MSNBC Article on Bush "Misstatement" Pulled Off Site

Independent publishers release antiwar booklet
Margo Baldwin, Publishers for Peace Coalition
In an unprecedented political move for a business group, a coalition of independent book publishers has formed Publishers for Peace in order to cooperatively publish and distribute Iraq on the Edge, a powerful photo-essay on the effects of the war on Iraq, that will be distributed for free at independent bookstores nationwide starting May 1, 2003.

U.S. Hires Christian Extremists to Produce Arabic News
Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman, AlterNet
The U.S. government this week launched its Arabic language satellite TV news station for mostly Muslim Iraq. It is being produced in a studio – Grace Digital Media – controlled by fundamentalist Christians who are rabidly pro-Israel.

Bush promises unending war in Iraq and internationally
Bill Vann, WSWS
The speech that George Bush delivered on the USS Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln Thursday night constituted a warning to the world that the carnage unleashed in Iraq is the only the beginning of worldwide eruption of US militarism.

NewsWire

Denver police shared files with FBI

Different high schools, different reactions to student anarchist clubs

Iraqis vow revenge as hatred of US grows

Sharon’s reply to roadmap: 12 Palestinians killed

Israel to bar pro-Palestinian activists

Thursday
May 1, 2003

Do Unto Others
Matt Taibbi, NY Press
Lewis' cover story last week, "Detainees from the Afghan War Remain in a Legal Limbo in Cuba," was one of the most disgraceful pieces of journalism I've ever seen.

The Four Horsemen of Propaganda
Wayne Madsen, CounterPunch
Today we are faced with the Freislers of the airwaves - those right-wing hate mongers who act as judges, juries, and character executioners. Chief among these are the typical promoters of neo-conservative (read that as extreme right-wing) policies. Among the most outrageous are Rush Limbaugh, Fox's Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, and G. Gordon Liddy.

Security or suppression
Chisun Lee, Village Voice
Tension between activists and police has swelled with each demonstration. Yet so far neither side has outright called the series of skirmishes what it is shaping up to be: a struggle over the very right to protest in the streets of New York. The battle unfolds as potentially the biggest showdown of all, the 2004 Republican National Convention, looms.

Wars of Terror
Noam Chomsky, New Political Science
The “war on terror” re-declared on 9/11 had been declared 20 years earlier, with much the same rhetoric and many of the same people in high-level positions.

The Roadmap to Further Colonization
Mazin B. Qumsiyeh, Media Monitors
I think it is rather telling that the so called "road map" for a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict failed to include the words: "international law" and "human rights." That these four simple words can be skipped in a document of 2221 words suggests that this latest effort will not produce peace.

May Day - What Happened to the Radical Workers' Holiday?
Michelle Cobban, Dissident Voice
Besides the prominence government recognition gave to Labor Day, other factors led to the diminished importance of May Day in the US. American newspapers stereotyped the May Day revelers as being "wild-eyed agitators;" in contrast, those who participated in Labor Day marches were "sober, clean, quiet."

Under Uncle Sam's Thumb
Ashley Smith, CounterPunch
As Marine Corps Gen. Smedley Butler famously explained his role during this era: "I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for big business, for Wall Street and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism...

Another criminal violation of human rights - US admits jailing children at Guantanamo Bay
Richard Phillips, WSWS
Amnesty International described the conditions at Guantanamo Bay as “cruel, inhuman and degrading” and called for the immediate release and repatriation of the children. “That the US sees nothing wrong with holding children at Guantanamo and interrogating them is a shocking indicator of how cavalier the Bush administration has become about respecting human rights,” Amnesty International spokesman Alistair Hodgett said.

NewsWire

Anti-war protests and violence at May Day rallies in Europe

Why is Bush trying to keep 9/11 report secret?

North Korea warns of war if US uses sanctions

Rice makes U-turn on WMD

As Bush prepares to announce an end to hostilities today, more Iraqis are killed by American troops

Israeli forces kill 8 Palestinians and demolish 13 homes in Rafah

Afghanistan: a number of factors are likely to contribute to a significant escalation of the country's ongoing guerrilla war.

Angry baboons protest, block road

Wednesday
April 30, 2003

Breaking News: US Troops Fire on Iraqi Protesters Again - 2 Killed, 14 Wounded

Were Those Iraqi Intelligence Documents Planted?
Wayne Madsen, CounterPunch
After the United States and Britain were shown to be providing bogus and plagiarized "intelligence" documents to the UN Security Council that supposedly "proved" Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction program, the world's media is now being fed a steady stream of captured Iraqi "intelligence" documents from the rubble of Iraq's Mukhabarat intelligence headquarters.

US troops gun down Iraqi demonstrators
James Conachy, WSWS
Whatever such an investigation may find, this massacre is the inevitable product of the predatory and illegal US invasion ordered by the Bush administration. Similar bloodbaths will be repeated again and again until US forces are finally withdrawn from Iraq.

Television and the State
Craig Russell, Strike the Root
There's no doubt that the power of the State is fueled by oil and powered by electricity. The State relies on technology. You could perhaps make the case that the modern State is a direct result of technology, a logical extension of its principles. Technology, of course, gives the State bombs, jets, and satellites: in other words, its weapons and its modes of transportation and communication.

Patriot Raid
Jason Halperin, AlterNet
Two weeks ago I experienced a very small taste of what hundreds of South Asian immigrants and U.S. citizens of South Asian descent have gone through since 9/11, and what thousands of others have come to fear. I was held, against my will and without warrant or cause, under the USA PATRIOT Act.

NewsWire

NYC Cops Abused Protesters

White House threatens Belgium over war crimes prosecution

US war crimes case 'going ahead'

Putin mocks, taunts, and publicly embarrasses Blair

`It's a terrible thing, living with the knowledge that you crushed our daughter'

Tuesday
April 29, 2003

Breaking News: US troops 'kill 13 Iraqi protesters'

Did the US murder journalists?
Robert Fisk, Daily Times (Pakistan)
At the time, General Buford Blount of the 3rd Infantry Division, told a lie: he said that sniper fire had been directed at the tank – on the Joumhouriyah Bridge over the Tigris river – and that the fire had ended “after the tank had fired” at the Palestine Hotel. I was between the tank and the hotel when the shell was fired. There was no sniper fire – nor any rocket-propelled grenade fire, as the American officer claimed – at the time.

The tasteful war and other media lies
Deck Deckert, Swans
How is it that the American people see black as white? How have they concluded that crushing a defenseless country, destroying its 7,000-year-old culture, stealing its natural resources, and slaughtering thousands of people who have done us no harm was a wise, moral and courageous thing to do?

US Military Bases: the Spoils and Deceptions of War
by Kurt Nimmo, CounterPunch
"Whenever America goes to war, the spoils of victory invariably include more US military bases overseas," writes Ian Traynor of the Guardian.

Lack of WMD Kills Case for War
Robert Jensen, Dissident Voice
How blatantly can an administration lie to promote a war and get away with it? We'll find out in the coming weeks, as U.S. forces in Iraq search for evidence of banned weapons and U.S. officials shape postwar Iraq.

From Vietnam To Iraq
Edward S. Herman, Swans
We had to destroy Iraq in order to liberate it: some eerie similarities between Iraq and Vietnam.

The Bankruptcy of American Science
Daniel Amit, Dissident Voice
Science cannot stay neutral, especially after it has been so cynically used in the hands of the inspectors to disarm a country and prepare it for decimation by laser guided cluster bombs. No, science of the American variety has no recourse. I, personally, cannot see myself anymore sharing a common human community with American science.

Is America Becoming Fascist?
Anis Shivani, Information Clearing House
The similarities between American fascism and particularly the National Socialist precedent, both historical and theoretical, are remarkable. Fascism is home, it is here to stay, and it better be countered with all the intellectual resources at our disposal.

War on Terror: The Police State Agenda
Richard K. Moore, New Dawn
How had the US government come up so quickly with such a comprehensive and coordinated response? How had they decided within hours that an extended War on Terrorism was the appropriate action? How did they know that $40 billion was the exact amount needed? And then as background reports began to appear, my suspicion deepened.

Re-Colonizing Iraq
Tariq Ali, Dissident Voice
The Republican Administration has utilized the national trauma of 9/11 to pursue an audacious imperial agenda, of which the occupation of Iraq promises to be only the first step.

A new, angry, Pentagon colony
Praful Bidwai, Daily Times (Pakistan)
The United States has created enormous resentment in Iraq because of its forces’ brutal and ham-handed conduct, its complicity in cultural destruction, and reliance on discredited clients like Ahmad Chalabi. Can it handle the consequences?

Weapons of Mass Deception
Matthew Reimer, YellowTimes
Perhaps no other catchphrase bandied about by Washington powerbrokers and their well-connected network of supporters is as abused, misunderstood, and just plain lied about as the infamous verbal slight of hand "weapons of mass destruction."

NewsWire

George Galloway: ‘All these documents are forged’

Utne Revamps Bimonthly Magazine

Americans went overseas for their war news

Banfield lashes out at own network

Iraqis Target Gen. Franks for War Crimes Trial

America is the greatest abuser of WMD

‘Even under Saddam pay was better than this’

A Rebel's Political Odyssey

Weekend Edition April 26-27, 2003

To the people of Gaza from the family of Rachel Corrie

US Forces Make Iraqis Strip and Walk Naked in Public

Amy Goodman Interview with Robert Fisk
Democracy Now
I've never seen such historical acts take place in the 27 years I've been in the Middle East. And the results cannot be good. I don't believe we've gone to Iraq because of weapons of mass destruction. If we'd done that, we would have invaded North Korea. I don't believe we've gone there because of human rights abuses because we connived at those abuses for many years when we supported Saddam. I think we've gone there for oil. And though we may get the oil, I think the price will be very high.

Corporate Media and Homeland Security Move Towards Total Information Control
Peter Phillips, Dissident Voice
For the majority of Americans who depend on corporate media for their daily news, this monolithic news structure creates intellectual celibacy, inaction and fear. The result is a docile population, whose principal function within society is to simply shut-up and go shopping.

Double Standards in P.T. Barnum's Land
Stephen Gowans, What's Left
The closest the media gets to declaring these US violations to be "war crimes" is when they call them "controversial," as in the "controversial use of cluster bombs," or the "controversial use of depleted uranium munitions," or the "controversial use of overwhelming force in civilian areas," or "the controversial targeting of civilian morale." This is a bit like saying Hitler's invasion of Poland was controversial.

The Military's Media
Robert Jensen, The Progressive
Three days into the war, CNN's Judy Woodruff ended a segment featuring an interview with an A-10 "Warthog" pilot with the comment, "We continue to marvel at what those planes can do." Once "Shock and Awe" began, some on-air reporters appeared jubilant – as if they were watching a fireworks display and not weapons that kill people.

Propaganda Nation
Interview with Nancy Snow, OC Weekly
As Americans, it’s hard for us to see the roots of anti-Americanism. We don’t hear a lot about imperial power, but in a lot of the world the U.S. is seen as a major imperial power—militarily, economically and culturally. We keep saying we need to get our message out, but often the world is saying, "We get your message; we hear it all the time."

Something deeply corrupt is consuming journalism
John Pilger, Pilger in Print
A war that was hardly a war, that was so one-sided it ought to be despatched with shame in the military annals, was reported like a Formula One race, as we watched the home teams speed to the chequered flag in Baghdad's Firdos Square, where a statue of the dictator created and sustained by "us" was pulled down in a ceremony that was as close to fakery as you could get.

Practice to Deceive: Chaos in the Middle East is not the Bush hawks' nightmare scenario--it's their plan
Joshua Micah Marshall, Washington Monthly
In their view, invasion of Iraq was not merely, or even primarily, about getting rid of Saddam Hussein. Nor was it really about weapons of mass destruction, though their elimination was an important benefit. Rather, the administration sees the invasion as only the first move in a wider effort to reorder the power structure of the entire Middle East.

No One is Totally Clean
Mickey Z., Dissident Voice
The impact these "former" Nazis had on shaping U.S. policy towards the USSR was vast. The number of humans who suffered and died because of the resultant Cold War is beyond calculation.

The view from wonderland
Ernest Partridge, Online Journal
How many Americans today are aware, or if aware, care, that the Bush regime's justifications for the Iraq war were based upon lies, forgeries, and plagiarisms, and that the images of the "coalition's" "triumphs" (e.g., the toppling of the Saddam statue and the "rescue" of Private Lynch) were staged.

Did Matt Lamont Try to Blow Up Hitler’s Birthday Party?
Nick Schou, Orange County Weekly
One thing that is obvious is that Lamont didn’t get attached to anarchism by reading books by Goldberg or Chomsky. Instead, as seems to be the case with the rest of his cohorts, believing in anarchy simply meant rejecting all forms of authority—parents, teachers and especially cops.

Brazil: Neoliberalism with a human face
Michel Chossudovsky, www.globalresearch.ca
Ironically, while applauding Lula`s victory, nobody – among the prominent critics of "free trade" and corporate driven globalization – who spoke at the 2003 WSF, seemed to have noticed that President Luis Ignacio da Silva`s PT government had already handed over the reigns of macro-economic reform to Wall Street and the IMF.

Reason for War?
John Cochran, ABC News
To build its case for war with Iraq, the Bush administration argued that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but some officials now privately acknowledge the White House had another reason for war — a global show of American power and democracy.

NewsWire

War Criminal Colin Powell Defends Murder of Journalists in Iraq

US Media Losing Global Respect

Revealed: How the road to war was paved with lies

American to oversee Iraqi oil industry

Richard Perle: We won’t stop in Iraq

Iraqis emulate Palestinians by stoning troops

Friday
April 25, 2003

San Francisco Chronicle Fires Reporter For Attending Peace Protest Amy Goodman, Democracy Now
Henry Norr joins a growing number of journalists who’ve lost their jobs or columns due to their views on war.

Interview with Filmmaker Godfrey Reggio
Green Anarchy
I think our greatest opportunity is to live a creative life. Often that means to reject schooling, rejecting organized education. For many of us, our diploma from college becomes our death certificate, because it ingratiates us into a way of life that's unquestioned where the principal modus operandi is finance, or money.

Would you buy a U.S. foreign policy from this man?
Jake Tapper, Salon
Why the State Department's propaganda campaign to win the hearts and minds of Arabs and Muslims is a mess.

The war at home
David Valdes Greenwood, Boston Phoenix
It's time to defend our liberties before Patriot Act II makes protest a crime

There’s Lies, Damn Lies, and then there’s the Corporate Press
William Bowles, Information Clearing House
For months we’ve been bombarded with a never-ending stream of state propaganda utilising a vast array of techniques: satellite images, computer simulations, faked documents, ‘revelations’, ‘pulpit pounding’ and pleading verging on the evangelical, dossiers, expert analysis’ of one kind or another, exhultations to one’s patriotism, and threats of dire events if we, the people, don’t go along with what is probably the most sustained campaign of disinformation ever mounted by governments in modern times.

Leaked document exposes pro-Israel lobby's manipulation of US public
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada
The Electronic Intifada has obtained, and today publishes in full, a document prepared for pro-Israel activists by the public relations firm The Luntz Research Companies and The Israel Project. The document spells out the tactics that Israel and its US advocates should use to maintain support for Israel and its hardline policies.

The Great Unraveling of Global US Power
Black Commentator
Entitlement is a word the Bush men abhor. Nevertheless, it is the essence of their distilled, white American sense of themselves as entitled to each bloody slab of meat they can gouge from the baggage or body of the unwary. Ever since there has been such a thing as American popular culture, predation has been celebrated. Killer cowboys, killer soldiers, killer cops, killer business tycoons.

Police State: Police Officers, a Privileged Class
Al Lorentz, Prison Planet
Last year, nationally there were less police officers killed in the line of duty than were freeway construction workers. Both were performing vital public service, both losses were tragedies but only one loss is valued, the other is treated as routine, a non-event.

Presumed Innocence and Ad Hominem
Kim Petersen, Dissident Voice
For a long time the US and UK both insisted that the regime of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction (WMD). President Bush and Prime Minister Blair were adamant about this. Now the heat is on. Where are the WMD?

NewsWire

Montreal G20 Trial Verdict: NOT GUILTY

Basra could soon rebel, warns Army

Atta Worked for Elite U.S.—German Government Exchange Program

Criticizing Israel will be a taboo in United States

US forces worse than Saddam, Iraqi Shiite leader charges

The Baghdad Deal

Thursday
April 24, 2003

Israeli troops shoot and kill an AP cameraman in Nablus. Democracy Now! talks to a photographer who witnessed the killing

The decline and fall of American journalism
Alexander Cockburn, Working for Change
Until Judith Miller's piece showed up on the front page of the New York Times on April 22, I'd thought the distillation of disingenuous U.S. press coverage of the invasion of Iraq came with the images of the April 9 hauling down of Saddam's statue and of Iraqis cheering U.S. troops in the square in Baghdad in front of the Palestine Hotel.

Americans are as stupid as pig dribble
Brian Cloughley, Daily Times
We should not be surprised that so many Americans believe everything they are told about foreign countries by the propaganda machines whirring away in Washington. Independent, impartial international reportage is almost non-existent on US television. Most major newspapers are partisan to the point of risibility, and local papers are notable for their jingoistic fervour and even, deplorably, their self-righteous, club-swinging, flag-brandishing xenophobia.

Bush Comes Clean: It was about oil
Ted Rall, Infoshop
Iraq is going to hell. Shiites are killing Sunnis, Kurds are killing Arabs and Islamists are killing secular Baathists. Baghdad, the cradle of human civilization, has been left to looters and rapists. As in Beirut during the '70s, neighborhood zones are separated by checkpoints manned by armed tribesmen. The war has, however, managed to unite Iraqis in one respect: everyone loathes the United States.

NewsWire

U.S., N. Korea talks near collapse after Pyongyang admitts to having nuclear weapons

ISM's Adam Shapiro responds to CAMERA's distortions in the Washington Post

Ba'athists slip quietly back into control

Wednesday
April 23, 2003

The Secret Arsenal of the Jewish State

The NYT and WMD
Gary Leupp, CounterPunch
You allow a New York Times reporter, who was not permitted to interview the scientist, nor visit his home, nor permitted to write about this momentous discovery for three days, whose copy was submitted for a check by military officials, to reveal this information to the world.

Impassive resistance: Protest songs for today
Mike McHone, WSWS
What we are seeing now is a government who restricts the expressions of its artists, limits an area of choice, and has a hand in shaping the country’s perspective on certain topics. Aren’t these the very same accusations George Bush has made against Saddam Hussein and his control of the Iraqi media?

Getting Indy Comics to the Masses
Rich Watson, Slushfactory.com
The following is a transcript of the panel discussion I moderated at this year’s Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo, entitled “Open Minds: How do you get someone to try a small press comic?” from April 5, 2003, in Columbus, Ohio.

Wolves and Sheep
Stan Goff, From the Wilderness
Former West Point instructor and retired U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant Stan Goff breaks down for us what really happened in the Iraqi war, with our media, and to us here at home.

Armed with Principles
Ali Abunimah, Electronic Intifada
For Avery and Hurndall, there is no 24-hour news coverage, and no special airlift to bring them home to an appreciative nation. Their families and friends are left to cope with these devastating tragedies alone.

NewsWire

IFJ: "Impossible to ignore evidence of Israeli targeting of journalists"

US admits children held at Camp X-ray

Hundreds of thousands denounce US occupation in Iraq

US PR firm hired to purge schools of Saddam doctrine

Weekend Edition
April 19-20, 2003

US Marines Get Into the Spirit of Looting

Doctored Photo

Time Magazine Removes 1998 essay from Bush Sr. “Why We Didn’t Remove Saddam”

Who Covered The War Best? Try al-Jazeera
Frances S. Hasso, NewsDay
In covering the war, al-Jazeera was unique in the number of independent reporting teams distributed throughout the region, some of whom have been beaten by Kurdish forces, banned by Iraqi government officials, and reprimanded almost daily by U.S., Iraqi, Kuwaiti, Saudi, Jordanian and other state and military officials at press conferences. These states recognize the destabilizing potential of al-Jazeera's brash willingness to ask difficult questions and give voice to the marginalized majority.

When Police Attack Journalists
by Will Potter, CounterPunch
I attended the march as a freelance journalist, and was beaten by police with batons while I was wearing my Congressional press pass. These attacks were not just "allegations."

The secret society
Tim Grieve, Salon
Under Attorney General John Ashcroft, America is becoming an Orwellian state where people are locked up and no one can find out why -- least of all a compliant Congress.

The Toppling of the Statue of Saddam was a Staged Media Event
Interview with Neville Watson
The one that I've seen a lot of since I've been back is the toppling of the statue of Saddam and I can hardly believe it was the same one that I saw, because it happened at only about 300m from where I was and it was a very small crowd. The rest of the square was almost empty, and when we inquired as to where the crowd came from, it was from Saddam City. In other words, it was a rent-a-crowd.

The unthinkable is becoming normal. Do not forget the horror
John Pilger, The Independent
The American essayist Edward Herman wrote: "There is usually a division of labour in doing and rationalising the unthinkable, with the direct brutalising and killing done by one set of individuals ... others working on improving technology (a better crematory gas, a longer burning and more adhesive napalm, bomb fragments that penetrate flesh in hard-to-trace patterns). It is the function of the experts, and the mainstream media, to normalise the unthinkable for the general public.''

The Korean Crisis
Chalmers Johnson, TomDispatch.com
The prosperous and well-informed people of the South know that their fellow Koreans, hungry, desperate, oppressed but exceedingly well armed, are trapped by the ironies of the end of the Cold War and by the harshness of the Kim Jong-il regime, but are also being pushed into an exceedingly dangerous corner by the pride and arrogance of the Americans in their newly proclaimed role as the reigning global military colossus.

The Achille Lauro hijacking: Selective memory does none of us justice
Daniel Jacob Quinn, Electronic Intifada
While extensive media coverage of the arrest of Abbas in Iraq by US forces has ensured that most of us know about the Achille Lauro, no one seems to recall Hammam-Plage.

So where are they, Mr Blair?
Lead Editorial, The Independent
Not one illegal warhead. Not one drum of chemicals. Not one incriminating document. Not one shred of evidence that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction in more than a month of war and occupation.

"Supporting the troops": a crisis of perspective
Noah Page, WSWS
During the twentieth century the most reactionary elements of aggressor nations seized upon this idea, including the Free Corps movement that ultimately formed the vanguard of Nazi Germany. As a political tool, it’s been used by a succession of US presidents—in Vietnam, in the first Gulf War, and now.

Don’t Mess with Wal-Mart
Katharine Mieszkowski, Salon
The art graduate students behind Re-Code.com said it was satire. Wal-Mart said the site promoted fraud. But now the debate over the Web site is one for the culture-jamming alternative history books, since the pranksters behind the site yanked it off the Web on Wednesday night, saying that they feared legal action.

NewsWire

Growing Evidence of Deception Over WMD Claims

America nervous as militant cleric's rallies attract mass support

Baghdad Protests Reinstatement of Saddam’s Police Force

Basra fury over return of Saddam’s ‘killer’ police force

Tens of Thousands of Iraqis Protest US

Iraqi cleric warns U.S. to leave before 'we force you out'

Gen Tommy Franks could face war crimes trial in Belgium

US lone vote against human rights resolution on occupied territories

Barred! US military bans peace team members from Palestine Hotel

Thursday
April 17, 2003

Statement to the troops

Facts fall victim to war jargon
Russell Smith, Globe and Mail
The media coverage of this war has been disgusting. North American media, and in particular the U.S. television stations, have been cravenly submissive to the Pentagon and the White House; they rolled over and gave up even before Saddam Hussein did.

My Big Fat Question
Michael Wolff, New York Metro
While the war was raging elsewhere, I was stuck at CENTCOM, where I was supposed to be lobbing softball questions at generals. Naturally, I did the opposite. (Cue hate mail from Rush Limbaugh fans.)

For the people on the streets, this is not liberation but a new colonial oppression
Robert Fisk, The Independent
So now – with neither electricity nor running water – the millions of Iraqis here are ordered to stay in their homes from dusk to dawn. Lockdown. It's a form of imprisonment. In their own country. Written by the command of the 1st US Marine Division, it's a curfew in all but name.

War Crimes and the US
Mickey Z, ZNet
Examples of civilians killed by the American military could fill volumes. For the purposes of this essay, three Asian nations will serve as examples.

'A Chill Wind is Blowing in This Nation...'
Tim Robbins, CommonDreams
Every day, the air waves are filled with warnings, veiled and unveiled threats, spewed invective and hatred directed at any voice of dissent. And the public, like so many relatives and friends that I saw this weekend, sit in mute opposition and fear.

Talking Points Regarding Syria
Stephen Zunes, Foreign Policy in Focus
The Bush administration has not presented clear evidence that large numbers of Iraqi leaders have escaped to Syria. Even if they have, Syria has no legal obligation to hand them over to U.S. authorities, given that the U.S. occupation of Iraq has not been recognized by the international community.

The Destruction of Iraq
Kurt Nimmo, CounterPunch
Naturally, the US does not care about the Geneva Convention. This should be obvious -- from the use of cluster bombs to the illegal detention of political prisoners at Gitmo Bay in Cuba -- Bush and the Pentagon are violating the Geneva Convention right and left and at every turn.

Parable of a Bad Samaritan
Tim Wise, ZNet
Ali, we are to believe is simply the victim of the "horrors of war," a nice, tidy and quite passive formulation that makes no mention and takes no notice of which side unleashed said horrors. The phrase fairly reeks of the kind of emotional and for that matter intellectual detachment so common among the powerful; those who are practiced at never second-guessing their actions or their own smug self-righteousness.

NewsWire

US bans media from protests

US Murders More Civilians in Mosul

A Crusade After All?

US concentrating forces near Syrian border

In bombed neighborhoods, everyone 'wants to kill Americans'

Wednesday
April 16, 2003

They Shoot Activists, Don’t They?
Brooke Shelby Biggs, AlterNet
In the past month, three international peace activists have been wounded or killed by the Israeli Army. They were all affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement, a loose network of international activists who are trained in and dedicated to non-violent tactics to defend Palestinian civilians from Israeli aggression.

Baghdad Did Not Fall - It Was Handed Over
Jalal Ghazi, Pacific News Service
Arabic media are using the word "safqa" to explain the sudden collapse of Baghdad and the Iraqi regime. Translated into English, "safqa" means "a deal made fast and in secrecy."

Journalists die and networks lie
Linda Heard, Online Journal
Iraq is being "liberated" while truth is incarcerated. Former BBC reporter Kate Adie warned that non-embedded journalists in Iraq could be Pentagon targets before the war began. She was right.

How We Lost the Victory
Ted Rall, Alternet
The stirring image of Saddam's statue being toppled on April 9th turns out to be fake, the product of a cheesy media op staged by the U.S. military for the benefit of cameramen staying across the street at Baghdad's Palestine Hotel. This shouldn't be a big surprise.

Remember Waco
Craig Russell, Strike the Root
The Government claimed David Koresh, the leader of the church, possessed illegal firearms. But while Koresh never hid himself and often went into town alone, and while he had invited the Government into the church to inspect these weapons, the Government instead decided to invite television crews to film its agents attacking the church.

NewsWire

Hundreds of U.S. Soldiers Emerge as Conscientious Objectors

Anti-American protests are intensifying in Iraq

US army hampers media coverage of anti-US protests in Iraq

Tuesday
April 15, 2003

"Smile and Enjoy It" - The Rape of Iraq
Dr. Susan Block, CounterPunch
We feel good about our war now, at least some of us do. As the rapist would say, "I gave her what she really wanted." She needed to be raped. She wanted to be violated.

Supporting the Troops
Richard Sellers, Strike the Root
So many people, actively opposed to the assault on Iraq by the United States military, are coming forth with this idea that “We don’t support the war, but we support the troops.” Bullshit.

Mark Twain Speaks to Us: "I Am an Anti-Imperialist"
Norman Solomon, Dissident Voice
Mark Twain was painfully aware of many people's inclinations to go along with prevailing evils. When slavery was lawful, he recalled, abolitionists were "despised and ostracized, and insulted" – by "patriots." As far as Twain was concerned, "Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul."

"A rapacious colonial war": Interview with Arab journalist Said Dudin on US bombing of Al Jazeera
Stefan Steinberg, WSWS
The Bush administration justify their actions as preemptive war, but it is necessary to call things by their right names. It is Hitlerism—a repressive and rapacious war aimed at plundering the region.

A Baghdad Neighborhood Proud of Resisting US Forces
Palestine Chronicle
As riots are breaking on regular basis by Iraqi prisoners of war, sparking questions about the destiny of thousand of POWs, a Baghdad neighborhood residents sounded their pride for meeting U.S. soldiers with fiery resistance rather than roses.

NewsWire

US Rejects Iraq DU Cleanup

Rock-Hurling Prisoners Riot Daily at Main U.S. POW Camp

20,000 Iraqi protesters greet US-backed talks on Post-Saddam Iraq

US Troops fire on protesters killing 10, wounding 100

Is Syria Next?

Monday
April 14, 2003

Pictures from weekend anti-war protests

Israeli violence against peace activists
Daily Times editorial (Pakistan)
Clearly, the IDF is employing a tried and tested method: targeting peace activists over a period of time and then simply explaining away such incidents as the “necessary fallout” of a conflict.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent
Declan McCullah, CNet
This is a development that deserves close attention in the technology community. More than other industries, the computer business relies on immigrants. And some, like Hawash, are getting caught up in the U.S. Justice Department's campaign against suspected domestic terrorists.

NewsWire

Muslims save Baghdad's Jewish community centre from looters

US Troops Loot, Steal

Disappointed Marines learn stay in Baghdad may be indefinite

Spanish human shields call for Aznar war crimes trial

Baghdad Battered by US Gas Bombs

Afghanistan faces return of Taliban