[Peace] News notes 2005-05-22

[C. G. Estabrook]

        ==================================================
        Notes from last week's "global war on terrorism,"
        for the AWARE meeting, Sunday, May 22, 2005.
        (Sources provided on request; a paragraph followed
        by a bracketed source is substantially verbatim.)
        ==================================================

	Our men ... have killed to exterminate men, women, children,
	prisoners and captives, active insurgents and suspected people
	from lads of 10 up.... Our soldiers have pumped salt water into
	men to "make them talk," and have taken prisoners people who held
	up their hands and peacefully surrendered, and an hour later ...
	stood them on a bridge and shot them down one by one, to drop into
	the water below and float down, as examples to those who found
	their bullet-loaded corpses...  --an American correspondent for
	the Philadelphia Ledger in 1901, describing US actions in the
	suppression of the insurgency in the Philippines, which the US had
	taken from Spain.

[1. WAR] The chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on
Investigations -- Sen. Joseph McCarthy's committee 50 years ago -- is
Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, an opponent of the Vietnam War
in his youth who now says, "God bless America is a prayer, and George Bush
is God's answer to that prayer."  The committee has recently bypassed an
illegal war, the torture policy, extraordinary rendition, and the CIA's
secret prisons in order to investigate peculation in the defunct UN Oil
for Food program. Ignoring also how the USG permitted billions of dollars
of oil to go to client states like Jordan and Turkey in violation of the
sanctions, the committee focused on how two non-US citizens may have
profited personally. One of them, George Galloway, an anti-war British MP,
came to Washington to testify before the committee and destroyed both
Republican and Democrat positions by telling the truth about the war: "You
[senators] are responsible for the death of 100,000 people and 1600
American soldiers," he said. US media coverage was scant and disapproving:
CNN's Blitzer said, "You don't ususally get that kind of vitriol."
	The White House has announced that it sees "no need" to respond to
letter from 89 House Democrats seeking more information about secret
British memo regarding Bush's intention for war. [NYT] After succesfully
ducking the question for eight straight briefings, the White House press
secretary was forced to give an off-camera response this week. And what an
amazing response it was. CNN.com reports: Claims in a recently uncovered
British memo that intelligence was "being fixed" to support the Iraq war
as early as mid-2002 are "flat out wrong," White House press secretary
Scott McClellan said Monday.

[2. OCCUPATION] More than 1,000 Sunni Arab leaders declared that they are
uniting to participate in the political process and aid in the writing of
Iraq's constitution. The speakers at the meeting, who included members of
groups that pushed for the boycott of January's election, urged Sunnis to
participate in Iraqi politics. The meeting of Sunni leaders, comes at a
time of increasing tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims [which the US
is clearly encouraging, a recent visitor to Iraq says, in order to divide
and rule]. Speakers at the conference accused Iraqi security forces,
largely run by Shiites, of perpetrating violence against Sunnis and they
demanded the resignation of Iraq's new interior minister. The minister
rejected their demand saying, "Those who didn't vote have no right to ask
for this." The Sunni leaders issued a statement against "terrorist acts
that target civilians, no matter the reason" but went on to say:
"resisting the occupier is a legitimate right." [Slate]
	Thousands of Shiites, many waving Islam's holy book over their
heads, protested the U.S. presence in Iraq on Friday after the detention
of several supporters of a radical cleric, while Sunnis shut down places
of worship elsewhere in a show of anger over alleged sectarian violence
against the minority... The Shiite protests in the southern cities of
Najaf, Kufa and Nasiriyah ... drew an estimated total of 6,000
demonstrators in the three cities, followed radical cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr's call Wednesday to reject the U.S. occupation of Iraq by painting
Israeli and American flags on the ground outside mosques to be stepped on
in protest raids against holy places. "...we warn the government not to
fight the al-Sadr movement because all the tyrants of the world could not
beat it," Hazim al-Araji, the imam of a mosque in Kufa during Friday's
sermon. "We say to the government do not be a tyrant like Saddam or
(former interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad) Allawi." In the Shiite holy
cities of Najaf and Kufa, al-Sadr followers painted American and Israeli
flags on most streets near mosques before stepping on them. "Down, down
Israel; down, down USA," chanted protesters following midday prayers at a
Kufa mosque. In Nasiriyah, 200 miles southeast of Baghdad, al-Sadr
supporters clashed with guards at the headquarters of Dhi Qar provincial
governor, Aziz Abed Alwan... Sunni clerics also delivered fiery sermons in
Baghdad and Ramadi, in the volatile Sunni Triangle in western Iraq,
repeating a call from three of Iraq's most influential Sunni organizations
for the places of worship to be shut for three days to protest alleged
Shiite violence against them.
	Al-Sadr called for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from
Iraq. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Iraqi government
that U.S. forces would remain until the fledging nation "can defend
itself." Rice made a surprise visit to Baghdad Sunday. During her
top-secret trip Rice claimed the U.S. invasion of Iraq was not a
preemptive attack. She said "this war came to us, not the other way
around" [sic].
	The US has said its forces have cleared an area in north-west Iraq
of insurgents following a week-long operation codenamed Matador. The
Americans said they had killed more than 125 rebels for the loss of nine
of their own men, with 40 wounded. The campaign, involving air strikes and
at least 1,000 ground troops, took place close to the border with Syria
... The operation was the largest campaign against insurgents since the
US-led assault on Falluja in November. As with the siege of Fallujah, U.S.
claims are being challenged now by independent sources: ... hospitals cite
civilian deaths; thousands remain homeless ... tribal leaders are saying
the recent U.S. offensive near the Syrian border has been a disaster for
local residents. According to the Knight Ridder news agency, local
tribesman requested U.S. assistance to force foreign fighters from the
area. But once they arrived U.S. troops failed to distinguish between the
Iraqis who supported the United States and the fighters battling it. [DN]
	U.S. generals are taking a gloomier Iraq view. The generals pulled
back from recent suggestions -- including those by some of the same
officers -- that positive trends in Iraq could allow a reduction in the
138,000 U.S. troops in Iraq late this year or early in 2006. One senior
officer suggested Wednesday that U.S. military involvement could last
"many years." [IHT]
	The American effort in Iraq may be locked in a "vicious circle",
according to a new report that surveys Iraqi public opinion data and
interviews with Iraqis. The report, released on Wednesday 18 May 2005 by
the Project on Defense Alternatives, concludes that US military actions
meant to quell the insurgency have increased its recruiting base.
	On Capitol Hill, Congressman Jim McDermott has introduced a bill
calling for the government to conduct health and environmental tests on
the military's use of depleted uranium. McDermott said, "We pretended
there was no problem with Agent Orange after Vietnam and later the
Pentagon recanted, after untold suffering by veterans. I want to know
scientifically if DU poses serious dangers to our soldiers and Iraqi
civilians." About 300 metric tons of depleted uranium munitions were fired
during the first Gulf War, and about half that amount has been used to
date in the ongoing Iraq War. 21 other lawmakers have co-sponsored the
bill known as the Depleted Uranium Munitions Study Act.

[3. "GREATER MIDDLE EAST"] Muslim protesters Friday called for the bombing
of New York in a demonstration outside the US embassy in London. The
demonstration coincided with protests across the world. On the West Bank
2,500 Palestinians streamed out of mosques shouting "Death to America". In
Calcutta, India, protesters burned, spat and urinated on the US flag. And
in Somalia thousands chanted anti-US slogans.
	G. Palast: "It's appalling that this story got out there,"
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on her way back from Iraq [on the
desecration of the Koran]. What's NOT appalling to Condi is that the US is
holding prisoners at Guantanamounder conditions termed "torture" by the
Red Cross. What's not appalling to Condi is that prisoners of the Afghan
war are held in violation of international law after that conflict has
supposedly ended. What is NOT appalling to Condi is that prisoner
witnesses have reported several instances of the Koran's desecration.
	On Monday White House spokesperson Scott McClellan said "The
report has had serious consequences. People have lost their lives. The
image of the United States abroad has been damaged." Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld said "People need to be very careful about what they say
and just as people need to be careful about what they do." And the
conservative media watchdog group Accuracy in Media said "blood is on the
hands of Newsweek magazine."
	The United States has netted another al-Qaeda No.3, the sixth No.3
to be downed dead or alive in its war on terrorism. [indiatimes.com]
	More evidence has emerged that the US is waging covert operations
in Pakistan. ABC News is reporting the CIA has assassinated a suspected
member of Al Qaeda inside Pakistan by firing a missile at him using
unmanned CIA Predator drone. According to the Washington Post, the CIA and
U.S. Special Operations forces have been quietly operating inside Pakistan
for more than two years with the knowledge of Pakistani authorities. The
assassination marks one of the first incidences reported of the CIA using
an unmanned drone to kill. In November 2002 a CIA Predator drone fired a
five-foot-long Hellfire missile to kill a suspected member of Al Qaeda in
Yemen. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush approved a policy to
empower the CIA to carry out assassinations of suspected Al Qaeda members
throughout the world -- even in nations not at war with the United States.
[DN]
	The political reform movement in Saudi Arabia has suffered another
major setback. The royal kingdom has jailed three academics for up to nine
years in prison for petitioning the royal family to move toward a
constitutional monarchy.
	There is no way to confirm numbers offered by refugees, but it
seemed likely that when the truth emerges, the massacre in Uzbekistan, an
American ally in the fight against terrorism, could become the deadliest
assault on civilians since the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1998
[Telegraph] You won't hear many in Washington calling for free elections
in Uzbekistan. The former strongmen of color-coded, "revolutionary"
Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan were monsters who had to be removed for
"freedom and democracy" to prevail. So is the dictator of Belarus. Not
Karimov. He's "our" dictator: the Saddam Hussein of Central Asia is George
W Bush's man. [AT, Pepe Escobar]

[4. TORTURE] The NYT today runs the second part of Friday's story on the
Army investigation on the torture of prisoners at the Bagram airbase in
Afghanistan that led to the death of two prisoners. [The military admitted
at the time that US soldiers had beaten the two to death, perhaps as Naomi
Klein suggests to send a message to the resistance to the US in
Afghanistan.] Despite testimony from soldiers that prisoners were being
abused and autopsy reports that seemed to support these claims, Army
investigators recommended closing the case without filing criminal
charges.  The Guardian (UK), not the NYT, reports that the leaked report
"has produced new evidence of connivance of senior officers in systematic
prisoner abuse. The investigation shows the military intelligence officers
in charge of the detention centre at Bagram airport were redeployed to Abu
Ghraib prison in Iraq in 2003, while still under investigation for the
deaths of two detainees months earlier ... the officers involved have yet
to be charged."
	Army documents show that at least two Army officers staged mock
executions of Iraqi prisoners in 2003. [DN]
	The Army reservist who engineered one of the most notorious photos
to emerge from the Abu Ghraib jail in Iraq has been sentenced to six
months in jail. Army Specialist Sabrina Harman faced up to five years
behind bars. Harman was accused of engineering the photo that showed a
hooded inmate in rags standing on a box with electrical wires attached to
his hands. She also posed by a pyramid of naked detainees.
	Torture should be legalised and is a "morally defensible"
interrogation method, even if it causes the death of innocent people,
according to an article by two Australian academics that has sparked
outrage.
	Western governments are undermining the global ban on torture by
transferring suspects to countries known for routinely torturing
prisoners, Human Rights Watch and seven partner organizations said in a
joint statement this week.
	Amnesty International, in a report dated 13 May 2005, "Guantanamo
and beyond: The continuing pursuit of unchecked executive power," quotes
US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer: "It seems rather contrary to an
idea of a Constitution with three branches that the executive would be
free to do whatever they want, whatever they want without a check."

[5. MILITARY] A study by the Defense Department's inspector general found
that the Pentagon couldn't properly account for more than a trillion
dollars in monies spent. A GAO report found Defense inventory systems so
lax that the U.S. Army lost track of 56 airplanes, 32 tanks, and 36
Javelin missile command launch-units. [SFGate.com]
	The New York Times is reporting that the Air Force is seeking
President Bush's approval of a national-security directive that could move
the United States closer to fielding weapons in space ... General Lance
Lord [NB: in spite of the name,this is not a Star Wars promo] -- who leads
the Air Force Space Command -- recently told Congress "we must establish
and maintain space superiority." The Pentagon has already spent billions
of dollars developing space weapons and preparing plans to deploy them.
Three years ago the Bush administration withdrew from the 30-year-old
Antiballistic Missile Treaty, which banned space-based weapons. (Sample:
"Another Air Force space program, nicknamed Rods From God, aims to hurl
cylinders of tungsten, titanium or uranium from the edge of space to
destroy targets on the ground, striking at speeds of about 7,200 miles an
hour with the force of a small nuclear weapon.") [NYT]

[6. TERRORISM] Once again illustrating that the Global War on Terrorism is
just an excuse for US domination, and that the USG actually has little
interest in protecting Americans against attacks of the 9/11 sort, the
House of Representatives this week rejected (199-228) a proposal (HR 1817)
to increase spending on matters such as air-cargo security, as urged by
the 9/11 Commission. (Our Rep. Johnson naturally voted against such
security).
	The WP fronts the first of a two-part investigation into waste in
the contracting process at the Department of Homeland Security. After the
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the newly created agency received a lot of
money [which often resulted in] huge profits for contractors. For example,
the contract for new airport screeners increased from $104 million to $741
million in less than a year, and the screenings have not improved
significantly since right after the 9/11 attacks. Last year, the
Government Accountability Office issued a confidential report that
described the Homeland Security Department as having a "high risk" of
failure.
	Bush signed into law the Iraq war supplemental, which includes a
controversial provision giving the secretary of homeland security the
power to waive all law when securing U.S. borders.
	A CIA terrorist known for attacks on Cuba, Luis Posada Carriles,
was arrested in Miami Tuesday by immigration authorities.
	The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has requested
the FBI hand over its spy files on several activist groups including the
American Friends Service Committee, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee, and the International Action Committee. In addition the ACLU is
seeing FBI records for 10 individuals including Howard Zinn and Noam
Chomsky.
	The Senate will review controversial Patriot Act legislation in
secret; the draft legislation will be hidden from public. Under a new
proposal to expand the Patriot Act, the FBI would be given greater power
to subpoena records without a court order. Republican aides announced
Wednesday that Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee,
will soon introduce legislation to renew aspects of the Patriot Act and to
give law enforcement greater power.

[7. LOOTING] The neo-con team is brazenly acting as if Saddam did
something wrong in selling Iraqi oil in violation of the United Nations
embargo that we insisted by kept on for a dozen years after the 1991 Gulf
War. The U.N. resolution did not prohibit Baghdad's sale of oil!!! It
prohibited its purchase by U.N. members. [J. Wanniski] US government
turned a blind eye as Bayoil, a Texas oil company, imported Iraqi oil and
paid $37m of kickbacks to the Saddam regime. Also, as a member of the
Security Council, Washington did nothing to prevent Saddam sellling oil
worth a claimed $8bn, to Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Turkey, in violation of
sanctions.
	In Houston, police arrested at least 16 activists during a protest
outside Halliburton's annual shareholder's meeting. Over 300 protesters
gathered to protest what they view as Halliburton's war profiteering.
Activists locked arms to block the entrance the meeting. Inside the
meeting members of Code Pink confronted Halliburton CEO David Lesar.
Police responded to the protests by riding horses into the crowd and
tackling a number of activists in the street. According to CorpWatch
Halliburton has pulled in over $7 billion in revenue for its recent work
in Iraq -- twice what it made in Iraq in the previous year. Halliburton is
currently under investigation by the FBI and Securities and Exchange
Commission. In addition the Justice Department is investigating
Halliburton's work in Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, and the Balkans. [DN]

[8. MEDIA] After deadly riots around the world, Newsweek "retracted"  at
White House urging a story about the desecration of the Koran in
interrogations in the US concentration camp at Guantanamo. The While
House, having successfully turned attention from the story to the
reporting, said that that was not enough -- Newsweek must repair the
damage it had caused. Heads of journalism schools and self-styled media
critics seemed to agree.  A new sense of "responsible journalism"  seems
to have quietly and widely adopted: typical was a blogger's comment, --
"Whether Americans flushed the Koran down the toilet is irrelevant.
Newsweek should not have reported it, even if true..."  But the story is
obviously true, even thought Newsweek obsequiously said that its story was
not properly sourced.  The tactic has been reported a number of times
before, and it seems clearly to be -- not the action of some more "bad
apples" -- but part of the administration's torture and interrogation
policy The USG's contemptuous treatment of its victims had by week's end
resulted even in sympathy for Saddam Hussein, after humiliating
photographs of him appeared in the press.  If there is justice in this
world we may one day see pictures of Donald Rumsfeld doing his laundry in
his underwear in his prison cell.
	It's rumored that US military sources are saying that they handed
over the photos in the hope of dealing a body blow to the resistance in
Iraq ... "Saddam is not superman or God, he is now just an aging and
humble old man. It's important that the people of Iraq see him like that
to destroy the myth," the source was quoted as saying. [firstdraft.com]
	When ace reporter Michael Isikoff had the scoop of the decade, a
thoroughly sourced story about the president of the United States having
an affair with an intern and then pressuring her to lie about it under
oath, Newsweek decided not to run the story. Matt Drudge scooped Newsweek,
followed by The Washington Post. When Isikoff had a detailed account of
Kathleen Willey's nasty sexual encounter with the president in the Oval
Office, backed up with eyewitness and documentary evidence, Newsweek
decided not to run it. Again, Matt Drudge got the story. When Isikoff was
the first with detailed reporting on Paula Jones' accusations against a
sitting president, Isikoff's then-employer The Washington Post -- which
owns Newsweek -- decided not to run it. The American Spectator got the
story, followed by the Los Angeles Times. So apparently it's possible for
Michael Isikoff to have a story that actually is true, but for his editors
not to run it. [Ann Coulter] That seems to be what the administration was
asking this week, in regard to Newsweek's story about the desecration of
the Koran.
	Isikoff, who supplied the source for the article, said: "Whenever
something like this happens, you've got to take stock and review what you
did -- how the story was handled. The big point that leaps out is the
cultural one. Neither Newsweek nor the Pentagon foresaw that a reference
to the desecration of the Koran was going to create the kind of response
that it did. The Pentagon saw the item before it ran, and then they didn't
move us off it for 11 days afterward. They were as caught off guard by the
furor as we were. We obviously blame ourselves for not understanding the
potential ramifications." [NYT] McClellan said a retraction was only "a
good first step" and said Newsweek should try to set the record straight
by "clearly explaining what happened and how they got it wrong,
particularly to the Muslim world, and pointing out the policies and
practices of our military."
	The International Committee of the Red Cross documented what it
called credible information about U.S. personnel disrespecting or
mishandling Korans at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and pointed it
out to the Pentagon in confidential reports during 2002 and early 2003, an
ICRC spokesman said Wednesday.
	The media reform advocacy group Free Press has launched a campaign
to oust Ken Tomlinson as the president of the Corporation for Public
Broadcasting ... the New York Times is reporting that the CPB is
considering conducting a study on National Public Radio's coverage of the
Middle East. One CPB board member who has been critical of NPR's reporting
is Cheryl Halpern. According to the Times, Halpern is the former
chairwoman of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Her family has business
interests in Israel.
	The strong suspicions that have surrounded the dubious and
partisan activities of Reporters without Boarders (RSF) were not
unfounded. For many years, various critics have denounced the largely
political actions of the Parisian entity, particularly with regards to
Cuba and Venezuela, whose characteristics that utilizes propaganda is
obvious. The positions of RSF against the governments of Havana and
Caracas are found in perfect correlation with the political and media war
that Washington carries out against the Cuban and Venezuelan
revolutionaries. Finally the truth has come to light. Mr. Robert Mªnard,
secretary general of the RSF for twenty years, has confessed to receiving
financing from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an organization
that depends on the U.S. Department of State, whose principal role is to
promote the agenda of the White House for the entire world. [ZNET]

[9. POLLS] Americans are critical of President Bush's job performance in
many policy areas, but negative opinions of his handling of the economy
and Iraq are doing the most damage to his overall approval rating, which
now stands at 43%. Just 35% approve of the president's handling of the
economy, down from 43% in February and 45% in January.
	With the level of violence rising in Iraq, Bush's ratings also
have slipped on that issue from 45% in January, to 40% in February, and
37% currently. Over the same period, positive opinions of his handling of
foreign policy have fallen 10 points, to 38%. There has been greater
stability in Bush's marks on energy policy and Social Security, but he
gets positive ratings of only about 30% on both issues (energy policy 31%,
Social Security 29%).
	The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the
People & the Press, conducted May 11-15 among 1,502 Americans, shows that
Bush gets positive marks from a majority of the public on just one issue
his handling of terrorist threats. Currently, 57% approve of his job
performance in that area.
	An analysis of opinions on Bush's job performance shows that views
of his handling of the economy are now the biggest factor influencing his
overall rating, with Iraq nearly as important. Terrorism is less of a
factor than either of these issues, although it may be preventing Bush's
overall rating from slipping further.

[10. OPPOSITION] Since they're apparently unable to confront the
administration on any of its serious crimes, war, torture, prisons, etc.,
the Democrats pretend that their defense of the old segregationist tool,
the filibuster, is a brave liberal stand. In fact, of the two judges
currently at issue, altho' one is clearly business friendly (what a
surprise) the other, Janice Rogers Brown, has taken good stands on racial
profiling, corporate polluters, the first and fourth amendments, and
defendants' rights.  But in a classic case of misdirection, the Democrats
are pretending that they fighting the good fight by opposing them.
	People are not for the most part buying it.  Polls show approval
for Congress down around 35 percent, approaching the lows during the
government shutdown of 1995.
	On the other hand, one conservative commentator writes, "George W.
Bush and his gang of neocon warmongers have destroyed America's
reputation. The only way to restore America's reputation would be to
impeach and convict President Bush for intentionally deceiving Congress
and the American people in order to start a war of aggression against a
country that posed no threat to the US. America can redeem itself only by
holding Bush accountable." [lewrockwell.com/roberts]
	Another, the economist Jude Wanniski, says, "George Bush, and you
and I have started this bloody war in Iraq, where we are fighting people
who not only never attacked us, but who never even had the means with
which they could have attacked us. -- We don't even have the decency to
count the number of infants we have killed."
	Other opposition comes from unexpected sources: faculty at Calvin
College in Michigan, a church-related institution, protested the
commencement speech Bush gave there yesterday.  Ads in the local paper
signed by a large proportion of the faculty said, "As Christians, we are
called to be peacemakers and to initiate war only as a last resort.  We
believe your administration has launched an unjust and unjustified war in
Iraq."

[11. COLOMBIA] Washington's "war on drugs" in Colombia is collapsing in
chaos and corruption, and the drug producers are winning. The so-called
Plan Colombia, which has cost the US more than $3bn (£1.6bn) in the past
five years, is being abandoned, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has
announced. The Colombian government is putting the final touches on a
scheme to launder the criminal records of top paramilitary commanders --
including some of the country's most powerful drug lords -- while allowing
them to keep their wealth and maintain their control over much of the
country.

[12. INDIA] India's covert overseas intelligence-gathering agency, the
Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), is still reeling under the embarrassing
defection of a senior operative to the US last year with the help of the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

[13. ISRAEL] The man behind the contentious practice of killing
Palestinian militants with missile strikes, Yuval Diskin, became head of
Israel's feared Shin Bet security service Sunday, taking charge of the
agency at a time when it faces the additional task of watching Jewish
extremists. [AP]
	Israel expects imminent progress in its bid to secure the release
of Jonathan Pollard, an ex-U.S. Navy intelligence analyst convicted of
spying for the Jewish state in the 1980s, political sources said on
Tuesday.

[14. LA] Russia Signs Arm Agreement with Venezuela: ITAR-Tass news agency
reported that the official agreement will envisage the Venezuelan purchase
of 100,000 automatic weapons from Russia. [ICH] A Venezuelan soldier was
killed and another wounded in a clash with an armed group in the latest
incident along the country's volatile frontier with Colombia, the army
said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Venezuelan government extradited to
Colombia a rebel who had been involved in a kidnapping there ... Juan
Martinez, a member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),
was captured in February during an operation to rescue Maura Villareal,
mother of Venezuelan baseball player Ugueth Urbina.  Urbina is the pitcher
of Detroit Tigers in the United States. [Xinhuanet] Venezuela has sought
to reassure the US it will not hand over a Cuban exile accused of bombing
an airliner to Fidel Castro's regime if he is extradited. [ICH]
	In Haiti, the country's former prime minister Yvon Neptune has now
entered his second month of a hunger strike. He has been jailed without
charges since last June. Congressman Kendrick Meek of Florida visited
Neptune on Monday and said he was weak and that his voice was very faded.
Over the weekend the Haitian government claimed that Neptune is in good
health but Meek said that claim is "totally inaccurate." Neptune's
supporters have said the former prime minister is near death.

  ==========================================================
  C. G. Estabrook
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  109 Observatory, 901 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana IL 61801
  <www.newsfromneptune.com> <www.carlforcongress.org>
  ==========================================================
  One great source of the strength of the ruling class
  has ever been their willingness to kill
  in defense of their power and privileges.
  Let their power be once attacked
  either by foreign foes or by domestic revolutionaries,
  and at once we see the rulers prepared to kill and kill and kill.
  The readiness of the ruling class to order killing,
  the small value the ruling class has ever set upon human life,
  is in marked contrast to the reluctance of all revolutionaries
  to shed blood.  --James Connolly
  ==========================================================