=======================================

http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=14606

In the last few days, I've received news of an Irish activist, an Australian professor and a Toronto mom -- all barred at the border from entering the United States... Irish civil rights activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey... the youngest woman ever elected to the British Parliament... [and now a] "55-year old granny with a gammy leg," as she describes herself, was finger-printed, photographed and forced back on a plane against her will. Officials at the Justice Department, the INS and the State Department refuse to confirm whether or not McAliskey's name appears on some "unwanted alien" list, or even if such an "undesirables" list exists.

...An aboriginal activist and University of Melbourne professor, Marcia Langton from Australia, was barred from the United States... But Langton, 51, who was visiting the University of California to deliver a lecture, has traveled to the United States without trouble on many occasions... Also at O'Hare, a Toronto woman on her way home from visiting her parents in India was denied access to a lawyer, threatened with jail by INS officers and then deported -- not to Toronto where she lives, has two children and a job as a loan officer, but to India, the country of her birth. And that was after INS destroyed her passport -- which they insisted was fake -- and humiliated her in the airport. INS has yet to explain why Berna Cruz's passport, which she says is in order, was perfectly acceptable to immigration officials in Toronto, India, and on recent trips to Boston, New York and Spain.

These three stories have been written up in their home-country papers. The news is harder to find here in the United States. So it remains unclear. Just who does the United States government consider a threat today?

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12689-2003Mar11.html

A federal appeals court is weighing on a rare and expedited basis a lawsuit challenging the president's right to wage war on Iraq without a formal declaration of war by Congress. Filed by a dozen... House Democrats, three anonymous soldiers and 15 parents of soldiers, the lawsuit before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit, in Boston, argues that Congress has ducked its responsibilities and delegated its war-making powers to the president... A lower court judge last month dismissed this lawsuit almost out of hand, and few legal scholars expect the federal appeals court to block a president on the cusp of war... A federal court threw out in 1990 a similar challenge by 54 members of Congress against the impending Persian Gulf War. The judge ruled that while Congress had a right to declare war, the nation at that time was not yet at war.

...The plaintiffs in this case argue that the constitutional founders wanted to forestall a monarchical executive who might squander the treasury and thousands of young lives on war. By giving Congress the right to declare war, the plaintiffs argue, the Founding Fathers situated war-making powers in the most representative wing of government.

===============================================

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/2020/iraq_newyork030312.html

The New York City Council voted today to tell President Bush to slow down in his move toward war against Iraq... New York City joins more than 100 other cities and towns, including Los Angeles and Chicago, that have passed similar resolutions voicing opposition to the administration's course on Iraq... Some council members who supported the resolution said they were embarrassed that New York had taken so long to make its opinion known... The drive to pass a resolution gained momentum after the anti-war demonstrations of Feb. 15, which Bush dismissed as being the voice of a "focus group," [Councilman Bill] Perkins said. "That was catalytic in telling us that we had a responsibility to be responsive to what was going on," he said. "... When we pass this resolution, that will be 8 million people, and New York will be adding to the other 100 cities. That will be more than 30 million people. That's not a focus group."

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http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=110954&command=displayContent&sourceNode=110953&contentPK=4609925

Armed US troops stormed the peace camp at RAF Fairford and ripped protesters' banners off the fence. Dressed in boiler suits and armed with serrated combat knives, the men stripped the 10ft steel fence at Gate 10. By 2pm yesterday they were putting up a barbed wire fence to keep the demonstrators at bay. Gloucestershire police intervened after airforce personnel and 12 protesters began to wrestle with the peace banners.

...Protesters worked through the night to rebuild their camp as B52 bombers tested their engines on the runway. Sarj, a healthcare worker and a student, said: "The American airforce personnel were very aggressive... They told us that if we were in their country then we would be thrown in jail for what we were doing... This is just another case of Americans trying to push people about and have their own way and we're not standing for it. We are here protesting by rights and in a peaceful manner. We've camped here in temperatures below freezing so something like this isn't going to stop us now." Protesters have been camping at Fairford since February 17... Rolls of razor wire were laid inside the perimeter fence to keep them out last Friday. Ministry of Defence spokesman, Sqn Ldr John Morris, said... "The fencing has been put up to help people identify where Ministry of Defence property begins and ends," he said.

...The step-up in security came after two women breached the perimeter fence and got on to the base's 100,000ft runway. A 61-year-old grandmother from Hull was arrested for aggravated trespass after she breached the perimeter fence and allegedly sat beneath a B-52 bomber for two hours last Monday. A second female protester was arrested last Tuesday after she climbed on to the fence holding a purple banner reading "no war"... Peace protesters at RAF Fairford were warned on March 6 they could be taking their lives in their hands if they break into the US airbase.

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http://www.sfbayguardian.com/37/24/x_news_war.html

The San Francisco Police Department has been monitoring a radical Web site, using undercover officers to spy on antiwar protesters, and apparently collecting personal information about political dissidents, the Bay Guardian has learned. A confidential police memo, part of a dossier obtained under the Sunshine Ordinance, acknowledges that at least some of the activities appear to violate the department's own rules... The documents suggest some SFPD commanders may have orchestrated a secret spying program without the knowledge of top police officials. "Undercover surveillance was requested and conducted at anti-war demonstrations on October 26, 2002, January 18, 2003 and February 16, 2003 without proper authorization by the Chief of Police," the OCC audit states... A group of four officers assigned to the Violent Crimes Task Force– a unit that normally handles gang killings– carried out the undercover operations. Dressed as protesters, the squad videotaped the demonstrations and marched along Market Street in the large antiwar parades as well as in the smaller, riotous "breakaway" marches.

...Another memo states, "Individuals and groups opposed to United States actions in Iraq are planning possible criminal activity." ...When interviewed by the Bay Guardian, [Lt. Kitt ] Crenshaw denied keeping tabs on dissidents outside of protest situations. "We've never tried to infiltrate groups," he told us. "We don't gather intelligence or spy on people." ...In a two-page message he sent to Capt. Paul Chignell, Crenshaw described "First Amendment activities" as a "guise" used by some radical groups to "conduct their contemptuous acts against corporate and government structures."

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http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/nyt-snipers.htm

Those wonderful troublemakers at Unknown News have caught the "newspaper of record" changing the record. On 15 February 2003, the New York Times Website ran an article on the worldwide peace protests held that day. The last paragraph reported that the NY Police Department had snipers on the rooftops and undercover officers in the crowd. For the next day's edition, that article was replaced with another version... "Thousands of uniformed officers in the streets, sharp-shooters on rooftops and plainclothes officers in the crowds" [was replaced with] "5,000 officers were involved. It appeared that the police had not anticipated such a large crowd."

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http://www.antiwar.com/orig/sapienza2.html

"LA HABRA -- Antiwar protesters burned and ripped up flags, flowers and patriotic signs at a Sept. 11 memorial that residents erected on a fence along Whittier Boulevard days after the terrorist attacks in 2001 and have maintained ever since." --The first question that enters my mind is, what good is done for the antiwar movement when vandals trash a memorial to thousands of slaughtered civilians? The answer is none, and that's why it seems like less an antiwar protest and more the act of saboteurs... This whole thing smacks of COINTELPRO-type tactics.

...Another curious side of this already-odd story, is the fact that this was done in plain view of La Habra police officers. And they weren't stopped or warned... La Habra Police Capt. John Rees said the vandals were "exercising the same freedom of speech that the people who put up the flags were." The problem is that destroying private property isn't free speech, and the memorial's builders and caretakers had the permission of the site's owner.

No comment as of right now from the La Habra Police Dept., but I am waiting for a callback... We condemn this action no matter who is responsible, but the bottom line is, we have no evidence that these are actually antiwar protesters. It simply doesn't make sense.

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http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=295902003

This year’s Oscars...organisers [are] drawing up a blacklist of people who will not be allowed a platform to air anti-war views. Meryl Streep, Sean Penn, Vanessa Redgrave, George Clooney, Dustin Hoffman and Spike Lee are among those who will not be speaking... Star presenters have been ordered to stick to scripts, while winners, who the producers have no control over, could find their acceptance speeches cut if they say anything much more than a brief thank you.

...In previous years, high-profile presenters have grabbed the spotlight to promote their political causes...Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins appealed for HIV-positive Haitians to be allowed into the United States. Sarandon and Robbins are also among those on this year’s unofficial blacklist, along with Ed Norton and Dennis Hopper... Top of the loose-cannon list this year is the 'Bowling for Columbine' director, Michael Moore, a favourite to win the documentary feature award... On Saturday, he used the Writers Guild of America awards in Los Angeles to voice his opinions of George Bush, the US president. Worryingly, for the Oscar producers, Moore won loud applause after telling the audience: "What I see is a country that does not like what’s going on. Let’s all commit ourselves to Bush removal in 2004."

If Moore does not win an Oscar, insiders claim Hollywood will be reverting back to the witch-hunting 1950s, when Senator Joseph McCarthy and his cohorts destroyed the careers of supposed Communist sympathizers... McCarthy-supporting actors included the former US president, Ronald Reagan.

==========================================

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/13/business/media/13ADCO.html?ex=1048573024&ei=1&en=292aa6fe6f1edbc8

MTV has refused to accept a commercial opposing a war in Iraq, citing a policy against advocacy spots that it says protects the channel from having to run ads from any cash-rich interest group whose cause may be loathsome.

...The commercial just rejected by MTV was directed by Barbara Kopple, winner of two Academy Awards for her documentaries. In the ad, young people speak to the camera about their opposition to a war, with scenes from recent antiwar marches interspersed through the spot.

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http://www.iht.com/articles/89467.html

Some units of the United States military are starting to clamp down on e-mail communication from their soldiers and sailors... The air force warned last week that it might limit or start blocking electronic messages... The navy has said that on submarines, it is monitoring all e-mail traffic. And the army, while generally maintaining open access to e-mail, is restricting some Internet connections from certain bases.

...Computer security experts are not particularly concerned that Iraqi forces would... hack into e-mail communications from U.S. troops. Moreover, the military's sensitive operational information is kept on a proprietary network called the Secret Internet Protocol Network that is not connected to the publicly-accessible Internet... The problem that computer and military experts worry about is that [email might be] forwarded to someone sympathetic to Iraq.

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http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030311-024340-7995r

Daniel Ellsberg, who in 1971 leaked the Pentagon Papers, on Tuesday called on government officials to leak documents to Congress and the press showing the Bush administration is lying in building its case against Saddam Hussein. Ellsberg, an ex-Marine and military analyst, said he held out hope that exposing alleged lies by the Bush administration could still avert an unjust war. He warned that whistleblowers may face ruin of their careers and marriages and be incarcerated.

"Don't wait until the bombs start falling," Ellsberg said at a Tuesday press conference in Washington. "If you know the public is being lied to and you have documents to prove it, go to Congress and go to the press." Ellsberg did not leak the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times until 1971, although he says he had information in the mid-1960s that he now wishes he had leaked then. "Do what I wish I had done before the bombs started falling" in Vietnam, Ellsberg said. "I think there is some chance that the truth could avert war."

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http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s804533.htm

The United Nations says it has pulled out more than 30 weapons inspectors throughout Iraq. But the UN is refusing to confirm if the pull-out is part of an evacuation plan... The UN says about 70 weapons inspectors remain in Iraq.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/story.jsp?story=386254

Labour Party discontent over Tony Blair's stance on Iraq burst into the open for the first time yesterday when more than 40 MPs called for the Prime Minister to resign... and fellow left-wingers urged a party conference to discuss a leadership challenge.

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http://daily.nysun.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMail&Type=text/html&Path=NYS/2003/03/12&ID=Ar00200

Richard Perle, the influential foreign policy hawk, is suing journalist Seymour Hersh over an article he wrote implying that Mr. Perle is using his position as a Pentagon adviser to benefit financially from a war to liberate Iraq. "I intend to launch legal action in the United Kingdom. I’m talking to Queen’s Counsel right now," Mr. Perle, who chairs the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board, a non-paying position, told The New York Sun last night. He said he is suing in Britain because it is easier to win such cases there, where the burden on plaintiffs is much less.

...When asked what part of the article is incorrect, Mr. Perle told the Sun: "It’s all lies, from beginning to end." The editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick [replied,] "It went through serious reporting, with four members of the board talking to Sy [Hersh], and rigorous fact-checking, legal-checking and all the rest," Mr. Remnick told the Sun.

He said he took issue with Mr. Perle’s description of Mr. Hersh on CNN Sunday as "the closest thing American journalism has to a terrorist." "I would have thought after all this many years, Mr. Perle would be a bit more refined than that," Mr. Remnick said.

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http://www.republicons.org/view_article.asp?RP_ARTICLE_ID=594

US defense advisor and the sharpest billed hawk Richard Perle said in a radio interview yesterday that “France has aligned itself with Saddam”. "President Chirac has said Saddam Hussein was his friend-- a friend, one of the most brutal dictators in this world?" said Perle. "We never called him a friend." He was referring to the early 1980s when France, the United States and the rest of the Western allies backed Iraq in a war with neighbor Iran. The latter assertion is patently false as recently declassified State Department documents show.

===============================================

http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=69

A select group of [six] U.S. construction firms now bidding on a lucrative government contract to rebuild a postwar Iraq, contributed a combined [$1,904,000.00] to Republicans over the past two election cycles.

The U.S. Agency for International Development asked Bechtel Group Inc., Fluor Corp., Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root, Louis Berger Group Inc., and Parsons Corp. to submit bids last week for the $900,000,000.00 contract... The firms that land the contract are also likely to make the short list for future projects in Iraq, which include plans to develop the country’s oil industry.

Bechtel, the engineering giant that employed the likes of former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, former Secretary of State George Schultz and former CIA Director William Casey before they took their government posts, gave $1,300,000.00 in individual, PAC and soft money contributions between 1999 and 2002... Bechtel is facing allegations that it contributed to Iraq's military buildup nearly two decades ago.

...Kellogg, Brown & Root and parent company Halliburton--which was headed by Vice President Dick Cheney until 2000--was the second-largest donor of the group, with more than $709,000.00 in contributions. Halliburton also gave more to Bush’s presidential campaign-- $17,677.00-- than any of the other bidders combined.

Fluor, which gave more than $483,000.00 in individual, PAC and soft money contributions in the previous two election cycles, also has ties to the Defense Department. Kenneth Oscar, the company’s vice president of strategy and government services, recently served as the acting assistant secretary of the Army, where he directed its $35,000,000,000.00-a-year procurement budget.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,912426,00.html

Halliburton... is still making annual payments to its former chief executive, the vice-president Dick Cheney. The payments, which appear on Mr Cheney's 2001 financial disclosure statement, are in the form of "deferred compensation" of up to $1,000,000.00 (£600,000) a year. An aide to the vice president said yesterday... [that] the payment was even insured so that it would not be affected even if Halliburton went bankrupt... The company would not say how much the payments are.

...In the five years Mr Cheney was at the helm, Halliburton nearly doubled the amount of business it did with the government to $2,300,000,000.00. The company also more than doubled its political contributions to $1,200,000.00, overwhelmingly to Republican candidates.

======================================================

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=536&ncid=536&e=10&u=/ap/20030310/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/propaganda_patrol_4

A Cold War-era office with a shadowy name and a colorful history of exposing Soviet deceptions is back in business... The Counter-Disinformation/Misinformation Team... is a crew of two toiling in anonymity at the State Department, writing reports they are prohibited by law from disseminating to the U.S. public... In coordination with the CIA, FBI and others, the team helps U.S. embassies identify and rebut other nations' disinformation, most often fabrications about the United States... It's part of a broader Bush administration project to shore up America's reputation... In 1996, State laid off the last man in the counterdisinformation office, Todd Leventhal. He was rehired in October; now he has a researcher and a part-time writer, too.

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http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/12/sprj.irq.iraq.secret.surrender/index.html

U.S. officials told CNN Wednesday that "secret surrender" negotiations have begun with key Iraqi military officials in hopes some military units will not fight U.S. and coalition forces... Communications with these Iraqi military officials are not being handled by the Pentagon, but instead by other "elements" of the U.S. government, the officials said.

=================================================

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A17827-2003Mar12?language=printer

SEOUL, March 12 -- U.S. spy planes will soon resume surveillance flights off North Korea... according to U.S. military sources... The modified Boeing 707 spy planes, which take off from Okinawa, Japan, [are] to monitor missile launches and North Korean communications... There have been no flights of U.S. reconnaissance planes since March 2, when four North Korean jet fighters flew near an Air Force RC-135S carrying a crew of 17. One of the North Korean jets came within 50 feet of the plane, according to the Pentagon... Before the incident, North Korea had strenuously protested U.S. reconnaissance flights, alleging that the planes intruded on North Korean airspace... Immediately after the incident, U.S. officials strongly asserted that American forces would exercise "the right" to conduct surveillance.

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http://www.republicons.org/view_article.asp?RP_ARTICLE_ID=580

Last week, at a Pentagon “town hall” meeting between Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and members of the U.S. armed forces, someone asked Rumsfeld... what would the U.S. do if the situation in North Korea boils over while troops are fighting a war in Iraq? Rumsfeld responded by saying that the U.S., if need be, would wage a simultaneous war with North Korea... The U.S. “would wage a major conflict in a theater and occupy a country, and near simultaneously swiftly defeat in another theater, and in addition be capable of conducting a variety of lesser contingencies such as things like Bosnia or Kosovo or what's currently going on in Afghanistan... We've spent a great deal of time over the past two years fashioning a new defense strategy,” Rumsfeld said.

...The so-called “major theater war,” which means that the U.S. could wage two simultaneous wars, was designed specifically so the U.S. would be in a position to launch attacks on the Iraq and North Korea, according to the September 2000 report “Rebuilding America’s Defense Strategy,” released by the right-wing think tank Project for the New American Century. The full report, which names North Korea, Iraq and Iran as threats to U.S. interests, can be viewed at http://www.newamericancentury.org/RebuildingAmericasDefenses.pdf

Rumsfeld, along with Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and others, were involved with PNAC in the 1990s before becoming members of the Bush Administration. The think-tank has been a major influence on Bush’s foreign and defense policies.

=================================================

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=386524

The Pentagon is quietly seeking exemptions from some of America's main environmental laws, which would give the military free rein to dump spent munitions, pollute the air and poison endangered species at its bases without risk of liability for any damage. The proposal [was] slipped into the fine print of the 2004 military budget last week... Among the laws the military is seeking to circumvent are the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, important pieces of legislation governing the clean-up of environmental disasters, and the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

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http://www.republicons.org/view_article.asp?RP_ARTICLE_ID=583

In the coming weeks, the Senate will attempt to make a compelling argument for opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. It turns out that tapping into ANWR's resources would produce an immediate 600,000 barrels per day of oil-exactly the same amount of oil the U.S. currently purchases from Iraq.

...Late Tuesday, Senate Republicans circulated an internal GOP memo that said all but one vote was needed in order for oil drilling in ANWR to pass through the senate using a controversial budgetary measure... "Dick Cheney has been working madly to secure the 50th (vote)," said the staff memo developed in the offices of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, the Associated Press reported.

================================================

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=535&ncid=535&e=5&u=/ap/20030312/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

AL-TAJI, Iraq - Iraq on Wednesday displayed a drone aircraft that resembled a large model plane, disputing U.S. claims that it represents a grave danger... Made mostly of balsa wood and held together with screws and duct tape, it had two small propellers attached to what looked like the engines of a weed whacker. In New York, Ewen Buchanan, spokesman for chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, said after inspectors examined photographs of the drone: "Yes, it would appear to be the drone with the 7.45 meter (24.5 foot) wingspan that was discovered by inspectors recently."

Officials of the Ibn Firnas State Company, in the al-Taji area just north of Baghdad, said the drone is a prototype designed for reconnaissance, jamming and aerial photography. They said it couldn't possibly be used to spread weapons of mass destruction, and accused Secretary of State Colin Powell of misleading the world by saying it could... Brig. Imad Abdul Latif, the project director for the drone... [said] the aircraft is guided by a controller on the ground, who has to be able to see the plane to direct it... The controls have a range of five miles.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, John Negroponte, complained this weekend that Blix didn't mention the drone in his oral presentation to the Security Council on Friday. Blix mentioned the drone in a 173-page written list of outstanding questions about Iraq's weapons programs last week... Iraq insisted it declared the drone in a report in January, and Hiro Ueki, spokesman for the Baghdad inspectors, confirmed that. Ibn Firnas' general director, Gen. Ibrahim Hussein, said the confusion was the result of a typographical error: The declaration said the wingspan was 14.5 feet instead of 24.4 feet. "When we discovered the mistake we addressed an official letter correcting the wingspan," he said.

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http://www.gvnews.net/html/Crisis/gvabs056.html

ISTANBUL Feb 26, 2003 -- The U.S. isn't waiting for Turkey's parliament to authorize use of its territory to prepare for an Iraq war. For the past week it has been unloading armaments, including Patriot missiles, at the port of Iskenderun -- an apparently illegal move... According to Article 92 of the Turkish Constitution, parliament must give approval for the basing of a foreign power's military.

...A Turkish politician who tried to enter the Iskenderun port was turned away by U.S. personnel and the Turkish military said his safety could not be guaranteed... CNN International broadcast a shot of one of the U.S. ships that is docked in Iskenderun. Wider shots - broadcast for the past week on numerous Turkish television stations -- show hundreds of military vehicles that already have been off-loaded.

...Meeting in northern Iraq, the Kurdish parliament on Tuesday approved a resolution warning Turkey not to send soldiers into northern Iraq in the event of a war and during the U.S. and its allies not to permit the presence of Turkish troops...It would appear the U.S. is fueling antagonisms between the sides that would need to cooperate if there is to be stability in the post-war region.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2842767.stm

Turkish police have fired warning shots during a protest by anti-American demonstrators who were trying to enter the Mediterranean port of Iskenderun... Reuters news agency says the security forces fired five or six short bursts of gunfire into the air and the crowd later dispersed.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2842543.stm

Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali of Pakistan - a UN Security Council member - said it would be "very difficult" for his government to support an attack against Iraq. And Indian Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee said the Indian government would not support military action unless it was sanctioned by the UN. Both countries have called on the UN to give Iraq more time to comply with its resolutions.

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http://smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/12/1047431099477.html

The leading aid organisation in the United States has accused the Pentagon of undue secrecy and obstruction in its planning to provide humanitarian aid to Iraq in event of war. Sandra Mitchell, the head of the International Rescue Committee, told US senators that... "US planning has so embedded humanitarian tasks and activities with the military war plan that vital information remains classified," Ms Mitchell told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee... Secrecy over its humanitarian plans was underscored when the man who has been nominated to run the program declined to appear at the Senate hearings. General Jay Garner told the senators he was "unavailable".

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-608822,00.html

BAGHDAD-- A group of boys who usually play football after school are frantically making sandbags by shovelling earth into plastic sacks...“We came here straight from school; we heard they needed help,” Ahmed, 13, said breathlessly... His friend, Khalid, 12, agreed nervously: “Everyone has to do something now to prepare."

...People who previously laughed off the bombing, saying that they had managed to survive before, are now running for cover... The jets that screeched across the clear Baghdad sky a few mornings ago have given them a sharp dose of reality. “Tell me where to go, where can I run to?” begged a frightened city hotel bellman who a few weeks ago scoffed at the notion of war. A tennis coach and a waiter at the hotel said their goodbyes the day before. “Maybe this is the last time we meet on Earth,” said the waiter, who was taking refuge in a northern village. “May God preserve you in what you will soon endure.” ...Those who can afford it are hiring large vehicles and packing their families and possessions for either a ten-hour drive across the desert to Jordan or an eight-hour drive northwest along the River Euphrates to Syria. But the cost can be prohibitive... several months’ salary.

On Kerrada Street, a well-dressed couple from the northern city of Mosul sat drinking banana juice near the site of the first bombing in Baghdad in 1998, a residential street levelled by a rocket. Suad and Kareem are making their way home, a four-hour drive, because they fear the next few days are crucial. “War could start at any moment,” Suad said. “We are all going to die eventually, but no one wants to get incinerated by a missile.” Kareem said that civilians in Mosul feel particularly vulnerable because they fear not only the bombing and the Americans, but Kurds and Turks, both of whom have made no secret about their intentions for the oil-rich area.

The cafés and restaurants are still full of tea-drinkers and men smoking hookahs, but now the conversation is not local gossip: it is of rumours that President Bush has an electronic bomb that will vaporise computers, telephones, electricity grids — and people... “Please help me. Please tell me how to get out, we are terrified,” whispered a war veteran, who rolled up his sleeve to show a grave wound from fighting in 1991. “We can’t endure another war. We can’t survive.”

Hannan said that most people would stay in their homes, push their mattresses in front of their windows, wait and pray. “We are now entering the time of the radio,” she said. “We live day and night by the news.”

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http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/13/1047431154540.html

Hundreds of journalists wearing flak jackets and carrying satellite telephones have started arriving at United States military camps in the Kuwait desert... "If you are crazy enough to be here, ladies and gentlemen, you are welcome," Major-General Jim Mattis, the commander of the US's 1st Marine Division told 90 journalists from a dozen countries.

US military planners have arranged for about 650 journalists, most of them from US media, to join ground, air and sea forces... Strict rules have been imposed on journalists, suggesting they will be more restricted than in Vietnam... The US will block satellite transmissions at critical times... and they may not be able to seek independent interpretation about what is happening.

========================================

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health/story.jsp?story=386547

The [British] Department of Health and the Ministry of Defence have drawn up detailed plans to treat high numbers of casualties from a war. Injured soldiers would be flown to different airports "on rotation'' so that hospitals in England, Wales and Scotland shared the burden. Planning notices have already been sent to prepare them for a possible influx of wounded... Chris Grayling, a Tory health spokesman, said... "The danger is that we could have patients thrown out of hospital beds to cope with casualties from the Gulf," he said. "It could throw hospitals into chaos."

...The use of specialists from Northern Ireland, where surgeons have more experience in dealing with gunshot wounds and bomb injuries, is believed to be "under review." ...Hospitals are also being told to prepare for acts of terrorism in Britain, including possible biological attacks. The Department of Health has been stockpiling antibiotics... The NHS supplies are being held at secret, guarded depots around the country with vehicles on alert to deliver in an emergency.

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http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0312-10.htm

The U.S. Congress is currently considering the most sophisticated and effective in a large arsenal of legislative weapons, a so-called "partial birth" abortion ban.

On May 14, 1998 every abortion clinic in Wisconsin ceased operations when a federal judge refused to block a state law banning "partial birth" abortion. Doctors said the ban was so broad that they could face life imprisonment for performing any abortion at any stage of pregnancy

...Eight years after the anti-choice movement first introduced "partial birth" abortion legislation in the U.S. Congress and state houses across the country, it is still not recognized for what it is: part of a carefully crafted, national strategy to ban all abortion... Calling these bills bans on late-term abortion is factually inaccurate. The term "partial birth" abortion cannot be found in any medical dictionary because it is a political term that anti-choice zealots made up... When talking about the bans, advocates use graphic language about late-term abortion that is different from anything found in the legislation itself. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), which represents most ob-gyn specialists, has rejected these bans, which fail "to use recognized medical terminology and fail to define explicitly the prohibited medical techniques it criminalizes."

Federal Judge Gerald Rosen, a George H. W. Bush appointee, permanently enjoined an early Michigan ban because it was so vague that doctors lacked notice as to what abortion procedures were banned. A temporary restraining order against legislation in Arkansas said that the "act applies at any stage of gestation," ... A 2000 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Stenberg v. Carhart found a Nebraska statute unconstitutional and said that the definition of "partial birth" abortion remains so broad that it could outlaw the safest, most common methods of abortion.

The Center for Reproductive Rights (formerly the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy) reports that "after voters in Washington, Maine and Colorado were educated about 'partial birth' abortion, ballot initiatives on this issue were defeated in all three states." The Center’s 1998 national poll of registered voters revealed that an astonishing 77% were seriously concerned that such bans allowed no exceptions for serious harm to a woman's health and 69 % were very troubled that the legislation is deceptive, banning the safest and most commonly used abortion procedures.

...So-called "partial birth" abortion bans have passed the U.S. Congress many times over the past several years and were vetoed by President Bill Clinton. President George W. Bush reiterated the high priority he places on passage of a "partial birth" abortion ban in his State of the Union address. He is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the bill, delivered by the Republican majority and compliant Democrats in Congress, so that he can make it the law of the land. Prosecutors and judges appointed by Bush could then interpret the legislation to broadly ban abortion procedures -- exactly as anti-choice radicals intend.

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http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=%7BC66A23F4-CBF1-4178-ADED-1D0E48AD24E5%7D

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday to ban a procedure critics call "partial-birth" abortion... The 64-33 vote sent the legislation to the Republican-controlled House, where passage is expected this spring... The legislation includes an exemption in cases in which the procedure is necessary to save the life [but not the health] of the mother.

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http://www.republicons.org/view_article.asp?RP_ARTICLE_ID=574

In a report release by Families USA [http://www.familiesusa.org] and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the often quoted number of uninsured in America underreports the statistics. The report entitled “Going without Health Insurance: Nearly One in Three Non-Elderly Americans” reveals that approximately 74,700,000 people under the age of 65 were without health insurance for part or all of 2001 and 2002. This number represents 30.1% of the US population under 65. Almost two thirds of this number were uninsured for periods of six months or more. The report also finds that in nine states more than a third of non-elderly residents were without health insurance for all or part of 2001 and 2002... Worse still, most of those who were uninsured during this time period were either employed (70.4%) or actively seeking employment (another 7.2%). And of all those who went uninsured for the 2001 to 2002 period only 22% were not in the labor force (disabled and others).

...Over 52% of Hispanics under 65 lacked insurance and over 39% of African-Americans were uninsured by the same criteria. The report is available online through the Families USA website.

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http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/13/1047431154967.html

Two people killed in a shooting incident in the southern West Bank on Thursday were Israelis shot dead by Israeli forces who mistook them for Palestinian militants, Israeli public radio reported.

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http://jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2003-daily/13-03-2003/world/w2.htm

JERUSALEM: The Israeli army has sold tens of thousands of gas masks to immigrant workers... while distributing newer ones free to Israelis, the media reported Wednesday. The gas masks sold to foreign workers were produced before 1984... Public radio said the old masks were taken from stocks traded in by Israelis for new equipment... A Home Front Defence spokesman quoted by the radio confirmed that the army had decided to provide the immigrants, who have to a large extent taken the place of cheap Palestinian labour during the 29-month conflict, with the oldest gas masks.

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http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/12/1047431099474.html

A United States appeals court has dismissed a challenge by 16 Afghan war detainees, including two Australians being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, to their being held without access to their family or a lawyer. The decision has set the stage for an appeal to the US Supreme Court.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/03/12/iraq/main543656.shtml

A National Geographic survey of nearly 3,000 [U.S.] young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 finds that 87 percent of them can't find Iraq on a map.

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http://newsallergy.blogspot.com/2003_03_09_newsallergy_archive.html#90614668

My cousin at the UN just forwarded me this article written by a well known Brazilian Columnist for a daily called "Folha de Sao Paulo"...I have taken the liberty of translating the piece...The writer, Paulo Coelho, is the author of “The Alchemist”, amongst other works, and is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Arts & Letters.

A Folha de Sao Paulo http://www.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ March 8, 2003

Thank you, George Bush, the Great Leader... Thank you for showing us all that the people of Turkey and their Parliament are not for sale, not even for $26 billion dollars.

...Thank you for helping us see with painful clarity that whether it is José Aznar of Spain or Tony Blair of the UK, that our so called elected leaders don’t have the slightest regard or respect for the fact that over 90% of their population are against war.

...Thank you, because due to your strenuous push for war, for the first time the Arab nations of the Gulf, usually so divided, have found a reason to unite.

...Thank you for attempting to divide Europe, which after a century of war and upheaval has been fighting for unity.

...Thank you for finally managing to achieve what few have managed in the past century: to unite millions of people, across the continents and give them a common cause to fight for, even if that cause is the exact opposite from yours.

...Thank you for letting us feel that even if our words are not being heard, they are at least being repeated. This will give us strength in the future. Thank you, because without your esteemed help, we wouldn’t have known the extent to which we were capable of mobilizing.

...So, now that the drums of war seem to beat with unstoppable ferocity, I want to add an insight, words uttered by an ancient European King to a would-be invader: “May your morning be glorious and may the sun shine brightly on the armor of your soldiers, because in the afternoon I will defeat you.” ...May you enjoy your beautiful morning, and all the glory that it may bring you.

Thank you, because I know you will not listen to us, nor take us seriously... [But] we have listened to you and heard you clearly, and we will not soon forget your words.

Thank you, George W. Bush, the great leader! Many thanks to you.

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also by paul coelho:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/voices/story/0,12820,903163,00.html

I have come up with the definitive answer on how to locate the weapons of mass destruction being hidden by Iraq. I will require payment for this information, by the way. This is how to locate the weapons, step-by-step:

1. All UN weapons inspectors currently in Iraq should pack their bags, settle their hotel bills and drive to Baghdad airport.

2. There they should buy business class air tickets to Washington...

3. On reaching Washington, they should catch the first bus to the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency...

4. On reaching CIA headquarters, and armed with the appropriate UN inspection mandate, they should demand to see all photos, information and documents being supplied to Mr George Bush. These are the documents pinpointing the precise location of each arms cache that allow Mr Bush to assure us that Iraq has an arsenal capable of destroying the planet.

5. Once in possession of these documents, they should return to Iraq... and go immediately to the places indicated in the photographs. Unable to deny the evidence, Saddam Hussein will have no option but to destroy his arsenal, for fear that the whole world will turn against him.

6. If the CIA does not have the documents, the inspectors should go straight to Mr George Bush's bedroom in the White House, Washington. On the way, they should avoid all contact with the thousands of American demonstrators taking part in protests against the war in Iraq.

7. If Mr George Bush fails to cooperate with the UN inspectors, they should look for the evidence under his bed. If they do not find it there, they should go and see the president's psychoanalyst, having first equipped themselves with a mandate from the UN security council, and ask the following question: "Does a son necessarily have to complete his father's work?" If the answer is yes, please advise me at once: my father was a civil engineer and, when he retired, he may well have left unfinished projects for his heir to deal with.

If the answer is no, demand that the psychoanalyst - on behalf of the UN, the US and the rest of the world - prescribe the necessary medication to his patient so that he no longer constitutes a threat to his country and to his planet.

This is the required method of payment: Once this infallible line of action has been followed, I ask that the billions of dollars that would have been spent on the war be divided up in the following manner:

1. 50% to help the poor in Brazil, since the president of Brazil is currently grappling with a huge budget deficit, and because the author of this practical guide is himself Brazilian.

2. 40% to go to Africa.

3. 9% to old Europe, which wavered but did not fall - at least not up until now, the day on which I am writing this article.

4. 1% to pay for a nice biography of Tony Blair, to be translated into 40 languages, in hard cover, with colour photographs, saying what a great leader he is, how intelligent, important, charismatic, handsome and charming. That should be enough to keep him content.

[This article is a contribution to the openDemocracy debate on the Iraqi crisis published on www.opendemocracy.net. Paulo Coelho is a bestselling novelist.]

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http://www.livejournal.com/talkpost.bml?journal=lightcastle&itemid=28334

On behalf of Canadians everywhere I'd like to offer an apology to the United States of America. We haven't been getting along very well recently and for that, I am truly sorry.

I'm sorry we called George Bush a moron. He is a moron, but it wasn't nice of us to point it out. If it's any consolation, the fact that he's a moron shouldn't reflect poorly on the people of America. After all, it's not like you actually elected him.

I'm sorry about our softwood lumber. Just because we have more trees than you doesn't give us the right to sell you lumber that's cheaper and better than your own.

I'm sorry we beat you in Olympic hockey. In our defense I guess our excuse would be that our team was much, much, much, much better than yours.

I'm sorry we burnt down your white house during the war of 1812. I notice you've rebuilt it! It's Very Nice.

I'm sorry about your beer. I know we had nothing to do with your beer, but we Feel your Pain.

I'm sorry about our waffling on Iraq. I mean, when you're going up against a crazed dictator, you wanna have your friends by your side. I realize it took more than two years before you guys pitched in against Hitler, but that was different. Everyone knew he had weapons.

And finally on behalf of all Canadians, I'm sorry that we're constantly apologizing for things in a passive-aggressive way which is really a thinly veiled criticism. I sincerely hope that you're not upset over this. We've seen what you do to countries you get upset with.

Thank you.

http://www.krysstal.com/democracy_whyusa03.html

In the United Nations, five countries... can veto a United Nations resolution. These five are the USA, the UK, France, Russia, and China. This is a list of resolutions vetoed by the USA.

1972 Condemns Israel for killing hundreds of people in Syria and Lebanon in air raids.

1973 Afirms the rights of the Palestinians and calls on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories.

1976 Condemns Israel for attacking Lebanese civilians.

1976 Condemns Israel for building settlements in the occupied territories.

1976 Calls for self determination for the Palestinians.

1976 Afirms the rights of the Palestinians.

1978 Urges the permanent members (USA, USSR, UK, France, China) to insure United Nations decisions on the maintenance of international peace and security.

1978 Criticises the living conditions of the Palestinians.

1978 Condemns the Israeli human rights record in occupied territories.

1978 Calls for developed countries to increase the quantity and quality of development assistance to underdeveloped countries.

1979 Calls for an end to all military and nuclear collaboration with the apartheid South Africa.

1979 Strengthens the arms embargo against South Africa.

1979 Offers assistance to all the oppressed people of South Africa and their liberation movement.

1979 Concerns negotiations on disarmament and cessation of the nuclear arms race.

1979 Calls for the return of all inhabitants expelled by Israel.

1979 Demands that Israel desist from human rights violations.

1979 Requests a report on the living conditions of Palestinians in occupied Arab countries.

1979 Offers assistance to the Palestinian people.

1979 Discusses sovereignty over national resources in occupied Arab territories.

1979 Calls for protection of developing counties' exports.

1979 Calls for alternative approaches within the United Nations system for improving the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

1979 Opposes support for intervention in the internal or external affairs of states.

1979 For a United Nations Conference on Women.

1979 To include Palestinian women in the United Nations Conference on Women.

1979 Safeguards rights of developing countries in multinational trade negotiations.

1980 Requests Israel to return displaced persons.

1980 Condemns Israeli policy regarding the living conditions of the Palestinian people.

1980 Condemns Israeli human rights practices in occupied territories. 3 resolutions.

1980 Afirms the right of self determination for the Palestinians.

1980 Offers assistance to the oppressed people of South Africa and their national liberation movement.

1980 Attempts to establish a New International Economic Order to promote the growth of underdeveloped countries and international economic co-operation.

1980 Endorses the Program of Action for Second Half of United Nations Decade for Women.

1980 Declaration of non-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states.

1980 Emphasises that the development of nations and individuals is a human right.

1980 Calls for the cessation of all nuclear test explosions.

1980 Calls for the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

1981 Promotes co-operative movements in developing countries.

1981 Affirms the right of every state to choose its economic and social system in accord with the will of its people, without outside interference in whatever form it takes.

1981 Condemns activities of foreign economic interests in colonial territories.

1981 Calls for the cessation of all test explosions of nuclear weapons.

1981 Calls for action in support of measures to prevent nuclear war, curb the arms race and promote disarmament.

1981 Urges negotiations on prohibition of chemical and biological weapons.

1981 Declares that education, work, health care, proper nourishment, national development, etc are human rights.

1981 Condemns South Africa for attacks on neighbouring states, condemns apartheid and attempts to strengthen sanctions. 7 resolutions.

1981 Condemns an attempted coup by South Africa on the Seychelles.

1981 Condemns Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, human rights policies, and the bombing of Iraq. 18 resolutions.

1982 Condemns the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. 6 resolutions (1982 to 1983).

1982 Condemns the shooting of 11 Muslims at a shrine in Jerusalem by an Israeli soldier.

1982 Calls on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights occupied in 1967.

1982 Condemns apartheid and calls for the cessation of economic aid to South Africa. 4 resolutions.

1982 Calls for the setting up of a World Charter for the protection of the ecology.

1982 Sets up a United Nations conference on succession of states in respect to state property, archives and debts.

1982 Nuclear test bans and negotiations and nuclear free outer space. 3 resolutions.

1982 Supports a new world information and communications order.

1982 Prohibition of chemical and bacteriological weapons.

1982 Development of international law.

1982 Protects against products harmful to health and the environment .

1982 Declares that education, work, health care, proper nourishment, national development are human rights.

1982 Protects against products harmful to health and the environment.

1982 Development of the energy resources of developing countries.

1983 Resolutions about apartheid, nuclear arms, economics, and international law. 15 resolutions.

1984 Condemns support of South Africa in its Namibian and other policies.

1984 International action to eliminate apartheid.

1984 Condemns Israel for occupying and attacking southern Lebanon.

1984 Resolutions about apartheid, nuclear arms, economics, and international law. 18 resolutions.

1985 Condemns Israel for occupying and attacking southern Lebanon.

1985 Condemns Israel for using excessive force in the occupied territories.

1985 Resolutions about cooperation, human rights, trade and development. 3 resolutions.

1985 Measures to be taken against Nazi, Fascist and neo-Fascist activities .

1986 Calls on all governments (including the USA) to observe international law.

1986 Imposes economic and military sanctions against South Africa.

1986 Condemns Israel for its actions against Lebanese civilians.

1986 Calls on Israel to respect Muslim holy places.

1986 Condemns Israel for sky-jacking a Libyan airliner.

1986 Resolutions about cooperation, security, human rights, trade, media bias, the environment and development.

8 resolutions.

1987 Calls on Israel to abide by the Geneva Conventions in its treatment of the Palestinians.

1987 Calls on Israel to stop deporting Palestinians.

1987 Condemns Israel for its actions in Lebanon. 2 resolutions.

1987 Calls on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon.

1987 Cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States.

1987 Calls for compliance in the International Court of Justice concerning military and paramilitary activities against Nicaragua and a call to end the trade embargo against Nicaragua. 2 resolutions.

1987 Measures to prevent international terrorism, study the underlying political and economic causes of terrorism, convene a conference to define terrorism and to differentiate it from the struggle of people from national liberation.

1987 Resolutions concerning journalism, international debt and trade. 3 resolutions.

1987 Opposition to the build up of weapons in space.

1987 Opposition to the development of new weapons of mass destruction.

1987 Opposition to nuclear testing. 2 resolutions.

1987 Proposal to set up South Atlantic "Zone of Peace".

1988 Condemns Israeli practices against Palestinians in the occupied territories. 5 resolutions (1988 and 1989).

1989 Condemns USA invasion of Panama.

1989 Condemns USA troops for ransacking the residence of the Nicaraguan ambassador in Panama.

1989 Condemns USA support for the Contra army in Nicaragua.

1989 Condemns illegal USA embargo of Nicaragua.

1989 Opposing the acquisition of territory by force.

1989 Calling for a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict based on earlier UN resoltions.

1990 To send three UN Security Council observers to the occupied territories.

1995 Afirms that land in East Jerusalem annexed by Israel is occupied territory.

1997 Calls on Israel to cease building settlements in East Jerusalem and other occupied territories. 2 resolutions.

1999 Calls on the USA to end its trade embargo on Cuba. 8 resolutions (1992 to 1999).

2001 To send unarmed monitors to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

2001 To set up the International Criminal Court.

2002 To renew the peace keeping mission in Bosnia.