[Peace-discuss] News notes 030914

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Notes from last week's "war on terrorism" -- prepared
	for the AWARE meeting, Sunday, September 14, 2003.

	"The world has good reason to watch what is happening in
	Washington with fear and trepidation. The people who are best
	placed to relieve those fears, and to lead the way to a more
	hopeful and constructive future, are the people of the US,
	who can shape the future." --Noam Chomsky 9/11/2003

THE NEW LINE: IRAQ = TERRORISM. "In a nationally televised prime-time
address a week ago Sunday night, President Bush said that he would ask
Congress for $87 billion in emergency spending for military operations and
reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that Iraq had now become what
he called 'the central front' in the campaign against terrorism." [DN
0908]

COSTS OF EMPIRE. "President Bush's $87 billion request for postwar costs
is heavily weighted to maintaining military operations, with $66 billion
directed to the armed forces, $15 billion toward rebuilding Iraq and $800
million to new spending for civilian programs in Afghanistan,
administration officials said today. The $87 billion price tag makes the
package the most expensive postwar military and civilian effort since the
Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II, after adjusting for
inflation. Combined with the earlier $79 billion approved by Congress to
conduct the war and pay initial postwar expenses, it would bring the cost
to the United States of deposing Saddam Hussein and stabilizing Iraq and
Afghanistan this year and next to $166 billion ... The administration told
Congress in the spring that Iraq's oil revenues would be sufficient to pay
the bulk of the postwar costs, which they estimated then would be low.
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz told a House subcommittee in
March that Iraq could generate $50 billion to $100 billion of oil revenue
over the next two to three years. 'We are dealing with a country that can
really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon,' Mr. Wolfowitz
said at the time ... From 1948 until 1952, the United States spent just
under $13 billion on the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, an amount
equivalent to about $100 billion today ... To put the request into a
different kind of perspective, the Center for American Progress, a liberal
advocacy group, said $87 billion is roughly equivalent to two years of
unemployment benefits, 87 times what the federal government spends on
after-school programs and more than 10 times the budget for the
Environmental Protection Agency." [NYT 0909] "The Wall Street Journal
notices that about $6 billion of the spending is marked as black budget;
that is, classified." [SLATE 0909]

WHAT WAS THE WAR ABOUT? "A private security firm is being contracted in
Iraq to train 6,500 Iraqis to guard oil pipelines, wellheads, and
refineries as well as water and electrical facilities. This comes after a
recent attack on an oil pipeline in northern Iraq. Private security firms
in oil-rich regions have long been accused of complicity in human rights
violations in countries like Columbia, Nigeria and Angola. A recent
article by Corpwatch's Pratap Chatterjee 'Guarding the Oil Underworld in
Iraq' outlines Erinys' blurred relationship with the Coalition Provision
Authority." [DN 0909]

FINANCING THEIR OWN RECONSTRUCTION. "The LAT fronts word that
investigators are lacking solid leads in last month's Najaf bombing and
have released most of the suspects originally nabbed." [SLATE 0909] "A car
bomb killed at least one person and wounded scores, including six American
military personnel, in largely peaceful Kurdish northern Iraq, the U.S.
military said Wednesday. In a separate attack, one U.S. soldier was killed
and another wounded when their vehicle was ambushed northeast of Baghdad,
U.S. Central Command said." [REUTERS 0910]

KILLING TENS OF THOUSANDS COST MONEY. "The 1991 Persian Gulf War cost $80
billion, of which the U.S. paid only $9 billion." [WP] "Meanwhile, USA
Today, citing Defense Department figures, reports the monthly bill for
military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan now rivals the Pentagon's
average monthly spending during Vietnam. That tab doesn't include
reconstruction costs 'which had no parallel,' the paper says" - i.e., we
didn't plan to rebuild Vietnam. [SLATE 0908]

MARSHALL PLAN: US TAXPAYERS PAY US CORPORATIONS. "As the LAT notes, Bush
picked up on a theme that his aides have been pushing in recent weeks:
that rebuilding Iraq is a commitment as important as the successful
occupations of Japan and Germany after World War II... NYT: 'while there
was more to rebuild in Tokyo and Berlin in 1945 than in Baghdad in 2003,
the occupied were not shooting at the occupiers.'" [SLATE 0908]

PROFITS, NOT PROPHETS. "The Washington Post is reporting that the CIA and
other intelligence agencies warned the Bush administration that a U.S.
occupation in Iraq would face significant armed resistance. One CIA report
warned that 'chaos after war would turn [Iraq] into a laboratory for
terrorists' ... former Army secretary Thomas E. White, who resigned in
April, said postwar planning was based on the assumption held by Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his civilian advisors that U.S. troops would
be 'greeted in the streets by a euphoric public, glad of being rid of
Saddam Hussein." [DN 0909]

THEY DO IT FOR THEIR FRIENDS. "The Knight Ridder news agency is reporting
that two of the agency's top officials resigned shortly after the EPA
weakened the nation's clean air only to take jobs with industrial firms
that greatly benefited from the rule changes. John Pemberton, the chief of
staff in the EPA's air and radiation office, left to become the director
of federal affairs for Southern Co., an Atlanta-based utility. The firm is
considered to be the second biggest power-plant polluter in the nation and
had spent millions lobbying for the rule changes. In addition, Ed Krenik,
who had been the EPA's associate administrator for congressional affairs,
left the EPA to work for the Houston-based law firm that coordinated
lobbying for several utilities on easing the power-plant pollution rule."
[DN 0909]

WHAT'S THAT SCUTTLING SOUND? "In other lobbying news, Top Justice
Department spokesperson Barbara Comstock announced yesterday she is
resigning in order to take a job at the Washington lobbying and public
relations firm Blank Rome Governmental Relations. Comstock is the fourth
top Justice Department official to resign in recent months. The others
were Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson, the criminal division chief,
Michael Chertoff and Viet Dinh, head of the Office of Legal Policy." [DN
0909]

PEOPLE SEE WHAT HE'S DOING. "Meanwhile, the latest Zogby America poll says
that President Bush has dropped to the lowest approval ratings of his
presidency. The poll says 54 percent of Americans rated Bush's performance
as fair or poor. Only 40 percent said he deserved to be re-elected. Zogby
America says Bush's popularity has been on a steady decline since a
post-Sept. 11 peak." [DN 0908]

SO DO FOREIGN CAPITALISTS. "Economists fear that Asian investors, who are
the largest foreign owners of US Treasuries, may cut their holdings of US
government debt, withdrawing a key source of financing for America's large
current account deficit.  The worries have been fuelled by recent sharp
falls in the price of US government debt." [FT 0907]

BUT WE'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY IT. "Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said
on Monday opposition to the U.S. President was encouraging Washington's
enemies and hindering his 'war against terrorism'." [REUTERS 0908]

SO THIS WOULD BE TREASON? "Meanwhile Congressman David Obey, a Democrat
from Wisconsin, has sent President Bush a letter calling for Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to
resign because of their mishandling of the invasion of Iraq. And The
Madison, Wisconsin based newspaper The Capitol Times has also called for
Rumsfeld to resign." [DN 0909]

WILL NONE DARE CALL IT SO? "The Los Angeles Times' lead notes that White
House officials said the proposal's reconstruction numbers-$15 billion or
$20 billion, depending how you slice it-may be as much as $55 billion
short of total reconstruction costs ... The top item in Wall Street
Journal's newsbox says that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz is
taking heat for all this. 'Wolfowitz is gone,' said one senior Democratic
legislator." [SLATE 0909]

RESTLESSNESS IN THE RANKS. "During four hours of intense questioning from
Senators, Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, and General Richard
Myers, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, yesterday admitted they could
not say how long U.S. troops would have to remain in Iraq or when
international troops would arrive to relieve the U.S. forces. Sen. Robert
Byrd of West Virginia reiterated his opposition to the war saying 'This is
a war we should never have fought.' On the request for $78 billion Byrd
said 'Congress is not an ATM.' Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan
added, 'This huge sum is a bitter pill for the American people to
swallow." Republican Sen. Charles Hagel of Nebraska criticized the lack of
postwar planning and raised the possibility that Bush should fire some of
the high-profile war planners. Hagel said 'This business is all about
accountability. Cabinet members are accountable.'" [DN 0910]

THE US MILITARY IN VIETNAM REVOLTED. "The Washington Post's lead says that
the Pentagon, in an unannounced move a week ago Friday, told many National
Guard units that they'll have to stay in Iraq for a year, months longer
than planned. With concern already high about overtaxing reserve forces,
the Post says some officials think the order could 'break' the reserve
system." [SLATE 0909]

SORRY ABOUT THAT. "After Saddam's son-in-law Hussein Kamel, head of his
unconventional weapons programs, defected to Jordan in 1995 [AND TOLD THE
CIA, WHICH KEPT IT QUIET, THAT IRAQ'S WMD WERE DESTROYED] Saddam ordered
intensified efforts to hide or destroy blueprints, 'dual use' technology
and any remaining germs or chemicals ... U.S. Defense analysts are paying
more attention to a 'working hypothesis' ... that no live WMD may ever be
found." [NEWSWEEK 0915]

THINGS FALL APART. "Argentina yesterday announced that it has defaulted on
a $3 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund. The default comes
after the Argentine President Nestor Kirchner refused demands of the IMF
to compensate banks for the collapse of the value of the peso and to give
utility firms the ability to raise prices. The BBC reports the demands
were hugely unpopular among citizens who saw it as the IMF attempting to
help out big business at the expense of the poor. Thousands of unemployed
Argentines demonstrated yesterday against the IMF. One said, 'Instead of
paying the IMF, we should pay to improve our public health system, boost
teachers' salaries and end hunger in our devastated country.'" [DN 0910]

WE'LL HAVE TO CRACK DOWN. "The New York Times, with a two-column headline,
leads with President Bush urging Congress to 'untie the hands of our
law-enforcement officials' and remove 'unreasonable obstacles' to
investigating and prosecuting terrorism. Specifically, he proposed 1)
allowing feds to snoop on suspected terrorists with investigators' own
in-house subpoenas instead of a court order; 2) changing the burden of
proof on the bail of suspected terrorists or their helpers from the
government to defendants ... Bush, speaking at the FBI's training HQ in
Virginia on the eve of the second anniversary of 9/11 ... The Times also
notices that Bush, in just 23 words, repeated and linked two of the
sketchiest pre-war claims about Iraq. 'The terrorists have lost a sponsor
in Iraq,' the president said. 'And no terrorist networks will ever gain
weapons of mass destruction from Saddam Hussein's regime.'" [SLATE 0911]
On the eve of Sept. 11, President Bush called for the first time for
Congress to expand the controversial USA Patriot Act by lowering the
standard for investigators to obtain subpoenas to search homes, increase
the number of crimes that carry the death penalty and allow for suspects
to be held without bail. Bush made the announcement one day after Attorney
General John Ashcroft completed a 10-day tour trying to increase support
for the original Patriot Act which has been condemned by 159 towns, cities
and counties. The House also last month to restrict portions of the
Patriot Act. Despite this opposition Bush is pushing for more governmental
power." [DN 0911]

LOOK, LOOK, THEY'RE ALL AROUND. "The Los Angeles Times lead, citing
unnamed feds, says al-Qaida has a 'largely invisible but extensive
presence' in the U.S. and that investigators are 'only now' realizing the
full extent of the network, most of which is apparently focused on
fundraising." [SLATE 0911]

WE HAVE TO HAVE IT BOTH WAYS. "A NYT front-page piece on the release of an
Osama Bin Laden video ... quotes a government source: 'We have done a good
job on the leadership over the last two years, but now there is an
increasing flow of bad guys into both Afghanistan and Iraq. The problem is
that there are an infinite number of potential new players.'" [SLATE 0911]

THE DATE THAT MADE THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION. The Washington Post "notices
that President Bush has been extra responsible in making sure the attacks
aren't forgotten: In the past six weeks, says the Post, Bush has cited
Sept. 11 while arguing for his positions on energy policies, tax cuts,
campaign finance, unemployment, the deficit, and, of course, Iraq." [SLATE
0911]

RESTIVE CONGRESS. "The Senate Wednesday voted to reject the proposed
changes in the nation's overtime laws that could have stripped up to 8
million workers from overtime pay. In another surprise legislative move,
the House voted to roll back provisions of the Cuban trade embargo
including the prohibition of American tourism in Cuba. Bush is expected to
veto the provision." [DN 0911]

RESTIVE WORLD. "Thousands of protesters in Cancun continue to protest the
ministerial of the World Trade Organization. Inside the meetings Brazil
yesterday led the formation of a G-21 - 21 nation bloc of developing
countries that vowed to work together to fight U.S. and European
agricultural policies." [DN 0912]

AND HOW TO HANDLE THEM. "Government officials from around the world
attended the arms exhibition in London to see military hardware showcased
by some 950 companies. Meanwhile, civil rights campaigners won the right
to challenge police use of anti-terror powers against protesters." [CN
0912]

SWAN SONG OF THE NEOCON? "The Pentagon's No. 2 official retreated Friday
from his assertion that key lieutenants of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden
are plotting with Saddam Hussein loyalists to kill Americans in Iraq. In a
television interview on Thursday's anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks,
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said 'a great many' bin Laden
operatives were working to link up with remnants of Saddam's regime to
attack Americans. 'We know it (Iraq) had a great deal to do with terrorism
in general and with al-Qaida in particular, and we know a great many of
bin Laden's key lieutenants are now trying to organize in cooperation with
old loyalists from the Saddam regime to attack in Iraq,' he said Thursday
on ABC's 'Good Morning America.' But Wolfowitz - an architect of U.S.
policy in Iraq - said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press
that he had misspoken. He said U.S. military forces were still trying to
identify foreign fighters flowing into Iraq and whether they are
collaborating with Saddam loyalists resisting the U.S.-led occupation
forces. On the subject of bin Laden deputies, Wolfowitz said he was
referring to only one man - bin Laden supporter Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one
of the few names that Bush administration officials previously have cited
to assert links between al-Qaida and Iraq before the war. Al-Zarqawi
allegedly helped train Iraqis in the use of poisonous chemicals and once
received medical care in Baghdad, U.S. officials have said. 'Zarqawi is
actually the guy I was referring to - should have been more precise,'
Wolfowitz said Friday. 'It's not a great many - it's one of bin Laden's
key associates - probably better referred to that way than a key
lieutenant.' 'On the specific issue of cooperation (between al-Qaida and
insurgents), I have to emphasize this is a very hard target to penetrate,'
Wolfowitz said. 'Our highest priority in Iraq is to get better
intelligence on these people.' 'There are some indications that they work
together and they certainly work at common purpose,' he said, declining to
say what the indications are.  Wolfowitz's original claim suggested a
dangerous new development for the U.S.-led forces trying to stabilize the
country. Wolfowitz made his assertion Thursday after an ABC interviewer
asked why the administration had put resources into the campaign in Iraq,
which the interviewer said had nothing to do with the Sept. 11 attacks,
while bin Laden was still at large. 'I appreciate the chance to say it a
little more carefully because this was sort of unanticipated,' Wolfowitz
told the AP in retracting his statements. 'I went ... to talk about Sept.
11.' In another Sept. 11 interview, Wolfowitz told The Washington Post
that hundreds of fighters from al-Qaida and other groups were now in Iraq.
'There are some thousands of former Baathists (members of Saddam's Baath
Party) and some hundreds of al-Qaida and other foreign terrorists who are
=2E.. killing Americans and Iraqis and U.N. officials and moderate Shiite
leaders in order to destabilize Iraq,' Wolfowitz said in that interview.
On Friday, he said he couldn't say how many of the hundreds of foreigners
might be al-Qaida because U.S. military forces were still trying to
identify them. The Bush administration has outlined only limited evidence
of Iraqi-al-Qaida contacts before the war, and no conclusive evidence that
Iraq and al-Qaida plotted joint terror operations." [AP 0913]

SWAN SONG OF THE 'MODERATE'? "Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday
rejected as 'totally unrealistic' a French timetable for the full transfer
of authority in Iraq to local control, starting with the establishment of
a provisional government next month. French Foreign Minister Dominique de
Villepin outlined the proposals on the eve of a meeting [in Geneva]
Saturday involving U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and representatives
of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council ... In an
opinion piece in the French newspaper Le Monde, de Villepin wrote that a
provisional government should be established in Iraq in a month, a draft
constitution by the end of the year and elections next spring. 'It would
be delightful if one could do that but one can't do that,' Powell told
reporters while en route to Switzerland. The French, in effect, are
proposing that 'we stop everything we're doing,' he said. 'We have
invested too much [sic!] to consider such a proposal' ... De Villepin, in
his article, wrote, 'Today, it is urgent to transfer sovereignty to the
Iraqi people themselves to permit them to fully assume their
responsibilities.' He added that continuing on the current path in Iraq
runs 'the risk of entering into a spiral with no return.' In a Thursday
interview with France's TV2 network, a copy of which was made available
Friday, Powell said he agrees that sovereignty should be returned to the
Iraqi people but only when conditions are ripe. 'To whom do we give it?'
he asked. 'We have to create a government. We have to create a parliament.
We have to put in place a constitution after it's been written. We have to
have elections. Nobody wants to turn sovereignty back to the Iraqis as
fast as the United States does, President Bush does and I do.' Asked if
the United Nations should play a leading role, Powell replied: 'I said
vital. I don't know what leading means.' Powell said Wednesday in an
interview with Al-Jazeera, the Arab satellite network, that Iraq would
face 'total chaos' if the United States surrendered to demands for a hasty
U.S. transfer of authority to Iraqi control." [AP 0912]

AFRAID TO SHOW HIS FACE - AND HIS BLOODY HANDS. Krugman: "The press has
become a lot less shy about pointing out the administration's exploitation
of 9/11, partly because that exploitation has become so crushingly
obvious. As The Washington Post pointed out yesterday, in the past six
weeks President Bush has invoked 9/11 not just to defend Iraq policy and
argue for oil drilling in the Arctic, but in response to questions about
tax cuts, unemployment, budget deficits and even campaign finance.
Meanwhile, the crudity of the administration's recent propaganda efforts,
from dressing the president up in a flight suit to orchestrating the
ludicrously glamorized TV movie about Mr. Bush on 9/11, have set even
supporters' teeth on edge. And some stunts no longer seem feasible. Maybe
it was the pressure of other commitments that kept Mr. Bush from visiting
New York yesterday; but one suspects that his aides no longer think of the
Big Apple as a politically safe place to visit." [NYT 0912]

DEVALUING THE DOLLAR? North Carolina cops are searching for a guy who
successfully passed a $200 bill bearing George W. Bush's portrait and a
drawing of the White House complete with lawn signs reading 'We like ice
cream' and 'USA deserves a tax cut.' Another person was arrested in the
same town for attempting last month to pass an identical $200 Bush bill at
a convenience store.

OPPOSITION TO "BUSH'S POODLE" [UNDERMINED BY HIS FM STRAW?] "A new book in
Britain alleges British PM Blair secretly agreed to go to war as early as
April 2002, when he had a summit with George W Bush at the US president's
ranch in Texas. The author also claims Mr Blair himself had doubts about
the intelligence over Iraqi weapons of mass destruction which formed the
basis of his justification for war, and had received evidence that Saddam
Hussein's chemical and biological capability was actually diminishing.
According to Mr Kampfner, political editor of the New Statesman magazine,
Mr Blair rejected Mr Straw's advice to send troops as peacekeepers after
the conflict [and not as combatants]. 'He (Blair) asked him to clarify
whether or not he would support the war, now that it was definitely going
to happen. 'Straw said he would. They agreed to put the issue behind them.
'Having expressed his reservations and seen them rejected, Straw fell
firmly into line, arguing the case for war with as much vigour as anyone
else,' Mr Kampfner said. Opposition parties said if the allegations were
true, they raised serious questions about the run-up to war ... The
allegations come after it emerged last week Mr Blair also rejected
warnings from intelligence chiefs that going to war would increase the
risk of terrorists, such as al-Qaeda and allied terror groups, getting
weapons of mass destruction." [BBC 0914]

OPPOSITION TO THE OCCUPATION IN IRAQ. "The WP fronts a dispatch from
Khaldiya, west of Baghdad, where members of the local U.S.-trained police
force find themselves torn between a mandate to maintain order and the
suspicion of townspeople who distrust their closeness to American forces.
As a result, police officers there have become increasingly ineffective,
and some have begun openly sympathizing with anti-occupation guerillas.
One police lieutenant told the paper, 'In my heart, deep inside, we are
with them against the occupation. This is my country, and I encourage
them.'" [SLATE 0914]

OPPOSITION TO THE OCCUPATION IN THE US. In a new WP poll, people were
told. "Earlier this year, Congress approved spending 79 billion dollars to
help pay for the war in Iraq and the rebuilding effort there. Bush has now
called for spending 87 billion dollars more." They opposed "this
additional spending for the war and rebuilding in Iraq" by a margin of
61-38. [WP 0914]

SOME COLUMNISTS COMMENT. "Ellen Goodman on how the White House has taken
9/11 out for a spin: 'Nearly every battle, every action, every foreign
policy, every call to follow the leader, is justified -- no, sanctified --
in the name of September 11.' Harper's editor Lewis Lapham tells the
Toronto Star that 'Pretty well all the Bush administration has got going
for it now is this foreign war. Fear is something this administration has
been selling for two years.' 'It may be harder for the administration to
wrap itself in the flag,' writes Paul Krugman, 'but it has more incentive
to do so now than ever before. Where once the administration was motivated
by greed, now it's driven by fear.'" [CURSOR 0914]

A MODEL FOR THE US OCCUPATION OF IRAQ. The israeli paper "Ha'aretz looks
at how international contributions to the Palestinian Authority have
absolved Israel of its financial obligations as an occupying power,
enabling it 'to impose a deluxe occupation in the West Bank -- total
military domination with no responsibility for running the life of the
occupied population, and no price tag attached.'" [CURSOR 0912]

DEADLY RETALIATION. "Palestinian suicide bombers killed at least 13 people
in two separate attacks just hours apart in Israel last Tuesday, hitting
back hard after a wave of Israeli air strikes against Islamic militants. A
bomber killed at least six people in a cafe in Jerusalem just over five
hours after a bombing killed seven people at a bus stop outside a military
base near Tel Aviv." [REUTERS 0909]

DID HE SPIT ON IT? In a visti to India's semi-fascist government. Israeli
PM "Sharon said the so-called global war on terrorism has created a
'strategic triangle' between India, Israel and the United States. Sharon
is heading up a 150-member delegation that includes the heads of major
Israeli arms firms. Agence France Press is reporting that the countries
are expected to soon sign an agreement where Israel will sell India the
billion dollar Phalcon radar system. Sharon, who is the first Israeli
prime minister to visit India, is to visit the tomb of the apostle of
non-violence Mahatma Gandhi, who led India's independence movement." [DN
0909]

DID YOU HEAR THIS IN THE US MEDIA? "Amnesty International yesterday issued
a report yesterday charging Israel's widespread use of closures,
blockades, checkpoints and curfews in the Occupied Territories, have
crippled the Palestinian economy, caused widespread poverty, unemployment
and has essentially put 3 and a half million Palestinians under house
arrest. Amnesty also called for a halt to the construction of new
settlements and the security wall in the West Bank." [DN 0909]

WHAT THE REST OF THE WORLD HEARS. "Four Palestinians, including a
13-year-old boy, were killed when an apartment block in the West Bank town
of Hebron was attacked by Israeli troops ... In the Gaza Strip the
bullet-ridden corpse of Muhammad Abd Allah al-Husni was removed on Monday
morning near the town of Jabaliya. According to local medical sources,
17-year-old Muhammad was shot repeatedly over several hours and prevented
from calling for help on his mobile phone by an Israeli military post.
Israeli soldiers continued taking shots, mostly at al-Husni's legs,
whenever he made any attempt to move or treat himself. When an ambulance
arrived, medics were prevented from attending to him. Locals recovered
al-Husni's body which had multiple wounds to the head, neck, stomach and
legs hours after al-Husni's fatal ordeal. About 500 under-18s have died
since the Intifada began in September 2000 - the vast majority of them
with bullet wounds to the head." [AL-JAZEERA 0909] "Three Palestinians
were killed in a blundering assassination attempt by Israel as an F-16
fighter jet tried to take out a senior Hamas political leader." [AJ 0910]

THEY'RE REAL PEOPLE. "The doctor David Appelbaum, was in the caf=E9 with
hi= s daughter Nava, on the eve of her wedding. They both died. The
violence continued this morning when Israeli warplanes destroyed the home
of Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar. While he survived the assassination
attempt, his son and bodyguard died in the attack. The Associated Press
reports the bombing marked the first time Israeli forces attacked a Hamas
leader in his home. After the attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
cut short his trip to India to return. The Israeli cabinet is meeting
today to decide whether to launch a major invasion of Gaza or to expel
Palestinian leader Yaser Arafat." [DN 0910]

"WE" MEANS ISRAELI JEWS. An editorial in the Jerusalem Post: "Kill Arafat.
The world will not help us; we must help ourselves. We must kill as many
of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders as possible, as quickly possible,
while minimizing collateral damage, but not letting that damage stop us.
And we must kill Yasser Arafat, because the world leaves us no alternative
=2E.. If we are going to be condemned in any case, we might as well do it
right." [JP 0911]

WHAT TO DO WITH AN INEFFECTUAL QUISLING? "Israeli security cabinet's vote
to expel Yasser Arafat ... was deliberately vague and could also mean that
Israeli forces will try to arrest him or even, says the Times, kill him.
One Israeli official told the Post, 'He is not an object for a targeted
killing.' But various analysts in the papers guessed that Arafat might go
down shooting if Israel tries to arrest him. The WP adds that top Israeli
intel officials oppose banishing Arafat. They figure that exile would help
his profile and his fund raising. Better, say the intel sources, to
completely isolate Arafat in his own HQ-as the NYT puts it, bring the
prison to him." [SLATE 0912]

BUT 75% OF ISRAELIS ARE WILLING TO WITHDRAW FROM THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES.
"More than one in three Israelis wants to see Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat killed, according to a public opinion poll published on Friday.
When asked, 'What should be done with Arafat?' 37 per cent replied that he
should be 'liquidated'. Another 23 per cent opted for expelling Arafat
from the Palestinian territories. Twenty-one per cent said that they
wanted to see Arafat continue to be penned up by the Israeli army at his
headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Only 15 per cent thought
he should be given freedom of movement and that Israel should re-engage
with him in a bid to reach a peace deal. Ironically, even though most
respondents favoured tough action against Arafat, they were split on
whether it would make a difference. Twenty-six per cent actually thought
anti-Israeli violence would increase, while 27 per cent thought the
situation would improve. The poll, by the independent Dahaf Institute, was
conducted on Thursday night, just as the Israeli Security Cabinet was
preparing to adopt a decision in principle to 'remove' Arafat. A statement
after the meeting said, 'The events of these last few days have proved
again that Yasser Arafat is an absolute obstacle to all attempts at
reconciliation between the Israelis and the Palestinians.' 'Israel will
act to remove this obstacle in a manner and at a time which will be
decided afterwards,' it concluded, without saying if or how it would act.
The poll, published on Friday by the daily Yediot Aharonot, had a margin
of error of 4." [AP 0912]

AND THIS WOULD CONTINUE THE WAR THAT JUSTIFIES THE ISRAELI GOVERNMENT'S
EXISTENCE. "The Israeli Government does not exclude killing Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat, a cabinet minister has said. In an interview with
Israel Radio, Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said it was now only a
practical question of how to get rid of Mr Arafat." [BBC 0914]

	"The real criminal in this story is Ehud Barak. In order to hide
	his monumental failure as a peace-maker, he created the legend
	that 'we offered them everything and they rejected everything.'
	This historic lie is the connecting link between the two seemingly
	contradictory results of the polls: the majority is ready to pay
	the price of peace but does not believe that peace is possible. So
	let's support Sharon." --Uri Avnery 6/7/2002

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