[Peace] News notes for the AWARE meeting 2007-09-02

[C. G. Estabrook]

SUNDAY 2 SEPTEMBER 2007
(ON THIS DAY IN 1945 World War II ended with the formal surrender of 
Japan aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay; Ho Chi Minh 
proclaimed the independence of Vietnam with a Declaration modeled on 
that of the Untied States.)

[1] THE ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTS Iran's president claimed Sunday that 
his country is now running 3,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium for its 
nuclear program ... The claim appeared at odds with a report by the U.N. 
nuclear watchdog on Thursday that put the number much lower -- at close 
to 2,000. The International Atomic Energy Agency said enrichment had 
slowed and Iran was cooperating with its nuclear probe, which could fend 
off calls for a third round of sanctions.

[2] THE PENTAGON has drawn up plans for massive airstrikes against 1,200 
targets in Iran, designed to annihilate the Iranians’ military 
capability in three days, according to ... Alexis Debat, director of 
terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center ... “They’re about 
taking out the entire Iranian military,” he said ... at a meeting 
organised by The National Interest, a conservative foreign policy 
journal. [Times UK]

[3] LIBERTARIAN JUSTIN RAIMONDO AND LIBERAL GLENN GREENWALD are both 
asserting ... that the neoconservatives have initiated a coordinated 
campaign to justify an attack upon Iran in the near future. [This week] 
the President delivered a speech before the American Legion in which he 
described the Iranian regime as such an implacable enemy that its 
removal through war is necessary. Raimondo and Greenwald, along with 
many others, emphasize that there is no political opposition within the 
Congress sufficient to prevent the President from ordering an attack 
[amleft.blogspot.com].

[4] A RUSSIAN NEWS SERVICE REPORTS Russia's Strategic Missile Forces 
commander said Saturday that Russia will conduct more tests of new 
warheads for its intercontinental ballistic missiles later this year 
[RIA Novosti].

[5] NYT REPORTS from southern Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters have 
driven government troops out of a key strategic area within striking 
distance of Kandahar, , highlighting a bloody stalemate that is emerging 
across the country: Insurgents are no match for NATO troops in a pitched 
battle but can easily overpower or intimidate local police forces once 
Western soldiers leave. Officials in southern provinces said the 
Taliban's successes came as the group gained broader support, evolving 
from a close-knit ideological movement into a looser alliance of tribes 
disenchanted with the central government.

[6] [THE PENTAGON'S MOUTHPIECE IN THE NYT REPORTS ON] unlikely new 
alliances between American troops and Sunni tribes in Anbar and Diyala 
provinces [Slate].

[7] THE WASHINGTON POST LEADS SUNDAY with a bleak look at Iraq's energy 
infrastructure, which still fails to provide Iraqis with more than a few 
hours of electricity a day despite massive US investments. Since the 
invasion of Iraq, the United States has poured more than $6 billion into 
repairing the country's creaking oil and electricity infrastructure, but 
according to GAO estimates, more than $50 billion more will be required 
in coming years—and even if the money can be found, it's unlikely that 
the Iraqi energy sector will be able to meet demand before 2015 [Slate].

[8] BBC: The most senior UK officer involved in post-war planning, [said 
this week that] US policy was "fatally flawed"... His comments came 
after Gen Sir Mike Jackson, head of the Army during the invasion, [said 
that] US policy was "intellectually bankrupt" ... Sir Malcolm Rifkind, 
Conservative former foreign secretary and defence secretary, told the 
BBC that Mr Rumsfeld was "incompetent" ... His comments follow a series 
of critical remarks from US officials about the British attitude towards 
Iraq ... Sir Mike's comments may put further strain on the British-US 
operation in Iraq.

[9] PAUL KRUGMAN:   Today, much of the Gulf Coast remains in ruins. Less 
than half the federal money set aside for rebuilding, as opposed to 
emergency relief, has actually been spent, in part because the Bush 
administration refused to waive the requirement that local governments 
put up matching funds for recovery projects -- an impossible burden for 
communities whose tax bases have literally been washed away.
     On the other hand, generous investment tax breaks, supposedly 
designed to spur recovery in the disaster area, have been used to build 
luxury condominiums near the University of Alabama's football stadium in 
Tuscaloosa, 200 miles inland.
     But why should we be surprised by any of this? The Bush 
administration's response to Hurricane Katrina -- the mixture of neglect 
of those in need, obliviousness to their plight, and self-congratulation 
in the face of abject failure -- has become standard operating procedure...
     Consider the White House reaction to new Census data on income, 
poverty and health insurance. By any normal standard, this week's report 
was a devastating indictment of the administration's policies. After 
all, last year the administration insisted that the economy was booming 
-- and whined that it wasn't getting enough credit. What the data show, 
however, is that 2006, while a good year for the wealthy, brought only a 
slight decline in the poverty rate and a modest rise in median income, 
with most Americans still considerably worse off than they were before 
President Bush took office.
     Most disturbing of all, the number of Americans without health 
insurance jumped. At this point, there are 47 million uninsured people 
in this country, 8.5 million more than there were in 2000.

[10] THE NYT TODAY fronts a chilling look at the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, where the Bush administration has slashed budgets and 
installed industry-friendly officials. "Buyer beware -- that's all I 
have to say," says the agency's former chief poison expert, who resigned 
recently in protest [Slate].

[11] THE NYT TODAY reports from the West Bank, where hundreds of 
Palestinian children scratch a living by scavenging for food and scrap 
metal in dumped garbage from nearby Jewish settlements.  [See the front 
page picture] [Slate].

[12] WIRED MAGAZINE is reporting the FBI has quietly built a 
sophisticated ... system that performs instant wiretaps on almost any 
private communications device ... The surveillance system is called the 
Digital Collection System Network [abcnews].


--Carl Estabrook <www.newsfromneptune.com>

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