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An Open Letter to the 9/11 Panel by Sibel Edmonds
Thomas Kean, Chairman National Committee on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States 301 7th Street, SW Room 5125 Washington, D.C. 20407
Dear Chairman Kean:
It has been almost three years since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, during which time we have been placed under a constant threat of terror and asked to exercise vigilance in our daily lives. Your commission was created by law to investigate "facts and circumstances related to (…)

July 31, 2004
DEFENCE Minister Robert Hill should tell Australians how long the Federal Government intends to keep defence personnel in Iraq, Greens leader Bob Brown said today.
Senator Brown said the troops were in Iraq at the behest of the White House and should be brought home immediately.
He was reacting to Senator Hill’s announcement of changes to the Australian Defence Force arrangements in Iraq, which did not amount to an alteration in the overall number serving with the US-led (…)

by Gustavo Capdevila
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreed on a series of guidelines to breathe new life into the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks that could put an end to agricultural export subsidies, a form of trade protectionism that mainly hurts the developing world.
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreed on a series of guidelines to breathe new life into the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks that could put an end to agricultural export subsidies, a form of trade (…)

by ANTHONY LANE "She Hate Me."
The new Spike Lee movie, "She Hate Me," turns out to be at least two new Spike Lee movies rolled into one. In fact, the mélange of plots, subplots, reveries, gags, cartoons, dirty bits, and hissy fits points to a work that is structurally modelled less on the classic narratives of cinema than on, say, a portion of Russian salad. The first morsel of story, which seems chunky enough to fill an entire picture, concerns a fictitious pharmaceutical company by the (…)

by Eli Clifton
Much scrutiny of the ongoing U.S. presidential race has focussed on the personal fortunes amassed by President George W Bush and his challenger Senator John Kerry. But millions of dollars from other sources are also at play behind the scenes, including from major actors in the U.S. oil and gas industry.
Leading the way is privately-held Koch Industries, which has contributed more than half a million dollars in the 2004 election cycle, and just under 5..5 million dollars to (…)

By Robert Kagan
Someday, when the passions of this election have subsided, historians and analysts of American foreign policy may fasten on a remarkable passage in John Kerry’s nomination speech. "As president," Kerry declared, "I will bring back this nation’s time-honored tradition: The United States of America never goes to war because we want to; we only go to war because we have to. That is the standard of our nation." The statement received thunderous applause at the convention and, (…)

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
The nation’s labor unions have rallied behind John Kerry after being openly divided just a few months ago when many unions backed Representative Richard A. Gephardt for president while others supported Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor.
But behind their newfound unity in politics, the nation’s unions are in turmoil, with some labor leaders maneuvering to become the A.F.L.- C.I.O.’s next president and some hinting that they might pull out of the organization. (…)

by Rohan Pearce
Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, the most successful anti-war film ever, doesn’t gloss over the atrocities committed by the US occupation forces in Iraq, depicting graphic scenes of carnage inflicted on Iraqis by US soldiers. But neither does it condemn the soldiers as mindless killers. Instead, it shows that they, too, are victims of Washington’s imperialist war, many of whom just want to go home.
Moore’s approach seems to have paid off. "Fahrenheit 9/11, a left-sided (…)

Many dead in Paraguay shop fire
At least 256 people have died in a fire at a shopping centre in Paraguay’s capital, Asuncion, officials say.
Hundreds more are injured and the death toll is set to rise as firefighters bring charred bodies out of the debris.
The blaze started at midday on Sunday when the Ycua Bolanos centre was packed with weekend shoppers.
It is thought the fire was caused by a gas explosion. The disaster has overwhelmed the emergency services of one of South (…)

By John Chuckman
I heard several lines from John Edwards’ convention speech on the radio before I clicked it off. Anymore and I would have vomited.
As it was, I experienced a horrible flashback to being a twelve-year old at the Midwest Baptists’ Camp Sycamore, sitting in the sweltering cinderblock meeting hall, shirt stuck to the back of a card-table chair, while a strutting little preacher sprayed beads of sweat and globs of spit into the twilight yelling about hell.
John Edwards is (…)