WORLD POLITICS & "PARAPOLITICS" 2006:
COMPUTER-AsSISTED TEXT ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA HEADLINES
@L.HARMATTAN & AD! 2009 5-7, rue de l'Ecole polytechnique; 75005 Paris http://www.librairieharmattan.com
[email protected] harmattan
[email protected] ISBN: 978-2-296-09701-8 EAN:9782296097018
WORLD POLITICS & "PARAPOLITICS" 2006:
COMPUTER-AsSISTED TEXT ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL MEDIA HEADLINES by
Karl M. van Meter and Mathilde de Saint Léger
L'Harmattan
CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Co-Word Analysis Applied to Political Science - 2006 International Political & "Parapolitical" Headlines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Chapter 2: Timeline from 9 December to 31 December - Intelligence, N. 471, 9 January 2006
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Chapter 3: Timeline from 1 January to 20 January - Intelligence, N. 472,23 January2006 .35 Chapter 4: Timeline from 21 January to 10 February - Intelligence, N. 473, 13 February 2006 43 Chapter 5: Timeline from 12 February to 23 February - Intelligence, N. 474, 27 February 2006 51 Chapter 6: Timeline from 24 February to 9 March - Intelligence, N. 475, 13 March 2006 57 Chapter 7: Timeline from 10 March to 23 March - Intelligence, N. 476, 27 March 2006 65 Chapter 8: Timeline from 24 March to 6 April- Intelligence, N. 477, 10 April 2006 71 Chapter 9: Timeline from 7 April to 28 April- Intelligence, N. 478, 1 May 2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Chapter 10: Timeline from 29 April to 12 May - Intelligence, N. 479, 15 May 2006 91
Chapter Il: Timeline from 13 May to 26 May - Intelligence, N. 480, 29 May 2006 99 Chapter 12: Timeline from 27 May to 8 June - Intelligence, N. 481, 12 June 2006 107 Chapter 13: Timeline from 9 June to 29 June - Intelligence, N. 482, 3 July 2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Chapter 14: Timeline from 30 June to 1 September - Intelligence, N. 483,4 September 2006 133 Chapter 15: Timeline from 2 September to 14 SeptemberIntelligence, N. 484, 18 September 2006 Chapter 16: Timeline from 15 September to 29 SeptemberIntelligence,N. 485,2 October2006
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.155
Chapter 17: Timeline from 30 September to 19 October - Intelligence, N. 486, 23 October 2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Chapter 18: Timeline from 20 October to 10 November - Intelligence, N. 487, 13 November 2006. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Chapter 19: Timeline from Il November to 30 NovemberIntelligence, N. 488, 4 December 2006. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Chapter 20: Timeline from 1 December to 15 DecemberIntelligence, N. 489, 18 December 2006. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Chapter 21: Timeline from 16 December to 31 DecemberIntelligence, N. 490, 8 January 2007 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203 Chapter 22: Further Analysis and Conclusions. Annex: Publishers of2006 Headlines.
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CHAPTER 1 CO-WORD TEXT ANALYSIS APPLIED TO POLITICAL SCIENCE: 2006 INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL & "PARAPOLITICAL" HEADLINES
INTRODUCTION In tenns of methodology, there has been a great deal of exchange over the past few years between sociology and political science, often resulting in joint sessions in international conferences and joint publications in which the Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique (BMS, or Bulletin of Sociological Methodology) has played a certain role (Marchand, 2005; Marchand, 2007a). Indeed, Marchand's work in political science recently resulted in the publication of a book that cites his contribution to sociological methodology and to the BMS, in particular (Marchand, 2007b). Michel Pinault's work on the politics and history of French scientific research (Pinault, 2006) has also cited sociological methodological developments and the BMS where the co-word analysis system, Calliope, has often been presented (van Meter, Cibois and de Saint Léger, 2004; de Saint Léger and van Meter, 2005). In this particular area of politics, Pinault utilized Calliope to analyze the texts and discourses of the major social actors, and social network analysis to analyze the roles and relationships between those actors in the development of a coherent national policy for French scientific research. In a more general area of political science, many different centers of research and infonnation on political developments, particularly on the international level, produce - particularly at the beginning of each year - annual reports, "bilans", yearbooks or "tops of ..." Examples include the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Strategic Survey, the Institut des Relations
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Internationales et Stratégiques (IRIS) annual L'Année stratégique, the Swedish National Defence College's Strategic Yearbook - European Security and Defense Policy, and the Statesman's Yearbook: The Politics, Cultures and Economics of the World, by Barry Turner. In most cases, these works are compilations of a selected number of reports made during a given year, but they are often accompanied by analyses or opinions attributed to experts in the domain concerned, be it international politics, security, economics, armaments, etc. Some of the better know examples include the United Nations' Yearbook, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) SIPRl Yearbook, the CIA's annual World Factbook, the Council of Europe's European Yearbook, and the World Political Almanac, by Chris Cook and Whitney Walker. Methodologically speaking, these works usually suffer from a double weakness: the sampling basis for the information or data used in the analysis; the reliance upon an "expert" or "experts" to analyze and interpret the data in a non-formalized manner. The catastrophic. consequences of this double weakness in international politics can be seen in the Bush White House decision to invade Iraq. While it is extremely difficult - if not impossible - to develop either an exhaustive sample or a representative sample of international political developments for a given year, there is a tremendous amount of information publicly available in this area as the above-mentioned reports show. Indeed, the problem has more to do with handling and managing the vast quantity of information, and selecting the pertinent and representative information for further analysis. Informal experiments have been run in this domain to show how a report by a major wire service - Associated Press (AP), Reuters, Agence France Presse (AFP), etc. - is "rewritten" into multiple, even hundreds, of media reports which furnish little or no more information than that contained in the original wire service report. The difference often resides in the political, cultural and ideological choice of words to communicate and to interpret the same initial information. This choice of words, this language, does furnish further information, but at another level: that of the analysis of the "rewriting" and those that carry it out. Although such analyses are fascinating and of great interest, they are not the subject of this study which is oriented much more toward the initial information provided by wire services and press reports concerning international politics and its less-publicly-known sibling, "parapolitics". If political science is the study of politics and the use of political power as it presents itself on the public scene, parapolitics is the study of the use of political power that is not presented on the public scene. The term seems to 10
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have been coined by Prof. Peter Dale Scott of the University of California, Berkeley, in the late 1970s or early 1980s. According to Scott, a former Canadian diplomat, poet and author, parapolitics is the study of the "real" use of political power, as opposed to the publicly avowed use of political power. One of Scott's students, Jonathan Marshall, founded the journal, Parapolitics USA, in the 1980s. Other colleagues of Scott founded the French "Association pour le Droit à l'Information" (ADI) and the journal, Parapolitics, during the same period. The ADI continues to publish books (Calvi and Schmidt, 1988; Schmidt, 2005) and reviews, although the journal Parapolitics has evolved and changed its title to become - since 1995 the current Internet journal, Intelligence!. ADI and Intelligence information has served previously in the social network analysis (or "traffic analysis") of the long-term cat-and-mouse/cops-and-robbers dynamic between law enforcement and suspected offenders (van Meter, 2002).
THE 2006INTELLIGENCE
"TIMELINE"
DATA SET
One of Intelligence's objectives is to document international politics and parapolitics through the systematic sampling of the media2. For several years, the journal has published in each issue a "Timeline" article consisting of daily entries of media report headlines or titles, along with an indication of the source. For example, the extract below is taken from the article, "Timeline from 7 November to 21 November" in Intelligence (n. 508, 26 November 2007, p. 2): 1107 [7 November 2007] * Rue89, Sarkozy Says "I Love You" to the American Congress * Long Beach Press-Telegram, Antiwar Vets Slam Parade Ban * Business Journal of Phoenix, Fort Huachuca Intelligence Center Draws Private Contractors * Figaro, UN Struggles to Understand
Raid on the Euphrates
- Even
though
it was the victim of aerial bombardment, Syria refuses any visit from the IAEA's nuclear experts
1
See the Intelligence
Web site at http://perso.orange.fr/intelligence-adi
2
Not necessarily English-language media, but any media report that has been translated or summarized in English so that subsequent computerized analysis can be done by a system that handles only one language at a time. Il
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1109 [9 November 2007] * UN, Pakistan puts Bhutto under house arrest * Truthout, Pelosi Turns to Confront Bush on War Spending * LAT, Protest Greets Police Plan to Map Muslim Angelenos [Los Angeles] * Alternet, Iraqi Government to UN - "Don't Extend Mandate for Bush's Occupation" * AP, Stanford Students Protest Rumsfeld Appointment * Olympian, Court-Martial ofWatada Might Not Come * LAT, LAPD to Build Data on Muslim Areas - Anti-terrorism unit wants to identify sites "at risk" for extremism Note that there were no noteworthy reports registered for Thursday, 6 November 2007. The reports come from a wide variety of sources: AP, Los Angeles Times (LAT), United Nations (UN), the conservative Le Figaro French daily, etc. These entries can be annotated with square brackets when necessary to clarify the information. For example, [Los Angeles] was added in the entry about, Protest Greets Police Plan to Map Muslim Angelenos. It should be noted that not only parapolitical information such as LAPD to Build Data on Muslim Areas is included, but also more classic political information such as Pakistan puts Bhutto under house arrest. Indeed, without the framework or "scenery" provided by publicly avowed political action, the parapolitical complement of information would have little meaning and would be very difficult to analyze or to interpret. Moreover, including both permits a joint analysis and the possibility of examining interrelations between the two. Intelligence is published every two to three weeks, except during summer and Christmas vacations, thus accounting for 18 to 20 issues per year3. The "Timeline" article of each issue includes daily entries of media reports since the preceding issue and up to the date of publication. In the issue cited above and dated 26 November 2007, the "Timeline" includes entries from 7 November to 21 November. In 2006 and 2007, each "Timeline" article also included a synopsis, usually consisting for a few paragraphs. For example, the synopsis for the 26 November 2007 issue including the following: On the international scene, beside the Iraq war, the violent and unstable situation in Pakistan has become a major topic of news reports. Two new developments we mentioned in our previous issue - armed clashes between Kurds and Turks, and Michael Mukasey's 3
Sometimes a "Timeline" issue of Intelligence is published in the middle of summer vacation. 12
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nomination as [US] attorney general - have disappeared from the headlines. However, another topic associated with Mukasey torture and waterboarding - has retained its place as a major media topic, along with corruption and scandals associated with the Bush White House and the Republican Party. Blackwater mercenaries in Iraq have also disappeared from the headlines as investigations move toward trials in the US. ... The change in media reports and the relative importance of specific topics are usually reflected in the composition of the news articles retained by Intelligence over the preceding fortnight: Bush/GOP corruption (still "stable" at 13 Kilobytes of information, in 17 X reports; previously 10K, 15X), Kidnapping-Disappearances- Torture (IOK, 12X; significantly down from 18K, 33X), US "domestic" politics and problems (9K, 20X; just slightly up from 8K, 15X), Asia - mostly Pakistan (stable at 9K, 20X; previously IlK, 12X), Pentagon (8K, 13X; a major increase from "no noteworthy news"), Bush's "snoopgate" (7K, 8X; slightly down from 9K, 18X), Iraq war in Washington (stable at 5K, lOX; previously 6K, 12X), Iran (stable at 5K, lOX; previously 6K, lOX), Eastern Europe (5K, lOX; just slightly down from 6K, 12X), War in Iraq (4K, 7X; slightly up from 3K, 5X), Blackwater and other mercenaries (3K, 6X; significantly down from 10K, 12X), FBI (3K, 5X; significantly up from IK, IX), and CIA (stable at 2K, 3X; previously 3X, 3X). Western Europe, Middle East, Americas and Canada are alllK or less. These synopses provide not only a summary view of international political and parapolitical developments covered by a given issue, but also provide a bridge between successive issues and the means of foHowing the developments over a period of time as their relative importance (in volume of information and in number of entries) varies from issue to issue, sometimes disappearing and reappearing later. In the analysis which follows, we have taken all the Intelligence "Timeline" articles covering events in 20064. That means a total of 20 issues. We then removed the synopsis part of these articles and retained only the daily entries of media headlines and titles, along with any accompanying information (in square brackets) necessary to explain or situate the report. 4
This means the issues dated 2006, which are issues from n. 471 - although it
covers the period 9 December to 31 December 2005- to n. 489 - dated 18 December 2006 - and the n. 490 (8 January 2007) issue whose "Timeline" article covers media reports from 16 December to 31 December 2006. 13
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Given the volume of data necessary to obtain statistically pertinent results, we divided the initial data set into three chronologically successive sections of four months each, thus providing a winter-spring 2006 section (with seven "Timeline" articles), a summer 2006 section (with six articles) and a fallwinter 2006 section (with seven articles). These three sections, more-or-less similar in volume, were systematically used in the diagrams below. We found that trying to analyze the 2006 data set with more than three sections did not provide statistically stable or pertinent results, although more sections could have been constructed by using the fuller summary or résumé of each report for which we only used the title or headline. Even though this more extensive information was included in each issue of Intelligence, the analysis of such a massive data set would have completely changed the exploratory nature of this research. It is, however, a serious option for future work in the application of text analysis to politics and parapolitics.
CO-WORD ANALYSIS & CALLIOPE
The Calliope system of analysis applied to the 2006 Intelligence data set is a form of "co-word analysis" or the co-occurrence ofterms in an entry used as an index of similarity to form "clusters" or "components". The more often two terms co-occur in headlines or titles together, the "closer" or more "similar" they are, and thus the more likely they are to be members of the same cluster. Calliope5 was developed as the Windows version of the former Lexinet-Leximappe system under DOS. The latter was developed by the Department of Research of the French INIST (Institut d'Information Scientifique et Technique) in the framework of sampling information flow (Chartron et a/., 1990). The objective was to develop a computer program which identified new terms and new associations between existing terms that emerge in scientific abstracts. Since the program uses a procedure that is independent of the specific scientific domain under consideration, it can be used for any set of words, even the official biographies of members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the former Soviet Union (van Meter et al., 1991) or the titles and headlines of 2006 media reports. In other words, the algorithms incorporated into the program do not refer to preestablished dictionaries and instead are statistically and combinatorially based. The system shares methodological characteristics with other text analysis and content analysis programs such as with Alceste (Reinert, 1990), used also in the above mentioned analysis of Soviet Central Committee biographies, with the Smart system (Salton and McGill, 1983), with 5 See the Calliope Web site at http://www.calliope-textmining.coml 14
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lexicometric studies (Salem, 1987), and more recently Lamalle and Salem (2002), and with Marchand's work (2007b). Calliope and the former Lexinet-Leximappe system are modular programs with the following sections: segmentation of the text which identifies each word and its context in the corpus; normalization of terms by examining those with similar suffixes; distributional filtering which eliminates the common everyday terms; managing synonyms through the use of a dictionary and the intervention of a human expert; identification and management of composite terms through a statistical study of their distribution in the corpus; management of the monoterms; and indexing of the documents with the selected terms or "key words". Each of these modules or sections of the program is structured in such a way that the human expert is called upon to make the final decisions and choices concerning terms that are not automatically treated. During this ongoing process, three data sets are continually up-dated: the lexicon of single and composite "key words"; the anti-lexicon of discarded words; and a dictionary of synonyms. To start with, all three data sets can be empty and built up or "learned" as the analysis progresses, which was the case in the analysis of the 2006 Intelligence data set. The feed-back process between the automatic procedure and the intervention of the human expert results in the creation of a lexicon of significant terms' for the corpus under consideration. The lexicon can be corrected by different interactive procedures. The lexicon can also be "imported" from previous work on a similar corpus, as can the anti-lexicon and the dictionary of synonyms. An index can be constructed by distributing or "flagging" the lexicon terms or key words throughout the units. The intervention of the human expert concerning his/her subjective choice of terms to be retained and synonym associations can be controlled for by having several human experts intervene jointly. The stability of the results concerning word sequences obtained in this manner was proven by the quasi identical list of the 17 most frequent word sequences found in the Soviet biographies by Lexinet and Alceste mentioned above. The only differences were in the number of occurrences and non-identical similarity between very similar chains of words. These differences were due to the fact that Alceste counts only exact correspondences while Lexinet regroups plurals and other similar expressions under one type of expression. The next step is the application of the mapping program to the results generated by the indexing program. The dynamically produced lexicon and the indexed units are the raw material of the mapping program which 15
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structures this material according to the associations between terms in the corpus under study and constructs the themes of interest as components or combinations of components revealed within this structure. The essential concept in this form of co-word textual analysis is co-occurrence of lexicon words in the same unit of analysis, be it geographical names in official Soviet biographies, key words in an abstract of a scientific article or terms in a media headline or title. The statistical index of proximity used as a measurement of co-occurrence of words was developed by Michelet (1988) and remains stable despite the size of the corpus analyzed. Called the index of equivalence, it is incorporated in the Calliope program and is defined by the following equation: E(ij) = C(ij) / C(i) x C(ij) / CG) = C2(ij)/(C(i) x CG» where C(ij) is the number of simultaneous occurrences of words i and j and C(i) and CG) are, respectively, the total number of occurrences of words i and j in the corpus. E(ij) measures the reciprocal inclusion of words i and j. It is a product of the probability that word i is included in a document containing j and the probability that word j is in a document containing i. The index E tends towards 1 when C(ij) tends towards C(i) and CG). The index is higher the more words i and j are closely associated and is advantageous for associated words whose frequencies are similar. But it does have the advantage of not privileging any specific frequency zone in particular. The calculation of E(ij) with Calliope is possible for all pairs of a list of 600 lexicon words. To manage and analyze this mass of co-occurrence information and extract the most significant aspects, Calliope builds clusters or components from the pairs of words with the highest values of E(ij). The most central word of a clusters is used as the "label" for that cluster. The former Lexinet-Leximappe program imposed a limit of ten members to a cluster, and when this limit was reached, the cluster was withdrawn and stored. This limit was removed with Calliope and a measure of statistical significance is used to delimit the size of any particular cluster. This process of cluster construction continues until no further clusters can be formed. The majority of components depict a precise theme but the program does not always allow one unequivocally to associate a theme with each component or cluster. It is sometime necessary to regroup or eliminate certain collections ofwords. To choose the important components and to aid in analyzing them, Calliope generates two criteria: a statistical mean of the external ties between components members and key words outside the component; a statistical measure of internal cohesion defined as the mean 16
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strength of associations between component members (mean co-occurrence ofkey words). These two measures are used, respectively, as the first axis (called centrality) and the second axis (called density) to form a "strategic diagram" on which each component or cluster can be projected by placing the cluster's "label" or most central key word on the two-dimensional graphic. This means that the more a cluster is to the right in the diagram, the more numerous are the ties of its member key words to other key words outside the cluster: the more it is "central". The vertical axis means that the more towards the top of the diagram a cluster is situated, the more the ties between key words within the cluster are dense: the more the cluster is "dense". These two axes divide the strategic diagram into four quadrants which are the first quadrant (upper right-hand), the second quadrant (upper left-hand), the third quadrant (lower left-hand) and the fourth quadrant (lower right-hand). This means, by definition, that the first quadrant has relatively dense and central clusters and we use the nickname "mainstream" to describe it (Vinck, 1991). The second quadrant, with dense but non-central clusters, is labelled "ivory tower". The third quadrant, with non-dense and non-central clusters, is called "unstructured". The fourth quadrant, with central but non-dense clusters, has been labelled "bandwagon". Although some researchers have suggested that new clusters may be formed in the "unstructured" third quadrant and move toward the other quadrants, our own research tends to show that clusters appear either briefly in the "ivory tower" second quadrant before disappearing, or else in the "bandwagon" fourth quadrant before moving into either the "mainstream" first quadrant or towards the "ivory tower" (van Meter, 1995; van Meter and Turner, 1997).
2006 STRATEGIC DIAGRAMS
With the division of our 2006 data set into three chronologically successive sections, Calliope produced the three strategic diagrams below. Perhaps the first things one notes is that "Iraq" does not dominate in all three diagrams, as would be expected with the massive dominance of the Iraq war in 2006 political and parapolitical developments. The presence of "Iran" in the "mainstream" first quadrant in the first (winter-spring 2006) section shows (Figure 1) that the Bush White House intention to attack Iran and Iran's nuclear program played a major political and parapolitical role during the
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first part of 2006 before diminishing significantly toward the end of the year6. In the first two diagrams (Figure 1 and Figure 2), one should note the important position of "eavesdropping" (first diagram) and "NSA" (second diagram) in exactly the same position. The first diagram also includes "NSA spy" and "surveillance" clusters near the origin, while the second diagram has a "spy" cluster near the origin. These clusters are related to the Bush White House program of warrantless eavesdropping on American citizens by the NSA (often called "snoopgate"). However, the third diagram (Figure 3) includes only a "surveillance" cluster in unstructured third quadrant. Nonetheless, the attractive power of the term "spy" appears fairly constant over the three periods of 2006 (see further below). With the Iraq war as the overall framework, Intelligence stated, in late February: "Although the Bush White House is plagued with numerous scandals and crises, the three current major ones are Iran and its nuclear program, the 'domestic' NSA spying scandal, and the series of reports on US torture/abuse and calls for the closure of Guantanamo." This corresponds with the position of "Iran" and "eavesdropping" in the first diagram, and the continued permanence of the latter throughout the year when "Iran" and "torture" diminished in importance. Since a variety of scandals dogged the Bush White House throughout 2006, but would be treated in the headlines with different terms and therefore analyzed differently?, it is logical that "Iraq", "Iran" and "eavesdropping" tend to remain important over the entire year. What is of particular interest is situating the 2006 political "yearbook" events on the strategic diagrams and follow their evolution over time. The three most notable 2006 "yearbook" events were another invasion of Lebanon by Israel (July), a North Korean nuclear weapon test (October), and a US Democrat Congressional election victory (November). These events are duly situated by the analysis as the respective clusters "Israel" and "Lebanon" (Figure 2), "North Korea" (Figure 2) and "Congress" (Figure 3), but only as passing major events. "Israel", "Lebanon" and "Gaza" figure only in Figure 2 and not in the "mainstream" first quadrant and nowhere else during the year. North Korea figures in the "mainstream" first quadrant, but only in the second diagram and nowhere else. "Congress" figures only in 6
But this topic came back as a major theme in middle and late 2007. ? For examples of Bush White House scandals, see "voting machine" in the first diagram, "Ohio" in the third, "GOP"/"Republican" in the last two, and "probe" in all three. 18
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Figure 3 and in the "ivory tower" second quadrant. However, preparations for those important elections were widely commented on during the preceding second period and account in large part for the presence of the clusters "GOP" and "Democrat" in the "ivory tower" second quadrant and "election" in the "mainstream" first quadrant, thus showing the relative importance of the November Congressional elections. Other clusters that appear in only one diagram situate important but passing events such as several Chechen war lords captured or killed ("Chechen" between the second and third quadrants in the first diagram), the Italian general elections (April - "Italian" in the "ivory tower" quadrant of the first diagram), a major political crisis in Ukraine (July 2006 - "Ukraine" in the "mainstream" second diagram), and an elected Hamas government official killed by Israelis (November 2006 - "Hamas" near the origin of the third diagram). Figure 1: Strategic Diagram ofthe First 2006 Four-Month Period
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Figure 2: Strategic Diagram of the Second 2006 Four-Month Period
Figure 3: Strategic Diagram of the Third 2006 Four-Month Period
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KEY WORD "POWER OF ATTRACTION"
Following the formation of certain clusters backward in time and also forward in time is a necessary form of analysis which is greatly assisted by the following graphs of "power of attraction" of particular key words over our three periods of 2006. The first graph follows the major key words ofthe first period to show the evolution of their power of attraction over the entire year (that is, over all three periods). The second graph takes the dominate terms of the second period (minus those already appearing in the first graph) and shows their power of attraction over the entire year. And the third graph does the same for the dominant terms of the third period. In the first graph (Figure 4), one can see the stable and massive dominance of "Iraq" while that of "Iran" starts strongly, decreases slightly and then declines to fourth place. One can easily bet that 2007 will show exactly the opposite for "Iran". One can hypothesize that the high-low-high graph for "Bush" has to do with increasing GOP scandals that took attention away from Bush directly until the November election victory of the Democrats which brought Bush directly back into the news. The low-high-low graph for the key work "kill" seems to be associated with a significant second period increase in deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, in particular. The other terms in the graph show relative stability. Figure 4: The Most Important Terms of the First Period
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21
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITlCS" 2006
The graphs for the second (Figure 5) and third period (Figure 6) show much more stability for the power of attraction of the selected key words. Figure 5: The Most Important Terms of the Second Period
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Figure 6: The Most Important Terms of the Third Period
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The next two graphs represent, respectively, the "emerging" (Figure 7) and the "declining" (Figure 8) key words of the first period. By emerging, we 22
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mean terms that were relatively unimportant in the first period and which became more important later. By declining, we mean exactly the opposite: relatively important terms in the first period which became less important later. The emerging term graphic appears fairly coherent except for the key word "abduction". Its increased importance has to do with the opening of CIA abduction trials in Italy and Germany, among other places, and the abduction of an Israeli soldier near Gaza. The declining term graphic also appears fairly coherent except for the key words "China" and "Abu Ghraib". The evolution of "China" has to do with its role in international negotiations concerning Iran and North Korea. Once North Korea tested a nuclear weapon, direct negotiations were opened between the United States and North Korea, without China. Similarly, the decease in importance of Iran as a topic also led to the concomitant decease in importance of China as a partner in these negotiations. The decline of "Abu Ghraib" is nearly linear and corresponds with the end of the "press cycle" concerning torture by the US military at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, a scandal that exploded in May 2004 and was in the headlines for more than a year and a half. Figure 7: The "Emerging" Terms of the First 2006 Period
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Figure 8: The "Declining" Terms of the First 2006 Period
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CONCLUSIONS,
LIMITS
"''''
& WEAKNESSES
By looking closely at the first quadrant in the first period, one can see some of the weaknesses of text analysis of media reports. The clusters "bombing", "America" and "effort" all figure in the first quadrant. "Bombing" is massively associated with the Iraq war (over 15 times), but also the Bali bombing, bombing in Afghanistan and other divers occurrences of "bombing". But even "bombing" and the Iraq war is not a coherent topic since it includes insurgent bombing and bombing by the US military, both of which were often in the news. The cases of "effort" and "America" are even less coherent. "Effort" is associated with the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Administration), the CIA, the NYPD (New York City Police Department), Iran, the NSA-FISA-eavesdropping program, the FBI, Vice President Cheney and with Bush White House reclassification of secret administration documents. "America" can be part of "Americans" and even part of "Latin America", and is associated with over 14 different topics with little meaning III common.
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2006 INTERNATIONAL
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& "PARAPOLITICAL"
HEADLINES
The same critique can be levelled against the terms "gunmen", "guard" and "prison" in the first quadrant of the second period, and "protest", "military" and "terror" in the first quadrant of the third period. It is only by following key words or clusters backward and forward in time that coherent political developments can be identified, unless of course it is a question of a major political development. The case of "Hamas" in the third period mentioned above is a good example of both how a political development can be identified and followed with this analysis, and how the international media can bias the coverage of a major political development. The case of "Hamas" is quite interesting in its implications for text analysis of political developments. If a "Hamas" cluster appears in the third diagram, it's because the international media concentrated on the killing of an elected Hamas government official by the Israelis in November 2006. But the truly important political development associated with Hamas occurred in January 2006 when Hamas won the elections in Gaza and the Occupied Territories, thus causing a major international change in perspective that should have been widely commented in the press, but was not. Again, in July, Israel detained a large number of Hamas government officials, against the wishes of the larger international community. But, again, Hamas does not appear in the second diagram, and the international media gave only passing attention to this imprisonment of elected Palestinian officials (although the term Gaza does appear). It was only in November with the death of one such official that the international media finally seemed to pay attention to what was happening. Many similar instances of such "uneven" or clearly biased coverage of particular topics or events can be discerned by following the formation of certain clusters back in time and also forward in time. Inversely, if a topic or cluster cannot be followed over time, it is very likely a transient event or not a coherent topic. Of course, there is a tremendous advantage in having at hand both the Calliope analysis of the 2006 Intelligence data set and the data themselves in digital format. Questions generated in interpreting the Calliope results can be quickly answered by using simple computer search functions of the data set. The ADI has recognized this advantage and is planning to publish the data set and the Calliope results in an integrated fashion to allow interested parties to continue the analysis we have initiated here.
25
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
BmLIOGRAPHY
Fabrizio Calvi and Olivier Schmidt (1988), Intelligences secrètes - annales de l'espionnage, Hachette, Paris. Ghislaine Chartron, Alain Degenne, Marie-Odile Lebeaux and Lise Mounier (1990), "Images de la recherche sociologique actuelle", Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, n. 28, September 1990. Mathilde de Saint Léger and Karl M. van Meter (2005), "Cartographie de le premier congrès de l'AFS avec la méthode de mots associés", Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, n. 85, January 2005. C. Lamalle and A. Salem (2002), "Types généralisés et topographie textuelle dans l'analyse quantitative des corpus textuels", Actes des 6e journées d'analyse des données textuelles, Saint Malo. Pascal Marchand (2005), "Le grand oral de Dominique de Villepin", Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, n. 87, July 2005. Pascal Marchand (2007a), "Un vert, ça va; Dix verts, bonjour les débats!", Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, n. 94, Apri12007. Pascal Marchand (2007b), Le grand oral de la Ve République, De Boeck, Brussels.
B. Michelet (1988), Université Paris VII.
"L'analyse
- les
discours de politique générale
des associations",
Doctoral
Thesis,
-
Michel Pinault (2006), La science au Parlement Les débuts d'une politique des recherches scientifiques en France, CNRS Editions, Paris. Max Reinert (1990),
"Alceste
- Une
méthodologie
d'analyse
des données
textuelles et une application: Aurélia de Gérard de Nerval", Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, n. 26, March 1990. André Salem (1987), Le Lexicloud, Ecole Normale Supérieure, FontenaySaint Cloud. G. Salton and M. 1. McGill (1983), Introduction to Modern Information Retrieval, International Student Editions, McGraw Hill, New York.
26
2006 INTERNATIONAL
Olivier
Schmidt
(2005),
POLITICAL
& "P ARAPOLITICAL"
The Intelligence
Files
-
HEADLINES
Today's Secrets,
Tomorrow's Scandals, Clarity Press, Atlanta.
Karl M. van Meter (1995), "Bounded Chaos Neural Network Model of Scientific Innovation", Science and Science of Science, vol. 9, n. 4. Karl M. van Meter (2002), "TerroristslLiberators: Researching and Dealing with Adversary Social Networks", Connections, vol. 24, n. 3. Karl M. van Meter, Lise Mounier, Ghislaine Chartron and Max Reinert (1991), "Multimethod Analysis: Official Biographies of Members of the Central Committee of the Soviet Union Communist Party", Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, n. 33, December 1991. Karl M. van Meter and William A. Turner (1997), "Representation and Confrontation of Three Types of Longitudinal Network Data from the Same Data Base on Sociological AIDS Research", Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, n. 58, September 199. Karl M. van Meter, Philippe Cibois and Mathilde de Saint Léger (2004), "Correspondence and Co-Word Analysis of Ten Years of BMS Articles 1993-2003", Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, n. 81, January 2004. Dominique Vinck (editor) (1991), Gestion de la recherche: Nouveaux problèmes, nouveaux outils, De Boeck, Brussels.
27
CHAPTER 2 TIMELINE FROM 9 DECEMBER TO 31 DECEMBER Intelligence, N. 471, 9 January 2006
Since mid-November, successive Bush White House scandals have been leading intelligence and security topics in the media. The first were the Rove-Libby "Plamegate" scandal and the Cheney-Rumsfeld claim to the "right to torture". Bush torture policy and the associated secret CIA kidnapping of suspects then became the leading topics as Condoleezza Rice prepared to visit Western Europe. At the same time, and in second place, was the Iraq War and the beginning of Washington talk about "getting out of Iraq" as it became increasingly evident that Bush was not winning the war. Simmering on the back burners were the Israel-Palestine conflict, Iran's nuclear policy, the war in Afghanistan, and North Korea's nuclear policy. We mentioned in our previous issue that over the Christmas holiday, "there will very likely be no 'let-up' by insurgents in Iraq" and that "there will probably be some serious 'catching up' to be done in Western nations." That development has been overtaken by another Bush White House scandal: Bush's order to the NSA to spy on Americans and officially organized illegal activities by the Pentagon, the FBI and police against ordinary citizens. NSA spying on Americans has caused Congressional investigations and opened public debate on the impeachment of Bush. These developments were very likely associated with Congress' backing Senator McCain on outlawing torture and Congress' extension of the Patriot Act for only one month. Since our 5 September issue, we have transferred most of the detailed headline listings, which previously figured in individual articles in "Intelligence", to this double-section timeline article. The first section [reprinted here] consists of a smaller number of the more significant entries,
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
which are listed without added details. The second section is the complete daily entries with references and additional details [which is not reprinted here]. This format reduces the length of our other articles while providing more detailed and continuous timelines. Both sections are usually emailed separately but for this "index" issue they will be emailed as a single entity. 1209 * Before 9/11 , Warnings on bin Laden * Britain "trying to stall £l.3bn theft inquiry that couldhurt Allawi's election chances" * Iraq - Poor intelligence led to Hercules crash deaths * Three [IRA] cleared of operating spy ring at Stormont * Political storm as [IRA] "spy ring" accused walk free * US Military Probing Video Of Road Violence - British Contractors Appear To Shoot at Iraqi Civilians * Clinton Says Bush Is "Flat Wrong" on Kyoto * The Government Men in Masks Who Terrorize Iraq * US Blocks Red Cross Access to Suspects * Poland Was Main CIA Detention Base in Europe * [Russian] Foreign Intelligence Chief Says NGOs Employ Spies * [Colorado Springs] Protesters Placed in Terror Files * False Confessions under Torture Led Bush to Link Iraq and al Qaida * Groups hope Rice can rein in Bolton * US increasingly a lone state, snubbing global deals * US Military Probing Video of Road Violence [in Iraq] 1210 * China Town Sealed After Protesters Slain * Race Riots Spread Through Sydney Suburbs * Blair's Britain 2005 - Where Peaceful Protest Can Be Costly * Justice Department Asks Court to Release Case ofTerrorism Suspect [Jose Padilla] * US Rebuffs Red Cross Request for Access to Detainees Held in Secret 1211 * French Told CIA ofBogus Intelligence [Iraq] * At FBI, Frustration Over Limits on an Antiterror Law * Israel Readies Forces for Strike on Nuclear Iran 1212 * Schwarzenegger Rejects Williams's Bid for Clemency * Sydney Erupts in Second Night of Riots * Abuse Cited in 2nd Jail Operated by Iraqi Ministry 30
TIMELINE
FROM 9 DECEMBER
TO 31 DECEMBER
* Swiss Lawmaker [Dick Marty] Cites CIA Prison Evidence * US Says 120 Torture Cases Found in Iraq
1213 * US Paid for Media Firm [Rendon Group] Afghans Didn't Want * Colombian Fighters [right-wing AUC death squads] Surrender and Disarm [again] * Is the Pentagon Spying on Americans? * US Envoy Says Detainee Abuse [in Iraq] Worse Than Described * Probe Supports Allegations of CIA Prisons in Europe * An Increasingly Aerial Occupation [Iraq] 1214 * Israel to Build More Homes in West Bank * Iran's President Dismisses Nazi Holocaust as "Myth" * Australian Race Violence Spreads to Other Cities * EU Disquiet over "Renditions" Grows * Row over CIA "Torture" Flights Engulfs Blair * Police Seize Forged Ballots Headed to Iraq from Iran * Pentagon may be spying on anti-war activists * Pentagon Rolls Out Stealth PR 121S * AI-Zarqawi Caught, Released * Congress Doesn't See Same Intelligence as President * Bush Secretly Lifted Some Limits on Spying in US after 9/11 * House Defies Bush and Backs McCain on Detainee Torture * NSA Spied Inside the US * Senate Is Set to Require White House to Account for Secret Prisons 1216 * Report ofNSA Spying Prompts Call for Probe * Senate Blocks Extension ofPatriot Act * 30,000 Travelers Improperly Matched to Terrorist Watch Lists * Bush Declines to Discuss Report on Eavesdropping * Pentagon Is Said to Mishandle a Counterterrorism Database * Bush Ordered Spying on Thousands of Americans * Pentagon Violated Law by Keeping Database on Anti-War Activists 1217 * Bush Vows to Continue Spying on Americans * MIS ruled London bombers were not a threat 31
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AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
1218 * US Operated Secret "Dark Prison" in Kabul * Military Knew ofContractor's Pay-to-Play Media in Iraq [Lincoln Group] * Sen. Reid Calls US Congress "Most Corrupt in History" * Torture's Long Shadow, Vladimir Bukovsky 1219 * Iraq Fuel Price Hike Sparks Protests * Report Cites Torture in US Prison * Unauthorized Domestic Surveillance Threatens Rule of Law * Newsweek, Bush's Snoopgate, Jonathan Alter * Did Bush Commit an Impeachable Offense, Senator Barbara Boxer * UK Minister Lied over CIA Flights 1220 * ACLU Says FBI Misused Terror Powers * Judge Rules against PA ["intelligent design"] Biology Curriculum * Iran Wins Big in Iraq's Elections * NSA Surveillance Operation Controversy Builds * Senators Seek Probe ofBush's Spying Orders * Bush's Illegal Spying * Raising the Issue of Impeachment * No President Is Above the Law, Senator Robert Byrd * Coercion Marred Iraq Elections 1221 * Specter Wants January Surveillance Hearings * Bipartisan Call for Wiretapping Probe * Cheney says Bush has right to authorize secret surveillance * "Impeachment" Talk, Pro and Con, Appears in Media at Last * Domestic Spying Is Old News * UN - Bigger NA TO force needed for Afghanistan * Spy Court Judge Quits in Protest 1222 * Congress Extends Patriot Act for One Month * Saddam Claims Americans Beat, "Tortured" Him * US Bid to Transfer Padilla Is Denied * US Allies in Iraq Want Out * New York Police Covertly Join In at Protest Rallies
* Bolton Threats May Lead to UN Shutdown
* Former UN envoy - Iraq insurgency far from finished
32
.
TIMELINE
FROM 9 DECEMBER
TO 31 DECEMBER
* Nuclear Monitoring of [US] Muslims Done without Search Warrants * The Pentagon Breaks the Law 1223 * Wiretaps Said to Sift All Overseas Contacts * Intelligence Abuse Deja Vu, Gary Hart * A Junior Aide [John C. Yoo] had a Big Role in Terror Policy * EU Arrest Warrant Issued for 22 CIA Operatives * Power We Didn't Grant, Tom Daschle 1224 * 9-11 Commission Issues Mixed "Report Card" on Terrorism * Military Confirms Surge in Airstrikes [Iraq] * US Airstrikes Take Toll on Civilians [Iraq] 1226 * Bureaucratic Warfare Allegedly Doomed FEMA Efforts * Unknown Gas Sickens 78 in Russia * Military Leader Says Troop Level [in Iraq] Could Rise * Bush Presses Editors on Security [press leaks] 1227 * US Embassy Close to Admitting Syria Rendition Flight * Kurds in Iraqi Army Proclaim Loyalty to Militia * Many Iraqi Soldiers See a Civil War on the Horizon * Dr. Germ and Mrs. Anthrax Set Free [in Iraq] . * NSA Spied on UN Diplomats in Push for Invasion of Iraq * Palestinian state proposed, Israeli settlement expansion announced * Chalabi Lacks Votes Needed to Win Spot in Iraqi Assembly * Over 10,000 Sunnis, Secularists March in Baghdad 1228 * Iraqis Pummeled at the Pumps - Fuel prices have quintupled * US Asks Supreme Court to Transfer Terror Suspect [Padilla] * Pinochet Fingerprinted, Photographed by Chilean Police 1229 * Let's Stop a US/Israeli War on Iran * Pentagon Calls Its Pro-US Web Sites Legal * Court - Bush-NSA Spying in Defiance ofCongress * UN official calls Iraqi elections "credible and good"
33
WORLD POLITICS
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2006
1230 * Massacre in Iraqi "Triangle ofDeath" * US Intelligence Service Bugged Web Site Visitors Despite Ban * US to Restrict Iraqi Police * US Reports Surge in Guantanamo Hunger Strike * Israel's War Deadline - Iran in the Crosshairs 1231 * Padilla Lawyers Urge Supreme Court to Block Transfer * US 2005 Death Toll in Iraq Nears 2004 Record * Chalabi Named Iraq Oil Minister Fuel crisis spurs mandatory leave for incumbent * Some Soldiers Trying to Get Out of Army
-
34
CHAPTER 3 TIMELINE FROM 1 JANUARY TO 20 JANUARY Intelligence, N. 472,23 January 2006
Since mid-November, there has been no let up in successive Bush White House scandals that have been leading intelligence and security topics in the media. Even the first of these scandals - the Rov~-Libby "Plamegate" scandal - is still a current media topic, although it has dropped behind successive major scandals. The next one of come up - and is still a major media topic - was Bush torture policy and the associated secret CIA kidnapping of suspects which has become the dominant topic in European media. But back in the States, Bush torture/CIA kidnapping has been swept from first place by more "domestic" scandals. First of all is Bush's authorization of spying on Americans by the NSA. This scandal is all the more important because of clear left and right opposition to such an ineffective and repressive security and intelligence policy. Even the usually silent FBI has let it be known that NSA spying on Americans has produced little if anything of intelligence interest and is simply "clogging up the system" with useless or baseless information. It is strange that, in pushing for the invasion of Iraq, the Bush White House restored to the use to the same form of "useless or baseless information" to justify its action. This persistence in dealing with "useless or baseless information" seems to be a hallmark of the Bush White House and its habit of systematically imposing "faith-based" revelations as national or worldwide policy. Even though Bush's NSA authorization to spy on Americans is the leading current scandal in the US, a close second is the corruption and lobbying scandal unfolding with the indictment and plea-bargaining of right-wing Republican lobbyist and power-broker, Jack Abramoff. This scandal directly implicates the Republican Party, but not the Democratic Party. Even with the
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
resulting lack of bipartisan reactions, it has the potential of causing much more political damage because of its impact on US voters. Nonetheless, there are calls for Bush's impeachment because of NSA spying on Americans, but these calls come mostly from the political left and may not find as much support among Americans. The Iraq War and Washington talk about "getting out of Iraq" continue, as do the continuing crises associated with the Israel-Palestine conflict, Iran's nuclear policy, the war in Afghanistan, and North Korea's nuclear policy. The Iranian crisis is the current first-place crisis in this "back-burner" category, but this could change rapidly. [Beginning with this issue of Intelligence, references were systematically included for each entry, when available.] 010] * WP, NSA Gave Other US Agencies Information from Surveillance * AP, Briton Offers Documents on Torture * Times, US Forces Step Up Iraq Airstrikes 0102 * ZNet Magazine, The US is again using white phosphorus * REU, Iraq's Oil Exports Hit Lowest Level since War * AFP, Support for Bush Drops among US Military * Newsday, US Military "Shuts Down" Soldiers' BIogs * NYT, Muslim Scholars Were Paid to Aid US Propaganda 0]03 * REU, US Rep. Murtha Says He Wouldn't Join Military Now * AP, Bush
- Wiretaps
Vital and within Law
* Village Voice, Looks Like Bush Knew Wiretaps Were Wrong * NYT, GOP Lobbyist to Plead Gui]ty in Dea] with Prosecutors * WP, AbramoffP]eads Guilty to Three Fe]ony Charges * WP, US Air Strike Kills Iraqi Family of 12 * IND, White House to Withdraw Funding for Rebuilding Iraq 0104 * GUA, Secret Services Say Iran is Trying to Assemble a Nuclear Missile * AFP, Iran to Resume Suspended Nuclear Research * WP, Secret Surveillance May Have Occurred before Authorization * CSM, US Allies in Iraq - Valuable but Dwindling * Boston Globe, Bush Could Bypass New Torture Ban * IND, CIA "Ignored Iraqi Weapons Evidence" 36
TIMELINE
FROM 1 JANUARY TO 20 JANUARY
* LAT, Lobbying Plan Was Central to GOP's Political Strategy * NYT, More Than 50 Are Killed in String of Bombings in Central Iraq * Truthout, Sharon Has Massive Stroke * LAT, CIA Gave Iran Bomb Plans, Book Says * The Nation, Abramoff, the GOP Corruption Machine * REU, Pentagon Loses Legal Round on Guantanamo Names 0105 * FT, China Signals Reserves Switch away from Dollar [this is a particularly important development to watch closely] * UN, Israel's Sharon in critical condition following stroke * PN/Alternet, Eighties Surveillance Revival * WP, Surveillance Court Is Seeking Answers * FT, US Plans Afghan Jail for Terror Suspects * Truthout, NSA Destroyed Evidence of Domestic Spying * REU/AP, 120 Iraqis, 7 US Soldiers Die in Bombings * WP, Justices Order Padilla Terror Case Moved to Civilian Court * AP, Padilla Makes First Court Appearance 0106 * FAS, CRS on Warrantless Surveillance * UN, UN experts head to Turkey on bird flu probe * UN, Iran unexpectedly cancels talks with IAEA * Editor & Publisher, Newspapers Urge President [Bush] to Quit * Figaro, The CIA's Dangerous Failures in Iran * Tacoma News Tribune, IRS Tracked Taxpayers' Political Affiliation * REU, Bloody Thursday for US Military in Iraq * NYT, Il US Troops Killed in One Day in Iraq * Truthout, Cost of Iraq War Could Top $2 Trillion * GUA, Whitehall unconfidential The censors are on the run
-
0107 * Truthout, Eavesdropping - High Tech, Low Legality * NYT, Basis for Spying in US Is Doubted * REU, Germany's Merkel Says Guantanamo Should Be Shut * Democracy Now/AlterNet, An NSA Whistleblower Speaks Out [Russell Tice] * WP, In Video, Al Qaida's No.2 [Ayman Zawahiri] Tells Bush to Admit Defeat in Iraq * NYT, Inquiry Says FBI Erred in Implicating Man in Attack * WP, Report Links Lawyer's Religion to FBI's Zeal * GUA, Iraq war could cost US over $2 trillion 37
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLlTICS" 2006
0108 * CNN, US Helicopter Crash Kills 12 in Iraq * Time, The Man Who Bought Washington [Jack Abramoff] 0109 * GUA, New Call to Impeach Blair over Iraq [by one of Britain's most senior former soldiers, General Sir Michael Rose, which means the question will not "go away" easily] * Truthout, The NSA Spy Engine Echelon * FAS, Morton Halperin on Warrantless NSA Surveillance * Truthout, Attack on Iran - A Looming Folly * GUA, US Troops Seize Award-Winning Iraqi Journalist [Ali Fadhil] * AFP, Egypt "Has Proof" US Questioned Suspects in Romania * LAT, Dems to Attack Alito's Credibility at Hearings * WP, Blasts Rock Iraq's Interior Ministry * AP, Army Begins Action to Discharge Reservists * REU, Taliban Leader Vows More Attacks in Afghanistan * FT, Bremer Claims He Was Used as Iraq "Fall Guy" * GUA, MPs Leaked Bush Plan to Hit al-Jazeera * Times, Outcry as Iran Resumes Its Nuclear Project
-
0110 * RFE, Che chen Commander [Shamil Basaev] Admits Nalchik Radi Was "Tactical Defeat" * WP, US Reporter in Iraq Becomes Hostage * GUA, Blair Must Be Impeached over Iraq, Michael Rose * Truthout, Fitzgerald Maintains Focus on Rove * REU, British Men Face Trial over "Jazeera Bombing" Leak * AP, Swiss Inquiry Says CIA Jails Document Must Be Followed Up * Truthout, Amnesty Releases New Gitmo Torture Testimony * NYT, NSA Whistleblower Alleges Illegal Spying [Russell Tice] * TomDispatch, A Formula for Slaughter - The American Rules of Engagement from the Air * IRIN, Iraq - Power Shortages Continue to Affect Millions 0111 * LAT, Bush Welcomes Probe ofDomestic Spying * AP, Pinochet Stripped of Legal Immunity * IND, US Warning after Iran Breaks Seals at Nuclear Plant * AFP, US Holds New Guantanamo "War on Terror" Trials Year-Old Gitmo Detainee * Knight Ridder, US Airstrikes in Iraq Could Intensify 38
- US to Try 15-
TIMELINE
FROM 1 JANUARY TO 20 JANUARY
0112 * WP, Russia Won't Block US on Iran * LAT, Iran Nuclear Issue Moves Toward UN * REU, US and EU Want Security Council to Tackle Iran * WP, General Asserts Right on Self-Incrimination in Iraq Abuse Cases [Geoffrey D. Miller] * GUA, US Army in Iraq Institutionally Racist * EPIC, EPIC Obtains Papers on Intelligence [FBI] Misconduct * AP, Padilla Pleads Not Guilty * ERRI, More Than 300 Pilgrims Die In Stampede During Hajj 0113 * USA Secret Prisons in Romania confirmed * Truthout, Bush Authorized Domestic Spying before 9/11 * WP, Tough Interrogation Tactics Were Opposed [by Pentagon] * LAT, Bishops Urge US to Transition out ofIraq * Truthout, US Catholic Bishops - "Bring Troops Home" * REU, Documents Tie Shadowy US Unit to Inmate Abuse Case * WP, US Seeks to Avoid Detainee Ruling * Baltimore Sun, NSA Used City Police to Track Peace Activists * REU, Europe Complicit in CIA "Dirty Work" * AP, Bush Rejects Call to Shut Gitmo Prison * AP, Army Dropped Abuse Probe 0114 * ERR!, No confirmation of Terrorists Killed in Pakistani Explosions * ERR!, USNSpain Have Disagreement Over Aircraft Sales to Chavez * Altemet, Chomsky - "There Is No War On Terror" * Truthout, 17 Civilians Dead in Disputed US Bombing * AP, Pakistan Condemns Purported CIA Air Strike * AP, US-Afghan Troops Kill Six Militants 0115 * Cryptogram, Vehicle Tracking in the UK - Universal automobile surveillance is coming * NYT, Airstrike by US Draws Protests from Pakistanis * Truthout, NYT Warns ofUnrestrained Bush Powers * NYT, The Imperial Presidency at Work * OBS, The Drone, the CIA and a Botched Attempt to Kill bin Laden's Deputy * AP, Ohio Republican Tied to Lobbyist to Cede Post [Bob "Freedom Fries" Ney]
39
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
- Time for US to Leave Iraq * JP, IAF Trained for Iran Attack * AP, Cronkite
0116 * IPS, Bush Seeks His Enemies' Help in Iraq * AP, Another US Helicopter Goes Down in Iraq * Newsweek, Lobbying - The Web Widens 0117 * Truthout, NSA Spying Evolved Pre-9111 * IND, Remember Afghanistan? Insurgents Bring Suicide Terror to Country * Vermont Guardian, Children Can't "Opt Out" of Pentagon Recruitment Database * NYT, Spy Agency Data after Sept. Il Led FBI to Dead Ends * LAT, War's Stunning Price Tag * Truthout, ACLU Sues to Stop Illegal Spying on Americans * Newsday, Democrats Delay Alito Vote One Week * WP, USAID Paper Details Security Crisis in Iraq * CSM, Violence Increasing in Afghanistan * AP, White House Silent on AbramoffMeetings 0118 * GUA, Legal challenge to domestic spy programme * ERRI, Iraq Foreign Engineers Missing After Security Guards Killed * Progress Report, Conservatives Join Challenge to Bush's Illegal Spying * CrisisWebNews, Enter Hamas - The Challenges ofPolitical Integration * NYT, Spying on Ordinary Americans * NYT, 2002 Memo Doubted Uranium Sale Claim * UN, Iran's offer to resume nuclear talks met with doubt * UN, Afghan heroin trade soars, threatens democracy * Human Rights Watch, US Policy of abuse undermines rights worldwide * Boston Globe, No Remorse [air strike in Pakistan] * CNN, Engineers Kidnapped in Deadly Iraq Ambush
-
0119 * Cryptome, Scottish National Party [SNP] reveals "CIA flight" dossier * WP, Pakistanis Say Airstrike Killed Al Qaida Figures * GUA, Torture flights What No. 10 knew and tried to cover up * GUA, FO paper reveals British knowledge of torture flights * ERRI, Officials Believe 3,200 Still Missing from Hurricane Katrina * Progress Report, Bush Administration's Torture Policies Have Led to Copycat Techniques Worldwide
-
40
TIMELINE
FROM 1 JANUARY TO 20 JANUARY
* Progress Report, Administration Broke the Law by Limiting Its Congressional Briefings on Illegal Spying Program [Congressional Research Service] * FAS, CRS on Congressional Notification of Intel Activities * GUA, Rightwing Group Offers Students $100 to Spy on Professors [University of California Los Angeles] * Figaro, The Invariable Degeneration ofNon-Conventional Conflicts * San Jose Mercury News, Feds After Google Data * AP, Bin Laden Threatens Attacks, Offers Truce * AP, Insurgents Kill Dozens after Copter Crash * IND, Extent of [British] Soldiers' Injuries in Iraq "Hidden by MoD" * NYT, In "Design" vs. Darwinism, Darwin Wins Point in Rome * UN, Syria frees political prisoners as UN probe advances * UN, West goes after Iran at its own peril * AFP, Leaked British Government Memo Fuels "Rendition" Row * EPIC, EPIC Sues Justice Department for Release ofDomestic Surveillance Documents * WP, Congressional Agency Questions Legality ofWiretaps * IPS, Activists Vow to Shut Down Army Recruiting Sites 0120 * Times, Leaked paper reveals effort to stifle CIA flights debate * GUA, Special Branch gave go-ahead for sermons, Abu Hamza tells court * IND, Up to 15 police officers may face charges over Menezes shooting [in London] * GUA, Leak puts pressure on ministers to reveal more on rendition * REU, Italy to Begin Iraq Troop Withdrawal * UPI, Another grim week in Iraq * FAS, Justice Dept Issues White Paper on NSA Surveillance * Carnegie, No Military Options, Iran is moving to restart its suspended uranium enrichment program * NYT, US Officials Cite Legal Rationale on Spying Effort * NYT, Sunni Parties Net Gains after Boycotting Previous [Iraq] Election * Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ominous Sign - The President's Growing Disregard for the Law * FT, Iran Moves Foreign Assets amid Sanction Threat * UN, Iran considering Russian enrichment plan * UN, ElBaradei refrains from condemning Iran * AFP, Iraqi Criticizes Secret US Contacts with Insurgents * LAT, US Obtains Internet Users' Search Records * REU, Pentagon Analyst [Lawrence Franklin] Sentenced for Sharing Secrets [with Israel] * AP, Pinochet Stripped ofImmunity in Cases 41
CHAPTER 4 TIMELINE FROM 21 JANUARY TO 10 FEBRUARY Intelligence, N. 473, 13 February 2006
In our preceding issue of Intelligence, we stated "there are calls for Bush's impeachment because of NSA spying on Americans, but these calls come mostly from the political left and may not find as much support among Americans." The situation has changed in Washington with increasing GOP opposition to Bush White House spying on Americans. As we mentioned previously: "Since mid-November, there has been no let up in successive Bush White House scandals that have been leading intelligence and security topics in the media. Even the first of these scandals - the Rove-Libby 'Plamegate' scandal - is still a current media topic, although it has dropped behind successive major scandals. The next one to come up - and is still a major media topic - was Bush torture policy and the associated secret CIA kidnapping of suspects which has become the dominant topic in European media. But back in the States, Bush torture/CIA kidnapping has been swept trom first place by more 'domestic' scandals. First of all is Bush's authorization of spying on Americans by the NSA. This scandal is all the more important because of clear left and right opposition to such an ineffective and repressive security and intelligence policy." This statement remains current even a month later. A major corruption and lobbying scandal continues to unfold with the indictment and plea-bargaining of right-wing Republican lobbyist and power-broker, Jack Abramoff, and Bush's insistence that he doesn't know Abramoff. The Iraq War and Washington talk about "getting out of Iraq" continue, as does the continuing crisis associated with Iran's nuclear policy. In our preceding issue, we stated that: "The Iranian crisis is the current first-
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLlTICS"
2006
place crisis in this 'back-burner' category, but this could change rapidly." Indeed, it has changed in an unexpected direction with the electoral victory of Hamas in Palestine, the subject of our "Front Page" article. Our policy has been to publish detailed headline listings in a double-section timeline article. The first section - "Major Events and Reports" - consisted of a smaller number of the more significant entries which were listed with few additional details. The second section - "Detailed Daily Entries" - was the complete list of daily entries with references and full additional details. With this issue, we continue to publish the "Major Events and Reports" section below. However, following requests to integrate the "Detailed Daily Entries" into topical articles to better follow detailed developments, we will be distributing these detailed daily entries throughout the issue and, in some cases, organizing entire articles around media reports that cover a specific topic particularly well. 0121 * ERRl, Disturbances Reportedly Increasing in China * REU, Egypt Says Hamas Recognizes Existence ofIsrael 0122 * NYT, Pakistan's Push on Border Areas Is Said to Falter * AP, CIA Role a Mystery at Court-Martial [of Army Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, Jr.] * Times, Hunger strikers close to death [Shaker Aamer at Guantanamo] * Times, MIS knew of [London] bombers plan for holy war 0123 * RFE, Russia Unmasks Alleged British Spies * RFE, Sabotage in North Caucasus Disrupts Energy Supplies to Georgia, Armenia * Truthout, Fitzgerald Eyes Plame-Niger Conspiracy * WP, Former Abu Ghraib Guard Calls Top Brass Culpable for Abuse * ERRI, Iran to Resume Large-Scale Enrichment Efforts * ERRl, England Establishes "Joint lED Defeat" Office, Replacing Task Force [at Pentagon] * UN, Kosovo - UN calls for calm after death of "unifYing force" [President Ibrahim Rugova] * Time, When George Met Jack - White House aides deny the President knew lobbyist Abramoff * REU, Journalist Deaths Hit Record in 2005 * Le Figaro, Military Effectiveness in the Face ofTerrorism * AP, Judge Orders Release ofGitmo Detainee IDs 44
TIMELINE
FROM 21 JANUARY TO 10 FEBRUARY
* AP, Workers [in Iraq] Allege Halliburton Knew Their Water Was Foul * AP, Bush Tells Abortion Foes, "We Will Prevail" * Times, [London] Bomber spotted a year before July 7 * IND, British diplomats "outed" as spies [in Russia] * Telegraph, Manning crisis as [British] Paras quit for security jobs * Cryptome, Remarks by General Michael V. Hayden Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence and Former Director of the National Security Agency Address to the National Press Club 0124 * RFE, Russia Says British Broke "Gentlemen's Agreement" on Spying * Progress Report, European Investigator Finds "Coherent, Convergent Evidence of Torture Outsourcing * Progress Report, National Intelligence Deputy [Michael Hayden] Demonstrates Lack ofUnderstanding with Fourth Amendment * NYT, West's Push to Refer Iran to UN Hits Snags * WP, Iraqi Shiite Cleric Pledges to Defend Iran * FT, European Report Raps US over Rendition Flights * WP, Campaign to Justify Spying Intensifies
- NSA
effort called legal and
necessary * WP, Plan Seeks More Elite Forces to Fortify Military * NYT, Iraq Rebuilding Badly Hobbled, US Report Finds * REU, US "Outsourced" Torture, European Investigator Says * AP, Study
- [US]
Army
Stretched
to Breaking
Point
* IND, Europe "ignored detention ofprisoners by the CIA" 0125 * ERR!, Eight Killed as Maoist Rebels Attack Nepalese Government Offices * Progress Report, Murtha's Assessment of Over-Stretched Army Confirmed by the Pentagon * Progress Report, Massive Fraud, Incompetence, Waste Uncovered in Studies of Iraq Reconstruction * FAS, White House Rebuffed 2002 Effort to Relax FISA Standard * Boston Globe, AG's Memo Raises Questions on Patriot Act * NYT, White House Declines to Provide [Katrina] Storm Papers * NYT, Audit Describes Misuse ofFunds in Iraq Projects * IND, British Soldiers Take MoD to Court over "Medical Negligence" * LAT, Mild Penalties in Military Abuse Cases * LAT, Top Enron Figures Head to Court * Knight Ridder, More Americans Favor Impeaching Bush * IND, CIA Flights Likened to the Work of Gangsters
45
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLlTlCS" 2006
0126 * WP, Iran Says It's Willing to Discuss Russia's Offer on Uranium * Truthout, Congress Shut Down Surveillance Program in 2003 * WP, White House Dismissed '02 Surveillance Proposal * WP, Hamas Claims Victory in Palestinian Elections * GUA, Angry [British] Soldiers Demand "Trade" Federation * NYT, Senators in Need of a Spine [Judge Samuel Alito, Jr.] * ERR!, Hamas Wins Election in Surprise Result * UN, Hamas snares surprise victory 0127 * EPIC, ChoicePoint to Pay Record $15 Million in Federal Trade Commission Action * Alternet, Doing [CIA] Dirty Work Abroad * ERR!, Marines Create New Special Ops Command * ERRI/WT, Pentagon to Deploy New Weapons of Mass Destruction Unit * NYT, Prosecutor Will Step Down from Lobbyist [Jack Abramoff] Case * WP, Bush Reasserts Presidential Prerogatives - Eavesdropping, Katrina probe cited as concerns * AFP, US [Pentagon] Propaganda Aimed at Foreigners Reaches [US] Public * LAT, Planted Articles [in Iraq] May Be Violation * EPIC, EPIC Sues Justice Department for Warrantless Surveillance Records * EPIC, Justice Department Subpoenas Search Records - Google Resists * AP, Documents Show Army Seized Wives [in Iraq] as Tactic 0129 * WP, Pentagon Can Now Fund Foreign Militaries * Newsweek, Direct Talks US Officials and Iraqi Insurgents * NYT, Climate Expert [James E. Hansen] Says NASA Tried to Silence Him * LAT, CIA Expands Use of Drones in Terror War * NYT, Spies, Lies and Wiretaps * REU, Army Forces 50,000 Soldiers into Extended Duty * NYT, Guess Who Likes the GIs in Iraq [Look in Iran's Halls of Power]
-
0130 * RFE, Russia Arrests Two as "British Spies" * RFE, Police in Daghestan Kill Three Militants, Detain Two * REU, India Says It Will Abstain in Iran Nuclear Vote * Truthout, Military Hides Cause ofWomen Soldiers' Deaths * WP, Top Enron Officials' Trial Begins Today * NYT, Rice Admits US Underestimated Hamas Strength * NYT, Senate Votes to End Debate on Alito Nomination 46
TIMELINE
FROM 21 JANUARY TO 10 FEBRUARY
* IND, Bush Tried to Gag Environment Expert [NASA's James Hansen] * LAT, Army's Rising Promotion Rate Called Ominous 0131 * WP, Iran to Be Reported To Security Council * UN, Russia, China agree to send Iran to UN Security Council * Truthout, Bush Administration Ignored 9/11 Warnings * NYT, Alito Is Confirmed for Supreme Court in 58-42 Vote * IND, US Savings Rate Sinks to Lowest since Great Depression [minus 0.5 per cent] * AFP, Quartet Gives Hamas Time to Change Its Stripes * WP, Gonzales Is Challenged on Wiretaps * Truthout, Haliburton Awarded $385 Million Contract to Build Immigrant Detention [in US] * IPS, Most Iraqis Doubt US Will Ever Leave * CNET, AT&T Sued over NSA Spy Program * TomDispatch/New York Review of Books, The Biggest Secret - A review of "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration" by James Risen, Thomas Powers * Le Monde, America's Democrats Have Trouble Organizing Themselves in Spite of Bush Administration Problems 0201 * Progress Report, Gonzales Lied under Oath about Bush's Spying Program * LAT, Bush Stretches to Defend Surveillance * IND, Pressure Mounts on Blair as British Fatalities Reach 100 * WP, GAO Faults Federal Government for Katrina Response * BBC, Israel Halts Tax Payments to PA * REU, Capitol Police Apologize to Activist Sheehan * NYT, Former US Official in Iraq [Robert J. Stein, Jr.] to Plead Guilty to Corruption * RFE, Chechen Field Commander [Akhmed Yunusov] Apprehended in Daghestan 0202 * NYT, Senate Panel Rebuffed on Documents on US Spying * FT, IAEA ChiefSays Iran Dispute Is Not "Crisis Situation" * Boston Globe, Specialists Doubt Legality of [NSA] Wiretaps * Salon, Out of Jail, into the [US] Army * AP, Insurgents Thwarting Iraq Reconstruction * Nouvel Observateur, Blasphemy is Authorized * NYT, Democrats Call for Special Prosecutor in Lobbying Case 47
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
* Channel 4 [London], Bush and Blair discussed using American spy plane in UN colours to lure Saddam into war * AP, Bush to Request $120 Billion More for War Funding * WP, Joint Chiefs Fire at Toles Cartoon on Strained Army * BBC, US Official [Robert Stein] Admits Iraq Aid Theft * RFE, Death of Chechen Resistance Commander [Lechi Eskiyev] Confirmed * FAS, The Plame Case, Missing Email, and the President's Daily Brief 0203 * Truthout, Fitzgerald Focuses on Missing White House Emails * NYT, Senate Session on Security Erupts in Spying Debate * WP, Iraqi Shiite Militia Blames US as Car Bombs Kill at Least Il * NYT, Police Officers Sue over Police Surveillance of Their Protests * GUA, Blair-Bush Deal before Iraq War Revealed in Secret Memo * AP, Bush to Request $439.3B Defense Budget * REU, IAEA Delays Vote to Send Iran to Security Council * The Nation, NSA Spying Myths, David Cole * LAT, Libby Trial Date Set for January 2007 * AP, US Expels Venezuelan Diplomat * AP, Snooping Docs during Ford's Administration Released 0204 * WP, More Allegations of Libby Lies Revealed * AFP, Pentagon Report [Quadrennial Defense Review [QDR]] Singles out China as Potential Military Rival * NYT, New Details Revealed on CIA [Plame] Leak Case * REU, Gonzales to Downplay Spy Program's Scope * AP, Protesters Set Embassy Fires in Syria [Muhammad cartoons] * ERRI, Convicted AI-Qaida Bombers Escape Prison [in Yemen] 0205 * ERR!, Danish Embassy in Beirut Torched - Second embassy torched in as many days * WP, Surveillance Net Yields Few Suspects * USA Today, Telecoms Let NSA Spy on Calls * IHT/NYT, Specter Says Surveillance Program Violated the Law * NYT, Oil Graft Fuels the Insurgency, Iraq and US Say 0206 * IND, Britain Could Start Pulling Out of Iraq in May * NYT, As Iraqi Shiites Police Sunnis, Rough Justice Feeds Bitterness * Truthout, Juggernaut Gathering Momentum, Headed for Iran 48
TIMELINE
FROM 21 JANUARY TO 10 FEBRUARY
* NYT, Defense of Eavesdropping Is Met with Skepticism in Senate * AP, Protests Grow over Muhammad Drawings * AP, Ex-President Carter - Eavesdropping Illegal * Progress Report, Iraq - Pentagon Acknowledges Failure in Addressing Roadside Bombs 0207 * ERR!, Two Palestinian Militants Killed in Israeli Missile Strike * RFE, Does Chechen Resistance Leader Aspire to Become Imam of the Caucasus? * FAS, CRS, NSA and the Question of Congressional Notification * Knight Ridder, State Department Sees Exodus ofWeapons Experts * LAT, Rejecting Cooperation, Iran Asks IAEA to Remove Seals, Cameras * UN, Violence over cartoon continues to swirl * Progress Report, Intelligence - House Member Attacks Congressional Research Service Expert for Bias * Boston Globe, GOP Senators Add Heat on Spying 0208 * Altemet/New Standard, Eco-Activists Fight the "Terrorist" Label * CSM, Senate Toughens Scrutiny ofWiretapping * TomDispatch, Why the McCain Torture Ban Won't Work * GUA, UK Troops Will Leave Iraq before Insurgency Ends * WP, Limiting NSA Spying Is Inconsistent with Rationale * NYT, Republican Who Oversees NSA [Heather A. Wilson] Calls for Wiretap Inquiry * AP, House Committee Squashes Torture Queries * ERRI, AI-Qaida Senior Abu Hamza ai-Masri Sentenced in London * WP, Strong Leads and Dead Ends in Nuclear Case against Iran * REU, Military Action on a Nuclear Iran Not Inevitable * Progress Report, Hundreds of Guantanamo Detainees Thought to be Innocent, Wrongly Seized 0209 * Progress Report, The Abramoff Emails * Progress Report, National Security - Gonzales Misleads Judiciary Committee Again * Truthout, Cheney Spearheaded Effort to Discredit Wilson * WP, Secret Court's Judges Were Warned about NSA Spy Data * NYT, Tough US Steps in Hunger Strike at Camp in Cuba * CSM, US Plans Massive [terrorist] Data Sweep * FT, Bush Faces Republican Revolt over Spying * AFP, Many Guantanamo Detainees Not Tied to "Hostile Acts" 49
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLlTICS"
2006
* Le Monde, US Suspected of Having Tapped Greek Leaders' Phones * National Journal, Cheney "Authorized" Libby to Leak Classified Information 0210 * NYT, White House Knew of Levee's Failure on Night of [Katrina] Storm * WP, Ex-CIA Official [Paul R. Pillar] Faults Use of Data on Iraq Intelligence "misused" to justifY war * LAT, Bush Gives New Details about Old Report of LA Terror Plot * WP, Lobbyist [Jack Abramoffj Told Reporter of Nearly a Dozen Contacts with Bush * AP, US Trade Deficit Hits All-Time High * RFE, Putin Invites Hamas Leaders... Who Gladly Accept * RFE, Russia's UN Ambassador Wants Proof of Iran's Nuclear Capability * RFE, Leader [Israpil Khaykhoroyev] of Beslan "Fallback Group" Apprehended - Militants Targeted in Three Locations in North Caucasus * EPIC, EPIC Seeks Spy Documents in Federal Court * EPIC, Secure Flight Placed on Standby * UN, Annan calls for patience with Hamas * Truthout, [Plame] CIA Leak Scandal Goes to the Top * AP, Ex-FEMA Chief Shifts Katrina Blame to DHS * LAT, Consensus Grows for Curbs on Surveillance
50
CHAPTER 5 TIMELINE FROM 12 FEBRUARY TO 23 FEBRUARY Intelligence, N. 474,27 February 2006
Although the Bush White House is plagued with numerous scandals and crises, the three current major ones are Iran and its nuclear program, the "domestic" NSA spying scandal, and the series of reports on US torture/abuse and calls for the closure of Guantanamo. The Bush White House has loudly stated that if it doesn't get its way at the UN and other international organizations, then it'll do what it wants any way, using a few (usually well-paid) members in a "coalition of the willing". The results of that policy are not what were expected now that there is an international convergence of the "non-willing" in favor of closing Guantanamo, backing Hamas, going slow on Iran and going fast on stopping the war in Iraq. Indeed, the past fortnight has seen Hamas receiving backing from France, Russia and Arab countries, against US and Israeli opposition. The situation is somewhat similar for Iran where Russia has issued official and only slightly veiled threats that a unilateral US or Israeli attack would cause a major war. Other important crisis situations involving the Bush White House include the now-declared civil war in Iraq following the bombing of Samarra, and more Abu Ghraib torture photos. And on the home front, things aren't getting any better. The Plame case continues and seems to be getting closer to Vice President Cheney, the Abramoff corruption case seems to be getting closer to President Bush, the Katrina incompetence case is tearing apart the administration, and now the US port sales scandal pits the Bush White House against even conservative Republicans. The situation has degenerated to such a point the "federal intelligence agencies" have been caught reclassifying thousands of public-domain documents and, in California,
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
Justice couldn't find a doctor to execute a condemned convict. Many specialists fear the American system is "coming apart at the seams" under the incredible strain forced upon it by the Bush White House. The damage already done will take a long and concentrated effort to mend and some specialists already feel the United States doesn't have what's needed for such an effort. This, of course, means the damage is "permanent". 0212 * CBS, Iraq - Billions Wasted 0213 * RFE, Russian Mideast Expert [Yevgeny Primakov] Predicts Hamas Will Eventually Recognize Israel * RFE, Resistance Leader [Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev] Says Chechnya is an Islamic State * RFE, Russian Journalists Detained in Georgia * ERRI, Peace Studies Professor [Paul Rogers of Oxford Research Group] Says Attack on Iran could lead to Mid-East war * UN, UN draft report cites torture, forced feedings at Guantanamo Bay * Progress Report, New Photo of Bush and Abramoff Rebuts Administration's Spin * NYT, Cheney Shoots Fellow Hunter in Mishap on a Texas Ranch * LAT, US Is Abusing Captives - A UN inquiry says of the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay * Truthout, Who Will Blow the Whistle before We Attack Iran, Ray McGovern * Truthout, Bush Administration Spent Over $1.6 Billion on Advertising and Public Relations Contracts since 2003, GAO Finds * AP, Afghan Bomb Kills Four US Troops * NYT, Years After Two Afghans Died, Abuse Case Falters * AP, Audits Show Millions in Katrina Aid Wasted * REU, Lawyers Group Slams Bush on Eavesdropping 0214 * RFE, Georgian Defense Minister [Irakli Okruashvili] Accuses South Ossetia of Buying Antiaircraft Missiles from Russia * RFE, Kazakh Opposition Leader [Altynbek Sarsenbaev] Found Shot Dead * REU, Iran Confirms Resumption ofNuclear Fuel Work * Progress Report, Top [CIA] Counterterrorism Official [Robert Grenier] Fired for Opposing Torture * GUA, UN Report Calls for Closure of Guantanamo * AP, Abramoff Said to Claim Close Ties to Rove 52
TIMELINE
FROM 12 FEBRUARY TO 23 FEBRUARY
* AP, Man Shot by Cheney Has Mild Heart Attack * UPI, Whistleblower Says NSA Violations Bigger 0215 * RFE, France Welcomes Russia's Invitation to Hamas * RFE, France, Russia Appeal to Iran - Plan Cooperation on Gas Projects Russia Develops Space Cooperation with France * RFE, Another Chechen Field Commander [Djabrail Abdurazakov] Reported Killed * Cryptogram, The Failure ofUS-VISIT * WP, Iran Restarts Uranium Program * UN, US, Israeli officials deny plot to destabilize Hamas * Progress Report, Government Whistleblowers Punished for Speaking Out * Progress Report, Americans Trust UN More than Bush on Iran * Truthout, Gonzales Withholding Plame Emails * Sidney Morning Herald, The Photos America Doesn't Want Seen [Abu Ghraib] * WP, Congressional Probe ofNSA Spying Is in Doubt * NYT, Quick Rise for Purveyors ofPropaganda in Iraq [Lincoln Group] * WP, Names on US Terror List Quadruple * AFP, Amid China Threat, US to Hold Mammoth Naval Operations in Pacific * WP, Rights Groups Say Database May Include Innocent People 0216 * EPIC, Court Orders Justice Department to Release Information about Warrantless Surveillance Program within 20 Days * ERR!, Special Operations See Stars - Pentagon has decided to give the commander of the secretive and expanded organization a third star * WP, Rice Asks for $75 Million to Increase Pressure on Iran * AP, France - Iran Nuke Program a Military Cover * UN, UN releases report urging closure of Guantanamo Bay facility * Progress Report, NSA May be Violating Rights through Additional Secret Spying Program * Progress Report, Sharp Increase in Number of [US] Army Recruits with History of Medical and Drug Problems, Criminal Conduct * AP, Cheney Says He Can Declassify Secrets * CSM, A Surge in Whistle-Blowing... and Reprisals * BBC, Iraq "Death Squad Caught in Act" * GUA, Bush Plans Huge Propaganda Campaign in Iran - Congress asked for $75m to fund program * IPS, Outrage Spreads over New [Abu Ghraib prison] Images * AP, White House Defends Port Sale to Arab Company 53
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLlTICS"
2006
* NYT, UN Report Calls for End to Guantanamo Detentions * FT, Iraq Economy Falls below Pre-War Levels * AP, Judge [Henry Kennedy] Orders Action on Spying Documents * AP, UN Calls Guantanamo a US Torture Camp * NYT, Senate [Intelligence] Panel Decides against Eavesdropping Inquiry 0217 * AP, Senators Push Probe of Claims against FBI [retaliating against an Arab-American agent] * AP, Rockefeller Questions NSA's Authority * GUA, Abu Ghraib Leaked Report Reveals Full Extent of Abuse * NYT, Doing the President's Dirty Work [Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee] * RFE, Russia's Top General Does not Rule out Military Action in Iran * UN, Annan - US should end Guantanamo Bay detentions * LAT, Niger Uranium Rumors Wouldn't Die * AP, Gonzales Won't Step Aside in AbramoffCase * REU, Three [Muslim Men] Plead Not Guilty to New NY Terror Indictment 0218 * ERRlIAFPS, Rumsfeld US Must Outdo Terrorists in Public Opinion Battle * ERRl, Nigeria - Foreign Oil Workers Seized by Armed Militants * Common Dreams, WWIII or Bust - Implications of a US Attack on Iran * Iraq Dispatches, SBS Torture Video, British Abuse Video and Photos of Torture and Abuse ofIraqis * LAT, Iran Was on Edge - Now It's on Top - The war in Iraq has bolstered the regime's influence in the region and made it bolder * NYT, Prosecutor Says Libby Seeks to Thwart Criminal Case * AP, US Church Alliance Denounces Iraq War
-
0219 * AP, Congressmen Question Contract for Ports Management with UAE Company * ERRl, Further Escalation in Rhetoric - Fatwa [in Iran] Issued Allowing Nuclear Weapons Use * AP, Israeli Cabinet OKs Economic Sanctions [against Palestinian government] * Truthout, US Force-Feeding Prisoners in Torture Camp [Guantanamo]
54
TIMELINE
FROM 12 FEBRUARY TO 23 FEBRUARY
0220 * ERR!, Muslim Brotherhood Plans Worldwide Donation Campaign to Finance Hamas-led Government * ERRI, Russians Wam Against Military Strike on Iran * ERRI, Iran - Increasingly More Belligerent * UN, Europeansjoin UN in call to close Guantanamo Bay * Truthout, NSC, Cheney Aides Conspired to Out CIA Operative [Plame] * NYT, Senior Lawyer at Pentagon [Republican appointee Alberto J. Mora] Broke Ranks on Detainees * WP, White House Working to Avoid Wiretap Probe * AP, Lawmakers Deride Assurances on Arab Port Firm * Deutsche Welle, European Diplomats Call for Guantanamo Closure * WP, Don't Punish the Palestinians, Jimmy Carter * AP, Iraq Bombings Kill 24 People * Boston Globe, Struggling for Recruits, Army Relaxes Its Rules 0221 * LAT, Police Tied to Death Squads [Iraq] * NYT, US Warns Iraq It Won't Support Sectarian Goals * NYT, US Reclassifies Many Documents in Secret Review * AP, Deadliest Iraqi Bomb in Weeks Kills 22 * WP, Administration Critics Chafe at State Department Shuffle * Think Progress, UAE Would Also Control Shipments of Military Equipment for the US Army * New York Daily News, White House Has Ties to Dubai Firm [to run six US ports] * Consortium News, Bush's Mysterious "New Programs" [network of detention camps] * Progress Report, Investigations into suspected Iraqi death squads are now focusing on a 1,500-member Iraqi highway patrol force with close ties to Shiite militia groups * UN, UN envoy [Alvaro de Soto] criticizes Israel's freeze of Palestinian funds * UN, Iran, Russia schedule more talks on enrichment plan * RFE, General Staff Chief Denies US Could Use Georgian Territory for Strike against Iran * REU, Hopes Fade oflran Deal with Russia * ERR!, Tom Ridge - Port Fears "Legitimate" * ERR!, Twenty-Two Dead and Thirty Injured in Latest Market Bomb in Iraq 0222 * NYT, Rice, on Tour, Finds Egypt Unreceptive to Hamas Aid Cutoff 55
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
* IND, Horrors of Camp Delta Are Exposed by British Victims * AFP, US Prison Can't Find Doctor Willing to Execute Convict * One World, Watchdogs Urge Full Probe of Bush Propaganda Spending * AP, Dubai Ports, White House Had Secret Agreement * FT, Attack on Shia [Samarra] Shrine in Iraq Sparks Angry Protests * WP, Bush Threatens Veto against Bid to Stop Port Deal * AFP, Report - Nearly 100 Dead in US Custody in Iraq, Afghanistan * BBC, Report Probes US Custody Deaths * RFE, Suspects in Slaying of Opposition Leader Reportedly from Kazakh Security Service * ERR!, Iranian Leader Wants Funding For Hamas Leadership ofPalestinian Government * ERR!, President Bush Backs Arab Port Deal 0223 * IND, Destruction ofHoliest Shia Shrine [Samarra] Brings Iraq to the Brink of Civil War * NYT, Saudis Reject US Request to Cut Off Aid to Hamas * ERR!, 47 Civilian Workers Killed in Mass Shooting Near Factory [Iraq] * CNN, Sunni Party Quits Iraq Government Talks after Mosque Bombing * Le Figaro, Iran Ready to Aid a Hamas Government Financially * EPIC, Court Orders Release ofNSA Spy Documents to EPIC * EPIC, Report on US-VISIT - Government is Lax on Security, Privacy * EPIC, Federal Intelligence Agencies Reclassify Thousands of Documents * RFE, At Least 27 Dead in Market Roof Collapse in Moscow * RFE, Head of Kazakh Security Service Steps Down * AP, Memos Detail74 CIA Landings in Canada * FT, US Marines Probe Tensions among Iran's Minorities * AP, Pentagon Told to Release Guantanamo Transcripts * AP, UAE Gave $1 Million to Bush Library [ports scandal]
56
CHAPTER 6 TIMELINE FROM 24 FEBRUARY TO 9 MARCH Intelligence, N. 475, 13 March 2006
In our preceding issue, we noted that: "Although the Bush White House is plagued with numerous scandals and crises, the three current major ones are Iran and its nuclear program, the 'domestic' NSA spying scandal, and the series of reports on US torture/abuse and calls for the closure of Guantanamo. The Bush White House has loudly stated that if it doesn't get its way at the UN and other international organizations, then it'll do what it wants any way, using a few (usually well-paid) members in a 'coalition of the willing'. The results of that policy are not what were expected now that there is an international convergence of the 'non-willing' in favor of closing Guantanamo, backing Hamas, going slow on Iran and going fast on stopping the war in Iraq." This situation has changed little in the past fortnight and the same three topics continue to dominant international security and intelligence news. We also stated that: "And on the home front, things aren't getting any better. The Plame case continues and seems to be getting closer to Vice President Cheney, the Abramoff corruption case seems to be getting closer to President Bush, the Katrina incompetence case is tearing apart the administration, and now the US port sales scandal pits the Bush White House against even conservative Republicans." As with the above international news topics, the domestic topics have changed little, except perhaps for "Katrina incompetence" which seems to have found its "smoking gun" video with Bush listening impassively to predictions of catastrophe without an unconcerned reaction.
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITlCS"
2006
0224 * NCH Washington Update, A Home Run for Historians and Openness Advocates in Exposing a Government Reclassification Effort * Progress Report, Intelligence Total Information Awareness "Closed in Name Only" * Truthout, Plame Whistleblowers Targeted by Administration * UPI, UAE Terminal Takeover Extends to 21 Ports * FT, FBI "Warned Military on Guantanamo Techniques" * Booman Tribune, Bev Harris's Latest Claims - The internallogs of at least 40 Sequoia touch-screen voting machines reveal that votes were time- and date-stamped as cast two weeks before the election, sometimes in the middle of the night * Iraq Dispatches, The most important question to ask regarding the bombings of the Golden Mosque in Samarra on the 22nd is "Who Benefits", Dahr Jamail
-
0226 * NYT, A Judicial Green Light for Torture [Maher Arar case] * San Francisco Chronicle, Border Security or Boondoggle A plan for 700 miles of Mexican border wall heads for Senate * IND, Iraq's Death Squads - On the Brink of Civil War - Most of the corpses in Baghdad's mortuary show signs of torture and execution * LAT, Analysts See Lebanon-ization ofIraq in Crystal Ball
-
0227 * ERRI, Germany Provides Iraqi War Plan [to US before 2003 invasion] * ERRI, Bomb Blasts Hit Iran Oil Cities [Dezful and Abadan] * ERRI, Standoff Continues at High-Security Prison in Afghanistan * UN, IAEA report acknowledges small-scale Iranian enrichment of uranium * GUA, Sunni-Shia Schism "Threatening to Tear Iraq Apart" * IND, Serbia to Be First Nation Charged with Genocide * NYT, Bush Policies Are Weakening National Guard, Governors Say * NYT, German Intelligence Gave US Iraqi Defense Plan * NYT, Army to Pay Halliburton Unit Most Costs Disputed by Audit * REU, Palestinians Face Financial Collapse * REU, Bush Job Rating Falls to All-Time Low 0228 * ERRI, IAEA Releases Report on Iran Nuclear Program May Not Be Peaceful * ERR!, Taiwan Deepens Tensions by Abolishing Unification Body * WP, Toll in Iraq's Deadly Surge - 1,300 Morgue count * AP, Coast Guard Worries Reanimate Ports Debate
-
58
TIMELINE
FROM 24 FEBRUARY TO 9 MARCH
* NYT, At Least 75 Dead in String of Attacks in Iraq * REU, US Causes Delay in UN Vote on New Rights Council * REU, US Seeks Funds to Build Prisons in Iraq * Zogby International, US Troops in Iraq - 72% Say End War in 2006 * AP, White House Rejects Special Counsel [warrantless eavesdropping by NSA] * NYT, US Is Settling Detainee's Suit in 9/11 Sweep [$300,000] * Scripps Howard, Warning Siren Went Unheeded on Port Deal 0229 * CSM, US Post-War Planning for Iraq Almost Nonexistent 0230 * IND, Death Squads on the Prowl in a Nation Paralyzed by Fear 0301 * Truthout, Details Emerge in Latest Plame Emails * WP, Gonzales Seeks to Clarify Testimony on Spying - Extent of eavesdropping may go beyond NSA work * Chicago Tribune, A National Disgrace - Scandalous State of Affairs at Gitmo * Le Monde, Europe a "Hunting Ground" for Foreign Secret Services 0302 * Progress Report, Katrina - Caught on Tape - Bush Unconcerned about Hurricane's Warnings * Progress Report, Iran - New "Office of Iranian Affairs" Outlined in State Department Cable * AP, Ex-Official- Iraq Abuses Growing Worse * Indian Express, India, US Seal Historic Nuclear Deal * REU, UN Watchdog Welcomes US-India Nuclear Deal * REU, EU Grants Iran Talks before IAEA Meet * Truthout, Ray McGovern and 15 others took action today in the halls of Congress [against torture] * Truthout, I Do Not Wish to Be Associated With Torture, Ray McGovern * TruthoutlZ Magazine, Burying the Lancet report - Their most significant finding was that the vast majority (79 percent) of violent deaths were caused by "coalition" forces using "helicopter gunships, rockets or other forms of aerial weaponry," and that almost half (48 percent) of these were children, with a median age of 8 * WP, Saudi Group [al Haramain Islamic Foundation in the US] Alleges NSA Eavesdropping * National Journal, What Bush Was Told About Iraq 59
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
* Knight Ridder, GOP Growing Increasingly Angry, Frightened by Bush's Missteps * GUA, Baghdad Official [Faik Bakir] Who Exposed Executions Flees 0303 * Alternet/Huffington Post, The Sweetness of the Smoking Gun [Katrina videotape and Bush] * Alternet, The Ohio Vote Debacle - Did 308,000 canceled Ohio voter registrations put Bush back in the White House? * RFE, Italian Legislators See Soviet Role in Papal Shooting * FAS, State Dept Intelligence Tracked Rising Popularity of Hamas * WP, Pentagon [warrantless eavesdropping] Agency's Contracts Reviewed [CIFA] * NYT, Dissenting on Atomic Deal with India * WP, Katrina Video Refuels Debate over Response * WP, Ethics Office for Hill Rejected - Bipartisan defeat for independent lobbying overseer * UN, Iran, EU break offnuclear talks * IND, New Leadership Crisis as Iraq Descends Into Anarchy * WP, US Cites Exception in Torture Ban - McCain law may not apply to Cuba prison * NYT, [House Intelligence] Panel to Expand Inquiry on Surveillance * IPS, Nuclear Pact with India Seen as Surrender 0304 * NYT, Hamas Delegation Visits Moscow for a Crash Course in Diplomacy * LAT, Documents Reveal the Stories ofPrisoners at Guantanamo Bay * LA T, Military Will Keep Planting Articles in Iraq * BBC, Dozens Killed in Pakistan Clashes 0305 * NYT, Army Ordered to Look Again at [Pat Tillman] Battle Death * WP, White House Trains [FBI] Efforts on Media Leaks * REU, Murtha - "Iran and al Qaida Benefit from US in Iraq" * TomDispatch, Tracing the Trail of Torture - Embedding Torture as Policy from Guantanamo to Iraq * CBS, The Court-Martial of [soldier] Willie Brand [for deaths of two prisoners] * NYT, As Crisis Brews, Iran Hits Bumps in Atomic Path [technical problems] * Baltimore Sun, Giving Nuclear Green Light to "Good Guys" Sends Wrong Signal to "Bad Guys"
60
TIMELINE
FROM 24 FEBRUARY TO 9 MARCH
0306 * RFE, Hamas Talks Tough in Moscow * RFE, Kyrgyz Minister Says US Base Cannot be used for Operations against Iran * Truthout, CIA Leak Path - Cheney, Libby, Woodward * Progress Report, The CIA Connection [Kyle "Dusty" Foggo and Randy "Duke" Cunningham] * WSJ, Impeachment Proves Risky Political Issue * IND, Voices from Guantanamo - For the first time, details of Camp Delta inmates released to public * NYT, Voices Baffled, Brash and Irate in Guantanamo * FAS, Jousting over the Senate Intelligence Committee * GUA, "14,000 Detained Without Trial in Iraq" * AP, Torture of Prison ers Still Seen in Iraq * GUA, US Envoy [Bolton] Hints at Strike to Stop Iran * CSM, "Specific" Info on NSA Eavesdropping * AP, South Dakota Governor Signs Abortion Ban into Law * South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Miami Judge Refuses to Delay Sentencing for Lobbyist Abramoff * AP, Court Upholds Campus Military Recruiting * AP, Gonzales May Be Recalled on Eavesdropping * LAT, US Envoy Offers Bleak View of Situation in Iraq * USA Today, 8,000 Desert During Iraq War * Knight Ridder, GOP Lawmakers Work to Limit Probe of Domestic Spying Program * ABC, Fisk Paints a Middle East in Crisis 0307 * Progress Report, Weakened Intelligence Director Spends House Each Day at Private Luxury Club * REU, Russian Atomic Compromise Offer to Iran Ruffles West * FAS, CIA Sued over Prepublication Review [by former employee, Thomas Waters, Jr.] * GUA, [British] Minister Admits "Rendition" Planes Used RAF Bases * REU, Cheney - Iran Faces Consequences in Nuclear Dispute * GUA, UK Troops "Could Begin Iraq Withdrawal in Weeks" * WP, Majority in US Fear Iraq Civil War * Figaro, Taliban and Mafia Control the South of the Country [Afghanistan] * Truthout, The Green Scare FBI's campaign to portray "eco-terrorism" as the number one domestic terror threat * AP, CIA Fights Libby's Request for Information
-
61
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITlCS"
2006
0308 * RFE, Chechnya - A Year after Maskhodov's Death, Conflict's End Still Distant * NYT, Cheney Warns of "Consequences" for Iran on Nuclear Issue * Progress Report, A Nuclear Iran is not Inevitable, Administration SaberRattling not Constructive * Progress Report, Intelligence Roberts Once Again Engages in Cover-Up for the White House [warrantless eavesdropping] * Truthout, Gap Blocks Eavesdropping Probe * WP, Senate Panel Blocks Eavesdropping Probe * WP, Congress Renews Patriot Act, With Some Changes * NYT, They Came for the Chicken Farmer - An ordinary man with a name something like a Taliban bigwig's is swept up in the dragnet and imprisoned without any hope of proving his innocence * WP, House Agrees to Vote on Ports - Showdown with President Likely * Truthout, Republicans Defy Bush Over Ports * TruthoutITomDispatch, Shark and Awe - Weaponizing the Shark and Other Pentagon Dreams * AP, Iraq Annan Says Coalition May Be Violating Law [thousands of people arbitrarily detained] * AP, DeLay Wins Four-Way Battle for Nomination * TruthoutlThink Progress, Abramoff Interview - Lobbyist Details Relationship with Bush, DeLay, Bums * WP, Bush Orders DHS to Create Center for Faith-Based Aid * Le Monde, In the Moussaoui Trial, the FBI Admits It Knew That Terrorists Were Training in the United States * WP, At Conservative Forum on Bush, Everybody's a Critic * NYT, 24 Bodies Found in Baghdad as Political Stalemate Persists * Nieman Watchdog, Iraq through the Prism of Vietnam, William E. adorn [former NSA boss] * Truthdig, The Progress Myth in Iraq, Molly Ivins
-
-
0309 * REU, Bodies Found Garroted in Baghdad * RFE, EU Calls for a new Energy "Partnership" with Russia Prefers
- While Poland
NA TO
* RFE, Russia Stays Opposed to Sanctions against Iran * Progress Report, Intelligence - The Chairman of the Senate Cover-Up Committee * Progress Report, Failure to Investigate Iraq * AP, Carter Urges Troop Withdrawal from Iraq * IND, At Last, the Warmongers Are Prepared to Face the Facts and Admit They Were Wrong 62
TIMELlNE
FROM 24 FEBRUARY TO 9 MARCH
* WP, [Iraqi] Official Says Shiite Party Suppressed Body Count * UN, Security Council gears up for Iran nuclear talks * USA Today, China bounces human rights spotlight back on US * UN, US "road map" for Middle East peace called outdated * NYT, Dubai Company to Transfer US Ports to American Company * NYT, Suddenly, a Rebellion in the GOP on a Signature Issue [ports scandal] * Truthout, The Secret War against the Defenseless People of West Papua * NYT, The Death of the [Senate] Intelligence Panel * GUA, Bush - A Deaf Man Spouting - A videotape of Bush's briefing before Hurricane Katrina exposes him as out of touch with reality * REU, Rights Groups Ask Courts to End Domestic Spying * The Nation, Watch What You Say - How the telephone company listens in on your calls, and what they tell the government * AP, Bush Touts Grants to Religious Charities * Human Rights Watch, Iran - Police Attack Women's Day Celebration * IND, Back Home [Tipton Three in UK], but Still Imprisoned - The Shadow of Guantanamo * WP, FBI Cites More Than 100 Possible Eavesdroppings
63
CHAPTER 7 TIMELINE FROM 10 MARCH TO 23 MARCH Intelligence, N. 476,27 March 2006
Although all the Bush White House scandals continue, the Iraq war has clearly dominated intelligence and security topics in the past fortnight's press reports. What the media has been calling "Sectarian Fighting" may be nothing more than a deliberate Baathist and/or Qaida tactic to discredit the US and its local allies in Iraq (see "Iraq
- Golden
Dome & US Credibility
Destroyed" in our previous issue; INT, n. 475 28), who also discredited themselves with Operation Swarmer and recent reports of US troop "revenge killings" including elderly people, women and children. On the home front, the Bush White House faithful are trying to shorn up the failing regime by making warrantless eavesdropping of the general public (snoopgate) legal, watering down legislation to control lobbying and blocking investigations of Katrina mismanagement and political corruption. In our two preceding issues, we noted that: "Although the Bush White House is plagued with numerous scandals and crises, the three current major ones are Iran and its nuclear program, the 'domestic' NSA spying scandal, and the series of reports on US torture/abuse and calls for the closure of Guantanamo ... And on the home front, things aren't getting any better. The Plame case continues and seems to be getting closer to Vice President Cheney, the Abramoff corruption case seems to be getting closer to President Bush, the Katrina incompetence case is tearing apart the administration, and now the US port sales scandal pits the Bush White House against even conservative Republicans." All these topics are now in the background as the third anniversary of the Bush White House invasion of Iraq takes place.
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
0310 * Bloomberg, Bush's Loss on Ports Deal Dents Image, Exposes Rifts * EPIC, Congress Presses for More Information on NSA Surveillance * EPIC, DOJ Reports on Possible [FBI] Intelligence Violations * EPIC, Former DOJ Official [David S. Kris] Doubted Legal Basis For NSA Program * EPIC, Intelligence Agencies Ordered to Halt Reclassification * ERR!, 26 Dead in Assault Against Pakistani Militants * GUA, Abu Ghraib, Symbol of America's Shame, to Close * IHT/NYT, Blame for detainee deaths is shared * LAT, US More Intent on Blocking Chavez * NYT, Olmert Wants to Set Border by 2010 [Israel] * Progress Report, Dropping Reconstruction Projects [in Iraq] * Progress Report, Bush Administration Appoints Political Crony [Doug Hoelscher] to be Strategic Counsel * Progress Report, Iraqi Security Forces Plagued by CoiTUption * REU, House to Vote on Ports Despite Company Promise * The Nation, Lap Dogs of the Press * Truthout, "Surveillance, Infiltration, and Harassment of Environmental Organizations" [Eugene, Oregon] * Washington Business Journal, Carlyle Group Explores Acquisition of Port Operations * WP, Contractor Bilked US on Iraq Work [Custer Battles] * London Review of Books, The Israel Lobby, John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt [major report of pro-Israeli influence in the US] 0311 * LAT, Deputies' Questions Unsettle University [Pomona College professor Miguel Tinker-Salas questioned by police on Venezuela] * NYT, About That [Republican] Rebellion 0312 * AP, Biden - Troops Should Come Home in Summer * BBC, Triple Baghdad Bombing Kills 36 * IND, Donald Rumsfeld Makes $5 Million Killing on Bird Flu Drug * WP, Arrest of Ex-Bush Aide [Claude A. Allen] Shocks Associates 0313 * AP, Feingold Draws Little Support for eavesdropping] * AP, Iraqis Try to Put an End to Death Squads * AP, Judge Unexpectedly Halts Moussaoui Trial * AP, US, Google Set to Face Off in Court 66
Censure
[warrantless
TIMELINE
FROM 10 MARCH TO 23 MARCH
* Informed Comment, 80 Killed, Over 200 Wounded [Iraq] * JP, US Monitoring Israel's Iran Options * LAT, More News Outlets, Fewer Stories
- New
Media "Paradox"
* Le Monde, Proof of Accusations Often Skimpy [Guantanamo] * NYT, Newspaper Chain [Knight Ridder] Agrees to a Sale for $4.5B * RFE, Chechen PM Says Special Services Protect Basayev * UN, Heart attack kills Milosevic in his cell, UN says * WP, Sectarian Fighting Changes Face ofConflict for Iraqis * WP, US Campaign Is Aimed at Iran's Leaders 0314 * Altemet, Impeachment Talk Reaches the Mainstream * AP, Federal Judge to Order Google to Release Data * AP, Iraqis Find 85 Bodies in 24-Hour Period * AP, Palestinians Sought by Israel Surrender Outside Jail * BBC, US Trade Deficit Soars to Record * ERRI, Four US Servicemen Dead in Afghanistan Roadside Bombing * GUA, US Postwar Iraq Strategy a Mess, Blair Was Told * Knight Ridder, FBI Documents Raise New Questions [warrantless eavesdropping] * Knight Ridder, US Air Strikes Significantly Increased [Iraq] * Media Matters, Media Ignored Bush's Contradictory Stance on "Timetables" in Iraq * Progress Report, Google Goes to Court Today * Progress Report, Prosecutorial Incompetence [Moussaoui trial] * South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Dubai Firm Accused of Breaking Pledge to Divest Itself of US Port Operations * Truthout, There is no indication that the Bush administration is planning to end the US military's occupation of Iraq * Truthout, Experts Question Credibility of US Human Rights Report * Truthout, Impeachment Talk Reaches the Mainstream * Truthout, Iraq
- Permanent
US Colony, Dahr Jamail
* WP, Bush Sets Target for Transition in Iraq 0315 * AP, Iraq Edges Closer to Open Civil Warfare * AP, Katrina Probe Won't Subpoena White House * AP, Witness
- Dog
Handler
Laughed
About
Inmates
[Iraq]
* ERRI, Six Palestinian Inmates Surrender after Jail Siege * NYT, 85 Bodies Found in Baghdad in Sectarian Strife * Progress Report, As Iraq Falls into Chaos, United States Considers Permanent Bases
67
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
* UN, China, Russia dispute Security Council statement on Iran - Full Security Council meets on Iran statement [despite objections from China and Russia] * UN, General Assembly votes to create new human rights entity [against US and Israeli opposition] . * WP, FBI Took Photos of Anti-War Activists in 2002 * WP, Federal Witnesses Banned in 9/11 Trial - Judge cites misconduct by lawyer [Moussaoui] * NYT, In Iran, Dissenting Voices Rise on Its Leaders' Nuclear Strategy 0316 * AP, President Reaffirms Pre-emptive War Doctrine * CNN, US Launches Largest Iraqi Air Assault Since Invasion * IPS, UN Creates New [human rights] Watchdog Over US Opposition * Truthout, Barbara Lee Amendment on Permanent Bases Approved [Iraq] * Truthout, War-Loving Pundits, Norman Solomon * WP, Military Lawyers Say Tactics Broke Rules [Guantanamo] * WP, Up to 13 Killed in US Assault - Locals say several Iraqi women, children among dead * WSJ, White House Puts Iran at Top of List Of Threats to US * Progress Report, Hardball Host Received Fees from Special Interest Groups in Violation ofNBC Policy [anchor Chris Matthews] * Progress Report, Katrina - Investigations Continue to Find Fault with Administration's Failed Response * UN, Bolton describes Iran threat - "Just like Sept. Il, only with nuclear weapons this time" 0317 * Asian Age, Don't Follow West on Iran * Bloomberg, US War Spending to Rise 44% to $9.8B a Month * FAS, Bill to Authorize Warrantless Surveillance Introduced * IND, Bush Threatens Force to End Iran's Nuclear Threat * IND, PM [Blair] Finally Calls for Guantanamo to Close * LAT, White House Civil Liberties Panel Finally Meets * NYT, Kurds Destroy Shrine in Rage at Leadership * NYT, Police Files Say Arrest Tactics Calmed Protest * Time, On Scene How Operation Swarmer Fizzled [Iraq] * Truthout, GOP Legislation Would OK Bush Spying * WP, Bill Would Allow Warrantless Spying
-
0318 * AFP, Two Thirds of Americans Dislike Bush's Handling of Iraq * Alternet/Democracy Now, Punished for Pacifism [FBI spying] 68
TIMELINE
FROM 10 MARCH TO 23 MARCH
* AP, Libby Defense May Highlight [GOP] Infighting * Truthout, Libby Attorneys Identify CIA Officials in Plame Leak 0319 * Boston Globe, Change of Heartland [on Iraq war] * Knight Ridder, Iraqi Police Report Details Civilians' Deaths at Hands of US Troops * NYT, Before and After Abu Ghraib, a US Unit Abused Detainees * OBS, President's own party is abandoning him as his poll ratings plunge * Truthout, Are Warrantless Searches Next? * US News & World Report (dated 0327), The White House says spying on terror suspects without court approval is OK * WP, Lobbyists Foresee Business as Usual 0320 * AlterNet, Why French Youth Are Rioting - Again * AP, Iraqis Detail Deadly US Marine Raid [Operation Swarmer] * AP, Ongoing Wave of Violence in Iraq Kills 39 * Consortium
News,
Iraq
- US
News Media's
Waterloo
* CSM, Across US, Rising Doubts [Iraq] * GUA, "Iraq Was Awash in Cash" [corruption] * GUA, Rumsfeld Singled Out as Crisis Deepens in Iraq * IND, Bush Still Sees No Reason to Apologize * NPR, Iraq Three Years Later - The Path to War * Progress Report, Pentagon Hired Corrupt Contractor [MZM Inc.] to Collect Data on Churches and Schools * REU, Police Arrest Dozens of Anti-War Protesters * Truthout, Fitzgerald Previews Government's Case Against Libby * Truthout, Operation Swarm of Lies, Dahr Jamail * UN, Gonzales' shameful semantic dance [on what is torture] * WP, Increase in Contracting Intelligence Jobs Raises Concerns 0321 * AFP, US Blasted for Creating Terrorism Quagmire * Alternet/IWPR Online, My 12 Days in Detention, Jasim Mohammed Khalaf * AP, Bush - Troops to Stay in Iraq for Years * AP, New Mexico Democrats Call for Bush Impeachment * Editor & Publisher, Time to Exit Iraq, a Leading Paper Declares * FAS, US Strategic Strike Skills Are Fading, DSB Warns * FT, Fears Grow Over New Dubai Revolt * GUA, General Motors in Crisis Talks to Cut 35,000 Jobs * IND, Oil Gushes Into Arctic Ocean From BP Pipeline 69
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
* New York Review of Books, The Secret Way to War * NYT, Dozens of Protesters Arrested in Belarus * Progress Report, CIA Ignored Accurate Intel from High-Ranking Iraqi Official [Naji Sabri] * REU, California Sued Over Diebold Voting Systems * Truthout, Iraq
- One
of the Greatest Financial Scandals of All Time
* WP, Jury Finds Abu Ghraib Dog Handler [Sgt. Smith] Guilty 0322 * AP, NYPD RNC Mass-Arrests Challenged * BBC, Iraqi Civilian Deaths Shrouded in Secrecy * Carnegie, Let's Go to the Videotape [Bush false statements] * ERR!, Israeli Troops Raid West Bank Refugee Camp * Haaretz, A warning from America [Bush's too pro-Israeli policy] * IND, US Troops Investigated Over Iraqi Massacres * Monterey Institute, North Korean Ballistic Missile Capabilities * NYT, After 40 Years, Separatists in Spain Declare Cease-Fire * NYT, GM to Offer Buyout Deal to More Than 125,000 Workers * NYT, Iraqi Official [Naji Sabri], Paid by CIA, Gave Account ofWeapons * Progress Report, The Slow, Quiet Demise OfEthics Reform * Truthout, Murtha Tells Russert
- End
the Occupation
* UPI, US Iraq Casualties Stay High * WP, Iraq War Vet [Tammy Duckworth] Leads in Illinois [Democratic primary] Race * Newsweek, Breaking the Silence - A prominent former insider is criticizing the administration's handling of Iraq's reconstruction [Andrew Natsios] 0323 * AP, At Least 56 Dead in Latest Iraq Violence * CSM, FBI, Police Spying Is Rising, Groups Allege [ACLU] * NYT, George Bush's Trillion-Dollar War * Miami Herald, Documentary Sends Warning to Congress - Not unlike the Vietnam quagmire on which I reported in 1968, we are today presented with the Iraq quagmire, Walter Cronkite * REU, Army Faulted Over Wartime Armor Delays
70
CHAPTER 8 TIMELINE FROM 24 MARCH TO 6 APRIL Intelligence, N. 477,10 April2006
A fortnight ago, most major security and intelligence topics were "playing second fiddle" to the third anniversary of the Bush White House invasion of Iraq. That event has come and gone, and previous major topics have come back to preoccupy Washington and the media. They continue to be the Iraq war on the international scene and, on the "domestic" US scene, the everincreasing list of Bush White House scandals and political battles. The newest one is the internecine conservative battle over the Immigration Reform Bill with right-wing racists for a "repression only" solution and with conservative businessmen for an "orderly, legal compromise", since they will hire cheap foreign labor even if the "racists" make it illegal. Both of these conservative factions - and the rest of the American public - were surprised by the "Immigrants Rising Up Against the Immigration Reform Bill", along with many West Coast students. Two other major "domestic" developments over the past fortnight are the widening net of corruption revealed around Bush GOP ally and former House Whip, Tom DeLay, and states rebelling against the Bush White House and its policies: "Massachusetts Sets Health Plan for Nearly All"; "Many Wisconsin Voters Demand Iraq Troop Pullout". It is also at the "state level" (in Oregon) that the Bush White House's warrantless surveillance is being the most seriously challenged. Certain specialists feel that it is at this level that the GOP will experience the most serious political threat because of its too-close association with the Bush White House. On the international scene, the Iraq war is still the major topic, with Iran not too far behind as the Bush-Blair duo starts playing up an Iran invasion just
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
like the Iraq invasion: "White House Puts Iran at Top of List of Threats to US"; "Bolton describes Iran threat - 'Just like Sept. Il, only with nuclear weapons this time"'; "British military officials discuss possible strike on Iran". It's astonishing that the world press has reacted so little to this obvious repetition of errors, but Iran's recent test of advanced weapons and close association with Russia has "sent a message" to even the most extremist Bush White House personnel who still think the US "will win World War III" (see the "Front Page" article ofthis issue). Most of the other topics mentioned in recent "Timeline" sections Guantanamo, torture and rendition; Hamas in Palestine; Plame case and Cheney; Abramoff corruption, Katrina incompetence - continue to simmer on the back burner. The only case, which seems to have "boiled over" and therefore been definitively resolved by the Republican-dominated US Congress, is the US port sales to a Dubai-controlled firm. The other cases will be coming back as spring blossoms in the Northern Hemisphere. 0324 * Progress Report, Administration Abandons Iraq's Reconstruction * EPIC, Judge Restricts Justice Department's Demand for Google Records * EPIC, Supreme Court Limits Warrantless Searches of Homes by Police * EPIC, Homeland Security Gets Another "F" for Computer Security * ERR!, Attack on Iraqi Anti-Terrorist Unit - More than 30 people have been killed, many of them policemen * Boston Globe, Bush Shuns Patriot Act Requirement * Truthout, Bush Says He's Above the Law Again: When President Bush signed the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act this month, he included an addendum saying that he did not feel obliged to obey requirements that he inform Congress about how the FBI was using the act's expanded police powers. * Truthout, Specter Lashes Out at Bush Eavesdropping * AP, Specter Takes Senate Lead on Eavesdropping * LAT, Bush's Requests for Iraqi Base Funding Make Some Wary of Extended Stay * Le Monde, American Military Strategy Explains the Failure in Iraq, Laurent Zecchini * FindLaw, An Update on President Bush's NSA Program - The Historical Context, Specter's Recent Bill and Feingold's Censure Motion, John W. Dean * Truthout, Bush's Defiance of the Law, John W. Dean * IPS, "Troops Home" Call Echoes Across US * AP, Immigrants Rising Up Against Immigration Reform Bill * AP, Court Grants Request to Question Abramoffin SunCurz Slaying Trial 72
TIMELINE
FROM 24 MARCH TO 6 APRIL
0325 * ERRI/AP, Russian GRU Operated in Baghdad Until It Fell to Coalition * NYT, US and Europe Plan Sanctions Against Belarus * NYT, Red Cross Fires Administmtors in New Orleans * IND, Battle for Baghdad "Has Already Started", Patrick Cockburn * The Nation (dated 0410), Neglect in New Orleans: More than six months after one of the worst natural disasters to hit the United States, a perfect storm of malign neglect on the federal, state and local levels continues to batter the victims of Hurricane Katrina. * Newsweek (dated 0403), Is This a Strategy for Success? Washington's good news in Iraq isn't quite what it seems * Truthout, Bush "Model Iraqi City" in Peril [Tall Afar] * WP, Former DeLay Aide [Edwin A. Buckham] Enriched By Nonprofit Bulk of group's funds tied to Abramoff * Editor & Publisher, What if Washington Post Hired Bush as Blogger? [Ben Domenech's plagiarism] 0326 * NYT, US and Russia Divided on Wording of UN Statement on Iran * WP, Election Whistle-Blower Stymied by Vendors - After official's criticism about security, three firms reject bid for voting machines * Editor & Publisher, British Papers Focus on Alleged US "Massacres" in Iraq * Times, Iraqis Killed by US Troops "on Rampage" - Claims of atrocities by soldiers mount * Palm Beach Post, FEMA's Generator Reimbursements Flowed to Wealthier Pockets * Time, Republicans on the Run - As midterm campaigns gear up, Bush's party fears a backlash that could end its l2-year hold on the House * Time, Polar Ice Caps Are Melting Faster Than Ever 0327 * RFE, Pentagon Study Says Russia Passed Intelligence to Saddam Hussein - Which Might Affect Bilateral Relations [which seems to be the original intention for publicizing the study] * RFE, Russia Opposes Draft Resolution on Iranian Nuclear Question * ERRI, Iraq - 30 Dead and 30 Wounded in Homicide/Suicide Bombing of Recruiting Center * ERRI, Size and Intensity of Immigration Rallies Surprises Observers * REU, Military
Force Can't Destroy
our Atomic
Program
- Iran
* Houston Chronicle, Former First Lady's Donation Aids Son - Katrina funds earmarked to pay for Neil Bush's software program
73
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLlTICS"
* Alternet, Keeping Tabs on the Peaceniks
- What
2006
are political and activist
groups like Indymedia and Food Not Bombs doing on the FBI's Terrorist Watch List? * NYT, Shiite Fighters Clash With GIs and Iraqi Forces * IND, Massive Protest in LA Over Anti-Immigration Proposals * Figaro, The Shiites in Power Accuse the US of "Organized Crime" Argument swells in Baghdad the day after a raid conducted against Shiites that left twenty of them dead * LAT, FBI Keeps Watch on Activists - Antiwar, other groups are monitored to curb violence, not because of ideology, agency says * Stateline, Punch Cards Out, Paper Trails In [voting] * NYT, In an Election Year, a Shift in Public Opinion on the War * CSM, Latin Leaders Balk at US "Wall" - The proposed 700-mile barrier is to be a big issue at Thursday's North American summit * AP, Senate Cuts Part of House Immigration Bill * LAT, High School Students Extend Immigration Protests Into Third Day * NYT, Shiite Leaders, Furious Over Raid, Halt Talks on Government * REU, Iraq Parties Demand US Cede Control * CNN, Government Investigators Smuggled Radioactive Materials Into US * Oregonian, Oregon Suit Tests Bush Wiretaps 0328 * RFE, Russian Minister Questions US "Hidden Motives" [Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov] * ERR!, Moussaoui Planned to Crash Plane into White House * REU, EU Might Accept Nuclear Deal with Iran-Germany * GAO, Combating Nuclear Smuggling * NYT, Bush Announces Resignation of Chief of Staff [Andrew H. Card Jr. replaced by Joshua Bolten] * Truthout, Biscuits, Anyone? [health care professionals and torture] * WP, Scalia's RecusaI Sought in Key Detainee Case - Retired officers say justice's impartiality is in question after remarks on combatants * NYT, Angered by Fatal Raid, Shiites Exit Unity Talks - Accounts of the US and Iraqi attack in Baghdad that killed at least 16 continue to differ wildly * Truthout, Truth Seeping Through Media After Ten Months [Downing Street Memos and Iraq] * Liberation, In France, the standoff over the new . law covering young
people'sjob rights persists
* GUA, Soldiers Flee to Canada to Avoid Iraq Duty * WP, US Officials Defend Raid Following Shiite Backlash deadly attack diverge sharply
74
- Accounts
of
TIMELINE
FROM 24 MARCH TO 6 APRIL
* Alternet, Pardoning the Pentagon - The Pentagon has investigated its own habit of paying people to lie - and, 10and behold, it found itself not guilty * UPI, After Iraq, Arabs Wary of "Western" Democracy * IPS, "Cabal" Blocked 2003 Nuclear Talks With Iran 0329 * ERR!, Two Israelis Killed in Explosion Near Gaza Strip * AP, Judges Back Court Review of Eavesdropping * REU, Halliburton Faces New Iraq Corruption Charges * GUA, Kadima Wins Israel's General Election as Likud Humiliated * WP, Thousands oflraqis Flee to Avoid Spread of Violence * AP, AbramoffGets Almost Six Years in Prison * Editor and Publisher, [GaP] Congressional Candidate Slams Press Coverage of Iraq - With Bogus Photo [Howard Kaloogian's false photo of "downtown Baghdad"] * AP, Bush Blames Saddam for Iraq Instability * AP, Iraq War Changing With Attacks on Companies - Fourteen shot at a trading company * AP, Senate Passes Lobbying Ethics Reform * Common Dreams, Today's Immigration Battle - Corporatists vs. Racists * LAT, Documents Describe US Auditors' Battles With Halliburton * ERR!, Kadima Party Wins in Israel - Projection Polls Confirm * ERR!, Warlord Charles Taylor to be Repatriated 0330 * RFE, Russia Says US Charges on Iraq Aimed at Diverting Attention - US Reportedly Irked by Russian Stance on Ukraine and Belarus * NYT, Beleaguered Premier Warns US to Stop Interfering in Iraq's Politics * AP, Iran Defiantly Rejects New UN Demands * New Standard, California Students Defy Lockdown, Walk Out for Immigrant Rights * IND, The US Propaganda Machine Oh, What a Lovely War * ERR!, Bush United States Will Leave, "But Not Retreat" From Iraq * ERR!, UN Demands Iran Suspends Uranium Enrichment Program * Progress Report, Security - Privatizing the Nation's Military * Progress Report, Blogs Uncover Truth about Kaloogian's Fake Iraq Photo * RFE, The Georgian Prison "Riot" - Fact or Fabrication? * RFE, Former Senior Chechen Resistance Figure Surrenders [Sultan Geliskhanov] * RFE, Putin Says US is Holding up Russia's WTO Membership
-
-
75
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
0331 * AP, 3 Strong Quakes Kill at Least 66 in Western Iran At least 1,200 injured in temblors * Truthout, States Pressured to Certify Voting Machines * Canoe News Network, War Deserter Tells of Atrocities * IND, Mosul Slips Out of Control as the Bombers Move In * AP, John Dean Blasts Warrantless Eavesdropping * REU, Rice Admits "Thousands" of Errors in Iraq * Tucson Citizen, Schools Powerless vs. Protest Momentum * LAT, Calm Is Urged in Iran Debate - Mohamed ElBaradei, the UN nuclear agency chief, sees no imminent danger from Tehran * Truthout, Plea in DeLay Case Snares Close Confidant [Tom C. Rudy and Ed Buckham] * AFP, US Cuts All Contact With Hamas-Led Government * BBC, US Deserter "Shocked by Abuses" * Bloomberg, Buckley Says Bush Will Be Judged on Iraq War, Nowa "Failure" * ERR!, Iran Fires Missile that can Allegedly Evade Radar * UN, IAEA chief calls for calm over Iran - Russia, China reject Rice's proposal, point to IAEA
-
0401 * Alternet, Turning Point for Israel, Uri Avnery: This week's election in Israel was a watershed moment for the nation. So why did it feel so anticlimactic? * Truthout, Committee Hearing Calls to Censure Bush [Russ Feingold] 0402 * Telegraph, [UK] Government in Secret Talks About Strike Against Iran * NYT, Rice Finds British Muslims Want to Give Her an Earful * GUA, Official- Iraq War Led to July Bombings [in London] * Truthout, Auditors - Halliburton Intentionally Overcharged Contracts * IND, US and UK Forces Establish "Enduring Bases" in Iraq * AP, McCain Suggests Bush Re-Evaluating Putin * AFP, Former US General [Anthony Zinni] Says Rumsfeld Should Quit Over Iraq * ERR!, Iran Reportedly Tests New High Speed Torpedo 0403 * Alternet/Democracy Now, Failed States, Rogue States and America Noam Chomsky discusses his new book * NYT, 9/11 Detainees in New Jersey Say They Were Abused With Dogs * CSM, US Bases in Iraq - A Costly Legacy 76
-
TIMELINE
FROM 24 MARCH TO 6 APRIL
* WP, Russians Sense the Heat of Cold War - Intensifying US criticism of government and its role in region evokes resentment * WP, Iraq Violence Kills at Least 50 - 6 US Personnel Reported Dead * AP, Justices Sidestep Detention Ruling in Padilla Case * NYT, Jury Finds Moussaoui Eligible for Execution * NYT, US Announces Deaths ofNine American Troops * WP, The President's War Madness - President Bush said he invaded Iraq to rid the world of a madman - It is ever-more clear Bush went mad to start it * AP, British Secretary Wants Geneva Review Britain's Defense Secretary [John Reid] called Monday for a review of the Geneva Conventions * ERR!, Iran Says It Test-Fired Underwater Missile * FAS, DOD Issues New Doctrine on Information Operations [media ops] * RFE, Gorbachev Says US is "Intoxicated" * RFE, OSCE Calls for Independent Probe of Recent Georgian Prison Riots * UN, British military officials discuss possible strike on Iran
-
0404 * Alternet, Harvard Takes On the Israel Lobby - How a seemingly noncontroversial academic paper set off a political firestorm within the foreign policy establishment * Alternet/TomPaine Bush's Paper Trail Grows - The Manning memo uncovers even more evidence that the president knew his case for invading Iraq was based on bogus intelligence * TomDispatch, Returning to the Scene of the Crime - War Crimes in Iraq, Noam Chomsky * IND, West Accused of Fiddling Figures on Iraq Aid * REU, DeLay's Fall Won't End Corruption Issue * REU, Amnesty - US Uses Front Companies for "Rendition" * AP, Homeland Official Arrested in Online Sex Sting Agency's deputy press secretary held for soliciting for a child on Internet [Brian J. Doyle] * IPS, Is US Planning More Attacks on Shiite Militias? * ERRI/AFPS, Iran Might Have New "Missile-Torpedo," DoD Official Says * RFE, Georgian Parliament Begins Work on New Laws to Curb Police * UN, Sudan blocks Egeland tour of Darfur [United Nations UnderSecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Jan Egeland]
-
0405 * IND, The Plight ofPrisoners Caught Up in US Rendition * GUA, France's Political Crisis Grows as 3 Million Take to Streets * NYT, Massachusetts Sets Health Plan for Nearly All * FindLaw, Bush's Unprecedented Arrogance, John Dean * REU, Many Wisconsin Voters Demand Iraq Troop Pullout * WP, Democracy in Iraq Not a Priority in US Budget 77
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLlTlCS" 2006
* UPI, Alarm at UK Call on International Law * Le Monde, The United States and Dubai Want to Avoid at All Costs a New Confrontation Over the Purchase of British Arms Merchant Doncasters * GUA, I Will Not Be Forced Out by US and UK, Says Iraqi PM * USA Today, Health Coverage Reform Follows State-by-State Path * In These Times, Political Upheaval - Latin America challenges the Washington Consensus * Think Progress, The Architects ofWar Where are They Now? * FT, US Opposes British List for Sudan War Crime Sanctions * AP, Shadow Falls Over US Military Tribunals * ERR!, Former Sinn Fein Official Turned British Spy Murdered * ERRI, Iran Tests New Shoulder Fired Anti-Aircraft Missile [Mithaq I] * ERRI, Pakistani Security Forces Battle Militants for a Second Day [near the Afghan border] * Progress Report, Wal-Mart Blocks Tighter Port Security * Progress Report, No-Bid Contracts Lead to Army's Hiring of Base Security Guards with Criminal Records
-
0406 * New York Sun, Bush Authorized Leak to Times, Libby Told Grand Jury * LAT, Bush Administration Unveils Nuclear Weapons Complex Blueprint * NYT, Report Faults Video Reports Shown as News * GUA, Amid an internal crisis of credibility, Condoleezza Rice has washed her hands of her department * NYT, Iraqi Says Visit by Two Diplomats Backfired [Condoleezza Rice and Jack Straw] * Knight Ridder, Debate in Congress Over Iraq War Grows Louder * Le Monde, Taliban on the Front Line at the Pakistan Border * Truthout, Evidence Suggests White House Conspiracy * AP, Gitmo Detainee [Binyam Muhammad] Says He Was Tortured by Moroccans * FAS, DOD Says Threat Database Included Improper [TALON] Info * AP, Gonzales Draws Criticism From Panel Chief [warrantless eavesdropping] * Virginian Pilot, Army Hired Criminals as Security Guards * RFE, Chechen Resistance Leader [Abdul-Khalim SaduIlayev] Chronicles Military Successes - Admits Losses * ERRI, Iran Fires "Ultra-Horizon" Missile * FAS, Bush Authorized Disclosure of NIE to NY Times' Miller * Global Security Newswire, Deployed US Missile Interceptors Contain Questionable Parts * Progress Report, Climate Change - Administration Continues to Muzzle Scientists 78
TIMELINE
FROM 24 MARCH TO 6 APRIL
* Progress Report, Bush Gave Specific Permission to Leak Plame's Identity * RFE, Georgian Human Rights Activists Advocate Special Commission to Investigate High-Profile Crimes
79
CHAPTER 9 TIMELINE FROM 7 APRIL TO 28 APRIL Intelligence, N. 478, 1 May 2006
During the past three weeks, with the exception of US military figures publicly calling for the resignation of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, there have been no new Bush White House scandals. However, the multiple ongoing scandals mentioned in previous issues of Intelligence have "matured" to the point that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are all directly concerned by possible legal action and destitution. This situation is expected to continue on course in coming weeks with the weakening of the Bush White House on the domestic and international scene as the Iranian nuclear problem continues to simmer. In our previous issue concerning the similarity between Bush White House preparations for the invasion of Iraq and an attack against Iran, we stated: "It's astonishing that the world press has reacted so little to this obvious repetition of errors." But during the past three weeks, there has been a series of particularly interesting media reports concerning Iran that are systematically undermining the "logic" used by the Bush White House to justify the invasion of Iraq. "Intelligence reports" are being quoted to prove that Iran will not have a usable nuclear weapon in less than ten years. Serious questions are being asked about what would happen after a "successful" US attack against Iran's nuclear installations. Specialists are calling for a negotiated diplomatic solution instead of a "military option". These reports oppose precisely the themes being used by the Bush White House to justify the invasion of Iraq and all indications tend to show that George W. Bush doesn't have any other new ideas for attacking Iran. In short, the US political, military and media establishment is telling Bush that it will not permit a repeat of the Iraq invasion.
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
0407 * NYT, Bomb Explodes Inside a Shiite Mosque in Baghdad * NYT, US Won't Seek a Seat on the UN Rights Council * FT, Iran Ready for High-Level Talks, US Resists * REU, White House Does Not Dispute Bush Leak Allegation * Northwest Indiana Times, Former Diplomat - Iraq War Made World Less Safe * Wired News, Whistle-Blower Outs NSA Spy Room. * Houston Chronicle, Doctor Alleges Water Linked to Infections Halliburton contends it met Army standards * ERRI, Female Suicide Bomber Hits Turkish Mosque * ERR!, Iraq - New Mosque Bombings Reported * ERRI, 3 Americans hurt in Afghan blast * Progress Report, National Security - Leaker-In-Chief [Plame case]
0408 * AP, Venezuelans Pelt US Ambassador's Car * BBC, Fresh Bomb Targets Iraq's Shias * REU, Vermont Democrats Call for Bush Impeachment * ERR!, Algeria - At Least 13 Dead Following Ambush ofCustoms Convoy 0409 * WP, A "Concerted Effort" to Discredit Bush Critic - Prosecutor describes Cheney, Libby as key voices pitching Iraq-Niger story * BBC, Clashes Erupt at Nepal Protests * NYT, Car Bomb Kills 6 - Top Iraqi Shiite Seeks Unity to Deter Terror * IND, Women and Jobless Armed by Chavez to Resist "US Invasion" * TomPaine, Colonization of Palestine Precludes Peace, Jimmy Carter * ERRI, Suicide Bomber at NA TO Base Kills 2 in Rising Taliban Attacks * ERRI/GUA, Inquiry Into London Bombings Doesn't See Link to AI-Qaida [a report of major importance] 0410 * Truthout, Bush and Cheney Discussed Plame Prior to Leak * WP, [US] Military Plays Up Role of Zarqawi * NYT, Third Retired General Wants Rumsfeld Out * WP, Christian Coalition Shrinks as Debt Grows * LAT, US Military Secrets for Sale at Afghan Bazaar * AP, Phone-Jamming Records Point to White House * NYT, Immigration Advocates Rally Around US * WP, French Government Withdraws Controversial Job Law * Tikkun, Hand Counted Paper Ballots in 2008 [in US] * NYT, Yes He Would [attack Iran], Paul Krugman 82
TIMELINE
FROM 7 APRIL TO 28 APRIL
* REU, Report Finds US Shooting of Reuters Soundman [Waleed Khaled] Unlawful * Liberation, Iraq Arabs Worried About Shiite Takeover * Proliferation News, Special Iran Edition * New Yorker (dated 0417), The Iran Plans - Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb? Seymour M. Hersh
-
0411 * RFE, Two Militants Killed in Shoot-Out in Ingushetia * ERR!, Taliban Gunmen Kill Five Medical Workers * ERRI, Spanish Judge Indicts 29 on Madrid Train Bombings * ERR!, Palestinian Police Officer Killed in Shelling * BBC, Centre-Left Claims Italy Victory * IND, Two Million Join Protests as Immigrant Debate Grips US * AP, Huge Crowds March for Immigration Rights * Progress Report, Iran - Recent Coverage Fails to Note Administration's Creation of Secretive Iran Group * Progress Report, No Good Military Options in Iran * NYT, Bush Insists on Diplomacy in Confronting a Nuclear Iran * NYT, [US] Military Fantasies on Iran * NPR, Options Limited for Military Attack on Iran, Joseph Cirincione * REU, Iran Producing Atomic Fuel 0412 * RFE, Russia Says Iran Headed "ln Wrong Direction" * RFE, Russia to Continue Aid to Palestinians * ERR!, 55 People Killed in Karachi Bombing * ERRI, Five US Soldiers Die in Iraq * ERRI, 12 Sri Lankan Naval Personnel Killed in Attack * ERR!, Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi Refuses to Concede Defeat * Chicago Sun Times, Spain Indicts 29, Sees No al-Qaida Connection [another major report on al-Qaida] * Creators Syndicate, Now Powell Tells Us, Robert Scheer * GUA, Karachi Bomb Attack Leaves at Least 45 Sunni Worshippers Dead * NYT, Deaths of US Soldiers Climb Again in Iraq * IND, RAF Doctor [Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith] Refused to Fight "Illegal" Iraq War * AP, 20 Killed in Car Bombing at Iraq Mosque * AP, Violence Leaves 16 Dead in Sri Lankan Town * REU, Retired US Iraq General [Maj. Gen. John Batiste] Demands Rumsfeld Resign * Wired, AT&T Seeks to Hide Spy Docs * Slate, The Revolt Against Rumsfeld - The officer corps is getting restless 83
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLlTICS" 2006
* FT, US Ex-Official [Richard Annitage] Urges Talks With Iran * AP, Government Spending Hit Record High in March * AP, [Washington Post] Report Raises New Questions on Bush, WMDs [mobile bio-weapons labs] * BBC, US Marines Lose Iraq Command Role [for mistreating Iraqis] * Newsweek, America's Secret Police? - Intelligence experts warn that a proposal to merge two Pentagon intelligence units [CIFA and DSS] could create an ominous new agency * Progress Report, Iran - Uranium Enrichment Announcement Called "Political Theater" * Progress Report, Administration Made Secret Agreement to Hide Reclassification Efforts * TomPaine, The al Qaida Myth, Tom Porteous * UN, Arab countries want UN to call for end to Israeli military strikes * BBC, Baghdad Market Bomb Kills 13 0413 * RFE, Russian Minister [Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov] Warns against "Exaggerating" Iranian Nuclear Issue - As Experts Call Iran's Claims "Fairy Tales" * RFE, Bulava Missile Tests to Resume in June [Russia] * AlterNet, Gingrich Criticizes Bush, Aids Enemy * NYT, Analysts Say a Nuclear Iran Is Years Away * CSM, Shiite Exodus From Mixed Towns [Iraq] * NTR, Italian Minister Declines to Seek Extradition of CIA Operatives * Truthout, Italy Will Withdraw Its Troops From Iraq * WP, New Attacks Foment Fear in Afghanistan * REU, Generals Clamor for Rumsfeld's Ouster Over Iraq War * Creator's Syndicate, White House Whopper Becomes Instant Classic [mobile bio-weapons labs] * ERR!, Rice Urges Security Council to Take "Strong Steps" Against Iran * ERR!, Nine Dead in Sri Lankan Bombing 0414 * UN, Iran rejects ElBaradei's call to suspend uranium enrichment * UN, US bars UN call against Israeli attacks * AlterNet/IPS, Iran Showdown Tests Power of "Israel Lobby" * AP, 2 Bombs Explode at Main New Delhi Mosque * AP, US Building Massive Embassy in Baghdad * REU, Crunch Weeks Ahead for Europe's CIA Probes 0415 * ERR!, Phoenix balks on Hosting terror drill 84
TIMELINE
FROM 7 APRIL TO 28 APRIL
* IND, US Colonel [John Coleman] Offers Iraq an Apology of Sorts for Devastation ofBabylon * Le Monde, Seven CIA Flights Went Through France * REU, Key Senator Bucks Bush, Urges US-Iran Talks 0416 * 0416 NYT, A Bad Leak [Bush NIE on Iraq] * 0416 WP, Scientists Say They're Being Gagged by Bush monitors their media contacts * ERR!, Government Sees no Link Between JMB, AI-Qaida
- White
House
0417 * ERR!, At Least Thirty Wounded in Turkish Explosion * Progress Report, Military Myers Offers Weak Defense ofRumsfeld * Newsweek, Anatomy of a Revolt - What made a chorus of ex-generals call for the SecDers head? * AP, Suicide Bomber Kills 8 in Tel Aviv * CSM, Russia, US Slipping into Familiar "Chill" * BBC, US Kills Seven Afghan Civilians * Bloomberg, Rumsfeld May Be Permanently Tainted by War in Iraq * AP, Nepalese Forces Fire on Demonstrators * The Progressive, Rumsfeld Shouldn't Be Fired - He Should Be Indicted * Knight Ridder, US Knew Shiite Militias Were a Threat but Took no Action Largely Because They Were Focused on Sunni Insurgency * American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Recent Calls for Defense Secretary Rumsfeld to Resign Validate AFGE "No Confidence" Vote * Harper's, Buried Truths Debunking the nuclear "bunker buster" * NYT, New Worry [P-2 centrifuges] Rises after Iran Claims Nuclear Steps
-
-
0418 * IND, Death Squad Allegations Threaten to Derail Bush's Last Latin Ally Colombia's leader denies using death squads to wipe out opponents * REU, Baghdad Street Battle Smacks of Open Civil War * AP, [Senator] Durbin - Rumsfeld Should Go as Iraq Goes "From Bad to Terrible" * OneWorld, Rumsfeld Linked to Guantanamo Torture [as criticism of Rumsfeld becomes increasing widespread, the seniority of Pentagon officials under investigation for condoning or encouraging torture has increased and now implicates Rumsfeld himself]. * REU, UN Torture Panel Presses US on Detainees * AP, Russia Still Opposed to Sanctions on Iran * NYT, National Archives Pact Let CIA Withdraw Public Documents 85
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
* Salon, Breaking the silence - The overwrought response to John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt's brave paper only confirms its thesis [Israel lobby in the US] 0419 * Editor & Publisher, Bush, a Crisis Almost Without Equal * RFE, Russia Pledges $10 Million to the Palestinians * FAS, FBI Seeks Access to Jack Anderson Files * NYT, Afghan Battles See Higher Toll for Civilians * NYT, FBI Seeks Access to Dead Columnist's Papers [Jack Anderson] * RFE, Russia Protests Private US Conference [conference on the northern Caucasus held on April14 by the Jamestown Foundation] 0420 * Truthout, Grand Jury Hears Evidence Against Rove * AFP, 20,000 Kidnapped in Iraq Since January * WP, AI-Jafari to Give Up Iraqi Prime Minister Post * ERR!, Nepal Descends Into Further Violence as Four Shot * Progress Report, Rove Will Not Give Up Security Clearance Despite Ending Policy Role * WP, Bush-Hu Meeting To Highlight Role That China Plays * WP, Envoys Remain Split on Plan Against Iran * Xinhua, China Urges Restraint in Solving Iran Nuclear Issue * AlterNet, Bush's "16 Words" Were False [mobile bio-weapons labs] * RFE, Russia to Honor Arms Deal with Iran * WP, Intelligence Director's Budget May Near $1 Billion 0421 * Rolling Stone, The Worst President in History? * REU, Nepal King Says to Hand Over Power * News for Real, Forrest Gump's Evil Twin [the president of the United States is a moron] * RFE, Russia Defends Iranian Nuclear Plant Project * RFE, Russia Says, "Give Hamas a Chance" * RFE, Primakov Warns of Troubles Ahead for Russia * ERRI, Two [Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee] Arrested [in Atlanta] For Conspiring to Carry Out Terror Attack - Both US citizens who grew up in the Atlanta area * ERR!, CIA Officer Fired for Leaking Classified Info to Media * The Nation, Attack Iran, Ignore the Constitution * AP, Guantanamo Detainee List Draws Wave ofComplaints * ERR!, Russia waiting for "concrete facts" on Iran * RFE, Russian Minister Warns NATO 86
TIMELINE
FROM 7 APRIL TO 28 APRIL
0422 * OpEd News, Bush Impeachment - The Illinois State Legislature * TPM Cafe, The Firing of Mary McCarthy [at the CIA] 0423 * ERR!, Alleged Bin Laden Tape Aired On Arab TV Network * NYT, Criticism of Rumsfeld Widens to Young Officers * NYT, Colleagues Say CIA Analyst [Mary McCarthy] Played by Rules * BBC, Mortar Attacks Kill 6 in Baghdad * WP, New Plans Foresee Fighting Terrorism Beyond War Zones - Pentagon to rely on special operations [important report] * Consortium News, Bush Brandishes Jail Time at Critics * LAT, Been There, Done That - Talk of a US strike on Iran is eerily reminiscent ofthe run-up to the Iraq war, Zbigniew Brzezinski 0424 * ERR!, Seven Car Bombs Claim Lives in Baghdad * Chicago Tribune, Commander - Contractors violating US [human] trafficking laws * AlterNet, The Right-Wing Terror-Sphere - Right-wing pundit and blogger Michelle Malkin touched off a storm of threats and hatred after crossing the line and publishing protesters' contact information * WP, Inspectors Find More Torture at Iraqi Jails * AP, 7 Car Bombs Explode in Baghdad, Killing 6 * IPS, Pakistan Stressed by US Designs on Iran * AP, Blasts Kill 18 in Egyptian Resort City * NYT, Nepal's King Orders Parliament Reinstated * AP, US to Charge More Gitmo Bay Detainees * Bloomberg, Iran's Ahmadinejad Rejects UN Deadline on Uranium Enrichment * GUA, Bush Ignored Intelligence on Iraqi Weapons, Says Ex-CIA Officer [Tyler Drumheller] * Newsweek, Secrets of the CIA - A former colleague says the fired Mary McCarthy "categorically denies" being the source of the leak on agency renditions * Progress Report, Bolten's Five-Point "Recovery Plan" Calls on Bush to "Brag More," Rattle Sabers at Iran 0425 * RFE, Transneft Threatens to Cut Oil Supplies to "Overfed" Europe * ERR!, Female Suicide Bomber Kills Eight in Sri Lanka * FAS, ODNI Pursues Intelligence Compensation Reform * NYT, Dozens of Security Force Recruits Are Killed by Iraqi Insurgents 87
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
* NYT, Interrogation Chief at Abu Ghraib [Lieut. Col. Steven L. Jordan] to Face Charges * The Hill, Senator Roberts Seeks Delay of Intel Probe * LAT, US to Free 141 Terror Suspects * Asia Times, Tehran Insider Tells of US Black Ops * FAS, Intelligence Fusion Centers Emerge Across the US * FT, Six Party Talks on North Korea in "Terminal Decline" * Progress Report, Army Whitewashes Report on Major General Linked to Torture [Geoffrey Miller] * Sacramento Bee, Mistrial declared in one terror case [Hamid Hayat] 0426 * RFE, Gazprom Calls European Energy Charter "Stillborn" * RFE, US Warns Against Russian Monopoly on Europe's Gas Supplies * ERR!, Two Suicide Bombers Strike Multinational Force in Egypt * ERR!, Surge of Violence Leaves 10 Dead in Baghdad * ERR!, AI-Zarqawi Releases Video Mocking the United States * ERR!, Sri Lanka Launches Air Strikes Following Suicide Bombing * LAT, Iraqi Strife Seeping Into Saudi Kingdom * NYT, A [US] Mistrial for a Father, but a Son [Hamid Hayat] Is Guilty * Bloomberg, Sri Lanka Fighting Kills 100, Displaces Thousands * UN, Rice warns against Russia controlling European energy market * NYT, Senior Iran Cleric Tells Sudan That Nuclear Aid Is Available * AlterNet, The shocking account of Tyler Drumheller, former top CIA spy in Europe, aired Sunday on "60 Minutes" * Creators Syndicate, Top Spy's Story on Pre-War Intel Is Finally Told 0427 * AP, Senator Specter Threatens to Block NSA Funds * AP, Judge Won't Dismiss Case Against Libby * FAS, Archive Audit Suggests Overclassification Is Rampant * ERR!, Bomb Blast Kills Three Italian Soldiers in Iraq * ERR!, Soldiers Kill Six Villagers in Nepal * ERR!, Senate Inquiry Recommends FEMA Be Abolished * Progress Report, House Conservatives Block 100 Percent Cargo Screening * Progress Report, Senate Votes to Divert Funding from Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan * Alternet, The Great Bush Reclassification Project * NYT, European Inquiry Says CIA Flew 1,000 Flights in Secret * NYT, Archives audit criticizes re-classification of public papers [more than a third did not contain sensitive information justifying classification]
88
TIMELINE
FROM 7 APRIL TO 28 APRIL
0428 * NYT, Blair cabinet wobbles under trio of troubles * ERR!, [Israeli] Missile Strike Hits Islamic Jihad Van * Progress Report, Specter Expresses Outrage over NSA Spying Program as House Votes against Transparency * Progress Report, Russian-Iran Missile Deal Should Bè Cause for Alarm * TomPaine, After Abu Ghraib, Impunity * REU, Bush Approves Dubai Defense Purchase * CSM, Corruption Eroding Afghan Security - Violence is spreading beyond the restive south, fueled in large part by poor governance * AP, Bush Rejects Tax on Oil Companies' Profits * AP, FBI Secretly Sought Data on 3,501 People in 'OS * UN, IAEA report calls Iran non-compliant * NCH Washington Update, NARA Issues Reclassification Audit Report On 26 April 2006
89
CHAPTER 10 TIMELINE FROM 29 APRIL TO 12 MAY Intelligence,
N. 479, 15 May 2006
During the past fortnight, the two dominant topics of security and intelligence news have been the continuing development of the Bush White House "snoopgate" scandal of warrantless eavesdropping of the American population, and major disturbances at the top of the CIA with the sudden resignation of CIA Director Porter Goss, the resignation of CIA Executive Director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo under accusations of corruption and the contested nomination of "snoopgate" proponent and former NSA director, General Michael V. Hayden, to lead the CIA. These two major topics are followed by three other important topics: the Iranian nuclear program and the international confrontation it has generated; the Iraq war with its continuing American and British losses and sectarian infighting; and the continued international campaign against the Bush White House policy of torture and secret kidnapping and imprisonment of suspects. Other security and intelligence topics have been much more "on the back burners" behind the two leading topics and these three other important ones. 0429 * NYT, Death Toll for Americans in Iraq Is Highest in 5 Months * NYT, Ex-Head ofFDA [Lester M. Crawford] Faces Criminal Inquiry * LAT, Data Show How Patriot Act Used [9,254 FBI subpoenas for monitoring citizens] * NYT, Juror Says She Was Pressured to Convict Defendant in California Terror Trial * ERR!, General [Brig. Gen. Doug Stone] pegs lED as enemy's "biggest threat"
WORLD POLITICSAND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
* ERR!, More than 14,000 Killed in Terrorism Attacks Last Year * ERRI, [According to Israeli officials...] Iran Said to Have Bought N. Korean Missiles * ERR!, X-ray Machines Fail to Detect [plastic] assault weapon? * ERRIlREU, Mexico proposes decriminalizing pot and cocaine * Travel Insider, Art mimics real life - The Iraqi actor (resident in Britain since 1995) who plays a hijacker in a new film about 9/11 has been denied entry into the US for the movie's premiere 0430 * NYT, US Pays for 150 Iraqi Clinics, and Manages to Build 20 * 0430 ERRI/AP, Rift grows between al-Qaida, Muslim groups [possible DoD media operation] 0501 * Truthout, Scapegoats in Terror War [trial ofMoussaoui] * ERR!, FBI - Official to Retire Shortly After Promotion [Gary Bald] * ERR!, Former Professor [Sami AI-Arian] Pleads Guilty to Assisting Islamic Jihad [a jury failed to convict him of any of 17 charges after a sixmonth triallast year] * ERRI/ AP, Leftist Trade Agreement Signed in Latin America * FAS, Disco Inferno - DSS Won't Process Security Clearances * FAS, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Activity Rises Sharply * FAS, Would-Be NSA Whistleblower [Russell D. Tice] Can't Get Congress' Attention * TomPain, Iran Intelligence War, Robert Parry 0502 * NYT, US and Europe Draft Iran Resolution * Foreign Policy, Cut and Run? - You Bet, Lt. Gen. William E. Odom * Atlanta Progressive, 36 US House Reps Want Bush Impeachment Probe * AP, Secret Service to Release Logs on AbramoffVisits * WP, FBI Sought Data on Thousands in '05 0503 * Progress Report, Plame Leak May Have Damaged Tracking of Iran Nuclear Development * UN/Haaretz, Mideast Quartet's future role in doubt * UN/AP, Coalition aims for targeted Iran sanctions * NYT, Administration Conducting Research Into Laser Weapon * WP, Suicide Bomber Kills 17 - 37 Bodies Found in Baghdad * Boston Globe, Hearing Vowed on Bush's Powers - Senator questions bypassing of laws 92
TIMELINE
FROM 29 APRIL TO 12 MA y
* LAT, Report Details Katrina Communications Fiasco - Backup equipment arrived late or went unused * Times, In the Chaos of Iraq, One Project Is on Target - A Giant US Embassy * IND, Darfur Crisis Puts Sudan Top of "Failed States" List * AP, AI-Qaida Conspirator Moussaoui Gets Life * NYT, Federal Study Finds Accord on Warming * Knight Ridder, Report Blames Top US Officials for Alleged Torture of Detainees * UN/AP, Annan urges world to agree on anti-terrorism strategy 0504 * RFE, US Vice President Issues Strong Rebuke to Russia on Democracy, Energy - As US State Department Criticizes Moscow Over Arms Sales to Iran * ERR!, Female Suicide Bomber Kills Nine in Baghdad * ERR!, Five Killed in Kashmir Shootout [in Srinagar] * ERRI, Aerial Spraying ofDrug Crops in Colombia is Failing * ERR!, Nepalese Cabinet Declares Cease-Fire * NYT, Britain and France Press UN to Oppose Iran Nuclear Efforts * National Security Policy E-News, Retired Generals Call for Rumsfeld's Resignation * Progress Report, Corruption - Sex, Lies, and Government Contracts [Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA)] - The Ringleader [Brent Wilkes] "Red Lights on Capitol Hill" * Progress Report, Corruption - Businessman Pleads Guilty in Bribery Scandal [Vernon Jackson] * REU, CIA Row Hits US-Europe Intelligence Work * InsideBayArea, Senate - No Permanent Bases in Iraq * REU, France Says Military Action Won't Solve Iran * The Progressive, FBI Puts SOA [School of the Americas] Watch Under "Counterterrorism" Surveillances * GUA, New Frontline in the War on Terror - Experts fear Pakistan is losing fight against an Islamist militant revolt in its tribal belt * AFP, Ex-CIA Analyst [Paul Pillar] Condemns Bush "Manipulation Campaign" on Iraq * UN, Amnesty International faults US over torture in report to UN * UN, UN to quiz US on alleged prisoner abuse 0505 * Progress Report, Torture - Senate Demands Definition of Torture from Administration * EPIC, Secret Surveillance at an All-Time High 93
WORLDPOLITICSAND"PARAPOLlTICS"2006
* EPIC, Justice Department Wants AT&T Wiretap Suit Dismissed * ERR!, Bomb Attack Kills Italian Troops [Afghanistan] * ERR!, Hundreds Hurt in Clash over New S. Korea/US Base * UNIAP, Annan urges US to talk with Iran * UN/Bloomberg, Top British foreign minister replaced * Progress Report, Iraq Rumsfeld Called Out on WMD Lies [by Ray McGovern] * NYT, Veto? Who Needs a Veto? President Bush doesn't bother with vetoes; he simply declares his intention not to enforce anything he dislikes * NYT, $100 Rebate - Rise and Fall of Gap Idea * AP, UN Grills US on Torture Ban * WP, How Not to Fight Terrorism [on Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Mohamed al-Qahtani] * Asia Times, It's Showdown Time in Pakistan - The Bush administration is asking for a Tora Bora-style aerial bombing of the Taliban foothold in Pakistan * Nouvel Observateur, Tony Blair's at the End of the Race * AP, CIA Director Porter Goss Resigns * AP, Albania Takes Five Ethnic Chinese From Gitmo
-
0506 * ERRI, UK Troops Feared Dead in Basra Crash * ERRI/AP, Ten GI's Die in Helicopter Crash on Afghan Mountain * ERR!, Suicide bomber kills 3 Iraqi officers * AlterNetlEditor & Publisher, Bush Takes a Beating [by Stephen Colbert] * NYT, Top CIA Pick Has Credentials and Skeptics * Truthout, Bush CIA Pick, Domestic Spying Proponent General Michael V. Hayden * LAT, Spy Czar, Rumsfeld in a TurfWar [with John D. Negroponte] * AP, 10 US Soldiers Die in Afghan Helicopter Crash * Le Monde, Danger in Poland [extreme right-wing politics] 0507 * ERR!, Opposition Arises in Congress About Military Man as Head of CIA * ERRI, Iran Threatens to Quit Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty * New York Daily News, Behind the Goss Toss * OBS, UK Attorney General Calls for Guantanamo to Close - Lord Goldsmith risks row with White House by denouncing detention centre as "unacceptable" * REU, Car Bombs Kill30 in Iraq * OBS/REU, British Soldiers Die as Helicopter Is Shot Down - Then Basra Erupts in Bloody Gun Battles
94
TIMELINE
FROM 29 APRIL TO 12 MA y
* TomDispatch.com, The Wide War - How Donald Rumsfeld Discovered the Wild West in Latin America [DOD over State in Latin America] 0508 * ERR!, Iran Reportedly Prepares "Judgment Day" Attack Plan [if US attacks]; Explosion Hits Govt. Office in Southwest Iran * ERR!, Palestinian Factions Battle in Gaza * ERR!, Pakistan Criticizes Comments by US Official on Taliban, AI-Qaida * WSJ, Talk to Tehran [even the US right-wing is calling for direct talks with Iran] * ERR!, US General [Lieutenant General Peter Chiarelli] Vows to Stop Iranian lED's from Being Imported into Iraq [no proof of such "imports" from Iran available] * Progress Report, General Discontent With Hayden * Progress Report, White House Reportedly Called for Straw's Removal over Disagreement about Nuking Iran * UN, Iran has vowed that it would refuse to comply with any UN Security Council demand to halt its disputed nuclear programme * UN, US defends torture record before UN panel * AlterNet, Potential Hard Evidence Surfaces of Bush's Illegal Spying [in Oregon] * US News, Spies Among Us [keeping tabs on ordinary Americans] * NYT, Bush Names CIA Pick Over Objections * IND, Russia Says UN Plan for Iran Is "First Step to War" * Truthout, Whither the CIA? Larry C. Johnson * BBC, Ahmadinejad Sends Letter to Bush * Newsweek, Changing the Guard - While Bush's new CIA nominee preps for a tough nomination battle, agency No.3 Dusty Foggo is leaving the agency * REU, US Gives New Details on Iraq, Afghan Abuse Probes * AP, Moussaoui Asks to Withdraw Guilty Plea * Knight Ridder, Under Fire, US Says It Will Ban Controversial Interrogation Practice 0509 * RFE, Russian Foreign Minister Urges Iran to Listen to International Community * Progress Report, Corruption - Ney's # 1 * Progress Report, Corruption - Scandal-Tied CIA Executive Director Resigns [Kyle "Dusty" Foggo] * REU, Major Powers Fail to Agree on Joint Iran Strategy * Council on Foreign Relations, Perkovich - Bush Should Engage Iranian President in Dialogue, Not Back Away 95
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
* AlterNet, Billions Spent on Border Security Have Failed * Progress Report, Outcry as Bush Nominates Illegal Spying Advocate for CIA * LAT, Despite Opposition, Bush Backs Hayden as CIA Chief * NYT, Shuffling Spies Around [problems making Michael Hayden CIA chief] * Truthout, FBI Targets SOA Watch Activists * IPS, Hawks Looking for New and Bigger Enemies? [Russia and China] * IPS, Activists Fear US "Help" Could Spur Crackdown [in Iran] 0510 * RFE, Ombudsman Concerned by Georgian Police Killings * ERR!, Iraqi Suicide Bomb Leaves 17 Dead * ERR!, Flare-up Leaves 57 People Dead in Somalia * WT, Putin - Arms Race with US Not Over * AlterNet/London Review of Books, A Response to Critics of "The Israel Lobby", John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt [follow-up ofreactions to their paper] * NYT, Clash Foreseen Between CIA and Pentagon * AFP, Rumsfeld Denies "Power Play" in Intelligence * NYT, Alarmed by [Shiite police] Raids, [Sunni] Neighbors Stand Guard in Iraq * NYT, What's in a Murdoch-Clinton Alliance? Something for Both Sides * CSM, US, Iran Standoff Grows Tenser - Despite rare letter, Washington sees no reason to engage Tehran as the UN considers action * REU, Mogadishu Ceasefire Collapses, Nearly 100 Dead * AP, Israeli Supplier Cuts Gas to Palestinians OSIl * ERR!, Heavy Fighting Breaks Out in Sri Lanka * Progress Report, Abramoff Visited White House to Secure Favors from Bush Administration * USA Today, NSA Has Massive Database of Americans' Phone Calls * WP, US Under Pressure to Talk to Tehran - Experts from both parties speak out * LAT, Army Rules Put on Hold - The revised field manual seeks to permit harsher interrogations of terror suspects * CSM, Uncle Sam Doesn't Want You [foreign scholars denied visas] * LAT, Russia Aims to Counter US With Bigger Arsenal - Putin speech compares America to a wolfthat "swallows without listening to anyone" * WP, Army Using Policy to Deny Reserve Officer Resignations * AP, Congress Demands Phone Records Answers * NYT, Egyptian Forces Beat Back Demonstration for Judges 96
TIMELINE
FROM 29 APRIL TO 12 MA y
-
* Chicago Tribune, The NSA Has Your Number This sounds like a vast and unchecked intrusion on privacy * Kentucky Herald-Leader, Grand Jury Indicts Gov. Ernie Fletcher * Inside Bay Area, Scientists Call Diebold Security Flaw "Worst Ever" * TPMMuckraker.com, Did Gonzales Mislead Congress About NSA Program? 0512 * RFE, Former KGB Man Named New Customs Chief * RFE, Russian Defense Minister Says Today's Threat Worse Than Cold War * USA Today, NSA Has Massive Database of Americans' Phone Calls [publication ofthis article was a major media event] * USA Today, Bush says privacy protected; sources tell of "spider web" use * Congress Daily, Former NSA Officer [Russell Tice] Alleges Illegal Activities Under Hayden * WP, Federal Agents Raid CIA Official's Home, Office * Truthout, Middle East Experts Against Military Option in Iran * REU, Rice, Rumsfeld Block Access to Secret Detainees - International Red Cross * Knight Ridder, A New Report Says the Pentagon's Finances are in Disarray * GUA, US in Secret Gun Deal Small arms shipped from Bosnia to Iraq "go missing" as Pentagon uses dealers * Progress Report, Cheney's Handwritten Notes Revealed [Plame case] * ERR!, FBI Says They Can't Find Sleeper Cells * Progress Report, Iraq Breaking the Guard and Reserves * ERR!, Oil Tanks Set Ablaze in Chechnya in Suspected Terrorist Attack * ERR!, Pentagon Reportedly Exploring Option of Troops to Guard S.W. Border * UN/REU, Iran - UN inspectors discover highly enriched uranium * UN/AP, Annan supports EU diplomacy on Iran, urges US * Wired, NSA Using Social Network Analysis * NYT, Career CIA Figure Is at Eye of Scandal - Home, Office Searched
-
97
CHAPTER Il TIMELINE FROM 13 MAY TO 26 MAY Intelligence, N. 480,29 May 2006
The major topics of media reports concerning intelligence and security have changed little over the past fortnight. In our preceding issue, we stated that the two dominant topics had been the continuing development of the Bush White House "snoopgate" scandal of warrantless surveillance of the American population and major disturbances at the top of the CIA. Although the sudden resignation of CIA Director Porter Goss and the resignation of CIA Executive Director Kyle "Dusty" Foggo under accusations of corruption have more or less disappeared from the headlines, the contested nomination of "snoopgate" proponent and former NSA director, General Michael V. Hayden, to lead the CIA has continued to make the news. Two weeks ago, those two major topics were followed by three other important topics: the Iranian nuclear program and the international confrontation it has generated; the Iraq war with its continuing American and British losses and sectarian infighting; and the continued international campaign against the Bush White House policy of torture, and secret kidnapping and imprisonment of suspects. That has continued to be the case over the past fortnight as other security and intelligence topics have continued to be in the background. 0513 * NYT, At Falwell's University, McCain Defends Iraq War * AP, Suicidal Troops Sent Into Combat - US military violated own rules on mentally ill troops * NYT, US, Citing State Secrets, Challenges Detainee Suit
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
* AP, Spy Agency [National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency] Watching Americans From Space * ERR!, Rival Somali Factions Battle in Capital * ERR!, Algerian rebels (GSPC) threaten to strike US military bases in North Africa and the Sub-Sahara region * ERR!, More Die in Fresh Brazil Attacks; Violence Spreads and Escalates as Prison Riots Break Out * ERRI, Recalcitrant Iran Rejects European Proposals * LAT, The Conflict in Iraq - US Military Is Split on Insurgency Strategy 0514 * REU, * REU, * BBC, * NYT,
Hayden CIA Bid Hinges on Spying Role - Senators White House Dismisses Calls for Direct Iran Talks Blasts Kill 14 at Baghdad Airport Cheney Pushed US to Widen Eavesdropping
0515 * ABC, FBI Acknowledges - Journalists' Phone Records Are Fair Game * Mail and Guardian, Death Toll Passes 70 in Brazil's Wave of Violence * AP, EU Prepared to Back Civilian Iran Program * Chicago Tribune, Secret Gov't Source Tells ABC News - "Get New Cellphones" * In These Times, NSA Thwarts Whistleblower - Russell Tice has something to say, but there is no one he can talk to * Free Press, Will the Major Media Finally Cover the Electronic Election Fraud Issue? * AFP, Forty Killed in Day ofIraq Carnage * WP, Negroponte Had Denied Domestic Call Monitoring * AlternetlThe Nation, White House Blocks Investigations into Spying * RFE, Russia Begins Removing Armor from Military Base in Southern Georgia * RFE, Serbia and Montenegro's Foreign Minister Says Security Services Are Protecting Mladic * NYT, A Leap of Faith, Off a Cliff [Bush's extra-legal behavior] 0516 * REU, Bush Agrees to Review of Spy Program * AP, Bombing, Gunfire in Baghdad Leave 19 Dead * GUA, Bush Bans Arms Sales to Chavez * AP, Pentagon Releases Gitmo Detainees' Names * EPIC, CIA Director Nominee [Hayden] Oversaw NSA Domestic Spying Programs * FAS, House Moves to Abolish NSA Counterintelligence Office 100
TIMELlNE
* Progress Report, Immigration
FROM 13 MAY TO 26 MA y
- Bush
Endorses Path to Citizenship,
Talks
Tough on Borders * NYT, Europe to Offer Iran Conditional Incentives * GUA, The Danger of an Attack on Iran Can No Longer Be Ignored * Korea Times, North Korea as a Temporary Nuclear State * ERR!, Shooting and Car Bombing Leaves 19 Dead in Baghdad * ERR!, Israeli Missile Injures Three Palestinian Militants * ERRI, Violence Continues in Brazil After 81 People Killed by Gangs * RFE, Russian Foreign Minister Says Russia, China Oppose Force against Iran * RFE, Russia Prepared to Give More Aid to Palestinians; And Will Continue Talking to Hamas * RFE, Two Militants Killed in Fighting in Daghestan 0517 * Liberation, CIA - The Reasons for a Deep Coma * REU, Former Bush Campaign Official [James Tobin] Sentenced to Prison * NBC, Lawmaker - Marines Killed Iraqis "In Cold Blood" - Navy conducting war crimes probe into November violence in Haditha * AP, Verizon Denies Giving NSA Phone Records * WP, US Secretly Backing Warlords in Somalia * IND, Basra Carnage Escalates as One Person Killed Every Hour, Patrick Cockburn * Alternet/Democracy Now, They Track Journalists, Don't They - The FBI is using "national security letters," designed to help catch terrorists, to go after reporters * Progress Report, Bush and Hatch Acknowledge Existence of NSA Phone Record Database * EPIC, EPIC Urges FCC to Open Investigation into Disclosure of Call Record Information to the NSA * RFE, Seven Killed by Car Bomb in Ingushetia
- Ingushetia's
First Deputy
Interior Minister Djabrail Kostoyev and six other people were killed by a car bomb in Nazran on May 17 * ERR!, Five Judges Shot by Attorney in Turkey 0518 * BBC, CIA "Torture" Lawsuit Thrown Out * REU, Top Air Force Brass Said to Be Under FBI Probe * BBC, Afghanistan Sees Violence Upsurge - Up to 100 people have died in some of Afghanistan's fiercest fighting since US-led forces ousted the Taliban regime in 2001 * AP, Hayden Insists NSA Surveillance Is Legal * WP, Italian Leader Calls Iraq Occupation "Grave Error" 101
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
* NYT, US Said to Weigh a New Approach on North Korea * FAS, CRS Views Government Access to Phone Records * ERRI, Fifteen Injured in Jammu and Kashmir Grenade Attack * ERRI, Shooting Attacks Leave One Dead in the Gaza Strip * ERRI, New Hamas Militant Force Takes to the Streets * ERRI, Nepal's King Officially Stripped ofPowers * ERRI, US Senate Votes to Extend Mexican Border Fence * Progress Report, Legal Foundation for NSA Program * Progress Report, Hayden Must Explain His Misleading Statements Under Oath * Deutsche Welle, Military Option [in Iran] not a Profitable Course of Action, Zbigniew Brzezinski 0519 * REU, Pentagon Secret Spending Said at Post-Cold War High * AP, FBI Investigating $50M Air Force Contract * AP, Mexico Condemns US Border Fence Plan * LAT, 4 Guantanamo Prisoners Attempt Suicide in One Day - Also, other detainees assault US guards trying to keep a man from hanging himself * MSNBC, Guantanamo Prisoners, Guards Clash * LAT, 5 US Personnel Killed in Iraq * Alternet, How Bush Destroyed the CIA, Sidney Blumenthal * National Journal, Hayden's Horizon * FAS, DNI Reports "Substantial Progress" in Intelligence Reform * FAS, In Print - [Pentagon] Imaginary Weapons * Progress Report, Major Crackdown in Egypt Continues as Bush Secretly Welcomes Mubarak's Son * UN, Interrogation said slow at Guantanamo naval base * UN, UN report urges US to end torture of detainees * UN, US [anti-] prostitution policy ruled illegal * ERRI, Gen. Hayden Grilled For Eight Hours Over Terror Surveillance Programs 0520 * REU, FBI Raids US House of Representatives Office * AP, Fighting in Southern Afghanistan Kills 12 * LAT, US Seeks to Curb Iran With Neighbors' Help - The plan calls for missile defense systems * REU, Iraq Gets New Government as Bombs KilI24 * Truthout, Should Gen. Hayden Be Confirmed or Court-Martialed? * Alternet/BuzzFlash, Wiretapping Wouldn't Have Prevented 9/11
102
TIMELINE
FROM 13 MA y TO 26 MA y
0521 * ERR!, Militias Continue to Battle on Northern Edge of Mogadishu * ERR!, Probe finds Air Marshals at Risk * ERR!, Almost 10% of Mexican Citizens Are Now Living in the United States 0522 * IPS, Iran Target of Apparent [neo-conservative] Disinformation Ploy * CSM, A New Rival to "Regime Change" * NYT, How Iraq Police Reform Became Casualty ofWar * AP, Insurgents Keep US at Bay in Ramadi * ERR!, Israel's Olmert Iran's Atomic Bomb Not Far Off [again] * FAS, State Secrets Privilege Shuts Courthouse Doors [in Khaled El-Mas ri case] * FAS, Pentagon's Black Budget Soars to Cold War Heights * AP, Personal Data of26.5 Million Veterans Stolen * AP, Number of US Inmates Rises Two Percent * AP, Up to 80 Taliban Dead in US-Led Strike [and many civilians] * NYT, US Is Proposing European Shield for Iran Missiles * NYT, Pressed by US, European Banks Limit Iran Deals * New Yorker, National Security Department - Listening In, Seymour M. Hersh * Wired, Whistle-Blower's Evidence, Uncut; AT&T's Implementation of NSA Spying on American Citizens
-
0523 * UN, Amnesty - War on terror sparks more rights abuses * NYT, Senate Panel Backs Hayden for CIA Chief * Le Monde, Taliban Danger * ERR!, Norfolk Plainclothes Officer Mistaken for Perpetrator - Shot Dead by Police * New Standard, Verizon Refuses to Come Clean About Wiretapping * New York Daily News, 2 in CIA [Robert Grenier & Craig Schmall] to Testify Libby Lied on Leak * BBC, Amnesty Attacks UK Over Torture * GUA, Amnesty Attacks US "Disappearances" * IPS, War Provoking Terror, Amnesty Says * IND, Which Is the Real Iraq? Patrick Cockburn * WP, FBI Raid on Lawmaker's Office Is Questioned - Democrat Jefferson denies wrongdoing * AP, Karzai Orders Probe Into US Airstrike * REU, FCC ChiefWon't Probe NSA Call Program 103
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
0524 * Progress Report, Administration Increasingly Relying on State Secrets Privilege to Avoid Court Challenges * Progress Report, Gonzales Offers Flawed Case for Legality of Telephone Data-Mining Program * ERR!, Bin Laden Releases New Tape Denying Moussaoui 9/11 Involvement * FAS, New FISA Court Judge Appointed * FAS, House Intel Committee to Hold Hearing on Leaks * FCC Won't Probe NSA Call Program * Iran Again Presses for Talks With US * House Speaker Criticizes Bush on FBI Raid * Moscow Angered by US Plan for "Star Wars" Bases in Europe * Karzai Orders Probe Into US Airstrike [this is not the first time and the previous investigations produced no results] * 30 Iraqis Die in Attacks Across the Nation * AP, Hastert Demands FBI Return [Rep. Jefferson's] Documents * Business Week, Negroponte Given Power to Waive SEC Rules * IND, Moscow Angered by US Plan for "Star Wars" Bases in Europe to Counter Threat of Iran * NYT, 30 Iraqis Die in Attacks Across the Nation * REU, Ex-Bush Official [David Safavian] Hid Ties to Abramoff * WP, Iran Requests Direct Talks on Nuclear Program 0525 * RFE, Russian Minister Warns Media against Instigating Terrorism * RFE, Former Georgian Security Minister [Igor Giorgadze] Threatens "Nettle Revolution" * RFE, Top [Russian] General Says US [anti-] Missiles Would Threaten Russia * ERR!, China Rejects US Claims of Military Threat * ERR!, Fierce Gunbattles Rage Around East Timor * ERRI, Afghan, Coalition Forces Kill24 Enemy Fighters * ERR!, Gaza Security Chief Killed in Car Bombing * ERRI, Thirty Foreigners Arrested for African Coup Plot * ERR!, FBI Tears Down Barn as Search for Jimmy Hoffa Continues * WP, Get Serious About China's Rising Military * NYT, US Rejects Direct Talks With Iran but Keeps Meeting With Europe, China and Russia * REU, Envoy Says No Progress on North Korea Talks * Daily Times (Pakistan), No Military Offensive Against Iran - Aziz * AIjazeera, China Says US is Scaremongering * UN, US notes progress at Iran talks 104
TIMELINE
FROM 13 MAy TO 26 MAY
* National Journal, NSA investigation foiled...but by who? * CNN, Abbas Gives Hamas 10 Days to Recognize Israel - Otherwise, Palestinian leader says he'll seek referendum on issue * Cyberpresse, Thousands of Afghans Flee Combat Between the Taliban and the Coalition * GUA, U-Turn
-
by White House As It Blocks Direct Talks With Iran
Hardening of Bush policy rebuffs Tehran's approach - Move appears to surprise US ambassador to Iraq * IND, [British] Attorney General Told to Reveal Iraq Advice Information * Le Monde, The "Iraqization" of Afghanistan Worries the French Army * Marine Corps Times, A Dozen Marines May Face Courts-Martial for Alleged Iraq Massacre * National Journal, Rove-Novak Call Was Concern to Leak Investigators * REU, Harsher Abu Ghraib Methods Condoned * TomPaine.com, John Prados documents a US history of surveillance initiatives and security programs gone awry - Big Brother's History * WP, Gonzales Rationale on Phone Data Disputed 0526 * RFE, EU, Russia Fail to Reach Agreement on Energy * ERRI/AFPS, Sea-Based Missile Defense Test Successful * ERR!, Latest Roadside Bomb in Afghanistan Wounds Five Canadian Soldiers * ERR!, Former Navy Marksman [Lawrence Christopher Smith] Convicted of Gang Killing [in San Diego] * FAS, Vice President Refuses to Report Classification Activity * Progress Report, Corporate Power - End of the Enron Era? * Progress Report, Iraq
Military Investigations
- Conduct
* Progress Report, Radical Right
of Marines against Unarmed Iraqis Draws
- Explosive
Iran Story by Neoconservative
Turns Out to be False * AP, Senate Confirms Hayden as CIA Chief * BBC, Iraqis Shot "for Wearing Shorts" * Buffalo Beast, From secret detention centers to warrantless wiretapping Bush and Co. give free rein to their totalitarian impulses - Top 10 Signs of the Impending US Police State * CNN, Iran to US
- Stop
Bluster,
Let's Talk
* New Standard, Guantanamo Detainees in Limbo Because of Human Rights Concerns * NYT, Iraqi Minister Backs Iran on Nuclear Research * NYT, Military Expected to Report Marines Killed Iraqi Civilians
105
CHAPTER 12 TIMELINE FROM 27 MAY TO 8 JUNE Intelligence, N. 481, 12 June 2006
During the month of May, the two dominant topics of security and intelligence news were the continuing development of the Bush White House "snoopgate" scandal of warrantless surveillance of the American population, and major disturbances at the top of the CIA with the sudden resignation of CIA Director Porter Goss and his recent and rapid replacement by "snoopgate" proponent and former NSA director, General Michael V. Hayden. Those two major topics were followed by three other important topics: the Iranian nuclear program and the international confrontation it has generated; the Iraq war with its continuing American and British losses and sectarian infighting; and the continued international campaign against the Bush White House policy of torture, and secret kidnapping and imprisonment of suspects. But these topics have been seriously rearranged by the 17 May NBC report on the November 2005 massacre of Iraqi civilians by US Marines (Lawmaker - Marines Killed Iraqis "In Cold Blood" - Navy conducting war crimes probe into November violence in Haditha). That topic currently dominates intelligence and security news, particularly following the ITV News video interview of Iman Walid, the ten-year-old girl who witnessed the killing of seven family members during the Haditha attack. Even Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki claims "US troops attack civilians daily" .
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
This "worse than the usual bad news" from Iraq, like the insurgent war against occupying forces, has spread to Afghanistan where a late May fatal US military convoy accident "incited unrest" with the US military claiming that "only... warning shots were fired in the air" (NYT). Unfortunately, the chief of the highway police in Kabul, Gen. Amanullah Gozar, witnessed the accident and confirmed that US troops fired into the angry crowd, killing several civilians. The other major "bad news" came from Somalia where armed Islamic groups took over Mogadishu, which represents "a major defeat" (IPS) for the Bush White House and its not-too-clandestine CIA backing of local warlords. On the "domestic" US scene, the recent publication by Rolling Stone of a lengthy and well-documented Robert F. Kennedy Jr. study ("Was the 2004 Election Stolen? - Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio
from casting ballots or having their votes counted - enough to have put John
Kerry in the White House") is sure to cause "a stir" and political fallout in the near future. At the same time, Justice boss Gonzales continues to back warrantless snooping on Americans, claiming warrants aren't necessary under a 1979 Supreme Court ruling because it involves obtaining "business records", meaning your private conversations are "business" for the NSA and Gonzales. And he also threatened to try journalists for writing about "snoopgate" and other such "business". But according to an in-depth study by John Prados (0525 TomPaine.com, Big Brother's History - John Prados documents a US history of surveillance initiatives and security programs gone awry), American history is littered with examples of similar instances of security programs gone awry. The Church Senate Committee concluded, "The tendency of intelligence activities expanding beyond their initial scope is a theme which runs through every aspect of our investigative findings." But this time, the Bush White House is having some success in blocking any serious investigation of "snoopgate". Perhaps the most "incredible" intelligence and security news of the past fortnight came from New York City (0606 ERR!, Two Former NYPD Sentenced to Life for Mafia Connections). The two former "crime-busters" were found guilty of helping to commit eight murders on behalf of the Luchese crime family between 1986 and 1990. Intelligence has always maintained that reality always surpasses fiction on the "bad end of the scale".
108
TIMELlNE
FROM 27 MA y TO 8 JUNE
0527 * AP, Official- Iraq Civilian Deaths Unjustified * ERR!, Bombs in Central Baghdad Kill Two; Wound 17 Others * ERR!, Eight Dead in Sri Lankan Landmine Attack * ERRI, FBI Chiefs Threaten Resignation Over Congressman [Rep. Jefferson] Documents * ERR!, Israeli Defense Force Strikes Targets in Southern Lebanon * ERRI, Rescue Operations Continues After Indonesian Earthquake; 3,000 Dead * ERRI, US Helicopter Crashes; Marine Killed in Iraq * LAT, Photos Indicate Civilians Slain Execution-Style - An official involved in an investigation of Camp Pendleton Marines' actions in an Iraqi town cites "a total breakdown in morality" 0528 * AP, US Braces for Marine Scandal * IND, The Massacre and the Marines * Santa Cruz Sentinel, Pentagon Ordered to Expedite Handover of UC Spying Records * Time, The Shame of Kilo Company [massacre in Iraq] 0529 * AP, Marines Were Traumatized After Haditha Incident * ERR!, Convoy Accident in Afghanistan Incites Unrest * ERR!, FBI Agents Turn to Shovels in Jimmy Hoffa Dig * ERR!, Indonesian Bird Flu Toll Reaches 37 * In These Times, GOP Jams Democracy - How high did the Republicans New Hampshire phone scheme reach? * IND, Bush "Planted Fake News Stories on American TV" * Intelcenter.com, A Swiss operation to monitor a radical Muslim scholar, Hani Ramadan, fell apart when the person chosen to penetrate his circle by the Service for Analysis and Prevention (DAP) converted to Islam * Intelcenter.com, FBI - An internal review of the espionage case of suspected Chinese spy, Katrina Leung, has been completed by the Department of Justice [and is not flattering for the FBI] * Intelcenter.com, France is undergoing a periodic review of the structure of its intelligence services [more like a "periodic scandal" involving spies] * Intelcenter.com, Germany - Opposition parties in the Bundestag are asking for repercussions in the case of the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) surveillance of German journalists * Intelcenter.com, On 20 May 2006, a bomb detonated in an elevator shaft at the headquarters of the Palestinian General Intelligence Service (PGIS) in Gaza City, injuring PGIS Director Tariq abu-Rajab 109
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
* NYT, Afghans Riot After Deadly Crash by US Military Truck * REU, Pentagon Pressing For New Rapid-Strike Weapon * WP, Cover-up of Iraq Incident By Marines Is Alleged 0530 * AP, 75 Detainees Go On Hunger Strike [in Guantanamo] * AP, Coalition in Iraq Continues to Dwindle * AP, Treasury Secretary Snow Resigns * BBC, Dozens Dead in Iraq Bomb Attacks * Cursor.org, Afghanistan Spinning Out of Control * Figaro, The Taliban Become Pakistan's Instrument to Control Afghanistan Once Again * Le Monde, Transfer of Passenger Information to the United States Judged Illegal * NYT, War in Iraq Is a Deadly Assignment for Journalists * REU, ElBaradei - Iran Not an Immediate Nuclear Threat * REU, More US Troops Arrive in Iraq * TomDispatch.com, The Tangled Web of American "Intelligence", Tom Engelhardt * Truthout, Pakistan Uses Taliban Again To Control Afghanistan 0531 * AP, US Troops Kill Pregnant Woman in Iraq * Carnegie, Carnegie Supports Rice's Statement on Iran * Chicago Tribune, US Offer of Iran Talks Seen as Change of Course * CSM, Frustration Mounts Between US, Pakistan [case of nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan] * IND, Bloodiest Month [for British troops in Iraq] * NYT, US Investigating Shooting ofTwo Iraqi Women * RFE, Chechen Field Commander [Shamil Basayev] Tours North Caucasus, Meets With Subordinates * USA Today, Bush's shift on Iran a wise move 0601 * AI-Ahram, Negotiating Fortunes [2003 secret Iranian two-page proposal to the US] * BBC, Mixed Press for US-Iran Offer * Chosun Ilbo, N. Korean Light-Water Reactor Project Officially Dead * ERR!, 9/11 Conviction Overturned; Spain Reverses Itself on Convicted Terrorists * ERR!, Anti-Terror Funding Cut In DC and New York, Homeland Security Criticized Over Grants * ERR!, Iran rebuffs US as UN powers ready incentives 110
TIMELINE
FROM 27 MAY TO 8 JUNE
* ERR!, More Stories of Fallen Al-Qaida (Foreign) Fighters in Iraq * ERRI, Police Reportedly Thwart Attempt to Assassinate Turkey Prime Minister * ERR!, Police, students clash again in Chile * FT, N. Korea Invites US Nuclear Negotiator for Talks * IHT/NYT, Towards Talks with Iran * New York Daily News, Feds to [New York] City - Drop Dead * NYT, Americans Fired Into Crowd, Afghan Says * NYT, Blix Says US Impedes Efforts to Curb A-Arms * Progreso Weekly, Bachelet Under Pressure - Bush wants Chile to shun Venezuela * Rolling Stone, Was the 2004 Election Stolen?; Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [a major article] * TomDispatch.com, The Swift Boating of America [the military-industrial complex] * UN/IHT/AP, Iran welcomes talks with US, dismisses halting uranium enrichment * US Department of Homeland Security, Setting the Record Straight - Grant Support to Our Major Cities * WP, Probe Into Iraq Deaths Finds False Reports * WT, US means business with its proposal [on Iran] * NYT, Afghanistan, Unraveling - Poorly thought-out American policies are at least partly to blame for Afghanistan's rising carnage 0602 * Alternet, Video - Iraqi Girl Describes Attack * AP, More Violence Breaks Out in East Timor * BBC, Guantanamo Hunger Strike up to 89 * EPIC, Attorney General Hints at Prosecuting Reporters Over NSA Story * EPIC, Brennan Center Issues Internet Filtering Report * EPIC, European Court Blocks Passenger Data Transfer * EPIC, Gen. Michael Hayden Sworn in as CIA Director * EPIC, Justice Department Presses for Internet Data Retention * EPIC, Supreme Court Rules Against Whistleblower [Richard Ceballos, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles] * ERRI, Furor Continues Over Counter-Terrorism Funding Allocations For NYC * IND, Head of France's Nuclear Watchdog "Lied Over Chernobyl Fallout" * IND, Return to Somalia - The War on Terror - A New Front * Knight Ridder, Iraqis Accuse Marines of Killing Unarmed Civilian * MediaChanneI.org, Media Crimes Lead to War Crimes * NYT, Iraqi Assails US for Strikes on Civilians * Raw Story, Librarians Defy the FBI 111
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
* REU, US Soldier Gets Hard Labor for Abu Ghraib Abuse * The Nation, Time Magazine - Unfair and Unbalanced * Truthout, Iraqi Prime Minister - "US Troops Attack Civilians Daily" * Truthout, Media Crimes Sanitize War Crimes in Iraq * UN/IHT/NYT, Six countries agree on proposal for Iran [the US, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany] * WSJ, Over a Barrel [on Iran] * Intelcenter.com/Cape Times, South Africa - Ministry of Intelligence Services [to reform the service] 0603 * BBC, Seven Police Die in Iraq Ambush * Editor & Publisher, Press Accounts Suggest Military "Cover-Up" in Ishagi Killings * ERRI, Fake ID Sellers Flourish; Technology Assists Illegals [Los Angeles] * ERRI, London Bomb Factory Raid - Police Continue to Hunt for Suspect Device * ERR!, Russian Diplomat Killed; Four Kidnapped [in Iraq] * ERR!, Iran Thought Ready To "Unleash" Hezbollah if Negotiations Fail [US] intelligence officials say * ERR!, Twelve Arrested in Canada on Terrorism Charges * The Age (Australia), US Winces as Haditha Echoes My La 0604 * AP, Navy, Guard Personnel's Data Among Those Lost * ERR!, Canadian Terror Raids - Metro Atlanta Men Tied to Terror Suspects * ERR!, It's All About the Money... International Center for the Study of Terrorism * ERRI/Times, Newspaper Says "Foreign legion" Forming in Iraq - Lead by Zarqawi [old unsubstantiated "news" even before Zarqawi's death] * FT, Rumsfeld Softens Tone on China * LAT, Baghdad Morgue Reports Record Figures for May * NYT, Invoking Secrets Privilege Becomes a More Popular Legal Tactic by US * NYT, Supporting Our Troops Over a Cliff 0605 * AFP, Probe of Haditha Massacre Must Go to Top - US Lawmakers * AP, Gunmen Seize 50 in Iraq Bus Station Raids * AP, Islamic Militia Says Mogadishu Captured * ERR!, SecState Rice Waiting For Diplomacy to Work With Iran * ERRI, Terror's New Homeland - Parallels in History - Somalia and Iraq Somalia and the fruits of US retreat in Somalia 112
-
TIMELINE
FROM 27 MAY TO 8 JUNE
* ERR!, Times of London Says Police Feared Chemical Device Contained Cyanide * ERRI/WT, Putting the Media and Iran in Perspective - Tehran's Useful Idiots? [non-right-wing US media] * Progress Report, Iraq - Understanding Haditha What Happened at Haditha - A Cover-Up? - Why It Happened - The Fallout - Right Wing Plays Politics * RFE, Key Witness in Case of Serbian Premier's Assassination Found Dead [Zoran "Vuk" Vukojevic] * RFE, Russia Ready to Sell More Arms to Venezuela * RFE, Two FSB Officials Die in Ingushetia Shooting * UNIAlternet, Interview - Rebelleader supports UN presence in Darfur * UN/Prensa Latina, Peru's Garcia faces divided, challenged country * UN/USA Today, UN officials push peace in Sudan * Lack of American News Coverage, Khamenei - No Nuclear Weapon Program, No First Strike, Goal is Energy Independence, Abu Ghrayb, Haditha Weaken US Human Rights Claims, Juan Cole
-
0606 * AP, Senators Seek Answers in [FBI] Probe of Reporter * Creators Syndicate, Stooges for the Establishment [US media] * ERR!, Canadian Law Enforcement Search Abroad for More Terror Links * ERRI, Iraqi Police Find Nine Heads Along Highway in Iraq - It was the second such discovery in four days * ERRI, Islamic Militia Claims Control Over Mogadishu * ERR!, Security Official Killed in Waziristan Attack [in Pakistan's tribal area] * ERR!, Taliban Suicide Bomber Rams US Coalition Convoy * ERR!, Two Former NYPD Sentenced to Life for Mafia Connections * GUA, Resist This US Backlash [in Latin America] * IPS, Bush Hawks Down [Somalia] * NYT, Degrading America's Image [torture and massacres] * NYT, Documents Shed Light on CIA's Use of Ex-Nazis * NYT, Iran Reacts Cautiously to Deals on Trade * REU, Senate Panel Backs OffTelcoms in Spying Probe * RFE, Abducted Ingush Found Dead [Uvays Dolakov] * RFE, Georgian Ombudsman Accuses Penitentiary Official [Bacho Akhalaya, the Interior Ministry official responsible for overseeing the country's prisons] oftriggering the protests by prisoners at a Tbilisi prison in March in which at least six inmates died * RFE, How Close Is Georgia to NA TO Membership?
.
* RFE, Russian Security Official Warns of "Challenge" in Asia (Nikolai Spassky, a deputy secretary of the National Security Council] 113
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLlTICS" 2006
* RFE, Socialists Urge Ukrainian President to Sack Defense Minister [Anatoliy Hrytsenko] Over US Naval Visit * RFE, Upper House Committee Chairman Discusses Energy as a "Weapon" * Truthout, Nine State Democratic Parties Back Impeachment - Whose Table Is It, Nancy? * Truthout/Vanity Fair, The War They Wanted, the Lies They Needed * UN/CNN, Iran sends mixed signals on nuclear package * UN/IHTINYT, Somalia Victory by Islamic militias sparks concern * UN/WP, US waits to see Iran's next move on nuclear package * WP, Gunmen in Police Uniform Abduct 56 in Iraq
-
0607 * Alternet, Media Failed Its Duty in Lee Case * Alternet, RFK Jr - Taking the Stolen Election Seriously * AP, Indonesia to Rumsfeld - Let Nations Decide How to Fight Terrorism * ERR!, Abu Bakar Bashir to be Freed Next Week [in Indonesia] * ERR!, Identity Theft Affects 2.2 Million Guard and Reserve Members * ERR!, Prosecutors Allege Terrorists Planned to Behead Canadian Prime Minister * FAS, CIA Nazi Files Released * GUA, From Logistics to Turning a Blind Eye - Europe's Role in [CIA] Terror Abductions - Damning verdict from human rights body, Evidence points to secret jails in Eastern Europe * LAT, Pentagon Limits Medical Role in Questioning - But critics who object to detainee treatment at Guantanamo say involving health-care professionals could lead to rougher tactics * New Standard, Cheney's Office Declares Exemption From Secrecy Oversight * RFE, Family, Serbian Government Disagree Why Slain Witness Was Not Protected * RFE, Kalashnikov Factory Reportedly Planned for Venezuela * RFE, Russia Warns Ukraine Over Possible NA TO Membership * RFE, Ukrainian President Shrugs Off Anti-NATO Resolution of Crimean Legislature * Truthout, Europe Colluded in CIA Prisoner "Spider's Web" * Truthout, First Officer Announces Refusal to Deploy to Iraq * Truthout, Psychologists and Physicians Involved in Torture at Guantanamo * UN/GUA, Darfur - Fears of locals compounded by inadequate security forces * UNILA T, Sudan's Bashir voices concern over possible UN deployment * UNlNew York Sun, Bolton - Top aides should exit [UN] with Annan * UNINYT, Malloch Brown [UN] - US lack of support hurts UN * UNIUPI, Annan defends deputy's call for more US involvement 114
TIMELINE
FROM 27 MA y TO 8 JUNE
* WP, Silence Angers Judiciary Panel - Justice official mum on possible prosecution of journalists * WP, The Amateur Sleuth Who Gave the Archives a Red Face [secret CIA reclassification operation] 0608 * AP, Democrats Try to Save Poverty Survey * BBC, UN Comments Trigger Row With US * Boston Globe, Condolence Payments to Iraqis Soar - Military gave nearly $20 million to families of civilians * ERRl, British Police Seek More Time to Question Terror Suspects * ERRI, Canadian Terror Suspect [Amin Mohamed Durrani] Enrolled in Flight Training Program * ERRl, Confirmed - Abu Musab al-Zaqawi Killed in US Task Force Raid * ERRl, Failed Suicide Bombing Attempt Against Afghanistan Football Game * ERRl, FBI Tried to Buy Russian Satellite Photos of Oklahoma City Bombing * ERRl, Italy to Pull Out of Iraq by Year's End * Liberation, Caution - Does Torture Matter to the US? * NCH Washington Update, CIA Declassifies Nazi Files * NYT, Specter's Uneasy Relationship With White House Is Revealed in a Letter to Cheney * NYT, US Strike Hits Insurgent at Safehouse [Zaqawi] * RFE, Chechen Commissioner Rejects Report of Secret Prison * RFE, Iranian Envoy Warns Baku Against Inviting Azerbaijani Leader * RFE, US Embassy Says Military Cargo in Ukraine Not Hazardous, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Says Russia Is Violating Black Sea Fleet Agreement * Truthout, Bush's Elimination of Income Survey Avoids Awareness of Poverty Levels * Truthout, Cheney Cuts Senator Out of Democratic Process * Truthout, First Officer Publicly Resisting War Gains National Support * Truthout, Top UN Official Clashes With Bolton * UN/Aljazeera/USA Today/AP, US airstrike in Iraq kills al-Zarqawi
115
CHAPTER 13 TIMELINE FROM 9 JUNE TO 29 JUNE Intelligence, N. 482,3 July 2006
On the international scene, the past three weeks have seen a new major conflict develop between Israelis and Palestinians which began with the death of Palestinian civilians on the Huda Ghalia beach (0617 GUA, The Battle of Huda Ghalia
- Who
Really Killed Girl's Family on Gaza Beach?),
followed by Palestinians kidnapping an Israeli soldier and the bombardment and invasion of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military. That armed conflict has shared the headlines with the suicides of three persons held captive by the US military at Guantanamo and the incredible US military statement that "Killing Themselves Was Unnecessary. But It Certainly Is a Good PR Move" (0612 GUA). The Bush White House had to immediately and seriously "back pedal" (0612 Knight Ridder, State Department Tries to Distance Itself From Guantanamo Remark) and openly consider, for the first time, closing "Gitmo" (0614 REU, Bush Acknowledges Guantanamo Damages US Image). These two topics have dominated security and intelligence news over the past three weeks, but the Iraq war and, in particular, the death of jihadist leader Zarqawi, continue in the headlines: 0613 Truthout, The Death of alZarqawi; 0626 AP, Bombs Kill At Least 40 in Two Iraqi Cities; 0628 Alternet, US Waters Down Iraqi Peace Plan; 0628 AP, Iraq Insurgents Offer to Stop Attacks. But the real Iraq news was in Washington where the Republican-dominated Congress voted to continue the war (0616 Progress Report, Little Substance in Shrill Iraq War "Debate") and Republican Sen. Rick Santorum (PA), confronted with a difficult re-election campaign, "discovered" the missing Iraqi WMD (0622 Progress Report, Santorum
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
Makes Wild Claims About Having Found WMD in Iraq; 0623 WP, Democrats Criticize Claim on Iraqi Arms). The domestic US scene has also seen continued media reports concerning the massacre of Iraqi civilians by the US military (0621 LAT, Marines Missed "Red Flags," Study Finds), to which a new subject of Pentagon "worse than the normal bad news" has been added: refusal of orders to serve in Iraq (0612 The Nation, Lieutenant Watada's War Against the War; 0614 Truthout, Editor's Note - Sara Rich is the mother of an AWOL US soldier; 0615 Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Troops Refusing Iraq Duty Get a Haven; 0629 Truthout, Statement in Support of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada). These Pentagon woes run parallel to increasing woes for US intelligence and specifically the CIA (0614 National Security Policy E-News, No Mere Oversight - The Role of Congress in Effective Intelligence; Terrorism Index The Center for American Progress Terrorism Index seeks for the first time to mine the highest echelons of the US national security establishment across the ideological spectrum for their insights on the war on terrorism; 0625 WP, Warnings on WMD "Fabricator" Were Ignored, Ex-CIA Aide Says; 0626 National Security Policy E-News, Joseph Cirincione Congressional Testimony on Pre-War Intelligence). But perhaps the best "sum up" of the CIA's situation was given by new CIA director and former NSA director Hayden (0628 Progress Report, Iraq - Hayden Yields to Pressure to Change His Opinion on Feith's Manipulation of Intel) and his two statements (0628 Progress Report, Daily Grill): "No, sir, I wasn't. And I wasn't aware of a lot of the activity going on, you know, when it was contemporaneous with running up to the war. No, sir, I wasn't comfortable" (Hayden, on 18 May 2006, specifically criticizing Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith's role in the manipulation of intelligence); versus "My comments about 'wrong,' 'inaccurate,' and 'misleading' were attached to a broader discussion of analytic challenges and not to any specific activities, including those under Mr. Feith" (Hayden, on 27 June 2006, reversing his criticism of Feith). CIA "intelligence" and "impartiality" will have a hard time recovering from that.
-
At the FBI, things are only slightly better, but all its headline "terrorism" cases are being looked at hard by judges and the media and found wanting (0621 AP, Judge Seeks More Evidence in Padilla Case; 0623 Knight Ridder, Indictment of Suspected Terrorists [Florida seven] Contains Little Evidence of Plot; 0626 New Standard, Three Years On, Lone "Enemy Combatant" [Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri] Lingers on US Soil.
118
TIMELINE
FROM 9 JUNE TO 29 JUNE
And at the very heart of the domestic scene, the "hard" heart of the Bush White House, there is increasing attention to the role played by Richard Cheney (0627 Truthout, Vice President Cheney, Chef in Chief). These "secondary topics" should also include the Iranian nuclear program and difficulties in dealing with that Islamic country (0625 WP, Inside Iran's Fractured Regime), and North Korea and its arms program which, with the Bush White House's anti-missile program, were the subject of a thoughtprovoking metaphor by Dennis Jett (0628 Anniston Star, Missile Dysfunction): "For two countries that are edging toward confrontation, the United States and North Korea have a lot in common ... For instance, both have missile systems that don't work. But that's OK, since both have deployed them for political reasons and not military ones." They also have in common that they may be shooting their missiles at each other. 0609 * ERRI/Council on Foreign Relations, Profile - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi * ERRI/Foreign Policy Research Institute, The Demise of Abu Musab AIZarqawi * GUA, [British] Soldiers Quit Army in Protest After Acquittal on Boy's Death * NYT, 33 Afghans US Had Held Are Released * NYT, Zarqawi Is Dead, but Weary Iraqis Fear the Violence Won't Subside * REU, War Bill Deletes US [Iraqi] Military Base Prohibition * RFE, Chechen Prosecutor Opens Criminal Case in Connection with Secret Prison * RFE, Russian Official Denies Talks Under Way With Chechen Resistance * RFE, US President Cancels Visit to Ukraine [after anti-NATO troubles] * Salt Lake Tribune, Root Causes of Haditha, Maj. Gen. John Batiste (retired) * Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Associate Publisher - Public Interest in News Topics Beyond Control ofMainstream Media, Kenneth F. Bunting * Truthout, The "Elimination" of Zarqawi A New Episode of the Media War * Truthout, Unreported - The Zarqawi Invitation [Donald Rumsfeld fired the first Iraqi occupation boss, General Jay Garner, and got the insurgency and Zarqawi going] * UN/FT, A reasonable speech - Mark Malloch Brown's speech Tuesday was "a model of reasoned diplomacy" that prudently urged US leaders to balance criticism of the UN "with an acknowledgement ofits benefits" * UN/IND, Quest for reform makes relations tense [UN-US]
-
119
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
0610 * ERR!, Death Could Shake Al-Qaida In Iraq and Around the World * IND, Why Zarqawi's Death May Strengthen the Iraqi Resistance * ERR!, More About Secret Task Force [145] That Tracked Zarqawi * New Scientist, Pentagon Sets Its Sights on Social Networking Web Sites * New Zealand Herald, US-Made Man an "Enemy to America's Liking" [Zarqawi] * NYT/AP, Hamas Fires Rockets at Israel After Calling Off Truce * REU, Three Guantanamo Detainees Committed Suicide 0611 * ERRI, Three Suicides Reported at Detention Facility * ERR!, US Puts $5M Bounty Out on Drug Cartel Leader [Mexican Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez] * Foreign Affairs, The Tipping Points - From Bad to Worse, Terrorism and the war in Iraq are not the only sources of the American public's anxiety about US foreign policy * FT, Legality of Bush's Wiretapping Faces Court Challenge * LAT, Fear of Big Battle Panics Iraqi City [Ramadi] * LA T, Iraq's Pentagon Papers - This unjustified war is waiting for its whistle-blower, says the leaker ofVietnam's secret history, Daniel Ellsberg * NYT, Blind Man's Bluff [snoopgate and Senate] * REU, Suicides Prompt New Calls to Shut Guantanamo * Truthout, When Will Mainstream Media Question 2004 Election? 0612 * AP, US Defends Warrantless Domestic Spying * ERR!, Fox News Exploitation of Iraqi Archives - What was the relationship between Saddam Hussein's inner circle and Islamic terrorists? * ERR!, Violent Crime Up, 1st Time In 5 Years * ERR!, Website Names Purported Zarqawi Successor [Abu Hamza alMuhajir] * ERRI, Zarqawi Died of Blast (Internal) Injuries * ERRI/WOAI, Unusual Purchase of Pre-Paid Cell Phones Prompts Investigation [south Texas] * GAO, Correspondence, FBI Trilogy - Responses to Posthearing Questions. GAO-06-853R, June 9. * GUA, "Killing Themselves Was Unnecessary. But It Certainly Is a Good PR Move" [Guantanamo] * Knight Ridder, State Department Tries to Distance Itself From Guantanamo Remark * Progress Report, Violent Crime Rates Show Largest Increase Since 1993 120
TIMELINE
FROM 9 JUNE TO 29 JUNE
* Raw Story, Florida House Candidate [Charlie Grapski] to Face Litany of Criminal Charges After Alleging Vote Fraud * RFE, Militant Attacks Kill Eight in Ingushetia * RFE, Some US Reservists Leave Ukraine in Wake of Anti-NATO Protests * RFE, Turkey Deports Leader of Iran's Azeri Minority [Mahmudali Chehraganli] * Telegraph, US "Planning to Keep 50,000 Troops in Iraq for Many Years" * The Nation, Lieutenant Watada's War Against the War * Truthout, Ramadi Fallujah Redux, Dahr Jamail * TruthoutITornDispatch.com, John Brown Helps the President Address the Nation, Tom Engelhardt * UN/FT, Bolton signals concerns about Iran timetable * UN/NYT, Who is Sheik Musa Hilal? Uanjaweed leader in Sudan's Darfur region] * UN/WP, Bolton's blunders * Wired, 27B Stroke 6 [ACLU's challenge to the government's warrantless wiretapping]
-
0613 * American Prospect, The Other Cheney Behind the Scenes [his daughter, Elizabeth] * AP, House Approves Another $66 Billion for War * AP, Nonaligned Nations Prepare to Back Iran * ERR!, Hundreds ofPalestinian Security Forces Go on. Rampage
* ERR!, Man Exposes Flaw in DHS Security * Knight Ridder, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Threatens to Explode * LAT, Attacks Aimed at Iraqi Civilians Kill27 * LAT, Outcry Over Suicides at Guantanamo * LAT, Rival US Labs in Arms Race to Build Safer Nuclear Bomb * Miami Herald, Gitmo Muslim Rituals Finished for Three Who Hanged Themselves * NYT, Judges Press CIA Lawyer Over Withheld Documents [authorizing it to detain and interrogate terrorism suspects overseas] * NYT, Nuclear Monitor Says Iran Fails to Provide Data * Progress Report, Congress - Missing in Action on Intelligence Oversight * Progress Report, "Not Only What Is Legal, But What Is Right" [Rove and Plame scandal] * REU, Nonaligned States Set to Back Iran at IAEA Meeting * Truthout, The Death of al-Zarqawi [insurgent strength was never the foreign fighters, mainly under Zarqawi's control] * UNINYT, ElBaradei calls for more cooperation from Iran * WP, Religious Leaders Urge US to Ban Torture
-
121
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
0614 * AFP, War Crimes Court Finds Multiple Darfur Massacres * AP, [Private Company] Officials Sued Over Phone Records Access * BradBlog.com, Security Breaches for "Sleepover" Voting Machines Used in BusbylBilbray Race Invalidated, Decertified Their Use in the Election * ERRl, British Police Accused of Shooting Terror Suspect Without Warning * ERRl, Hackers Steal Sensitive Nuclear-Weapons Unit Information * ERRl, Indonesia to Release JI Spiritual Leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir * ERRl, Israeli Air Strike Kills lOin Gaza Strip * ERRI, North Korea Preparing Ballistic Missile Test * ERRl, Series of Bombs Explode Throughout Kirkuk * GUA, Baghdad Security Crackdown Launched * National Security Policy E-News, No Mere Oversight * The Role of Congress in Effective Intelligence * National Security Policy E-News, Terrorism Index [experts have serious concerns about the effectiveness of the US national security apparatus] * NYT, Global Image of the US Is Worsening, [Pew] Survey Finds * Progress Report, Coalition Troops in Afghanistan Prepare for Major Offensive * Raw Story, Rumsfeld expels US media from Guantanamo Bay * REU, ACLU Sues Pentagon Over Anti-War Group Monitoring * REU, Bush Acknowledges Guantanamo Damages US Image * RFE, Chechnya Seeks to Subsume, "Stabilize" Ingushetia * Truthout, "Every Rocket Was a Painkiller" [war-scarred Afghanistan] * Truthout, Editor's Note - Sara Rich is the mother of an AWOL US soldier * Truthout, Fear for My Daughter, Sara Rich * Truthout, Military Has Ordered All Independent News Media off Guantanamo * Truthout, Must India Join Bush War on Nepal's Maoists? * Truthout, When Soldiers Refuse to Fight - Is the US Army Trying to Silence Lt. Watada? * UN/LA T, Iran opens prison's gates to journalists * UN/USA Today, UN cites recent suicides in renewed call for closing Gitmo 0615 * AP, High Court Backs Police No-Knock Searches * Boston Globe, Pentagon Says Military Deaths in Iraq Hit 2,500 * Cryptogram, Movie-Plot Threat Contest Winner [destroying the Grand Coulee Dam] * ERRl, Bomb Explodes in Northern Sri Lanka Killing 58 Civilians * ERRl, Kurdish Rebels Detonate Bomb in Istanbul Neighborhood 122
TIMELINE
FROM 9 JUNE TO 29 JUNE
* ERR!, Twenty Bombs Explode Across Thailand * ERRI/CNN, Abu Ayyub ai-Masri is believed to be the new head of al Qaida in Iraq * FAS, "Congressional Oversight of Intelligence Is Broken" * GUA, US Seen as a Bigger Threat to Peace than Iran, Worldwide Poll Suggests * LAT, Journalists Forced Off Guantanamo The four were covering the suicides at the island prison * NYT, Iran Quietly Learns of Penalties in a Nuclear Incentives Deal * NYT, Judge [John Gleeson] Rules That US Has Broad Powers to Detain Noncitizens Indefinitely * Progress Report, Administration Moves to "Plan B" in Somalia * REU, Senate Approves Another $65.8 Billion for War * RFE, New Video of Radical Chechen Field Commander Released [Shamil Basayev] * RFE, Operation Launched Against Suspected Militants in Ingushetia * RFE, Supreme Court Upholds 40-Year Sentence for Former Serbian President's Killer [Milorad Lukovic-Ulemek] * Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Troops Refusing Iraq Duty Get a Haven [the First United Methodist Church of Tacoma] * Toronto Star, War on Terror Called Failure - Another 9/11 "inevitable" * UN/REU, Western powers urge Iran to respond to incentive proposal * USA Today, Bush prefers closing Guantanamo, but high court must decide * WP, China Easing Its Stance on Taiwan
-
0616 * BBC, "Shoe Bomber" Hits Baghdad Mosque * Democracy Now, African-American Voters Scrubbed by Secret GOP Hit List [Go to Baghdad, lose your vote] * EPIC, Appeals Court Wrongly Extends Wiretap Requirements * EPIC, Documents Reveal More Potential [FBI] PATRIOT Act Abuses * EPIC, EPIC Testifies Before Homeland Security on Video Surveillance * EPIC, Federal, State Governments Struggle to Investigate Domestic Spying * EPIC, One-Third of US and UK Firms Read Employees' E-mail * ERR!, Post-Zarqawi Raids Kill More Than A Hundred "Bad Guys" in Iraq * LAT, Military Investigates US Killings of Iraqis at Checkpoint * Progress Report, Homeland Security Under Fire for Covering Up Role in Cunningham Bribery Probe * Progress Report, Little Substance in Shrill [Congressional] Iraq War "Debate"
123
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
* Progressive, The Worst Ruling of the Week [by Federal Judge John Gleeson that the government can detain noncitizens indefinitely without explanation] * REU, Peres Says Ceasefire in Everyone's Interests * RFE, FSB Claims Three Militants Killed in Ingushetia * RFE, Putin Says Gazprom Could Help Finance Planned Iranian Pipeline * RFE, Putin Slams US as "Bull in a China Shop" * RFE, Will Venezuela's Russian Jets Be a White Elephant? * TPM Muckraker, DHS Releases Cunningham Letter [that didn't exist] 0617 * ERR!, 2 US soldiers Reported Missing after Iraq Attack on Checkpoint * ERR!, Confiscated Papers Show "Gloomy" State of Iraq Insurgency * ERR!, N. Korea Denies it's About to Test Taepodong-2 Missile * ERRI, NA TO Issues "Stem Warning" to Afghanistan's Taliban * ERR!, White House Says Zarqawi Successor Still "Unclear" * GUA, The Battle of Huda Ghalia - Who Really Killed Girl's Family on Gaza Beach? [Israeli cover-up] * NYT, Contradictions Cloud Inquiry Into 24 Iraqi Deaths - What really happened in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005? [Pentagon and media cover-up] 0618 * AP, 10 Workers Kidnapped from Baghdad Bakery * Editor & Publisher, "Wash Post" Obtains Shocking Memo from US Embassy in Baghdad, Details Increasing Danger and Hardship * ERR!, Japan Warns N. Korea on Possible Missile Test * IND, Hush-Hush Honours for US Military Top Brass [by Britain] * NYT, A Long Road Ahead in Iraq - Rather than engage in a serious debate about America's future course in Iraq, President Bush and the Republican Congress have again opted for sound bites and partisanship * NYT, Former Antiterror Officials Find Industry Pays Better * OBS, How US Hid the Suicide Secrets of Guantanamo * OBS, Sri Lanka on Brink ofWar, Dan McDougall * TomDispatch.com, Permanent War? - Dealing with realities in Iraq and Washington, Robert Dreyfuss * WP, US Airstrikes Rise in Afghanistan as Fighting Intensifies 0619 * AP, 7 US Troops Wounded Looking for Comrades [Baghdad] * AP, Lawyer Asks If US Eavesdropped on Her [Lynne Stewart] * AP, US Army Charges Three With Murder in Iraq * Boston Globe, Moving Away from Missile Programs * Daily Star, Any Libyan-Iranian Resemblance is Coincidental 124
TIMELINE
FROM 9 JUNE TO 29 JUNE
* ERRI, New Orleans Mayor Calls For National Guard to Patrol His City, Call Reportedly Linked to Shooting of Five Teenagers * ERR!, Search Goes On In/Near Ramadi For Missing Troops * FAS, DOJ Inspector General Report on Moussaoui * FAS, GAO Says It Will Forego Oversight ofIntelligence * FAS, The Mubtakkar of Death ["Time" magazine scare story on supposed WMD in New York] * FT, N. Korea Missile Threat a "Provocative Act" * IHT/NYT, Three Neighbors of North Korea Back US Warning * In These Times, Was the Presidential Election Stolen?, Joel Bleifuss * NYT, Company Ties Not Always Noted in US Security Push * PR Week, Interview Robert F. Kennedy Jr. [2004 presidential election] * Progress Report, Will Bush Pardon Scooter Libby? * REU, US Troops Press Ahead With Ramadi Operation * RFE, Chechen Resistance Leader Killed [Abdul-Khalim Sadulayev]... And Veteran Commander Set to Succeed Him [Doku Umarov] * RFE, End Note - Sadulayev's Death Unlikely to Weaken Chechen Resistance [based on local Islamic war lords] * RFE, Georgian Officials Slam Alleged [foreign] Plans to Kill Oppositionist * RFE, South Ossetia Accuses US of Supporting Planned Georgian Aggression * RFE, US Seeks to Dissuade Russia on Venezuelan Arms Sales * TomPaine.com, The Guantanamo Peril [deeply ineffectual and counterproductive US counter-terrorism policy] * Truthout, "Operation Forward Together" Deeper Into the Quagmire, Dahr Jamail * UN/Altemet/REU, World's eyes on new human rights council * Wired! AP, This could be the shape of things to come in crime fighting [surveillance drone] * WP, The Project That Wouldn't Die [Pentagon's "Project M"]
-
-
0620 * AFP, Despair at Guantanamo [Pentagon documents confirm prisoners' despair] * Alternet, GOP Kills Bill to Police Halliburton * AlternetlNew America Media, Exposing the CIA's Italian Kidnapping Plot * AP, Pentagon Lists Homosexuality as Disorder * Asahi Shimbun, [North Korean] Launch Would Lead to "Severe Action" * Boston Globe, "Dark Side" Sheds Light on Cheney [compromised the integrity of America's intelligence system] * Houston Chronicle, Bodies of US Soldiers Show Signs of Torture * IND, Leaked Memo Reveals Plight of Iraqis 125
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
* IPS, Residents Struggle to Survive, In and Out of Ramadi, Dahr Jamail and Ali Fadhil * LAT, Japan to Withdraw Its Troops From Iraq * Le Monde, Iraq-Afghanistan, Western Failure [principle of international intervention to impose stability, let alone democracy] * NBC, Ex-Bush Aide Convicted in DC Corruption Case [Safavian] * NYT, Arab-Americans Sue US Over Re-Entry Procedures * NYT, Bush, at Merchant Academy, Warns Iran on Nuclear Program * NYT, Missing GIs Found Dead * NYT, The Race for Iran [dominance in developing Ir!ln's enormous oil and natural gas reserves] * Progress Report, Heritage Report Under Fire for Inflating Immigration Figures [lying with statistics] * REU, US Activates Missile Defense Amid North Korea Concern * REU, US House Clears $427.6 Billion for Pentagon * RFE, Third Georgian Militant Killed in Ingushetia? * RFE, US Imposes Financial Sanctions on Belarusian Officials * WP, Tanker Inquiry Finds Rumsfeld's Attention Was Elsewhere [make war, not accounts] 0621 * AP, 7 Marines, One Sailor to Face Murder Charges - Accused service members held over April 26 death of an Iraqi civilian * AP, House Delays Renewal of Voting Rights Act * AP, Judge Seeks More Evidence in Padilla Case * AP, Some 85 Iraqi Workers Abducted by Gunmen * AP, US Says No to Talks With North Korea * ERR!, Ex-Liberian President [Charles Taylor] to Face The International Tribunal * ERR!, Saddam Hussein Defense Lawyer [Khamees al-Ubaidi] Found Murdered * ERRI, Three Children Killed by Israeli Missile Strike' * ERR!, US Activates Missile Defense System Ahead of North Korean Test * LAT, Marines Missed "Red Flags," Study Finds - Corps failed to inquire further into killing of civilians in Haditha, a disclosed summary says ["missed" a massacre] * Progress Report, Congress to Hold Hearings on Law Enforcement's Use of Personal Data [from private companies] * REU, Senate Defeats Democrats Minimum Wage Increase * RFE, Chechen Parliament Speaker Condemns Attempts to "Play Chechen Card" [in Iraq] * RFE, Former Georgian Interior Ministry Staffers Questioned in Connection with Banker's Death [Sandro Girgviliani] 126
TIMELINE
FROM 9 JUNE TO 29 JUNE
* RFE, Russian Legislator Says No Talks With "Terrorists" in Iraq * RFE, Turkmen Spy Scandal Gains Steam... As France Denies Involvement * RFE, US Lawmakers Warn of Russian Authoritarianism [the wolf telling the lambs to be gentle] * Truthout, Judge Case Against Padilla "Very Light on Facts" * Truthout, Tanker Inquiry Exposes Rumsfeld's Lack of Focus * UN/Scripps Howard, Time to rein in Bolton
-
0622 * AP, FBI - Data Brokers Probably Act Illegally * AP, Senate Rejects Calls on Iraq Troop Pullout * BBC, Rivals Agree to Somalia Peace Deal * Editor & Publisher, Newspapers Reject Government Request to Kill Story [warrantless eavesdropping and banks] * ERRI, Australia to Review Military Commitment in Iraq * ERR!, Australian Security Guards Mistakenly Shoot Dead Iraqi Trade Delegation * ERR!, Gunmen Hijack 50 Workers North of Baghdad * ERR!, Israeli Minister Admits Missile Missed Target Killing Children * ERR!, Police Detain Prayer Leader and 16 Associates Over Terror Financing [in Paris suburb] * GUA, Climbdown as Hamas Agrees to Israeli State - Negotiator says group recognises right to exist - Hope for end to crippling sanctions on Palestinians * IHTINYT, For Muslims and the West, antipathy and mistrust [new opinion survey] * IND, North Korea Offers to Halt Missile Launch * Le Monde, Demanding Allies Le Monde argues that the US and Europe are firmly united in their determination to eradicate "warrior jihadism," but divided by tactics, specifically US abandonment of international law and the laws ofwar, and its decision to invade Iraq * NYT, Bank Data Is Sifted by US in Secret to Block Terror * Progress Report, Santorum Makes Wild Claims About Having Found WMD in Iraq [Santorum's facing a difficult election at home] * REU, ACLU Seeks Disclosure ofPentagon Files on Haditha * REU, AT&T Revises Privacy Policy, Says Owns Customer Data [sell your AT&T stock before all its customers leave] * REU, CEOs Earn 262 Times Pay of Average Worker . * Truthout, Hamas Agrees to Israeli State * Truthout, Lieutenant Watada Refused Iraq Deployment Orders Today * Truthout, Next Victim - Iran or North Korea?, Ray McGovern * UN/WP, Islamic militancy spreads into tribal Pakistan
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127
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
* WP, GOP Rebellion Stops Voting Rights Act - Complaints include bilingual ballots and scope of Justice Department role in South * WP, IfNecessary, Strike and Destroy [North Korea] * WP, Lawmakers Cite Weapons Found in Iraq [Santorum and his reelection problems] 0623 * Alternet, Dan Rather's Raw Deal [CBS canned Rather for his reporting on Bush's questionable military service] * AP, GOP Candidate's Call for Labor Camp Rebuked ["concentration camp" for migrants] * AP, State of Emergency Declared in Baghdad * Asia Times, The Changing Face of Resistance [in Iraq and Afghanistan] * Boston Globe, UN rights boss [Louise Arbour] slams abuses in war on terrorism * Democracy Now, Army Lies to Mother of Slain Guardsman for Two Years, Says Killed by Insurgents Instead of Allied Iraqi Soldiers * ERRI, Military Commander Says Iran Assisting Insurgency in Iraq ["although the US has no evidence..."; as usual] * ERR!, Seven Charged over Chicago Terror Plot [Florida seven] * IPS, Why Bush Won't Attack Iran [just the party line that "the president never takes any option off the table"] * Knight Ridder, Indictment of Suspected Terrorists Contains Little Evidence of Plot [Florida seven] * New Standard, Congress May Bestow Unchecked Spying Powers on President * RFE, New Chechen [rebel] Leader [Doku Umarov] Pays Homage to Predecessor... Vows Broader Offensive Against Military Targets in Russia * RFE, Russia Tells G-8 That Post-Soviet Conflicts [South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transdniester, and Russian-Georgian relations] Are Off-Limits * RFE, Russia Warns North Korea * RFE, US, EU Leaders Register Concern Over Russian Policies * WP, Democrats Criticize Claim on Iraqi Arms - Republicans [Santorum and Hoekstra] cite chemical weapons; official says they were from pre-1991 0624 * AP, Several Past Incidents More Hoax Than Threat [Florida seven] * ERR!, "AI-Qaida 'holy war' to continue" * ERR!, FBI - Would-Be Terrorists Sought Help From al-Qaida in Plot to Blow Up Sears Tower [Florida seven] * ERRI, [65] Militants killed in Afghanistan operation * ERRI, Police Were Allegedly Warned about London bombers 128
TIMELINE
FROM 9 JUNE TO 29 JUNE
* ERRI, US fears home-grown terror threat - US officials were quick to stress the alleged plot was foiled early [Florida seven] * LAT, "Big Brother" Bush and Connecting the Data Dots [banned Total Information Awareness becomes warrantless eavesdropping] * NYT, Cheney Assails Press on Report on Bank Data * REU, Troops in Iraq Should Come Home, Howard Dean * Consortium, Terrorists in Miami [Florida seven], Oh My, Robert Parry [but notorious Cuban terrorists have lived openly in Miami for decades] * Truthout, Karzai War Not Getting at Terrorism Cause
-
0625 * AP, Leading Senator Urges Direct US Talks With North Korea * IPS, Rebuilding Not Yet Reality for Fallujah, Dahr Jamail and Ali Fadhil * South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Pull Out of Iraq Now, Congressman [John Murtha] Urges * Truthout, Intelligence Officers, Learn From History, Ray McGovern * Truthout, Resistance in the US Military to the War on Iraq * WP, Inside Iran's Fractured Regime * WP, Warnings on WMD "Fabricator" Were Ignored, Ex-CIA Aide [Tyler Drumheller] Says 0626 * PageOne.com, Department of Defense Admits to Wider Surveillance of Don't Ask, Don't Tell Groups * AP, Bombs Kill At Least 40 in Two Iraqi Cities * Belfast Telegraph, Canary Wharf - More Smoke and Mirrors? * Belfast Telegraph, Tall Stories - The plot to topple Chicago's Sears Tower was not all that it seemed [Florida seven] * Boston Globe, A Call to Investigate the 2004 Election, Steven F. Freeman and Joel Bleifuss * ERRI, Israeli threat of military action * ERR!, Sheik [Hassan Dabir Aweys], Accused of Links to AI-Qaida, Takes Over in Somalia * GUA, US to Deploy Interceptor Missiles in Japan * National Security Policy E-News, Joseph Cirincione Congressional Testimony on Pre-War Intelligence - Pre-war intelligence clearly misrepresented the actual threat posed by Iraq * New Standard, Three Years On, Lone "Enemy Combatant" Lingers on US Soil [Ali Saleh Kahlab AI-Marri] * NYT, Troops to Stay in West Iraq, General Says * REU, Legality of US Bank Data Searches Probed in Belgium * The Progressive, Bush Goes After the New York Times 129
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLlTICS" 2006
* Truthout, CIA Agent's [Tyler Drumheller] Warnings About "Curveball" Ignored * Truthout, Indictment of Suspected Terrorists Contains Little Evidence of Plot [Florida seven] * UN/FT, International Criminal Court moving forward * USA Today, Analysis Finds E-Voting Machines Vulnerable * WP, Afghan Leader Losing Support - Foreign, local allies cite weak Karzai leadership * WP, Democrats Cite Report on Troop Cuts in Iraq - Pentagon plan like theirs, Senators say * ERRI, Agents of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) are fomenting unrest in Iraq's southern city of Basra 0627 * TomPaine.com, To Refuse To Serve, Ret. Col. Ann Wright * ABC, Palestinian Factions Recognize Israel, Sort Of After Weeks of Negotiations, Hamas and Fatah Agree on Plan That Implicitly Recognizes Israel * Alternet/In These Times, Overthrow, Over and Over - An unnerving new book takes a close look at America's long, dark history of imperialism * American Prospect, Iraq A Shocking Waste of Money * AP, Senate Holds Hearings on Bush's Use of Signing Statements * AP, Israeli Planes Attack Bridge in Gaza Move May Signal Start of a Military Operation After Soldier Abducted * Asia Times, AI-Qaida's nuke plot - Facts and failures * BBC, Iran - Talks With US "Of No Use To Iran" * ERR!, Car Explodes in Pakistan Killing Seven * ERR!, Palestinian Militants Issue Statement About Hostages * ERRI, Two Bombs Explode Killing 24 in Iraq * ERR!, Two British Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan Skirmish * ERR!, US to Deploy Patriot Interceptors Ahead of North Korea Missile Launch * Progress Report, Iraq Former Administration Officials [Lawrence Wilkerson, Carl Ford, Paul Pillar, Wayne White] Testify on Misuse of Intelligence * Truthout, Cindy Sheehan, Dick Gregory, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn and Hundreds More Launch Hunger Strike to End the Iraq War * Truthout, AWOL - GI War Resistance in Canada * Truthout, Vice President Cheney, Chef in Chief [guilty of cooking the intelligence and lying to us to get us into war]
-
-
-
-
130
TIMELINE
FROM 9 JUNE TO 29 JUNE
0628 * Anniston Star, Missile Dysfunction, Dennis Jett: Both [US and North Korea] have missile systems that don't work. But that's OK, since both have deployed them for political reasons and not military ones. * Alternet, US Waters Down Iraqi Peace Plan * AP, Hamas Leaders Arrested Israeli Executed * AP, Iraq Insurgents Offer to Stop Attacks * AP, Israelis Put Heat on Palestinians, Assad * CSM, Debate on Hill Over Power of the President - Concern rises over record number of "signing statements" Bush has issued as president * EPIC, More Reports ofUnlawful [FBI] Intelligence Investigations * ERRI, N.E. Flooding Raises Havoc in Pennsylvania, NJ, NY, and Other Areas Affected As Well * ERR!, Pakistan Prepares to Move 10,000 Troops into Northwestern Frontier * IND, Ayatollah Rejects Deal With US on Nuclear Ambitions * New Standard, Justice Dept. Testifies Deceptively on "Signing
-
Statements"
.
* NYT, Senator Says North Korean Missile Firing May Not Be Imminent * Progress Report, Media - Swift-Boatingthe New York Times [warrantless eavesdropping and banking surveillance] * Progress Report, Iraq - Hayden Yields to Pressure to Change His Opinion on Feith's Manipulation of Intel [first it's yes, then it's no] * RFE, Radical Field Commander Named Chechen Vice President [Shamil Basayev; the term vice president should be between quotation marks] * Truthout, Israeli Forces Enter Gaza, Cut Off Electricity and Water [which is internationally defined as a "war crime"] * UN/USA Today, Israeli troops move on Gaza 0629 * AP, In Loss for Bush, Supreme Court Blocks War-Crimes Trials at Guantanamo * Cox, US Losing War on Terrorism, Experts Say - Poll Finds That More Than 8 in 10 Respondents Blame the Iraq War * ERRI, AI-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Claims it Fired Chemical Warheads at Israel * ERR!, China Urges North Korea to Refrain from Test Launching * ERRI, Fighting Breaks Out in Central African Republic; 33 Dead * ERR!, Hundreds of Thousands Displaced in US Floods * ERR!, Spanish Government to Hold Talks with ETA * ERR!, Tensions Between Israel and Palestinian Authority Increase * FAS, "Seales v. Sealed" - How Courts [hardly] Confront State Secrets * FAS, How Did US Assess Iraqi Bioweapon Production? 131
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
* LAT, US Law Trumps World Treaty, Righ Court Says [foreign criminals and Vienna Convention] * MSNBC, US, Allies Set Deadline for Iran Nuke Talks Russian official says G-8 nations expect a response by July 5 . * Progress Report, Afghanistan - Return of the Taliban * REU, German Official Backs Nuclear Enrichment by Iran * RFE, Chechen Vice President Meets with Field Commanders [another extremely deceptive RFE report giving Islamic war lord Basayev the title of "vice president"]. * RFE, End Note - Radical Field Commander Named Chechen Vice President * RFE, Putin Tells Security Services to "Eliminate" Killers of Russian Diplomats [in Iraq] * Truthout, Statement in Support of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada Delivered at a Press Conference at the King Center, Atlanta, Georgia, June 27,2006, Debbie Clark * USA Today, Middle East Unrest - Israelis Arrest Dozens of Ramas Officials, Israelis Turn Up Reat on Ramas, Israel Makes Threat Over Captured Soldier * lliT/NYT, Israelis Batter Gaza and Seize Ramas Officials * CSM, US-Led Afghan Mission Is Failing * NYT, Supreme Court Blocks Guantanamo Tribunals
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132
CHAPTER 14 TIMELINE FROM 30 JUNE TO 1 SEPTEMBER Intelligence, N. 483, 4 September 2006
Over the summer, the most important security and intelligence news was obviously the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. That "small war" was started and "finished" with a ceasefire and the arrival of United Nations forces in such a short period of time that other major ongoing developments don't seem to have been profoundly modified. For example, the Israeli military intervention in the Gaza Strip has not ended and the underlying reasons for that conflict have not been confronted or resolved. The same is true of the Iraq war and the new war in Afghanistan against the Taliban and their allies. In our last issue before the summer break, we mentioned the suicides of three persons held captive by the US military at Guantanamo and the following reactions calling for the closure of "Gitmo". Bush White House policies concerning torture, kidnapping and secret detention have continued to occupy headlines in the US media and resulted in some changes. Similarly, Pentagon problems with cases of murder and rape in Iraq have continued to gain prominence in the US, resulting in several legal cases. At the same time, open resistance by members of the military to the Bush White House's war in Iraq seems to have reached a level where it can no longer be ignored by the major press. With the primary election defeat of pro-war conservative Democrat and former vice-presidential candidate, Senator Joe Lieberman, and November US Congressional elections coming, all these security and intelligence developments will become increasingly important and probably occupy more and more space in the US and international media.
WORLD POLffICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
0630 * Alternet, A Supreme [Court] Challenge to Bush's Authority * Alternet, Lt. Watada's War against the War * Alternet!REU, UN rights body lauds US court decision on military tribunals * AP, US Troops Accused of Killing Iraq Family * Bloomberg, Spy Agency Sought US Call Records before 9/11 * Detroit Free Press, Humanitarian Crisis Is Looming in Gaza * EPIC, Government Program Probes Financial Records * LAT, Did Bush Commit War Crimes? * Le Monde/AFP, NATO deplores that the international community has forgotten Afghanistan * RFE, Russia says Ukraine Sold Missiles Illegally to China and Iran * Time, At Guantanamo, Dying Is Not Permitted 0701 * Australian, Israel Warns - Free Soldier or PM Dies * ERR!, Al Qaida now controls Somalia * ERRI, Baghdad Market Car Bomb Kills 62 * LAT, AbramoffHad FBI Data * Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Gitmo Win Likely Cost Navy Lawyer His Career 0702 * Connecticut Post, Rumsfeld Subpoenaed Over Abu Ghraib * DPA, BND & the CIA kidnapping of Khaled el-Masri * ERR!, Funding For Terrorists Flowing Into Somalia? * NYT, Can't Win the War? Bomb the Press! * The Nation, For His Eyes Only - Bush's Secret Crimes 0703 * BradBlog, Suits against Two Voting Machine Companies * ERR!, African Union Votes to Send Troops to Somalia * ERR!, N. Korea Threatens US with "Annihilating Strike" * FAS, Army Updates Counter-Insurgency Doctrine * IND, MIS secret inquiry into 8,000 al-Qa'ida "sympathizers" * New Yorker, Last Stand - The military's problem with . the President's Iran
policy, Seymour Hersh
* RFE, Western Intelligence Involved in Search for Mlakic * RFE, Milosevic Ordered Assassination of Former President * USA Today/AP, Israel rejects negotiations over kidnapped soldier
134
TIMELINE
FROM 30 JUNE TO 1 SEPTEMBER
0704 * ERRI, Contrasting Analysis ofthe Situation in Somalia * ERRI, Ombudsperson Named in Office ofDNI * WP, Ex-Soldier Charged in Killing ofIraqi Family * WP, Mexico Girds for Legal Battle as Election Yields a Near Tie 0705 * AFP, Italy arrested three SISMI officers for 2003 CIA kidnapping in Milan * AP, Israel Authorizes Deeper Gaza Invasion * AP, Italians Seeking Arrest of 3 CIA Agents * ERRI, Multiple Missiles Fired From N. Korea * ERRI, The Netherlands Briefing on Islamic Extremism in Europe * FT, Seek Roots of Terror, Afghan Leader Urges * FT, Split Over N. Korea Missile Test Response * GAO, Border Security - Transported Radioactive Sources * NYT, Wave of Bodies in Baghdad's Central Morgue * NYT/AP, Security Council discusses N. Korea's missile tests * Progress Report, North Korea "Fireworks Display" Fails * TPM Muckraker, AbramoffHad Access to DoJ, Ashcroft * Truthout, Mexico Election commission's mistakes * Vanity Fair, Washington Babylon 0706 * Alertnet, UN rights envoy criticizes Israel for Gaza siege * AP, Iran Postpones Nuclear Talks with EU Official * AP, N. Korea threatens more missile tests * BBC, Darfur - More fighting since peace deal, UN official says * Le Monde, Poland wants EU report on CIA toned down * REU, Israel Kills at Least a Dozen in Gaza as Fighting Intensifies * RIA, Putin Favors Iran Nuclear Problem Returning to IAEA * Times, Security Council split stops N. Korea sanctions * Truthout, First Commissioned Officer to Refuse Deployment * Truthout, Not in Our Name - The Voters' Pledge, Daniel Ellsberg * WP, Iraqi Leaders Question US Troops' Immunity * WP, FBI computer systems hacked on several occasions in 2004 0707 * BBC, EU Warns Israel on Gaza Attacks * FT, UN rights experts pressure US to close Gitmo * Haaretz, Top lOF Officials - Gaza Raid Won't Halt Rocket Fire * NYT, Algerian Tells of Dark Odyssey in US Hands * NYT, Hate Groups Are Infiltrating the Military, Group Asserts * NYT, Europeans to Explain About US Tracking of Bank Data 135
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
* REU, Judge Orders Berlusconi to Stand Trial in Fraud Case * RFE, Bomb Kills Eight in Transdniester * RFE, Georgian President Visits Washington * Time, Toying With Terror Alerts? * WP, Israeli Tanks Meet Fierce Resistance 0708 * GUA, UK Has Boosted Taliban, Admits Defence Chief 0709 * AP, 5 US GIs Charged in Iraq Rape-Slay Case * AP, Israel- Attacks Continue 'Til Soldier Free * ERRI, Afghan and Coalition Forces Pound Taliban Stronghold * LAT, Police Abuses in Iraq Detailed * NYT, Gaza Rockets Create a "Balance ofFear" With Israel * Newsweek, The Gitmo Fallout, Michael Isikoff and Stuart Taylor Jr. * WP, Mexico - Lopez Obrador Alleges Vote Was Rigged 0710 * Alternet, Pentagon Reduced to Recruiting Neo-Nazis * Alternet/Raw Story, NYC Tunnel Plot Just Online Chatter * BBC, IAEA Inspector Removed Under Iranian "Pressure" * Boston Globe, My life in Gaza - A physician's view * ERR!, Islamic Militia Fighters Kill 15 in Somalia Gun Battle * GUA, UN - Gaza's humanitarian situation worsening * IND, Dozens Die as Sectarian Attacks Escalate in Iraq * Miami Herald, The CIA documents about Luis Posada Carriles * LAT, Mexico Lopez Obrador Files Challenges * Progress Report, House Intel Chairman Accuses Administration of Hiding "Significant" Intel Program * Progress Report, State Department Pushed Back Against Administration's Detainee Policies * RFE, FSB Head Tells Putin Basayev Has Been Killed * RFE, Has Tbilisi Chechens Attacking South Ossetia? * RFE, Russia Closes Border Crossing with Georgia * RFE, South Ossetian Official Killed by Bomb * Truthout, House Intel Chief Misses the Boat
-
0711 * Alertnet/REU, Iraq to ask UN to end immunity for US troops * AP, US Will Give Detainees Geneva Rights * ERR!, Pakistani Security Forces Kill23 Tribal Militants * FAS, The CIA's Anti-Bush Cabal 136
TIMELINE
FROM 30 JUNE TO 1 SEPTEMBER
* FT, US Reverses Policy on Military Detainees * Human Rights Watch, Pentagon Applies Geneva Rules to Detainees * LAT, US & Japan Agree to a Delay on North Korea Sanctions Vote * New Standard, Declassified Gitmo Notes Tell ofWidespread Abuse * New Standard, Chill of Govt. Surveillance Grips Activists * NYT, Bombs Explode on Trains in India, Killing Scores * REU, US Army to Call Reporters in Officer's Case * RFE, Basayev's Death Creates Fateful Choice for Russians * UN/WP, With no answer from Iran, US poised to act * USA Today/AP, Security Council delays acting on N. Korea 0712 * AP, 2 Dozen Iraqi Shiites Abducted, Killed * AP, Israelis Attack Just 10 Miles From Beirut * ERR!, Seven Bombs in Eleven Minutes - 174 Killed in Mumbai * NYT, Israel Enters Lebanon After 2 Soldiers Are Kidnapped * NYT, Republicans Criticize Lack of Briefings on Bank Data * NYT, Wave of Violence in Baghdad Puts 3-Day Death Toll Past 100 * The Nation, The US Military Descends on Paraguay * Washington Note, Cheney's Office Cultivated Pro-Torture * WP, Army to End Expansive, Exclusive Halliburton Deal * WP, GOP Senator Criticizes Appeals Court Nominee 0713 * AP, Democrats Challenge Assessment of Iraq * EPIC, Defense Department Monitored Student Email * EPIC, FBI Proposes Wiretap Law Expansion * ERR!, Afghan Suicide Bomber Drives Taxi into Coalition Convoy * ERRI, Israel Strikes Beirut International Airport * IND, American Policy in Middle East Caught in "a Perfect Storm" * IPS, Merchants of Death in Iraq [mercenaries] * LAT, China, Russia offer softer UN plan on N. Korea * MSNBC, Israel Says Hundreds of Targets Hit in Lebanon * NYT, Israeli Air Force Kills 9 Members of a Family. * NYT, Hezbollah Rockets Hit Haifa * NYT, Israeli Jets Strike Airport in Beirut * Progress Report, Conservative Senators Submit a Fabricated Debate in Attempt to Deceive Supreme Court * REU, US Iraq War Costs May Rise by $406 Billion by 2016 * RFE, Russia Slams Israeli Attacks * Times, Baghdad Starts to Collapse as Its People Flee
137
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
0714 * AP, Plame - "Cheney and Rove Plotted to Destroy My Career" * Asia Times, Russia and Iran Lead the New Energy Game * BBC, Israel Hits Hezbollah Leader's HQ * Boston Globe, Darfur violence escalates despite agreement * CNN, Israeli Ships, Planes Renew Beirut Airport Attacks * ERR!, Rice Calls for Israeli Restraint * NYT, Bush Will Allow Court to Review NSA Wiretaps * Progress Report, Bush Enlists Help of Known Fabricators for Iran Policy [Manucher Ghorbanifar] * Progress Report, Specter "Compromise" on Warrantless Wiretapping Excuses Bush for Illegal Conduct * REU, US halts UN condemnation ofIsrael's Gaza offensive 0715 * ERR!, * ERR!, * ERRI, * ERRI, * ERR!, * ERR!,
Washington Post Alleges Border Patrol Corruption Both Syria and IDF mobilizing reserve divisio~s Israel Issues Ultimatum to Syrians - Stop Hezbollah Lebanon a proxy battleground for Iran N. Korea Defiant in Face of Limited UN Sanctions US, Japan push for UN North Korea Vote Blocked by China
0716 * AP, Hezbollah Rockets Hit Haifa, Killing 8 0717 * Alternet, Iraq's Reconstruction a Boondoogle by Design * AP, Iran Says It's Ready for Nuclear Talks * AP, UN Human Rights Experts Chastise US * ERR!, IDF Ground Troops Reportedly Attack Hezbollah Bases * FAS, CIA Report on Terrorist Recruitment [2002] * FAS, Former State Official Keyser Rebuts Espionage Allegations * FAS, ODNI Casts a Wide Net to Hire Staff * In These Times, Blowing the Whistle on Diebold * NYT, Abu Ghraib Rewarded * NYT, Up to 48 Iraqis Killed in Attack on Market * RFE, With Parliament Divided, Ukraine on Brink of Chaos * RFE, FSB Head Issues Ultimatum to Chechen Resistance 0718 * AP, Gonzales - Bush Blocked Eavesdropping Probe * AP, Katrina Audit Shows Fraud, Abuse * AP, Senate Passes Stem Cell Bill, Defying Veto Threat 138
TIMELINE
FROM 30 JUNE TO 1 SEPTEMBER
* AP, Turkey Signals It's Prepared to Enter Iraq * ERR!, Taliban Militants Seize Two Towns in Afghanistan * IND, Thousands of Lebanese Flee to Beirut from Unstable South * NYT, Car Bomb Kills Dozens near Shiite Shrine in Iraq * NYT, Over 3,000 Iraqi Civilians Killed in June, UN Reports * Progress Report, Bush Nominates General Who Oversaw Guantanamo to be Top NATO Commander * Progress Report, FBI Retaliated against Arab Specialist * UN, Spike in Iraqi civilian deaths 0719 * AP, Probe - Black Chicago Suspects Tortured * GUA, US to Israel- You Have One More Week to Blast Hezbollah * IPS, Israel Violates Law on US Weapons in Mideast * LAT, In Iraq, Civil War All but Declared * NYT, In First Veto, Bush Blocks Stem Cell Bill 0720 * AP, House Fails to Override Stem Cell Veto * AP, Judge Rules against Bush in Spying Lawsuit - Administration argues defending case threatens to reveal state secrets * Boston Globe, Bush Pulls Plug on Eavesdropping Probe * NYT, UN ChiefCalls for Cease-Fire [in Lebanon] * REU, Thousands Flee as Iraq Violence Deepens * WP, GOP Lawmakers Edge Away From Optimism on Iraq * WP, White House Shifts Tack on Tribunals - Bush to Propose Only Minor Changes 0721 * AP, Israeli Troops Massing on Lebanese Border * FAS, Court Denies State Secrets Claim in Wiretapping Case * IND, Israel- Britain and US Defy [UN] Demand for Immediate Cease-Fire Now 0722 * ERR!, UK Protests Against Israel * GUA, Afghanistan Close to Anarchy, Warns General * LAT, Lebanese Town Lays Its Loved Ones, Anonymous to Rest * NYT, More Troops to be Deployed to Baghdad, General Says * REU, Senate Moves toward Hearing on Bolton * REU, US to Give Israel Another Week for Attacks
139
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
0723 * AP, Jordan Accused ofTorturing Suspects for US * ERR!, British Commander in Afghanistan [Lieutenant General David Richards] Says Country Almost in the Grip of "Anarcho-Warlords" 0724 * AP, No Security Clearances Revoked Over Plame Case
* AP, Specter Prepping Bill to Sue Bush
.
* AP, US Won't Push for Immediate Cease-Fire [Israel] * IND, Sectarian Break-Up of Iraq Is Now Inevitable * IPS, [Israeli] Bombings Hit Children Hardest [in Beirut, Lebanon] * NYT, Legal Group Faults Bush for Ignoring Parts of Bills * REU, World Trade Talks Collapse * Rolling Stone, Iran - The Next War, James Bamford * Sunday Times (Australia), Women Back Under Wraps with Taliban * Truthout, US Accused of "Stone-Walling" at World Trade Talks * ABC (Australia), Israel dismisses UN relief chiefs accusations 0725 * Altemet/Texas Observer, America's 100 Years ofOverthrow * GUA, Red Cross Ambulances Destroyed in Israeli Air Strike * LAT, Lebanese Tell Rice Bluntly That US Must Step Up [pressure to stop Israeli attack] 0726 * AFP, UN Attack [by Israel] Looks Deliberate - Annan * BBC, High Death Toll in Gaza Clashes * ERR!, Three UK Terror Suspects Acquitted on Dirty Bomb Plot * GUA, Annan - Israel Bombed UN Base for Hours * IND, Four UN Observers Die in Israeli Air Strike * LAT, Allies Losing Patience with US Terms for Cease-Fire [Israeli invasion of Lebanon] * NYT, Israel Suffers Bloodiest Day of Fight with Hezbollah * NYT, White House Bill Proposes System to Try Detainees * Truthout, US Thwarts Middle East Cease-Fire * Truthout, White House Bill Challenges the Geneva Conventions * WP, Nations Fail to Reach Agreement on Middle East Cease-Fire 0727 * BBC, European Court of Human Rights Slams Russia over Chechen * LAT, Under Fire for 6 Hours, UN Peacekeepers Pleaded for Help before Being Killed * SeeingTheForest, Republican Says We Need a Dem Congress 140
TIMELINE
FROM 30 JUNE TO 1 SEPTEMBER
0728 * AP, UN Observers Leave Israel-Lebanon Border * ERR!, FBI Announces Internal Reorganization, New WMD Unit * WP, Detainee Abuse Charges Feared, Shield Sought From '96 Act 0729 * Alternet, Israel Accused ofUsing Illegal Weapons * LAT, Israel Rejects Peace Offer 0730 * ERR!, At Least Fifty Dead in [Israeli] Air-strike on Qana [Lebanon] * Le Monde, Faced With the Taliban Challenge, NA TO Takes Over From the Americans in Afghanistan * NYT, Relentless Sectarian Violence in Baghdad * Corriere della Sera, The Italian head of the European Parliament committee investigating secret prisoner transport flights by the CIA, Claudio Fava, has received an anonymous death threat 0731 * AP, Israeli Air Force Continues Lebanon Strikes * BellaCiao, Worst Ever Security Flaw in Diebold Machine * CNN, Key Republican Breaks With Bush on Middle East [Sen. Hagel] * Muckraker, Dems - Bush Has Broken 26 Statutes * Progress Report, Iraq - Roberts Stonewalls on Release of Prewar Intelligence Report * Truthout, "Supporters of Hezbollah" [Israeli minister on Lebanon] * USA Today, Army Makes Way for Older Soldiers 0801 * AFP, Lebanon Ceasefire Calls as World Protests at Israeli Raid * Bloomberg, Fox News Agrees to Settlement of Sex Suit * NYT, Up to 7,000 Israeli Troops Push into Lebanon * WP, World Awaits News on Castro's Condition * Institute for Responsible Technology, Spilling the Beans - Monsanto whistleblower says genetically engineered crops may cause disease
0802 * ABC, Soldier accused of civilian murders defends actions * AFP, US Gov Asks Federal Court to Stop Domestic Spying Lawsuit * Alternet, Evidence of Election Fraud Grows in Mexico * AP, Scores Dead Across Iraq in Blasts 141
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
* GUA, "You Go a Bit Crazy When You See Little Body after Little Body Coming Up Out of the Ground" [Lebanon] * IPS, Afghanistan - Taliban threats force school closures
* Le Monde, Jean-Marie Guehenno (UN) - "An International Force Can Never Impose Peace" * NYT, Hezbollah Fires Over 200 Rockets into Israel * NYT, US Wins Access to Reporter Phone Records * Spiegel, Star Wars Eastern Europe Shuns Missile Shield * Truthout, Lebanon Children - In the Line ofFire * WP, Europeans, Offering Peacekeepers, Call for End of Hostilities Now * La Repubblica, Prosecutors investigating the abduction of Abu Umar have found that the telephone company Telecom may have handed the phone records of a number of Islamists over to the Intelligence and Military Security Service (SISMI) without a warrant
-
0803 * AFP, Guantanamo Detainees May Remain Indefinitely - Gonzalez * ERR!, Israeli Airstrikes Continue Against Beirut * Human Rights Watch - Israel Guilty of War Crimes * LAT, [US] Officers Allegedly Pushed "Kill Counts" [in Iraq] * NYT, US Generals See Growing Threat of Civil War in Iraq * WP, "Low Intensity Civil War" Likely in Iraq, Ambassador Says * WP, Top Military Lawyers Oppose Plan for Special Courts 0804 * GAO, Department of State - Foreign Language Shortfalls Persist * NYT, 21 Killed by Suicide Bomber in Afghan South 0805 * AP, John Edwards Calls for Withdrawal of Some Troops from Iraq * AP, US Activists, Iraqi Lawmakers Demand US Troop Withdrawal * AP, US, France OK UN Mideast Truce Pact * ERR!, Two Bomb Blasts in Turkey Injure 17 * IND, Protests Erupt Across the Muslim World * WP, In South Lebanon, a Fierce Fight for Every Yard 0806 * ERR!, Rocket Strikes in Haifa, Injuries Reported - II Dead * NYT, Baghdad's Chaos Undercuts Tack Pursued by US * NYT, Hezbollah Rocket Kills 10 in Israel 0807 * AP, Israel Intensifies Airstrikes in Lebanon 142
TIMELINE
FROM 30 JUNE TO 1 SEPTEMBER
* Le Monde, Untroubled Fighters Display Their Detennination * WP, Iraqi Medic Describes Carnage in hearing for US soldiers 0808 * BradBlog, Californians File against Electronic Voting * IND, Brutal US Attack on Unanned Afghans Captured by Photos * Times, Iraqi PM Incensed at US Raid on Shia Militia Stronghold * AP, Democrats Plan Unity Despite Liebennan's Loss to Lamont 0809 * AP, Retroactive War Crime Protection Proposed * IRIN, Israel- "Refuseniks" Say They Won't Attack Civilians * LAT, Shiites Press for a Partition of Iraq * NBC, Top Democrats Throw Support to Lamont * WP, War Crimes Act Changes Would Reduce Threat ofProsecution 0810 * AP, British Police Thwart Aircraft Bomb Plot * CNN, Security Chief - Airline Terror Plot "Close to Execution" * FAS, Recipients of "Leaks" May Be Prosecuted, Court Rules * Zogby, Democrats Pleased Joe Got Beat in Connecticut * La Repubblica, On 9 August 2006, a preliminary hearing judge in Rome heard evidence in the case against US National Guardsman Mario Lozano in the killing of SISMI officer Nicola Calipari in Baghdad on 4 March 2005 * WP, Walter Pincus - On 9 Aug. 2006, Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA) Director David A. Burtt resigned and his Deputy, Joseph Hefferon, announced his retirement 0811 * CSM, Officials Say Foiled Terror Plot on Scale of9/11 * NYT, Israel Asks US to Ship Rockets with Wide Blast * REU, World Powers Strike Mideast Deal * The Nation, Mercenary Jackpot * Truthout, US, France Agree on Middle East Resolution 0812 * AP, Israel Loses 19 Soldiers, Helicopter Crew * Spiegel, The Future ofTerrorism What al-Qaida Really Wants
-
0814 * AP, Haditha Prompts Reflection among Marines * IND, Bush "Viewed War in Lebanon as a Curtain-Raiser for Attack on Iran" 143
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
* LAT, 56 Iraqis Die in Attacks on Marketplace * New Yorker, Watching Lebanon Washington's interests in Israel's war, Seymour M. Hersh * REU, Gunmen Kidnap Fox News Journalists in Gaza
-
0815 * Liberation, Match - Negative Tie [Israeli invasion of Lebanon] * NYT, Freed From Guantanamo but Stranded Far From Home * WP, Violations by Military Recruiters Up Sharply 0816 * AP, Afghan Opium Cultivation Hits a Record * LAT, Group Says Iran Is "Not a Crisis" * Le Monde, In Baghdad, US Army Erects Walls between Communities * NYT, Iraqi Death Toll Rose above 3,400 in July * RFE, UN, Russian Peacekeepers Patrol Kodori Gorge * Truthout, Iraq War Vets' Support for Lt. Watada Growing * Jang, On 16 Aug. 2006, three officers of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) were sacked for trespass and physical abuse 0817 * AP, Former CIA Contractor Is Found Guilty * New Republic, Duke Cunningham's Wife Tells All * Noquarter.Typepad, Bush's Weapon of Mass Deception * NYT, Bombs Aimed at GIs in Iraq Are Increasing * The Nation, In the NSA Case, a Judge Says No to King George 0818 * WP, France Declines to Contribute Major Force for UN Mission 0819 * Alternet, Two Strange Deaths in European Wiretapping Scandal * AP, 4 US Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan * Daily Mail, Blair "Feels Betrayed by Bush on Lebanon" 0820 * AP, Senator Hagel Says GOP Has Lost Its Way 0821 * Belfast Telegraph, Return to Kandahar The Taliban Threat * Carnegie, UN Resolution 1696 Moots Iranian Legal Claims * ERR!, Ten dead in Moscow market blast * GUA, CIA's Secret UK Bank Trawl May Be Illegal
-
144
TIMELINE
FROM 30 JUNE TO 1 SEPTEMBER
0822 * AFP, Bush Faces [GOP] RevoIt on Iraq * IPS, Bush Ensured Iran Offer Would Be Rejected * REU, North Korea Threatens Attack Due to War Drills
0823 * AP, Christian Coalition Losing Chapters * AP, Iran Urges Europe on Counterproposal * HaaretzlAP, Israel committed war crimes, Amnesty claims * Le Monde, New UNIFIL "Rules of Engagement" Go in the "Right Direction" * NYT, Nation Faltering, Afghans' Leader Draws Criticism * RFE, Two Charged in Moscow Market "Hate Crime" * WP, Israel Shelves Plan to Pull Out of Settlements in West Bank 0824 * ERRI, US "lacks Iran arms intelligence" * WP, Accusations fly over Israel's attack on civilian convoy * WP, US Spy Agencies Criticized On Iran 0825 * AP, Afghan leader orders probe ofkillings * AP, Europe Will Provide Half of Peacekeepers * Foreign Policy in Focus, How Washington Goaded Israel * GUA, Chirac Offer of2,000 Troops Breaks Impasse on Lebanon * IPS, Republican Report Hypes Iran Threat, Jim Lobe * NYT, Inquiry Opened Into Israeli Use of US Bombs * Truthout, Hoekstra's Hoax, Ray McGovern * WP, British Leave Iraqi Base - Militia Supporters Jubilant 0826 * Alternet, War Profiteer Blackwater Faces Trial * AP, Activist's Remark Starts FBI Probe * AP, Defying UN, Iran Opens Nuclear Reactor * Boston Globe, The Cheney Presidency * REU, Hezbollah Expected "Limited Damage" [during Israeli invasion of Lebanon] 0827 * Times, You Wouldn't Catch Me Dead in Iraq [US military deserters] * UPI, Brown Says White House Wanted Him to Lie [on Katrina]
145
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
0828 * AP, Dozens Killed in Iraq - 8 US Troops Die * ERR!, Air Marshal Dress Code Changed * ERR!, Explosions Target Resort [in Turkey] - 10 Britons Injured * Figaro, The Irresistible "Talibanization" ofPakistan's North * The Nation, Bob Novak's Plame Source Identified * WP, Homicide Charges Rare in Iraq War - Few troops tried
0829 * AP, Rumsfeld - World Faces New "Fascism" * NYT, Iraqi Soldiers Refuse to Go to Baghdad, Defying Order * Truthout, Nine US Soldiers Dead in Two Days [Iraq] * Truthout, Robert Novak and the Perfect Stranger [Plame case] * US Newswire, Bush White House Subpoenaed in Phone Spying Case 0830 * Alternet, Bleifuss - Was the 2004 Election Stolen? * AP, Israel Rejects Annan Demand on Blockade * AP, Israeli Cluster Bombing Deemed "Immoral" * FT, EU Will Continue Nuclear Talks with Tehran * GUA, US Accused ofBid to Oust Chavez with Secret Funds * Haaretz, Israel Responsible for Most Truce Violations * NYT, Chechen woman's torture shows republic's many tensions * UN, Annan pushes, but Israel firm on Lebanon blockade 0831 * Boston Globe, Detentions over [Islamic] Charity Ties Questioned * REU, US Force in Iraq at 140,000 * The Nation, Challenging the Culture of Obedience * IPS, Critics Decry "Destroy and Lend" Policy [Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine] 0901 * Alternet, Israeli use of cluster bombs not newsworthy * AP, FBI Searches Offices of 6 Alaska Lawmakers in Oil Probe * NYT, Education Dept. Shared Student Data with FBI * WP, Democrats Target Rumsfeld * AP, EU Says It's Too Early to Punish Iran
146
CHAPTER 15 TIMELINE FROM 2 SEPTEMBER TO 14 SEPTEMBER Intelligence, N. 484, 18 September 2006
In our previous issue, we mentioned that: "Over the summer, the most important security and intelligence news was obviously the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. That 'small war' was started and 'finished' with a ceasefire and the arrival of United Nations forces in such a short period of time that other major ongoing developments don't seem to have been profoundly modified." Indeed, the Israeli invasion of Lebanon - and of the Gaza Strip - have all but disappeared from the headlines which have returned to the "major ongoing developments" and continue to include: "Bush White House policies concerning torture, kidnapping and secret detention ... [which have] resulted in some changes"; "Pentagon problems with cases to murder and rape in Iraq ... [which] have continued to gain prominence in the US, resulting in several legal cases"; and "open resistance by members of the military to Bush White House's war in Iraq
... [which]
have reached a level where it can no longer be
ignored by the major press." The recent case of US Army Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid is the best current example of the latter: 0908 Washington Monthly, "He Would Fire the Next Person That Said That", Kevin Drum; 0912 Progress Report, Iraq - Former CENTCOM War Planner Said Rumsfeld Would "Fire the Next Person" Who Talked about Need for Post-War Plan. What is new over the past fortnight is the astonishing collection of false reports - or should one say "lies" - put out by the Bush White House and allies. These include ABC's ideological fiction titled "The Path to 9/11 ", the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the Bush White House's distortion of intelligence to push for an invasion of Iraq, the House Intelligence Committee's misleading and incorrect report on Iran's nuclear program, the hiring by the Washington Post of pro-Bush, pro-war right-wing columnist
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
Michael Gerson who has "gotten it wrong" several times. Things have reached a point where specialists are wondering if the Bush White House and its allies are at all capable of producing a "real" report on anything that touches issues sensitive to right-wing fundamentalist Protestants, and this includes everything from stem-cell research, environmental sciences, political lobbying and corruption, the US poor, immigration, the Iraq war, Iran's nuclear program, Israel's invasion of Lebanon, the war in Afghanistan, and many other subjects. The rumor in Washington is that George W. Bush is once again having serious problems with handling alcohol and is incapable of any sustained effort. This rumor goes along with that of Cheney and Rumsfeld being "too close to the cliffs edge" to take an initiative. If these rumors have any basis, it would help to explain why such incompetent official reports are being produced and released to the public, and why there seems to be such dereliction of duty in Washington. Indeed, Colin Powell has even publicly taken a position against Bush's policy on detention of supposed terrorist suspects. Something extremely serious is taking place in Washington and should soon result in major changes. 0902 * AP, Bush - Iraq Has Not Fallen into Civil War [Bush denies Pentagon's Iraq assessment] * WP, FBI Role in [Florida seven] Terror Probe Questioned - Lawyers point to fine line between sting and entrapment * NYT, Afghan opium harvest soars, UN drugs agency warns * Boston Globe, War Is Not a Solution for Terrorism * AFP, Afghanistan's Opium Production Jumps by Nearly 50 Percent - UN * ERR!, London Police Arrest 16 in Terror Probes * ERR!, Canada to Hire 1,000 More Mounties 0903 * Telegraph, I No Longer Have Power to Save Iraq from Civil War, Warns Shia Leader * NYT, Soldiers' Stories - Endurance Meets Doubt in Iraq * IND, "Deluded" - Extraordinary Attack on Blair by Cabinet * AP, Annan Says Iran Wants Talks on Nuclear Program 0904 * REU, Democrats See Support for Anti-Rumsfeld Vote * IPS, "Morning After Pill" for Everyone - for Free [Chile] * Newsweek, Iraq - A Sweeping, Secret New Report, Mark Hosenball * LAT, Killings in Baghdad Escalate Over Past Week 148
TIMELINE
FROM 2 SEPTEMBER
TO 14 SEPTEMBER
0905 * Alternet, The 10 Most Brazen War Profiteers [besides Halliburton - CACI, Titan, Bechtel, Aegis Defense Services, Custer Battles, General Dynamics, Nour USA Ltd., Chevron, ExxonMobil and the Petro-imperialists] * Alternet/Firedoglake,
Hijacking
9/11
- ABC's
docudrama,
"The Path to
9/11 If, is a mix of fact, fantasy and deliberate distortion adding up to blatant pro-Bush propaganda * NYT, Afghan Symbol for Change Becomes a Symbol of Failure * NYT, In Search of Accurate Vote Totals * The Nation, Bush Aims to Kill War Crimes Act * AFP, Iraqi Parliament to Debate Federal Break-Up * GUA, New Labour MPs to Call on Blair to Resign
- PM
faces pressure
from ex-loyalists * The Nation, What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA * IPS, Afghanistan - "Taliban Taking Over" * AP, Calderon Becomes Mexican President-Elect
-High on Opium, Not Democracy
* Truthdig, Afghanistan
0906 * REU, Senate Deflects Push for Rumsfeld's Ouster * Think Progress, Think Progress Campaign to "Tell ABC to Tell the Truth about 9/11 " * RFE, Armenian Government Official Killed by Car Bomb * EPIC, IRS to Outsource Tax Collecting * Truthout, FBI Suspected Rove and Libby Pre-Fitzgerald * ABC, Pakistan Denies Bin Laden Gets a Pass * IND, Afghanistan
-
Campaign
against
Taliban
"Causes
Misery
and
Hunger" * BBC, Blair Faces Wave of Resignations * AP, Bush to Unveil Plan for Gitmo Trials 0907 * Progress Report, ABC Refuses to Provide Copies of Biased 9/11 Miniseries to Clinton, Berger, Albright * NYT, A Sudden Sense ofUrgency [GOP worries about Bush] * AP, Europeans Seek More Info on Secret Jails * AP, Blair Says He'll Resign within a Year * RFE, Allies of Former Georgian Minister Arrested on Suspicion of Plotting Coup * Alternet, Pentagon Spends Billions to Outsource Torture * AP, Clinton Officials Protest [ABC] 9/11 Mini-Series * FAS, DoD Unveils Detainee Interrogation Policy * AP, Israel Begins Lifting Lebanon Blockade 149
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLlTlCS"
2006
* AP, Administration Proposes $12 Million Enron Settlement * AP, Senate Panel Delays Vote on Bolton Nomination * AP, Polling Company [DataUSA] Owner Pleads Guilty to Fraud, Clients Included Bush and Lieberman Campaigns * NYT, Shiites Push Laws to Define How to Divide Iraqi Regions * CBS, Torturing the Truth [US & torture] * Consortium News, Election 2006 & World War III 0908 * MarketWatch, Ten Big News Stories You Aren't Hearing [Project Censored] * Alternet, Torture Won't Stop Terror * Alternet/Editor & Publisher, Controversy Over ABC's 9/11 "Docudrama" Hits Fever Pitch * Asia Times, Inside the Anti-US Resistance * New York Daily News, ABC's Film Flap Trims 9/11 Series as Dems Howl * WP, Body Count in Baghdad Nearly Triples * GUA, European Watchdog Calls for Clampdown on CIA * WP, Bush Calls for Greater Wiretap Authority, President says power is needed for threat * REU, US Paid Miami Journalists to Publish Anti-Castro News * Progress Report, Scholastic Cuts Partnership with Movie [ABC's 9/11] * Le Monde, An Environmental Catastrophe Provokes Ivory Coast Political Crisis * AP, Senate Panel to Issue Iraq Intel Report * Truthout, As Others See US - The "War on Terror" * AP, Judge in Ohio Tells Counties to Preserve 2004 Ballots * WP, Suicide Bomber Kills 16 in Kabul- 2 US Soldiers * WP, Israel Ends Naval Blockade on Lebanon * Daily Press, Eustis Chief [Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid] - Iraq Post-War Plan Muzzled * Washington Monthly, "He Would Fire the Next Person That Said That" [Rumsfeld and Iraq war] * Alternet, Discover the Secret Right-Wing Network Behind ABC's 9/11 Deception * LAT, CIA Can Still Get Tough on Detainees 0909 * REU, Iran, EU Set Last Minute Talks over Tehran's Atomic Ambitions * REU, Thousands Rally in Israel to Demand War Inquiry * AP, Iran Nuke Negotiators Report Progress
150
TIMELINE
FROM 2 SEPTEMBER
TO 14 SEPTEMBER
0910 * Truthdig, Gaping Holes in the 9/11 Narrative, Robert Scheer * WP, Bush's Approval Ratings Slumping Further in Europe * WP, In a Pivotal Year, GOP Plans to Get Personal Millions to Go to Digging Up Dirt on Democrats * Philadelphia Inquirer, US Strategy May Be Helping Taliban
-
0911 * NYT, Abbas Announces Coalition Deal * AP, Mayor Vetoes Chicago "Living Wage" * Alternet, Bush Fears War Crimes Prosecution and Impeachment * ERR!, More than 7,000 sickened by toxic waste in Ivory Coast * NYT, Deal on a Constitution for Iraq Is Teetering * GUA, Iran Offers to Freeze Uranium Enrichment for Eight Weeks * Truthout, Iraq and 9/11 - The Truth Is Out, Jason Leopold: Two weeks before 9/11, national security wasn't even a top priority for the Bush administration. Invading Iraq was. * WP, Losing the War on Terror
- Why
militants are beating technology
five
years after September Il * LAT,
Hidden
Depths
to US Monitoring
-
The scope
of domestic
surveillance has steadily expanded since 9/11 * IPS, Fallujah under Threat Yet Again * AFP, Global Media Abhors US Response to 9/11 * REU, US to Keep Pushing for Iran Sanctions * WP, Marine Calls Situation in Anbar Province Dire * Editor & Publisher, American Airlines Latest to Hit ABC's 9/11 Film Legal Action to Follow? 0912 * Institute for Science and International Security, Iran's Response to the EU Confused but Sporadically Hopeful * Progress
Report,
Iraq
- Former
CENTCOM
War Plaqner
-
[Brig. Gen. Mark
Scheid] Said Rumsfeld Would "Fire the Next Person" Who Talked about Need for Post-War Plan * AP, Gunmen Attack US Embassy in Damascus - Four killed * Haaretz, IDF Commander
- We
fired More Than a Million Cluster Bombs
in Lebanon * Figaro, The Failures of George W. Bush's "War on Terrorism" * REU, Israel Orders Release of21 Detained Hamas Officials * NYT, Iraqi Leader Asks Iran for Help with Security * IND, Pakistan Rape Reform Fails After MusharrafCaves In * AP, Republicans Questioning Bush's Policies on Iraq GOP Candidates Distancing Themselves from Bush
-
151
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
* IND, Foes of government terrorize Afghan schools * Le Monde, The CIA's Secret Flights in Europe * Amnesty International, Dirty Secrets of the War on Terror * ADWeek, Airline Could Pull Ads from ABC * AP, Official Touts Nonlethal Weapons for Use * France Info, FranceInfo claims to have obtained Ministry of Defense documents confirming the presence of a coordinating office known as Alliance Base in which counterterrorism information was shared by the intelligence agencies of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the UK and US 0913 * The Nation, The Right-Wing Roots of ABC's 9/11 Movie * RFE, Russia Might Seek "Blocking Stake" in EADS * RFE, Serbian President Says Belgrade Not Ready to Surrender on Kosova * Progress Report, Iraq - Despite Intelligence Finding, White House Propagates Misinformation on Alleged Saddam-Zarqaqi Link * Progress Report, Americans View Bolton as a Symbol of US Foreign Policy Failures * UN, NATO struggles to stabilize volatile Afghanistan * IND, Soldiers Reveal Horror of Afghan Campaign * Alternet, Nancy Pelosi - Republicans Have "Resorted to the Desperation Politics of Fear" * AP, White House, GOP Senators at Impasse over Terror Law * ERR!, At Least Ten Dead in Bombing in S. E. Turkey * ERR!, AI-Qaida - "France is a target" * ERR!, Taliban Reportedly Adopting Iraq-Style Jihad * Newsweek, Atta in Prague - The story that the "intelligence community" doesn't want you to hear, Mark Hosenball * AP, Senate Republicans Block Attempt to Curb Wiretapping * AlternetITomPaine, There Is No War on Terror, Robert Dreyfuss: If US counterterrorism efforts were run by these [leading US counterterrorism] officials, instead of Bush and Cheney, those efforts would look radically different than they do today. * US Senate Floor Remarks, A Call for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld to Resign, Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-W.va.) 0914 * RFE, Central Banker Dies of Wounds in Mystery Killing * Progress Report, Bolton Skips Out on Darfur Meeting for "UN-Trashing Fete" at Right-Wing Think Tank * Haaretz, IAEA protests US House panel's Iran report as flawed * Truthout, Moth in the Flames ofWar - The Fall of Tony Blair 152
TIMELINE
FROM 2 SEPTEMBER
TO 14 SEPTEMBER
* Truthout, Princeton Scientists Create Vote-Stealing .Program for Diebold Accu V ote- TS
* GUA, NA TO Faces Crisis as Call for Troops Goes Unanswered * CNN, Two US Soldiers Killed in Iraq Suicide Blast * NYT, Cut Off, Gazan Economy Nears Collapse * TomDispatch,
Dirty Dozen
- The
Pentagon's
12-Step Program to Create a
Military of Misfits * REU, IAEA Protests "Erroneous" US Report on Iran * WP, Powell Opposes Bush Interrogation Legislation * NYT, Senate Panel Defies Bush on Detainee Bill * Truthout, Washington Post Hires Top Bush Speechwriter [Michael Gerson] * WP, White House Seeks a Way to Keep Bolton at the UN * Chicago Tribune, Democrats to Roll Out Plan to Curtail Abortions * AP, Media Ownership Study Ordered Destroyed FCC draft suggested fewer owners would hurt local TV coverage * Boston Globe, Israel faults maps for fatal attack [on UN officials] * REU, House Backs Fence along Border with Mexico
-
153
CHAPTER 16 TIMELINE FROM 15 SEPTEMBER TO 29 SEPTEMBER Intelligence, N. 485,2 October 2006
In our preceding issue, we mentioned that "the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and of the Gaza Strip - have all but disappeared from the headlines which have returned to the 'major ongoing developments' and continue to include: 'Bush White House policies concerning torture, kidnapping and secret detention ... [which have] resulted in some changes'; 'Pentagon problems with cases to murder and rape in Iraq ... [which] have continued to gain prominence in the US, resulting in several legal cases'; and 'open resistance
by members of the military to Bush White House's war in Iraq ... [which] have reached a level where it can no longer be ignored by the major press'." The first and the third topics continue to be major news subjects. We also mentioned the "astonishing collection of false reports - or should one say 'lies' - put out by the Bush White House and allies
... [including]
ABC's ideological fiction titled 'The Path to 9/11', the Senate Intelligence Committee report on the Bush White House's distortion of intelligence to push for an invasion of Iraq, the House Intelligence Committee's misleading and incorrect report on Iran's nuclear program, the hiring by the Washington Post of pro-Bush, pro-war right-wing columnist Michael Gerson who has 'gotten it wrong' several times." There has been a serious decline in "false reports" as the Bush White House got down to "real business": countering the new classified US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) which states that the Iraq war has encouraged and increased terrorism, and passing the bills authorizing torture and indefinite secret imprisonment of any person the US president wants. Such bills were recently passed by the GOP-dominated House of Representatives and Senate.
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLlTICS" 2006
But neither of these two topics is the subject of our Front Page article which brings together a lot of the specialized information now being made available on the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the difficulties of the Israeli armed forces in fighting the Hezbollah. And, as usual, the Israeli press has furnished some of the most critical information, such as Amir Oren's 18 September report in Ha'aretz confirming that an inquiry by Brig. Gen. Avi Ashkenazi found that Israeli military intelligence (Agaf ha-Modi'in or Aman) had solid intelligence on the planned capture of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah some time before Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were taken prisoner on 12 June. 0915 * RFE, EADS Tells Russia It Can't Buy Board Seat * Progress Report, Bipartisan Support for NSA Bill Opposed by Bush * ERR!, Attack on Petroleum Facilities in Yemen * ERR!, No "silver bullet" to counter IEDs * ERR!, Feds Allegedly Ignore State Anti-Terror Intelligence * ABC, Joe Cirincione talks about the flaws of the US House Intelligence report on Iran * Truthout, Murtha Lays the Dead at Rumsfeld's Door * NYT, Ohio Congressman [Bob Ney] Is Said to Agree to Plead Guilty * REU, Fifty More Bodies Found in Baghdad * WP, World Bank Lists Failing Nations That Can Breed Global Terrorism * FAS, Undisclosed US Detention Sites Overseas and More from CRS * WP, A Defining Moment for America
- The
president goes to Capitol Hill
to lobby for torture * AP, EU Urges US to Follow Law on Detainees * Crypto-Gram, What the Terrorists Want * Crypto-Gram, Details on the British Terrorist Arrest Details are emerging: There was some serious cash flow from someone, presumably someone abroad; There was no imminent threat. * Crypto-Gram, Ed Felten and his team at Princeton have analyzed a Diebold AccuVote-TS machine, and they have discovered all sorts of vulnerabilities * McClatchy, In a replay ofIraq, a battle is brewing over intelligence on Iran 0916 * AP, CIA in Middle of Election-Year Battle [torture's legality] * EPIC, EPIC and Privacy International Launch 2005 Privacy and Human Rights Report * ERRI, AI-Qaida Welcomes the [Algerian] GSPC into the Organization * AP, Fort Lewis War Objector Faces New Charge * ERR!, Pope's Remarks Cause Unrest in Islamic World 156
TIMELINE
FROM 15 SEPTEMBER
TO 29 SEPTEMBER
* ERR!, Senior CIA officer [Charles Allen] plans to speed up Homeland Security intel sharing 0917 * ERRIlLAT, American Intelligence - Still Stupid? * LAT, Spy Agencies Outsourcing to Fill Key Jobs * WP, Major Problems at Polls Feared [electronic voting] * AP, US Holds AP Photographer [Bilai Hussein] in Iraq 5 months * LAT, The US intelligence community is using so many contractors that it has become difficult to keep track of them 0918 * Harper's, I Was a PR Intern in Iraq, Willem Marx [DoD propaganda operation] * Truthout, Lieutenant Watada Faces New Charges * Haaretz, The Intelligence Wing (Aman) had solid intelligence on the planned abduction of soldiers by Hezbollah some time before the kidnapping of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser on 12 Jun. 2006 * IND, Mexico's Uncertainty Grows With "Parallel" Government * Freedom to Tinker, Hotel Minibar Keys Open Diebold Voting Machines * AP, Anti-Government Protests in Hungary Turn Violent * NYT, Suicide Bombs Kill 18 in Afghanistan * AP, Rise in Iraq Violence Kills More Than 40 * FT, America's moral authority at stake [torture] * UN, HRC urged to probe Pope's Islam remarks * Newsday, During the Jul.-Aug. 2006, invasion of Lebanon, Hezbollah was able to conduct effective electronic intelligence gathering against Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) 0919 * WP, Blasts in Kirkuk Kill 27 - Police Bureau Destroyed * AlternetlHuffingtonPost, Powell Stands Up to Bush on Torture * AP, Chirac Advocates Backing Off UN Sanctions against Iran * BBC, UN Chief Warns of Iraq Civil War * AP, Thai Military Launches Coup, Backs King * WP, CIA boss Hayden is unhappy with the degree of segmentation and separation ofthe collection and analysis activities of the CIA * IND, Gaza The Children Killed in a War the World Doesn't Want to Know About * AFP, Chavez, Ahmadinejad Solidify Iran-Venezuela Ties * JP, Abbas - Palestinian Government Will Recognize Israel [denied shortly after by Hamas] * AP, General Says US May Increase Troops in Iraq - Abizaid
-
157
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
* AP, Gonzales Wants Law to Force Internet Companies to Save Customer Info * Common Dreams, The Ground Truth - Iraq War Veterans Speak Out * Times, Wolfowitz Reined in by [World Bank] Ministers * REU, Canada May Protest US Treatment of Tortured Man * RFE, Chechen Field Commander [Isa Muskiyev] Killed * RFE, Chechen, Ingush Parliament Speakers Appeal for Calm [border shoot-out] * Progress Report, Iran Former Air Force Col. [Sam Gardiner] Says US Is Currently Conducting Military Operations against Iran * Intelcenter.com, Italy - Milanese public prosecutors are to ask the investigating judge to prosecute SISMI Director Nicolo Pollari and his deputy Marco Mancini for CIA kidnapping of Islamic cleric * Raw Story, Emails indicate Administration tried to block scientist from discussing warming, hurricanes
-
0920 * Alternet, Inside the Feds' Secret Wiretapping Rooms * REU, California Sues Carmakers over Global Warming * NYT, Leader of Coup in Thailand Sets Timetable * Figaro, The Big Winner in the "War against Terror" Is Iran * GUA, Royal Society Tells Exxon Stop Funding Climate Change Denial * Progress Report, Torture - Public Supports Preserving Geneva Conventions, Compromise Unclear * ERRI, The second-annual Failed States Index by Foreign Policy * FAS, David Lykken and the Polygraph Myth * AP, Bill Allows Eavesdropping on Americans When Attack "Imminent" * FT, CIA "Refused to Operate" Secret Jails [fear of torture trials] * BBC, UN's Concerned Over Iraqi Killings * Gannett, US Health Care System Falling Behind
-
0921 * NYT, Mubarak's Son Proposes Nuclear Program * II Sole-24 Ore, The Milanese prosecutor investigating Abu Umar presented his findings to the Parliamentary Secret Services Watchdog Committee (COPACO). * LAT, Iraq violence threatens to destroy country, UN warns * GUA, Powell- US "war on terror" alienates world * NYT, Keep Away the Vote
- One
of the cornerstones
of the Republican
Party's strategy for winning elections these days * Spiegel, CIA Abduction of AI-Masri - Suspected CIA kidnappers identified
158
TIMELINE
FROM 15 SEPTEMBER
TO 29 SEPTEMBER
* DHS, Statement by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff on the resignation of the Assistant Secretary for Strategic Plans Randy Beardsworth * REU, UN Rights Envoys Condemn Bush Plan on Interrogation * REU, Bill Clinton Warns Against Torture Approval * AP, Top Republican [fundraiser Mel Sembler] Aids Lieberman * AP, Torture in Iraq Worse Now Than Under Saddam - UN Official * Alternet/The Nation, Racism Charges at DC Moonie Paper [Washington Times] * ABC, NSA Whistle-blower [Russell Tice] Says He Has Lost His Livelihood 0922 * RFE, North Caucasus Muslim Clergy Deny Providing Funds for AI-Qaida * Alternet/Truthdig, Secret CIA Prisons in your Backyard, Onnesha Roychoudhuri: The largest covert CIA operation since the Cold War is run not only by shadowy government contractors in the darkest comers of Afghanistan, but also by unassuming Americans in places like Dedham, Mass [long, detailed study]. * Progress Report, Detainee Agreement Allows "Scenic Route" to Torture * NYT, A Bad Bargain Here [torture bill] * Consortium, Bush Shields Dad on Chile Terrorism, Robert Parry: Chilean investigators say the Bush administration is undercutting their case against former dictator Augusto Pinochet for his alleged role in the terrorist assassination of a political rival on the streets of Washington three decades ago, a crime that then-CIA Director George H. W. Bush appears to have tolerated and then helped cover-up. * ERR!, Norway taped plot to blow up US embassy * ERR!, Pentagon
- Secret
Unit Couldn't Stop 9/11 [Able Danger]
* UN, Abbas, Hamas stake different positions on Israel * NYT, Claim 9/11 Terrorists Were Identified Is Rejected [Able Danger] * FAS, 000 Inspector General Disables Able Danger * Liberation, An "Espionage Powerhouse" in the Shadow of Telecom Italia * WP, 1,100 Laptops Missing From Commerce Department * AP, Audit Finds Education Dept. Missteps [steering money how it wanted] * AP, Nasrallah Says Hezbollah Won't Disarm * LAT, Chavez to Double Energy Subsidies to Needy in US 0923 * Chicago Sun-Times, Bush Seeks Retroactive Immunity for Violating War Crimes Act * Alternet, "Maverick" GOP Senators Cave to Torture President
159
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
* Alternet, A Tortured Debate, Molly Ivins: Bush's problem is that despite repeated warnings, he went ahead with "the program" without waiting for Congress to provide a fig leaf of legality. * Informed Comment, Bombing Pakistan back to the Stone Age, Juan Cole * ERR!, Former President Clinton Faults Bush for Inaction on Bin Laden * LAT, Army Corps Faked Budget Entries [for Iraq work] * Consortium, Bush's "Dirty War" Amnesty Law, Robert Parry: The United States is following the lead of "dirty war" nations, such as Argentina and Chile, in enacting what amounts to an amnesty law protecting US government operatives, apparently up to and including President George W. Bush, who have committed or are responsible for human rights crimes. * AP, France Looks Into bin Laden Death Report * AP, AWOL Soldier [Darrell Anderson] Plans to Return from Canada * AP, Feds Seek to Block Oregon Spying Case [against a former Islamic charity] 0924 * WP, Women and Children Slaughtered in Baghdad * LAT, Falwell Says Faithful Fear [Hillary] Clinton More Than Devil * REU, West Blocks Arab Bid to Rap Israel over Nuclear Issue at IAEA Meeting * WP, Are We Really So Fearful?, Ariel Dorfman: Can't the United States see that when we allow someone to be tortured by our agents, it is not only the victim and the perpetrator who are corrupted, not only the "intelligence" that is contaminated, but also everyone who looked away and said they did not know, everyone who consented tacitly to that outrage so they could sleep a little safer at night, all the citizens who did not march in the streets by the millions to demand the resignation of whoever suggested, even whispered, that torture is inevitable in our day and age, that we must embrace its darkness? * LAT, Why Retired Military Brass Don't Want Torture * LAT, Part I - A Silence in the Afghan Mountains, Kevin Sack and Craig Pyes * Mother Jones, A Detainee's Story - The Man [Muhibullo Abdulkarim Umarov] Who Has Been to America, McKenzie Funk: Why should Geneva Convention protections be applied to Guantanamo detainees? One innocent man's journey through the legal black hole of the War on Terror - four prisons, three countries, two years - may be the best argument yet. * AP, Dems Use Intel Report to Attack * Telegraph, Omar Role in Truce Reinforces Fears That Pakistan "Caved In" to Taliban * AP, Victims Get to Speak at Fastow Hearing [Enron's Andrew Fastow trial] 160
TIMELINE
FROM 15 SEPTEMBER
TO 29 SEPTEMBER
0925 * RFE, No "Triumphalism" at Trilateral Summit [Russian President Vladimir Putin, France's Jacques Chirac, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Compiegne, near Paris] * RFE, Another Chechen Field Commander Killed [Sultan Khadisov, aka Amir Musa] * Progress Report, Iraq - The Hornet's Nest: Last April, intelligence analysts completed a report entitled, "Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States," a classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE). * Progress Report, Terrorism - Clinton Sets the Record Straight on his Record on Al Qaida, Smacks Down Fox News * USA Today/AP, Pope meets Muslim leaders in effort to diffuse row * ABC, UN denounces killing of Afghan provincial women's affairs leader * LAT, Army Warns Rumsfeld It's Billions Short * NYT, Study of Iraq War and Terror Stirs Strong Political Response * AP, Retired Officers to Criticize Rumsfeld * The Australian,
Clinton
- "I Tried
My Best to Kill bin Laden"
* The Nation, War Signals?, Dave Lindorff: The Nation has learned that the Bush Administration and the Pentagon have moved up the deployment of a major "strike group" of ships, ... to head for the Persian Gulf, just off Iran's western coast. * NYT, Torture Victim Had No Terror Link, Canada Told US [Maher Arar] * Truthout, Media Tall Tales for the Next War, Norman Solomon: The September 25 edition of Time magazine illustrates how the US news media are gearing up for a military attack on Iran. * Le Monde, Bush and Torture * Truthout, Editor's Note: Newsweek has scrubbed the cover of its United States edition for October 2, 2006. The cover of its international editions, aimed at Europe and other world regions, has maintained the original title of the story, "Losing Afghanistan." * AFP, White House Admits Iraq Fuels Extremism * IRIN, Kandahar Women's Affairs Head Assassinated * AP, US Army Extends Iraq Duty for 4,000 0926 * Progress Report, Bipartisan Members of Senate Intel Committee Call for Declassification of NIE * WT, Iran may suspend uranium enrichment activities * REU, Rights Groups Decry US Senate Bill on Detainees * Truthout, A Broken, De-Humanized Military in Iraq, Dahr Jamail * AP, White House Said to Bar Hurricane Report * Truthout, Editor's Note: The following letter was sent today to the Senate Judiciary Committee to the attention of Senator Arlen Specter and Senator 161
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
Patrick Leahy. It represents the views of former US government and military officials who served in the CIA, in the Army, in the Air Force, at the Department of State and at the FBI. It represents a consensus view that torture is an ineffective and immoral practice. * ERR!, Militants say ETA to keep arms * ERRI, Al Arabiya and Taliban Say Bin Laden is Still Alive * ERR!, Explosion Kills 18 near Afghan Governor's Helmand Office * ERRI, Housing Project Raided by 200 Police in France * ERR!, M16 "didn't tell us that 7/7 bombers were in Pakistan" Pakistani president Musharraf says 0927 * NYT, A grim report on US' war on terror: The US government on Tuesday released a newly declassified report that acknowledges its fight against terror, especially the war in Iraq, actually has worsened the terror threat against the US. * The Australian, Chickens Are Home to Roost in Iraq * NYT, Attacks in Afghanistan Grow More Frequent and Lethal * IPS, The Diminished Dividends of War, Jim Lobe: With the US intelligence community agreed that the invasion and occupation of Iraq have made the United States less safe from terrorist threats, President George W. Bush appears to be facing a growing revolt among top military commanders who say their ground forces are stretched close to breaking point. * WP, Dozens Arrested in Several Antiwar Demonstrations Held Near Capitol * Times, Read It Yourself, Says Bush as Threat Report Made Public * Truthout, Bush War III - Going to War to Save His Own Ass [Iran] * AP, White House Refuses to Release Full NIE Report * WP, Most Iraqis Favor Immediate US Pullout, Polls Show * REU, House Passes Bush's Interrogation Bill * Ray Close (long-time CIA analyst): "If key members of Congress (like Majority Leader Bill Frist, who claimed ignorance of this report [NIE on Iraq and terrorism]), and neither the House nor the Senate intelligence committees, have seen the document since it was produced in April, then we have to ask ourselves whether the White House and Congress take any serious interest in the most important products of America's enormous (and extremely expensive) intelligence empire." * Progress Report, Losing the War on Terrorism [NIE] * In These Times, Tracking the CIA Torture Flights, Aaron Sarver: In their new book, "Torture Taxi: On the Trail of the CIA's Rendition Flights", A. C. Thompson and Trevor Paglen detail how the CIA transports these "detainees" around the globe ...In These Times spoke with Thompson about 162
TIMELINE
FROM 15 SEPTEMBER
TO 29 SEPTEMBER
how they tracked planes going to and from locations that don't officially exist. * Progress Report, PR Group [Lincoln Group] that Pushed Pentagon Propaganda in Iraq Receives Major New Contract * ERR!, Verbal Battles Continue Over US Intelligence Document [NIE] * REU, Iran Seen Borrowing Nuclear Strategy from Israel * Truthdig, Habeas Corpus, R.I.P. (1215 - 2006), Molly Ivins: With a smug stroke of his pen, President Bush is set to wipe out a safeguard against illegal imprisonment that has endured as a cornerstone of legal justice since the Magna Carta. * CNN, Iraq Suicide Attacks Rising During Ramadan * To Virna, A. Ravanos: On 26 Sep. 2006, the Greek government was reported to have confirmed that it collaborated with the US in the monitoring oftelephone communications around the time ofthe 2004 Olympics. * Truthout (faxed to all members of Congress), Cheney's Statements on Justification ofWar Must Be Challenged: On September 10th, in a televised interview on NBC's Meet the Press, Vice President Dick Cheney stated with little ambiguity that we would have invaded Iraq in 2003 even if we knew that Saddam did not have weapons of mass destruction. 0928 * NYT/REU, Iran-Europe nuclear talks fail to produce deal * FAS, Bush Uses Signing Statements to Leverage Power from Congress, CRS Says * FAS, Congress Poised to Transfer Power to the Executive: Instead of defending Congressional prerogatives, Congress appears eager to transfer new, unchecked authority to the President in the name of combating terrorism. * AP, House Approves Bill on Terror Detainees * ERR!, Russia to Sell Air-Defense Missiles to Tehran? * Truthout, Bush Appointees Browbeat Senior Military Officers on Geneva Conventions * AP, Poll- Iraqis Back Attacks on US Troops * NYT, Rushing off a Cliff Here's what happens when this irresponsible Congress railroads a profoundly important bill to serve the mindless politics of a midterm election: The Bush administration uses Republicans' fear of losing their majority to push through ghastly ideas about antiterrorism that will make American troops less safe and do lasting damage to our 217-yearold nation of laws. * Boston Globe, Cost ofIraq War Nearly $2 Billion a Week * Figaro, The Human Catastrophe of Gaza Is a Time Bomb, Jan Egeland (UN Assistant Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Coordinator of Emergency Aid) and Jan Eliasson (Sweden's Foreign Affairs Minister and
-
163
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2006
fonner (1992-1994) UN Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs) * Progress Report, 71 Percent of Iraqis Want US Forces to Withdraw within a Year * NYT, Data Transfer [Swift to CIA] Broke Rules, Report Says * Concord Monitor, Fired Pollster Revisits 2000 Election, Lauren R. Dorgan: Fonner UNH professor and pollster David Moore contends that his new book about the 2000 presidential election - titled "How to Steal an Election" - ... George W. Bush took the presidency that was rightfully won by Al Gore. * Atlanta Progressive News, Diebold Added Secret Patch to Georgia EVoting Systems in 2002, Whistleblowers Say 0929 * Progress Report, Torturing Democracy: On Wednesday, the House rubberstamped (253-168) the White House-backed legislation governing the interrogation and trial of terror suspects ... Yesterday, the Senate passed the measure in a 65-34 vote. * WP, Many Rights in US Legal System Absent in New Bill * ERR!, Pipeline Blast Shuts Down Natural Gas Supply to Turkey * ERRI, US General Casey Says Conflict in Iraq Changing from "Insurgency to Internal Power Struggle" * Truthout, Rice Ignored Bin Laden Warnings Prior to 9/11 . * NYT, Iraqi Journalists Add Laws to List of Dangers * WP, Ashcroft Is Denied Immunity in Case [wrongful detention of a US citizen] * ABC, Foley to Resign Over Sexually Explicit Messages to Minors * LAT, House OKs Expanded Wiretap Program The bill would allow easier monitoring of e-mails and phone records of US citizens during terror probes * AP, President Carter - Bush Has Brought US "International Disgrace" Fonner president urges Nevada voters to combat administration
-
164
CHAPTER 17 TIMELINE FROM 30 SEPTEMBER TO 19 OCTOBER Intelligence, N. 486,23 October 2006
Obviously the most prominent headlines of the past three weeks concerned the North Korean nuclear bomb test, but, in terms of news that may seriously change the current situation, the prize should probably go to two US "domestic" developments: the Rep. Mark Foley [R-FL] sex scandal and the direct implication of the Republican politicalleadership - and the publication of Robert Woodward's book, "State of Denial", and its political implication that the Bush White House was clearly warned of an impending Qaida attack and did nothing [the subject of this issue's Front Page article]: in short, the destruction of the "connecting the dots" myth that no one foresaw the Il September 2001 Qaida attacks. These two developments will very likely have a direct impact on the November US Congressional elections, but it is far from evident that the American electorate with remove the Republicans from positions of power in Washington and replace them with Democrats. There is even a question ofthe reliability of the US electoral system itself. As these major developments are being played out in Washington, "on the ground" in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea, serious "bad news" for Bush White House policies continues to arrive nearly every day, and will probably continue to arrive all the way up to and after the US Congressional elections. The only place where things seem to have "calmed down" is in Israel, Palestine and LebanoIt as Tel Aviv tries to digest its flagrant lack of military success [the subject of our preceding issue's Front Page article], its increasing international isolation and its incapacity to guarantee the security of its citizens with its aggressive military policy.
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2006
0930 * Alternet, The Religious Right Goes to Washington [Values Voter Summit] * AlternetlDavidCorn.com, This Is What Waterboarding Looks Like: As Congress debates torture and detention for suspected terrorists, you can see what waterboarding is all about at alternet.org/rights/42344/ * NYT, Detainee Bill Shifts Power to President * Truthout, CIA Wins Battles of Books against "Anti-Terror Allies" [in India and Pakistan] * REU, Congress Adjourns for Election with Work Unfinished * LAT, Uncomfortably Numb to Torture - As America's politicians, media and citizens get used to wartime abuses, Bush's horrific policies get a pass * ERRI/Telegraph, Syria threat over Golan puts Israel on war alert [but no fallout from this scare story] * AFP, Stung by Criticism, Bush Calls for Offensive "Across the World" 1000 [Oct.] * Zeit Fragen, Are Americans Training the Presidential Abbas? Secret Camp in Jericho
Guard of Mahmoud
1001 * ERR!, Five Die as Palestinian Factions Fight Among Themselves * JuanCole.com, Craig Murray on Manufacturing Terror, Oil, Lily Pad Bases and Torture * WP, Falling on His Sword, Colin Powell's most significant moment turned out to be his lowest * NYT, Campaign Cash Mirrors a High Court's Rulings [Justice O'Donnell's campaign accepted thousands of dollars] * NYT, "Not a Graceful Exit" for GOP-Led Congress * AP, Israel Withdraws Last Troops from Lebanon * AP, Iraq Government Facing Sectarian Rift, Qassim Abdul-Zahra * NYT, Powell Tried to Warn Bush on Iraq, Book Says * REU, Battle for Control ofCongress Tightens * TomDispatch, The Militarization ofMySpace * Global Research, The March to War [with Iran] Naval Build-Up in the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean
-
1002 * Alternet/Huffington Post, Putting Party Before Predators - Why Didn't GOP Leaders Stop Foley? * Alternet, Republican Torture Laws Will Live in History * Alternet, The Growing Iraq Resistance Movement in the US Military
166
TIMELINE
FROM 30 SEPTEMBER
TO 19 OCTOBER
-
* RFE, Putin Accuses Georgia of State Terrorism Russian Defense Ministry Ordered to Continue Georgian Troop Pullout - Georgian Foreign Minister Accuses Russia of Supporting Separatists * RFE, Chechen [rebel Islamic] President Promotes, Redeploys Field Commanders * Progress Report, Politics over Children - Rep. Mark Foley [R-FL]resigned Friday * Progress Report, Rumsfeld Ordered Aides to Shred 2005 Memo Calling for New Detainee Policies * Progress Report, 9/11 Commission Not Told of Rice-Tenet Meeting Warning of AI-Qaida Attack * National Interest, Sifting the Intelligence from the Politics [interview with Michael Scheuer] * CSM, Afghanistan - US troops aim to fight and build * ERR!, Rice denies brushing off CIA terrorism warning * ERR!, Italian police carrying out arrests of suspected Islamic terrorists * Miami Herald, FBI Begins Look at Foley's Contact with Teens * NYT, Records Show Tenet Briefed Rice on Al Qaida Threat * Malaysia Sun, 50 Bodies of Tortured Iraqis Found, Two US Marines Killed * AP, Judge [Paul Huck] May Have Stymied AbramoffProbe * McClatchy, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft Received Warning of al-Qaida Attack Before 9/11 1003 * RFE, Russia Implements Transport and Mail Blockade against Georgia Russian, US Presidents Discuss Standoff - Georgia Turns Over Detained Russian Officers to the OSCE * RFE, Russia Warns Against Missile-Defense Deployment in Poland * Progress Report, Asleep At The Switch Yesterday - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted that she did not attend a meeting on July 10, 2001 with then-CIA director George Tenet and his deputy Cofer Black in which she was warned of an impending attack on US interests * Progress Report, Conservatives Call for Hastert's Resignation over Foley Scandal * AP, North Korea Announces Nuclear Test * AP, Iran Proposes that France Enrich Tehran's Uranium * Kyodo News, N. Korea's Nuke Test Plan, If Realized, Unacceptable Japan * WP, After Foley, New Fears for the GOP * Truthout, Mommy, What's Waterboarding, David Swanson * Consortium News, Kissinger's Bad Advice on Iraq [Bob Woodward] * Truthout, The Death of the First American Republic [torture] 167
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2006
* AP, Afghan Detainees Petition for Freedom * Truthout, Journalist Jailed for Refusing to Turn Over Protest Footage [Josh Wolf] * AP, North Korea Says It Will Conduct Nuclear Test * Intelcenter.com, The investigation into the kidnapping of Islamic radical Abu Umar from Milan by the US Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] is being split into two parts * AP, Pentagon - No Terror Trials Imminent * AP, Violence in Iraq Leaves at Least 52 Dead * AP, Judge - Patriot Act Challenge Can Proceed * Nouvel Observateur/REU, Palestine on the Verge of Civil War 1004 * AP, Iraqi Police Unit Linked to Militias * RFE, [Russian] Foreign Minister Suggests US, NATO Backed Georgia * Truthout, Ashcroft Warned Pre-9/11 * IND, Republican Party in Chaos as Speaker Is Pressed to Resign * NYT, Software Being Developed to Monitor Opinions of US * Truthout, The Tipping Point This Foley scandal may well become the tipping point that drives this catastrophically dangerous Republican party out ofpower in Congress come November, William Rivers Pitt * NBC, US Is at Critical Crossroads in Afghanistan * REU, Eavesdropping Can Continue Pending Appeal * BBC, US Border Fence Signed into Law * WP, British Find No Evidence of Arms Traffic From Iran [into Iraq] * NYT, Iran's Proposal to End Nuclear Standoff is Rejected by the West * AP, Bush Says He Can Edit Security Reports * Time, Witness disappearance spurs Argentine fears of death squad resurgence
-
1005 * AlternetITomPaine, Bush Dismantles Child Care * AlternetITomdispatch, Will Bush Pardon Scooter Libby? * Mother Jones, Exposing the Iraq Lies, One by One * UN, Iran - Sanctions will not affect nuclear program * WP, Japan, US lead calls for UN action on North Korea * USA Today, In Afghanistan, NATO takes helm of international peacekeepers * Truthout, The US Occupation of Iraq - Casualties Not Counted, Dahr Jamail * WP, Ex-Aide to Foley Cites '03 Warnings * WP, Attacks in Baghdad Kill13 US Soldiers in 3 Days * AP, Ex-Page Says Foley Messaged Him in 1990s 168
TIMELINE
FROM 30 SEPTEMBER
TO 19 OCTOBER
* Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Troops Polled Say Armed Forces Stretched Too Thin Overseas * AP, House Ethics Panel to Subpoena Documents * MSNBC, A Special Comment about Lying [on the difference between terrorists and critics] * The Hill, Longtime Republican Was Source ofE-Mails [in the Foley case] * AP, Thousands Nationwide Protest Bush * USA Today, Republicans on Panel Have Ties to Hastert * Telegraph, Civil War in Europe [immigration scare story] * AP, Russia Still Opposes Iran Sanctions * FAS, Intelligence Information Sharing Lags [no one surprised] 1006 * Alternet, Unlikely Terror Suspects on the TSA No-Fly List * Alternet, Condi Rice - More Sordid Than Foley, Robert Scheer * RFE, Russians Evacuated from Georgia * EPIC, Coalition Urges Congress to Investigate NSA Domestic Spying Program * EPIC, Belgian Officials Challenge US [Swift] Datamining Program * EPIC, US and Europe Fail to Reach New Accord on Passenger Data * EPIC, DC Police Chief - Expanded Camera Surveillance Hasn't Cut Crime * Progress Report, Iraq - State of Disaster [Condoleezza Rice visit] * ERR!, Gen. Jones - Drug Lords Threaten Afghan Stability Efforts * ERR!, Michael Chertoff on Passenger Name Record Agreement with European Union [in reality, lack of agreement] * WP, GOP's Hold on Evangelicals Weakening * Gallatin News Examiner, Voter Registrations Faked in GOP Drive * CSM, How Al Qaida Views a Long Iraq War * Truthout, After Torture, What's Next? * Liberation, Airline Passenger Data - Washington Always Wants More * AP, AP Learns Gitmo Guards Brag of Beatings * AP, White House Aide to Rove Resigns [Susan Ralston] * CorpWatch, Contractors in Afghanistan Are Making Big Money for Bad Work * Los Angeles Daily Journal, Military Commissions Act Shames the Constitution and Weakens America 1007 * ERR!, Rockets aimed at Pakistan spy agency * ERR!, Race Clashes hit Windsor [England] * WP, Staffer Cites Earlier Role by Hastert's Office, Confrontation with Foley Detailed * AP, Taliban Revived in Southern Afghanistan 169
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2006
* Truthout, Foley's Folly - Ethics and Morality vs. Legality * REU, Guards Describe Guantanamo Prisoner Abuse * WP, White House Official Is First Casualty of Abramoff [Susan Ralston] 1008 * ERR!, Hezbollah's Worrisome Weapon [armed drones] * AP, Russia - Slain Reporter Was Writing Torture Story [Anna Politkovskaya] * McClatchy Newspapers, Guantanamo Defense Lawyer Forced Out of Navy [Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift] 1009 * The Nation, The GOP Is The Problem, Not Foley * WP, Lawmaker Saw Foley Messages in 2000 * UN, World condemns N. Korea over nuclear test claim * WP, Bush's Blunder in North Korea * REU, Four US Soldiers Killed in Iraq in 24 Hours * Asia Times, Taliban Put Pakistan on Notice * MarketWatch, Iraq envoy - US oil investment waiting on legal changes 1010 * RFE, Russia - Killing of Prominent Journalist Widely Condemned Journalist's Killing "Overshadows" Putin's German Visit * Progress Report, Six Years ofFailure Yesterday [North Korea] * Progress Report, Rumsfeld Sat on Board of Company that Sold Reactors to North Korea * Progress Report, US Army Lowers Standards to Meet Recruitment Target * UN, Russian president promises results in journalist's murder [investigation, A. Politkovskaya] * UN, UN sanctions on the horizon for North Korea * LAT, Diverted Attention, Neglect Set the Stage for Kim's Move [North Korea] * PBS, The Enemy Within [FBI charges a Lodi, California, Muslim, the driver of an ice cream truck, and his son with terrorism] * AP, N. Korea Blast Rattles Global Structure * REU, China Rules Out War over N. Korea but Not Sanctions * Korea Times, Seoul Opposes Military Action against North * REU, W. House Raises Doubts about N. Korean Nuclear Arms * AP, Lower Standards Help Army Recruit More * Human Rights Watch, Attack Dogs Used Against Prisoners * NYT, At Least 75 Bodies Found in Baghdad since Monday * AP, Top Democrat Calls for Talks with North Korea 170
TIMELINE
FROM 30 SEPTEMBER
TO 19 OCTOBER
* JuanCole.com, Oil, Lily Pad Bases and Torture, Craig Murray on Manufacturing Terror * NYT, FBI Struggling to Reinvent Itselfto Fight Terror 1011 * Progress Report, A Situation Worse Than Reported [in Iraq] * Progress Report, Hastert Meets With Far-Right Spiritual Adviser about Foley * Asia Times, US Military "Turns Blind Eye to Killings" [Iraq] * WP, Study Claims Iraq's "Excess" Death Toll Has Reached 655,000 * AP, Army - Troops to Stay in Iraq Until2010 * NYT, Bush Sees No Need to Change North Korea Policy * GUA, Gaza Sliding Into Civil War * Consortium News, Moon, North Korea & the Bushes * REU, 110 Bodies Found in Baghdad in 24 Hours * AP, AP, Networks Sue over Fla., Nev. Exit Poll Laws 1012 * RFE, Contract Killings Once Again on Rise in Russia * ERRI, North Korea Threatens War over Sanctions * FAS, The Stealth Satellite Mystery * NYT, Top US Officer in Iraq Sees Spike in Violence * New Republic, How Rove Twisted Foley's Arm: GOP congressional leadership, eager for every safe incumbent in the House to run for reelection, looked the other way as evidence accumulated that Mark Foley had a thing for pages. * Spiegel, A Closer Look at Colin Powell - The Evil of Banality: The tragic irony of the good soldier is that he deserted the people he was trying to protect. * AP, 17 Falsely Accused Guantanamo Detainees Returned to Afghanistan * NYT, Gunmen Kill Il at Iraqi TV Station 1013 * The Nation, A Gay Purge Looms for the GOP * IPS, Neocons Call for Japanese Nukes, North Korean Regime Change * RFE, Georgia Blocks Talks on Russian WTO Membership * ERRI, Briton admits to US, UK bomb plots * Progress Report, Ethics Losing the Faith [Bush's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives] * Progress Report, British Army Chief Calls for Phased Withdrawal from Iraq * Progress Report, Former CIA Director Goss May Have Tipped Off Reporter to Rendition Program 171
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2006
* NYT, Documents Reveal Scope of US Database on Antiwar Protests * GUA, Army Chief - British Troops Must Pull Out of Iraq Soon * BBC, No "Extreme Sanctions" on North Korea [Russia and China say] * Truthout, US Issues Revised North Korea Draft * WP, Red Cross Meets With 14 Moved to Guantanamo Bay * IND, Russia The Final Dispatch of a Reporter Murdered for Telling the Truth, Anna Politkovskaya * NYT, Ney Pleads Guilty Over AbramoffBribes * NBC, Feds Probe Trip That Kolbe Made With Pages * BBC, Iraqis "Fleeing Rising Violence" * American Prospect, Discovery Phase [Cheney Still at Forefront of CIA Plame Leak Case] * Insna.org, Is the US losing ground in science - A global perspective on the world science system in 2005
-
1014 * Alternet/Intelligence Report, "Gay Curer" Psychologist Claims Africans "Better Off' as Slaves * ERR!, UN Security Council Votes 15-0 to Impose Sanctions on N. Korea * ERR!, Startling New Stats Show Cross-Country Crime Spike - "Can't Arrest Our Way Out of This" * ERRI, First American to Be Charged With Treason in 50 Years [Adam Gadahn] * REU, Government Appeals Wiretapping Decision * NYT, Congressman Pleads Guilty but Won't Resign for Now * GUA, Aide Says White House Mocked Evangelicals * IND, Blair Devastated as Army Chief Savages His Approach to Iraq * WP, Coroner Says US Forces Unlawfully Shot Reporter [in 2003 in Iraq] * Figaro, The Iraqi Disaster Has Buried Unilateralism in Foreign Policy for a Long Time 1015 * NYT, The Gay Old Party Comes Out * ERRI, Inspections Continue to Be "Sticking Point" in N. Korean Sanctions * ERR!, At Least 46 Dead in Latest Spasm of Sectarian Violence [in Iraq] * OBS, It's Time to Say Sorry for Iraq's Agony * AP, Saddam Verdict Expected Within 3 Weeks * TomDispatch, Nine Paradoxes of a Lost War [Michael Schwartz, "The Paradoxes of Counterinsurgency"] * NYT, The Vegetable-Industrial Complex
172
TIMELINE
FROM 30 SEPTEMBER
TO 19 OCTOBER
1016 * RFE, UN Security Council Adopts Resolution Calling on Georgia to Exercise Restraint * RFE, Military Buildup in South Caucasus Adds to Tensions * Progress Report, Five Years after Anthrax Attacks, Little Progress Has Been Made, former Sen. Tom Daschle [D-SD] * GUA, Iraq Cancels Peace Talks after Scores More Die * NYT, Guilty until Confirmed Guilty [bill on military commissions] * ERR!, Dutch Muslims go on terror trial * ERR!, Suicide attack on convoy kills at least 67 [Sri Lanka] * ERRIlREU, More countries could develop nuclear bombs [IAEA] * Philadelphia Inquirer, FBI Agents Raid Homes of Rep. Curt Weldon's Daughter, Close Friend John Shiffman * Alternet, Part I - Bush's Petro-Cartel Almost Has Iraq's Oil * In These Times, Abandon Hope, All Who Enter Here - A falsely accused "enemy combatant" describes his imprisonment in Guantanamo, Moazzam Begg * Aviation Week, What's Plan B? With Ground Troops Overcommitted, Washington Faces Quandary in North Korea 1017 * ERR!, NA TO Intelligence Fusion Center Opens In RAF Molesworth, England * NYT, Lawyer Gets Much Less Jail Time than US Sought in Terror Case Defense lawyer Lynne F. Stewart sentenced to two years and four months in prison * Truthout, Academia Signs Up to Track Down Dissent * AP, North Korea Calls Sanctions a Declaration ofWar * NYT, Iraqis Ask Why US Forces Didn't Intervene in Balad * AP, Note Warns Calif. Hispanics on Voting: The state attorney general's office is investigating a letter received by some Southern California Hispanics that says it is a crime for immigrants to vote and tells them they could be jailed or deported ifthey go to the polls next month. * Bradblog, Bush's Former Elections Chair [DeForest Soaries] - E-Voting Ripe for Fraud * WP, Kenneth Lay's Conviction Erased From Record * AP, Bush Signs Bill on Terror Prosecution 1018 * RFE, Russian Ministry Links Georgians to Alleged Major MoneyLaundering Scandal * ERRI, Iraq attacks kill 10 US Troops * ERR!, N. Korea Readying Second Nuke Test? 173
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2006
* NYT, Report Spells Out Abuses [Former Representative Randy Cunningham pressured and intimidated staff members of the House Intelligence Committee] * IND, Troops Will Be in Afghanistan for Next 20 Years, Says Commander * Truthout, Is War With Iran Inevitable? * WP, Bush Sets Defense as Space Priority [asserts a right to deny access to space to anyone "hostile to US interests"] * AP, US October Death Toll in Iraq Hits 70 * AP, Ex-Commander Talks at Abu Ghraib Hearing - An Army Reserve officer accused of ignoring abuses of Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison was a daily visitor [Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan] * Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics Urges IRS Investigation into Kansas Attorney General Kline's Reelection Campaign 1019 * RFE, Iran Tops Agenda at Israel-Russia Summit * RFE, Abkhazia Appeals for Russian Recognition - Prompting Immediate Georgian Condemnation * Progress Report, Bush Agrees Iraq Violence May Be "Jihadist Equivalent to the Tet Offensive" * WP, Iraq - Smaller cells unleash new levels ofbrutality * WP, The Unlearned Lessons of Abu Ghraib [torture legislation] * ERR!, Guardian Says England Top AI-Qaida Target * ERR!, At least 24 people have been killed in a series of bomb blasts across Iraq * ERR!, Iran Issues Stark Warning Over Sanction Moves * GUA, Bush Accepts Iraq-Vietnam War Comparison * AP, NA TO Air Strikes Kill 9 Afghan Civilians * AP, Judge Orders Cheney to Turn Over White House Logs [lobbyists' White House access] * AP, Parts of Canada Secrecy Law Struck Down * USA Today, House Committee Dismisses Bulk of Investigative Division
174
CHAPTER 18 TIMELINE FROM 20 OCTOBER TO 10 NOVEMBER Intelligence, N. 487,13 November 2006
During the past three weeks, the most prominent headlines were the US Congressional electoral victory of the Democrat Party and the associated resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. In our preceding issue, we mentioned that the most prominent headlines then concerned the North Korean nuclear bomb test, "but, in terms of news that may seriously change the current situation, the prize should probably go to two US 'domestic' developments: the Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) sex scandal and the direct implication of the Republican politicalleadership - and the publication of Robert Woodward's book, State of Denial, and its political implication that the Bush White House was clearly warned of an impending Qaida attack and did nothing" (the subject ofthat issue's "Front Page" article). Specialists have noted that the North Korean nuclear weapon problem quickly disappeared from the front pages, replaced by the "domestic" developments that we had mentioned. Indeed, the past three weeks leading up to the 7 November vote were filled with news of Republican Party corruption, scandals and political misdeeds which seem to perfectly fit the definition of the French term, "fin de regime", and are the subject of this issue's "Front Page" article. There doesn't seem to be any particular "source" for this vast collection of Republican scandals, other than a general feeling of "fin de regime" which has encouraged many of the persons associated with these misdeeds to "throw in the rag" and "go public". Nonetheless, this major change in US politics does not solve the serious problems abroad of the Bush regime: the Iraq war, the Israel-Palestine conflict, the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran, and the war in
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
Afghanistan. But these major problems risk being given secondary priority to "domestic" problems such as investigating Bush regime scandals and "undoing" Bush regime legislation such as the Military Commissions Act authorizing torture and secret detention, and the Patriot Act used to justify warrantless eavesdropping on the American public. The single most delicate topic to watch in the near future is the possibility of a Senate investigation of George W. Bush for war crimes. Many specialists seem to think the Democrats will let Bush "save his hide" if he is willing to "undo" the legislation mentioned above. Otherwise, he risks following "Tricky Dick" Nixon into the history books. 1020 * Alternet/Huffington Post, How to Make Hundreds of Thousands of Dead Iraqis Disappear [Lancet study] * Progress Report, The Turning Point: Overwhelming bipartisan disapproval with the current Iraq strategy "will soon force the Bush administration to abandon its open-ended commitment to the war" * Progress Report, Congressman under Corruption Probe Carries Out Mass Firing of Investigative Staff [Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)] * Progress Report, Conservative Candidate behind Voter Suppression Letter Vows [Orange Country congressional candidate Tan D. Nguyen (R)] * Think Progress, Former Top Bush Administration Official Calls for Withdrawal of US Troops from Iraq [Richard L. Armitage] * San Francisco
Chronicle,
General
Concedes
Failure in Baghdad
- Bush
acknowledges comparison to '68 Tet offensive in Vietnam * WP, Officials Probing Possible Theft ofVoting Software in Maryland * La Repubblica,
Amato
- "It's
Urgent to Combine the Services"
- The
First
Statement by a Minister Concerning the Case of Abu Omar 1021 * Le Monde, The Netherlands Wants to Prohibit Burqa-Wearing * Alternet, Iraq Is Coming Apart at the Seams * ERR!, Fire strikes Army counter-espionage building [Fort Meade, MD] * GUA, Iraq Mayhem Triggers Hunt for Exit Strategy in US and UK 1022 * ERR!, Insurgents in Iraq Say They Are Using American Sniper Book * REU, Israelis Threaten to Retake Gaza-Egypt Border * Times, US in Secret Truce Talks with Insurgency Chiefs * AP, CBS
- Corrupt
Arms Deals Cost Iraq $800 Million
* Spiegel, A BND officer as intermediary between Hezbollah and Israel
176
TIMELINE
FROM 20 OcrOBER
TO 10 NOVEMBER
1023 * Alternet, Government Death Squads Ravaging Baghdad * Progress Report, Right-Wing Intel Committee Members Abuse Power, Suspend Staffer to Settle Political Scores [chairman Rep. Peter Hoekstra (RMI)] * GUA, "Arrogant" US Has Failed, Says Spin Doctor [Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy at the state department's bureau of near eastern affairs] * ERRI, Lavrov Says Russia Won't Allow UN to "Punish" Iran * IND, Israel Admits Phosphorous Bombs Used in Lebanon * AP, Former Enron CEO Skilling Gets 24 Years [convicted offraud] * ABC, Chicago Voter Database Hacked * ABC, Turmoil in Hastert's Office as Key StaffTestifies * Bloomberg, Apollo, Carlyle Group Consider Bids for Tribune Co., People Say * New Yorker, Outsourcing - The CIA's Travel Agent [Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen International Trip Planning] * MSNBC, Gitmo Interrogations Spark Battle over Tactics 1024 * Progress Report, Heads in the Sand [Center for American Progress Action Fund third quarterly "report card" this year on the Bush administration's handling of Iraq] * Progress Report, US Rank on Press Freedom Index Drops Nine Places * NYT, War in Sudan? Not Where the Oil Wealth Flows * NYT, Trying to Contain the Iraq Disaster * USA Today/AP, UN envoy Governments point to US when faced with detainee treatment issues * UN, Bush changes approach on Iraq phrasing * Truthout, A Study in Constant Motion, William Rivers Pitt ["stay the course" changes] * AP, Hastert Goes Before Congressional Panel * NYT, General May Call for Increase in US Troop Levels in Baghdad * AP, More Than Half Australia's Farmland Drought-Stricken, Government Says * WP, Some Voting Machines Chop Off Candidates' Names
-
1025 * ERR!, One of FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists" confirmed dead [Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah] * CBC (Canada), Blix - Iraq war a total failure * WP, Grass-Roots Group of Troops Petitions Congress for Pullout from Iraq 177
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AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
* Truthout, 9/11 Widows Want RicelTenet Documents Released * Figaro, The World Enters the Dangerous Era of American Impotence * Truthout, Cunningham Successor Faces Legal Controversy Too [San Diego Republican Congressman Brian Bilbray] * NYT, Iraqi Leader Disavows US Timetable * McClatchy, Cheney Confirms That Detainees Were Subjected to WaterBoarding ["It's a no-brainer for me"] 1026 * Progress Report, Homeland Security - Five Years after Creation, Department Receives Poor Grades in Dealing with Threats * Progress Report, Administration Botched Prosecution of "20th Hijacker" [Mohammed al-Qahtani] * WP, US, European Allies at Odds on Terms ofIran Resolution * GUA, Russia Opposes Draft UN Resolution on Iran * ERRI/UPI, CIA Having Difficulty Retaining Trained Staff? * GUA, CIA Tried to Silence EU on Torture Flights * AP, US Death Toll in Iraq Worst in a Year * WP, In Syria, Iraq's Fate Silences Rights Activists * NYT, Exxon Reports $10.49 Billion Profit in Quarter * AP, Afghans Say Dozens ofCivilians Killed * AP, Witness Grilled in CIA Leak Case * CBS, Rove Protege behind Racy Tennessee Ad * Corriere della Sera, SISMI & the List of Berlusconi Government Members, The Pompa Archive, The Milan Pool 1027 * Progress Report, Ohio GOP Smears Al Franken with Doctored Photo and Fake Quote * Progress Report, Immigration - Hastert Falsely Claims Pelosi Never Visited the Border * Truthout, Administration Officials Billed Taxpayers $1.5 Million for Private Air Travel * WP, In the Libby Case, a Grilling to Remember * UN, NA TO on offensive over Afghan mission * ERR!, Congress, FBI battle over anthrax investigation * FAS, Secrecy vs. Congressional Oversight * ERR!, South Korea's spy agency chief offers resignation * IND, Bush Signs Bill to Build Border Fence to Stop Mexicans * WP, Cheney's Remarks Fuel Torture Debate * NYT, 42 Iraqis Die as Insurgents Attack Police near Baquba * IPS, Bush under Growing Pressure to Engage Syria * Consortium News, Part II - The Original October Surprise, Robert Parry 178
TIMELINE
FROM 20 OcrOBER
TO 10 NOVEMBER
* IND, Republican "Attack Ad" Pulled Over Racial Slur * WP, The Year ofPlaying Dirtier Negative ads get positively surreal * LAT, Il in Orange County Charged With Voter Registration Fraud
-
* La Stampa,
Changes
at SISDE
& CESIS
- Spy
Reorganization
This Year
* NYT, 1997 external CIA review concluded North Korea was likely to collapse by 2002 * Spiegel, "The President Knows More Than He Lets On", Ron Suskind: One hundred suspected terrorists from all over the world are still being held in secret American prisons. * La Stampa, Prime Minister's office reportedly gave the CIA permission to carry out abductions on Italian soil 1029 * ERRI, [British] Police want water cannons to douse religious riot threat * KESQ, Videotapes Exist in [Congressman Jim] Gibbons Alleged Assault * NYT, A Study Links Trucks' Exhaust to Bronx Schoolchildren's Asthma 1030 * Progress Report, [House Majority Leader John] Boehner [R-OH] Praised Rumsfeld as "The Best Thing That's Happened to the Pentagon in 25 Years" * Progress Report, Hastert's Office Blocked Corruption Probe * WP, Bush Appointee Said to Reject Advice on Endangered Species * ERR!,
Strike
Reported
on Facility
Housing
Muhajideen
-
80 Dead
[Pakistan] * ERR!, Pentagon boosts "media war" unit * The Nation, Taliban Rising * REV, Civilian Deaths Turn Afghans against NA TO 1031 * Alternet, Iraq - "The Greatest Strategic Disaster in American History", Patrick Cockburn * Progress Report, Pentagon Creates "War Room" to Exploit New Media * Progress Report, Cheney Baselessly Claims Insurgents Are Timing Attacks to Influence Elections * NYT, The Vntracked Guns of Iraq * Haaretz, Planes Known to Carry CIA Terror Suspects Landed in Tel Aviv * AP, Kansas Attorney General [Phill Kline, one of the nation's foremost abortion opponents] Gets Abortion Clinic Records 1100 (Nov) * International Sociology, Grappling with 9111 and its Aftermath
179
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
1101 * Progress Report, Allen Supporters Assault Virginia Constituent [Sen. George Allen (R-VA)] * Progress Report, Pentagon Publicly Touts Progress in Iraq, Secretly Acknowledges Looming "Chaos" * Truthout, Senator Allen's StaffTackles Blogger [video] * ERR!, The New DNI Intellipedia system * ERR!, Italian PM weighs up military mission to Naples * LAT, More Than Ever, Insurgents Are Targeting US Forces * Bloomberg, Diebold Demands HBO Cancel Documentary on Voting Machines * Editor & Publisher, US Soldier Killed Herself After Objecting to Interrogation Techniques [Kenny Stanton, Jr.] * REU, Iraqi Data Suggests Civilian Deaths Still Rising * REU, Israeli Strikes Kill Eight Palestinians, Soldier * Editor & Publisher, After President Meets Reporters, Sullivan - Once a Bush Backer - Now Suggests He May Have "Lost His Mind" * AP, Is Administration Muzzling Warming Research? 1102 * Asia Times, Hillary Goes Against the Tide * ERR!, 72 Muslim Workers Barred From Paris Airport * TV Guide, Inside the Shocking HBO Film That Rocks the Voting Process * Figaro, NA TO Demands More Troops for Afghanistan * Chicago Tribune, HRW criticizes Blair on torture * BushGreenwatch, Bush Names Exxon Chief to Chart America's Energy Future [Lee Raymond] * NBC, No Memory Expert for Libby Trial * NYT, Report Warns of "Global Collapse" of Fishing * The Citizen, Six South African civilian intelligence services are under investigation for malpractice 1103 * Progress Report, Anti-Gay Evangelical Leader Resigns After Accusations of Gay Affair [Ted Haggard] * FAS, Classified Budgets and Congressional Corruption [Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nevada)] * NYT, US Web Archive Is Said to Reveal a Nuclear Guide * NYT, Congress Tells Auditor in Iraq to Close Office * GUA, Israeli Troops Open Fire on Women Outside Mosque * AP, Haggard Case Fuels Debate over Hypocrisy * Bloomberg, Revolt in Oaxaca May Force Calderon to Wage an IncomeGap Fight 180
TIMELINE
FROM 20 OcrOBER
TO 10 NOVEMBER
* Africa Confidential, Boots on the Ground - The Pentagon wants to raise the cash for a unified Africa command * Interfax-A VN, The GRU in Chechnya killed 3,000 enemy fighters 1104 * WP, US Seeks Silence on CIA Prisons * Political Animal, Torture and Secrecy, Kevin Drum * BBC, Israel Mounts Intense Air Strikes in Gaza * CNN, War Simulation in 1999 Pointed Out Iraq Invasion Problems * Consortium, Bush Will Say Anything, Robert Parry * Times, Six Arab States Join Rush to Go Nuclear * Intelcenter.com, Former CIA abductee Abu Umar testified to an Egyptian judge about his experience 1105 * ERR!, Saddam Hussein Guilty of Crimes against Humanity - Sentenced to Hang * REU, Saddam Verdict Date "Rigged" for Bush * Dailykos, The Gap's nasty dishonest robo-call barrage * Haaretz, Listen to Major General Stem
-A
bloodbath
is taking place in
Beit Hanun * Alternet, Rights groups question fairness of [Saddam Hussein] trial 1106 * ERRI, Female Suicide/Homicide Bomber Strikes in Gaza * IND, This Was a Guilty Verdict on America as Well [Saddam Hussein's trial] * ERRI, Texas DA Kills Self as Police Arrive [solicited sex with a minor] * ERR!, Brit and US Terror Plots Detail Revealed * Truthout, Where Are You, Harry? [superhawk congressman Duncan Hunter, chairman ofthe House Armed Services Committee] * Truthout, Rumsfeld and Hussein
- Partners
in Crime
* Crooks and Liars, An Ideology of Lying [Bush followers lie repeatedly and aggressively] * Alternet, New York Times - Endorsing No Republicans * American Chronicle, Virginia State Board of Elections Secretary Finds Widespread
Incidents
of Voter
Suppression
-
Threats
of incarceration,
changed polling locations, and fliers to "Skip the Election" * LAT, Launch a drug deal to save Afghanistan * Inte1center.com, Claims that Abu Umar was offered 2 million euros and release from prison in Cairo if he denied that he had been kidnapped from Milan
181
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
1107 * Progress Report, Election Day I09 Reasons to Dump the I09th Congress * ERRI, School Murder Plot Uncovered - Two Students Charged * Richmond Times Dispatch, Virginia - FBI Looks into Voter Intimidation * Truthout, Armagideon Time - Bush's Nuclear Folly and the National Security Lie * AP, Election Fixing Charges Fly in Utah [Daggett] County * AP, 14 Dead, 16 Hurt in Iraq Mortar Attack * WP, Maryland GOP Recruits Homeless to Distribute Misleading Fliers on Dems
-
1108 * ERRI, Worst Terror Attack Ever on Pakistani military Forces * ERRI, Dutch police arrest 6 suspects over "Jihad recruiting" * ERRI, Sri Lankan military shelling kills 65 civilians * FAS, A Glimpse of Army Special Operations Forces * UN, Talks on curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions stumble * UN, Iran's Khamenei vows continued pursuit of nuclear technology * Truthout, A Bulk Rate on Printing Subpoenas? * AP, 60 Iraqis Are Killed or Found Dead Today * AP, Hamas Chief - Truce with Israel Is Over * AP, 42 Die in Attack at Pakistan Army Camp * Truthout, Gates Has History of Manipulating Intelligence * TomPaine, The Iraq Mandate - For the first time in American history, Americans have gone to the polls in wartime and rejected that war * MSNBC, Ballot Measure Losses Jolt the Religious Right - Anti-abortion, stem cell, same-sex issues all falter - Leaders left wondering * MSNBC, Iraqi Parliament Renews State of Emergency, 66 more Iraqis die, Bush ratchets up pressure on al-Maliki * Alternet, Election Theft Round-Up - The Latest - Robo-calls in Nebraska ... Colorado Latino voters threatened with arrest ... Maryland GOP hands out false ballots ...MoveOn offers $250,000 for voter fraud evidence ... Did Fox News canvass for Lieberman 1109 * RFE, Putin Hints to GRU That US Is Threat * REU, Russia Seeks to Calm Europe on Iran Nuclear Arms * Progress Report, Despite Being Defeated, Lawmakers Will Remain the Subject of Federal Investigations * Progress Report, Youth Voter Turnout Highest in 20 Years * Progress Report, Afghans Increasingly Pessimistic About Future * UN, Security Council urged to stop Israel's Gaza strikes * AFP, Democrats Sweep US Congress in Election Triumph 182
TIMELINE
FROM 20 OCTOBER
TO 10 NOVEMBER
* ERR!, Sheriff and 12 Deputies Charged in Drug Dealing Case [Virginia Henry County] * ERR!, MissilelRocket damages facade of Dutch newspaper printing building * Truthout, Robert Gates Not Right for CIA in 1991, Senator Tom Harkin * Consortium, The Secret WorId of Robert Gates * AP, Startling Findings in Pat Tillman Probe * REU, Bush to Push for Bolton Confirmation in Lame Duck Congress * San Francisco Chronicle, Pombo Foe Says Bush Visit Clinched His Win [Jerry McNerney] * AP, Group Can Seek White House, FDA Records about Plan B Pill * BBC, Iraq - Huge sums for construction missing * AP, Rice - Democrats Won't End Iraq Mission * Democracy Now, War Crimes Suit Prepared Against Rumsfeld * L'Espresso, SISMI & paid spies at Telecom, All working against Prodi, The central in Milan * L'Espresso, Pollari set up Telekom Serbia, Pio Pompa's Report * REU, Minister - French Troops Almost Fired at Israel Jets * US Newswire, Group Urges Probe into House "Bid-Rigging," "Kickbacks" 1110 * Truthout/Huffington Post, Murtha Can Lead an Iraq Withdrawal * ERR!, MIS head's Warning on Terrorism * ERR!, International Arrest Warrant Issued [in Argentina] For Iranian Leaders * ERR!, FBI sharpens its focus on international threats * Alternet, Should Bush Be Impeached? A poll * AP, Israel Official - Strike on Iran Possible * AP, Mubarak Warns Against Hanging Saddam * CNN, Key Republican Joins Dems Opposing Bolton Nomination * MSNBC, City [Boulder CO] Residents Vote to Tax Selves for Carbon Use * NYT, Bipartisanship on Hold - Mr. Bush made it clear * Time, Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld over Prison Abuse * Truthout, New Senate, New Probe into Pre-War Intel * WP, Bolton May Not Return as UN Envoy * WP, Cleric Details CIA Abduction, Torture
183
CHAPTER 19 TIMELINE FROM 11 NOVEMBER TO 30 NOVEMBER Intelligence, N. 488, 4 December 2006
In our previous issue three weeks ago, the most prominent headlines were the US Congressional electoral victory of the Democratic Party and the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense. We also noted that "the North Korean nuclear weapon problem quickly disappeared from the front pages, replaced by the 'domestic' developments" leading up to the 7 November vote, particularly news of Republican Party corruption, scandals and political misdeeds. Those "misdeeds" continue to occupy the front pages of the US press, but these "domestic" problems and the Democrat electoral victory are not going to solve the major problems abroad of the Bush regime: the Iraq war, the Israel-Palestine conflict, the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran, and the war in Afghanistan. The new Democrat Congress will have to pursue these problems and, at the same time, investigate Bush regime scandals and "undo" Bush regime legislation such as the Military Commissions Act authorizing torture and secret detentions, and the Patriot Act used to justify warrantless eavesdropping on the American public. In our previous issue, we mentioned that the "single most delicate topic to watch in the near future is the possibility of a Senate investigation of George W. Bush for war crimes. Many specialists seem to think the Democrats will let Bush 'save his hide' if he is willing to 'undo' the legislation mentioned above. Otherwise, he risks following 'Tricky Dick' Nixon into the history books." If indications over the last three weeks are reliable, Bush does not intend to "save his hide" by cooperating with the new Democratic Congress, and a major confrontation is in the making.
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
1111 * Alternet, The Terrorists Who Aren't in the News [anti-abortion fanatics] * AP, US Vetoes UN Resolution on Israel * Figaro, Oil Strengthens the Sudanese Government 1112 * AP, Baghdad's Morgues So Full, Bodies Being Turned Away * AP, Insurgent Activity Soaring in "Forgotten War" in Afghanistan * AP, Suicide Bomber Kills 33 in Baghdad * JP, Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard was passing classified information to Australia and Pakistan in addition to Israel * OpEdNews, Impeaching Bush to Preserve the Constitution * Spiegel, New Schmidt-Eenboom book on the Federal Intelligence Service [BND] 1113 * AFP, Swedish government to pay 80,000 Kronor in reparations to Russian scientist Andrei Zamyatnin * Alternet, Israeli "Massacre" Overshadowed by US Elections * Alternet, White powder terrorist of Jon Stewart, Letterman, Pelosi [Chad Castaganas] * AP, Iraqi Leader Vows Shake Up Amid Carnage - Spiraling sectarian violence blasts Iraq * Spiegel, Richard Haass - "Iraq Is Not Winnable" * Toledo Blade, [Republican financier Tom] Noe Guilty of 29 Felony Counts * REU, US - Guantanamo Detention Cases Must be Dismissed 1114 * AP, ACLU Seeks Again to Block Wiretaps * AP, Iran Says Nuke Program Is Near Complete * Deutsche Welle, Former Guantanamo Prisoner Kurnaz Reveals Extent of Torture * FT, UN group names countries sending illegal arms to Somalia * GUA, Up to 150 Kidnapped From Baghdad Institute * Le Monde, Lawyer in the Hell of Guantanamo [Clive Stafford Smith] * REU, Official Says US May Mull Pre-Emptive Iran Strike * RFE, Human Rights Watch Details "Systematic" Torture in Chechnya 1115 * Alternet/Mother Dickinson
186
Jones, So You Think You Want to Impeach, Tim
TIMELINE
FROM 11 NOVEMBER
TO 30 NOVEMBER
* Cryptogram, Last week in Florida's 13th Congressional district, the victory margin was only 386 votes out of 153,000 * Cryptogram, Total Information Awareness Is Back [as Tangram, and it is classified] * Earth Justice, Bush to Renominate Blocked Judicial Candidates * IND, Desperate Search After Mass-Kidnapping of Sunnis Ends With Hostages Found Alive * New Standard, House Passes "Terrorism" Act against Animal Activists * NYT, Vatican Decries Fence Planned for US Border * Progress Report, Washington Post Falsely Claims "Most Congressional Democrats" Oppose Redeployment of US Troops * Progress Report, Fox News Internal Memo Looks for Insurgents "Thrilled" with Election Results * REU, US General Says Troop Adjustments Won't Solve Iraq * The Nation, Back to the Future with Trent Lott * Truthout, Blair's Post-Election Panic Attack * Truthout, Project Censored
- Media
Accountability
Conference
* Truthout, Rare Bipartisan Support to Keep Iraq Watchdog Agency Alive 1116 * AFP, US Military - Violence in Afghanistan Doubled in 2006 * Alternet, Police "Tase" UCLA student apparently without cause * Alternet, Delta kicks woman off plane for breast feeding * EPIC, Almost 450 IRS Laptops either Stolen or Lost Since 2003 * EPIC, President Seeks OK for Domestic Surveillance Program * EPIC, Privacy International Publishes Global Privacy Report * ERR!, [US Army] CTC Releases Study of Jihadi Movement * GUA, US Plans Last Big Push in Iraq * MSNBC, Has Fox News Gone Too Far? * NRC Handelsblad, Polish Deputy Minister Marek Pasionek met with EU investigators looking into CIA prisons in Eastern Europe * Progress Report, Bush "Intends to Stay the Partisan Course" with Judicial Nominees * Progress Report, Delay Defender Blunt Hits Conservatives for Defending Corrupt Politicians * Progress Report, Key Baker Ally Brent Scowcroft Wants to "Stay" in Iraq * Truthout, Plame Wilson v. White House - Round 1 * Truthout, The New Media Offensive for the Iraq War * Truthout, The Same Old George [Bush] * UN, Bolton sees Senate support for staying on as UN envoy * WP, Former Enron Accountant Gets 5 1/2 Years for Fraud [Richard A. Causey]
187
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
1117 * AP, AP Gets Shocking New Report on Gitmo: The US military called no witnesses, withheld evidence from detainees and usually reached a decision within a day. * AP, Four Americans Kidnapped in Southern Iraq * AP, Nicaragua Adopts Strict Abortion Ban * Daily Mail, "Iraq Is a "Disaster" Admits Blair * NYT, US Airstrikes Climb Sharply in Afghanistan * OpEdNews, Clear Evidence 2006 Congressional Elections Hacked * Progress Report, Al Qaida On the March [DIA chief, Gen. John Abizaid's Senate testimony] * Progress Report, Dodd Introduces Bill to Amend Military Tribunals * Progress Report, Increasing Troop Levels in Baghdad Made Violence Worse * Tomgram, Will Daddy's Boys Extend the War? * Truthout, Grand Theft Pentagon [Bush budget] * Truthout, Peter Lance's 9/11 Masterpiece [Triple Cross] * Wired, NSA Case Becomes Lawyer Junket [forty-eight lawsuits against the nation's largest telecommunications companies] 1118 * Alternet, Netanyahu Cries - "Hitler! Hitler! Hitler!" - Israel's former-PM pushes war on Iran * AP, Plea Deals Pile Up for Accused Marines ["misdeeds" in Iraq] * ERR!, Open-source Intelligence Moving to the Forefront [at DHS]? * Stars and Stripes, Volunteer Force May Be "Severely Degraded" Soon 1119 * AP, Gonzales Blasts Surveillance Critics * AP, Key Democrat Wants to Reinstate Draft * AP, More Than 50 Die in Iraq, 22 in Bombing * BBC, Human Shield Deters Israel Strike * ERR!, lOF
- Cell
using undetectable
(liquid explosive) bomb belts
* NYT, Kissinger Says Victory in Iraq Is Not Possible 1120 * Alternet, Fox is right the world is
- Iraqi insurgents
* Alternet, Support the troops
- Leave
are "thrilled" Dems won
- Most of
Iraq
* ERR!, Five Dead, More Than Fifty Wounded in Train Explosion [India] * AlternetlNation Books, Bush's Desire for a Conflict with Iran is a Crisis Made in Israel * AP, GOP Fundraiser Gets 18 Years in Prison [Tom Noe] 188
TIMELINE
FROM 11 NOVEMBER TO 30 NOVEMBER
* AP, Iraq Death Toll Hits 1,370 for November * AP, Reno Files Challenge to Terror Law * GUA, Asian Leaders Fail to Back Bush's Strategy to Curb North Korea's Nuclear Ambitions * GUA, Was the CIA Involved in Bobby Kennedy's Assassination? * Haaretz, Bush - I Would Understand IfIsrael Chose to Attack Iran * In These Times, DoJ Quashes Wiretapping Inquiries * New Statesman, Missing, Presumed Tortured * NYT, Intrigue Swirls in Ex-KGB Man's Illness [Alexander V. Litvinenko] * Progress Report, Iran, Stovepiping Intelligence - "Make no mistake, President Bush will need to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities before leaving office" * REU, White House Brushes OffCIA Report on Iran * RFE, Chechen Renegade Gunned Down in Moscow [Movladi Baysarov] * RFE, Was Putin Critic "Poisoned" in London? * UN, General Assembly calls for end to Israeli-Palestinian violence * UN, UN's Arbour sees widespread rights violations in Gaza * US Newswire, Judicial Watch - Judge Orders FBI to Correct [9111] Disclosures * WP, Hezbollah Threatens Protests to Topple Lebanese Government * WP, Pentagon Review Sees Three Options in Iraq "Go Big," "Go Long" and "Go Home" * New Yorker, The Next Act Is a damaged Administration less likely to
-
-
attack Iran, or more, Seymour M. Hersh
1121 * AFP, US Could Bomb Iran Nuclear Sites in 2007 * Alternet, CACI - Torture in Iraq, Intimidation at Home * Alternet, Fox Cancels O. J. Simpson Murder Porn * AlternetITomPaine, A Way Out of Iraq, Sen. Russ Feingold * AP, 35 Nations near Deal over Iran Reactor * AP, Israel Launches Offensive in Gaza City - Palestinians Fire Rockets into Sderot * AP, Lebanese Christian Leader Killed [Pierre Gemayel] * BBC, CIA Role Claim in Kennedy Killing * ERRI, Anti-Syrian Politician Assassinated in Beirut [Gemayel] * NYT, Death in Sofia
-A
Bulgarian
Mystery,
Suspicions
Emerge About
Police Archive * NYT, Top Spy in Italy Loses Job [SISMI chief, Nicolo Pollari] * NYT, US Considers Large, Temporary Troop Increase in Iraq * NYT/AP, Former Spy Is Moved To Intensive Care Unit [Litvinenko] * Progress Report, Accused Intel Aide's Classified Access Restored * Progress Report, Media - Off-Balance [Fox News]
189
WORLDPOLITICSAND"PARAPOLlTICS"2006
* RFE, Argentinean Warrants Urge Former Iranian Officials' Arrests * RFE, Former Top KGB Agent Blames Kremlin [Litvinenko] * RFE, Russian Defector Moved into Intensive Care [Litvinenko] * RFE, Russian Spy Satellite Breaks up in Orbit * UN, Iraqi stability to top agenda for regional summit * WP, Flaws Cited in Effort to Train Iraqi Forces - US officers roundly criticize program * WP, Iraq to Restore Long-Severed Relations with Neighbor Syria 1122 * AlternetITomDispatch, Will Papa Bush's Old Pals Prolong the Iraq Occupation? * Congressional Quarterly, A Senate Mystery Keeps Torture Alive - and Its Practitioners Free * LAT, Assassination Leaves Lebanon at Brink [Gemayel] * NBC, Dems Want to See Citizen-Monitoring Database - Pentagon has been keeping tabs on groups perceived as security threat * NYT, Maps Cast Doubt on Israeli Land Claims * NYT, Perfect Killing Method, but Clear Targets Are Few [sniping in Iraq] * Orlando Sentinel, Ballots Favored Dems - Sarasota's "undervotes" were examined in five state races * RFE, Did Russian Defector Know of Death Threat [Litvinenko] * Telegraph, It Was My Duty to Refuse to Go to Iraq, Says First American Army Officer Facing Court Martial * UN, Iraqi deaths reach new high in October * UN, Lebanon assassination unites Security Council, world leaders [Gemayel] 1123 * AP, Attack on Baghdad Shiite Slum Kills 157 * BBC, UN Agrees to Probe Lebanon Murder * Consortium, Gates and the Iran Arms Sales * ERRI/Fox News, Suspected Poisoning Patient Expires in London Hospital [Litvinenko] * WP, Democrats' Victory Is Felt on K Street - The Democrats' takeover of Congress this month has turned official Washington upside down 1124 * ERR!, N. Ireland Parliament Building Evacuated * ERR!, NA TO to Include Counter-Terrorism in its Role
* ERRI/HPA, Mr. Alexander Litvinenko - Health Protection Agency Statement * ERRI/HP A, Polonium-21 0 ... What Is It [Litvinenko]
190
TIMELINE
FROM Il NOVEMBER TO 30 NOVEMBER
* GUA, Dead Spy Was Victim of Radiation [Litvinenko] * NYT, When Votes Disappear * NYT/AP, Ex-KGB Agent on Life Support as Test Results Prove Unclear [Litvinenko] * Telegraph, Ex-KGB spy poisoned by "high dose of Alpha radiation" [Litvinenko] * USA Today, [FBI] Whistleblowers Tell ofCost of Conscience * CounterPunch, The Massacre at Beit Hanoun, Kathleen Christison (a former CIA political analyst who worked on Middle East issues for 30 years, and author of Perceptions of Palestine and The Wound of Dispossession) * LAT, Arms transport probe zeros in on Pennsylvania store - A sporting goods outlet is suspected of making illegal sales linked to Russian businessman Victor Bout 1125 * AP, Sunnis Gun Down 21 Shiites in Iraq * AP, US Involved in Iraq Longer Than WW II * ERR!, Hezbollah Begins Push to Topple Lebanese Government * ERR!, Iran and Syria Reportedly Helping Hezbollah Rearm * ERR!, Russian Spy's Death Sparks Warning for UK Public [Litvinenko] * ERR!, Somali Islamists mass troops, brace for war * LAT, Gates Pushed for Bombing ofSandinistas * Truthout, Good News, Bad News [the appointment of Eric Keroack to head family planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services] * USA Today/AP, UN agency finds Israel added mines in summer conflict 1126 * AP, War Protestor's Public Suicide in Chicago Went Unnoticed by Media * Boston Globe, Hail to the Chief Dick Cheney's mission to expand - or "restore" - the powers ofthe presidency * CBS, President Bush's Bad Reputation * Haaretz, 13,000 Members of PA Security Force Deploy in Gaza to Prevent Qassam Fire * NYT, Deja Vu in Florida [voting] * NYT, Experts Concerned as Ballot Problems Persist * Times, Ferocity ofIraq Attacks Leaves US Troops Helpless
-
1127 * Altemet, Why Israel/Palestine peace treaty won't work * AP, Britain May Start Pulling Out of Iraq * AP, Iraqi President Seeks Iran's Help * AP, Leftist Economist Wins Ecuador Election 191
WORLDPOLITICSAND"PARAPOLITICS"2006
* AP, Supreme Court Rules against NY Times in Leak Probe * AP, US Military Deaths in Iraq Hit 2,875 * Editor & Publisher, Media Starting to Describe Iraq Conflict as "Civil War" * ERR!, Plane Crash Kills Members ofIran's Revolutionary Guards * Figaro, Nothing Has Gone Right for Israel since Yitzhak Rabin's Assassination * IHTINYT, NATO Strives to Mend Rift over Its Future Role * IND, NATO Urged to Plan Afghanistan Exit Strategy as Violence Soars * NYT, Institution of Cold War [Voice of America, VOA] Searches for Relevance * NYT, Media Law May End Berlusconi Hegemony * Progress Report, Iraq Stay the Course v.2.0: The blue-ribbon Iraq Study Group (ISG) headed by James Baker and Lee Hamilton * Progress Report, Rumsfeld Memo Condoned Detainee Mistreatment at Abu Ghraid * RFE, Ossetian Jamaat Offers Rewards for Killing of Pro-Russian Chechen Premier, Military Commanders * TomDispatch, Elizabeth de la Vega - Bringing Bush to Court * Toronto Star, Olmert looks for "genuine" peace talks as guns fall silent * Truthout, US v. Bush, et al. [Elizabeth de la Vega] * Wired, Army Game Says US Can't Lose
-
1128 * Foreign Affairs, The New Middle East, Richard N. Haass (president of the Council on Foreign Relations) * Alternet, Ten Fallacies about the Violence in Iraq * AP, Bush Says US Won't Pull Out of Iraq * AP, Rep. Pryce Wins in Ohio - Recount Will Be Done * BBC, Report EU Nations "Knew About CIA Jails" * Consortium, Robert Gates - A Cold War Bombthrower Becomes Iraq War Saviour * CSM, Iraq Panel's Real Agenda - Damage Control * NYT, Panel Says Australian Company [AWB Ltd.] Paid Bribes [to Saddam Hussein] * NYT/AP, Tehran - Military Plane Crash Kills 36 in Elite Unit * Progress Report, News Outlets Follow White House Line, Resist Calling Iraq Violence a "Civil War" * Progress Report, Report Finds European States Knew About CIA Black Sites * RFE, British Leaders Wam Against Drawing Conclusions Over Defector's Death [Litvinenko] * RFE, Russian Media Speculate About Defector's Death [Litvinenko]
-
192
TIMELINE
FROM 11 NOVEMBER TO 30 NOVEMBER
* Truthout, The Melbourne Minutes: New Downing Street Memos from Down Under * Truthout, TV Blowhard Barks at Iran - Let's Hold CNN Accountable * WP, Anbar Picture Grows Clearer, and Bleaker 1129 * AFP, NA TO Agrees to Bolster Troubled Afghan Force * AP, Alleged CIA Torture Victim Speaks Out [Khaled el-Masri] * AP, Judge Strikes Bush's Terror List * AP, Ohio County May Junk E-Voting Machines * AP, US, Iraq Summit Put OffUntil Thursday * Figaro, Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon - The End of the West's Strategic Supremacy * IND, Five Young Girls Killed in US Attack on Iraqi Insurgents * NYT, Al Qaida Behind Iraq Violence, Bush Says * NYT, European Report Cites CIA Collusion [in kidnapping and secret detentions] * NYT, Exiled Russian Adds to UK Mystery [Litvinenko affair] * NYT, Iran Resolution, Still Not Final, Drops Mention of Sanctions * NYT, Report Rejects Some EU Countries' Claims of Innocence in CIA Collusion * Progress Report, The Sadr Factor - The Bush administration tried to dismiss Maliki's cancellation of Wednesday's meeting as an inconsequential rescheduling * Truthout, Not Flying While Muslim * Truthout, Report - US Still Manipulating Iraq Intelligence * UN, Report - Europe knew of CIA anti-terror jails, tactics * US lawmaker [Senator Richard Lugar] Urges Use of a NATO Clause - He Calls for Mutual Assistance on Energy * WP, European Report Details Flights by CIA Aircraft - Polish, Romanian Facilities Cited * WP, Vote Disparity a Mystery in Florida Election for Congress * Le Monde, Guantanamo, a Thriving Development [in terms of business] * BNS (Vilnius): On 29 Nov. 2006, it was announced that the Lithuanian State Security Department had become a full member of the Bern Club on a unanimous vote [the Club is an informal association of the heads of European intelligence and security services used for coordination and information sharing] 1130
* ABC, US to Send More Troops to Baghdad
.
* Alternet, Learning to Live with the Ayatollahs, Robert Scheer 193
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLlTICS" 2006
* Alternet, Mistaken terrorism victim to be paid $2M by US - Man [a lawyer] jailed for 2 weeks after being mistaken for Spanish terrorist [Brandon Mayfield] * NYT, Iraq's Premier Abruptly Skips a Bush Session * Southwest Florida Herald Tribune, Congress to Look at Voting Problems * Truthout, Focus on Their Color - Fail to See Their Humanity [police murder Sean Bell] * Truthout, Pale Fire and London Fog - Illuminating outliers in the death of Alexander Litvinenko * WP, US Settles Suit Filed by Oregon Lawyer - Two million dollars will be paid for wrongful arrest after Madrid attack [Mayfield case] * Progress Report, The Gates of Change? - But the AP reports that Gates "may bring more of a change in style than substance to the Pentagon and the fractious debate over Iraq" * Progress Report, Pentagon Intel Head Who Oversaw Torture Resigns [Stephen Cambone] * AP, Feds Rate Travelers for Terrorism [Automated Targeting System (ATS)] * Bloomberg, European powers downsize planned UN Iran sanctions * Toronto Star, Iraqi security forces ready to take control by June, Iraq PM says * WP, Halliburton Unit to Pay $8 Million for Overbilling - KBR settlement ends Kosovo case * NYT, A Crack in the Stone Wall: It was one of the more outrageous moments in the story of the Bush administration's illegal domestic wiretapping. Almost a year ago, Congressional Democrats called for a review of the Justice Department's role in the program. But the department investigators assigned to do the job were unable to proceed because the White House, at President Bush's personal direction, refused to give them the necessary security clearance.
194
CHAPTER 20 TIMELINE FROM 1 DECEMBER TO 15 DECEMBER Intelligence, N. 489, 18 December 2006
The past fortnight's most important development on the political scene is probably the publication of the Iraq Study Group (ISG) report. As expected, it openly criticized the Bush White House's war in Iraq and called for changes which were just as openly rejected by George Bush who no longer seems to have any powerful allies on whom he can rely. "On the ground" in Iraq, the "civil war" continues and has provoked a reaction from the Saudi regime which seems to fear a region catastrophe and a systematic elimination of Sunni Muslims in Iraq at the hands of Iranianbacked Shiite Muslims. These developments appear to have sidelined the Bush White House as the killing goes on in Iraq. And the situation doesn't seem to be improving in Afghanistan where Bush's closest ally, the British, have openly criticized the CIA and its involvement in that" good war". Back in Washington, the Democrats are trying to work together to "undo" what the Bush regime has done and bring the US back into the league of Western nations. But the job is very demanding and the Democratic majority is quite unstable. Other major conflicts have disappeared from the headlines. This includes the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran, and the IsraellPalestine problem, particularly with the partisan killings between Fatah and Hamas. Although there may be some major developments over the Christmas-New Year's
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
holiday, it doesn't seem that likely unless one of these simmering conflicts suddenly explodes, which is not typical ofthis season. 1201 * TruthoutINOW, Why Is the Media Not Serving the Public Interest? * NYT, Bush, Maliki and That Memo - President Bush's news conference yesterday with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq had an even greater than usual sense of unreality about it * FAS, Proposed limits on habeas corpus were the subject of an intense and contentious hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee recently * EPIC, Proposed Government Database Targets US Citizens [ATS] * EPIC, Police Shoot UCLA Student with Taser for Failure to Show ID * EPIC, NSA Not Required to Release Details on Wiretapping * EPIC, SWIFT's US Data Transfer Violated Data Protection Laws * Progress Report, Right-Wing Radio Host [Dennis Prager] Fabricates Controversy to Attack First Muslim Congressman * AP, Aides
- Reyes
to Chair Intelligence
Panel
* REU, Huge Crowd Gathers in Beirut for Opposition Rally * New Haven Register, Dodd Proposes Restoring Rights for Terrorism Suspects * ERRI, Huge Hezbollah-Ied rally demands Lebanon govt. quit * ERRI, Spain's "Operation Suez" Reveals al-Qaida Support Rings in Europe * REU, Powell Says US Should Talk to Iran, Not Attack * AP, Leahy
- Terror
Screening Oversight a Must
* Democracy Now, Facing Fierce Protest, Mexico's Calderon Takes Power in Unprecedented Midnight Ceremony - Opposition Lawmakers Vow to Block Inauguration * AP, US Prison Population Sets Record 1202 * Asia Times, Americans lower sights on Pyongyang * Seattle Weekly, Boeing - Accused of Running Torture Travel Agency [Jeppesen Inc.]
* ERR!, Italy - Balkan-Based Islamic Terror Network Uncovered, Police Say * ERR!, Hezbollah-Led Protesters Camp Out in Beirut - Protesters demand resignation of Lebanon's US-backed government - Thousands at protest rally * ERR!, Afghanistan Opium Crop Sets Record - US-Backed Efforts at Eradication Fail * ERR!, FBI agent describes [Texas] group'sjihad plot * AP, 91 Die, 40 Hurt in Baghdad Car Bombings * WP, GSA Chief Seeks to Cut Budget for Audits
would be reduced 196
- Contract
oversight
TIMELINE
FROM 1 DECEMBER
TO 15 DECEMBER
* WP, Officials Expect No Big Changes, No Matter What Panel Advises * AP, North Dakota Tribe Barring Church Protesters [Westboro Baptist Church] * AP, GOP Pays $135K in New Hampshire Call Jamming Suit 1203 * NYT, Has He [Bush] Started Talking to the Walls, Frank Rich * WP, Review Finds Army Mishandled Friendly-Fire Case - Internal report cites problems including the "inadvertent" destruction of key evidence [Jesse R. Buryj case] * NYT, UN Secretary Says Iraq Is Engulfed in Deadly Civil War * NYT, US Report Finds Fault in Training of Afghan Police * AP, Chavez Claims Victory in Venezuela * Common Dreams, The Surreal Politics ofPremeditated War 1204 * New Yorker, Killing Habeas Corpus * Alternet, The Christian Right Goes Back to Bible Boot Camp * Truthout, White House Under Fire over Iraq Memos * ERRI, Bolton resigns as US Ambassador to UN * UN, Bolton to resign, White House says * UN, Afghan police force not able to carry out routine work * Truthout, Bush's Second-Biggest Mistake [Iraq] * WP, Democrats Who Opposed War Move into Key Positions - New committee chairmen had warned of post-war disorder * NYT, Russian Ex-spy Lived and Died in Murky World of Betrayal [Alexander Litvinenko] * NYT, The Russian Connection Deepens [Litvinenko] * Miami Herald, A CIA Insider's Take on Gates, Ray McGovern * AP, Extra Checks on Voting Machines Rejected * Legal Times, Last Stop for Detainee Cases May Be High Court [Guantanamo] * LM, Raul Castro Proposes Negotiations to Washington * Amherst Times, What's Wrong With My Voting Machine? * Aviation Week, Stay the Course In "Transformation Summit", NATO Makes Few Breakthroughs on Key Modernization Programs
-
1205 * RFE, Father Says Litvinenko Converted to Islam * Progress Report, Bolton Bolts * Progress Report, After Four Years of US Detention, Padilla May Be Too Unfit for Conviction
197
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
* Progress Report, Afghanistan - Opium Industry Threatens to Derail State Building * NYT/AP, Fiji's political turmoil turns to coup * WP, Census Counts 100,000 Contractors in Iraq * NYT, Losing the Good War - Afghanistan was supposed to be the good war, and the war America was winning * LAT, Smuggling, Theft, Bribery at Agency - Homeland Security staff misconduct * NYT, At Hearing, Gates Says US Not Winning War in Iraq * LAT, Pentagon Resists Pleas for Help in Afghan Opium Fight * Intelcenter.com, Illegal surveillance ofItalian ministries by the SISMI * BBC, Richest 2 Percent Own Half the Wealth * Truthdig, Becoming What We Despise, Robert Scheer [Padilla and torture] * Wired, Say Hello to the Goodbye Weapon [non-lethal microwave weapon] 1206 * RFE, Key Witness in Litvinenko Case Hospitalized [Andrei Lugovoi] * A1ternet, Touch-Screen Paper Trail Rejected by Election Commission - It's too hard! * UN, Darfur conflict spreading, Egeland warns * UN, Iraq study group delivers report * UN, Security Council closes in on agreement for Iran sanctions * ERR!, Suicide attack on US security firm [US Protection and Investigation (USPI)] kills 7 in Afghanistan * ERRI, Tehran defiant as powers meet on Iran nuclear sanctions * REU, Canada's top policeman quits over deportation case [Giuliano Zaccardelli] * WP, Iraq Panel Warns ofLooming "Catastrophe" in Iraq * Truthout, Democrats Launch Series of Strategy Sessions on Iraq War * IND, Iraq - One by One, They Tell the Truth [about Iraq invasion] * TomDispatch, The Myth of More - The two crucial fallacies of Bush administration policy in Iraq * BBC, Fiji Imposes State of Emergency * FAS, Specter, Leahy Introduce Bill to "Restore" Habeas Corpus * AP, US Military Says Ten GIs Killed in Iraq * NYT, At Least Five Marines Are Expected to Be Charged in Haditha Deaths * AP, Senators Rap FBI Over Domestic Spying 1207 * Alternet, Antiwar Vietnam Vets Mentor Next Generation ofResisters * AP, Panel - Bush's Iraq Policies Have Failed, Panel urges change in Iraq before crisis turns to chaos, says US should focus on training 198
TIMELINE
FROM 1 DECEMBER
TO 15 DECEMBER
* WP, Il US Troops Killed in Iraq - Scores of Iraqis die in blasts, other attacks in Baghdad * AP, Saudis Reportedly Funding Iraqi Sunnis * Alternet, Oil for Sale Iraq Study Group Recommends Privatization * AP, Traveler Risk System May Violate Ban [ATS] * McClatchy, Analysts - US at Root of Effort to Topple Lebanese Government * IND, Exxon Spends Millions to Cast Doubt on Warming
-
1208 * National Journal, No Secret... Maybe, Shane Harris [ATS & DHS] * NYT, Bush Backs Away From Two Key Ideas of Panel on Iraq * NYT, Sweeping Changes Expected in Voting by 2008 Election * CSM, Suit by Iraqis and Afghans Claims Rumsfeld Ordered Torture * MSNBC, Rumsfeld Faces Lawsuit from Detainees * IND, Cracks Appear Between Bush and Blair Over Need for Talks with Iran and Syria * NYT, They Told You So, Paul Krugman - Now, only a few neocon deadenders still believe that this war was anything but a vast exercise in folly. * AP, Foley Panel Says GOP Negligent of Teens [but didn't break the law] * AP, Guantanamo Detainees Going to New Prison * RFE, Self-Exiled Oligarch, Chechen Envoy Attend Litvinenko's Funeral * AP, Judge Weighs Torture Claim vs. Rumsfeld * CNN, GOP Senator Criticizes Iraq War in Emotional Speech [Gordon Smith] * AP, US Military Deaths in Iraq Hit 2,928 * GUA, Renowned Cancer Scientist Was Paid by Chemical Firm for 20 Years [Richard Doll] * FAS, The Travails ofSea-Based Missile Defense 1209 * NYT, Deadly Raid by US Sets Off Dispute with Iraqis * NYT, Panel Faults US Intelligence in Iraq - Soldiers Don't Know Enemy, Report Finds * NYT, Only One Thing Is Sure In Spy Case Confusion [Litvinenko] * NYT, Red Herring in Russian Spy Mystery? - Italian's Words about Himself [Scaramella] Are Hard to Square with Reality * NYT, Jeane Kirkpatrick, UN Envoy under Reagan [obituary] * The Nation, A Closing Call for Impeachment [of Bush] * Truthout, Top Democrat - Halliburton Violated Multibillion Dollar Iraq Contract * REU, US Has Most Prisoners in World Due to Tough Laws [better than China & Russia]
-
199
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
1210 * AP, 17 People Slain in Baghdad Clashes * IND, CIA Is Undermining British War Effort [in Iraq & Afghanistan] * NYT, Protesters Jam Beirut to Urge Government's Ouster * AP, Clashes Break Out After Pinochet's Death * ERRI/NYT, Senior Israeli military intelligence officer says Syria preparing for conflict [turned out to be a complete fabrication which the NYT didn't question] 1211 * CATO, Effective Counterterrorism and the Limited Role of Predictive Data Mining, Jeff Jonas and Jim Harper * WP, Obama Takes First Steps in New Hampshire - Crowds, media bolster speculation on 2008 ambitions * Boston Globe, Iraqi Exodus Could Test Bush Policy - Total expected to exceed quota for refugees * BBC, Outrage Over Killing of Gaza Boys [Fatah vs. Hamas] * FT, Washington Looks to "Blame Iraqis and Run" * WP, Outbreaks Reveal Food Safety Net's Holes - Produce growers balk at calls for regulation * NYT, Taliban and Allies Tighten Grip in North of Pakistan * Alternet/IND, Washington Don't Understand that America Is Unwelcome in Iraq - DC can't stop distorting the unpopularity of the occupation in Iraq, Patrick Cockburn * REU, Tutu distressed by Israel block on Gaza mission 1212 * NYT, Four in Germany Tested for Radiation Traces - Ex-spy'sAssociate under Investigation [Litvinenko case] * American Prospect, Jim Baker's War - Praise for the Iraq Study Group's "consensus-building" leader ignores his role in leading us into Iraq in the first place, Peter Dreier * Truthout, Presidential Tyranny Untamed by Election Defeat * GUA, Routine and Systematic Torture Is at the Heart of America's War on Terror * REU, Bomber Kills 60 in Baghdad, Bush to Review Policy * WP, Poll 7 Out of 10 Americans Disapprove of Handling of Iraq War * LAT, Ex-Aides Allege Abuse of Power [Representative Gary Miller] * REU, Bush to Sign India Nuclear Deal into Law on Monday * Alternet, War Crimes - How Israeli Soldiers Kill and Civilians Grow Numb * RFE, Putin Aide Says Murder Case Has Harmed Russia * RFE, Russian Newspaper Deplores Negative Western Media Coverage
-
200
TIMELINE
FROM 1 DECEMBER
TO 15 DECEMBER
* ERRI/Haaretz, PM - We have no indication that Syria preparing for imminent war [see fabricated "news" above] * Spiegel, Olmert under Fire for Implying Israel Has Nukes * NYT, UN inquiry links Hariri killing to other assassiQations * ABC, Diplomatic Mystery - Saudi Ambassador's Sudden Exit [Turki al Faysal] * Figaro, To Conquer the Taliban in Afghanistan, NA TO Must Retire 1213 * Truthout, Army Targets Truthout for Subpoenas in Watada Case * Truthout, Tom Engelhardt on "Mission Unaccomplished" * WP, Army, Marine Corps to Ask for More Troops * NYT/REU, Former Top Spy Arrested in Surveillance case [Marco Mancini in Italy] * Toronto Star/AP, Karzai says Pakistan supports Taliban violence * AP, Bush Decides Direction of Iraq Policy * TomDispatch, "Fixing" the War, Tom Engelhardt * AP, Judge Upholds Detainee Rights Terror Law * AP, Government Seeks New Ruling in Cheney [visitor list] Case * Consortium, A Way Forward, a Look Back, Robert Parry [Saudi ambassador resigns & Cheney summoned to Riyadh] * AP, FBI Terror "Expertise Papers" to Come Out 1214 * UN, Murder of Hamasjudge stokes political tensions in Gaza * NYT, US Subpoena Is Seen as Bid to Stop Leaks [ACLU case] * BBC, US Scientists Reject [Bush political] Interference * Democracy Journal, Why we can't buy off the next Osama Bin Laden [humiliation as a primary cause of terrorism] * LAT, Federal Judge Issues Split Decision on New Military Commissions Act * WP, '04 Pentagon Report Cites Detention Concerns * NYT, Democrat in Senate in Intensive Care after Surgery [Tim Johnson] * Alternet, Anthrax attack on congress came from Army lab - "[A]ppears to be a cover-up orchestrated by the FBI" * AP, Army ChiefSeeks More Forces, Reserves * REU, More Americans Hungry, Homeless in 2006 * NYT, Pelosi Calls for New Oversight of Intelligence Spending 1215 * RFE, Security Chief Says Regions and Cities Are Hotbeds of Corruption [Russia] * RFE, Russia - Banker Gunned Down in St. Petersburg [Igor Koptev] 201
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
* Truthout, Truthout's Sarah Olson Subpoenaed in Watada Case [by US Army] * IND, UK Whistleblower That Ministers Tried to Muzzle [Carne Ross] * IND, UK - Diplomat's Suppressed Document Lays Bare the Lies behind Iraq War [Ross] * Truthout, The Cuban Five and US Terrorism - December 2006 marks five years since the Cuban Five were sentenced to prison [in Florida] * Progress Report, Promises Kept - The 9/11 Commission report concluded, "Congressional oversight for intelligence - and counter-terrorism - is now dysfunctional" * EPIC, The Department of Homeland Security has extended until Friday, December 29, the deadline for public comments for the "Automated Targeting System" [ATS] * EPIC, Report - Data Mining Costly, Ineffective, Violates Liberties * NYT, A Gag on Free Speech [ACLU case] * REV, Rice Rejects Engaging Iran, Syria on Iraq * Think Progress, White House Won't Allow Former Official to Publish Iran Column [CIA analyst Flynt Leverett] * FT, US Army Might Break Goodyear Strike
-
202
CHAPTER 21 TIMELINE FROM 16 DECEMBER TO 31 DECEMBER Intelligence, N. 490, 8 January 2007
The most obvious major topic over the past fortnight is the Iraq "surge" plan of the Bush White House and growing opposition to it in all quarters, including among the US military. As we mentioned in our previous issue, "although there may be some major developments over the Christmas-New Year's holiday, it doesn't seem that likely unless one of these simmering conflicts suddenly explodes, which is not typical of this season." Indeed, other than the Iraq "surge" plan, all the ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Iran and North Korea have continued "on course" - with a flare up in Somalia - but the Christmas-New Year holiday season did not bring any surprises or major developments. 1216 * NYT, Facing Unwanted Role in Dark Tale of Intrigue - Interview with Marian Litvinenko * WP, Incoming Chairmen Ready to Investigate - Democratic-led panels to probe administration's actions in war and counterterrorism * WP, Testimony Helps Detail CIA's Post-9/l1 Reach - 6 Europeans told of plans for abductions? * WP, Lethal Injection Is On Hold in Two States [Florida & California] * Czech Happenings, Private security guards at the Prague headquarters of Radio Free EuropelRadio Liberty were making digital video records of people for US intelligence services
WORLD
POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
1217 * ERRIlTimes, (Proposed) New MIS boss is top expert on Al-Qaida [Jonathan Evans] * AP, Hamas, Fatah Clashes Escalate, Shots Fired At Palestinian President's Residence, One Young Woman Killed By Gunfire * AP, Gunmen Kidnap Up to 30 People in Baghdad * AP, Reid - BriefTroop Increase OK in Iraq * WP, Talk of [US] Satellite Defense Raises Fears of Space War * Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Military Recruiters Ran Cocaine - Some kept visiting schools for 3 years after FBI caught them on tape * AP, Red Crescent Workers Taken in Baghdad * NYT, Protesters Denounce Police Killing [in New York City] 1218 * NYT/AP, France Will Withdraw Afghan Special Forces * GUA, Torture Is Now Part ofthe American Soul * Nation, Active Duty Soldiers Call for an End to the Occupation of Iraq * WP, Powell Says US Losing in Iraq, Calls for Drawdown by Mid-2007 Comments break long public silence on the war * LAT, US Seeks to Rein in Its Military Spy Teams * NYT, Former US Detainee in Iraq Recalls Torment [Donald Vance, a 29year-old Navy veteran] * AP, Senator Clinton Opposes Troop Surge in Iraq * AP, Ahmadinejad Opponents Leading Elections * Progress Report, White House Censors Op-Ed Critical of Administration's Iran Policy [Leverett] * AP, Gates
- Iraq
Failure Would Be "Calamity"
* AP, Ex-Iraqi Minister Escapes Police Custody * Alternet, Corporate Agribusiness Is Behind Our Deadly Food Supply * AP, Marine to Be Charged in Haditha Case [Lucas McConnell] * Figaro, France Is Withdrawing Its Special Forces from Afghanistan * GAO, Military Operations - High-Level DoD Action Needed to Address Long-standing Problems with Management and Oversight of Contractors Supporting Deployed Forces * Truthdig, Worse Than Apartheid, Chris Hedges [Israel and Palestine] 1219 * LAT, White House Accused ofCensorship [Leverett] * NYT, Attacks in Iraq at Record High, Pentagon Says * NYT, Prosecutors Drop ACLU Subpoena in Document Fight * WP, Violent Crime Is Up for 2nd Straight Year * Truthout, Loss of Federal Funding Cause of Rise in Violent Crime 204
TIMELINE
FROM 16 DECEMBER
TO 31 DECEMBER
* ERRI, Iran - Sanctions won't stop nuclear plans - Ahmadinejad Remains Recalcitrant over Uranium Enrichment * ERR!, [CNN] Report Blames Muqtada al-Sadr and Mehdi Army for Sectarian Violence * UN, Libya sentences medics to death in HIV case * WP, White House, Joint Chiefs at Odds on Adding Troops * GUA, Ahmadinejad Loses First Electoral Test as Political Rivals Win Key Seats Majority for anti-president parties on Tehran council * FAS, Govt Withdraws Subpoena against ACLU * FAS, Counterinsurgency Manual Flies Off the Shelf. * ERR!, US violent crimes jump in first half of 2006 * AP, Cheney to Be Defense Witness in CIA Leak Case * Truthout, Iraq Is Vietnam - And You'd Better Believe It, John Graham * CBS, US Plans Military Buildup to Warn Iran - Pentagon officials consider sending message to defiant Tehran * AP, Libya Sentences Bulgarian Nurses to Death * Newsweek, Is America Ready for Hillary or Obama? * NYT, US Inquiry Falters on Civilians Accused of Abusing Detainees * IPS, Neo-Cons Wanted Israel to Attack Syria, Jim Lobe * Truthdig, Bush Can't Kick the Habit, Robert Scheer: Here we go again: A new secretary of defense and yet another call for ending the war in Iraq by escalating it. What are they smoking in the Bush White House? * IHT/NYT, The Bad Guys Know What They're Doing [poisoning of Litvinenko]
-
1220 * WP, US Not Winning War in Iraq, Bush Says for 1st Time * LAT, Top General in Mideast to Retire - Abizaid opposed calls for more troops in Iraq * Truthout, It Can't Be Won Militarily - So, Send More Troops?, W. Patrick
Lang and Ray McGovern
.
* RFE, Putin and Syrian Leader Seek Bigger Roles in Middle East * RFE, Georgian Opposition Accuses Authorities of Blackmail * Progress Report, Congressman Sends Virulent Anti-Muslim Letter to Constituents [Virgil Goode (R-VA)] * Progress Report, White House "Quietly" Undermining Syrian Government * Truthout, Assault on Red Crescent an Escalation in Iraq * MSNBC, Bush Calls for Larger Military * WP, Repeat Iraq Tours Raise Risk of PTSD, Army Finds [post-traumatic stress disorder] * NYT, Only the Jailers Are Safe: Yesterday, David Johnston reported that nearly 20 cases in which civilian contractors were accused of abusing
205
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
detainees [in Iraq] have been sent to the Justice Department. So far, the record is perfect: not a single indictment. * WP, Study Warns of Hunger among Hispanics [in the US] * Truthout, Bush "Developing Illegal Bioterror Weapons" for Offensive Use, Sherwood Ross * NYT, [New York Senate majority leader, Joseph L.] Bruno Is Subject of Inquiry by FBI * AP, [Former ambassador Joseph] Wilson Challenges Subpoena in CIA Case * AP, US Commanders Wary of Gates Proposal [to rush more US troops to Iraq] 1221 * AlternetlNew America Media, Saudi Royals Snub Bush, Fund Opposition to US Troops * NYT, US and Britain to Add Ships to Persian Gulf in Signal to Iran * Consortium, A Very Dangerous New Year, Robert Parry * AP, Ahmadinejad Opponents Win Elections * Progress Report, Anti-Muslim Congressman Has "No Intention of Apologizing" [Goode] * Daily Star, Bush Rebuffs Calls for Dialogue with Iran, Syria * FAS, Security Clearances for "Meritorious" Former Criminals * NYT, Rudderless in Iraq * WP, US Marines Charged in Haditha Murder Case - Men allegedly had roles in deaths of at least two dozen Iraqi civilians * AP, Congress Asked to Intervene in Florida Race * FT, Security Council said close to agreeing on Iran sanctions * WP, GOP Congressman's Remarks on Muslims Criticized [Goode] * Democracy Now, Target Iran - Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter and Investigative Journalist Seymour Hersh on White House Plans for Regime Change 1222 * UN, Fighting rages in Somalia as UN appeals for calm * UN, North Korea talks end without progress * Blog.Wired, DHS Privacy Office Wishes You a WOite Wash Xmas with Two Delayed Reports * IND, UN to Impose Nuclear Embargo on Iran * BBC, North Korea Talks End in Deadlock * Truthout, Carter - US "Prime Culprit" in Nuclear Proliferation * Progressive Daily Beacon, Stop the Presses - Press Ignores the Generals [against Bush's Iraq "surge" plan]
206
TIMELINE
FROM 16 DECEMBER
TO 31 DECEMBER
* WP, Report Says TSA Violated Privacy Law
- Passengers
weren't told that
brokers provided data to screening program in '04 * Newsweek, Lies and Obfuscations A look back at some of the biggest falsehoods of 2006 * AP, Sale Ending Voting Machine Probe
-
1223 * Alternet/The Nation, Jimmy Carter Speaks a Simple Truth about Palestinian Apartheid * Truthout, Five Years ofInfamy - Close Guantanamo!, Colonel Ann Wright (Retired) * Bloomberg, UN Imposes First Sanctions on Iran's Nuclear Program * LAT, Generals
- More
Troops Needed in Iraq
1224 * AFP, US Says Key Taliban Leader Killed but Militants Disagree * WP, Election Challenge for Florida District Is Taken to the House * WP, When Resolve Turns Reckless - There's something much worse than being accused of "flip-flopping" - Refusing to flip when it's obvious that your course of action is a flop, Senator John F. Kerry . * Des Moines Register, Begin Withdrawing, Redeploying Troops Now, Senator Christopher Dodd 1225 * AFP, Troop "Surge" Plan for Iraq Meets Growing Opposition in US 1226 * NYT, British Soldiers Storm Iraqi Jail, Citing Torture * Truthout, Generals Promote Christianity Inside the Pentagon * Truthout, Inside TV News - We Were Silenced by the Drums ofWar, Jeff Cohen * Boston Globe, Military Considers Recruiting Foreigners - Expedited citizenship would be an incentive * AP, Biden Vows to Fight Any Iraq Troop Boost 1227 * WP, Reservist Due for Iraq Is Killed in Standoffwith Police * AP, Ethiopian, Somali Troops Regain Jowhar * Consortium, The GOP's $3 Billion Propaganda Organ, Robert Parry (A Special Report) * AP, Ex-Guantanamo Detainee Held Again [Abdul Rahim Muslim Dost]
207
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITlCS"
2006
* FT, Euro Notes Cash in to Overtake Dollar - The US dollar bill's standing as the world's favourite form of cash is being usurped by the five-year-old euro * New York Sun, Defense Secretary Is Wary of Adding More Iraq Troops 1228 * ERR!, Abu SayyafChiefFound Dead After Manhunt * ERR!, Tactical Satellite Launched and Performing "Like Clockwork" * Alternet/Media Matters for America, Most Outrageous Right Wing Comments of 2006 * Alternet, From Foley to Frey - The Year in US Scandals * Informed Comment, The Baker-Hamilton Study - Pluses and Minuses Guest Editorial on the Pros and Cons of ISG, William R. Polk * NYT, Iran to "Revise" Any Relations with Monitors in Nuclear Area * WP, Ford Disagreed With Bush about Invading Iraq, Bob Woodward * NYT, Opponents of Islamists Seize Somali Capital * Portland Press Herald, Ex-Maine Lawmaker Plans Anti-War Offensive * AP, Many Soldiers Call Troop Surge a Bad Idea * Alternet, Saddam wins big! (And human rights take a thumping), Joshua Holland: Saddam Hussein might have been the first leader to be held accountable for genocide. Instead, he'll go down as a martyr to neocolonialism. 1229 * Truthout/NOW, A Detainee's Revelations [Moazzam Begg] * Alternet/Informed Comment, Top Ten Iraq Myths for 2006 - Sunnis, Civil War, Sadr and the prospects of "victory", Juan Cole. * NYT, The Rush to Hang Saddam Hussein: Toppling Saddam Hussein did not automatically create a new and better Iraq. Executing him won't either. * Truthout, Let's Toast to Ten Good Things About 2006 * GUA, Return ofWarlords as Somali Capital Is Captured * RFE, Russian Prosecutors Say Yukos Official May Be Behind Former FSB Officer's Killing [Litvinenko] * UN, UN calls for review as rift emerges over Hussein execution * USA Today/Military Times, More troops unhappy with Bush's course in Iraq, poll finds * UPI, Iraq poll- US troops departure is asset * Alternet, New poll- US troops turn on Bush - Say Iraq war a mistake * Truthout, Deja Vu All Over Again - Haditha and My Lai * REV, Disputed Florida Election to Spill onto House Floor 1230 * RFE, RFEIRL Iraq Report Special Issue
208
- Saddam
Hussein
TIMELINE
FROM 16 DECEMBER
TO 31 DECEMBER
* IND, A Dictator Created Then Destroyed by America, Robert Fisk * Informed Comment, For Whom the Bell Tolls - Top Ten Ways the US Enabled Saddam Hussein, Juan Cole * AP, Bombings Kill at Least 68 in Iraq * IND, An Execution That Will Do Nothing to Quell the Violence on Iraq's Streets * NYT, US Official Overseeing Oil Program Faces Inquiry * NYT, House Democrats to Object to Florida Election Outcome 1231 * TruthoutlConsortium News, Bush Silences a Dangerous Witness [Saddam Hussein] * NYT, For Guantanamo Review Boards, Limits Abound [due process for detainees lacking under new Gitmo panel]
209
CHAPTER 22 FURTHER ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS
At the end of Chapter 1, we stated that: Many similar instances of such "uneven" or clearly biased coverage of particular topics or events can be discerned by following the formation of certain clusters back in time and also forward in time. Inversely, if a topic or cluster cannot be followed over time, it is very likely a transient event or not a coherent topic. But "'uneven' or clearly biased coverage of particular topics or events" can also have another meaning: distortion by overrepresentation. Even without looking at the results of our data analysis, any informed member of the general public could tell us that the key words "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran" would dominate the 2006 international political and parapolitical news headlines. Depending on your point of view, you could call this the "up front" part of the international scene, or, alternatively, the "background". Both terms tend to mean the dominant "attention grabbers" or, in our more formalized framework, the key words that appear most frequently and with the most ties to other key words. This can easily be seen in the strategic diagrams corresponding to the three successive four-month periods of 2006 where first "Iran", then "Iraq" occupy the dominant mainstream position in the upper right-hand comer of the diagrams, and in each case "Bush" is one of the terms most strongly associated with the dominant cluster' s label, be it "Iran" or "Iraq". In short, one could "summarize" 2006 international political and parapolitical news by saying "Bush, Iran and Iraq".
WORLD POLITICS
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
This form of dominance in a market is often labelled "fashion" or "mode", as in French, and implies that the vast majority of a market is associated with only a few actors: Bush, Iran and Iraq. This is the case, for example, in the cinema market where, every year, only a few movies account for over 80 percent of attendance and all the rest of that year's new movies share the 20 remaining percent of attendance. It's the same in the music market and celebrity media market. From what we see with the Bush-Iraq-Iran dominance of 2006 international news, it looks like fashion, mode or press cycles dQindeed apply. Fortunately for our analysis, it is possible to discern other developments, as we have shown in Chapter 1 and as anyone who has read the subsequent chapters has realized. It is even possible to go further and more-or-Iess "erase" the deforming dominance of 2006 "fashion" by reanalyzing the ADI 2006 data base and removing the terms "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran". This type of operation has been done in other contexts. For example, the dominance of the term "Femme" (woman) in the analysis of the approximately 1,000 presentations at the 2004 congress of the Association Française de Sociologie (AFS, French Association of Sociology) was shown to have less influence on the structure of that congress than the less frequently occurring term "Travail" (work, in French), referring to the sociology of labor (see in Chapter 1, de Saint Léger and van Meter, 2005). The following three strategic diagrams (Figures 9, 10 and 11) correspond to those of Chapter 1, except the terms "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran" were deleted from the data base before analysis. The first general conclusion one can draw is that there is no longer any dominant single cluster in the first two periods (Figure 9 and Figure 10), although Afghanistan has taken that position during the third period (Figure Il). Also, during the first two periods, the second axis (centrality) reveals a major increase in the means of centrality (clusters are more widely distributed vertically than in the pervious strategic diagrams). The third period, with Afghanistan in a dominant position, retains the initial type of centrality distribution.
212
PAST Is PROLOGUE,
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Figure 9: Strategic Diagram of the First 2006 Four-Month (without "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran")
Period
In the first period, by removing "Iran" as the central term of the
dominant cluster, key words previously associated with that cluster "Nuclear", "Shiite", "Kill" - have become the central terms of independent new clusters. At the same time, clusters that existed previously - "Eavesdropping", "USA", "Chechen", "Insurgent",
"USA" - have moved upward (the effect of the increase in mean centrality), but often also toward the right, meaning increased density, and therefore closer to the "mainstream". This means that the "mainstream" is much less dominant and structures the other themes far less than in the initial first period analysis. 213
WORLD POLITICS
AND "PARAPOLITICS"
2006
During the second period, the previously existing clusters such as "Ukraine", "Gunmen", "North Korea", "NSA", "GOP", "Guard", "Prison" and "Election", among others, have moved upward under the influence of the increased centrality means. With the removal of "Iraq", that cluster has exploded and been replaced by "Kill" whose cluster recovers several other key words of the former "Iraq" cluster such as "War", "Attack", "Military", "Afghanistan", "Report» and "Troop". The new "Kill" cluster has added the key words "Baghdad", "Militant", "Israel" and "Somalia". The latter two terms clearly show that this cluster has moved away from the Iraq-Iran-Bush core. But at the same time, "Kill" has lost "Bombing" and "CIA", implying that it has less to do with clandestine action. Compared with the first period, and given the increase in mean centrality, the general structure of the second period, particularly compared with the first period, hasn't changed that much with the removal of "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran". In short, what' s on front stage - "up front" - on the international scene didn't influence that much what was on center stage. As with the second period, the dominant "Afghanistan" cluster recovers several key words of the previous "Iraq" dominant cluster: "Kill", "War", "Torture", "Report", "Russia" and "CIA". It has lost "Attack" which, like "Afghanistan", has formed its own cluster in the "mainstream" first quadrant. The dominant "Afghanistan" cluster has also included three new key words: "White House", "Investigation" and "Rumsfeld". With a Democrat electoral victory during this third period, Donald Rumsfeld left the Pentagon, and Congressional investigations of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan were in the news.
214
PAST Is PROLOGUE,
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Figure 10: Strategic Diagram of the Second 2006 Four-Month Period (without "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran")
215
WORLD POLITICS
AND tIp ARAPOLITICS"
2006
Figure 11: Strategic Diagram of the Third 2006 Four-Month Period (without "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran")
In short, the removal of "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran" revealed the importance of the war in Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism which is the essence of the "Attack" cluster (see Figure Il). Since "Military" and "Terror" in the initial third period diagram are now included in "Afghanistan" and "Attack", respectively, the other major clusters of the initial third period are largely included in this new third period diagram and in relatively similar positions: "ABC", "Protest", "Clinton", "AI Qaida". However, the minor thematical clusters have 216
PAST Is PROLOGUE,
THINGS KEEP COMING BACK IN ITALY
been rearranged by these changes. For example, we still find an isolated "Somalia" cluster, but we no longer have a "Hamas" cluster or any other cluster directly related to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The new diagrams for the more important terms of the first, second and third periods are not directly comparable with those of the initial analysis since here the most important terms of one period were not removed in the calculation of the importance of the terms for the following period. Moreover, since the calculations involve proportionality, their evolution over time can not be compared directly since the data sets are slightly different because of the removal of the three most dominant terms: "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran". Perhaps for these reasons, the graphics show more dispersion than the same graphics in the initial analysis. Nonetheless, the dominant terms remain dominant, although more dispersed. Figure 12: The Most Important Terms (without "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran")
of the First Period
I
Ii, .
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!
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217
WORLD POLITICS AND "P ARAPOLITICS" 2006
Figure 13: The Most Important Terms of the Second Period (without "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran") _KI!,..!,.. +WAR _1$iRAEL "",CIA
-
f'.FOHANIST AN
MILlTARY * "",RUSSIA +1"61 -f3OMelMG G'UN III'SECRET
Figure 14: The Most Important Terms of the Third Period (without "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran")
WAR KILL
Af'GtiAN1ST ..'* TQRTURE
CIA ISRAEL "* RUSSIA +ATTAÇ!(
-UN
c:t i'ERROR
218
AN
PAST Is PROLOGUE,
THINGS KEEP COMING BACK IN ITALY
As for the emerging terms in our rearranged data base without "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran", they are more-or-Iess isomorphic with those of the initial analysis except for the term "Arms" which was not included as an emerging term in the initial analysis. The slight change in threshold in the second analysis due to the removal of the three dominant key words meant that "Arms" dropped into the category of emerging terms. Figure 15: The Emerging Terms of the Data Base without "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran"
'II- AeaAS "AOC ABDUCiION *'
"" ..,... *ARM 'ÎIi'
ASSASSII>fA
1tOl\l
Almost exactly the same thing can be said of the declining terms for this new analysis. Here, the new terms are "Abramoff' (the condemned Bush White House lobbyist) and "CIA Flights", associated with the kidnapping, secret detention and torturing of persons who drew the attention of the CIA for one reason or another. 219
WORLD POLITICS AND "PARAPOLITICS" 2006
Figure 16: The Declining Terms of the Data Base without "Bush", "Iraq" and "Iran"
AeIDUL-KHAI.!M
.. ABRAMOFf' *'
ABU OHRAIEI '*' ~ ABU HAM,ZA AUTO À TROCITIES '* CIA FUGHT .,.,.
With this initial study of media headlines, we have been able to furnish proof of the appropriateness of applying computer-assisted text analysis to international politics and parapolitics. What we hope to be able to do is to extend this study to succeeding years and to analyze in greater depth by the inclusion of text from the selected articles instead of only analyzing the titles or headlines. Although many journals currently tend to encourage the practice of "telling stories" at the beginning of an article, the vast majority of major journals still adhere to the classical format of summarizing the article in the first few paragraphs. Since the AD! data base often includes these informal "abstracts", they can be used, along with the headlines or titles, to perform a text analysis which would in alllikelihood have more stability statistically speaking and permit more detailed analysis. That is one of our projects for 2007 and for 2008, so "please keep tuned for further news". 220
ANNEX PUBLISHERS OF 2006 HEADLINES
A
B
ABC l3x ADWeek AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees) AFP 43x Africa Confidential AI-Ahram Alertnet 2x Aljazeera Alternet 117x AI-Zarqawi Caught American Chronicle American Prospect 4x Amherst Times Amnesty International Anniston Star AP 436x Arizona Daily Star Asahi Shimbun Asia Times lOx Asian Age Atlanta Progressive 2x Australian Aviation Week 2x
Baltimore Sun 2x BBC 52x Belfast Telegraph 3x BellaCiao Blog. Wired Bloomberg l3x BNS (Vilnius) Booman Tribune Boston Globe 26x BradBlog 4x Buffalo Beast BushGreenwatch Business Week
c Canoe News Network Carnegie 4x CATO CBC 7x Channel 4 (London) Chicago Sun Times 2x Chicago Tribune 7x Chosun Ilbo
WORLD POLITICS
CNET CNN 15x Common Dreams 4x Concord Monitor Congress Daily Congressional Quarterly Connecticut Post Consortium (Consortium News) 16x Corp Watch Corriere della Sera 2x Council on Foreign Relations Cox Creators Syndicate 4x CrisisWebNews Crooks and Liars Cryptogram 8x Cryptome 2x CSM (Christian Science Monitor) 25x Cursor Cyberpresse Czech Happenings D Daily Mail 2x Daily Press Daily Star 2x Daily Times (Pakistan) Dailykos Democracy Now Democracy Journal Des Moines Register Detroit Free Press Deutsche Welle 3X DHS DPA E Earth Justice Editor & Publisher
222
13x
AND "P ARAPOLITICS"
2006
EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) 5lx ERR! (Emergency Response & Research Institute) 500x F FAS (Federation of American Scientists, Secrecy News) 61x Figaro 19x FindLaw 2x Foreign Affairs Foreign Policy Foreign Policy in Focus France Info Free Press Freedom to Tinker FT (Financial Times) 3lx G Gallatin News Examiner Gannett GAO 5x Global Research Global Security Newswire GUA (Guardian GB) 93x H Haaretz Il x Harper's 2x Houston Chronicle 3x Human Rights Watch 5x I IHT/NYT (International Herald Tribune/New York Times) 8x Il Sole-24 Ore In These Times 8x IND (Independent GB) 97x Indian Express
PUBLISHERS
Informed Comment 4x Inside Bay Area 2x Insna.org Institute for Responsible Technology Institute for Science and International Security Intelcenter llx Interfax-A VN IPS (Inter Press Service) 32x Iraq Dispatches 2x IRIN 3x J Jang JP (Jerusalem Post) 4x JuanCole 2x K Kentucky Herald-Leader KESQ 3 Knight Ridder 17x Korea Times 2x Kyodo News L La Repubblica 3x La Stampa 2x LAT (Los Angeles Times) 108x Le Matin Le Monde 29x Legal Times L'Espresso 2x Liberation 8x London Review of Books Los Angeles Daily Journal
OF 2006 HEADLINES
M Mail & Guardian Malaysia Sun Marine Corps Times MarketWatch 2x McClatchy 4x Media Channel Media Matters Miami Herald 5x Monterey Institute Mother Jones 2x MSNBC Il x Muckraker N National Interest National Journal 6x National Security Policy E-News 4x NBC 7x NCH Washington Update (National Coalition of History) 3x New Haven Register New Republic New Scientist New Standard 19x New Statesman New York Daily News 5x New York Review of Books New York Sun 2x New Yorker 7x New Zealand Herald News for Real Newsday 3x Newsweek 13x Nieman Watchdog Noquarter. Typepad
223
WORLD POLITICS
Northwest Indiana Times Nouvel Observateur 3x NPR (National Public Radio) 2x NRC Handelsblad NTR (Nonprofit Technology Resources) NYT (New York Times) 365x
o OBS (Observer GB) 8x OneWorld 2x OpEdNews 3x Oregonian Orlando Sentinel p Pacific News Service 2x PageOne Palm Beach Post PBS (Public Broadcasting System) Philadelphia Inquirer 2x Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 2x Political Animal Portland Press Herald PR Week Progreso Weekly Progress Report 189x Progressive Progressive Daily Beacon Proliferation News Raw Story 5x REV (Reuters) 166x RFE (Radio Free EuropelRadio Liberty) 188x R RIA Richmond Times Dispatch RoIling Stone 3x 224
AND "P ARAPOLlTICS"
2006
S Sacramento Bee Salon 2x Salt Lake Tribune San Francisco Chronicle 3x San Jose Mercury News Santa Cruz Sentinel Scripps Howard Seattle Post-Intelligencer 3x Seattle Weekly SeeingTheF orest Sidney Morning Herald Slate South Florida Sun-Sentinel 3x Southwest Florida Herald Tribune Spiegel 9x Stars & Stripes Stateline Sunday Times (Australia) T Tacoma News Tribune Telegraph 8x The Age (Australia) The Australian 2x The Citizen The Hill 2x The Nation 25x The New Republic The Progressive 3x Think Progress 5x Tikkun Time lOx Times 17x To Virna Toledo Blade TomDispatch 15x Tomgram TomPaine 8x Toronto Star 4x TPM Cafe
PUBLISHERS
TPM Muckraker 3x Travel Insider Truthdig 8x Truthout 207x Tucson Citizen TV Guide
u UN 116x UPI (United Press International) 8x US News & World Report 2x US Newswire 3x USA Today 2lx
OF 2006 HEADLINES
Virginian-Pilot
w Washington Business Journal Washington Monthly Washington Note Wired 9x WP 25lx WSJ (Wall Street Journal) 4x WT (Washington Times) 3x
x Xinhua
v
z
VanityFair
Zeit Fragen ZNet Magazine Zogby 2x
Vermont Guardian Village Voice
Errors: 119 entries without publisher indicated
Data Base: Available free of charge for fully-paid subscribers of the journal, Intelligence, upon request to
. Other interested parties can also request access to this data base at the same email address.
225
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