MSNBC/Newsweek

11/30/05

A British government crackdown on government leaks may have backfired by calling world attention to an ultrasensitive secret memo whose alleged contents have embarrassed President George W. Bush and strained relations between London and Washington. The document allegedly recounts a threat last year by Bush to bomb the head office of the Arabic TV news channel Al-Jazeera. U.K. authorities consider the memo, described as minutes or a transcript of an April 16, 2004, White House meeting between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, so diplomatically sensitive that Blair's attorney general last week warned U.K. media by e-mail that they could face prosecution under the country's draconian Official Secrets Act if they reported on its contents...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10269701/site/newsweek/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

USA Today

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee has asked committee attorneys to review former Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham's work on the panel to ensure he didn't improperly influence committee actions or decisions. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., ordered the review after learning of Cunningham's guilty plea Monday to charges of corruption and tax evasion for taking $2.4 million in bribes, mostly from two defense contractors, in exchange for steering government business their way, said committee spokesman Jamal Ware...

http://tinyurl.com/d6dqr


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The United States came under renewed criticism Tuesday as thousands of environmentalists and international officials hammered out rules for a global treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/113005G.shtml

Robert Scheer: So, it is mission impossible that Bush has accomplished: A terminally inept US occupation of Iraq now threatens to make the despot we overthrew look good by comparison. But don't take my word for it; hear it from the United States' No. 1 ally in that increasingly nightmarish land.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/113005F.shtml

Senator Russ Feingold: While today's speech by the President was billed as yet another attempt to lay out a plan for finishing the military mission in Iraq, the only new thing the administration gave the American people was a glossy 35-page pamphlet filled with the same rhetoric we've all heard before. Today's action by the White House isn't a step forward, it's a step back.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/113005E.shtml

President Bush, facing growing doubts about his war strategy, said Wednesday that Iraqi troops are increasingly taking the lead in battle but that "this will take time and patience." He refused to set a timetable for withdrawing US forces.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/113005D.shtml

In the wake of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's stunning resignation and tearful admission that he had accepted some $2.4 million in bribes, many of his former colleagues are mulling what to do with tens of thousands of dollars they received in campaign contributions from Cunningham's co-conspirators.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/113005B.shtml

Had it been an isolated incident, the resignation from Congress of California Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) might have been a mere blip on the way to a special election. But as yet another corruption case involving prominent members of Congress, mainly Republicans, it's fueling a scandal that is opening a window on big-money politics in Washington and shifting prospects for midterm elections.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/113005A.shtml

Pitter-Patter of Little Feet Isn't Desired

Growing numbers of couples around the country are forgoing children.
Reasons given include increased freedom and opportunities for women as well as environmental concerns. "We worry about global warming," said one 25-year-old. "We worry about what the world will be like in the future. There's so much uncertainty and I can't see bringing a life into such a world."

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/113005WB.shtml

Other nations watch as the United States keeps permitting wide use of methyl bromide for tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, Christmas trees and other crops, even though the US signed an international treaty banning all but the most critical uses by 2005. The chemical depletes the earth's protective ozone layer and can harm the human neurological system, an increasing concern as people settle further into what was once just farm country.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/113005EB.shtml