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

support our criminals!!!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/afp/20030326/wl_afp/iraq_us_belgium_law

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The Belgian parliament amended a controversial law to prevent US President George W. Bush being prosecuted for war crimes over the conflict in Iraq... The United States[has] warned Belgium that its role as host to international institutions like NATO and the European Union would be threatened if a war crimes suit were filed against Bush.

"It's a serious problem," said US Secretary of State Colin Powell, after he was named last week in a lawsuit for alleged crimes during the 1991 Gulf war, along with former US president George H. W. Bush and current Vice President Dick Cheney. "For a place that is an international center they should be a little bit concerned about this," Powell said. The lawsuit against him was filed by seven Iraqi families over the bombing of a civilian shelter in Baghdad that killed 403 people on the night of February 12-13, 1991. Powell served as the head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and Cheney as defense secretary during the 1991 Gulf war.

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

first reported in denmark!!!

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/mar2003/iraq-m27.shtml

The poison gas attack carried out in the northern Iraqi city of Halabja which killed several thousand Kurdish civilians in March 1988 has been continually used by US president Bush and other leading representatives of the American government to justify a change of government in Iraq.

...Nizar Al-Khazraji was the head of the Iraqi army between 1987 and 1990. On Sunday March 16, he disappeared from Denmark where he had been living in exile for the past four years. According to reports in the Danish newspaper BT, he was picked up close to his home by CIA agents, transported to the German city of Hamburg, and then flown in a military plane to Saudi Arabia.

...Last weekend the Washington Post reported Iraqi exile sources as saying that Al-Khazraji was now in Qatar, the operational headquarters of US Central Command, along with another former Iraqi general, Najib Sahli. Sahli is also the subject of a war crime investigation in Denmark over the use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war. They are both thought to be imparting their knowledge of the Iraqi army to the US military.

...Those familiar with US-Iraqi relations will be hardly surprised to learn that one of the men responsible for the massacre of Kurds in 1988 is now working with the CIA.

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

lady in pink!!!

http://dc.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=59506&group=webcast

[tuesday march 25th] A brave member of Code Pink this morning disrupted the calm of AEI [the American Enterprise Institute, rad-hawk thinktank]'s Iraq war briefing this morning.

During a talk by Richard Perle, Michael Ledeen and James Woolsey, a question came up about casualties. Suddenly the Code Pink activist stood up and started shouting at Perle, 'Here's what casualties look like' and tried to hand him a leaflet. People in the room yelled 'get her out.'

...The Code Pink lady was hustled out of the room by AEI security. Perle said 'I think she disagrees with us.' 'Get out,' [the chairperson, Danielle] Pletka yelled again. 'Great engineering, you're not making us safer,' replied Code Pink. 'Get out,' shouted Pletka again.

Once the disruption was over, Pletka asked, 'Anyone else? The next one will be escorted out by the police.' ...A bit later Pletka started crying openly when she talked about pictures she had of Saddam's attacks on Kurds and others opponents of his regime 10 years ago.

...As I left the building, three heavily armed cops were inside the lobby and outside in a DC police car... I asked the cops if this wasn't a bit of an overreaction to one lady in pink. He laughed. 'Gotta be prepared,' he replied.

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

daniel ellsberg back in jail!!!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=540&ncid=736&e=4&u=/ap/20030327/ap_on_re_mi_ea/anti_war_protests

Two Nobel Peace Prize winners, two bishops and Vietnam War activist Daniel Ellsberg were among those arrested near the White House in antiwar protests Wednesday... Protesters in Washington climbed over police barricades closing off Lafayette Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, and sang and prayed until they were arrested. Police said 65 people were taken into custody... Those arrested included Nobel laureates Mairead Corrigan Maguire of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement and Jody Williams of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, as well as Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of the Detroit archdiocese; Bishop C. Joseph Sprague of the United Methodist Church in the Chicago area; Dave Robinson, national coordinator of Pax Christi USA, the Catholic peace movement, and Ellsberg.

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

turning and looking threatens lives of undercover cops!!!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/printer/ap.asp?category=1107&slug=War%20Blown%20Cover

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A prosecutor who took part in an anti-war rally was placed on paid leave Tuesday because she allegedly pointed out undercover officers to fellow protesters. Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Albright's actions Sunday angered police, who say she put the plainsclothes officers in danger. Anti-war activists, meanwhile, argued that undercover police shouldn't attend their rallies.

...According to a police report, one officer overheard Albright whisper to a woman "that we were undercover officers." And several protesters, after briefly talking to Albright, turned to look at the men, the report said... The officers left the rally for safety reasons, the report said.

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

soylent green is people!!!

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/story.jsp?story=391166

[British] police officers are to be allowed to take... DNA samples from anyone they arrest, the [British] Government said last night... Lord Falconer of Thoroton, a Home Office minister, said, "...This stops suspects getting away with lying about their identities and prevents the release of those wanted for a previous offence." Each sample could help crack serious crime, he added.

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

record-keeping is a big bore, say FBI!!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2507007,00.html

The Justice Department lifted a requirement Monday that the FBI ensure the accuracy and timeliness of information about criminals and crime victims before adding it to the country's most comprehensive law enforcement database... Records are queried increasingly by the nation's law enforcement agencies to help decide whether to monitor, detain or arrest someone.

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

robert fisk on 'depleted' uraniumin-- again!!!

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_25-3-2003_pg4_19

It’s not just the misleading American and British reporting emanating from what would once have been called the “pool”. It’s also what we know is not being divulged to us. We know, for example, that the Americans are again using depleted [sic] uranium (DU) munitions in Iraq, just as they did in 1991. Before the war began, they stated that they intended to use these warheads, which are manufactured from the waste of the nuclear industry — to pierce armour — and which are believed by thousands of Gulf War Syndrome sufferers, along with Iraqi doctors, to be responsible for a plague of cancers. On Sunday, the BBC told us that the US Marines had called up A-10 strike aircraft to deal with “pockets of resistance “ — a bit more military-speak from the BBC — but failed to mention that the A-10 uses DU rounds. So for the first time since 1991, we — the West — are today spraying these uranium aerosols in battlefield explosions in southern Iraq; and we’re not being told. Why not?

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

russia suggests bush might make stuff up!!!

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_221875,0005.htm

Russia on Wednesday expressed concern that Washington could fabricate evidence of Iraq allegedly hiding its weapons of mass destruction in an effort to justify the US-led attack on Baghdad... "Even if the American-British forces report that they have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the final assessment of their origin can be given only by international inspectors," [Foreign Minister Igor] Ivanov said... When asked by NTV channel on Tuesday that coalition troops are inside Iraq for the fifth day and have not found any Iraqi WMD, the US ambassador Vershbow said they will soon find this evidence.

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

the rest of the world suggests bush might make stuff up!!!

http://www.enn.com/news/2003-03-26/s_3534.asp

VIENNA — A few hours and a simple Internet search was all it took for U.N. inspectors to realize documents backing U.S. and British claims that Iraq had revived its nuclear program were crude fakes, a U.N. official said... [The] senior official from the U.N. nuclear agency, who saw the documents offered as evidence that Iraq tried to buy 500 tons of uranium from Niger, described one as so badly forged his "jaw dropped." ...President Bush found the proof credible enough to add it to his State of the Union speech in January.

...After determining the documents were fakes, the IAEA had a group of international forensics experts — including people from the United States and Britain — verify their findings. The panel unanimously agreed with the IAEA.

Last week, Vice President Dick Cheney repeated the U.S. position and said that ElBaradei was wrong about Iraq. "We know (Iraqi President Saddam Hussein) has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons, and we believe he has in fact reconstituted nuclear weapons," he said.

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

don't make me hit you... !!!

http://www.prolog.net/webnews/wed/cc/Qiraq-war-us-casualties.RXuE_DMQ.html

A Pentagon spokeswoman claimed Wednesday Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was to blame for any civilian deaths in the military conflict in Iraq. "Any casualties that occur, any deaths that occur is a direct result of Saddam's policies," spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said at a Pentagon news conference.

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

don't make me do it again!!!

http://www.nbc6.net/news/2064825/detail.html

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- U.S. military officials are offering more information on a missile attack that Iraq said killed 14 people in a residential area of Baghdad... A statement from Central Command said when Iraqi officials place military weapons near civilian areas "such damage is unavoidable."

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

danger white flags ahead!!!

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/26/1048653752423.html

Highly mobile Republican Guard units are using hit-and-run tactics against the massive convoy of United States forces pushing towards Baghdad, US commanders say... The Marines... have new orders to treat Iraqi civilians, including women and children, as hostile until proven otherwise. Lieutenant-Colonel Gerry Smith, who is in charge of the artillery battalions, told his marines by radio on Tuesday night that US intelligence had reported Iraqi soldiers were using women and children to pose as displaced families... Marines were ordered to arrest and send for interrogation any civilians found outside their homes... Marines have also been ordered to shoot civilians waving white flags if they refuse to give up their weapons.

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

why do they hate us???

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,922755,00.html

The bearded militiaman knelt in the rain and used his gun to shift the earth of the bomb crater. "There is a hand still here in the ground," said Wasim al-Shinmari. "I can't touch it. I'm sorry, but I just can't touch it." ...Around him a small circle of men shouted: haram, haram - abomination.

...The people of the Shaab neighbourhood, on the northern perimeters of Baghdad, never had an inkling they would be next... The small garages and grocery shops that line the eastern side of the road were open for custom; the residents of the flats on the western side were at home. Nobody paid much attention to the roar of the planes overhead; it was the third or fourth sortie since daybreak... The lethal impact of the blast was augmented by cruel circumstance. Several witnesses said an oil tanker had been parked in the area moments before the bombing. Five cars along a slip road were carbonised, and flames licked the first-floor windows of buildings.

One of the burnt-out cars had contained a family with three children, said Hisham Madloul, picking his way through the bloodstains and debris in flip-flops. "There were three families in the building upstairs and many children," he said. "We have committed no sin. We are not guilty. Why are they doing this? We are innocent people." He paused for breath, and went on. "What does Bush want?"

..."This enemy wants to kill all of us," said Tomma Hussein, a doctor working in al-Kindi's casualty ward when the dead and injured were brought in... "I want to see one of them - those American soldiers," Dr Hussein said. "I want to kill one of them."

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

4x4 trucks now unpatriotic??? uh-oh!!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/03/27/war127.xml/

US troops were fighting a series of running battles last night with Republican Guard special forces riding Taliban-style on 4x4 pick-up trucks*...US commanders said 800 Iraqis had died and admitted that they had lost an unspecified number of Abrams tanks in the fighting in and around the holy city of Najaf.

*Taliban-style? http://www.4x4wire.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=003207

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

support them please!!!

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,6119,2-10-1460_1339095,00.html

Near Nasiriyah - Dozens of US marines were wounded when their forces fired on one another around the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, a correspondent with the troops reported on Thursday. He said the command post headquarters was apparently hit with shell and mortar fire leaving 37 wounded, including three in critical and two in serious condition, according to officers. The AFP correspondent saw at least six vehicles destroyed in the compound, including three truck transporters, two Humvee all-terrain vehicles and one truck-mounted crane.

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

support them better please!!!

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20030327-73728048.htm

Two Marines drowned in southern Iraq... Cpl. Evan James, 20, of Hancock, Ill., and Sgt. Bradley Korthaus, 28, of Scott, Iowa. Both were part of a Marine Corps Reserve engineer company in Peoria, Ill. A spokesman for the Naval & Marine Corps Reserve Center in Peoria said Sgt. Korthaus worked as a plumber and Cpl. James was a lifeguard and student... "These two guys went into the water with full camouflage gear and rifles and they sank to the bottom like a rock," said [J.M. Eddins Jr., a photographer for The Washington Times assigned to a Marine Corps supply unit in Iraq].

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

ahem, they need support!!!

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Date=20030326&Category=APN&ArtNo=303260972&Ref=AR

Flashbacks, nightmares, panic attacks, anger, emotional withdrawal and depression are all underlying symptoms of post traumatic stress. And officials report a spike in veterans with these symptoms seeking treatment at Veterans Affairs centers across the country since the onset of war with Iraq...The relapses have intensified with the first signs of combat, casualties and prisoners of war, counselors say... For most, the memories put them back in combat, and they feel the same rage, guilt and fear that filled their minds then, said Dr. Hemant Thakur, a specialist in post-traumatic stress disorder at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Kansas City, Mo... Counselors say virtually all combat veterans have some degree of post traumatic stress... They can turn to substance abuse and isolate themselves from family and friends because they fear being in a group, or around others who don't understand where they've been. "The vet gets his first dose, then it spills over to the family, and the community and the country," said White, at the Fort Lauderdale center.

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

and their widows need cash!!!

http://rdu.news14.com/content/headlines/?ArID=26214&SecID=2

JACKSONVILLE -- The wife of a Camp Lejeune Marine killed in action in Iraq held a news conference on Wednesday afternoon... The family is asking that anyone wishing to express sympathy should send a donation to the Pokorney Family Memorial Fund... instead of flowers.

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

we'll just send more!!!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,5944-625152,00.html

MORE than 30,000 American reinforcements were ordered to the Gulf last night... The “shock and awe” bombing of the capital and key targets around the country has failed to frighten President Saddam Hussein and his army into submission.

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

scott "cassandra" ritter speaks!!!

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,6119,2-10-1460_1338708,00.html

The United States does not have the military means to take over Baghdad and will lose the war against Iraq, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter said... "Every time we confront Iraqi troops we may win some tactical battles, as we did for ten years in Vietnam, but we will not be able to win this war, which in my opinion is already lost," Ritter added.

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

iran hit again!!!

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2003-daily/27-03-2003/world/w2.htm

TEHRAN: Iran government source said here on Wednesday further stray missile from the war in neighbouring Iraq has hit Iran, although it caused no casualties or damage... [It] hit the town of Qasr-e-Shirin on the border with Iraq late on Monday... [On Sunday] a missile injured three Iranians when it landed on a petrochemical depot at Abadan... [Gov't spokesman] Ramezanzadeh repeated an earlier pledge on Wednesday to keep any Iraqi opposition Shiite militia based in the country from crossing over to Iraq to help topple Saddam. "We will not allow until the end of the war any military activity in favour of either of the two parties, and our borders are completely closed," he said.

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

surgeons especially pay attention to this!!!

http://www.fair.org/activism/nbc-bombs.html

[Samples from] recent reports on NBC News: Correspondent Bob Faw (3/20/03) "very much endorses that surgical strike against Saddam Hussein." Anchor Katie Couric (3/21/03) also referred to "a series of surgical strikes" during the first two nights of bombing. Anchor Matt Lauer (3/21/03) agreed: "The people in that city have endured two nights of surgical air strikes." Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski (3/21/03)... [said] "every weapon is precision guided [for] deadly accuracy." On the Today show the next morning (3/22/03), Miklaszewski reiterated [that the bombs are]... "all precision-guided, deadly accurate." That same day, reporter Chris Jansing sized up "...yesterday's massive and incredibly precise air assault."

...Ask NBC to avoid using terms like "precision" or "surgical" to describe the bombing of Iraq. Encourage them to exercise skepticism about the claims coming from both sides regarding the bombing. CONTACT: NBC Nightly News, nightly@nbc.com; NBC's Today Show, today@nbc.com.

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

coalition hijinks!!!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3300727&thesection=news&thesubsection=world

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Allan Kemakeza yesterday said "thanks but no thanks" after hearing his nation had been shanghaied into the US-led Coalition of the Willing. "The Government is completely unaware of such statements being made, therefore wishes to disassociate itself from the report," said Mr Kemakeza.

...Not so shy is Palau. The nation's leadership has offered its ports and airfields to any units taking part in the Iraq offensive... Iceland, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands are all there among the 19 countries offering only political and/or moral support... The Coalition of the Willing also claims the backing of more than a dozen silent partners - countries which are providing assistance but do not wish to broadcast the fact.

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

58 years ago today: speaking of coalitions!!!

http://www.dailyrotten.com

Mar 27 1945: Argentina declares war on Nazi Germany.

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

cavalcade of unemployed diplomats!!!

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apmideast_story.asp?category=1107&slug=War%20Dominican%20Resignation

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic -- The Dominican Republic's foreign minister resigned Wednesday, saying he disagrees with the president's support for the war in Iraq.

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

US ambassador acts a fool!!!

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/03/26/libscellucci030326

OTTAWA - The storm over the comments made by the U.S. ambassador, rebuking the Liberal government for not supporting the United States in its war with Iraq, is far from over. Liberal MPs held a fractious meeting behind closed doors wednesday, debating whether to censure, even expel, Ambassador Paul Cellucci. Cellucci told a business audience in Toronto Tuesday that Americans are disappointed and hurt by Canada's decision. He bluntly warned that there will be short-term consequences.

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

two more US ambassadors act a fool!!!

http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=20102

ISLAMABAD, March 26: Former Intelligence Bureau chief Brig. (ret'd) Imtiaz Ahmed said Tuesday that the "un-thoughtful" statement by US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca and erstwhile ambassador to Pakistan Wendy Chamberlain regarding Inter Services Intelligence... could do a "great damage to Pak-American relations". Rocca and the former US envoy to Pakistan had recently hurled accusations that ISI was engaged in narcotics' trafficking... The former IB chief said that Rocca and Chamberlain should have come out with "facts and evidences" against ISI "if God forbid" it was involved in the menace.

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

news about one of mrs. h's favorite art-music bands!!!

Renowned Canadian nontet 'Godspeed You! Black Emperor' were held for questioning as possible terrorists at an Oklahoma gas station last weekend, while driving from a concert they'd played at Fort Worth, TX... The band pulled their two vans and white-panel truck, which they use for toting equipment, into an area gas station to refuel. Upon seeing the motley crew of nine musicians, the station's attendant phoned the police, reporting the possibility that the band might be terrorists... The group was reportedly surrounded by police cars and FBI agents who [a witness] said had guns drawn. The band was held for questioning for roughly three hours.

..."I just feel very lucky that we weren't Pakistani or Korean," 'Godspeed You! Black Emperor' frontman Efrim Menuck [said] at the band's Chicago performance on Friday night. "They detained 1,000 people in California, no one knows what happened to them. We're just lucky we're nice white kids from Canada."

...In related news, 'Godspeed You! Black Emperor' have just made a live recording of a new song, titled "Albanian", available for download from their official website, and, barring further interruptions from the Department of Homeland Security, will be playing 11 more shows in the States.

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

no more carnivale for georgie!!!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20030326/od_uk_nm/oukoe_iraq_brazil_bush_1

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil's tourist centre Rio de Janeiro has reacted to what lawmakers called "U.S. aggression" against Iraq by declaring President George W. Bush "persona non grata".

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

top secret film clip reviewed!!!

http://www.expatica.com/index.asp?pad=34,368,&item_id=29857

If you stayed up late enough to watch the announcement of the start of the war in Iraq, you might have caught a glimpse of something very unsettling. In an apparent error, the BBC aired coverage of pre-speech preparations, live from the satellite feed coming from the Oval Office... The footage was the most disturbing thing on television in some time. There was US President George W Bush, being prepped for his televised declaration of war. It was not the combing of his hair, the only aspect of the coverage reported by any American media outlet (the Washington Post in this case), which was cause for embarrassment; everyone expects that. Rather, it was the demeanour — I would say antics — of the president himself... His eyes darted back and forth impishly as he cracked faces at others around him. He pumped a fist and self-consciously muttered, "feels good." ...He was goofing around, and there's only one way to interpret that kind of behaviour just seconds before announcing war on Iraq... it was a Yosemite Sam impersonator who declared war on a sovereign country and who now calls the shots for all of us.

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

nuts about prayin'!!!

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-war-national-fasting,0,3211719.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

The House [of Representatives, US] is talking about a national day of humility, prayer and fasting to seek guidance from God during a time of war and terrorism. A vote on urging President Bush to designate such a day was expected later in the week... The Senate approved a similar resolution last week, stating that it was the sense of the Senate that March 17 should be a national day of prayer and fasting.

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

everybody's doin' it!!!

http://www.smh.com.au/cgi-bin/common/popupPrintArticle.pl?path=/articles/2003/03/26/1048653750468.html

Normally, the appearance of Saddam Hussein on television prompts catcalls... from a regular gathering of about 20 Saudi businessmen and intellectuals, but Monday night was different. When he appeared, they prayed that God preserve him for a few more weeks. "They want him to hold on a little longer because they want to teach the Americans a lesson," said Khalid Batarfi, the managing editor of the newspaper Al-Madina, describing the scene in a sprawling living room in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. "Arab pride is at stake here," he added, describing a sentiment sweeping the region from Algeria to Yemen. "American propaganda said it was going to be so quick and easy, meaning we Arabs are weak and unable to fight. Now it is like a Mike Tyson fight against some weak guy. They don't want the weak guy knocked out in the first 40 seconds."

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

capitalism in action!!!

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA61923SDD.html

Owners of a Pennsylvania dairy farm who oppose the national "Got Milk?" ad campaign must continue to help pay for it, a federal judge has ruled. The ruling Monday threw out one of many lawsuits that claim the Agriculture Department violates farmers' free speech rights by forcing them to pay fees that support generic advertising for their products... Tioga County dairy farmers Joseph and Brenda Cochran had argued that the national milk campaign... does little to support "sustainable agriculture" products, such as milk from cows that are not injected with hormones. They said the campaigns help promote companies with farming practices they find objectionable.

U.S. District Court Judge John Jones found that the government was not violating the Cochrans' free speech rights by requiring them to pay fees to the National Dairy Promotion Board. The Cochran family probably will appeal, said their lawyer, Ben Yale. The fees cost the farm about $3,500 a year.

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

land of the free and home of the brave!!!

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA9CNN2SDD.html

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) - A mentally ill man who was spared the death chamber last year by the Supreme Court was executed Wednesday...The Supreme Court last year halted executions of the mentally retarded, but has refused such protection for the mentally ill. Colburn's lawyers and death penalty opponents thought the high court would examine the issue when it stopped Colburn's scheduled execution Nov. 6, one minute before he could have been moved to the death chamber. But without comment in January, the justices refused to review his appeal.

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

what do YOU believe???

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/26/sprj.irq.mural/index.html

NASIRIYA, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Marines searching Iraqi military headquarters in this southern city that was the site of intensive fighting came across a mural depicting a plane crashing into a building complex resembling New York's twin towers, a news agency photograph showed Wednesday. The plane's logo and coloring resembled that of Iraqi Airlines, said Getty Images News Service executive Brian Felber, based in New York.

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

have you changed your mind???

http://editorandpublisher.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&expire=&urlID=5812143&fb=Y&partnerID=60

In a Jan. 7 [2003] Knight Ridder/Princeton Research poll, 44% of respondents said they thought "most" or "some" of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers were Iraqi citizens. Only 17% of those polled offered the correct answer: none.

...Then, a Pew Research Center/Council on Foreign Relations survey released Feb. 20... found that 57% of those polled believed Saddam Hussein helped terrorists involved with the 9/11 attacks.

...A March 7-9 New York Times/CBS News Poll showed that 45% of interviewees agreed that "Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." ...A March 14-15 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found this apparently mistaken notion holding firm at 51%... [and] 32% of those supporting an attack cited Saddam's alleged involvement in supporting terrorists as the "main reason" for endorsing invasion. Another 43% said it was "one reason."

Bush mentioned 9/11 eight times during his March 6 prime-time news conference, linking it with Saddam Hussein "often in the same breath," Linda Feldmann of The Christian Science Monitor observed last week. "Bush never pinned the blame for the [9/11] attacks directly on the Iraqi president," Feldmann wrote. "Still, the overall effect was to reinforce an impression that persists among much of the American public."

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

what did you believe 18 months ago???

this was published on SEPT. 19TH 2001

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=257

This week's column is our attempt to bring together and analyze all of the published surveys to date. These include three by polls by Harris Interactive, others by Gallup for CNN and USA Today, surveys by the ABC News/Washington Post Poll, the New York Times/CBS Poll, The Los Angeles Times Poll and polls in other countries. Never before in moments of national crisis have we been able to obtain such a wealth of good polling data.

...The administration tells us that they believe that Osama bin Laden is behind the attacks and most people believe he was. No poll has shown large numbers believing, as yet, that any specific countries or governments supported or helped plan the attacks. However, that could change overnight if such charges are made. One poll, (The Los Angeles Times) reports a plurality believing that the attack was "a direct result of U.S. policy of intervention around the world" and a majority believing the attack "was a direct result of U.S. policy in the Middle East."

...Meanwhile, President Bush is receiving the grateful plaudits of the nation and the honeymoon he did not enjoy after his disputed election.

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

update on nine-one-one!!!

http://www.time.com/time/nation/printout/0,8816,437267,00.html

Sources tell TIME that the White House brushed off a request quietly made last week by the 9-11 [disaster investigation] Commission Chairman Tom Kean, the Republican former governor of New Jersey, to boost his budget by $11 million... The money was to pay for a staff of about sixty and their resources. Kean plans to field a separate task force for each of nine areas that the law establishing the commission requires it to investigate. The panel has until the end of May 2004 to complete its work, but it will spend the $3 million it was originally allotted by around August 2003 if it doesn't get the supplement... "This is very counterproductive if the White House's intention is to prevent the commission from being politicized, because it will look like they have something to hide," said a Republican member of the commission... The latest effort to curtail funding has angered victims of the attacks. Stephen Push, a leader of the 9/11 victims' families, who are closely monitoring the commission... said the White House has ignored his phone calls and emails for weeks... The panel was given 18 months to complete its probe, and the clock has been ticking since November 27 [2002].

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

wash your hands!!!

http://canada.com/national/story.asp?id=36FB48FA-3CB4-48EC-BEB4-09CD39D5D253

TORONTO (CP) - Protective face masks flew off supply store shelves Wednesday as anxious Torontonians sought to shield themselves against a deadly SARS outbreak that prompted Ontario to declare a "health emergency." ...Health Minister Tony Clement announced he had activated an action group under Ontario's emergency powers legislation to try to stop the spread of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome... On Tuesday, eight more probable cases emerged in Ontario, marking a substantial jump in suspected cases in Canada. There are now 19 probable cases; 18 in Toronto and one in Vancouver. Three people in Toronto have died.

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

one teeny-weeny little satire!!!!!!

http://borowitzreport.com/archive_rpt.asp?rec=546

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday morning, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said that there were now “over nine hundred” nations in the coalition against Iraq, with “hundreds more” joining by the hour. “Quite frankly, so many nations want to join the coalition right now I’m having the darnedest time keeping track of them all,” Mr. Rumsfeld said, adding that the State Department had just run out of “Coalition of the Willing” T-shirts because of the swelling roster.

But NBC’s Tim Russert took issue with the inclusion of some of the names on the list, asking the Defense Secretary whether Disneyland, for example, should be considered a sovereign nation. “Good heavens, why shouldn’t it be?” Rumsfeld replied. “It’s an awfully big place. If we’re going to consider Cameroon a nation, why not Disneyland?”

After Rumsfeld defended the inclusion of “independent republics of Disneyland” such as Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, Mr. Russert asked him about the inclusion of Carpet World, a Paramus, New Jersey carpet retailer. “Heavens to Betsy, Carpet World has been very helpful in this effort,” Mr. Rumsfeld said. “They’re contributing carpet.”