:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::

:: 9.25.2006 ::

:: "Iraq has fuelled terror threat, US intelligence warns" ::

Independent, UK

President Bush's rationale for the invasion and occupation of Iraq has taken a heavy blow with a new assessment by the country's intelligence community that the war and its aftermath have fuelled Islamic extremism, and increased - not diminished - the terrorist threat to the US.

Top Republicans yesterday leapt to the administration's defence, insisting that the US had no option but to stay in Iraq. "Either we're going to be fighting this battle, this war, overseas or its going to be right here in this country," said Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader.

But the findings could scarcely have come at a more delicate time, weeks before mid-term congressional elections in which Mr Bush's claim to have made the country safer will be a central theme. They also contradict Mr Bush's recent assertions, on the fifth anniversary of the 11 September attacks, that the overthrow of Saddam Hussein had been vital to win the "war on terror". Instead the document, the gist of which appeared in The New York Times and The Washington Post yesterday, makes clear that if Iraq has turned into the "central front" in that war, as the President insists, that front is largely of the administration's making.

The report warns that militants who had taken part in the anti-US fight in Iraq could go back to their own countries "exacerbating domestic conflicts or fomenting radical ideologies".

The conclusions are contained in a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which reflects the considered and collective wisdom of the CIA and 15 other agencies. Precise details of the report, entitled Trends in Global Terrorism, Implications for the United States, remain top-secret.

Read more here.

ALSO

Battle Breaks Out in Media Over Bleak NIE Iraq Assessment
Editor & Publisher

His own NIE says Bush is the Terrorist's Best Friend. When will the Democrats?
Huffington Post

posted by me

:: 1:09:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Pirate Radio Stations Challenge Feds" ::

An AP story
via The Washington Post
By MARTHA MENDOZA

OAKLAND, Calif. -- To Stephen Dunifer, it was yet another revolutionary moment. But to the untrained eye, it looked more like a geek fest. Over four days, a dozen men and women shyly bumped shoulders as they studied schematics and tinkered with romex connectors, resistors, microphone cords, meters, sockets and capacitors _ the stuff of illegal radio stations.

In the corner of this cluttered electronics lab, hunched over a computer, sat Dunifer, their teacher, "the patron saint of pirate radio." Part rock star, part Johnny Appleseed and fully the bane of the Federal Communications Commission, Dunifer has long, gray hair, large, clear glasses and a deep commitment to what he calls "Free Radio."

"We're not stealing anything. We're claiming something that's rightfully ours," he says.

His goal is to create FM radio stations faster than the FCC can shut them down.

"It's always been our position that if enough people go on the air with their stations, the FCC will be overwhelmed and unable to respond," he says.

Pirate radio is radio without a license, radio without government regulations. It's "america the criminal" at midnight on Human Rights Radio in Springfield, Illinois and pre-dawn erotica on Freak Radio in Santa Cruz, Calif. It's an inordinate amount of Frank Zappa at WFZR in West End, Pa. (a station dedicated to playing his music) and the "Voice of the American Patriot" ("no support for liberals disguised as wannabe Conservatives") at NLNR in Butte, Mont.

The rapidly proliferating scofflaws _ and there are now hundreds of them broadcasting at any given moment in this country _ are usually only audible within a few miles of their "home-brewed" transmitters. They find unused sections of the FM dial, fire up their mini-transmitters, raise their antennas and set up their station.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 1:06:00 AM [+] ::
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:: There's Always Room for Jello ::

Biafra bashes Bush bill
From the Alternative Tentacles site

According to Senator Patrick Leahy on the Bill of Rights Defense Committee website, the US Congress is trying to shield the President from future criminal prosecution while making torture and rigged trials legal and unreviewable by the US Judicial system!

After reviewing the facts, Jello Biafra said, "This is the most corrupt thing I've heard of congress doing ever. Hey kids, can you say coup?" He suggests "Faxes, e-mails, polite but firm prank calls to the offices of your congress creatures" to let 'em know what you think about this shameful move on the part of the Republican leadership!

posted by me

:: 8:09:00 PM [+] ::
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:: TRUTHOUT ::

Global Media Abhors US Response to 9/11
Agence France Presse
via truthout.org

Newspapers across the world have strongly criticised the US response to September 11, accusing the Bush administration of bungling its "war on terror" and squandering global goodwill by invading Iraq.

On the fifth anniversary of Al-Qaeda's assault on New York and Washington, editorials united Monday in condemning the attacks and expressing revulsion for the Islamic extremists who carried out the atrocity.

While papers said many people were still grappling with the immensity of what happened on that day, nearly all agreed the world had since become a more dangerous and uncertain place.

Much criticism, especially in the Midde East and Europe, was reserved for US President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq under the banner of the "war on terror".

The New York Times acknowledged the United States had lost the feeling of unity and purpose which gripped the nation in the aftermath of the attacks, and lamented a lost opportunity.

"When we measure the possibilities created by 9/11 against what we have actually accomplished, it is clear that we have found one way after another to compound the tragedy," said the paper's editorial.

Summing up the mood in the British press, the Financial Times said: "The way the Bush administration has trampled on the international rule of law and Geneva Conventions, while abrogating civil liberties and expanding executive power at home, has done huge damage not only to America's reputation but, more broadly, to the attractive power of Western values."

German daily Handelsblatt said the war in Iraq had been erroneously started in the name of September 11, while Spain's El Pais said the Bush administration used the attacks to impose a neo-conservative foreign policy.

"The result, five years after, is a more dangerous world," El Pais said.

Read more here.

ALSO

September 11th, Our Report
By Marc Ash
t r u t h o u t | Executive Director

Iraq and 9/11: The Truth Is Out

The Hidden Scope of Domestic Spying Since 9/11

For US Troops and Their Families, Iraq War's Invisible Costs Keep Piling Up

posted by me

:: 9:34:00 PM [+] ::
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:: Report from The Nation ::

Cheney, 9/11 and the Truth about Iraq
By David Corn

Dick Cheney commemorated the fifth anniversary of 9/11 by sticking to the MO that he and his running-mate used to lead the nation into the current mess in Iraq.

Appearing on Meet the Press on Sunday, Cheney encountered a decent grilling from host Tim Russert, who pressed him on how Cheney and George W. Bush had justified the war in Iraq. "Based on what you know now, that Saddam did not have the weapons of mass destruction that were described, would you still have gone into Iraq?" Russert asked. Yes, indeed, Cheney said, hewing to the company line. And he pointed to what appeared to be evidence that supported that no-regrets stance:

Look at the Duelfer Report and what it said. No stockpiles, but they also said he has the capability. He'd done it before. He had produced chemical weapons before and used them. He had produced biological weapons. He had a robust nuclear program in '91. All of this is true, said by Duelfer, facts.

Well, let's look at the report of Charles Duelfer who headed up the Iraq Survey Group, which was responsible for searching for WMDs after the invasion. (Duelfer took the job following David Kay's resignation in late 2003.) It just so happens that in our new book, Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War, Michael Isikoff and I quote from that report, and it noted that Saddam's WMD capability


was essentially destroyed in 1991.

That is the opposite of what Cheney told Russert the report said. Cheney went on to remark,

Think where we'd be if [Saddam] was still there...We also would have a situation where he would have resumed his WMD programs.

Yet Duelfer reported that at the time of the invasion, Saddam had no

plan for the revival of WMD.

Cheney even justified the invasion of Iraq by citing an allegation that was just debunked in a Senate intelligence committee report released on Friday. Claiming there was a significant relationship between Saddam's regime and al Qaeda, he cited the case of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (who was recently killed in Iraq). After the US attacked the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan, Cheney said, Zarqawi fled and went to Baghdad and set up operations in Baghdad in the spring of '02 and was there from then, basically, until basically the time we launched into Iraq.

The implication here is that Baghdad sanctioned the terrorist activity of Zarqawi, a supposed al Qaeda associate. But the Senate intelligence committee report--released by a Republican-run panel--noted that prior to the invasion of Iraq Zarqawi and his network were not part of al Qaeda.

Read more here.

ALSO

9/11 in a Movie-Made World
By Tom Engelhardt
What if the Twin Towers hadn't collapsed? Would the Bush Administration have so easily advanced its fear-inspired "war on terror" without the images that played on a culture's secret fears?

Knock on Wood
By David Cole
The Bush Administration's illegitimate use of renditions, disappearances, torture and an illegal war has fostered the growth of a loose-knit global band of fanatics willing to do unspeakable violence against us.

posted by me

:: 9:22:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Americans to mark 9/11 attacks five years on" ::

Reuters.uk
By Tabassum Zakaria

NEW YORK - Americans will mark the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Monday with sombre ceremonies across the country and at the sites of the devastation in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

The milestone has revived traumatic memories of the day when nearly 3,000 people were killed by al Qaeda and has sharpened an election-year debate over whether America, caught in a vicious conflict in Iraq, is any safer.

His approval ratings weighed down by the unpopular Iraq war, President George W. Bush planned to attend the ceremonies at the sites and use the anniversary to renew his vow to pursue the war on terrorism.

"There's still an enemy out there that would like to inflict the same kind of damage again," Bush said on Sunday after visiting Ground Zero in New York where the World Trade Center's twin towers had stood.

He said the anniversary was "also a day of renewing resolve."

The hijacked airplane attacks on a crisp late summer day transformed Bush into a war president and he initially received high marks from Americans by attacking al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But the warm glow cooled as American casualties mounted in the Iraq war and the hunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden foundered.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 8:00:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Senate Panel Releases Report on Iraq Intelligence" ::

From The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 — The Central Intelligence Agency last fall repudiated the idea that there were pre-war ties between Saddam Hussein’s government and the Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, according to a report issued on Friday by the Senate intelligence committee.

The disclosure undercuts continuing claims by the Bush administration that such ties existed, and that they provided evidence of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda. The Republican-controlled committee also sharply criticized the administration for its reliance on the Iraqi National Congress during the run-up to the war in Iraq.

The findings, in two new reports, are part of an ongoing inquiry by the Senate committee into pre-war intelligence about Iraq. The conclusions went beyond the committee’s earlier findings, issued in the summer of 2004, by including criticism not just of American intelligence agencies but also the administration.

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 10:52:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Where’s Osama been Hidin’?" ::

The Culling By D. Allan Kerr
From Seacoastonline

Where is the outrage? Where is the sense of frustration and humiliation?

Most important, where is the accountability?

The fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is drawing near and it seems the prevailing atmosphere in this country is one of nostalgia and reflection.

People are discussing the impact that terrifying day had on them and on the world, but I find myself, still, mired in the same question – why is Osama bin Laden a free man?

More than 1,800 days after that f@*&ing day, Osama bin Laden is still alive.

It’s a concept I can’t begin to comprehend.

Why isn’t this the lead story of every major news show this week? Why isn’t George W. Bush hammered with this question every time he steps before a microphone? Why isn’t the White House press corps ripping into this failure like a pack of wild dingoes, the way it went after the story of Dick Cheney mistaking his hunting buddy for a quail?

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 1:19:00 AM [+] ::
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:: "Methane bubbles climate trouble" ::

From BBC News online

Thawing Siberian bogs are releasing more of the greenhouse gas methane than previously believed, according to new scientific research.

Scientists from Russia and the US measured methane bubbling from a number of thawing lakes.

Writing in the journal Nature, they suggest the methane release is hastened by warmer temperatures, positively feeding back into global warming.

Methane's contribution to present-day global warming is second only to CO2.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that atmospheric concentrations are about two and a half times those seen in pre-industrial times.

Read more here.

ALSO
Methane Belches in Lakes Supercharge Global Warming, Study Says
National Geographic, D.C

posted by me

:: 10:49:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "Pentagon bans abusive interrogation methods" ::

Reuters AlertNet, UK

WASHINGTON, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Forced nudity, hooding, using dogs, conducting mock executions or simulated drownings were among eight abusive interrogation practices banned under new rules unveiled by the U.S. military on Wednesday.

The Pentagon, still facing international criticism over the treatment of Guantanamo prisoners two years after the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, unveiled long-awaited changes to the 1992 Army Field Manual governing interrogation of detainees held by the military.

The manual explicitly prohibits torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. But it keeps 16 long-standing interrogation techniques and adds three new ones, said Lt. Gen. John Kimmons, Army deputy chief of staff for intelligence.

"No good intelligence is going to come from abusive practices," he said. Intelligence obtained under duress, he added, would have "questionable credibility" and do more harm than good when the abuse inevitably became public.

Practices still permitted include rewarding detainees for cooperation, flattery and instilling fear. Two of the new techniques were the use of a good-cop, bad-cop approach and allowing interrogators to portray themselves as someone other than a U.S. interrogator.

A third new technique, called "separation," can be used only on detainees deemed "enemy combatants" to keep them away from one another, and only with high-level military approval.

The Pentagon also issued a directive affirming that detainees designated as "unlawful enemy combatants," including accused al Qaeda and Taliban members, would receive fewer rights than traditional prisoners of war.

Read more here.

ALSO
Army releases new interrogation manual
WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 6, 2006) – The Army announced today the publication of Field Manual 2-22.3, “Human Intelligence Collector Operations.”

The old one.

posted by me

:: 10:30:00 PM [+] ::
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:: "A Challenge From Bush to Congress" ::

From The New York Times
By DAVID E. SANGER

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 — In calling for public war-crime trials at Guantánamo Bay, President Bush is calculating that with a critical election just nine weeks away, neither angry Democrats nor nervous Republicans will dare deny him the power to detain, interrogate and try suspects his way.

For years now, Guantánamo has been a political liability, regarded primarily as a way station for outcasts. By transforming Guantánamo instead into the new home of 14 Qaeda leaders who rank among the most notorious terror suspects, Mr. Bush is challenging Congress to restore to him the authority to put the United States’ worst enemies on trial on terms he has defined.

But the gambit carries with it a potential downside by identifying Mr. Bush even more closely with a detention system whose history has been marked by widespread accusations of mistreatment.

Mr. Bush had more than one agenda at work when he announced on Wednesday that the country should “wait no longer’’ to bring to trial those seized by the C.I.A. and accused of planning the Sept. 11 attacks.

He is trying to rebuff a Supreme Court that visibly angered him in June when it ruled that his procedures for interrogation and trials violated both the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions.

And he is trying to divert voters from the morass of Iraq and to revive the emotionally potent question of what powers the president should be able to use to defend the country.

Read more here.


ALSO from The New York Times
A Sudden Sense of Urgency

AND from The San Jose Mercury News
Bush confirms use of secret CIA prisons

posted by me

:: 10:25:00 PM [+] ::
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:: No need to scream... ::

Police recover famed paintings
From Chicago Sun-Times

OSLO, Norway -- Police recovered the Edvard Munch masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna" on Thursday, two years after masked gunmen grabbed the national art treasures in front of stunned museum visitors.

Art lovers had feared the priceless paintings were gone for good. Norwegian news media spent the months speculating about the works' fate -- whether they had been burned to escape the police hunt, sold to a wealthy collector for private viewing or suffered harm in their hiding place.

"I saw the paintings myself today, and there was far from the damage that could have been feared," said Iver Stensrud, the police inspector who headed the investigation since the paintings were taken from the Munch Museum on Aug. 22, 2004.

"I am almost crying from happiness," said Gro Balas, chairwoman of the Munch Museum board.

posted by me

:: 2:58:00 PM [+] ::
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