http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,905899,00.html

The United States is conducting a secret 'dirty tricks' campaign against UN Security Council delegations in New York as part of its battle to win votes in favour of war against Iraq.

Details of the aggressive surveillance operation, which involves interception of the home and office telephones and the emails of UN delegates in New York, are revealed in a document leaked to The Observer.

The disclosures were made in a memorandum written by a top official at the National Security Agency - the US body which intercepts communications around the world - and circulated to both senior agents in his organisation and to a friendly foreign intelligence agency asking for its input.

The memo describes orders to staff at the agency, whose work is clouded in secrecy, to step up its surveillance operations 'particularly directed at... UN Security Council Members (minus US and GBR, of course)' to provide up-to-the-minute intelligence for Bush officials on the voting intentions of UN members regarding the issue of Iraq.

The leaked memorandum makes clear that the target of the heightened surveillance efforts are the delegations from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Mexico, Guinea and Pakistan at the UN headquarters in New York - the so-called 'Middle Six' delegations whose votes are being fought over by the pro-war party, led by the US and Britain, and the party arguing for more time for UN inspections, led by France, China and Russia.

The memo is directed at senior NSA officials and advises them that the agency is 'mounting a surge' aimed at gleaning information not only on how delegations on the Security Council will vote on any second resolution on Iraq, but also 'policies', 'negotiating positions', 'alliances' and 'dependencies' - the 'whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results favourable to US goals or to head off surprises'.

Dated 31 January 2003, the memo was circulated four days after the UN's chief weapons inspector Hans Blix produced his interim report on Iraqi compliance with UN resolution 1441.

It was sent by Frank Koza, chief of staff in the 'Regional Targets' section of the NSA, which spies on countries that are viewed as strategically important for United States interests.

Koza specifies that the information will be used for the US's 'QRC' - Quick Response Capability - 'against' the key delegations.

Suggesting the levels of surveillance of both the office and home phones of UN delegation members, Koza also asks regional managers to make sure that their staff also 'pay attention to existing non-UN Security Council Member UN-related and domestic comms [office and home telephones] for anything useful related to Security Council deliberations'.

Koza also addresses himself to the foreign agency, saying: 'We'd appreciate your support in getting the word to your analysts who might have similar more indirect access to valuable information from accesses in your product lines [ie, intelligence sources].' Koza makes clear it is an informal request at this juncture, but adds: 'I suspect that you'll be hearing more along these lines in formal channels.'

Disclosure of the US operation comes in the week that Blix will make what many expect to be his final report to the Security Council.

It also comes amid increasingly threatening noises from the US towards undecided countries on the Security Council who have been warned of the unpleasant economic consequences of standing up to the US.

Sources in Washington familiar with the operation said last week that there had been a division among Bush administration officials over whether to pursue such a high-intensity surveillance campaign with some warning of the serious consequences of discovery.

The existence of the surveillance operation, understood to have been requested by President Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, is deeply embarrassing to the Americans in the middle of their efforts to win over the undecided delegations.

The language and content of the memo were judged to be authentic by three former intelligence operatives shown it by The Observer. We were also able to establish that Frank Koza does work for the NSA and could confirm his senior post in the Regional Targets section of the organisation.

The NSA main switchboard put The Observer through to extension 6727 at the agency which was answered by an assistant, who confirmed it was Koza's office. However, when The Observer asked to talk to Koza about the surveillance of diplomatic missions at the United Nations, it was then told 'You have reached the wrong number'.

On protesting that the assistant had just said this was Koza's extension, the assistant repeated that it was an erroneous extension, and hung up.

While many diplomats at the UN assume they are being bugged, the memo reveals for the first time the scope and scale of US communications intercepts targeted against the New York-based missions.

The disclosure comes at a time when diplomats from the countries have been complaining about the outright 'hostility' of US tactics in recent days to persuade then to fall in line, including threats to economic and aid packages.

The operation appears to have been spotted by rival organisations in Europe. 'The Americans are being very purposeful about this,' said a source at a European intelligence agency when asked about the US surveillance efforts.

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http://www.observer.co.uk/iraq/story/0,12239,905954,00.html

Sunday March 2, 2003

To: [Recipients withheld]

From: FRANK KOZA [???] Chief of Staff (Regional Targets)

CIV/NSA

Sent on Jan 31 2003 0:16

Subject: Reflections of Iraq Debate/Votes at UN-RT Actions + Potential for Related Contributions

Importance: HIGH

Top Secret//COMINT//XI

All,

As you've likely heard by now, the Agency is mounting a surge particularly directed at the UN Security Council (UNSC) members (minus US and GBR of course) for insights as to how to membership is reacting to the on-going debate RE: Iraq, plans to vote on any related resolutions, what related policies/ negotiating positions they may be considering, alliances/ dependencies, etc - the whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results favorable to US goals or to head off surprises. In RT, that means a QRC surge effort to revive/ create efforts against UNSC members Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea, as well as extra focus on Pakistan UN matters.

We've also asked ALL RT topi's to emphasize and make sure they pay attention to existing non-UNSC member UN-related and domestic comms for anything useful related to the UNSC deliberations/ debates/ votes. We have a lot of special UN-related diplomatic coverage (various UN delegations) from countries not sitting on the UNSC right now that could contribute related perspectives/ insights/ whatever. We recognize that we can't afford to ignore this possible source.

We'd appreciate your support in getting the word to your analysts who might have similar, more in-direct access to valuable information from accesses in your product lines. I suspect that you'll be hearing more along these lines in formal channels - especially as this effort will probably peak (at least for this specific focus) in the middle of next week, following the SecState's presentation to the UNSC.

Thanks for your help

· Footnote: This email was originally transcribed with English spellings standardised for a British audience. Following enquiries about this, we have reverted to the original US-spelling as in the document leaked to The Observer.

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,80017,00.html

TONY SNOW, FOX NEWS: Good morning from Fox News in Washington... We're joined by Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Intelligence Committee... Also here, Brit Hume, Washington managing editor of Fox News.

...HUME: Tell me, if you can, anything you might know about this story that's in the London newspaper, "The Observer," that says that -- it publishes what purports to be a memo from a National Security Agency official -- they're the intercept people, of course -- to his team that says, "Find out all you can about key members of the U.N. Security Council, particularly the temporary members of the Security Council."

ROBERTS: Well, I have no doubt that, on the United States side, that the team in the United Nations probably meet on a regular basis and say, "What have you heard in regards to what you're picking up on the Security Council, where the vote might be?" I think that's perfectly understandable. I can't comment on the memo, because I haven't seen it.

HUME: The implication of the memo would seem to be that direct intercepts would be the result of this, of the phone conversations, perhaps the e-mail traffic and so on, of these members of the U.N. Security Council. First of all, is that kind of thing standard, to be expected, or would this be an unusually aggressive way to look into the goings-on of people who we would normally regard as friends?

ROBERTS: It would be very aggressive. But as I say, I have not seen the memo, so I really can't comment on it.

HUME: Well, if it does involve intercepts of their phone conversations, wiretapping and so on, would you regard that as proper or improper?

ROBERTS: Well, I would regard that as a topic of a hearing on the Intelligence Committee which probably would take place in the very immediate future.

SNOW: In other words, if you think there's anything to this report, you will probably meet in closed session and talk about it next week?

ROBERTS: I that I you pretty well summed it up.

...SNOW: All right. Senator Pat Roberts, thanks for joining us today.

ROBERTS: Thank you. It's my privilege.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030301/ap_on_re_mi_ea/britain_iraq_4

LONDON - Opponents of military action against Iraq are as misguided as the appeasers who refused to stand up to Adolf Hitler in the 1930s, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in comments published Saturday.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=383006

The US is preparing to use the toxic riot-control agents CS gas and pepper spray in Iraq in contravention of the Chemical Weapons Convention... "Calmative" gases, similar to the one that killed 120 hostages in the Moscow theatre siege last year, could also be employed... The US Marine Corps confirmed last week that both [CS 'tear gas' and pepper spray] had already been shipped to the Gulf... The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has asked President Bush to authorise their use. Mr Bush... is understood to have agreed. Internal Pentagon documents also show that the US is developing a range of calmative gases, also banned for battlefield use. Senior US defence sources predict these could be used in Iraq... Rear Admiral Stephen Baker, a Navy commander in the last Gulf War who is now senior adviser to the Centre for Defence Information in Washington, told The Independent on Sunday that US special forces had knock-out gases that can "neutralise" people. He added: "I would think that if they get a chance to use them, they will." The Pentagon said last week that the decision to use riot control agents "is made by the commander in the field".

Mr Rumsfeld became the first senior figure on either side of the impending conflict to announce his wish to use chemical agents in a little-noticed comment to the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on 5 February [reported in these pages! --mrs. h]. The Defence Secretary attacked the "straitjacket" imposed by bans in international treaties on using the weapons in warfare. He specified that they could be used "where there are enemy troops in a cave [and] you know there are women and children in there with them". General Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke of using them against human shields.

Professor Julian Perry Robinson, one of the world's foremost authorities on the [UN Chemical Weapons] convention, said: "Legally speaking, Iraq would be totally justified in releasing chemical weapons over the UK if the alliance uses them in Baghdad... The difference between these weapons and nerve gas is simply one of structural chemistry."

The [British] Ministry of Defence has warned the US that it will not allow British troops to be involved in operations where riot control agents are used, or to transport them to the battlefield, but Britain is even more concerned about the calmatives. This is shown by documents obtained by the Texas-based Sunshine Project under the US Freedom of Information Act. These reveal that the US is developing calmatives – including sedatives such as the benzodiazapines, diazepam, dexmeditomide and new drugs that affect the nervous system – even though it accepts that "the convention would prohibit the development of any chemically based agent that would even temporarily incapacitate a human being". A special working group of the Federation of American Scientists concluded last month that using even the mildest of these weapons to incapacitate people would kill 9 per cent of them.

...The use of chemical weapons by US forces was explicitly banned by President Gerald Ford in 1975 after CS gas had been repeatedly used in Vietnam to smoke out enemy soldiers and then kill them as they ran away. Britain would be in a particularly sensitive position if the US used the weapons as it drafted the [UN Chemical Weapons] convention.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/02/wshiel02.xml/

Almost all of the first British "human shields" to go to Iraq were on their way home last night after deciding that their much-heralded task was now too dangerous. Two red double-decker buses, which symbolised the hopes of anti-war activists when they arrived to a fanfare of publicity a fortnight ago, slipped quietly out of Baghdad on the long journey back to Britain. Nine of the original 11 activists decided to pull out after being given an ultimatum by Iraqi officials to station themselves at targets likely to be bombed in a war or leave the country. Among those departing last night was 68-year-old Godfrey Meynell, a former High Sheriff of Derbyshire, who admitted that he was leaving out of "cold fear"...The Iraqi warning follows frustration among Saddam Hussein's officials that only about 65 of the shields had so far agreed to take up positions at the oil refineries, power plants and water-purification sites selected by their hosts.

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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/v-pfriendly/story/63314p-59062c.html

The Pentagon warned journalists yesterday that they should consider getting out of Baghdad... They repeatedly cautioned that they cannot count on a "heads-up" from the Pentagon to evacuate the city before war begins. Pentagon officials believe that in addition to being killed or injured by hundreds of cruise missiles and smart bombs expected to rain down on Baghdad, reporters risk being targeted... as human shields.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8075-2003Feb26.html

An internal investigation into the D.C. police department's handling of the anti-globalization demonstrations last fall has found that protesters were never told to disperse from a downtown park, even though authorities arrested hundreds in the crowd for failing to obey a police order, according to a D.C. Council member, who sharply criticized the police tactics... The report, prepared by the police department's internal affairs unit, concludes that D.C. police never intended to scatter the crowd -- which had massed in Pershing Park after a morning of roving demonstrations -- but instead had planned to surround the park and arrest those inside, Patterson said.

...Patterson said she had been given the roughly 20-page report -- with attached photographs showing people with their arms and legs bound by plastic restraints -- about a month ago by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D). She said she had not spoken about it earlier because she believed that Williams would publicize it. "He's had it on his desk for more than a month now, and he's done nothing about it," Patterson said. Patterson said the government "violated the rights of hundreds of District residents and visitors." ..."We're balancing an open society with a safe city," Williams said at his weekly news conference... Patterson, citing the internal affairs report, said that most of the people arrested in the park were charged with "failure to obey a police order," although the officers arresting them had not given orders or seen orders disobeyed. None of those arrested in the park was prosecuted; some paid the equivalent of a fine to avoid facing charges. In the fall, Ramsey said police "gave [people arrested in the park] all the warning we feel we needed to give them." Yesterday, he said that it was unclear what warnings were given but that there was adequate reason to arrest protesters.

Patterson said the report cleared police of allegations that arrested protesters were "hogtied." Plastic handcuffs were used to bind together the wrists and ankles of some protesters... but the report said that they were not hogtied... Deputy Mayor Margret Nedelkoff Kellems agreed. "...I was raised on a farm and wouldn't call that hogtying," Kellems said.

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http://www.pecosdesign.com/lys/press1.html

NEW YORK, NY -- On March 3, 2003, the Lysistrata Project will present worldwide readings of Aristophanes's bawdy ancient Greek antiwar comedy Lysistrata. To date, 918 play readings are scheduled in 56 countries and in all 50 U.S. states to voice opposition to the war on Iraq; those numbers increase hourly. Readings will raise money for charities working for peace and humanitarian aid in the Middle East and elsewhere.

In New York City, where the project originated, dozens of teams of actors and directors will read Lysistrata in public spaces throughout the day. The Lysistrata Project will then present an all-star reading of the play... Mercedes Ruehl will read the title role, and will be joined by F. Murray Abraham, Kevin Bacon, Kathleen Chalfant, Delphi Harrington, Kyra Sedgwick, Lori Singer, and David Strathairn. Ellen McLaughlin directs. On the west coast, Julie Christie, Alfre Woodard, Christine Lahti, Mary McDonnell, Barbara Williams, Eric Stoltz, Roscoe Lee Browne and Jose Zuniga will appear in a reading... John Densmore of the Doors will be playing percussion for the reading. Michael Clark Haney directs. “At least for the record of history we have to let it be known that millions and millions opposed this war,” says actress Julie Christie.

There are events in Russia, China and in the jungle in Hawaii, in Athens and in Iceland, homemakers' reading groups in the Midwest and Burmese dissidents in Thailand, on sidewalks and subway platforms, in parks and theaters, at high schools and churches and bars. All of this came about in the last six weeks, propelled by growing fears about the Bush Administration’s alarming foreign policy.

Lysistrata tells the story of women from opposing states who unite to end a war by refusing to sleep with their men until they agree to lay down their swords. Powerless in their society, with too many of their sons and husbands being slaughtered in battle, the women take the only tactic available to them: a sex strike... The Lysistrata Project was conceived just six weeks ago by New York actors Kathryn Blume and Sharron Bower. "Before we started Lysistrata Project, we could do nothing but sit and watch in horror as the Bush Administration drove us toward a unilateral attack on Iraq," says cofounder Blume. "So we emailed all our friends and put up a web site. The response has been enormous."

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http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/02/28/MN86993.DTL

Thousands of armchair gamblers are logging onto Internet bookmakers, where they can place bets on the date and hour the United States will attack Iraq. At Costa Rica's www.betonsports.com, winning bets that the war starts next week would pay off 2-to-1; the week after, 1.5-to-1... The site is one of about 1,000 online gambling sites taking bets on war with Iraq right now, estimated Kevin Smith, a researcher for the St. Louis gaming consulting firm River City Group.

...Internet gambling is illegal in the United States... Some say it's unseemly to wager on war, considering the death and suffering involved.

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http://www.post-gazette.com/businessnews/20030228sorosbp4.asp

Billionaire capitalist George Soros, whose shrewd speculation conquered world markets, delivered a scathing denunciation of Bush administration policies yesterday, accusing the White House of shirking its responsibility as the world's only superpower. In a speech before 500 at Carnegie Mellon University, Soros said the Bush administration had a "visceral aversion to international cooperation," which is why it is willing to ignore world opinion in its rush to wage war with Iraq.

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http://www.pimco.com/IO/Mar03/index.htm

[Bill Gross is managing director of Pacific Investment Management Company, which may be the largest mutual fund in the U.S. He manages $285,000,000,000.00, more than 1% of all bond money in the US.]

"...Let me tread into even more dangerous waters and speak to the impending conflict with Iraq... I speak now, and risk client, public, and press censure because I was silent 35 years ago. I sailed off to Vietnam, came back and collected my Veteran's benefits and was none the worse for the experience. But hundreds of thousands-- including some friends-- were.

"...I know the arguments-- I'm even temporarily persuaded by them during emotional speeches such as Bush's State of the Union. I suspect, however, that by invading "evildoer" nations, we may lessen our vulnerability but lose a piece of our soul in the process. Yes, I'm aware that Iraq is in noncompliance with UN resolutions and that its leader is a near madman. I'm also aware, however, of how absolute power corrupts and how we may be crossing a thin line. Preemptive attacks? Kill them before they kill us? No one has experienced such hours in the United States before. I am heartbroken that it has come to this and I fear for my country's proud heritage and even more for its future."

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http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030301-91521112.htm

The White House and Pentagon yesterday criticized news coverage of the Iraq showdown and other military matters... "You're covering the process as if it was a baseball game," White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters... "You're looking at every step that is taken - every hit, every pitch, every strike - ignoring the fact that history has shown that during this consultative process, you will be able to write any type of story you want about any of these types of statements," Mr. Fleischer said. "But the focus is on the outcome for President Bush."

...Such criticism follows a dispute between the administration and CBS News over Dan Rather's interview with Saddam earlier this week. "This interview is a good early indication of something that journalists are going to face," Mr. Fleischer said. "Journalists still have to ask themselves these questions about the responsibility to accuracy - knowing that the Iraqis are nothing but propagandists and deceivers... And American media are going to have to ask themselves: Do you put these paid liars and propagandists on the air to show this?"

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=540&e=2&u=/ap/20030302/ap_on_re_mi_ea/turkey_us_iraq

ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's ruling party has no plans in the "foreseeable future" to seek another parliament vote for the deployment of U.S. troops on Turkish soil for a war with Iraq, a party leader said Sunday. The announcement by Eyup Fatsa, deputy head of the Justice and Development party, came a day after the legislature dealt a serious blow to U.S. war planning by failing to approve a motion to deploy U.S. soldiers, weapons and equipment.

...Lawmakers on Saturday voted 264-250 in favor of stationing U.S. troops but that was three votes shy of a constitutionally mandated simple majority. There were 19 abstentions... By an overwhelming margin, Turks oppose a U.S.-led war on Iraq — including many lawmakers of the Islamic-rooted Justice party who voted down the motion. The party holds 362 of the 550 seats in parliament... "Parliament has said peace," the daily Yeni Safak headlined.

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hooray for objectivity in the free press!

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Hungary-US-Airspace.html?ex=1047584655&ei=1&en=f23e3f66415047f0

Asked if the report he delivered to the United Nations on Friday represented a glass half full or half empty, Hans Blix, one of the United Nations' chief weapons inspectors, replied, "It is a glass in which they have poured more water." Mr. Blix's practice of making Delphic comments like that one and balancing the positive with the negative on Iraq has frustrated the White House and strained his relations with Washington... "The inspections have turned out to be a trap," a senior administration official said. "They have become a false measure of disarmament in the eyes of people. We're not counting on Blix to do much of anything for us." ...Mr. Blix, a former foreign minister of Sweden and former director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has for months issued almost defiantly ambiguous pronouncements that have disappointed and exasperated American and British officials hoping for a clear-cut assessment... A senior administration official said Mr. Blix was now more interested in pleasing all sides than stating the facts. "Blix is a very nice man who does not want to go back to Sweden and be the cause of a war," said this official. "That fact is distorting what he should be doing." ...Moreover, Mr. Blix has told associates that the best way to get Iraq to cooperate with the inspections is to avoid anything that will "humiliate" Mr. Hussein. He also told those associates that he did not want to be a part of the swarm of "bumblebees" over Iraq — a reference to the various spy planes and attack aircraft that Mr. Hussein regards as an affront.

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BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- U.S. military aircraft violated Hungarian sovereignty last month by using the country's airspace for unauthorized purposes, the defense minister said Saturday. The incident occurred Feb. 20 when six helicopters and a tanker aircraft belonging to the U.S. armed forces flew over Hungary on their way to a military base in Romania, Defense Minister Ferenc Juhasz said at a meeting of parliament's defense committee. Hungary had only permitted the United States to use its airspace in connection with the Enduring Freedom operation in Afghanistan. But the Feb. 20 flights were for other, unspecified purposes.

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http://www.iht.com/cgi-bin/generic.cgi?template=articleprint.tmplh&ArticleId=88049

PARIS-- Did President Jacques Chirac of France actually tell half of Europe to shut up last week? Was he scolding a bunch of unruly children? Not exactly... 13 East European countries have expressed support for the United States... Chirac said that these countries "ont manqué une bonne occasion de se taire," rendered in part of the American and British press as "missed a good opportunity to shut up."

But Chirac's words were a significant notch above that level of discourse. To be sure, he could have been quite formal and said "ont manqué une bonne occasion de s'absentir de tout commentaire" ("refrain from making any comment"), or "garder le silence" or "se garder de s'exprimer" ("keep silent" or "say nothing"). And of course, he also could have taken a much lower road and said "ont manqué une bonne occasion de fermer leur gueule" or "de la fermer", which would indeed mean "to shut up." The verb Chirac chose, "se taire," ("to remain silent") was neither elegant nor rude, simply neutral.

..."Their behavior is rather irresponsible and not very polite," Chirac went on to say. In French, that's "Ce n'est pas un comportement bien responsable. Ce n'est pas très bien élevé." "Bien élevé" means "well brought up," and when used in the negative, as Chirac used it, it typically describes a misbehaving child. But "ce n'est pas très bien élevé" is definitely not as strong as "c'est mal élevé" would have been. That would have simply meant "it's rude."

[authors Eleanor and Michel Levieux are the authors of "Insider's French: Beyond the Dictionary."]

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http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6065073%255E663,00.html

THE man who convinced Osama bin Laden to attack New York has been captured. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – described as one of the most dangerous men on earth – has been seized with two other accused terrorists in a hide-out in Pakistan... by FBI, CIA and Pakistani agents... The 37-year-old is described as bin Laden's field general and third-in-command of the deadly al-Qaida network.

...A former counter terrorism chief for the CIA, Vincent Cannistraro, said Mohammed had been linked to many terrorist attacks since 1993, if not earlier. "Over the last 10 years, his fingerprints have been on most of al-Qaida's operations," he said. "This is the capture of someone directly responsible for September 11. It's very important."

Among the other attacks linked to Mohammed are: The first bombing of the World Trade Centre in 1993; a plot in 1995 to blow up 12 US-bound airliners over the Pacific Ocean; the 1998 suicide assaults on US embassies in Africa; the 2000 bomb attack on the USS Cole in Yemen;the April 2002 bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia. When arrested,Mohammed carried the names and telephone numbers of al-Qaida sleeper cells in America, a US official said.

...Former senior CIA analyst Melvin Goodman said: "I never thought bin Laden was the brains behind this operation."

The whereabouts of the three men is unknown. Reports from Pakistan suggested Mohammed was being taken to another location outside the US... A Kuwaiti of Pakistani descent, Mohammed was partially educated at a Baptist college in North Carolina. He had a reputation as a ladies' man. ................................................................................

http://www.hoosiertimes.com/stories/2003/02/28/news.030228_HT_A1_MCW30131.sto

The single-engine plane flying around Bloomington [illinois] lately is an FBI surveillance plane. Two FBI officials said Thursday the Cessna 182 is conducting nonelectronic visual surveillance of individuals, vehicles and gathering places such as businesses under that surveillance... The two said Bloomington is a community with many individuals from outside the United States in it. And while the vast majority pose no threat, there are those that either could or do.

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http://www.latimes.com/la-fi-statefarm27feb27001439,0,811451.story

State Farm Insurance Cos. is issuing a timely, if chilling, notice to customers: It won't cover auto damage caused by nuclear blasts or radioactive fallout. "No insurance company could withstand the financial impact of insuring a nuclear accident," Bill Sirola, a spokesman for the nation's largest automobile insurer, said Wednesday... The company has 3 million auto policyholders in California and 40 million nationwide... All policyholders are expected to receive the notices by mid-2004.

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http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-refs27.html

Every school funding referendum in Illinois lost by at least a 2-1 margin in Tuesday's elections,guaranteeing teacher layoffs, larger class sizes and fewer courses. [Four school] systems... asked for increases ranging from 47 to 90 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation... "We only have two places to go for resources. One is to property owners. They voted down these referenda in landslide proportions in all four of these communities. The other place is the state legislature," Ron Gidwitz, chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education, said Wednesday. He said the Legislature needs to boost the education budget $518 million. That's just to get back to where it was two years ago... Illinois has many communities that can't afford to fund their schools, yet the legislature provides only 37 percent of education funding.

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http://www.salon.com/mwt/wire/2003/02/27/cough/

Thanks to a single ingredient that has been sold for decades, dozens of brands of prescription cough syrup must be taken off the market by the end of November, the government said Wednesday. The Food and Drug Administration stressed that the expectorant, extended-release guaifenesin, is not dangerous. Instead, the crackdown comes as part of the FDA's efforts to re-examine very old drugs that began selling before the government ever required proof that drugs worked well. In the case of this prescription cough ingredient, one company went back and found that proof. Last July the FDA formally approved sale of Adams Laboratories' Mucinex. Under FDA regulations, competing companies' unapproved versions then were automatically deemed illegal.

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http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993451

On 28 February 1953 biologists James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA - the chemical code for all life... In a documentary series to be screened in the UK on Channel 4, Watson says that low intelligence is an inherited disorder and that molecular biologists have a duty to devise gene therapies or screening tests to tackle stupidity. "If you are really stupid, I would call that a disease," says Watson, now president of the Cold Spring Harbour Laboratory, New York... Other scientists have questioned both the ethics and plausibility of his suggestions. ..........................................................................................

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2786761.stm

Everyone's favourite search engine now owns the world's most popular blogging tool. With its purchase of Pyra Labs, Google now runs Blogger and with it the weblogs of hundreds of thousands of opinionated net users.

...Google...has a policy of collecting as much information as possible about everyone who uses its search tool. It will store your computer's IP address, the time/date, your browser details and the item you search for. It sets a tracking cookie on your computer that does not expire until 2038. This means that Google builds up a detailed profile of your search terms over many years. Google probably knew when you last thought you were pregnant, what diseases your children have had, and who your divorce lawyer is... And the much-loved Google toolbar tells Google about every web page you look at... If Google decides it does not like you then you can be dropped from the index.

Perhaps the time has come to recognise this dominant search engine for what it is - a public utility that must be regulated in the public interest.

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http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=7928

AOL can now add another accomplishment to its list: "Biggest security disaster in ISP history"... Hackers have compromised security at AOL to such a degree that the personal information of all 35,000,000 subscribers may be compromised... Hackers have gained access to Merlin (AOL's customer database application) despite the fact that the system requires a user ID, two passwords, and a specialized ID code to gain access.

...AOL's unique structure could prove a real detriment. The company has made a considerable niche for itself by offering the Internet in a pre-packaged, easy-to-surf form for those who aren't so computer literate... At the same time, however, these are the exact people who are most vulnerable to attack. You won't find many AOL members running firewall software or taking steps to encrypt their own personal information.

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http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/02/22/newt22.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/02/22/ixnewstop.html/news/2003/02/22/newt22.xml

Sir Isaac Newton, Britain's greatest scientist, predicted the date of the end of the world - and it is only 57 years away. His theories about Armageddon have been unearthed by academics from little-known handwritten manuscripts in a library in Jerusalem. The thousands of pages show Newton's attempts to decode the Bible.

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http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/022803_dis-integration.html

So many emails. So many people worried and confused. So many people acting as if it doesn't make sense.

Yes, there's good reason to be confused. Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nephew refuses to be drafted while his uncle all but threatens to attack Belgium for its OK to prosecute Ariel Sharon for war crimes when he leaves office. NATO is, or will soon be, dead. France, Germany and Russia are sponsoring a Security Council resolution to prevent what France has called "an illegitimate war". Turkey, with 85% of its people opposing the invasion, is extorting the U.S. blind as budget deficit projections leave orbit. Ari Fleischer is hysterically laughed out of the White House Press room by reporters after insisting with a straight face that George W. Bush would never bribe another country for a vote. Americans are renaming French fries as Liberty fries.

...In Colombia, FARC guerillas shoot down a CIA contract plane; kill one occupant and hold three others hostage while President Bush uses statutory authority to send 150 more Green Berets to follow the 70 he just sent... In the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf rebels have prompted the U.S. to commit 1,700 more troops to take an active role in the fighting. And the U.S. is now sending 10,000 troops to the Dominican Republic for a training exercise that looks much more like preparation for intervention in either Venezuela or Colombia.

...What of Bush himself? The Washington Post tells us that U.S. embassies around the globe are inundating Washington with cables saying that the world both hates and mistrusts this "dry drunk" megalomaniac who would be laughable except for the fact that he represents a power structure as demented as he is. As if to go Tony Blair-- who recently plagiarized a graduate research paper to compile his sensitive intelligence dossier on Iraq-- "one better", George W. recently cited figures to support his tax cut from a report that doesn't exist. [and so on.]

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http://www.politicalstrategy.org/2003_02_28_weblog_archive.htm#90389759

Fast approaching is a seemingly irrelevant milestone in time. 3:33 on 3/03/03, in the 3rd millennium AD. A funny thing about such arbitrary events is that they often assume a life of their own, instilled with a profound significance by millions of people... Not surprisingly, this particular event is heavy on the minds of astrologists, numerologists, occultists, Christians, Muslims… …and George W. Bush.

According to the Islamic calendar, March 3, 2003 is the eve of the Islamic New Year (Islamic year 1424 begins March 4, 2003). It is also the last day of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, when pilgrims are encouraged to make a sacrifice (The Festival of Sacrifice or Eid al-Adha). The World Prayer Center is calling all Christians worldwide to a "Worldwide Day of Prayer" on Monday, March 3, 2003. Ted Haggard, President of the World Prayer Team, says his office has been flooded with messages from people all over the world saying that God is impressing upon them to prepare to pray on 03-03-03. According to Haggard... "It is clear to many Christian leaders that the world is on the brink of a spiritual battle of monumental proportions. The epicenter of this struggle is the Middle East -- a battle is going on for Jerusalem and Babylon (Iraq), biblical centers of spiritual light and darkness."

And this is the World Prayer Center's "prayer focus": "Pray that the armies of heaven will push back the powers of darkness in the Middle East. Pray that Saddam Hussein will leave the country before war is required to remove him from power. Pray that a spiritual shield will contain hostilities within the Iraqi borders (if war cannot be avoided), such that it doesn't spill over to the entire Islamic world. Pray that weapons of mass destruction, if they are deployed on any side of the battle, will be powerless. Pray that this date, rather than being a focal point of darkness, will be overwhelmed by the Light of God through the worldwide prayers of His people."

Pray that the armies of heaven will push back the powers of darkness in the Middle East? ...This is the Bush Crusade, and it shall begin at 3:33 am on 03/03/03 of the 3rd millennium A.D.

It is no secret that Bush has defined the "War on Terrorism", to which he has attached the Iraqi regime, as a "crusade". In September of 2001, Bush warned Americans that: "This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile." Recall that the crusades were, in the words of Soheib Bensheikh, Grand Mufti of the mosque in Marseille, France:"…the barbarous and unjust military operations against the Muslim world by Christian knights, who launched repeated attempts to capture Jerusalem over the course of several hundred years." This crackpot thinking alone might serve as justification (in the mind of the Administration) to invade precisely at this consecrated point in time.

...From a strategic perspective, Bush could hardly find a better time to invade... March 02, is the "New" Moon. In other words, there will be a days-long window of strategic night-time darkness due to a lack of moonlight, a common requirement for a strategic attack... It is also the last day of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Waiting for the end of Hajj might shield the Administration from some unwanted criticism and allow them to claim "sensitivity" to Muslims worldwide... Attacking on this time and date adds an extra sense of mystery to the decision, fodder for interesting biographies, history books and headlines. Once again, truly superficial but in line with administration's thought processes... Perhaps the religious fanaticism within the Administration finds some sense of "Godly duty" to proceed with the "crusade" at that point in time -- much the same rationalization that the terrorists used as they murdered helpless citizens on 911.

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http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/01/wxants01.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/03/01/ixworld.html

Yellow crazy ants are threatening to obliterate wildlife, pastureland and remote communities across northern Australia in what scientists described yesterday as a looming ecological catastrophe. The yellow crazy ants, Anoplolepis gracilipes, squirt formic acid over any animals that venture into their path, leaving them blind, vulnerable to attack and unable to feed. They have already wiped out 20 million red crabs - a third of the population - on the Australian territory of Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean... The ants grow up to a centimetre long. Their name derives from their chaotic behaviour when disturbed. People can go blind if they rub their eyes after coming into contact with the ants' acid.

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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews&storyID=2305802

MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - A pack of frenzied dogs attacked six parked cars in the Bavarian capital, leaving a trail of damaged vehicles in their wake and causing panic among residents woken by the disturbances... A spokeswoman said the dogs were still on the loose despite a police search.

Residents said they saw boxer-like dogs biting and snapping at the cars at around 4:30 a.m. Bumpers, mudflaps and number plates were all torn off by the canine onslaught. Police also found teeth marks on the body work and hubcaps of the car, which were covered in blood and saliva from the dogs... "It sounded like the cars were being broken into," said Guenther Sailler, 63, a local goldsmith. "It was incredible. One of them leaped again and again with unbelievable force into the side of a car and bit into it like a lunatic."

"Normally dogs aren't interested in cars," Eva Voelkl, Munich police spokeswoman, said. ..........................................................................................................

http://www.meatstinks.com/tyson-state.html

January 30, 2003

My name is Virgil Butler. I worked at the Tyson plant in Grannis, Arkansas from July, 1997 until November 12, 2002. I worked on the night shift in the Receiving department as a live-hanger as well as on the kill-floor. I personally witnessed many acts of cruelty toward the chickens by employees of the plant on a nightly basis:

One of the most recent problems that I observed was the night shift superintendent, Richard Frasier, turning down the stunner and ordering the employees to leave it down. This machine is the device that is supposed to stun chickens before they are killed. Turning it down results in the chickens missing the killing machine and evading the killer behind the machine, so that they end up being scalded to death by water in the scalding tank. The scalding tank loosens up the feathers so that they can be picked out. The chickens are supposed to be dead before they reach this point. I, as well as Ed Taylor (my immediate supervisor), Troy Shepmann, and Aron Harris (fellow employees) argued this action with Richard, who refused to stop doing this. We were not given a reason behind Richard's decision.

The expected percentage that the killing machine was supposed to kill by slitting throats was 86%. On an extremely good night that percentage was accurate. The remaining chickens would miss the blade altogether. Most nights the percentage would fall to the high 70's. Some nights, even worse. I was responsible for trying to slit the throats of the chickens the machine missed on the nights I worked the killing room. Our line runs 182 shackles per minute. It is physically impossible to catch them all. Therefore, they are scalded alive. When this happens, the chickens flop, scream, kick, and their eyeballs pop out of their heads. Then, they often come out the other end with broken bones and disfigured and missing body parts because they've struggled so much in the tank. Sometimes, when we had a line broken down, they would be left hanging upside down in the stunner in the water to drown. In the stunner, the water is cold and salted to better conduct the electricity. I have personally seen them hang in this position for hours.

One night in early spring last year we lost hydraulic pressure. Perhaps 300-400 chickens missed the stunner because the line slowed down so much that the birds could avoid it while those who were stunned were able to recover by the time they reached the killing machine-which was only working sporadically. The live birds were left hanging upside down in the scalders while the machinery was being fixed. We could have quit hanging more chickens at this point and let the line run empty while the killing machine was off-line. Instead, we were ordered by Richard Frasier and Ed Taylor to continue to hang the chickens, while Aron Harris was required to kill all of them by hand. This could not be done by one person, even at half the speed and it was clear to everyone there that birds were going by untouched. Several hundred chickens were scalded to death by this decision.

Most of my fellow employees were extremely abusive to the chickens. Our job was simply to pick the chickens up off of the belt and hang them upside down into the shackles. This could rarely be accomplished without problems, due to several reasons.

We were extremely shorthanded, due to the horrendous working conditions. This led to a high turnover rate with inexperienced, frustrated, workers under pressure to keep the production numbers up. If production fell, it would mean overtime work, so the belt speed was turned up. This resulted in the belt becoming overloaded in the area where the chickens awaited shackling, which ended up smothering hundreds of chickens a night. I heard Richard Frasier say, "I would rather smother a few hundred goddamned birds, than to lose time because of empty shackles." (This was said in late July, 2002 when temperatures in the hanging cage were exceeding 100 degrees in the middle of the night.)

The absence of climate control is another cause of unnecessary suffering that results in death to the chickens. The heater in the "cage," which is the area where birds are hung, worked less than half of the time I worked there. Many times the temperatures would be well below freezing. This resulted in the chickens freezing to the belt last winter and the winter before. They froze to death this way inside the building, where the temperature was below freezing. I and my co-workers complained about this to Richard Frasier, but to no avail. He would just turn and walk away. The reverse of this problem happened in the summer time, where there is no adequate air conditioning. Most of the time, it doesn't work at all, and blows hot air. This results in the chickens dying of heat stroke, heart attack, and suffocation.

When the plant breaks down or when there are too many chickens on the kill schedule for the shift, they are left over for the next shift. For the night shift, this is not as bad in the summer time as it is in the winter, because the chickens are forced to sit out in the cages on the trucks. In the summer on day shift, though, when they leave birds, they sit from 3:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. under a tin shed roof with no water and no food. I have seen hundreds die of dehydration from this practice. This could be remedied by simply stopping the catchers from catching any more until the problem in the plant is resolved or by not scheduling as big a kill to begin with.

These uncomfortable conditions, coupled with the unrelenting pressure to keep the shackles filled at all costs, lead to much frustration and outright rage among the employees. I have witnessed Troy Shepmann build dry ice bombs (made by putting dry ice and a small amount of water in a plastic Pepsi bottle and screwing the lid down tight) and putting it on the belt with live chickens during break time. This results in a high pressure explosion that rips the chickens' bodies apart and scatters them all over the room. This occurred numerous times, but the one I remember the most was one night last June when he made a small dry ice bomb by shoving a piece of dry ice up a live chicken's rectum, then plugging it with a wooden cork. It built up enough pressure inside the chicken to blow it apart. I have also seen Aron Harris rip the heads, legs, and wings off of live chickens, or just stomp them to death on the floor because he was aggravated. This occurred on a regular basis for about the last year and a half that I worked there. I have also seen George Watson, a forklift driver, run over the chickens on purpose, then laugh about it. These kinds of incidents were ongoing and repetitive--just a part of a regular night's work.

Other problems that came up when I worked there were a result of mismanagement. One, in particular, happened several times when we would get orders for bigger birds. The worst was in the week ending on September 14 of last year. In this instance we were given thousands of chickens to hang that were above the size limit we were used to. The shackles were not designed to fit the oversize legs of the chickens. They were too small for their legs to fit into. In the process of hanging the live birds, we were forced to break their legs to get them to fit into the shackles. This was unnecessary. The shackles could have been spread out to fit the larger-sized birds. It would only have taken about an hour for two maintenance personnel to accomplish this. However, Richard Frasier decided that it wasn't necessary and didn't want to lose the production time to do it.

According to published plant progress reports, most of the chicken run by this plant is destined for shipment to Kentucky Fried Chicken. We processed deboned thigh and leg meat and boneless, skinless split breasts. Most of the deboned meat is shipped to a further processing plant where it is made into chicken nuggets for KFC. I am writing this letter because I want to see something done about this cruelty. I don't wish to be a part of the nightmare any longer and am willing to speak out about this to anyone at any time.

Thank you,

Virgil Butler