorp Center in Manhattan, the Prudential Financial building in Newark, and the World Bank and International Monetary Fund buildings in Washington.
Checkpoints have been set up where (…)

By Richard A. Serrano Two months before the abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq ignited an international scandal, a small group of soldiers tried to stop the assaults but never took the extra step of alerting the military’s high command that detainees were being mistreated - a failure that allowed the misconduct to continue.
That account emerged for the first time yesterday in a military preliminary hearing for Army Pfc. Lynndie England, 21, who is facing several criminal charges in (…)

A few days ago a Professor Gary Leupp placed his article called "Beyond Good and Evil: Some Thoughts on Invasions" at bellaciao. After circulating the article to my news group one of my comrades, Adam Bowker, wrote an excellent response to the article that articulates the heart of the problem with what I view as lift and liberal morally relativistic stances that in turn support empire’s invasions and atrocities. Here it is! Genoa June
Having read this article and Husayn Al-Kurdi’s (…)

By Steve Gorman
The United States distributors of Michael Moore’s controversial Fahrenheit 9/11 said yesterday that an unauthorised broadcast of the film on Cuban television will not disqualify the movie from Oscar competition in the feature documentary category.
"The film that was illegally shown on Cuban state-run TV was from an unauthorised, pirated copy," said a statement issued by Lions Gate Films, IFC Entertainment and the Fellowship Adventure Group, founded by Miramax Films’ (…)