Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he resigned to break a deadlock in parliament over Japan's support for US-led operations in Afghanistan. Former foreign minister Taro Aso, who shares Abe's pro-remilitarization agenda, is considered the frontrunner to take over as party leader and, consequently, prime minister. Under the proposed plan, the Air Self-Defense Forces would provide airlift support for NATO's ISAF mission in Afghanistan, a provision of a new law planned to replace the current counter-terrorism law that expires Nov. 1. The new legislation would also continue and expand the Maritime Self-Defense Force's NATO-linked refueling mission in the Indian Ocean. (Euronews, Sept. 12; Japan Times, Sept. 9)

The game of bait-and-switch goes on, without anyone seeming to notice. Following the Congressional testimony of his commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, Bush has reportedly embraced his recommendation that the US withdraw 30,000 troops—by next summer. Bizarrely, this is being portrayed as a de-escalation—even though it will leave 130,000 troops in Iraq. In other words, around the same as before the "surge." Also around the same as in May 2003 when Bush declared an end to "major combat operations"—at which time troop levels were ostensibly slated to be reduced by 100,000 over the next four months. (They now stand at 168,000.)

Everyone is talking about Robert Fisk's Sept. 11 column in The Independent, but nobody is noting what a cynical, disingenuous piece of self-serving propaganda it is. The most sickening thing about it is that he feels obliged to start out with a ritual put-down of the conspiracy vampires—and then goes on to legitimize their transparent claptrap. Here it is—with our corrections and deconstructions of Fisk's bunk interjected:

Politicians and labor leaders held a rally at Ground Zero Sept. 8 in support of efforts to get federal funding for first responders, construction workers, volunteers, residents, and students exposed to health risks in the 9-11 attacks and their aftermath. On the sixth anniversary of that day, three New York Congressman––Democrats Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, and Republican Vito Fossella––are to introduce the 9-11 Health and Compensation Act, which would provide healthcare and monitoring to all those exposed to the environment of downtown Manhattan after the attacks.

Osama bin Laden's last communique of January 2006 attempted to exploit the writings of leftist icon William Blum—but, as we noted, rather garbled it. Now The Guardian calls him out on similarly exploiting—and garbling—the work of one of their reporters in his latest missive. From the Sept. 11 edition:

Bin Laden takes liberties with contents of Guardian video
To the long list of crimes committed by Osama bin Laden a new one can now be added: manipulation of the media. In his latest video address, released last Friday, the al-Qaida leader refers to a film made by the Guardian in Iraq and misquotes the contents of the documentary to suit his own dramatic effect.

Some 10,000 members of the Section 22 teachers union and the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) marched in Oaxaca City Sept. 1 to demonstrate their rejection of Mexico's President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, the same day he delivered his first address to Congress. Another 7,000 Oaxacans gathered in Mexico City's Plaza de la Constitución for a "contrainforme," a public speak-out conceived as a corrective to Calderón's address. (La Jornada, Sept. 2)

On Aug. 28, 29 and 30, ICE agents swept through the greater Boston area, arresting 36 immigrants the agency claims are members or associates of the MS-13 street gang. ICE said the raids were part of ICE's national anti-gang initiative, Operation Community Shield, launched in 2005. Most of the arrests were made in Chelsea, East Boston, Everett, Lynn, Revere and Somerville. Those arrested come from El Salvador, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.

On Aug. 24, 140 people rallied outside the immigration court in Hartford, Connecticut to demand the release of Said Zaim-Sassi, a Moroccan-born resident of Wallingford, Connecticut. Marchers wore T-shirts that said "Keep Families Together" and held up signs that called for a stop to immigration raids. Zaim-Sassi has been living in the US for 20 years; he worked for Metro-North, volunteered to help other immigrants and played soccer. His wife, Souhair Zaim-Sassi, is a Morocco-born US citizen; the couple has three US-born children, ages two, four and seven.