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February 24, 2004 - 8:28am -- jim
News

An anonymous coward writes:

"Chalabi, Garner Provide New Clues to War"

Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service

For those still puzzling over the whys and wherefores of
Washington's invasion of Iraq 11 months ago, major new, but curiously
unnoticed, clues were offered this week by two central players in the
events leading up to the war.


Both clues tend to confirm growing suspicions that the Bush
administration's drive to war in Iraq had very little, if anything, to do
with the dangers posed by Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) or his alleged ties to terrorist groups like al-Qaeda --
the two main reasons the U.S. Congress and public were given for the
invasion.

February 23, 2004 - 3:10pm -- hydrarchist
Analysis & Polemic
News

An anonymous coward writes:
"The Bloody Price"

Tariq Ali, OutLookIndia.com

Sooner than anyone could have predicted the occupation has become untenable.
Regime changes in Washington and London would be small punishment compared
to what is being inflicted on Iraq.

The whole world knows that Bush and Blair lied to justify the war, but do
they know the price being paid on the ground in Iraq? First, the blood
price--paid by civilians and others this week as every week. More than 50
people died on February 12 when a car bomb ripped through Iraqis queuing to
join the police force. The US military blamed al-Qaida loyalists and foreign
militants for this and other suicide bombings. But occupations are usually
ugly. How then can resistance be pretty?

February 22, 2004 - 6:00pm -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
News

"Les Enfants Perdus de Ayiti? Not!"

Chris Brady


There was a big difference between Aristide’s political behavior before
he was deposed versus after he was reinstalled by US troops. He was
more of a populist before. His movement lost a lot of steam during his
imposed hiatus.


Aristide’s opposition may have been pushed back by US armed force, but
after the Lavalas tidal wave had swept across Haiti, it had actually
anchored itself securely in coves of privilege across the country.
Furthermore, Aristide was a chastened man when he returned, like a child
who required the intervention of a Big Daddy, while the bullies smirked
on the sidelines. All the other kids in the playground knew the score:
he wouldn’t be there without Big Daddy. In front of everyone, Big Daddy
sternly told him not to antagonize the bullies, and to behave himself.
He was allowed to serve out his term, but forbidden to add on the years
he lost. He was effectively penalized for losing. The bullies puffed
their chests, and went inside for a bit, locking the gates of their
mansions.

February 14, 2004 - 8:23am -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
News

Anonymous Comrade writes

"Anatomy of Terror"

John Chuckman

Trying to bring reason to the subject of terror seems hopeless. The subject is crushingly-weighted with hatreds, prejudice, and political lunacy. But the attempt is important because the subject may dominate the lifetimes of most readers.


Terror is both a real phenomenon and a fraud. It is real in that groups with deep grievances do sometimes kill innocent people in their attempt to influence events from a position of political and military weakness.

February 11, 2004 - 2:54pm -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
News

"Coexistence with Islamic Fundamentalism?"

George Katsiaficas

To my great fortune, I am not now in the US. I am
fortunate not because I fear anthrax or other terrors
but rather because my mind and soul are not being
inalterably stamped by the patriotic media onslaught
and chauvinism swirling through the country with
greater strength than a tornado. During the last such
nationalistic maelstrom (the Iran hostage crisis in
1979) I was also lucky enough to have been living
abroad. I mention my location because my
perspective -- worlds apart from the vast majority of
Americans -- will probably seem quite un-American.

January 30, 2004 - 1:09pm -- jim
News
News

"Mexican Army Assaults Zapatista Communities"

Edinburgh-Chiapas Solidarity Group

Mexican armed forces have attacked the Zapatista community of
Nuevo San Rafael, burning down 23 homes and violently evicting
the Chol indigenous inhabitants. The attack, reported variously as
happening on either 19 or 22 January, took place in the remote
Montes Azules jungle area of Chiapas.
Resource-rich Montes Azules has long been coveted by
multinationals. As the governments and multinationals press
forward with the Plan Puebla Panama and Free Trade Area
of the Americas, the “war of low intensity” against
the thousand-plus Zapatista autonomous communities
erupts into blatant repression. The Secretary of Government
of Chiapas, Rubén Velázquez López, promises more
evictions, declaring that land invasions will no longer be
tolerated.

January 20, 2004 - 4:56pm -- jim
Announcements
News

bbb writes

Communiqué from the Biotic Baking Brigade,
NYC Cell
January 20, 2004

NY, NY: 12:00PM
Agents of the Biotic Baking Brigade-NYC cell have pied Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry who was speaking on behalf of his new anti-abortion group, the Society for Truth and Justice.

January 18, 2004 - 12:18pm -- jim
Analysis & Polemic
News

rob eshelman writes:

Amidst the Rubble with Baghdad Squatters
Rob Eshelman

In the Karada neighborhood of Baghdad, Saddam Hussein’s formerly grand, high modern Air Defense Ministry building has been reduced to a bombed-out, crumbling ruin. Evidence of the destruction is everywhere: windows are burnt-out voids, the ground is covered with a layer of rusty metal, broken foam ceiling tiles, and pieces of charred aluminum. Walking through the skeletal remains of the compound’s forward building one emerges on to a courtyard containing a once marble spiraled staircase, brick walls stripped of their tiles, and an Olympic-size swimming pool half full of murky water and debris. Since the fall of Saddam’s government, this once luxurious complex has been transformed into a shantytown of Shia squatters. Approximately 400 families now try to survive here as best they can; around them lies an increasingly dysfunctional mega-city of six million people.

January 14, 2004 - 10:37pm -- jim
News

"No to Bio-Political Tattooing"

Giorgio Agamben, Le Monde, 10 January 2004


The newspapers leave no doubt: from now on whoever wants to go to
the United States with a visa will be put on file and will have
to leave their fingerprints when they enter the country.
Personally, I have no intention of submitting myself to such
procedures and that's why I didn't wait to cancel the course I
was supposed to teach at New York University in March.

January 6, 2004 - 10:17pm -- jim
News
News

"Italian Letter Bombs Attributed to Anarchists Raise Questions"


Four letter bombs have been sent to various European Union
dignitaries throughout the Europe in the last week, all of them,
according to government officials, originating from the Italian city
of Bologna.


A group calling itself the Informal Anarchist Front
("F.A.I.") has claimed responsibility in a letter printed by an
Italian newspaper. Although no known Italian anarchist groups have
ever heard of this association, the acronym matches exactly that of
another above-ground, revolutionary organization in Bologna: the
Italian Anarchist Federation (F.A.I.) The F.A.I. has denounced these
attacks, and consider the Informal Anarchist Front "imaginary,"
(federazioneanarchica)
invented to justify the repression of anarchists in Bologna and
throughout Italy.

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