19
Jul
2004

British army sanctioned hooding Iraqi prisoners

The routine hooding of Iraqi prisoners was sanctioned by British army commanders despite repeated warnings that the practice broke human rights laws...

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=542142


From Information Clearing House

Blair: the attacks mount up

David Kay, handpicked by the CIA to find Saddam Hussein's arsenal, said Mr Blair and President George Bush should have known that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction...

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=542412


From Information Clearing House

Iraq War Could Harm War On Terrorism

If Bush Has Plans For Another Preemptive War, He Should Forget It

The president's comment also stands as further evidence of the administration's dishonest -- and continuing -- propaganda program aimed at merging the war on terrorism with the war on Iraq...

http://www.thelouisvillechannel.com/helenthomas/3539227/detail.html


From Information Clearing House

Pressure mounts to do something about Iran

In language similar to the prewar resolution on Iraq, a recent House of Reprentatives resolution authorised the use of "all appropriate means" to deter, dissuade and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weaponry - words often used to approve pre-emptive military force...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6516.htm

We can't prove Iran-Sept 11 link

CIA: We have no evidence that there is some sort of official connection between Iran and 9/11," he said...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6515.htm

Japan will 3000 Zwergwale jährlich töten

Walschützer besorgt: Japan will 3000 Zwergwale jährlich töten

19.07.04

Seit Montag morgen tagt im italienischen Sorrent die Internationale Walfang Kommission (IWC). Walschützer befürchten, dass sich dort eine Mehrheit für die Wiederaufnahme des Wahlfangs ergeben könnte. Der WWF kritisierte, nur 14 der 25 EU-Staaten seien bisher der IWC beigetreten. Es fehlten Griechenland, Luxemburg und neun Beitrittsländer. Kürzlich war Ungarn beigetreten. Auf Seiten der Walfang-Befürworter sind Mauretanien, Tuvalu und Surinam hinzugekommen - mutmaßlich nicht unbeeinflusst durch Entwicklungshilfe-Gelder der Walfang-Nation Japan. Die Münchner Artenschutzorganisation Pro Wildlife forderte, auch Kleinwale und Delfine müssten geschützt werden. Sie seien nach den derzeitigen Abkommen "nahezu vogelfrei"...

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8936

Gewerkschaften warnen vor Verarmung vieler Familien durch Hartz IV

Keine Jobs, nur Armut: Gewerkschaften warnen vor Verarmung vieler Familien durch Hartz IV

19.07.04

Die beiden größten deutschen Gewerkschaften ver.di und IG Metall warnen angesichts der bevorstehenden Einführung des Arbeitslosengelds II eindringlich vor der Verarmung vieler Familien in Deutschland. "Hunderttausende, vor allem Frauen, werden mit dieser Reform gar keine sozialen Unterstützungsleistungen mehr bekommen und in die Armut abrutschen", sagte die Vizechefin der Dienstleistungsgewerkschaft ver.di, Margret Mönig-Raane, der "Berliner Zeitung". Ähnlich äußerte sich IG-Metall-Vorstandsmitglied Kirsten Rölke am Sonntag in Frankfurt am Main...

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8934

Plutonium viel gefährlicher als bisher angenommen

Krebsrisiko zehnmal höher: Plutonium viel gefährlicher als bisher angenommen

19.07.04

Plutonium dürfte sehr viel gefährlicher sein als bisher angenommen: Das aus einer Belastung innerhalb des Körpers resultierende Krebsrisiko könnte zehn Mal höher sein als von internationalen Richtlinien angenommen. Zu diesem Ergebnis kommt eine Studie des Committee Examining Radiation Risks from Internal Emitters (CERRIE) für für die britische Regierung. Die Wissenschaftler vertreten laut einhellig die Auffassung, dass die von Plutonium abgegebene niedrige Strahlendosis mehr Schaden anrichten kann als bisher angenommen...

Die ganze Nachricht im Internet:
http://www.ngo-online.de/ganze_nachricht.php4?Nr=8938

Green Goo: The New Nano-Threat

by Daithí Ó hAnluain

02:00 AM Jul. 19, 2004 PT

First it was "gray goo," the threat of self-replicating machines populating the planet. Now an environmental think tank is raising the specter of "green goo," where biology is used to create new materials and new artificial life forms.

In its report, published on July 8, the Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration, or ETC, said that the risks from green goo demand the most urgent foresight and caution. "With nanobiotech, researchers have the power to create completely new organisms that have never existed on Earth," said the ETC release accompanying its report.

t's a new one for some players. "I haven't heard of this concern anywhere else, I mean anywhere else," said Christine Peterson, president of the Foresight Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the potential benefits and anticipating potential risks of nanotechnology. "I think it's because people are already aware of the issues of biotech. I'm not sure there's an additional issue here."

But even without an apocalyptic vision, many are wary of the threats posed by nanotechnology -- the commercial side to the science of the small. Swiss Re, the world's second largest re-insurance firm -- an insurance company for insurance companies -- warned in a May report that the unknown risks of toxicity or pollution associated with nanoparticles are unacceptable...

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,64235,00.html


Informant: Anna Webb

Geheimhaltungspolitik der US-Regierung nimmt weiter zu

Edward Hammond, der Leiter der deutsch-amerikanischen Wissenschaftlerorganisation Sunshine Projekt, über die Zensurdrohungen des US-Marine-Corps gegen sein Büro...

http://www.telepolis.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/on/17905/1.html

Omega-News Collection 19. July 2004

Whale Sonar Deaths Bring Threat of Navy Lawsuit
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/273146/

Just Three Days Until Whale Vote
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277989/

Carbon Dioxide Emissions May Harm Ocean Life
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/273169/

British Columbia to sell coal-rich land near Glacier National Park
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/273176/

How a century of destruction has laid bare the world's rainforests
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277688/

Tell Forest Service to Stay Out of Tongass Roadless Areas
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277724/

Battle for Ludlow heats up
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277778/

Is killing endangered animals the best way to protect them?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277755/

Surrender in the Forests
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/279018/
Protect the Public
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278083/

Collusion and Corruption in GM Policy
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277703/

What Would Abraham Lincoln Say About Canceling a Presidential Election?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/272929/

An appeal for peacemakers
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278696/

Senior Iraq Cleric Calls for Holy War against U.S. Forces
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277910/

This is the Fight of Our Lives
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278461/

BUSH MISLEADS ON PRISON ABUSE SCANDAL
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/272933/

NEW CLAIMS OF SERIOUS ABUSES AT ABU GHRAIB SURFACE
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277683/

More U.S. Torture Reported in Iraq
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277750/

Screaming Silence: When Words Don't Count
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277692/

A Deluge of Bad Advice and Statistics
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277694/

There is now no doubt that Blair misled the Commons
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/272967/

Britain's worst intelligence failure
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/272970/

Butler Report on WMD was watered down to protect Blair

Butler shows BBC was right - Dyke
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277720/

'These people are treating us like idiots'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277901/http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278482/

The Damning Evidence
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277897/

'Homeland Security' Beyond U.S. Borders
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/272983/

A Brief Analysis of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act 2003, Also Known as Patriot Act II
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277764/

Cheney Made Millions Off Oil Deals with Hussein
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278908/

Spymasters or spinmeisters?
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/279013/

Time's up in blame game
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/272977/

Republican governor criticizes own party
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/272982/

Neo-conservative Withdraws Bush Support
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/272985/

Democracy in the Balance
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/272975/

Against Electronic "Virtual Voting"
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277748/

BUSH ADMINISTRATION "GUIDELINES" FOR POSTPONING OR CANCELING THE NOVEMBER PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277997/

Important Facts About 9-11
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277999/

Republicans After Fahrenheit 9/11
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278076/

DNA Fingerprinting Trend Threatens Genetic Privacy
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277766/

Creation and current practices of the Federal Reserve and of the US Banking system
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277739/

US accused of audit ploy
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277900/

The Price of Imperial Folly
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277902/

The Creature from Jekyll Island
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277909/

US military's violations of the Geneva Conventions
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278900/

More Patriot Act Games
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278655/

Sailing Toward a Storm in China
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/277742/

Regime change in Iran now in Bush’s sights
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278682/

Europe or the US? Britain must choose
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278684/

The era of strategic deception
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278687/

Bush's Foreign Fantasy
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278691/

A godsend for the warmongers
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278890/

War on Journalism
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278995/

There was never an honest debate in cabinet
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278976/

Attorney General warned Blair on legality of war
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/279006/

Blair graves claim 'untrue'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278906/

'How can Blair live with Iraq deaths?'
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278689/

Like Jeeves, this Butler's first language is Euphemism
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278707/

Cautious Whitehall keeps the secret state alive
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/279004/

Bush quietly meets with Amish
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278693/

The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/279003/

Freedom to read
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278882/

Radiation in Iraq equals 250,000 Nagasaki bombs
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278708/

Terrorism and the Election: Trial Balloons and Spin
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278712/

Iraqi clerics: US occupiers must leave
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278713/

Conservative Republicans express concern over Iraq war
http://omega.twoday.net/stories/278713/

Surrender in the Forests

Published: July 18, 2004

READERS' OPINIONS

The Bush administration has taken apart so many environmental regulations that one more rollback should not surprise us. Even so, it boggles the mind that the White House should choose an election year to dismantle one of the most important and popular land preservation initiatives of the last 30 years — a Clinton administration rule that placed 58.5 million acres of the national forests off limits to new road building and development.

There are no compelling reasons to repudiate that rule and no obvious beneficiaries besides a few disgruntled Western governors and the timber, oil and gas interests that have long regarded the national forests as profit centers. It's not even a case of election-year pandering to Western voters; indeed, early returns suggest that most Westerners below the rank of governor do not like the Bush proposal at all. Especially aggrieved is the so-called hook and bullet crowd — anglers and hunters who, though overwhelmingly Republican, have become increasingly disenchanted with the administration's timid and in some cases careless policies on wetlands, mercury pollution and oil and gas exploration on sensitive public lands.

One explanation is that the timber industry's allies in the Agriculture Department, where the proposal was hatched, sensed they were running short of time to complete their demolition job on the forest protections they inherited from the previous administration. Over the last three years, the department has weakened carefully devised agreements aimed at preserving old growth trees in the Tongass National Forest, in the Pacific Northwest and in the Sierra Nevada. It has persuaded Congress to adopt a fire-prevention strategy aimed at least as much at helping the timber industry as it is at saving communities from devastation. And it has proposed revisions in forest management policies that would short-circuit environmental reviews, weaken safeguards for endangered species and limit public participation in land-use decisions.

For broad impact, though, nothing quite matches the decision to scuttle the roadless rule. Nearly three years in the making, that rule essentially gave blanket protection to some of the last truly wild places in America, critical watersheds for fish and wildlife and important sources of drinking water for metropolitan areas in the West. The Bush administration offers instead a less protective and more uncertain system under which state and local officials would become the moving force in deciding whether to log or conserve forest lands. This represents a big swing in the ideological pendulum, essentially returning control of an important part of national forest policy to the very people from whom Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, both Republicans, wrested it when they established the Forest Service a century ago.

Killing the roadless rule is also indefensible on fiscal grounds. There are already 365,000 miles of roads in the roughly 90 million acres of national forests that are and will remain open to commercial development. Many of these roads are in poor shape, crying out for maintenance. It makes no economic sense to build more.

The administration promises that prohibitions on roads and logging will be continued on a much smaller number of roadless acres already protected under forest plans that predated the Clinton rule — a "just trust us" attitude that inspires universal suspicion among conservationists. White House officials argued further that the rule's one-size-fits-all policy ignored local needs, and that two unfavorable court decisions had left them little choice but to junk the Clinton program and propose a new one.

This is disingenuous. It is true that district judges in Idaho and Wyoming had invalidated the rule. But the administration offered only a perfunctory defense in Idaho and not much more in Wyoming. More to the point, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the Idaho decision, and there was a good chance the 10th Circuit would overturn the Wyoming decision. Indeed, the real motive for the rollback may have been to get the new rule out before the legal landscape shifted completely in favor of the old rule — or before somebody less attentive to the needs of the timber industry moved into the White House.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/opinion/18SUN1.html


Informant: bigraccoon

Spymasters or spinmeisters?

http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2920850


Informant: Our bill of rights

Attorney General warned Blair on legality of war

http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=542151&host=3&dir=62


Informant: Dian Davies

Cautious Whitehall keeps the secret state alive

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07/12/nsec12.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/07/13/ixnewstop.html


Informant: Sylviane

The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party

http://www.4religious-right.info/


Informant: Friends

War on Journalism

OutFoxed : Ruppert Murdock's War on Journalism:

View trailer -

http://http.dvlabs.com/carolina/Outfxd2/Trailer_A(Med).mov

Want to get involved in reclaiming media and democracy?
See how you can help - go to" http://mediamatters.org/


Informant: Heidi Chesney

There was never an honest debate in cabinet

The author of this article, Clare Short, was international development secretary, 1997-2003, when she resigned from the Blair Government.

Clare Short: There was never an honest debate in cabinet

Most ministers saw little intelligence and knew only what they read in the press

19 July 2004

The Prime Minister and those who speak for him keep telling us that the Butler report found that the prime minister acted in "good faith'' over Iraq. The report does not say this but Lord Butler said it at his press conference.

It's worth asking what good faith means. I think it means that a person was convinced that what they were doing was right. It does not mean they were right or wise or accurate in their claims. We might also ask, is it possible to lie in good faith?

When he made his statement on the Butler report to the House of Commons, the Prime Minister reiterated the twin arguments he now uses to justify his Iraq policy. The first being that the world is better off without Saddam Hussein. The second that, after 11 September, there was a greatly increased danger that WMDs and terrorism would come together and he therefore had to act.

I believe the Prime Minister holds both these views in good faith. But, on both, he is wrong. The people of Iraq are overwhelmingly glad that Saddam Hussein has gone but, by big majorities, say their lives are now worse. It is also widely acknowledged at al-Qa'ida is much strengthened, the Middle East angrier and more unstable and as many as 7,000 Iraqi soldiers, 13,000 civilians and 1,000 coalition troops have so far lost their lives.

The claim that the war stopped WMD and terrorism coming together is more extraordinary. There were of course no WMDs used in the events of 11 September 2001. There is evidence that Osama bin Laden has shown an interest in obtaining chemical, biological and nuclear expertise. The Butler report summarises the evidence and concludes that there is no evidence that he has capability. But it also points out that the Joint Intelligence Committee made it clear that, although there had been contacts between al-Qa'ida and the Iraqi regime, there was no evidence of co-operation. Thus, the Prime Minister may have believed in good faith that he was preventing WMDs and terrorism coming together but such a belief has no basis in reality.

The report looks into the use of intelligence by the Attorney General to decide that there was legal authority for war. It concludes that there was no reliance on intelligence and that what Lord Goldsmith did was "require the Prime Minister, in the absence of a further United Nations Security Council resolution, to be satisfied that there were strong factual grounds for concluding that Iraq had failed to take the final opportunity to comply with its disarmament obligations ... and that it was possible to demonstrate hard evidence of non-compliance and non-cooperation with the requirements of UN Security Council resolution 1441''.

After negotiations on a further Security Council resolution broke down, the Attorney General wrote to the PM seeking confirmation that it was unequivocally the Prime Minister's view that Iraq was in breach of resolution 1441. The Prime Minister, without consulting the Cabinet, confirmed that this was his view shortly after Dr Blix had destroyed more than 70 ballistic missiles and reported improved co-operation from the Iraqi regime.

The Prime Minister also misled his Cabinet, Parliament and country in his claim that the French said they would veto any second resolution. In fact, Dr Blix had asked for more time and we now know that President Chirac and other Security Council members had made it clear that, if Dr Blix failed, it would be necessary to authorise war. Presumably, Lord Butler would argue that the Prime Minister engaged in this deception in good faith.

When Lord Butler asked who was responsible, he said it was a collective failure. Yet the report draws attention to the Prime Minister's very informal style of decision-making. It tells us there were papers written to inform cabinet discussion that were not circulated, therefore cabinet members were unable to take advice or reflect on issues in advance. However, we are told that the Cabinet discussed Iraq on 24 occasions. But most members of the Cabinet saw little intelligence, read no papers and knew only what they read in the press.

Mr Blair raised Iraq after the summer recess of 2002 at every cabinet meeting. He would start by saying a few words, inviting Jack Straw or Geoff Hoon to speak and then intervening repeatedly to inform the Cabinet of developments. Their advice was never sought. They were kept informed and most were willing to go along with the Prime Minister but there was no collective decision which was thrashed out in honest debate and to which the Cabinet then adhered.

In fact, since 1997, there has not been cabinet government in Britain. Power is centralised around the Prime Minister's informal entourage and patronage is used ruthlessly to keep people in line. The Prime Minister does not hold himself responsible to Cabinet or Parliament but to the media, which is why Alastair Campbell and Peter Mandelson have been so powerful.

Under the Blair regime, much more than under Margaret Thatcher, British constitutional arrangements are crumbling. The votes of one in four of the people in the 2001 election produced a majority of 64 per cent in the Commons. This means almost anything can be rammed through the Commons and the only resistance comes from the House of Lords. Power has been sucked into No 10 and policy is driven by headline-grabbing announcements. It means that checks and balances have broken down, and that leads to ill-considered policy - most tragically in Tony Blair's policy towards Iraq.

18 July 2004 19:36


Informant: Dian Davies

Cheney Made Millions Off Oil Deals with Hussein

This article is a reprint from November 2000 (via Truthout).

http://www.truthout.org/docs_01/02.01E.Cheney.Hussein.p.htm


Informant: Dian Davies

Blair graves claim 'untrue'

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=118905


Informant: Dian Davies

US military's violations of the Geneva Conventions

Point-by-point guide to our military's violations of the Geneva Conventions:

http://www.unknownnews.net/040521a-ss.html


Informant: Friends

A godsend for the warmongers

by Gary Leupp

CounterPunch

07/18/04

Rev. Jerry Falwell calls the Prophet Muhammed a 'terrorist.' Rev. Franklin Graham calls Islam 'a wicked, evil religion' and says its God is not the Christians' God. These reverends' followers are very useful supporters of the war on the human mind that is the 'war on terrorism,' the focus of which shifted so swiftly from al-Qaeda to Iraq (alike in little save their Muslimness), and could shift to Syria or Iran or Pakistan suddenly tomorrow. When you mix the anti-Islam pronouncements with Bush policy decisions and millenarian faith, you have an explosive combination...

http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp07172004.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Freedom to read

by Jim Duensing

The Libertarian Enterprise

07/18/04

18 Republicans, 191 Democrats, and the only Independent in Congress voted to protect our library and book store records from the prying eyes of federal agents .... The Freedom to Read Amendment failed by a vote of 210 - 210. The Republican leadership held the 15 minute vote open for an additional 23 minutes, until they could twist enough arms to vote in favor of secret federal spying on reading habits. ... This amendment did not even attack the key elements of the Patriot Act. It only sought to roll back one of the most unpopular provisions of the Patriot Act, Section 215. Yet, the pro-government extremist control freaks in Washington can't even throw the American people a bone and remove secret searches of library and bookstore records. They value their power above all else. And, they are willing to defend it against our freedom...

http://www.webleyweb.com/tle/tle280-20040718-04.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp
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