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Headlines from Democracy Now:

- U.S. Launches Major Offensive In Afghanistan
- House OKs Overtime Cuts & Media Reg Laws
- Report: Wolfowitz May Soon Step Down
- 41 U.S. Troops Injured Iraq Car Bomb Blast
- UN Votes For Int'l Court Ruling On Israeli Wall
- NRA Seeks to Start "News" Outlet

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Manhunt in Iraq: Israel Trains U.S. Assassination Squads

In his latest article in the New Yorker, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh writes:
“The Bush Administration has authorized a major escalation of the Special Forces covert war in Iraq. In interviews over the past month, American officials and former officials said that the main target was a hard-core group of Baathists who are believed to be behind much of the underground insurgency against the soldiers of the United States and its allies. A new Special Forces group, designated Task Force 121, has been assembled from Army Delta Force members, Navy seals, and C.I.A. paramilitary operatives, with many additional personnel ordered to report by January. Its highest priority is the neutralization of the Baathist insurgents, by capture or assassination.

“The revitalized Special Forces mission is a policy victory for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who has struggled for two years to get the military leadership to accept the strategy of what he calls ‘Manhunts’ — a phrase that he has used both publicly and in internal Pentagon communications. Rumsfeld has had to change much of the Pentagon’s leadership to get his way. “Knocking off two regimes allows us to do extraordinary things,” a Pentagon adviser told me, referring to Afghanistan and Iraq.

“One step the Pentagon took was to seek active and secret help in the war against the Iraqi insurgency from Israel, America’s closest ally in the Middle East. According to American and Israeli military and intelligence officials, Israeli commandos and intelligence units have been working closely with their American counterparts at the Special Forces training base at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and in Israel to help them prepare for operations in Iraq.”

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A Look At Wesley Clark and the Media's "Shameful" Coverage of Bush's Trip to Iraq

Former Vice President Al Gore is announcing today he is endorsing Howard Dean for president in a move that surprised many campaign observers. The Washington Post says that Gore's move gives "the insurgent candidate the establishment backing his campaign has been lacking."

Gore's decision is being viewed as a major blow to Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, who ran as Gore's running mate in 2000. Earlier, Lieberman appearing on the Today show said of Gore's announcement, "I was caught completely off guard."

Lieberman went on to say, "What really bothers me is that Al is supporting a candidate who is so fundamentally opposed to the basic transform that Bill Clinton brought to the party in 1992."

Tonight, Dean will join most of the democratic candidates for a debate in New Hampshire where the first primary takes place January 27.

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Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs Accused of Using Honduras Sweatshops for Sean John Line

Workers rights activists have accused hip-hop mogul Sean "P. Diddy" Combs (formerly known as Puff Daddy) of using sweatshops in Honduras to produce his clothing line, which sells under the name Sean Jean.

In a press conference held in October, Lydda Elie Gonzalez, a former employee, said workers have to get passes before they could go to the toilet, are subjected to daily body searches and were forced to work overtime without pay: "We are totally slaves. We live inhumane lives."

Activists say Honduran workers receive 15 cents for the production of each Sean John long-sleeve shirt, which retails for about $40.

Gonzalez was brought to the U.S. last month by the National Labor Committee, a US labor rights group, to highlight what its director Charles Kernaghan calls the shocking conditions in the five central American countries now negotiating a free-trade agreement with the U.S.

The regional deal will be the first since the still-controversial North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico to open the US market fully to goods from much poorer countries.

Negotiators from the US and the five central American countries will meet in Washington next week to finalize details of the free-trade pact, known as CAFTA.

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22nd Anniversary of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Arrest for Fatal Shooting of Officer Danny Faulkner

22 years ago today Mumia Abu-Jamal was arrested for the fatal shooting of police officer Daniel Faulkner. Abu-Jamal was also gravely wounded. We speak with activist Pam Africa about Pennsylvania's most famous death row inmate.

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On DemocracyNow.org today

Headlines from Democracy Now:

- Copying Israeli Tactics, U.S. Tightens Grip in Iraq
- Citing Safety 60 S. Korean Engineers Leave Iraq
- Memo Reveals INC Fed Cheney Iraq Intel
- Congress Prepares to Give Iranian Dissidents $1.5M
- GOP Bribes Congressman Over Medicare Vote
- Queen Visits Mock Nigerian Village

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Saving President Bush: Send in James Baker

Last week, President Bush appointed former Secretary of State James Baker as his envoy for restructuring Iraq’s more than $120 billion in foreign debt. Baker will be dispatched in his own U.S. government plane as a special presidential envoy to deal with heads of state in Asia, Europe and the Persian Gulf. He will report directly to President Bush.

Baker is a lawyer-politician who is a former White House Chief of Staff, Treasury Secretary, Secretary of State and various other things. He is a trusted friend of the Bush family and has been called up before in times of political need. He ran Bush Senior’s presidential campaigns and was President George W Bush’s man in Florida during the recount in 2000.

Baker is now a senior partner in the law firm of Baker Botts, which is deeply involved in the fight for the oil and gas of the Caspian Sea and is senior counselor to the powerful investment firm the Carlyle Group. On the morning of September 11th, 2001, Baker was reportedly at a Carlyle investor conference with members of the bin Laden family in the Ritz Carlton in Washington D.C. And his law firm Baker Botts is defending the Saudi government in a lawsuit filed by the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

This past July, Baker was sent out to Georgia to lecture its President, Eduard Shevardnadze, about the need to ensure that the upcoming parliamentary elections were "free and fair." Fast forward four months and Shevardnadze has been overthrown in a so-called “Velvet Revolution.”

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U.S. Air Strike Kills 9 Children in Afghanistan

Nine children were killed in southern Afghanistan when two U.S. warplanes fired rockets and bullets into a group of villagers sitting under a tree. The military claimed they were trying to assassinate a member of the Taliban. Local residents told the BBC, the man [Mullar Wazir] had left the area 10 days before. The UN said the incident was "profoundly distressing" and announced plans for an investigation. The BBC described their target as a low-ranking member of the Taliban who was suspected of overseeing the murders of two foreign contractors.

Last week Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld traveled to Afghanistan where he met with rival warlords, Abdul Rashid Dostum and Atta Mohammed, and later held talks with President Hamid Karzai at his presidential palace.

Rumsfeld said the warlords whose forces collaborated with American ground troops to help topple the Taliban regime two years ago, are making progress toward disarmament.

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"It Really Is Unclear Where The Air Force Begins And Boeing Ends"

The Financial Times is reporting today that defense contractor Boeing had developed ties with at least six members of an influential civilian Pentagon advisory board as it attempted to win support for an $18 billion contact with the Air Force. Boeing gave millions to separate investment funds run by former assistant secretary of defense Richard Perle and former CIA head James Woolsey. Perle is also coming under criticism for writing an editorial in the Wall Street Journal in support of the Boeing deal without disclosing his ties to the project.

The ties between Boeing and the Defense Policy Board mark the latest in an ongoing series of potential conflicts of interest that have emerged between Capitol Hill and the arms manufacturer.

In late November Boeing fired Darleen Druyun. She was allegedly recruited by Boeing while working for the Air Force as one of the chief architects of the Boeing contract. Along with Druyan, Boeing has fired its chief financial officer Mike Sears.

Boeing CEO’s Phil Condit resigned last week.

On Saturday, The New York Times revealed that Marvin Sambur, an Air Force acquisitions officer, shared inside Pentagon information with Boeing during negotiations. He also continued to urge the Pentagon to sign the Boeing deal even after Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had expressed concern over the project.

And U.S. News and World Report is reporting today that the Sen. John McCain plans to call for a congressional investigation to examine the large number of governmental officials who have left Washington to work for Boeing.

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Headlines from Democracy Now:

- Transcript: Kissinger OK'd Argentina Dirty War
- Israel "Full Partner" with U.S. & UK Over Iraq Intel
- Richard Perle's Ties To Boeing Revealed
- Bush Critic Max Cleland To Leave 9/11 Panel
- Private Contractors Unveil New Ammunition in Iraq
- Paper: 1,700 U.S. Soldiers Have Deserted in Iraq

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The Geneva Peace Accords: A Debate Between Rabbi Michael Lerner, AIPAC and Palestinian professor Naseer Aruri

The United Nations and the European Union endorse it. Some Israelis and Palestinians oppose it. And U.S. officials say they are still considering it.

The prototype peace plan known as the Geneva accord is creating a stir in the Middle East.

The peace plan was agreed to by unofficial Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Geneva Monday. The main points of the accord include a division of Jerusalem along religious and cultural lines, a mutual recognition of statehood and for Israel to dismantle a majority of the settlements and return to its 1967 borders. Palestinians are to renounce their right to return to properties left in 1948.

Secretary of State Colin Powell and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfwitz have announced they will meet the architects of the accord - former justice minister Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian cabinet minister Yasser Abed Rabbo. The decision was met with a quick rebuke from Israel who strongly opposes the plan.

Prime minister Ariel Sharon’s spokesman Raanan Gissin called the accord a “Swiss golden calf," and an assembly of rabbis said the authors should be "cast out from human society and brought to trial."

Meanwhile, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades denounced the Palestinian authors as collaborators and someone opened fire on Palestinian negotiator Abed Rabbo's home.

Separately in Cairo, Hamas representatives attending a summit meeting of Palestinian factions are resisting a comprehensive truce with Israel and are agreeing only to halt attacks only inside pre-1967 Israeli borders.

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Despite Increased Post-9/11 Need, Military Fires 37 Arabic Translators For Being Gay

A recent post in the Washington Post began:

Kathleen Glover was cleaning the pool at the Sri Lankan ambassador's residence recently when she heard the sound of Arabic drifting through the trees. Glover earned $11 an hour working for a pool-maintenance company, skimming leaves and testing chlorine levels in the backyards of Washington. No one knew about her past. But sometimes the past found her.
Glover recognized the sound instantly. It was the afternoon call to prayer coming from a mosque on Massachusetts Avenue. She held still, picking out familiar words and translating them in her head.

She learned Arabic at the Defense Language Institute (DLI), the military's premier language school, in Monterey, Calif. Her timing as a soldier was fortuitous: Around her graduation last year, a Government Accounting Office study reported that the Army faced a critical shortage of linguists needed to translate intercepts and interrogate suspects in the war on terrorism.

"I was what the country needed," Glover said.

She was, and she wasn't. Glover is gay. She mastered Arabic but couldn't handle living a double life under the military policy known as "don't ask, don't tell." After two years in the Army, Glover, 26, voluntarily wrote a statement acknowledging her homosexuality.

Confronted with a shortage of Arabic interpreters and its policy banning openly gay service members, the Pentagon had a choice to make.

Which is how former Spec. Glover came to be cleaning pools instead of sitting in the desert, translating Arabic for the U.S. government.

In the past two years, the Department of Defense has discharged 37 linguists from the Defense Language Institute for being gay. Like Glover, many studied Arabic. At a time of heightened need for intelligence specialists, 37 linguists were rendered useless because of their homosexuality.

To discuss this, we are joined by Nathaniel Frank, senior research fellow at the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

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New Study Faults Electronic Voting Machines in Ohio

A new report from the state of Ohio has found that electronic voting machines from the four biggest companies in the field have serious security flaws. The companies say the problems can be addressed but experts have raised questions if that is true.

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U.S. Uncovers Weapons of Mass Destruction... In Texas

This is a story of weapons of mass destruction. Chemical weapons. Domestic Terrorism. Forged Identifications. And media double standards.

In the Texan town of Tyler law enforcement officials found what hundreds of investigators in Iraq have been looking for months.

A Tyler man named William Krar with ties to white supramacists had built a sodium cynanide bomb. In the words of the Justice Department, the man had developed his own chemical weapons. In addition he had a well-stocked arsenal reportedly with 500,000 rounds of ammunition. He and his wife plead guilty two weeks ago to a series of weapons charges.

According to the Texas TV station CBS 11, this case lead federal officials to launch one of its most extensive investigations of domestic terrorism since the Oklahoma City bombing. Hundreds of subpoenas have been reportedly sent out. Documents seized indicated there may be other co-conspirators across the country. And the threat was deemed great enough to appear in the President’s daily briefing.

But strangely the story is mostly unknown to almost anyone outside of Texas because the national media has all but ignored the story.

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On DemocracyNow.org today

Headlines from Democracy Now:

- Rwandan Journalists Sentenced For Role in Genocide
- U.S. Rejects Iraqi Plan to Conduct Census
- U.S. To Create Iraqi Paramilitary Force
- 70% of U.S. Says Iraq War Didn't Reduce Threat
- Coroner: Cincinnati Man’s Death Caused by Police
- GOP Congressman Sued For Anti-Islam Remarks

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As Sentencing in the Lackawanna 6 Case Begins, A U.S. Court Rejects Law That Criminalizes Unknowingly Supporting a Terrorist Organization

A federal judge yesterday sentenced a Yemeni American to 10 years in prison for supporting a terrorist organization. Mukhtar al-Bakri is the first of the so-called "Lackawanna Six" members to be sentenced after pleading guilty earlier this year to providing material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization – a charge carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine.

All six have admitted to the FBI and intelligence officials that in 2001 they traveled to Afghanistan, received training at a camp run by the Al Qaeda terrorist network and heard speeches by Al Qaeda's leader, Osama bin Laden.

A lawyer for one of the men said they pleaded guilty only after prosecutors had dropped heavy hints that they would be declared 'enemy combatants' if they didn't. “It was a factor my client took into account. He was worried about it,” he said. Enemy combatant status places a detainee outside of the civilian justice system where access to legal counsel can be waived.

The other five defendants in the case are scheduled to be sentenced this month.

The prosecution has been hailed as a triumph for law enforcement by President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller, but critics call it an example of America putting people in jail for "thought crimes" and "guilt by association." None of the six have been accused of planning or engaging in any act of terrorism.

This comes as the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rules part of the law the men are being charged under unconstitutional.

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Tariq Ali vs. Christopher Hitchens on the Occupation of Iraq: Postponed Liberation or Recolonisation?

It has been 8 months since the U.S. began its invasion of Iraq. In this time, U.S. forces have failed to produce any weapons of mass destruction in the country˜the stated reason for going to war against Baghdad.

According to the Pentagon's own figures, some 440 U.S. troops have died in Iraq. Thousands have been wounded. There are no solid estimates of the number of Iraqis who have been killed since the start of the invasion. November was the bloodiest month for U.S. forces in Iraq 79 soldiers died, 39 of them were killed in the downing of 4 military helicopters. Saddam Hussein remains at-large and the occupation forces face regular attacks throughout the country.

Today, we take a look at the U.S. occupation of Iraq with two renowned authors: Tariq Ali, author of Bush in Babylon: The Recolonization of Iraq and Christopher Hitchens, jounalist and author of A Long Short War: The Postponed Liberation of Iraq.

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On DemocracyNow.org today

Headlines from Democracy Now:

- Pentagon To Start Paying Troop Travel Costs
- U.S. Fires Guantanamo Lawyers After Criticism
- Nader Sets up 2004 Exploratory Committee
- Nobel Prize Winner Criticizes U.S. Over Iraq
- Italians Protest New Media Ownership Laws
- Rumsfeld’s a Winner: Worst Mangler of English Language

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Did the U.S Lie About What Happened in Samarra?

Widely differing accounts are emerging over a battle Sunday between U.S. troops and Iraqi resistance fighters in the northern Iraqi town of Samarra.

The U.S. Army said that either 46 or 54 guerillas were killed in the clashes and another 16 wounded in what it described as the bloodiest fire-fight since the official end of the war. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt later admitted that the U.S. figures are only estimates and that U.S. forces had not recovered a single body from the scene.

Iraqi accounts differ sharply. The director of the local hospitals says they received the bodies of only eight civilians, including those of a woman and child as well as 60 others wounded. U.S. military officials denied their forces had overreacted and fired indiscriminately, as charged by senior police, hospital and municipal officials in the Samarra.

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“We Have More Than One Guantanamo In Iraq” – British Anti-War Lawyer Representing Tariq Aziz Arrested After Charging Blair With War Crimes

A human rights lawyer representing Saddam Hussein’s former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz was arrested in London last week. Abdul Haq Al-Ani was arrested by Britain’s Customs and Excise and charged under Section 3C of the Iraq and Kuwait (United Nations Sanctions) Order 1990 which states that "no person shall do any act calculated to promote the supply or delivery of any goods to any person in Iraq or Kuwait or for the purpose of any business carried on in Iraq".

He was released on bond and ordered to return for further questioning in eight weeks. He is the first person in Britain to be arrested in connection with the Iraq sanctions. But international lawyers rights organizations say the arrest of Abdul Haq Al-Ani, who is a British barrister, is political. He has been an active opponent of the invasion and occupation of Iraq and was a vigorous campaigner against the more than decade of economic sanctions against Iraq. Shortly after the occupation began, Al-Ani traveled to Iraq to investigate US and British war crimes. Two weeks ago, shortly before his arrest, Al-Ani along with a number of other British lawyers had recently handed a petition to Scotland Yard asking the police to investigate war crimes allegedly committed by Prime Minister Tony Blair and members of the cabinet.

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75 U.S. Soldiers Shout “Kill! Kill! Kill!” Outside Anti-War Priest’s House

In a recent article on CommonDreams.org, Father John Dear writes:

“I live in a tiny, remote, impoverished, three block long town in the desert of northeastern New Mexico. Everyone in town--and the whole state--knows that I am against the occupation of Iraq, that I have called for the closing of Los Alamos, and that as a priest, I have been preaching, like the Pope, against the bombing of Baghdad….Suddenly, at 7 a.m., the [soldiers’] shouting got dramatically louder. I looked out the front window of the house where I live, next door to the church, and there they were--all 75 of them, standing yards away from my front door, in the street right in front of my house and our church, shouting and screaming to the top of their lungs, “Kill! Kill! Kill!” Their commanders had planted them there and were egging them on.”

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Irish Peace Accord In Jeopardy With Elevation of Hard-Line Unionist Ian Paisley

In Northern Ireland, the future of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement is in jeopardy following last week's elections. One of the hard-line Protestant parties that opposed the agreement, the Democratic Unionist Party, won the most seats in the power-sharing assembly in Belfast.

The party's head Ian Paisley has called for the renegotiation of the peace treaty. His son Ian Paisley Jr. said the peace agreement was “dead in the water.”

The impact of the elections remains unclear in part because Britain suspended home rule a year ago temporarily stripping the Belfast body of most of its power.

Ian Paisley has also ruled out working with Sinn Fein, the political party led by Gerry Adams which secured the most seats among the Catholic political parties. After the election Paisley told the BBC, “I don't accept the principle that we must sit down with armed terrorists who have enough weapons in their possession to blow up the whole of Northern Ireland.”

On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Tony Blair spoke publicly about the election results for the first time. He described it as a "a difficult situation." Six months ago Blair predicted that if Paisley’s DUP came to power they would destroy the Good Friday Agreement.

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Headlines from Democracy Now:

- Israelis & Palestinians Launch Unofficial Peace Plan
- U.S. Ends Immigrant Registration Program
- Cincinnati Police Beat to Death African-American Man
- Colorado Court Rules Redistricting By GOP Illegal
- Diebold Drops Cases Against Internet Sites
- School Punishes Boy For Saying “Gay”

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A Debate on One of the Most Frequently Cited Justifications for the 1991 Persian Gulf War: Did PR Firm Hill & Knowlton Invent the Story of Iraqi Soldiers Pulling Kuwaiti Babies From Incubators?

We spend the hour with Lauri Fitz-Pegado, the woman who ran the PR campaign for Hill and Knowlton, and John Stauber, co-author of "Weapons Of Mass Deception."

On December 19, 1990, Amnesty International published an 84-page report on human rights violations in occupied Kuwait. The report stated that, “300 premature babies were reported to have died after Iraqi soldiers removed them from incubators, which were then looted.”

This allegation, which was widely reported by the global media, became one of the most often cited justifications for the 1991 Gulf War. On January 9 1991, President George HW Bush cited Amnesty’s report in a letter sent to campus newspapers across the country. In the Senate, six senators specifically cited the story in their speeches supporting the resolution to give Bush authorization to use American forces in Kuwait. That vote ultimately passed by a mere half-dozen votes.

But the most dramatic moment in this story came on October 10, 1990, when a 15 year old Kuwaiti girl, identified simply as Nayirah testified in front of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus that she had personally witnessed 15 infants taken from incubators by Iraqi forces who she said, “left the babies on the coal floor to die.” California Democrat Tom Lantos explained that her identity would be kept secret to protect her family.

What was not said at the time is that Nayirah was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the US, Saud Nasir al-Sabah. By March of 1991, Amnesty International took the unprecedented move of retracting its report, saying it had become clear that the allegations were baseless. [Includes transcript]

On October 17, Democracy Now! spoke with author and PR Watch co-founder John Stauber as well as retired Air Force Colonel Sam Gardiner about the U.S. government’s use of psy-ops, propaganda and information warfare in the build up to the Iraq invasion.

Within that conversation John Stauber spoke about his findings that a new Jessica Lynch-related book is: “being promoted by … [the] Livingston Group’s Lauri Fitz-Pegado. She is infamous for her work at Hill & Knowlton PR in 1990 coaching the Kuwaiti girl called "Nayirah" in her shocking but phony testimony on Congressional hill that she'd seen Iraqi soldiers murdering Kuwaiti babies. That stunt helped propel the U.S. to war against Iraq in 1991. Fitz-Pegado's client was the ruling family of Kuwait and the baby-killing claims were later shown to be false.”

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On DemocracyNow.org today

Headlines from Democracy Now:

- U.S. Kills 54 Iraqis In Bloodiest Battle Since April
- N. Irish Peace Accord In Jeopardy With Elevation of Ian Paisley
- Report: U.S. To Release 140 From Guantanamo
- Patriot Act Author Concerned Over Jose Padilla Detention
- Annan: Israel Wall Threatens Peace

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World AIDS Day: Mandela Calls For More Help to Fight Disease; UN Plan to Provide AIDS Drugs to 3 Million

UNAIDS and the World Health Organization are announcing a program to provide life-saving, anti-retroviral drugs to about 3 million people infected with HIV/AIDS in poor countries by 2005.
The WHO called on countries to train and organize 100,000 health care and nonprofessional workers to carry out the plan.

The program is part of a larger 5 and a half billion-dollar emergency strategy aimed at preventing the disease from killing about 8,000 people in the world every day.

To mark World AIDS day, former South African President Nelson Mandela was joined by pop stars Bono, Beyonce Knowles and Bob Geldof at a Cape Town concert over the weekend in South Africa to call for more help to fight AIDS.

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U.S. Kills 54 Iraqis in Occupation's Bloodiest Weekend; Non-U.S. Coalition Forces Suffer 14 Deaths

U.S. forces killed up to 54 Iraqis Sunday in Samarra in one of the bloodiest battles since the fall of Baghdad. Pentagon officials claimed all of the Iraqis killed were fighters but Agence France Press reports that local medics said at least eight of the Iraqis were civilians including an Iraqi woman and child. The Los Angeles Times also reported that local residents said some of the victims worked at a pharmaceutical factory which was hit accidentally by U.S. tanks.

The U.S. said the killings came in response to Iraqi attacks on three U.S. convoys near Samarra.

It came at the end of a weekend that saw coalition forces suffer 14 deaths including seven Spanish intelligence agents, two Korean contractors, two Japanese diplomats, two US soldiers and a Colombian contractor. A total of 111 coalition forces died in November marking the deadliest month since the U.S. invaded Iraq.

In Spain, calls for the return of all Spanish troops increased. Polls show 85 percent of the country believe the war in Iraq was a mistake. The newspaper El Mundo editorialized "Nobody who saw the glee with which passersby trampled the corpses of our countrymen can still maintain that the majority of Iraqis consider coalition troops to be their liberators."

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“The White House Press Corps Has Turned Into a Full Time Press Agency For The President” – Harpers’ Rick MacArthur on Bush’s Secretive Thanksgiving Trip to Iraq

President Bush returned to the U.S. from Iraq early Friday morning, after spending Thanksgiving dinner with hundreds of soldiers in Baghdad in what is being described as one of the most secretive presidential trips in American history.

The trip was a tightly held secret among only a few aides until the very end. The administration did not announce it until Bush had left Baghdad and even Bush’s parents did not know about his trip beforehand. The president left his ranch in an unmarked car, not the usual presidential limousine and tried to disguise his appearance.

A total of 13 journalists accompanied Bush on the trip. They were instructed not to tell their families or editor where they were going. On the way, White House communications chief Dan Bartlett told reporters that if news of the trip leaked out before Air Force One landed in Iraq, the plane would turn around.

Air traffic controllers in Baghdad did not know the plane heading for the runway was Air Force One. It landed without its lights under cover of darkness.

Bush spent only two and a half hours in the secure area around Baghdad airport where he spent Thanksgiving dinner with some 600 soldiers. He also met with members of the Iraqi Governing Council, including Ahmad Chalabi, the exile leader who is close to senior officials at the Pentagon.

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The Strange Case of James Yousef Yee: From Army Muslim Chaplain to Suspected Spy to A Free Man Facing Porn Charges. Is Yee the New Wen Ho Lee?

Three months ago, news broke around the country that a Muslim chaplain who graduated from West Point had been charged with espionage and possibly treason.

The Washington Times broke the story on Sept. 20 in a front page exclusive. Unnamed military sources said the chaplain, James Yousef Yee had been detained on Sept. 10 and charged with espionage, aiding the enemy and spying.

The New York Daily News soon speculated that the New Jersey-born Yee could become the first West Point graduate to be charged with treason.

Yee would go on to be held for 76 days much of it in a maximum-security Naval brig in South Carolina. He was held among the most high profile suspects in the so-called war on terror including enemy combatant Jose Padilla, an alleged member of Al Qaeda.

Now it looks like the military’s case has fallen apart.

The Washington Times had prematurely reported that Yee had been charged. In fact at the time he had been detained as part of an investigation.

When charges were finally filed in October the charges had little to do with national security. The most serious was taking classified material to his home and wrongfully transporting classified material without the proper security containers or covers.

Meanwhile on Saturday U.S. Army Col. Jackie Duane Farr was charged with the same crime as Yee -- "wrongfully transporting classified material without the appropriate locking container" as well as making a false statement during the course of the investigation. But according to the Los Angeles Times the military handled Farr’s case quite differently: he was charged with the crime but was not arrested or detained though he has agreed to remain at Guantanamo Bay where he works.

Last week Yee was released from detention. At the same time the military added two new charges that had nothing to do with espionage: downloading pornography on to a governmental computer and for committing adultery.

The New York Times reports that Yee has resumed working as a prison chaplain at Fort Benning in Georgia.

His case is now being compared to that of Wen Ho Lee, the nuclear scientist who was wrongfully accused of spying for the Chinese.

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In depth from Democracy Now:

Activist Kathy Kelly 'Hogtied" & Abused By Army At SOA Protests

Over ten thousand people gathered this weekend outside the gates of Fort Benning, Georgia to protest the US Army School of the Americas, a combat-training school for Latin American soldiers. It was recently renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (SOA/WHISC).

The protests culminated with a "funeral" procession to symbolize the thousands of people killed by soldiers trained at the school. More than 30 people were arrested after entering the base in an act of nonviolent civil disobedience. They took this action knowing they could face 3-6 months in federal prison. In years past, the arrests at the SOA protests have been coordinated with the police. Those wanting to be arrested simply crossed a yellow line and were then escorted to police buses. But this year it was different.

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Journalist Bill Moyers: "Our Democracy Is In Danger of Being Paralyzed"

Journalist Bill Moyers recently gave the keynote address before 2,000 people at the first ever National Conference on Media Reform. He warned, "What we’re talking about is nothing less than rescuing a democracy that is so polarized it is in danger of being paralyzed and pulverized. Alarming words, I know. But the realities we face should trigger alarms. Free and responsible government by popular consent just can’t exist without an informed public."

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On DemocracyNow.org today

In depth from Democracy Now:

An Hour With Vandana Shiva, Indian Scientist and Leading Critic of Corporate Globalization

From Bolivia to Cancun to Miami, this fall has seen major protests against corporate globalization across the hemisphere. Today we spend the hour listening to the words of Vandana Shiva.

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Headlines from Democracy Now:

- Senate Approves Medicare Bill
- Garner Admits Major Mistakes Made in Iraq
- White House Rescinds $300M Loan to Israel
- HIV Kills Record 3 Million This Year
- Pinochet Claims He Is An "Angel"

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In depth reporting from Democracy Now:

The Radical Mind of Dick Cheney: An In-Depth Look at the Vice President

We take an in-depth look at the historical role Vice President Dick Cheney has played in U.S. foreign policy, his treatment of the intelligence community and his hawkish influence on President George W. Bush. We speak with The New Republic’s Spencer Ackerman who co-wrote this week’s cover story on Cheney.

Click here to watch, listen, or read.


Bush Lifts Ban on Mini Nukes

President Bush signed a $401 billion defense authorization bill Monday saying, “America's military is standing between our country and grave danger.�

Tucked away within the bill is $15 million for continued research into new H-bombs, including low-yield, so-called "mini-nukes." The bill lifts a decade-old ban on research into low-yield nuclear weapons.

Japanese officials expressed concern yesterday about the plan saying it could have a “negative impact on nuclear nonproliferation." The U.S. is the only country in history to have dropped an atomic bomb. In 1945 it dropped one on the city of Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki in Japan. Over 340,000 died as a result.

Click here to read, watch and/or listen.


Unions Call For Timoney to Be Fired & Congressional Investigation After Bloody Miami FTAA Protests

The United Steelworkers of America is calling for the firing of Miami police John Timoney following last week's protests against the Free Trade Area of the Americas and the dropping of all charges against peaceful protesters. The mostly peaceful protests were marred by scores of reports of police brutality. Police shot rubber bullets and tear gas at protesters and beat demonstrators with batons.
Over 200 people were arrested and jailed. At least one protester remains hospitalized from injuries he said he sustained at the hands of the police The AFL-CIO and the American Civil Liberties Union are considering suing the city.

And the president of the steelworkers union, [Leo Gerard] called for a congressional investigation into why $8.5 million from the Iraq reconstruction bill was used to pay for security at the protests. He said the money went towards "homeland repression."

The Alliance for Retired Americans also held a rally Tuesday in Miami to protest how the police handled senior citizens who attended the FTAA demonstrations. One 71-year-old man, Bentley Killmon, told the Associated Press he was arrested while he was looking for his organization's bus. But then he encountered police dressed in riot gear. They pushed him to the ground, arrested him, handcuffed him for 12 hours and denied him water or a chance to make a phone call. Killmon said, "The way I was treated, you would expect it in a third world country, not in this country."

The Miami police continue to defend their actions. A spokesman told the Associated Press: "The object of the show of force was twofold: one to let the peaceful demonstrators know they could protest safely and two to let the troublemakers know that we would not tolerate anarchy. It was successful."

Click here to watch, read and/or listen.


"There's an Incredible Mismatch Between Military Doctrine And The Situation That Actually Exists There Right Now" – A Conversation With Two Fathers of Soldiers Deployed in Iraq

The Washington Post is reporting that for just the third time, President Bush met Monday with families of soldiers who died in Iraq. He has yet to attend any funerals of the 431 troops who have died in Iraq although at least 40 of the funerals took place just at Arlington National Cemetery, four miles from the White House. In addition to those killed, up to 9,000 soldiers have been wounded since the beginning of the invasion. A senior Army officer has told the New York Times that the Army is planning to keep about 100,000 U.S. troops in Iraq until at least 2006.

Click here to watch, read and/or listen.

On DemocracyNow.org today

Headlines from Democracy Now:

- Iraqi Council Shuts Down Arab TV Network
- Pentagon Retracts GI Torture Story
- W.Post Ombudsman Blasts Paper's Jessica Lynch Coverage
- Bush Makes Rare Visit With Families of Dead Troops
- Turkey Detains 12 in Connection to Bombings
- UK Royal Gardens Destroyed by Bush Visit

Click here to watch and/or listen.


In depth reporting from Democracy Now:

Privatizing Medicare? A Debate on the Controversial Medicare Drug Bill

A controversial Medicare bill made it past two attempted Democratic blocks in the Senate yesterday and is expected to win final passage in the biggest changes to the program since its creation in 1965.

The Senate broke a filibuster against the Medicare bill led by Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy. Then, on a close vote, the Senate defeated a budget challenge to the measure. The House approved the Medicare bill on Saturday, by a vote of 220 to 215, after an all-night session that ended with a record three-hour roll call. House Democrats accused the Republican leadership of abusing the rules of Congress by refusing to close the vote.

The massive Medicare $400 billion overhaul provides limited drug coverage and also includes plans for making generic drugs more readily available, making seniors who earn more than $80,000 pay more for doctors visits and introduces competition with private plans. Critics say the bill would privatize Medicare – the federal health insurance program for 40 million people. The Washington Post notes that the $400 billion figure underestimates the long-term costs of the measure which could be as high as $2 trillion.

The bill bans federal officials from using the purchasing power of the Medicare program to negotiate lower drug prices. It also omits plans to make it easy for American consumers to reimport U.S.-manufactured drugs from Canada and other Western countries where the medicines are less expensive.

Click here to watch, listen and/or read.


TV Ownership Cap Raised After Congress Backs Down

On Monday, Congress backed down on its strong opposition to the new media ownership regulations of the Federal Communications Commission by agreeing to a compromise with the White House. The compromise lifts what is known as the TV ownership cap from 35 to 39 percent. This will allow ABC and NBC to be able buy more television stations. CBS and Fox will not be able to because they were already over the existing cap. If Congress had enforced the 35 percent cap, CBS and Fox would have been forced to sell off stations.

Gene Kimmelman of the Consumers Union said "This is a backroom deal to let the two largest networks keep all of their stations."

Click here to watch, listen and/or read.


Bush Backers to Reap Energy, Medicare Bill Tax Benefits

The White House and Republican leaders yesterday abandoned attempts to vote on a massive energy bill this year and will resume the effort after Congress reconvenes in January. The measure would represent the largest overhaul of US energy policy in a decade. The $31 billion bill collapsed after Republican leaders refused to drop a provision shielding oil companies from some lawsuits.

The Washington Post reports both the Medicare and energy bills would give billions in tax benefits to companies run by executives who helped raise millions for President Bush's campaigns. The energy bill would give billions in tax subsidies to companies run by 22 executives who helped raised at least $100,000 each for Bush's presidential campaigns. Another 24 people who were major Bush campaign backers work as executives or lobbyists at firms that stand to benefit if the Medicare bill is passed.

Click here to watch, listen and/or read.


Will Anti Spam Bill Erode First Amendment Rights?

Congress is on the verge if approving a new bill that aims to limit the sending of unsolicited email known as spam. On Saturday the House vote 392 to 5 for the "Can Spam Act of 2003." The Senate approved a similar measure last month.

The response to the legislation has been mixed in the tech world. America Online and Microsoft have praised the legislation. Anti-spam groups charge it may encourage more spam. And other critics say it could change the future of all email, not just spam.

Click here to watch, listen and/or read.


Alexander Cockburn Speaks Out On Rupert Murdoch the Israel-Palestine Conflict and the Politics of Anti-Semitism

We are joined in our studio by Counterpunch editor and columnist for the Nation magazine, Alexander Cockburn recently back from London.

His latest piece begins This city is now recovering from the November visit of a global tyrant, on whose rampages the sun never sets. His name is not George Bush but Rupert Murdoch."

Cockburn writes further on: "... as an international operator, Murdoch offers his target governments a privatized version of a state propaganda service, manipulated without scruple and with no regard for truth. His price takes the form of vast government favors such as tax breaks, regulatory relief, monopoly markets and so forth."

Click here to watch, listen and/or read.

Some Stories Found on Antiwar.com today

Expanded Patriot Act Reach Would Hit The Net, Too

BBC Chief Accuses U.S. News Media of 'Banging Drum on Iraq'

Victims Pile Up in Violent Iraqi Capital

General Garner: U.S. Made Major Mistakes in Iraq

Ashcroft's Cointelpro: Neutralizing Dissent in America

Boeing Fires Execs on Ethics Charges

FBI Publicly Denies Spying on Antiwar Protesters

Taliban: 'We'll Strike in Kabul Again

US War Tactics Slammed by Rights Groups

Reservists Reflect on Anxious Call to Duty

Some Stories Found on CommonDreams.org today

Brain Injuries High Among U.S. Wounded in Iraq

American Unilateralism Alienates Allies, Isolates Us

Patriot Act Stifles Dissent on Campus

Guantánamo's Limbo is Too Convenient

AARP Leaders Betray Their Members by Lobbying for Medicare Drug Bill

Conservative Revolution? No -- Just Dazzlingly Effective PR

Some Stories Found On Antiwar.com today

Five U.S. Soldiers Killed in Afghan Helicopter Crash

Taliban Leader Omar Urges Afghans to Fight U.S. as Security Threat Worsens

Military Gets Break from Environmental Rules

Attack on Iraq Pipeline Disrupts Oil Output

The Other Conflict (Afghanistan) Continues to Take a G.I. Toll

Bush Signs Record-Breaking $401 Billion Pentagon Bill

Dixie Chicks Singer Sounds Off on War

Iraq Council Shuts Down, Raids Dubai-Based TV Station

U.S. Wages Media War as Iraq Insurgency Deepens

Iraqi Families Want Retribution for Deaths

Big Fish Set to Swallow Most Spoils of Iraq War

Army Probes Rising Troop Suicides in Iraq

Detention of Iraqis Creates Hostility, Resistance

On Antiwar.com today

6 GIs Die in Iraq: 2 Have Throats Cut, Bomb Kills 1, Accidents Kill 3

Coalition Corruption Charge Deals Fresh Blow to Iraq Handover

8,000 Protesters at Georgia Terror School Hit 'Patriotic' Music

Guerrilla War With No End in Sight

Iraq War Providing a Boost to al-Qaeda

DHL Cargo Aircraft Hit in First Iraqi Missile Strike on Plane

Bremer Fires 28,000 Teachers for Former Ba'ath Membership

On Common Dreams today

Iraq War Providing a Boost to al-Qaida,
Terror network is using clash as propaganda tool in holy war against West

Back to the Days of Hoover? F.B.I. Scrutinizes Antiwar Rallies

On Common Dreams today

A War That Can Never Be Won, Terrorism is a Technique, Not an Enemy State That Can Be Defeated

Why the Bush "War on Terror" is Fated to Fail

The Voting Game

Original FTAA Draft Scrapped: People Pour into Miami to Protest FTAA

Thank "George the First" and deregulation for this year's mega-blackout bankrolled by a $16 billion payout to Republicans

First Energy, it has now been determined, played the major role in causing the power failure that affected 50 million people in the worst blackout in U.S. history

Here is an excerpt from author Greg Palast's article "Welcome To The Dark Ages":

The power outage began in First Energy's Ohio operation. This company was the model for the film China Syndrome. Really. Then First Energy's Pennsylvania unit fumbled the power ball. These are the very same Homer Simpsons who melted Three Mile Island.

In 1992, just prior to his departure from the White House, President Bush Senior gave the power industry one long deep-through-the-teeth kiss goodbye: federal deregulation of electricity. It was a legacy he wanted to leave for his son, the gratitude of power companies which ponied up $16 million for the Republican campaign of 2000, seven times the sum they gave Democrats

Excerpt from Yahoo News article "Report Blames FirstEnergy for Blackout":

The report found four violations of industry reliability standards by FirstEnergy and another violation by the Midwestern Independent System Operator. The industry is largely self regulating and such violations in themselves would carry no fines.

The FirstEnergy violations included not reacting to a power line failure within 30 minutes as required by the North American Electricity Reliability Council, not notifying nearby systems of the problems, failing to analyze what was going on and inadequate operator training.

Crude Oil: The bane of of all life

Oil Drilling Gives Cancer Risk to N.Sea Fish -Study

On CommonDreams.org today

Going Backwards, Patriot Act Expansion Moves Through Congress

Energy Bill Blocked in Senate on Close Vote

Barking up the Wrong Bush, Instead of Focusing on Al Qaeda and the Carnage in Places like Turkey, US Resources are Being Swallowed up by Iraq

The Vanishing Case for War

Dean's New Southern Strategy, Blacks and Whites Together--Focused on Education and Healthcare

AARP Gone Astray

Sign Petition to Fight Energy and Medicare Bills

TrueMajority states:

The cliches about dysfunctional government are converging as President Bush tries to force Congress to pass flawed Energy and Medicare legislation: back-room deal-making, secret meetings with industry chiefs, exclusion of the opposition and payoffs for special interests. p>

Some of our friends in the Senate are working to do the right thing and protect good policy by filibustering both the Energy and Medicare bills. This would spare Americans from paying billions of our tax dollars to support the oil, gas, and nuclear industries. It would also stop the pharmaceutical industry-backed Medicare bill, which is a first step toward eliminating any possibility for universal health coverage for the elderly, while offering paltry prescription drug benefits to seniors. And, as with the Energy bill, the Medicare bill dedicates big tax breaks and unreasonable profits to the special interests which coordinated the bill.

Click Here to Fight Energy and Medicare Bills

On Antiwar.com today

U.S. Soldier Killed, Two Wounded in Roadside Bombing

Iraq Car Bombs Kill 6, Wound 50

9/11 Commission Orders New York to Hand Over Documents

Bush says U.S. Troop Levels in Iraq May Rise

200,000 March Against Bush in London

U.S. Resumes Night Strikes in Iraq

Iraqi Lawyers Protest Arrests in Mosul

Shells Fired at Polish Military Hospital in Iraq

Grim Iraq Forecast Challenges Bush

Grieving Mother Wants Bush to Bring the Boys Home from Iraq

German Spy Chief: Official Warns Anti-U.S. Mood is Growing

Two Children Killed, Two Wounded in Karbala Classroom Explosion

U.S. Official Refuses Comment on Taliban-Pakistan Links

On CommonDreams.org today

Laughter and Lies in London:
Smashing Sledgehammers in Iraq

Under US Control, Press Freedom Falls Short in Iraq

Linking the Occupation of Iraq With the "War on Terrorism"

Crimes Against Nature

The Founders Confront Judge Moore

We Need Sustainable Development Policies, Not 'NAFTA on Steroids'

Recipe for Terror

Only a True End to Occupation will Bring Peace

Kucinich: Regain 'Essential American Optimism'

Sign Petition to Prevent Oil Drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge!

Environmental Defense states:

After years of stalemate, Congress and the oil industry continue their push to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil drilling. Right now, Congress is trying to iron out differences between competing energy bills already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives (which includes Arctic oil drilling) and the U.S. Senate (which does not include Arctic oil drilling). If the oil industry gets its way, it will force Arctic oil drilling provisions into the compromise energy bill, despite widespread public opposition to this environmentally damaging plan. Let Congress know, once and for all, that Americans oppose oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Click here to Stop Oil Drilling from Occurring in the Arctic Refuge

Sign Petition to Protect Tennessee’s Rivers!

American Rivers states:

Targeted Alert: Tennessee Activists Only

Tell Senators Frist and Alexander that you join the vast majority of Tennesseans who care about clean water. Send a message today urging Senators Frist and Alexander to oppose efforts to weaken the Clean Water Act, efforts that could make it easier for polluters to do their dirty work.

The Clean Water Act is designed to make all waters fishable and swimmable by keeping pollution out of our lakes, rivers, and wetlands. Last January, the Bush administration directed federal agencies to cease enforcing clean water protections on millions of acres of aquatic habitat. And the administration is now considering limiting clean water protections even further.

These actions fly in the face of the views of most Tennesseans. In a recent poll conducted by the University of Tennessee, 70% of Tennesseeans surveyed said that they are “very concerned” about water pollution and 81% said that “all of Tennessee’s lakes, rivers, and streams should be protected by the Clean Water Act.”

Act today. Let Senators Frist and Alexander know that you expect them to stand up to polluters and protect clean water in Tennessee and nationwide.

Click here to Protect Tennessee’s Rivers

Sign Petition to Save the Klamath River, America's #2 Most Endangered River

American Rivers states:

Urge your Representative to support the Klamath River Basin Restoration and Emergency Assistance Act!

The federal Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) is irresponsibly maximizing irrigation in the Klamath River basin, depleting river flows and wreaking havoc on imperiled wildlife and imposing tremendous hardships on Native American and fishing communities. Unless Congress and the Bush administration bring water commitments back into balance with what nature can sustain, the nation can expect more tragedies like the staggering die-off of more than 33,000 salmon that occurred last September.

Tell your Representative in Congress to support Rep. Mike Thompson’s Klamath River Basin Restoration and Emergency Assistance Act – which was introduced on April 10th. This bill would authorize funds for water conservation and habitat restoration projects and provide compensation for communities affected by the salmon kill of September 2002. The bill also would establish a Klamath Basin Restoration Task Force of conservationists, fishermen, Tribal representatives, and farmers to oversee water conservation and restoration activities.

Conservation Partners: Earthjustice, Klamath Forest Alliance, Northcoast Environmental Center, Oregon Natural Resources Council, Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, Riverhawks, WaterWatch of Oregon, The Wilderness Society, Yurok Tribe

Click here to save the Klamath River, America's #2 Most Endangered River

Sign Petition to Fix the Energy Bill for Rivers

American Rivers states:

*Targeted Alert: South Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Nebraska, Ohio, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Maine, Illinois, New Hampshire, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Virginia Activists Only*

The energy bill is in its final stages. Select members of the House and Senate are meeting in conference to work out the differences between their two versions of the bill. Unfortunately, the effort to date has been a very partisan, top-down affair, with Republican leadership writing legislation and expecting their colleagues to adopt their draft. The current version of the bill reduces environmental protections and limits public participation in decisions about how hydropower dams are operated on our rivers.

The best way to fix the hydropower title of the energy bill is to leverage the Senate leadership. Your Senator, a moderate and influential voice in Congress, can make a difference!

At a time when our leaders should be focused on meaningful energy reform, the hydropower language in the energy bill is little more than an industry giveaway. The bill would give the industry priority above all other stakeholders – including states, Indian tribes, landowners and the public – and roll back environmental protections that have been in place for more than 80 years.

Click here for Last Chance to Fix the Energy Bill for Rivers

Sign Petition to Protect California's Wild Rivers!

American Rivers states:

Your voice is needed to help protect California’s wild rivers and lands! Please contact your representative today and urge them to support the California Wild Heritage Act of 2003.

Senator Barbara Boxer (CA) has reintroduced the California Wild Heritage Act of 2003 (S. 1555), landmark legislation that includes the most diverse, accessible and inclusive array of wild places ever to be protected in a single piece of legislation. Representatives Hilda Solis (CA) and Mike Thompson (CA) are expected to introduce companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives this month. The California Wild Heritage Act of 2003 would designate 22 California rivers and creeks in the National Wild and Scenic River System and 2.7 million acres of land in the National Wilderness Preservation System.

This designation will help protect and preserve rivers vital to local tourism-based economies and to outdoor enthusiasts who raft, kayak, canoe, and fish their waters. These wild rivers also act as sources of clean drinking water and provide habitat for threatened and endangered species. California’s wild rivers and lands are part of our natural heritage, and should be protected for future generations to enjoy and explore.

The California Wild Heritage Act of 2003 will not only protect treasured California rivers, it will also breathe new life into our nation’s unique system for protecting our river heritage and inspire similar community-based efforts nationwide.

Here are just a few examples of wild rivers and places that could be protected with this bill:

- Northern California: The King Range offers the longest stretch of roadless coastline in the contiguous United States. Further south, Black Butte River provides important habitat for Chinook salmon and winter steelhead.

- Western Sierra: Duncan Canyon is a rare and spectacular ancient forest haven in the Sierra. Both the Kern River and Kings River provide excellent whitewater conditions.

- Central Sierra: The Clavey River is one of the longest undammed rivers in the Sierra Nevada and is considered by scientists to be one of the healthiest watersheds in the Sierra Nevada.

- Eastern Sierra: The White Mountains are home to the oldest living trees in the world - the bristlecone pines. And on the east side, the East Fork Carson River is a state designated Wild Trout Stream.

- Central Coast: The proposed San Rafael Wilderness Additions are home to the endangered California condor. Upper Sespe Creek has exceptional fishing opportunities.

- Southern California: The Upper San Diego River is one of the most remote areas in Southern California, and is key to protecting water quality for San Diego.

All of these areas and more add up to 520 miles of potential wild and scenic rivers and 2,725,235 acres of unprotected wilderness! But these majestic places need your help to get the protection they deserve.

Click here to Protect California's Wild Rivers

Sign Petition to Restore Clean Water in Hells Canyon!

American Rivers states:

Take action today and speak up for clean water and healthy salmon in Hells Canyon on the Snake River, the deepest canyon in North America! Comments are due by December 22.

One of the wildest remaining sections of the Snake River runs through Hells Canyon, on the border of Oregon and Idaho. This spectacular canyon is home to wild salmon, bull trout and white sturgeon and also to Idaho Power Company’s three-dam Hells Canyon Hydropower Complex – one of the largest hydropower projects in the country. Idaho Power is currently applying for a new license from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that will specify how Idaho Power will operate the dams for the next 30 to 50 years.

Click here to Restore Clean Water in Hells Canyon

Sign Petition to Save Streams from Mountaintop Mining!

American Rivers states:

Please tell EPA not to weaken environmental protections for the devastating practice of mountaintop mining! Comments are due by January 6th, 2004.

Mountaintop mining is a form of strip mining in which coal companies literally blast hundreds of feet off the tops of mountain peaks to reach thin seams of coal, then push millions of tons of the resulting rubble into surrounding valleys and streams. This practice has destroyed more than 700 miles of streams in the Appalachian region since 1985.

Click here to Save Streams from Mountaintop Mining

Its about time...

FBI Sting Nets 48 Arrests on Wall Street

Sign Petition to remove Ashcroft from Office!

peopleVashcroft.org

On CommonDreams.org today:

French to Bush: 'We Were right' on Iraq: Nation Feels Vindicated Over War, But May Not be Ready to Help

What Iraq Will Get Isn't Self-Rule

American Gulag: No American president should have the absolute power to imprison people at will, even when the nation is at war

Don’t Reward Liars and Thieves: Why the American People Should Demand Immediate Withdrawal from Iraq

In California's Capital, Treetops and Grassroots Politics

FTAA: Trading Away Democracy

How We Know Bush Will "Cut and Run" from Iraq

Death of Community Spirit: Whether It's the School-Run Mum or the Conniving Business Boss, Putting Self Before Society Harms Us All

On AlterNet.org today

"Robert Redford gets heated up about the Bush environmental agenda, global warming, clean energy and worms.
Yes, worms."

Still the Sundance Kid


"The CEO economy is perking up, but the kitchen table economy -- the things that parents worry about at night around the kitchen table -- is still in trouble."

Economics For Real People


"Past and present 'associates' offer a candid and often disturbing look at life behind the big yellow Wal-Mart happy face."

Dispatches from Wal-Mart's Front Lines


"The Tiger Force atrocity in Vietnam was the third major war crimes revelation in the last few years to encounter apathy in the media and indifference from Washington."

The Scalping Party

On Antiwar.com today:

Two U.S. Soldiers Killed in Attacks North of Baghdad

Time Mag: Insurgents a 'Potent, Increasingly Structured Force'

Bush: US in Iraq for the Long Haul

U.S. Army Prepares for Iraqi Stay Until at Least 2006

EU Chief: U.S. Has Agreed to International Control of its Troops in Iraq

Frustrated U.S. Troops Put on Show of Force in Tikrit

Italian Coalition Official Quits in Protest of U.S. Policies
Bush Pulls Out of Speech to Parliament

On Antiwar.com today:

Two Black hawks Down in Mosul, at least 17 killed

U.S. casualties from Iraq war top 9,000

US Death Toll in Iraq Tops 400 (now 418)
Washington's New Sound and Fury Hide Fear and Worry

Robert Redford: "There's never been a time in my life when I've felt so challenged as a country, so challenged on the environment, as we are now."

This according to an article on the Environmental News Network (ENN), in the same article he also says, "We are now suffering through an administration that has, in a very calculating way, set out to undermine and destroy 30 years of hard work."

Robert Redford and activists from the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) have constructed one of the "greenest" buildings in America.

The original 1917 building was stripped down (to its wooden skeleton) then eco-friendly redesigned. It now contains:

• Toilets that flush themselves with rainwater, except for the urinals which use a special cartridge to funnel away wastewater
  
  
• Floors are made of bamboo because it is a fast-growing wood substitute
  
  
• The structure uses about 60 percent less water than most buildings because it captures rainwater from the roof, showers, and sinks and uses it to water the plants and flush the low-flow toilets
  
  
• The carpets are hemp
  
  
• It is completely free of formaldehyde and vinyl, and office machines that can emit fumes are confined to a room that vents to the outside
  
  
• The building's exterior appears to be wood, but is actually made of a fiber and cement material
  
  
• Much of the interior is lit with skylights and solar cells that provide about a fifth of its energy
  
  
• Cool sea breezes augment the air conditioning, and special towers draw off heat
  
  

If only Robert Redford's environmental achievements would get as much attention from the media as does the Sundance Film Festival, which he founded.


ENN article:

California rain flushes toilets in Robert Redford building


Redford and the NRDC's new environmentally sustainable office building:

Greener by Design: NRDC's Santa Monica Office

On AlterNet.org:

"Sneering, jeering, bad manners, hideous diplomacy, threats, demands, lies, arrogance, bluster, tax cuts for the rich. And you wonder why we think he's a lousy president?"

Call Me a Bush-Hater


"Here's what happens to your hard-earned money when it enters the giant money-skimming machine we call the stock market."

An Object Lesson in Investing


"New York Times columnist Paul Krugman tells how he found his voice, why Bush makes him miss Nixon, and why he insults Fox News whenever he can."

The Professor Takes the Gloves Off


"Everyone wants Medicare to cover prescription drugs, right? Not so fast."

Killer Cure

Fight the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)!

From Seattle to Miami

Stop the FTAA

On Antiwar.com today:

Three U.S. Soldiers, One American Civilian Killed in Iraq

Severely Wounded Numbers Soar: Hidden Cost of Iraq War

The Crumbling 'Coalition of the Willing'

Down the path to Vietnam

U.S. War Dead in Iraq Exceed Early Vietnam Years

Face it America, France was right all along

"Old Europe" Feels Vindicated on Iraq

U.S. Moves to Speed Up Iraqi Vote and Shift of Power

U.S. to Seek Iraqi Elections in Mid-2004

On CommonDreams.org today:

American Hypocrisy on Democracy

'We Could Lose This Situation'
CIA Says Insurgents Now 50,000 Strong

The Bush Administration's Palpable Sense of Panic

Iraqi Teenagers Cheer as American Blood Flows

Anti-Iraq War Veterans Pulled from Parade

More Iraqis Supporting Resistance, CIA Report Says

On Antiwar.com today:

CIA warns of defeat in Iraq

Death Toll Up to 31 in Italy Base Attack

Brave Face Belies Administration's Panic

Charles Glass: There are so many echoes of Vietnam in Iraq

All the president's men, again

Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War   is an hour long film that has just started circulating. The film details the web of lies and deceit perpetrated on the American people and the whole world with the intent to fabricate a an Iraqi threat that never existed in order to justify the Bush administration's preordained decision to invade and occupy Iraq.

Article in the Independent   with analysis and excerpts from the film:

Case for war confected, say top US officials

Polish opposition leader says Poland's president should be held "personally responsible" for a Polish soldier's death

I couldn't agree more.

Bush, and the architects of the Iraqi war in his administration, need to be held "personally responsible" for the 394 Americans killed in Iraq since the war started.

Poland's Iraq Doubts Grow After Soldier's Death

Iraq is becoming an increasingly lonely place for America

Turkey withdraws offer to send troops to Iraq

Poland's Iraq Doubts Grow After Soldier's Death

U.S. sending more American soldiers into the Iraqi shooting gallery

Pentagon preparing biggest troop rotation since World War II

U.S. Plans for Marines to Return to Iraq

Vietnam in the making?

Some veterans of Vietnam see Iraq parallel

Bush signs bill that is first attack on abortion in 30 years effectively saying "Bring it on," to the abortion rights activists

He may have satisfied his right-wing wacko base, but he has also mobilized the opposition in a big way.

Read more here:

Abortion Bill May Trigger Election Fight

I want an "apology" for having to sit through the inane "Rock the Vote" debate

Intelligent viewers looking for an informed discussion on the most pressing issues this nation currently faces were sorely disappointed by Tuesday's MTV/CNN combo Rock the Vote town hall pseudo "debate."

I knew there was trouble when the first question from a guy in the mostly college student crowd was about what Kerry would do if he was managing the Red Sox in the World Series. War, environmental destruction on a mammoth scale, erosion of civil rights, some of the worst corporate corruption in American history and some fool asks a question about baseball!

The tone had been set.

Speaking of baseball, most of the questions were softballs that were lobbed at the candidates by a crowd that causes many of the more informed among us, in the 18 to 30's demographic the debate was targeting, to cringe and say "I'm not with them."

You can imagine the questions, but I'll give you some:

A young woman asked the candidates who out of the people on the stage would you most like to "party" with...

Sharpton said Kerry's wife (isn't Sharpton adorable!) and Lieberman said, in what must have been a moment of regret for the young questioner for asking the question, the girl who asked the question!

In a lame excuse for this generation's attempt at scoring a one liner akin to 1992's lame one liner to then candidate Bill Clinton of "boxers or briefs," One of Rock the Vote 1992's supposedly "edgy" moments, someone who probably felt very witty asking, asked "PC or Mac." The candidates seemed to be looking around for their staffers.

Its a travesty that there was not one question about the lies that led us into war in Iraq and whether any of the candidates would support impeachment of Bush and others in his administration for those lies.

A much "cooler" question would have been, "Why did Bill Clinton get impeached for lying about getting oral sex, but Bush gets a free pass from most of you for killing and maiming thousands of people in one of the most blatant acts of Imperialist aggression in American history."

Or how about this one, laden with more symbolism, and more graphic, "Why did Bill Clinton get impeached for a stain on a dress while Dubya is getting a pat on the back for unloading the largest stain yet on what is quickly becoming a quilt of death and shame woven in the name of fighting terrorism."

I don't want to give any more legitimacy to CNN and MTV's pathetic excuse for public discourse than I have to; so here is my analysis of the candidates performance in this "debate" in one word:

Carol Moseley Braun: Sweet

Wesley Clark: Cool

Howard Dean: Winner

John Edwards: Panderer

John Kerry: Mediocre

Dennis Kucinich: Heartfelt

Joseph Lieberman: Uncomfortable

Al Sharpton: Opportunistic

Maybe MTV should stick to playing videos. Oh, right, they suck at doing that too.

The war with Iraq was completely illegal and unnecessary

I call your attention to an interesting article published in the Jan/Feb 2003 issue of the journal Foreign Policy that I think is a worthy read. It calls war with Iraq unnecessary. I present the article's final paragraph:

If the United States is, or soon will be, at war with Iraq, Americans should understand that a compelling strategic rationale is absent. This war would be one the Bush administration chose to fight but did not have to fight. Even if such a war goes well and has positive long-range consequences, it will still have been unnecessary. And if it goes badly—whether in the form of high U.S. casualties, significant civilian deaths, a heightened risk of terrorism, or increased hatred of the United States in the Arab and Islamic world—then its architects will have even more to answer for.

We all know the latter case is the reality.

The Bush administration has to answer for thousands of dead and maimed human beings.

Full article:

An Unnecessary War

Boycott Boise Cascade and U.S. Timberland! Tell them to stop logging our forests

• U.S. Timberland, a logging company based in New York with offices in Yakima, WA, is logging the forests of Washington state, much of it old-growth, to the tune of 75 million feet of lumber per year; this represents about half of what the entire industry cut in 2000 on all 24 million acres of federal land in the Northwest
  
  
• Logging in the National Forests of the United States must stop immediately!
  
  
• 47,400 acres of prized northwest forest is in the hands of U.S. Timberland; we need to get every inch of that land back from them now!
  
  
• The forests, all but being completely clearcut by U.S. Timberland and other logging companies, not only provide an indispensable aesthetic component to the land which has taken centuries to develop, but they also are the habitat of the well known and famed spotted owl which is protected in federal law under the U.S Endangered Species Act
  
  
• U.S. Timberland has torn down, or filed a permit to tear down, most of the Douglass fir and ponderosa pine from more than a third of the forest which they bought from Boise Cascade (one of the most destructive logging companies in operation today, Boise Cascade destroys old-growth forests all over the world)
  
  
• The land U.S. Timberland is logging is thick with owl habitat and is being irreparably destroyed so that the Northern Spotted Owls are on their way to complete eradication from this area; 60% of the owls here have already disappeared just since the early 1990's
  
  
• The Washington state Department of Natural Resources pays lip service to protecting the owls by claiming that "there is alot of science and effort being put into this issue," but doing nothing for years to protect the forests and the owl from the chainsaws of companies like U.S. Timberland
  
  
• The environment group Washington Forest Law Center has filed a 60-day notice of intent to sue the state of Washington under provisions of the Endangered Species Act over the activities of US Timberlands
  
  
• Washington state agencies, including the Forest Practices Board, have let the the Teanaway Valley, the corridor near Cle Elum in Kittitas County, WA which connects the north ans south Cascade mountains, get "hammered" by companies like U.S. Timberland says lawyer Peter Goldman, the law center's director, "It is a smoking-gun example of how the Washington forest-practice rules, with full knowledge of those who write and administer those rules, routinely allow industrial logging that harms the northern spotted owl in violation of the Endangered Species Act."
  
  

Read the full article in the Seattle Times:

New dispute arises in owl country

No to Bush in 2004!

A second Bush term? Simply unfathomable

... I couldn't agree more.

The Bush administration, desperately trying to deflect increasing public anger over the carnage in Iraq, tries to blame Saddam

What is it with the Republicans? These guys are the most egregious finger pointers in the world.

They loved blaming Bill Clinton for all their failures (and still do), and now they are trying to blame Saddam for the "mother of all screw ups" they themselves (along with the pathetic Democrats who voted for the war) caused in planning and executing an illegal, unpopular, unnecessary and incredibly stupid invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation.

What's the evidence Saddam is responsible for the attacks you ask?

"Palpable fear" on the part of Iraqis that he might come back, says Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee (AlJazeera article 11/2/03).

Wow, there's proof for ya!

To be fair, it must be said the Republicans and the Bush administration see the world (and the fate of their political careers) through fear colored lenses, so to speak. They are banking on the perpetuation of fear as their ticket to reelection. In fact, that is what Karl Rove is using to get Bush reelected in 2004. Trying to scare the crap out of everyone with fears of terrorist threats and "evildoers." Fear is their grand strategy, their 2004 Republican party platform, and the doofy Democrats follow in lock step!

Well not convinced yet? This piece of proof offered up by our old favorite Rummy Rummy Rumsfeld is sure to convince:

"We do not have hard evidence that he is coordinating this (attacks on American troops),"

To quote Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's "Daily Show"... Whaaa?!

... well Rumsfeld did quickly add:

"The fact that he's not been captured or killed is important ... He's not coming back, but until he's dead or captured, there is that concern," (AlJazeera article 11/2/03)

I guess evidence of guilt is kind of like Iraq's WMD, very elusive, but don't worry the Bushies have the proof, the rest of us just don't need to see it.

Just like when they told the UN inspection team in Iraq, Oh yeah, Iraq has WMDs and we know where they are, but we aren't going to tell you because we don't want Saddam to know.

But team Bush only has the best of intentions, what proof? Well they told us so of course!

Criminals are running (and robbing) your mutual fund

Ugly Turn in Fund Scandal

Bush's war on Iraq kills another child

Iraqi child crushed by US tank

Is Bush letting Saudi Arabia get away with murder?

Saudi Arabia is most likely behind the suicide attacks in Iraq, but U.S. refuses to hold them accountable or even name them as possibilities, but they are more than happy to point their fingers at Iran and Syria. (News World International 10/28/03)


Saudi fighters 'join resistance' in Iraq

16 Americans killed today when a chopper was shot down by a rocket propelled grenade

• Two American civilians and another American soldier were also killed today in other attacks
  
  
• There are 30 attacks every day on Americans in Iraq
  
  
• For every soldier killed, another 7 are wounded
  
  

EU commission wants regulations on industrial chemicals (News World International: The German Journal)

• Greenpeace had said the original proposal wasn't strong enough and then that proposal even got watered down
  
  
• Original cost to industry was to be $15 billion, now its just $7 billion and the industry is still complaining
  
  

Did the Israelis know in advance about the attacks of 9-11?

Five Israelis were seen filming as jet liners ploughed into the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001 ...

Contact your representatives in Congress and tell them to protect Coral Reefs

Old-growth battle blooms in Alaska's coral gardens