contributions

"I thought it was very interesting that Charlie Duelfer, — he’s the head of the Iraqi Survey Group — reported some interesting findings from his recent tour there. And one of the things was, he was amazed at how deceptive the Iraqis had been toward UNMOVIC and UNSCOM; deceptive in hiding things. We knew they were hiding things — a country that hides something is a country that is afraid of getting caught. And that was part of our calculation. Charlie confirmed that. He also confirmed that (…)

Recently, the RAND National Defense Research Institute published a report entitled, "Arms Trafficking and Colombia." As RAND explains, the report is based on federally-funded research "supported by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the unified commands, and the defense agencies . . . ." What RAND found is fascinating, while at the same time likely disappointing to these "sponsors" as well as the NRA which just held its national convention here in Pittsburgh.
Colombia (…)

Women of color are joining and taking a leadership role in this Sunday’s major rally for reproductive rights. In doing so, they have broadened the agenda to include such goals as better access to health care, day care, nutritious food and clean water.
(WOMENSENEWS)—In cities and towns across the country, students, unionists, environmentalists and others are gearing up to attend the March to Save Women’s Lives, a massive reproductive-rights rally in Washington, D.C., this Sunday, April 25. (…)

A defiant slogan repeated by residents of Falluja over the last year was that their city would be "the graveyard of the Americans." The last two weeks has seen that chant become a reality, with most of the 88 US combat deaths falling in the intense combat around Falluja. But there is a bigger sense in which the slogan is true : Falluja has become the graveyard of US policy in Iraq.
Falluja : a Strategic Dilemma
The battle for the city is not yet over, but the Iraqi resistance has already (…)

MARCH ON THE PENTAGON (assemble at the White House at 12 noon)
MASS MOBILIZATIONS in SAN FRANCISCO & LOS ANGELES
*call initiated by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition*
To ENDORSE: http://www.ANSWERcoalition.org/campaigns/j5/endorse.html
The U.S. war and occupation of Iraq is a disaster for the people there and here, a disaster that the Bush administration wants to escalate. In the first three weeks of April alone, more than 1,000 Iraqis, most of them civilians, and at least 110 U.S. (…)

Jo Wilding, 29, is a human rights campaigner and trainee lawyer from Bristol. She and two other foreign nationals have been inside Falluja for the past week, providing medical and humanitarian aid
Everybody in Falluja has lost someone. There is not a person here who doesn’t have a close friend or relative who has been killed, and a lot of them have lost several. We are hearing that the death toll is around 880 civilians, and that within the first few days 86 children were killed.
People (…)

Bowling Truths Michael Moore’s mocking.
n the field of mockumentary filmmaking, there are two giants. Rob Reiner created the genre with his film This is Spinal Tap. Michael Moore has taken the genre to an entirely different level, with Bowling for Columbine.
In 1984, This is Spinal Tap premiered as the world’s first self-described "mockumentary." The film purported to be a documentary of a heavy-metal band called "Spinal Tap." In fact, there was no such band. No group had ever hit (…)

IUF affiliate and Colombian Coca-Cola bottler sign agreement - union rights clauses maintained in full
IUF International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF)
Posted to the IUF website on 16-Apr-2004
http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi? db=default&uid=default&ID=1458&view_records=1&ww=1&en=1
IUF affiliate SICO and Coca-Cola Coke franchise bottler Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá reached an (…)

Facing a chronic shortage of foreign troops for peacekeeping missions, President Bush has decided to launch an international drive to boost the supply of available forces — a move that if successful could relieve some of the pressure on U.S. soldiers to join such operations, defense officials said.
A plan approved by Bush earlier this month calls for the United States to commit about $660 million over the next five years to train, equip and provide logistical support to forces in nations (…)

http://mondediplo.com/2004/04/13medias
Le Monde diplomatique April 2004
Corporate control over the media and governmental spin threaten democracy in the US. There is now growing opposition to media deregulation and a demand for radical reform: this has become a political issue.
by Eric Klinenberg _______________________________________________________
DO SOME media companies threaten global security? After 11 September 2001 the misreporting in the United States media of (…)