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Mainstream Media

"Web Hate Sites Luring Sickos, Wackos, Weirdoes"

NY Daily News

It's no surprise to learn that the Internet is full of weirdoes, but
hate groups are increasingly flocking to the Web, reports The (N.Y.) Daily
News. The Simon Wiesenthal Center released a report this week listing
4,500 terror-related and anti-Semitic sites. Al Qaida, Hamas and other
terrorist groups use the Internet as an important propaganda tool, it
says. On one site, masked figures point guns at images of the collapsing
World Trade Center towers and laugh. On another site, visitors can manage
Nazi concentration camps or let players direct suicide bombers, shoot
black people or buy crack dens. "We want people to realize the Internet is
not just a tool of information, but also a tool of disinformation," said
Mark Weitzman, director of the center's Task Force Against Hate. (EGS)


Full story: here.

Anonymous Comrade writes:

Spanish Prime Minister Orders Iraq Troops Home

BBC News


Spain's new prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has given orders for Spanish troops in Iraq to be brought home in "as short a time as possible".


Mr Zapatero said he could not ignore what he called the will of the Spanish people.

CNN to Al Jazeera: Why Report Civilian Deaths?

Common Dreams

 
NEW YORK - April 15 — As the casualties mount in the besieged Iraqi city of Fallujah, Qatar-based Al Jazeera has been one of the only news networks broadcasting from the inside, relaying images of destruction and civilian victims-- including women and children. But when CNN anchor Daryn Kagan interviewed the network's editor-in-chief, Ahmed Al-Sheik, on Monday (4/12/04)-- a rare opportunity to get independent information about events in Fallujah-- she used the occasion to badger Al-Sheik about whether the civilian deaths were really "the story" in Fallujah.

"Still Agitating (Never Mind the Arthritis)"

Randal C. Archibold, New York Times


There is Aron Kay, alias Yippie Pieman, who infamously flung pies at
political and public figures during the 70's and 80's — including Abe
Beame, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Andy Warhol — but retired after
smearing Randall Terry, the anti-abortion activist, with a creamy
pineapple cheese in 1992.


There is Jerry Wade, better known as Jerry the Peddler, who said he would
"bring the medical marijuana."


Joanie Freedom, a veteran protester of park and camping rules in the city
and in national forests, would be in charge of infrastructure. Penny
Arcade, the performance artist known for erotically avant-garde shows,
would handle theatrical entertainment.


And providing legal aid is Lynne Stewart, a lawyer known for representing
people accused of terrorism against the United States and who is awaiting
trial in May on charges of providing material support to a man accused of
plotting to blow up New York City landmarks.

Book Alleges Secret Iraq War Plan

Calvin Woodward and Siobhan McDonough, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Bush secretly ordered a war plan drawn up against Iraq less than two months after U.S. forces attacked Afghanistan and was so worried the decision would cause a furor he did not tell everyone on his national security team, says a new book on his Iraq policy.


Bush feared that if news got out about the Iraq plan as U.S. forces were fighting another conflict, people would think he was too eager for war, journalist Bob Woodward writes in "Plan of Attack," a behind-the-scenes account of the 16 months leading to the Iraq invasion.

Defiant US Says Falluja Dead Were Rebels

Rory McCarthy and Julian Borger, Guardian

600 dead in besieged Iraqi city — but marine commander claims victims mostly insurgents

The United States last night robustly defended its controversial siege of Falluja which has cost the lives of more than 600 people over the past week, by claiming most of those who died were militants picked off with precision by US marines.

As a tense ceasefire held in the turbulent city west of Baghdad and an international hostage crisis persisted across Iraq, the US marine commander in charge of the siege of Falluja claimed 95% of those killed were legitimate targets.

"Coalition of the Mercenaries"

Robert Fisk & Severin Carrell, The Independent (UK), March 29, 2004

An army of thousands of mercenaries has appeared in Iraq's major cities, many of them former British and American soldiers hired by the occupying Anglo-American authorities and by dozens of companies who fear for the lives of their employees.

Many of the armed Britons are former SAS soldiers and heavily armed South Africans are also working for the occupation. "My people know how to use weapons and they're all SAS," said the British leader of one security team in southern Baghdad. "But there are people running around with guns now who are just cowboys. We always conceal our weapons, but these guys think they're in a Hollywood film."

"US Knew al-Qa'ida Would Attack Cities With Airplanes"

The Whistleblower the White House Wants to Silence

Andrew Buncombe, The Independent, UK


A former translator for the FBI with top-secret security clearance says she has provided information to the panel investigating the 11 September attacks which proves senior officials knew of al-Qa'ida's plans to attack the US with aircraft months before the strikes happened.


Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds said the claim by the National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, that there was no such information was "an outrageous lie".

US Chose to Ignore Rwandan Genocide
Rory Carroll, the Guardian, Wednesday March 31, 2004


President Bill Clinton's administration knew Rwanda was being engulfed by genocide in April 1994 but buried the information to justify its inaction, according to classified documents made available for the first time.

Senior officials privately used the word genocide within 16 days of the start of the killings, but chose not to do so publicly because the president had already decided not to intervene.

Intelligence reports obtained using the US Freedom of Information Act show the cabinet and almost certainly the president had been told of a planned "final solution to eliminate all Tutsis" before the slaughter reached its peak.

It took Hutu death squads three months from April 6 to murder an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus and at each stage accurate, detailed reports were reaching Washington's top policymakers.

Anonymous Comrade writes "In Army Survey, Troops in Iraq Report Low Morale



By Thomas E. Ricks

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, March 26, 2004; Page A18

A slim majority of Army soldiers in Iraq -- 52 percent -- reported that their morale was low, and three-fourths of them said they felt poorly led by their officers, according to a survey taken at the end of the summer and released yesterday by the Army.

In addition, seven in 10 of those surveyed characterized the morale of their fellow soldiers as low or very low. The problems were most pronounced among lower-ranking troops and those in reserve units.

"Nearly 75% of the groups reported that their battalion-level command leadership was poor" and showed "a lack of concern" for their soldiers, said an Army report accompanying the data. "Unit cohesion was also reported to be low."

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