Daily Report
Michael Gordon the new Judith Miller?
Even after the humbling of Judith Miller, the Times seems to be up to the same old tricks. The latest propaganda from Michael Gordon is deconstructed by Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher, May 5 (links added):
NYT vs McClatchy on Iran's Link to Iraqi Insurgents
NEW YORK — Michael Gordon, the military writer for The New York Times who contributed several false stories about Iraqi WMD in the runup to the U.S. attack on Iraq in 2002, has written several articles in the past year about Iran's alleged training of Iraqi insurgents—or supplying them with weapons to kill Americans. He produced another major report on this subject for today's Times—based solely on unnamed sources—which is at odds with an account from McClatchy’s Baghdad bureau.
Pentagon media scandal down memory hole?
Eight thousand pages of documents related to the Pentagon's illegal propaganda campaign, known as the Pentagon military analyst program, are now online for the world to see, although in a format that makes it impossible to easily search them and therefore difficult to read and dissect. This trove includes the documents pried out of the Pentagon by David Barstow and used as the basis for his stunning investigation that appeared in the New York Times on April 20, 2008.
US battles Mahdi Army —PKK next?
At least eight people were killed and 13 injured May 6 as US aircraft bombed positions of the Mahdi Army militia in Baghdad's Sadr City. (DPA, AP, May 7) Civilians are fleeing Sadr City, but the fighting is spreading beyond the enclave. A rocket slammed into Baghdad's city hall and another hit a downtown park. (AP, May 7) Iran says it will not hold a fourth round of talks with the US on security in Iraq, as long as US forces continue what it called "open bombings" of Shi'ites. (VOA, May 5)
Food riots, anti-US protests rock Somalia
Hundreds of youths hurled stones and blocked roads with burning tires May 6 in a second day of protests over food prices in Mogadishu, where the price of corn meal has more than doubled since January and rice has risen from $26 to $47.50 for a 110-pound sack. The protests were sparked by shopkeepers' refusal to accept some bank notes, apparently over fears of counterfeiters. On May 5, tens of thousands took to the streets and five people were killed by government troops and armed shopkeepers. (SomaliNet, AP, May 6) More than a thousand people demonstrated in Dusamareb, central Somalia, May 4 against the US air-strike that killed an alleged al-Qaeda militant and at least 11 others. (VOA, May 4)
NYC marijuana busts racist —surprise!
In 1994, the first year of Rudolph Giuliani's initial term as mayor of New York, 3,400 people were arrested for marijuana possession in the city's five boroughs. By 2000, that number had swelled to 51,500. This period and the ensuing years, which have seen a continuation of this policy under Mayor Michael Bloomberg—39,400 people were arrested in New York for pot last year—has been officially dubbed the "Marijuana Arrest Crusade" by Harry G. Levine and Deborah Peterson Small in a thusly-named report, subtitled "Racial Bias and Police Policy in New York City 1997-2007."
Miami fetes terrorist
Alfonso Chardy writes for the Miami Herald, May 3 (links added):
Militant Cuban exile honored
A beaming Luis Posada Carriles hugged and shook hands with hundreds of supporters late Friday as he arrived at a club in west Miami-Dade fo a dinner in his honor.
Mexico: Cananea strike now legal
On April 28 Mexico's Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Board (JFCA) ruled in favor of a nine-month old strike at Grupo Mexico's giant copper mine at Cananea, in the northwestern state of Sonora. The ruling, which is final, makes the job action legal. Previously the JFCA had ruled against the strike—which was started by the National Union of Mine and Metal Workers of the Mexican Republic (SNTMMRM) over safety issues on July 30—and the government sent troops to the mine in January. Grupo Mexico must now end the partial operations it was carrying out at the mine. (La Jornada, April 29) On April 24 the company had threatened to close the facility, as it is reportedly doing in the San Martin mine in Zacatecas. (Mexican Labor News and Analysis, April 2008)
El Salvador: arrest in FMLN mayor's murder
From the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), April 30:
Attorney General's office announces capture of suspects in assassination of FMLN Mayor
In the early dawn hours of April 14, El Salvador’s National Civilian Police (PNC) arrested Isabel Cortés and Marvin Antonio Rodriguez and charged them with January's double murder of Wilber Funes, mayor of the town of Alegría, and municipal employee Zulma Rivera. Cortés is a member of the Alegría city council who was elected along with Funes on the FMLN party ticket in 2006.
Recent Updates
10 hours 12 min ago
1 day 10 hours ago
1 day 10 hours ago
1 day 10 hours ago
4 days 9 hours ago
4 days 9 hours ago
4 days 10 hours ago
6 days 10 hours ago
6 days 10 hours ago
6 days 10 hours ago