ISSUE:
#. 78. March 23, 2003
THIS WEEK:
BUSH LAUNCHES IRAQ INVASION, DEFIES WORLD OPINION AND LAW
HAVE GLOBAL PROTESTS AND U.S. ISOLATION MODIFIED WAR PLANS?
ALSO: NEW OFFENSIVE IN AFGHANISTAN, CHIAPAS RAINFOREST BURNS
ANTI-OCCUPATION ACTIVISTS BLOCK FIFTH AVENUE!!
CURRENT HOMELAND SECURITY COLOR ADVISORY CODE: ORANGE
By Bill Weinberg
with David Bloom and Subuhi Jiwani, Special Correspondents
THE IRAQ FRONT
1. The Invasion Begins
2. Will General Assembly Intervene Against War?
3. Kinder, Gentler "Shock and Awe"?
4. U.S. Using Napalm in Iraq?
5. Is Turkey Invading Iraqi Kurdistan?
6. Accused Iraqi War Criminal Disappears
7. Weapons Inspectors "Scandalized"...
8. ...But Shi'ite Rebels Say Gas Kills 70
9. Global Protests Surge
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. Palestine Gets a Prime Minister; Violence Continues
THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. Pentagon Delays Announcement of "Operation Valiant Strike"
2. Black Hawk Crash Kills Six GI's
THE MEXICO FRONT
1. Fox off the Spot--But Still Exploits War Hysteria
2. Anti-War Protests Sweep Mexico
3. Iraq Crisis Cover for Chiapas Militarization
4. More Political Violence in Chiapas
5. More Religious Violence in Chiapas
6. Las Abejas Pray for Peace
7. Chiapas Rainforest Burning Again
8. Enron in Mexico
AFRICA
1. War in Nigeria's Petro-Zone
2. U.S. Denies Pressure on Nigeria to Support War Drive
THE WAR AT HOME
1. NYC Marches against War
2. NYC on Anti-Terror Alert
3. Disneyland Too
4. N.J. Terror Czar: "Red" Alert Means Curfew
5. FBI's Powers Widen-Again
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. ANWR Safe--For Now
THE IRAQ FRONT
1. THE INVASION BEGINS
Defying world opinion and international law, the Bush administration
and a handful of allies launched the war against Iraq in the wee
hours of March 20. But the air strikes on Baghdad--following the
unprecedentedly massive "shock and awe" assault startegy that the
White House had promised--have thus far come mostly in one day
(Friday March 21) rather than in an ongoing air campaign such as seen
in 1991. (See WW3 REPORT 70) And
in contrast to 1991`s Operation Desert Storm, this time the ground
invasion has been nearly simultaneous with the air strikes--a revised
plan which may reflect the administration`s isolation and hopes that
Saddam Hussein's regime can be toppled without further alienating the
international community. The military assault has been dubbed
"Operation Free Iraq," and is accompanied by much rhetoric about
avoiding civilian casualties and "liberating Iraq, not occupying it."
On Monday March 17, the US and UK withdrew their UN Security Council
resolution which would have imposed an immediate deadline for Iraq`s
disarmament, rather than see it face certain defeat. The White House
announced that "the diplomatic window has closed." White House
spokesman Ari Fleischer warned: "Baghdad is not a safe place to be."
Secretary of State Colin Powell added that "time for diplomacy has
passed." UN Secretary General Kofi Annan ordered weapons inspectors
and other UN personnel out of Iraq.
The US issued an ultimatum that Saddam and his son quit Iraq in 48
hours or face war. With a unilateral US-UK war now inevitable, the
stock market immediately surged in response to the news.
On Tuesday March 18, Saddam went on TV in military uniform to reject
the ultimatum. 250,000 US troops were by then in the Gulf region,
poised for attack, with 130,000 in Kuwait alone.
Colin Powell announced that the US had assembled a "coalition of the
willing" of 30 nations which have pledged to support the war (with an
additional anonymous 15 allegeldy pledging silent support). The list
of 29 nations (excluding the US itself) consists entirely of
imperialist junior partners (as opposed to imperialist rivals like
France, Russia and China, who oppose the war), dependent client
states where elites are grateful to the US for helping beat back
revolutionary movements, post-Communist would-be client states eager
for investment and protection against any resurgent Russian imperial
ambitions, and three desperately impoverished states at least one of
which (Afghanistan) is actually under US military occupation. In the
first category are the UK, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark,
Australia and Japan (which has precluded any actual combat role).
Upon Powell's announcement, Danish activists pelted Prime Minister
Anders Fogh Rasmussen with red paint. In the second category are El
Salvador and Nicaragua (where the US beat back revolutionary
movements in the 1980s) and Colombia and the Philippines (where the
US is now in the process of doing so). Colombia later complained to
the Washington Post that Powell had included it in his list of the
"willing" without actually consulting the Colombian government. In
the third category are Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia,
Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan (which still hosts US troops for the
ongoing campaign in neighboring Afghanistan). In the last category
are Ethiopia and Eritrea (both under regimes which the US helped take
power in 1991 by arming the guerilla movement against Ethiopia's
communist regime) and Afghanistan. Completing the list are Turkey
(with its own imperial ambitions in Iraq) and South Korea (under the
US military umbrella since 1952).
As war neared, thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq fled cities such
as Erbil and Dohuk, fearing chemical attack from the Baghdad regime,
leaving "ghost towns" patrolled by the Kurdish peshmerga militias.
The refugees headed for the Iranian border, or simply went into
hiding in the mountains.
On Wednesday March 19, US troops in Kuwait began marching towards the
Iraqi border, despite a sandstorm that slowed their advance. That
same day, a Kuwaiti military ship fired a "warning shot" at an Iraqi
boat which reportedly didn`t respond to a query, killing one on
board. The stock market surged for a second consecutive day.
In the pre-dawn hours of Thursday March 20, Iraqi time, the US
announced the first airstrikes--on what it called "targets of
opportunity," against a building supposed to house the Iraqi
leadership at that moment. Bush went on national TV to announce that
war had started: "We come to Iraq with respect for its citizens, for
their great civilization and for the religious faiths they practice.
We have no ambition in Iraq, except to remove a threat and restore
control of that country to its own people... Our nation enters this
conflict reluctantly, yet our purpose is sure. The people of the
United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy
of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass
murder."
Later that day, US troops of the 3rd Infanty Division crossed into
Iraq, and exchanged rocket fire with Iraqi forces. As the Iraqi
shells hit, US troops put on chemical protectve gear, but all the
incoming warheads proved to be conventional weapons. Saddam went on
TV to pledge that Iraqi people will "resist the invaders." He accused
"the little criminal" (Bush) of "crimes against humanity." He ended,
"Long live Iraq! Long live Palestine! Long live Holy War!" But the
White House voiced doubts that the broadcast was authentic, raising
the possibility that Saddam had been killed in that morning`s air
strikes, and that the broadcast was either pre-prepared or using one
of Saddam's notorious "doubles." ABC reported claims by witnesses
that Saddam had been removed from one destroyed building on a
stretcher.
On Friday March 21, more US and British troops surged into Iraq, with
Washington and London alike claiming that hundreds of Iraqi troops
had surrendered and many more abandoned their defensive positions. A
battle was reported for the port city of Umm Qasr and the al-Faw
peninsula, as British troops were reported to have taken the al-Faw
oilfields. Iraqi resistance was also reported at Nasiriya on the
Euphrates River, and fires reported rising from Basra--supposedly oil
wells set alight by Saddam`s forces. One US Marine was reported
killed in the fighting, and eight British and four US troops dead in
a helicopter accident in Kuwait. Some 500 missiles were reported to
have hit Baghdad, in the first round of massive airstrikes.
On Saturday March 22, the US announced that allied forces had taken
Basra airport and nearby oil fields, some of them already ablaze. But
US and British forces moved north without actually entering the city.
Twenty columns of smoke were reported rising from Baghdad, with the
US riasing the possibility that fires were set by the Iraqi
government to confuse US pilots and mask targets. The northern city
of Mosul was also reported to be under bombardment. Iraqi TV claimed
that 21 US Cruise missiles had been shot down, and that the Fedayeen
resistance movement, led by Saddam's son Odai, had engaged US forces
in combat, destroying one tank.
A grenade attack at the US 101st Airborne Center in Kuwait left six
injured, but a US soldier was actually detained for the attack.
On Sunday March 23, Al-Jazzera TV broadcast Iraqi footage of what
Baghdad claimed were captured US soldiers and bodies in US militay
uniforms at the Baghdad morgue. Pentagon Central Command had no
comment. Baghdad also announced that Iraqi troops were searching for
the pilot of a downed US warplane. The Pentagon denied losing any
planes, but did admit that a British jet had been accidentally shot
down by US fire.
US forces were reported to be within 100 miles of Baghdad when they
engaged an Iraqi armored column. 30 Iraqi armored vehicles had been
spotted heading toward the 2nd Brigade's positions outside the Muslim
holy city of Najaf, and US Bradley troop carriers moved to block the
advance, while US warplanes rained the Iraqi vehicles with missiles.
Even as US forces advance on Baghdad, fighting continues to the
south, with allied troops reported still battling to pacify the
al-Faw peninsula.
Meanwhile, France insisted that post-Saddam Iraq should be placed
under UN administration rather than US occupation, and the UN
Children`s Fund (UNICEF) expressed fears that the resources of aid
agencies would be stretched to exhaustion in the wake of the war for
Iraq. "It is clear that Iraq is on the brink of an unprecedented
humanitarian crisis and that UNICEF is facing possibly the largest
and most complex humanitarian operation we've ever undertaken," said
spokesperson Wivina Belmonte said in Geneva.
(From combined wire services and BBC)
[top]
2. WILL GENERAL ASSEMBLY INTERVENE AGAINST WAR?
Behind the scenes, US diplomats are reportedly warning various
governments around the world not to call for an Emergency Special
Session of the UN General Assembly to address the crisis over Iraq.
Commentator Ian Williams, writing for the Global Vision News Network,
called for the UN General Assembly to vote to declare "Operation Free
Iraq" as illegal. While any such resolution in the Security Council
would be vetoed by the US and UK, the UN charter does allow for the
General Assembly to intervene in extreme situations. Ironically, the
tactic was used by the US to get around Soviet vetoes during the
Korean War, but abandoned when the US lost its majority in the
General Assembly. The tactic was subsequently taken up by supporters
of the Palestinians, who won General Assembly resolutions condemning
Israel by votes of 135 to two or three--at that point the US decided
that GA resolutions were "not legally binding." Writes Williams:
"In a little-used U.N. legal procedure, ordinary members can by-pass
logjams in the Security Council and take an issue directly to the
General Assembly. Has the time come for the GA to vote to condemn the
Iraq War as a breach of international peace and security?... It would
be a tremendous blow to the tenuous claims to legality of Britain and
America if the United Nations...were to rule against the invasion of
Iraq."
[top]
3. KINDER, GENTLER "SHOCK AND AWE"?
The strategy of a "shock and awe" air war will have worked if the
Iraqis surrender Baghdad without a fight, accordsing to the author
who helped coin the phrase. Harlan Ullman, the military strategist
who wrote a 1996 paper outlining the doctrine of arraying massive
airpower against an enemy, said the term is not well understood.
"People think that shock and awe is to destroy cities," Ullman told
AP. "That's not just the rationale. The rationale is to bring intense
pressure on the enemy and do minimum damage to the civilian
infrastructure." But he ackowledged that massive civilian casualties
remain likely. "The question is, `Will Baghdad give up without a
fight, or will we have to go in and take it or impose a siege and
starve it?'" he said. Combat would result in many casualties because
the Iraqis will mix civilians with troops, he said. "We hope they'll
quit without a fight," Ullman said. "If that's the case, then shock
and awe will have worked." If it doesn't work, he said, "Then we have
to go back to the old fashioned way of war, which could be very
brutal and very, very bloody." (AP, March 23)
On the Net: "Shock and Awe: Achieving Rapid Dominance"
[top]
4. U.S. USING NAPALM IN IRAQ?
The US used napalm along with air-launched missiles to destroy Safwan
Hill, an Iraqi surveillance post near the main highway leading north
from the Kuwaiti border, a US officer told the Sydney Morning Herald
March 22. "Dead bodies are everywhere," a US officer reported by
radio after the attack, according to the paper.
"I pity anybody who's in there," a marine sergeant reportedly said.
"We told them to surrender." The Herald reported that the station was
destroyed in a fireball. "When dawn broke on Safwan Hill, all that
could be seen on top of it was a single antenna amid the smoke."
[top]
5. IS TURKEY INVADING IRAQI KURDISTAN?
Turkish imperial ambitions in Iraqi Kurdistan are still blocking
military cooperation with Washington. The Turkish parliament had
already voted down allowing US troops to use the country`s territory
as a staging ground for the Iraq invasion--thereby forfeiting a
massive US aid package. But Turkish financial markets plunged in
response to the news, and the military urged the government to take
urgent action to let US troops in. (MSNBC, March 17) On March 19, the
Turkish government announced it will ask parliament to grant the US
fly-over rights as a compromise measure. (AP, March 19)
Despite gaining parliamentary approval, the Turkish military
announced March 21 that the country`s airspace will still not be
opened to US warplanes and missiles due to disagreements with
Washington over Turkish intervention in Iraqi Kurdistan. Said Colin
Powell: "At the moment we do not see any need for any Turkish
incursions into northern Iraq." The Pentagon also announced that the
US will take northern Iraq`s oil fields at Kirkuk and Mosul. (AP,
March 21)
On March 22, the Turkish military denied that 1,000 Turkish troops
had crossed into Iraq--despite the fact that it was front-page news
in the Turkish newspapers. (AP, March 22)
Meanwhile, repression escalated in Turkish Kurdistan. On March 13,
Turkey banned the Kurdish party HADEP (Popular Democratic Party) and
allied DEHAP, accusing them of "subversive activities." (El Pais,
March 14) See WW3 REPORT 71
Last week`s edition of Cairo`s English-language Al-Ahram Weekly noted
that hundreds of US troops are still in Turkey under a February
agreement--approved by parliament--to help upgrade military bases.
The troops are ostensibly barred from a combat role, but could
quietly assist in logistical support for operations against Iraq.
(Al-Ahram, March 13-19)
[top]
6. ACCUSED IRAQI WAR CRIMINAL DISAPPEARS
On March 17, the AP reported that Niazr al-Khazaraji, a defected
Iraqi general under house arrest in Copenhagen while Danish
authorities investigate his role in gas attacks against the Kurds,
has mysteriously vanished.
[top]
7. WEAPONS INSPECTORS "SCANDALIZED"...
The San Jose Mercury News reported March 18 that UN weapons
inspectors, ordered out of Iraq ahead of the bombing, said they were
"scandalized" at how the US "politicized" their mission. They charged
that the US sent them chasing false leads--such as the claim that
aluminum tubes, determined to be used to make artillery rockets, were
actually used in producing weapons-grade uranium. See WW3 REPORT 70
[top]
8. ...BUT SHI`ITE REBELS SAY GAS KILLS 70
A March 17 report in the Erbil Kurdish newspaper Jamawar, picked up
by BBC Monitoring, echoed a claim by the Supreme Council for Islamic
Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) that 70 civilians were killed by poisonous
gas in southern Iraq in an accident which took place when the gas was
being transfered from one site to another in a ruse to outsmart UN
inspectors. Iraqi authorities reportedly blamed the deaths on an
influenza outbreak and launched a vaccination program in the area to
cover up the truth.
[top]
9. GLOBAL PROTESTS SURGE
On March 17, activists shut down the International Petroleum Exchange
in London, with 20 invading the building, shouting anti-war slogans.
That same day, UK cabinet minister Robin Cook stepped down in protest
of the war drive. In Madrid, the United Left parliamentary bloc stood
up in the parliament building holding anti-war banners and demanded
the resignation of President Jose Maria Aznar, the most prominent
European ally of Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in their drive
for war.
March 18 saw massive protests in Vietnam, led by students and war veterans.
On March 19, Hundreds gathered at the White House in Washington DC to
oppose the war. An all-day anti-war vigil was held in New York`s
Union Square, with with some 500 marching up to Times Square. Arrests
were reported at protests in Boston and Detroit. Hundreds were also
reported marching against the war that day in Rio de Janiero, La Paz
and Caracas. In South Africa, Nobel Peace Laureate Bishop Desmond
Tutu denounced the war on Iraq as "unjustifiable and immoral."
On March 20, protesters blocked traffic in San Francisco, nearly
paralyzing the city. In New York, for a second day, and all-day
anti-war vigil was held in Union Square, and Broadway was filled with
protesters who marched up to Times Square, despite freezing rain.
Streets were also blocked by protesters in Chicago. Huge protests
were also reported in London, Paris, Madrid, Milan and Tokyo.
On March 21, police used batons and water cannons to supress protests
in Cairo, even as Egypt`s clergy urged on the protesters. The
nation`s top cleric, Sheikh Sayyid Tantawi, urded Egyptians to "stand
by the persecuted." In Sanaa, capital of Yemen, two were killed as
police moved to supress protests--one police officer and one
11-year-old boy. In the Gaza Strip, following Friday prayers,
thousands of Palestinians streamed from the mosques into the streets
to protest the war, many holding portraits of Saddam Hussein. In
Jerusalem, Palestinian protesters chanted "Our beloved Saddam, hit
Tel Aviv."
Also March 21, protesters in San Francisco shut down traffic on the
Bay Bridge and several streets, resulting in 1,000 arrests--the most
in one day in that city in over 20 years. Roads were also blocked in
Melbourne, Australia. 150,000 marched in Athens, and violent
confrontations with the police were reported. Huge protests were also
reported in Indian Kashmir, Bangladesh, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and China. Several cities in
Pakistan erupted into protest, with the city of Quetta shut down by a
general strike.
On March 22, 200,000 gathered in London`s Hyde Park for an anti-war
protest, with thousands also reported marching in Manchester,
Bristol, Glasgow and Edinburgh. At the US surveillance base in
Menwith Hill, Yorkshire, hundreds gathered for a "Foil the Base"
action, holding aloft huge sheets of foil they hoped would scramble
communications signals.
(From combined wire reports and BBC)
[top]
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. PALESTINE GETS A PRIME MINISTER; VIOLENCE CONTINUES
Mahmud Abbas, alias Abu Mazen, long the number two man in the PLO,
accepted the position of prime minister of the Palestinian Authority
March 19. PA President Yasser Arafat was under international pressure
to appoint a prime minister as a measure to legitimize his
government. That same day, an Israeli settler was killed at a
settlement near Jenin on the West Bank, in an apparent attack by an
armed group linked to Arafat's Fatah movement. (AFP, March 19)
[top]
THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. PENTAGON DELAYS ANNOUNCEMENT OF "OPERATION VALIANT STRIKE"
Just as the war against Iraq was launched March 20, some 600 US
troops backed up by Romanian infantry and Afghan fighters launched
"Operation Valiant Strike" against supposed al-Qaeda remnant forces
in southern Afghanistan's rugged Sami Ghar mountains. Helicopters
thundered over mountain villages, disgorging soldiers to search
mud-brick houses. The troops were accompanied by "pool reporters",
but they were not allowed to file dispatches until Sunday March 23.
(AP, March 23)
[top]
2. BLACK HAWK CRASK KILLS SIX GIs
A US Air Force HH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Afghanistan
March 23, killing all six on board, Central Command said. The
helicopter was on a medical evacuation mission when it crashed about
18 miles north of Ghazni. The helicopter was not shot down, the
statement said, adding that the precise cause of the crash is under
investigation. The statement did not indicate whether the medical
emergency was in connection with Operation Valiant Strike, a mission
involving members of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division in
southeastern Afghanistan.The last such crash was Jan. 30 , when an
Army Black Hawk on a training mission crashed near the Bagram air
base, killing four. (AP, March 23)
[top]
THE MEXICO FRONT
1. FOX OFF THE SPOT--BUT STILL EXPLOITS WAR HYSTERIA
Now that the US has withdrawn its UN resolution instating an
immediate deadline for Iraqi disarmament, President Vicente Fox of
current Security Council member Mexico finally stated unequivocally
that he "would have" voted against it. The Mexican senate issued a
statement in favor of Fox`s position against military action. US
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher responded with a statement
that the US is "disappointed" by Mexico`s stance. But Fox`s position
has not kept Mexico from being caught up in the war hysteria, with
Health Secretary Julio Frenk issuing a nationwide alert to public
hospitals to prepare for bio-terrorist attacks. The Interior
Secretary has also announced a "Plan Centinela" (Sentry Plan),
sending 18,000 troops to reinforce the Guatemalan border against
potential terrorist infiltration. (Uno Mas Uno, March 19) Troops were
also sent to increase vigilance at the US border, and to secure the
country's hydro-electric dams. (La Jornada, March 18)
[top]
2. ANTI-WAR PROTESTS SWEEP MEXICO
Anti-war protests were held in Guadalajara, Queretaro and several
other Mexican cities March 20, while on March 19 hundreds of high
school students took to the streets to protest the war drive in
Mexico City (La Jornada, March 20, 21) In Tapachula, chief city of
the Chiapas coastal region known as Soconusco, the Soconusco
Worker-Campesino-Student Coalition (COCES) has announced an ongoing
vigil against the war. (Cuarto Poder, Chiapas, March 19) The Mexico
City group Civil Society has called for a boycott of US goods. (Uno
Mas Uno, March 19)
[top]
3. IRAQ CRISIS COVER FOR CHIAPAS MILITARIZATION
Mexico`s federal government has beefed up army, police and
immigration patrols on the Guatemalan frontier, citing the
international crisis and the risk of terrorist infiltration.
Militants of the Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization (OCEZ) have
launched a blockade of the highway near Villa de Las Rosas, Chiapas,
to protest that local Mexican peasants have been stopped and
harrassed at checkpoints set up by the National Immigration Institute
(INM). (Carteles de Comitan y San Cristobal, March 20) The targetted
region also includes the Lacandon Selva, jungle stronghold of the
Zapatista rebels.
[top]
4. MORE POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN CHIAPAS
The Emiliano Zapata Campesino Organization (OCEZ) has announced an
on-going protest vigil outside the Government Palace in Tuxtla,
capital of Chiapas state, to demand freedom for political prisoners.
The 10 prisoners had been arrested at a roadblock itself launched to
demand freedom for OCEZ militants arrested in connection with
violence between OCEZ and a local right-wing paramilitary group. OCEZ
claims the arrested militants had acted in self-defense. (Cuarto
Poder, Chiapas, March 19)
Elsewhere in Chiapas, Tzeltal Maya sympathizers of the Zapatista rebels complained to authorities that they had been forced to flee their homes in Juxalja, Tenejapa municipality, by violence, threats and a cut-off of water and electricity by local political bosses. The Indians took refuge in a neighboring pro-Zapatista hamlet. (Cuarto Poder, Chiapas, March 23)
[top]
5. MORE RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE IN CHIAPAS
On March 17, two reporters from the Mexican news agency Notimex, who
were attempting to interview local Protestant converts in the Tzotzil
Maya community of Mitziton about threats and harassment from local
Catholic political bosses ("caciques"), were attacked by a group of
Catholics, who beat them and reportedly stole a camera. (La Jornada,
March 18)
A joint communique from Organization of Evangelical Villages of the
Chiapas Highlands (OPEACH) and the Indigenous Representative Council
of the Chiapas Highlands (CRIACH) warned that Protestant families are
at risk of expulsion from their villages by Catholic political bosses
in several highland municipalities. (Expreso, Chiapas, March 20)
See also WW3 REPORT 77
[top]
6. LAS ABEJAS PRAY FOR PEACE
On March 22, the Catholic pacifist Tzotzil Maya Indian organization,
Las Abejas (The Bees), gathered to pray at their hermitage in the
Chiapas highlands hamlet of Acteal, as they do on the 22nd of every
month to commemorate the Dec. 22, 1997 massacre in which 45 members
of their group were gunned down by paramilitary gunmen. This time,
they offered their prayers for world peace and the civil population
of Iraq. Said a statement from Las Abejas: "We join our voice and
heart with the multitude of voices and hearts to say no to the war,
because it is an attack against life and all the beings of the world."
Although some 100 have been arrested in connection with the 1997
massacre, Las Abejas says "the true intellectual and material authors
of the massacre continue to enjoy impunity." (Cuarto Poder, Chiapas,
March 23)
[top]
7. CHIAPAS RAINFOREST BURNING AGAIN
Massive forest fires were reported March 21 in the Montes Azules
Biosphere Reserve, which protects the heart of the threatened Chiapas
rainforest, known as the Lacandon Selva. The National Commission of
Protected Areas blamed slash-and-burn agriculture by peasant
communities in the reserve, which the authorities call illegal and
are threatening to expell. But residents of one such community, Ocho
de Febrero, sympathizers of the Zapatista rebel movement, reported to
the Chiapas human rights group Red de Defensores Comunitarios
(Communitarian Defense Network) that the fires had been intentionally
set by unknown men, and destroyed homes, cornfields and animals,
forcing residents to flee to neighboring communities. (La Jornada,
March 22)
This is the beginning of corn planting season, when fires routinely
engulf Mexico's forests. Nineteen fires were reported out of control
in the Chimalapas protected area straddling the Chiapas-Oaxaca
border. (La Jornada, March 22) Forest fires were also reported in
Yucatan, Campeche, Guerrero and Puebla states, with hundreds of
thousands of hectares destroyed. (Notimex, March 19)
[top]
8. ENRON IN MEXICO
At a public meeting in Mexico City to commemorate the March 18, 1938
nationalization of Mexico's oil resources, the Mexican Syndicate of
Electricity Workers (SME) protested that a "silent privatization" of
the country's energy resources is underway. To chants of "Fox,
entiende, la patria no se vende" (Fox, understand, the fatherland is
not for sale), SME leaders noted that President Vicente Fox has
started to quietly break the state monopoly on electricity
generation, allowing new contracts to private firms--including to a
subsidiary of Enron in Monterrey. Despite the official state monopoly, 30% of Mexico's electrical power is now generated by the private sector, according to SME leaders. SME leaders also noted that between
1992 and 2002, energy generated by private global firms advanced 21%
in relation to total world ourput, and has already advanced by
another nine percent in 2003. (La Jornada, March 19)
Workers from Pemex, the state oil monopoly, also marched in Mexico
City, holding hand-made banners protesting both the pending
privatization of the company and Bush's war against Iraq. (Uno Mas
Uno, March 19) See WW3 REPORT 71
[top]
AFRICA
1. WAR IN NIGERIA`S PETRO-ZONE
Nigerian government troops have intervened in the ongoing ethnic
warfare between the Ijaw and Itsekiri peoples in the oil-rich Niger
Delta. Witnesses and rights groups accuse soldiers of burning
villages and firing indiscriminately. Chevron-Texaco has suspended
operations in the region, slashing the output of Africa's biggest
producer by 13%. Shell announced it may also suspend operations.
(BBC, March 22)
In a rare show of solidarity last August, Ijaw and Itsekiri women
joined forces to shut down Chevron and Shell installations to protest
the pollution of their traditional lands and waters, and demand
restitution from the company. (Lagos Vanguard, Aug. 10, 2002)
See also WW3 REPORT 42
[top]
2. U.S. DENIES PRESSURE ON NIGERIA TO SUPPORT WAR DRIVE
On March 23, the US Ambassador in Nigeria, Howard Jetter, issued an
official statement denying claims reported in the country`s press
that Foriegn Minister Dubem Onyia had complained that US military
assistance to Nigeria was cut off because of the government`s refusal
to support the war on Iraq. Jetter claimed military assistance was
restricted by an act of Congress in February due to human rights
concerns. "The US government has not sought to influence Nigeria
policy on Iraq through the suspension of military assistance," the
statement read. (This Day, Lagos, March 23)
[top]
THE WAR AT HOME
1. NYC MARCHES AGAINST WAR
A quarter of a million people marched
against war on March 22 in New York City, according to the
organizers, United for Peace and Justice. The march began at Times
Square and ended at Washington Square, on a bright spring day. When
protestors first appeared at the northwest corner of Washington
Square park, police tried to block their way, announcing that the
march was over and participants should disperse. Despite these
desultory efforts, which only lasted five minutes, thousands of
protestors filled the park and the police let the swelling crowd
through to march across Washington Square North. Hundreds of police
challenged the protestors to leave, and there were 74 arrests
reported throughout the day. Seven police were hospitalized for being
"maced in the face." Some activists saw police being hit by
"blowback," when pepper spray directed by their own colleagues at
marchers came back in their faces. Residual protestors blocked the
western half of Washington Square North until after 7 PM, which
angered some police. An undercover police officer, dressed like a
student with a backpack, told WW3 REPORT he spent the day mingling
with protestors, trying to find out what motivated them. Most of the
protestors, he said, were pro-Saddam. When challenged on this, the
officer revised his estimate to "a few." However, he claimed that
pro-Saddam agents were in the protest. He said most police were
angered by the marchers, because the manpower necessary to secure the
protest sapped the city's ability to guard against terror attacks. He
indicated that he was pro-war.
A contingent of Palestine supporters marched with large portraits of
Rachel Corrie, a US peace activist killed by an Israel army bulldozer
in the Gaza Strip on March 16. Many signs bore messages that were
anti- Bush, some calling him a terrorist, or read simply, FUCK BUSH.
Activists from the ANSWER coalition, led at its core by the hardline
Stalinist Worker's World Party, marched with their usual cheerless
signs, but many choice slogans were viewed by WW3 REPORT throughout
the day. Among the slogans seen:
1. US OUT OF NYC
2. "HO-HUM... YOUR WAR... IS SO HETERO-NORMATIVE "
3. WAR IS _SO_ 20TH CENTURY
4. REGIME CHANGE BEGINS AT HOME
5. "YEE-HA!" IS NOT A FOREIGN POLICY
7. IS THIS YOUR LIBERTY? IN OIL WE TRUST?
8. READ MY APOCALYPSE
9. BEWARE PROJECT OF THE NEW AMERICAN CENTURY
10. HOW DID OUR OIL GET UNDER THEIR SAND?
11. BUT GEORGE, WHAT IF A FETUS GETS KILLED?
12. SOMEWHERE IN TEXAS, A VILLAGE IS MISSING ITS IDIOT
13. BITTER SPINSTERS AGAINST IMPERIALIST WAR
14. STOP MAD COWBOY DISEASE
More protest pictures: Ground graffiti , queer contingent, anti-repression, surveillance and counter-protest
(photos: Pretzel guy)
(David Bloom on the scene; Newsday, March, 22; United for Peace and
Justice, NYC Indymedia, March 22)
EDITOR'S NOTE: At the city's last anti-war protest, on Feb. 15, authorities denied a permit to march, citing security concerns. Thousands marched without a permit, while the "official" event was a "stationary rally" on First Ave., north of the United Nations. This time, authorities granted a permit to march, although organizers chose not to seek a permit to march on the UN, which was likely to be denied. See WW3 REPORT 73
[top]
2. NYC ON ANTI-TERROR ALERT
With the Homeland Security Department's color-coded terrorist alert
now on "orange," New York City authorities have launched "Operation
Atlas", sending "Hercules Teams" to seek out terrorist threats, with
sniffer dogs on the subways and police checkpoints snarling traffic.
Mayor Mike Bloomberg called it "the most comprehensive
terrorism-prevention operation our city has ever conducted," and
warned that New York City is "on the front-line of global terrorism."
The operation is integrated with the federal Homeland Security
Department's "Operation Liberty Shield." (Newsday, March 18)
[top]
3. DISNEYLAND TOO
As part of the emergency measures instated in response to the Iraq
war, the US has ordered the airspace over Dinseyland and Disneyworld
closed to all air traffic. (La Jornada, March 19)
[top]
4. N.J. TERROR CZAR: "RED" ALERT MEANS CURFEW
New Jersey anti-terrorism czar Sid Caspersen, a former FBI agent,
briefing reporters alongside Gov. James E. McGreevey, said that a
"red" terrorist alert would strip away virtually all freedom of
mobility and association. "Red means all non-critical functions
cease," Caspersen said. "Non-critical would be almost all
businesses, except health-related... The state police and the
emergency management people would take control over the highways. You
literally are staying home, is what happens, unless you are required
to be out." (Gannet, March 15)
[top]
5. FBI'S POWERS WIDEN--AGAIN
Last week the Bush Administration put into effect its doctrine of
pre-emptive military action against Saddam Hussein--a doctrine
reflected in the Department of Homeland Security's policy of
"preventative detention". Bill Frelick, an immigration policy expert
at Amnesty International defines preventative detention as "part of a
pattern that we're seeing in which what may be minor visa violations
of immigration law are used as a pretext for detention." Like
pre-emptive action, preventative detention assumes that people from
nations accused of supporting Al-Qaeda pose terrorist threats, which
can be checked by detaining them.
On Dec. 18, 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced--although
not publicly--that FBI and US marshals could detain foreign nationals
accused of having violated immigration law, even if there were no
criminal charges against them. Historically, detention and
deportation have been the responsibilities of immigration officials.
With war on Iraq in process, FBI agents are likely to use their newly
assigned powers to question 11,000 Iraqis living in the US and arrest
visa violators in their "counter-terrorism" efforts. (See WW3 Report
#77)
The Washington Post obtained a copy of the Dec. 18 order. It
authorizes "special agents of the FBI to exercise the functions of
immigration officers for the purpose of...investigating, determining
the location of and apprehending any alien who is in the United
States in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act" and other
immigration laws.
FBI has drawn up a guidelines which contend that this new authority
will be used "only in appropriate situations" that require immediate
action to ensure "public safety" until Homeland Security
officials arrive. Already the police in Florida and South Carolina
are involved in a pilot program allowing them to make arrests and
detain people. The Washington Post reports that police in those
states do not want to exercise their newly assigned powers.
In a March 19 press release, ACLU-NY stated that FBI officials met
with various Muslim groups around the country relaying mixed
messages. The officials told a group in Philadelphia that people
would not be arrested for immigration violations if they assisted it
in identifying Iraqis that might be affiliated with Saddam Hussein.
ACLU has also reported that the FBI informed Muslim groups that
having an attorney accompany individuals to a registration interview
might mean that they "have something to hide."
Dalia Hashad, ACLU's Arab, Muslim and South Asian advocate said: "In
the same breath that they are asking for assistance from Iraqi
nationals in thwarting terrorism, the FBI is alienating people by
treating them like suspects and discouraging them from consulting
with an attorney, which is their right." (Washington Post, March 20;
ACLU Press Release, March 19) (Subuhi Jiwani)
[top]
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. ANWR SAFE--FOR NOW
On March 20, the same day that military action against Iraq was
launched, the US Senate rejected a motion to open the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling. (AP, March 20) Advocates of
opening the ANWR to oil exploitation have portrayed the move as a
national security measure linked to instability in the Middle East.
See WW 3 REPORT 42
[top]
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