ISSUE:
# 69. Jan. 20, 2003
THIS WEEK:
SPECIAL REPORT:
EVICTIONS
AND
LAND-GRABS
ON THE WEST BANK
ISRAELI SOLDIER TO WW3 REPORT:
FUCK YOUR ASS!
ON-THE-SCENE COVERAGE FROM WW3 REPORT
CORRESPONDENT DAVID BLOOM IN OCCUPIED PALESTINE!!
ALSO:
DETAINED PALESTINIAN FAROUK ABDEL-MUHTI ON
HUNGER STRIKE
IN NEW JERSEY GULAG!!!
CURRENT HOMELAND SECURITY COLOR ADVISORY CODE: YELLOW
"The war in Vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady. A
nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military
defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr., Riverside Church, NYC, 1967
By Bill Weinberg
with David Bloom and Subuhi Jiwani, Special Correspondents
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. Naval Siege of Gaza; Sweeps, Demolitions on West Bank
2. Settler Funeral Becomes Anti-Palestinian Pogrom
3. Israel Shuts Universities in Hebron
4. Israel's "Fence": Scheme to Annex Best West Bank Land?
5. Nazlet Isa Prepares to Resist Evictions
6. Israeli Court: Barghouti to Trial
7. Sharon Rejects "Road Map" to Peace
8. Mossad to Carry Out Assassinations in U.S.?
9. IDF Soldier to WW3 REPORT: Fuck Your Ass!
THE IRAQ FRONT
1. Amphibious Assault Group Heads for Gulf
2. Chemical Warheads Found?
3. Regional Summit to Head Off War?
4. France: Give Inspectors More Time
5. Germany: U.N. Approval of War "Unimaginable"
6. Moscow Oil Firms in New Iraq Contracts
7. Once-Renowned Date Groves of Basra Devastated by War
8. Global Protests Against War Drive
THE ANDEAN FRONT
1. Chavez Won't Capitulate to "Fascists"
2. Persian Gulf Crisis Puts More Pressure on Andean Oil
3. U.S. Ambassador to Colombia's Petro-Zone
4. Another Mysterious Massacre in Colombia
5. Ecuador: Populist Prez Puts "Corrupt Oligarchy" on Notice
6. Bolivia: More Repression in Cochabamba
THE WAR AT HOME
1. Passaic Detainees on Hunger Strike
2. Immigrants Head to Canada to Avoid "Registration"...
3. ...As Canada Tightens Asylum Policy
4. "Registration" Expands--Again
5. Judge Blocks Somali Deportations
WATCHING THE SHADOWS
1. Presidential Award Highlights FBI Hijinks
2. Senate to Block Total Information Awareness Program?
3. Desert Storm Vets Seek Data on Chemical Exposure
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. Bay Area Eco-Peaceniks: "Go Solar, Not Ballistic!"
2. Emma Goldman Prevails in Free Speech Struggle--Again!
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. NAVAL SIEGE OF GAZA; SWEEPS, DEMOLITIONS ON WEST BANK
On Jan. 17, Israeli forces on Friday imposed a naval siege on Gaza, after
announcing that a booby-trapped boat was found in the area. Palestinian
fishermen are barred from the sea by the blockade, destroying their
livelihoods. The move came as several Palestinians were detained by the
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) at Doura on the West Bank. They are being held
for questioning in relation to alleged planed attacks. (Arabic News, Jan. 18)
Three Palestinians were killed by IDF fire on the West Bank on Jan. 15,
including a 16-year-old student from Tulkarm. (Arabic News, Jan. 16)
On Jan. 16, Israeli forces demolished 16 Palestinian houses, 13 in Rafah in
the Gaza Strip and the other three on the West Bank. The IDF also evacuated
40 Palestinian families from their houses in Qabatya on charges of taking
part in Intifada activities. Israeli forces also arrested over 22
Palestinians throughout the Occupied Territories that day. (Arabic News, Jan. 17)
[top]
2. SETTLER FUNERAL BECOMES ANTI-PALESTINIAN POGROM
Hundreds marched near the West Bank city of Hebron Jan. 19 in the funeral
procession of a radical Jewish settler killed two days earlier in an
infiltration of the Kiryat Arba settlement by presumed Hamas gunmen.
Chanting "Revenge, revenge!", mourners threw stones at several
Palestinian-owned homes, smashing windows in two, while Israeli soldiers
stood by. Reporters and camera crews were shoved out of the way by the
rampaging settlers. Later, Israeli troops imposed a curfew on parts of
Hebron in response to stone-throwing and shooting at soldiers, apparently
unrelated to the funeral. The previous night, dozens of Jewish settlers
rioted in Hebron, setting a wrecked car on fire and beating several
Palestinians.
In the Jan. 17 infiltration attack, two Hamas gunmen knocked on the door of
a house near Kiryat Arba, shooting dead Nathaniel Ozeri, 34, when he opened
the door during the Sabbath dinner. Ozeri's 4-year-old daughter and two
Israeli dinner guests were wounded before one of the visitors killed one of
the gunmen. The second gunman fled and was later killed by pursuing Israeli
troops. Ozeri and his family lived at an "illegal" outpost built without the
approval of the Israeli government, just outside Kiryat Arba. Israeli
media reported that Ozeri was a member of the outlawed extremist Kach
group, and co-author of a book that praised Baruch Goldstein, a Kiryat Arba
settler who killed 29 Palestinian worshippers in a 1994 shooting attack.
Ozeri was recently released from prison after serving four months for
rioting in Hebron during the funeral of an Israeli soldier killed by
Palestinian gunmen. (AP, Jan. 19)
[top]
3. ISRAEL SHUTS UNIVERSITIES IN HEBRON
The Israeli army closed Hebron University and the city's Polytechnic
Institute, claiming computers and chemistry labs had been used by Hamas in
preparing terror attacks. Hebron's Palestinian governor, Arid Jabari
protested the closures as collective punishment. "Israel has no right to
close universities, colleges and schools in the Palestinian territories,"
he said, invoking the Oslo Accords. (NYT, Jan. 16)
[top]
4. ISRAEL'S "FENCE": SCHEME TO ANNEX BEST WEST BANK LAND?
The fence Israel is building to stop attacks across the Green Line is
gnawing away at the most fertile land on the Palestinian side of the line,
said Mustafa Barghuti, head of the main federation of Palestinian
organizations. "The fence follows the Green Line very loosely and is set to
cut into the West Bank in various areas, leaving at least 11 Palestinian
villages on the Israeli side of the fence," Barghuti told AFP. "The area
between Qalqilya and Tulkarem is the most important agricultural basket in
the Palestinian territories and produces 42 percent of all fruit and
vegetables in the West Bank. The area Israel plans to seize to erect its
fence represents 10 percent of the West Bank and also includes the last
water reservoir used for irrigation in the West Bank."
Construction began on the 220-mile high-tech security fence in June,
following months of suicide bombings launched from the West Bank. Thousands
of trees are being uprooted for the fence, which dips beyond the Green Line
into the West Bank at several points. The Israeli government argues that
the route was designed to bring isolated Jewish settlements within the
fence for security reasons. But Barghuti accuses Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon's government of simply seizing land. "I am concerned that the
fence is being used as an excuse for annexation and that the plan is to
slowly starve the population and start a program of subtle ethnic
cleansing," he said. (AFP, Jan. 18)
On Jan. 14, the Washington Report on Middle East issued an urgent press
release demanding international intervention to prevent the destruction of
the entire West Bank village of al-Daba--home to 250 Palestinians living in
42 houses--by the Israeli occupation forces. Al-Daba lies within an area
where the fence extends 500 meters into the West Bank, engulfing the whole
village. The Washington Report says the destruction of al-Daba constitutes
a violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions--specifically Articles 17 and 49
relating to forced transfer of populations, Article 46 relating to property
confiscation, and Article 53 relating to property destruction. All of these
violations represent indictable war crimes punishable by imprisonment, the
Washington Reports said. (Palestine Media Center, Jan. 14)
See also WW3 REPORT #40.
[top]
5. NAZLET ISA PREPARES TO RESIST EVICTIONS
Nazlet Isa, West Bank: In this small town near Tulkarm and the Green Line,
170 Palestinian-owned shops which attract both Jewish and Arab customers
from both sides of the Line, are threatened with imminent eviction by the
Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). The stores are officially to be demolished
because they fall within the 200-meter "security zone" around an IDF
checkpoint. But locals charge the IDF with economic warfare against some
6,000 residents who depend on the shops for their livelihood. A demolition
order came for 30 of the stores three months ago, but on Jan. 20, an IDF
commander showed up in Nazlet Isa and announced that all 170 are slated for
demolition. He said that if the shopkeepers failed to evacuate they will be
charged for the bulldozing of their own shops, and for tariffs and rent for
any goods confiscated across the Green Line to Israel by IDF troops. The
shopkeepers were given 15 days to evacuate--but the commander also said he
could demolish whenever he wants. Shopkeepers and residents called in the
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) to assist in non-violent
resistance, and beginning Jan. 20 the owners plan to sleep in the shops.
The ISM has pledged its willingness to join the occupation and even
blockade bulldozers. The joint-Arab-Jewish Israeli human rights group
Ta'ayush will arrive on the morning of Tuesday Jan. 21 for a demonstration
with Nazlet Isa Palestinians and international volunteers. The twelve
internationals on the scene--five of them Jewish--are from the US, Canada,
UK, Denmark and Spain. Adding to tensions, Israeli authorities say a
round-the-clock curfew will also be imposed starting Jan. 21. "The
Palestinians have asked us to tell the world what is happening here, to
tell the international media," said ISM volunteers on the ground in a
statement. (David Bloom on the scene at Nazlet Isa)
WW3 REPORT Special Correspondent David Bloom can be reached for commentary
by the media at 011-972-56-370-288
[top]
6. ISRAELI COURT: BARGHOUTI TO TRIAL
An Israeli court in Tel Aviv ruled that Palestinian resistance leader
Marwan Barghout can be tried in Israel, rejecting defense claims that it
has no jurisdiction. The trial will begin April 6, and the panel of judges
appointed a public defender for Barghouti, who has refused legal
representation. Barghouti, West Bank leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah
movement, will be tried for involvement in attacks that took the lives of
26 Israelis. Barghouti maintains he was not involved in the attacks, and
reiterated that he does not recognize the court's jurisdiction. "The state
of Israel doesn't have the right to try me or accuse me," he told the
court. "I am fighting for the rights of my people against the cruel
occupation." (AP, Jan. 19)
See also WW3 REPORT #47
[top]
7. SHARON REJECTS "ROAD MAP" TO PEACE
Ariel Sharon believes the international "road map" to Palestinian statehood
drawn up by the "Quartet" of peace mediators--the US, UN, EU and Russia--is
unrealistic and cannot be implemented, a senior adviser to the prime
minister said Jan. 19, confirming Sharon's harshest public criticism yet of
the plan. A final version of the blueprint is to be ready Feb. 22, a month
after an Israeli general election Sharon is expected to win. When asked
about the plan in a weekend interview with Newsweek, Sharon was quoted as
saying: "Oh, the Quartet is nothing! Don't take it seriously! There is
[another] plan that will work." In the Newsweek interview, Sharon said
Palestinian reform--including the removal of President Yasser Arafat from
power and decisive action against Palestinian militants--is a precondition
for renewing peace efforts. In such a case, Israel would be willing to
recognize a provisional, demilitarized Palestinian state with temporary
borders. Israel would enter negotiations on a final peace deal only after
prolonged calm, Sharon said. Sharon adviser Raanan Gissin said the prime
minister's were "taken out of context" by Newsweek: " He meant the plan
cannot be implemented--not that the Quartet is nothing." Gissin said
"Israel and the United States see eye to eye," pointing to last June's
speech by President Bush stating that Arafat must cede power.
(See WW3 REPORT #40)
However, the White House has not distanced itself from the Quartet plan,
which calls for a three-stage timetable leading to Palestinian statehood by
2005. The plan includes elements Sharon mentioned, including Palestinian
reform, decisive action against militants and a provisional interim
state--but also insists that Israel freeze settlement construction and
withdraw from Palestinian towns and villages it now occupies. Palestinian
Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat said Sharon's " real intention is to... make
it impossible for any future negotiators to discuss peace."
(AP, Jan. 19)
[top]
8. MOSSAD TO CARRY OUT ASSASSINATIONS IN U.S.?
With the appointment of Meir Dagan, the new director of the Mossad
intelligence service, Israel is embarking upon a more aggressive approach
to the War on Terrorism that will include assassinations in the US and
other friendly countries, a former Israeli intelligence official told UPI.
Sharon is also preparing "a huge budget" increase for the spy agency as
part of "a tougher stance in fighting the global jihad," one Israeli
official said. Another former official said that "diplomatic constraints
have prevented the Mossad from carrying out 'preventive operations'
[assassinations] on the soil of friendly countries until now." But now
Sharon is "reversing that policy, even if it risks complications to
Israel's bilateral relations." (UPI, Jan. 15)
See also
WW3 REPORT # 53.
[top]
9. IDF SOLDIER TO WW3 REPORT: FUCK YOUR ASS!!
WW3 REPORT correspondent David Bloom, on the scene in the occupied West
Bank, sends in the following first-hand report:
On Jan. 19, I go to Jaljulya, an Arab village in Israel, with Mahmoud, an
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) coordinator from Qalqilya. His
cousin owns an internet cafe in Qalqilya on the West Bank, and he has a
permit to enter Israel, with the purpose of picking up a coffee machine
from a vending company. It took Mahmoud ten days to wait for an entry
permit--good for one month. He says it was given to him because he's
married, with children, and older, so he is not so suspicious to the
Israelis. We take a taxi to the IDF checkpoint at the edge of Qalqilya.
We show our passports, but the soldiers are too busy harassing and
interrogating a carload of Save the Children workers to pay much
attention to us, and they just wave us through with no inspection.
On the other side of the checkpoint, we meet a Palestinian Israeli friend
of Mahmoud, who ferries us to Jaljulya in his pickup. On the way, Mahmoud
points out land which was appropriated from the city of Qalqilya by Israel
in 1949, and given to Jews.
We wait at the store of Mahmoud's friend in Jajoulya for another friend, Tsvika, a
Jewish Israeli, to pick us up and take us to the vending company in Hagor.
Hagor is a moshav (Jewish agricultural community) near Kafr Kassem,
where on Oct. 29, 1956, 47 Arab villagers were massacred by Israeli Border
Police -- both Jewish and Druze -- for breaking curfew (the Palestinian
Israeli
population was subject to military curfews until 1967.) Tsvika is from
Poland originally, and apologizes for not speaking much English. On the
way to Hagor, Mahmoud explains I'm an activist from the US, and I'm in
Palestine with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). Tsvika starts
to tell me what he thinks about the conflict. "Fuck religion. Fuck
Jerusalem--who cares?", he says. "It is only 5% of the people on each side
who care. My children know Mahmoud. From the TV, they can see only that
Arabs are bad. The Arab children only see Israeli soldiers, so it's very
difficult."
Mahmoud told me in advance that Tsvika is a "normal" person, and so he
refuses to do military service in the occupied territories. But when I ask
how he ended up refusing, I find out Tsvika is not the sort of refusenik
that I've been reading and writing about, who signs letters and petitions.
"You know what is vodka?", Tsvika asks. "I pour it over my head, and I go
to the interview [with the IDF], and they think I'm an alcoholic. And they
let me out!" He laughs. "It would make me crazy to go out," he
adds--meaning to serve in the Occupied Territories.
I ask Tsvika what he thinks of the "security wall" Israel is building in
the West Bank to keep out suicide bombers. "Fucking bullshit, in my
opinion," he says. "You put up a fence around property, and the thief is
one step ahead, finds a way to get around it."
Tsvika tells me that 50% of Israelis would leave Israel if they could,
because the situation is so bad. I ask him who he thinks is responsible for
the conflict. "It's ego games," he tells me. "The leaders on both sides are
responsible. All of them. The Israeli and Palestinian parliaments--they are
all getting money, all corrupt. If America wants peace, it can enforce it."
I ask him what's to be done about the settlements. "Keep the large cities,
and exchange for land. It's easy," he says.
Sabi, the Jewish vendor who is selling Mahmoud the coffee machine, has his
own solution. "I tell you something, It's all about money." Tsvika and
Mahmoud nod in agreement. "If America wanted to solve the problem tomorrow,
it would come with its checkbook, and give everyone money. Whether it's in
Israel, or Qalqilya, everyone is the same," Sabi says. "People just want to
work, go home and eat, and watch TV." He tells me it's impossible to
evacuate all the settlements, because it would take too much money. Then
Sabi has an idea. "Tell Bush to give me a checkbook, and give me a job
writing checks to everybody. Then I can stop working in vending machines,
and you won't have to write about the conflict anymore." I tell him it's a
good idea. We leave with the coffee machine.
Getting back into the West Bank and Qalqilya proves a little more
challenging than leaving. After disembarking from his Palestinian Israeli
friend's taxi, Mahmoud and I carry the coffee machine and a box full of
coffee to the checkpoint, where we rest them on concrete blocks. We have to
wait for about ten minutes, because the young soldiers manning the
checkpoint are busy searching a donkey cart, and then a Palestinian Red
Crescent ambulance. The soldiers are jittery. A busload of Palestinian men
disembark and start to walk through the checkpoint towards Qalqilya. One of
the soldiers yells at them to stop, and motions for them to stand and wait.
They do so stoically, used to the daily indignities of the checkpoint, and
the moods and whims of soldiers.
Then Mahmoud and I are ordered to another concrete block, and we place the
machine and the box up on it. I open the box, and a soldier, walking in
back of me, says something in Hebrew. I don't understand, but Mahmoud
speaks pretty good Hebrew, from his time spent working in Israel--and in
Israeli prisons during the first Intifada, when he was busted for
stone-throwing. He explains I'm a US citizen, and that I'm there visiting
him. (The soldier might try to bar me from the West Bank if he realizes I'm
an activist, although he cannot lawfully do so). When he hears this, the
soldier says to me, "George Bush," and adds something in Hebrew. After the
soldiers are done thoroughly inspecting the coffee and machine, Mahmoud and
I walk off. Mahmoud looks back at the soldier and then tells me that after
saying "George Bush," the soldier had said to me, "Fuck your ass!" He had
then turned to Mahmoud and said with some concern, "You know Hebrew?" and
barked at him not to tell me about the expletive. Mahmoud says the soldier
was probably afraid that if I knew what he'd said to me, I'd contact the US
consulate and complain about the verbal abuse, and he'd catch flack for it.
Mahmoud and I are met by his cousin with a truck. We load the goods in and
leave the checkpoint, which is now the only way in and out of Qalqilya,
like a gateway to a large penal colony.
[top]
THE IRAQ FRONT
1. AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT GROUP HEADS FOR GULF
Two US Navy amphibious assault ships and five other vessels carrying some
10,000 Marines and sailors departed San Diego Jan. 17 bound for the Persian
Gulf. The amphibious assault ships USS Boxer and USS Bonhomme Richard were
joined by the amphibious transport docks USS Cleveland and USS Dubuque, and
the dock landing ships USS Anchorage, USS Comstock and USS Pearl Harbor.
The US already has two aircraft carrier battle groups in the Gulf, with
others placed on alert for possible deployment. In addition, the USNS
Comfort hospital ship is sailing toward the region to treat causalities in
any war with Iraq. (Reuters, Jan. 17)
Five US cargo ships loaded with tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and
other war material also entered the Suez Canal Jan. 19 en route to the
Persian Gulf. Two French destroyers and two Italian warships also crossed
the Canal, probably headed for the Gulf. Some 60,000 U.S. troops are
already in the Gulf region and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has
signed orders for deployment of an additional 67,000 over the next few
weeks. The size of the US force arrayed against Iraq could reach 250,000.
(AP, Jan. 19)
[top]
2. CHEMICAL WARHEADS FOUND?
On Jan. 16, UN weapons inspectors found 11 empty chemical warheads in
"excellent" condition at Ukhaider ammunition storage area, about 75 miles
south of Baghdad. UN officials are now checking whether the munitions were
listed in Iraq's 12,000-page declaration on its weapons programs. Iraqi
officials insisted the 122-mm shells are reported in declaration, and had
been listed in previous reports to the UN. "It is no more than a tempest in
a teacup," said Lt. Gen. Hossam Mohammed Amin, chief Iraqi liaison to the
inspection team. Amin claimed the boxes had been found covered with dust
and bird droppings, and had never been opened. "When these boxes were
opened, they found 122-mm rockets with empty warheads. No chemical or
biological warheads. Just empty rockets which are expired and were imported
in 1988." (Newsday, Jan. 17)
[top]
3. REGIONAL SUMMIT TO HEAD OFF WAR?
Iran and Syria have joined Turkey's call for a regional summit to seek a
peaceful way out of the Iraq standoff, the official Iranian news agency
reported Jan. 19. "Iran welcomes whatever summit at any level to resolve
the Iraqi crisis," the Islamic Republic News Agency quoted spokesman
Hamid-Reza Asefi as saying. "We will discuss the details of the summit with
Turkey and Syria." Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa, now visiting
Iran, indicated that his government would attend the summit. Turkey has
offered to host the summit, which would bring together the leaders of
Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia as well as Iran and Syria.
But Libyan leader Moamar Qaddafi, who was not among those invited to
Turkey, said he did not think the meeting would be useful. "What could this
summit do? What is it going to demand from Saddam Hussein after he opened
his country for inspections ... and opened his house and his office for
inspections? What more are they going to demand from him? Suicide?" Qaddafi
said. (AP, Jan. 19)
[top]
4. FRANCE: GIVE INSPECTORS MORE TIME
French President Jacques Chirac called for UN weapons inspectors to be
given the necessary time to complete their work in Iraq. "The inspectors
have asked for more time... Wisdom obliges us to respond to their request
and give them the necessary time to be able to deliver serious conclusions
which can convince the international community,'' Chirac told a news
conference. He spoke beside chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, who was
in Paris to brief the French government. Chirac also expressed his
misgivings about the drive towards war. "We believe that if there had to be
military action, this could only be authorized by the Security Council on
the basis of reports by the inspectors,'' Chirac said. "For France, war is
always the confirmation of failure and is always the worst solution and has
human costs difficult to justify." (Reuters, Jan. 17)
[top]
5. GERMANY: U.N. APPROVAL OF WAR "UNIMAGINABLE"
Germany, which joined the UN Security Council on Jan. 1, is set to play a
pivotal role in diplomacy over Iraq when it chairs the council next month.
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has hinted that Germany will refuse to support
a war resolution in the council, but Defense Minister Peter Struck was more
direct in comments published Jan. 17. "The final decision can only be made
when it's clear what we are voting on,'' he told the Rheinpfalz daily. "But
a 'yes' is basically not imaginable anymore.''
Schroeder, while not stating explicitly how Germany would vote on a new
Security Council resolution, publicly opposes an attack on Iraq, and has
ruled out a German combat role. He is also calling for UN inspectors to be
given more time to search for any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq--a
stance shared by French President Jacques Chirac and Italian Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi. The inspectors have said that search could take months.
(AP, Jan. 17)
[top]
6. MOSCOW OIL FIRMS IN NEW IRAQ CONTRACTS
Relations between Moscow and Baghdad have been strained on the economic
front after Iraq cancelled a key oilfield contract with a Russian company
in December. But Iraq has just signed a new development deal with Russian
oil and gas construction company Stroitransgaz to develop "block four" in
Iraq's Western Desert. Baghdad also started negotiations with Zarubezhneft,
Russia's umbrella company, for development of Iraq's giant Bin Umar field.
The Russians apparently beat out French oil major Totalfinaelf which has
long been earmarked for the $3.4 billion Bin Umar development. Contracts
are also in the works with Soyuzneftegaz for the 100,000-barrel-a-day
Rafidain field in southern Iraq and with Tatneft for "block nine" in the
Western Desert.
The deals, signed by Russia's deputy energy minister Ivan Matlashov and
Iraq's oil ministry undersecretary Hussein al- Hadithi, boost relations
with Moscow as Baghdad seeks to prevent a new military assault. The deals
come after Iraq's cancellation of the prized contract for its biggest
prospect, West Qurna. Rights to the $3.7 billion development were held by
Lukoil until mid-December when Baghdad pulled the plug, saying the Russian
company had failed to meet the terms of the deal by failing to start
development on schedule. Matlashov said there was now new hope the contract
could be restored to Lukoil. "The door is still open for Lukoil," he told
reporters after the
signing ceremony. "We don't want Iraq to give the contract to another company."
After the West Qurna cancellation there was speculation that Baghdad had
taken offence at contact between Lukoil chief Vagit Alekperov and Iraqi
opposition leaders. Since the cancellation, long-standing Iraqi oil
minister Amir al-Rasheed has been replaced by Samir al-Najm, an old hand
from Saddam's presidential office. Iraq's oil reserves are only second to
those of Saudi Arabia. (Europe CNN, Jan. 17)
See also WW3 REPORT #68
[top]
7. ONCE-RENOWNED DATE GROVES OF BASRA DEVASTATED BY WAR
Once-prosperous date-growers in Iraq's southern region of Basra are
resorting to subterfuges such as re-export under labels from the United
Arab Emirates to elude sanctions and get their product to market. "Nobody
wants to hear about anything called Iraqi dates" lamented Fathi Atallah
Raja of the Iraqi Date Processing & Marketing Company. In contrast, just a
generation ago Basra dates were renowned and coveted throughout the Arab
world, and hundreds of date palm saplings were even exported to California
in the 1930s to start that state's date industry. The official date
encyclopedia lists 627 varieties in Iraq, with local farmers and
connoisseurs each boasting a favorite. The Barhi variety is especially
highly-prized throughout the Middle East. But now the Basra date industry
is devastated by a generation of war, as well as economic sanctions, with
exports less than a fifth of what they were in 1980.
The world's largest date forest once sat on the Fao peninsula, where the
Shatt al-Arab waterway meets the sea--precisely the area contested during
Iraq's grueling 1980-88 war with Iran. Millions of trees were burned or
felled by shrapnel in the conflict. Writes the New York Times: "What were
once majestic stands of palms are gone, replaced by a stunted, nightmarish
landscape of decapitated trunks and blackened stumps. The former population
of 16 million date palms around Basra is now estimated at 3 million."
Immediately after 1991's Operation Desert Storm, the palm forests were
further devastated by a mysterious outbreak of the fusarium fungus, which
rots the crowns till they fall of the tree and is known locally as Mad Palm
Disease. "We link it to the war because we didn't know this disease
before," said Abbas Mahdi Jassim, director of the Center for the Study of
Date Palms at the University of Basra." Some researchers have traced the
outbreak to contamination by depleted uranium shells. Many Basra varieties
are now being grown in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, but Iraqi growers
insist that others can never replicate the unique conditions that give
Basra dates their luscious, chewy quality. "Sure other countries can grow
the trees, but the dates of Basra have a special taste," boasted Sayid
Abdel Risa al-Moosawi, patriarch of the clan that founded Basra's first
date-processing factory in 1959. Moosawi railed against what he called
American piracy in the Persian Gulf, with ships halting agricultural
products like dates. But he was also guardedly optimistic. "One day we will
regain the same reputation, the position," he predicted. "It will probably
take 25 years to get back where it was." (NYT, Jan. 13)
[top]
8. GLOBAL PROTESTS AGAINST WAR DRIVE
Protesters turned out Jan. 17 in Bahrain and the Gaza Strip to rally
against the looming military attack on Iraq, as demonstrators prepared to
take to the streets in several European cities the following day. In
Bahrain's capital, Manama, over 1,500 marched, calling on their government
to expel US forces from the kingdom.. 3,500 Palestinians marched in Gaza
City, filling the narrow streets with Iraqi flags and portraits of Saddam
Hussein. Many chanted, "Our beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv," reviving a
slogan from the 1991 Gulf War. "The Palestinian people and Iraqi people are
in the same trench of resistance against the aggression and against
injustice," said Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi. (AP, Jan. 17)
Jan. 18 protests in several European cities coincided with massive
demonstrations in the US. Anti-war marches were reported from Paris,
Brussels, Hamburg, Cologne, Bonn, Goteborg, and Moscow, as well as outside
the US Army's European headquarters in Heidelberg, and a military base near
London. In Tokyo, marchers carried toy guns with flowers stuck in the
barrels. About 100 from Turkey's Green Party marched in Istanbul,
symbolically throwing toy guns into a trash can. Protests that day in
Cairo, Beirut and several Pakistani cities had a more pro-Saddam tone,
echoing the slogans heard the previous day in Gaza. (AP, Jan. 17, 19)
In the U.S., large anti-war protests were reported from Washington DC and
San Francisco, with smaller ones in Chicago and Tampa. (Reuters, Jan. 19)
New York's WBAI Radio gave all-day coverage to the national march in DC,
which brought out 500,000 (by organizers' estimates). But the
sycophantically uncritical coverage failed to mention that the DC protest
was organized by a coalition, International ANSWER, led at its core by the
International Action Center (IAC), front group for the Stalin-nostalgist,
genocide-apologist Workers World Party (WWP), which supports Slobodan
Milosevic and (somewhat less enthusiastically) Saddam Hussein.
See also WW3 REPORT #57
[top]
[top]
THE ANDEAN FRONT
1. CHAVEZ WON'T CAPITULATE TO "FASCISTS"
Several countries, including the US, Mexico, Brazil and Spain, agreed to
create a "Group of Friends of Venezuela" to seek a solution to the ongoing
strike that has ground the nation's economy to a halt. President Hugo
Chavez welcomed foreign help to end the national strike but cautioned that
his government "won't accept any restrictions from the Friends" group or be
forced into negotiating with the opposition. "Each country must make a
great effort to understand what is happening in Venezuela," Chavez said in
his annual state of the nation address to Congress. "This is a democratic
government, a democratic republic, confronting fascists, confronting
terrorists, confronting coup plotters." In his speech, Chavez accused
Venezuela's news media of conspiring to oust him, and threatened to yank
the licenses of stations broadcasting "propaganda" against his government.
He referred to four opposition TV stations as "the four horsemen of the
Apocalypse."
Opposition leaders called the strike Dec. 2 to urge Chavez to accept a
referendum on his presidency Feb. 2. Chavez says Venezuela's constitution
only allows a referendum halfway into a six-year presidential term, which
will be in August. The strike has so far cost Venezuela at least $4 billion
and led to food and gasoline shortages. Chavez called the strike leaders
were "cruel" for inflicting pain on Venezuelans, and insisted his
government is reviving oil production in spite of the strike. Before the
strike, Venezuela produced 3 million barrels a day of crude, and was the
world's fifth-largest oil exporter and the No. 4 crude exporter to the US.
Production is now down to around a half million barrels a day according to
strike leaders, and around 800,000 barrels a day according to Energy and
Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez. About 35,000 oil workers, including
executives, have joined the strike. Domestic gasoline supply still depends
mostly on imports because only one refinery is operating. Motorists wait
hours in line to fill up. The crisis has also impacted international
prices. Gasoline prices in the US have risen to an average $1.50 a gallon
since the strike began. (AP, Jan. 17)
Meanwhile, on the evening of Jan. 18, at least 100,000 anti-government
protesters marched in Caracas, converging on a city highway, blocking
traffic waving national flags, flashlights and flaming torches to demand
Chavez step down or recognize the proposed referendum on his rule. (AP, Jan. 19)
See also WW3 REPORT #68
[top]
2. PERSIAN GULF CRISIS PUTS MORE PRESSURE ON ANDEAN OIL
With the retail price of gasoline up ten cents per gallon since the
Venezuelan strike started, experts say the crisis is complicating the Bush
administration's plan to rely on Venezuela to ride out a new Middle East
oil shock caused by a new war in the Persian Gulf. Said Larry Goldstein,
president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation: "A few months ago
everybody thought that if we went to war in Iraq oil wouldn't be a major
problem, because there was enough to spare capacity to make up for lost
Iraqi oil. But no one then was contemplating lost Venezuelan oil... Now we
won't have enough spare capacity to take care of both those events."
Venezuela is the USA's fourth largest supplier, after Canada, Saudi Arabia
and Mexico. The fifth through tenth largest suppliers are, respectively,
Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Iraq, Norway, Angola and Algeria. (NYT, Jan.
11)
[top]
3. U.S. AMBASSADOR TO COLOMBIA'S PETRO-ZONE
On Jan. 17, US Ambassador Anne Patterson, guarded by US Special Forces in a
machine-gun mounted Humvee, arrived in Arauca department, one of Colombia's
bloodiest war zone, to meet with Pentagon advisors training Colombian
troops. Patterson told reporters 70 US Army trainers had arrived in Arauca
over the past few days, to stay for three months to train 6,500 Colombian
troops to protect a key oil pipeline from attacks by guerillas. The
deployment of members of the 7th Special Forces Group, based at Fort Bragg,
NC, followed a decision by the Bush administration, with Congressional
approval, to expand US military aid to help Colombia combat the guerillas.
Previously, US military aid and training was officially restricted to
fighting cocaine production. Colombian Defense Minister Martha Lucia
Ramirez said the expanded military aid will "make our actions against these
groups much more effective and allow us to obtain the result we want, which
is to hit these groups hard." Ramirez told the AP she believed the US
military trainers would be safe in Arauca, which has been declared a
special security zone by President Alvaro Uribe.
The US advisors in Arauca are to train two Colombian army brigades to
protect the Cano Limon pipeline, which carries oil for Los Angeles-based
Occidental Petroleum across northern Colombia to a seaside depot, where it
is pumped onto US-bound tankers. Colombia is the 10th-largest supplier of
oil to the US, and guerilla attacks on the pipeline have reduced its
output.
From an Arauca military base, Patterson flew on an Occidental helicopter to
the Cano Limon oil field, where she greeted 20 newly arrived US military
advisors. Travel by road is dangerous in region. In December, suspected
guerillas set off a bomb next to a bus carrying Cano Limon workers, killing
two of them and injuring 11. US special forces already have trained a
2,000-member Colombian army counter-narcotics brigade as part of almost $2
billion in mostly military aid Washington has given Colombia over the past
three years. Washington has officially ruled out a direct combat role for
US troops in Colombia's 39-year civil war, in which some 3,500 people die
each year. (AP, Jan. 17)
See also WW3 REPORT #59
[top]
4. ANOTHER MYSTERIOUS MASSACRE IN COLOMBIA
Unknown gunmen entered a small village of Dos Quebradas, 100 miles north of
Bogota, and killed a dozen people, authorities said Jan. 17. Army troops
are headed to the region to investigate and provide security for surviving
villagers, said Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramirez. "There is a lot of
fear. The people are in their homes, waiting for the authorities to come to
provide security," said Hugo Hernando Posada, a municipal official in the
town of San Carlos, where survivors from Dos Quebradas fled. But the
right-wing paramilitaries which have committed the vast majority of the
massacres in Colombia in recent years have often actively collaborated with
government forces. (AP, Jan. 17)
The following day, AP reported that survivors of the massacre told local
authorities that fighters from the left-wing Colombian Revolutionary Armed
Forces (FARC) rounded up the victims, accused them of being members of a
rival right-wing paramilitary army and summarily shot them in the head.
Soldiers were deployed to patrol the region "to protect the population and
finish off these bandits," army commander Gen. Carlos Ospina told
reporters. (AP, Jan. 18)
[top]
5. ECUADOR: POPULIST PREZ PUTS "CORRUPT OLIGARCHY" ON NOTICE
Lucio Gutierrez, a former colonel who took part in a populist uprising that
brought down Ecuador's government in 2000, was sworn in as the new
president Jan 15, and immediately issued a warning to the "corrupt
oligarchy that has stolen our money, our dreams and the right of
Ecuadoreans to have dignified lives." Gutierrez pledged to work for social
justice for Ecuador's poor and Indians. (NYT, Jan. 16)
See also WW3 REPORT #63
[top]
6. BOLIVIA: MORE REPRESSION IN COCHABAMBA
Security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters in
the Bolivian city of Cochabamba Jan. 17 in the fifth straight day of
demonstrations against a coca eradication program. Protesters have shut
down the main highway linking Cochabamba to Santa Cruz, 200 miles to the
east, erecting barricades of boulders and logs along the road to oppose a
US-sponsored plan to destroy illegal coca crops. Helmeted police chased
demonstrators through the streets, firing tear gas into crowds gathered
behind barricades of garbage cans and burning tires. The local Dr. Eduardo
Arnez said he treated three young men for shotgun wounds, claiming police
fired on the crowd. The independent Permanent Assembly of Human Rights for
Bolivia says security forces shot and killed five protesters. The
government has no confirmed the number of casualties.
Evo Morales, a Bolivian congressman and leader of the country's coca
farmers, is leading the protests, which began after talks between the
government and coca growers collapsed in December. Thousands of Bolivians
angered by the government's decision to sign a hemispheric free trade
agreement have also taken to the streets. (AP, Jan. 17)
See also WW3 REPORT # 46
[top]
THE WAR AT HOME
1. PASSAIC DETAINEES ON HUNGER STRIKE
Seven Muslim detainees at Passaic County Jail began a hunger strike Jan. 14
to protest their continued captivity and demand that INS officials to be
punished for their mistreatment. The strikers include Farouk Abdel-Muhti, a
Palestinian activist suing the government for holding him beyond the normal
limit for immigration violations. The detainees' statement reads: "We
denounce the gross violations of our human rights. We are being held
without adequate ventilation, in unclean and unhealthy quarters. We are
being denied medical care, visitation, and Islamic services. The food is
completely inadequate and non-nutritious. We ask all people to defend our
rights and to demand our freedom."
The detainees are demanding their immediate release, and release of all
other detainees who have not been charged with crimes. Most of the
detainees arrested in the government's post-9-11 sweep are held on
immigration violations. "They said they're sacrificing their bodies in
order to gain their rights," said Namita Chad, of the South Asian advocacy
group DRUM. "They said they're going to continue the strike until someone
from the INS meets with them." Bernard McFall, Abdel-Muhti's former
roommate in Queens, expressed concerns for his friend. "His health was not
that good before he went to jail," McFall said. "His blood pressure is high
and he's not eating right or getting any exercise."
INS Kerry Gill said INS guidelines define a hunger strike as a refusal of
food or drink lasting 72 hours or more. "At this time, no detainees in the
Newark district have missed meals over a 72-hour period," he said. (AP, Jan. 14)
As WW3 REPORT goes to press, the strike is approaching the 72-hour mark,
and authorities have increased the pressure. On Jan. 16 Wilfredo Diaz of
the New York INS regional office served Abdel-Muhti with a "first warning
for failure to depart," threatening him with up to four years in prison for
his alleged refusal to cooperate with his deportation. Abdel-Muhti said he
would not sign the document without consulting his attorney. On Jan. 17
Deportation Officer Frantz Jeudi visited Abdel-Muhti and made a second
attempt to get the detainee's signature. Abdel-Muhti again insisted on his
right to an attorney, and says Jeudi then became abusive and said that if
he refused, "you will lose everything."
The INS may be trying to interfere with a habeas corpus petition
Abdel-Muhti filed on Nov. 6, which charges that he has been held unlawfully
beyond the six-month period the Supreme Court set as a standard in the 2001
Zadvydas case. Abdel-Muhti does not wish to leave the US, where he has
lived for more than 25 years, but insists he has cooperated fully with
efforts to deport him. Abdel-Muhti is a stateless Palestinian, and the INS
has failed in several efforts to deport him since the 1970s because no
country would accept him.
Five of the striking detainees have accepted the INS's offer of transfer to
the Hudson County Jail, also in New Jersey--but INS officials insist they
must end their strike before they are transferred. INS spokesperson Kerry
Gill called the hunger strike "disruptive behavior." The strikers have also
been strip-searched and placed in solitary confinement. One of the original
seven has since taken food, due to health concerns.
"The INS is playing hardball by saying it won't even transfer the detainees
until they end the hunger strike," said Jane Guskin of the Coalition for
the Human Rights of Immigrants (CHRI). "But it's the INS that provoked this
strike in the first place. They know that conditions in Passaic are below
even their own low standards... This time they pushed a group of detainees
to the point where they're willing to risk their health, even their lives.
In Farouk's case and many others, the INS is flaunting the law by refusing
to abide by the Zadvydas decision. The INS needs to stop criticizing the
detainees for taking this desperate measure and start obeying the law."
(Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti, Jan. 18)
Abdel-Muhti's supporters are urging pressure on INS District Director
Andrea Quarantillo, politley but firmly demanding respect for the strikers'
minimum demands:
1. improvements in food,
2. adequate and safe medical care,
3. proper air quality in the units,
4. contact family visits,
5. a resumption of the Friday Islamic services suspended a month ago
6. separate living quarters for post-9-11 detainees.
Andrea Quarantillo
District Director, INS
Newark District
970 Broad St. Rm. 136
Newark, NJ 07102
(973-645-4421)
Also contact INS assistant commissioner David Venturella in Washington (fax:
202-353-9435; phone: 202-305-2734; email: david.j.venturella@usdoj.gov).
Your message can be as short as "Free Farouk Abdel-Muhti and all INS
Detainees!"
Thanks to: Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti
PO Box 20587, Tompkins Square Station, New York, NY 10009
Phone: 212-674-9499
E-mail: freefarouk@yahoo.com
[top]
2. IMMIGRANTS HEAD TO CANADA TO AVOID "REGISTRATION"...
To avoid detention or deportation as a result of the newly expanded INS
"special registration" put into effect in December, Pakistani businessmen
and homeowners from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have fled to
Plattsburgh, NY, on Lake Champlain just 20 miles south of the Canadian
border, in hope of seeking political asylum. Canadian refugee law allows
anyone claiming refugee status immediate entry into the country, to await a
court hearing where the need for asylum must be proved to a judge. In 2002,
13,000 people residing in the US applied for asylum in Canada at US border.
New York City's Pakistan Post reports that 70 claims for asylum have been
filed with the Montreal Immigration office this year alone. (Pakistan Post,
Jan. 8, trans. from Urdu by Rehan Ansari for Voices that Must be Heard: The
Best of New York's Ethnic and Immigrant Press, Independent Press
Association)
See also WW3 REPORT #68
(Subuhi Jiwani)
[top]
3. ...AS CANADA TIGHTENS ASYLUM POLICY
In August 2002, the US and Canada signed a "Safe Third Country" Agreement
which allows Canadian Immigration to turn people back at the border and
forces refugees to file for asylum from the US. The new policy, approved by
the Canadian Parliament, will take effect in the Spring. Eleanor Acer,
Director of the Asylum Program at the Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights
(LCHR), called the agreement "unnecessary and inhumane," arguing that it
will actually make the border between the two countries less secure." A
Dec. 4 LCHR press release states that US officials were unable to present
adequate need for such an agreement, and were prepared to "sacrifice the
interests of refugees as 'bargaining chip' in the broader US-Canada border
discussions." LCHR predicts that this agreement will make refugees
vulnerable to "smugglers who may transport them across the border
illegally" and will unfairly bind their asylum applications to the harsher
US Immigration and Naturalization Service.
(Press Release, Dec. 4, 2002, Lawyers Committee for Human Rights)
See also WW3 REPORT #63
(Subuhi Jiwani)
[top]
4. "REGISTRATION" EXPANDS--AGAIN
In the Jan. 16 edition of the Federal Register, the Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) announced that five more countries would be
added to the list of 20 countries whose male nationals are required to
submit to "special call-in registration." Males 16 years or older who are
nationals or citizens of Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, or Kuwait
("Group 4" countries) and who entered the US on visitor, student or work
visas before September 20, 2003, are required to register between Feb. 24
and Mar. 28, 2003.
In the same announcement, the INS extended the registration deadline for
nationals of the countries listed in "Group 1" (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan
and Syria) and "Group 2" (Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Lebanon,
Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates
and Yemen). Nationals from both groups may now register between Jan. 27 and
Feb. 7. Nationals of "Group 3" countries (Pakistan and Saudi Arabia) are
required to register between Jan. 13 and Feb. 21. Women of all ages and
boys under 16 are exempt from the registration requirement, as are US
citizens and permanent legal residents.
On Jan. 17, the Washington Post reported that federal officials had
acknowledged that the INS had detained 1,169 men during the first two
rounds of special registration. Nearly all were detained for immigration
violations. Some were held just a few hours, then released and ordered to
appear for deportation hearings. Some 170 are still in custody, a senior
Justice Department official said.
(Immigration News Briefs, Jan. 18)
[top]
5. JUDGE BLOCKS SOMALI DEPORTATIONS
On Jan. 14, US district judge Marsha Pechman in Seattle extended a
preliminary injunction barring the INS from deporting Somali nationals, and
extended the protected class to include all Somalis facing deportation. The
ruling came in a class action lawsuit filed in November. Pechman agreed
with the plaintiffs that without a functioning government, Somalia could
not be considered to "accept" deportees. Pechman warned that the risk of
harm and irreparable injury to the Somali deportees was high, and expressed
concern that "the government appears to have no idea of what happened to
persons previously deported. It's as if they've fallen into a black hole."
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 15)
(Immigration News Briefs, Jan. 18)
See also WW3 REPORT #64
[top]
WATCHING THE SHADOWS
1. PRESIDENTIAL AWARD HIGHLIGHTS FBI HIJINKS
Congressional critics of the FBI are raising questions about a presidential
citation and large cash bonus awarded to Marion "Spike" Bowman, the FBI
supervisor whose unit denied a pre-9-11 search warrant on Zacarias
Moussaoui, now the accused "20th hijacker." FBI general counsel Bowman was
among nine current and former Bureau officials who received a Presidential
Rank Award in December, including a cash bonus of up to 30% of annual
salary. Bowman, head of the FBI's National Security Law Unit, was praised
for efforts to build "a staff of attorneys to examine diverse and highly
complex issues for which little or no formal legal education has been
available." FBI Director Robert Mueller recommended Bowman to the White
House for the award. Critics say Bowman's lawyers improperly rejected a
search warrant request by FBI agents in Minnesota investigating Moussaoui
in August 2001. Bowman maintains there never was enough evidence for the
warrant under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). But
Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), complained in a letter to the FBI director:
"You are sending the wrong signal to those agents who fought--sometimes
against senior FBI bureaucrats at headquarters--to prevent the attacks."
A Senate investigation last fall also criticized Bowman's unit for blocking
an urgent request on Aug. 29, 2001 by FBI agents in New York to begin
searching for Khalid Almihdar, one of the hijackers on the American
Airlines flight that crashed into the Pentagon. An FBI agent, not
identified publicly, testified Bowman's lawyers decided information linking
Almihdar to terrorism had been obtained through intelligence surveillance
and could not legally be used in a criminal investigation. "Some day,
someone will die...and the public will not understand why we were not more
effective and throwing every resource we had at certain problems," the
agent wrote in an e-mail to FBI headquarters.
While these politicians were outraged by inadequate surveillance, civil
liberties defenders point to instances of illegal over-reach by agents
overseen by Bowman's unit, which approves or rejects requests for secret
surveillance warrants under FISA, forwarding approvals to the Justice
Department. In early 2000, Bowman's unit acknowledged numerous blunders in
counter-terrorist surveillance. Among the problems, outlined in an April
2000 memorandum were agents illegally videotaping suspects, intercepting
e-mails without court permission and recording the wrong phone
conversations. The unit also acknowledged, in a separate memo, that agents
mistakenly intercepted e-mails of innocent citizens in a Denver
investigation by its Osama bin Laden Unit and International Terrorism
Operations Section. It indicated the FBI incorrectly used its "Carnivore"
Internet surveillance software, now called "DCS-1000," capturing too many
e-mails. (AP, Jan. 10)
See also WW3 REPORT #37
[top]
2. SENATE TO BLOCK TOTAL INFORMATION AWARENESS PROGRAM?
Raising the alarm that privacy rights are threatened, Senate Democrats set
out Jan. 16 to halt a proposed Pentagon database that would sift through
consumer and government records on the entire US populace. The Defense
Department says the aim of the Total Information Awareness office, under
former national security adviser John Poindexter, is to seek patterns in
transactions data like credit card bills to finger terrorists. But
Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin vowed
to block funding for the program, now still under development, until
Congress can give it a thorough review. "Our country must fight terrorism,
but America should not unleash virtual bloodhounds to sniff into the
financial, educational, travel and medical records of millions of
Americans,'' Wyden told reporters on Capitol Hill. Wyden has introduced an
amendment to a large spending package that would ban any funding for the
program. Feingold introduced separate legislation to suspend the project
until Congress gets oversight of it. A third Democrat, Sen. Jon Corzine,
dubbed the Total Information Awareness project ``Orwellian.''
Critics also recall that Poindexter was convicted of lying to Congress in
the Contragate scandal. His conviction was only overturned on the grounds
his immunized congressional testimony had been used against him. "It's
ironic that Admiral Poindexter is leading the charge,'' Corzine said. "That
speaks for itself (Reuters, Jan. 16)
See also WW3 REPORT #s 63 & 59
[top]
3. DESERT STORM VETS SEEK DATA ON CHEMICAL EXPOSURE
Over 5,000 veterans of Operation Desert Storm are plaintiffs in a lawsuit
accusing US and European companies of helping Saddam Hussein build his
chemical warfare arsenal. The plaintiffs are among the tens of thousands
who came down with "Gulf War Illness," a debilitating series of ailments
that can include chronic fatigue, skin rashes, muscle joint pain, memory
loss and even brain damage. Now, plaintiffs' attorneys have acquired, what
they believe is strong evidence of which companies supplied Iraq chemicals
that might have been used to produce mustard gas, sarin nerve gas and VX.
The supplier list, shown to CNN, is included in Iraq's 1998 weapons
declaration to the UN, parts of which were re-submitted to weapons
inspectors last month. Sources tell CNN the list is an authentic document,
but attorneys for the companies question its veracity and say the lawsuit
is without merit. The Iraqi list names 56 suppliers of chemicals and
equipment to process them. A majority are based in Europe. "If they are hit
in the pocketbook, if they know the dictator they provide this stuff to is
eventually gonna turn them over to the public and they are gonna be held
accountable for what they've done, they're less likely to sell these things
to Saddam or somebody like [him] in the future," plaintiffs' attorney Gary
Pitts said.
The suit, first filed by Pitts in a civil court in Brazoria County, TX, in
1994, alleges that companies knew "products and/or manufacturing facilities
supplied...were to be used to produce chemical and biological weapons." The
suit seeks at least $1 billion in damages for medical expenses, lost wages,
and pain and suffering. Seven companies in the Iraqi declaration have been
named defendants so far.
Most major suppliers listed in the 1998 declaration are based in Germany.
The Netherlands and Switzerland each are home to three companies on the
list. France, Austria and the United States each are home to two. Also
listed are companies based in Singapore, India, Egypt, Spain and
Luxembourg. The lawsuit has moved slowly for eight years, with neither the
US government nor the UN weapons inspection agency--formerly the UN Special
Commission (UNSCOM) and now the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection
Commission--would share supplier information requested by Pitts. (CNN, Jan.
18)
[top]
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. BAY AREA ECO-PEACENIKS: "GO SOLAR, NOT BALLISTIC!"
In the international day of protest against the Iraq war drive Jan. 18,
drivers of fuel-efficient hybrid cars in San Francisco had their vehicles
blessed at Grace Cathedral, and then rolled down Nob Hill in the company of
the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition--making the point that the alternatives
to oil-gluttony are already here. Banners read "go solar, not ballistic."
(UK Independent, Jan. 18)
[top]
2. EMMA GOLDMAN PREVAILS IN FREE SPEECH STRUGGLE--AGAIN!
Notorious anarchist Emma Goldman was on the front page of the New York
Times Jan. 14, probably for the first time since her death in 1940. It
seems the University of California at Berkeley--home to the Free Speech
Movement in the 1960s--moved to censor a bulk-mail fund-raising appeal by
the University's Emma Goldman Papers Project, which is collecting and
archiving her essays and letters. The appeal included three quotes from
Emma, two of which the University insisted be dropped. The first, written
in 1915--shortly before she was imprisoned and deported for opposing US
involvement in WW I--called on those "not yet overcome by war madness to
raise their voice of protest, to call the attention of the people to the
crime and outrage which are about to be perpetrated on them." The second,
also censored, warned that advocates of free speech "shall soon be obliged
to meet in cellars, or in darkened rooms with closed doors, and speak in
whispers lest our next-door neighbors should hear what free-born citizens
dare not speak in the open." Only the third was left uncensored: "The most
violent element in society is ignorance." UC Berkeley Associate Vice
Chancellor for Research Robert Price said the first two quotes were
inappropriate because they were "making a political point."
Other UC Berkeley researchers came to the defense of the Emma Goldman
Papers Project and its director Dr. Candace Falk. Said Robert Hirst,
general editor of the university's Mark Twain Project: "I feel this is not
the way the university either should or wants to operate. We just got
through creating the Free Speech Cafe on campus, and we have a free speech
archive. How many times does this have to happen at Berkeley before they
learn?" Two days after the Times story, the university relented and allowed
the mailing to go out uncensored. 400 of the censored letters had already
been mailed. (NYT, Jan. 14, 17)
The most ironic thing about the episode is that the quote which was deemed
acceptable was from the 1917 essay
"Anarchism: What it Really Stands For",
which accused the press and mainstream opinion of hypocrisy in condemning
the "violence" of anarchists (much as they today bait radical environmentalists
as "terrorists"--see WW3 REPORT #22):
"Anarchism represents to the unthinking...a black monster bent on
swallowing everything; in short, destruction and violence. Destruction and
violence! How is the ordinary man to know that the most violent element in
society is ignorance; that its power of destruction is the very thing
Anarchism is combating? Nor is he aware that Anarchism, whose roots, as it
were, are part of nature's forces, destroys, not healthful tissue, but
parasitic growths that feed on the life's essence of society. It is merely
clearing the soil from weeds and sagebrush, that it may eventually bear
healthy fruit."
The second quote was from Emma's 1902 essay
"Free Speech in Chicago",
which
protested the closure of her meetings by the police in that city--much as
Chicago police are today seeking greater power to harass and intimidate
activists. (See WW3 REPORT # 59.)
The first quote was from the essay
"Preparedness: The Road to Universal Slaughter",
written one year into WW I, which also includes the following
prophetic statement:
"Since the war began, miles of paper and oceans of ink have been used to
prove the barbarity, the cruelty, the oppression of Prussian militarism.
Conservatives and radicals alike are giving their support to the Allies for
no other reason than to help crush that militarism, in the presence of
which, they say, there can be no peace or progress in Europe. But though
America grows fat on the manufacture of munitions and war loans to the
Allies to help crush Prussians the same cry is now being raised in America
which, if carried into national action, would build up an American
militarism far more terrible than German or Prussian militarism could ever
be, and that because nowhere in the world has capitalism become so brazen
in its greed and nowhere is the state so ready to kneel at the feet of
capital."
IF YOU READ A SINGLE WORD OF THIS REPORT YOU MUST
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