[Peace] News notes 2005-03-06

[C. G. Estabrook]

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	Notes from last week's "global war on terrorism,"
	for the AWARE meeting, Sunday, March 6, 2005.
	(Sources provided on request; a paragraph followed
	by a bracketed source is substantially verbatim.)
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	"Often war is waged only in order to show valor; thus an inner
	dignity is ascribed to war itself, and even some philosophers have
	praised it as an ennoblement of humanity, forgetting the
	pronouncement of the Greek who said, 'War is an evil inasmuch as
	it produces more wicked men than it takes away.'" --Immanuel Kant

[1. MILITARY] It's not clear whether it was the brutal incompetence of the
US occupation -- or an attempt to prevent the payment of ransom for a
left-wing reporter held hostage in Iraq -- that led US soldiers to kill an
Italian secret service agent and wound the hostage and perhaps some others
but it is clear that the US lied about the circumstances. Italian
journalist Giuliana Sgrena writes that her Iraqi captors warned her "to be
careful because the Americans don't want you to return." Sgrena suggests
that the US doesn't approve of this [ransom] policy and so they try to
stop it in any way possible." The AP reports, The shooting Friday has
fueled anti-American sentiment in a country where people are deeply
opposed to US policy in Iraq.
	The Israeli paper Haaretz reports that the Marines are setting up
a private Iraqi army called the Iraqi Freedom Guard (SOP in, say,
Nicaragua, that established the Somoza dictatorship).  Marine Corps for
the first time in over a decade missed its recruiting target for two
consecutive months; and suicides in the marines are up 30%, the majority
under the age of 25.  The US is hiring ad agencies to recruit more
African-Americans/Latinos; not surprisingly, the war has hurt recruiting
of African-Americans.  Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA) proposes a law to protect
students from military recruiters, and the journal New Scientist reports
the dismay of pain researchers that the Pentagon is using their work o
make new and weapons that cause maximum pain for crowd control.

[2. TORTURE] The NYT today reveals that immediately after September 11,
2001, the Bush administration authorized the CIA to "render" prisoners --
secretly fly them to foreign countries for torture and interrogation.
Italian prosecutors are investigating the case of an imam kidnapped by
American agents to Egypt. The LAT reports an American official
acknowledged this was a case of extraordinary rendition, saying the imam
was "considered a veteran jihadist."
	The NYT reports that US-run Iraq Prisons are vastly overcrowded:
the largest is not Abu Ghraib but Camp Bucca in south.  The WP reports on
the CIA's secret jails, including the story of an Afghan at a prison near
Kabul chained to the floor and frozen to death; buried in an unmarked
grave, his family never notified, and never acknowledged as a prisoner.
The new CIA agent responsible was promoted.  But the Senate Intelligence
Committee rejects calls for an investigation of CIA torture.
	In other cases, the ACLU and some ex-detainees are suing Rumsfeld
for torture. An Army intelligence sergeant who accused fellow soldiers in
Samarra, Iraq, of abusing detainees in 2003 was sent to a psychiatrist. A
strange State Department report accuses our puppet Iraqi government of
torture -- perhaps because the puppets are getting some strings tangled:
the Iraqi Health Ministry actually accused the US of using banned weapons
napalm, gas in Fallujah.  The State Department report primarily criticized
other nations for using methods approved by the administration.  Russia
and China released simultaneous reports detailing US human rights abuses,
and Rumsfeld said, "We hope and pray [China] enters the civilized world in
an orderly way."

[3. ECONOMY] Unemployment rate rose to 5.4 percent from January's 5.2
percent, and central bank chairman Greenspan warns that the baby-boom bump
on Social Security and Medicare means more taxes or a cut in benefits; he
prefers the latter.  New Senate Minority leader Harry Reid, in a rookie
burst of candor, called Greenspan one of the biggest political hacks we
have here in Washington.

[4. LAW] The Supreme Ends the Death Penalty for Youths, and a Federal
Judge Orders 'Enemy Combatant' Jose Padilla Charged Or Released: he's been
imprisoned w/o trail for almost 3 years. The Supreme Court also Rules Cold
War Spies Cannot Sue the CIA for breach of contract. NPR reports that the
USG has placed Monitoring Bracelets on 1,700 Immigrants not accused of
crimes. Meanwhile, the WSJ reports that the Justice Dept Investigating
Halliburton For Rigging Bids

[5. POLLS] Zogby: Americans disapprove of the handling of the Iraq war
(61%-39%) and of foreign policy (56%-40%) but (strangely) approve of the
handling of the GWOT (54%-45%). Only 39% say the war was worth the cost
(54% no), but Bush would still beat Kerry (46%-42%), with third parties
now 7%. Bush's job approval 46%, down from 50% after the election.
	USAT/CNN/Gallup: Approval of Social Security plan drops to 35%;
Bush's approval rating is 56%, compared to 75% for the AARP, and Democrats
are more trusted on issue.
	Gallup: against terrorists, Americans would approve assassination
by 65%; but only 39% approve of torture; and only 27% would approve of
using nuclear weapons against terrorists (down from 34% in 2001).
	NYT/CBS finds Bush priorities out of step with Americans (63%):
	--an overwhelming number say Bush has no clear plan for getting
out of Iraq;
	--4 of 5 said it was the government's responsibility to assure a
decent SOL for the elderly.
	--of 5 domestic issues, Social Security rated 3rd, behind jobs and
health care;  --a majority oppose pre-emptive action against North Korea
(before the war in Iraq, a majority said they would support military
action)
	Meanwhile, 48 Vermont towns voted against Iraq War and called for
the State's National Guard to come home.  But all is not lost: the NYT &
Guardian/UK both ran pro-war editorials this week.

[6. AFGHANISTAN] A small regional paper, the Vermont Guardian, reports the
shooting of Afghani villagers. President Karzai names warlord Abdul Rashid
Dostum chief-of-staff: the BBC describes him as repeatedly accused of
carrying out human rights abuses. But there's been a bumper crop in opium:
I assume it's brought down the retail price of heroin in this country.

[7. CANADA] PM Paul Martin would not sign on to the US missile defense
program; so American ambassador Paul Cellucci declared that Canada was
giving up its sovereignty by that action and that the US will decide when
to fire missiles over Canada whether Canada likes it or not. Martin relied
that the US must not intrude on Canadian airspace, and so SOS Rice Called
Off a trip to Canada, the US harassed the Canadian Defense Minister on a
US flight and refused to say if he was on a No-Fly List, as the Canadians
suggested. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Tuesday that Moscow
was creating a new nuclear weapon to thwart any defense system

[8. HAITI] Police opened fire on thousands of demonstrators who marched
through the Bel-Air neighborhood of Port-au-Prince Monday to mark the
anniversary of the coup that ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and
call for his return.

[9. INDONESIA] Rice restores US military training in Indonesia after 10+
years break.  Indonesia sentenced Abu Bakar Bashir for the 2002 Bali
nightclub bombings to the dismay of the US and Australia, only to 2 years.

[10. ISRAEL] Haaretz gives a withering account of Dan Halutz, the new head
of the Israeli army: IDF deserves a man lacking moral inhibitions, as he
does, it says. The mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, writes in the
Guardian that PM Sharon is a "war criminal" and that Israel uses the
charge of anti-Semitism; "racist attacks in Europe today are on black
people, Asians and Muslims."

[11. LA] Much of Latin America now has center-left governments. In
Uruguay, Tabare Vazquez on Tuesday became the country's first ever leftist
president, and Venezuela's Chavez explicitly speaks of socialism.
	Meanwhile, the US bars Nicaraguan heroine Dora Maria Tellez as
'terrorist' from becoming a professor at Harvard, and Cardinal Jaime
Ortega, Archbishop of Havana, is harassed by DHS officers in Miami as 'a
dangerous person.  But a US. Court Reverses $54M Verdict Against
Salvadoran Generals Convicted of Torture

[12. SYRIA] SOS Rice pressures Syria and says that Israel has 'evidence'
that Syria is responsible for the Beirut bombing. Hillary Rodham Clinton
called for tougher punishment against Syria, and a Republican congressman
who flew in Korea and Vietnam says the the US should nuke Syria.

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   C. G. Estabrook <www.newsfromneptune.com>
   "News from Neptune" (Saturdays 10-11AM), and
   "From Bard to Verse: A Program of the Spoken Arts"
   (Saturdays noon-1PM) on WEFT, Champaign, 90.1 FM,
   Community Radio for East Central Illinois
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