[HIMC] World War III Report and IMC News Compilation

[Luz Ogarrio]

From WW3Report.com:


THE IRAQ FRONT

1. SADDAM COOPERATIVE, PENTAGON WORRIED
With UN inspectors now on the ground in Iraq, Pentagon planners are
facing the prospect that weapons inspections will drag on for months,
pushing the Pentagon's timetable for action from the ideal weather of
February to the searing heat of midsummer, administration officials
told the Washington Times. The paper claims that Central Command chief
Gen. Tommy Franks, in contrast to Desert Storm's Gen. Norman
Schwarzkopf, is thinking more in terms of a land invasion than relying
on overwhelming air power. "When Franks briefs, he doesn't talk about
the predominance of air power," said
one Pentagon official. "It is not an air-centric brief. He wants to put
the Army in the center. He doesn't keystone air-power benefits."
(Washington Times, Nov. 29)

(http://www.washtimes.com/national/20021129-89456856.htm)

2. SADDAM HIDING THE EVIDENCE?
UN weapons inspectors are at work in Iraq following Saddam Hussein's
agreement to abide by the new Security Council resolution. But advisors
have apparently warned British Prime Minister Tony Blair that Iraqi
officials have begun systematically hiding documents and other material
relating to weapons of mass destruction.. The analysts reportedly
believe Saddam's strategy is to distract the inspection team with
numerous offers to open selected facilities that are suspected of "dual
use" purposes, which the Iraqis can then demonstrate are being used
innocently for civilian purposes, such as petrochemical production. (UK
Indpedendent, Nov. 29)

(http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=356777)

3. U.S. PLOTS MILITARY RULE FOR IRAQ
US News and World Report wrote Nov. 25 that "a high-level, interagency
task force called the Executive Steering Group" has been secretly
established by the White House to plan for a post-Saddam government in
Iraq. The current plan "calls for a three-phase scenario beginning with
a period of military rule, most likely by an American general, and
ending with a new,
representative Iraqi government within a relatively short but undefined
number of years." The magazine also reports some disagreement on how
revenue from the sale of Iraqi oil should be used. Some argue that it
should be used to reimburse the US for the costs of the invasion, while
others want to use it to fund humanitarian work in order to show the
Iraqi
people, "immediately and decisively that [the US is] not after their
wealth."

(http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/index-old1.htm)

4. IRAQI SHIAS READY TO TAKE UP ARMS
Shia militiamen opposed to Saddam Hussein have gone into action in
southern
Iraq, disrupting communications and military supply routes, leaders
announced. Ayatollah Hakim al-Baqir of the Supreme Council for Islamic
Revolution in Iraq, said on a fund-raising mission in Kuwait: "It is
high
time military preparations on the ground began. War is inevitable. Now
it
is up to America to stop delaying." The Ayatollah, who heads the
Iran-based
Shia opposition group, says he has an estimated 10,000 troops ready to
assist a US military campaign. (UK Telegraph, Dec. 2)

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/12/02/wirq102.xml/)

5. U.S. ESCALATES QATAR MILITARIZATION
The US military is installing a new command center at a heavily guarded
base in the small Persian Gulf state of Qatar to serve as the main
headquarters for a war on Iraq. The official purpose of the base, As
Sayliyah, is to prepare for a major US military exercise in December
called
Internal Look, which officials admit is a dry-run for
command-and-control
procedures to be used in the Iraq attack. US Central Command chief Gen.
Tommy  Franks is expected to arrive next week to oversee the exercise.
The
new base augments the US military presence at Qatar's Al Udeid Air
Base.
(NYT, Dec. 1)

(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/01/international/middleeast/01MILI.html?ex=10
39323600&en=7ef378c7fd5be31f&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE)

See also WW3 REPORT #40: http://ww3report.com/40.html#iraq2

6. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PROTESTS "MANIPULATION"
Amnesty International said a newly-released dossier by British Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw, containing graphic accounts of torture, rapes and
other abuses perpetrated by the Saddam Hussein regime, is a "cold and
calculated manipulation" of the work of human rights activists. "Let us
not
forget that these same governments turned a blind eye to Amnesty
International's reports of widespread human rights violations in Iraq
before the Gulf war," said Amnesty secretary general Irene Khan. "They
remained silent when thousands of unarmed Kurdish civilians were killed
in
Halabja in 1988." (UK Guardian, Dec. 2)

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,852129,00.html)

7. CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL WALKOUTS PROTEST WAR DRIVE
About 50 high school students in Petaluma, CA, walked out of class Nov.
27
to protest US policy on Iraq, and received one-day suspensions. Some
students and parents protested the suspensions as unfair, noting that
students at other Sonoma County high schools who also staged walkouts
were
not suspended. "I don't think we should have been suspended," said
Rosie
Heartte, 17, one of the protesters. "One of our main purposes was to
educate students about the issue and we did that. If we go to war, it's
absolute that innocent civilians are going to die and that young
Americans
will be sent over to fight. We need to explore other options, continue
to
make use of the UN." (Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Nov. 28)

8. CND TAKES BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO COURT OVER WAR DRIVE
Lawyers for Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) went to
court
in London in a bid to stop their government from going to war against
Iraq.
The case focuses on whether the government will be acting illegally if
force used against Iraq without the UN Security Council passing a fresh
resolution. Named defendants include Prime Minister Tony Blair, Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon. CND chair Carol
Naughton said: "If war on Iraq is unleashed, 500,000 could die. We face
the
real possibility of a first use of a nuclear weapon, which could be
British, American or Israeli. We are acting on behalf of all the
citizens
of the world who want to stop war on Iraq." (CND press release, Nov.
27)

9. THOUSANDS MARCH AGAINST WAR IN ISTANBUL
Thousands marched in Istanbul Dec. 1 to protest Turkish participation
in
the looming war on Iraq--just two  days ahead of a visit by US
officials.
Waving signs reading "Peace Now" and "Long live the brotherhood of
men,"
protesters led by opposition political parties, unions and
non-governmental
organizations filled a square on the European side of the city.
Protesters
demanded that Turkey not open its air bases to US planes in the event
of
military action against Iraq. But a leader of the ruling Justice and
Development Party (AKP) told the IslamOnline agency that the former
government, led by Bulent Ecivet, had authorized Chief of Staff, Helmi
Uzkock to deal with the Iraqi file. "Turkey's role in the possible war
(against Iraq) has already been  settled during a visit to Washington
on
November 2, by Uzkock. This means our government will not be able to
hve a
say about it now," the AKP leader said, asking not to be named.
(Palestine
Chronicle, Dec. 1)

(http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021201185329804)

10. FEDS TO SNOOP ON IRAQI-AMERICANS
On Nov. 17, the New York Times published an article outlining the Bush
administration's plans to monitor thousands of Iraqis and
Iraqi-Americans,
who senior government officials say could pose a terrorist threat in
the
event of war with Iraq.  The intelligence project, kept secret until
now,
targets Iraqi citizens and Iraqi-Americans with dual citizenship.
Special
national security warrants have been issued to track individuals
electronically, while others will be recruited as informants.

The UK Guardian wrote Nov. 19 that word of the program was leaked "as a
riposte to allegations made in Congress that US intelligence agencies
were
proving incompetent in dealing with potential threats."  The paper also
notes that "any evidence linking Iraqis to terrorism would boost
President
George Bush's claim that Saddam Hussein has a history of cooperating
with
al-Qaeda, a claim with which the CIA disagrees."

The government has been interviewing Arab-Americans on a "voluntary"
basis
in an effort to unearth suspicious activities related to Iraq. The
Council
of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a national advocacy group for
American Muslims, says over 8,000 legal Muslim and Arab residents of
the US
have been interviewed "voluntarily" by the FBI or INS over the past
year.
Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of the Washington-based CAIR
said:
"[It] goes against all accepted norms of due process and legal rights.
To
monitor someone who has exhibited no probable cause for any link to
illegal
activity is a violation of American law, or at least it used to be."

CAIR-NY, with the New York Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights
organizations, has written an open letter to the local Muslim community
with guidelines on how to protect your constitutional rights if you are
approached by the FBI.  It can be found at:

http://www.nyclu.org/coop_fbi112502.html

(Subuhi Jiwani)

11. US RESERVISTS LEAVING IN DROVES
The UK Guardian reported the following Oct. 24: "A different concern
for
the military, however, may come in the form of a congressional report
claiming that trained pilots and crew in two of the US army's reserve
forces--the air national guard and the air force reserve--are leaving
in
droves to avoid taking the Pentagon's anthrax vaccine whose
side-effects
include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and, in rare cases, hallucination,
depression or delirium." (UK Guardian, Oct. 24)


THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT

1. 60 DEAD IN FIGHTING NEAR HERAT; US BOMBS FRONT LINES
Three days of fierce fighting in Afghanistan's western province of
Herat
left 60 dead before the central government brokered a cease-fire. The
fighting took place between forces loyal to the Tajik warlord Ismail
Khan,
governer of Herat, and a rival warlord, the ethnic Pashtun Ammanullah
Khan.
Amanullah  said Ismail Khan's forces attacked his with with artillery,
mortars, machine-guns and tanks on the morning of Dec. 1 in the
mountains
above Zer-e-Koh. Amanullah's forces fought back with artillery and
assault
rifles, as well as a tank and a truck-mounted rocket launcher. Some 51
civilians were killed by rockets, though it was unclear who was
responsible
for those deaths. US Special Forces patrolling in the area came under
attack, prompting them to call in an air strike from B-52s on the front
lines. (AP, Dec. 2; BBC, Dec. 2)

US fighter jets hit suspected enemy positions in Afghanistan after two
US
bases came under rocket fire in the east of the country. In the first
attack Nov. 14, nine 107mm rockets were fired at a US military base
near
Gardez, reportedly causing no casualties. A-10 fighter planes responded
by
dropping several bombs and firing some 2,000 rounds of ammunition. US
Special Forces troops found a suspected enemy vehicle and destroyed a
rocket that had not been fired. Several hours later, a US base in
Lwara,
110 miles southwest of Kabul, came under rocket and mortar fire, with
at
least one round exploding inside the compound, the military said.
Soldiers
from the 82nd Airborne division moved on the launch site, trading small
arms and mortar fire with the suspected attackers. An A-10 also fired
missiles at the launch site and dropped a 500-pound bomb, and another
aircraft dropped a 1,000-pound bomb shortly afterward, the military
said.
Meanwhile, the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad came under fire Friday
from
suspected Taliban/al-Qaida fighters, police chief Haji Ajab Shah said.
Four
rockets hit a high school, which was empty at the time, and the
airport,
but caused no casualties. (AP, Nov. 15) (David Bloom and Bill
Weinberg))

2. U.S. TROOPS HUNT WEAPONS
Some 400 US troops raided the villages of Naray and Kot Kalay, acting
on
tips they were transit points for weapons and pro-Taliban fighters
moving
across the nearby Pakistani border. They found 115 107-mm rockets--the
same
kind fired almost daily at US bases--in a stable. They also found 14
rocket-propelled grenades, land mines, detonators and thousands of
rounds
of ammunition, some of it armor-piercing. Five residents were detained
for
questioning. Villagers said everyone owns an automatic rifle and the
rockets are used in local tribal disputes, denying they were weapons
stored
by the Taliban or al-Qaida. (AP, Nov. 11)

3. STUDENT PROTESTS ROCK KABUL
Hundreds of students enraged over a lack of food and electricity in
their
dormitory clashed with police in all-night protests in Kabul Nov. 11.
Police responded with water cannons and automatic fire, leaving at
least
four
students dead and dozens injured. (AP, Nov. 12)

(http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20021112/ap_on_re_as/afghan_
students_killed_6)

4. U.N. PROBES TERROR IN DOSTUM'S DOMAIN
The UN is said to be investigating reports that witnesses to mass
killings
in northern Afghanistan are being harassed, tortured and murdered. Few
have
spoken publicly about what happened to the some 1,000  men, believed to
be
captured Taliban fighters, who are buried in a mass grave near the
northern
town of Sheberghan. A preliminary UN investigation of the site revealed
that the cause of death in the cases of three exhumed bodies was
suffocation. That is consistent with allegations by human rights groups
that the men died when they were shut in shipping containers and driven
across the north of Afghanistan. The preliminary investigation in May
recommended a full investigation, the securing of the mass grave site
and
protection for witnesses. None of these has happened--despite a
commitment
by the government of Hamid Karzai. Any inquiry is contingent upon
security
guarantees for witnesses to give evidence against people like the
northern
power broker, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum--whose forces are widely
considered
responsible for the killings. At the time of the killings, he was a key
local ally for US forces fighting to  overthrow the Taliban. Dostum
says
only 200 prisoners died and most were already sick or wounded from the
fighting. (BBC, Nov. 14)

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2476383.stm)

5. BOOK: U.S. PAID OFF AFGHAN WARLORDS
A new book says President Bush's advisers had serious doubts about the
early course of the war in Afghanistan and suggests the defeat of the
Taliban was largely due to millions of dollars in hundred-dollar bills
the
CIA handed out to Afghan warlords to buy their support.  "Bush at War,"
by
Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, draws on four hours of
interviews
with Bush and quotes 15,000 words from National Security Council and
other
White House meetings to reconstruct the internal debate surrounding the
US
military action in Afghanistan, as well as the decision to aggressively
confront Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The book reports that Bush
advisers had grave doubts about the strategy of bombing the Taliban
while
relying on ground forces from the Northern Alliance. At one point, the
Pentagon developed plans to send in 50,000 U.S. troops. Bush, according
to
the book, hated what he saw as "hand-wringing" by his aides, but even
he
expressed doubts about the strategy, roaring at one point that he was
"concerned about the fact that things aren't moving." The book also
documents that the CIA spent $70 million in direct cash outlays on the
ground in Afghanistan, including outlways for setting up field
hospitals.
(Washington Post, Nov. 16)


THE NEW GREAT GAME

1. CHEVRON DISPUTE HALTS KAZAKH OIL SECTOR EXPANSION
One week after the suspension of Kazakhstan's biggest oil project,
Kazakh
Energy Minister Vladimir Shkolnik told a press conference in Astana
that
the $3 billion expansion of the giant Tengiz oil project was halted
following a rift over financing. The sudden shelving of the second
phase of
the nine-year-old TengizChevrOil venture shocked the industry. Shkolnik
took a tough line with the Tengiz consortium, led by an affiliate of
US-based ChevronTexaco. "If all partners do not reach an agreement on
how
to finance this project... it means the project will not expand," he
told
Reuters. As a partner through its state-owned KazMunaiGaz company,
Kazakhstan voted against the project at a production meeting, blocking
the
required unanimity. The project, which was expected to boost output by
nearly 75% to 440,000 barrels per day. Reuters reported that the
dispute
concerned taxes and Chevron's plan to re-invest profits. Another
explanation by the Russian Energy newsletter cited sources at
KazMunaiGaz
as saying that the company demanded its 20% share of the costs to be
paid
by ChevronTexaco. (Asia Times, Nov. 28)

(http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/DK23Ag01.html)

2. MP: U.S., UK SEEK TO RE-DRAW BORDERS OF MIDDLE EAST
British MP George Galloway claims that a plan for a new division of the
Middle East is circulating in the corridors of power on both sides of
the
Atlantic. In an interview with Sasha Lilley on the Common Dreams
website,
Galloway asserted that British government ministers are deliberating
the
partition of the Middle East, harking back to post-World War I colonial
map-making. Galloway says US and British war aims go well beyond
replacing
Saddam Hussein. "They include a recasting of the entire Middle East,
the
better to ensure the hegemony of the big powers over the natural
resources
of the Middle East and the safety and security of the vanguard of
imperialist interests in the area--the state of Israel. And part of
that is
actually redrawing boundaries." Galloway is vice-chair of the
Parliamentary
Labour Party Foreign Affairs Committee, with close relations to
Britain's
Ministry of Defense. Galloway says that British ministers and advisors
are
seeking the break-up of both Iraq and Saudi Arabia in the wake of an
attack
against Saddam Hussein--and are discussing the possible partition of
Egypt,
Sudan, Syria and Lebanon. Says Galloway: "There are many ways in which
a
new Sykes-Picot dispensation could be drawn up in the Middle East to
guarantee another few decades of big power hegemony over the area."

The Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916, codified by the League of Nations in
1920, divided the crumbling Ottoman Empire between Britain and France.
These powers then drew the new boundaries. Under the aegis of Britain,
the
modern state of Saudi Arabia emerged in the late 1920s, absorbing the
hitherto separate eastern, central and western regions of the country.
The
oil conglomerates of the time were closely involved. Britain pushed
through
the interests of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (British Petroleum's
predecessor) and Royal Dutch Shell, over the US companies now known as
Exxon and Mobil. Iraq's modern boundaries derive from an Anglo-French
agreement giving Britain the northern Iraqi province of Mosul. Iraq's
borders are a Britain creation combining the three Ottoman provinces of
Mosul, Baghdad and Basra--with respective Kurdish, Sunni and Shi'a
Muslim
majorities.

Saudi Arabia alone holds a quarter of the world's petroleum
reserves--and
is no longer seen by the US and UK as a trustworthy ally. "I think the
United States in particular has lost confidence in the ruling family in
Saudi Arabia, so far as their interests are concerned," says Galloway.
"They realize that the radicalization of the Saudi Arabian population
has
proceeded at very great pace, has reached very great depths,
particularly
amongst young people." If the House of Saud is overthrown, the new
rulers
could shut off the oil. "The United States is afraid that one day
they'll
wake up and a Khomeini type--or be it Wahhabi Sunni
Khomeini--revolution
would have occurred, and they would have lost everything in the
country."
The solution may be to eliminate Saudi Arabia altogether. "Saudi Arabia
could easily be two if not three countries," Galloway says, "which
would
have the helpful bonus of avoiding foreign forces having to occupy the
holiest places in Islam, when they're only interested really in oil
wells
in the eastern part of the country." Mecca and Medina might be left to
the
Saud family, while US forces establish a separatist enclave around the
eastern oilfileds. "The theorists of this idea have fastened on to the
fact
that a very substantial proportion of the population in the Eastern
Province, where the oil is, are Shi'ite Muslims with no particular
affection for the ruling Wahhabi clique who form the House of Saud."

In July, a Rand analyst presented a briefing in Defense Secretary
Rumsfeld's private conference room titled "Taking Saudi Out of Arabia,"
Lilly writes. Assembled members of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board
were
told that the US should demand Saudi Arabia stop supporting hostile
fundamentalist movements and curtail the airing of anti-US and
anti-Israel
statements--or face seizure of its financial assets and oilfields. A
month
later Max Singer of the Hudson Institute gave a presentation to the
Pentagon's Office of Net Assessment advising the US to forge a "Muslim
Republic of East Arabia" out of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.
(Common
Dreams, Nov. 11)

(http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1110-03.htm)

See also WW3 REPORT #45: http://ww3report.com/45.html#elsewhere6


THE ANDEAN FRONT

1. COLOMBIA TOWN REVOLTS AGAINST PARA TERROR
Following the assassination of a beloved mayoral candidate by suspected
right-wing paramilitaries, some 500 men and women in Concordia, on
Colombia's Rio Magdalena, ransacked government offices, the
headquarters of
rival politicians and the state-run phone company. The mob used
sledgehammers on walls, gasoline to burn filing cabinets and furniture,
and
stones to batter away at the bricks. But much of the work, carried out
through the night of Nov. 7, was done with bare hands. The body of the
candidate, Eugenio Escalante, 47, turned up soon after he met with
local
leaders of United Colombian Self-Defense (AUC) who demanded he get out
of
next month's mayoral race. Mayor Pablo Salas, who handpicked a majoral
candidate with his paramilitary patrons, fled to the provincial capital
of
Santa Marta as the mob reduced City Hall, the municipal council
building
and the Telecom office to rubble and ash. Residents said Salas
essentially
answered in his daily duties to "Sonia," local commander of the AUC's
Northern Bloc. More than half of Colombia's 1,098 mayors are working
under
death threats issued by armed groups, according to the Colombian
Federation
of Municipalities. In 2002, 10 mayors have been killed and 10 others
kidnapped. (Washington Post, Nov. 18)

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A3068-2002Nov17?language=printer)

2. ASHCROFT INDICTS MORE FARC COMMANDERS
US Attorney General John Ashcroft says he may seek the death penalty
against three indicted members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC). Commander Jorge Briceno (alias El Mono Jojoy), his
deputy
Henry Castellanos (alias Romana) and a guerrilla named only as El Loco
are
wanted in connection with the kidnapping of US citizens. Briceno is
charged
with conspiring in 1997 to kidnap Jerel Shaffer and Earl Goen from
neighbouring Venezuela. Shaffer was beaten and held hostage in the
Colombian jungle for nine months until a $1 million ransom was paid,
while
Goen was released shortly after the kidnapping. The indictments came a
week
after the US Justice Department announced it had disrupted a
drugs-for-arms
operation involving the AUC, paramilitary rivals of FARC. Earlier this
year, a federal grand jury returned indictments against  FARC itself
and
six of its members in the 1999  and kidnap-murder of three US citizens.
(BBC, Nov. 14)

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2471143.stm)

See also WW3 REPORT #42: http://ww3report.com/42.html#andean8

3. U.S. TO HUNT DOWN PARAS?
US troops in Colombia will soon train a special 400-man commando unit
to
track rebels and paramilitaries, with a special emphasis on hunting
down
leaders. The US Congress is also consideringa a measure to provide $5
million to train an elite Colombian Army unit dedicated solely to
pursuing
paramilitary chiefs, such as the AUC's Carlos Castano, who is under
indictment in both the US and Colombia. "Castano has been a wanted man
for
years and they have yet to go after him," said Sen. Patrick Leahy
(D-VT),
chair of the foreign operations subcommittee of the Appropriations
Committee. "So we said, 'We'll give you the money so you can have the
capacity to capture them.'" But as the New York Times put it: "Those
close
to Mr. Castano said the indictment had blindsided him, because the
paramilitaries have always viewed themselves as allies of the Colombian
Army in their war against the rebels." (NYT, Nov. 14)

(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/14/international/americas/14COLO.html?ei=1&en=5e
ac5220f550b9ee&ex=1038281344&pagewanted=print&position=top)

See also WW3 REPORT #54: http://ww3report.com/54.html#andean4

4. COLOMBIA'S CENTRAL PIPELINE DYNAMITED
Colombia's largest oil pipeline was dynamited Nov. 25, causing a spill
and
forcing the brief evacuation of 280 people. The Central Colombian
Pipeline,
known by its Spanish acronym Ocensa, was ruptured near the town of
Aguazul,
100 miles northeast of Bogota. It was the second attack this year on
the
line, which is run by BP Amoco and Colombia's state company Ecopetrol.
While officials did not say who might be responsible, the National
Liberation Army (ELN) guerillas have frequently attacked the Cano Limon
pipeline, the country's second-largest. The US is preparing to train an
elite military unit to protect the Cano Limon line, which carries oil
for
Los Angeles-based Occidental Petroleum. Colombia produces 590,000
barrels
of oil a day, despite frequent attacks on pipelines. (AP, Nov. 25)

(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/11/25/inte
rnational1541EST0629.DTL)

See also WW3 REPORT #59: http://ww3report.com/59.html#andean1

5. ECO-ACTIVISTS SHUT DOWN ECUADOR PIPELINE
Some 100 residents of Ecuador's Mindo reion, joined by members of the
Italian Green Party, peacefully occupied a construction site of
Ecuador's
new OCP pipeline inside the Mindo Nambillo Cloudforest Reserve Nov. 12.
Citizens blocked construction workers and machinery from entering the
site
throughout the day, and were sprayed with tear gas in skirmishes with
military police. Meanwhile, members of the ecology group Accion por la
Vida
ascended to the cloudforest ridgeline known as Guarumos to re-occupy
their
private property where OCP construction continues illegally, according
to a
report by Amazon Watch. After spending roughly ten hours on the
ridgeline,
three representatives--Mindo residents Cesar Fiallo and Cesar Patino
and
Italian Green Party representative Giuseppe De Marzo--were arrested and
transported to a central detention center in Quito.

(http://www.amazonwatch.org/)

See also WW3 REPORT #43: http://ww3report.com/43.html#andean6

6. HALLIBURTON MOVES IN ON PERUVIAN RAINFOREST
Two Texas energy companies--both closely tied to the Bush
administration--are lining up White House support for nearly $900
million
in US financing for a natural gas project in Peru that will cut through
one
of the world's most pristine tropical rain forests. Backers of the
Camisea
project--including Hunt Oil and Halliburton--are seeking financial
support
from US development banks. In December, Hunt Vice President Steve
Suellentrop is to accompany Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans on a
trade
mission to Peru, where President Bush traveled in March to promote
Andean
trade. A consortium led by Dallas-based Hunt, Argentina's Pluspetrol
and
Peru's Tecgas, began work earlier this year on the $1.6 billion project
in
the southeast of Peru's Amazon basin. Hunt brought in Halliburton's
Kellogg
Brown & Root unit to engineer a proposed next phase--a $1 billion plant
from slated to export liquid natural gas to the US by 2006.

Under federal regulations, projects backed by the US Export-Import Bank
and
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) must pass rigorous reviews to
ensure
that they will not threaten rare natural habitats. But officials
reviewing
the Camisea loan applications, who asked not to be identified, told the
Washington Post the project is proceeding despite warnings that it may
violate international environmental standards. This month, Peru's
energy
ministry fined the pipeline consortium $1 million for clearing too much
land, including parts of a protected nature preserve, and building
unauthorized access roads. The companies have appealed. Sens. Patrick
Leahy (D-VT), James M. Jeffords (I-VT) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have
met
with representatives from the World Wildlife Fund and Friends of the
Earth
to dicsuss the project. "Even a carefully designed and well-managed
project--which this, so far, is not--will cause permanent harm," said
Leahy, the lead Democrat on the committee that gives US funds to the
ExIm
Bank and IDB. "If it goes ahead, far more needs to be done to mitigate
the
damage." Hunt and Halliburton declined to comment. A White House
spokesperson said the decision is up to the two agencies. The ExIm
Bank, a
US agency, and the IDB, run by the US and other countries, are each
considering up to $500 million in financing.

The project envisions 21 wells from four drilling platforms over two
fields, with heliports, worker camps, sludge pits, and water and waste
disposal facilities. A gas-and-liquid separation plant is being built
in
the forest. Two pipelines--700 and 335 miles long--will cross the Andes
before forking toward Lima and the Paracas National Reserve, Peru's
only
marine sanctuary. The sponsors hope to ship natural gas to the US West
Coast through a terminal in Baja California, Mexico. The gas project,
which
would be one of the largest in South America, would dissect the Lower
Urubamba River region of the Amazon basin. (WP, Nov. 20)

7. ENRON MOVES IN ON BOLIVIAN RAINFOREST
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is slated to vote on
financing
$125 million in loans to Enron and Shell for a controversial pipeline
in
Bolivia. Enron and Shell, who jointly control 50% of Bolivia's
recently-privatized Transredes pipeline company, are seeking financing
for
expansion of capacity on the Yabog pipeline, which cuts through Guarani
and
Weenhayek indigenous ancestral lands, including 6 legally recognized
indigenous territories containing 13 Guaraní  communities and 3
Weenhayek
communities. The Guarani Peoples' Association has been vocal in its
opposition to fossil fuel extraction on Guarani territory, and demands
that
all development for Guarani lands be based in their own  Indigenous
Development Plan.

The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) recently
cancelled a
$200 million loan for the Enron-Shell Cuiaba pipeline, and asked the
Justice Department to investigate Enron for violations of the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The scandal-plagued Enron was OPIC's
largest
business client. International environmentalists say Cuiaba pipeline
threatenes the Chiquitano, the last intact large expanse of dry
tropical
forest in the world. A number of communities are initiating a lawsuit
for
reparations for long-term damages.

The Bolivian Congress is currently investigating allegations that Enron
entered Bolivia through an illegally closed bidding process, in
violation
of the Bolivian Constitution. In Spring 2002 Bolivian politician Jorge
Richter presented evidence that Enron paid $2.5 million to Bolivia's
state
oil company before signing the Transredes contract.

Concern over the pipeline project is aggravated by Transredes' poor
environmental record. In 2000, 29,000 barrels of oil spilled into the
Rio
Desaguadero from the Sica Sica-Arica pipeline, causing $6 million in
economic damage and affecting 18 municipalities. On Nov. 15, President
Gonzalo Sanchez of Lozada, who brokered the partial sale of Transredes
to
Enron and Shell, was in Washington meeting with President Bush and IDB
representatives to win support for the Yabog pipeline. Amazon Watch is
calling for pressure on the IDB not to approve the project. (Amazon
Watch,
Nov. 15)

(http://www.amazonwatch.org/)

See also WW3 REPORT #44: http://ww3report.com/44.html#andean1

8. BECHTEL STRIKES BACK AT BOLIVIA
Behind closed doors in Washington DC, a World Bank trade court will
decide
if the people of South America's poorest country will have to pay $25
million to one of the world's biggest corporations. The Bechtel v.
Bolivia
case is round two of a struggle over Bolivia's water resources. Two
years
ago Bechtel took over the public water system of Bolivia's
third-largest
city, Cochabamba, and within weeks raised rates by as much as 200%--far
beyond what local residents could afford. When the company refused to
lower
rates, widespread protests eventually forced Bechtel to leave. In
November
2001, Bechtel filed a demand of $25 million against Bolivia, seeking to
recover investments as well as a portion of expected profits. "We're
not
looking for a windfall from Bolivia. We're looking to recover our
costs,"
said Michael Curtin, the head of Bechtel's Bolivian water company. But
the
company didn't invest nearly $25 million in Bolivia in the few months
it
operated there. While Bechtel earns $25 million in half a day, for
Bolivians that sum translates into the annual cost for hiring 3,000
rural
doctors, or 12,000 public school teachers, or hooking up 125,000
families
who don't have access to the public water system. The pending Free
Trade
Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) would establish a hemisphere-wide
system
of secret trade courts, in which multinational corporations could sue
local, state and national governments. The prototype for these courts
is
the World Bank's International Center for the Settlement of Investment
Disputes (ICSID), where Bechtel v. Bolivia is pending. (Jim Shultz for
Pacific News Service, Nov. 11)


THE MEXICO FRONT

1. FOX: PEACE IN CHIAPAS; HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS: NOT
Speaking at a forum on Mexico's democratic transition at Trinity
College in
Dublin, President Vicente Fox responded to a question about the
long-stalled Chiapas peace process, saying: "We are truly proud of what
we
have done in the indigenous communities, and we are proud to have peace
in
Mexico." (Proceso, Nov. 14)

Meanwhile, Amnesty International called on Fox to "correct"
irregularities
and abuses recorded in southern Mexico's jails during a recent
fact-finding
mission. Fox responded that he would make rights guarantees "a
priority."
(Milenio, Nov. 14)

See also WW3 REPORT #59: http://ww3report.com/59.html#mexico4

Within days of Fox's Dublin address, the Chiapas-based Fray Bartolome
Human
Rights Center issued a statement that "The grave problem of the
paramilitaries has not been resolved," citing new interviews with
residents
of the conflicted state documenting "the support extended to the
paramilitaries by high civil and military authorities." (Proceso, Nov.
17)

See also WW3 REPORT #60: http://ww3report.com/60.html#mexico5

2. MARCOS BREAKS SILENCE...SORT OF
Insisting that he was not breaking the the official silence that the
Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) has maintained since the
peace
dialogue broke down last year, the rebel's frequently verbose
Subcommander
Marcos issued his first communique in many months. Not addressed to the
government or media but to Fernando Yanez, a prominent supporter of the
movement, the letter commemorated the 19th anniversary of the founding
of
the EZLN, and stated that none of the political parties on the Mexican
scene represented an "alternative" to the one-party machine ousted in
the
2000 presidential elections. (La Jornada, Nov. 18)

See also WW3 REPORT #60: http://ww3report.com/60.html#mexico4

3. MORE RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN CHIAPAS
Chiapas state police occupied the Maya Indian village of Chamula after
seven residents were injured in the latest clash between Catholics and
Evangelical converts. (Proceso, Nov. 16) Meanwhile, top papal envoy
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Vatican's Congregation for
Bishops, toured Chiapas and announced to disappointed Indian Catholics
that
the Pope would not reverse his  decision to suspend the training of lay
Indian deacons in the state for five years. "In all of the other 85
dioceses in Mexico combined, there are less deacons than in Chiapas,"
he
said, alluding to the 344 deacons who work in Chiapas' predominantly
Indian
diocese of San Cristobal. Continuing the work of his predecessor,
Samuel
Ruiz, the local Bishop Felipe Arizmendi has aggressively pursued the
training of Indian deacons. The deacons are a key part of the so-called
"Indigenous Church" founded by Ruiz, which incorporates Maya Indian
customs. [Local rightists have accused the "Indigenous Church" of being
a
base of support for the Zapatista rebels.--BW] On July 31 and Aug. 1,
respectively, the Pope declared Juan Diego the first Indian saint in
the
Americas and beatified two other Indians during a tour of Mexico--a
move
widely seen as reinforcing the Church's appeal to counter Evangelical
Protestant gains. (AP, Nov. 11)

See also WW3 REPORT #60: http://ww3report.com/60.html#mexico8


PLANET WATCH

1. RACE TO CONTAIN OIL SLICK OFF SPANISH COAST
Rough seas prevented Spanish authorities from efforts to contain the
huge
oil slick moving towards Spain's northwest coast two weeks after an
aging
oil tanker ruptured in a storm. The government declined to estimate the
size of the slick, but Spanish newspapers put it at 2.4 million gallons
of
fuel oil--far more than all the oil that has washed up on Spain's
beaches
since the Bahamas-flagged Prestige first ruptured on Nov. 13. Six days
later the damaged ship broke in two and sank to the bottom of the
ocean,
taking most of its 20 million gallons of fuel oil down with it. The
slick
is now about 55 miles off the coast of Galicia. An estimated 1.6
million
gallons initially spilled from the Prestige and eventually reached the
shore. Spain hopes the oil that went down with the ship will solidify
at
that depth of 2.2 miles and temperatures just above freezing. A French
research submarine is on the way to check for leakage. Two oil-skimming
vessels from France and the Netherlands have managed to suction 533,000
gallons of oil from the slick, but high waves have slowed the effort.
The
oil that has already washed ashore in Galicia has blackened 300 miles
of
beaches and rocky shore, and forced a ban on fishing and seafood
harvesting. Tens of thousands of fishermen are living off government
handouts. (AP, Nov. 28)

2. BUSH ROLLS BACK AIR POLLUTION REGS
Environmental lawyers say new air pollution regulations issued by the
Bush
administration  undermine the rights of states to adopt stricter
controls
than the federal government. "This is the first time in history that
the
federal government has attempted to pre-empt states' rights in the area
of
environmental law," said Richard Toshiyuki Drury, a lawyer at
Communities
for a Better Environment, an Oakland-based advocacy group. "We've never
seen anything close to this." California has industrial emissions
standards
far stricter than the federal government's, and now faces a review to
determine if its rules are in conformity with the new policy.

New York, New Jersey, Maryland and the New England states--which
receive
industrial pollution blown in from the Great Lakes and Midwest
regions--intend to file legal challenges to the new federal guidelines.
But
industry applauded the changes. Jeff Wilson, spokesman for the Western
States Petroleum Association, representing major oil refiners such as
ExxonMobil, BP and Texaco, said his group has run into problems with
California's stringent requirements for reviews of plant upgrades and
maintanance. "We are cautiously optimistic that under this new
proposal,
that will be revisited," Wilson said. (San Francisco Chronicle, Nov.
30)

3. BUSH ROLLS BACK FOREST PROTECTION REGS
On Nov. 27, the Bush administration announced new rules which would
give
the managers of the United States' 155 National Forests discretion to
waive
environmental impact studies of new commercial logging leases.
Reversing a
Clinton policy requiring the government to protect fish and wildlife in
the
National Forests so that the specieis do not become endangered, the new
rules simply say the forest management plans "should provide" such
protections, but do not require them. The Clinton rules took effect in
November 2000, but were put on hold five months later by the Bush
administration. The new rules will take effect after a 90-day public
commentary period. (NYT, Nov. 28)

In related news, the administration reversed a Clinton decision to
cancel a
48-megawatt geothermal project slated for Northern California's Modoc
National Forest, on lands considered sacred by the Pit River Indians
and
other local tribes. The site at Telephone Flat is two miles from
Medicine
Lake, which is used ceremonially by the tribes. The Calpine company,
which
seeks to build the plant, is already developing a similar one at nearby
Fourmile Hill, also within the National Forest but just outside the
sacred
area. The tribes had agreed to drop protests over the Fourmile Hill
plant
in exchange for a five-year moratorium on new geothermal development in
the
area, and now say the government has betrayed them. "We sat down and
worked
out a compromise," said Gene Preston, chairman of the Pit River Tribe.
"We
thought we had five years so that studies could be done and level minds
could make more informed opinions. Now that is all moot." (NYT, Nov.
28)

4. NASA: ARCTIC ICE CAP DISAPPEARING FAST
The vast expanse of permanent ice that has capped the Arctic Ocean for
millennia is disappearing far faster previously thought, and will be
gone
before the century is out, according to a new NASA satellite study. The
new
survey shows that an area of ancient ice roughly as big as Alberta is
vanishing every decade as global climate warms. Over the course of the
1978-2000 survey, about 1.2 million square kilometers of supposedly
permanent ice melted away. And the rate of melt--roughly 9% a
decade--is
speeding, said physicist Josefino Comiso of NASA's Goddard Space 
Flight
Center in Maryland, author of the study. "This year we had the least
amount
of permanent ice cover ever observed," Dr. Comiso said. His findings,
published in Geophysical Research Letters, show that the permanent ice
cover is melting at roughly three times the rate scientists had
thought.
(Toronto Globe & Mail, Nov. 28)

(http://commondreams.org/headlines02/1128-06.htm)

5. NEW DOGMA ON CLIMATE CHANGE: ITS INEVITABLE
As world leaders met in New Delhi for talks on global climate change,
the
US remained intransigent in refusing to support the pending Kyoto
Protocol,
which includes a timetable for reduction of "greenhouse gas" emissions.
Instead, the US supported a corps of private analysts at the conference
who
argued that the correct strategy is to adapt to global climate change
rather than try to halt it. "By building capabilities to deal with
climate
change, we'll be much better off than by just paying attention to
global
warming," said Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
(NYT,
Nov. 3)

6. WHITE HOUSE-LINKED FIRMS BILKED CALIFORNIA ENERGY CRISIS
Federal authorities have released new evidence that two California
energy
suppliers, AES Corp. and Williams Cos., conspired to artificially
squeeze
the state's market at the peak of the crisis in early 2000. Indications
of
bogus power plant shutdowns released by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) showed Williams employees cutting deals in April and
May
2000 with AES employees to shut down one Southern California power
plant
that AES operated for Williams. The two firms apparently prolonged a
maintenance closure at another. The FERC investigation found that
Williams
employee Rhonda Morgan, in two taped telephone conversations, told an
AES
worker on April 27 that "Williams wanted the outage to run long" at a
Long
Beach power plant that had closed for repairs two days before. In a
conversation later that day with high-ranking AES employee Eric
Pendergraft, Morgan said, "I don't wanna do something underhanded, but
if
there's work you can continue to do... " Pendergraft responded: "I
understand. You don't have to talk anymore." AES extended the outage
through May 5. Williams earned over $10 million by selling more
expensive
electricity from other AES plants to the California Independent System
Operator during the outages at the Long Beach and Huntington Beach
plants.
In April 2001, Williams, without admitting wrongdoing, agreed to refund
$8
million to Cal-ISO--$2 million less than the profit Williams made. In
May,
FERC released Enron Corp. documents showing that the company used
trading
tactics to create artificial shortages and boost prices. Former Enron
trader Timothy N. Belden has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit
fraud.
The Justice Department and the California attorney general are also
pursuing anti-trust investigations against other energy suppliers,
including AES of Arlington, VA, and Williams of Tulsa, OK. The newly
released evidence presents California officials with an opportunity to
renew demands that FERC order $9 billion returned to the state for
overcharges during the energy crisis. (LAT, Nov. 16)

(http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-williams16nov16.story?null)

Both Williams and AES have links to the Bush White House. Thomas
Cruikshank, who has served on the Williams board for the past 12 years,
is
retired chief executive officer of Halliburton and personally selected
Vice
President Dick Cheney to succeed him at the helm of the Dallas oil
services
giant. Cheney subsequently oversaw Halliburton's acquisition of Dresser
Industries, which saddled the company with huge asbestos liabilities,
and
approved accounting practices that are now under investigation by the
federal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). AES board member
Richard
Darman headed the Office of Management and Budget in the first Bush
administration when Cheney was secretary of defense. Darman is also a
managing director of the Carlyle Group, the Washington investment firm
led
by former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci--and in which the bin Laden
family are investors. (San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 22)

(http://truthout.com/docs_02/11.24D.wh.energy.htm)

See also WW3 REPORT #21: http://ww3report.com/21.html#1shadows


WAR AT HOME

1. PROTESTERS DEMAND: FREE FAROUK!
Some 30 protesters gathered outside Newark's Penn Station Nov. 23 to
demand
the relase of Farouk Abdel-Muhti, a New York-based Palestinian activist
who
has been held in New Jersey county jails since his April arrest on
immigration charges. He has sued the federal government for holding him
over the usual six-month limit for deportation, arguing he must be
allowed
to stay in the US because there is no nation to which he can be
deported.
"It's all very political," said David Wilson of the Committee for the
Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti. "They're trying to see if they can take
an
activist who's been on the radio and lock him away based on what is
saying." Federal officials deny Abdel-Muhti was detained because of his
views. "He is being held because he violated US immigration law, and
his
deportation is pending," said Scott Dempsey of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service's Newark district office. Abdel-Muhti is at the
Passaic County Jail in Paterson, and was previously held in Camden and
Middlesex counties. He had been a regular guest on New York radio
station
WBAI, commenting on Palestinian issues. Shortly before his apartment
was
raided, he was at the station as a live guest. "Farouk was making a lot
of
contacts and saying a lot of things on the radio," said his roommate,
Bernard McFall. "People in Lebanon, people in the West Bank, people in
Gaza--he knows all their phone numbers." McFall believes Abdel-Muhti's
arrest was triggered by an April 25 radio show on the idea of Israel
paying
reparations to the Palestinians. "Our guess is that was the straw that
broke the camel's back," McFall said. "This is a free speech issue."

Abdel-Muhti was born in 1947 in Ramallah, on the West Bank. He lived
briefly in Honduras without legal resident status, but authorities
there
refused to take him. Israel also refuses to deal with the matter,
referring
Abdel-Muhti's lawyers to the Palestinian Authority's offices in
Washington.
Abdel-Muhti came to the United States in the early 1970s, but
overstayed
his visa, finding work as a vendor and advocating Palestinian causes.
The
government tried to deport him in 1975, but gave up when Israeli
officials
could not find his name on a list of residents of the occupied
territories,
according to court documents. They again tried to deport him in 1993,
but
could not find a country willing to take him and released him on a
$15,000
bond the next year. He was to appear before an immigration judge in
1995,
but says he missed his court date because he was being treated in a
hospital emergency room at the time. (AP, Nov. 23)

(http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-nj--palestiniandetain1123nov23,
0,2467625.story )

A habeas corpus petition on Abdel-Muhti's behalf is now pending before
Judge Faith S. Hochberg at US District Court in Newark. "If they let
someone like him sit in jail indefinitely, they would allow that to
happen
to many others," said Joel Kupferman, attorney for Abdel-Muhti. "That's
what we're concerned about." (Patterson Herald News, Nov. 7)

(http://www.bergen.com/cgi-bin/page.pl?id=5572473)

Organizers say the crowd at the Newark protest actually approached 60
people. The day after the rally, Abdel-Muhti was also able to call into
Amy
Goodman's national "Democracy Now!" radio show for a live interview
from
the Passaic jail. Abdel-Muhti's supporters are asking for citizen
pressure
on the INS to demand that Farouk not be transferred to a more remote
facility, and that he be immediately released. Please send polite but
firm
letters to:

David Venturella, Director,
and Michael Kidd (officer in charge of Farouk's file)
Headquarters Post Detention Unit
Immigration and Naturalization Service
425 I Street NW
Washington, DC 20536

Phone: 202-305-2734
Fax: 202-353-9435
Email: David.j.venturella@usdoj.gov

Please send a copy of your letter to:

Committee for the Release of Farouk Abdel-Muhti
PO Box 20587, Tompkins Square Station, New York, NY 10009
Phone: 212-674-9499
Email: freefarouk@yahoo.com

Vigils to demand Farouk'release are held every Friday, noon-1 PM
outside
the New York City Federal Bldg, 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan (Broadway
at
Worth).

See also WW3 REPORT #59: http://ww3report.com/59.html#warhome2

2. INS EXPANDS "REGISTRATION"
On Nov. 22, the Justice Department announced a second phase of a new
INS
"registration" requirement. The first phase, announced Nov. 6, required
all
males 16 years or older who are nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria
or
Sudan to "register" with the INS and be fingerprinted, photographed,
and
interviewed under oath. The second phase expands the requirement to
nationals of 13 more countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea,
Lebanon, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia, United
Arab
Emirates and Yemen. Visitors, students or temporary workers from these
countries who entered on or before Sept. 30 of this year must register
between Dec. 2 and Jan. 10. Diplomats, lawful permanent residents and
asylum applicants who filed before Nov. 2, 2002 are exempt from the
requirement. Anyone who does not register is subject to deportation.
(American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee Immigration Advisory, Nov.
22)

(From Immigration News Briefs, Nov. 29: http://ww3report.com/inb.html)

3. VETERANS GET SHAFTED
A federal appeals court ruled that the US government does not owe free
lifetime medical care to World War II and Korean War veterans--despite
promises made to them when they agreed to serve 20 years in the armed
forces. The 9-4 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal
Circuit
in Washington DC overturns a February 2001 ruling by a three-judge
appeals
panel which held that the veterans were entitled to the lifetime health
care based on the military's promises. Wrote the majority: "Because
[the
law] at most authorizes space available treatment and not free health
insurance for life, we hold that the Air Force Secretary lacked the
authority in the 1950s when plaintiffs joined to promise free and full
medical care." (CNN, Nov. 19)

4. MORE AIRPORT HARASSMENT FOR PEACE ACTIVISTS
A Sept. 8 flight from Newark, NJ, for Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and
a
final destination of Kabul, Afghanistan, was halted when FBI agents
boarded
and escorted seven passengers off the plane and into a room where they
were
interrogated for six hours. Flight 91 took off without the group. The
group
had signed up for a two-week "Reality Tour" of Afghanistan, organized
by
San Francisco-based human rights group Global Exchange. "They wanted to
know about Global Exchange," says one of the detainees, Glenda Marsh, a
Sacramento peace activist and state-employed biologist. "They asked me
if
I'd heard the people I was traveling with make anti-American
statements."
Marsh is preparing to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request
to
see if the FBI is compiling a dossier on her. (San Francisco Bay
Guardian,
Nov. 20)

(http://www.sfbg.com/37/08/cover_spy.html)

See also WW3 REPORT # 53: http://ww3report.com/53.html#warhome1

5. SUPREME COURT POISED TO OVERTURN MIRANDA RIGHTS
The so-called Miranda rule--which mandates that suspects must be
informed
of their right to remain silent--is about to be reconsidered by the
Supreme
Court in the case of a California farm worker who was shot five times
after
a brief encounter with police. While the worker lay wounded, a police
supervisor pressed him to talk. He survived, paralyzed and blinded, and
sued the police for coercive interrogation. But police in Oxnard, CA,
assert that the Miranda ruling does not include a "constitutional right
to
be free of coercive interrogation"--only a right not to have forced
confessions used at trial. Bush administration lawyers have sided with
the
police in the case. Police can hold people and force them to talk if
their
incriminating statements are not used to prosecute them, US Solicitor
Gen.
Theodore B. Olson and Michael Chertoff, chief of the Justice
Department's
criminal division, say in their brief to the court. They write that it
"will chill legitimate law enforcement efforts to obtain potentially
life-saving information during emergencies," including terrorism
alerts, if
police and FBI agents can be sued for coercive questioning.

The case began five years ago when Oliverio Martinez, 29, rode his
bicycle
across a vacant Oxnard lot. Two officers, Andrew Salinas and Maria
Pena,
had stopped to question a man they suspected (wrongly) of selling
drugs.
When they heard the bike approach in the dark, they called for the
rider to
stop. Martinez dismounted and was frisked, but police say he tried to
run
when they grabbed the knife he used for cutting strawberries. A scuffle
ensued, and Pena opened fire. When patrol supervisor Sgt. Ben Chavez
arrived, Martinez lay handcuffed and bleeding on the ground. Once
Martinez
was loaded into an ambulance, Chavez climbed in with a tape
recorder--and
repeatedly grilled him throughout the 45-minute ride to the hospital.
Martinez sued Oxnard police for illegal arrest, the use of excessive
force
and coercive interrogation in custody. (LAT, Nov. 24)

(http://www.latimes.com/la-na-miranda24nov24,0,1038975.story>)


WATCHING THE SHADOWS

1. NOTED WAR CRIMINAL TO LEAD 9-11 INVESTIGATION
On Nov. 27, President Bush signed legislation creating a new
independent
commission to investigate the 9-11 attacks, and named former Secretary
of
State Henry Kissinger to lead the panel. "Dr. Kissinger will bring
broad
experience, clear thinking and careful judgment to this important
task,"
Bush said at a signing ceremony in the White House Roosevelt Room. "Mr.
secretary, thank you for returning to the service of your nation." The
commission, building on the limited joint inquiry by the House and
Senate
intelligence committees, will have 18 months to examine issues such as
aviation security, border control and possible intelligence lapses.
(AP,
Nov. 27)

The AP account provides the following short bio: "Kissinger, one of the
best known American diplomats of the 20th century, was secretary of
state
to Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. He won the Nobel
Peace
Prize in 1973 with North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho for cease-fire
negotiations
during the Vietnam war. Kissinger also made a determined peacemaking
effort
in the Middle East and made repeated trips to the region."

The account fails to mention that Vietnamese leader Le Duc Tho refused
to
accept the prize in protest of having to share it with Kissinger, the
architect of the bombardment of North Vietnam. See the Nobel Museum
homepage:
http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/1973/index.html

The AP account also failed to note that Kissinger is wanted for
questioning
by judicial authorities in Chile, Spain and France for his close
involvement in the bloody CIA-organized coup d'etat in Chile which
brought
Gen. Augusto Pinochet to power. Ironically, the date of the 1973 coup
was
Sept. 11, and it resulted in the immediate round-up and murder of some
5,000 Chilean leftists. See WW3 REPORT # 31:
http://ww3report.com/31.html#shadows2

Democrats appointed as vice-chair George Mitchell, the former Senate
majority leader who brokered Northern Ireland peace talks. Senate
"liberals" hailed the Kissinger appointment. Charles Schumer (D_NY)
said
the appointment of two "strong, distinguished leaders...bodes well for
the
commission." Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) called Kissinger's appointment "a
very, very good beginning." (Newsday, Nov. 28)

But even the staid New York Times expressed deep misgvings about
Kissinger's appointment in its Nov. 29 editorial:

"In naming Henry Kissinger to direct a comprehensive examination of the
government's  failure to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush
has
selected a  consummate Washington insider. Mr. Kissinger obviously has
a
keen intellect and  vast experience in national security matters.
Unfortunately, his affinity for  power and the commercial interests he
has
cultivated since leaving government  may make him less than the
staunchly
independent figure that is needed for this  critical post. Indeed, it
is
tempting to wonder if the choice of Mr. Kissinger  is not a clever
maneuver
by the White House to contain an investigation it long  opposed.

"It  seems improbable to expect Mr. Kissinger to report unflinchingly
on
the conduct  of the government, including that of Mr. Bush. He would
have
to challenge the  established order and risk sundering old friendships
and
business relationships...

"The  new inquiry will be undone if the 10-member panel is hesitant to
call
government  organizations and officials to account. There can be no
place
for the kind of  political calculation and court flattery that Mr.
Kissinger practiced so  assiduously during his tenure as Richard
Nixon's
national security adviser and  secretary of state. Nor is there any
tolerance for the kind of cynicism that Mr.  Kissinger applied to the
prosecution of the Vietnam War.

"The  commission will be made up of five Republicans and five
Democrats.
Choosing its  remaining members and staff director wisely will also be
vital to its success.  They must be fiercely independent and unafraid
to
challenge some of Washington's  most powerful institutions. We were
mildly
encouraged to hear Mr. Kissinger say  that he would 'accept no
restrictions' on the commission's work. To deliver on  that promise,
Mr.
Kissinger must start by severing all ties to Kissinger  Associates, the
lucrative consulting business he has built up during the past  two
decades.."

Author Christopher Hitchens, whose recent book "The Trial of Henry
Kissinger" calls for the elder statesman to face an international war
crimes tribunal, notes in an on-line commentary:

"When in office, Henry Kissinger organized massive deceptions of
Congress
and public opinion. The most notorious case concerned the 'secret
bombing'
of Cambodia and Laos, and the unleashing of unconstitutional methods by
Nixon and Kissinger to repress dissent from this illegal and atrocious
policy. But Sen. Frank Church's commission of inquiry into the abuses
of US
intelligence, which focused on illegal assassinations and the
subversion of
democratic governments overseas, was given incomplete and misleading
information by Kissinger, especially on the matter of Chile. Rep. Otis
Pike's parallel inquiry in the House (which brought to light
Kissinger's
personal role in the not-insignificant matter of the betrayal of the
Iraqi
Kurds, among other offenses) was thwarted by Kissinger at every turn,
and
its eventual findings were classified. In other words, the new
'commission'
will be chaired by a man with a long, proven record of concealing
evidence
and of lying to Congress, the press, and the public."

Hitchens notes that Kissinger Associates' client list is secret, but is
known to include several foreign governments. Writes Hitchens: "Most
notable in incubating al-Qaeda were the rotten client-state regimes of
the
Saudi Arabian oligarchy and the Pakistani
military and police elite. Henry Kissinger is now, and always has been,
an
errand boy and apologist for such regimes."

(http://slate.msn.com/?id=2074678)

2. 9-11 PROBE: FBI IGNORED SAUDI LINK TO HIJACKERS
A draft report by the joint Congressional committee investigating the
9-11
attacks has concluded that the FBI and the CIA failed to aggressively
pursue leads that might have linked the hijackers to Saudi Arabia. The
report charges that the authorities failed to investigate the
possibility
that two of the hijackers, Saudis named Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaq
Alhazmi,
received Saudi money from two Saudi men they met with in California in
2000. The committee's preliminary findings also accuse the Saudi
government
of failing to fully cooperate with US investigators. In a rebuttal sent
to
the committee, the FBI challenged allegations that Midhar and Alhazmi,
then
living in San Diego, met with Omar al-Bayoumi and Osama Bassnan, then
receiving financial support from figures in the Saudi government. But
the
FBI is still investigating whether Saudi funds were diverted to Midhar
and
Alhazmi. (NYT, Nov. 23)

(http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/23/international/middleeast/23TERR.html?pagewant
ed=print&position=top)

3. SWISS: BIN LADEN TAPE A FAKE
A Swiss research institute says the latest audiotape statement
attributed
to accused terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is not authentic. The
Lausanne-based Dalle Molle Institute for Perceptual Artificial
Intelligence
said it is 95% certain the tape does not feature the voice of the
long-missing terrorist leader. The review of the tape was commissioned
by
France-2 TV, and its findings were presented by the institute's Prof.
Herve
Boulard in a special broadcast. He said the institute compared the
voice on
the tape, first aired two weeks ago on Qatar's al-Jazeera cable TV,
with
some 20 earlier recordings of bin Laden. The claim contradicts that of
US
intelligence agencies, which determined that the voice probably is that
of
bin Laden. (AP, Nov. 29)

See WW3 REPORT #61: http://ww3report.com/index.html#shadows7

4. PENTAGON "MINISTRY OF TRUTH" STILL ALIVE?
In remarks during a recent press briefing, Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld suggested that while the controversial Office of Strategic
Influence (OSI) no longer exists in name, its programs are still being
carried out. Said Rumsfeld: "And then there was the Office of Strategic
Influence. You may recall that. And 'oh my goodness gracious isn't that
terrible, Henny Penny the sky is going to fall.' I went down that next
day
and said fine, if you want to savage this thing, fine, I'll give you
the
corpse. There's the name. You can have the name, but I'm gonna keep
doing
every single thing that needs to be done and I have." (Federation of
American Scientists Secrecy News, Nov. 27)

 (http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/2002/11/112702.html)

The OSI came under scrutiny last Feb. 19, when the New York Times
reported
that the new Pentagon office was "developing plans to provide news
items,
possibly even false ones, to foreign media organizations." The news was
met
with outrage, and within a week the Pentagon closed down the OSI,
saying
that negative attention had damaged the office's reputation so much
"that
it could not operate effectively." (AP, Feb. 26).

Rumsfeld's revelation that the mission of the ostensibly disbanded
office
survives vindicates numerous skeptics, including WW3 REPORT, which
wrote at
the time: "This raises the logical dilemma of whether an agency which
admits to lying can be believed when it says it doesn't exist. Is the
agency's supposed non-existence the first piece of disinformation?"

See WW3 REPORT #23: http://ww3report.com/23.html#5shadows

Thanks to Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR): http://www.fair.org

5. WHITE HOUSE TO GUT GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE?
Wrote the Los Angeles Times in a Nov. 8 editorial: "Since it's the
threat
of obscurantism we're hoping to thwart, let's be blunt: The Bush
administration's plan to strip the  Government Printing Office's
authority
is a threat to democracy." White House Office of Management & Budget
Director Mitch Daniels wants to transfer control of information
management
from the printing office to individual Cabinet agencies. "That would
spell
the end of the current system, in place since the Jeffersonian era,
which
requires executive branch agencies to send their documents and reports
to
neutral librarians, who then make them available to the public both
online
and in 1,300 public reading rooms nationwide. Daniels would replace
that
system with a more secretive one in which individual agencies would
manage
-- and possibly sanitize--their own electronic databases. Currently, a
federal agency such as the Pentagon can't delete an embarrassing
passage
from a historical document without first going through the hassle of
asking
each reading room to obscure the passage with a black marker. If
Daniels
gets his way, all an agency will have to do is call up the document in
Microsoft Word and quietly hit Control X to delete the passage for
eternity." Daniels calls the move a cost-cutting measure.

(http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-info8nov08,0,302705.story?
coll=la-news-comment-editorials)

6. MICROCHIP IMPLANTATION MOVES AHEAD
A Nov. 15 debate at the National Academies, a non-profit think-tank
advising the government on matters of technology and science, focused
on
the threat to individual privacy versus the convenience of using
skin-implanted microchips to phase out conventional paper
identification.
Applied Digital Solutions Inc. says its tiny glass capsule, injected
into
forearms and other fleshy body parts, could help authorities find
missing
persons and speed up medical diagnosis treatment. The VeriChip, a
scannable
device worn under the skin and encrypted with personal information like
medical records and emergency contacts, was unveiled last year in
Florida.
So far about 20 people have been "chipped," including an entire family
in
Florida. "I can't feel them at all," said Richard Seeling, an Applied
Digital executive who has implanted two microchips into his right
forearm
to test the product. "Most of the time I forget they're there until
someone
asks about it." The National Academies warned the chip could pose
health
risks like infections and immunity disorders for bearers. The FDA ruled
in
October it would not regulate the device so long as it was not used for
medical purposes such as diagnosis. (Reuters, Nov. 15)

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61078-2002Nov15.html)

###

Feature: Buy Nothing Day


Happy Un-Holiday: Buy Nothing Day 2002
November 29, 2002
http://www.indymedia.org/archive/features/2002/11/2002-11.html#6227
As shoppers gear up for the holidays, people around the world are 
questioning the corporate insistence that we can buy comfort, love, 
companionship, happiness and community with money. Friday, 
November 29 marked the eleventh year of the anti-consumption 
holiday, Buy Nothing Day. The "un-holiday" has become 
increasingly popular over the years, with upwards of thirty different 
countries participating. See articles from 10 IMCs at the link above.

-------------------------------

FEATURE COMPILATION:  WTO PROTESTS IN AUSTRALIA 

Day 1 Action Roundup
November 16, 2002
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/archive/features/2002/11/2002-11.html#6018
Protestors converged on Sydney's streets last week to rally against 
the WTO's corporate agenda at their mini-ministerial meeting at 
Homebush. The 25 trade ministers were meeting to privately push 
forward trade agreements in anticipation of next year's ministerial 
meeting in Cancun, Mexico. The talks came at a crucial time with the 
Federal Government entering into negotiations over a 'free trade' 
agreement with the USA in three months' time.

Photos from Day 1
http://sydney.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=23010&group=webcast
Friday in Sydney, a lively crowd of about 2000 persons protested 
talks amongst 25 trade ministers from the WTO. Protesters were 
outnumbered about 2 to 1 by police.

Day 2 Action Roundup
November 17, 2002
http://sydney.indymedia.org/archive/features/2002/11/2002-11.html#5988
The day started out with a 2 kilometre march from Flemington train 
station to the Homebush bay site. Once at the site, several 
scuffles broke out and there was an attempt to pull the fence down 
which led to 35 arrests as well as allegations police harassment. 
One of the main actions of the day was held by a peace bloc who 
sat silently on the road meditating.

-------------------------------

FEATURE COMPILATION:  SCHOOL OF THE AMERICAS (SOA) PROTESTS 

SOA Watch and the ACLU file injunction 
November 15, 2002
http://indymedia.org/archive/features/2002/11/2002-11.html#6022
SOA Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) attempted 
to file an injunction against the City of Columbus, Georgia (U.S.), 
based on new security measures implemented during the demonstrations.

Speakers, Puppetistas - Festivities Begin on Saturday.
November 16, 2002
http://indymedia.org/archive/features/2002/11/2002-11.html#6039
The first mass protests against the School of the Americas at Fort 
Benning began on Saturday, November 16. Although the city-sanctioned 
police searched all of the attendees and the weather wavered between 
fair and cloudy, the crowd still maintained an optimistic mood.
 
http://atlanta.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=9734
Part of Saturday's events featured street theater by Argentine 
puppeteers:  Passionate Puppetistas Perform Political Pageant.

Over 10,000 Protesters Demand Closing of 'School of Assassins'.
November 17, 2002
http://atlanta.indymedia.org/archive/features/2002/11/2002-11.html#6027
As the massive protests at Fort Benning came to a close, 95 people 
were placed under arrest for conscious acts of civil disobedience.

-------------------------------

RECENT IMC FEATURES

USA: 
American Indians Hold Thanksgiving Day of Mourning
November 28, 2002
http://www.indymedia.org/archive/features/2002/11/2002-11.html#6212
The myth of Thanksgiving in the U.S. has been exposed annually 
for the past 33 years by United American Indians of New England 
(UAINE) and other American Indian activists. On Thanksgiving 
Day at high noon, native people and their supporters gather 
above Plymouth Rock on Cole's Hill beneath the statue of the 
Wampanoag chief, Massasoit, for an annual Day of Mourning.

INDYMEDIA: 
Three Years of Media Resistance
November 24, 2002
http://www.indymedia.org/archive/features/2002/11/2002-11.html#6157
The resistance remains global. Three years into our shared 
experiments in open publishing, a growing number of Indymedia 
centers around the world continue to seek out and mobilize 
media forms which dramatically alter the balance of power 
between multinational corporations and grassroots community 
organizing. Our work extends beyond the bounds of the Internet, 
through local media production centers, radio networks, 
community newspapers, film and video. Locating the silences 
where social and economic injustices are perpetuated, IMC 
journalist/activists challenge information monopolies based on 
wealth and power. This is only the beginning. 

URUGUAY:
Uruguay Social Forum a Success
November 19, 2002
http://www.indymedia.org/archive/features/current#6082
The Uruguay Social Forum was a three-day marathon of workshops, 
debates, dance, theater, music, exhibitions, and interchanges of 
experiences. The forum, in which there were approximately 90 
workshops, like other branchings of the World Social Forum, aspired 
to create spaces to share visions about an alternative society and 
to strengthen bonds between people with diverse views and between 
movements and non-capitalist networks. 

NEW ZEALAND:
10,000 March for a Genetic Engineering Free Aotearoa
November 18, 2002
http://www.indymedia.org.nz/front.php3?article_id=1886
As a part of protest actions during the 8th International Pacific 
Rim Biotechnology Conference, ten thousand people marched in 
Auckland Saturday for a GE Free Aotearoa. The colorful, diverse 
crowd comprised a wide range of groups including the Green Party, 
Alliance, Mothers Against Genetic Engineering, and Eco Labour to 
name a few.

GERMANY: Social Center Evictions
November 17, 2002
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=217709&group=webcast
The largest evictions seen in years in Germany took place in Hamburg 
in the early hours of Monday, November 4, and protests against this 
have continued through this weekend. A city with a long history of 
strong autonomist movements, Hamburg was awakened immediately 
with protests against the eviction of the "Bambule" Wagenplatz - one 
of several sites in Hamburg and other German cities where people live 
in lorries and trailers. Many of those living on such sites are 
involved with local political activism, including social centres, 
anti-racist organizing, and more.

ITALY: Activists Imprisoned in Italy Following Raid
November 15, 2002
http://www.indymedia.org/archive/features/current#6002
http://italy.indymedia.org/features/napoli/#341
http://italy.indymedia.org/news/2002/11/112020.php
42 people were arrested with charges of conspiracy and 
"subversive association". The charges against them are of political 
conspiracy to disturb government activity and creating subversive 
propaganda aimed at subverting economic order. The people 
charged are directly connected to the G8 protests in Genova 
and the Napoli Global Forum.

ITALY: Massive Peace Demonstration in Florence
November 10, 2002
http://www.indymedia.org/archive/features/current#5893
http://italy.indymedia.org/archives/archive_by_id.php?id=343
Reportedly, up to 1 million people (police estimate 450,000) took to 
the streets of Florence to demonstrate their opposition to the War 
during the European Social Forum.

U.S.A, WASHINGTON, DC: Black Voices for Peace Protest Media Coverage
November 15, 2002
http://www.indymedia.org.nz/front.php3?article_id=1886
Black Voices For Peace and the Black Voices For Peace Peoples Action 
launched a Fairness In Media Campaign Friday with a protest in front 
of the Washington Post. The campaign is targeting the Washington Post 
and other media outlets that have not been fair, balanced and accurate 
in their reporting on the antiwar movement and the participation of 
people of color in antiwar activities.

USA: U.S. House Passes Orwellian Homeland Security Bill
November 13, 2002
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=217718&group=webcast
The bill has a number of effects, including compromising the Freedom 
of Information Act, increasing sentences for so-called "hackers," and 
establishing a pervasive and integrated surveillance system intended 
to collect information on as many persons as possible.

CHILE: Police Shoot Mapuche Youth
November 12, 2002
http://www.indymedia.org/archive/features/current#5929
http://www.mapuche-nation.org/
This week, Chilean police shot 17-year-old Mapuche activist Edmundo 
Alex Lemun Saavedra in the head, critically wounding him. The 
shooting was part of an attack against a nonviolent occupation of the 
Mininco forest by the indigenous Mapuche. The police violence comes 
on the heels of the murder of two community leaders in Alto Biobo and 
the arrest of another under dictatorship-era terrorist laws being 
used by the current, 'democratic' government to repress social and 
political movements.

-------------------------------

UPCOMING ACTIONS

December 1  Rally for Peace in Australia
http://www.vicpeace.org/
http://melbourne.indymedia.org/

December 5-7  OSCE 
Autumn of Global Fight in Portugal
http://www.azine.org/?centro=corpo_noticias.php&nr=8857

December 8-9  Anti-Nazi action in Sweden
http://sweden.indymedia.org/archive/features/2002/11/2002-11.html#5771
http://sweden.indymedia.org/

December 12-15  EU Summit in Copenhagen
http://www4.nadir.org/nadir/kampagnen/kopenhagen2002/
http://www.modkraft.dk/

December 20  Argentina Solidarity
http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/agp/free/imf/argentina/txt/2002/0923Argenti
na_Solidarity.htm
http://argentina.indymedia.org/

January 2-7  Asian Social Forum
http://www.wsfindia.org/
http://india.indymedia.org/


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