The NY Times’ Feb. 18 front-page profile of John Negroponte, Bush’s appointment as Director of National Intelligence, did at least mention—albeit towards the end, at the bottom of page 16—"allegations that he played down human rights violations in Honduras when… Read moreNegroponte and the death-squad connection
The American Civil Liberties Union has called for creation of an independent special counsel to investigate "torture policies" following the Senate’s confirmation Feb. 15 of Michael Chertoff as Homeland Security Secretary. (ACLU, Feb. 15) Chertoff headed the Justice Department’s criminal… Read moreACLU protests Chertoff confirmation
More horrific claims of rights violations in Uncle Sam’s military prison camps in Iraq and Afghanistan—including threatening detainees who dared to complain of beatings and torture. One Iraqi detainee who was apparently beaten and injured was forced to drop his… Read moreACLU: more torture in US prison camps
Six are dead and over 40 injured following a car bomb attack in the southern Thai city of Sungai Kolok. The bomb went off in a hotel parking lot hours after newly-elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had completed a visit… Read moreTerror in Thailand
In the global outcry over the slaying of US nun Dorothy Stang, a local crusader for the Amazon rainforest and its threatened peasants and Indians, Brazil’s President Luis Inacio da Silva signed a decree Feb. 17 creating two vast protected… Read moreAmazon militarized in wake of assassination
Those truly naive enough to think Howard Dean’s ascendency to the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee shows a progressive agenda should look no further than the ex- Gov. of Vermont’s terrible record in denying the indigenous rights of fellow Vermonters… Read moreNew DNC head fought indigenous rights in Vermont
You read it here first, but now its official. Iran’s government has officially blamed US spy drones for a wave of UFO sightings, and warns that it will shoot the craft down. Information Minister Ali Yunessi threatened that if the… Read moreIran: US using spy planes
John Negroponte has been named by Bush to be the first Director of National Intelligence, a post created by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Act, recommended by the 9-11 Commission and signed into law in December. If confirmed by the… Read moreNegroponte fingered for intelligence czar
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has called for a "coordinated effort" to pass a federal shield law protecting journalists from revealing confidential sources in the wake of the unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S…. Read moreJail for journalists in Plame case?
Two weeks ago, WW4 Report cited a little-noted UPI story that the US Air Force has already started flying misions over Iran, to "grid" the country’s military and industrial infrastructure for bombing raids. Today comes a report from Israel’s Haaretz… Read moreUS air strikes in Iran?
The US has called home its ambassador to Syria in protest of Damascus’ supposed links to the Hariri assassination before the facts are even in. In response, Syria and Iran—traditional rivals, but both fearing they could be next for US… Read moreHariri fallout: Iran-Syria “united front”
Former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri (and 11 others) were killed in a Beirut car bomb attack Feb. 14. Because he had been an outspoken opponent of the Syrian military presence in Lebanon, suspicion immediately fell on Damascus and Damascus-backed… Read moreWho killed Rafik Hariri?
