[Peace-discuss] News notes 040926

[C. G. Estabrook]

        Notes from last week's "global war on terrorism" --
        for the AWARE meeting, Sunday, September 26, 2004.
        (Sources provided on request.)

[1. AUTUMN] The world is out of kilter, about 23% from the ecliptic, and
therefore fall began this week, as a line connecting the sun to the center
of the earth appeared to cross the equator. After a month's travel in
Europe, I can do no better for a news summary this autumn than what
according to the minutes Lisa offered last week: things are bad and
getting worse.

[2. MILITARY] The Washington Post declared on Sunday that "Iraq is
collapsing into chaos," but the chaos seems much more a matter of US
military action.  On the weekend the US launched attacks against Fallujah,
Ramadi, and Sadr City.  Knight-Ridder reported this week that the US is
killing twice as many Iraqis -- most of them civilians -- as attacks by
insurgents are.  Contrary to administration assurances, Secretary of State
Colin Powell says that the situation in Iraq is getting worse -- and that
anti-Americanism is growing in the Muslim world.

[3. ALLAWI] US puppet PM Allawi met with UKPM Blair, addressed a joint
session of Congress, and held a joint news conference with Bush. On PBS,
Allawi was asked, "What would you say to somebody in the United States who
questions whether or not getting rid of Saddam Hussein was worth the cost
of more than a thousand lives now and billions and billions of U.S.
dollars?"  He answered, "Well, I assure you if Saddam was still there,
terrorists will be hitting there again at Washington and New York, as they
did in the murderous attack in September; they'll be hitting also on other
places in Europe and the Middle East."

[4. PROPAGANDA] Bush, determined to put an optimistic face on deadly
conditions in Iraq, said on Tuesday that the CIA was "just guessing"  
when it said that Iraq was in danger of slipping into civil war.
Meanwhile, the NYT reported that a virulent form of hepatitis that is
especially lethal for pregnant women has broken out in two Iraqi
districts, owing to a collapse of water and sewage systems. MSNBC
dutifully reports, "Violence surges even as conditions improve."

[4. NEOCONS] Speaking of falls, a year ago this week, leading neocon
whackjob Richard Perle said in an American Enterprise Institute keynote
speech (September 22, 2003), "A year from now, I'll be very surprised if
there is not some grand square in Baghdad that is named after President
Bush."  [Or, as the pedantic adulterer said to his wife, "No, no, my dear,
I am surprised: you are amazed..."]

[5. ISRAEL] In the US other occupation, this Yom Kippur Israel destroyed
30 houses in Gaza in response to the death of a settler. Israel admitted
planting a car bomb that killed a Hamas leader in Syria, and two
Palestinians were wounded when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile at
Khan Yunis refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.

[6. IRAN] Israel admitted that it is buying 500 "bunker-buster" bombs,
which could be used to hit Iran's nuclear facilities. The BLU-109 bombs,
which can penetrate more than 7ft of reinforced concrete, are among
"smart" munitions being sold to Israel under America's military aid
program. "This is not the sort of ordnance needed for the Palestinian
front. Bunker busters could serve Israel against Iran, or possibly Syria,"
an Israeli source said. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the sale would
take place after the November presidential election. And, although they're
calling it a sale, the US is giving Israel the money for the bombs.

[7. MEDIA] CBS News has shelved a "60 Minutes" report on the rationale for
war in Iraq because it would be "inappropriate" to air it so close to the
presidential election, the network said on Saturday. The report on weapons
of mass destruction was set to air on Sept. 8 but was put off in favor of
a story on President Bush's National Guard service.

[8. HOSTAGES] UKPM Blair told the family of a British man taken hostage in
Iraq that there were "limitations" to what the government could do to
secure Ken Bigley's release. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the
government could not bow to the demands of the captors for Iraqi women
prisoners' release. The group has demanded the release of women it says
are held by coalition authorities in the Abu Ghraib and Umm Qasr prisons
in Iraq. But the US has said no women are held at either jail, although
two female "security prisoners" are held elsewhere. More than 100
foreigners have been abducted by insurgents in Iraq over the past 17
months.

[9. CONGRESS] In the late-Friday news-black-hole this week, the Republican
leaders of the House of Representatives this week revealed their "9/11
Commission Implementation Act," which contains several Patriot 2
provisions.

[10. UN] The audience was silent when Bush spoke to the UN on Tuesday, but
the Secretary-General was not.  Kofi Annan had said again, in a BBC
interview, that the invasion of Iraq was illegal; he opened the meeting of
191 states by warning that the "rule of law" is at risk around the world.
"No one is above the law," Annan said. "He condemned the taking and
killing of hostages in Iraq, but also said Iraqi prisoners had been
disgracefully abused" [AP]. In a brief speech that prompted no applause,
Bush used his fall-back justification for killing tens of thousands of
people and maiming hundreds of thousands: it "helped to deliver the Iraqi
people from an outlaw dictator."

  ==============================================================
  C. G. Estabrook
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [MC-190]
  109 Observatory, 901 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana IL 61801 USA
  office: 217.244.4105 mobile: 217.369.5471 home: 217.359.9466
  <www.newsfromneptune.com> <www.carlforcongress.org>
  ===============================================================
  If the Nuremberg laws were applied today, then every post-war
  American president would have to be hanged.  --Noam Chomsky
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