~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

complete control, even over this song

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=564&e=1&u=/nm/20031010/ts_nm/security_internet_groups_dc

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has added Web sites to its list of "foreign terrorist organizations" for the first time, under the category of aliases for conventional groups, a State Department official said on Friday. A list published in the Federal Register includes newkach.org, kahane.org, kahane.net, kahanetzadak.com as aliases for the Jewish group Kahane Chai or Kach, which is suspected of organizing attacks on Palestinians. Under U.S. law, it would be illegal to provide money or other material support to the designated Web sites, the people who run them could be denied U.S. visas and U.S. banks must block their funds. The State Department said it was yet clear how this would work in practice. But the law may not enable the United States to block access to the Web sites, if only for technical reasons.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

for example

http://www.sfbayview.com/100803/lifeinthehole100803.shtml

from 'A letter to my girlfriend' by Sherman Austin. "I’ve been in the hole here at Oklahoma... I’m locked in a cell 24 hours a day. The only time I can come out is for recreation twice a week, for an hour I think. Then I’m put in a smaller cage outside. It’s like the place I was in when they held me last time... It’s been two weeks since I got here. Here in the hole, you only get a phone call every 30 days. It sucks.

"I keep asking to speak with the lieutenant to find out why they put me here, but it seems like they are ignoring me. I asked for a legal call to a lawyer, and they won’t give me that either. I thought they had to... A few days ago I was asking one of the wardens why they put me here (in the hole), and he was like, “ I don’t know, something about your history with explosives, and you have to speak with the lieutenant about it.”

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in case you fergit who sherman austin is. [see also pretty foto at http://www.la.indymedia.org/news/2003/08/76286.php]

http://www.counterpunch.org/merlin08162003.html

Nearly two years ago on January 24, 2002, federal law enforcement agents raided Austin's Sherman Oaks, CA home... In late 2002... federal prosecutors formally accused Austin of distributing information on explosives with the knowledge that some readers would use such info to commit a federal violent crime.

That became a federal 'crime' in 1997, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein attached a blatantly unconstitutional amendment to a defense spending bill. The offending web material on his 'raisethefist.com' was part of an Internet tract called the "Reclaim Guide" that Austin didn't even author -- but for which he had offered free hosting on his site.

Although Austin initially planned to fight the charge and go to trial, he later learned this could have entailed risking up to 20 years in prison under penalty clauses in the 1997 federal law. Additionally, there existed terrorism sentencing enhancements... Austin thus accepted a plea bargain under which he was sentenced. His case has major implications for civil liberties and cyberlaw. [for more, scroll to the bottom of this page. please note that he was 18 years old when the patriot actors raided his house, and be awed at his whipsmartness. --mrs.henry]

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mentally ill president explains behavior

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/10/wirq110.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/10/10/ixnewstop.html

President George W Bush defended his policies yesterday in the face of mounting criticism of the Iraqi conflict, saying he had acted to protect Americans from a "madman", Saddam Hussein... "I acted because I was not about to leave the security of the American people in the hands of a madman," Mr Bush told National Guardsmen and reservists in New Hampshire. "I was not about to stand by and wait and trust in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein."

...The capture of Baghdad on April 9 was the high point of Mr Bush's presidency and a moment encapsulated by the image of Saddam's statue in Baghdad toppling. The famous scene was replayed on national television networks yesterday along with footage of Mr Bush's speech.

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alleged peace candidate pumps involuntary servitude http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=694&ncid=703&e=3&u=/ap/20031014/ap_on_el_pr/clark_civilian_service

NEW YORK - Democratic candidate Wesley Clark said Tuesday that if elected president, he would mobilize thousands of volunteers for a civilian reserve to respond to terror attacks and national disasters. Clark said the reserve, much like the National Guard, could be called up by the president in times of national emergency. Every American 18 or older could register for a five-year tour and would serve as long as six months if called to duty. "In the 21st century, we've learned that armies alone aren't enough," Clark said in a speech at Hunter College... Civilian reservists also could be sent overseas for jobs such as reconstruction in Afghanistan and Iraq, working in positions from translator to truck driver.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

wesley clarke's world

http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,2763,1062300,00.html

Tuesday October 14, 2003 The Guardian The Russian school syllabus will soon include basic military training following a vote by the Russian parliament that overwhelmingly backed the Soviet-style lessons. Compulsory lessons for male and female pupils would include how to strip an AK47, parade drills and the best response to a chemical, nuclear and biological attack... President Putin has admitted he puts the strength of the state above even democracy. The move is also designed to revive the prestige of a military struggling with humiliating budget cuts and reforms.

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cruel and unusual camp x-ray

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=452157

The Red Cross said yesterday that it had noticed a "worrying deterioration" in the mental health of the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. It also criticised the Bush administration for refusing to allow the men access to lawyers or impose a legal framework. Breaking its silence more than 18 months after the first of the 660 or so alleged Taliban or al-Qa'ida prisoners were incarcerated at the prison camp, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said more than 30 suicide attempts by prisoners was evidence something was badly wrong. It said it had decided to speak out - an extremely unusual step - because ongoing negotiations with the Bush administration had failed to get results. A spokeswoman said: "Since they have been at Guantanamo Bay they have effectively been put beyond the law. Effectively, none of the prisoners knows their fate. There is no information about how long they are going to be there. We have been able to witness the impact of this. There has been a serious deterioration in their psychological well-being." ...The ICRC, the only independent organisation to have visited the prisoners, said the most frequently asked question by prisoners was related to their future.

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cruel and unusual the army

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/13/1065917350950.html

October 14, 2003 The US army has sent mental health specialists to Iraq to determine why so many soldiers are committing suicide there, a US media report said. Eleven US soldiers and three Marines have killed themselves in the past seven months in Iraq, an annualised rate of 17 suicides per 100,000 soldiers. The usual rate of army suicides is 13 per 100,000 soldiers, the report in the USA Today newspaper said. A dozen other army deaths being investigated in Iraq could include suicides... Most of the suicides have occurred since May 1, when major combat operations were declared over... The army has sent 478 soldiers home from Iraq for mental-health reasons, the daily said.

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cruel and unusual idf

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1429823,00.html

14/10/2003 [Related Articles: Israelis raid refugee camp, Israeli army presses on, 6 killed in Gaza strip attack, State of emergency in Gaza.]

London - Human rights group Amnesty International on Monday condemned Israeli raids at the weekend on the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah... "The repeated practice by the Israeli army of deliberate and wanton destruction of homes and civilian property is a grave violation of international human rights and humanitarian law... and constitutes a war crime," Amnesty said in a written statement issued in London. "Amnesty International calls on the Israeli authorities to put an immediate end to the practice of destroying Palestinian homes and other properties, and of using excessive, disproportionate and reckless force against unarmed Palestinians... which frequently result in the killing and injuring of unarmed civilians, including children."

...Eight Palestinians were killed and about 80 injured during the operation launched on Rafah on Thursday night, which Israel says was aimed at destroying tunnels used to smuggle in weapons from across the border with Egypt. About 1 500 people were also left homeless in Rafah refugee camp, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said.

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hearts and minds

http://metimes.com/2K3/issue2003-41/eg/nearly_3_000.htm

CAIRO, OCT 10 - Nearly 3,000 Egyptians protested against the recent Israeli raid on Syria and the US occupation in Iraq, gathering after Friday prayers at the Al-Azhar mosque, a police source said. Worshippers gathered within the walls of the mosque in central Cairo, chanting slogans vilifying Israel and the United States, the source said.

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stir it up

http://metimes.com/2K3/issue2003-41/eg/nearly_3_000.htm

NEW DELHI, Oct 10 - India and Israel signed a deal Friday for the sale of three Phalcon airborne early warning radar systems to the Indian air force, signalling a new era in defence cooperation between the two countries.

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instant karma

http://www.voanews.com/article.cfm?objectID=7A6041C3-524B-4526-9E5CB5EB9590E5FC

11 Oct 2003, 14:05 UTC Pakistan says it will take measures to keep a billion dollar arms deal between India, Israel and Russia from upsetting the arms balance in South Asia. Speaking with reporters in Karachi, Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri said India's purchase of an advanced Phalcon airborne radar system from Israel - along with Russian-made Ilyushin-76 transport planes to carry it - would upset the military balance and trigger a new arms race in the region. He said Pakistan will take all possible measures to counter the threat posed by the Israeli radar system.

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an yu dont stop

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/14/1065917414600.html

October 15, 2003 - Israeli forces entered a Gaza refugee camp on the Egyptian border in large numbers early yesterday for the second time this week.

...Meanwhile, former Israeli peace negotiators and Palestinian officials said on Monday that their new document could be the basis of eventual official negotiations. Under the unofficial deal, Palestinians would get a state in 98 per cent of the West Bank and all of Gaza. They would be given some land in Israel's Negev Desert to compensate for the 2 per cent that Israel would keep. Jerusalem would be divided and most Palestinian refugees would be kept out of Israel, negotiators said.

Israeli leaders criticised the agreement, saying it damaged the Government's peace efforts... Israel's Deputy Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, denounced the Israeli negotiators as an "irresponsible bunch".

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bomb the world

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/348730.html

Israel is prepared to launch an attack on Iran's nuclear sites in order to prevent them from being operational, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday. The Los Angeles Times meanwhile reported on Saturday that Israel has the capability to fire nuclear warheads from submarines. Basing its disclosure on U.S. government officials and Israeli sources, the report claimed that Israeli submarines are armed with U.S.-made Harpoon cruise missiles. Israel has modified nuclear warheads to fit these Harpoon missiles, and the missiles have been modified so that they can hit land targets, the report added.

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iran moves along

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/031013/1/3exer.html

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, will begin a visit to Iran following an invitation from the Islamic republic, an IAEA spokesman said. ElBaradei will leave Vienna on Wednesday to arrive in Tehran on Thursday, IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky told AFP. The visit comes 15 days before a deadline expires for Iran to dispel suspicions it is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme.

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vetoes are us

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/348747.html

The United States has told Israel that it intends to veto a proposed resolution condemning the construction of the security fence in the West Bank, unless the resolution includes a condemnation of terrorism and terror groups, a senior diplomatic source in Jerusalem said Saturday.

...The resolution is one of two proposals condemning Israel at the Security Council. The other is a Syrian call for a condemnation of Israel's air attack against an Islamic Jihad camp near Damascus last week.

...The "Negroponte Doctrine," an informal policy formula named after the U.S. ambassador to the UN, holds that the U.S. will not support any resolution on the Middle East conflict unless it also includes condemnation of terrorism... Negroponte has said a resolution would have to denounce, by name, the militant groups that have taken responsibility for suicide bombings in Israel and also condemn last Saturday's deadly attack in Haifa, Israel, to win U.S. backing. "I don't see our Syrian colleagues rushing forth to propose resolutions in those regards and those are utterly and totally reprehensible acts," he said. Syria, a council member, has formally sponsored the Palestinian text.

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john negroponte: let's review

http://www.change-links.org/Negroponte.htm

Negroponte [is] the man who gave the CIA-backed Honduran death squads an open field when he was ambassador to Honduras from 1981 to 1985.

...During Negroponte's tenure, US military aid to Honduras grew from $4 million to $77.4 million; the US launched a covert war against Nicaragua and mined its harbors, and the US trained Honduran military to support the Contras.

John Negroponte worked closely with General Alvarez, Chief of the Armed Forces in Honduras, to enable the training of Honduran soldiers in psychological warfare, sabotage, and many types of human rights violations, including torture and kidnapping. Honduran and Salvadoran military were sent to the School of the Americas to receive training in counter-insurgency directed against people of their own country.

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it's not just the negroponte doctrine though. a few excerpts from a review of 30 years of vetoes

http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/UN/usvetoes.html

1972, Palestine: Syrian-Lebanese Complaint. 3 power draft resolution. US Rep. casting veto: Bush. [Vetoed 13-1(US)(1 abstention)]

1982, Palestine: Incident at the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. 4-power draft resolution. [Vetoed 14-1 (US)]

1986, Occupied Territories: Calls upon Israel to respect Muslim holy places. [Vetoed 13-1(US)(Thailand abstaining)]

1988, Occupied territories: Draft urged Israel to abide by the Fourth Geneva Convention, rescind the order to deport Palestinian civilians, and condemned policies and practices of Israel that violate the human rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories [Vetoed 14-1 (US)]

1995, Middle East: Confirms that the expropriation of land by Israel in East Jerusalem is invalid and in violation of relevant Security Council resolutions and provisions of the Fourth Geneva convention; expresses support of peace process [Vetoed 14-1 (US)]

2002, On the killing by Israeli forces of several UN employees and the destruction of the World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse [Vetoed 12-1 (US)(2 abstentions, Bulgaria and Cameroon)]

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the new security

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/349526.html

One of the questions raised immediately after it became clear that for the most part, the separation fence would not be built along the length of the Green Line, but in fact somewhere to the east of it, was the fate of the Palestinians living to the west of the fence. As of now, this fate is shared by approximately 12,000 persons living in 15 Palestinian villages and towns... As construction of the fence continues, deep into the territory of the West Bank, more Palestinians will find themselves in this situation. Additionally, the fence affects the lives of tens of thousands of other people, whose homes are east of the fence, and whose land, on which they earn their livelihood, is to the west.

All told, according to the findings of the Palestinian Department of Negotiations, the ["fence"] route... has so far cut off from the West Bank about [25,000 acres] of Palestinian-owned land, some of which is settled, most of which is farmland... Farmers cannot make their way to their land; hothouses and orchards have been destroyed; olives are left unpicked; teachers and students fail to get to school because the gate of the separation fence is not opened on time; feed for the livestock does not arrive consistently - and the animals are being sold or slaughtered, or left to die; water pipes for drinking or irrigation have been cut; siblings and parents are not permitted to visit; garbage trucks are unable to complete their routes; cesspits are not being drained on time.

...At the end of last week, residents of the villages that are trapped between the fence and the Green Line... found that the army had distributed forms that bore the heading: "Israel Defense Forces, Security Directives Order (Judea and Samaria) (No. 378) 1970." ...[The order] declares the closure of the seam zone; and the seam zone is "all of the territory that is bounded by the obstacle"... [which] consists of "fences, walls and patrol paths that are meant to prevent terror attacks and prevent the entry of assailants from Judea and Samaria into the State of Israel."

The meaning of the closure: "A. An individual will not enter the seam zone and will not stay there; B. An individual found in the seam zone will have to leave it immediately." This prohibition does not apply to: "1: An Israeli; 2: Anyone who has received a permit to enter the seam zone and stay there." ...The non-Israelis for whom this announcement of closure of territory does not apply are defined as "long-term residents."

The order clarifies: "A. An individual who is 16 years of age or more, whose long-term place of residence ... is in the seam zone, will be permitted to enter the seam zone and stay there, so long as he bears a permit in writing issued by myself or by someone acting for me, which states that his long-term place of residence is in the seam zone; B/1. An individual below 16 years of age, whose place of residence is in the seam zone, will be permitted to stay in the seam zone without a written permit ... B/2. An individual below 16 years of age, whose long-term place of residence is in the seam zone, will be permitted to enter the seam zone in one of the following ways: if he has in his possession a written permit, only in the event that he is 12 years old or more; if he is accompanied by an individual whose entry is permitted; or in any other way determined by myself or someone acting on my behalf."

...How the long-term residents are supposed to receive the "long-term resident permit" [:] They must personally and directly submit the application to the "authorized authority" - which is the "Israeli Civil Coordination and Liaison Office" (the same section of the civil administration that was defined by the Oslo Accords for the purpose of coordinating with representatives of the Palestinian Authority, such that private individuals would not do so directly)... The permit would be issued to any individual (who is recognized as a long-term resident) from age 12 and above.

...Anyone who wishes to bring in a motor vehicle must fill out a special application - "application of long-term resident for passage with vehicle." And there is also the "application of long-term resident for bringing a new motor vehicle into the seam zone."

...The directive delineates 12 categories of potential applicants for entry permits: owner of a business in the seam zone; merchant; employee; farmer; teacher; student; employee of the Palestinian Authority; visitor; employee of an international organization; employee of a local authority or infrastructure company; member of a medical team; and "all other objectives." Correspondingly, 12 forms for applying for the appropriate permit are enclosed. A photograph must be affixed to the application, and all pertinent details must be filled in.

A school principal who submits the application for a teacher's entry permit must note, aside from the name and address of the school, the classroom, institution that certified the teacher, serial number of teaching certificate and the date and place of issue.

A visitor must note the name and other personal details of the long-term resident who is hosting him; the farmer has to list details of the land he is farming: whether they are village lands, number of section and sub-section, type of crop grown. A merchant has to note the type of commerce, the commercial license, who issued it and where.

If the applicants want to stay overnight in the seam zone, they have to submit a request for overnight stay, and note the details of his host. Applicants must explain why they want to pass through a certain "control point" and why they wish to stay overnight in the seam zone. They must submit a series of supporting documents.

Each application will be examined by a special officer in the civil administration: the head of the economic section will appraise applications from tradesmen, employees and farmers; the staff education officer will examine requests from teachers and students; the staff health officer will consider applications by member of medical crews. The directives do not delineate the period of validity of the various permits.

...The new orders are valid from the day they were signed, namely from October 2 and 7 (they reached the Palestinians on October 9 and 10). But the various permit-issuing procedures have not yet begun. ICCLO offices are now closed to the public.

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when the whip comes down

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/15/1065917478560.html

The Palestinian Authority says it will seek the support of the UN General Assembly after the United States blocked a Security Council resolution condemning Israel's building of a barrier on occupied territory. The US's lone veto on Tuesday night prevented the passage of a Syrian resolution calling on Israel to halt and reverse construction of a 600-kilometre system of fences and walls inside the occupied West Bank, which Israel seized in 1967 and has since allowed 400,000 of its citizens to move to as settlers. The resolution, which also condemned Israeli plans to build hundreds of new houses in the settlements, was supported by 10 Security Council members - Syria, Russia, France, Spain, Pakistan, China, Chile, Guinea, Mexico and Angola. Britain, Cameroon, Bulgaria and Germany abstained. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

before they make me run

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/15/1065917488362.html

October 16, 2003 The United States yesterday urged all US citizens to leave the Gaza Strip and asked the Israeli Government to assist in evacuating any Americans there.

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talking turkey

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-islamic-summit-iraq,0,6642640.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines

October 11 - PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia -- Iraq's U.S.-appointed governing council... objected to the deployment of peacekeepers from the sole Islamic nation that has consented to send them without a U.N. mandate, Turkey... Turkey this week became the first Muslim country to approve sending peacekeeping troops to Iraq without requiring Washington to first turn control over to the United Nations, a demand many countries have said must be met before they would send troops. The Iraqi Governing Council rejected the Turkish proposal, expressing fears that peacekeepers from neighboring countries could end up interfering in Iraq's internal affairs. Turkey has battled an ethnic Kurdish insurgency, and fears are palpable among Kurds in northern Iraq that Turkish troops could turn on them.

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new war needed now

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1066113923328&p=1008596981749

Pentagon adviser Richard Perle said Tuesday that the recent Israeli attack on an alleged training camp for Palestinian militants in Syria was long overdue and that he would not rule out U.S. military action against the Arab state. Perle, a close adviser to U.S. President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, spoke at a Jerusalem conference of conservatives from the United States and Israel.

...Perle said he hoped the air strike reflected a new Israeli policy similar to the Bush doctrine.

...Perle said it would not be difficult to commit forces to Syria despite heavy U.S. troop commitments to Iraq and the Korean peninsula, along with a continued presence in areas such as the Balkans and Liberia. "Syria is militarily very weak," he said.

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brits need new war now too

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/oct2003-daily/15-10-2003/main/main14.htm

LONDON: British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said on Tuesday he wanted the standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme resolved peacefully but did not rule out possible military action.

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backup war available in time for presidential campaign

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=544&u=/ap/20031010/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_cuba_6&printer=1

WASHINGTON - Eager to please a key Florida constituency, President Bush directed his secretary of state and his Cuban-born housing secretary Friday to recommend ways to achieve a transition to democracy in Cuba after 44 years under Fidel Castro.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and Housing Secretary Mel Martinez will chair a panel that will "plan for the happy day when Castro's regime is no more and democracy comes to the island," Bush said during a Rose Garden ceremony.

...The head of Cuba's diplomatic mission here, Dagoberto Rodriguez, said Thursday that Bush should "stop acting like a lawless cowboy" and "start listening to the voices of the nations of the world."

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will the next war please step forward

http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0342/mondo1.php

While the Democratic presidential contenders squabble among themselves over an exit strategy from Iraq, most of them agree that Israel had the right to attack Syria last week. That gives Bush a political green light to have at Syria, if not with American troops then at least through Israel.

...Wesley Clark, whom the press is dying to see win, told a group of Iowans, according to C-SPAN, "The Israelis have the right to self-defense. Nobody can deny that. When they receive word that terrorists are coming in to attack and kill innocent Israelis whose only crime is to live in the State of Israel, they not only have a right to strike first, they have an obligation."

...There's the matter of that oil pipeline from Iraq to Syria, which in Saddam's day was the source of $1,000,000,000.00 a year for Syria.

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palestine goes to iraq

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=452375

12 October 2003 - US soldiers driving bulldozers, with jazz blaring from loudspeakers, have uprooted ancient groves of date palms as well as orange and lemon trees in central Iraq as part of a new policy of collective punishment of farmers who do not give information about guerrillas attacking US troops.

..."They made a sort of joke against us by playing jazz music while they were cutting down the trees," said one man... Sheikh Hussein Ali Saleh al-Jabouri, a member of a delegation that went to the nearby US base to ask for compensation for the loss of the fruit trees, said American officers described what had happened as "a punishment of local people because 'you know who is in the resistance and do not tell us'." What the Israelis had done by way of collective punishment of Palestinians was now happening in Iraq, Sheikh Hussein added.

...The children of one woman who owned some fruit trees lay down in front of a bulldozer but were dragged away, according to eyewitnesses who did not want to give their names. They said that one American soldier broke down and cried during the operation. When a reporter from the newspaper Iraq Today attempted to take a photograph of the bulldozers at work a soldier grabbed his camera and tried to smash it.

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bush scurries for cover

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1061147,00.html

Sunday October 12 - President George Bush yesterday launched the latest salvo in a a White House public relations offensive to convince Americans that things are going well in Iraq. In his weekly radio address to the nation, Bush said Iraq was 'making progress' despite a steady stream of bad news on front pages... Bush said Iraq was a country where the markets are busy, shelves are full of previously banned goods, oil is flowing and a vibrant independent media has replaced Saddam's state-controlled papers and television stations. ...The administration is taking the 'good news in Iraq' message out into smalltown America. A series of speeches and interviews for Bush and top aides has been planned for this week with local newspapers and small television stations.

...This was followed on a trip to Chicago by National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, who said America and the world were safer now. Though no weapons of mass destruction have been found, Rice said Saddam could one day have provided chemical or biological weapons 'to mount a future attack beyond the scale of 9/11'.

On Friday, Vice President Dick Cheney gave the strongest defence yet of the war on terror. Terrorists were still doing 'everything they can' to get weapons of mass destruction that could kill thousands of Americans 'in a single day of horror'. The speech [was delivered] to the conservative Heritage Foundation.

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direct mail campaign

http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20031011/frontpage/121390.shtml

WASHINGTON -- Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country as U.S. public opinion on the mission sours. And all the letters are the same.

A Gannett News Service search found identical letters from different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment, also known as "The Rock," in 11 newspapers, including Snohomish, Wash. The Olympian received two identical letters signed by different hometown soldiers... The paper declined to run either because of a policy not to publish form letters.

The five-paragraph letter talks about the soldiers' efforts to re-establish police and fire departments, and build water and sewer plants in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, where the unit is based... Six soldiers reached by GNS directly or through their families said they agreed with the letter's thrust. But none of the soldiers said he wrote it, and one said he didn't even sign it... A seventh soldier didn't know about the letter until his father congratulated him for getting it published in the local newspaper in Beckley, W.Va. "When I told him he wrote such a good letter, he said: 'What letter?' "

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no pizza for you

http://www.unknownnews.net/031017pizza.html

Oct. 17, 2003 - The Pentagon's Stars and Stripes newspaper is doing a seven day series on morale in the military. Looks like they are recognizing that there are serious problems. The main significance of the series is that the Pentagon is worried.

But what caught my eye, if I understand correctly is this: The U.S. Air Force has a barbed wire fence that keeps the US Army away from its Pizza Hut:

"There is a sharp divide between the Air Force and Army... The Air Force at Tallil Air Base, for example, brought in a Pizza Hut concession but the Army is barred from using it... Soldiers, after seeing the contrast, said the division, which at times is a fence topped with barbed wire, undercuts morale and teamwork."

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career opportunities

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/12/wsas12.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/10/12/ixworld.html

Former members of the SAS and other elite British regiments are earning up to £1,000 a day providing armed protection for Western businessmen in Baghdad, Basra and other Iraqi cities. Hundreds of ex-servicemen skilled in personal protection have travelled to Iraq to meet a soaring demand for bodyguards... For key personnel, round-the-clock protection can cost £6,000 a day, which includes up to a dozen armed guards and two armoured, four-wheel drive vehicles with blackened windows.

...An estimated 100 former SAS soldiers are now working in Iraq for security companies. Besides ex-Army personnel there are also former police officers from Scotland Yard's royalty protection squad (SO14), who specialise in close protection work, and members of the Special Boat Service, the Royal Navy equivalent of the SAS. The American security firm Kroll, the world's largest risk consultancy company, is also operating in Iraq.

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american injury update

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/126008p-112902c.html

The number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq mounts incrementally each day... [and] nearly 2,000 G.I.s, Marines, Navy and Air Force members have been wounded in the war. Many have lost limbs, suffered severe head trauma and shrapnel wounds in combat, vehicle accidents and other mishaps. Additionally, more than 3,000 soldiers have left Iraq with illness or psychiatric problems.

..."The wounds we see here are much more severe than what I've seen at home," said Army Sgt. Albert Gasbarra, working in Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad with the 28th Combat Support Hospital out of Fort Bragg, N.C. ..."Here, it's not unusual to see multiple gunshot wounds," Gasbarra said via E-mail. "They seem to be getting meaner and meaner. At first it was gunshot wounds, then it was RPG's [rocket-propelled grenades] and now it's IEDs [improvised explosive devices]. These things can range in size from a Coke can to a medium size box and even a watermelon."

...1st Lt. Christopher Vanfosson, also a member of the 28th Combat Support Hospital, has been there for six months, through 130-degree heat, caring for soldiers with shrapnel injuries to the eyes, arms, face, chest and legs... He said diseases have run the gamut from pneumonia to appendicitis and viral illness.

...Army and Air Force personnel go to the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, and sailors and Marines go to the Bethesda, Md., Naval Medical Center. Walter Reed has treated more than 1,400 patients.

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please joke freely about this man's name

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/143771_nethercutt14.html

Rep. George Nethercutt said yesterday that... "The story of what we've done in the postwar period is remarkable," Nethercutt, R-Wash., told an audience of 65 at a noon meeting at the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. "It is a better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day."

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remember little ali?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13508300_method=full_siteid=50143_headline=-ALI-GETS-HIS-ARMS-name_page.html

WAR orphan Ali Abbas looked on in helpless bewilderment as his new arms were fitted for the first time - then he slowly broke into a captivating smile. After glancing at his devoted uncle Mohamed for reassurance... the brave 12-year-old embraced Mohamed for the first time since losing his arms in a missile strike on his home outside Baghdad six months ago.

...It was a moment of triumph for the tragic youngster who wanted only to die after losing his arms and learning that 16 members of his family had been killed. They included his mother Azhar, who was seven months pregnant, his father and 10-year-old brother Abbas. Now Ali faces months of occupational therapy.

...Ali's new arms were designed by specialist Nick Hillsdon and fitted through the Limbless Association of Queen Mary's Hospital, in Roehampton, South West London. He has a cosmetic prosthesis on his left side because there was little remaining limb for surgeons to work on. But his right arm is a state-of-the-art artificial limb complete with a Manchester United tattoo. An electrode touching the muscle in his stump makes the hand open and close. Ali can lock the elbow in three different positions. A chest strap operates the wrist. When Ali pulls his shoulders back hard the wrist rotates clockwise. A soft pull rotates it the other way.

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child of hope

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_828377.html

Iraqi orphan Ali Abbas says he hoped the US pilot who bombed his family would be made to suffer as he had.

The 13-year-old has been fitted with artificial arms in a London hospital after being severely burned in a missile attack on Baghdad early in the conflict. Ali said he still had vivid memories of the night of the strike that killed his parents and 13 other relatives. He said: "I keep asking myself: 'Why are they bombing Iraqi people? What have we done to them?. I hoped that the pilot who hit our house would be burned as I am burned and my family were burned."

The youngster said he had mixed feelings about the British following his ordeal. "When I was in the hospital they sent me letters, but they still helped the Americans," he told ITV1's Ali Abbas - Child of Hope.

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take this job and shove it

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-sa/2003/oct/11/101104617.html

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL STATION, Cuba (AP) - Whispers of espionage have disturbed the peace at this U.S. base where three workers - a Muslim chaplain and two Arabic translators - have been charged with crimes ranging from spying to disobeying orders... "You think twice about what you do," said Army Sgt. Jovani Barber, 24, from the U.S. Virgin Islands, who has been guarding the detainees for about two months. "You watch what you say inside and outside the fence" holding the prisoners.

Fearful of being questioned, troops say they don't talk to strangers anymore. Some are writing friends less frequently because they think their e-mails are being monitored. Others keep opinions to themselves. "We call it the buddy system," says Army 1st Sgt. Jeffrey McCann, in charge of Camp America, where the prison guards live. "But that system can also apply to security as well. We watch each other."

...It is but one peculiarity on this base of contradictions. Jamaican and Filipino contract workers earning less than $3 an hour serve McDonald's hamburgers and apple pies.

...There still are no plans for military tribunals, though a courtroom was completed months ago with closed circuit television, government flags and microphones. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says the detainees could be held until the war on terror ends, which could be years. As if to emphasize that point, construction work has started on a permanent concrete prison.

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remember when everybody used to look forward to 'back to normal'?

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1065849051171600.xml

WASHINGTON -- The leaders of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks complained again yesterday that they still have not received all the sensitive documents they need from the Bush administration to properly do their job.

...The panel, formally known as the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, has faced delays and a number of obstacles since it began its work earlier this year, even after months of negotiations with the White House and public complaints designed to obtain cooperation. The Bush administration initially opposed creation of the commission last year, but it finally agreed after pressure from lawmakers and family members of the victims of 9/11.

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halliburton accused

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/11/1065676201775.html

October 12, 2003 - The French public prosecutor's office is to open a judicial inquiry into alleged corruption by a French engineering firm and the American oil services giant Halliburton, which was headed until two years ago by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President of the United States. The investigation is the first of its kind in France under laws introduced as part of an international convention on cross-border corruption signed in 1997 by about 35 countries, including the US.

The financial crimes squad in Paris believes a French oil and gas engineering firm, Technip, and particularly the Halliburton subsidiary KBR, were jointly involved during the 1990s in the payment of up to $200,000,000.00 of under-the-counter "commissions" in relation to a huge gas contract in Nigeria. The convention, under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, aims to fight corporate attempts to buy the favours of public authorities abroad. It allows the police forces of signatory countries to investigate any company suspected of offering commercial sweeteners to public officials anywhere in the world.

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halliburton exempted

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/10/13/MN44091.DTL

Washington -- For several years the Environmental Protection Agency has been studying whether an increasingly popular -- but environmentally controversial - - drilling technique used by Halliburton Co. and other big oil and gas operators pollutes underground drinking water supplies. Now Republicans drafting broad energy legislation have decided not to wait for the EPA to issue its final report.

Instead, the House-Senate compromise on the energy bill exempts the technique, known as "hydraulic fracturing," from some of the controls of the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act... The drilling procedure involves injecting a mixture of fluids and sand under very high pressure to crack rock and coal seams, aiding the escape of trapped oil and gas. The technique is spreading because of a boom in drilling for methane gas in coal beds. Most of the richest lodes are adjacent to vast underground drinking water reservoirs.

...Halliburton, which is a leading provider of the service, acknowledged in a statement that representatives "spent time educating many members of Congress and many staffers on the process and the issue."

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halliburton blues

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/16/1065917551049.html

Two US politicians have accused Halliburton, the Texas oil services company once run by the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, of overcharging the Government for oil that the firm imports into Iraq. A Halliburton subsidiary, Kellogg Brown & Root, which defends its pricing as fair, has a contract with the US Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild Iraq's oil sector. This has included importing oil products that are in short supply in Iraq.

...Henry Waxman and John Dingell, said... Halliburton had charged the government 43 cents to 45 cents a litre for fuel that could be bought wholesale in the Persian Gulf region for about 19 cents and transported to Iraq for no more than 7 cents. The fuel was sold in Iraq for 1 cent to 4 cents a litre, the letter said.

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bush diplomacy

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/17/1066364484501.html

October 18, 2003 - President George Bush has announced he is ready to resume military aid to Indonesia and renew ties with its armed forces, in a statement that has stunned members of the US Congress.

...The US Congress had blocked the resumption of military ties until Indonesia fully co-operated on the investigation into the killing of two American teachers near the Freeport mine in West Papua last year. But Mr Bush, speaking about his forthcoming meeting with President Megawati, told Indonesia's SCTV: "We will discuss mil-to-mil [military to military] relations. For a while Congress put restrictions on it but now the Congress has changed their attitude."

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rwanda update

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=68&art_id=qw1066130821254B265&set_id=1 October 14 2003 at 01:27PM

Arusha - The trials of three top officials in the party that ruled Rwanda during the government-orchestrated genocide in 1994 will begin at a special United Nations tribunal next month, the court announced.

...Mathieu Ngirumpatse was president of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND), whose Interahamwe militia carried out much of the killings in 1994... Ngirumpatse will appear at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda together with MRND former vice president Edouard Karemera and former secretary general Joseph Nzirorera on charges of conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity. All three have denied the charges... Also appearing will be former education minister Ander Rwamakuba.

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rain of frogs

http://www.upn30memphis.com/entertainment/wierd_news/story.aspx?content_id=94E8403A-FF45-4473-B800-F4E6CB1B1709

A German man is set to appear in court for teaching his dog, Adolf, a somewhat questionable trick. The man taught Adolf - a black sheepdog-mix, to give the Hitler salute on command... Police were called when the owner, 54-year old Roland T was shouting at passers-by. According to the website, Ananova, when police arrived, Roland shouted "Sieg Heil" and Adolf raised his paw in salute. Roland faces charges of "using symbols of unconstitutional organizations" and could face up to 3 years in prison. Adolf has been taken to an animal shelter.

[photo in original] Photo for illustration purposes only. Dog pictured is named Rumsfeld, not Adolf.

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sweden in the news

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/content_objectid=13515621_method=full_siteid=89488_headline=-I-NEED-A-LAWYER----BRING-ME-TOM-CRUISE-name_page.html

THE madman accused of killing Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh has asked for Tom Cruise to act as his lawyer...Mijailo Mijailovic, 24, believes the Hollywood superstar can get him off the charges that he murdered the popular politician.

...The source said that the accused also saw Cruise in The Firm, a thriller about a US legal firm, and added: "He really wants Tom to represent him." Court papers say: "Mijailovic states he has never had any interest in weapons. His biggest interest is American movies, especially films with Tom Cruise in the leading role."

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those nutty swedes

http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/english/article145024.ece

A couple was out walking in the Swedish woods looking for mushrooms when they found a human cranium not far from the home of ABBA star Benny Andersson. The police suspects murder.

The man and woman were out walking collecting mushrooms when they around 4:30 p.m. Sunday found a cranium, half buried, not far from the home of Benny Andersson in Skåne, Sweden. When they realized what they had discovered, they immediately contacted the police, according to the Swedish paper Aftenbladet... The area was last night closed off and guarded. The police will look for more body parts Monday... ABBA star Benny Andersson did not want to comment the discovery.

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spanish lady coming soon to an epidemic near you

http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/pr/pr091003.html

(Austin and Hamburg, 9 October 2003) – The 'Spanish Flu' influenza virus that killed 20-40 million people in 1918 is currently under reconstruction. Several genes of the extraordinarily lethal 1918 flu virus have been isolated and introduced into contemporary flu strains. These proved to be lethal for mice.

...A resuscitation of the Spanish flu is neither necessary nor warranted from a public health point of view. Allegedly, the recent experiments sought to test the efficacy of existing antiviral drugs on the 1918 construct. But... "it simply does not make any scientific sense to create a new threat just to develop new countermeasures against it," says Jan van Aken, biologist with the Sunshine Project... "It is not justifiable to recreate this particularly dangerous eradicated strain that could wreak havoc if released, deliberately or accidentally."

Construction of new maximum security (BSL-4) laboratories for biodefense research has been justified in part by citing the potential of the Spanish Flu as a biological weapon... The University of Texas Medical Branch's BSL-4 plans influenza 'gene reassortment' experiments in maximum containment.

...A Sunshine Project briefing paper on the 'Reconstruction of the Spanish influenza virus' [http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/others/gmoflu.html] provides further details and a comprehensive literature list.

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what are the new bsl-4 labs? let's review.

(14 October 2002) - A non-profit coalition is calling upon Congress and the public for an urgent national reassessment of America's biodefense spending. The coalition contends that the $6,000,000,000.00 in biodefense that Congress hastily appropriated after last fall's anthrax attacks have triggered a laboratory rat race more likely to undermine US national and environmental security than to enhance it.

...According to Edward Hammond of the Austin, TX-based Sunshine Project, "Government and academic labs are responding less to bona fide needs than the urge to build power and revenue centers for what they hope is a perpetual biodefense boom. This will result in a dangerous proliferation of bioweapons agents and the knowledge to use them."

...The coalition is currently working on biodefense lab and program expansions proposed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, Utah State University and Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Montana, and the University of Texas in Galveston. Other new and upgraded BL3 and 4 labs are proposed in San Antonio and Lubbock, TX, Manhattan, KS, Albuquerque, NM, Davis, CA, Honolulu, HI, and Plum Island, NY. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of NIH, is promising up to a dozen "Centers of Biodefense Excellence", each with BL3 and/or 4 capacity.

...Dr. Robert M. Gould, President of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility states "We need to develop a comprehensive, primary-prevention approach towards all forms of infectious disease, which means providing adequate resources to combat AIDS, antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis, as well as the rise in diseases such as malaria predicted to increase from global climate change. According to a UN report from 2000, $10 billion a year would provide enough clean water and sanitation to cut by up to one third the 4 billion cases of diarrheal disease that kill 2 million people every year."

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tax news

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE1D81038F937A3575AC0A9659C8B63

Employees at Internal Revenue Service help centers gave correct answers to just 57 percent of tax law questions asked by Treasury Department investigators posing as taxpayers. The investigators concluded that about 500,000 taxpayers who visited the centers at the time of the study, July to December 2002, could have received incorrect responses. The I.R.S. disputed the calculations, but agreed that it needed to improve its record.

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arnold uber alles

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/000644.html

Arnie is already repaying Ken Lay and Enron for their ongoing relationship. According to today’s San Francisco Chronicle, Schwarzenegger will be pushing for a new round of electricity deregulation in California... Under the new plan, large users would be allowed to leave the current utility supply system and buy their power from private generators and suppliers. This would leave small business and residential rate payers with the tab for paying off the debts of the utilities, who under the new Schwarzenegger plan could pass along their full price increases to their ratepayers instead of being responsible for their bad decisions themselves. In other words, it’s a plan that Ken Lay would love.

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ashcroft gets creative

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=13396&mode=nested&order=0

This month Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft introduced critics of the administration to his latest weapon in law enforcement. In a Miami federal court, the attorney general charged the environmental group Greenpeace under an obscure 1872 law originally intended to end the practice of "sailor-mongering," or the luring of sailors with liquor and prostitutes from their ships.

...The case against Greenpeace started with a protest in April 2002. The activist group was leading an international effort to stop the illegal importing of mahogany. It believed that a ship, the APL Jade, was engaging in this illegal trade... Two of its members boarded the vessel about eight miles outside the Miami port, carrying a banner that read "President Bush, Stop Illegal Logging." ...They ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and were released. The wood was unloaded and everyone seemed satisfied.

...Fifteen months after the incident, the Justice Department filed an indictment in Miami against the entire Greenpeace organization under the 1872 law... Proceeding against two protesters on trivial misdemeanor charges wasn't enough for the Justice Department. So it decided to treat Greenpeace activists not as protesters but as sailor-mongers. Greenpeace now could lose its tax-exempt status

... Ashcroft's jihad... is not limited to environmentalists. Consider the case of three Dominican nuns. Last year, Sister Ardeth Platte, 66, Sister Jackie Hudson, 68, and Sister Carol Gilbert, 55, participated in a peaceful demonstration for nuclear disarmament. As part of the protest, the three nuns cut through a chain-link fence around a Minuteman III missile silo... The nuns proceeded to paint crosses on the cap and symbolically hit it with hammers. They then knelt, prayed, sang religious songs and waited for arrest. The most the government could allege in terms of damage was $3,000.

However, the Ashcroft Justice Department... charged the nuns with obstructing national defense, which subjected each to a potential 30-year prison term. When the government pushed the court to impose sentences of as much as eight years, the judge refused. However, the judge found, as alleged by the government, that the three nuns had put military personnel "in harm's way." Accordingly, he imposed on them sentences ranging from 2 1/2 years to 3 1/2 years.

...Other organizations have not faced such attacks... The Cuban American group 'Democracy Movement' organized a protest in which members sailed into a government-designated security zone. Although the members were charged, the organization was not. Similarly, other groups viewed favorably by the administration — such as anti-abortion groups — have not been subject to criminal indictments of their organizations for such protests.

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