contributions

’Here You Go. Here’s Iraq. Take It’ We threw’ power at them: U.S. official But much work got lost in transition
by Mitch Potter
BAGHDAD-Leaning in close, the mid-level American administrator speaks more in a hiss than a whisper. His tone is confessional, drenched in frustration.
"We didn’t hand over power to the Iraqis. We threw it at them," he confides, casting a guilty glance toward the many eyes filling the chandelier-lit room. Nobody else heard him. Good. This kind (…)

ohn Kerry Ain’t No Democrat by Rachel Olivieri www.dissidentvoice.org July 17, 2004
Ok, time for a concession. I, Rachel Olivieri, of somewhat sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath my franchise of "one" self-elected vote to one undeserving John Kerry on Nov. 2nd, 2004: with great trepidation and reservation. I do this for that great American cause: ABB. I urge all others to grant and reserve as well. And, hold on to your reserve.
Having said that, I am "free" to exact the consequence (…)

Anybody but Bush or Kerry by Ahmed Amr (Saturday 17 July 2004)
"Ask yourself a few simple questions. Does your government consider you less of an American than you were four years ago? Did you personally do anything to deserve a demotion to second class citizenship? Did the Democrats stand up for you when your civil rights were assaulted? Did Kerry or Edwards utter a word in your defense?"
Time was when Americans were more interested in the NASDAQ average than presidential polls. Those (…)

Let Bush and Kerry Lead With their Children Into Iraq and Afghanistan
By Sam Hamod
It is clear that if Bush really believes in sacrifice for Iraq and Afghanistan, he should send Barbara to Iraq as a U.S. Army soldier and Jenna to Afghanistan as a soldier; in this way, he’ll show that he really believes in these two wars he’s put our young men and women into. If Kerry wants to lead, he should do the same; as should Edwards. Otherwise, they must capitulate and say publicly that Nader, (…)

The head of one of the most influential Sunni groups opposed to the US invasion of Iraq yesterday declared he would not co-operate with its new government until coalition forces left, and rejected any new offer of amnesty.
"We do not accept the legitimacy of this government because they are still under the control of the occupation," said Muthana Harith al-Dhari, head of the Association of Muslim Scholars. "We do not accept what they call the handing over of sovereignty."
His statement (…)

A powerful bomb has exploded in the path of a convoy for Iraq’s Minister of Justice Malik Duhan al-Hasan in Baghdad.
The blast killed at least four Iraqis, two of whom were his bodyguards, witnesses and officials said. Al-Hasan escaped unhurt.
"There was a blast alongside the convoy. A booby-trapped car came alongside and blew up," said traffic policeman Husayn Abid.
Abd Al-Nasir Muhammad, an Iraqi bodyguard at the scene, said four people were killed in the explosion. He pointed at one (…)

NCM Report, News Analysis, Jalal Ghazi,
A new Iraqi television channel based in Baghdad aired an extremely moving news report about Iraqi prisoners held in U.S.-administered detention centers. The channel, Al Sharkyah, focuses much of its news coverage on problems facing Iraqis under the occupation.
The report, which aired late last month shortly before the transfer of sovereignty to the new Iraqi government, covered a news conference held by an Iraqi organization known as the Union of (…)

By Chris Parry
"The single most important documentary of modern times." (Awesome) A lot of documentaries get a rise out of their audience. Some even invoke social change, or at the least some serious reflection upon our place in the world. But I can safely say I’ve never seen an audience so moved, en masse, to explore actual social activism on a grand scale as the audience who watched this three hour masterwork. The first standing ovation I’ve seen delivered at the Vancouver Film Festival (…)

By John Armstrong, New Zealand Herald political correspondent
For all Labour’s efforts to belittle Tariana Turia’s victory in last Saturday’s by-election, the result must have come as a rude shock to the Government.
The surprise was in the scale of her victory: to be more precise, the number of Maori bothering to cast a vote for her when they knew she would retain her Te Tai Hauauru seat regardless.
After specials are counted, Mrs Turia will have secured close to 8000 of the 8529 (…)

To be published in the August 2 - 9, 2004 issue of The Nation
by Jonathan Schell
The Supreme Court of the United States has had two historic encounters with George W. Bush. The first was its decision to stop the recount of the presidential vote in Florida in December 2000 and, in effect, to put Bush in the White House. The second was the series of decisions rendered in June in the cases regarding the detainees in Guantánamo and the two American citizens being held as "enemy combatants." (…)