'01 Memo to Rice Warned of Qaeda and Offered Plan- The New York Times > Washington >

The New York Times > Washington > '01 Memo to Rice Warned of Qaeda and Offered Plan: "A strategy document outlining proposals for eliminating the threat from Al Qaeda, given to Condoleezza Rice as she assumed the post of national security adviser in January 2001, warned that the terror network had cells in the United States and 40 other countries and sought unconventional weapons, according to a declassified version of the document.

The 13-page proposal presented to Dr. Rice by her top counterterrorism adviser, Richard A. Clarke, laid out ways to step up the fight against Al Qaeda, focusing on Osama bin Laden's headquarters in Afghanistan. The ideas included giving 'massive support' to anti-Taliban groups 'to keep Islamic extremist fighters tied down'; destroying terrorist training camps 'while classes are in session' and then sending in teams to gather intelligence on terrorist cells; deploying armed drone aircraft against known terrorists; more aggressively tracking Qaeda money; and accelerating the F.B.I.'s translation and analysis of material from surveillance of terrorism suspects in American cities.

Mr. Clarke was seeking a high-level meeting to decide on a plan of action. Dr. Rice and other administration officials have said that Mr. Clarke's ideas did not constitute an adequate plan, but they took them into consideration as they worked toward a more effective strategy against the terrorist threat.

The proposal and an accompanying three-page memorandum given to Dr. Rice by Mr. Clarke on Jan. 25, 2001, were discussed and quoted in brief by the independent commission studying the Sept. 11 attacks and in news reports and books last year. They were obtained by the private National Security Archive, which published the full versions, with minor deletions at the request of the Central Intelligence Agency, on its Web site late Thursday."

Consumer Adverse Bankruptcy Law Favored by Bush Administration (washingtonpost.com)

Tighter Bankruptcy Law Favored (washingtonpost.com):

"Republican leaders in Congress began clearing the way yesterday for swift passage of legislation backed by the credit card industry and opposed by consumer groups that would make it harder for consumers to wipe out debt through bankruptcy.

Congress has tried repeatedly in recent years to pass similar legislation in what would be the most significant change in bankruptcy law in more than a quarter of a century. Twice in the last seven years, bankruptcy bills have passed both the House and Senate, only to face ultimate defeat. In one case, President Bill Clinton refused to sign the legislation, saying it was unfair to consumers."

RICE CAUGHT IN LIE? - News.com.au | (11-02-2005)

News.com.au | Rice 'urged to meet on al-Qaeda' (11-02-2005):

"EIGHT months before the September 11, 2001, attacks, the White House's then counterterrorism adviser urged then national security adviser Condoleezza Rice to hold a high-level meeting on the al-Qaeda network, according to a memo made public today.

'We urgently need such a principals-level review on the al-Qaeda network,' then White House counterterrorism adviser Richard Clarke wrote in the January 25, 2001, memo.
...................................

However, Ms Rice wrote in a March 22, 2004, column in The Washington Post that 'No al-Qaeda threat was turned over to the new administration'."

The FAA warned the airports in early 2001 that if 'the intent of the hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners -Yahoo! News

Yahoo! News - US aviation authorities received pre-9/11 warning on al-Qaeda plans: report:

"So many reports on Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) or his al-Qaeda terrorist network were received by the FAA in the months before 9/11, that it conducted classified briefings for security officials in 19 of the busiest airports in the United States.

The report said the 52 intelligence reports sent to the FAA in the months leading up to the September 11 attacks, comprised half of all the intelligence summaries it received.

The FAA warned the airports in early 2001 that if 'the intent of the hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners, but to commit suicide in a spectacular explosion, a domestic hijacking would probably be preferable.'"

January 25, 2001 Memo Warned Bush of Al Qaeda Threat - Yahoo! News -

Yahoo! News - January 2001 Memo Warned Bush of Al Qaeda Threat:

"A newly released memo warned the White House at the start of the Bush administration that al Qaeda represented a threat throughout the Islamic world, a warning that critics said went unheeded by President Bush (news - web sites) until the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." MORE...

Fake White House reporters actual questions

MSNBC Transcripts

'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for Feb. 9

Read the transcript to the 8 p.m. ET show

The White House thought it had a tiny scandal on its hand, a storm in a teapot over the granting of credentials to a writer from an unknown news organization operated by a Texas Republican politician, pseudo reporter, who asked questions of the president and press secretary so softball in nature, that they embarrassed even arch-conservatives. Turns out that was the good news.
..............................................

Further editor and publisher also today states that Gannon‘s name turned up on a list of reporters who federal prosecutors wanted to question in the leaking of the identity of the covert operative Valley Plame, the wife of former ambassador Joe Wilson.
...........................................

First you heard his questions described as softballs and sounding like plants. Better we let you judge for yourself with videotape of some of the actual questions at the actual White House news conferences, from Jeff Gannon, formerly of Talon News and formerly Jeff Gannon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Go ahead, Jeff.

JEFF GANNON, TALON NEWS: In your denunciations of the Abu Ghraib photographs, you‘ve used words like sickening disgusting and reprehensible. Will have any adjective left to adequately describe the pictures from Saddam Hussein‘s rape rooms and torture chambers? And will Americans ever see those images?

MCCLELLAN: I‘m glad you brought that up, Jeff, because...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCLELLAN: Go ahead, Jeff.

GANNON: Doesn‘t Joe Wilson owe the president and America an apology for his deception and own intelligence failure?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCLELLAN: Go ahead, Jeff.

GANNON: Why hasn‘t the administration made more of the U.N. inspectors‘ report that says Saddam Hussein was dismantling his missile and WMD sites before and during the war?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCLELLAN: Go ahead, Jeff.

GANNON: I would like to comment on the angry mob that sounded Karl Rove‘s house on Sunday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCLELLAN: Jeff, go ahead.

GANNON: Thank you. With all the reaching out that‘s going on around here, the president said Thursday in his press conference that he was reaching out to the Press Corps. What did he mean by that and why would he will feel the need to reach out to a group of supposedly nonpartisan people?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GANNON: The Welfare Reform Act comes up this year for renewal, does the president supporting effort to insert meaningful work requirements in the bill where today there is none?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCLELLAN: Go ahead, Jeff.

GANNON: Since there‘s been so many questions about what the president was doing over 30-years-ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the national guard? Did he make speeches along side Jane Fonda did denouncing America‘s racist war in Vietnam? Did he testify before Congress that American troops committed war crimes in Vietnam? And did he throw somebody else‘s medals at the White House to protest a war that American was still fighting? What was he doing after his...

MCCLELLAN: I heard what you‘re saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, sir.

GANNON: Thank you. Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the U.S. economy, Harry Reid was talking about soup lines and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say Social Security is rock solid and there‘s no crisis. How are you going to working with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORE...

Declassified Report: FAA Had 52 Pre-9/11 Warnings - Yahoo! News -

Yahoo! News - Report: FAA Had 52 Pre-9/11 Warnings:

The Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) received repeated warnings in the months prior to Sept. 11, 2001, about al-Qaida and its desire to attack airlines, according to a previously undisclosed report by the commission that investigated the terror attacks.

AP Photo

A previously undisclosed report by the 9/11 commission that investigated the suicide airliner attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (news - web sites) detailed 52 such warnings given to FAA (news - web sites) leaders from April to Sept. 10, 2001, about the radical Islamic terrorist group and its leader, Osama bin Laden (news - web sites).

The commission report, written last August, said five security warnings mentioned al-Qaida's training for hijackings and two reports concerned suicide operations not connected to aviation. However, none of the warnings pinpointed what would happen on Sept. 11. (MORE...)

Bush press pal quits over gay prostitution link - New York Daily News -

New York Daily News - Daily Dish & Gossip - Bush press pal quits over gay prostie link:

BY HELEN KENNEDY DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Jim Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon, on the web WASHINGTON - A conservative ringer who was given a press pass to the White House and lobbed softball questions at President Bush quit yesterday after left-leaning Internet bloggers discovered possible ties to gay prostitution. "The voice goes silent," Jeff Gannon wrote on his Web site. "In consideration of the welfare of me and my family, I have decided to return to private life." Gannon began covering the White House two years ago for an obscure Republican Web site (Talon-News.com). He was known for his friendly questions, including asking Bush at last month's news conference how he could work with Democrats "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality." Gannon was also given a classified CIA memo that named agent Valerie Plame, leading to his grilling by the grand jury investigating her outing. He came under lefty scrutiny after revelations that the administration was paying conservative pundits to talk up Bush's proposals. By examining Internet records, online sleuths at DailyKos.com figured out that his real name was Jim Guckert and he owned various Web sites, including HotMilitaryStud.com, MilitaryEscorts.com and MilitaryEscortsM4M.com. MORE...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/08/national/main672297.shtml

NEW YORK, Feb. 8, 2005

(Photo: AP / CBS) "You can have all of the yellow ribbons on cars that say 'Support Our Troops' that you want, but it's when they take off the uniform and transition back to civilian life that they need support the most." Linda Boone

(Christian Science Monitor) This story was written by Alexandra Marks

---

Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are now showing up in the nation's homeless shelters.

While the numbers are still small, they're steadily rising, and raising alarms in both the homeless and veterans' communities. The concern is that these returning veterans - some of whom can't find jobs after leaving the military, others of whom are still struggling psychologically with the war - may be just the beginning of an influx of new veterans in need. Currently, there are 150,000 troops in Iraq and 16,000 in Afghanistan. More than 130,000 have already served and returned home.

So far, dozens of them, like Herold Noel, a married father of three, have found themselves sleeping on the streets, on friends' couches, or in their cars within weeks of returning home. Two years ago, Black Veterans for Social Justice (BVSJ) in the borough of Brooklyn, saw only a handful of recent returnees. Now the group is aiding more than 100 Iraq veterans, 30 of whom are homeless. MORE...



..........................................

....while an estimated 500,000 veterans were homeless at some time during 2004, the VA had the resources to tend to only 100,000 of them.

Iraqis commandeer women's shelter co-founded by Nashville attorney - Wednesday, 02/09/05

Iraqis commandeer women's shelter co-founded by Nashville attorney - Wednesday, 02/09/05:

"A safe house in Baghdad for abused and threatened women — a refuge that a Nashville Army Reserve major helped establish — has fallen.

But rebels didn't take it. Instead, with no advance warning, the interim Iraqi president ordered the eviction of the women and staff, according to a U.S. Embassy daily report.

''One of President Ghazi al-Yawer's staff, accompanied by eight armed guards, evicted the occupants … with only 30 minutes' notice,'' said the Feb. 1 memo.
...................................

''The President's office also questioned why there was a women's refuge inside the Green Zone and complained that it could become a center for a 'homeless mafia.' ''"

Pentagon to broadcast to millions of U.S. homes

Pentagon to broadcast to millions of U.S. homes:

"The U.S. military is to beam its own news coverage to millions of Americans.

Moving on from its phase of embedding journalists, or as some would say, 'a policy of restricting and contolling the flow of information,' the Pentagon will now produce and disseminate the news itself. It will be beamed to the public at no charge. The service will emanate from what is known as the Pentagon Channel, an internal public relations television unit within the Department of Defense. It was set up nine months ago.

The government-run TV service will be channeled to the public through EchoStar Communication's Dish Network which will offer the Pentagon Channel to its more than 11 million viewers on a no-cost basis. Programming will appear on the network's public interest channels and will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

WHouse Balks at Submitting Social Security Plan-Politics News Article | Reuters.com

Politics News Article | Reuters.com:

"The White House has told lawmakers it has no immediate plans to submit its own detailed proposal to Congress for overhauling Social Security, sources briefed by the administration said on Tuesday."

FALLUJAH UPDATE - Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP - Middle East

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: AP - Middle East:

"Iraqis line up in straggling columns, waiting to pass through barbed-wire checkpoints that ring this former insurgent stronghold left battered by intense fighting three months ago. Men stand in one, women and children in another. The few cars form a third.

They are returning to a virtually empty city where the 1st Marine Division's rumbling tanks and patrolling riflemen are out in force making sure the guerrillas don't come back.

American officers say only about a tenth of the 250,000 residents have returned since fleeing the weeklong battle in November that drove out insurgents who had controlled the predominantly Sunni Muslim city.
....................................

Marines handed out military rations for weeks after the battle to help the few families in the city get by, but that stopped after the Jan. 30 national election. 'They have to get back on their own feet,' said 1st Lt. Sven Jensen, leading a patrol from the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines."

A Scripted Follow-Up For Rice (washingtonpost.com)

A Scripted Follow-Up For Rice (washingtonpost.com):

"It had all the trappings of a modern-day Daniel in the Lion's Den: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice venturing bravely into the heart of French intellectual opposition to America, the Institute of Political Sciences, an elite school in the heart of Paris's trendy Left Bank.

But if the roar from the audience was mostly polite and restrained, that was partly because only a handful of the school's 5,500 students were allowed near the auditorium where Rice spoke, and the initial questions were vetted in advance by the school and the State Department."

Blueprint Calls for Bigger, More Powerful Government (washingtonpost.com)

Blueprint Calls for Bigger, More Powerful Government (washingtonpost.com):

"President Bush's second-term agenda would expand not only the size of the federal government but also its influence over the lives of millions of Americans by imposing new national restrictions on high schools, court cases and marriages.

In a clear break from Republican campaigns of the 1990s to downsize government and devolve power to the states, Bush is fostering what amounts to an era of new federalism in which the national government shapes, not shrinks, programs and institutions to comport with various conservative ideals, according to Republicans inside and outside the White House."

Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley Likens Bush's Proposed Cuts to Sept. 11 Attacks (washingtonpost.com)

O'Malley Likens Bush's Proposed Cuts to Sept. 11 Attacks (washingtonpost.com):

"'These cuts, ladies and gentlemen, are sad. Irresponsible. They are also dishonest,' O'Malley (D) told a packed news conference at the National Press Club, where mayors and area officials had gathered to decry Bush's plan to slash spending on community development programs by $2 billion.

'Back on September 11, terrorists attacked our metropolitan cores, two of America's great cities. They did that because they knew that was where they could do the most damage and weaken us the most,' O'Malley said. 'Years later, we are given a budget proposal by our commander in chief, the president of the United States. And with a budget ax, he is attacking America's cities. He is attacking our metropolitan core.'"

Bush's budget cuts would fall near Main Street | csmonitor.com

Bush's budget cuts would fall near Main Street | csmonitor.com:

"Chief Joseph Estey in Hartford, Vt., won't be replacing the 15-year-old guns worn by his officers or buying new digital cameras for his police cruisers.

In New York, the Head Start program on the Upper West Side may have to start laying off staff members and eliminate the program for children with special needs.

In Seattle, the fire department, already constrained by a tight city budget, won't be getting federal funding to put more firefighters on each truck as it had hoped." MORE...

C4 lines up Guantánamo-style torture show- Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian |

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | C4 lines up Guantánamo-style torture show:

"Channel 4 is to broadcast what it is styling a Guantánamo Bay-style reality show that will examine the effects of mild torture on seven male volunteers.

The Guantánamo Guidebook will recreate some of the practices used at the US naval base where hundreds of so-called 'enemy combatants' have been held without trial or access to lawyers for nearly three years.

Using an east London warehouse and declassified internal documents obtained from US sources, programme-makers mocked up conditions as they are inside Guantánamo, before subjecting seven volunteers to some of the milder forms of torture alleged to have been used by US authorities.
.................

As at Guantánamo and more vividly in Abu Ghraib, the volunteers were also subject to periods of enforced nudity and religious and sexual humiliation.
...............................

Presented by Jon Snow, Channel 4 says the programme is designed to examine the widespread use of torture and whether it can ever be justified in what the US and UK governments have called the wider war 'against terror.'
.....................................

The final film looks at the use of torture within the US penitentiary system itself to discover that abuses against US citizens are often worse that those meted out to foreigners."

Cable Companies Provide Porn While Funding 'Moral' Politicians - ABC News:

ABC News: Cable Companies Provide Porn While Funding Politicians:

"Viewers can watch such sexually explicit movies in the Hilton and Marriott hotel chains on video services like LodgeNet or on 'On Command,' which is owned by Liberty Media, formerly a part of AT&T; at home via DirecTV, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp; or via virtually every cable company, including Cox, Time Warner and Comcast.
..........................

While the corporations generate millions in profits from providing adult content, their political contributions are often given to those elected, in no small part, because of their stance on 'moral values.'"

Lab monkeys 'scream with fear' in tests - Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian |

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Lab monkeys 'scream with fear' in tests:

"Secret documents describing how some monkeys can scream in misery, fear and anger during experiments were produced in the high court yesterday as evidence that the laws intended to protect laboratory animals are being flouted."

Bush Cuts Environmental Protection - Science News Article | Reuters.com

Science News Article | Reuters.com:

"The Bush administration on Monday proposed cutting the Environmental Protection Agency budget by nearly 6 percent to $7.57 billion in fiscal 2006 by targeting a program that helps cities replace aging sewage systems."

Kuwaiti prisoners accuse U.S. soldiers of abuse - KRT Wire | 02/07/2005 |

KRT Wire | 02/07/2005 | Kuwaiti prisoners accuse U.S. soldiers of abuse:

"Six Kuwaiti prisoners said they were severely beaten, given electric shocks and sodomized by U.S. forces in Afghanistan before they confessed to fighting with the Taliban and were sent to the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, their lawyer said Monday."

Military Mud Wrestling at Iraq Prison

US girls' muddy shame

Getting dirty ... 'wrestlers' grapple in the mud

FULL NEWS INDEX From BRIAN FLYNN in New York AMERICAN girl soldiers have been shamed in a mud-wrestling scandal. Photographs taken by colleagues showed them grappling and exposing their boobs at a party in an Iraqi PRISON. Some of the 30 pictures reveal male soldiers cheering on two women in bras and panties in a mud-filled paddling pool. In others, military policewomen bared their breasts or flashed thongs for male comrades with cameras. Investigators probing a breakdown of discipline at the US Army’s Camp Bucca jail were told sergeants also lent their rooms to squaddies for sex. Threesome ... two take on one Ironically, the soldiers had been assigned to guard Iraqi inmates being transferred there from scandal-hit Abu Ghraib jail. Blonde prison guard Specialist Deanna Allen, 19, was demoted to private after being pictured grinning as she flashed her boobs. Most of the soldiers pictured in the audience wear T-shirts emblazoned with Army logos, but at least one appears on snaps in full uniform. The party last October was organised by sergeants of the 160th Military Police Battalion reserve unit to celebrate the end of their tour of duty. Sgt Amil Ganim — seen in some pictures refereeing the mud-wrestling — said: “It let people blow off steam before coming home after a year in a combat zone.” Cheering ... soldiers in Army T-shirts egg on wrestlers Another participant told investigators two sergeants had let Army pals use their rooms for sex — a serious breach of military rules. The photo of Deanna bearing her breasts was allegedly taken in one of those rooms, an investigator reported. A female witness said the two sergeants “had been drinking and were noticeably drunk”. US Army spokesman Lt Col Barry Johnson said it was not known if booze fuelled the party, but added: “Alcohol is banned.”

Bangkok Post - Single party rule

Bangkok Post Monday 07 February 2005 - Single party rule:

"Thai Rak Thai has made history by grabbing the lion's share of MP seats in a high-riding poll victory to lead a single-party government while critics also labelled yesterday's general election one of the dirtiest the country has ever seen."

Bush's Deficit Plan Is All in the Math

Bush's Deficit Plan Is All in the Math:

"In his State of the Union address Wednesday, Bush said his fiscal 2006 budget, which he will unveil today, 'stays on track to cut the deficit in half by 2009.'
..........................

'It doesn't quite compute,' said Isabel V. Sawhill, director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution think tank, who foresees a shortfall slightly larger in 2009 than now.

It is the 2004 deficit that Bush is promising to cut in half, but he's not starting with the actual 2004 deficit of $412 billion.
......................................

If Bush were to start with the actual 2004 figure, his goal would be a deficit of $206 billion — $54.5 billion more.

There are more twists. Bush proposes to cut the deficit in half not in dollars but as a share of the economy.
...................................

Finally, the budget that the president will send to Congress will, like his past budgets, omit some major deficit-raising items.
........................................

Most of the cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars will not be included in the budget. Instead, it will be sent to Congress as a supplemental budget request for 2006, just as the administration recently announced an $80-billion supplemental request for the current fiscal year.

Nor will the cost of introducing private investment accounts to Social Security — $754 billion over the first 10 years alone — be found in the budget, according to administration officials.

That cost will be borrowed, Cheney said... . He acknowledged that it would also be necessary to borrow 'trillions more' after the first decade... .....................

Bush's tax cuts, whatever their economic merit, have taken their toll on government income. Tax revenue fell in each of Bush's first three years in office, though this year it is projected to rise to a record level.

But as a share of the nation's economic output, tax payments to the government fell to 16.3% last year, the lowest level since 1959."

UN reports Afghan Abuse - Tribune de Genève en ligne - www.tdg.ch - Tdg News

Tribune de Genève en ligne - www.tdg.ch - Tdg News:

"A United Nations rights investigator examining the situation in Afghanistan said Saturday that foreign troops had mistreated and possibly tortured people in the war-torn country.

'There is a very unusual practice in Afghanistan, mainly foreign forces, who have taken upon themselves the right, without any legal process of arresting people, detaining them, mistreating them and possibly even torturing them,' said Cherif Bassiouni, the UN-appointed Independent Expert on Human Rights in Afghanistan.
................................................

The US Army acknowleged in Decemeber that eight prisoners have died in US military custody in Afghanistan since US-led forces toppled the Taliban regime, two more than were previously disclosed."

British man makes new Guantanamo abuse claim. 07/02/2005. ABC News Online

British man makes new Guantanamo abuse claim. 07/02/2005. ABC News Online:

"New allegations of prisoner abuse at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay have been made by one of four British men, released from there last month.
.................................

He says ill-treatment was routine, and one guard used a mop to cover him with his own urine."

Bush Budget Raises Prescription Prices for Many Veterans - The New York Times > Washington >

The New York Times > Washington > Bush Budget Raises Prescription Prices for Many Veterans:

"President Bush's budget would more than double the co-payment charged to many veterans for prescription drugs and would require some to pay a new fee of $250 a year for the privilege of using government health care, administration officials said Sunday.
........................

Veterans groups attacked the proposals. Richard B. Fuller, legislative director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America, said: 'The proposed increase in health spending is not sufficient at a time when the number of patients is increasing and there has been a huge increase in health care costs. It will not cover the need. The enrollment fee is a health care tax, designed to raise revenue and to discourage people from enrolling.'

Mr. Fuller added that the budget would force veterans hospitals and clinics to limit services. 'We are already seeing an increase in waiting lists, even for some Iraq veterans,' he said.

In Michigan, for example, thousands of veterans are on waiting lists for medical services, and some reservists returning from Iraq say they have been unable to obtain the care they were promised. A veterans clinic in Pontiac, Mich., put a limit on new enrollment. Cutbacks at a veterans hospital in Altoona, Pa., are forcing some veterans to seek treatment elsewhere.

Cheney: Social Security Plan to Cost Trillions (washingtonpost.com)

Cheney: Social Security Plan to Cost Trillions (washingtonpost.com):

"Vice President Cheney acknowledged yesterday that the federal government would need to borrow trillions of dollars over the next few decades to cover the cost of the personal retirement accounts at the heart of President Bush's plan to restructure Social Security."

Leading Shiite cleric says new Iraq must embrace Islamic law - USATODAY.com -

USATODAY.com - Leading Shiite cleric says new Iraq must embrace Islamic law:

"A high-ranking Shiite cleric who helped a coalition of religious parties to apparent victory in Iraq's elections eight days ago said Sunday that the new constitution must embody Islamic law.

'We will accept no compromise,' said a statement by Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Ishaq al-Fayad, one of the three top Shiite clerics who serve beneath the most senior religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Al-Fayad said separation of religion and state must be 'completely rejected.'" MORE...

Repression in the New Iraq - Sharia Law Making Headway - NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/international/middleeast/06shiites.html

With religious Shiite parties poised to take power in the new constitutional assembly, leading Shiite clerics are pushing for Islam to be recognized as the guiding principle of the new constitution.
...............................

	Advertisement

At the very least, the clerics say, ... matters like marriage, divorce and family inheritance fall under Shariah, or Koranic law.
...................

the clerics also say the Shiite politicians ultimately answer to them, and that the top religious leaders, collectively known as the marjaiya, will shape the constitution through the politicians.

.................

Women are harassed if they walk the streets in anything less than head-to-toe black. Conservative judges are invoking Shariah in some courts. MORE...

US drops charge against Abu Ghraib accused, Sabrina Harman. 06/02/2005. ABC News Online

US drops charge against Abu Ghraib accused. 06/02/2005. ABC News Online:

" US Government has dropped the main charge against a female soldier who posed in front of a pyramid of naked Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison.

The charge against Sabrina Harman, over viewing and failing to prevent other soldiers from forcing detainees to masturbate, was dropped without discussion.
.......................

Attorneys for Harman argued that charges related to the photographs of hooded detainees should be dismissed, because victims must be aware of abuse in order to be abused.

'There is no mental suffering by the mere act of photographing,' Capt Takemura said.

Harman is seen in one notorious photograph... giving a 'thumbs up' sign behind a pile of naked Iraqis.

In another photo from a separate incident, she flashes a broad smile in front of a dead Iraqi.
...........................

Harman's lawyers have argued that there was a breakdown of leadership, and she and others became scapegoats for the failures of a system that reached the highest levels of the military bureaucracy and the Bush administration."

Bush admits his plan doesn't fix Social Security - MSNBC -

MSNBC - Bush admits his plan doesn't fix Social Security:

"“I fully recognize that the personal retirement account is not the only thing needed to solve Social Security permanently,” Bush said."

Guantanamo 'leaves mental scars' - BBC NEWS | Americas |

BBC NEWS | Americas | Guantanamo 'leaves mental scars':

"Detainees in US custody at Guantanamo Bay risk developing 'irreversible psychiatric symptoms', UN human rights investigators have warned.
.........................

As a result, the investigators said, the US government risked doing more harm than good in the fight against global terror by failing to uphold basic legal rights.

Many of the 540 or so inmates at Guantanamo have been held without charge and access to lawyers since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan."

3 Guantanamo Detainees Ordered Released - Yahoo! News -

Yahoo! News - 3 Guantanamo Detainees Ordered Released:

"The military refused to say how long the men had been held at the camp, what allegations the men faced or why the government ordered them held or released.

The decisions came as U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green ruled that the review tribunals were unconstitutional because detainees were not allowed lawyers and were not allowed to hear classified information against them. She then halted legal proceedings pending a government appeal because her order conflicted with another federal judge's in a separate case."

Largest Bond Fund Manager says Bush Social Security Plan won't work - Bloomberg.com: U.S.

Bloomberg.com: U.S.:

"Bill Gross, who manages the world's largest bond fund, said President George W. Bush's proposals for cutting a shortfall in the Social Security trust fund won't work.
......................

Gross, chief investment officer at Pacific Investment Management Co. in Newport beach, California, suggested instead that the U.S. cut its budget deficit.

``There's your problem, and neither privatization nor any goodly number of government bonds deposited in the Social Security trust fund can solve it,'' Gross wrote in a report published on the firm's Web site yesterday. ``The value of Treasury bonds and even stocks will be valued down in price as they are sold to pay for future goods and services.''" MORE...

CIA admits no chemical weapons in Iraq since 1991 - www.smh.com.au

Newsflash: CIA admits no chemical weapons in Iraq - After Saddam - www.smh.com.au:

"In a formal acknowledgment of the obvious, the CIA has issued a classified report revising its prewar assessments on Iraq and concluding that Baghdad abandoned its chemical weapons programs in 1991, intelligence officials say.

The report marks the first time the CIA has officially disavowed its prewar judgments, and is one in a 'series' of updated assessments the agency is producing as part of a belated effort to correct its record on Iraq's alleged weapons programs, officials said.

For an agency that prides itself on providing the latest intelligence to policymakers, even the title of the new report reads like a year-old headline: Iraq: No Large-Scale Chemical Warfare Efforts Since Early 1990s."

CIA urged to release Nazi records- BBC NEWS | World | Americas |

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | CIA urged to release Nazi records:

"Released documents show links between US intelligence and Nazi war criminals.

The CIA has contributed 1.25 million pages of documents, of more than eight million, released under the 1998 law.

One former Nazi known to have been employed by Western intelligence was Klaus Barbie, the infamous 'Butcher of Lyon'. He was eventually convicted of crimes against humanity by a French court." MORE...

gr EXCLUSIVE - CNN reports on Bush/DoD Propaganda

As seen on CNN Daybreak, 6:35 AM: 2/4/05 - Reporter Barbara Starr

UPDATE - Link Posted - http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/02/04/web.us/index.html

Interested in finding out the latest political developments in North

Africa? Log onto this website Looking for the latest on the Balkans?...

log on to South East Times



But who owns and runs these? News

organizations? The disclaimer, when you find it ..."sponsored by the US Department

of Defense"



The web is now the Pentagon's latest weapon.. .news sites

run by US military troops trained in "information warfare", a specialty

that CAN include deception.



The Pentagon says the sites only carry only

'truthful' news from organizations including the Associated Press and

CNN. "Our principals are truth and transparency" Journalism experts see

it another way. "The government is decieving people, they may

technically suggest that they are not because that disclaimer is there , but you

need to be looking for that disclaimer " A military official tells CNN

these "target only specific foreign audiences" with objectives

including "countering disinformation" Several military officers told CNN that

using the media to build influence shouldn't be their job...its better

left to the State Department. Military personnel ALSO are worried THEY

may be violating President Bush's directive "All our Cabinet Secretaries

must realize that we will not by paying commentators to advance our

agenda. Our agenda ought to be able to stand on its own two feet." Deputy

Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz had ordered hiring only journalists

and contributors who 'will not reflect discredit on the US" Over 50

writers have been hired to write articles matching the military agenda.

Initially the Pentagon told CNN there was no problem with it . Now

spokesman DiRita has asked the Inspector General for an audit of all Pentagon

hiring of reporters to make sure. I have asked that in the department

that we review, with that specific issue in mind, to make sure that we

are staying well within the lines." Still the question of using the

military.. Anytime that the government has to assure you, believe me, take

my word for it, I'm telling you nothing but the truth, um you know you

should be worried But these sites can be viewed not just abroad, but

also in the US, and the military is prohibited from conducting influence

operations in this country.. raising the concern among many here, that

the sites could be inappropriate..  (END)



See Disclaimer pages here - 

http://www.balkantimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/document/setimes/footer/disclaimer/disclaimer

(QUOTE - The Southeast European Times is a Web site sponsored by the US Department of Defence in support of UN Resolution 1244. It is designed to provide an international audience with a portal to a broad range of information about Southeastern Europe.)

And an Arab "news" site -

http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/document/awi/footer/disclaimer/disclaimer

(QUOTE- Magharebia is a Web site sponsored by the US Department of Defence. It is designed to provide an international audience with a portal to a broad range of information about the Maghreb region.)

New evidence: Enron was scamming years before energy crunch - Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: New evidence: Enron was scamming years before energy crunch:

"Disgraced energy giant Enron Corp. was running scams to drive up the cost of power years before the West Coast energy crunch, according to audio transcripts and documents unveiled Thursday by a small public utility district north of Seattle.
..................

References to 'Project Stanley' were discovered on former Enron Chief Executive Jeffrey Skilling's calendar on at least two dates, and recorded phone conversations between project leader John Lavorato and Portland, Ore.-based Enron trader Tim Belden show they knew it was illegal. Belden has since pleaded guilty to charges of involvement in fraudulent trading schemes.

Lavorato: 'I'm just, ah, (expletive), I'm just trying to be an honest camper so I only go to jail once.'

Belden: 'Well, there you go. At least in only one country (laughs).'

Lavorato: 'Yeah, (expletive), this isn't a joke. ... Nobody else seems to be concerned anymore.'"

MSNBC - Rumsfeld tried to resign during prison scandal

MSNBC - Rumsfeld tried to resign during prison scandal:

"Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld twice submitted his resignation last year during the scandal over the U.S. abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Iraq, but President Bush declined both times, he said in an interview airing Thursday."

Tapes: Enron plotted to shut down power plant - Feb 3, 2005 - CNN.com -

CNN.com - Tapes: Enron plotted to shut down power plant - Feb 3, 2005:

"A Washington state utility released audiotapes Thursday that it said revealed bankrupt energy trader Enron Corp. plotted to take a power plant off-line in 2001 to jack up electric prices in Western states.

That same day, shortages of power forced rolling blackouts in northern California that affected about 2 million customers.

Snohomish Public Utility District in Everett, Washington, released the tapes as part of its effort to void a $122 million lawsuit Enron has filed against it seeking payment for electricity it was contracted to provide."

Republicans Question Social Security Plan- Yahoo! News -

Yahoo! News - Republicans Question Social Security Plan:

"Congressional Republicans are expressing doubt that President Bush (news - web sites)'s plan for personal accounts in Social Security (news - web sites) can win approval, saying lawmakers fear the political consequences of voting major change to the popular retirement program."

another reporter delivers Bush message verbatim - Boston Globe

Boston.com / News / Nation / Washington / White House-friendly reporter under scrutiny:

"The Bush administration has provided White House media credentials to a man who has virtually no journalistic background, asks softball questions to the president and his spokesman in the midst of contentious news conferences, and routinely reprints long passages verbatim from official press releases as original news articles on his website.

Jeff Gannon calls himself the White House correspondent for TalonNews.com, a website that says it is 'committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news coverage to our readers.' It is operated by a Texas-based Republican Party delegate and political activist who also runs GOPUSA.com, a website that touts itself as 'bringing the conservative message to America.'

Called on last week by President Bush at a press conference, Gannon attacked Democratic Senate leaders and called them 'divorced from reality.' During the presidential campaign, when called on by Press Secretary Scott McClellan, Gannon linked Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, to Jane Fonda and questioned why anyone would dispute Bush's National Guard service."

Forbes.com:

Forbes.com::

"Women who take antidepressants like Paxil or Prozac while pregnant may have babies who experience withdrawal syndrome in the first few days of life, a new study finds."

Halliburton - Iran Operations

Halliburton to End Iran Operations: "Halliburton said in July that it had received a subpoena seeking information about operations in Iran of its Cayman Islands subsidiary, Halliburton Products & Services Ltd.

The company has argued that using a Cayman Islands subsidiary exempts it from a U.S.-imposed trade embargo against Iran, which is accused of seeking nuclear arms and funding terrorist networks.

Halliburton provided no details on when its current contracts in Iran would be completed or on the value of the work. The company generated about $80 million in revenue in Iran in 2003."

For Moderates, A Chance for Subtle Protest (washingtonpost.com)

For Moderates, A Chance for Subtle Protest (washingtonpost.com):

"Pity the Republican moderates who sat in the chamber last night for President Bush's State of the Union address.

On issue after issue -- Social Security, same-sex marriage, energy, taxes and lawsuit restrictions -- Bush's rhetoric split the House chamber between the throaty roars of Republican conservatives and the stony silence and occasionally outright heckling of the Democrats. That left the small number of GOP moderates sprinkled among the Republicans with a difficult choice: Would they swallow their concerns and cheer for ideas they considered objectionable? Or would they sit on their hands when their president proposed policies they oppose?

In a clear warning to Bush, several of the moderates took the latter course last night, with subtle but unmistakable protests as the president spoke.

When Bush told the crowd that personal Social Security accounts are the best way to improve the retirement system, most Republican lawmakers leapt to their feet. But a small band of moderates -- including Sens. Olympia J. Snowe (Maine), Susan Collins (Maine), George V. Voinovich (Ohio) and Mike DeWine (Ohio) -- were slow to join the applause. As others felt the pressure to come to their feet, Snowe, who has said she would 'certainly not' support Bush's proposal, remained seated without applauding. She smiled uncomfortably and re-crossed her legs."

Bush's Social Security Plan Would Reduce Government Guarantee for Younger Americans - from TBO.com

Bush's Social Security Plan Would Reduce Government Guarantee for Younger Americans - from TBO.com:

"Near-retirees 55 and older would receive Social Security benefits without any changes under President Bush's proposal for personal accounts, but the government guarantee would fall for younger workers, congressional Republican officials said Wednesday.

These officials said that under Bush's blueprint, the reduction in the federal benefit for Americans younger than 55 would be larger for those who establish personal accounts than for people who do not, on the assumption that investment income would more than make up the difference."

Air America Bounces Back with Bush Win - YAHOO!

Yahoo! News - Franken's Air America Bounces Back with Bush Win:

"'Obviously, it's more fun to go after Bush's terrible ideas and programs than to defend Kerry's not-quite-exactly-what-we -want plans,' said Franken, 53, whose New York-based show and the rest of Air America's lineup will begin airing on KTLK-AM in Los Angeles on Thursday, the day after Bush's State of the Union address.

By the end of the month, the network that began in just six cities on March 31, 2004, then nearly collapsed weeks later amid financial woes, will have spread to 50 stations nationwide, including outlets in 15 of the top 20 markets, among them New York, Washington, D.C., Miami, Boston, Atlanta and Philadelphia." MORE...

CIA Must Turn Over Detainee Records - Judge

Yahoo! News - CIA Must Turn Over Detainee Records - Judge:

"The groups filed suit in June seeking records documenting torture and abuse they said occurred after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

In the suit, they said that after filing the first FOIA request in 2003, numerous news stories and photographs have documented mistreatment of prisoners held in Iraq and Afghanistan (news - web sites).

When the groups received no documents, they filed a motion with the court in August seeking an order to force the government to comply with their requests. Hellerstein then ordered the government to start turning over papers." MORE...

Yahoo! News - Iraqi Sunni Clerics: Election Lacked Legitimacy

Yahoo! News - Iraqi Sunni Clerics: Election Lacked Legitimacy:

"Iraq's Muslim Clerics' Association railed against the country's first multi-party ballot in half a century.

'These elections lack legitimacy because a large segment of different sects, parties and currents ... boycotted,' the Sunni religious group said in a statement as the vote count proceeded."

Top military officials say forces strained - AP Wire | 02/02/2005 |

AP Wire | 02/02/2005 | Top military officials say forces strained:

"The Army is coming up short in its recruiting of National Guard forces, and staffing the next rotation of guardsmen and reservists to serve in Iraq will be difficult, top military officials told lawmakers Wednesday.

Gen. Richard A. Cody, the Army's vice chief of staff, said the Guard struggled to staff its second and third rotations for the Iraq war but still met the call for troops.

He told a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee that he was confident the Army again will be able to fully staff its next troop rotation, but he added, 'It will be painful.'" MORE...

CNN.com - Documents: U.S. condoned Iraq oil smuggling - Feb 2, 2005

CNN.com - Documents: U.S. condoned Iraq oil smuggling - Feb 2, 2005:

"Documents obtained by CNN reveal the United States knew about, and even condoned, embargo-breaking oil sales by Saddam Hussein's regime, and did so to shore up alliances with Iraq's neighbors.
.....................................

This illicit revenue far exceeds the estimates of what Saddam pocketed through illegal surcharges on his U.N.-approved oil exports and illegal kickbacks on subsequent Iraqi purchases of food, medicine, and supplies -- $1.7 billion to $4.4 billion -- during the maligned seven-year U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq.
.......................................

The Senate Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations estimated last November that the Iraqi regime earned $13.6 billion by smuggling oil during the sanctions period it defined as 1991-2003, or five years before oil-for-food started." MORE...

Marine General's Blunt Comments Draw Fire - NBCSandiego.com - News -

NBCSandiego.com - News - Marine General's Blunt Comments Draw Fire:

"At a panel discussion in San Diego Tuesday, a top Marine general tells an audience that, among other things, it is 'fun to shoot some people.'"

Abu Ghraib Guard Pleads Guilty in Abuse- AP Wire | 02/01/2005 |

AP Wire | 02/01/2005 | Abu Ghraib Guard Pleads Guilty in Abuse:

"Davis told the judge that he saw what he believed to be military and civilian intelligence personnel physically mistreating detainees and, among other things, using unmuzzled dogs to terrify prisoners prior to questioning."

Disgruntled Sunnis Could Thwart Iraq Constitution | Reuters.com

International News Article | Reuters.com:

"Under rules agreed last year, an October referendum to ratify that draft will fail if two-thirds of the voters in any three of Iraq's 18 provinces give it the thumbs-down."

Bush Administration's Legal Debate Over U.S. Policy On The Treatment of Enemy Combatants and Detainees, And Prisoner Of War Status : FIND LAW

FindLaw: Bush Administration's Legal Debate Over U.S. Policy On The Treatment of Enemy Combatants and Detainees, And Prisoner Of War Status:

"* Gonzales reconsiders, at the request of Secretary of State Colin Powell, Pres. Bush's decision “that al Qaeda and Taliban detainees are not prisoners of war under the [Geneva Convention].”

After detailing arguments for and against prisoner of war status, the White House Counsel concludes that “[o]n balance, I believe that the arguments for reconsideration and reversal are unpersuasive.”

Memo from Pres. George W. Bush (Feb. 2, 2002) [PDF]

* Subject: Human Treatment of al Qaeda and Taliban Detainees

Relying on the Justice Department’s Jan. 22, 2002 memorandum, and Attorney General John Ashcroft’s Feb. 1, 2002 legal opinion letter, Pres. Bush declines to apply the Geneva Conventions to al Qaeda and Taliban detainees." (MORE _ REFERENCE)

Assyrians (Christian) Protest Iraqi Election With Crucifixion, Fast in New York - Assyrian News

Assyrians Protest Iraqi Election With Crucifixion, Fast in New York:

There is no doubt that this system will fail to get all Iraqis involved and is a setup by the UN to create the islamic republic of Iraq.
........................

"They will crucify themselves on the cross and fast to protest the condition of the Assyrian people in Iraq, and the failure of the Iraqi election registration process. 'Our deep concern is that the failed election process engineered by the United Nations will give legitimacy to an illegitimate government. We have only one simple demand - give our people as they are guaranteed under the Iraqi Constitution the Assyrian Administrative Area in Northern Iraq. Do it now.' said Rev. Joseph."