THE MASSES ARE ASSES

LOTS OF REASONS FOR HOPE

It's Christmas, and the world is at war. Yet though so much of the news is grim, we nevertheless live in a time of hope -- and this season of Christian joy is as good a time as any to remind ourselves of the reasons for hope.

We live on a planet in which life is improving in more ways for more people than ever before in human history. And if anything, life is improving fastest for the people of the world's poorest countries…



What 'Merry Christmas' would be complete without nazi speech-writer statistics clearly demonstrating a reduction in world poverty?

AT LEAST ONE FOREIGN COUNTRY ASSISTED THE 9/11 TERRORISTS

While discussing the September 11 terrorist attacks on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, guest host Gwen Ifill asked Senator Bob Graham, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a good question…and got an amazing answer.

GWEN IFILL: Senator Graham, are there elements in this report, which are classified that Americans should know about but can't?

SEN. BOB GRAHAM: Yes, going back to your question about what was the greatest surprise. I agree with what Senator Shelby said the degree to which agencies were not communicating was certainly a surprise but also I was surprised at the evidence that there were foreign governments involved in facilitating the activities of at least some of the terrorists in the United States…I believe the American people should know the extent of the challenge that we face in terms of foreign government involvement.

GWEN IFILL: Are you suggesting that you are convinced that there was a state sponsor behind 9/11?

SEN. BOB GRAHAM: I think there is very compelling evidence that at least some of the terrorists were assisted not just in financing -- although that was part of it -- by a sovereign foreign government and that we have been derelict in our duty to track that down, make the further case, or find the evidence that would indicate that that is not true and we can look for other reasons why the terrorists were able to function so effectively in the United States.

GWEN IFILL: Do you think that will ever become public, which countries you're talking about?

SEN. BOB GRAHAM: It will become public at some point when it's turned over to the archives, but that's 20 or 30 years from now. And, we need to have this information now because it's relevant to the threat that the people of the United States are facing today.



If Senator Bob Graham was talking about Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia or the 'Axis of Evil', wouldn't the government/media have rode the 'villains' for all they were worth? And, more importantly, why were these comments by the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence not 'big news'?

CHAOS AND CONSTITUTION

You can buy a plastic-bound copy of the Venezuelan Constitution for 60 cents, a leather-clad copy for $3, a coffee-table edition for $5. Not that you really need a copy of your own, since someone standing near you on the subway in Caracas will have one in his pocket. Or you can always listen to one of the ongoing debates at a downtown park. "Look at this article," someone will shout, and a half dozen people will flip through the constitution's 35,000 words and 350 articles to find the pertinent passage. "Yes," someone else will cry out. "But this one here is more to the point."

Leila Escobar, a lab technician in her early 30s, carries a pocket-size copy of the new constitution, bound in blue plastic…She has walked seven miles already, near the head of a march by hundreds of thousands who have come out in support of President Hugo Chávez. It has been six months since Chávez was ousted briefly in a coup, and now his opponents -- business leaders, a handful of military officers, almost all of the nation's media -- are once again trying to orchestrate his removal. So Escobar and other chavistas have taken to the streets, vowing to protect the president -- with their bodies, if necessary…

MANY GERMANS FEEL CHEATED AS SCHROEDER RAISES TAXES TO FUND HUGE WELFARE SYSTEM

BERLIN (AP) - They re-elected him only in September, but these days Germans who voted Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder back into office are letting their anger flow freely - workers, corporate bosses, even his political allies.

The complaints echo those of millions of Germans whose loss of faith in their 58-year-old leader has sent his approval ratings plunging from a pre-election 55 percent to as low as 33 percent and even forced him to slap down media speculation that he might quit. "The chancellor will not leave the ship," he insisted this month.

Perhaps most damaging is the charge of deception - that Schroeder waited until after his re-election to reveal a large budget hole and raid people's pockets for more taxes…

Schroeder denies misleading voters. But conservative opponents are calling it "election fraud" and demanding a parliamentary inquiry, and a rap song satirizing the chancellor as a tax-grabber tops the German charts…



As President Bush continues his plan to provide a $1.17 trillion dollar tax cut to the rich (in a flat economy while saddled with an insurmountable $ 6.3 trillion national debt), Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, to the dissappointment of his detractors, seems to be a little more interested in taking care of all of his people.

Posted on US Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site:

MASS LAYOFF STATISTICS PROGRAM IS DISCONTINUED

This is the final news release for the Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program. Since 1994, the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration has funded the program. That funding will end on December 31, 2002. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has been unable to acquire funding from alternative sources and must discontinue the MLS program. Limited historical data will continue to be available at http://www.bls.gov/mls/ on the BLS Web site.



This message was not brought to you by the propaganda-spouting media that insists we've turned the corner on this little recession we're caught in.

POWELL: US WILL DEVELOP IRAQI OIL

THE US said yesterday that it plans to secure Iraqi oilfields if it invades the country and it is looking at the possibility of using oil production to pay for post-war reconstruction...

Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, told NBC's Meet the Press: "The oilfields are the property of the Iraqi people. And if the coalition of forces goes into those oil fields, we would want to protect those fields and make sure they are used to benefit the people of Iraq and are not destroyed or damaged by the failing regime on the way out the door."

Powell said that revenue generated from the oilfields would be used "in accordance with international law and to benefit the people of Iraq."...

'HOGTOWN' TERRORIST SCENARIO REVEALS PERIL

U.S. authorities have warned that al-Qaeda may be planning "spectacular attacks," and Osama bin Laden has threatened that Canada will pay for supporting the United States. How ready are we to respond to terrorism on our soil?

This is the first in a series of gripping National Post examinations of how prepared -- or unprepared -- Canada is for a terrorist attack.

Tomorrow: Albertans are accustomed to fatal tornadoes and flash forest fires, but how would the province respond to a bombing at the Calgary Stampede?

KNESSET MOVES TO BAR ARAB MEMBERS

Israel's impending general election is colouring committee hearings on the expulsion and barring of three 'hostile' parliamentarians

The knesset has begun proceedings to bar three Arab members and their parties from next month's general election because of their support for the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation.

The hearings by a knesset committee are expected to result in the expulsion of Israel's leading Arab politician, Azmi Bishara, and two colleagues. Their parties are likely to be banned, stripping Israel's one million Arabs of their principal voices in parliament...

UN APPROVES NEW CURBS ON IRAQI IMPORTS

United Nations — At the request of the United States and Britain, the Security Council voted in favour of new restrictions on Iraqi imports Monday in an effort to prevent Baghdad from acquiring equipment that could be used in war.

Russia and Syria abstained from the vote, arguing that the changes hurt deliveries of humanitarian goods to Iraq, which has been subject to international economic sanctions for more than a decade…

France objected to tacking on to the list antibiotic drugs such as Cipro — which was used to combat anthrax last year in the United States — and atropine…

CANADA LINKED TO FBI MANHUNT

Washington - The FBI said Sunday it is looking for five men of Middle Eastern ancestry who may have entered the United States illegally last week.

The agency said the five men are believed to have arrived in the United States on or before Christmas Eve…

The FBI said it had no indication the men were linked to terrorist activities, but still wanted to question the five "based upon information developed in the course of on-going investigations."…

RCMP spokesman Paul Marsh said the RCMP would not speculate about whether the men entered the United States from Canada, especially when unnamed sources are quoted by the media.



Although the FBI said 'it had no indication the men were linked to terrorist activities', they did feel that splashing the 'WANTED' mug shots all over the nightly news two days before New Years Eve would adequately 'ratchet-up' the level of fear (you can never underestimate the value of a highly publicized, non-specific search for a car full of Lee Harvey Oswalds).

RUSSIA KICKS OUT U.S. PEACE CORPS

MOSCOW (CNN) -- The official statement from the Russian government came Christmas Day: the Peace Corps is no longer welcome in Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said things have changed since 1992, when the U.S.-sponsored program began operating in Russia, and noted "changing economic and social tasks facing our country."…

The move comes at the end of a difficult year for the Peace Corps in Russia, with the Federal Security Service, charging that some volunteers were spying…

LESSONS FROM THE FALL OF AN EMPIRE

If you are sitting in Washington, there are few guides to the unique position of the US, whose military expenditure exceeds that of the next 14 countries combined.

The most frequently cited historical parallels, Britain and its 19th-century pax Britannica, or 16th-century Spain, the first country to grasp New World prosperity to dominate the Old World, do not really fit modern America. Both were locked in rivalry with other nearly equal European powers: France and (in the British case) Germany…

The deficits are financed by capital inflows, as the non-American world buys the stock of fast-growing US companies or - when the stock market looks bad - property. Indeed, there appears to be a security premium that the rest of the world pays, in that non-American purchases of US assets show consistently lower returns than US purchases of foreign assets…

But nobody thinks that this kind of inflow can be sustained indefinitely. The inflows of foreign capital could be rapidly reversed on some chance piece of bad news. Such a reversal would involve a collapse of the US stock market, the property market and the dollar…

The financial reversal would also bring the collapse of the US security policy and of its calculated strategy of world pacification…



From the Financial Times, no less.

PARIS BAGGAGE HANDLER FOUND WITH BOMB, GUNS

Paris (AP) — A baggage handler arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris had a mini-arsenal of weapons stashed in the trunk of his car, including explosive devices ready to be used, police officials said Monday.

Abdrazak Besseghir, a 27-year-old French man of Algerian origin, was arrested late Saturday after police searched his car and found in the trunk an automatic handgun, a machine gun, five bars of plastic explosives and two detonators, officials said, insisting on anonymity. The explosive devices were ready to be ignited...



After the massive bombing of a Russian government building in Chechnya Friday, 'authorities' uncover a plot in Paris. Osama bin Laden, in his continued portrayal of a madman, is now targeting UN Security Council members who oppose an attack on Iraq.

LIEBERMAN: AL-QAIDA EYING SAUDI ARABIA

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - A regime change in Saudi Arabia is the ultimate goal of Islamic terror groups like al-Qaida, U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman said Sunday.

"They are clearly not intending to conquer the United States of America, but they all have in mind overthrowing the regime in Saudi Arabia," Lieberman, D-Conn., said at the end of his trip to the Middle East, where he spoke with regional leaders and visited U.S. troops preparing for a possible attack on Iraq...

AN ATTACK ON US ALL
SADDAM IS SIMPLY THE LATEST FOCUS FOR THE WEST'S RACIST ABUSE OF ARABS

The preparations for a war on Iraq are moving inexorably forward, despite UN intervention, formal and popular opposition, and Iraqi ingenuity and compliance. The real motives for this projected attack, despite a plethora of public pronouncements, remain confusing and mysterious. Many Arabs see in it a variety of sinister plots involving control over their oil, neo-colonialism in their region and the machinations of a hegemonic Israel. Much of this has been ascribed to the Arab obsession with conspiracy theories, and yet there is an anti-Arab theme running through the debate over Iraq. A deep and unconscious racism imbues every aspect of western conduct towards Iraq - and by extension the Arabs in general.

Ever since the first Gulf war, America and its western allies have portrayed the conflict as a fight with one man, Saddam Hussein, apparently existing in a void in which the 22 million Iraqi inhabitants do not feature. Even the name of the 1991 military campaign against Iraq - Desert Storm - helped reinforce this concept of an empty land. The Iraqi leader is always referred to by his first name, not in endearment of course but, in the Arab view, to denigrate his status; no other president of a sovereign state is addressed in this way...



Unfortunately, this example of thoughtful writing does not fit the current marketing plan.

GERMAN JEWISH LEADER RAPS BERLIN'S ANTI-IRAQ WAR STANCE

Berlin, Dec 28, IRNA -- German Jewish leader Paul Spiegel on Saturday criticized Berlin's anti-Iraq war position, saying an American military assault on Iraq "is justified under certain conditions."

"One cannot voice its opposition towards any kind of war beforehand," Spiegel was quoted as saying in an advance report of the daily Bild, to be published on Sunday.

He was referring to repeated remarks by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder refusing to back an American intervention in Iraq.

Schroeder has also ruled out a German military participation in a US-led assault on Baghdad even with a UN mandate.

CHINA CALLS ON ISRAEL TO WITHDRAW ARMY FROM PALESTINE-CONTROLLED AREA

China Friday called on Israel to withdraw its army from the Palestine-controlled area as soon as possible and condemned the Israeli army's operation in recent days that has caused new Palestinian injuries.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao made the remarks in response to questions from the press on Israeli reoccupation of Bethlehem and the curfew imposed by the Israeli army in the town.

Liu said that China condemned the reoccupation of Bethlehem that has brought new Palestinian injuries…

RUSSIA CONDEMNS US-BRITISH BOMBING OF IRAQ

MOSCOW, Dec 27 (AFP) - Russia expressed "serious concern" Friday over US and British air strikes against Iraq that Baghdad officials said killed at least three civilians…

"Moscow observes with seriously concern the continuing US and British air strikes against Iraqi targets -- which include civilian ones," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"Russia once again persistently calls (on other powers) to refrain from actions against Iraq that infringe on its sovereignty," the statement added…

The air-exclusion zones over northern and southern Iraq set up after the Gulf war are enforced by US and British air patrols, though Baghdad has long opposed them and they exist without the sanction of a specific UN resolution.

"HUGO CHAVEZ AND VENEZUELA'S POOR VERSUS EVERYBODY ELSE"

(YellowTimes.org) – Remember the coup in Venezuela earlier this year? A coup, if we need remind ourselves, that was an abortive one that the Bush administration initially backed with much fanfare, but then rescinded that jubilance when they discovered it to have crumbled under the pressures of military powers faithful to President Hugo Chavez and massive public backing from the impoverished Venezuelan masses.

Is that same pattern about to be repeated now or will it end this time in an orgy of violence as such South American endeavors so often do? If we look closely, current events in Venezuela resemble the transparent machinations of the failed April 2002 coup quite well.

Like the coup in April, this new movement has begun with the promise of a never-ending strike as the main instrument for removal of Chavez. Furthermore, the current strike, like the one in April, is being spearheaded by the same ringleaders: Pedro Carmona's Fedecamaras and the Venezuelan Confederation of Trade Unions (CTV). The strike is occuring while the state run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), is being brought to a halt against judicial orders to highlight the devastating effects of a stoppage of the country's oil industry.

Once again, we have the upper middle class politicians, military officers, merchants, and demagogues attempting to bring the country's economy to a standstill in protest of Chavez's social and geopolitical strategies, strategies that challenge the U.S.' idea of a model South American strongman. Chavez sells oil to Cuba and meets with Fidel Castro. He also openly criticizes the U.S.' "war on terrorism" and globalization, and that's a Washington no-no...

CRITICIZED POET IS NAMED LAUREATE OF NEWARK SCHOOLS

NEWARK, Dec. 18 - The unanimous vote [anointing Amiri Baraka the district's poet laureate] by the nine-member advisory board comes as Mr. Baraka, the poet laureate of New Jersey, is under fire for a poem he wrote last year suggesting that Israel had advance knowledge of the plot to attack the World Trade Center...

Mr. Cammarieri, a friend of Mr. Baraka, said he did not consider the poem, "Somebody Blew Up America," anti-Semitic, noting that it addresses the oppression of both blacks and Jews and poses a provocative question that is directed at Israel, not Jews:

Who knew the World Trade Center was gonna get bombed, who told 4000 Israeli workers at the Twin Towers to stay home that day and why did Sharon stay away?

Although that theory has been discredited, Mr. Baraka stands by the contention that Israelis were forewarned about the Sept. 11 attacks, saying there were only five Israelis among the nearly 3,000 victims.

"The idea might sound bizarre, but to say I'm an anti-Semite is not based on reality," Mr. Baraka said today. "If they want to find anti-Semites, read the poetry of Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot, poets that are loved and praised."...

"At the very least," he said, "you can't say I'm not promoting poetry."

AFGHAN PIPELINE DEAL INKED

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, Dec. 27 — Pakistan and Turkmenistan signed an ambitious agreement with the Afghan president Friday to build a gas pipeline through war-ravaged Afghanistan...

"It is a project mainly for the next generations of our countries and important for the energy consumption of the three countries and the whole region," said Afghan President Hamid Karzai … [he] defended his country’s prospects, though, saying the security situation in Afghanistan "can be considered one of the best in the region" and his government would do whatever is necessary to see that the pipeline is completed...

The project was proposed in 1997 by a consortium led by Unocal Corp. But the company abandoned it after the United States fired cruise missiles into Afghanistan the following year in a strike against al-Qaida.



Hamed Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, is also a consultant (his resignation has yet to be confirmed) for Texas-based oil company Unocal. To verify this little known fact, follow these instructions carefully:

1) go to www.google.com
2) type in 'Hamed Karzai Unocal'
3) read

ANOTHER WAR, STILL NO PROOF

NEW YORK - Eleven days after September 11, 2001, Secretary of State Colin Powell promised to release proof that Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden were guilty of planning and executing the attacks on New York and Washington. "We will put before the world, the American people, a persuasive case that there will be no doubt when that case is presented that it is Al Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, who has been responsible," Powell told ABC News.

National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice, speaking a few channels over, on CNN, echoed Powell's pledge. "Clearly we do have evidence, historical and otherwise, about the relationship to the Al Qaeda network to what happened on September 11," Rice said on Sept. 22nd. "We will begin to lay out that evidence and we will do it with friends, allies and the American people and others."…

We, the American people, have yet to see the slightest shred of evidence tying Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar, Michael Jackson or the Easter Bunny to the attacks…

DECODING BUSH

Nearly every statement that comes from this administration includes the phrase "The American people." Every time I hear that phrase I just substitute "industrial interests."

- Robert Redford in The New York Times Magazine.

LIEBERMAN SEES GULF STATES SUPPORTING U.S.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 — U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, visiting U.S. troops in the Gulf, on Thursday said he was confident the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain would support the United States if it waged war against Iraq.

Lieberman, a Democratic from Connecticut who is contemplating a run for the presidency in 2004, said he had met with several Gulf leaders during his visit to the region, and was encouraged by their responses…

Lieberman said U.S. President George W. Bush had been ''surprisingly patient'' in watching implementation of U.N. resolutions, which call for Iraq to stop developing weapons of mass destruction or face possible military attack…



This message was brought to you by the Bush/Lieberman campaign.

TREASURY SEEKS TO HEIGHTEN DEBT CEILING

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department appealed to the House speaker on Tuesday to increase the government's ability to borrow money so it could avoid hitting the $6.4 trillion debt ceiling and defaulting on its loans.

Government debt subject to the borrowing limit is already at $6.28 trillion [already dated] and could reach the current ceiling by February.

"This action is necessary to ensure success in our efforts to combat terrorism, continue the economic recovery and create jobs..." Deputy Treasury Secretary Kenneth Dam wrote in a letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert…

If approval is granted, it will be the second time in months that Congress has allowed an increase in the debt limit. On June 29, Congress agreed to raise the ceiling by $450 billion...

Earlier this year, the department suspended a debt program for local and state governments and juggled federal retirement accounts to prevent a default while Congress weighed whether to increase the ceiling...

Economists and others doubt that Congress will not eventually raise the limit. A federal default is considered unimaginable because it would rattle the bond markets, force interest rates higher, weaken the world economy...



"weaken the world economy." - falling empires and the news they hide.

"SLEEPER CELL" CONTACTS ARE REVEALED BY CANADA

Al Qaeda "sleeper cells" in Canada and the United States have communicated with each other as recently as this month, probably to plan terrorist attacks in the United States, Canadian intelligence experts said yesterday. The disclosure came in the wake of the arrest last week of a pizza delivery man in Ottawa who is suspected of being associated with the terrorist network of Osama bin Laden.

Canadian authorities decided to arrest Mohamed Harkat, 34, shortly after he made calls to suspected al Qaeda members in the United States, said Reid Morden, former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, who has been in contact with the Canadian spy agency on the matter. Morden confirmed comments made earlier by Canadian officials speaking on condition of anonymity…

It was not clear precisely what triggered the arrest of Harkat. The nature of the phone calls to the United States with other al Qaeda members is also not known…



Canada's Globe and Mail went with 'revealed by Canada' in their title, but would come clean in the opening paragraph -- about getting Canada's news from the Washington Post.

"SLEEPER CELL" CONTACTS REVEALED BY THE WASHINGTON POST would have been more accurate, but beggars can't be choosers, and watching Canada's national newspaper bend over for the Fascists down south was worth the price of admission:


'SLEEPER CELL' CONTACTS REVEALED BY CANADA

Toronto - An American newspaper reported Wednesday that al-Qaeda “sleeper cells” in Canada and the United States have communicated with each other as recently as this month, probably to plan attacks in the United States.

A report on the Washington Post's Web site said the disclosure came from Canadian intelligence experts after last week's arrest of Mohamed Harkat, 34, a pizza delivery man in Ottawa who is suspected of being associated with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

However, it was not clear precisely what triggered the arrest of Harkat. The nature of the phone calls to the United States with other al-Qaeda members is also not known...



The Washington Post based this "sleeper cell" story on information provided by a former employee of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. No word yet on the arrest of the al Qaeda members that were 'called' from Canada. (looking forward to the Nazi,...pardon me,...National Post follow-up)

OFFICIAL REJECTS SHARON CLAIM ON IRAQI SCIENTISTS IN LIBYA

TRIPOLI, Dec 25 (AFP) - Libya on Wednesday rejected claims by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that Iraqi experts are working in its nuclear industry, the official Jana news agency reported.

"We reject the lies that he is in the habit of putting forth," it quoted Hassuna al-Shawesh, an under secretary of the foreign ministry, as saying.

"Today it's clear to the entire world that the goal of this terrorist (Sharon) when he spreads such lies is to hide Israel's enormous nuclear capability," he said.

Shawesh stressed that Libya, unlike the Jewish state, is a signatory of the international nuclear non-proliferation treaty...

MITZNA ACCUSES SHARON OF SPREADING IRAQ "HYSTERIA"

JERUSALEM, Dec 25 (AFP) - Israel's Labour party leader Amram Mitzna charged Wednesday that his rival for the January legislative poll Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was spreading "hysteria"…"Ariel Sharon is wreaking panic and hysteria on the dangers coming from Iraq partly to divert public attention from much more serious problems," Mitzna told army radio…

On Tuesday night, [Sharon] told Israeli television that Israel had received information according to which Iraq had recently transferred weapons of mass destruction to Syria.

"The risk of an Iraqi missile attack is low according to our military officials and we need to make the necessary preparations in an unruffled manner and without lapsing into hysteria," Mitzna said...

BIN LADEN SENDS MESSAGE TO ALGERIAN REBEL-REPORT

ALGIERS, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Three members of al Qaeda delivered a message this month from Osama bin Laden to a leading Algerian Islamic rebel believed to be in neighbouring Niger, news reports said on Thursday.

The three emissaries, all Saudi nationals, travelled through Syria and Egypt and met Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a regional leader of Algeria's Islamic rebel Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat.

The group, known by its French acronym GSPC, is on the U.S. black list of "foreign terrorist organisations". Algerian military officials say it has between 350 and 380 men and operates mainly in the east of the country.

The daily L'Expression, quoting reliable sources, did not say what the content of Bin Laden's reported message was…



Earlier reports from the FBI's top official for counterterrorism that Osama bin Laden was "probably not with us anymore" had shaken the al Qaeda leader, who had spent the past 10 months believing he was alive.

The late bin Laden however, urged his followers not to jump to conclusions. "This could be another one of their tricks."…

DOLLAR SLIPS TO 3-YEAR LOW VS EURO

TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar slipped to three-year lows against the euro and a four-year low against the Swiss franc in holiday-thinned Asian trade on Thursday as worries over a possible war with Iraq continued to pressure the greenback.

Traders said sentiment remained bearish for the U.S. currency as speculation is growing that the United States will attack Iraq shortly after January 27 -- the deadline for United Nations arms inspectors to give their reports to the U.N. Security Council.

Israel's military intelligence chief has told lawmakers that any U.S. assault on Iraq is likely to be in early February, the Israeli parliament's spokesman said on Wednesday…

U.S. READY TO UNLEASH WEAPONS

The Army plans to quickly deploy its new Shadow 200 spy plane if the United States goes to war against Iraq.

In the Persian Gulf, the Navy has America's newest attack jet — the F-18 Super Hornet — ready for its first extended wartime action.

The Air Force is planning a swarming air campaign against Saddam Hussein that would utilize new ways to use precision-guided munitions.

In all, the military would bring a new array of weapons, infrared sensors and communications gear to any conflict to change the regime in Baghdad. The new gadgets promise to make the war quicker and less bloody than Desert Storm a decade ago, military analysts say…

SHARON SAYS IRAQ MAY BE HIDING WEAPONS IN SYRIA

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said on Tuesday that Israel suspected that Iraq has been transferring chemical and biological weapons to Israel's arch-foe Syria to hide them from U.N. inspectors.

Sharon, in an interview with Israel's Channel Two television, said his comments were based on unconfirmed information and he gave no evidence to support the allegation.

"What we believe, and I say that we have not yet confirmed it conclusively, is that weapons he wants to hide -- chemical and biological weapons -- have indeed been sent to Syria," Sharon said…

BUSHISMS: From Slate Magazine’s listing of the president's accidental wit and wisdom.

There's only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids upon the death of their loved one. Others hug but having committed the troops, I've got an additional responsibility to hug and that's me and I know what it's like.
- Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2002.

It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

- Robert Kennedy

3 ON SECURITY COUNCIL UNCONVINCED ON ATTACKING IRAQ

MOSCOW - Three key members of the UN Security Council - Russia, France, and China - say they are not yet convinced that an Iraqi declaration this month failed to fully disclose any weapons of mass destruction, an indication that the United States might face an uphill battle building the case for war against Baghdad.

The wait-and-see positions taken by the countries, all veto-holding permanent members of the Security Council, contrast sharply with President Bush's assertion last week that the 12,000-page weapons declaration from Iraq was ''a long way'' from meeting the Iraqi regime's obligations…

U.S. 'COULD FIGHT IRAQ AND N.KOREA' IF NEEDED

BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said it was capable of fighting and winning not one war but two if need be, after the setback of seeing one of its unmanned spy planes shot down over Iraq…

"I have no reason to believe that you're correct that North Korea feels emboldened because of the world's interest in Iraq,” Rumsfeld warned.

"If they do, it would be a mistake...We are capable of winning decisively in one and swiftly defeating in the case of the other...Let there be no doubt about it."...



Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me?
M - I - C - K - E - Y - M-O-U-S-E !
- Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick - 1987)

FBI: SHOE-BOMB ATTACK THREAT REMAINS

WASHINGTON - A year after a passenger failed to blow up an airliner with a shoe bomb, the FBI is warning that terrorists remain interested in carrying out such an attack and that winter coats and shoes could be used to conceal explosives.

In an advisory sent out Monday night to law enforcement nationwide, the FBI said it had no information of any specific threats or plots for a holiday terrorist bombing, according to officials familiar with the advisory.

But the FBI advisory said U.S. authorities continue to receive intelligence that terrorists remain interested in a shoe bomb attack like the one Richard Reid was prevented from carrying out a year ago this week, the officials said, speaking only on condition of anonymity...



The anonymous official did not have time to elaborate on the specifics of this 'renewed' threat because of the limited range of his shoe-phone.

STRAW ABANDONS PRESS CONFERENCE WITH NETANYAHU AMID RIFT OVER MIDDLE EAST

Jack Straw abandoned a planned press conference yesterday with Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's foreign minister, in order to prevent a public spat over policy in the Middle East.

Insiders said that Mr Straw and Mr Netanyahu differed so strongly over what needed to be done to revive the peace process that they feared public questioning would spark a diplomatic row.

The decision followed a war of words between the foreign secretary and his Israeli counterpart in the run-up to their talks.

In an article published in The Jewish Chronicle on the morning of Mr Netanyahu's visit, Mr Straw defended Tony Blair's recent meeting with Bashar Al-Assad, president of Syria, and branded the expansion of Jewish settlements in Israel's occupied territories "inexplicable" and "illegal."

Mr Straw also said that any peace deal with the Palestinians had to involve "Israeli withdrawal to the Green Line" - the 1967 border - give or take only "minor adjustments".

On his part, before setting off for London, Mr Netanyahu told reporters that Mr Blair's decision to host "the leader of a terrorist state . . . sends the message that terror pays"…

BUSH CALLS ON AMERICANS TO HELP THE POOR

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush called on Americans to help the poor and keep U.S. troops in their thoughts, and then he left Saturday for a Christmas break at Camp David and his Texas ranch.

“Our country is prosperous, yet we must also remember there are pockets of despair in America,'' Bush said in his weekly radio address.

“We all share a responsibility to help, both through our government and through individual acts of compassion,'' the president said. ``In this season of giving, I hope all Americans will look for opportunities to donate and volunteer where the need is greatest.''...

IRAQ INVITES CIA TO JOIN ARMS TEAMS

BAGHDAD - Saddam Hussein’s science adviser on Sunday invited the CIA to send agents to Iraq to show U.N. weapons inspectors any weapons of mass destruction that Iraq is hiding. “We do not even have any objections if the CIA sent somebody with the inspectors to show them the suspected sites,” presidential adviser Amir al-Saadi said at a news conference.

U.S. VETOES U.N.'S ISRAEL CONDEMNATION

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United States vetoed an Arab-backed resolution Friday that would have condemned Israel for the recent killings of three U.N. workers. The U.S. ambassador called the resolution one-sided and not conducive to Mideast peace efforts…

The resolution expressed "grave concern'' at the killings by Israeli troops and demanded that Israel "refrain from the excessive and disproportionate use of force in the Occupied Palestinian territories.'' It also demanded that Israel comply fully with its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention, which deals with the protection of civilians during war…The last U.S. veto, in December 2001, was also cast against a Mideast resolution...

AMERICA TORE OUT 8000 PAGES OF IRAQ DOSSIER

The United States edited out more than 8000 crucial pages of Iraq's 11,800-page dossier on weapons, before passing on a sanitized version to the 10 non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.

The full extent of Washington's complete control over who sees what in the crucial Iraqi dossier calls into question the allegations made by US Secretary of State Colin Powell that 'omissions' in the document constituted a 'material breach' of the latest UN resolution on Iraq.

Last week, Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan accepted that it was 'unfortunate' that his organization had allowed the US to take the only complete dossier and edit it…

U.S. MUST JUSTIFY ANY ATTACK ON IRAQ
PM COOL ON IMPORTANCE OF RELATIONSHIP WITH BUSH

The U.S. will have to justify to the world any declaration of war against Iraq, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien says.

If UN weapons inspector Hans Blix "says we found nothing and Saddam says we have nothing, that moment the Americans will have to prove them wrong," Mr. Chrétien told Global National during the network's annual year-end interview…

Mr. Chrétien maintained that while unilateral U.S. action was a "hypothetical" question, Canada would not join any attack without UN support…

"I'm not a person who feels obliged to be seen with the president of the United States all the time. I said that to them, to Mr. Bush and to Mr. Clinton. I said the prime minister of Canada does not want to look like the 51st state of America," said Mr. Chrétien…

GREENSPAN: ECONOMY STILL IN 'SOFT PATCH'

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday the economy is still going through a soft patch and it is still too early to tell whether the Fed has done enough with low interest rates to produce a sustainable recovery.

The Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's chief policy-making group, cut interest rates 12 times starting in January 2001, with the last interest rate reduction of a bold half-point coming last month. That marked the Fed's first rate reduction this year.

"The Federal Open Market Committee, chose, as you know, to embark on an aggressive course of monetary easing two years ago once it became apparent that a variety of forces, including importantly the slump in household wealth that resulted from the decline in stock prices, were restraining inflation pressures and economic activity," Greenspan said in a speech to the Economic Club of New York...



Between The Lines

The evidence suggests the economy is "working its way through a soft patch," Greenspan said. He noted the labor market has been "subdued" and manufacturing "damped," and that state and local governments are struggling, oil prices have risen, and foreign trade partners are weak.

The constant media spin pushing signs of a long-awaited upturn in business investment were not supported by Greenspans belief that the positive signs and upturn were "not necessarily the beginnings of a vigorous recovery."

THE OFFENSIVE ART OF SECRETS AND LIES

To review the record:

- One of the first things Bush did in office was rescind the provision that gives access to a president's records 12 years after he left office.

- They're still sitting on the information about who shaped Dick Cheney's energy policy, as though we couldn't figure that out.

- Secret detentions without charges, without lawyers.

-The administration requested that the television networks censor tapes from Osama bin Laden under the odd pretext that they might contain some coded message. Since you could see them in full on Al Jazeera, that was utterly pointless.

- In October, after a leak the White House didn't like, the administration announced only eight members of Congress would be permitted to hear intelligence briefings. Congress made them back down.

BUSH: 'A DISAPPOINTING DAY' FOR PEACE

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush Friday said the Iraqi arms declaration "was not encouraging" and that the United States "will fulfill the terms and conditions" of the U.N. resolution calling on Saddam Hussein to disarm.

"Yesterday was a disappointing day for those who long for peace," Bush said...

"We would like to have clues as to where the United States' and other countries' intelligence feel they know Iraqis are storing weapons of mass destruction," chief weapons inspector Hans Blix told CNN. "Then, we can send in the inspectors."

"I think now is the time for countries that have information that contradicts Iraq's declaration to come forward with this information," concurred Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. agency that investigates the uses of nuclear material...



Foreground - silly word games.

Background - military mobilization underway for months.

BAGHDAD URGES UN TO STAND UP TO US

Baghdad (AFP) - Baghdad urged the United Nations Friday to stand up to US and British "deceit" after Washington declared Iraq in "material breach" of its UN weapons obligations, bringing closer the prospect of war…

Iraq's ruling Baath Party daily Ath-Thawra said the other "members of the UN Security Council ... should shoulder their legal and moral responsibilities and take a responsible stance against the injustice, the aggressions and threats aimed at Iraq."

"The issue is not weapons of mass destruction or the return of the (UN weapons) inspections ... it is finding a pretext to attack Iraq," it said…

LETTER AGAINST EXPULSION OF THE PALESTINIANS
AMERICAN ACADEMICS JOIN ISRAELI COLLEAGUES IN WARNING AGAINST ETHNIC CLEANSING

We, American academics and intellectuals, applaud our courageous Israeli colleagues for their recent letter warning of the possibility of ethnic cleansing in Israel and the Occupied Territories. The 187 Israeli signatories express concern that the "fog of war" [against Iraq] "could be exploited by the Israeli government to commit further crimes against the Palestinian people, up to full- fledged ethnic cleansing."

The Israeli professors point out that: "The Israeli ruling coalition includes parties that promote 'transfer' of the Palestinian population as a solution to what they call 'the demographic problem'. Politicians are regularly quoted in the media as suggesting forcible expulsion, most recently MKs [members of the Israeli parliament] Michael Kleiner and Benny Elon, as reported on Yediot Ahronot website on September 19, 2002. In a recent interview in Israeli daily Ha'aretz, Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon described the Palestinians as a 'cancerous manifestation' and equated the military actions in the Occupied Territories with 'chemotherapy', suggesting that more radical 'treatment' may be necessary. Prime Minister Sharon has backed this 'assessment of reality'...

U.S. SAYS LIBYA, SYRIA PURSUE WMD PROGRAMS

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has determined that Libya and Syria have accelerated their weapons of mass destruction programs.

U.S. officials said Libya and Syria are developing biological weapons and are amassing chemical weapons as well. They said the two countries are also seeking to procure missiles to deliver WMD warheads...

IRAQ: US 'PSYOPS' BROADCASTS

US 'psyops' station Information Radio was monitored on December 18 broadcasting on both 9715 and 11292 kHz to southern Iraq.

The signals, registered across Europe and the Middle East as well as Japan, were monitored by supporters of Clandestine Radio Watch, a volunteer group that studies the activities of covert radio broadcasters.

With one female and two male native Iraqi speakers as announcers the station aired popular Arabic music, including songs by Iraqi and Lebanese artists, and some western music, notably the theme song from the film Titanic, 'My Heart Will Go On' by Celine Dion…

some selections from the transcripts:

16:00 hrs: An announcer concludes his remarks: "...dear listeners, every member of the United Nations Security Council voted in favour of United Nations Security Resolution 1441 on November 8th, 2002. The unanimity of the vote is evidence that the United Nations is unwavering in its resolve to see Saddam Hussein's regime disarmed in a peaceful manner. UNSCR 1441 has clearly strengthened the cause of peace throughout the world. We can only hope that Saddam Hussein seizes the opportunity to begin the end of the isolation and suffering that his non-compliance with past UN resolutions has brought on the Iraqi people."

16:14: Song by an Iraqi female pop singer.

16:19: Station identification read by female announcer.

16:20: Another song by an Iraqi female pop singer.

16:26: Celine Dion sings the theme song from Titanic.

16:30: Station identification read by female announcer. "Your source of Information, Information Radio" (Masdar Ma'ulumatikum, Idha'at Radiyo al-Ma'ulumat) 1631- Song by an Iraqi male pop singer.

16:37: Station identification read by a male announcer followed by a reading by a female announcer: "People of Iraq. Throughout the history of the world, mankind has shown a desire to progress and expand. Great leaders have built vast civilizations and empires that spanned continents. These leaders have sponsored education programs, paved vast roads, and built housing for the less fortunate. The leaders of the past have turned deserts into arable land, and created innovations which made life easier for their people.

"The great leaders of the past are known for their generosity and charity towards their own people, as well as their neighbouring lands. In Afghanistan, once the Taleban was removed from power, the standard of living drastically improved. Relief aid is pouring into Afghanistan and is appropriately distributed. Schools are open and people all across Afghanistan are better off…

CAMERAS TO MONITOR PROTESTERS

The Washington Times - The Metropolitan Police Department will activate surveillance cameras next month along city streets for the first time since city officials passed new legislation.

Department officials made the announcement yesterday on their Web site, stating they would activate the network of 14 cameras and install more to monitor the International Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, or ANSWER, march from Jan. 17 to 19 and the D.C. March for Life on Jan. 22…

"Our approach is we will activate the surveillance system during any major event that will attract a large number of people to the District," said Kevin Morison, D.C. police spokesman. "In this post-September 11 environment, we need to be cognizant of the fact that terrorists could use these events as a target or cover to attack other areas."…

U.S. CLUSTER BOMBS KILLED CIVILIANS IN AFGHANISTAN
NEW REPORT ILLUSTRATES DANGERS FOR IRAQ

(Washington, D.C.) During its air war in Afghanistan, the United States dropped nearly a quarter-million cluster bomblets that killed or injured scores of civilians, especially children, both during and after strikes, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today…

Human Rights Watch found that the United States did not take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties, as required by international humanitarian law, when it used cluster bombs in or near populated areas. U.S. cluster bombs also left an estimated 12,400 explosive duds—de facto antipersonnel landmines—that continue to take civilian lives to this day…



Jim Wilkinson, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, denied that the United States indiscriminately uses cluster bombs and faulted the Taliban and al Qaeda for conducting military operations in populated areas.
- Washington Post

RETREAT BY NESTLE ON ETHIOPIA'S $6M DEBT

Nestle, the world's largest coffee company, was forced into a humiliating climbdown yesterday after a wave of public outrage greeted its demand for a $6m (£3.7m) payment from the government of famine stricken Ethiopia.

The company promised to invest any money it receives from Ethiopia back in the country after receiving thousands of emails of protest in response to the story in yesterday's Guardian.

At an emergency meeting in its Swiss HQ last night, senior executives were mulling over the public relations damage. The claim represents about an hour's turnover for a company which posted sales of $59.36bn and pre-tax profits of $6.15bn last year...

Nestle was boycotted for years by protesters over its aggressive sales of babymilk formula to the developing world, where hygiene standards made breast milk safer.

Last night campaigners were keeping up the pressure, although they warned that a boycott of Nestle products could backfire by hurting poor coffee farmers in Ethiopia...

IRAQ FIGHTS BACK AGAINST "NONSENSE" FROM US OVER ARMS OMISSIONS

BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq vigorously defended itself Thursday against US and British accusations that its huge weapons dossier is full of "omissions" ahead of a key UN Security Council briefing by the chief arms inspectors.

The ruling Baath party newspaper rubbished repeated comments from the highest levels in London and Washington that the arms declaration failed to tell the full story.

"All this talk is nonsense," wrote the official daily Ath-Thawra (Revolution) in an editorial to answer dangerous charges that Iraq had not disclosed all information on banned weapons programs in a report handed over to the United Nations on December 7.

Baghdad had stated that the declaration required by UN Security Council Resolution 1441 contained proof that it no longer possessed weapons of mass destruction.

"Washington and London till now have not provided one single piece of evidence to back their accusations against Iraq," Ath-Thawra said…

Unamed Officials Speaking on the Condition of Anonymity:

U.S.: IRAQ PLANS SCORCHED-EARTH STRATEGY

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Iraq is preparing to destroy its own oil fields, food supplies and power plants and blame the destruction on U.S. bombs during a war, U.S. intelligence officials said Wednesday.

The officials, briefing reporters at the Pentagon, said they have evidence Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has plans to wreck his own infrastructure to foster a humanitarian crisis and turn international opinion against any U.S. and British advance into his territory.

Citing the need to protect intelligence sources, the officials declined to describe that evidence. They spoke on condition of anonymity…



In an effort to 'frame' the United States of America, Saddam Hussein is going to secretly launch a war on himself.

VENEZUELA DRIFTS TOWARD ANARCHY

Hugo Chavez may be Venezuela's freely elected president, but he is fast losing his people's confidence. A million took to the streets this week demanding his resignation and fresh elections. Two million have signed a petition to that effect. For every Venezuelan who compares him to a saviour, there's another who calls him a dictator.

The former paratrooper is an abrasive, autocratic, populist reformer who reviles Venezuela's business and landowner classes as a "rancid oligarchy" as he tries to channel more of the state's $40 billion oil wealth to the poor majority. He has rewritten the constitution, making it more democratic and egalitarian. And in a system where 1 per cent of the people own nearly half the land, he has tried to speed redistribution to the poor.

He has also brought Venezuela into line with Mideast oil cartel pricing, driving up costs for the United States which gets 10 per cent of its oil from Venezuela. He gives Fidel Castro cheap fuel. And he has criticized George Bush's peremptory "you're with us or against us" philosophy...



Hugo Chavez was democratically elected. On April 11th, he was overthrown. The Bush administration at first welcomed the coup, retreating the next day after it became clear that other countries in the Americas were not going to recognize the illegal government. And of course administration officials denied having anything to do with the coup. The attacks on Venezuela continue.

US BLOCKS CHEAPER DRUGS DEAL


GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States was alone on Tuesday in blocking a deal at world trade talks aimed at ensuring access to cheaper medicines for poorer states facing health crises like AIDS and malaria.

From the Ari Fleischer files,
'reminding all Americans that they need to watch what they say and watch what they do.'


White House Press Briefing - Dec 17, 2002

Question: Ari, last week I asked -- why is the President appointing convicted criminals like Elliott Abrams to policy positions at the White House? You said that you disputed the premise of the question. What part of the question do you dispute?

Ari Fleischer: Did you call him a war criminal?

Question: No, I didn't. I called him a convicted criminal.

Ari Fleischer: That's right, you called Henry Kissinger, the Nobel Prize winner, a war criminal. You didn't call him (Abrams) a war criminal?

Question: I did not. I said, why is the President appointing convicted criminals like Elliott Abrams to policy positions at the White House?

Ari Fleischer: Russell, we can go round and round. I know if you were President, you would not have appointed Mr. Abrams. The President believes that Elliott Abrams is a superb choice for this position. He has tremendous faith and confidence in Elliott Abrams. And the President, I think, is going to be proven correct as Elliott Abrams has worked to improve democracies. Helen, I know you and Russell are on the same ticket against the President.

Question: I have a second question. The LA Times today –

Ari Fleischer: Is it softer than your first?

Question: You have to judge that.
The LA Times today published a poll that found that 72 percent of Americans, including 60 percent of Republicans, said the President has not provided enough evidence to justify starting a war with Iraq. Is the President losing the public relations battle here in the United States?

Ari Fleischer: Well, one, I think that I'll just state what is well known. The President will not make any decision about war and peace and the possibility of putting some of our nation's best men and women in harm's way on the basis of a poll. He will do it on the basis of his judgment as Commander-in-Chief and what it will take to save and protect American lives in the event that he reaches the conclusion Saddam Hussein will indeed engage in war against the United States or provide terrorists with weapons to engage in war against the United States, just like on September 11th with the attack. And if he reaches that judgment, he will do so because the information he has and the judgment he makes suggest that, not because of a poll.

I think it's also fair to say that when you take a look at a variety of ways to measure public opinion, you will see different things out there in the public. The Pew Research Institution has done work on this topic and has come to very different conclusions. So the President will not make judgments based on polls, he'll make judgments based on what he believes is right…

MOST UNCONVINCED ON IRAQ WAR
TWO-THIRDS BELIEVE BUSH HAS FAILED TO MAKE THE CASE AN ATTACK WOULD BE JUSTIFIED

WASHINGTON -- Despite a concerted effort by the Bush administration, more than two-thirds of Americans believe the president has failed to make the case that a war with Iraq is justified, according to a Los Angeles Times poll.

The overwhelming majority of respondents -- 90% -- said they do not doubt that Iraq is developing weapons of mass destruction. But in the absence of new evidence from U.N. inspectors, 72% of respondents, including 60% of Republicans, said the president has not provided enough evidence to justify starting a war with Iraq...

BIN LADEN LIEUTENANT IDENTIFIED SUSPECT IN CANADA

The "galvanizing" piece of information that led to the arrest of 34-year-old Mohamed Harkat in Ottawa last week was supplied by one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants, intelligence sources say.

They say that the name of Mr. Harkat, who worked as a gas-station attendant and pizza-delivery driver in Ottawa, came up during an interrogation by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation of Abu Zubaydah, a key member of Mr. bin Laden's inner circle.

Mr. Zubaydah's information, which was passed on to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, is considered a crucial element in the investigation of Mr. Harkat.

According to a classified intelligence file, CSIS investigators believe Mr. Harkat is a member of an al-Qaeda sleeper cell and has spent the past several years preparing for an unspecified terrorist mission in North America. Although few details about his activities have been released, intelligence sources have confirmed that Mr. Harkat worked at a Petro-Canada gas bar directly across the street from a CSIS office.

An intelligence-community source said Mr. Harkat is considered a "high-level player" in the North American terrorist network…



Mohammed Harkat was a gas bar attendant directly across the street from the CSIS office.

(oh god,...stop,...my sides hurt)

NO EVIDENCE YET OF IRAQI NUCLEAR PROGRAM, ELBARADEI TELLS DAILY

CAIRO (AFP) - No proof has emerged yet that Iraq has developed a nuclear program since the previous inspection regime ended in 1998, chief nuclear inspector Mohamed ElBaradei said in an interview published here Wednesday.

Baradei's preliminary assessment will be included in a report Thursday to the UN Security Council about Iraq's December 8 declaration that it has abandoned its programs for weapons of mass destruction, Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper said.

Until now there is "no proof concerning the development of a nuclear program in Iraq since 1998," ElBaradei, who heads the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the government daily.

"There is no sign of change in (the Iraqi) facilities since 1998," when the previous inspection mission withdrew ahead of US and British airstrikes, ElBaradei was quoted as saying...

THE HAWKS: U.S./Israeli Foreign Policy 101

PENTAGON AIDE SAYS GERMAN "NO" ON IRAQ WAR EQUALS SUPPORT FOR SADDAM

BERLIN (AFP) - Top Pentagon advisor Richard Perle said in an interview Tuesday that a German "no" to strikes against Baghdad on the UN Security Council would be akin to backing Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Following months of simmering tensions over German opposition to military action against Baghdad, Perle told Germany's daily Die Welt that if Berlin were to use its non-permanent seat on the Security Council from January to vote against a war, it would be "catastrophic" for transatlantic relations.

"If a chancellor refuses to support even a UN-led action, one can only see that as de facto support for Saddam Hussein," Perle said in comments printed in German...



It's pretty clear that Richard Perle, chairman of the Defense Policy Board at the Pentagon, hasn't mellowed since his days of penning peace for the Israeli think tank, Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies.

Other pearls of wisdom include:

Inspections or Not, We'll Attack Iraq and Europe Lacks Moral Fibre.

FEDS WANT TO SEE ENRON VIDEOTAPE
PRESIDENT BUSH ALSO TAKES PART IN SKIT

HOUSTON - A videotape of a January 1997 going-away party for former Enron President Rich Kinder features nearly half an hour of absurd skits, songs and testimonials by company executives and prominent Houstonians, the Houston Chronicle reported in its Monday editions.

The collection is all meant in good fun, but some of the comments are ironic in the current climate of corporate scandal.

In one skit, former Administrative Executive Peggy Menchaca played the part of Kinder as he received a budget report from then-President Jeff Skilling, who played himself, and Financial Planning Executive Tod Lindholm.

When the pretend Kinder expressed doubt that Skilling could pull off 600 percent revenue growth for the coming year, Skilling revealed how it could be done.

"We're going to move from mark-to-market accounting to something I call HFV, or hypothetical future value accounting," Skilling joked as he read from a script. "If we do that, we can add a kazillion dollars to the bottom line."...



No comment.

BUSH TOP LEGISLATIVE OFFICAL RESIGNS

WASHINGTON (UPI) - White House congressional liaison Nicholas Calio resigned Tuesday, the fourth senior administration official to leave the Bush administration this month…

Calio served as Bush's chief liaison between the White House and Capitol Hill lawmakers and helped usher in key legislation such as Bush's $1.35 trillion tax cut. [U.S. national debt as of today - $6.36 trillion]

Calio's departure comes after numerous post-election exits from the Bush White House. Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Joe Allbaugh announced his resignation on Monday. On Friday vice presidential counselor Mary Matalin said she would also be leaving the administration.

Last week Bush asked for and received the resignations of his economic team, U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey…



I'm picturing aircraft being 'readied' at secret airstrips all over the land of the free and the home of the brave.

WHITE HOUSE PLAYS DOWN PROPAGANDA BY MILITARY

WASHINGTON (NY Times) - The White House today distanced itself from a secret Pentagon directive that would authorize the military to carry out covert operations to influence public opinion and policy makers in friendly and neutral countries.

The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, acknowledged that there was widespread recognition throughout the Bush administration that the United States had to work harder "in better communicating America's message of hope and opportunity."

But Mr. Fleischer told reporters they should not presume that the Pentagon's idea had advanced very far and cautioned that President Bush would not approve of anything that involved lying.

"The president has the expectation that any program that is created in his administration will be based on facts, and that's what he would expect to be carried out in any program that is created in any entity of the government," he said.

When asked whether that included manipulating foreign media, like planting false news stories with foreign journalists, Mr. Fleischer said, "No, I don't think that's anticipated."...



What White House spokesman Ari Fleischer is lying about, in the above briefing, is a secret military directive that conceived a sweeping program to discredit and undercut the influence of mosques and religious schools, as well as planting news stories in newspapers and other periodicals in foreign countries.

CANADA’S SPY AGENCY CATCHES MEMBER OF AL QAEDA SLEEPER CELL

Mohammed Harkat, a 34-year-old Algerian immigrant who was arrested last week after taking out the garbage at his Ottawa apartment, is at the center of a secretive, closed federal hearing that will determine whether he can be deported as a threat to national security.

Mr. Harkat, an Ottawa gas jockey and Pizza Pizza employee, was arrested last Tuesday after Wayne Easter, the Solicitor-General, and Denis Coderre, the Minister of Immigration, signed an order declaring him a threat to national security.

An intelligence official said that Harkat and another man, who was not identified, were seen recently photographing the Parliament buildings, the Supreme Court in Ottawa, and the Canadian side of the Niagara Falls, possibly in preparation for an attack.

Mohammed Harkat was awaiting orders to carry out a terrorist attack and his presence in Canada suggests other al-Qaida associates are in the country, the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service concluded in court documents released Monday. Although still searching for Arabic-speaking investigators, translators and analysts, CSIS has assured the Solicitor-General that the report is based on ‘spectacular intelligience.’

Even though Mr. Harkat's family and supporters have described him as a victim of mistaken identity, the classified file portrays him as a calculating terror operative who used his mundane public persona to conceal a sinister history.

Sophie Harkat, his wife, told reporters on Friday she was shocked by the arrest. "I've been married two years and I've been with him almost three years and although we’ve had our problems I have never had any reason to suspect him of being so evil."

Canadian authorities, although positive ‘gas jockey’ is derogatory, are still considering whether to deport Harkat.




From Files:
CSIS Links Ottawa Man To al-Qaeda (The Globe and Mail)
CSIS Links Ottawa Man To al-Qaeda (The National Post)
'Bin Laden Cells In Canada' (The Toronto Star)
Spy Agency: Canada Home To Al-Qaida Cells (The Washington Post)

THE AMERICAN DREAM

I have always failed to understand how, why it is so many working people are conservative Republicans. I mean, a lot of people in labor unions are conservative Republicans. That always surprises me because, in many respects, the Republican Party does not represent their best interests quite often. It’s a puzzle.

- 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney

At times like these, when our government is telling us (and the rest of the world) to get on board for a war halfway around the world, it can be instructive to take a moment to consider who the real enemies are right here at home. No doubt you have your own pet people to despise from among the nation's political, cultural, and media establishment, but without further ado, here's our list:

THE BEAST 50 MOST LOATHSOME PEOPLE IN AMERICA.

ie:


49. LYNNE CHENEY
Misdeeds: Most wives of elite politicians take up charitable causes. Dick Cheney's wife teamed up with Joe Lieberman to form a group called the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, which drew up a blacklist of academics whose patriotism was judged to have "fallen short" in the wake of 9/11. Among the targets: the president of Wesleyan University, who said that "disparities and injustices" in American society can provoke violence, and a University of Oregon professor emeritus who said that "we need to understand the reasons behind the terrifying hatred directed against the U.S. and find ways to act that will not foment more hatred for generations to come."
Aggravating Factor: Wrote a novel called Sisters that contained lesbian themes in 1981; currently freaks out every time her openly gay daughter is mentioned by journalists.
Aesthetic: Bea Arthur's nasty mother on The Golden Girls.

48. TONY BLAIR
Misdeeds: Not an American, but might as well be: being America's bitch counts. It used to be that politicians sold out their constituents to larger domestic interests; now, with power and money largely spread across borders and centered in transnational companies, politicians have the option of selling out entire countries. Blair's recent pronouncements about the Iraqi threat were so obviously scripted in Washington, it was embarrassing.
Aggravating Factor: Recently attempted to outlaw one of England's last distinguishing silly customs—fox hunting. Can goofy hats and bisexual thespianism be far behind?
Aesthetic: Slavish young p.r. exec who flatters the CEO before disappearing to read foot fetishism magazines in the bathroom down the hall.

39. JOE LIEBERMAN
Misdeeds: Is short; is vengefully unprincipled; seems like the kind of person who out of all of the people solemnly hanging their heads at a funeral would be most likely to be thinking about calling his pollster. Wishes he weren't Jewish, so that he could be John McCain. The poster boy of the Democratic Party drowning in its own vacuity, frantically discharging political ballast in order to reach the surface.
Aggravating Factor: Makes Al Gore seem human.
Aesthetic: A high-school principal who gives taller kids twi