[Prensa Latina, 03/05/05: Sounds believable!] "Investigators, trained by my medical team, have real evidence that US occupation troops used internationally banned substances in their attacks against Fallujah, such as mustard gas, nerve gas, and other burning chemicals.", Ash-Shaykhli upheld.

The health official´s statement was made at a press conference in the health ministry building in Baghdad, attended by over 20 Iraqi and foreign media networks.

[UK Guardian, Richard Norton-Taylor, 02/28/05: Let the war crimes' trials begin!!!!] The full picture of how the [British & American] government[s] manipulated the legal justification for war, and political pressure placed on its most senior law officer, is revealed in the Guardian today. [AP, SAMEER N. YACOUB, 02/27/05: Since pipelines are impossible to protect, what has the US gained by invading and occupying Iraq and Afghanistan?] BAGHDAD, Iraq-- An oil pipeline in northern Iraq was ablaze Saturday after saboteurs blew it up in the latest attack against the insurgent-wracked country's vital oil industry. In the capital, a roadside bomb killed two people, officials and witnesses said. [BBC, Barry Chamish, 02/23/05: India will overtake China as the world's most populous country by 2030] The world's population is expected to rise from the current 6.5 billion to 9.1 billion by 2050, the UN says. [rense.com, Barry Chamish, 02/23/05: Get smart Israel. Sell your land to the Arabs for top dollar and buy a new, safer homeland elsewhere] PM Sharon is now scrambling to prevent another attempt at a coup d'etat. The top echelons of the IDF, Shabak and intelligence community have all reached the same conclusions: the planned Gaza withdrawal will be a security disaster. Once the withdrawal is over, Israel will no longer be able to secure its southern coastal flank. This will be the first step in the dismantling of the country. [AP, 02/21/05: Isn't it a shame we can't ignore such accusations, as they ring too likely] Chavez explicitly said that the U.S. government is considering his assassination as one of the options to get rid of him. "They know they cannot stage a coup d'etat, they know that there is no Pinochet here because we have generals, commanders and soldiers who are patriots, and who will not bend their knees before the U.S. empire, they know that there is a people with conscience which they will not be able to confuse through the media they control." he said.[Common Dreams, Lila Rajiva, 02/20/05: It all began during WWII when British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, ordered a secret army to be created to fight communism. It was called “the strategy of tension” and it was carried out by members of secret stay-behind armies organized by NATO and funded by the CIA in Italy, Portugal, Germany, Spain, and other European countries. The strategy apparently involved supplying right-wing terrorists with explosives to carry out terrorist acts which were then blamed on left-wing groups to keep them out of power.

Only three countries, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland, have had a parliamentary investigation into NATO’s role and a public report. The US and UK, the two nations most centrally involved, are refusing to disclose details

[venezuelanalysis.com, Eva Golinger, 02/18/05: Bush regime has 'warped' views on S. America too, naturally Porter Goss, the Director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (“CIA”) named Venezuela as the leading Latin American nation to be alarmed about in 2005. [Related: Venezuela Experienced Record Growth of 17% in 2004 and Venezuela: Oil-Flush Chávez Begins to Strut His Stuff]

[WP, Editorial, 02/23/05: Instead of a flat -tax, let's tax the very wealthy whose money comes from golf course work: the listening and investing according to their buddies' "insider information"] HERE'S A MODEST tax proposal for President Bush: Cancel two tax-cut provisions that haven't yet taken effect. These tax cuts weren't part of Mr. Bush's original tax proposal but were inserted into his 2001 tax package. They begin to phase in next year unless Congress acts. And 97 percent of the cuts will go to the 4 percent of U.S. households with incomes greater than $200,000; more than half to the 0.2 percent of households with annual incomes of more than $1 million. [WP, Jonathan Weisman and Peter Baker, 02/15/05: It's all accoding to their great plan] For President Bush, the budget sent to Congress last week outlines a painful path to meeting his promise to bring down the federal budget deficit by the time he leaves office in 2009. But for the senators and governors already jockeying to succeed him, the numbers released in recent days add up to a budgetary landmine that could blow up just as the next president moves into the Oval Office.

[BBC, 03/18/05: Just the tip of a giant iceberg] Mr Mazon, of Georgia, and Mr Hijazi are accused of defrauding the US government of more than $3.5m by devising a scheme to overcharge the military for fuel. [Green Left, 03/16/05: The Mafia-Government] Halliburton is the No. 1 corporate beneficiary of the war against Iraq, raking in US$18 billion in [mostly no-bid] contracts to rebuild the country's oil industry and providing logistical services to the US occupation troops, according to the US-based Corpwatch's 2004 alternative annual report on Halliburton, Houston, We Have A Problem. [Capital Eye, Steven Weiss , 03/15/05: Government by bribery - was this what our founding fathers had in mind?] An analysis of the contributions shows that senators who voted to pass the bill raised an average of nearly twice as much between 1999 and 2004 from the finance and credit industry as those who voted against the bill. [WP, Griff Witte, 02/15/05: Can anyone say SCANDAL? War-profiteering? Government filth?] ...the security firm "Custer Battles" LLC of Fairfax was paid approximately $15 million to provide security for civilian flights at Baghdad International Airport, even though no planes flew during the contract term. Grayson said the firm received $100 million in contracts in 2003 and 2004, despite a thin track record and evidence the government was not getting its money's worth. [Related: Custer Battles connected with the Camelot Group, a "private equity" of the Carlyle Group kind]

[WSWS, Bill Van Auken, 03/18/05: Imagine a country where all the news is propaganda...] The Bush administration last week instructed US government agencies to ignore a ruling by the comptroller general of the United States barring the dissemination of “covert propaganda.”....

In a protracted process that has reached a qualitatively new level with the coming to power of the current Bush administration and the launching of the illegal war in Iraq, the media has largely embraced the mission of propagandizing for the government and corporate interests. Now, the government along with private corporations is systematically developing its own covert propaganda, mimicking the forms of television news. The end result is something akin to the funhouse hall of mirrors in which the images presented to the American people are a gross distortion of reality....

The increasing turn toward the blatant methods of phony news reports, paid-off commentators and operatives posing as reporters, however, is characteristic of a regime in crisis, one which desperately fears that if the extent of its crimes becomes known, it will face uncontrollable political upheavals. [One can only hope!]

[NYT, DAVID BARSTOW and ROBIN STEIN, 03/14/05: Imagine a country where all the news is propaganda...] Under the Bush administration, the federal government has aggressively used a well-established tool of public relations: the prepackaged, ready-to-serve news report that major corporations have long distributed to TV stations to pitch everything from headache remedies to auto insurance. In all, at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years, records and interviews show. Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.

[BBC, Leo Enright, 03/14/05: Nukes in Space] Critics fear that Project Prometheus is an attempt by the United States to introduce powerful weapons into outer space through the back door. [FCNL, 03/11/05: " The percentage of federal funds spent on current and past military activities in FY04 is as follows:"]

Pretend the survival of life here on earth depends on it.

[mercola.com, Anthony Wayne and Lawrence Newell , 03/16/05: Microwave ovens convert food into unnatural and unhealthy molecules] Recent research shows that microwave oven-cooked food suffers severe molecular damage. When eaten, it causes abnormal changes in human blood and immune systems.

Not surprisingly, the public has been denied details on these significant health dangers.

[CNET, Molly Wood , 03/16/05: Knowledge & proof about another ubiquitous product's danger to the public is being suppressed by industry and government] ...studies start to appear showing that the product might be harmful to its users--even cancer-causing. The product's manufacturers deny the presence of any danger and even spend millions of dollars trying to discredit the research that points to problems. Then, an insider emerges, seemingly with proof that the product could be dangerous. The industry agrees to publish warning data about the product, but continues to maintain that the product itself is safe for use. Lawsuits against the product's manufacturers are filed, but all are dismissed. Industry analysts know that any case that does succeed could start a domino effect of future lawsuits, which keeps the industry determined to maintain that the product is harmless, despite increasing evidence to the contrary. [OpEd, BILL GATES, 03/08/05: Gates proposes a complete redesign of the public education system] We have to do away with the outdated idea that only some students need to be ready for college and that the others can walk away from higher education and still thrive in our 21st-century society. We need a new design that realizes that all students [must be prepared for] rigorous work.

[bella ciao, CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, 02/23/05: Hitchens has a sober moment...] No conspiracy theorist, and no fan of John Kerry’s, the author nevertheless found the Ohio polling results impossible to swallow: Given what happened in that key state on Election Day 2004, both democracy and common sense cry out for a court-ordered inspection of its new voting machines

[WP, Michael Northrop, 03/03/05: "Cities are also finding ways to lower emissions and save money."] ...six companies -- IBM, DuPont, BT (British Telecom), Alcan, NorskeCanada and Bayer -- have each reduced emissions by at least 60 percent since the early 1990s, collectively saving more than $4 billion in the process. [Related: James Baker Says US Must Address Global Warming] [UK Independent, 02/27/05: Republicans say its okay for man to rape the earth God gave them. What do YOU think?] ...Fish stocks are on the brink of collapse. Species are changing sex because of pollution. Dolphins and porpoises are being killed at unprecedented rates. Water temperatures are rising, and the seabed is being destroyed. [Salon, Amanda Griscom Little, 02/26/05: More Republican "faith science"] The report -- written not by scientists but rather by aides to Pombo, R-Calif. and another member of his committee, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev. -- aims to downplay the overwhelming evidence that mercury from coal-burning power plants poses a significant health risk to Americans. Two of the report's claims are particularly stunning, as science journalist Chris C. Mooney points out. One: "There has been no credible evidence of harm to pregnant women or their unborn children from regular consumption of fish." And two: "Current, peer-reviewed scientific literature does not show any link between U.S. power plant emissions and mercury in fish." [LAT, Tomas Alex Tizon, 02/23/05: A HUMAN BEING IS HEARD FROM] ...[Mayor] Nickels announced he would lead a campaign to get U.S. cities to adopt its terms, beginning with Seattle. He said his goal was to recruit 140 cities to match the 140 countries that signed the treaty. The mayors of 10 cities, including Los Angeles; Santa Monica; Portland, Ore.; Minneapolis; and Oakland, have signed on.

[BBC, 03/18/05: US is behaving like the Nazis] Most deaths were violent and some 25% are being investigated as possible abuse by US personnel, the agency said. The death toll - far higher than previously thought - was based on information the agency obtained from the US army, navy and other officials. [WP, Craig Whitlock, 03/14/05: Will the BUSH IDIOTS ever understand, you can't trust anything prisoners say while under torture! Is their goal to get a greater number of FALSE COFFESSIONS?] The Italian probe is one of three official investigations that have surfaced in the past year into renditions believed to have taken place in Western Europe. Although the CIA usually carries out the operations with the help or blessing of friendly local intelligence agencies, law enforcement authorities in Italy, Germany and Sweden are examining whether U.S. agents may have broken local laws by detaining terrorist suspects on European soil and subjecting them to abuse or maltreatment. [WP, Susan E. Rice, 03/08/05: What's a stronger word than despicable?] Is John Bolton the right man to lead this effort? ...He told the Wall Street Journal that "the happiest moment of his government service" was when the Bush administration renounced the treaty on the International Criminal Court. Bolton led the administration's withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, scuttled an important biological weapons protocol and weakened an international agreement to limit small-arms trafficking. On these issues, Bolton's positions at least reflected administration policy.

...[Bolton] described the United Nations as "a great, rusting hulk of a bureaucratic superstructure . . . dealing with issues from the ridiculous to the sublime . . . ." More important, he maintains that the United States has no legal obligation to pay its U.N. dues. [Related: Cheney's Invisible Evil at Work: John Bolton; Background: Bolton: A posterboy for warped thinking]

[Sydney Morning Herald, Tom Allard, Douglas Jehl and David Johnston, 03/06/05: You know Bush did it; he's a juvenile sicko] The New York Times reported yesterday that the White House issued the directive [known as "rendition"] within days of the September 11 attacks, enabling the CIA to act without case-by-case approval and leading to up to 150 prisoners being caught up in the expanded program.

Allegations that it had resulted in the torture of suspects are the subject of at least half a dozen investigations by the CIA's inspector-general, the newspaper said, citing unnamed US officials.

[Insider Magazine, Wayne Madsen, 03/14/05: “The Fellowship” (a.k.a. Dominionism): a destructive religious movement that has now achieved almost total control over the machinery of government of the United States] Using “Christian” groups as tax-exempt and cleverly camouflaged covers, wealthy right-wing businessmen and “clergy” have now assumed firm control over the biggest prize of all – the government of the United States of America. [Tehelka, VK Shashikumar, 03/07/05: "Religious expansionism has not witnessed this scale, scope, and state resources in a long time."] A new mood of aggressive evangelism has been emanating from America. Well-funded, superbly networked, backed by the highest of the land, seized of its moral supremacy, it has India as one of its key targets, reveals VK Shashikumar in a disturbing exposé

[LAT, David G. Savage, 03/07/05: Case pits the U.S. government squarely against its own war heroes and the Geneva Convention.] The Bush administration is fighting the former prisoners of war in court, trying to prevent them from collecting nearly $1 billion from Iraq that a federal judge awarded them as compensation for their torture at the hands of Saddam Hussein's regime. The rationale: Today's Iraqis are good guys, and they need the money.