Albion Monitor

Issue 118

JANUARY 2004

HOW TO GET A PASSWORD

About...

Journalists run with the pack because it's always the safest option. Our top ten list of pack journalism shows how the press failed you in 2003

Iraq War Dominated 2003 TV News
Networks give AIDS a total of 39 minutes, just 15 for global warming

Killing Of Journalists Soared In 2003
Twice as many as last year

Top Iraq Religious Leader Ups The Stakes Against Bush
Calls for civil disobedience if no prompt elections

France Blames U.S. "Hysteria" For Terror Alerts
French officials charge "deliberate misinformation" by Bush Admin

Bush Killed Hope Of Better Iran-U.S. Ties After Quake
Insensitive, undiplomatic remarks on New Year's Day

Growing Charges Of U.S. Abuse In Iraq
Civilian killings, arbitrary arrests and detentions without trial

Ex-Iraqi Soldiers Riot, Saying Pension Promises Broken
Only one payment since occupation began 8 months ago

Bush "Systematically Misrepresented" WMD Threat, Report Says
Carnegie foundation calls for investigation by independent commission

Bush Withdraws WMD Search Team From Iraq
"I am sure that if they had found important evidence, we would know about it"

Venezuela President A Thorn In Bush's Side At Summit
Ridiculed the event as a mere photo-op and "a waste of time"

The coming Iraq civil war

The Kurd Federation
THE COMING IRAQ CIVIL WAR, PART I

100,000 Iraqis march for prompt elections on Jan. 19, which the Kurds oppose

Kurds in northern Iraq appear to be planning to turn their tactical gains for being unflinching U.S. allies in ousting Saddam Hussein into a strategic and historic advance -- a Kurdish federation that would include one of the world's richest oil reserves in Kirkuk. The Kurdish move revived fears that the country could plunge into ethnic conflict, as Iraqis Sunnis and other ethnic groups are bitterly resentful of being marginalized in post-war Iraq. Kurdish politicians in Iraq say they strongly oppose the demand by the country's Shi'a Muslims for direct elections in selecting an interim local government to assume control from the U.S.-led coalition. They say Iraq is not ready to hold such elections, and criticize Shi'a clerics for taking the debate to the streets.

The Kurd plan falls short of the independent land they have dreamt of for centuries, but it is strong enough to cause alarm both within and outside an unsettled Iraq. The Bush-led Iraqi government cannot let the region seek independence. Kirkuk is quite a prize. The 3,000-year-old city would be the capital of the projected Kurd federation and the surrounding area is source of 40 percent of Iraqi oil production. The area has 10 billion barrels of known oil reserves

Kurds want Their Own Federation In Oil-Rich Northern Iraq

Iraqi Shiites To Kurds: A United Nation, No Federation
Kurds Oppose Call For Quick Iraq Elections

Congress Asked To Probe Leak Of CIA Agent's Identity

Demand that intel workers "must never be turned into political punching bags"
Bush Scuttles Plans To Restructure Iraq Economy
Once-ambitious initiatives to rapidly introduce market reforms

Iraq War Was Strategic Error, Army War Scholar Says
Sharpest criticism yet from military source

Latest Bin Laden Tape Threatens Arab Regimes, Not U.S.
An important shift on getting rid of "unfit" Arab leaders

U.S. Restricts Demonstrations In Iraq
A lesson in democracy: no public gatherings without a permit
Pakistan Politics, Tribal Law Complicate Hunt For Al-Qaeda
Warlords won't even let military into areas

Pakistan In Turmoil Over Disclosure Of Nuke Deals With Iran
Heroes of bomb program being interrogated like criminals

American Missionaries Pour Into Iraq
"Southern Baptists have prayed for years that Iraq would somehow be opened to the gospel"

Iraq Gas, Electricity Shortages Hit New Lows
But black market flourishing

Israel Set To Resume Assassinations
Sends threat to Hamas spiritual leader

Burma Political Oppression Becoming Worse
Number of political prisoners growing again

Militant Kurdish Group Ansar Al-Islam A Mystery To U.S.
U.S. and occupation government claim ties to terror attacks in Iraq, but no proof

Evidence Said To Show That Saddam Was Captured By Others
Kurd fighters, former aides supposedly delivered ex-dictator to U.S. forces

Mad Cow: The killer among us

WHAT NOW, DOWNED COW?
MAD COW: THE KILLER AMONG US

There are no laws preventing the beef industry from using meat from "downers," or sick cows

PHOTO: nodowners.org

In October 2001, 34-year-old Washington State native Peter Putnam started losing his mind. One month he was delivering a keynote business address, the next he couldn't form a complete sentence. Once athletic, soon he couldn't walk. Then he couldn't eat. After a brain biopsy showed it was Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, his doctor could no longer offer any hope. "Just take him home and love him," the doctor counseled his family.

Many experts now suspect that "Mad Cow" has been in North America for at least a decade, that the beef industry and regulators have fought proper regulation from day one, that the current surveillance system is a don't-look-don't-find model and that the public-health risk from contaminated meat could be greater than most are prepared to admit.

We don't know exactly what's happening to the rate of CJD in this country, in part because it is not an officially notifiable illness A number of autopsy studies have shown that a few percent of Alzheimer's deaths may in fact be CJD. Given the new research showing that infected beef may be responsible for some sporadic CJD, thousands of Americans may already be dying because of Mad Cow disease every year

Mad Cow Risk Is Global, Will Require Meat Industry Revolution

Is Mad Cow Already A Silent Epidemic?

Beef Lobby Blocks Action On Mad Cow, Activists Say
Will Bush Do The Right Thing To Contain Mad Cow?
Mad Cow Crisis Brewing For 14 Years

The Real Issue In Iraq: War Crimes
Cluster bombs still scattered all over the country

Afghans Living In World Without Law, UN Official Says
Crime, tribal fighting, and drug trafficking

U.S. Sets Up Institute To Employ Iraqi Scientists
Some had earlier complained of death threats from U.S. forces

U.S. Military More Conservative Than Public, Poll Shows
But almost all say "today's military is stretched too thin to be effective"

$4 Billion Missing From Angola Oil Money
Almost 10 percent of the country's gross domestic product

One Out Of Three U.S. Black Males Will Be Jailed, Study Finds
Prison rate for all Americans has tripled in 30 years

Radical Islamist Muslim Brotherhood Has New Leader
Egypt's largest Islamic fundamentalist group

Iraq Sunni Minority Feels Marginalized, Provoked By U.S. And Shiites
Resentment growing with view that 25% of population is excluded from future plans

No Sign That WTO Talks Will Resume Soon
U.S. and other trade powers showing no interest in renewing discussions

Monsanto's Roundup Blamed For Spread Of Powerful Fungus
Potentially toxic damage in wheat and barley

Israeli Soldiers Refusing Role In "Army Of Occupation"
13 more elite commandos refuse to serve in occupied territories

NAFTA Results "Grim," Rights Group Says
Has displaced 1.75 million Mexican farmers, forcing them to the cities or the U.S.

NAFTA Environmental Watchdog Has Money Woes
Trying to monitor explosive growth in Mexico on 1993 budget

CAFTA Called "Colonization" By Central American Leader
Trade deal would force small farmers to compete with subsidized American ag industry

U.S. Military Bases Growing Worldwide
300+ new bases expected by end of decade

U.S. Interests Buying Up European Arms Makers
Takeovers of major companies in France, Germany, and England

The Phony Dean 'Meltdown'

Press uses rally footage as excuse to echo right-wing media

Breaking news from CNN

"No One Can Now Doubt The Word Of America"

Analysis of foreign policy remarks in 2004 State of the Union address

Tough-Talking Bush Ignores Deficit And Joblessness In Speech
Bush appears to be narrowing, rather than expanding, his base
Bush State of the Union Ignores Environment
But Demos didn't mention it either

Death Penalty Missing As Election Year Topic
Most Demo candidates support execution under conditions
Expect Return Of Military Draft If Bush Reelected
And why aren't any members of the Bush family in uniform?
Demos Risk Disaster With Southern Strategy
Don't bother trying to win over Deep South
Howard Dean
The Right's newest Dean smear tactic: He's crazy

Sharpton Not Only Black American Critical Of Dean
Dean's Internet message not heard by minorities
Repubs Launch Insanity Offense Against Dean
Wild charges to paint Dean as The Angry Man
Demo Attacks on Dean Enhance Bush's Re-election Prospects
Deliberately misrepresenting a candidate's position, particularly in language that will almost certainly be used against him in the general election by the opposing party, is irresponsible

Bush "Guest Worker" deal a ploy, immigrants say

BUSH GUEST WORKER DEAL A PLOY, IMMIGRANTS SAY

The coveted "Green Card" has become almost impossible to get since the Sept. 11 attack
Bush's plan is not an amnesty, but a system for recruiting foreign labor power that would require immigrants to provide their personal data, which would be put into a registry -- an aspect not welcomed by wary undocumented workers who are used to covering up their tracks in order to keep a step ahead of the authorities. If the temporary worker quits or gets fired, he is subject to deportation. This makes the workers incredibly vulnerable to exploitation, effectively indentured servants. But even longtime workers would find only small percentage could move up from semi-legal, underclass status. The paralysis that has gripped the immigration system after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is mind-boggling: a report by the GAO released the day after Bush's proposed temporary worker program showed that the backlog of applications pending before immigration authorities grew from 2.3 to 6.3 million in the last two years
Undocumented Workers In U.S. See Bush Amnesty Plan As Threat
Virtually All Immigration Processing Stopped Since 9/11
Latino, Immigrant Media Pick Apart Bush Amnesty Deal
Mexican Immigrants Reject Bush "Guest Worker" Plan

Bush 'Marriage For Welfare' Plan Won't Work, Says Researcher
Poverty is the real issue, not moral approval

Ben Ohau
Ben Ohau was featured in both Two Towers and Return of the King

Pakistan's Glass Bangle Industry Built On Child Labor
30 cents a day working over high-temp burners in unventilated rooms

Florida Woman Has Rare Foreign Accent Syndrome
Fewer than 20 cases reported worldwide since 1919
Don't Sell Middle Earth, New Zealand Enviros Cry
Coming soon to those magnificent Lord of the Rings vistas: subdivisions and agribusiness

Indonesia Gives Light Sentence To General Who Directed Atrocities
Unlikely to serve a day in jail, despite crimes against humanity

U.S. Ignoring Indonesia Army Terrorism In Oil-Rich Region, Say Groups
Gruesome accounts of troops "exterminating" dissidents

Indonesia Again Filling Prisons With Political Opponents
Increased repression at the same time that the country claims democratic gains
Each Gallon Of Gas Requires 98 Tons Of Plants
Study calculates true cost of fossil fuels

U.S. Plays Key Role In Small Arms Proliferation
Two out of five guns illegal
1 Of 4 Animals Predicted For Extinction Within Fifty Years, Study Says
Climate change will wipe out one million species by 2050

Zimbabwe Crisis As Mugabe Refuses To Step Down
Situation goes from awful to horrible as 8 million near starvation

Iranian Woman Facing Execution For Killing Her Rapist
Self-defense in rape is usually murder under Iran version of Islamic law

Nixon Planned Gulf Invasion in 1973
But feared a possible counter-attack by Iraq

Bush Global Warming Plan Could Devastate Oceans
CO2 injection in deep sea would alter ocean chemistry

Pakistanis Fleeing U.S. Face Tough Test In Canada
"People are criminalized for the fact they have asked for political asylum"

The Buzz About The Missing Bees Of Nepal
UN worrying about loss of biodiversity worldwide

European Roma Living Conditions Akin To Africa's Worst
One out of six is "constantly starving"

Ten Years Of Privatization Made Argentina's Crisis Worse
Foreign owners bought up public services, sent most profits out of country

Their Media War and Ours in 2004
"Embedding" was the most used new word of 2003

The Spirit Of Teddy Roosevelt Stalks The Pentagon
View of the world as merciless, Darwinian competition where force is the only language

2004 May See Widespread Strikes And Lockouts
System for financing union health care benefits breaking down nationwide

Jeb Bush Opens "Faith Based" Prison
Will a gay, Jewish or atheist inmate risk objecting to religious persecution?

Milosevic Trial May Foreshadow Saddam's
With nothing to lose, he showboats for his tribe, puts America on trial and hopes that history will be kind

Thomas Friedman's Scary Plan For World War III
Trying to justify a multibillion dollar war against the "savages"

Columnists

MOLLY IVINS Molly Ivins

John Kerry's Got No Elvis
The Poor State Of The Union's Pocketbook
The "So What?" Presidency Of George W. Bush
Bush Immigration Deal: Clueless, Or Dishonest?
2003: Rough And Tumble And Crazy Times In Texas
Mad Cow A Profoundly Political Issue

ROBERT SCHEER
Baghdad Is Bush's Blue Dress
So Now We're Opposing Democracy In Iraq
Schwarzenegger's Budget Axe Chops Services For Poor And Needy
Lord Knows What Pat Robertson Wants
New Documents Show How Rumsfeld And Reagan Armed Saddam

Robert Scheer

NORMAN SOLOMON
Presidential Candidates: Compared to What?
The State of the Media Union
Presidential Campaign Fever And "The Vision Thing"
Don't Run Again In 2004, Ralph
George Will's Ethics: None of Our Business?

Norman Solomon

ALEXANDER COCKBURN
Robert McNamara And The Fog Of Cop-Out
Havoc In The Cornfields
Bush And Iraq: The Truth At Last
Comparing Bush To Hitler
Count Your Blessings Looking Back At 2003

Alexander Cockburn

Toledo Blade

New York Times Ignored, Then Distorted Story Of Vietnam Atrocities
For at least six months in 1967, an elite unit called Tiger Force rampaged through Vietnam's Central Highlands, murdering -- at the encouragement of their officers -- probably hundreds of unarmed civilians. But The New York Times seem to be arguing that behavior was more the rule than the exception. In the case of Tiger Force, this included cutting off human ears to make necklaces, rape and wanton murder, and in one case, evidently cutting off a baby's head to steal a necklace

Albion Monitor
(http://www.albionmonitor.net)
Issue 118
Editor: Jeff Elliott (editor@monitor.net)
Publisher: Darryl Trujillo (pub@monitor.net)

The Albion Monitor is currently published as an ongoing newspaper by Monitor Publishing, POB 1733, Sebastopol, CA 95473
Subscription is free to monitor.net users; contact info@monitor.net for rates, or view our home page
Anyone with web access may subscribe for $9.95 per year, prepaid