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{ indy irl warblog } 01.04.03 national |
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news report
 Tuesday April 01, 2003 14:30 by warblogger
 Feel free to add your own links and representative portions of news stories you find on the net.... The Faces of Freedom.... - - - - - The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head There is an emerging second superpower, but it is not a nation. Instead, it is a new form of international player, constituted by the “will of the people” in a global social movement. The beautiful but deeply agitated face of this second superpower is the worldwide peace campaign, but the body of the movement is made up of millions of people concerned with a broad agenda that includes social development, environmentalism, health, and human rights. This movement has a surprisingly agile and muscular body of citizen activists who identify their interests with world society as a whole—and who recognize that at a fundamental level we are all one. These are people who are attempting to take into account the needs and dreams of all 6.3 billion people in the world.... - - - - - Mubarak Says Iraq War Will Produce "100 bin Ladens" CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Monday the U.S.-led war on Iraq would produce "one hundred new bin Ladens", driving more Muslims to anti-Western militancy. "Instead of having one (Osama) bin Laden, we will have 100 bin Ladens," he added. Osama bin Laden is the Saudi-born fugitive Islamic militant leader blamed by the United States for the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. Egypt, a key regional U.S. ally which has cracked down hard on Islamic militants, publicly opposes the war launched by Washington to overthrow President Saddam Hussein. - - - - - THIS WAR IS NOT WORKING I am still in shock and awe at being fired. There is enormous sensitivity within the US government to reports coming out from Baghdad. They don't want credible news organisations reporting from here because it presents them with enormous problems. I reported on the original bombing for NBC and we were half a mile away from those massive explosions. Now I am really shocked that I am no longer reporting this story for the US and awed by the fact that it actually happened. That overnight my successful NBC reporting career was turned to ashes. And why? Because I stated the obvious to Iraqi television; that the US war timetable has fallen by the wayside. - - - - - Arnett Dismissed After Remarks on Iraqi TV The statement also said, "It was wrong for Mr. Arnett to grant an interview to state-controlled Iraqi TV." Then Mr. Arnett appeared on the program by satellite and answered questions from Mr. Lauer. "I want to apologize to the American people for clearly making a misjudgment," Mr. Arnett said. NBC announced its decision to cut ties with Mr. Arnett only 14 hours after it publicly defended him, describing his comments as harmless news analysis. But network executives said yesterday that after further deliberation, the NBC News president, Neal Shapiro, decided that Mr. Arnett should be dropped. "National Geographic Explorer," for which Mr. Arnett was also reporting, came to the same conclusion and dropped him. Mr. Arnett has been hired by The Daily Mirror, a British tabloid, with his first column appearing today. .... Erik Sorenson, MSNBC president, told Reuters he thought that Mr. Arnett's participation with Iraqi television was "arguably unpatriotic." An NBC official said he took a tape of the interview home with him and carefully scanned it to find some defense of Mr. Arnett's commentary. He said he believed that Mr. Arnett's comments that reports about civilian casualties were useful to war protesters seemed to cross a line. Another NBC executive said that Mr. Shapiro had hoped that the Iraqis pressured Mr. Arnett in the interview and that he would say, "There was a guy behind this orange curtain with an AK-47." - - - - - Three British soldiers sent home after protesting at civilian deaths Three British soldiers in Iraq have been ordered home after objecting to the conduct of the war. It is understood they have been sent home for protesting that the war is killing innocent civilians. The brigade includes the Ist and 3rd battalions of the Parachute Regiment, the 1st battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, a Royal Horse Artillery regiment, and a reconnaissance squadron of the Household Cavalry. The three soldiers, based in Colchester, Essex, face court martial and are seeking legal advice, defence sources said yesterday. The Ministry of Defence said it was not prepared to comment on individual cases. It said it had "no evidence" to suggest the soldiers had been sent home for refusing to fight. - - - - - Bugging devices found in EU headquarters Bugging devices have been discovered in German and French offices at the European Union's headquarters in Brussels, an EU spokesman confirmed Wednesday, fueling speculation the United States is snooping on the two anti-war governments. According to French daily Le Figaro, which broke the news, the Belgian police pointed a finger of blame at "the Americans." However, EU spokesman Dominique-Georges Marro said it was "impossible at this stage" to identify the phone-tappers. "I don't know who was on the other end of the line," Marro told reporters. The head of the Council of Ministers' press service also confirmed that the bugging system not only affected Paris and Berlin but other, as yet unnamed, EU states. .... On March 1 the British Observer newspaper published a memo reportedly from a senior official at the U.S. National Security Agency that asked analysts to increase surveillance efforts on the U.N. missions holding seats the Security Council, specifically the so-called "undecided six" on the Iraq war issue -- Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan. U.S. officials did not comment on the report. - - - - - Is Your Television Watching You? Could the [USA] federal government find out what you're watching on TV? Even if you're not the subject of a criminal investigation? If you're a satellite TV or TiVo owner, the answer is yes, according to legal experts and industry officials. Under the USA Patriot Act, passed a month after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the feds can force a noncable TV operator to disclose every show you have watched. The government just has to say that the request is related to a terrorism investigation, said Jay Stanley, a technology expert for the American Civil Liberties Union. Under Section 215 of the Act, you don't even have to be the target of the investigation. Plus, your TV provider is prohibited from informing you that the feds have requested your personal information. "The language is very broad," Mr. Stanley said. "It allows the FBI to force a company to turn over the records of their customers. They don't even need a reasonable suspicion of criminal behavior." - - - - - The Death of Innocents Yesterday in southern Iraq, American soldiers fired into a van filled with women and children, killing seven. The van was approaching a military checkpoint near an area where a car bomb had recently exploded, killing four soldiers. The authorities said that the van had ignored all the soldiers' attempts to bring it to a halt, and that the shooting had been justified. They promised to investigate. - - - - - Package of bones sent to Florida congresswoman BROOKSVILLE, Fla.-- Florida congresswoman who proposed exhuming the remains of American veterans buried in France and Belgium and shipping .... The bones did not appear to be human and might have been from chickens, officials said. The package was taken to a University of South Florida "It is a little unsettling, but congressional offices are frequently targets of lots of unique mail," said Caryn McLeod, spokeswoman for A letter postmarked from Germany that appeared to accompany the package also arrived Friday. Paez described it as "hate mail." - - - - - Twenty civilians killed when raid hit farm photo Another 10 people were wounded in the attack, according to relatives who survived the bombardment, which destroyed three homes in the Al-Janabiin suburb on the edge of Baghdad. They said the dead also included seven women and two men belonging to five families. The two survivors were the only residents to escape unharmed from the ruins of the homes, according to an AFP journalist on the scene Monday. - - - - - `Right here the odds are against us' "I feel like the longer I'm out here, the less are my chances of staying alive," said U.S. Marine Lance-Cpl. Michael Sanchez, staring with sullen eyes at a vista of withered roadside shrubs. "Right here the odds are against us; we don't know the terrain, we don't know the people, we don't know what they got coming for us," he said, his 21-year-old face a picture of resentment. - - - - - A human shield's story With some 25 peace activists, I flew from London to Amman, in Jordan, on February 17, heading to Iraq as a human shield. It is a long way from Cambridge, where I had been trying to write up a PhD on legitimacy in international relations. .... Back in Cambridge things are quiet and familiar. I'm back with friends and good food and my books. But I don't much want to talk, or eat, or read. And while it may soon be time to move forward, as yet I have little idea where to go. I've never been to Baghdad, never met the children, professors, lovers and taxi drivers that other shields have told me about. But my friends - Donna, Uzma, John, Antoinette, and many more - remain there, visiting hospitals, keeping an eye on each other, watching from the rooftops of the Palestine Hotel and al-Doura, in the south of Baghdad, as misdirected fury rains over Iraq. My view of this war is now limited to what I can see on television and the internet. But what I feel, as explosions rip through Baghdad, is an entire spectrum of love and fear and pain and hope. My body is home, but an important part of me is back there with the shields and the Iraqi people, wondering if the next blast will be the one that tears us all to pieces. - - - - - US Marines turn fire on civilians at the bridge of death Archived at: As I walked away, Lieutenant Matt Martin, whose third child, Isabella, was born while he was on board ship en route to the Gulf, appeared beside "Did you see all that?" he asked, his eyes filled with tears. "Did you see that little baby girl? I carried her body and buried it as best I Martin's distress was in contrast to the bitter satisfaction of some of his fellow marines as they surveyed the scene. "The Iraqis are sick people and we are the chemotherapy," said Corporal Ryan Dupre. "I am starting to hate this country. Wait till I get hold of a friggin' Iraqi. No, I won't get hold of one. I'll just kill him." .... "It's a bad situation," said First Sergeant James Thompson, who was running around with a 9mm pistol in his hand. "We don't know who is shooting at us. They are even using women as scouts. The women come out waving at us, or with their hands raised. We freeze, but the next minute we can see how she is looking at our positions and giving them away to the fighters hiding behind a street corner. It's very difficult to distinguish between the fighters and civilians." Across the square, genuine civilians were running for their lives. Many, including some children, were gunned down in the crossfire. In a surreal scene, a father and mother stood out on a balcony with their children in their arms to give them a better view of the battle raging below. A few minutes later several US mortar shells landed in front of their house. In all probability, the family is dead. - - - - - U.S. Forces Rounding Up Civilian Suspects MARINE COMBAT HEADQUARTERS, Iraq, March 30 -- U.S. forces have started rounding up Iraqi men in civilian clothes suspected of being involved with paramilitary squads that have been attacking them in southern Iraq and may ship some of them to the detention center at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military officers said today. - - - - - WAR & HERITAGE: In the United States, art collectors and dealers including Ashton Hawkins, former counsel to New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, have formed the American Council for Cultural Policy to help defend and preserve Iraq's cultural sites and artifacts. They met with U.S. Defense and State officials in early January to inform them of the thousands of archaeological sites dotting the Iraqi landscape to protect against their unnecessary destruction. However, many have not regarded their efforts as solely philanthropic. Art lawyer and AIA member Patty Gerstenblith remarks that "one has the strong sense that this group is using this discussion as a pretext for their ultimate goal: to change Iraq's treatment of archaeological objects." Indeed, the Council seeks to revamp the Cultural Property Implementation Act so that the U.S. cannot be as easily blocked from importing foreign antiquities. Additionally, Hawkins has recommended that the Cairo Museum increase its budget by providing incentive to its financial donors, such as rewarding each of its patrons with 50 Egyptian artifacts. These suggestions have led archaeologists to view the Council's actions as an attempt to shake foreign nations' stringent regulations on ownership and export of artifacts. AIA president Jane C. Waldbaum has declared the Institute's position on the matter and rallies for nations to support Iraq's current laws. - - - - - Refugees hurl abuse and stones at the Desert Rats The 42-year-old haulage contractor had been walking for three hours to escape the siege of Basra. He was intending to return with his fleet of lorries filled with water so that some of the city’s 1.4 million parched residents had something to drink. But he and thousands more tramping along this main road could not understand yesterday why such a formidable array of British tanks was parked on the edge of his city while gangs of Saddam loyalists slowly strangled Basra. British soldiers sitting on their Warrior vehicle looked stunned when a couple of packets of sweets that they had thrown to children were hurled back by their fathers. Clenching his fists in frustration, Mr Jeri apologised for his outburst. “I have no love for Saddam, but tell me how are we better off today when there is no power, nor water. There are dead bodies lying in our streets and my children are scared to go to bed because of the shelling.” - - - - - Shocks to the US Constitution War in America has always prompted government officials to adopt "preventive" measures that jettison principles of individual culpability, due process and political freedom. Punishing only the guilty seems suddenly antiquated in wartime, and procedures designed to protect the innocent seem dispensable luxuries. In prior wars, we have suspended habeas corpus, criminalized antiwar speech, locked up people because of their Japanese ancestry and indulged in guilt by association. What this war will bring is anyone's guess. But the early signs suggest it may not be only the Iraqis who are shocked and awed. We were already at war with terrorism, of course, a war that has led to preventive detention, guilt by association, ethnic profiling and spying without criminal suspicion. As the war on Iraq began, the Administration announced that it would now automatically lock up any refugee seeking asylum from thirty-three largely Arab and Muslim countries--the same countries whose nationals have already been selectively subjected to special registration, "voluntary interviews" and prioritized deportations. - - - - - Democracies Do Not Make War on One Another. http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/demowar.htm - - - - - Apology from Dixie Chick Natalie Maines As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I now realize that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect. .... I also realize now that I'm supposed to just sing and look cute so our fans won't have anything to upset them while they're cheating on their wives or getting in drunken bar fights or driving around in their pickup trucks shooting highway signs and small animals. And most important of all, I realize that it's wrong for a celebrity to voice a political opinion, unless they're Charlie Daniels, Clint Black, Merle Haggard, Barbara Mandrell, Loretta Lynn, Ricky Skaggs, Travis Tritt, Hank Williams Jr, Amy Grant, Larry Gatlin, Crystal Gayle, Reba McEntire, Lee Greenwood, Lorrie Morgan, Anita Bryant, Mike Oldfield, Ted Nugent, Wayne Newton, Dick Clark, Jay Leno, Drew Carey, Dixie Carter, Victoria Jackson, Charleton Heston, Fred Thompson, Ben Stein, Bruce Willis, Kevin Costner, Arnold Schwartzenegger, Bo Derek, Rick Schroeder, George Will, Pat Buchanan, Bill O'Reilly, Joe Rogan, Delta Burke, Robert Conrad or Jesse Ventura. God Bless America, - - - - - Powell Booed & Hissed at US American Israel Public Affairs Committee Powell chose to make his remarks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Israel’s most powerful lobby group in the United States. .... Powell did take pains to say that Israel as well as the Palestinians must make sacrifices for the sake of peace. To an unsurprisingly partisan audience, he said that terrorism against Israel must end (standing ovation), but also that “settlement activity in the occupied territories must end” (mixed claps and boos) and that Israel must help “diminish the daily humiliation of life under occupation” (hisses).
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