Kathleen's Sharebook 

U.S. eyes $500 mln ammunition sale to Iraq 04 May 2007 The Bush regime told Congress on Friday of plans to sell Iraq about 400 million rounds of small arms ammunition, 170,000 grenades, demolition explosives and other military gear and services valued at up to $508 million. As part of the proposed package, the United States would sell 170,000 40mm HEDP grenades, 80,000 C-4 1-1/4 pound plastic explosive packets and 4.2 million feet of detonating cord.

Troops at Odds With Ethics Standards 05 May 2007 More than one-third of U.S. soldiers in Iraq surveyed by the Army said they believe torture should be allowed if it helps gather important information about 'insurgents,' the Pentagon disclosed yesterday. Four in 10 said they approve of such illegal abuse if it would save the life of a fellow soldier. In addition, about two-thirds of Marines and half the Army troops surveyed said they would not report a team member for mistreating a civilian or for destroying civilian property unnecessarily. "Less than half of Soldiers and Marines believed that non-combatants should be treated with dignity and respect," the Army report stated.

Iran accuses US of terrorism in Iraq --Mottaki slams detention of Iranians by American forces 05 May 2007 Iran accused the United States of terrorist acts in Iraq during an international meeting on Friday aimed at discussing security cooperation in the war-torn country. "To create a safe haven for those terrorists who try to turn Iraqi territory into a base for attacking Iraq’s neighbours should be condemned," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said at the conference. "Mr Mottaki was referring to countries which, like the United States, carry out acts of terrorism in Iraq," he said. "When the United States arrests five Iranian diplomats in Iraq, it is an act of terrorism," he said on condition of anonymity.

Iraqi lawmakers demand U.S. withdrawal 02 May 2007 As calls in the U.S. Congress grow for a scheduled troop withdrawal from Iraq, similar demands are escalating in Iraq's National Assembly. Some 133 Iraqi lawmakers from different political blocs, calling themselves the "free deputies," signed a document demanding a scheduled withdrawal of the U.S.-led 'multinational' troops from their country, according to the Sadrist bloc in Parliament.

Projectile Bomb Attacks Hit Record High in Iraq --U.S. Says Weapons Are Made in Iran 04 May 2007 Attacks in Iraq involving lethal weapons that U.S. officials say are made in Iran hit a record high last month, despite 'efforts' to crack down on networks supplying the armor-piercing weapons known as explosively formed projectiles, according to a senior U.S. commander. The number of attacks with the projectiles rose to 65 in April, said Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, who oversees day-to-day U.S. military operations in Iraq.

Five U.S. Soldiers Killed, 11 Wounded in Iraq 04 May 2007 Five American soldiers were killed and 11 others were wounded in four separate attacks in Iraq, the Defense Department announced today, as a top U.S. military official predicted more service members will die in the coming weeks.

Beleaguered Iraqis now fear their own security forces more than the insurgents 04 May 2007 "Be careful," warned a senior Iraqi government official living in the Green Zone in Baghdad, "be very careful and above all do not trust the police or the army." He added that the level of insecurity in the Iraqi capital is as bad now as it was before the US drive to make the city safe came into operation in February. The so-called "surge", the dispatch of 20,000 extra American troops to Iraq with the prime mission of getting control of Baghdad, is visibly failing.

US Republican presidential hopefuls insist on victory in Iraq 04 May 2007 A packed field of Republican White House hopefuls vowed to pursue victory in Iraq and castigated anti-war Democrats Thursday, in their first head-to-head showdown of the 2008 campaign. [Uh, all that's left is the surrender ceremony, whereupon the occupation forces --Blackwater USA, Halliburton and KBR --lay down their explosives, close their detention centers, and flee. --LRP]

Clinton Proposes Vote to Reverse Authorizing War 04 May 2007 Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, joining Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, proposed Thursday that Congress repeal the authority it gave President [sic] Bush in 2002 to invade Iraq.

Many Prisoners at Guantánamo Rebuff Lawyers 05 May 2007 Many of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are no longer cooperating with their lawyers, adding a largely invisible struggle between the lawyers and their own clients to the legal battle over the Bush regime’s detention policies... The prisoners’ resistance appears to have been fueled by frustration over their long detention and suspicion about whether their lawyers are working for the government, as well as anti-American sentiment, some of the documents and interviews show.

Another Guantanamo outrage (The Boston Globe) 03 May 2007 Unwilling to close Guantanamo, bring its prisoners to US soil, and let them fight their detention in US courts, the Bush administration now wants to shutter the one window the outside world has on the Kafkaesque conditions in the camp. It is proposing to clamp down on the prisoners' only nonmilitary contacts, their lawyers... The last thing the government should do is further limit the prisoners' rights with the proposed restrictions on their lawyers. Those attorneys, most of whom are working on a pro-bono basis, are the thin line that is keeping Guantanamo from becoming a gulag.

Thirteen more civilians killed in coalition raid in Afghanistan --Czech soldier dies in road accident in the north 05 May 2007 At least 13 civilians were killed in a bombing raid by US-led forces battling the Taliban, an Afghan official said on Friday, bringing to 70 the number of such deaths reported this week.

Some 1,600 displaced in Afghanistan after US air raids (IRIN) 03 May 2007 Almost 1,600 families have been displaced and many others need urgent humanitarian assistance two days after US war planes bombed several villages in the Shindand district of the western province of Herat, Afghan officials said. Reports of displacement follow claims that up to 60 civilians may have died in the fighting.

British soldier killed in Afghanistan 03 May 2007 A British soldier was killed in fighting with militants in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said on Thursday. A spokesman for the ministry had no further details but said the next-of-kin of the soldier had been informed.

Army: Milblogging is "Therapy," Media is "Threat" By Noah Shachtman 02 May 2007 To the Army's 1st Information Operations Command, the "media" is just another threat -- along with "al Qaeda," "hackers," and "drug cartels." Military bloggers are even lower than that: just poor saps looking for a "therapeutic" way to get out their feelings. No wonder the Army has put out new rules that could very well kill the sites off. I've pasted a couple of screenshots below. But it's really worth checking out the Information Operation Command's whole presentation on "OPSEC in the Blogosphere," obtained by Steven Aftergood's Secrecy News.

Is This What the Army Thinks of Us? By Paul McLeary 03 May 2007 It looks like it's official: the United States Army thinks that American reporters are a threat to national security. Thanks to some great sleuthing by Wired's "Danger Room" blogger Noah Shachtman, the Army's new operational security guidelines (OPSEC) hit the Web in a big way yesterday... Shachtman reproduces a slide from the new "OPSEC in the Blogosphere," document, which lists and ranks "Categories of Threat." Under "traditional domestic threats" we find hackers and militia groups, while "non-traditional" threats include drug cartels, and -- yes -- the media. Just to put that into some perspective, the foreign "non-traditional threats" are listed as warlords, and Al Qaeda. In other words, the Army has figuratively and literally put the media in the same box as Al Qaeda, warlords, and drug cartels.

Yellow ribbons By Rex Babin 03 May 2007 (Political cartoon)

Blair 'set to stand down as MP after elections' 04 May 2007 Tony Blair is preparing to stand down as an MP rather than stay on in Parliament after he resigns as Prime Minister, according to authoritative reports circulating at Westminister today.

Blair set for ambassador role in Africa 04 May 2007 Tony Blair is to become a roving ambassador in Africa and the Middle East when he leaves Downing Street in an attempt to rebuild his tarnished reputation. The Daily Telegraph can disclose that the Prime Minister is to spurn the chance to earn up to £10 million a year on the international lecture circuit by concentrating on raising money for his new Blair Foundation, which will fund humanitarian work in Africa.

Ecuador refuses US maneuvers 04 May 2007 Ecuador has refused to participate in the UNITAS 2007 maneuvers because of an unacceptable attitude on the part of the United States.

CIA agents' trial scheduled in Italy 04 May 2007 A judge in Milan Friday cleared the way for the trial of 26 CIA agents and two former Italian intelligence officials over the abduction [and torture] of a Muslim cleric. Constitutional Judge Simone Luerti denied the government's claim that prosecutors overstepped in bringing the charges, ANSA reported.

FBI agent testifies he posed as al-Qaida recruiter in terror case 03 May 2007 An FBI agent [Ali Soufan] who posed as an 'al-Qaida' recruiter in a terrorism investigation testified Thursday at a doctor's trial, recalling that a key conspirator in the case showed him how he could strangle somebody with his prayer beads.

FBI opening far fewer civil rights inquiries --Terrorism supersedes hate crimes, police abuse 25 Apr 2007 The FBI touts civil rights enforcement as a top priority, but the number of investigations into such cases -- from hate crimes to the actions of rogue police officers -- has fallen sharply, raising concerns that victims are left with nowhere else to turn. Pressed by the Bush regime to beef up counterterrorism ranks, the FBI has pulled agents off civil rights and slashed the number of criminal investigations conducted nationwide.

'If they are going to do training for torture, are they going to do that on the site? We don't know.' Blackwater Rising By Chuck Goudie 02 May 2007 The world's most controversial security service is now open for business in Illinois... According to critics, Blackwater is nothing more than a corporate warlord, based in North Carolina, with a payroll of hired gunslingers-- hundreds of them now protecting diplomats and contractors in Iraq... The firm has received hundreds of millions of dollars in State Department security contracts the past few years. But Blackwater also has a law enforcement training division. And the company says the facility it just opened in northern Illinois is for police training.

Rove, Still In the Mix By Michael Isikoff 03 May 2007 Deputy chief of staff Karl Rove participated in a hastily called meeting at the White House two months ago. The subject: The firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year. The purpose: to coach a top Justice Department official heading to Capitol Hill to testify on the prosecutorial purge on what he should say. Now some investigators are saying that Rove’s attendance at the meeting shows that the president’s [sic] chief political adviser may have been involved in an attempt to mislead Congress—one more reason they are demanding to see his e-mails and force him to testify under oath.

College student charged with threatening Hillary Clinton 04 May 2007 A 19-year-old Louisiana State University student was being held Friday on $1 million bail, accused of planning an attack against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. State District Judge Mike Erwin set bail after Richard Ryan Wargo of Shreveport, Louisiana, was booked on charges of terrorizing, communicating false information of planned arson and possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

State looks to pull anti-Bush license plate 03 May 2007 Heather Moriah loves the personalized license plates on her silver Prius encouraging the impeachment of President [sic] George W. Bush. But somebody doesn’t agree. And that somebody complained to the state. Now, the South Dakota Division of Motor Vehicles is trying to recall the plates -- which read MPEACHW. And if Moriah doesn’t turn them in voluntarily, the state might send law-enforcement officers to pick them up.

Hagel Says He Would Consider Presidential Run as an Independent 04 May 2007 Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said he would consider entering the 2008 presidential campaign as an independent.

Oops! TSA computer hard drive missing 04 May 2007 The Transportation Security Administration is trying to find a missing computer hard drive containing Social Security numbers, bank data and payroll information for about 100,000 employee records. Authorities realized Thursday the hard drive was missing from a controlled area at TSA headquarters.

US govt says to reduce bird flu testing during '07 04 May 2007 The United States will test fewer wild birds during 2007 for the avian influenza virus than it did a year ago, government officials said on Friday... "There are several theories on how (high-pathogenic H5N1) could get here, if you go by the wild migratory birds theory Alaska is the most likely spot," said Nicholas Throckmorton with the Interior Department. [No, a US Army lab is the most likely spot. See: Scientists Recreate 1918 Flu and See Parallels to Bird Flu 18 Jan 2007.]

U.S. Issues Guidelines on Use of Face Masks in Flu Pandemic 04 May 2007 If a flu pandemic ever emerges, surgical masks "should be considered" by anyone entering a crowd, and thicker industrial masks "should be considered" for anyone taking care of the sick, federal health officials said yesterday as they finally released guidelines for mask use.

USDA: 20 mln birds on farms may have had bad feed 04 May 2007 The U.S. Agriculture [Agribusiness] Department said on Friday as many as 20 million chickens currently on U.S. farms in several states may have been fed contaminated feed. A USDA official said the birds must be held until the government can complete a risk assessment to determine if they can be processed. [OMFG! The Bush regime is going to allow the corpora-terrorists to 'rocess' the contaminated chickens!!!]

Petfood recall widens on cross-contamination 04 May 2007 A major pet food recall has expanded again as manufacturer Menu Foods Income Fund revealed evidence of cross-contamination by some cat and dog food pulled since March.

Big Pharma Gets its Hooks into Seton Hall Law School (Corporate Crime Reporter) 01 May 2007 For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has marinated the medical profession in millions of dollars of free samples, lunches, trips, and fees. The goal – influence, power, profits. Now, the industry has another target – the legal profession. Last week, industry leaders Schering-Plough Corporation, sanofi-aventis, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb and the pharma law firm Gibbons PC – announced that they will donate a total of $9.1 million to establish the Center for Health & Pharmaceutical Law at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, New Jersey.

Italy's largest river drying up 04 May 2007 Italy declared a state of emergency in northern and central regions on Friday due to fears of drought following unusually warm and dry weather. Farmers have been fretting as Italy's largest river, the Po, has dried up in recent months.

Growling Cat Stops Mail Carriers From Delivering to Home 04 May 2007 Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow will deter the postal carrier from his appointed duty. But apparently a "threatening" cat does. John Samborski, of Winnipeg, received a letter from Canada Post stating that due to his cat Shadow's alleged growling, carriers will no longer deliver mail to his home.

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