[Peace] News notes 2005-06-19

[Carl Estabrook]

[A slightly better formatted version than that sent earlier.]

   ==================================================
   Notes from last week's "global war on terrorism,"
   for the AWARE meeting, Sunday, June 19, 2005.
   (Sources provided on request; a paragraph followed
   by a bracketed source is substantially verbatim.)
   ==================================================

Vacation travel has meant a three-week hiatus in these notes.

A one-sentence summary of the past three weeks would run as follows.
Despite carnage in Iraq, increasing opposition from the the public, the
courts, the Congress and foreign governments, the administration (or
rather the Pentagon) shows that it doesn't care and it doesn't have to:
present policies of murder, torture and illegal incarceration will
continue.

[1. OCCUPATION] A suicide bomber has killed at least 23 people in a
restaurant near the Green Zone in Baghdad today (Sunday 19 June). At least
six of those killed were policemen. The blast -- claimed by the group of
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- injured 36 people ... More than 1,000 people --
mostly Iraqis -- have been killed since the new government was formed in
April. [BBC]
	Suicide bombings in Iraq are occurring at the rate of 30 per week.
That compares to one a week in January of last year. [USAT]
	Today's attack came despite an operation by about 1,000 US and
Iraqi troops north-west of Baghdad. And across Iraq, insurgents kept up
their raids on security forces. US-led forces claim success in a major
raid near the Syrian border. About 1,000 US and Iraqi troops are engaged
in a battle there, claiming to have killed some 50 rebels with another 100
captured since the start of Operation Spear on Friday. British warplanes
were called in to support the American-led operation in an unusual move,
says the BBC.
	Apparently with US support, Kurdish militia in Kirkuk have
abducted hundreds of local Arabs and Turkmen and shipped them off --
without charges or judicial process -- to Kurdish-run prisons. The men are
captured on joint U.S.-Kurdish patrols and secretly jailed. [WP]
	The Pentagon leaks to the NYT (again today) charges of an
increasing presence of foreign fighters in Iraq; the Times admits their
numbers are small but insists "they are seen as playing an important role
in the insurgency." The NYT reports the discovery of an insurgent torture
center during Operation Spear that contained four imprisoned Iraqis. In
classical rhetoric, this is called the tu-quoque argument (i.e., you're
just as bad as we are). [Slate]
	Bush said Saturday that pulling out of Iraq now is not an option
... "We will settle for nothing less than victory," he said. "We went to
war because we were attacked [sic!] ... Some may disagree with my decision
to remove Saddam Hussein from power, but all of us can agree that the
world's terrorists have now made Iraq a central front in the war on
terror," he said. [AP] They certainly have.

[2. WAR] Documents are appearing about the lies that led up to the US-UK
committing what Nuremberg called the supreme international crime,
launching an aggressive war.  Their appearance is surrounded by silence,
first in the American media, which have been trying studiously to ignore
them, and secondly from those responsible for their leaking.  Who are
they?  One possibility is anti-war elements in the Blair government who
are trying to prevent the UK from joining similar operations against Iran.
	In another leak, Britain's Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram has
admitted that the Bush administration lied to British officials about the
use of napalm-type firebombs in Iraq. In a private letter obtained by The
Independent newspaper of London, Ingram says the US originally told him
they had not used so-called MK77s in Iraq at any time but then writes "I
regret to say that I have since discovered that this is not the case and
must now correct the position."
	Representative John Conyers convened the first public hearing on
the Downing Street Memo and other recently released British documents that
he says show the Bush administration's "efforts to cook the books on
pre-war intelligence." The jam-packed hearing was held in a small basement
meeting room in the Capitol because Republicans refused to allow the
Democrats to hold an official hearing. After the meeting, Conyers
delivered a petition to the White House, signed by more than a half a
million Americans calling on President Bush to answer questions on the
documents. More than 120 members of Congress also signed the letter.
	In an amazing bit of pro-administration raillery, the Washington
Post account (by Dana Milbank) was headlined "Democrats Play House To
Rally Against the War."  Its lede was, "In the Capitol basement yesterday,
long-suffering House Democrats took a trip to the land of make-believe."
But the real source of the Post's anxiety was revealed in the fourth
paragraph: "The session was a mock impeachment inquiry over the Iraq war."
Calls for impeachment of the USG leadership have increased in the last
weeks.
	But in general the supposed opposition party, the Democrats,
continues to lie about US policy and the position of Israel in the
"Greater Middle East." After all, it's their policy, too. So House
Minority Leader Pelosi and Sen. Clinton give rabidly pro-Israel speeches
at the AIPAC meeting, and the fake-liberal chairman of the party, Howard
Dean, combines some speculations on Israel's role in 9/11 with testimony
from Conyers' hearing, and condemns them both as "anti-Semitism." With
enemies like this, the Bush administration doesn't need friends.
	A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a House resolution this
week calling on Bush to announce an exit strategy from Iraq. Among the
sponsors of the resolution is North Carolina Republican Walter Jones, the
man behind the effort to change the name of "French fries" to "freedom
fries" in the Congressional cafeteria. Among the other sponsors are
Republican Ron Paul of Texas and Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich. Senator
Russ Feingold of Wisconsin has introduced a similar measure in the Senate.
Last week the House International Relations Committee voted to call on the
White House to develop and submit a plan to Congress for establishing a
stable government and military in Iraq that would "permit a decreased U.S.
presence" there. Next week, Representative Rahm Emanuel, an Illinois
Democrat, is planning to read on the House floor the names of more than
1,700 US soldiers who have died in Iraq.

[3. POLLS] A New York Times/CBS poll published Friday shows that only 37
percent of people in the US now say they approve of Bush's handling of the
situation in Iraq. That's down from 45 percent in February. The poll says
that a strong and increasing majority of Americans, sixty percent, now
believe the US mission in Iraq is going badly. This comes as the Bush
administration is launching a major public relations campaign on Iraq that
will include a series of radio addresses and appearances outside
Washington and a major address on June 28, the one-year anniversary of the
so-called transfer of sovereignty in Iraq. Four days before that, he will
meet at the White House with Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
	A Gallup poll shows support for the war in Iraq continuing to
decline. Fifty-nine percent of respondents said the U.S. should withdraw
some or all troops; that's 10 points higher than in February ... USA Today
reports that for the first time, a majority would be “upset” if
President Bush sent more troops. A new low, 36%, say troop levels should
be maintained or increased ... In an ABC News-Washington Post poll last
week, two-thirds said the U.S. military was bogged down in Iraq, and
nearly three-quarters called the casualty level unacceptable ... In the
Gallup Poll, 56% say the Iraq war wasn't "worth it" ... the top reasons
cited are fraudulent claims and no weapons of mass destruction found; the
number of people killed and wounded; and ... that Iraq posed no threat to
the United States. Of the 42% who say the war was worth it, the top
reasons cited are the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the need to
stop terrorism and a desire to end the oppression of the Iraqi people.
	For the first time since the war in Iraq began, more than half of
the American public believes the fight there has not made the United
States safer, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. While the
focus in Washington has shifted from the Iraq conflict to Social Security
and other domestic matters, the survey found that Americans continue to
rank Iraq second only to the economy in importance ... two-thirds say the
U.S. military there is bogged down and nearly six in 10 say the war was
not worth fighting ... Perhaps most ominous for President Bush, 52 percent
said war in Iraq has not contributed to the long-term security of the
United States, while 47 percent said it has. It was the first time a
majority of Americans disagreed with the central notion Bush has offered
to build support for war ... Overall, more than half -- 52 percent --
disapprove of how Bush is handling his job, the highest of his presidency.
A somewhat larger majority -- 56 percent -- disapproved of Republicans in
Congress, and an identical proportion disapproved of Democrats ... For the
first time, a majority, 55 percent, also said Bush has done more to divide
the country than to unite it ... By 50 percent to 49 percent, Americans
approved of the way Bush is handling the campaign against terrorism, down
from 56 percent approval in April, equaling the lowest rating he has
earned on the issue that has consistently been his core strength with the
public ... A plurality said Bush is doing worse in his second term than in
his first, and 58 percent said he is not concentrating on the things that
matter most to them -- the worst showing Bush has had in this measure in
Post-ABC polls. Congress fared no better. The proportion of the public
disapproving of the legislative body was at its highest since late 1998,
during President Bill Clinton's impeachment. More people said they would
look at a candidate other than their sitting representative than at any
point in nearly eight years. For the first time since April 2001,
Democrats (46 percent) were trusted more than Republicans (41 percent) to
cope with the nation's problems. But at the same time, favorability
ratings for the Democratic Party, at 51 percent, tied their all-time low
... While six in 10 were confident that the United States was not
violating the rights of detainees at the military base in Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, Americans were more skeptical that the government is protecting the
rights of U.S. citizens at home. Only half said Americans' rights were
being adequately protected, down from 69 percent in September 2003. [WP]}

[4. TORTURE] The Bush administration declared this week that the inmates
in Guantanamo could be jailed there "in perpetuity" ... Critics have
decried the indefinite detention of Guantanamo prisoners, whom the United
States has denied rights accorded under the Geneva Conventions to
prisoners of war. The prison, was called "the gulag of our times" in a
recent Amnesty International report. The Supreme Court ruled a year ago
[Rasul v. Bush 6/28/04] that Guantanamo prisoners had the right to seek
their release in federal court, but the administration has ignored that
ruling.  The administration says that the annual review by the military
commissions created by the Pentagon were the appropriate forum for trying
Guantanamo prisoners. Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama said, "Some
of them need to be executed."
	Although he accepts the propaganda position that "We were clearly
at war" after 9/11, Sen. Durbin made some obviously true remarks in the
Senate about the US torture and incarceration policies
<durbin.senate.gov/gitmo.cfm>.  But he received no support from
congressional Democrats (such as that fiery liberal spirit, Sen. Obama),
so he's now backtracked on what he did say.  The administration
successfully made his remarks, rather than their crimes, the issue.
	Undeterred, the Pentagon has just announced that it is expanding
the Guantanamo prison. Defense Department officials said this week that
(guess who) Halliburton has been given a contract to build a new $30
million detention facility and security fence. The facility is part of a
larger contract that could be worth up to $500 million.
	In Iraq, according to the Human Rights Ministry, up to 60 percent
of the approximately 12,000 prisoners face some kind of abuse while
imprisoned, consistent with US policy -- but the US ascribes it to Saddam
Hussein's legacy. [LAT]
	Senate Republicans are calling on the Bush administration to
reassess U.S. financial support for the International Committee of the Red
Cross, charging that the group is using American funds to lobby against
U.S. interests. [LAT]

[5. CONGRESS] The House of Representatives voted Wednesday to block a
Patriot Act provision allowing the FBI to search library and bookstore
records.

[6. AFGHANISTAN] US warplanes have killed up to 20 suspected rebels in an
air strike in Afghanistan, the US military says. The US has about 18,000
troops in Afghanistan. [BBC]

[7. GME] The Pentagon�[who make their own foreign policy these days] --
together with Russia -- successfully blocked a NATO call for an
independent probe of last month's massacre in Uzbekistan. Defense
officials argued that the U.S. base there is really really handy. In
contrast to the Pentagon, the State Department has repeatedly and publicly
called for an independent investigation. [SLATE]

[8. EU] The EU summit in Brussels breaks down as the "New Labour"
government of the UK presses for US-approved neoliberal policies and the
supposedly rightist government of France defends the social gains of
Europeans.

[9. IRAN] Elections in Iran produced a runoff next Friday between two
conservative politicians, the mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and
former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, amid charges that the election in
some places resembled Ohio or Florida.

[10. ISRAEL] Israel has publicly apologised to the US over a deal to sell
military technology to China. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said
he was sorry if Israel had acted in a way which was not acceptable to the
Americans. [BBC]
	US prosecutors announced upgraded charges Monday against a Defense
Department analyst accused of disclosing government secrets, saying for
the first time that Lawrence Franklin conspired to give classified
information to a foreign government (guess who).

  ===================================================
  C. G. Estabrook, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar
  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.carlforcongress.org> <www.newsfromneptune.com>
  ===================================================