20041216
Thursday
- 
Romania
"Romania's
presidential election: An unexpected victory for
the opposition candidate." ... "Inexperienced as they may be in the ways
of democracy, Romania's voters seem keen to explore it to the full. Two
weeks ago they elected a parliament without a clear majority. This week
they voted Traian Basescu, a plain-spoken former sea captain who has been
mayor of Bucharest since 2000, into the presidency. He will try to put
together a centre-right government in place of the outgoing socialist one.
If he fails, he may have to settle for cohabitation, or even call early
elections." -Economist
20041209
Thursday
- Bernard
Kerik - Rudolph
Giuliani - 
New
York
- 
Police
- 
Government
- 
Politics
"Kerik
made millions from agency contractor: Homeland Security
nominee sat on board of stun-gun maker." ... "Bernard Kerik, [Republican]
President Bush's choice to run the Homeland Security Department, made $6.2
million by exercising stock options he received from a company that sold
stun guns to the department — and seeks more business with it." ... "Taser
International was one of many companies that received consulting advice
from Kerik after he left his job as New York City police commissioner in
2001, when he was earning $150,500 a year. Kerik remains on Taser's board
of directors, although the company and the White House said he planned
to sever the relationship." ... "Partnering with former New York Mayor
[Republican] Rudolph Giuliani and also operating independently, Kerik has
had business arrangements with manufacturers of prescription drugs, computer
software and bulletproof materials, as well as companies selling nuclear
power, telephone service, insurance and security advice for Americans working
abroad." ... "Kerik and other former New York City officials joined the
ex-mayor in Giuliani Partners, a consulting firm. In 2003, Kerik became
chief executive officer of an affiliate consulting company, Giuliani-Kerik."
-AP via -MSNBC
20041202
Thursday
- Romania
"Romania's
dubious elections:One more dubious vote? The left
narrowly wins, but the result is disputed." ... "A little fraud in Romania
is, you might say, like a little snow in Siberia. Only to be expected,
not really worth a fuss. But claims of trickery in the November 28th elections
for parliament and president, however predictable, have been embarrassing
for both Romania and the European Union. In the first place, Romania is
on the verge of being promised membership of the EU in 2007. It should
be now demonstrating its capacity to meet in full the EU's high standards
of democracy. Second, a disputed election in Europe's backyard weakens
the EU's moral authority as it resists the outcome of a rigged presidential
vote in Romania's northern neighbour, Ukraine."
-Economist
20041201
Wednesday
- 
- Robots
"Army
to deploy robots that shoot: Next year, the U.S.
Army will give robots machine guns, although humans will firmly be in control
of them." ... "The Army next March will begin to deploy Talon robots from
Waltham, Mass.-based Foster-Miller.
The robots will be mounted with M240 or M249 machine guns, said a Foster-Miller
spokesman. The units also can be mounted with a rocket launcher. Defense
agencies have been testing an armed version of the Talon since 2003." -By
Michael Kanellos -CNETNews
via -ZDNetNews
20041117
Wednesday
-
- 
- 
- Austin
- Tom
DeLay
"GOP
Pushes Rule Change to Protect DeLay's Post." ...
"House Republicans proposed changing their rules last night to allow members
indicted by state grand juries to remain in a leadership post, a move that
would benefit Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) in case he is charged
by a Texas grand jury that has indicted three of his political associates,
according to GOP leaders." ... "House Republicans adopted the indictment
rule in 1993, when they were trying to end four decades of Democratic control
of the House, in part by highlighting Democrats' ethical lapses. They said
at the time that they held themselves to higher standards than prominent
Democrats such as then-Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski (Ill.),
who eventually pleaded guilty to mail fraud and was sentenced to prison."
-By Charles Babington -WashingtonPost
20041021
Thursday
- 
- 
- Pat
Robertson
"Bush
Predicted No Iraq Casualties, Robertson Says." ...
"The Rev. Pat Robertson said President Bush dismissed his warning that
the United States would suffer heavy casualties in Iraq and told the television
evangelist just before the beginning of the war that "we're not going to
have any casualties."" ... "Robertson related the conversation during an
interview with CNN late Tuesday. He said he spoke to Bush before the invasion
of Iraq in March 2003 and urged him to prepare the nation for heavy casualties.
While Bush's response was a mistake, Robertson said, God has blessed the
president anyhow." -By Alan Cooperman-WashingtonPost
20040930
Thursday
- 
Larry
Franklin - 
Douglas
Feith - Criminal
Investigation - US
- 
Israel
- 
Italy
- 
Iran
- 
Military
- 
Intelligence
- 
History
"Iran-Contra
II? Fresh scrutiny on a rogue Pentagon operation."
... "On Friday evening, CBS News reported that the FBI [Federal Bureau
of Investigation ] is investigating a suspected mole in the Department
of Defense who allegedly passed to Israel, via a pro-Israeli lobbying organization
[AIPAC], classified American intelligence about Iran. The focus of the
investigation, according to [United States] U.S. government officials,
is Larry Franklin, a veteran Defense Intelligence Agency Iran analyst now
working in the office of the Pentagon's number three civilian official,
Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith." ... "The investigation
of Franklin is now shining a bright light on a shadowy struggle within
the [Republican President] Bush administration over the direction of U.S.
policy toward Iran. In particular, the FBI is looking with renewed interest
at an unauthorized back-channel between Iranian dissidents and advisers
in Feith's office, which more-senior administration officials first tried
in vain to shut down and then later attempted to cover up." ... "Franklin,
along with another colleague from Feith's office, a polyglot Middle East
expert named Harold Rhode, were the two officials involved in the back-channel,
which involved on-going meetings and contacts with Iranian arms dealer
Manucher Ghorbanifar and other Iranian exiles, dissidents and government
officials. Ghorbanifar is a storied figure who played a key role in embroiling
the Reagan administration in the Iran-Contra affair. The meetings were
both a conduit for intelligence about Iran and Iraq and part of a bitter
administration power-struggle pitting officials at [the Department of Defense]
DoD who have been pushing for a hard-line policy of "regime change" in
Iran, against other officials at the State Department and the CIA [Central
Intelligence Agency] who have been counseling a more cautious approach."
... "Reports of two of these meetings first surfaced a year ago in Newsday,
and have since been the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Senate
Select Committee on Intelligence. Whether or how the meetings are connected
to the alleged espionage remains unknown. But the FBI is now closely scrutinizing
them." ... "While the FBI is looking at the meetings as part of its criminal
investigation, to congressional investigators the Ghorbanifar back-channel
typifies the out-of-control bureaucratic turf wars which have characterized
and often hobbled Bush administration policy-making. And an investigation
by The Washington Monthly -- including a rare interview with Ghorbanifar
-- adds weight to those concerns. The meetings turn out to have been far
more extensive and much less under White House control than originally
reported. One of the meetings, which Pentagon officials have long characterized
as merely a "chance encounter" seems in fact to have been planned long
in advance by Rhode and Ghorbanifar. Another has never been reported in
the American press. The administration's reluctance to disclose these details
seems clear: the DoD-Ghorbanifar meetings suggest the possibility that
a rogue faction at the Pentagon was trying to work outside normal US foreign
policy channels to advance a "regime change" agenda not approved by the
president's foreign policy principals or even the president himself." ...
"The Italian Job" ... "The first meeting occurred in Rome [Italy's
capital] in December, 2001. It included Franklin, Rhode, and another American,
the neoconservative writer and operative Michael Ledeen, who organized
the meeting. (According to UPI, Ledeen was then working for Feith as a
consultant.) Also in attendance was Ghorbanifar and a number of other Iranians.
One of the Iranians, according to two sources familiar with the meeting,
was a former senior member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard who claimed
to have information about dissident ranks within the Iranian security services.
The Washington Monthly has also learned from U.S. government sources
that Nicolo Pollari, the head of Italy's military intelligence agency,
SISMI, attended the meetings, as did the Italian Minister of Defense Antonio
Martino, who is well-known in neoconservative circles in Washington." ...
"Alarm bells about the December 2001 meeting began going off in U.S. government
channels only days after it occurred." ... "Since the late 1980s Ghorbanifar
has been the subject of two CIA "burn notices." The Agency believes Ghorbanifar
is a serial "fabricator" and forbids its officers from having anything
to do with him." -By Joshua
Micah Marshall, Laura Rozen,
and Paul Glastris with contributions by Claudio Lavanga
-WashingtonMonthly.com
20041001
Friday
- Tom
DeLay - 
"Ethics
Panel Rebukes DeLay: Majority Leader Offered Favor
To Get Peer's Vote." ... "The House ethics committee admonished Majority
Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) last night for offering a political favor to
a Michigan lawmaker in exchange for the member's vote on last year's hard-fought
Medicare prescription drug bill." ... "After a six-month investigation,
the committee concluded that DeLay had told Rep. Nick Smith (R-Mich.) he
would endorse the congressional bid of Smith's son if the congressman gave
GOP leaders a much-needed vote in a contentious pre-dawn roll call on Nov.
22." -By Charles Babington -WashingtonPost
20040817
Tuesday
- 
Education
- Law
- Politics
"Nation's
Charter Schools Lagging Behind, U.S. Test Scores Reveal."
... "The first national comparison of test scores among children in charter
schools and regular public schools shows charter school students often
doing worse than comparable students in regular public schools." ... "The
findings, buried in mountains of data the Education Department released
without public announcement, dealt a blow to supporters of the charter
school movement, including the [Republican President] Bush administration."
... "The data shows fourth graders attending charter schools performing
about half a year behind students in other public schools in both reading
and math." ... "Charters are expected to grow exponentially under the new
federal education law, No Child Left Behind, which holds out conversion
to charter schools as one solution for chronically failing traditional
schools." ... ""The scores are low, dismayingly low," said Chester E. Finn
Jr., a supporter of charters and president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation,
who was among those who asked the administration to do the comparison."
... "Charters are self-governing public schools, often run by private companies,
which operate outside the authority of local school boards, and have greater
flexibility than traditional public schools in areas of policy, hiring
and teaching techniques." (1 of 2)
-By Diana Jean Schemo
-NYTimes
20040813
Friday
-
-
-
"Najaf
battle a crucial test for Allawi: Clashes between
US troops and Sadr militiamen escalated Thursday, as the US surrounded
Najaf for possible siege." ... "The final stages for an assault on Moqtada
al-Sadr's militia in the holy city of Najaf are now in place." ... "For
Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, this is a crucial test of the strength
of his government, barely a month and a half old, and a first chance to
extend government authority over a key part of Iraq, most of which remains
under the control of armed militias and insurgents." -By
Scott Baldauf with contributions by James Brandon
-CSMonitor
20040730
Friday
- ELECTION
2004
"Kerry
vows freedom anew: In accepting nomination, he pledges
to improve security and rebuild alliances." ... "Promising ''a new birth
of freedom" for Americans facing economic uncertainty and security threats,
John Forbes Kerry accepted the Democratic presidential nomination last
night with a pledge to strengthen the US military and reform its intelligence
services, introducing himself as a Vietnam veteran who healed divisions
as a US senator and will unite a world uncertain about American power to
fight against terrorism." ... "''As president, I will bring back this nation's
time-honored tradition: the United States of America never goes to war
because we want to, we only go to war because we have to," Kerry, 60, told
a roaring Democratic audience bathed in red, white, and blue lights. ''With
confidence and determination, we will be able to tell the terrorists: You
will lose, and we will win. The future doesn't belong to fear; it belongs
to freedom."" ... "''I will be a commander in chief who will never mislead
us into war. I will have a vice president who will not conduct secret meetings
with polluters to rewrite our environmental laws. I will have a secretary
of defense who will listen to the advice of our military leaders. And I
will appoint an attorney general who will uphold the Constitution of the
United States," Kerry said, delighting the partisan audience in his most
direct attack on their favorite targets: George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald
H. Rumsfeld, and John D. Ashcroft, respectively." (1, 2,
3)
-By Patrick Healy -Boston/Globe
20040726
Monday
- OPINION
- Free-Speech
-
"Firms
play tough game to defend a good name." ... ""Overzealous
companies often try to assert trademark ownership in inappropriate ways
to stifle free speech," says Kembrew McLeod, a communications studies professor
at the University of Iowa and author of the forthcoming book "Freedom of
Expression: Overzealous Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity."
"The real harm comes from self-censorship in a world where [companies]
fire off cease-and-desist letters, and where we and our employers back
down from lawsuits, even when they're baseless."" ... "The stakes can run
high. Microsoft, for instance, is vigorously defending its ubiquitous Windows
trademark from what it views as an infringement by a San Diego software
firm called Lindows, which markets an alternative computer-operating system.
Last summer, Fox News made headlines when it attempted to prevent humorist
Al Franken from using its "Fair and Balanced" tag line in the title of
his bestselling book." -By Eric Schellhorn
-CSMonitor
- 
- 
"India's
cultural elite revive muckraking magazine: After
declining under previous government, Tehelka.com rebounds, bolstered by
reader funding." ... "Tarun Tejpal's story shows the perils and promise
of muckraking journalism in modern India." ... "His Internet news portal,
Tehelka.com,
was almost hounded out of existence after rocking India's political and
defense establishment three years ago with a seedy exposé of high-level
corruption." ... "The Tehelka tapes, declared bona fide late last month,
depicted top military officials and politicians accepting bribes - and,
in some cases, prostitutes - from reporters posing as defense contractors.
The news portal was crushed in an alleged government backlash, and its
staff fell from 125 employees to three under the weight of police raids
and a lengthy judicial inquiry." -By Dan Morrison
-CSMonitor
20040725
Sunday
- 2004
ELECTION
"Clinton
to take key role in Kerry campaign." ... "Bill Clinton
will play a prominent role campaigning for Democratic challenger John Kerry
over the next three months, starting on Monday night with his speech at
the opening of his party's convention." ... "By contrast with the 2000
election when the Gore team had mixed feelings about Mr Clinton's contribution
and muted his role in the campaign, Mr Kerry and the 2004 Democratic leadership
are working up a busy programme for the former president." -By
James Harding and Joshua Chaffin -FT.com
-
- 
-
"Lance
Armstrong wins record sixth Tour de France." ...
"Lance Armstrong rode into history Sunday, winning a record sixth Tour
de France and cementing his place as one of the greatest athletes of all
time." ... "Never in its 101-year history has the Tour had a winner like
Armstrong — who just eight years ago was given less than a 50% chance
of overcoming testicular cancer that spread to his lungs and brain."
... "Armstrong's victories and his inspiring comeback from cancer have
drawn new fans to a race that has been won five times by four other riders.
His professionalism, attention to detail, grueling training regimens and
tactics have raised the bar for other riders hoping to win the three-week
cycling marathon." ... "After more than 1,900 miles of racing, riders mostly
took it easy on the 101-mile final stage, until they reached the crowd-lined
Champs-Elysees." -By John Leicester
-AP via -USATODAY
20040724
Saturday
- 2004
ELECTION
"Wavering
voters have doubts about Bush." ... "Persuadable
voters in a Associated Press poll taken by Ipsos-Public Affairs early this
month were more likely to say the country was headed down the wrong track
— 63% compared with 56% overall." ... "They were more likely to disapprove
of Bush's handling of the economy — 56% compared with 50% overall — and
more likely to disapprove of Bush's handling of other domestic issues like
health care and education — 59% to 52% overall. They also were more concerned
about the economy than voters generally." -AP
via -USATODAY
20040723
Friday
- 
- 
"Aid
planes due to leave for Sudan: The government has
defended its efforts over the Sudan crisis, as UK aid planes prepare to
leave for the country." ... "Oxfam planes will fly from Manston Airport
in Kent on Friday, for the western region of Darfur." ... "An estimated
million people face famine and disease after Arab militias forced them
from their homes. Some 10,000 are already thought to be dead."-BBC/News
-
-
-
"US
increases pressure on Sudan." ... "The US secretary
of state, Colin Powell, today said he expected the UN security council
to threaten sanctions against Sudan over the humanitarian crisis in Dafur."
... "More than one million refugees there face the threat of famine, disease
and attacks by pro-government militia." ... "A draft resolution, circulated
by the US yesterday, called on Khartoum to prosecute the leaders of the
predominantly Arab Janjaweed militia, and advocated an immediate embargo
on weapons to the region." ... "The refugees, mainly from Darfur's black
African tribes, have fled their homes after being attacked by the Janjaweed.
They now live in tent cities, where overcrowding a shortage of rations
are leading to deaths from hunger and disease."
-Guardian.co.uk
-
"Failure
of 'imagination' led to 9/11: The 9/11 final report
assigns little blame, but cites many errors, and lays out bipartisan steps
to avert future terror acts." ... "Nearly three years after the attacks
of Sept. 11, a national commission blames no one agency or administration
for the strikes, but makes it clear that many errors occurred prior to
that fateful day." ... "It leaves open the question as to whether the attacks
could have been prevented, but in total it portrays a strike against America
that did not come out of nowhere. It was rather the result of a growing
threat that perhaps could, and should, have been foreseen." ... "Top officials
all told the 9/11 commission that they understood the dangers of Al Qaeda
- but commissioners in the end became convinced that there was uncertainty
at the top as to whether this was just a new and especially venomous version
of the longstanding terrorist menace, or whether it was indeed something
radically new." -By Peter Grier and Faye Bowers
-CSMonitor
-
-
- 
"Sudanese
slam genocide resolution." ... "Sudanese Arabs have
criticised a U.S. congressional resolution declaring genocide in the Darfur
region, while Darfuris asked what Washington would do to make it safe for
them to go back home." ... "hey do not understand anything," said Ismail
Gasmalseed on Friday, a 34-year-old driver in Khartoum." ... "The U.S.
Congress approved the resolution on Thursday and its supporters hope it
will help mobilise the international community to protect Africans in Darfur
from Arab militias." ... "But the accusation of genocide is highly controversial.
The United Nations has declared the situation in Darfur the world's worst
humanitarian crisis but has not called it a genocide, which would force
it to take action." -By Nima Elbagir-Reuters
20040722
Thursday
-
-
-
"U.S.
[Proposes UN] Gives Sudan 30 Days to Arrest, Prosecute Militia (Update2)."
... "The U.S. proposed giving Sudan's government 30 days to arrest and
prosecute leaders of the Janjaweed militia that has attacked people in
Darfur or face the threat of United Nations sanctions." ... "The demand
for action and threat of sanctions are included in a draft resolution given
today to UN Security Council members. The text, a revision of a measure
first distributed last month, also imposes an arms embargo on the Janjaweed
designed to prevent its resupply by Sudan's government."-By
Bill Varner ed. by Paul Tighe -Bloomberg
-
-
"Who
Are the Janjaweed? A guide to the Sudanese militiamen."
[MSN explainer] ... "The word [Janjaweed], an Arabic colloquialism, means
"a man with a gun on a horse." Janjaweed militiamen are primarily members
of nomadic "Arab" tribes who've long been at odds with Darfur's settled
"African" farmers, who are darker-skinned. (The labels Arab and African
are rather misleading, given the complexity of the region's ethnic history.
For simplicity's sake, Explainer will stick with these inelegant terms.)
Until last year, the conflicts were mostly over Darfur's scarce water and
land resources—desertification has been a serious problem, so grazing areas
and wells are at a premium. In fact, the term "Janjaweed" has for years
been synonymous with bandit, as these horse- or camel-borne fighters were
known to swoop in on non-Arab farms to steal cattle." ... "Both victims
and international observers allege that the Janjaweed are no longer the
scrappy militias of yore, but rather well-equipped fighting forces that
enjoy the overt assistance of the Sudanese government." -By
Brendan I. Koerner -Slate.com
via MSN
-
-
- 
-
- 
"War
Costs Exceed Budget, Watchdog Panel Says." ... "Military
operations in Iraq and Afghanistan are running $12.3 billion over budget
this year, and Pentagon officials are trying to make up for the shortfall
by transferring money from other accounts and delaying refurbishment of
worn-out equipment in Iraq, the General Accountability Office said Wednesday."
... "The office, a nonpartisan Congressional agency, estimated that the
Army was running about $9.4 billion short of what had been budgeted. By
putting off other kinds of spending until next year, the military is likely
to run up higher costs in future, said the agency, which was formerly the
General Accounting Office." -By Edmund L. Andrews
-NYTimes
- UPS
News
"United
Parcel 2nd-Qtr Net Rises 18% on Global Growth (Update2)."
... "United Parcel Service Inc., the world's largest package-delivery company,
said earnings in the second quarter rose 18 percent as global economic
growth raised shipments." ... "Net income increased to $818 million, or
72 cents a share, from $692 million, or 61 cents, a year earlier, the Atlanta-based
company said in a statement. Revenue climbed 7.8 percent to $8.87 billion
from $8.23 billion." -By Mary Schlangenstein ed. by
Steve Geimann -Bloomberg
-
-
-
- 
-
- Religion
- Osama
bin Laden
"9/11:
The Iran Factor: The final report of the 9-11 Commission
reveals troubling new evidence that Tehran was closer to Al Qaeda than
Iraq was." ... "U.S. intelligence believes that in faraway Tehran, the
hard-line Islamist clerics who now exercise near total control over Iran
directed their border guards to help jihadists coming from Afghanistan.
And sometime between October 2000 and February 2001, according to the forthcoming
final report of the 9-11 Commission, eight to 10 of the "muscle" hijackers
of the September 11 plot were among those who benefited from this Iranian
good-fellowship." ... "According to a December 2001 memo buried in the
files of the National Security Agency, obtained by the commission, Iranian
officials instructed their border inspectors not to place Iranian or Afghan
stamps in the passports of Saudi terrorists traveling from Osama bin Laden's
training camps through Iran. Such "clean" passports undoubtedly helped
the 9/11 terrorists pass into the United States without raising alarms
among U.S. Customs and visa officials, sources familiar with the report
told NEWSWEEK." -By Michael Isikoff and Michael Hirsh
with contributions by Mark Hosenball and Steve Tuttle
-Newsweek 20040726
ed. via -MSNBC
- 
-
[PDF]
- "The
9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist
Attacks Upon the United States. Official government edition."
(7 MB, 585 pages) ... "The Commission’s Final Report provides a full and
complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11th, 2001,
terrorist attacks, including preparedness for and the immediate response
to the attacks. It also includes recommendations designed to guard against
future attacks." ... "An Executive
Summary (344 KB, 35 pages) of the Final Report is also available."
-GPOAccess.gov/911
20040721
Wednesday
-
-
- 
- 
-
"Halliburton
unit's
Iran role probed." ... "The investigation centers
on Halliburton Products and Services Ltd., a subsidiary registered in the
Cayman Islands and headquartered in Dubai that provides oil field services
in Iran. The unit's operations in Iran included [US Vice President] Cheney's
stint as CEO from 1995 to 2000, when he frequently urged the lifting of
such sanctions." ... "Current law forbids US companies from doing business
with countries considered by the US government to be sponsors of terror.
The list includes Iran, North Korea, Cuba and Sudan. However, numerous
US companies operate indirectly in Iran under strict guidelines requiring
that their subsidiaries have a foreign registry and no US employees, and
act independently of the parent company. At issue is whether Halliburton's
subsidiary met those criteria." --LAtimes
via -Boston/Globe
-
-
-
-
-
"US
group admits to criminal probe over Iran." ... "Halliburton,
the oilfield services company formerly headed by US Vice-President Dick
Cheney, has disclosed that a Treasury Department probe into its business
dealings with Iran had been elevated to a criminal investigation. The company
acknowledged that it had been subpoenaed by a grand jury in the southern
district of Texas to present documents related to a Cayman Islands subsidiary
that serves the Iranian National Oil Company." -By
Joshua Chaffin -FT.com
-
- Osama
bin Laden
"Intelligence
failures cited in 9/11 report: Doesn't conclude whether
attacks were preventable." ... "The report, to be released publicly tomorrow,
includes a list of 10 ''operational opportunities" that the government
missed to potentially unravel the Sept. 11 plot, according to a government
official who has read the document. Six of the incidents listed came during
the Bush administration and four were during the Clinton years, the official
said." ... "Another government official who has been briefed on the report
said the tally of missed opportunities includes the CIA's failure to add
two hijackers' names to a terrorism watchlist; the FBI's handling of the
August 2001 arrest of Zacarias Moussaoui, who has been accused of conspiring
in the plot; and several failed attempts to kill or capture Osama bin Laden."
-By Dan Eggen and Mike Allen
-Boston/Globe
via -WashingtonPost
-
-
-
-
- 
-
-
"Poor
Relations With Iran Turning Worse." ... "The Bush
administration is pressing Britain, France and Germany for strong measures
against Iran in response to its violation of a nonproliferation agreement
reached with the three last fall, a State Department official said Wednesday."
... "The issue is part of a deepening American concern over recent Iranian
activities that range from weapons programs to terrorism. To head off a
potential crisis, some analysts believe the administration should work
harder to promote a dialogue with Iran." ... "The United States believes
Iran is developing nuclear weapons, a view reinforced by Iran's recent
decision to resume construction of centrifuges. This is a key step in the
development of a uranium-based bomb, one that Iran promised the Europeans
last fall that it would not take." -By George Gedda
-AP via -Newsday.com
-
-
-
"Short-Changed
Soldiers: Report: U.S. Army Reservists Encounter
Pay Problems." ... "An overwhelming number of U.S. Army reservists are
having problems getting paid, and many are paid late." ... "A report issued
today by the General Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress,
discovered major problems with the way the Army compensates its reservists."
... "Such problems are causing a considerable hardship for Melinda Delain,
a single mother who had just purchased a new home when her reserve unit
was deployed to Afghanistan." ... "Like everyone else in her medical unit,
she did not receive her full paycheck for three months." ... "In its report,
GAO investigators found that 95 percent of Army reservists had pay problems."
(1, 2)
-ABCNEWS.com
-
-
-
"Fear
of Nuclear Iran Could Influence U.S. Diplomacy."
... "The intense antagonism that has existed since militant students held
52 Americans hostage for 444 days during the 1979 Iranian revolution "could
become a collision course," former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski
said this week." ... ""But perhaps there are the makings of somewhat ameliorating
the relationship between the two sides," he said." ... "[However] Many
experts believe even if Tehran's hard-line leaders are replaced, it may
have no impact on the quest for a nuclear bomb because a broad spectrum
of Iranians endorse that goal." (1, 2)
-By Carol Giacomo-Reuters
- UPS
News
"EBay
2nd-Qtr Profit More Than Doubles on 52% Sales Increase."
... "EBay Inc., the world's No. 1 Internet auctioneer, said second-quarter
earnings more than doubled to $190.4 million as a record number of users
bought and sold merchandise online and utilized its electronic-payment
system." ... "EBay added 9.2 million users to sites in the U.S. and 22
countries, helping boost the value of items sold through them to $8 billion."
... "During the quarter, AuctionDrop Inc., a company that takes items on
consignment for sale on EBay, reached an agreement with United Parcel Service
Inc. to have 3,400 stores to act as drop- off points for the service."
-By Greg Wiles ed. by Vince Bielski -Bloomberg
-
-
- 
"Iraq
Militants Take Six Foreign Truck Drivers Hostage, AP Says."
... "The hostages include two from Kenya, three from India and an Egyptian.
A group calling itself ``the Holders of the Black Banners'' said in a statement
given to the AP that it would kill one hostage every 72 hours."
-AP via -Bloomberg
- 
- 
-
"Haiti
receives $1-billion in pledges: Aid promised as [Canadian]
troops prepare to pull out." ... "But the fledgling peacekeeping force
in Haiti is woefully short of soldiers, with only 2,200 on the ground,
compared with the 8,000 the UN says are necessary. And nearly one-quarter
of that force, the 520-strong Canadian contingent, will start packing to
go home this week." ... "The departure of the Canadians will leave about
1,700 UN peacekeepers to cope with Haiti's sporadic violence and widespread
crime. Contingents from other countries have been slow to arrive -- for
instance, of an expected 200 Argentine soldiers who are supposed to take
over in Gonaïves next week, only a small advance party has reached
Haiti." -By Paul Koring -TheGlobeAndMail.com
-
- Microsoft
News
"[Microsoft
dividends] Giving $75 billion back, with plenty to spare."
... "On Tuesday July 20th, Microsoft said it would return a whopping $75
billion to shareholders over the next four years, in the biggest corporate
cash disbursement in history." ... "Regardless of the legal situation,
Microsoft's bosses realised some time last year that they could no longer
sit on their cash pile (valued at $56.4 billion as of March 31st this year),
and resolved to take steps to give it back to shareholders." ... "Under
the disbursement announced this week, Microsoft will pay out a special
dividend worth $32 billion in early December; buy back a further $30 billion
in stock over the next four years; and double its annual dividend to 32
cents per share." -Economist
-
-
"U.S.
hostage head found in freezer: The head of slain
American hostage Paul M. Johnson Jr., who was kidnapped and beheaded in
Saudi Arabia last month, has been found in a freezer [in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia], a Saudi Interior Ministry official said." ... "Two suspected al
Qaeda militants were killed during raids, the official added Wednesday."
... "Security forces found the head and a cache of weapons in a raid on
a villa Tuesday night and it was positively identified Wednesday morning."
-CNN
20040720
Tuesday
-
"Rights
Group Says Sudan's Government Aided Militias." ...
"Human Rights Watch, the New York-based advocacy group, on Monday published
excerpts of documents that it says implicate the Sudanese government in
recruiting, equipping and guaranteeing impunity for the Arab militias accused
of killing tens of thousands of Africans and driving more than 1 million
from their homes in the Darfur region of Sudan." ... "The rights organization
said the confidential government documents called on local Sudanese officials
in February and March to recruit fighters for the militia known as the
Janjaweed, to give them "provisions and ammunition," and to tolerate "minor"
abuses of civilians." -By Colum Lynch-WashingtonPost
-
-
"Sudan:
New Darfur Documents: Ties Between Government and
Janjaweed Militias Confirmed." ... "In a series of official Arabic-language
documents from government authorities in North and South Darfur dating
from February and March 2004, officials call for recruitment and military
support, including “provisions and ammunition” to be delivered to known
Janjaweed militia leaders, camps and “loyalist tribes.” " ... "A particularly
damning February directive orders “all security units” in the area to tolerate
the activities of known Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal in North Darfur. The
document “highlights the importance of non-interference so as not to question
their authority” and authorizes security units in a North Darfur province
to “overlook minor offenses by the fighters against civilians who are suspected
members of the rebellion….”" ... "Another document calls for a plan for
“resettlement operations of nomads in places from which the outlaws [rebels]
withdrew.” This, along with recent government statements that displaced
persons will be settled in 18 “settlements” rather than in their original
villages, raises concerns that the ethnic cleansing that has occurred will
be consolidated and that people will be unable to return to their villages
and lands." ... "Human Rights Watch called for Sudan government officials
implicated in the policy of militia support to be added to the U.N. sanctions
list included as part of a pending U.N. resolution. It also called for
international monitoring of the disarmament of the militia groups and the
establishment of an international commission of inquiry into the abuses
committed in Darfur by all parties to the conflict." -HRW.org
-
-
"Darfur
Documents Confirm Government Policy of Militia Support:
A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, July 20, 2004." ... "Since February
2003, the government of Sudan has used militias known as “Janjaweed”3
as its principal counter-insurgency ground force in Darfur against civilians
from the Fur, Zaghawa, Massalit and other ethnic groups from which two
rebel groups known as the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/M) and the
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) are drawn. The government-backed Janjaweed
militias are derived from the “Abala,” camel-herding nomads who migrated
to Darfur from Chad and West Africa in the 1970s, and from Arab camel-herding
tribes from North Darfur.4
With government aerial support, arms, communications, and other backing,
and often alongside government troops, the Janjaweed militias have been
a key component in the government’s military campaign in Darfur; a campaign
that has resulted in the murder, rape and forced displacement of thousands
of civilians.5"
... "If genuinely concerned with bringing peace and stability to Darfur
and ending the cycle of violence and impunity in the region, the Sudanese
government should suspend key government officials who bear responsibility
for recruiting, arming or otherwise supporting the Janjaweed militias from
official duties, pending official investigation of their responsibility
for abuses." ... "In addition, the international community must recognize
that the government-backed militias and government forces are clearly indivisible—they
are utilized as one entity. Those officials for whom there is evidence
of implication in the policy of militia support should be included in any
forthcoming international measures, including international travel sanctions,
arms embargoes, and investigation by any future international commission
of inquiry." -HRW.org
20040718
Sunday
-
-
-
-
-
- Osama
bin Laden
"9/11
Panel's Report to Offer New Evidence of Iran-Qaeda Ties."
... "The final report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks
will offer new evidence of cooperative ties between Iran and Al Qaeda,
including information drawn from intelligence reports suggesting that Iran
provided several of the hijackers with safe passage in the year before
the attacks, government officials said yesterday." ... "The officials emphasized
that the commission had no evidence to suggest that Iranian officials knew
of the Sept. 11 plot. But they said the evidence raised new questions about
why the Bush administration focused on the possibility of Iraqi ties to
Osama bin Laden's terror network after Sept. 11, 2001, when there may have
been far more extensive evidence of an Iranian connection." -By
Philip Shenon -NYTimes
20040716
Friday
-
-
"Bodies
lined up in the desert of Darfur: Witness to ethnic
cleansing." ... "I saw numbing evidence of the ethnic cleansing campaign
pursued by the government of Sudan in this Muslim region, which is populated
by Arabs and non-Arabs. In response to a rebellion begun by primarily non-Arab
groups in early 2003, the regime armed the Janjaweed militia, giving them
impunity to attack. Burned villages confirmed harrowing stories we had
heard from Darfurians who were lucky enough to make it to refugee camps
in Chad." ... "In village after village that I visited, the painstakingly
accumulated wealth of the non-Arab population - their livestock, their
homes, their grainstocks - had been abruptly destroyed. About 1.5 million
people have been left homeless, and as many as 300,000 may be dead by year's
end." ... "It is time to move directly against regime officials who are
responsible for the killing. Accountability for crimes against humanity
is imperative, as is the deployment of sufficient force to ensure disarmament
and arrangements to deliver emergency aid." -By John
Prendergast -NYTimes
via -IHT.com
-
-
-
-
-
"9/11
Commission Finds Ties Between al-Qaeda and Iran:
Senior U.S. officials have told TIME that the 9/11 Commission's report
will cite evidence suggesting that the 9/11 hijackers had previously passed
through Iran." ... "A senior U.S. official told TIME that the Commission
has uncovered evidence suggesting that between eight and ten of the 14
"muscle" hijackers—that is, those involved in gaining control of the four
9/11 aircraft and subduing the crew and passengers—passed through Iran
in the period from October 2000 to February 2001. Sources also tell TIME
that Commission investigators found that Iran had a history of allowing
al-Qaeda members to enter and exit Iran across the Afghan border. This
practice dated back to October 2000, with Iranian officials issuing specific
instructions to their border guards—in some cases not to put stamps in
the passports of al-Qaeda personnel—and otherwise not harass them and to
facilitate their travel across the frontier. The report does not, however,
offer evidence that Iran was aware of the plans for the 9/11 attacks."
-By Adam Zagorin and Joe Klein
-TIME
20040715
Thursday
-
-
"The
[diamond] cartel isn't for ever." ... "On July 13th
in an Ohio court De Beers, the world's largest producer of rough stones,
finally pleaded guilty to charges of price-fixing of industrial diamonds
and agreed to pay a $10m fine, thereby ending a 60-year-long impasse. De
Beers executives are at last free to visit and work directly in the largest
diamond market, America." ... "A few days earlier, on July 9th, the first
case of successful industry self-regulation against trade in so-called
conflict diamonds took place when Congo-Brazzaville was punished
for failing to prove the source of its diamond exports. And on June 28th
Lev Leviev, an arch-rival of De Beers, opened Africa's biggest diamond-polishing
factory in Namibia." ... "Behind all these events lies sweeping change
in an industry that sells $60-billion-worth of jewellery alone each year.
For generations it has been run by De Beers as a cartel. The South African
firm dominated the digging and trading of diamonds for most of the 20th
century. Yet the system for distributing stones established decades ago
by De Beers is curious and anomalous—no other such market exists, nor would
anything similar be tolerated in a serious industry."
-Economist
20040713
Tuesday
-
- 
- Portland
"Archdiocese
of Portland's bankruptcy filing turns eyes to Vatican."
... "When the Archdiocese of Portland filed for bankruptcy a week ago today,
many were stunned — then perplexed." ... "How could the Vatican allow such
a move? And with its vast holdings of priceless art and property, why couldn't
the Vatican simply bail out the archdiocese?" ... "The answers are rooted
in history and based largely on practicality: While the Vatican seeks strict
control over theology, liturgy and key personnel issues in its 3,000-plus
dioceses worldwide, it has largely stayed out of their financial workings."
-By Janet I. Tu -SeattleTimes.NWsource
20040712
Monday
-
- Enron
"Lay
surrenders to authorities: Ex-Enron CEO turns himself
in after indictment, pleads not guilty in massive accounting fraud." ...
"In the 11-count indictment, Lay was accused of lying to the public, investors
and Enron employees in charges that include securities and wire fraud and
making false statements." ... "He pleaded not guilty to all charges and
was released on $500,000 bail." ... "In a related move, the Securities
and Exchange Commission accused Lay in a civil complaint that seeks more
than $90 million. It also seeks to bar him from serving as an officer or
director of a public company." -By Krysten Crawford
with contributions by Jen Rogers -CNN
-
-
- Enron
"Enron's
Lay indicted: Former Enron CEO [Kenneth Lay] indicted
by grand jury in Houston, says he's "done nothing wrong."" ... "Enron filed
for bankruptcy Dec. 2, 2001 after investigators found it had used partnerships
to conceal more than $1 billion in debt and inflate profits. The company
once ranked as the country's seventh-largest." ... "To date the federal
government has launched 30 separate prosecutions related to Enron's implosion,
including a criminal case that brought down auditor Arthur Andersen two
years ago and criminal probes of about 20 former Enron employees. Of those,
11 have resulted in convictions or guilty pleas." -By
Krysten Crawford and Kelli Arena -CNN
20040707
Wednesday
-
- Portland
"Archdiocese
of Portland, Ore., Declares Bankruptcy." ... "The
Roman Catholic archdiocese of Portland, Ore., became the first in the nation
to file for bankruptcy protection yesterday under the weight of sexual
abuse lawsuits that have cost it more than $53 million in claims." ...
"The Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Oregon
halted two civil trials scheduled to begin yesterday, in which alleged
victims of the Rev. Maurice Grammond, a deceased priest, were seeking about
$160 million in damages. About 60 additional claims involving Grammond
and other Portland area priests are pending, lawyers said." -By
Alan Cooperman -WashingtonPost
-
-
- Enron
- [PDF]
"United
States of America V. Richard A. Causey, Jeffrey K. Skilling, and Kenneth
Lay, Defendents." [65 pages] ... "Superseding
Indictment." -From the "United States District Court
Southern District of Texas Houston Division." via
-FindLaw /LegalNews/Documents
20040706
Tuesday
-
- Portland
"Portland
Church Files Bankruptcy." ... "The Portland Archdiocese
filed for bankruptcy Tuesday because of the steep costs from clergy sex
abuse lawsuits, an unprecedented step that could open the Roman Catholic
archdiocese to new levels of court scrutiny." ... "No other American diocese
has filed for bankruptcy, though Boston threatened to do so at the height
of the abuse crisis that began there two years ago." -AP
via -cbsnews.com
20040517
Monday
- 
Stephen
Cambone - Torture
- Prisons
- Classified
- Military
- Intelligence
- US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- Noteworthy
"Implausible
Denial II." ... "On Saturday, May 15--twenty-four
hours after The Nation published "Implausible
Denial"--The New Yorker posted on its website Seymour Hersh's latest
Abu Ghraib-related investigative report. Its central revelation: The interrogations
at [Iraq prison] Abu Ghraib were part of a highly classified Special Access
Program (SAP) code-named Copper Green, authorized by [Republican President
Bush's] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and ultimately overseen by Under
Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Stephen Cambone. Originally a joint
[Central Intelligence Agency] CIA-Pentagon program in Afghanistan that
utilized highly trained Special Operations personnel, Copper Green eventually
expanded to Iraq, Hersh reports, where Cambone decided it would begin using
non-Special Operations personnel--including military intelligence officers
and other military personnel--to begin questioning prisoners whose status
was outside the program's original brief. The CIA objected and withdrew
from the program, while Cambone apparently tasked [Major General] Maj.
Gen. Geoffrey Miller, former Guantánamo Bay interrogations chief,
with "Gitmo-izing" Iraq's prison system." ... "What may be more surprising
than the revelations in Hersh's piece is the fact that leads to the Abu
Ghraib skullduggery were hidden in plain sight--and that the Pentagon press
corps all but ignored them. Though Cambone has been an exceptionally sub
rosa figure in his position as DoD's intelligence chief, on November 21,
2003, he sat down for a rare on-record meeting over breakfast with the
Defense Writers Group. Again in contrast to his May 11 comments, in which
he cast himself as a benign bureaucrat largely out of the loop, his November
comments offer a glimpse into the mechanics of how Cambone's office was
assertively taking the lead in coordinating intelligence operations in
Iraq." ... "Noting first that his office has "one group of people over
to do an assessment" and that another was getting ready to go, Cambone
said that "the requirement for an increased level of intelligence support
became increasingly evident as we went through a period between early July/late
August.... In that late August time frame, a delegation went over there
from the Department and included people from the CIA to look at how we
were structured, whether we had proper arrangement at the division level,
whether that information, as it was being compiled at the divisional level,
was being moved from that level up to the CJTF-7 [Combined Joint Task Force-7]
level in an expeditious manner."" ... "Cambone further stated that the
group "came back with a list of somewhere close to eighty or ninety recommendations,"
and went on to describe a rapid infusion of personnel and technology for
intelligence-related endeavors. He also noted that the Director of Central
Intelligence, George Tenet, had "made a number of adjustments in his complement
of people in Iraq" as part of a "concerted effort to lash up much more
tightly the work that is done in the context of the CIA activities with
those being done by the Department to ensure there is [a] cross-flow of
information and cooperation."" ... "Cambone's remarks at the breakfast
also bring into potentially clearer focus the role in Abu Ghraib of [Lieutenant
General] Lieut. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin, his deputy for intelligence
and warfighting support. "It is an office," Cambone says of Boykin's shop,
"that is designed to assure the types of capabilities we have just been
talking about here, whether it is people, or it is resources, or it is
material, or it is information, is moved forward to the people who need
it at various levels of command and operation in order for them to execute
their mission."" -By Jason
West -TheNation.com
- US
- Afghanistan
- Military
- Terrorism
- Prisoner
- War
Crimes Act - Human
Rights - Death
Penalty - Politics
"Memos
Reveal War Crimes Warnings: Could Bush administration
officials be prosecuted for 'war crimes' as a result of new measures used
in the war on terror? The White House's top lawyer thought so." ... "The
White House's top lawyer warned more than two years ago that U.S. officials
could be prosecuted for "war crimes" as a result of new and unorthodox
measures used by the Bush administration in the war on terrorism, according
to an internal White House memo and interviews with participants in the
debate over the issue." ... "The concern about possible future prosecution
for war crimes-and that it might even apply to Bush adminstration
officials themselves- is contained in a crucial portion of an internal
January
25, 2002, memo by White House counsel Alberto Gonzales
obtained by NEWSWEEK. It urges President George Bush declare the
war in Afghanistan, including the detention of Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters,
exempt from the provisions of the Geneva Convention." ... "In the memo,
the White House lawyer focused on a little known 1996 law passed by Congress,
known as the War Crimes Act, that banned any Americans from committing
war crimes-defined in part as "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions.
Noting that the law applies to "U.S. officials" and that punishments
for violators "include the death penalty," Gonzales told Bush that
"it was difficult to predict with confidence" how Justice Department prosecutors
might apply the law in the future. This was especially the case given that
some of the language in the Geneva Conventions-such as that outlawing "outrages
upon personal dignity" and "inhuman treatment" of prisoners-was "undefined.""
... "One key advantage of declaring that Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters
did not have Geneva Convention protections is that it "substantially reduces
the threat of domestic criminal prosecution under the War Crimes Act,"
Gonzales wrote." -By Michael Isikoff
-MSNBC/Newsweek
20040516
Sunday
- Stephen
Cambone - Torture
- Prison
- Military
- Intelligence
- Police
- Human
Rights - Law
- Politics
- US
- <
/ 
/ Archive / 2004