Issue 108 Table of Contents

Issue 108
Table of Contents

	Pakistani Families Flee U.S. To Seek Canada Asylum	by Ahmar Mustikhan and Jeff Elliott For thousands of Muslims, it is the worst nightmare of their lives -- an unthinkable "can't happen here" scenario for people who have called America home for years. But the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is now requiring males over 16 from 25 countries -- all Muslim nations, plus North Korea -- to be fingerprinted, photographed, and show proof of their identity
	Protests In Smalltown America	by Rosemary and Walter M. Brasch They were infants and the retired; housewives, laborers, and professors; combat-decorated soldiers and conscientious objectors. All opposed terrorists and Saddam's ruthless dictatorship. All knew there was no connection between Iraq and those who had launched the suicidal terror against America. Bundled in ski caps, gloves, and layers of clothes, the people sang songs of peace and listened to speakers who impassionately said they weren't much good at organizing but felt a need to do something
	Bush Budget An Attack On Environment, Critics Say	by J.R. Pegg Conservationists are warning that the Bush administration's new budget proposal is littered with broken promises, and dramatically underfunds the agencies responsible for managing the nation's public lands and natural resources. Environmental groups said this week they believe the administration's rhetoric of increased spending for the national park system, for land conservation efforts and protection of the nation's forests, oceans and wildlife, is disingenuous
	Fred Flinstone Brains, WMD Don't Mix	by Susan Young With America and its allies poised to attack Iraq and the U.S. and North Korea locked in a showdown over nuclear weapons, diplomats and politicians would do well to remember that humans may have nuclear technology but still only possess stone-age brains
	Unintentionally, Bush Unites the World	by Mark Weisbrot Alternating between the roles of the spoiled rich kid who buys his friends and the belligerence of the neighborhood bully, he has been slow to learn that neither Washington's money nor all of the Pentagon's advanced weaponry can win friendship or respect among the people of the world
	Over 500k March Against War In NY	by Haider Rizvi Police used horses and thousands of barricades to separate demonstrators, many of whom brought young children, into small groups. Several protesters were arrested, but no details are available. "Is this democracy? Stop it!" an old woman shouted as a police contingent blocked the way and knocked down two demonstrators with their horses
	1 Million March For Peace In London, Berlin	It was a day when numbers spoke louder than leaders, when ordinary people from across Britain made their voice heard just by their presence
	Global Labor Marches Against War	by David Bacon A joint declaration against war in Iraq by more than 200 unions worldwide has teeth. Global opposition to Bush's war plans from labor could redraw political maps in countries where unions wield much power
	Some Anti-War Protests Sparked By Doomsday Fear	by Franz Schurmann Visions of a final conflict, and of redemption of a decadent West, have haunted Mesopotamia before, and swirl around questions of war with Iraq today. But history also shows that when faced with doomsday, leaders can pull back from the brink
	Bush Seeks To Triple Tax Deductions For SUV Owners	by Katherine Stapp The Lincoln Navigator, one of the biggest and least fuel-efficient SUVs, is now eligible for a $33,240 tax break. In contrast, a Honda Civic gas-electric hybrid gets a tax credit of only $9,660. Under Bush's stimulus plan, the maximum deduction -- for a $102,000 Hummer, say -- would be $75,000
	How The White House Controls The Press	by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman For more than 60 years, Sarah McClendon had unfettered access to White House press briefings with her White House press pass. But the Bush White House wanted no part of her, so they refused to renew her press pass in June 2001
	Bush Iraq Stance Spurs New Cold War -- With Europe	by Jim Lobe The yawning and increasingly angry divide between European public opinion and the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has made clear that what is sometimes called Judeo-Christian civilization is undergoing a major internal battle that threatens not only its unity, but the very architecture of international relations created by the West after WWII
	Bush Budget Ties Foreign Aid To Being Allied In Terror War	by Emad Mekay Bush unveiled a proposed increase in foreign aid in the 2004 budget, with most of the raise going to countries that have joined Washington in its self styled "war on terror"
	"Old Europe" Remark Shows Bush Admin Disconnect	by Andrew Reding U.S. policymakers are seriously misreading Europe, clinging to outdated institutional relationships such as NATO and seeing significant support for war on Iraq where there is little. Meanwhile, the European Union keeps moving forward with a different and expanding world model.
	Bin Laden Message: Invade Iraq -- Please	by William O. Beeman The Bush administration's assessment of al Qaeda's relationship with the government of Saddam Hussein remains seriously flawed. If it is not rethought, America may win the war in Iraq -- for Osama bin Laden
	Internal Bush Admin Fight Over Post-Saddam Iraq	by Jim Lobe While final touches are being put on war plans that could involve as many as 250,000 U.S. troops, government officials here are fighting among themselves over the shape of a post-war Iraq
	Some Iraqis Cautiously Speak Against Saddam	by Ferry Biedermann There are no opinion polls in Iraq to gauge the public mood. But some have begun to give voice to what they dared not whisper before. Some are beginning to blame not the Americans but Saddam Hussein. Such criticism is unprecedented in a country where the slightest whisper of discontent can be fatal. People have been known to disappear for saying far less
	Bush Remains Vague On Aid For Postwar Iraq	by Emad Mekay If a U.S.-led force attacks Iraq, war could create anywhere from 600,000 to 1.5 million additional refugees and asylum seekers. Another one million people could become internally displaced, more than doubling the number of homeless Iraqis in the oil-rich nation, says the United Nations
	Bush Hydrogen Fuel Proposal A Sham, Critics Say	by J.R. Pegg The president's plan provides funds to research how existing energy sources can be used to create hydrogen fuel, including $19.6 million to study the creation of hydrogen from gasoline. But environmentalists argue that hydrogen fuel cells are only as clean as the fuels used to produce them, something the president did not discuss
	Bush Ignoring Worst Case Scenarios For Iraq War	by Franz Schurmann There are two scenarios that could lead to a peace outcome that the majority of global public opinion strongly favors. One involves looking at all three crisis spots -- North Korea, Iran and Iraq -- as parts of a single syndrome. And the second posits that the looming war will not be Gulf War II, but rather a New War
	Catholic Hospitals Refusing Contraception To Rape Victims	by Megan Cooley After a rape, the victim often encounters this advice: Contact a trustworthy person, don't shower and see a doctor immediately. Another practice, however, might soon become more commonly prescribed -- carefully consider the hospital in which to seek medical attention -- after a survey released in December found that many Roman Catholic hospitals deny emergency contraception to rape victims
	9 Year-Old Rape Victim Stirs Abortion Fight	by Nefer Munoz The plight of a nine year old Nicaraguan girl who was raped in Costa Rica and is now pregnant has triggered a heated debate over abortion in the heavily Catholic region of Central America
	Saudi Arabia To Kick Out Millions Of Foreigners	by N Janardhan Saudi Arabia's decision to reduce its foreign workforce by more than half in 10 years is a clear indication of the oil-rich country's growing unemployment problem
	Mandela Blasts Bush, Tony Blair, Over Iraq War	by Anthony Stoppard Former South African president, Nelson Mandela appeared to lose patience with diplomacy and launched a scathing personal attack on U.S. president, George W. Bush for his apparent determination to take military action against Iraq, if the middle-eastern country does not prove it has no weapons of mass destruction to the satisfaction of the United States
	Kidney Black Market Alive And Well	by Ranjit Devraj When India's human rights commission stepped in last week to order the state government in Punjab to produce a report on the flourishing trade in live human kidneys, it was a sign that laws concerning organ commerce were not working as they should
	FBI Begins Collecting Info On U.S. Muslims	by Yemisrach Benalfew Other security measures that have targeted Muslims and Arabs here since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 include "voluntary" questioning of thousands of Muslim non-citizens by the FBI and the re-registration of men from certain Middle East and Asian countries by the Immigration and Naturalization Service
	U.S. Throwing Billion$ At Allies For War Support	by Thalif Deen The United States is employing its economic heft to round up the political support and UN Security Council votes it needs for a war on Iraq, according to political experts and diplomats
	Australia Alone As Bush War Ally in Asia	by Marwaan Macan-Markar So far, Australia is the only Asia-Pacific country to staunchly line up with materiel behind U.S. President George W Bush's plans for an impending attack against Iraq. As seen from Asia, the looming war against Iraq appears to have all the hallmarks of an Anglo-Saxon adventure
	Powell Opened Door To Peace With Saddam	by Franz Schurmann Look at it from Saddam's position. He hopes that the fearsome dangers of biological and chemical warfare will stay America's hands. Ever since George W. Bush became president, Saddam knew that Bush was out to get him and his regime. What better way of thwarting this fate than building up the lethal stockpiles?
	Powell Takes Us Into The Wilderness Of Mirrors	by William M. Arkin I believe Powell's presentation on the Khurmal camp reflects the possibility that the Bush administration -- and its least hawkish senior official -- may have slipped unknowingly into what was once brilliantly called the "wilderness of mirrors." How difficult it can be to navigate that wilderness is illustrated by the story of the photograph I took more than a decade ago on the outskirts of Baghdad
	Powell Repeats Discredited Iraq-Qaeda Link	by William O. Beeman In his Feb. 5 presentation to the United Nations, Secretary of State Colin Powell repeated the assertion that Saddam Hussein has connections to the terror group al Qaeda. Despite the rhetoric, writes PNS contributor William O. Beeman, no hard evidence has been revealed
	Making A Case For War On Flimsy Evidence	by Randolph T. Holhut Weigh the potential for very, very bad things to happen -- such as the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and the near-certainty that those deaths will inspire retaliatory terrorist attacks on U.S. soil -- against the flimsy pretexts for war that the Bush administration has presented over the past year
	Mr. Powell, You're No Adlai Stevenson	by Stephen Zunes Powell was unable to emulate Stevenson's historic challenge to the Soviet threat. Indeed, while it was an eloquent speech, Powell fell way short of proving that Iraq had anything that could seriously threaten the security of its neighbors, much less the United States. Evasiveness and paranoia by an isolated dictator does not a security threat make
	Powell Dodges The "O" Word In UN Address	by Robert Jensen Most important was the one word at the core of plans for war but which never crossed Powell's lips: Oil. That word cannot be spoken by U.S. policymakers, although people everywhere know that if not for oil, the United States would not be pursuing a war
	Israel's Right-Wing Now Firmly In Control	by Ferry Biedermann Sharon's Likud Party has doubled its strength in the 120 seat Knesset, Israel's Parliament. Labor crashed from 26 seats in 1999 to 19. Altogether the right wing and religious bloc in the Knesset now hold a comfortable 66 seat majority
	Few Israeli Voters Endorsed Sharon's Views	by Ira Chernus Too many Israelis have fallen victim to the relentless, brilliantly executed propaganda campaign, conceived by the Sharon right in the fall of 2001. It's message was simple: We want peace, but no one on the other side will make peace. Arafat is unable and / or unwilling to make peace. Until the Palestinians get a new leader, we have no partner for peace. Like any big lie, this one relies not on evidence (since there was virtually none), but on constant repetition
	Palestinians Fear Crackdown In Wake Of Sharon Victory	by N. Janardhan Palestinian chief negotiator and cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said on Wednesday: "I believe that after a government is formed in Israel, it will be moving to reoccupy the Gaza Strip." "This is a heavy blow to a peaceful settlement. The Israelis have committed a historic mistake which they and the Palestinians will regret," Erekat said on CNN. Sharon will exploit the looming U.S.-led war on Iraq to step up actions against Palestinians, he added
	Turkey May Face Civil War For Backing U.S. Iraq Attack	by Gretel C. Kovach Turks are solidly against a U.S. war on Iraq, but the newly elected Islamist government may have no choice but to fall in line behind U.S. war plans. In Turkey, the repercussions could include civil war
	U.S. Risks War Crimes Over Iraq War	The United States and allies who attack Iraq without United Nations sanction could face international legal action, even though Washington has opted out of the new International Criminal Court (ICC)
	Manila A Case Study In Private Water Crisis	by Marites Sison Five years after the privatization that was expected to improve water services, consumers' and activist groups say, Manila's water crisis has only become worse. Water prices have not gone down but up, even as private concessionaries failed to comply with the expansion and service targets they set in their contracts
	Po'ouli is Three Birds Away from Extinction	In an attempt to save the vanishing po'ouli, a Hawaiian songbird, biologists will attempt to catch the only three remaining birds that are known to exist for a captive breeding project
	UN Under Attack By Bush Admin	by Stephen Zunes With the United States on the verge of launching an invasion of Iraq without approval of the United Nations Security Council, a concerted effort is underway taking advantage of the lack of knowledge most Americans have of the United Nations' structures and procedures to discredit the world body in the eyes of public opinion
	Union Knows Its State: Lousy	by Robert Scheer The White House uses bombast to portray our nation as being merely a step away from peace and prosperity. All it needs is another feed-the-rich tax break and a war for oil. All the while, the administration is willfully ignoring some harsh realities: The Dow fell below 8,000 on Monday, Osama bin Laden is still on the lam and we are pursuing a foreign policy increasingly based on the discredited credo of might-makes-right colonialism
	Colin Powell Now Pushes The Big Lie	by Robert Scheer Regardless of Saddam Hussein's record of cruelty and regional power ambitions, as a military man Powell should be employing a straightforward equation
	Bush's House of Cards Falls Apart	by Robert Scheer Like their professional counterparts in the United States, British intelligence agencies don't believe there is an Iraq-Al Qaeda connection -- a rather inconvenient fact revealed by the British Broadcasting Corp. on the eve of Blair's visit. The BBC had obtained a top-level report from British intelligence that stated flatly that there were no current ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda
	The Bush Charade Of Seeking UN Approval	by Michael Klare Despite all the UN Security Council resolutions and weapons inspections reports, the pace and timing of the coming showdown with Iraq will not be determined by the dynamics of diplomatic debate. From the very beginning, the timing of the war has been set by the evolving character of the American war plan
	Bush Treating Global War Like A Bar Fight	by Robert Scheer Lately, it's hard to tell which we have more "habitual hatred" toward -- Iraq, Osama bin Laden, the UN or our allies Germany and France. In fact, from the beginning of the administration's mockery of fact and logic, our damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't stance toward Iraq has been consistent: If they come forth with weapons we blast them for having them, and if they don't reveal enough we blast them for holding back
	Bush Divides World Into Friends, Gutless Cowards	by Robert Scheer While we like Iraq's Kurds and Shiites now, they'd best be advised to cash in before the next immunity challenge, when they could be on the short end of the stick of whatever malleable Iraqi general we handpick to run our new oil fields
	Supporting Iraq War Could Cost Russia Billion$	by Sergei Blagov More than a decade after the Berlin Wall came down, Putin is straddling something of an iron fence. On all sides of it there is much to gain -- and much to lose. Russia and Iraq are negotiating a 10-year trade agreement that would include 67 agreements in oil, agriculture, transportation, railways and energy, Saleh said. These agreements could be worth more than $40 billion to Russia. The Iraqi message is clear. There is money for Russia in Iraq, if only it opposes a U.S. attack
	Indians Win Land Rights Suit, But Bush Admin Ignores Court	by Jim Lobe The Bush administration has refused to respond to a landmark decision that U.S. claims to the ancestral lands of the Western Shoshone Indians in Nevada are illegal under international law. The case, which revolves around a 30-year dispute between two Shoshone grandmothers, Carrie and Mary Dann, and the U.S. government, is based on the contention by the Western Shoshone that Washington illegally seized their lands without compensation or due process
	Bush Hawks Demand Blank Check For War	by Jim Lobe If there was any doubt about the global ambitions of the Bush administration hawks, it was dispelled late January when a group of influential right-wing figures complained that the current military budget of almost $400 billion -- greater than the world's 15 next biggest military establishments combined -- is not enough to sustain U.S. strategy abroad
	Anti-Saddam Iraqis Promise Oil Deal After War	by Emad Mekay U.S. backed Iraqi opposition leaders have vowed to turn the country into a secular, multi-party, federal and non-sectarian state that will welcome investment in massive oil fields
	Rights Groups Protest "Special Registration" Of Muslim Men	by Akhilesh Upadhyay Activists said the registration marks the latest in a series of attacks on immigrant rights and civil liberties. Over the past 15 months, thousands of Arabs, South Asians, Muslims, Cambodians, Filipinos and others have been detained and deported, most for minor visa violations
	Pakistan And Iran Draw Closer	by Christopher Nadeem Pakistan annually imports oil worth between $3 billion and $3.5 billion, a good amount of it from Saudi Arabia, but it is seeking closer ties with neighboring Iran. Following the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Pakistan imported petroleum and petroleum products from Iran worth $13 million in 1998-99 and that number has soared spectacularly to $323.9 million for 2000-2001
	Pakistan's Heroin Problem Tied To New Afghan Opium Trade	by Nadeem Iqbal Much of this comes from the across the border in Afghanistan. In 2000, under the Taliban, the country had cut down on the areas planted to poppy, but reports say production is up once again with the overthrow of the Taliban and the installation of the new U.S.-backed regime
	Opium Trade Thrives In "New" Afghanistan	by David Beers Despite the establishment of a new government and the presence of a 4,800 strong international peacekeeping force in Kabul, the cultivation of opium is increasing in Afghanistan, a new UN study concludes
	India Astronaut Was Hero To Immigrant Americans	by Sandip Roy Kalpana Chawla was the old-fashioned kind of hero we dreamed about on still summer nights in India. When the electricity went out, as it did almost every other night, and the rooms got stiflingly hot in the smoky glow of the oil lamps, we'd lie out on the terrace. We'd stare at the patch of sky framed by the dark rectangles of buildings all around, and try to find the ploughs and lions and bears that lit the heavens above us. And we would dream about worlds far away and spaceships and life on Mars
	Disney Asks Court To Throw Out Pooh Case	by Joe Shea The Walt Disney Co. February 3 asked a Superior Court Judge to hear evidence that Stephen Slesinger Inc.'s attorneys and principals stole documents, defied court orders, destroyed evidence and engaged in a pattern of "pervasive misconduct and illegal activities" as they sought royalty payments that are allegedly overdue during an 11-year battle with the studio
	Many Abroad Viewed Colombia Shuttle As Military Mission	by Yoichi Clark Shimatsu Astronaut and Israeli Air Force pilot Col. Ilan Ramonwas a living symbol of Israeli-American aerospace cooperation, which has included the Arrow interception technology incorporated into Patriot missiles (used in the Gulf War) and the sale of U.S.-built F-16s and helicopter gunships sent by the Ariel Sharon government to attack Israel is midway through a drive to establish a space program, much of it devoted to military purposes. So is India, the birthplace of the other "international" astronaut, Kalpana Chowla. Her research background in robotics and aerodynamics are also of direct interest to weapons designers
	Rocket Attacks On Pakistan Gas Pipelines	by Muddassir Rizvi Last month's attacks on gas pipelines in Pakistan have raised serious questions about the country's capacity to protect a planned multi-billion dollar trans-Afghanistan pipeline, which would bring natural gas from Central Asian Republic of Turkmenistan down to Pakistan
	Is Iraq First Step For Bush Middle East Crusade?	by Ira Chernus Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton that after the U.S. demolishes Iraq, it had better to move on to Iran. Not to worry, Bolton replied. Iran is high on the Bush administration's to-do list. So is Syria. When it comes to the danger of WMD in the Middle East, the U.S. and Israeli governments are on the same page
	Fools Rush In...	by Marty Jezer Yes, we have the military power to defeat the Iraqi military. But at what cost? For what objective? Is there an exit strategy? What are the consequences -- even of a quick military victory?
	For Undocumented Immigrants, Homeland Security Is Just Another Hassle	The Homeland Security folks may think that limiting peoples' civil liberties will smoke out the immigrants who are underground, but the truth is, many of us are used to getting around the tactics. If you have street smarts you can make your own rights and buy your freedoms
	Bush Building "Coalition Of The Coerced"	by Jim Lobe U.S. pressure -- in the form of both carrots and sticks -- is now being brought to bear on the six undecided countries: Mexico and Chile from Latin America; Angola, Cameroon and Guinea from Africa; and Pakistan, the lone Islamic country
	The Witch Hunt Of Michael Dini	by Christopher R. Brauchli According to the GAO report, the Department of Justice "does not have sufficient management oversight and internal controls in place to ensure the accuracy and reliability of terrorism-related conviction statistics included in its annual performance reports." That does not mean the Justice Department is falling down on all fronts. It has been busy working on Patriot Act II which hopes to make us all safe from everything and everyone except the government. It has also found time to investigate people like Michael Dini
	China Mishandled 3 Gorges Dam, Study Says	by Jim Lobe The resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people to make way for China's controversial Three Gorges Dam project has been marked by inadequate compensation, abuses of human rights and widespread corruption, says a report released in January
	Uncle Sam, Globocop	by Jim Lobe "The United States must and will maintain the capability to defeat any attempt by any enemy -- whether a state or non-state actor -- to impose its will on the United States, our allies, or our friends," that document stated, in what has since been called the "Bush Doctrine." But as pointed out by Max Boot, a prominent neo-conservative writer based at the Council on Foreign Relations, it is really the globalization of the Monroe Doctrine
	Rightwing Think Tank Directing Bush Policies	by Jim Lobe More than any other think tank in Washington, AEI and its associates, led by Defense Policy Board chairman Richard Perle, have acted as the public vanguard of the most unilateralist and hawkish views adopted by the Bush administration since its inception, and particularly since Sept. 11, 2001
	In Baghdad, Preparation For Invasion	by Leah C. Wells UNICEF and the World Food Programme have been trying to prepare the country for a U.S.-led invasion. These agencies, along with every other United Nations agency dealing with children, agriculture, health, welfare, education and nutrition, have reported on the devastating effects of the sanctions, and now they are bracing for a humanitarian crisis resulting from a massive attack
	Anti-American Feelings Growing In Canada	by Mark Bourrie When the chief spokesperson for Canada's prime minister called President George W. Bush a "moron" in November, polls showed that about one-half of people here agreed with her
	After Roe, Bush Takes Aim At Contraception	by Caryl Rivers While few in the media noticed, American foreign policy has moved towards opposition to condoms and towards promotion of "natural" birth control methods such as rhythm and abstinence
	Bush State Speech A Study In Hypocrisy	by Molly Ivins The president's first education budget after he signed his much-touted No Child Left Behind Act proposed $22.2 billion, a cut of more than $90 million below the previous year and more than $7 billion less than Congress had authorized. They need to change the name of the law to the Quite a Few Children Left Behind Act
	Bush Insults With Posturing And Indifference	by Molly Ivins Bush once described something as "the language of diplomatic nuanced circles." One could wish he were rather more practiced in it. It is not reassuring to be told we are going to war because he "has already seen this movie" and is bored by it. Far be it from me to discourage blunt-speaking, but issues of war and peace are not aided by displays of petty impatience. There is something deeply unserious about it
	Shame On Conservatives For French Bashing	by Molly Ivins Jonah Goldberg of The National Review, who admits that French-bashing is "shtick" -- as it is to many American comedians -- has popularized the phrase "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" to describe the French. It gets a lot less attractive than that
	Bush Turns Deaf Ear To Will Of People	by Molly Ivins What passes for diplomacy in this administration is stunning. What in the name of heaven are we doing allowing people like Richard Perle to speak for us?
	Bush Declares War -- On Taxes For Rich	by Molly Ivins It is no secret that the ultimate goal of the conservative movement in this country is to get rid of the IRS and the progressive income tax entirely. The right-wing foundations have been talking about it for years. It is genuinely difficult to understand the level of greed and venality that would make someone think everyone else should pay taxes on what they make, but that he doesn't have to
	The Repub Shock Troops	by Molly Ivins "It was like a right-wing version of a Workers World rally, with one crucial difference. Workers World is a fringe group with no political power. CPAC is explicitly endorsed by people running the country. Its attendees are Bush's shock troops, the ones who staged the white-collar riot during the Florida vote count and harassed Al Gore in the vice presidential mansion"
	Imminent Monopoly Of The Airwaves	by Molly Ivins The Federal Communications Commission, led by Michael ("my religion is the market") Powell, is fixing to remove the last remaining barriers against concentration of media. This means one company can own all the radio stations, television stations, newspapers and cable systems in any given area. Presently, 10 companies own over 90 percent of the media outlets. Bill Kovach of the Committee of Concerned Journalists and Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism say these are the most sweeping changes in the rules that govern ownership of American media since the 1940s
	The Sorry State Of The Union	by Molly Ivins The state of the union is that money talks and public policy is sold to the highest bidder. Those who give money in political contributions -- less than one-tenth of one percent of the U.S. population gave 83 percent of all campaign contributions in the 2002 elections -- get back billions in tax breaks, subsidies and the right to exploit public land at ridiculously low prices
	Honey, I Shrunk Your Pension	by Molly Ivins If Clinton did it, it can't be good (and what splendid results they've gotten so far), so the new rules will give companies that convert to cash-balance plans a tax advantage, as well as giving them protection from age-discrimination suits. Don't you love it? The perfect Bush plan: They get to screw workers and get a tax break, and nobody is allowed to sue
	Thank Bush Diplomacy For N Korea Nuke Mess	by Molly Ivins North Korea had been sending lots of signals that it was ready to deal, ready to open up and to make concessions. But the Bush administration denounced it as a "rogue state" and used it as a prime excuse to promote the national missile defense system. Bush, ever the soft-spoken diplomat, told a reporter that he "loathes" Kim Jong Il on a "visceral level" and also called the dictator "a pygmy." True, Kim Jong Il is vertically challenged and a repellent dictator, but insulting paranoiacs with nukes is not smart
	Smoke, Mirrors, And Terrorism	by Norman Solomon In the propaganda end game prior to an all-out attack on Iraq, the Bush crew is playing a favorite card; as a word, terrorism can easily frighten the public and keep competing politicians at bay
	Colin Powell Should Now Answer Iraq Questions	by Norman Solomon On television, he exudes confidence and authoritative judgment. But Powell owes much of his touted credibility to the fact that he's functioning inside a media bubble that protects him from direct challenge
	Waiting For The Lord In Downtown Baghdad	by Norman Solomon Fear is in the air. And a sense of doom has fallen over the city like a smothering blanket. But there's little time to dwell on, or even acknowledge, such emotions. Staying busy seems to push back the dread
	The Other Story About Iraq's Weapons	by Norman Solomon t's hard to imagine how any journalist on the war beat could read the article's lead without doing a double take: "Hussein Kamel, the highest-ranking Iraqi official ever to defect from Saddam Hussein's inner circle, told CIA and British intelligence officers and UN inspectors in the summer of 1995 that after the Gulf War, Iraq destroyed all its chemical and biological weapons stocks and the missiles to deliver them"
	Globalization Peace Movement Emerges	by Norman Solomon At the White House and on Capitol Hill, the same boosters of "globalization" are upset about certain types of global action -- such as the current grassroots movement against a war on Iraq
	Colin Powell's "Intellegence" Fraud	by Alexander Cockburn There was the supposed transporter of biotoxins that turned out to be a truck from the Baghdad health department; the sinisterly enlarged test ramp for long-distance missiles that was nothing of the sort; the suspect facility that had recently been cleared by the UN inspection teams; the strange eavesdropped conversations that could as well have been Iraqi officers discussing how to hide stills for making bootleg whiskey. The promoter of the Iraq/Al Qaeda link, Abu Musab Zarqawi, turns out to be an imaginative liar trying to get a prison sentence commuted
	Anti-War Conservatives Bash Bush	by Rene P. Ciria-Cruz There are indeed anti-war conservatives. Moreover, these big-government-hating, tax-loathing right-wingers reserve their sharpest barbs for the "neoconservative" hawks in the Bush administration. Some even predict that war in Iraq will widen fissures within the Right and cost the Republican Party in the voting booth
	One Angry Jury	by Alexander Cockburn This was an important political event in the wars over medical marijuana and the rights of those eight states that have passed medical marijuana laws. All Tuesday morning talk show hosts on big San Francisco radio stations such as KGO were broadcasting advice to all future jurors in drug trials to exercise their discretion to set aside unjust laws and to vote their conscience. TV news coverage has been similarly sympathetic. Historically, independent-minded juries overruling dictatorial judges and setting aside bad laws blazed important new paths to freedom
	Yes, That Really Was The President	by Alexander Cockburn In the first half of the address, Bush stumbled through his prescriptions to make the rich richer with the timbre of an inexperienced waiter reciting the specials. He even blew the opening and most outrageous lie of all, that "We will not pass along problems" to future generations, a pledge launched amid a vista of red ink as far as the eye can see, as those future generations pick up the tab for Bush's handouts to the super-rich today, to the arms companies, the drug industry and other prime contributors
	Crowds And Fire, Darkness And Panic	by Alexander Cockburn Crowds and fire; darkness and panic: They are the currency of these weird times as the Pentagon divulges its plan to "shock and awe" the people of Baghdad with a 48-hour barrage of missiles. Two weekends ago, we had the unity of vast crowds asserting life; and then, a few days later, we saw the crowd in the guise of panic-stricken throngs, in Chicago and Rhode Island, crushing one another to death and being burned
	No! In Thunder	by Alexander Cockburn The protests got under the skin of Bush and Blair regimes. After the weekend, the Washington Post ran an inside-dopester item reporting that the White House was beginning to regard Defense Secretary Rumsfeld as a political liability
	The Iraq War Meets Biblical Prophecy	by Paul S. Boyer Does the Bible foretell regime change in Iraq? Did God establish Israel's boundaries millennia ago? Is the United Nations a forerunner of a satanic world order? For millions of Americans, the answer to all those questions is a resounding yes. For many believers in biblical prophecy, the Bush administration's go-it-alone foreign policy, hands-off attitude toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and proposed war on Iraq are not simply actions in the national self-interest or an extension of the war on terrorism, but part of an unfolding divine plan
	The American Emergency	by Ronnie Dugger We must stay calm. We must believe that all this is happening, even though it is amazing and astounding. We must be nonviolent in all that we do. And we must have courage now
	Comments? Send a letter to the editor. Albion Monitor Issue 108 (http://www.monitor.net/monitor) All Rights Reserved. Contact rights@monitor.net for permission to use in any format.