MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH

May 3, 2003

Miscellaneous Subjects #182: A Hodgepodge of Heavy Duty Stuff


Hello everyone

After another very busy week, here is a hefty conclusion which hopefully you'll have time to explore this weekend.

Please remember to check your emails early Sunday morning for the next Meditation Focus.

Jean Hudon
Earth Rainbow Network Coordinator
http://www.EarthRainbowNetwork.com

This compilation is archived at http://www.EarthRainbowNetwork.com/Archives2003/MiscelSubjects182.htm

Check also my latest Media Compilation #134: How Can the U.S. Media Give Such a Free Pass to Bush? archived at http://www.EarthRainbowNetwork.com/Archives2003/MediaCompilation134.htm


"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who are hungry and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower


CONTENTS

1. Cover up of DU Health impact in Iraq
2. Arundhati Roy's article
3. War in Iraq a Reason for Shame
4. The Mightiest Nation
5. Why Does the Department of Defense Say the War Costs $20 Billion and You Say $40 Billion?
6. Further de-regulation of the Federal Communications Commission?
7. Steer away!


SPECIAL GREEN ISSUES TO CONSIDER

Studies find disturbing amounts of chemical contamination in lettuce
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-04-28-lettuce-contamination_x.htm
For six months of the year, 70% of the nation's lettuce comes from a few Western counties irrigated by the Colorado river. Now, two studies have found that some of this winter lettuce is contaminated with perchlorate, a pollutant that has found its way into the groundwater in as many as 20 states, from the manufacture of rocket fuel, flares and munitions and is known to contaminate the Colorado. A study by the Environmental Working Group found perchlorate in four of 22 lettuce samples purchased in January and February in the San Francisco Bay Area. The four positive samples had more than 30 parts per billion of the pollutant. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set a preliminary safety level of one part per billion of perchlorate in water. And recent tests by The Press-Enterprise newspaper of Riverside, Calif., found perchlorate in 18 of 18 lettuce samples, at an average of eight parts per billion. Perchlorate affects the thyroid gland and can disrupt hormone production. This is of particular concern to pregnant women because proper thyroid function is crucial to the development of a baby's brain and nervous system. It's believed that the Colorado's contamination comes from two now-closed perchlorate plants near Las Vegas. The plants' water is known to contain perchlorate levels from three to 10 parts per billion.

Otters dying in record numbers (April 30)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/04/30/MN211481.DTL
92 have washed up on California coast in past four months

Australian Endangered Species
http://ens-news.com/ens/apr2003/2003-04-23-03.asp
CANBERRA, Australia, April 23, 2004 (ENS) - The most comprehensive assessment to date of Australia's wildlife shows that some 3,000 whole bushland ecosystems are disappearing, taking more than 1,500 species with them. The Commonwealth Government's National Land and Water Resources Audit on the state of Australia's biodiversity was issued today, providing a national picture of the status and distribution of threatened species and ecological communities.

Electric Car Rules Dropped State Panel Turns To Fuel Cell Vehicles (April 25)
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/5713773.htm
In a potential death knell for the electric car, California air officials on Thursday dropped landmark regulations dating back to 1990 that require automakers to make a specific number of electric cars. Instead, state regulators threw their lot in with a new technology, approving a revised program that forces car companies to build a quota of equally non-polluting fuel cell vehicles over the next decade.

California's Crude Awakening (April 23)
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7631
"America can lead the world in developing clean, hydrogen powered automobiles ... the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and pollution-free ... to make our air significantly cleaner, and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy." 

Genesis World Energy
http://www.genesisworldenergy.com/pressroom.htm
Introduces Revolutionary Automotive Hydrogen Fuel Generation Device - Genesis HICEF™ Technology leapfrogs current fuel cell-based transportation development by enabling the use of hydrogen in internal combustion engines - Boise, ID - April 21, 2003 - Genesis World Energy, the company behind a revolutionary energy generation technology introduced in December 2002, has announced an automotive and transportation application that creates an on-demand source of hydrogen fuel for internal combustion engines. The Genesis HICEF (Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine Fuel) Technology represents a stunning breakthrough in hydrogen-based automotive power systems through its on-board, on-demand generation of hydrogen gas derived from water - circumventing the need for either externally supplied sources of hydrogen or hydrogen generation based on chemicals or fossil fuel derivatives.

Cross-Country "Drive To Survive"
http://www.energyindependencenow.org/cgi-bin/np/viewnews.cgi?category=1&id=1050778726
LOS ANGELES, April 30, 2003 - The Drive to Survive 2003 launched its cross-country journey today at the Santa Monica Pier led by actor and community leader Dennis Weaver. The Drive to Survive was created by the Institute of Ecolonomics (IOE) to demonstrate the viability and availability of hybrid, hydrogen and alternative fuel vehicles. Drive to Survive participants will leave Los Angeles on May 1, arrive in Washington D.C. on May 14, and stop in cities across the country to showcase cutting-edge vehicles powered by electricity, hydrogen, compressed natural gas, biodiesel, methanol and ethanol. "We can create cars that preserve the environment while enabling a robust economy," said IOE co-founder Weaver. "The Drive to Survive is an exciting way to demonstrate the success of these alternative fuel vehicles."

Almost Half The Earth Is Still Wilderness
http://ens-news.com/ens/dec2002/2002-12-05-06.asp
Wilderness areas still cover close to half the Earth's land, but contain only a tiny percentage of the world's population, finds a new report from Conservation International. The 37 wilderness areas identified in the report represent 46 percent of the Earth's land surface, but are occupied by just 2.4 percent of the world's population, excluding urban centers.

Cheap Coffee 'Threatens Wildlife' (April 27)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2979941.stm
Demand for coffee in the West is threatening to destroy already endangered wildlife, according to new research. Conservation experts say overproduction of cheap robusta coffee beans - commonly used in instant coffee - may be contributing to the loss of tigers, elephants, orang-utans and rhinos in Sumatra. A study by the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society says that large areas of Indonesian lowland forest are being cut down to make way for coffee plantations.

World's Wettest Area Dries (April 28)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2977169.stm
One of the world's wettest places is suffering from a shortage of water. 
The Khasi Hills, in a remote part of north-east India, usually experience torrential rains. Famously, the area once recorded more than 1,000 inches (2,540 centimetres) of rain in just one year - a global record. But villagers in the region, which was named after the rain-filled clouds that supplied the waterfalls and streams, now have to bring water from other areas. Increases in pollution and deforestation have been blamed for the environmental changes.

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See also:

PATRIOT RAID (April 29 - Frightening experience!)
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15770
(...) Three days later I phoned the restaurant to discover what happened. The owner was nervous and embarrassed and obviously did not want to talk about it. But I managed to ascertain that the whole thing had been one giant mistake. A mistake. Loaded guns pointed in faces, people made to crawl on their hands and knees, police officers clearly exacerbating a tense situation by kicking in doors, taunting, keeping their fingers on the trigger even after the situation was under control. A mistake. And, according to the ACLU a perfectly legal one, thanks to the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act is just the first phase of the erosion of the Fourth Amendment. From the Justice Department has emerged a draft of the Domestic Securities Enhancement Act, also known as Patriot II. Among other things, this act would allow the Justice Department to detain anyone, anytime, secretly and indefinitely. It would also make it a crime to reveal the identity or even existence of such a detainee. Every American citizen, whether they support the current war or not, should be alarmed by the speed and facility with which these changes to our fundamental rights are taking place. And all of those who thought that these laws would never affect them, who thought that the Patriot Act only applied to the guilty, should heed this story as a wake-up call. Please learn from my experience. We are all vulnerable so speak out and organize, our Fourth Amendment rights depend upon it.

Make Your City Or Town A Civil Liberties Safe Zone
http://www.bordc.org
One state and 93 cities, towns, and counties have passed resolutions protecting the civil liberties of their 7,823,560 residents. Many more are in progress. Hawaii is the first state to pass a resolution to defend the Bill of Rights and civil liberties, and Arcata, California, is the first city to pass an ordinance.

Is America Becoming Fascist? (April 27)
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3127.htm
The similarities between American fascism and particularly the National Socialist precedent, both historical and theoretical, are remarkable. Fascism is home, it is here to stay, and it better be countered with all the intellectual resources at our disposal.

Corporate Colonialism (April 23 - 29)
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0317/mondo1.php
Like one of the 19th-century European colonial empires, the Bush government is calling on Bechtel, Halliburton, and other major corporations to take over the job of running the Iraqi colony. These companies are to act in the name of the government. They are to be paid out of our taxes. It might just as well be the British East India company. The colonial corporations become the instrument of the nation-state, in this case to undertake the reconstruction of Iraq. They, not the government, are the purveyors of laws and customs and democratic ideals.

Under Uncle Sam's Thumb - The History of Washington's Occupations (April 30)
http://www.counterpunch.org/smith04302003.html
Washington isn't just a failure at bringing democracy abroad. It's utterly incapable of it.

The war is over (except for Iraq), As Bush prepares to announce an end to hostilities today, more Iraqis are killed by American troops (May 1)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=402030
(...) the war with the American and British occupiers seems to be just beginning. Hatred is taking hold here, and throughout Iraq.

The Forgotten Famine (April 30)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/analysis/story/0,3604,946180,00.html
While the western humanitarian focus is on Iraq, millions are starving in Africa in what is becoming a permanent continent-wide crisis - Whatever happened to the food crisis in Africa that western charities, the UN and governments warned last year could engulf 25 million people? Did it never happen? Did the charities and governments get their forecasts wrong? Did the rains come and the food suddenly grow? Did the world stump up enough cash and food? Can we stop our standing orders to Oxfam, Concern and other charities? The answer to all these questions is no. There may not be any pictures of dying children on television, but this slow-burn humanitarian crisis is now at a critical point and in many countries, such as Ethiopia, the situation is worse than forecast. Last week, James Morris, the World Food Programme's director, warned the UN security council that 40 million people needed emergency food aid - far more than expected. This week Ethiopia has revised its estimates and appealed for a further $205m of food.

HRW: Iraq: Clusters Info Needed from U.S., U.K, Ground-Launched Cluster Munitions Endangering Civilians (April 29)
http://hrw.org/press/2003/04/us-uk042903.htm
(...) The U.S. Department of Defense has acknowledged using nearly 1,500 air-dropped cluster bombs, but has not revealed any information about ground-launched cluster munitions, which may have been much more numerous. The U.K. Ministry of Defense has admitted to using more than 2,000 cluster munitions, but like the Pentagon, it has not provided detailed information that deminers need to clear "dud" submunitions, which pose hazards to civilians.

Uniting for Peace Petition for an Emergency United Nations Resolution on Iraq
http://www.petitiononline.com/MayDay03/petition.html
This petition ask the UN Security Council to ensure that the United Nations plays a central role in restoring peace and security in Iraq. It will close for signatures on May 31, 2003. A pdf version is available at http://habitat.igc.org/ufp/petition.pdf

Nuclear War Risk Grows As States Race To Acquire Bomb (April 29)
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/story.jsp?story=401443
A conference on nuclear non-proliferation began in Geneva yesterday, in the shadow of North Korea's departure from the global treaty and with the bleakest prospects for progress in the pact's 33-year history. John Wolf, US Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Non-proliferation told a news conference on the first day of the meeting that Iran has "an alarming, clandestine programme" to get hold of nuclear technology. "Iran is going down the same path of denial and deception that handicapped international inspections in North Korea and Iraq," he said. But disarmament experts said that American lack of commitment to non-proliferation was as damaging as the behaviour of the proliferators. CLIP

Dianne Feinstein | Low-Yield Nuclear-Proliferation
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/050103C.shtml
``As the United States contemplates the new international order in the wake of the war in Iraq and engages diplomatically with North Korea to convince that nation to relinquish its nuclear ambitions, it is critical that the United States leads the way in both word and deed to rid the world of nuclear weapons. I am therefore deeply concerned that the Administration's renewed emphasis on the developing so-called 'low-yield' nuclear weapons is taking our Nation's policy in exactly the wrong direction. This includes possibly repealing prohibitions on developing 'low-yield' bombs and deep-penetration 'bunker-busters,' and contemplating giving nuclear armaments a role in the new U.S. doctrine of preemption. CLIP

Kennedy warns on nuclear tests (April 30)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,946260,00.html
Senator Edward Kennedy yesterday warned that the Bush administration was preparing to restart the testing of nuclear weapons so it could develop a new generation of bunker-busting bombs and tactical "mini-nukes", potentially triggering a new arms race

Media Nix-- From Blix To Kucinich To Dixie Chicks (by Norman Solomon, April 24)
http://www.fair.org/media-beat/030424.html
Hans Blix, Dennis Kucinich and the Dixie Chicks are in very different lines of work -- but they're in the same line of fire from big media for the sin of strongly challenging the president's war agenda. 

Springsteen Backs Under-Fire Dixies
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2981853.stm
Bruce Springsteen has given his support to country band the Dixie Chicks, who have faced severe criticism over a comment they made about President George Bush. The Dixie Chicks received death threats, had their records burned and were removed from radio playlists after singer Natalie Maines said she was embarrassed that Bush was from her home state of Texas. But Springsteen said the band were merely expressing their "right to free speech" and had received a "raw deal" from critics.

An Orwellian Pitch
http://www.laweekly.com/ink/printme.php?eid=42761
The inner workings of the war-propaganda machine

Bush Lies And Manipulates Public And Congress
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/print.php?sid=11152
Both Orwell and Aldous Huxley have written about dictatorial leaders and their methods of managing public opinion. In Brave New World Revisited, Huxley wrote that tyrants often use propaganda techniques that rely on the following.
(1) Repetition of catchwords, (2) Suppression of facts the propagandist wants the public to ignore. (3) Inflaming mass fear or other strong emotional reaction for the purpose of controlling public opinion and behavior.

National Conference -- United for Peace and Justice Coalition
http://UnitedForPeace.org
On June 6-8, United for Peace and Justice will hold a National Conference in Chicago. Representatives of local and national peace and justice groups from across the U.S. will come together to assess the new challenges and opportunities we face in stopping the Bush administration's program of permanent war. It is time to develop plans for coordinated action over the next 6-12 months. We invite all organizations affiliated with or interested in joining UFPJ to send a representative to participate in this important meeting.

Support Proper Solutions To National Security Issues (April 29)
http://www.aclu.org/NationalSecurity/NationalSecurity.cfm?ID=12483&c=110
Congress will soon be voting on legislation that would significantly infringe on privacy rights without making us any safer from terrorism. The Congressional investigation by the House and Senate intelligence committees into the September 11 attacks uncovered a number of serious, structural breakdowns in the intelligence community. But instead of taking action to address the real failures in the national intelligence services, several Members of Congress have proposed legislation that would give the government new, unprecedented spying powers and significantly infringe on the privacy rights protected by the Fourth Amendment. Congress needs to address the real national security issues -- not adopt false solutions that violate Constitutional rights.

Take Back America
http://www.ourfuture.org/projects/national_conference/index.cfm
The right-wing politicians who now run Washington are out of control. They are weakening America. Join activists from over 25 national organizations in Washington, DC on June 4, 5 and 6 to kick off a national progressive movement to Take Back America.

Treasury Says U.S. Could Face Default - Thanks to Smirk-o-nomics!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56227-2003Apr29.html
"The Treasury Department says the United States could face the prospect of not being able to pay its bills in late May unless Congress raises the government's borrowing authority, now capped at $6.4 trillion...

Is Clear Channel Buying Political Favors With Pro-War Fanaticism? (April 4)
http://www.inthesetimes.com/comments.php?id=148_0_1_0_M
Clear Channel Communications, a relatively unknown broadcaster based in San Antonio, Texas. Led by L. Lowry Mays, a rancher and one-time George W. Bush business associate, Clear Channel has ridden a wave of acquisitions, spending more than $30 billion to become the world's largest radio broadcaster, concert promoter and billboard advertising firm. Clear Channel owns more than 1,200 radio stations (approximately 50 percent of the U.S. total), five times more than its closest competitors, CBS and ABC. Considering the fact that prior to the Telecommunications Act, a single broadcaster could not own more than 40 stations in the entire country, it is hard to see the behemoth as anything but a creation of the act itself.

Inspired by a Clear Channel "United We Stand" billboard.
http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2003/03march/march03poetry.html
Clear Channel owns 1,250 radio stations in the United States. Clear Channel from Texas, wants to take over the world's airwaves - Like they have in the United States within the last 7 years. This Wal-Mart business style also controls, tours / concerts and outdoor billboards.

Iraq's Missing Items
http://www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/iraq.html
This is a web-site that is cataloguing the items missing from the Baghdad Museum

The day of the jackals (April 19)
http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old§ion=current&issue=2003-04-19&id=3011&searchText=
The conservative British weekly, The Spectator, suggests the looting of the Iraqi national museum may have been organized by unscrupulous American art collectors, and hints at Pentagon collusion in the theft.

US Worse Than Saddam, Iraqi Shiite Leader Charges (April 23)
http://rense.com/general37/shiite.htm
A prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric, saying he was detained and beaten by US forces, charged that American methods were "worse" than those employed by the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein. "Our arrest by the Americans was worse than the arrests that Saddam ordered against our students," Sheikh Mohammed al-Fartusi told Abu Dhabi television.

Arab world now faces invasion by American TV
http://media.guardian.co.uk/iraqandthemedia/story/0,12823,942357,00.html

Rumsfeld Calls for Regime Change in North Korea (April 23)
http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/news/index.jhtml

THE WAR NOBODY WON Part 1: Chaos, crime and incredulity
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/ED24Ak04.html
Very few serious observers in the Middle East, if any, expect the United States to achieve its declared aims of establishing a democratic government in Iraq. Some are openly skeptical of US intent, while others give the US the benefit of the doubt, but consider its aim a hopeless fantasy. Three days after US invasion forces officially announced the fall of the Iraqi government and proclaimed military control of the city of Baghdad, they allowed, if not encouraged, lawlessness to destroy a cradle of civilization on a scale thousands of times worse than that which the US accused the Saddam Hussein government of having done to the Iraqi nation and its people. The war itself has made a reality of harsh misery out of the abstract discontent of political oppression, the liberation from which had been the pretext for the war. Instead of saving the Iraqi people from alleged oppression, the war has brought them undeniable destruction. CLIP

Bush bars UN weapons teams from Iraq (April 24) http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/23/1050777306319.html

Playing With Death (April 21)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/042303A.shtml
Horror mine toll as Iraq's war children invent new games - The figures are frightening the reality is appalling. Most guns may have fallen silent but the death toll in Iraq continues to rise. In the city of Kirkuk in the past seven days, 52 people have been killed and 63 injured by mines and dangerously unstable unexploded munitions.

Where are they? Hunt for WMD draws a blank (April 24)
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/04/24/1050777345965.html
American forces are changing their search strategy after coming up empty at most of the top suspected weapons sites in Iraq, officials said today. And the White House appeared to be trying to scale back expectations that weapons of mass destruction will be found. Troops have searched more than 80 sites that pre-war US intelligence judged the most likely hiding places for chemical and biological weapons as well as evidence of an Iraqi nuclear program, Defence Department officials said on condition of anonymity.

US Companies Quietly Caught Trading with the Enemy (15 April 2003)
http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/042403A.shtml
By Rex Nutting CBS.MarketWatch.com When individual Americans are accused of helping terrorists, they're thrown in jail and their names are dragged through the mud. But when major U.S. corporations are caught trading with the enemy, they get just a slap on the wrist from the government. WASHINGTON -- In the past two weeks, the government has revealed that 57 companies and organizations have been fined for doing business with terrorists, despots and tyrants. However, neither the government nor the companies are forthcoming with the public about the details of the illicit trade with rogue governments like Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Sudan. Read about the laws. CLIP

How American Power Girds the Globe with a Ring of Steel (April 21)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,940308,00.html
New Bases Take Pentagon's Armed Presence Far And Wide

Venezuela Has Proof Washington Was Behind Failed Coup (April 18)
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/030415/w041568.html

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SPECIAL 911 SECTION

United States of Apathy Deception Dollar bill
http://www.deceptiondollarf.com
The Deception Dollars were created as a portal to the best information on 9-11

Bush-Nazi Historic Flash
http://www.takebackthemedia.com/bushnonazi.html

The Secrets of September 11 (April 30)
http://www.msnbc.com/news/907379.asp?0cv=KA01
The White House is battling to keep a report on the terror attacks secret. Does the 2004 election have anything to do with it? Even as White House political aides plot a 2004 campaign plan designed to capitalize on the emotions and issues raised by the September 11 terror attacks, administration officials are waging a behind-the-scenes battle to restrict public disclosure of key events relating to the attacks. At the center of the dispute is a more-than-800-page secret report prepared by a joint congressional inquiry detailing the intelligence and law-enforcement failures that preceded the attacks-including provocative, if unheeded warnings, given President Bush and his top advisers during the summer of 2001. (...) The administration’s tough stand, some sources say, doesn’t augur well for the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks-which is conducting its own investigation into the events of 9-11. Already, flaps have developed on that front, as well. When one commissioner, former congressman Tim Roemer, last week sought to review transcripts of some of the joint inquiry’s closed-door hearings, he was denied access-because the commission staff had agreed to a White House request to allow its lawyers to first review the material to determine if the president wants to invoke executive privilege to keep the material out of the panel’s hands. (...) The tensions over the release of 9-11 related material seems especially relevant-if not ironic-in light of recent reports that the president’s political advisers have devised an unusual re-election strategy that essentially uses the story of September 11 as the liftoff for his campaign. The White House is delaying the Republican nominating convention, scheduled for New York City, until the first week in September 2004-the latest in the party’s history. That would allow Bush’s acceptance speech, now slated for Sept. 2, to meld seamlessly into 9-11 commemoration events due to take place in the city the next week. Some sources who have read the still-secret congressional report say some sections would not play quite so neatly into White House plans. One portion deals extensively with the stream of U.S. intelligence-agency reports in the summer of 2001 suggesting that Al Qaeda was planning an upcoming attack against the United States-and implicitly raises questions about how Bush and his top aides responded. One such CIA briefing, in July 2001, was particularly chilling and prophetic. It predicted that Osama bin Laden was about to launch a terrorist strike “in the coming weeks,” the congressional investigators found. The intelligence briefing went on to say: “The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against U.S. facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or no warning.” The substance of that intelligence report was first disclosed at a public hearing last September by staff director Hill. But at the last minute, Hill was blocked from saying precisely who within the Bush White House got the briefing when CIA director Tenet classified the names of the recipients. (One source says the recipients of the briefing included Bush himself.) As a result, Hill was only able to say the briefing was given to “senior government officials.”
CLIP

9/11 Panel, Blocked (May 1 - Letter to the Editor)
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/30/opinion/L30TERR.html
As a 9/11 widow who fought very hard for the creation of the independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 attacks, I am particularly upset by your news article discussing the Justice Department's attempts to review and delay the release of certain documents to the commission ("Justice Dept. Seeks Sept. 11 Transcripts," April 26). This delay is nothing more than a stalling tactic by the White House to prepare its spin on whatever information is eventually revealed by the transcripts. The 9/11 families and the country have waited long enough for answers. Each day of delay is another day that this country remains vulnerable and perilously at risk to another terrorist attack.

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23 Informative Websites About September 11th
(Prepared by Mark Elsis mark@lovearth.net>)
Over 600 Articles / Over 100 Photographs / 20+ Videos / With Polls, Petitions And Audios

Exposing NORAD's Wag The 911 Window Dressing Tale
http://StandDown.net

The Most Comprehensive Minute By Minute Timeline On 911
http://911Timeline.net

My Country Right Or Wrong - Questioning September 11th
http://MyCountryRightOrWrong.net

More Than 500 Great Articles About 911 From Around The World http://AttackOnAmerica.net

September 11, 2001, And The Three Top Sins Of The Universe http://September112001.net

Audios, Videos, Photographs, Polls, Petition And News Archive
http://9112001.net

The Links For The Rest Of The 17 Websites Can Be Found
http://www.MyCountryRightOrWrong.net/23InformativeWebsitesOn911.htm



1.

I WONDER WHAT IT WILL TAKE FOR THE US AND BRITISH MEDIA TO DO THEIR JOB AND BLOW THE COVER OVER THIS CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY PERPETRATED BY THE U.S. AND BRITISH GOVERNMENTS... FAILING TO UNCOVER THIS IS TANTAMOUNT TO COMPLICITY!

(This Press Release was included in a recent Media Compilation along with this note above)

Forwarded by "Mark Graffis" mgraffis@hotmail.com> on April 28

Cover up of DU Health impact in Iraq - press release by AHL

From: http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&hl=ja&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=misc.activism.progressive&selm=b8h9oh%241bmm%241%40pencil.math.missouri.edu

PRESS RELEASE April 25, 2003

IS THE DESTRUCTION OF HOSPITALS AND PUBLIC HEALTH RECORDS A COVER UP OF "DEPLETED" URANIUM HEALTH IMPACTS IN IRAQ? A CALL FOR INDEPENDENT OBSERVERS TO DOCUMENT POSSIBLE LOW LEVEL RADIATION SICKNESSES IN IRAQ RELATED TO THE USE OF ILLEGAL DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONS

Press Release issued by the Association of Humanitarian Lawyers, Inc, a Nongovernmental Organization accredited to the United Nations. (see below for contact details)

The unchecked looting of hospitals and the destruction of nearly all the Ministries and other centers storing public health records, has dismantled the public health system in Iraq beyond recognition, and has puzzled the world public. Was this an operational failure? Or a deliberately staged event? To activists working on a campaign to permanently ban the use of "depleted" uranium weapons, the destruction of hospitals and baseline health data serves an obvious legal purpose. The looting has made it impossible for hospitals to function at the present time, and obstructs the ability to document or report symptoms linked to the use of "depleted" uranium or other more experimental weapons used by the US/UK military.

Furthering suspicions, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has hired the World Health Organization (WHO) to identify the population's immediate health needs, at a cost of $10 million. This raises concerns about a conflict of interest. Any data-gathering of immediate health impacts of "depleted" uranium is being paid for by the US, which is the major entity potentially liable for costs relating to those impacts. This conflict of interest could compromise the goals of H.R. 1483, a bill introduced by U.S Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) requiring studies on the health effects of DU munitions.

The sites targeted for looting and burning (Ministry of Planning, Information, Health etc) support speculation that a concerted attempt has been made to destroy crucial data. Heavy guarding of the Oil and Interior Ministries by US tanks and soldiers to prevent looting, and the glaring absence of military guards at other public sites which were looted and destroyed by fires, suggests further deliberate destruction of the Iraqi infrastructure.

The data from pre-Gulf War II health records is critical to establish a baseline showing increases in post-Gulf War II levels of cancers and birth defects in Iraq. Predictably, the direct bombing of cities in Gulf War II with "depleted" uranium weapons will cause greater increases than in Gulf War I where "depleted" uranium weapons were used on battlefields south of Basra. The increases in the amounts used and the targeting of cities will accelerate the onset and intensify the numbers of illnesses and deaths related to DU exposures.

"Depleted" uranium weaponry, cluster bombs, and fuel air bombs have been declared to be in violation of international law by the United Nations experts sitting on the UN Sub-Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights. Reports and studies from the UN Secretary General and the Sub-Commission followed reports of high levels of cancers and birth defects after the introduction in 1991 of "depleted" uranium weapons by the US and UK during the first Gulf War.

Attorney Karen Parker, who since 1996 has argued the illegality of DU at the United Nations, states: "Since the United Nations Sub-Commission first found that DU weaponry violated existing law, the evidence against DU is even stronger. I have always thought that the U.S fought so hard to maintain the sanctions regime against Iraq in part due to the need to cover-up as much as possible the effects of DU in Iraq. Now the destruction of hospitals and the records compiled by Iraqi scientists on DU further supports a conclusion that the goal of the US is to cover up the truth about DU. And as the International Committee of the Red Cross has stated, it is the duty of the United States forces to protect hospitals. The absolute failure to do so is a major violation of the Geneva Conventions."

Leuren Moret, independent depleted uranium expert and former scientist at the Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, comments that the use of "depleted" uranium weaponry in the first Gulf War broke a 46 year taboo against the military use of radiological weapons on the battlefield. A month after the World Trade Center disaster the World Net Daily reported that in late September 2001, President G W Bush and Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed that the US could use tactical nuclear weapons in Afghanistan while the Russians could employ nuclear weapons against the Chechnyans. She notes that the US has miniaturized thermonuclear weapons in its arsenal to be used against bunkers and other targets but at this time their use is banned by Congress. She commented that the use of depleted uranium in Gulf War I "established a military precedent which could be used to facilitate a transition into the use of 4th generation nuclear weapons."

With H.R. 1483, a bill introduced by U.S. Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) requiring studies on the health effects of DU munitions, it becomes imperative for physicians to work immediately to document any initial symptoms that humans will display after being exposed to contamination from these radioactive weapons. Sources indicate that in this recent conflict five times the amount of "depleted" uranium was used by the US/UK than in the previous Gulf War. The "depleted" uranium in cruise missiles and other weapons aerosolizes on impact, causing inhalation of large amounts of superfine radioactive particles and sending tiny shards of uranium through the body like a knife slicing through butter. Initial symptoms will be mostly neurological, showing up as headaches, weakness, dizzyness, muscle fatigue etc. Long term effects are cancers, birth defects, and other radiation related illnesses such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, joint and muscle pain, rashes, neurological and/or nerve damage, mood disturbances, infections, lung and kidney damage, vision problems, auto-immune deficiencies, loss of feeling, etc.

In this current Gulf War, any troops with symptoms of low level radiation sickness will report to their units. Their symptoms will be denied by the military to be linked to depleted uranium exposure, because the US policy is and has been to deny that the DU weapons can cause sickness. Military and civilian doctors were trained in Gulf War I to define neurological type sicknesses as post traumatic stress disorder, and to leave radioactive schrapnel in the bodies of the veterans. It can be expected that the military will repeat this policy.

Douk Rokke, former head of the US Army DU Project, who has been campaigning against the use of DU, reports that US troops are falling sick already with a series of Gulf War symptoms.

Philippa Winkler, a political analyst and longtime anti-DU activist, calls for immediate independent studies: "It is imperative that independent health scientists observe, test and interview Gulf War II soldiers, Iraqi citizens, Medical Doctors in Iraq, journalists, human shield and other volunteer personel for symptoms linked to depleted uranium exposure and the possible use of exotic weapons."

CONTACTS FOR THE ASSOCIATION OF HUMANITARIAN LAWYERS INC: Karen Parker: International Legal Expert on DU, ied@igc.org Philippa Winkler: Political Analyst, Editor, "Hidden Casualties,the Environmental, Health and Political Consequences of the Persian Gulf War" (1994, see amazon.com), and co-producer of the video documentary "From Radioactive Mines to Radioactive Weapons": pjw82001@yahoo.com

FOR SCIENTISTS FOR INDIGENOUS PEOPLE: Leuren Moret: Independent scientist and depleted uranium expert, President, Scientists for Indigenous People: leurendu@yahoo.com

URLs E/CN.4/Sub.2/2002/38, 27 June 2002, Human Rights and Weapons of Mass Destruction with indiscriminate effect, or of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unecessary suffering. Working paper submitted to the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, by Yeung Sik Yuen, in accordance with SCRes 2001

---

See also:

Letter to Congressman McDermott with Declassified memo to Gen. L.R. Groves 1943 + a blueprint for DU
http://www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-Gen-Groves21feb03.htm

PEOPLE ARE SICK OVER THERE ALREADY (interview with Doug Rokke)
http://www.tompaine.com/feature.cfm/ID/7570

GULF WAR SYMPTOMS AND ILLNESSES
http://www.ushostnet.com/gulfwar/articles.htm

"Death By Slow Burn - How America Nukes Its Own Troops - What 'Support Our Troops' Really Means" by Amy Worthington The Idaho Observer April 16, 2003
http://www.strike-the-root.com/cgi-local/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=news;action=display;num=1050631363;start=0

LOOTING ENCOURAGED BY US FORCES "US Forces Encourage Looting" by Ole Rothenburg in DAGENS NYHETER Swedish Newspaper
http://www.rense.com/general37/eyewitnesscharges.htm

"US Threatens Iraqi Scientists" by ISLAMONLINE.NET
http://www.islamonline.net/english/news/2003-04/12/article02.shtml

"US government implicated in planned theft of Iraqi artistic treasures"
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/apr2003/loot-a19.shtml

"Americans defend two untouchable ministries from the hordes of looters", by Robert Fisk, the Independent, April 14, 2003
http://www.ccmep.org/2003_articles/Iraq/041403_americans_defend_two_untouchable.htm

"WHO Gets $10 Million U.S. Grant for Health Program in Iraq -Will identify population's immediate health needs, USA Aid says"
http://usinfo.state.gov/topical/global/refugees/archive/03032804.htm

"US rejects Iraq DU clean-up", March 14, 2003, by Alex Kirby, BBC News Online environment correspondence,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2946715.stm



2.

From: "Kiara Windrider" kiara@eternaldoorway.com>
Subject: Arundhati Roy's article
Date: 28 Apr 2003

Dear Jean

I wish every American would have access to your compilations. I've certainly been forwarding them on. Thanks for continuing to do what you do so well. Here's one for you from Arundhati Roy, very astute as usual, and as passionate as ever.

I've been spending quite a bit of time lately in Auroville, the "City of the New Dawn" founded by Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. I'll send you later a couple articles I've written here, which may also be relevant to your readers.

Love and blessings always,

Kiara

Mesopotamia. Babylon. The Tigris and Euphrates

By Arundhati Roy

April 2, 2003

On the steel torsos of their missiles, adolescent American soldiers scrawl colourful messages in childish handwriting: For Saddam, from the Fat Boy Posse. A building goes down. A marketplace. A home. A girl who loves a boy. A child who only ever wanted to play with his older brother's marbles. On March 21, the day after American and British troops began their illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, an "embedded" CNN correspondent interviewed an American soldier. "I wanna get in there and get my nose dirty," Private AJ said. "I wanna take revenge for 9/11." To be fair to the correspondent, even though he was "embedded" he did sort of weakly suggest that so far there was no real evidence that linked the Iraqi government to the September 11 attacks. Private AJ stuck his teenage tongue out all the way down to the end of his chin. "Yeah, well that stuff's way over my head," he said. According to a New York Times/CBS News survey, 42 per cent of the American public believes that Saddam Hussein is directly responsible for the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. And an ABC news poll says that 55 per cent of Americans believe that Saddam Hussein directly supports al-Qaida. What percentage of America's armed forces believe these fabrications is anybody's guess. It is unlikely that British and American troops fighting in Iraq are aware that their governments supported Saddam Hussein both politically and financially through his worst excesses.

CLIP - Read the rest at http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/current_issue/mesopotamia_arundhuti.htm



3.

Forwarded by Sally Harrington moonfire@whidbey.net> on April 27

War in Iraq a Reason for Shame

by Anthony B. Robinson

Good Friday is the right day to assess the current war. Despite what some may be saying, this is not an Easter moment. It is not a moment of victory or triumph, and certainly not a time for "alleluias." It is a moment for sorrow, anguish and reflection.

Anguish and guilt are what at least some of the soldiers in the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, which has borne the brunt of the fighting in Iraq, are now experiencing. They have found themselves fighting a grossly outmatched opponent. The Christian Science Monitor quoted one 3rd Infantry Division soldier saying, "For lack of a better word, I feel almost guilty about the massacre. We wasted a lot of people. It makes you wonder how many were innocent. It takes away some of the pride. We won, but at what cost?"

The Monitor reported that as waves of Iraqis armed only with rifles came against U.S. armored divisions in Najaf, the U.S. commander called in an air strike on the factory sheltering the Iraqis rather than have his troops continue the slaughter. Lt. Col. Woody Radcliff at the 3rd Infantry Division Operations Center said, "There were waves and waves of people coming at them, with AK-47s, and they were killing everyone. The commander (in the field) called and said, 'This is not right. This is insane. Let's hit the factory with close air support and take them out all at once.'

"They have no command and control, no organization. They're just dying," said Brig. Gen. Louis Weber, as assistant commander with the 3rd Infantry. Last week the Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team killed at least 1,000 Iraqis by direct fire on a single raid into Baghdad, reported Weber.

Should the disproportionality of what that solider termed "a massacre" surprise anyone? I think not. After all, Iraq is a nation whose total Gross National Product equals 15 percent of the GDP of the state of Washington. Half the population of Iraq is under the age of 15. And the annual defense budget was $1.4 billion, as compared with $400 billion for the United States. It has been a little like a pit bull taking on a particularly scrappy kitten. Only the morally atrophied can cheer such a victory, or portray it as Vice President Cheney has as "one of the greatest military campaigns in history."

But inasmuch as we were told that Iraq represented a threat to the national security of the United States, the reality of this war ought to lead us to ask again why we have done this. Such a catalogue of reasons and rationales have been trotted out by the administration that one almost needs a computer program to keep up. Iraq poses a threat to our national security, we were repeatedly told in a blatant and relentless playing on our fears. How is it that the strongest and wealthiest nation on Earth feels so easily threatened?

Iraq possesses weapons of mass destruction, we were told. None were used against us. Funny, we haven't found any. Not funny that the documentary "evidence" cited by the president in his State of the Union address to support this claim has turned out to be a forgery, and a very shoddy one at that. Now the president is saying that Syria may have chemical weapons. Is the groundwork being laid for the next invasion?

"Iraq has links to al-Qaida." None were ever shown or substantiated. But that didn't keep the administration from making constant rhetorical connections between Iraq and 9/11. It was a sales job that makes Madison Avenue look like amateurs. And it succeeded. By the time the bombs began to fall a majority of Americans believed that the hijackers of the planes on 9/11 were actually Iraqis, even though not a single one of them was.

Discovering that none of the other stated reasons could hold water, the administration resorted to the "liberation" of Iraq, and "bringing freedom and democracy" to the people there. Only time will tell whether it is democracy and prosperity to which we are committed or a more pliant client state.

On Good Friday, the prayers are repetitive. "God have mercy, Lord have mercy, God, have mercy upon us." These are the right prayers for this time when there is reason for reflection and anguish, not elation or self-congratulation.

Anthony B. Robinson is senior minister at Plymouth Congregational Church: United Church of Christ in Seattle. E-mail: trobinson@plymouthchurchseattle.org



4.

Sent by "Fred Burks" fredburks@earthlink.net> on April 25

Editor's Note: This piece was written in the early 1970s, around the time of Watergate, by the great San Francisco Chronicle columnist Art Hoppe.

The Mightiest Nation
By Art Hoppe
The San Francisco Chronicle

Once upon a time, there was a country that was very small and, on the whole, very good. Its citizens were proud and independent and self-reliant and generally prosperous. They believed in freedom and justice and equality. But above all, they had faith. They had faith in their religion, their leaders, their country and themselves.

And, of course, they were ambitious. Being proud of their country, they wanted to make it bigger. First, they conquered the savage tribes that hemmed them in. Then they fought innumerable wars on land and sea with foreign powers to the east and west and south. They won almost all the battles they fought and triumphed in almost all of their wars.

It took many generations, but at last the good little country was the richest, mightiest nation in the whole wide world - admired, respected, envied and feared by one and all. "We must remain the mightiest nation," said its leaders, "so that we can insure universal peace and make everyone as prosperous and decent and civilized as we are."

At first, the mightiest nation was as good as its word. It constructed highways and hygienic facilities all over the world. And for a while, it even kept the peace. But being the mightiest nation meant that its leader was the mightiest man in the world. And, naturally, he acted like it.

He surrounded himself with a palace guard of men chosen solely for their personal loyalty. He usurped the powers of the Senate, signing treaties, waging wars and spending public funds as he saw fit.

When little countries far away rebelled, he sent troops without so much as a by-your-leave. And the mightiest nation became engaged in a series of long, costly, inconclusive campaigns in faraway lands. Many young men refused to fight for their country, and in some places, the mightiest nation employed foreign mercenaries to do battle for its causes.

And because it was the mightiest nation, it worshiped wealth and the things wealth bought. But the rich grew richer and the poor grew poorer through unfair tax laws. In the capitol, one in five were idle and on welfare.

When the poor grumbled, they were entertained by highly paid athletes and the firing of expensive rockets which often fizzled. Even so, the poor sometimes rioted and looted and burned in their frustrated rage.

Many citizens lost faith in their old religion and turned to Oriental mysticism. And the young, wearing long hair and sandals, became Jesus freaks. Bare-breasted dancers, lewd shows and sex orgies were increasingly common. And the currency was debased again and again to meet the mounting debts.

Worst of all, the citizens came to learn their leaders were corrupt - that the respected palace guard was selling favors to the rich and sending spies among the people, creating fear and distrust.

So it was that the people lost faith. They lost faith in their leaders, their currency, their rockets, their postal system, their armies, their religion, their country and, eventually, themselves.

And thus, in 476 A.D., Rome fell to the barbarians, and the Dark Ages settled over Western civilization.



5.

From: http://www.costofwar.com/numbers.html

Why Does the Department of Defense Say the War Costs $20 Billion and You Say $40 Billion?

After the press briefing on April 16 (http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/tr20030416-0113.html), by US Department of Defense Comptroller Dov Zakheim, there were a flurry of reports in the American media reporting that the war in Iraq had cost $20 billion to date. On that day, the Cost of War calculated war costs as exceeding $40 billion. Why the discrepancy?

The DOD Comptroller estimated that between $10-$12 billion had been spent on military operations, which, he said, covered the cost of airlift and sealift of
troops and their equipment. The Cost of War calculator estimated $9 billion in deployment costs, an underestimate of $1-3 billion. Comptroller Zakheim also
stated that the war had already cost another $9 billion in the first 3 1/2 weeks of conflict, compared to the Cost of War calculator which estimated $8 billion
for the first month of combat.

Lost in most of the media reports of the comptroller's remarks was the cost of returning troops and equipment to base, which the comptroller estimated to be
another $5-$7 billion.

Since this cost is unavoidable, even if the United States were to completely withdrawal from Iraq today, the direct costs would be between $24-$28 billion.

The Bush Administration is funding the Iraqi war and occupation through deficit spending; at today's 30-year Treasury note interest rate, $24 billion in war
costs will exceed $46 billion in tax payments; $28 billion will exceed $53 billion in subsequent tax payments.

As a result, long after Bush is out of office tens of billions of dollars will be spent on interest payments instead of college scholarships, children's health
insurance, housing, or energy conversion.

Elias Vlanton & Niko Matsakis
April 17, 2003



6.

From: "Suzanne Clarke" sjclarke@mindspring.com>
Subject: Further de-regulation of the Federal Communications Commission?
Date: 30 Apr 2003

Dear Jean -- 

I hope that we can speak out LOUDLY against the further de-regulation of the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) that is due to take place on June 2nd. Our democracy is in jeopardy largely due to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that Pres Clinton and V-Pres Gore assured us would be a great things for the People and increase media variety programming, reduce cable rates, when the opposite has happened. It turns out that it has given the control of the media (and thus the "minds" of the American people) to a few giant multi-national corporations. This topic should be at the top of our discussions with US congressional representatives, in my mind. I think we should write a letter (in fact lots of letters and call them, too!) to our legislators before it is too late, don't you? We are talking about our Freedom of Speech.

Here is a transcript from NOW with Bill Moyers from last week's show. This is a remarkable interview from one of the media giants. Here what he says! -- Suzanne

Transcript - Bill Moyers Interviews Barry Diller
http://www.pbs.org/now/printable/transcript_diller_print.html

CLIP

BARRY DILLER: Still, the consequences are in any completely concentrated area, the consequences have to be that when you get that kind of size that, in fact, it has to restrain the ability of any new player. It gives them such buying power. It gives them such overwhelming power in the marketplace that, in fact, everyone has to do essentially what they say.

BILL MOYERS: The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Michael Powell, and others say, "Look, we have 500-plus channels. We have the satellite. We have the wide open internet that they are gonna know so well." I mean, these have radically changed the media landscape.

BARRY DILLER: Yeah, yeah.

BILL MOYERS: Perhaps we have more diversity.

BARRY DILLER: No, we don't. Because what we have is an absolute fact that five companies control 90 percent of all of it. It has been reconstituted. Instead of it being three channels that were controlled by a few people, there are now 500 controlled by a few people. This doesn't relate to the internet, by the way. You say, "Where do young people go?"

CLIP - More on this issue shortly in "Media Monopolies Have Muzzled Dissent" published in the Los Angeles Times, May 1.



7.

This is a transcript of a radio exchange between a U.S. Naval vessel and Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in late 1995.

Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.

Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the captain of a U.S. Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course.

Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: This is the Aircraft Carrier USS LINCOLN, the second largest ship in the United States Atlantic Fleet. We are accompanied by three destroyers, three cruisers and numerous support vessels. I DEMAND that you change your course 15 degrees north. I say again, that's one-five degrees north, or counter-measures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of this ship.

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.




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