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| Taking a Closer Look at the Stories Ignored by the Corporate Media |
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Archive for the Month of February, 2005.
Viewing ALL NEWS articles 1 through 75 of 76.
- A top Shia leader tipped to become Iraq's next prime minister has branded Iyad Allawi's interim government the most corrupt in the country's history. - GE which is conducting business activities in Iran that "are fully compliant with U.S. law" stops taking any further orders from Iran. Does GE have inside information of any coming US military ventures? - Bush called Iran the "world's primary state sponsor of terror" and reiterated his accusations that the country is striving to develop nuclear weapons, a charge denied by Iran. - A detailed timetable of the destruction and distress that global warming is likely to cause the world was unveiled yesterday. - As the corporate media pundits praise the "free and fair" Iraqi elections, a closer look reveals that the polling in Iraq was fundamentally flawed and lacking transparency in the same way as elections in the U.S. No wonder that the same people are behind the organization of both.
- The post-invasion US governing authority in Iraq lost track of $US 8.8 billion it transferred to government ministries in a black hole of fraud, kickbacks and misappropriation, according to an official US audit released yesterday.
- The U.S. Department of Defense is currently making webpages which appear to be small independent news sites, in an attempt to spread official propaganda. The Department of Defense plans to add more sites on the Internet to spread propaganda to a global audience. - "Higher than expected turnout," US mainstream television media blared, some citing a figure of 72%, others 60%. What they didn't tell you was that these numbers were provided by one individual, Farid Ayar. Ayar said the 72% was "only guessing" and "was just an estimate," which was based on "very rough, word-of mouth estimates gathered informally from the field."
- PNAC says ...."The United States military is too small for the responsibilities we are asking it to assume. Those responsibilities are real and important. They are not going away. The United States will not and should not become less engaged in the world in the years to come.
- Bush plans to unveil a $2.5 trillion budget today eliminating dozens of domestic programs, including funding for education, environmental protection, while proposing significant increases for the military spending. About 150 programs in all would be shuttered or radically cut back. One out of every three of the targeted programs concern education. Medicaid funding would be also be reduced significantly.
- Forget the UN corruption. The US occupation regime helped itself to $8.8 billion of mostly Iraqi money in just 14 months.
- Iraqi officials must recount votes because of various discrepancies, delaying final results from the landmark national elections. Hundreds - perhaps thousands - of other ballots were declared invalid because of alleged tampering. - The Canadian arm of U.S. retailing giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said its store in Jonquiere, Quebec, will close this spring after becoming the first unionized Wal-Mart in North America about six months ago. When the store became unionized, the retailer said it was considering all options to block the certification, including legal action against the Quebec Labor Relations Commission. - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Wednesday that it risks U.N. action if negotiations with Europe over its nuclear program don't progress.
- North Korea on Thursday announced for the first time that it has nuclear weapons and rejected moves to restart disarmament talks any time soon, saying it needs the armaments as protection against an increasingly hostile United States. - Rumsfeld has skillfully used terrorism hysteria and paranoia to wrest control of intelligence and make the Pentagon supreme in Washington's bureaucratic power struggles.
- Federal aviation officials reviewed dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda, some of which specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations, according to a previously undisclosed report. The report discloses that the FAA warned airports in the spring of 2001 that "the intent of the hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners, but to commit suicide in a spectacular explosion". - Floods, storms and droughts. Melting Arctic ice, shrinking glaciers, oceans turning to acid. The world's top scientists warned last week that dangerous climate change is taking place today, not the day after tomorrow. You don't believe it? Then, read this... - Chalabi, a brilliant man and crafty politician, still the darling of some Washington neo-conservatives, is lobbying hard for the post of prime minister in the new Iraqi government that will be formed after election officials finish counting the tally from last week's vote. - The New York Times killed a story that could have changed the election... why?... because it could have changed the election. - NASA scientists said this week that 2005 the warmest year since records started being kept in the late 1800s. - Iraqi-American doctor Rafil Dhafir, was convicted on 59 charges including violating economic sanctions against Iraq, Medicare fraud and tax evasion. Dr. Dhafir and others got together and began to raise money and to get funds, humanitarian aid, food, blankets, and medicine into Iraq, when they saw the devasting effects of the sanctions on Iraq.
- A man with a phony name and fake credentials poses as a white house correspondent. This right wing, "loose canon", "reporter" consistently supported George Bush, but has revealed that he was using a fake name and credentials. - Stanley Hilton's $7 billion class action lawsuit against top Bush Administration officials for their roles in engineering and orchestrating the 911 attacks has been dismissed by Judge Illston on the "Doctrine of Sovereign Immunity". The suit was not dismissed because of lack of evidence, but because U.S. Citizens do not have the right to hold a sitting President accountable for anything. - Uncle Sam wants you. He needs you. He'll bribe you to sign up. He'll strong-arm you to re-enlist. And if that's not enough, he's got a plan to draft you. - More than 200 Fish and Wildlife researchers cite cases where conclusions were reversed to weaken protections and favor business, a survey finds.
- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, will pay $135,540 to settle federal charges that it broke child labor laws, the Labor Department said Saturday. - Venezuela is shifting its military doctrine to set the United States as its No. 1 enemy, and President Hugo Chávez has spoken of guerrilla warfare,as seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, if U.S. forces invade his country.
- USA Arms Sunni Militias to fight the Shi'ia and cause civial war in Iraq. - A German citizen may have been kidnapped by American agents and illegally taken to Afghanistan. Now, German authorities are quietly investigating the case - More on Jeff Gannon the so called whitehouse reporter who was pro Bush.
- The US Government persisted with its claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, even though they were aware months before that the intelligence on Iraq's weapons was wrong. - McDonald's Corp. made front-page news nearly 2 1/2 years ago when it promised to cut the level of dangerous trans fats in its cooking oil. But the oil change never came. This week, the fast-food giant agreed in Marin County Superior Court to pay $7 million to the American Heart Association. - Young boy found dead in a house in the Jolan quarter of Fallujah. A father who had tried to shield his two daughters, found dead in a bedroom.
Man found shot dead sheltering in his living room. Man killed in his kitchen. This is a story of how the US murdered a city. - A graph showing the correlation between the increase in major earthquakes with the increase in oil prodcution.
- Bush added a new twist to the international tension over Iran's nuclear programme last night by pledging to support Israel if it tries to destroy the Islamic regime's capacity to make an atomic bomb. - One of dozens of articles that are out there telling the tragic stories of the continuing murder of innocent Iraqis by occupying military forces.
- From the first days of the US-British invasion of Iraq, oil workers have resisted foreign occupation. Saddam's secret police used to creep over the roofs into our homes at night; occupation troops now break down our doors in broad daylight. The media do not show even a fraction of the devastation that has engulfed Iraq. - Council on Foreign Relations sponsors a tri-national panel that is considering a raft of bold proposals for an integrated North America, including a continental customs union, single passport, monetary policies, integrated security policies, and a contiguous security perimeter. In other words the USA is considering incorporating Canada into its borders.
- His real name is James Dale Guckert. He has no journalistic background whatsoever. His application for a press credential to cover the Congress was rejected. But the White House arranged for him to be given a new pass every single day, a deliberate evasion of the regular credentialing that requires an FBI security check. It was soon revealed. "Gannon" owned and advertised his services as a gay escort on more than half a dozen websites. - The American Civil Liberties Union today released files obtained from the Army revealing previously undisclosed allegations of abuse by U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The torture of detainees is too widespread and systemic to be dismissed as the rogue actions of a few misguided individuals". - For two years Jeff Gannon cut an unobtrusive figure at White House press conferences. He was writing under a false name and working for a Republican front organisation. His 'softball' questions to White House officials can now be seen as plotting by an administration which has frequently displayed a dark mastery of the arts of press control.
- On Friday evening in Olympia, former UNSCOM weapons inspector Scott Ritter appeared with journalist Dahr Jamail. Ritter made two shocking claims: George W. Bush has "signed off" on plans to bomb Iran in June 2005, and the U.S. manipulated the results of the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq.... - "The United States knows that I have a 70% (approval rating)," Chavez said. "And they know that I am unbeatable in the 2006 elections and that they cannot isolate us from our brother countries, despite their blackmail attempts." "If something happens to me, I blame the president of the United States," he said.
- The US has been flying drones over Iran since April 2004, seeking evidence of nuclear weapons programmes and probing for weaknesses in Iran's air defences. Iran did not take the bait and turn on its radar, which would have revealed vital information about the country's air defence systems - For the first time since 2001, the Army began the fiscal year in October with only 18.4 percent of the year's target of 80,000 active-duty recruits already in the pipeline. That amounts to less than half of last year's figure and falls well below the Army's goal of 25 percent. - Three months after brutal attacks leaving Fallujah a city in ruins, Marines plan a vicious assault against Fallujah's sister city Ramadi, a city of 400,000 people. - Even after all the inflammatory rhetoric accusing Iran of harboring terrorists and building nuclear weapons, even after it was revealed that the USA has special operations military personnel in Iran gathering intelligence, even after it was revealed that there are US drones flying over Iran to probe its air defenses, even after Scott Ritter revealed that Bush has already signed off on attacking Iran, Bush denies it.
- al-Jaafari was a member of the U.S.-picked Iraqi Governing Council, which was dissolved a few weeks before the U.S. occupation authority handed over sovereignty to the interim government in June 2004. He was the first of the council's nine rotating presidents. He has a history of militancy, is implicated in an assassination attempt, and was responsible for suicide attacks in Iraq in the 1980s. - Who says that war is good for nothing. Ask "Bucky", Bush's uncle, he made 1/2 million dollars on just one stock transaction because of the Iraq war. - Nearly two years after being shot in the face by Israeli soldiers, Chapel Hill activist Brian Avery is heading back today to argue before the Israeli Supreme Court that the accused assailants should be brought to justice. - Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle starts a campaign to get US cities to adopt the terms of the Kyoto protocol, beginning with Seattle. He said his goal was to recruit 140 cities to match the 140 countries that signed the treaty. The mayors of 10 cities, including Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Oakland, Calif., Portland, Ore., and Minneapolis, have already signed on. - Senator John McCain has called for permanent U.S. military bases in Afghanistan to protect the security interests of the two countries. - The existence of Jeff Gannon, the propagandist impersonating a reporter is disturbing. However what is even more disturbing is that he is not the first but the sixth "journalist" (four of whom have been unmasked so far this year) to have been a propagandist on the payroll of either the Bush administration or a barely arms-length ally like Talon News, while simultaneously appearing in print or broadcast forums that purport to be real news
- Wal-Mart pays its workers such low wages that they qualify for state welfare benefits subsidized by Montana taxpayers, people told a Senate committee Tuesday. As an incentive for those "big box stores" to pay a living wage to their workers, Sen. Ken Toole's Senate Bill 272 would impose a gross proceeds tax on the companies. They would be exempt from the tax if they paid their employees an entry level wage. - Scientists on Tuesday reported that perchlorate, a toxic component of rocket fuel, was contaminating virtually all samples of women's breast milk and its levels were found to be, on average, five times greater than in cow's milk. - The British attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, warned less than two weeks before the Iraq war that military action could be illegal, the Guardian newspaper reported on Wednesday
- Halliburton cannot justify why it billed the Pentagon for $1.8 billion of work in Iraq and Kuwait, the Wall Street Journal reported. Pentagon accountants said they are uncertain as to why Halliburton's KBR unit billed the Pentagon $1.8 billion for expenses. This amount represents 43 percent of the $4.18 billion the company billed the Pentagon for logistics work in the Middle East - Russian soldier gets caught planting a bomb in an apartment complex in what appears to be an "Operation Gladio" fake terrorist bombing. - The Pentagon says more than 5,500 servicemen have deserted since the war started in Iraq. - President Bush has reached a dead end in his foreign policy, but he has failed to recognise his quandary. His belief that the polite reception he received in Europe is a vindication of his previous adventures is a vestige of fantasy.
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez arrived in Beijing for an official visit that aims to bolster his country's oil deals with the Asian giant. Chavez appears to be seeking allies to help prevent US aggression. - Taliban insurgents launched three attacks in southeastern Afghanistan in heavy combat that left 19 dead. - The Marine Corps suffered a 29 percent spike in suicides last year, reaching the highest number in at least a decade. The brutal military occupation in Iraq is to blame. - Riggs Bank and two members of the bank's controlling Allbritton family yesterday agreed to pay $9 million to victims of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for the bank's role in concealing and spiriting Pinochet's money out of Britain in 1999. - Four hours out of six are without electricity. Their flat has few windows, to minimise the summer heat, and with no power there is no light, so they spend most of the day in gloom. It has been this way since the invasion in March 2003. They cursed the world in general and the Americans and Iraqi authorities in particular. "It's worse all the time."
- He said he was watching over his sheep one night in early February when he heard a plane pass low overhead three times. By morning his eyes were so swollen he could not open them and the sheep around him were dying in convulsions. Although farmers had noticed a white powder on their crops, they cut grass and clover for their animals and picked spinach to eat anyway. Within hours the they were all severely ill.
- The United States has decided to resume training members of the Indonesian armed forces suspended since 1992, the State Department announced Saturday.
- The United States leads an effort to block a binding accord sought by the EU. Again the US puts short term profits over the long term health of people.
- Iraq a lawless land of chaos, bombings, and murders. Attacks on civilians increase as American seek to protect themselves.
- The ranks of federal public affairs officials swelled during the Bush administration's first term, but that hasn't meant that government information is easier to get. "The role of public affairs officers is not to make information available to the public, as one would naively assume, rather, it is to regulate public access to information, which is something quite different."
- The architect of the Bush victories in 2000 and 2004 came through the ranks of college Republicans with the late Lee Atwater, and their admitted and alleged dirty tricks are the legends many young political operatives dream of pulling off. - Red tape, inefficiency and nepotism mean that only one-fifth of international aid actually gets to the people who need it, aid agencies say. - Bahraini police have detained a man who runs a website seen as critical of the Gulf Arab state's government and royal family, activists said. - In South Africa, say the residents of Dainfern, it's no longer about colour - just money. Their money buys them a space in an idyllic carefree community protected by guards and a four-metre high electric fence. Their servants - all black - live in the slum next door. Christopher Hope asks if this is the future of his country
Pages for February, 2005
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