Iraqi soldier stands guard

As Bush Claims “Victory”, Iraq’s Military Stumbles On

Iraqi soldier stands guard
More than two years have passed since Paul Bremer and the Coalition Provisional Authority dissolved Iraq's military. Today the United States and the interim government are desperate to reconstruct this broken army. Sectarianism and basic mistrust have been two of the largest hurdles. Furthermore, many Iraqis are wary of becoming involved in the country's defense if it means being subservient to the interim government, an administration which they see as illegitimate.

On November 30, in Annapolis, Maryland, George W. Bush delivered the most recent of a long line of Iraq victory speeches. In this speech he detailed the conditions that will be necessary, and the markers that must be passed, to ensure the United States can withdraw from Iraq. He assured the nation, "As the Iraqi security forces stand up, coalition forces can stand down -- and when our mission of defeating the terrorists in Iraq is complete, our troops will return home to a proud nation."

No Picture

Business mobilizing to stop Kyoto

LONDON – A detailed and disturbing strategy document reveals an extraordinary corporate plan to destroy Europe‘s support for the Kyoto treaty on climate change. The ambitious scheme was passed to the UK‘s Independent just as 189 countries were trying to agree on the second stage of the Kyoto climate treaty at the UN climate conference in Montreal. It was pitched to companies such as Ford Europe, Lufthansa, and the German utility giant RWE.

Put together by Chris Horner, a senior official with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a group partly funded by Exxon Mobil, the plan seeks to draw together major international companies, academics, think tanks, commentators, journalists and lobbyists from across Europe into the a pressure group, the European Sound Climate Policy Coalition. read more

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Israel likes March for Iran strikes

TEL AVIV/WASHINGTON – March is shaping up as “go time” for Israel. With a general election looming on March 28, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is eager to look strong, and has ordered the armed forces to be ready that month for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have told the UK Times.

"Israel – and not only Israel – cannot accept a nuclear Iran," Sharon proclaimed recently. "We have the ability to deal with this and we’re making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation." read more

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French warned CIA on Iraq bogus intel

PARIS – More than a year before President Bush declared in his 2003 State of the Union speech that Iraq had tried to buy nuclear weapons material in Niger, the French spy service began repeatedly warning the CIA in secret communications that there was no evidence to support the allegation. The previously undisclosed exchanges, described in a Los Angeles Times interview with Alain Chouet, the retired chief of the French counterintelligence service, happened on separate occasions in 2001 and 2002. read more

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Protesters get FBI terrorism treatment

COLORADO SPRINGS – Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) confirm what many activists and civil libertarians have been claiming for several years – that the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) collect information on nonviolent protest activities and consider them part of domestic terrorism investigations.

The documents, discovered due to a request by the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado, show that the names and license plate numbers of about 30 people who protested in Colorado Springs during 2003 and 2003 were put into FBI domestic terrorism files. read more

Battle Hymns for the Blue States

Battle Hymns for the Blue States

The Putrid Minds Anthology: Battle Hymns for the Blue States byThe Sons of Emperor Norton, is the only album ever produced that features Elvis, Mark Twain, Stephen Hawking and the little known historical figure, Joshua "Emperor" Norton. This 23 song anthology is not for the faint of heart. When listening, you laugh and think, "that's clever." Then reality comes into focus and you feel powerless in the face of the monstrous Bush administration. The band's humor has more than a bit of truth between the lines.